South Africa: SA ready to host BRICS Summit It's all systems go for the 15th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Summit, which will be held in Johannesburg later this month. Taking place from 22 to 24 August, government has indicated that it has concluded the BRICS outreach programmes for various sectors and communities. Cabinet was apprised that it is all systems go in terms of South Africas readiness to host the 15th BRICS Summit. The last of the BRICS Ministerial Meetings the BRICS Ministers of Agriculture Meeting is currently underway, while the Ministerial Meetings of Foreign Affairs, Security, Trade, Industry, Education, Science, Labour, Communications, Health, and Urbanisation Forum have concluded their reports for the Leaders Summit. These engagements provided governments, organisations, experts and academics from the BRICS nations an opportunity to discuss issues of mutual interest that will enable informed decision-making during the BRICS Summit, Minister in The Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, said on Thursday. She was addressing a media briefing in Pretoria on the outcomes of the Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday. Russia-Africa Summit Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa and Russian President Vladimir Putin recently held a bilateral meeting and discussed opportunities to increase trade between the two countries, and for the Russian Federation to increase investments in South Africa. This meeting took place during the Second Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, on 27 and 28 July 2023. Ramaphosa was amongst other African leaders who attended the summit. This summit adopted the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum Action Plan, which focuses on strengthening cooperation in areas of politics and security, economics, humanitarian matters, and interests of mutual benefit and prosperity. On the sidelines of the summit, African Heads of State and Government, who are part of the African Peace Initiative on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, held follow-up talks with President Putin on the previously discussed confidence-building measures that will create conditions for a negotiated settlement to ending the war, Ntshavheni said. Security in Niger Cabinet also has noted the impact the security situation in Niger is having on air travel between South Africa/Southern Africa and Western Europe, with negative implications for business and individuals alike and the airline industry, which is just starting to recover from the devastating ravages of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Cabinet reiterated governments condemnation of the coup in Niger and the call for the speedy restoration of a democratic order, and also noted the initiative to restore normality under the Economic Community of West African States, the Minister said. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2023-08-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Flood-blocked roads repaired in China's Hebei Xinhua) 08:51, August 10, 2023 This aerial photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows villagers walking on a bridge leading to Shangzhuang Village of Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province. Some roads blocked by the rain-triggered floods in the county are repaired, and electricity and communication services are restored. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) This aerial photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows workers operating machinery to repair a road leading to Shangzhuang Village of Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province. Some roads blocked by the rain-triggered floods in the county are repaired, and electricity and communication services are restored. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) This aerial photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows a worker operating machinery to repair a road leading to Shangzhuang Village of Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province. Some roads blocked by the rain-triggered floods in the county are repaired, and electricity and communication services are restored. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) This aerial photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows workers operating machinery to repair a bridge in Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province. Some roads blocked by the rain-triggered floods in the county are repaired, and electricity and communication services are restored. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) This aerial photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows workers operating machinery to repair a road leading to Shannan Village of Jiulong Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province. Some roads blocked by the rain-triggered floods in the county are repaired, and electricity and communication services are restored. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) This aerial photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows workers operating machinery to repair a bridge to Liujiahe Village of Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province. Some roads blocked by the rain-triggered floods in the county are repaired, and electricity and communication services are restored. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) This aerial photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows workers operating machinery to repair a road leading to Shangzhuang Village of Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province. Some roads blocked by the rain-triggered floods in the county are repaired, and electricity and communication services are restored. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) The nation's ongoing battle against corruption in the healthcare sector has further intensified this year, with a number of hospital heads and medical officials being placed under investigation. Since the start of this year until July 26, at least 155 presidents and high-level officials of hospitals nationwide have been placed under investigation, according to data released by a health app operated by People's Daily. The number of this level of healthcare officials being investigated for corruption is now more than double the total for the whole of last year. One of the latest examples of this wide-ranging anti-corruption drive was when He Shaobin, former president of Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, was put under investigation on suspicion of severely violating Party discipline and national laws. This was announced in a statement on July 29 by the nation's top anti-graft authorities the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission. A day before the announcement, the nation's top anti-graft bodies had called on investigators across the country to make greater efforts in the anti-corruption battle in the health industry, and urged them to focus more on those accepting and offering bribes. As the investigation has been rolled out, the misconduct of a number of medical officials has been made public as their cases have been heard in court. On Monday, Wang Zhongping, former head of the healthcare security bureau in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, pleaded guilty to taking bribes when he stood trial at a local court. Prosecutors from Hezhou, a city in the region, alleged that from 2012 to 2022, Wang took advantage of various positions in the healthcare sector to help seek profits for enterprises and individuals in business operations, the contracting of projects and business promotion. In return, he accepted bribes totaling more than 17 million yuan ($2.36 million). The ruling will be announced at a later date, according to the court. Zhao Li, a criminal lawyer from Beijing Jingsh Law Firm, said that the battle against corruption in the healthcare sector is essential, "because seeing doctors and buying drugs is related to everyone's daily life, and it's an important part of people's livelihood. "Some patients and their family members once complained to me that some doctors and hospitals had accepted commissions related to the purchase of medicines and medical equipment," he added, saying that such acts are a "stubborn illness" in the sector. In a case disclosed by the CCDI in May, Yang Wenjun, former president of Puer People's Hospital in Yunnan province, accepted a commission of 16 million yuan from a supplier when the hospital bought medical equipment worth 35.2 million yuan. Zhao suggested that the anti-graft authorities focus more on such business-related bribery, and strive "to find those in hospitals and healthcare administrations who collude with suppliers". Zhao also called on the public to report corruption-related clues to investigators in a timely manner, "as fighting graft in this field is not only in order to punish corrupt medical staff, but also to reduce our own costs in drug purchases and medical treatment", he said. Due to the central leadership's determination to tackle corruption and the revision of related laws, he said the anti-graft battle in the sector will not only continue but the punishments given to violators will be harsher. On July 25, a draft amendment to the Criminal Law was submitted for review to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature. It states that those offering bribes in the food, drug, education and healthcare sectors should be harshly punished. On July 21, the National Health Commission and several other authorities launched a one-year anti-corruption campaign in the medical industry, requiring a greater fight against those seeking profits through healthcare seminars and donations. Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Thursday hit out at AAP MP Raghav Chadha's allegation on BJP over forged signatures and said that it is AAP's plan to disturb the House. "It is their plan to disturb the House so that the Legislative business of the House cannot take place. BJP neither wants this nor has any role in this," Arjun Ram Meghwal said. Earlier today, Raghav Chadha attacked at the BJP over forged signatures allegations by five Rajya Sabha MPs and challenged the BJP to show him the piece of paper where they are claiming the forged signatures. While addressing a press conference in the national capital, Chadha said, "I challenge the BJP leaders to bring the paper on which forged signatures were done." Citing the rule book AAP leader said that MP can propose the name for the formation of any committee and neither the signature nor the written consent of the person whose name is proposed is required. "But a lie was spread that forged signatures were done," he added. Meanwhile, AAP leader Sanjay Singh was also present during the conference and said that BJP government wants to end Chadha's Rajya Sabha membership just like they did with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. "A new tradition has started that whoever speaks against Modi ji, take action against him. Home Minister Amit Shah should know that no signature is required to propose the name. The party is trying to end the membership of Raghav Chadha like Rahul Gandhi," Sanjay Singh said at a press conference. "The BJP's mantra is to tell a lie 1,000 times to make it sound like the truth. The BJP floated this false narrative that signatures were forged," he added. Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the Rajya Sabha alleged fraud after five MPs of the Upper House S Phangnon Konyak, Narhari Amin and Sudhanshu Trivedi of BJP, M Thambidurai of AIADMK and Sasmit Patra of BJD said that their name was included without their consent in a motion moved by Chadha in the House. Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaking in Rajya Sabha on Delhi Services Bill yesterday said, Two members (BJD MP Sasmit Patra and BJP MP Dr Sudhanshu Trivedi) are saying that they have not signed the motion (to be part of select committee) moved by AAP MP Raghav Chadha. Now it is a matter of investigation how the motion was signed. (ANI) Demanding that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi should be tried for treason, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Thursday claimed that Congress Parliamentary party chief and Wayanad MP met with members of the Communist Party of China in 2008 in Beijing. Speaking in the Lok Sabha on Thursday over a no-confidence motion against the NDA government, Rathore said that the Congress leaders met the Communist Party of China in 2008 when the BJP MP was in Beijing during the Olympics. I was at the 2008 Beijing Olympics (in China). We came to know that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are coming to meet us. They didn't come to meet us. They met the Communist Party of China. They should be tried for treason, Rathore said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday took a dig at opposition parties, saying it is blessing of God that opposition have brought a no-confidence motion against his government and that NDA and BJP will come back with a grand victory, breaking all previous records in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Replying to the debate in the Lok Sabha on the no-confidence motion, the Prime Minister said that people have repeatedly shown trust in the government. "People of the country have shown trust in our government again and again. I am here to show my gratitude to the crores of the people of the country," he said. The Prime Minister recalled that the opposition parties had brought a no-confidence motion against his government in 2018 also ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls. "God is very kind and speaks through some medium...I believe that it's the blessing of God that opposition has brought this motion. I had said during the no-confidence motion in 2018 that it was not a floor test for us but a floor test for them and as a result they lost in the elections..."PM Modi said that he had told opposition parties that it was their floor test and they could not even muster the number of votes that their numbers entailed in the 2018 no-confidence motion. "In a way, Opposition's No Confidence has always been lucky for us. Today, I can see that you (Opposition) have decided that NDA and BJP will come back in 2024 elections with a grand victory, breaking all previous records, with the blessings of the people," he said. The last two days of the motion witnessed a fierce battle between the ruling and the Opposition coalitionsover the Manipur violence and other raging issues. Rathore further launched a scathing attack on Congress and said that the party is responsible for the violence that took place in Manipur over the last 40 years. They are also responsible for the violence in Kashmir and the militancy in Punjab, he added. Rathore also said, Congress says that they will open a shop of love in the market of hatred. Their shop is of corruption, lies, appeasement, and arrogance. They only change the name of the shop but the product remains the same. Slamming the Opposition for moving the no-confidence motion, Rathore said that the opposition themselves are not even worthy of no-confidence. They (Congress) have brought a no-confidence motion against our government, but they themselves are not even worthy of no-confidence. They have betrayed Rajasthan, he added. BJP MP Rathore also raised rapes in Rajasthan and lashes out at Ashok Gehlot and Congress leaders in Rajasthan for their 'insensitive comments' on victims of rapes in the state. Yesterday, Rahul Gandhi was speaking on Manipur but forgot Rajasthan. There are 17 rapes that happen in Rajasthan daily, while 7 murders take place every day. They do not talk about that, he said. (ANI) In Srinagar, the newly renovated historic clock tower at Lal Chowk has emerged as a delightful surprise, capturing the attention of locals and tourists alike. With its resplendent charm and the melodious chime of its bells echoing through the streets every hour, this iconic structure has become a symbol of normalcy and a cherished memory for many. The clock tower, also known as Ghanta Ghar, holds a special place in the hearts of the community. What once began as an advertising spectacle by the Baja Company many decades ago has now evolved into a historical landmark that stands testament to the passage of time. As the bells toll rhythmically, they not only mark the hours but also signify a shared history that binds generations. Passers-by are drawn to the tower not only by its auditory allure but also by its aesthetic appeal. Local shopkeepers and tourists alike find themselves captivated by the towers enchanting transformation. The new look of the Clock Tower is becoming a major point of attraction for one and all, a shopkeeper expressed with enthusiasm. The towers architecture has sparked comparisons with Londons iconic Elizabeth Tower, often affectionately referred to as the Big Ben. This resemblance to a symbol of a far-off city has given rise to a unique sense of connection and curiosity. For Farooq Ahmad, a shopkeeper with a deep appreciation for history, the clock tower embodies significance beyond its visual and auditory splendor. Bells ringing at the newly renovated Clock Tower alert everyone and give a reassuring sense of normalcy, he shared. Indeed, the towers hourly chime serves as a gentle reminder of the constancy amidst the ebb and flow of daily life, evoking a sense of comfort and unity. Javaid Ahmed, a fruit seller who witnesses the towers allure every day, shared his perspective on its newfound charm. One feels as if we are in London. The new look of the clock tower is indeed an attractive one, he mused. The towers transformation has reinvigorated the spirit of the area, offering a touch of elegance and timelessness that resonates with residents and visitors alike. The completion of this remarkable project has been a labor of love, a culmination of dedication and meticulous craftsmanship. Iftikhar Kakroo, Chief Engineer of Srinagar Smart City Limited (SSCL), expressed his satisfaction with the progress. With 99 percent of the work on the clock tower completed, we are on track for the grand inauguration before the Independence Day on August 15, he proudly declared. The towers European design has not only garnered widespread acclaim but has also sparked a viral sensation across social media platforms, further extending its allure to a global audience. (ANI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday took a swipe at Congress, saying name of Adhir Ranjan Chaudhury, party leader in Lok Sabha was not in the partys list of speakers in the no-confidence motion debate, asking whether its a compulsion or a call from Kolkata. In reply to the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition against his government PM Modi said that the Congress party has continuously side-lined its leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary. When the no-confidence motion was moved against the Vajpayee government (former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee), Sharad Pawar(then a member of the Congress party) was leading the debate in 1999. In 2003, a motion was moved once again, that time, Sonia Gandhi led the debate and in 2018 also, Mallikarjun Kharge ji, the leader of the opposition took charge of the debate. But this time, what has happened to you, Adhir Babu? His party did not give a chance to him to speak. It was Amit Shah who gave him a chance to speak and it was you (Speaker) who allowed him even after his time was passed, PM Modi said. He further said that he was unable to understand the compulsion for not mentioning Adhir as the speaker from the Congress party. I do not know what is your compulsion. Why he has been side-lined? Maybe there would be a call from Kolkata. Congress insults him again and again. I express my sympathy to Adhir Babu, he added. The Prime Minister then took a jibe at Adhir Ranjan Chaudhury and said "But he is an expert on how to do a complete mess (Gud ka gobar kaise karna hai, usme ye mahir hain)," PM Modi added. Meanwhile, the members of the Opposition kept asking the PM to speak on Manipur. However, starting his speech, Modi took a jibe at the Opposition over moving a no-confidence motion against his government saying that this is the blessing of God that a motion for floor test has been brought by the opposition. God is very kind and speaks through some medium...I believe that it's the blessing of God that opposition has brought this motion. I had said during the no-confidence motion in 2018 that it was not a floor test for us but a floor test for them and as a result they lost in the elections..." PM Modi said while replying to the no-trust vote. The PM also said that Opposition's No-Confidence has always been lucky for the NDA government. "In a way, Opposition's No Confidence has always been lucky for us. Today, I can see that you (The opposition) have decided that NDA and BJP will come back in the 2024 elections with a grand victory, breaking all previous records, with the blessings of the people," he said, adding that the trust of the people of the country shown in our government again and again. (ANI) Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and MP Manoj Jha on Thursday said that what Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on Manipur in Lok Sabha was not expected from him. Talking to ANI, Manoj Jha said that the PM could not heal the wounds of the people of Manipur as was expected from him. We thought that PM Modi will speak on Manipur...But what did we see? Comments, jokes and WhatsApp talks... This was not expected from PM Modi...People from Manipur would have expected that the PM will heal their wounds today, but he could not do so," Jha said. PM Modi on Thursday, while speaking on a no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha, assured for strictest punishment for the accused who indulged in crimes against women. Asserting that state and central government are working to restore peace in Manipur, the PM said that the government is taking steps to bring normalcy there. "Both the state and central governments are doing everything possible to ensure that the accused get the strictest punishment. I want to assure the people that peace will be restored in Manipur in the coming time, PM Modi said while replying to the no-confidence motion against his government. There are serious crimes against women and they are unforgivable," he added. He further said the country is with the people of Manipur. I want to tell people of Manipur including women and daughters of Manipur that the country is with you, he added. The no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition against the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was defeated in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.The NDA defeated the no-confidence motion comfortably with a voice vote in the Lok Sabha. The opposition moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government on July 26 which was taken up by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. The three days of the motion witnessed a fierce battle between the ruling and the Opposition coalitions over the Manipur violence and other raging issues. (ANI) IndiGo Airlines on Thursday flagged off a direct flight connecting the spiritual city of Varanasi with the state capital Lucknow, reducing travel time between cities to just 70 mins. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister of State for civil aviation General VK Singh (Retd) and other senior officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation joined the inaugural event via video conferencing. Speaking on the occasion, UP CM said that the state has huge potential for the aviation industry and in the last six years the state has witnessed enormous growth in terms of infrastructure development. "We have nine functioning airports in the state and 12 others are under the process that includes two international airport-Ayodhya and Noida," he said. He added that airlines should focus on behaviour, safety and punctuality as it will make a positive impact on passengers. It promises a significant reduction in the amount of time required to travel between these two important cities, he said. The flight will take roughly 70 minutes to travel from Lucknow to Varanasi overall. On the other hand, it will take 55 minutes to travel back from Varanasi to Lucknow. The flight will run three times a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, according to the timetable posted on IndiGos website. The flight will take off at 2:20 pm from the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow and land at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi at 3:30 pm. Varanasi to Lucknows return trip will take place between 4:05 and 5 pm. General VK Singh (Retd) said that at present there are 15 flights from Varanasi and 41 flights from Lucknow for various destinations. IndiGo has started flights in many locations and today two important places have got connected. He also asked IndiGo to focus on Western UP and connect it to other destinations in Eastern and Central UP. (ANI) Asserting that state and central government are working to restore the peace in Manipur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday assured for strictest punishment for the accused indulged in crimes against women. There are serious crimes against women and they are unforgivable," he added. "Both the state and central governments are doing everything possible to ensure that the accused get the strictest punishment. I want to assure the people that peace will be restored in Manipur in the coming time, PM Modi said while replying to the no-confidence motion against his government. He further said the country is with the people of Manipur. I want to tell people of Manipur including women and daughters of Manipur that the country is with you, he added. Notably, the Opposition has moved a no-confidence motion against the NDA government over the issue of Manipur. The Opposition has been demanding a statement from the PM inside the Parliament over Manipur. Congress is asking us answers for Manipur violence, they are forgetting what Nehru ji did when Assam was attacked," PM Modisaid. He further said that the Opposition didn't have the courage and intention to discuss Manipur. "We had asked them (opposition) to come for a discussion on Manipur. The Home Minister had written a letter, asking them to hold a discussion on Manipur. But they didn't have the courage and intention. There was an intention to send a message of peace to the people of Manipur in Amit Shah's message, the PM said. Meanwhile, Opposition MPs staged a walkout of the Lok Sabha as Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks on the motion. PM Modi, coming down heavily on the Opposition, especially on Congress said that their pain is selective and they cannot think beyond politics. "Whose government was there in Manipur when everything used to happen according to the wishes of insurgent organisations? Whose government was there in Manipur when Mahatma Gandhi's picture was not allowed in government offices, whose government was there in Manipur when the decision to not allow the national anthem in schools was taken?... Their (opposition) pain is selective. They cannot think beyond politics...," he added. Modi tore into the Congress party during his reply to the debate on the no-confidence motion, saying the people of the country had no confidence in Congress. "People of the country have no confidence in Congress. Due to arrogance, they are not able to see the reality. In Tamil Nadu, they won in 1962 and since 1962 the people of Tamil Nadu are saying 'No Congress'. In West Bengal they won in 1972, people of West Bengal are also saying 'No Congress'. In UP, Bihar, and Gujarat they won in 1985 and the people of these states are also saying 'No Congress'...," the PM said. (ANI) Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the first flight service from Lucknow to Varanasi on Thursday, said an official statement. The service, launched by IndiGo Airlines, will complete the journey between Varanasi and Lucknow in just 55 minutes. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the flight held at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, the Chief Minister described the launch of the flight to connect the state capital with the spiritual capital of the nation as "much-needed" and a "commendable effort". He added, This service will fulfill the commitment of the Prime Minister's Udaan Scheme, which aims to allow even the common man wearing slippers to travel by air. The Chief Minister expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Civil Aviation of the Government of India and IndiGo Airlines on behalf of the people of the state, said the statement. He stated that the demand of entrepreneurs, businessmen, representatives, enlightened society, and pilgrims visiting the Vishwanath Dham in Varanasi was being met today with the launch of the air service between Varanasi and Lucknow., it added. CM Yogi further stated that, under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, Varanasi has established new milestones in the realms of spirituality, culture, and physical development, said the statement. Considering this progress, it was crucial for Varanasi to be connected with Lucknow through air. In the year 2016-17, Varanasi Airport saw only 19 lakh passengers in a year, but today, in 202223, this number has grown to more than 25 lakh passengers, he added. The Chief Minister highlighted that in the past 6 years, there has been a rapid expansion of air services in Uttar Pradesh. Initially, in 2017, there were only two active airports in Varanasi and Lucknow whereas presently, there are 9 fully operational airports in the state, added the statement. He mentioned that the state government is now expeditiously preparing 12 more airports, including two international airports, and among these, the Ayodhya Airport will become fully operational in December. Similarly, the first runway of Asia's largest Jewar Airport will also be completed by the end of this year, it added. The Chief Minister revealed that in the past, no one even thought about domestic airports, but today the work of connecting Azamgarh, Shravasti, Chitrakoot, Aligarh, Moradabad, and Saharanpur with air services is progressing rapidly, said the official statement. He emphasized that the country is currently in a phase of healthy competition wherein safety and punctuality in air services are particularly essential. He said that around 2000 new aircraft are set to enter the Indian market soon, which will elevate people's aspirations to new heights, it added. The Chief Minister further asserted, even though the distance from Lucknow to Varanasi is around 300 kilometers, the necessity for this air service was undeniable. We need to grasp the importance of Varanasi. "On the occasion of the launch of the first flight service, all the MLAs from Varanasi are travelling to Varanasi, and they will return similarly by air, he CM said. The statement also said that the Chief Minister, while providing the first ticket of the Lucknow to Varanasi flight service to a female passenger, extended best wishes to all travelers for a comfortable journey. On this occasion, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation General Dr. VK Singh, joined through video conferencing from New Delhi. During the program, State Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh, Cabinet Minister Anil Rajbhar, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ravindra Jaiswal, Dr Dayashankar Mishra Dayalu, Chief Secretary of the state Durgashankar Mishra, Director-General of Police Vijay Kumar, Principal Secretary (Home) Sanjay Prasad, CEO of IndiGo Peter Elbers, Special Director of IndiGo R.K. Singh, and Chief Minister's advisor Awanish Awasthi were present, said the statement. The IndiGo flight service between Lucknow and Varanasi has been started for three days a week, namely Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, for now, said the statement. The IndiGo flight with flight number 6E-7319 will depart from Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow at 2:20 PM and will arrive at Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi at 3:30 PM after a 1-hour and 10-minute journey. Similarly, the IndiGo flight with flight number 6E-7321 will depart from Varanasi Airport on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 4:05 PM and will arrive at Lucknow Airport 55 minutes later, stated the official statement. (ANI) Launching a scathing attack on Congress over its dynastic politics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the Congress's "darbar" system had destroyed various leaders of the country. While responding to the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister said that the potrait ofNetaji Subhas Chandra Bose was put up in Parliament only after a non-Congress government came to power. The Congress always gives importance dynasty above everyone else. He said, "The Congresss darbar system a reference to loyalists to the Gandhi family had destroyed various leaders." In Congresss darbar system, they stole opportunities from many leaders, including BR Ambedkar. They made fun of his clothes. Their darbarwaad destroyed various leaders. Netaji Subhas Chandra Boses portrait found a place in Parliament only after a non-Congress came to power, the Prime Minister said. PM Modi also hit the Congress for divding "Maa Bharati" into three parts for political interests and also pointed out that the Katchatheevu Island was ceded to Sri Lanka during the tenure of the Indira Gandhi government in 1974. "While Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister, an aerial bombing in Mizoram happened and Katchatheevu island, now a part of Sri Lanka, was given to another country. "Was it not a part of Maa Bharati?" he said. A day after Rahul Gandhi criticised Modi government of neglecting Manipur and inaction over the crimes against women, PM Modi said, "What has been said about Maa Bharti has deeply hurt the sentiments of every Indian...Don't know why some people wishing for the death of Bharat Mata. Nothing is more unfortunate than this." Taking note of violence-hit Manipur, PM Modi asserted that state and central government are working to restore the peace in the northeastern state. "Both the state and central governments are doing everything possible to ensure that the accused get the strictest punishment. I want to assure the people that peace will be restored in Manipur in the coming time, PM Modi said while replying to the no-confidence motion against his government. Notably, the Opposition has formed their alliance-I.N.D.I.A (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) to take on the NDA government in the 2024 general election. The opposition moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government on July 26 which was taken up by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. According to the Opposition, they were compelled to table the motion as they wanted the PM to speak on Manipur in the Parliament. Notably, any Lok Sabha MP, who has the support of 50 colleagues, can, at any point of time, introduce a motion of no-confidence against the Council of Ministers. Thereafter, a discussion on the motion takes place. MPs who support the motion highlight the governments shortcomings, and the Treasury Benches respond to the issues they raise. Ultimately, voting takes place and if the motion is successful, the government is forced to vacate the office. (ANI) Delhi Government on Thursday issued an advisory, prohibiting the use of mobile phones in school premises, an official release said. According to the advisory, Directorate of Education said, "The parents are requested to ensure that their wards do not carry mobile phones in the school premises. In case, students bring mobile phones to the school, then the school authorities shall make adequate and appropriate arrangements for safe custody using lockers/others system etc." The advisory also directed the teachers and staffs to to avoid using mobile phones in places like classrooms, playgrounds, laboratories and libraries where teaching and learning activities take place. "Teachers and other staff are refrained from using mobiles during the teaching and learning activities i.e. in classrooms, playgrounds, laboratories and Library etc." it said. The advisory asked school authorities to provide helpline numbers where students and parents can call in case of an emergency. The school authorities may provide sufficient dedicated helpline numbers to the parents/students from where the students can receive and make calls. Accordingly, HoS of all Government Schools and all the HoS/Manager of Private Unaided/ Aided Recognized Schools of DoE are hereby advised to disseminate the above information to all the students and parents as well as all the teaching/non-teaching staff working in their schools and take necessary action," it said. (ANI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday described the violence-hit Manipur as a "piece of one's heart", and said that all efforts will be made to restore peace in the northeastern state which will soon walk the path of progress. "The north-east is our 'jigar ka tukda'. The problems of Manipur are presented in such a manner as if they had begun in the recent past," Modi said. He assured the people of the strife-torn northeastern state that peace shall soon return as the government is doing everything possible to punish the accused. The country is with you; this Parliament is with you. We will together find ways to resolve this challenge, peace will be established again soon. I assure the people of Manipur that the state will again witness progress, Modi said. The Prime Minister also appealed to all Opposition parties to involve in a collective effort to gain the trust of the people of Manipur and asked them not to exploit the situation in the northeastern state for political gains. PM Modi further asked the opposition to work together for restoring peace in Manipur and bringing normalcy there. "I want to request the MPs of the Parliament to understand the value of this time. Come and proceed together. In this country, there have been more serious issues in the past, but we found a way to work together. Let's come together. Take people of Manipur in confidence. Don't take advantage of Manipur for doing politics. What has happened there in Manipur is unfortunate. Understand their pain and work for healing it. This should be our only way, PM Modi said while concluding his speech on the debate on no-confidence motion. He further said that serious crimes against women took place in Manipur and it is unforgivable. The central and state governments are making all possible efforts to ensure the strictest punishment to those guilty. I want to assure people of the country that peace will be restored and Manipur will move ahead with new self-confidence," he added. Replying to the debate on the no-confidence motion, PM Modi said, If the motions would have not been moved, we (the government) could not be able to speak this much. Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A) staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha during Prime Minister Narendra Modis reply to the motion of no confidence. However, the no-confidence motion was defeated in the Lok Sabha. The NDA defeated the no-confidence motion comfortably with a voice vote in the Lok Sabha. The three days of the motion witnessed a fierce battle between the ruling and the Opposition coalitions over the Manipur violence and other raging issues. The opposition moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government on July 26 which was taken up by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. Notably, any Lok Sabha MP, who has the support of 50 colleagues, can, at any point of time, introduce a motion of no-confidence against the Council of Ministers.Thereafter, a discussion on the motion takes place. MPs who support the motion highlight the governments shortcomings, and the Treasury Benches respond to the issues they raise. Ultimately, voting takes place and if the motion is successful, the government is forced to vacate the office. (ANI) The Kukikhel tribesmen in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who were uprooted from their protest camp by the police, announced to observe August 14 Pakistans independence day as a Black Day to press the authorities for accepting their demands, Dawn reported. The matter pertains to the uprooting of the protest camp at the historic Bab-i-Khyber in Jamrud after the imposition of Section 144 by the administration over the deteriorating law and order in the district. Reacting sharply to the midnight action, Kukikhel elders threatened to register an FIR against the police officials, Dawn reported. Addressing the protesters at Bab-i-Khyber on Tuesday, Kukikhel elder Malak Naseer Ahmad announced that, Black flags would be hoisted atop all their houses and all types of vehicles on August 14 as the relevant authorities failed to address the issues of delay in the return of the remaining displaced families, excessive power outages and resolution of their land dispute with Peshawar Development Authority. He, however, added three more demands of restoration of lasting peace in Khyber, release or recovery of all the missing persons and vacating of all the private properties occupied by security forces in different parts of Tirah, Dawn reported. The Kukikhel elder also rejected the 'jirga' of tribal elders with the chief of the army staff in Peshawar held on Monday. He alleged that the official jirga failed to raise the issues of law and order in newly-merged districts, missing persons, return of displaced persons and occupation of private properties by security forces with the army chief. He said that their protest would continue till acceptance of all their legitimate demands. It is pertinent to mention here that police had registered an FIR against Malak Naseer Ahmad for passing derogatory remarks in his speech during a peace rally in Tirah on July 25. He later secured bail before arrest (BBA) from a local court and has since been leading the Kukikhel protest in Jamrud, according to Dawn. Meanwhile, Bara Siyasi Ittehad (BSI) announced on Tuesday to hold another peace rally in Bara on August 12. Addressing a news conference at Landi Kotal Press Club, BSI president Shah Faisal Afridi said, The situation was deteriorating with every passing day as incidents of targeted killing, extortion and attacks on security check posts had become a routine matter. He said that invitations for the August 12 rally had also been sent to the top leadership of major political parties to make it a grand show in support of peace, Dawn reported. (ANI) US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Wednesday (local time) said he does not want to speak on private diplomatic exchanges revealed in the cypher document. He added that the comments in the document in no way showcase the US taking a position on who the leader of Pakistan ought to be. Addressing a press briefing on Wednesday (local time), Miller said the US expressed concern privately to the Pakistan government as it expressed concern publicly regarding the then-Pakistan Prime Minister's visit to Russia on the same day when the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv started. Asked about the veracity of comments in the cypher document, Miller said, "Yes, it is reported to be a Pakistani document. I can't speak to whether it is actually a Pakistani document or not, just simply don't know. With respect to the comments that were reported, I don't want to speak on private diplomatic exchanges, other than to say that even if those comments were accurate as reported, they in no way show United States taking a position on who the leader of Pakistan ought to be." "We expressed concern privately to the government of Pakistan as we expressed concern publicly about then-Prime Minister Khan to Moscow on the very day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.We made that concern quite clear. But, as the former ambassador of the Pakistan to the US himself stated the allegations that the United States has interfered in the internal decisions about the leadership of Pakistan are false as we have stated they are false. They have always been false and they remain false," he added. Miller was asked about the document after The Intercept reported that the US State Department, in a meeting on March 7, 2022, encouraged the Pakistani government to remove Imran Khan as the country's Prime Minister over his neutrality in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Miller said the comments in the purported cable show the US government expressing concern regarding the policy choices that Imran Khan was taking as Pakistan's PM. He said the comments in no way showcase the US government expressing a preference on who the leadership of Pakistan ought to be. "If you take all of the comments that were reported in that purported cable, I think what they show is that US government expressing concern about the policy choices that the Prime Minister was taking. It is not in any way the United States government expressing a preference on who the leadership of Pakistan ought to be," Miller said at the press briefing. He added, "I cannot speak to the veracity of this document. What I can see, let us even, if those comments are 100 per cent accurate as reported, which I do not know them to be. They do not in any way show a representative of the State Department taking a position on who their leadership, they are commenting on." The meeting between the Pakistani ambassador to the US and two US State Department officials has been a matter of intense scrutiny, controversy, and speculation in Pakistan over the past year and a half, as the former Pakistan PM and his military and civilian opponents struggled for power. One month after the meeting with US officials was revealed in the Pakistan government's document, a no-confidence vote was held in Parliament, resulting in Khans ouster from power. The vote in the Pakistani parliament was believed to have the support of Pakistan's army. The text of the Pakistani cable, known as "cypher", produced from the meeting by the ambassador and transmitted to Pakistan has revealed the methods used by the US State Department in its push against Khan, promising warmer ties with Islamabad if Khan was removed, and isolation if he was not, The Intercept reported. The document, titled 'Secret', includes an account of the meeting between US State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu and Asad Majeed Khan, who was then Pakistan's ambassador to the US, The Intercept reported. The cable includes the carrots and sticks used by the US State Department in its push against then-Pakistan PM Imran Khan. The dynamics of the Pakistan-US ties mentioned in the cable were subsequently borne out by events, according to The Intercept report. In the cable, the US has raised objections to the foreign policy of Imran Khan over the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The stance taken by Imran Khan over Ukraine was quickly reversed post his removal from office. (ANI) Two people were killed and seven others injured in the Russian attack in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday, Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said, CNN reported. Klymenko said, "Initially, there was information about three dead. Fortunately, one person was resuscitated. Police paramedics assisted the doctors at the scene." "Rescuers quickly extinguished the fire in the outbuilding. The police conducted door-to-door checks of the residential buildings. No one was found dead or injured. People who are injured were outside at the time of a strike," he added. Ihor Klymenko said an air raid alert is now in effect in Zaporizhzhia. He called on the people to not neglect safety rules, according to CNN. Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had said three people were killed in the attack. He said that the rescue operation was being carried out and the victims will be provided with the necessary assistance. In a Telegram post, Zelenskyy said, "The rescue operation is underway. All victims will be provided with the necessary assistance. And this war crime of Russia will certainly face its sentence. And the response to Russian terrorists will be on the frontline - thanks to our heroic warriors," according to CNN. In his late address to the nation on Wednesday, the Ukraine President said, "Today, Russian terrorists hit Zaporizhzhia again - an ordinary building was hit, a church and a residential building were damaged," according to the statement released by the Ukrainian President's office. "As of now, unfortunately, it is known that there are dead...there are wounded. My condolences to the families and friends who have lost their loved ones," he added. Zelenskyy said Ukraine needs more air defence systems. He was quoted as saying in an official statement, "Step by step, we are turning this much more into concrete capabilities of our Air Force, our anti-aircraft gunners, our mobile firing brigades. We are also preparing more specifics on modern fighters for our warriors: I have no doubt that F-16s will be in our skies." Yurii Malashko, head of the Zaporizhzhia region military administration, said the number of those wounded in the attack "may increase as windows in many apartments were smashed and glass shattered," according to CNN report. Malashko added that a church and retail outlets were among the buildings that were destroyed in the attack. (ANI) The United States continues to call for the respect of democratic principles, human rights and the rule of law in Pakistan, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday (local time). Addressing a press briefing, Miller said, "I will just say that we continue to believe that these are matters for the Pakistani people to decide. Our bottom-line principle is that we continue to call for the respect of democratic principles, human rights, and the rule of law in Pakistan, as we do around the world." US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller made the remarks in response to a question regarding former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's arrest and cases registered against him. Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was arrested last week in the Toshakhana case, has expressed his sadness about staying in jail and said that he doesn't want to stay there, Pakistan-based Geo News reported. While speaking to his lawyers in the Attock jail, Imran Khan said, "Take me out of here; I don't want to remain in jail," according to the officials. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan also stated that he remains holed up inside his prison cell in "distressing" conditions, as per the sources. The jail authorities on Monday allowedKhan's counsel Naeem Haider Panjotha to meet him, who after seeing the PTI chairman said that the former Pakistan PM was being kept in "distressing" conditions provided C-Class jail facilities. Panjotha further that Imran Khan was in high morale despite all such difficulties and vowed to spend his lifetime in jail but wouldn't bow to slavery, Geo News reported. However, the sources said that the PTI chairman, during the meeting with his lawyer, conveyed his concerns regarding the environment at the prison with flies taking over his cell during the day and insects at night. On Saturday, Pakistan district and sessions court sentenced PTI chairman Imran Khan to three years in prison in the Toshakhana case i.e. for illegally selling state gifts and he has been disqualified from politics for a period of five years, local media reported. The court also imposed a fine of Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 100,000 on Imran Khan, Geo News reported. He was arrested from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore soon after being convicted in the Toshakhana case. During the hearing, presided by Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Humayun Dilawar, the trial court ruled that charges against Imran Khan in the case were proven, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.(ANI) A rally was held in Turbat city of Pakistan's Balochistan on Tuesday as locals led by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) held a protest over the killing of Abdul Rauf, a teacher at Bolan School in Turbat, The Balochistan Post reported. The demonstration started at Bolan School, where Abdul Rauf taught and moved towards Shaheed Fida Ahmed Chowk. Youngsters, including women, carrying placards called for justice. People's protest comes after a teacher was shot dead by unknown men in Balochistan. During the rally, there was concern among the protesters regarding the role of the religious jirga. Accusations were rife over jirga's involvement in the death of Abdul Rauf. According to The Balochistan Post report, the protesters said, "With existing national institutions, what gives a cleric-led tribunal such unbridled power?" The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) distributed pamphlets titled, "The Murder of Rauf Baloch and Various State Policies." The document aimed to showcase what the committee considers as the states systematic campaign against the Baloch people, The Balochistan Post reported. The pamphlet highlighted the rise in enforced disappearances and drew attention to the targeting of prominent Baloch figures. The pamphlet took note of Raufs murder, marking it as the first instance where alleged state-backed religious extremists had openly killed a teacher on blasphemy charges in Turbat. The pamphlet also highlighted Balochistan's secularism despite the increase in religious radicalism in Pakistan. The document voiced concerns regarding the state's alleged plan of exploiting religious groups to undermine the Baloch movement for independence and affect its secular socio-political fabric, the report said. It also mentioned the past incidents where prominent Baloch figures were targeted under religious pretexts. It mentioned the instances like the deaths of Zahid Askani, Professor Saba Dashtiyari, and Abdul Razzaq, according to The Balochistan Post report. The Baloch Yakjehti Committees pamphlet called on the people of Balochistan to remain vigilant against attempts to introduce religious extremism in the region. It called on the people to recognize these alleged tactics and to protest against them. A teacher was shot dead by unknown men in the Kech district in southern Balochistan, Pakistan-based Dawn reported. According to the police, an English teacher, Abdul Rauf, was attacked near a graveyard in the Malikabad area in Turbat town of the district on Saturday when he, accompanied by some people, was going to attend a 'jirga,' a forum for resolving disputes, to explain his position to Ulemas on the matter. The 22-year-old teacher used to work in the language centre. Citing the sources, Dawn reported that students of the language centre had lodged complaints with local clerics, accusing Rauf of committing blasphemy during a lecture. Sudhir Ahmed, the principal said that a group of ulema visited the language centre on Friday and listened to the students and Rauf on the issue. Rauf denied the allegation and insisted he did not commit any blasphemy, Dawn reported. He tendered an apology for any objectionable words on the issue, according to Dawn. The clerics said they would resolve the issue and asked Rauf to come to the 'jirga' to explain his position. I invited Abdul Rauf to the jirga where over 100 ulemas from Turbat were present to resolve the issue amicably, but he was killed by unknown masked men before reaching the madrassa, Mufti Shah Mir said, according to Dawn. He added that the police were informed about the issue after the murder. (ANI) He was shot to death by gunmen at a political rally in Quito, less than two weeks prior to the Ecuador elections, according to police. Fernando Villavicencio, aged 59, was shot several times as he left the rally at a high school in Quito, General Manuel Iniguez, a deputy commander of the Ecuadorean national police said, according to The Washington Post. He was taken to a nearby clinic, where he was pronounced dead. A police officer was also injured in the attack, General Manuel Iniguez said. The gunmen also launched a grenade towards Villavicencios group. However, the grenade did not explode, The Washington Post reported. Villavicencio was a member of Ecuadors National Assembly before it was dissolved in May. He was one of the leading candidates in the first round of voting set to be conducted on August 20 to succeed Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso. Ecuador is facing record levels of gang violence, with drug trafficking getting out of control, as people prepare to vote for the polls, The Washington Post reported. During the election campaign, the candidates focused on rising violence in Ecuador. Guillermo Lasso called the snap elections after dissolving the National Assembly and avoiding impeachment. (ANI) Coup leaders in Niger have accused French forces of violating the prohibition on using its airspace to 'destabilise' the West African nation, as France promptly rejected the allegations, an Al Jazeera report said. Colonel Amadou Abdramane, a spokesman for the coup leaders, alleged in a video address on Wednesday that France had freed 16 "terrorist elements" who then assembled to plot an attack on Nigerien military posts along the border. He said that at 6:30 am (05:30 GMT), a National Guard unit was attacked in Bourkou Bourkou, which is located around 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) from the Samira gold mine in the Tillaberi district, according to Al Jazeera. The colonel further claimed that a French military aircraft violated a restriction on the countrys airspace. Abdramane stated, We are witnessing a real plan of destabilisation of our country, orchestrated by French forces." Frances Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs rejected the accusations and said its aircraft movements were part of an earlier agreement with Nigerien forces. Notably, soldiers from Niger's presidential guard overthrew the government and detained President Mohammad Bazoum on July 26, sparking international outrage and the possibility of a military invasion by other West African countries. On Sunday, the Nigerien airspace was shut down by the coup leaders, who also forbade any outside intervention, reported Al Jazeera. Niger has been engulfed in political chaos since late last month when the country's President Mohamed Bazoum was ousted in a coup. Following the military coup Abdourahamane Tiani, the commander of Niger's presidential guard, has declared himself the country's leader. Meanwhile,USSecretary of StateAntony Blinkenhas spoken toNiger PresidentMohamed Bazoumand reiterated America's calls for his release. Taking to his official Twitter handle, Blinken said that he spoke to Niger's President to express our continued efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the current constitutional crisis. He tweeted, "Spoke to Nigerien President Bazoum to express our continued efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the current constitutional crisis. The United States reiterates our call for the immediate release of him and his family." Earlier, on Tuesday,USState Department SpokespersonMatthew Millersaid that Acting Secretary Victoria Nuland met with leaders of the junta in Niger, making it clear that there would be consequences if they didnt return to the diplomatic path. Miller also added that there are hundreds of millions of dollars ofUS assistance at stake in Niger. (ANI) Taking to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, the official handle of India in Belarus wrote, "On 9 August 2023, Ambassador called on the Foreign Minister of Belarus, HE Sergei Aleinik." "The two sides discussed various aspects of bilateral ties as well as cooperation in multilateral fora," the tweet added. Earlier in July, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar wished the government and people of Belarus on their Independence Day. Taking to his official Twitter handle,Jaishankarstated, "Felicitations to FM Sergei Aleinik and the Government and people ofBelaruson their Independence Day." In June this year, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko took part in a solemn meeting to mark Independence Day, according to an offical statement released by Belarus President's office. India's ties with Belarus have been warm and cordial and India was one of the first nations to recognize Belarus as an independent nation in 1991. Formal diplomatic ties between the two nations were established and the Indian diplomatic mission was opened in Minsk in 1992. In April this year, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Lieutenant General Viktor Gennadievich Khrenin, on the sidelines of the SCO Defence Ministers' meeting in Delhi. Rajnath Singh tweeted, "Had fruitful discussions with the Defence Minister ofBelarus, Lieutenant General Khernin Victor Gennadievich in New Delhi." Earlier in December, Indian ambassador toBelarusAlok Ranjan Jha metBelarus's foreign minister Sergei Aleinik and held talks with a key focus on India's SCO Chairmanship." FM Sergei #Aleinik, Ambassador of #India@IndiainBelarusdiscussed topical issues onBelarus-India bilateral agenda, interaction within Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the light of #India's SCO Chairmanship,"Belarusforeign ministry said in a tweet. During the meeting, close attention was paid to the implementation of the agreements following the results of the 11th Session of theBelarusian-Indian Intergovernmental Commission, aimed at further expanding cooperation in the field of trade, economy, science, technology and culture." (ANI) North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un has replaced a senior general in the North Korean military, and has further asked for intensified military training, weapon manufacture, and war preparations, Al Jazeera reported citing the countrys state media KCNA on Thursday. KCNA said on Thursday that Kim made the remarks during a Central Military Commission meeting when plans for measures to fend off North Korea's foes were addressed. The Chief of the General Staff of North Korea, Gen. Pak Su Il has been "dismissed". About seven months had passed since he began in his position. General Ri Yong Gil, who had previously been the nation's defence minister and supreme commander of its conventional forces, took over for Pak. Ri had previously held the position of army chief of staff, according to Al Jazeera. When Ri was sacked in 2016, his dismissal and subsequent absence from official North Korean events led to South Korean rumours that he had been executed, however, a few months later, Ri made a comeback when he was appointed to another top position. According to KCNA, "the issue of making full war preparations" including "securing more powerful strike means" to guarantee "perfect military readiness for a war" was on the agenda of Wednesday's meeting between Kim and the Central Military Commission. This comes after pictures of Kim Jong visiting arms factories, examining artillery installations, and even shooting a gun surfaced recently. These images purport to provide a rare look into the secretive state's weapons facilities, reported CNN. The images, which were issued by the North Korean state news agency KCNA on Saturday, showed Kim viewing a production facility for a "large-calibre artillery complex" and providing "on-site guidance" to employees at a facility producing "strategic cruise missiles and unmanned attack aircraft." Additionally, it said that Kim provided "important directions" for "capacity-building for the serial production of new ammunition." Even though the gruelling conflict ended in stalemate and the peninsula was split,North Koreacelebrated the armistice andVictory Dayin July by holding a large military display that allegedly featured two versions of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). TheHwasong-18missiles,Pyongyang's newest solid-fueledICBMs, were rolled into Kim Il Sung Square in the capital before the Hwasong-17, a liquid-fueledICBM. Many analysts believe theHwasong-18s have the range to hit the entire mainland United States. The parade was deemed a "huge glory" for the country's armed forces and a "great celebration" for all of its citizens byNorth Korean Defence MinisterKang Sun Nam, as per CNN. (ANI) Containers are stored at the railway container freight center in Suifenhe, Heilongjiang province. [Photo/VCG] China's Suifenhe Port, the largest land port in Heilongjiang province, is located on the China-Russia border. It has recorded 2,290 inbound and outbound China-Europe freight train trips since it opened in 2018. Over the past five years, the number of trains has increased from 20 a year at the beginning to 95 a month at its peak, having carried 212,469 standard-sized shipping containers between 25 cities in China and different cities in five European countries. These remarkable figures not only represent the growing importance of China-Europe freight trains in world trade but also embody the vision of the Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to enhance economic cooperation and promote win-win results. The China-Europe freight train service, launched in 2011, has already made over 10,000 trips this year alone, with a typical freight journey from Xi'an to Germany's Duisburg taking only 12 days. The growth of the China-Europe freight train system has built a bridge for cooperation and exchanges between the countries on the Eurasian continent, connecting the East and West and helping them work together for prosperity. The Eurasian continent, with a population of 5.4 billion, is the largest single continuous landmass in the world. As such, it has always provided ample economic opportunities. The rapid growth of freight trains between China and Europe has provided convenient, fast, affordable, and reliable logistical channels for the countries along the routes. With increasingly diverse and flexible China-Europe routes, more resilient supply chains have begun to form. For example, the freight train service was effective in guaranteeing the flow of goods and averting the disruptions caused by shipping due to the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic. This also shows that China-EU relations can prosper through the establishment of geographic continuity and subsequently establishes the potential for more European goods to travel in the other direction. It is able to offer gains to every single country involved by creating a more tightly-knit economic community and breaking down the barriers between them. Central Asian countries, due to their landlocked geographic position, have rare opportunities to carry out international trade or attain prosperity. However, China-Europe railway routes allow them to better reach their neighbors and become hubs for transcontinental trade, which also offers them opportunities to export their own goods. This, therefore, emulates the benefits of the ancient Silk Road. China-Europe freight trains serve as a vital bridge of cooperation, enabling countries across Eurasia to share business opportunities with each other and bring them closer. In a world that is beset with challenges and uncertainty, Eurasia, with its connected markets and integration, is providing new paths for growth and prosperity. Tom Fowdy is a British political and international relations analyst and a graduate of Durham and Oxford universities. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/TomFowdy.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said that the country is planning to move nearly 10,000 troops to the border with Belarus, CNN reported on Thursday (Indian time). In an interview with the Polish National Radio, the Polish Defence Minister said that around 10,000 soldiers will be on the border where 4,000 willdirectly support the border guard and the remaining 6,000 will be in reserve. The violation of Polish space by Belarusian helicopters cannot be underestimated because of the Belarusian approach, Blaszczak said on the radio adding it was another provocation. Everything that is happening in Belarus is coordinated with the actions of Russia," CNN quoted Blaszczak as saying. Tensions have been mounting on the Belarus-Poland border since a number of Wagner fighters were stationed in Belarus following the fallout from Yevgeny Prigozhin's aborted mutiny in June. Last month, Belarus' Defense Ministry announced that its forces will hold joint military exercises with Wagner fighters near the border with Poland, a NATO member. Poland Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, on July 29, claimed that over 100 troops from the Russian mercenary group, Wagner, are moving towards a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania. The Poland PM said that his government had received information that Wagner mercenaries went near the Grodno, a city in western Belarus close to the land, which is also known as the Suwalki gap or corridor, according to CNN. Thousands of Wagner troops are reportedly in Belarus following a failed military uprising in Russia. Morawiecki alleged that Belarus, a key ally to Russia, has been sending migrants westward in an attempt to overwhelm Polish border forces. And till now, this year, around 16,000 attempts were made by migrants to cross the border illegally, he added. The troop movements, Morawiecki added, appeared to be another element in this campaign to destabilize the border, according to CNN.They will probably be disguised as Belarusian border guards and will help illegal immigrants to enter Polish territory, destabilize Poland, but they will also probably try to infiltrate Poland pretending to be illegal immigrants and this creates additional risks, he said, according to CNN. These claims came as the Belarusian defence ministry, last month, said the country's forces will hold joint military exercises with Wagner fighters near its border with the NATO member. (ANI) Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan met his wife Bushra Bibi in Attock jail on Thursday for the first time since he was arrested last week in the Toshakahana case, Geo News reported. Bushra Bibi reached the Attock jail along with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman's lawyers and met Imran Khan. Khan and his wife got private time for about an hour. The ex-first lady's legal team was not present there. However, lawyers Naeem Panjotha, Sher Afzal Marwat and Ali Ijaz Buttar did not get permission to visit the deposed Prime Minister who was removed from power via a parliamentary vote in April last year, reported Geo News. According to Panjotha, Bushra Bibi had got permission to meet Khan from the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The legal team could not get permission to meet the PTI chairman despite showing court orders, said sources. They added that the lawyers remained outside the jail. Khan's wife left for Lahore after their meeting, the sources said. On August 5, Imran Khan was arrested from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore after thecourt found him guilty of "corrupt practices" in the Toshakhana case and sentenced him to three years in prison. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 100,000 on the PTI chief, Geo News reported. Dawn reported that during the hearing today, presided by Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Humayun Dilawar, the trial court ruled that charges against the former prime minister in the case were proven.Imran Khan deliberately submitted fake details [of Toshakhana gifts] to the ECP and is found guilty of corrupt practices, he stated and sent the PTI chief to jail for three years under Section 174 of the Election Act. Khan denies the allegations against him, according to Geo News. The party of the former prime minister has moved the Supreme Court against the trial court's order, seeking to declare Judge Dilawar's verdict "null and void". The PTI has also approached Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq requesting Khan's transfer from Attock jail to Adiala jail, as per Geo News. (ANI) The rescue teams found their bodies on Myanmar's shores after the incident. Reportedly, 33 people are still missing. Moreover, the incident took place near Rakhine state's capital city Sittwe, according to CNN. Bya Latt, a spokesperson for the Shwe Yaung Matta Foundation rescue group said that out of 17, ten were women and seven men, adding that, all the victims were Rohingya Muslims. However, eight victims were found alive and are currently being held at a local police station, Latt added. Furthermore, an official from Sittwe police said that the boat was transporting 58 people and included three boat drivers. They were met with a storm in the sea and the boat sank under huge waves," the official added, reported CNN. Meanwhile, local police along with the rescue foundation are conducting joint rescue operations. The police official added that the victims belonged to various townships including Rathedaung, Maungdaw and Buthidaung. The complex Rohingya refugee crisis erupted in August 2017, following attacks on remote police outposts in western Myanmar by armed groups alleged to be from within the community. Since August 25, 2017, more than 7,00,000 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have fled to Bangladesh. This Rohingya refugee crisis is among the largest, fastest movements of people in recent history. Today, about 880,000 stateless Rohingya refugees live in the world's largest and most densely populated refugee camp, Kutupalong. About half of the refugees are children, the report added. (ANI) Gawalmandi Station House Officer (SHO) Jawad Shaban said that the initial explosion set off other crackers in the shop, resulting in a fire and leaving two people injured. He further said that the fire brigade of the Quetta Metropolitan Corporation doused the blaze, but the cracker shop was completely destroyed while two others abutting it were partially damaged. Television footage showed plumes of smoke following the incident and a crowd gathered at the site, as per Dawn. Meanwhile, a bomb disposal squad inspected the shop. The SHO said it was collecting evidence to confirm the cause of the explosion. Later, Quetta Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations) retired Captain Zohaib Mohsin reached the site and told the media after the inspection that the explosion was caused by crackers setting off. The shop owner had ordered fireworks and crackers in large quantities keeping in view August 14 [celebrations], and they were kept at the rooftop. They exploded due to heat, Dawn quoted Mohsin as saying. The official ruled out the involvement of any terror elements in the incident. Earlier, when the cause of the explosion was not clear, Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo condemned the incident, terming it a bomb blast. A statement issued by his office said he sought a report from the provinces additional chief secretary and police chief on security measures taken in Balochistan, Dawn reported. (ANI) The representatives of the United States (US) Congress, Ed Case and Richard McCormick will be arriving in Dhaka on August 12 for a four-day visit to Bangladesh, reported Dhaka Tribune. Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abdul Momen confirmed their visit, according to Dhaka Tribune. "We welcome the visit. The Biden administration is sending delegations one after another to strengthen our bilateral relations. This is a good sign," he said. Moreover, according to the Foreign Minister, the visit will be focused on the Rohingya situation since the US is a big donor to the refugees residing in Coxs Bazar fleeing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar." So far, I know they will go to Cox's Bazar to visit Rohingya camps after arrival. Before leaving Dhaka, they will meet me, he said. Moreover, Ed Case is a Democratic representative from Hawaii, whereas, Richard McCormick is a Republican representative from Georgia, Dhaka Tribune reported. Ed Case is a Democratic representative from Hawaii. Richard McCormick is a Republican representative from Georgia. Moreover, the congressmen are also supposed to meet the political leaders from both the ruling Awami League as well as, the opposition, according to the officials. However, their visit comes right before the general elections in which the US showed interest. Additionally, US President Joe Biden's administration announced a policy to restrict visas for those standing in the way of holding free and fair elections which are scheduled to be held in January, reported Dhaka Tribune. Earlier, in a letter to Joe Biden, six members of the US Congress urged him to intervene in Bangladesh's election process. Furthermore, in another letter, 14 Congressmen asked the US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield to take the required measures against the government ahead of Bangladesh's general elections. Amid US reservations over Bangladesh holding free and fair elections, the relationship between the two countries is falling out, according to informed sources. US believes that Awami League has been violating norms of free and fair elections by not allowing the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to participate in the elections. Bangladesh is scheduled to hold general elections by January 2024 and the US wants them to be free of electoral manipulation and misconduct. The US feels that as part of democratic practices which the US is pro-actively pursuing in different countries which they aid and support, there is a need for adherence to free and fair elections and Bangladesh is far from this status. (ANI) Adam Burakowski, the Ambassador of Poland to South Africa pointed out Mahatma Gandhis statue in Johannesburg where the leader is portrayed from his South Africa days. Monument of Mahatma #Gandhi in Gandhi Square in Johannesburg. Gandhi is portrayed as a young man, from his South African years, Adam Burakowski said on Twitter. https://twitter.com/Adam_Burakowski/status/1689582956774367232?s=20 The board adjoining the statue carried a description of Mahatma Gandhis days in South Africa as a lawyer in the early 20th century. Mohandas K Gandhi was a familiar figure at Johannesburgs first law courts located on Governemnt Square now renamed Gandhi Square, it states. The board also mentions that how MK Gandhi fought against racism both inside and outside the court. Continuing the search for truth, which he had begun in South Africa, he plunged into Indias struggle for freedom and came to be hailed by his people as Mahatma, Great Soul, it further states. The board also mentions a quote by MK Gandhi where he recalls his struggling days in South Africa amid widespread racism referring his situation as that of a Coolie lawyer. I was, with my countymen, in a hopeless minority, not just hopeless minority but a despised minority. If the Europeans of South Africa will forgive me from saying so, we were Coolies. I was an insignificant Coolie lawyer. At that time, we had no Coolie doctors. We had no Coolie lawyers. I was the first in the field. Nevertheless (I was) a Coolie, the quote stated. Notably, before joining the freedom struggle in India, MK Gandhi practised as a lawyer in South Africa. During his stay in the country he also raised voice against the racism practised by the British. He also formed Natal Indian Congress to fight discrimination against Indians in the Natal Colony, which played a major role in opposing apartheid. Gandhi returned to India in 1915, and the Indian freedom movement through the means of truth and non-violence. (ANI) Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Raja Riaz will meet once again on Friday to discuss the names for the caretaker PM, ARY News reported. Earlier today, the formal round of conversation between Sharif and Riaz concluded, Geo News reported. Notably, PM Sharif and Riaz earlier held two meetings at the Prime Minister's House. As President Arif Alvi approved the dissolution of the country's National Assembly late at night, the PM and Riaz had to quickly decide the name for the caretaker PM post. Upon his arrival at the PM's House, Riaz was asked whom he would nominate from his side, to which he said: "I bear three names in mind." The president dissolved the National Assembly on the advice of the prime minister under Article 58-1 of the Constitution, read an official statement issued by the President's Office on X, formerly known as Twitter, late Wednesday.PM Shehbaz has formally invited Riaz for the meeting for consultation in a letter, as per Geo News. In his letter, the premier said that the president has dissolved the National Assembly under Article 58(1) of the constitution and that he is ready to fulfil his constitutional responsibility for the appointment of the caretaker Prime Minister. A process to appoint a caretaker prime minister will be conducted under Article 224-A of the Constitution, which will usher in an interim government to oversee an election. It may be noted that three names have been proposed, including two nominations former diplomat Jalil Abbas Jilani and former chief justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jilani sent by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori, by Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), reported Geo News. However, there's no public announcement by the Pakistan Mulsim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in this regard. Earlier, several names for the caretaker PM post came out and some of them are finance minister Ishaq Dar, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former caretaker prime minister Mohammad Mian Soomro. If the prime minister and opposition leader fail to agree on the name within three days, the matter will go to the parliamentary committee for the appointment of a caretaker PM, according to Geo News. (ANI) Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Meenakshi Lekhi said, "Happy to host a luncheon for Senator the Honourable Hassel Bacchus, Minister of Digital Transformation of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. We engaged in a productive discussion about bilateral cooperation in digital transformation and other matters of mutual interest." Lekhi hosted a luncheon for the minister and further discussed matters of mutual interest. https://twitter.com/M_Lekhi/status/1689632478892601344 Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of T&T Dr Keith C Rowley had met inLondon on April 19, 2018, on the sidelines of the CHOGM Summit and discussed various areasin which cooperation between the two friendly countries could be enhanced further, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. Moreover, in the last two years, there have been several bilateral Ministerial and official levelvisits from India. (ANI) In the latest development, US former President Donald Trump, on Wednesday (local time), in a court filing argued that he should not be required to go to a sensitive information facility to discuss the classified document case, CNN reported. Instead, Trump came up with the idea to discuss those materials at a facility at or near his residence which was earlier approved for discussing theclassified information when he was president. Trumps lawyers did not specify which residence, arguing that doing so in a public filing would pose security concerns, and stressed that they arent seeking to physically take the documents to the facility. The prosecutors had raised concerns about Trump's proposal to discuss the classified materials at his residence "office at Mar-a-Lago."Allowing such discussions at a private residence would amount to exceptional treatment. Prosecutors also noted that Mar-a-Lago Trumps Florida resort is where Trumps alleged crimes took place, according to CNN. Replying to prosecutors on Wednesday (local time), the Trump team asserted that his residence is a highly protected location guarded by federal agents that previously housed a secure facility approved for not only the discussion but also the retention, of classified information. Trumps lawyers argued that requiring the former president to travel to the SCIF at the Miami federal courthouse where the classified evidence would be housed just to discuss the materials would create immense practical and logistical hurdles. Both the required security protocol surrounding President Trumps travel and the challenges surrounding the medias and publics intense focus on this prosecution poses an enormous obstacle to our ability to provide counsel to President Trump regarding classified matters, which are, no doubt, essential to this case, Trumps lawyers wrote. Our proposed alternative is both reasonable and appropriate, given the extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances of this case. Meanwhile, Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a separate filing, detailed the logistical challenges of travelling to the Miami courthouse for discussions with his attorneys about classified evidence, reported CNN. It claimed that doing so would would require an overnight stay in the local area by his protective detail, including members of the Secret Service, as well as an overnight stay by President Trump, while also arguing that the courthouse operations would be severely disrupted with the visits, especially if the public learned in advance that Trump was visiting the facility. (ANI) While taking to his Twitter handle, EAM Jaishankar said, Good to meet UK Minister of State @TomTugendhat this afternoon. Discussed how India and the United Kingdom could make their partnership more contemporary and productive. The current global scenario offers many opportunities to develop our ties." He further added that the present global scenario offers multiple opportunities to develop India-UK ties. https://twitter.com/drsjaishankar/status/1689670386575986688?s=46&t=TbrKHKgG29uXA1CMFN38Pw Earlier this year, Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami, and UK's Minister of State for Security Tom Tugendhat held discussions on bilateral and wider security cooperation between India, and the UK on March 23. India and UK share a good relationship. Recently, both the country signed the Young Professional Scheme where Vikram K Doraiswami was also present. The UK supports Indias proposal for permanent membership of the UNSC and is also an important interlocutor for India in the EU, G8, G20 and global contexts. Moreover, the Parliaments of India and the UK enjoy traditionally close relations, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. (ANI) You are here: World Flash Concerns about food security and the detrimental consequences of geopolitical conflicts on the agricultural food supply chain have come under the spotlight at the ongoing 13th BRICS Ministers of Agriculture meeting, which is held in South Africa's Limpopo Province. Mooketsa Ramasodi, director-general of South African Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development, told media Wednesday that the meeting would deal with imminent issues affecting the sector. The meeting will result in a plan that would be in the BRICS Action Plan for 2021-2024, he said, noting that the issues around geopolitics are topical issues. Held under the theme of "strengthening collaborations towards sustainable agricultural production and increasing productivity," the meeting began Tuesday and will last until Friday. Measures must be taken to protect the global food supply chain against the effects of geopolitical conflicts, Ramasodi said. Climate change, rural development, economic difficulties, poverty, and population expansion will also be discussed during the meeting, according to Ramasodi. BRICS is an acronym for five emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. South Africa assumed the BRICS presidency on Jan. 1, 2023, taking over from China. The Dallas Police Department has released surveillance video of a shooting where a murder suspect was killed Monday when four officers shot at him. One of the officers involved in the shooting took his own life a day later, police confirmed to Star-Telegram partner WFAA-TV. At around 10 a.m. Monday, the U.S. Marshals Service North Texas Fugitive Task Force was serving an arrest warrant for 36-year-old Corey Thomas, who was wanted in connection with a July 24 homicide on Mentor Street in Dallas. Thomas had an additional warrant out of Garland on a charge of deadly conduct, according to police. Task force officers, including a deputy marshal, a Mesquite police officer, and Dallas Police Officers Matthew Bacon and Edgar Morales, found Thomas inside a pickup truck at an apartment complex, police said in a news release Wednesday. Officers approached Thomas in the vehicle and tried to block him from escaping with their vehicles, police said. Thomas who was in the drivers seat of the truck tried to leave through the passenger door, which was blocked. He then pulled a firearm and pointed it at officers, according to the release. Police are heard in the surveillance video from the apartment complex repeatedly telling Thomas to show them his hands. The four officers then fired their guns and shot Thomas. None of the officers were wearing body cameras while working as task force officers due to a federal memorandum of understanding that requires an amendment the department is seeking, which is currently under review, police said in the release. Dallas Fire-Rescue was immediately requested and officers began providing first aid, police said in the release. Thomas was taken by Dallas Fire-Rescue to a local hospital, where he died shortly after. No officers were injured in the shooting. Thomas gun was recovered from the vehicle and the truck he was in was reported stolen, police said. Bacon, an 18-year veteran with the Dallas Police Department, took his own life on Tuesday, according to internal Dallas police memos obtained by WFAA. Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia wrote in a memo that Bacons death is a heartbreaking loss for our DPD family and asked other officers to never hesitate to reach out when struggling with mental health issues. A news conference about the shooting that killed Thomas had been scheduled for Wednesday morning, but was postponed. Police have yet to announce a rescheduled time or date. This was the seventh shooting in 2023 in which a Dallas police officer killed or wounded someone. The shooting is being investigated by the Dallas Police Department Special Investigations Unit. The Dallas County District Attorneys Office and Office of Community Police Oversight were notified and also responded. Russian strikes against Kharkiv Oblast on Aug. 10 killed one resident and injured two more, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov reported. Russian forces hit a residential building in the village of Podoly in the Kupiansk district. One woman was killed, and one man suffered injuries, the governor said. Russia also targeted the village of Vovchanski Khutory in the Chuhuiv district. A 73-year-old man was injured and received medical care at the spot, Syniehubov reported. Earlier on Aug. 10, local authorities started an evacuation of civilians from 37 settlements in the Kupiansk district. "The enemy has significantly increased the shelling of settlements close to the front line and continues to terrorize the civilian population, including conducting airstrikes," Syniehubov said. "Under such conditions, the risks to the life and health of civilians have increased significantly." Russia has been concentrating its forces around Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast since mid-July, trying to regain the positions lost during the Ukrainian surprise counteroffensive last autumn. Read also: We pushed and they collapsed: How Ukraine liberated Kharkiv Oblast Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. SPOTSWOOD A 1-year-old boy drowned in a pool here Wednesday morning, the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office announced. Police received a 911 call around 11:22 a.m. that a child was found in a pool and was not breathing, the Prosecutors Office said. The Prosecutor's Office did not release the name of the boy or where the pool was located. Police performed CPR on the child to resuscitate him before he was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, the Prosecutors Office said. More: With summer in full swing, take proper precautions to prevent drownings The Prosecutor's Office and the Spotswood Police Department are investigating. Anyone with information is asked to contact Lt. Edward Shapley of the Spotswood Police Department at 732-251-2121 or Detective Javier Morillo of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office at 732 745-8843. Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Spotswood NJ drowning claims 1-year-old boy When European explorers first began sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, they were searching for new routes to China and the East, but what they found was more than they imagined: the New World. Some of these explorers, like Christopher Columbus, are both celebrated and vilified today. Others, like Ferdinand Magellan and Francisco Pizarro, were met with violent and untimely deaths. And some, like Marco Polo, failed to received recognition in their lifetime, only to have their discoveries confirmed centuries later. Learn more about some of the historys most famous explorers and what they are remembered for today. Marco Polo Time Period: Late 13th century Destination: Asia Getty Images Marco Polo was a Venetian explorer known for the book The Travels of Marco Polo, which describes his voyage to and experiences in Asia. Polo traveled extensively with his family, journeying from Europe to Asia from 1271 to 1295, remaining in China for 17 of those years. As the years wore on, Polo rose through the ranks, serving as governor of a Chinese city. Later, Kublai Khan appointed him as an official of the Privy Council. At one point, he was the tax inspector in the city of Yanzhou. Around 1292, he left China, acting as consort along the way to a Mongol princess who was being sent to Persia. In the centuries since his death, Polo has received the recognition that failed to come his way during his lifetime. So much of what he claimed to have seen has been verified by researchers, academics, and other explorers. Even if his accounts came from other travelers he met along the way, Polos story has inspired countless other adventurers to set off and see the world. More about Marco Polo Christopher Columbus Time Period: Turn of the 16th century Destination: Caribbean and South America Getty Images Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator. Columbus first went to sea as a teenager, participating in several trading voyages in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. One such voyage, to the island of Khios, in modern-day Greece, brought him the closest he would ever come to Asia. In 1492, he sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain in the Santa Maria, with the Pinta and the Nina ships alongside, hoping to find a new route to India. Between that year and 1504, he made a total of four voyages to the Caribbean and South America and has been creditedand blamedfor opening up the Americas to European colonization. Columbus died in May 1506, probably from severe arthritis following an infection, still believing he had discovered a shorter route to Asia. More about Christopher Columbus Amerigo Vespucci Time Period: Turn of the 16th century Destination: South America Getty Images America was named after Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator and explorer who played a prominent role in exploring the New World. On May 10, 1497, Vespucci embarked on his first voyage, departing from Cadiz with a fleet of Spanish ships. In May 1499, sailing under the Spanish flag, Vespucci embarked on his next expedition, as a navigator under the command of Alonzo de Ojeda. Crossing the equator, they traveled to the coast of what is now Guyana, where its believed that Vespucci left Ojeda and went on to explore the coast of Brazil. During this journey, Vespucci is said to have discovered the Amazon River and Cape St. Augustine. On his third and most successful voyage, he discovered present-day Rio de Janeiro and Rio de la Plata. Believing he had discovered a new continent, he called South America the New World. In 1507, America was named after him. He died of malaria in Seville, Spain, in February 1512. More about Amerigo Vespucci John Cabot Time Period: Late 15th century Destination: Canada Getty Images John Cabot was a Venetian explorer and navigator known for his 1497 voyage to North America, where he made a British claim to land in Canada, mistaking it for Asia. The precise location of Cabots landing is subject to controversy. Some historians believe that Cabot landed at Cape Breton Island or mainland Nova Scotia. Others believe he might have landed at Newfoundland, Labrador, or even Maine. In February 1498, Cabot was given permission to make a new voyage to North America. The May, he departed from Bristol, England, with five ships and a crew of 300 men. En route, one ship became disabled and sailed to Ireland, while the other four ships continued on. On the journey, Cabot disappeared, and his final days remain a mystery. Its believed Cabot died sometime in 1499 or 1500, but his fate remains a mystery. More about John Cabot Ferdinand Magellan Time Period: Early 16th century Destination: Global circumnavigation Getty Images While in the service of Spain, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan led the first European voyage of discovery to circumnavigate the globe. As a boy, Magellan studied mapmaking and navigation. In 1505, when Magellan was in his mid-20s, he joined a Portuguese fleet that was sailing to East Africa. By 1509, he found himself at the Battle of Diu, in which the Portuguese destroyed Egyptian ships in the Arabian Sea. Two years later, he explored Malacca, located in present-day Malaysia, and participated in the conquest of Malaccas port. In 1519, with the support of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (also known as Spains King Charles I), Magellan set out to find a better route to the Spice Islands. In March 1521, Magellans fleet reached Homonhom Island on the edge of the Philippines with less than 150 of the 270 men who started the expedition. Magellan traded with the islands king Rajah Humabon, and their bond quickly formed. The Spanish crew soon became involved in a war between Humabon and another rival leader, and Magellan was killed in battle in April 1521. More about Ferdinand Magellan Hernan Cortes Time Period: 16th century Destination: Central America Getty Images Hernan Cortes was a Spanish conquistador who explored Central America, overthrew Montezuma and his vast Aztec empire, and won Mexico for the crown of Spain. He first set sail to the New World at the age of 19. Cortes later joined an expedition to Cuba. In 1518, he set off to explore Mexico. Cortes became allies with some of the Indigenous peoples he encountered there, but with others, he used deadly force to conquer Mexico. He fought Tlaxacan and Cholula warriors and then set his sights on taking over the Aztec empire. In their bloody battles for domination over the Aztecs, Cortes and his men are estimated to have killed as many as 100,000 Indigenous peoples. In his role as the Spanish king, Emperor Charles V appointed him the governor of New Spain in 1522. More about Hernan Cortes Sir Francis Drake Time Period: Late 16th century Destination: Global circumnavigation Getty Images English admiral Sir Francis Drake was the second person to circumnavigated the globe and was the most renowned seaman of the Elizabethan era. In 1577, Drake was chosen as the leader of an expedition intended to pass around South America, through the Strait of Magellan, and explore the coast that lay beyond. Drake successfully completed the journey and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth I upon his triumphant return in 1580. In 1588, Drake saw action in the English defeat of the Spanish Armada, though he died in 1596 from dysentery after undertaking an unsuccessful raiding mission. More about Francis Drake Sir Walter Raleigh Time Period: Late 16th century Destination: United States Getty Images Sir Walter Raleigh was an English explorer, soldier, and writer. At age 17, he fought with the French Huguenots and later studied at Oxford. He became a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I after serving in her army in Ireland. He was knighted in 1585 and, within two years, became captain of the Queens Guard. An early supporter of colonizing North America, Raleigh sought to establish a colony, but the queen initially forbade him to leave her service. Between 1585 to 1588, he invested in a number of expeditions across the Atlantic, attempting to establish a colony near Roanoke, on the coast of what is now North Carolina, and name it Virginia in honor of the virgin queen, Elizabeth. Accused of treason by King James I, Raleigh was imprisoned and eventually put to death. More about Walter Raleigh James Cook Time Period: Late 18th century Destination: New Zealand and Australia Getty Images James Cook was a naval captain, navigator, and explorer. After serving as an apprentice, Cook eventually joined the British Navy and, at age 29, was promoted to ships master. During the Seven Years War that began in 1756, he commanded a captured ship for the Royal Navy. Then, in 1768, he took command of the first scientific expedition to the Pacific. In 1770, on his ship the HMB Endeavour, Cook charted New Zealand and the Great Barrier Reef of Australia. This area has since been credited as one of the worlds most dangerous areas to navigate. He later disproved the existence of Terra Australis, a fabled southern continent. Cooks voyages helped guide generations of explorers and provided the first accurate map of the Pacific. More about James Cook Francisco Pizarro Time Period: Early 16th century Destination: Central and South America Getty Images In 1513, Spanish explorer and conquistador Francisco Pizarro joined Vasco Nunez de Balboa in his march to the South Sea, across the Isthmus of Panama. During their journey, Balboa and Pizarro discovered what is now known as the Pacific Ocean, though Balboa allegedly spied it first and was therefore credited with the oceans first European discovery. In 1528, Pizarro went back to Spain and managed to procure a commission from Emperor Charles V. Pizarro was to conquer the southern territory and establish a new Spanish province there. In 1532, accompanied by his brothers, Pizarro overthrew the Inca leader Atahualpa and conquered Peru. Three years later, he founded the new capital city of Lima. Over time, tensions increasingly built up between the conquistadors who had originally conquered Peru and those who arrived later to stake some claim in the new Spanish province. This conflict eventually led to Pizarros assassination in 1541. More about Francisco Pizarro You Might Also Like The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that air defense units destroyed 11 drones traveling toward the city of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea on the night of Aug. 10. The report alleged that two of the drones were shot down by air defense and nine were intercepted by "electronic warfare equipment," crashing into the Black Sea before reaching their target. No damage or casualties were reported. In the announcement, Russia blamed Kyiv for the attempted strike. They also blamed Ukrainian forces for the drones allegedly launched at Moscow earlier in the night. The ministry called both attempts "terrorist attacks." Some recent Ukrainian airstrikes in Crimea have hit valuable targets, including the Chonhar Bridge connecting the occupied peninsula to occupied territories in the mainland. These attacks have upended Russian military logistics in the area. Ukraine confirmed launching the attacks that struck the bridges. On Aug. 6, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian forces had launched over 100 drones at Ukraine in the past week alone. Read also: Investigative Stories from Ukraine: Russia hits Ukraine with missiles that once belonged to Ukraine Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. The Russian Defence Ministry has reported that 11 drones tried to attack the city of Sevastopol, Crimea, on the night of 9-10 August. It is claimed that two of them were shot down, and nine more were downed by electronic warfare systems. Source: Russian Defence Ministry on Telegram Quote: "Two UAVs were hit by air defence systems near the city of Sevastopol, and nine more were downed by electronic warfare systems; they crashed in the waters of the Black Sea, failing to reach the target." Details: The Russian ministry also confirmed information from Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin about the claimed downing of two drones that were flying towards Moscow at night. "Two UAVs flying toward the city of Moscow were destroyed by an air defence system in the sky over Maloyaroslavets district, Kaluga Oblast, and over the territory of Odintsovo district, Moscow Oblast," Sobyanin said. The Russian Defence Ministry claimed that there were no casualties or damage as a result of the drone attack. Background: Explosions rang out in the Russian city of Domodedovo, Moscow Oblast, on the night of 9-10 August, followed by a large-scale fire. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! Protective styles are an easy way to transcend your everyday style. From faux locs to Fulani braids, the options for incorporating protective styles into your everyday routine are endless. Think Loose braids with curled ends, these styles in particular are extremely versatile and low maintenance. By offering a blend of tradition and modernity, Fulani braids are a time-honored style that highlights cultural heritage and practices. The style first originated in West Africa and the Sahel region by the Fulani (Fula )people. After widespread recognition, the nomadic community then passed the style to further generations. From different styles to the length, Fulani braids can be as versatile as you decide to make them. As a way to communicate social status, Fulani braids serve as a way to communicate social status and hierarchy to others within the Fulani community. They are also ways women communicate their age, whether shes married or unmarried, and their place within society. Classic Fulani Braids @victoriatrancas/Instagram Traditional Fulani braids are a great option for those new to the style. By featuring sleek and thin cornrows with a center part, traditional Fulani braids can be added with beads, cuffs, or shells at the ends. Bantu Knots With Fulani Braids @braidsbytrina_/Instagram Fulani knots are small, raised knots along the hairline, enhancing the elegance of the braids while adding a unique flare. Fulani Pigtails Curlfit.net Featuring two braids styled on each side, Fulani pigtails often extend down the back. They can also be aired with decorative accessories like beads, cowrie shells, or metallic cuffs for a striking effect. Fulani Braided Bun @kirsti.petre/Instagram Fulani braided buns are a cute and effortless style. Styled with cornrows, Fulani bunds are braided towards the back and gathered into a chic bun, creating a neat and sophisticated look for day-to-night wear. Fulani Mohawk Stylevore This edgy style involves braiding the hair along the center of the scalp, leaving the sides shaved or closely cropped. This style is perfect for those wanting an edgy look and feel to their everyday look. Fulani Braids with Beads @dsrhair/Instagram Fulani Braids mixed with beads come in various colors and sizes and are threaded onto the braids. Beads add vibrant accents and a cultural flair for an everyday look. Fulani Twisted Crown @magicfingersstudio/Instagram Twisted Fulani crowns are used to create a crown-like pattern around the head with the remaining hair left loose or styled in a bun. Fulani Braids with Zigzag Parting @negatay/Instagram Fulani braids with zig zags offer a fun and playful look and feel. Styled with cornrows, these braids can be done diagonally or in zigzag patterns across the scalp. Fulani Braids with Extensions @hairbykingunyque/ Instagram Long Fulani braids are a time-honored style that looks good with any style and aesthetic. By adding extensions to the braids, extensions allow for limitless creative styling options such as intricate updos or flowing ponytails. Fulani Braids with Curly Ends @styledbydeavs/Instagram Fulani braids with curly ends are left loose towards the ends and curled either with a flat iron or flexi-rods. This particular style creates a playful and dynamic texture that contrasts with the neatness of the braids. Fulani braids are fun, versatile and add a unique style to everyday life. No matter what your style is, Fulani braids are extremely low maintenance and can be put together in a sophisticated or edgy way. The post 11 Versatile Fulani Tribal Braids To Try This Summer appeared first on 21Ninety. A 12-year-old girl was found by Bloomington Police Department officers seven hours after she left Tri-North Middle School at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday. According to police, school officials did not contact BPD until the girl had been missing for two hours. Tri-North Middle School on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. The student's mother, Jennifer Wolff, in an email sent to MCCSC officials and The Herald-Times, criticized the school's response. "My jaw was in my lap," Wolff wrote. A school counselor called her at 1 p.m., half an hour after her daughter left, to tell her the girl had gone missing. According to Wolff, the counselor said the student had been left alone in a room to decompress after reporting she was under emotional distress that morning. The child then allegedly left the school entirely. Two hours later, school personnel reported the incident to BPD, according to the police report. With Wolff's permission, BPD posted on social media to seek help from the community. They also dispatched officers and drones to search the area. At 7:48 p.m., an employee at the 10th Street Jimmy John's informed BPD dispatch that the girl who he recognized from social media was in the restaurant. By 8, officers had found her safely, police said. "We work diligently to gather information, leverage resources, and respond with agility," MCCSC officials said in a statement. They said the situation is being investigated and, to protect student privacy rights, declined to comment further. This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Tri-North Middle School student left school, found by police With a wildfire fueled by winds from a passing hurricane destroying the Maui town of Lahaina, 14 people escaped the flames and smoke by heading to the ocean, officials said Wednesday. Maui County confirmed on Thursday that 36 people died in the fire, as authorities said more than 11,000 had been evacuated from the island, with more expected to leave. Follow live coverage of the Maui wildfires Earlier, the Coast Guard said Wednesday the 14 people were rescued from a breakwall by Lahaina harbor Tuesday evening, after boats and aircraft were sent to help. The reports to the Coast Guard regarding multiple persons in the water needing rescue after taking shelter from fire and smoke in Lahaina prompted the dispatch of a cutter, a 45-foot boat, and helicopters, the agency said. In this photo provided by Brantin Stevens smoke fill the air from wild fires at Lahaina harbor on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023 in Hawaii. Fire was widespread in Lahaina Town, including on Front Street, a popular shopping and dining area, County of Maui spokesperson Mahina Martin said by phone early Wednesday. Traffic has been very heavy as people try to evacuate the area, and officials asked people who werent in an evacuation area to shelter in place to avoid adding to the traffic, she said. (Brantin Stevens via AP) The reports came in around 5:45 p.m. The harbor, and the community of around 12,700 people, suffered widespread damage in the wildfire, which officials say was fueled along with two other fires on Maui in part by winds from the passing Hurricane Dora. Dora, a Category 4 storm, passed far to the south of Maui and the rest of the state. But wind gusts on Maui Tuesday and Wednesday were in the 50 and 60 mph range, according to the National Weather Service. At least six people have died, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said at a news conference Wednesday. More than 271 structures in the Lahaina area have been impacted, the county government said. The 14 people who were rescued were in stable condition, the Coast Guard said. On behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard, I wish to convey my sincere condolences to the communities who have been tragically affected by the fires in Maui," Capt. Aja L. Kirksey, sector commander of Coast Guard Sector Honolulu, said in a statement. The Coast Guard is still on the scene assisting, the maritime military branch said. The Navy as well as the National Guard have also been deployed to assist, officials said. President Joe Biden pledged the help of all federal assets available in the state, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency has also been assisting, according to the White House and FEMA's administrator. "We've suffered a terrible tragedy," Gov. Josh Green said in a video on social media Wednesday. Green was out of state for a family reunion but was rushing back to Hawaii after the fires. He said the state will be asking for a presidential disaster declaration, which allows for more federal assistance, as soon as the scope of the damage is fully known. He said much of Lahaina has been destroyed. In helicopter video taken by Air Maui Helicopter Tours in Lahaina and posted online the people aboard are largely speechless. "Oh my gosh," someone aboard says. Maui County has called the wildfires a crisis, and asked all visitors to leave Lahaina and Maui as soon as possible. The fires were fueled by drought as well as high winds, Green said. He said firefighters "were working heroically" to put out the fires and as winds subside that task could be easier. "Heroic efforts by first responders have prevented many casualties from occurring," Green tweeted. He encouraged residents to be supportive of their neighbors who have needs after the tragedy, no matter where in the state they may be. "We're all in this together. Thank you for caring for one another," Green said in Wednesday's video. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com illustration of a rocket flying above the earth. logos decorate the rocket. behind is the black of space Europe will be without independent access to space satellites until at least 2024. The European Space Agency (ESA) and the CEO of France-based company Arianespace confirmed on Tuesday (Aug. 8) that the inaugural launch of the new Ariane 6 heavy-lift rocket will slip into 2024. Ariane 6 was initially planned to begin flying in 2020 and ramp up its cadence to replace the older Ariane 5 rocket seamlessly. Related: When will Ariane 6 fly? Europe's new heavy-lift rocket battles delays as Ariane 5 era ends However, Ariane 6 has suffered a series of delays, caused by technical issues, COVID-19 and design changes, according to Reuters , while the Ariane 5 flew its 117th and final mission in early July. Additionally the failure of the Vega-C rocket in December last year leaves that rocket grounded, meaning Europe currently has no independent access to orbit. The European Commission earlier this year drafted a request for an "ad-hoc security agreement" to allow some European payloads to fly on SpaceX rockets. When exactly Ariane 6 will fly for the first time is still unclear. A press briefing with the Ariane 6 Launcher Task Force is scheduled for Sep. 4 to provide an update on the launcher, ESA announced on Tuesday. Arianespace CEO Stephane Israel tweeted a timeline on Tuesday laying out the next steps for Ariane 6 testing ahead of an inaugural flight in 2024. Israel said the taskforce will "organize a detailed briefing after the long hot-firing test of 26 September, when we will also be able to provide a more precise launch period for 2024." [1/5] Here below please find the updated schedule for #Ariane6 development. With this, @ESA, @ArianeGroup, @Arianespace and @CNES confirm that the inaugural launch is now targeted for 2024. https://t.co/iQxSkDWCOcAugust 8, 2023 See more RELATED STORIES: Meet Ariane 6 and Vega C: Europe's new 'rideshare' rockets (videos) Watch the gantry of Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket take its 1st test drive (time-lapse video) Europe won't have reusable rockets for another decade: report The Ariane 6 Launcher Task Force consists of top management of ESA, the French space agency CNES (the launch base prime contractor), the launcher system prime contractor ArianeGroup, and launch service provider Arianespace. Despite its development woes, Ariane 6 has a number of institutional launches to carry out, and it has been attracting commercial contracts, including 18 launches for Amazon's Kuiper broadband megaconstellation project. Flash The UN Security Council holds a meeting on Sudan at the UN headquarters in New York, on Aug. 9, 2023. [UN Photo] Sudan is falling into a deeper humanitarian catastrophe, a UN humanitarian official warned on Wednesday. The situation is particularly alarming where the conflict is most intense -- in Khartoum and the Darfur and Kordofan regions, said Edem Wosornu, director of operations and advocacy in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). "Reports of ethnic-based violence in West Darfur are extremely alarming, with numerous civilians killed or wounded," she told the Security Council in a briefing on behalf of Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths. "The intense fighting and difficult operating environment are constraining our ability to deliver urgent humanitarian assistance, which is only deepening the suffering of people there," she said. Sudan's descent into a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe has only deepened with more than 1.4 million people forced from their homes in the last six weeks alone, said Wosornu. "More than 4 million people have now fled from their homes -- 3.2 million people displaced internally and close to 900,000 people who have crossed the border into Chad, Egypt, South Sudan and other countries," she said. "Nearly four months into this conflict, millions of people remain trapped in a humanitarian calamity that continues to grow." Sexual violence was happening "at a sickening scale" from conflict hot spots across the country, said Wosornu. People are finding it more and more difficult to access urgent medical assistance with 80 percent of hospitals across the country not functioning, she said. Some 14 million children in Sudan -- half of all children in the country -- need humanitarian support. More than 20 million people -- over 40 percent of the population -- are facing high levels of acute food insecurity, she said. The conflict is disrupting livelihoods and physical access to markets. It is also fueling steep increases in the prices of commodities. The banking system, civil institutions and public services have mainly been disrupted, leading to less and less money circulating within the economy. Electricity blackouts are extensive. Education services are interrupted, which once performed flawlessly, said Wosornu. "It is the story of a country and its people being driven to the point of collapse," she concluded. Nevertheless, humanitarian organizations have spared no effort to restore the flow of humanitarian supplies, particularly to Darfur, where access was most limited, she said. "We have seen some but limited progress." Nationwide, since the outbreak of conflict on April 15, more than 2.9 million people have received some form of minimum humanitarian assistance, including cash or in-kind food assistance, health services, or access to basic water services, she said. "But unfortunately, this represents only a fraction of the 18 million people we are trying to reach." Humanitarian organizations are ready and willing to do everything it takes to provide the assistance that the people of Sudan so desperately need. But they cannot do so without the regular facilitation of access by the parties, and the easing of bureaucratic and administrative impediments, she said. "So far, the limited deliveries of assistance we have been able to make have only been possible through intensive negotiations with the parties," said Wosornu. "It is urgent that we re-establish a forum for direct and regular contact on humanitarian issues with the parties at a senior level, to negotiate access and protect the space for humanitarian operations in Sudan. We need the strong support of member states to facilitate this." International humanitarian law is clear: all parties to the conflict must facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need, she said. Wosornu called for more funds. "Even with improved access, we will not be able to prevent sliding further into humanitarian catastrophe without the required resources," she said, noting that the UN humanitarian response plan for Sudan for 2023, which requires 2.6 billion U.S. dollars, is only 25 percent funded. The two Marine Raiders who were found guilty of drinking alcohol while deployed to Iraq but not guilty of more serious charges in connection with the 2019 death of a Green Beret veteran will likely retire with honorable discharges, their lawyer said. Gunnery Sgts. Josh Negron and Danny Draher, Marine Raiders with Marine Forces Special Operations Command, went before an administrative separation board Aug. 1 that was tasked with deciding at what rank and pay grade they would leave the Corps, according to defense attorney Phillip Stackhouse. The board recommended that they retire with honorable discharges at their current ranks, Stackhouse said Friday. A higher-up in the Marine Corps could still decide after an administrative back-and-forth to reject the recommendation to let the men leave as gunnery sergeants, Stackhouse said. In February, a jury of Marines acquitted Draher and Negron of involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide and dereliction in the performance of duties but convicted them of violation of a lawful order, for drinking while on a deployment to Irbil, Iraq. Verdict, not guilty: An inside look at the homicide trial of 2 Marines They had been accused of causing the death of military contractor and retired Army Master Sgt. Rick Rodriguez by knocking him to the ground in a fight outside of a bar and by leaving him overnight with special operations corpsman Chief Petty Officer Eric Gilmet instead of rushing him to a hospital. Gilmet and the two Raiders sometimes collectively known as the MARSOC 3 maintained that Negron had punched Rodriguez to defend Draher from the alcohol-fueled aggression of the Army veteran and that Gilmet had done his best to care for Rodriguez. The jury gave Negron and Draher no punishment for the sole conviction. Advocates for the two Raiders have complained the men will nevertheless be marked as felons for what they see as a small infraction, while other Marines in their unit faced lesser consequences for drinking that night. Gilmet, for his part, wont even have that felony conviction: On Aug. 3 the militarys highest appellate court dismissed the charges against the chief petty officer on the grounds that a senior Marine lawyer had unlawfully interfered with the case. Earlier in 2023, Negron and Draher had submitted their requests to retire as gunnery sergeants with an honorable discharge. Their career paths have been stalled for the last four-and-a-half years, and I think each independently decided it was time to retire, Stackhouse said. Stackhouse said Marine Raider Regiment informed him it had signed off on their requests. Then Marine Corps Manpower and Reserve Affairs department reviewed the requests and disapproved them. Stackhouse noted that Lt. Gen. James Glynn, that departments leader, was the commander of MARSOC from 20202022, meaning he was at one point the convening authority responsible for the court-martial involving Draher and Negron. In accordance with Marine Corps Order 1900.16, the Marine Corps conducted a routine process to determine the characterization of service and grade for retirement eligible Marines who have adverse material in their records, such as a court-martial conviction, Maj. Danielle Phillips, a spokeswoman for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, said in a Tuesday statement to Marine Corps Times. This process is standardized by the aforementioned regulation, ensuring the integrity of due process and protecting the rights of the Marines. That order states the deputy commandant for manpower and reserve affairs, Glynn, may disapprove a retirement request based on adverse material in their records. If the deputy commandant disapproves the retirement request, that automatically triggers an administrative separation process that will determine the terms of the separation. The point of the administrative separation process is to to ensure the Marine is afforded the procedural rights of a respondent, according to the order. Thats how Negron and Draher ended up going before an administrative separation board at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The board was made up of a colonel, a lieutenant colonel and a master gunnery sergeant from Marine Forces Special Operations Command, according to Stackhouse. The board hadnt been authorized to evaluate whether the men should be forced to retire or should be retained (and then allowed to resubmit their requests for retirement), Stackhouse said. The lawyer said the process itself was fair but legally deficient. If the board recommended retention, that would have been the end of their decision-making and we would have been done for the day, he said. And Danny and Josh could have walked across the street back to MARSOC and submitted a new retirement request. A spokesperson for MARSOC said in an emailed statement to Marine Corps Times Aug. 3, Upon receipt of retirement requests from both Marines, the Marine Raider Regiment was directed to conduct a characterization of service and retirement grade determination hearing. Other than confirming the date of the hearing, the statement didnt include additional comment. The board voted to recommend that Negron and Draher retire with honorable discharges at their current pay grade of E-7, allowing them to collect the pay of retired gunnies, Stackhouse said. They were disappointed that they had to go through the board but very appreciative of the amount of support that they received, both publicly and by those in attendance at the hearing, Stackhouse said of his clients. And they were appreciative and happy with the work and findings of the board. Legally speaking, in Stackhouses view, the honorable discharges are now a done deal. Having honorable discharges could be important for Draher and Negron when they apply for civilian jobs, Stackhouse said. Whats not a done deal is the rank at which Negron and Draher will retire, Stackhouse said. Manpower and Reserve Affairs has discretion to make them retire at the lower rank of staff sergeant, effectively stripping the men of a hefty chunk of retirement pay, according to the attorney. A resident of Oakland County and another from Macomb County have tested positive for the Jamestown Canyon virus. They have the first confirmed human cases of mosquito-borne disease in Michigan in 2023, state health officials said. They may also be the first in the U.S. to contract the virus this year. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that, as of July 25, the nation had not yet recorded any confirmed human cases in 2023. From 2011-22, Michigan had 13 confirmed cases of Jamestown Canyon virus, which is most common in upper Midwestern states of Wisconsin and Minnesota, with infections typically occurring in summer and early fall. The risk is highest in August and September, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. An Oakland County resident and a Macomb County resident have tested positive for the Jamestown Canyon virus. Theirs are the first confirmed human cases of mosquito-borne disease in the state in 2023, state health officials said. It only takes one bite from an infected mosquito to cause a severe illness, so we advise using insect repellent and wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants when outdoors during times when mosquitoes are active, Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the state's chief medical executive, said in a statement. Its a good idea to take extra precautions during peak mosquito-biting hours, which are from dusk to dawn. What is Jamestown Canyon virus? Jamestown Canyon virus is one of several types including West Nile virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis that can be spread to people when they are bitten by infected mosquitoes. The insects contract the viruses after feeding on deer, birds and other animals that carry the viruses in their blood. Mosquitoes then spread the disease to humans and other animals when they bite them. More: A tiny mosquito bite took away Michigan teen Savanah DeHart's ability to talk, walk These viruses cannot be spread by coughing, sneezing or touching an infected person. So far this year, the CDC reported 69 human cases of West Nile virus nationally, though none have been identified in Michigan. There has been one known human case of Eastern Equine Encephalitis in the U.S. in 2023, reported in Louisiana. In 2019, the U.S. had a record of 38 known EEE infections. Ten of the cases were from Michigan, and six of those who were infected died. All four of the Michiganders who survived, including Savanah DeHart, of South Portage, were hospitalized, and three of the four had severe neurological problems, state health officials told the Free Press at the time. What are the symptoms of Jamestown Canyon virus? Most people who contract the Jamestown Canyon virus have no symptoms at all. But in those who do, it can cause headache, fever and fatigue. Others can develop symptoms like cough, sore throat and runny nose, according to the CDC. Symptoms typically start between two to 14 days after the bite of an infected mosquito. In about half of all cases, Jamestown Canyon virus can cause severe illness that affects the brain, such as encephalitis or meningitis, and patients will need hospitalization. Rarely, some people have died from it, the CDC reports. Symptoms of severe illness from the virus can include: High fever Stiff neck Severe headache Muscle weakness Confusion Loss of coordination Difficulty speaking Seizures How is the Jamestown Canyon virus treated? There are no vaccines to prevent the virus in humans and there is no medication that can treat an infection. Health officials urge Michiganders to cut the risk of infection by preventing mosquito bites. What parts of Michigan have infected mosquitoes? State health officials test mosquito pools throughout the state as part of a Michigan arbovirus surveillance program. They check mosquitoes for Jamestown Canyon virus along with West Nile virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis to assess the risk of infection in people. So far this summer, mosquito pools from Bay, Saginaw and Washtenaw counties have tested positive for Jamestown Canyon virus. West Nile virus has been found in mosquitoes in Kalamazoo, Wayne and Washtenaw counties. The best way to prevent these illnesses is to reduce the number of mosquitoes around your home and avoid mosquito bites, state health officials said. They recommend: Eliminating all sources of standing water around your home where mosquitoes can breed, including water in bird baths, old tires and any other object holding water, including abandoned swimming pools and wading pools. Making sure doors and windows have tight-fitting screens without tears, gaps or other openings. When you are outdoors, using an EPA-registered insect repellent with active ingredients such as DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus or para-menthane-diol and 2-undecanone. Wearing shoes and socks, light-colored long pants and long-sleeved shirts when outdoors. Take extra precautions outdoors when mosquitoes are most active, between dusk and dawn. Dont use insect repellent on infants younger than 2 months old. Instead, dress babies in clothing that covers arms and legs and cover the crib, stroller and baby carrier with mosquito netting. Using bed nets when sleeping outdoors or in conditions with no window screens. Contact Kristen Shamus: kshamus@freepress.com. Subscribe to the Free Press. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan residents get mosquito-borne Jamestown Canyon virus SAN FRANCISCO (AP) California regulators on Thursday approved an expansion that will allow two rival robotaxi services to operate throughout San Francisco at all hours, despite safety worries spurred by recurring problems with unexpected stops and other erratic behavior that resulted in unmanned vehicles blocking traffic, including emergency vehicles. The state's Public Utilities Commission voted to approve rival services from Cruise and Waymo to operate around-the-clock service. It will make San Francisco first major U.S. city with two fleets of driverless vehicles competing for passengers against ride-hailing and taxi services dependent on humans to operate the cars. It is a distinction that San Francisco officials didnt want, largely because of the headaches that Cruise and Waymo have been causing in the city while testing their robotaxis on a restricted basis during the past year. But it ended in a major victory for Cruise a subsidiary of General Motors and Waymo a spinoff from a secret project at Google after spending years and billions of dollars honing a technology that they believe will revolutionize transportation. Both companies view approval of their San Francisco expansions as a major springboard to launching similar services in other congested cities that would benefit from a technology that they contend will be more reliable, convenient and cheaper than ride-hailing and taxi services reliant on human drivers. We cant wait for more San Franciscans to experience the mobility, safety, sustainability and accessibility benefits of full autonomy for themselves all at the touch of a button, Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said in a blog post. During five-and-half hours of public comments at Thursdays meeting, many speakers derided the robotaxis as annoying nuisances at best and dangerous menaces at worst. Others vented their frustration about San Francisco being transformed into a tech playground and the equivalent of an ant farm for haphazard experimentation. Supporters of the robotaxis also stepped up to passionately defend the technology as a leap forward that will keep San Francisco on the cutting edge of technology, while helping more disabled people who are unable to drive to get around town and reducing the risks posed by drunk driving. One speaker predicted that unleashing the robotaxis would create a tourist attraction that could become as popular as rides on the fabled cable cars that have been navigating the citys streets for 150 years. Waymo says there is so much interest in its robotaxis that it has already built up a waiting list of more than 100,000 people vying to take a driverless ride through the streets of San Francisco. The rising fears about the safety of the robotaxis had come into sharper focus during a preliminary hearing Monday that included a sobering appearance by San Francisco Fire Department Chief Jeanine Nicholson, who warned regulators that the robotaxis had been repeatedly undermining firefighters' ability to respond to emergencies. . They are still not ready for prime time because of the way they have impacted our operations, Nicholson said during a four-hour hearing held Monday in advance of Thursday's pivotal vote. To underscore her point, Nicholson cited 55 written reports of the robotaxis interfering with emergency responses. She said she is worried the problems will get worse if Cruise and Waymo are allowed to operate their services wherever and whenever they want in San Francisco raising the risk of their disruptions resulting in injury, death or the loss of property that could have been saved. The Public Utilities Commission still decided to approve the expansion by a 3-1 vote. Although the panel consists of five commissioners, only four voted on the proposed robotaxi expansion. Commissioner Karen Douglas was absent from Thursday's hearing for an undisclosed reason. Both Cruise and Waymo cited their unblemished safety records as proof their robotaxis are less dangerous than vehicles operated by people who can be distracted, intoxicated or just lousy drivers. Cruise has been currently testing 300 robotaxis during the day when it can only give rides for free, and 100 robotaxis at night when it has been allowed to charge for rides in less congested parts of San Francisco for the past 14 months. Waymo has been operating about 100 of the 250 robotaxis it has available to give free rides to volunteers and employees throughout San Francisco. But the proposed San Francisco expansion has been facing increasingly staunch resistance, prompting regulators to postpone two previously scheduled votes on the issue in June and July. In a May 31 letter urging state regulators to continue to restrict the operations of Cruise and Waymo, San Francisco transportation officials asserted the driverless vehicles rely on a developmental technology that is not ready for unconstrainted commercial deployment. In a June 22 letter, the president of the union for San Francisco police officers warned of potentially dire consequences if Cruise and Waymo are allowed to expand throughout the city. Tracy McCray, the union president, cited a robotaxi obstructing emergency vehicles responding to a recent mass shooting that injured nine people as a chilling example of how the technology could imperil the public. While we all applaud advancements in technology, we must not be in such a rush that we forget the human element and the effects such technology unchecked can cause in dangerous situations," McCray wrote. Delays of even seconds in our line of work can be a matter of life or death. Unless Cruise and Waymo are able to fix the problems that have been cropping up in their robotaxis, the San Francisco expansion could turn out to be a pyrrhic victory, warned Nico Larco, who has been tracking the progress of autonomous vehicles as director of the University of Oregon's Urbanism Next Center. There is a real public sentiment risk here, Larco said. If they don't figure some of these things out, there will be growing frustration from the general public. And it's tough to bring that back and put the genie back in the bottle. __ An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that John Reynolds, a former lawyer for Cruise, was the Public Utilities Commission commissioner who didn't attend Thursday's hearing. A 20-year-old New Hampshire man is facing several charges after allegedly killing his mother inside her Danville home last week, according to Attorney General John Formella. Authorities say, James Coe knowingly shot his mother, 59-year-old Denise Damato-Coe with a rifle on August 3. An autopsy determined Damato-Coe died of multiple gunshot wounds. On Wednesday, officials issued a warrant for Coe, charging him with second-degree murder, as well as falsifying physical evidence for knowingly altering, concealing, and removing the rifle used to commit the crime. The 20-year-old was arrested in Revere Wednesday evening and is also being charged with being a fugitive from justice. Coe is being held without bail and will be arraigned in Chelsea District Court followed by extradition proceedings to New Hampshire. 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 When Hyundai highlighted the design of the all-new Santa Fe back in July, the reworked SUV garnered quite a bit of customer attention. The automaker didnt share any specific details about the larger, boxier SUV however. Thats changed, with the automaker on Thursday releasing everything you might want to know about the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe lineup. The fifth-generation Santa Fe is a larger vehicle than its predecessors, embracing that SUV ethos through more than its exterior styling. The truck is just under two inches longer than before, measuring 190.2 inches long. Thats still about five inches shorter than something like the BMW X5, and six inches shorter than the Hyundai Palisade. That added length allowed Hyundai to extend the wheelbase to 110.8 inches, bringing more room for rear passengers. Second and third-row legroom measure 42.3 and 30 inches, respectively. That's a gain of nearly three inches in the last row when compared to the outgoing model. This will be the first time that Hyundai has offered third-row seating as an option for U.S. Santa Fe customers. Theres also more cargo volume on offer this time around, with up to 26 cubic feet of space behind that third row. That larger vehicle is wrapped in a much more attractive skin than its outgoing sibling, seemingly borrowing themes right from Coventry. The looks alone will attract customers, which is something you couldnt say for the old SUV. Hyundai Things are a bit less different under the hood of the all-new Santa Fe. The outgoing models naturally aspirated 2.5-liter four-pot is no longer on offer, instead replaced by the brands 2.5-liter turbo motor. This offering will provide 277 hp and 311 lb-ft of torque, and continues to come paired to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Customers will be able to spec the powertrain in either front-wheel or all-wheel drive configurations. A turbocharged 1.6-liter hybrid is also slated to make the generational leap, which will provide at least 226 hp like the current offering. The powertrain is exclusively offered with all-wheel drive and comes backed by an old-school six-speed automatic. The brand has discontinued the plug-in hybrid variant of the Santa Fe for the SUVs fifth generation. Despite our familiarity with these engines, well need to wait for the EPA to test out this new bodywork before fuel economy figures are provided. The Santa Fe will also now offer larger 21-inch wheels, whereas the outgoing model only ever supported 20-inch rollers. Hyundai Inside the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe is where things really take a step forward. The interior is very horizontal in its layout, with tons of open space ahead of front-row passengers. The dashboard itself is handsomely styled, particularly the vehicle-length climate control grilles beneath the dual 12.3-inch infotainment and cluster setup. The relocated column shifter is a nice touch, helping to bring some of that truck flair to the equation. The light theme featured in these photos looks particularly like a Range Rover, which was no accident on the part of Hyundai. Just look at the steering wheel and tell me it isnt a direct copy. The available second-row captains' chairs dont hurt the comparisons either, and come backed with standard power adjustments. Third-row passengers get a bit less flexibility, but can recline their seats by as much as 10 degrees for additional comfort. There are also some unique touches to be found, including a UV-C sterilization light mounted inside the glove box. Interior color themes include Obsidian black, Supersonic gray, Pecan brown, Forest green, and black Ink. Hyundai The Hyundai Santa Fe will also come backed by the automakers entire suite of driver assistance technologies, such as Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist 2, Lane Following Assist 2, Driver Monitoring System with New Driver Attention Warning, and Smart Cruise Control 2 among others. Hyundai is not quite ready to tell us how much this all-new Santa Fe model is going to cost. That said, we do know that the SUV is slated to arrive in the U.S. showrooms at some point during the first half of 2024. The hybrid model will likely serve as the entry point to the model, with the more potent turbo sitting atop the range. Hyundai You Might Also Like A second arrest has been made in a February homicide on Pittsburghs North Side. On Tuesday, Pittsburgh police homicide detectives issued an arrest warrant for Demetrios Caligiuri for the murder of Rasul Aquil on Feb. 5 in the 600 block of Chautauqua Street. Aquil, 23, was found shot in the head inside a car. He was taken to a local hospital but later died. Caligiuri was arrested on Thursday by Pittsburgh police along with the U.S. Marshals in the citys Bloomfield neighborhood. He is facing charges of criminal homicide and criminal conspiracy and is currently in the Allegheny County Jail. The first arrest in the homicide was made back in March. Aaron Smith, 29, was taken into custody in Altoona and charged with criminal homicide, persons not to possess a firearm, carrying a firearm without a license and criminal conspiracy to commit homicide. He is currently awaiting trial. Editors note: Pittsburgh police have corrected the spelling of the suspects name. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: Concerns arise over vulgar signs along North Fayette road 5 killed when recreational vehicle blows tire, crashes head-on into tractor-trailer Study: Dementia risk may increase with long-term use of acid reflux drugs VIDEO: McKeesport teachers could return to class without a contract DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts Authorities watch video showing Alissa Parraz, 16, fleeing with her baby on Jan. 16, the day of a mass shooting in Tulare County. (Ron Holman / Visalia Times-Delta) Seven months after a teenage mother and her 10-month-old child were gunned down with four others in a Tulare County home, the child's father is suing the county for what he deems a failure by officials to protect his son. The wrongful death lawsuit, filed on behalf of Shayne Maupin, 18, seeks damages and a jury trial. Maupin is the father of Nycholas Parraz, a 10-month-old who died in the arms of his mother, Alissa Parraz, 16, after they were shot during what authorities said was a targeted gang attack on Jan. 16 at a home in Goshen, a rural farming town in the Central Valley. Also killed in the shooting, which came to be known as the Goshen massacre, were Alissa Parraz's uncle Eladio Parraz Jr., 52; her brother Marcos Parraz, 19; her grandmother Rosa Parraz, 72; and Jennifer Analla, 50, who was a girlfriend of one of the surviving family members. Two suspects, identified as Noah David Beard, 25, of Visalia and Angel "Nanu" Uriarte, 35, of Goshen, were arrested weeks later and charged in the six killings. Read more: 'Please hurry, please': 911 call, surveillance video paint harrowing picture of Goshen massacre Two members of the Parraz family were believed to belong to the Sureno gang, and both suspects were documented members of the rival Norteno gang. The family had documented feuds with one of the suspects dating back nearly a decade. Maupin's lawsuit named four members of Tulare County Child Welfare Services for their role in placing Nycholas in the Goshen household. Nycholas had been taken in by Child Welfare Services soon after his birth, as both of his parents were minors. The lawsuit alleges that, during the process of returning him to his mother's custody at the Goshen household, CWS employees did not take into consideration the risk of placing a child in a home where gang members lived and were at risk of gang violence. Nycholas was officially returned to his mother's custody on Jan. 13, three days before the shooting, according to the complaint. "They were fully aware this wasn't a safe place, and they should have never allowed the baby to live there," said David Rudorfer, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiff, in an interview with The Times. The complaint details instances in which seven other infants died in the custody of Tulare County Child Welfare Services since 2020. The lawsuit also named seven members of the Tulare County Sheriff's Office for what it says was their role in failing to protect Nycholas during a warrant check performed at the house two weeks before the shooting. The warrant found methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and firearms inside the home, but no action was taken to ensure the safety of Nycholas and Alissa as minors in a home with gang members. "The number of red flags and missed opportunities by both Tulare County Child Welfare Services and the Sheriff's Office are too many to count," attorney Wyatt Vespermann said in a statement. "If these agencies had just done their jobs, this tragedy could have been prevented and Shayne would not have lost a lifetime of love, companionship, and affection from his beloved son and fiancee." The first hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 6. "The County of Tulare has received the complaint and will give the matter careful consideration," said Israel Sotelo, a spokesperson for Tulare County. 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. Bastrop County Sheriff Maurice Cook speaks during a press conference on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, about the process of pulling three bodies and a dog from a cistern in Bastrop County on Wednesday evening. BASTROP, Texas Three people from Florida fell into an underground water reservoir in Central Texas and died on Wednesday after trying to catch a dog that had fallen into the hole. Authorities said the group was going to meet a friend to go hog hunting in Bastrop County, just outside of Austin. A dog escaped from their truck and fell in the reservoir, prompting three of the people to go after the dog. "It's a sad day whenever it ends like it did yesterday," Bastrop County Sheriff Maurice Cook said during a news briefing Thursday. "Can you imagine? You have loved ones and they come to Texas to hunt and then it ends like this, which was a sad tragedy that just happened." The hole in the ground was a cistern, which is an underground water reservoir common in rural areas that is used to supply water to homes. The cistern's opening was ground level and left open, but typically those holes should be covered, Cook said. He said the cistern was essentially a "hole in the middle of a cornfield." Body buried behind concrete wall ID'd: Police ID slain Australian woman whose bones were found in concrete wall Hydrogen sulfide fumes found in cistern Authorities smelled fumes coming from the hole and found high levels of hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas common in septic tanks and wells. Cook said they speculate the gas affected the buoyancy of the water and caused them to not be able to float. "It wasn't long in the tank before they went to the bottom," he said. Officials said two men and a woman were recovered from the hole: Delvys Garcia, 37; Denise Martinez, 26; and Noel Vigil-Benitez, 45. 5 dead in PA RV interstate crash: Five people, dog killed after motorhome RV and semi collide on Pennsylvania interstate A hog hunt among friends Cook said his office received a call at 1:02 a.m. that three people had fallen into a hole near County Road 461 in Elgin. Cook said the call came from the fourth person in the group, a friend who lives in the area and invited the other three to hunt hogs. He did not release the name of that person. From the initial investigation, Cook said, it appears that the group was about to start hunting when one of the dogs escaped from the truck. This prompted the group to start searching for the dog, when they found that the dog fell into this hole. One of the hunters jumped into the cistern to try to rescue it. Cook said there was about a 6- to 8-foot gap between the water's surface and the cistern's opening. Diving teams were hesitant to get in the water due to the gas, and after contacting six different diving teams, all of whom declined to get in, they decided to pump out the water and ventilate out the gas. They then flew a drone into the hole to check the integrity of the walls. Once this was done, Cook said a deputy went into the hole three separate times, starting at about 6:30 p.m., and took out the three bodies and the dog. All of the bodies were sent to the Travis County medical examiner's office. The rescue efforts ended at about 7:30 p.m. Cook said the cistern was on private property and preliminary information indicates that the property owner recently died. Authorities did not release the name of the property owner. Cook said each of the friends went in to rescue one another. He said it appears one man jumped in immediately, and the other man and the woman took off their shoes and other pieces of clothing before jumping into the water. "That group was there to save each other," he said. "That takes a lot of guts to jump in." This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 3 people die after falling into Texas cistern to catch escaped dog Three male suspects were arrested and charged with aggravated robbery after shooting and carjacking a Dallas police officer who was conducting surveillance early Wednesday morning, the Dallas Police Department said in a news release Thursday. At around 12:45 a.m. Wednesday, an officer called and told 911 that he had been shot while conducting surveillance and his unmarked vehicle had been stolen in the 2400 block of Northwest Highway. Two assailants, one with two guns, got out of a car parked directly behind the officers vehicle and approached, Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said in a news conference Wednesday. The officer left his vehicle and exchanged gunfire with the assailants, Garcia said. The officer was taken by a patrol vehicle to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and the stolen vehicle was found in a parking lot near the shooting scene. Redricous Lewis, 19; Redtravion Polk, 17; and Xavier Cook, 18, were all arrested in Shreveport, Louisiana, and face charges of aggravated robbery, according to the release. Polk and Cook are also facing state charges in Louisiana. The investigation is ongoing and additional charges are possible. At least three dozen people have been killed on Maui as a devastating wildfire fueled by hurricane-driven winds tore through the Hawaiian island Wednesday. Maui County officials announced late Wednesday that at least 36 people have been killed due to the wildfires in Lahaina Town. At least 271 structures were damaged or destroyed and dozens of people were left injured, officials said. Numerous shelters on the island were also opened for those who needed to flee their homes, they added. Some people took to the ocean to escape the flames, with the Coast Guard saying Wednesday that it had rescued 14 people off the shore of Lahaina. The fires on Maui have been fueled by Hurricane Dora, which was churning hundreds of miles south of Hawaii. Wind and fire weather advisories have been issued this week by the National Weather Service, which said that the combination of high winds and dry conditions could lead to the rapid spread of wildfires. Since Monday, parts of Hawaii have seen wind gusts of more than 80 mph, according to the weather service. Hawaiis Department of Transportation has been organizing transportation for tourists to get to the airports and fly off the island, officials said. Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke serving as acting governor declared a state of emergency Tuesday in response to the fires. Gov. Josh Green cut his out-of-state trip short to help organize the response to the wildfires, his office said Wednesday. He was slated to return to the islands Aug. 15, but instead returned Wednesday evening. The wind-fueled fires have devastated many of our communities and people will be looking to our office for leadership while we address the ongoing emergency and do what we can as a state to rebuild lives, Green said in a statement. President Biden has ordered all federal assets available on the islands to respond, noting that the U.S. Coast Guard and the Navys 3rd Fleet are already supporting response efforts. He said the federal Transportation Department is also working to evacuate tourists from the island. Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz posted a link to a donations page for the victims of the wildfires, saying in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Lahaina Town is almost totally burnt to the ground. He added that firefighters were continuing to battle the flames, and that the first responders are in search and rescue mode on the island. Former President Obama who was born in Hawaii also posted a link to a donations page on X that will go to support the victims of the wildfires. Its tough to see some of the images coming out of Hawaii a place thats so special to so many of us, he said in the post. Michelle and I are thinking of everyone who has lost a loved one, or whose life has been turned upside down. The Associated Press contributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Eileen Costa/Courtesy of The Museum at FIT; Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for IMG Fashion, Alyssa Powell/Insider Fifty years after hip-hop popularized street style, Black fashion leaders and communities should still be given the credit white celebrities and luxury brands have tried to steal. This story is part of Black Ensemble, a series celebrating Black leaders, innovators, and trendsetters in the fashion industry. As recently as 20 years ago, luxury fashion was synonymous with formalwear. Hollywood's elite arrived at awards shows donning Harry Winston diamonds and Dior gowns. Hip-hop artists, meanwhile, had been blurring the boundaries between luxury and streetwear for decades. In 2003, for instance, Missy Elliott wore an Adidas tracksuit to the Grammys; in 2001, Big Boi showed up to his very first VMAs in pink Nikes and an oversized T-shirt. But luxury brands and white celebrities had not yet fully embraced the growing trend. Missy Elliott at the 45th Annual GRAMMY Awards in 2003. Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc via Getty Images Fast forward and streetwear has infiltrated every corner of the fashion world. Billie Eilish wore a Gucci tracksuit to a music event in 2020, Justin Bieber is regularly seen performing in gold chains and sneakers, and Kendall and Kylie Jenner launched a failed Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. vintage-inspired tee line in 2017. Streetwear was first popularized by hip-hop artists and fans in the 1970s and '80s, amplifying comfort-casual basics, like sweats and sneakers. As streetwear becomes a larger presence in the mainstream, it is important to remember the communities that gave us this style and the struggles they continue to face just for wearing it. Hip-hop meets fashion Fashion has always been an integral part of hip-hop since the musical genre was first born 50 years ago on August 11, 1973. Grandmaster Flash rapped about Calvin Klein jeans in 1987, while Migos glorified "Versace, Versace" in 2013. For years, hip-hop's attraction to luxury brands seemed aspirational. As the musical genre was still in its early days, its stars had not reached the heights of wealth or popularity many enjoy today. Hip-hop first came up in the South Bronx in the 1970s; at the time, the neighborhood was still reeling from the impact of the Cross-Bronx Expressway, which displaced thousands of residents and decreased property values, further impoverishing the community. Dapper Dan at NYFW on February 14, 2023 in New York City. Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for IMG Fashion In the 1970s and '80s, hip-hop culture in New York City spawned its own form of fashion that spoke to the lifestyle of its musicians, but also borrowed from luxury houses. Monogrammed prints took from the aesthetic of brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton and placed them on relaxed-wear, like bucket hats, hoodies, and acrylic nails. Doing so challenged standards of respectability politics, which assumed that "respectable" and luxury clothing did not include streetwear staples, which were inextricably linked to Black culture. 21 Savage at the 2019 Met Gala. Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic via Getty Images Respectability politics were once upheld by Black elites as a tactic to counteract the "negative" stereotypes placed upon the Black community by acting and dressing like conservative white Americans. Streetwear, on the other hand, embraced those stereotypes. The creators and popularizers of this new breed of fashion mostly hailed from 1980s Brooklyn and Harlem, including designers like Daniel Day, best known as Dapper Dan. Day has dressed clients like Jay-Z, Salt-N-Pepa, and LL Cool J, had a line with Gucci, and is widely considered the godfather of luxury streetwear. When he first got his start, Day noticed that most traditional luxury brands chose not to respond to the emerging culture of hip-hop. He sought to fill that void. "For me, fashion came by way of being poor, not having clothes, and clothes being such a huge status symbol," Day told Insider. "Clothes were the physical thing that could immediately transform you." Day grew up in Harlem in, as he describes it, "a roach- and rat-infested building." Fashion became a way for him to change his story and his status. "Being poor and growing up having holes in my shoes and raggedy clothes, whenever I was able to get something that made me suitable, that I could fit in it transformed me," he said. "That was my first gravitational force that pulled me to fashion the transformative factor that it allowed you to have." Day became famous for screen-printing the monograms of luxury brands, like Fendi and MCM, onto his bomber jackets and tracksuits. At the time, he was treated like a pariah for using fake logos on flashy clothing. Today, he's recognized as a trailblazer, and his influence can be seen across the industry. Streetwear goes mainstream In the 1990s, streetwear saw a big shift from something worn exclusively in Black and brown neighborhoods to a "trendy" look adopted by mainstream celebrities. The phenomenon sparked arguments about cultural appropriation, which Day defines as someone borrowing, stealing, or taking something from another culture without giving that culture credit for its influence. And while Day certainly agrees that it's an issue in the fashion industry, he believes there is a way to counteract the problem, so long as brands are willing to work with the original creators. "If companies are willing to work with you, that will allow you a platform to involve you in what that appropriation is. That can open doors and create possibilities to show who is actually the creator," he said. But that's rarely the case. Take Marc Jacobs' Spring/Summer 2017 NYFW show, which featured predominantly white models flaunting faux locs, a style in which hair is twisted, coiled, or palm-rolled into rope-like strands. When asked about his inspiration for the hairstyle, Jacobs credited white director Lana Wachowski's pink locs. Jacobs' hairstylist, Guido Palau, cited 1980s rave culture, Boy George, and Harajuku as his main cultural influences. Locs from the Marc Jacobs show on September 15, 2016 in New York City. Estrop/WireImage While locs date back centuries from ancient Egypt and the Incan civilization in Peru to being written about in Vedic scriptures in South Asia in the past 50 years, the hairstyle has become synonymous with Black culture. But when Jacobs spoke of his show's hairstyling, there was no mention of the Rastafarian movement, native to Jamaica. Bob Marley became the face of the Rastafarian movement and was recognized by his long dreadlocks. Charlie Steiner - Hwy 67 Revisited/Getty Images While Jacobs, a white American born and raised on New York City's Upper West Side, might have truthfully been influenced by the grunge and street style aesthetic of the 1980s and '90s, omitting Black culture entirely from his use of locs is a form of "racial plagiarism," to use the terminology of American cultural theorist Minh-Ha T. Pham. Pham argues Marc Jacobs' locs do "nothing to increase the acceptance or reduce the surveillance of Black women and men." Rather, by removing Black culture from the conversation, locs become a non-Black style and, when placed in association with expensive, luxury clothes, they are exalted and framed as something desirable. Beau McCall Black Lives Matter Triple T-shirt, 2021 Eileen Costa / Courtesy of The Museum at FIT Appropriation vs. appreciation Black fashion, hairstyles, and culture continue to be appropriated under the guise of "appreciation." But there's a fine line. "Appreciation should give credit to the source of the inspiration," Elizabeth Way, an associate curator at the Fashion Institute of Technology, told Insider. "Showing understanding and intellectual curiosity and a sensitivity to the culture really defines appreciation, and a lack of that can really result in appropriation." Recently, Way helped launch the Fresh, Fly and Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip-Hop Style exhibit at the Museum at FIT, a showcase of hip-hop's 50-year contribution to the fashion world. "Hip-hop and Black American culture was a huge influence in moving our whole culture to more of a streetwear aesthetic," Way said. "But because these are styles that were born out of existing items of clothing, it's really the styling that has the cultural resonance." As Way explained, everyone wears jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers, but Black Americans changed their presentation and their cultural context. Moschino earrings, 2018. The Museum at FIT, gift of Veronica Webb. Eileen Costa / Courtesy of The Museum at FIT "The fact that these styles were vilified by mainstream society whether it was oversized jeans, hoop earrings, or over-the-top nail art, things that were considered declasse and outside of the norms of mainstream taste Black and brown people were discriminated against for their style, until we started to see mainstream celebrities, influencers, taking on these styles and rebranding them," she said. Today, streetwear has become revered. New sneaker releases have led to mobs and riots. Virgil Abloh, the late creator of the beloved streetwear brand Off-White, became one of the most sought-after designers of the decade and was given the reins to luxury powerhouse Louis Vuitton in 2018. A 2019 report by PwC and Hypebeast estimated that streetwear had taken over 10% of the global apparel market. Yet, as streetwear continues to grow in prominence within the mainstream, many within Black and brown communities are still being targeted for wearing the same styles they originated. In 2019, Anthony Childs was fatally struck by three bullets while being pursued by a police officer trying to stop him for violating Shreveport, Louisiana's "saggy pant ordinance." Two years later, in 2021, luxury brand Balenciaga started selling $1,190 sagging sweatpants. Virgil Abloh at Paris Fashion Week. Edward Berthelot/Getty Images Over a decade since Trayvon Martin was killed by a neighborhood-watch captain who identified Martin as looking suspicious and wearing a "dark hoodie," the hoodie has continued to be politicized and racialized, while luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Prada still charge thousands of dollars for their versions of the garment. Black women have also been hypersexualized and branded as "ghetto" and "ratchet" for the same looks white celebrities are celebrated for wearing. "The issue of appropriation is not just being discriminated against for the way you dress, but oftentimes that led to very real violence, very real consequences in people's lives in terms of employment, and other ways they were perceived," Way said. "So when you take those styles that were really important to communicating individuality and communicating community within Black and brown neighborhoods, you all of a sudden rebrand them and make them positive for a mainstream audience, that's a real problem." Streetwear is constantly evolving and growing bigger by the day. As long as the fashion industry recognizes the style's influences, gives back to the communities slighted by appropriation, and centers Black voices, streetwear has the potential to make the fashion industry more vibrant and more inclusive. Read the original article on Insider A 70-year-old Pennsylvania woman is accused of fatally stabbing a man with a 16-inch blade concealed in her cane, officials say. Renee DiPietro came to her sons defense during a fight in Ardmore on June 10, but the brawl ended in the death of 31-year-old Michael Sides, the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office said in an Aug. 8 news release. The deadly encounter began with a bar fight earlier in the evening in which DiPietros son sucker punched a friend of Sides, the release said. After the incident, Sides was overheard saying he wanted to find DiPietros son and confront him for the attack on his friend. Surveillance video shows Sides kept his word, according to investigators. DiPietros son can be seen getting into a vehicle with his mother and father when Sides approaches and a fight breaks out between the men, the release said. DiPietro joins the fight, stabbing Sides with a long-edged weapon, later determined to be a 16-inch blade sheathed in a cane, officials said. Sides quickly collapses, but DiPietro strikes him one more time before getting into the vehicle with her son and driving away without rendering any aid to Sides or calling 911, according to the release. First responders found Sides on the ground unresponsive and hemorrhaging at 1:30 a.m., officials said. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead about an hour later. An autopsy determined Sides was killed by a stab wound to the chest and that he was murdered, officials said. DiPietro turned herself in to police and is facing charges of third-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and possessing an instrument of crime, the release said. Ardmore is a suburb of Philadelphia, roughly 10 miles northwest of the citys downtown. Wife fatally shoots man pointing gun at husbands head in front yard, Indiana cops say Man thrusts American flag through another mans head at Sonic, Oklahoma cops say Man accused of fatally shooting mom of 3 wanted to scare her son, Texas cops say 12 teens beat man in animalistic attack outside gas station, Ohio officials say In August 1948, the OFallon Police Department acquired a patrol motorcycle for dealing with traffic offenses throughout the city. Heres how the OFallon Progress reported it back then: OFallon may well take its place with the larger cities when it comes to a well-equipped police department. William F. Morton, recently named as chief of police, acquired a motorcycle for speedier and more efficient duty. Chief Morton, in speaking of the new acquisition, stated that the bike will serve more efficiently in coping with traffic violators, especially some of the drivers who are in the habit of making a speedway of the citys streets. Sidewalk bicycle riders will also do well to heed a warning that this is prohibited by ordinance. The chief declared that complaints from pedestrians on the bicycle nuisance are becoming more numerous and the practice will have to cease, as violators are subject to arrest and penalties. Morton was only chief until May 1949, less than a year. After his law enforcement stint, he operated a photography studio in OFallon until 1955 when he moved to Litchfield and operated a successful studio there for many years. He died in 2012. 75 years ago, Aug. 12, 1948 John F. Miller, for the past two years principal of the Valier, Illinois High School (just west of present-day Rend Lake), has been named superintendent of OFallon Township High and grade schools. Appointment of Mr. Miller was approved by the boards of education at a joint meeting. He succeeds R.H. Braun, who resigned two weeks ago to accept a position as principal of the high school at Urbana. The new head of the schools comes to OFallon with 15 years experience in teaching and administration in Illinois grade and high schools. He is a graduate of Eastern Teachers College where he received his bachelors degree. In addition, he has a masters degree from the University of Illinois and has done additional graduate work at the University of Chicago and Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Mr. Miller is married and is seeking living quarters for his wife, their daughter, and a son. The daughter is in high school and the son is a grade school pupil. Anyone who has knowledge of an available house is asked to notify Carl Barth, secretary of the Township High board, or Howard Glenn, president of the grade school board as the Miller family is desirous of locating in OFallon before the school opening in September. 50 years ago, Aug. 10, 1973 Chief of Police James W. Tiley asked the council to terminate his employment with the department effective Sept. 1 when he will go on physical disability. Tiley has been ill in recent weeks but had planned retirement this year after 20 years service. The council accepted his letter which expressed thanks to the council for permitting him to build an efficient department. Mayor Gary C. Mackey said a letter of commendation from the council should be sent to Tiley with the acceptance of his retirement decision. A decisive defeat for abortion foes in the red state of Ohio, the seventh such loss since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, has sent alarm bells ringing among some Republicans and prominent conservatives over the clear salience of the issue. "The Ohio result tonight, coming on the heels of the shellacking in Michigan and the unexpected loss in Kentucky, needs to be a five-alarm fire for the pro-life movement," Patrick Brown, a conservative scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, tweeted late Tuesday. But Republican strategists face a no-win conundrum. Retreating on abortion would infuriate the majority of their base that wants to ban the procedure, while their current strategy is alienating a formidable slice of swing voters who favor some GOP positions but oppose the partys stance on reproductive rights. The end of Roe v. Wade drove voters toward Democrats in the 2022 elections and since then, abortion opponents have lost a series of state elections: a ballot measure in Kansas, this year's Wisconsin Supreme Court race and now Ohios Issue 1 ballot measure. There shouldnt be any sugarcoating over what happened last night. It was a major setback in what became a very public fight between pro-choice and pro-life groups, Bill Stepien, the campaign manager for former President Donald Trumps 2020 campaign, said on Fox News. This happened in Ohio, which is not a pink state anymore. This is a state that is red. The GOPs creeping fear is that abortion could propel an unpopular President Joe Biden to re-election. The bigger concern is what this means for 2024. National pro-choice groups are at the ready and ready to pounce, Stepien said. We know Democrats arent excited at all about Joe Biden. These groups are going to provide rocket fuel to a pretty unenthusiastic candidacy and be on the ground and be knocking on doors. Were going to be breathing life into a pretty unenthusiastic campaign. But the Republican Party remains divided. Anti-abortion activists want to lean into the issue and fight harder, while some GOP leaders prefer to downplay it and pivot to other topics friendlier to their party. Others say the Ohio defeat was about a spending advantage by pro-abortion rights groups that opposed Issue 1. Deidra Reese. (Jay LaPrete / AP) 'As long as sex is salient' Democrats, meanwhile, sense new opportunities to wield the issue to damage Republicans in the 2024 election, when the White House and control of Congress are up for grabs. As long as sex is salient, as long as people can get pregnant, this issue is remaining very salient, said Celinda Lake, a veteran Democratic pollster. And its very motivating. This is going to be the roadmap for 2024. Because issues matter, Lake said. Democrats should just not underestimate this issue and should continue to utilize it. Conservatives say the GOPs challenge is to come up with a coherent position that is palatable to swing voters and sell it. We havent figured out both the messaging and the substance to appeal to the voter in the middle whos maybe personally conflicted about abortion but doesnt like the idea of a really rigid ban, Brown said in an interview with NBC News. The pro-choice side has been really effective at finding language that resonates with Republicans and independents, and the pro-life side has not done the same thing in reverse. And were seeing the results play out, unfortunately. Brown said the solution is to turn the debate away from the idea of a national abortion ban. To me, the most frustrating thing has been the sort of circular firing squad that weve seen between various presidential candidates and some of the bigger pro-life organizations in D.C. about whether or not to push for a federal 15-week ban, he said. Right now, we have to stem the bleeding, and holding to the most purest conception of what it needs to look like, I think, is doing everybody a disservice. 'It's an intensity issue' Brown isn't alone. When Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced a 15-week national abortion ban last fall, GOP skeptics panned it as a "bad idea" and a distraction that wouldn't play well with voters. Still, other abortion foes insist that Republicans can win on the issue by reframing it around restrictions for late-term pregnancies and by portraying Democrats as the real extremists. It is a sad day for Ohio and a warning for pro-life states across the nation, said an unsigned statement from Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, blaming the defeat on liberal dark money that was used to mislead Ohioans amid a silence of the establishment and business community. That is why everyone must take this threat seriously and recognize progressives will win if their opponents are scared into submission by the pro-abortion Left, the SBA statement said. So long as the Republicans and their supporters take the ostrich strategy and bury their heads in the sand, they will lose again and again. In the 2022 campaign, some Republicans like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell sought to downplay the battle, arguing that abortion proponents neednt fear because his party wont find the votes to restrict abortion at the federal level. A month after the 2022 election, McConnell attributed the GOPs disastrous Senate showing to poor candidates, not abortion. In Ohio, which Trump carried twice by a comfortable 8 points, the Issue 1 referendum was pushed by conservatives to raise the threshold to change the states constitution from 50% to 60%, in anticipation of progressives eying a ballot measure to protect abortion rights. With most votes counted, Issue 1 lost by 14 points. Its an intensity issue. A lot of it has to do with intensity whos really fired up to get out there and vote? former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican who signed laws to restrict abortion while in office, said on MSNBC. It wasnt just Democrats that voted against this thing. There were a number of Republicans that did as well. Democrats see an opening with Trump National Right to Life President Carol Tobias said she was caught off guard by how outgunned abortion opponents were after the Supreme Courts Dobbs decision. Quite frankly, were being so outspent that its hard to counter the message that is coming out from our opponents, Tobias said. The biggest one for me that I was not expecting were the lies that were being told about women not being able to get treatment, that women are going to die. Electorally, it turns out Roe v. Wade was a gift to Republicans during its nearly half-century run. It turned a losing issue for the party into a winner by enabling the GOP to mobilize a passionate anti-abortion base in election after election for decades, without triggering a backlash among the majority of Americans who support legal abortion but didn't believe it was in danger. Thats over. Now our voters are more mobilized than theirs, Lake said. Lake said the Dobbs ruling gives Democrats an opening against Trump that they lacked in 2016. She lamented that voters didnt believe Trump would actually fight to restrict abortion. But over his four years as president, Trump put three justices on the Supreme Court all provided decisive votes to end the right to legal abortion. I was doing focus groups in Michigan with women, and I said: Donald Trump is going to defund Planned Parenthood. And the women said, No hes not, thats ridiculous. And I said I can show you the clip on TV, and I played the news for them, Lake said. And they said, Are you kidding me? I dont care what he says. So in 2016, it was very hard to make him anti-choice. After Dobbs, its not, she said. And the linkage to his court the Trump judges and the MAGA judges is very, very clear to voters. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Record high ocean temperatures may lead to more hurricanes than previously expected this season, according to national weather forecasters. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has upped its prediction for hurricane season from average to an above-normal level of activity for this year, the group announced Thursday. Experts predicted about a 60 percent chance that hurricane season has more activity than normal this year, a rise from a 40 percent chance back in May. The group expects between 14 and 21 named storms, with seven to 11 of them being hurricanes. Between two and five of those storms are expected to be major hurricanes with winds stronger than 111 mph, the forecast says. Forecasters previously predicted a quieter season because the Pacific Ocean is in El Nino shearing winds from the west that would usually weaken storms before they get serious enough to form hurricanes. However, record ocean temperatures strengthen storms and may be enough to counteract the usual dampening force of an El Nino climate, the forecasters believe. High ocean temperatures nearing 100 degrees off the coast of South Florida have concerned scientists for their larger climate implications. Water temperatures are about 5 degrees higher in Florida and across the Gulf of Mexico this year than average. The NOAA predictions are in line with what other hurricane predictors have said they expect for the upcoming season. Colorado State University researchers raised their predictions to an above-average season last month, calling for seven hurricanes. They also cited warm ocean temperatures overwhelming the usual El Nino forces. Five significant storms have already formed in the Atlantic this year, including one hurricane. In the Pacific Ocean which is not covered by these forecasts Tropical Storm Calvin ravaged Hawaii last month, causing widespread flooding and water damage. That storm was previously a hurricane but weakened as it approached the islands. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. The Ada County Commission is moving forward with a plan to expand the Ada County Jail using municipal bonds, a project the Ada County Sheriffs Office has sought for years because of overcrowding. The County Commission passed a resolution on Thursday that directs county employees to take all actions necessary or reasonably required to prepare for, work towards, and advance the countys interests with regard to the holding of the bond election. The soonest a bond election could be held would be in November, which the resolution notes is a possibility. At Thursdays meeting, Commission Chair Rod Beck said putting the question to voters in November would require further commission approval in September. He said the election could also be held at a later date, perhaps in May. In Idaho, bond measures require two-thirds of voters to approve. This does not fully authorize the bond election, Beck said. This just initiates the process. According to the resolution, the county has hired the law firm Hawley Troxell and Zions Bank to assist with the bonding process. Separately, the commissioners also approved an agreement to hire Clearwater Financial LLC, a municipal advisory firm, to provide education services for the project. Beck said the consultant would help decide when to hold a bond election, or whether to proceed with a bond election at all. The commissioners spokesperson, Elizabeth Duncan, said in an email that the education would be for the general public. Under Idaho law, public officials are prohibited from using public money to advocate for ballot measures, though they are allowed to do so personally. Municipalities often issue general obligation bonds to pay for expensive capital projects. Instead of paying for the costly projects up front, municipalities instead receive loans from bondholders, who will get paid back with interest years later. Cities and counties generally use property taxes or other tax revenue to meet their obligations to creditors. It is unclear how much the jail expansion will cost. In 2020, the County Commission, then led by Democrats, approved a $44 million plan to expand the jail shortly before the November election, which returned the three-member commission to Republican control. The commissioners intended to finance the project with a lease-purchase agreement, which would not have required voter approval. That plan did not move forward until now, after the county purchased an adjacent property owned by Darigold in December, which will be part of the expansion. Because of recent legislation, a lease-purchase agreement would now require a majority of voters to approve. When asked if the commissioners action Thursday precluded the county from funding the project by other means, Duncan said: No, it does not. However, it authorized and directed preliminary action only with respect to a general obligation bond, and not any other type of funding mechanism. Ada County wants an expanded jail. How might the county pay for it? For years, the Sheriffs Office has advocated for more room at the jail, which would be used to provide extra bed space and an expanded kitchen and transport area. In recent years, dozens of inmates have had to sleep on the floor because of lack of space. On Tuesday, Sheriff Matt Clifford told the commissioners an expansion was needed as the county has grown rapidly in recent years. We are thankful the Ada County Board of Commissioners recognize our communitys problem and are actively pursuing a solution, sheriffs spokesman Patrick Orr told the Statesman by text. Commissioners Beck and Tom Dayley voted for the bond sale. The third commissioner, Ryan Davidson, was absent. Moosakhan Nasiri was 20 when he was set upon by a group of fellow Afghans in east London - Central An Afghan migrant stabbed an asylum seeker from the same country to death in east London after being deported from the UK and returning illegally. Javid Ahmadzai has been jailed for 24 years for murdering Moosakhan Nasiri, who was 20 when he was set upon by a group of fellow Afghans in Plashet Park, East Ham, on Oct 15 2017. The victim, who was known as Moosa, was punched and kicked by the attackers and fatally stabbed once in the chest by Ahmadzai, jurors at the Old Bailey were told. Following the trial, Ahmadzai, now 28, was found guilty of murder and violent disorder. Prosecutor Lisa Wilding KC said the attack took place because the victim owed 10 for some drugs, which he could not pay back immediately. An argument broke out between him and three of the group before the defendant received a phone call summoning him to the park to join in. After the killing, Ahmadzai fled to France, where in September 2018 he was convicted of stabbing a man in the chest during a row over the behaviour and language of the group he was in. On the day of his release from French custody on June 21 last year, he was extradited back to the UK and arrested for murder. Sentencing Ahmadzai at the Old Bailey on Thursday, Judge Mark Dennis KC told the court the defendant had first moved to the UK from Afghanistan to claim asylum as a teenager. But he had been refused, and in due course he had been deported back to Afghanistan in 2015, he said. It was stated in evidence by him that he had re-entered the country illegally in early 2017. He said Ahmadzai had multiple previous convictions for violent or aggressive offending between 2013-2014, adding that the use of a knife in the murder of Nasiri was a senseless and cowardly act against an unarmed and defenceless victim. The court heard a victim impact statement from Daud Musafar, Nasiris cousin, who said he could not believe that he had been murdered. When I found out, I could not believe what I was hearing, especially in a safe country like the UK, he said. Moosakhan was a young man, who lost his life at such a young age. He was a happy and active young man and we were very close to each other, just like brothers. We looked after each other in the UK. He said Ahmadzais conviction meant that he and his family could move on, adding: Although Moosakhan will never come back, the conviction of Javid has brought an end to this part of our lives. I would like to let the judge and the court know how much I suffered during this time and how this situation has affected my life. The court heard that Nasiri came to the UK in 2005 to seek asylum because of the Taliban. He lived in Bradford before moving to London to stay with an Afghan foster family who lived near the park where he died. Although he was not entitled to work in the UK, he would find occasional employment as a labourer, jurors were told. 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. Johannesburg The leaders of a group of West African nations met Thursday for an emergency summit to decide on the bloc's next move as it grapples with how to handle the recent military coup in one of its own member states. The leaders of the ECOWAS bloc have threated to use military force, but made it clear they prefer diplomacy to restore democracy in Niger. In closing remarks, the 17-country ECOWAS group pledged to enforce sanctions and travel bans on those preventing the return to power of democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum and ordered the activation of its standby force. "No option is off the table, including the use of force as a last resort," said Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu, and current ECOWAS chair, at the end of the summit. The ECOWAS leaders were meeting two weeks after the July 26 coup in Niger shocked the region. In an early Thursday morning televised address, the generals who seized power over the country and locked Bazoum up in his home announced a new set of leaders. The junta said its newly appointed government included 21 ministers and was led by interim Prime Minister Lamine Zeine Ali Mahamane, who would also act as the Minister of Economy and Finance. The defiant announcement of a new government came a day after Niger's military rulers accused France of violating the country's airspace, attacking a military camp and freeing "terrorists." The foreign ministry in France, the former colonial power in Niger, later denied the accusations. Bazoum has accused the junta of keeping him and his family in "cruel" and "inhumane" detention at his official residence in the capital city of Niamey. Officials close to him have told CBS News he and his wife and son have no running water, no electricity and no access to doctors. Some former government ministers were being held in another building near the presidential residence, while others remained in hiding in Niamey. One close aide to Bazoum who remains in hiding told CBS News on Thursday that despite the conditions, the president's "morale is very high." The aide said the deposed leadership of Niger believed ECOWAS was likely to attempt one more round of mediation before launching any military intervention. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced his concern Wednesday about the reported "deplorable living conditions" of Bazoum and his family, calling for the leader's "immediate, unconditional release and his reinstatement as Head of State," according to a statement from a spokesperson. Former government minister Rhissa Ag Boula, meanwhile, announced the formation of a new anti-coup group aimed at reinstating Bazoum. He said the Council of Resistance for the Republic (CCR) was in favor of resolving the standoff through diplomacy but would use "any means necessary" to stop the military takeover of Niger. Thousands of supporters of the military coup in Niger gathered at a Niamey stadium on August 6, 2023. / Credit: AFP/Getty The Thursday ECOWAS meeting in neighboring Nigeria's capital Abuja came after the junta met with two prominent traditional leaders from Nigeria, Lamido Muhammad Sanusi and Abdullsalami Abubarkar the previous day. Sanusi, who met coup-leader Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, later told journalists that he and Abubarkar would "continue to do our best to bring the two parties together to improve understanding. This is the time for public diplomacy." Acting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and Under-Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland travelled to Niger earlier in the week and met the junta's defense chief, Gen. Moussa Salaou Barmou. He's a well-known figure to Washington as he's spent the last decade at the helm of the special forces in Niger, which had become a valuable U.S. military partner in the tumultuous region of northern Africa known as the Sahel. She described the talks to journalists as "extremely frank and at times quite difficult, because, again, we were pushing for a negotiated solution." She said the junta was "quite firm in their view on how they want to proceed, and it does not comport with the constitution of Niger." Barmou was himself trained by U.S. forces, and he worked closely with U.S. military leadership at two bases in Niger run jointly with the Americans. Nuland was not allowed to meet with coup leader Tchiani or with President Bazoum. "No warning": Hawaii resident describes harrowing escape from wildfires NFL teams kick off preseason play COVID-19 EG.5 variant spreading through U.S. The News Chinese tech companies are reportedly racing to obtain powerful graphics processing units (GPUs) which could power artificial intelligence. Weve collected analysis and reporting you should read on the rush to stockpile processing chips. Insights Top Chinese tech firms, including Baidu, ByteDance, and Alibaba, have ordered $5 billion worth of Nvidias chips. Theyre reliant on the chips to power artificial intelligence and worry that the Biden administrations restrictions on advanced semiconductor sales to China could be expanded to encompass the GPUs. One unnamed employee at Baidu said in a recent interview that Without these Nvidia chips, we cant pursue the training for any large language model. This wouldnt be the first time that GPUs have seen a massive uptick in demand. At the start of the crypto boom, GPUs were stockpiled due to their powerful processing capabilities, and the street price of graphics cards in some cases tripled. As the AI boom marches on, prices are expected to jump again. If youre planning a new gaming PC build or upgrade with the best GPUs, you might want to get a purchase in sooner rather than later, reporter Michael Crider warns. There are signs that the market value for GPUs has already skyrocketed. In China, some GPUs are retailing for $70,000 per chip, and cards which would normally be used in home computers are reportedly being snapped up by AI industry players instead. We can clearly see that the rise of AI is having a profound impact on the supply of compute-focused GPUs, tech writer Mark Tyson notes. Know More Nvidia which is the largest exporter of chips in the world announced Tuesday that it had developed a new chip aimed at specifically powering large language models and AI. Credit - Getty Images In May, more than 100 artificial intelligence (AI) professors, including some of the field's leading experts, scholars from other areas, and AI executives signed a one-sentence statement: "Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war. Many signing researchers have explained their reason for worry: the risk that we might build powerful AI systems that we cannot control within this decade or the next ones. Some have suggested the statement is an industry ploy to hype up AI companies products or influence regulation, ignoring that most of the signatoriesourselves includedare academics who do not work for industry. But the most common concern we have heard is that, by focusing on the risk of extinction, the statement distracts from present-day AI harms. As volunteers involved in collecting signatures for and constructing the statement, we disagree because both problems share a common core. The false dichotomy between ongoing harms and emergent risks makes it needlessly difficult to address common root causes. AI poses many ongoing problems. AI systems can sustain human rights abuses, perpetuate systemic discrimination, and entrench power imbalances. Because AI systems are often widely deployed, harms can reach massive scales. For example, tens of thousands of families were pushed into poverty when the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration wrongly accused them of fraud and requested they pay back large sums of money, based on risk profiles created with AI systems. The root causes of AI harm There are several root causes that contribute to many instances of the harm caused by AI. One is that we do not know how to design AI systems that reliably behave exactly as we intend them to. For example, a health system was designed to allocate care based on need but discriminated against Black hospital patients. It turned out the algorithm used health care costs as a proxy for need, but institutionalized racism means that less money has been spent on Black patients historically. In many similar cases, companies do not explicitly set out to build harmful AI systems. Instead, creating state-of-the-art AI systems requires vast amounts of data, and the AI systems unintendedly inherit the biases encoded in this data. Another cause is competitive pressures and limited accountability. There is often a strong economic incentive to deploy AI systems without sufficient safety checks. For example, Microsoft rushed the release of the Bing chatbot, which resulted in the chatbot threatening and insulting users. When the Dutch Tax Administration replaced human judgment with AI systems, this, too, happened in the name of efficiency. Without decisive action to address these root causes, increasingly powerful and widely deployed AI systems will cause even more pervasive and significant harm. Many experts believe future AI systems may outmatch humans in crucial cognitive skills, such as social persuasion, planning, and development of novel technologies. Just as these cognitive abilities enabled humanity to control the fate of other species, the same skills could enable smarter AI systems to out-perform us. Given competition and limited accountability, there would be pressure on organizations to replace expensive human labor with AI systems. Economic forces encourage the rapid deployment of new AI systems (at the cost of safety testing), making them ever more powerful, building general (and potentially more powerful) systems rather than narrow (and potentially more controllable) systems, and increasing the autonomy of AI systems to take action in the world. AI systems could increasingly control our society's key productive, managerial, and military capacities. By then, we must have figured out how to design systems that always and truly behave as we intend. Otherwise, powerful AI systems that pursue goals at odds with humanity could lead to human marginalization or even extinction. Read More: An AI Pause is Humanity's Best Bet for Preventing Extinction Moreover, many researchers expect us to develop such advanced AI systems very soon. Companies are pouring more money and talent into AI development while the cost of computing power is decreasing. Simply using more computing power and data has reliably produced more capable AI systems, while AI algorithms have also improved. After seeing the rapid progress in AI over the past five years, Geoffrey Hinton, a founding father of modern AI, now expects that AI could broadly surpass human cognitive abilitiessuch as persuasion, planning, and scientific reasoningwithin five to 20 years. Such time horizons are shared by many in the AI research community. Twenty years is short; in discussions about the climate crisis, we regularly consider effects on such timescales. And just as climate change requires us to face air pollution and ongoing natural disasters as well as prevent future, even more, extreme weather events, we must tackle various AI risks and harms simultaneously. Even if we might be a couple of decades away from AI systems that are smarter than humans, that is little time to create the complex global governance structures necessary for this technology. Work to address ongoing harms sometimes differs from work to manage extinction risk. We do not wish to erase nuance or potential differences between the perspectives. Yet, given common root causes, there is much room for collaboration and cooperation. Four possible interventions Many interventions could address the root problems. First, the public currently has little to no say over what models are built and how they are deployed. For example, those most affected by welfare systems have had little say in their automation. Private companies decide which risks are acceptable, as they have free rein over computing power and data, the key levers of AI development. Stronger democratic oversight over the supply of computing power and data would enhance public control over AI development and associated risks. For example, governments can monitor when large amounts of computing power are being used and for what purpose. Second, a strong auditing regime, where independent third-parties would scrutinize the practices and development processes of AI labs, would help reduce risks overall. Auditing has already surfaced previously overlooked harms, such as bias in facial recognition, and could catch future failure modes like AI systems subverting human control or replicating autonomously. A standards body could ensure AI systems, both before and after deployment, meet specified safety guidelines. Domestic agencies could enforce compliance, while an international organization would create universal standards. Third, we should require meaningful human oversight of critical AI decisions, and avoid very-high-risk use cases such as lethal autonomous weapons. Uncertainty about AI systems' current and near-future capabilities means we should proceed cautiously around their deployment in critical domains. Fourth, we should rebalance the funding going into AIs and urge companies to spend less on making them smarter while increasing funding into making them safer, more transparent, and studying their social impacts. While it is good that industry labs are funding such research, this funding is liable to change with market conditions. Much more public funding for non-industry groups is required. The development of increasingly powerful AI systems poses increasingly vast societal-scale risks. The complexity of these risks requires cooperation between people with potentially different motivations but with a shared interest in ensuring that AI development proceeds in a just and beneficial way. Contact us at letters@time.com. Walt Nauta, personal aide to former US president Donald Trump, leaves a federal courthouse in Florida after his appearance (CHANDAN KHANNA) Donald Trump's personal assistant on Thursday pleaded not guilty to new federal charges brought over the former US president's alleged hoarding of national security secrets. The government accuses Trump of mishandling dozens of classified documents he took from the White House as he left office, including blueprints on military and nuclear programs, and plotting with his staff to hide them from investigators. Walt Nauta, Trump's longtime so-called "body man," is accused of moving boxes at the Republican ex-leader's Mar-a-Lago club in south Florida to conceal documents that had been demanded in a grand jury subpoena. He appeared at a federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of Miami, to deny two new obstruction counts added to several charges he was already facing for allegedly attempting to stymie the investigation. Trump, who is running for reelection, was also facing new charges -- including two for obstruction of justice -- but wasn't required to appear and signaled last week that he would be pleading not guilty. Carlos de Oliveira, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago, is accused of helping Nauta move some of the boxes. Prosecutors say the pair asked an employee if they could delete security footage, and later lied to investigators about their involvement. De Oliveira appeared alongside Nauta but his plea on four counts -- including conspiracy to obstruct justice and making a false statement -- was postponed because he doesn't have a Florida lawyer yet. Trump, who denies all wrongdoing, has now been charged with 40 felony counts in the case, mostly for alleged breaches of the Espionage Act. A trial has been set for May next year, although this will likely be pushed back. He is facing prosecution in multiple jurisdictions over a variety of alleged criminal wrongdoing as he bids to be the Republican Party's candidate for the 2024 presidential election. gma-ft/sst U.S. District Judges Aileen Cannon, left, and Tanya Chutkan. (via Wikicommons; Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts via the Associated Press) The courts have randomly assigned two very different judges to oversee former President Donald Trumps upcoming federal criminal trials. In Washington, D.C., where Trump faces charges of conspiring to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election, District Judge Tanya Chutkan, a Barack Obama appointee, is running the show. In Florida, where Trump has been indicted for hoarding classified documents, District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, is at the helm. Guess which judge the defendant prefers. Im very proud to have appointed her, Trump gushed about Cannon last month. Shes very smart and very strong, and loves our country. We need judges that love our country so they do the right thing. As for Chutkan, Trump has been more critical. There is no way I can get a fair trial with the judge assigned to the case, he posted Sunday on Truth Social. Everybody knows this, and so does she! We will be immediately asking for a recusal of this judge on very powerful grounds. Even though experts say Trumps demand that she be recused is meritless and his own lawyers have signaled that they agree the former president and his allies are certain to keep pleading his case in the court of public opinion. (Chutkan will rule Friday on special counsel Jack Smiths request for a protective order to prevent Trump from publicly targeting individuals.) Politics aside, which judge is actually more likely to preside "fairly," that is, by neither opposing nor favoring Trump? Here are the facts so far. Age Chutkan: 61 years old Cannon: 42 years old Education Chutkan: George Washington University (BA); University of Pennsylvania (JD) Cannon: Duke University (BA); University of Michigan (JD) Prior experience Chutkan: More than a decade serving as a court-appointed public defender in D.C., followed by another decade at the white-shoe law firm Boies Schiller & Flexner, where she focused on complex civil litigation. Cannon: Three years as an associate at the D.C. office of the corporate law firm Gibson Dunn, followed by seven years as a prosecutor for the Southern District of Florida, where she worked in the major crimes and appellate divisions. Political affiliations Chutkan: Donated $1,500 to Barack Obama's campaign between 2008 and 2009; donated $250 to Kirsten Gillibrands Senate campaign in New York in 2008. Cannon: Registered Republican; member of the conservative/libertarian Federalist Society; donated $100 to Ron DeSantis's gubernatorial campaign in Florida in 2018. Details of confirmation Chutkan: A 95-0 vote in the U.S. Senate in 2014; the American Bar Association rated her Unanimously Qualified for the position. Cannon: A 56-21 vote in the U.S. Senate in 2020; the American Bar Association rated her as "Qualified" for the position. Number of criminal trials overseen Chutkan: According to the Court Listener database, she has been assigned 1,810 cases and issued opinions in 616 of them 18 of which dealt with criminal charges. The Associated Press reports that Chutkan has also sentenced at least 38 people convicted of Jan. 6 riot-related crimes. She testified during her Senate confirmation process that she had tried approximately 40 to 45 cases to verdict or final decision as an attorney, adding that she was a lead defense lawyer in many involving serious felonies, such as homicide, first-degree sexual assault and kidnapping. Cannon: She has been assigned 224 criminal cases four of which went to trial, according to a New York Times review. Each was a relatively routine matter, the Times reported, including accusations of possession of a gun by a felon, assaulting a prosecutor, smuggling undocumented migrants and tax fraud. The four matters generated between two and five days of trial each, for a total of 14 trial days. As a prosecutor, Cannon previously helped secure the convictions of 41 defendants, including four from jury trials. Related rulings Chutkan: In 2021, she rejected Trump's efforts to block the congressional Jan. 6 committee from accessing his White House records, delivering a swift rebuke on the limits of invoking executive privilege as an ex-president. Presidents are not kings, she wrote, and plaintiff is not president. Trump appealed Chutkans decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against him by an 8-1 margin. Cannon: Last year, she oversaw a civil lawsuit filed by Trump after the FBI searched his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and seized more than 100 classified documents he had kept in defiance of an earlier subpoena. According to the New York Times, Cannon blocked investigators from access to the materials, imposed a special master to vet the files for any that should be permanently kept off limits, entertained the unprecedented idea that some White House files could be kept from criminal investigators in the Justice Department under executive privilege, and set a calendar that threatened to all but freeze the inquiry for at least four months. Her opinions, the Times explained, suggested that a former president should receive greater protections than an ordinary criminal suspect. Controversies Chutkan: She has drawn attention for imposing tough sentences on Jan. 6 rioters, matching or exceeding prosecutors recommendations in 19 of her 38 cases to date. (Other D.C. district judges have typically been more lenient.) It has to be made clear that trying to violently overthrow the government, trying to stop the peaceful transition of power and assaulting law enforcement officers in that effort is going to be met with absolutely certain punishment, Chutkan said in December 2021. Cannon: Her previous pro-Trump decisions were widely criticized and quickly overturned by a conservative appeals court, with a three-judge panel (including two fellow Trump appointees) ruling that she had improperly exercised equitable jurisdiction, and that dismissal of the entire proceeding is required. The law is clear, the appeals panel wrote. We cannot write a rule that allows any subject of a search warrant to block government investigations after the execution of the warrant. Nor can we write a rule that allows only former presidents to do so. Either approach would be a radical reordering of our caselaw. Cannon went on to reject Trumps request last month to delay the documents trial until after the 2024 election. Yet experts have subsequently questioned her decision earlier this week to strike two of Jack Smiths conflict-of-interest filings from the record, while forcing him to justify his ongoing D.C. grand jury investigation. Meanwhile, an Aug. 4 report from Reuters discovered that Cannon made two errors in a June trial, including one that potentially violated the defendant's constitutional rights and could have invalidated the proceedings. Air-raid warnings were issued on the night of 9-10 August in the city of Kyiv and in a number of Ukrainian oblasts in light of a threat of a Russian drone attack. Source: map of air-raid warnings in Ukraine; Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Telegram Details: As of 02:00 (Kyiv time), air-raid warnings were issued in the city of Kyiv and in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Poltava and Sumy oblasts. Ukraines Air Force said Russia might deploy drones to attack those oblasts. Previously: Air-raid warnings in Ukraine were issued four times on 9 August due to the threat of Russian missile strikes. Update at 01:05: An air-raid warning was also issued in Cherkasy Oblast, where there was a threat of Russian UAVs being used. Updated at 01:45: The all-clear was given in Kyiv. Instead, the air-raid warning was extended to Kirovohrad Oblast. Update at 01:46: The Air Force warned of the threat of Russians use of attack drones in Bila Tserkva, Kyiv Oblast. Update at 02:07: The Air Force reported that Zhytomyr and Vinnytsia oblasts were under a threat of Russian UAV strikes. Update at 03:35: The threat of Russian attack drones remained in three oblasts Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil and Rivne. Update at 03:42. The air-raid warning was also spread to Lviv and Volyn oblasts, and there was a threat of drones as well. Update at 04:04. A missile alert was issued throughout Ukraine due to the MiG-31K fighter jet, which could carry Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, taking off from Savasleyka airfield in Russia. Updated at 04:30. The all-clear was given in almost all of Ukraine. Background: On 9 August, there were four air-raid warnings throughout Ukraine because of the threat of missile attacks. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! United Airlines and American Airlines said they are sending planes to Maui for passenger evacuations as catastrophic wildfires sweep through the Hawaiian island. In a statement shared with The Hill, United Airlines said it canceled Thursdays inbound flights to Kahului Airport on Maui and will instead send empty planes to be used as passenger flights back to the mainland. American Airlines said it expects to operate all of Thursdays scheduled flights to and from Kahului Airport on Maui and has added an additional flight. The company also upgraded an aircraft to ensure customers evacuating OGG are able to do so, according to a statement from the airline. Both American Airlines and United Airlines issued travel alerts for those flying to and from Maui. American Airlines said those with travel plans affected by the wildfires can rebook without fees, or cancel and request a refund. United Airlines said customers will receive a full refund if they cancel and waived change fees and fare differences if they reschedule their trip to depart between Aug. 8-16. The hurricane-driven wildfires tore through the island this week, killing at least 36 people as of Wednesday night, according to Maui County officials. More than 271 structures were damaged and dozens are injured, officials said. Hawaiis Department of Transportation has coordinated multiple mass bus evacuations to take people to Kahului Airport to fly off the island. The fires were charged by strong wings from Hurricane Dora, which passed hundreds of miles south of Hawaii. The National Weather Service in Honolulu issued high-wind and fire-weather alerts, as parts of the islands saw wind gusts up to 82 miles per hour this week, according to the National Weather Service. Lt. Gov. Sylvia Lake who was serving as acting governor declared a state of emergency Tuesday, allowing the government to activate the National Guard and release emergency funds. President Biden also ordered all federal assets to be available on the islands to respond and said the federal Department of Transportation is working with commercial airlines to assist in the evacuation. The U.S. Coast Guard and the Navys 3rd Fleet are already assisting in the response efforts, he added. The Coast Guard said Wednesday that it rescued a total of 14 people from the waters off Lahaina Town. Two men who live in Lahaina said they were forced to escape into the ocean and held onto a jetty until the Coast Guard rescued them. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Two suspects who were involved in the Montgomery riverboat brawl have finally turned themselves in. Allen Todd, 23, and Zachary Shipman, 25, surrendered to the Montgomery Police Department, a spokesperson said late Wednesday, days after they were allegedly involved in a massive fight on a dock last weekend. Mr Todd and Mr Shipman are among three men facing one count of assault in the third degree, which is a misdemeanour, in connection with the incident. The fight began on Saturday when a deckhand on the Harriott II riverboat, Damian Pickett, confronted the owners of a pontoon boat so that the ship could dock. Viral video captured the owners, who are white, punching Mr Pickett, who is Black, before an all-out brawl ensued - largely along racial lines. On Tuesday, Police Chief Darryl Allen identified the three suspects, adding that one of them had already turned themselves inthat person appears to be Richard Roberts, 48. Police said they are seeking yet another man for further interviews: Reggie Gray. The police chief described him as wielding that folding chair in videos, as he picked up a chair and hit people over the head with it. A spokesperson for the Montgomery Police told The Independent on Thursday that Mr Gray has not yet been in contact with the police, but assured that the authorities will certainly find him. All three of the men are white, and all three were members of the pontoon boat, which was reportedly blocking the Harriott IIwhich was carrying 227 passengersfrom docking. So the captains deckhand, Mr Pickett, was taken from the riverboat to the dock to try to reason with the members of the pontoon boat, asking them to move. They did not take it well. The next part went viral - as the owner of the pontoon boat started attacking Mr Pickett. On Wednesday, the captain of the Harriott II, Capt Jim Kittrell, said he believed the attack was driven by race. The white guys that attacked my deckhandand he was a senior deckhand first mateI cant think of any other reason they attacked him other than it being racially motivated, he said. The brawl grew from there. However, he conceded that after the initial exchange, the fight did not appear to be Black and white. It was just shipmates trying to help a shipmate, the captain said. They couldve been little green men, for all they cared. When they attacked Damien, my crew was gonna jump out and do the best they could to help him out. It was my crew against the people who attacked their shipmate, thats all it was. Chief Albert explicitly said that the people aboard the pontoon boat were not local to Montgomery. This is not indicative of who we are as a city. We are much better than that, he said. Alec Baldwin has pleaded not guilty in court to involuntary manslaughter Actor and producer Alec Baldwin is no longer facing charges of involuntary manslaughter, after criminal charges against him were dropped over a fatal on-set shooting. Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed by a live bullet fired from a prop gun being used by Baldwin, on the set of the film Rust in 2021. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the film's armourer responsible for safety on the set, is still facing two counts of involuntary manslaughter. She is fighting the charges in Santa Fe Magistrates Court, New Mexico, and there will be a preliminary hearing on 3 May. Here is a summary of the events so far. 21 October 2021 Hutchins was a "wonderful mother, first and foremost", a former colleague told the BBC Halyna Hutchins dies and director Joel Souza is injured after Alec Baldwin fires a prop gun on a film set for 19th Century western Rust in New Mexico. Ukrainian-born Hutchins was shot while working as the film's director of photography. The 42-year-old was flown to hospital by helicopter, but died of her injuries. Souza was taken by ambulance from the scene at Bonanza Creek Ranch. Baldwin, who is also a co-producer of Rust, plays the film's lead and namesake - an outlaw whose 13-year-old grandson is convicted of manslaughter. The actor, 64, is best-known as Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, and for his portrayal of Donald Trump on sketch show Saturday Night Live. Speaking at the time, he said: "My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna." He said he was "fully co-operating with the police investigation". 23 October 2021 Joel Souza thanked "hundreds of strangers who reached out" at the time of the shooting In his first statement since the on-set shooting, injured director Souza says he is "gutted by the loss of my friend and colleague" Hutchins. Hutchins was fatally shot in the chest. Souza, who had been standing behind her, was treated in hospital for a wound to the shoulder, and later discharged. Court submissions show assistant director David Halls did not know the gun contained live ammunition, and indicated it was unloaded by shouting "cold gun!" 24 October 2021 People hold candles in front of an image of Halyna Hutchins A vigil takes place in New Mexico to mourn Hutchins, with industry professionals among those lighting candles in her memory. 25 October 2021 Legal documents reveal Alec Baldwin was drawing a revolver across his body and pointing it at a camera during the on-set rehearsal when the gun fired. 26 October 2021 The shooting occurred on the film set of the western Rust It is revealed Rust's assistant director, David Halls, had been sacked from a previous production, war drama Freedom's Path, over gun safety violations in 2019. A statement from the producers of that film told news agency AFP that Halls was dismissed after a crew member "incurred a minor and temporary injury when a gun was unexpectedly discharged". Halls could not be reached for comment. There is no suggestion that he was at fault for the Rust incident. 28 October 2021 Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said police had recovered evidence, including 500 rounds of ammunition Criminal charges may still be filed over the shooting on the set of Rust, police say, a week after the tragedy. Investigators said a "lead projectile" had been removed from director Souza's shoulder, and that it appeared to be a live round. Sante Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said police had recovered 600 pieces of evidence so far - including three firearms and 500 rounds of ammunition. 31 October 2021 Alec Baldwin described the team on the set of Rust as a "well-oiled crew" Baldwin speaks publicly for the first time since the shooting, calling Hutchins "my friend". "The day I arrived in Santa Fe and started shooting I took her [Hutchins] to dinner with Joel," he said. "We were a very, very well-oiled crew shooting a film together, and then this horrible event happened." He said police had ordered him not to discuss the ongoing investigation, but described the accident as a "one-in-a-trillion episode". He tells reporters he would be in favour of limiting the future use of firearms on film productions to protect people's safety. 17 November 2021 Mamie Mitchell (left) and her lawyer, Gloria Allred, spoke to the media A legal action against Alec Baldwin alleges that the film script did not require him to fire a gun when he fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Script supervisor Mamie Mitchell - who called police after the shooting on the New Mexico film set - filed the case. Her lawyer, Gloria Allred, accused the actor of "playing Russian roulette" when he fired the gun without checking it first. 1 December 2021 Police obtain a further warrant to search the premises of an arms supplier. An affidavit - a written statement of evidence - with the warrant says police were told ammunition for the film had come from several sources, including PDQ Arm & Prop. The affidavit said the ammunition supplier's owner, Seth Kenney, had told investigators the live round may have been from some "reloaded ammunition". He said the ammunition he supplied for the film consisted of dummy rounds and blanks, according to the affidavit. 3 December 2021 Lead actor Baldwin described the shooting as a "one-in-a-trillion event" Baldwin admits his acting career may be over, telling George Stephanopoulos of ABC News: "It could be", adding that he did not care. He also says he "didn't pull the trigger" of the gun during the incident, and adds: "Someone put a live bullet in a gun. I know it's not me." Baldwin said that, while he didn't feel guilty, the incident had left him emotionally scarred. According to court records, Halls was given the gun by Gutierrez-Reed. Her lawyers have said she did not know where "the live rounds came from". That question lies at the centre of the police investigation. 17 December 2021 Police obtain a search warrant for Baldwin's phone, issued by a Sante Fe court. The warrant claims "there may be evidence on the phone" that could be "material and relevant to this investigation". Investigators move to confiscate Baldwin's iPhone to look at text messages, emails, web browser history and other information. 9 January 2022 Investigators, led by District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, believe Baldwin's phone may contain evidence relevant to their investigation Despite obtaining a search warrant more than three weeks earlier, in December, officials say they have been unable to obtain Baldwin's phone. The actor hits back at suggestions he is not complying with the investigation. In a long video message posted to his Instagram page, the actor says "any suggestion" he had been deliberately evasive with investigators was a "lie". "They can't just go through your phone and take your photos, or your love letters to your wife, or what have you," Mr Baldwin said. "That is a process that takes time. But of course we are going to comply 1000% with all that." 13 January 2022 Gutierrez-Reed sues the prop supplier, alleging his company distributed "a mix of dummy and live ammunition" on set. She filed her legal claim in New Mexico state court, and is seeking unspecified damages from Seth Kenney and PDQ Arm and Prop LLC. Kenney has not yet commented. Her claim states: "The ammunition was misrepresented as only dummy ammunition when it contained both dummy and live ammunition." But in December, Kenney had told Good Morning America: "It's not possible that they [the live rounds] came from PDQ or myself personally." Court documents state Gutierrez-Reed said police discovered seven bullets suspected of being live after the shooting, according to AFP news agency. The documents said the bullets were distributed among a box of cartridges with other ammunition and cartridge belts, intended for the actors to use as accessories. 15 January 2022 Baldwin turns over his mobile phone to police investigating the fatal shooting. 15 February 2022 Halyna Hutchins in 2019 Hutchins' family brings a lawsuit against Baldwin, assistant director Halls, armourer Gutierrez-Reed and prop master Sarah Zachry. It alleges Baldwin "recklessly shot and killed" cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust in October 2021. Lawyers for the Hutchins' family say she would still be alive if crew members had not cut corners. The case was filed in the First Judicial District Court of New Mexico on behalf of the cinematographer's husband, Matthew, and son Andros, and seeks unspecified damages. 24 February 2022 Hutchins' husband says it is "absurd" that Baldwin is not taking responsibility for her death. Matthew Hutchins tells NBC's Today: "I was angry to see him talk about her death so publicly in such a detailed way, and then to not accept responsibility after having just described killing her." EXCLUSIVE: Matt Hutchins, husband of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was killed by a prop gun held by Alec Baldwin on set of "Rust," is speaking out in an exclusive interview with @hodakotb. More here: https://t.co/cIvEhK76Qv TODAY (@TODAYshow) February 23, 2022 20 April 2022 A photo of Halyna Hutchins at a vigil following her death in October The producers of Rust are fined and strongly criticised by authorities for failing to follow safety guidelines. The makers of the film showed "plain indifference to recognised hazards associated with use of firearms on set", according to the New Mexico Environment Department. The agency issues the maximum $136,793 (105,000) fine to Rust Movie Productions. 26 April 2022 Police release footage from the set of Rust, including of the aftermath of the fatal shooting. Santa Fe Sheriff Adan Mendoza also releases crime scene photos and witness interviews with people including Baldwin. 11 May 2022 Alec Baldwin said he said he did not pull the trigger but the revolver fired after he cocked it The producers of Rust dispute an official report saying they were indifferent to gun safety before the on-set shooting tragedy. Rust Movie Productions says it "enforced all applicable safety protocols". In legal documents filed to contest the official findings, the firm also said it "did not 'wilfully' violate any safety protocol". 5 October 2022 Baldwin reaches a settlement with Hutchins' family. Filming of Rust will continue in January 2023, with her widower Matthew on board as the movie's executive producer. All parties believe Hutchins' death was an accident, her husband said. The exact terms of the settlement, which is subject to court approval, are not disclosed. Heather Brewer, spokesperson for the office of the first judicial district attorney for New Mexico, said the proposed settlement "will have no impact on District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altweis' ongoing investigation, or her ultimate decision whether to file criminal charges in the case". 19 January 2023 Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed will each will be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter over the shooting of Halyna Hutchins, District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies announces. Lawyers for both say they intend to fight the charges in court. Both face up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 (4,040) fine if convicted. They will be tried by a jury, prosecutors say. Assistant director David Halls entered a guilty plea to a misdemeanour charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon, prosecutors said. He will spend six months serving probation. 31 January 2023 Baldwin is photographed in New York in January Baldwin was on the phone during firearms training for Rust, prosecutors say, as they charge him with involuntary manslaughter. Santa Fe's District Attorney's Office accuse the actor of "many instances of extremely reckless acts". "If Mr Baldwin had performed mandatory safety checks with armourer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and not pointed the gun at Hutchins, the "tragedy would not have occurred", wrote Robert Shilling. He is a special investigator for the district attorney's office, and wrote this in a statement of probable cause filed with the manslaughter charges. Baldwin has previously denied responsibility for the shooting and a representative declined to comment to the BBC. A lawyer for Gutierrez-Reed says she "will fight these charges" and blamed Halls for not letting her know that a real gun was to be used in the moment when the fatal shooting occurred. 9 February 2023 Gloria Allred is representing Hutchins' family Hutchins' family files a new civil suit against Alec Baldwin and producers involved in Rust. Their lawyer, Gloria Allred, says they were "devastated by the shocking killing" and "feel strongly that anyone who is responsible for her loss must be held accountable". The case alleges intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligence, and is being brought in Los Angeles County Superior Court by Hutchins' mother, father and sister, who are living in Ukraine. 15 February 2023 Alec Baldwin Filming on Rust is to resume this spring, according to US reports, with Baldwin remaining in the the starring role. It is shifting location to Montana. A mix of new and old crew members will work on the film, with Bianca Cline taking over as cinematographer. Meanwhile Hutchins' widower Matthew has also approved a documentary about his late wife, producers said. The documentary, made "at [executive producer, Mr] Hutchins' behest, and with his blessing and support" will explore Ms Hutchins' life and "final work, including the completion of the film", a statement said. Rust Movie productions, which Baldwin is part of, have said that the scene which was being rehearsed when Ms Hutchins was shot has now been rewritten, and that the "any use of working weapons and any form of ammunition" had been barred from the set. 20 February 2023 Prosecutors in New Mexico drop firearm enhancement charges against Baldwin, in a move which reduces possible prison time for the actor, as the charges carry a mandatory five-year prison sentence. He still faces up to 18 months in prison under involuntary manslaughter charges. Heather Brewer, Santa Fe county district attorney spokesperson, said the prosecution dropped the firearm enhancement charge to "avoid further litigious distractions by Mr Baldwin and his attorneys". According to CBS News, the BBC's US partner, prosecutors also dropped the firearm enhancement charge for Gutierrez-Reed. Lawyers for Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed had been arguing against the firearm enhancement charge, saying prosecutors were applying a version of the law passed after the October 2021 shooting accident. 23 February 2023 Baldwin pleads not guilty to involuntary manslaughter for the fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of Rust. He entered his plea online and also waived his right to an upcoming virtual court hearing. Gutierrez-Reed is also accused of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors say she failed to ensure that dummy bullets were loaded into the gun that killed Hutchins. 20 April 2023 Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins (right) Criminal charges are dropped against Alec Baldwin over the fatal on-set shooting. A statement, released by New Mexico special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis, said that "over the last few days... new facts were revealed" in the case, requiring further investigation. "This decision does not absolve Mr Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled," the statement continued, adding: "Our follow-up investigation will remain active and ongoing." A lawyer for Mr Baldwin praised the move by prosecutors, saying: "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." The film's armourer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, is still facing two counts of involuntary manslaughter, and there will be a preliminary hearing on 3 May. On the same day, filming and principal photography for Rust resumed in Montana. 21 April 2023 The family of Halyna Hutchins said they will sue Alec Baldwin despite his criminal charges being dropped. A lawyer for Ms Hutchins' parents and sister said that the actor "cannot escape responsibility" for her death. Mr Baldwin had already reached a deal with her widower and 10-year-old son. 1 June 2023 A judge approved a settlement agreement for the family of Halyna Hutchins. Lawyers representing Ms Hutchins' husband Matthew and their son Andros sued Baldwin and the film's other producers for wrongful death in 2022. An undisclosed settlement was agreed later the same year. On Thursday, US judge Bryan Biedscheid approved that agreement, which will see youngster Andros receive "periodic payments" when he reaches the ages of 18 and 22. The order stated that the settlement was "fair, appropriate, and in the best interests of Andros Hutchins, a minor, protected person". Matthew Hutchins, as part of the settlement, will also become an executive producer on Rust - the western film which recently resumed filming in Montana. The fatal incident happened in Bonanaza Creek Ranch, New Mexico 14 June 2023 A weapons supervisor on the set of Alec Baldwin's film Rust was likely hungover on the day a cinematographer was fatally shot, prosecutors alleged. They accused Hannah Gutierrez-Reed of drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana in the evenings during filming. In response, her lawyer said prosecutors had mishandled the case and resorted to "character assassination". 9 August 2023 Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armourer and weapons supervisor on Rust pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering charges. Prosecutors say Ms Gutierrez-Reed acted recklessly when loading the gun. They said she failed to ensure that dummy bullets were loaded into the weapon that killed Ms Hutchins, and that the armourer handed the gun to Baldwin, having not checked that all the bullets were dummies. Ms Gutierrez-Reed denies this. 15 August 2023 A new report appeared to cast doubt over Mr Baldwin's accounts of events. He repeatedly denied pulling the trigger of the prop gun which went off, killing Ms Hutchins. But weapons experts said the trigger would have "had to be pulled". A Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent said that some of the intelligence allegedly leaked by indicted Massachusetts Air Force National Guardsman Jack Teixeira was shared with foreign nationals, according to recent court filings. Special Agent Luke Church said in a sworn statement that Teixeira, a junior enlisted airman with the Massachusetts Air National Guards 102nd Intelligence Wing, allegedly leaked documents on the social media platform Discord. The three servers Teixeira allegedly leaked documents in contained more than 150 members, some of which represented themselves as foreign nationals or at least used a foreign IP address. You live near [foreign city] yeah? Teixeira asked a member of the Discord server, according to Churchs declaration. [Y]eah, the user said. [V]illage next to it. After another brief exchange, which included a racial slur from Teixeira, the Guardsman then proceeded to share presumptively classified documents, according to court filings. The court documents do not state whether the user who said they lived in a foreign country was in fact a foreign national. Michael Bachrach, Teixeiras attorney, declined to comment for this story. The accusations come as the defense and prosecution in Teixeiras case argue over whether he should be released before his trial. Prosecutors urged to keep Teixeira in custody, saying he would be a flight risk and a prime recruit for U.S. adversaries. Teixeiras attorneys on the other hand said that the fact Teixeira did not run or go into hiding from law enforcement shows that he is not a flight risk. As a result of the leak, the Pentagon tightened controls and procedures on classified intelligence. The Pentagon said after an initial 45-day review that the overwhelming majority of those at the Pentagon with access to classified information are following the rules, but the departments analysis still led to several recommendations. Two commanders who worked at the same base as Teixeira were temporarily suspended and had their access to classified information cut. Civilian and uniformed leaders of the Air Force also conducted a force-wide stand down, so all units could review their own security protocols within 30 days, Air Force Times previously reported. Teixeira, 21, was charged under the Espionage Act in April with unauthorized retention and transmission of classified national defense information. Teixeira is accused of sharing highly classified military documents about Russias war in Ukraine and other top national security issues. Investigators believe he was the leader of an online private chat group on Discord called Thug Shaker Central, which drew roughly two dozen enthusiasts who talked about their favorite types of guns and shared memes and jokes. The group also held a running discussion on wars that included talk of Russias invasion of Ukraine. A deputy sheriff with the Barnstable County Sheriff's Office has been placed on leave after being arrested in late July for assault. The deputy is placed on leave while the incident is investigated, the office of Barnstable County Sheriff Donna Buckley announced Thursday in a press release. On July 29, state police received a call from a motorist, went to Route 28 in Bourne and pulled the deputy sheriff over around 2:45 p.m., according to the release. Police arrested the deputy sheriff at that time, according to the release. The Barnstable County Correctional Facility is located at 6000 Sheriff's Place in Bourne. The deputy has since been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and threats to commit a crime, according to the release. The sheriffs office also announced it would be conducting its own internal investigation. A spokesperson for the sheriff's office declined to answer questions on Thursday about the nature of the incident. She said that the administrative leave the deputy has been placed on is paid. Buckley was first elected in November as the first woman to hold the position in the county. In Massachusetts, the job of the sheriff is to run the jail and rehabilitation programs. The Barnstable County Sheriffs Office operates the Barnstable County Correctional Facility, with up to 588 inmates, in Bourne. The sheriff's office operates a bureau of criminal investigations, technical division, 911 communications center and civil process division. Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription. Here are our subscription plans. This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Barnstable deputy sheriff put on leave after alleged assault July 29 As a potential FTC antitrust lawsuit looms in the background, Amazon plans to reduce its in-house brands. According to The Wall Street Journal, the retailer will eliminate 27 of its 30 clothing brands and all of its private-label furniture lines. It isnt clear how many other areas the cuts could affect, but the Amazon Basics brand appears to remain largely, if not wholly, intact. The retailer told the WSJ that it looks to eliminate products that arent resonating with customers. Among the Amazon clothing labels reportedly being phased out are Lark & Ro, Daily Ritual and Goodthreads. (Amazon Essentials, Amazon Collection and Amazon Aware will reportedly remain.) Meanwhile, the retailer is allegedly dropping its Rivet and Stone & Beam furniture brands once their current stock is depleted. We always make decisions based on what our customers want, and weve learned that customers seek out our biggest brands like Amazon Basics and Amazon Essentials for great value with high quality products at great price points, Matt Taddy, VP of Amazon Private Brands, said in a statement to the WSJ. Although Amazon didnt explicitly connect the changes to the expected FTC lawsuit, the timing seems unlikely to be coincidental. Company representatives will reportedly sit down next week with FTC chair Lina Khan and commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. The chat is viewed as a last rites meeting, giving the company one final chance to sway the government agency to back down before a filing decision. The anticipated lawsuit culminates a four-year investigation into the companys alleged anticompetitive practices. It also faces a separate FTC lawsuit related to tricking customers into Prime subscriptions. Part of the FTCs interest reportedly lies in Amazons dealings with third-party sellers, a longstanding point of focus in antitrust arguments. The WSJ reported in 2020 that Amazon employees used internal data about third-party sellers to create in-house products. That led to the company agreeing to stop boosting its in-house brands in search results, making them harder to sell. Azerbaijan's demining experts will train Ukrainian sappers, the Interior Ministry reported on Aug. 10, citing Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Ukraine Seymour Mardaliev. At a meeting in Kyiv, the Mardaliev-led delegation discussed the organization of such training on the territory of Azerbaijan with Deputy Interior Minister Bohdan Drapiatyi. "Our experience should be very interesting for you. We are talking not only about national capabilities but also about international missions in which Azerbaijan has been involved," said Mardaliev. The Azerbaijani side also pledged a new aid package for Ukraine, which will include a mechanized demining machine. According to Drapiatyi, a work day of such a machine equals 100 days of sappers' work. Russia's war has led to around 174,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian land potentially contaminated with mines and other explosive objects, Drapiatyi said at the meeting. Nearly 14,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian water bodies also need to be cleared, he added. According to the Azerbaijani government, Baku has provided more than 15 million euro in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war. However, Azerbaijan, which shares a border with Russia, has also maintained good relations with Moscow, having signed a political and military friendship agreement with Russia just two days before the invasion. Read also: Every time feels like your last: How Ukrainian sappers work in gray zones near Russian-occupied Kreminna Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Americans don't use butter in their sandwiches, according to blogger Amanda Rollins. Mizina/Getty Images An American living in Paris sparked a transatlantic debate on TikTok about buttered sandwiches. Amanda Rollins said many Americans think it's "weird" that people in France butter sandwiches. Rollins said she's shocked Europeans are now calling out Americans for using mayo in sandwiches. An American blogger living in Paris left her European TikTok followers baffled after saying she thought it was "weird" that French people use butter in their sandwiches. Earlier this week, Amanda Rollins, a US citizen who has been living in Paris for five years, shared a video of her preparing sandwiches for her and her boyfriend to take on a hike. While making the lunch, she said it struck her that Americans would find it "strange" that French people use butter as the primary spread of their sandwiches. "It occurred to me that French people do something very weird with sandwiches that I think you guys would find strange," she says at the start of the clip, which has over 163,000 views. Rollins proceeds to bring a slice of butter up to the camera. "This is butter," she said. "What they do, it's like a classic sandwich. It's ham, cheese, and butter." "No mayonnaise, no mustard, just butter," she adds, breaking out into laughter. "I know you might be thinking that sounds gross, but it's actually so good. Is it healthy? No, of course not," Rollins said. "What do you think of that? It's kind of crazy." Mayonnaise, which Rollins indicated is more commonly used as a sandwich spread in the US, is "basically fat as well" but has "at least some flavor," she said. Nevertheless, Rollins concluded her video by saying she'd recommend putting putter in sandwiches to other Americans: "Don't knock it until you try it." Europeans reacting to Rollins' TikTok are shocked many Americans don't butter their sandwiches As surprised as Rollins was to discover the French custom of using butter in sandwiches, Europeans reacting to her TikTok seemed equally shocked to find out that people in the US don't. "How on earth is that strange," one user wrote in a comment beneath Rollins TikTok which has over 3,930 likes. Another TikToker who said they are from the UK said it's not just a French thing. "Butter before anything," they wrote. To that, Rollins responded by writing: "I promise you no one in the Us is doing this, at least not on the east coast." A TikTok user who said they are from Lithuania also chimed in, writing that buttering sandwiches has always been "normal" to them. "But I've never thought it to be weird to americans," they added. Rollins says she gasped reading comments from Europeans who think it's 'weird' to put mayo on sandwiches While she understands why Europeans may have been confused to learn people in the US don't butter their sandwiches, Rollins told Insider she was shocked to discover that some Europeans responding to her TikTok thought the American tradition of using mayonnaise in sandwiches is "weird." "A lot of people were saying mayonnaise on a sandwich is weird to which I GASPED," Rollins said. "In the US we are big condiment people," she said, adding that one of the first things she noticed after moving to France is how grocery stores tend to have fewer condiments on offer. Mostly, it's Dijon mustard, "moutard flavored" mayonnaise, and "tomato sauce," she said. Amanda Rollins says she'll only use butter in sandwiches when making French-style ham and cheese baguettes. Lisa Schaetzle/Getty Images She also said she's received comments from some Americans who say they use butter in their sandwiches, but said that, in her view, they are the minority in the US. "I know for a fact we do not add cold butter to bread on normal sandwiches in the Northeast, South, or West Coast," Rollins said. "Maybe because our go-to bread is sliced white bread and not a baguette, which can actually support butter." For the most part, she said people in the US don't view butter as a condiment, but rather as a cooking ingredient and "sometimes a toast lubricator." And while Rollins said she will continue to use butter in her sandwiches, she said she'll stick to only doing so when making a French-style ham and cheese baguette. "You would never catch me slabbing cold butter onto a regular sandwich," Rollins said. Read the original article on Insider Five Americans imprisoned in Iran have been placed under house arrest in the first step of a planned prisoner exchange between Tehran and Washington that will include the release of roughly $6 billion in Iranian government assets blocked under U.S. sanctions, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter. If the proposed agreement goes through, Iran will be allowed to access the funds only to buy food, medicine or other humanitarian purposes, in accordance with existing U.S. sanctions against the country. Under the agreement, which could take weeks to carry out, Qatars central bank will oversee the funds, the sources said. Republican lawmakers harshly criticized then-President Barack Obama when he made a similar agreement in 2015. The new deal has been under negotiation for months, with Qatar and other governments acting as intermediaries. Siamak Namazi and Baquer Namazi (Courtesy Babak Namazi) Several of the detained Americans were taken on Thursday from their cells in Tehran's notorious Evin prison to a location in the capital where they will remain under house arrest until the prisoner exchange occurs. One of the Americans was apparently already under house arrest before Thursday, a lawyer for one of the detainees and the other sources said. In the past, Americans and other foreign inmates due to be freed have been put under house arrest before their transfers abroad. The U.S. government has identified three American citizens held in Iran Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz. Two additional Americans are being held in Iran, but their families have chosen not to identify them publicly, the White House National Security Council said. We have received confirmation that Iran has released from prison five Americans who were unjustly detained and has placed them on house arrest, said National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson. While this is an encouraging step, these U.S. citizens Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Shargi, and two Americans who at this time wish to remain private should have never been detained in the first place. The U.S. will not rest until they are all back home in the United States, she said. Until that time, negotiations for their eventual release remain ongoing and are delicate. We will, therefore, have little in the way of details to provide about the state of their house arrest or about our efforts to secure their freedom, Watson added. An unknown number of permanent U.S. legal residents, or green card holders, are under detention in Iran, including Shahab Dalili, who has been held since 2016. The prisoner exchange appears to involve only U.S. citizens. A source familiar with the negotiations told a group of reporters earlier: Its the start of a process that eventually will see these Americans leave Iran and come home. Jared Genser, pro bono counsel for Namazi, called the move to house arrest an important development, adding: While I hope this will be the first step to their ultimate release, this is at best the beginning of the end and nothing more. But there are simply no guarantees about what happens from here. NBC News first reported on the prisoner exchange negotiations in February. The families of the Americans held in Iran say their loved ones are hostages taken captive on false charges and used as bargaining chips by the government. Human rights groups say Iran has been engaged in hostage-taking for decades, wielding foreign prisoners as leverage over other governments. Iran denies the accusation and says the foreign nationals have been treated in accordance with the countrys laws. Apart from the exchange of prisoners held in both countries, the prisoner swap deal involves the release of roughly $6 billion that has been frozen in South Korean banks by U.S. sanctions. From 2012 to 2019, Washington allowed South Korea and other countries to buy Iranian oil but blocked Tehrans access to proceeds from the sales. The funds could only be used by Iran for permitted humanitarian-related purchases. Irans government has long demanded access to the money in return for the release of Americans imprisoned in Iran. The source familiar with the negotiations told reporters that this was not an account that was ever intended to be frozen for all time for any purpose. It was always meant to be available for non-sanctionable trade. President Joe Biden will likely face a torrent of criticism from Republicans if the funds in South Korea are released. Administration officials are expected to argue that the funds can be used only for humanitarian purposes and that it was the only way to secure the freedom of the detained Americans, several of whom have been held for years with no prospect of an early release. Obama came under fire from Republicans in 2015 when his administration gave Iran access to cash that had been blocked by sanctions, just as Tehran released a group of imprisoned Americans. The movement of the Americans out of prison is only the first step in a protracted process that could last weeks. The funds to be unfrozen in South Korea will have to be converted into different currencies as requested by Iran, a lengthy process due to the provisions of U.S. sanctions. As part of the swap, an unknown number of Iranians detained in the U.S. will be transferred from U.S. custody to Iran. The timing of that step remained unclear. Apart from Qatar, the governments of Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq also played supporting roles as intermediaries in the discussions, the source familiar with the negotiations said. Switzerland, which handles U.S. interests in Iran as Washington has no diplomatic relations with Tehran, will help implement the agreement and the Swiss ambassador is expected to have access to the American detainees during their house arrest. In addition to the prisoner exchange, the two sides have also discussed a possible informal verbal agreement aimed at averting a crisis over Irans nuclear program, NBC News has previously reported. The proposed arrangement would have Iran possibly freeze its uranium enrichment at current levels of 60 percent purity and fully cooperate with inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. In return, the U.S. would not impose new sanctions or possibly not strictly enforce some existing sanctions. The precise outlines of the proposed arrangement remain unclear. U.S. officials have denied there is any interim nuclear agreement but sources with knowledge of the talks say the two sides have been discussing an informal, verbal understanding designed to freeze the status quo and avoid a confrontation. Under U.S. law, any formal agreement would have to be reviewed by Congress. Iran has steadily expanded its uranium enrichment work and has enough fissile material for more than one nuclear weapon if it chose to enrich the material to 90% purity, experts say. If it takes that step, U.S. officials fear Israel might opt to take military action to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran has denied it is planning to develop nuclear weapons and says the program is for purely civilian purposes. Biden came into office promising to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers known as the JCPOA that imposed limits on Irans nuclear activities in return for lifting U.S. and international sanctions. Then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in 2018, reimposed sanctions and introduced additional ones. Negotiations on restoring the 2015 nuclear accord collapsed last year. The three Americans held in Iran that have been publicly identified by the U.S. are Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian American who also holds British citizenship and was arrested in January 2018 and convicted of espionage in 2019. Tahbaz was part of a group of environmental activists carrying out research on Irans endangered cheetah population. Emad Shargi, an Iranian-born businessman who moved to the U.S. as a young man, was arrested in April 2018. He was released on bail and cleared of all charges in December 2019, but Iranian authorities refused to return his passport. Shargi was charged again in 2020 and convicted on espionage charges without a trial. And Siamak Namazi has been held prisoner in Iran for nearly eight years, longer than any of the other current American detainees. A business consultant with degrees from Tufts and Rutgers universities, Namazi was arrested in 2015 and convicted of espionage in a trial that lasted a few hours. His elderly father, Baquer, was arrested in 2016 when he traveled to Iran to visit his son and detained. Baquer Namazi was released in 2022. Siamak Namazi has criticized the U.S. for not doing more to secure his release and that of other Americans held in Iran and appealed to Biden to meet with the families of those detained. In January, he went on a weeklong hunger strike. Namazi was not included in previous prisoner exchanges with Iran dating to 2016. The American captive held longest in Iran is believed to have been Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who disappeared during a business trip on Irans Kish Island in 2007. U.S. officials later admitted that Levinson was there doing contract work for the CIA. In 2011, his family released photos and a video in which Levinson pleaded for help and said he was in poor health. Iranian officials steadfastly denied knowing anything about him. In 2020, the family announced that they had concluded that Levinson had died in captivity, citing information provided to them by U.S. officials. Those who are responsible for what happened to Bob Levinson, including those in the US government who for many years repeatedly left him behind, will ultimately receive justice for what they have done, the family said in a statement. CORRECTION (August 10, 2023, 3:29 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated who the source was on the outlines of the planned prisoner exchange. It was several people with knowledge of the deal, not a lawyer for one of the detainees. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com FILE PHOTO: Illustration picture of Chinese and U.S. flags with semiconductor chip Analysis-Biden's China tech curbs to keep investors sidelined, fearing more steps FILE PHOTO: Illustration picture of Chinese and U.S. flags with semiconductor chip By Kane Wu and Michael Martina HONG KONG/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden's move to prohibit some U.S. technology investments in China is expected to keep investors on the sidelines, concerned that tougher measures are ahead as tensions simmer between the world's two biggest economies. U.S. private equity and venture capital investors have already hit the brakes on sensitive technologies in China as relations have worsened since the administration of Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, over issues from tech to China's industrial policies to national security. Aiming to keep U.S. capital and expertise from helping China's military modernisation and harming U.S. national security, Biden's executive order on Wednesday was limited, for example by applying only to new investments. But it will not be the end of measures to tighten scrutiny of American investments in China, which is struggling to get back on its feet since the COVID-19 pandemic, dealmakers and analysts say. The order authorises the Treasury secretary to prohibit or restrict U.S. investments in Chinese firms in semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and certain artificial intelligence systems. Congress may introduce legislation expanding on Biden's restrictions, said Weiheng Chen, senior partner and head of Greater China practice at law firm Wilson Sonsini. Indeed, congressional Republicans immediately criticised the order by Democrat Biden as not going far enough. "Certain U.S. investors may just choose to wait for the implementation rules before making investment decisions in these covered sectors," Chen said. SHIFT TO YUAN Acquisitions of Chinese companies by U.S. firms have sunk almost 60% so far this year to $3.5 billion from $8.8 billion for the same period last year, according to Dealogic data, while deal value in the tech sector has plunged to $815 from $6.1 billion. China-U.S. tensions and Beijing's regulatory crackdown on its private enterprises have prompted many fund managers to pivot from the country or shift to local-currency investments. "The situation is already very bad for dollar-based funds to invest in China's tech sector. There isn't much room for things to get worse," said Beijing-based China Growth Capital partner Wayne Shiong. Biden's move will likely make China-focussed venture capital firms feel more urgency to raise yuan funds from Chinese investors, he said. The executive order and the prospects of a pause in private equity investments in China across the board come as Beijing seeks to attract capital to revive its slowing economy. Pan Yuan, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a top government think tank, said despite Biden's restrictions, China will maintain an open policy to attract foreign capital. To counter the U.S. curbs, China must focus on improving its domestic technology capabilities, Pan said. TECH DISPUTES China hawks in Washington blame American investors for transferring capital and valuable know-how to Chinese technology companies that could help advance Beijing's military capabilities. Beijing, for its part, has been seeking self-sufficiency in the escalating tech disputes. On Monday, Hua Hong Semiconductor, China's number two chip foundry, made its Shanghai market debut, raising $3 billion and joining a long queue of local chipmakers to tap the stock market to fund expansion. In response to Biden's executive order, China's commerce ministry said it was "gravely concerned" and reserved the right to take countermeasures. Analysts said, however, Beijing's retaliation options are limited and would unlikely escalate the matter, especially given tight scrutiny since the Trump era. "The main Chinese reaction will be to discourage other countries from copying American actions," said Derek Scissors, senior fellow and expert on U.S.-China economic relations at the pro-business American Enterprise Institute. "China could act in non-reciprocal fashion, retaliating somewhere other than on the investment side. But the executive order is barely going to do anything, and China escalating would risk turning a molehill into a mountain." (Reporting by Kane Wu in Hong Kong and Michael Martina in Washington; Additional reporting by Roxanne Liu and Ziyi Tang in Beijing, Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore and Vineet Sachdev in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and William Mallard) Another accomplice of Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Russian businessman whose daughter Vladimir Putin is godfather to, and who was preparing a coup d'etat in Ukraine at the beginning of Russias full-scale invasion, has been sentenced to prison. Source: press service of the Prosecutors Office in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast; press service of the Security Service of Ukraine Details: Three Ukrainians and one Russian developed a plan for a coup d'etat and tried to "synchronise" it with the start of the full-scale invasion. The fourth of them has now been convicted. Two Ukrainians are already serving their sentences, while the Russian, who is a military intelligence officer by profession, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in absentia. In particular, they wanted to seize power through controlled NGOs in Kyiv and other oblasts. These pro-Kremlin centres were supposed to initiate the so-called "national assembly" in Kyiv. There, the organisers planned to adopt the resolution and announce the dismissal of the President of Ukraine, the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers. In case of refusal, they planned to move to a "forceful scenario". To do this, they formed their own "combat unit", in which they tried to involve 500 armed men. In particular, in order to overthrow the government, they recruited and engaged former military and law enforcement officers in various regions to seize administrative buildings, bridges, communication hubs, transport and storage facilities. In addition, these individuals were to "commit violence against the authorities". The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported that they were proactive and took action. As a result of the special operation, the SBU exposed the organisers and detained them at the beginning of Russias full-scale invasion. During the searches, they seized estimates, lists of participants in future illegal government and security structures, manifestos to the public and security forces, and lists of necessary weapons, property and equipment. The prosecutor's office reported that the fourth organiser was convicted under Part 1 of Article 109 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (actions aimed at violent change or overthrow of the constitutional order). Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! Anti-abortion forces suffered a staggering loss in Ohio's special election this week. Now, in the aftermath of that defeat and others over the last year, the movement is grappling with how to forge ahead. State and national conservatives offer a litany of competing explanations for why they were massively outspent and out-organized, and are butting heads on how to turn things around before November, when abortion will be on Ohios ballot directly. With no consensus on the real reason for the loss in a state dominated by Republicans, some are pleading with the GOP to move away from backing near-total bans with no exemptions to stave off further electoral disaster. Were going to have to live with messier compromises going forward or risk this happening again and again, said Patrick Brown, a fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center who called Tuesdays result a five-alarm fire for the pro-life movement. Some think that only a total ban is acceptable. But we see, over and over again, that such an uncompromising position doesnt have support. Theres no political appetite for that, he said. This soul-searching on the right shows how fractured the anti-abortion movement remains on both tactics and messaging more than a year after they achieved their decades-long goal of toppling Roe v. Wade. Whether and how anti-abortion groups recalibrate over the next year could have massive implications not only for the outcomes of future abortion-rights ballot initiatives around the country but also for Republicans up and down the ballot who back restrictions on the procedure. So long as the Republicans and their supporters take the ostrich strategy and bury their heads in the sand, they will lose again and again, warned Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a top funder of the August referendum. The word abortion did not appear on Tuesdays ballot, which asked voters whether it should be more difficult to amend the state constitution. But abortion rights activists effectively messaged the race as a proxy war over Novembers ballot initiative that would codify protections for the procedure into the state constitution. Now, high off Tuesdays win, abortion rights activists in Arizona, Florida and Missouri are working to get similar measures before voters next year races anti-abortion groups are warning they will lose without more resources. We have to take seriously the fact that the abortion lobby is willing to really invest in these campaigns, said Kristi Hamrick, the chief policy strategist with Students for Life, which was part a group that sent about 80 staff and volunteers knocking on doors and texting voters ahead of Tuesdays election. It has to be a call to action to pro-life advocates to take seriously the goal of raising money. But as some urge a full-scale revamp, many anti-abortion leaders say they want to stay the course going into November. They insist that an up-or-down vote on putting abortion protections in the state constitution will be easier to message than the wonky, structural ballot measure before voters this week. We think theres a lot of people that, when we start telling the story of how extreme the abortion referendum is, will be jumping over to our side, said Aaron Baer, the president of the Center for Christian Virtue, and a board member with Protect Women Ohio, the coalition working to defeat the November initiative. We actually saw a lot of encouraging signs. The pro-abortion rights side is just as confident following their blowout victory, telling reporters on a Wednesday call that they will stick to the same message heading into the fall vote: that the ballot initiative is about protecting Ohioans freedom from government interference in their personal medical decisions. People understand whats at stake, said Dr. Sri Thakkilapati, a leader of Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights. This shows we have the momentum and the will of the people to pass this amendment in November. Anti-abortion advocates have clashed over the past year as their side lost in six other states abortion referendums last year and was blamed for a disappointing showing in the 2022 midterms. Far from turning the corner this year, they suffered defeat in a pivotal Wisconsin supreme court race and came up short again in Ohio. Terry Schilling with the American Principles Project, which spent just under a million supporting Issue 1 and sponsored ads for it featuring Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), blames GOP donors for not investing enough in the race, noting that many are sitting out state abortion fights altogether after back-to-back defeats last year. Theres this dangerous cycle thats been created where the pro-life side loses and then donors get demotivated, he said. People dont want to fund efforts they think might lose. Schilling said he was also disappointed in GOP presidential candidates and national party leaders for a lack of attention on the race echoing criticisms aimed at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell following a similar referendum defeat in his home state last November. Theres no replacement for political leadership in this fight, he said, On the left you had lots of national leaders including Nancy Pelosi encouraging people to vote no. They were focused on nationalizing the issue in a way Republicans werent. For months leading up to August, conservatives working to raise the ballot measure threshold to 60 percent focused their ads on perceived areas of Democratic vulnerability, including drag, gender-affirming care, and whether minors should be able to seek abortions without a parents consent. Brown noted that anti-abortion groups used similar messaging last year in Michigan, Kansas and other states with abortion referendums, and at least some of it does not seem to be working. They were running ads about drag queen story hour. Thats not even compelling to me as a pro-life voter, he said. You have to break out of that silo and talk to people who are on the fence, [and] that script doesnt work for them. You have to find the language that resonates with them... and the other side has been very effective at that when they talk about freedom and limited government. Brown, Schilling and other advocates are now urging Republicans to embrace a more moderate stance than the near-total bans without exemptions now in place in many states, even as others in the movement argue such a compromise is unacceptable. Abortion limits need to be reasonable and popular, Schilling said. The best way forward is a 15-week law that allow exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. Thats harder for the other side to take down. Yet Students for Life, which plans to tour dozens of Ohio colleges leading up to the fall vote and hold voter registration and get-out-the-vote events, is among groups arguing that a 15-week ban would still allow more than 90 percent of abortions to take place, and advocating for at least a six-week ban on the procedure. Hamrick and others investing in the Ohio race stress that the best defense is a good offense, and are urging allies to flip the script and attack Democrats as abortion extremists. We need to be more direct about the radical nature of this initiative, she said. You cant be too euphemistic. You have to be clear about whats at stake. CLARIFICATION: This story has been updated to clarify Students for Life's role in the Issue 1 outreach strategy. An Anton man has been arrested, accused of animal abuse after he allegedly dragged two dogs behind a vehicle Sunday in Hockley County. Billy Sherrod, 55, was arrested Monday by investigators in Anton and booked into the Hockley County Detention Center in connection with the alleged animal abuse that was reported Sunday, according to a statement from the sheriff's office. The Hockley County Sheriffs Office was notified on Sunday of a case of potential animal cruelty involving two dogs in the 400 block East Ellwood that occurred earlier in the day, according to the statement. Deputies responded and, based on the information provided by a complainant, opened an investigation into suspected criminal offenses. Deputies were told that a male subject drove with a dog tethered to the rear of the vehicle. Deputies were informed when the incident was initially observed there were two dogs tethered to the vehicle. Statements were provided by witnesses to the incident and a suspect was identified. While deputies were investigating the complaint, dispatchers notified deputies of a call of a disturbance involving two men possibly involved in an altercation with a third male subject. According to the sheriff's office, it was determined the disturbance call was related to the animal cruelty investigation. Based on information collected at the scenes, reports were completed for the incidents and the matter was referred to the Criminal Investigations Division. On Monday, investigators working on the case believed probable cause existed that an individual allegedly intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly caused the death of an animal without consent of the owner, and tortured an animal in an act that caused undue and unjustifiable pain or suffering. Based on the totality of the circumstances, investigators requested, and secured, arrest warrants for Sherrod on two counts of Cruelty to Nonlivestock Animals, both felony offenses of the third degree. This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Anton man arrested, accused dragging dogs behind vehicle in West Texas Archeologists discovered the skeletal remains of what they believed to be a 17th-century "vampire child" in an unmarked Polish cemetery. ukasz Czyzewski Researchers have unearthed the skeletal remains of a "vampire child" in a Polish graveyard. The child was buried face down with a triangular padlock on its foot. Anti-vampiric burial techniques such as this were used across Europe starting in the 14th century. Researchers have unearthed the remains of what they believe to be a 17th-century "vampire child" who was buried face down and padlocked to the earth in a likely effort to assuage villagers' fears that the child would return from the dead, the lead archaeologist on the dig told Insider. The skeletal remains of the child, whom anthropologists believe was 5 to 7 years old, were discovered in an unmarked mass cemetery in the Polish village of Pien, near Ostromecko. The "necropolis," which literally translates from Greek to "city of the dead," is also where archaeologists discovered a "vampire" woman last year who was buried with a padlock attached to her big toe and a sickle lying across her neck meant to sever her head should she try to rise from the dead. Dariusz Polinski, the archaeology professor from Nicolaus Copernicus University who led both digs, told Insider the two graves were found a mere 2 meters from one another in the cemetery, which his team believes is a makeshift graveyard for "the excluded," or those who were not welcome in Christian cemeteries for various reasons. Polinski said he and his researchers had uncovered about 100 graves in the cemetery, many of which displayed irregular burial techniques including "anti-vampiric" tactics used to stop people from "coming back from the grave," including triangular padlocks attached to people's feet to keep them tethered to the ground and evidence of gravesites being disturbed or dug into after the initial burial. Triangular padlocks were attached to people's feet to keep them tethered to the ground once buried, the archaeology professor who led the dig said. Magdalena Zagrodzka There are several reasons a person might have been buried in such a cemetery, Polinski said. The individual might have exhibited strange behavior while alive that caused others to fear them, or they might have suffered from a disease or unusual physical condition that affected their appearance. "It might have also been a person died violently and suddenly in strange circumstances," Polinski said via a translator. "Sudden death was often considered something people should be afraid of." Seventeenth-century villagers were also prone to fears about children being buried who had yet to be baptized or christened, as well as people who drowned. Polinski said archeologists also found a collection of loose bones near the child's gravesite, as well as a pregnant body with a fetus determined to be about 6 months old. Archeologists also found a collection of loose bones near the child's gravesite, as well as a pregnant woman. Magdalena Zagrodzka Matteo Borrini, the principal lecturer of forensic anthropology at Liverpool John Moores University, told Insider's Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert and Marianne Guenot last year that the practice of "vampire burials" was common across Christian areas in Europe starting as early as the 14th century. People associated "vampiric" outbreaks with times of mass deaths that were unexplainable at the time but are now assumed to have been pandemics or large-scale poisonings. The common thought was these "vampires" would hunt and kill their family members first, then move on to neighbors and others in the village, which tracks with our modern understanding of the spread of contagious disease, Borrini told Insider. Read the original article on Business Insider Norwegian border guards monitor the Pasvik River, which marks the border between Norway and Russia. In January, Andrey Medvedev, a former commander for Russias Wagner Group, defected and crossed the frozen river a few miles away from this watchtower before turning himself in to Norwegian border guards. Credit - The Arctic climate can be harsh, but Norwegian leaders have often used the saying High North, low tension to describe the relatively calm relationship between Norway and its neighbor, Russia, in these frigid parts. At least, thats the case in Kirkenes, an Arctic town of some 3,500 people about four miles from the Russian border, known for a snow hotel and breathtaking views of the Northern Lights. Kirkenes was liberated by the Soviet Army in World War II after German bombing raids destroyed most of the city. But there was very little contact between Norwegians and Russians during the Cold War, says Thomas Nilsen, the editor of the Barents Observer, a Kirkenes-based publication specializing in coverage of the region. That led to major cultural, political, and economic differences between the two sides, he adds. Kirkenes as seen from a hill near Fjellveien street. In the three decades since the end of the Cold War, Norwegians and Russians have become real neighbors here: Russian fishing vessels ported in Norway for repairs, while locals traveled back and forth across the border to shop, find work, and build friendships. Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine has upended all this, and Nilsen fears that real divisions are emerging again. Were seeing an iron curtain coming down; were losing contact," he says. People are scared. The war in Ukraine has also heightened military tension in the far north. Kirkenes sits just west of the Kola Peninsula, where Russia bases its Northern Fleet and stores an arsenal of nuclear warheads. If Russia were to mount a military attack on the West, its forces would plausibly pass through the Barents Sea and Kirkenes to reach the Atlantic Ocean. In the last year, both Russia and NATO allies have stepped up patrols and naval exercises in the region. But what seems to trouble Nilsen most is the change among Russian people. Fewer of them are now willing to talk for fear telephone calls and chat rooms could be infiltrated by Russian intelligence. For us living close to the border, we see that this is much more than the war, Nilsen says. Russia itself has changed dramatically. It has developed into a country of fear and violence, where nobody dares to stand up against authorities any more. Amid this climate, photographer Elijah Hurwitz spent a month in northern Norway to document the newfound tension in the region. Below is a snapshot of the people and places grappling with life in the High North today. Thomas Nilsen, journalist Nilsen at the Barents Observer office in Kirkenes. Nilsen held a fundraiser for the Barents Observer to hire Russian journalists who had fled their homeland. His journalists have not been able to travel to Russia since before the pandemic, and so they felt a sense of responsibility to step up coverage following the invasion of Ukraine. We decided that, okay, [Russia] had launched an illegal and brutal war in Europe, and our best tool is to boost our journalism and increase our work, Nilsen says. The unique thing with the Barents Observer is that we are in the north, we know the north, and we have our readers in the north. And that is an area, on the Russian side of the border, with full censorship. So we make a difference. Liza Vereykina, journalist Exiled Russian journalist Liza Vereykina is one of three Russian journalists who now work for the Barents Observer. A former video journalist and producer for BBC Moscow, Vereykina says that she left before what she calls Russias "insane criminal persecutions" caught up to her. "Evan Gershkovich's detention shocked and scared me. I'm grateful to the local community in Kirkenes for everything. The freedom of speech, the friendliness everything," she adds. Sasha Buluiev and Yuri London, Ukrainian refugees Sasha Buluiev and Yuri London stand at the Barents Sea in Kirkenes. Sasha Buluiev, 20, and Yuri London, 18, are two Ukrainians who have found refuge in Kirkenes. They are studying Norwegian in school and looking for work. Both of their fathers are currently serving in the Ukrainian military. London keeps in touch with his father daily on messaging apps. "[When] I didn't hear from him for like 24 hours I was losing my fucking mind," he says. A meal is served by Ukrainian refugees at a pop-up cafe in Kirkenes. Buluiev and London are far from the only Ukrainians who have settled in Kirkenes. The budding community has set up events, including a pop-up cafe, to express gratitude to locals who have welcomed them. They also hope that these events can foster cultural exchanges. Ulvar, Norwegian soldier Ulvar is from Trondheim, in central Norway, and stationed at a military base in Sr-Varanger. He says that one annual tradition for young border soldiers is to jump in the Barents Sea, which they did after an Easter church service at the King Oscar chapel in Grense Jakobselv. But Ulvar says he is worried about Russia's F.S.B. hacking into his cell phone. The area where he and other soldiers are stationed is so close to the border, he adds, that their network automatically switches to cell towers belonging to Russia. Norwegian soldiers use snowmobiles in Grense Jakobselv near the border with Russia, north of the Arctic Circle. Paul Aspholm, scientist Paul Aspholm places reindeer antlers collected from carcasses in the field onto a pile at his home in Svanhovd. Environmental researcher Paul Aspholm works for NIBIO, a research institute based in the Pasvik valley that used to collaborate with Russian scientists. But the organization no longer receives data from its scientific counterparts across the border in Russia. "In this area we used to have cross-border collaboration for things like monitoring bear and reindeer populations, water quality, and pollution," he says. GLOBUS radar systems The GLOBUS radar system, which is located in the fishing village of Vard, Norway, is operated by the Norwegian Intelligence Service and is used for surveillance. Even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the radar system was a point of tension with Russia. The facility was built with U.S. assistance and Russia has long argued that it constitutes an American defensive outpost. Russia has occasionally conducted military exercises in the region, including in 2017 and 2018, when it ran simulated attacks on GLOBUS. Children play soccer near the GLOBUS radar systems. The GLOBUS radar systems as seen from the nearby island of Hornya, also known as "bird island." Correction, Aug. 14 The original version of this story misstated Liza Vereykina's job title. She is a journalist, not a student intern. Contact us at letters@time.com. A new Texas law that requires an armed security guard, officer, or similar alternative at every school throughout the school day goes into effect Sept. 1. Many school districts are working to implement this as the new school year begins. HB3 was passed on the heels of Texas deadliest school shooting, in Uvalde at Robb Elementary school, where 19 kids and two adults were killed by a gunman. Although hundreds of law enforcement officers convened on the scene, and a few within minutes of when the shooting began, no one intervened for 77 minutes. We understand the logic that a trained, armed officer would theoretically stop or prevent altogether a school shooting, especially from within the building, an advantage law enforcement at Uvalde lacked. Hardening schools is one of many avenues to prevent school shootings. This measure certainly takes that seriously and may be a source of relief and comfort for many worried parents, teachers, and school kids. However, the law does place a significant burden on already-taxed school districts both in terms of funding and finding trained officers. These barriers are so challenging, we still wonder why measured gun reform, focused on topics such as red flag laws and the age of those who can purchase firearms, was not a priority in the legislature this year. While the law says it allows the armed person to be either a peace officer, a school resource officer, or a school marshal, which is campus staff who are allowed to carry weapons, there is a big difference when it comes to training a full-fledged police officer, school marshal, and school guardian. The law also says if a district is unable to place someone in every school, it must have a good cause exception with an alternative plan. We wonder how many districts will fall under this caveat. The Texas Association of School Boards estimates the cost to place an armed officer at one campus is $80,000 a year. The state provides a $15,000 grant per campus, a sliver of whats needed. To become a school marshal, one must pass a psychological exam, undergo 80 hours of training and complete a 16-hour course every two years following initial training. School guardians only need 16 hours of training. As of May 2022, before the law passed, there were already 256 marshals across 62 districts in Texas, after the law lifting the cap on marshals was passed. The Dallas Morning News reported via the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement that the state now has 318 registered school marshals across 77 districts. Thats hardly a dent when one considers there are 1,221 school districts and 9,000 school campuses within those. When asked about security for schools in the Fort Worth ISD, Deputy Superintendent Karen Molinar told us in a prepared statement, We are currently reviewing our assigned SROs and making decisions while still maintaining compliance of our contract with FWPD. We have a strong collaboration with Fort Worth PD and Benbrook PD to devise a phase-in plan for HB3 compliance. In the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD, in northwest Fort Worth, which has its own police force, Chief of Police Charles Ramirez told us they hired 19 new officers so that an officer could be placed at every campus. Wylie ISD, near Plano, told a local news station it was utilizing a private security firm, L&P Global Security, for armed security guards at a cost of $534,170 for the 2023-24 school year, requiring the district to find $222,635 from other parts of the general budget. L&P will provide 13 security officers, and a supervisor, to cover Wylie campuses. Allen ISD will use 17 L&P security personnel. We know that a normal police response time is six minutes. In the Virginia Tech shooting, a person was wounded or killed about every 10 seconds. For schools, waiting for help for six minutes is far too long and deadly. Even during the Nashville school shooting in March, it took police 14 minutes from the first 911 one call to stop the gunman. Lives were saved because instead of locking down inside the building, children and staff were largely evacuated. If trained officers, marshals, or guardians are already inside a school, in a more defensive position, prepared for a worst-case scenario, their existence should cut down on this vital response timeline, provided they take action. We hope hardening schools via this route deters would-be gunmen and provides our children, teachers, and administrators with a better sense of security. Its unfortunate that we live in a world where this is not just a consideration but a law is required. We also hope that if this proves inefficient, or things go wrong, that the legislature will be willing to look at other measures related to school safety such as reasoned gun reform, increased mental health funding, and more. What we are going to do is go for a walk. JeeYeun Lee, artist, activist, creator of social-justice-minded walking tours along Lake Michigan, stood in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art holding a microphone. Its cord curled over the concrete and ended at a small portable speaker at her feet. She waved a pamphlet. Everyone should have one of these, she said. If you look at the map on the cover, thats from 1902. It showed where the shoreline of Lake Michigan used to be. It used to be where Lee stood now. She pointed east. Everything between here to the lake is actually landfill, she said. Several of the three dozen or so people seated on the MCA stairs nodded. Yes, theyd heard this was all landfill. Thats part of the narrative Chicago likes to tell about itself: After the Great Fire of 1871, there was so much debris clogging the streets, the city, in a fit of cleverness, used its rubble to expand its lakefront. Over time, she went on, white settlers found that extended land to be the most valuable part of the city. Streeterville, Soldier Field, Grant Park, the Field Museum it was all built atop landfill. More nods. So ever since, she said, thereve been fights over who gets to control the lakefront. Smirks now everyone knows Chicago politics ... Thats when Lee threw a curveball: But did they know that part of what made its growth and wealth possible was that Chicago ignored treaty claims of Native Americans who lived on its shoreline? Did they know the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi argued any treaties it signed referred to the original Lake Michigan shoreline as the boundary of ceded land, and, as many Potawatomi still contend, Chicago had no right to land it added beyond that initial shoreline? There were no nods now. Indeed, in 1914, the Potawatomi sued the city over that extended shoreline, a case that made it as far as the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided the tribe had no right to land it had abandoned. A strange decision, considering the Potawatomi, like other Native tribes, were forced into treaties. OK, Lee said brightly, to the suddenly still audience, the walk they were about to do is a work in progress. It lasts about an hour. By the end of this month, when Lee leads her final walk of the summer, the hike will take at least three hours and cover six miles, moving south out of Jackson Park to Steelworkers Park, near 87th Street. But at the MCA, she intended a brief, mournful jaunt: Were going to walk around the corner, down Chicago Avenue, there will be stairs to under the overpass at Lake Shore Drive, we come out beside the water, then return. She nodded at her phone: The main part is the audio track. The crowd pushed in earbuds and strapped on headphones and began to walk. The audio was an alternate story of Chicago. Not of underground speakeasies and aldermanic hubris set to the usual gallop of Sweet Home Chicago, but a story of broken treaties with Indigenous people and snippets of Indigenous songs, interviews with elders, nature sounds, readings of legislation, everything flowing in and out, overlapping peacefully, occasionally interrupted by the drifting thump-thump of music blasting from powerboats anchored in the Playpen off DuSable Lake Shore Drive. When Lee looks at this lakefront, she explained to me later, she sees so much as a kind of byproduct of the citys original sin taking the lakefront for itself and paying no heed to those lived there before. When we emerged from the tunnel beneath Lake Shore and stepped across bike lanes, riders slowed and screamed: What the hell? and What the (expletive)! and Bike lane, you idiots! There was no question of who dominates the lakefront there. A couple of years ago, when Lee led a three-hour walk along Michigan Avenue that left a long, thin line of red sand behind her as she walked 2,000 pounds of red sand, spilling out of a wheelbarrow. It was a way of delineating unceded territory (everything east of Michigan Avenue) from legitimate Chicago (everything west of Michigan Avenue). The bureaucracy to do that, leave a line of sand! she recalled. It kind of reflected everything I know about who claims to control the land and what you can do with land. Her projects, which are part history, part performance art, part activism, are intended to raise unsettling questions about who is entitled to the lakefront and what is meant by public land. And, why do these questions rarely come up? Shore Land, the title of the walks she has been giving this summer (as part of the Navigations series from the Roman Susan Art Foundation near Loyola University), is described by Lee as an audio walk that contemplates the lakefront as a liminal space between land and water, simultaneously a public good, a treaty violation and strategy to suppress insurgence. (She likes to note that though Daniel Burnhams Plan of Chicago is hailed as visionary, the creation of green spaces also was meant to quell growing anger over labor conditions.) Partly, however, Shore Land also raises questions about who gets to tell the story of Native Americans. Lee, 52, was born in South Korea and her family moved here when she was 9. A lot of Native folks I reached out to about these projects have been wary, she said. They have had experience with non-Native people wanting to extract information and time and their thinking, in a one-sided transactional way. So Ive tried my best to stick around and be as sincere as I can. The Potawatomi tribal council itself has asked her to include a note in all the materials associated with a previous project that her work has no official association with the tribe. But shes also had support from many Potawatomi. John Low, a former Chicagoan and an associate professor at Ohio State University who teaches Native American studies, was partly the inspiration. Lee first read about the tribes 1914 lawsuit in a book by Low. He said, She made sure I got lots of credit for Whose Lakefront (the 2019 Michigan Avenue walk), though credit is not really the point here, is it? Low, a citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, remembers being upset in a Ph.D. program when he wanted to write his dissertation about Simon Pokagon, an early writer and activist, and learned two other students, neither Native, had already claimed him. I got upset, he said. I am Pokagon, but isnt the whole point of scholarship to inspire? Frankly, the more people who talk about Indigenous claims to Chicago lakefront why not? I dont feel infringed. I want this story alive. Madolyn Wesaw, an activist and Potawatomi citizen who lives in Michigan, was just as much a part of that first Shore Land walk as Lee, standing and speaking alongside the artist. Wesaw said at the event that Lee is doing meaningful work that doesnt center the oppressors of the story. But erasure was on her mind, and a lot of time when Indigenous people speak about this to white folks, we hear you cant blame people for the sins of their grandfathers ... People ask me: What am I supposed to do? Do you want to kick all white people out? Thats not the goal. But you can go home and learn about us, and when we speak to you about these things, you can believe us. We know what is best for our people and we know our history and it should be Indigenous people telling them with the assistance of allies. Lee told me that her motivation for the walks partly stems from being Korean and being raised in a nation not formally colonized (by the U.S.) but under the sphere of U.S. military imperialism. Occupation is on her mind. So I feel sympathetic about what happened and continues to happen on this continent. I see my role as someone who understands a bit about what it is like to be colonized. Her father was a diplomat and when her family moved to Chicago, they settled in Budlong Woods; then later Winnetka, where Lee attended New Trier Township High School. She said she never learned, at New Trier or earlier in Chicago Public Schools, about Potawatomi. She studied linguistics at Stanford University, ethnic studies at the University of California Berkeley and fiber arts at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, near Detroit. While in Michigan, she began a set of 25-mile solo walks, starting in Detroit and moving outward, reflecting on changes in population, ethnicity, opportunity. After she moved back to Chicago, she started a similar project, 100 Miles in Chicagoland, a series of 20-mile walks tracing the trails once created by native people. She wore traditional Korean dress, pointedly made of denim, an American fabric with the history of slavery in cotton and indigo. Mostly, unless asked, you would not know what she was doing. Few people have ever asked her what she was doing, she said. But its also not activism in the traditional way, organizing people to have a direct impact. But then, a lot of things contribute to the way we can change a society. A lot of it are the stories we have in our minds about the world and why the world is the way it is and who gets to do what. Chicago doesnt think about the fact we are occupying land of people who lived here. My project isnt, Give back land. I see it as a progression of knowledge. Art and activism social practice art, whatever you want to call it contributes to changing all this, even in a small way. The final Shore Land walking tour is Aug. 27 from 63rd Street Beach; more information at jeeyeunlee.com cborrelli@chicagotribune.com The News The assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio at a campaign event on Wednesday underscored the extent to which the country has succumbed to political violence and organized crime. Officials said the first round of votes in the presidential election will go ahead as planned in 10 days, but President Guillermo Lasso has declared a state of emergency for two months and ordered the immediate mobilization of armed forces across the country. Weve gathered reporting and analysis detailing Ecuadors destabilization and what the assassination means for the upcoming elections. Insights This is terrorism, said a witness of the attack. Murder rates in Ecuador have doubled between 2020 and 2022, and a poll this year found that more than half of Ecuadorians believe that fixing the countrys insecurity is the most important political issue. [This killing] leaves a clear message that here life is worth nothing, the witness said. A jailed gang leader allegedly threatened Villavicencio days before his assassination. The candidate had told his supporters that the head of the Choneros gang, Fito, had warned him to stop referring to him during his campaign that was centered on fighting violence. Villavicencio previously called Ecuador a failed state. Ecuadors gangs are fueling Europes drug trade. Dutch authorities on Thursday announcing they had seized a record-breaking 8,000 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a container of bananas from Ecuador. Nestled between Peru and Colombia the worlds largest producers of cocaine gangs in recent years have violently clashed over control of Ecuadors ports to help with shipments, and they are helped by international groups like the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. Villavicencios assassination wont help far-left candidates, said AllianceBernstein economist Katrina Butt, given that the most leftist candidates policies had little overlap with Villavicencios. As an economic crisis looms over the country, with social unrest over the killing, she believes voters will be more drawn to either center-right candidate Otto Sonnenholzners proposals or millionaire Jan Topics security strategies. Atlanta Teens Family Demands Answers After She Was Found Dead In Jail After Being Arrested On A Misdemeanor Bench Warrant | Hans Neleman via Getty Images The family of 19-year-old Noni Battiste-Kosoko is demanding answers from officials after being found dead in an Atlanta jail on July 11. My child was arrested for a misdemeanor and died in jail. And we want answers! the teens mother, Shashu Battiste, told 11 Alive. According to the Fulton County Sheriffs Department, Battiste-Kosoko was found in her cell by herself with no obvious signs of injury during dinner time. The teen was held in the Atlanta City Detention Center since May following an arrest for a misdemeanor bench warrant without bond. Speaking to Fox 5 Atlanta, the teens family said she was diagnosed with a mental illness. The heartbroken family also vowed to uncover all the facts surrounding this shocking and unfortunate occurrence. If it is discovered that Nonis death is the fault of those who were responsible for her care, they will be held accountable, loved ones stated. Another person at the jail spoke to Fox 5 anonymously, saying staff neglected the womans needs. The second she stepped into any jail, somebody shouldve been like, Shes not supposed to be here,' the cellmate told Fox 5. It was clear she just needed somebody. The Department of Justice has been investigating the Fulton County Jail, which faces allegations of discriminating against people with mental health issues and failing to provide adequate medical care at the facility. Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the Justice Departments civil rights division, addressed the allegations during a press conference, ABC News reported. Our investigation into these matters is guided by one core principle: People held in jails and prisons do not surrender their constitutional and civil rights at the jailhouse door, Clarke told reporters. According to Clarke, data shows 87% of the jail population in Fulton County is Black. This is a racial justice issue, she said. Clarke referred to the case of Lashawn Thompson, the 35-year-old who died in the Fulton County Jail in September after staying in a bedbug-ridden cell. Photos revealed that Thompsons body was infested with insects while his cell was littered with garbage. Those circumstances were far from isolated, Clarke said. Following Mr. Thompsons death, evidence emerged that the mental health unit where he died was infested with insects and that the majority of people living in that unit were malnourished and not receiving basic care. After three days of trial, an Augusta man was convicted of raping and molesting a child. Roberto Ayala Figueroa, 57, was convicted of two counts of rape, child molestation, aggravated sexual battery and criminal attempt to commit aggravated child molestation. Judge Daniel Craig sentenced Figueroa to three life sentences, followed by 39 years of consecutive prison time. Figueroa was from New York, where he worked at a local church, according to a news release from the Augusta District Attorney's Office. He became the sole caretaker for the victim and several other children. Cryptoscam indictment: Grovetown man could face 20 years in prison for cryptocurrency scam Augusta's most expensive homes: A look at the most expensive homes for sale in Richmond County When the victim was 13 years old, the family moved to Augusta and he began molesting her, according to the release. The assault started with touching and escalated to abusive sexual acts and rape. A child was born as a result and the DNA matched Figueroa, according to the release. Due to legal barriers in the rules of evidence, the jury was not allowed to learn the full extent of the multiple children he molested and raped while in his care. If you believe every word that [the victim] said, then you have more than enough, assistant district attorney Sarah Elizabeth Strickland stated in closing arguments. This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Augusta man convicted of raping child Kids are heading back to school soon -- As you ready your family to return to the classroom, the Better Business Bureau is putting out a safety message. This back-to-school season, the BBB is warning parents there are several ways they can put their money, their children, and their personal information at risk. BBB Spokesperson Melanie McGovern explained the scams start even before the school year does when youre shopping for supplies. >>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<< You cant find it anywhere and then all of the sudden a website pops up or an ad pops up on social saying hey we have this item, McGovern described. Thats always a red flag, especially if stuff is sold out. How does this one website have the one thing that everybody is looking for? The first day of school brings some more risk. Weve all seen those adorable photos of your kids in their best outfits holding up a sign with a lot of details. It has their full name, school and teachers names, age, and even their favorite activities and goals. You might even take a picture in front of your home with your address for anyone to see. Read: LIVE UPDATES: Gov. Ron DeSantis suspends Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell There could be clues to identity theft in those posts, McGovern warned. If your friends have dormant accounts, they could be hacked. They could be stolen. There are also warnings for your kids throughout the school year. This is a generation of kids who grew up with the Internet, McGovern said. They dont think twice about it. Read: Delays expected for first day of Orange County schools due to bus driver shortage, district says The BBB has seen what they call homework helper cons. This is where students might go online for help. The helper ends up asking for more and more money in what becomes an extortion scam. Its really important if somebody is online looking for homework help, a tutor, that youre asking for referrals, youre checking references, youre checking to make sure that theyre legitimate, McGovern added. Check BBB.org to make sure that theyre a real company before you pay any money to get help with your homework. Read: Unstable scaffolding closes downtown Orlando street, police say 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. You spent eras on Wednesday trying to secure tickets to the opening shows of Taylor Swifts The Eras Tour in Miami and came up waitlisted or ticket-less after hours on Ticketmasters Verified Fan website. If, like thousands of fellow Swifties, you failed to scoop up tickets for the three October 2024 Miami shows that open the second leg of the record-setting Eras Tour, you may be tempted to buy tickets from a secondary market. Be careful. The anticipation to get a seat at this tour runs high. Its forecast to become the most lucrative tour ever with a likely $1.5 billion in ticket sales benchmark, according to Fortune, eclipsing Elton Johns June-concluded Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour and its $939 million haul. After several earlier hints, during the last performance of the tours first leg at SoFi Stadium in Southern California Wednesday night, the 33-year-old Swift announced her next Taylors Version album re-recording would be 1989, a 2014 landmark named for her birth year. Here we are, on the last night of the U.S. leg of the Eras tour, in the eighth month of the year, on the ninth day (of the month), Swift said as cover art for 1989 (Taylors Version), due Oct. 27, flashed on gigantic screens, USA Today reported. We can only imagine the excitement South Florida fans experience if Swift announces the final Taylors Version project in her six-album reclamation series from the Hard Rock Stage in Miami Gardens Reputation or Taylor Swift. Were betting the timing favors the latter debut recording that was originally released in October 2006. Anyhow, you want to be at those Miami shows but ticket scams abound. Consumers should be aware that even reputable sites like StubHub or SeatGeek list speculative tickets for sale before an event is placed on sale by an artist. That means that the seller is selling a ticket before they actually have the ticket in hand and they are betting they can fulfill the ticket order. If they cant fulfill the order, more reputable sites will offer a credit for the ticket or an order refund, but the fan is still left without a ticket and no way of getting in to see the show, a Ticketmaster rep said in an email sent to the Miami Herald earlier this week. Heres what to know: Protect yourself from ticket scams Taylor Swift performs for the fourth night of the Eras Tour in Los Angeles on Aug. 7, 2023. Swift is ending the first U.S. leg of her tour with a six-night stint at SoFi Stadium. The second leg of the North American Tour begins in Miami on Oct. 18, 2024. Its all soooo complicated! Why cant we just camp out at Specs? We have a 10-year-old chomping at the bit, Vero Beach real estate broker and mom Alexa Garrido Dupuis teased in a Facebook thread Wednesday about the old ways South Florida fans bought concert tickets via overnight camp-outs at now long-gone record stores. She failed to score tickets during the Ticketmaster Verified Fans sale. Many may turn to the resale market over the next 14 months. Some could wind up with counterfeit or no tickets at all. Some popular sites set up security measures to help ward off scammers. At StubHub, theres no incentive for anyone to attempt to sell a ticket they dont have, as they will not be paid unless the buyer gets into the event successfully, a StubHub rep said. They can also be charged penalty fees and banned for any abuse of our policies. StubHub created a site for Taylor Swift Eras Tour given the interest. The page details seller and buyer tips and also safety measures at http://stubhub.com/tickettips How to avoid fraud and get better resale prices Avoid buying off the street or on social media when you dont know the person use a trusted service. Dont pay with cash, money transfer or payment apps since its harder or impossible to track your purchase you may not be able to recoup your money if there are issues with the tickets. Pay Pal is a better idea because transactions can be tracked. Ticketmaster, as the official retailer, is safe. StubHub has security measures, like a FanProtect Guarantee that backs each purchase and claims to have accessible customer service when theres an issue. Watch out for scams when you are not on a regulated site with a guarantee. Make sure youre getting a link to an actual Ticketmaster mobile ticket from the seller. If the deal is too good to be true, its probably not true, StubHub says. Dont give your credit card information over the phone to people you dont know, according to a Ticketmaster blog that warns of scams. Be cautious when purchasing tickets from unknown individuals especially if they ask for a method thats a direct transfer of money and doesnt clearly specify youre making a purchase. Same goes for giving someone your credit card information over the phone, which is never recommended, Ticketmaster warned. Ticketmaster says common scams include asking for an Amazon Gift Card, iTunes Gift Card, money order or any other third-party gift card as a form of payment in exchange for tickets. You may also be asked to wire funds as a form of payment in exchange for tickets or to go to a store and buy a gift card. Dont do it. Ticketmaster suggests using mobile tickets, so be wary if someone wants to sell you a paper or printed ticket. They could be counterfeit. Mobile tickets sold through Ticketmaster have bar codes that continually refresh to help verify they are the real deal. When you do get your tickets digitally, download them to your phones wallet so they are readily accessed, even without an internet connection. If a seller is too eager to sell and asks you what dates you are looking for and that they have tickets for multiple dates, you need to calm down, to quote a Lover album hit youre likely going to hear at the concert. This behavior sounds like a scam, says a Swiftie expert with the Cincinnati Enquirer. They should be able to tell you specifically upfront what day they have tickets for, how many, and what the seat numbers are. If a seller is selling too cheap, or below cost, and seems too excited, be wary. The tickets might not be real. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, seats for the Eras Tour cost between $49 to $449 before fees, with VIP packages ranging from $199 to $899. Ask a seller you dont know or from an unregulated site to take a screen shot of the tickets they are sending via their Ticketmaster app at the time of your chat before you send them any form of payment. You can then have a better idea if the tickets are legit. Dont rush. Though we bet demand will stay high after this initial rush and a week or two before the October 2024 dates, you may find tickets in your budget. Consider single tickets because they are harder to sell. Perhaps weekday shows rather than weekend. These sometimes go for a lower price, StubHub says. Taylor Swift performers during the first night of the Cincinnati stop of the Eras Tour at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati on Friday, June 30, 2023. Fast-rising actress and writer Ayo Edebiri is the latest cover star for The Hollywood Reporters August issue. Edebiri, who was recently nominated for an Emmy, discussed her journey into acting, her evolution from writing on shows like Netflixs Big Mouth and AppleTVs Dickinson to landing roles in the shows themselves. For her main cover shoot, Edebiri wore a loose, feathery top over shiny, silver thigh-high boots. This is her first cover story for the publication. On Growing Up In her interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Edebiri shared that she had a childhood filled with extended families and an active school life. The 27-year-old was involved in numerous school activities including improv and school clubs. I was definitely dealing with a lot of hormones and undiagnosed things swirling around, but I was also very focused on sorting out my adult life, she said in her interview. Im a future person, always wondering whats the next move. Im very rarely here. On Charting Her Career Path Edebiri revealed in her interview that she attributes some of the direction her career has taken, to delusion. I had no framework for this kind of career, but I think a little bit of delusion is healthy here. Because were doing a delusional thing. A career in the arts? Its delusional, she said. Edebiri has been involved in various facets of the creative industry. Alongside writing for television, she has also tried her hands at stand-up comedy which she did while working multiple dead-end jobs and attending NYU. She was even writing for The New Yorker at the time. That varied line-up of experiences that has paid off for Edebiri who has appeared in well-lauded projects. There was the cameo in Abbott Elementary, her supporting role in The Bear, her newest role in the comedy film Bottoms, :Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and an upcoming sting in Marvels Thunderbolts. On Auditioning For Bottoms In her interview, Edebiri revealed that although her role in the film Bottoms was custom written for her, she still had to audition for it. Im still slightly salty about it, she told Hollywood Reporters Seija Rankin. I dont know who made me audition, but I passed. The director Emma Seligman however clarified that the audition had actually been a way to meet the requirement laid out by the studio behind the project. As Seligman told the Hollywood Reporter, Her resume was good and it was already obvious that her career had so much promise, but it was cool to feel validated that we all saw something. The post Ayo Edebiri Attributes Some Career Success to Delusion appeared first on 21Ninety. Azerbaijan will conduct training courses for the Ukrainian sappers. Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Details: On 10 August, during the meeting between Bohdan Drapiatyi, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and an Azerbaijani delegation headed by Seimur Mardaliev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Azerbaijan in Ukraine, the two sides discussed the future training courses in the territory of Azerbaijan for the exchange of experience in the sector of humanitarian mine clearance. During the meeting, Mardaliev stated that "Azerbaijan is joining the list of countries that will conduct training for the Ukrainian experts in the demining sector". Before that, Drapiatyi said that as a result of Russia's armed aggression, approximately 174,000 square kilometres of Ukraines territory have potentially been contaminated with mines and other explosives. Nearly 14,000 square kilometres of water area in Ukraine also need to be cleared of mines and other explosives. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! A Georgia mother and father have filed a lawsuit against the doctor tasked with delivering their child. The parents say Dr. Tracey St. Julian used too much force during the birth and decapitated their baby boy. Jessica Ross, and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr. joined their attorney in Atlanta Wednesday to announce a lawsuit against St. Julian and Southern Regional Medical Center. The hospital is located in Riverdale, Georgia and is where Ross went to deliver her baby on July 9. They were so excited about the birth of their first child, attorney Cory Lynch said according to the Associated Press. Unfortunately, their dreams and hopes turned into a nightmare that was covered up by Southern Regional Medical Center. According to the lawsuit, the baby got stuck during delivery. Rather than order a cesarean section as the parents requested, attorney Roderick Edmond said St. Julian instead applied ridiculously excessive force on the babys head and neck to try to deliver it. Edmond is also a physician according to the AP. Roughly three hours passed before the 20 year old mother was allowed a C-section according to the suit. By then, the babys fetal monitor had stopped displaying a heartbeat. Edmond added that the C-section removed the babys body and limbs, but the head was delivered vaginally. The suit accuses Dr. St. Julian and Southern Region Medical Center of gross negligence, fraud, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit accuses the hospital staff of a cover-up. It says staff discouraged the couple from getting an autopsy, recommended cremating their babys remains, and even propped the babys body up to hide the decapitation. Southern Regional said in statements it could not discuss treatment for particular patients due to privacy laws, but it denies the allegations against it. The hospital also added that St. Julian is not an employee of the hospital. Racial Disparities in Maternal Care During the press conference, Edmond recognized that this case highlights the higher rates of mortality for infants and Black mothers. According to KFF, they are 2.6 times higher to die during delivery than their white counterparts. The case has sparked outrage on social media. Many users point to the circumstances of the case being a direct reflection of the quality of care Black women and babies receive in the delivery rooms. How many Black mothers have to go through this lack of care! one TikTok user commented in a video of the press conference. The post Baby Decapitated During Birth at Georgia Hospital, Lawsuit Alleges appeared first on 21Ninety. The political war between state and local government officials over who has the last word on land use particularly for housing is entering a new and perhaps even more caustic phase. Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature, through new laws and directives from the state housing agency, are leaning hard on local governments, particularly cities, to make more land available for housing and eliminate zoning, design criteria, setbacks, parking requirements and other local rules that impede construction. State officials say California needs to build 2.5 million new housing units by 2030, more than double the previous 2025 goal that isnt close to being met. More than just being a high number or an aspirational goal, the new housing need target is a legal obligation that cities and counties must abide by, the states housing plan declares. Through the implementation of a number of meaningful accountability reforms passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor in recent years, it adds, Californias 2.5 million unit target is no longer a paper exercise its an expectation for the zoning, permitting, and construction of real, new housing units. While many cities have albeit grudgingly changed local housing plans enough to win state approval, some have held out, contending that locally elected city councils should have the last word on what happens in their neighborhoods, Resistance has been particularly stout in high-income cities with spacious single-family homes on large lots and little or no multi-family apartment development. Their officials argue that high-density housing would spoil their bucolic ambiance a claim that pro-housing advocates say smacks of racial or economic segregation. State officials have threatened legal action against the holdouts, and new laws allow developers to build projects without local permission in cities that lack approved housing plans. Unable to muster enough support in the Legislature, critics of the states build-it-now policies may turn to voters. They have submitted a proposed constitutional amendment that would restore local authority over housing projects, declaring local land use planning or zoning initiatives approved by voters shall not be nullified or superseded by state law. Theres another new and ironic wrinkle in the years-long conflict. The state has just published new population projections that could undercut specific housing quotas the state has imposed on regions and indirectly on cities. The states current housing plan assumes that Californias population will reach 42.3 million by 2030 with 14.4 million households. However, a few weeks ago the state Department of Finances demographers, reacting to the states recent population declines, issued a new set of projections that Californias population will show little or no growth through 2060. The demographers now estimate that in 2030, California will have just 39.4 million residents 3 million fewer than the previous projection which would translate into about a million fewer households needing homes. For example, in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, the states quota of 441,176 new units by 2030 is based on a projected population of 8.3 million but the states new 2030 estimate is just 7.6 million. An even starker numerical gap is evident in the six counties that make up the Southern California Association of Governments, including Los Angeles. SCAGs 1.3 million-unit quota assumes that the region will have 20.5 million residents by 2030 but the state now projects that its population will be markedly lower at 18.6 million. Critics of the states quota system are already crunching the numbers to contend that its based on inaccurate projections of need and therefore should not be the basis of pressure from state officials. California still has a big housing shortage, but it may be considerably smaller than the official numbers. Dan Walters writes for CalMatters, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom committed to explaining California policy and politics. Barbie mania is sweeping across social media platforms. Have you noticed an explosion of pink? I'm not a fashion doll fan, but I hopped in the Barbie Corvette and went along for the ride. Wearing a pink dress, hair bow and lipstick as well as high heels and pearls, I went to see the Barbie movie. My blanket fit perfectly in my pink, plastic, Victoria's Secret beach tote. Numerous women and girls of all ages and ethnicities were decked out in pink Barbie-inspired attire as well as some men and boys. Just 17 days after the Barbie film was theatrically released in the U.S. on July 21, it reached $1 billion in global ticket sales, according to distributor Warner Bros. The Social Butterfly columnist Kristi K. Higgins wears a Barbie-inspired outfit to watch the summer blockbuster film Barbie at Cinema Cafe in Chester, Va. on July 29, 2023. As a child, I was a tomboy and not fond of Mattel's fashion dolls, however, my friend Emma Ebensberger, who lived across the street from me, loved them. She had a variety of clothes and accessories. Trying to dress Barbie in skintight clothing was frustrating, and don't even get me started on how her high heels always fell off. The Barbie movie main trailer is described as such: Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans. Helena Levin aka California Barbie Princess strikes a pose inside a Mattel Barbie box photo booth at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in San Francisco in July 2023. The acting, singing and dancing were enjoyable, however, I found the entire Barbie movie somewhat cheesy. It was entertaining, but I would not watch it again. For a review from a Barbie fan, I reached out to Helena Levin aka California Barbie Princess [CA Barbie Princess]. I met her at a wedding in California in July last year. My nephew Zachary Eggers and Benjamin Perez Lecuona tied the knot at the City Club of San Francisco. The 30-something teenager, a California native, was their flower girl. I did not know she was the CA Barbie Princess, but Barbie was the first thing that popped in my mind when I saw her. Dressed in pastel pink from head to toe, Levin looked fabulous coming down the aisle while she tossed pink, rose petals. Flower girl Helena Levin aka California Barbie Princess tosses rose petals down the aisle at her friends' wedding at The City Club of San Francisco on July 16, 2022. Barbie fan: California Barbie Princess Levin cannot recall her first Barbie, but she does remember Barbies were always a part of her life. Every birthday, she would get excited when she saw a rectangular-shaped, wrapped gift, because she knew it was a new addition to her collection. "We had a den in my childhood home where I played Barbies, and it became known as 'The Barbie Room,' Levin said. "Dolls and outfits were always strewn about. I remember telling my parents it didn't make sense to clean it up because I would just take it out again." Levin's collection that she played with daily included two Kens and about 30 Barbies. In hindsight, she feels they were truly unnecessary; however, she still has a Barbie collection. Helena Levin aka California Barbie Princess dresses like a vintage Barbie doll in October 2013. "I started my 'in box' collection when I was in middle school. My favorite is probably 40th-anniversary Barbie. She is wearing a gown, but the bodice is a sequined nod to the original black and white bathing suit," Levin said. "I got her for my Barbie-themed Bat Mitzvah. My dad called it my Barbie Mitzvah." Levin preferred to play with Barbies alone in her youth. She wanted to invent her own stories and play out her own worlds. "I didn't really like playing Barbie with friends, the storylines never went the way I wanted," Levin shared. "It's funny to think about now, because I have 'never' been an introvert, and I would always prefer to spend time with people over being alone, but Barbie time really was just for me and my imagination." In 2019, Barbie expanded its Fashionistas line to showcase dolls in a wheelchair and a removable prosthetic limb. Mattel: Barbie fashion dolls What does CA Barbie Princess like/love about Mattel's Barbie merchandise/world? "I guess everything. Pink is and always has been my favorite color. I also love that Barbie, to me, is much more of an adjective than a noun. When someone calls me Barbie, I always see it as a compliment," Levin said. "I love the femininity of it all coupled with the feminist aspect. That's what I have always loved about Barbie. She is truly a feminist icon. She's been a doctor, a veterinarian, she was in space 30 years before Sally Ride, and she has done all of these things on her own. She's never needed a man, just her friends and her can-do personality. And she has done it all in heels!" Members of Mitra church of Chesterfield strike poses after watching the Barbie movie at Cinema Cafe in Chester, Va. on July 29, 2023. Barbie movie review Levin loved the Barbie movie. She is not really sure what she can say that hasn't already been said by trained film critics, but, as one of the biggest Barbie fans, she really believes they did her justice. "I cried multiple times! They said all the things about Barbie that I always say and what I wrote in my college thesis about her being a feminist icon. They also addressed all the problematic issues that Barbie can represent," Levin said. "I really appreciated how they didn't shy away from the societal pressure for women and how it manifests in a doll. I loved how self-aware and self-deprecating the movie was while also being uplifting and hopeful." Levin pointed out one critique. She feels the Barbie film focuses a little too much on Ken. Helena Levin aka California Barbie Princess hosts Barbie movie premiere party at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in San Francisco on July 19, 2023. "I always appreciate commentary on the dangers of patriarchy, but I think it could have used it a little more as a platform to show that boys should be allowed to be feminine," Levin stated. "Other than that, zero criticism except that I didn't get to play Barbie. Greta Gerwig, if you're reading this, we need a Barbie musical starring me please. But truly, I can't stop gushing about it. It's sweet and smart and has so many hidden nods for the original Barbie fans and so many paths for newer Barbie fans to get onboard the pink train." Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) is both pariah and wise sage in Barbie Land. The American fantasy comedy film was directed by Greta Gerwig. It is the first live-action Barbie film. My favorite scene in the movie is when Barbie floats down from the top floor of her dream house into her car. The Weird Barbie played by Kate McKinnon was my favorite character. Mattel is taking pre-orders for the misfit doll that will be dressed in a bright pink dress with colorful artwork and puffy sleeves as well as green, snakeskin boots. The limited-edition Weird Barbie's features will include short, tousled hair and markings on her face to emulate a doll thats been played with just a wee bit too much. Fashionista Helena Levin aka California Barbie Princess wears rainbow attire during Pride Month in San Francisco in June 2023. California Barbie Princess: Helena Levin CA Barbie Princess was Levin's first email address and AIM [AOL Instant Messenger] screen name. She wanted just Barbie Princess but it was already taken, so she added CA for California. Levin adores California and particularly the city of San Francisco, a place that allows her to be who she is and accepts and embraces her. "I do feel like I have outgrown the 'Princess' part a little bit at this stage in my life, but it was a core identity for so many years that I just don't think I could ever change it," Levin said. "Barbie though, I will never outgrow, nor California." On the left, Helena Levin [Catherine of Aragon], the Social Butterfly columnist Kristi K. Higgins's niece Chelsea Rewerts [Jane Seymour] and nephew Zachary Eggers [Anna of Cleves] as well as other friends dress as characters from the musical Six in May 2023 in San Francisco, Calif. Rewerts is on the right and her brother is directly behind her. Levin works in fashion as a senior buyer for DollsKill.com. She loves fashion and performing, especially musical theater. "I do theater and drag all over the city and sing often in cabaret shows," Levin shared. "I have been so welcomed by the LGBTQ+ community and feel so truly honored to perform and work in queer spaces." CA Barbie Princess wants to bring joy and love to a community that has shared so much with her. She supports as many queer spaces and local theaters as she possibly can by going to every show/event that her schedule allows. Rainbow banners in San Francisco symbolize LGBTQ+ pride and social movements. The colors reflect the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community and the spectrum of human sexuality and gender. "In a way, I just want to emulate Barbie... show up, do the work, uplift the community, and do it all 'serving a look.' Not to get too philosophical here, but I think there is so much power in standing in your femininity," Levin said. "At the risk of sounding a little conceited, I know people are interested in talking to me. It happens every time I am at a bar or an event. Strangers come up to me, however, it's just girls, gays and theys, straight men never approach me. I think it's that feminine energy that draws them in." Spectators find Levin's outfits, hair styles and impractical shoes interesting. I myself took a close-up picture of one of her shoes at Zac and Ben's wedding. Helena Levin aka California Barbie Princess wears high heels while being her friends' flower girl during their wedding at The City Club of San Francisco on July 16, 2022. "Once people start talking to me, I think my kindness and conversational skills keep them engaged," Levin said. "And this is how I can create community and help create a world that celebrates kindness, empathy, diversity and pink." On Instagram @cabarbieprincess Levin has 10.5K followers and 17.6K on TikTok @helenalevin. She doesn't consider herself a celebrity but is happy to know people resonate with who she is and how she lives her life. "Social media is nice because it allows me to have a little platform to speak out on issues I care deeply about and communities I support," Levin said. "This Barbie is an activist. Now if I could just get these people to come to my shows." 'I have never seen this before' Why did bamboo turn brown? Here's what we know about unusual phenomenon Rumored to be inhabited by spirits Hopewell: Tour historic Weston Manor along Appomattox River, view 40-image gallery Kristi K. Higgins aka The Social Butterfly, an award-winning columnist, is the trending topics and food Q&A reporter at The Progress-Index voted the 2022 Tri-Cities Best of the Best Social Media Personality. Have a news tip on local trends or businesses? Contact Kristi (she, her) at khiggins@progress-index.com, follow @KHiggins_PI on Twitter @socialbutterflykristi on Instagram. Your support is vital to local journalism. Please subscribe. This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Barbie film review: CA Barbie Princess, socialite cried multiple times Critics call it a "sweetheart deal" between the Trump administration and the Central Valley's largest agricultural water district, and they claim it unfairly lines the pockets of major farm owners while imperiling California salmon and other fish species. For the last three years, environmentalists, tribal activists and fishing groups have been battling in court to reverse a contract between the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Westlands Water District. Among other provisions, the 2020 agreement grants Westlands permanent access to as much as 1.15 million acre-feet of water per year, more than double the amount of water that Los Angeles 3.9 million residents use annually. Now, Westlands opponents are celebrating a legal victory they say puts them one step closer to invalidating the contract. A state Court of Appeal this week upheld a Fresno County Superior Court decision to deny Westlands' request that a judge validate the contract. The whole thing was a ripoff, said Adam Keats, a lawyer for California Water Impact Network and other groups. Keats said the deal surfaced during a time when David Bernhardt, who had represented Westlands as a lawyer and lobbyist, was Interior secretary under then-President Trump. We prevented Westlands from validating their contract. That was our goal, Keats said. And now we have a chance to reverse the contract. Read more: Westlands Water District gets permanent U.S. contract for massive irrigation deliveries In a statement, Westlands General Manager Allison Febbo said the district continues to assess the ruling, but it is important to recognize that neither the Court of Appeals ruling nor the lower courts judgment renders the contract invalid. Mary Lee Knecht, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Reclamation, declined to comment, saying the matter remains under litigation. The water at the center of the dispute flows through the Central Valley Project, a federally operated system of reservoirs and canals that delivers water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farmlands. Westlands spreads across 600,000 acres in Fresno and Kings counties, and delivers water to producers of almonds, pistachios, tomatoes and other crops. Stephan Volker, a lawyer representing North Coast Rivers Alliance, the Winnemem Wintu tribe and other groups, said the contract charges Westlands far too little for water. This is an enormous gift of public resources, scarce water resources, at the expense of environmental protection, so that a few entrepreneurs basically can reap enormous profits, Volker said. The three-judge appellate court agreed with a Superior Court judges ruling that the water districts draft contract was materially deficient in its failure to specify Westlands financial obligations under the anticipated contract. The environmental groups also have a related case pending in federal court and argue the government should be barred from delivering water to Westlands under the contract. Volker and others said in light of the latest decision, they hope Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will rescind the contract. Read more: Judge declines to validate water deal for California farm supplier The significance of the ruling will depend on the response from the federal government, said Dave Owen, a professor at UC College of the Law in San Francisco. What this case does is give the federal government the option to back out of a contract and renegotiate it, Owen said. It makes the contract voidable. And that could be very significant if the federal government says, We don't like the contract, we think it was a mistake, we want to negotiate something new. However, Owen said, the Bureau of Reclamation hasnt given any indication its taking that position and has continued delivering water under the contract. I think if this litigation is going to eventually lead to changes in the amount of water that stays in rivers and the amount of water that Westlands gets, there's probably a whole series of other dominoes that would need to drop, Owen said. Fishing and environmental groups have fought in court for years to limit the water Westlands receives from the delta. Environmental advocates said that if the district had prevailed in the case, it would have been entitled to receive water without complying with certain limitations, including a 960-acre limit per landowner and higher pricing requirements. They said a victory for Westlands would have hindered efforts to restore water quality and the ecosystem in the delta, where they blame large water diversions for causing declines in salmon and other fish species. Keats and other critics say theyre concerned not only about the effects of diverting the water from the deltas ecosystem, but also about issues with selenium-tainted wastewater from Westlands fields, which in the 1980s caused bird deaths at nearby Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge. Instead of continuing to grow almonds and pistachios, he said, a better use for the land would be to cover it with solar panels. They should stop putting water in that ground, no matter what it produces in terms of food. It's a terrible place to be irrigating, Keats said. Read more: Salmon fishing banned along California coast as population plummets John Buse, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the massive water diversions put the delta ecosystem at grave risk, and these schemes to lock in permanent deliveries of Californias most precious resource are dubious and illegal. We'd like to see the Bureau of Reclamation just set aside this contract and enter a new process with Westlands that looks at the full environmental consequences, including on salmon and Delta fish, Buse said. Westlands took advantage of a 2016 law to convert the district's contract to an agreement that would secure a permanent water entitlement. The law allowed for such a change if agencies repaid what they owed the government for construction of the Central Valley Project. Febbo pointed out that dozens of other water suppliers similarly sought new contracts under the process laid out in the 2016 legislation, which was signed by then-President Obama. She said that the contract remains valid and that the district has paid the federal government about $210 million as required under the agreement. Beyond the dispute over Westlands contract, environmental advocates have called for an overhaul of how the Central Valley Project is managed, including how the costs are allocated. In a recent report released by the California Water Impact Network, former state water official Max Gomberg said the federal government's method of allocating costs contains major flaws, and the biggest omission is the environmental damage caused by water diversions. Gomberg said he believes the federal government should be charging all water users significantly more. The entire cost structure of this project is both deeply unfair and a contributor to why it does so much environmental damage, Gomberg said. The people who are responsible for the damage are the people who should be paying. And the way that this project has been operated, that hasn't been the case. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Authorities are searching for a Beachwood man who has been charged in a fatal collision in Plumsted in May after blood tests showed he was drunk and had cocaine in his system, authorities said. John Zinkoski, 41, was charged Tuesday with vehicular homicide and strict liability vehicular homicide for the crash that killed Judi Smith, 59, of Browns Mills, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said in a statement. Plumsted police went to Pinehurst Road and Long Swamp Road near New Egypt Speedway shortly before 6 p.m. on May 12 on the report of a serious motor vehicle crash. A Volvo XC60 SUV driven by Smith turned right onto Pinehurst Road from Long Swamp Road when a Nissan Frontier pickup driven southbound on Pinehurst Road by Zinkoski struck the Volvo, Billhimer said. Smith was taken to Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood where she died of her injuries, he said. Zinkoski was flown to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where he was treated and released. Zinkoskis blood samples taken there eventually showed he was above a .08 blood alcohol content at the time of the crash, the legal threshold for intoxication in New Jersey. They also showed the presence of cocaine and benzodiazepine, Billhimer said. More: Toms River man charged with vehicular homicide after crash kills motorcyclist An investigation by the Vehicular Homicide Unit of the prosecutor's office and Plumsted police showed that Zinkoski was traveling the average speed of 86 mph at the time of the crash, Billhimer said. Zinkoski was also charged with reckless driving and driving while intoxicated. Ken Serrano covers crime, breaking news and investigations. Reach him at 732-643-4029 or at kserrano@gannettnj.com. This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Search underway for Beachwood NJ man charged with vehicular homicide With evidence markers on the ground and investigators still working the scene, Beech Grove Mayor Dennis Buckley called for the closure of a bar hours after a double shooting in the establishment's parking lot. It's just very disturbing, Buckley said. This happened in the middle of the night and there's people asleep in their homes within 50 feet of where this happened. How can any society accept that? Two men were taken to the hospital in critical condition around 3:15 a.m. Thursday after they were shot multiple times outside The Silver Bullet Sports Bar & Grill, officials said. The bar closes at 3 a.m., according to its Facebook page, but investigators believe an argument inside the business led to the shooting. 'JMel can rest easy': Man arrested in 2022 shooting of Indianapolis artist Beech Grove Mayor Dennis Buckley speaks with reporters after two men were critically injured in a shooting in the parking lot of The Silver Bullet Sports Bar & Grill around 3:15 a.m. on Aug. 10, 2023. The bar is advertised as the oldest on Main Street in the city and opens daily at 9 a.m., according to a banner on its roof, but remained shuttered as the mayor spoke during a press conference outside. Scott Coyle, owner of the bar since March of 2021, stood outside his business and watched as the mayor and police chief spoke to reporters Thursday morning. When asked for comment, Coyle said he would work with his attorney to email a statement to reporters. That statement had not yet been received by IndyStar before publication of this article. Since the double shooting, Buckley has already reached out to the Alcoholic Beverage Board of Marion County and the board is investigating, the mayor said. Tyler Graves, chairman of the board, did not return a request for comment before this article's publication. Two men were critically injured in a shooting in the parking lot of The Silver Bullet Sports Bar & Grill around 3:15 a.m. on Aug. 10, 2023. An IndyStar investigation: 49 killed, 154 shot or stabbed: How Indiana law protects bad bars "It sheds a bad light on the City of Beech Grove, Buckley said. Obviously, I'm not very happy about it. I live about a block and a half from here. Buckley is calling for the bar to shut down due to what he says is a history of problems at the business. Police reports show Beech Grove officers were called to the property twice in 2023 before Thursday's shooting. Officers responded to a disturbance with a weapon around 1 a.m. July 20 and an assault at the business in February, according to the reports. Beech Grove Police Chief Michael Maurice said there was another shooting outside the bar in June 2022. The person who was shot survived, but investigators are still looking for a suspect, he said. In February, IndyStar published an investigation into violence at Indianapolis bars and nightclubs, and the authorities responsible for monitoring the businesses. The investigation identified more than 600 reports of violent acts tied to Indianapolis bars, clubs and event centers since 2016. Thursday's double shooting in Beech Grove Officers found the two men with gunshot injuries inside a minivan in the parking lot of the bar before they were both rushed in critical condition to nearby hospitals, Maurice said. "We don't have a whole lot of details for what we are looking for because we don't have any witnesses to help us identify who it was or what it was even about, Maurice said. Investigators believe the two men shot and the suspect or suspects in the shooting were patrons in the bar before the shooting. Maurice called for witnesses to come forward and assist with the investigation. There are multiple victims here and not just the ones who were shot, but the ones who live in this community," Maurice said. It's frustrating and we want these people to be held accountable. A crystal skull: It holds centuries of history and mystery. So why is it in Indiana? Contact Jake Allen at jake.allen@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Allen19. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Beech Grove shooting: Mayor calls for closure of bar after 2 men hurt Car lovers and community members are coming together to help the founder of a popular San Luis Obispo car show as he battles health issues. Self-described car guy Nate Fearonce started the Pinedorado car show, now a beloved part of Cambrias annual Labor Day celebration, in 2007. In 2019, the Cambria Lions Club tapped him to be the Pinedorado parade marshal. Now close friend Debbie Beshears has organized a GoFundMe fundraiser to help cover housing costs and medical bills that Fearonces insurance wont pay. As of Tuesday afternoon, donors had contributed more than $8,500 toward a $20,000 goal. Im overwhelmed with the response from the community, Fearonce, 89, said. It just humbles me. Someone came from Arizona just to see me this weekend. It brings tears to my eyes. Here, Ive been doing what I enjoyed doing, but didnt realize that people really noticed. A GoFundMe fundraiser is raising money to help Pinedorado Car Show founder Nate Fearonce with medical expenses. US Air Force veteran battles medical issues After serving as a U.S. Air Force radar system specialist, Fearonce left the military in 1959. Since then his resume has included stints working on commercial airliners and the antenna system for one of the first orbiting solar observatory satellites, and manufacturing custom lamps and shades. Hes worked on a variety of clocks and time systems, including for a Channel Island oil platform and what is now Vandenberg Space Force Base. Fearonce spent 55 years creating his own unique show vehicle, a Chevrolet Corvair pickup with a supercharged Chevy small-block engine mounted in the bed. He joined the Cambria Lions Club in 2003, launched and ran the some Pinedorado kids games for a while, and then began the Sunday car show. I enjoy giving people the satisfaction of showing their works of vehicular art, Fearonce said in 2019, because Im still the kid who never grew up. Fearonce is battling a host of life-threatening medical issues including congestive heart failure, kidney issues and breathing problems. Hes hearing impaired and uses hearing aids. Plus, Fearonce said, he has such serious glaucoma that it takes seven different eye drops and eight pills a day to keep my vision as good as it is. Some of those conditions were only diagnosed after Fearonce was transported by ambulance to French Hospital Medical Center in San Luis Obispo on Independence Day, Since being transferred to San Luis Post Acute Center in San Luis Obispo for rehabilitation, hes undergone further diagnosis by outside specialists. Ive lost 28 pounds of fluid, and Im taking physical therapy, Fearonce said. Im not on oxygen anymore, and Im able to walk with a walker now not far yet, but a short distance without being out of breath. The first year of Nate Fearonces car show for Cambrias 2007 Pinedorado celebration included lots of vehicles on display and plenty of people to check them out. Cambria man plans move to Georgia Within a month or so, Fearonce plans to move to Georgia to live with his daughter, paralegal Pier Fearonce, who was at her fathers side Tuesday. So was his son Andre Fearonce of Sedona, Arizona. Theyve been a big help, Nate Fearonce said of his children. Im so grateful, so lucky to have friends and family who care. Fearonce cant go home again. His former Cambria home isnt available anymore, and affordable housing opportunities are few in the busy coastal town. To help lift his spirits, Beshears is encouraging people to visit Fearonce at San Luis Post Acute Center, 3033 Augusta St. in San Luis Obispo. She also hopes to organize community help to safely get Fearonce to the Pinedorado car show on Sept. 3. Held Sept. 2 through 4 in Cambria, the 73rd annual Pinedorado festival also features a parade, fun run, barbecue, carnival games and the Follies show The Music Man Who Came to Cambria. To volunteer to help Fearonce get to the car show, call Beshears at 805-395-0481. To donate via GoFundMe, go to gofundme.com/f/nate-fearonce-aka-cambria-pinedorado-car-show-guy. Donations can also be deposited directly into his account at Pacific Premier Bank in Cambria. Captain Jason Chambers from Australian reality series Below Deck Down Under has addressed sexual misconduct on the show's set. He thanked the production crew for "breaking the fourth wall and stepping in" during two incidents during filming for the new series. Two cast members were seen making unwanted sexual advances in recent episodes of the yacht-based production. Both cast members, Luke Jones and Laura Bileskalne, were fired on the show. The popular series is in the spotlight after two incidents were featured in the sixth and seventh episodes, which both aired on Australian TV station Bravo on 7 August. Capt Chambers said the "not acceptable" incidents took place a year ago, when he was not personally present, after cast members had been drinking together. In an Instagram video, he said "I don't know what goes on" when the show's crew socialise together, but added: "If it's inadequate behaviour, you've seen that production would inform me." Luke Jones, who has featured in 11 episodes of the series, was shown entering the cabin of fellow cast member Margot Sisson without consent. At the time, she was asleep after drinking alcohol and Mr Jones was undressed. Mr Jones was shown climbing into her bed, which prompted the production crew to intervene to make Mr Jones leave the room, saying that Ms Sisson had "said no". Mr Jones then attempted to close the cabin door and proceeded to hold it shut, before eventually leaving. Writing on Instagram after the episode aired, Ms Sisson thanked producers for stepping in during the incident and said it was "vital" for the incident to feature in the episode because "this issue is all too real and far too frequent". Mr Jones has not commented on the incident publicly. During the same episode Ms Bileskalne was shown entering the room of another cast member, Adam Kodra, and attempting to massage and kiss him without consent. The episode showed Cpt Chambers dismissing both from the yacht where the series is filmed and both have left the production altogether. In an Instagram post after the show aired, Ms Bileskalne apologised, saying: "I made [Mr Kodra] feel uncomfortable and no one should be put in that position". UK domestic abuse charity Refuge has praised the show's producers for how the incidents were handled. It said the episodes had "sparked vital conversations around consent", adding: "We're pleased to see that action was quickly taken to ensure a safe environment." Bravo has not commented on the incidents. BBC News has contacted the production company. Below Deck Down Under first aired in March 2022. It is a spin-off the American series Below Deck. News Daily banner Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox. Germany intends to announce the supply of long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine "in near future," although it might happen in lockstep with the United States providing Kyiv with ATACMS missiles, German news outlet T-Online reported on Aug. 10, citing sources withing the ruling SPD party. Officials in the party claim that the German Air Force has greenlit the delivery of Taurus. It has also been reported that last week, the Chancellor's Office asked the German Defense Ministry to provide a report on Taurus: its availability in the German armed forces, associated risks, and effectiveness. Read also: Kuleba and Blinken further discuss ATACMS missiles According to the sources, Berlin is currently working on a deal with the United States. It has been reported that the "Taurus cruise missiles could be delivered along with U.S. ATACMS missiles." Sources told the journalists that coordinated actions, especially with the United States, are a mandatory requirement for "Chancellors [Olaf Scholz] approval of new armament systems for Ukraine." NV On July 26, the chairman of the Bundestag Defense Committee, representative of the Free Democratic Party Marcus Faber, stressed the need to provide Taurus missiles for the needs of the Ukrainian defense forces. Read also: Germanys parliament agrees to transfer Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine Ukrainian MP On Aug. 6, German newspaper Der Spiegel reported that two prominent members of Germanys Social Democratic Party, headed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, advocate for Berlin to transfer Taurus missiles to Ukraine. On Aug. 3, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius once again stated that Germany would not transfer Taurus to Ukraine, citing Washingtons reluctance to provide Kyiv with ATACMS missiles. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine Editors note: This story was updated at 4:55 p.m. EST. The Biden administration on Thursday asked Congress to provide more than $13 billion in emergency defense aid to Ukraine and an additional $8 billion for humanitarian support through the end of the year, another massive infusion of cash as the Russian invasion wears on and Ukraine pushes a counteroffensive against the Kremlins deeply entrenched forces. The package includes $12 billion to replenish the U.S. federal disaster funds at home after a deadly climate season of heat and storms, and funds to bolster the enforcement at the Southern border with Mexico, including money to curb the flow of deadly fentanyl. All told, its a $40 billion package. While the last such request from the White House for Ukraine funding was easily approved in 2022, theres a different dynamic this time. A political divide on the issue has grown, with the Republican-led House facing enormous pressure to demonstrate support for the partys leader, Donald Trump, who has been very skeptical of the war. And American support for the effort has been slowly softening. White House budget director Shalanda Young, in a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, urged swift action to follow through on the U.S. commitment to the Ukrainian peoples defense of their homeland and to democracy around the world as well as other needs. President Joe Biden exits Air Force One after landing at Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Salt Lake City. (Francisco Kjolseth/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP) The request was crafted with an eye to picking up support from Republicans, as well as Democrats, particularly with increased domestic funding around border issues a top priority for the GOP, which has been highly critical of the Biden administrations approach to halting the flow of migrants crossing from Mexico. Still, the price tag of $40 billion may be too much for Republicans who are fighting to slash, not raise, federal outlays. As a supplemental request, the package the White House is sending to Congress falls outside the budget caps both parties agreed to as part of the debt ceiling showdown earlier this year. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement there was strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate. The latest request from the Biden administration shows Americas continued commitment to helping Americans here at home and our friends abroad, he said. We hope to join with our Republican colleagues this fall to avert an unnecessary government shutdown and fund this critical emergency supplemental request. Biden and his senior national security team have repeatedly said the United States will help Ukraine as long as it takes to oust Russia from its borders. Privately, administration officials have warned Ukrainian officials that there is a limit to the patience of a narrowly divided Congress and American public for the costs of a war with no clear end. For people who might be concerned the costs are getting too high, wed ask them what the costs not just in treasure but in blood, perhaps even American blood could be if Putin subjugates Ukraine, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said this week. Support among the American public for providing Ukraine weaponry and direct economic assistance has softened with time. An AP-NORC poll conducted in January 2023 around the one-year mark of the conflict, found that 48% favored the U.S. providing weapons to Ukraine, down from the 60% of U.S. adults who were in favor sending Ukraine weapons in May 2022. While Democrats have generally been more supportive than Republicans of offering weaponry, their support dropped slightly from 71% to 63% in the same period. Republicans support dropped more, from 53% to 39%. Dozens of Republicans in the House and some GOP senators have expressed reservations, and even voted against, spending more federal dollars for the war effort. Many of those Republicans are aligning with Trumps objections to the U.S. involvement overseas. That means any final vote on Ukraine aid will likely need to rely on a hefty coalition led by Democrats from Bidens party to ensure approval. The funding includes another $10 billion to counter Russian and Chinese influence elsewhere by bolstering the World Bank and providing aid to resist Russian-aligned Wagner forces in Africa. Domestically, theres an additional $60 million to address increased wildfires that have erupted nationwide. And the request includes $2.2 billion for Southern border management and $766 million to curb the flow of deadly fentanyl. There is also $100 million earmarked for the Department of Labor to ramp up investigations of suspected child labor violations. To ease passage, Congress would likely try to attach the package to a must-pass measure for broader government funding in the U.S. thats needed by Oct. 1 to prevent any shutdown in federal offices. Members of Congress have repeatedly pressed Defense Department leaders on how closely the U.S. is tracking its aid to Ukraine to ensure that it is not subject to fraud or ending up in the wrong hands. The Pentagon has said it has a robust program to track the aid as it crosses the border into Ukraine and to keep tabs on it once it is there, depending on the sensitivity of each weapons system. Ukraine is pushing through with its ongoing counteroffensive, in an effort to dislodge the Kremlins forces from territory theyve occupied since a full-scale invasion in February 2022. The counteroffensive has come up against heavily mined terrain and reinforced defensive fortifications. The U.S. has approved four rounds of aid to Ukraine in response to Russias invasion, totaling about $113 billion, with some of that money going toward replenishment of U.S. military equipment that was sent to the frontlines. Congress approved the latest round of aid in December, totaling roughly $45 billion for Ukraine and NATO allies. While the package was designed to last through the end of the fiscal year in September, much depends upon events on the ground. We remain confident that well be able to continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, said Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder. There were questions in November about waning Republican support to approve the package, but it ultimately passed. Now, though, House Speaker McCarthy is facing pressure to impeach Biden over unproven claims of financial misconduct and its not clear whether a quick show of support for Ukraine could cause political damage in whats expected to be a bruising 2024 reelection campaign. Trump contends that American involvement has only drawn Russia closer to other adversarial states like China, and has condemned the tens of billions of dollars that the United States has provided in aid for Ukraine. Long reported from Chicago. U.S. President Joe Biden asked Congress for $40 billion in additional spending, including $24 billion in assistance for Ukraine and other international needs connected to Russian aggression, CNN reported on Aug. 10. The aid for Ukraine would include $13 billion in defense and security support and $7.3 billion for economic and humanitarian needs, CNN said. The additional spending should also cover 3.3 billion for the restoration of infrastructure in countries affected by Russian aggression to prevent Chinese lending from taking hold in these nations. "As the impacts of Russia's war reverberate around the globe, the United States is committed to maintaining strong global opposition to Russia's illegal war," Biden's budget director Shalanda Young wrote in a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, sitting for the Republican Party. The request can encounter opposition from Republicans, as some grow increasingly skeptical of continued support for Kyiv's defense efforts. Republicans hold a slim majority in the House of Representatives and up to seventy of their lawmakers voted in July to completely cut off Ukraine aid. CNN said that Biden hopes to assuage Republican lawmakers by pairing the request with $12 billion in disaster relief. The U.S. has provided Ukraine with $113 billion in assistance since the start of the full-scale invasion, making it Kyiv's leading international donor. Some of those finances are however allocated to the replenishment of U.S. military equipment that was sent to the frontlines. Read also: Trump vows to make Europe pay for U.S. military Ukraine aid if re-elected Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. A BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher fires toward Russian positions on the frontline near Bakhmut, Donetsk region amid the Russian invasion on Ukraine. SERGEY SHESTAK/AFP via Getty Images) The Biden administration is asking Congress to approve billions more in aid for Ukraine. A US official said the money would cover the cost of the war through the end of the year. The US has provided Ukraine more than $100 billion in security and financial assistance since 2022. The Biden administration on Thursday formally asked Congress for billions more in aid to help Ukraine during its stalled counteroffensive against Russia, setting up a fight with a Republican-led House where there is growing skepticism of Washington's support for Kyiv. In a letter addressed to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the White House requested more than $24 billion for assistance to Ukraine and other "international needs." The request includes $13.1 billion for equipment and other military assistance to Ukraine, as well as the cost of replenishing the United States' own diminished weapons stockpiles. It also asks Congress for $7.3 billion in economic, humanitarian, and security assistance to Ukraine and other countries impacted by Russia's invasion. The new, supplemental request would cover the projected cost of aiding Ukraine through the end of the year, a senior administration official said on a call with reporters. "We don't know how much longer this war is going to go on or how much more assistance we might need to support Ukraine," the official said. "We won't be bashful about going back to Congress beyond the first quarter of next year if we feel like we need to do that." The money is on top of the $6 billion that the White House requested earlier this year as part of the 2024 budget. Since the invasion, the US has provided Ukraine with more than $100 billion in security and financial assistance. The request comes alongside the Biden administration's request for supplemental funding toward disaster relief and the border. Come the end of the fiscal year, temporary pay raises for wildfire firefighters will vanish without action from Congress. The Biden administration also wants to replenish the coffers of FEMA, which is now contending with wildfires raging across the country. But helping pay firefighters more and combat extreme weather might be an easier sell: Bipartisan lawmakers have already called for permanent pay increases for firefighters. Ukraine could prove tougher. While polls show most Americans oppose Russia's invasion of Ukraine, recent surveys have suggested there is diminished support for aiding Ukraine's military resistance. Earlier this month, a survey conducted for CNN found a slim majority now oppose more aid for Ukraine, including 71% of Republicans. Former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination, recently called for aid to be suspended while Congress investigates Hunter Biden's business dealings in Ukraine. Despite the vocal misgivings of Trump and his allies in Congress, most members of Congress, from both parties, continue to support aid for Ukraine. Last month, when Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, put forward an amendment to block all future assistance, it was voted down by a 358-70 supermajority. Read the original article on Business Insider China contributes its part to global biosecurity governance 08:57, August 10, 2023 By He Yin ( People's Daily The Second Meeting of the Working Group on the Strengthening of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) kicked off on Aug. 7 in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting is one of the outcomes of the Ninth BWC Review Conference held last year, and its aim is to further reinforce the effectiveness of the BWC and promote comprehensive compliance. Biosecurity concerns the common interests of all humanity. Currently, global biosecurity governance faces both new challenges and important opportunities. On one hand, advancements in biotechnology promote productivity growth and the well-being of mankind. On the other hand, as the intension and extension of biosecurity are broadening, traditional biosecurity issues overlap with emerging biosecurity risks, making the global biosecurity landscape even more complex. How to strengthen global biosecurity governance and better balance security with development has become a common task for the international community. Facing the new situation, challenges, and issues in the sphere of biosecurity, China adheres to systematic governance. While continuously fortifying its own biosecurity defenses, China actively participates in global biosecurity governance and makes positive contributions with Chinese wisdom and solutions. China has solemnly put forward the Global Security Initiative and officially released the Global Security Initiative Concept Paper, calling on all nations to stay committed to maintaining security in both traditional and non-traditional domains. It encourages all countries to practice the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits in global governance, and work together to address global challenges including biosecurity. The BWC is an important cornerstone of global biosecurity governance. In over 50 years since it became open for signature, it has played a vital role in preventing biosecurity threats and promoting the peaceful use of biotechnology. China has unequivocally advocated strengthening the BWC and vigorously promoted the establishment of a verification mechanism through multilateral negotiations to fundamentally ensure compliance. The country has always advocated the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of all weapons of mass destruction, including biological weapons, and firmly opposes the proliferation of biological weapons and related technologies. China is firmly committed to the BWC's purposes and objectives, comprehensively and strictly fulfills its obligations, and actively participates in and supports multilateral processes to enhance the BWC's effectiveness. In April 2021, China's Biosecurity Law formally took effect, providing a stronger legal and institutional basis for China to implement the BWC. China has also actively advocated negotiations on an international convention on the suppression of acts of bioterrorism to further address gaps in international law. In recent years, the risks of misuse and abuse of biotechnology have attracted great attention. China supports BWC State Parties to keep pace with the times, uphold the vision of universal security and shared development for all mankind, strengthen deliberations on biotechnology development under the BWC framework, promote responsible biological research, and formulate necessary voluntary codes of conduct. Based on this position, China engaged in in-depth discussions with various countries and reached the Tianjin Biosecurity Guidelines for Codes of Conduct for Scientists in July 2021, putting forward ten major guiding principles including ethical standards, laws and norms, responsible conduct of research, research process management, and international cooperation. Covering the whole process and entire chain of biological research, the Tianjin Guidelines fully reflects the consensus of the international community and makes important contributions to promoting the healthy and orderly development of global biotechnology. During the Ninth Review Conference and the Meeting of States Parties of the BWC, the Tianjin Guidelines received extensive attention and acclaim. Originating from a Chinese proposal but belonging to the whole world, the Tianjin Guidelines fully demonstrates the determination of the international scientific community to further standardize biological research activities. It also fully proves that science-based and highly representative international processes can become an effective approach to strengthening global biosecurity governance and related international cooperation. Responding to the demands of developing countries for sharing the dividends of sci-tech development in biological and other fields, China proposed the resolution "Promoting International Cooperation on Peaceful Uses in the Context of International Security" at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). This launched an open and inclusive dialogue process under the UNGA framework, which is of great significance for building a more just and reasonable export control order, safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of all countries for the peaceful use of science and technology, and addressing the security challenges posed by sci-tech advancements. This resolution has been adopted at the UNGA for two consecutive years and is widely welcomed by the international community. As a Chinese saying goes, "The journey ahead may be long and arduous, but with sustained actions, we will eventually reach our destination." China will continue to uphold the banner of building a community with a shared future for mankind, promote global biosecurity governance together with the international community, and make greater contributions to achieving universal security and common development. (Web editor: Chang Sha, Liang Jun) President Joe Biden gets emotional while speaking about the number of veterans who commit suicide while delivering remarks on the one-year anniversary of passage of the PACT Act, the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans and survivors in over 30 years, at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News At an invite-only fundraiser in Park City Thursday afternoon, President Joe Biden said democracy and our institutions are at stake in the upcoming presidential election. In a participating democracy, if we cant bring people together, were done, the president said. We are falling into warring camps. Hours after delivering a speech in Salt Lake City to veterans, Biden spoke at the fundraiser about a potential 2024 rematch with former President Donald Trump and Chinas growing threat to the U.S. The fundraiser was held at the Snyderville Basin home of Nancy and Mark Gilbert, former U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. Entrance cost several thousand dollars. The Gilberts hosted Michelle Obama at their home for a fundraiser in 2012. Trump played a central role in Bidens fundraising speech. The president rhetorically asked the audience to think of a single global leader who says they want to see Trump back. Biden attributed much of Americas declining civility to the former president, noting that his motorcade will sometimes pass large Trump signs with vulgarity written on them with children in the vicinity. How far weve come, Biden said. Trump maintains a dominant lead in national polls of the Republican primary, making a rematch with Biden possible. A recent New York Times poll showed Biden and Trump tied at 43% each in a hypothetical 2024 match-up. On China, Biden said the country is a ticking time bomb and warned that domestic issues there including an aging workforce and high unemployment could lead its leaders to make poor decisions. I dont want to hurt China, but Im watching, he said. Bidens visit to Utah garnered national attention Wednesday morning when a man was shot dead in Provo after making violent threats against the president and allegedly engaging in an armed altercation with FBI agents. The FBI had been monitoring the mans Facebook page for weeks, where he had repeatedly threatened violence against Biden during his visit to Utah. Biden has made no public comment on the incident, though a White House official confirmed the president was briefed on the matter Wednesday morning. Related A motorcade escorts President Joe Biden on Foothill Drive in Salt Lake City, traveling from the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center to Park City, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Sacred obligation to help veterans Biden traveled to the fundraiser from the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City. Police officers cleared Foothill Drive of traffic to allow the motorcade to travel through Parleys Canyon to Park City. As the motorcade passed, onlookers waved flags and gave thumbs up, thumbs down or, in some cases, made obscene gestures. In his morning speech at the Wahlen VA center, Biden spoke about the nations responsibility to help veterans, saying there is a truly sacred obligation to care for U.S. veterans and their families. Bidens visit to Utah is the first by a sitting U.S. president since Donald Trump in 2017, when he announced reductions to national monuments in southeastern Utah. Prior to arriving in Utah, Biden visited Arizona on Tuesday, where he announced a new national monument near Grand Canyon National Park. Biden approved an emergency declaration due to the ongoing wildfires in Hawaii Thursday morning, and he told his Salt Lake City audience that his administration is dedicated to offering whatever assistance is needed. Not just our prayers, he said. Every asset we have will be available to them. Its not over yet. Bidens speech celebrated the PACT Act, a piece of legislation the White House has touted as the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans in more than 30 years. The speech was attended by veterans, local elected officials and other invited guests. Folks, we have a moral obligation. This goes beyond the financial. We have a moral obligation to respond (to these veterans), Biden said. Related The PACT Act offers health care benefits to veterans exposed by toxic fumes emitted by burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq. Burn pits, Biden explained, are large areas 100 yards long, 30 yards wide, and eight to 10 feet deep that the military has used as a place to dispose of materials. Tires, chemical waste or other materials were set on fire, and the military personnel who breathed in the air faced medical consequences. Erica Smith, a veteran of the U.S. Army diagnosed with cancer after her service, speaks prior to President Joe Biden at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News Biden speaks about son Beau Biden spoke about his son Beau Biden, a veteran of the Iraq War who died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46. Biden has said previously that he believes the death of his son may have been linked to burn pits. My son was about 400 yards from one of those burn pits, living there for a year, Biden said. Beau went from the fittest guy in his unit, and he came home and died of glioblastoma, Biden said. He noted that many of the firefighters who responded to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York City were diagnosed with cancer or other medical conditions. This event made many people aware of the danger of the burn pits the military employed in Iraq and Afghanistan, until the practice was discontinued in 2010. Biden was introduced by Erica Smith, a veteran of the U.S. Army diagnosed with cancer after her service. Im so grateful for the PACT Act, and I encourage other veterans to take advantage of its benefits, she said. Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall was the events opening speaker. She mentioned that her father was a veteran in the Korean War. To our veterans, thank you to your service. Thank you for your sacrifice, she said. And to President Biden, thank you for finally helping this country to address the needs of our veterans, who suffered and died from exposure. Cox: Questions on whether to welcome Biden insane Utah Gov. Spencer Cox also spoke before the president. Any time we are given the opportunity to welcome a president of either party to our state, we welcome the opportunity. He noted that there was some question whether he, a Republican, would do so. I think its insane we are having those conversations, Cox said, to applause from the audience. President Joe Biden takes a photo with Emma Kate Cox, Gov. Spencer Cox and first lady Abby Cox after speaking at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News Cox is the new chair of the National Governors Association, and his platform is Disagree Better. None of the six members of Utahs congressional delegation, all Republicans, attended Bidens speech. Governor Spencer Cox, thank you for your hospitality, but much more importantly, thank you for taking care of our veterans, Biden said. A gymnasium in the Wahlin VA medical complex was converted to an auditorium for the occasion. The room was surrounded with blue curtains, hiding the rooms brick walls and a large Utah Jazz logo on one end. Biden spoke at a lecturn emblazoned with the presidential seal, the flags of Utah, the U.S., and the armed forces branches behind him. On either side of the stage were several American flags. Prior to the event, as the room filled, dignitaries and invited guests mingled and took pictures together. Jazz music played over the speakers. When he spoke, Biden became visibly emotional when mentioning the effect military service has on veterans. It is a message he has repeated, including during this years State of the Union address and upon signing the bill last summer. When (our troops) came home, many of the fittest and best warriors that we sent to war were not the same, Biden said during the bill signing ceremony last August. Headaches, numbness, dizziness, cancer. My son Beau was one of them. I was going to get this done, come hell or high water, he continued. But the bill faced a steep fight in the Senate, where Republicans blocked it because of its costs and over fears it would exacerbate the already-skyrocketing national deficit. The Congressional Budget Office projected it would add $278 billion to the deficit over the next decade. After a week of bipartisan negotiations, 11 Republican senators voted against it, including Utah Sens. Mike Lee and Mitt Romney. Related Heather Dulin, education program specialist at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, reacts after speaking with President Joe Biden after he delivered remarks on the one-year anniversary of passage of the PACT Act, the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans and survivors in over 30 years, at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall speaks prior to Presidents Joe Biden remarks on the one-year anniversary of passage of the PACT Act, the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans and survivors in over 30 years, at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News President Joe Biden poses for photos with attendees after he delivered remarks on the one-year anniversary of passage of the PACT Act, the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans and survivors in over 30 years, at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the one-year anniversary of passage of the PACT Act, the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans and survivors in over 30 years, at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News Gov. Spencer Cox speaks prior to President Joe Bidens remarks on the one-year anniversary of passage of the PACT Act, the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans and survivors in over 30 years, at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News President Joe Biden greets attendees after speaking on the one-year anniversary of passage of the PACT Act, the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans and survivors in over 30 years, at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News State Rep. Sandra Hollins, D-Salt Lake, speaks with President Joe Biden after his speech on the one-year anniversary of passage of the PACT Act, the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans and survivors in over 30 years, at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News State Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake City, center, speaks with President Joe Biden at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News Terry Schow, retired executive director at Utah Department of Veterans Affairs, listens as President Joe Biden speaks on the one-year anniversary of passage of the PACT Act, the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans and survivors in over 30 years, at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News A motorcade escorts President Joe Biden on Foothill Drive in Salt Lake City, traveling from the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center to Park City, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News A motorcade escorts President Joe Biden on Foothill Drive in Salt Lake City, traveling from the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center to Park City, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Eisley Cope and Catalina Reynolds hold a Thank you for the Monuments sign as they wait on 500 South for President Joe Bidens motorcade to pass on the way to the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he will deliver remarks, in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Activists cheer as they wait on 500 South for President Joe Bidens motorcade to pass on the way to the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he will deliver remarks, in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News A motorcade escorts President Joe Biden to the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he will deliver remarks, in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News President Joe Biden approved a major disaster declaration for Hawaii on Thursday, freeing up federal aid to support the island of Maui's recovery from wildfires that have brought vast destruction and killed at least 53 people. Federal funds can be used for various initiatives to help impacted communities, including grants for temporary housing and home repairs as well as low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, according to the White House. Biden said Thursday that he had an extensive phone call with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green Thursday morning, assuring him of his commitment to ensuring the state receives everything it needs from the federal government. "Anyone who's lost a loved one, whose home has been damaged or destroyed is going to get help immediately, Biden said while delivering remarks about the anniversary of the PACT Act in Utah. We're working as quickly as possible to fight these fires and evacuate residents and tourists. In the meantime, our prayers are with the people of Hawaii. But not just our prayers: Every asset we have will be available to them. Powerful wildfires unexpectedly ignited Tuesday in the historic town of Lahaina on Maui island. The extensive blaze, which has been intensified by powerful winds from Hurricane Dora, has led to mass evacuations and widespread power outages, impacting thousands. Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones in the wildfires in Maui, and our prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses, and communities destroyed, Biden said in a statement Wednesday evening. We are grateful to the brave firefighters and first responders who continue to run toward danger, putting themselves in harms way to save lives. That same day, the president directed all available Federal assets to help local efforts responding to the wildfires. Biden added that the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy fleets would bolster rescue operations following reports of residents jumping into Lahaina harbor to seek refuge from the fire and smoke. The U.S. Marines were also supplying helicopters to battle the flames, while the Department of Transportation was partnering with airlines to safely evacuate tourists from the Big Island, he said. Bidens declaration came a day after Hawaiis congressional delegation sent a letter urging him to expedite all federal assistance possible to support the response to the wildfires. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) thanked the president for moving forward on his declaration Thursday. Recovering from these devastating fires will take significant time and resources, and we need all the federal support we can get, Schatz said in a statement. It will unlock federal resources and help our state and county governments respond to and recover from these fires and help the people of Maui and Hawaii island. Biden DOJ to fight court order that blocked feds from colluding with Big Tech to censor speech The Justice Department will argue in court Thursday for lifting an order banning the government from coordinating with social media companies to censor Americans. In the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the DOJ will ask the court to block a July 4 order issued by federal Judge Terry A. Doughty which prevents White House officials and federal agencies from meeting with tech companies about social media censorship, arguing such actions likely violated the First Amendment. Doughtys order came down on July 4 in a legal battle brought by Republican state attorneys general from Missouri and Louisiana that accused high-ranking government officials of working with giant social media companies "under the guise of combating misinformation" that ultimately led to censoring speech on topics, including Hunter Bidens laptop, COVID-19 origins and the efficacy of face masks. The scathing Independence Day injunction which the Biden administration is now fighting to repeal said the government's actions during the pandemic were akin to "an Orwellian Ministry of Truth.'" JUDGE PRAISED FOR 'STUNNING' JULY 4 REBUKE OF BIDEN ADMIN ON BIG TECH CENSORSHIP: 'FINALLY' President Biden speaks during an event at the Nash Community College in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on June 9, 2023. "If the allegations made by Plaintiffs are true, the present case arguably involves the most massive attack against free speech in United States history," the injunction added. "In their attempts to suppress alleged disinformation, the Federal Government, and particularly the Defendants named here, are alleged to have blatantly ignored the First Amendments right to free speech." READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP Doughty concluded that the Biden administration "likely violate[d]the Free Speech Clause" and that the court "is not persuaded by Defendants arguments," dealing a significant blow to the White House. BIDEN ADMIN APPEALS JUDGE'S ORDER LIMITING ITS CONTACT WITH SOCIAL MEDIA COMPANIES Attorney General of Missouri Andrew Bailey. The injunction also claims that "the censorship alleged in this case almost exclusively targeted conservative speech," but that issues the case raises are "beyond party lines." "Viewpoint discrimination is an especially egregious form of content discrimination," Doughty argued. "The government must abstain from regulating speech when the specific motivating ideology or the perspective of the speaker is the rationale for the restriction." FBI MET WEEKLY WITH BIG TECH AHEAD OF THE 2020 ELECTION, AGENT TESTIFIES The DOJ immediately appealed the injunction, arguing that the government faced "irreparable harm" because Doughty's order may prevent the federal government from "working with social media companies on initiatives to prevent grave harm to the American people and our democratic processes." Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said the injunction was a "huge win in the fight to safeguard our most fundamental freedoms," and he intends to defend it in court on Thursday. "Joe Biden's Department of Justice actually had the audacity to argue that the nation would suffer 'irreparable harm' if they weren't allowed to continue violating Americans' First Amendment right," Baily told Fox News Digital. "Make no mistake - without this injunction, there is nothing stopping Joe Biden from continuing to censor political speech. The federal government cannot be trusted to protect Americans' rights, which is precisely why our Founders enshrined the First Amendment into the Constitution," he said. Lawyers in the lawsuit Missouri v. Biden said the Biden administration applied "relentless and significant pressure" on Big Tech companies to "eliminate and reduce" certain speech. Legal group New Civil Liberties Alliance, who also have plaintiffs in the lawsuit who allege were censored by Big Tech with the government's help, told Fox News Digital that they are "confident" the Fifth Circuit will agree with the District Court's findings that "the evidence shows significant First Amendment violations." "The relentless and significant pressure the White House, the Surgeon General, the FBI, and other government actors placed on social-media companies to eliminate and reduce the speech of American citizens went far beyond permissible position statements and suggestions," said Zhonette Brown, senior litigation counsel for the group. The White House did not respond to a request for comment by time of publication. The Justice Department declined to comment and referred to its briefs filed in the case. Both parties will argue before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals at 2:00 p.m. Thursday. U.S. President Joe Biden (R) will host Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for a state visit in October. File Photo by Australian PM Press Office/UPI Aug. 10 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden will host Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for an official state visit in October, the White House said late Wednesday, as the two countries bolster their relationship amid growing tensions with China. "The visit will underscore the deep and enduring alliance between the United States and Australia and the two nations' shared commitment to supporting an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. "President Biden and Prime Minister Albanese will discuss strengthening collaboration on critical issues for both nations in order to ensure the alliance is well equipped to respond to ever-evolving regional and global challenges." Albanese's office said Thursday that the visit will be from Oct. 23 to 26, with the trip being his first official visit to Washington since he was sworn into office last may. "I am honored to accept President Biden's invitation to undertake an official visit to Washington, D.C.," he said in a statement. "My visit is an important opportunity to discuss our ambitious climate and clean energy transition, and shared goal of a strong, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific." The announcement comes months after Biden canceled a visit to Australia during his trip to Asia late May over a worsening crisis at home as House Republicans were threatening to let the United States default on its financial responsibilities unless the White House pulled back on Democratic spending. The ending of his trip also shelved a so-called Quad summit planned during for his visit. Biden has cultivated the U.S.-Australia relationship during his presidency with focus on the Quad alliance that also includes India and Japan as global competition with China deepens. Less than two weeks ago, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Brisbane declared the U.S.-Australia relationship has "never been stronger" while stating they will continue to help Canberra enhance capabilities at some of its northern military bases. In March, the United States, Britain and Australia announced plans to build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines to counter Chinese naval forces in the Pacific. Albanese's office described the U.S.-Australia relationship as "unique in scale, scope and significance" and that the state visit will be an opportunity for the two leaders to strengthen that bond. Discussions expected to be had besides China include climate change and other aspects involved in their Climate, Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact that they agreed to in May. Biden has hosted several other world leaders for state visits, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in April and French President Emmanuel Macron in December. (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will travel to the United States for an official visit in late October, the first since winning election last year, according to a statement from his office on Thursday. The leaders will hold talks on topics including the AUKUS security deal, climate change and critical minerals during the four-day visit from Oct. 23-26. My visit is an important opportunity to discuss our ambitious climate and clean energy transition, and shared goal of a strong, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific, Albanese said in a statement. The trip comes at a time when mutual concerns about China's rise are pushing the long-standing security partners closer together, most notably with the AUKUS deal, which will see Australia buy several U.S. Virginia class submarines and contribute billions to expanding American shipyards. Biden had originally planned to travel to Sydney in May for a meeting of Quad, an informal regional group made up of Australia, India, Japan and the U.S., but canceled due to debt ceiling negotiations in Washington. The four leaders instead met in May on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima. The White House said in a statement issued on Wednesday that the visit underscored both nations' commitment to an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Albanese has also been invited to visit Beijing but has yet to set a date for a trip. (Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru and Lewis Jackson in Sydney; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Michael Perry) The United States and Australia have ramped up cooperation in recent years in a bid to counter China in the Asia-Pacific region (Kenny HOLSTON) Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will visit US President Joe Biden at the White House in late October, announcing the trip Thursday as the longtime allies ramp up military cooperation. Washington has in recent years looked to reinforce its relationship with Australia, part of a broader strategy to counter China in the Asia-Pacific region. Albanese's visit comes on the back of Washington's recent diplomatic blitz through the Pacific, in which top US officials shored up support in Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand. "My visit is an important opportunity to discuss our ambitious climate and clean energy transition, and shared goal of a strong, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific," Albanese said in a statement, using the allies' term for the Asia-Pacific region. Biden was scheduled to visit Australia in May this year but his trip was cancelled after domestic political negotiations over the US debt ceiling went sour. Discussions about the landmark AUKUS security pact -- which also involves the United Kingdom -- are expected to be a prominent feature of Albanese's visit between October 23 and October 26. "The visit will underscore the deep and enduring alliance between the United States and Australia and the two nations' shared commitment to supporting an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific," the White House said in a statement. The Pentagon recently outlined plans to continue testing hypersonic missiles and other precision weapons in Australia. Washington has also agreed to help establish a domestic missile manufacturing industry in Australia -- and is expanding military rotations in the country's key northern bases. sft/arb/aha President Biden will host Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for an official state visit in October, the White House announced late Wednesday, a move that follows Biden scrapping a planned trip to the continent earlier this year. The visit will underscore the deep and enduring Alliance between the United States and Australia and the two nations shared commitment to supporting an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. President Biden and Prime Minister Albanese will discuss strengthening collaboration on critical issues for both nations in order to ensure the Alliance is well equipped to respond to ever-evolving regional and global challenges, Jean-Pierre added. Biden was scheduled to visit Australia in May, but he ultimately canceled that leg of his trip amid negotiations over government spending and raising the debt ceiling. The president has sought to bolster the U.S.-Australia relationship in part by convening the Quad Alliance, which consists of the U.S., Australia, India and Japan and is largely meant to counterbalance Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific. Biden has previously hosted the leaders of France, South Korea and India for state visits, which are more formal than White House meetings and include a state dinner with lawmakers, administration officials and other high-profile guests. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. President Biden has secured a $6 billion deal to free Americans in exchange for jailed Iranians. The New York Times first reported the prisoner swap agreement Thursday. Once five Americans imprisoned in Iran are allowed to return to the U.S., the Biden administration is said to have agreed to release a handful of Iranian nationals serving prison sentences for violating sanctions on Iran. Sources told the Times the U.S. also agreed to unfreeze nearly $6 billion of Irans assets in South Korea, transferring the funds into an account in the central bank of Qatar. The American prisoners include Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi and Morad Tahbaz, who the U.S. government says were all wrongfully detained on bogus spying charges. The names of the other two were being withheld by their families, but one is said to be a scientist, the other a businessman. "We have received confirmation that Iran has released from prison five Americans who were unjustly detained and has placed them on house arrest," National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. "While this is an encouraging step, these U.S. citizens Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Shargi, and two Americans who at this time wish to remain private should have never been detained in the first place." JAPAN RAISES CONCERN OVER IRANIAN URANIUM PROGRAM, MIDDLE EAST'S SUSPECTED SUPPLYING OF DRONES TO RUSSIA READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP "We will continue to monitor their condition as closely as possible. Of course, we will not rest until they are all back home in the United States," the statement added. "Until that time, negotiations for their eventual release remain ongoing and are delicate. We will, therefore, have little in the way of details to provide about the state of their house arrest or about our efforts to secure their freedom." "We are relieved to learn that Iranian authorities have released five U.S. citizens Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Sharghi, and two individuals who at this time wish to remain private from prison to house arrest," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also said in a statement. "We are in touch with the families of U.S. citizens involved, and we continue to monitor these individuals health and welfare closely. While we welcome the news of these individuals release from prison to house arrest, they should never have been imprisoned in the first place. We continue to work diligently to bring these individuals home to their loved ones. They must be allowed to depart Iran and reunite with their loved ones as soon as possible." President Biden speaks during a Nowruz reception celebrating the Persian New Year at the White House on March 20, 2023. The New York Times first reported about an Iranian prisoner swap Thursday. When asked when the American hostages might be released, a source familiar with the situation told Fox News, "We expect this process to take weeks before they return home to U.S." According to the Times, Namazi, Sharghi, Tahbaz and a fourth American were transferred from the notorious Evin Prison to a hotel in the Iranian capital of Tehran, where they will be detained for another few weeks before being allowed to board a plane. The fifth person, an American woman with dual Iranian citizenship, is said to already have been released on house arrest earlier this year, the Times reported. U.S.-based lawyer Jared Genser also acknowledged the move to The Associated Press. "The move by Iran of the American hostages from Evin Prison to an expected house arrest is an important development," Genser said in a statement. "While I hope this will be the first step to their ultimate release, this is at best the beginning of the end and nothing more. But there are simply no guarantees about what happens from here." Sharghi's sister, Neda Sharghi, also acknowledged the transfer. US DEPLOYS MORE THAN 3K SAILORS, MARINES TO MIDDLE EAST FOLLOWING IRANS TARGETING OF SHIPS Iranians wave their country's national flags during a rally outside the former U.S. embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 2022. "My family has faith in the work that President Biden and government officials have undertaken to bring our families home and hope to receive that news soon," she said in a statement to the AP. "Until that point, I hope you can understand that we do not think it will be helpful to comment further." The prisoner swap agreement, mediated by Oman, Qatar and Switzerland, is to be carried out over a series of coordinated steps. The three released prisoners cited by Genser whose identities are known are Namazi, who was detained in 2015 and later sentenced to 10 years in prison on internationally criticized spying charges; Shargi, a venture capitalist sentenced to 10 years in prison; and Tahbaz, a British-American conservationist of Iranian descent who was arrested in 2018 and also received a 10-year sentence. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei attends a mourning ritual on the month of Muharram on the Islamic calendar in Tehran, Iran, on July 29, 2023. Iran and the U.S. have agreed on a prisoner swap. The move comes amid months of heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. A major American military buildup in the Persian Gulf is underway, with the possibility of armed U.S. troops boarding and guarding commercial ships traveling through the crucial Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all oil traded passes. Iranian media in the past identified several prisoners of interest with cases tied to violations of U.S. export laws and restrictions on doing business with Iran. The alleged violations include the transfer of funds through Venezuela and sales of dual-use equipment that the U.S. alleges could be used in Irans military and nuclear programs. Iran has been enriching uranium and stockpiling it as part of its advancing nuclear program. Iran also wants access to assets frozen abroad, particularly some $7 billion in Iranian assets tied up in South Korean banks. Already, Tehran seized a South Korean oil tanker amid the dispute and threatened further retaliation in August. Fox News Nick Kalman and Caroline McKee and The Associated Press contributed to this report. President Biden on Wednesday ordered all available Federal assets to support the response to the Maui wildfires, which have left at least 36 people dead. Biden said the U.S. Coast Guard and the Navys 3rd Fleet are supporting response and rescue efforts on the Hawaiian island, noting that the Hawaiian National Guard mobilized Chinook helicopters to also help with fire suppression and search and rescue efforts. The Army also supplied Black Hawk helicopters to help battle the flames on the Big Island, he said. Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones in the wildfires in Maui, and our prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses, and communities destroyed, Biden said in a statement Wednesday evening. We are grateful to the brave firefighters and first responders who continue to run toward danger, putting themselves in harms way to save lives. He said that the federal Transportation Department was working with airlines to evacuate tourists from the island. The Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture are also ready to respond with post-fire recovery efforts, he said. He also urged residents to heed evacuation orders and stay alert. The fires on Maui have been fueled by Hurricane Dora, which was churning hundreds of miles south of Hawaii. The high winds brought by the hurricane combined with dry conditions on the island created hazardous fire weather conditions that led to the wildfires rapid spread. Maui County officials announced late Wednesday that at least 36 people have been killed due to the wildfires in Lahaina Town. At least 271 structures were damaged or destroyed and dozens of people were left injured, officials said. Some people took to the ocean to escape the flames, with the Coast Guard saying Wednesday that it had rescued 14 people off the shore of Lahaina. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. President Biden on Thursday signed a major disaster declaration for the state of Hawaii, freeing up additional federal funding as deadly fires have ravaged Maui and other areas. Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, certain loans to cover property losses and other programs for home and business owners, the White House said. Biden spoke earlier Thursday by phone with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) about the wildfires, the White House said. He expressed his deep condolences for the lives lost and vast destruction of land and property, the White House said. President Biden confirmed he signed a Major Disaster Declaration for Hawaii that will deliver additional federal resources and support on top of the actions already underway by FEMA, the National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard, and other federal agencies to support the emergency response. The president on Wednesday ordered all available Federal assets to support the response to the Maui wildfire including the U.S. Coast Guard and the Navys 3rd Fleet. The ongoing fires on Maui, brought on by unusually dry conditions, have been fanned by Hurricane Dora, churning south of the island. At least 36 people have died as a result of the fires, and some people jumped into the ocean in search of safety. According to Maui County officials, at least 271 structures were damaged or destroyed and dozens of people were left injured. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order restricting investments in certain national security technologies in "countries of concern," including China, the White House announced on Aug. 9. The countries named in the order are China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Biden's order restricts investments in technology that "significantly enhances [these countries'] ability to conduct activities that threaten the national security of the United States." The order specifically curtails investments in semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence. China has supported Russia from the onset of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, pitting Beijing against the U.S. and western allies. While China refuses to provide Russia with lethal aid, top U.S. officials have expressed concern that private Chinese firms could circumvent the state by selling technology to the Russian military. The Aug. 9 order calls for limitations on investments in technologies that are developed "to counter United States and allied capabilities." Recently, there have been signs of a cooling relationship between Beijing and Moscow. In early August, China also took part in the Saudi Arabia peace talks, to which Russia was not invited. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Germany transfers 2 Patriot launchers to Ukraine in latest aid package Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Autoworkers are threatening to strike unless they get major concessions to ensure they arent left behind in the transition to electric vehicles, leaving Democrats stuck between competing priorities that the Biden administration admits wont be easy to solve. The dispute comes just as President Joe Biden is seeking reelection with an emphasis on his handling of the economy, a message that would be muddied by a strike representing 150,000 workers. And the unrest complicates another Biden priority: shifting the country away from gas guzzlers in favor of electric vehicles. Democrats are counting on the United Auto Workers to join other unions in providing crucial organizational muscle and get-out-the-vote efforts in 2024. A backlash against Bidens EV push could discourage that involvement a threat underlined by the UAWs refusal so far to endorse Bidens reelection, despite the larger AFL-CIO throwing its weight behind Biden in its earliest-ever endorsement of a presidential candidate. Whats happening in the auto plants is just one example of labors summer of unrest, with strikes occurring across the country and workers in some instances extracting big concessions from employers. Teamsters union members at UPS, for example, recently reached an agreement on a major pay boost, while striking writers and actors in Hollywood have held out for weeks to receive higher payouts from streaming. Biden is concerned enough about the UAW unrest to appoint a liaison veteran Democratic adviser Gene Sperling to the unions and the automakers. A central issue in the auto contract talks is the status of workers in plants that are producing batteries, many of which are jointly owned with battery companies. But resolving that wont be an easy task, considering it would mean wrangling battery makers to the bargaining table along with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. A senior administration official, granted anonymity to speak frankly about the White Houses perspective, said in an interview that theres no magic solution in the administrations back pocket on the joint venture facility question. The issue throws a new, complicated dynamic into contract talks that are usually centered on traditional economic asks, such as higher wages, the senior administration official said. We agree completely that battery factory workers deserve every right to organize and negotiate for jobs that provide the pay and protections needed for economic security and economic dignity, the official said. Aggressive new leadership atop the UAW has insisted that those battery plant workers must be brought up to the same wage and safety standards as union workers at traditional plants. Officials in Washington "need to tie these federal incentives in the EV industry to wage and safety standards that generations of auto workers have fought for, UAW President Shawn Fain said in a video address last week. Theyre going to have to choose because were going to ask them, Which side are you on? Some union-watchers say the likelihood of a strike is still low, but thats not a foregone conclusion. As it plays out, the union could cause headaches for an administration thats worked hard to bill itself as the most pro-labor in history. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) said shes been warning whoever will listen that a strike, which could happen as soon as Sept. 14, is a serious possibility. Weve got to figure out these joint ventures, Dingell said. People are being paid more at McDonald's in Ohio than they are at the battery plant there. Labor seizes the moment More than 200,000 workers at large companies participated in work stoppages last month, easily topping the 126,500 that were involved in strikes in the entirety of 2022, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Auto workers have a lot of bargaining power right now, said Harry Katz, a professor on collective bargaining at Cornell University. Theyre armed with low unemployment, high worker skill levels and a sense of solidarity, he said. The 2024 election gives them even more leverage. Labor knows that President Biden knows that he will not be reelected unless he gets their strong support, said Erik Gordon, a University of Michigan business professor. Theyre going to make Biden dance to get the votes. The UAW wants Biden to remind auto executives how much theyve benefited from the government in the past, and how much they will need the continuing support of the government as the car companies try to survive the switch to EVs, Gordon said. So that'll be behind closed doors. Hanging over the negotiations is the lack of presidential endorsement from the UAW. Fains explicit citing of concerns over the EV transition makes clear that Bidens signature priority the transition to a clean energy economy could put him at odds with a key ally. Theres no expectation that Biden would publicly discuss specific demands, and the president wont be knocking heads at the bargaining table, the senior administration official said. Still, the union wants the administration to hear its concerns about the implementation of electric vehicle policy, and would like to see the presidents support of their perspective, the official said. A spokesperson for Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), who has been closely following the negotiations, said the elimination of the two-tiered wage system for package handlers at UPS in its recent contract deal with the Teamsters could be a good sign for UAW. The battery plants have to be part of the national agreement, and there cant be a two-tier [system] where some workers are paid less, the Kildee spokesperson said. A recent letter led by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) to automakers urged them to come to an agreement that includes all joint-venture EV battery facilities in the national contracts. Fain quoted from the letter in his video address last week, but the UAW hasnt explicitly made a demand to fold those facilities into the master agreements. Winning that concession would be difficult, said Katz and Marick Masters, a professor of business at Wayne State University. However, the auto companies could agree to some kind of compromise on the issue, they said. The UAWs full court press to win higher wages and safety standards is likely an effort to boost unionization efforts at the joint ventures, Masters said. He said the union is responding to a lot of pent-up frustrations and fears from rank-and-file members about their jobs amid the EV transition. That includes frustration at Biden, he said. What theyre saying is that they expect more than the typical bargain theyve gotten from Democrats, Masters said. And theyre raising the stakes as much as they possibly can. President Biden will highlight Thursday that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has doled out nearly $2 billion in benefits to veterans and their surviving beneficiaries in the year since signing bipartisan legislation on toxic exposures into law. Biden will deliver remarks at a VA Medical Center in Salt Lake City to mark the anniversary of the signing of the PACT Act, which expanded benefits for millions of veterans who were exposed to toxins during service and are suffering illnesses as a result. The president will note that the VA has delivered roughly $1.85 billion in PACT Act-related benefits in the year since it was signed, the White House said, and the VA has processed roughly 459,000 claims through the law. In addition, more than 4 million veterans have received free screenings for toxic exposures from the VA because of the PACT Act, the White House said in a statement. Biden will be joined at the event Thursday by Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. Passage of the PACT Act, and more broadly support for veterans, is part of Bidens proposed unity agenda. The House and Senate each passed the legislation in July 2022, and Biden signed it into law a short time later. The PACT Act expands VA health care eligibility to veterans who served in the post-9/11 era and creates a framework for establishing presumptions of service connections related to toxic exposures. The bill also expands presumptions for 23 burn pit-related illnesses, and the illnesses would be phased in over time. But Biden said that he directed the VA to make those conditions applicable upon his signature. The cause is personal for Biden, who has maintained that his late son Beau Bidens cancer was in part caused by exposure to burn pits while he was serving in Iraq. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. President Biden on Thursday is expected to ask Congress for billions of dollars of additional funding for Ukraine's defense, a move that will lead to drama in the fall given heavy GOP opposition to the unchecked war funding seen under Biden over the last 18 months. "Its definitely a very big point of contention," a senior House GOP aide told Fox News Digital. While theres broad support for supplemental Ukraine aid in the Senate, it will be an uphill battle in the House, where Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., promised his narrow majority that he would not bring a supplemental Ukraine funding bill to the floor. Many conservatives, still bristling from McCarthys debt limit deal with President Biden, have been vocally opposed to giving Kyiv more money without more accountability. "He can go with Democrats, but then the speaker puts himself in a tough spot if he chooses to do that," the aide said. NEARLY 50K RUSSIAN MEN HAVE DIED IN UKRAINE WAR, NEARLY 9X LARGER THAN RUSSIA'S OFFICIAL FIGURE: NEW STUDY Last month, 70 House Republicans voted for an amendment in the annual defense bill that would cut off all funding to Ukraine, which has been defending itself against a Russian invasion for a year and a half. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP The senior aide said they expect the supplemental request to be tied to a request for U.S. disaster relief funding, which could draw out some hesitant GOP votes. They also anticipated the likely funding for Ukraine to be between $13 billion and $18 billion, a smaller sum compared to the roughly $43 billion given by the U.S. so far. The White House did not respond to an inquiry confirming those details on Wednesday. "It wont be $40 billion [in total]. If it is, I think that that is definitely [dead on arrival]. But they might be able to squeak through to a smaller one," the senior GOP aide said. PUTIN CLAIMS WAGNER DID NOT HAVE PUBLIC BACKING IN MUTINY ATTEMPT: 'THE PEOPLE WERE NOT WITH THEM' But wary conservatives who have wielded outsized power in the House GOP conference are already coming out against the expected announcement. "We cant continue shoveling money out the door to support this conflict with no accountability or transparency," Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News Digital. "There are no strings attached and no plans to even define what victory looks like. Americans have had enough of Washington running headlong into endless wars." President Biden meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Dec. 21, 2022. Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., accused Biden of having misaligned priorities and indicated he would not support additional funding. "Americans are struggling under Bidenomics, watching a border invasion bring crime and witnessing a corrupt two-tiered justice system, and this President wants billions more [funds] for Ukraine. Put Americans first," Good said in a statement online. A second House GOP aide told Fox News Digital, "I dont think theres a lot of appetite for additional Ukraine funding right now." LUKASHENKO WARNS OF BELARUSIAN COMBAT READINESS: 'IF RUSSIA COLLAPSES, ALL OF US WILL DIE' Even Republicans who have supported Ukraine aid in the past are cautious. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told Fox News Digital on Wednesday night, "I want the details of any supplemental funding request before I make a decision Ukraines independence is in our national security interest, and I want to do what we feasibly can do, but I have no idea what the president is requesting." The House returns from its six-week August recess on Sept. 12, at which point McCarthy will have less than a month to pass the remaining 11 of his 12 promised spending bills before Sept. 30. If Congress fails to act on spending before the fiscal year ends, the government could risk a partial shutdown. "We cant continue shoveling money out the door to support this conflict with no accountability or transparency," says Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images) Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told reporters this week that attaching supplemental Ukraine aide to a continuing resolution for federal spending is a possibility. A continuing resolution would simply extend the current spending priorities for a certain amount of time. Republicans across the spectrum have opposed that option, calling it an extension of the Democrat policies of the last Congress. "I think people were mad enough at him about the deal that he cut with the White House on the spending," the senior GOP aide said of McCarthy. "Like, those conference meetings were intense after that on both sides, you had the folks that were supportive of McCarthy angry at the people that weren't and vice versa. I think it just gets worse if he decides to wrap it up into a [continuing resolution]." "The only way that happens and it's not DOA is if McCarthy is like, Look, I'm just going to pass it with Dems. And then I think you have a motion to vacate the chair pretty quick, personally," they said, referring to the option of calling up a vote to kick McCarthy out of the job and find a new speaker. Fox News Digital reached out to McCarthys office for his reaction to Bidens expected request but did not hear back. Ted Horowitz/Getty Images The Biden administration wants additional funding from Congress for Ukraine, extreme weather, and the border. The Office of Management and Budget said 20,000 firefighters could see pay cuts this fall. Currently, wildfire firefighters are working under a temporary pay increase, which will expire by October. As disastrous wildfires ravage the country, the firefighters helping combat them could see their pay slashed in a matter of months. The Biden administration wants to make sure that doesn't happen. On Thursday, the Office of Management and Budget released President Joe Biden's letter to Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy requesting additional funding for Ukraine, the border, and emergency disaster responses including a $60 million funding increase for the Agriculture and Interior Departments to support pay increases for wildland firefighters. The administration is also requesting $12 billion for FEMA to help replenish its disaster relief fund. Currently, firefighters are working under a temporary pay raise funded through Biden's bipartisan infrastructure legislation. That law, in an effort to help combat retention and hiring issues, mandated that firefighter pay in hard-to-hire areas would increase by either $20,000 annually or 50% whichever is less. But that funding is only in place through the rest of the fiscal year. Per the OMB, that could mean over 20,000 firefighters could see pay slashed in October, with some making as little as $15 an hour. "The administration is committed to building a more robust and resilient wildland firefighter workforce and fairly compensate wildland firefighters' difficult and dangerous work that they do. Each firefighter has put their lives on the line to protect our community," a senior administration official told reporters on a Thursday press call. "We've seen bipartisan understanding of the need to provide firefighter pay to prevent a cliff," the official said. That potential pay cliff looms amidst a summer of deadly wildfires and extreme weather. "Unprecedented" wildfires currently raging across Hawaii have left at least 36 people dead. Apartment buildings and acres of land in Texas have been felled by still-raging wildfires. With record heat and extreme weather here to stay and likely only to worsen more wildfires could be on their way. At the same time, NBC News reports that should firefighter pay not permanently increase, thousands of wildfire firefighters could leave altogether up to 50%, according to the National Federation of Federal Employees. On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the Wildland Firefighter Paycheck Protection Act, which would make pay increases for firefighters permanent. If pay increases expire, the lawmakers' press release said, "pay and benefit cuts would trigger a mass exodus of federal firefighters from the National Forest Service in the middle of the wildfire season this year." "Wildland firefighters put their lives on the line and endure hellish conditions to protect our families at the very least, they deserve a living wage and support for their mental and physical health," California Rep. Josh Harder, who introduced the legislation, said in a statement. "When I found out these brave men and women weren't earning a living wage, I knew we had to do better," he continued. "Wildfire season is here, and we can't risk losing any more of our wildland firefighting force while more and more devastating wildfires put our homes at risk and make our air quality worse." Read the original article on Business Insider Your slice of the headlines in Ukraine. Daily. Thursday, August 10, 2023. Powerful blast at mechanical plant in Moscow Oblast injures at least 15 video At least 15 people have been injured after a powerful explosion rocked an optical and mechanical plant in the town of Sergiyev Posad, Moscow Oblast, on Aug. 9. Wagner fighters in Belarus not a threat to NATO alliance spokesperson Mercenaries of the Wagner Group private military company currently stationed in Belarus, do not represent a direct or indirect threat to NATO, Alliance spokesperson Oana Lungescu said in an interview with Polish news agency PAP on Aug. 8. Russia faces wheat exports shipping challenges after attacking Ukraine Reuters Ukraines attacks on Russian shipping in the Black Sea are having an effect. Saudi summit helped isolate Russia, set-up Ukraines peace initiative for success Podolyak The recent summit in Saudi Arabia achieved many of Ukraines key aims, said Presidential Office advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak, on Aug 8. Moscow seeks to hold its own peace summit report The Kremlin has begun to feel the threat of diplomatic isolation following the recent Ukraine peace summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and now wants to hold a similar summit of its own, The Moscow Times reported on Aug. 9, citing diplomatic sources. Blinken calls Russia's promises to supply free grain to African countries "laughable" U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Russia's proposition to supply some very limited amount of grain to African countries "a drop in the bucket" that is "laughable," despite the issue not being a laughing matter, in a discussion of the Black Sea Grain Initiative with the BBC on Aug. 8. Poland wants EU help to build agro-ports to help ship Ukraines grain Poland called on the European Union to help boost port capacity to allow more Ukrainian grain shipments through the Baltic Sea, while insisting it will keep a sales ban on Ukrainian crops, Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus told Bloomberg on Aug. 8. Hungary finally approves Ukraine's new ambassador report Hungarian President Katalin Novak has finally signed off on the appointment of Fedir Shandor as Ukraines Ambassador, Hungarian TV channel ATV reported on Aug. 8, citing unnamed diplomatic sources. Corruption in Ukraine at its lowest level for 20 years, says finance minister Ukraine is experiencing its lowest level of corruption in two decades, Ukraines Finance Minister, Serhiy Marchenko, said in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Aug. 9. Rheinmetall bought Belgian Leopard tanks for Ukraine report German defense contractor Rheinmetall AG has purchased 50 Leopard-1 main battle tanks from Belgium, in order to ultimately send them to Ukraine, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Aug. 8. 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 Actor, Billy Porter, revealed in a new interview that the SAG-AFTRA strike has started to impact him, forcing him to sell his house. He said he had to make the tough choice in order to save money while Hollywood is on an indefinite pause. Billy Porter On The Strikes in Hollywood Porter sat down with the Evening Standard to discuss his music career and intentionally stayed clear of conversations surrounding his film and television work. However, when the strike was brought up during the chat, he disclosed that he had to make some financial changes due to the ongoing shutdown. He even added that he was scheduled to work on a few projects during the summer that were stopped as a result. Yeah! Because were on strike. And I dont know when were gonna go back [to work], Porter said to the outlet. I was supposed to be in a new movie, and on a new television show starting in September. None of that is happening. So to the person who said were going to starve them out until they have to sell their apartments, youve already starved me out. He was referencing an article published in July by Deadline that quoted an anonymous Hollywood executive. In the article, the exec said that the studios would hold out on meeting with the WGA again until its members went broke. Porter also blasted Disney CEO Bob Iger for an interview he gave at the Sun Valley Conference in July. The CEO said WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikers were not being realistic with their demands during the conversation. Currently, Porter is in the UK for his music but is anticipating heading back to the States to join his fellow peers on strike. But when I go back I will join the picket lines, he continued. If this sounds like, well, a millionaire trying to get more millions, Billy Porter has news for you. I have to sell my house. The post Billy Porter Reveals He Had To Sell His Home Due To SAG-AFTRA Strike appeared first on 21Ninety. Billy Porter is single, but not exactly loving it. Its been just over a month since the Pose star Pose star announced that he and husband Adam Smith were getting a divorce after six years of marriage and he says that the single life is bittersweet. Porter is getting used to being on his own, but told the Evening Standard that hes in London on a working vacation, taking a respite from some other s**t The whole world knows Im getting a divorce, he said in the interview. The trip is bittersweet because Porter proposed to Smith in London at Jason Athertons City Social. Its bittersweet, he said. But relationships are hard. I will always love him. We made it as far as we could. But we learn, we grow and we live. And Im looking forward to the next... adventure. Porter, who recently admitted that he's having to sell his house amid the actors strike, told the outlet that despite the divorce being difficult hes on the lookout for someone new. Shes back on the market! Looking for an English huzzzband! And you have to spell it just like that! Huzzzband! The former couple met at a dinner party in 2009 and dated for a year, before breaking up. But that didnt last because the pair rekindled their relationship five years later and got married just two weeks after Porter proposed in 2017. In an interview with Page Six shortly after the wedding, the Tony Award winner said that marriage was important to the couple because they both grew up in households where who we are is labeled an abomination. From left: Eric Adams of New York, Karen Bass of Los Angeles, London Breed of San Francisco and Muriel Bowser of Washington, D.C. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images, Peter Forest/Getty Images, Paul Morigi/Getty Images.) Forty years after Harold Washington, Chicagos first Black mayor, famously declared that its our turn, Black leaders are in charge of the nations biggest cities: New York and Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and San Francisco, Houston and (soon) Philadelphia. In each of those cities, complex ethnic and class coalitions elected Black mayors. We fought for many years to be in the driver's seat, New York City Mayor Eric Adams told ABC News earlier this year. In most instances (with Chicagos progressive Brandon Johnson being a notable exception), todays Black big-city mayors are moderates who have resisted progressive pressure on social justice issues. But they are also sensitive to questions of economic and environmental equity. And many have taken over at a time when cities are facing unprecedented pressures, including empty office buildings and climate change. Then there are longstanding problems, like housing segregation and the quality of public schools. Tackling these challenges all at once may be an unenviable task but it is also a necessary one. Read more from our partners: Black mayors lead Americas 4 largest cities, but their skin color is largely beside the point Marion Barry, unlikely role model Marion Barry, seen here in 1987, served as the mayor of Washington, D.C., in the 1980s and 90s. (Janet Fries/Getty Images) Few American mayors are as infamous as Marion Barry, who led Washington in the 1980s and '90s. He is remembered today mostly for his drug use, but as Fordham historian Christina Greer recently argued in the Nation, he was much more than a caricature. Barry fundamentally believed that providing work would decrease crime, decrease rates of teen pregnancy, and combat the many ills that plague cities when young people do not have a place to go or their own money in their pockets, Greer writes. Barry also believed that when people have purpose, they lead purposeful lives. Many of todays Black mayors have taken a similar approach, rejecting ideological battles in favor of pragmatic solutions. Read more from our partners: Marion Barry statue to pay tribute to a flawed DC icon Rethinking crime San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks at a rally in June. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Bullshit. With that one word, London Breed became a national star. It was December, 2021, and though the pandemic was receding, San Franciscos struggles with crime, drug use and homelessness were getting worse. In an emotional press conference, the mayor declared that shed had enough of street crime and open-air drug use. We are not a city where anything goes, she said. Breed was raised in a housing project by her grandmother; her brother, Napoleon, is in prison for involuntary manslaughter. Those experiences have allowed Breed to speak about criminal justice issues with a unique combination of compassion and resolve. Here we go, another white man talking about Black and brown people as if you're the savior of these people, she told a progressive white city legislator who had criticized her tough approach to open-air drug markets. Eric Adams, in New York, has also used his own past he grew up in poverty and later served in the New York Police Department to argue that stopping crime is the mayors foremost job. My job is to make sure that people feel safe, he told Yahoo News earlier this year, arguing that the citys economic resurgence is directly tied to public safety. They are safe, and this is going to be a good place to do business. Read more from Yahoo News: The education of Eric Adams Confronting homelessness Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness tour interim housing built from shipping containers. (Mike Blake/Reuters) According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, almost 40% of all homeless people in the United States are Black, a gross overrepresentation compared to the general population (13% of all Americans are Black). About one-third of all homeless people live in California, and the problem has become especially visible and vexing in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Karen Bass, a one-time community activist in South Los Angeles who rose to become one of the most influential Black legislators in the House of Representatives, found her bid to become Los Angeless next mayor complicated by citizens frustration about the citys spreading, sprawling homeless encampments. Bass fended off a surprisingly close challenge from billionaire Rick Caruso, who made homelessness his top issue. The tight race focused her mind on homelessness, and she declared a state of emergency on her first day in office. I want Angelenos to see that tents are disappearing and not coming back, Bass told the Wall Street Journal. So far, she has moved 14,000 people off the streets. Read more from our partners: Homeless Camps Are Being Cleared in California. What Happens Next? Imagining a more equal city Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks during a press conference on violent crime. At left is Lindsey Appiah, deputy mayor for public safety and justice. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images) The effects of climate change tend to disproportionately impact Black and brown communities, which are often crisscrossed by highways, dominated by heavy industry and lacking in trees. Preparing cities for a hotter planet also means righting the wrongs of infrastructural racism. Muriel Bowser grew up in comfortable North Michigan Park, a neighborhood favored by Washington, D.C.s large Black middle class. As the citys mayor, she has tried to oversee the citys growth as an economic engine and its return from the pandemic, while not forgetting about the residents of Ward 7 and 8, largely Black sections on the eastern bank of the Anacostia River that have endured decades of neglect. The ambitious new 11th Street Bridge Park is intended to stitch the Anacostia into the cityscape while also providing residents of Wards 7 and 8 with a new High Line-style park. Read more from our partners: Mobile Green Kiosk Sets Out To Empower Black-Owned Businesses in DC The outlier Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson gives his inaugural address after taking the oath of office as Chicago's 57th mayor. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP) Brandon Johnson is the second Black man to lead Chicago, after Harold Washington. He also follows Lori Lightfoot, a moderate who lost her reelection bid. Johnson ran as an unabashed progressive and has so-far shown little desire to move to the center occupied by peers like Bowser, Adams and Breed. His administration has sought to raise taxes to fight homelessness. At the same time, he faces a deserted downtown and persistent challenges with public safety. Not that all is gloomy in Chicago: At the recent Lollapalooza music festival, Johnson got to enthusiastically introduce superstar Billie Eilish. Listen, we were made for this moment, the optimistic young mayor told a cheering audience. The city of Chicago is bringing the entire world together. Read more from Yahoo News: Why the Chicago mayoral runoff matters for national politics The Town of Bloomfields Social and Youth Services Department, Parks, Recreation and Leisure Services, and Police Department joined forces to hold a National Night Out event at the Bloomfield Municipal Pool Pavilion. Representatives from those organizations, as well as Bloomfield Public Libraries and senior services, were on hand to share information about their programs. Kids were able to play games, enjoy ice cream treats, and watch a demonstration by K-9 officer Jager, and his trainer, Officer Brendan Danaher. The event also coincided with the pools Family Swim Night, so many enjoyed swimming and water games. The Bloomfield Police Department also performed car seat and bicycle safety checks. National Night Out began in 1984 by Matt Peskin, a neighborhood watch leader in suburban Philadelphia, as a means of connecting local organizations and residents with local police departments and other other town departments. The first National Night Out had 2.5 million people taking part in 400 communities in 23 states. Today, millions take part in thousands of communities across the country and in U.S. territories. For more information, visit www.natw.org. No arrests have been reported a week after someone shot and killed an Akron man on southbound Interstate 77 in Green. But investigators have identified a blue 2008 Dodge Ram pickup truck in connection to the Aug. 3 homicide, according to a report the Summit County Sheriff's Office released to the Akron Beacon Journal in response to a public records request. The newspaper is awaiting additional reports and video it has requested. A pickup truck that matches this description can be seen in ODOT traffic video near mile marker 117 south of South Arlington Road at 6:14 p.m. The video shows a person lean or reach out of the same vehicle to fire several shots into the black SUV driven by 23-year-old Marquise Banks. Banks' vehicle crossed the median, entered the northbound lanes and crashed into a Mercedes driven by a 54-year-old woman who survived. Banks was later pronounced dead. I-77 shooting: Akronite killed in I-77 shooting, crash identified; crash victim says she was 'lucky.' The Summit County Sheriff's Office reports a passenger of a pickup truck fired several rounds from a handgun into a black Lincoln SUV while both vehicles were traveling southbound on I-77. The driver of the Lincoln SUV was struck multiple times and killed, The truck was located using Flock Safety cameras that record license plate information, the sheriff's report states. The license plate and owner information were redacted from the report. There are no Flock cameras along one of the two Ohio Department of Transportation districts of I-77 in Summit County. It is unclear if the second district has those cameras, said Matt Bruning, press secretary for ODOT. Flock cameras are used in Jackson Township to the south and Akron to the north. Detectives executed a search warrant in New Philadelphia on Aug. 4, Summit County Sheriff's Inspector Bill Holland told News 5 Cleveland last week. The Summit County Sheriff's Office and the New Philadelphia Police Department have not responded to requests for comment. No charges or affidavits have been filed at Barberton Municipal Court, Clerk of Courts Katie Reed said. Flock uses automated license plate reader technology, snapping images that are run through a national crime database. Police can be immediately alerted if a stolen car passes a camera. Traffic cameras played a similar role in another freeway homicide in Norton on May 17. Dacarrei Kinard, of Columbus, has been indicted by a Summit County grand jury on five felony counts, including two types of murder in the Interstate 76 shooting of George Jensen, 40. A Norton police affidavit filed with the court states a black Camaro that witnesses said was driven by the shooter exited I-76 eastbound at Barber Road and turned north, where Kinard's license plate was spotted by an electronic license plate reader. A search warrant for Kinard's phone records "confirmed the device linked to the phone number Kinard listed with the BMV was present at the scene" and traveled from Columbus to Norton and back. The affidavit mentions video gathered from ODOT and the Fred Martin Superstore, a car dealership on Barber Road. This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Pickup truck identified in I-77 shooting that killed Marquise Banks Few routes exist to the American dream. Traditionally, education has been considered a sure path to it. Recent Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action and student loans do nothing to level the playing field. Still, this political moment provides an opening to re-evaluate higher education. One thing that needs re-evaluating is the status game that hurts all students, marginalized ones in particular. A new book, Campus Candor: Students Stories Unmasked, describes the research 12 student interns and I did chronicling the lives of more than 60 undergraduate students at the University of Kentucky (UK), West Virginia University (WVU), University of Florida (UF), and University of Mississippi (UM). We hoped to overcome the rural/urban divide through oral histories, building empathy between disparate students. The initial impulse for the work came when I was the faculty director of a social justice living and learning community at UK. Racial hate speech occurred on our dorm floor immediately following the 2016 Presidential election. African American students accused White, rural KY students (all members of our community) of being responsible. Until I learned students stories, I did not appreciate the harm that results from the competitive higher educational market taken with status. Our research discovered that campuses perpetuate status dysmorphiaan unhealthy obsession with status. It revealed that a fixation on status, and the attendant competition, hinders students from seeing one another. Status fixation affects all classes, races, and geographic origins. If, however, a student comes from a community marked by poverty, they are at a status disadvantage. They face a wall of adversity to arrive at the flagship campus. These lucky students who do arrive gain status merely by association with the flagship and its prominent sports teams. But the status gained creates status distance between themselves and their home communities even as they encounter a campus that may devalue them for their identity, skin color, class, and/or accent. Nora Moosnick wrote Campus Candor with three of her former students, from left, Emily Keaton, Saturn Star-Shooter and Victoria Cruz-Falk. Examples of status dysmorphia from our work include McKenna. She was a White student from eastern Kentucky who hasnt had it easy. Her father died when she was young, and her mother more than dabbles in drugs. its tough and at first whenever I first came here, I was embarrassed by it because to me UK has a stigma like, its UK, likeand its an expensive college, so I feel like you kind of have to have money to go here orYou have to come from something already, so for me to be like first gen and to come from nothingIts hard and at first, I was embarrassed by it, but like now Im not, because I can say that I came from nothing to something. McKenna reorients her class positionality, as evolved, to be appropriately class aligned to be on campus. In contrast Charlie, a UF student, was aware that the flagship fails to hold enough status among the elite. The child of immigrants, one Asian and one Caribbean. He comes from the professional classes and was raised in a financially secure home near Miami. Im happy I went to the University of Florida. Theres also competition between my friendswhen you have a friend that goes to MIT, Georgetown, UCLA, Georgia Tech, and at U Penn, so theres a level of inadequacya level of slight insecurity when youre going up against big namesI didnt know what I wanted to do and Im happy Im going here. I forgive myself for going here. He forgave himself for going to UF, an institution ranked fifth among public institutions. Status dysmorphia hurts all students. Constant evaluation puts students who achieve status markers (like honors programs) in endless assessment mode. Status fixation creates a situation where students mask themselves. It triggers trivial practices such as hiding a poor test score or more disconcerting ones such as concealing ones identity. In the case of rural students, veiling might reflect a lack of familiarity with the diversity (urbanity) on campus. Black and Brown students, who may be rural, urban, or suburban, might conceal their uneasiness when negotiating a White environment that can produce fear. Below a UF student of color voices regret for going to UF, the prestigious institution. I went to homecoming at Morehouse, and it was such a different vibe. I could walk around and nothing going to happen. I felt like I was missing out entirely. I made the wrong decision. You dont really have a great experience here compared to like Morehouseif it wasnt for being prestigious, I wouldnt be here. I wouldnt be here at all. The SCOTUS decisions perpetuate the individualized higher educational competition for status and the misbelief that status pursuits are individual challenges requiring personal ingenuity, even if structured by larger forces, including SCOTUS rulings. The decisions themselves put into relief the structural arrangements that particularly marginalized students face. Ironically, these realizations could spur creative responses to higher educational dysfunction, including status dysmorphia. Nora Moosnick Nora Moosnick is a sociologist and the author of three books, Adopting Maternity: White Women Who Adopt Transracially and/or Transnationally, Arab and Jewish Women in Kentucky: Stories of Accommodation and Audacity, and Campus Candor: Students Stories Unmasked (in collaboration with Victoria Cruz-Falk, Emily Keaton, and Saturn Star-Shooter). Texas Gov. Greg Abbotts office and the Border Patrol Union on Wednesday pushed back against criticism of the administrations use of marine barriers after they were tied to the death of a migrant. Abbott Press Secretary Andrew Mahaleris accused Mexican President Lobez Obrador and Democrats of "spreading false information" that Texas marine barriers caused any death. "Where was this outrage from Democrats when President Bidens reckless open border policies encouraged migrants to make the dangerous and illegal trek across the border, ultimately taking the lives of over 850 migrants last year," Mahaleris said. He argued that the marine barriers help deter illegal river crossings and redirect migrants to use one of the 29 international bridges on the Texas-Mexico border. "No one drowns on a bridge," he said. Mahaleris statement comes a day after Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas toured the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP NYC MIGRANT CRISIS COSTS COULD HIT $12 BILLION, MAYOR ADAMS URGES FEDERAL EMERGENCY DECLARATION In a video posted on his Twitter account, the Democratic congressman criticized the marine barriers which consist of orange buoys that started being installed last month as "inhumane" and "barbaric." Migrants walk by a string of buoys placed on the water along the Rio Grande border with Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on July 16, 2023. Castro pointed to chainsaw-type devices in the middle of the buoys as well as razor wire preventing migrants from crossing the river. NYC MAYOR ADAMS SLAMS RIGHT TO SHELTER,' SAYS MIGRANT CRISIS NOT SUSTAINABLE AFTER TOUTING SANCTUARY STATUS "You really have a situation where the state government and Greg Abbott are treating people like animals. These are folks who are asylum seekers who are trying to petition for asylum in the United States," Castro said. "Its incredibly dangerous, incredibly inhumane. And its the reason that Ive said that its barbaric." Castro called Operation Lone Star "devastating to the border community" and "dangerous" for migrants as well as the local community. Castros office did not respond to Fox News Digitals request for further comment. The controversial border barrier was launched in July as part of Gov. Abbotts effort to stop migrants crossing along the Rio Grande. His administration argued that it was preventing migrants from crossing the river, and thus saving lives. But humanitarian groups, and the Biden administration, said it posed a safety risk. GOP LAWMAKERS FILE AMICUS BRIEF BACKING TEXAS AGAINST DOJ LAWSUIT OVER BORDER BARRIER That contention gathered steam after Mexico announced it had been notified of a dead boy stuck in the southern part of the buoys and after a second body was later found about 3 miles upriver. L: Rep. Joaquin Castro tours Eagle Pass; Migrants walk by a string of buoys placed on the water along the Rio Grande border with Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on July 16, 2023. The Border Patrol Union on Wednesday fired back at Castro, saying he needed to "settle down, gather himself, learn some facts and then issue an apology for his dangerous, unhinged diatribe." Per NBPC, there have been more than 340 migrant drownings in the Rio Grande since Biden took office averaging 2.6 deaths per week. The union noted that despite two drowning deaths in recent weeks the water buoys have "drastically reduced the number of illegal crossings." Yet the "liberal media" has still accused the governor of being a "murderous thug," NBPC said. The union pointed out that in all four years of the Trump administration there were 201 drowning deaths in the Rio Grande. Fox News Adam Shaw contributed to this report. Rhiannon Poore will tell you that she is an unlikely entrepreneur. I prefer to avoid risk, she says wryly. Ive never seen myself as a CEO. Im more of a good No. 2 person. But Poores personal motto is Do the next right thing. And two years ago, she realized that the next right thing for her was founding her professional recruiting firm, Forge Search + Consulting. Rhiannon Poore's company recruits professionals for accounting and finance, sales and marketing, human resources, and operations positions. I had this idea: How do I help people forge a new path, help companies forge a path for the teams theyre building? Poore says. The people around you are crucial. When companies don't have the right people, they are vulnerable. Forge has grown to a team of five and has placed people into jobs in 10 states. The company recruits professionals primarily in the areas of accounting and finance, sales and marketing, human resources, and operations. Clients from publicly traded international companies to small family businesses approach Forge for help filling their positions. The Forge team utilizes a proprietary model that balances technical and cultural factors to find people who are the right fit. Forge has also developed a database of people who might not have been a candidate for one job but could be a perfect choice down the road. The mission is to put people first on both sides of the equation. I felt like there was a way to put the human element back into recruiting. Recruiting has become transactional and impersonal on both sides. There's a human who has a story and a life. We want to honor that, Poore says. I cannot promise that I'm going to get you the job. But I'm never going to ghost you. About 70% of the time, successful candidates are not active job seekers; people in executive positions are usually too busy to look for something new. We take it to them instead of waiting for them to come to us, she says. The team also commits to updating clients every week. If a company reaches out to us with a need, they are obviously stressed about being understaffed. We have an opportunity to help our clients build a company. We do that by working swiftly, with honesty and integrity, and taking it very personally. We care deeply about creating a great experience for everyone involved. In her own life, Poore says that her background has prepared her for this new journey. Home-schooled. Six siblings. Daughter of a pastor. A family of meager means. But the Sunday table always included a guest or two. Poore went on to earn bachelors and masters degrees at Bob Jones University and fell in love with a fellow student, a Marine veteran whod just returned from Iraq. They married and have two children, ages 6 and 9. One of Poores first jobs was writing grants and tax incentives at Elliott Davis, a large public accounting firm. She moved to a local recruiting firm, where she worked in operations and marketing before settling into executive recruiting within accounting and finance. I found my calling. I thrive on the competitive nature of recruiting. But recruiters also help people. We get to be a part of one of the most vulnerable times in peoples lives when they're looking for a job, she says. Elliott Davis hired her back to start their recruiting department. I was lucky enough to work under an amazing chief human resources officer who helped me learn to lead. Together we built the talent acquisition function from scratch. I loved it. Just as Poore was ready for a new chapter, the COVID pandemic hit. She took a job building the marketing program at Southern First Bank. It was inspiring. Southern First took care of their people during COVID, she says. But at her core, she missed recruiting. I missed hearing peoples stories, she says. I missed working closely with company leadership to identify the right next person for the role. Madeline Leach, left, and Kimberly Ghent are recruiters with the five-person team at Forge Search + Consulting. Poore launched Forge at the urging of her husband, Joe and when it felt right. One day, I thought, If I don't try it, I'm going to regret it. She acknowledges that running her own company is extraordinarily hard. Im a working mom, she explains. There is always more that can be done to build Forge. But every day, I try to remember that my kids are little only once. Time around the dinner table and bedtime snuggles will be gone soon. Juggling both of those enormous responsibilities can be overwhelming. The support from her team and her husband has been indispensable. You dont do this alone, she says. You just cant. You dont build a company by yourself. We would not be where we are today if we did not have an incredible passionate team, and if I did not have Joe by my side, telling me to keep dreaming. Poore is also grateful for the support of the Greenville community. I've been blessed. On the day we launched, we had clients calling. I am honestly blown away by the people who are rooting for us, she says. Poore also joined the Board of Directors of the United Way of Greenville County. I believe in philanthropy, she says. I would not be where I am today if people had not given. As for Forge, Poore wants it to be the boutique recruiting firm in Greenville that serves the Southeast in the areas of accounting, finance, sales, marketing, HR, and operations. Our job is to come alongside as a guide. Whether you're the candidate or the company, its a privilege to do that, day in and day out, she says. If you do the next right thing and treat people with integrity and honesty, you dont have to be perfect. You do your best. Youre holding true to your core values, she says. When my kids go out the door every morning, I tell them, Love God. Love others. And work hard. If we can spend our days doing those three things, I am confident we will have a life well-lived." This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Greenville recruiting firm focuses on forging the right fit The governments of Denmark and Sweden are looking at legislation that would ban the burning of the Quran or other religious texts during protests. The Danish foreign ministry, in a statement, said the government wants to intervene in protests where "other countries, cultures, and religions are being insulted, and where this could have significant negative consequences for Denmark." The post Brickbat: Controlled Burn appeared first on Reason.com. To climate-conscious Americans, the British Tories of the last decade or so might seem oddly refreshing. It was Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May who led the charge to enshrine the countrys net-zero commitment into law. Boris Johnsonknown to many in the United States as a bizarro-world version of Trumptouted his own version of a green industrial policy and was well known, as mayor of London, for expanding the citys bike-share program. Even Margaret Thatcher, in a much earlier time, had some prescient words of warning about the climate crisis. Thirteen years into Conservative rule, which may soon be over, the partys tune seems to be changing. In recent weeks, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has come out swinging against a municipal program known as ULEZ: Ultra-Low Emissions Zones. In essence, the programmeant to reduce high air pollution in certain parts of Londoncharges drivers of more polluting vehicles the equivalent of $16 each day they want to drive within the zones. Specialty service and commercial vehicles like buses and lorries are exempt. Ironically, it was the Tories who first encouraged the scheme. Yet Sunak, out of political desperation, is now awkwardly trying to wage a climate culture war more reminiscent of Republicans in the U.S. Im on the drivers side, he declared. Chiding anti-motorist Labour and their anti-car schemes, he posed for a strange photo op in which hes smiling, seemingly alone, behind the wheel of a 1976 Rover he claimed to have been Thatchers. (It was actually used by her bodyguards.) Beyond the pro-car antics, the Tories have emphasized other moves targeting green policies, like granting hundreds of new licenses for oil and gas drilling in the North Sea and lowering the countrys long-standing price on carbon. That emphasis, of course, is more rhetorical than anything else. New drilling permits had been in the works for a while, and the Tories havent nixed their commitment to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. Their anti-green push was inspired, it seems, by an election held in late July in the London suburbs of Uxbridge and South Ruislipthe seat held by Boris Johnson before he resigned in June, no less. With Labour Party London Mayor Siddiq Khan planning to expand ULEZ to the suburbs, Conservative candidate Steve Tuckwell made opposition to the program central to his campaign, dubbing his race a referendum on ULEZ. Against expectation, he narrowly kept the seat in Tory hands. With Conservatives facing a likely defeat in a general election expected sometime next year, the wintheir only victory that dayoffered a bit of juice to a party mired by scandal, internal turmoil, and a cost of living crisis. Never mind that Tuckwell also had distanced himself from the Tories: His campaign literature didnt feature a single picture of Sunaks face or the Conservative Party logo. But the Tories werent the only ones who interpreted the by-election result as a climate referendum. Labour has already watered down a number of its green commitments, as its purged left-wing members under leader Keir Starmer. Since last months election, hes voiced concerns about ULEZ and whether the partys climate policies are still going too far. We are doing something very wrong if policies put forward by the Labour Party end up on each and every Tory leaflet, Starmer said in response to Tuckwells win. I dont think there is any doubt that ULEZ was the reason that we lost the election in Uxbridge, he said elsewhere. As some political commentators have pointed out, though, the Green Party got more votes than the narrow margin between Labour and Conservativespotentially a sign that Labour voters are fleeing the party over softening climate commitments. There may have been other factors weighing on the by-election that had nothing to do with climate at all. As political scientist Rob Ford wrote: Uxbridge has a long history of resisting Labour advances, suggesting an unusually solid Conservative vote. Hillingdon, its London borough, has continued to return Conservative council majorities even as the capital as a whole has swung strongly towards Labour, and the area swung against Labour in the 2021 London Mayoral and Assembly elections. Labour has failed twice before in seemingly winnable by-elections in Uxbridge, a patch of London which though often marginal has only returned a Labour MP once since 1959. As the Tories face likely defeat in upcoming general elections, picking up microwaved anti-green talking points from across the pond may be an exercise in rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. The question now is whether Labour will preemptively cede more ground to its right, limiting its prospects for rolling out ambitious climate policies before it even steps foot in Downing Street. A British conman who posed as a Swiss banker and an MI6 agent to fleece a girlfriend out of hundreds of thousands of pounds has been released from a Spanish jail. Mark Acklom, 50, was extradited to Madrid two years ago after serving a six-year term in the UK for duping a Bristol woman out of her life savings. He was wanted by the Spanish authorities after going on the run in 2016 midway through a three-year jail term for fraud. But after being returned to Spain and completing his sentence, he has now been released and his current whereabouts are unknown. Acklom, who is originally from London, is a serial fraudster with a criminal record dating back to his teenage years. In 2012 he met mother of two, Carolyn Woods, in her clothing boutique, telling her he was a Swiss banker. The couple began a relationship within days and quickly moved in together, but she later discovered he was already married with two young children. Acklom managed to persuade her it was a cover for his role as an MI6 operative and promised to marry her. Carolyn Woods is believed to have been conned out of 800,000 - SWNS.com He told her he urgently needed cash in order to carry out renovations to a string of expensive properties he owned but spent the money on private school fees for his children and a fleet of cars including a 60,000 Porsche Cayenne. He was eventually tracked down to Switzerland and was extradited back to the UK where he admitted a string of fraud offences. The total amount he stole from Ms Woods is thought to be in excess of 800,000 and prosecutors have been using the Proceeds of Crime Act (Poca) to try to recover the money. At a hearing at Bristol Crown Court on Thursday it emerged that Acklom had been released from prison in Spain. John Hardy KC, prosecuting, said a full Poca hearing was now expected to take place in 2024. He said: I understand Mr Acklom has been released from his Spanish incarceration and, reading between the lines, we do not anticipate that Mr Acklom will seek to attend the hearing in person but may try to attend remotely. Acklom in 2016 in custody in Switzerland before being extradited back to the UK - Universal News And Sport (Europe) Judge Martin Picton fixed an administrative hearing for November 10 and said a four-day hearing will begin on April 16 2024. When he was aged just 16, Acklom convinced Leeds Permanent Building Society that he was a 25-year-old stockbroker on 214,000 a year. They gave him a 466,000 mortgage for a 516,000 executive home in Dulwich, south London. He also spent 11,000 after stealing his fathers credit card, swindled a former teacher out of 13,000 and ran up a 34,000 bill with a private charter jet company. He later received a four-year prison sentence. He has been jailed at least five times in Spain, where his wife and children currently live, for a string of offences. 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. Drivers of minibus taxis, the main mode of transport for millions of working-class South Africans, have blocked multiple roads in a strike that began last Thursday (GIANLUIGI GUERCIA) Violence in Cape Town eased after a week-long minibus taxi strike that paralysed the city and left five dead including a British tourist, police confirmed on Thursday. The strike, which stranded commuters in one of South Africa's largest cities, was called off on Thursday evening after long negotiations. No new violence has been reported since Tuesday. The 40-year-old British man was shot and killed on August 3 after a road blockage by strikers forced him to drive into a township area participating in the strike. "No arrests have been made pertaining to the British citizen but investigations are certainly underway," warrant officer Joseph Swartbooi told AFP. The man identified as Kar Teoh was reportedly killed in front of his wife and two-year-old son. Teoh was a consultant foot and ankle surgeon at the state-run Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust in England. "His professional dedication was unparalleled, but it was his personal warmth, his commitment to friendship, and his unwavering support that we will remember most fondly," friend and fellow orthopaedic surgeon Paul Lee said in an online tribute. City authorities extended their "condolences to his loved ones and all others who have become victims of this violence". A police officer was also killed last Friday as officers were "performing crime prevention patrols to quell taxi related incidents", authorities said. Authorities reported three other deaths that were believed to be related to the strike. - 'Getting hungry' - Drivers of minibus taxis, the main mode of transport for millions of working-class South Africans, blocked multiple roads in a strike that began last Thursday as a result of clashes with city authorities. The South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) called for the action over a new law giving the city the power to impound vehicles over offences such as driving without a licence, not displaying registration plates or overloading. President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned the violence. Late on Thursday, the minibus taxi union said it was calling off the strike with "immediate effect" after "painstaking deliberations". Talks with the local government resulted in a deal to work towards the release of impounded vehicles, the union added. Earlier, authorities said measures were being taken to "mitigate impact" of the strike on deliveries. Some supermarkets had empty shelves on Thursday afternoon, an AFP reporter saw. "We are getting hungry now... There's no bread, there's no milk, there's no eggs," a distressed 58-year-old, who asked to remain anonymous over security fears, told AFP, before the announcement of the ending of the strike action. zam-har-ub/pvh The popular gas station chain Buc-ees is officially coming to Ohio and its first location will be in the Miami Valley. >>PHOTOS: Buc-ees locations across the country as chain announces first Ohio store in Huber Heights The gas station will be coming to Huber Heights, Mayor Jeff Gore announced on social media Thursday. Not only are we going to be generating revenue from our own residents, but from people all over the state and all over the country who travel, who visit here will help revenue for the city of Huber Heights, Gore told News Center 7s Brandon Lewis. >> New ride coming to Kings Islands Camp Snoopy Earlier Thursday, he posted this announcement about the popular business to social media: The rumors you have heard are TRUE! The very first BUC-EES in the state of Ohio is coming to Huber Heights, The gas station is planned to be at the intersection of state Route 235 and Interstate 70. Gore said representatives from Buc-ees will be at the citys planning commission meeting next week. News Center 7 has reached out to officials at Buc-ees for more information. File Photo/WHBQ-TV, Cox Media Group File/Cox Media Group File Photo/WHBQ-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WHBQ-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group Local first responders were invited inside on Friday to get a first look at what the chain has to offer. File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group Local first responders were invited inside on Friday to get a first look at what the chain has to offer. File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group Local first responders were invited inside on Friday to get a first look at what the chain has to offer. File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group Local first responders were invited inside on Friday to get a first look at what the chain has to offer. File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group Local first responders were invited inside on Friday to get a first look at what the chain has to offer. File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group Local first responders were invited inside on Friday to get a first look at what the chain has to offer. File Photo/WFTV-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WJAX-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WJAX-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WJAX-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WJAX-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WJAX-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WJAX-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WJAX-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WJAX-TV, Cox Media Group File Photo/WJAX-TV, Cox Media Group Nicknamed The Bud, the parade has been a back-to-school celebration and showcase for Chicagos talented young people since 1929. For four generations, the Sengstacke family has organized what it says is the largest African American parade in the United States and the second largest parade in the United States after the Rose Parade. Hundreds of thousands of spectators and generations of families will gather along the almost three-mile route in Bronzeville Saturday to cheer on a variety of performers bands, dance and drill teams, tumblers and cheerleaders and watch honorary grand marshals and celebrities ride in style aboard floats and classic cars. And thousands of school supplies and other amenities will be handed out in Washington Park following the parade. Cant be there in person? Watch the parades live broadcast from 10 a.m.-noon on WLS-Ch. 7 and abc7chicago.com. Where and when does the parade take place? The parade starts at 10 a.m. at the intersection of 35th Street and South King Drive in Bronzeville and marches south to 55th Place in Washington Park. Are there post-parade festivities? Yes! Treats, school supplies and giveaways will be available in Washington Park following the parade until 4 p.m. Whats new this year? Tickets are still available for a pre-parade VIP breakfast experience. The event starts with food and drinks at 7:30 a.m. Saturday in Mandrake Park then includes a barbecue luncheon near the parades viewing stand. Cost is $94-$250 per person. Who is leading the parade? Grand marshal: J. Ivy , Grammy-winning artist and Chicago native Honorary grand marshals: Brandon Johnson, Chicago mayor; Chevy Humphrey, Museum of Science and Industry president and chief executive officer; Pamela Blackman, Building Brighter Futures chief executive officer; Jahmal Cole, My Block My Hood My City founder and chief executive officer; LaShaun Jackson, Circle Foundation chief executive officer; Nikki Hayes, Pier 31 restaurant owner; Monique Rodriguez, Mielle Hair Care Products founder and chief executive officer; Gloria Smith, Black Star Project executive director. Whats the best way to get there? Parking: Spaces are limited. Carpooling or public transportation is advised. Chicago Transit Authority: The Green Line is your best bet; exit at the Indiana, 43rd Street, 47th Street, 51st Street or Garfield stops and walk east toward the route. If youre taking the Red Line, exit at the 47th Street stop. Take the No. 47 bus east and get off at Prairie Avenue; the parade is two blocks east. Details about extra bus and rail service are available on the CTA website. Some bus schedules will be rerouted due to the parade. What are the parades origins? The Chicago Defender was founded in 1905 by Robert Sengstacke Abbott. In 1924, Abbott held a picnic for five of his publications newsboys. The first parade was held Aug. 11, 1929, when Abbott wanted to thank the children who hawked his newspaper on street corners. He could think of no better way than to give them the things they loved: ice cream, hot dogs and a day outdoors. Who is Bud Billiken? In 1921, Abbott started Defender Junior, a page of his weekly paper devoted to children. It grew to include a club, drawing children across the U.S. and Africa and serving as an alternative to the Boy Scouts in response to the segregation at the time. Bud Billiken, the pages fictional editor/mascot described as the guardian and protector of children, was invented by Abbott and the Defenders executive editor, Lucius Harper. Depending on which authority you ask, the two either found the word billiken in a dictionary, or Harper had a carving of one on his desk. Side note: Good-luck figurines called billikens were a popular culture craze in the early 1900s. Florence Pretz, a Kansas City art teacher, created the tubby little good-luck creature a cross between a Kewpie doll and a Buddha figure and for a while the impish-looking god of things as they ought to be was all the rage. The Billiken Company of Chicago manufactured dolls, banks, figurines and other souvenirs in his likeness. Who has participated in the Bud Billiken Parade? Many notable people have participated in the parade since its inception. Here are a few: Politicians and civic leaders: Both Mayors Daley; the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Barack Obama, as both a U.S. senator and president; President Harry Truman; and Chicagos first black mayor, Harold Washington Entertainers: James Brown, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Chaka Khan, Spike Lee, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Oprah Winfrey and Chance the Rapper Athletes: Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Candace Parker, Joe Louis, Jesse Owens and Floyd Patterson Sources: Chicago Defender Charities; Tribune archives and photos Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicagos past. krumore@chicagotribune.com Twitter @rumormill The president of the Central African Republic said his country wanted good relations with France, in an interview that followed years of tension fuelled by the CAR's rapprochement with Russia. "We are not against France," President Faustin Archange Touadera said in an interview with AFP and France's TV5 Monde. "I have just received France's new ambassador to the Central African Republic. That means that cooperation between France and the Central African Republic is ongoing, and we seek to improve it, to strengthen it in the interests of our two peoples." France, the former colonial power, intervened militarily in the chronically unstable CAR in 2013 to help stem a civil war flaring along sectarian lines. That intervention and deployment of UN peacekeepers paved the way for elections in 2016 won by Touadera. He was re-elected in 2020 in controversial circumstances, and supporters want him to run for a third term -- a scenario on which he declined to comment in the interview. Relations between France and the CAR began to come under strain after Touadera in 2018 brought in paramilitaries from Russia's Wagner group to help train his armed forces. In 2020, hundreds more Russian operatives and Rwandan troops were flown in to shore up his regime as rebel groups advanced on the capital ahead of the elections. France last December pulled out its last troops from the CAR as hostility mounted on social media. - Wagner - Asked about the partnership with Russia, Touadera, 66, said, "There are no reasons why this relationship can't continue... the Russian authorities themselves have said so." "The Central African Republic is a country that seeks to have good relationships with all countries that wish to work with us, including France and the Russian Federation," he said in the interview at the presidential palace on Wednesday. "Today we are conducting diplomatic efforts to enable our country benefit from (all) types of potential cooperation." In Africa, Wagner has been accused by rights groups and other watchdogs of carrying out atrocities and pillaging mineral wealth in exchange for supporting fragile regimes. The future of the organisation, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, became clouded after it launched a short-lived rebellion against Russia's military top brass in June. But a private security company affiliated with Wagner said it deployed a new batch of "instructors" in the CAR ahead of the constitutional referendum on July 30. The new constitution would extend the presidential mandate from five to seven years and abolish the two-term limit. It would removing any legal obstacles preventing Touadera from seeking a third spell in office, something that a prominent opposition critic, Martin Ziguele, has condemned as a "constitutional coup d'etat". Voters cast 95.27 percent of their ballots in favour and 4.73 percent against, with a turnout of 61.10 percent, according to provisional results issued by the National Election Authority. The results must be ratified by the constitutional court, which is scheduled to publish the definitive outcome on August 27. The vote was boycotted by the main opposition parties and civil society organisations, which contested the electoral roll and oversight, as well as by armed rebel groups. - 'Challenges' - Touadera declined to say whether he would seek re-election. "I am halfway through my (second) term, so I am not thinking about the next term... There's still lots of work, lots of challenges for the Central African public and I have to provide a response," he said. Touadera in 2019 struck a peace accord with 14 armed groups, essentially bringing warlords into the government. The level of violence fell, but parts of the country remain in rebel hands. Touadera said security in CAR was improving "but there are still challenges... pockets of intervention by armed groups here and there". "There have been notably gains," he said. "The proof is that we organised a referendum across the country." bur/ri/js The brother of Corey C-Murder Millers alleged teenage victim is tired of celebrities advocating for the rappers release from prison. George Thomas, the sibling of Steve Thomas, exclusively told TMZ Hip Hop that his family hasnt been able to grieve because Millers circle of celebrity friends continues to push for his freedom, which stirs up painful emotions for him and his relatives. He feels there is no consideration for his brother getting justice because he claims there is more than enough evidence to back the guilty verdict the court ruled 14 years ago. This news was in response to Kim Kardashians recent statement championing Louisianas judicial system to reexamine the music artists case since the state passed a new law that provides innocent people with the ability to raise a post-conviction claim of factual innocence. As Blavity previously reported, the reality TV star recently took to Twitter to once again support Master Ps brother, who was convicted of murder in 2009 regarding the 2002 death of 16-year-old Thomas. In a lengthy online statement, she shared why Millers case should be reviewed again. After reviewing the case for years, she believes hes served time behind bars for a crime he did not commit because there was no substantial evidence to prove he did it. I wanted to shed some light on a case that Ive been working on for years, her tweet began. Corey Miller has spent 21 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, and his conviction is based entirely on the testimony of two men, whom the State dragged to trial just on material witness warrants. Those men have now sworn that their prior testimony was untrue. There is no remaining evidence that even suggests that Corey Miller is any more culpable than the hundreds of patrons who were at the Platinum Club on January 12, 2002, when Steve Thomas was tragically shot. Rather than search for the real perpetrator of the crime, the local sheriffs office zeroed in on proving a case against Mr. Miller, she continued. The lead detective harassed multiple witnesses and mishandled the case to such a degree that the trial court had no choice but to grant Mr. Miller a new trial after he was convicted in 2003. I wanted to shed some light on a case that Ive been working on for years Corey Miller has spent 21 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, and his conviction is based entirely on the testimony of two men, whom the State dragged to trial just on material witness Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) August 3, 2023 The New Orleans native has been incarcerated for over two decades and has always claimed he was innocent of committing the crime. In a recent Instagram post, he thanked the mother of four for her consistent efforts to help him prove his innocence, with the caption, Its been a fight, and long journey for Justice. Thank you @kimkardashian and EVERYONE involved over the years (praying, advocating and believing) in my innocence. According to Complex, Millers publicist shared that the 50-year-old believes DNA test results would show he was wrongfully arrested and charged because 31 concealed documents exist showing an illegal DNA cover-up that was not included in his trial. The California Coastal Commission will appeal a recent ruling by a San Luis Obispo Superior Court judge to allow off-road riding at the Oceano Dunes. Superior Court Judge Tana CoatesJuly 19 ruling effectively overturned a Coastal Commissions March 2021 vote to prohibit off-highway vehicle use in much of Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area by 2024. Coates ruling was declared a victory for off-roading advocacy groups, who waged the lawsuits against the Coastal Commission to protect OHV use at the popular state park in southern San Luis Obispo County, and a loss for wildlife advocacy groups, who celebrated the removal of vehicles from the sensitive dune ecosystem. During a closed session in the Coastal Commissions Wednesday meeting, commissioners voted to direct legal counsel to appeal the ruling. A notice of appeal was filed in San Luis Obispo Superior Court on Wednesday evening. The case now moves to the California 2nd District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles. Coates ruling, as well as the underlying coastal development permit at the center of the issue, are put on hold while the case moves through the appellate court. That means off-road riding can continue at the Oceano Dunes. This area of the beach between the Grand and Pier Avenue entrances to the Oceano Dunes could become the only stretch of beach that would allow vehicle access and camping after the Coastal Commission voted to ban off-roading at the park. Mackenzie Shuman/mshuman@thetribunenews.com Judge: Coastal Commission acted outside of jurisdiction in OHV ban The Coastal Commissions March 2021 vote amended the coastal development permit for Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area by prohibiting off-highway vehicles on most of the dunes by 2024. The only area where vehicles were to be permitted after 2024 was a one-mile stretch of beach between Grand Avenue in Grover Beach and Pier Avenue in Oceano, according to the commissions amendment to the permit. Friends of Oceano Dunes, an off-roading advocacy group, sued the Coastal Commission shortly after its 2021 vote. The nonprofit organization argued that the Coastal Commission had abused its discretion and not conducted a proper environmental analysis of the impact of its decision. Coates agreed in part with Friends of Oceano Dunes. Cars on the Oceano Dunes south of Arroyo Grande Creek on March 22, 2021. A new agreement in December 2021 temporarily lifts a restriction preventing vehicles from crossing the creek any time its flowing to the ocean. Now, cars will be allows cars to cross as long as the water is no more than 12 inches deep. The Coastal Commission had voted to ban vehicle crossings of the creek if any amount of water flowed into the ocean. David Middlecamp/dmiddlecamp@thetribunenews.com In her July 19 ruling, she found that the Coastal Commission had acted without, or in excess of (its) jurisdiction by amending the coastal development permit. She noted in her ruling that the San Luis Obispo County local coastal program, which covers the Oceano Dunes park area, allows for off-highway vehicle use there. The Coastal Commission therefore couldnt modify the coastal development permit to completely prohibit the use in a certain area when the local coastal program allowed it, according to Coastes ruling. There can be no dispute that the proper procedure is for the commission to first propose amendments to the (local coastal program) which authorizes such OHV driving, Coates wrote in her ruling. Friends of Oceano Dunes President Jim Suty previously told The Tribune that his organization was extremely pleased with Coates ruling. Friends of Oceano Dunes will continue to fight to protect continued access for camping and OHV use at the Oceano Dunes the way it has been occurring for over 100 years, he wrote in a July 20 email. A hummer crosses Arroyo Grande Creek at the Oceano Dunes on April 12, 2023. High flow from Arroyo Grande Creek and high tides sweeping the beach have limited access to the Oceano Dunes to day use from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. David Middlecamp/dmiddlecamp@thetribunenews.com Wildlife advocacy groups call for Coastal Commission to appeal During Wednesdays Coastal Commission meeting, several speakers pleaded for the commission to appeal the ruling to protect sensitive shorebird habitat and tribal resources. We applaud the Coastal Commission for what you did in 2021, which did not eliminate all vehicle traffic but favored environmental protection and limited vehicle access in order to comply with the California Coastal Act and the local coastal plan,Andrea Jones, director of conservation for Audubon California, said during the meeting. There is only one Oceano Dunes we need a balanced approach that provides opportunities for the public and visitors and residents alike to enjoy and experience this rare coastal gem. Cynthia Replogle of the Dunes Alliance, a coalition of local community, tribal and environmental groups, told commissioners during Wednesdays meeting that the alliance was dismayed by Coates ruling. Tribal concerns about OHV use persist and the desire to halt the degradation of a sacred natural space remains, Replogle said. The residents of Oceano have no options for beach recreation free of cars fronting their community, and these residents bear the significant burden of air quality and public health problems with little benefit from park operations. Please continue to defend the necessary changes that best address coastal resource impacts at the Oceano Dunes and will provide environmental justice for local communities, protection of wildlife and respect for cultural sites, she added. Tire tracks run over surfaced clams at Pismo State Beach north of the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area. Bonita Ernst California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a formal apology Thursday for his offices role in the forced relocation and incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans in camps during World War II. The apology comes more than three years after the California Legislature issued its own formal apology for the states role in the internment program, ordered by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1942. It was supported by Earl Warren, who served as state attorney general and governor during the three years the system was in place. Today, my office formally apologizes for its past use of legal tools to deprive a generation of Japanese Californians of their liberty and financial security during the World War II era, Bonta said in a statement. The forced relocation and incarceration of Japanese American citizens remains among the darkest periods of our history, and the suffering it caused Japanese American families across California is incalculable. Bonta added that while the horrors of the past can never be erased, we must take steps to atone for past wrongs by answering the call for accountability, truth and reconciliation, racial healing and transformation. In 1943, then-Attorney General Robert Walker Kenny formed a unit to enforce the California Alien Land Law, which barred Asian immigrants from buying or leasing land until it was struck down by the California Supreme Court in 1952. Then, in 1944, the attorney generals office signed an amicus brief supporting the imprisonment of civil rights icon Fred Korematsu, despite the fact that he posed no security risk. The Attorney Generals Office recognizes today that this was unequivocally incorrect, Bontas office said in a statement. Thursdays announcement comes on the 35th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which granted reparations to many of the Japanese Americans who had been incarcerated during the war. Democratic House candidate Aditya Pai said Thursday a message to supporters that hed suspended his campaign was sent in error, and that he will continue his bid to take Rep. Michelle Steels (R-Calif.) seat in Orange County, California. The message said that Pai had a lack of joy in campaigning. I wrote that letter as an emotional processing exercise after an exhausting glimpse into the political machine, Pai said in an updated message late Thursday. I sent it to some mentors and staff for perspective before getting back to work; it was never supposed to be shared. Now that it was, I see a silver lining in your seeing it. Pai said that the resignation message was shared by a now-former aide. The aide agreed to leave the staff in recent weeks amid a complete reset of the campaign, and resigned after mistakenly sending the letter Thursday, Pai said. Aditya Pai does complete reset of campaign amid false suspension leak The original letter said that Pai wasnt enjoying campaigning and wouldnt enjoy work in Congress if elected. The feelings expressed in that email are all true. I hope to share even more raw impressions with you soon. However, I will absolutely NOT be suspending my campaign, he said. Californias 45th Congressional District is one of only 18 which both voted for a Republican congressperson in 2022 and President Biden in 2020. The district is considered to lean Republican in early 2024 forecasts. Despite the emotional weight of candidacy, my call to service not politics far outweighs it. In fact, my deep frustration with the lack of nonpartisan service is precisely why I run, he said. In the meantime, rest assured: I am here to run, win, and serve you to the absolute best of my ability come what may and this has only strengthened my resolve to do so, he added. Pai will face two major opponents in the Democratic primary in March. Cheyenne Hunt, who is aiming to be the first Gen Z woman elected to Congress, currently leads the field. Hunt has raised about $170,000 and Pai about $140,000 as of June 30, according to federal filings. Steel has raised nearly $2.2 million for her reelection. The Hill has reached out to Pai for additional comment. Updated 8: 10 p.m. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. California legislation that would have expanded food assistance benefits to all undocumented immigrants wont be moving forward this year. Two identical measures, AB 311 and SB 245, have been made into two-year bills, meaning they wont be taken up again until 2024. The decision follows advocates securing a win in the latest state budget, with the issuance of food benefits for older undocumented Californians being moved up to 2025. That success, along with the acknowledgment that a full expansion would not be funded this year, led to the bills being postponed. The reality is that the bill, even if it makes it to the governors desk if it doesnt have full funding, it might not get signed, said Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, who authored SB 245. Hurtado had introduced the measure for a second consecutive year. This year, she and advocates took a two-pronged approach with Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, introducing an identical version of the bill. Together, the two lawmakers had hoped to continue building on the social safety net for the states roughly 2.3 million undocumented immigrants. But lack of funding continues to be the main obstacle. Both lawmakers said they plan to move their bills forward next year. By no means is this fight done, Santiago said. People are hungry. We intend to make sure that food is accessible to all documented or undocumented. Anti-hunger advocates with the Food4All campaign have praised Newsom since June 2022 when California made history with an agreement to provide undocumented residents over 55 with food assistance. About 75,000 Californians are expected to start receiving benefits when the rollout begins in October 2025. But advocates also question the age cutoff, noting that nearly half of undocumented Californians deal with food insecurity, according to an April 2022 report by Nourish California. Its really resting on the governor that he supports Food4All and what it represents and laying out a plan for how we are going to get those additional age groups included, Benyamin Chao, a health and public benefits policy manager at the California Immigrant Policy Center. Brandon Richards, a spokesman for the governors office, did not respond to whether Newsom would consider expanding food assistance to undocumented people of all ages, instead the spokesman noted the recent investments aimed at older undocumented individuals. Some immigrant Californians can still receive up to $4,500 if they were impacted by the series of storms that bombarded the state from December to April. The funding is available through the Storm Assistance for Immigrants project, a $95-million program providing relief to individuals who did not meet the criteria for FEMA assistance. Money disbursement began in June and will last until the end of May 2024 or when funding runs out. Storm relief is available in the 22 California counties where President Joe Biden issued a Major Disaster Declaration. Eligible households can receive up to $4,500, with qualifying adults receiving $1,500 and children receiving $500. Money will come in the form of a check or pre-loaded debit cards. Several nonprofit organizations, including La Familia Counseling Center, have been tasked with helping people apply and receive the assistance. The groups were chosen because of their experience serving the immigrant community. Hopefully thatll alleviate some of the stress or barriers, said Karen Duenas, a program administrator for La Familia Counseling Center. The nonprofit groups interview applicants and help with the verification process to minimize the risk of fraud. To receive funding, individuals must be over the age of 18, provide evidence of hardship from the storms and confirm ineligibility for federal assistance. Duenas said families can typically expect to start receiving funding within a few weeks. She also encouraged Sacramento residents to apply as soon as possible. Some counties have already used up their portion of the state funding and will eventually pull from the remaining money. La Familia Counseling Center can be reached at 916-720-4735. The statewide number related to storm relief is 866-724-2023. Several businesses in Cambridge are reconsidering their location because of the high rental costs The cost of living, soaring rents and a proposed congestion charge are prompting several business owners in Cambridge city centre to reconsider their location. Is the cost of doing business in Cambridge simply too high? When Robin Chappell shut up shop for the last time in Cambridge a week ago, he admitted he was "rather pleased to be leaving". He has run Chocolat Chocolat in the city for almost 15 years. He has now moved the business to Hatley St George, near Sandy in Bedfordshire, taking online orders and organising workshops and courses. "The cost of doing business in Cambridge as an independent is extraordinarily high," the 64-year-old says. "We found a location that is easy to get to, easy to work with and is more business friendly. "Cambridge has become more and more focused on large chains. We've had customers say it's easier to go to Milton Keynes than Cambridge." Robin Chappell says footfall is only increasing for the night-time economy and clubs in Cambridge The rent for his 36 sq m (365.5 sq ft) shop in the Grand Arcade was about 50,000 a year. "Cambridge will end up as a clone town full of international brands," he adds. "The reduced footfall makes it very hard - you have to scrabble for every pound of turnover. "We are looking forward to putting the challenges of operating an independent business in Cambridge behind us." 'Cambridge is inhospitable to business' Neil Mackay wants to keep the business in Cambridge but says there are too many disincentives Neil Mackay is the managing director of Mackays hardware store on East Road, which has been in the city since 1912. "The rising cost comes through on the invoices all the time but there's also the hidden costs," he says. "Rates, the cost of electricity and gas have been astronomical. "For a long time Mackays have realised that Cambridge has become inhospitable to business, a war on motorists and cars. "Everything we sell is heavy and need motorised transport to move them. High parking rates are discouraging people from coming in. "Local business colleagues are all feeling the strain. "There's a strong likelihood that we will move out of Cambridge because of the congestion charge - it will effectively drive business to our competitors outside the zone. "We're part of the furniture here. There are huge disincentives for people to come into Cambridge and it's causing problems." 'Businesses are facing successive crises' City council deputy leader Alice Gilderdale says a series of crises have had a cumulative impact on businesses Councillor Alice Gilderdale, 25, deputy leader of Cambridge City Council, said the authority had "real sympathies with business owners in the city". "They are facing successive crises, from the cost of living crisis to the pandemic to Brexit, all making it incredibly difficult to do business and these have cumulative impacts," she said. The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) has proposed a 5 congestion charge to be introduced by 2027-28. An expansion of buses worth around 50m a year would be paid for by a charge on driving in Cambridge between 07:00 and 19:00 on weekdays. "Nothing has been decided on the congestion charge - the proposal that was tabled would only be coming in in the late 2020s," councillor Gilderdale added. "During the pandemic we gave grants of over 54m to support businesses with rate relief an other grants. We cannot control the rate of rent rises in the city. "It's really sad to hear these businesses are leaving. It's important that we discuss how the cost of doing business is impacting them." 'I've looked at up-and-coming Ely' Joseph Board says he has looked into moving his street stall out of Cambridge Joseph Board, 32, runs The Hot Sausage Company street stall in Fitzroy Street. He says soaring costs are making business owners reassess their presence in Cambridge. "I've already moved house because of the cost of living here," he says. "The only thing holding me back is that the Hot Sausage Company started here on Fitzroy Street in 1986 - it's that personal strive to keep it where it started. "I'm not even the worst affected. There's a fruit and veg stand here that uses two vans and a truck to bring it to the street - that'll be 70 a day in congestion charge. "The only thing you can do is put your prices up or leave Cambridge. But there's only so much I can sell a hot dog for. We can't sell them for eight pounds a piece." He says he has seen an increase in footfall to the "cheaper end of town" at the Grafton Centre, away from the "high end or branded stores" like Apple or John Lewis. Staying in Cambridge, he says, does not make financial sense. The firm has already moved its warehouse to Waterbeach. "I've looked at Ely - it feels like an up-and-coming city," he says. "It has free parking and good bus routes - and a great community spirit." Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook and Instagram. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or get in touch via WhatsApp on 0800 169 1830 The wildfires that ravaged Canada this summer have some experts calling for a more aggressive approach to the blazes than the countrys historically reactive, case-by-case approach. As of Tuesday, 1,160 fires are burning across the country. This year, nearly 30 million acres have burned across Canada, an area bigger than several individual U.S. states. The area burned the fourth-most of any season on record is too large to rely on colder weather and precipitation to do the bulk of the work in extinguishing the blazes. The affected area has included regions more prone to large fires, such as British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Fires in eastern provinces such as Quebec, where blazes are less common, blanketed the eastern U.S. in haze earlier this summer. In those provinces, wildfire agencies that are equipped to fight fewer and smaller fires were largely unprepared for the circumstances. [T]he fires are burning hotter and spreading faster than they usually do. The image of a firefighter spraying water on a fire, or a water bomber dropping water right on the fire needs to be dispelled: under the current conditions, humans cannot get within 100s of meters of the fires: so no direct spraying can be done on most fires, Chris Stockdale, a fire research scientist at the Northern Forestry Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, told The Hill in an email. Furthermore, you have to consider the whole perimeter of the fire as dangerous and capable of spreading, Stockdale added. The current wildfire situation takes a level of waterbombing and human power that is literally impossible to address, he said. Even if most of an individual fires perimeter is fully extinguished, any parts that are not put out have the potential to flare up days or even weeks later under the right weather conditions. Historically, Canadas approach to fires has been largely reactive and mostly concerned with immediate extinguishment of active fires, said Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, a researcher with McGill Universitys Department of Bioresource Engineering. The limited understanding of fire ecology at that time necessitated the immediate suppression of fires to protect valuable timber resources, Alizadeh told The Hill in an email. More recently, however, the country has taken steps including increased specialization of fire agencies, improved communications systems and strategic use of water-bombing from the air, he said. The more fire-prone regions of the country have also shifted their thinking to a more preventive approach and a perspective that acknowledges the value of controlled burns, he said. This shifted the focus to early detection and prompt response, exemplified by the adoption of controlled burns to create firebreaks and reduce fuel accumulation. Simultaneously, a more balanced and enlightened perspective has shaped by a growing recognition of fires ecological role and its effect on biodiversity, Alizadeh said. This paradigm shift changed away from strict fire suppression and toward an inclusive approach to fire management. However, the sheer number and size of active fires, as well as their presence in areas less accustomed to dealing with the threat, has strained local resources and illustrated the limits of a case-by-case strategy. [W]e have many fires in many parts of the country drawing upon a limited number of resources, both within Canada and internationally, Canadian Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said in June. Firefighters have been deployed to assist from the U.S., Australia, South Korea and Mexico. While American forest management is typically handled at the federal level under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service, Canadian management operates on more of a provincial and territorial basis. Each province is responsible for maintaining its own resources and personnel for firefighting. Historically, most provinces employ full-time enough resources to deal with their average fire seasons, Stockdale said. Smoke billows from the Donnie Creek wildfire burning north of Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada, on July 2. Associated Press/Noah Berger That province-level approach to management has meant officials must frequently make hard decisions about what to prioritize saving from the path of the fires, said John Gradek, a faculty lecturer and the coordinator of McGill Universitys aviation management program. The question you have to ask yourself is: What is the vision of the government in protecting that resource? Is there enough money? Are there enough assets in place to protect that resource? he told The Hill in an interview. If the resource is not threatening established infrastructure that resource is not going to be protected from fire to the extent that [government officials] would look at fire suppression. Particularly in Quebec and British Columbia, Gradek said, the amount of fire suppression has been focused on those fires that are threatening human infrastructure. Whats happening is, at this point in our strategy, were not looking at all forest fires. Were being very selective. In future wildfire seasons, he said, officials may find it more effective to find ways to take preventive action to minimize fires farther from human infrastructures as well, including the daunting task of potentially clearing underbrush from forest floors. The provincial governments who are responsible for minimizing the [fires] have decided the strategy will be focused on protecting infrastructure thats supporting human settlement, he said. Theyve left all the remote fires to burn themselves out, and thats generating a lot of smoke and thats generating discomfort across North America, because of that smoke. Other experts, however, argue the nature of the fires, and the land theyre burning, mean firefighters have limited options. [T]he area is too large and too remote and the fuels are too dry. In addition, there are many fires occurring simultaneously, which stretches resources (e.g., aircraft) and firefighting labor, Robert Scheller, a professor of landscape ecology at North Carolina State University, told The Hill in an email. Firefighting under these circumstances can really only protect property and people. Theyve managed to limit losses to people and property and so Id argue theyve been quite successful. There are a limited number of proactive approaches that are appropriate at large scales. Prescribed fires and forest thinning are the two most common approaches, Scheller added. However, neither of these is appropriate for the boreal forests of Canada. Prescribed burning is only appropriate for forests that are adapted to frequent fires, such as forests in [California]. Boreal forests are not adapted to frequent fires. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. A hospital in Vancouver has apologised for mentioning medical assistance in dying (MAID) to a patient who sought psychiatric care after experiencing suicidal thoughts. Kathrin Mentler, 37, told The Globe and Mail that she went to Vancouver General Hospital in June seeking treatment after her condition of long-term chronic depression was aggravated by a traumatic event. She said she was told by a clinician that the system was broken, and there would be a lengthy wait to see a psychiatrist. Ms Mentler told the news site she was then asked: Have you considered MAID? A spokesperson for Vancouver Coastal Health, which operates the hospital, confirmed to The Independent that assisted dying was raised during the conversation, but said it was done to assess her risk of suicide rather than as a suggestion. For patients who present with suicidality, staff complete a clinical evaluation with each client and explore all available care options, which may include questions about whether they have considered Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) as part of the patients contemplations, the spokesperson said. We understand this conversation could be upsetting for some patients, and we share our deepest apologies for any distress caused. Medical assistance in dying has been legal in Canada since 2016 for terminally ill residents. The law was expanded in 2021 to people living with debilitating disabilities or pain, even if their lives arent at immediate risk. The Canadian government has since paused a planned extension to make assisted dying available to patients suffering from mental illness alone. Ms Mentler, a counseling student, told The Tyee that she had long lived with depression, anxiety and chronic suicidal thoughts, but still found joy in life. That day my goal was to keep myself safe, she told the publication. I was thinking of maybe trying to get myself admitted to hospital because I was in crisis. She said it was upsetting to be told of another patient who had found relief in death. That made me feel like my life was worthless or a problem that could be solved if I chose MAID, Ms Mentler told The Tyee. Paraplegic army veteran Christine Gauthier told a Canadian select committee in December that she was offered a medical assisted device vy a case worker (YouTube / CBC) The issue of assisted dying has divided the medical community and religious activists in Canada and the United States, where it is legal in 10 states and Washington DC. Advocates such as Dying With Dignity describe the procedure as driven by compassion, an end to suffering and discrimination and desire for personal autonomy. But some human rights advocates and religious groups say the regulations are open to abuse, lack necessary safeguards, and can devalue the lives of disabled people. Four more states, New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Pennsylvania are considering enacting assisted dying legislation. Last December, a retired Canadian army colonel and Paralympian testified before a Canadian veterans affairs committee that she was offered medical assistance in dying while fighting to have a wheelchair lift installed in her home. Christine Gauthier testified that a veteran affairs case worker had written to her offering to provide a device she could use to take her own life, prompting an apology from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Three other disabled veterans had been offered the same option, according to reports in Canadian media. In July, Lisa Pauli, a 47-year-old who had struggled with anorexia for decades, told Reuters that she was looking forward to the MAID legislation being expanded to allow people who suffer from mental conditions to legally take their own lives. If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, call National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Helpline is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you. If you are based in the UK, the Samaritans offers support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. A ribbon cutting ceremony was recently held for the new facility operated by the University Cancer & Blood Center in Athens. Dr. Petros Nikolinakos, a physician who treats people for the deadly disease of cancer, broke into a smile as he grasped the oversized pair of scissors. A throng of about 100 people had gathered on Friday in front of the Comprehensive Cancer Treatment Center for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open this new facility owned by the University Cancer & Blood Center in Athens. The center located off Old Jefferson Road is hailed as the first cancer treatment center in the area that provides in one location numerous services for the treatment of cancer from radiation to surgery and laboratory programs. In remarks to the audience, Dr. Nikolinakos said his father recently died from cancer. A larger pharmacy has opened to serve the new UCBC cancer center. Treating cancer is personal I join the many who have been impacted by this devastating disease, he said. This is personal as Dr. Cody Gunn (breast cancer specialist) frequently reminds us. The center will offer cutting-edge treatment, so people dont have to travel out of the Athens area for the benefits of new cancer treatments, said the doctor, who is a native of Athens, Greece. He also thanked the doctors who entrust us with the care of their patients. Without them we would not be successful. Dr. Nikolinakos is also director of the centers clinical research program that began with him and one staff member, but has grown into the second largest clinical research program in the state, according to Loretta Goodson, chief executive officer for UCBC. Goodson said Dr. Nikolinakos joined the clinic in 2009. I learned early he was all about patient care, she said. Athens: Politicians tout economic gains at Georgia Chamber luncheon in Athens Georgia: 'We want to go where people want us': Georgia Hi-Lo Trail would link Athens to Savannah 40 years of growth at the cancer center Goodson also spoke of how the center has grown over the past 40 years. She joined the practice in 1994 when there were 20 employees, but today there are 420 employees. During a recent day at the office, Goodson said she overheard a patient talk about the new building. I was overwhelmed with emotion and thinking of how we touch so many lives, she said. The radiation center, formerly located on Hawthorne Avenue in Athens, is now located in the new center. Patients receiving treatment at the facility have a new more expansive space. Radiation oncologist Dr. Gordon O. Schoenfeld said the building was designed based on patient needs. More than half of cancer patients will be treated with radiation during their illness, he said. Others speaking to the group included Blaine Bostelman, chief facilities manager who oversaw the building's design and construction, and Athens-Clarke County Mayor Kelly Girtz. Another speaker was a woman from Athens, who is a patient in cancer treatment. Jennifer Allen, who admitted to being a little feisty when she would seek information on her treatments, took the podium to speak of how she and Dr. Nikolinakos developed a relationship. We make a great team, Allen said. And today, Im here because of him. And Im not the only one. There was a round of applause. This is more than a place to treat cancer, the patient said. This is a place of hope and healing. This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: University Cancer & Blood Center opens new facililty Plans to honor the Fairway police officer who was fatally wounded in a shootout earlier this week were announced Thursday afternoon, and will include a parade of police cars, a candlelight vigil and funeral services. Officer Jonah Oswald, 29, was injured Sunday in a shootout involving suspects in an auto theft at a QuikTrip in Mission. Oswald, a husband and a father of two young children, died Monday at a hospital. He had been with the Fairway Police Department for four years. The Fairway Police Department invited the public to attend the events Friday to honor Oswald, the first Fairway police officer to be killed in the line of duty. Beginning at 7:30 p.m. Friday, a Parade of Blue consisting of police cars and other emergency vehicles will wind its way through Overland Park, Mission, Fairway and Prairie Village. The parade of police cars will start at the Shamrock Trading Corporation at 9300 Metcalf Avenue, and will head north to Shawnee Mission Parkway. From there, the procession will follow Shawnee Mission Parkway east to Mission Road. The police cars will then head south to West 63rd Street, where they will turn and head west to Roe Avenue. The procession will then head south to West 75th Street, east to Mission Road and then south to Harmon Park at 7700 Mission Road. People wishing to honor Oswald are encouraged to display blue colors at their homes and business and to view the parade of police vehicles from the sidewalk along the route. Once all the parade vehicles have arrived at Harmon Park, a candlelight vigil will take place near the skate park. The estimated time for the vigil is between 9 and 9:30 p.m. Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Westside Family Church, 8500 Woodsonia Drive in Lenexa. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the church. Following the services, there will be a short ceremony held outside the church. The fatal shooting remains under investigation by the Johnson County Officer-Involved Critical Incident Investigation Team, which handles deadly use-of-force cases. A procession of police cars and other emergency vehicles will honor fallen Fairway Police Officer Jonah Oswald with a Parade of Blue beginning at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Shamrock Trading Corporation at 9300 Metcalf Avenue. People wishing to honor Oswald are encouraged to display blue colors on their homes and businesses and view the processing of emergency vehicles from the sidewalk along the route. The shootout The events that led up to deadly shootout began with reports of a stolen Jeep Grand Cherokee at the QuikTrip near West 95th Street in Lenexa. As officers were investigating the theft, a woman driving the SUV allegedly rammed a Lenexa police cruiser and fled. Lenexa police chased the vehicle north on Interstate 35. When the SUV crashed at Lamar Avenue, a man and woman ran into the QuikTrip at 4700 Lamar Ave. in Mission, just west of Fairway. Officers, including Oswald, following them inside. Police have said Oswald was fatally wounded and the male suspect, Shannon Wayne Marshall, 40, of Ashland City, Tennessee, was killed during an exchange of gunfire. Andrea Rene Cothran, 32, of Goodlettsville, Tennessee has been charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer and theft, all felonies. She also faces a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving. Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said those charges pertain to the police chase. Prosecutors continue to evaluate the case to determine whether any additional charges against Cothran are warranted. She remained in the Johnson County jail on Thursday on a $1 million bond. The News Up to 150,000 hourly workers at General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis are prepared to strike in demand for a 40% wage increase and, as the industry pivots to electric vehicles, guarantees that the contracts at the new plants will be comparable in terms of salary and safety. The fallout could have massive implications beyond Detroit. President Joe Biden has made his handling of the economy one of the central themes of his reelection campaign, and a protracted auto workers hold out on top of Hollywoods lengthy strike could negate that. Weve gathered key reporting and analysis on the potential implications of an auto workers strike. Insights Companies may agree to higher wages because they can afford those, but not to the unions demands for a shorter work week or the ability to strike over plant closings. The companies cant afford anything that puts them in a straitjacket, said Erik Gordon, a University of Michigan business professor, and with the pivot to EV, automakers will need flexibility to adjust or even close facilities. Biden and the Democrats are caught between trying to gain the United Auto Workers support in 2024 voting efforts, while also addressing the UAWs concerns over the administrations push to EV. The union which has not yet endorsed Bidens reelection may cause headaches for the administration that has tried to portray itself as the most pro-labor in history. Late last year, an Ohio-based joint venture between General Motors and LG Chem became the first U.S. plant making electric vehicle batteries to unionize. The vote, which had the backing of 694 out of 710 voters, was heralded as a milestone event. Unionizing showed that workers at EV battery plants want to be part of maintaining the high standards and wages that UAW members have built in the auto industry, the unions then-president said. Rapper Cardi B is asking a Judge to uphold the $3 million dollars blogger Tasha K has been ordered to pay her. Tasha K was ordered to pay the seven figure amount in damages last year after Cardi leveled a defamation suit against her. The WAP rapper accused Tasha K of disrupting her life with unfounded lies. Some of the lies Tasha K is said to have peddled on her platform alleged that Cardi B had an STD, used cocaine, engaged in degrading activities with a beer bottle, worked as an escort in the past and cheated on her partner. Cardi B denied all of these allegations and the court sided with her. In Pursuit Of Justice According to Radar Online, Cardi B testified that Tashas YouTube videos caused problems within her marriage. In the end, a jury awarded Cardi $1 million in general damages, $250k in medical expenses, $1.5 million in punitive damages and another $1.3 million for her legal fees. Tahsa K initially told the courts that she didnt have enough money to pay off the $3 million dollars damages. She recently filed for bankruptcy, placing a hold on the payments, with a potential dismissal of the debts on the horizon. Cardi B, however, has remained staunchly against that possibility. As Radar Online learned, Cardi B recently requested an assessment of Tasha Ks financial records while asking the court in a newly filed suit, not to wipe off Tasha Ks pending debt due to her bankruptcy. As Radar Online reports, Cardi B argued that the Defendant was given multiple opportunities to retract the false and defamatory statements and videos, but Defendant steadfastly refused to do so. The post Cardi B Asks Court to Make Tasha K Pay $3M Despite Bankruptcy appeared first on 21Ninety. The Fury 325 roller coaster has reopened at Carowinds after it was found to have a crack in one of its support beams more than a month ago. On Thursday, the amusement park announced the ride has gone through a repair and testing process, passing a final inspection with the North Carolina Department of Labor. From Chopper 9 we can see people riding Fury once again @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/mg0IcxZ5UI Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) August 10, 2023 Carowinds shut the coaster down on June 30 after a video surfaced showing a car full of riders go past a crack in one of the metal support beams, causing it to expand. Then on July 28, a second break on the giga coaster was found. The park said its maintenance team and the ride maker, Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers Inc. (B&M), have been inspecting the ride since July 1. They were able to determine that the beam fractured along a weld line in the steel support column. In their statement Thursday, the park said B&M created a new steel column for the ride. A series of tests were conducted to make sure the Fury was safe, including one that used sensors to measure any variation in the ride experience. Carowinds said it ran the ride for more than 500 cycles, testing and inspecting it to make sure it worked correctly. The Department of Labor conducted its final inspection Thursday and approved the ride reopening. We extend our sincere thanks to all those who worked tirelessly over the past few weeks to repair and prepare Fury 325 for reopening, the statement from Carowinds reads. We are excited to welcome back our guests to one of Carowinds most popular rides. READ OUR PREVIOUS COVERAGE BELOW: (WATCH PREVIOUS: Channel 9 confirms second break in Carowinds Fury 325) Carowinds roller coaster Fury 325 reopened Thursday after it closed for more than a month following the discovery of a cracked pillar on the ride. One of the worlds tallest and most popular roller coasters was shut down June 30 after a crack in a support pillar was reported by a visitor, despite the park making its own daily inspections of all of its rides. The announcement by the Charlotte amusement park stated that the ride was repaired and tested prior to its reopening. The North Carolina Department of Labors Elevator and Amusement Device Bureau inspected the ride, according to the news release. Take our poll: Now that the Fury 325 roller coaster is fixed, would you ride it? A new steel support pillar for Fury 325 was installed July 14 by Bolliger & Mabillard, the roller coasters Swiss manufacturer. The park began extensive testing, testing the ride more than 500 times after the new pillar was installed. B&M and a third-party testing firm conducted a final inspection to ensure the ride surpassed all required specifications, Carowinds said. The park thanked the workers who helped repair the coaster and prep it for its reopening, adding, We are excited to welcome back our guests to one of Carowinds most popular rides. Carowinds is owned by Ohio-based Cedar Fair, which operates a number of amusement parks around the country. Carowinds Fury 325 has reopened to the public. It had been shut down for repairs since June 30. A Carowinds visitor spots the roller coaster crack On June 30, a Carowinds guest captured on video the crack column shifting as riders flew by, oblivious to the potential for a catastrophe. Carowinds then shut down the coaster. Carowinds said its technicians run daily inspections for mechanical, structural and electrical components, but its unclear how the crack wasnt found before the park visitor. After seeing the video, another park visitor looked back at her photo of the coaster taken a about a week earlier. It showed the beginning of the crack on the same column. In late July, a second crack or break was found in Fury 325, the Labor Department confirmed The department did not say what part of the coaster they found it on, nor did it say when the latest problem was found. Workers remove the cracked support column in the Fury 325 at Carowinds on Wednesday, July 12, 2023. Tracy Kimball/tkimball@heraldonline.com Changes in amusement park ride inspections The cause of the initial fracture also has not yet been released, and Carowinds did not mention a cause in its statement Thursday. Because of the rides structural failure, Carowinds is changing how it inspects rides daily, including using drone cameras to examine hard-to-reach areas. Its unclear if ride inspection changes are for Fury 325, all of its roller coasters or all of its rides. All amusement rides at permanent locations, such as Carowinds, are licensed and inspected on an annual basis prior to the park opening by N.C. Labor Departments Elevator and Amusement Device Bureau. The annual state inspection of Fury 325 on Feb. 23 found only minor issues related to signage, state records show. The initial damage to the Fury 325 pillar was first spotted by a Carowinds visitor June 30. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Wagner About the Fury 325 roller coaster Based in Switzerland, B&M built Fury 325, as well as three other coasters at Carowinds. The 408-acre amusement park straddles the state line for the Carolinas. Fury 325 debuted in 2015 and features a 1.2-mile track reaching top speeds of 95 mph and a height of 325 feet. It also features an 81-degree drop. The Fury 325 roller coaster at Carowinds was examined after a cracked pillar was discovered by a park visitor that shifted as cart full of riders passed. Tracy Kimball/tkimball@heraldonline.com The coaster has three 32-passenger open air trains, and crosses into both North Carolina and South Carolina. And Fury 325 can accommodate about 1,470 people per hour. Fury 325 been named the best steel roller coaster in the world for the last six years by industry publication Amusement Today. On June 25, Carowinds celebrated on social media the coasters 500,000th rider of the season. Less than a week later, a video by Jeremy Wagner showed riders going over a fractured pillar. Social media commenters appeared to be divided as word spread Thursday that the roller coaster finally had reopened. Some welcomed the news and praised Carowinds work, while others said there was no way theyd get on it. Carowinds Fury 325 has reopened to the public. It had been shut down for repairs since June 30. Matthew Owen/Carowinds This is what roller coaster enthusiasts are saying about Carowinds and Fury 325 Carowinds details plans to fix damaged Fury 325 coaster and strengthen inspections Hey, everyone! Drew here. Its Friday Jr.! CharlotteFive is nearly done with their Readers Choice poll to determine the best tacos in all of the Queen City. Were down to the top 8 and now, its your turn to vote. This round of voting will close at noon tomorrow. On to the news. Carowinds Fury 325 has reopened to the public. It had been shut down for repairs since June 30. Fury 325 is back. Carowinds reopened the roller coaster today after it closed more than a month ago following the discovery of a cracked pillar on the ride. Catherine Muccisgrosso and Audrey Elsberry report. Chyna Blackmon pictured outside of Bank of America Stadium before Beyonce concert in Charlotte, NC, Aug. 9, 2023. In case you were unaware, yesterday was Bey Day in Charlotte as Beyonce performed at Bank of America Stadium last night. While I did not go (I had to work, its fine. Im not upset about it at all!) plenty of others got to take in the Renaissance World Tour in the Queen City. Chyna Blackmon was in attendance and wrote about her experience. The historic Belmont Drive-In movie theater will reopen soon, now that the business has passed the county health inspection, said owner Melinda Lawing. Seen here is a 1995 file photo of the theater. I love a good drive-in movie theater. And Ive got some good news for you fellow drive-in fans out there. The Belmont Drive-In in Gaston County just off Interstate 85 is set to reopen soon. Audrey Elsberry has more info on when you can catch a flick. A 17-year-old was killed after a collision with a speeding Camaro. A 17-year-old boy was killed in Charlotte on his way home from work when two men decided to race on a street near his neighborhood. Ivan Morales Galvez was trying to make a left turn at the intersection of Bramblewood and Arrowood Road, close to South Tryon Street near Olde Whitehall when he was struck by a car driving more than 100 miles per hour, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police. Kallie Cox shares the latest on this story. 5. Some more stories to read --- Thats it for now. Thanks for reading! If you dont already, subscribe to the Charlotte Observer here. If youre already a subscriber (thanks!), download our iOS or Android app to stay connected. Find more updates at charlotteobserver.com, and follow along on Twitter, Instagram and Tik Tok to see more from us. Enjoy your day! Did someone forward this newsletter to you? You can sign up here. Drew Nantais is a Senior Growth & Engagement Producer for the Charlotte Observer. A German man is accused of building a boutique winery, farm and horse ranch on his private Virginia property with money stolen from his company, federal prosecutors said. Now hes facing up to 20 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. While CEO and president of an international companys subsidiary based in the U.S., Gerhard Bauer, 73, wrote company checks for his own expenses and stole more than $4 million between 2010 and 2017, according to federal court documents filed in Virginia. He used nearly $1.5 million in embezzled company funds to build and own Goose Creek Farms, its horse ranch and Otium Winery, located on the property in Purcellville, a small Virginia town, a statement of facts filed in court says. After a new owner purchased the property in February 2021, Otium Winery was reimagined as Otium Cellars, which offers Austrian and German wines, according to its website. The site says its winemakers family originally established Otium Cellars. The winerys new ownership came after Bauer was indicted on several charges, including mail fraud, in July 2020, court records show. On Aug. 8, the German national pleaded guilty to a mail fraud scheme in connection with stealing money from his company, the U.S. Attorneys Office announced in an Aug. 9 news release. McClatchy News contacted attorneys David Benowitz and Rammy Barbari, of criminal defense and personal injury law firm Price Benowitz LLP, who represent Bauer, for comment on Aug. 10 and didnt receive an immediate response. McClatchy News also contacted Otium Cellars for comment on Aug. 10 and didnt receive an immediate response. Funds also used for wine bottles, tuition and debt, court docs say According to prosecutors, Bauer created fake invoices to justify his personal expenses, while CEO for his company. The company wasnt identified by prosecutors and only described in court documents as an industrial and manufacturing business that did business within the Eastern District of Virginia. According to the statement of facts, Bauer also used the companys money to pay for hundreds of wine bottles for his winery in 2017. He also used $146,416 to pay for his relatives private school tuition at Foxcroft School, a private boarding school for girls in high school, according to prosecutors and an affidavit. In addition to this, $357,683 was used to pay off his credit card debt, the affidavit says. Authorities have since interviewed the companys current president, who said the company would not purchase any of these items or services in its ordinary course of business, according to the affidavit. Bauer is due in court on Nov. 7 for his sentencing hearing, prosecutors said. The Loudoun County Sheriffs Office helped investigate the case against him, according to the release. Goose Creek Farms and Winery and Otium Cellars are in Loudoun County. The farm raises and sells Hanoverians, a Warmblood horse breed of German origin, according to its website. Purcellville is about 50 miles northwest of Washington, D.C. Man bought checks stolen from mail, then was caught selling them in the road, feds say Romance scam led to foreclosure, death, feds say. Kingpin sentenced to prison Mans lottery scam cheated people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, feds say The Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday it will make most of the application for its Cuban and Haitian family-reunification programs virtual, in an attempt to streamline the longstanding parole process. This modernization of the family reunification parole processes improves our ability to maintain the integrity of our vetting and screening standards, responds to important feedback from stakeholders in both the Cuban and Haitian communities, and ensures meaningful access consistent with our values for potential beneficiaries, said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a statement. The Cuban and Haitian family-reunification programs are an avenue for U.S. citizens or permanent residents to bring family members to the country on parole. But the programs have historically faced policy shifts, case backlogs and external disruptions that have left applicants and their family members waiting for years to be reunited. The agency said Thursday it hopes the changes will make the program more efficient and accessible. Most of the application will be done through online forms and virtual portals such as a mobile application called CBP One. Only a medical exam and immigration authorities parole determination have to be carried out in person. Cubans and Haitians will also no longer have to attend an interview in their home country, making it possible to apply from elsewhere. The changes go into effect Friday, Homeland Security said. Cindy Woods, National Policy Counsel at Americans for Immigrant Justice, told the Miami Herald that these are positive changes for these two processes that have not been working. This is allowing more flexibility for folks who might have already left out of fear and insecurity to be able to try and access this process from a different country, Woods said. Invitations have not been sent out for either the Cuban or Haitian family reunification programs since 2016, according to the Homeland Security notices from Thursday. The federal government paused in-person interviews for the Cuban reunification program and withdrew most of its embassy staff in 2017, following the unexplained health symptoms they experienced that came to be known as Havana syndrome. It also shut down its Havana-based U.S. Citizenship and Services location the next year. Under the Biden administration, consular and visa services have since resumed in Cuba, as have interviews for the family reunification program. But Homeland Security acknowledged in Thursdays federal registry notice that barriers to the Cuban reunification programs application process remain, including the economic and political crisis on the island. It also cites the ongoing challenges the federal government faces to restart American consular and visa operations. There are ongoing repairs to the embassy building, electrical blackouts and staffing issues, among others. Interview capacity limitations in Cuba, resource constraints within DHS and State, and the pending application caseload have made the process inefficient and inaccessible to many beneficiaries in Cuba, the notice said. Many applications are pending. DHS also said that several factors have limited the processing of invitations and interviews for the Haitian family reunification program, including a Trump-era announcement that the program would end, which never materialized. The federal registry notice also points to changes in presidential administrations, the closure of Port-au-Princes U.S. Citizenship and Immigration field office, reduced visa processing during the pandemic, and the sociopolitical crisis in Haiti. Unlike for the Cuban program, which resumed interviews last year, there have been no interviews for the Haitian family reunification program since December 2019, the agency notice said. While Woods said Thursdays announcement was welcome, she believes there may still be challenges in accessing the program, such as passport requirements so beneficiaries can travel to the U.S. Demand for passports skyrocketed and created long lines in Port-au-Prince after the announcement of another parole program for Haitian nationals earlier this year. The attorney also said that access to the internet and smartphones could also be extremely difficult for some applicants. The new process also requires that applicants use an application called CBP One, which migrants have said can be glitchy. Woods said that the Biden administration was presenting a false dichotomy because it has simultaneously created a series of new paroles and family reunification programs, while imposing a restrictive asylum policy at the U.S.-Mexico border. Immigration and civil-rights groups have condemned the Biden policy, describing it as an asylum ban and likening it to Trump-era measures. Biden officials have rejected these comparisons, with Homeland Security saying that the previous administration had set categorical bars, on asylum eligibility. There is ongoing federal litigation over the policy. Presenting these reunification processes as alternative options does not paint a real picture of whats happening. A lot of folks wont be eligible for these processes, Woods said. People fleeing persecution have sought to enter the U.S. in other manners out of necessity. The carrot and stick approach doesnt work if only a limited number of people have access to the carrot. There is yet more M&A coming out of the security industry. In the latest development, Check Point, the enterprise cybersecurity company, has picked up Perimeter 81 to beef up its tools for remote and hybrid workers. Check Point will pay around $490 million on a "cash free, debt free" basis for the Israeli startup, it said in a statement today. The acquisition comes amid a major funding crunch for startups, particularly those looking to raise larger growth rounds. Perimeter 81's exit is coming at a big discount to its last valuation: It raised $100 million in June 2022 at a $1 billion valuation, according to PitchBook data. Its investors had included Insight Partners, Maverick Ventures Israel and Francisco Partners, among others. Check Point, which has its roots in Israel, too, but is now headquartered in San Carlos, Calif., is publicly traded and currently has a market cap of over $15 billion. Perimeter 81 has some 3,000 customers globally. This deal both will help Check Point take out a direct competitor but also bring in more tools to grow its offerings and bring in more customers. Check Point has made its name as a specialist in the various aspects of enterprise cybersecurity, with product lines across the many ways that a company might engage with cloud services, network security powered by AI and predictive techniques, and proactive threat detection. It also has a product line focused on remote and hybrid workers, and it appears that Perimiter 81's technology will be used to bolster that business. Its focus is on "security service edge" services, secure access for workers using company sites, cloud services, data centers, and the internet at large. Companies like Zoom -- ironically, given how much of its business is in the remote worker market -- have made a point of asking more of their employees to spend more time in the office on a regular basis, and while we have significantly fewer people working at home now than during the Covid-19 pandemic years, there is still a substantial number of those opting to stay at home at least part of the time. It's estimated that 12.7% of full-time workers in the U.S. are working from home. The number of hybrid workers -- those working partly in the office and partly at home -- stands at 28.2%. That represents a significant market opportunity for companies building services to address that population and that now-standard aspect of work life. Check Point said it will be integrating Perimeter 81 into its Infinity architecture, part of its strategy to build more unified security services covering network, cloud and remote users and usage. Importantly, this deal is also in line with a bigger evolution we've been tracking where larger enterprise platforms, in security and other product areas, have been consolidating point-solution functionality to present all-in-one, "one-stop-shop" offerings to their customers. That not only presents more revenue opportunities for Check Point, but for customers, it potentially helps them simplify their IT contracts. (That was, for example, some of the overriding logic around another Israeli cybersecurity startup acquisition earlier this week, when Rubrik announced that it was picking up Laminar for between $100 million and $200 million.) With the advent of hybrid work and the rise of cloud transformation, the demand for security services that expand beyond the network perimeter is increasing, says Gil Shwed, CEO at Check Point Software Technologies, in a statement. "By leveraging Perimeter 81s capabilities and integrating them into the Check Point Infinity platform we continue with our vision to deliver the best security through comprehensive, collaborative and consolidated solutions. This strategic move marks an exciting period for our company, partners, and customers. By joining Check Point, a global leader in cyber security for over 30 years, we aim to deliver the premier SASE platform in the market, added Amit Bareket, CEO at Perimeter 81. "Our interconnection represents a significant step towards a comprehensive and scalable security for the modern era. We look forward to the positive impact we will jointly create." The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. Cheng Lei has been detained since her arrest for an unknown reason in 2020 An Australian journalist - held in detention in China for three years as of this weekend - has spoken publicly for the first time. "I miss the sun. In my cell, the sunlight shines through the window, but I can stand in it for only 10 hours a year," Cheng Lei said in an open letter to the people of Australia, dictated to diplomats who are able to speak to her each month. "I can't believe I used to avoid the sun when I was living back in Australia It'll probably rain the first two weeks I'm back in Melbourne," "I haven't seen a tree in three years," she said. The finance reporter was working for China's state media English-language television station CGTN when she was picked up, spending her first six months of detention in solitary confinement without charge. In March last year, Ms Cheng was tried in secret and has been waiting for a year and four months to be sentenced. Australia's ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher, tried unsuccessfully to gain entry to the court to witness proceedings. Even her family is not aware of what she is accused, other than that it is said to involve passing on "state secrets". In China, what constitutes a state secret is a very vague concept and can involve anything which the government deems to be sensitive. The letter released today is filled with nostalgia of her life in Australia, the country her family immigrated to from Hunan Province when she was just 10 years old. "In 1987, I remember camping for the first time with my family, my dad driving an [Australian] $700 [360] car," she said. "I relive every bushwalk, river, lake, beach with swims and picnics with psychedelic sunsets, sky that is lit up with stars, and the silent and secret symphony of the bush." In prison, the former TV anchor said that she "secretly mouth[s] the names of places I've visited and driven through" in Australia. In what she describes as "a love letter to 25 million people", Ms Cheng said she recalls the kindness of strangers and friends alike and that the memories of such kindness "have come back to me now and restored me" behind bars. She said she misses sea salt, black humour, the Queensland tropics and the never-ending blue skies of Western Australia, as well as the sand between her toes. There has been some speculation that the sentencing of Ms Cheng has been delayed so that her case can be used as a bargaining chip in the Chinese government's dealings with its Australian counterpart. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been invited to Beijing to meet Xi Jinping. However, he is coming under considerable pressure at home not to make the trip until Ms Cheng and fellow Australian Yang Hengjun have been released. The end of her letter contains probably the most important line: "Most of all, I miss my children." (Bloomberg) -- China lifted a ban on group tours to a slew of countries including the US, UK, Australia, South Korea and Japan, in a major test of demand for overseas travel from what was once the worlds biggest source of tourists. Most Read from Bloomberg Group tours will start immediately on Thursday and the easing applies to all travel agencies and online platforms across the country, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a statement. The move sparked a rush to buy Japanese and Korean tourism stocks, with package tour operator Lotte Tour Development Co. jumping 29% in Seoul and Japan Airport Terminal Co. up as much as 12%. The relaxation may set the stage for an acceleration in the global tourism industrys rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, which has been sluggish amid a slow rebound in flight capacity to and from China. But a full return to the pre-pandemic heyday is likely to take time if it can be achieved at all amid a weakening economy, a strong desire from Chinese holidaymakers to travel domestically and the enduring damage of geopolitical tensions. There will be someone going, youll probably still have someone, but the size of overseas travel wont be as large as you saw before pre-Covid or the pre-economic slowdown, said Dongshu Liu, an assistant professor specializing in Chinese politics at the City University of Hong Kong. A lot of Chinese people will be hesitant to go to Western countries, worried that theyll face discrimination. They may also simply not have the funds. US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo welcomed the decision in a statement on Thursday, calling it an important step forward to promote the type of people-to-people exchange that is crucial for our bilateral relationship. Covid Changes Chinas pandemic-era shift inward effectively turned off the flow of outbound travel for three years, leaving many tourism-dependent countries struggling to find alternative sources of visitors. Chinese travelers spent $277 billion overseas in 2018 and another $255 billion in 2019, accounting for almost 20% of all international tourism spending, data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization show. Even months after the countrys dismantling of virus curbs, outbound tourism is muted. In the first half of this year, Chinese tourists made about 40.4 million trips overseas mostly to Asia representing 26% of pre-pandemic levels, according to the China Tourism Academy. Domestic flight capacity has reached 17% above pre-pandemic level in July, but international capacity is still about half of 2019 level, data from aviation analytics company Cirium shows. Those constraints are likely to linger. Koji Shibata, chief executive officer of Japanese airline ANA Holdings Inc. said that while the easing of the group ban will give momentum to travelers visiting Japan and the carrier plans to increase the number of flights, it faces challenges due to lack of staff. As of July, it operated 62 weekly round trips to and from China, 35% of pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, Chinese tourists accounted for about one third of Japans international visitors, spending more than $12 billion in the country the highest among all overseas markets, according to data from the Japan National Tourism Organization. In the first half of this year, the number of Chinese travelers in Japan only returned to 13% of the pre-pandemic levels. Challenges Ahead In a further sign of the difficulty ahead, Southeast Asian countries that were already accepting group tours havent seen a rush of visitors. The number of Chinese arrivals in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines varied between 14% and 39% in May compared to the 2019 numbers, and summer tour bookings have also disappointed. Read more: Millions of Chinese Staying Home Curb Southeast Asian Growth Some of the worlds top consumer brands are already ramping up their presence in China on bets the shift to spending more money at home will last. Luxury conglomerate LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE is still seeing about 70% of its sales from Chinese customers happening within the country and few group tours have been seen in Europe, Chief Financial Officer Jean-Jacques Guiony said last month. Chinas economy is also a major headwind to overseas travel. Consumer spending growth remains subdued, a prolonged property slump has dented confidence and the country slid into deflation in July, ramping up pressure on officials to stimulate domestic growth this year. Tensions Linger Since Chinas reopening, the country has resumed group tours to dozens of countries across Asia, Africa, Europe and South America. But bans on places like the US, UK, Australia, South Korea and Japan have been maintained until now amid geopolitical tensions. Still, its unclear how far the easing on group tours goes in thawing those relations. In addition to sluggish demand for Chinese to travel abroad, China is seeing a dearth of inbound travelers. After welcoming a stream of high-profile foreign visitors in recent months, some overseas investors and business people traveling to the nation for the first time since the lifting of pandemic restrictions said the environment has grown more hostile to foreigners, Bloomberg News has previously reported. Thats given rise to concerns among some Chinese about how theyll be treated abroad. A recent poll by Pew Research Center recorded negative views of China reaching record highs in 10 of the 24 nations where it conducted its survey. It might be well the case that Chinese policymakers realized how detrimental isolation might be in terms of relations with the rest of the world and Chinas soft power, said Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief Asia Pacific economist at Natixis. It is surprising since this is happening at a time when exports are plummeting, so opening up to group tourism will also worsen the trade balance and reduce the contribution of external demand to Chinas growth. Read more: Investors Visiting China Find Officials Fearful of Upsetting Xi --With assistance from Rebecca Choong Wilkins, Supriya Singh, Danny Lee and Jinshan Hong. (Updates with Raimondo statement, in paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. (Bloomberg) -- China has accused the British government of failing to meet its diplomatic obligations, after a plan to relocate its embassy to an historic building in east London appeared on the verge of collapse. Most Read from Bloomberg The Chinese government bought the old Royal Mint near the Tower of London for 255 million ($325 million) in 2018 with the intention of moving its embassy to the sprawling 700,000-square foot site from the central Marylebone district. Chinas embassy in Washington DC is some 430,000 square foot, by comparison. But the move was scuppered when Tower Hamlets council rejected planning permission for the new development on the historical site in December 2022, days after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared an end to the golden era of UK-China relations. Local residents objected to the move, citing concerns about recent assaults on anti-Communist Party protesters and government warnings about Chinese secret police stations in the UK. That set the clock ticking toward an Aug. 10 deadline for China to appeal the councils rejection. China appears to have decided instead to air its frustrations with Sunaks administration for not intervening. It is the international obligation of the host country to provide facilitations and support for the construction of diplomatic premises, the Chinese embassy in London said in an emailed response to Bloomberg, declining to answer whether it would appeal or if it has given up on using the site for an embassy. We urge the UK side to fulfill its relevant international obligations. Beijing found it strange local officials could block such a move, and saw it as a matter for the national government rather than regional planners, according to two people familiar with the matter who asked to be anonymous when discussing sensitive issues. Chinas Foreign Ministry said in an emailed statement it had always tried to find a solution with the UK based on the principles of reciprocity and equal treatment. Sunaks government declined to comment. A British official said they did not think China had decided to appeal the planning refusal and that it had not crossed the desk of the relevant minister, Housing Secretary Michael Gove. Tower Hamlets said in a statement that if the Chinese government intended to appeal by the deadline, it had to give prior notice. We havent received any such notification from the applicant, the council said. Frayed Ties The embassy fallout comes at a sensitive time for Sunak, who has been trying to repair relations with Beijing even as many in his governing Conservative Party are pressuring the premier to take a far less trade-friendly stance. Ties between the UK and China have frayed over the Communist Partys crackdown on Hong Kongs pro-democracy opposition, while British government has also accused China of violating its handover agreement and granted long-term visas to tens of thousands of people leaving the city. Beijing, for its part, has sanctioned senior British politicians in retaliation for their criticism of its alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Those allegations have also played a part in local opposition to the planned embassy. The diplomatic stand-off could potentially impact the UKs own ambitions for embassy expansion in Beijing. The Chinese side has raised the issue of their rejected relocation in discussions about a years-long plan to renovate the UK Embassy in the Chinese capital, though the two matters werent explicitly linked, according to one person. In response to queries on that diplomatic premises, a spokesperson for the UKs Foreign Office said that China, like Britain, is obliged to comply with the Vienna Convention. The agreement sets out uniform principles for conducting diplomatic relations. China has been a lightning rod for controversy in Tower Hamlets. The council previously said it was considering renaming the streets around Royal Mint Court to Tiananmen Square, Uyghur Court and Hong Kong Road, to protest against Chinas treatment of minority groups particularly its policies against Uyghur people in the Xinjiang region. China is accused of detaining more than one million Uyghurs and subjecting them to forced labor. This month tensions spilled over again when a debate over Beijings policies broke out in a public graffiti battle in the district. A group of artists apparently from China spray-painted characters listing the Communist Partys 12 core socialist values on a public wall, only for expressions of discontent with President Xi Jinping to appear later plastered over and around the original red characters. The wall has now become the focal point for criticism of China and inflamed divisions online, too. --With assistance from Sarah Zheng and Philip Glamann. (Updates with comment from Foreign Office.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order barring U.S. investments in certain tech sectors of China, confirming months of rumors that Washington would ramp up efforts to squeeze China's tech industry amid growing concerns over Beijing's military ambitions. The order authorizes the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury to restrict U.S. investment in three critical categories of Chinese companies: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence that is critical for the military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities as determined by the Secretary in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce and other relevant agencies. The measure is expected to take effect next year, according to The Washington Post. It also applies to companies in Hong Kong. "Advancements in sensitive technologies and products in these sectors will accelerate the development of advanced computational capabilities that will enable new applications that pose significant national security risks, such as the development of more sophisticated weapons systems, breaking of cryptographic codes, and other applications that could provide these countries with military advantages," the document reads. American venture investment firms first entered the Chinese market in the 1990s, assuming a critical role in funding the country's burgeoning tech companies and facilitating their global expansion. But this once-cordial partnership now faces mounting challenges as U.S.-China tensions escalated in recent years, with both governments actively seeking to disengage their respective technology development from each other. "The U.S.'s restrictions on its domestic companies' foreign investments to 'decouple' in the investment field under the guise of 'de-risking' deviate significantly from the principles of market economy and fair competition that the U.S. has long advocated," a spokesperson from China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. "The ban greatly disrupts the normal pace of business decision-making, the international trade order, and the security of global supply chains." Who's affected by the investment ban? American investment firms have been repositioning to navigate new geopolitical complications. Sequoia Capital China, which has raised over $16 billion across 36 funds and invested in over 1,000 companies, including behemoths like Alibaba, ByteDance and Shein, announced in June its decision to split its China arm into an independent unit. Now called HongShan, the Chinese operation greatly slowed its investment pace in recent times, recording just 70 investments during the four quarters between Q3 2022 and Q2 2023, compared to 180 deals from Q3 2021 to Q2 2022, according to Crunchbase. Other China-focused U.S. funds have adopted a "wait and see" approach, awaiting further clarification from the U.S. government, several investors told TechCrunch. Major U.S. endowments and foundations are also halting investments in China, one fund manager told TechCrunch. The venture capital firm is now raising a separate RMB fund to place bets on China's high-tech firms, while its USD fund is directed only at U.S. companies. Meanwhile, some Chinese fund managers that previously raised capital from American limited partners are now turning to the Middle East for financing. Chinese startups are adjusting as well. Those that are targeting Western markets increasingly see the need to establish their controlling entity in the U.S. to attract American investors, according to a dozen founders TechCrunch spoke to in recent months. This marks a departure from the previous strategy of utilizing a variable interest entity (VIE) structure, which allowed foreign investors to buy into Chinese companies operating in restricted industries. However, even with U.S. investors on board, Chinese-founded startups face challenges in convincing U.S. regulators about the safety of American user data in Chinese hands. One needs look no further than TikTok's struggles to reassure regulators in the West despite its efforts to build a wall between its user data and China-based teams. FILE - Cheng Lei, then a Chinese-born Australian journalist for CGTN, the English-language channel of China Central Television, attends a public event in Beijing on Aug. 12, 2020. The Chinese-Australian journalist who worked for China's state broadcaster and was convicted on murky espionage charges has spoken out about the harsh conditions of her detention. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) BEIJING (AP) A Chinese-Australian journalist who worked for Chinas state broadcaster and was convicted on murky espionage charges has spoken out about her detention conditions, including being able to stand in sunlight for just 10 hours a year. In a letter to the Australian public, on the three-year anniversary of her detention, journalist Cheng Lei voices her love for her adopted country. After being found guilty on national security charges at a closed-door trial last year, Cheng has yet to be sentenced. I relive every bushwalk, river, lake, beach with swims and picnics and psychedelic sunsets, sky that is lit up with stars, and the silent and secret symphony of the bush, Cheng said, in the letter shared by her partner, Nick Coyle. She hasnt seen a tree since she was detained, she wrote, and she misses the sun. In my cell, the sunlight shines through the window but I can stand in it for only 10 hours a year. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the nation would continue to support Cheng and her family and advocate for her interests and well-being. Ms. Chengs message to the public makes clear her deep love for our country, Wong said in a statement. All Australians want to see her reunited with her children. Wong said Australia had consistently advocated for Cheng and asked that basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment to be met for Ms. Cheng, in accordance with international norms. Coyle said Cheng had been allowed to write to him since last September in an interview with the national broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corp. Each month, Cheng is allowed a 30-minute visit by an Australian consular official who can bring her letters. Cheng is being kept in a detention facility under the Ministry of State Security, Coyle said. He said the most difficult thing for her was the toll that the long-term separation from her children was taking. In the three years since Cheng has been taken, her daughter entered high school, while her son is about to, he said. It is the Chinese in me that has probably gone beyond the legal limit of sentimentality. Most of all, I miss my children," Cheng wrote. Cheng, 48, moved with her family to Australia at age 10. She returned to China to work for the international department of state broadcaster CCTV. The details behind her detention and trial remain sealed. Chinese prosecutors have broad powers to level charges of spying or leaking state secrets with little or no evidence, and Cheng could face years of prison. Chinese authorities have also been accused of holding foreign nationals, particularly those born in the country, to obtain diplomatic gains or the return of Chinese citizens abroad wanted on a variety of charges. China's relations with Australia have been on the mend with Australia's new administration, after China put them on freeze over Canberra's accusations of Chinese political interference and intimidation of the local Chinese community, as well as an investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 virus. Coyle said though he hopes the case is divorced from politics its resolution could help the relationship between the countries. I think resolving it would improve the atmospherics around the bilateral relationship and enable a focus on the positive aspects that a relationship would bring, we all want to see that. ___ AP writer Huizhong Wu contributed to this report from Taipei, Taiwan. Let China sleep, Napoleon Bonaparte is supposed to have advised, for when she wakes, she will shake the world. The current president of China, Xi Jinping, has made no secret of his ambition for China to dominate the world. In the 1950s, Americas dominance of the automobile industry signified its manufacturing and economic preeminence. China has surpassed the United States in the manufacture of electric vehicles, whose mechanisms will eventually replace the internal combustion engine worldwide. China is currently struggling, however, with high youth unemployment, and young, educated Chinese are accepting blue-collar work or moving to the countryside, which will retard Chinas goal of becoming a consumer economy. More than one in five young people are unemployed. Chinese youth fear the Curse of 35, at which age you are too old to be hired, but way too young to retire. Chinas attempt to organize a challenge to Americas and Europes financial dominance with a consortium of BRICS countries, headquartered in an ostentatious skyscraper in Shanghai, has come a cropper, and one of the nations two banks has been accused by its former global head of communications of being controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Chinas currency, the yuan, has plummeted to a near 15-year low. Chinese authorities have considered launching a major export drive to revive the flagging economy, but they fear a hostile reaction from trading partners that are already under pressure from massive Chinese exports. In 2021, Xi declared a comprehensive victory in the battle against poverty, but Chinese authorities are now cracking down on visual media showing how much abject poverty still lingers in the countryside. Some Chinese brands, to avoid association with Beijing, have moved offshore. Shein, headquartered in Singapore and originally simply a fashion retailer, is now challenging Amazon for the position of the worlds largest online retailer. China was a poverty-ridden country from before the CCP took power in 1949 until Deng Xiaoping acceded to national leadership in 1978. Deng concluded that China needed more of a market economy than the strictly hierarchical, top-down command economy established by Mao Zedong. He also believed that China needed to open itself to investment from the outside world. Under Deng and his immediate successors, China developed the second-largest economy in the world, and after Xi acceded to the position of president in 2012, Chinas economic growth continued apace. However, it began to become clear that Xi was not as much of an enthusiast about capitalist markets as his immediate predecessors. In fact, he proclaimed his intention to follow Maos footsteps and revive the pursuit of a stronger socialism in China, which he defines as socialism with Chinese characteristics. The near-total Covid-19 lockdown he imposed on his citizens for almost three years seems to have been a dividing point for his regime: People emerged from their homes furious about this protracted confinement, and the Chinese economy has yet to show any signs of significant recovery. For a while, there were street demonstrations in major cities demanding Xis resignation. Ruan Xiaohuan, a computer programmer in Shanghai who for 12 years wrote an anonymous blog ridiculing the foibles and corruption of the CCP, has been arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison. Hong Kong has set a bounty on dissidents who have fled overseas and has threatened to pursue them for life. China has created an armada of coast guard vessels that rival in size and capability those of actual naval ships, and countries that fear Chinese aggression on the high seas are rushing to build and deploy robust and heavily armed patrol boats of their own. It has been speculated that one area where the Chinese might deploy such ships is in the straits surrounding the island of Taiwan, which China claims as its own. Chinas distant-water fishing fleet of approximately 10,000 vessels is rapidly depleting fish stocks worldwide, especially those of coastal communities that rely on them for sustenance, and the fleet is believed to have been fashioned to serve military as well as commercial purposes. Not too long after the Chinese government lifted its severe Covid-19 restrictions and announced to the world that it was open for business again, it commenced a series of intrusive raids on American and other foreign consulting firms in China that perform due diligence research for Western companies doing business or contemplating doing business in the country. There was a clear gulf between the national government of China, which had obviously come to perceive the presence of foreign companies in China as a potential threat to the nations security, and local governmentsmany of them deeply in the red financiallydesperate for Western investment. Xi, it is well-known, sees the world in terms of a potentially deadly struggle for global supremacy between the United States and China and perceives various U.S. actionssuch as denying China access to the most advanced computer chipsin this context. Meanwhile, China was caught creating a spy station on the island of Cuba that will enable it to listen in on private communications throughout the U.S. Southeast. China has also been playing a notable role in Canadian politics, using its influence in Chinese communities there to defeat Chinese Canadian politicians who are critical of Chinese Communist Party actions such as the crackdown on Hong Kong or mistreatment of Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang region. The recent visits to China by American diplomatsSecretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerryhave had mixed reports of success, but Kerrys may have been the most important of the three. While he was there, the temperature in western China reached 126 degrees Fahrenheit. Crew members from China's People's Liberation Army-Navy Luhu-class destroyer Qingdao (DDG 113) man the rails as she pulls into Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. (Department of Defense photo by U.S. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Cynthia Clark/Released) Sailing into the 21st century, China's naval presence has emerged like a leviathan from the depths, amassing significant momentum and undergoing remarkable transformations. The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), presently the world's largest naval force, doesn't merely float. These days, the Chinese Navy conquers the seas with an indomitable spirit and increasingly modern capabilities. China's naval expansion is an intricate tapestry woven with threads of diverse influences. The key factors can be compared to the three legendary Chinese gods: Fu (Prosperity), Lu (Status), and Shou (Longevity). Prosperity through economic growth In a country where the serpentine coil of the dragon symbolizes auspicious power and prosperity, China's economic rise isn't just a story of mere digits and figures. It is a saga of relentless aspiration, driving the modern dragon's fiery ascent on the global stage. As the world's second-largest economy, China's fiscal artillery is colossal. This gargantuan treasure trove has paved the way for a robust naval modernization strategy. In turn, the flames of economic prosperity have breathed life into PLAN, transforming it into a formidable marine force ready to mark its territory in the deep blues. Status through security claims China's quest for the 'Lu', the legendary status, is visible in its assertive marine policy. The disputed maritime territories in the South China Sea and East China Sea aren't just about geography. Some could also argue they represent precious pearls of prestige. These contested waters are laced with rich natural resources and national pride. These days, they've turned into fierce battlefields of territorial claims. China's aim? Assert its marine dominance and fortify its maritime ramparts to protect these precious pearls. Furthermore, Chinas Lu quest isn't just regional; it's global. The persistent presence of U.S. naval forces in the Asia-Pacific region acts as a constant reminder, too. With American vessels, there is a constant foreign mirror reflecting China's need to tip the scales of power and attain parity, if not supremacy. MAYPORT, Fla. (Nov. 3, 2015) A Chinese Dragon Dancing team performs during the arrival of three ships from Chinas Peoples Liberation Army-Navy at Naval Station Mayport. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Megan Anuci/Released) Longevity through global influence Finally, the 'Shou' symbol, a sign of longevity and perseverance, reflects China's long-term vision of global influence. This longevity is about etching a timeless influence across the maritime silk route. The ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is China's blueprint to extend its reach, both in terms of geography and influence. It seems there's an apparent goal here, too. Secure its sea lines of communication, access critical maritime chokepoints, and ensure its voice echoes through the world's busiest maritime corridors. This strategy, intertwined with China's naval prowess, symbolizes its aspirations for a durable maritime presence. Some might even say it's an enduring echo of Chinese influence across the seven seas. Evaluating Chinas naval capabilities No one is entirely clear on the number of vessels in Chinas fleet. However, reliable estimates point that number northward of 350 ships and counting. This naval armada, showcasing an impressive array of modern vessels, from aircraft carriers to submarines, empowers the Chinese Navy to flex its muscles across a broad range of maritime operations. However, there are some perceived weaknesses. Despite substantial strides in naval advancement, China's nascent experience in carrier operations and global power projection raises questions about its ability to compete with seasoned maritime powers like the United States. Nevertheless, with China's relentless pursuit of modern naval technologies and platforms, one can expect this naval power to grow only more formidable. Regional security implications As China's naval might grows, the echoing roar of the dragon reverberates across the region's security landscape. China's expanding marine footprint, specifically in the contentious maritime territories of the South and East China Seas, is stirring up a tempest that might not be easily controlled. The dragon's territorial dance has rattled the cage of regional geopolitics. These days, neighboring nations are finding themselves uncomfortably close to the dragon's fiery breath. In turn, this has led to escalating tensions. Further, the shadow of potential military clashes loom large, turning these contested waters into potential flashpoints of conflict. But the implications of the dragon's roar aren't limited to these disputed waters. The burgeoning capabilities of the PLAN could unleash a regional ripple effect. Every move the dragon makes, every wave it causes, sends a signal to its neighbors, inciting a game of maritime brinkmanship. The result? A potential regional arms race where nations scramble to fortify their naval arsenals, ratcheting up tensions and escalating the risk of conflict. Broadening the horizon While the dragon's territorial dance captivates the Asia-Pacific region, let's not forget that this dance is being performed on the global stage. As the might of the Chinese Navy grows, so too does its presence in international waters. So what does this mean for the global maritime order? What if China, bolstered by its naval prowess, begins to press for changes in the conventions of international maritime law? The current maritime order, founded on principles of freedom of navigation and respect for exclusive economic zones, might face a stormy sea change. This could spark contentious debates and potentially destabilize the global maritime order. China could exert a more assertive role in international maritime affairs on the world stage, potentially challenging existing norms and conventions. Competition with the U.S. and other significant maritime powers over critical sea lanes and valuable resources could intensify. China's naval growth could also provoke it to lobby for changes in international maritime law, creating contentious issues around freedom of navigation and exclusive economic zones, and potentially destabilizing the maritime order. 151213-N-ZK021-001 JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM (Dec. 13, 2015) Chinese citizens wave flags as the Peoples Liberation Army-Navy PLA(N) ships CNS Jinan (DDG-152), CNS Yiyan (FFG-548), and CNS Qiandaohu (AOE-886) arrive in Hawaii for a scheduled port visit. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Nardel Gervacio/Released) Charting the course ahead Given these unfolding scenarios, the international community might want to explore charting a course that manages China's escalating naval prowess. Initiatives fostering dialogue and cooperation among key maritime powers are essential to navigate potential security challenges and ensure a stable maritime environment. Joint naval exercises, information-sharing agreements, and strengthened regional security mechanisms like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) could provide effective platforms for these efforts. As China continues to invest in its naval might and expand its maritime influence, fostering dialogue, cooperation, and trust among the maritime powers will be crucial. As the dragon continues to spread its wings, the world needs to sail with it, ensuring a stable and secure maritime environment amidst the burgeoning Chinese Navy presence. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is running for 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Charles Krupa/AP Chris Christie knocked Tucker Carlson when asked if he would appear on his new show. Christie said he prefers programs "that have real ratings and real listeners." Carlson now hosts a show on Elon Musk's Twitter. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on Thursday that he's unlikely to appear on Tucker Carlson's new Twitter show anytime soon. "I'm not anxious to go and do a show that's platform is on Twitter," the GOP presidential hopeful told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. "And so I go to places that have real ratings and real listeners like yours here. And you know, I'm not saying that I'll never go on any of those places, but I'm prioritizing where I want to go." When asked for comment by Insider, Carlson simply texted, "Ha!" Carlson now hosts a show on Elon Musk's Twitter after being ousted from Fox News. Hewitt had pressed Christie on why he appeared on Pod Save America, a podcast hosted by former Obama White House aides, on if the former New Jersey governor would go on Carlson's new show or appear on Fox News host Mark Levin's Sunday night show. "Are you now my booking agent, Hugh?" Christie said. He later added, "No, look, I'm happy to come on Hugh Hewitt whenever you'd like me to come. If you're booking for Mark Levin now, I have a little less respect for you." Hewitt said Levin is a respected voice among the conservative voters Christie would need to win the GOP presidential nomination. Christie said there's a reason he seeks out less traditional audiences. "You know, the problem with America right now in one respect, Hugh, is that we all stay in our own silos," Christie said. Still, Christie dismissed the notion that he needs to go on Levin's program. "I've gone almost everywhere, and you're not emphasizing the one place I haven't gone," Christie said. "I've been on everything from Jimmy Fallon, David Letterman, to every show on Fox News that you can think of, to MSNBC and CNN, and PodSaveAmerica. Yet you and I are spending time this morning talking about the one place I haven't been over the last few years. " Christie is one of eight GOP hopefuls that have qualified for the first Republican presidential primary debate, according to Politico's tracker. The debate, hosted by Fox News, is less than two weeks away. Read the original article on Business Insider In the latest ruling against disgraced reality stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, a judge has denied their recent appeal for home confinement. A source close to the couple told Dailymail.com and that the two are at the lowest point they have been yet since losing the appeal. The family insider told the newspaper that Todd and Julie are terrified of the prospect of at least another year of living in their hell hole jails. Just last month, daughter Savannah Chrisley and son Chase Chrisley talked about the conditions of the jails their parents are currently housed in as part of Savannahs weekly podcast. Its a nightmare, Chase said. They both have no air conditioning. They are both in states where it gets to be 100+ degrees, and theres no air conditioning. Savannah said that Julie has rattlesnakes just casually slithering on the floor in front of her and has allegedly seen snakes in her cell, around her bed. The couples attorney, Jay Surgent, says they are prepared to fight their case all the way to the Supreme Court, and contend that an IRS agent lied in order to convict them of tax fraud crimes. RELATED STORIES: Todd and Julie Chrisley will take this to the Supreme Court if their appeal is denied by the 11th Circuit court. Absolutely. 100 %, Surgent told the Daily Mail. The Chrisleys, mostly known for their reality TV series Chrisley Knows Best, were found guilty last year of conspiring to defraud banks and the IRS out of millions of dollars. In November, Todd Chrisley was sentenced to 12 years in prison plus 36 months of supervised release. Julie Chrisley was sentenced to seven years in prison, plus 36 months of supervised release. Both were ordered to report to separate Florida prisons on Jan. 17. However, Julie Chrisley was instead taken to a prison in Kentucky. We submitted our reply brief on July 26. We are waiting on them to set the case for an oral argument. We are hoping as a result of our arguments either a reversal for a new trial or remand back to district court, Surgent told the newspaper. It is not just about air conditioning, or the plumbing, or the mold. Surgent claims the system is working against his clients and believes that their application for home confinement should have at least gotten processed, the Daily Mail reported. If the Chrisleys were allowed home confinement, they could have the ability to make restitution and the banks could be made whole. They cannot do that within the prison, the attorney said. The Chrisleys have maintained their innocence since being brought up on charges in 2019. To read more of the Daily Mails report, CLICK HERE. RELATED NEWS: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) claimed Wednesday that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is going in the wrong direction, in the GOP presidential polls. We feel like its really moving in our direction, Christie said in an interview with Fox Newss Bret Baier. Our momentum is going the right way; Governor DeSantis is going in the wrong direction. Christie was asked about recent New Hampshire GOP primary polling from from RealClearPolitics, which shows former President Trump with 41.7 percent support, DeSantis with 17.7 percent and Christie and Sen.Tim Scott (S.C.) tied for third place with 6.7 percent. In response, he cited another recent NH Journal/co-efficient poll that found Trump receiving 43 percent in the state, with Christie and DeSantis tied in second place at 9 percent. So our first job is to get past Gov. DeSantis in New Hampshire, Christie said. Now, we need to pass him. And then were going to take on Donald Trump, one-on-one. While DeSantis has mostly polled in second place in the Republican primary since before even launching his campaign, the Florida governors numbers have sagged in the past few weeks, trailing far behind the former president. Trump continues to lead in the national GOP polls by wide margins, with a recent Morning Consult poll showing him with 59 percent, DeSantis with 16 percent and Christie tied with Scott and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. The Hill Elections 2024 coverage When confronted with Trumps lead in the polls, Christie said, Look, and the campaign hasnt begun yet, Bret. The campaign is going to begin when you and Martha [MacCallum] get on that stage with the rest of us two weeks from tonight, he continued, referencing the first Republican presidential primary debate, which is set for later this month. The idea that the American people are really focused on this race right now, in the middle of vacation season in August around America, is kind of silly, Christie added. Trump has previously signaled he is unlikely to attend the first debate, arguing that his strong polling as the GOP front-runner means he does not need to debate the other candidates. The difference it makes is for the Republican voters, because it shows his complete lack of respect for Republican voters, Christie said. He thinks, because he won the nomination twice, that its his. Christie: If Trump doesnt debate it shows lack of respect And he thinks that these numbers actually mean they approve of what he did, when, in essence, its just that hes the best-known person in this race, he added. The first GOP presidential debate will take place Aug. 23 in Milwaukee and will air on Fox News, with Baier and anchor MacCallum as co-moderators. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. GOP presidential candidate and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday that those in the 2024 primary who dont qualify for the partys first debate later this month should drop out of the running. If you dont make the debate stage, you should leave the field. I think its that simple, Christie said in a Fox News Digital interview, calling the debate requirements the first winnowing process. If you havent made the stage, I think its time to go, he added said. The former governor called the Republican National Committee (RNC) requirements for the event fair ones. In order to get on the Aug. 23 stage in Milwaukee, candidates have to meet specific polling benchmarks, hit 40,000 unique donors and sign a loyalty pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee. Christie has said hes met the RNCs donor requirements, and it appears hes also met the polling bar. He said on ABC that hell do whatever he has to do to get on the debate stage, but hes also called the requirement to pledge to support whoever wins the partys nomination in 2024 a useless idea. The major unknown ahead of the debate is whether former President Trump, who is by far the current front-runner for the nod, will attend. Trump has indicated he has little to gain as he is polling so far ahead, and he has balked at the pledge requirement. I wouldnt sign the pledge. Why would I sign a pledge if there are people on there that I wouldnt have. I wouldnt have certain people as somebody that I would endorse, he told Eric Bolling on Newsmax on Wednesday, adding he will reveal his plans for the debate next week. In addition to Christie and Trump, GOP candidates who have met both the polling and donor requirements include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said if former President Trump does not attend the first Republican presidential debate later this month, it shows a lack of respect for Republican voters. The different it makes is for the Republican voters, because it shows his complete lack of respect for Republican voters, Christie said in an interview Wednesday with Fox Newss Brett Baier. He thinks, because he won the nomination twice, that its his. And he thinks that these numbers actually mean they approve of what he did, when, in essence, its just that hes the best-known person in the race. Trump has hinted he is unlikely to join the stage later this month for the first Republican primary debate, citing his lead in the polls. The former president has argued his strong polling as the races front-runner means he does not need to debate with other candidates. So if he doesnt show up two weeks from tonight, what it will show once again is what he showed throughout his presidency was complete disrespect for the people, Christie said. The only good thing for me will be, I will have more time to speak because he wont be droning out about his three indictments with a fourth to come. The Hill Elections 2024 coverage Trump told Newsmaxs Eric Bolling on Wednesday he will not sign the loyalty pledge required by the Republican National Committee (RNC) to participate in the first primary debate, adding he would announce next week whether he will attend the debate. Christie, once a Trump ally, has been vocally critical of the former president throughout his campaign and has taken aim at other Republican candidates who he claims do not speak out against the former president enough. Christie and Trumps conflict has largely played out in the public eye, most recently with a back-and-forth regarding Trumps comments about Christies weight. While speaking at a rally in New Hampshire Tuesday night, Trump took aim at Christie over his weight. Christie later responded to Trumps comments, posting on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, If you had the guts, you would show up to the debate and say it to my face. Earlier Wednesday, Christie said Trump is such a hot mess, while responding to a question from NewsNation while in New Hampshire. NewsNations parent company is Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill. A Morning Consult poll from Tuesday shows Trump remains far ahead in the race, with 59 percent of GOP voters showing support for the former president, while Christie is polling at 3 percent. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie blasted Sen. Tommy Tubervilles (R-Ala.) decision to block military promotions, saying impacting the militarys readiness is not the best way to get the changes he wants. I dont think its the right one, Christie said Thursday on The Hugh Hewitt Show. I share his concern about the Biden administrations disregard of the Hyde Amendment. But I dont believe the best way to do it is to impact our military readiness. Now some will say its Joe Bidens fault, and he shares the fault for that. But quite frankly, Senator Tuberville is the guy who is making these calls and holding up these promotions, and I just dont believe its the right tactic. Tubervilles nearly six-month hold on the positions has drawn criticism from figures on both sides of the aisle. According to a new poll, a majority of likely Alabama voters want their senator to drop his hold on military promotions. Christie said Tuberville should look for a more effective way to change the Defense Departments abortion policy that the senator argues violates the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funds from being used for abortion. Look, what Id say to the senator is lets work together to try to change this policy, he said. Its obvious that his current approach to it, which has been going on for weeks now, isnt in any way at all. So lets look for a more effective way to do it. And what I would say to him is I empathize with what hes trying to accomplish, and I support it. But I dont believe doing it by impacting our military at all is the right way to go about it. On Tuesday, GOP presidential candidate and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley also called out Tubervilles actions on The Hugh Hewitt Show. I appreciate what Tubervilles trying to do, Haley said. I do. Like, its totally wrong that the Department of Defense is doing this. But have we gotten so low that this is how we have to go about stopping it? For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Its been a rough year for anyone who may have believed Clarence Thomas was a paragon of ethics on the Supreme Court. ProPublica has reported extensively on how conservative megadonor Harlan Crow has been funding the justices lavish lifestyle for decades, heightening concerns over outside influence on the work of the nations highest court. ProPublica dropped another bombshell on Thursday, revealing that Thomas has been accepting a slew of gifts from other billionaires, as well. Thomas has reportedly taken at least 38 luxury vacations funded by conservative benefactors since the 1990s, reports, including 26 private jet flights and eight helicopter flights, VIP tickets to sporting events, and a yacht trip around the Bahamas. ProPublica notes that the tallies are most certainly an undercount. These trips were provided only in part by Crow. Thomas has also received gifts from oil tycoon Paul Tony Novelly and, as The New York Times previously reported, H. Wayne Huizenga, the former owner of the Miami Dolphins, and investor David Sokol. Thomas never mentioned Novelly, Huizenga, or Sokol on his financial disclosure forms, and all of them first met Thomas after he became a Supreme Court justice. ProPublica first reported on Thomas relationship with Crow in April, noting that virtually every year, he has accepted rides on private jets, stays at private resorts, and invitations to hang out on superyachts owned by the real-estate mogul. The outlet later revealed that Crow also bought $133,000 worth of property from Thomas, allowing his mother to live there, and that he paid private school tuition for a child Thomas was raising. Thomas has denied any wrongdoing, claiming he and Crow are simply friends and that he doesnt need to report this sort of personal hospitality. Experts do not agree. In my career I dont remember ever seeing this degree of largesse given to anybody, Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge who served on the committee that reviews judges financial disclosures, told ProPublica. I think its unprecedented. Thomas did not respond to a list of questions from ProPublica regarding its new report, but its unlikely hes suddenly realized the error of his ways. More from Rolling Stone Best of Rolling Stone Click here to read the full article. The metro Atlanta hospital where a newborn was decapitated during childbirth last month claims that the baby died in utero prior to the delivery and wasnt decapitated until after his death. Jessica Ross, 20, went into labor with her son, Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Jr. on July 9 at Southern Regional Medical Center. According to a lawsuit filed by the family, the baby became stuck about 10 hours into Ross labor and was eventually decapitated when the familys doctor attempted for hours to pull him out. The lawsuit claims doctors pulled on the babys head and neck so hard and manipulated them so hard, that the bones in the babys skull, head and neck were broken. The family has since filed a lawsuit against the doctor who delivered the baby, Tracey St. Julian, her OBGYN practice, the nurses and doctors involved in the birth and the hospital, citing medical negligence and the wrongful death of the baby. The lawsuit also alleges that the hospital tried to cover up the fact that the baby was decapitated. On Thursday, officials with Southern Regional Medical Center issued a statement saying that this unfortunate infant death occurred in utero prior to the delivery and decapitation, and said that the doctor who delivered the baby, Tracy St. Julian is not and never has been an employee of the hospital. The hospital voluntarily reported the death to the Clayton County Medical Examiners office and is cooperating with all investigations, officials hospital said. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] However, in a statement issued by the Clayton County Medical Examiners Office Thursday, the M.E. claims that the first time they heard about the babys decapitation was when the funeral home alerted them. TRENDING STORIES: Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Ashli Lincoln spoke with the director of the Clayton County M.E.s office, Brian Byars, who said even the most seasoned investigators say this is by far one of the most troubling cases theyve ever investigated. The M.E.s office is conducting one of at least three active investigations into the babys death. Its tough for the police department to have to look at these pictures, Byars said. Byars said in a statement Thursday that workers at Willie A. Watkins funeral home were the first to tell the childs parents, Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr., that the baby was decapitated and encouraged them to get a private autopsy performed. Officials with the funeral home then notified the Clayton County M.E.s office more than three days after the baby died, Byars said. We are grateful for (the funeral homes) call, because the incident had not yet been reported to us, Byars said. I really want to thank Willie A. Watkins for being brave enough and bringing this to our attention. State law requires doctors and medical staff to report certain hospital deaths to the M.E.s office, something investigators said medical staff failed to do. After being notified of the death by the funeral home, Byars office took jurisdiction of the death investigation and contacted the GBI Medical Examiners Office to request they also perform an autopsy. The autopsy was performed on July 14 and is pending review. Byars said his office is currently questioning several doctors and nurses who played a role in the case. I dont think we can imagine what the family is going through, Byars said. The truth will come out, whatever that might be when its all said and done. The lawsuit claims that on the day of the birth, the baby didnt descend through the birth canal due to shoulder dystocia, a condition that happens when one or both of a babys shoulders get stuck during delivery. There is no documentation of any nurse or Dr. St. Julian activating any emergency obstetrical protocol in a timely manner after the shoulder dystocia was recognized, the lawsuit claims. The lawsuit states that about an hour before the baby was eventually delivered by C-section, fetal heart tones stopped. According to the lawsuit, doctors actively tried to cover up what had happened by telling them they didnt have the right to a free autopsy, encouraging cremation and concealing what happened when they asked to see the child. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] When they wrapped the baby up tightly, they propped the babys head on top of the blanket to make it appear like the head was attached when it wasnt, attorney Dr. Roderick Edmond said. The Clayton M.E.s office said they have notified the Georgia Composite Medical Board of the incident and requested that they also investigate three doctors roles in the babys death. They are also notifying the Georgia Secretary of States Office Board of Nursing and are requesting they investigate the nursing staffs role in the childs death. State medical records reveal that St. Julian has had her license to practice in Georgia since 2004. She has hospital privileges at Southern Regional and Piedmont Fayette. There were no disciplinary actions reported on her license. If shes charged in the case, St. Julian and other staff could face charges of failure to report a death, concealing a death and involuntary manslaughter. The United States Coast Guard rescued three people from a sinking tug boat in North Myrtle Beach. Just after 1 p.m. Wednesday, the Coast Guard tweeted that the 59-foot boat sank about three miles off the coast Tuesday night. #USCG & partner agency crews are responding to a 59-foot push tug that sank Tuesday night 3 miles off North Myrtle Beach, #SouthCarolina. The vessel has reportedly 5,000 gal of diesel fuel on board. There are no reports of shoreline impacts and salvage coordination is ongoing. pic.twitter.com/uVnSvKXaRW USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) August 9, 2023 ALSO READ: 5 hurt in Sea-Doo crash on Mountain Island Lake, investigators say The boat reportedly had 5,000 gallons of fuel on board. However, there were no injuries. The Coast Guard said there have been no reports of any impact on the shoreline and they are still working to salvage the wrecked tug boat. VIDEO: 5 hurt in boating accident at riverbend landing in Mount Holly, GEMS says The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation has declared that the activities of the Conflict Intelligence Team of Internet investigators are undesirable in Russia. Source: Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation on Telegram Quote from the Russian agency: "According to the results of a study of materials received, a decision was made to recognise the activities of the foreign non-governmental organisation Conflict Intelligence Team (Network Association of Investigative Journalists), [from] Ukraine, as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation." Details: According to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, the digital platform, which was originally called War in Ukraine, was created by Russian citizen Ruslan Karpuk. It is reported that he is currently hiding abroad from criminal prosecution, together with members of the FBK organisation banned in the Russian Federation. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office calls the CIT investigators "pseudo-journalists", whose main purpose is allegedly to collect and publish information about the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and discredit the occupying army. Conflict Intelligence Team is a group of independent investigators and an electronic platform that emerged in 2014 among the Russian opposition. It is engaged in open-source investigations. Until September 2015, the group was called War in Ukraine, as it was initially focused on covering Russian military operations on the territory of Ukraine. Since the end of October 2021, CIT investigators have been monitoring the accumulation of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine, and in early 2022, they confirmed Western intelligence information about the future invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! A Connecticut police officer trapped inside a moving stolen vehicle shot and killed a suspect after he resisted "repeated efforts and orders" to bring it to a stop, a police chief says. The Connecticut Office of Inspector General is now investigating the officer-involved shooting that unfolded this week on a busy street in West Hartford, a suburb of the state capital. The chaos began Tuesday when police first received a report of a stolen vehicle that afternoon, according to The Associated Press. They used tire-deflation devices to try and stop it, but the vehicle kept moving before eventually crashing. Two suspects ran off from the vehicle on foot and one was captured and arrested. The second suspect ran to a nearby car service center and fought with an employee in a service bay while trying to steal a second vehicle, West Hartford Police Chief Vernon Riddick Jr. said Wednesday during a press conference. When an officer arrived at that scene, he got into the vehicle with his police dog during an attempt to arrest the suspect. The suspect, however, drove off with the officer inside, police said. The stolen vehicle hit a police cruiser and another vehicle before the officer ultimately fired his gun, according to Riddick. CONNECTICUT MAN CHARGED WITH ASSAULTING LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER DURING JAN. 6 CAPITOL PROTEST Police in West Hartford, Connecticut, investigate the scene of a shooting on Tuesday. "He was inside the vehicle. The vehicle took off across the street and inside the vehicle he discharged his weapon," Riddick said, noting that "repeated efforts and orders to stop the vehicle" were made by the officer before the shooting. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP That officer, who has not been publicly identified, suffered head injuries after the vehicle crashed into a telephone pole, Riddick said. The suspect who was shot received CPR at the scene and later was pronounced dead at a local hospital. CONNECTICUT TV ANCHOR REVEALS PAINFUL SECRET ABOUT MOTHERS DEATH THAT KEPT HER OFF AIR West Hartford Police Chief Vernon Riddick Jr. told reporters Wednesday that the officer involved in the shooting had tried to get the suspect to stop the vehicle. The man who was arrested by police during the incident was identified by Fox61 as Lyle Solsbury, 47, of West Hartford. The station said he has been charged with interfering with an officer, larceny of a motor vehicle and conspiracy to commit larceny of a motor vehicle. The name of the suspect who was shot and killed during the incident in West Hartford, Connecticut has not been released. Solsbury was described by the Hartford Courant newspaper as a convicted felon with an extensive criminal record. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A $1.1 million state road project benefiting a business run by a major donor supporting Democratic Gov. Andy Beshears re-election was recently moved up to be constructed ahead of schedule. Officials with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet say the move saves time and money on a necessary project and point to the fact that local GOP lawmakers requested it. Some Republicans in the legislature are raising concerns about what happened. Construction on new turning lanes into a road in Laurel County serving a business founded by London Mayor Randall Weddle, who has drawn scrutiny for high-dollar donations to pro-Beshear efforts, was initially set for Fiscal Year 2025. According to internal documents obtained by the Herald-Leader, the cabinet moved it up earlier this year, either in February or March, to be completed in Fiscal Year 2023. The cabinet frames this as a prudent cost-saving measure less money is projected to be spent than was previously estimated but Republican legislators involved in the road planning process question why this decision was made on this particular project. My colleagues and I prioritized available road fund money to meet as many needs as possible, so I am troubled by the administration using $1.1 million to move a project ahead appearing to benefit someone who made a $200,000 illegal political contribution, Senate Transportation Committee Chair Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, said. This type of conflict erodes the confidence taxpayers have in their elected officials, he added. The transportation cabinet pushed back hard on this characterization in statements from the cabinet spokesperson, the secretary and the chief district engineer on the turning lane project. Aside from cost savings due to the cabinet discovering that earlier phases leading up to construction were found to be unnecessary, the cabinet also points out that Republican legislator Sen. Brandon Storm, R-London, specifically asked for the project after it was not included in the initial funding bill in 2022. Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary and former Lexington mayor Jim Gray called Higdons statement on the intersection project baseless. The Governor had nothing to do with the decision to advance this project. It was requested by a member of the senators own caucus and it was done to improve traffic safety, Gray said. Weddle recently drew scrutiny for donations made to Beshears campaign and the Kentucky Democratic Party (KDP) totalling more than $200,000, far exceeding the legal limit for individual contributions. In May, Weddle and his wife gave $75,000 to the Democratic Governors Association, the largest outside group supporting Beshear this year in his re-election race against Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron. The intersection at the crossing of U.S. Route 25 and KY Route 1006 near London leads into the industrial park where WB Transport, the freight and logistics business founded by Weddle, is located. A FedEx warehouse also operates in the industrial park, which is located next to the London-Corbin regional airport. Sean Southard, a spokesperson for the Republican Party of Kentucky and the Cameron campaign, echoed the concerns of Higdon. The Beshear administration has prioritized a project that personally benefits the business of a donor who made $200,000 in illegal campaign contributions. It doesnt get much worse than this, Southard said in a statement sent after the initial publication of this story. Did the decision make sense? Cabinet spokesperson Chuck Wolfe said moving construction ahead was an incredibly responsible decision to expeditiously address a safety need. Wolfe also provided an official request from Storm asking for the project in early 2022 and stating that increased industrial traffic has created a need for additional storage for traffic turning at the intersection of KY 1006 and US 25. Storm has not responded to requests for comment on the matter. A copy of Sen. Brandon Storms, R-London, request for improvements at the intersection serving the industrial park where London Mayor Randall Weddles business is located. The project was not included in the road plan bill promoted by the governor the legislature has largely ignored the appropriations bills he proposes in favor of their own but was added later in the 2022 legislative session after Storms request. Wolfe also mentioned that Rep. Tom ODell Smith, R-Corbin, was involved in advocating for the project. Smith, who represents the southern part of Laurel County including the industrial park, confirmed that to the Herald-Leader. He stated that the areas economic development director, Paula Thompson, was the leading force who brought it to others in Frankfort. I have no idea how anything else developed from there, all I know is that it was put in the budget and we put a request in for it to be done. Ive slept since then, but thats what I know about that project, Smith said. Funding on the intersection project, $1.4 million according to the two-year road plan enacted in 2022, was initially assigned to preliminary expenses for the two years following the legislator-approved road plan passed in 2022. As of May, $1.1 million has been allocated for construction at the intersection, with no money for the preliminary expenses like right of way and utility movement costs according to internal documents obtained by the Herald-Leader. In late July, Wolfe told the Herald-Leader that some utility movement work may now be necessary for the project. The cabinet said that when those expenses were found to be unneeded at the time, it made the discretionary decision to shift that money toward construction. Chief District Engineer Chris Jones said in a statement that the decision made sense for several reasons. I made the recommendation to speed up the project to save money and time and improve safety. The project was advocated by Senator Storm, who obtained a cost estimate for it from our district staff. The Governor was not involved in any of the decision making and I had no knowledge of any political contributions, Jones said. Smith said hes worked with Jones office in Manchester and the director has been great to work with. Higdon, who has held his transportation chair position since late 2020, said its his understanding that money cant be moved up to construction. I have always been told monies cannot be moved to the next phase without being appropriated, Higdon said. Higdon stressed that money was not appropriated or assigned to construction so soon in both the final version of 2022s House Bill 242, which appropriates road funding for the next two years, as well as the enacted highway plan, which mirrors that document and projects funding for the following four years. He acknowledged that Storm made the official request for the project, but doubled down on the cabinet not following standard practice as hes known it. Senator Storm came to me with his priorities and we gave him part of it. Before it was modified, on this particular project we gave him the design, right of way and utilities Our job is to appropriate the funds. (The cabinets) job is to take what we appropriate and then use it as directed. There was no money appropriated for this job beyond design, right of way and utilities. Im telling you the way the system is supposed to work, and they didnt do it the way it was supposed to work, Higdon said. Weddles office responded to questions about the project stating that it was needed, and that many stakeholders in the community fought for it way before any building was built or before any company was inside this park. Indeed, a Facebook post from the London-Laurel County Economic Development Authority from Dec. 2021 quotes the executive director saying Ive been asking for a turning lane for a long time, and now its going to become unsafe. The London mayors office agreed. Greer Park has two transportation companies in it, not just one. FedEx and WB Transportation both created enough traffic on 1006 that something needed to be done to address safety concerns for both companies, but primarily the community, Weddles office said in a statement. The main entrance to Greer Industrial Park, where WB Transport is located, sits at the intersection of U.S. Route 25 and KY 1006 pictured above. Is this normal? It is not uncommon for changes to be made to the road plan, which is enacted every two years. A six-year plan lays out a vision for projects across the state, whereas a two-year road plan actually allocates funds for projects in the next two years, or the biennium. Cost overruns and underruns happen frequently, according to multiple copies of the highway plan status update reviewed by the Herald-Leader. Its also not uncommon for projects slated for funding in later phases to get state funding for an earlier phase, like design, should the need arise. Additionally, projects not in the enacted plan do get state funding authorized by the cabinet from time to time. Many of those come from buckets of money allocated by the state for the cabinet to use at its discretion. Around $65 million each year in statewide safety and hazard-mitigation funding was allocated to the cabinet. Various projects near schools many of them low-dollar relative to other highway plan projects have gotten authorization to use those funds. For example, a handful of Lexington school safety signs got funded this way; same goes for a half-million dollar design and construction project for turn lanes into Caldwell County Schools. However, it is rare for a project to get moved up to the construction phase ahead of schedule, as was the case at the intersection of US 25 and KY 1006. In a review of more than 3,000 projects in a highway plan status update from May, the Herald-Leader could only find two other projects that had been slated for later completion but whose construction phase was moved up using state funds. When asked to provide an example of a project similarly getting moved up, cabinet spokesman Wolfe pointed to Republican Rep. James Tiptons bridge on the Anderson/Spencer county line. An example of that is Rep. James Tiptons bridge on the Anderson/Spencer county line. We did the same thing for the KY 1006 project to alleviate a public safety issue that had been discussed for many years. Wolfe said. Unlike the Laurel County intersection project, that bridge project was added to the status update without being included in the enacted highway plan. Higdon pointed out that the legislature appropriates pools of money to be doled out at the secretarys discretion unexpected repairs on roads and bridges, safety, urgent bridge replacement and school turn lanes, among those reasons. House Budget Review Subcommittee on Transportation Chair Ken Upchurch, R-Monticello, joined Higdon in questioning the move and asked why have a road plan if you arent going to follow it? Any deviation from this plan invites questions about what motivated the governors staff and naturally calls into question why they failed to follow the properly enacted and prioritized road budget. I think we are all concerned about a potential erosion in the integrity of a system weve worked to bring transparency and credibility to, Upchurch said in a statement. Who is Weddle? Weddle is a business owner new to the political scene statewide and as a figure in the London area. In a four-year stretch from 2018 to 2021, Weddle and his wife have bought nine properties in Laurel County for a total of roughly $1.7 million. In 2022, he won a hotly contested mayoral race as a political newcomer after raising more than $350,000 for his campaign, most of which he loaned to himself. Starting in Dec. 2021, a series of donations linked to Weddle namely through business or family ties was made to the KDP and Beshears campaign. Roughly $690,000 in donations to either group with some ties to Weddle and/or his reverse logistics and liquidation industry was flagged by the Kentucky Lantern in the first story on Weddles support for Beshear and the KDP. The donations given to Beshear and KDP on Weddles credit card were returned once the issue was flagged by Weddle and his wife. A Republican, Weddle also gave $500 in 2019 to former GOP governor Matt Bevin in his re-election bid against Beshear and $2,000 to Republican candidate for commissioner of agriculture Jonathan Shell early 2022. Weddles reverse logistics industry has proven to be lucrative. Reverse logistics is the business of handling customer returns, where items returned often end up being recycled or refurbished and sold to another customer. In an interview, Weddle said his company handles reverse logistics for some of the largest retailers in the United States and Europe and owns six companies that operate in that space. The 200,000 square foot warehouse employing around 200 people was lauded in news reports when it launched as an economic development win. It sits on land owned by JRD London, a company whose sole member is Weddle. The value of the property exceeds $10 million, according to the Laurel County Property Value Administrators (PVA) office. In an April story by the Kentucky Lantern, which probed Weddles donations before he self-reported campaign finance violations, Weddle told the outlet that he had sold WB Transport and its related reverse logistics company two years ago. However, in a Fall 2022 sworn affidavit provided to KREF while defending against the complaint that initiated the investigation, Weddle said that he owned half of Reverse Logistics Management, LLC, a company based in Kentucky and Missouri, where Weddle has business ties. Weddle did not respond to a question sent through a spokesperson asking him to square the two statements. Weddle is currently under investigation by the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance (KREF) for hosting a free gas giveaway during the 2022 campaign season when he first won the mayoral seat in London, among other conduct during that election. Beshear appointed Weddle to a spot on the advisory board of the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC), a research hub at the University of Kentucky College of Engineering, on June 10 2022. He had submitted his application to join the board just four days earlier on June 6. That application includes Weddles personal information, but is otherwise blank. No information on his education, general qualifications or resume was provided. Now, Weddle no longer appears as a member on the boards website. Though no record exists of a resignation at the cabinet or the Governors office, KTC Director Doug Kreis told the Herald-Leader thats because, to his knowledge, Weddle has never showed up to a board meeting in person. I dont think Ive met the gentleman and certainly he hasnt had any influence on the way that KTC has been run, Kreis said. Herald-Leader Frankfort Bureau Chief Tessa Duvall contributed to this report. I am a retired San Diego Police Officer, so I understand that policing is a dangerous and difficult job. But I also know what it is to lose a family member in a police shooting. My son Jeremy was shot and killed by a Star police officer on June 15, 2022. It is my contention that the only legitimate way to hold law enforcement accountable to the public is with a Citizen Review Board. All law enforcement officers are covered under qualified immunity because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling due to the nature of their job. However, that immunity should not give them the right to become judge, jury, and executioner. Their primary oath is to preserve life. Part of the process of reviewing critical incidents should require unbiased investigation and review. An unbiased investigation will not be the result if the investigation is led by law enforcement in any capacity (active or retired officers, prosecutors or even city officials). Thats true even when the investigation is turned over to an uninvolved agency as stated in the Ada Countys CITF statement. The outside prosecutor in our sons case was previously an Ada County prosecutor for 15 years. Law enforcement is intertwined. Boise PD officers will respond to a call from any agency in Ada County. A prosecutor relies on law enforcement to win cases. City officials have a political agenda, as seen in the firing of the director of Boise Police Accountability. Imagine being an officer in Boise calling for backup. You just spoke up about another officers involvement in an instance where this officer crossed the line of professionalism. You report it to the supervisor. You are blackballed by fellow officers for ratting out another officer. How do you think your next call for backup will go? Will the responding officer show up quickly? Will you be passed up for the next promotion? The only way law enforcement will be held accountable is by unbiased, non-law enforcement, non-city officials including legal counsel by citizens. A citizens review board, in this case the Commission for Accountability of Treasure Valley Law Enforcement, needs to be established. This board would have the ability to write subpoenas, review reports, review investigations, ask questions of all involved and come to a recommendation separately from any CITF or internal investigations by the agency. The recommendation would then be forwarded to the head of the agency involved. The recommendations should be followed judiciously. This would improve transparency with the public, initiate new policies and procedures, and provide improved training for officers. This will lead to increased trust with the public, as happened when body cameras became widely worn, and put agencies on notice that they and their officers will be held accountable. Along with this transparency, families should be able to get information regarding the incident and the progress of the investigation. It took 10 months for the investigation of my sons shooting to be completed. Then Ada County Sheriffs made a public announcement via media that they were releasing video and reports of the incident. Not once was our family contacted by Ada County regarding the investigation except in response to our requests for information, to which their response was no. Law enforcement wants to control the narrative. We also requested video from the investigation after it was completed, to which their response was: We will give you redacted versions for $2,000. The review board will give families the opportunity to get updates in real-time not hindering the investigation process, giving them answers to their questions and most importantly comfort. In our situation, officers involved had already made a determination prior to the incident. They predicted a not good outcome before they created the scenario that ended with them taking my sons life unnecessarily. As we stated in our media release in response to CITF report, had they followed policy and procedures they would have intervened in what they knew was a crisis situation for my son at our home and taken numerous other avenues to help him. They chose not to. A public outcry from the citizens of the Treasure Valley is what is needed to stop these officer-involved shootings from occurring more frequently. As I write this another Boise Police Officer has been involved in the departments 6th shooting this year. From 2015 to 2022, 71 lives have been taken. What can you do? Call your mayor, city council and state legislators. Write to Ada County Commissioners. Contact the ACLU and the State Attorney General Raul Labrador. Insist that a Commission for Accountability of Treasure Valley Law Enforcement be established, that follows the guidelines of the Department of Justice Citizens Review of Police Approaches. Skip Banach is a retired police officer. His son was killed in an officer-involved shooting in Star in 2022. It was a battle as ferocious as one might expect in a Hudson Valley farmers market. This Sunday, in Rhinebeck, New York, an octogenarian backer of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. squared off against a group of local Democrats, who were there in support of Kennedys octogenarian rival, Joe Biden. The Democrats had permission to set up a table at the market. The Kennedy booster, 83-year-old Frank Stoppenbach, did not, but he decided to plant himself right next to them. When people came up, he talked to them about, you know, vaccines are bad, and masking is bad, and all the stuff that RFK says, claimed Larry Cox, a member of the pro-Biden contingent. The problem is that, being right next to us, people were thinking that he was part of us. The squabbling grew so bitter that Rhinebecks police departmentan entirely part-time forcewas forced to get involved to cool things down. The dispute, previously reported by the Hudson Valley Pilot, was at once a hyper-local issue and a microcosm of agitation about Kennedy inside the Democratic Party. Kennedy Clan Comes Out Against RFK Jr.s Latest Outrage Though he is running as a Democrat, Kennedy polls substantially better among Republicans, according to an analysis by FiveThirtyEight. He has alienated some liberal voters thanks to a series of controversies; most recently, several members of his own family rebuked him after he implied that Jewish and Chinese people had outsize immunity to COVID-19. Bidens supporters worry that Kennedys candidacy could tilt the general election toward the eventual GOP nomineeassuming Kennedy runs as a third-party candidate. That may explain why he is receiving millions of dollars in support from a billionaire who once backed Donald Trump, and why some members of the Republican field have praised him. Warren Smith, chair of the Rhinebeck Democratic Committee, offered a similar take to contextualize the farmers market dust-up. Generally speaking, Smith said, disagreement about whom to nominate for president would be normal, but this is kind of a different thing, because RFK Jr. has staked out a position that is on the fringes of the party. Stoppenbach, a registered Democrat, flatly disagreed. Why there should be any dispute about the nomination being contested, I cant understand, he said. At least some local Democrats are also on his side. Roger Quon, another member of the Rhinebeck Democratic Committee, argued that the group should be seen as a place for all Democratsincluding Stoppenbach and Kennedy. We can disagree with [Kennedy] on one or many points, but thats the essence of democracy, he said. In Stoppenbachs view, he was simply engaging in constitutionally protected speech to increase awareness about Kennedy and to lobby for a Democratic primary debate. He also disputed that he was antagonizing the Biden backers. I simply park where people come by, he said. I guess there may have been some people not happy with having a Kennedy appearance at the market. DeSantis Backs Away From Appointing RFK Jr. His CDC or FDA Chief Stoppenbach, by his own account, has been politically active for a long time, very unsuccessfully I must say. He ran three times for county legislator, losing each time, and launched a failed bid for Congress during the 2002 election. Stoppenbach said he was attracted to Kennedy because of their shared belief that the war in Ukraine could have been resolved diplomatically and their skepticism about the safety of coronavirus vaccines. (The Centers for Disease Control, National Institutes of Health, and World Health Organization have labeled the vaccines safe and effective, with rare adverse side effects.) Cox suggested that Stoppenbach is overstating his reasonableness. We asked him to move some other place so that people wouldn't be confused, which he didn't want to do, he recalled. Distressed, the Biden supporters put up a poster that read, We do not support RFK. We don't want to be associated in any way with RFK, Jr., and especially with his views, which we all agree are abhorrent and crazy, Cox explained. Echoed Smith: Dont try to claim the mantle of our support for your candidate. The anti-RFK Jr. poster blocked some of Stoppenbachs signage, and according to Cox, he got very agitated about that. Eventually, cooler heads prevailed, and the easel was moved away. Cox downplayed the disagreement. It wasn't any sort of, as far as I know, any physical confrontation. Just an old guy with crazy ideas. Which, you know, there's no shortage of in the United States these days. Stoppenbach is mulling whether hell return to the farmers market next week. Im 83 years old, so I dont quite have the energy I did when I was a young guy running for Congress, he said. But, he added. You never know. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Mary Todd, 21, became the fourth assailant to be arrested in the fallout of Saturdays viral brawl on the riverfront in Montgomery, Alabama, with cops revealing Thursday that she had been booked on a charge of third-degree assault. Footage from the scene appears to show Todd, who is white, wearing a purple t-shirt and kicking a Black riverboat co-captain as he was being jumped by three white men, prompting a massive melee divided along racial lines that ended with 13 people being detained. NBC via YouTube Todd joins Richard Roberts, 48, Allen Todd, 23, and Zachery Shipman, 25, who are also facing charges of assault in the third degree. Roberts turned himself in on Tuesday, and Allen Todd and Shipman were booked Wednesday night after going on the lam for a day. A police spokesperson told The Daily Beast that Todd turned herself in to police and was being held at the municipal jail on Thursday. Cops did not reveal what relationship she has, if any, with Allen Todd. While Todd is shown throwing a kick in the attack that preceded the brawl, she didnt fare as well once her group became outnumbered. Footage appeared to show her getting punched as someone pulled her hair. At another point, she turned to get away but it appeared she was then punched in the facesending her to the ground. She then retreated to the safety of the pontoon boat. From left to right, mugshots for Allen Todd, 23, Richard Roberts, 48, and Zachery Shipman, 25. Montgomery Police Department Mary Todds arrest came just hours after a witness statement from riverboat co-captain Damien Pickett emerged, providing first-hand insight into Saturdays chaos. Pickett reportedly told cops he was just doing my job when he tried to move a pontoon boat slightly forward so that his passenger ferry, the Harriott II, could dock in its reserved spot. Cops say the pontoon boats owners had refused to move the vessel for 45 minutesand even flicked off the ferrydespite repeated pleas for them to move just a couple of feet. Just before punches began flying, Pickett claimed to police that one of the now-arrested men yelled, If you touch my boat, Im going to beat your ass, WSFA reported Thursday, citing his witness statement. Pickett told cops that Roberts, the pontoon boats owner, was the first man to confront him. He got in Picketts face so Pickett said he threw off his hat and prepared to fight, but was quickly tackled to the grounda scene captured on dozens of videos now seen around the world. During that struggle, as the three men wailed on him, Pickett claimed one of his assailants told him, Im going to kill you, motherfucker. Pickett recalled that he grabbed someone and held on for dear life as he tried to protect himself. Help arrived quickly from bystanders and colleaguesone of whom swam from the undocked Harriott IIand the tables quickly turned on the white men. I was holding on when they pulled him, Pickett recalled of help arriving to save him. I looked up, and two people was pulling [the assailants] off, a tall gentleman and a security guard. I fell to the ground again, and the security [guard] grabbed me. Once up, Pickett said he yelled for a deckhand to throw him a line so he could dock the ferry and unload its dozens of passengers. That ended up adding more fuel to the fire, with enraged passengers yelling and arguing as Picketts colleagues stepped in to avenge his attack. Pickett recalls things getting especially hairy at that moment. He told police he turned and saw his sister being choked out by Robertsso he leaped into action again. I hit [Roberts], grabbed her, and turned around, he said in the statement. [Then] MPD had a taser in my face. I told [the officer] I was attacked and said, Can I finish my job? Because the back of the boat wasnt tied. Once the dust settled, Pickett said he finished docking the ferry and rushed its passengers off, apologizing for the inconvenience. He says he told cops he had pain in his head, so he was taken to a hospital. Doctors determined he had bruised ribs and a lump on his head, but no serious injuries. Riverboat Captain: Wild Dockside Attack on My Deckhand WAS Racially Motivated While police maintained they didnt have enough evidence to file hate crime charges, witnesses claimed that race played a factor. One womanwatching the chaos from the ferrytold cops she heard the trio of white suspects yelling f**k that n***er just moments before they began beating Pickett. From her perch on the ferrys second deck, the witness reportedly told cops she saw her 16-year-old son dive into the Alabama River to swim to the dock and help Pickett. Moments later, the teen was entangled in the fightat one point being punched in the chest so hard, his mom told cops she watched him stumble away, clearly injured. Right after that blow, the woman reportedly told cops, she heard one of the suspects say he was getting his gun, but the ordeal ended with no shots fired. The Harriott IIs captain, Jim Kittrell, told The Daily Beast on Tuesday that he also believed the Pickett was attacked because hes Black. It makes no sense to have six people try to beat the snot out of you just because you moved their boat up a few feet, Harriott II skipper Jim Kittrell told The Daily Beast. In my opinion, the attack on Damien was racially motivated. Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert did say, however, that he expects more arrests and charges to be doled out in the brawls aftermath. In a press conference Tuesday, he also called on Reggie Gray, a 42-year-old Black man accused of wielding a folding chair in the chaos, to come forward for further questioning. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Rep. Cori Bush, a member of the progressive "Squad" group in the House, was widely panned by conservatives this week after posting a tribute to Michael Brown that blamed racism and White supremacy for his death. "Today is the 9th anniversary of Mike Browns killing," Bush tweeted on Wednesday . "He would be alive today if the institutions of racism and white supremacy were eradicated. He should be alive today. We will never forget. We will continue to fight for justice and accountability." The tweet was immediately blasted on social media by those pointing out more details of the incident, including the fact that Brown robbed a convenience store, physically assaulted a police officer and tried to grab his gun before ultimately being killed by that officer. "This only goes to show how the Left plays the long game," political commentator Matt Walsh tweeted. "The whole Michael Brown narrative has been definitively exposed as a hoax but they will keep repeating it year after year after year until we get tired of correcting it and the truth is forgotten by history." CORI BUSH SLAPPED WITH ETHICS COMPLAINT ALLEGING SHE ABUSED GOVERNMENT RESOURCES FOR CAMPAIGN PURPOSES Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., speaks to reporters after a House vote on Capitol Hill. "He choked a bodega owner in the act of shoplifting and attempted to assault the responding police officer while grabbing his firearm," the Spectators Stephen L. Miller tweeted. "Eric Holder's justice department cleared the officer of any wrongdoing." READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP 'SQUAD' MEMBER CORI BUSH: SAYING YOU ARE 'ANTI-WOKE' MEANS YOU ARE 'ANTI-BLACK' Rep. Cori Bush, a member of the progressive "Squad" group in the House, was widely panned by conservatives this week after posting a tribute to Michael Brown that blamed racism and White supremacy for his death. Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, nine years ago in a shooting that sparked nationwide outrage and riots over what activists said was an example of police brutality. Browns death sparked major civil unrest in Ferguson, where many protesters chanted "hands up, dont shoot" in reference to discredited witnesses who said Browns hands were up when the fatal shots were fired. An investigation by former President Obama's Justice Department found in March 2015 that the police officer, Darren Wilson, had been acting in self-defense and cleared the officer, and it found that the officers actions "do not constitute prosecutable violations under the applicable federal criminal rights statute." "Although there are several individuals who have stated that Brown held his hands up in an unambiguous sign of surrender prior to Wilson shooting him dead, their accounts do not support a prosecution of Wilson," the Obama DOJs investigative report read. Cori Bush, D-Mo. "As detailed throughout this report, some of those accounts are inaccurate because they are inconsistent with the physical and forensic evidence; some of those accounts are materially inconsistent with that witness's own prior statements with no explanation, credible or otherwise, as to why those accounts changed over time," it continued. Fox News Digital's Houston Keene contributed to this report. Editors Note: This article contains mentions of domestic violence. Please take care while reading, and note the helpful resources at the end of this story. A couple filmed themselves following a car without a license plate after they noticed the woman in the passenger seat was flashing the universal help signal for domestic violence victims. The TikTok racked up over 16 million views, but TikTok users are questioning whether the video was completely staged. In the clip, a woman in a nearby car seems to be intentionally holding her hand up to the window with her thumb tucked into her palm and then repeatedly folding her fingers down to cover her thumb. According to the World Bank, the single-handed gesture was originally created to address the rise in domestic violence cases during COVID-related self-isolation when victims could silently alert others over a video call or in-person. Credit: tonylovesangel / TikTok Tony Hernandez and Angel Porrino, the couple behind the video, typically post more lighthearted content like prank videos or hack tutorials. But a number of their top-performing videos include them capturing a fight breaking out at the post office, unidentified surveillance footage of a drunk woman allegedly almost getting kidnapped and another video of a woman in a public place asking for help. None of the posts disclose whether they are staged or whether they came from another source. In their most recent video, Porrino, who is driving, can be heard telling Hernandez that she saw a woman in a passing car do that signal for help, so they pulled up next to the car to look again. She did it again, she did it again, Porrino said. What do we do? Hernandez suggested they drop back behind the car and follow them. At one point Porrino can be heard speaking as if on the phone with a 911 operator. Hi, Id like to report I think a situation of domestic abuse, Porrino said. We just saw this woman in a car and she signaled for help. After Porrino said goodbye, she told Hernandez that she was told they shouldnt continue following the car. What if they dont find her? Hernandez asked. The couple continued to follow the car until it turned into a gas station. In their self-described thrilling follow-up, the driver of the car left to go inside and the couple drove up to the passenger side of the car. Thats when Porrino got out, opened the womans door and had her get into the backseat of the couples car. The woman says something in a different language and then the footage ends. Commenters seemed skeptical about the legitimacy of the video. Multiple of the top comments on the first TikTok includes an accusation about the situation being staged. Some were confused by the alleged 911 call, with several asking the creators why the dispatcher didnt stay on the line with them. They took the info and said dont follow, the couple responded in a comment. They didnt seem that concerned. Maybe they deal with too many crazy people making drama. In the comment section of the second video, the couple wrote they were not actors. What is this a real thing or a simulation like an example of it or something to raise awareness? one person asked. Yes, the couple answered, not clearing anything up. Hernandez eventually posted another TikTok directly in response to one of the top comments that read Stage. You think that youre having this big aha moment but youre missing the point of this video completely, he said. This video is doing good, right, is teaching a lesson. He explained that commenters who were calling the video fake were discrediting the message. You should be straight up embarrassed, Hernandez continued. Even if youre like, Oh its staged or even if you think that or want to pitch that, just take this message [of the hand signal] and learn it and look out for it. While Hernandez did not explicitly deny the video was staged, he did add in a comment, Free lesson: When theres outrage and tons of comments, it helps the video go viral. Were raising awareness to masses. Outrage is an effective way to get a lot of attention. New York University associate professor of psychology Jay Van Bavel found that for every moral, emotional word that people use in a tweet it increased the rate of others retweeting by 15% to 20%. However, social media users, particularly young ones, are prioritizing authenticity in their media consumption more than ever before. Audiences dont want to be lied to, even if the lie is raising awareness or teaching a potentially life-saving lesson. We dont care that people get mad about it, as long as it sparks conversation and people talking, the couple wrote in a comment. But some viewers still feel more misled than educated. Commenters accused the two-part series was more about driving views and gaining followers than spreading awareness especially when the couple started answering questions about the alleged aftermath. What happened next? one person asked. A family member met us at the police station, the couple replied. In another comment, they explained, We werent planning to post, so we didnt film anymore. A Google search for a domestic abuse victim being rescued by two strangers in Las Vegas on or around July 30 did not yield any results that matched Hernandez and Porrinos story. According to World Population Review, Nevada has one of the highest percentages of women reporting they experience domestic violence in the U.S. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence or concerning behavior from an intimate partner, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or use the hotlines online chat feature. You can also connect with a Crisis Text Line counselor at no charge by texting the word HOME to 741741. Visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline website to learn the possible warning signs of domestic abuse. In The Know by Yahoo is now available on Apple News follow us here! The post Couple faces backlash after allegedly staging TikTok rescue of domestic violence victim appeared first on In The Know. More from In The Know: Twitch, OnlyFans star shocks fans after revealing she's married and alleging her husband is abusive Doctor shares how easy it is to fall into a toxic relationship: 'Don't say I should have known better' Sad Girls Club: Keeping women safe should not be taboo A couple in Georgia have accused a doctor of using excessive force which allegedly decapitated their baby during delivery. First-time parents Jessica Ross, 20, and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr, 21, claim Tracey St Julian, an ob-gyn specialist, and staff at Southern Regional Medical Center then tried to cover up the the decapitation by propping their son up to make it appear his head was still attached. The couples attorneys announced they were suing Dr St Julian and the hospital in Riverdale, about 13 miles (20kms) south of Georgia, for gross negligence, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress at a press conference on Wednesday. They were so excited about the birth of their first child, attorney Cory Lynch told reporters. Unfortunately, their dreams and hopes turned into a nightmare that was covered up by Southern Regional Medical Center. The hospital said privacy laws prevented it from discussing individual patients, but that it denies the allegations in a statement to the Associated Press. Our commitment is to provide compassionate, quality care to every single patient, and this loss is heartbreaking, it said. According to the lawsuit, the baby became stuck as Ms Ross was giving birth vaginally in the hospital on 9 July. The couple requested a cesarean section, but this was denied and the doctor failed to seek help quickly, according to Mr Lynch. Dr St Julian then applied ridiculously excessive force on the babys head to try to deliver it, attorneys said. The babys mother and father Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr (centre), with attorneys Roderick Edmond (left) and Cory Lynch (right) (AP) The doctor delayed taking Ms Ross for a C-section for three hours, by which time a foetal monitor had stopped recording a heartbeat, according to the suit. The babys legs and body were then delivered by C-section, while the head was delivered vaginally just after midnight on 10 July, attorney Roderick Edmond, who is also a physician, told the press conference. Doctors tried to convince the couple the babys head was still attached by wrapping and propping up his body, the attorneys alleged. Staff at the hospital allegedly discouraged the couple from seeking an autopsy and advised them to have the boy cremated, the lawsuit claims. They only realised their baby had been decapitated when they took it to a funeral home, according to the suit. The case was an example of the increased risk of infant and maternal mortality for Black women, Mr Edmond said. Southern Regional Medical Center told the Associated Press that Dr St Julian was not an employee and it had taken the appropriate steps in response to this unfortunate situation. Dr St Julian is described as a board certified obstetrician and gynecologist and certified robotic surgeon who has been practicing in the Atlanta area since 2005. She is part of the Premier Womens Obgyn healthcare organisation that provides midwifery, fertility and hormone replacement treatment in the Atlanta area. Premier Womens Obgyn did not immediately respond to a request for comment by The Independent. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at Auburn Manufacturing, in Auburn By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Thursday appeared skeptical of the Biden administration's bid to reverse a court order sharply limiting its ability to ask social media companies to remove content that it considers to be misinformation. Daniel Tenny, a lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice, told a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans that U.S. officials never forced social media companies to remove posts about COVID-19, the 2020 election and other topics, as Louisiana and Missouri claimed in a lawsuit. Instead, he said, the government had informed the companies of certain posts that spread harmful misinformation. But Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod said that "irate" messages from officials taking social media companies to task for not removing certain posts quickly enough suggested "a very close working relationship" between the government and the companies. "It's like a supervisor complaining about a worker," she said. Circuit Judge Don Willett said public statements by Biden officials suggesting that social media companies could face antitrust enforcement, or lose immunity from certain lawsuits under federal law, could be seen as threats. "That's a really nice social media platform you got there - it would be a shame if something happened to it," Willett said, describing what he saw as the statements' tone. Elrod and Willett, along with the third member of the panel, Circuit Judge Edith Brown Clement, were all appointed by Republican presidents. Tenny countered that the social media companies mentioned in the lawsuit, including Meta Platform's Facebook, Alphabet Inc-owned YouTube and Twitter, now known as X Corp, regularly refused government requests to remove content. "The notion that the social media companies felt they had to bend to the FBI's will when half the time they didn't - it doesn't fit any of these theories," he said. John Sauer, a lawyer for the states, compared the administration's efforts to the government pressuring publishers to hold mass book burnings. He said that the social media companies gave in to "unrelenting pressure from the most powerful office in the world." The administration is appealing a July 4 ruling, in which U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty sided with the states in finding that the government engaged in an "Orwellian" program to suppress opposing views, including those questioning the efficacy of mask mandates and lockdowns to fight COVID and the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, which Democrat Joe Biden won over Republican incumbent Donald Trump. The Trump-appointed judge, whose courthouse in Monroe has become a favored venue for Republican challenges to Biden's policies, said the "widespread censorship campaign" violated the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment's free speech guarantees. He barred government agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, from talking to social media companies to seek the removal or suppression of content containing protected free speech, with narrow exceptions. The order is currently on hold while the 5th Circuit considers the administration's appeal. (Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Nate Raymond, Aurora Ellis and Alexia Garamfalvi) Utah resident Craig Robertson was killed Wednesday while FBI agents attempted to execute a search and arrest warrant, and officials say the man had made numerous online threats against President Biden and other politicians. Federal law enforcement sources told Fox News that Craig Robertson was killed around 6:15 a.m. Wednesday by FBI agents who were attempting to serve an arrest and search warrant at a Provo, Utah residence. A law enforcement source told Fox News Digital the individual had a weapon. Biden landed in Salt Lake City on Wednesday afternoon for a scheduled visit to the state. Provo is about a 45-minute drive from Salt Lake City. Robertson was charged with interstate threats, influencing, impeding, and retaliating against federal law enforcement officers by threat, and threats against the president, according to a federal complaint filed Monday. Prosecutors allege Robertson posted the following on social media on Monday: "I hear Biden is coming to Utah. Digging out my old ghille suit and cleaning the dust off the m24 sniper rifle. welcom, buffoon-in-chief!" FBI AGENTS KILL MAN IN UTAH WHO ALLEGEDLY THREATENED BIDEN READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP Utah resident Craig Robertson was killed on Wednesday morning while Federal Bureau of Investigation agents attempted to execute a search and arrest warrant, and officials say the man has made numerous online threats against President Biden and other politicians. Robertson's Facebook page, which is no longer visible to the public, showed the Utah man owned "Craig's Custom Woods, LLC." State records indicate the company was registered in June 2020. Robertson was married twice, according to online obituaries, and has three children. Robertson divorced his first wife in 1986, then remarried in 1988. His second wife died on April 20, 2008. Law enforcement investigate the scene of a shooting involving the FBI Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023 in Provo, Utah. A man accused of making threats against President Joe Biden was shot and killed by FBI agents hours before the president was expected to land in the state Wednesday, authorities said. Federal prosecutors outlined several of the alleged threats that Robertson made to politicians. "ALVIN BRAGG. Heading to New York to fulfill my dream of iradicating [sic] another of George Soros two-but political hach [sic] DAs. Ill be waiting in the courthouse parking garage with my suppressed Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm to smoke a radical fool prosecutor that should never have been elected. I want to stand over Bragg and put a nice hole in his forehead with my 9mm and watch him twitch as a drop of blood oozes from the hole as his life ebbs away to hell!! BYE, BYE, TO ANOTHER CORRUPT B-----D!!!" Robertson allegedly wrote in one social media post. "The time is right for a presidential assassination or two. First Joe then Kamala!!!" Robertson allegedly wrote on September 19, 2022. EX-FBI LEADER INVOLVED IN TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE MAY CHANGE PLEA IN CHARGES FOR WORKING WITH RUSSIAN OLIGARCH Robertson's Facebook page, which is no longer available to the public, show that the Utah man owned "Craig's Custom Woods, LLC." State records indicate that the company was registered in June 2020. "Death to Joe Biden," he allegedly wrote in another social media post on September 23, 2022. In one Facebook post, Robertson allegedly described himself as a "MAGA TRUMPER." "Hey Merrick Garland, you Demented Weasel, Send your FBI Swat Team to my house," he wrote. "You won't because I fight back against cowards!!!" Federal law enforcement sources told Fox News that Craig Robertson was killed around 6:15 a.m. on Wednesday morning by FBI agents who were attempting to serve an arrest and search warrant at a Provo, Utah residence. "If I really told you what I'd like to do to Joe Biden Facebook would censor me and the FBI would pay me another visit!!!" he allegedly wrote in another post. On an unspecified date, charging documents stated that Robertson told an FBI agent approaching outside his residence, "Were done here! Dont return without a warrant!" Robertson was charged with interstate threats, influencing, impeding, and retaliating against federal law enforcement officers by threat, and threats against the president, according to a federal complaint filed on Monday. According to federal prosecutors, Robertson also made threats toward California Governor Gavin Newsom. "Another patriotic dream," he allegedly wrote. "I'm standing over Gavin Newsom with a wound above his brow and my suppressed S&W M&P 9mm still smoking. Freedom from stupid day!!!" In a court filing, an FBI agent said Robertson appeared to "own a sniper rifle and a ghillie suit" in addition to numerous other firearms. A spokesperson for the U.S. Secret Service addressed the incident on X, formerly known as Twitter. "We are aware of the FBI investigation involving an individual in Utah who has exhibited threats towards a Secret Service protectee. While we always remain in close coordination with the Bureau, this is an FBI-led effort and we refer any related questions to the FBI and DOJ," the spokesperson wrote. A crew was working in a patch of woods when it stumbled upon human remains, South Carolina officials said. Now, 40-year-old James Michael Smith has been identified as the man who was found dead. He went missing more than two weeks earlier, WHNS and WSPA reported. Smith vanished from the Greenville area on July 20. Then days later on Aug. 1, the Greenville County Sheriffs Office turned to Facebook to ask the public for clues in the case. Though deputies shared few details about Smiths disappearance in their Facebook post, they said he went missing along White Horse Road. Mystery lingered until his skeletal remains were found about 1 mile from where he was last seen. A work crew made the discovery as it was marking wetlands behind the Greenville County Aquatic Complex, deputies said in an Aug. 8 news release. This case is pending an autopsy to determine the manner and cause of death, officials wrote. The Greenville County Coroners Office said its working with deputies to investigate Smiths death. The sheriffs office didnt immediately share additional information about the case with McClatchy News on Aug. 10. Human remains in shallow grave may belong to man missing since 2015, SC officials say Decomposing body discovered when deputies open barrel found at SC lake, coroner says David Hunter leaving court in Paphos after he was released from custody - Victoria Jones/PA David Hunter, the Briton who killed his seriously ill wife, faces a potential return to jail as prosecutors in Cyprus appeal against him being found not guilty of premeditated murder. The 76-year-old told a court in Paphos that he killed his wife Janice in December 2021 only because she had begged him for months to put her out of her misery. The 74-year-old was suffering from blood cancer and a range of other ailments, compelling her to wear adult nappies. At the end of a 17-month trial, he was not convicted of premeditated murder but found guilty of manslaughter. He was sentenced to two years in prison but was released immediately, given he had already spent 19 months behind bars. Mr Hunter, 76, and his family were jubilant, with his lawyers saying they were ecstatic with the result. His daughter, Leslie Cawthorne, said it was the best possible outcome. But on Thursday, the office of Cyprus Attorney General filed an appeal against the ruling of the Paphos court. Prosecutors argue that Mr Hunter should have been convicted of premeditated murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence. No date has been set for the first hearing in the case, which will be heard by a court of appeal in Nicosia. Mr Hunter was shocked to hear that prosecutors are launching the appeal. Hes really shocked. He has been getting on with the grieving process. To go through all of this again is very upsetting, Michael Polak, one of his defence lawyers, told The Telegraph. The appeal, which could take months, was unexpected, said Mr Polak. David Hunter visits the grave of his wife after being released from prison on Cyprus - Victoria Jones/PA Mr Hunter, who visited his wifes grave for the first time the day after he was released from prison, has remained in Cyprus. In emotional testimony, he showed the court how he had killed her by smothering her mouth and nose with his hands. I would never in a million years take my wifes life if she hadnt asked me. I didnt plan it, I swear to God, he told the court. But she said she no longer wanted to live. She begged me. For six weeks she was asking me, 24 hours a day. It was doing my head in. After killing her, he tried but failed to take his own life by swallowing all the pills he could find in the house they shared in a village outside Paphos. They retired there 20 years ago after Mr Hunter spent decades working in a coal mine in his native Northumberland. The couple were childhood sweethearts and had been married for more than 50 years. We are obviously very disappointed with the attorney generals decision to appeal today which gets in the way of David getting on with his life, said Mr Polak on Thursday. He has spent 19 months in prison and faced legal proceedings over that period that would be difficult for anyone, but especially for someone of his age. This is a very sad matter; however it is difficult to see how the continued pursuit of David assists anyone. We will continue to fight for David before the Appeal Court of Cyprus as we have done throughout the lengthy mission to free David. 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. Supporters are cheering a potential partnership between Texas Central and Amtrak to bring a proposed high speed rail between Houston and Dallas, but opponents remain skeptical about the project and its chances of being finished. With speeds above 200 mph, the bullet train would make trips between the the cities in less than 90 minutes. The idea has been in the works for years and got federal approval in 2020 to begin construction. On Wednesday, Texas Central and Amtrak announced theyre evaluating a potential partnership to further study and potentially advance the project. Andy Byford, an Amtrak executive, said in a statement that the corridor offers great potential. We believe many of the countrys biggest and fastest-growing metropolitan areas, like Houston and Dallas, deserve more high quality high-speed, intercity rail service and we are proud to bring our experience to evaluate this potential project and explore opportunities with Texas Central so the state can meet its full transportation needs, Byford said. The companies have applied for federal grants to study and design the proposed project, according to a news release. Amtrak and Texas Central say the high-speed rail would reduce trip times for travelers and offer social, environmental, employment and economic benefits for Texans. Opponents have raised a number of concerns about the project, including a lack of transparency, its impact on private property and costs to taxpayers. A representative from Amtrak was not made available to comment on Thursday. Interview requests sent to Texas Central were not immediately returned. Texas Central CEO Michael Bui said in a statement that the train has the potential to revolutionize rail travel in the southern United States. We appreciate Amtraks continued collaboration and look forward to continuing to explore how we can partner in the development of this important project, Bui said. What is the planned route? The route would go between Houston and Dallas with a stop in College Station. There would be three stations, according to Texas Centrals website. In addition, the North Texas Council of Governments is studying a potential high speed rail line between Fort Worth and Dallas. North Texas Station : In Dallas Cedars neighborhood, south of downtown by the Interstate 30 and Interstate 35 interchange. Brazos Valley Station : In Grimes County on Texas 30. The stations would be about the same distance from College Station and Huntsville, according to Texas Centrals website. Theres also a plan for a shuttle connecting the station to Texas A&M University. Houston Station: U.S. 290 and Interstate 610 in northwest Houston. In 2012, project leaders said they expected the rail to be up and running by 2020 and would not seek public funds, according to The Texas Tribune. In August 2022, The Tribune reported that the project had slowed, though a company spokesperson said it was moving forward land acquisitions had slowed and, according to ENR Texas & Louisana, Texas Centrals board had disbanded and its president and CEO left the company. That year the Texas Supreme Court ruled Texas Central has eminent domain authority. Advocates, lawmakers weigh in Rick Harnish, the executive director of the High Speed Rail Alliance, a Chicago-based advocacy group, called the announcement that Amtrak and Texas Central were working together and seeking potential federal grant dollars a very big step forward. The value that Texas Central has brought to the table by getting the environmental clearance, by getting additional design work done, has really set the stage for Texas gaining a really huge economic asset, Harnish said. And so, its really exciting that theyre continuing to work toward achieving that goal. In a statement, Dallas and Houstons mayors expressed support for the project. Dallas is the engine of the fourth largest and fastest growing region in the nation, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said. It is bold, innovative endeavors like this that will propel Dallas toward an even more prosperous future. A high-speed rail line would revolutionize transportation in our region, serve as a catalyst for economic growth, and enhance connectivity among Texas residents and businesses. Amtrak and Texas Central estimated that the project could bring thousands of construction jobs, as well as long term jobs for operation and maintenance. But opponents remain critical of the proposed rail. Waller County Judge Trey Duhon, president of the advocacy group Texans Against High-Speed Rail, raised concerns about the process for developing and vetting the plan, including a lack of transparency from Texas Central. Jennifer Stevens, a spokesperson for advocacy group ReRoute the Route, worries of potential costs for taxpayers, among other concerns like safety and the route intruding on private property. Our position is theres a way to do this and do it right, but thats using existing right of way, thats being honest and transparent about the funding sources that are going to be required from taxpayers, and thats never happened, Stevens said. Rep. Cody Harris, a Palestine Republican who filed a bill during this past legislative session calling for transparency for rail projects, said there are still steps ahead for the project when it comes to federal permitting. U.S. Rep. Jake Ellzey, a Waxahachie Republican, said in a Wednesday statement, We are a long way from Congress and the Federal Government authorizing the supposed deal between Amtrak and Texas Central to use eminent domain to take Texans property. The two lawmakers issued a joint news release opposing the proposed partnership. Over the coming weeks, my office will be in contact with Amtrak for a detailed explanation of the status of the high-speed rail project and how they view the execution of this project would impact the folks of my district and all of rural Texas, Ellzey said. Harris doubted the project will come to fruition without support from the federal government, the likelihood of which is very, very small. The only way in my opinion that it ever becomes a reality is if they get the full backing of the federal government and federal loans to complete the project, he said. We now have our first look at the hole a Ukrainian drone boat attack left in the side of a Russian tankers ship. A video has emerged showing the aftermath of the drone attack on the Sig, a Russian tanker ship, which took place on August 4, close to the Kerch Bridge. The attack took reportedly took place some 17 miles south of the bridge, near the mouth of the Kerch Strait, damaging the vessel and causing minor injuries to some of the 11 crew. There has been a spate of Ukrainian aerial drone and uncrewed surface vessel (USV) attacks in the area recently and you can read more about what was already known about this incident in The War Zone's previous reporting. https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1689698101315956736?s=20 The full footage in question, seen in the Tweet above, which is around a minute long and was shot in daylight, begins by showing the starboard side of the stern of Sig and then moves along the hull. A tug is seen positioned at each end of the ship, suggesting the tanker might be in the process of being moved or at least secured. This tallies with an earlier TASS report, citing the regional Marine Rescue Coordination Center, which stated that two tugs arrived at the scene of the attack. A look at the damage to the starboard side of Sig. capture via Twitter In the clip, a large, ragged hole as well as what look to be scorch marks, are visible along a section of the starboard side of the hull just above the waterline toward the stern and immediately ahead of the ships superstructure. Again, this aligns with official Russian statements, including one from the Russian maritime transport agency, RosMorRechFlot, which said the vessel had a hole in the area of [the] engine room near the waterline from the starboard side, presumably as a result of an attack by a sea drone. Another view of the hole in the tankers hull. capture via Twitter A wider view of the starboard side of the Sig. capture via Twitter A previous video, included in the Tweet below, of the attack from the drone boats perspective shows it aiming for the same general spot along the Sigs hull. https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1687697906889895936?s=20 Previously, Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed official in Ukraines southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, claimed on his Telegram channel that the resulting explosion left several members of the tankers crew slashed by glass, while adding that there were no deaths as a result of the attack. This cannot be independently verified at this point. https://twitter.com/trbrtc/status/1687605637348220928?s=20 Another report from the Kremlin-connected Rybar Telegram channel claimed that the tankers engine room was flooded. https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1687601547427848193?s=20 This claim was followed by photos from inside the vessel, showing what appeared to be significant damage, including waist-deep black, oily water in the engine room. Topside, the windows on the bridge were shattered and the pilothouse buckled from the shockwave from hundreds of pounds of explosives detonating after the boat contacted the hull. Citing Ukrainian intelligence sources, a report from Reuters claimed that the USVs warhead weighed 450 kilograms, or a little under 1,000 pounds. https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1687639163955253248?s=20 The exact location of Sig currently is unclear. According to information available from the website MarineTraffic, an aggregator that provides real-time information on ship movements, the Sig was still in the approximate area of the attack as of the evening of August 8, the latest date for which information is available. The location of the Sig as of. MarineTraffic.com There are reports that the Sig has been sanctioned for supplying jet fuel to Syria, likely in support of the Russian military aviation presence there. At the time of the latest attack, the vessel was again transporting fuel for the Russian military, a Ukrainian intelligence source told Reuters. This could imply that the tanker was seen by Ukraine as a legitimate military target. Russian maritime traffic around the Kerch Bridge has been subject to several drone attacks in recent weeks, as explosives-laden USVs have become an increasingly popular Ukrainian tactic in the complex campaign fought in and around the Black Sea. The Russian Navy Ropucha class vessel Olenegorsky Gornyak, an amphibious landing ship, also appears to have been badly damaged as the result of a Ukrainian drone attack that took place on August 4, the same day that the Sig was attacked. https://twitter.com/Capt_Navy/status/1689682523843129344?s=20 The Kerch Bridge has already been successfully attacked twice, too, most recently on July 17 by Ukrainian USVs. In the past, a number of Ukrainian drone attacks against Russian warships have reportedly been foiled after the ships and supporting helicopters managed to engage the boats in massed small arms and cannon fire once within visual range. Still, Ukraine has continued to invest heavily in these weapons, rapidly evolving their capabilities. At the same time, a commercial vessel like the Sig presents a much easier target, not normally having organic defenses against these kinds of threats. In addition, while the precise extent of the damage to either ship is unknown, what has been seen of the Sig and the Olenegorsky Gornyak provides new evidence that Ukrainian USVs present very real threats. The Ukrainians have been continuing to expand the size and scope of their drone boat arsenal, including new models, too. Whatever the case, as well as the prized Kerch Bridge, Black Sea Fleet port facilities, and individual ships, like the Sig, are very much now in Ukrainian sights as they seek to hit back against Russian maritime and logistics assets. Contact the author: thomas@thedrive.com Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said on Aug. 10 that no person in Ukraine has been officially included in Ukraine's national register of oligarchs yet, citing the issue of measuring assets during wartime. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law in 2021 that established the legal definition of an oligarch, in order to list these individuals and limit their influence. If named in the register, the person is banned from financing political parties and other political activities, and excluded from the privatization of the state's assets. The law defines an oligarch as having significant influence on media, participates in politics, owns monopolies, and is worth more than Hr 2.27 billion ($61.8 million). However, due to the war, Danilov said in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda that it is "very difficult to understand what happened to certain assets located in the occupied territories," or what will happen to certain assets that are attacked by Russia. In June 2023, the Venice Commission, an advisory body to the Council of Europe, presented similar reasons as to why it recommended that Ukraine postpones the implementation of the law until the war ends. The Russian invasion presents a challenge to assessing the impact of the law on the political and legal system and the commission recognized the destruction of many enterprises had already reduced the influence of oligarchs in Ukraine. Oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, for example, had to give up his media empire and lost half his assets amid the Russian full-scale invasion. His losses included the Mariupol-based Azovstal steel plant, one of the largest in Europe. In response to the commission's advice, Danilov told Ukrainska Pravda that the law was "a matter of national concern" for Ukraine. Danilov had previously said in July 2022 that 86 people fall under the criteria, though he did not reveal their names. After reports that Zelensky stripped oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky of his Ukrainian citizenship, Danilov added that a foreigner can still be recognized as a oligarch as long as he or she falls under at least three out of four criteria specified in the law. The European Commission previously presented the implementation of the law as a condition for Ukraine to join the EU. Read also: Defense Ministry uses martial law to seize oligarchs assets Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Covid-19 cases are on the rise in California and nationally, but the true impact of the surge might be unclear given the ending of the public health emergency. Data from pharmacy chain Walgreens shows a rise in positive test results at its outlets in California, up to 48.3 per cent last month compared to 27 per cent in June. The national average is currently 44.7 per cent across Walgreens 5,000 pharmacies. Hospitalizations are also on the rise in the state, according to the California Department of Public Health. In the week ending 15 August, the average for hospitalised patients over a two-week period was 1,055, whereas the average in the week ending 6 July was 754. The numbers arent as bad as last year last years statewide average of hospitalized patients during the summer was 4,700. Nationally, too, the US has seen an increase in hospital admissions with coronavirus for the first time since December 2022, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noting a 12.5 per cent rise in the week ending 29 July. However, the true extent of this Covid-19 surge is unclear for a number of reasons: the Biden administration, which ended the public health emergency in April, stopped mailing at home Covid tests and insurers are no longer covering coronavirus tests. While the Walgreens data shows an uptick, it does not take into account people who test at home rather than head to a clinic. A new variant, known as EG5 and nicknamed Eris, could be the cause of this mini surge. Dubbed a variant of interest by the World Health Organization, EG5 has accounted for 17.3 per cent of American cases as of 5 August, up from 7.5 per cent in the first week of July and surpassing a number of Omicron descendants like XBB.1.16 (15.6 per cent of cases), XBB.2.23 (11.2 per cent) and XBB.1.5 (10.3 per cent). While the emergency of COVID has been lifted and were no longer in a crisis phase, the threat of COVID is not gone. So, keeping up with surveillance and sequencing remains absolutely critical, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organizations technical lead for COVID-19, said on July 26. Symptoms for Eris are similar to other coronavirus variants: runny or stuffy nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing, sore throat, coughing and changes to smell. According to a report by Fox 11 Los Angeles, scientists believe this new variant is more resistant to antibodies built up from previous strains. And Dr Sharon Nachman, chief of the division of pediatric infectious diseases at Stony Brook Childrens Hospital, told TODAY.com, that this new strain is also more transmissible. If it was equally transmissible, then we wouldnt see it gaining strength number-wise compared to some of the other variants,Dr Nachman said, adding that EG5 is pushing out other Omicron variants. However, vaccines and herd immunity are still believed to be offering some protection from this new variant. U.S. COVID cases are rising is a summer wave imminent? Dr. Mandy Cohen, addresses this and updates on upcoming vaccines and booster guidelines. @ASlavitt also explores Dr. Cohen's background and her plans to rebuild trust in the CDC. Listen: https://t.co/AJveHOMl4L pic.twitter.com/WkAYkv33F6 In the Bubble (@inthebubblepod) August 9, 2023 Right now, what were seeing with the changes in the viruses, theyre still susceptible to our vaccine, theyre still susceptible to our medicines, theyre still picked up by the tests, CDC Director Dr Mandy Cohen said in an interview with the In the Bubble podcast. Were seeing small changes that are what I would call subtypes of what weve seen before. Updated vaccines should become available by September, she said. We anticipate that they are going to be available for most folks by the third or fourth week of September, Dr Cohen said. And, she added, that the CDC is likely to recommend an annual Covid shot just like the flu shot. Were just on the precipice of that, so I dont want to get ahead of where our scientists are here and doing that evaluation work, but yes we anticipate that COVID will become similar to flu shots, where it is going to be you get your annual flu shot and you get your annual COVID shot, Dr Cohen told Spectrum News in July. If you do get Covid, the CDCs recommendations havent changed. Stay at home, isolate, wear a mask if you are around people, follow doctors orders, practise hygiene when handling shared goods and get rest. A Dayton health facility will be receiving federal funding for building upgrades. >>RELATED: Rep. Mike Turner says WPAFB to benefit from Defense bill Dayton Congressman Mike Turner toured the Kettering Health Victor J. Cassano Health Center on Monday and met with physicians and staff, his spokesperson said. The newly renovated Cassano Health Center continues its excellent work in providing health care for those who need it most in our community, he said in a news conference on Wednesday. With the $1.25 million in federal funding, Cassano Health Center has increased its capabilities with imaging and medical technology that is state-of-the-art, giving the physicians and the staff here a greater ability to provide care. The funding was secured as Cassano Health Center as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022, according to his spokesperson. We cant thank Congressman Turner enough for his continued support and advocacy for the health of our communities, especially in West Dayton, said Brenda Kuhn, Interim President of Kettering Health Dayton. The funds he secured have allowed us to expand services and capacity to care at the Kettering Health Cassano Health Center, increasing access to life-changing healthcare to underserved community members in Dayton. (1/2) The newly renovated Cassano Health Center continues its excellent work in providing health care for those who need it most. Today, I toured @KetteringHealths Cassano Health Center and held a press conference to highlight the center receiving $1.25M in federal funding. pic.twitter.com/2TuJLQJzHZ US Rep. Mike Turner (@RepMikeTurner) August 9, 2023 The Andividual was linked to pro-Russian parties before they were banned Former Zhmerynka city council member accused of plotting assassination of fellow councilor. The State Bureau of Investigations or DBR staged a fake assassination in order to trap a Ukrainian city councilor who had plotted to murder a fellow councilor over a land allocation dispute. Read also: Odesas ex-draft commissioner illegally earns $5.1 million, says anti-graft agency During a special operation, DBR agents staged the intended victims murder, capturing photographs that the intermediary then presented to the person who ordered the hit. After receiving payment for the crime, the organizer was apprehended. The DBR in a press release on Aug. 9 said it had apprehended a former member of the Zhmerynka City Council in Vinnytsia Oblast, a member of a banned Russian party, on charges of conspiring to assassinate another council member. Read also: Corruption in Ukraine at its lowest level for 20 years, says finance minister The bureau has elected not to name the arrested individual at this time. The suspect was a member of the pro-Russian Opposition Platform For Life party. The arrested individuals father, a former MP from the banned Party of Regions, currently serves as a deputy in the Zhmerynka City Council, representing the prohibited Opposition Platform For Life party. Prior to the Russian invasion, the father had left Ukraine and his son had taken over their business and political interests in the city and the region, later voluntarily relinquishing his position as a city council deputy. Read also: Military official arrested for fraud, aiding criminals, faces 12-year prison sentence The conflict originated a few months ago when tensions escalated between the detainees father and another deputy over discussions within the local council related to land allocation. The allocation allegedly took place against the interests of the detainees personal and business interests. In response, the son allegedly arranged the murder of the other deputy, who served on the Zhmerynka City Councils permanent land commission. The DBR disclosed that the organizer engaged intermediaries to select hitmen for the murder, offering a payment of $8,500 for the contract killing. Read also: Odesa businessman attempts to bribe SBU officer with EUR 90,000 The DBR carried out a search of the detainees residence. Weapons, funds, and other incriminating evidence were reportedly confiscated. The detainee has been charged with organizing a completed murder attempt, committed for selfish motives upon order. The suspect faces life imprisonment with property confiscation if found guilty. 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 well-respected pastor and three beloved teachers were among those who sat down together for a home-cooked family lunch apparently involving wild mushrooms in rural Australia at the end of last month. Within days, the teachers were dead and the pastor left fighting for life. The tight-knit community in Leongatha, in Victoria state, has been shaken to its core, with the mystery also gripping the attention of people around the world as police opened a homicide investigation and searched the home of the host, 46-year-old Erin Patterson. With Victoria Police describing the incident as a suspected mushroom poisoning, detective inspector Dean Thomas said it was not clear what type of mushrooms the guests had eaten on 29 July, but their symptoms were consistent with those from a death cap, a particularly deadly variety. Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said it was not clear what type of mushrooms the guests had eaten on 29 July, but their symptoms were consistent with those from a death cap (Getty Images) Police took several items from Ms Pattersons home on Saturday, before questioning her the following day. She was released without charge but police said she remains a suspect. However, Ms Patterson, who did not get ill herself, told media outside her home that she did not know what had happened, declining to answer questions about what meals were served to which guests or the origin of the mushrooms. "I didn't do anything," she told Network Nine on Monday. "I loved them and I'm devastated they're gone." The 46-year-old had been hosting her in-laws, Gail and Don Patterson, both 70, and Gails sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, with her husband Ian, 68. The four who ate the dish - a beef Wellington pie, according to the Guardian - all fell mysteriously ill over the following days. Shortly after, Gail and Heather passed away in hospital on 4 August, while Don died on 5 August. Ian, a pastor from the local Baptist church in Korumburra, remains in critical condition. Ms Pattersons ex-husband Simon Patterson, with whom police said she has an amicable relationship, was supposed to be at the lunch but could not make it at the last minute, according to Daily Mail Australia. Ms Pattersons son and daughter were also at home, but the pair ate a different meal than the rest. The Mail quoted a close family source as saying Ms Patterson and her ex-husband had separated years ago but wanted to keep the relationship amicable for their childrens sake. I think he was really trying to facilitate a healthy co-parenting arrangement, they said. Basically all of his choices and everything he was doing was to keep things stable for the kids. Heather Wilkinson, 66, with her husband Ian Wilkinson, 68, a pastor from the local Baptist church in Korumburra (The Salvation Army Australia Museum/Facebook) Interest in the case soared on Wednesday after police searched a local refuse centre for a dehydrator believed to have been used in the preparation of the lunch, which they later conducted forensic tests on, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Speaking to The Independent, local mayor Nathan Hersey told of the utter shock, disbelief and grief reverberating throughout their close community and more widely in the wake of the tragedy. Im hearing from people regularly about their shock and disbelief and how theyre coming to terms with such loss, he said. People so well connected, loved and respected in the local community have been struck down and died so suddenly. Mushroom foraging is popular in the area even though theres risk involved, said Mr Hersey, adding that a lot of people would know what theyre looking for. He said he had personally met the Wilkinsons, describing them as lovely and caring people with integrity. He said a close friend of the couple had told him, Weve lost a real level of kindness in our community this week because of these deaths. But he added: The community is rallying around and supporting one another. Ms Patterson, who did not get ill herself, told media outside her home that she did not know what had happened (News International) The Patterson and Wilkinson families said in a statement in a local newspaper on Sunday they were grateful to our wider communities for their outpouring of love, support, and prayers, adding: This support extends not only to those we have tragically lost but also to our family member who continues to bravely fight for his life in the hospital. Deaths from consuming mushrooms are relatively rare in Australia, which has several species including the "death cap" mushroom that can be deadly if ingested. The deaths have led to warnings from health experts across the country not to forage for wild mushrooms and to buy from reputable sellers. DI Thomas said on Monday it would take some time to determine what happened and police are keeping an open mind. "We presume at this stage it was mushrooms but it's a complex investigation that I think will take some time," he said, adding: It could be very innocent but, again, we just dont know. Editors Note: Find Fridays Maui wildfires story here. The catastrophic wildfires that have been scorching Maui for three days have killed at least 53 people, officials said Thursday a number they expect will keep rising as search teams begin venturing into neighborhoods and homes that were reduced to ashes. Officials say the devastation is so widespread and so catastrophic that its hard to estimate just how many buildings were burned to the ground or damaged, but they estimate hundreds of structures have been impacted. The older neighborhood of Lahaina, an economic hub in western Maui that drew millions of tourists each year, is destroyed, Maui County Mayor Richard T. Bissen Jr. said in a Thursday afternoon news conference. Its all gone, he said. And with power and cell service out in western Maui, officials dont know how many people who may have tried to escape are still missing. What we saw was likely the largest natural disaster in Hawaiis state history, Gov. Josh Green said in the news conference after touring Lahaina on Thursday. All of us will have a loved one here on Maui that we know of, that lost a house, that lost a friend. The 53 deaths would make the wildfire that torched Lahainas historic districts the second deadliest blaze in the United States in a century. It would trail only Californias Camp Fire, which killed 85 people in 2018. With thousands of people now with nowhere to go, Green appealed to hotels and residents across the state to open their rooms and homes to those who have been displaced. If you have additional space in your home, if you have the capacity to take someone in from west Maui, please do, the governor said. Please consider bringing those people into your lives. Among them is Dustin Kaleiopu, whose home in Lahaina was destroyed. My colleagues, friends, family were all homeless, Kaleiopu said. Earlier Thursday, the governor told CNN he estimated upwards of 1,700 buildings were destroyed. And the blazes on the island continue to burn. Maui County officials estimated the fire that burned Lahaina was 80% contained by Thursday morning, local time. None of the other fires burning on the island was 100% contained, officials said Thursday. Those who survived recall harrowing escapes by car or boat, racing through thick smoke, while some fled into the ocean to avoid being burned as the fires spread Tuesday. At least 17 people were rescued from the water by the Coast Guard and 40 others from the shore, the force said in a news release, adding search and rescue operations are ongoing. Live updates: Deadly wildfires burn across Maui Heres the latest Billions of dollars in losses: While its too early to know the full magnitude of destruction, the governor said it will be in the billions of dollars, without a doubt. Dozens are dead: The death toll was 53 Thursday, Maui County officials said. Biden approves disaster declaration: The White House announced Thursday that President Joe Biden had approved a disaster declaration, freeing up federal aid to assist in the recovery in Maui County. A historic town is virtually wiped out: Much of Lahaina, where about 12,000 people live in western Maui, has been destroyed and hundreds of families there have been displaced, the governor said. It is going to take many years to rebuild Lahaina. When you see the full extent of the destruction of Lahaina, it will shock you, Green said in Thursdays news conference. All of those buildings, virtually, are going to have to be rebuilt. It will be a new Lahaina. People still unaccounted for: Three helicopters from the US Coast Guard and US Navy were used in search and rescue efforts along the west Maui coastline, and a federal team arrived Wednesday to help search efforts in the Lahaina area, officials said. Thousands dont have cell phone service: It could take days or even weeks to fix cell phone networks in Maui. Officials have been using satellite phones to communicate with providers on the west side of Maui to restore power to the area, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said. Power outages continue: More than 10,000 homes and businesses on Maui had no power Thursday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us. Additional crews are being deployed from Oahu, Hawaiian Electric said. Theres not enough long-term shelter: More than 1,300 people stayed at shelters Wednesday night, Maui officials said. While theres enough shelter for an emergency response for a few days, theres not enough shelter for long-term living, the governor told CNN. Visitors relocated: Maui County officials have urged visitors to leave Lahaina and Maui as soon as possible, saying seats were available on outgoing flights. More than 14,000 people were transported off Maui on Wednesday, and officials expect an additional 14,500 to be moved off the island Thursday, the Hawaii Tourism Authority said. Airlines increase capacity: Alaska, Delta, United and American all brought in larger planes to get more people off the island. Southwest dropped its fares and increased service. Hospitals are overwhelmed: Hospitals on Maui were overwhelmed with burn patients and people suffering from smoke inhalation, Luke told CNN Wednesday. The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission were engulfed in flames Tuesday. - Matthew Thayer/The Maui News/AP How the wildfires spread so quickly Fanned in part by fierce winds from Hurricane Dora passing hundreds of miles to the south, the wildfires on Maui and to a lesser extent, Hawaiis Big Island ignited and spread Tuesday. Fire burned buildings near Dickenson Street in Lahaina, Maui, on Tuesday. - Alan Dicker/TMX The infernos jumped over freeways, barreled through neighborhoods and obliterated homes and businesses. One of the fires on Maui, the Pulehu fire burning in an area near Kihei, was 70% contained as of that morning, Maui County officials said, while another fire in Mauis upcountry had no reported containment percentage. Firefighting crews are continuing efforts to protect structures and extinguish smoldering hot spots, county officials said. An ongoing drought in Hawaii worsened over the past week, helping fires spread, according to the US Drought Monitor released Thursday. We have no more Lahaina. Its gone In the devastated Maui town of Lahaina, Mark Stefl and Michele Numbers-Stefl have lost their home to a wildfire for the second time in less than five years. They first saw flames under half a mile from their home on Tuesday before the winds quickly intensified and the fire suddenly was in their yard, Mark Stefl told CNN on Wednesday. We just lost our house again. Twice in four years, Mark Stefl said. The first time their home burned to the ground, it was from a quick-moving fire fanned by winds from 2018s Hurricane Lane. Now, the two-story yellow home they rebuilt is gone, and so are their cat and dog. The fire just engulfed our house, he said. We have no more Lahaina. Its gone. Historical and cultural sites in Lahaina have also been engulfed by the fires, a CNN analysis of new Maxar Technologies satellite imagery shows. The apocalypse was happening May Wedelin-Lee, a 20-year resident of Maui, was at home, just about a block away from the heart of Lahaina, as she watched flames race toward her community Tuesday. It didnt take long: From when the wind shifted until when we were like, We need to go, it was maybe five, 10 minutes, Wedelin-Lee said. She jumped in her truck and left. Around her, complete chaos. It was just panic. People were crying on the side of the road and begging, she said Thursday. People jumped in each others (cars), people had bicycles, people ran, people had skateboards, people had cats under their arms just sprinting down the street. The apocalypse was happening. It was the worst nightmare. Imagine the worst you can picture, and it was 1,000 times worse than that. With no home and no job after the restaurant Wedelin-Lee worked in was destroyed its hard to think about anything else other than getting hold of loved ones to make sure they are alive and safe, she said. Theres so many unaccounted for, still. So, thinking about tomorrow is not even an issue right now. Its just finding our friends, finding our families, finding our loved ones, she said. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Michele Numbers-Stefl. CNNs Joe Sutton, Raja Razek, Macie Goldfarb, Taylor Romine, Elizabeth Joseph, Amanda Jackson, Jamiel Lynch, Tori B. Powell, Eric Zerkel, Brandon Miller and Cheri Mossburg contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Threats to local authorities so serious they are under criminal investigation. A lawmans vow to take the first-ever mug shot of a former U.S. president. A region known for its violent extremist groups and a state's lax gun control laws. These are some of the reasons the security scenarios for Donald Trump's fourth criminal case, expected any day now in Fulton County, Georgia, could play out far differently than the ones in New York, Miami and Washington, D.C. The former president already has been through so many indictments that what was once considered historic and extraordinary his subsequent arrest and criminal arraignment has now become almost routine: The front-running Republican candidate for reelection in 2024 arrives in his Secret Service motorcade and is escorted with his lawyers into a courtroom under heavy security. He enters a plea of not guilty, gets back in his armored limo and is driven away. But Fulton County, which includes the state capital, Atlanta, has long been a uniquely critical flashpoint in terms of Trump's alleged schemes to steal the 2020 election, as well as authorities' efforts to push back on them and, later, to investigate what happened. It is also, security analysts say, much more of a hotbed for right-wing extremist groups like the ones that helped foment the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021 by riling up a much bigger group of Trump supporters convinced that he had been wronged. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Sheriff Patrick Labat have established what they say is arguably the biggest preventive security dragnet in the area since the 1996 Olympics. In interviews and public statements, they said they believe the extraordinary level of security they're putting in place will be enough to handle any contingencies. In interviews with USA TODAY, county officials and security experts for the most part agreed. But they said authorities are smart to be bracing for trouble at the courthouse and adjacent Fulton Government Center, and on several fronts. Lockdown, and a "stay alert" warning On Friday July 28, Willis warned her prosecutors to stay alert given the increasing wave of threats she and the office were receiving. One email had the subject line Fani Willis = Corrupt N* and said, You are going to fail, you Jim Crow Democrat whore. Trump himself lashed out at Willis at a campaign rally Tuesday, calling her a "young racist in Atlanta" and falsely claiming she had an affair with "the leader of a gang" she was prosecuting. And she now plans to indict him, he said, on bogus charges so she can run for higher office. "What's going on in this country is..." Trump said, trailing off. And on Wednesday, FBI agents in Utah shot and killed a man who they say made threats against President Joe Biden and Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney who is prosecuting Trump for alleged hush-money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. "CLEANING THE DUST OFF THE M24 SNIPER RIFLE," Provo resident Craig Deleeuw Robertson, 75, said on Facebook, citing Biden's visit to Utah Wednesday night, the FBI said. Here's why what's happening in Fulton County: An imminent and likely very broad conspiracy indictment Criminal charges in the case, including for Trump and numerous alleged co-conspirators, are likely. Willis said a week and a half ago that shell announce charging decisions by Sept. 1. The work is accomplished, she told CNN affiliate WXIA. Weve been working for 2 years. Were ready to go. In recent days, the road in front of the Fulton County Courthouse in downtown Atlanta has been closed to traffic. Orange barricades and other barriers ring the building, and local, state and even federal authorities have become a visible presence in the area. On Monday, NBC News reported, a bomb-sniffing dog was brought in to inspect media vehicles. In another sign of looming indictments, Willis has asked the majority of her staff to work remotely rather than at the courthouse. Barricades are seen near the Fulton County courthouse, Monday, Aug. 7, 2023, in Atlanta. The sheriff's office is implementing various security measures ahead of District Attorney Fani Willis possibly seeking an indictment in her investigation into whether former President Donald Trump and his allies illegally meddled in the 2020 election in Georgia. More: Witnesses in Georgia Trump probe suspected of lying, raising more questions in closely watched inquiry Labat, too, has been preparing for the indictment of the former president for months, he said in a recent media briefing. That includes sending representatives to Trumps indictments in New York and Miami to see how authorities there handled the crowd and potential protests. Labats deputies are working with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to make sure normal services remain open and operational at the courthouse and government center for those we actually service if and when a Trump arraignment comes. And Trump would be treated differently in Atlanta than he has been during his past three arraignments but just the same as any other criminal defendant being processed into the Fulton County criminal justice system, Labat vowed. It doesnt matter your status, he said. We have a mug shot ready for you. Unless someone tells me differently, he added, we are following our normal practices. Racist and menacing threats and phone calls Willis, who is Black, has confirmed publicly that she has received numerous and serious threats including racist and menacing phone calls because of her aggressive investigation into Trump and a number of alleged co-conspirators. By January 2022, alarming rhetoric from Trump prompted her to ask the FBI Atlanta field office for a risk assessment of the courthouse. Enhanced security measures were put in, and Willis herself reportedly began traveling with bodyguards. Across the street from the courthouse is the Georgia state Capitol building, where armed and angry Trump supporters gathered after his 2020 election loss in response to his false claims of fraud. Trump himself has ratcheted up the rhetoric, pointedly and repeatedly calling Willis a racist, and even mentally sick. He has also used his campaign rallies to single out others for criticism and encourage protests, including against Willis. Labat disclosed at the briefing that his office has investigated dozens of threats, and not just against Willis but against himself and unnamed judges and others, too. The threats have been many, he said. They started via email, via text messages, via personal phone calls. When you make a threat, when you become a keyboard bully, its our goal to really come and hold you accountable, Labat added, for threats against "the DA, the judges and everybody that has received those threats." Members of the NYPD Counterterrorism unit patrol outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue on April 3, 2023, in New York City. Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to New York City today with an expected arraignment tomorrow at a Manhattan courthouse following his indictment by a grand jury. Natalie Ammons, director of communications for the Fulton County Sheriffs Office, told USA TODAY she couldnt discuss details of the status of the ongoing investigations. Theyre doing threat assessments, theyre conducting a criminal investigation, that's all I can say, Ammons said in an interview. Any and all of the threats are being reviewed. Ammons said she could not discuss specifics about the nature of the threats, including how many were believed to be ongoing. In general terms, she said, they range from hate speech to First Amendment protected comments. Some are actually very threatening. A lot of them have been directed to the DA for her protection and for possible prosecution. A potentially broad criminal conspiracy Willis launched the sprawling investigation in early 2021 into whether Trump and allies in the state, in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere engaged in coordinated attempts to unlawfully alter the outcome of the 2020 elections. At the center of that inquiry is a phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which he asked him to find 11,780 votes, or one more than Joe Biden received in winning the state. Trump and associates also have been linked to numerous other alleged schemes at the center of state and federal election fraud investigations and, in the case of Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, a federal indictment on conspiracy charges. The special congressional committee investigating Jan. 6 concluded that Trump also was implicated in a scheme by his lawyers to create false slates of electors who would cast Georgia's electoral votes for the former president instead of for Biden, as the states voters intended. Eight of the alleged fake electors have since agreed to immunity deals with Fulton County prosecutors, court filings show. Democrat Stacey Abrams, walks on Senate floor before of members of Georgia's Electoral College cast their votes at the state Capitol, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, Pool) A special grand jury Willis impaneled ultimately heard testimony from at least 75 witnesses and issued a detailed report in which it recommended indicting more than a dozen people, its foreperson said in interviews with various media outlets. It is not a short list, the forewoman, Emily Kohrs, told The New York Times.Asked if jurors had recommended indicting Trump, she declined to answer directly but said: Youre not going to be shocked. Its not rocket science. In another interview, she hinted that at least some of those recommended for indictment were household names people would recognize. In a partial version of the report released in February, the Fulton County jurors also said they found possible evidence of perjury by one or more witnesses who testified before them. Ultimately, it is up to Willis to decide whether there is enough evidence to bring the case to a regular grand jury and seek criminal indictments. She has hinted broadly that she will pursue charges under the states RICO laws, short for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act statute thats often used against organized crime families and other complex and long-running conspiracies. 'A bigger flashpoint' than Trumps previous venues Trumps first three indictments and arraignments prompted little in the way of organized protests or mass violence like that in Washington on Jan. 6. Crowds, in fact, have appeared to be split between supporters and those opposing Trump. But Amy Cooter, research director for Middlebury Institute of International Studies Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism, told USA TODAY she is more worried about an Atlanta arraignment. First, she said, the district attorneys investigation into potential election fraud and interference has been very high-profile and has inflamed Trump supporters in the state and surrounding region for more than a year. Many of them believe Trumps repeated claims that the Georgia investigation, perhaps even more so than the others, is politically motivated given Williss stature as a high-profile Democrat. Cooter, who lurks anonymously in right-wing chat rooms and forums, said she hasnt seen enough evidence that extremists, including from well-established local and regional militias and neo-Nazi groups, are upset enough about Trumps legal problems to do anything just yet. Im not watching every corner of the internet or every group, but I think that among the folks I'm watching, they're less concerned about indictments, Cooter said. They're more concerned about upcoming potential trials, and especially hypothetical guilty verdicts." But that said, I do think Georgia has the potential to be a bigger flashpoint than some of the other indictments just because of the how big of a focus Georgia was during the last election and how so many people there were convinced that the election was stolen and that Georgia was crucial for what should have been a Trump win, Cooter said. Cooter said she is also concerned because Trumps constant claims of a rigged election and his Stop the Steal campaign after his loss have turned the region, and Georgia especially, into more of a hotbed of extremism than they already were. Trump supporters and protesters hold signs in front of the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. United States Courthouse before the arraignment of former President Donald Trump in Miami, Florida on June 13, 2023. Trump is appearing in court in Miami for an arraignment regarding 37 federal charges, including violations of the Espionage Act, making false statements, and conspiracy regarding his mishandling of classified material after leaving office. Historically, we've seen more militia activity in the Midwestern states with some other hot spots, she said. But in recent years, especially in the latter half of the Trump administration, certain places in the South became more important I would say Florida as a whole and then Georgia, especially around the whole Stop the Steal rhetoric. There has been a regional surge in militia groups across the board, Cooter said, including local community militia groups and, in the run-up to Jan. 6, members of the Three Percenters and Oath Keepers, some of whom faced charges in connection with the insurrection. We've also seen various different neo-Nazi groups who have had an apparent resurgence in those places who could conceivably converge on Atlanta, Cooter said. A bigger issue with far-right groups Robert DAmico, a Florida-based former FBI agent, said local, state and federal authorities are working closely together in Fulton County to make sure they can handle anything that comes their way. The fact that they sent people down to Miami to look at how they did it shows me that they're pretty far ahead in their planning and in gaming out security scenarios, said DAmico, founder of the security firm Sierra One Consulting. He said that in line with protocol for major events, a 24-hour command post is probably being set up with officials from various law enforcement agencies. But DAmico also said the city and surrounding area present a different and potentially more serious set of problems than any of the places where Trump has been indicted and arraigned. One concern is the relatively lax gun laws in Georgia, made even less stringent last year, that allow potential protesters or people with worse intentions to carry concealed weapons even if they dont have a permit. That could pose a nightmare for security officials, especially if a large crowd turns out. Theres definitely a bigger issue with far-right groups in Georgia maybe not downtown Atlanta, but fairly close when compared to Miami, New York and Washington, DAmico said. A related concern is if some members of these groups rally a larger crowd of protesters, as was the case on Jan. 6. It's lighting that fire, that igniting people that probably weren't there to do anything with intent, he said. But they get all fired up, and you have a good speaker who really gets these groups going, and that's when you can have an issue. Its possible given the makeup of local extremist groups, DAmico said, that right-wing protesters could clash with left-wing, or Antifa, protesters, as was the case at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. So I would say there's definitely concern and there should be concern, DAmico said. But until we have a date and time (of charges filed) you're not going to be able to really put a good metric on that concern because there's so many different things that could potentially happen. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why Trump's 4th indictment could be vastly different than his others The number of fatalities from a Russian missile strike on the city of Zaporizhzhya on Aug. 9 has risen to three, Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko has confirmed. As of 8.30 a.m. (on Aug. 10), three people were confirmed killed and nine injured. One person is in a serious condition, Klymenko said. Read also: Russia strikes Zaporizhzhya in deadly attack president Zelenskyy The head of the regional military administration, Yuriy Malashko, reported that the Russian missile strike destroyed a church and shops in a residential area in the citys Shevchenkivskyi District. Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that three people had been killed as a result of the enemy strike, but Klymenko said that doctors had managed to resuscitate one person who was believed to have died. Read also: Four killed in Russian strike against infrastructure object in Zaporizhzhya Oblast President Zelenskyy, speaking in his evening address to the nation on Aug. 9, said Ukraine would retaliate for the strike on its civilians by continuing to attack Russian invasion forces on the front line. The response to the Russian terrorists will be on the front line thanks to our heroic soldiers, he said. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine The US Department of State has commented on the initiative of the UAE President, who proposed organising a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Dubai Climate Conference. Source: Matthew Miller, spokesman for the US Department of State, reported by European Pravda Details: Miller said that the decision on any meeting between the presidents of Ukraine and Russia "is for President Zelenskyy to make". Quote: "We have made clear that Ukraine is in the drivers seat when it comes to deciding the future of Ukraine, and that is true with respect to any potential negotiations." More details: Miller also pointed out once again that "President Zelenskyy has made clear for some time, including since before the outset of this war, that he is open to conversations about with Russia that respect Ukraines territorial integrity and Ukraines sovereignty." "So, I will let him speak to when he is ready or when they would have any such conversations. But the impediment has always been and continues to be that Vladimir Putin has not renounced his imperialist aims, has not renounced his belief that Ukraine is not a real country, in his words, and has not withdrawn his troops from beyond Ukraines borders," Miller added. Background: After the meeting in Saudi Arabia, Andrii Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said that Ukraine planned to hold two summits on the peace formula presented by Zelenskyy, one of which would involve Russia. It was reported that in Jeddah, the parties reached an understanding that respect for Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as the supremacy of the UN Charter, should be the basis of any peace agreement. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! If youre on a diet, look away. When the State Fair of Texas opens this fall deep fried pho, loaded fries pizza or bourbon banana caramel sopapillas will be there to tempt, no, taunt you. The fair announced the finalists of the 19th annual Big Tex Choice Awards food competition on Wednesday. The annual competition pits concessionaires vying to have their food featured at the fair. In total, 57 entries were entered into the competition, all vying for one of the three winning titles: Best Taste Savory, Best Taste Sweet and Most Creative. The 36 semifinalists were announced in early July and now 10 remain a month later. The winners of the three categories will be announced on Aug. 27. Deep Fried Pho Section: Savory Created by: Michelle Le Noodles, sliced beef, bean sprouts, herbs and a taste of pho broth is rolled up and deep fried. The dish is served with a side of pho broth, lime, jalapenos, cilantro, hosisin sauce and sriracha. Deep Fried Cheesy Crab Tater Bites. Deep Fried Cheesy Crab Tater Bites Section: Savory Created by: Isaac Rousso Minced crab meat, shrededd potato, cheese and spices are fomed into tater bites. The bites are then fried and served with a cheese Cajun crawfish sauce. Loaded Fries Pizza. Loaded Fries Pizza Section: Savory Created by: Tom Grace Pizza dough is ladled with buttermilk ranch, covered with mozzarella and cheddar cheese, add bacon bits and topped with french fries. Once baked, the pizza is topped with chives. OxCellent Soul Roll. OxCellent Soul Roll Section: Savory Created by: Kerston and Shawn Thorns Chunks of simmered oxtail, cornbread, butter, celery and onions are rolled into a spring roll and fried. Turkey Ribs! Turkey Ribs! Section: Savory Created by: Abel Gonzales Turkey ribs are fried and served with stuffing seasoned fries, giblet gravy and salsa. Biscoff Delight. Biscoff Delight Section: Sweet Created by: Stephen El Gidi New York-style cheesecake is coated with Belgian chocolate and topped with Biscoff drizzle and a cookie. Bourbon Banana Caramel Sopapillas Bourbon Banana Caramel Sopapillas Section: Savory Created by: Cody and Lauren Hays Sopapillas are topped with vanilla-caramel infused bananas, bourbon syrup, crushed candied pecans, mascarpone cheese, Nilla wafers and powedered sugar. Fernies Fried Cherry Pie in the Sky. Fernies Fried Cherry Pie in the Sky Section: Sweet Created by: Christi Erpillo and Johnna McKee A pie tart mold is lined with buttery pastry dough and layered with shortbread cookies, cherries, blended shortbread cookies and more pastry. The dessert is fried and served with Blue Bell ice cream, cherry preserves, whipped cream and dark sweet cherries. Sweet Encanto. Sweet Encanto Section: Sweet Created by: Tony and Terry Bednar A round waffle is sweetened with caramel dulce de leche, specialty cream and fresh fruit. The waffle is then topped with raspberry jam and sweet condensed milk. Trail-Ade. Trail-Ade Section: Sweet Created by: Ruth Hauntz This non-alcoholic cocktail is made up of summer fruits, cucumbers and fresh mint blended with lemonade. Served with a souvenir cowboy boot cup. Even if a dish doesnt make it to the main event, concessionaires can still choose to introduce their food at their stand as a new food during this years State Fair. The State Fair of Texas opens on Sept. 29 and runs until Oct. 22. In Donetsk Oblast, the Defence Forces of Ukraine continue to hold back the occupiers' offensive near the settlements of Avdiivka and Marinka. Source: General Staff of Ukraines Armed Forces on Facebook, information as of 18:00 on 10 August Details: It is stated that during the day, the Russian troops launched three missile and 49 air strikes and fired 36 times from multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) at the positions of our troops and settlements. Unfortunately, there are casualties and fatalities among civilians due to the Russian terrorist attacks. About 25 combat engagements took place during the day. On the Avdiivka front, under heavy fire from Russian aircraft and artillery, our defenders continue to hold back the offensive of Russian troops in the area of Avdiivka. The Defence Forces continue to hold back the Russian offensive near the settlement of Marinka, Donetsk Oblast. On the Shakhtarsk front, the Russian occupying forces made unsuccessful attempts to regain their lost position near the settlement of Staromayorske. In turn, the aviation of the Defence Forces of Ukraine carried out 10 attacks on areas of concentration of Russian personnel, weapons and military equipment, as well as two strikes on the anti-aircraft missile system. During the course of the day, the units of the Rocket Forces and Artillery struck four artillery systems at firing positions, one area of concentration of personnel, weapons and military equipment, one electronic warfare station and one communication centre. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov showed off one of the new Senator armored personnel carrier supplied by Canada in a post on Twitter on Aug. 9. In his post, the minister thanked Canada for helping Kyiv to fight the Russian invasion forces, and also expressing gratitude to his Canadian colleague Anita Anand. Read also: Ukraine gives Canada its military Wish List for Canadas CANSEC defense "These armored vehicles aid in the protection of our troops during combat missions," the minister wrote. They will save thousands of lives of our soldiers. Because, after all, it is the people who can win this war. Read also: Canada shows delivery of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine photo In January, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand announced the transfer of 200 Senator armored personnel carriers to Ukraine. She made the announcement during a visit to Kyiv. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine Ukrainian troops have achieved partial success in the Urozhaine direction, south and southeast of the village of Staromaiorske in Donetsk Oblast, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar reported on Aug. 10. "Despite extremely difficult combat conditions and enemy resistance, our troops have achieved partial success in the direction of Urozhaine, south and southeast of Staromaiorske," Maliar wrote on her Telegram channel. Staromaiorske, a village in the southwestern part of Donetsk Oblast, has been liberated by Ukrainian forces on July 27. In early August, Russian forces launched unsuccessful attempts to retake their positions near the village, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said. According to Maliar's most recent report, Russia also attempted unsuccessful attacks near Klishchiivka, as well as in the Avdiivka and Marinka directions where Ukrainian defenses remain "impregnable." Ukraine is reportedly holding back Russian offensive operations in the Lyman and Kupiansk direction, where Moscow recently began to concentrate significant force. On the southern front line, Ukrainian troops are conducting offensive operations in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, Maliar said. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Counteroffensive is challenging, says Zelensky as Western pressure mounts Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. A group of Democratic lawmakers in the House are calling for a hearing to investigate attacks on democracy, following Florida Gov. Ron DeSantiss (R) suspension of State Attorney Monique Worrell (D) on Wednesday for alleged neglect of duty. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) sent a letter Thursday to committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) asking for a full hearing on the shocking trends of anti-democratic abuses of powers in the state [Florida.] The lawmakers claimed Floridas executive and legislative branches of government have engaged in a relentless assault on the fundamental rights and freedoms of Floridians. The letter addresses the previous suspension by DeSantis of Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren after he allegedly refused to enforce bans on abortion and transgender surgery. The lawmakers referenced testimony from Warren, Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani (D) and two Florida residents about alleged anti-democratic abuses, happening in Florida. The lawmakers said they are alarmed DeSantis has suspended a second prosecutor. This removal flies in the face of the courts and the Constitution in what appears to be a scheme to undermine the will of the electorate where the courts cannot provide a legal remedy for the Constitutional violation, the letter said. DeSantis, also a Republican presidential candidate, announced the suspension of Worrell on Wednesday and said her administration of the criminal justice in the 9th Circuit has been clearly and fundamentally derelict so as to constitute both neglect of duty and incompetence. Worrell was elected to serve as the state attorney for Floridas 9th District in 2020 and was running for reelection in 2024. Worrell called DeSantis a weak dictator following her suspension. In Thursdays letter, the lawmakers said a full committee hearing is needed to understand the pattern of these abuses of power, and identify the steps needed to protect the rights and freedoms of Floridians and Americans. DeSantiss move sparked criticism from multiple Democratic Florida state lawmakers, who pointed to the governors own dereliction of duty. A Florida-based voting rights group said it is planning to protest the governors decision outside of the Orlando City Hall on Thursday night. The Hill has reached out to DeSantiss office and campaign for comment. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. In his first morning as state attorney, Andrew Bain made immediate and sweeping changes: He fired two executive staff members, canceled the offices catch-and-release policy and discontinued the offices diversion programs while he evaluate[s] their effectiveness. The actions by Bain, a member of the conservative Federalist Society who Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed to the Orange County judicial bench in 2020, represent a sharp departure from Monique Worrell, the elected state attorney for Orange and Osceola Counties who DeSantis ousted from office Wednesday. Bains actions also caused concern for local defense attorneys whose clients have gone through the programs. [E]ffective immediately, I am rescinding the catch and release policy that has been in place for too long, Bain wrote in an email Wednesday morning to State Attorneys Office staff obtained by the Orlando Sentinel through a public records request. We must return the principle of prosecutorial discretion, one that relies on a thorough analysis of each cases facts and the laws of Florida. The catch-and-release policy allowed people awaiting a hearing in immigration court to be released from custody. Diversion programs were central to Worrells policy platform, both during her initial campaign in 2020 and while she was the top prosecutor in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. One of her major efforts in office was the expansion of diversion programs to connect those arrested with low-level charges to services that address the root causes of crimes, she has said. The same programs also seek to avoid penalizing those accused of non-violent crimes with a criminal record that may stop them from being able to find work or qualify for housing. The diversion programs, some of which preceded Worrell, are mostly eligible to those accused of non-violent, low-level crimes including driving with a suspended license, resisting an officer without violence and underage drinking. Worrell also had in place a pre-trial diversion program for veterans, juveniles and a multi-level program for drug users. In addition to indefinitely suspending the diversion programs, Bains decision has thrown defendants who were in the various programs when he was appointed Wednesday back on the pre-trial docket, according to Roger Weeden, a longtime defense attorney. Its unclear how many people were involved in these programs when they were canceled. The State Attorneys Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Weeden is representing a man who was arrested on a felony possession of cannabis charge. The man paid his fees, completed a required substance abuse class and only had to complete fours of community service. If he had finished the hours and had a status hearing before Wednesday morning, he would not be prosecuted since he completed the program. On Thursday, however, the judge put him back on the pre-trial trial docket since the program has been aborted. He was three-quarters of the way through, Weeden said, adding that under Worrell the programs were offered to every person who qualified. Weeden said Bains decision will further crowd the pre-trial dockets that have still not gotten over the disruption and backlog caused by the pandemic. Attorney Camara Williams told WFTV-Channel 9 that he supported Bain during his campaign for judge, but found Bains suspension of the diversion programs despicable. These programs affect Black and brown communities, specifically, poor Black and brown communities, he said to the news station. Williams said the programs help people who have made improper decisions with their lives, but they understand that [they] want a pathway to do the right thing. Now what do they do? Bain was also rebuked by the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which said the elimination of diversion programs will bog down the judicial system. Offers to resolve cases are already being revoked, causing further backup in our already overloaded criminal courts, the organization said in a statement. Editorial: DeSantis stages another execution of a duly elected Democrat. This one hits home The state attorneys veteran programs, which was offered to former U.S. Military personnel whove been accused of certain criminal offenses, included evaluation and treatment for mental health and substance abuse as well as job skill development. The pre-trial drug program introduced in 2019, two years before Worrell took office was organized into three tiers. The first tier was eligible for people accused of possessing a misdemeanor amount of cannabis or drug paraphernalia; level two was for people with no or minor criminal history charged with non-violent low-level felonies; the third tier was for people suffering from drug addiction and accused of some third and second-degree felonies, excluding those involving a weapon, domestic violence or sexual assault. Those in the third tier were placed in the court-operated drug court. When people failed the program, they would be moved up to the next tier. If people were rearrested or failed to complete level three, they would be removed and prosecuted accordingly, according to the policy. According to the State Attorneys Office website, these programs were intended to relieve overburdened courts so they can handle more serious cases; increase the chances of a better outcome than the involvement with a traditional court system allows; and offer less-serious offenders an opportunity to avoid prosecution by participating and completing a program. The court-operated diversion programs are still in place, including drug court, mental health court and veterans court, as well as juvenile diversion programs like teen court and neighborhood restorative justice, said Karen Levey, a spokeswoman for the Ninth Circuit, in an email. We are assessing any potential impact and will continue monitoring case filings and case processing to quantify any impact on the courts, said Levey about the effect of the leadership change on court proceedings, which were paused for several hours Wednesday morning. Who is Andrew Bain? Federalist Society judge picked by DeSantis to replace Monique Worrell In a Zoom conference held Wednesday night, Worrell said the programs she championed gave people an opportunity to right a wrong. Minors, for example, wont get stuck with a mug shot that would follow them for the rest of their lives, she said. I always said I was going to reduce mass incarceration in our community, Worrell said. That doesnt mean no one went to prison. Many people went to prison because those people had proved to be a danger to our community. Worrell criticized her successors decision to end the diversion programs, claiming it will impact communities of color. Its not about giving better plea deals to Black and brown people, its about giving plea offers to everyone and by doing that Black and brown people will benefit because Black and brown people were those who always suffered at the hands of individuals who were not giving justly offers to everyone, she said. Along with the canceling of such programs, the two deputy chief assistants on Worrells executive team were fired Wednesday morning. The new chief assistant will be Ryan Williams, Worrell said. Williams ran unsuccessfully against Worrell in the 2020 Democratic primary. Williams previously worked at the State Attorneys Office, including under Worrells predecessor, Aramis Ayala. But Williams left the office for the Fifth Judicial Circuit, where he prosecuted murder cases that Scott, as governor, reassigned from Ayalas office due to her opposition to pursuing the death penalty. When asked what she makes of Williams being immediately brought in, she said, I think it speaks for itself. Interestingly, its my understanding that the person whos taking place as number two, is one of the individuals who lost to me in an election, Worrell said at a press conference two hours after her suspension was announced. You see how that works? You lose an election and then you can just come back. On Wednesday, about an hour after the announcement of Worrells suspension, Williams sent an email to staff informing them that all assistant state attorneys would sign oaths and will be sworn in by the new state attorney, according to records obtained by the Sentinel. It is my great hope that every one of you in our agency, all here trying to make a difference in your community, will move forward with us in our effort to ensure just results in the courtroom and help keep our community safe, Williams wrote. More than anyone, you all know there is a great deal of work to do to make this office the place it can and must be for the citizens of Orange and Osceola County. Williams added that there will be additional meetings and communications and asked for patience as we evaluate each part of the office to determine what, if anything, must be addressed for improvement. DeSantis contended that Worrells political agenda interfered with her role as the state attorney, accusing her of maintaining policies or practices that allowed accused criminals to evade prosecution, improperly enforcing minimum mandatory sentences for gun and drug crimes, allowing juveniles to avoid incarceration and limiting charges for child pornography. Worrell said she will fight her suspension in court and plans to continue her reelection campaign. Amanda Rabines of the Sentinel staff contributed. ccann@orlandosentinel.com Democrats and advocates say the Florida governors removal of State Attorney Monique Worrell is an assault on democracy and part of a growing trend to suppress the power of Black and brown voters. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is being lambasted by Democrats and advocates who say his removal of State Attorney Monique Worrell, a Black elected official in Orlando, is a grave assault on democracy and part of a growing trend by the Republican Party to suppress the power of Black and brown voters. Worrell, who was overwhelmingly elected in 2020 as the top prosecutor of Floridas 9th Judicial Circuit, was suspended by DeSantis on Wednesday. In a public statement, DeSantis attacked the criminal reform record of Worrell, a Black woman, and accused her of allowing violent criminals to roam the streets and find new victims. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (left) suspended State Attorney Monique Worrell (right) who was elected in 2020 as the top prosecutor in the 9th Judicial Circuit. (Photo: Getty Images/ Screenshot from Fox 35 Orlando) During a Wednesday press conference, Worrell defiantly chastised DeSantis, whom she called a weak dictator, for removing her from office for political purposes and vowed to fight this in the court system. The suspension of Worrell sent shockwaves throughout Florida and in the nations capital, with members of Congress, including Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., and Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, swiftly condemning DeSantis, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, for putting politics and power over the will of the people. This abuse of power by Gov. DeSantis is not only an attack on Democratic Black leaders in Florida but an attack on our democracy itself, Frost and Horsford said in a joint public statement. While this is not the first time DeSantis removed a state attorney from office over political differences, his targeting of Floridas only Black female state attorney ignited outrage from Black leaders and community activists who say the move is undemocratic and racist. White supremacy is at the root of all of this, said Jasmine Burney, founder of Equal Ground, a social justice organization based in Florida that is holding a rally Thursday evening to demand that the governor reinstate Worrell. Burney told theGrio that while DeSantis is undoing the will of voters by removing Worrell in counties that are majority Black and Hispanic, he has also signed into law voter suppression bills, including one that purges vote-by-mail requests, which has impacted hundreds of thousands of Black voters. At an early voting site in Miami last November, a sign speaks against what some see as voter suppression in Florida. Gov. Ron DeSantis removal of a Black elected official, State Attorney Monique Worrell, is being called another sign of disenfranchisement. (AP Photo by Lynne Sladky, File) The last thing voters need is politicianssticking their noses in affairs and dictating what solution should be at the most local level in a community when it comes to the decisions voters made, she said. State Sen. Shevrin Jones, a Democrat, told theGrio that DeSantis suspension of Worrell is both a historical and contemporary battle over power led by white elected officials, including the expulsions of Tennessee Three lawmakers Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson earlier this year. We are seeing history repeat itself, said Jones. Theres always been a time in this country where white politicians in leadership diminish the power of Black politicians. He continued, If we look at the changing of America, theres a stronghold that some people are trying to hold on to in terms of how this country used to be. And if that includes making sure Black men and women in power never ascend higher, they will do that, i.e., Andrew Gillum. DeSantis notably appointed a Black man to serve as Worrells replacement, Andrew Bain, a conservative judge from the 9th Judicial Circuit and former assistant state attorney. But Burney dismissed the appointment as using Black folks as tools toward each other to terrorize and control our communities. Referencing two Black men who joined a Florida education task force that helped develop a controversial school curriculum that instructs the states students that enslaved Black people benefited from slavery, Burney said, Black Republican men are allowing themselves to be used as weapons for white supremacist extremists attacks. Worrell and her supporters have dismissed the merits of DeSantis justification for her suspension, which she noted during Wednesdays press conference has left her without pay or benefits to support her three children. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is putting politics over the will of the people, two Black members of Congress said of his removal of State Attorney Monique Worrell. Here, he speaks in June in South Carolina. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) The Florida governor implied that Worrells handling of crime in Orange and Osceola counties has led to more crime, though she claims statistics from the Orange County Sheriffs Office and Orlando Police Department show that crime is down in the 9th Judicial Circuit. Burney said that if DeSantis is really concerned about crime in Florida, he should focus more on his own record around public safety. Crime is an issue across the entire state of Florida, and safety is not something that this state invests a lot of money in, she explained. The governors disinvestment in housing, infrastructure and fair wages is directly related to any crime activity in the Sunshine State, she argued. Instead of addressing the socioeconomic challenges that Floridians face, his detractors say, DeSantis is trafficking in petty politics to gin up media attention and money for his reportedly struggling presidential campaign. Its no different from what Donald Trump does. They believe that they can amplify their message only through making headlines for all the wrong reasons, said Jones. He added, DeSantis feeds off this. Worrell, who accused the presidential candidate of attempting to throw red meat to Republican primary voters, described her ousting as a smokescreen for Ron DeSantis failing and disastrous presidential campaign. While he may have accomplished that goal in the short term, she said, ultimately, DeSantis will be in the news nationally and internationally for the individual who has single-handedly destroyed democracy in the state of Florida. Gerren Keith Gaynor Gerren Keith Gaynor is a White House Correspondent and the Managing Editor of Politics at theGrio. He is based in Washington, D.C. TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku, and Android TV. Please download theGrio mobile apps today! The post DeSantis suspension of Black prosecutor seen as racist voter suppression tactic appeared first on TheGrio. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) showed he was proud of suspending Orlando state attorney Monique Worrell this week after he said she couldnt fulfill the duties of the position. At a presidential campaign stop in Iowa Thursday, DeSantis said Worrell was suspended because she refused to prosecute certain crimes. He blamed environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) policy a corporate ethics theory that has become a political punching bag for conservatives. When [ESG] overtakes criminal justice, you see these prosecutors who say theyre not going to prosecute people, theyre not going to hold them accountable in places like Los Angeles and Chicago, and communities end up less safe as a result of that, DeSantis said at the event. In Florida, we just acted. We had a prosecutor in Orlando, she wouldnt prosecute cases. Shes putting people back on the street, he added. So I removed her from her post! Im not going to just sit there and take that. Worrell was suspended from her position Wednesday, sparking widespread criticism from Democrats in the state. Worrell, a Democrat elected in 2020, is a criminal justice reform advocate. If we are mourning anything this morning, it is the loss of democracy, Worrell said Wednesday. I am your duly elected state attorney for the 9th Judicial Circuit, and nothing done by a weak dictator can change that. Worrell and others claimed the move was political retaliation and fueled by the governors run for president. DeSantis is in the Hawkeye State for the Iowa State Fair this weekend where he will appear Saturday. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. FALL RIVER Former local talk show host and journalist Richard "Ric" Oliveira was found guilty this week of felony indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and a misdemeanor count of assault and battery, then sentenced to two years in prison with one year to serve. Oliveira, 53, showed no emotion when Fall River District Court Judge Cynthia Brackett ruled on his sentencing and when court officers took him into custody. The former Swansea resident was equally stoic when the female accuser, who was a child at the time of the indecent assault, gave a victim impact statement to the court. Richard Oliveira is seen in Fall River District Court on Wednesday, Aug. 9, after his sentencing on indecent assault and battery charges. The Herald News does not identify child or adult sexual assault victims. The victim, who is an adult now, testified against Oliveira during the one-day trial on Monday, with the jury convicting Oliveira on Tuesday afternoon. Police officers await trial: What to know about 3 pending cases in Fall River Oliveira had been released after Tuesday's verdict and ordered to appear for sentencing on Wednesday. He had also been free on personal recognizance since he was arraigned on the charges on Dec. 11, 2019, after an investigation into allegations by Swansea police. Authorities claimed that the indecent assault and the assault and battery incidents happened between 2012 and 2014. Victim makes her impact statement The female victim told Brackett that the event had affected her in more ways imaginable, that she suffers from severe anxiety and depression still, and that the four years it took to go to trial were extremely difficult. Even though her name was never published in the media, she said the ordeal was very public. I was called a liar on social media, said the woman. This has been years of my life, and it's hard because when I think about my childhood, it just seems like trauma. She asked the judge to sentence Oliveira to jail time, but also that he be ordered to seek psychiatric help. Swansea man faces trial: Attended Capitol riots and will face a judge in D.C. Trump stood before that same judge. Assistant District Attorney Kyle McPherson, during the sentencing phase, laid out what was testified at trial including how and when Oliveira sexually molested her. Then two years later, Oliveira assaulted her and testimony indicated Oliveira dragged the girl by her hair as a punishment. The Bristol County District Attorneys Office had requested Brackett give Oliveira the maximum penalty of two and a half years in jail for the indecent assault. McPherson also requested an additional year in jail for the assault and battery, for a total of three and a half years in prison. Defense attorney Melissa Hendrie asked for Oliveira to receive no jail time, rather order three to five years of probation, noting he has no criminal background and that he has obeyed terms of his release since the case began, including having no contact with the victim. What the District Attorney said about the sentence This is a very sad case and, as counsel has said, this has had an impact on everyone, especially the victim, said Brackett. The judge continued by saying Oliveira had violated the victims trust and that this is one of the most significant offenses we have here in District Court. Ultimately, Brackett ordered Oliviera to serve two years in the Bristol County House of Correction, with one year to serve and the balance suspended for three years. If the defendant violates any terms of his eventual release or commits a new crime, he could be liable to serve the remainder of the suspended jail sentence, according to a release by the Bristol County District Attorneys office. Fall River Police Department: Fast enough for a speeding ticket? A Fall River cop broke a police academy running record In that same statement, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III expressed his disagreement with the amount of time Oliveira was sentenced. The defendant took advantage of his position of trust and engaged in despicable conduct by molesting (a young) girl. In addition, he later violently assaulted the girl. The defendants conduct is difficult to comprehend, according to Quinn. Based on the facts of the case, I feel the defendant should have been sentenced to a longer period of incarceration. I commend the victim for coming forward and for testifying in court under very difficult circumstances, stated Quinn. Hendrie and other members of the defense team said they would decline to comment at this time. Longtime newsman and media personality in the SouthCoast Oliveira was a staff reporter for The Standard-Times of New Bedford in the 1990s before becoming publisher of O Jornal, a bilingual Portuguese and English newspaper, a role he held through March 2013. The Standard-Times and O Jornal are now owned by Gannett. He joined WSAR as a part-time talk show host in 2008 and served in various capacities at the station, including general manager, until he was involuntarily separated from the organization in 2017. One of his radio shows was Underreported with Ric Oliveira, where he dubbed himself as "the most dangerous talk host in the SouthCoast. Since then, hes taken to social media often lambasting Quinn on Facebook and other platforms, and has been a longtime critic of Swansea leaders over issues with the Swansea Water District. This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Former media personality sentenced to jail for indecent assault Officials are unsure what started the ongoing blazes in Maui that have killed six people, forced hundreds of evacuations, torched structures, left thousands without power and prompted some locals to bolt into the ocean to escape marauding flames. But some experts said they suspect human development on the island is at least partly to blame for the destruction. Wildfires have quadrupled in Hawaii in recent decades, and many scientists say the culprit is unmanaged, nonnative grasslands planted by plantations and ranchers and others unfamiliar with the island's native ecosystems. The grass is dry and prone to fires. There is no doubt that fire-prone grasses have invaded drier Hawaiian ecosystems and brought larger, more intense fires, said Peter Vitousek, a professor of earth sciences at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. What caused the Maui fires? High winds and low humidity likely contributed to the fires, but officials know little else, said Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, commander general of the Hawaii Army National Guard, at a briefing Wednesday. "We don't know what actually ignited the fires, but we were made aware in advance by the National Weather Service that we were in a red flag situation so that's dry conditions for a long time, so the fuel, the trees and everything, was dry," he said, according to CBS News. Hurricane Dora, a Category 4 storm in the Pacific Ocean, fueled the strong winds overnight in Maui, with gusts of 60 miles per hour damaging homes and knocking out power. State officials activated the Hawaii National Guard to assist police in Maui, where the areas most impacted include Lahaina, a residential and tourist area with a commercial district in West Maui; Kula, a residential area in the inland, mountainous Upcounty region; and Kihei, a mix of homes, condos, short-term vacation rentals and visitor facilities in South Maui. Wildfires were uncommon before humans arrives in Hawaii Aside from areas with active volcanoes, wildfires were uncommon in the Hawaiian islands prior to the arrival of humans, said David Beilman, a professor of geography and environment at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. This more recent era in Earth's history, in which human activity has impacted climate and ecosystems, is unofficially referred to as the Anthropocene Epoch. "On the other islands with less volcanic activity, fires did occur, but very, very rarely," Beilman said. "This Maui situation is an Anthropocene phenomenon." This photo provided by the County of Maui shows fire and smoke filling the sky from wildfires on the intersection at Hokiokio Place and Lahaina Bypass in Maui, Hawaii on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. Wildfires in Hawaii fanned by strong winds burned multiple structures in areas including historic Lahaina town, forcing evacuations and closing schools in several communities Wednesday, and rescuers pulled a dozen people escaping smoke and flames from the ocean. Kaniela Ing, national director for the Green New Deal Network and an Indigenous leader in Hawaii, said the wildfires offer further proof of a dangerous climate emergency. We need legislation that is as bold and urgent as the scale of the wildfires choking Hawaii and Canada, the heatwaves suffocating Texas, and the extreme flooding drowning Europe, said Ing, a former state legislator in Hawaii. How many more lives lost or families displaced in communities like mine is President Biden willing to tolerate before he declares a climate emergency and activates politicians to take further climate action? Historic church destroyed: Minister vows to rebuild 200-year-old Waiola Church: 'Strength lies in our people' Is tourism to blame? The fires come amid an ongoing debate about whether tourism is harming Hawaii's ecosystems. Earlier this year, Fodor's Travel named Maui among 10 destinations on its 2023 No List that tourists should reconsider visiting because of the threat of environmental damage caused by overtourism and climate change. Clay Trauernicht, a professor of natural resources and environmental management at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said it would be misleading to simply blame weather and climate for the blazes. Instead, Trauernicht, who noted in 2018 that the area burned annually by wildland fire in Hawaii has quadrupled in recent decades, pointed to unmanaged, nonnative grasslands that have flourished in Hawaii after decades of declining agriculture. These savannas now cover about a million acres across the main Hawaiian islands, mostly the legacy of land clearing for plantation agriculture and ranching in the late 1800s/early 1900s, he wrote in a series of posts on the social platform X, formerly Twitter. What's a solution to lessen wildfires in Hawaii? The transformation to savannas makes the land much more susceptible to the hot, dry and windy conditions that produce such wildfires, Trauernicht said, with much more buildup of fire fuels during rainy periods. Agricultural declines, meanwhile, also make firefighting more difficult as roads become unmaintained, irrigation and water storage lessen and those familiar with the land move away. The burden Hawaiis current fire problem places on emergency responders, the impacts on farms and ecosystems, the losses our communitys experiencing right now its mostly from benign neglect, he wrote. While maddening, the situation also offers a glimmer of hope, Trauernicht said. Hawaiis fire problem could be far, far more manageable with adequate support, planning and resources for fuel reduction projects, agricultural land use and restoration and reforestation around communities and the foot of our forests, he wrote. Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, a non-profit based in Waimea on Hawaii Island, said the increasing fires are threatening humans, infrastructure, water quality, agricultural production and natural resources. "Hawaii has a wildfire problem," the organization states on its website. "Each year, about 0.5% of Hawaii's total land area burns each year, equal to or greater than the proportion burned of any other US state. Over 98% of wildfires are human-caused. Human ignitions coupled with an increasing amount of nonnative, fire-prone grasses and shrubs and a warming, drying climate have greatly increased the wildfire problem." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How did the Maui fires start? Human habitation may be partly to blame Sudan falling into deeper humanitarian catastrophe: UN official Xinhua) 09:28, August 10, 2023 Edem Wosornu (Front), director of operations and advocacy in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), speaks at a UN Security Council meeting on Sudan at the UN headquarters in New York, on Aug. 9, 2023. Sudan is falling into a deeper humanitarian catastrophe, the UN humanitarian official warned on Wednesday. (Loey Felipe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua) UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Sudan is falling into a deeper humanitarian catastrophe, a UN humanitarian official warned on Wednesday. The situation is particularly alarming where the conflict is most intense -- in Khartoum and the Darfur and Kordofan regions, said Edem Wosornu, director of operations and advocacy in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). "Reports of ethnic-based violence in West Darfur are extremely alarming, with numerous civilians killed or wounded," she told the Security Council in a briefing on behalf of Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths. "The intense fighting and difficult operating environment are constraining our ability to deliver urgent humanitarian assistance, which is only deepening the suffering of people there," she said. Sudan's descent into a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe has only deepened with more than 1.4 million people forced from their homes in the last six weeks alone, said Wosornu. "More than 4 million people have now fled from their homes -- 3.2 million people displaced internally and close to 900,000 people who have crossed the border into Chad, Egypt, South Sudan and other countries," she said. "Nearly four months into this conflict, millions of people remain trapped in a humanitarian calamity that continues to grow." Sexual violence was happening "at a sickening scale" from conflict hot spots across the country, said Wosornu. People are finding it more and more difficult to access urgent medical assistance with 80 percent of hospitals across the country not functioning, she said. Some 14 million children in Sudan -- half of all children in the country -- need humanitarian support. More than 20 million people -- over 40 percent of the population -- are facing high levels of acute food insecurity, she said. The conflict is disrupting livelihoods and physical access to markets. It is also fueling steep increases in the prices of commodities. The banking system, civil institutions and public services have mainly been disrupted, leading to less and less money circulating within the economy. Electricity blackouts are extensive. Education services are interrupted, which once performed flawlessly, said Wosornu. "It is the story of a country and its people being driven to the point of collapse," she concluded. Nevertheless, humanitarian organizations have spared no effort to restore the flow of humanitarian supplies, particularly to Darfur, where access was most limited, she said. "We have seen some but limited progress." Nationwide, since the outbreak of conflict on April 15, more than 2.9 million people have received some form of minimum humanitarian assistance, including cash or in-kind food assistance, health services, or access to basic water services, she said. "But unfortunately, this represents only a fraction of the 18 million people we are trying to reach." Humanitarian organizations are ready and willing to do everything it takes to provide the assistance that the people of Sudan so desperately need. But they cannot do so without the regular facilitation of access by the parties, and the easing of bureaucratic and administrative impediments, she said. "So far, the limited deliveries of assistance we have been able to make have only been possible through intensive negotiations with the parties," said Wosornu. "It is urgent that we re-establish a forum for direct and regular contact on humanitarian issues with the parties at a senior level, to negotiate access and protect the space for humanitarian operations in Sudan. We need the strong support of member states to facilitate this." International humanitarian law is clear: all parties to the conflict must facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need, she said. Wosornu called for more funds. "Even with improved access, we will not be able to prevent sliding further into humanitarian catastrophe without the required resources," she said, noting that the UN humanitarian response plan for Sudan for 2023, which requires 2.6 billion U.S. dollars, is only 25 percent funded. The UN Security Council holds a meeting on Sudan at the UN headquarters in New York, on Aug. 9, 2023. UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Martha Pobee on Wednesday stressed the need for a negotiated solution to end the military conflict in Sudan as soon as possible. (Loey Felipe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua) UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Martha Pobee (Front) speaks at a Security Council meeting on Sudan at the UN headquarters in New York, on Aug. 9, 2023. Pobee on Wednesday stressed the need for a negotiated solution to end the military conflict in Sudan as soon as possible. (Loey Felipe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) By Laurie Chen BEIJING (Reuters) - Last week, the city of Zhuozhou was devastated by the worst floods to hit northern China in living memory. Today, residents are asking why the local government didn't do more to help them. Thousands of homes and livelihoods were damaged when Zhuozhou, less than 80 km (50 miles) south of Beijing, bore the brunt of the floods that swept through Hebei province and other northern areas in the wake of Typhoon Doksuri. Direct economic losses from the floods in the Baoding area, which includes Zhuozhou, amount to 17 billion yuan ($2.36 billion), according to local government estimates. "In other places you see leaders rushing to the front line and coordinating rescue efforts, but in Zhuozhou they disappeared," said a resident surnamed Wang, who was stranded in his apartment for three days without electricity. "Rescue groups arrived from all over China but couldn't find anyone to liaise with." Wu Chunlei, 42, whose two-storey house and factory were ruined, said villagers guided rescue groups to flood-stricken rural areas because government workers were not present. "At the time there was no phone signal and we couldn't contact any local officials. We could only save ourselves," Wu said. Reuters tried to contact the local governments of Zhuozhou and the larger Baoding area, but repeated calls were not answered. In a statement on Sunday, Zhuozhou's local government said it had "quickly launched a rescue plan" and that the city's Communist Party leader was "firmly on the front line of flood fighting and disaster relief". Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a written order for "all-out" rescue efforts on Aug. 1, and this week dispatched Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing to visit flooded areas in northern China, including Zhuozhou, state media reported. State media has signalled that Xi and other top Communist Party members are on their annual summer retreat. But in a sign that the authorities were becoming sensitive to criticism by flood victims, several blogposts about the Zhuozhou floods, including first-person accounts, have been censored from the messaging platform WeChat. EVACUATION, COMPENSATION More than a sixth of the city's 600,000 inhabitants were evacuated. Some of those who stayed behind said a lack of urgency from local officials led them to ignore evacuation notices until it was too late. Other residents said they didn't receive any warning. "We didn't receive any information," a carpenter surnamed Zhu told Reuters from his home, where he said flood waters four metres (13 feet) deep caused more than 300,000 yuan ($41,870) worth of damage. "The entire outer steel frame of my house was washed away, all my furniture, tools and machinery downstairs were lost. The foundation collapsed into the ground." Many residents believe that the floods were worsened by a government decision on July 31 to divert floodwaters from Baoding's overflowing reservoirs to so-called flood storage areas, two of which were in Zhuozhou. These areas may include low-lying populated land, according to China's flood control laws. Residents of flood storage areas are entitled to compensation worth 70% of housing damage, the law says. Several Zhuozhou residents said they had submitted damage reports to local officials but have yet to hear back about compensation. China's cabinet has vowed to return flood victims to their homes by winter, while Beijing officials announced that post-disaster recovery could take up to a year. Zhuozhou is not the only area where residents are angry at perceived government inaction. In the city of Bazhou, 130 kms southeast of Zhuozhou, dozens of flood victims staged a rare protest during which they unfurled banners demanding compensation, according to video clips posted on social media platform X last week. Reuters managed to geolocate the videos but could not verify the date they were shot. (Reporting by Laurie Chen; Additional reporting by Tingshu Wang, Josh Arslan and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by John Geddie and Miral Fahmy) The operational situation on the Black Sea has not changed, and it is up to local authorities to decide whether to open the beaches or not. Source: Natalia Humeniuk, Head of the Coordination Press Centre of the security and defence forces in Ukraine's south, at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Centre Details: According to Humeniuk, after withdrawing from the grain deal, Russia could have laid new mines to block shipping. Quote: "The position of the military is unchanged the operational situation has not changed, the missile threat is high, and the enemy is mainly attacking Odesa Oblast from the sea. Mine danger has increased after the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam was blown up. The sea current has brought many dangerous surprises that we do not know about. Storms and currents can raise them from the bottom... We have reported all this, and then it is up to the authorities. Only after all safety measures are taken can the beaches be opened." Details: According to Humeniuk, 32 mines have been defused off the coast of Mykolaiv and Odesa oblasts since the beginning of the year. At the briefing, environment expert Vladyslav Balinskyi also noted that not only mines but also masses of mud carried by the sea currents pose a danger on the beaches in Odesa Oblast. According to Balinskyi, there have already been cases of exceeding the norms of some harmful substances in the water. Ilona Remihailo, manager of the Palace Del Mar hotel, noted that the business is suffering greatly from the ban on visiting beaches but heeds the recommendations of the authorities. Background: The Odesa Oblast Military Administration issued an order to prepare the beaches for the opening of the beach season by 10 August. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! The parents claim medical staff at Southern Regional Medical Center initially forbade them from holding the baby, instead showing them the infant firmly wrapped in a blanket with his head raised to hide the decapitation. An Atlanta-area hospital is the target of a lawsuit that claims a medical staffs improper delivery tactics led to a babys decapitation during childbirth. Jessica Ross, 20, went to the emergency room at Prime Healthcare Service, Inc. operating as Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale, Georgia after her water broke at 10 a.m. on July 9, Fox 5 News Atlanta reported. Law firm Edmond & Lindsay LLP, which is representing the plaintiffs, said that the negligence and fraud suit names several defendants, including Southern Regional Medical Center, a doctor, nurses, and the medical group as a whole, according to WANF News. Jessica Ross, 20, (above) and her partner, Treveon Isaiah Taylor, have filed a lawsuit against Southern Regional Medical Center and several others after the couple says their baby was decapitated during childbirth in July. (Photo credit: Screenshot/YouTube.com/Fox 5 Atlanta) Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the family and all those impacted by this tragic event, read a statement from the hospital system, WANF reported. Our prayers also remain with the dedicated team of physicians, nurses, and staff at Southern Regional Medical Center who cared for this patient. Our commitment is to provide compassionate, quality care to every single patient, and this loss is heartbreaking. Data from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that Black newborns are three times more likely to die in hospitals than white newborns when treated by white doctors. The neonatal death rate among white patients under the care of white doctors is 290 per 100,000 births, while the Black infant mortality is 894. The data further notes a significant decrease in Black infant numbers when a Black physician is in charge. The suit claims Ross was having a vaginal birth around 8:40 p.m. when the baby stopped descending because of shoulder dystocia. Dr. Tracey St. Julian, who is Black, allegedly tried various methods to deliver the baby vaginally, including providing traction to the babys head, according to Fox 5. St. Julian decided to perform an emergency cesarean section around 11:49 p.m. and put excessive tension on the babys head, which led to the head detaching from the body. At 12:11 a.m., the doctor delivered the babys body and legs via C-section, followed by the head coming vaginally. WANF reported the couple didnt find out about the decapitation until four days after the birth. The law firm alleges the doctor delayed informing Treveon Isaiah Taylor Jr.s parents about what had occurred. Instead, the couple claims, the medical staff forbade them from holding the baby after he passed, showing them the infant firmly wrapped in a blanket with the head raised to hide the decapitation. The parents also assert in the lawsuit that staff members told them an autopsy wasnt necessary and pressured them to cremate the remains. This caused immediate, profound emotional and mental anguish for (the plaintiffs) emotional and mental anguish that they continue to experience and most probably will experience for the rest of their lives, says the complaint, according to WANF News. The suit calls for a jury trial, CNN reported. The family is seeking unspecified monetary damages, including for the value of the babys life, funeral costs and punitive damage. The Georgia lawsuit comes as the federal government opens a civil rights investigation into Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles due to concerns about racial disparities in maternal care and how it treats Black women who give birth there. Maternal health is a priority for the Biden-Harris Administration, said a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson, theGrio previously reported, and one in which the HHS Office for Civil Rights is working on around the country to ensure equity and equality in health care. TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today! The post Doctors negligence led to babys decapitation during birth at Georgia hospital, lawsuit says appeared first on TheGrio. Police arrested a suspect on a pending warrant Thursday, who is also accused of swiping a Chihuahua from outside a Back Bay supermarket over the weekend. 24-year-old Emily Sardo of Boston had an existing warrant out for her arrest and was taken into custody for that. The dog was in her possession at the time, according to Boston Police. Alejandro, a tan, white-haired chihuahua, was allegedly taken from outside a Whole Foods grocery store on Westland Avenue around 10:41 a.m. on Saturday. You know I left the dog outside the Whole Foods I thought it was a safe area, said Shelly Vermani, Alejandros owner. A description of the suspect was broadcasted, as well as a picture of the incident. On Thursday morning, a Boston police detective received a tip regarding the whereabouts of the stolen dog. Police say the sergeant searched the area of Old Colony Avenue and saw a woman matching the suspects description, later identified as Sardo. They said they saw a woman who looked suspicious kind of dragging a dog that looked like him. And I kind of knew that was him because of his personality because he hates being on a leash, said Vermani. The Sergeant Detective allegedly asked Sardo, Where is the dog? to which she replied she didnt know. The officer then advised her of the reward for the dog. Sardo allegedly responded that she wanted the money first, to which the Sergeant Detective said he needed to see the dog first. A few minutes later, police say Sardo returned with Alejandro and she was placed into custody. Boston PR whiz George Regan saw the story and offered a $2,500 dollar reward which Vermani matched and she thinks the money made all the difference. Being reunited with him is better than any type of money I could receive, said Vermani. Sardo was released and will be summoned to court at a later date. 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 MADISON - Two years after opening an investigation into sexual abuse committed by faith leaders in Wisconsin, Attorney General Josh Kaul is seeking access to court documents sealed nearly a decade ago in a bankruptcy filing by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Kaul says the Archdiocese of Milwaukee has not voluntarily provided records sought as part of an ongoing investigation into abuse committed by faith leaders, including Catholic clergy. In a motion filed Wednesday with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Kaul requested a confidential review of "sealed claims by survivors, objections to those claims, briefing on such objections, and rulings on the objections." Under the request, information from the documents would be used to further an investigation into the scope of faith leader abuse in Wisconsin by the Department of Justice, but no documents would be released publicly. "Given the decades of secrecy and subversion surrounding abuse reports and the findings in other states in which inquiries into faith leader abuse were conducted, DOJs independent review of the lists of credibly accused priests published by dioceses in Wisconsin is amply justified," Kaul argued in the motion. Kaul's faith leader initiative launched in 2021, seeking more information about incidents of abuse among religious leaders in Wisconsin. Since its launch, the DOJ has received about 250 reports of abuse within several different religious groups, including the Catholic church. Charges have been filed against two men as a part of the inquiry, neither of whom was affiliated with the Catholic church. This is the first action to directly target information from a diocese, though critics of Kaul's investigation have been calling for more action since the early stages of the investigation. More: Flanked by victims of priests, Attorney General Josh Kaul announces probe of clergy sex abuse Previously, Kaul was hesitant to discuss how he planned to obtain access to diocesan documents. He said he didn't know if he would use subpoenas to get access, noting that he would need probable cause that the documents contained evidence of chargeable criminal offenses. Through our ongoing Clergy and Faith Leader Abuse Initiative, we remain committed to supporting survivors of sexual abuse by clergy and faith leaders," Kaul said in a statement Thursday. "As part of that initiative, we continue to seek to obtain as much information as we can regarding clergy and faith leader abuse in Wisconsin." The Archdiocese argues the DOJ's request is a violation of survivors and the others involved in the case. "For the Attorney General to attempt to violate that trust more than a decade later goes against the promises and assurances made to abuse survivors and would be traumatic to survivors who made a report expecting that it would remain private and now fear it could become public," said Jerry Topczewski, chief of staff to Archbishop Jerome E. Listecki, in an emailed statement. DOJ seeks to revisit 2015 settlement The DOJ motion seeks to reopen the 2015 case that resulted in a settlement between the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and hundreds of survivors, in which the organization agreed to pay $21 million to compensate victims of sexual abuse. The settlement brought an end to a long-running case in bankruptcy court. More: Josh Kaul's clergy abuse investigation in Wisconsin is almost 2 years old. Here's what we know so far about the attorney general's work. Kaul's request to reopen the case is limited to the DOJ's request to access sealed documents. "DOJ does not ask for anything to be unsealed; it only asks that the DOJ be included among those that are permitted to confidentially review claims and related documents," the motion reads. The Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection in 2011 as it faced more than a dozen civil lawsuits over its handling of abuse claims. The Archdiocese moved to reorganize, as the claims for financial compensation exceeded its means. Under the eventual settlement agreement, 330 of about 570 people who filed sexual abuse claims in the case received financial settlements. At the time, the settlement payout paled in comparison to those in similar Catholic Church bankruptcy cases, such as Boston's $85 million settlement in 2003. Kaul alleges that the claims that weren't part of the settlement mean that abusers could have gotten away with their crimes, and that survivors never got the justice they deserved. "To the extent that names of abusers who should be on these lists are not even if those abusers are deceased their survivors may have lived not only with the trauma from abuse but also with the compounding harm of not having their abuse acknowledged," he wrote. "Having their abuser named, and their abuse recognized, can provide a sense of healing for survivors of abuse." The motion outlines how obtaining information included in the settlement might help complete reports made during the DOJ's faith leader inquiry. Some reports made to the agency lack the details needed for the agency to pursue them. "This is not a surprise," the filing reads. "The events underlying reports often happened when the reporting person was a child and did not have a full understanding of what occurred; the events are often highly traumatic, which affects memory; and some occurred long ago." The bankruptcy filings would provide a "unique opportunity to corroborate," Kaul argued. The motion could also grant the DOJ access to claims made against individuals within the Archdiocese that weren't clergy members, such as visiting priests, religious brothers and lay staff, such as teachers and volunteers. "That information was not central to the Archdiocese bankruptcy but is plainly relevant to a comprehensive understanding of clergy and faith leader abuse," Kaul wrote. Advocates applauded Kaul's action Thursday afternoon, calling it a "complete game-changing legal initiative." Peter Isely of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, and Nate's Mission, said survivors are thrilled and hopeful. "They're going to bring out their legal microscopes and go through this bankruptcy line by line," he said. Sarah Pearson, also of Nate's Mission, said Kaul's motion could be the first step into really digging into how clergy abuse took place in Wisconsin. "Its the first step on the way to really investigating fraud, and the officials, leaders and community members that participated," she said. And in response to the claims that reopening the bankruptcy would hurt survivors, Isely and Pearson strongly disagreed, arguing that Kaul's investigation has never aimed to harm survivors and only seeks justice for them. Archdiocese previously called investigation 'anti-Catholic bigotry' The Archdiocese over the course of Kaul's investigation has pledged to share information with Kaul only if it is related to a currently serving, living clergy member, but has refused to acquiesce to any other of Kaul's asks for further information. At one point, the Archdiocese called Kaul's investigation a display of "anti-Catholic bigotry" and a violation of the First Amendment. In the motion, Kaul outlined how dioceses in other states have aided in faith leader investigations, showing transparency and accountability. He pointed to Illinois, Iowa and Colorado, all of which had dioceses that willingly provided information to the Attorneys General. More: First came sex abuse allegations at the abbey. Then secret payments. Then a suicide. "The Archdiocese has taken a markedly different approach, even accusing the DOJ of bigotry in connection with its work on the Initiative," the motion said. "DOJ remains undeterred." Frank LoCoco, the Archdiocese's lawyer, argued that the DOJ missed its opportunity to get to see the documents, and could have requested them when the bankruptcy was pending. "We see no basis for providing access to these Proofs of Claim at this late date," LoCoco said in the Aug. 9 letter to the agency. How do I report abuse? To file a report, call 877-222-2620 or use the online reporting tool at supportsurvivors.widoj.gov. Both options provide the ability to file an anonymous tip. The department is still accepting reports and said survivors have control of what happens after their report is received. Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on Twitter at @SchulteLaura. Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com. Hope Karnopp can be reached at hkarnopp@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: DOJ seeks Archdiocese of Milwaukee's sealed clergy abuse documents US Tourists are flocking to European destinations like Rome this summer. Matteo Nardone/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images International travel demand is outpacing domestic demand as Americans flock to Europe in 2023. This is keeping domestic airfare below 2019 levels good news for those vacationing closer to home. Carriers like Southwest, Spirit, and JetBlue are forecasting lower revenue due to the slowdown. If you've caught yourself scrolling through Instagram wondering why everyone seems to be on vacation in Europe this summer, you're far from alone. Despite the fires in Greece , heatwaves in Spain, and suffocating, selfie-taking crowds in Italy, Europe has emerged as the top destination for American traveling abroad this summer, according to a June report from the travel booking site Hopper. Our international wanderlust may be a worrying trend for domestic airlines but it makes now the perfect time to buy flights for fall and winter vacations within the US. According to weekly data from Bank of America , international bookings are ahead of domestic year-over-year by about 8.5% as travelers flock to overseas destinations in Europe and Asia. Sonia Bhagwan, travel advisor and founder of Dreaming of Sun Dream Vacations, told Insider the surge is a result of Americans' desire to experience "bucket list destinations that they've always wanted to see, but never had the money or the courage to do so," following the end of COVID-19 travel restrictions. This is good for major airlines like American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines that have a global presence and won't be as impacted by the domestic decline United, for example, boasts itself as the "the largest US carrier across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans." However, airlines that predominantly fly in the US are likely to face headwinds. Southwest Airlines, which is the US' biggest domestic carrier, said in a July earnings call that it expects to earn less revenue in the third quarter suggesting domestic demand is on the decline. Low-cost carriers Spirit Airlines , Frontier Airlines , and JetBlue Airways had similar outlooks. "I think you're seeing last year was maybe the year for domestic, and this year is the year for international," Frontier CEO Barry Biffle told CNBC on August 2. Redburn analyst James Goodall said Monday that domestic airlines are likely to feel this pressure for not just months, but years, Barron's reported . Just look at airlines' stock prices over the past month and you can see what's happening: Airlines that fly the most domestically have been hammered with Southwest and JetBlue down about 13% and 30%, respectively, over the past month, for instance. Whereas airlines with more international flying, like United and Delta, are down only 5% and 7%.American is also taking a 15% hit, but Goodall noted the Texas-based carrier has the "greatest exposure to the more competitive domestic market." Good news for US travelers planning trips closer to home US budget carriers like Southwest, Frontier, and Spirit have all held massive sales and promotions for fall flights this summer. Frontier Airlines As domestic airlines take a hit, consumers could reap the benefits with cheap fares and fall promotions designed to stimulate demand. In Hopper's quarter three consumer travel index published on Tuesday, domestic airfare is trending down at $257 roundtrip, which is about 11% below both 2022 and 2019 levels. It attributes this to decreasing fuel costs and added seat capacity compared to summer 2022, as well as travelers flocking overseas after being locked out for nearly three years during COVID. But don't get too excited Hopper said it expects prices to go up by the holidays as demand increases and timing is less flexible. Southwest, Frontier, and Spirit have all held massive sales and promotions for fall flights this summer, a strategy typically used to boost slow bookings, according to Bloomberg Opinion. Bhagwan said she's telling her clients to buy flights for Christmas and Spring break now, even though September is typically the best month to nab cheap airfare. "As of probably three weeks ago, the airfare domestically has dropped drastically," she told Insider, adding that she's advising people to act quickly, as it "isn't going to last forever." International pricing, on the other hand, is soaring. According to Hopper , airfare to Europe is at a six-year high, averaging about $1,200 roundtrip. And, it doesn't expect ticket prices to drop anytime soon. However, it noted fares to shorter-haul international destinations like Mexico and the Caribbean have fallen significantly since last summer thanks to increased capacity and lower fuel prices a sigh of relief for vacationers. "We used to be able to plan these [international] trips three to four months in advance," Bhagwan said. "Now I'm telling people they need to plan 10 to 12 months out in advance just because airfares are so high. Coupled with the Olympics that will be in Paris next summer, people are already starting to plan for that." Read the original article on Business Insider FORT PIERCE Former President Donald Trump and his aide, Walt Nauta, pleaded not guilty to all new charges against them in the classified documents case Thursday. Carlos De Oliveira, the third and newest codefendant charged in the indictment, appeared beside Nauta at Thursday's hearing but did not enter a plea. The Mar-a-Lago property manager must hire a lawyer licensed to practice in the South Florida federal court district before he can be arraigned. De Oliveira's D.C.-based attorney, John Irving, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Shaniek Mills Maynard that he is poised to hire one soon. "We believe that we have that ironed out," Irving said. Maynard reset De Oliveira's arraignment for Tuesday. Trump did not attend Thursday's hearing, which lasted fewer than 10 minutes. More: Indictment makes Donald Trump the latest Florida man charged with leading Jan. 6 attack Carlos De Oliveira (left) arrives with his Washington D.C. attorney to appear before U.S. Magistrate Shaniek Mills Maynard in the Fort PIerce Federal Courthouse on Thursday, Aug, 10, 2023, to enter his plea to new charges added July 27 to an indictment in the classified documents case. Prosecutors say the former president schemed with Nauta and De Oliveira to conceal classified documents, boxes of which FBI agents seized during a search of Mar-a-Lago more than a year and a half after Trump left office. The indictment, updated in July to name De Oliveira as a codefendant and press additional counts against the former president, says De Oliveira, a Palm Beach Gardens resident, told another member of Trump's staff that the boss wanted the server for surveillance cameras purged after investigators issued another subpoena for video from the Palm Beach estate. The staffer refused. In an interview with the FBI on Jan. 13, De Oliveira denied helping either to unload or move boxes for Trump. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon has tentatively scheduled their trial to begin May 20 despite a push by Trump's attorneys to delay it until after the presidential election. Trump has said he will continue his bid for a new term if convicted. Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump, staffer plead not guilty to new charges in classified documents case WASHINGTON After Donald Trump was indicted on charges he tried to steal the 2020 election, his attorneys argued the former president is protected by the the First Amendment's guarantees of free speech for all Americans. Legal experts say that claim may not hold up in court. The indictment against Trump alleges he knowingly used false election fraud claims to influence election officials. He's also accused of trying to impede a congressional proceeding on Jan. 6, 2021, when the 2020 election results were being certified, and working with co-conspirators to recruit fake electors. After he was indicted, Trump alleged in a Truth Social post that The Radical Left wants to Criminalize Free Speech!" John Lauro, one of Trumps attorneys in the case, also argued on the "Today" show Trump had the right to raise questions about election integrity under the First Amendment. Trump's indictment quickly drew ire from Republicans in Congress, including Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who also accused prosecutors of targeting Trump's freedom of speech. But the indictment notes that Trump, like other Americans, had the right to speak publicly about the election and even to claim, falsely, that there had been outcome-determinative fraud. It's core argument is that Trump knowingly spread false claims to advance a conspiracy to take the election from now-President Joe Biden. Trump "cannot be defended by arguing that his statements were just free speech...Trumps lawyer is trying to shift attention from what Trump is actually charged with a tactic that is more political than legal," Joan Meyer, a partner at the law firm Thompson Hine, told USA TODAY. Will Donald Trump's First Amendment defense work? David Super, a constitutional law expert at Georgetown University, said the First Amendment isn't likely to play a significant role in Trump's trial. He explained to USA TODAY the indictment is very clear that Trump isn't being charged solely over comments he made about the 2020 election. "To the extent his public statements are involved in the indictment, it is only because those were allegedly made to advance his criminal conspiracy," Super said. "Many forms of expression can become unlawful if undertaken for corrupt purposes. I am free to write 'Vote for Trump,' but its expressive content does not keep it from being illegal if I spray-paint it onto your car." Likewise, if Trump had merely given a speech criticizing former Vice President Mike Pence, he would not be facing charges, Super said. But the indictment alleges he pressured Pence to reject Biden's electoral votes which Pence refused to do. "Asking someone to commit a crime is conspiracy, and criminal conspiracy is not protected by the First Amendment," Super said. Marc Scholl, who formerly served as a prosecutor in New York, agreed the criminal charges against Trump, if proved in court, would not violate the First Amendment. "As alleged in the indictment, Trump did not simply state an opinion or 'aspirationally' ask Pence to violate the law," Scholl said. "Trump and others agreed to a plan to interfere in the transfer of power, and steps were taken to manufacture false electors. And Trump told the co-conspirators that he would deal with getting Pence to participate." While the indictment cites statements made by Trump, the use of defendants statements are routine in criminal law, according to Gregory Magarian, a law professor at the Washington University in St. Louis, and it doesn't necessarily mean Trump was charged over his words alone. How will Trump and his team argue his case? Meyer explained that Trump and his lawyers will likely argue he really believed he won the 2020 election. She added they could say "that certain political advisors and lawyers were supporting that view, and he was relying on their advice, and that he was merely urging his vice president to delay the proceedings so that these matters could be investigated." She said he could further argue his social media posts and speeches falsely claiming there was widespread election fraud in 2020 were just reflecting his sincere belief. Scholl said Trumps attorneys have claimed that all Trump did was petition the government a right under the First Amendment to delay certification of the 2020 election by asking Pence to delay the counting of electoral votes - a notion that Pence had rejected. "And, they have suggested that 'asking' is not the same as commanding, directing, ordering, demanding, etc.," Scholl said. The crucial point in the case will be whether Trump spread false claims exclusively for legal means, Super said, such as winning public support, or whether he was doing it as part of a plan to overturn the results of the election. What should I know about the First Amendment? The First Amendment guarantees five specific protections, including for religion, speech, the press, assembly and to "petition the government." But the First Amendment doesn't protect all forms of speech. For example, if you make an illegal contract, that's not protected. "If that were not the case, then most prosecutions against organized crime would be impossible, as they tend to rely on mob bosses verbally asking that this or that crime be committed," Super said. Trump's 2020 election indictment is unprecedented in many ways, but here's what to know about previous landmark First Amendment cases and how they've played out in court. In one case, Omar Abdel-Rahman, commonly known as the Blind Sheikh was charged in the 1990s with for promoting terrorism, Meyer said. He defended violent, anti-American comments by arguing they were protected under the First Amendment, but the bid was unsuccessful in court. He was convicted and sent to prison. But other cases have played out differently. For example, in the 1969 case Brandenburg v Ohio, the Supreme Court held that a Ku Klux Klan leaders racist comments were protected, even when he talked about exacting vengeance in the future, Meyer said. There's also the case of Julian Bond, a civil rights activist who won a special election to the Georgia legislature in 1965, according to Jonathan Entin, a law professor at Case Western Reserve. Bond endorsed a press release that criticized the Vietnam War, among other statements, and the legislature refused to seat him, Entin said. Bond took his case to the Supreme Court in 1966, which ruled in his favor because his statements did not incite anyone to violate the draft law or to engage in any other unlawful activity. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump relies on First Amendment in his 2020 election defense WASHINGTON - Special counsel Jack Smith proposed a Jan. 2 trial date Thursday for Donald Trump on charges that he tried to steal the 2020 election, a speedy timetable that the former president's attorneys are expected to try and delay. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan will ultimately set the schedule for the trial, which Smith would like to open less than two weeks before the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses and the start of the 2024 Republican presidential race. In his motion, Smith estimated that the trial itself would take four-to-six weeks before going to a jury. "A January 2, 2024, trial date represents an appropriately speedy trial in the public interest and in the interests of justice, while affording the defendant time to prepare his defense and raise pre-trial legal issues with the Court," Smith's office said in its motion. Donald Trump at a federal hearing last week Under the proposed schedule, jury selection for Trump's election trial would begin on Dec. 11. The Trump campaign denounced the Jan. 2 proposal, saying in a statement that prosecutors are blatantly playing political games, proving even further that they are overtly committing election interference because they know that President Trump is the leading candidate in the race to win the White House. This is one of - at least - three criminal trials that Trump is looking during the 2024 election year. A state court in New York has scheduled a March trial on charges against Trump involving hush money payments. A federal judge in Florida has set a May trial on charges that Trump obstructed justice by hiding subpoeanaed classified documents. In addition, a grand jury in Atlanta may decide this month whether to charge with Trump with a conspiracy to overturn President Joe Biden's 2020 victory in the state of Georgia. Trump has denounced all of these investigations as attempts to interfere with his 2024 election bid. His lawyers have indicated they will seek to delay all of these trials until after the presidential election itself, which is Nov. 5, 2024. The proposed date of Jan. 2 also comes less than a week before the third anniversary of the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, the event at the heart of the federal conspiracy charges against Trump. Attorneys have a hearing in the case on Friday over Smith's request for a protective order against Trump, restricting what the president can say publicly about the witnesses and evidence against him. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump's Jan. 6 trial: Jack Smith proposes trial date of Jan. 2 Another week, another lesson in a truth that will not be heeded by the mainstream media: Republicans are liars, and you should never take what they say at face value. This time it was over yet another education scandal in Florida under the leadership of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. It started when the College Board, a non-profit that manages educational standards for those seeking higher education, announced that Florida had banned an Advanced Placement (AP) psychology course that over 30,000 Florida high school students had enrolled in for the fall. Long story short: The DeSantis-signed bill barring schools from offering "instruction" in gender or sexual orientation, dubbed the "don't say gay law" by critics, made it impossible for teachers to address very basic ideas like "sexuality is a part of the life experience." Rather than offer a substandard program, the College Board was forced to pull the AP classes, which many students could use for college credit, from the schools. In response to the bad press, the GOP-controlled Florida government went into heavy spin mode, releasing a letter claiming the AP Psychology course can be "taught in its entirety," but only "in a manner that is age and developmentally appropriate." This was widely and falsely reported in the press as a "reversal," with even LGBTQ-oriented sites getting caught up in the hype. Thankfully, the team at Popular Information was on hand to debunk the lie, pointing out that the "developmentally appropriate" language is a poison pill that amounts to a de facto ban on the AP Psychology course. Want more Amanda Marcotte on politics? Subscribe to her newsletter Standing Room Only. "A teacher can exclude the content in AP Psychology related to sexual orientation and gender identity and put their students at risk of not receiving college credit," Judd Legum and Tesnim Zekeria explain. "Or a teacher can include those topics and risk losing their certification and their job." Despite reports implying otherwise, therefore, Florida schools are canceling the classes. 1. Media outlets have reported that Florida has reversed its position and will allow high schools to offer the full AP Psychology course. This is false. Florida teachers that follow the AP Psychology curriculum risk losing their jobs So many school districts have canceled it. pic.twitter.com/nz7C2xk0Sg Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) August 8, 2023 Luckily, the Washington Post quickly updated the story with the correct information, under the headline "Florida schools drop AP Psychology after state says it violates the law." All this confusion is very much by design. The mixed messages coming from Republican leaders on what is and isn't allowed in schools serves a larger purpose: making it so impossible for teachers to do their jobs that they give up even trying. In some cases, teachers leave the profession or move to a less hostile state to work. In others, it's more a quiet-quitting, as the limitations force teachers to offer a substandard education to their students, out of fear that actually challenging kids to learn will cross some legal line that will land teachers in serious trouble. Either way, children in red states are losing access to quality education. All these various faux-outrages over education are being ginned up by Republicans and groups like Moms for Liberty for one reason: As pretexts to make it impossible for teachers to do their jobs. The strategy increasingly embraced by Republicans is to destabilize schools by harassing the teachers out of even trying to do their jobs, through confusing and contradictory rules. As Kathryn Joyce reported for the New Republic in 2021, Republican leaders object to "the very existence of public schools." Carol Corbett Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education described the end game that Republicans are aiming for: "It will be a stratified system, where wealthy kids receive the absolute best education; kids in the middle will probably receive a decent education; and kids that are poor and disadvantaged will sit in a big room in front of computers with someone standing at the door keeping them in." Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, told MSNBC that this attack on AP psychology is more of the same. "What this is doing is just eroding opportunity for Florida's students. That's what the governor is doing, and that's what the department of education is doing." The absurdity of teaching under Republican rule is illustrated by another recent story from the Tampa Bay Times about Florida schools pulling the complete text of Shakespearean plays from the classroom. The Bard is considered too risque under the DeSantis-era speech regulations. Instead, students will only read highly censored excerpts of a play like "Romeo and Juliet." The are-you-kidding excuse is that high school kids are too young to know that the famous couple has S-E-X on their W-E-D-D-I-N-G-N-I-G-H-T. This also makes it impossible for public school English teachers to prepare their students for college, which expects kids to be grounded in the basics of literature like Shakespeare. This no doubt suits the goals of Republicans, who clearly think that college should be a privilege only for those wealthy enough to afford private school tuition. So instead of teaching Shakespeare, Florida teachers are now being told to use materials created by a right-wing disinformation mill called "PragerU." Unsurprisingly in the anti-reading world of Republican politics, PragerU focuses not on books but on videos that are rife with lies and misrepresentations. Videos now deemed "educational" materials in Florida are on topics like why racism is a myth that Black people prop up because of "the victim mentality." Or how being a climate change denialist is the same thing as "the Warsaw Uprising, when the city's Jews fought back against the Nazis." One especially vile video uses a cartoon figure of Booker T. Washington to make excuses for American slavery. Replacing real materials with right-wing propaganda isn't just immoral, but makes it pretty much impossible for teachers to do their job. First of all, good teachers don't lie to students. Plus, this sort of thing makes it difficult for students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to go to college or get jobs in the real world. PragerU materials both encourage bigotry and discourage basic literacy. They are functionally an anti-education, meant to make the person receiving it less intelligent than they were before. It's not just Florida. In Oklahoma, the Republican Superintendent for Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, has made it a habit of publicly targeting individual teachers with conspiracy theories. One teacher, Summer Boismier, was hounded out of her job for sharing a link to the Brooklyn Public Library's "Books Unbanned" program, which gives access to the library's catalog to out-of-state teens. Now Walters is accusing "communist China" of "giving money to Tulsa public schools in order to try to undermine our United States government." It's not true, of course, but the goal of the lie appears to be putting a target on the back of a Chinese language teacher for the sin of being good at her job. Walters has borrowed from the DeSantis playbook of imposing contradictory regulations on teachers. As the Daily Beast reports, teachers "are required by state law to cover the Tulsa Race Massacre and the Holocaust, but are also required to do so without talking about race or making the subject matter controversial." Walters in particular made comments arguing that the Tulsa Race Massacre was somehow not about race, even though it was caused by white people mass-murdering and stealing from Black people in an orgy of racist violence. Walters is taking advantage of the damned-if-you-do-damned-if-don't situation he created, threatening to strip the entire Tulsa public school system of accreditation. The strategy isn't even hidden: Write the rules so that there is no way to avoid breaking them, and then use the rule-breaking as a pretense to end public education entirely. We can see how this plays out in Texas, where Republicans used phony claims of school underperformance in the racially diverse city of Houston as a pretext for the state to forcibly strip Houston voters of control over the local school district. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott instead installed a crony, Mike Miles, as the school district superintendent. Miles was chosen for his destructive talents, having left the Dallas school system in tatters after a three-year stint of successfully driving down test scores and running off talented and experienced teachers and principals. Now Miles is in Houston, pretending to lead while actually setting things on fire. One of his first decisions was so on the nose that it's almost hard to believe: He is shutting down libraries so they can be replaced with "discipline centers." The goal has never been more starkly illustrated. Republicans want to convert public schools from places of learning to prisons for children, where they will be kept in ignorance until they're too old to ever compete with the children of well-heeled white people for spots at elite universities. Public education in the U.S. has long been underfunded and under-served. But even when it falls short, it's an important part of realizing the American dream of equal opportunity. That is due in large part to the dedication of school teachers, who miraculously show up in droves, ready to do what they can to help kids learn and grow, even as they face obstacles like racism, poverty, oppression, and even just benign neglect. Some students manage to leverage a public education into higher education and careers that their parents never dreamed of. Everything great about public education is why Republicans hate it so much. These attacks on schools and teachers aren't just penny ante culture war politics meant to rile up the base for the next election. It's part of a larger assault on the very idea that every kid deserves an education, no matter who their family is. Read more about Republicans' war on education Dozens of cars were found over the weekend in a lake in Doral, Florida, near Miami International Airport. Volunteer divers looking for clues in missing persons cases found 32 submerged vehicles in the lake on Friday and Saturday, The New York Times reported. One group of divers told the Times that it was the most cars they had ever discovered in a single lake. The search teams said the body of water might have beena place where people committing crimes disposed of the evidence. After being informed of the findings over the weekend, the Doral Police Department told CNN that a thorough investigation will take place to look into the submerged vehicles. As of this time, it is unknown if these vehicles are linked to criminal activity nor how long the vehicles have been submerged in the lake, Doral police said. Miami-Dade County authorities remove one of 32 cars found submerged in a lake in Doral, Florida, on Aug. 8, 2023. Miami-Dade County authorities remove one of 32 cars found submerged in a lake in Doral, Florida, on Aug. 8, 2023. Many of the vehicles appear to be decades old. The first vehicle authorities removed from the lake on Tuesday was a stolen 2002 Nissan Altima, according to CBS News. We obviously dont want these things happening in our backyard and we hope that they do not continue to happen, Doral Mayor Christi Fraga told CBS. It seems as if this area was a hot spot when none of this was developed, where cars were driven into the lake, she added. No human remains have been found with the cars as of yet. However, Doug Bishop, the founder of United Search Corps, a nonprofit that investigates cold cases and helped search the lake, told NewsNation there is a possibility that bodies will be found in the lake eventually. Homicide detectives fully expect any one of those vehicles to possibly hold answers for a family and their community and one of their cases. Its extremely likely, especially when theres that many vehicles in one location, Bishop said. Does that mean thats going to happen? No, absolutely not. But you know, the odds are there that one of those vehicles could possibly hold answers and clues to a case thats long been forgotten, he said. Bishop, Fraga, the United Search Corps, the Miami-Dade Police Department and the Doral Police Department did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment. Related... Laurie Stolen, director of Larimer County Behavioral Health Services, stands in front of the idea boards in her office ahead of the new behavioral health center to be constructed in Fort Collins, Colo. on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. When Larimer County officials gather Sept. 22 for the ribbon-cutting ceremony on the new Acute Care Center at the Behavioral Health Services Longview Campus, a key building block will be missing. Laurie Stolen, the countys former director of behavioral health services, abruptly resigned July 26 after nearly 23 years with Larimer County. A resignation settlement prevents Stolen and county officials from disclosing the reasons for her departure. What Im legally allowed to say is we reached a mutual agreement for me to resign in good standing, Stolen told the Coloradoan. Shell be paid $140,000, and the county will contribute $11,200 to her mandatory 401(a) retirement account, according to financial terms of the agreement obtained by the Coloradoan through an open-records request. Stolen's annual salary was $162,457. The position of behavioral health director was created by Larimer County in January 2019, following voter approval of a 0.25% sales tax for 20 years to address mental and behavioral health care needs in the county. Stolen is the only person to ever hold the now-vacant position. She previously served as the countys behavioral health project director, director of the alternative sentencing department and in various roles with the Larimer County Sheriffs Office from 2000 to 2010. Stolens performance reviews as director of behavioral health services, also obtained through a Colorado Open Records Act request, were all positive, praising her for exceptional work in building the behavioral services department from the ground up. Lauries commitment to community well-being continually inspire me, her supervisor, Laura Walker, wrote in her most recent performance review, completed and signed Jan. 6, 2023. I believe that most people who come to work for government are concerned with serving the public and contributing to the greater good, but not everyone shows the tenacity and passion that Laurie does in her role. Larimer County is lucky to have someone of Laurie's caliber to lead us into very new territory of actively supporting community behavioral health." Laurie Stolen, the Larimer County behavioral health services director, stands on the location of the future Larimer County Behavioral Health Services Facility in Fort Collins, Colorado. Walker is the countys director of human and economic health services. Terms of the resignation settlement prevented her and others with the county from commenting further, officials said. Emails to the three county commissioners were answered with identical responses from two chair Jody Shadduck-McNally and Kristin Stephens: I am aware that Laurie resigned her position with the county on the 25th. Personnel matters are private, so I cannot comment further, but I am thankful for Lauries time with the county. SummitStone Health Partners will provide professional services and operate the new Acute Care Center at the Longwood Campus west of Fort Collins under terms of a renewable five-year contract approved June 27 by the county commissioners. The facility along Taft Hill Road between Fort Collins and Loveland is expected to open the first week of December, SummitStones chief medical director, Dr. Lesley Brooks, said last month. Brooks will serve as executive director of the Acute Care Center, which will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to serve Larimer County residents experiencing a wide range of behavioral health issues, ranging from substance-use disorders and serious mental-health illnesses to anxiety attacks that keep them up at night. More: What to know about Larimer County's behavorial health center opening in December SummitStone is proud of its strong relationship with Larimer County over the last 65 years, including our collaborative work in supporting the multiple campaigns that led to passage of the sales/use tax in 2018, collaborating and giving feedback on the design of the facility, and many other projects over the years, SummitStone CEO Michael Allen and Brooks said in a joint statement to the Coloradoan's questions about Stolen's resignation. There wouldnt be an acute-care facility designed to meet the behavioral health needs of the entire county without Stolens leadership on the issue, former county commissioner Steve Johnson and others said. She helped educate the community on the need for more mental and behavioral health care services in the county and, following the failure of a similar initiative in 2016, helped write the ballot language for the 2018 measure that passed. When that (2016) measure failed, I was sitting in the restaurant as the election results were coming in, and we were all shocked, said Mary Beth Swanson, a licensed clinical social worker who has served on mental-health advisory boards with Stolen. Laurie stepped back and used her strategic mind to think through, where did we drop the ball. Instead of going into anger and giving up and saying this communitys terrible, she really dug deep at why it failed, and she spent the next two years really strategically reaching out. So, the second time, it passed, and there is literally no way that it would have passed without Lauries work over those two years around it. Stolen was honored as one of 10 Women of Distinction in Northern Colorado in 2023 by BizWest Media for her work in the government, energy and utilities sector. Winners were announced July 25, the day the county forced her out, Johnson said. More: Take a photo tour of the soon-to-be-completed Larimer County Behavioral Health Center Johnson and Swanson both strongly believe Stolens resignation was forced. She would not walk away from this, especially a couple months before the behavioral health center was going to open, Johnson said. I just cant help but fault the county commissioners and county administration. They really shot themselves in the foot with this one. She never told me anything bad about the county, but I know all the players, I know the county administration, and I can put all the pieces together and see whos at fault. It just makes me sick. Allen and Brooks, in their joint statement, praised Stolen's immense and enduring contribution to the herculean task of bringing the Acute Care Facility at the Longview Campus to fruition. Her contribution to this work was an invaluable ingredient in the success of an effort that required the commitment and dedication of so many. They went on to say SummitStone was not involved in Ms. Stolens decision to resign her position. Johnson and Swanson, a therapist with the Willow Collection, arent so sure. Both said Stolen was committed to making sure taxpayers were getting what they paid for with the approval of the 2018 sales tax. You never went to a meeting where you didnt have the ballot language right in front of you, saying this is what were doing and what were not doing, Swanson said. We all had our crazy ideas of what we needed to do, and she kept us very focused. Johnson said Stolen was adamant about including performance measures based on the outcomes provided in the professional services and operations contract for the Acute Care Center, knowing that the county will have to ask voters to reauthorize the sales tax in 20 years to maintain the funding. I think she was pushing very hard for performance measures, and providers probably dont like that as much as commissioners and taxpayers do, Johnson said. I think its really disgusting that they county leadership, the administration and commissioners couldnt find a way to work this out with Laurie. They made a huge mistake. Although specific outcome-based standards were not included in the contract with SummitStone to staff and operate the Acute Care Center at Longview, there is a significant amount of data and demographic information specifically spelled out that SummitStone is required to collect. That data, Allen and Brooks said, can be used by county leadership and the public to determine the effectiveness of the facility and its services. We want to assure our community that the county and SummitStone have planned for robust metrics to help us determine the impact of services at the Acute Care Facility at Longview, their statement said. These metrics and a vigorous framework to govern and monitor behavioral health outcomes related to the availability of these services are included in the publicly available operations contract. We look forward to sharing these metrics with our community on a regular basis as the facility becomes operational. Larimer County Behavioral Health Facility Contract by Coloradoan on Scribd (Editor's note: This story has been updated since it was first posted to reflect that two county commissioners replied to a request for more informatin with identically-worded emails) Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, twitter.com/KellyLyell or facebook.com/KellyLyell.news. This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Driving force behind Larimer County behavioral health facility resigns Customers shop at the Des Moines Fairgrounds Gun Show at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa By Nate Raymond (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that a decades-old law prohibiting users of illegal drugs from owning firearms was unconstitutional as applied to the case of a marijuana user, the latest fallout from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that expanded gun rights. A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the federal law violated a Mississippi man's right to "keep and bear arms" under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment. The man, Patrick Daniels, had been convicted under that law after law enforcement found a pistol and a semi-automatic rifle in his vehicle during a traffic stop along with marijuana cigarette butts. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration did not administer a drug test, though Daniels admitted he sometimes smoked marijuana, which federal law prohibits. He was sentenced to nearly four years in prison. While his case was pending, the conservative-majority Supreme Court in June 2022 declared for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense. That decision, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, also announced a new test for assessing firearms laws, saying restrictions must be "consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation." U.S. Circuit Judge Jerry Smith, an appointee of former Republican President Ronald Reagan, said that decision meant the statute was invalid as applied to Daniels. "In short, our history and tradition may support some limits on an intoxicated persons right to carry a weapon, but it does not justify disarming a sober citizen based exclusively on his past drug usage," he wrote. U.S. Circuit Judge Stephen Higginson, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama, in a concurring opinion agreed while noting that many other gun safety laws had likewise been struck down since the Supreme Court's ruling. He urged the court to provide more guidance in a case it agreed to hear in its next term, saying last year's ruling could otherwise result in the "dismantling of the laws that have served to protect our country for generations." (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Shri Navaratnam) Ukraine needs more international assistance as it most likely does not field enough weapons to change the balance of the war, Polish President Andrzej Duda said in an interview with the Washington Post on Aug. 10. "The question is: Does Ukraine have enough weapons to change the balance of the war and get the upper hand? And the answer is probably no," Duda said. "And we know this by the fact that they're not currently able to carry out a very decisive counteroffensive against the Russian military." Duda however added that Western long-range artillery supplies could mean that "Ukraine now has much more modern military capabilities than Russia." The Ukrainian counteroffensive has been underway in at least three directions in Ukraine's southwest and east since early July. President Volodymyr Zelensky described the campaign as "challenging" while adding that Ukraine still holds the initiative. Ukrainian armed forces' Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi told the Washington Post that Ukrainian troops are making limited gains daily despite the lack of much-needed supplies, including F-16 fighter jets and artillery ammunition. The counteroffensive's relatively slow progress prompted skepticism among Western observers about whether it can help Ukraine reach a decisive strategic success. On Aug. 8, CNN wrote, citing U.S. and Western officials, that the initial expectations regarding the counteroffensive were "unrealistic," adding that the Western leadership receives increasingly "sobering" assessments of the progress. Read also: WSJ: Cluster munitions provide fresh impetus to Ukraines counteroffensive The Polish Head of State also said during the interview that he does not believe that Russia will use its nuclear arsenal in response to Western arms supplies for Ukraine. Such a step would require a collective decision, not dependent solely on the country's dictator Vladimir Putin, Duda said. However, the president raised concerns regarding potential "nuclear accidents" at Ukraine's nuclear plants. Since March 2022, Russian forces occupy the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest nuclear station in Europe. In late June, Ukrainian officials warned that Russia is considering a terrorist attack at the plant through a deliberate radiation leakage. Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. A new school in Duval County is opening its door just in time for the first day of school on Monday. Rutledge H. Pearson Elementary is the first new school built in the last 15 years. Students, teachers, alumni, community members, and city leaders were all at the ribbon cutting on Thursday. We needed to take action to create spaces where our students and teachers can thrive and really reach their full potential, said acting superintendent, Dr. Dana Kriznar. On Thursday morning, Action News Jax got a chance to get a tour of the school and got a closer look at the media center, cafeteria, stem lab, and student classrooms. Read: Help wanted: Northeast Florida school districts looking for teachers amid major teacher shortage Dr. Kriznar said 2011 was the last time a new school was built. That means the Rutledge H. Pearson, your school, is the first brand new school to be built in the last 15 years in this part of the city, said Dr. Kriznar. The district said Rutledge H. Pearson is the first new school built and completed using funds from the half-cent sales tax. Read: How to avoid back-to-school scams that put your money and identity at risk Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan was also at the ribbon cutting. By updating our schools facilities, we can ensure they can have the best possible learning environment and are set on a path of success, said Mayor Deegan. The district said there are four more schools under construction. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] Read: Crossing guards needed in Lake City for new school year [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. I suppose I shouldnt have been surprised, but reader interest in my recent Public Service Loan Forgiveness column has been high. And why not? Many people either know someone who has a school loan, is a relative or guardian of a borrower, or owe student debt themselves. Im a borrower, too, and worked for public universities for 12 years. Ive heard from many of you all over the country, and some from participants in the Mohela loan system in our own backyard in Missouri. Your stories are compelling, sometimes unusual, but always mention hard work. Jennifer Kronk, a licensed clinical professional counselor in Chicago, received her forgiveness of $160,000 doing hard work as a clinical social worker. She helped people with chronic mental illness. My job was intense and stressful and I loved so much of it. So, I really feel like I earned my forgiveness. Dr. Paula Gerstenblatt is a professor of social work in Portland, Maine. Her loan forgiveness story is different from some. Gerstenblatt had a Parent Plus loan, which is a federal loan that parents of dependent undergraduate students can use to help pay for college. Like all loans, there can be confusing information. She credits the loan forgiveness Facebook group moderators with helping her sort things out. She received forgiveness of $125,000 in June. Reading everyones victory posts and stories on the PSLF group page has been an inspiration and elucidated how failed and predatory this system really is. And then theres Nick Kenney, who lives in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Nick is a professor and the interim chair of the department of music at Southeast Missouri State University. He plays the French horn. Hes married with a 2-year-old little girl. And like many, his path to public service loan forgiveness was a cacophony of paperwork, permissions and procedures. I thought it was a joke at first. Are you kidding me right now? he said when he received a letter from the Department of Education saying his work as a professor at various schools would count toward loan forgiveness. I knew at that moment that everything would work out. Loans the only option for many to get a college degree Kenney owed $96,000 in student loans, and they were forgiven this summer. But taking on debt wasnt his first choice. His original plan was joining the military, where college would be paid for. But he changed his mind. When I decided not to, my family didnt have the money (to put me through college) and I had to do it on my own. That meant taking out loans. Kenney said he knew that if he went into public service, he could get the loans forgiven one day. It was like taking a chance on myself, he said, knowing that teaching music wouldnt be lucrative, especially teaching in the arts or areas that dont pay well. You just dont get offered the same kind of money if youre teaching business, for example, he said. Costs of education continue to rise, while state allocation of resources to public universities dwindle. Loans often are the only way to go for students. And if youre offered a Congressionally-approved 2007 program that will forgive your loans for a career of public service, you should get what youre promised. Kenneys story is important in another way. He said he didnt feel entitled to the money, but he wanted the choice he made to pan out. When he received the letter, It was the moment I knew I made the right choice. With lawsuits threatening plans to reduce billions in student loans, Kenney and I want to emphasize that forgiveness shouldnt be for people who just dont want to pay back what they borrowed. Any kind of help for people who are legitimately trying to pay their loans back is good, he said. The future for Kenney minus nearly 100 grand in debt? My wife and I already talked about how this much changes life for us. The ability to increase our savings and save for our childs future her college plan, so she doesnt have to take loans. Thats something both sides of the aisle should agree on. Fernando Villavicencio, a presidential candidate in Ecuador known for speaking out about corruption and the ties between organized crime and government officials, was shot dead after leaving a political rally Wednesday evening in Quito, the capital. President Guillermo Lasso blamed "organized crime" for the assassination, and assured the South American country "this crime will not go unpunished" and the parties responsible "will feel the full weight of the law." When Villavicencio "stepped outside the door, he was met with gunfire," said Carlos Figueroa, a Villavicencio campaign worker. "There was nothing to be done, because they were shots to the head." He had received and reported several death threats, his campaign said. Villavicencio, a 59-year-old former journalist and married father of five, was one of eight candidates running for president in an Aug. 20 election. He had been polling in the middle of the scrum. The other presidential candidates, including frontrunner Luisa Gonzalez of the Citizen Revolution party, demanded action after the murder. "When they touch one of us, they touch all of us," she said. The election was triggered by Lasso's dissolution of the National Assembly in May, before the opposition-controlled legislature could hold impeachment hearings on embezzlement charges. Lasso is not a candidate in the Aug. 20 vote. Villavicencio had been a member of the Assembly from 2017 until Lasso dissolved it. This was the first-ever assassination of a presidential candidate in Ecuador, "once a relatively safe nation" that "has been consumed by violence related to narco-trafficking in the last five years," The New York Times reported. Foreign drug mafias have joined forces with "local prison and street gangs, unleashing a wave of violence unlike anything in the country's recent history. Homicide rates are at record levels," and "the violence is often horrific and public, meant to induce fear and exert control." The major of Manta, Agustin Intriago, was killed in July and Omar Menendez, a mayoral candidate in Puerto Lopez, was killed in February, BBC News reported. Lasso declared states of emergency and night curfews in three provinces in July due to violence from organized crime. After Villavicencio's assassination, his Movimiento Construye party posted his comment following Intriago's murder: "Hiding in moments when criminals assassinate citizens and officials is an act of cowardice." You may also like Homepage Fernando Villavicencio was shot dead as he left a campaign rally in Quito on Wednesday Ecuador was once called an island of peace in a region plagued by instability, but in recent years the country has become a hub for international drug traffickers, who have joined forces with local street gangs and unleashed a wave of violence unlike anything in its history. Wednesdays assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio cements Ecuadors descent into criminal chaos. The gang alleged to be behind the murder has close ties to Albanian factions that ship cocaine to the UK, as well as to Mexican drug cartels. Los Lobos, or the Wolves, are thought to include up to 8,000 members, most of whom run their criminal underworld from Ecuadorian prisons. Mr Villavicencio was an outspoken critic of alleged links between organised crime and politics in his country. The 59-year-old was one of eight presidential candidates in elections scheduled for Aug 20. Much of the record 19,000 kilos of cocaine that were seized in the UK last year are likely to have been sourced by Albanian factions that work with Los Lobos and other Ecuadorian gangs to ship the drug to British shores, often via ports in Belgium or the Netherlands. The National Crime Agency says that violent Albanian criminal groups dominate the British underworld. They negotiate directly with South American producers and deliver cocaine directly to dealers on the streets of British towns and cities. Ecuador constitutes prized turf to guarantee cocaine pipelines to the USA and Europe, bypassing increasing interdiction efforts in Colombian ports, said Mauricio Jaramillo, a professor of international relations at El Rosario University in Bogota. Mr Villavicencio had pledged to strengthen ties to the UK as part of his campaign. He believed his country needed help to fight organised crime. The police and armed forces in Ecuador lack experience in tackling drug trafficking, added Prof Jaramillo. And the gangs can take advantage of that. Bitter territorial rivalry International traffickers rely on local gangs in Ecuador to help them transport their cocaine and provide security. Authorities believe the Mexican Sinaloa cartel has close ties with Los Choneros, the countrys biggest gang, while their rivals, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, have formed alliances with Los Lobos. Both Ecuadorian gangs are known to work with European criminal structures present in the country, responsible for particular trafficking routes. It has created a bitter territorial rivalry to become the biggest and the best among Ecuadors street gangs. Working with the traffickers from abroad brings profit and helps the gangs increase their influence. Last year, local gangs told The Telegraph how they have frequently been paid by Mexicans with weapons, instead of cash, for their services. This has increased their violent capabilities and made their rivalries bloodier. In the port city of Guayaquil, the epicentre of much of Ecuadors violence, the homicide rate has doubled to 34.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, making it one of the worlds most dangerous cities. In February 2022, two bodies were found hanging from a pedestrian bridge linking the city to the nearby town of Duran. Police say the killings were linked to the seizure of over 7 tonnes of cocaine. Such executions, imitating the infamous Mexican cartels, send a clear message of defiance. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer. (Bloomberg) -- Troops deployed across Ecuador on Thursday to enforce a state of emergency as six people accused of plotting the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio are due to appear before a judge. Most Read from Bloomberg Independence Day festivities scheduled for Thursday were suspended as shocked citizens began three days of national mourning for the slain leader, who had been a strong contender to be their next president. Overnight, Villavicencios supporters held a candlelit vigil in the streets of Quito, which have lately been deserted after dark due to soaring crime, and in other cities. President Guillermo Lasso declared a 60-day state of emergency. The armed forces, from this moment on, will mobilize in the whole national territory to guarantee the security of citizens, the tranquility of the country and free, democratic elections on Aug. 20, Lasso said, after an emergency meeting of his security cabinet. Villavicencio was gunned down on Wednesday afternoon as he left a campaign event in Quito, sparking a shootout between the assassins and the candidates bodyguards, Lasso said. The attackers also threw a hand grenade that failed to explode, he added. One suspect died after the attack, and nine people were wounded. Six people arrested over the plot are expected to be arraigned Thursday, he said. What Villavicencios Assassination Means for Ecuador: QuickTake The death of such a high-profile figure, someone who was under police protection after receiving repeated threats, is the latest example of Latin Americas growing difficulties in controlling organized crime and political violence. The killing throws Ecuadors unstable political environment into further turmoil. The snap elections were triggered when Lasso dissolved congress in May, when he was facing impeachment. A poll published the day of his murder showed Villavicencio in second place among the eight presidential candidates ahead of the vote, trailing socialist frontrunner Luisa Gonzalez. This is a deadly blow to Ecuadors democracy, Cesar Ricaurte, president of the media advocacy organization Fundamedios, said by phone. The mafias have carried out a coup. Other presidential candidates including centrist former Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner and Indigenous leader Yaku Perez called for national unity and a pact for governance to find a way out of the deepening crisis. Villavicencio, 59, became a household name in Ecuador during the 2007-2017 government of President Rafael Correa, when he reported on corruption scandals related to loans from China and on illegal campaign financing. He was one of Ecuadors most prominent journalists before being elected to the legislature in 2021, pledging to renegotiate contracts with foreign oil and mining companies and to take a tough line on drug cartels. During the campaign, Villavicencio signaled he knew he could be targeted but said he wouldnt back down. Although they threaten me, you dont make deals with the mafia, he had told reporters. Cocaine Cartels Until now, Ecuadors election had not attracted worldwide attention, but it had been seen as a test of whether the countrys institutions could weather the growing power of organized crime. Warring cocaine cartels have turned once-peaceful Ecuador into one of the most violent places in the world, surpassing Mexico and Colombia in murders per capita last year. Despite being sandwiched between Colombia and Peru, the worlds top two cocaine producers, Ecuador had until recently largely escaped the more violent history of its neighbors. But the growing importance of its ports in drug shipments to the US and Europe, has caused the murder rate to soar by more than 300% over the last five years as mafias fought for control of smuggling routes. Read more: Golden Age of Cocaine Leaves Europe Flooded With $50,000 Kilos Villavicencio was in second place with 13.5% support, according to a survey published just ahead of his death. The top candidates from Gonzalez to Jan Topic, an ex-soldier in the French foreign legion have made law and order central to their campaigns. Several candidates said they would temporarily suspend campaigning after the assassination. Villavicencios killing raises the question of whether voters will now gravitate toward the more extreme hard-liners in the race. Crime is also among the top issues in other elections this month, in Argentinas Aug. 13 primaries and Guatemalas Aug. 20 presidential runoff vote. Gang Round Up Some regional leaders have praised the draconian policies of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, whose controversial round up of tens of thousands of suspected gang members has helped make him Latin Americas most popular president. Villavicencio is the latest victim of political violence in Ecuador. Last month the mayor of the nations second-biggest port, Manta, was also gunned down. This is very tragic news, said Oren Barack, managing director of fixed income at New York-based Alliance Global Partners. Ecuador had been moving forward with new elections and moving past the gridlock of the past administration. It will be crucial to see what details come to light in the coming days and weeks. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. The six people who have been arrested in connection with the killing of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio are Colombian, police say. A seventh suspect, who died from wounds in a shootout with police on Thursday, was also Colombian. Mr Villavicencio was killed leaving a campaign event in the capital Quito. The interior minister said a police investigation into the "abominable event" was under way. Interior Minister Juan Zapata said officers would work to "discover the motive of this crime and its intellectual authors". The six detainees have been identified as Andres M, Jose N, Eddy G, Camilo R, Jules C, and Jhon Rodriguez, Mr Zapata told a press conference on Thursday. He added that during the police raid that resulted in their arrest, officers found a rifle, a submachine gun, four pistols, three grenades, four boxes of ammunition, two motorbikes, and a vehicle that had been reported stolen in the group's possession. A vocal critic of organized crime, Mr Villavicencio was one of the few presidential candidates to allege links between corruption and government officials. President Guillermo Lasso said the assassination was an attempt to sabotage the election. He added that voting would go ahead as planned on 20 August, despite a national state of emergency. He said organised crime was behind the killing and has asked US federal agents to help investigate, with FBI agents due to arrive shortly. Mr Villavicencio, a member of the country's national assembly, had received threats from a gang calling itself Los Choneros last month and had been given a security detail. Following his murder, a video appeared on social media in which heavily armed men wearing balaclavas claimed responsibility for the murder. The men claimed to belong to Los Lobos (The Wolves), who are rivals of Los Choneros. However another video appeared online just hours later, in which another group of men - this time not wearing masks - claimed they were Los Lobos members and denied any role in the assassination, claiming the other video was an attempt by their rivals to set them up for the murder. Ecuador: The basics Where is Ecuador? It's the smallest of the Andean nations in South America, sitting on the equator (hence the name) between Colombia and Peru. Why was Mr Villavicencio shot? He was one of eight candidates in the running for the first round of the election with a focus on fighting corruption - and he and his team had been threatened by the leader of a gang linked to drug-trafficking. What next? Once a relatively peaceful nation, Ecuador has been ravaged by the arrival of international drug cartels profiting from a boom in cocaine trafficking - and the issue can only grow in importance in the presidential election campaign. (Bloomberg) -- Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, a journalist known for his crusade against corruption, was assassinated less than two weeks before an election where soaring drug violence dominated the campaign. Most Read from Bloomberg (Leer en espanol.) The killing of Villavicencio, a serious contender to reach a runoff, throws Ecuadors unstable political environment into further turmoil. Current President Guillermo Lasso, who dissolved congress this year to avoid impeachment, summoned his security council in Quito and vowed to bring Villavicencios killers to justice. A suspect in the killing was wounded in an exchange of fire with security officials and later died, the Attorney Generals office said in a statement. Nine other people were wounded, including a candidate for congress and two police officers. Villavicencio, 59, became a household name in Ecuador during the 2007-2017 government of President Rafael Correa, when he reported on corruption scandals related to loans from China, and on illegal campaign financing. He was one of Ecuadors most prominent journalists before being elected to the legislature in 2021, pledging to renegotiate contracts with foreign oil and mining companies and to take a tough line on drug cartels. This is a deadly blow to Ecuadors democracy, said Cesar Ricaurte, president of media advocacy organization Fundamedios, said by phone. The mafias have committed a coup. Read more: Whos Suspected of Killing Ecuadors Presidential Candidate The death of such a high-profile figure, someone who was under police protection after receiving repeated threats, dispels any illusion that the tide has turned in the war against organized crime in Latin America. Until now, Ecuadors election had not attracted worldwide attention, but was seen as a test of whether its institutions could weather the growing power of organized crime. Warring cocaine cartels have turned once-peaceful Ecuador into one of the most violent places in the world, surpassing Mexico and Colombia in murders per capita last year. Candidates in the Aug. 20 election to replace Lasso have all competed to take the toughest line on drug-trafficking and other kinds of crime. Despite being sandwiched between Colombia and Peru, the worlds top two cocaine producers, Ecuador had until recently largely escaped the more violent history of its neighbors. But the growing importance of its ports in drug shipments to the US and Europe, has caused the murder rate to soar by more 300% over the last five years, as mafias fought for control of smuggling routes. Read more: Golden Age of Cocaine Leaves Europe Flooded With $50,000 Kilos Villavicencio was in second place with 13.5% support, according to one poll published Wednesday. The top candidates from the socialist frontrunner Luisa Gonzalez to the ex-soldier from the French foreign legion Jan Topic have made law and order central to their campaigns. His assassination raises the question of whether voters will now gravitate toward the more extreme hard-liners. Crime is also among the top issues in other elections this month, in Argentinas Aug. 13 primaries and Guatemalas Aug. 20 runoff presidential vote. Gang Round Up Some regional leaders have praised the draconian policies of El Salvador president Nayib Bukele, whose controversial round up of tens of thousands of suspected gang members has helped make him Latin Americas most popular president. In Ecuador, last month the mayor of the nations second-biggest port, Manta, was also gunned down. This is very tragic news, said Oren Barack, managing director of fixed income at New York-based Alliance Global Partners. Ecuador had been moving forward with new elections and moving past the gridlock of the past administration. It will be crucial to see what details come to light in the coming days and weeks. --With assistance from Jose Orozco and Maria Elena Vizcaino. (Updates with analyst comment in fifth paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Ecuadors presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot dead as he was leaving a political rally in the capital just days ahead of elections amid increasing gang-driven violence in the South American country. Video of the moment showed Villavicencio, 59, surrounded by supporters and being escorted by security guards as he was led to a vehicle when gunshots rang out. Several shots were fired as panic-stricken people took cover amid loud screams. President Guillermo Lasso said he was outraged and shocked by the assassination and blamed organised crime behind the slaying. "I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished," Mr Lasso said in a statement. "Organised crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law." For his memory and his fight, I assure you that this crime will not remain unpunished, he said. One suspect in the assassination was killed in police custody from wounds sustained in the firefight following the killing, Ecuadors attorney generals office said. Around six suspects linked to the killing were also detained in raids in Quito. At least nine others were left injured in the shooting, including officers and a congressional candidate, in what was described as a "terrorist act by authorities. Ecuadors presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot dead as he was leaving a political rally (REUTERS/Karen Toro TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) The assassination of the politician who was known for speaking up against drug cartels and corruption comes amid a shocking rise in violent crime in the country where rival drug trafficking gangs perpetuate mass killings in prisons and murder rates have more than doubled in the last two years. Villavicencio, a former journalist who exposed corruption in previous governments and later entered politics as an anti-graft campaigner, had alerted authorities of receiving multiple death threats, including from affiliates of Mexicos Sinaloa Cartel. The cartel is one of a slew of international organised crime groups that now operate in Ecuador. In the last speech he made before he was killed, Villavicencio vowed to a roaring crowd to weed out corruption and lock up the countrys "thieves" He had said his campaign represented a threat to organsied cartel groups. A supporter of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio reacts outside the clinic where the politician was taken (EPA) "Here I am showing my face. Im not scared of them," Villavicencio said in a statement and when on to name detained crime boss Jose Adolfo Macias by his alias Fito. Giving an emotional speech from the scene of the shooting, his uncle Galo Valencia, accused the state of not giving his nephew enough security. He said he initially thought the gunshots were fireworks launched by his supporters until we saw that there were wounded falling, blood, injured people. What we witnessed was like a horror film. The death of my relative. I have no words for whats happening in the country. They just killed democracy, he said. What insecurity we live in if a man who fought more than 20 years, the most likely to win the elections, is silenced. Is this the way to win elections? Alexandra Villavicencio, sister of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio (AP) Villavicencio was one of eight candidates who are running for presidential elections on 20 August. Though not the front-runner in the race, he had emerged as one of the countrys most critical voices against corruption, especially during the 2007-2017 government of President Rafael Correa. Following Mr Lassos decision to dissolve the National Assembly through a decree in May, a snap election was called in an attempt to circumvent potential impeachment proceedings related to accusations that he did not take necessary steps to resolve an erroneous contract between a state-owned oil transport firm and a private tanker company. Villavicencios fellow candidates and politicians expressed remorse while his supporters lost hope of a corruption and drug cartel-free country. Former vice president and candidate Otto Sonnenholzner said in a news conference following Wednesdays killing, "We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears and we do not deserve to live like this. We demand that you do something." One of his supporters, Ida Paez, said that Villavicencios campaign has given a hope of the country overcoming the gangs. At the rally, she said, "We were happy. Fernando even danced. His last words were, if someone messes with the people, he is messing with my family." Edison Romo, a former military intelligence colonel, said the anti-corruption complaints made Villavicencio "a threat to international criminal organizations." Villavicencio is survived by a wife and five children. The Ecuadorian presidential candidate who was killed in an armed attack following a rally in the countrys capital had received at least three death threats in the leadup to the fatal shooting, his campaign manager has revealed. Patricio Zuquilanda told The Associated Press that the threats against Fernando Villavicencio, a 59-year-old who said during his final speech Wednesday that he would fight corruption and imprison more criminals, resulted in one detention after they were reported to authorities. Villavicencio, an independent journalist who investigated corruption in previous governments before entering politics as an anti-graft campaigner, was seen in social media videos being ushered to an awaiting truck following the rally in Quito before gunshots rang out. "The Ecuadorian people are crying, and Ecuador is mortally wounded," Zuquilanda said. "Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society." ECUADOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FERNANDO VILLAVICENCIO ASSASSINATED AT CAMPAIGN EVENT Villavicencio previously has been threatened by affiliates of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, one of a slew of international organized crime groups that now operate in Ecuador, according to the AP. He said his campaign represented a threat to such groups. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP "Here I am showing my face. I'm not scared of them," Villavicencio said in a statement before his death, naming detained crime boss Jose Adolfo Macias by his alias, "Fito." Current Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso said the attackers threw a grenade into the street during their escape, but it never went off and police later detonated it with a controlled blast. Ecuadors attorney general office later said one suspect in the shooting died from wounds sustained in a firefight while police detained six other people. COLOMBIAS MOST WANTED DRUG KINGPIN FACES SENTENCING IN US Lasso suggested Villavicencios assassination could be linked to organized crime and vowed to push forward with a special election set for Aug. 20, while declaring three days of national mourning and a state of emergency, the AP reports. "Given the loss of a democrat and a fighter, the elections are not suspended. On the contrary, they have to be held, and democracy has to be strengthened," Lasso said Thursday. A candidate who was running against Villavicencio, former Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner, said at a news conference that "We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears, and we do not deserve to live like this." The AP reports that Villavicencio spoke out against corruption during the previous government of President Rafael Correa between 2007 and 2017, filing judicial complaints against him and other high-ranking members of his government. Villavicencio was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over his criticisms of Correa, and fled to Indigenous territory in Ecuador, later receiving asylum in neighboring Peru. He was married and is survived by five children. Fox News Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio waves an Ecuador national flag during a campaign event at a school minutes before he was shot to death outside the same school in Quito, Ecuador, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023 | API via Associated Press Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot and killed Wednesday while leaving a campaign rally. Villavicencio spoke out about corruption and was a leader that alleged there were connections between organized crime and government officials. The criminal gang Los Lobos, or The Wolves, claimed responsibility for the shooting, according to BBC. Villavicencio was speaking to young supporters and was gunned down after leaving a high school in Quito, The New York Times reported. One suspect was killed after the shooting, and reports say nine other people were shot in the incident. According to Reuters, 30 shots were fired, and video footage posted on social media showed Villavicencio getting into a car after the event, before the sound of apparent gunfire and screaming. When he stepped outside the door, he was met with gunfire, Carlos Figueroa, who worked for Villavicencios campaign and witnessed the shooting, told The New York Times. There was nothing to be done, because they were shots to the head. Its the first time a presidential candidate has been assassinated in Ecuador, and it took place less than one month after the mayor of port city Manta was also fatally shot during a public appearance, per the Times. Three of the other presidential candidates, Jan Topic, Yaku Perez and Bolivar Armijos, announced they would be suspending their campaigns shortly after the assassination of Villavicencio, The Washington Post reported. Within 48 hours last week, Villavicencio reported his campaign received two death threats, including a message from someone claiming to have ties to a leader of one of the most powerful drug trafficking groups in Ecuador, Los Choneros, per the Post. Who was Fernando Villavicencio? The presidential hopeful formerly worked as a journalist, covering investigative work. He also previously worked as an adviser to National Assembly member Clever Jimenez, and became a fierce critic of then-president Rafael Correa, accusing the president of ordering an armed incursion at the hospital in 2011. After the accusations, Correa sued Villavicencio and Jimenez for libel, and both of them received 18-month prison sentences, with Villavicencio hiding out in the countrys Amazon region until the end of his sentence, the Post reported. Ecuador has become a failed state, Correa stated Wednesday night, per the Post. Our homeland hurts. My solidarity with his family and with all the families of the victims of violence. Villavicencio was 59 years old before being killed and was polling in the middle of the pack in the eight-person presidential race. The presidential hopeful advocated for fighting against corruption and argued that drug trafficking was a key catalyst to violence and other crime in the country, telling CNN in May that the country had become a narco state. What is going on in Ecuador with narco-trafficking? Ecuador is saddled between the two largest narcotics productions hotspots in the world: Peru and Colombia, and while the country hasnt historically produced cocaine, it has become an integral part in the lucrative trafficking routes from South America to North America and Europe, CNN reported. It was previously considered a relatively safe nation, but in the last five years, it has been consumed by violence related to narco-trafficking, according to the Times. What happens next after Ecuadors Fernando Villavicencio was killed? Ecuadors current president, Guillermo Lasso, declared three days of mourning and a national state of emergency, a move that he says will mobilize the military and guarantee security, per Reuters. This is a political crime, which has the character of terrorism, and we do not doubt that this murder is an attempt to sabotage the electoral process, Lasso said in a video statement late Wednesday night, per Reuters. The first round of the presidential election takes place Aug. 20 and will continue as scheduled, according to Electoral Council President Diana Atamaint, CNN reported. Fernando Villavicencio's campaign slogan was: "It's time for the brave" "Here, we pay for democracy with our lives." The words Fernando Villavicencio shouted into a microphone at a campaign rally just moments before he died in a hail of bullets could, just a few years ago, have been dismissed as an exaggeration, a rhetorical flourish. But on Wednesday, they proved all too prophetic. Villavicencio, a candidate in the upcoming presidential election, was gunned down as he left the rally in the capital, Quito. His assassination is not an isolated incident. A mayor shot as he was inspecting public works, bodies strung from bridges, gang leaders publishing videos in which they threaten to kill politicians unless they do their bidding - a seemingly endless litany of violence has dominated the headlines in this country previously known for its safety. In 2018, the murder rate stood at 5.8 per 100,000 inhabitants. A majority of its population told a Gallup poll they felt safe walking alone at night. By 2022, Ecuador's homicide rate had more than quadrupled and Ecuadoreans' perception of safety had plummeted, along with their confidence in police to keep them secure. It is safe to assume that, were a poll to be conducted now, the percentage of those who feel safe would be even lower. How did Ecuador, a country which until so recently was considered a safe oasis for tourists and locals alike, become a nation where democratically elected politicians are gunned down? The answer is gangs - and geography. Ecuador is sandwiched between Colombia and Peru, the two largest producers of cocaine in the world. Map of Ecuador Cocaine production recently reached a record high, according to the United Nations Global Report on Cocaine 2023. Colombia and Peru, where the coca leaf - the raw material used to make cocaine - is grown, are at the centre of this illegal trade spanning large parts of the globe. And while production is up, so are the seizures of the drug made by police worldwide. Colombia, in particular, has spent decades trying to stem the flow of cocaine and its police have received training and support from the US. But just as police forces have pooled resources in order to disrupt the flow of cocaine, the gangs doing the trafficking have also become more international. Following the demobilisation of Colombia's Farc rebel group - once a major player in the cocaine trade - new players have emerged which have forged alliances far beyond Colombia's borders. Mexican drug cartels and criminal groups from the Balkans have gained a foothold in South America. These groups were keen to explore new ways to transport the cocaine produced in Colombia to its buyers in Europe and the United States. As formerly lawless areas in Colombia came under control of the state forces following the peace deal signed between the Colombian government and the Farc rebels in 2016, the need for new routes became more pressing. These transnational crime groups increasingly eyed Ecuador as an attractive transit country for their drug shipments. Ecuador has become a transit country for cocaine Its porous border with Colombia, its good infrastructure and its large ports on the Pacific coast - such as Guayaquil - made Ecuador geographically convenient for these gangs. Ecuador's security forces also had little experience of dealing with powerful cartels, meaning they were not prepared for the influx of heavily armed criminals. It did not take long for transnational crime syndicates to infiltrate local gangs, which up until then had dedicated themselves to lesser crimes such as extortion. Many of these new alliances were forged inside Ecuador's jails and it was behind bars that the surge of violence and brutality which has since spread to Ecuador's cities first erupted. Gangs with ties to rival cartels in Mexico confronted each other in jails, mutilating each other with home-made weapons and displaying the decapitated heads of their enemies. Hundreds of inmates have been killed in deadly fights in Ecuador's overcrowded prisons over the past years. Some of the deadliest incidents happened in El Litoral prison in Guayaquil. Efforts to quell the violence by transferring prisoners to different jails seem merely to have spread the problem nationwide. Violent inmates have been transferred in an effort to separate rival gangs but the move appears to have spread the problem wider Last month, 136 guards were held hostage by inmates who staged simultaneous riots in jails across the country. And while many of the leaders of the gangs which have emerged in Ecuador are behind bars, the violence they have unleashed has not been confined to the prisons. Through mobile phones smuggled into the jails, they run their criminal enterprises on the outside and order the killings of those perceived as standing in their way. Fernando Villavicencio had been threatened the week before he died by members of Los Choneros, a gang named after the city of Chone, in western Ecuador. Los Choneros has ties to the Sinaloa cartel, whose former leader, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is in jail in the US. Buoyed by the money channelled to them from their new allies abroad and their firepower boosted by high-powered weapons smuggled in from the US via Mexico, these gangs have become a formidable enemy. Soldiers have been drafted in to restore order in jails after deadly fights broke out between rival gangs Few are willing to confront them. Fernando Villavicencio was one of them. Even after having been warned by Los Choneros not to defy the gang or even mention its name, Villavicencio remained true to his campaign slogan: "It's time for the brave". "They [the gangs] said they would break me, but I don't fear them," he said in a video uploaded to the internet shortly after he was threatened. Villavicencio was given police protection, but he continued to campaign. Just moments before his death, he was shaking the hands of voters. Shortly after his brutal killing, a video appeared showing masked men admitting carrying out his assassination and threatening another presidential candidate. The masked men say they belong not to Los Choneros, but to a gang calling itself Los Lobos (The Wolves), which has links to another powerful Mexican criminal organisation, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Another video appeared hours later, in which men who claiming to be Los Lobos denied having played any role in the killing. "We don't cover our faces (...) the video in which masked men with assault rifles pretend to be members of our organisation is totally false." The group of men in the second video said the first video was uploaded in order to "destabilise the country and blame Los Lobos for this tragedy which is happening in our country". While police have not yet said who they think is behind Fernando Villavicencio's assassination, the fact that a presidential candidate could be killed while under police protection at a public event in the capital will leave Ecuadoreans who do not enjoy such levels of protection fearing for their safety. A woman is assisted after being wounded by shots fired during the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio after a rally in Quito (STR) A popular Ecuadoran presidential candidate was shot dead while leaving a rally in the nation's capital on Wednesday, prompting President Guillermo Lasso to declare a state of emergency and blame the assassination on organized crime. Fernando Villavicencio, a 59-year-old anti-corruption crusader who had complained of receiving threats, was murdered as he was leaving a stadium in Quito after holding a campaign rally, officials said. Lasso declared a two-month state of emergency early Thursday following the assassination, but said general elections slated for August 20 would be held as scheduled. "Outraged and shocked by the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio," the president said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, blaming the killing on "organized crime." "For his memory and for his fight, I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished." Villavicencio was the second most popular candidate in the presidential race, according to recent opinion polls. "The Armed Forces as of this moment are mobilized throughout the national territory to guarantee the security of citizens, the tranquility of the country and the free and democratic elections of August 20," Lasso said in a YouTube address. The president also declared three days of national mourning "to honor the memory of a patriot, of Fernando Villavicencio Valencia." "This is a political crime that acquires a terrorist character and we do not doubt that this murder is an attempt to sabotage the electoral process," he added. Lasso has said he will not seek re-election. President of the National Electoral Council Diana Atamaint said "the date of the elections scheduled for August 20 remain unalterable." Nine other people were injured in the shooting attack, including a candidate running for the national legislature and two policemen, prosecutors said. One of the alleged attackers was shot and killed by security personnel. And police detonated an explosive device planted in the area, said chief investigator Alain Luna. Carlos Figueroa, a friend of Villavicencio's who was with him at the time of the attack, told local media that the assailants fired around 30 shots. "They ambushed him outside" the sports center, Figueroa said. "Some (of those present) even thought they were fireworks." The country's main newspaper, El Universo, reported that Villavicencio was assassinated "hitman-style and with three shots to the head." Prosecutors later said six other suspects were arrested in raids carried out in southern Quito and in a neighboring town, and that Villavicencio's body was brought to a police department and would undergo an autopsy. - 'Full weight of the law' - In recent years, Ecuador has been hit by a wave of violence linked to drug trafficking which, in the midst of the electoral process, has already led to the death of a mayor and a parliamentary candidate. The homicide rate has doubled between 2021 and 2022. "Organized crime has gone too far, but the full weight of the law will be applied to them," Lasso said in his post. According to the latest polls, Villavicencio, a former journalist who wrote about corruption and served in parliament, polled at 13 percent behind lawyer Luisa Gonzalez, who is close to former left-wing president Rafael Correa. Gonzalez and other presidential candidates denounced the murder and said they were suspending their campaigns, local media reported. "We will never allow such acts to go unpunished. When they touch one, they touch all. When one's life is at risk, everyone's life is at risk," Gonzalez wrote on X. National Court of Justice president Ivan Saquicela called Villavicencio's murder "very painful for the country." "I am very hurt and very worried about Ecuador," he said. The United States, Spain, Chile and the Organization of American States observer mission have also condemned the crime. "We are horrified by the tragic attack... Violence cannot win. Democracy can," European Union ambassador to Ecuador Charles-Michel Geurts said on X. As a journalist, Villavicencio uncovered a corruption scheme for which former president Correa (2007-2017) was sentenced to eight years in prison. Villavicencio later served as president of the legislative oversight commission, where he continued to denounce corruption. The politician had complained this month that he and his team were receiving threats allegedly coming from the leader of a criminal gang linked to drug trafficking. "Despite the new threats, we will continue fighting for the brave people of our #Ecuador," he posted on X at the time. Atamaint, head of the electoral council, also said that several members of her organization, which is responsible for supervising the ballot, had received death threats. President Lasso sent a message to Villavicencio's family. "My solidarity and my condolences with his wife and his daughters," he said in his post. sp/dga/jh/sco/ssy By Alexandra Valencia QUITO (Reuters) -Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, a vocal critic of corruption and organized crime, was killed at a campaign event on Wednesday, authorities said, amid an upsurge in violence in the Andean nation blamed on drug traffickers. Local media reported some 30 shots had been fired at an event in the north of the capital, Quito. Video footage posted on social media showed Villavicencio getting into a car after the event, before the sound of apparent gunfire and screaming. Ecuador's police and Interior Ministry did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the details of the killing, but outgoing President Guillermo Lasso confirmed police safely detonated a grenade left behind by the killers. "This is a political crime, which has the character of terrorism, and we do not doubt that this murder is an attempt to sabotage the electoral process," Lasso said in a video statement past midnight local time, after meeting with security and electoral officials. Lasso declared three days of mourning and a national state of emergency, saying the military would mobilize to guarantee security. Voting for a new president will go ahead as planned on Aug. 20, he added. The attorney general's office said one suspect in the crime later died of injuries sustained in a shoot-out. The violence injured nine other people, including a candidate for the legislature and two police officers. The office later said it had arrested six people so far in connection with the crime during raids in Quito. RISING VIOLENCE Lasso's government has blamed rising violence on the streets and in prisons on criminal infighting to control trafficking routes used by Mexican cartels, the Albanian mafia and others to move drugs. Security concerns, along with employment and migration, are major voter concerns in presidential contest. Villavicencio had pledged to combat corruption and reduce tax evasion if elected. According to opinion polls, his support was at 7.5%, ranking him fifth out of eight candidates. Villavicencio's party Movimiento Construye said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that armed men attacked its Quito offices in a separate incident. The party said discussions had been held recently about whether to suspend campaigning due to political violence, including the July murder of the mayor of Manta. Villavicencio opposed the suspension, it said, saying "keeping silent and hiding in moments when criminals assassin citizens and authorities is an act of cowardice". The candidate, a former unionist and journalist, had on Tuesday made a report to the attorney general's office about an oil business, but no further details of his report were made public. Villavicencio, from the Andean province of Chimborazo, was a former union member at state oil company Petroecuador and later a journalist who denounced alleged millions in oil contract losses. Late night marches decrying the murder took place in several cities, including Villavicencio's hometown of Alausi. 'FAILED STATE' Villavicencio was an outspoken critic of former President Rafael Correa and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over statements made against the former president. He fled to Indigenous territory within Ecuador and later was given asylum in Peru. "Ecuador has become a failed state," Correa, who now lives in Belgium, said on X. "Hopefully those who try to sow more hate with this new tragedy will understand that will only continue to destroy us." As a legislator, Villavicencio was criticized by opposition politicians for obstructing an impeachment process this year against Lasso, which lead the latter to call the early elections. Other candidates in the race reacted with horror to the killing. "This makes us all mourn, my solidarity to all his family and the people who follow his ideals. This vile act will not go unpunished!," presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez, who is running for Correa's party, said on X. Indigenous candidate Yaku Perez said he had decided to suspend his presidential campaign and demanded the violence stop in a video posted after the incident. Perez later said he was in contact with other candidates, in pursuit of a "pact for security". "To the government; we don't want words Act. We are dying," candidate Otto Sonnenholzner told a press conference. "Today more than ever, the need to act with a strong hand against crime is reiterated. May God have him in his glory," presidential hopeful Jan Topic said on X, before also suspending his campaign. (Reporting by Alexandra Valencia in Quito, additional reporting by Valentine Hilaire, Isabel Woodford and Carolina PuliceWriting by Julia Symmes CobbEditing by Lincoln Feast) Police officers stand guard outside Ecuador's National Service of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences before the body of Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, a vocal critic of corruption and organized crime who was killed during a campaign event, is transported out of the morgue, in Quito, Ecuador, August 10, 2023. REUTERS/Karen Toro An Ecuadorian gang is denying responsibility for the killing of a presidential candidate. In a video, men claiming to be members of the gang said imposters were trying to frame them. Ecuador has seen a massive spike in violence since 2018. One of the most violent gangs in Ecuador is denying that it had anything to do with the assassination of a prominent politician, claiming that it was being framed by imposters, the BBC reported. Fernando Villavicencio, a former journalist and member of Ecuador's parliament, was campaigning for the presidency when he was shot and killed Wednesday after holding a rally in Quito, the nation's capital. Although not favored to win the Aug. 20 election, Villavicencio had received death threats for crusading against corruption and the violence of drug cartels. Ecuador's homicide rate has more than tripled since 2018. Soon after Villavicencio's killing, a video was posted online, claiming to be from members of Los Lobos, or The Wolves, a criminal organization accused of involvement in the international narcotics trade. In the video, masked men claim that the gang believed to have thousands of members across the South American country had actually given millions of dollars to Villavicencio's campaign, killing him after he supposedly failed to keep a promise. The video was shared on social media by former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, a leftist firebrand who was a frequent target of Villavicencio's criticism. But on Thursday, Correa told his 3.9 million followers that he had fallen for a "fake." "The impressive thing is that there are people that play with such serious things," he wrote. "I am very sorry for the mistake." Villavicencio's killing came after he was threatened by Los Choneros, a fierce rival of Los Lobos. In 2021, a dispute between the gangs inside one prison left 116 people dead, several by decapitation. In another video, posted after the initial claim of responsibility, men claiming to be members of Los Lobos said they were being framed. "We don't cover our faces," the men said, according to a translation by the BBC. "[T]he video in which masked men with assault rifles pretend to be members of our organization is totally false," the men added, describing the killing of Villavicencio as a "tragedy." Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com Read the original article on Insider Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot and killed by an unidentified gunman Wednesday in the countrys capital of Quito, the countrys current president confirmed. Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso confirmed Villavicencios death in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Known for speaking out against corruption, Villavicencio, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement and was one of eight presidential candidates in an election slated for Aug. 20. According to reports from multiple outlets, Villavicencio was at a campaign rally when he was killed. A suspect in Villavicencios killing eventually died from injuries sustained during an exchange of gunfire, the attorney generals office in Ecuador said in a post on X. The state attorney generals office said the suspect was arrested and taken to a hospital in Quito before succumbing to injuries. According to the attorney generals office, nine other people were injured in the attack, including a candidate for the National Assembly and two police officers. Villavicencios campaign adviser told The Associated Press the candidate had reported previous death threats to the authorities. The shooting comes amid a rise in violence across Ecuador. Lasso suggested organized crime was to blame for the assassination, writing, Organized crime has come a long way, but the full weight of the law is going to fall on them. Lasso said the Security Cabinet will meet in Carondelet, the government palace in Quito. Lasso said he asked top leaders, including the presidents of the countrys National Electoral Council and National Court of Justice, as well as the states attorney general, to attend the meeting. Lasso dismissed the National Assembly of Ecuador in May using a 2008 constitutional provision that allowed the president to dissolve the legislature during times of political crisis under the condition new elections are held for both lawmakers and the president. Lawmakers challenged Lassos decision claiming he dissolved the legislature to avoid his impeachment over alleged crimes against state security and corruption. Ecuadors Constitutional Court rejected these challenges, allowing the elections to move forward. The Hill has reached out to the State Department for comment. The Associated Press contributed. Updated at 10:26 p.m. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Ecuador's presidential candidate and former legislator Fernando Villavicencio was shot dead while he exited a campaign event in a central sector of Quito. Minister of the Interior Juan Zapata confirmed the crime and claimed that the attack was perpetrated by hitmen who also injured other people. Photo by Jose Jacome/EPA-EFE Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot and killed Wednesday afternoon during a political rally in the country's capital of Quito just days before the election. Late Thursday, Ecuador's interior minister, Juan Zapata, announced that six suspects had been arrested in connection to the killing, saying all were Colombian nationals, according to the New York Times. The six were arrested in Quito soon after Villavicencio's assassination, authorities said. The assassination was confirmed by Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, who called a Security Cabinet Meeting in response. Video of the shooting posted online shows the 59-year-old former journalist being escorted outside a high school into a white pickup truck. As he enters the vehicle, around a dozen gun shots are heard in footage that has not been verified by UPI. Security forces remain outside a women's clinic where the candidate for the Presidency of Ecuador Fernando Villavicencio was taken after being shot, in Quito, Ecuador, on Wednesday. Photo by Jose Jacome/EPA-EFE Carlos Figueroa, a close friend of Villavicencio and present during the shooting, said in a video posted online that was reported on by local TV network Ecuavisa that Villavicencio was shot in the head three times. "Outraged and shocked by the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio," Lasso said in a statement. "For his memory and for his fight, I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished." The president seemingly placed blame for the shooting on "organized crime," stating "the full weight of the law is going to fall on them." A suspect badly injured during a shootout with police was apprehended, but died from his injuries, the attorney general's office said in a statement published to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. "An ambulance from the fire department confirmed his death," the statement said. "Police proceeds with the removal of the cadaver." At least nine people have been reported injured in the attack, including a National Assembly candidate and two police officers, the attorney general's office said, adding the shooting was under investigation. Villavicencio, president of the center-right Movimiento Construye party, was assassinated less than two weeks before the general election scheduled for Aug. 20. His death also comes amid a swath of political violence that has rocked the country. Late last month, Agustin Intriago, the mayor of Ecuador's central coast port city of Manta, was shot and killed in an attack that Lasso has also blamed on organized crime. Ariana Chancay was also killed, seemingly as a collateral victim. In February, Omar Menendez, a candidate for the mayor of Puerto Lopez, was also assassinated. Following Intriago's assassination, Movimiento Construye said there was discussion on whether to suspend Villavicencio's campaign a few days or beef up security, but the party said their president was adamant to keep going. "Fernando Villavicencio courageously confronted the mafias and his voice did not tremble to denounce his connections with politics," the party said in a statement. "We demand responses from the state, from justice, so that Fernando's murder does not go unpunished." Villavicencio was one of eight candidates running for president. Following his death, at least three candidates -- Yaku Perez Guartambel, Bolivar Armijos and Jan Topic -- announced the suspensions of their campaign activities. "This is an attack against the country, democracy and peace of all Ecuadorians," presidential candidate Daniel Noboa Azin said in a statement on X. Ahora: el presidente @LassoGuillermo, el Gabinete de Seguridad, las autoridades de justicia y del sistema electoral sesionan en Carondelet. El asesinato del candidato a la Presidencia, Fernando Villavicencio, y las decisiones que se tomaran en las proximas horas, en analisis. pic.twitter.com/Fe5JdNQEx0 Comunicacion Ecuador (@ComunicacionEc) August 10, 2023 People run for cover after shots were fired at the end of the rally - AFP A candidate in Ecuadors presidential election was shot dead by a suspected hitman who was later killed in a shootout with security officers. Videos and images on social media posted from Quito, the countrys capital, showed people taking cover and screaming as gunfire sounded at a campaign rally for Fernando Villavicencio on Wednesday evening. Once nicknamed the island of peace, Ecuador has become a hub of drug trafficking and violence in recent years as local gangs and international cartels have forged a new route for cocaine into Europe. According to local media, Mr Villavicencio, a former journalist and lawmaker who had vowed to fight corruption and drug crime, was shot three times in the head in an attack described as hit-man style. A suspect, who was injured during the shootout with security personnel, was apprehended and moved, badly injured, to the (attorney generals) unit in Quito, the attorney generals office said. An ambulance from the fire department confirmed his death, the police are proceeding with collection of the cadaver. Fernando Villavicencio pictured speaking during the campaign rally Villavicencio waves an Ecuadorian flag at the rally Late night marches decrying the murder took place in several cities, including Mr Villavicencios hometown of Alausi. In a separate incident following his assassination, Mr Villavicencios party, Movimiento Construye, reported armed men attacked its Quito offices. Nine people, including a candidate for the legislature and two police officers, also sustained injuries. It comes as Movimiento Construye party members previously considered suspending their campaigning due to political violence, including the July murder of the mayor of Manta, but Mr Villavicencio urged them to continue. He told the party that keeping silent and hiding in moments when criminals assassinate citizens and authorities is an act of cowardice. Confirming the death of Mr Villavicencio, President Guillermo Lasso issued a warning to organised crime groups and said that they would feel the full weight of the law. For his memory and for his fight, I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished, Mr Lasso posted on social media, adding he was outraged and shocked. My solidarity and condolences to his wife and daughters, Mr Lasso said. The president and senior officials gathered in Carondelet Palace, the presidents official residence in Quito, for urgent security talks. Meanwhile, the seven other presidential candidates quickly moved to denounce the violence and called for a tougher stance on organised crime. People run after Villavicencio was shot and killed - API Supporters of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio take cover - API As an Ecuadorian, I deeply regret the murder of Fernando Villavicencio at the hands of criminals, said Jan Topic, an opponent with the alliance For a Country Without Fear. Today more than ever, the need to act with a strong hand against crime is reiterated. Yaku Perez, candidate for the Claro que se Puede alliance, said: Dismayed by the tragic and condemnable murder of Fernando Villavicencio. My condolences to his family and loved ones. This fact will not go unpunished, Ecuador does not deserve one more death, it is time to unite and recover La Paz. Xavier Hervas, candidate for the RETO movement, said the country had reached a critical point. He is one more Ecuadorian who has fallen victim to organised crime, Mr Hervas said. Today is a black day for democracy. Police officers outside the rally site - Reuters Mr Villavicencio, who was polling fifth at the time of his death, had promised a suite of new security measures including a proposal to build a maximum security prison under a national anti-terror policy aimed at catching drug traffickers, illegal miners and people involved in corruption and bribery. He had also vowed to strengthen ties between US and British authorities to identify criminal gangs. The proposals had attracted praise from the electorate but also led to threats against the politician. The trafficking of heroin and cocaine, mostly to Europe and the US, has historically been largely controlled by Mexican and Colombian mafia and cartels who pair up with local gangs. Mr Villavicencio, a 59-year-old centrist, was one of eight candidates in the first round of the presidential election scheduled for August 20. From the Andean province of Chimborazo, he was a former union member at state oil company Petroecuador and later a journalist who denounced alleged millions in oil contract losses. He was known as being an outspoken critic of former President Rafael Correa and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over statements made against the former president. Mr Villavicencio fled to Indigenous territory within Ecuador and later was given asylum in Peru. As a legislator, Mr Villavicencio was criticised by opposition politicians for obstructing an impeachment process this year against Mr Lasso, which sparked early elections. Ecuador battling surging violence With a homicide rate higher than Mexico, Ecuador is ranked 31st out of 193 countries on the global Organised Crime Index and sixth out of 12 South American countries. Massacres and targeted shootings of police and officials have become a weekly occurrence in the port cities of Guayaquil and Esmeraldas, which are major trans-shipment hubs for heroin and for Peruvian and Colombian cocaine trafficked to large markets, including the United States and Europe. Security has been more stable in Quito, however some parts of the city have become so dangerous that some businesses have been shuttered at night. Mr Lassos government had been under pressure to strengthen its response to violent crime and to put an end to corruption of officials suspected of assisting drug gangs. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer. By Steven Grattan and Joshua Schneyer (Reuters) - Fernando Villavicencio, the Ecuadorean presidential candidate gunned down in Quito on Wednesday, was no stranger to threats and intimidation from powerful figures in Ecuador. Long before he entered this year's presidential race on an anti-corruption platform, Villavicencio built a name for himself rooting out graft, backroom deals and waste in the government and major industries of his resource-rich country. Over the years, his scathing and meticulously documented corruption accusations leveled first as a labor organizer and congressional aide and later as a journalist, lawmaker and presidential contender targeted some of the biggest names in Ecuador's political and financial establishment. Villavicencio unearthed evidence of bribery and underhanded campaign funding schemes during the administration of former President Rafael Correa, contributing to a criminal conviction for Correa himself, who has lived in Belgium since leaving office. Villavicencio also denounced high-ranking executives in Ecuador's oil, mining and power industries and even big foreign companies including Chinese oil behemoths, Brazilian engineering firms and global oil trading firms. More recently, Villavicencio helped expose the growing presence of drug cartels in Ecuador, including Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, which has contributed to an unprecedented crime wave rattling the country. As recently as this week, Villavicencio told crowds that he was receiving death threats from cartel bosses. At one of his last campaign rallies, a video shows him calling them out. "I'm not afraid," he bellowed. "Come and get me!" Villavicencio was killed by a gunman after a campaign rally at a Quito-area school on Wednesday evening, just 11 days before election day. The murder is the first of a presidential candidate in Ecuador's history. Ecuadorean authorities said an armed suspect at the scene was then killed in a shootout. That suspect and six others who have been detained are Colombian nationals, police say. HAD BEEN IN EXILE Last year, Villavicencio, whose head of brown hair made him look younger than his 59 years, said he had been targeted for assassination when his Quito home was attacked by gunfire. Since 2010, Villavicencio had also spent various stints, some for years, in hiding or exile, at times taking refuge with Indigenous communities in Ecuador's Amazon region or in neighboring Peru. A decade ago, a Reuters investigation based in part on confidential documents, contracts and emails obtained by Villavicencio showed how China's government and state oil giants came to control more than 90% of Ecuador's oil exports. A year later, in 2014, Villavicencio went on the run to avoid imprisonment for alleged defamation of then-President Correa. Correa accused Villavicencio of espionage and hacking government emails. Villavicencio came from a humble, small-town background and moved to Quito as a teen. At 18, he sparked outrage from authorities with a newspaper he founded called Prensa Obrera, or The Workers Press, focused on labor rights. Villavicencio's muckraking journalism carried on well into later life. He wrote books about corruption and pollution linked to Ecuador's booming oil sector. In 2017, he fled to Peru seeking political asylum, leaving behind his wife and two young children. He returned to Ecuador in 2018, when the charges of defamation and espionage against him were lifted. He won a spot in the country's National Assembly in 2021 as an independent candidate and presided over a key government oversight committee, submitting investigative reports to federal prosecutors and President Guillermo Lasso. One of them, the so-called "Petrochina Report," was the culmination of a decade of digging into how the country had allowed China to take control of so much of its oil exports in return for billions of dollars worth of government loans. Villavicencio, who had worked at state oil company Petroecuador early in his career, alleged the loan deals were rife with corruption and damaged the country's finances. Among his report's allegations: that Ecuador missed out on at least $5 billion in oil revenues as officials solicited bribes worth some $70 million from global oil trading firms. Villavicencio served in the assembly until May, his tenure ending when embattled Lasso, facing corruption allegations, dissolved the legislature to avoid possible impeachment. (Reporting by Steven Grattan in London and Joshua Schneyer in New York; Editing by Brad Haynes and Rosalba O'Brien) Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, a representative of Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop of Constantinople Bartholomew, arrived in Kyiv and held a meeting with the primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) on Aug. 10. The envoy of Patriarch Bartholomew, who is considered to be the most senior ecclesiastical authority in the Eastern Orthodox Church, met Metropolitan Epiphanius of Kyiv and All Ukraine at the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery, the OCU's press service said. "With the blessing of His Holiness our Patriarch Bartholomew, I come to Kyiv to affirm the constant support of the Mother Church to the heroic people of Ukraine, who are resisting the unjust and cruel Russian aggression," Metropolitan Emmanuel said. "During the visit of His Eminence the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to the Ecumenical Patriarchate a month ago, the humanitarian dimension of the implementation of the peace formula proposed by Ukraine, as well as other humanitarian initiatives, were discussed," he said, adding that these are also the reasons of his visit to Ukraine. Zelensky met Patriarch Bartholomew during his visit to Istanbul in early July to discuss Ukraine's peace formula for ending the Russo-Ukrainian War and the repatriation of children abducted by Russia. The OCU's press service said that during the meeting, Metropolitan Epiphany held a "warm and fruitful" phone call with Patriarch Bartholomew. The OCU's primate also accompanied Bartholomew's representative to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, "which is gradually freeing itself from the yoke of the 'Russian world'," the OCU's press service said. The Orthodox Church of Ukraine is one of the two main Orthodox churches in the country, along with the Kremlin-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). Patriarch Bartholomew granted the OCU a tomos of autocephaly ecclesial autonomy in January 2019. The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra has long served as the seat of the UOC-MP. However, since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion, the clergy of the Kremlin-linked church came under increased suspicion for collaborating or sympathizing with Russian forces. Since November last year, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has conducted dozens of raids on Moscow Patriarchate churches, including the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. During the searches, the SBU found Russian propaganda, xenophobic literature, as well as Russian passports of the church's leaders and documents with pro-Russian ideological messages. The Ukrainian authorities then decided not to prolong the lease of the monastery and return it to the state. The Culture Ministry issued a statement on July 1 that monks must vacate five buildings of Lower Lavra by July 4 and hand over the keys to the National Reserve authorities. Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. An Edgewater woman was sentenced Monday to a year in prison for stealing more than $715,000 dollars from the federal government through the Paycheck Protection Program during the Covid-19 outbreak, according to federal court records. Kerryanne Purkiss, 49, who is also named in police reports as Kellyanne Roiland, originally of Antigua, was also sentenced to three years of supervised probation. The wire fraud stemmed from Purkiss obtaining a PPP loan that was issued by the federal government to help small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. The loans were guaranteed by the Small Business Administration under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. Prison for mortgage fraud Mortgage fraud ring member gets prison sentence According to an indictment, Purkiss fraudulently obtained a loan by filing a fake application. In the application, Purkiss made up tax forms. The business, the number of employees, the monthly payroll amount, and the intended use of the money were false. Purkiss used the money for her own benefit including buying a home in Deltona, and a Maserati, according to court records. At her sentencing, Middle District of Florida Court Federal Judge Roy B. Dalton, Jr., ordered Purkiss to forfeit the Deltona home and the Maserati, according to a forfeiture order. The judge also ordered Purkiss to pay $715,000 in restitution. "While Purkiss drove around Orlando in her Maserati paid for with stolen PPP funds, hardworkingAmericans who truly needed a paycheck suffered! This is why IRSCI (criminal investigation) will continue to pursue these crimes with fervor and tenacity, said Brian Payne, special agent in charge of the Tampa Field Office in a release. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Edgewater woman steals COVID-19 money for her use In 2010, we wrote about the stench that disgraced ex-Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge attached to law enforcement in this city. Tactics to coerce confessions, said victims of Burge and his rogue crew of detectives, ranged from pointing loaded guns at them and holding plastic bags over their heads to bludgeoning them with a flashlight and applying electric shocks to their genitals. The stain from his repeated abuse of defendants who supposedly were under his protection has made it harder for a generation of Chicago officers to do their jobs, we wrote. Theres another former police detective just as culpable for lastingly tarnishing the Chicago Police Departments reputation and honor. Reynaldo Guevara. Burges name is synonymous with heinous behavior by police, but Guevaras should be, too. His alleged misconduct stretched from the 1980s to the early 2000s, and included accusations of framing people for murder, coercing confessions, manipulating witnesses and fabricating evidence. Guevaras actions have led to 39 exonerations. The Tribune recently reported on one of Guevaras victims, Marilyn Mulero, who is suing Guevara, former Chicago Detective Ernest Halvorsen and the city in federal court after her murder conviction was overturned last year. Now 52, Mulero was 23 when she was sentenced to death on charges that she and another woman helped lure two gang members to a park on the West Side where the men were fatally shot in what was claimed to be retaliation for an earlier gang killing. During questioning from Guevara and Halvorsen, Mulero was denied sleep, not allowed to speak to an attorney, and threatened with the loss of her children, the Tribune reported. She signed a statement confessing to one of the murders and later received the death penalty. The sentence was later overturned and she was given life in prison without parole. She would spend a total of 28 years behind bars until Gov. J.B. Pritzker commuted her sentence in 2020. Later, prosecutors sought and obtained an overturning of the conviction. While Mulero was in jail, her two toddler-age sons grew up, and she now has four grandchildren. And Guevara? He retired in 2005 and collects a yearly pension of some $80,000 from the city. He has never been charged and has repeatedly pleaded the Fifth when confronted with allegations made against him by his victims. The damage wrought by Guevara, Halvorsen, Burge and other rogue cops reaches far beyond the lives derailed by their actions. Since 2010, City Hall has paid more than $26 million for outside counsel to deal with civil rights lawsuits involving Guevara. More suits have been filed in recent months. At the time of Burges death in 2018, Chicago and Cook County had paid out $100 million in settlements and legal fees linked to the former police commanders actions. All of this should weigh heavily into the calculus Mayor Brandon Johnson uses to select the citys next police superintendent. Rogue behavior by cops remains a potential peril that the department must remedy if its going to regain the trust of communities it serves, particularly in predominantly Black and brown neighborhoods on the South and West sides. The fallout from cops who lie, brutalize and torture lasts for years, decades even. It wallops city coffers, but it also mars Chicagos reputation, and creates a vicious cycle of mistrust that dissuades citizens from cooperating with police. When that happens, violent crimes dont get solved, lawlessness thrives , and mistrust for law enforcement grows. Johnson has three finalists for Chicagos top cop to choose from: Larry Snelling and Angel Novalez, both top Chicago police officials, and Shon Barnes, the police chief in Madison, Wisconsin. The person Johnson picks will inherit a broad array of paramount tasks. Understaffing at both the officer and detective levels hampers the departments effectiveness. The new superintendent also will have to balance tackling violent crime with Johnsons emphasis on root causes and non-law-enforcement approaches, such as violence prevention and street outreach. And the new superintendent must do a much better job than his predecessor at keeping pace with implementation of the consent decree, the 2019 court order that blueprints how the city should reform its Police Department. But just as important will be to create a culture within the department that prevents the likes of Burge or Guevara emerging again. That task shouldnt be seen by the new superintendent as an aspiration. It should be seen as a mandate. Join the discussion on Twitter @chitribopinions and on Facebook. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com. Downing Street is looking at whether China, Iran or North Korea was behind a cyber attack which exposed the data of up to 40 million British voters. The Telegraph understands security services are widening the net in the search for the hostile actors who hacked the Electoral Commission database. Russia remains a prime suspect but ministers are not ruling out the involvement of another state that may wish to undermine British democracy. One source said the UK was in a grey zone cyber conflict with Russia, Iran, China and North Korea, adding that they were all testing our defences. They added that the Government was constantly beefing up the countrys digital defences and that other Western nations are also being targeted. The Electoral Commission revealed on Tuesday that it had been the victim of a complex cyber attack and said it had called in experts from GCHQ. The watchdog, which holds the personal data of around 40 million voters, said it was unlikely that the breach could be used to influence the next election. High-risk groups But there are security fears that the personal details like names and addresses of vulnerable and high-risk groups have been accessed by foreign powers. The Telegraph revealed on Tuesday that UK intelligence services had found evidence that linked the attack on the Electoral Commission to Russians. It is understood that security experts also found signs that ransomware, which can block users from accessing files, had been found on its system. Sir David Omand, a former director of GCHQ, told the BBC that Russia was first on my list of suspects who may have carried out the cyber attack. Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, agreed and told The Telegraph that: Russia would be at the top of the suspects list by a mile. Too early to pin the blame But James Sullivan, from the Royal United Services Institute, a defence and security think tank, said it was too early to definitively pin the blame on Moscow for the attack. He said: When we are looking at this, I think it is probably appropriate to look to the usual suspects of hostile actors. We have seen that China conducts a lot of espionage like this. They are willing to conduct espionage where they sit in a network for a long period of time. Russia, as we know, conducts all sorts of cyber operations, from cyber crime to espionage. The breach was first detected by security experts last October, at which point they realised that hackers had been able to access the system since August 2021. They were able to access the details of all those who were in the system between 2014 and last year, as well as the names of those registered as overseas voters. But those people who registered anonymously, meaning that their details were not made publicly available, were not impacted by the leak, the watchdog said. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer. An Elk Grove mother and her adult son face a series of criminal charges including one of attempted murder after an alleged domestic violence incident at their home last week prompted an investigation in which officers found drugs, guns and more than $100,000 in cash, police said. Xiu Wu Liu, 37, and his mother Yu Yan Weng, 61, have been in custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail since they were arrested on Friday. That morning around 3:30 a.m., officers were sent to their home to investigate a 911 call that was hung up, the Elk Grove Police Department announced Wednesday in a news release. Officers learned there had been a dispute between Lius girlfriend, who does not live with Liu, and Lius mother, who lives at the home with her son. Police said the dispute escalated when the mother slapped Lius girlfriend. The man then pushed his girlfriend to the ground and choked her, according to the Police Department. The boyfriend and his mother allegedly threatened to harm the girlfriends family if she notified police. Police said Liu forcibly moved the girlfriend to another room against her will and continued to assault her before he grabbed a gun, pointed the firearm at her and threatened her again. She was able to call 911. The officers arrived at the home and detained Liu and his mother. At one point, Weng told the officers she was cold and asked if she could grab a jacket. Weng allowed officers to escort her inside her home, where the officers spotted a short-barrel rifle in plain view in the living room, police said. Liu and Weng appeared for their arraignment Wednesday afternoon in Sacramento Superior Court. A judge ordered the son and his mother to remain in custody without bail at the request of prosecutors, said Shelly Orio, a spokeswoman for the Sacramento County District Attorneys Office. Orio said Liu and Weng are scheduled to return to court Tuesday for a bail review hearing. Detectives obtained a search warrant for the house. Police said investigators searched the house and found more than $135,000 in cash, 2 pounds of a suspected controlled substance, 52 pounds of processed marijuana packaged for sale, two handguns and one short-barrel rifle. Sgt. Jason Jimenez, a police spokesman, said he could not say what is believed to be the controlled substance until it has been identified through chemical test. He declined to give information about the location of the incident, citing policy on domestic violence cases. Liu was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, domestic violence, assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, kidnapping, possession of a controlled substance for sale and possession of marijuana for sale, authorities said. His mother was arrested on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance for sale, possession of marijuana for sale, making criminal threats, possession of a short-barrel rifle and preventing or dissuading a victim from reporting to police. Yahoo Sports Carmona dedicated the only goal in the final to the mother of her best friend, who recently passed away. After the match, she was given the news of her own father's death. Don't feel bad if you have absolutely zero clue why the tech-savvy online are all freaking out about this weird thing called LK-99, a supposed superconductor that can operate at room temperature and at ambient pressure. I'm right there with you. Or rather, I was. Though conversant in most forms of niche nerdery, materials science isn't my bag. Still, the recent speculation that LK-99 could herald limitless clean energy and a quantum computer in every pocket is an eyebrow-raising claim worth parsing. So I went on the hunt for us, and I'm back with the 101 about this potential development in tech that some call the holy grail of materials science. Here's the breakdown on how a superconductive material like LK-99 might upend the entire tech world and whether or not this latest iteration is more hype-ful than hopeful. What is a superconductor? Insulators like wood and rubber slow down or stop electricity, but conductors like the copper wires in your house and the gallium metal in your phone are veins through which electricity can pass easily. Even so, no matter how conductive a metal is, it's always going to lose some of the electricity that your utility line or phone battery sends through it. That's called resistance, and it's the enemy of computers and clean energy. A superconductor is a material that lets electricity pass through with zero resistance whether that material is an elemental metal like tin or a compound made of copper and oxygen. It also expels all magnetic fields. Some superconductors work only at extremely low temperatures or at extremely high pressures making them wholly impractical to use at scale. So far, no one has confirmed the existence of a reproducible superconductor that works at room temperature and normal ambient pressure. In the past few years, though, excitement has been growing as some in the field believe we're closer than ever to finding the magic material. And now that hope is sparked anew with recent research from two universities. Want more health and science stories in your inbox? Subscribe to Salon's weekly newsletter The Vulgar Scientist. What would a room-temperature superconductor do? That's the exciting part. Right now, we're wasting tons of power fighting basic electrical resistance in every electronic device and every electrical grid. Room-temperature superconductors would be able to eliminate that margin of waste and could launch us toward our most energy-efficient future yet. How so? In order to account for the amount of power you'll lose to resistance, you have to generate more power than you actually use for any electronic device. That unused electricity turns to heat, which means you need more parts in that device to cool it down. At a global scale, all of this costly wasted energy-heat adds up quickly from massive server farms to supply chain logistics, power-hungry Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines to quantum computers. Some of the most exciting and promising clean tech like magnetic levitation trains and other low-cost, high-speed transportation could finally be viable for mass development with superconductor use. Practical superconductors could also lead to smaller, cheaper MRIs, which might no longer need helium to be cooled down good news given we could one day run out of helium. Nuclear fusion reactor cooling could become safer and easier. Batteries of all kinds, full of dangerously mined precious metals and hazardous chemicals, could be reduced to mere backup players with the introduction of superconducting magnetic energy storage. If it uses electricity, a room-temperature superconductor would probably make it better smaller, and more efficient. It would also probably win researchers a Nobel Prize and potentially make them extremely wealthy to boot. What is LK-99 and is it real? According to two new research papers, LK-99 is a purported superconductor made of a lead-apatite and copper combination which works at room temperatures and ambient pressures. The researchers are from the Quantum Energy Research Centre in South Korea and Virginia's College of William & Mary. The research hasn't been fully peer-reviewed, but the preliminary results were published on the preprint server arXiv. Researchers at other labshave been encouraged to attempt to replicate the work. What really grabbed everyone's attention in the science world was a video of the researchers' work featuring a dark gray chunk of their material, levitating over a magnet. Though not a guarantee of superconductivity, the image indicates the material is displaying at least one promising, tell-tale sign of it. The gist of the discovery is that this surprisingly simple combination of a couple of normally non-conductive minerals (lead is often an insulator, for instance) can supposedly become unconventionally superconductive without any great strain. The paper describes a remarkably simple process: powder the elements, mix them well, then bake it in an oven. Why are people skeptical of LK-99? Claims of finding the long-sought holy grail of material science are already bound to be met with a keen sense of scientific skepticism on even the best days. It doesn't help that superconductors are among the hottest topics in science at the moment, and have been topically ripe for shoddy science. Even though promising efforts have been seen probing the edges of possibility, some high-profile failures have most in the scientific community casting a skeptical eye on any claims of discovery and looking closely at the data to find holes. The data in the LK-99 research has left some scientists cautious due to the absence of a few key measurements, even as many attempt to replicate the results. More suspicions surfaced when the paper's authorship came under question. As it turns out, a six-member team of researchers had previously published a strikingly similar paper, with some results suggesting that the material wasn't a superconductor. One researcher who was on both the six-author team and the three-author LK-99 team even said the results were published without permission of other authors. https://twitter.com/condensed_the/status/1684328907879616513 By the end of July, two independent research teams were unable to replicate LK-99's superconductivity, and more question have risen since. On August 9, New Scientist reported that "mounting evidence" suggests "the chances of LK-99 being a superconductor are looking increasingly slim." What's next for LK-99? The race is on to reproduce LK-99, and researchers both amateur and academic are abuzz with efforts. https://twitter.com/CondMatfyz/status/1687711356445745153 Some, like physicist Sinead Griffin of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, have already published theoretical studies exploring LK-99's similarities to other kinds of superconductors via computer simulation. TLDR: My paper did *not* prove nor give evidence of superconductivity in Cu-apatite. It showed interesting structural and electronic properties that have features common with high-Tc superconductors provided Cu is in the right place. Otherwise we get a boring semiconductor. Sinead Griffin (@sineatrix) August 2, 2023 But, as CNET journalist Jackson Ryan puts it: Science, in action, takes time. Even though superconductor company stocks have been sent soaring in the past few weeks and the future-attuned are getting a heady whiff of potentially world-changing tech, the proper vetting and testing of any possible room-temperature superconductor by the material science community is going to be slow. If LK-99 actually turns out to be the Nobel-winning discovery of a generation, implementing that discovery into consumer and industrial tech that we can buy would still require massive changes in the global sprawl of manufacturing processes a shift which can only occur at a glacial pace. Slow as it may be, though, it's still a pace worth pursuing if it means we can all finally have real hoverboards. For now, we're stuck with fumbling prototypes and everyone knows those boards don't work on water, McFly. Read more about energy The potential for labor action at gas facilities controlled by Chevron and Woodside in Australia led to a major spike in the price for natural gas. File Photo by Gary I Rothstein/UPI Aug. 10 (UPI) -- After enjoying a period of relief from a premium driven by the war in Ukraine, European natural gas prices are on the rise again as the potential for labor strikes in Australia threaten alternative supplies. The Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), a European benchmark for the price of natural gas, finished the trading day Wednesday up 28% to reach $12 per million British thermal units. Prices had cooled off somewhat by Thursday, but remain elevated in the upper $11 range on concerns of a strike by workers at Chevron and Woodside Energy Group. Both are major players in liquefied natural gas, a shipped commodity that has replaced some of Russia's market share of piped gas in the European market. Rystad Energy, a Norwegian consultant group, said a potential strike could disrupt as much as 50% of Australia's export capacity, causing a market scramble to shore up alternate supplies. "Looking ahead, we expect the bullish outlook for gas prices to continue with fewer LNG imports to Europe, planned maintenance for Norwegian pipelines and continued heatwaves in multiple regions globally," senior analyst Zongqiang Luo said in an emailed report. Both companies are working to avert a strike. Nearly all of the workers voted in favor of a strike over pay and working conditions, Australian media reported. Any formal action would not only squeeze European markets, but trigger a race for resources in Asia, which draws heavily on Australia for the super-cooled LNG. Sanctions limit what importers can take in from Russia so a potential walkout from workers in gas-rich Australia is leading to global supply-side concerns. File photo by Anatoly Maltsev/EPA-EFE "Total LNG inventory in Japan may have fallen below last year's due to more robust power demand," Rystad added. "However, this is partially offset by muted demand from city gas utilities and additional availability of nuclear capacity." Sanctions limit what Western powers can import from Russia, which is one of the world's leading natural gas producers. Outside of Australia, much of the resources are coming from LNG shipping from U.S. export terminals situated largely on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Neither Chevron nor Woodside had public comments regarding ongoing labor negotiations. WINDHAM, N.H. Unlike most of the voters who lined up in the rain for former President Donald Trump's rally at a high school gym here Tuesday, Heather O'Connor had not decided which Republican she will vote for in next year's presidential primary. The 49-year-old physician said she is leaning toward South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, but is also considering Vivek Ramaswamy and Trump whose policies as president matched up well with her views. Her fear about Trump shared by some of the die-hards who vow to vote for him come hell, high water or imprisonment is that the criminal charges he faces could harm his chances of beating President Joe Biden in next year's general election. "If we had a different candidate other than Trump, I think the Republicans might do better in the general," O'Connor said. "That's my concern." While it's clear that Trump's legal troubles have helped him build a commanding lead in the GOP primary, interviews with more than two dozen voters across the country this month revealed a recurring worry that Trump's legal woes could sink the GOP in 2024. But the reactions to that conclusion vary wildly from fear to indifference to indignance. "I voted for him. I still like him. I think he would do great as in a second term," Karen Scott, a CPR first-aid instructor from New Boston, New Hampshire, said. "But at this moment, for myself, I just feel that this election is so important because its either going to be a continuation of a failed nation, or were going to get back on track." She is leaning toward Ramaswamy, but is also open to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, she said. General election polls mostly show a dead heat between Biden and Trump in a hypothetical general election matchup. The former president's lead in the Republican primary expanded to more than 40 points in surveys released this week by Morning Consult and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Any concerns about how the indictments could affect Trump's viability next November have been dwarfed by loyalty to him and by the failure of any other candidate to gain real traction in the race. "They don't sway me," David Farrell, a 32-year-old Massachusetts voter who made the short trip to New Hampshire to see Trump, said of the criminal charges. "Sure," Farrell said, the indictments could weaken Trump in a general election, "but, I mean, there's always some hiccup for any candidate." There is also a camp of Trump loyalists who say the indictments are not only politically motivated but irrelevant to their view of Trump and his chances. Outside the Trump's rally, John Zampini of Gilmanton, New Hampshire, and Brian Courtney of Haverill, Massachusetts, both told NBC News they would vote for Trump if he's in prison at the time of the election. "Wouldn't matter," said Courtney, who believes Biden should be in prison for retaining classified documents after his time as vice president. The charges Trump faces for retaining classified documents include counts related to an alleged scheme to illegally hide material from federal investigators. In separate cases, Trump has been charged with illegally attempting to overturn his 2020 election defeat and with crimes related to hush money payments to pornographic actress and director Stormy Daniels. Many Republican voters, whether they support Trump or not, are upset by the string of prosecutions. Some believe they are evidence that Biden and Democrats fear facing Trump in a general election, despite overwhelming evidence that they have strengthened Trump in primary polls. "Im not that concerned about them, I really do believe what a lot of people you know have been reporting that Ive watched is, you know, this is interference," Bill Neverett, a Republican voter from Florida, said. "Theyre trying to find a way you know, they are afraid to have him run one-on-one with Biden." But some voters who backed Trump in 2016 and 2020 have been permanently turned off either by his performance in the presidency, his efforts to overturn the last election or his personality. "Some of his policies were very good," said former state Sen. Nancy Stiles, who is considering North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Ramaswamy and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. "But his persona is worse than a 5-year-old. Hes just never going to get my vote again." In New Hampshire, where independents have a long tradition of temporarily affiliating with a party to vote in its primary, the audience at former Gov. Chris Christie's town hall meeting in New London Tuesday was decidedly more moderate than Trump's crowd. Jeff Nintzel, 72, a semi-retired photographer, said he tends to vote in the presidential primary that is most interesting each cycle. He said that's the GOP side this time, and, while he hasn't picked a candidate yet, he said Christie "speaks a truth that many, if not most, of the other Republican candidates are [not] willing to state." Nintzel has one primary goal in trying to help pick a GOP nominee. "I dont want to see Donald Trump anymore," he said. "I wish Donald Trump would simply go away. That sentiment is shared even by some voters who believe the justice system is being tilted to target Trump. "Everywhere you go, he's getting indicted for something, right?" Ron Kobrenski, an independent who plans to vote in the GOP primary, said at an event featuring former Vice President Mike Pence last week. "And it just seems a little bit strange that the guy running for president against Biden is being attacked so viciously like that right now." But Kobrenski, who backed Trump in the last two elections, wants to make sure that there's fresh blood in the White House in 2025 and worries that nominating Trump could lead to a second Biden term. "He's just too old," the 73-year-old Kobrenski said of Trump. "There's too much baggage. There's too many things going on in his life. And we want a president that can be president, not having to take care of all his legal problems all the time." This article was originally published on NBCNews.com A former Mississippi Coast law enforcement officer, who admitted he embezzled from one Coast police department before allegedly committing the same crime at a second agency, is now facing criminal prosecution. A Jackson County grand jury has indicted Eric Eugene Maye, 28, of Jackson County, on two counts of felony embezzlement by a public servant. The crime carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines. Mayes attorney, Cameron McCormick, waived his arraignment and entered not-guilty pleas on his behalf. Maye is tentatively set to go to trial in October. The state Auditors Office investigated the crimes. According to the charging documents, Maye is accused of embezzling funds from the Gautier Police Department from March to August 2017. Eric Maye Gautier officials fired Maye when the allegations surfaced and ordered him to repay the city the amount stolen years earlier. The city did not pursue criminal charges at the time. The second charge accuses Maye of stealing an unspecified amount of money from someone he came into contact with through his position as a Moss Point Police officer on Feb. 26, 2022, in Jackson County. Moss Point Police Chief Brandon Ashley said at the time of Mayes firing in Moss Point in 2022 that Maye had allegedly stolen money from a drug suspect in Moss Point. Losing his police credentials Maye lost his credentials to serve in law enforcement in Mississippi after Gautier city officials learned of his alleged embezzlement there. During that internal investigation, Maye admitted to the crimes, but the city did not pursue formal charges against him. Once the Guatier theft surfaced in March 2019, the Mississippi Board on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Training voted to decertify Mayes law enforcement credentials, which is required to serve in law enforcement in Mississippi. In the Gautier case, Maye admitted using his city-issued Fuelman card to make 16 unlawful purchases of fuel at nine different stores in different areas in Gautier, Ocean Springs, DIberville and Biloxi for his private vehicles, according to records obtained by the Sun Herald. Moss Point Public Safety Complex Video cameras at stores captured footage of Maye making at least three illegal transactions for fuel for his personally-owned Dodge Charger. Maye agreed to repay the city over $600 for the gasoline stolen from the city. Though Maye initially wasnt prosecuted for that offense, the criminal investigation resulted in the latest criminal charges because there is no statute of limitations for prosecuting embezzlement cases involving public corruption. State certification reinstated By the time the state de-certified Maye in 2019, he was back at work as a police officer in Moss Point. Maye went back before the BLEOST and pleaded unsuccessfully to get his police credentials back. When the Board refused to reinstate his license in 2019, he had to step down. In November 2021, Chief Ashley went before the state board and pleaded for them to recertify Maye as a police officer. At that hearing, the chief told the BLEOST that Maye had put all of his problems behind him and successfully argued for the Board to reinstate his credentials. Maye was back on the job as a police officer in Moss Point iin December 2021. Just three months later, Maye was accused of embezzlement there. The state Auditors Office issued a formal demand for Maye to pay the state $1,433. Security forces announced the arrest of a former city council member after they prevented a contract killing he allegedly organized that targeted a council member in Zhmerynka, Vinnytsia Oblast. The man, who once represented the now-banned pro-Russian party Opposition Platform - For Life in the council, is the son of a politician who represented another banned pro-Russian party in Ukraine's parliament. Ukrainska Pravda reports that the man's father is Viktor Zherebnyuk, who represented the Party of Regions in Ukraine's parliament. Zherebnyuk left Ukraine at the beginning of the full-scale invasion. The State Bureau of Investigation did not name either man, but explained that in his father's absence, the son was representing his "business and political interests in the city." A few months ago a conflict arose between the suspect's father and another local council member relating to land plots for construction, and the son "decided to 'help' his father and tried to organize the premeditated murder" of the man. He believed he had found someone willing to carry out the murder for $8,500. However, Bureau agents faked the murder and took staged photos, which the fake contract killer sent to the city council deputy as proof he had completed his assignment. After paying the "contractor," the official was arrested. A pre-trial investigation is ongoing. If sentenced, the council member can face life in prison. Read also: Travel restrictions imposed on MP following suspected vacation during wartime Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Another record hot day is on tap for Thursday, along with the first day of school for many. >>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<< Excessive heat warnings will remain in effect as students, teachers and staff at eight different school districts in Central Florida head back to school Thursday. LIVE UPDATES: 8 Central Florida districts head back to school Thursday Temperatures are again expected to approach some long-standing daily records. Orlando is forecast to reach 98 degrees Thursday afternoon, which would tie a record for Aug. 10 set in 1963. There remains the usual chance of isolated storms late in the afternoon, but they wont be widespread. Heat indexes are again expected to reach triple-digits. The pattern of heat will continue Friday, through the weekend, and at least into Monday when even more Central Florida districts will return to school. Max heat index: Thursday, Aug. 10 The Florida Department of Health is urging residents to take the necessary precautions and follow all safety measures during the heat advisory to minimize the risk of heat-related illnesses and emergencies. READ: Delays expected for first day of Orange County schools due to bus driver shortage, district says Those precautions include drinking plenty of water and avoiding beverages that can lead to dehydration, like alcohol or caffeinated drinks. Limit time outdoors, avoid direct exposure to sunlight and try to spend time in air-conditioned environments. Follow our Severe Weather team on Twitter for live updates: 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. Editors note: This story was updated with additional information. (4 P.M. 8/10/2023) The Coastal Carolina YMCA appears to have severed ties with its top executive, scrubbing from its website the biography of CEO Ryan Finney. In an email, YMCA board chairman Kris Frost said the organization doesnt comment on personnel matters. He was not immediately available to answer further questions. According to the YMCAs 2021 Form 990 a financial document required to be filed with the IRS Finney made $108,836. Coastal Carolina YMCA does not list board members on its website or executive leadership. The YMCA also has an open job posting for its chief financial officer. It is unclear if an interim CEO has been named. The link to a Feb. 23, 2018, Facebook post by Claire Chapin Epps Family YMCA Finney as CEO of its parent organization has been removed as of Aug. 10. Finneys office voicemail was still active as of Aug. 10. The chief financial officer job is advertised on their website and is to be paid between $70,000 and $90,000 a year. Though Frost said in an email that their CFO is still with the organization. The organization had total assets of nearly $9.4 million that year. Founded in 1983, The Coastal Carolina YMCA serves more than 10,000 people a year with locations in Georgetown, Myrtle Beach and Pawleys Island. Special Counsel Jack Smith obtained a secret search warrant for former President Donald Trump's Twitter account to look "for evidence of criminal offenses" earlier this year, according to unsealed court records. The court granted a search warrant as part of a criminal case requesting that Twitter, the platform now known as X, produce information to the government related to "@realDonaldTrump." The order came with a nondisclosure order, barring Twitter from informing anyone about the warrant's existence or its details. "[T]he district court found that there were 'reasonable grounds to believe' that disclosing the warrant to former President Trump 'would seriously jeopardize the ongoing investigation' by giving him 'an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior, [or] notify confederates,'" according to the 34-page opinion. Initially, Twitter refused to comply with the Jan. 17 warrant and postponed providing the necessary materials specified in the search warrant. The company instead pursued legal challenges against the nondisclosure order, which ultimately proved to be unsuccessful. While Twitter eventually complied with the warrant, it only provided the requested information in its entirety three days past the court-ordered deadline. The district court found Twitter in contempt and imposed a $350,000 sanction for its delay. "Twitter's resistance to the warrant is likely rooted in Elon Musk's hostility to laws regulating conduct," V. James DeSimone, a California civil rights attorney, told Salon. "His Tesla company has been found liable for race discrimination and his apparent decision to defy laws protecting employees has resulted in numerous lawsuits against Twitter. And the delay in providing the documents, even after being ordered to by the court, could be related to the dysfunction within the company after Musk's purchase of it." Twitter along with other social media companies have taken the position from a business standpoint that "it is better for them to resist freely complying with subpoenas for customers' information," Ted Spaulding, an Atlanta trial attorney, told Salon. "They fight hard to be a platform that values privacy and have taken it to the extreme," Spaulding said. "They will fight the government in giving access to data because they ultimately believe it makes their platform more attractive to people because they will not just give up their user's data with a simple subpoena from someone, not even the government." The government encountered issues when first trying to serve Twitter with the warrant and nondisclosure order on Jan. 17, 2023. Twitter's legal page was inoperative, which delayed the government from serving Twitter through its website until two days later, according to the documents. When the government contacted Twitter's counsel to check on the status of their compliance on Jan. 25, the company's counsel responded by saying that she hadn't heard anything about the warrant and that an on-time production "would be a very tight turnaround," but she confirmed that the account's available data was preserved. Finally, on Feb. 1, which was four days after the compliance deadline, Twitter objected to producing any of the account information. While the company did not challenge the legitimacy of the search warrant, it contended that the nondisclosure order violated the First Amendment. "Twitter informed the government that it would not comply with the warrant until the district court assessed the legality of the nondisclosure order," according to unsealed records. Twitter submitted a motion on Feb. 2, to "vacate or modify the nondisclosure order." Concurrently, Smith's team sought a contempt order from U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, the federal judge overseeing the matter at the time. The government suggested sanctions starting at $50,000 per day and doubling every day that Twitter did not comply. Howell approved the suggestion and Twitter did not object to the sanctions formula. The court ordered Twitter to produce the records outlined in the warrant by 5 p.m. on Feb. 7. "If Twitter did not purge its contempt by that time, the district court ordered 'escalating daily fines' that were 'designed to ensure Twitter complies with the search warrant,'" according to documents. Twitter missed the deadline and only produced some records, failing to comply with the request. As a result, the government fined Twitter a total of $350,000 after they submitted all the records on Feb. 9. There is little indication in the documents regarding the specific nature of Smith's request. It only mentioned that the special counsel directed the company "to produce data and records" related to the ex-president's account. "Getting access to [Trump's] Twitter account could be hugely beneficial to the prosecution," Spaulding said. "They are looking for evidence of Trump's mindset leading up to Jan. 6 to prove intent to commit a crime. That is normally very hard to prove because you cannot really get into the mind of the accused. The thought is his Twitter posts could provide them insight into what Trump was thinking and ultimately his intentions." Smith may be interested in obtaining internal Twitter information to understand the reach of Trump's tweets, Temidayo Aganga-Williams, white-collar partner at Selendy Gay Elsberg and former senior investigative counsel for the House Jan. 6 committee, told Salon. He referred to Trump's infamous December 19, 2020 "'Be There. Will Be Wild!'" tweet, which called people to come to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 and "set off the planning of the rally that preceded the attack". "It is an essential part of the puzzle of Trump's post-election actions," Aganga-Williams said. Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course. Trump has responded to the secret search warrant as he usually does attacking President Joe Biden and referring to the special counsel as "deranged". "Just found out that Crooked Joe Biden's DOJ secretly attacked my Twitter account, making it a point not to let me know about this major 'hit' on my civil rights," he wrote on Truth Social. "My Political Opponent is going CRAZY trying to infringe on my Campaign for President. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Does the First Amendment still exist? Did Deranged Jack Smith tell the Unselects to DESTROY & DELETE all evidence? These are DARK DAYS IN AMERICA!" But his First Amendment claim has no merit, especially with respect to the subpoena itself, DeSimone pointed out. "It will ultimately be for a jury to decide if the First Amendment protects a sitting president's attempt to prevent his democratically elected opponent from taking office," DeSimone said. "Words can be crimes, that is what a conspiracy is all about. Charles Manson used words to manipulate his followers to kill, Trump used his words to manipulate his followers into trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, a hallmark of American democracy. Those followers would not have been chanting 'hang Mike Pence' without being incited to do so." Spaulding added that access to Trump's posts is not really a First Amendment issue since the First Amendment is really about whether someone is being suppressed in their ability to speak their mind. "Not whether someone can use your speech against you once you have said it," he said. This is not the first time that Twitter has taken a troubling stance as it relates to Trump's conduct after the 2020 election, Aganga-Williams told Salon. The January 6th committee obtained evidence that social media companies like Twitter largely ignored concerns that were raised internally prior to January 6. "Now, Twitter's decision regarding this validly issued subpoena demonstrates that the social media company has not learned any lessons from its part in what transpired after the 2020 election," he said. Read more about the Jan. 6 case (This Aug. 10 story has been corrected to locate Maui north and west of Big Island instead of east in paragraph 11) By Jonathan Oatis (Reuters) - Wildfires on Hawaii's Maui island and Big Island have killed dozens of people, forced thousands of residents and tourists to evacuate, and devastated the historic resort city of Lahaina. Here are some key questions and answers about the disaster. HOW DID THE FIRES START? The causes of the fires, which started on Tuesday night, have not yet been determined. However, the National Weather Service had issued warnings for the Hawaiian Islands for high winds and dry weather - conditions ripe for wildfires - which it canceled late Wednesday. Nearly 85% of U.S. wildfires are caused by humans, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Natural causes include lightning and volcanic activity. The Hawaiian Islands have six active volcanoes, including one on Maui. Record-setting heat this summer has contributed to unusually severe wildfires in Europe and western Canada. Scientists say climate change, driven by fossil fuel use, has led to more frequent and more powerful extreme weather events. WHAT'S DRIVING THE HAWAII WILDFIRES? Winds from Hurricane Dora, hundreds of miles southwest of the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, have fanned the flames across the U.S. state, officials say. In addition to Dora, a low-pressure system to the west near Japan is also contributing to the high sustained winds. Dry vegetation is also a contributing factor. The spread of flammable non-native grasses such as Guinea grass in areas of former farmland and forest have created large amounts of small, easily ignited materials that increase the risk and severity of fire. WHERE ARE THE FIRES? The fires have caused widespread devastation in Lahaina, a beach resort city of about 13,000 people on northwestern Maui that was once a whaling center and the Hawaiian Kingdom's capital and now draws 2 million tourists a year. Fires have also burned around Kihei, a coastal city in South Maui, and destroyed parts of Kula, a residential area in the mountainous center of the island, as well as scorching parts of the Big Island. Some 271 structures were destroyed or damaged, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser said, citing official reports from the U.S. Civil Air Patrol and Maui Fire Department. Hawaii is an archipelago about 2,000 miles (3,200 km) west of the U.S. mainland. It is made up of eight main islands, including Hawaii, known as the Big Island. The island of Maui sits to the north and west of the island of Hawaii. (Writing by Jonathan Oatis; Additional reporting by Andrew Hay; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) FILE PHOTO: Ecuadorean presidential candidate Villavicencio killed at campaign event, in Quito (Reuters) - Ecuador was reeling on Thursday from the slaying of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio the night before, less than two weeks before elections were to take place. The killing of Villavicencio, a vocal critic of corruption and drug crime that have beset Ecuador, underlines a deteriorating security situation in much of South America. A combination of chronically weak economic growth, volatile politics, the COVID-19 pandemic and the growing reach of cocaine trafficking gangs has destabilized swathes of the continent. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO SECURITY IN ECUADOR? Security in Ecuador has been worsening since the pandemic. From late 2020, violence erupted in many of the country's prisons, with hundreds of inmates killed in jail riots. Gangs operating inside Ecuador's prisons have taken advantage of the state's weak control to expand their power, threatening inmates' lives, according to human rights groups and prisoners' families. Outside prisons, murders have exploded. Since 2016, Ecuador's homicide rate has soared by almost 500% to an estimated 22 murders per 100,000 people in 2022, global risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft said in a note. Guyaquil, considered Ecuador's most dangerous city, registered 1,390 violent deaths in the first half of this year, nearly as many as it tallied in all of 2022, and close to half of the 3,500 cases registered nationally, police data showed. WHY HAS THE VIOLENCE EXPLODED? Conservative President Guillermo Lasso, who called early presidential elections in a bid to avoid impeachment, has repeatedly blamed the violence, including in prisons, on drug trafficking gangs. The government on Thursday said Villavicencio's killing was the work of foreign nationals in drug gangs. Verisk Maplecroft similarly attributed an "unprecedented surge in brutal criminality" to growing " trans-national drug-trafficking organizations and violent street gangs." Ecuador, the world's top banana exporter, has traditionally escaped the violence that has long engulfed its northern neighbor, Colombia, the planet's No. 1 producer of coca, the chief ingredient in cocaine. With less attention from law enforcement, drug gangs have moved into Ecuador, experts said, often disguising vast loads of cocaine in shipments of bananas bound for Europe, where demand for the white powder is booming. Ecuador is not the only South American nation to feel the impact. Paraguay, a key logistical hub for the global cocaine trade, has been scarred by high-profile cases of drug violence, and traditionally peaceful nations like Chile and Uruguay are also affected. WHAT HAS BEEN DONE TO TACKLE THE PROBLEM? Lasso has declared frequent states of emergency to ramp up security, which include military patrols on the streets and nightly curfews. In April, Lasso authorized the civilian use of guns to fight rising insecurity. Ecuadoreans have headed to gun ranges to improve their skills in a bid to protect themselves. IS THERE A PRECEDENT FOR POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN LATIN AMERICA? Yes. Villavicencio's murder recalled the 1984 assassination of Mexican presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio and the 1989 killing of Colombia's Liberal party candidate Luis Carlos Galan, the Verisk Maplecroft analysts said. It also follows an assassination attempt against prominent Argentine politician Cristina Fernandez De Kirchner last year, as well as the stabbing and attempted murder of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in 2018, among others (Reporting by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) Ukraine has prioritized the development and deployment of a naval fleet of drones. United 24/Ukrainian government Ukraine's recent waterborne drone attacks have shed light on weaknesses in Russian defenses. The drones have been a scrappy, effective solution to Ukraine's lack of real naval might. But an expert told Insider that modest Russian countermeasures could make these attacks difficult. Recent Ukrainian waterborne drone attacks against Russian ships have exposed weaknesses in Russia's defenses, suggesting they're unprepared to stop the exploding boats. The black USVs are tricky to spot, and even just one's explosive payload can cause massive damage and flooding. Last week, naval drone attacks against the Ropucha-class landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak and the Russian merchant tanker Sig left both vessels badly damaged, both clear examples of failures in Russian defenses. In particular, it doesn't even seem like Russia anticipates these attacks. In a video shared last Friday of the Olenegorsky Gornyak attack at the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, the first-person view drone is able to approach the ship apparently undetected before detonating on impact. Despite Russian denials that warship was hit, photo evidence showed the Olenegorsky Gornyak listing heavily in the day after the attack proof that the ship sustained significant flooding. H I Sutton (@CovertShores) August 4, 2023 The success of Ukrainian USVs against Russian ships is in part due to the novel threat they pose. Without a full-fledged navy save a few patrol boats Ukraine's leaders have become inventive, seeking to develop what they call "the world's first naval fleet of drones." The result, thus far, has been an "asymmetrical advantage" for Ukraine, an expert previously told Insider. But the attacks also suggest Russia has not prioritized defending against these drones, especially as Ukraine has ramped up its drone boat usage in recent weeks. Prior to the hits on Olenegorsky Gornyak and Sig, previous naval drone attacks have terrorized Russian ships in the Black Sea. "The Ukrainians have been lucky in that the Russians haven't been very good, they're not prepared, they don't have the right defenses, so even a small number of these drone boats can get in and cause a lot of damage," Bryan Clark, a former US Navy officer and defense expert at the Hudson Institute, told Insider. Naval drones targeted the port of Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based, according to Russian officials. Ulf Mauder/Getty Images Part of Ukraine's fortune is tied to the drone boats' features. The drones are able to approach their targets at high speed and have a low-profile in the water, making them difficult to spot by human lookouts as well as radar sweeps. Ship crews must be prepared to respond with little notice, especially at night preparations that appear wholly lacking from the drone videos Ukraine has released. To have any hope of reacting fast enough, radar operators must set their filters to scan for these threats and watchstanders must be familiar with what these boats look like. With the drones operating at the velocity of a speedboat, these crewmen may have mere minutes to effectively respond. Kyiv's drone fleets are likely being designed with the help of Western partners, resulting in relatively sophisticated models. Activated remotely, the drone boats usually speed towards a target and detonate on impact, as seen in the video of the attack on the Olenegorsky Gornyak ship. The front of a Ukrainian drone boat developed for United 24. United 24/Ukrainian government 'Too many to take out' With the drone attacks showing no sign of stopping, the questions become how Russia will respond. Another navy power, like the US or its European allies, would use a variety of resources to track and destroy drone boats, such as the Phalanx close-in weapon system, a US-made automatic gun that saw use in the Persian Gulf War to shoot incoming missiles or small boats. The Phalanx CIWS, sometimes called the "sea-wiz," can locate, track, and fire at the drones, but they'll have to hit only one target at a time with rapid bursts of 20mm fire. According to Clark, high power microwave systems could also be used to disrupt the electronics operating the drone. But these waves are relatively short range in most cases, meaning a Russian ship would have to wait until the drone boats are close to the vessel. Some other technology, such as anti-drone lasers, could shoot and disable the drones from a larger distance. The US and Israel have been testing prototypes of the latter, including the "Iron Beam" energy-based weapon last year. Russia's Marshal Shaposhnikov anti-submarine destroyer fires during the 'Vostok-2022' military exercises at the Peter the Great Gulf of the Sea of Japan outside the city of Vladivostok on September 5, 2022. KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images The challenge is if a swarm or fleet of drones attacks at once. "If you get four or five at a time, you can probably take those out," Clark said, "but if you get 40 or 50 or even a dozen, that might be too many to take out before one of them reaches the ship." And if Russia does ramp up its defenses, it's likely that Ukraine will scale up the number of its drone boats. If the Russians were equipped more like the US Navy, for instance, "then the Ukrainians would have to launch larger drone swarms to be able to succeed," Clark told Insider. But controlling attack boat swarms could be more challenging than doing the same with unmanned aerial vessels (UAVs). Ukraine has had success operating aerial drones since the beginning the war, dropping explosives on unsuspecting Russian troops hiding in trenches and gathering intel behind enemy lines. Operating a group of drone boats, Clark added, is more difficult given water conditions, weather, and the potential to ram into unintended targets. The first-person view that faces forward of many drone boats, such as the drone used in the the Olenegorsky Gornyak ship, can also limit the operator's ability to see their surroundings and potential threats. The first-person view camera of a Ukrainian drone boat. United 24/Ukrainian government If Ukraine must launch more waterborne drones to overwhelm potential Russian defenses, then the drone boats which are hailed as cheap-but-effective assets that can take on warships and key bridges become costlier, and coordinating attacks become more complicated. The most recent attacks, for instance, have showed that the Ukrainians can sneak past Russian defenses in Crimea and hit ships in the Black Sea with just a few drones unseen. If larger USV groups are needed to overwhelm anti-drone defenses, it's more likely they'll be detected. But while Ukraine's use of the drone boats may change based on whether Russia can adequately field an effective defense, the successful use of the vessels thus far is another example of how Russia's vast military power has underestimated Ukraine. Read the original article on Business Insider Right-wing cable outlet Newsmax aired an election disclaimer immediately following its prerecorded interview with former President Donald Trump, in which the three-time-indictee repeated his unfounded claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. In the sit-down with host Eric Bolling, Trump complained about his latest indictment over efforts to subvert 2020 election results and his potential upcoming charges in Georgia for meddling in the state's election. "I believe I won that election by many many votes," the current GOP frontrunner told Bolling. But once the interview came to an end, the conservative anchor cut to a brief disclaimer: "Alright, folks. Now, just a note. Newsmax has accepted the election results as legal and final," he announced before transitioning to the next segment. Newsmax is currently facing defamation lawsuits from voting software technology companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic for airing false claims about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election in line with Trump's allegations that it was "rigged." Last month, according to Rolling Stone, Smartmatic subpoenaed Newsmax employees for their personal communications and work, and in a court filing last week, Dominion requested all relevant correspondence between the channel's staffers and Trump administration officials in the wake of the 2020 election. Fox News, which faced a similar suit from Dominion and faces another suit with Smartmatic, settled with the former for $787.5 million earlier this year. NewsMax Host Eric Bolling issues a disclaimer after he finishes his interview with Donald Trump: "Now just a note, Newsmax has accepted the election results as legal and final." pic.twitter.com/LPpYue8D3g Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) August 10, 2023 Claim: A photo authentically shows a priest pointing a water gun at a baby and its family. Rating: Rating: True In August 2023, a photo resurfaced on Twitter that purportedly showed a priest pointing a water gun at a baby. "Drop the wildest Covid-related pic or video you've come across!" a Twitter post said on Aug. 8, 2023. "I'll start with this gem from my collection." Attached to the tweet was a picture that appeared to show a priest wearing a mask holding a water gun pointed at a baby and their family. Drop the wildest Covid-related pic or video you've come across! I'll start with this gem from my collection pic.twitter.com/Clc80z3uGX Dr. Simon Goddek (@goddeketal) August 9, 2023 We found posts on other social media platforms about the claim, including a Facebook post from May 2020, a YouTube video from May 2020, and a Reddit post from February 2021. The photo was real. We traced the photo to Saint Mark Catholic Church in Manchester, Tennessee, based on a Facebook post from that church and news articles mentioning it. We contacted the church, and it confirmed the photo authentic, though said it was taken at its "sister church": Saint Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Tullahoma. Considering those facts, we rated the claim "True." The Catholic News Agency reported the priest in the photo was Rev. Stephen Klasek. He served both Tennessee parishes: Saint Mark Catholic Church and Saint Paul the Apostle Catholic Church. We found the picture in the below-displayed post from May 2020 on Saint Mark's Facebook page. The caption attached to the post said: Saint Mark's Facebook page is posting this to clarify the photo that has gone viral as we have been receiving inquiries about it. It has garnered almost a million views in Twitter, has been in the news in several websites and memes. It had good and controversial comments. This is what Fr. Steve said about this: 1) The family had requested for him to do this pose as copied from several posts of priests circulating around the internet. He agreed because he thought it was funny. 2) The water in the water gun is not holy water and was squirted towards the dad and not the baby for humor impact. Bottom line, it was meant to be for fun. When we reached out to Saint Mark about the photo, it said: That photo was taken from our sister church at St. Paul's. We have the same priest. We posted it [in 2020] to clarify that the watergun was not used to baptize. The parents asked our priest to pose with it for fun. They took the picture, posted it in social media, and somehow it got reposted by another person and was mislabeled and misinterpreted by many. As the Facebook post by Saint Mark said, similar photos had gone viral at the time. For example, Buzzfeed News reported in May 2020 that a Detroit priest had squirted holy water at churchgoers during a socially distanced service. Sources: CNA. "Catholic Priest Says Squirt Gun 'baptism' Photo Meant to Be 'Funny.'" Catholic News Agency, https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/44638/priest-says-water-gun-baptism-photo-meant-to-be-funny. Accessed 10 Aug. 2023. Log in or Sign up to View. https://www.facebook.com/login/. Accessed 10 Aug. 2023. Niland, Olivia. "This Priest Squirted Holy Water At Churchgoers At A Socially Distanced Service And He's Now A Meme." BuzzFeed News, 16 May 2020, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/olivianiland/priest-water-gun-meme-coronavirus. Updates: Aug. 11, 2023: This fact check was updated to include a statement from Saint Mark Catholic Church. It was also corrected to say the photo was taken in Saint Paul the Apostle Catholic Church. Battiste-Kosoko died on July 12 at the Atlanta City Detention Center, said the Fulton County Sheriffs Office, which stated she was found in her cell by herself with no obvious signs of injury. The family of a 19-year-old Black woman who died in an Atlanta jail last month demands justice and accountability. Noni Battiste-Kosoko passed away at the Atlanta City Detention Center, said the Fulton County Sheriffs Office, which stated that she was found unresponsive July 11 in her cell by herself with no obvious signs of injury, 11Alive News reported. Prior to a Thursday press conference, Shashu Battiste said in a news release that her only child was arrested for a misdemeanor and died in jail. And, we want answers! Noni Battiste-Kosoko, 19, (above) died July 11 in the Atlanta City Detention Center. Her family is demanding answers. (Photo credit: Screenshot/YouTube.com/11Alive News) The sheriffs office initially stated that Battiste-Kosoko was held in the detention center following her May arrest for a minor bench warrant. She reportedly had a $2,000 bond, but it was on hold because of unspecified charges in Miami-Dade County, Florida. While authorities have not disclosed the circumstances surrounding her arrest by the Union City authorities on May 20, Fulton County jail records indicate that Battiste-Kosoko was booked on failure to appear and a fugitive from justice for a finger-printable charge. The website listed her release date as July 11 the same day the sheriffs office said she was found unresponsive during dinner rounds. At the time of Battiste-Kosokos death, the sheriffs office said the Fulton County Medical Examiners Office would conduct an autopsy, and the Atlanta Police Department would investigate the death. According to Fox 5 News Atlanta, the county medical examiner has finished the autopsy, but it is still unclear how Battiste-Kosoko died. Battiste said she is devastated at losing her only child, who spent the last eight weeks of her life incarcerated due to missing her final hearing on trespassing and vandalism charges. The grieving mother said she is attempting to keep her attention on her daughters positive contributions to the world as she waits for responses. She expressed various emotions, the strongest of which was appreciation for Nonis existence. I feel really blessed to have had her, said Battiste, Fox 5 reported. She was so talented, and I really want to stress that. She just had so much that she wanted to do. One of Battiste-Kosokos cellmates claimed last week that she was battling with voices in her head and was being overlooked. A family representative confirmed the young womans mental health struggles. According to 11Alive, the Atlanta Police Department no longer uses the city detention center as a primary holding location, but last year the city and the Fulton County Sheriffs Office signed a contract allowing the sheriffs office to transfer inmates from the overcrowded county jail. Battiste-Kosokos family has reportedly hired the Edmond & Lindsay LLP firm to represent them. We are committed to finding out the truth behind Nonis death, said Dr. Roderick Edmond, a lawyer and family friend. If there was any foul play, we will hold all involved accountable. The legal team stated they would provide Fulton County with the necessary ante litem notice, putting them on notice that a lawsuit may be filed because of Nonis death, 11Alive reported. TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today! The post Family of Noni Battiste-Kosoko, who died in jail last month, demands justice appeared first on TheGrio. This story contains sensitive material about childbirth that may be triggering. A family says a Georgia doctor used too much force and decapitated a womans baby after it became stuck during delivery, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Plaintiff 20-year-old Jessica Ross is suing Dr. Tracey St. Julian and Southern Regional Medical Center, a hospital in Riverdale, Georgia, where she went into labor with her first child on July 9, the medical malpractice lawsuit filed in State Court in Clayton County shows. Riverdale is suburb south of HartsfieldJackson Atlanta International Airport and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. The suit also names Taylor Treveon Isaiah, the child's father, as a plaintiff and names Premier Women's OBGYN LLC and two unidentified individuals Jane Doe and John Doe, as defendants. Attorney Cory Lynch, left, joined by Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Sr., Jessica Ross, speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Atlanta, announcing a lawsuit against a doctor and Southern Regional Medical Center, a hospital south of Atlanta where Ross went on July 9 to have her son. A doctor used too much force and decapitated Ross's baby during delivery according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday, the attorneys said. Lawsuit alleges gross negligence during delivery According to the suit, which alleges gross negligence, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress, the baby got stuck during delivery, but St. Julian slowed a surgical procedure and failed to seek help quickly. The family alleges the doctor applied ridiculously excessive force on the babys head and neck to try to deliver it, attorney Roderick Edmond, who represents the family and is also a physician, said. According to the suit, nearly three hours passed before St. Julian performed a cesarean section on Ross. By then, a fetal monitor showed the baby's heartbeat had stopped. Edmond, a nationwide medical malpractice lawyer based in Atlanta, said the cesarean section removed the baby's legs and body, but the head was delivered vaginally. When they wrapped the baby up tightly, they propped the babys head on top of the blanket to make it appear like the head was attached when it wasnt, Edmond told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday. Suit filed in pregnant woman's arrest: Lawsuit filed after facial recognition tech causes wrongful arrest of pregnant woman Couple was denied C-section: Lawsuit The couple, Edmond said, asked for a C-section earlier, at a time when the child could have lived, but were denied. They were so excited about the birth of their first child," Cory Lynch, another couple who represents the parents, said at the press conference. Lynch said ultimately, the parents "dreams and hopes turned into a nightmare" covered up by Southern Regional Medical Center. The suit seeks unspecified punitive damages. White supremacy lawsuit: Boston lawsuit against Patriot Front highlights white supremacist group's rising legal tests Hospital 'denies the allegations' Southern Regional Medical Center Spokesperson Kimberly Golden-Benner told USA TODAY the hospital could not comment on pending litigation but "denies the allegations" against it. "Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the family and all those impacted by this tragic event," the hospital released in a statement. "Our prayers also remain with the dedicated team of physicians, nurses and staff at Southern Regional Medical Center who cared for this patient." The statement goes onto read St. Julian "is not and never has been an employee of the hospital, and the hospital has taken appropriate steps in response to this unfortunate situation." The hospital declined to elaborate on those steps, Golden-Benner told USA TODAY. Our commitment is to provide compassionate, quality care to every single patient, and this loss is heartbreaking, the statement reads. An email message sent to St. Julian's office was not immediately returned and a call the office went unanswered. It was not immediately known whether she had an attorney. According to its website, St. Julian is part of a health care group called Premier Women's OBGYN with two locations offering circumcisions, infertility treatment and other services in addition to low- and high-risk obstetric care. St. Julian is a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist who has been practicing in the Atlanta area since January 2005, the website says. Clayton County Police Department posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as twitter, the department is investigating the child's death. "We are in the preliminary phase of an active and ongoing investigation at this time," the department wrote. "We will not able to provide additional details at this time due to the nature of the open investigation." Contributing: Associated Press Natalie Neysa Alund covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @nataliealund. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Baby decapitated by Georgia doctor during delivery, lawsuit alleges Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Wednesday told colleagues to ignore the false and derogatory information Donald Trump is spreading about her in a new ad. The former president has ramped up his attacks on the Georgia prosecutor as she reportedly prepares to present a case against him to a grand jury next week. Willis said she was notified of an ad buy in the Atlanta market, which will be aired in the state over the course of five days, featuring lies, including that she hid her relationship with a gang member. But Willis told her staff they should feel no need to defend her. Many of you are quite kind to me, very protective, and will become very defensive if someone attempts to attack me, the office or your colleagues, she wrote in an email that was published by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. You may not comment in any way on the ad or any of the negativity that may be expressed against me, your colleagues, this office in coming days, weeks or months. She continued: We have no personal feelings against those we investigate or prosecute and we should not express any. This is business, it will never be personal. The ad titled The Fraud Squad has also been posted on Trumps YouTube channel. Besides Willis, it attacks President Joe Biden and three other prosecutors with cases against the former president: Alvin Bragg, Letitia James and Jack Smith. In the ad, Willis is referred to as Bidens newest lackey. The video calls the Fulton County DA so corrupt and claims, without evidence, that she had an affair with a gang member. The video cites a Rolling Stone article. However, that piece based on an interview with YSL Mondo, who Willis represented as a client in an aggravated assault case when she held her own private practice doesnt mention a romantic relationship between the two. According to the report, Mondo created the Young Slime Life music crew with Young Thug, who Willis prosecuted along with 27 other members of the Young Slime Life criminal gang for gang-related charges and violations of Georgias criminal racketeering law. Mondo told Rolling Stone that Willis as a prosecutor was a different person from when she represented him as his attorney, saying the two at the time had auntie-to-nephew, mother-to-son type of talks. The new attack ad comes as reports suggest that Willis is set to make her case about Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 election to a Georgia grand jury over the course of two days next week. She is expected to seek over 12 indictments, according to CNN. Trump has decried the probe as a witch hunt, and called Willis, who is Black, a young racist in Atlanta during a New Hampshire campaign event on Tuesday. Shes got a lot of problems, Trump told the audience. But she wants to indict me to try to run for some other office. Willis has been the target of racist emails and voicemails over the course of her investigation into Trump. Trump has already been indicted three times: in Manhattan over his role in a hush money payment scheme in a case led by District Attorney Bragg, and then in two separate federal cases overseen by special counsel Smith over his alleged mishandling of classified documents and his efforts to undo Bidens 2020 election win. James, the New York attorney general, has sued Trump, his business and three of his children, accusing them of tax fraud. The case is set to go on trial in October. Related... Fans of Indian superstar Rajinikanth, cheer at a cinema hall as they celebrate the screening of his latest film "Jailer" in Mumbai, India, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) MUMBAI, India (AP) Fans of an Indian movie star with a cult following thronged movie theaters and celebrated with dancing and prayers as his latest film hit screens on Thursday. Hundreds of avid supporters of Rajinikanth, one of Indias biggest movie superstars, carried photo cutouts and flower garlands as they made their way to a theater in Mumbai to watch his latest film "Jailer. The first screening began at 6 a.m. local time. When Rajinikanth appeared on screen, the theater stopped the movie for a minute as fans danced and cheered, rejoicing in his return after a period of two years. Popular movie stars are treated like gods in India, often worshipped like deities by their fans. Rajinikanth is one of Asias highest-paid actors, known for his superhero stunts. He enjoys a devoted fan base that cuts across generations and even continents. His films have broken box-office records in India and in countries like Malaysia and the United Kingdom, both of which have large Tamil-speaking populations. Born Shivaji Rao Gaekwad, the actor today uses only one name. He once worked as a bus conductor for three years before attending acting school. He started in small roles as villains in Tamil cinema and worked his way up, before landing roles in Bollywood, the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai. Some offices in the southern cities of Chennai and Bengaluru declared Thursday a holiday so his fans could watch the movie. "Scientists say that time machines are not possible, but Rajinikanth has the power to take us back to childhood, said one fan named Arun, who watched the movie on opening day in Mumbai. In Jailer, Rajinikanth plays a prison warden who learns that a criminal gang is trying to rescue its leader from the prison, and he sets out to stop them. Rajinikanth, 72, has acted in more than 160 movies spanning more than five decades in several Indian languages, including Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and Malayalam. Fans outraged as lawmakers try to recall BTS members from their military service to perform at jamboree K-pop concert BTS fans are criticising South Korean politicians for trying to recall BTS members serving in the military to perform at the World Scout Jamborees K-pop Super Live concert in Seoul on 11 August. In South Korea, all able-bodied men aged 18 to 28 are required by law to complete 18-21 months of military service under a conscription system meant to deter aggression from rival North Korea. The law gives special exemptions to athletes, classical and traditional musicians, and ballet and other dancers if they have obtained top prizes in certain competitions and are assessed to have enhanced national prestige. K-pop stars and other entertainers, though, arent subject to such privileges. In 2022, BTSs label announced that the band is taking a long break to give a chance to all members to follow their solo careers and serve their compulsory military service. In April this year, BTSs J-Hope entered a South Korean boot camp to start his 18-month compulsory military service. Before him, Jin, 30 and the oldest member of BTS, became the bands first member to enter the army after revoking his request to delay his conscription. This week, Suga also joined went on his compulsory military service. On Wednesday (9 August), Sung Il-jong of the ruling People Power Party requested that the Ministry of National Defence send all BTS members serving in the military to the World Scout Jamborees concert. A ruling People Power Party member is asking the ministry of national defense on Facebook to make a BTS concert happen to save the much criticized World Scout Jamboree pic.twitter.com/534E6rATH2 Hyunsu Yim (@hyunsuinseoul) August 8, 2023 The World Scout Jamboree held in Saemangeum, North Jeolla province, was an event that damaged our national prestige due to its lack of preparation and poor management, Sung in a Facebook post. I urge the Ministry of National Defence to allow all members of BTS serving in the military to perform at the jamborees K-pop concert on the 11th to restore our countrys dignity. However, it has now been confirmed that BTS wont perform at the World Scout Jamboree Korea concert. Ever since the news broke out, BTS fans had criticised the lawmakers for trying to pull BTS members from their military service. They didnt adequately prepare for Jamboree. Its absurd authorities putting the responsibility on BTS to clean up their mess, one person wrote. Another person added: For Gods sake, BTS is not a cultural weapon to be deployed at wherever South Korea needs it. One person wrote: The more I read about this topic the angrier I get. Do these people involved in this think that BTS is some sort of secret weapon you can pull when you f***ed up?? Additional reporting from agencies The Sacramento region will add 162,000 jobs this decade, a growth rate of 16%, according to new projections from the California Employment Development Department. The state produces local employment projections every two years based on estimated industry growth, anticipated changes in technology and other variables. The newest figures, released earlier this summer, project employment growth for the period from 2020 to 2030. Many of the jobs projected to grow fastest in Sacramento pay at least $50,000. Several dont require a four-year college degree. Heres a look at 12 jobs the state believes will grow quickest, along with explanations for the increases based on a separate analysis from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 1) Fitness trainers and aerobics instructors Jobs in 2020: 1,830 | Jobs in 2030: 3,060 | Projected Change: 67.2% | Median Annual Pay: $52,194 | Entry Level Education: High School Diploma Why it is growing: Companies increasingly provide incentives to employees to stay in shape. Doctors increasingly encourage patients to stay active or lose weight. Participation in yoga and Pilates continues to grow as baby boomers look for low-impact ways to stay in shape. 2) Nurse practitioners Jobs in 2020: 900 | Jobs in 2030: 1,480 | Projected Change: 64.4% | Median Annual Pay: $163,573 | Entry Level Education: Masters Degree Why it is growing: The population is aging, creating unprecedented demand for health care services. Nurse Practitioners can serve as primary care providers. The states nursing agency recently passed a regulation allowing nurse practitioners to practice without physician supervision. 3) Interpreters and translators Jobs in 2020: 790 | Jobs in 2030: 1,210 | Projected Change: 53.2% | Median Annual Pay: $86,764 | Entry Level Education: Bachelors Degree Why it is growing: Companies increasingly do business across the globe and rely on global supply chains. California is becoming more diverse every year, partly due to international immigration. American Sign Language interpreters are in demand as well-attended online video calls become a regular part of doing business. While translation software is prevalent and improving, it still cant do work at the quality of human translators. 4) Information security analysts Jobs in 2020: 530 | Jobs in 2030: 800 | Projected Change: 50.9% | Median Annual Pay: $108,748 | Entry Level Education: Bachelors Degree Why it is growing: Cyberattacks have become more common, ranging from sophisticated attempts to breach networks to simple but ubiquitous phishing emails. In addition, sensitive information like personal health data is increasingly stored digitally. These analysts help companies and organizations bulletproof against hackers. 5) Logisticians Jobs in 2020: 850 | Jobs in 2030: 1,250 | Projected Change: 47.1% | Median Annual Pay: $82,209 | Entry Level Education: Bachelors Degree Why it is growing: Logisticians develop and maintain a companys supply chain. E-commerce is growing. Every day, tens of thousands of packages are routed through Sacramento warehouses and delivered to addresses across the region. Getting those goods where they need to be requires complex planning. 6) Computer and information research scientists Jobs in 2020: 150 | Jobs in 2030: 220 | Projected Change: 46.7% | Median Annual Pay: $154,259 | Entry Level Education: Masters Degree Why it is growing: These scientists are the driving force behind much innovation in computing. They will be called upon even more in coming years to make computer networks more efficient, to figure out better ways to mine huge data sets and to help outsmart hackers. 7) Physical therapy assistants Jobs in 2020: 380 | Jobs in 2030: 550 | Projected Change: 44.7% | Median Annual Pay: $81,958 | Entry Level Education: Associates Degree Why it is growing: Baby boomers are getting older. They are increasingly suffering health- and mobility-related conditions that require physical therapy. Medical technology is making it possible to better recover from a variety of injuries and ailments with the help of physical therapy. Physical therapy practices will place more reliance on assistants to keep costs low. 8) Veterinarians Jobs in 2020: 660 | Jobs in 2030: 950 | Projected Change: 43.9% | Median Annual Pay: $127,541 | Entry Level Education: Doctorate Why it is growing: Many people acquired new pets during the pandemic. This created increased demand for veterinary services and long wait times to get an appointment. There is a nationwide veterinary shortage. (Despite demand, the analysis does not make clear how Sacramento will get 300 new vets. In a state of 40 million people, California has two accredited veterinary schools that cumulatively graduate fewer than 300 veterinarians each year.) 9) Aircraft mechanics Jobs in 2020: 420 | Jobs in 2030: 600 | Projected Change: 42.9% | Median Annual Pay: $79,985 | Entry Level Education: Some college Why it is growing: Sacramento International Airport saw record traffic in 2022. It is undertaking a $1.3 billion expansion project. More air traffic creates more demand for mechanics. 10) Occupational therapy assistants Jobs in 2020: 140 | Jobs in 2030: 200 | Projected Change: 42.9% | Median Annual Pay: $82,289 | Entry Level Education: Associates Degree Why it is growing: For many of the same reasons, demand for physical therapy aides is increasing: An older population needs help to continue performing activities of daily living. 11) Physician assistants Jobs in 2020: 600 | Jobs in 2030: 850 | Projected Change: 41.7% | Median Annual Pay: $169,820 | Entry Level Education: Masters Degree Why it is growing: For many of the same reasons, demand for nurse practitioners is increasing: Physician Assistants can serve as primary care providers, and there is an increased need for primary care as the population ages. 12) Chefs and head cooks Jobs in 2020: 1,010 | Jobs in 2030: 1,430 | Projected Change: 41.6% | Median Annual Pay: $51,117 | Entry Level Education: High School Diploma Why it is growing: The pandemic hit the Sacramento restaurant industry hard, causing many places to close. It is rapidly rebuilding, which requires more chefs. FBI fatally shoots man in Utah who allegedly threatened Biden, Alvin Bragg and others The FBI on Wednesday shot and killed a Utah man who allegedly made online threats to kill President Joe Biden and New York prosecutor Alvin Bragg while serving a warrant at his Provo home, officials said. The suspect was identified in charging documents obtained by NBC News as Craig Deleeuw Robertson. Robertson allegedly made a threat Monday that referenced the presidents trip to Utah this week, saying he needed to prepare his camouflage and sniper rifle. In an alleged threat to Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney whose office is prosecuting former President Donald Trump, Robertson called him a political hack and plotted to assassinate him in a parking garage, the charging documents said. Robertson mentioned many other politicians, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to the documents. He had intent to kill, at a minimum, D.A. Bragg and President Joe Biden, according to the charging documents. A senior administration official told NBC News that Biden was briefed on the FBI raid Wednesday morning, ahead of scheduled events in New Mexico. The White House referred all questions to the Justice Department. Biden was scheduled to be in Utah on Wednesday evening ahead of a public event on Thursday in Salt Lake City about veterans health care. The incident unfolded at 6:15 a.m. in Provo, Utah, when special agents attempted to serve arrest and search warrants at a residence, the FBI said. The agency added the incident is under review by the FBIs Inspection Division. No agents were injured. The Secret Service is aware of the FBI investigation involving an individual in Utah who has exhibited threats towards a protectee, the agency said in a statement. While we always remain in close coordination with our law enforcement partners, this is an FBI-led effort and we would refer any related questions to the FBI, the statement said. In the felony complaint against Robertson, he is accused of interstate threats, influencing, impeding and retaliating against federal law enforcement officers by threat and threats against the president. The FBI National Threat Operations Center received a tip in March from a social media company pertaining to a user called @winston4eagles, which allegedly showed the user posting about killing Bragg. The FBIs operation center believed the person with that user name to be Robertson, according to the charging documents. On March 19, the charging documents said, two special agents with the FBI conducted surveillance at Robertsons address in Provo. He was seen wearing a dark suit (later observed as having an AR-15 style rifle lapel pin attached), a white shirt, a red tie, and a multi-colored (possibly camouflage) hat bearing the word TRUMP on the front, the charging documents said. After attending church, the special agents confronted Robertson about the comment he allegedly made on social media, the documents said. Robertson confirmed to the agents he was winston4eagles and responded that the comment was a dream. He then added, according to the charging documents, Were done here! Dont return without a warrant! The charging documents also said the FBI reviewed other comments made by Robertson on another social media platform. Robertson owns a sniper rifle and a ghille suit, has made violent threats to murder public officials and appeared to possess multiple firearms, according to the charging documents. Robertsons daughter-in-law, Julie Idlewilde Robertson, told NBC News on Wednesday that its a very, very difficult time for the family. She said authorities have spoken to her husband, and he is trying to gather more information. Hes just trying to process right now, she said. This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. This article was originally published on TODAY.com A clearer picture is emerging of the 75-year-old Utah man shot dead by the FBI after they tried to serve a search warrant hours before Joe Biden arrived in the state on a re-election campaign swing. But questions are also being asked as to whether Craig Robertson was a credible threat, as the FBI claims, or as neighbors in Provo, Utah, have described to local media as a man harboring anti-government views who walked with a cane and liked to bluster and tell big stories, especially on social media. Robertson had posted threats against the president, including asking whether Utah would become famous as the place a sniper took out Biden the Marxist. Hed also urged Utah residents to fire their guns into the air when Air Force One arrived, the Deseret News reported. Late last month Robertson posted a message: Hey FBI, you still monitoring my social media? Checking so I can be sure to have a loaded gun handy in case you drop by again. On 6 August, three days before Bidens visit, according to a 37-page federal complaint, Robertson posted: I hear Biden is coming to Utah. Digging out my old ghillie suit and cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle. The legal complaint alleged interstate threats, threats against the president, and influencing, impeding and retaliating against federal law enforcement officers by threat, Robertson represented a willful true threat to kill or cause injury to President Biden. He had also made threats against a whole host of familiar liberal politicians and officials including California governor Gavin Newsom, US attorney general Merrick Garland, Vice-President Kamala Harris and New Yorks progressive district attorney Alvin Bragg. CBS News reported it was told by law enforcement that the man had engaged FBI agents in a gunfight when they attempted to serve a warrant. A neighbor told the Deseret News that he witnessed several unmarked vehicles block the street early on Wednesday and heard agents shout: Craig Robertson, please come out with your hands up before flash grenades were heard. The neighbor, Cooper Robinson, said he then heard shouting and some yelling, I couldnt pick out what they were saying. But at some point I did hear five shots fired. Nyla Rollins, another neighbor, estimated that 50 agents were involved. They called for my neighbor to come out. And hes like, Im not coming out [expletive]. And then I didnt hear anything after that, Rollins told the News. Questions are being asked if the FBIs response was unduly harsh. The FBI just came and shot an elderly man from my ward, Travis Clark told the paper. You know, a guy whos nearly 80 years old, 300 pounds and can barely get around with a cane. Despite his anti-government rhetoric, Robertson was described as the teddy bear in the church congregation who was so immobilized that hed drive 200 yards to church. He was also known as a talented carpenter who built intricate coffee tables and rocking chairs. Despite being known as a gun collector he was not thought to carry at all times. If he carried, we never knew about it, Clark said to the Deseret News. We all knew he had guns, that he collected guns ... but I mean, its Utah. Neighbors also said hed make off-color political comments, but nothing that rose to threats of violence and political assassination. I just think he was an old kook shooting his mouth off, Clark said. There was nothing he ever did that would have made me think that he was either mentally or physically capable of doing anything. And anybody who knew him knew that. I just cant believe that this man warranted that kind of response, Clark added. Robertson had previously been visited by agents at his home where he had rejected their concern about his online comments. I said it was a dream! Robertson said, according to the federal complaint. Were done here! Dont return without a warrant! He later posted: To my friends at the Federal Bureau of Idiots: I know youre reading this and you have no idea how close your agents came to bang. He claimed the FBI tried to interfere with my free speech right in my driveway. My 45ACP was ready to smoke em!!! But that may have been bluster, implied Robinson, who said Robertson was a big storyteller who liked the attention of big stories. So a man that sits at home all day, doesnt have much to do, if hes on his phone and is involved in politics and has strong political opinions, Im not surprised that he would make posts like that to try to receive attention, Robinson told the Deseret News. Im just hoping that the FBI has some more evidence besides Facebook posts to want to raid his house like they did, he added. U.S. FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies during a hearing before House Judiciary Committee on Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, D.C., on July 12, 2023. 'MORE WIDESPREAD' - House GOP says docs conflict with FBI director on effort targeting Catholics as potential terrorists. Continue reading TOTAL DEVASTATION - Dozens dead as wildfires leave path of destruction in historic Hawaiian town. Continue reading HISTORIC MOMENT Activists say Save Womens Sports bill signing was event kids needed to see, despite vicious attacks. 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Continue reading Facebook Instagram YouTube Twitter LinkedIn Fox News First Fox News Opinion Fox News Lifestyle Fox News Entertainment (FOX411) Fox News Fox Business Fox Weather Fox Sports Tubi Fox News Go Thank you for making us your first choice in the morning! Well see you in your inbox first thing Friday. In April of this year, the FBI began an investigation to determine who was using illegal software to spy from within the United States on persons in Mexico. The software was illegal because its Israeli manufacturer, a company called NSO, had previously crafted other software for the FBI, which President Joseph Biden had put on a Department of Commerce blacklist. Stated differently, because NSO manufactured software that enabled the government to violate the Fourth Amendment, all NSO-manufactured products are prohibited from use in the U.S. Yet, somehow NSO had bypassed the federal embargo on its products and someone was using at least one of those products unlawfully. The FBI investigation determined that the user of the illegal software was: THE FBI ITSELF. Here is the backstory. During the Trump administration, the FBI paid $5 million to NSO for a license to use its zero-click surveillance software called Pegasus. Zero-click is software that can download the contents of a targets computer or mobile device without the need for tricking the target into clicking on it. The FBI operated the software from a warehouse in New Jersey leased by its customer, the American importer of the software. Before revealing any of this to the two congressional intelligence committees to which the FBI reports, it experimented with the software. The experiments apparently consisted of testing Pegasus by spying illegally and unconstitutionally, since no judicially issued search warrant had authorized the use of Pegasus on unwitting Americans by downloading their personal data from their devices. The FBI later claimed that these experiments were harmless, as it never used the downloaded data. FBI When congressional investigators learned of these experiments, the Senate Intelligence Committee summoned FBI Director Christopher Wray to testify in secret about the acquisition and use of Pegasus, and he did so in December 2021. He told the senators that the FBI only purchased Pegasus to be able to figure out how bad guys could use it. Is that even believable? In follow-up testimony in March 2022, Wray elaborated that Pegasus was used for governmental needs as part of our routine responsibilities to evaluate technologies that are out there, not just from a perspective of could they be used someday legally, but also, more important, what are the security concerns raised by those products. More FBI gibberish. Thereafter, dozens of internal FBI memos and court records caused Sen. Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to question the veracity of Wrays testimony. Wydens skepticism provoked the FBI reluctantly to reveal that it had ordered its own version of Pegasus, called Phantom, which NSO tailor-made for hacking American mobile devices. In July 2021, when Biden personally put a stop to the FBIs use of all NSO products, the congressional intelligence committees assumed that that was the end of it. Biden and his advisers concluded that NSO products were too tempting for the FBI and its intelligence community cousins, as the use of this software without a search warrant was a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. The Fourth Amendment was written to preserve the natural right to privacy and to cause law enforcement to focus on crimes, not surveillance. The instrument of these purposes is the requirement of a judicially issued search warrant before the government can engage in any surveillance. A search warrant can only be issued based on probable cause of crime demonstrated under oath to the issuing judge and a showing that the place to be searched or person or thing to be seized is more likely than not to reveal evidence of crime. As well, the warrant must specifically describe the place to be searched and things to be seized. Warrants can only be issued for investigations of actual crimes that have already occurred, not for experiments. The Fourth Amendment contains some of the most precise language in the Constitution, as it was written intentionally to thwart the rapacious appetite of governments to snoop, which the British did to the colonists using general warrants. General warrants were not based on probable cause of crime and lacked all specificity. Rather, they were based on government needs a totalitarian standard because whatever the government wants it will claim it needs - and they authorized the bearer to search wherever he wished and seize whatever he found. After The New York Times revealed the results of Freedom of Information Act requests for memos and court documents pertaining to NSO, they showed a vast determination by FBI management to offer NSO products to FBI agents and other federal law enforcement and surveillance personnel. Last week, the FBI found the importer of the illegal NSO software: its own customer who leases the New Jersey warehouse where the illegal Pegasus software is stored. And it revealed that it had used the NSO product before realizing it was illegal. Before realizing it was illegal? Who would believe that? The FBI was using software illegally imported into the U.S. by its regular customer who had been banned from importing the product. All of this leaves us with an FBI out of control and run by a director who has been credibly accused of misleading Congress while under oath a felony and whose agents have been credibly accused of computer hacking also a felony. Who knows what other liberty-assaulting widgets the FBI has in its unconstitutional toolbox about which Wyden and his investigators have yet to learn? The whole purpose of the Fourth Amendment is to protect the right to be left alone and to compel the government to focus on solving crimes, not predicting them. Todays FBI has agents who are professional computer hackers. Todays FBI has morphed from crime fighting to crime anticipating. Todays FBI is effectively a domestic spying operation nowhere authorized in the Constitution. It should be defunded and disbanded. Andrew P. Napolitano, a former New Jersey Superior Court Judge, has published nine books on the U.S. Constitution. To learn more, visit https://JudgeNap.com. Andrew P. Napolitano This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: The FBI unwittingly investigates itself An FBI agent's supervisor told him to halt an investigation into Rudy Giuliani and cut ties with any informants who reported on the corruption of former President Donald Trump's associates in August 2022, a 22-page whistleblower complaint obtained by Insider shows. The 14-year veteran of the bureau, whose tenure includes a long-term assignment to Russia-centered counterintelligence, alleged in the statement that his bosses interfered with his work in "a highly suspicious suppression of investigations and intelligence-gathering" seeking to shield "certain politically active figures and possibly also FBI agents" who were tied to Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs. Those individuals, according to the statement, explicitly included "anyone in the White House and any former or current associates of President Trump." The complaint was leaked and posted to a Substack newsletter in mid-July after being originally prepared for Senate Judiciary Committee staffers. The whistleblower, the name of whom the outlet is withholding because he is still an FBI employee and seeking protections from Congress, said he was motivated to file the complaint by a desire to improve the federal agency because of its power to hold "policymakers accountable, whether they're on the left or the right." He added, "This is a decision point. Are we going to do public corruption or not?" Though Insider has independently obtained a copy of the document and verified its authenticity, it had not corroborated all of its claims. Spokespeople for Trump and Giuliani did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment, and the FBI's national press office declined. The fear is the point. Schools in Florida have been canceling and then, in some cases, reinstating Advanced Placement psychology courses for high school students because theyve been told by the College Board, or simply believe, the classes would violate the states ban on lessons involving sexual orientation and gender identity. The worry is understandable and a bonus for a state intent on waging culture wars in schools and crushing any dissent. If you can get people to self-censor, youve pretty much won the battle. School districts in Miami-Dade and Broward counties announced Wednesday that they would be among those offering the course, although in Broward it will be require parents to opt-in. The districts decisions came after Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr., who is from Miami and once taught in the public schools here, said the class could be taught. But the fact that school districts have to publicly announce their intent to teach a class that has been around since 1993 is indicative of the problem. Under Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his lockstep Legislature, fear has seeped into schools. Teachers and school districts are rightfully worried about violating the Parental Rights in Education Act, the Dont say gay law that outlawed sexual orientation and gender identity teachings. The penalties for a violation are potential career-enders, teaching licenses suspended or revoked.. This all happened after the College Board, the New York City-based nonprofit that manages AP courses in the United States, said last week that it wouldnt recognize Floridas AP psychology course and critically wouldnt give students college credit for it because the state wanted any mention of sexual orientation and gender identity stripped out. Any course that censors required content cannot be labeled AP or Advanced Placement, the board said. Students applying for college rely on AP credits as a plus on their applications. And school is about to start next week in Miami-Dade and the following week in Broward. So now the state says its OK to teach the course, but the education world is jittery, with good reason. Can the state be trusted? In Leon County, where Tallahassee is located, Superintendent Rocky Hanna said the district would offer the class, but he is clearly wary. On Twitter, he wrote: Our teachers have some concerns but we are going to take the commissioner of educations word when he says that Advanced Placement Psychology may be taught in its entirety, Hanna said. He added that he has told the staff to respect the law and follow the law but not to fear the law. This is where we are in Florida: Instead of supporting our public school teachers, we are instilling fear and worry. Instead of celebrating their hard work, we are threatening them with license suspensions if they dare to cross the power of the mighty state. Teaching has always required courage. In Florida, it now requires a whole new brand of bravery. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) will hear comments from experts and the public about a potential rule clarification that would address the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in campaigns. The six-member commission voted unanimously to consider the amended petition, brought by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, during a Thursday meeting. The approval came after the three Republicans on the commission pushed back on advancing the petition during a first attempt by Public Citizen in June, blocking it in a deadlocked 3-3 vote. Thursdays vote does not mean the commission will be changing the rule to address AI in campaigns, but rather that it will allow the process to go forward to hear public comment. [This is] obviously a topic that is very timely and very important. I dont pretend that the FEC can solve all of the problems people are concerned about in the field of AI, but it is possible we can solve some of them as the document before us says, Democratic Commissioner Ellen Weintraub said in the meeting. Despite voting with the rest of the commission to advance the proposal, Republican Commissioner Allen Dickerson still expressed concerns about the FECs authority to address the use of AI in campaigns. How AI is changing the 2024 election Dickerson said there is nothing special about the buzzwords of generative AI and deepfakes in the petition concerning the FECs authority to regulate fraud in campaigns. The petition requests the FEC clarify that its law against fraudulent misrepresentation applies to deceptive AI campaign communications. Generative AI tools, which have been on a rapid rise over the past year, have already been used in 2024 campaign content especially in the Republican presidential primary. Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president at Public Citizen, said the FECs vote to advance the petition Thursday sets a timeline that could lead to a possible rule change in time for the 2024 election. Certainly there is enough time to put guidance in place from the FEC such that it would impact this election cycle. And without them doing so were just going to see AI ballooning, and candidates really having to undergo this accelerated level of lies and misinformation that all these deep fakes are going to bring, Gilbert said. In addition to the FEC, Gilbert said she would like to see Congress take action, as well. Among Democrats at least, there is seemingly some support to take action to regulate AI in campaigns. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.) sent a letter to the FECs general counsel last month in support of Public Citizens petition. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. A federal appeals court on Wednesday struck down a decades-old law barring users of illegal drugs from possessing firearms the latest blow to US gun regulations after the Supreme Court cleared the way last year for courts to reexamine the nations gun laws under a new legal standard. In a unanimous judgement from a three-judge panel at the New Orleans-based appeals court, the court said the 1968 law is unconstitutional, citing a landmark 2022 Supreme Court decision that changes the framework that lower courts must use when analyzing gun restrictions. In short, our history and tradition may support some limits on an intoxicated persons right to carry a weapon, but it does not justify disarming a sober citizen based exclusively on his past drug usage, Circuit Judge Jerry Smith, a Ronald Reagan appointee, wrote for the panel. Nor do more generalized traditions of disarming dangerous persons support this restriction on nonviolent drug users. The ruling means that the man who brought the challenge to the regulation, Patrick Daniels, will have his July 2022 conviction under the law thrown out. Daniels had been sentenced to nearly four years in prison and three years of probation. As applied to Daniels, then, (the federal gun law) violates the Second Amendment, Smith wrote. Daniels had been arrested in April 2022 after law enforcement officers searched his car during a stop and found marijuana butts and two loaded firearms. The officers did not administer a drug test the night of the stop, but Daniels admitted that he was a frequent user of marijuana. The judgment also means that other defendants convicted under the law within the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals jurisdiction could seek to challenge their convictions under the new ruling. The circuit covers Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. The statute examined by the 5th Circuit was one of the laws that federal prosecutors alleged Hunter Biden violated with a gun purchase in 2018. The Justice Department made the allegation as part of a proposed deal with the presidents son that also covered certain alleged tax crimes, but the agreement is now being scrutinized by a federal judge in Delaware. Biden has pleaded not guilty. The Justice Department declined to comment on the ruling. This story has been updated with additional details. CNNs Tierney Sneed contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com A federal court has blocked Biden administration rules that would have provided almost $20 billion in student loan forgiveness, primarily to students who attended colleges that defrauded them. Last July, the Education Department released new proposed rules expanding eligibility for the department's "borrower defense" forgiveness program, as well as several other smaller loan forgiveness programs. The borrower defense program offers loan forgiveness to students whose schools engaged in misconduct or misled or defrauded them. In most cases, students eligible for borrower defense attended for-profit schools. The rules were finalized last November. The rules allow students to more easily file claims against their colleges by "allowing for group claims, eliminating overly strict limits on when borrowers can file a claim, expanding the type of misconduct that can lead to an approved claim to include aggressive and deceptive recruitment practices, and ensuring borrowers receive timely decisions about their claims," according to an Education Department press release. "We are committed to fixing a broken system. If a borrower qualifies for student loan relief, it shouldn't take mountains of paperwork or a law degree to obtain it," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement last July. "These proposed regulations will protect borrowers and save them time, money, and frustration, and will hold their colleges responsible for wrongdoing." In total, the new regulationswhich included changes to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and other student loan forgiveness policieswere estimated to cost taxpayers $19.7 billion. In February, Career Colleges & Schools of Texas, an association of career-oriented, mostly for-profit colleges, filed a lawsuit challenging the rules. While the Education Department contended that the rules only work to help "streamline" claims from affected students, the complaint argued that the rules amounted to a gross overreach of government spending power that unduly punished schools. "The new processes do not further the fair and accurate adjudication of borrower defense claims. Instead, they are designed to achieve the non-statutory and impermissible objective of massive student loan forgiveness," noted the complaint. "Rather than merely facilitate or 'streamline' the resolution of borrower claims, the Department designed its Final Rule with a thumb on the scale to maximize the number and amount of loan discharges with little regard for the merits of the claims or the rights of schools." On Monday, a three-judge panel for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, granting an injunction against the rules, pending a higher court ruling. This latest development in the ongoing attempt by the Biden administration to grant large-scale student loan forgiveness shows just how difficult it will be to do that without congressional approval. So far, the Education Department has attempted to achieve loan forgiveness through rule-making procedures and all-too-generous readings of existing law. However, federal judges seem increasingly suspicious of that approachand are unwilling to let the Education Department unilaterally spend billions of taxpayer dollars on loan forgiveness schemes. The post Federal Court Blocks $20 Billion in Student Loan Forgiveness appeared first on Reason.com. The Federal Election Commission on Thursday took a small step toward regulating so-called deepfake material in political ads, agreeing to seek public comment on whether existing federal rules against fraudulent campaign advertising apply to ads that use artificial intelligence technology. But its unclear whether the six-member commission, evenly divided along party lines, will move forward with formal regulations once the two-month public comment window closes, likely in October. The unanimous vote to allow public comment comes after the commissioners had deadlocked on the issue in June. On Thursday, one Republican commission member, Allen Dickerson, reiterated his argument that the agency lacked the authority from Congress to weigh in on the matter. He said the agencys existing rules center on candidates misrepresenting themselves and do not extend to regulating false claims made by a politicians rivals. The decision to open public comment followed the left-leaning watchdog group Public Citizen filing a second petition following Junes stalemate that once again urged the commission to ban candidates and political parties from targeting their rivals with deliberately deceptive ads generated with AI. And, as CNN previously reported, dozens of Democratic lawmakers backed Public Citizens move and called on the agency to consider cracking down on deepfakes. Concerns have grown that the soaring use of powerful AI technology is outpacing efforts to regulate it on the campaign trail. It has already begun to crop up in the 2024 presidential contest. In June, for instance, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis presidential campaign released a video on social media that appeared to use images generated by artificial intelligence to depict Donald Trump, the front-runner for the GOP nomination, hugging Dr. Anthony Fauci, a bete noir of the former presidents. If we dont get ahead of this challenge, the election and peoples trust in elections will be damaged, Lisa Gilbert, Public Citizens executive vice president, told CNN this week. This is not a partisan problem. A group of Democratic lawmakers in Congress has introduced legislation to require disclaimers on political ads that use images or videos generated by AI, but the bills have not attracted Republican support so far. State lawmakers are moving to regulate the rapidly evolving technology. Roughly a dozen states have moved to target the use of nonconsensual deepfakes in pornography, said Matthew Ferraro, an attorney at WilmerHale, who is tracking the state activity. Meanwhile, laws in four states California, Minnesota, Texas and Washington state take aim at deepfakes in political ads, he said. The Minnesota and Washington state laws were enacted this year. The state legislatures are moving with alacrity, Ferraro said. Pornography was the focus when it was the most present danger, but now the growth of deepfakes targeting candidates has expanded that focus to include concerns about elections. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, shot dead on the campaign trail on Wednesday, was known as a tireless anti-corruption campaigner and investigative journalist. A 59-year-old lawmaker in the National Assembly, he had been outspoken about corruption and the violence caused by drug trafficking in the country, telling CNN En Espanol in May that Ecuador had become a narco state as he proposed to lead a fight against what he called the political mafia. These declarations, his previous work and future political promises made him many powerful enemies. Villavicencio previously said that he had received death threats from crime groups. His campaign promised a crackdown on crime and corruption amid a deadly escalation of violence that has gripped Ecuador in recent years. The Andean country, a relatively peaceful nation until a few years ago, is now plagued by a turf war between rival criminal organizations. Violence has been most pronounced on Ecuadors Pacific coast as criminal groups battle to control and distribute narcotics, primarily cocaine. Today Ecuador is controlled by Jalisco Nueva Generacion, the Sinaloa Cartel both from Mexico as well as the Albanian mafia, Villavicencio said in an interview with CNN en Espanol in May. A tireless fighter However, Villavicencio has long been known for his anti-corruption efforts. Aged just 18 he started a newspaper called Prensa Obrera (Workers Press), and he went on to work for the EP Petroecuador state oil company. Later, he would uncover corruption scandals in Ecuadors booming oil industry, and also pushed for an investigation into an incident in which the army killed at least five people while freeing then President Rafael Correa from a hostage situation in 2010. Correa filed a defamation lawsuit against Villavicencio, and he was later convicted to 18 months in prison as a result. Villavicencio was shot as he left this campaign event on Wednesday. - API/AP Villavicencio went on the run to avoid detention, and gave an interview to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in 2014. The president wants me to get down on my knees and apologize, he told the CPJ. But I will never do that. Villavicencio later claimed asylum in Peru citing political persecution from the Correa government, according to Peruvian state broadcaster TV Peru. On Wednesday, Movimiento Construye, the political coalition that Villavicencio was running for, issued a statement praising him as a tireless fighter on Facebook. Fernando Villavicencio bravely took on organized crime and he wasnt afraid to criticize its links with politics, reads the statement. Villaviciencio was born in Alausi, central Ecuador, on October 11, 1963. He has authored a number of books investigating corruption in Ecuador, as well as building media outlets such as LaFuente.ec, MilHojas.is and periodismodeinvestigacion.com. His political career began in 2009, when he worked as an adviser to lawmaker Clever Jimenez. In 2021 he was elected to the national assembly himself, serving until May this year, when the assembly was dissolved ahead of elections that are still scheduled to take place on August 20. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was assasinated on the campaign trail, stood at the forefront of Ecuador's anti-corruption struggle (ERNESTO BENAVIDES) Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio stood at the forefront of Ecuador's anti-corruption struggle, denouncing irregularities in public contracts just days before being assassinated in the middle of the election campaign. A journalist by profession, one of Villavicencio's investigations exposed a vast graft network involving former president Rafael Correa. Alongside colleague and friend Christian Zurita, he brought the former head of state and his government officials to justice for receiving bribes from businessmen. Villavicencio nicknamed Correa "the fugitive" after the former president, who lives in Belgium, was sentenced in absentia to eight years in jail. But his hard-hitting work meant Villavicencio also regularly fell foul of the courts. Villavicencio fled to the Amazon rainforest after he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for insulting Correa in 2014, a verdict that drew condemnation from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Two years later, a judge ordered his incarceration for revealing secret information obtained by hacking into Correa administration e-mails in a bid to expose corruption in the oil sector. On that occasion, he took refuge in Lima, Peru, until his return in 2017. Villavicencio twice reported threats against himself and his team in the week before his death. He was under police protection when he was assassinated while leaving an election rally in northern Quito. "Despite the new threats, we will continue to fight for the brave people of our #Ecuador", he wrote at the time on Twitter, which has been rebranded as X. The 59-year-old was in second position in the latest Cedatos presidential polls with around 13% of the vote, behind Luisa Gonzalez (26.6%), a close associate of Correa. The centrist candidate was running in his first presidential race alongside eight others preparing for the first round of the election on August 20, triggered by the dissolution of the Assembly in May by President Guillermo Lasso. - Oilman turned crusader - Villavicencio had pledged to build a maximum-security prison in the Amazon. "My government will use a firm hand against violence, but we will mainly tackle unemployment," he told reporters. A native of the Andean town of Alausi, in the southern province of Chimborazo, he launched his crusade against corruption in the oil industry after working for the national company Petroecuador. His role was to scrutinize the sector's impact studies but he said his "work was against the oil industry". "What I was doing was investigating and recording the impacts of the oil industry," he said. He then devoted himself to journalism and uncovering corruption in the industry and in government. Nicknamed "Don Villa" by his supporters, Villavicencio managed to win a seat as a deputy in the Assembly and the post of chairman of the Tax Commission. From there he was able to push Lasso, who was threatened with impeachment by parliament for alleged corruption, into a corner. Villavicencio's final anti-corruption offensive was directed against former vice-president Jorge Glas, one of Correa's ministers, and Petroecuador, for alleged illegal contracts enabling the awarding of 21 oil wells to foreign companies. pld/atm/ssy/pbt A fire broke out at a gasoline production unit of the Mozyr oil refinery in southeastern Belarus on Aug. 10, the country's emergency ministry reported. First responders put out the fire, and the incident is being investigated, the ministry wrote. No casualties were reported. Earlier, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said it had gathered intelligence indicating that Russia was preparing a large-scale false flag operation at the refinery. Under the alleged plan, a Russian sabotage-reconnaissance group would carry out a "provocation" at the refinery, the SBU wrote on Aug. 4. Moscow would then blame the attack on Kyiv in an attempt to drive Belarus into the war against Ukraine. The sabotage group reportedly comprises Russia's military personnel and employees of special services who were sent to Belarus under the guise of Wagner mercenaries. Read also: Belarus Weekly: Helicopters violate Polish airspace; Wagner moves closer to border The Mozyr oil refinery is located in the Belarusian city of Mazyr, some 50 kilometers from the Ukrainian border and over 150 kilometers from Russia's border. After the Wagner Group's failed rebellion against the Russian military leadership, thousands of Wagner troops and heavy equipment were relocated to Belarus from Russia. Minsk has claimed that the mercenaries are training the Belarusian military. Belarus has been one of Russia's greatest allies and supporters since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022, having supplied Russia with over 130,000 tons of ammunition over the past year. Russia has also used Belarus as a strategic launching point for invading Ukraine. Most recently, Moscow claimed to have deployed tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. Read also: George E. Bogden: Russian bombs in Belarus bear political significance Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Firefighters have responded to a grass fire that sparked Wednesday near a rural Northern California cemetery. The Cemetery Fire, named for its proximity to the Gridley-Biggs Cemetery, ignited just after 2 p.m. and quickly charred 25 acres within the first 30 minutes. The fire grew to 50 acres as of 4:30 p.m., according to officials, and is now fully contained. Now that the smoke has cleared and we can get better eyes on the fire, the size is estimated at 50 acres, Cal Fire said in an updated media post. Crews will continue working to mop up hot spots inside the perimeter for the next couple hours. No structures were threatened, according to Cal Fire officials. The fire jumped the Deniz Bros. Lane near Highway 99 within 20 minutes of starting and spread at a moderate rate. Additional fire engines were requested an hour after the fires start. #CemeteryFire [update] Estimated 25 acres. Crews are conducting a burn operation to remove fuel so it wont burn again later. pic.twitter.com/c3dR1E4WaL CAL FIRE Butte Unit/Butte County Fire Department (@CALFIRE_ButteCo) August 9, 2023 The fire on Dzharylgach Island in Kherson Oblast has been raging for almost a week, destroying the entire protected area of the natural park, which covers more than 1,500 hectares. Source: Iryna Sabashenko, Director of Dzharylhach National Nature Park, in a commentary to Suspilne Details: According to the director of the Dzharylhach National Nature Park, the protected area, where the bulk of all steppe ecosystems on the island and the population of all rare animals that are on the island are concentrated, together with the largest number of ungulates, was destroyed by fire. Quote: "Existing plant groups that are now endangered, listed in the Green Book of Ukraine, are rare and endangered plants. This is a grouping of cladium mariscus, stipa borysthenica, stipa capillata, Bessarabian cloves, chrysopogon gryllus and others." Details: As a resident of one of the settlements in the temporarily occupied left bank of Kherson Oblast told Suspilne, a fire on the island was visible from the coast of Dzharylhach Bay, ten kilometres from it. Smoke has been observed for several days. The restoration of steppe, meadow, salt marshes requires an average of four to five to eight to twelve years, says the director of the national park. Tamarix needs around 15 to 30 years [to restore - ed.]. Quote: "We calculate the losses, but they have already reached billions of hryvnias. The fire is still ongoing, so we do not have accurate data." Background: In early August, a fire broke out in the Dzharylhach National Natural Park; the most valuable steppe site on Dzharylhach Island caught fire. The Russian military covered the isthmus between the island of Dzharylhach and the occupied part of Kherson Oblast with sand for military purposes. This threatens the ecosystem of the island and its waters. There, the Russian army equipped a military training ground. Read more: Dzharylhach in chains: Russia's bid to destroy the nature reserve's unique ecosystem Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! Asian Lives for Black Lives! Black Lives for Asian Lives! Black Asian Power! Black Asian Freedom! Business owners waved from doors and drivers honked from their cars as marchers Black, Asian and multiracial filled the historically Black neighborhood of Oak Park with their voices Saturday afternoon. Over 120 people attended Sacramentos first Blasian March, a solidarity-building event that began in New York City in 2020 and has also been held in Los Angeles and Chicago. With a book fair and speaker panel following the march, organizers pushed Black and Asian American community members at the event to confront barriers between the communities and ultimately recognize shared experiences to unite around. The march also commemorated Darell Richards, a 19-year-old Black and Hmong Sacramentan shot and killed by Sacramento Police Department officers in 2018 while he was suffering a mental health episode. A federal police misconduct lawsuit filed by Richards family ended with a deadlocked jury last November. Oak Park-based Black and Filipina artist Shawntay Gorman led the creation of a large mural portrait of Richards that was unveiled prior to the march, and marchers held signs with photos of Richards. Khoua Christine Vang, center, talks about the mural of her late son, Darrell Richards, alongside lead artist Shawntay Gorman before Sacramentos first Blasian March on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023, in Oak Park. Richards, a Black and Hmong man, was killed by Sacramento police in 2018. Founded by dancer and writer Rohan Zhou-Lee, who is Black and Filipinx and prefers the gender-neutral term, the Blasian March came to Sacramento after local Asian American organizers met Zhou-Lee at a conference in February. Programming before and after the march was held at the office of All City Homes, a Black- and Asian-owned real estate agency. Overcoming historical tensions to build solidarity Activists from each community initially signaled their support for each other as anti-Asian hate and anti-Black police violence caught widespread attention in 2020. Long-term solidarity often struggled to materialize, however. Some Asian American activists embraced increased policing as a response to anti-Asian hate, for example, clashing with Black activists pushing to reduce policing to invest in community-based safety efforts. Speakers at the event said that building solidarity required recognition both of the parallel experiences of Black and Asian American communities, and the tensions between them and the structural barriers that caused them. While Black activists spoke out vocally against the incarceration of Japanese Americans in World War II, for example, Black people also settled in neighborhoods and homes vacated by the incarcerees due to housing covenants preventing both groups from living in white neighborhoods. Though Japanese and Black activists continued trying to build solidarity, the discrimination both groups suffered pitted them against each other after the war. The 1992 Los Angeles riots resulted in disproportionate damage to businesses in Koreatown. Far from being the result of superficial prejudice, the targeting reflected Black anger that Koreans received preferential treatment compared to Black people from banks from which Black people often struggled to get loans to start their own businesses and from the police and criminal justice system, Gorman said. Tension between the communities was especially high following an incident a year prior in which a Korean store owner shot and killed a 15-year-old Black girl named Latasha Harlins, but received only probation after being convicted. The organizers of the Blasian March believed that these tensions, just like the individual forms of racial injustice each community faced, were ultimately caused by white supremacy. The conflicts could be overcome and unity found in combating discrimination if the communities worked to understand each others experiences, Zhou-Lee said. The book fair and speaker panel parts of the event were meant to encourage the learning of these experiences to bridge Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate movements, Lo said. The Asian American Liberation Networks Daisha Alexander, center, marches with Rohan Zhou-Lee, right, founder of the Blasian March in New York, during Sacramentos first Blasian March on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023, in Oak Park. The event included the march through the neighborhood, a book fair and unveiling of a mural in honor of Darrell Richards, a 19-year-old Black and Hmong man shot and killed by Sacramento Police Department officers in 2018. Exact same way they killed George Floyd: Parallel experiences of Asian Americans invisibilized While police violence against Black people has been highly visible, examples of police violence affecting Asian Americans are lesser known. In December 2020, 30-year-old Filipino Navy Veteran Angelo Quinto died after Antioch police officers knelt on his back for five minutes after responding to a mental health call from his family. Quinto died in the exact same way they killed George Floyd, Zhou-Lee said. Floyd was a Black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his back for several minutes in May 2020. Zhou-Lee also mentioned Christian Hall in the panel, a Chinese American teenager killed by Pennsylvania State Police in 2020 while his hands were up. Historical parallels exist as well: As white mobs lynched thousands of Black people across America after the Civil War, hundreds of Chinese, Indian and Filipino immigrants were killed or driven from their homes and businesses across along the West Coast in racially motivated attacks. Recognition of these shared experiences of violence would help Black and Asian American communities work together, but they are invisibilized by divisive narratives like depictions of Black people as the main perpetrators of anti-Asian crime, Zhou-Lee said. Around 75% of perpetrators of anti-Asian hate crimes are white. Solidarity is our inheritance Though the event highlighted violence towards and conflict between Black and Asian communities, its overall tone was one of hope and celebration as panelists highlighted histories of and possibilities for successful solidarity. What we dont talk about enough is the love, the care and the solidarity that got us through those horrendous moments, said panelist Bobby Roy, a Filipino activist who works for the California Department of Education. The field of Asian American studies, and even the label Asian American, were created in the Ethnic Studies and Third World Liberation Front movement of the 60s a movement that built directly on earlier organizing by Black students and the Black-led Civil Rights and Black Power movements. Within these movements there were many examples of Black and Asian community leaders building solidarity. The most well-known include Japanese American civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama, who was known for her work with Malcolm X, and Chinese American activist Grace Lee Boggs, who spent her life fighting for tenants and workers rights in Black communities in Detroit. When two white auto workers received light sentences after brutally killing Vincent Chin in 1982, blaming the Japanese auto industry for taking their jobs not knowing that Chin was Chinese American Black Southern Christian Leadership Conference leader Jesse Jackson vocally joined Asian American activists demanding justice. I want to remind you that solidarity is actually our inheritance, Roy said. This relationship between communities of color is also not new. We are not the first, were not the last. Get outside and touch people: Panelists encourage concrete community work Though sharing stories aids community building, it doesnt get anyone free, panelist and educator Jordan McGowan said. McGowan urged attendees to directly combat market-driven disparities by working to get necessary services and resources to underprivileged communities. Previously a history teacher at Rio Tierra Junior High School, McGowan is now the minister of programs at the K-8 independent Malcolm X Academy, which opened in 2022 in Oak Park. The school is run by a community organization called the Neighbor Program modeled after the Black Panther Party which also runs health and legal clinics, drawing inspiration from the Panthers community and social service initiatives. You gotta get outside and touch people, McGowan said. I heard a lot of great things (at this event), but I really hope we see action. I hope we see people really move to be like, OK, that was dope, now lets do something. Opportunities to take action were present at the event as various community organizations handed out fliers and other materials at tables around the room. Inspired by McGowan and the Black Panthers, Celine Qin founded a youth collective called the Reclamation Project when she was 13, working with other high schoolers to organize supply drives and distribute food, school supplies and other items around the city. Now 16, Qin said that meeting McGowan at the Blasian March was a full circle moment. For Sacramento Filipinix LGBTQIA+, one of the local groups that co-hosted the event, the march was one of a series of solidarity-building efforts. The organization was responsible for organizing Elk Grove Pride this year, which fell on the weekend of Juneteenth. Mindful of the opportunity to uplift Black community members, Sac Filipinx worked with Black Womxn United to bring out Black artists and small businesses to the event, and design educational programming that centered Black queer and trans people. Gorman was known for her involvement in the hip-hop scene and pop art portraits, including a portrait of Stephon Clark, a Black Sacramentan shot and killed by Sacramento police officers in his grandmothers backyard in 2018. But only in the past 10 months has she been more active in the Asian community, she said. The Blasian March was a space where external barriers between Black and Asian communities are (taken) away for a little bit, allowing members of the two communities to share their joy and pain freely and a rare opportunity for Gorman to fully embrace her identity. To see Black and Asian people come together for this event is just beautiful, she said. Its always been something that I wanted to do helping organize this, doing the mural and being part of the panel, I feel like I was able to bridge both parts of my ethnicities. I hope to continue to be able to change the visual landscape of my community through my art and be the bridge between both races. Rohan Zhou-Lee, left, embraces Asian American Liberation Networks Daisha Alexander after Sacramentos first Blasian March on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023, in Oak Park. Zhou-Lee founded the Blasian March in New York. Gillie Da King said American Airlines canceled his ticket because his flight from Madrid to the US was overbooked. Prince Williams/Mondadori Portfolio/Getty Images A passenger said American Airlines bumped him off a flight because it was overbooked. Gillie Da King said he was stuck in Madrid as American had no more flights to his airport that day. What to do if an airline bumps you from a flight and how to lessen the chances it'll happen to you. A passenger, who said he's a frequent flier and was flying first class, added that he was stranded in Europe after American Airlines overbooked his flight back to the US and gave his seat away. Gillie Da King, a rapper from Philadelphia known for being part of the now-disbanded hip-hop group Major Figgas, said in an Instagram video that he was flying with American from Madrid. But he said the airline canceled his tickets before he arrived for the flight. He didn't say in the video where he was flying to in the US. Gillie Da King said he was an AAdvantage Executive Platinum member, the highest tier on American's frequent-flyer program. Insider could not immediately confirm this. "They literally oversold the flight and gave our tickets away man," Gillie Da King said in the video posted on Wednesday, adding that he flew with the airline three times a week. "Now they're saying they ain't got a flight back until Thursday. American Airlines is this how you treat your Executive Platinum members?" he continued. "I'm confused, man." In another Instagram video, Gillie Da King could be seen speaking to a staff member at American's check-in counter. In the video's caption, he wrote that he had purchased four first-class seats on the flight. "There is no flight going. We give you one option there's a flight you can take tomorrow," the staff member could be heard telling Gillie Da King in the video, adding that American had no other flights that day. The staff member said check-in closed at 11:30 a.m., but a woman could be heard insisting that Gillie Da King and his companions were there before that time. It's unclear what time they arrived at the check-in counter. "I don't want to talk to you," the staff member could be heard telling Gillie Da King in the video. "Do not shout to me that way, or we call the police," he added. Overbooking flights is a common practice among airlines because it ensures that money is made on every seat, even if some passengers don't attend their flight. Airlines see empty seats sold to no-show passengers as lost revenue, but airlines usually avoid overbooking first-class seats as this might upset their most lucrative passengers. American's website says passengers should arrive at the airport at least three hours before their flight's departure time but advises those flying from Madrid to check in 75 minutes before departure. It's not the first time American Airlines has given away a passenger's paid seat. In May, a passenger said that American oversold her flight to Dallas-Fort Worth and that she was bumped from the flight before she was made to pay for a new ticket. American Airlines and Gillie Da King did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular office hours. Correction: August 10, 2023 An earlier version of this story referred to Gillie Da King as a first-class passenger. The story has been changed to make it clear that Insider was not able to confirm Da King's seat or frequent flier status at the time of publication. Read the original article on Insider The first day of classes at Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne were canceled Thursday due to a power outage, Brevard Public Schools officials announced on social media. >>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<< The district had staff members on campus to assist any students who needed help returning home. Crews from Florida Power & Light were on campus attempting to restore power Thursday morning. Once they determined it would take until at least early afternoon to fix the problem, the district made the decision to cancel class for the day. READ: Excessive heat warnings continue as Central Florida heads back to school FPL said they thought it would be several more hours before they could restore the power, so unfortunately, we had to cancel school for today, BPS Communications Officer Russ Bruhn said. We do expect things to be back to normal this afternoon, which would mean a normal school day tomorrow. Thursdays extracurricular activities were also canceled at Eau Gallie High School because of the outage. They have not said what may have caused it. Things ran more smoothly over at Discovery Elementary School in Palm Bay where Superintendent Dr. Mark Rendell greeted students and parents as they arrived for the first day. READ: Osceola County school year begins with new Superintendent in place Were really excited to start another chapter in our education journey, Dr. Rendell said. Parents just need to be patient today. Everybodys excited; everyone wants things to go perfect. The first days not always perfect. Dr. Rendell says the district cleared one major hurdle this summer: getting more students to class on time. We had a bus driver shortage at the end of last year and we significantly increased bus driver pay, Dr. Rendell explained. And right now, we have enough drivers in our pipeline to run every route on time. READ: Central Florida schools react to new rules on student pronouns, restrooms Rendell says theyre not necessarily expecting to get through the first day with all the routes on time because some drivers are still going through training. While they have enough bus drivers, Brevard Public Schools officials say theyre still working to fill approximately 90 instructional vacancies, which include teachers and support staff. 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. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Florida is allowing schools to offer the College Boards Advance Placement psychology course after Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. late Wednesday confirmed to superintendents that the class at the center of controversy can be taught consistent with state laws. The guidance from Floridas top education official, the second such memo in the last few days, is meant to clarify confusion set off when the College Board last week claimed the psychology course was effectively banned in the state due to its laws restricting K-12 lessons on sexual identity and gender orientation. Several school districts, however, already moved on from the class amid the uncertainty and are instead offering different psychology options when school starts as soon as Thursday for some counties. I believe I was clear in my previous letter, but I want to make sure there is no room for misinterpretation, Diaz wrote in a letter to school leaders Wednesday. It is the Department of Educations stance that the learning target Describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development, can be taught consistent with Florida law. The latest letter from Diaz could put an end to a saga prompted by Florida education officials pressing the College Board in May about whether the nonprofits courses fell in line with state rules prohibiting most lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools. The nonprofit at the time pushed back on Floridas attempt to influence lessons under the guise of parental rights law, referred to as Dont Say Gay by critics. The College Boards claims that the course was banned sent some schools scrambling to find replacements last week while others were left weighing their options with mere days before classes start. To illustrate how quickly things changed in Florida, officials schools with Palm Beach County School District announced Wednesday that local campuses will offer AP psychology just one day after apologizing for axing the course. "If there was a way we could teach this course and not have our teachers get arrested, we would do it in a second," Mike Burke, Palm Beachs school chief, said Tuesday morning at a back-to-school breakfast, as reported by the Palm Beach Post, before the district reversed course. Some school districts quickly dropped AP psychology and instead are offering Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education, or AICE, and International Baccalaureate programs. One district Pinellas ordered new AICE textbooks the same day it was announced the AP course could be disallowed. But other districts trudged forward with the AP course, even before Diaz clarified the states stance on Wednesday. Broward County, as one example, is asking parents to opt in for students to take the course. Schools in Leon County, meanwhile, are moving ahead without such a designation. I have communicated to our staff to respect the law and follow the law, but not to fear the law and do more than it requires, Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna said in a statement Tuesday. A team of lifeguards in Florida were captured on drone video over the weekend forming a human chain to rescue a boogie boarder from a rip current that was pulling him out into the ocean. Joe Osborne was on break from his job at a tattoo parlor in Flagler Beach when he decided to fly his drone over the ocean and captured the lifeguards in action. "I was actually kind of impressed," Osborne told FOX35 Orlando. "It was definitely a rehearsed thing ... with their buoys and their lines, and they use them in unison. Very impressive. I thought it was very neat." The video shows a man on a boogie board who appeared to have drifted far from shore. One lifeguard begins towing the man toward shore as three other lifeguards swim out to meet them. RESCUERS CARRY INJURED NH HIKER, 70, DOWN MOUNTAIN AFTER SEVERE WEATHER BLOCKS ARRIVAL OF BLACKHAWK HELICOPTER A lifeguard swam out to meet a boogie boarder who appeared to have drifted too far from shore in Flagler Beach, Florida, over the weekend. The three other lifeguards are seen forming a human chain with the first lifeguard and boogie boarder, helping to tow the man to safety. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP Other lifeguards swim out to meet the first lifeguard and help with the rescue. Malaina Bryant, a lieutenant with Flagler Beach Ocean Rescue, told the station that the lifeguards had to adapt their rescue strategy since the distressed boogie boarder was far from shore. The lifeguards formed a human chain and began towing the boogie boarder to safety. FLORIDA 911 CALL REVEALS SCREAMING AFTER BOY, 6, FALLS OFF ROLLER COASTER: HES BLEEDING' "That rescue is pretty far out, so they needed backup, so the backup comes out, and then they chain up by grabbing each other's buoys," Bryant said. "We all work really hard, so it shows on the video. They did awesome." The lifeguards safely rescued the boogie boarder and returned to shore. Osborne told the station that his video of the water rescue shows not only the heroics of lifeguards, but also that swimmers need to be careful of rip currents. CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "Unless you really could see it, you don't believe it, but it's strong enough," Osborne said of a rip current. "It'll pull you out." A Florida man who launched an online fundraiser soon after his husband's murder more than four months ago is now "considered a suspect," authorities said Wednesday. Timothy Smith, 59, was found dead on March 25 during a wellness check a day after he failed to show up to work, the Marion County Sheriff's Office previously said. At the time, officials said Smith was the victim of a "violent attack." Timothy Smith / Credit: Marion County Sheriff's Office Just days later, his spouse Herbert Swilley created a GoFundMe, citing the "tragic loss for everyone, family and friends." The site raised over $2,200 to cover funeral expenses and a celebration of life. But on Wednesday, the sheriff's office said that Swilley is now "considered a suspect in Timothy's murder" and Swilley's daughter is a person of interest. "Detectives spoke with Mr. Swilley at the earliest stages of the investigation and they have been trying to speak with him again, but his attorney has indicated that he will only cooperate if he is provided with immunity from prosecution for Timothy's murder," the sheriff's office wrote. "Jordan Swilley, Herbert's daughter, is considered a person of interest. She, too, gave a preliminary statement but has declined to speak to detectives further." On Wednesday, the sheriff's office said that an increased reward of up to $14,500 is now being offered for helpful information about Smith's murder. Just one day before, Swilley posted a tribute to his "very loving husband" on Facebook, marking what would have been their eighth wedding anniversary. "I know you are up there looking down on us and taking care of us," he wrote. "You will always be in my heart and thoughts." Authorities had previously not named any suspects or possible motive in the murder. At the time of his death, Smith "appeared to have suffered a violent attack" and the murder appeared to be targeted, officials said at the time. "What we have learned so far now leads us to believe that it was committed by somebody who the victim knew," Sheriff Billy Woods said. On Wednesday, the sheriff's office said that because Swilley is unwilling to speak with detectives, authorities are urging people to come forward with information in order to solve the case. "This could include information regarding Timothy's activities in the days and weeks leading up to his death, or information about Timothy and Herbert's relationship," the sheriff's office wrote. Authorities are asking anyone with information to please call Detective Daniel Pinder at (352) 368-3508 or the Marion County Sheriff's Office non-emergency number of (352) 732-9111. To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers of Marion County at (352) 368-STOP (7867) and reference 23-21 in your tip. Exclusive discounts from CBS Mornings Deals TikTok famous: Influencer Shani Tran When to use autopay and when not to Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. sent a letter to superintendents Wednesday making it clear AP Psychology can be offered in its entirety in K-12 public schools. Over the past week, Florida school districts have been switching their course offerings from AP Psychology after the College Board indicated it would not accept the class as taught in Florida, due to the states new law that bans discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in most classroom settings. Diaz told schools last week they could offer the class, but it was not clear if educators would be allowed to teach the lessons regarding sexual orientation and gender identity, which the College Board said would need to be in the curriculum for the class to count for college credit. On Wednesday, Diaz sent another letter to make it clear that no part of AP Psychology violates Florida law. As Commissioner of Education, I tasked my team with reviewing the AP Psychology framework at length. I believe I was clear in my previous letter, but I want to make sure there is no room for misinterpretation, Diaz said. It is the Department of Educations stance that the learning target, 6.P Describe how sex and gender influence socialization and other aspects of development, within Topic 6.7, can be taught consistent with Florida law, he added. The news comes as some Florida schools have already switched to other programs that offered college-level psychology courses as they were fearful AP Psychology would not be accepted. Polk County Public Schools told its community it would be offering IB Psychology, Cambridge Psychology, or a commensurate Dual Enrollment course amid the confusion. Following Diazs letter, a spokesperson told The Hill there is no change at this time to revert back to AP Psychology. The School District of Manatee County will take another look at what is best for our students and teachers after Diazs letter, a spokesperson said. Other school districts, including the one in Miami-Dade County, took the risk and never switched out of AP Psychology and will continue to offer the course. The Hill has reached out to the College Board for comment. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. The Florida state attorney who was suspended by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Wednesday accused the governor of removing her and other Democratic officials in the state as retaliation against the counties that didnt vote for him. DeSantis suspended State Attorney Monique Worrell (D) on Wednesday, alleging that her administration of justice in Floridas 9th Judicial District has been clearly and fundamentally derelict so as to constitute both neglect of duty and incompetence. Worrell pushed back on the allegations Wednesday night, accusing DeSantis of repeatedly targeting Democratic officials in Florida. The governor suspended another Democratic state attorney, Hillsborough Countys Andrew Warren, last year for neglect of duty after Warren refused to enforce bans on abortion and transgender surgeries. I believe that the governor wants to make the entire state of Florida a red state and that he wants to remove the will of any Democratic voters, Worrell said Wednesday night. And this is, I believe, retaliation for the counties where he did not win. Were seeing spiteful, petty behavior from our highest elected official in the state of Florida, she added. And he is trying to harm the constituents of Orange County, Osceola County, Hillsborough County. He is trying to harm the people who live in counties that didnt support him. Worrell also responded Wednesday night to the recent shooting of two Orlando police officers, which Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) cited as an example of her dereliction of duty. Moody pointed to Worrells decision not to file a motion for pretrial detention of the shooting suspect, who was awaiting trial in a separate case. However, the Democratic state attorney argued that pretrial detention is the result of a complicated balancing process that involves various entities. The criminal legal system is a collaboration of efforts, right. Its not just the state attorneys office, she said. Its the state attorneys office. Its law enforcement. Its the judiciary. Its the defense bar. There are multiple entities that make up the criminal legal system. None of us in this system have a crystal ball that we can determine whether or not an individual has a potential for future dangerousness, Worrell added. And because of that, we make the best decisions that we can with the information that we are given. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to a crowd at Adventure Outdoors gun store in Smyrna, Georgia. John Bazemore/ AP Photo In August 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended State Attorney Andrew Warren, alleging he picked and chose which laws to enforce. Just over a year later, on Wednesday, DeSantis suspended State Attorney Monique Worrell, citing a "neglect of duty and incompetence." In a published opinion piece, Warren claimed that DeSantis suspended Worrell because he "is desperate to rescue his presidential campaign." In an opinion piece for The Daily Beast, a Florida state attorney suspended in 2022 by presidential candidate and Gov. Ron DeSantis called him a "scared candidate who is desperate to rescue his presidential campaign." In August 2022, DeSantis suspended State Attorney Andrew Warren, alleging he was picking and choosing laws to enforce after Warren said he wouldn't pursue cases related to abortion or criminalizing gender-affirming care. On Wednesday, just over a year after Warren's suspension, DeSantis suspended State Attorney Monique Worrell, citing a "neglect of duty and incompetence." Under Florida's constitution, the governor "may suspend from office any state officer not subject to impeachment for that officer's malfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty, drunkenness, incompetence, permanent inability to perform official duties, or commission of a felony." Warren previously challenged his suspension in court, where a federal district judge ruled DeSantis violated Warren's First Amendment rights but didn't have the authority to reinstate Warren as state attorney. While DeSantis has the legal authority to suspend the state attorneys, the decision hasn't come without rampant criticism from his detractors, who allege he's disenfranchised the majority of voters who voted the state attorneys into office. In his opinion piece, Warren argued that "DeSantis doesn't believe in the rule of law," noting that in arbitrarily replacing Worrell, "DeSantis just overthrew the results of a fair and free election because he disagrees with how the elected official is doing her job." "He is denying the people of Orlando their right to have the state attorney of their choice," Warren said. "He installed the person he wants to be in office, rather than the one the voters elected." DeSantis' decision to suspend Worrell on Wednesday comes as his campaign trails behind former President Donald Trump in polling. According to an average of polls deemed "major" by FiveThirtyEight, DeSantis is 39.4 percentage points behind the 45th president just weeks before the first GOP presidential debate, which Trump likely won't attend. Read the original article on Business Insider Just let the people of Florida vote on marijuana legalization, already. A proposed constitutional amendment for recreational marijuana is under review by the Florida Supreme Court. It has already gotten enough signatures to get on the 2024 ballot. Now the court has to make sure the ballot item is written so that it addresses a single subject and is clear to voters. But the free state of Florida has jumped into the middle of this process for reasons that seem blatantly political, designed to halt an effort that might increase liberal voter turnout at the polls next year or at least suppress the voice of the people. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, in court papers, has urged the justices to reject the language as misleading, But is she trying to protect Florida voters? Or her boss, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and his run for the GOP nomination for president? She offers a grab bag of objections that are a stretch, at best. For example, she apparently thinks that if Florida gives residents the right to use marijuana for recreation, that would fool them into thinking theyll have the same permission across the country. Yes, marijuana remains illegal under federal law. But 23 states not quite half allow recreational marijuana. Voters have had plenty of time to get used to the idea that it is legal in some states and not in others. The state then adds a weirdly insulting note, saying in court papers that since most Americans cannot name a single Supreme Court justice thats according to a 2018 Newsweek poll no one should assume the average voter knows marijuana remains federally illegal. In other words, Floridians are too dumb to figure it out. Nice move, as DeSantis stumps for votes while battling that unlikable label. The other objections seem to center mostly on regulation and who stands to make money on this potential expansion of marijuana laws in Florida. Medical marijuana has been legal since 2016. Trulieve, which already operates many of the states Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers, or MMTCs, is the driving force and the money behind this latest initiative, though a political committee known as Smart & Safe Florida has its name on the petition drive. States spin The state argues that the wording of the measure is misleading because even though it suggests that entities other than licensed MMTCs would be able to jump into the recreational marijuana trade, thats not true. And the proposal would wind up increasing the Sponsors monopolistic stranglehold on the marijuana market to the detriment of Floridians. And the state also acknowledges that the Legislature has the right to authorize licensure of other facilities. Seems like thats a pretty good solution. Two other times, in 2014 and 2016, recreational marijuana measures made it onto the ballot but failed because they didnt get least 60% of the vote, the high bar rightly required for constitutional amendments. In 2021, the Florida Supreme Court rejected a recreational marijuana initiative on grounds that the ballot summary did not address the contradiction with federal law. This version seems to do so pretty clearly, saying, in part: Applies to Florida law; does not change, or immunize violations of, federal law. But the politics of this could still be the deciding factor. The court deciding whether the language passes muster is filled with DeSantis appointees; five of the seven members were chosen by the governor. That shouldnt matter and, yet, in these partisan times, it might. No federal law DeSantis, too, has said that he wouldnt legalize recreational marijuana nationally if he were to win the presidency. Though he signed into law in 2019 a measure that lifted a state ban on smokable forms of pot, he recently told a South Carolina audience to forget about any federal action to decriminalize use of the drug if hes elected: I dont think we would do that, he said. He did, however, sign into law this year a measure that means Black farmers, would finally be granted licenses to grow, process and sell medical marijuana. Thats a positive change, after years of delay. Black farmers contended that none of them met the license-eligibility criteria. Applicants were required to have operated as Florida nurseries for 30 years. The farmers also said that, for years, lending discrimination had prevented them from being able to sustain operations over three decades without interruption. We cant help but wonder if the real worries here are political. Will the justices be able to decide the issues dispassionately, without taking into account the loudly expressed displeasure of the DeSantis administration which, in court documents, called the effort by Trulieve a reckless violation of federal law? And would the issue bring out more left-leaning voters? The marijuana issue is a popular one. Medical marijuana was legalized in Florida in 2016, with a whopping 71% of the vote. In 2018, the only Democrat elected statewide was Niikki Fried, a former marijuana lobbyist who became state agriculture commissioner. She is now the head of the state Democratic Party. More than 1 million people signed the petition to put this latest recreational pot question on the ballot to allow voters not the state to decide whether marijuana should be legal for recreational use for people over 21 in Florida. We hope they get to make that decision. A portrait of former Varnamtown Mayor Judy Galloway hangs on the wall inside the Varnamtown Town Hall. At her retirement, Galloway was recognized as the longest-serving mayor of any municipality in North Carolina with 31 consecutive years of service. Residents in Varnamtown say they lost a tower in the community when former mayor Judy Galloway passed away Wednesday, August 9, 2023. Galloway served as the towns mayor from 1989 until she retired in 2019. For her service, she received The Order of the Longleaf Pine, an award granted by the governor of North Carolina to individuals who have shown extraordinary service to the state. At the time of her retirement, she was also recognized for being the longest consecutively serving mayor of any North Carolina municipality. Ada McDonald served with Galloway on Varnamtowns Board of Aldermen for more than 30 years and remembers her as a strong leader and credited her for establishing a spirit of collaboration that has helped the town acquire the facilities it has today. When we started out, we had zero, McDonald said. With Galloway at the helm, McDonald said there was always a positive atmosphere. Even when we disagreed, we could laugh and leave as friends, McDonald recalled. The town accomplished quite a bit under Galloways leadership, including acquiring the land for and building a public boat ramp and building Jesse R. Caison Park. But McDonald noted when it came to take credit for the towns accomplishments, Galloway wasnt one for recognition, instead preferring to give credit and praise to the towns aldermen. Even at our meetings, she didnt sit front and center, McDonald said. She took the corner chair. Sandi Parrish, clerk for Varnamtown, was emotional as she reflected on Galloway and her service to the community. "She was the most wonderful, kind-hearted person I've ever met," Parrish said. "It was a pleasure to work with her, and it was a pleasure to know her." Judy Galloway, longtime mayor of Varnamtown and employee of The Tax Ladies in Shallotte, died Wednesday, August 9, 2023. Many also know Galloway as one of "The Tax Ladies," where she helped clients file their taxes for more than 30 years. Jim and Sharon Muthig, the current owners of the business, said Galloway was "a great lady" and a good mentor to the new employees. "She will be missed at The Tax Ladies for her humor, her camaraderie, and her tax knowledge," Jim said. Sharon also noted she will be missed by her coworkers and customers who loved working with her. In addition to her work with the town, Galloway was also active in the community, serving as treasurer for Dixon Chapel Methodist Church for more than 40 years. She was treasurer when they didnt have computers, McDonald remembered, adding it was a position for which Galloway always refused compensation. She worked so hard in that church, McDonald said. If there was an event, she was there; if there was fundraiser, she was working. Galloways presence will be missed. She was a tower in the community, McDonald said. Varnamtown has a lost a friend. STAY CONNECTED: Keep up with the areas latest Brunswick County news by signing up for the Brunswick Today newsletter and following us on Facebook and Instagram. This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Former Varnamtown mayor Judy Galloway has died WORCESTER A former curator is suing leaders of the Worcester Art Museum, accusing its director and the head of curatorial affairs of discrimination and retaliation action in employment in violation of Massachusetts General Laws. According to a lawsuit filed July 18 in Worcester County Superior Court, Rachel Parikh, the former associate curator of the arts of Asia and the Islamic world, alleged she was mocked and ridiculed because she is a brown-skinned woman of South Asian (Indian) descent and subjected to a hostile and offensive work environment and retaliation during her employment at the museum. Parikh, who has numerous art degrees including a Ph.D. in the history of art and architecture from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, brought this action against Matthias Waschek, the museums director, and Claire Whitner, the museums director of curatorial affairs and curator of European art, as well as four officers of the Worcester Art Museum executive committee. Parikhs complaints include racism and unwelcome and offensive behavior from Waschek and his spouse during a brunch on November 2021 and a dinner on March 2022. In addition, Parikh alleges the museum refused to promote her and treated new hires more favorably. She also expressed her fear of retaliation in the suit. Parikh is the daughter of parents who immigrated to the United States from India in 1979. In January 2020, the Worcester Art Museum offered Parikh a position of assistant curator of Asian art, with a starting salary of $50,000. She was appointed to the position on Feb. 18, 2020. In January 2022, she was promoted to associate curator of the arts of Asia and the Islamic world with a salary of $63,000. Parikh resigned on Sept. 16. The lawsuit details several alleged incidents. In March 2021, Whitner, who was Parikhs direct superior, said to Parikh that Wascheck had complimented her on a recent virtual lecture the month before but, he said, she (Parikh) needs to look like a curator, according to the lawsuit. Whitner then proceeded to tell Parikh that she needed to zhuzh up, that Parikh should wear makeup, perhaps little earrings, a necklace, a ruffled blouse, and needed to look like a curator, the lawsuit states. Parikh defended herself and noted that she wore a black sweater and a silver necklace. Whitner continued to tell Parikh that she needed to wear makeup, according to the lawsuit. Whitners comments to Parikh, a person of color, suggested that she was being viewed as unkempt and primitive, the lawsuit states. There is no standard for what a curator should look like, the lawsuit continues. Telling the only curator of color at WAM that she needs to look like a curator, had both sexist and racial connotations, especially since the curatorial field is predominantly white, the lawsuit alleges. In November 2021, a few days after Parikh moved to Worcester, Waschek and his spouse met Parikh for a Welcome to Worcester gathering at a local restaurant. Questions over 'real name' During the event, the lawsuit says, Waschek asked Parikh, What is your real name? Parikh responded, It is Rachel. That is my name. Rachel is your real name? Waschek continued. Why is your name Rachel? She said, It is a personal story. According to the lawsuit, Wascheks questions were deeply personal and were tied to her parents immigration story and the racism they faced in the 1970s after moving to the United States. Furthermore, Waschek and his spouse made references to a British TV comedy series, Goodness Gracious Me!, about an Indian family in Britain, and they told her one of the skits, in which the family goes to an English restaurant and they have a hard time pronouncing the waiters Western name. Waschek and his spouse acted out the scene with while imitating Indian accents, according to the lawsuit. These comments were unwelcome, offensive and the incident was humiliating and deeply disturbingOver the past 24 years, nobody had ever spoken to her or humiliated her in this way until this brunch, the lawsuit states. In March 2022, Waschek invited Parikh at a dinner party at his home. Wascheks spouse at one point imitated the voice of an Indian woman at a Indian grocery store, according to the suit. In addition, Waschek and his spouse asked very personal and offensive questions about Parikhs upbringing, her parents background and economic situation and the languages that she knew. They asked her to speak in those languages. Parikh felt extremely uncomfortable, offended and 'othered.' The suit also cites several other incidences of unwelcome and offensive behavior during the March 2022 dinner party. In May 2022, the museum hired an outside consultancy firm, LAM & Associates, to investigate Parikhs claims of harassment and retaliation. In the firms final report, delivered in July, the authors said investigator Laurie Margolis could not substantiate Parikh's claims with other colleagues, but found her statements credible. Waschek calls allegations false In a statement to the T&G, Waschek characterized the allegations in the lawsuit as false: I have been dismayed by the false allegations that have been made in this lawsuit and the homophobic tropes that are invoked. I have worked hard over the last thirty plus years to build a reputation of professionalism and integrity. As a gay man who has experienced discrimination first-hand, I have always held DEAI (Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, Inclusion) issues as a core value, and have sought to do my best to eliminate discrimination from the workplace and build a culture of inclusivity. To read these patently false statements and to see my husband, who doesnt even work at the Museum, dragged into it and similarly maligned, is staggering. Violation of policies cited The lawsuit states that Margolis concluded Waschek had violated numerous Worcester Art Museum policies and that those violations created a hostile and offensive work environment in possible violation of state and federal law. Parikh also said that she felt that Waschek had publicly outed her as the plaintiff in an investigation and disparaged her, which is an act of retaliation and is against the museum's policy. The Board had endorsed and approved the discriminatory and retaliatory behavior in complete disregard of Dr. Parikhs rights by failing to take her seriously and refusing to hold Mr. Waschek accountable even though the outside investigator had concluded that Mr. Wascheks behavior was completely unacceptable, the lawsuit states. On Sept. 16, 2022, Parikh resigned due to the discriminatory and retaliatory treatment she had endured while an employee at the museum, citing specifically Wascheks racist and offensive behavior, the boards sanctioning of that behavior, and the resulting hostile and psychologically unsafe work environment. The Worcester Art Museum responded to the allegations in a statement. "Worcester Art Museum remains committed to providing a workplace where everyone is treated with dignity and respect, so we take these allegations very seriously. The complaint filed in Worcester Superior Court reveals confidential HR information. This has put the Museum in a position where the only way to set the record straight would be to disclose confidential and private information in a manner that would violate our own policies and compromise the privacy of current and former employees. We look forward to addressing these claims through the legal process." This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Former Worcester Art Museum curator Rachel Parikh files lawsuit Two former employees have sued a North Idaho school district over allegations that they were not paid for multiple days of work done before they were terminated from their positions. Steffie Pavey, the former business manager for the West Bonner School District in Priest River, and Shawna MacDonald, a former payroll employee, filed the lawsuit against the school district on Monday. According to the suit, both women were fired from their jobs last month by incoming Superintendent Branden Durst, whose appointment in June met with controversy. The former employees said Durst informed them in mid-July via email that they had been terminated. Copies of emails from Durst to Pavey and MacDonald included in the lawsuit show that Durst told the women their contracts had expired at the end of June. Both women had previously continued their jobs at the district during gaps in their employment agreements, the lawsuit said, and they didnt believe an agreement was a requirement for continued employment. The lawsuit said neither woman has been paid for work done in July approximately 48 hours for Pavey and 39 hours for MacDonald. In his emails, Durst told Pavey and MacDonald to invoice the district for the hours they had worked in July so they could be paid as independent contractors. It wasnt immediately clear whether the plaintiffs had sent those invoices. The lawsuit called Dursts assertion that the women became contractors when their employment agreements expired erroneous. Pavey and MacDonald are asking for the district to pay the wages they say they are owed, as well as any legal fees from the lawsuit. Earlier this month InvestigateWest reported that Durst, a former Idaho Freedom Foundation analyst who was a far-right candidate for state superintendent of public instruction in the Republican primary last year, replaced three district employees with temporary picks of his own. That included Paveys former business manager position, for which the publication said Durst hired Melissa Reilly. Reilly, an accountant, is married to Dave Reilly a noted alt-right figure who moved to North Idaho after the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he was seen wearing a pin with the logo of a white supremacist group. At least one former West Bonner teacher said employees are leaving the district in droves, in part because of a recent failed levy and because of Dursts appointment. Durst told the publication that he has seen a lot of interest in open positions regardless of an exodus of teachers that dont want to work with me. Former Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) opened up about his sons cancer battle in a series of social media posts Thursday, saying his son should have a fighting chance after his most recent surgery. Crowley detailed how his son, Cullen, was diagnosed with a desmoplastic small round cell tumor a type of soft tissue sarcoma that is found in the abdomen and pelvic areas of the body in December. He said his family has struggled with the cancer diagnosis, which came shortly after Cullen graduated from the Naval Academy in May 2022. The former congressman said his son underwent successful surgery Wednesday to remove tumors from his kidney and abdomen. Yesterday, Cullen underwent 15 hrs of surgery to remove cancer tumors on his right kidney and in his abdomen, he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. He stayed strong throughout just as he has since his diagnosis. Hes a Marine after all. Though the cancer has metastasized to his skeletal system, this successful surgery is a blessing and gives him a fighting chance. He is recovering and doing well, he added. Crowley also thanked the doctors and those showing their support to Cullen. We are so grateful to his wonderful team of doctors and nurses, Crowley said. And we are so grateful to all our family and friends here and around the world (especially in Montana and Ireland!) for their support. We would be lost without you all! Crowley served in the House for two decades before being defeated in the 2018 Democratic primary by now-Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Shalom Yehudiel, a former Teaneck restaurant owner, was arrested a day after sexual assault charges against him were dropped in a Bergen County courtroom, his attorney said. A day after a Bergen County judge dismissed sexual assault charges against Shalom Yehudiel, the former Teaneck restaurant owner was arrested on Tuesday while trying to leave the country at Kennedy International Airport in Queens. On Thursday, the Union County Prosecutor's Office said a new set of charges had been filed against the chef in connection with a second alleged assault of a teenaged victim. Yehudiel, who gained fame on the Food Network but then became embroiled in sexual harassment claims, was in custody in New York while awaiting extradition to New Jersey, the Prosecutor's Office said in a statement. The arrest followed an unusual, last-ditch attempt by a lawyer for the alleged victim in the second case. The attorney filed a motion on Tuesday, a day after the first set of criminal charges were dropped, asking a court to enforce a citizen's arrest warrant and warning that Yehudiel was a flight risk. Yehudiel, 41, who lives in Fair Lawn, was detained later that day at JFK as he was planning to fly solo to Bangkok, prosecutors said. Yehudiel's wife and young daughter live in Florida. Although a Bergen County judge dismissed the charges in one case on Monday, Union County has been investigating separate allegations brought by a Fair Lawn woman who said she was victimized while she was a teenager. Union County was tasked with the investigation after the woman sued the Bergen County prosecutor for declining to press charges. New counts against Shalom Yehudiel "The Union County Prosecutor has brought charges that the Bergen County Prosecutor twice investigated and twice declined to prosecute," Yehudiel's attorneys, Zach Intrater and Lee Vartan, said in an email on Thursday. "As recently as February 2023, the Bergen County Prosecutor said it did not support the issuance of criminal charges against Mr. Yehudiel. This is an abuse of process, and this case will be dismissed." The alleged crimes in the Fair Lawn case took place over a six-month period between November 2016 and April 2017, said Caroline Lawlor, a Union County assistant prosecutor. Yehudiel was charged with one count of second-degree sexual assault and one count of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child, who was between 14 and 15 years old at the time, according to prosecutors. Michael Gorokhovich, the attorney for the Fair Lawn woman, predicted that more charges would be filed. This is a long-awaited step to commence the criminal process for abuse that he committed against my client many years ago that has been long overdue to the victim," Gorokhovich said. "The victim is very happy to see that the Union County Prosecutors Office has stepped up to the plate and made sure that he was apprehended to face her charges and stand trial." Charges dismissed on Monday Bergen County prosecutors charged Yehudiel last year with assaulting an underage victim who worked for him at one of his Teaneck restaurants. But state Superior Court Judge Christopher Kazlau dismissed the five charges on Monday. He said the defendant's rights had been violated because the FBI, which originally investigated the allegation, had failed to turn over a video that Yehudiel said could clear him. Kazlau dismissed the charges without prejudice, meaning that they could be reinstated if new evidence comes to light. Yehudiel was also released from any pretrial monitoring conditions. The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment Wednesday on his re-arrest. Gorokhovich, whose client has also filed a lawsuit against Yehudiel, jumped into action after the dismissal, which he learned of in a call with a NorthJersey.com reporter. Gorokhovich filed a motion demanding that Yehudiel be detained based on an outstanding arrest warrant his client had previously obtained. "I told them he is a flight risk," Gorokhovich said in an interview Wednesday. "The man has no assets, no home, no business here in the U.S." More: Teaneck chef fights abuse lawsuits as #MeToo movement roils Orthodox Judaism Emergency order sought The attorney sought an emergent court order to ensure that Yehudiel is located and arrested immediately, and that all appropriate federal authorities are notified of the arrest warrant so that Yehudiel may be detained and apprehended when attempting to cross a U.S. border. State Superior Court Justice Mary Thurber scheduled a hearing in Hackensack to discuss the request but before it was held, the arrest was made at JFK. Yehudiel "was attempting to flee to avoid the criminal case brought by my client and any refiling of the dismissed indictment on behalf of the other victim," Gorokhovich told NorthJersey.com. "It was a miracle they caught him perhaps minutes away from boarding a plane out. By the time they caught him, he was already at the airport with a one-way ticket ready to start a new life far away from the victims." Yehudiel was arrested by Port Authority police before he could board the plane to Bangkok, authorities said during a Tuesday hearing at the Bergen County Courthouse, according to an audio recording obtained by North Jersey.com. Yehudiel appeared on the Food Network's "Chopped" show in 2020 and earned fame as the first kosher chef to appear in the competition. In the wake of the assault allegations, he sold his two restaurants, Humble Toast and La Cucina Di Nava, last September. 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: Chef Shalom Yehudiel arrested at JFK day after assault charges dropped Starting next year, Ukraine will celebrate the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism on May 8 Sitting Ukrainian MPs who used to represent the now-banned pro-Russian Opposition Platform For Life (OPFL) party are now eager to vote for any legislation the government introduces, Political analyst Oleksiy Koshel said in an interview with NV Radio on Aug. 10. Read also: Over 380 children abducted by Russia have now been returned, says deputy PM To illustrate his point, Koshel noted that most of these MPs voted to move the Victory Day national holiday from May 9 to May 8 in a break with how the Soviet Union and later Russia commemorate the end of WWII in Europe. Two groups from the former OPFL faction often vote in unison with the government, said Koshel. Interestingly, they even voted to move the [celebration] from May 9 to May 8, for the ratification of the Istanbul Convention. They are ready to vote against anything that contradicts their statements, principles, just for the sake of political survival. On May 29, the Ukrainian parliament officially made May 8 the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism and a national holiday. The decision was supported by 317 MPs. Read also: Russia strikes Zaporizhzhya in deadly attack president Zelenskyy Prior to this, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree, according to which May 9 in Ukraine will be celebrated as Europe Day instead of Victory Day. Read also: Rada passes bill on selection of Constitutional Court judges On March 28, 2022, the OPFL party announced the suspension of its activities. On April 14, 2022, the parliament has banned OPFL, with its MPs forming a new parliamentary faction Platform for Life and Peace. On Sept. 15, 2022, the Supreme Court has denied OPFLs appeal to overturn the ban. The decision is final and cannot be appealed further. 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 Five Americans who had been imprisoned in Iran are now under house arrest the first step in a deal between the United States and Iran that would include making $6 billion in Iranian funds more accessible to Tehran in exchange for their return to the US. Four of the Americans Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi, Morad Tahbaz, and a fourth American who has not been identified publicly were moved out of Tehrans notorious Evin Prison on Thursday, the White House confirmed. The fifth American, who also has not been publicly identified, was already under house arrest, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The source described Thursdays development as an encouraging step, noting that theres a roadmap that has basically been agreed. However, they said that theres a number of things here that that still need to be worked out in the prospective deal to bring the Americans home to the United States. Among the roadmap are plans to make $6 billion in Iranian funds that have been in a restricted account in South Korea more readily available for non-sanctionable trade of goods like food and medicine by moving them to a restricted account elsewhere. The source said that this would not be giving new funds to Iran, noting that those funds are currently in South Korean accounts and able to be used for humanitarian purposes and non-sanctionable trade. There have been challenges in converting the Korean currency. There is also expected to be a prisoner swap component to the deal, though the source said that no prisoners held in the US will be released in exchange for these Americans moving to house arrest. The Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations said in a statement that as part of a humanitarian cooperation agreement mediated by a third-party government, Iran and the US have agreed to reciprocally release and pardon five prisoners. The transfer of these prisoners to out of prison marks a significant initial step in the implementation of this agreement, they said. Theres kind of a step-by-step process thats going to unfold. So, the first step is getting our people out of prison, the source said. Iran will not immediately gain any benefit on Thursday, the source familiar with the negotiations said. Then there will be arrangements in place weve agreed to do some things, Iran has agreed to do some things that will eventually lead to the Americans coming home, they said. Its going to be a period of weeks before the five Americans could be back in the US, the source added, noting a September timeframe. The source did not get into specific details about the next steps, saying it was too early to do that. This has been a very intensive process of negotiations with the Iranians, the source said, noting that the US had worked with partners including Qatar, Oman and Switzerland, which serves as the US protecting power in Iran. The US does not have diplomatic relations with Tehran and therefore has no embassy or diplomats on the ground in the country. Iraq and the United Arab Emirates also played a role, the source said. The source familiar told reporters that US was very clear with the Iranians that to get anywhere the Americans have to be out of Evin Prison. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement Thursday that the US received confirmation that Iran has released from prison five Americans who were unjustly detained and has placed them on house arrest. We will continue to monitor their condition as closely as possible. Of course, we will not rest until they are all back home in the United States, she said. Until that time, negotiations for their eventual release remain ongoing and are delicate. We will, therefore, have little in the way of details to provide about the state of their house arrest or about our efforts to secure their freedom, Watson said. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday that the State Department had spoken that day with the five wrongfully detained Americans. I think theyre, needless to say, very happy to be out of prison, the top US diplomat said at a joint press conference with the Mexican foreign secretary at the State Department. I dont want to get ahead of its conclusion, because theres more work to be done to actually bring them home, Blinken said. My belief is that this is the beginning of the end of their nightmare, and the nightmare that their families have experienced. The secretary said he did not know of any other Americans wrongfully detained in Iran, saying: Im not aware of anyone beyond the five that were talking about. He also said that there would be no sanctions relief for Iran in exchange for the release of the Americans. In any event, in any respect, Iran will not be receiving any sanctions relief, said Blinken, and in any instance where we would engage in such efforts to bring Americans home from Iran, Irans own funds would be used, and transferred to restricted accounts such that the monies can only be used for humanitarian purposes, which as you know is permitted under our sanctions. Jared Genser, the pro-bono counsel for Namazi, strongly cautioned against being overly optimistic about freedom for the Americans until they are actually out of Iran. The Americans publicly known to be in the deal Namazi, Shargi, and Tahbaz have spent years in prison there. Namazi is the longest-held American in Iran, arrested in 2015 while on a business trip. He was charged with having relations with a hostile state, referring to the US. Namazi is a dual Iranian-US citizen. His father, Baquer Namazi, was released in order to receive medical treatment in October 2022 after more than six years in detention in Iran. There are simply no guarantees about what happens from here, he said. Shargi, a businessman, and Tahbaz, an environmentalist, were first arrested in 2018. They too are dual Iranian-US citizens. All three have been declared wrongfully detained by the US State Department. In March, in an unprecedented interview with CNN from inside Evin Prison, Namazi made an emotional plea to US President Joe Biden to put the liberty of innocent Americans above politics and ramp up efforts to secure his release. I remain deeply worried that the White House just doesnt appreciate how dire our situation has become, said Namazi, who had been left behind in a deal under the Obama administration. Namazis family, as well as the Shargi and Tahbaz families, had made urgent calls for the Biden administration to intensify efforts to bring their loved ones home. They welcomed the news that their loved ones had been released on house arrest, but said they were awaiting the day that they were finally back in the US. We are grateful that Siamak and the other Americans in Iran are out of Evin Prison and will be under house arrest. While this is a positive change, we will not rest until Siamak and others are back home; we continue to count the days until this can happen. We have suffered tremendously and indescribably for eight horrific years and wish only to be reunited again as a family, said Babak Namazi, Siamaks brother. We are encouraged by the development today on the conditions of our father and the other American hostages, but they are not free until they are home safely and reunited with their families, Tara Tahbaz, Morad Tahbazs daugher, said. Neda Sharghi, the sister of Emad Shargi, said she was aware of the reports of her brothers move to house arrest. My family has faith in the work that President Biden and government officials have undertaken to bring our families home and hope to receive that news soon, she said. The source familiar with the negotiations said Biden has been focused on this really since the first day in office. I think his record demonstrates his intensive focus on bringing Americans home, of course under conditions that we believe are in our interests. We believe what has been arranged here very much is, they said. The negotiations over the detained Americans are separate from discussions over Irans nuclear program, the source said, but noted that if the Americans are ultimately freed, it could perhaps help facilitate discussions in other areas. This story has been updated with additional information. CNNs Ana Bickford and Michael Conte contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a fundraising event for U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, Sunday, Aug. 6, 2023, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) The presidential campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is clearly in a downward spiral, whether measured by polling, internal upheaval, shifting strategies or money woes. Early this year, DeSantis seemed to have a clear path to the Republican nomination: He was a political fighter in the mold of Donald Trump, but without the chaos and with a solid record of conservative achievements in Florida. But those best-laid plans have met reality a Trump rebound and a crowded Republican field and now DeSantis is desperately struggling to regain his footing after his campaign this week announced its third major shake-up in a month. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times In interviews, Republican strategists with experience in presidential races (but unaffiliated with DeSantis or his 2024 rivals) diagnosed some of the top problems of his campaign. What to do about Trump? There is no way around it. Solving the Trump problem is the master key to this election, and no one has found it. DeSantis, like almost every other Republican in the race, adopted a strategy of never criticizing Trump, for fear of alienating his ardent base. The theory was that at some point Trump would disqualify himself, and DeSantis would be positioned to inherit his supporters. But now, after three criminal indictments have failed to dent Trumps popularity with Republican voters, pressure is mounting on DeSantis to stop pretending Trump isnt in the race and take him on directly. The people who want Trump dont need a mini-me Trump, said Barbara Comstock, a former Republican member of Congress from Virginia, who is not a fan of either the former president or DeSantis. This week, DeSantis took a small step in the direction of taking on Trump by stating plainly that of course he lost the 2020 election, a position that conflicts with what many Republican voters believe. Trump is the de facto Republican incumbent, and in order to beat an incumbent you have to give voters a fire-able offense, said Terry Sullivan, who managed the presidential campaign of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in 2016. A related problem: DeSantis has failed to captivate voters, either with a charismatic stump speech or with a new charm offensive in which he wades into crowds, poses for selfies and engages in chitchat. Sarah Longwell, who conducts focus groups of Republican voters, said that recently she had witnessed something novel: Not one GOP voter brought up DeSantis name in the groups. People are like, we gave you a look and were not that interested, she said. A muddled message. The No. 1 failing for any campaign, and its clearly DeSantis problem what is his elevator pitch? said Dave Carney, a New Hampshire-based strategist who has advised multiple presidential campaigns. One day, DeSantis is reminding voters about taking on The Walt Disney Co. over what he views as woke corporate meddling. Another day, he is picking a fight with Rep. Byron Donalds, the only Black Republican in Floridas congressional delegation, over the states new standards for teaching Black history. These headline-making fights may break into the Trump-dominated media coverage, but Carney said they hadnt given voters a slogan they remember. You have to have a message thats relatable and simple and that you can communicate, he said. Morning in America, Are you better off than four years ago?, Make America Great Again. Just what that should be, of course, is up for debate. Sullivan said he thought DeSantis is on point when he talks about electability. DeSantis has often suggested that Trump, now saddled with criminal charges stemming from his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, cant win a general election. The messaging the other day was very smart if the election is about January 2021, and not about Joe Bidens record, we will lose, Sullivan said. Gail Gitcho, a consultant who worked on Mitt Romneys presidential campaign, said DeSantis needed to talk about his achievements in Florida. Hes got something no one else has executive experience in a big state with countless examples of his effectiveness and conservatism, she said. Stop with the donor-induced shake-ups and run on his record. Too much talk about donor-induced shake-ups? All summer, media reports have been filled with accounts of DeSantis struggles, fed by campaign insiders, his wealthy donors and other Republicans with a close view. It has led to steady headlines about campaign restarts and reboots and a revolving door of personnel. The coverage feeds a narrative of a campaign in trouble, which becomes self-fulfilling. Sullivan said DeSantis needed to just run the plays without discussing them. You just have to keep your head down and execute. Win the day. Win the week. Then string them together, he said. Putting all the chips on Iowa. In an earlier reboot, DeSantis campaign said it would zero in on Iowa, touring the state by bus, after spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on private air travel, and visit all 99 counties. Such a hyperlocal strategy of retail engagement with voters is traditionally what underfunded long shots pursue. But it also raises the stakes for DeSantis in Iowa, a state where he was trailing Trump by 24 percentage points in a recent New York Times/Siena College poll. Although the Iowa caucuses are still several months away, DeSantis is playing a risky expectations game, one that could make it difficult for him to rebound if he doesnt post a strong showing in Iowa. Clearly, they said theyre going to win Iowa, Carney said. I just think a campaign that talks too much, that brags about what theyre going to do they set themselves up for traps. Longwell, on the other hand, said an all-in-on-Iowa strategy made sense. Iowa is hand-to-hand combat, she said. You have to get a story in Iowa that Ron DeSantis is running close to Trump because now its all a downward death spiral. c.2023 The New York Times Company By Arshad Mohammed and Parisa Hafezi WASHINGTON/DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran may free five detained U.S. citizens as part of a deal under which $6 billion in Iranian funds in South Korea would be unfrozen, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday, and top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken described a process that he expects will lead to their return to the United States. As a first step in what may be a complex set of maneuvers, Iran allowed four detained U.S. citizens to move into house arrest from Tehran's Evin prison, a lawyer for one said. A fifth was already under home confinement. The United States would release some Iranians from U.S. prisons as part of the deal, Iran's mission to the United Nations said. The Iranian Americans allowed to leave the prison include businessmen Siamak Namazi, 51, and Emad Shargi, 58, as well as environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, 67, who also has British nationality, said Jared Genser, a lawyer who represents Namazi. The identity of the fourth U.S. citizen who was allowed out of prison has not been made public, nor has that of the fifth who was already under house arrest. "My belief is that this is the beginning of the end of their nightmare," U.S. Secretary of State Blinken said at a press conference in Washington, but cautioned that it was just the first step in a process. "There's more work to be done to actually bring them home." Allowing the five to leave Iran, which could take weeks, would remove a major irritant between Washington and Tehran, which remain at odds on issues from the Iranian nuclear program to Tehran's support for regional Shi'ite militias. "The move by Iran of the American hostages from Evin Prison ... is an important development," Genser said in a statement. "While I hope this will be the first step to their ultimate release, this is at best the beginning of the end." White House National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson confirmed that the five were all out of prison and under house arrest, saying they should never have been detained and the White House would have little more to add because talks for their eventual release "remain ongoing and are delicate." Blinken said the U.S. State Department on Thursday spoke to the five Americans. "They're, needless to say, very happy to be out of prison." Iran's mission to the United Nations said in a statement: "As part of a humanitarian cooperation agreement mediated by a third-party government, Iran and the US have agreed to reciprocally release and pardon five prisoners. The transfer of these prisoners to out of prison marks a significant initial step in the implementation of this agreement." DEPARTURE FROM IRAN COULD TAKE WEEKS Iranian Americans, whose U.S. citizenship is not recognized by Tehran, are often pawns between the two nations. The five Americans will be allowed to leave Iran after $6 billion of Iranian funds in South Korea are unfrozen, a source told Reuters. A second source familiar with the talks said it could be weeks before the U.S. citizens leave Iran, saying September was a possible time frame. He confirmed unfreezing the funds may be part of the deal. However, he said the funds, if transferred from the South Korean banks to another financial institution, would go from one restricted account to another and could only be used for humanitarian purposes such as buying food or medicine. Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency said the funds were first to be converted from the South Korean currency into Euros and then sent to an account in Qatar that Iran could access. The potential transfer drew immediate Republican criticism that President Joe Biden, a Democrat, had effectively paid a ransom for the U.S. citizens and that Iran using the money for humanitarian goods could free up funds for its nuclear program or to back militias in nations such as Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. Blinken said the deal does not mean that Iran would be getting any sanctions relief. "We will continue to enforce all of our sanctions. We will continue to push back resolutely against Irans destabilizing activities in the region and beyond ... None of these efforts take away from that." Henry Rome, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the deal could help reduce tensions that have boiled since then U.S. President Donald Trump, a Republican, withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal designed to curb Iran's atomic program. Rome described the potential release of the five as a step forward "in the broader U.S. efforts to de-escalate tensions in the absence of a nuclear agreement" adding that the White House "wouldn't have gone through with the deal if it wasn't confident it could withstand whatever political blowback is forthcoming." Karim Sadjadpour, a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace analyst, said Iranian Americans should still avoid travel to Iran. "This deal will reinforce the view of (Iran's) Revolutionary Guards that hostage taking is a lucrative practice with minimal costs," he said. Namazi, who in 2016 was convicted of espionage-related charges the United States has rejected as baseless, has been detained by Iran for more than seven years. Tahbaz was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for "assembly and collusion against Iran's national security" and working for the United States as a spy. Shargi was convicted of espionage in 2020 and also sentenced to 10 years. (Reporting by Arshad Mohammed in Washington and by Parisa Hafezi in Dubai; Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Simon Lewis, Jeff Mason, Jasper Ward and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Mark Porter, Lisa Shumaker and Grant McCool) Every four years, presidential candidates descend on the state of Iowa during the sweltering August heat to flip pork chops, give stump speeches, see a butter cow and more at the Iowa State Fair. This years festivities begin Thursday and stretch into Aug. 20. But why do White House hopefuls pack into this fair in Des Moines, Iowa, in the first place? The answer is simple: the Iowa caucuses. Since the 1970s when the Iowa caucuses started the Iowa State Fair has served as an all-encompassing pit stop for some good, old-fashioned retail politicking. It's a chance for candidates to mingle with voters from all walks of life, many of whom dont typically frequent campaign events. The Iowa caucuses are voters first chance to officially weigh in on primary candidates, testing the waters for how the race may play out in the rest of the country though the tradition may be fading on the Democrats' side, with President Joe Biden expected to easily win renomination and the Democratic National Committee knocking Iowa from its first-in-the-nation perch. The state had drawn frequent criticism from Democrats over how representative it really is of the country with a 90 percent white statewide population, a concern that isn't echoed in the GOP. The 2024 caucuses are scheduled for Jan. 15. For candidates who havent qualified for the Republican primary debate stage later this month, the Iowa State Fair is an opportunity to appeal to voters and stand out from their rivals. Candidates polling at 1 percent or below nationally, such as Asa Hutchinson, Perry Johnson, Francis Suarez, Will Hurd and Doug Burgum, will all be at this years fair. Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy, Marianne Williamson, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Nikki Haley have also said theyll be there. The hoopla around the Iowa State Fair can also have the opposite of the desired effect, leaving a stain on a candidates campaign. In 2011, then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney infamously said during a soapbox speech that corporations are people a line that haunted him throughout his campaign as he was criticized as being out of touch with everyday Americans. The fair draws about 1 million people every year prime targets for candidates to mingle with voters, shake hands and pose for selfies. In 2019, former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg spent time mingling with voters while also scarfing down as much food as he could. Buttigieg consumed a root beer float, a pork chop on a stick, a fried bacon ball BLT, fried Oreos and more. In 2015, Trump appealed to those under the voting age on the outskirts of the fairgrounds by giving children rides in his helicopter. We have quite a few children gonna take rides today, Trump said at the time. Where are the children? Get them over here. And in 2012, former President Barack Obama shut down a beer tent while mingling with voters for two hours, which the owner says cost the business thousands of dollars, according to the Des Moines Register. With chants of four more beers heard in the background, Obama high-fived voters gathered for him in the tent. Candidates will also participate in the Des Moines Registers Political Soapbox, where 13 different candidates will speak for 20 minutes each to give their campaign pitch and answer questions from voters. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will also host her own fair-side chats with GOP presidential candidates throughout the 11-day fair. A Fulton County Grand Jury indicted eight alleged associates of the PDE criminal street gang in a pandemic unemployment insurance conspiracy spanning multiple states. Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis office announced the indictment Wednesday. According to the DAs office, the eight individuals are accused of pandemic unemployment fraud, violations of Georgias Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act, street gang terrorism, and more than 100 counts of identity fraud. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The DAs Office White Collar Crime Unit investigated the case leading to the indictment for more than two years. The 30-month-long investigation was performed in partnership with the DAs Office Gang Unit, the Atlanta Police Department, the Georgia Department of Labor, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Secret Service. The White Collar Crime Unit spent more than two years investigating this case, which came to our attention out of a series of gang-related homicide investigations in early 2021. We spent countless hours combing through cell phone evidence, social media evidence, bank records, and other documents, and we intend to hold accountable all of the individuals charged by the grand jury in this case, White Collar Crime Unit Deputy District Attorney Will Wooten said. Together, the eight individuals were collectively charged with one count of Violation of the Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations) Act, nine counts of Violation of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, one count of Conspiracy to Defraud the State, and 134 counts of Identity Fraud, according to the DAs office. TRENDING STORIES: Whether they are shooting or stealing, criminal street gangs will be prosecuted by my office for the crimes they commit in Fulton County using every tool available under the law. If gangs choose to turn to white-collar crimes to fund their illegal activities, we will be waiting with indictments in hand, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis said. At least one defendant is accused of admitting to stealing more than $70,000 from the State of Georgia in the scheme, according to the DAs office. The following individuals were charged in the indictment, delivered by the Fulton County Grand Jury on Tuesday. Shadarian Mitchell, 34, of Atlanta, GA: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act, Violation of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act (3 counts), Conspiracy to Defraud the State, Identity Fraud (107 counts) Caren Mitchell, 54, of Atlanta, GA: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act, Violation of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act (3 counts), Conspiracy to Defraud the State, Identity Fraud (17 counts) Dontavious Cheeks, 33, of Atlanta, GA: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act, Violation of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act (3 counts), Conspiracy to Defraud the State, Identity Fraud (2 counts) Kenneth Long, 35, of Decatur, GA: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act, Violation of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act (3 counts), Conspiracy to Defraud the State, Identity Fraud Brittany Parks, 28, of Atlanta, GA: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act, Violation of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, Conspiracy to Defraud the State, Identity Fraud (3 counts) Kareem Durham, 27, of Union City, GA: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act, Violation of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, Conspiracy to Defraud the State, Identity Fraud (2 counts) Julian Rabun, 39, of Atlanta, GA: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act, Violation of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, Conspiracy to Defraud the State, Identity Fraud (2 counts) Zemekia Davis, 34, of Atlanta, GA: Violation of the Georgia RICO Act, Violation of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, Conspiracy to Defraud the State, Identity Fraud [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] OTHER NEWS: CANANDAIGUA, NY Qualified residents who are reeling after their homes sustained damage from devastating and some say historic flooding last month can begin to seek emergency funding Friday. Low- and moderate-income homeowners in Ontario County and Canandaigua will be eligible for up to $50,000 for flood repairs, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday. The announcement comes after residents, with local government and community leaders and state legislators backing them, pleaded for help as they continue to cope with flood damage to their homes and property after the July 9 rainstorm. This funding, which also will be available to qualified homeowners in other downstate counties also plagued by flooding, is in addition to the $3 million announced by Hochul last month to assist homeowners in Orange County. The additional funding will help to provide relief to even more New Yorkers impacted by the devastating floods as they work to repair their homes and return to their normal lives, Hochul said in a prepared statement. As they continue to work to repair homes damaged by flooding in July, some in Canandaigua remain fearful of what will come during the next rainstorm. My administration remains committed to assisting New Yorkers in any way possible as part of the recovery effort following last months historic storm, stated Hochul, who visited Canandaigua the day after nearly 6 inches of rain fell in a three-hour period. Canandaigua Mayor Bob Palumbo said he is thankful for the help. These funds will go a long way in relieving the stress of how do I pay for needed repairs that we've heard from so many, Palumbo said. How additional funding will help Just last Thursday, residents in the city of Canandaigua shared fears and concerns over the situation. Residents have endured flooded basements and lost family keepsakes and heirlooms, all while their homes sustained varying amounts of damage, much of it extensive and expensive to repair. In some cases, homeowners were placed on waiting lists for work to be done, and some are saying their flood insurance isn't going to cover much of it. Many of the residents are experiencing financial hardship as a result. Pam Helming State Sen. Pam Helming, R-Canandaigua, who along with state Assemblyman Jeff Gallahan, R-Manchester, has pressed Hochuls office for funding in the last two weeks for these city and other county residents, thanked Hochul for her response in providing this near-term assistance for homeowners. It is my hope these funds will give individuals and families some relief from the financial stress of this situation, Helming stated. I recognize it may not help everyone and we will continue to work with other partners to connect residents with resources. Gallahan called this welcome news. Canandaigua has never seen this level of flooding and damage before and hopefully never will again, Gallahan stated. It is imperative that we rebuild in order to keep Ontario County a premier place to live, work and raise a family. I look forward to continuing to work with the governor on assisting everyone that was affected by this catastrophic flooding. What residents need to know The emergency grant funds will cover damage incurred at a primary residence for homeowners who meet the program's income guidelines. New York State Homes and Community Renewal will oversee the program, which will be administered by several nonprofit organizations in each county affected. Homeowners can apply to receive funding to cover the cost of urgent repairs necessary to bring their home into a safe and habitable condition. Eligible work may include repair or replacement of electrical and plumbing systems, heating systems and appliances, flooring, drywall, insulation, windows, doors, siding, and roofing. Grants of up to $50,000 will be awarded based on a scope of work approved by local program administrators. Applicants must be homeowners whose primary residence is in one of the eight designated counties Ontario County in this case and who have incomes at or below 80 percent of the area median income. Canandaigua Town Supervisor Jared Simpson and Ontario County Board of Supervisors Chairman Todd Campbell joined others in thanking Hochul for the assistance. As local leaders have said since the first raindrop fell in Canandaigua last month, a team effort helped residents be safe that first night, aided in the subsequent cleanup efforts, and now, in finding additional emergency funding for those homeowners still in need. "We raised our voices and they were heard. This was about collaboration at all levels of government and within the community," Helming stated. "Teamwork gets things done." More information Visit hcr.ny.gov/ahc-flood-assistance-program for more details. A full list of qualified repairs and eligibility criteria are also available. This article originally appeared on MPNnow: Emergency aid available for NY flood victims. What to know This is the first story of a Modesto Bee series on climate change impacts for Stanislaus County. A warming environment will bring severe heat waves, health hazards, longer droughts, impacts on schools, problems for agriculture and water management, and many other changes. The Northern San Joaquin Valley is known for hot summers and is projected to get much hotter with global and regional climate change in the next 25 years. Studies conclude the average maximum daily temperature will increase 4 to 5 degrees in the San Joaquin Valley by 2050, raising temperatures above 105 degrees more than 20 days in some years. In addition to heat waves, climate change promises longer and more intense droughts, more wildfires, extreme storm events and flooding in wetter years, and worsening air pollution. The climate conditions will come with health impacts for people who live in the Valley stretching from Stockton to Bakersfield, a region thats projected to be one of the hardest hit in California. The Modesto Bee will run a 10-week series of stories on the health impacts and other challenges as climate warming upsets the normal state of affairs in Stanislaus County. While the county has its climate-change deniers, top water managers recognize the need to plan for the shifting environment. The Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts, a major source of water and energy service for the county, said in a recent statement they are spending significant time studying and planning for climate change implications. The Tuolumne River watershed hydrology is changing, the wet years are getting wetter and the dry years are getting drier for longer periods, the districts said. Our storage and conveyance system were designed for different hydrology. Alberto Bolanos, right, talks with his neighbors about the rising water from the Tuolumne River on Vivian Road in south west Modesto, Calif., on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017. The districts said they are harnessing the latest technology and exploring operational changes and new projects to ensure we can provide the same essential services for the next century. The climate changes coming to the Valley have been studied by state agencies, university scholars and nonprofit research groups. According to climate change science, use of fossil fuels is chiefly to blame for the buildup of carbon dioxide in Earths atmosphere, which serves to trap the suns heat. If there is no action to reduce C0 2 emissions worldwide, studies conclude, the average maximum daily temperature will increase 4 to 5 degrees in the San Joaquin Valley by midcentury and could increase 8 to 11 degrees by late century. In Stanislaus County, the daily high temperature, averaged over the year, is projected to rise from 73.6 to 78.3 degrees, depending on carbon dioxide emissions, and it could exceed 80 degrees near the end of the century. The county will see four times the number of unusually warm nights by 2050, a state assessment predicts. Severe heat waves are expected to roast the San Joaquin Valley with a heat index of 105 degrees or above. At that point, healthy people are at risk of heat-related illness and the vulnerable, including children, seniors and those with chronic illness, especially need protection. By 2050, the projection for Stanislaus County is 10 to upward of 25 days of 105 degrees or more each year, compared to two of those days this year. Some parts of the Valley, including Fresno, are looking at a full month of that hellish heat by midcentury and almost two months by 2100, according to a Union of Concerned Scientists analysis. UC Merced has a toolbox online for projecting climate conditions based on different levels of carbon dioxide emissions that trap heat in the atmosphere. Stanislaus Countys average daily high temperature June through August is 94 degrees, up from 92.5 in 2000. By 2055, its expected to climb to 96.3 if actions begin to decrease C0 2 emissions globally in 2040. The average will be almost 98 degrees if nothing is done. Without action, daily highs of 102 will be the summer norm near the close of the century. The countys daily summer average could reach 107 degrees some years. Extreme heat waves will strain the electrical grid and pose a serious threat to anyone who works outside. The infrastructure for storing Sierra runoff and generating electricity for customers wasnt designed for whats purportedly coming to the region. Its what keeps me up at night and makes me worry about how much harder it is going to be for our kids later in this century, said Noah Hughes, an earth science instructor at Modesto Junior College who regularly tracks the weather. Higher temperatures will mean that more of the precipitation in the Sierra Nevada is rain and less is snow. The runoff will come roaring down the rivers earlier in the year and reservoirs will capture less storage from the shrinking snowpack. Fire rages out of control with only 2% of the Rim Fire contained in the Stanislaus National Forest Thursday August 22, 2013. More wildfires predicted, worsening air quality The drier conditions will lead to more wildfires, fouling the San Joaquin Valley air with smoke and pollutants. The wildfires increase the particulate matter in the air, and that increases the potential for health impacts, said John Abatzoglou, a UC Merced climatologist who spoke about the changes at Modesto Junior College last January. San Joaquin Valley residents already endure some of the worst air quality in the United States. Even dirtier air will contribute to health impacts including lung disease, asthma and cardiovascular damage. Excessive heat can be deadly for those outdoors, while higher daily temperatures also encourage vector-borne diseases. Health experts have suspected that climate warming conditions excessive winter storms, dry-out periods and wind have spawned an increase in annual Valley fever cases since the early 2000s. A hotter climate also creates complications for pregnant women. Hardships for disadvantaged communities Angel Santiago Fernandez Bou of the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists said the many disadvantaged communities in the San Joaquin Valley are not equipped to protect themselves against a climate change crisis. Thousands of families have already lost access to domestic wells, Fernandez Bou said. The former UC Merced scholar and lead author of a state assessment of climate change in the San Joaquin Valley foresees dire hardships for field laborers. If you are able to work indoors, you are OK, but farmworkers have to work in the field, the scientist said. There is no way to avoid that. The work is very demanding on bodies and, when they go home, they cant afford to turn on the air conditioning. People are afraid to open windows at night because of pesticides that were sprayed, and they cant cool down their bodies. Fernandez Bou noted that when he studied for a doctorate degree at UC Merced, his adviser said there used to be two extremely hot weeks in Merced each year, but now only a couple weeks in summer are acceptable. Steve Murov, a professor emeritus in chemistry at MJC, has worked to inform the public about the changing climate by arranging education events at the community college. The sentiment across the country is changing, Murov said. More than half the people accept it as reality, but I dont think they are aware of the severity. Some of these things are reversible to some extent. We had better act, or else. This article drew information from the Governors Office of Planning and Research Fourth Climate Change Assessment ; the Legislative Analysts Office ; UC Merced Climate Toolbox ; Union of Concerned Scientists ; Public Policy Institute of California ; Central Valley Health Policy Institute and other sources. On hot summer days, public pools fill with people wanting to cool off. Stacey Yerkes had just started her job at the Ohio State Highway Patrol when she says a colleague made a disheartening comment. There has only been one other female here before you, so try not to screw it up and make females look bad, she says she was told. In the days, months and years that followed, Yerkes, who is gay, said she was harassed and discriminated against because of her gender and sexual orientation. Now, after she filed a civil lawsuit in 2019, a jury has awarded her $2.6 million, multiple media outlets report. A spokesperson for the OSHP did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News. Yerkes joined the OSHP in 1994, where she quickly exceeded expectations, according to court documents. She received multiple awards and rose through the ranks, being promoted from trooper to sergeant. But her professional success did not stop coworkers and superiors from harassing her, she said in her lawsuit. One of them said, Women are only promoted here because they are women, not because of merit, Yerkes said. She also said she consistently heard colleagues use obscenities to describe women. On one occasion, her supervisor asked her about her underwear after a coworker asked if she had sex with a woman in a back room at a party, Yerkes said. Further, she said she was given demeaning tasks that were not in her job description and was disciplined for actions that her male heterosexual colleagues performed without consequence, according to court documents. In 2018, Yerkes was written up for violating the OSHPs tattoo policy, an admonishment that never happened to her male colleagues with tattoos, she said. Rather than face demotion, she retired. Yerkes then filed a civil lawsuit against the OSHP in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in 2019, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Following a trial that began on July 31, the jury awarded her about $1.3 million in damages, about $600,000 in back pay, and about $680,000 in front pay, according to the outlet. Over 40% of women say theyve encountered gender discrimination in the workplace, according to a 2017 Pew Research Center poll. A similar percentage of employees identifying as LGBT reported experiencing workplace discrimination because of their sexual orientation, according to data from the UCLA School of Law. Deputies spot red flags during chase and save teen from sex trafficking, GA cops say Teen worker lost hand in meat grinder. Now, his boss owes $1,143 fine, officials say Dad shoots at son six times after nearly being run over by him, Florida deputies say The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into an officer-involved shooting that happened on Saturday in northern Georgia, officials told Channel 2 Action News. Just after 11 p.m., Clayton police officers and Rabun County sheriff deputies were conducting a traffic safety checkpoint around Hwy 76 West and Meadow Stream Lane, when a man identified as 51-year-old Lars Anton Rudow of Watkinsville stopped his car in the road before reaching the checkpoint. As a Clayton Police Officer approached the car, Rudow accelerated his car toward the officer, grazing the officer in the lower leg. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Rudow then drove quickly toward the other officers and deputies at the checkpoint. A Clayton Police Officer then shot at the car, according to the GBI. Officers and deputies chased Rudow for less than a mile before he crashed off the road. Rudow was arrested and charged with DUI refusal and five counts of aggravated assault on a police officer. TRENDING STORIES: Rudow was taken to the Rabun County Detention Center. The GBI said it will conduct an independent investigation. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: A Georgia detention center employee has been arrested after they were caught smuggling a phone into Towns County Jail, Towns County deputies said. On Monday, investigators received a tip that a cell phone had been smuggled into the Towns County Detention Center. After the tip, the detention center ordered an immediate lockdown of the inmates, and a search began, leading to the cell phone being found. Investigators revealed that a Towns County Detention Center employee had smuggled the cell phone into the jail. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Deputies identified the employee as 36-year-old Erin Ashley Brown of Young Harris. Brown was charged with violation of oath by a public officer and giving an inmate prohibited items. Sheriff Ken Henderson said he wanted it to be known that this behavior would not be tolerated. TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: China offers condolences to Pakistan over deadly train accident Xinhua) 10:52, August 10, 2023 BEIJING, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- China mourned for those who died in the Pakistan train derailment on Aug. 6, and offered condolences to the victims' families as well as sympathy to the injured, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday. A passenger train derailed in Nawabshah district in the southern Pakistani province of Sindh on Sunday, killing at least 30 people and injuring more than 100. The spokesperson said that China is saddened by the heavy casualties caused by the accident, and wishes the injured a speedy recovery. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Attorney Roderick Edmond, from left, joined by Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Sr., Jessica Ross and attorney Cory Lynch, speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Atlanta, announcing a lawsuit against a doctor and Southern Regional Medical Center, a hospital south of Atlanta where Ross went on July 9 to have her son. A doctor used too much force and decapitated Ross's baby during delivery according to the lawsuit filed Wednesday, the attorneys said. (AP Photo/Sudhin Thanawala) ATLANTA (AP) A doctor used too much force and decapitated a Georgia woman's baby during delivery, according to a lawsuit attorneys said was filed Wednesday. The baby's mother and father, Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr., attended a news conference in Atlanta where their attorneys announced the lawsuit against Dr. Tracey St. Julian and Southern Regional Medical Center, a hospital in Riverdale, Georgia, where Ross went on July 9 to have her son. Riverdale is about 13 miles (20 kilometers) south of Atlanta. They were so excited about the birth of their first child," said attorney Cory Lynch. "Unfortunately, their dreams and hopes turned into a nightmare that was covered up by Southern Regional Medical Center. Calls to St. Julian's office went unanswered, and an email message was not immediately returned. The Associated Press was not able to determine whether she had an attorney. Other Georgia news: Drug agents fatally shoot 19-year-old man in south Georgia. They say he pulled out a gun More: Georgia kids would need parent permission to join social media if these Republicans get their way Southern Regional said in statements it could not discuss treatment for particular patients due to privacy laws, but it denies the allegations against it. Its heartfelt thoughts and prayers were with Ross and Taylor and their care providers, it said. Our commitment is to provide compassionate, quality care to every single patient, and this loss is heartbreaking, the hospital said. It later added that St. Julian was not an employee of the hospital, and it had taken the appropriate steps in response to this unfortunate situation. A spokeswoman, Kimberly Golden-Benner, said the hospital could not elaborate. St. Julian is part of a health care group called Premier Women's Obgyn that has two locations and offers circumcisions, infertility treatment and other services in addition to low- and high-risk obstetric care, according to its website. St. Julian is a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist who has been practicing in the Atlanta area since January 2005, the website says. According to the suit, the baby got stuck during delivery, but St. Julian delayed a surgical procedure and failed to seek help quickly. Instead, she applied ridiculously excessive force on the babys head and neck to try to deliver it, attorney Roderick Edmond, who is also a physician, said. Roughly three hours passed before St. Julian took Ross, 20, for a cesarean section, according to the suit. By then, a fetal monitor had stopped registering a heartbeat. Recent: Georgia lawyer sentenced for involvement in Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection The cesarean section removed the baby's legs and body, but the head was delivered vaginally, according to Edmond. The couple asked for a C-section earlier, when the baby still could have survived, but were denied, Edmond said. He said the case highlighted the higher rates of infant and maternal mortality for Black women. Ross and Taylor, 21, did not speak at Wednesday's news conference. Their attorneys also accused Southern Regional staff of trying to cover up the decapitation by discouraging the couple from getting an autopsy, encouraging them to have their son cremated and wrapping and propping his body to make it appear the head was still attached. The suit alleges gross negligence, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It seeks unspecified punitive damages. This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Lawsuit accuses Georgia doctor of decapitating a baby during delivery Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) on Thursday knocked former President Trump for refusing to sign a pledge to support the eventual GOP presidential nominee, which is a prerequisite for joining the first Republican primary debate later this month. Every Republican running for President would be better than Joe Biden. Any candidate who does not commit to supporting the eventual nominee is putting themselves ahead of the future of our country. 2024 is too important for political games, Kemp wrote on X, the platform previously known as Twitter. Kemp earlier this year ruled out a presidential bid of his own but said he would certainly back the eventual GOP nominee, despite being an occasional critic of Trump. Trump, who remains far ahead of the GOP field in the 2024 race, said Wednesday he wont sign the loyalty pledge the Republican National Committee (RNC) is requiring presidential hopefuls to sign to get on the first debate stage. I wouldnt sign the pledge. Why would I sign a pledge if there are people on there that I wouldnt have? I wouldnt have certain people as somebody that I would endorse, Trump told Eric Bolling on Newsmax. The Hill Elections 2024 coverage The loyalty pledge is among several RNC requirements for candidates for the Milwaukee debate. Candidates also have to meet specific polling thresholds and garner 40,000 or more unique donors. Trump has hit the polling and donor benchmarks, but whether he takes the stage is still up for debate. Hes threatened to skip the event but said Wednesday he hasnt totally ruled it out. The former president indicated he would announce his decision next week. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. A 45-year-old Suwanee woman will serve nearly four years in prison after she fraudulently collected nearly $4 million in Paycheck Protection Programs, a relief program during the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of Georgia said Lakisha Swope submitted fraudulent PPP applications and got the funds she applied for. The USAO said Swope flew around the country to obtain the funds, with dozens of false PPP applications filed from her home in Suwanee. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The USAO said a search warrant revealed the extent of her activities. FBI agents, while executing a search warrant of Swopes residence, seized voluminous documents showing her role in managing a conspiracy to defraud the program, including false PPP applications in the names of dozens of businesses, USAO said in a statement. While businesses were able to request emergency financial assistance in potentially forgivable loans during the pandemic, officials say Swope instead used fake PPP applications to take home $3.6 million. After she was paid, officials said Swope used the money to buy luxury items. TRENDING STORIES: To carry out this scheme, Swope flew around the country, including to Texas, Missouri, and Florida, to collect loan fees from business owners she was using to file these false PPP applications. Swopes criminal conduct led to banks making $3,626,961 in fraudulent PPP payments, USAO said. Swope used the fraudulently obtained funds on luxury clothing, restaurants, hotels, and vacation rentals. As a result of the investigation and subsequent process in court, Swope was sentenced to three years and 10 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Shell also have to pay back more than $3.6 million as restitution to the U.S. Small Business Administration. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] OTHER NEWS: BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will own NATO's second largest helicopter fleet with the 60 Chinooks it announced it was buying last month, German Air Force Chief Ingo Gerhartz was quoted as saying on Friday. Last month, Reuters reported Germany would buy 60 Chinook helicopters from Boeing in a package that will cost up to 8 billion euros ($8.7 billion), including necessary infrastructure for the aircraft. "We will be the second largest helicopter nation in NATO after the U.S.," Gerhartz was quoted as saying by RND media network. Almost 50 Chinook helicopters would be stationed at the Holzdorf/Schoenewalde site in eastern Germany, where 1,000 additional soldiers will be also stationed, Gerhartz added. "The Schoenewalde site will play a unique key role for the Air Force, the entire Bundeswehr and Germany's security," he said. (Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Alexandra Hudson) A soldier sits and holds a telephone near Donetsk in Ukraine. Viktor Fridshon/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images A Ukrainian soldier's girlfriend said she was shocked by Kyiv residents partying while the war goes on. Paltseva told The Washington Post her boyfriend was at the front and would be fighting near Bakhmut. Ukraine's counteroffensive has hit snags against Russia's extensive and deep defensive lines. The girlfriend of a Ukrainian soldier told The Washington Post she was shocked that Kyiv residents are partying and socializing while the war against Russia rages on. Yulia Paltseva, a receptionist in Kyiv, told the Post: "All those dancing and smiling people should remember that there are those soldiers like my boyfriend in the trenches without any rotations and being shelled every day." Paltseva, 36, said her boyfriend is currently at the front line and will be fighting near the war-torn city of Bakhmut soon. Some had hoped Ukraine's counteroffensive would have led to a breakthrough, but Kyiv's troops have been held up by Russia's defenses. But they've been disappointed. "Our expectations were higher. If it's going on, it's going slow," she told the Post. Ukraine is locked in a slog against Russia's extensive defenses, which includes miles of deep trenches, minefields filled with explosives and booby traps, and anti-tank ditches that stop Kyiv's soldiers from using their prized Western-provided Leopard tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles. Despite growing concerns about how successful the counteroffensive will be, Ukraine has had some wins. Its fleets of exploding unmanned surface vessels particularly its drone boats have taken Russian warships in the Black Sea by surprise, causing massive damage and helping throw off critical sea supply lanes. Read the original article on Business Insider July 2023 was officially the hottest month in recorded history and, as such, was a regrettable milestone in the history of climate change. Scientists lamented the "new abnormal" that made itself apparent throughout that month, one that included extreme weather events like wildfires, tropical storms and freakishly scorching heatwaves. Ninety-seven percent of scientists agree that this global warming is primarily caused by human activities such as burning fossil fuels, and as such July 2023 has increased public pressure on political officials to impose effective environmental regulations. In the midst of these developments, researchers from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Chile published a paper in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science. Simply titled "Antarctic extreme events," the authors analyzed a wealth of data about extreme weather events in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. They did so across a range of environments and timescales, with the purpose of determining the extent of the continent's vulnerability. Their conclusion was sobering. Reaching the Paris Agreement's 1.5C goal will be tough, they surmise, unless we take strong action now to cut down greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. Otherwise, the authors write, "it is virtually certain that future Antarctic extreme events will be more pronounced than those observed to date." In other words, the extreme weather we're seeing this year, from floods in Alaska to wildfires in Hawaii, could get even worse. To learn more about the world of the Arctic and Antarctic, and how climate change will change these regions, Salon spoke with the study's lead author Prof. Martin Siegert, a glaciology professor, vice president at the University of Exeter, and former co-director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London. The following interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. When can we expect there to be no more ice in the Arctic and Antarctic? That's a good question. The answer to the Arctic is very different than the answer to the Antarctic. The Arctic is largely an ocean surrounded by land and over the ocean, the Arctic Ocean, there is a thin layer of sea ice. And that has been retreating pretty much every year since the 1970s. Maybe before that, but that's when we started measuring. There have been predictions about there being no summer ice ice grows in the winter, it shrinks in the summer somewhere around the mid-century. Some people say 2030. I think that's a bit too early, but somewhere around mid-century: 2050, 2060. In the wintertime it'll grow back, of course, because it's still pretty cold. The massive ice sheet in Greenland, that's going to take some shifting. Those massive ice sheets, they take an awfully long time to build up and to melt. The last time we were between ice ages, which was about 125,000 years ago, the ice sheet would've been far less extensive. It would've been only occupying the northern part of Greenland. So large parts of southern Greenland that now have a big ice sheet would have been free of ice. Now Antarctica is a different matter entirely. The Antarctic ice sheet has been in a pretty persistent state for about 14 million years, and it would take a colossal amount [of climate change] to totally get rid of that, and it would take tens of thousands of years to do it. But the ocean is different because the ice sheet will only sort of come and go when there is surface melting to take it away because it's in the central part, it's on land but the sea ice and the periphery of the ice sheet can be melted by the atmosphere and also, importantly, the ocean. And its ocean warmth that is melting the Antarctic ice sheet at the moment... That makes sense. How much will sea levels rise if the climate change-vulnerable regions of the Arctic and Antarctic melt, and how many people will be impacted? We've done some research on that. The IPCC [the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] has projections of sea level rise from now to 2100, and then running onwards after that. It says somewhere between half a meter [20 inches] and a meter [39 inches], depending on which scenario and which model but I think that's an underestimate, and other glaciologists do as well. What do you think if it is instead half-a-meter or a meter? Yeah, it could be higher. The way the IPCC works is it's all bounded in probabilities, so it's likely for sea levels in 2100 to be somewhere between half a meter and a meter higher than today. But what that likely means in IPCC speak is a 66% probability of that range. And what they're telling us is that there's a one in three chance of it being outside that range. There is no chance it's going to be less than 50 centimeters. So that means there's a one in three chance it is going to be higher than a meter. Want more health and science stories in your inbox? Subscribe to Salon's weekly newsletter The Vulgar Scientist. You can't discount that. That's far too likely. And I and another glaciologist have pointed this out: you wouldn't discount there being one-and-a-half, maybe two meters by the end of this century now and it doesn't stop at 2100. It just keeps going. So it's quite possible for there to be five meters by 2150, and five meters by 2150 will be a disaster. Lowline Pacific nations are going to go, the Netherlands probably won't be able to survive, downtown New York City will probably be underwater. There is real significance we could be talking about under that scenario. Let us talk about the lower range of the estimate, half-a-meter to a meter. If it just rises that much, will New York City still be underwater? Will the Netherlands still be underwater? I'm guessing Venice will be in trouble, to put it mildly. Yes, yes, all of those things. It's not just the sea level itself. It's the spring tide. It's the low pressure zone. When you have low pressure over the ocean, artificially, you have lots of water trying to run off into the ocean that's got to go somewhere. We've got a lot of winds pushing the water in one direction. Sometimes you get this sort of coalition of all of those things together: Low pressure, lots of water trying to get out of the rivers, the wind also pushing the ocean back into a certain place. And that's a flooding event, right? That's what you get: A spring tide flooding event. Add another meter on top of that, and it's even worse. Add another five meters on top of that, and it's a total disaster of course. And that's really what we're talking about. We're talking about a billion people on the planet that are close to at the water's edge right now. They will be displaced. They will have to go somewhere. I appreciate you being so thorough. I'm going to pivot a little bit. What glaciers do you think will be the "last glaciers," and how do glaciologists feel about that depressing prospect? I'm just about to go to the Alps for holiday going to go by train, low carbon route, very conscious of the carbon footprint and the Alps glaciers are shrinking fast. They're going back at 10, 20 meters a year, so you can see them lose over time. I was there about five years ago, so some of the glaciers are going to be 50 to 100 meters retreated compared to what it was the last time I was there. You just need to revisit this place. That's a concern. US Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica This handout photo dated 31 October 2002 shows an aerial view of the new elevated station (bottom-C) being built at the US Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. (DAVID MCCARTHY/AFP via Getty Images) But there are parts of the planet where ice is going to stay around for a long time. In the East Antarctic that will definitely be the case. I said the East Antarctic ice sheet has been around in a persistent state for 14 million years. And there are parts of East Antarctica that are going to take some shifting [to melt]. The last time there was no ice on the planet, no ice at all, would've been during the PaleoceneEocene Thermal Maximum. That's 55 million years ago. That's when CO2 levels in the atmosphere were a thousand parts per million. They're about 400 at the moment. And the temperature was about 12 degrees warmer in Africa than it is today. Even though Antarctica was in complete darkness for six months, like it is right now, the blanket of greenhouse gases kept the planet so warm that ice couldn't form. Now we are nowhere near that. The answer to your question, Where will the last bit of ice to go be? It will be in Central East Antarctica, but it's so far off. We've got so many more problems to face before we reach that. This question is very important to me on a personal level because I believe that people can better understand climate change if they visualize it, if they can hear it and feel it. When talking about the disintegration of large sections of the Larsen A, Larsen B and Wilkins ice shelves, can you help readers viscerally understand what that was like when these ice shelves collapsed? I think of the opening scene in "The Day After Tomorrow," which recreates the real-life collapse of Larsen B ice shelf in 2002. My question is, if a human could stand in the middle of this, what would it be like? You wouldn't want to be in that situation. I actually watched "The Day After Tomorrow" for the first time again since it first came out just recently. It's brilliant imagery, but it was an iceberg calving event. A great big crack through the ice shelf happened, and their camp happened to be right in the middle of that. It was sort of split, the tents went one way and the other [stuff] went the other way. A bit unlucky really, but that's Hollywood for you, I guess. That's not how Larsen B ice shelf broke up. Those ice shelves, the ones that broke up, would've had lots of melted water on the surface. In "The Day After Tomorrow," there was no melted water at all. There'd be ponds everywhere, and those ponds melt on the shelves and down into the ice shelf, into the floating slab of ice through a hole. And if they hit the bottom, then that punctures the structural integrity of the ice shelf. And these ponds would've put a hole in many of them dozens of holes, hundreds of holes all around this ice shelf. All of a sudden, your slab of ice goes from being a really strong body of ice to really weak. And what happens is a catastrophic domino effect, possibly with a bit of tidal influence, because this ice shelf is lifted up and falling down all the time. A crack appears, and because you are puncturing holes all around it, then the ice slab simply falls. It topples over, it knocks the next one over and the next one over, and it all goes really quickly. So this massive slab of ice disappears in about like three days, like it just blows up. And it does that because of the meltwater on the surface puncturing down into the ice itself. And that just causes weakness, structural weakness, to the whole slab of ice. And so once one bit falls, the rest of it kind of goes. Read more about climate change Balancing Act Another day, another Silicon Valley AI exec straddling the contradictory gap between AI optimism and AI doomsay. James Manyika, a former technological advisor to the Obama administration and Google's freshly-appointed head of "tech and society," told The Washington Post that AI is "an amazing, powerful, transformational technology." But, like others in the field take OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Silicon Valley's reigning king of cognitive dissonance, for instance he also voiced some serious concerns. Manyika was one of the many AI insiders who, back in May, signed a one-sentence letter declaring that "mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war." And in his interview with the WaPo, the tech and society chief conceded that as a result of AI, "bad things could happen" a convenient and ultimately meaningless position on the future of AI that leaves pretty much any outcome still on the table. Bold and Responsible Manyika's tightrope walking does feel notable. He's a powerful voice in the field, and is also the face of Google's self-avowed "bold and responsible" approach to AI, a mission defined by the exec in a May blog post as the act of "developing AI in a way that maximizes the positive benefits to society while addressing the challenges." "While there is natural tension" between boldness and responsibility, Manyika wrote, "we believe it's possible and in fact critical to embrace that tension productively." Others in the field, however, were quick to point out that his comments don't really mean all that much. "What does it mean honestly?" Rebecca Johnson, an AI ethics researcher at the University of Sydney who recently worked as a visiting researcher at Google, told the WaPo. "It just sounds like a slogan." No AI leader wants to be wrong about the future of AI but forging ahead while having a muddy-at-best stance on the risks of AI isn't exactly confidence-inducing. Regurgitating meaningless talking points isn't going to help us, especially as many foreseen AI risks are already starting to play out in real life. More on AI executives: OpenAI CEO Predicted AI Would Either End the World as We Know It, or Make Tons of Money Following a disastrous start to the school year at Jefferson County Public Schools, several state lawmakers are promising a slate of legislation targeting the district and asking Gov. Andy Beshear to call a special session on the issues. Twelve Louisville Republicans signed onto an open letter Thursday afternoon, saying JCPS "failed in its most fundamental obligation, which is to keep our kids safe." "To begin with, this epic failure did not come out of the blue, as warnings were echoed across the county throughout the summer. This is the last straw," the letter reads. "This community has talked for years about the need for structural changes, but nothing has really changed." JCPS, which is Kentucky's largest public school district, was forced to cancel the rest of the first week of school after its new bus route system caused some students to get home as late as nearly 10 p.m. Wednesday. Thursday's letter proposed the following actions: Rep. Kevin Bratcher will re-file a bill aimed at JCPS' student assignment plan to allow students the option of attend their "neighborhood schools." (Since the bill was initially filed, JCPS has radically overhauled how it assigns children to schools, undoing the forced busing the bill was initially targeting.) The cohort will call for a commission to evaluate splitting up the district, arguing JCPS, which serves 96,000 students and includes 165 schools, is "too big to properly manage." (An eleventh-hour attempt to call for a similar commission during the 2023 legislative session was rejected quickly by a committee.) They also call for "extensive changes to our school board, which has shown that it is not up to the task of managing our $2 billion school district." The lawmakers do not elaborate as to what those changes to the board, which is locally elected, could include. They also support legislation to put a school choice constitutional amendment on the 2024 ballot, which if passed would allow state dollars to follow students to private schools. Finally, the group called on Beshear to call the legislature into special session "for the purpose of immediately enacting the above policies and to take other steps to protect students and support parents in Jefferson County." Beshear spokeswoman Scottie Ellis said no legislators had reached out to the governor's office about a JCPS special session as of Thursday afternoon. "A special session is an extraordinary step that costs significant tax dollars and should only be taken after full consensus is reached and legislation has been drafted and then agreed upon," she added. JCPS did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment. The following lawmakers signed onto the letter: Rep. Jared Bauman Rep. Kevin Bratcher Rep. Emily Callaway Rep. John Hodgson Rep. Ken Fleming Rep. Jason Nemes Rep. Susan Witten Sen. Matt Deneen Sen. Adrienne Southworth Sen. Lindsey Tichenor Sen. Mike Nemes Sen. Julie Raque Adams This story may be updated. Reach Olivia Krauth at okrauth@courierjournal.com and on Twitter at @oliviakrauth. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Lawmakers seek special session after bus delays close JCPS schools FIRST ON FOX: More than 20 House Republican lawmakers filed amicus brief in support of Texas against a Justice Department lawsuit over its construction of a floating border barrier along the Rio Grande. The 22 lawmakers, led by Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, filed the brief in response to the Justice Departments lawsuit which alleges that the floating border barrier is in violation of federal law. The border barrier was launched last month as part of an effort by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to stop migrants crossing along the Rio Grande. Texas says it is designed to save lives by preventing people from entering the river, but humanitarian groups and the DOJ argue that the barrier poses a safety risk. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FILES INJUNCTION AGAINST TEXAS OVER FLOATING BORDER BARRIER IN RIO GRANDE "The State of Texass actions violate federal law, raise humanitarian concerns, present serious risks to public safety and the environment, and may interfere with the federal governments ability to carry out its official duties," the DOJ said in a letter to Abbott before the suit was filed. The DOJ lawsuit argues that the buoy barrier is in violation of the Rivers and Harbors Act, which protects navigable waters from obstructions and outlines authorities for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP The lawmakers argue that the federal governments claim that the Rio Grande is "navigable" is flimsy and based on a finding from 1947. They argue instead that the river has changed substantially since then and therefore cannot be classed as such now. Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, speaks during the House Budget Committee meeting titled Consideration of Committee Rules and Oversight Plan, in Cannon Building on Thursday, February 9, 2023. "When Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Act it carefully chose language designed to balance its desire to protect our rivers and harbors for commercial navigation with the limitations placed on its authority under the Commerce Clause," they say. "It did not intend to grant federal agencies unchecked power to regulate every ditch and stream that once upon a time could have carried a boat." It calls on the court to make the government produce evidence that the waters it wants to regulate are navigable, arguing that otherwise, that act could turn into a "one-way ratchet" in which federal authority expands but never shrinks. The lawmakers include Reps. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, August Pfluger, R-Texas, Brian Babin, R-Texas and Andy Biggs, R-Ariz. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Arrington said that states "do not have to be passive victims of Bidens border crisis and a failed federal government" and that the barrier is within Abbotts power and authority. "Bidens DOJ is stretching far and wide; this time, by using obscure laws and regulations to impede the Governor of Texas from protecting his citizens against the "imminent danger" and "invasion" of drugs and crime pouring into our state by terrorist drug cartels," he said. "Im proud to lead this Amicus Brief in support of the Governor as he stands his ground on the firm foundation of the US Constitution and his sovereign right to secure the southern border and keep Texans safe." ABBOTT MOVES AHEAD WITH FLOATING BORDER BARRIERS ON RIO GRANDE DESPITE LIBERAL OUTRAGE The amicus brief marks the latest twist in the debate over the barrier, which is one of a number of initiatives Texas has taken to secure its border amid a historic migrant crisis on which it has been on the front lines. TEXAS SAYS MEXICO IS FLAT-OUT WRONG TO TIE MIGRANT DEATH TO FLOATING BORDER BARRIER Mexico has also complained about the border and tied the death of at least one migrant to the barrier. "We reiterate the position of the Government of Mexico that the placement of wire buoys by the Texas authorities is a violation of our sovereignty," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "We express our concern about the impact on the human rights and personal safety of migrants that these state policies will have, which run counter to the close collaboration between our country and the federal government of the United States. Texas pushed back, calling Mexicos claim "flat-out wrong" and said that information indicating the death occurred further upstream. "This is a result of the reckless open border policies of President Biden and President Lopez Obrador. In fact, before Texas deployed barriers, the United Nations declared the U.S.-Mexico border the deadliest land crossing in the world," an Abbott spokesperson said. "If President Biden and President Lopez Obrador truly cared about human life, they would do their jobs and secure the border." In April, Gov. Mike DeWine asked Ohio lawmakers to take a look at the state's ban on most abortions, which is currently on hold. After the defeat of Issue 1, the Republican governor now says it's too late to change it. A proposal to enshrine abortion rights protections in the state constitution is on the Nov. 7 ballot. Issue 1, an effort to raise the threshold needed to amend that constitution failed Tuesday, 57% to 43%. More: Lawsuit asks Ohio Supreme Court to block abortion rights measure from November ballot DeWine, a staunch opponent of abortion access, had asked Ohio lawmakers to take a look at the current abortion law on the books, a 2019 ban on doctors performing abortions after embryonic cardiac activity is detected. "It has to be something that's sustainable," DeWine said in April. "It doesn't do any good to have a law on the books and then voters say, 'Well, we don't like that law,' and have it be overridden by a law that doesn't really fit Ohio." But on Thursday, DeWine said it's too late to change the law. "Now that this constitutional amendment is on the ballot, we need to focus on that." More: Ohio to vote on abortion rights constitutional amendment this November Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, had asked the governor to outline what changes DeWine wanted. The GOP legislative leader also expressed doubt that House Republicans, who hold a veto-proof majority, could agree on abortion policy. That chamber has been divided since a fight over the speaker's gavel earlier this year. Efforts to either ban all abortions or clarify exceptions for doctors fizzled last year after the U.S. Supreme Court's June decision sending questions about abortion access back to the states. "Ultimately, the goal is to have something that could be acceptable by the majority of the people of the state of Ohio and I am confident that we will reach that and we will reach that in a civil way," DeWine said. DeWine promised to keep talking about the proposed amendment, which he called a "radical approach" and out of step with Ohioans' positions on abortion. Created Equal, which opposes abortion, applauded DeWine's approach. "Most Ohioans share his call for civility and a common-sense approach to the abortion issue, not a one size fits all extreme amendment to the Ohio Constitution that leaves no room for future debate and negotiation, President Mark Harrington said in a statement. Dr. Lauren Beene, spokesperson for Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, said Ohioans, not their politicians, control decisions about abortion. "Ohioans aren't going to be misled by the same extremist politicians whose trickery they just rejected this week," Beene said in a statement. "This amendment is about putting Ohioans back in charge of their families care and keeping the government out of our private business." Reporter Haley BeMiller contributed to this article. Jessie Balmert and Anna Staver are reporters for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio. Get more political analysis by listening to the Ohio Politics Explained podcast This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: DeWine says it's too late to change Ohio abortion law before November Russian troops shelled Kherson Oblast's village of Bilozerka on the west bank of the Dnipro River, wounding six people, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported on Aug. 10. The residents were receiving humanitarian aid when Russia hit the settlement, according to Prokudin. All victims were hospitalized, with one having severe injuries, the official added. Earlier the same day, Prokudin wrote that Russian multi-weapon attacks against Kherson Oblast wounded two civilians on Aug. 9. Warehouses of a utility company, two medical facilities, a kindergarten, and power lines were reportedly damaged. Kherson and other regional settlements on the Dnipro River's Kyiv-controlled west bank have been continuously subjected to Russian shelling since Ukraine liberated them in November 2022. Russian forces were pushed to the river's east bank, from where they have since been firing at the liberated territories, regularly resulting in civilian deaths and injuries. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Germany transfers 2 Patriot launchers to Ukraine in latest aid package Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Greeks protest for space on the beach as pricey sunbeds multiply Greeks protest for free access to beaches ATHENS (Reuters) -On Greece's popular island of Paros, a protest by residents demanding space and free access to its sandy beaches has led to a growing nationwide movement against the expansion of pricey sunbeds rented out by private companies. The protests, dubbed by media the 'Towel Movement', have quickly spread from Paros to the nearby island of Naxos and to other holiday spots at the north and the south of the country. "The locals enjoy the peacefulness here, so we do not want it [the beach] to be taken up by businesses who care about the money, and not about nature and the vibe," said Ronit Nesher, a 53-year-old Paros resident. "We do not want the beach to be occupied by umbrellas and huge, you know, really humongous beds that have nothing to do with the simplicity of the island." Beaches are public in Greece, a country receiving millions of tourists every year, mainly in the summer, its top tourism season. However, an increasing number of businesses have received licenses to rent out sun beds and umbrellas which they set up along a stretch of beach. Protesters say that prices for two loungers and an umbrella can often top 100 euros for a day, and in many cases businesses expand well beyond the agreed area of beach, leaving little room for those who want to lay a towel and sunbathe for free. "We come here peacefully... we just want to let you know that we are trying to reclaim our right to free access to our beaches," said one of the protesters through a loudspeaker as he walked through sun loungers at the Marcello beach in Paros. A prosecutor has launched an investigation into Paros' case. In Naxos, more than 5,000 people have joined the Facebook group "Save the beaches of Naxos now!", which has also filed a legal complaint. "The beaches were so full of this furniture ... that many people who didn't want to sit on a bed or in a chair, had no other space to sit anymore," said Eleni Andrianopoulou, 47, one of the group's organisers. Greece has a 16,000 kilometre long coastline and hundreds of beaches where companies hire sunbeds. The country emerged from a debt crisis five years ago and relies heavily on tourism for economic recovery. ($1 = 0.9060 euros) (Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Deborah Kyvrikosaios; Editing by Alexandra Hudson) An Army National Guard two-star general, whose duties included overseeing the services sexual assault prevention and equal opportunity programs, was fired from his post following an Army Inspector General investigation that found he presided over a workplace rife with sexism and toxicity. According to USA Today, which first broke the story, Maj. Gen. Eric Little, the director of the National Guard Bureaus Manpower and Personnel directorate, was fired due to counterproductive leadership. Littles former office is also known as the Bureaus J-1, a reference to its staff numbering designation. In one example detailed by USA Today, Little was reportedly dismissive after he was informed of workplace misconduct directed toward women under his command. Air Force women are emotional, he said, according to USA Today, which quoted documents obtained by the publication. I know this because all of my best friends are women. According to his official biography, and USA Todays reporting, one of the complaints against Little was filed the same month he took over as the head of personnel. Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith confirmed to Army Times that the services inspector general substantiated complaints against Little, who was removed from his position after appropriate administrative action. Smith did not specify which complaints were substantiated or provide details on what disciplinary action Little faced as a result. The United States Army Inspector General Agency has concluded its investigations into allegations against Maj. Gen. Eric K. Little with several substantiated findings, Smith said in her emailed statement. Maj. Gen. Little received appropriate administrative action and is now currently serving as the Special Assistant to the Chief, National Guard Bureau. We consider this matter closed. Littles official biography indicates that before being promoted to major general to become the National Guards top personnel officer, he had never served in such a capacity. According to his bio, the quartermaster officer never attended human resources professional military education, either, though its uncertain whether he attended shorter-length classes that dont qualify as military schools. Army Times senior reporter Davis Winkie contributed to this report. Toronto Blue Jays' George Springer gestures as he crosses the plate on a home run against the Cleveland Guardians during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) CLEVELAND (AP) George Springer homered in the first inning and Kevin Gausman struck out six in a combined six-hitter, helping the Toronto Blue Jays to a 1-0 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday night. Springer belted a 393-foot shot to left-center on the 13th pitch of his at-bat against Logan Allen (5-5), delighting the boisterous Blue Jays fans who occupied most of the lower bowl at Progressive Field. Neither he nor I wanted to quit, so you have to essentially grind out that at-bat, Springer said. And when you hear our fans throughout a game like tonight, its awesome and doesnt go unnoticed. Its always special because their support spans from coast to coast and as far north as you can go. Gausman (9-6) worked seven innings, scattering four hits without a walk and increasing his AL-leading strikeout total to 183. Erik Swanson, Tim Mayza and Jordan Hicks followed as Toronto posted its 12th shutout, tying for the most in the majors. Hicks earned his 11th save by retiring the only batter he faced, Oscar Gonzalez, as the Blue Jays remained in the third and final AL wild-card position. With the way Allen was pitching, Gauzy almost had to be perfect -- and he was, Toronto manager John Schneider said. Just another example of why hes a Cy Young candidate this year. Gausman also used his right arm to pick off Gonzalez at second base with one out in the seventh, which he credited bench coach Don Mattingly and pitching coach Pete Walker for suggesting. That play obviously worked out and got me out of a huge jam, so I was all fired up after it, Gausman said. Kole Calhoun had two hits for the free-falling Guardians, who have lost nine of 12. Cleveland only advanced two runners past second base, both in the first two innings. Allen pitched five innings, giving up one run on four hits. The left-hander was the third rookie to start for the Guardians in the series, following Gavin Williams and Tanner Bibee. The trio held Toronto to one run over 19 combined innings, but Cleveland has dropped two of the three games because it has only scored twice. I was just trying to attack, not give in and walk Springer, Allen said. Unfortunately, that play was the difference. Guardians third baseman Jose Ramirez, who is appealing his three-game suspension for exchanging punches with White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson on Saturday, went 0 for 4. Springer added two singles and is batting .448 (13 for 29) since ending a career-worst hitless streak of 35 at-bats on Aug. 2. George has been George for a long time, Schneider said. And for the last few weeks, hes been really good. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had two hits as the Blue Jays totaled eight against four pitchers. TOUGH BREAK Blue Jays RHP Chad Green, who is on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Buffalo, was placed on the seven-day concussion list after being struck on the head by a throw from catcher Tyler Heineman on Tuesday at Worcester. Green ducked to avoid Heinemans throw to second base on an attempted steal, but the ball glanced off the back of his head. The 32-year-old reliever remained upright and conscious, leaving the field under his own power. Green underwent Tommy John surgery in June 2022 while pitching for the Yankees. He signed a two-year contract with the Blue Jays in January. TRAINERS ROOM Blue Jays: RHP Jordan Romano (lower back inflammation) tossed an up-and-down bullpen session in Toronto earlier in the day. The closer has been on the 15-day IL since July 29 and could be activated this weekend. Guardians: RHP Cal Quantrill (right shoulder inflammation) surrendered six runs on six hits and two walks over 1 1/3 innings at Toledo during his first rehab start with Triple-A Columbus. Quantrill threw 54 pitches. UP NEXT Guardians RHP Noah Syndergaard (1-5, 6.75 ERA) takes on Blue Jays RHP Alek Manoah (3-8, 5.72 ERA) in the four-game series finale Thursday. Syndergaard allowed a career-high four homers in his Progressive Field debut, losing to the White Sox 7-4 on Aug. 5. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb Law enforcement agents confer at the home of Craig Deeleuw Robertson who was shot and killed by FBI agents in Provo on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. Robertson allegedly posted threatening comments about President Joe Biden hours before the president was scheduled to visit Utah. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News Craig Robertson, come out with your hands up! This is the FBI. Thats what residents of a quaint, suburban neighborhood pushed up against Provo Canyon near the BYU campus say they woke up to in the early morning hours Wednesday. It sounded like it was coming from inside my house, said one neighbor, who asked not to be identified. What followed was a barrage of gunshots. Moments later, authorities carried the overweight, elderly man out of his house, placed him on the sidewalk and tried, unsuccessfully, to render first aid, according to the witness. Several neighbors said his body remained on the concrete for two hours as blood soaked through a white sheet paramedics placed over him. The FBI has not released details about the shooting. The neighbors eyewitness account provides the clearest picture so far of the fatal encounter between authorities and 75-year-old Craig Robertson. After the sound of about six gunshots, you hear them yell shots fired, shots fired. He has a gun! And then a whole bunch more shots, said the neighbor. There was such a loud barrage they were unable to tell how many times the agents inside Robertsons home fired. They were all shooting at the same time ... and at that point in time, I was in get-my-kid mode. Neighbors say Robertson was shot and killed between 6 and 6:30 a.m. Wednesday as the FBI carried out a raid related to his social media posts where he made threats to President Joe Biden and other Democrats. Not long after the shooting, Biden arrived in Utah as part of a tour of Western states. Robertson had been under FBI surveillance for a number of months, according to a federal criminal complaint filed Tuesday. He was charged with making interstate threats, making threats against federal law enforcement and making threats against the president. I hear Biden is coming to Utah. Digging out my old ghille suit and cleaning the dust off the m24 sniper rifle. Welcom, buffoon-in-chief! Robertson wrote on social media. Neighbors who spoke with the Deseret News described Robertson as a markedly different person than what he portrayed online. One person called him a teddy bear known for his woodworking who would sit in the same seat at church every Sunday; another said he was barely mobile, weighed nearly 300 pounds and was unable to walk without a cane. He would drive to church, despite it only being about 200 yards from his home, because he had so much trouble moving around. Related Neighbors also described a harrowing scene, with dozens of agents converging on the Provo house, rifles drawn and hiding behind bulletproof shields as flash bangs exploded. I just cant believe that this man warranted that kind of response, said Travis Clark, who lived up the street from Robertson. The neighbor who spoke on the condition of anonymity said they were shocked by the police presence and disturbed by what they saw after the shooting. I understand they have procedures that have to be followed. But having his body out there for so long when theres kids in the cul-de-sac ... they could have done more. Because he was bleeding through the sheet, said the neighbor who asked to remain anonymous. Through pictures and videos, the Deseret News was able to confirm the neighbor watched the scene unfold. Craig Deeleuw Robertson, 75, pictured in a social media post. Robertson was shot and killed early Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, by FBI agents trying to serve a warrant at his Provo home. | Facebook A neighborhood becomes a crime scene It started early. The trucks rolled in quietly, under the cover of darkness, parking on lawns and blocking driveways in the suburb. Its an unassuming street, where cottonwood trees grow in lawns and children ride bikes and scooters. But by Wednesday morning, it was blocked off with crime scene tape as investigators combed through the property. It wasnt until agents began calling to Robertson with a megaphone that the witness noticed the police. They looked out their window to see dozens of agents wearing fatigues and tactical gear with FBI plastered across their body armor. Parked nearly on the witness lawn was a tactical vehicle. The agents lined up in front of Robertsons door, ordering him to exit with his hands up. When Robertson wouldnt comply, agents attempted to break his front door down, the neighbor said. The thud of a battering ram echoed through their house, at first sounding like a gunshot. The neighbor compared it to an armory door. They could not get it open. Thats when agents used a breaching vehicle to go through the window, the neighbor said. Images taken in the aftermath show Robertsons window shattered, with trim hanging from the frame and shades scattered. Law enforcement agents investigate at the home of Craig Deleeuw Robertson, who was shot and killed by FBI agents in Provo on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. Robertson posted threatening comments about President Joe Biden hours before the president was scheduled to visit Utah. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News Thats when the neighbor heard the first shots, followed by a rapid hail of gunfire. The neighbors dog, in a panic, jumped up on the window sill and barked, knocking over several houseplants and sending dirt and shards of clay through the living room. Authorities have not confirmed whether Robertson had a weapon or whether he fired any shots. The New York Times, quoting a federal law enforcement official speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Robertson was armed at the time. The silence after the shooting, the neighbor said, was deafening. As they were walking up from the basement, where they had momentarily been hiding with their child, they saw officers carrying Robertson, half-dressed and bloodied. They placed him on the sidewalk and rendered first aid. But you can tell from how theyre acting, theres probably no chance. So then I watched him bleed out on the sidewalk, the witness said. Its unclear when Robertson was pronounced dead. As he lay on the sidewalk, firetrucks and an ambulance arrived, and paramedics used an airway kit in an attempt to revive him, the witness said. Then paramedics packed all their stuff up. They put a sheet over him and then they just left, and they left him there. And the body was there for what felt like forever, just bleeding through the sheet, just laying in a pool of blood on the sidewalk. And then after a little while, I thought, I cant sit here and stare at his body, the witness said. At about 8:30 a.m., they left the neighborhood. One person is dead following a shooting involving an FBI agent in Provo on Wednesday on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News A Washington County District Court judge ordered a competency hearing Tuesday for a Hagerstown-area man accused of carjacking a sport utility vehicle Sunday at a local Sheetz and crashing it more than once, including into a local cycle shop, according to court records. Antonious De Mond Bizzard Jr., 26, of Bridle Court south of Hagerstown, was charged with carjacking and robbery both felonies, as well as with disturbing the peace at the convenience store off Eastern Boulevard and maliciously destroying property at Twigg Cycles, according to charging documents. District Court Judge Victoria J. Lobley, on Tuesday, ordered Bizzard to be held without bond at the Washington County Detention Center. She also ordered Bizzard to be evaluated through the Maryland Department of Health to determine if he's competent to stand trial, according to court records. The maximum penalty for the carjacking charge alone is 30 years in state prison. District Public Defender Angela Oetting provided the following statement: "At this point in time it would be premature for our office to make a statement regarding Mr. Bizzard and his cases. "However, our clients, like all criminal defendants, are innocent until proven guilty. We will ensure that Mr. Bizzard's rights are protected during the process of him being evaluated under the court's order signed yesterday at his bond hearing and will review all evidence as it is disclosed to us by the State's Attorney's Office." Carjacking and disturbing customers at Sheetz Hagerstown Police were dispatched to the Sheetz at 191 Eastern Blvd. North around 11 p.m. Sunday for a reported robbery and a potential carjacking, charging documents state. Police reviewed camera footage and saw a man later identified as Bizzard walk behind the register and reach past an employee, removing money from the register, charging documents state. Before doing that, the man was walking around the store disturbing customers, including going into the women's restroom and disturbing females using the facilities, charging documents state. A man sitting in his Chevy Equinox told police a female customer he recognized informed him a man was in the women's restroom causing a disturbance. A man fitting the description of the disturber then walked out of the store and got into the SUV's passenger seat, telling the driver to "give it to him," charging documents state. The Chevy owner told police he realized the man wanted his SUV so he told the suspect he was going to grab his cellphone and exit the vehicle, charging documents state. The suspect allegedly told the man to leave his cellphone and demanded the passcode. The driver told police the suspect said he would "murder him" if he didn't leave his cellphone and get out of the vehicle. Fearing for his life, the driver exited the SUV and the suspect drove away, charging documents state. The officer, still at Sheetz, learned the stolen vehicle was involved in a hit-and-run at Twigg Cycles off South Edgewood Drive, court records state. Police at the cycle shop reviewed camera footage showing the stolen SUV driving straight into the front of the cycle shop, backing up, turning around and reversing into the building before fleeing. The video showed the SUV destroy the building's front glass and "cause significant damage to the property," charging documents state. Several motorcycles were knocked over and damaged. An owner estimated the damage to be worth several thousand dollars, court records state. One of the cycle shop's owners, reached Wednesday, had no comment for this story. The investigating officer learned Maryland State Police and the Washington County Sheriff's Office found the stolen SUV in the area of Sharpsburg Pike (Md. 65) and Poffenberger Road south of Hagerstown. The suspect and stolen vehicle were involved in a disturbance and hit-and-run at a home in the area before the SUV was wrecked at the intersection, charging documents state. Most of the money stolen from Sheetz, over $550, was recovered from the vehicle and returned to Sheetz. Police also found credit cards, a cellphone and a driver's license for the SUV's owner in the vehicle. The SUV had significant damage. This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Hagerstown-area man charged in Sunday robbery, carjacking and crash Half of Americans in a new Gallup survey said they have tried marijuana recreationally, though far fewer use the drug regularly. The poll, published Thursday, found that 50 percent of respondents said they have tried marijuana, while 17 percent of those surveyed said they smoke it regulary. This is a 2-point increase from a similar poll in January 2022, in which 48 percent of respondents said they have tried the drug. Democratic men were the most likely group to smoke marijuana. Along political party lines, 57 percent of Democratic respondents said they have tried marijuana, compared to 52 percent of independents and 39 percent of Republicans. Fifty-three percent of male respondents and 44 percent of female respondents said they have tried marijuana. There was limited variation by age group. Fifty-one percent of respondents between the ages of 35 and 54 said they have tried marijuana, compared to 49 percent between 18 and 34 years and 47 percent who are 55 or older. Twenty-three states and Washington, D.C., have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Minnesota is the most recent state to legalize recreational marijuana use. Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed legislation in May that allows people older than 21 to carry up to 2 ounces of marijuana in public and possess up to 2 pounds. The legislation went into effect last week. The Gallup poll was conducted from July 3-27 with 1,105 respondents. The polls margin of error was 4 percentage points. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. You don't need to be a tourism professional to realize the fundamental incompatibility of tourism and military operations. So, to understand the realities of the 2023 Crimean tourist season, it is enough to read the list of attacks by air and sea-based drones on military targets in Crimea from June and July 2023, then look at the photo of instructions for tourists to undergo inspection when crossing the Kerch Strait bridge. Read also: Explosions rock occupied Crimea, smoke seen in Sevastopol Bay During the first two months of the summer vacation season of 2023, at least 39 attacks using drones and missiles on military and infrastructure facilities occurred in occupied Crimea. Ten of them directly impacted transportation road and/or rail. the South Coast, i.e., Greater Yalta and Greater Alushta, have been free of air attacks Crimea's leading resort and tourist region, . However, this does not mean that Russian tourists feel safe there. The authors, who know from their many years of experience what the embankments and squares of the main resort towns of the Crimean peninsula look like during the high season, confidently conclude that in 2023 there will simply be no mass tourist flow to Crimea as such. Moreover, there is every reason to assume that, in the coming days, there may be a significant outflow of those tourists who dared to plan a vacation in the occupied Crimea during the war or send their children to the peninsula (who were forced into the role of human shields). Read also: Ukraine knocks out two critical bridges used by Russia to supply southern troops from Crimea ISW When you see official estimates of the tourist flow to Crimea in the media, you must understand that they are propaganda and are overstated two, three, or even four times. They consider everyone who enters the peninsula, including the additional population of about 1 million people, including the military and their families, who moved to Crimea from Russia after the occupation in 2014 and may travel to Russia and return several times a year. The number of overnight stays in tourist facilities is not published. Due to the occupation, tourism logistics in Crimea have changed radically and continue to change. Before the occupation, in the 2000s, the peninsula had stable tourism inflow patterns: 67% by rail, 20% by car, and 13% by air. In 2015-2017, according to the illegal occupation authorities of Crimea," 45% of the total number of visitors to Crimea arrived by air, 41% by ferry, and 14% by car. On May 15, 2018, they opened the road part of the bridge across the Kerch Strait; then the passenger railway on December 25, 2019. They began freight transport on June 30, 2020, for freight transport. In 2020, 70% of people came to the occupied Crimea by road, 25% by air, and 5% by rail. After the full-scale invasion, the only Crimean airport in Simferopol ceased to function, and the bridge across the Kerch Strait was repeatedly attacked and damaged, meaning that the flow of air tourists ceased to exist, and the use of the Kerch Strait bridge became risky. Read also: Strikes on depots in Crimea more significant than Kerch Bridge attack, says former Aydar commander It should be noted that the reporting system for the number of tourists is a "statistical tradition" of the Soviet era. In those years, this indicator was calculated by the amount of bread sold based on calculations from when bread was produced by state-owned enterprises (usually 1-2 in each city). At the time, this estimate made sense. After the transition of bread production to many private bakeries, such statistics became inadequate. In 2010-2013, the Crimean tourism industry began to transition to calculating the volume of tourist flow through the internationally accepted indicator of "number of overnight stays." However, they did not complete the change to this system when the occupation began. Read also: Russian native named as saboteur by Russian occupiers in Crimean gas pipeline explosion In such circumstances, it is possible to estimate the actual number of tourists through the indicator of the "average length of stay of tourists in Crimea." In the 1980s (when the maximum number of tourists was reached 8.3 million people in 1988), one tourist's average length of stay in Crimea was 20-24 days. In the USSR, this corresponded to the standard length of an annual vacation. In the 2000s, tourists' average length of stay in Crimea decreased to 10-14 days. This was in line with new trends in the labor market. During the years of occupation of Crimea, according to local statistics, this figure dropped to 7 days. Read also: Russian native named as saboteur by Russian occupiers in Crimean gas pipeline explosion For example, the occupation authorities of Crimea reported that in 2019, Crimea received 7.43 million visitors. Taking into account the data on the average length of stay of a tourist of 7 days, the actual number of tourists compared to the statistics of the 1980s (8 million people, average length of stay 20-24 days) can be estimated at about 2-2.5 million people. The actual size of the tourist flow to the occupied Crimea before the full-scale invasion of last year was up to 2.5 million people a year, which is 2-2.5 times less than the estimated number of tourists before the occupation (5-6 million people, 10-14 days) and 3.2 times less than in Soviet times (8 million people, 20-24 days). Read also: Russian occupiers in Ukraines Crimea claim 13 drones attacked peninsula overnight The actual size of the tourist flow to the occupied peninsula in 2022 can be estimated at up to 1.5 million people. In the current year, 2023, according to the available data on the decrease in bookings, it can be calculated at up to 1 million people per year (provided that the 2023 season will continue in the form of "extreme tourism under fire"). 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 Hartford mother who is charged in connection with her toddlers death will remain free on bond. Tabitha Frank appeared in court in Hartford on Thursday morning, where her case was continued until Sept. 18 and transferred to Part A court, where major crimes are heard. Prosecutors did not request an increase in Franks bond during the hearing. Frank, who is charged with manslaughter and 10 counts of risk of injury to a minor, has been free on a $100,000 bond since July 24 the day her son Cornleiuz Shane Williams died at Connecticut Childrens Medical Center. The single mother said she is relieved that she will be able to attend her sons funeral services. On Wednesday, she made a plea to the public asking for donations to help pay for a burial for her son. Hartford mother pleads for help to bury 2-year-old son who died after falling from window Frank said she wants to bury the boy so she and her daughters have a place to visit Corneliuz, who they affectionately called Papa. In less than 12 hours after she spoke publicly about her fundraiser in Hartfords Pope Park, the family raised more than $9,000 by Thursday morning. Its the most relief Ive felt since this happened, Frank said Thursday outside of Hartford Superior Court. Im so grateful that people helped out to make sure he gets buried, she said. It brought a little bit of light Thank you is too simple a word but Thank you is all I have in my heart right now. Her father, Jeffrey Williams, said it was a tremendous feeling to know that his daughter would not be held in custody at the time of her sons funeral. It feels like a ton of bricks has been lifted off me, he said. Frank said that some people encouraged her not to ask for help financing the burial, which she could not afford on her own. But she said she is glad she did. Im happy that I didnt give up. I was at a place of giving up, but Im happy that I listened to that motherly instinct because even though hes gone, I listened to that voice in me that says I have to take care of him, she said. My heart said, If you do everything you can, you can sleep at night. Mother of toddler who fatally fell from Hartford window charged with manslaughter Frank has said repeatedly that Corneliuzs death has broken her heart and that it was an accident. A mistake that she will live with forever. Corneliuz died after falling from a window in the familys third-floor apartment while home alone with his four sisters who are all under the age of 12. Frank has claimed that she was driving for Uber while the kids were home alone and that Cornleiuzs father, who is not facing any charges, was supposed to be on his way to provide child care. Frank said she has been replaying memories, and videos, from the last night of Corneliuzs life over and over and over again to look for some type of sign. She said she kept rewatching videos of the kids eating ice cream that Friday night, making sure I wasnt imagining my kids being happy and playing and being normal. He was playing, he was happy, he wasnt crying, she said. Corneliuzs smile, she said, was everything. When she was stressed, Corneliuz would run up and hug her and it would melt away. He was a peaceful, good and sweet baby, she added. Now, she said, she feels like she is living in a nightmare I cant seem to shake loose. Franks four daughters, ages 3, 4, 6 and 12, were taken into DCF custody due to conditions in the home after the fall. Officers in a police report described the home as deplorable and uninhabitable with rotting food, insects and feces. Frank and her family have argued that the house was only as messy as any home of a single mother of five would be during the summer. Police report details dirt, insects, feces found in Hartford apartment where toddler fell from window On Wednesday, Frank said that there were piles of wet laundry in the apartment because the kids had just been playing at a waterpark. The laundry machine in their apartment complex barely works, she claimed, and costs more than she can afford. Trash had piled up, she said, because the trash needs to be taken into an alley and she claimed that didnt want to go into the alley in the dark the night before. Spoiled food, she said, was the result of their refrigerator breaking that week. It wasnt a situation of how people think it was, she said Wednesday. Franks attorney Wesley Spears said outside the courthouse that they were very pleased with the outcome of Thursdays hearing. He defended his client, saying that she is a caring, loving mother that has been villainized and demonized by the system. Spears reiterated previous statements that Corneliuzs death was a tragic accident. Mothers dont make mistakes on purpose, accidents happen. Its unfortunate, kids drown in swimming pools, kids fall out of windows, all kinds of things happen to kids. According to a police report, a DCF social worker came to the house after the boys fall and took the surviving children into custody because of the conditions. DCF said that they had last had contact with the family in mid-June and at their last visit, the conditions of the home were not as abysmal, records show. CTs DCF leader speaks out after arraignment of Hartford mom charged in sons fatal fall DCF later spoke out, saying that the department had had an open case with the family for a long time and that the home had not been in that condition previously. They were on the verge of closing Franks case with the department when Corneliuz fell, DCF said. DCF Commissioner Vanessa Durantes asked the public to pause their judgments on anyone involved in an investigation of child maltreatment. Dorantes said that Franks home only allegedly met the statutory criteria of physical neglect resulting in a substantiation once before, in 2016, before Corneliuz was born. The last contact we had with the children was in mid-June 2023 and based on the assessment at the time, further child protective services involvement was not warranted and the case was in the process of being closed resulting in no additional visits or contact, Dorantes said. Australian TV anchor Cheng Lei, who will have spent three years in detention in China as of Sunday, said in a rare message that she misses her family and life in Australia. I miss the sun. In my cell, the sunlight shines through the window but I can stand in it for only 10 hours a year, she said in a message released Thursday by her partner Nick Coyle on the X account he runs, FreeChengLei. Coyle told CNN the message had been dictated to diplomatic officers and shared with him. I cant believe I used to avoid the sun when I was living back in Australia, Chengs message said. Cheng described it as a love letter to Australia, and said I havent seen a tree in 3 years. Cheng, a former business anchor for Chinas state broadcaster CGTN and mother of two, is accused of illegally supplying state secrets overseas, a charge that carries a possible sentence of between five years to life in prison. She had been on her way to work on the morning of August 13, 2020, when she was taken by Chinas Ministry of State Security, Coyle said in a letter published in The Australian newspaper in May. Chinese authorities have not revealed details of the allegations against Cheng. The court in China has delayed handing down a verdict multiple times, leaving Cheng in custody and her loved ones without clarity on her fate. In her letter released Thursday, Cheng spoke fondly of her life in Australia, writing I miss the Australian people. I remember camping for the first time with my family, she writes. I miss the sweet encounters of wildlife in Australia, the sea salt whirling in my ear. I relive every bushwalk, river, lake, beach with swims and picnics and psychedelic sunsets, sky that is lit up with stars, and the silent and secret symphony of the bush, she says. Most of all I miss my children, she wrote at the end. Coyle told CNN that he is only able to hear from Cheng after her consular visits, which happen once a month. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com The Hawaiian island of Maui has been battered by a hurricane-propelled wildfire this week that has left dozens dead, a town destroyed and many others injured. With at least 36 dead, the Maui wildfire has become one of the deadliest wildfires in the U.S. in recent years. Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. said in a recorded statement that the island had been tested like never before in our lifetime. Here are five things to know about the wildfires. Historic Lahaina eviscerated by the fire The historic town of Lahaina on Maui was devastated by the wildfire that tore through the island this week. Officials said Wednesday that at least 271 structures were left damaged or destroyed due to the wildfire. The Associated Press reported that most of Front Street, home to restaurants, stores and other businesses, was likely consumed by the fire. The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street Aug. 8, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Matthew Thayer/The Maui News via AP) Lahainas banyan tree which was planted in 1873 and covers a whole acre may have also been destroyed in the fire, according to the AP. The fig tree, which has roots that grow out of branches to reach the soil, is believed to be the largest of its kind in the U.S. The town was named the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1802 and served as the center of government for more than 50 years, according to the Lahaina Town website. Photos of the damage show the downtown area surrounded by flames and plumes of smoke. Obama: Its tough to see images coming out of Hawaii It is feared that many of its 60 historical sites will not be recovered due to the fire. One of those sites is the 200-year-old Waiola Church, which was photographed engulfed in flames earlier this week. Cause of fire remains unknown Army Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara told reporters Wednesday that the initial cause of the fires was unclear, but he noted that a months-long drought, low humidity and high winds likely contributed to their spread. The fires on Maui have been fueled by Hurricane Dora, which was churning hundreds of miles south of Hawaii. Maui saw wind gusts of up to 80 mph, which also grounded emergency helicopters from responding to the flames, Hara said. This photo provided by the County of Maui shows fire and smoke filling the sky from wildfires on the intersection at Hokiokio Place and Lahaina Bypass in Maui, Hawaii, Aug. 8, 2023. (Zeke Kalua/County of Maui via AP) Adam Weintraub, the communication director of the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said that the high winds also made it difficult to predict where the flames would go. He said Thursday that the agency had a good advance picture from the National Weather Service that the region would face the potential for extreme fire behavior, but the flames were unpredictable in the wind environment. When you get a flame in dry vegetation, in low humidity, in that kind of a wind environment, the flames can go anywhere, Weintraub said on NBCs Today show. At least 36 killed, many injured Maui County officials announced late Wednesday that at least 36 people have been killed due to the wildfires in west Maui. It felt like we were in hell: Men jump in ocean to escape Maui fire Officials also said that dozens of people were injured due to the fires, adding that numerous shelters have also been opened on the island for those who needed to flee their homes. The American Red Cross said there were about 942 people across three shelters, according to Maui County. A wildfire burns in Kihei, Hawaii, late Aug. 9, 2023. Thousands of residents raced to escape homes on Maui as blazes swept across the island, destroying parts of a centuries-old town in one of the deadliest U.S. wildfires in recent years. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil) Some individuals took to the ocean to escape the flames, with the Coast Guard revealing Wednesday that it had rescued 14 people off the shore of Lahaina. Biden sent military to aid with response President Biden on Wednesday ordered all available Federal assets to respond to the wildfires that ravaged the island. Biden said in a statement that the U.S. Coast Guard and the Navy 3rd Fleet are supporting response and rescue efforts on the Hawaiian island, noting that the Hawaiian National Guard mobilized Chinook helicopters to also help with fire suppression and search-and-rescue efforts. President Biden speaks in Auburn, Maine, July 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) He noted that the Army also supplied Black Hawk helicopters to help battle the flames on the Big Island, which has also seen wildfires but has not reported severe damage or injuries. Biden also signed a major disaster declaration on Thursday for the state to free up additional federal funding. The White House said the assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, certain loans to cover property losses and other programs for home and business owners. Tourists were evacuated from the island Ed Sniffen, director of Hawaiis Department of Transportation, said at the Wednesday press conference that officials evacuated more than 11,000 tourists out of Maui as of Wednesday, noting that about 600 people were scheduled to stay overnight at the airport. The states Department of Transportation has coordinated multiple mass bus evacuations to take people to Kahului Airport to fly off the island. This comes as United Airlines and American Airlines both said they are sending planes to Maui for passenger evacuations. People gather while waiting for flights at the Kahului Airport Aug. 9, 2023, in Kahului, Hawaii. Several thousand Hawaii residents raced to escape homes on Maui as the Lahaina fire swept across the island. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) Biden also said Wednesday that the federal Transportation Department was working with airlines to evacuate tourists from the island. San Francisco Mayor London Breed was also among the thousands of tourists evacuated from Maui, Politico reported. Updated at 3:34 pm. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. A brush fire raging across Hawaii has sent thousands of residents fleeing their homes, killing at least 36 people and destroying parts of a centuries-old town. Flames tore through the island of Maui on Wednesday, devastating the town of Lahaina as strong winds whipping from Hurricane Dora passing about 500 miles to the south fueled the blaze. "As the firefighting efforts continue, 36 total fatalities have been discovered today amid the active Lahaina fire," Maui County said in a news release late Wednesday. "No other details are available at this time." Officials said earlier that 271 structures were damaged or destroyed and dozens of people injured. HAWAII OFFICIALS ISSUE EMERGENCY PROCLAMATION AS WILDFIRES PROPELLED BY HURRICANE DORA RAGE, FORCE EVACUATIONS Wildfires in Hawaii fanned by strong winds burned multiple structures in areas, including the historic town Lahaina, forcing evacuations and closing schools in several communities Wednesday, and rescuers pulled a dozen people escaping smoke and flames from the ocean. The Coast Guard said it rescued 14 people who jumped into the water to escape flames and smoke, including two children. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP Crews continued to battle blazes in several places on the island as authorities urged visitors to stay away. FOX Weather reports that windy conditions are expected to subside as the gradient between the ridge of high pressure and Dora weakens over the next few days. Aerial video of Lahaina showed dozens of homes and businesses razed, including on Front Street, where tourists once gathered to shop and dine. Smoking heaps of rubble lay piled high next to the waterfront, boats in the harbor were scorched, and gray smoke hovered over the leafless skeletons of charred trees. The fire's path of destruction left burned-out cars in the middle of streets and turned historic structures into piles of smoking rubble. TEXAS BRUSH FIRE BURNS 120 ACRES, COMPLETELY DESTROYS APARTMENT BUILDING "We barely made it out," Lahaina resident Kamuela Kawaakoa, who escaped with his wife and their 6-year-old son, told The Associated Press. "It was so hard to sit there and just watch my town burn to ashes and not be able to do anything. I was helpless." About 14,500 customers in Maui were without power early Wednesday, and cell service and phone lines were down in some areas. People have taken to social media to check in with friends and family members as they struggled to contact those living near the wildfires. CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP While high winds, low humidity and dry vegetation are factors in the deadly wildfire, experts also say climate change is increasing the likelihood of extreme weather events. "Its leading to these unpredictable or unforeseen combinations that were seeing right now and that are fueling this extreme fire weather," Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbias faculty of forestry, told the AP. "What these ... catastrophic wildfire disasters are revealing is that nowhere is immune to the issue." The Associated Press contributed to this report. With at least 53 people dead and hundreds of buildings damaged or destroyed, the dramatic and deadly wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui are a grim reminder of how climate change is increasing wildfire risk. According to the National Weather Service, the fires on Maui are fueled by dry vegetation, strong winds and low humidity. Wildfires are not common in Hawaii the Guardian called the current ones unprecedented because places with a wet, tropical climate do not typically have the dried-out vegetation to provide the fuel. But rising global temperatures are changing that. According to the organization Global Forest Watch, fires do not naturally occur in tropical rainforests, but as climate change has dried out forests, tropical forest fires have become more common, increasing by about 5% per year since 2001. Heat A large part of the historic town of Lahaina has been destroyed by wildfires. (Dustin Johnson/Reuters) Average global temperatures have risen 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the Industrial Revolution, and this summer has been particularly scorching. Last month was the worlds hottest on record. Hot weather dries out vegetation, effectively making it more vulnerable to fire. Extreme heat waves have recently contributed to unusually severe and early wildfires in Canada, which sent smoke across the northern United States. In recent summers, the Pacific Northwest and Europe have also seen extreme heat and record-breaking wildfires, and this year is no exception. The situation in Hawaii recalled scenes of devastation elsewhere in the world this summer, as wildfires caused by record-setting heat forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in Greece, Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe, and western Canada suffered unusually severe fires, Reuters reported. Climate change in many parts of the world is increasing vegetation dryness, in large part because temperatures are hotter, Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University, told the Associated Press. Even if you have the same amount of precipitation, if you have higher temperatures, things dry out faster. Drought An aerial of Maui on Wednesday. (Vince Carter/via Reuters) When hotter air increases water evaporation, it pushes the water cycle towards extremes of heavy rainfall and droughts, both of which have become more intense in recent years. A 23-year megadrought has left the Southwest at the driest it is estimated to have ever been in 1,200 years. Last summer, Europe experienced its worst drought in 500 years. Even normally rainy areas such as the Northeast saw extreme droughts last year, while the area also experienced record-breaking extreme rainfall events and above normal precipitation months later. Hawaii was in the midst of its own drought an extremely rare occurrence for the tropical state which raised wildfire concerns last fall. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, moderate drought now covers more than one-third of Maui, with severe drought in some areas. Hurricanes The wildfire around Tatkin Lake in British Columbia, Canada. July 10. (BC Wildfire Service/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Studies have also shown that warmer ocean waters caused by climate change help strengthen hurricanes. In this case, Hurricane Dora, which passed south of Hawaii this week, increased the difference in air pressure to create unusually strong trade winds, according to the National Weather Service. By Thursday evening, Dora had spent 122 hours as a Category 4 hurricane, the most of any Pacific hurricane on record. When those strong winds hit, if you already have the heat and the dryness and if you have a spark, a wildfire becomes more likely to grow rapidly, Fleishman told CNN. Other human factors A wildfire in Kihei, Hawaii late Wednesday. (Ty O'Neil/AP) When Europeans established farms in Hawaii, they brought fire-prone invasive grasses that now cover 26% of the state. The grasses grow quickly during the rainy season and then rapidly dry out if there is a drought. When we get these events like were seeing these past few days when the relative humidity really drops low all those fine fuels become very explosive, University of Hawaii at Manoa fire ecologist Clay Trauernicht told Wired. Population growth and development are also increasing the number of places where forests and buildings sit side-by-side, increasing the deadliness of wildfires. A window into the future Haze from wildfires in Canada diminishes the visibility of the Empire State Building in New York City, June 7. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images) A 2022 report from the United Nations Environment Programme projected extreme fires to increase up to 14% by 2030, 30% by 2050 and 50% by 2100 if humankind continues on its current path of burning fossil fuels. Unless nations swiftly and dramatically reduce the greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming, the recent increase in wildfires is just a small taste of worse things to come, experts say. This is our new reality, Mike Flannigan, research chair for predictive services, emergency management and fire science at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, told Al Jazeera in June, about the Canadian wildfires. Were on a downward trajectory. Things are going to get worse and worse and worse. At least 36 people have been confirmed dead after windswept wildfires ravaged parts of Hawaiis Big Island and neighboring Maui. The fires, which began on Tuesday, destroyed swaths of land, forcing residents from their businesses and homes. According to officials, thousands of people have been displaced. Whats the latest? On Wednesday evening, Maui County officials said 36 people were discovered amid the active fire in the historic town of Lahaina. We are still in a search-and-rescue mode, so I dont know what will happen to that number, Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. said during a news conference on Wednesday. Sen. Brian Schatz said the centuries-old town was almost totally burnt to the ground. Acting Gov. Sylvia Luke said communities had been wiped out after emergency services struggled to contain the fires. In Maui alone, over 270 structures have been damaged so far. These were small businesses that invested in Maui, she said. These were local residents. We need to figure out a way to help a lot of people in the next several years. The road to recovery will be long. Wildfires on Maui fanned by strong winds burned multiple structures in areas including historic Lahaina town. (Zeke Kalua/County of Maui via AP) Read more on Yahoo News: Maui County officials said that 11,000 people have been evacuated from the island so far, with many more expected to leave. Since Wednesday, hospitals have been overwhelmed with burn victims and those suffering from smoke inhalation, including one firefighter. Landline and cellphone service remain cut for residents of West Maui, leaving them unable to contact emergency services. Tourists have been asked to leave the affected areas of Maui as soon as possible. For those without cars, bus evacuations were organized outside of hotel resorts bringing tourists straight to Kahului Airport. The Department of Transportation has been working with local airlines to evacuate all tourists from the affected areas of Maui, the White House said in a statement. Smoke billows near Lahaina as wildfires driven by high winds destroy a large part of the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 9, 2023. (Dustin Johnson/Reuters) At least 10 schools on the island have closed following the continued spread of brush fires, while one, located in Central Maui, remains open as an evacuation shelter. According to PowerOutage.us, more than 12,000 in Hawaii are still without electricity. What has the White House said? In a statement released on Wednesday night, President Biden ordered all available federal assets in Hawaii to help battle the wildfires. The Army and the Hawaiian National Guard have mobilized helicopters to help with fire suppression on the Big Island and Maui. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard and the Navy have been supporting evacuations and rescue efforts. I urge all residents to continue to follow evacuation orders, listen to the instructions of first responders and officials and stay alert, Biden said. The location of fires on the Hawaiian island of Maui. (AP) What caused the wildfires? It wasnt immediately clear what caused the wildfires, but Honolulu meteorologist Jeff Powell said they were sparked kind of because of Hurricane Dora, but its not a direct result. Hurricane Dora, which passed western Johnston Island on Wednesday, traveled 700 miles south of Honolulu and created winds of 130 mph on Tuesday, according to the National Hurricane Center. The National Weather Service warned of wind speeds as high as 60 mph and alerted those in the affected areas to expect power outages and difficulty traveling. The NWS said that very dry conditions and potentially damaging easterly winds would continue the dangerous fire weather conditions into Wednesday afternoon. The fire can be a mile or more from your house, but in a minute or two, it can be at your house, Maui County Fire Assistant Chief Jeff Giesea said. The fact that we have wildfires in multiple areas as a result of indirectly from a hurricane is unprecedented; its something that Hawaii residents and the state have not experienced, Luke said. FORT PIERCE - Former President Donald Trump's codefendants Waltine "Walt" Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira appeared before a magistrate judge at the Alto Lee Adams Sr. U.S. Courthouse today to enter pleas to new charges added July 27 to an indictment in the classified documents case. Trump also was scheduled to attend, but elected not to, after Special Counsel Jack Smiths office filed papers July 27 stating that Trump and Nauta may excuse their appearances on Thursday subject to the courts approval. I waive my right to appear in court at my arraignment, Trump said in a court filing. In the same paperwork, he also pleaded "not guilty" to a trio of new charges, include two counts of obstruction and one count of unlawful retention of National Defense Information. Trumps newest co-defendant, Carlos De Oliveira, property manager at his Mar-a-Lago resort, was in court for his arraignment at 10 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Shaniek Mills Maynard. He was expected to enter a plea on four counts revealed in the superseding indictment, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, concealing an object and making a false statement. But his arraignment was rescheduled. Nauta was arraigned on two new obstruction counts added in the superseding indictment. What happens at an arraignment? The judge identifies the defendant by name and reads the official charges. The accused is asked how they want to plead and are told about their right to be represented by a lawyer. The judge then decides if bail is required for the defendant to be released. The judge can decide to set no bail. In this scenario, the defendant is immediately released without being placed in jail. 10:23 a.m.: Arraignments conclude in Fort Pierce U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon scheduled former President Donald Trump's classified documents criminal trial to begin Aug. 14 at the Alto Lee Adams Sr. U.S. Courthouse in Fort Pierce at 101 N. U.S. 1. She has since rescheduled it to May 20-31, 2024. U.S. Magistrate Judge Shaniek Mills Maynard rescheduled the arraignment for Carlos De Oliveira to Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023, in the morning, because he does not yet have a Florida attorney. His Washington, D.C. attorney John Irving accompanied him. Walt Nauta pleaded 'not guilty' to his two new obstruction counts added in a superseding indictment. His Fort Pierce attorney Sasha Dadan accompanied him along with his Washington, D.C. attorney Stanley Woodward. 10:15 a.m.: Spontaneous Trump support in Fort Pierce Christine Scott, of Deerfield Beach, said she joined demonstrators in front of the Alto Lee Adams Sr. U.S. Courthouse the morning of Aug. 10, 2023, spontaneously, as she was in Fort Pierce on a personal matter Christine Scott, of Deerfield Beach, said she joined demonstrators this morning spontaneously as she was here for a personal matter. She said she believes the case against Trump is flawed and bringing the former president to court is an affront to the people. "When they're going after Trump, they're going after us," Scott said. 10 a.m.: Inside the Fort Pierce federal courthouse ... Carlos De Oliveira is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Shaniek Mills Maynard to enter his plea on four counts revealed in the superseding indictment, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, concealing an object and making a false statement. The new counts were added July 27 to an indictment in the classified documents case. Walt Nauta is to appear before the magistrate after him. 9:45 a.m.: Nauta, De Oliveira arrive in Fort Pierce at federal courthouse Walt Nauta, valet and body guard to former President Donald Trump, and Carlos De Oliveira, Trump's property manager at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, arrived at the Alto Lee Adams Sr. U.S. Courthouse in two separate SUVS, one behind the other. 9:40 a.m. Security patrols federal courthouse in Fort Pierce Homeland Security and police patrol federal courthouse in Fort Pierce Aug. 10, 2023 ahead of arraignments for additional charges in Trump documents case. 9:30 a.m.: Traveling to support Trump Rafael Gomez Osorio, of Miami, traveled to Fort Pierce to show his support for former president Donald Trump, wearing his MAGA cap outside the Alto Lee Adams, Sr. U.S. Courthouse. 9:15 a.m.: Awaiting arrival of De Oliveira and Nauta in Fort Pierce Plenty of camera operators, media awaiting arrival of Carlos De Oliveira and Walt Nauta for their court appearances in Fort Pierce Aug. 10, 2023. 8:45 a.m.: Trump supporter is an early arrival in Fort Pierce Bob Kunst, 81, from Miami Beach, stood near the northeast corner of the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce Aug. 10, 2023. A longtime Democrat, Kunst said he supports Trumps policies, and voted for him. Bob Kunst, 81, stood near the northeast corner of the courthouse behind a large sign reading Lock Biden Up. Kunst, who said he came here from Miami Beach, also wore a Deplorables For Trump shirt. A longtime Democrat, Kunst said he supports Trumps policies, and voted for him. From my perspective, I am so upset with what's happened to my party, Kunst said. I just can't believe that they're this stupid and this evil. I don't know what's going on anymore. Kunst said the last time he was in downtown Fort Pierce was for the October 2022 debate between then gubernatorial candidates Charlie Crist and Ron DeSantis at the Sunrise Theatre. 8:25 a.m.: No electronic devices in the courthouse for media In Florida, cameras are not allowed in federal courtrooms. Last month U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the judge assigned to Trump's classified documents case, ordered that for the foreseeable future, the media would not be allowed to bring any electronic devices into the Fort Pierce federal courthouse. Once in the courthouse for these hearings today, media representatives cannot leave until the proceedings end. Media representatives line up at the Alto Lee Adams Sr. U.S. Courthouse Aug. 10, 2023, in advance of arraignment hearings in the Trump classified documents case. TCPalm will bring you news from the courtroom as soon as possible today. USAToday Florida Network reporter Hannah Phillips will be in the courtroom. 8 a.m.: Media, onlookers gathering in Fort Pierce for hearings in Trump documents case The first hearing begins at 10 a.m., and media representatives must register to get access to the courthouse and a seat in U.S. Magistrate Judge Shaniek Mills Maynard's courtroom, which is very small. Television media set up outside the Alto Lee Adams Sr. U.S. Courthouse in Fort Pierce Aug. 10, 2023, in advance of arraignments for former President Donald Trump's body guard, Walt Nauta and his Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos de Oliveira to new charges added July 27 to an indictment in the classified documents case. This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Trump classified documents case: What happened in Fort Pierce today Action News Jaxs First Alert Weather Team says that extreme heat warnings and heat advisories will be in effect today throughout Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< According to Action News Jax meteorologists Garrett Bedebaugh and Corey Simma, an excessive heat warning will affect most of coastal Northeast Florida today, and heat advisories will affect inland Northeast Florida and portions of Southeast Georgia. Highs will reach the middle to upper 90s with feels-like temperatures reaching 110 to 113. An isolated storm is possible between 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., but most neighborhoods will stay dry. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] The heat will continue into Friday and the weekend. Highs will stay in the mid to upper 90s with feels-like temperatures at 105 to 110+. However, for today, Bedenbaugh and Simma say that the excessive heat warning doesnt extend to Nassau County. It is under a heat advisory instead, which is still very warm, but it is not as hot. It will still have a feels like temperature of 110. Meanwhile, Ware, Pierce and Brantley counties arent under heat advisories today. The weather will still be hot but not as hot as other counties. Read: JSO: 2 people shot overnight in Durkeeville neighborhood by unknown assailant If you live in the Jacksonville area, cooling stations will open today at noon throughout the city to help residents escape the extreme heat. You can find more information on the JaxReady website and app. Temperatures like this warrant keeping a close eye on signs of heat exhaustion and heatstroke. The CDC provides a comprehensive list of symptoms and steps to take if you see someone suffering from either illness, which can be found HERE. The First Alert Weather Team will continue to monitor the temperatures and update you throughout the day. Read: Hawaii wildfires: Officials say 36 have died in blazes fueled by hurricane winds [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. A hiker was sexually assaulted after accepting a ride from what she thought was a search and rescue official, according to a Colorado sheriffs office. The woman was hiking in Boulder County outside Nederland on July 25 when she was approached by a man driving what she described as a search and rescue vehicle, the Boulder County Sheriffs Office said in an Aug. 10 news release. The man, whom the woman described as wearing a green collared shirt styled to look like a search and rescue uniform shirt, offered to drive her to a nearby trail, deputies said. While the woman was with the man, deputies said she was sexually and physically assaulted. The woman was able to get away and report the assault to deputies, the sheriffs office said. Deputies said they identified William Tidwell, 50, of Northglenn, as a suspect and got a warrant for his arrest. The Idaho Springs Police Department arrested Tidwell on Aug. 7, the sheriffs office said. He is being held on a number of charges, including unlawful sexual contact by force, assault and impersonating a public servant. Deputies said they believe there may be additional victims and asked for anyone with information to contact them at 303-441-3633. Naked man keeps attacking women hiking alone, fleeing into Colorado woods, cops say Woman sexually assaulted as she entered popular hiking trail, California police say Man forces hiker to secluded area of trail and sexually assaults her, CA cops say KITTERY, Maine Separate proposals filed with the town Planning Board are seeking approval to bring a new hotel to U.S. Route 1 in Kittery and a rooming house to Route 236. Two applicants - both represented by Geoff Aleva, president of South Berwicks Civil Consultants - will have their pitches heard for the first time by the Kittery Planning Board on Thursday night. A sign greets people entering Kittery, Maine, after crossing the Memorial Bridge from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, as seen Monday, July 18, 2022. Kittery planning department public records show a three-story, 63-room hotel is being proposed for the site at 90 U.S. Route 1, home of the former 10-room Little Guest House motel, which has since been demolished. At present, the lot contains only a parking area with driveways that access both Old Post Road and the U.S. Route 1 Bypass, in addition to woodlands on the eastern part of the parcel. The proposed 13,308-square-foot hotel would be a Holiday Inn Express, which would be built with 67 parking spots. A proposal to build a three-story, 63-room hotel at 90 U.S. Route 1 in Kittery has been filed with the town Planning Board. The new hotel would be a Holiday Inn Express, according to the proposal filed with the town. The application has been submitted by 90 US Route 1 LLC, per town records. 61-bed rooming house pitched for Route 236 The Planning Board will also begin its review of a plan to construct a 61-bed, three-story rooming house at 17 and 25 Route 236. The 6,789-square-foot rooming house, with 35 rooms planned to be for rent, would primarily be for employees of the unidentified property owner. A new parking lot will hold 22 spaces. As most know, housing for workers is very difficult in this area of the state, Aleva wrote in a description of the project. This proposed rooming house will provide convenient housing for seasonal workers. The two properties would be merged into one lot as part of the project, though the rooming house would be located entirely at 17 Route 236. The address presently contains woodlands and a shed that would be demolished as part of the project. Each floor would have separate bathrooms for men and women, shared living room space, and a shared kitchen, the proposal adds. Workers would be charged rent for staying in the rooming house, and a superintendent would live on the site in one of the single bed units. A superintendent for the rooming house would reside on the first floor of the building. The rooming house would contain nine one-bedroom units and 26 two-bedroom units. The 25 Route 236 lot currently houses a two-story, seven-unit apartment building, which would not be impacted by the proposed development, spanning 3,543 square feet. The town Planning Board meeting this week is expected to draw interest from a number of residents, as another proposal involving the possible demolition of Warrens Lobster House to make way for condominiums and a 20-slip marina is additionally being heard by the board. The Kittery Planning Board will meet on Thursday, Aug. 10, at 6 p.m. in Town Hall. Related story: Warren's Lobster House, an iconic restaurant in Kittery, Maine, eyed for condos and marina This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Holiday Inn Express, 61-bed rooming house proposed in Kittery, Maine (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kongs government said judges should have followed the wishes of the citys leader and banned a controversial protest song from the internet, raising questions about the future of judicial independence in the financial hub. Most Read from Bloomberg The courts should generally defer to the executives decision because they lack both the sensitive intelligence and institutional capacity and expertise to make an evaluation, government lawyers said in a 20-page appeal document Wednesday on the departments website. They said Chief Executive John Lees assessment that the promotion of the 2019 song would pose national security risks should have been binding on the courts. The lawyers added that where it is the assessment of the executive authorities that a proposed measure is necessary or may be effective or have utility, the Court should accord due weight and deference to such assessment and grant the injunction unless the Court is satisfied that it shall have no effect. The lawyers stance is the strongest rebuke yet of the citys judiciary over the handling of national security matters. Earlier this year, Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced China for undermining the independence of Hong Kongs courts. The UK decided last year to withdraw top judges on Hong Kongs highest appeals court, saying China is using its national security law to undermine fundamental rights and freedoms in the former British colony. The State Department had earlier issued a report that detailed how it said Hong Kong authorities wielded a national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 to erode the rule of law. Officials have continued to arrest and prosecute people for peaceful political expression critical of the local and central governments, including for posting and forwarding social media posts, according to the report. The Hong Kong government hit back at the report, with a spokesman saying the city strongly disapproved of and firmly rejected the unfounded and fact-twisting remarks. A government representative didnt immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday about the independence of the citys courts. Part of Hong Kongs longstanding appeal to international business is the historic reputation of its courts. They are distinct from courts in China, which are opaque in their actions and effectively controlled by the Communist Party. The Hong Kong government is appealing a High Court decision rejecting its request to erase the song Glory to Hong Kong from the citys internet. If it is successful, the move would directly challenge the freedoms that differentiate the former British colony from mainland China. It would also raise the legal risks for Silicon Valley tech firms like Alphabet Inc.s Google to Meta Platforms Inc., which exited China years ago due to censorship demands. Hong Kong prosecutors have argued the protest tunes proliferation online was a matter of national security that would plant seeds of secession, an offense under the Beijing-drafted law carrying sentences as long as life in prison. Last month, the citys High Court declined the governments application for an injunction to make it illegal for anyone with criminal intent to perform or broadcast Glory to Hong Kong, including the lyrics and melody, on grounds of national security. The citys government later said it would appeal the decision, reiterating that disseminating or distributing the song was a national security crime. That appeal will be heard by the the Court of Appeal, and if the government loses there, its last option in the city is the Court of Final Appeal. Should the government lose in both, it could turn to Beijing. Last year, Lee asked Chinas national legislature to intervene after losing a bid in the citys courts to block media mogul Jimmy Lai from being represented by his UK-based lawyer in his national security trial. Separately, national security police in Hong Kong said in a statement they arrested 10 people on Thursday on suspicion of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and inciting a riot. All 10 were linked to the defunct 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which was set up to help people arrested during the 2019 anti-government protests, according to local media reports. --With assistance from Stanley James. (Updates to include request for comment from government.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. HOPEWELL Police have arrested a suspect in connection with the murder of a Petersburg man near the citys middle school almost 15 months ago. Jerrell Armani Crawley, 27, of Petersburg, has been charged with second-degree murder, Hopewell Police Lt. Jacquita Allen said. He was picked up after a grand jury handed up the indictment earlier in the week. Crawley is accused of shooting 27-year-old Deanthony Davis late on the evening of May 16, 2022, at Carter G. Woodson Middle School. When officers arrived on the scene, they found Davis dead in one of the schools parking lots. Police believe the shooting stemmed from an argument between the suspect and victim. Crawley is being held without bond at Riverside Regional Jail in Prince George County. The indictment was one of three that were issued regarding high-profile homicides in the city over a four-year period. The others are for the December 2022 shooting death of eight-year-old PAris Mi-Unique Moore and the Thanksgiving night 2019 drive-by shooting on Sunnyside Avenue that took the life of a Richmond Fire Department lieutenant. Commonwealths Attorney Rick Newman said earlier in the week that all three indictments had been sealed. They would be unsealed as soon as the suspects were in custody. Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI. This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Hopewell Police make arrest in 2022 slaying in school parking lot Have you ever taken out your phone or camera to take a photo of a Kansas sunset to post on social media? If so, youre not alone. According to a study by Bounce, there are more than 42,000 Instagram posts of the Kansas sky during sunset, which makes the state No. 10 in the top 10 most Instagrammable sunset destinations in the world. Bounce, a luggage storage company used by travelers, searched Instagram for hashtags like #KansasSunset to find the number of posts, which means the actual number of sunset posts on the app are most likely higher than its 42,511 figure. Kansas ranks right below Boracay, an island in the Phillipines, which has 47,616 sunset posts. There are three other locations in the U.S. that also made the cut. The top 10 most Instagrammable sunset locations, according to Bounce, are: Bali, Indonesia Santorini, Greece Ibiza, Spain Maui San Diego London Sydney, Australia Key West, Fla. Boracay, Phillipines Kansas Uluru, Australia, took the No. 1 spot for overall sunset destinations, followed by the Maldives. The overall destination was measured by the number of articles recommending the location, the number of sunset and sunrise Instagram posts and light pollution. The top five best sunset destinations overall, according to Bounce, are: Uluru, Australia Maldives Haleakala, Hawaii Santorini, Greece Angkor Wat, Cambodia What conditions make for a beautiful sunset? According to National Geographic, the colors occur when sunlight reaches a molecule in the atmosphere, which causes the beam to scatter and sends that sunlight in different directions in the sky. Scattering occurs millions of different times before the light reaches your sight. National Geographic explains in daytime, when the sun is overhead, the scattering happens at shorter lengths and appears blue to our eyesight. However during sunset, when the sun is farther away, the wavelengths are a lot longer, giving off those orange and red hues. When does the sun set in Wichita? Want to watch the sunset here in Wichita? Be sure to check the time so you dont miss it, as the days will continue to shorten through late summer and fall. In fact, days will continuously get shorter until the winter solstice Dec. 21, which will also be the shortest day of the year. Here are some sunset times for the next two weeks, from timeanddate.com: Aug. 11: 8:27 p.m. Aug. 13: 8:24 p.m. Aug. 15: 8:22 p.m. Aug. 17: 8:19 p.m. Aug. 19: 8:16 p.m. Aug. 21: 8:14 p.m. Aug. 23: 8:11 p.m. Aug. 25: 8:08 p.m. The city of Wichita has 144 parks where to can take in the view (and maybe snap a picture of your own). When 33-year-old Lamar Bell died in the custody of Illinois State Police troopers after a traffic stop, no outside agency or taskforce was activated to investigate. That is despite the 2016 "Police and Community Relations Improvement Act," which requires Illinois law enforcement agencies investigate officer-involved shootings, deadly use of force incidents and in-custody deaths utilizing personnel from outside the agency being investigated. Those rules apply to all Illinois law enforcement agencies except the Illinois State Police. The law includes a carve-out for them. In the Rockford region, the Rockford Police Department, the Winnebago County Sheriff's Department, Loves Park Police, Boone County Sheriff's Department and Belvidere Police among others have for years even before the state law was enacted utilized the Winnebago Boone County Integrity Task Force to investigate in-custody deaths and serious injuries. The task force was formed in the wake of the 2009 shooting death of Mark Anthony Barmore in the basement daycare of a predominately Black church and in the presence of children. It was meant to prevent Rockford area police from investigating deaths that involve their own officers, adding a measure of transparency to the process and lending greater legitimacy to the investigations. But Ann Rundall of Eliminate Racism 815 said that either way whether detectives from outside an agency or from an internal affairs division the investigation remains one conducted of police by police. There needs to be more civilian oversight of police use of force and in-custody deaths, Rundall said. "The Integrity Task Force I don't feel is an independent group because it's police officers, just from another area that evaluate their own, really," Rundall said. "That's why we felt it was important to have a civilian accountability board." Although it won't have as much authority as she would like to see and lacks subpoena power, a civilian accountability board has been formed by the city of Rockford to review Rockford Police Department uses of force. The board is in training before it begins reviewing Rockford police incidents. Rundall said even after it begins reviewing cases, the civilian board will have no authority over Illinois State Police. A screenshot from dash camera video show Illinois State Police searching the car of Lamar Bell during a traffic stop Sunday, July 16, 2023, in Rockford. More: Illinois State Police release 3 videos from in-custody death of Rockford man 'No traumatic injury' Social media posts suggested Bell died as a result of an altercation with Rockford police during a traffic stop before 8 p.m. July 17 near the intersection of 10th Avenue and Kishwaukee Street. Information and videos released by the Illinois State Police indicate those reports were false. It turned out that it was actually Illinois State Police troopers that had stopped Bell and not Rockford officers. During the traffic stop, Bell appeared to suffer a medical crisis, telling state police troopers that he had consumed cocaine and asking for an ambulance to be called. Police said some narcotics were found in Bell's vehicle. According to information from the Winnebago County Coroner's Office, an autopsy of Bell showed no "traumatic injury." Layers ensure integrity In Winnebago and Boone counties, an Illinois State Police detective serves as commander of the integrity task force, but the State Police in not a participant. The carve-out in state law reads as follows: "No investigator involved in the investigation may be employed by the law enforcement agency that employs the officer involved in the officer-involved death, unless the investigator is employed by the Illinois State Police and is not assigned to the same division or unit as the officer involved in the death." In the case of Lamar Bell, detectives from the State Police internal investigations division were assigned to examine the in-custody death in accordance with state law, Melaney Arnold, State Police chief public information officer, said in an email to the Rockford Register Star. The State Police are treating Bell's "medical emergency-related death" the same way it would for other in-custody deaths, Arnold said. "All (internal affairs) investigations are subject to a myriad of state and federal laws and regulations with extensive layers of oversight, checks and balances," Arnold said. "ISP goes to great lengths to ensure the integrity of all DII investigations. DII agents are required to recuse themselves if there is any real or perceived conflict of interest." 'A stronger department' Whether investigations into in-custody deaths are conducted by a local or regional integrity task force or the Illinois State Police, the findings are presented to the local state's attorney. It is up to the state's attorney to look at the evidence uncovered by the investigation and determine if there is evidence police broke any laws and if charges should be filed. Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara said utilizing the task force for such investigations, which does not prevent an internal affairs review from proceeding simultaneously, has worked for the city. "For the city of Rockford, we feel like it has been a benefit for us," McNamara said. "It makes us a stronger department. To have someone else review our work enhances trust." Within the Illinois State Police, the Division of Internal Investigation is "a separate division created specifically to investigate allegations of misconduct by members of ISP, state employees and all state agencies under the executive branch of state government," Arnold said. "This includes investigating officer-involved deaths. Agents are not in the unit they are investigating and are not involved in these incidents." Although State Police released video of the incident, investigators have not completed their investigation or presented their findings to Winnebago County State's Attorney J. Hanley's office. Jeff Kolkey can be reached at (815) 987-1374, via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on Twitter @jeffkolkey. This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Illinois State Police investigates own in-custody deaths. Here's why The Department of Veterans Affairs extended a deadline for payouts linked to legislation aimed at helping veterans who were exposed to toxic substances during their military service after technical issues complicated the application process. The Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act better known as the PACT Act was signed by President Joe Biden on Aug. 10, 2022, broadening VA health care benefits to veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxic substances. Veterans and survivors now have through 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Monday, Aug. 14, to file or submit an intent to file to be eligible to have their benefits backdated a year to when the bill was signed. After that date, applicants will only be eligible to receive payouts back to their date of filing. Veterans can sign up for PACT Act benefits here. While there is no deadline to apply for future claims, applicants were originally given a submission deadline of Aug. 9 to receive the backdated payouts. The high volume of applications caused many submitting their intent to file to receive a website error message. Officials urge vets to apply for PACT Act benefits despite tech issues Despite these messages, VA has successfully logged every one of these intents to file meaning that every Veteran or survivor who has received an error message while applying for PACT Act benefits can consider their intent to file complete, the department said in a release. We are working to contact these individuals to confirm directly to them that their intent to file will be honored and their effective date protected. Most importantly, no Veteran or survivor will miss out on a single day of benefits due to this issue. Less than one-tenth of one percent of attempts to submit an intent to file on Aug. 9 resulted in an error message by that evening, the department said, down from about 18% the day before. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill, however, are still calling for the VA to find out what went wrong and asking for assurance that similar incidents do not occur in the future. It cannot be minimized how disruptions like this can be stressful for veterans and their survivors, Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., the ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a statement. While it is great news that thousands of veterans are filing for their PACT Act benefits ahead of the deadline, it is disappointing that VA had yet another IT problem that has confused and frustrated veterans. The VA has received about 843,000 disability claims under the PACT Act and processed almost 460,000, the department said in a release, adding that it has delivered more than $1.85 billion in earned PACT Act-related benefits. Biden is expected to mark the anniversary of signing the PACT Act into law Thursday in Salt Lake City, Utah, The Associated Press reported. Veterans or their family members can get information about PACT Act benefits by visiting the VAs website or by calling 1-800-MYVA411 (1-800-698-2411). Military Times reporter Leo Shane III contributed reporting to this story. Editor's note: This is an edited version of a story by our newsgathering partners at WNDU. Read the full story at their site. Michigan City is getting a head start on planning for life after Indiana State Prison closes. Last week, a plan was unveiled to shut down the 163-year-old prison in Michigan City in about four years. At about the same time, the state awarded a $329,000 grant to help the community map out future development priorities for the 100-acre site. Im for it, said Michigan City Mayor Duane Parry. Were going through a boom cycle in Michigan City an economic boom. How long its going to last, I dont know, but we have to plan for the future. Were landlocked to the west, weve got (the) Porter County line right there on Highway 12. Were not landlocked to the east, but we have some industry out there. So, some of these areas like the prison need to be revitalized. The state plans to build a new 4,200-bed prison on the Westville Correctional Facility campus at a cost of $2.1 billion. When the new building is completed in about four years, the old Westville facility will be closed. Last week, the second closure was added to the mix. Shutting down the Indiana State Prison would save an estimated $45 million a year in operating costs alone. Thats enough to pay for the entire project over 20 years. South Shore improvements and other plans Improvements being made on the South Shore Railroad promise to cut the travel time between Michigan City and Chicago to one hour. Suddenly, plans call for the construction of a new 12-story apartment building at the Michigan City train station. There are now plans to shut down NIPSCOs coal-burning beachfront power plant, and the sprawling Indiana State Prison in the years to come. Michigan City is growing and to be able to reclaim this land to something that is positive, and just such, its such a huge, positive thing for the city, said Karaline Cartagena Edwards with the Economic Development Corporation of Michigan City. "Its exciting and everyones super excited." This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Michigan City officials excited to see Indiana State Prison closing A high school student in Lawrenceburg, Indiana was taken into custody Wednesday after bringing a gun to school, according to our news partners WCPO-TV, in Cincinnati. >> Richmond remembering police officer shot in line of duty, 1 year later The schools administration said its faculty was notified by students of the possibility that their classmate may have brought a gun to school. The school resource officers responded that afternoon and searched the students belongings. They located a gun in the students possession that was not loaded and had zero ammunition, the station said. The Lawrenceburg Community School Corporation student was detained by the schools resource officers before being picked up by the Lawrenceburg Police Department. The student has not been identified and the police have yet to file charges against them, the station said. LCSC said student safety continues to be a priority for the district after the event occurred just one week after the school year began. ndonesian capital Jakarta has become the world's most polluted city, according to air quality monitoring firm IQAir (Yasuyoshi CHIBA) Indonesian capital Jakarta has been the world's most polluted city on four days this week, according to air quality monitor IQAir, as authorities fail to grapple with a spike in toxic smog. Air pollution is estimated to contribute to seven million premature deaths every year globally and is considered by the United Nations to be the single biggest environmental health risk. Jakarta and its surrounds form a megalopolis of about 30 million people that has outpaced other heavily polluted cities including Riyadh, Doha and Lahore during the week for its concentration of tiny particles known as PM2.5. It has topped Swiss company IQAir's live ranking of pollution data -- which only tracks major cities -- at least once every day since Monday, according to the company's data. Jakarta has regularly recorded "unhealthy" levels of PM2.5, which can penetrate airways to cause respiratory problems, many times the World Health Organization's recommended levels. President Joko Widodo told reporters Monday he plans to tackle pollution levels by reducing "Jakarta's burden" as the country prepares to move its capital to Nusantara on Borneo island next year. He also said a planned metro train network across Jakarta "must be finished" to reduce pollution. Residents have complained that the pollution caused by industrial smog, traffic congestion and coal-powered plants was affecting their lives and health. "I have to wear a mask all the time. Both my body and my face are suffering," Anggy Violita, a 32-year-old officer worker in Jakarta, told AFP. "Last week my entire family was sick for a week and the doctor told me I should stay indoors," the mother-of-two said. A court ruled in favour of a lawsuit filed by activists and citizens against the government in 2021, ordering Widodo to clean up the city's notorious air pollution and ruling he and other top officials had been negligent in protecting residents. Indonesia has pledged to stop building new coal-fired power plants from 2023 and to be carbon neutral by 2050. But despite an outcry from activists, the government is expanding the enormous Suralaya coal plant on Java island, one of the biggest in Southeast Asia. According to Greenpeace Indonesia, 10 coal-fired power plants are operating within a 100-kilometre (62 miles) radius of the capital. dsa-jfx/ssy/pbt Police are on the hunt for a Riker's Island inmate who escaped through a hospital window by rappelling down five floors with tied-up towels before fleeing in a yellow taxi. Yenchun Chen, who stands 6-feet, 3-inches and weighs 250 pounds, slipped Mount Sinai Beth Israel staff and Department of Correction officers by squeezing out a bathroom window while left unsupervised to shower around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, the New York Police Department said in a press release. After shimmying down to a rooftop, Chen climbed a ladder down to the street below and hailed a yellow taxi cab, which sped him southbound down Manhattan's Second Avenue, per the NYPD. ESCAPED INMATE ARRESTED WEARING ROLEX, MOVING INTO $1.5M COASTAL FLORIDA HOME Authorities said that Chen requested several towels for his shower, then fashioned them into a rope to escape. "When I heard a prisoner escaped through a window, I was just kind of shocked when it happened," one nurse told ABC 7. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP Surveillance images captured during the fugitive's escape show he wore a plain white T-shirt and tan pants when he was last seen, and sported a small black goatee he still appeared to be wearing his hospital bracelet. Distinctive sleeve tattoos mark his left arm and hand, police said, and he has black hair and brown eyes. MANHUNT FOR ESCAPED PENNSYLVANIA JAIL INMATE, MURDER SUSPECT CONTINUES Yenchun Chen is pictured in a mug shot he was arrested on July 31 for felony criminal possession of a controlled substance in Queens, New York. Chen, 44, was arrested at the 109th precinct in Queens July 31 for felony criminal possession of a controlled substance and jailed in lieu of a $50,000 bond, according to court records. He has not yet been indicted, and his next court date is scheduled for Aug. 24 in Manhattan Criminal Court, according to New York State Unified Court System data. He is a Taiwanese native, per Department of Correction data. COLORADO PRISONER REMAINS ON THE RUN AFTER 2 OTHER ESCAPED INMATES CAPTURED, 1 FOUND DEAD EMTs are pictured outside a Mount Sinai Beth Israel facility, where Yenchun Chen was transported last Friday due to a cardiac concern. He was housed at Riker's West Facility, per Department of Correction data, generally reserved for sick inmates, and had been hospitalized since last Friday due to a cardiac issue, the New York Post reported. Around 9 p.m. Wednesday, a police search was underway near the hospital's Petrie Division, where Chen was treated, near First Avenue and East 16th Street, the New York Daily News reported. The Department of Correction, the Queens District Attorney's Office and Chen's public defender could not immediately be reached for comment. Former Vice President Mike Pence this week said he wouldn't rule out testifying against Donald Trump in the former president's criminal case over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. Pence, a long-shot contender for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination Trump is expected to win, said Trump's effort to pressure him into blocking the certification of the election result on Jan. 6, 2021, had forced him to choose between Trump and the Constitution. The comments marked Pence's marked his clearest break yet with his former boss, and Trump wasn't pleased. In a social media post, Trump said Pence was "delusional" and had "gone to the Dark Side." A Trump campaign spokesperson mockingly called Pence "Joe Biden's biggest cheerleader." How did the rift between Trump and Pence become so wide? "So Help Me God" The split started in November 2020 after President Biden beat Trump in the presidential election. Pence, in his memoir "So Help Me God," describes a meeting in the Oval Office where Trump gathered his team together to go over legal challenges of what Pence described in the book as "the election we had lost." In an excerpt published by Axios, Pence wrote that what started as a briefing "quickly turned into a contentious back-and-forth" between campaign lawyers who were "pessimistic" about the grounds for a challenge, and outside attorneys led by Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell. Giuliani told Trump, "Your lawyers are not telling you the truth, Mr. President," according to Pence. "That day the president made the fateful decision to put Giuliani and Sidney Powell in charge of the legal strategy ... The seeds were being sown for a tragic day in January." Trump pressured Pence, who as vice president was to preside over Congress' Jan. 6 certification of the states' electoral votes, to block the process and send the matter back to the states. Trump hoped GOP-dominated legislatures would overturn some narrow losses and return him to the White House. "Pence himself had denied having such power, which resulted in an angry phone call between himself and Trump," with some name-calling, according to Maureen Groppe and Savannah Kuchar at USA Today. "Wimp is the word I remember," former Trump assistant Nicholas Luna said in a clip played by the Jan. 6 committee. "Hang Mike Pence!" The Jan. 6 Capitol attack drove Trump and Pence apart for good. In a speech just before the riot, Trump put the spotlight on Pence, saying the vice president could send the results "back to the states to recertify and we become president and you are the happiest people." When a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, some chanted "Hang Mike Pence!" Trump waited for hours before telling his "very special" followers to "go home," still insisting the election had been stolen. Fighting the subpoena Pence kept his distance from Trump after Jan. 6, but didn't back efforts to hold him accountable for stoking the rioters' anger. He dismissed the Jan. 6 committee appointed by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as partisan. And he said last year and again earlier this year he didn't think Trump should be indicted. "I think the president's actions and words on Jan. 6 were reckless, but I don't know that it's criminal to take bad advice from lawyers," Pence said. He added that indicting a former president "would be terribly divisive ... at a time when the American people want to see us heal." Pence challenged a subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith to testify before the grand jury that was considering criminal charges against Trump over his effort to overturn the election. Pence maintained he was immune from testifying, but tried to simultaneously set himself apart, saying Trump had recklessly "endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol." But a judge ordered him to testify, over Trump's objections, and Pence decided not to appeal. He told the grand jury about the pressure Trump exerted over him, and handed over his notes, putting his and Trump's conflicting accounts of the run-up to Jan. 6 at the heart of the charges. "The latest Jack Smith indictment has intensified the breach between Pence and Trump created by Jan. 6," said Rich Lowry at National Review. He did "the right thing" and "paid the price," turning Trump's wrath on himself and virtually assuring that he would not "inherit" any of their administration's MAGA base. "There's the sellout! There's the traitor!" hecklers yelled at Pence, polling a distant third in a 2024 GOP field dominated by Trump, as he arrived at a New Hampshire campaign event, his first after Trump pleaded not guilty. "Why'd you sell out the people?" What next? The rift might only get wider. Pence says he doesn't plan to testify in Trump's trial but will "respond to the call of the law if it comes, and we'll just tell the truth." "It is possible that Pence's testimony might provide damaging evidence against the former president," said Jeff Charles at RedState. But if he only rehashes previous public claims, "his testimony might not be as effective a weapon as the prosecution and Democrats are hoping." Many people will "never buy the whole 'Mike Pence was a hero' business," said Bret Stephens at The New York Times. "He was Trump's faithful enabler for more than four years, his beard with evangelicals, his ever-nodding yes man. He was mute for the eight weeks after the 2020 election when his boss was busy denying the result." Pence seems determined "to do the right thing with the least physically measurable quanta of dignity possible," said Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo. He didn't have the power to overturn the election, but he spared the nation from the constitutional crisis that would have erupted if he had tried. "Since that day Pence has been in a sort of long twilight struggle to evade credit for that critical moment." But why? "You're either on Team Coup or you're not." You may also like Homepage Mayor Craig Greenberg speaks during a press conference announcing additional information to be released about complaints surrounding LMPD officers and their conduct on Friday, May 26, 2023 For over a decade, Louisvilles celebrated SummerWorks program has connected thousands of young people between the ages of 16 and 21 with paid summer jobs and internships at local companies, nonprofits and government agencies. In the words of former Mayor Greg Fischer, the private-public partnership helps level the playing field for young people who are growing up in poverty or who lack the family connections that can be so important in landing that first job. Launching this years program, current Mayor Craig Greenberg said there was an important public safety element to SummerWorks supporting youth and giving them opportunities so they dont drift into a life of crime. In a press release sent out alongside the announcement, the mayors office said all Louisville youth between 16 and 21 were eligible to enroll in the program, but that youth applicants who face barriers and come from disadvantaged backgrounds are prioritized in the SummerWorks job matching process. But in a sharp contrast to the at-risk youth the mayor described, The Courier Journal has identified two SummerWorks interns hired by Greenbergs Metro Hall this summer whose powerful, influential families have close personal connections to the mayor. Their families are among the wealthiest and most recognizable in Louisville. One is the daughter of Mariana Barzun, who was tapped by Greenberg to lead the mayor's Office of Philanthropy. Barzun is the former director of strategic partnerships at the University of Louisville. Her brother, Matthew Barzun, served as U.S. Ambassador to Sweden and the United Kingdom under the Obama administration. He also owns Louisville Magazine and is married to Brooke Brown Barzun, an heiress of the Brown-Forman wine and spirits empire. The couple donated $8,000 to Greenbergs campaign, with each giving the maximum amount allowed per election cycle. Another intern hired through SummerWorks is the granddaughter of Steve Wilson, who co-founded 21c Museum Hotels with his wife, Laura Lee Brown. Wilson would later make Greenberg the CEO of the art-inspired hotel chain. Brown is also a Brown-Forman heiress, part of a family Forbes ranked the 13th richest in America in 2020. Wilson was selected as Greenbergs inauguration chairman, serving as master of ceremonies for the Jan. 2 swearing-in celebration. Together, Brown and Wilson contributed a combined $8,000 to Greenbergs mayoral bid. The Courier Journal learned that interns with family connections to Greenberg were hired through SummerWorks, according to a list of Metro Government summer interns provided under Kentuckys open records law. The Courier Journal verified their identities using publicly available documents and social media posts. Of 38 interns listed as hired by Metro Government under the SummerWorks program, The Courier Journal was able to identify at least six who work at Metro Hall. The Courier Journal was able to identify two of those six as having close family connections to Greenberg. In a statement Wednesday, Greenberg spokesperson Kevin Trager did not directly respond to questions about the hiring process, whether interns' family connections to Greenberg played a role in their hiring or how youth from disadvantaged backgrounds were prioritized in the job matching process. "The work of these young professionals, who came from diverse backgrounds and communities, was a benefit to the Louisville Metro Government and will also serve them well as they continue their education and begin their careers," Trager said of the 38 interns hired by the city through SummerWorks. "The application process was open to all and carried out by KentuckianaWorks and we encourage anyone interested, or who knows a young person seeking experience in local government, to apply." Wilson, the 21c Museum Hotels founder, told The Courier Journal he knew his granddaughter had an internship at Metro Hall but did not know it was through a program the mayor's office presented as prioritizing disadvantaged youth. "She interviewed for that job and got it. I had no idea that it was targeted for any kind of particular person," he said. "But she did a good job, and she benefited from it." Barzun, the director of the Office of Philanthropy, did not respond to an email seeking comment. No guidelines for SummerWorks employers Speaking to The Courier Journal in July, Michael Gritton, the executive director of KentuckianaWorks, which oversees SummerWorks, said young people seeking a job through the program generally apply directly to the employer through SummerWorks online portal. In general, the employer picks, just like an employer would, he said. Theres nothing about the process that has me picking a kid and saying, hey heres the kid you get. We just dont have the staff horsepower to do that level of matching. Asked if employers have guidelines on prioritizing applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds, Gritton said: So what we typically do is just try to make sure our recruiting efforts are focused on young people either at high schools that have high percentages eligible for free-and-reduced lunch, meaning lots of low-income kids. YouthBuild Louisville runs SummerWorks for us, they will make sure that theyre networked with community-based organizations that serve low-income families and low-income kids. For 2023, Gritton said, nearly half of the SummerWorks participants came from target zip codes. He added that there is no income eligibility for the program. While private companies are asked to pay wages for interns they hire through SummerWorks, youth hired by government agencies and nonprofits are sponsored positions paid for by SummerWorks. Funding for SummerWorks this year included about $1 million from the city and an additional $500,000 or so from philanthropic donations, Gritton said. SummerWorks began in 2011, in the early days of Mayor Fischer's first term, and included a mix of private money and city funds. On Wednesday, Gritton declined to comment on Metro Hall hiring interns with connections to Greenberg. Interns working any SummerWorks job are guaranteed a minimum of $12 per hour. At an August press conference marking the end of SummerWorks 2023 season, Greenberg said 168 private sector employers posted positions and received 1,800 applications. He added there were 38 nonprofit and government agencies that hosted 255 interns. While at least six Metro Hall interns were hired through the SummerWorks program, an additional list provided to The Courier Journal under Kentuckys open records law shows other interns hired by the mayors office were not part of the program. That additional intern list includes another person with strong connections to Greenberg: 72-year-old former Louisville Congressman Mike Ward, who frequently appears at Metro Hall events. Reach reporter Josh Wood at jwood@courier-journal.com or on Twitter at @JWoodJourno. Reporter Eleanor McCrary contributed reporting. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville mayor's office SummerWorks interns have Greenberg ties [Source] A major cybercrime operation spanning multiple countries relied on a sophisticated phishing tool designed by an Indonesian genius when he was 17. International crime: Riswanda Noor Saputra, now 23, was taken into custody in 2021 following an extensive international investigation involving law enforcement agencies from Japan, Indonesia and Interpol. The collaborative effort uncovered a large-scale cybercrime scheme based in Osaka, Japan, which used Saputras phishing tool called "16Shop, reported The Asahi Shimbun. Phishing prodigy: Saputra, who was already known for his development skills back in his hometown, quickly rose to popularity in the tech scene following the notoriety of his controversial tool. Authorities have even expressed astonishment at Saputra's technical prowess at a young age, with experts and legal analysts calling him a tech "genius." How the tool works: Stolen credit card data that scammers obtained through phishing attacks were funneled through the 16Shop tool. More from NextShark: Death of missing 13-year-old girl found in an Oregon stream is ruled a homicide The tool was also used by a 40-year-old suspect named Der Kalisna who made illegal purchases and sent them to a man in Kanagawa as well as Indonesian students studying in Japan. After selling the illegally obtained products, the contacts would send the earnings back to Der. Der was arrested on July 9. In-demand tool: According to the Indonesian police, about 15 million yen (approximately $103,500) was illegally taken from Japanese credit cards in the past couple of years. Saputras tool was sold to 70,000 individuals across 43 nations via a platform that has already been successfully shut down. Where he is now: After being found guilty of falsifying electronic information in 2022, Saputra was given a 30-month prison sentence and fined 500 million rupiah (approximately $32,778). Since being granted freedom via a parole in April, he has been living on the island of Borneo. More from NextShark: Nearly 6,000 glaciers in China have disappeared due to global warming Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark! Thai man arrested after promoting crystal meth as skin brightener on TikTok 24-year-old man arrested for throwing pipe bomb at Japan PM Kishida An Iowa man spent 251 days in jail on charges related to evidence a judge later found was gathered illegally. Now he's suing the officers involved, alleging unconstitutional search and seizure. Steven Schoessler had drugs when he was arrested and charged in 2022, but the officer who found them did not have enough evidence to search the vehicle, according to court documents. The judge found Guthrie County deputy Shane Jones lawfully detained Schoessler but also falsely claimed his car was in a handicap spot, which ultimately led to the search and seizure of his truck. Schoessler was charged with two counts of violation of a controlled substance for marijuana and methamphetamine, two counts of failure to affix a drug stamp and driving while barred. The drug charges were dropped in January after Judge Stacy Ritchie ruled to suppress all evidence related to the search of Schoessler's vehicle. He pleaded guilty to the charge of driving while barred, an aggravated misdemeanor. He filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in April against Jones, officer Daniel Irving, Guthrie County Sheriff Marty Arganbright, police chief Dave Reha, Guthrie County and the city of Stuart, claiming unconstitutional search, malicious prosecution and negligent supervision and training. Though she is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird was the county attorney in Guthrie County when charges were filed. Schoessler's lawyers have requested a jury trial and monetary relief, in part for "violation of his constitutional rights, loss of income and earning capacity, humiliation, degradation, public ridicule, loss of personal and professional reputation, and emotional distress," court documents say. More: Courts rule Des Moines police violated rights in two cases, side with police in a third Why were the police called in the first place? On May 14, 2022, Schoessler drove to an apartment complex in Guthrie County with a crossbow and open beer can and entered a woman's apartment uninvited, according to court documents. A witness said his speech was slurred and Schoessler was not behaving normally. Jones had learned Schoessler was driving a white truck and was allegedly attempting to steal a dog. According to testimony outlined in the motion to suppress, the apartment was in a known drug area. Upon arrival, Jones said he smelled alcohol and observed Schoessler slurring his speech and detained him. K-9 'alert' led to search of the vehicle According to court documents, dispatch notified Jones that Schoessler had a barred license. The deputy arrested Schoessler on that charge and offered to enter the vehicle to get the suspect's phone. Schoessler declined, which led the deputy to get Urs, his drug-sniffing K-9, to smell the exterior of the truck, according to court documents. The deputy testified that Urs changed direction abruptly and rose on his rear legs, prompting the officers on scene to search the vehicle. Once they found the drugs, they had the car towed. Jones testified Urs is trained to sniff out narcotics and his "tell," meaning he smells drugs, is to sit and stare or to stand and stare. Urs did not exhibit those signs in this case. The court found that a reasonable person would not think the way Urs reacted meant he smelled drugs. Regardless, Jones could have impounded the truck and done an inventory search, during which he would have legally found the drugs. He did not complete an inventory search or fill out the required inventory sheet. Jones testified that he impounded the vehicle because it was parked in a handicap parking space in a private lot. But the motion to suppress revealed that was not true. Jones said in court that he believed towing the vehicle would be safer than keeping it parked in a known drug area. Jones testified he didn't complete an inventory because there were cameras in the lot to record the search a deviation of state policy. The judge found that he did not have a warrant to search the vehicle and did not have probable cause to search it. Noelle Alviz-Gransee is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. Follow her on Twitter@NoelleHannika or email her at NAlvizGransee@registermedia.com. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa man sues after 251 days in jail on evidence gathered illegally Iowa's ability to produce obstetricians and gynecologists, along with its ability to recruit prospective providers to practice in the state, would be in jeopardy if the new six-week abortion ban goes into effect, health experts say. The stricter law creates new roadblocks for Iowa's sole obstetrics and gynecology residency program to train aspiring doctors, which in turn could make it harder for the program to recruit trainees. Health experts warn that would create a domino effect that could jeopardize the state's ability to retain OB-GYNs to provide reproductive health care to Iowans, an alarming possibility in a state that already has gaps in maternal health access. We may lose some very qualified applicants that could potentially provide these services that were in dire need of in Iowa," said Dr. Amy Bingaman, an OB-GYN at Broadlawns Medical Center in Des Moines. Dr Francesca Turner, left, an OBGYN at Broadlawns goes over a patients chart with Dr. Kiara Festing-Smith, an OB Fellow, Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. The new "fetal heartbeat" law that Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law last month would prohibit nearly all abortions after doctors detect cardiac activity in an embryo, which typically occurs about six weeks into a pregnancy. The law allows for exceptions for rape, incest, fatal fetal abnormalities and in cases of medical emergencies. A district court judge temporarily blocked its enforcement, but that stay may be temporary. The Iowa Supreme Court has agreed to take up Reynolds' appeal of the injunction and will decide the issue in the coming term, which begins Sept. 1. Health providers say that even if the new law does not immediately go into effect, it signals to prospective medical students and residents that Iowa is an unfriendly state to reproductive health care access. As a result, doctors say Iowa may see fewer trainees seek out its medical schools and residency programs, especially if they hope to pursue a career as an OB-GYN. In my role, I get a lot of questions about what's happening in the state," said Dr. Rebecca Shaw, an OB-GYN and associate professor at Des Moines University's medical school. "'What is the environment in the state of Iowa? Given the legislative climate, what kind of a state would I be practicing in if I choose to come to Iowa to practice medicine?' But more urgently to my students is, What kind of state would I be receiving my post-graduate training in? And what students see is (Iowa) is unfriendly to reproductive choice. How does this law affect Iowa's OB-GYN residency program? Iowa's sole OB-GYN residency program is at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. To maintain accreditation, the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education requires OB-GYN programs in the U.S. to provide clinical training or access to clinical training in abortions. Residents can choose to opt out of that training. Doctors say training in abortion care is critical for OB-GYNs to provide a full scope of care to patients, including those who may be miscarrying or otherwise experiencing an emergency that necessitates the procedure. If a residency program is in a state that legally restricts that clinical experience, accreditors say the program "must provide access to this clinical experience in a jurisdiction where no such legal restriction is present." That means Iowa residents will likely have to travel out of state for the multiweek training. The Iowa City-based system has not commented on the implications from the state's new abortion restrictions and so far has been tight-lipped on the work officials are doing behind the scenes to ensure the residency program retains accreditation. The Iowa Board of Regents, which oversees the state's higher education institutions, said in a statement that the university is working with accreditors to provide the education needed for its trainees. "As the only obstetrics and gynecology residency program in Iowa, University of Iowa Health Care is committed to continuing this vital training program," said Josh Lehman, Board of Regents spokesperson. "Training more doctors and health care professionals for Iowa in OB-GYN is critical to meeting the needs of our state." UI and Board of Regents officials declined to provide further insight on the effort to retain the program's accredited status. This isn't the first time the program has had to grapple with the implications of a six-week abortion ban. In 2018, the Iowa Legislature passed an abortion ban that was nearly identical to the one signed into law by Reynolds last month. UI officials overseeing the OB-GYN residency program said at the time that they would likely form partnerships with an out-of-state clinic to continue offering this training. Officials also considered establishing their own clinic in another state without restrictions. While physicians outside the university are confident the program will still exist if the ban goes into effect, they say it could have serious implications for the program and other medical training programs in the state. When you put restrictions on the residency program, it might be more difficult to even have residents in our state," said Dr. Francesca Turner, an OB-GYN at Broadlawns. Dr. Francesca Turner, an OBGYN at Broadlawns stands for a photo, Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. As medical residents avoid red states, Iowa grapples with maternal care shortages States that have enacted strict abortion bans saw a 10.5% drop in applicants for OB-GYN residency programs in 2023 compared with the previous year, according to data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. While overall applicants to OB-GYN programs nationwide were down this year, researchers said the sharp decline in those states indicated that prospective residents were avoiding areas with restrictions. Iowa did not have an abortion ban during last year's application cycle. The next batch of applicants for next year's cohort is due later this fall, so it's unclear yet how Iowa's new ban will affect interest in the program. Health experts say residents who train in programs in Iowa are more likely to stay in the state to provide care. I don't think any OB-GYN wants that government mandate on their ability to take care of their patients," Bingaman said. "If I didnt have any attachment to Iowa, I would much prefer to practice in the state in which I don't worry about any government sanctions or liability in providing the appropriate care for my patients. Iowa already has a critical need for maternal health care. Data from state public health officials indicates Iowa has 3.3 OB-GYN providers for every 10,000 women of reproductive age in the state the lowest number of providers per capita in the country. In 2021, Iowa had 231 providers to care for more than 606,000 women of reproductive age. That shortage is also tied to a declining number of birthing centers across the state. Since 2000, 41 labor and delivery units across the state have permanently shut down mostly in rural parts of Iowa. Only about 40% of Iowa counties have a birthing center, experts estimate. Now, a third of Iowa counties are maternity care deserts, meaning they don't have an OB-GYN or a birthing center, according to a new report from March of Dimes. In some cases, women in those counties have to travel nearly 40 miles to reach the nearest birthing hospital. In addition, more than 41% of Iowa women live in counties where they face a very high or high vulnerability to adverse outcomes because they lack access to care. Medical students say ban reduces likelihood they'll apply for residency programs in Iowa Health experts say the abortion ban's implications can also have ripple effects on other medical training programs, such as the obstetrics fellowship at Broadlawns. The program offers family medicine doctors an additional year of training in obstetrics care, which includes instruction on providing C-sections and managing miscarriages. The goal of the fellowship is to equip doctors to provide care in rural, underserved areas of the state, and aims to serve as a stopgap to address the OB-GYN shortage in those areas, Turner said. However, it's still unclear when doctors would be allowed to intervene under the new ban's exceptions for cases of medical emergencies or fatal anomalies. Some doctors say they worry that doctors will have to wait until a patient's condition worsens before they're allowed under the law to provide an abortion. Turner said she worries doctors practicing in rural areas where they are often the only provider for miles with the skills to address pregnancy complications will lack the support they need to handle the challenging cases that could result from this ban. That could result in more physician burnout. If you are unable to provide the care that patients deserve, and you have a bad outcome, that will affect your mental health and that will affect your ability to continue doing that," Turner said. "You'll be more likely to stop doing obstetrics if you don't have that support. Though their practice may not necessarily be affected by an abortion ban, other residents say the law has serious implications for physician-patient relationships. A native of Iowa, Emily Trudeau is in her second year in UI's family medicine-psychiatry residency program. In her field, building relationships with patients is critical, but she said laws like the six-week abortion ban create more distrust in the medical system. Having legal interference within our relationship between the physician and the patient is really disruptive because it creates this disconnect and this confusion where we want to do things for the patient, but we're not able to because of laws that aren't evidence-based," she said. Shaw said Iowa's new abortion ban shouldn't affect the education medical students receive. Instruction on abortion care would still be included in the didactic curriculum, and medical students aren't required to observe abortions as part of their clinical experience. While students can seek out additional clinical experience in elective abortions on their own, the ban could make it challenging for individuals to find those opportunities. Because of this, some medical trainees in Iowa say they're rethinking their long-term commitment to Iowa. For some, like Kaitlyn Hanson, a first-year medical student at DMU who plans to pursue a career as an OB-GYN, the choice to seek out training elsewhere is easy. She said abortion training is a critical piece of that field, and she wants a comprehensive program that can teach her those skills. "It's something I want to be folded into my residency training, so I am absolutely put off from applying to programs from states with restrictive abortion laws," Hanson said. For others, the new law has made that decision murky. Alina Beltrami, a third-year medical student at DMU, is still deciding on a residency track. She said depending on what field she ultimately pursues, the new law would likely be a factor in that decision. If this ban hadn't passed, I think I would be more willing to say I will for sure be applying to residency here, she said. Trudeau hopes to receive training to provide prenatal and postpartum care to her patients, as well as abortion care. At the moment, she said she hopes to practice in Iowa in order to be an advocate for her future patients. However, shes not sure whether that drive will last. Today, I'm feeling I would want to stay and I would want to try to help people, but I wouldn't say that's for certain at all, Trudeau said. I could change my mind and decide Minnesota is a better place to be or maybe Michigan's a better place to be. Its not far away, and my family wouldnt be far away, so its an option. Michaela Ramm covers health care for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at mramm@registermedia.com, at (319) 339-7354 or on Twitter at @Michaela_Ramm. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa's new abortion ban could reduce applicants for OB-GYN training Iran moved four American detainees from a prison in Tehran to house arrest on Thursday, according to a lawyer for one of the prisoners. Jared Genser, an international human rights lawyer, said in a statement that hostages Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi, and Morad Tahbaz, along with a fourth unidentified American, were moved to house arrest from Evin Prison. Genser, who represents Namazi, said the Namazi family has received visual confirmation of the release toward house arrest. The name of the fourth detainee moved from prison to hour arrest could not be confirmed, according to the statement. A fifth hostage may have also been moved to house arrest, according to the lawyer. Genser said the Biden administration was informed Wednesday of the move. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement the U.S. was relieved to learn of the news and was in contact with the families. While we welcome the news of these individuals release from prison to house arrest, they should never have been imprisoned in the first place, Miller said. We continue to work diligently to bring these individuals home to their loved ones. They must be allowed to depart Iran and reunite with their loved ones as soon as possible. Genser said the move to house arrest was an important development in the case. While I hope this will be the first step to their ultimate release, this is at best the beginning of the end and nothing more, he said. But there are simply no guarantees about what happens from here. NBC News reported the four hostages will be released in exchange for the lifting of $6 billion in assets blocked by U.S. sanctions. In a statement, National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said negotiations are ongoing and declined to comment further on their release. Namazi, Shargi and Tahbaz have dual Iranian-American citizenship and are being held on espionage charges. Namazi has been held in Iran since 2015 on charges the U.S. has called specious. His father was also detained on similar charges but was released from custody last year. Iranian officials over the spring hinted that negotiations were coming to a close. Namazis brother, Babak Namazi, said in a statement he was grateful that Siamak and the other Americans in Iran are out of Evin Prison and under house arrest. While this is a positive change, we will not rest until Siamak and others are back home, Babak Namazi said. We continue to count the days until this can happen. We have suffered tremendously and indescribably for eight horrific years and wish only to be reunited again as a family. Updated 2:04 p.m. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. The News Five Americans who were imprisoned in Iran have now been placed under house arrest, White House officials said a sign that a potential prison swap between Tehran and Washington is in the works after two years of closed-door negotiations. Know More Negotiations with Tehran were ongoing and delicate, National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said Thursday, declining to detail efforts to return the Americans back to the U.S. The U.S. prisoners Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi, Morad Tahbaz, and another two who were not publicly identified had been detained on unsubstantiated charges of spying. They have reportedly been transferred from Tehrans Evin Prison to a hotel. The U.S. and Iran reached an agreement to free the Americans in exchange for several jailed Iranians and roughly $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue, the New York Times reported. Irans United Nations mission later confirmed that the agreement to free the American detainees involved the release of $6 billion to $7 billion in frozen assets in South Korea, the Associated Press reported. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Iran has transferred five Iranian-Americans from prison to house arrest, U.S. officials said Thursday. The move comes after Tehran has spent months suggesting a prisoner swap with Washington in exchange for billions of dollars frozen in South Korea. Iranian officials at the United Nations confirmed the deal to The Associated Press, saying that the prisoner release marks a significant initial step in the implementation of this agreement. Iran also acknowledged that the deal involved $6 billion to $7 billion frozen in South Korea. The U.N. mission said that money would be transferred to Qatar before being sent onto Iran if the agreement goes through. The complicated, multinational deal comes amid months of heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. A major American military buildup in the Persian Gulf is underway, with the possibility of armed U.S. troops boarding and guarding commercial ships traveling through the crucial Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of all oil traded passes. It remains unclear whether the transfer of the Iranian-Americans guarantees that they will make it home. Iran in past months has overstated progress in talks, likely conducted with mediation from Oman and Qatar, on a potential trade. The U.S. in March called remarks by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian that a deal for a swap was close a cruel lie. U.S.-based lawyer Jared Genser identified three of the transferred prisoners as Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi and Morad Tahbaz. Genser, who has represented Namazi, did not identify the fourth and fifth prisoners. The five likely will be held at a hotel under guard until they possibly leave Iran, Genser added. The move by Iran of the American hostages from Evin Prison to an expected house arrest is an important development, Genser said in a statement. While I hope this will be the first step to their ultimate release, this is at best the beginning of the end and nothing more. But there are simply no guarantees about what happens from here. Sharghis sister, Neda Sharghi, also acknowledged the transfer. My family has faith in the work that President Biden and government officials have undertaken to bring our families home and hope to receive that news soon, she said in a statement. Until that point, I hope you can understand that we do not think it will be helpful to comment further. Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the White Houses National Security Council, acknowledged the prisoners move to house arrest and described the negotiations for their release as ongoing and delicate. While this is an encouraging step, these U.S. citizens ... should have never been detained in the first place, she said in a statement. We will continue to monitor their condition as closely as possible. Of course, we will not rest until they are all back home in the United States. It remains unclear how many Iranian-Americans are held by Tehran, which does not recognize dual citizenship. The three released prisoners cited by Genser whose identities are known are Namazi, who was detained in 2015 and later sentenced to 10 years in prison on internationally criticized spying charges; Sharghi, a venture capitalist sentenced to 10 years in prison; and Tahbaz, a British-American conservationist of Iranian descent who was arrested in 2018 and also received a 10-year sentence. Comments by U.S. officials in recent months had suggested there could be a fourth detainee in Iran, and an Iranian newspaper in August had reported there was a fifth prisoner, revealing the case amid apparent negotiations for the release. Iran, meanwhile, has said it seeks the release of Iranian prisoners held in the U.S. Iranian media in the past identified several prisoners of interest with cases tied to violations of U.S. export laws and restrictions on doing business with Iran. The alleged violations include the transfer of funds through Venezuela and sales of dual-use equipment that the U.S. alleges could be used in Irans military and nuclear programs. Iran has been enriching uranium and stockpiling it as part of its advancing nuclear program. The deal hinges on Iranian assets frozen in South Korean banks due to international sanctions on Tehran. Already, Tehran seized a South Korean oil tanker amid the dispute and threatened further retaliation in August. Definitely Iran will not remain silent, and we have many options that could harm the Koreans and we will certainly use them, said Fadahossein Maleki, a member of Irans parliament who sits on its influential national security and foreign policy committee. Iran and the U.S. have a history of prisoner swaps dating back to the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis following the Islamic Revolution. The most recent major exchange between the two countries happened in 2016, when Iran came to a deal with world powers to restrict its nuclear program in return for an easing of sanctions. Four American captives, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, flew home from Iran, and several Iranians in the United States won their freedom. That same day, the Obama administration airlifted $400 million in cash to Tehran. Iran has received international criticism over its targeting of dual nationals amid tensions with the wider world. A United Nations panel has described an emerging pattern involving the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of dual nationals. The West accuses Iran of using foreign prisoners as bargaining chips in political negotiations, an allegation Tehran rejects. Negotiations over a major prisoner swap faltered after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the nuclear deal in 2018. From the following year on, a series of attacks and ship seizures attributed to Iran have raised tensions. While President Joe Biden entered office with hopes of restarting the deal, diplomatic negotiations on the accord have been stalled for a year. It remains unclear how any possible deal would affect Biden, who now is ordering the Persian Gulf buildup. In 2016, then-President Barack Obama received withering criticism from Republicans over that prisoner swap, though he already was nearing the end of his second term. Biden will face reelection in November 2024, potentially against Trump. Those in the U.S. long critical of diplomacy with Iran began questioning the deal immediately after Gensers announcement. Paying $6 billion in ransom payments means the regime will only take more hostages, said Mark Dubowitz of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which led criticism of the Iran nuclear deal. This has become a lucrative means of international extortion for Irans supreme leader. That troop buildup, however, may insulate Biden from criticism from Gulf Arab nations in the Persian Gulf, who rely on American security guarantees. The U.S. also is negotiating with Saudi Arabia over potentially recognizing Israel diplomatically, a deal that may involve further guarantees about military support against Iran. Thats even as Riyadh reached a detente with Iran in March after years of tensions. Also long missing in Iran is retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished on the Iranian island of Kish in 2007. A 2013 Associated Press investigation revealed he had been sent on an unauthorized CIA mission. The U.S. alleges he was abducted by Iranian government agents. Iran has denied arresting Levinson or knowing his whereabouts. He is presumed to have died in Iranian custody. He would be 75 years old now. Iraqs official media regulator has reportedly banned the terms homosexual and homosexuality on all media and social media platforms and is instead mandating the usage of the term sexual deviancy, according to multiple media reports. Iraqs Media and Communications Commission said the directive aims to safeguard societal values and public order, according to CBS News, which cited an Iraqi news outlet that posted a photo of the document itself. The term gender has also been banned, Reuters reported. The commission said the terms have undesirable connotations within Iraqi society, according to CBS News. The commission reportedly banned all phone and internet companies it licenses from using the terms in their mobile applications as well. The commissions decision still needs final approval, and a penalty for violating the order has not been set. A fine could still come in the future, according to Reuters. Iraq does not explicitly criminalize homosexuality but does have a provision under its penal code that prohibits immodest acts in public, which Human Rights Watch (HRW) said is a vague provision that could be used to target sexual and gender minorities. A review of Iraq conducted by HRW in 2021 found domestic violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people remains widespread in the country. A separate 2022 report from HRW found various armed groups continue to abduct, rape, torture and kill lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The report argued the Iraqi government failed to hold these groups accountable. Last year, an influential Iraqi cleric launched an anti-LGBTQ campaign, posting a statement on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that called for believing men and women [to] unite all over the world to combat [the LGBTQ community]. The Hill reached out to Iraqs Media and Communications Commission for further comment. The Associated Press contributed to this report. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Two men on Aug. 1 in a Moscow high-rise that was damaged in a drone attack launched by Ukrainian forces. (Bai Xueqi/Xinhua via Getty Images) In recent days and weeks, Ukraine has launched drone attacks deep inside Russia including at Moscow itself. The attacks have rattled Russians, who, for the most part, have been accustomed not to have to think about the war that President Vladimir Putin launched almost 18 months ago. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly said that his only goal is to reconquer territory that Russia has illegally taken in its two invasions of Ukraine, first in 2014 and then, on a much larger scale, in 2022. We are not fighting on their territory, Zelensky said in the late spring of 2022. We have the war on our territory. Attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles carrying explosives are a low-risk but potent effort to bring at least some of the pain back home to Russia. But they are also something of a sideshow, some say, when the counteroffensive now taking place in eastern Ukraine is far more important for the countrys future. Read more on Yahoo News: Is the Ukrainian counteroffensive faltering? Attacks deep inside Russia Security workers look up at the damaged skyscraper in Moscow on July 30. (AP Photo) Drones can be tools, or toys. They can also be kamikaze weapons, sent remotely to explode over distant targets. Although Ukraine has used drones since the start of the war to harass Russian forces close to the frontlines, as well as military installations inside Russia itself, it has lately been making incursions deep into Russian territory. (Russia has kamikaze drones of its own, sent by Iran.) This week, drones struck both of Moscows airports and, in a separate attack, a Russian ship in the Black Sea. Russia said it shot down two drones apparently intended to hit Moscow, as well as 11 headed for the Crimean city of Sevastopol. In recent weeks, drones twice hit a Moscow skyscraper. Those who work in Moskva-City towers are the privileged class of government officials and business people, a Ukrainian official said of the skyscraper attack. They saw with their own eyes that Russian authorities are incapable of and cannot protect even their social group. There is no air defense, air raid alerts, bomb shelters for them. Drones even reached the Kremlin itself in May. In some ways its more effective than what Ukraine can do in the counteroffensive, Michal Baranowski, managing director of the German Marshall Fund East, recently told The Hill. Ukrainians are basically trying to show the Russian elites that look, there is a cost to what Putin is doing. Read more on Yahoo News: Why Ukraine may have launched an unprecedented drone attack on Moscow, via Los Angeles Times Some criticize Ukrainian tactic A map showing what Russia controls, the contested area and territory retaken by Ukrainian forces. Some argue that while the drone attacks may satisfy supporters in the West, they don't further the goal of winning back lands conquered by Russia. Thus the first serious war of the third millennium must be fought on the ground quite a comedown from the post-kinetic cyber and information warfare that had been confidently predicted by both Western and Russian generals, writes the historian Edward Luttwak. This is a war that must be fought by sheer, grinding, attrition, just like the First World War on the Western Front. A rare condemnation of Ukraine also came from the United Nations, most of whose members have stood against Putins aggression. We are against any and all attacks on civilian facilities, and we want them to stop, a U.N. spokesman said earlier this week. Russia, of course, has launched many more attacks against civilians and has killed many more of them than Ukraine. Read more on Yahoo News: Why no one can end the Ukraine war, via UnHerd Counteroffensive drags on A Ukrainian soldier Wednesday at the frontline in the Donbas region. (Wojciech Grzedzinski/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) The fate of Ukraine will be determined by what happens on the battlefield in the countrys eastern regions, where a long-planned counteroffensive has tried to break through Russian defensive lines. The counterassault has been slow because Russia spent months preparing, digging and installing antitank barriers. Zelensky has acknowledged that the pace and extent of progress have not met expectations either at home or abroad. The danger is that Western allies impatience and Ukrainians frustration could set in, especially as another winter of war approaches. Our expectations were higher, a 36-year-old woman in Kyiv whose partner is fighting on the frontlines told the Washington Post. If its going on, its going slow. Read more on Yahoo News: Biden will ask Congress for $13B to support Ukraine and $12B for disaster fund, via the Associated Press Yevhen Korniichuk, Ambassador of Ukraine to Israel, has called on the official Jerusalem to refuse the abolition of medical insurance for refugees from Ukraine. Source: Korniichuks comment on the embassy's Facebook page Quote: "We are deeply disappointed and concerned at the recent Israeli government's decision to cancel health insurance for refugees from Ukraine. Not only does the Israeli government refuse to sell Ukraine protective measures against the murder of our citizens by the Russians - now Israel is also stopping medical assistance for refugees who fled to Israel from the threat of brutal killing in the hands of the Russians. We call [on - ed.] the Israeli government not to turn the back on a basic humanitarian act - the health of our refugees." Details: Korniichuk urged Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli Minister of Finance, and Ya'akov Margi, Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services, to reconsider their decision and to provide Ukrainian refugees with basic social protection and health insurance as a gesture of humanism. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! This is a locator map of Israel and the Palestinian Territories. (AP Photo) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian militant in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the latest death in an unabating wave of violence to grip the region. The death brings the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank this year to 168, according to a tally by The Associated Press. It happened amid soaring tensions surrounding Israel's continuing raids into Palestinian areas in the territory and after the release to house arrest of a Jewish settler accused of involvement in the killing last week of a 19-year-old Palestinian man. In the latest violence, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Thursday that Israeli troops killed Amir Ahmed Khalifa, 27, in the West Bank town of Zawata, north of the city Nablus. The area has been a flashpoint for fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinians. The Israeli military said a gunman opened fire at soldiers operating in the Nablus area and they shot back. At least 27 people have died in Palestinian attacks against Israelis this year. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed offshoot of the secular Fatah party, later Thursday claimed Khalifa as a member. Israel has staged near-nightly incursions in Palestinian areas in what it says is a bid to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. The raids have sparked some of the worst fighting between the sides in the West Bank in about two decades and driven up the death toll. Israel says most of those killed have been militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting the raids and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed. Israel captured the West Bank, along with the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for their hoped-for independent state. Final approval has not yet been obtained and there can be no assurance that it will be granted Italy's largest bank, Intesa Sanpaolo, is nearing Kremlin approval to transfer its Russian business to local management, Reuters reported on Aug. 10. Previously, Intesa had stated it was working to identify suitable parties for the transfer of its Russian assets, but did not report any further progress on the issue. Read also: UNESCO mission arrives to assess damage from Russian attacks on Odesa At the same time, the report notes that final approval has not yet been granted and there is no certainty it will be given. Read also: Ukraines Zibra AI wins $500,000 from prestigious US investment program Intesa services corporate clients in Russia. At the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it employed about 980 people across 28 branches. With the onset of the war, the bank halted new financing for Russian clients and new investments in Russian assets. Read also: Crumbling Russian state has only nuclear blackmail left, Kyiv says Furthermore, every Western company looking to exit the Russian market and sell off its assets is obliged to make a direct contribution to the state budget. Approximately 2,000 applications for exit from the Russian market are awaiting approval, but it's estimated that it will take at least eight years to review them all. Earlier, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak reported that only 9% of nearly 1,500 transnational companies have left Russia since the invasion began in February 2022. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine A man holding a baby wades through a flooded road in Chattogram, Bangladesh, on Aug. 9, 2023. Bangladeshi soldiers were deployed on Tuesday to the country's Chattogram region, some 240 km southeast of the capital Dhaka, to tackle its worsening situation of torrential rains. Three incidents of landslides claimed at least six lives in Chattogram's Cox's Bazar district on Monday, which is now home to nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees who are living on the slopes of the hills. (Xinhua) by Naim-Ul-Karim DHAKA, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Bangladeshi soldiers were deployed on Tuesday to the country's Chattogram region, some 240 km southeast of the capital Dhaka, to tackle its worsening situation of torrential rains. Three incidents of landslides claimed at least six lives in Chattogram's Cox's Bazar district on Monday, which is now home to nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees who are living on the slopes of the hills. Bangladesh's Refugee, Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) Mohammad Mizanur Rahman told Xinhua that "four Rohingyas were killed, and two others were injured in two separate landslides triggered by heavy rainfall on Monday." In a remote hilly place of the Cox's Bazar district, two children were also reportedly killed on Monday evening when the wall of their house collapsed on them because of a landslide. The Inter-Services Public Relations under the defense ministry said rescue operations with emergency relief and medical assistance are ongoing in the flood area. Rahman said a total of 119 landslides occurred in the Rohingya camp areas and over 1,500 shelters were completely or partly damaged due to incessant rains, which have also lashed Bangladesh's seaport city Chattogram, inundating low-lying areas and disrupting road traffic. The dwellers of low-lying areas of Chattogram have been facing waterlogging for days with roads, lanes and bylanes in parts of the country's premier seaport city going under ankle to knee-deep water, causing immense hardship to commuters. A.K.M Nazmul Hoque, a senior meteorologist with the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), told Xinhua Monday that an active monsoon has led to heavy rainfall in some areas in Chattogram. The country's meteorological agency reported 322 mm rainfall, the highest in the Chattogram region this year, in the 24 hours until 6:00 a.m. local time on Monday. Against this backdrop, authorities continued evacuating people from the hills at risk of landslides in Bangladesh's three southeastern districts of Chattogram, Bandarban and Rangamati. Landslides are frequent in Bangladesh's hilly areas during monsoon, which usually runs from June to September, as land has been heavily deforested to grow crops and build new houses. In June 2017, devastating landslides in Bangladesh's hilly southeastern region killed at least 125 people and damaged hundreds of homes. A man pushes a tricycle transferring people through a flooded road in Chattogram, Bangladesh, on Aug. 9, 2023. Bangladeshi soldiers were deployed on Tuesday to the country's Chattogram region, some 240 km southeast of the capital Dhaka, to tackle its worsening situation of torrential rains. Three incidents of landslides claimed at least six lives in Chattogram's Cox's Bazar district on Monday, which is now home to nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees who are living on the slopes of the hills. (Xinhua) By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge has dismissed a shareholder lawsuit accusing JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and his board of directors of ignoring red flags surrounding disgraced former client Jeffrey Epstein. In a Wednesday evening decision, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said shareholders led by Miami and Pittsburgh pension funds failed to first ask the bank's board directly to address their concerns, or show it would be futile to do so, before suing. The Manhattan-based judge said he will explain his reasoning in due course. Rakoff did not address specific accusations about the largest U.S. bank's relationship with Epstein. Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. Lawyers for the shareholders did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Shareholders had accused Dimon, seven other directors and Jes Staley, a former private banking and investment banking chief, of having "put their heads in the sand" as Epstein used his accounts to further abuses of young women and girls. The so-called derivative lawsuit sought to have the defendants or their insurers pay damages to JPMorgan, for the benefit of shareholders. Rakoff is also overseeing two Epstein-related lawsuits against JPMorgan by the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the financier owned two neighboring islands, and by Epstein victims. The U.S. Virgin Islands is seeking at least $190 million in damages, while a $290 million settlement with victims awaits final court approval. JPMorgan is suing Staley, who has expressed regret for his friendship with Epstein and denied knowing about his sex trafficking, to cover its losses in both lawsuits. Staley was also Barclays' chief executive from 2015 to 2021. The case is City of Miami General Employees & Sanitation Employees Retirement Trust et al v Dimon et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 23-03903. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler) Last year's busing system caused significant challenges for schools, families and students across the Jefferson County Public Schools system. It's the reason Superintendent Marty Pollio cited for altering school start times, bus routes and stops going into this school year. Those changes were done through a $265,000 contract with the Boston firm, AlphaRoute. The company's plan, which relied on artificial intelligence, cut the number of bus stops by nearly half, allowing the district for the first time to employ more drivers than routes. While delays were expected on the first day of school as is the case each year for JCPS the "transportation disaster" that caused panic among families whose children arrived home late into the night, was not. The district has largely remained mum about what caused the epic failure whether the routes are inefficient, drivers were still unfamiliar with their new routes or the problems were something different altogether. The leader of AlphaRoute, which has ties to Massachusettes Institute of Technology, also could not pinpoint what went wrong, according to a statement provided Thursday morning to The Courier Journal. "We know JCPS is working diligently to resolve the issues it experienced yesterday, and at this time it's not yet clear what the root causes were for those issues," said John Hanlon, CEO and co-founder of AlphaRoute. "But we recognize that the situation was extremely regrettable and likely caused by the significant changes to bus routing which were made necessary by the district's severe driver shortage." The district's new student assignment plan could have also contributed to the chaos, Hanlon said, calling it all a "substantial amount of change," for JCPS to undergo at once. The assignment plan ended the district's practice of forced busing largely of students living in western Louisville across the county. "We are fully confident that the new bell times and the new routes will work as planned, and we will do everything we can to support the district during this process," Hanlon said. While AlphaRoute has undergone scrutiny related to its recent work with Ohio's largest district and 2017 work some of its top employees were involved with for the Boston Public Schools district, Hanlon said those situations were not comparable to those at JCPS. Columbus City Schools in Ohio signed a three-year contract with AlphaRoute last year, paying $1.5 million for a new software system meant to "more efficiently and effectively develop bus routes but instead has apparently contributed to major problems for hundreds of students and their parents," a Columbus Dispatch article states. As a result, the district backtracked and began using its previous software while running AlphaRoute's "in the background." This has not been right from the get-go, Rodney Stufflebean, an official with Columbus' transportation department, said last fall. We basically put all of our eggs in one basket with Alpha. We know that was probably not the best decision. In March, when speaking to The Courier Journal, Stufflebean didn't cast sole blame on AlphaRoute for its transportation woes, but rather the national driver shortage the primary reason JCPS was also led to the engineering firm. A student looks out of a JCPS bus that's stopped outside Shaffner Elementary in Shively Wednesday morning for the first day of classes. Aug. 9, 2023. "Our primary challenge was the national shortage of bus drivers, which forced us to put more students on fewer buses," Stufflebean said. "While AlphaRoute helped us create routes, we didnt have enough drivers to cover all of the routes, and we didnt know enough about the system to be able to make changes or updates on the fly." At the time, he said the transition back to the previous system was rooted in the fact that drivers were more familiar with it but his team was continuing to "learn more about the AlphaRoute platform and how it works for our specific needs." This school year, the district will continue to use its previous software system, with AlphaRoute in the background, according to a statement from the district provided to a Columbus Dispatch reporter Wednesday. How Columbus has used AlphaRoute is different than what JCPS is doing, Hanlon said, adding that JCPS has "access to our software but only uses it as a reference tool and added resource for now. This is not the same scope of work as we implemented in Columbus last year." Has JCPS worked with AlphaRoute before? According to public district finance data, JCPS has spent nearly $750,000 on AlphaRoute services since 2021. Much of that figure more than $500,000 stemmed from a May 2021 contract with the company, rather than what JCPS paid for the most recent proposal. The May 2021 contract called for a fine-tuning of bus routes ahead of the 2021-22 school year, hoping to reduce the number of routes JCPS needed as it faced a shortage of drivers. That contract also included a second phase of services meant to optimize the districts start time schedule ahead of the 2022-23 school year. While Pollio pitched some new start times in March 2022 for the next school year, the concept was quickly trashed after swift backlash from teachers at impacted schools. Then, in November 2022, JCPS entered into a new contract with AlphaRoute, this time paying just under $200,000 for a three-year contract to look into new bell times. In March 2023, the district amended the contract to get more potential bell time proposal options, bringing the overall contract value to $265,000. Reporters Olivia Krauth, Megan Henry and Cole Behrens contributed to this report. Contact reporter Krista Johnson at kjohnson3@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: What we know about the Boston firm JCPS used to overhaul its busing system Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is convinced that the recent Ukraine peace summit in Saudi Arabia was a breakthrough for Ukraine. Read also: Principles of peace agreement agreed at summit in Saudi Arabia, media report "I believe that the meeting in Jeddah was a breakthrough because for the first time it involved countries representing the whole world, not just Europe and North America," Kuleba said in a comment to Reuters on Aug. 10. Kuleba added that the number of countries interested in participating in peace negotiations has markedly increased over the last few weeks. "If a country wants to be at the forefront of world politics, it must become a participant in these coordination meetings," he added. Read also: World summit on Ukrainian Peace Formula may take place in late 2023 Kyiv On Aug. 5-6, the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia hosted two-day negotiations on the Ukrainian peace formula, with high-ranking officials and diplomats from approximately 40 countries participating. Among them were notably representatives from India and China. Russia, however, was not invited. Read also: Negotiations on Ukrainian peace formula begin in Saudi Arabia Deputy Head of the Presidential Office, Ihor Zhovkva, reported that the goal of the negotiations in Jeddah was to convey points of the Ukrainian peace formula to the participating countries. Read also: Presidential adviser Yermak reveals details of agreement struck at peace formula summit in Saudi Arabia This was the second such meeting with the previous one taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in June. The Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, stated that all participating countries in the Saudi Arabian meeting demonstrated allegiance to the principles of the UN Charter and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine A federal judge in Ohio has dismissed a challenge to a school districts transgender-inclusive restroom policy, saying there is not a legal right to transgender-free bathrooms. Students and parents sued the Bethel Local School District in western Ohio last year after officials decided to allow a trans girl in Bethel Middle School to use the girls communal restroom. There were represented by America First Legal, a conservative group. They claimed that the policy violated their rights to free exercise of religion and equal protection of the laws under the U.S. Constitution, plus their right to direct their childrens education. Both Muslim and Christian parents said in the suit that their religious beliefs would be violated if their children were exposed to members of the opposite biological sex in intimate facilities such as school restrooms. The court was not convinced. Although parents have the right to make decisions about where to send their children to school, they do not have a constitutional right to revoke a schools policy on student bathroom usage, Judge Michael Newman of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio wrote in a ruling issued Monday. The policy was neutral toward religion, he said. Not every contentious debate, concerning matters of public importance, presents a cognizable federal lawsuit, he added. Although the parties, undoubtedly, seek to vindicate what they believe is the truth, the allegations in the complaint do not pass legal muster under the applicable methods of constitutional, statutory, or precedential interpretation. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio had intervened in the suit on behalf of the trans girl, identified by the pseudonym of Anne Roe, and asked the court to dismiss it. The ruling reaffirms that the Constitution is not a vehicle to compel discrimination. Nothing in the constitutional guarantees of parenting rights, equal protection, or free exercise of religion mandates that transgender students be excluded from gender-appropriate communal restrooms on the basis of their classmates beliefs and values, David Carey, deputy legal director at the ACLU of Ohio, said in a press release. For public schools to function, one students or familys religious beliefs cannot provide a basis to exclude another student from full participation in the school environment. The decision is an amazing victory for our client, all transgender students like her, and all Bethel Area students who deserve a safe and affirming learning environment, added Malita Picasso, staff attorney for the ACLUs LGBTQ & HIV Project. The court was resoundingly clear that the rights of transgender students like Anne are not in conflict with the rights of her peers, the rights of parents, or the responsibility of the school to ensure the safety of all their students. No student should have to fear discriminatory treatment every morning they walk into school, and this ruling brings us closer to the day no transgender student has to. One of the plaintiffs has filed suit in a state-level court alleging that the districts board violated the Ohio Open Meetings Act when it adopted the policy. That trial, in the Miami County Court of Common Pleas, is set for January. Newman wrote that there was no need for him to exercise any jurisdiction in that matter. A federal appeals court recently ruled in favor of trans students restroom access as well. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which covers Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, ruled that trans-exclusionary policies in two Indiana school districts will remain blocked while lawsuits against them are heard. Three lawyers for Southwest Airlines must attend a "religious liberty training" course after a judge ruled the company disregarded his order in a religious discrimination case. The judge sided with a flight attendant in May who said she had been fired for expressing her opposition to abortion. On Tuesday, the judge said the airline "didn't come close" to complying with the ruling at the time. Southwest said it would appeal the latest order. The company's lawyers have been told to attend a course run by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative Christian legal-advocacy group. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, has said the ADF is an "anti-LGBTQ hate group". The airline appealed the original judgement when the flight attendant, Charlene Carter, was awarded $5.1m (3.99m) and also got her job back. She claimed she was fired after she called the trade union president "despicable" for attending the 2017 Women's March in Washington DC. Southwest and the union said Ms Carter wrote offensive posts on Facebook and harassed the union president in direct messages. A jury in Dallas, Texas ultimately found that the airline had violated her right to religious free speech. Southwest was then ordered to tell employees that it "may not discriminate against... flight attendants for their religious practices and beliefs, including - but not limited to - those expressed on social media and those concerning abortion". In his highly critical 29-page order, Judge Starr said the airline "didn't come close to complying" with this. He ordered a new, verbatim, statement to be sent to employees, and in his ruling included the Merriam-Webster dictionary definitions of "may," "does" and "tolerate". The judge, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, said the company behaved as if its policy limiting what staff can say was more important than federal free speech law. It was also ordered to pay the flight attendant's legal costs. A jury is deliberating in the case of a man accused of killing his best friend. Tori Lang, 18, was found dead in a Gwinnett County park two years ago. Now, a jury has to determine if Langs death was a murder or a suicide. Earlier this year, a different jury couldnt decide, and there was a mistrial. Gwinnett County police found Lang dead in a picnic area inside the park in 2021. Not long after, DeKalb County police recovered her burned-out car discovered not far from the park. After many months of investigation, police finally charged her best friend, Austin Ford, with murder and assault. Channel 2s Richard Elliot was in the courtroom when defense Attorney Lawrence Lewis admitted that Ford was at the park when Lang died from a single gunshot wound to the head, but he insists it was a suicide. We just need to determine who pulled the trigger, Lewis said. Lewis also admitted that Ford lied to police for months after the death, but he argued that lying wasnt murder. RELATED STORIES: You can write on any document that you have in the back that Austin Ford lied, but you can never write guilty on the verdict form because he lied. Because him lying got nothing to do with the murder, Lewis said. Prosecutor Norris Lewis argued that the evidence showed Langes death wasnt suicide and that Ford is the one who pulled the trigger. The states interest in this case is finding the truth, Norris Lewis said. He said Fords lies alone should be suspicious. The defendant lied for eight to nine months. To police, to Toris family, to police, to Toris family, to police over and over again, Norris Lewis said. Earlier this year, a jury convicted Ford of concealing a death and theft, but couldnt decide on the murder charge. A jury is now deliberating Fords fate. RELATED NEWS: The sister of a woman killed last weekend in a head-on crash in German Twp. wants the driver of the other car to spend the rest of his life in prison. >> WATCH: Dash cam video of chase, crash into house in Huber Heights Kaley Slivinski spoke with News Center 7s Brandon Lewis on Wednesday evening outside Dayton Childrens Hospital, where Kelsey Slivinskis 8-year-old son is recovering from numerous injuries that include a broken leg. A memorial has been created near the site, in the 9900 block of state Route 4, where 24-year-old Kelsey Slivinski was killed the night of Aug. 5. The 20-year-old driver of the other car, whose name Germantown police have not released, apparently was arrested Monday at Miami Valley Hospital, Kaley said police have told her. News Center 7 has asked Germantown police for information about the crash, but we have not been given a response as of Wednesday night. I want justice, Kaley said. I want him to spend the rest of his life in prison. My sister was 24. She has a son. She had a whole life ahead of her. . . . If I cannot get justice, I will never rely on the system ever again. Thats my biggest fear. Kaley, who lives in Franklin, said she and her sister did everything together -- work, holidays, birthdays, every anything. On the day Kelsey was killed, the sisters were to spend the evening shopping for Kaleys birthday. Kelsey had gotten off work two hours earlier than Kaley and was on her way to meet her sister. Her last words were Ill see you later, " Kaley said. I didnt get to see her again. They had grow again because Kelsey had recently moved back to Ohio from Indiana. She literally was the light of everything, Kaley said. Police have said Kelsey was not at fault and the collision, which is said to have involved a spinout and secondary collision involving the two cars, should not have happened, Kaley said. To be younger than my sister and be dumb enough to do that and kill her, just wasnt fair, she said. I dont have any answers yet, she said. That would help with grieving and closure. Were all just wondering. Thats all we want is closure. And that could take months. It could take years. Kaley also wants justice for her sisters son, who she said is doing OK. I could never imagine losing my mom at eight years old -- and right before his birthday? I just cant. . . . He is being strong. CHICAGO A jury found 20-year-old Amara Harris not liable Thursday in an unusual civil trial involving two former high school students, a set of disputed AirPods and a ticket issued by a Naperville police officer nearly four years ago. An officer assigned to Harris former high school, Naperville North, wrote her a ticket in 2019 that accused her of stealing another girls AirPods, a violation of municipal law. Harris and her lawyers maintained that she picked up the other students AirPods accidentally, mistaking them for her own. Supported by her mother, she declined to pay a fine or settle the case. The city of Naperville took the matter all the way to a jury trial at the DuPage County Courthouse, with a city attorney arguing for the prosecution. The six-person jury reached its verdict Thursday after about four hours of deliberation. Harris said after the verdict that shes relieved the case is over and she can focus on her classes at Spelman College in Atlanta. She immediately hugged her mother and grandmother after the judge read the decision. Justice is done, Harris said. Her mother, Marla Baker, added that God was on her daughters side. One of Harris attorneys, S. Todd Yeary, said the jury made the right decision. He called the ticketing system a money grab and the decision to prosecute Harris malicious. He added that hes glad Harris will be able to move forward and build on her good reputation. Yeary, a former chief executive officer of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, is one of two well-known civil rights lawyers who represented Harris. The resources devoted to the AirPods case have added to debates over the widespread practice of police ticketing students at school, documented last year by the Tribune and ProPublica in the investigation The Price Kids Pay. Because Harris case involved a civil violation, the burden of proof was less than for a criminal charge. Finding her liable would have required that a preponderance of the evidence supported the allegation, or that it more than likely happened. The maximum penalty for violations of the theft ordinance is a $500 fine, in addition to a $100 court fee. There was no threat of jail time. The trial included two days of testimony from a variety of witnesses, including school employees, the owner of the disputed AirPods and Harris. The AirPods owner, who testified Tuesday, said she noticed her ear buds had gone missing one afternoon and reported it to the school. A few days later, a friend showed her that her AirPods, which had been previously paired with the friends computer, were visible on her screen but had been relabeled as Amaras AirPods instead of the owners name. The AirPods owner said she reasoned that Harris had taken them during a class they shared, and she reported it to a dean. The dean then involved the school resource officer, who later gave Harris the ticket for theft. Naperville prosecutor Joseph Solon Jr. argued that it was clear Harris was caught with her hand in the cookie jar. On Wednesday, Harris testified that she had lost her own AirPods and that when she retraced her steps, she found a pair in the learning commons that she thought were hers. She said that at first they wouldnt work because they werent paired with her phone. But she said she was able to connect them later without getting a notification that the AirPods didnt belong to her. She said the name automatically changed on the AirPods when paired. Harris lawyers said taking the AirPods was an innocent mistake that anyone might have made. They also focused on the credibility of the Naperville police officer who issued the ticket, Juan Leon. Leon testified Tuesday that he used discretion to issue the ticket after Harris mother refused to talk to him, which Baker disputed in her own testimony Wednesday. Yeary emphasized that Leon said under oath that he didnt know whether Harris knowingly stole the AirPods. He said Leon basically admitted to writing a ticket because he got mad at her mom. That should be chilling to anyone who has children, Yeary said in his closing statement. Though Solon established during the trial that the serial number on the AirPods in Harris possession matched the one from the owners set, Harris said she hadnt known that. When was the last time a 17-year-old kid checked the serial number on their AirPods? her other attorney, Juan Thomas, asked Tuesday. Linda LaCloche, a spokesperson for the city of Naperville, said in a statement that the city respects the jurys decision. There was sufficient evidence to establish probable cause that a violation of the citys ordinance occurred. The defendant chose trial by jury and the jury is the ultimate decider of the facts, the statement said. We are glad that this matter has come to a conclusion. The defendant wanted her day in court and now that she has had it we are ready to move on. ProPublica and the Tribune first reported on Harris case last year as part of The Price Kids Pay, in which reporters documented 12,000 tickets Illinois students received over nearly three years for violations including possession of vaping devices, disorderly conduct and truancy. Fines associated with the tickets can run into the hundreds of dollars. The investigation also found that Black students at Naperville North High School were almost five times more likely than their white classmates to receive tickets. Harris is Black. Most students who receive municipal ordinance citations admit liability and pay the fine. Because of the lower burden of proof, fighting the tickets is difficult and costly. Baker has said the family spent about $2,000 on legal fees before a nonprofit organization chipped in to help. ____ As the small Johnson County community of Fairway mourns the death of a police officer fatally wounded in a Sunday morning shootout, other Kansas City area law enforcement agencies are stepping in to help, including by taking patrol shifts. The eight-member Fairway Police Department lost one of its own Monday with the death of Officer Jonah Oswald, employed by the agency for four years. Oswald, 29, died in the hospital after being fatally wounded during a Sunday morning exchange of gunfire involving suspects in an auto theft, one of whom was also killed, at a suburban Kansas City QuikTrip in neighboring Mission. Its something that we do for each other, Sgt. Jesse Valdez, of the Johnson County Sheriffs Office, told reporters Wednesday outside the police station, where a memorial for Oswald with notes and flower arrangements has grown over the past two days. Its the brotherhood and the sisterhood that we have. When they ask for help, we give them that help. And we definitely want to make sure that the city of Fairway knows that they have law enforcement here, that their tight-knit community continues to be controlled and safe. Valdez said other agencies providing assistance include the Clay County Sheriffs Office, Kansas City police and Kansas City, Kansas, police. The Johnson County deputies, Valdez said, are answering calls for service on behalf of the department and will continue to do so until the officers feel ready to go back to work. Plans were to continue doing so through at least Friday and then see from there, Valdez said, adding: Well do it as long as Fairway needs us. Valdez added that Oswald was a hero whose tragic death has affected law enforcement across the metro area. For law enforcement in Johnson County, we appreciate the love and support that weve received so far, he said. Sgt. Jesse Valdez, of the Johnson County Sheriffs Office, said Wednesday deputies are assisting the Fairway Police Department by taking patrol shifts as the department mourns slain Officer Jonah Oswald. Few details have been released publicly about the fatal shooting as the matter remains under investigation by the Johnson County Officer-Involved Critical Incident Investigation Team, which handles deadly use-of-force cases. It began with a police chase led by police in Lenexa that ended at the QuikTrip at 4700 Lamar Ave. in Mission, just west of Fairway. Officers from other area departments assisted with the report of a stolen car whose driver allegedly rammed a police cruiser and fled. Two suspects, a man and a woman, were seen running into the convenience store as officers including Oswald from several agencies responded to arrest them. Police have said Oswald was fatally wounded and the male suspect, identified as Shannon Wayne Marshall, 40, of Ashland City, Tennessee, was killed during an exchange of gunfire. The female suspect, 32-year-old Andrea Rene Cothran of Goodlettsville, Tennessee, is charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer and theft. Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe said Tuesday that prosecutors are evaluating the situation to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to support additional charges for Cothran. The death of Oswald was announced Monday night by Fairway Police Chief J.P. Thurlo, who called him a a warm-hearted individual whose hard work and passion touched the lives of many. He said Oswald was a husband and a father of two young children. Kaitlyn Lauritsen and Jonah Oswald pose for a selfie while officers at the Buckner Police Department, after Oswald joined the force in 2018. Oswald is the first Fairway police officer to be killed in the line of duty, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks killings of police officers around the country. He is the 727th Kansas officer to be killed in the states recorded history, according to the nonprofit. Before joining Fairway police, Oswald previously worked at the Buckner Police Department. During a phone interview with The Star on Tuesday, former law enforcement partner Kaitlyn Lauritsen said Oswald had an amazing personality. He always had such a happy-go-lucky personality and truly wanted to do what he could to make a difference out there in the world and his community, she said. The Stars Matti Gellman and Anna Spoerre contributed to this report. When Noah Anderson rode his bike around the metro area, he took every safety precaution he could. He wore a helmet and reflective gear and had lights on his bicycle, but it wasnt enough to save his life, his mother Sue Anderson said. Anderson, 40, was riding his bike with a friend on July 30, when strong storms hit the metro. They took cover under an overpass, and later couldnt take their usual route home because of branches that had fallen on the roadway. On their way back, Andersons friend rode on the sidewalk, while he chose the street since it would be smoother. His mother believes the driver who hit her son near 99th Street and Antioch Road that night didnt see him coming up a hill until the last second, when the car tried to swerve but still hit the back of his bike. Officials told Sue Anderson that her son hit the cars passenger side bumper and grille, rolled over the hood and smashed the windshield before the impact threw him about 40 feet. At some point, his helmet flew off. Her son didnt have a pulse at the scene, but emergency medical crews resuscitated him and brought him to a hospital. Doctors at the Overland Park Trauma Center told her family Anderson had brain and spine damage as well as an internal decapitation, when the spine separates from the base of the skull. They told the family he had no chance of life. Family members said their goodbyes, hospital staff put together an honor walk and Anderson passed in the early evening of Aug. 1. But because Anderson had been resuscitated, Sue Anderson has tried to focus on the one bright spot amid her pain her son was able to become an organ and tissue donor. His kidneys have already been donated to a patient in need. As a retired nephrologist, Sue Anderson said she knows what patients on dialysis go through and what it mustve meant to receive new kidneys. It was a mixed blessing, she said. Noah Andersons mother said he was riding his bike with his best friend the day a car struck him, leading to his death a few days later on Aug. 1. He loved biking, camping and exploring the outdoors. A miracle kid Sue Anderson adopted her son the second of her four adopted children from Jackson County when he was about four months old. Noah Anderson was the familys miracle kid. Born with an abnormal skull, he needed an operation when he was two months old. His foster family cared for him through the tough surgery and his recovery before the Andersons welcomed him into their family. When he was 19, Anderson had another life-threatening experience. His mom and sisters rushed to a hospital after he nearly drowned in a Prairie Village pool while trying to see how long he could hold his breath. Firefighters who knew Anderson from his job at Hy-Vee were outside the hospital room crying as the family arrived. A police officer who knew CPR happened to be at the pool that day, and jumped in and saved his life. Still, Anderson stayed in the hospital a few days hooked up to a ventilator. His mom was shocked that he didnt have a brain injury from the incident. Her son was loving and kind. He talked often and told detailed stories. In July, the family held a Chreaster party. It was the first time theyd all seen each other since before the pandemic, and they wanted to commemorate all of the Christmases, Easters and other milestones theyd missed. Everyone said they missed Andersons famous hugs. Thats just something our family is going to have to miss for the rest of our lives, Sue Anderson said. At the time of his death, Anderson was divorced, his mom said, with a daughter and stepson. He and his ex-wife had been building a friendship and working on parenting together, his mom said. Growing up, he fell in love with the outdoors in Boy Scouts, and eventually earned the rank of Eagle Scout. As an adult, he biked 40 miles at a time, camped and explored. He went on walks around the neighborhood often, but always called them hikes. Calling it a walk, he told his mother, made it seem like his purpose was to exercise, when really he just wanted to enjoy his time outside. I think he found his spirituality in nature, Sue Anderson said. After graduating from Shawnee Mission East High School, Anderson earned a certificate in facility management and construction at a technical school in Kansas City, Kansas. The construction side wasnt his forte Anderson was afraid of heights but he worked maintenance jobs at apartment complexes and other facilities. A day before the crash, he was accepted for his dream job working in maintenance for the U.S. Postal Service. He was flying, he was so excited, Sue Anderson said. He biked all the time. I dont think it was a celebratory bike ride, but Im sure he was very, very happy that day because of that job offer and being with his best friend. Some family members have talked with BikeWalkKC about finding ways to honor Noah Anderson. Michael Kelley, the organizations policy director, said theyve considered placing a ghost bike rack a bike rack painted white or signage at or near the scene of the crash to draw attention to it. Noah Anderson, 40, died after he was struck by a car while riding his bike in Overland Park. His family remembered him as a kind and loving man who gave great hugs. Dangers for cyclists Sue Anderson doesnt blame anyone for the incident. She said the person who hit her son asked for permission to write the family a letter. Like her family, the drivers life has also been changed forever by the incident, Anderson said. If anything, more protections need to be put in place for cyclists who ride on streets, she said. Kelley said Overland Park, like other suburban parts of the metro area, has safe bike trail systems, but lacks on-road paths that are also protected. Overland Park has also expanded a network of painted bike lanes in the last few years, Kelley said, but those lanes only serve more experienced and adventurous cyclists who arent afraid to mix with motor vehicle traffic. Instead, Kelley said cities should invest in protected bike lanes and expanded trails so that all cyclists can get around while being safe. Projects like North Kansas Citys Armour Road Complete Street, which includes low concrete walls to protect bike lanes, provide a better way to keep cyclists of all abilities safe, he said. People want to be safe, and they deserve to be safe, he said. Sometimes we put too much of an emphasis on were they wearing a helmet or were they wearing bright clothing, when the research tells us that the facilities that theyre riding on are much more important in terms of determining a safe outcome. Since the crash, two neighbors have told Sue Anderson their own stories of issues while they were biking. One said he used to ride about 40 miles a week before the pandemic, but he was sideswiped twice by cars. Another neighbor said it was dangerous, even though she used to cycle with groups. It just takes my breath away, Sue Anderson said, what kind of dangers cyclists are having when theyre on the streets. KAMPALA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday condemned the World Bank suspension of new financing to the country over the anti-homosexuality law, describing it as "unfortunate." "It is, therefore, unfortunate that the World Bank and other actors dare to want to coerce us into abandoning our faith, culture, principles, and sovereignty, using money. They really underestimate all Africans," said the president in a statement. The World Bank on Wednesday announced that it was suspending new financing to the country over its recently-enacted anti-homosexuality law. Museveni said with or without the bank's financing, the country will continue to develop, adding there are a number of alternative sources of funding that Uganda can borrow from. "If there is (an) absolute need for borrowing, there are a number of non-Bretton Woods sources from where we can borrow," he added. He said many of the loans had in the past been initiated by government officials without his approval yet they were not necessary. The president said when the country starts commercial oil production in 2025, there will be additional sources of income. "With discipline, patriotism and combating corruption, we shall thrive because our agriculture is there, our industries are growing, and our services sector is expanding," the president added. GREEN BAY The last of six men remaining in prison for the 1992 death of a Green Bay paper mill worker has been granted parole, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections confirmed Thursday. Keith Kutska, 72, has served 27 years of a life sentence for the murder of Tom Monfils. He will be eligible for release on extended supervision Aug. 29, but his actual release date could be anytime within 30 days of that date, according to a statement from the DOC. The DOC statement says Kutska "has shown exceptional conduct, with only one minor conduct report over his entire incarceration." Multiple factors were considered in granting parole, including his conduct in prison and the level of risk he poses to the community upon release. The DOC Parole Commission also sought input from retired Brown County Circuit Court Judge James Bayorgeon, who presided over the 1995 trial and sentenced Kutska. Bayorgeon supported Kutska's release, according to the DOC. At a joint trial in 1995, Kutska and five other men were convicted of killing Monfils and throwing his body into a pulp vat at the James River Corp. mill on Day Street on Nov. 21, 1992. Monfils went missing from work that day after his coworkers confronted him about calling police on Kutska. Nearly two weeks prior, Monfils called the Green Bay Police Department to anonymously report that Kutska was stealing a piece of scrap electrical wire from the mill. Kutska was then suspended from work for a week without pay, during which time Monfils repeatedly called the police department, begging them to not release audio recordings of the phone call. Through miscommunication within the police department, Kutska acquired the tape with Monfils' voice on it. Kutska then confronted Monfils at work on Nov. 21, 1992, and played the recording for other mill workers, stirring up anger. RELATED: Tom Monfils died 30 years ago at a paper mill in Green Bay. His death still casts a shadow over the city RELATED: Documentary about 30-year-old Tom Monfils case makes world premiere Friday in Green Bay RELATED 'Beyond Human Nature,' a documentary on Tom Monfils case, premiered in Green Bay. Here are some takeaways Monfils went missing that morning. His body was found at the bottom of a pulp vat inside the mill the following evening. After a three-year investigation, the Brown County District Attorney's Office charged six mill workers of beating up Monfils, tying a weight around his neck and throwing him into a vat full of paper mill sludge. Kutska and the five other men convicted of killing Monfils have maintained their innocence for over 30 years. One of the men convicted, Mike Piaskowksi, was exonerated in 2001, after a federal judge ruled that there had been insufficient evidence to convict Piaskowski. The other four were released on parole in 2017 through 2019. Dale Basten was the first to be released from prison, in September 2017, due to failing health. He died the following June, at age 77. The other three men Michael Hirn, Michael Johnson and Rey Moore were released on parole in June 2018, June 2019 and July 2019, respectively. Each of the men were repeatedly denied parole for years. Hirn, Moore and Johnson were first eligible for parole in April 2010. Johnson was first eligible for parole in April 2011; Kutska in 2015. In the three decades since Monfils' death, there have been differing opinions in the community about the guilt of the "Monfils Six," as they became known. Two books were written about the men's innocence, and in April, a documentary highlighting divided opinions about the case premiered in Green Bay. Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli. Log into Facebook This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Keith Kutska, convicted in Green Bay paper mill death, granted parole An internal investigation is underway and Kenosha activists are speaking out after a video shared to social media appears to show a Kenosha police officer repeatedly striking a man the officer wrongly thought was involved in a serious hit-and-run crash. Police would later find their suspects inside a bathroom of a restaurant. The incident took place July 20 at the Applebee's off Highway 50 in Kenosha. A crash happened at Highway 50 and Green Bay Road at about 11 p.m. Police said witnesses described two Black males and one Black female who fled on foot toward Applebee's. Another witness stated that the female was carrying a child, according to police. An employee at the restaurant said some "suspicious people" were inside the restaurant and they believed may be "involved," according to police. The employee then directed officers to two people, including the man seen being arrested in the video, who is Black and holding a baby. "I'm not doing s---! Let me the f--- go!" the man yelled out as officers attempt to take the baby from him and take him into custody. The baby is eventually removed from the man's arms and officers throw the man down to his stomach. A moment later, an officer appears to begin striking the man on or near his head, yelling commands of "Put your hands behind your back!" Police said, "The male was being detained as the crash was being investigated. The male attempted to leave against officers orders and was restrained. He resisted and the incident that was caught on camera unfolded from there." The man, according to police, was not responsible for the hit-and-run. However, police said he has been charged with disorderly conduct, resisting, and obstructing an officer. The female who was with him also received the same charges, and possession of marijuana. Police then discovered the "individuals responsible for the hit-and-run" inside the bathroom of the Applebee's, police said in a statement. A group of Kenosha advocates and activists held a press conference Wednesday night. It was organized by Leaders of Kenosha, a nonprofit that describes itself as "a conduit for social, transformative, and restorative justice," according to its website. Tanya McLean, executive director of Leaders of Kenosha, said "it's ridiculous" that the man was charged and the officers should be ones facing charges. She said there was a complete lack of de-escalation from officers. "It just doesn't seem that anyone was a voice of reason that had a uniform on," she said. "A complete lack of disregard for people that don't look like you, that don't have that uniform on," she said. "What is it that just frightens you? Because we know that when people are fearful they act in irrational ways. So what is that you are so afraid of?" McLean mentioned the Kenosha police shooting of Jacob Blake in 2020 as an example of officers acting through fear. "We don't want to stand here and have these conversations about people being harmed when they're simply having a meal with their family," McLean said. McLean said the man is from Illinois and he was there to have a meal and got up to change his baby's diaper. "I'm not an attorney, but if you're not under arrest, you can walk away, they didn't know who these people were," she said. Alex Whitaker of the Kenosha Coalition for Dismantling Racism called for a "thorough and transparent" investigation into the incident. Kenosha police said the department will conduct an internal investigation on the officer's use of force. Whitaker requested a third-party investigation as well. Drake Bentley can be reached at DBentley1@gannett.com. Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal. DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kenosha officers forcefully arrest the wrong man inside an Applebee's A Kentucky teacher was arrested for 17 counts of sex offenses and additional evidence tampering charges on Tuesday, police reported. Kevin Lentz, 49, was charged with ten counts of distribution of obscene matter to a minor and seven counts of use of a minor under 16 in a sexual performance. He was also charged with six counts of tampering with physical evidence. Lentz worked as an English teacher at Henry Clay High School in Lexington. He was put on leave after his Tuesday arrest. A police citation obtained by the Lexington Herald-Leader alleged that Lentz pressured a 9-year-old boy to send pictures of his genitals in July. Lentz also allegedly sent the boy adult pornography. KENTUCKY EDUCATION COMMISSIONER LEAVES FOR WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY JOB Kevin Lentz, 49, was charged with ten counts of distribution of obscene matter to a minor and seven counts of use of a minor under 16 in a sexual performance, plus evidence tampering charges. The citation stated that Lentz pressured the boy to delete the pictures "so his parents wouldnt know," the Herald-Leader reported. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP Lentz was transported to the Fayette County Detention Center after his arrest. He is being held on a $50,000 bond. KENTUCKY SUPERINTENDENT JAILED ON CHARGES RELATED TO SEXUAL SOLICITATION OF MINORS "Detectives from the Special Victims Section are continuing to investigate and no additional information is available at this time," Lexington Police Department told Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital reached out to Fayette County Public Schools for a statement, but has not heard back. The owner of a Kia shot an accused car thief several times during a confrontation at a Texas apartment complex, San Antonio police told news outlets. Officers responded to a 911 call from an apartment complex on the citys northeast side at about 4 a.m. Aug. 10, police told KENS. A resident spotted a man trying to break into his Kia, police told the station. The resident went outside, along with his girlfriend, to confront him, police told the outlet. The accused thief ordered the man to bring him his car keys, which he had left in his apartment, police told KSAT. The man told police that his girlfriend was being held at gunpoint, the outlet reported. Instead of getting his keys as the accused thief demanded, he grabbed a handgun, walked out onto his balcony and opened fire, police told the station. Officers found the accused thief with three gunshot wounds, and he was taken to a hospital in critical condition, WOAI reported. Police are investigating the incident, the outlet reported. Its unclear if the Kia owner will be facing any charges. 70-year-old with blade hidden in cane fatally stabs man fighting her son, officials say Wife fatally shoots man pointing gun at husbands head in front yard, Indiana cops say Man tracks down stolen truck and calls 911, then he kills suspect in shootout, cops say Man thrusts American flag through another mans head at Sonic, Oklahoma cops say Kim Jong Un orders troops to 'gird for a war' and begin offensive preparations amid US, South Korean drills North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered his nation's military to prepare "offensive" capabilities. The supreme leader's directives, reported by state media outlet Korean Central News Agency, were given at a meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea. "He deeply summarized and analyzed the present situation of the Korean peninsula and its vicinity and made an important conclusion on further stepping up the war preparations of the [Korean People's Army] in an offensive way," KCNA reported. NORTH KOREA INVITES FOREIGN GOLFERS TO INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR TOURNAMENT In this undated photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, attends a meeting of the North Korean ruling Workers Partys Central Military Commission in Pyongyang, North Korea Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. The meeting was called to address the "important issue of making the army more thoroughly gird for a war given the grave political and military situation prevailing in the Korean peninsula." South Korean Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ahn Eun-ju dismissed the country's aggressive posturing, remarking that the communist neighbor nation should be more concerned about other matters. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP "North Korea should instead pay attention to the safety of its citizens with a typhoon approaching," Ahn said, referencing Tropical Storm Khaunun. NORTH KOREA FIRES 2 MISSILES AMID US NUCLEAR SUB IN SOUTH KOREA, SOLDIER CROSSING DMZ The violent storm hit South Korea on Thursday and is expected to make landfall in North Korea on Friday. "We are maintaining a firm readiness posture, and North Koreas empty threats of force will not work with us," Ahn added. President Yoon Suk Yeol's administration will "never" seek an end to the 70-year-long conflict, Reunification Minister Kim Yung-ho said last week in one of his first conferences since being appointed. An armistice agreement in 1953 ended active military combat between the two nations, but Kim warned that a formal end of the conflict would jeopardize North Korea's accountability for prisoners of war and kidnapping victims. Bars and restaurants in Jefferson County may be hit with a $2,500 fee for their first noise violation under a policy the Louisville Alcohol Beverage Control will begin enforcing next month. Gone are the days of a warning on their first offense. The decision comes after a community meeting hosted by Louisville Metro Council members Ben Reno-Weber and Andrew Owen to address a shooting Bardstown Road, near Deer Park and the Bonnycastle neighborhoods. There were hundreds of people at the meeting, and several expressed ire over noise coming from local bars. Metro Council members Ben Reno-Weber, right, and Andrew Owen hosted a community discussion on the crime and noise concerns at the Douglass Boulevard Christian Church in Louisville, Ky. on Aug. 6, 2023. "Public safety concerns are clearly at the forefront of the communitys minds, and we are acting quickly on several new initiatives to aid in addressing violence," Reno-Weber said in a release announcing the change that was sent by Metro Council's Democratic caucus. "These are concrete steps to translate words into direct policy changes that we believe will have an immediate impact." The policy is a "direct result of community input," the release says. What is considered a 'noise violation?' An establishment could get cited if it is the source of "unreasonable noise," according to Kentucky Statute 244.120. However, the Louisville ABC is using a more specific standard from the Metro Code of Ordinances. The ordinance, 99.01, states that unreasonably harsh, loud or excessive noise is, "Any manufactured noise plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet from its point of origination or emanation." There is no exact decibel limit, said Brandon Bowden, the media relations specialist for ABC. Who determines if an establishment is violating the 50-foot rule? Bradley Silveria, the director of Louisville's ABC, said investigators will visit the business and start at the furthest point "in which the noise can be clearly heard." Then they will start recording on an "audio/visual" device while going toward the sound. "This eliminates any concerns that the noise could be coming from another source," Silveria said. From there, the investigators will verify the distance either by using a "wheel-style measuring device" or with Louisville/Jefferson County Information Consortium maps. Louisville Metro Police officers can also perform the same investigation and issue citations for noise violations, Bowden and Silveria said. When this happens, ABC will adopt the citation and create an ABC administrative case. Will first offenses always result in a $2,500 fine? What about subsequent offenses? If a business receives a noise violation, the first offense will be a $2,500 fine, Silveria said. Subsequent offenses "may result in a 2nd offense violation," Silveria said. Businesses could receive a higher fine or even have their ABC licenses suspended or revoked. When does this policy go into effect? It will not go into effect until at least September, according to a statement from the Democratic caucus, but a specific date has not been released by ABC. "We plan to go live with our Zero Tolerance after we send out notifications to all email addresses we have on file for active licensees," Silveria said. Why is the noise policy being enacted? The decision to modify this policy comes shortly after a community meeting in Deer Park to address a July 31 shooting in the 1500 block of Bardstown Road. But Silveria said the policy has been in the works for months. "I have been planning on changing this policy since I became the director in February 2023," he said. The decision comes from "the amount of frustration that Ive heard from citizens since the mayor appointed me as the ABC Administrator." When ABC introduced this policy at the community meeting Sunday, it received the "biggest applause of the night," Owen said. Do Louisville officials believe the policy will curb gun violence? Owen, who represents Metro Council District 9, said tightly enforcing the noise level limits is just one tool available to "dial back the temperature" of the area. "It's just that when people drink to excess, sometimes that kind of violence comes out, and it's at least tangentially related to the bars and restaurants," Owen said. "We're doing everything we can with the tools that we have to see if we can find some solutions until there is a longer-term solution." Reno-Weber and Owen, both part of the council's Democratic majority, plan to "unveil additional initiatives aimed at addressing gun violence in the coming weeks," according to the release from the caucus. Owen said he has spoken with Maj. Jason Grissom about getting more resources in LMPD's Fifth Division, which includes the Highlands, Deer Park and Bonnycastle. He is also focused on community engagement. "A significant amount of the crime and violence we are seeing today is a direct result of cuts we made to youth engagement and other social programs back in 2019," he said. "I am pleased the Administration and the Metro Council were able to reinvest in many of those same programs in this years annual budget. Those investments will pay dividends, but mostly in the long term. In the short term we are going to need our community partners and all metro agencies to use every tool we have at our disposal to address the urgent needs of today." How should bar and restaurant owners prepare for the 'zero tolerance' policy? Silveria encourages bar owners or any other restaurant with an active ABC license "to walk outside around their premises to check noise levels." Establishments with ABC licenses should expect to be contacted by the department in the coming weeks about the new policy. Is there a penalty for people who repeatedly file noise complaints that are unsubstantiated? "Unfortunately, no," there is not a penalty for people who continuously report businesses with unsubstantiated noise complaints, Silveria said. While the calls for service are typically "complaint-based," citations can only be issued if investigators find the establishment to be in violation of the 50-foot rule. Reach reporter Eleanor McCrary at EMcCrary@courier-journal.com or on Twitter at @ellie_mccrary. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville bars, restaurants face 'zero tolerance' ABC noise policy Tens of thousands of residents have left Maui and the Big Island in Hawaii after blazing fires devastated homes and hundreds of businesses. The fire is the deadliest in U.S. history, killing at least 93 people, according to officials in Maui County. Officials say they expect the death toll to rise dramatically as emergency workers and residents search the area to assess damages and provide aid. Two victims have been identified, but police have not yet released their names. The most recent post by the county said that firefighters were still working to contain the fires and extinguish flare-ups in Lahaina and Upcountry, but had controlled the Pulehu/Kihei fire after days of work. More than 2,170 acres have burned in fires that started on Tuesday. Wifi, and cellphone service are slowly being restored. More than 5,000 people remained without power on Sunday, down from 11,000 on Friday, according to Power Outage.us. Debris from fires in the town of Kula, Hawaii, a small hillside town in Maui, on Aug. 12, 2023. David Butow for TIME On Thursday, President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration for the state of Hawaii and sent federal aid and funding for residents of Maui County. He also said people who'd lost a loved one or whose homes had been destroyed would get help "immediately." Non-residents are prohibited from entering the wildfire disaster area, though locals can present a state identification card to enter West Maui through Waihee. On Friday, some 1,418 people were staying in six Maui shelters that opened because of the fire, according to county officials. A water advisory is now in place for certain areas in Upper Kula and Lahaina that have been affected by the fires. Lahaina, a historic town that was once the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, has been the most affected. Residents that heralded the town as a place with strong Native Hawaiian roots and history are mourning the loss of historic landmarks, as reports indicate that more than 271 structures have been impacted. We are grieving with each other during this inconsolable time, said Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. In the days ahead, we will be stronger as a kaiaulu, or community, as we rebuild with resilience and aloha. Heres what to know. A charred boat lies in the scorched waterfront after wildfires fanned by the winds of a distant hurricane devastated Mauis city of Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 9, 2023. Mason JarviReuters What caused the fires Meteorologists attribute a combination of Mauis dry conditions, low humidity and strong trade winds from Hurricane Dora, a Category 3 storm (though it was previously Category 4) hundreds of miles south of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean as of Thursday morning, as the reason behind the Maui wildfires. If you have all of those conditions at the same time, its often what the National Weather Service calls red flag conditions, Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University, told the Associated Press. Climate change also plays a role in these fires, according to experts. Climate change increases the frequency of extreme weather events like stronger hurricanes and global warming, which causes vegetation to get drier. So far, National Guard helicopters have dropped 150,000 gallons of water on the Maui fires and nearly 100 firefighters have been working 24/7 to help stop the fires. The fire in Lahaina is 85% contained, though officials warn that it could still flare up. The Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) and the Federal Emergency Management Agencys assessment found that more than 2,207 structures were damaged or destroyed because of the fire, and that 86% of the buildings exposed to the fire were residential. The estimated cost to rebuild stands at $5.52 billion. Tourists discouraged from travel Officials are highly discouraging any nonessential travel to the island through the month of August, and have made various evacuation efforts to send travelers back home. More than 11,000 people were flown out of Maui on Wednesday. Tourists initially struggled to reach the airport due to closed highways and roads, but the County of Maui has coordinated transportation to Kahului Airport through Thursday. Additional buses will be added in based on demand, the county said. Spencer Kim helps clear debris at the ruins of a house belonging to a friend in Kula, Hawaii on Aug. 12, 2023. This small hillside town on Maui suffered damage from deadly fires that hit several parts of the island on Aug. 8. David Butow for TIME On Thursday, United Airlines said they were sending empty planes to Kahului Airport so that they could send passengers back home. American Airlines said they were adding an additional flight to assist tourists, but expect to operate all their scheduled flights on Thursday. People with AirBnB rental homes are being asked to consider offering it to displaced residents for a temporary or long-term stay. Hotels and resorts are also being asked to consider the same. How to help victims The Maui wildfire is now the deadliest blaze in American history. To help Maui residents recover from the fires, the Hawaii Community Foundation and Maui United Way are accepting monetary donations online. Physical goods like non-perishable food, water, blankets, and other hygiene items are being accepted at the War Memorial Complex in Wailuku on Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. An additional list of resources and donation centers has been released by the county of Maui. If you are trying to contact a lost loved one, contact the Red Cross hotline at 1-800-733-2767. In the first Sunday service since the deadly fires last week, the pastor at Kings Maui Church offered special prayers for members who lost friends and relatives in the fires in Kahului, Hawaii on Aug. 13, 2023. David Butow for TIME Contact us at letters@time.com. Former President Donald Trump appears as the keynote speaker at the 56th Annual Silver Elephant Dinner hosted by the South Carolina Republican Party on August 5, 2023 in Columbia, S.C. Credit - Melissa Sue GerritsGetty Images The first debate of the Republican presidential primary is just around the corner. Scheduled for August 23, it is poised to serve as a formal starting gun for the crowded field. As former President Donald Trump continues to dominate in GOP polls, the debate will be a key opportunity for competitors to make their cases in front of a national audience. To qualify for the debate, candidates must have drawn donations from 40,000 individuals and reached 1% support in at least three high-quality polls, benchmarks which TIME first reported the Republican National Committee was floating to campaigns in May. But for some candidates, particularly those targeting anti-Trump voters, the most challenging requirement is a loyalty pledge that the RNC is insisting they sign in order to participate. Heres what to know about the pledge. What Does The Pledge Say? I affirm that if I do not win the 2024 Republican nomination for President of the United States, I will honor the will of the primary voters and support the Republican presidential nominee in order to save our country and beat Joe Biden, the pledge reads, according to images posted on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, by the campaign of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and by former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. I further pledge that I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek or accept the nomination for president of any other party, the text continues. The pledge also requires candidates to agree not to take part in any debates not sanctioned by the RNC. Candidates have until two days before the first debate to sign the pledge. Who Has Signed the Pledge? An RNC official confirmed to TIME that DeSantis, Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy have all signed the pledge. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum also announced he had signed it. Ramaswamy was the first candidate to sign the pledge earlier this week, according to the Washington Post. While other candidates appear to have met the polling and donor thresholds, including former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, it is unclear if they have signed the pledge yet. None of them have made statements suggesting they wouldnt. Who Is Refusing to Sign the Pledge and Why? After weeks of playing coy, Trump said in an interview with Newsmax on Wednesday that he would not sign the pledge. Why would I sign a pledge? he told political commentator Eric Bolling. There are people on there that I wouldn't have. I wouldn't have certain people as, you know, somebody that Id endorse. I can name three or four people that I wouldnt support for president. Right there, theres a problem. He declined to name the candidates he wouldnt support. He added that he would let it be known next week whether he would attend the debate anyway, even though his refusal to sign the pledge would mean he doesnt qualify for a spot on the stage. Asked for comment by TIME, an RNC official pointed to comments made by RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel earlier this year. Everybody has to sign the Beat Biden pledge, everybody, McDaniel said to CNNs Chris Wallace in July. It's across the board. The rules aren't changing. We've been very vocal with them. Former Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, who launched a presidential bid in June and does not appear to have met the other qualification criteria, told CNN last month that he would not sign the pledge either. Im not going to support Donald Trump, Hurd said. I recognize the impact that has on my ability to get access to the debate stage, but I cant lie. Other candidates have suggested they would sign the pledge, but may not hold to their agreements. Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, like Hurd, has indicated he will not support Trump if the former President becomes the partys 2024 nominee, emphasizing his concerns about Trumps legal woes. However, Hutchinson has also suggested he will still sign the pledge because he assumes the partys voters would pick another standard-bearer. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has also criticized the pledge. Referring to Trumps dismissal of a previous version of the pledge, Christie said on CNN in June, Im going to take the pledge just as seriously as Donald Trump took it in 2016. Asked by Wallace about Christies comments, McDaniel said, It's not just the pledge, not just a piece of paper. Intent is going to be part of it, too. Is the Pledge a New Requirement? In 2015, the RNC circulated a similar pledge, though signing it wasnt a condition of attending the first debate. Trump hesitated to sign back then, too. After then-RNC chair Reince Priebus met with him in Manhattan, Trump ultimately signed in September, saying, I see no circumstances under which I would tear up that pledge. However, six months later, when the Republican field had narrowed to just himself, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and then-Ohio Governor John Kasich, Trump went back on his agreement. Asked at a CNN town hall if he stood by the pledge, he replied, No, I don't anymore. No, we'll see who it is." Write to Mini Racker at mini.racker@time.com. Kristin Harila rejected the claims, saying her team never left the Sherpa alone A top mountaineer has been forced to defend herself after accusations that her team climbed over a dying Sherpa as they headed to the summit of the K2 mountain to secure a new world record. Images of climbers clambering past the injured Pakistani on a treacherous ridge on the same day that Norways Kristin Harila ascended have been condemned by fellow mountaineers. They claimed a Western climber would not have been left to die and said the scenes would be unthinkable in the Alps, igniting a row about how local Sherpas are used in the Himalayas. Harila, 37, climbed Pakistans K2 on July 27, securing her 14th highest peak in just over three months to become the worlds fastest climber to scale all peaks above 8,000 metres. During her ascent, porter Mohammed Hassan fell off a sheer edge at the top of the area known as the bottleneck, some 8,200 metres high. Ms Harila said her team did everything they could to save Mr Hassan, but conditions were too dangerous to move him. However, two climbers who were also on K2 that day claimed fellow mountaineers were more interested in setting records than saving lives, in an apparent dig at Harila. Wilhelm Steindl and Philip Flamig, an Austrian climbing duo, say drone footage they later recorded hours after Harila and her team had passed the ridge showed climbers walking over his body instead of trying to rescue him. Its all there in the drone footage, Mr Flamig told Austrias Standard newspaper. He is being treated by one person while everyone else is pushing towards the summit. The fact is that there was no organised rescue operation although there were Sherpas and mountain guides on site who could have taken action. Among those who passed him was Ms Harila. Such a thing would be unthinkable in the Alps. He was treated like a second-class human being, Mr Steindl added. If he had been a Westerner, he would have been rescued immediately. No one felt responsible for him, he said. Some walkers say Pakistani porters are treated as expendable - 8K Expeditions/Lakpa Sherpa What happened there is a disgrace. A living human was left lying so that records could be set, he said. Ms Harila defended her actions on Thursday, saying that her team did everything they could to save Mr Hassan. It is simply not true to say that we did nothing to help him. We tried to lift him back up for an hour and a half and my cameraman stayed on for another hour to look after him. At no point was he left alone, she told the Telegraph. Given the conditions, it is hard to see how he could have been saved. He fell on what is probably the most dangerous part of the mountain where the chances of carrying someone off were limited by the narrow trail and poor snow conditions, she said. She also denied that Mr Hassan would have been treated any differently if he were a Western climber. We did all we could for him, she said. Reports by several climbers have raised questions about the standard of equipment that Mr Hassan had been provided with before he set off up the mountain ahead of the western climbers, who often pay thousands of dollars for a guided ascent. Ms Harila said when her team found Mr Hassan he was not wearing either gloves or a down jacket and didnt appear to have been given oxygen. If he were my Sherpa I wouldnt have sent him up in that condition, she said. According to Mr Steindl, who visited the porters family after descending the mountain, Mr Hassan took the perilous job of rope fixer in order to pay for his diabetic mothers medical bills, even though he lacked the experience to perform the job. His family cannot afford medicine or food. Ms Harila and many of the climbers flew over us and the family in helicopters. What a symbolic image. The helicopter to fly out costs up to $12,000 per person, he said. Thaneswar Gurugai, the general manager of Seven Summits which organised Harilas trek, told the Telegraph that Hassan was suffering from frostbite and hypothermia when he died. In normal cases [other porters] would save them unless it is quite impossible to do. 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. (Reuters) - Kuwait has banned "Barbie" and "Talk to Me" films to protect "public ethics and social traditions", the state news agency said early on Thursday. The Gulf country followed in the footsteps of Lebanon, which on Wednesday also moved to ban the film "Barbie" from being screened in the country. (Reporting by Hatem Maher and Muhammad Al Gebaly; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) KAMPALA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Officials from 25 coffee-producing countries in Africa gathered in Uganda for a four-day meeting that wrapped up Thursday, vowing to protect the continent's fair share in the global value chain. The meeting, dubbed the 2nd G-25 Heads of State Africa Coffee Summit, was convened under the theme "Transforming the African Coffee Sector through Value Addition." The first summit was held in Nairobi, Kenya, last year with participants reevaluating the overall performance of the coffee industry sector in Africa. In the past four days, the officials talked about what they call an unfavorable international coffee market, where most of the African coffee is exported with little value addition. Gerald Katabazi, who has an indigenous coffee roastery in the Ugandan capital of Kampala, is determined to increase the consumption of coffee in Uganda, a country that exported most of the coffee to the international market. By starting up a coffee roastery, Katabazi is among many young Africans who have been trying to add value to one of the continent's oldest cash crops to boost household incomes. "I am passionate about coffee because I know the impact it has. Coffee made me who I am today. Coffee educated me. I am largely looking at how it can even impact others," Katabazi told Xinhua in an interview in his shop, an unadorned place filled with the aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans. "Coffee is creating a number of jobs for young people today and it is a major cash crop that is exported and in return, we have revenues that are used for infrastructure development," said Katabazi. While the youth are striving to promote the consumption of coffee among the growing middle class in Africa, the governments of various countries are mulling policies to support the industry. According to the Inter-African Coffee Organization (IACO), one of the organizers of the meeting, coffee is critical to African economies and is a source of livelihood for at least 60 million people across the continent. In Uganda alone, the coffee value chain supports more than 5 million households who engage in various coffee activities from production to export, according to Uganda's Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. The IACO, created in 1960 to serve the interests of the African coffee industry, says coffee-producing countries in Africa can harness the opportunities in value addition and increase Africa's contribution to the global coffee trade which has an estimated value of 466 billion U.S. dollars. The continent's coffee production makes up 12 percent of the overall worldwide production of coffee beans. Two countries, Ethiopia (39 percent) and Uganda (23 percent), account for 62 percent of coffee beans distribution in Africa. Emmanuel Iyamulemye, managing director of Uganda Coffee Development Authority, told Xinhua that many critical issues are going to be discussed to boost the development of the coffee industry in Africa. "When you add value, we increase incomes by six-fold," Iyamulemye said. He added that Uganda will join other African countries in lobbying the African Union to make coffee a priority crop. Ezra Suruma, Uganda's former minister of finance, told Xinhua that if African countries are coming together, they will increase their collective bargaining power in the international coffee market. "In recent years, there has been an attempt to strengthen cooperation of these African countries, so that they can have one voice in the international market because individually they are insignificant and cannot influence the market," said Suruma. Solomon Rutega, IACO secretary general, said that besides focusing on emerging markets such as China, African countries need to strengthen trade among themselves. "If Africa is to transform itself to achieve socioeconomic transformation, we must start trading within the continent," Rutega said. KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant again lost connection to its last remaining main external power line overnight and was switched to a reserve line, state-owned power generating company Energoatom said on Thursday. Energoatom said Europe's largest nuclear power plant was on the verge of a blackout as the reserve line had less than half the power capacity of the main power line. "Such a regime is difficult for the reactor plant, its duration is limited by the project's design and it can result in failure of the main equipment of the energy unit," Energoatom said on Telegram. The Zaporizhzhia plant with its six reactors has been controlled by the Russian military since the early days of Moscow's invasion in February 2022. It has become one of the focal points of the conflict, with both sides blaming each other for shelling around the site. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been trying to set up a safety mechanism to prevent accidents. None of the plant's six reactors produce electricity. Separately, the station's Russian-installed administration said the Number 4 reactor had been moved from a "hot" to a "cold" shutdown because of signs of a steam leak. One of the six reactors needs to be in "hot shutdown" to produce steam for the plant's own needs. "Plant personnel found signs of leaks in the pipe section of steam generator No. 3," the administration said on Telegram. "To meet the steam auxiliary needs of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, the transfer of power unit No. 6 to a 'hot shutdown' state is being considered." (Reporting by Olena Harmash; Editing by Angus MacSwan) Georgias Labor Commissioner says his predecessor intentionally hid and did not use more than $100 million in Labor Department funding. Commissioner of Labor Bruce Thompson told Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray that the actions violated the Georgia Constitution. Thompson called a news conference at the Department of Labor Headquarters to announce the results of an interim audit by Georgias Department of Audits and Accounts. The prior commissioner and at least a few members of his leadership colluded to intentionally avoid properly disclosing over $105 million to the state and federal government, Thompson said. Thompson said his staff noticed the potential wrongdoing and called in state auditors who have produced an interim audit finding the money was not remitted to the state treasurer as required, and that its a violation of the Georgia Constitution. TRENDING STORIES: Gray spoke to Thompson one-on-one Thursday about the audit. Is there any chance this was just a simple mistake or an auditing mix-up? Gray asked. Absolutely not. The report will outline that it was a choice, and methodical, and how they moved funds, Thompson said. As for why, the audit says, The (then-)CFO indicated that GDOL upper management was unhappy about not receiving an appropriation for the entire amount of their administrative assessments, penalties, and interest and intentionally held back the funds. Former Labor Commissioner Mark Butler strongly denies the allegations. Butler told Gray in an email: Mr. Thompsons statements are derogatory and false. There is no investigation by the AGs office. And he did not find these monies through an audit. He was informed by staff that these monies existed, which were handled properly according to legal counsel at DOL during my tenure. This is nothing but political theater based on his personal vendetta against me. These are funds that were paid by employers to DOL. Thompson said it was required by law to go to the State Treasury but could have been appropriated back to DOL for administrative costs. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carrs office said it had not opened an investigation but has been in touch with DOAA and DOL. Thompson said the US Department of Labor and its Inspector General have also been made aware of the audit. RELATED NEWS: Indigenous activists protest in front of the Canada Pavilion against Belo Sun, a Canadian mining company, at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Montreal on Dec. 12, 2022. Indigenous activists protest in front of the Canada Pavilion against Belo Sun, a Canadian mining company, at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Montreal on Dec. 12, 2022. DesecratingNativeAmerican land, culture and practices has been an ugly U.S. tradition for centuries. A study published earlier this summer, however, has illuminated just how destructive modern agricultural and industrial practices are toward Indigenous communities all over the world. Although Indigenous people make up only about 6% of the worlds population, they are negatively impacted by at least one-third of all industrial development projects globally, according to researchers from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain and nine other universities around the world that was published in the journal Science Advances. The international study analyzed hundreds of Indigenous communities to see how land grabs or large-scale land acquisitions by investors for agriculture and other industries affected them. They found that many industrial projects around the world negatively impacted Indigenous communities, including through the loss of land and livelihoods, with the biggest culprits being mining, fossil fuels, agriculture and livestock. Our results provide large-scale evidence of the magnitude of environmental burdens faced by numerous Indigenous Peoples worldwide and bring into focus the Indigenous rights violations associated with these burdens, the multi-author study reads. The unfortunate reality here is that governments across the board arent doing enough to protect Indigenous communities from displacement. While many countries have areas of land set aside for Native people, they are also often willing to swiftly seize that land once they need it for industrial purposes. Governments should apply a zero-tolerance policy towards violations of indigenous rights and seek trade agreements that are conditional on compliance with the responsibilities of the UN Declaration [on Indigenous rights]by the companies involved, said Alvaro Fernandez-Llamazares, scientist and co-author of the study, in a report about the research. Forcing Indigenous communities to leave the land theyve both lived on and stewarded for generations can impact their connection to their cultures in significant ways, but it also inevitably affects their well-being. In countries such as Indonesia, rampant deforestation forces Indigenous people to move to cities in often less-than-ideal conditions. In Brazil, violence, including kidnapping or even killing Indigenous people, can be used as tactics to seize Indigenous land and make way for industry. The U.S., of course, is also notorious for screwing over Indigenous people and their land even in the face of long-standing treaties for the sake of extracting resources or building vanity projects. During his administration, former President Donald Trump tried several times to turn over sacred Indigenous land to mining companies, and the wall he wanted to build between Mexico and the U.S. would cut through hundreds of miles of Native American land. Indigenous communities deserve autonomy, and governments should not be able to roll back their protections whenever they decide they need more land. Efforts to protect Indigenous land should be taken seriously and be led by the Indigenous communities that are going to be impacted by them the most. Initial plans have been submitted for a large solar farm in the west of Cumbria. The project at Dean Moor, south east of Workington, would cover about a square mile (279.50 ha) between the villages of Gilgarran and Branthwaite. Developer Firma Vogt Solar said it would have a capacity of up to 150MW of renewable energy and could power more than 50,000 homes a year. Director Rufus Salter said the company was "dedicated to supporting the UK's mission to achieve net zero emissions by 2050". Mr Salter said solar energy was a "clean and renewable resource [and] should play a key role in addressing the current energy challenges faced by the UK". As well as a series of photovoltaic (solar) panels the company is also applying to build a 100MW battery facility on the site to store energy at times of low demand and release it to the national grid when need is higher. The proposed site is adjacent to Branthwaite Edge In planning documents, the company said the land was rural and mostly used for sheep grazing but was "not an unspoilt landscape as the site is affected by the presence of pylons, overhead lines and wind turbines". Grazing would continue around the solar panels, but at a reduced level, which the company said would "allow a longer and more diverse grassland" to develop. Firma Vogt Solar, which is a joint-venture by renewable energy development companies Firma Energy and ib vogt, said it would work with nearby communities and had offered 500,000 for local projects if it was granted approval. Consultation on the scheme runs until 5 September. Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk. Horror cinema cant let a good thing lieits consumed with picking every bit of meat off a successful monsters bones via sequels, prequels, remakes, and other mythology-expanding means. Such endeavors rarely pan out, much less best their predecessors, since theres no need to additionally explain and inflate that which was already creepy. Scariness is routinely generated via the act of withholding; theres nothing more unsettling than what is unknown and unseen. Give audiences too much, and mysteryand terrordissipates. All of which brings us to The Last Voyage of the Demeter (in theaters August 11), a feature-length adaptation of one chapter in Bram Stokers Dracula that detailsfrom the captains perspective, courtesy of his logbookthe fateful oceanic journey of the Demeter. A cargo ship traveling from Romania to England with a handful of crewmen and a collection of boxes, its beset in Stokers classic novel by the iconic vampire, whos snuck aboard in a crate in order to reach London. In a few short pages, the captains entries devolve from confident to curious to catastrophically fatalistic as, one by one, his charges fall prey to an enigmatic figure spied at night. Like the entire novel, the passage is a masterclass in first-hand suspense and dread, all of which is conjured not by unholy screams and copious bloodshed but, rather, by glimpses of the unreal, escalating paranoia and hysteria, and an overarching sense that everyones final destination is doom. Whereas Stokers interlude is compact and chilling, The Last Voyage of the Demeter is bloated and banal. Various artists have attempted to bring this tale to the screen over the past 20 years, and though director Andre vredal has thus triumphed where they failed, the end result suggests that it was a project best left unrealized. Whether hewing to the letter of Stokers source material or branching off in novel directions, this B-movie distends itself without purpose, and frequently in ways that, in light of what we know about the rest of Draculas legend (both before and after these events), make little sense. Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment Following a prologue in which the Demeter runs ashore in Whitby with no surviving individuals aboard, The Last Voyage of the Demeter flashes back four weeks to detail the beginning of its trek. At a Bulgarian port, Captain Elliot (Liam Cunningham) and his first mate Wojchek (David Dastmalchian) load their craft with cargo and search for three new hires to round out their crew. Despite their reservations, they agree to take Clemens (Corey Hawkins) after he saves the Captains grandson Toby (Woody Norman) from being crushed by a crate decorated with a dragon emblemthe devils serpent, according to one frightened seaman. Clemens has no sailing experience but hes a doctor and man of science, and as he later explains, he believes in reason and yearns to understand a world that habitually defies logic. His convictions are put to the test once the Demeter heads out into open water and strange occurrences become the norm. The first of those involves the discovery of Anna (Aisling Franciosi), a young girl whom everyone assumes is a stowaway and some view as a sign of bad luck. Clemens is most concerned with the fact that Anna is gravely ill with a baffling infection, and he sets about treating it by giving her personal blood transfusions. Luckily for them both, this turns out to be just what she needs, given that Anna didnt sneak onto the Demetershe was put there by the ferocious fiend who emerges nightly from his hold. Nicolas Cage in Renfield Proves Hollywood Vampires Need an Image Consultant Dracula (Javier Botet) begins by slaughtering the ships livestock and Tobys dog and, once that food supply runs dry, he turns to his available human prey, none of whom are prepared to deal with a giant winged beast that moves at lightning speed, has a mouthful of razor-sharp fangs, and can fly. With each successive meal, Dracula regains more of his strength, and director vredal makes sure to provide plenty of glimpses of his baddie amidst the foggy gloom and lightning-peppered thunderstorms that envelop the boat. Deviating from Stokers novel, in which the captain describes his deadly passenger as a tall, thin man, The Last Voyage of the Demeter envisions its famous villain as a grotesque creature of the nightbald, nude, toothy, shrieky, and with a man-bat body that would never properly fit into a dapper suit. The film doesnt imply that this is one of the characters numerous forms; on the contrary, it casts him as merely an ungodly animal. Consequently, its a reductive Dracula that stalks the Demeter. It must be said that no one else in The Last Voyage of the Demeter is multifaceted: Clemens is the rational hero; Captain Elliot and cook Joseph (Jon Jon Briones) are religious men; Wojchek is a grumpy veteran who distrusts Clemens; and the rest are simply blood bags for the Count. More frustrating, Bragi Schut Jr. and Zak Olkewiczs script fails to deliver an exciting scenario or nerve-rattling jolt. Everything is telegraphed obviously and staged with minimal flair, so that any hope for neck-biting extravagance is quickly squashed. If unwilling to go over the top, the proceedings are also uninterested in compelling authenticitythat no ones hair or beard moves in the wind, even as shirts billow and the waves crash, is almost as big a question mark as Draculas existence. Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment As befitting a work of modern-day revisionism, The Last Voyage of the Demeter makes time to have Clemens rail against racism and to cast Anna as an oppressed woman determined to seize her feminist agency. Such nods are shoehorned in with all the grace and subtlety of the films set pieces, which culminate with a dim-witted finale that eschews the very calamitous despondence that defines its story. So radically do vredal, Schut Jr. and Olkewicz ultimately rewrite their saga that its difficult to know whether to laugh in disbelief or weep in dismay. What is inescapable, however, is that this late-summer detritus is further proof that, no matter how illogical it might be, Hollywood cant resist a happy ending that sets up a potential franchise. Liked this review? Sign up to get our weekly See Skip newsletter every Tuesday and find out what new shows and movies are worth watching, and which arent. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Lawyers for Pentagon leak suspect Jack Teixeira push for his release while awaiting trial Lawyers for Pentagon leak suspect Jack Teixeira on Thursday filed a motion pushing for their clients release from jail while he awaits trial. The memorandum comes in response to a 20-page court filing from the government last week which argued that Teixeira is a risk to national security, poses a physical danger to the community and should not be released from custody. FILE: This photo illustration created on April 13, 2023, shows the suspect, national guardsman Jack Teixeira, reflected in an image of the Pentagon in Washington, DC. - Thursdays 14-page reply from Teixeiras defense attorney was filed in support of appealing the magistrate judges ruling in May that Teixeira must remain behind bars while the case plays out. The judge found that releasing Teixeira would pose a risk that he would attempt to flee the country or obstruct justice. Teixeira challenged the judges decision last month, pointing to the pretrial release of former President Donald Trump and others charged in high-profile classified documents cases. AS INDICTMENT PILE UP, DONALD TRUMP APPEARS INCREASINGLY AGITATED In Thursdays court filing, Teixeiras defense team argued the government is "attempting to justify pretrial detention on dangerous grounds" and that "The Court should reject the governments thin attempt to trojan horse an argument." READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP The defense argued that the government "should vacate the Magistrates Order on Detention and order that Mr. Teixeira be released subject to the least restrictive conditions it finds appropriate." Teixeira, a 21-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guard member, has been behind bars since April on charges that he shared classified military documents about Russia's war in Ukraine and other sensitive national security topics on Discord, a social media platform popular with people playing online games. Authorities say Teixeira, who enlisted in the Air National Guard in 2019, began around January sharing military secrets with other Discord users first by typing out classified documents and then sharing photographs of files that bore SECRET and TOP SECRET markings. Teixeira worked as a "cyber transport systems specialist," essentially an IT specialist responsible for military communications networks. Authorities have provided few details about an alleged possible motive, but accounts of those in the online private chat group where the documents were disclosed have depicted Teixeira as motivated more by bravado than ideology. The Associated Press contributed to this report. If there are any slam dunk asylum cases 99% success rate Rachel Kafele knows the heavy price paid by this group of immigrants. LGBTQ+ immigrants have a strong asylum history, said Kafele, director of programs for the Berkeley-based Oasis Legal Services. They have been victims of hate crimes in their home countries, faced violence from family members, been victims of sexual assault, and have faced discrimination in all facets of their lives, said Kafele during a recent interview. That fear does not stop with an approval for asylum, she said, because hate crimes, hate speech, harassment and bigotry continue. California State Library Especially in a current environment where politicians have introduced 520 pieces of legislation and passed 70 laws that targets the LGBTQ+ community in 2023, according to the Human Rights Campaign. The campaign the countrys largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights group said more than 200 bills specifically targeted transgender and non-binary people. Anti-LGBTQ+ laws embolden people to commit hate crimes, said Kafele, who leads a staff of 14, including five attorneys accredited by the U.S. Department of Justice. Oasis opened a Fresno office last year to accommodate a surge in Central Valley clients. The 6-year-old organization focuses on legal assistance like residency petitions and naturalization, but it also serves as a social service agency because its largely Latino clientele trusts very few. All the clients we have worked with have experienced some level of hate because of who they are, said Juana Echeveste-Davis, one of two staff members in Fresno. She is the Central Valley community outreach and support coordinator. The stigma for those living with HIV/AIDS adds another barrier, said Echeveste-Davis. Oasis handles 800 clients a year, with about 190 of them filing for asylum. Nine of every 10 are Latino and mostly speak Spanish, said Kafele. Data released in late June by the state Department of Justice shows that hate crime events involving a sexual orientation increased 29% in 2022. That statistics plus news like a Clovis councilmember warning about LGBTQ+ books in school libraries unnerve clients, said Kafele. Oasis is seeing members of the LGBTQ+ moving to California from states like Texas and Florida that are deemed unfriendly. They dont sense the government is going after them, said Kalefe. Yet, conservative areas of California, like the Central Valley, may not be a safe haven. That leaves many hate crimes unreported, said Echeveste-Davis. Part of the reason hate crimes are so underreported is that they dont feel validated, she said. While City Hall and the leaders have been very supportive, that hasnt been necessarily the case in the recent past. Echeveste-Davis said the LGBTQ+ community wants leaders to come out strong against hate crimes against it. It matters what you do and what you say, she said. People have to be acknowledged. We are often the first people our clients report hate crimes to because we are the people who have been there for them, said Kafele. That trust has led to Oasis becoming a one-stop place for LGBTQ+ residents, who are looking for more than legal help. Most are in need of mental health, housing and food. Some, however, are hesitant to seek mental health, said Echeveste Davis. There is such a stigma, especially in the Latinx community, in regards to receiving mental health, said Echeveste-Davis. Lets say you need a dental appointment; no stigma. But mental health affects every part of your body, how you respond to everything. Still, in the immigrant Latino LGBTQ+ community, that stigma is so heavy and prevalent. The resources are not there, she added. Even a basic support group is not easily accessible. Oasis has made efforts to be more visible, including participation in the recent Rainbow Pride Parade in the Tower District. Thats because at the 2022 Pride event, clients told Oasis they didnt feel represented. Echaveste-Davis then rounded up staff and friends to join this years parade. She also held a Noche de Cultura last year to coincide with Day of the Dead. Slowly, the community is becoming aware that we are here, she said. We have clients from Mendota, Kerman, Dinuba and Laton. Word of mouth is important. Details: www.oasislegalservices.org or (559) 777-6786. This is part of a series on Stop The Hate, a project funded by the California State Library. A new Lego store has opened in The Village at Meridian. The Lego Group, one of the worlds largest toy manufacturers, has brought its colorful brick building blocks to the space between Loft and Brighton on Longwing Lane. Its the first Lego store in Idaho, although Bricks & Minifigs, a chain of national franchises, has had a a store at 10150 W. Fairview Ave. since 2016. According to a news release: The Lego store has a wide product assortment, hands-on play opportunities and in-store building events. The store also offers build a minifigure tower and a pick-a-brick wall, where customers pay for a cup and fill it with individual Lego bricks of their choice. The Lego store at The Village of Meridian will deliver an immersive Lego brand experience, said Travis Blue, vice president of Lego Groups retail stores in the Americas, in a news release announcing the Friday, Aug. 11, opening. The store hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. There are 113 Lego stores in North America. The company is privately owned and headquartered in Denmark. More coffee, more soda. Town houses for young adults. A wider highway. Coming near you Sorry, Boise. This most wanted California restaurant chain delays opening to 2024 Your North Meridian Guide: What to know, where to go in Idahos fastest-growing city The bodies of all 27 civilians killed in riots and raids last August were kept at a morgue in the capital Freetown for two months (Saidu BAH) Aminata Kabba says she has not seen justice in the year since learning from a social media video that armed men had shot her son dead, days after widespread riots gripped Sierra Leone. "I just thought of dying that day with my son," the 65-year-old cook from the northern city of Makeni told AFP, speaking from a friend's house where she since moved for her safety. Her son -- Hassan Dumbuya, a vocal supporter of the opposition All People's Congress (APC) party -- was killed last August several days after protests across the West African nation spiralled into riots that left dozens dead, including seven police officers. Amnesty International said it has gathered testimonies alleging excessive use of force during the riots. An investigation committee appointed by President Julius Bio called the violence "an insurrection against the central government". Residents of Makeni say dozens of people in the APC stronghold city were rounded up in the following days. They say many were arrested, some were shot, and several were killed. Police said Dumbuya, 36, who was also known as Evangelist Samson, died in crossfire during a raid on a "hideout" for "perpetrators" of the insurrection. His mother says her son, whom she called Evangelist because he had from a young age always acted like a preacher, was lured into a trap and shot in a swamp as he tried to run away. "He came from a poor family but he knew how to talk to others -- he liked to share whatever little he had with others," she said. The bodies of all 27 civilians killed in the riots and ensuing raids were kept at a morgue in the capital Freetown for two months. Several families interviewed by AFP said authorities had refused to handover the corpses for private burials, instead holding a state funeral in mid-October. Many of the victims came from the Muslim-majority north of the country and their families had wanted to bury them quickly. They believed the bodies were not properly stored and an AFP reporter present at the state funeral said the coffins emitted a strong stench. - Gunshots - Alie Koroma, 27, told AFP he and three other men were rounded up at dawn the day after the riots and made to walk towards a nearby field. "Suddenly, I just heard gunshots," he said. "I was shot and fell down, helpless." Koroma, who claimed he had nothing to do with the riots and had stayed home on August 10, said police shot him in the shoulder. His cousin -- Alie Daniel Tholley, 25, who relatives say had a cognitive disability -- was killed, according to half a dozen family members and neighbours interviewed by AFP. Between sobs, Tholley's mother, Jattu, said she had been hiding in a nearby house when she heard the gunshot that killed her son. "My son was very close to me... he always stayed near me," she said, wiping away tears even as her eyes began to well again. "He was like my handbag -- he even went along with me to the market." The government-appointed investigation committee said that "claims of extra-judicial killings" following the protests "could not be ascertained based on evidence collected". "However, public allegations of extra-judicial killings especially during curfew hours following the insurrection should be further looked into," it said in its report. The families AFP interviewed in Makeni said they had not been contacted by any investigators. Yusuf Keketoma Sandi, the deputy information minister, told AFP that in April 2023, "the Special Investigation Committee presented its report to the president which included various accounts of victims (and) relatives of victims and responses by the security forces". "Government reaffirms its commitment to the recommendations of the report," he added. AFP met five other men from the same Makeni community who said they had been arrested on August 11, beaten and brought to a Freetown prison where they were held for over a month, sometimes receiving only one meal a day. All claimed they had not participated in the riots. Kabba, Dumbuya's mother, said she was blocked by armed guards from approaching her son's casket at the funeral in October. She said the state had offered her family 20 million leones (about $1,000), which they rejected because his life was "worth more". "Give me my child," Kabba said. "Give me my child's body." sb-prc/giv To the editor: The Aug. 5 piece "The terrible climate hypocrisy at the top of Southern California Edison" misleads readers about the position of the Edison Electric Institute and Edison International on the Biden administration's proposed power plant emission rules. Leah Stokes claims we oppose the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's proposal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. We do not. We share the EPAs long-term clean energy vision for our sector, which has done more to reduce carbon emissions than any other U.S. industry. Even without federal standards, our industrys carbon emissions were 36% below 2005 levels as of last year. Over the past decade, more than 60% of all new generation was wind and solar, rising to 78% since 2020. Our primary concerns are limited to the EPAs recommendations on clean hydrogen and carbon-capture storage for gas-fired generators. These technologies are not mature enough to meet the proposed EPA benchmarks. While were helping to bring these technologies to scale, establishing goals that are not feasible or affordable wont help. Delivering reliable and affordable clean energy is our highest priority, and were committed to working with the EPA, not fighting it. Pedro J. Pizarro, Rosemead The writer is president and chief executive of Edison International. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. "I'm really impressed. I think our producers and the Chinese producers should enhance cooperation." The first major film co-production between China and Pakistan celebrates the friendship and bond between the two peoples. Produced by Xinhua Global Service To the editor: There were two important factors that the article comparing COVID-19 outcomes in New York and Los Angeles did not mention. One was that initially public health officials thought that infection from China was the primary threat, but New Yorkers returning from Italy in March 2020 were also bringing the virus. In addition, Gov. Gavin Newsom and his advisors did a good job transferring patients to available beds, ignoring traditional referral lines that the doctors in New York maintained. Reporting has shown that there were empty beds within 20 minutes of Elmhurst, the hard-hit hospital in Queens. My husband, a physician practicing in Oakland, received a non-COVID-19 patient from San Quentin State Prison to increase that facility's capacity to care for COVID-19 patients. Someone in authority here insisted that doctors take patients across systems because of the health emergency, saving many lives. Toni Martin, M.D., Berkeley .. To the editor: As an ex-New Yorker and frequent visitor to that city, I am surprised that your article did not mention one reality of life in New York. Just about everyone there takes public transportation to get around, particularly from the boroughs to and from Manhattan and the outlying suburbs. Subways and buses are jammed with riders breathing, sneezing and talking, including those coming and going from John F. Kennedy International Airport. In Los Angeles, many of us, though we didnt know it yet, went about our lives in those early months protected because we were isolated, usually alone, in the cocoon of our automobiles. Hella Hershson, Los Angeles .. To the editor: Although it's been many years since I earned my master's degree in public health, I recall that incidence precedes mortality. Nowhere in this article is the incidence of COVID-19 infections in New York compared to that in L.A. County. The pertinent death rate is a percentage of COVID-19 cases, not just a percentage of total population. Also missing is any mention of housing density. L.A. has a higher percent of its population in single-family residences. This may also have played a role, along with timing and other factors mentioned in the article. Susan Wolfson, Glendale This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. These three books with LGBTQ+ themes have been banned in some Florida counties. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) The front lines of the culture war in public schools may be in Florida and Texas, but efforts to ban books have spread from coast to coast. According to the nonprofit PEN America advocacy group, school districts banned 1,477 books in the last half of 2022, raising the total to nearly 4,000 since July 2021. The battle has come to California as well. For example, the Temecula Valley school board voted in May to reject a curriculum that included a social studies book because it mentioned slain San Francisco supervisor and LGBTQ+ activist Harvey Milk. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has railed against book bans, threatened to fine the district and send the banned textbooks directly to its students if the school board didn't implement the textbooks by the start of the school year. The board reversed course shortly thereafter, agreeing to adopt the curriculum. Temecula Valley has company, however. In 2022, the American Library Assn. reported 32 attempts to restrict access to books in California schools and public libraries, with 87 titles challenged in those attempts. Many of the bans have targeted books that address race and discrimination, yet according to the library association, the most frequently banned titles are those with LGBTQ+ themes or references, as was the case in Temecula. Many, if not most, incidents of censorship go unreported. If you're an educator who encounters LGBTQ+ book bans or attempts to ban at your school, here's what you need to know. Are book bans harmful to a student's education? Kasey Meehan, Freedom to Read program director at PEN America, said that book bans and attempts to ban overwhelmingly affect LGBTQ+ identities, characters, stories and history being delivered in public schools. "Books can be windows, mirrors and sliding glass doors for individuals to see themselves," Meehan said. "Books can serve as a resource to gain more empathy, understanding and have a better sense of somebody who has a different lived experience." By removing books on certain topics, Meehan said, we not only affect those who identify with those topics, but also people with different identities and experiences. The books' absence denies students the opportunity to learn in safe and valuable ways through school and the typical books used in schools. What should you do when faced with attempts to ban books? Library and LGBTQ+ advocates recommend that teachers get up to speed on the broader fight by reading LGBTQ+ books, identifying challenged content, and learning about legislative attempts across the country to restrict school books. Here are other steps they suggest: Encourage parents and school board officials to read the books in question. Talk with people challenging specific titles to understand their concerns and motivations. Counter misinformation and incorrect labeling of LGBTQ+ books. Use the appeals process at your school or district to have the challenged book(s) reviewed by a committee. Ensure the review committee includes students, parents, educators and potentially administrators. Rally community members, parents, students and fellow educators against the book ban. Voice your concerns at school board meetings or city council sessions. The American Library Assn.'s Unite Against Book Banks site has a guide to help you. Recognize that local battles over book content are as significant as, if not more so than, federal or state-level developments. Create a Banned Books Week event or lesson at your school. This years Banned Books Week takes place Oct. 1 to 7, and you can download promotional materials such as posters, fliers, shelf talkers and even trivia templates at the website dedicated to the event. Educate students about the history of book censorship in the U.S. and efforts to censor inclusive learning in schools. The American Federation of Teachers, a national teachers union, offers lesson plans for this topic on its website. Consult the Freedom to Read Foundation website for legal insights, advocacy strategies and community networks. Stay informed about any developments related to the book ban and continue advocating for the inclusion of LGBTQ+ literature in educational settings. Is there a way to report book bans? Yes, at least four organizations are gathering information about bans and attempted bans. You can fill out the American Library Assn.s book challenge reporting form; PEN America's book ban reporting form; the National Coalition Against Censorship's reporting form; and the National Council of Teachers of English censorship incident reporting form (which applies to a wide variety of censorship challenges). What do you need to do to report a book ban? Collect detailed information about the attempt, including the title of the book, the school or institution involved and the reasons cited for the ban. Compile credible sources such as news articles, official statements or social media posts that provide evidence of the attempt. Reach out to LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations, such as GLAAD, Human Rights Campaign or local LGBTQ+ groups, and inform them about the situation. Notify local and national media outlets about the book ban attempt, providing them with accurate and verified information. Contact relevant education authorities, such as school boards, superintendents, state education departments and other relevant decision makers, and express your concerns. How can the local public library help? The Los Angeles Public Library's systemwide collection comprises more than 106,000 LGBTQ+ books, constituting about 2.2% of the library's holdings. Each of the library's 72 branches hosts approximately 500 to 600 LGBTQ+ titles, with greater numbers available in neighborhoods such as Silver Lake or North Hollywood that have larger LGBTQ+ communities. Edwin Rodarte, a senior librarian at the public library, explained that librarians adhere to their city's collection policy with acquisitions based on criteria such as book quality, length and age group. In line with this approach, librarians actively consult annual book lists published by the American Literature Assn. Rodarte said that through these curated selections, the library ensures a diverse and comprehensive representation of LGBTQ+ literature. The library's full collection is available to students, regardless of what their schools' policies might be. Every Los Angeles Unified School District student is provided a student success card that allows them to take five books home without the threat of overdue charges. Beyond that, Rodarte said the L.A. public library system has multiple ways to help schools facing LGBTQ+ book bans, including: Educators can request virtual sets of LGBTQ+ ebooks that students can access in their classrooms. The library has about 44,000 LGBTQ+ ebooks. Schools and teachers can request physical LGBTQ+ books for permanent or long-term use in their classrooms. The library can establish a virtual library collection just for a school, giving its students first crack at those ebooks instead of requiring them to join a public queue. "It's important to have LGBTQ+ titles on the shelves because there are individuals that are really questioning these identities where that book can be a resource that they're missing," Rodarte said. Where else can educators find LGBTQ+ books for their classroom or library? GLSENs Rainbow Library program sends LGBTQ+ affirming text sets to schools across the country. Any full-time staff member at a district, magnet, charter or independent school is eligible to request a book set. Rainbow Library also offers a guide to LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum for educators. The Pride and Less Prejudice campaign supplies free LGBTQ-inclusive books to classrooms from pre-K through third grade. Hope in a Box provides public school educators with carefully curated sets of LGBTQ-inclusive literature, specialized curriculum for these books and community guidance for establishing LGBTQ-inclusive classrooms. 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. [Source] Social media personality Lil Tay has come forward to dispel rumors of her own death. Fake death: News of her and her brothers sudden passing made headlines yesterday after an announcement of her death posted on her Instagram account. In an official statement provided to TMZ the day after, Lil Tay claimed that her Instagram had been compromised by a third party, leading to the dissemination of false information. "I want to make it clear that my brother and I are safe and alive, but I'm completely heartbroken and struggling to even find the right words to say, the 14-year-old influencer said. It's been a very traumatizing 24 hours." Custody battle: The news comes as Tay was caught in the middle of a custody battle between her parents, Angela Tian and Christopher Hope. More from NextShark: Snapchat Releases New Content to Mark Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Heritage Month "My Instagram account was compromised by a 3rd party and used to spread jarring misinformation and rumors regarding me, to the point that even my name was wrong, Lil Tay said. My legal name is Tay Tian, not 'Claire Hope.'" No police investigation: A spokesperson for the Vancouver Police Department had earlier told the New York Post that they were not investigating the purported deaths as they hadnt received "any reports of either death, referencing both Tay and her brother, Jason Tian. At the height of the rumors' spread, Christopher Hope also released a statement to Business Insider that he could neither confirm nor deny his daughters death. Distressing day: Lil Tay, who gained notoriety in 2018 as the "World's Youngest Flexer," lamented that she was bombarded with distressing phone calls from concerned loved ones trying to check on her after the rumor made headlines. She then thanked Meta for fixing her social media access. While many social media users welcomed the development, some commenters expressed confusion as to why it took a full day for Lil Tay or her family to speak up about the matter. More from NextShark: Long Island Teens Repeatedly Kick Doors at Asian Homes, Police Give Them a Warning Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark! NY Mets and Partner Give $10K Grant to 10 Asian-Owned Businesses During AAPIHM LA Dodgers sign top Korean high school pitching prospect Jang Hyun-seok Michael Ciszewski and Susanna Triantafillou stood before a seemingly endless wall of snacks: spicy lobster-flavored Lays, truffle-infused Pringles, garlicky shrimp Cheetos. Around the corner, chocolate spoons and matcha KitKats beckoned. The couple came to Exotic Snacks R Us a few days before a road trip to Colorado to stock up on snacks for the drive. Ciszewski said he was excited to get some of his favorite Polish snacks for Triantafillou to try. I wanted to share that with my girlfriend because Im Polish, but then I also wanted to just try some different ones, he said. Itll be interesting to taste them and try and figure out what they are and where they are from. International snack stores have made quite the mark on Chicagoland and beyond in 2023, with new stores that give locals the chance to try hundreds of sweet, salty, fizzy, crunchy or creamy tastes from around the globe. Triantafillou said they learned about the northwest suburban Arlington Heights store through Instagram, so the pair drove over from Norridge. We thought it would be cool to try something new, all these fun snacks, and were honestly having fun just trying to figure out what everything is, Triantafillou said. Its a whole experience really, and its just exciting. It kind of adds a little spice to life when you try something new. Online search interest for international snacks has doubled over the past two years, and search for exotic snacks which some consider an offensive term because it presumes an Anglocentric view of nonwhite culture has surged even more. On TikTok and Instagram, videos of shop owners packing up orders of international snacks rack up hundreds of thousands of views. One such store opened in Lincoln Park in late June and has been reveling in the steady stream of visitors ever since. Exotic Snack Guys is both a retail storefront and an online store shipping international snacks across the United States. Zohaib Naman, one of the owners, said he and his business partner grew up in the Chicago area and are friends from high school. Last year, they noticed international snacks trending on social media as stores opened in markets like New York and Toronto. It seemed like such a good idea. And I told him I walked into a Middle Eastern store I was born in the Middle East and I saw this candy that I remembered from when I was a kid and it brought back memories, Naman said. Its a good feeling to bring back those kinds of memories for people, and its exciting to learn about different kinds of snacks too. Naman said he also enjoys traveling, so being able to visit different countries to research snacks and find suppliers is a dream. Up next on his list is Brazil, which he is particularly excited about. The store carries snacks from over 30 countries currently via some 30 different suppliers, Naman said, and he hopes to represent 70 to 80 countries by the end of the year. The shop has a wide assortment of munchies covered, from imaginative chips and drinks to different candy confections and ice cream designed to serve a global range of palates. Some of the stores bestsellers include a mojito-flavored 7UP and mango-dragon fruit Fanta from France, along with KFC-flavored Ruffles from Canada which Naman said tastes like KFC chicken for real Magic Masala Lays from India, green onion Cheetos from Poland and Tiger Chips from Egypt, which are flavored like kebabs. The store will also take special orders, Naman said. Customers have come in looking for a particular snack theyve been wanting to try or enjoy again paprika and oregano chips from Greece were a recent example. If its not in stock, the owners will track it down and order it. We keep an ongoing list through the store and online of snacks people want us to have, and its a way for us to discover new snacks also, he said. The store has been so popular, Naman said, we basically outgrew ourselves in a month, and the team is working to transition from in-house processing and packaging to a new storage and distribution center in suburban Bensenville. Naman is also opening stores in other cities with the help of close friends and family. He said two more locations of Exotic Snack Guys are under construction in Milwaukee and Houston, and stores in Miami and Orlando, Florida, should be in the works in the next couple of months. In Arlington Heights, Exotic Snacks R Us has a sibling store in Roselle that opened this summer, Exotic Snacks N Anime, said Ali Judah, one of the owners. He and his partners have plans for a third location in Harwood Heights. Judah said he wanted to get into the international snack business as a way to bring people together. A lot of people are separated from each other and judging other peoples cultures, so I thought maybe I can bring snacks from all over the world and people can come together and love each other and other countries and cultures, Judah said. The snacks are imported directly from some 20 countries of origin, Judah said, with help from suppliers in those countries. The Arlington Heights shop quickly drew customers after opening in March, said Ana Alvarez, who started working there soon after the launch. The store was so, so busy, especially in the first few months, she said. Customers have come from Wisconsin and Indiana for a taste of the international offerings. She said snacks from China, Japan, Turkey, Poland and the Middle East are crowd favorites, and the Chinese chip flavors like crab and spicy fish are popular sellers. Many of the popular snacks are common U.S. brands, but in flavors that you dont see here, Judah said, like steak-flavored Lays from Taiwan or chicken-flavored Doritos from Korea. Judah said he loves seeing smiles on peoples faces while they walk around and try new snacks. When people see how good snacks from other countries are, they start to change their minds about other people and places, Judah said. They start to respect other cultures. Exotic Snacks R Us, 1085 E. Golf Road, Arlington Heights; 847-258-5660; exoticsnacksrus.com Exotic Snack Guys, 2521 N. Lincoln Ave., 773-904-7479, exoticsnackguys.com sahmad@chicagotribune.com Smoke and flames rise in Lahaina, Maui County, Hawaii on Aug. 8. Jeff Melichar/TMX/via REUTERS At least 36 people have died as a result of the wildfires that have ravaged Hawaii and the island of Maui. One survivor from a hard-hit Lahaina described the horrific situation to Hawaii News Now. "We've still got dead bodies floating on the seawall," the unnamed resident told the news outlet. The devastating Hawaii wildfires that erupted this week and decimated a historic town on the island of Maui have killed at least 36 people there, according to county officials. One survivor from the hard-hit area of Lahaina told Hawaii News Now that bodies were found in the waters in a horrific scene after the fires essentially leveled much of the resort town. "We've still got dead bodies floating on the seawall," the unnamed Lahaina resident told the news outlet. "They've been sitting there since last night. We've been pulling people out since last night, trying to save people's lives." As the ferocious fires raged fueled by winds from Hurricane Dora hundreds of miles away some locals were forced to jump into the ocean on Tuesday to escape the flames. "We just had the worst disaster I've ever seen. All of Lahaina is burnt to a crisp. It's like an apocalypse," Lahaina resident Mason Jarvi told Reuters. The US Coast Guard said early Thursday that 14 people had been successfully rescued from the waters off Lahaina and that they were in stable condition. USCG Hawaii Pacific (@USCGHawaiiPac) August 10, 2023 In addition to the fatalities caused by the wildfires on Hawaii, the blazes damaged or destroyed nearly 300 buildings and displaced thousands of people. "It's going to take years to fix. This is not even the worst of it," the unnamed Lahaina resident, who also said his home burned down, told Hawaii News Now. Helicopter pilot Richard Olsten who flew over Lahaina on Wednesday described the destruction to the news outlet, saying, "It's like an area was bombed. It's like a war zone." Local resident Tiare Lawrence told Hawaii News Now, "Everyone I know in Lahaina, their homes have burned down," and added that she hasn't been able to get in touch with some family members. "In 36 hours our town has been burnt to ash. There's nothing left," Lahaina resident Dustin Kaleiopu, who said he had just "minutes to escape" his home told NBC's "Today" show on Thursday. Hawaii's Lieutenant Governor Slyvia Luke said during a press conference that officials were still evaluating the damage caused by the ongoing fires, according to Reuters. "It will be a long road to recovery," Luke said. Read the original article on Insider The LGBTQ+ Lowcountry Pride Group is planning to move its annual Pride festival to a public park in Port Royal, which has sparked a divide in the community as opponents attempt to block it and supporters come to its defense. It would be the first time the event, which has been held in Bluffton the past four years, would be held north of the Broad River. Angela Wright, who represents the group, said it is looking to move the event to Port Royal in November because a number of sponsors in northern Beaufort County have expressed interest in supporting it. We have a lot of people who are really excited its going to be in Port Royal for once, Wright said. Wrights comments came in July, when she gave an update on the plans during a Town Council work session. Since then, residents who are opposed to the event being held in the public Live Oaks Park have attended Town Council meetings to urge elected officials to block the plans. That testimony has prompted others to show up to support the Pride festival being in Port Royal. Opponents have cited concerns about the location of the festival being near the towns elementary school and the possibility of drag queens participating in a parade. Theyve also raised issues about the distribution of LGBTQ+ information regarding gender. Wright initially told the Town Council that a parade was part of the plans, but Mayor Joe DeVito said Thursday that hes met with the group and a parade is no longer under consideration. They tell me that none of that is going to happen at this event, DeVito said. The group must meet certain requirements to use the park, and its application is under review, DeVito said. At this point, there is nothing glaring that says they dont meet the requirements. Make no mistake, if you are not against this movement, you are for it, Danny Norwood, describing himself as a father, grandfather and follower of Jesus Christ, told council members Wednesday, which brought applause. National LGBTQ+ groups are on a twisted spiritual crusade to steal the innocence of kids, Norwood said, adding he believes it is no coincidence that the event is proposed near a school. I would ask everybody in this community, on this council, to consider what were letting in, Norwood said. The snake has crawled under the door. The event is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 18, when school will not be in session. Supporters say Pride festivals are safe, welcoming events where people can find support and information and have a good time, too. My family will be there, and we look forward to celebrating all of Gods beloved children with you, said Mary Foster, describing herself as a straight cisgender female who is married and has a son who is transgender. Cisgender means a persons gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth; transgender means a persons gender does not match the sex they were assigned at birth. Those who dont want to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community should stay home, said Foster, adding shes been been frustrated and embarrassed that there is so little to honor the LGTBQ+ community in Beaufort County. The LGBTQ+ Lowcountry Pride Group says its mission is to promote the visibility of the LGBTQ+ community in the Lowcountry by educating society, honoring its heritage, advocating for its culture and celebrating diversity. Wright said the event is family oriented and will include vendors, a bounce house and face painting. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), a former member of the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, said Wednesday that the revelations in former President Trumps most recent indictment over his efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election were chilling. I didnt realize how close we came to Trump ordering the military into American cities, Lofgren said on CBS News. Thats pretty chilling. If he had succeeded, there would have been demonstrations, and thats why we have the Insurrection Act, which of course allows for military to be dispatched, she continued, appearing to quote from the indictment. Very unsettling. The four-count indictment unveiled by prosecutors last week charged the former president with conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction or attempted obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. The portion of the indictment that Lofgren appeared to quote laid out the various efforts by an unnamed co-conspirator widely assumed to be former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark to send a letter to state officials in Georgia that falsely claimed the department had identified significant concerns that could have impacted the election results. During a Jan. 3, 2021, meeting, Trumps deputy White House counsel reportedly told the co-conspirator that there had not been widespread election fraud, and that if Trump remained in office, there would be riots in every major city in the United States. The co-conspirator allegedly responded, Well, [Deputy White House Counsel], thats why theres an Insurrection Act. The Insurrection Act allows the president to deploy the military within the U.S. to suppress a rebellion or enforce the law. In a separate conversation between a senior adviser to the president and another unnamed co-conspirator believed to be former Trump attorney John Eastman the adviser reportedly said, [Y]oure going to cause riots in the streets. According to the indictment, the co-conspirator responded that there had been previous times in the nations history in which violence was necessary. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Change was in the air in at least a few places in Mississippi after Tuesday's primary elections, which saw multiple incumbents unseated, including multiple Hinds County supervisors, the southern district public service commissioner and a number of legislators. Despite the fact that most incumbent legislators ran unopposed, and most that did face challengers still won, five members of the Mississippi Legislature, who combine for nearly six decades of service, lost their jobs to primary challengers Tuesday. The longest tenured legislator to be defeated was Rep. Rufus Straughter, D-Belzoni, who at the end of his term in January will have served in the House for 28 years. Straughter received about 28% of the vote Tuesday, compared to about 72% for his opponent, Circuit Court Judge Timaka James-Jones. Two legislators who will have each served 12 years at the end of their terms lost their bids for reelection Tuesday. Sen. Philip Moran, R-Kiln, was first seated in the Senate in 2012. Moran received about 46% of the vote Tuesday, compared to about 54% for his opponent, Philman Ladner, the manager of a family-owned business. Rep. Doug McLeod, R-Lucedale, was elected the same year as Moran, and first seated to the House in 2012. McLeod also received about 46% of the vote Tuesday, compared to about 54% for his opponent, Ronald Lott. The two other legislators unseated Tuesday were in the midst of their first terms. Rep. Brady Williamson, R-Oxford, began his service in the Senate in 2020, meaning he will have served four years when his term expires in January. Williamson received about 28% of the vote, compared to about 57% for Josh Hawkins and 15% for Lofton Gray. Hawkins is a businessman from Batesville. The final incumbent to lose Tuesday was Perry Van Bailey, R-Calhoun City, whose term will end in January after less than a year in office. Van Bailey was elected in a special election earlier this year and was first seated in the House in February. Van Bailey received about 47% of the vote, compared to about 53% for Andrew Stepp, a pharmacy owner. Another notable change to the legislature will be the demographics of the House Republican caucus. The first Black Republican lawmaker since 1894 was elected to the House on Tuesday, when Rodney Hall of District 20 received about 55% of the vote against opponent Charlie Hoots. Hall will not face an opponent in the general election. Hall is a military veteran, prosecutor and former senior staffer of Republican U.S. Rep. Trent Kelly. Another Black Republican candidate for the House, Felix Gines of District 115, is headed to an Aug. 29 runoff against Zachary Grady. Gines received about 38% of the vote Tuesday, compared to about 48% for Grady. The winner of the runoff will also be unopposed in the general election. This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Legislators with nearly 60 years of combined experience ousted Tuesday Entrepreneur and model Lori Harvey has just launched her namesake Yevrah Swim line. Yevrah is Harvey backwards! The swimwear line is inspired by Harveys recent trip to Europe. Each piece is named after a different destination. The entire line is exclusively available at Revolve. All 12 pieces come in sizes XS to XXL. And, are available for pre-order now! Yevrah Swim Positano V Neck One Piece Yevrah Swim Positano V Neck One Piece $180 Buy Now Photo Courtesy of Revolve Yevrah Swims Positano V Neck One Piece is a statement swimwear must-have thats waiting to be worn to the pool. This pistachio green bathing suit boasts daring features that will turn heads. The bottom half has a cheeky cut to show a bit of skin. Then, around the hips theres a gold detachable belt. From the belly button up, a plunging V-neckline covers only what needs to be covered. 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You need to wrap it around your chest and cross the straps between your collar bones, then you can secure it. Once its in place, just slide your chest into the sling-like pockets youve made. Yevrah Swim Ibiza Wrap Bikini Bottom Yevrah Swim Ibiza Wrap Bikini Bottom $90 Buy Now Photo Courtesy of Revolve Dont worry, theres no fancy tying on the Yevrah Swim Ibiza Wrap Bikini Bottom. Instead, the star-of-the-show are the cutouts on the hip. To be specific, they run from the front hip bones to the dimples just above your bum. The tanga style returns with these orange bottoms, too. That way you have coverage without feeling like youre wearing a diaper. Yevrah Swim Antibes One Shoulder One Piece Yevrah Swim Antibes One Shoulder One Piece $150 Buy Now Photo Courtesy of Revolve The Antibes One Shoulder One Piece is another Yevrah Swim piece that takes a traditional silhouette to the next level. On the bottom, this swimsuit features an ultra-cheeky fit. Plus, its high-cut over the hips so your thighs arent suffocated. The upper half is where the swimsuit takes a unique turn in a good way. Half of the bust boasts a sweetheart neckline. The other half is where the fabric drapes across the chest, over the shoulder, and down the back. Yevrah Swim Capri Sarong Yevrah Swim Capri Sarong $100 Buy Now Photo Courtesy of Revolve While youre making your way to the pool, throw on the Yevrah Swim Capri Sarong. Its a pre-wrapped pull on skirt. The full-length piece covers you from hip to ankle but still shows off the leg. It comes in the same green as the other Capri pieces. Our editors love finding you the best products and offers! If you purchase something by clicking on one of the affiliate links on our website, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. The post Lori Harvey Releases New, European Inspired Swimwear Line appeared first on 21Ninety. It is the loss of democracy: Monique Worrell responds to her suspension as state attorney During a Wednesday morning news conference outside the Orange County Courthouse, Monique Worrell spoke out strongly against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who suspended her as the Ninth Judicial Circuit state attorney several hours earlier. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< Worrell repeatedly described the governors decision as political gamesmanship and political shenanigans. This is the moment weve all been waiting for: It is the loss of democracy, she said. I am your dually elected state attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, and nothing done by a weak dictator can change that. This is an outrage. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] DeSantis cited a neglect of duty when he announced Wednesday morning that he was immediately suspending Worrell. Click here to read his full executive order on her suspension. He appointed Ninth Circuit Judge Andrew Bain to take over as Orange-Osceola County State Attorney during Worrells suspension. Justice does not prevail in the state of Florida at this time, Worrell said. This should not happen in a democracy. Read: Heat likely culprit for shattering glass on Jacksonville house door She said she was elected by voters three years ago differently and unconventionally and asserted that she had been transparent about how she would run her office. Elected officials are being taken out of office solely for political purposes, and that should never be a thing, Worrell said, describing DeSantis as an individual who has single-handedly destroyed democracy in the state of the Florida. DeSantis described Worrells administration as clearly and fundamentally derelict, constituting neglect of duty and incompetence. It is my duty as governor to ensure that the laws enacted by our duly elected Legislature are followed, he said. The people of Central Florida deserve to have a state attorney who will seek justice in accordance with the law instead of allowing violent criminals to roam the streets and find new victims. Read: Denial and deflection: Inside Terrell Lewis interrogation for multiple murders During her news conference, Worrell mentioned that DeSantis had fired his presidential campaign manager a day earlier. I guess today is my turn, she said. He is replacing me. Worrell thanked her staff during the news conference, saying I know this is an unsettling time for you. She also said that while law enforcement officers are often suspended with pay while they are under investigation, now that she has been suspended, she will no longer be paid or have benefits for her or her three children, who return to school Thursday. Read: Lil Tay, social media influencer, reportedly dead at 14; father wont confirm Worrell said two of her deputy chief assistants were also fired, one of whom has five children to support. She said she has assembled a legal team prepared to fight the governors decision in court but said that the fight will be challenging because some of the judges she could face have been appointed by DeSantis. I am a fighter, and I will fight, she said. This will not stop me from running for reelection. CLICK HERE for the original story by WFTV. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. JAKARTA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Police in Indonesia have stepped up measures against human trafficking, with nearly 900 named suspects for the crime over the past two months. The country's National Police spokesman Ahmad Ramadan said here on Thursday that the police's human trafficking task force had arrested 895 suspects involved in the trafficking of more than 2,000 victims since early June. "There are 750 police reports, and the total number of rescued victims is 2,283," he said. Indonesia, the world's fourth-largest population, is one of the largest labor-exporting nations in Southeast Asia. According to Ramadan, many of the rescued victims were lured to work as housemaids or boat crew members on the promise of better pay, with several cases of prostitution and child exploitation. Liam Ferns was waiting for his car at a car wash recently when he got thirsty and decided to stop in a gas station next door for a drink. As the 48-year-old made his way through the Abingdon Royal Farms, he passed a lottery vending machine, and something strange happened, according to an Aug. 10 Maryland Lottery news release. I just got a funny feeling, Fern told officials. So, I went over to the machine, closed my eyes and randomly picked a ticket. Ferns finger landed on the $50,000 Cash game, so he bought a ticket and headed back to get his car, according to officials. Before he started vacuuming his vehicle, Fern took a second to scratch his ticket. I thought, This has got to be wrong, Fern said in the release. He had revealed a $50,000 top prize, officials said. When I scanned it back at the store, it said See Lottery, so it had to be right, Fern told officials. Fern said he headed home and immediately showed his girlfriend his ticket, but she didnt believe him. We joke with each other all the time, Ferns girlfriend told officials. I just knew the ticket was fake, but I was thrilled to find out it wasnt. Fern is a shift leader at an oil refinery, and he plans to use his prize toward his retirement savings, according to officials. Abingdon is about 30 miles northeast of Baltimore. Many people can gamble or play games of chance without harm. However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families. If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website. Dad let his kids pick his lottery numbers in NC. Then he started hyperventilating Lottery player has used same numbers for 20 years. Her patience was rewarded in big way Grandfather won 2 jackpots. Now grandson credits lucky genes for own North Carolina win Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis was at Kennywood Thursday, celebrating the historic parks 125th anniversary. One of the highlights of the day, going on the Jack Rabbit roller coaster the fifth oldest operating roller coaster in the world. He was sent on the ride with a Go-Pro, and you can see his point of view in the video below. Davis said the ride hasnt changed a bit. And, he spoke to Channel 11 one-on-one about what Kennywood means to him. I practically grew up at Kennywood, living in McKeesport right down the river here. This is a place that has so many special memories for me and my family. Im expecting my first daughter next month and I cant wait for her to make some memories here as well, he said. Davis says the Governors office wants to support Kennywood and its contributions to western Pennsylvania. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: Concerns arise over vulgar signs along North Fayette road 5 killed when recreational vehicle blows tire, crashes head-on into tractor-trailer Study: Dementia risk may increase with long-term use of acid reflux drugs VIDEO: McKeesport teachers could return to class without a contract DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts Esther Cho is Paris, where she heard she had been accused of assault. Esther Cho A woman was falsely accused of attacking a fellow TikToker in a bathroom in Tribeca last year. Esther Cho only knew she had been accused when she was hit by a tide of accusations. Cho cleared her name, only for the vigilante effort to turn on the woman who accused her. Two nightmare scenarios came true at once for Esther Cho a year ago. She went viral through no intention of her own, and she was falsely accused of a crime. Cho was thrust into the center of a TikTok firestorm when a vigilante effort wrongly identified her as a woman accused of attacking somebody in a Manhattan bar. She told Insider she was inundated with threats and racist abuse from people who believed the accusation, despite there being no evidence it was her. She mounted a fightback to clear her name, eventually persuaded everyone including her accusers that she was innocent, after larger social-media stars championed her story. The pendulum swung so far that the woman who made the first accusation then suffered her own pile-on, prompting her to mostly wipe herself from the internet. Their story is an extreme example of online mob justice, where people are declared guilty on shaky grounds, and find the burden is on them to prove they didn't do anything wrong. A wild accusation The drama began with a video, which Insider has seen, published on May 19, 2022, by Stefany Romero on her TikTok account @lanicoleta. The video and the whole account were later deleted. Romero showed videos of her face, claiming to have been scratched, beaten, and robbed the previous night while at the City Vineyards bar in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan. In a phone call with Insider, Romero described her attack in some detail, and sent images which she said showed her injuries. She said the attacker racially abused her for being white (though Romero is Latina), pulled her hair, then ran away. She said she called the NYPD but that its officers were dismissive and "didn't do anything." Insider couldn't corroborate her account, or independently determine what happened that night. The NYPD told Insider it had no record of an attack at the bar that night, and City Vineyard didn't respond to requests for comment. The NYPD didn't respond to questions about Romero's interactions with its officers. But Romero's story took on a life of its own after she posted her story to TikTok. She described a woman with dark hair who was about 100 lbs heavier than her. Cho, meanwhile, had a regular day: working, going to a gym class, then at dinner with friends in Brooklyn. Evidence reviewed by Insider suggests that she was nowhere near Tribeca that night. When Romero posted her video, Cho didn't notice, nor did those who would later accuse her. Esther Cho. Esther Cho The mob awakens It was around a month later, on June 22, 2022, that Cho noticed strange activity on her TikTok, where she had fewer than 3,000 followers at the time. "I stared getting weird comments being like, we know you did it, the police are coming for you, weird messages like that," Cho told Insider. She said her friends were also approached by an account claiming to be a "private investigator" asking them to confirm Cho's whereabouts that night. Cho brushed it off as trolls and people trying to scare her. But after landing in Paris for a work trip, she received a worrying message from one of her friends. "You really need to check your TikTok right now," it said. Cho's social media was filled with hateful comments, death threats, and racial slurs from people who blamed her for Romero's attack. Cho had no idea what they meant. Turns out, other TikTokers had been investigating Romero's incident. Some of them found a video of Cho posted where she reviewed Tribeca and gave recommendations there, and made a connection. Romero had said her attacker was Asian. This, along with Cho having been to Tribeca recently, was enough for many to conclude that Cho was guilty. Romero now accepts Cho had nothing to do with it but told Insider that she too was convinced at the time. Romero posted a follow-up video saying TikTok had identified her attacker. She didn't name Cho but described the Tribeca video in enough detail to leave no doubt. Romero told Insider that a friend who was at the bar with her convinced her that Cho was to blame, and says she hoped she would be able to report Cho to the police though ultimately she didn't. After Romero endorsed the theory that Cho was to blame, thousands of strangers piled in to make the accusation. A key moment in the narrative was a TikToker who made a video stitching together Romero's accusation with Cho's Tribeca video, inferring her guilt. The woman, who gave her name only as Mackenzie, fearing online harassment if she gave a surname, said she now regrets doing that. "I saw someone was a victim and I wanted to help them because I have a little bit of a platform," Mackenzie told Insider. "But turns out the information that I had was incorrect." She said she pulled the video after Cho contacted her, and apologized. But by this point, Cho said, it was too late. "It doesn't matter if you know the story or not, you're looking at it and it's going to look like it's me," Cho said. "But mind you, there's zero evidence. There's literally nothing, no police report, no pictures, no security footage. It's just her saying this stuff. "I guess everyone just believed her." Cho said she wanted to set things straight. She messaged Romero, saying that she was innocent (Insider saw screenshots of the exchange). Cho also told Romero she could prove she had been in other places that day. Romero didn't give a time for when she said she was attacked, but said it occurred after she had been "day drinking" and before dinner. City Vineyard was open seven hours that day, from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Cho posted two videos detailing what she had been doing all day, showing timestamps of her working in the afternoon, then attending a fitness class at 4:40 p.m. Cho also had two friends vouch for her her roommate confirmed she was working from home all day until her class, and her other friend says they met up after her class at 6:30 p.m. and had dinner together in Williamsburg. Cho shared photos from the restaurant in Williamsburg, and photos of the pasta she ate at around 8 p.m. Her friend said they walked around a little after dinner, then both went home. It seemed to leave little opportunity to get to Tribeca and jump somebody. Screenshots from Esther Cho's TikTok showing timestamps throughout her day on May 18, 2022, including a workout class at 4:40 p.m., a location pin at 6:24 p.m., and a photo of her dinner at 8:24 p.m. Esther Cho/TikTok Cho said she sent this to Romero on Instagram, saying "I was like, 'Hey, I'm so sorry that first of all you were attacked, but it's not me.'" Romero opened the message, Cho said, but did not respond. Instead, she seemed to double down on her claim in a further video, saying she and her attacker had both been interviewed by the police. (The NYPD also didn't comment on that claim.) Romero told Insider that she didn't reply to Cho's message because she was still convinced Cho was her attacker, and had been advised by a friend who was a lawyer not to engage. Cho decided to tell her story online to clear her name. But the narrative seemed set Cho said people responded by accusing her of lying and forging the evidence of where she was. Things started to shift when a prominent TikToker, the comedian Ellen Acuario, posted in Cho's defense and reached a large audience. It was around this time Romero said she realized Cho was indeed not the woman who attacked her. She posted another video, which she sent to Insider, telling people to stand down. She also said she never identified Cho by name in her videos. Romero did admit to fanning the flames of Cho's harassers by posting a comment where she identified Cho's workplace, indirectly suggesting Cho was the attacker. "That was my biggest mistake," Romero said. "And I really regret ever doing that." Stefany Romero Cho, who in the meantime built up a much larger following, shared her story again a year later on July 17, 2023, prompting a delayed backlash against Romero. Romero has since deactivated her TikTok page and other social-media accounts, saying she suffered more or less the same fate as Cho: a tide of death threats, personal information published online, and having her loved ones abused as well. She sent Insider dozens of screenshots of messages she received. Romero said if she could go back and change everything, she would. "You go online thinking somebody will help you and then they end up hurting another innocent person," she said. "You end up not only not getting justice for yourself, but you end up accidentally having the internet police and everything just bring the wrath of the internet on someone." Romero said she would love to make things right with Cho, but she also questioned why Cho was still talking about it a year later. She said she had tried to apologize, sending Cho direct messages on Instagram from two of her accounts, and a long email last month, but Cho didn't respond. Cho told Insider she had received emails from Romero, but they mostly contained "threats towards me to take all my videos down about her." Cho told Insider she felt the need to retell her story because what happened still haunts her. Her TikTok posted in July amassed 1.2 million views, which was justice enough for her. She said she considered suing Romero but decided against it because it would be too time consuming and energetically exhausting (Romero said she was also considering legal action to get Cho's videos taken down, arguing that the posts mean she doesn't feel safe leaving her house alone.) Reflecting on the phenomenon of accusations spreading on social-media more generally, Cho said: "I know that some people do horrible things and they should definitely take accountability for that and the consequences should be served." "But I just think when it comes to things that have no actual facts, it needs to be proven before any sort of consequence happens," she said. Romero had much the same to say: "Nobody on the internet cares about facts. They just want the drama." Read the original article on Insider The Ukrainian nuclear agency Energoatom reported on Aug. 10 that the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant lost power from the main 750 kilovolt (kV) power line overnight. The plant was then connected to the 330 kV backup line instead. The risk of this backup power line failing puts the largest nuclear plant in Europe on the verge of a blackout. The main danger of losing external power is that the 4th reactor would go into "hot shutdown" as a result of the cooling pumps being switched off, Energoatom explained. Without sufficient cooling, the equipment within the reactor can fail, heightening the risk of a nuclear accident. Energoatom emphasized that the continued occupation of the plant by "illegitimate and untrained" management is bringing it "closer to disaster." Russian forces have occupied the Zaporizhzhia plant since March 2022. Throughout the all-out war, the plant has been repeatedly disconnected from the Ukrainian power grid due to Russian attacks on the country's energy infrastructure. For four months between March and July 2023, the plant was disconnected from the 330 kV backup power line due to damage on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River. In October 2022, the plant was forced to rely on diesel generators to provide power to the cooling systems due to Russian shelling. Before Russia's full-scale war, the nuclear plant had six backup lines and four main lines of 750 kV. After nearly a year and a half of Russian occupation, uncertainty about what Russia could do next at the plant remains. Ukraine raised fresh concerns of a potential accident at the plant in June, with top officials warning that Russia had rigged the plant with explosives and could launch a terrorist attack. Since occupying the plant, Russia has used the nuclear plant as a military base, placing troops and equipment there. The International Atomic Energy Agency has staff based at the plant on rotation since September 2022 to monitor the situation. Read also: Locals near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant brace for potential disaster: It would be the end of us Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Onlookers in Australia got a rare glimpse of a huge whale and her calf, photos and videos show. The southern right whale and her calf were spotted swimming close to the shore in the Hastings River at Port Macquarie the morning of Thursday, Aug. 10, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The creatures drew a crowd as they made their way along the breakwall. Everyone could go down and have a look, when normally such close distance would be almost impossible, Alex McNaught, a photographer who witnessed the whales, told the news outlet. It was fantastic a very rare spotting. The approximately 55-foot mama whale and her calf were first spotted at about 7:30 a.m. when a National Parks and Wildlife Service staff member was out surfing and noticed the massive creatures, according to Macquarie Port News. Photos and drone footage of the encounter shared on social media show the pair swimming through the water together. Awesome sight to see a mother and baby southern right whale have graced our shores and came right on in through our breakwall for all to see and what a show they put on for about 5 hours, Brett Hall wrote in a Facebook post. These whales dont normally come this far up so its a rare occasion to see them up close and personal. Another Facebook user shared photos and video of the very rare experience. This mum and calf southern right [whale] were amazing to see, such a rare exciting experience for all who witnessed these majestic endangered whales today, Photographybyivanka posted. I hope you appreciate the beauty of them. Other social media users shared their excitement about the sighting. Was insane to see her so close..we have been so lucky, one person commented on Halls Facebook post. Unreal, another person commented on the post. So awesome, a third comment said. Endangered southern right whales Southern right whales are considered endangered, and experts estimate there are fewer than 270 individuals remaining in the south-east Australian population, National Parks and Wildlife Services area manager Shane Robinson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Officials have been tracking the mother since early July when she was spotted near Bermagui, which is about 490 miles south of Port Macquarie, Robinson told the news outlet. The whale and her calf were spotted again about a week ago near about 100 miles north of Port Macquarie. Southern right whales are large, stocky whales characterized by their lack of a dorsal fin, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They migrate between high-latitude feeding areas during the summer and low-latitude breeding regions during the winter. They are found throughout the Southern Hemisphere. Port Macquarie is on Australias eastern coast, about 240 miles north of Sydney. Mysterious and super rare sea creature spotted in California. See the video Nature in its rawest form: Watch as mother-son orca duo take down humpback calf Legendary deep-diving sea creature known for eating squids spotted in California A slew of major anti-gun violence groups are throwing their weight behind President Bidens reelection bid, his campaign announced Thursday. Brady, Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, Community Justice Action Fund and Giffords are all endorsing Bidens 2024 campaign, a nod to the presidents focus on preventing gun violence. With these groups resources and organizing power, we will be able to mobilize the overwhelming majority of Americans, especially young Americans, who demand federal action on preventing gun violence in November 2024, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Bidens campaign manager, said in a statement. The White House has repeatedly touted its actions to try to curb the epidemic of gun violence in the U.S., even as mass shootings have remained a regular part of the news cycle. Biden in 2022 signed bipartisan legislation that included enhanced background checks for gun purchasers between the ages of 18 and 21, made obtaining firearms through straw purchases or trafficking a federal offense and clarified the definition of a federally licensed firearm dealer. He has signed an executive order to reduce the use of ghost guns, which are more difficult to trace, as well as an order intended to increase the number of background checks conducted before gun sales. That order also cracks down on firearms dealers who violate federal law. Biden has also repeatedly called on Congress to take additional action, including by renewing a ban on assault weapons. The endorsement of major gun safety groups does not come as a surprise given the stark divide between Democrats and Republicans on the issue of gun violence. GOP presidential candidates have embraced protecting Second Amendment rights, and candidates like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) have backed concealed carry laws that loosen restrictions. The Biden-Harris Administration is working tirelessly every day to prevent gun violence. President Biden has been the strongest gun safety president in US history, from signing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law to regulating ghost guns and stabilizing braces, said former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), founder of the anti-gun violence group bearing her name, in a statement. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. MARLBOROUGH - After years of searching for a permanent home, the MetroWest Free Medical Program has brought its free community services to Marlborough, opening up its permanent location at 246 Maple St. The clinic provides free medical care for uninsured and underinsured residents of MetroWest. Funded by grants and individual donations and reliant on volunteers and a few key staff members, the clinic has basic medical services that it provides to residents that would otherwise largely go without medical care. "We generally see a lot of people with high blood pressure, diabetes, hypertension, anxiety and depression; some of them know that they have something, some we diagnose right here," Dr. Wendy Parker, a retired physician who volunteers at the clinic. "People are so grateful to get medical care, some of these people have not seen a doctor in years." Womens health physician Katy Herz at the MetroWest Free Medical Program at its new location at 246 Maple St., in Marlborough, May 25, 2023. How can you get an appointment at the MetroWest Free Medical Clinic The demand for the services has been enormous, with the clinic seeing more than a thousand patients last year. The clinic provides adult and general medicine care on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m., and women's health services on Thursday evenings from the same time. The clinic used to use a drop-in method but now requires appointments to be made, which can be done by calling 508-656-0740. The clinic also provides optometry appointments on Monday evenings, through Lexington Eye Associates in Sudbury. Meet John Whitlock Jr.: MetroWest Medical Center removes interim label from top exec "We haven't even been able to advertise for years because we are overwhelmed with the number of people we are getting," Fran Green, who co-chairs the clinic's board, said. The clinic started at Temple Beth El in Sudbury and grew The clinic started in 2004 and was originally located at Temple Beth El in Sudbury. The temple would be pulled apart each week and set up with medical screens so that doctors could talk to patients and see them in a modicum of privacy. Throughout the years, the program has found different homes, including at First Parish in Framingham and most recently at the Edward Kennedy Community Health Center in Framingham. "It was a group of people who decided that we needed to provide healthcare to people who did not have insurance and did not have access to quality healthcare," Green said. "We thought we would go out of business pretty quickly, because Massachusetts provides a lot of healthcare to residents, but in the 18 years we have been around, that hasn't been the case." MetroWest Free Medical Program registered nurse Glau Barcelos, left, confers with physician Jo Seibel at its new location at 246 Maple St., in Marlborough, May 25, 2023. Green said that while they were grateful to find a spot at the Edward Kennedy Center, the space was inadequate for the demand that the clinic was seeing, providing only two rooms and little privacy for patients. The new location in Marlborough is much more suitable for meeting the requirements of patients. "We had been looking for spots and one of our board members recommended Marlborough as a potential space and I came across it on Craigslist," Green said. "The space was previously, I believe, a dialysis center, so it is a medical building. We have four exam rooms, we have two conference rooms, a reception area, a waiting room and a bathroom. In the past, we had to set up and tear down every time, and we don't have to do that anymore." A clinic in Vermont: Clinic provides health care to undocumented farm workers key to Vermont dairy industry "The new space really makes a difference," Karin Segal, a volunteer nurse who has been with the program since its inception in 2004. "We don't need to set everything up and then take it down, we used to be here until late at night doing that and it was something you just got used to." Who can be a patient at the MetroWest Free Medical Center Isabel Andreadis first came to the clinic more than a decade ago as a patient. As an immigrant with little resources for medical care, she came to the clinic and was treated for illness, and since then has been paying it back by volunteering each week, working as a greeter and interpreter for other guests. "I had nowhere to go, and I had a really severe case of high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and they took me in and helped me in every way," Andreadis said. "They sent me to Worcester for treatment and kept checking on me. It feels great to help people that were like me, when I go home and think about how I was able to help people, it is the best. People are so grateful, they will come back to us when they are feeling better and they hug you like a family member." Migrants seeking asylum: Framingham reports about 40 Haitian migrants are staying in a city hotel Moving from Framingham to Marlborough can cause transportation issues With the clinic moving from Framingham to Marlborough, while it makes access to the clinic easier for residents of Marlborough, it leaves Framingham residents who may struggle to find transportation to Marlborough without the ability to get to the medical clinic. Green said that people do find a way to get to the clinic, but in the long term, finding ways to transport high-need patients from surrounding towns is a goal of the clinic. MetroWest Free Medical Program nurse manager Sandra Dickie, a nurse practitioner and volunteer since 2010, meets with the staff ahead of patients arriving at its new location at 246 Maple St., in Marlborough, Aug. 8, 2023. "We had a needs assessment survey that said that 80% of people who came to the clinic either drove themselves or were driven by friends or family, so people are able to get to the clinic," Green said. "We need to figure out how to get funding, maybe be able to get Uber or rides of some sort for the people that can't get here." Why have a free medical clinic in the Massachusetts suburbs Green pointed out that a benefit of the clinic is that since it serves an underinsured population, it keeps patients who would have otherwise gone to the emergency room for non-emergency medical issues out of those spaces. "48% of respondents on our assessment survey said they would have gone to the emergency room if not for the clinic. This is about our healthcare system, and how our emergency rooms are being incorrectly used because people who don't have insurance have nowhere else to go for treatment," Green said. The clinic is in further need of volunteers in all phases, including medical professionals, office staff and translators. MetroWest Free Medical Program greeter Isabel Andreadis, left, confers with physician Jo Seibel at its new location at 246 Maple St., in Marlborough, May 25, 2023. Illene Hofrenning, a nurse practitioner who was formerly the Director of the Health Center at Framingham State University, has been a volunteer since 2008, and said she continues to put in the time at the clinic because the people she is helping are in real need of medical care. "I feel like healthcare should be a right, and we have so many people that either don't have insurance or don't have access and to me, it's very important to provide that kind of access. We are seeing people who haven't had medical care in years," Hofrenning said. "We had a woman come in recently who needed a mammogram; it turned out that she has breast cancer. Hopefully, we caught it early enough, but if she didn't come here, who knows when she would have found out." This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: MetroWest Free Medical Program opens Marlborough clinic after 20 years A suspect accused of kidnapping a sex worker and imprisoning her in a cinderblock cell was awarded $2500 after appearing on a 2018 episode of Judge Judy. Married father-of-two Negasi Zuberi, 29, allegedly abducted a woman from Seattle while impersonating a police officer, drove 450 miles to his home in Klamath Falls and held her hostage in a purposely-built cell in his garage. Mr Zuberi was arrested after the terrified woman punched her way out of the cell and raised the alarm, and she has since been credited with saving lives. The FBI has linked Mr Zuberi to attacks on sex workers in four states and is appealing for information to identify other possible victims. Mr Zuberi, who authorities say uses several aliases including Sakima, Justin Hyche and Justin Kouassi, appeared in a September 2018 episode of Judge Judy where he sued Alicia Westfall, the mother of his two children, after a domestic dispute. In the episode, titled Baby in Danger, Mr Zuberi accused his then-girlfriend of throwing a glass bottle at him while he was holding their baby and pouring bleach on his clothes. Judge Judy, a reality TV star and former family court judge whose real name is Judy Sheindlin, ruled in his favour and ordered Ms Westfall to pay him $2500. Ms Westfall later obtained a temporary restraining order after he allegedly beat her and threatened to kill her and their children, according to court documents obtained by the New York Post. Kidnapping suspect Negasi Zuberi, 29, appeared on a 2018 episode of Judge Judy where he sued the mother of his children after a domestic dispute (Judge Judy / screen grab) The couple was living in Antioch, California, at the time of the alleged assaults in July 2020, and both of the children were under the age of five, The Post reported. Court documents allege that Mr Zuberi drove from his home in Klamath Falls to Seattle on 14 July and approached the woman posing as an undercover police officer. The woman told authorities that he told her she was under arrest, and pointed a taser at her, before placing her in handcuffs and leg irons and shoving her in the back of his car. He allegedly sexually assaulted her several times on the 450-mile drive back to Klamath Falls, before locking her in the cinderblock cell. A cinderblock cell found in the garage of Negasi Zuberi (FBI) After the woman escaped, Mr Zuberi fled the home and was arrested the next day after a stand-off with Nevada state police troopers in Reno. Inside the suspects home, police found a diagram of a planned 100-foot hole, and a note reading: You dont want any type of investigation. Stephanie Shark, an FBI special agent in charge of the Portland Field Office, praised the womans bravery in a statement. Her quick thinking and will to survive may have saved other women from a similar nightmare. Negasi Zuberi has been linked to attacks on sex workers in four states (FBI) The victims focus, actions and her will to survive triggered a law enforcement response that may have actually saved many other women from a similar nightmare, Ms Shark said. According to neighbours, Ms Zuberis wife had no clue about the makeshift cell in their garage. Mr Zuberi lived in California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Alabama, and Nevada between August 2016 and July 2023, according to authorities. Klamath Falls police said Mr Zuberi is believed to have several different methods to gain control of his victims including drugging their drinks, pretending to be a police officer, and soliciting the services of sex workers and then violently sexually assaulting them. He has been charged with interstate kidnapping and transporting an individual across state lines with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Anyone with information about Mr Zuberi is urged to visit fbi.gov/SakimaVictims or call 1-800-CALL-FBI to provide tips. The FBI Portland Field Office can be reached at (503) 224-4181. Eric Ridenour, the man accused of setting two Douglas churches on fire on May 22, was believed to be acting out of homophobic and sexist intent, according to a document filed by federal prosecutors. The fires destroyed St. Stephen's Episcopal Church and damaged the First Presbyterian Church in Douglas. Ridenour was arrested on May 22 and has been held in custody awaiting trial after a judge determined he could be a danger to the community if released on bail. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on July 21 and will head to trial in federal district court in Tucson on Aug. 22 on two felony counts of arson. If convicted, he could face five to 20 years in prison. According to court documents, Ridenour visited St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in 2021 to inquire about the church's beliefs. He asked about the church's views on women in leading roles and members of the LGBTQ+ community in the church. Ridenour said he would not attend a church that had a gay pastor while touring the church. The community gathered at First Presbyterian Church after the fire to share memories and pray in front of the church. According to St. Stephen's Episcopal Church's website, it welcomes everyone, including the LGBTQ+ community. The vicar of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church is openly gay, and the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church is a woman. "Learning that the motive behind the fires very likely included sexist and homophobic views deepens the wounds that our congregation feels," the Rev. John Caleb Collins, vicar for St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, told The Arizona Republic. "As an openly gay Episcopal priest, it reminds me that we have a lot of work to do as a country and society to educate people about the dangers and threats that LGBTQ people face." According to court documents, Ridenour told his former pastor at Calvary Church in Bisbee that he didn't think women should be in positions of authority at the church.Court documents also state that a neighbor of Ridenour said that Ridenour didnt like gays, didnt like politicians, and didnt like women in general leading the church." The same neighbor said Ridenour believed the Bible prohibited gay people and women from preaching. Pastors and other faith leaders in the Douglas area expressed their concerns of retribution if Ridenour is released, according to the court documents. They said they are fearful for their parishioners and their church's safety, according to court documents. Collins said St. Stephen's Episcopal Church plans to continue supporting the community. "At St. Stephen's Church, the fire will not stop us from advocating for and supporting the marginalized," Collins said. "We are committed to continuing to love the same people we have always loved." First Presbyterian Church in Douglas did not respond to The Republic's request for comment. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Records: Suspect in AZ church arsons had sexist, homophobic motives For $5 to $10 each, a Missouri man would buy checks stolen from the mail and then he would resell them to make a profit, according to federal authorities. He was caught in April, when patrol officers in the Spanish Lake area came across several people standing around a vehicle that was stopped in the road, according to an Aug. 9 news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. Once the crowd dispersed and the driver continued on, police said they stopped the vehicle and found a Country Club Hills man in the backseat. Authorities said he was wearing a shoulder bag filled with checks and a gun. (He) told officers that he bought stolen checks for $5 to $10 each and would remove the writing on the checks before re-selling them for $20 to $25, officials said. The 19-year-old man pleaded guilty on April 28 to one felony count of possession of stolen mail matter, McClatchy News reported. Now, he has been sentenced to 10 months in prison, records show. His defense attorney declined to comment on the sentencing. In court records, prosecutors said the man had 179 checks when he was stopped. The checks belonged to about 100 people and businesses in the St. Louis area, and at least some of the checks were taken from U.S. Postal Service collection boxes. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow said the mans actions went beyond any sort of financial harm, according to the release. Five victims said the theft of their mail snarled their finances, made them fear for the security of their personal information and cost them hours of work closing checking accounts and dealing with creditors, officials said. In one letter to the court, a wedding officiant said he mails wedding license documents to county clerks for filing. In this instance, a particular license failed to be filed and, as a result, one spouse was not included in her husbands health insurance since they had no legal proof of marriage, the officiant said. She was denied necessary medical treatment for nearly 4 months until a duplicate was issued and the matter was resolved. The St. Louis County Police Department and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Man drove around stealing checks from mailboxes with raised flags in Florida, feds say Mail carrier steals credit cards on route and goes on shopping spree, Texas police say Postal clerk opened greeting cards to check for money then taped them shut, feds say Ugandan vlogger visits her home country with Chinese husband and son People's Daily Online) 11:01, August 10, 2023 Adikin Rose Mary, an African woman from Uganda, recently returned to her home country for a trip with her Chinese husband and son. The family's experiences were shared with online followers through the popular short video platform Douyin, also known as TikTok outside of China. Rose's cross-cultural romance with her Chinese husband, Wu Jianyun, a resident of Lishui city in east China's Zhejiang Province, has captured the hearts of many, gaining widespread attention on social media. When Rose married a Chinese man and settled in a village in China eight years ago, everything seemed strange. Now, she has seamlessly adapted to life as a local resident, speaking fluent Chinese and cooking authentic Chinese dishes. Her social media videos, chronicling her daily life, have become an internet sensation. Following a journey that included more than 10 hours of long-distance flying, her family departed from Lishui and finally arrived in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Oliver Wonekha, Uganda's ambassador to China, welcomed them at the airport. Back in her home country, Rose's primary concern was her mother, who often experiences pain. She accompanied her mother to a physical examination at the China-Uzbekistan Friendship Hospital in Kampala, one of the best medical facilities in the area. As they wandered the streets of Kampala, they encountered workers from a Chinese company laying pipelines to build roads for Uganda. The family also purchased high-quality Chinese products from a store dedicated to Chinese goods. Join social media influencer Rose as she offers insights into her life in Zhejiang and shares an emotionally stirring reunion with her family in Uganda. (Web editor: Xian Jiangnan, Du Mingming) NIAMEY, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Niger's junta appointed 21 ministers late Wednesday, ahead of a meeting of West African leaders who will discuss their response to a military coup in Niger. Abdourahamane Tchiani, president of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), a governing body established by the soldiers after the coup, signed a decree on the appointment of new cabinet members, none of them from the ousted government. Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine will lead the new government, with generals from the CNSP heading the defense and interior ministries. Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States are expected to meet Thursday in the Nigerian capital of Abuja to discuss their response to the military coup in Niger. A 37-year-old man has been charged over a stabbing outside the British Museum. Brady Wilson is charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent, wounding with intent against the same victim, and three counts of possessing an offensive weapon. A tourist was allegedly stabbed in the arm at around 10am on Tuesday as he waited in the queue to enter the museum in Bloomsbury, central London. Wilson, of no fixed abode, is alleged to have been carrying three black-handled knives at the time. He will appear before Highbury Corner Magistrates Court on Thursday. Police arrived at the scene on Great Russell Street within minutes of the alleged attack - Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire The British Museum was evacuated after a man was allegedly stabbed in the queue. Eyewitnesses claim to have heard screaming and dripping blood everywhere along the busy Great Russell Street directly outside the entrance doors. There was a heavy police presence within minutes of the alleged attack, with a large cordon and crime scene tent erected, amid claims of a 12-inch knife having been used. The London Ambulance Service said its medics treated a man at the scene for an arm injury before taking him to a major trauma centre as a priority, but his injuries were later assessed as not life-threatening or life-changing. The Metropolitan Police said previously that it was an isolated incident with no outstanding risk to the public and it was not being treated as terrorism-related. The British Museum later reopened to visitors with stepped up security including a heightened search operation at around 12.30pm the same day. George Osborne, the former chancellor and current chairman of the British Museum, described the incident as disturbing and thanked the museums security team and police who reacted quickly. 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. CENTREVILLE The case of an Indiana man involved in a June crash that killed two LaGrange County women in White Pigeon Township is moving on to St. Joseph County Circuit Court. Harley Jay Bontrager, 19, appeared Tuesday with his attorney, Jessica LaFond, before District Court Judge Jeff Middleton. As a result of Bontrager waiving the preliminary examination, the matter will now be fielded by Judge Paul Stutesman. Prosecutor David Marvin said he accepted the request for waiver. Speaking to Bontrager, Middleton recapped the purpose of a preliminary examination. The prosecutor has the burden of establishing probable cause that a crime was committed and probable cause that you did it, Middleton said. Thats a fairly easy standard to make its a much lower standard than proof beyond a reasonable doubt. It is alleged that on June 30, Bontrager was behind the wheel of an Escalade westbound on Indian Prairie Road when it attempted to pass a Chevy Cobalt while in a no-passing zone. Authorities said Bontrager possibly misjudged his clearance from the car and his vehicle struck the Cobalt, sending it off the roadway. Shipshewana residents Rosalie M. Yoder, 29, and Marcia Ann Miller, 27, were passengers in the Cobalt and died at the scene after the vehicle crashed into a tree. Middleton continued, saying he is aware Marvin and LaFond have been discussing the matter for several weeks. Middleton said the next step will be a status conference set before Stutesman. Youre entitled to have a trial on this, where the prosecution would have the burden of proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt, he said. The matter could also be resolved with some sort of settled resolution; I think the parties will be working on that. Bontrager, who is free on $40,000 cash/surety bond, is charged with two counts of operating while intoxicated causing death. He faces up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Middleton said the status conference may not occur for some time, as Circuit Court has trials scheduled through the end of 2023, he noted. As an aside, Middleton made reference to a number of people from the Amish community who have attended every court appearance regarding the case. I dont know if theyre friends of his or the two girls that were killed, but theyve all been quite respectful and intent on what was happening here, he said. This article originally appeared on Sturgis Journal: Man charged in double fatal crash heading to circuit court A 19-year-old Fresno man accused of fatally shooting his 18-year-old girlfriend twice in the head pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a charge of murder. Jose Gutierrez Contreras was arrested May 30 and charged with the murder of Zoe Salinas, whose body was found around 11 p.m. inside a car on Tyler Avenue and Bond Street in southeast Fresno. Police said the young couple, who had been dating for four years, had a heated argument prior to the shooting. Contreras fled from the scene but was found a few blocks away, still carrying a handgun. Anxious family members of Salinas packed Judge Gary Orozcos courtroom Wednesday to show their support for the teenager. A nearly equal number of supporters sat on the opposite side of the courtroom on behalf of Contreras. Cold stares were exchanged between the two sides, but no words were said. Along with entering a not guilty plea, Contrerass attorney Roger Bonakdar tried to convince the judge to release his client from jail as he waits for his trial. Orozco denied the request. Police say Zoe Salinas, 18, was shot around 11 p.m. Tuesday, May 30, 2023 in Fresno, California. Boyfriend fears for his life in jail, lawyer says Bonakdar stated in court documents that his client is in fear of his life in jail. Defendant is a child and being housed among grown men and hardened criminals in the Fresno County Jail. Defendant was still a high school senior and would have been graduating this June had this incident not happened, according to court documents. Additionally, Bonakdar said it would be impossible for his client and his family to afford the $1.5 million bail. He urged the judge to impose non-financial conditions such as GPS monitoring, house arrest, or other methods to make sure Contreras attends all of his court appearances. There is also no analysis that this defendant is a risk to any other person, Bonakdar said in court. Senior Deputy District Attorney David Olmos described the brutal nature in which Contreras killed his girlfriend, two gunshots to the head. It was cold-blooded murder, Olmos said in court. Olmos said Contreras acted deliberately the night of the shooting. He secretly took a handgun from his brothers room and took it with him to meet his girlfriend. After he shot Salinas, he jumped out of the car and into peoples backyards to try and get away from police. He didnt stay behind and check to see if Zoe was OK, Olmos said. He poses a great risk to the public. Judge rules no bail Orozco agreed and ordered Contreras be held in jail without bail. If convicted, Contreras faces up to 50 years to life in prison. Salinas sister Savannah Badillo said she was relieved Contreras wont be allowed to leave jail. She said her sister is gone forever and there is no chance of seeing her again. When will I be able to call my sister, or when will my parents be able to see my sister walk through the door, or tell me when can I text my sister and say, hey, lets go to San Diego, Badillo said after the hearing. I cant. Contreras returns to court on Sept. 28 for a pre-preliminary hearing in Dept. 32. Police investigate a fatal shooting on Tyler Avenue and Bond Street in Fresno from the previous night on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. A man died Wednesday after Lexington County deputies used a stun gun to subdue him following a chase, the sheriff said. Bernice Junior Smith III, a 32-year-old Aiken resident, was identified as the man who died after 1:30 p.m., according to Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher. Investigations into the incident and the mans death are underway, Sheriff Jay Koon said. The sheriffs department, coroners office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division are investigating the death. Koon said he asked SLED to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation. The sheriff said the incident began when one of his deputies was at a business in Red Bank and saw a man wanted on a shoplifting charge, later identified as Smith. The deputy approached the man and started a conversation; however, the man ran away after being informed about the outstanding warrant, Koon said in the release. It is my understanding the man ran into the woods. Deputies ran after him and eventually used a Taser to subdue him after he was located and was noncompliant with verbal commands. Information about where Smith was taken into custody, and how far that is from where the chase began, was not available. Deputies handcuffed Smith and were walking him back to a patrol vehicle when he began showing signs of medical distress, the sheriff said. The deputies eventually took off the handcuffs and provided medical aid to Smith until paramedics arrived to take him to an area hospital, according to the release. Smith was unresponsive when he was transported by Lexington County EMS, and he died shortly after arriving at the hospital, according to the Lexington County Coroners Office. No other injuries were reported. No cause of death has been released, but Fisher said an autopsy is scheduled for Friday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. The three deputies involved in the incident were placed on paid administrative leave, according to the release. A 66-year-old Texas man spent his final days traveling to national parks, hiking and camping, all while carrying his fathers ashes along for the journey. But James Jimmy Bernard Hendricks never made it to his final destination. On Aug. 1, the Austin man was found dead off a popular trail in Arches National Park in Utah, McClatchy News previously reported. Hendricks started his adventure July 18 at the Caverns of Sonora in Sutton County, Texas. He snapped photos of the calcite formations and posted one to Facebook. Travels with Neil: A Final Journey with My Father. I am bearing his ashes west to the Sierra Nevada, stopping at special places along the way. This is the Cave of Clubs, at the Caverns of Sonora, he wrote. From there, he traveled to multiple national parks, including Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico; Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas; Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado; and the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona before making his way to Utah. On July 26, Hendricks explored Zion National Park, where he gazed at a waterfall and sandstone monoliths known as the three patriarchs, he wrote in another Facebook post. The next day, he posted photos of Bryce Canyon National Park and the popular hoodoos. Hendricks had plans to reach Arches National Park on the early morning of July 29. Because I dont have a traffic entry reservation for Arches National Park, Im going to get there at the crack of dawn, before the traffic restrictions take effect. The light will be better for photographs early in the morning, anyway, he wrote. That was his last post. His body was found three days later. Sister suspects his death was heat-related Rangers havent yet released a statement on how they think Hendricks died, a spokesperson for the park told McClatchy News on Aug. 9. But his sister, Ruth Hendricks Brough, said she thinks he died from the heat, otherwise he wouldnt have strayed from the trail. He would have known about the delicate biological crusts that exist in the Utah desert. He would not have left the trail to take a better picture, she wrote Aug. 8 on Facebook. Brough also said rangers found an empty water bottle when they discovered his body. He had done extensive hiking and camping before he reached Utah. It was all too much for the nature boy, our sweet Jimmy. But now I believe hes at peace, she said. Mom of 4 found dead where husband once proposed, family says. Big hole in my heart Hiker found dead on California trail was doing his favorite thing, wife says Tourists get lost following GPS in Death Valley then try to drive through salt flat An Alabama woman was hit by a shovel before she was attacked with lawn mowers at her house, deputies said. Deputies responded to the Hartselle home on Aug. 7 when the resident called 911 through her home alarm system, according to a Aug. 9 news release from the Morgan County Sheriffs Office. When deputies arrived, they found the woman with marks on her body, grass stains on her clothes, leaves in her hair and she said she was injured, according to the release. She told the deputies that a male family member, 29, had become physically violent with her and hit her with a shovel, deputies said. The man then tried to run over the womans legs with a push lawn mower, according to the release. The violence escalated, as the man got onto a riding lawn mower and dragged the woman across her yard, deputies said. The man was still at the home when deputies arrived, and he was taken into custody, according to the release. The man was charged with second-degree elder abuse and neglect and third-degree domestic violence and was booked in the Morgan County Jail on a $20,300 bond. Hartselle is about 35 miles southwest of Huntsville. 70-year-old with blade hidden in cane fatally stabs man fighting her son, officials say Dad shoots at son six times after nearly being run over by him, Florida deputies say Man armed with hair clippers attacks his ex, cops say. But she knew where her gun was Son steals over $60,000 of dead moms Social Security benefits for years, feds say The 29-year-old man who was shot and killed during an exchange of gunfire with Columbus police on Wednesday had a complicated past with the law. Austin Paige Huntzinger, whose last known address was in the Schumacher Place neighborhood, died at 7:21 a.m. Wednesday at OhioHealth Grant Medical Center. Columbus police released Huntzinger's name Thursday morning, along with few details about two officers involved in the shooting: One is a 15-year veteran of the Columbus Division of Police, and the other is a 12-year veteran of the department. Police are not releasing the officers' names, citing Marsy's Law, which protects crime victims. When contacted Thursday morning by The Dispatch, Huntzinger's mother declined a request to speak with a reporter about her son. Police said they received a call around 6:50 a.m. Wednesday about a possible robbery at 45 Great Southern Blvd. When officers arrived, Huntzinger reportedly fired at officers, hitting one in the leg. At least one officer returned fire, hitting Huntzinger. The officer that was hit is expected to make a full recovery. According to the Ohio Secretary of State's website, Huntzinger registered a computer repair business in his name in October 2021. Beech Computer Repair, according to postings on Huntzinger's social media account, indicated he repaired phones, computers and other electronics. Huntzinger also has a young daughter. Huntzinger created the business while he was on community control after being convicted of in 2020 of felonious assault in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, according to court records. Court records indicate Huntzinger was sentenced to three years of community control, often called probation, and finished the probation successfully a year early. A judge signed off on his early release from supervision in March 2022, saying Huntzinger had "adjusted satisfactorily," according to court records. Between 2019, when the domestic dispute took place that led to his felony charges, and early 2023, Huntzinger did not have any apparent run-ins with the law. He did file several police reports, according to Columbus police's online records, after he reported he received threatening messages on social media. However, at the time of his death, Huntzinger had open warrants from Franklin County Municipal Court for misdemeanor charges of fleeing police and obstructing official business, as well as driving under suspension and reckless operation from a June 29 traffic stop near Obetz Road and South High Street by Franklin County Sheriff's deputies, according to court records. Huntzinger also had an open felony case in Knox County for having weapons under disability, a third-degree felony, that was related to a May 30 incident in Mount Vernon. He posted a $5,000 bond on June 7 and was released from the Knox County jail in that case. bbruner@dispatch.com @bethany_bruner This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus police shooting: Man killed had complicated legal history A man who pulled a gun and threatened employees at a historic Minneapolis gay bar was sentenced to nearly five years in prison on Tuesday for the 2022 incident. Conell Walter Harris was sentenced to 57 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release by Senior Judge David S. Doty at the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. Harris pleaded guilty to one count of a felon in possession of a firearm in April. He was accused of entering the 19 Bar near Loring Park on November 28, 2022, and threatening employees with a gun while using anti-LGBTQ+ slurs. 19 Bar first opened its doors in 1957 and is the oldest continuously operating gay bar in Minneapolis. According to an earlier statement from the Department of Justice and the initial local charging document, Harris entered the 19 Bar acting strangely and later became upset after an employee asked to see his identification. When asked to leave, Harris pulled out a stolen .45 caliber Glock model 30 pistol and said I ain't going nowhere. Harris then threatened the employee and a patron who attempted to deescalate the situation, saying Watch the f*ck youre saying and Im going to f*ck you up. Harris also said Ill f*cking kill your d*ke *ss to a bartender as he left. He returned a short time later and started playing pool. When officers arrived, several people pointed at a man, who was later identified as Conell Walter Harris, 29, the DOJ said in Tuesdays statement. Harris resisted arrest and tried to reach into the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt. Officers recovered a stolen .45 caliber Glock model 30 pistol from Harris pocket. According to the Star Tribune, prosecutors had argued for a five-year sentence, noting Harris is a repeat felon who waved the gun about in a threatening manner in a crowded bar and whose actions could have resulted in serious injury to Mr. Harris or bystanders. Defense attorneys responded by referring to their clients abusive upbringing and psychological challenges, claiming Harris was only acting in self-defense according to his perception of the events. His attorneys claimed Harris only pulled the gun after he was physically confronted touched by a bar employee who was up in his face and demanding that he leave and that he did not point the gun at any one person. Harris still faces charges in Hennepin County District Court for the incident. A man was shot as police tried to take him into custody following a chase relating to domestic violence in Leavenworth crossed over into Missouri early Thursday, Leavenworth Police Chief Patrick Kitchens said in an email. The man was taken to a hospital where he was listed in critical condition, Kitchens said. Officers responded at 12:45 a.m. Thursday to assist emergency medical workers and firefighters with a domestic violence attack at a home in the 900 block of Columbia Avenue, he said. After a preliminary investigation, police issued a be on the lookout for a 27-year-old man, indicating that he was wanted on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape, aggravated domestic battery and violation of a protection from abuse order relating to the attack, Kitchens said. Officers spotted the suspects vehicle in Leavenworth and attempted to stop him. The man fled, leading police on a chase that crossed into Missouri and ended on the Missouri 45 highway spur in Platte County. The man was shot as officers tried to take him into custody, Kitchens said. Officers treated the man at the scene and a Leavenworth County ambulance took him to a hospital. No officers were injured. The Platte County Sheriffs Office along with the Missouri Highway Patrol and Kansas City Police Department were investigating the police shooting. Leavenworth police were still investigating the domestic violence attack and were not commenting on the specifics, Kitchens said. The 25-year-old victim was treated at a hospital and released. I hear Biden is coming to Utah, Craig Robertson wrote on Facebook in all caps earlier this week, according to a felony complaint filed Tuesday. Digging out my old ghillie suit and cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle. Welcome, buffoon-in-chief! Early Wednesday, just hours before President Joe Biden was set to touch down in the state, Robertson was shot and killed by an FBI agent during a raid on his Provo, Utah home, authorities said. Online public records list his age as 75. Federal agents were attempting to serve an arrest and search warrants at Robertsons home, the bureau said in a statement. Two sources familiar with the matter told the Associated Press that the septuagenarian had been armed at the time of the 6:15 a.m. shooting. Neighbors told the AP Robertson had been frail, and that though he often walked around with guns, he hadnt seemed a threat. Theres no way that he was driving from here to Salt Lake City, setting up a rifle and taking a shot at the president100 percent no way, one said. In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBIs Inspection Division, the bureaus statement read. As this is an ongoing matter, we have no further details to provide. Robertson was charged Tuesday with three felony counts in relation to threats against the president, other elected officials, and the FBI agents investigating him. The 30-page felony complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, outlines months of threats made by Robertson against Biden and a host of other figures, including U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. In an avalanche of all-caps Facebook posts, Robertson referred to himself as a MAGA TRUMPER, repeatedly taunted Garland as a demented weasel and shared photos of his firearms, one of which he called his Democrat eradicator. On Sept. 19, he wrote, The time is right for a presidential assassination or two. First Joe then Kamala!!! In another post the next month, he repeatedly typed Death to Biden. Two days later, he addressed the New York attorney general, who is bringing a civil fraud lawsuit against Donald Trump: Letitia James. A snipers bullet does not recognize your qualified immunity b/tch!!! Days after that, he challenged Garland to send your FBI Swat Team to my house... You wont because I fight back against cowards!!! Why are your FBI cowards not kicking in my door? he demanded in October. Know this they will die. He occasionally shared vivid patriotic dreams hed had on Facebook, including ones in which he was standing over Newsom or Bragg after having shot them in the head. I want to... watch him twitch as a drop of blood oozez from the hole as his life ebbs away to hell!! Robertson wrote of Bragg, who filed a 34-count criminal indictment against Trump in April. An FBI agent surveilled his home and made contact with Robertson in March, according to the complaint. After the agent told the 75-year-old they wished to speak with him about his social media activity, he seemed to panic. I said it was a dream! he said, according to the complaint. Were done here! Dont return without a warrant! In a post from the previous month, Robertson had written of another WONDERFUL DREAM!!! hed had. The dream followed the shape of his previous fantasies about Newsom and Bragg, but he embellished the new post with a few extra details. I dreamed I was in a dark corner of a Washington D.C. parking garage, he wrote in all caps. I was standing over the body of the U.S. Attorney General, Merrick Garland, with a bullet hole dead center in his forehead. In my hand was my suppressed Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm, smoke wafting from the muzzle, he continued. The Star Spangled Banner playing quietly in the distance. I thought to myself; What an amazing, patriotic moment as shivers of liberty and freedom swelled my heart for our amazingly great country. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Lucy Kiruthu, director of Europe and Commonwealth Affairs at the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, speaks during a farewell reception-cum-award-ceremony for Kenyan students who are beneficiaries of the Chinese Government Scholarships 2023, in Nairobi, Kenya, Aug. 10, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen) NAIROBI, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Kenya on Thursday hosted a farewell reception-cum-award-ceremony for 48 local students who are beneficiaries of the Chinese Government Scholarships 2023. A total of 48 Kenyan students are scheduled to leave for China early next week to pursue various studies at some of the leading universities. The students drawn from local tertiary institutions will pursue disciplines like public management, engineering, international relations and Chinese language at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Speaking at the ceremony in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, Zhang Zhizhong, minister counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Kenya, said that China and Kenya share a long history of friendship since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries. The Chinese government welcomes more Kenyan students to pursue further studies in China and promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges. Henry Rotich, chairman of the Kenya-China Alumni Association, said during the ceremony that studying in China offers an unparalleled educational experience, denoting that China's rapid growth and technological advancements have positioned it as a global leader in innovation and research. "By immersing yourselves in this dynamic environment, you gain access to cutting-edge knowledge and the chance to collaborate with world-renowned scholars and experts," said Rotich, hoping all students to study hard and embrace a better future. Jacob Oloo, a doctoral candidate admitted to Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said that China plays an important role in today's world and it is a great opportunity for him to study and explore the country. "I am very grateful to the Chinese government for providing us with scholarships to study in China. I will study hard and come back to build the country and contribute to Kenya-China cooperation," he said. Oloo noted that the next four years of study and life in China will completely change his fate. "May our studies in China be transformative, and our experiences serve as a springboard for realizing the boundless potential that lies within us. Carry with us the spirit of collaboration, the thirst for knowledge, and commitment to leave a lasting impact," he said. Since 1982, the Chinese government has provided scholarships for thousands of Kenyan students. Lucy Kiruthu, director of Europe and Commonwealth Affairs at the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, told students during the ceremony that she went to Beijing University 27 years ago and the experience has been fruitful and cultivated her international political literacy and vision. She hoped that all students would cherish the opportunity to study in China and make contributions in their respective professional fields. Kenyan students who are beneficiaries of the Chinese Government Scholarships 2023 pose for a group photo in Nairobi, Kenya, Aug. 10, 2023. (Xinhua/Wang Guansen) Investigators with the Georgia Attorney Generals office are asking for the publics assistance with an ongoing case. Attorney General Chris Carrs office said Terry Florence, 32, is wanted for his involvement in a child sex trafficking case. Florence has an active warrant out of DeKalb County for trafficking a person for sexual servitude. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] If you have information on his whereabouts you are asked to contact Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-TIPS-8477. You can also submit a tip anonymously at StopCrimeAtl.org. Tipsters can remain anonymous and are eligible for up to a $2,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the suspect. You can reference incident number 1188686. TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: Sen. Joe Manchin, the moderate West Virginia Democrat who has yet to decide whether to run for reelection next year or mount a long-shot third party bid for the White House, said Thursday that hes thinking seriously about becoming an independent. Manchin has long flirted with the idea of leaving the Democratic Party, something he reiterated on Hoppy Kerchevals radio show on Thursday, saying hes absolutely considering it. If Manchin became an independent and caucused with Democrats, the chamber would still have a 51-49 Democratic majority. If he decided not to caucus with Democrats, he would lose his chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, so hes unlikely to go that route. I would think very seriously about that. Ive been thinking about that for quite some time, he said when asked if hed become an independent. I havent made any decisions whatsoever on any of my political direction. I want to make sure that my voice is truly an independent voice. In the interview, Manchin tried to portray both parties as beholden to their most extreme voices, while also suggesting there could be room for a third party presidential candidate if President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are the only two choices. They are going off the Richter scale, both sides, so Im Hoppy, I just cant, I cant accept either party, to be honest with you, right now, he said. Manchin added: Im thinking seriously, whats the best for me, I have to have peace of mind, basically. The brand has become so bad, the D brand and R brand. In West Virginia, the D brand, because its national brand. Its not the Democrats in West Virginia, its the Democrats in Washington or the Washington policies of the Democrats. If Manchin announces that he is running for reelection in 2024, hell will have a difficult road in a state that Trump resoundingly carried twice. Manchin, who appeared at an event for the third party group No Labels last month, also pushed back on the idea that a third party candidate would help Trumps chances of taking back the White House. I dont see that favoring either side because you just cant tell how this is going to break, he said. He added, If we can create a movement, a party that people understand, we could have a voice, we can make a big, big splash, and maybe bring the traditional parties of the Democrat, Republican Party (to) what they used to be, back to what they should be today. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com The authorities are starting the mandatory evacuation of 37 settlements in the Kupiansk district in Kharkiv Oblast due to increased Russian attacks. Source: Kupiansk City Military Administration on Telegram Quote: "Mandatory evacuation of the population begins in the liberated territories of the Kupiansk district in Kharkiv Oblast. This order was signed on 9 August by Andrii Kanashevych, the acting head of the Kupiansk District Military Administration." Details: Forced evacuation has been announced from the territory of settlements close to the combat zone, Dvorichna and Petropavlivka, partly from the territories of Kindrashivska, Kurylivka and Kupiansk hromadas (a hromada is an administrative unit designating a town, village or several villages and their adjacent territories ed.). A mandatory evacuation has been announced for the residents of the Kupiansk, Zaoskillia (left bank of the Oskil River), Kivsharivka, and Kupiansk Vuzlovyi on the territory of Kupiansk hromada. The Kupiansk City Military Administration also posted contacts where people can find out how to evacuate. Background: Earlier, Oleh Syniehubov, Head of the Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, reported that mandatory evacuation may begin due to increased attacks on the Kupiansk district. Syniehubov said that around 11,000 civilians, including 600 children, might be evacuated. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! The surging average rental prices across New York City come despite people continuing to move out in droves. Alexander Spatari/Getty Images Rent in New York City keeps hitting record highs even as migration from the city and state soars. In Manhattan, average rent in July was $5,588, up 2.2% from June and 9.3% from the previous year. People have been moving from New York State to low-tax Florida, as well as neighboring states. Even as people continue to flock from New York City, rent is still hitting record highs. In Manhattan, home to Central Park, the Empire State Building, and Wall Street, average rent in July was $5,588 a month, according to new data prepared by Miller Samuel for the real-estate company Douglas Elliman. This was a record high, up 2.2% from the previous month and 9.3% from the same time a year ago. The average rental price in Manhattan was $3,278 for a studio, $4,443 for a one-bed apartment, $6,084 for a two-bed, and $10,673 for a three-bed, the data shows. The average rental price per square foot was $84.74, a 3.2% increase over June. For luxury rentals in Manhattan, defined as the top 10% of rentals, the average monthly price was $15,568, a 14.6% increase year-over-year. In Brooklyn, average rental prices reached a new high of $4,347 in July, a 6.4% rise on June and up 11.9% compared to July 2022, per the Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel data. And in northwestern Queens, residents paid a record $4,003 on average, up 9.0% from June and 16.8% from last July, the data shows. The surging average rental prices across New York City come despite people moving out in droves in recent years. According to population estimates from the US Census Bureau, the city's population fell by 5.3% from April 2020 to July 2022 to around 8.34 million as the dramatic rise in remote work during the pandemic pushed people to move to states with lower taxes and living costs, fewer lockdown restrictions, and better lifestyle amenities. Even before the pandemic, people were leaving the city for other places in the US. Between 2013 and 2019, on average nearly 17,000 more people moved out of New York County, which encompasses Manhattan, to somewhere else in the US than moved in, per Census Bureau estimates. Net international migration fell over the same time period, though it remained positive. It's not just a trend limited to New York City. In 2021, around 287,000 people moved from other states to New York State, whereas 571,000 people left the state to live elsewhere in the country, Census Bureau data shows. People moving from New York State made up the biggest proportion of people moving to Florida in 2021, at more than 90,000 people. Many people who left New York also moved to neighboring states like Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and New Jersey. New York City and surrounding areas like Long Island had some of the US' highest rates of negative net domestic migration between 2021 and 2022. Read the original article on Business Insider The InSight lander on the Martian surface, with a cutaway of the interior of Mars, showing the crust, mantle and molten iron core. The length of Mars' day is shortening by three-quarters of a millisecond each year as the planets rotation spins up, according to new results from NASA's InSight lander. A standard day on Mars, or "sol" as it is called, is 24 hours and 37 minutes long, but measuring that length of day to an accuracy of a fraction of a millisecond has revealed the planets rotation rate is speeding up by a tiny amount. Planetary scientists are not entirely sure why this is happening, but it is likely related to the redistribution of Mars' mass, which can have an effect on the planet's rotation like an ice skater pulling in their arms to spin faster. This redistribution might be caused by the accumulation of ice on Mars' polar caps, experts believe, or by the surface itself slowly rebounding from residing under the weight of immense glaciers that existed at equatorial latitudes during the world's most recent ice ages, which ended about 400,000 years ago . To get these incredibly precise measurements of Mars' rotation rate, the study scientists utilized radio waves. "Its a historic experiment," Sebastien Le Maistre, a planetary scientist at the Royal Observatory of Belgium and lead author of a new paper on the findings, said in a statement . "We have spent a lot of time and energy preparing for the experiment and anticipating these discoveries." Related: Scientists hail scientific legacy of NASA's Mars InSight lander A powerful radio signal was blasted towards Mars by NASA's Deep Space Network , composed of three radio antennas around the world that are employed for communicating with interplanetary missions. The radio signal was then received by InSight's RISE (Rotation and Interior Structure Experiment) instrument and reflected back to Earth. Mars' spin adds a Doppler shift to these reflected radio waves. The Doppler shift is the same effect that causes the siren of an emergency vehicle to rise in pitch as it approaches a listener before dropping again as it moves away. Similarly, when InSight is on the hemisphere of Mars that is rotating into view, the radio signal it emits is Doppler shifted to higher frequencies, and when InSight is on the hemisphere rotating out of view, the signal is Doppler shifted to shorter frequencies. This Doppler shift is entirely dependent upon the rate of rotation, and harnessing it to measure the planets length of day to an accuracy of fractions of a millisecond isnt a simple task. "What we're looking for are variations that are just a few tens of centimeters over the course of a Martian year [687 Earth days]," said Le Maistre, who is also RISEs principal investigator. "It takes a very long time and a lot of data to accumulate before we can even see these variations." The experiment used data from InSight's first 900 days on Mars, and concluded that Mars rotation is speeding up by 0.76 milliseconds per year the most precise measurement of Mars rotation period ever made. The core of Mars RISE has also been doing work on the interior of the red planet, measuring the size of Mars' molten core. Though the planets core is inaccessible to direct observation, scientists can measure the size and probable state of Mars' mantle and core by tracking how the radio data from RISE changes as Mars wobbles on its axis. This wobble is the result of molten iron in the core sloshing about. Previously, InSight had already ascertained that Mars' core is on the large side , using seismic waves from marsquakes that ripple through the planet. Now, RISE has been able to refine that measurement. A wide view looking down on a scientific lander probe with two circular solar arrays on its either side. The interior of Mars, like Earth, is differentiated into different layers. There is the crust, on which the surface sits. Beneath that is the mantle, which on Earth contains molten magma but on Mars is assumed to be completely solid. That's because it's expected to have cooled as heat leaked away faster than it does on Earth, which is larger in size. Beneath the mantle is a metallic molten core of liquid iron and its the size of this molten core that Le Maistres team measured with RISE. RISE data implied that Mars' molten core has a diameter of 2,280 miles (3,670 kilometers). This can be compared to Mars as a whole, which has a diameter of 4,212 miles (6,779 kilometers). However, there is a caveat. If the mantle is not totally solid, and is actually molten at the bottom, that molten part would rotates independently of the solid part. This would mean that the core could be up to 400 kilometers smaller than RISE data suggests. Related Stories: This may be the last Mars photo from NASA's InSight lander before it dies on the Red Planet NASA's InSight Mars lander spotted from orbit, covered in dust See a sunrise on Mars in this stunning view from NASA's InSight lander (photo) The RISE data also found that the core is not perfectly spherical, but is lumpy, with what Le Maistres team describe as "internal mass anomalies." "RISE's data indicate the cores shape cannot be explained by its rotation alone," Attilo Rivoldini of the Royal Observatory of Belgium, said in the statement. "That shape requires regions of slightly higher or lower density buried deep within the mantle." InSight (its name is short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) ran out of power and ended its mission in December 2022, but there is still plenty of data from the mission, and from RISE in particular, to analyze. These results were published in June in the journal Nature. Martin Scorsese has paid tribute to his collaborator of more than 40 years, The Band frontman Robbie Robertson. Robertson died on Wednesday (9 August) in Los Angeles after a long illness, his management told The Independent. Before his death, Robertson recently completed his 12th film music project with Scorsese, the forthcoming Killers of the Flower Moon starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Singer-songwriter Robertson began working with the acclaimed director in 1978s The Last Waltz, a rockumentary about The Bands farewell concert. Robbie Robertson was one of my closest friends, a constant in my life and my work. I could always go to him as a confidante. A collaborator. An advisor. I tried to be the same for him, Scorsese said in a statement reacting to the musicians death. Long before we ever met, his music played a central role in my life me and millions and millions of other people all over this world. The Bands music, and Robbies own later solo music, seemed to come from the deepest place at the heart of this continent, its traditions and tragedies and joys. Martin Scorsese and Robbie Robertson in 2002 (Getty Images) It goes without saying that he was a giant, that his effect on the art form was profound and lasting. Theres never enough time with anyone you love. And I loved Robbie, the director concluded. In his final interview published two weeks before his death, Robertson spoke to Variety about his work on Killers of the Flower Moon. When the Killers of the Flower Moon idea was stirring around and it looked like it could happen, for Marty and me, every once in a while we would be like, Isnt this amazing, that its come to this, that we actually have a story and we have this thing that were both in our own way attached to somehow, he said. Obit Robbie Robertson (1978 AP) Marty and I are both 80 years old, and were getting to do a Western, were getting to do a movie about Indians, in our own way. Theres a particular enjoyment in that: Lets tackle this baby and try to do something magnificent. Whenever youre going into a project, you want to shoot high and, and you want to do some really good work. But on something like this, where its soul is in Indian country for me, you couldnt have made something like this up. Of his 40-plus year relationship with Scorsese, Robertson said, Were in awe ourselves that our brotherhood has outlasted everything. Weve been through it; weve been there and back. I am so proud of our friendship and our work. Its been just a gift in life. A group of Muslim and Christian parents in Maryland asked a federal judge Wednesday to block the Montgomery County school district, the states largest school system, from requiring students to read books by and about LGBTQ+ people. They claim in their lawsuit that having their children learn about queer things without the option to opt out violates parents religious rights. This issue involves books in the school systems English Language Arts supplemental program. Recently, the system just outside Washington, D.C., included LGBTQ+ themes in its curriculum and ended an opt-out option, The Washington Post reports. During arguments in the U.S. District Court for Maryland, complaining parents, through attorneys, said books with LGBTQ+ themes should not be required reading for their children. In Love, Violet, a girl ponders how she can make a Valentines Day card for another girl in her class for whom she has developed feelings. In My Rainbow, a mom makes a bright wig for her transgender daughter. In their complaint, the parents accuse Montgomery County of violating a state law that requires an opt-out option for topics of gender and sexuality. The school system, however, views the state law differently. In the policy referred to by the parents, a health education opt-out option is explicitly permitted. Opting out of the current program is not allowed since the new books are part of the language arts curriculum, the schools position stated. According to school officials, reading books about and by a diverse group of people, including LGBTQ+ individuals, is not sex ed. The plaintiffs lawyer, Eric Baxter, argued before a federal judge Wednesday that classroom discussions that promote questions about sexuality and gender identity violate the parents religious beliefs. Alan Schoenfeld, a Montgomery County schools attorney, says that exposing students to these ideas does not violate the Constitution. Schoenfeld asserts that the plaintiffs did not prove that teachers were instructed to tell students what to believe in the books. In his view, revoking the opt-outs did not discriminate against religious families specifically, he said, since they were previously granted for any reason. The parents have asked the judge to step in before the beginning of the school year and to allow for an opt-out option. The judge appeared skeptical of the argument that a supplementary curriculum would limit parents ability to pass on their faith to their children. If youre a parent you can still espouse your religious views, Judge Deborah Boardman said. She indicated that she would decide by August 28, when the school year starts. The Philippines deliberately ran the Sierra Madre, a World War II-era warship, aground in 1999 to reinforce its sovereignty claims in the South China Sea. Erik De Castro/Reuters The Philippines turned a crumbling warship into a military outpost in the South China Sea. The ship was deliberately run aground to reinforce their sovereignty claims in the region. China has repeatedly asked the Philippines to tow the ship away since it ran aground in 1999. A high seas scuffle between the Chinese and Philippine coast guards thousands of miles from the US mainland prompted the State Department to chastise China this week. China, by "employing unsafe blocking maneuvers," had "interfered with the Philippines' lawful exercise of high seas freedom of navigation," US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement on Saturday. The incident on Saturday involved a Chinese Coast Guard boat firing its water cannon at a Philippine vessel sailing through the South China Sea. The Philippine Coast Guard said the ship was carrying supplies to a Filipino military outpost. The outpost in question? A massive, crumbling shipwreck that was repurposed by the Philippines and turned into a garrison in the South China Sea. The Sierra Madre was deliberately run around near the Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly group of islands in the South China Sea. Ritchie A. Tongo/Reuters In 1999, the Philippines deliberately ran the Sierra Madre, a World War II-era warship, aground on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, also known as the Ren'ai Reef in China. The move was meant to reinforce the Philippines' sovereignty claims in the hotly contested South China Sea. According to the US Naval Magazine, the Sierra Madre was originally the USS LST-821, a tank landing ship built for service in World War II. It was later renamed the USS Harnett County, and used in the Vietnam War. The vessel was then transferred to the South Vietnamese before being given to the Philippines. The Sierra Madre has since become a makeshift military outpost. A small group of troops now resides in the ramshackle vessel. Troops stationed aboard the Sierra Madre, take part in a flag retreat, March 29, 2014. Erik De Castro/Reuters The remote assignment can be depressing and isolating for the troops stationed there. Joey Loresto, a staff sergeant, told The New York Times in 2013 that the outpost is "a lonely place." Loresto told The Times that he preferred combat over being stationed on the Sierra Madre. Philippine troops manning their communications room at the Sierra Madre, March 29, 2014. Erik De Castro/Reuters The stranded vessel has also been a point of contention for China, which has since 1999 asked the Philippines to tow the boat away. And on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines defended the Chinese Coast Guard's use of its water cannons. "Regrettably, in disregard of China's repeated dissuasion and warning, the Philippines tried to deliver the construction materials for overhauling and reinforcing the 'grounded' military vessel," the Chinese spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday. "This is the cause of what happened there this time." "Under such circumstances, the Chinese side was made to respond with necessary moves. China Coast Guard took warning law enforcement measures in accordance with the law," the spokesperson added. Commodore Jay Tarriela, a spokesperson for the Philippine Coast Guard, said on Sunday that the Philippine Coast Guard "strongly condemns" the Chinese Coast Guard's "dangerous maneuvers and illegal use of water cannons," adding that they were a violation of international law. Although the US has no territorial claims in the South China Sea, it has carried out regular naval operations in the region. "The United States is defending every nation's right to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows, as USS Benfold did this week. Nothing PRC says otherwise will deter us," the US Navy said in a statement on January 20, 2022, when it conducted a freedom-of-navigation operation in the South China Sea. Read the original article on Business Insider Russian forces hit Rivne Oblast with a "massive" drone attack on Aug. 10 that destroyed an oil depot in the Dubno district, Oblast Governor Vitaliy Koval reported via Telegram. The governor said the attack occurred overnight. Video posted to Koval's Telegram channel shows flames rising from the site of the explosion at the oil depot. There were no casualties reported. The governor said that 45 rescuers and 14 vehicles were working on site, and that a fire train had been dispatched. "The chemical and radiation background is normal," Koval said. He also said there would be no evacuation of the area. Rivne Oblast is located in western Ukraine, along the northwest border of Belarus. In July 2023, President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the Rivne Nuclear Power Plant to discuss possible security threats to the region. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Germany transfers 2 Patriot launchers to Ukraine in latest aid package Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Mino McLean was on her way from Maui to Seattle when she learned the devastating news, wildfires had ripped through the island, killing at least six and destroying more than 200 structures. While I was on the plane, Lahaina was completely destroyed, McLean said. The Kaiser clinic down Front Street burned down, every building, every home, entire neighborhoods, gone. McLean is from Kula, Maui which is about an hour from Lahaina. She was supposed to stay in Seattle until August 16, but because of the fires, shes going back home. She said the first thing shes going to do when she gets there is hug her kids. Its very sad -- right now Im just hoping we can get the support we need to help the people that are displaced, she said. And I mean its still happening; there are fires active right now and I dont know whats going on. The devastation is unlike anything shes ever experienced or had to deal with. We were all just like, oh were going to have some high winds, but the high winds were devastating and those are the winds that took down powerlines which sparked the fires that were uncontrollable, she said. We talked to another family on Wednesday who had to hunker down in a Walmart parking lot as fires burned near their timeshare. A state of emergency has been declared and officials are urging people not to travel to the island unless it is absolutely essential. When an entire zip code is nearly wiped out, I dont even know how you recover, she said. Theres no medical facility over there, theres a housing shortage, no gasoline, no, nothing. An engineer works at his business stand in Mbare, south of Harare, Zimbabwe, on Aug. 8, 2023. (Xinhua/Tafara Mugwara) by Tafara Mugwara HARARE, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Going to bed and waking up in darkness had become the norm for Zimbabweans as the country endured rolling blackouts due to depressed power generation. But now, according to Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the country is now energy sufficient following the completion of a China-funded expansion of the Hwange Power Station, the country's largest thermal power plant. "I am told now that we have adequate power for the current economic activities in the country, there is no load-shedding for now, but we still have other projects which we are designing to increase the production or generation of power in Zimbabwe," said Mnangagwa soon after commissioning the expansion project of the Hwange Power Station last Thursday. Chinese firm Sinohydro Corporation undertook the expansion of units 7 and 8 of the coal-fired power station, which added two generators with a combined capacity of 600 megawatts. Unit 7 is already feeding into the grid after the successful completion of tests in June. Unit 8 is undergoing tests and is expected to be available commercially this month or in September. For almost two months, Zimbabweans have been enjoying a near-constant power supply. Business owners said the rolling power cuts were weighing on economic activity. "We sell perishable goods, so basically we need a constant supply of electricity. When you look at the situation since the improvement of electricity, we can see that business is now operating in a better manner because without electricity we had to resort to using generators," Tapiwa Tembo, a butchery manager in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, told Xinhua. His sentiments were echoed by David Jimu, an engineer who runs a small business in Mbare, south of downtown Harare. "When we were experiencing power cuts, we had a challenge that the generator could not power large machines, and using generators meant that fuel expenses were eating into our profits," he said. Virginia Tediya, a Harare resident, said with the costs of purchasing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) shooting off the roof, improved power generation has been a huge relief. "It was a hustle because power would be restored when we were sleeping, and sometimes we would sleep with an empty stomach because you will not have money to buy firewood or (LPG) gas," she said. For years, Zimbabwe's sources of energy have been failing to meet demand. The country's hydropower station, the Kariba South Station with a capacity of up to 1,050 megawatts, has at times only managed to supply less than half of its installed capacity owing to successive droughts which reduced water levels. The Hwange Power Plant had also been plagued by frequent outages due to mechanical issues. Before the expansion, Hwange Power Station had an installed capacity of 920 megawatts, and the addition of two generators brings the installed capacity to over 1,500 megawatts. The completion of the Hwange Power Plant becomes the second major national project successfully completed by Sinohydro in Zimbabwe following the Kariba South Expansion Project in 2018, which added 300 megawatts. While the energy generation capacity increased, Zimbabwe is still seeking to increase generation as the country has over the past years witnessed more investment in the mining sector, the largest power consumer. Already over capacity, the Maui Humane Society has issued a desperate plea for help as fires continue to ravage the Hawaiian island. The animal shelter in Puunene, on the island of Maui, is currently looking for emergency fosters, donations and other help. The fires first began Tuesday, and have since grown and spread in destruction, with at least 53 people dead, hundreds of evacuations, structures destroyed, and thousands left without power. The animals at the Maui Humane Society are safe, according to the shelter, but it says that thousands of animals and humans have been displaced. In a press release, the shelter said it is expecting an influx of animals who have been burned, lost during the evacuations or in critical condition due to smoke inhalation. Maui fires: Aerial photos show damage in Lahaina, Banyan Court after deadly wildfires The shelter has posted multiple times on social media since the fires began. Here are its most urgent requests for help: SOS dog fosters: The shelter is looking for people to come into the shelter and temporarily foster an animal. Donations: Dry and wet pet food, pop-up kennels, treats and litter. The humane society will accept donations to be delivered directly or through its Amazon Wishlist. Communication: Maui Fires Pet Help Group, a mutual help Facebook has been created. The shelter encourages community members to join the group and communicate with follow residents to ensure animals stay with their owners, if possible. If you are interested in donating funds to help the shelter perform lifesaving medical procedures and purchase supplies for families, you can donate through their Facebook fundraiser or at Maui Human Society's official website. The open admission shelter also has an Amazon wishlist with a list of supplies to help care for animals in their care. "Maui Humane Society is asking for help as the island grapples with the unprecedented and catastrophic impact of the ongoing Maui fires. The fires have left thousands of both humans and animals displaced, causing immense distress and creating an urgent need for solidarity within the community," they wrote on Facebook early Thursday morning. Death toll is climbing: How to help victims in the Maui wildfires in Hawaii This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Maui fires: Maui Humane Society asks for donations during emergency Mayor Donna Deegan unveiled a host of new appointments Thursday, including one former Republican city councilmember. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< Former Councilmember Randy DeFoor has been selected to serve as Jacksonvilles next General Counsel. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] Deegan highlighted DeFoors experience in city government and working as a corporate attorney for two Fortune 500 companies. Most of all she is known for her courageous stand against the corrupt sale of JEA, which helped stop the biggest theft in our citys history, Deegan said. DeFoor crossed party lines after bloody Republican in-fighting during the March election and endorsed Deegan for mayor. But the two political figures have expressed staunch differences in the past. Read: Mayor Deegan announces seven new appointments to city positions DeFoor supported former President Donald Trumps reelection bid in 2020 and cast a vote last year against the removal of the citys Confederate monuments. During that vote she likened the monuments removal to Germany tearing down evidence of the Holocaust. It would have been far easier for Germany to remove any remembrance of what happened there, DeFoor said during a hearing on the bill last June. But DeFoor noted on Thursday, her new position will not be political in nature. Rather, shell be tasked with representing and helping all members of city government, Republican and Democrat alike. I am not a policymaker anymore. So, that is not my role, DeFoor said. And Deegan emphasized DeFoors appointment is reflective of her campaign commitment to build a city government representative of the people of Jacksonville. Read: New Duval County School on the Northside opens ahead of the first day of school If you have every single person you bring into your administration that feels exactly as you do on every issue, how do you grow and how do you represent everybody in the community? The idea is to bring in people who are honest brokers, who are tough, who are going to tell me like it is and thats what I want, Deegan said. DeFoors appointment will need to be confirmed by city council. Ironically, its been some of the mayors bipartisan appointments that have run into the most resistance from Republican members of city council. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Time will tell whether hard feelings over the results of the May Election spill over into the consideration of DeFoors confirmation. 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. Two attack drones were intercepted en route to Moscow at 4 a.m. local time on Aug. 10, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin claimed via Telegram. The mayor claimed that air defense shot down one drone in Kaluga Oblast, southwest of Moscow. He said the other was intercepted over Moscow's Central Ring Road. Moscow has been plagued by drones in recent days. Two drone strikes on the same target, the high-rise "Moscow City" building where several Russian ministries are housed, caused damage on July 30 and Aug. 1. While Russia blames the Ukrainian military for the strikes, Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attacks. President Volodymyr Zelensky has said it is "natural and fair" for the war to return to Russia. Read also: From Moscow to Novorossiysk: The list of attacks on Russian soil Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) is demanding interviews with State Department officials after he said the department failed to turn over subponeaed documents on the U.S. exit from Afghanistan. In a letter sent Thursday to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, McCaul said the State Department produced only a meager 73 pages of significantly duplicative materials by the subpoenas deadline of July 25. Issued July 18, the subpoena followed a months-long battle between the committee and the State Department for documents related to the countrys deadly pullout from Afghanistan at the end of August 2021. The repeated requests are part of the Republicans investigation into the Biden administrations handling of the chaotic withdrawal. Punchbowl News was the first to report the letter. McCaul requested the State Department hand over the documents by Aug. 16 at 5 p.m. and called for the State Departments assistant secretary of legislative affairs and acting legal adviser to appear for transcribed interviews no later than Aug. 21. McCaul said the interviews will help the committee better understand the departments continued failure. McCaul said the Afghanistan After Action Review (AAR) files are critical to the committees probe into the Afghanistan withdrawal. He noted the AAR was conducted as a 90-day review and the department has now gone longer than that to produce the documents. The AAR files are necessary to inform the Committees consideration of potential legislation aimed at helping prevent the catastrophic mistakes of the withdrawal from happening again, including potential provisions of authorizing legislation for the Department, McCaul wrote, noting the recent evacuation of American citizens at the U.S. Embassy in Sudan demonstrates the grave urgency for legislative reform. In Thursdays letter, McCaul references the committees repeated attempts for documents, calling the departments noncompliance unacceptable. The Departments anemic subpoena response suggests that it is either deliberately obstructing the Committees oversight, or that its document retention, location, and production procedures are astoundingly deficient, McCaul wrote. McCaul also issued a subpoena in late March for a sensitive diplomatic cable on the withdrawal, but the State Department missed the deadline, previously telling The Hill that Blinken offered to brief the chairman without providing the actual document. McCaul pushed back on this argument, claiming a briefing or summary does not satisfy the subpoena. Blinken initially told McCaul he was opposed to providing the cable through the State Departments Dissent Channel to protect the integrity of the channel, which is a communication mechanism that allows diplomats to raise serious concerns over U.S. foreign policy. These concerns are raised directly to the secretary and other senior State Department officials. After threatening to hold Blinken in contempt of Congress, the State Department eventually agreed to let all members of the committee view the dissent channel cable. This story was updated at 3:39 p.m. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Ukraine's Defense Ministry purchased last year $33 million worth of "winter" clothes for the military, which were in fact summer attire, according to an investigation by Dzerkalo Tyzhnia published on Aug. 10 The Defense Ministry reportedly did not secure on time the import of fabric from Asia to produce winter attire for soldiers, the investigation said. As winter approached, the ministry signed a contract with the Turkish company Vector avia hava yukleteri for the supply of winter clothing. The company provided 233,000 jackets worth $20 million and 202,000 pairs of trousers worth $13 million, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia said, citing Ukrainian customs officers. Based on data obtained by the journalists, the jackets provided by the Turkish company weighed only 1.1 kilograms. In comparison, Chinese jackets offered by a Bulgarian supplier weighed 2 kilograms. According to Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, this matches the difference in weight between summer and winter jackets. Dzerkalo Tyzhnia also uncovered manipulation with the documents accompanying the shipment. The price of a batch of 4,900 jackets worth $142,000 was in another document "amended" to $421,000. The journalists said that the margin of the profit remained with the Turkish company Vector avia hava yukleteri, owned by Ukrainian Roman Plentov from Zaporizhzhia. In a subsequent criminal investigation, the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise established that the "winter" jackets and trousers supplied by the Turkish company "cannot be used for their intended purpose." Dzerkalo Tyzhnia's investigation from January revealed that the armed forces had been trying to procure food at prices that were several times higher than in Kyiv grocery stores. The corruption scandal sparked rumors about a possible replacement of Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov until President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Reznikov would remain in his post. Read also: NABU opens case into alleged corruption in Defense Ministry procurement Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. The Merced County Fair has received more than $5 million in state funding for improvements to the fairgrounds and other facilities in an effort to enhance emergency preparedness capabilities. The grant funding will be used to improve facilities at the 131-year-old fairgrounds, allowing it to serve both the community and state in times of emergency and year-round events including the annual fair. The funding, which was awarded by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) through the Fairgrounds Resilience Center Program, will be used to upgrade fairground facilities such as Yosemite Hall with a commercial kitchen, a new entrance and HVAC system, according to the Merced County Fair. According to California Department of Food and Agriculture Deputy Secretary Michael Flores, the state of California began organizing one of the largest fair systems in the nation more than 140 years ago and currently has more than 70 fairs. California Department of Food and Agriculture Deputy Secretary Michael Flores speaks during a news conference announcing $5 million in state funding awarded to the Merced County Fair at the Merced County Fairgrounds in Merced, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. According to Merced County Fair President Vicky Banaga, the funding will be used to upgrade facility kitchens, facility HVAC and a new roof for one of the buildings. California fairgrounds are the inspiration for resiliency centers in addition to serving as a venue for affordable annual community events, said Flores. During emergencies they repurpose their installations to serve as emergency evacuation sites for local families, their pets and livestock. Flores said that while visiting every fair across the state he has consistently seen and heard just how important they are to the communities. Its no secret that theyre in need of support from both the legislature and the department of food and Ag, Flores said. According to Flores, the California Department of Food and Agriculture has made a $100 million investment throughout the states fair network, with only a handful of the more than 70 fairs receiving money. We felt if was important to make this investment in this community for future emergency needs, said Flores. The Merced County Fairgrounds were most recently used in January, serving as shelter for both Planada and Merced residents affected by local flooding. In 2022, the fairgrounds were used as a staging site for Cal Fire and other emergency responders battling the devastating Oak Fire, which burned nearly 20,000 acres in Mariposa County. Merced County Fair CEO Teresa Burrola looks on during a news conference announcing $5 million in state funding awarded to the Merced County Fair at the Merced County Fairgrounds in Merced, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. According to Merced County Fair President Vicky Banaga, the funding will be used to upgrade facility kitchens, facility HVAC and a new roof for one of the buildings. According to Flores, the upgrades will enhance the grounds so they can be used for non-emergency needs as well. Flores said the network of fairgrounds across the state is in need of deferred maintenance. Most of these buildings were built in the 40s, 50s, and so they need to be modernized, Flores said. I cant put people in a building that doesnt have proper HVAC, so thats what were going to do is were retrofitting them for that. In addition, part of resiliency is community grade kitchens. So those kitchens can facilitate the food necessary for a disaster but also they can be used as business incubation, said Flores. According to Flores, other fairs have had success in having mom-and-pop businesses use the facility to develop their business. Some were able to sell for millions of dollars. Its a successful program that we want to be able to invest throughout our network, said Flores. According to Merced County Fair President Vicky Banaga, the county fairgrounds are used year-round. Events held there include memorials, weddings, quinceaneras, baptisms and Hmong festivals. Merced County Fair President Vicky Banaga speaks during a news conference announcing $5 million in state funding awarded to the Merced County Fair at the Merced County Fairgrounds in Merced, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. According to Banaga, the funding will be used to upgrade facility kitchens, facility HVAC and a new roof for one of the buildings. We are a facility that we will actually adapt to anything you need; we can service it, said Banaga. We feel like we are a vital part of our community. The new kitchen, HVAC system and a new roof will be installed on the facilitys Pavilion building. According to the Merced County Fair, a nearly $1 million upgrade to the Pavilion buildings HVAC system was recently completed with funds made possible through a state grant. The entrance to the Merced County Fairgrounds in Merced, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. The Merced County Fair was awarded $5 million in state funding and according to Merced County Fair President Vicky Banaga, the funding will be used to upgrade facility kitchens, facility HVAC and a new roof for one of the buildings. Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents announced the arrest of a Fulton County man for sexual exploitation of children. According to agents, Zion Gilliard, 26, is accused of distributing and possessing child pornography. Their investigation into Gilliard started in June after receiving tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. GBI agents and digital forensic investigators executed a search warrant acting on the information at Gilliards home in Fulton County, according to officials. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] TRENDING STORIES: The search warrant allowed them to search or seize computers, cell phones, and other electronic devices. Then, Gilliard was found and arrested in Clayton County by Georgia Bureau of Investigations Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes (CEACC) Unit agents. Gilliard was taken to the Clayton County Jail, according to the GBI. All told, Gilliard faces five counts of sexual exploitation of children, with three counts of distribution of child pornography and two counts of possession of child pornography. Anyone with information about these cases, or other cases of child exploitation, is asked to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation Unit at 404-270-8870. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] OTHER NEWS: Tyler, Texas-based Mewbourne Oil Company has been ordered to pay a $5.5 million federal fine for reported air pollution violations at its fossil fuel facilities in the Permian Basin of southeast New Mexico and West Texas. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identified the violations in November 2019 through a joint investigation with the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), according to a civil complaint filed Tuesday. The violations were found via ground and aircraft inspections of Mewbourne facilities, and reviews of company-submitted documents. More: $455 million deal by Kimbell Royalty Partners latest in Permian Basin oil boom A subsequent settlement agreement required Mewbourne to spend at least $4.6 million on improvements at 422 oil and gas tank battery sites in the region to prevent future emissions violations. Those activities will reduce air pollution in the region by more than 11,000 tons annually. Mewbourne was found in violation of both state regulations and the federal Clean Air Act, and NMED Cabinet Secretary James Kenney said companies that choose to operate in New Mexico must follow its laws. More: Carlsbad's Missi Currier taps into her roots to lead New Mexico Oil and Gas Association Compliance with air quality regulations is essential to ensure the health of our people and the protection of our environment, Kenney said. We will continue to conduct oil and gas investigations and aggressively enforce violations. In an emailed statement, Mewbourne General Counsel Regan Butts said the company worked since an inspection of its facilities in 2019 to reduce its environmental impacts by using new gas capture technologies and was committed to its operations in the Permian Basin. Mewbourne Oil Company has operated in a safe and environmentally responsible manner for more than 55 years, and we remain committed to doing so for decades to come, Butts said. Following the NMEDs inspection of our facilities in 2019, weve proactively reduced the greenhouse gas intensity across all areas of operation and achieved industryleading gas capture efficiencies in New Mexico. More: Oil and gas companies ramp up plans for Permian Basin production in New Mexico and Texas At more than 100 of Mewbournes production sites, the company failed to get state and federal permits required by law, did not properly contain emissions from storage vessels or comply with inspection and recordkeeping requirements, according to the complaint. To address these concerns, the company will spend at least $3.6 million on designing and operating new monitoring systems intended to improve its response to leaks, and another $1 million to replace more than 2,000 pneumatic devices with new, no-emission valves. This will reduce VOC emissions by 4,500 in the next 15 years, the report read. More: How is New Mexico influencing federal oil and gas air pollution policy? VOCs form ground-level ozone when interacting with sunlight. Thats a cancer-causing pollutant that the Clean Air Act requires at concentrations lower than 70 parts per billion in an area under the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). NMED recently found portions of the Permian Basin, in Eddy and Lea counties, in exceedance of the NAAQS, forced by state law to take action when an area is within 95 percent of the standard. More: Oil demand to peak by 2033, followed by declining production in New Mexico, officials say This led to new rules at the NMED enacted last year, increasing requirements for operators to monitor, repair and report excessive emissions at facilities in the region. Meanwhile, the EPA was considering designating the Permian Basin in both Texas and New Mexico in non-attainment of the NAAQS, a move that would slow oil and gas permitting by increasing federal requirements. The complaint against Mewbourne was intended to reduce pollution in the Permian Basin and ensure compliance with federal law, said Larry Starfield, EPA principal deputy assistant administrator with the EPAs Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. More: $75M oil and gas deal announced in Permian Basin as region leads US in production Todays settlement will eliminate 11,000 tons of harmful air pollutants annually and ensure that Mewbourne complies with the Clean Air Act, he said in a statement. The result will be cleaner, healthier air for communities in New Mexico and Texas. The case was being prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Departments Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Assistant Attorney Todd Kim said the federal government was committed to seeking out violations by oil and gas companies. Good air quality is essential to the health of our communities, and we need to ensure that oil and gas facilities are properly designed, maintained and monitored in order to meet national standards, he said. We will continue to work to improve air quality and public health, including by holding oil and gas production operations like Mewbourne accountable for their violations of federal and state law. Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter. This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Mewbourne Oil Company faces $5.5M fine for New Mexico air pollution The Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Alicia Barcena Ibarra speaks during the presentation of the Economic Development plan (Reuters) -Mexico is developing a digital tracking system for fentanyl precursor chemicals, including methods to detect the substances at Mexico's coastal ports and border crossing points, Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena said on Thursday. "We are pulling together a digital tracking system that is very sophisticated," Barcena said, speaking at an event in Washington during her first U.S. visit as foreign minister, a post she was appointed to in June. Mexico has vowed to crack down on precursor chemicals coming into the country, where they are used to produce the deadly opioid fentanyl which is then often smuggled to the United States. Barcena said the substances often reach Mexico in shipments such as small packages that are difficult to trace. "The first thing we're going to do is control the precursors of the synthetic drugs," she said, without providing further details. (Reporting by Kylie Madry; editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Daina Beth Solomon) A Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation sergeant pleaded guilty Wednesday to submitting falsified applications for more than $400,000 in COVID-19 relief funds. Arashio Harris, 48, who was charged with wire fraud in July, applied for two Paycheck Protection Program loans as well as two Economic Injury Disaster Loans and an advance to unlawfully enrich himself, according to court records. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison at his sentencing on Oct. 27. The Paycheck Protection Program, which was passed by Congress to help keep businesses intact and the economy going during the pandemic, allocated about $800 billion in loans through banks that were entirely guaranteed by the Small Business Administration. In almost all instances, the loans were forgiven as long as the money was used for payroll and other legitimate overhead costs. But Harris, with the help of an associate, submitted applications to abuse these programs as the owner and president of the Nevada-based Good Family Property Solutions Inc. and Flying Lions LLC, court records say. In 2020, Harris claimed that Good Family Property Solutions made $130,000 and had nine employees before the pandemic. That opened the door for the company to receive a $9,000 advance, which didnt need to be paid back, and $14,500 in an Economic Injury Disaster Loan. Months later, he submitted another bogus application, court records say. This time, Harris claimed that Flying Lions made $480,000 and had 10 employees before the pandemic. The company got $150,000 in an Economic Injury Disaster Loan. The Miami-Dade man then decided to expand his scheme to PPP loans under the guise that Good Family Property Solutions had 10 employees and a payroll of almost $52,000 every month. Harris, according to court records, submitted fabricated paperwork that stated the company earned more than $1 million and paid beyond $768,000 in wages. The PPP-loan application included phony payroll records for alleged employees and counterfeit tax forms. However, Harris obtained more than $129,000 in a PPP loan from an approved lender. And in 2021, he did it again with the same fake documents and received the same amount in a PPP loan from a different lender. South Florida, long known as the nations capital of fraud schemes, has incurred more than 140 PPP criminal cases over the past three years, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. In July, a former detention guard for Immigration and Customs Enforcement was also charged with submitting falsified applications for COVID-19 relief loans. Federal prosecutors allege that Anthony Faustin, 28, submitted a series of loan applications for six fake business owners, obtaining more than $100,000 from lenders. Also in July, Miami-Dade police officer Samuel Harris, 43, pleaded guilty to reviving a dead company and using it as a vessel for a $275,479 COVID-19 relief loan fraud. TUNIS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian authorities on Thursday transferred 126 illegal immigrants stranded at a border crossing with Libya to accommodation centers. Boarding three buses, the immigrants were transferred from the Ras Ejdir crossing to safe shelters in the southeastern provinces of Medenine and Tataouine, near the border with Libya, where they would receive necessary care provided by the Tunisian Red Crescent, said a statement released by the Tunisian Interior Ministry. On Wednesday, Tunisian Interior Minister Kamel Feki reached with Libyan Acting Interior Minister Emad al-Tarabelsi a consensual solution to evacuate illegal immigrants from the border area between Libya and Tunisia by each party accepting a group of them. Located in the central Mediterranean, Tunisia is one of the most popular transit points for illegal immigration to Europe. Although Tunisian authorities have adopted rigorous measures to tackle the problem, the number of illegal immigrants from Tunisia to Italy has been on the rise. It turns out, peacocks also breed like rabbits, and males use their plumage to attract mates. The people of Miami suburb Pinecrest, Florida are facing a particularly unique dilemma this summeran exploding population of feral peacocks. The community of around 18,000 human residents are trying out a new way to keep the flock of colorful menaces under control: vasectomies. [Related: Florida suburb is overrun by fluffy rabbits after breeder goes rogue.] According to the Miami Herald, the birds that are native to India and Sri Lanka, were brought to the city to be exotic yard ornaments. Peacocks, by nature, are a very vocal force, primarily all in the name of finding a mate. The distinct calls are disturbing locals, particularly at sunrise and sunset, and their residents have also complained about slipping and falling on peacock poop. Many residents still do not want their feathered neighbors to be killed, and hope to co-exist with them in peace. The vasectomies are part of that strategy. Peacocks are bona fide polygamists, veterinarian Don J. Harris told The New York Times. Were going to catch one peacock and probably stop seven females from reproducing. Its going to have an exponential benefit. Pinecrest hired Harris to perform the precise procedure on the male birds that display the birds signature plumage which also attracts potential mates. In September, the town plans to take part in a pilot program in an attempt to curb the bird population through surgical vasectomies. The bold birth control plan was approved by the Miami-Dade County Commission in July. Most people see one peacock and they're like, oh that's nice, twowere talking about large numbers of birds that take up a lot of space and get very aggressive and protective of their nest," District 7 Commissioner Raquel Regalado told NBC 6 South Florida. The plan will involve trapping the male peacocks and sterilizing them. The dominant males will keep the already established pecking order and walk around town with their plumage, while the females will continue to lay eggs. The only real difference after the vasectomies is that the males wont be able to fertilize the eggs, which should keep the population down. Pinecrest plans to spend $7,500 a month on the vasectomies, and an additional $15,000 for medical gear from the county commissioner. Iridescent peacocks like these have been a presence in some Miami neighborhoods for decadeswith residents expressing mixed emotions about their feathery acquaintances. In 2001, when the peacock population was smaller, Miami-Dade County officially made killing or capturing them illegal, but homeowners could still remove the birds from their property without harming the peacocks. [Related: Elephants once roamed Floridaand scientists just stumbled on a graveyard full of them.] According to Zoo Miami communications director Ron Magill, South Floridas balmy climate is very accommodating to many exotic species. When those animals get out here in South Florida, theyve entered Club Med, Magill told The New York Times. This is paradise. The proof of this is all over the state. Southern Florida has become home to invasive to Burmese pythons that are wreaking havoc on the Everglades in the past decade. Further north in Gainesville, giant land snails up to 10 inches long have been eating their way through plants, stucco from houses, and even car tires while carrying a dangerous human parasite. Arguably the most adorable invasion has come from the lionhead rabbits taking over a Fort Lauderdale suburb. Multiple rescue organizations are working to trap and rescue the rabbits that face dangers from cars and the Sunshine States extreme heat. A source says that in conversation with a foreign politician, it emerged that their government assumes Joe Biden will not be the Democratic nominee in 2024. Joe will pull out before the first primaries; it will be too late for a grassroots candidate to enter the fray; an establishment stooge will be crowned at the convention. And the name of that lucky winner? Michelle Obama. Its a wild scenario, but if it does happen, please remember that you read it here first. This anecdote confirms what Ive heard from UK sources, too: when governments engage with Biden they feel they are dealing with the face of an administration but not always the person in charge. Were the Democrats to drop him from their presidential ticket, the world would understand. The race is tied, which is too close for comfort; Biden is unpopular; he is ageing before our very eyes (the latest gaffe is that he called the Grand Canyon one of the nine wonders of the world - built, if you know your history, by the Phoenicians). Doubts about his capabilities are enhanced by the grim alternative should he expire in office. The charmless Kamala Harris is one of those deeply average people who, unaware that her limited knowledge isnt the sum of human understanding, talks to everyone as if they were simpletons. Her latest pearl was to inform an audience that community banks are in the community - a revelation to those who thought they were in the Grand Canyon. We face a rematch between two unpopular nominees, Biden v Trump, which nobody really wants. So why not ask/force one of them to retire? Assuming it will never, ever be Trump - thanks to various legal troubles, his own choice is now between the White House or prison - it would be logical to persuade Joe to do the decent thing, or else dump him without letting him know. One can imagine a Good Bye, Lenin scenario wherein Biden is relocated to a mock-up of the Oval Office and is told he is still president. Nancy Pelosi could be wheeled in from time-to-time to ask if hes any closer to ending the Great Depression. Swapping-out Biden would pose big challenges. There are deadlines for filing to run in primaries - Nevada, for example, is as close as October - and a Democratic convention hasnt been properly fixed since 1968. Is Joe happy to be told what to do? Has he ever operated an independent agenda? A Michelle Obama replacement would suggest hes always been Baracks third term, a conspiracy theory endorsed by Barack Obama in a 2021 interview. He said: Joe and the administration are essentially finishing the job begun by Obama and paused by Trump, noting that ninety per cent of the folks who worked for him are now back at their desks. This was an exaggeration, but not by much. The figure of Obama people working for Biden, among his top 100 aides, was closer to 75 per cent. The Biden presidency has its own character; hes spent more money and pushed the cultural issues harder. Obama was more cautious for fear of being labelled a radical. Nevertheless, journalists often joke that Obama is running the country from his iPhone, and a recent, much-read interview between reporter David Samuels and historian David Garrow highlighted a curious detail: Obama still lives in central Washington DC, violating the historical agreement that ex-presidents should move away. Samuels notes that Obama has openly lobbied on internet censorship and gun control, and suggests that he lingered in DC society to serve as a potent symbol of the legitimate political order that had been stolen by Trump (never forget how many liberals said 2016 was a fix). The interview is most famous for Garrows claims that, as a young man, Obama fantasised about gay sex, but more pertinent is the suggestion that Obama is the guiding hand in Biden-era foreign policy. Its turtles all the way down, argues Samuels. There are obviously large parts of White House policymaking that belong to Barack Obama because they are staffed by his people, who worked for him and no doubt report back to him. He concludes: personnel is policy, adding that the arrangement is spooky because it operates outside the constitutional framework. So, a court coup to replace Biden with the next Obama available, far from being revolutionary, would reinforce the line of political continuity that stretches from 2008-2024, with only Trumps election as a temporary aberration (Michelle has revealed that his amusing inauguration caused her to sob uncontrollably). Mrs Obama has always polled well. She has published two best-selling books of biography and womanly wisdom. She has served in the White House. She is known by everyone but, unlike Trump, has retained some of the enigma of privacy. She has denied that she has any intention of running for the presidency, but thats usually a sure-fire sign that someone is interested. As for the suggestion that her overnight nomination would be too fantastical, too Hollywood - has our sense of the possible not been radically expanded by Donald Trump? Mrs Obamas opponent would be spending much of the election cycle in court. There is no normal anymore in US politics. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer. A Michigan State trooper at the Capitol in Lansing communicates to lawyer Ian Northon that the building is closed during the Electoral College vote on Monday, Dec. 14, 2020. All 16 of the so-called fake electors charged for a scheme to falsely give Michigan's electoral votes to former President Donald Trump instead of President Joe Biden in 2020 have now pleaded not guilty to felony charges, following another slate of arraignments Thursday morning. District 54-A Magistrate Judge Laura Millmore oversaw arraignment hearings on Thursday for 9 of the 16 individuals charged by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in the case. The group, which includes former and current state and national Republican officials, faces felony charges including forgery-related charges each punishable by up to 14 years in prison and election law forgery charges each punishable by up to five years in prison. Those arraigned Thursday were: John Haggard, of Charlevoix Kathy Berden, who now lives in Tennessee Michele Lundgren, of Detroit Mayra Rodriguez, of Grosse Pointe Farms Amy Facchinello, of Grand Blanc Clifford Frost, of Warren James Renner, of Lansing Ken Thompson, of Orleans Timothy King, of Ypsilanti Kurt Krause, an attorney representing Haggard, told Millmore he believed "the probability of conviction is low." Arraignment hearings are typically straightforward affairs a magistrate judge explains the charges facing defendants and the rights they have in a criminal proceeding. During Thursday's hearings, which were streamed on YouTube, Millmore set personal recognizance bonds of $1,000 for the nine defendants appearing Thursday. This type of bond does not have to be paid unless a defendant violates one of their bond conditions. Millmore set restrictions on gun and ammunition possession for the group but said she did not believe any of the individuals posed a flight risk. More: Federal judge dismisses Michigan lawsuit to 'rerun' 2020 election Others charged in the fake elector scheme, including former Michigan GOP Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock and Wyoming Mayor Kent Vanderwood, previously pleaded not guilty at prior hearings, according to court records. Another individual charged in the case who previously pleaded not guilty, William "Hank" Choate, did not appear for a probable cause conference in front of District Judge Kristen Simmons scheduled for Thursday. The other defendants Stanley Grot, Mari-Ann Henry, Rose Rook and Marian Sheridan had already been arraigned. Choate's attorney, David Kallman, said there was a miscommunication between the parties and he thought Choate did not need to appear. Probable cause hearings and preliminary exams have been scheduled for some of the individuals, including a slate of probable cause hearings set for Aug. 18, in front of Simmons. Trump allies in Michigan signed documents attempting to give the state's electoral votes to the former president instead of Biden. That slate was eventually transmitted to Congress and the National Archives as if Trump had won, although the state's electoral votes were awarded to Biden. These individuals had attempted to gain access to the Michigan Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, to cast votes for Trump, but were denied entry by Michigan State Police. In the 2020 presidential election, Biden won Michigan by about 3% of the total vote, or about 154,000 votes. Despite this, Trump and his allies have repeatedly spread false information that Michigan's vote was stolen or somehow fraudulent. Numerous audits of the election in Michigan have rejected these claims, and a slate of lawsuits challenging the election have been similarly dismissed. Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @arpanlobo. Become a subscriber today. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: All Michigan 'fake electors' plead not guilty in election scheme All 16 Republicans allegedly involved in the false elector scheme in Michigan after the 2020 presidential election have pleaded not guilty to charges as of Thursday, the state attorney generals office announced. On Thursday, the remaining nine defendants were arraigned on the charges, after the other seven were arraigned in recent days or weeks. State Attorney General Dana Nessel announced felony charges against the 16 defendants in July, accusing them of signing false certificates that tried to hand the states Electoral College votes to former President Trump over now-President Biden. The 16 defendants were each charged with eight criminal counts, including conspiracy to commit election law forgery and election law forgery. Prosecutors alleged the defendants met Dec. 14 in the basement of the Michigan GOP headquarters and signed their names to documents falsely claiming to be the states duly elected and qualified electors. Those certificates were then transmitted to the U.S. Senate and the National Archives in a coordinated effort to award the states electoral votes to the candidate of their choosing, in place of the candidates actually elected by the people of Michigan, according to prosecutors. Michigans Republican national committeewoman, Kathy Berden, was among the nine defendants arraigned Thursday. The others are Clifford Frost, Amy Facchinello, John Haggard, Timothy King, Michele Lundgren, James Renner, Mayra Rodriguez and Ken Thompson. Kurt Krause, a defense attorney for Haggard, said he appeared at the arraignment Thursday morning and was confident that Mr. Haggards intent comported with the law. The Constitution protects Mr. Haggards First Amendment right to express himself, and the statutes all mandate a specific intent to defraud that Mr. Haggard did not possess. Mr. Haggard has faith that he will be vindicated in a court of law, Krause said in an emailed statement to The Hill. All 16 defendants are scheduled to appear next for a probable cause conference Aug. 18. In a statement announcing the charges last month, Nessel said, The false electors actions undermined the publics faith in the integrity of our elections and, we believe, also plainly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan. My department has prosecuted numerous cases of election law violations throughout my tenure, and it would be malfeasance of the greatest magnitude if my department failed to act here in the face of overwhelming evidence of an organized effort to circumvent the lawfully cast ballots of millions of Michigan voters in a presidential election, she added in the statement. Some defendants have claimed they did not know what they were signing, and others have claimed that they thought they were signing the certificate just in case a future court decision reversed the decision. The so-called false elector scheme was mentioned in special counsel Jack Smiths recent indictment against Trump related to his attempts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election. Smith accused Trumps team of trying to get the GOP electors to sign their names on an alternative certificate for him in order to make a fake controversy that would ultimately, according to the theory, provide a reason for then-Vice President Mike Pence to throw out the valid electoral votes during the ceremonial proceeding on Jan. 6, 2021. Pence refused to comply with the plan. False electors are also at the center of the Georgia investigation into Trumps actions, which is widely expected to announce charges next week. Several of the Trump-backing electors in that state have gotten immunity deals in exchange for their cooperation in the probe. Updated at 5:02 p.m. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. EAST LANSING A data breach linked to Michigan State University vendors was part of a global ransomware attack that may have affected 30 million Americans, according to a Wednesday statement from the state's Attorney General's Office. "This was a global data breach that has reached over 500 entities and into the personal information of over 30 million Americans, and now it is confirmed to have crept onto campus at MSU," Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement. "These kinds of attacks are becoming more common and wider reaching, and the broad community of MSU students, staff and retirees should take very seriously any indication that their data was stolen. Any Michigan resident who believes their information might have been compromised or that they are the victims of identity theft can contact the consumer protection team in my office." The data breach for MSU is linked to National Student Clearinghouse and the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America. Those are two large vendors used by many other universities. The data was exposed by a foreign-based ransomware group known as Clop that exploited a security flaw in the MOVEit Transfer software, according to the Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's office. The organizations, such as MSU or its vendors, were not directly contacted but blackmail demands were posted instructing victims to contact the data thieves, according to the statement. Michigan State University previously disclosed the breach in a notice to students and others. It is not clear how many people linked to MSU had their data exposed. The overarching data breach has been public for several months. In July, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security said it was providing support to various federal agencies "that have experienced intrusions," Eric Goldstein, executive assistant director for cybersecurity, said in a release. Goldstein said the intrusions affected the agency's MOVEit file transfer software, which encrypts files and uses secure File Transfer Protocols (FTPs), automation and analysis to transfer large volumes of data. Michigan residents have been exposed to several major data breaches recently, including more than 757,000 people exposed through Lansing Community College, 168,215 people through a recent Henry Ford Health data breach, 156,713 people exposed at Hope College and at Flagstar Bank, based in Troy, which is dealing with a late 2021 data breach that affected more than 1.4 million people, according to regulators. Data breaches are on track to break records nationally and internationally this year too, said James Lee, the chief operating officer of Identity Theft Resource Center. The MOVEit data breach is still unfolding with new victims being discovered, he said. "Weve been tracking data breaches since 2005," Lee said. "This year, unless by some miracle all data breaches stop, we will set an all-time high. We're already 85% of the way to the current high record number so the question is not if, but when and how far will we exceed it." Here are some tips from MSU spokesman Mark Bullion to help protect yourself from data breaches: Be aware of the possibility of phishing emails. There are a wide variety of ways that a hacker can use something authentic looking to trick you. Some clues include giving you a sense of urgency, misspellings or emails that aren't quite right (like a "1" instead of a lower case "l"). Create effective passwords. Don't use the same password or a simple variation of the same one. Change passwords regularly. Avoid using your name, letter replacements (an asterick instead of an "o") or common sequences (like asdfg or 12345). Try instead using passphrases, which are short sentences integrated with numbers and special characters instead of a one- or two-word password. Use multifactor authentication on devices and accounts when possible. Most of MSU's logins require this, Bullion said. Do not maintain data or files that are no longer needed. Get a free credit report annually, those can be gotten by visiting annualcreditreport.com or by calling 877-322-8228. Businesses should invest in cybersecurity and take steps to regularly monitor commercial credit reports, bank records and state regulatory filings as well as take other steps to make sure imposters aren't stealing information, said Daniel Wimmer, a spokesperson for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or 517-267-0415 This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State data breach linked to global ransomware attack A Midlands man was arrested on a murder charge and other crimes after a shooting, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said. In addition to murder, 40-year-old Blythewood resident Kurtino Damon Weathersbee was charged with possession of a weapon used during a violent crime, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon of a violent crime, SLED said in a news release. The charges stem from a Monday shooting in Bamberg County, according to the release. While on Cardinal Road in Denmark, Weathersbee used a 9mm handgun to shoot a victim multiple times before leaving the scene, affidavits show. Weathersbee was eventually located by SLEDs police dog tracking team and was charged Tuesday, according to affidavits. The Bamberg County Coroners Office identified 48-year-old Denmark resident James McCreary as the man who died at the scene, WRDW reported. No other injuries were reported. There was no word on a motive for the shooting. Weathersbee was booked at the Bamberg County Detention Center, SLED said. Information about any bond was not available. His case will be prosecuted by the 2nd Circuit Solicitors Office, which represents Aiken, Bamberg and Barnwell counties. A Midlands man with a record of resisting arrest, property damage and robbery has been charged with stealing a retired Richland County Sheriffs Department vehicle from a training facility, according to the department.. DeAnthony Jones was in possession of the marked sheriffs department vehicle for four days before he was arrested in Lexington County Tuesday following a tip, according to a statement from the Richland County Sheriffs Department. During this time, Jones allegedly attempted to fill up the cruiser using a gas card he found in the vehicle and was caught on CCTV wandering a store while wearing a sheriffs department ballistic vest, which displayed the departments emblem. On Saturday, Jones allegedly entered a sheriffs department training facility by ramming the gate with another vehicle. Once inside the facility, where sheriffs deputies undergo fitness tests and practice with firearms, Jones allegedly stole the black 2015 Ford Expedition, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said at a press conference Tuesday. Due to the laziness and stupidity of my people who left the keys in it (the vehicle). Thats our fault that the vehicle got stolen, Lott said. But Lott questioned why Jones was free in the first place, pointing to a long record of arrests with little jail time. His record is atrocious, said Lott, who has actively campaigned against what he has called a system of catch and release in South Carolina. In 2017, Jones was sentenced to three years probation with a six year suspended sentence as a youthful offender after he pleaded guilty to a strong arm robbery in Lexington County. In September that same year, he received a sentence of time served after pleading guilty to five counts of larceny for breaking into motor vehicle or tanks, pumps, where fuel, lubricants stored, according to court records. Jones was sentenced to 48 days time served after pleading guilty to resisting arrest in October 2022, in Lexington County. In 2020, Jones was charged with ten counts stemming from his participation in what Lott described as riots during the George Floyd protests. Among other charges, court records indicate that Jones was charged with multiple counts of looting and possession of a weapon during a violent crime. In March 2023, he pleaded guilty to one count of malicious property damage or trespass and one count of larceny valued at less than $2,000. In both cases he received a sentence of sixteen days with time served, according to court records. The remaining charges were dismissed, according to court records. Jones, according to to Lott, was someone who had had nothing but a life of crime but we keep slapping him on the wrist. Following his arrest, Jones was incarcerated at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. He is charged with two counts of grand larceny, with a value of more than $10,000, two counts of third degree burglary, two counts of malicious injury to property valued between $2,000 and $10,000 and one count of credit card theft for using the gas card, according to court records. As has become his practice in cases that Lott has said demonstrate too much leniency in the justice system, the sheriff has pledged to be at Jones upcoming hearings. Im going to let these charges get dismissed with me standing there, Lott said. Social media users are calling out former Vice President Mike Pence for his new campaign video. The clip features Pence pretending to pump gas into his truck, when he's clearly not. He talked about energy prices for a full minute, but failed to pay for gas or squeeze the pump handle. Former Vice President Mike Pence is being mocked online for a minute-long video of him pretending to pump gas into his pickup truck as he criticized President Joe Biden. "Hey, everybody, Mike Pence here," he said in the video, grabbing a gas-pump nozzle. The campaign clip was posted Wednesday on X and has been viewed over 3.2 million times. "Remember $2-a-gallon gas? I do. And then Joe Biden became president of the United States and launched his war on energy," Pence said, slotting the nozzle into the fuel inlet of a red pickup truck. Hand on his hip, Pence spoke about surging energy prices, and his plan to lower those consumer costs that would "reclaim America's role as the leading producer of energy in the world" by 2040. He urged people to visit his 2024 presidential campaign website and support his run for the White House. But throughout the ad, Pence never squeezed the pump handle. People commenting on his video also noted that Pence neither paid for his gas nor selected the fuel he wanted. Additionally, the truck's gas cover was, mysteriously, already open, some added. "You do know you have to actually squeeze the handle, right Mike?" one person wrote. "I remember when we had to pay for the gas at the pump before we started pumping. This has a 'crudite' moment beeping all over it," wrote another user, referencing Mehmet Oz's senate campaign gaffe, where he incorrectly identified the grocery store where he was filming a video. "What gas station doesn't ask you to choose the grade of gas you were buying?" another person wrote. "Pretty strange. I'll ignore the fact that you didn't offer a credit card, as your very small cult will claim you were about to go in and pay cash." Pence is running for the GOP nomination against his ex-boss, former President Donald Trump. He polled at around 5% in June, data from FiveThirtyEight indicates, slightly ahead of Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy. A representative for Pence did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours. Read the original article on Business Insider At a recent campaign stop in New Hampshire, accused of being a traitor by supporters of his former boss, Mike Pence broke from his smile-and-wave routine, spun around with his blazer slung over his shoulder, and confronted his MAGA hecklers. I upheld the Constitution, said Pence, who pushed the point to the Trump fans as he continued to shake hands with families. Read it! The moment distilled the fraught crossroads currently facing Pences longshot campaign for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Mike Pence Gets Outplayed by a Gas Pump in New Campaign Ad Suffering disappointing polling numbers and fighting hard just to make the first Republican debate, the former vice president appears to be ditching the straitlaced, mild-mannered, and comically deferential persona that defined his tenure as Trumps second in command. With Pences refusal to overturn the 2020 electionhis alleged betrayal of Trumpstalking him on the campaign trail, the quintessentially cautious and pious politician has decided against turning the other cheek. These days, Pence seems to garner the most headlines when he punches back at Trump voters, firmly but calmly debunks voters enduring conspiracies about his role on Jan. 6, and dismantles the arguments of lawyers defending his former boss against what will soon be four criminal indictments. Recently, Pence issued his strongest repudiation yet of Trump after his criminal indictment over Jan. 6, tweeting that anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States. His campaign has begun to sell merch branding him as too honest, the negative assessment Trump gave him in the final days of their administration. (Pence's contemporaneous notes taken between the 2020 election and Jan. 6 are now evidence in Trump's case.) Call it Dark Pence, as some social media commenters have gleefully done, in a nod to the ironically villainous and hard-charging Dark Brandon alter ego embraced by President Joe Biden and his team. The pivot may be raising some eyebrows, but those in Republican circles dont believe it will rescue Pences increasingly quixotic campaignor shift perception of what his ultimate legacy may be. It has turned into a frustrating vanity project, an unaffiliated GOP strategist told The Daily Beast, arguing that it took Pence so long to qualify for the debate stage because there is no appetite for him in this race. The strategist compared the Dark Pence persona to a 70-year-old man whos having to use Viagra for the first time and its still not working. Hes taking a double dose of Viagra to try and get on the debate stage politically, and its still not working for him, the strategist said of Pence. Its time to hang it up. Pence: Gaggle of Crackpot Lawyers Told Trump What He Wanted to Hear Ultimately, the Dark Pence brand belies the unique bind in which he finds himself: his refusal to illegally subvert the 2020 election has turned many GOP primary voters zealously against him, but his second-fiddle persona may be so concrete that non-Trump voters may still see in him too much of an era they wish to leave behind. A top adviser for Trumps 2016 campaignwho noted they respect Penceput it more simply. It took so long because he cant sell, they said. Running for office is sales. With his campaign struggling to remain viable, there is a very real chance the former second-ranking official in the U.S. government is at risk of being outlasted in the primary by the likes of Vivek Ramaswamy and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. Having polled no higher than 10 percent since March and no higher than 7 percent since June, Pence will need a breakout moment in the first debate on Aug. 24 to jumpstart his campaign. Republican insiders have begun to wonder whether Pence knows his time is running outand whether he is remaining in the race to make a point perhaps no other candidate can. People who are astute in politics know exactly why Mike Pence is running, and its not for President of the United States. Its to show he does whats right, and he has to stay relevant, an early primary state GOP organizer who previously backed Trump told The Daily Beast, requesting anonymity to discuss private conversations with fellow Republicans about Pence. Will he do great on the debate stage? No, the organizer said. But hes there to make a point about Donald Trump, and its a point that has to be made. The Pence campaign did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast. In some instances, the Pence campaign is deploying levity to convey resilience. Theyve even leaned into a bit of gallows humor, quite literally, when it comes to Trumps plans to skip the first debate. Hopefully, former President Trump has the courage to show up, Pence communications adviser Devin OMalley told USA Today, upon news that the candidate finally qualified. His words were a not-so-subtle nod to Trumps infamous tweet unleashing the mob on his vice president, resulting in chants of hang Mike Pence in and around the U.S. Capitol. Pence Testified for 7 Hours Before Trumps Jan. 6 Grand Jury At the same time, Pence himself has declined to challenge Jan. 6 revisionism and conspiracy theorizing in the most high-profile moments. In an awkward and contentious interview with hard-right pundit Tucker Carlson in front of Iowa voters last month, Pence declined to call Jan. 6 an insurrection, calling it instead a tragic day and a riot. He also did not contest Carlsons conspiracy-laced whitewashing of the events of that day. Theres also the question of what Pences role is in going after Trump now that former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has entered the race, declared himself the viable Trump alternative, and has suggested his mission is not to win the nomination but to destroy Trumps chances to ever return to politics. Christie has paid a price for breaking with Trump following the 2020 election, along with his embrace of more moderate positions as the party has lurched rightward. But his more aggressive messaging and willingness to directly spar with Trump seems better placed to win over Trump-skeptical GOP voters than even Pences newer approach. With just a few months to go until the Iowa caucuses, Republican operatives range from baffled to incredulous over how Pence will manage to keep his relatively cash strapped campaign goingmuch less how hell make the next debate, when more donors and better polls will be required to make the stage. Pence might have been able to lean on his hardcore anti-abortion and culture-warrior bona fides to reach todays GOP voters, particularly his fellow evangelical Christians. But those voters have largely deserted him in favor of Trump, even though Pence was selected as Trumps running mate in 2016 largely because of his ability to bring along skeptical evangelicals. Pence Took Notes on Everythingand Theyre Key to Trumps New Indictment In some ways, Pence isnt a great fit for your MAGA voter who rarely, if ever, goes to church, Dante Scala, a professor of political science at the University of New Hampshire, told The Daily Beast. But you think hed be there, on paper at least, as someone who would inherit that part of the Trump base, Scala said. Under normal circumstances, that would be true, because under normal circumstances, Republican presidents who lose dont run again and their vice president isnt held responsible for their loss. Even if they dont see his fortunes changing anytime soon, Pences admirers are happy to see him in the race, Dark Pence persona or not. Are there people saying Pence cant get elected dogcatcher? Yeah, thats probably true, the early state GOP organizer said. But when people see him, they acknowledge hes a nice guy, and if theyre not a crazy Trumper, theyll admit what he did was right. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Military veterans from the LGBTQ+ community have sued the Department of Defense for denying them honorable discharges and listing their sexual orientation on their service records. Plaintiffs are seeking honorable discharges in a class action lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which would give them access to benefits such as healthcare services, academic tuition aid, and loan resources reserved for veterans who are in good standing when they leave the military, NBC News reports. Moreover, the plaintiffs are requesting that their discharge documents be amended to remove references to their sexuality. They claim the government is violating their privacy by providing information about their sexuality in such documents. Several plaintiffs were dismissed under the militarys dont ask, dont tell policy, which allowed gays and lesbians to serve if they remained closeted, their lawyers said. LGBTQ+ veterans and their allies have asked the U.S. government to automatically modify the discharge status of ex-service members following the repeal of dont ask, dont tell under then President Barack Obamas administration in 2011. Despite an existing procedure by which veterans can request discharge status changes, Tuesdays lawsuit contends it is onerous. The currently available discharge upgrade process is burdensome, opaque, expensive, and, for many veterans, virtually inaccessible, according to the plaintiffs lawyers. The process not only takes months or years but also requires veterans to prove that an error or injustice warrants updating their discharge papers to the very entity that caused the error or injustice, despite the Governments own acknowledgment that DADT was discriminatory. The case declares that the Governments ongoing discrimination against LGBTQ+ veterans will continue without DOD action. Because of the circumstances and language of my discharge, which served as a painful reminder of the trauma I experienced, I was never able to proudly say that I served my country, said U.S. Army veteran Steven Egland, one of the plaintiffs. ISLAMABAD, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people were killed and six others injured on Thursday in a collision between a van and a truck in Layyah of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, the rescue service reported. The rescue service said that the accident took place early morning in the Hafizabad area of the district when a van collided with a truck coming from the opposite direction after the tie rod of the van broke, killing seven people on the spot. Promptly responding to the situation, the rescue workers reached the site and shifted the victims to a local hospital where one victim, later on, succumbed to injuries, it added. The van was going from Bhakkar district of Punjab to Mian Channu district of the province, according to the rescue service. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans tossed the conviction of a Mississippi man after striking down a decades-old law prohibiting illegal drug users from owning firearms during their lifetime. The three-judge panel issued the ruling Wednesday in a federal case of Patrick Daniels, a Hancock County man arrested and later sentenced to prison for being an unlawful drug user in possession of firearms. The case was prosecuted in federal court in Gulfport. Federal public defenders, Leilani Tynes and John Weber, represented Daniels at trial, and fellow attorney Kym Gore, did the oral arguments during the appeal process. In short, our history and tradition may support some limits on an intoxicated persons right to carry a weapon, but it does not justify disarming a sober citizen based exclusively on his past drug usage, Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry E. Smith wrote in the unanimous opinion in the U.S. vs. Daniels. Nor do more generalized traditions of disarming dangerous persons support this restriction on nonviolent drug users. The charge and subsequent conviction, the ruling said, violated Danielss second amendment right to bear arms, opening the doors to other challengers in cases involving drug users charged under the same federal law. To further support its decision, the Fifth Circuit noted in its ruling that there was no evidence in the case against Daniels that he was under the influence of drugs or other intoxicants at the time of his arrest. Arrest in Hancock County Two drug agents arrested Daniels on a federal charge after a traffic stop in Hancock County in April 2022 for driving without a license plate. The officers smelled marijuana and subsequently searched Daniels Ford F-150, resulting in the seizure of multiple partially burned marijuana blunts in an ashtray and two firearms. Drug Task Force Agent Ray Bell said in a criminal complaint that agents found a loaded AR-15-style rifle and 9 mm pistol in the vehicle and that Daniels admitted to smoking marijuana about 14 days a month. Attorney John Weber The officer never drug-tested Daniels, though he did admit that he would test positive for marijuana. After his arrest, Daniels attorneys tried to get his charges dismissed, arguing the law was unconstitutional under the Second Amendment, but a federal judge denied the request. Meanwhile, Daniels is in prison, still seving the remainder of a 46-month sentence for the crime. His attorneys could not comment on the case. The ruling in the Firth Circuit The Fifth Circuit ruled that Daniels still had a right to bear arms. Even as a marijuana user, Daniels is a member of our political community, Judge Smith wrote. Therefore, he has a presumptive right to bear arms. By infringing on that right, 922(g)(3) contradicts the plain text of the Second Amendment. Throughout American history, laws have regulated the combination of guns and intoxicating substances. But at no point in the 18th or 19th century did the government disarm individuals who used drugs or alcohol at one time from possessing guns at another. A few states banned carrying a weapon while actively under the influence, but those statutes did not emerge until well after the Civil War. Judge Stephen Higginson wrote in support of the decision but also expressed some concerns. Although our decision is limited in scope, it is hard for me to avoid the conclusion that most, if not all, applications of 922(g)(3) will likewise be deficient, Higginson wrote. It is also important to acknowledge that other gun safety laws, especially longstanding status-based prohibitions previously understood to be constitutionally unassailable, have been recently struck down by courts across the country ... When again reviewing the Second Amendment, Higginson urged the Supreme Court to consider that having armed citizenry is necessary to the security of a free State. Gun safety concerns In the opinion, Higginson also expressed some concerns regarding gun safety nationwide. In the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen., the U.S. Supreme Court struck down New Yorks longstanding law requiring a conceal-carry permit to possess a firearm in public places. The high court ruled the law violated the Fourteenth Amendment because it prevented law-abiding citizens from exercising their second-amendment right to bear arms. I cannot help but fear that, absent some reconciliation of the Second Amendments several values, any further reductionism of Bruen will mean systematic, albeit inconsistent, judicial dismantling of the laws that have served to protect our country for generations, he said. Furthermore, such decisions will constrain the ability of our state and federal political branches to address gun violence across the country, which every day cuts short the lives of our citizens. This state of affairs will be nothing less than a Second Amendment caricature, a right turned inside out, against freedom and security in our State. Despite Higginsons concerns, Judge Smith noted that the Fifth Circuits decision was limited in scope and did not call into question the federal prohibition of possessing guns by drug users as a whole. We do not invalidate the statute in all its applications, but, importantly, only as applied to Daniels, Smith wrote. Nor do we suggest that a robust Second Amendment is incompatible with other reasonable gun regulations. Such statutes just need to be consonant with the limits the Founding generation understood to be permissible when they ratified the Second Amendment. The government has failed to demonstrate that here. The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment. WASHINGTON A federal appeals court has ruled that drug users shouldnt automatically be banned from having guns, marking the latest sign of upheaval in the nation's firearm legal landscape and raising questions about a law cited in the case against Hunter Biden. UPDATE: Attorney General Garland appoints special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden, son of President Biden The opinion overturns the conviction of a Mississippi man, Patrick D. Daniels of Gulfport, who had two guns found in his car during a traffic stop last year and acknowledged using marijuana regularly but wasn't accused of driving under the influence. The appeals court cited the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which said gun laws must have strong historical roots a finding that led to challenges of many of the nation's gun laws. Our history and tradition may support some limits on an intoxicated persons right to carry a weapon, but it does not justify disarming a sober citizen based exclusively on his past drug usage, the three-judge panel for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans wrote in Wednesday's ruling. The ruling raises questions about the future of the law, which also had a central role in the proposed plea deal for Hunter Biden, the president's son. Hunter Biden had been expected to acknowledge that he had a gun during a period when he was addicted to drugs but avoid prosecution on the count if he stayed out of trouble. The deal, which was roundly criticized by Republicans, also called for two guilty pleas on misdemeanor tax charges. But the future of the agreement is unclear after a judge raised concerns about it last month. The Fifth Circuit is now the highest court to consider the law since the Bruen decision was handed down and its ruling will likely be cited in other similar cases around the U.S., said Jake Charles, a law professor at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law who studies the Second Amendment. As the first federal court appeals ruling on this provision, itll be persuasive and influential to other circuits and other district courts who are reviewing these kind of challenges, he said. Still, judges outside the Fifth Circuit region of Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, aren't bound by the ruling. Since Bidens case was filed in Delaware it's not expected to have an immediate impact on the case. The ruling also acknowledges more than a dozen other times that lower-court judges have upheld the ban on unlawful users" of controlled substances having guns since the Bruen case, though judges in some other cases have agreed that it doesn't stand up under Bruen. The appeals court called the opinion relatively narrow in applying to cases similar to the Mississippi case and, overall, the law is rarely used in cases without another crime involved. The Justice Department declined to comment on whether the ruling would be appealed. Attorneys for Daniels and Biden did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The ruling comes in a tumultuous legal landscape for U.S. firearm law. Judges also have struck down federal laws barring people from having guns if they have been charged with serious crimes and called into question the prohibition on licensed federal firearms dealers selling handguns to young adults under 21 and Delawares ban on the possession of homemade ghost guns. The Fifth Circuit, moreover, also ruled in February that the government cant stop people who have domestic violence restraining orders against them from owning guns. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Biden administration's appeal in that case. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Court rules against drug user gun ban cited in Hunter Biden case A 22-year-old Missouri man was arrested and now faces sex abuse and grooming charges in Madison County after the Granite City Police Department received a report of a missing 16-year-old girl, according to court records and police. The juvenile was found in California, Missouri, where the suspect was arrested, and has been reunited with family members, according to a news release Thursday from the Granite City Police Department. Naraeysh Bass-Ocasio of California, Missouri, faces the following charges filed Wednesday by the Madison County States Attorneys Office: Three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, three counts of traveling to meet a child and one count of grooming. The Granite City Police Department received a report of a missing juvenile on Monday and on Tuesday investigators were able to identify a suspect involved in the juveniles disappearance and their possible location, the news release stated. Granite City officers then contacted officers in Missouri to ask for assistance. The charging documents allege the first sexual abuse occurred in February, the second incident was in June and that the third was on Monday. The grooming charge alleges Bass-Ocasio used a computer on-line service, Internet service, or any other device capable of electronic date storage or transmission to seduce, solicit, lure, or entice a child from December 2022 until Tuesday. Bass-Ocasio was being held at the Moniteau County Sheriffs Department pending $500,000 bond or extradition to the Madison County Jail. Online court records in Madison County and Moniteau County did not list a defense attorney for Bass-Ocasio. No other information was released by the Granite City Police Department. (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi lashed out at his political opponents in a more than two-hour long speech - accusing the opposition of historical mis-governance, corruption and nepotism and only briefly touched on the ongoing deadly violence in the state of Manipur that led to the no confidence vote against his government. Most Read from Bloomberg Before the vote, Modi said the main opposition Congress partys politics is behind the ethnic clashes in the northeastern state, that has killed more than 150 people and displaced 50,000 others. Today, the Manipur situation is being presented in such a manner as if this is a recent problem, said Modi on Thursday. I want to say this with full seriousness today that if there is one cause of all these troubles in the northeast, it is the Congress. Its their politics thats responsible for it. As expected, his government easily defeated the no trust motion in a voice vote as opposition lawmakers walked out in protest during Modis reply. The no confidence motion was an attempt by the opposition to ramp up pressure on Modi ahead of elections expected next summer. It was also to compel him to speak on the violence. His first comments came months after the conflict erupted when a video surfaced in the third week of July of two women being paraded naked and allegedly raped in Manipur on May 4. This is the second no confidence vote that Modi has faced since coming to power nearly a decade ago. The first was in 2018 when the opposition filed a motion saying his government failed on economic, defense and foreign policies, a move he also defeated. The latest no trust vote was over the conflict between two ethnic groups the Christian Kukis and the Hindu Meiteis - over access to affirmative action benefits in the state bordering Myanmar. Modis opponents say the Hindu-dominant Bharatiya Janata Party has made the South Asian country less tolerant of religious and ethnic minorities with violence in Manipur and the recent Hindu-Muslim clashes near the capital New Delhi. Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Congress party, who was reinstated as a lawmaker this week after a stay on his defamation conviction by Indias top court, on Wednesday said Modis administration was doing little to bring peace to the region. Modi during his speech touted development projects his government has undertaken in the Himalayan reaches of Indias northeast. He also spoke about the various religious riots and incidents of alleged state-sponsored violence under his predecessors. He also spoke about the 1962 war against China, when Indias northeastern states were theaters of action. I want to assure the people of Manipur the mothers, sisters and daughters the country is with you. We will together find a solution to this challenge and peace will be restored, said Modi. We will take every step to bring Manipur back to the development track. Highlighting Indias achievement during his tenure, Modi said India will become the third-largest economy in the world, when he retains power for the third term after 2024 elections. Oppositions no confidence has always been lucky for us, said Modi. Today, I can see you have decided that the BJP and the ruling coalition will come back in 2024 elections with a grand victory, breaking all previous records, with the blessings of the people, he said referring to opposition. --With assistance from Abhijit Roy Chowdhury and Rajesh Kumar Singh. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. By YP Rajesh NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday easily defeated a vote of no-confidence taken by the opposition over his handling of a deadly ethnic conflict in Manipur, and in a two-hour speech dismissed the move as a vain attempt to "defame India". More than 180 people have been killed, many hundreds more wounded and tens of thousands rendered homeless since May in Manipur, but Modi failed to publicly address the violence until last month. The no-confidence vote, moved by a new, Congress-led opposition alliance called "INDIA", was easily defeated as expected, with opposition lawmakers walking out of the legislature in protest even before the motion was put to vote. Critics said Modi's refusal to address in public the ethnic conflict in a state ruled by his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reinforced perceptions that, in domestic matters, the interests his party and Hindu nationalist constituency come first. "They love to defame India, they have no faith in the people of India, in the abilities of India," Modi said in his 130-minute speech which was laced with nationalism and rhetorical flourishes. "They have tried in vain to break the self-confidence of Indians with this no-confidence vote," he said, speaking in Hindi. BJP lawmakers thumped their desks in approval and often cheered him by shouting "Modi, Modi". In what was effectively an election speech at the end of a three-day debate in parliament, Modi listed the achievements of his nine years in power and trashed the record of his rivals. The focus of the attacks was Congress, seen as the biggest threat to Modi's BJP. The stand-off has raised the political temperature eight months before national elections are due in the world's largest democracy - and one of its fastest growing economies - due in April-May 2024. Surveys show Modi remains highly popular and is widely expected to win a third term. "PEACE EFFORTS IN MANIPUR" On Wednesday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ripped into Modi's handling of Manipur, saying his government had divided the state, broken it and burnt it. Opposition lawmakers frequently shouted "Manipur, Manipur" as Modi spoke on Thursday, seeking to get him to talk about it. Gandhi entered parliament after Modi was about 75 minutes into his speech and the entire opposition walked out about 15 minutes later. A Congress statement said the INDIA alliance walked out as Modi was "being evasive about and denying justice to Manipur besides ignoring all other pressing issues facing the country". Modi spoke about Manipur after the opposition walk-out. "The way in which efforts are being made, there will soon be peace in Manipur," he said. "I also want to appeal to the people of Manipur, the country is with you, this house is with you, we will all join hands and find a solution to this challenge," Modi said. "Let us walk together, not use Manipur for political games ... understand their pain and find a solution." Modi's interior minister Amit Shah on Wednesday blamed the unrest in Myanmar for the ethnic conflict in neighbouring Manipur and urged both sides in the dispute to resolve it through dialogue. Gilles Verniers, senior fellow at New Delhis Centre for Policy Research, said the no-confidence vote was more about opposition parties flexing muscles and showing that they can work in unison than hurting Modi politically. This inspires confidence for them because they are managing to put some points across on important political issues despite an adversarial parliament, he said. (Reporting by YP Rajesh; Editing by Conor Humphries) A four-legged Northern Regional police officer now has more protection, thanks to a donation. The Rich-Mar rotary club in Valencia donated $1,500 to buy the K9, Theo, a bulletproof vest. Theo was in attendance as the club presented a check to the department on Wednesday night. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: $1 million-winning Mega Millions ticket sold in Lawrence County Woman takes Lyft hundreds of miles, fires gun where child lives with foster family, police say Woman mowing lawn gets hit with snake dropped by hawk; then the hawk attacked VIDEO: Postal worker robbed of master key in Pittsburgh DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Montenegro's President Jakov Milatovic on Thursday nominated Milojko Spajic, a leader of a pro-Western party that won a parliamentary vote in June, as prime minister-designate tasked to form a government. Spajic and Milatovic lead the Europe Now Movement (PES) which won most votes in the June snap elections after Milo Djukanovic, the long-time ruler of Montenegro, lost the presidential election in April and stepped down after 30 years in power. Milatovic said he would propose Spajic as the PM-designate after 44 lawmakers in the 81-seat parliament pledged to support him, most of them from PES coalition but also from parties representing ethnic minorities, such as Bosniaks, Croats and Albanians. Several more parties said they would support Spajic if he reaches an agreement on the government which must be formed in the next 90 days, Milatovic said. "We are at the crossroads which will eventually determine our future," Milatovic said at a news conference in Cetinje, the former royal capital of Montenegro. He added that the tiny Adriatic country of just over 620,000 people needs stability after the collapse of two governments since 2020. Some analysts doubt that Spajic, a 36-year-old economist who served as finance minister in the 2020-2022 government of Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic, will be able to form a stable government out of Montenegro's fragmented politics. Montenegro started EU accession negotiations in 2012 and hopes to speed up its integration with the wealthy 27-member bloc after adopting a comprehensive set of legal frameworks aligned with the European Union. Milatovic said that during consultations, all parties agreed that priorities were to speed up EU integration, improve the rule of law and the standard of living. "Our ultimate goal must be a civic, democratic and economically developed Montenegro which will become a full member of the European Union as soon as possible, for which we need the full institutional consolidation," he said. (Reporting by Stevo Vasiljevic and Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Nick Macfie) Firefighters are known for saving kittens stuck in trees, but on Thursday, Overland Park firefighters instead came to the rescue of a trailer filled with baby pigs. Firefighters hosed down the trailer of more than 1,000 baby pigs when the truck they were traveling in stalled Thursday on an Overland Park highway, leaving the pigs exposed to dangerous heat. Crews responded just before 11 a.m. to U.S. 69 Highway just north of 151st Street, said Jason Rhodes, a spokesman with the Overland Park Fire Department. The trailer filled with 1,368 baby pigs was on its way to Iowa, when its truck had a mechanical problem and pulled over. Without airflow or water, the driver said the pigs wouldnt survive the heat, so police called the fire department to hose down the pigs until another tractor could pick up the trailer. The driver told firefighters, You saved 1,368 lives today. Thank you! More than 60 Republican lawmakers from Utah are pushing to end Sen. Mitt Romneys career on Capitol Hill. Utah state House Speaker Brad Wilson has taken the first steps toward challenging Romney, the Republicans' 2012 presidential nominee, by forming a Senate exploratory committee in April. The committee on Thursday announced that Wilsons possible run is already being endorsed by three-quarters of his GOP colleagues in the statehouses lower chamber and two-thirds of Republicans in the Utah Senate. UTAH REPUBLICAN RAISES MORE THAN $2 MILLION AS HE EXPLORES 'LIKELY' BID TO TAKE ROMNEY'S SENATE SEAT Sen. Mitt Romney has not firmly declared whether he is running for re-election in 2024. "I am honored and encouraged to have the support of so many leaders from all corners of this great state," Wilson said. "Utah needs a bold, conservative fighter in the U.S. Senate and I am humbled at the support and encouragement weve received so quickly." Romney has, at times, had a fraught relationship with Republicans in his state, particularly other elected officials, over his willingness to criticize and votes to convict former President Donald Trump after his impeachments. Utahs Weber County GOP voted to censure him for it in May 2021. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP Trump swept the state in 2020 during his race against President Biden. 'IF I RUN, I WIN': MITT ROMNEY CONFIDENT HE WOULD WIN RE-ELECTION IN 2024, BUT REMAINS UNSURE IF HE WILL RUN Romney is facing a likely primary challenge from Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson. Romney has not announced whether he plans to run for re-election in 2024, but he filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission earlier this year. It would be his first re-election campaign after winning his seat in 2018. Early fundraising data show both he and Wilson are gearing up for an expensive fight. 'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH': UTAH MAYOR ANNOUNCES BID TO TAKE ROMNEY'S SENATE SEAT Romney has raised nearly $1.8 million so far this year for a possible re-election bid. Wilsons war chest is currently larger with just over $2.2 million in receipts, but $1.2 million of that is a loan from the candidate himself. Romney has pitted himself against the pro-Trump wing of the Utah GOP. CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Wilsons exploratory committee website touts him as "pragmatic and conservative" and a lifelong Utah resident. "Brad is exploring a run for the U.S. Senate in 2024 and knows Utahns deserve a bold, proven, and conservative fighter to represent them and their values in our nations capital," the site said. Fox News Digital reached out to Romneys office to inquire about any updates to his electoral plans, but did not immediately hear back. FILE - Kathy Berden watches during a training session for Women for Trump, An Evening to Empower, in Troy, Mich., Aug. 22, 2019. Nine of the Michigan Republicans, including Berden, accused in a fake elector scheme to keep former President Donald Trump in power entered not guilty pleas Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in state court. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File) LANSING, Mich. (AP) All 16 Michigan Republicans accused in a fake elector scheme to keep former President Donald Trump in power are challenging the charges, after the final nine either pleaded not guilty or had a judge enter the pleas on their behalf Thursday in state court. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced criminal charges last month against the 16 Republicans who investigators say met following the 2020 election and signed a document falsely stating they were Michigans duly elected and qualified electors for president and vice president. Seven entered not guilty pleas in previous court appearances. The nine defendants who appeared virtually in Ingham County District Court on Thursday were arraigned on eight criminal charges, including forgery and conspiracy to commit election forgery. The top charges carry a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. The court appearances in Michigan come one week after Trump pleaded not guilty in federal court to charges related to his effort to overturn the results of his 2020 election loss. Prosecutors say the former president, along with six unnamed co-conspirators, orchestrated a scheme to enlist fake electors in seven battleground states won by Democrat Joe Biden to submit false certificates to the federal government. Kathy Berden, a Michigan committeewoman for the Republican National Committee, and Amy Facchinello, a Grand Blanc school board member who is facing a recall effort, were among those arraigned on Thursday. Two of the others accused of being involved in the scheme, Mari-Ann Henry and Meshawn Maddock, a former co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party, appeared in court last week and have also pleaded not guilty. The court appearances mark the beginning of what's expected to be a lengthly legal battle. Many of those charged in the scheme have maintained that they did nothing wrong and accused Nessel, who is a Democrat, of being politically motivated. Kurt Krause, a lawyer representing one of the fake electors, John Haggard, said in court Thursday that the probability of conviction is low, given the dubiousness of the factual basis asserted by the government. Investigators allege that the group of Republican electors met at party headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, and falsely signed the fake electors document. The fake electors falsely asserted that they met in the state Capitol, which they were denied entry to by Michigan State Police. Investigations are underway in some other states that submitted fake electors, but not all. A Georgia prosecutor investigating possible illegal meddling in the 2020 election has agreed to immunity deals with at least eight fake electors. And Arizonas Democratic attorney general is in the very early stages of a probe. Nevadas attorney general, also a Democrat, has said he wont bring charges, while Wisconsin has no active investigation and the attorney general has deferred to the U.S. Justice Department. A music band performs at the Sziget Festival 2023 in Budapest, Hungary, on Aug. 10, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Hao) BUDAPEST, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Sziget Festival, Hungary's much-anticipated summer highlight, kicked off here on Thursday, promising a week of electrifying performances and cross-cultural celebrations. Between Aug. 10 and Aug. 15, the festival 2023 will host an array of international stars, and artists from 62 countries and regions will perform in various genres across more than 50 program venues. Nearly 200 Hungarian talents will also showcase their creativity. From its humble inception in 1993, Sziget Festival has grown into a global phenomenon, attracting participants from over a hundred countries and regions. In 2018, the festival reached its zenith with a record-breaking 565,000 attendees in a single week. With a history spanning three decades, the festival has evolved into a magnet for music enthusiasts and adventure seekers alike. Last year saw an astonishing turnout of approximately 450,000 festivalgoers. The 30th anniversary edition of the festival embodies an international spirit, drawing visitors primarily from the Netherlands, followed by the United Kingdom and Ireland, while maintaining a near-even split between foreign and domestic attendees, according to Tamas Kadar, the event's main organizer. Following a turbulent period, including the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival has emerged stronger, embracing innovative enhancements while returning to its former glory, Kadar said. People pose for photos at the Sziget Festival 2023 in Budapest, Hungary, on Aug. 10, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Hao) A music band performs at the Sziget Festival 2023 in Budapest, Hungary, on Aug. 10, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Hao) People enjoy a concert at the Sziget Festival 2023 in Budapest, Hungary, on Aug. 10, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Hao) Members of the music band "Son Mieux" perform at the Sziget Festival 2023 in Budapest, Hungary, on Aug. 10, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Hao) People perform acrobatics at the Sziget Festival 2023 in Budapest, Hungary, on Aug. 10, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Hao) An explosion rang out in the settlement of Domodedovo Flight restrictions were imposed at Moscows Vnukovo and Domodedovo airports on Aug. 10, amid reports of yet another drone attack. The restrictions were implemented due to reasons independent of the airport, according to the Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti, citing Vnukovo air ports press service. Read also: Moscow under attack again video Domodedovo air port officials stated that this was done to ensure additional flight safety measures. Dozens of flights were delayed or rerouted as a result. Emerging reports on Telegram channels indicate that the airports activated Plan Cover, a protocol designed to address potential threats posed by unidentified aircraft or objects in the sky. Read also: Government building damaged, Vnukovo airport suspends traffic in 2nd Moscow drone attack On social media, local residents reported explosions and bangs, while a passenger on a plane on the ground at one Moscow airport posted about the chaos in the skies above Moscow. Im on a plane at Vnukovo. The sky is closed, the passenger wrote on Telegram We havent been able take off since 1:30 a.m. Planes are not landing, they are circling over Ryazan. Those with low fuel are being redirected to Sheremetyevo. The conclusion: drones are flying. wrote one passenger on Telegram. https://t.me/astrapress https://t.me/astrapress One eyewitness apparently say one of the drones being shot down. I saw (a drone) explode, wrote the Moscow resident on social media. Read also: Russia claims drone attempted to attack Moscow, flights at Vnukovo airport suspended Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said that around 4 a.m., air defense systems successfully neutralized two combat drones flying towards the city. It is believed that one drone was sighted in Kaluga Oblast, while the other was seen in the vicinity of the Moscow Central Administrative District. Reports on Aug. 9 claimed that an attempt to attack Moscow was made using drones, with one drone allegedly downed near Domodedovo, south of the Russian capital. Residents reported explosions. The drone attack is the latest in a spate of such attacks against the Russian capital and other parts of Russian in recent months. Earlier, Russian authorities announced on Aug. 6 that a drone attempted to breach Moscows airspace, leading to the delay of dozens of flights at Vnukovo airport. Moscow also faced an attack by unidentified drones on July 30. Damage was sustained, notably at the IQ Tower, which houses several offices of Russian ministries. Read also: Ukraine probes Russia's air defenses ahead of next move report During the night of Aug. 1, Moscow was once again targeted by drones. According to Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, one of the drones hit the same skyscraper that had been targeted two days prior. 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 woman is in jail after officials say she caused a crash that injured several people. Hall County Sheriff officials said deputies received reports of a crash just before 7:45 p.m. Saturday on Stephens Road in Oakwood. According to the investigation, 37-year-old Jennifer Lee Ramirez of Oakwood was driving her Honda Pilot north on Stephens Road near Raintree Trace when she crossed the centerline of the roadway, going into the southbound lane of traffic. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Authorities said the driver of a Mazda RX-7, which was traveling south, swerved to avoid the crash but collided with two vehicles in the northbound lanes of the roadway. The occupants of the Mazda, a 16-year-old and a 63-year-old, were taken to the hospital in serious condition. Their identities have not been released. Officials said Ramirezs two children, who were passengers in her vehicle, were injured in the crash, but another party removed them from the scene before authorities arrived. Deputies later located the 4-year-old and 6-year-old and reunited them with Ramirezs partner, 36-year-old Daniel Wesley Casteel of Lawrenceville. TRENDING STORIES: Authorities said the children were taken to the hospital. The identities and conditions of the children have not been released. Ramirez was charged with Driving Under the Influence, two counts of DUI-endangering the life of a child, two counts of second-degree cruelty to children, two counts of violation of child restraint law, two counts of serious injury by vehicle and driving on the wrong side of the road. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Casteel was booked into the Hall County Jail the following morning on an outstanding warrant however, he posted bond later that morning. Deputies did not specify what the warrant was for. Authorities said Casteel faces two counts of cruelty to children for removing the children from the accident scene. He is currently not in custody. IN OTHER NEWS: The mother of a Michigan man accused of threatening President Biden and other prominent Democrats has been charged with making false statements when purchasing firearms later found in her sons possession. Prosecutors claim in charging documents unsealed Tuesday that Michelle Berka, 56, knowingly lied when she bought five guns and said they were for her, when really they were for someone else. The indictment does not say to whom Berka gave the firearms, but her son was arrested in March with four of the same guns. Randall Berka II was charged earlier this year with illegally possessing firearms after having been involuntarily committed for mental health treatment in 2012 and deemed legally incapacitated, which barred him from possessing guns or ammunition. He is also accused of making death threats on YouTube toward Biden, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and members of the LGBTQ community. He allegedly wrote on social media that biden deserves to die and that he was more than willing to kill Whitmer. The younger Berka also wrote, we have to kill the politicians, theres nothing wrong with righteous violence and death, according to the FBI. In March, Randall Berka was ordered detained ahead of trial. A bond for $10,000 was set Tuesday for Michelle Berka. Threats against public officials in Michigan have led to numerous arrests and headlines in recent years. In 2020, a plot to kidnap Whitmer was disrupted by the FBI, leading to nine convictions. Earlier this year, a Michigan man was charged with making death threats against Jewish government officials in the state. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. MUNCIE, Ind. A Muncie man charged in an interstate drug conspiracy has agreed to enter a guilty plea after striking a deal with federal prosecutors. Under the terms of the agreement signed last month, 48-year-old Terry Lamarr Hill is scheduled to plead guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to deliver and distribute controlled substances. That offense carries up to 40 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $5 million. Hill's deal with federal prosecutors does not make a specified sentencing recommendation. Hill and two co-defendants his son, Jamarr Cortez Hill, and Lance McGee were indicted by a federal grand jury in Indianapolis in December 2022. The indictment accused the Muncie men of involvement in the distribution of fentanyl, cocaine and meth. More: Death leads to Delaware County man's arrest, seizure of more than 2 pounds of heroin It said Jamarr Hill "coordinated the acquisition of controlled substances in San Diego, California," and provided meth and cocaine to his father and McGee "for redstribution in and around Muncie." Another co-defendant, Muncie resident Sarah Barnes, is accused of repeatedly traveling to San Diego to collect large quantities of drugs. A hearing at which Terry Hill is scheduled to enter a guilty plea and be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Young is set for Nov. 9 in Indianapolis. Jamarr Hill and McGee, both 29, are set to stand trial in U.S. District Court on Oct. 16. Barnes who was arrested in Oklahoma last October, when authorities said they found 114 pounds of meth and two pounds of fentanyl in her Ford Explorer is scheduled to stand trial on Jan. 9, According to state Department of Correction records, Terry Hill was convicted of reckless homicide in Delaware County in 1999. He had been accused of fatally shooting a Delaware County man in the Munsyana Homes public housing complex in January 1997. Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Muncie man charged in interstate drug case strikes deal with feds For Gus Pena, there was one natural next step in his long, culinary journey. Starting his own bakery. So thats what he and business partner Frank Rodriguez did. Le Manna Bread is a new bakery and restaurant that will open in Myrtle Beach tentatively in October 2023. The new eatery is located at 507 9th Ave. North in Myrtle Beach, a short walk from the beach. Le Manna will be open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. The bakery also draws on religious references for its name. Le Manna is inspired by Manna that fell from heaven in The Book of Exodus to feed the Israelites. Customers can order food from the menu and or pick up fresh bread for the day. Pena said the bakery will make various French and Italian breads like focaccia, ciabatta, baguettes, brioche and croissants. Breads like ciabatta are softer he said, and if people are interested in trying it, theyll have to come and give it a taste. I dont know how to explain (ciabatta), but its something pretty good, Pena added. The breads will be complemented by several different pastries too like muffins, macaroons and fruit tarts. Customers can couple their brioche bun or muffin with different coffees like mocha, cappuccino or espresso to go with it. Le Manna has other menu items aside from bakery staples. Pena added that the restaurant will serve soups, salads and panini sandwiches too. Pena said customers can expect a nice, relaxed atmosphere at Le Manna Bread. Le Manna Bread will have seating for 20 to 30 inside. The grand opening will probably be on a Saturday in October and will have free giveaways, He added. The business duo behind Le Manna both have experience in the baking world. Pena worked in the baking industry for more than 25 years. He previously worked at Panera Bread and received a certification from The American Institute of Baking. Baking is my passion, Pena said. Ive been doing the same thing for many years. Rodriguez also has experience in the industry. Currently a loan officer at QC Lending in Charlotte, North Carolina, Frank Rodriguez attended culinary school and also served as director of operations at a Venezuelan pastry and bakery school. The restaurant is looking to hire about 18 people and will begin hiring closer to when it opens, at least 6-10 people per shift Pena said. He added the restaurant is still looking for its master baker. illustration of starship on the moon with the earth rising in behind CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA Getting a peek inside their ride to the moon was a profound moment for the astronauts of NASA's Artemis 2 mission. The Artemis 2 crew inspected the Orion spacecraft that will send them around the moon no earlier than November 2024 and are excited for what the milestone will bring, they told reporters here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Tuesday (Aug. 8). "Seeing the capsule for all of us sent shivers down our spines as we saw it for the first time inside. The real hardware made a real impression," Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, one of the Artemis 2 quartet, said on Tuesday, the day after their first visit. "We were talking about picking out some spots, maybe like our favorite sleeping spots," NASA astronaut Victor Glover noted during a tour earlier in the day that brought reporters in front of the Artemis 2 Orion spacecraft at the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at KSC. With the crew being so busy with their training, the milestone moment is another small step toward liftoff. There are no major issues being worked for Artemis 2, NASA officials said, although what happens after that is under heavy discussion. Related: How Artemis 2 astronauts are training for their 2024 moon mission Safety is front of mind as the crew enter the last year of their training, emphasized Jim Free, associate administrator for NASA's Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. "This is a balance of pushing hard, but maintaining the right philosophy of not pushing too hard," he told reporters on Tuesday. As for other hardware, the mobile launch tower supporting NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is undergoing repairs and upgrades following the massive liftoff of the successful uncrewed Artemis 1 mission in November 2022. All of the major hardware for Artemis 2's SLS is in Florida aside from the core stage, which is undergoing repairs in Louisiana before shipment here. The European Space Agency service module for Artemis 2's Orion capsule is also on site, and the heat shield should be ready by early next year. "There's no impact to the overall critical path," Free said, referring to the items that need to be ready for the Artemis 2 launch to proceed on time. Training is also continuing apace, including recent key milestones in launch training, recovery training and crew training. four astronauts standing in front of their spacecraft with arms crossed The Artemis 2 crew in front of their Orion spacecraft at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 8, 2023. From left: Jeremy Hansen (Canadian Space Agency), Reid Wiseman (NASA), Victor Glover (NASA) and Christina Koch (NASA). (Image credit: NASA) Where questions begin to arise is with the moon-landing Artemis 3 mission, NASA officials said, hinting that a new mission plan may be necessary if SpaceX isn't ready for the landing. December 2025 is still the target launch date, but NASA is awaiting more information from SpaceX and the readiness of the company's next-gen Starship system, which has been tasked with landing the Artemis 3 astronauts near the moon's south pole. NASA officials were recently at Starbase, SpaceX's Starship hub in South Texas, to go over schedules and readiness expectations. Starship made its first space attempt in April, a test flight that ended with the system spinning out of control and being remotely detonated over the Gulf of Mexico. In June, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said the company would likely be ready to launch again in six to eight weeks. The eight-week mark has since passed, though SpaceX has been gearing up for launch, performing a static-fire test recently with the booster that will fly the next mission. The timeline for that flight also depends on the results of an ongoing review of the first launch that's being conducted by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. And acing a single test flight won't be enough to pave the way for Artemis 3: NASA needs to see multiple successful launches of Starship before putting astronauts on the vehicle. SpaceX is not the only contractor NASA is managing for Artemis 3, Free added; the agency is also in talks with spacesuit maker Axiom Space about matters such as interfaces and readiness. RELATED STORIES: NASA's Artemis program: Everything you need to know Artemis 2 crew begins 1st moon mission training in 50 years Artemis 2 astronaut Jeremy Hansen says a Canadian will walk on the moon one day Free said it's possible NASA may choose to fly a different mission if Starship isn't ready in time by Artemis 3's planned launch date. The International Space Station (ISS) program, he said, has showed NASA ways of flying missions even if key hardware wasn't ready in time for launch. Artemis 2's milestones will also inform Artemis 3. For example, NASA "may want to fly a different mission for [Artemis] 3 because we want to understand how the system works better," Free said. Artemis 2 is planned as a staged mission, to give options for stopping at a particular milestone before going to the moon. That's also why the mission is not going to lunar orbit (even though commander Reid Wiseman joked at Tuesday's press conference that Hansen keeps asking to put them there). Artemis 2's manifest calls for three orbits of Earth. The first will be at about 1,400 miles (2,600 kilometers) above Earth, nearly six times the altitude of the ISS. After that comes an engine burn that will put the spacecraft at an apogee (top of the orbit) at 38,000 miles (61,200 km), significantly higher than geostationary orbit. Only if those orbits look good will the crew be authorized for trans-lunar injection to fly to the moon. "I really like the way safety is built into this into this mission profile," Wiseman said. International governments are warning citizens not to travel to Maui as wildfires continue to decimate the Hawaiian island. Canadian authorities issued a regional risk for Maui and warned Canadians to avoid non-essential travel to Maui due to ongoing wildfires. British authorities issued travel advice regarding wildfires in Maui, warning, Wildfires are affecting a number of areas of Maui County in Hawaii. Wildfires are highly dangerous and unpredictable. The situation can change quickly. British nationals should follow guidance of emergency services, call 911 if in immediate danger, and contact the airline operator who can assist you with return travel to the UK, according to the official travel advice. The British travel advice about wildfires adds to the existing travel advisory related to the heatwave in the United States. The advisories add to the existing warnings issued by the United States federal government, the local government, airlines and others. Hawaiis government has issued an emergency proclamation, discouraging nonessential air travel to Maui. Director Ed Sniffen of Hawaiis Department of Transportation said Wednesday that officials evacuated more than 11,000 tourists from Maui. As of late Wednesday, at least 36 people have died from wildfire-related causes. Mauis historic town of Lahaina, a popular tourist destination, has been acutely affected by the wildfires, with at least 271 structures damaged or destroyed, according to officials Wednesday. President Biden on Wednesday ordered all available federal assets to respond to the wildfires. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Pasco Countys plan to expand and update Anclote River Park has attracted the attention of organizations that work to protect the sacred sites, historical settings and burial grounds of indigenous Florida residents. A letter to the county earlier this month from the American Indian Movement of Florida and the Florida Indigenous Alliance put county officials on notice that they were watching the county actions. They said they will be monitoring how future park developments will affect cultural sites that have already been verified by archaeologists. The organizations are critically concerned with Pasco County Parks/Recreation & Natural Resources Departments plans to place a restaurant/snack bar, volleyball courts and a parking lot in areas with known Indigenous cemeteries and cultural sites at Anclote River Park, wrote Robert Rosa, board chairperson of the American Indian Movement. The letter is just one of dozens that Pasco has received in recent months since the County Commission approved a contract with Keith Overton, who spent decades running the Tradewinds Island Resorts in Pinellas County. He has proposed building a themed restaurant on the riverfront as well as offering water craft rentals and an outdoor event area. Overton is also a partner in a project planned on a site north of the park, which was approved several years ago, that would include a resort with recreational vehicle spaces and cottages. Opponents of the plan have gathered 2,100 signatures on a petition. They object to the project on several grounds. I am writing to you imploring that you reconsider allowing a restaurant at The Anclote River park, besides this location being very near native burial mounds it is one of the few access points our kiddos have to swim nearby, wrote Pasco County resident Tara Bander. We have been enjoying this park for the playground, water access and nature for over 20 years and hope to continue to do so without having to spend money. The plans that I saw will take away all of our favorite parts of this park. Bander said. When asked this week if plans for Overtons development were still moving forward, county Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Director Keith Wiley said, The restaurant is actively seeking the necessary land use/zoning changes required. The Planning Department is reviewing the proposed uses against the Countys Comprehensive Plan as required. As for the new parking, boat ramp and access renovations that Wiley has said are critical for the park site since it is the countys largest waterfront park with the best boating access, he said, The site plan for the park redesign is effectively on hold while the cultural resource questions are answered. In his letter, Rosa told the county: The development, as originally planned, of Anclote Park would not be in keeping with the spirit and intent of Pasco County ordinances. To wit Pasco Ordinance 809.7 requires avoidance, minimization and mitigation, in that order of preference, of adverse impacts on significant archaeological resources. A consultant hired by the county, Stantec, also noted in its report that in addition to five significant features included in the states master list of historical places on the park land, there is also the likelihood of Indigenous cemeteries within the footprint of the planned development, Rosa wrote. Rosas letter also quotes from several other regulations, including the Antiquities Act of 1906, which prohibits excavations or destruction of antiquities; the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, which prohibits preventing Indigenous peoples from access to sacred and ceremonial sites; and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act which, calls for the protection of Indigenous cemeteries. He wrote that, based on conversations with county officials, he was hopeful Pasco would do the right thing. To respect the living, he said, one must logically respect those who have come before, the ancestors. Pasco officials said they continued to look at options. According to Wiley, a draft phase 3 data recovery plan has been proposed by our consultant, as recommended by the State. The scope of work is still being reviewed. A phase III data recovery is done when an archeological site eligible for the National Register cannot be preserved from a projects impact, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The indigenous organizations are also keeping their options open. The groups said they hope the right to rest in peace be given to those ancestors interred at Anclote River Park, Rosa wrote, adding that the organizations prefer the dialogue of cooperation to the rhetoric of confrontation but is prepared for both. Steven Harpe, director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, faces allegations of abuse and retaliation as he works to improve the culture of the state's prison system. Steven Harpe swiveled back and forth in a white plush chair in his office as he talked about the most significant challenges hes faced since becoming director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections last year. He had been talking in rapid succession for more than 10 minutes without hardly taking a breath when he suddenly paused. Oh man, a year, Ive been in this job for almost a year now, Harpe said with a tinge of shock, like a man who feels like hes running out of time. Harpe was sent by Gov. Kevin Stitt to lead the states prison system in 2022, tasked with orchestrating a culture change in a state agency that has long been plagued by overcrowding, deteriorating conditions and accusations of inmate abuse. Harpe previously worked as chief information officer at Gateway Mortgage Group, the company founded by Stitt, before the governor made him executive director of the Office of Management and Enterprise Services in 2019. Stitt then tapped him to become his chief operating officer for state government, a position created by the governor to lead his vision for streamlining state government and improving how agencies deliver services. Like the governor, Harpe talks often about efficiencies, management strategies and other approaches more commonly deployed in the private sector. During a recent interview with The Oklahoman inside his Oklahoma City office, Harpe discussed how hes tried to implement not just a cultural change within the states prison system, but also undertake significant infrastructure improvements. More: After whistleblower alleged DOC covered up rapes, Oklahoma House committee hearing begins One of his first tasks was to take his management team off-site for a five-day planning retreat, where they performed a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis, the popular business method for identifying strengths and weaknesses and partially developed by the Harvard Graduate School of Business. What Harpe found was a medical staff that was woefully underpaid compared to the industry standard, correctional officers who didn't feel appreciated, a lack of mental health support workers, and outdated technology. There are 321 items over the next two years that we are attacking. We track it weekly, Harpe said about the goals that came out of that planning retreat. Prison officials said the strategic plan already has led to significant changes, ranging from new computers to new managers tasked with improving both employee and inmate needs. Employee retention has improved, Harpe said, and a massive technology update is under way. 'We don't retaliate; I'm not a retaliatory guy' The Hot Seat. A chair with the Department of Corrections logo sits in the office of Director Steven Harpe, chosen by Gov. Kevin Stitt to reform an agency under fire from inmates and employees. But any progress the agency has made has been overshadowed in recent weeks by accusations of abuse and retaliation against inmates and employees. Former employees with the Corrections Department have accused the agency of not taking seriously incidents of rape involving guards at Eddie Warrior Correctional Center, a minimum security prison for women in Taft. I told them there were at least eight of these rapes and sexual assaults that were happening between officers and inmates, and every one of them got to resign, former Corrections Department psychologist Whitney Louis told Oklahoma Watch, which was the first to report the allegations. Like there were no charges brought to them. There was no investigation. Louis filed a Prison Rape Elimination Act complaint that she says was never investigated. She and other former department employees told their stories during a recent hearing held by the Oklahoma House Committee for Criminal Justice and Corrections, where lawmakers raised concerns about the agency's leadership. Whitney Louis testifies before an Oklahoma House committee about rape and assault inside state prisons. The Corrections Department previously had called the accusations unsubstantiated and the comments of disgruntled former employees. In his remarks at the committee hearing, Harpe denied the allegations, but would not openly speak about the specific issues raised because of pending litigation. This has strained our relationship, Rep. Justin Humphrey, the committees chairman, told Harpe about his unwillingness to discuss the issue in public. Harpe also declined to comment to The Oklahoman on the specifics of the accusations but said the comments made at the hearing presented an unfair depiction of his agency. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections administration office is pictured this month. The thing about corrections is, it's so easy, and some of that happened to just try to drum up (stuff) and beat up on corrections ... to get attention, Harpe told The Oklahoman. The truth is, there's a lot of good things going on here. Harpe also rejected accusations of retaliation against former employees. Regardless of what you hear, we don't retaliate; I'm not a retaliatory guy, Harpe said. I have an open-door policy. Anyone in this agency, from the mailroom all the way up, can come see me anytime they want. And some have taken advantage of that, but some are still very afraid because there are people in the shadows that want to say, You're gonna get retaliated against.' But thats not the case. 'We have found issues and problems' Steven Harpe, new director of Oklahoma's Department of Corrections, says establishing a new culture around respect for employees and inmates has been his top goal. Harpe also countered the narrative of a hostile work environment by pointing to an increase in employee retention. Nearly 30% of staff were leaving the agency each year when Harpe arrived, but the rate has fallen to 16.5%, according to Corrections Department officials. A new chief people officer position was created to address employee needs, but Harpe said he also has looked to improve the prison experience for inmates. A newly created chief of offender advocacy official regularly meets with inmates to find ways to improve their safety and health. But Harpe also hears complaints directly when he regularly visits prisons often unannounced and asks inmates what they need. Harpe said some have discouraged him from hearing out inmate complaints because of a belief they might not be truthful. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections administration office is shown this month in Oklahoma City. "But I will tell you so far, and I talk to inmates all the time, every time I chase something down (that they told me about) I find that they've been right, Harpe said. When they say I don't have a bed, I don't have blankets, I haven't been fed in 24 hours every time we chase that down, we have found issues and problems. Stitt said he's pleased with Harpe's work so far, calling him an "asset" at the Corrections Department. He is making the department more streamlined, and his efforts have contributed to our goal of making Oklahoma a top 10 state by achieving the second lowest recidivism rate in the nation," Stitt said in an emailed statement to The Oklahoman. As Harpe moves forward on his multi-year plan, which includes relocating the administrative offices to downtown Oklahoma City, creating a new correctional officer training facility, and pushing for more workforce training programs for inmates, he said building a new culture around respect for employees and inmates has been his top goal. What matters to me more than anything is that we're treating our people with respect and humanity, that we're treating inmates with respect to humanity, Harpe said. Anything that I've been involved with when it comes to people exiting the agency (over the last year) has been (because that) goal wasn't being accomplished. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma prison director Steven Harpe working to change agency The claim: Fire on cargo ship carrying electric vehicles 'impossible to put out,' ship must be sunk instead An August 2 post (direct link, archive link) on X, formerly Twitter, shows smoke billowing from the Fremantle Highway, a cargo ship that caught fire off the coast of The Netherlands in late July. "NETHERLANDS 5 days of carbon emissions," reads the post. "The Cargo ship carrying 2800 premium cars including 509 electric cars is erm, (sic) Proving impossible to put out! So they are going to sink it, destroying the sea bed instead! Very on message." The post was shared more than 100 times on Facebook, according to Crowdtangle, a social media analytics tool. It was also reposted more than 5,000 times on X. Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks Our rating: False The fire on the ship was not impossible to put out it was already extinguished when this claim was made. There was never a plan to sink the vessel, according to the company that operates the ship. Cargo ship fire extinguished prior to social media post Pat Adamson, a spokesperson for "K" Line, the company that operates the Fremantle Highway, told USA TODAY that the fire has been extinguished and that the vessel is now moored at Eemshaven a Dutch seaport. "There was never any intention to sink the vessel to put out the fire," he said. Much of this information is publicly available. On Aug. 1, the day before the claim was posted, Rijkswaterstaat, a Dutch government agency, reported there were no longer signs of fire on the vessel. The agency said the ship was "intact below the waterline," did not heel over and had undergone an initial inspection by a salvage company. The Dutch Coast Guard reports the ship was towed to Eemshaven on Aug. 3 and is "now moored there." Dutch media also reported on the ship's arrival at Eemshaven. Fact check: Video shows gas canister fire, not EV crash The ship was carrying more than 3,700 vehicles, including about 500 electric vehicles, according to the Associated Press. The social media user who made the claim could not be reached, but the post seems to allude to the fact that extinguishing electric vehicle battery fires can be more challenging than putting out other types of fires. An EV battery fire will likely last longer and "may require more resources, such as breathing apparatus wearers, more firefighters, water and appliances," Emma Sutcliffe, project director at EV FireSafe, an Australian company that researches electric vehicle fires, told USA TODAY. "Its important to note that battery fires in road-registered electric vehicles are very rare," she said. "Additionally, an 'EV fire' does not equal EV battery fire.' In fact, less than 50% of EV fires involve the high voltage battery. If the battery is not involved, we treat it like any other car fire." The cause of the fire on the Fremantle Highway has not yet been determined by the company and "will be part of the official investigation," Adamson said. On its website, the Dutch Coast Guard also reported that the agency did not know the cause of the fire. The claim was also debunked by Reuters. 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: Cargo ship with electric cars moored, not sunk | Fact check HELSINKI, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Finnish industrial output decreased by 3.3 percent in June compared to the previous month and by 6.1 percent year-on-year, according to fresh data released by Statistics Finland on Thursday. In June, the chemical industry and the electrical and electronics industry experienced the most substantial declines of 6.6 percent and 6.0 percent from May, respectively. The food industry was an exception, showing a growth of 1.6 percent compared to May. "The momentum behind the industry is fading, and unfortunately, there is no relief in sight," said Jukka Appelqvist, chief economist at the Finland Chamber of Commerce. Appelqvist expects further shrinking in the country's industrial output due to tightening monetary policies and economic fragility in the euro area. This could put a lid on investments and consumption and drag down Finland's economy, he said. Republicans are bracing for a crowded field in the Nevada Senate race to take on Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) as the party looks to win back the majority in the upper chamber next fall. While Senate Republicans landed their top recruit to take on Rosen retired Army Capt. Sam Brown that has not dissuaded several other GOP candidates from throwing their hat in the ring, with two doing so this week: Jeff Gunter, the former U.S. ambassador to Iceland, and retired Air Force Lt. Col. Tony Grady, who lost a primary bid for lieutenant governor in 2022. Former Nevada Secretary of State candidate Jim Marchant launched his campaign in May. The growing number of candidates is complicating Senate Republicans efforts to avoid a messy GOP primary that would risk leaving the eventual nominee bruised going into next fall. People see what we all see: that Rosen is vulnerable. But its also a sign that theres no clear front-runner. Brown has some D.C. institutional backing, but its not anything like it was two years ago for Laxalt, one GOP operative with Nevada ties told The Hill, pointing to the lining up of support from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and top GOP senators. Sams got his work cut out for him, the operative continued. Hes going to have to work for it. Its not going to be a coronation. Republicans are eager to oust Rosen, whose seat is considered a key pickup opportunity for the GOP as it looks to flip the Senate majority. The Senate Republicans campaign arm has changed its approach this cycle and started to recruit candidates in key swing states, like Nevada and West Virginia, after the committees hands-off approach spurred issues of candidate quality for Republicans, costing them in competitive races. Brown ran for Nevada Senate last cycle, before later losing to Republican Adam Laxalt in the GOP primary. Laxalt narrowly lost to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) last fall. But Senate Republicans are starting to coalesce around Brown this cycle. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), the NRSCs chairman, has all but endorsed Brown in name, saying in a statement upon his launch that he was very pleased to see the Army vet in the race. Members of Senate GOP leadership Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) have also backed Browns candidacy. I think one of the reasons youll probably see in the end local and national people rally around Sam Brown is, you dont want a candidate whos going to hurt you in that race, explained Zachary Moyle, former executive director for the state GOP. But Browns candidacy hasnt stopped others from entering the primary field. In addition to campaigns launched by Grady, Gunter and Marchant, several other Republicans have launched long-shot bids for the seat. Some Republicans worry the crowded field could leave the party divided heading into the general election. Republicans are not coming out of these primaries unified. Theyre generally coming out of these primaries very splintered, and that splintering, as much as how people perceive the candidate, has been a huge problem, Moyle said. A second GOP operative with Nevada ties specifically argued Gunter is the only candidate other than Brown with much of a shot of winning the primary, pointing to his unique ability of the candidates to self-fund his campaign. The operative gave Brown an 80 percent chance of winning, a 10 percent chance to Gunter, and the other 10 percent to chaos, referring to potential Democratic meddling to get Marchant across the finish line. However, the hill to climb for both of the new candidates is high. Gunter, a Republican donor, is a California native who was registered to vote there until 2021 and made hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to groups and candidates from a California address. His dermatology private practice also originated in California before opening offices in Nevada. Gunter is also expected to push hard for former President Trumps endorsement and align himself closely with him, having appeared at Trumps Bedminster, N.J., speech after being indicted for his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Trump has yet to offer any endorsements in competitive Senate GOP primaries this cycle as he seeks the White House again. As for Grady, he came in second for the GOP nod to become lieutenant governor last year, but operatives believe he does not have an adequate network or base to win a statewide battle with his campaign launch event that attracted fewer than two-dozen attendees serving as an example. Democrats are eager to see a messy GOP primary play out in the Silver State as they work to defend twice the number of Senate seats as Republicans. All of these Republican candidates carry disqualifying vulnerabilities and positions that are out-of-step with Nevada voters. This messy intraparty fight will leave their ultimate nominee damaged, said Amanda Sherman Baity, spokeswoman for the Senate Democrats campaign arm in a statement. At the same time, Republicans are clear-eyed that dethroning Rosen, who starts the third fundraising quarter this year with roughly $7.5 million cash on hand, will be no easy feat. As the second GOP operative noted, trying to attack Rosen on anything outside of being too liberal or attempting to tie her to Biden is a chore in of itself as there is little to pick apart about her personally. Rosens tough. Theres nothing [to attack her on], the operative noted, pointing specifically to the struggles incurred by former Sen. Dean Hellers (R-Nev.) team when messaging against Rosen in 2018. This lady is just a nice old lady that worked in a synagogue. Added to the mix is a rise in the states percentage of voters identifying as nonpartisan. About 24 percent of active voters in the state identified as nonpartisan, compared to 37 percent who identified as Democrat and 32 percent who identified as Republican, according to November 2020 data released by the Nevada Secretary of States office. But those numbers have jumped since then, with 32 percent of active voters identifying as nonpartisan as of last month, compared to 32 percent identifying as Democrat and 29 percent identifying as Republican. However, they do see some ways of squeezing support in segments of the state and are looking to the success of Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) as an avenue to do so. The operatives specifically noted two areas where the sitting governor ran stronger than Laxalt: with nonpartisan women (the second operative pointed out that Lombardo outran Laxalt by 10 points with that bloc) and with nonwhite working-class voters in Clark County (home to Las Vegas). Lombardo won that race by competing hard in Clark. Laxalt neglected Clark in comparison, the first operative said. You have to do better with working-class nonwhites there. Overall, Republicans say the time is now to shift their strategy and better support their candidates, or risk losing another winnable election. Assuming Brown wins the primary, some strategists believe selling him to voters gives the GOP a better chance at toppling Rosen than going overwhelmingly negative. The playbooks too old and we need to update it, Moyle said. Its time to run some new plays. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Newark police say they are investigating after a man was found dead Thursday morning in the Licking River, near East Main and Easy streets. Detectives responded to the scene around 7:20 a.m. and are investigating what appears to be an accidental death, pending a full autopsy by the Licking County Coroner's Office, according to Newark police. Detectives are working to identify the person and notify his family. The man's precise age remained unknown as of 2 p.m. Thursday, though he appears to be at least 50 years old, Newark police Sgt. Chuck Wilhelm told The Advocate. Authorities ask anyone with any information to contact the Newark Division of Police at (740) 670-7200. nshuda@newarkadvocate.com @NathanielShuda This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Newark police investigating dead body found in Licking River Kimberly Knapp is remembered by her family, loved ones, and colleagues as an exceptional woman who was dedicated to her work, enjoyed reading and traveling, and could make anyone laugh. Knapp, 46, was a well-known criminal defense attorney, who operated her own law firm in Fort Worth. Her life was cut short when she was found fatally shot in her home on the evening of July 24. Rance Ray Magby, 32, was the only other person in Knapps home at the time, according to police, and investigators believe him to be responsible for her death. According to police, officers responded to the home after receiving a call from Magby in which he falsely said that he thought Knapps gunshot wound was self-inflicted. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Magby was arrested and faces a murder charge. Kimberly Knapp, a Fort Worth criminal defense lawyer, enjoyed traveling, going to the beach, and appreciated fine dining, outside of her work. Her life was cut short when she was found fatally shot in her home on July 24. Kristopher Franks Knapp grew up in the small town of Hobart, Oklahoma, where she was born. She came to Texas when her family relocated for work. She graduated from Boswell High School in Fort Worth and participated in gymnastics and cheerleading throughout her childhood. She was outstanding, said her mother, Beverly Franks. She went on to attend Texas Wesleyan University, where she flew right through her undergraduate studies, Beverly said. After she received a full-merit based scholarship, she continued her education at Baylor Law School, where she graduated with honors. Before going into law, she worked at Reata Restaurant and was known by many as the best bartender, Beverly said. Knapp worked throughout her high school and college education, when she saved enough money to purchase her own home. I thought that was exceptional for a young girl like that to purchase her home at that time, said Beverly. According to Kimberlys mother and her brother, Kristopher Franks, law was the career field she was always interested in and she was an outstanding trial lawyer. She loved to go trial and won many cases, Beverly said. Leigh Davis, president of the Tarrant County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, described Knapp as a very dedicated and very passionate advocate for her clients. She wanted to fight for her clients and do as much as she could for them and do as good a job as she could, said Davis. He also said losing Knapp is a real blow to the community. According to Davis, there are only about 200 criminal defense lawyers who regularly try cases at the justice center. It definitely hit everybody hard that Kim is gone in this way, Davis said. She was also an adjunct professor at Texas Wesleyan, where she was also very involved and dedicated to her work, her family and friends said. In addition to traveling and reading, Knapp enjoyed the beach and doted over her two German Shepherds and her Corvette. She was well loved by her friends ... She just had a very funny wit about her, Kristopher said. She was a good person to have around if you were having a bad day. One of her brothers favorite memories of her is when he went with Knapp and their mother to Key West, Florida, and visited several restaurants to find the best key lime pie. Kristopher described her as a good cook, considering her appreciation for fine dining, good food, and wine. Kim was somebody that people always wanted to have at their party or at their get-together or their wedding or whatever the event was, because she had a very radiant energy that she brought with her wherever she went, Kristopher said. She was very popular. People were drawn to her. An interesting person. Very dynamic. Definitely not boring at all, Beverly said. You know, kind of an exciting person that you were going to have fun with ... She took that with her. Knapp was laid to rest in Hobart and is survived by her mother, her brother, and her husband, John Knapp. At least 53 people have died and thousands more have been evacuated as wildfires continue to devastate the historic town of Lahaina on the island of Maui, Hawaii. Fanned by winds from a faraway hurricane, multiple neighbourhoods and treasured wildlife has been burned to the ground. Hawaii Governor Josh Green told CNN on Thursday more than 1,700 buildings and billions of dollars in property had been destroyed in the disaster. We just had the worst disaster Ive ever seen. All of Lahaina is burnt to a crisp. Its like an apocalypse, Lahaina resident Mason Jarvi said. The fire that burnt Lahaina was 80 per cent contained by Thursday morning, Maui County said. More than 14,000 people were evacuated from Maui as of Wednesday, as officials confirmed widespread devastation to Lahaina, its harbour and surrounding areas. Key Points Wildfire toll rises to 36 in Hawaii More than 11,000 people evacuated from Maui Residents entering the ocean due to smoke and fire conditions' People are jumping into the ocean to escape Hawaii wildfires on Maui How to help the people of Maui WATCH: Passenger plane lands in Maui surrounded by orange flames 10:10 , Rachel Sharp A wildfire burns in Kihei, Hawaii 09:55 , Maroosha Muzaffar A wildfire burns in Kihei, Hawaii late Wednesday, 9 August 2023. Thousands of residents raced to escape homes on Maui as blazes swept across the island, destroying parts of a centuries-old town in one of the deadliest US wildfires in recent years. (AP Photo/Ty O'Neil) Pictures of the Week-North America-Photo Gallery (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Before and after satellite images show scale of ferocious Hawaii wildfires 09:35 , Ariana Baio Hawaii governor says 1,000 people still missing 09:15 , Rachel Sharp Around 1,000 people are still missing in the wildfires which have ravaged the Hawaiian island of Maui. Hawaii Governor Josh Green revealed on Thursday evening that hundreds are still unaccounted for, as he warned that the Aloha State is headed for its deadliest disaster in state history. Those unaccounted for are not presumed dead, he said, but have been left without communications and so their safety is unclear. Heres the challenge: theres no power, no internet, no phone, no radio. You compound some of that. So when were speaking to our officers, we need them to get a sat phone, he said. Theres around 1,000 missing. It doesnt mean that many have passed - Im not saying that at all - but because we cant contact them we cant know. The governor admitted that we dont know the true death toll. Death toll climbs to 55 08:54 , Rachel Sharp The death toll from the devastating wildfires on the island of Maui, Hawaii, has now climbed to 55 as officials warned that the loss of life is expected to rise further. On Wednesday, Lahaina, Pulehu and Upcountry fire departments said that 36 people had died as a result of the fires. Another 17 fatalities were confirmed at around midday on Thursday, taking the toll to 53 victims. By Thursday night, another two people had been found dead taking the death toll to 55, Maui County confirmed. The identity of the victims remains unknown. Maui wildfires map: Where are the Hawaii fires? 08:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar Thousands of residents in Hawaii have been racing to escape their homes as deadly wildfires swept across the island of Maui, killing at least 53 people in one of the worst US wildfires in recent years. Read the full piece here: Maui wildfires map: Where are the Hawaii fires? Search for bodies continues as officials call for patience 08:07 , Holly Evans Authorities in Maui are still trying to locate and identify people who died in Lahaina when a wildfire raced through the historic town. Maui Mayor Richard Bissen told a news conference: People whose homes are not damaged 0 you can come home as soon as we have recovered those who have perished. Please allow us to complete this process. Meanwhile Maui Police Chief John Pelletier asked for patience, prayers and perseverance, adding that his officers are trained to catch bad guys and not to pull bodies from buildings. Search and rescue teams from California and Washington state, which are trained in disaster skills including using dogs to find human remains, have been deployed to Maui to assist with the process, officials said. How did the Hawaii wildfires start? 08:00 , Maroosha Muzaffar Wildfires have sparked a frenzy of questions about how disasters, like this, can be prevented in the future. Heres everything we know about how the Hawaii wildfires started: How did the Hawaii wildfires start? Lahaina survivors say they didnt hear Hawaiis famous warning sirens 07:47 , Holly Evans Maui residents who made desperate escapes from flames, some on foot, have asked why Hawaiis famous emergency warning system didnt alert them as fires raced toward their homes, in interviews at evacuation centers onThursday.Hawaii emergency management records show no indication that the warning sirens were triggered before a devastating wildfire killed at least 53 people and wiped out a historic town, officials confirmed. There are around 400 sirens positioned around the islands, with Hawaii boasting the largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world. Residents claim they werent alerted to the danger by any warning sirens (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved) Many of Lahainas survivors however said they didnt hear any sirens and only realised they were in danger when they saw the flames. Thomas Leonard, a 70-year-old retired mailman from Lahaina, didnt know about the fire until he smelled smoke. As power and mobile phone services had gone out, he was left with no real-time information about the danger. He tried to leave in his Jeep, but had to abandon the vehicle and run to the shore when cars nearby began exploding. He hid behind a sea wall for hours, the wind blowing hot ash and cinders over him.Firefighters eventually arrived and escorted Leonard and other survivors through the flames to safety. Maui wildfires map: Where are the Hawaii fires? 07:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar Thousands of residents in Hawaii have been racing to escape their homes as deadly wildfires swept across the island of Maui, killing at least 53 people in one of the worst US wildfires in recent years. US senator Brian Schatz said the historic town of Lahaina, which dates back to the 1700s, is almost totally burnt to the ground, with the blaze leaving behind smoking piles of rubble where historic buildings stood. This is a deeply sombre day, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said. The gravity of losing any life is tragic. As we grieve with their families, we offer prayers for comfort in this inconsolable time. Where are the current wildfires in Hawaii? Read here: Maui wildfires map: Where are the Hawaii fires? Rainbow appears over Maui on Thursday morning 07:00 , Ariana Baio A rainbow can be seen as rain falls over Maui in Kahului (REUTERS) Hurricane Dora is fuelling Hawaii wildfires. Heres how 06:45 , Maroosha Muzaffar The wildfires in Hawaii damaging buildings and leading to evacuations are spurred on by heavy winds coming from Hurricane Dora off the islands coast. The storm was moving west across the Pacific Ocean hundreds of miles south of Hawaii on Wednesday. To the west of Maui, residents scarpered into the ocean to avoid the fires and smoke. County officials said they were rescued by the US Coast Guard. Winds reached up to 45 miles an hour, with gusts of up to 60 mph, according to the National Weather Service. The agency told residents on social media to secure their property and to prepare for lost power and travel disruptions. Hurricane Dora is fuelling Hawaii wildfires. Heres how Burned out cars sit after a wildfire raged through Lahaina, Hawaii 06:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar Burned out cars sit after a wildfire raged through Lahaina, Hawaii, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023 (AP) United Airlines only operating flights out of Maui to assist in evacuations 06:00 , Ariana Baio United Airlines said they have removed inbound flights to Kahului Airport to assist in evacuating visitors as the island battles wildfires. The airlines said in a statement that they are monitoring the situation in Hawaii closely and emphasising safety of their employees in Maui, according to NBC News. Weve canceled todays inbound flights to Kahului Airport so our planes can fly empty to Maui and be used as passenger flights back to the mainland, United said. The airline is also offering refunds to passengers who want to cancel their flights. Hawaii fires: Lahainas 150-year-old banyan tree hit by wildfire 05:41 , Maroosha Muzaffar For generations, the banyan tree along Lahaina towns historic Front Street served as a gathering place, its leafy branches unfurling majestically to give shade from the Hawaiian sun. By most accounts, the sprawling tree was the heart of the oceanside community towering more than 60 feet (18 meters) and anchored by multiple trunks that span nearly an acre. Like the town itself, its very survival is now in question, its limbs scorched by a devastating fire that has wiped away generations of history. For 150 years, the colossal tree-shaded community events, including art fairs. It shaded townsfolk and tourists alike from the Hawaiian sun, befitting for a place once called Lele, the Hawaiian word for relentless sun. Ring by ring, the tree has captured history. Lahainas beloved 150-year-old banyan tree hit by wildfire Hawaii wildfires are 'like apocalypse', says local who was burnt driving through blaze 05:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar Collin Morikawa has roots in Lahaina. Hes pledging $1,000 per birdie for Hawaii fires relief 05:19 , Maroosha Muzaffar Collin Morikawa is pledging $1,000 for every birdie he makes the next three PGA Tour events to help with relief for the deadly wildfires in Hawaii. For him, its personal. His grandparents were born in Lahaina, the historic town on Maui where Front Street and all its restaurants and shops have been obliterated by the wind-swept fires that have claimed at least 36 lives. He still has relatives on Maui, though most have moved to Oahu. I think theyre all right, but just to hear ... woke up this morning, just checking the news, and to see how many people have passed away from that, yeah. Im at a loss for words, Morikawa said. Morikawa, who won the PGA Championship and the British Open within two years after graduating from California-Berkeley, began his bid Thursday with six birdies in his opening round of 65 in the FedEx St. Jude Championship. He posted his plans on Instagram on Thursday morning, and by the end of the day had decided to send the money raised to Maui United Way and World Central Kitchen to help survivors on Maui and elsewhere in Hawaii. Collin Morikawa pledges $1,000 per birdie for Hawaii fires relief Additional shelters open in Maui 05:00 , Ariana Baio ICYMI: Maui locals flee into ocean to escape wildfire 04:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar WATCH: Biden announces major disaster in Hawaii 04:00 , Ariana Baio President Biden says he has approved a major disaster declaration for Hawaii after wildfires killed dozens of people, and vows to provide all available federal assistance. pic.twitter.com/vEmyqdkxS6 The Recount (@therecount) August 10, 2023 Recap: More than 11,000 people evacuated from Maui 03:00 , Ariana Baio As a wildfire ravages through Maui, more than 11,000 travellers have been evacuated, the Hawaii Department of Transportation said according to Reuters. Despite the fires, airports were open and airlines were dropping airfare to help get people off the island, Ed Sniffen said. Aerial footage shows historic town of Lahaina destroyed by blaze 02:30 , Ariana Baio ICYMI: President Biden issues major disaster declaration as wildfires burn in Hawaii 01:50 , Ariana Baio President Joe Biden declared the wildfire disaster in Hawaii to be a major disaster, allowing for the state to use federal funding in recovery efforts. On Thursday, Mr Biden issued the declaration after 36 people died and thousands of others were evacuated as a result of the raging wildfires that burned through several areas of Maui, Hawaii and Ohau. Ariana Baio reports: President Biden issues major disaster declaration as wildfires burn in Hawaii Oahu remains open to tourists, Hawaii tourism official confirms 01:20 , Ariana Baio Oahu is still open to tourists, a Hawaii tourism official has said as travellers rush to leave amidst devastating wildfires in western Maui. It is west Maui that is devastated. What travellers are doing now that were understanding is they are changing their vacation plans. Theyre going to Oahu. Theyre going to Hawaii Island, James Kunane Tokioka, the states business, economic development and tourism director, told CNN. We have shared with our hotel partners to make sure that we give them the best rates available. Were trying to accommodate people. Some people have saved their whole life to come to Hawaii and it would be a shame if they had to go straight back to their homes on the mainland, he added. Meanwhile, more than 11,000 travellers were evacuated from Maui, Ed Sniffen of the Hawaii Department of Transportation said late on Wednesday. Hawaii officials say 53 people have died in fires 01:05 , Abe Asher Maui County officials on Thursday evening said that at least 53 people have died in the Lahaina fires as the death toll from the emergency continues to increase. Maui County now says there are 53 total fatalities related to the Lahaina fire after 17 more were confirmed today. The status of all three fires remains unchanged from the last update at 10:30 a.m. this morning. Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 10, 2023 In addition to the 53 people who have lost their lives in the fire, dozens more are injured and recieving care while many others have lost their homes or are separated from loved ones. More than 1,000 structures have been burned in the flames. There has not any appreciable change in the status of the fires on Thursday evening, and Gov Josh Green told the Associated Press that the death toll is expected to continue to rise in the coming days as search and rescue efforts continue. How did the Hawaii wildfires start? Friday 11 August 2023 00:45 , Ariana Baio August is part of Hawaiis typical dry season when parts of the island experience abnormal to severe droughts. Since the beginning of August, most of Maui has been under an abnormally dry level of drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. But beginning on Tuesday, 8 August, a portion of Maui escalated to a severe drought level making the area more susceptible to wildfires. Ariana Baio reports: How did the Hawaii wildfires start? WATCH: Local who was burnt driving through blaze says wildfires are like apocalypse Friday 11 August 2023 00:00 , Ariana Baio Flags at half-staff in Hononlulu Thursday 10 August 2023 23:20 , Ariana Baio Hawaiis state capital, Honolulu will fly flags at half-staff to honor the lives lost in the wildfires, governor Josh Green ordered. At least 36 people were killed and dozens of others injured in the ragging wildfires that tore through multiple islands this past week. Where are the Hawaii fires? Thursday 10 August 2023 22:45 , Ariana Baio Voices: I saw houses being washed away in Alaska. Stop the victim blaming Thursday 10 August 2023 22:00 , Ariana Baio In Maui, hurricane-fueled fires have resulted in dozens of deaths, people missing, and communities decimated. We should avoid shaming and guilt-tripping people about their choices regarding where they live. Summer Koester writes: I saw houses being washed away in Alaska. Stop the victim blaming Hawaiian Airlines offering $19 flights from Maui to Honolulu Thursday 10 August 2023 21:30 , Ariana Baio In assisting evacuation efforts, Hawaiian Airlines said it would offer seats on a flight from Maui to Honolulu for $19 on Friday. The airline wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that they were adding additional flights to help bring people out of Maui. Seats remain available today through Friday for $19 to facilitate urgent travel from Maui to Honolulu, Hawaiian Airlines wrote. Unclear how much of Maui has been burned Thursday 10 August 2023 21:10 , Ariana Baio Hawaii officials gathered on Thursday to begin assessing the damage and death toll in Maui after wildfires raged through the islands this past week. Lieutenant governor Sylvia Luke said it was unclear how much has been lost in areas beyond the town of Lahaina, which was hit hard, according to The New York Times. Maui resident describes sudden evacuation after wildfire spread Thursday 10 August 2023 20:45 , Ariana Baio A resident of Maui, Hawaii described the hasty evacuation he made after uncontrollable wildfires spread on Tuesday evening. In an interview with CNN, Jeff Melichar said he was out on a walk on Tuesday when he saw the fire rapidly approaching his neighbourhood. "We had to run back through the neighborhood because we were getting overwhelmed with smoke and embers, Mr Melichar said. Residents did not have much time to gather their belongings due to the fire, which was spreading quickly because of strong winds. We ran back to the house and had another 10 or 15 minutes before we knew we were going to be overtaken. And at that point, we had to just jump in the car. He added: "It was rather traumatic." Maui resident Jeff Melichar lost his home and a rental property to the wildfires. He tells @MarquardtA what he and others have endured. pic.twitter.com/OMt4581W3S CNN News Central (@NewsCentralCNN) August 10, 2023 How to help victims of Hawaii wildfires Thursday 10 August 2023 20:19 , Ariana Baio Thousands of Hawaii citizens have been displaced following wildfires that devastated the historic town of Lahaina in Maui. Multiple neighbourhoods were burned as the fires were fueled by heavy winds blowing from Hurricane Dora, resulting in many being told to evacuate, with some Hawaii residents taking refuge in the ocean to avoid the flames. As of 10 August, at least 36 people have died and 11,000 have been evacuated as a result of the wildfires. Brittany Miller reports: How to help victims of Hawaii wildfires New aerial images show destruction of Lahaina Thursday 10 August 2023 19:55 , Ariana Baio Aerial images taken above the historic town of Lahaina on Maui, Hawaii show the aftermath of the wildfires that burned throughout the town. Buildings, grass and trees were covered in black soot and ash on Thursday morning showing how destructive the fires were. An aerial view shows destroyed homes and buildings that burned to the ground around the harbor and Front Street in the historic Lahaina Town (AFP via Getty Images) President Biden offers prayers and assets to Hawaii Thursday 10 August 2023 19:30 , Ariana Baio In remarks given on Thursday, President Joe Biden said he had spoken with Hawaii governor Josh Green where he offered all available resources to the state. Mr Biden said he had a long conversation with Mr Green to ensure Hawaii had all federal and state resources it needed in recovery. We offer our prayers, not just our prayers but every asset we have will be available, Mr Biden said. The President has also ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to streamline all requests. Mr Biden appointed Maona Ngwira to coordinate federal recovery operations. Wildfires in Hawaii could be the states worst natural disaster in decades Thursday 10 August 2023 19:00 , Ariana Baio Wildfires raging out of control in Hawaii have claimed at least 36 lives, caused large numbers of burn and smoke inhalation injuries, knocked out 911 and cell services, forced residents to escape into the ocean, and destroyed hundreds of homes, officials say. Bevan Hurley reports: Hawaii wildfires could be states worst natural disaster in decades President Biden issues major disaster declaration for Hawaii Thursday 10 August 2023 18:45 , Ariana Baio President Joe Biden declared the wildfire disaster in Hawaii to be a major disaster on Thursday, allowing for federal funding to become available to the state. The funding can now be used for individuals to repair their homes or seek loans and for business owners to recover from the disaster. Federal funding also is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for debris removal and emergency protective measures in Maui County, and assistance for emergency protective measures for Hawaii County, the handout says. Federal coordinating officer of FEMA Maona Ngwira has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas. Average area burned in Hawaii has increased 400 per cent in last century Thursday 10 August 2023 18:20 , Ariana Baio Though the islands of Hawaii are no stranger to some wildfires, the number of fires has increased exponentially over the past century due to human activity and an increase in invasive, flammable grasses, according to the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization (HWMO). Nonnative grasslands and shrublands now cover nearly one quarter of Hawaiis total land area and, together with a warming, drying climate and year round fire season, greatly increase the incidence of larger fires, the HWMO wrote in a factsheet. The HWMO estimates the average number of area burned per year in Hawaii has increased 400 per cent over the past century. How to help the people of Maui Thursday 10 August 2023 18:00 , Ariana Baio Wildfires in Maui, Hawaii have devastated over 270 structures and many residents homes. As firefighters work to contain the fires and conduct recovery efforts, people are being asked to donate to the Hawaii Community Foundation (HCF) to assist in the costly recovery. The fund, called the Maui Strong Fund, was created to provide resources for disaster preparedness, response and recovery. It is currently being used to support the communities affected by the wildfires. HCF will prioritize nonprofit organizations that are supporting community-based rapid response and recovery efforts. Funding will support evolving needs, including shelter, food, financial assistance, and other services as identified by our partners doing critical work on Maui, a description of the fund reads. To donate to the Hawaii Community Fund and support Maui, click here. Maui Fire Department issues safety protocols during cleanup Thursday 10 August 2023 17:45 , Ariana Baio The Maui Fire Department posted a safety guide for residents of Hawaii to follow as they clean up the debris left behind from the devastating wildfires. Tips include wearing a hard hat, eye protection, hearing protection, gloves, long pants, a long shirt and steel-toed boots to protect parts of the body. They also suggested wearing an N95 face mask or a respirator that provides more protection to prevent smoke and debris inhalation. Stay hydrated and avoid working in the hottest part of the day, the Maui Fire Department wrote. Most of Maui experiencing abnormal to severe levels of drought Thursday 10 August 2023 17:19 , Ariana Baio Nearly all of Maui is in a level one or level two drought intensity, according to the US Drought Monitor. Approximately 16 per cent of the island was in severe drought making the area most susceptible to wildfires due to the dry vegetation. This is an increase from the 5 per cent of Maui that experienced severe levels of drought last week. What is causing the fires? Thursday 10 August 2023 17:00 , Eleanor Noyce The wildfires were whipped up by Hurricane Dora, a category 4 storm passing about 500 miles (804 kms) south of the Pacific Ocean archipelago, and a strong high pressure system to the north, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. These strong winds coupled with low humidity levels are producing dangerous fire weather conditions that will last through Wednesday afternoon, the NWS said. The climate crisis has created warmer, dryer conditions that are increasing the risk and extent of wildfires across the western United States, according to the Center for Climate and Energy Conditions. Wildfires have wrought havoc for years across the North American continent, especially in the US Southwest and Canada. But blazes of this magnitude have rarely, if ever, been seen in Hawaii. Barack Obama issues statement on Maui wildfires Thursday 10 August 2023 16:40 , Ariana Baio Its tough to see some of the images coming out of Hawaii a place thats so special to so many of us. Michelle and I are thinking of everyone who has lost a loved one, or whose life has been turned upside down. If youd like to help, you can do so here. Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 10, 2023 Over 14K customers without power Thursday 10 August 2023 16:21 , Ariana Baio Approximately 14,500 customers are without power in Maui, as of early Wednesday morning. Hawaiian Electricity, the company that provides 95 per cent of Hawaii its power, asked customers in West Maui and Upcountry for patience as the wildfires rage on. The company said customers should plan for extended outages. The climate crisis will irrevocably change how we holiday: Heres what the future of travel looks like Thursday 10 August 2023 16:00 , Ariana Baio Thousands of visitors in Hawaii are being forced to evacuate after raging wildfires took over parts of Maui. Unprecedented extreme weather will soon become a norm according to climate scientists, what does this mean for the future of travel? Benjamin Parker reports: All change: The climate crisis will irrevocably alter how we holiday Thousands without cellphone service Thursday 10 August 2023 15:40 , Ariana Baio Due to the unprecedented fires in Maui knocking out cellphone service, thousands of people were unable to contact emergency services or loved ones. Lieutenant governor of Hawaii, Sylvia Luke, told ABC that residents were unable to contact emergency services or loved ones due to the lack of phone service. On Twitter, people visiting the island described the terrifying experience being without service and power while trying to evacuate. Personal Update Was stuck in West Maui the past few days due to the wildfires without power or cell service and no access to the airport. My wife and I are fine and now are at the airport overnight waiting for our flight to Oahu then the mainland. Absolute horror scene there pic.twitter.com/Pf0eE7D6kz Joe Dellera (@JoeDellera) August 10, 2023 United Airlines will only operating flights out of Maui to assist in evacuations Thursday 10 August 2023 15:20 , Ariana Baio United Airlines said they have removed inbound flights to Kahului Airport to assist in evacuating visitors as the island battles wildfires. The airlines said in a statement that they are monitoring the situation in Hawaii closely and emphasising safety of their employees in Maui, according to NBC News. Weve canceled todays inbound flights to Kahului Airport so our planes can fly empty to Maui and be used as passenger flights back to the mainland, United said. The airline is also offering refunds to passengers who want to cancel their flights. A great white shark spotted off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in 2022. Joseph Prezioso/Getty Images Researchers said they were shocked to find out that two great white sharks had become friends. The sharks, Simon and Jekyll, have traveled more than 4,000 miles together up the Atlantic Coast. A scientist said finding these "buddies" was surprising because white sharks were usually solitary. Turns out that even chronically single apex predators may need companionship sometimes. Researchers were shocked to discover that two great white sharks typically solitary creatures had seemingly become friends and had traveled thousands of miles together. Scientists at Ocearch, a nonprofit research organization, first tagged Simon and Jekyll with location trackers in December off the coast of Georgia, according to the group's website. Ocearch said in a video posted on Facebook that scientists had since learned that the sharks had traveled practically side-by-side for more than 4,000 miles up the Atlantic Coast to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Great white sharks travel hundreds of miles north from Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas in the summer to search for gray seals. Canda's rebounding seal population attracts the predators, Live Science reported. Why are these two great white sharks sticking together? "This is potentially groundbreaking," Bob Hueter, the chief scientist at Ocearch, said in the Facebook video, adding, "We've never seen anything quite like this before." Heuter continued, "White sharks lead a very solitary existence. We don't really expect to see these white sharks staying together, but Simon and Jekyll, they seem to be buddies in the sense that they're going in the same place at the same time." Heuter said in the video that Ocearch was planning to conduct genetic analyses on samples of the sharks' DNA to determine whether the pair were brothers or half-brothers. They're both juvenile sharks, with Simon weighing in at 434 pounds and 9 feet 6 inches long and Jekyll at 395 pounds and 8 feet 8 inches, according to their profiles on Ocearch's website. Gray reef sharks, sand tigers, and hammerheads form social groups to some degree. Yannis Papastamatiou, a professor at Florida International University, said behavior varied from shark to shark even though great white sharks were usually solitary. Some are friendly, and others prefer to be alone. Read the original article on Business Insider Donald Trump's attorneys were told by the Department of Justice last week that he may soon be indicted and arrested for alleged crimes connected to the Jan. 6 coup attempt. That would make the third time that Trump is indicted and arrested for allegedly committing crimes this year. The ex-president also faces an indictment in Georgia for additional alleged crimes connected to the events of Jan. 6 and the plot against American democracy. Also on Thursday, special counsel Jack Smith and his investigators filed additional charges against Trump that include obstructing justice in connection with the Mar-A-Lago stolen classified documents case. If Trump is found guilty of committing all of these alleged crimes, he may spend the rest of his life in prison. How is Donald Trump going to respond? Predictably. He will threaten and encourage, through direct means as well as stochastic terrorism and other veiled commands, acts of violence, chaos, mayhem and murder. To that point, in response to his impending indictment and arrest for the crimes of Jan. 6, Trump is behaving like an unrepentant reprobate, as he rants and throws a fit on his Truth Social disinformation platform. Trump's verbal explosions there these last few days include statements such as: "We'll have fun on the stand with all of these people that say the Presidential Election wasn't Rigged and Stollen. THE TRIAL OF THE CENTURY!!!" "2024 ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!" "PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT!!!" "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!" "They ought to throw Deranged Jack Smith and his Thug Prosecutors in jail, with Meritless Garland and Trump Hating Lisa Monaco. They have totally Weaponized the Department of Injustice. Whatever happened to the Crooked Joe Biden Boxes Case? Why was Hillary Clinton allowed to delete 33,000 emails, many of them Classified, AFTER getting a Subpoena from Congress? Why was Bill Clinton allowed to take tapes out of the W.H. in his socks? Why has no other President ever been charged? ELECTION FRAUD!" "How can Deranged Jack Smith bring a case on January 6th., as ridiculous as it is anyway, when I have already won such a case, and been fully acquitted, in the U.S. Senate? In other words, I was Impeached on this, and WON!!! ELECTION INTERFERENCE & PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT, all rolled up as one. We are truly a Nation In Decline!" "At the direction of Crooked Joe Biden and his Weaponized DOJ, Deranged Jack Smith is attempting to destroy the lives of two fine people who have worked for me (and have done a great job!) for a long time. They are being persecuted with one goal, to "Get Trump." This is textbook Third World intimidation by rabid, lawless prosecutors. These same craven tactics were used, and failed, during the Russia, Russia, Russia Witch Hunt and other Hoaxes. We will not let Radical Lunatics destroy our Country!" To reiterate: There is no evidence of real election interference against Trump and the Republican Party. Trump is again trafficking in the Big Lie, where any such "election interference" or related skullduggery in the 2020 election was actually committed by Donald Trump and his Republican Party and other agents to suppress, nullify, and outright rig and steal votes to keep him in power against the will of the American people. Yet at a rally held in Eerie, Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump continued with his fascist-authoritarian Big Lie verbal fusillades and other mouth noises against reality, the truth, and human decency as he continued to proclaim that he is being "persecuted" by some vast conspiracy because he is a champion of the MAGA movement and "real Americans": They waited two and a half, almost three years, so that they could bring this up right in the middle of my presidential election because it's election interference. They're crooked people...You know they're not indicting me; they're indicting you. I just happen to be standing in their way that's all it is....Until the FBI, DOJ, and IRS hand over every scrap of paper they have on the Biden Crime Families corrupt businesses dealings. We have to know, and the public deserves to know. Fake news is all you get. They refuse to discuss the Biden crime family, but enjoy covering false indictments of Donald Trump, who has done nothing wrong During his speech, Trump made an exceptionally vulgar attack on President Joe Biden, calling him "a dumb son of a bitch": We have somebody that's not at the top of his game, never was at the top of a game. Never was...We have a guy who's a dumb son of a b***h to allow this to happen Every dollar spent attacking me by Republicans is $1 given straight to the Biden campaign if he makes it. The crowd of MAGA faithful in Eerie was in ecstasy. Donald Trump is not going to change or otherwise modify or correct his behavior. He is 77 years old; violence is core and central to his personhood, identity, and way of being in the world. As mental health professionals continue to warn, Trump has shown himself to be a sociopath if not a psychopath. His collective behavior such as the coup attempt on Jan. 6, democide in response to the COVID pandemic, being impeached twice, the multiple indictments and arrests, embrace of neofascism, massive corruption, malignant narcissism and utter disregard for reality and facts, political cultism, and other pathological behavior by an American president is unprecedented in the country's history. Thus, the problem and growing peril for the nation: what happens when the unprecedented keeps repeating itself and by doing so becomes normalized and no longer "shocking" or "surprising"? In continuing with his many and varied incitements to violence and civil disorder, last Monday Trump shared an image on his Truth Social disinformation platform with the caption, "'Nothing can stop what is coming." This is language associated with the antisemitic Qanon conspiracy cult and a threat of massive destruction and violence in the form of a "storm" a bloody revolution and purge against the "deep state" and other "enemies" of the movement and "White Christianity" and "real Americans." A large percentage of Republicans believe in some or all of the Qanon conspiracy-lie and its claims about how Democrats, liberals, progressives, "the left" and other elements of some global cabal-secret society control the world using superpowers they obtain from drinking the blood of children and other victims. The mainstream news media, however, with several notable exceptions such as MSNBC, was mostly silent about Trump's renewed Qanon threats. And not to be ignored by a public and news media that are afflicted with a very short attention span and what too often appears to be a form of organized forgetting and collective amnesia, several weeks ago Donald Trump shared what he believed to be the Washington DC home address of former president Barack Obama on his Truth Social disinformation platform. As Trump intended, one of his MAGA cult members, who was armed with two guns, a machete, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, attempted to gain access to Obama's home with the goal of assassinating him. On his Truth Social disinformation platform, Trump shared audio of him saying that "If you f**k around with us, if you do something bad to us, we are going to do things to you that have never been done before." Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course. The ex-president continues to harangue, insult, and generally make threats against Attorney General Merrick Garland, Special Counsel Jack Smith, and the other prosecutors and members of law enforcement who are attempting to hold him accountable like any other person in the United States should be under the law. Trump has also threatened that if he were to go to prison for his alleged crimes that "I think it's a very dangerous thing to even talk about, because we do have a tremendously passionate group of voters, much more passion than they had in 2020 and much more passion than they had in 2016." So there is a move to keep the names of the jury members in Trump's impending criminal trials a secret because of concerns about their safety in the face of death threats and other acts of intimidation and violence. Violence, malice, and menace are the animating energy for Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and his Hitlerian promise of a final battle and revenge against him and his MAGA movement's perceived enemies such as the Democrats, liberals, progressives, the news media, and any others who dare to oppose them and their plans to end multiracial pluralistic democracy. Trump's threats and plans are not hyperbole, bluster, or just "politics" and "polarization." These are real threats that should be responded to appropriately and with extreme haste. On this, we should heed journalist Masha Gessen's wisdom: Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. He means what he says. Whenever you find yourself thinking, or hear others claiming, that he is exaggerating, that is our innate tendency to reach for a rationalization. This will happen often: Humans seem to have evolved to practice denial when confronted publicly with the unacceptable. National security, law enforcement, and other experts are continuing to warn that right-wing extremism is 1) the greatest threat to the country's domestic safety and security and 2) that there are many millions of Trump's followers who believe that President Biden and the Democrats are usurpers, otherwise illegitimate, and who "stole" the White House from Trump and the MAGA movement. What should be done to stop Donald Trump and his repeated incitements and commands to violence and mayhem? In a recent interview with host Dean Obeidallah on SiriusXM, Glenn Kirschner, who is a former federal prosecutor, explained why Donald Trump should be taken into custody immediately: Donald Trump should be detained pending trial.And I say that not from my own personal preference or animosity, I have for the man....I say it because the law provides that when there is clear and convincing evidence that a defendant pending trial presents a danger to the community he is supposed to be detained, or she is supposed to be detained pending trial, that's the law.Everyone has ignored that when it comes to Donald Trump. Psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank, who is the author of the book "Trump on the Couch", agrees with Kirschner. In a recent conversation here at Salon, Dr. Frank told me that: He gives permission to unstable people to carry out their grievances at a murderous level. This is not just because violent people love Trump, but because they are following Trump's stated practice of striking back "ten times as hard" with any means available when he feels wronged. I'm beginning to think a warning, or even a gag order is not sufficient. He needs to be secured where nobody can hear his genuinely dangerous outpourings. And it needs to be now. As I continue with my efforts to warn the American people about how dangerous Donald Trump and his neofascist movement continues to be, there are many moments when I feel like I am in a documentary film or TV series that is being directed by Joshua Oppenheimer or Errol Morris. I imagine myself sitting across from a detective, discussing a mass murderer, a cannibalistic serial killer, mad bomber or terrorist, or some other evildoer. I slowly read off the long list of arrests and criminal incidents and other warnings the proof of what this man was doing in the years and decades before he was finally arrested and put in prison. The detective, nervous, looks away sheepishly, his eyes searching for some type of explanation or deflection. He mutters, "We couldn't have imagined, it was all so shocking. Who could have ever guessed such a thing was happening? I press back, "The evidence was right in front of you. The police could have stopped him years ago and his victims would still be alive." I say nothing; Silence is an interviewer's friend. The camera focuses back in on the detective's face and lingers on it for a few seconds. He has nothing else to say. The screen then fades to black as he takes off the mic, gets up from the chair, and then exits the room. That is America in the Age of Trump. Will there be an epilogue and some satisfying closure from Donald Trump's criminal trials? That is the stuff of Hollywood movies. The Trumpocene is real life. Read more about the Trumpocene Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday the deployment of 11 members from California search-and-rescue task forces to assist the hardest hit areas from devastating wildfires in Maui that have killed at least 53 people this week in Hawaii. The Federal Emergency Management Agency worked closely with Newsom as the California governor directed the Office of Emergency Services to also deploy state personnel specializing in urban search-and-rescue and mass fatality management to support Hawaiis operations. The specialized team includes local government firefighting personnel from Sacramento, Riverside and Oakland. The wildfires and devastation that Maui is experiencing is all too familiar and all too horrifying. We stand at the ready to aid Hawaii in its time of need, Newsom wrote in a social media post. Newsom spoke with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on Wednesday on how California could support the island state through its response and recovery from the devastating wildfires, according to a Cal OES news release. California will be sending search and rescue teams to assist in Hawaii's recovery efforts. The wildfires and devastation that Maui is experiencing is all too familiar and all too horrifying. We stand at the ready to aid Hawaii in its time of need. Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) August 10, 2023 Nancy Ward, director of Cal OES, said she has been on the phone with Hawaiis emergency management director, Kenneth Hara, to coordinate the types of resources that they need. We have expertise, as everyone knows, in wildfires. We have expertise in debris removal, which is something that Hawaii has done for hurricanes fires a little bit different because you have possibly remains, possibly hazmat materials, Ward said in a released statement. We have sent two of our subject matter experts on fire resources to Hawaii already. Several hundred volunteers with the American Red Cross are flying to, if not already in, Maui to give their support. The Red Cross has a deep pool of volunteer roles from sheltering to nurses to mental health and spiritual care as they work with local governments and evacuees during the crisis, officials said. Red Cross Gold Country, a local California chapter of the American Red Cross, has already sent four volunteers from Northern California, three shelter-trained and one a government liaison, according to Steve Walsh, the chapters communications director. Walsh said all volunteers will spend a two-week term in Maui and, because this is planned to be an extended event, that the Red Cross is constantly looking for new volunteers, which make up 96% of its workforce. Those who are interested in volunteering with the American Red Cross can register online at www.redcross.org/volunteer. All costs of travel and board are covered by the nonprofit, which also relies heavily on donations. WASHINGTONSeeking to build suspense - and attract attention - Donald Trump said Wednesday he would disclose next week whether he will attend the first Republican presidential candidates' debate on Aug. 23. "I'll let it be known next week," Trump said in an interview Wednesday with Newsmax TV, even as he continued to question whether he should attend the event to be held in Milwaukee in just two weeks. Trump said one issue is that he won't sign the pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee if it is not him - a requirement for entry into the debate. Trump said there are some GOP candidates he would never support, though he would not name them. During the Newsmax interview, the thrice-indicted Trump also attacked President Joe Biden as well as state and federal prosecutors who are putting together criminal cases against him. The 2024 Republican presidential candidates - will Donald Trump be on the debate stage? Trump has suggested for months that he might skip the first in a series of planned Republican debates. The front-running candidate said he doesn't want to give rivals free shots at him when he has such big lead in polls. In recent days, Trump has polled supporters about whether he should debate, posing the question at campaign events and in fundraising solicitations. Opponents like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are seeking to goad Trump to the debate, seeing it as the best way to make inroads into his lead. Christie, assailing Trump's most recent mocking of his weight, has frequently said the ex-president is a "coward" if he doesn't meet with his rivals. "Show up at the debate and say it to my face," Christie said Wednesday on the social media platform X. "Ill be there ... waiting for you." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump on Newsmax reveals he will say next week whether he will debate At least 88 Ukrainian companies directly or indirectly owned by Russian oligarchs linked to the countrys military industry have not yet been confiscated, the Trap Aggressor project of the StateWatch think-tank reported on Aug. 10. According to the report, Ukrainian-born Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman, whose Sens Bank has been recently nationalized, continues to directly or indirectly hold shares in the mobile operator Kyivstar, bottled water producers Morshinska and Myrhorodska, and other companies. Fridman, the founder of Russias Alfa Bank, is currently under international sanctions and was arrested in the U.K. in December 2022. He was released on bail on suspicion of fraud-related offenses. Investigative reporters discovered in May that his company Alpha Insurance Firm insures the vehicles of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine. The company is also reported to provide services to Russian dictator Vladimir Putins Main Office of Special Programs, which guards him. Another company Fridman co-owns, X5 Retail Group, also cooperates with the Russian military through the groups grocery chains. Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov, the owner of the Ukrainian travel agency Tui, also owns the Russian Severstal company, which has supplied steel to Russian military-industrial plants, the analysts said. Ivan Savvidi, a Greek Russian businessman who owns the trading company Atlantis-Pak Ukraine and the plastics manufacturer Pentopak, also funds an organization "Greeks in Russia" that has supplied generators and vehicles to Russian occupation authorities in Donetsk Oblast. The research further identified Vahit Alekperov, Alisher Usmanov, Yuriy Kovalchuk, and others as Russian oligarchs who continue to hold assets in Ukrainian companies. This includes enterprises in energy, logistics, hospitality, industry, and other sectors, Trap Aggressor said. The analysts reminded that Ukraine has already confiscated at least 23 companies of Russian oligarchs. Among them are Oleg Deripaska's enterprises, Mikhail Shelkov's factories, as well as the "Ocean Plaza" shopping center of the Rotenberg brothers. Read also: Investigative Stories from Ukraine: Companies of Russian oligarch Fridman allegedly support Russian war effort in Ukraine Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. The News West African leaders retained the option of using military force as a last resort to restore constitutional order in Niger by ordering the activation of the regional blocs standby force. The decision was contained in a communique at the end of a meeting of heads of states of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) on Thursday in Nigerias capital, Abuja. The bloc said it would seek to exhaust all negotiation options to restore order in the wake of the July 26 coup. However, it said all options including the use of force remained on the table. Ecowas, in its communique, said it would instruct its defense chiefs to activate the Ecowas standby force with all its elements immediately and order the forces deployment. The communique did not provide details on the size of the force or where they would be deployed. Thursdays meeting started hours after Nigers coup leaders announced the formation of a cabinet of 21 ministers, to be headed by Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine, a 58-year-old former finance minister who was made prime minister on Monday. At a previous summit on July 30, Ecowas threatened the use of force if Mohamed Bazoum was not restored to the Nigerien presidency by Aug. 6. Regrettably the seven-day ultimatum we issued during the first summit has not yielded the desired outcome, said Nigerias president Bola Tinubu, before todays meeting went into a closed-doors session that produced the communique. Tinubu had emphasized the need to prioritize diplomatic negotiation and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach in remarks before the deliberations began. Know More The Niger coup has grabbed international attention in ways that six other coups in West and Central Africa since 2020 have not. Under Bazoum, Niger had been a dependable ally of France and the United States who have 2,500 troops stationed at military bases there in a long-running fight against terrorists in the Sahel region. Ecowas has imposed a raft of economic sanctions on Niger, the U.S. has said it will cut aid, and Nigeria has stopped supplying electricity. Niger has closed its airspace in response, looking to Burkina Faso and Mali as its sole allies in the subregion. A high-ranking U.S. State Department diplomat was declined a meeting with General Abdourahamane Tchiani earlier this week. A joint Ecowas delegation with the Africa Union and the UN to Niamey on Aug. 8 was also told they would not be received. Alexanders view The Ecowas decision to prepare for forceful action seems designed to show it is maintaining the tough stance it took in the immediate aftermath of the coup. The bloc, having been ignored, needed to be tough enough to avoid losing credibility without inflaming the situation. Despite retaining force as an option, the reality is that Tinubu, the blocs chairman who appears to have driven the blocs approach, faces stiff opposition to such plans from various quarters in Nigeria. An awareness of that opposition seems to have influenced the tone of his opening remarks at the Ecowas summit where he called for a comprehensive assessment of efforts taken so far to produce a new sustainable path towards lasting peace, stability, and prosperity in Niger. The Nigerian leader has taken a rapid approach to policy making since taking office nine weeks ago, scrapping fuel subsidies and multiple exchange rates. Those actions, though premised on expert consensus that they are good in the long-term, have shocked households with rising food prices and significant hardship in the country. Conflict with Niger, which will be led by a mostly Nigerian army, threatens to amplify these anxieties, especially for communities in Nigerias northern states that share a 1,000 mile border with Niger. Shared religious and cultural ties between those Nigerians and Nigeriens around the border means a conflict would be between brothers, as Christopher Gwabin Musa, Nigerias chief of defense staff, described it. Nigeria has a serious humanitarian crisis, with millions of internally displaced persons and hundreds of thousands of refugees including in Niger, a group of northern Nigerians, including a respected former electoral commission chair Attahiru Jega, warned in a letter to Tinubu dated August 9. The group cautioned that the Boko Haram insurgency, farmer-herder conflicts, banditry and mass kidnapping might all be exacerbated as the flow of arms, violent extremism and armed banditry spread and deepen in our sub-region. Nigerias Senate the upper chamber of parliament has already formally refused Tinubus request to authorize military action. Details of a meeting with Nigerian Muslim leaders yesterday are unknown but it seems to have been part of a campaign to get the president to slow his roll. Tinubus spokesperson Ajuri Ngegale did not comment on questions around what was discussed. The activation of a standby force means military intervention remains on the table, as do the problems any such move would create for Nigerias president. The View From Abuja Waziri Adio, founder of Abuja-based think tank Agora Policy, said: I see a dual game going on: Tinubu showing Nigerians (especially northerners) that hes in favour of dialogue; Ecowas showing that military option not yet off the table. Tinubu issuing a statement before the meeting is clearly a message for Nigerians. But we are also bound by the decision of Ecowas. Notable Niger could be Tinubus version of George Bushs misguided actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, warned a member of the Nigerian presidents ruling party of the military threat. Most of what hes doing is on the hoof rather than a carefully considered assessment of the situation. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) The Department of Finance (DOF) said Thursday it is hoping Congress would enact seven key tax measures, which are part of its legislative priorities for economic development. These measures include the following: - Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation - VAT on digital service providers - Excise tax on single-use plastics - Excise tax on pre-mixed alcohol - Excise tax on sweetened beverage and junk food - Mining fiscal regime - Motor vehicle road users tax "These tax revenue measures will enable us to raise revenues totaling 120.5 billion or 0.5% in 2024, and 183.2 billion or 0.6% of GDP in 2026," said Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno during the budget briefing at the House of Representatives. The bills on the excise tax on single-use plastics, value-added tax on transactions, rationalization of the mining fiscal regime, and the motor vehicle users tax were identified as priority measures by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in his recent State of the Nation Address. Meanwhile, the Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation, the fourth package of the tax reform program under the Duterte administration, was already approved by the House of Representatives in the 18th Congress in 2019. It remains pending at the committee level in the Senate. On the other hand, the bill on excise tax on pre-mixed alcoholic beverages was only filed at the lower chamber. The DOF earlier pushed for the revival of the plan to tax junk food and impose a higher tax on sweetened beverages. Aside from these measures, Diokno said he is also hoping Congress would approve bills on capital market development, the military and uniformed personnel pension reform, and carbon taxation. Ivory Coast leader Alassane Ouattara (right) and Ecowas head Omar Touray discussed possible military responses to the Niger coup West African nations have approved armed intervention in Niger "as soon as possible", the Ivory Coast president says, following a meeting to discuss the coup. At the meeting, leaders of the Ecowas regional bloc said they had agreed to deploy a "standby" military force. However, they have not given any details of the size of the force. Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu said the use of force would be a "last resort". A military junta seized power in Niger on July 26. After the Ecowas meeting in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, Ivory Coast's Alassane Ouattara said Ecowas had intervened in African countries in order to restore constitutional order before. "Today we have a similar situation in Niger, and I like to say that Ecowas cannot accept this," he said. Mr Ouattara said the Ivory Coast would provide a battalion of 850 to 1,100 men, and said soldiers from Nigeria and Benin would also be deployed. The overall size of the force and how many troops each country is expected to contribute not known now but a presidential source in Abuja told the BBC that Ecowas would want to engage in a "show of force" to convince the Niger coup leaders that it's ready to follow through its threat. "The ultimate goal is to try to bring General Abdourahmane Tchiani to the dialogue table," he said. Speaking to journalists at the end of Thursday's meeting, former Nigerian military leader General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who led a delegation to Niger over a week ago but did not get to see the coup leader, said: "Nobody wants to go to war. We want peace. All options are on the table." Omar Touray, president of the Ecowas group, said members had decided "to order the deployment of the Ecowas standby force to restore constitutional order in Niger". He did not set out further details of what the force it intends to assemble might look like or what action it might take. Abdel Musah, the bloc's security commissioner, told the BBC that Ecowas would not allow the junta to stay in power during a transitional period like their counterparts in Burkina Faso and Mali. However, he said the junta was not willing to have direct contact with Ecowas, making negotiations difficult. The US and UN say they are concerned about the health and safety of deposed president Mohamed Bazoum, who has spent more than two weeks under house arrest. Ahead of Thursday's meeting, Muslim clerics from northern Nigeria, which shares a long border with Niger, had urged Nigerian President Tinubu against using force to oust the coup leaders. But speaking after the meeting, he said: "No option is taken off the table, including the use of force as a last resort. "If we don't do it, no one else will do it for us." The coup leaders have warned they will defend themselves against any intervention. Ecowas had issued a deadline of last Sunday to the Niger junta to restore the democratically-elected government, but it was ignored. Instead, military leaders named a new ruling cabinet. Both the US and France have military bases in Niger, which have been used as part of efforts to tackle jihadist groups in the wider Sahel region. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the the BBC earlier this week that he believes Russia's Wagner mercenary group is "taking advantage" of the instability in Niger. graphic The Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) hasn't imposed sanctions on Andrii Portnov, former pro-Russian Deputy Chief of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration because it has no relevant grounds. Source: Oleksii Danilov, NSDC Secretary, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda Quote: "We only work with documents. If no authority has submitted documents - it doesn't matter whether it's Portnov or some other name - we can't make up our own and follow our emotions." Details: Meanwhile, Danilov added that it was "hard to say" why the relevant authorities had not yet provided the NSDC with the necessary documents regarding Portnov. Background: Andrii Portnov is a former lawmaker, former Chief Judicial Officer of the Presidential Administration of Viktor Yanukovych [former Russian-backed president of Ukraine], and former Deputy Head of the Administration at the time. Portnov ran the pro-Russian TV channel NewsOne from 27 August to 5 October 2018. A 2020 study by Internews Ukraine's UkraineWorld project found that Portnov took active steps to discredit the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution of Dignity, further pro-European reforms in the country, and promote anti-Western agendas by using internet bots. Andrii Portnov has been under US sanctions since December 2021. Journalists say Portnov left Ukraine in June 2022 through Zakarpattia. Earlier, Danilov explained the absence of Ukrainian sanctions against Portnov by noting, "we have so many threats other than Portnov, and many, many threats like Portnov". Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! Norfolk Southern is paying the Clark County Sheriffs Office back after Marchs train derailment in Springfield. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown announced Thursday that the transportation company reimbursed the sheriffs office, the Clark County Emergency Management Agency, Clark County Agricultural Society, and the Springfield Township Fire Department for expenses incurred when responding to the derailment. >>ORIGINAL COVERAGE: PHOTOS: Drone footage shows train derailment near Clark County Fairgrounds When 28 cars of a 212-car train derailed on March 4, the sheriffs office provided emergency services. The reimbursement came after Brown called for the company to pay the sheriffs office back. Clark County Sheriff Deborah Burchett said it was disappointing that the company didnt pay the department back until political pressure was brought to bear. >> RELATED: Springfield Train Derailment: Ohio Senator demanding Norfolk Southern pay its debt to Clark County Nevertheless, we appreciate the efforts of Senator Brown and his team in getting this matter resolved quickly and fairly. Because of their efforts, the Sheriffs Office has now been fully reimbursed by Norfolk Southern, Burchett said. In a statement, Brown said he will continue to hold Norfolk Southern accountable and work to advance policies to help prevent further damage and potential injuries in the future. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the military to sharpen its war plans amid high tensions on the Korean Peninsula as the U.S. and South Korea prepare joint military drills, according to state media. Kim directed a meeting of the countrys central military commission, which he leads as chairman, to discuss making the army more thoroughly gird for war and establishing offensive military countermeasures to deter adversaries, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The outlet stated that adversaries are getting ever more undisguised in their reckless military confrontation with North Korea. Kim has condemned the U.S. and South Koreas war drills, using them as grounds to accelerate his weapons demonstrations. Pyongyang has conducted more than 100 missile launches since early 2022. During Thursdays meeting, Kim signed an order implementing unspecified important military measures, according to KCNA. He called for stepping up North Koreas war preparations, including securing more powerful strike means and conducting actual war drills, state media said. Photos of the meeting published by state media showed Kim pointing to spots in a blurred map of the Korean Peninsula, which appeared to be the metropolitan region surrounding the South Korean capital of Seoul and an area surrounding the central city of Daejeon, the location of South Koreas army headquarters. Kim also dismissed Gen. Pak Su II from his position as the chief of the General Staff and appointed Vice Marshal Ri Yong Gil to replace him, according to KCNA. Ri served a lengthy term as chief of general state, Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior analyst at South Koreas Sejong Institute, told The Associated Press. Ahn Eun-jun, a spokesperson at South Koreas Foreign Ministry, said it was deplorable for North Korea to discuss increasing war readiness while ignoring the countrys poor population. Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson for South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. and South Korean intelligence authorities were closely monitoring North Korean weapons development actions. The Associated Press contributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. A sixth-grade student who returned to the Peaster Independent School District in Parker County on Wednesday has garnered the support of thousands after facing the threat of in-school suspension for his hair length. Hudson Lucas, who has never had a haircut, could face disciplinary action if he does not cut his long, curly locks to at least his shoulders in accordance with a new dress code policy, according to his parents. An online petition, started by his mother Kristan Lucas, to change the policy has amassed more than 11,000 signatures in three days. Shana Gilley, director of communications for Peaster ISD, could not be reached for comment as of Thursday afternoon. Peaster ISD changed a section of its dress code for the 23-24 school year requiring that male hair length must not be below the bottom of the collar, records show. Last year, it stated male hair length must be off the shoulders. The policy is notable compared to whats outlined by various school districts in Tarrant County. The dress codes for Fort Worth ISD, Keller ISD and Northwest ISD do not mention hair length at all. Policies for Arlington ISD and Mansfield ISD mention, respectively, that hair should be kept neat, clean and reasonably styled and hairstyles deemed distracting or inappropriate that interfere with the educational environment may be addressed by administrators. The topic of what hairstyles are allowed in schools recently has become a conversation statewide. Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law in May the CROWN Act that bans race-based hair discrimination in Texas workplaces, schools and housing policies starting Sept. 1. The acronym stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair. His hair length should not dictate his education Kristan Lucas, mother of Hudson, told the Star-Telegram that she didnt expect the petition to go viral, and she and her family dont want to drag our community or the (school) staff that loves us through anything. We really would just love for our son to be able to go to school as he has the last two years, she said. His hair length should not dictate his education. Although Hudson walked into school on Wednesday with his hair untouched and had an absolutely amazing first day, it remains to be seen whether he faces any discipline from the school district or if the policy will be changed. As of right now, we have not cut his hair. We dont know what the next days look like for us, his mother said. Were hoping and praying that something does change. Despite the ongoing issue, Kristan Lucas reiterated her pride in being a parent with the Peaster ISD. We do love our community, and we prayed for the day that we could call this school district home. And we are very proud to be in this school district still, she said. Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, sits for a portrait in her office at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington on Aug. 9. She told HuffPost Ukrainians are not disappointed in their counteroffensive because they knew it would be difficult. Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, sits for a portrait in her office at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington on Aug. 9. She told HuffPost Ukrainians are not disappointed in their counteroffensive because they knew it would be difficult. Oksana Markarova, Ukraines ambassador to the United States, hesitated for the smallest of moments before answering a question thats hung in the air for a while now: When will Ukrainian soldiers make substantial progress in driving Russian invaders out of their country? We have a phrase in Ukrainian; I dont know how to translate it properly, she said. That you dont overexpect and you will never be disappointed. Expectations for the counteroffensive to the Russian invasion that began in February 2022 rose to lofty heights last year and in the early part of this year, buoyed by Ukrainian military successes on the ground and the promise of more Western weapons on the way. But meeting those expectations has been difficult. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to governments around the world for weapons and other support, the Russians were digging in, laying mines, and building layers of defense meant to stall any counteroffensive. In an exclusive interview Wednesday with HuffPost, Markarova said the combination of those defenses, particularly land mines, and concerns for the inhabitants of the occupied areas have slowed Ukrainian progress. But she also urged patience and said there was no lack of resolve on the part of her countrymen. Its not a movie. Its not a show, where you can say, Oh, its not as quick as we have hoped for. We dont have a choice of not doing it, she said. We, actually, are not disappointed. We knew its going to be very hard. Pause And Some Setbacks In the past two months, Ukrainians have liberated only 10 settlements and have made small inroads toward the Russians lines of embedded defense. The sluggish pace, especially compared with last years routs that saw the areas north of the capital Kyiv and around Ukraines second-largest city of Kharkiv cleared relatively quickly, has led to concerns the counteroffensive may stall out. Theyre still going to see, for the next couple of weeks, if there is a chance of making some progress. But for them to really make progress that would change the balance of this conflict, I think, its extremely, highly unlikely, a senior Western diplomat told CNN. That view is not universal, however. Scholars with the independent Institute for the Study of War think tank and the conservative American Enterprise Institute wrote Aug. 3 that it was too soon to say a stalemate had been reached. Ukrainian progress will very likely alternate periods of notable tactical advances with periods, possibly long periods, of pause and some setbacks, they wrote. Much as we might hope that the road to the Sea of Azov will simply open for Ukrainian forces, the odds are high that fighting will remain hard, casualties high, and frustration will be a constant companion. All of which is normal in war. A resident sits outside a damaged building after a Russian missile attack in Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on Aug. 9. Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klimenko stated that seven people were killed in an overnight missile strike by the Russian forces on a city in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk. A resident sits outside a damaged building after a Russian missile attack in Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on Aug. 9. Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klimenko stated that seven people were killed in an overnight missile strike by the Russian forces on a city in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk. Markarova said last falls partial liberation of the Kherson region in the nations south was probably a better comparison than the Kyiv and Kharkiv battles in the north. In Kherson, Ukrainian forces gradually tightened a strategic noose around Russian forces on the western side of the Dnipro River, cutting supply lines and routes of escape until Russians had no tactical choice but to retreat to the eastern side of the river. When Kherson was so protected by the terrain and by the Russian artillery and by a very layered defense, it took us a lot of time, she said. Ukrainian soldiers are also trying to minimize harm to Ukrainian civilians who have been living under occupation, she said, adding, We have to be extra skillful in liberating the villages and cities, to protect our people as we are trying to get the Russians out. All Of It Hurts The Ukrainian will to fight remains, though, even in the face of missile and air strikes against Ukrainian cities on a nightly basis, Markarova said. One of the recent attacks was against Odesa, a Black Sea port, grain shipment point and one of only about 1,000 World Heritage sites designated by the United Nations. The July attack in the heart of the city damaged its oldest cathedral, a museum dedicated to science and many other architectural landmarks. Markarova said the Odesa attack may have received more attention internationally than usual because of the citys reputation as a melting pot of cultures that has produced famous poets and scientists. All of it hurts. Its just, I think, more people know about Odesa, she said. Ukraine also feels its making progress on a different vital front, the ambassador said: its effort to win broad international support for its view of an end to the war. UNESCO conultant Sergiy Revenko shoots a documentary film with a laser camera after a Russian missile attack next to Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa on July 31. UNESCO conultant Sergiy Revenko shoots a documentary film with a laser camera after a Russian missile attack next to Transfiguration Cathedral in Odesa on July 31. Over the weekend, senior officials from 40 countries met in Saudi Arabia for a summit the U.S. helped organize on the conflict. Crucially, the group for the first time included a representative from Russian ally China, a diplomatic win Markarova noted by saying the composition of countries that joined is a success in itself. Having returned from Ukraine after joining a group of ambassadors who met with Zelenskyy, Markarova said the nations mood had not changed much from the initial feeling of determination that settled in once the war started. When we say that its existential for our country or for our nation, its not just some nice words. Its literally we either win this, and we have a chance of living as Ukrainians in our own country, or we will be killed, she said. At the start of the war, she said there was discussion over whether cultural events, like festivals, should be discontinued as part of the war effort. Ultimately, the consensus was to continue, in part because they were needed to continue having life the way we knew it, so that we will not sit down and cry. We will cry when we need to cry. And unfortunately, you know, during this difficult time, there were a lot of moments when we had to cry, she said. But we will get up and move and fight. And win. Akbar Shahid Ahmed contributed reporting. Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, did not want to directly name the oligarchs and politicians who had the greatest pro-Russian influence in Ukraine on the eve of the full-scale war. Source: Danilov in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda Quote from Danilov: "Listen, you are a journalist. You should deal with these things [name these people's surnames UP]... I have many surnames, but it does not mean that I have to name them all. We will see a lot of different surnames after the war, a lot of different stories. But now is not the time to talk about it." Details: Danilov says the oligarchs and politicians who spread pro-Russian narratives and influence in Ukraine "were (and to some extent, probably still are) its hostages" (in particular, due to Russian blackmail or joint business with the Russians). Background: In the fall of 2021, Danilov said that four large groups were fighting for pro-Russian influence in Ukraine on the eve of the full-scale war. One of them is a group led by Viktor Medvedchuk, father of Putins god-daughter. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk expects new data showing the heart benefits of its weight-loss drug Wegovy will help its discussions with public health authorities and other payers about the benefits of paying for it, executives said on Thursday. "This is a key piece of evidence when we have payer discussions on a global level in terms of the value of obesity care treatments," Chief Financial Officer Karsten Munk Knudsen said in a call with media after the company raised its full-year outlook. New trial data released on Tuesday showed patients on Wegovy had a 20% lower incidence of heart attack, stroke or heart disease compared to those on a placebo, sending the firm's shares to all-time highs. Speaking on a call with analysts, Doug Langa, who's in charge of the North American business, said the data would support the case for payers, such as Medicare, to reimburse the cost of the weekly injection. U.S. law classifies weight-loss treatments as lifestyle drugs and bars the Medicare health plan for older Americans from covering them. Experts said the new data could lead the U.S. government to reassess that. It costs $1,300 a month in the U.S.. He said it would be "difficult to restrict" access to the drug, when asked about the possibility of it getting covered by Medicare. (Reporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Writing by Josephine Mason; editing by Jason Neely) The US Army has confirmed all the types of interceptors has sent to Ukraine for use with its Patriot air defense systems. The U.S. Army has disclosed the different interceptors, five in total, it has provided to Ukraine to go with its Patriot air defense systems. This includes what appears to be the first official confirmation that the most modern and highly capable PAC-3 MSE variant has been provided to Ukraine's air defense forces. Overall, the Patriot has been praised by Ukrainian officials as one of the most effective pieces of Western-supplied military equipment the country has received to date. The different types of U.S.-supplied missiles to arm the Ukrainian Patriot batteries were confirmed earlier this week in a briefing that U.S. Army Program Executive Office Missiles and Space (PEO MS) gave at the Space and Integrated Air, Missile Defense (SMD) Symposium, now taking place in Huntsville, Alabama. Aviation Week's Pentagon Editor Brian Everstine shared a picture of the relevant slide on Twitter. In addition to Patriot, PEO MS, specifically, has also overseen direct transfers and/or helped facilitate sales of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and precision-guided rockets for them to fire, Javelin and TOW anti-tank missiles, Avenger air defense vehicles, Stinger shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles (also known as man-portable air defense systems, or MANPADS), and Switchblade 300 loitering munitions to Ukraine's military. https://twitter.com/beverstine/status/1689004398620577794?s=20 To date, the Ukrainian armed forces have received at least two complete Patriot systems, one from the United States and one provided cooperatively by Germany and the Netherlands. Germany recently announced that it supplied two additional Patriot launchers to Ukraine. https://twitter.com/kpszsu/status/1689610283159900160?s=46\u0026t=cbCZ6V64euYCCy5V9r9oiQ A typical complete U.S. Army Patriot battery consists of up to eight trailer-mounted launchers, an AN/MPQ-65 multifunction phased array radar, all linked to an Engagement Control Station (ECS), along with other communications and support equipment. A graphic depicting the components of a typical US Army Patriot battery. via GlobalSecurity.org The slide from the PEO Missiles and Space briefing shows that Ukraine has already received Guidance Enhanced Missile (GEM), GEM-Cruise (GEM-C), and GEM-Tactical (GEM-T) versions of the PAC-2 missile, plus the Cost Reduction Initiative (CRI) and Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) variants of the PAC-3, for use with its Patriot systems. Prior to this, there had been visual confirmation that the PAC-3 CRI was among the interceptors Ukraine was using with its Patriot systems. Patriot systems in Ukraine had also been observed loaded with older interceptors, which come in very different launch canisters from PAC-3 types, which were believed to be PAC-2 types. The remains of a PAC-3 CRI missile that fell in Ukraine's capital Kyiv in May 2023. Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images Ukrainian personnel remove camouflage netting from a Patriot launcher, which is loaded with missile canisters associated with older interceptors like the PAC-2-series. Ukrainian Air Force The original Patriot interceptor, designated the MIM-104A, was introduced with the rest of the initial system in 1981. This was followed by the MIM-104B, also known as the PAC-1 or the Standoff Jammer Countermeasures (SOJC) variant, in the late 1980s. As the SOJC moniker implies, the B version featured guidance system upgrades that made it more resistant to enemy electronic warfare. The MIM-104C, also known as the PAC-2, was also introduced in the late 1980s and featured further guidance system improvements and a new warhead, all designed to give it a formalized anti-ballistic missile capability. U.S. Army Patriot systems, using a mix of PAC-1 and PAC-2 interceptors, infamously had an at best mixed track record against Iraqi Scud short-range ballistic missiles during the Gulf War in 1991. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64_uov7jeP4 The first of the PAC-2 GEM-series missiles, the MIM-104D, the oldest Patriot interceptors the U.S. Army says it has supplied to Ukraine, first entered served in the mid-1990s. These feature an improved seeker designed to help better engage smaller targets or ones otherwise with smaller radar cross-sections, as well as changes to the warhead's fuze to tackle faster-moving ballistic missiles. Per the Army, Ukrainian forces have also received both subvariants of the follow-on MIM-104E, which are also known collectively as GEM+ missiles. The E variant features a completely new front section with upgrades that give both subtypes improved accuracy and overall performance. These interceptors feature various reliability updates, as well. The existence of the GEM-C and GEM-T subvariants is a byproduct of the upgrading of older MIM-104C and D missiles to the E configuration. Converted MIM-104Ds were given additional upgrades to improve performance against tactical ballistic missiles, hence the GEM-T moniker. The MIM-104Cs brought up to the E standard are better optimized against air-breathing threats like cruise missiles, which is why they are referred to as GEM-Cs. The launch of a GEM-T missile. Raytheon Raytheon still produces the GEM-T subvariant today and the design has received further enhancements over the years. The PAC-3 series, the baseline version of which first entered U.S. Army service in 2001, represented a much more radical departure from earlier Patriot interceptors. All PAC-3 types, which Lockheed Martin produces and are sometimes referred to collectively as MIM-104Fs, have a totally different configuration that is svelter than their predecessors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU9C2iLm764 The size and shape of the PAC-3s are by-products of them being ostensibly so-called "hit-to-kill" interceptors. This means they are designed to destroy their targets by physically smashing into them. This separates them from older Patriot missiles, which feature large blast-fragmentation warheads. A briefing slide highlighting the benefits of using PAC-3 for hit-to-kill intercepts against various targets. Lockheed Martin However, as The War Zone has explored in detail, all three PAC-3 types do feature a so-called "Lethality Enhancer" that contains an explosive charge. This component is designed to help improve hit probability, especially against air-breathing threats like cruise missiles, by generating a cloud of metal shrapnel around the missile's body. An infographic showing the key features of the MSE variant of the PAC-3 missile, including the lethality enchanter. Lockheed Martin Compared to the baseline PAC-3, the CRI variant features increased range and, as its name implies, changes to various components intended to help reduce the unit cost of each missile. The MSE variant has a host of much more substantial changes that results in an interceptor that is both visually distinct and larger than the previous two PAC-3 types. PAC-3 MSE has a new rocket motor, improved lethality enhancer, and other additions that allow it to engage threats at higher altitudes and longer overall ranges than previous PAC-3 variants. It is also more maneuverable than the older versions. You can read more about the MSE and its capabilities here. An overview of the improvements found on the PAC-3 MSE variant over its predecessors. Lockheed Martin The size of the PAC-3 interceptors, even the larger MSE variant, means that more can be loaded on a single launcher at once compared to older Patriot interceptors like the PAC-2 series. The latest M903 launcher for the Patriot system can accommodate up to 16 PAC-3 or PAC-3 CRIs, 12 PAC-3 MSEs, or four of any pre-PAC-3 type. A graphic showing various Patriot launcher types and possible load configurations. Lockheed Martin Having more missiles on a single launcher provides valuable additional magazine depth, especially when attempting to counter large volumes of enemy threats. Multiple missiles are often fired at individual targets, depending on the threat it poses, to increase the probability of a successful intercept, too. Furthermore, Patriot launchers can also be loaded with a mix of PAC-3 and pre-PAC-3 types to offer firing units increased flexibility to engage a variety of aerial threats. A graphic giving a very general overview of the kind of threats PAC-2, PAC-2 GEM-series, and PAC-3-series interceptors for the Patriot system are capable of engaging and at what relative ranges and altitudes. Lockheed Martin Having a mix of different PAC-2 and PAC-3 interceptors makes good sense for Ukraine on a number of levels. As The War Zone has highlighted in the past, one of the key arguments for providing Ukraine with Patriot systems to start with was its immensely valuable anti-ballistic missile capability. Since arriving in the country, Patriot has confirmed this capability by shootdowns of Russian Iskander short-range ballistic missiles, as well as examples of the air-launched Kinzhal derivative. In the past, Russia has touted Kinzhal as "invincible" and otherwise specifically designed to defeat modern air defense systems, the Patriot in particular. At the same time, with cruise missiles and drones presently being Russias primary means of launching long-range strikes against Ukrainian targets, the Patriot has also been playing a major role in tackling air-breathing threats. In one standout example, it appears that the Patriot downed at least four and possibly five Russian aircraft within that countrys own borders on May 13 this year. A screen capture of the Ukrainian Air Force video shows images of three Russian helicopters and two Russian fighters painted on the side of a Patriot air defense battery. The three helicopters and two jet images bear the date May 13. Defense Industry of Ukraine image https://twitter.com/Feher_Junior/status/1675768372070436864?s=20 With a variety of Patriot interceptors available, Ukrainian forces have better flexibility to pick the one most suited to engaging the target at hand. Similarly, Ukraine's Patriot batteries do not necessarily have to expend more capable types, such as their PAC-3 MSEs, which they may only have limited stocks of, against lower-priority threats. The breadth of Patriot missile variants Ukraine has received may also reflect the need to find any and all readily available stockpiles of interceptors that can be transferred to help meet the country's significant air and missile defense demands. Regardless of interceptor type, Patriot has been lauded as one of the most capable ground-based air defense systems now available to Ukraine's military. Underscoring the impact these systems have had, The Times newspaper in the United Kingdom published an interview last week with a member of the Ukrainian Air Force who said that there were serious discussions about evacuating the capital Kyiv last December in the facing of mounting Russian strikes. The arrival of the Patriots completely turned the tables and changed the return on investment calculus for Russia's forces. At the same time, the confirmation that the highly advanced PAC-3 MSE version is also in Ukrainian hands may help explain some of the most impressive results that the system has reportedly achieved so far in the country. In his recent interview with The Times, the Ukrainian Air Force officer claimed that the country's patriot units had fired 160 interceptors in just one month. He said supplies of missiles were now running low and called for additional deliveries as soon as possible. https://twitter.com/MaxRTucker/status/1687796236491915264? If we wait until autumn [to increase supply] they will hit [our] energy infrastructure again," the Ukrainian Air Force officer said, referring to a campaign of Russian strikes last year that left many Ukrainians without power for extended periods during some of the year's coldest months. "This is a certainty. This winter will be even more difficult than the previous one." If nothing else, knowing all the types of interceptors Ukraine has already received for its still small number of Patriot systems underscores the immense air and missile defense capability they are providing to the country. Editor's note 8/15/2023: This story originally said that Ukraine was set to receive five additional Patriot surface-to-air missile systems by the end of 2024. This was based on an interview with Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes that the Wall Street Journal published in June. A company spokesperson has since reached out to The War Zone to say that detail is incorrect. Contact the authors: thomas@thedrive.com and joe@thedrive.com NEW YORK New York Attorney General Letitia James office dropped its role Thursday defending the Hochul administration in litigation over the states responsibility to shelter migrants, a highly unusual step that appeared to suggest policy differences between two of the states most powerful Democrats. The Manhattan law firm Selendy Gay Elsberg has replaced James legal team in the case, according to a filing in Manhattan Supreme Court. The move came in a case centered on the citys right-to-shelter mandate established in 1981, which mandates the city provide shelter to anyone who requests it. Mayor Adams administration has struggled to meet the requirements of the provision over the last year, with the city strained by the arrival of about 100,000 asylum seekers. The Legal Aid Society has asserted the state must do more to help the city. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Buffalo Democrat, has in turn argued that the right-to-shelter rule only applies to the five boroughs. Delaney Kempner, a spokeswoman for the attorney generals office, declined to comment on the decision to drop from the case. But the decision by James first reported by Politico raised eyebrows. Its uncommon for the attorney generals office which typically serves as the states lawyer to withdraw from representing the state in a case, and even more so without an explanation. Its extremely rare, said Mark Peters, a former commissioner for the city Department of Investigation who worked in multiple roles in the attorney generals office in the early 2000s and now leads the firm Peters Brovner LLP. And Steven Cohen, who served as chief of staff in then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomos office, said in a text message that New York attorney generals do not decline their role as lawyer for the state except when there is an institutional conflict that cannot be reconciled or there is a fundamental and meaningful policy conflict. Cohen added that the attorney general doesnt step away in favor of a private law firm for no-good reason. In 2017, the attorney generals office under Eric Schneiderman withdrew from representing his predecessor and then-Gov. Cuomo in two federal civil rights cases after New York appeared to jeopardize a settlement giving people with mental illness the chance to leave institutions and reenter the community, citing disagreements about how to handle the case. At a news conference in Albany Thursday, Hochul downplayed the shift in the migrant case, presenting the change as a consequence of the complicated nature of the litigation. Its not uncommon for outside counsel to be brought in, said Hochul, herself a lawyer. This is going to come down to a very sophisticated constitutional question. Weve brought in outside constitutional experts to assist with managing this. Hochul said her office could offer other examples of the attorney generals office not representing the state, but the governors office did not immediately provide them. The governor added that she was convinced that the state is not a party to the civil settlement that orders New York City to provide shelter to anyone who needs it. The right to shelter does not expand to the whole of the state, the governor said. That being said, we are still being very supportive. Josh Goldfein, a senior attorney with the Legal Aid Society, which petitioned the court to hold an emergency conference for judicial intervention after migrants languished for days outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown, said Hochul was wrong about the right to shelter. The right to shelter derives from the New York State Constitution, and the New York State Constitution applies statewide, Goldfein said. He said the landmark settlement outlined the right to shelter under Article 17 in the state Constitution. In 1981, city and state officials signed a compact requiring the city to provide shelter to the homeless. The so-called consent decree stemmed from a Manhattan Supreme Court case, Callahan v. Carey, that began in 1979. The timing of James withdrawal from the current case an outgrowth of Callahan v. Carey came immediately after the citys submission of a court-ordered list of needs to the state to help deal with the migrant crisis. The state has until Aug. 15 to respond. The city has declined to publicly release the list. With Michael Gartland Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) Yabang Pinoy is finally back in the bazaar scene ever since the COVID-19 pandemic happened. For 18 years, the movement is stronger than ever, living up to its commitment by highlighting the innovation and hard work put in the quality products, ideas, and services of Filipino brands made with 100% love and pride. With more Filipinos entering the entrepreneurial path and carving their way to being proud local brands, Yabang Pinoy supports their endeavor through a series of bazaar events this year. The first of the 3 bazaar events, GLOBAL PINOY ALABANG FAIR, is an all-Filipino bazaar event featuring a mix of familiar brands and start-ups carefully curated for the southern market. This event will run from August 11-13, 2023 (Friday to Sunday), 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., at Activity Center, Alabang Town Center, Muntinlupa City. Meanwhile, the 23rd and 24th GLOBAL PINOY BAZAARS, the biggest and the pioneering all-Filipino bazaar that brings forth the creativity and ingenuity of local brands closer to consumers, will finally be back in the center stage at the heart of the metro. The 23rd Global Pinoy Bazaar will run from October 5-8, 2023 (Thursday to Sunday) while the 24th Global Pinoy Bazaar will be held from November 9-12, 2023 (Thursday to Sunday), both at Palm Drive Activity Center, Glorietta 2, Ayala Center, Makati City. Come and join us in our series of bazaar events and lets #SupportLocal together! For more information on the upcoming bazaars, visit the Yabang Pinoy Facebook and Instagram pages or e-mail globalpinoy2023@gmail.com. Former President Obama said its tough for him to see images of deadly wildfires raging in Hawaii. Its tough to see some of the images coming out of Hawaii a place thats so special to so many of us, Obama wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Michelle and I are thinking of everyone who has lost a loved one, or whose life has been turned upside down. The former president was born and spent a significant portion of his childhood in Hawaii. He also regularly vacations there with his family. At least 36 people have died and 271 structures have been destroyed due to a fire thats being driven by hurricane-force winds, Maui County officials announced late Wednesday. In Lahaina Town, the historic former capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii, some fled to the ocean to escape the fires, with the Coast Guard reporting it rescued 14 people from off the shore Wednesday. Airlines announced Thursday they would send planes to help with the evacuation effort. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. FILE PHOTO: An overweight woman sits on a chair in Times Square in New York Obesity drug data could boost companies' case for US coverage-analysts FILE PHOTO: An overweight woman sits on a chair in Times Square in New York By Patrick Wingrove (Reuters) -New data on the heart benefit of an obesity drug from Novo Nordisk increases the chances of a pay-off for it and Eli Lilly, which have spent a record amount on U.S. lobbying to win government backing for the drugs, analysts and experts said. U.S. law classifies weight-loss treatments as lifestyle drugs and bars Medicare from paying for them. Novo and Eli Lilly have spent nearly $1.3 million this year lobbying the U.S. Congress on obesity and specifically on a bill reintroduced in July that would allow the Medicare health plan to reimburse these medicines. Novo's treatment was shown to decrease heart attacks and strokes by 20% and the drugmaker has said it will seek regulatory approval for Wegovy as a cardiovascular treatment, which analysts and health policy experts said could also be a route to winning reimbursement from Medicare. Vanderbilt University Professor Stacie Dusetzina said she thought the trial results might provide an avenue to coverage for people similar to those in the study in terms of having a prior heart attack or stroke. "The drug ingredient semaglutide is already covered when used in lower doses for treatment of diabetes, so if the drug receives additional indications that are typically covered by Medicare, I'd expect those patients to have access to the drug," she said. Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro, a diabetes treatment similar to Wegovy that is expected to be approved for obesity this year, are two of the fastest growing drugs in the country, with a price tag of more than $1,000 per month. Wegovy prescriptions were up 300% at their peak, according to data from Barclays, before supply issues began to hamper sales. Novo Nordisk Chief Financial Officer Karsten Munk Knudsen said on Thursday he expects the new data to help its discussions with public health authorities and other payers about the benefits of Wegovy. "Our assessment is that this will make a big difference both for patients, prescribers and payers," he said on a call with media after the company raised its full-year outlook. "This is a key piece of evidence when we have payer discussions on a global level in terms of the value of obesity care treatments." Eli Lilly did not respond to requests for comment. A COMPELLING CASE Analysts said the data made a compelling case for long-term health benefits of the drug. "This 20% risk reduction in cardiovascular events, including death, will start to make a huge difference and a real push to get the law changed," said BMO analyst Evan Seigerman. Analysts were divided on whether Medicare could potentially cover Wegovy as a cardiovascular treatment without a new law passing. Three doctors specializing in obesity treatment, including a cardiologist, were not sure whether such an indication would allow for Medicare coverage. Dr. Eugene Yang, a cardiologist at University of Washington Medicine, said that although the data has yet to be peer-reviewed and published, it is promising because he and his colleagues have not had a strategy to deal with the growing rates of obesity and corresponding cardiovascular problems before. "The devil will be in the details, but having a therapeutic option that reduces weight and has a potential cardiovascular benefit is exciting," he said. Morningstar analyst Damien Conover noted that the study's positive outcome would likely push payers - a group that includes insurance companies, employers and Medicare - to increase coverage over the next year. Companies that provide healthcare insurance have begun pulling back on coverage of weight loss drugs because of the high cost of the medicines. Benefits experts warned that passing a law that would increase the costs for Medicare, which covers about 66 million people mostly aged 65 and older, would be difficult. NOVO SPENDING ON PACE TO PASS 2022's In the lead-up to the result, lobbying firms employed by the Danish drugmaker disclosed a collective spend of $630,000 in the first half of this year to urge lawmakers to allow Medicare to cover weight-loss drugs, including in the reintroduced law from Democratic Senator Tom Carper called the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act (TROA). That is almost two-thirds of Novo's reported lobbying expenditure for the whole of 2022, according to the U.S. Senate's lobbying disclosure database. They reported spending $350,000 on lobbying the issue for the manufacturer last quarter, at least $90,000 more than Novo Nordisk's firms have disclosed collectively paying in a quarter prior to 2023. Eli Lilly's firms also recorded having paid $640,000 collectively in the first half of this year on lobbying for Medicare weight-loss coverage, the same amount they disclosed for the issue for the whole of 2022. The two drugmakers collectively spent more than $7.5 million on these lobbying efforts over the last decade. Vanderbilt's Dusetzina said the increase in spend might not be enough to get Democrat and Republican lawmakers to band together on this issue. "Changing Medicare policy and passing legislation, even if most people agree with the policy goals, is very challenging in the current political environment," she said. (Reporting by Patrick Wingrove in New York; Additional reporting by Elissa Welle in New York and Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington; Editing by Caroline Humer and Sharon Singleton) FREEHOLD An Ocean Township man has been accused of stealing nearly $270,000 from his former Asbury Park employer. Mark A. Cocciardi, Jr., 46, is charged with a single count of theft by deception, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said in a statement Wednesday. Cocciardi was employed as a sales manager at a construction supply company in the city. From August 2021 to October 2022, he used sales receipts to process phony returns of building materials from customers who never returned the merchandise and then issued himself credit for the supplies on his personal credit cards, Santiago said. Cocciardi was arrested Tuesday and served with a summons complaint for a hearing in Monmouth County Superior Court. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if there's a conviction. Attorney information for Cocciardi was not immediately available. The Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Bureau of the prosecutor's office investigated the case. Santiago is urging anyone with information about this or related matters to call Detective Bob Afanasewicz of the prosecutor's office at 800-533-7443. Ken Serrano covers crime, breaking news and investigations. Reach him at kserrano@gannettnj.com. This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Ocean Township NJ man charged in $270K theft from Asbury Park business In an attempt to hide losses, Russian forces bury dead soldiers in occupied Ukrainian territories instead of transporting the bodies to Russia, Ukraine's deputy defense minister said on Aug. 10. Dead Russian soldiers have been cremated "almost non-stop" near the occupied city of Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, according to Hanna Maliar. "Residents have been feeling the characteristic acrid smoke for a long time." Russia also transfers the bodies to a local morgue in Kherson Oblast's Chaplynka on the Russian-occupied east bank of the Dnipro River, added the official. They are being buried in two locations, with one covering up to 100 hectares. Ukraine's counteroffensive is ongoing in the country's east and south, while Russian forces are trying to regain positions in Kharkiv Oblast they had lost last autumn. According to Maliar, Moscow currently loses "hundreds" of soldiers killed along the front lines. As of Aug. 10, Russia has lost 252,200 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces wrote in its daily update. Neither Moscow nor Kyiv has provided precise information about their troop casualties. In April 2022, the Mariupol City Council reported that Russia's special brigades were collecting and burning the bodies of murdered residents, using mobile crematoriums to hide their war crimes. Tens of thousands of civilians may have been killed in Mariupol. Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Three days after a Maryland womans body was found near a trail where she went missing, authorities said Rachel Morin was a victim of a violent homicide. This was an intentional taking of a persons life, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said in a video posted on the sheriffs office Facebook Wednesday. Gahler said there are 10 investigators working on the case after Morins body was found Sunday near the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Maryland. He said they have received more than 100 tips from the community. "Together we will solve this crime and find the heinous coward who took Rachel Morin from her family and friends," Gahler said. Officials believe they found the body of Rachel Morin, a Maryland woman who vanished after going for a walk on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air. Morin, 37, was reported missing Saturday around 11:20 p.m. after her boyfriend said she failed to return from her walk. She was last seen around 6 p.m. on the trail. Her vehicle also was found near the trail, the sheriffs office said. Gahler said authorities have interviewed the boyfriend and other people who are close to Morin. Officials believe they found the body of Rachel Morin, a Maryland woman who vanished after going for a walk on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air. Ma and Pa Trail: Officials believe body found near Maryland trail where woman went missing is Rachel Morin Mariame Toure Sylla: Police search for Maryland teacher who disappeared after going on a walk Increased police presence at Maryland Trail Gahler said there will be more deputies on the trail, including some on foot, on bikes and in vehicles in an effort to keep everyone safe. An off-road vehicle will also be parked at each end of the trail, he added. I also know many of you are nervous to spend time on the trail, concerned that there might be someone in our midst preying on women, Gahler said. I understand your fears. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rachel Morin update: Missing Bel, Air, Maryland, woman confirmed dead The failure of a GOP-backed ballot measure in Ohio has given Democrats new hope as Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) faces a competitive Senate race next year. Voters in the Buckeye State on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected Issue 1, a ballot measure pushed by Republican leaders in the state that would have made it harder to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution. The victory for Democrats and reproductive rights advocates is the latest sign that their messaging on abortion is resonating with voters, even in red states like Ohio. But they acknowledge the challenges Brown faces heading into one of the most closely watched races next year. Every election is a battle in this state. We know that. So we will not take our focus off the fights as they come, said Ohio Democratic Party Chairwoman Liz Walters during a press conference Wednesday. But we do see valuable lessons coming out of this fight, whether that is cultivating what is the map of the future for Ohio Democrats, which is a long-term part of our work, but more importantly, how we mobilize grassroots activists across the state for the fight in November. Walters said the referendums like Issue 1 and the abortion rights measure help clarify to voters what candidates and parties positions are on the issues. She added that they will specifically make the stances of Browns reelection campaign clear to voters. Issue 1 would have raised the threshold for the passage of future constitutional amendments to 60 percent from the current simple majority. Additionally, it would have added restrictions that make getting a measure on the ballot more difficult. That would have added an extra barrier to the abortion rights amendment set to be voted on in November. But voters comfortably rejected the measure, with about 57 percent voting against it as of Wednesday afternoon. Browns campaign was already touting the win in a fundraising email Wednesday. We were victorious last night in defeating special interests and keeping power where it belongs in the hands of voters, the email read. Republicans say they are not as convinced abortion will play a definitive role in the Senate race next year, particularly if voters move to enshrine abortion rights into the states constitution this November. The question will be decided already, one Ohio-based Republican strategist told The Hill. I wouldnt smoke too many cigars or do too many victory laps. Polling has shown the abortion measure appears to be popular with a majority of Ohio voters. A poll conducted late last month showed 58 percent of likely voters said they support the measure, while only 32 percent said they oppose it. Democrats expressed optimism that the defeat of Issue 1 underscores the importance for voters of the abortion measure and will fuel momentum to get it passed. The party was successful in tying their GOP opponents to the issue last year across the country, resulting in Republicans underperforming in what was supposed to be a successful midterm election for them. However, Ohios Senate race was one of the exceptions. In 22 Tim Ryan talked about it and J.D. Vance talked about it. J.D. Vance won by 6 points. And this is a presidential year, so turnout will be high, the Ohio-based Republican strategist noted. Browns seat will be one of the top GOP targets as Republicans try to win back a majority in the Senate. Brown is one of three incumbent Democrats running for reelection in states that voted for former President Trump twice. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, one of the candidates running for the GOP nomination for Browns seat, tied himself closely to the issue as one of the most vocal advocates for the measure. Matt Caffrey, the national organizing director at Swing Left, a progressive organization that works to elect Democrats to Congress, said LaRose was the poster child for Issue 1 and he could be harmed by his advocacy for the issue in a general election. At the end of the day, I think this whole episode has left a bad taste in peoples mouths. And I do think hes going to regret the role he played in this fight, he said. LaRose largely argued the measure was intended to keep special interests and out-of-state actors from influencing the Ohio constitution, but he faced controversy over comments he made earlier this year that this was 100 percent about stopping the abortion amendment. I certainly think thats a help for us, to have Frank LaRose bring this unpopular, anti-democratic constitutional amendment in favor of this unpopular abortion ban, Caffrey added. A six-week abortion ban went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. The ban was temporarily paused a few months later while legal battles play out. The three GOP Senate contenders LaRose, business entrepreneur Bernie Moreno and state Sen. Matt Dolan (R) have expressed support for the measure. LaRose even called on Moreno and Dolan to each donate $1 million to support Issue 1. Jeff Rusnak, an Ohio-based strategist who opposed Issue 1 and supports the abortion measure, said a lot of opportunity exists for Brown to pick up votes in his reelection bid. He said he compared Browns performance in 2018 with Trumps in the state in 2020 and the results from Tuesdays vote. He said in some cases the no votes performed multiple points better than Brown did in certain areas of the state in 2018. I think this can only help him. I think the other thing that we have is that we have a newly energized and focused electorate and set of volunteers who have come out and said that this issue is a priority for them, Rusnak said. He added that he expects LaRose to pay a steep price for his idea for the amendment, which he called a massive failure. Republicans, on the other hand, reject the notion that Augusts vote will end up haunting any of the candidates next year. By the time the Republican primary happens next March, very few people will be thinking about the August election, said Mark Weaver, an Ohio-based GOP strategist. Many more people will be thinking about the November 2023 election, about the abortion question. Regardless of whether the abortion ballot measure is approved, Republicans say they will not take Brown as an opponent for granted. Republicans would be foolhardy not to take Sherrod Brown as the most serious of challenges because he has a track record to prove it, the Ohio-based GOP strategist said. Theyre going to have to nominate the best person and theyre going to have to run a very good campaign to defeat Sherrod Brown. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Alyssa and Mike Perry, of Hilliard, watch Issue 1 results come in during an election night party at the Columbus Fire Fighters Local 67. Throughout the summer, opponents of Issue 1 insisted that Ohioans of all stripes wouldn't buy what supporters were selling. It turns out they were right. While Democrats largely drove Issue 1's defeat on Tuesday, Republican strongholds across the state failed to garner enough enthusiasm for the "yes" side. A USA TODAY Network Ohio analysis of unofficial results found support for Issue 1 in all but one county in the state lagged behind support for former President Donald Trump in 2020 and U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance in 2022. In some cases, Republican-leaning counties flipped entirely. Ohio Issue 1: What results mean for the Ohio abortion amendment in November Take Delaware County, a suburban Columbus county that votes loyally but sometimes narrowly for Republicans. Vance won the county with 53% of the vote when he ran against former U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan in 2022, and Trump got 52% in 2020. On Tuesday, Issue 1 failed there with just 42% of voters backing it. Democrats and abortion rights activists said voters defeated Issue 1 because they recognized it was a thinly veiled, Republican-driven attempt to change the state constitution so it would be more difficult to pass an abortion rights amendment in November. "Ohioans saw Issue 1 for what it was," said Rhiannon Carnes, spokeswoman for Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights. Republican leaders chalked the results up to confusion. They argued certain GOP voters and independents were wooed by the opposition's message about democracy and the importance of majority rule. "You cannot underestimate the integrity and the intelligence of the voter," said Shawn Parker, chairman for the Delaware County Republican Party. "When parties do that, parties get beat. American people are smart and we are change resistant without giving us a clear reason to introduce change." But some political analysts saw Ohios rejection of Issue 1 as part of a broader trend in the nations politics: When voters are given a choice that could directly impact abortion rights, they choose to affirm those rights. Issue 1 wasnt technically a referendum on abortion, but opponents and supporters of abortion access understood the stakes in Tuesdays election. If Issue 1 had passed, a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot in November to guarantee legal access to abortion would have required 60% of the vote to win, instead of the 50% plus one that's been required in Ohio for the past century. Support for Issue 1 lagged support for Trump How Republican counties voted on Issue 1 Even in red states like Ohio, where Trump won by 8 percentage points in 2020, abortion rights is an issue that pulls support from independents and even from some Republicans, whose party has traditionally supported abortion bans and restrictions. Though Issue 1 carried most of the counties Trump won in 2020, the margin of victory was much narrower. In Cincinnatis pro-Trump suburbs, for example, support in Butler County fell from 61% for Trump to 50% for Issue 1. In Clermont County, it fell from 67% to 54%. Outside Columbus, support for Issue 1 was 11 points lower in Licking County than it was for Trump in 2020, falling from 63% to 52%. Some of the most dramatic shifts happened in reliably Republican strongholds like Jackson and Belmont counties. In the Youngstown area, voters also flipped Mahoning County, which is ground zero for populist Republicans who used to side with Democrats. Tex Fischer, vice chairman of the Mahoning County GOP, said their voters weren't as motivated over Issue 1, but he doesn't expect that to be the case with the abortion amendment. (Abortion is) just a much easier sell for people," Fischer said. "It doesnt require any hand-holding or explaining like Issue 1 might have. The average person is not thinking about the mechanics for changing the state constitution every day." Ohio Poll Abortion 2 col Correct Republicans and opponents of abortion access know they have work to do ahead of November. Voters in deep red states such as Kansas and Kentucky have rejected efforts to restrict abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. A recent Suffolk University/USA TODAY Network poll found 58% of Ohio voters support the proposed amendment, including one-third of Republicans. "While Issue 1 isnt a perfect proxy, I think this would raise something of a red flag for the Republican Party that reproductive rights dont necessarily map perfectly to partisanship," said Melissa Miller, a political scientist at Bowling Green State University. Can abortion win elections for Ohio Democrats? Still, anti-abortion advocates dismissed speculation that Tuesday's election is cause for alarm. And some observers cautioned against reading too much into the results of an unusually timed special election in August. Opposition to abortion restrictions is unlikely to translate any time soon into statewide victories for Democrats in Ohio, which has moved from a swing state to favorable GOP territory over the past decade, said J. Cherie Strachan, director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron. The dynamics of issue campaigns, she said, are often different than those in candidate-driven races. Just because voters cast ballots against Issue 1, Strachan said, "doesnt mean in 2024 theyre going to vote for Joe Biden." Shanti Miyamoto, left, and Sheryl Murray collect signatures in May for a November ballot issue that would enshrine abortion rights into the state constitution. But Strachan said the issue could give Democrats an opportunity to win more races than they otherwise would. She said the 2022 midterms revealed that younger voters and suburban women may be motivated by abortion to support more Democratic candidates. Overall, more Americans today, regardless of party affiliation, say abortion should be legal in all or most cases than they did in 2010, according to the Public Religion Research Institute. Among Democrats, support has grown from 71% to 87%. Among Republicans, its up from 35% to 37%. Democrats will certainly use it as a wedge issue, Strachan said. That will likely take time. Haley BeMiller and Dan Horn are reporters for the USA TODAY Network, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio. Get more political analysis by listening to the Ohio Politics Explained podcast This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Why Ohio Issue 1 underperformed in Republican counties A post shared on Facebook amid an armed conflict between the Ethiopian defence forces and local fighters in the Amhara region claims to show a recent picture of federal soldiers collapsing from hunger and being fed by their captors. However, this is misleading: the photo was originally published in January 2022 during war in the Tigray region. The caption wished Ethiopian troops a Merry Christmas and described them as dedicated heroes who are falling in the forest to defend the country. The post, written in Amharic, was published on Facebook on August 6, 2023 and has been shared more than 190 times. Screenshot of the misleading post, taken on August 7, 2023 The army is collapsing for lack of food. They get food and water only when they are captured, reads part of the post, adding that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was desperately clinging to power in the Amhara region. The post includes a photo of a civilian feeding a man in military uniform lying on a blanket on the ground. Another man in uniform is lying next to him. Their uniforms are similar to those worn by Ethiopian troops. A day before the post was published, Ethiopian authorities arrested (archived here) individuals that they accused of being part of the escalating conflict in the Amhara region. Earlier, the Ethiopian Council of Ministers imposed a state of emergency in the region (archived here) to quell the violence. The paramilitary group known as Fano, which is fighting against federal forces in the region over a decision to disarm them, is in control of three major towns (archived here), according to residents. The same photo posted here also claims Amhara people are taking care of the captured defence troops in this way, in Amharic. However, the image is unrelated to the regional conflict currently taking place in Amhara. Christmas wishes AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches and established that the photo was already being shared a year ago during the war between the Ethiopian army and forces from the Tigray region, which borders Amhara to the north. Screenshot of the original post, taken on August 7, 2023 It was published on X, formerly Twitter, on January 7, 2022 (archived here). Happy Christmas to our dedicated heroes who are falling in the forest for the sake of our freedom, security and peace and for defending mother land Ethiopias sovereignty, reads the post, which was written in Amharic. The account responsible for the post has more than 46,000 followers and regularly shares pro-government messages. A similar post on X was published here on the same day. The timing of the original posts coincides with the war in Tigray that ended in November 2022. They were also posted during Ethiopian Christmas, which is usually celebrated in January according to the local calendar. An American flag topping its antenna, an LAV from Delta Co., 2nd Light Armored Infantry Bn. guards a street in Panama City during Operation Just Cause in December 1989. AFP PHOTO/DOD/HO (Photo by DOD / AFP) (Photo by -/DOD/AFP via Getty Images) In 1989, Panama was in the iron grip of military dictator Manuel Noriega, and things were far from rosy. Just when you thought things couldn't get more intense, Uncle Sam decided it was time to roll up his sleeves and step into the ring. In the blue corner, you had the U.S., the world heavyweight champion. And in the red corner, Panama, under the wily and ruthless leadership of General Manuel Noriega. The bell for the first round rang on December 20, 1989, marking the beginning of Operation Just Cause, the largest U.S. military action since the Vietnam War. Their mission was a veritable laundry list of justice-serving objectives: protecting the integrity of the Panama Canal Treaty, safeguarding U.S. citizens in Panama, supporting democracy, apprehending Noriega, and ending his illicit drug trafficking. The U.S. wasn't pulling any punches. In 1989, American forces, numbering around 27,000, came storming into Panama like a bull in a china shop. Their targets: key military facilities, Noriega's stronghold, and the notorious Modelo Prison. The resistance was stiff, but the Americans were relentless. The daring Operation Acid Gambit was a Delta Force rescue mission that saw Kurt Muse plucked from the jaws of captivity. But warfare is never a walk in the park, and the invasion was no exception. Despite the U.S.'s superior firepower and numbers, they faced fierce resistance. Casualties mounted on both sides, and the urban combat turned the city into a war-torn landscape. Who was Muse? At the high-water mark of South America's drug wars, Kurt Muse found himself at the very top of Panama's most-wanted list. No ordinary Joe, Muse was a U.S. Army veteran and raised under Panama's sweltering sun. Muse was not one to sit on the sidelines when it came to fighting for freedom. Not content with just gritting his teeth under the oppressive rule of the narco-military dictator General Manuel Noriega, Muse decided to do something about it. He took matters into his own hands and led a motley crew of passionate Panamanian patriots on a daring mission: overthrowing Noriega. And how did they plan to pull off this ambitious feat? By creating a channel of uncensored news and rallying cries for resistance, of course. Muse and his group created an underground opposition radio station, affectionately christened The Voice of Liberty, that served as a beacon of hope amidst the despair. For two adrenaline-fueled years, Muse played a dangerous game of cat and mouse with Noriega's regime. But as we know, all good things must come to an end. Captured and thrown into the infamous Modelo Prison, Muse's story could have ended there. But fate, it seems, had other plans. Behind enemy lines Cut to the Special Operations community, where an audacious rescue plan was being concocted. The mission was as daring as its name. A Delta Force team was ordered to infiltrate Panama City, storm the prison, and spring Muse from his concrete cage. In the words of the plan's mastermind, General Wayne Downing, it was "a classic Special Operations mission." What a choice word - classic. More like harrowing, dangerous, and scary ... but maybe not for Delta Force. As you might expect, planning was meticulous. It included everything from building mock-ups of the prison to endless rehearsals. All that was needed was the go-ahead. The execution of Operation Acid Gambit was like a chess game where the stakes were not just a win or a loss, but life and death. On the night of December 20, 1989, the commandos, flying in MH-6 Little Birds, landed on the prison's roof. They took the guards by surprise, overcame resistance, and made it to Muse's cell. Muse, looking every bit the surprised yet relieved prisoner, was escorted to the waiting chopper. As they lifted off, an RPG slammed into the Little Bird. But somehow, the pilot managed to crash-land near the U.S. Embassy. Talk about a choice landing. At the embassy, they were officially on American soil. Translation - they were officially safe and Muse was out of prison. (Original Caption) 1/04/1990-Miami, FL- Ousted Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega is shown in this Justice Department mug shot released by the U.S. Attorney's office in Miami. Noriega surrendered to U.S. forces in Panama, and was brought to the United States, where he faces charges of drug trafficking. (Getty Images) Mission accomplished Operation Acid Gambit is the stuff Hollywood blockbusters are made of. Fortunately for Kurt Muse, it was a success. Once the dust settled, the audacious mission highlighted the bravery and skill of the Delta Force and reinforced America's commitment to its citizens, regardless of where they were and what odds they faced. However, success came at a cost. The pilot of Little Bird was seriously injured and many others had minor injuries. Acid Gambit and its legacy operation Acid Gambit, though just a small part of the U.S. invasion of Panama, left a lasting impression. It showcased the sheer audacity, meticulous planning, and high stakes involved in special operations missions. The mission remains a testament to the bravery of the operatives and the unyielding spirit of men like Kurt Muse. Today, it serves as a reminder of the lengths nations will go to protect their own, cementing its place in the annals of military history. Former President Trump during a visit to a section of the border wall in Texas. (Eric Gay / Associated Press) The brutal war in Ukraine has shortened the distance across the Atlantic as Washington and Brussels have joined forces in opposing Russia and expanding NATO. The global battle between democracies and autocracies has united Western Europe and America. Blue America, anyway. The candidates leading the pack of Republican presidential contenders tell a very different story in which the contest between democracies and autocracies is a myth; Ukraine, a sideshow. According to Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, the existential battle for national security is playing out in Mexico and the Western Hemisphere. If the White House changes hands in 2025, brace for a reset that shifts the focus of our foreign policy from the Atlantic to the Americas. Republicans are playing to their nationalist America First base but also capitalizing on a real Biden administration weakness. The president has had more success uniting our European allies than he has responding to the drug or migration crises raging closer to home. Its not that the administration has pursued bad policies in the Western Hemisphere. But it has invested far less high-level attention and resources in the Americas than in Europe. And many Americans see the foreign policy issues closest to home as affecting their lives most directly. The Republican candidates know this. No Americans killed by Russia. Hundreds of thousands killed by Mexico. But Mexico is our ally and Russia is our enemy. How does that work? So former Fox News host Tucker Carlson asked South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, one of the few GOP hopefuls who supports Ukraine wholeheartedly. Carlson was referring to the scourge of fentanyl produced largely by Mexican cartels, which claimed a record toll of more than 109,000 Americans last year. All the leading Republican candidates give deadly drugs top billing and pin the blame on Mexico. And all have endorsed targeting cartels on Mexican soil whether the countrys government likes it or not. That reflects the views of Republican voters, most of whom see immigration, terrorism and drug trafficking as top foreign policy challenges. Fewer than 1 in 5 Republicans put Russias invasion of Ukraine in the same category. A new GOP-led foreign policy would go beyond Mexican drugs in focusing on the Americas First. The Republican front-runners have advocated reviving Trump-era safe third country agreements, leveraging U.S. might to pressure South and Central American countries into accepting migrants prevented from reaching the border. Stiffening sanctions against the nominally socialist dictatorships of Cuba and Venezuela, always a priority for an influential subset of Republican voters in South Florida, also ranks high on the Trump and DeSantis agendas never mind that Trumps maximum pressure strategy left Venezuelas tyrannical regime even more entrenched. For his part, Biden made big promises on the campaign trail about tackling the root causes of migration from Central America, pursuing a more effective approach to Venezuelas stubborn autocrat and helping democracy deliver in the Americas. But the factors driving migration in Central America havent changed much, Nicolas Maduro is as firmly in control as ever, and many democracies in the region are floundering. I struggle to see what this administration is doing in Latin America that has any heft to it, one disgruntled senator said last month. Remarkably, it was a Biden ally, Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine. Crises in Afghanistan and Ukraine understandably forced the administration to shift away from Latin America. The trouble is that it never shifted back. The administrations well-meaning economic agenda for the region, announced last year, has yet to take off, and Latin Americas COVID-battered economies get relatively little U.S. assistance. True, the administration can claim achievements in the Americas. Its quiet diplomacy helped secure a democratic exit from 10 years of quasi-authoritarian rule in Honduras and thwart election deniers in Brazil and Guatemala. The administration also brokered the Los Angeles Declaration, a regionwide effort to manage migration. But the Biden administrations policies still look like short-term crisis management, often with a single bottom line: reducing migration. The inattention shows. Biden has made 14 international trips to 21 countries as president but stopped in Latin America just once for about 48 hours. Thats not to say Republicans proposals will effectively address the Western Hemispheres crises. In many ways, they would court disaster. Mexico, Americas top trading partner, roundly rejects the idea of a U.S. counterterrorism operation on its soil. Such an intervention could strain bilateral ties at a huge economic cost to ordinary Americans. And no amount of deterrence, however brutal, will stop migration. It will only make the path to the United States longer and more lucrative for criminals and profiteers who take advantage of migrants. Nor will bullying bring Latin American governments into alignment with Washington. While you wouldnt know it from the Republican candidates' stump speeches, the United States is no longer the hemispheres all-powerful hegemon. That said, it seems the xenophobic America First crowd ironically boasts more friends than Biden among Latin Americas leaders. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio recently rubbed elbows with El Salvadors iron-fisted president, Nayib Bukele. Members of Trumps inner circle forged a bond with former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's. And Trumps first indictment led a chorus of Latin American presidents to allege that Biden is politicizing law enforcement. The GOP might be laughed out of the room in Brussels, but Latin Americas capitals have plenty of politicians who share its economically nationalist, socially conservative impulses. Democrats and Republicans increasingly live in different worlds, so perhaps its not surprising that theyre articulating such divergent foreign policies. But adopting a measure of Republicans focus on Latin America, if not their ideas, could boost the Biden administration's fortunes among voters who think America's greatest foreign policy concerns are close to home. Will Freeman is a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. 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. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is looking at tapping naval reservists to increase presence in the West Philippine Sea, Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner said. Parte nung reserve force development natin [part of our reserve force development], when you say reserve force it's not just land based forces. We are also trying to develop our reservists who will also be able to operate in the sea, Brawner told the media at a press conference in Palawan on Thursday. He added that the AFP is looking into training fisherfolk as reservists to better aid in defense and to enhance presence in contested waters. It's already being implemented. We have established already these reserve units but we are going to wait for the platforms or the vessels na gagamitin nila [that they will use], he said. The military is also looking to increase the deployment of seafaring vessels and aircraft, Brawner said. The AFP said the initiative includes refurbishing the BRP Sierra Madre and other troop bases in the West Philippine Sea, if the military is granted more funding. Meanwhile, Brawner said he will attend the Chief of Defense Forces meeting in Fiji next week, where over 20 countries China included will send defense representatives. He said that the meeting would cover the promotion of rules-based order over the Indo-Pacific region and the establishment of joint patrols in the West Philippine Sea, the details of which are now being arranged. These developments come after the Chinese coast guard fired a water cannon at a Philippine vessel during a resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre on Saturday. As of this writing, over 400 foreign vessels have been sighted in the West Philippine Sea, 85% of which were Chinese, the military said. READ: Over 400 foreign vessels in WPS, around 85% are Chinese AFP WESCOM As with the Dobbs ruling a year ago which set off a cascade of legislation restricting womens access to abortion conservatives are now wielding the Supreme Courts ruling against affirmative action in higher education to advance another cultural goal: ending Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs. Their actions have been fast and furious. The day after the court issued its opinion ending racial preferences in college admissions, Stephen Miller, former White House advisor and president of America First Legal, sent a warning letter to 200 law school deans, threatening legal action if they did not follow his prescriptions for complying with the case. Two weeks later, Ed Blum, the founder of Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA), the group that brought and won the admissions case against Harvard and the University of North Carolina, sent an email to 150 colleges demanding compliance with his selective reading of the courts opinion. In particular, he instructed colleges to issue guidance discouraging applicants from mentioning race in their applications, contrary to Chief Justice John Roberts explicit statement that colleges could consider an applicants discussion of how race affected his or her life, be it through discrimination, inspiration or otherwise. Others went further in attempting to weaponize the SFFA case. On July 17, Republican Senator Tom Cotton sent a letter to 51 law firms suggesting that the courts opinion on higher education undermines the legality of corporate DEI practices. He warned the law firms to preserve relevant documents in preparation for congressional oversight hearings and private lawsuits challenging DEI programs as illegal racial discrimination. On July 19, 13 Republican state attorneys general sent a letter to Fortune 100 CEOs, also invoking the SFFA case and assailing DEI programs as racially discriminatory. They threatened action, sooner rather than later, against employment and contracting programs they perceived as illegal racial preferences. They seized on the fact that financial giants like JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs had been setting aspirational goals to increase representation of Black Americans, women and others, without acknowledging that investment banking, historically and still, is dominated by white men. These efforts portend an acceleration of conservative assaults on any and all efforts to remedy racial disparities. Companies that awakened to their own racially disparate practices after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin repeatedly refused pleas to get off George Floyds neck, will be in the cross-hairs of litigants and politicians alleging reverse discrimination. The demand letters I have described represent an ancient move by the GOP. Rather than reckon with rapidly changing demographics and gaping disparities in American society through thoughtful conservative policies that expand opportunity, Republicans continue to double down on a tired, culture-warring politics that tears constantly at the social fabric of this country, for power. And the demand letters distort the SFFA case and settled law. Admittedly, in the SFFA case, the newly-dominant conservative majority of six justices departed from four decades of prior precedent which had established that colleges had a compelling interest in promoting racial diversity among its students and could use a modest plus factor for race in admissions, but no rigid quotas. Instead, the Roberts majority held that racial preferences may no longer be used, though it preserved some discretion for universities. They were not prohibited from considering applicants discussion of the role of race in their lives, so long as it was relevant to the students potential contributions as an individual. The military academies were not addressed, and Roberts suggested that racial considerations in admissions might be relevant for them given their unique national security concerns. Even conservatives like Justice Clarence Thomas acknowledged a long legacy of American racism, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh in particular acknowledged past and present racial inequality outlined in detail by liberal dissenters Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. But conservatives strongly disagreed with liberal justices on what can legally be done to redress what Roberts euphemistically called societal discrimination. Herein lies the rub. How much discretion do institutions that care about diversity and disrupting structural barriers to opportunity have to pursue those ends and why are conservative activists so hostile to these endeavors? As the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights under Law suggested in their own guidance letter to colleges, nothing in the SFFA opinion prevents educational institutions from pursuing diversity goals, including racial diversity, through race-neutral or even race-conscious practices like targeted recruiting, collecting and monitoring racial data so long as they do not give admissions preferences to students based on their race. The committee also reminded universities that under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, institutions that receive federal funding may not discriminate on the basis of race, color or national origin and should eliminate practices that intentionally or unintentionally exclude historically underrepresented groups, which may include legacy and donor preferences. Those who wield the SFFA case to attack corporate DEI programs are even more off base. The court did not address nor upset decades of established employment law, by which companies may use DEI programs to counter conspicuous racial or gender imbalances in their workforce, but may not use quotas or discriminate against individuals. As 21 Democratic state attorneys general clarified in their own letter to Fortune 100 CEOs, removing barriers to employment for historically underrepresented groups does not constitute racial discrimination. At their best, DEI programs help identify problems that have created racial and other disparities and develop strategies to redress them. How did JP Morgan increase its Black summer interns by two thirds, from 11 percent to 18 percent, in one year? Not with racial quotas but with innovation that expanded possibilities for all kinds of people. Rather than continue to recruit primarily from the same 18 prestigious universities, they automated the first round of candidate interviews with a video software program that enabled them to consider more candidates than in the past. They also deployed a software program that objectively screened for cognitive skills and competencies for the role, rather than assuming such competency based on the school a candidate attended. And they created relationships to tap talent at historically Black colleges. That Republican AGs seemed most agitated by large banks efforts to help Black people is telling and ironic. Black and Hispanic borrowers are often denied traditional mortgages while white borrowers with similar qualifications are accepted. Large financial institutions have preyed on Black and brown neighborhoods with subprime credit products, contributing to foreclosure crises and a widening Black-white wealth gap, itself born of intentional pro-white and anti-Black practices in credit, housing, employment and education. The GOPs answer to such racial realities is a formal color blindness that denies they exist and casts efforts to redress them as discrimination. Ever since Richard Nixons embrace of a southern strategy to woo white voters by stoking resentment about Black peoples civil rights gains, many politicians have pursued a divide-and-conquer politics suffused with white racial grievance, appeals to Christian nationalism and resistance to feminism. Lately that politics has devolved into autocratic meanness, with Republican-led legislatures passing laws to suppress democracy, control womens bodies, constrain LGBTQ rights, ban books and drag performances, prevent accurate teaching of racial history and attack DEI programs. But diversity in America is a given and all institutions have to get better at cultivating successful shared cultures in which everyone feels valued, heard and represented. Pretending race is not relevant to that enterprise is as artificial as pretending that separate was equal for six decades. In a context of omnipresent demographic change and multiple existential challenges, the Republican Party, founded on an anti-slavery plank, offers culture-warring to distract from its anti-tax and anti-worker policies that largely make rich people richer. It doesnt have to be this way. I am a great granddaughter of a proud, Radical Republican who attended four Republican national conventions as a delegate. I married into a family of Black Republicans, a few card-carrying members of the NRA, but most of whom no longer vote for the GOP. I have been waiting for the day when this party might compete for our votes with a policy agenda of true freedom and opportunity for all. I am not holding my breath. If you thought you could no longer be shocked by the lavish gifts conservative billionaires have reportedly bestowed on Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Thursdays remarkable investigative report from ProPublica might surprise you. It reveals even more of the depth of Thomas corruption. The report exposes Thomas pattern of secretly accepting private flights, yacht trips and other luxuries from a cadre of super-wealthy conservative donors over three decades in violation of legal and ethical standards. None of these donors knew Thomas before he joined the court. These undisclosed gifts represent intolerable corruption within the highest court in the land. Read more: Calmes: Why does Justice Alito keep making things worse for the Supreme Court? ProPublica reported that these wealthy benefactors have treated the justice to at least 38 vacations, including a previously unknown yacht trip around the Bahamas, 26 flights on private jets, helicopter rides, box seats at sporting events and stays at luxury resorts. Thomas misuse of his lofty position to enrich himself and live a life of luxury is just the kind of thing that has eroded the publics confidence in a crucial institution. The Supreme Courts perceived legitimacy has dropped to an all-time low . Thomas appears to have violated the law by failing to disclose these gifts, according to ethics experts. They also raise the possibility of conflicts of interest and improper influence. As the ProPublica writers point out, Thomas billionaire donors work in industries significantly impacted by the courts decisions. More fundamentally, corruption can spring from an officials conscious or unconscious sense of debt to those who treat him favorably and a tendency to share their worldview. The recipient of such extravagant gifts can hardly help but feel pressure to conform his beliefs to the expectations of the people footing the bill for his luxury flights, yachts and lodging. Its not unreasonable to question whether Thomas has been guided by the good of our country or is unable to abandon the ideological preferences of his wealthy allies particularly at the risk of losing a lifestyle to which he and his wife have become accustomed. Read more: Abcarian: What Clarence Thomas calls hospitality looks a lot more like corruption And yet even in light of these shameful ethical lapses, we need the Supreme Court, and we need it to be effective and respected. It has been a last line of defense for individual rights, with a history of checking elected officials who would enhance their own power by diminishing ours. Making the Supreme Court accountable to ethical rules is the road to restoring its credibility. The Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency ( SCERT ) Act, which focuses on standards for recusal from cases by the justices, is a critical and constitutionally appropriate step toward that goal. Another would be an investigation of Thomas apparent ethical violations by the Department of Justice or Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., as one of us has previously urged . Like other judges and indeed most Americans in any profession, the justices must be subject to an enforceable code of conduct. The Supreme Court clearly needs a reminder that although judges interpret the law, they are not above it. Americans can and should remind them of that in a variety of ways. Citizens can call or write to their congressional representatives and urge them to act on legislation to hold the court accountable. Lawyers can speak out through groups such as the American Bar Assn., which this week announced a Task Force on Democracy led by esteemed former federal appellate Judge J. Michael Luttig. Every one of us can make it clear that this type of corruption of the court is unacceptable. Justice Thomas, sadly, will leave a legacy of failure to abide by ethical and legal standards. Its a legacy Americans must resoundingly reject. Noah Bookbinder is the president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and a former federal prosecutor. Dennis Aftergut is a former federal prosecutor who is of counsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy. 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. Libs of TikTok, an anti-LGBTQ+ social media account, highlighted an Oregon medical center last Wednesday. A bomb threat on Thursday forced the facility to be closed on Friday. Health care facilities that serve transgender patients have been targeted for attacks and harassment in recent years due to misinformation and conspiracy theories spread by social media users. Union AFSCME, which represents staff at the Oregon Health & Science Universitys Richmond Family Health Center said the threat against the clinic was a reaction to posts on right-wing, anti-trans online forums claiming that a cancer patient was rejected from the center because of comments she made about LGBTQ+ people, Oregon Public Broadcasting reports. The center was evacuated after the threat was discovered, wrote chapter president Michael Stewart. The Richmond Family Health Center provides some gender-affirming care services. There are also a primary care clinic and a walk-in family medicine clinic. Richmond employees have endured countless threats of harm, racial slurs, anti-LGBTQIA+ hate speech, and more, with little to no recourse, Stewart wrote in the email, according to OPB. As one person put it, Richmond staff have been sharing that theyre worried something like this would happen for a long time now, and now their fears and suspicions have been confirmed. Patient Marlene Barbera complained about a transgender Pride flag suspended in the reception room of the Richmond clinic where she was being treated for breast cancer. Several right-wing media websites published Barberas statements, according to OPB, where she asserted gender to be a nonsense and sexed bodies to be a reality. She added that she was uneasy about returning to the clinic with an enormous transgenderism banner strung like a Nazi flag behind the reception desk. A day before the bomb threat, the anti-LGBTQ+ social media account Libs of TikTok posted about Barberas report. (@) A woman receiving cancer treatment at @OHSUNews was told she can no longer be a patient at the clinic after she sent a message criticizing a trans flag hanging prominently at the entrance. She told us that they requested she go for re-education and she refused, Libs of TikTok wrote Wednesday evening on X, previously Twitter. The tweet has been viewed more than 4.4 million times since Wednesday afternoon. In the past, the accounts owner, Chaya Raichik, has used her platform to harass and threaten childrens hospitals that treat transgender teens and young adults. Shes also gone after school systems that carry LGBTQ-inclusive books. Terrorism experts are not surprised by the increase in threats and attacks on facilities and institutions highlighted by Libs of TikTok. They say that accounts like Libs of TikTok and other far-right anti-trans extremist groups engage in what could be considered stochastic terrorism tactics. An anonymous bomb threat was sent to Boston Childrens Hospital last year after Raichik tweeted about over a dozen false claims the hospital performed hysterectomies on children. Raichik made similar false allegations at Childrens National Hospital in Washington, D.C. The hospital received hostile emails and phone calls in response. A letter Barbera claimed was sent to her by OHSU revoked her patient status because of ongoing disrespectful and hurtful remarks about our LGBTQ community and staff. According to OHSU spokesperson Nicole Rideout, the hospital cannot confirm a patients status. However, she cited hospital policies concerning the alleged conflict between Barbera and hospital staff: OHSU patients, families, and visitors have a responsibility to refrain from using discriminatory, profane, derogatory or threatening language, imagery or behavior, and understand that these behaviors can result in limitation of visiting privileges and impact access to care at OHSU. She noted that it is a condition of the regulations to adhere to those guidelines. Stewart told his union members that the attack on OHSU directly endangered their trans coworkers. He called on the hospital administration to provide factual information about the situation, increase protection protocols, and provide mental health resources to employees. Rideout said Richmond has added security measures and offers wellness resources to its employees. Combat medic Andrii Babinskyi died on the Zaporizhzhia front on 8 August. Before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine he was an activist and organiser of Meramarch in Vyshyvnkas [traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirt ed.]. Andrii Savchuk, Babinskyis friend, reported about his demise. Savchuk said that Andrii worked as a biochemist, but was an inspired artist at heart. Babinskyi graduated from the National Aviation University in Kyiv. He actively participated in the Revolution of Dignity [fierce protests at the end of the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine in February 2014 ed.]. ff Andrii Babinskyi. Archive photo Since 2013 he had worked as a junior researcher at the Institute of Biochemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. He researched antitumor effects of Vitamin E (tocopherol). In 2019-2020, Babinskyi went to Denmark to try his hand in the agricultural business sector. Later he came back to Ukraine and managed a private business. After the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine Babinskyi defended Ukraine in the Territorial Defence Forces. He trained to be a combat medic, fought in Kharkiv Oblast and near the city of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, participated in the counteroffensive on the Zaporizhzhia front. "Andrii was an incredible and gifted person. A reliable friend, always funny, sincere, easy-going, determined. In 2008 he managed to turn Megamach in vyshyvankas from a small gathering of a few people into a massive and significant international event which reached thousands of people. Andrii loved and was good at audiovisual art, mainly music. He sang beautifully, played musical instruments, and took pictures on film. He was also a great cook and a skilled narrator," Andrii Savchuk recalls. f Andrii had an artistic personality On 8 August Andriis life was cut short: he came under a cluster munition attack of Russian artillery. The farewell ceremony will be held on 11 August 2023 in his home settlement in Chernivtsi Oblast in Ukraine. The ceremony will start at 9:00. Read more: Combat medic destroys Russian invaders' drone during evacuation of wounded Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! There is a reason why Ukrainians insist the world refers to Russias assault against Ukraine in 2022 as a full-scale invasion. Russias war against Ukraine did not begin on Feb. 24, 2022, but in 2014, with both the annexation of Crimea and the invasion of Ukraines eastern Donbas region. While the Kremlin openly boasted of its annexation of the Crimean peninsula, it tried to conceal its involvement in the war in Donbas for years. Moscow instead spread the false narrative that self-organized separatist groups in eastern Ukraine were responsible for the aggression, despite no evidence to suggest that a genuine separatist movement existed in eastern Ukraine at the time. Many politicians, experts, and journalists around the world have played into Russian propaganda, framing the war in Donbas as a civil war. Russian military formations were often referred to as Ukrainian separatists, despite the documented presence of Russian military personnel and weapons in Ukraine. The Wests condemnation went as far as limited sanctions, which did little to stop Russias war. Ukraine was left alone to fight a war that killed thousands, plunged once-prosperous regions into chaos and poverty, and displaced over a million Ukrainians. For the Kremlin, the incursion into Ukrainian territory was an attempt to impede Ukraines democratic, pro-Western course, and a precursor of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. How did Russia invade and occupy parts of Donbas? Just over a month before Russian military groups invaded Donbas in April 2014, the Ukrainian people successfully ousted Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych during the EuroMaidan Revolution. The Kremlin capitalized on the post-revolutionary chaos and sent its troops into the Crimean peninsula days after the revolution succeeded in February 2014. They immediately took the peninsula under control, and proclaimed its annexation in March 2014. Throughout March and April, demonstrations against the pro-Western revolution and in support of Russia began appearing in the east and south of Ukraine. Protestors demanded to hold local referendums on joining Russia unconstitutional in Ukraine among other pro-Russian demands. The demonstrations were small, numbering generally in the hundreds of people. Ukrainian authorities have gathered evidence that these demonstrations were organized by Russian citizens who collaborated with Kremlin-linked politicians in Ukraine. Sergey Glazyev, former advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was tasked with organizing pro-Russian protests in Zaporizhzhia, Crimea, and Odesa, according to Ukrainian law enforcement findings in 2016. There were even reports of buses bringing crowds of Russian nationals to take part in the rallies. Around the same time, armed men without insignia also managed to take over government buildings in the regional capitals of Donetsk and Luhansk, but didnt immediately take full control of the two regional capitals. The occupation of cities in Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts came in phases. While armed men infiltrated or took over government buildings in cities across the two oblasts in March and April, militants led by former Russian FSB officer Igor Girkin moved to formally occupy Sloviansk on April 12 immediately followed by Kramatorsk, cities north of Donetsk. They were later kicked out by Ukrainian troops in July, moving to the regional capital of Donetsk, where they faced little resistance from the local or national forces. Russian-backed militants guard a police station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk after it was seized by a few dozen gunmen on April 12, 2014. (Anatoly Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images) In an interview to a Russian media outlet in 2014, Girkin openly claimed responsibility for helping to ignite the war in Donbas and confirmed the presence of the Russian military and weapons on Ukrainian territory. He has repeated these claims. On May 11, 2014 militias coordinated by Russia proclaimed a sham referendum on the independence of what they refer to as the Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples Republics, the name given to the Russian occupied, proxy-led parts of Ukraines Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. Russian proxies then announced around 90% support for independence in both oblasts. Ukraine and much of the international community have deemed these so-called referendums illegal and illegitimate. How did Ukraine respond to the invasion? In April, the Ukrainian government announced an anti-terrorist operation, often referred to in Ukraine as ATO, in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. The Ukrainian military and special forces then began engaging in armed clashes with Russian-led units in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine was severely underprepared for the invasion. Decades of corruption had left the military nearly in ruins, while the government still wasnt fully formed after Yanukovych was toppled in February. Moreover, when the invasion started, Ukraine didnt have a president. Parliaments chairman Oleksandr Turchynov temporarily assumed the presidency after the revolution. Petro Poroshenko was elected president in late May, as battles in Donbas were already underway. Over the summer of 2014, a Ukrainian counteroffensive into the areas around Sloviansk and Kramatorsk liberated big swaths of land, forcing Russian-backed forces to flee south-east to Donetsk. What were the Minsk agreements? The first peace plan to try to stop the fighting, the Minsk Protocol, was signed in September 2014. Just a month prior, more than 350 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the Battle of Ilovaisk when Russian forces massacred Ukrainian fighters that were retreating through an agreed-upon corridor. Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) agreed on a 12-point ceasefire deal, with OSCE playing a monitoring role. Germany and France mediated the talks. The protocol failed. Russia broke the ceasefire almost immediately, eventually reigniting the fight for the Donetsk Airport one of the bloodiest and memorialized battles of Russias war in Donbas. Ukrainian forces also suffered huge losses in the Battle of Debaltseve the following winter. A revised version of the protocol, Minsk II, was signed in 2015, but it also failed to stop the war for all the same reasons. Russia again breached the ceasefire and didnt move back its heavy weapons, as was required. Highly contentious provisions of the Minsk agreements included amnesty for all those involved in the fighting, decentralization in Ukraine to give more power to local authorities in Donbas, as well as local elections in Ukraines eastern territories. Many believe that the agreements were null from the very beginning. Ukraine was already under attack by an outnumbered enemy, with no help from the West, and was thus pressured to sign even ill-advised deals to prevent further destruction. Although the front line remained static after 2015, crossfire battles continued killing soldiers and civilians for the next seven years. Why did Russia invade? Russias invasions of Crimea and Donbas are seen by many as a reaction to Ukraines pro-Western course. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine was re-establishing itself as an independent, democratic state after decades of communist rule. In 2004-2005, Ukraines Orange Revolution led to an overturning of presidential election results after people took to the streets to protest against election fraud. The candidate accused of rigging the election was no other than Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovych, later elected in 2010 and toppled in 2014 during the EuroMaidan Revolution followed by the annexation of Crimea and war in Donbas. Ukrainian society, slowly but surely, was coalescing around democratic ideals. Civil society grew larger and louder. Meanwhile, Putins Russia was moving towards authoritarianism and wished to keep Ukraine under its influence. The Kremlin never truly accepted the independence of Ukrainian land, culture, and history. Ukraines rejection of Russian superiority and pro-European course, as well as the risk of spilling revolutionary ideals across the border, was seen as a catastrophe in the Kremlin. Read also: How Russia has attempted to erase Ukrainian language, culture throughout centuries The invasion of Donbas and Crimea is seen by many as an attempt to force Ukraine to give up its Western aspirations. Is the war in Donbas a civil war? The war in Donbas is not a civil war, as it was instigated and coordinated by Russia. Although the Kremlin consistently framed the war as an internal Ukrainian struggle, international organizations and journalists have found direct proof of Russias involvement. From the pre-war spread of secessionist sentiments to the fighting itself, all forces that fought against the Ukrainian government were fully or in part coordinated and financed by the Kremlin and some simply were Russian, including the regular Russian army. For instance, Bellingcat has documented Russian artillery attacks and Russian military vehicles in Donbas. Amnesty International said in 2014 that there was evidence that the fighting has burgeoned into what Amnesty International now considers an international armed conflict. An extensive report on Russias involvement by the D.C.-based think tank Atlantic Council also discusses the Russian army fighting in Donbas, supplying militias, and otherwise supporting the war. Pro-Russian protesters holding Russian, Soviet, and Russian proxy paramilitary units flags gathered in front of the seized and barricaded Donetsk Oblast regional administration building in downtown Donetsk on April 4, 2014. (Alexander Khrebet/The Kyiv Independent) The European Court of Human Rights said in a ruling that areas in eastern Ukraine in separatist hands were, from May 11, 2014 and up to at least Jan. 26, 2022, under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. And in 2021, Russia was even caught admitting to stationing units of the Russian Armed Forces on Ukraines occupied territories in court documents. What has been the cost of Russias invasion of Donbas in 2014? Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts were industrial powerhouses before Russias invasion, with dozens of metallurgical, coal, chemical, and mechanical engineering enterprises that exported products all around the world. The region brought around 15.7% of Ukraines GDP, and 14.7% of Ukraines population lived there, according to the London-based consulting firm Centre for Economics and Business Research. The work of many of these enterprises came to a standstill as Russian attacks damaged industrial property, millions of locals fled the hostilities, and blockades between Ukraine and Russian-occupied territories abolished trade. The invasion also led to a fall in Ukraines international exports and foreign investment. The Centre for Economics and Business Research found that Ukraine suffered a total of $102 billion in losses from Russias war in Donbas from 2014 to 2021. This means that annually, Ukraine was losing around 8% of its pre-war GDP just due to Russias invasion of Donbas. At least two million people were forced to flee their homes because of the fighting. And roughly the same amount of people continued to live under Russian occupation amid complete poverty, Kremlin indoctrination, and crossfire along the front, as Ukraine fought off continuous Russian attacks. Thousands of Ukrainians were held hostage in Russian-occupied territories, including civilians. They were reportedly beaten, tortured, and held in prisons that many described as concentration camps. At least 3,900 civilians and 4,200 soldiers died in Donbas as of February 2021, according to the U.N. Almost 20,000 civilians and soldiers were injured. Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Osano, an Austin, Texas-based startup developing a platform to help companies manage their data privacy, today announced that it raised $25 million in a Series B funding round led by Baird Capital with First Ascent Ventures, Jump Capital, LiveOak, NextCoast and TDF. In an interview with TechCrunch, CEO Arlo Gilbert said that the cash will be put toward expanding Osano's engineering, product development and sales departments, investing more in R&D and building a channel program. "All of this will help serve Osanos goals of expanding its product suite, continuing to service its customers needs and maintaining its high customer service satisfaction," Gilbert told me via email. "With this funding, Osano will scale the team to deliver on the companys mission and goal of simplifying privacy compliance for its customers as they continue to grow in their privacy program maturity -- and becoming the leading data privacy platform." In light of high-profile hacks and data breaches, as well as regulations like GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act, privacy awareness and investment continues to grow among organizations. The risk's certainly growing. Companies are now spending an average of $11.45 million per year in remediation costs related to insider data breaches, per Proofpoint. And among organizations who must comply with the GDPR, 38% reported a breach in 2019 -- compared to just 16% in 2018. It's not surprising, then, that 40% of organizations plan to invest in additional security service spending, according to a 2020 Gartner survey. It'll likely be well worth it. In its Data Privacy Benchmark study, Cisco found that more than 40% of organizations are seeing benefits at least twice that of their privacy spend. Osano aims to be companies' go-to solution for privacy management. Gilbert co-founded Osano in 2018 with Scott Hertel, inspired by Gilbert's observation that organizations were misunderstanding data privacy. From inception, Osano offered products dedicated to data privacy, but later grew into a platform and suite of products to build, automate and scale their privacy programs. "Osano is a data privacy platform helping organizations build, manage and scale their privacy programs from the ground up," Gilbert explained. "Osano's global team of privacy experts continuously monitors the privacy landscape, from new laws to data protection authority rulings, to ensure the platform is always up-to-date." Osano can be integrated with any website, Android app or iOS app to add data controls. The platform, which uses AI to help firms locate and classify the storage of protected information among their various data stores, offers an array of privacy-centered data management tools, including tools for cookie consent (the act of giving users the choice of whether to allow data-collecting cookies) and subject rights (rights granted to users in relation to personal data or information processed about them). Osano also provides a dedicated team of attorneys via its "regulatory guidance" feature. Customers get an updated database of key laws, the reasons why they matter and what their response should be in order to stay compliant. In addition, organizations using Osano are granted access to a framework and guide designed to improve their privacy comprehension, as well as identify gaps and -- with any luck -- elevate their privacy programs. "Unlike others in the industry, Osano has built its own products and is concentrated only on privacy," Gilbert said. "Privacy regulations are complex and constantly evolving. Keeping pace with the latest regulatory developments can be a challenge and takes an immense amount of specialized expertise and effort -- which Osano delivers." Gilbert claims that Osano, which has raised a total of $44.4 million in capital to date, has more than 40,000 users on the platform and is delivering over 1 billion cookie consent banners every month. He credits the startup's laser focus on privacy with its success. "In our market, we go head to head with competitors that commit to providing enterprise data privacy software solutions -- such as DataGrail and Securiti," Gilbert said. "While some in the space have built their platform offerings through acquisition or bled into other industries like security and environmental, social and governance, Osano has committed to data privacy; we dont stray beyond our expertise. And we're an industry-agnostic solution, serving many different industries, including, but not limited to, financial services, e-commerce, healthcare, media, retail and consumer-packaged goods." One thing's for sure: Osano occupies a large and growing market. Markets and Markets estimates that the privacy management software segment will grow from $2.7 million in 2023 to $15.2 billion by 2028, an impressive climb within the span of just a few years. No doubt, newly enacted privacy laws -- and increasing consumer awareness of those new laws -- is at least partially to thank. Ukraine has managed to return approximately 380 children abducted by Russian forces since the start of the full-scale invasion, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk told Radio Liberty on Aug. 10. This is "very few" given the scale of the official number of deported Ukrainian children, which exceeds 20,000, she said. "That's why we often appeal to the international community and demand that urgent measures be taken to return orphans, in particular, because if the child is a parent, the mother or father has the right to go alone and bring the child back, which is what our women do," said Vereshchuk. The official noted that if a child is an orphan, the state is fully responsible for them, so Ukraine is asking Russia to hand over lists of such children. Read also: Ukraine frees two children abducted by Russia, says Presidents Office She emphasized that Ukraine will be able to provide all children who do not have parents with guardians who will travel to Russia or a third country to pick up such a child. "We said that any mechanism is acceptable," said Vereshchuk. "But it is unacceptable to adopt our children, it is unacceptable to put our children into illegal care, because then those adoptive parents from among the citizens of the Russian Federation will also bear legal responsibility." Vereshchuk, who heads the Ministry of Reintegration, also commented on the statement of the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, who said that 700,000 Ukrainian children have been taken out of Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion. "I'm not sure about 700,000, but it's definitely more than the data we have at our disposal," she said. "We know that almost 20,000 have been taken away." Russias abduction of Ukrainian children - What is known On March 17, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on charges of committing war crimes in connection with the abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia. On April 27, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution recognizing the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia as genocide. Read also: Russia plans to deport 10,000 abducted Ukrainian children to camps According to Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, the Russians have taken almost 20,000 children from the occupied territories of Ukraine, and are holding about 6,000 in "re-education camps." Read also: British Ambassador reveals reasons behind Russias abduction of Ukrainian children He said that the forced transfer of Ukrainian children and prisoners of war is taking place, in particular, through the territory of Belarus. In total, according to the European Parliament, the number of Ukrainian children illegally taken to Russia may reach 16,000-300,000. MEPs believe that Russians began taking Ukrainian children back in 2014, after the occupation of Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts On July 19, the head of the Belarusian Red Cross, Dzmitry Shevtsov, admitted that his agency was involved in the forced displacement of Ukrainian children On July 20, the ICRC announced that it had launched an investigation into the activities of Shevtsov and its Belarusian office for involvement in the abduction of children from Ukraine. Read also: Russians looking to abduct nearly 300 children from Berdyansk District to Russian republic of Chuvashia Earlier, the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, said that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the occupation forces had illegally transferred more than 700,000 Ukrainian children to Russian territory. 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 Brave passers-by on Bishopsgate were stabbed when they attempted to stop the pair's stealing spree - PA/James Manning Two men who stabbed and slashed City workers during a rampage to steal as many phones as possible, have each been jailed for 12-years. Tyrone Dean, 24, and Louis Parkinson, 26, wore masks as they cycled around central London in October last year looking for victims to rob. When brave passers-by attempted to stop the pair they used a knife to stab and slash them before making their escape. Four people were injured in the attacks including a motorcycle courier, who was stabbed twice in the chest and suffered a collapsed lung. A man and a woman also both received stab wounds to their arms, while another man required 52 stitches after being slashed in the face from the top of his cheekbone to his mouth. You acted with appalling violence Sentencing them at Inner London Crown Court Judge Benedict Kelleher told Dean and Parkinson: You acted with appalling violence. The incident caused widespread concern and national-media coverage. It was a truly shocking example of mindless violence and utter lawlessness. Prosecutor Sam Barker, said the pair had embarked on a brazen spree of theft and added: When civic-minded members of the public sought to apprehend them, the defendants caused them savage injuries with a knife in their frantic attempts to escape. Paul Grange was robbed of his telephone in Fitzrovia shortly after 9am, while Nicholas Badger had his stolen on Bishopsgate around 45 minutes later. Heroic members of the public CCTV footage showed Dean and Parkinson cycled that morning from Fitzrovia to the Regent Street area, passing London landmarks and to streets that were busy with city workers and people going about their business not because they were sightseeing, but because they were looking for people to rob of valuable items, the prosecution said. Detective Constable David Holmes, of the Major Crime Team at the City of London Police, said: Dean and Parkinson were on a rampage to steal as many phones as possible that morning, starting around the West End before ending up in the City of London. Neither hesitated to use extreme violence when challenged and are a clear risk to the public. The actions of the members of the public were heroic and enabled us to collect vital evidence at the scene to assist with this investigation. The pair, who both have lengthy criminal records stretching back to when they were youths, were each sentenced to 12 years in prison. They will have to serve at least two-thirds of their jail sentences, and an extra five years on licence once released. 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. 'This is our mountain,' says 25-year-old Sajid Ali Sadpara. 'We are the custodians.' (Joe STENSON) Gazing up from K2 Basecamp, Sajid Ali Sadpara sees Earth's second-highest mountain, his father's final resting place, and a blight of litter on the furthest reaches of the natural world. Sajid dons a down coverall stitched with Pakistan's green flag to scale the 8,611-metre (28,251-foot)spur of rock, clearing an icebound grotesquerie of spent oxygen canisters, mangled tents and snarled rope discarded over decades by climbers questing for the summit. Over a week some 200 kilograms (400 pounds) of litter is hacked from the pinnacle's frozen grip by his five-strong team and ferried precariously back down, he says, a rare act of charity in one of Earth's most unforgiving environments. It is a high-altitude tribute to Sajid's father, legendary climber Ali Sadpara, honouring the place where they bonded in nature and where his body remains after a 2021 father-son expedition fell foul of the "savage mountain". "I'm doing it from my heart," Sajid told an AFP team at K2 Basecamp, where 5,150 metres of elevation labours breathing and avalanches tremor off an amphitheatre of surrounding slopes. "This is our mountain," the 25-year-old said, sizing up the task above. "We are the custodians." - Pakistan raised high - K2 was forged when India collided with Asia 50 million years ago, sprouting the Karakoram range of mountains across Pakistan's present-day northeastern Gilgit-Baltistan region. It was named by British surveyors in 1856 -- denoting the second peak in the Karakoram range. Over time nearby mountains with alphanumeric designations became better known by names used by locals. But sequestered up a glacial cul-de-sac on the Chinese border -- days from the faintest suggestion of human settlement -- K2 kept its foreboding moniker, stoking a reputation as a more wild, untamable and technically demanding ascent than Nepal's Everest, which stands 238 metres higher. First conquered by Italians in 1954, its winter winds scourge up to 200 kilometres per hour and temperatures plunge to minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 Fahrenheit). But it also ignites primal passions with its archetypical triangular silhouette -- the shape of a peak a child might draw. After two days on paths slit through valleys and four more across the Baltoro Glacier -- a 63-kilometre hulk frozen in a permanent storm swell and seamed with crevasses -- K2's first glimpse ripples frisson through hikers. It stands like an altar at the end of a colossal aisle. Sundown deepens its rocky reliefs and burnishes snowy slopes to rose gold. Pilgrim paragliders come to whirl in its shadow. One renowned wilderness photographer labelled this vista "the throne room of the mountain gods". "We love it more than life itself because there's no place of such beauty on Earth," said Central Karakoram National Park (CKNP) warden Muhammad Ishaq. Against this sublime backdrop Ali Sadpara stood out among a majority white, Western mountaineering elite as a domestic hero who rose from humble roots to scale eight of the world's 14 "super peaks" above 8,000 metres. "Pakistan's name was raised high because of Ali," said 48-year-old Abbas Sadpara, an unrelated veteran mountaineer who guided the AFP team to K2. Two years ago Sajid was attempting a perilous winter ascent of K2 with his father and two foreigners when illness forced him back. The three men who carried on were later discovered dead below the "bottleneck" -- an overhang that looks like a frozen tidal wave on the final stretch before the summit. Sajid recovered his father's body and performed Islamic rites at an improvised grave near Camp Four -- the last stopoff before the top. He marked the spot with GPS coordinates before the mountain enveloped the remains at a height of more than 23 Eiffel Towers. - Faith in cleanliness - Sajid bears that loss with soft-spoken grace. His voice, unbruised with emotion, is hard to make out in blaring Islamabad restaurants or the resort town of Skardu where a mural of his father looks on as expeditions jump off in growling jeeps. But in the nearby village of Choghoghrong -- an oasis of golden cropland blotched with lavender bushes -- it resonates as he recounts the uncommon appreciation of the natural world his father handed down while they worked the land between summit pushes. "This simple life and this natural life we spent here," Sajid said. "This whole world was my village." "I am most connected with nature in this village," he said. But K2 exerts a gravitational pull: a place of extreme risk but also the promise of absolute zen in the curious, adrenaline-addled climber's psyche. "We want to be on mountains just for mental peace," Sajid said. "If we see any rubbish the feeling is totally different." Abbas Sadpara said "K2 is no longer as beautiful as it once used to be. We have destroyed its beauty with our own hands." But Sajid has climbed half the 8,000-metre peaks without supplemental oxygen, a daredevil undertaking, and holds no ill will towards those who jettison gear on the slopes. "After a summit you are totally exhausted," he said. "The main thing is survival." But there is a saying in Islam he is fond of recalling: "Cleanliness is half of faith." "Climbing to the top is a different thing," he explains. "Cleaning is something that you feel personally from the heart." - Tipping point - In 2019, plastic waste was discovered 11 kilometres below the sea in the Mariana Trench, the deepest point on Earth. With commercialised mountain tourism conveying growing numbers of tourists to the summit, Everest is also growing notorious for vast blemishes of trash. K2 witnessed a record of some 150 summits last season prompting concern the same ironic dynamic -- of climbers leaving trails of waste while pursuing the world's most untouched vistas -- has crept into play in Pakistan. "There's two mountains that the trash has been a problem and that's K2 and Everest," said Norwegian climber Kristin Harila, 37, whose summit of the Pakistan peak last month sealed a record-quick ascent of all 8,000-metre mountains in three months and a day. "Commercial companies, they take in more equipment," explained CKNP ecologist Yasir Abbas, who oversaw a campaign pulling 1,600 kg of refuse off the mountain in 2022. "If more people go to climb there will be more waste." "What goes up must come down," he says. "The people who are cleaning K2 are risking their life for the environment." But the clean-up mission goes beyond the environmental, spilling into the code of fellowship climbers abide by at altitude -- beyond the earthbound crutches of rescue services and emergency rooms. Cast-away ropes can mislead teams with minds clouded by altitude sickness towards oblivion. Abandoned tents force other campers out into more exposed spots at the mercy of the elements. Each tossed O2 canister is another hefty hazard at the whim of gravity and wind. "It's not my trash or your trash, it's our trash," Harila told AFP in Islamabad. "Here in K2 if there's some mistake you fall down. If you fall down, all the way you come down," said Mingma David Sherpa, 33, who led a Nepalese team with the Nimsdai Foundation also clearing some 200 kilograms from K2 before passing the baton to Sajid in mid-July. One day before that moment, the young Sadpara sets eyes on the mountain after days of trekking through glacial wilderness. "I see K2 and I think a different way," he says. But "from distance you can't see the garbage". "K2 is more than a mountain for me." jts/fox/leg/aha Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin will always feel the pain for the loss of his son, Daniel, one of two FBI agents gunned down in Broward County two years ago. But Alfin will also feel the pride in his sons work to make the world a safer place. Pride like he felt this week as authorities announced the arrest of nearly 100 people as part of an investigation into an online pedophile ring, according to news accounts. Daniel Alfin and fellow FBI Agent Laura Schwartzenberger were part of that investigation when they were killed in 2021. One of the things that Im very proud of is that Daniel and his partners at work not only got to the finish line with this group but also brought to the publics attention that the FBI does this type of work, Alfin said in a phone interview. There is incredible value in that they have saved an untold number of children from a life of horrors that we cant even imagine. He added: Obviously, it adds to the pride that I feel for the often invisible but incredibly important work that the various agencies, including the FBI, do, Alfin said. Law enforcement gather near the scene of a shooting in which FBI agents were killed and wounded in Sunrise, Florida, Feb. 2, 2021. Daniel Alfin, 36, and Schwartzenberger, 43, were killed and three other agents were wounded on Feb. 2, 2021, while trying to serve a search warrant in a child sexual abuse material case at an apartment in Sunrise, near Fort Lauderdale. When law enforcement later entered the apartment, the agents killer had committed suicide. While the exact numbers are not clear, the slain agents were part of an investigation that led to nearly 100 arrests and more than 40 convictions of members in an online pedophile ring in the United States and Australia, according to news accounts. In Australia, 19 men were charged in what was called Operation Bakis, which had its origins in the murder of the two FBI agents, according to the Australian authorities. The operation also led to 13 Australian children being removed from harm. Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin David Alfin said he was aware of the arrest and convictions stemming from the investigation because the FBI keeps families of fallen agents informed. The FBI itself is very committed that not just their first responders, all are part of the family and it's all one big family that they watch over very well, Alfin said. He said the recent arrest shows that these investigations take time, but that law enforcement is always working. Take some comfort: There are good guys fighting bad guys out there every minute of the day, David Alfin said. He said his son's and Schwartzenbergers names are proudly mounted on every FBI office in the world. Alfin said that time does sand some of the rough edges off of the raw emotions, but he identifies some of the feelings with the devil. The devil reaches out and squeezes your heart and its not a physical pain. It is worse. Its an emotional upheaval, Alfin said. He added: The point is you never know. Its always out there and all you know its going to grab you when you least expect it. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: FBI investigation ends global child sex ring that killed 2 agents Traffic authorities in China urged to ensure services in flood-hit areas Xinhua) 11:03, August 10, 2023 BEIJING, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Public Security on Wednesday called on traffic management departments in flood-affected regions across the country to take measures to ensure traffic services and aid the resumption of normal life. In the hard-hit areas of Beijing and Hebei Province, traffic management authorities should establish temporary service centers for tasks like motor vehicle registration, license issuance and handling traffic accidents, the ministry said, adding that there should be an expeditious effort to restore these services to normal operation. Due to a significant surge in demand for services such as vehicle license plate replacement and addressing vehicle damage after floods, local traffic authorities should streamline service procedures and be prepared to extend working hours as needed. The center responsible for handling damage-related claims has been directed to resume its operations as soon as possible. The ministry has also urged local traffic authorities to promote the use of online platforms for services like license plate replacement. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) The House of Representatives is eyeing to approve the proposed 5.768 trillion national budget for 2024 within five weeks, House Speaker Martin Romualdez said Thursday as the chamber started deliberations on the National Expenditure Program (NEP). "I am confident that the House of Representatives will be able to deliberate and pass the national budget on time, and transmit the same to the Senate," said Romualdez at the beginning of deliberations. "I can assure everyone that the House of Representatives will not take a break until and unless we have passed this very important piece of legislation." "Sisiguruhin natin na maipasa natin ang 2024 General Appropriations Bill sa loob ng limang linggo apat na linggo sa komite, isang linggo sa plenaryo," he added. [Translation: We will make sure to pass the 2024 General Appropriations Bill within five weeks four weeks in the committee and one week in the plenary.] The House Speaker earlier said the lower chamber aims to approve by October the proposed 5.768 trillion budget, which is 9.5% higher than 2023s 5.268 trillion spending plan. Romualdez noted that the swift passage of the proposed 2024 NEP would allow President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to enact it by December. The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said next year's national budget is based on the government's eight-point socioeconomic agenda, which aims to ensure food security, mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and provide employment. The education sector, on the other hand, continues to get the lion's share of the budget. The DBM pointed out that it has considered various factors in evaluating the budget proposals of various agencies. "Due to our limited fiscal space, we optimized the allocation of resources by ensuring that the programs, activities, and projects that will be budgeted are implementation-ready, and must be delivered and executed in the same year," said Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman during the briefing. "Moreover, we referred to the budget utilization rates of agencies in the past years in evaluating their absorptive capacity. For example, we considered that a low budget utilization rate may reflect the agency's limited capacity to utilize additional funds," she added. PANAMA CITY Local residents can expect to pay significantly less in fire taxes later this year than they did in 2022. Panama City commissioners on Tuesday finalized the city's fire assessment rates for next fiscal year, cutting total collections by about $1.2 million. The city's fiscal year spans from the beginning of October until the end of September 2024. According to Commissioner Josh Street, the dip was thanks to several key factors, including cutting internal capital improvement projects, not filling some vacant positions, and delaying new vehicle purchases. It also was possible because of ongoing growth throughout the area. Panama City commissioners on Tuesday finalized the city's fire assessment rates for next fiscal year, cutting total tax collections by about $1.2 million. "Panama City is growing, and so with a growing city, that means a growing tax base," Street said. "As people move into our city and it grows, that means they share the tax burden with the entire city. ... It's not just all cuts. There's a lot that's been offset through growth." The fire assessment rates finalized Tuesday for next fiscal year are $1.52 for Tier 1 and $176.62 for Tier 2. This is slightly less than the current fiscal year's rates of $1.59 for Tier 1 and $184.78 for Tier 2. The lower rates are identical to those of the 2020-2021 fiscal year. On top of that, officials also approved a $76 discount to Tier 2 for primary residents. Tier 2 is a flat rate paid by every property owner, while Tier 1 is the amount owed per $1,000 of improvements to a property. More on the rates: Panama City sets tentative fire-tax rates for next fiscal year. Locals will pay less Street noted that with these changes, all 17,000 property owners in Panama City will pay less for the assessment, with the city's approximately 6,000 primary homeowners seeing "the most significant changes." The final rates were approved by a 4-1 vote. Mayor Michael Rohan was the only commission member to vote against them. "We all know pricing is going up, (and) the city is not insulated from that," Street said. "We also understand that if we don't make a city that's affordable to live in, we won't have a strong city. So, we've got to keep our tax base, at least for the people who are choosing to live here and make this their primary residence, as affordable as possible." This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City: Fire assessment rates are set for next fiscal year A German-born energy efficiency standard is catching fire in the multifamily housing development industry in Chicago, bringing reduced carbon footprints, improved air quality and lower costs for tenants. The Passive House standard combines technology for ventilation, insulation and airtightness with design solutions that help retain heat in the winter and keep it out in the summer, with a 40%-60% reduction in energy usage for multifamily and single-family properties, according to Phius, a Chicago-based nonprofit that certifies Passive House buildings. Multifamily developers, particularly those building affordable housing, in Chicago have begun to embrace Passive House design in the last few years thanks to local industry professionals advocating for changes in the city and state building energy codes, as well as buy-in from ComEd, the primary energy provider in the state. A.J. Patton, CEO and managing partner of 548 Enterprise in Chicago, said he started his company in 2016 to lower peoples costs and build sustainably. Building to the Passive House standard is one way to do this, he said. Patton has two multifamily affordable housing projects in the pipeline incorporating Passive House design, and he said he thinks more developers would use the standard if they saw it being done to scale. He hopes his projects will inspire others to construct sustainable buildings. Its a followers market, Patton said. Leadership matters, precedent matters, experiences matter. And so thats part of what were going to do here with our developments. Passive House design focuses on making a building tightly sealed by including features such as triple-paned windows and wraparound insulation to keep outside temperatures from creeping in (and noise too), as well as ventilation systems to keep air quality fresh. These features drive down utility bills for residents and make the building more environmentally friendly. And the standard is tailored to the range of climates in the United States. Founded in 2007, Phius certified its first property in 2010, according to the company. The nonprofits co-founder, Katrin Klingenberg, built the first residential Passive House project, a single-family home, in the U.S. in Urbana, Illinois, in the early aughts. Single-family Passive House homes were built years prior to the multifamily projects, as the standard was originally geared toward single-family homes, according to Isaac Elnecave, policy specialist at Phius. Illinois has 20 Passive House single-family homes underway or completed, 13 of which are in the Chicago area, according to Phius certified project database. The database shows seven Phius-certified multifamily developments underway or completed in the Chicago area, with an additional development outside of Chicagoland. One of Pattons projects, Humboldt Park Passive Housing, has not been officially certified yet, according to Phius database. In 2023, around 275 Passive House multifamily projects, or about 16,000 units, are being constructed or have been built nationwide, representing less than 1% of all multifamily housing construction, according to a recent study from the Passive House Network, an education- and policy-oriented organization. Most of these projects have been constructed or designed since 2018, according to the study. Phius database has the total number of multifamily construction projects in the pipeline or already built at 398. The Passive House Network study finds that multifamily building costs for this standard are around 1%-4% higher compared with other buildings, but that is before monetary incentives are taken into account. The study said in order to speed up the pace of Passive House development, local, state and federal policymakers should finance incentive programs, offer professional training, increase provisions in state affordable housing programs and amend compliance rules in energy codes. Chicago and the state of Illinois have taken some of these steps in recent years. Chicagos Department of Planning and Developments Sustainable Development Policy requires developers receiving city funds to include sustainable elements in their projects. In 2017, the policy was amended to include the Passive House principle as one of the elements to help projects qualify. Chicagos building code was changed to accommodate the Passive House standard in 2022 with the adoption of the Chicago Energy Transformation Code, which allows Phius-certified buildings as an alternative method of compliance with building energy codes. A statewide building energy code will be implemented soon, Elnecave said. Starting in the 2022-23 fiscal year, the Illinois Housing Development Authority began scoring developers applying for low-income housing tax credits the main source of federal financing behind affordable housing developments across the country higher if their projects would be built to the Passive House standard. ComEd has monetary incentives for developers. In 2021, the company launched a pilot program for new affordable housing projects to encourage developers to build to Passive House design and boost energy savings, according to ComEd. The company told the Tribune in a statement that there are five projects participating in the program, with each project estimated to receive between $241,000 and $326,000 in incentives. The pilot program will run until all the projects are completed, by 2025, and then ComEd will evaluate the final cost to determine if the program will continue or be expanded, the company said. The first multifamily Passive House building completed was a six-flat constructed by Latin United Community Housing Association in 2018 in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. The developer built a nearly identical six-flat to federal Energy Star standards another energy efficiency standard and, according to a study prepared for ComEd, found that the Passive House property had much lower seasonal heating usage, around 65% less. The next Passive House multifamily building expected to be completed, likely by the end of the year, is the 43-unit affordable and supportive care housing at the Conservatory Apartments in Garfield Park on Chicago's West Side. Deborahs Place, a nonprofit that helps women experiencing homelessness, will retain most of the units for its clients, with the rest set aside for the states list of people who have been housed in places like mental health institutions who dont need that level of care, according to the development team. The project, developed by Interfaith Housing Development Corp., is expected to cost about $13 million, with the development team estimating annual energy usage to be about 35%-40% less than a traditional building, translating into $15,000 to $20,000 in cost savings for the building owner. Residents will then also save on their rent, which includes utilities. I truly believe this is the way were going to build in the future, said Susan King, principal with HED Architects and the architect for the project. We have to be more conservative with our resources. A project that recently broke ground is Fifth City Commons, a $38 million, 43-unit affordable housing development in East Garfield Park being constructed by the Preservation of Affordable Housing, a national nonprofit development organization. The group was chosen in an international competition designed to inspire highly energy-efficient buildings in cities, with the original goal of being net zero a structure that produces as much energy as it uses in a year turned into implementing Passive House design, according to Bill Eager, senior vice president of the Midwest branch of the Preservation of Affordable Housing. This will be the groups first Passive House project in Chicago, with four other new construction projects in the works nationally. Eager said he expects Fifth City Commons to be completed by fall 2024 and has a goal of up to 75% energy reduction, which will reduce residents and the building owners energy costs. 548 Enterprises two multifamily Passive House projects are expected to break ground either at the end of this year or early next year. Galleria 89 is a $37 million, 58-unit affordable housing development project in South Chicago. The project is an Invest South/West development, the hallmark initiative by former Mayor Lori Lightfoots administration to revitalize the South and West sides of Chicago. Humboldt Park Passive Living is a $40 million, 60-unit mixed-income project in West Humboldt Park in the Invest South/West corridor along Chicago Avenue. Based on the current listed projects on Phius database, this would be the largest Passive House affordable housing development in the city if the project receives Phius certification. As for costs, Steve Gerson, chief financial officer of 548 Enterprise, said the company is seeing a 7% increase in items such as windows and insulation for its Passive House developments compared with the less energy-efficient items they use for non-Passive-House projects. But, utility costs will be lowered for residents, Patton of 548 Enterprise said. All of the Chicago projects in the works included in this story will be subsidized by ComEd grants. Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut lead the way in multifamily buildings being developed to meet the Passive House standard, with each state having more than 50 properties in the pipeline or already completed, according to Phius database. Those states are ahead of Chicago and Illinois because of their earlier adoption of building code changes, earlier involvement from energy companies and aggressive carbon emissions reduction goals, according to Ken Levenson, executive director of the Passive House Network. The Phius database shows Chicago is one of the national leaders in the Passive House commercial development space, with a handful of school and government buildings being designed or completed to meet the standard. Elnecave of Phius said there has been a fairly significant acceleration in Passive House building over the last three years, which he attributes to more recognition of the standard through outreach efforts to the construction community. Looking ahead, Elnecave said he wants to see more Passive House building by familiarizing more people in the industry with the standard, and for the standard to be used more as a way to reduce the load on energy grids. Our vision is to have a professional community to really be able to build so that as they build more Passive House, they happen more quickly, they happen at reduced costs and it becomes, ultimately, the basic standard for construction, Elnecave said. Well, this is awkward. The internets daddy, Pedro Pascal, tried to take in the local arts in Margate, England on Sunday only to be turned away because the gallery was closed. The subject of the exhibit: Pedro Pascal. Pascal arrived at the Rhodes Gallery in Margate along with Looking star Russell Tovey, and musician Robert Diament, with hopes of checking out the ADHD Hyper Fixation and why it looks like I love Pedro Pascal installation, sadly they discovered that it was closed for the day. How do we know? Because Tovey and Russell shared an image of the three of them outside the gallery on Talk Art Podcast Instagram page. Russell Tovey, Pedro Pascal, and Robert Diament TalkArt/Instagram The artist behind the exhibit was delighted to hear about the attempted visit. It was absolutely fantastic, she told The Independent. Although I can imagine hes slightly embarrassed, with all the art being about him! Im gutted he showed up on a Sunday when the gallery was closed. Id love for Robert to bring him along when were actually open. Heidi Gentle Burrell created the exhibit in June, and told The Independent that she had previously met Diament while she was prepping the exhibit and that he had made a video and joked that he intended to share it with the actor. Burrell first learned that Pascal tried to see the show when people began sharing the image of him outside with her on Instagram. So many lovely people have messaged me in the last couple of days. I completely understand why Robert didnt tell me he was going with Pedro, they want their privacy. But Im a bit gutted I missed them! Its fantastic for me, though, she added. Hopefully itll elevate the conversation around neurodivergence. I feel like Im helping to create a positive change. Speaking with local UK news outlet Essex Live, Burrell explained that her painting is one of the ways she deals with the hyper fixation that comes along with her self-diagnosed ADHD. I just found he had a really interesting face, from an artistic point-of-view, she added. Hes got two little bald patches in his beard and creases in his eyebrows and bridge of his nose. I wouldnt call myself an obsessed fan, but I do hyper-fixate on capturing him in my art. If Pascal wants to take another stab at checking out the exhibit, it runs through September 1. Rep. Nancy Pelosi is off the bench as former President Trumps top adversary on Capitol Hill. After stepping down as Speaker last year, Pelosi (D-Calif.) has flown largely under the radar in the Democratic caucus, allowing a crop of new leaders to take control of the group she steered for two decades. But the California Democrat now with the title of Speaker Emerita resumed her role of top Trump antagonist following his latest indictment, landing blows on the former president, praising the charges, and showcasing her unique ability to get under the skin of the man with whom she went toe-to-toe during the four years he occupied the White House. The bitter dynamics between the two leaders were on full display as Trump was indicted on charges stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rampage a day for which Pelosi has said she would never forgive Trump. I wasnt in the courtroom, of course, but when I saw his coming out of his car and this or that, I saw a scared puppy, Pelosi on Friday told MSNBCs Andrea Mitchell of Trump arriving at his arraignment. He looked very, very, very concerned about the fate. I didnt see any bravado or confidence or anything like that, she continued. He knows the truth that he lost the election and now hes got to face the music. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) addresses reporters during a press conference on Wednesday, June 21, 2023 to introduce the Equality Act. Trump responded to the remarks on Tuesday, tearing into Pelosi She is a Wicked Witch while referencing last years violent attack on her husband, Paul Pelosi. An assailant looking for the then-Speaker entered the couples San Francisco residence and hit Paul Pelosi in the head with a hammer, leaving him with serious injuries. Trump at the time called the attack a terrible thing without remarking further. I purposely didnt comment on Nancy Pelosis very weird story concerning her husband, but now I can because she said something about me, with glee, that was really quite vicious. I saw a scared puppy, she said, as she watched me on television, like millions of others, that didnt see that. I wasnt scared, Trump wrote on Truth Social. Nevertheless, how mean a thing to say! She is a Wicked Witch whose husbands journey from hell starts and finishes with her. She is a sick & demented psycho who will someday live in HELL! he added. Top Stories from The Hill The verbal tit-for-tat is nothing new for Trump and Pelosi, who engaged in name-calling while sparring across Pennsylvania Avenue during Trumps presidency. Pelosi labeled Trump a coward and said he was morbidly obese. She once referred to him as an impostor who knows full well hes in that office way over his head, and she famously tore up Trumps State of the Union speech while standing behind the president on the dais. Trump, meanwhile, frequently referred to Pelosi as crazy Nancy and once called her a nasty, vindictive, horrible person. The acrimonious relationship between the two leaders hit a fever pitch with Trumps second impeachment, which Pelosi, as Speaker, staged a vote on shortly after the Capitol riot and just days before the president was set to leave office making Trump the only U.S. president to be impeached twice. The Senate acquitted him both times. Sign up for the latest from The Hill here Pelosi, whose office rioters broke into and whose name they chanted in the Capitols halls, also established the select committee that went on to probe the rampage and present its findings to the public through a series of high-profile hearings a group that Trump criticized time and time again. She created the select committee after Senate Republicans blocked legislation to create an independent panel similar to the 9/11 Commission to probe the Capitol riot. That panel helped lay the groundwork for the Justice Departments indictment, which bore several similarities to testimony the Jan. 6 committee received during its year-plus investigation. And the list of charges Trump now faces includes two crimes the committee recommended conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. Before the select committee dissolved, Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and then-Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the ranking member, said the panel made an enormous volume of material available to the Special Counsel. Pelosi has maintained a relatively low profile since bowing out of leadership she told reporters after announcing her plans to step down that she did not want to be the mother-in-law in the kitchen saying my son doesnt like the stuffing that way. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) greets Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) greets Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) before a hearing to discuss the Presidents FY 2024 budget for the Department of Homeland Security with Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday, April 19, 2023. But the Speaker Emerita did several media interviews following Trumps latest indictment, giving herself an opportunity to comment on the charges against her top political opponent which, in a way, were set in motion by the panel she established. The indictments against the president are exquisite, Pelosi told New York Magazine in an interview published this week, referring to the recent charges connected to Jan. 6 and the indictment against Trump pertaining to his handling of classified documents. Theyre beautiful and intricate, and they probably have a better chance of conviction than anything that I would come up with, she added. And the California Democrat who told New York Magazine, I knew on Jan. 6 that he had committed a crime was not shy to point out the resemblance between the select committees work and the indictment against Trump. I just want to commend the Jan. 6 Committee, the House committee, bipartisan committee, Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney and all the members of the committee and the staff for the work that they did, Pelosi told CNNs Jake Tapper in an interview last week. They laid a foundation of facts, about facts and the law, and made a criminal referral to the Justice Department. It wasnt our role to know what the Justice Department would do, if anything, she later added. So, when it became clear that there would be criminal charges made, its interesting to see how similar they are to some of the charges recommended by the Jan. 6 Committee. Pelosis reemergence as Trumps fiercest foe comes as the former president is mounting a comeback bid for the White House, during which he has continued to call the 2020 election rigged and stolen. She is airing warnings about another Trump term. Dont even think of that, Pelosi told New York Magazine. Dont think of the world being on fire. It cannot happen, or we will not be the United States of America. If he were to be president, she added, it would be a criminal enterprise in the White House. But as for Trumps legal fate, Pelosi is waiting patiently for the legal process to play out. Now its in the court of law, Pelosi told MSNBCs Lawrence ODonnell. Hes innocent until proven guilty, he is not above the law, the facts and the law will determine the outcome. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Jack Teixeira, the Massachusetts man accused of leaking classified military documents, is once again arguing that he should be free from detainment, like former President Donald Trump, while awaiting trial. Both Teixeira and Trump are charged under the Espionage Act. In a new filing on Thursday, Teixeiras attorneys say prosecutors have resorted to semantic arguments when it comes to keeping him behind bars while he awaits trial. It is also notable that the government often declines to seek pretrial detention in other Espionage Act cases, according to the defense filing. Teixeiras defense team says prosecutors are asking the court to assume, without evidence, that multiple facts have been established: (1) that a foreign adversary is interested in information to which Mr. Teixeira has knowledge; (2) that a foreign adversarys interest in that information is sufficient to cause it to smuggle Mr. Teixeira out of the country; and (3) that Mr. Teixeira would be willing to share information with whichever unidentified adversary that somehow smuggles him out of the country. Every espionage defendant, from the former President to Mr. Teixeira, poses a hypothetical risk to national security by virtue of what they know, and because foreign adversaries theoretically have effectively limitless resources to extract them from the United States, says the defense in its filing. However, the government argues without explanation that any comparisons between Mr. Teixeira and other defendants are misleading. The governments refusal to engage with other espionage cases demonstrates that its arguments for detention lack context. Teixeiras attorneys also say their client would not risk doing something while free, that could harm his own family. Teixeira is a Massachusetts Air National Guardsman. He was indicted in June on federal felony charges and pleaded not guilty last month to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information after being arrested at his familys home in Dighton. Mr. Teixeiras speculated risk to national security cannot justify his pretrial detention because there are release conditions that reasonably mitigate that risk. Mr. Teixeira is not likely to betray and financially ruin his family to become a lifelong fugitive, all for the benefit of a foreign adversary, and Mr. Teixeira Sr. is reasonably capable of discovering whether Mr. Teixeira is attempting to flee the country. Prosecutors have argued Teixeira should be held, pending his trial, despite his family ties. In a filing earlier this month, prosecutors said ..the facade he presents of a family-oriented, law-abiding Massachusetts resident offers an enticing image. However, the detention proceedings before Magistrate Judge Hennessy shattered that veneer as illusion. This Court should focus on the real Jack Teixeira. said prosecutors. The Defendant is accused of and faces overwhelming evidence of having committed one of the largest disclosures of classified national defense information in the history of our nation; provided top-secret information to foreign nationals adjacent to a theater of war; expressed support for a foreign terrorist organization committing a mass-casualty attack at the worlds largest sporting event; freely discussed and detailed how he would commit his own acts of violence; engaged in acts of deception and obstruction designed to thwart his own apprehension and prosecution; and lied to and manipulated those around him when it served his interests, according to prosecutors. Teixeiras case returns to court in September for a pre-trial conference. 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 [Source] The Philadelphia 76ers have revealed new renderings for their proposed arena, which include an adjacent high-rise meant to provide affordable housing. Key details: 76 Devcorp, the developer behind the project, released the renderings on Wednesday. The 20-story high-rise building, which would sit on the former Greyhound bus station located at the northern end of the 76 Place Philadelphia arena, will have 396 units, a fifth of which will be designated as affordable housing, the company announced in its recent news release. The cost: The tower will reportedly add a $250 million cost to the already established $1.3 billion budget for the arena. Team spokesperson Nicole Gainer noted that the 76ers have yet to decide which income range it would use for the rents in the affordable units, Philly Voice reported. More from NextShark: Taiwanese Singer, Actor Alien Huang Passes Away at 36 Other plans: Besides the new high-rise proposal, the developer also unveiled the arenas first floor, which features a promenade that would allow pedestrians to cross between Market Street and Cuthbert Street. This move would also push the arena to move its event center to the arena's second floor. In turn, this opens an opportunity for the developers to establish a new entrance to Jefferson Station for commuters. More from NextShark: NYCs Largest Dim Sum Restaurant Jing Fong is Closing Permanently Because of Pandemic Planned studies: The team noted that the newly added building is being considered in the three impact studies that the 76ers will pay for. What the community is saying: Just as they doubted the aforementioned studies, the community is also doubtful about the latest development in the battle for Philadelphias Chinatown, with Jenny Zhang of the Save Chinatown Coalition telling CBS, We can't trust these folks with what they're saying," adding that the team leaders allegedly "made their careers off of displacement and helping to create the housing crisis." Interim Executive Director of Asian Americans United Neeta Patel, who spoke to Philly Voice, shared the same sentiment. More from NextShark: Laos Reports First COVID-19 Related Death Since Start of Pandemic Coming on the heels: The latest development came nearly two weeks after the Philadelphia 76ers released its new proposed agreements for the $1.3 billion arena despite strong pushback efforts from the community. Six policemen in the Philippine capital are facing criminal investigation over the fatal shooting of a teenager whom they had mistaken for a murder suspect. Jerhode Baltazar drowned at a fishing village in suburban Manila after being shot in the head last Wednesday. He dove into the water in a panic as police attempted to arrest him. It was a "lapse in judgment" for the policemen to shoot him, given the 17-year-old was unarmed, conceded authorities. "They cannot invoke self-defence. They were unable to prove that the victim resisted arrest," Navotas city police chief Col Allan Umipig told local television. It was not immediately clear what led police to believe the teenager was the person they were after. They had been tasked to arrest a suspect in a separate shooting, which also took place in Navotas. The six officers have been removed from their posts and detained while authorities investigate whether they could be charged with homicide, which is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison under Philippine law. The shooting has been covered prominently by local news outlets. In videos posted on social media, the victim's father, Jesse Baltazar, was shown clutching his son's body after it was fished out of the water. Mr Balazar questioned why his son was shot in the head when the policemen had claimed they fired only warning shots. The victim's mother, who works in Qatar, viewed her son's coffin through a video call. She told local TV she never imagined her next remittance would be for her son's burial. The victim's sister, Jeraldine Tolentino, also told local media that she refused a 50,000-peso ($1,000; 698) bribe to discourage the family from pursuing the case. Law enforcers in the Philippines have in recent years parried allegations of extrajudicial killings of crime suspects, particularly those involved in illegal drugs. They have denied wrongdoing. Alleged summary executions of suspects who purportedly resisted arrest increased during the reign of former President Rodrigo Duterte, whose term ended in mid-2022. He is facing an investigation by the International Criminal Court, which he has refused to recognise. Mr Duterte is currently living in retirement in Davao City. Critics say his hardline stance against crime has fostered an atmosphere for police misconduct. He however has defended his signature campaign as necessary for keeping Filipinos safe from street crimes. Duterte's successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, has dialled down his anti-narcotics campaign. However, state actors have been accused of involvement in high profile killings, such as that of journalist Percival Mabasa in November 2022. a view looking down on a spacex starship super heavy booster during an engine test, showing flames and exhaust shooting from its base The immense power of SpaceX's Starship Super Heavy booster is on glorious display in newly released photos of a recent engine test. That test occurred on Sunday (Aug. 6), when SpaceX briefly ignited the 33 Raptor engines of a Super Heavy prototype known as Booster 9 at the company's Starbase site in South Texas. Four of the Raptors shut down prematurely, SpaceX said during a webcast of the test. But the results were still dramatic and impressive, as the new photos show. Related: Relive SpaceX's explosive 1st Starship test in incredible launch photos The images, which SpaceX posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday (Aug. 8), capture Sunday's "static fire" test from multiple angles. For example, one photo looks down on Booster 9 from a considerable height, showing orange flames at the rocket's base and waffle-iron-like grid fins, which are designed to help the vehicle steer its way back to Earth after launch, extending from its top. flames erupt from the base of a spacex rocket during an engine test Another shot provides a closeup of the flames shooting out from the Raptors. A third zooms out a bit, also capturing Booster 9's body, which is coated in white frost thanks to its supercold propellants (liquid methane and liquid oxygen). A fourth photo gives us a wide-angle view of the test, showing both the booster and the immense cloud of dust and exhaust generated by its firing Raptors. view looking down on a rocket engine test, showing flames extending from the vehicle's base Sunday's static fire was part of the launch prep for Booster 9, which is slated to conduct a test flight in the relatively near future. If all goes according to plan, the vehicle will launch a Starship upper-stage prototype called Ship 25 partway around Earth, with splashdown targeted for the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii. That's the same basic flight plan as the first and only launch of a fully stacked Starship vehicle to date, which occurred on April 20. That mission ended early, however: Starship's two stages failed to separate, and SpaceX sent a self-destruct command, destroying the vehicle four minutes after liftoff. wide-angle photo showing a silver spacex starship rocket firing its engines, producing a cloud of exhaust and debris RELATED STORIES: Starship and Super Heavy: SpaceX's Mars-colonizing transportation system Elon Musk says SpaceX could launch a Starship to the moon 'probably sooner' than 2024: report FAA seeks to fine SpaceX for August 2022 Starlink launch SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said the Booster 9-Ship 25 flight could occur in the coming weeks, but the timeline is unclear. Part of the uncertainty is logistical. A coalition of environmental and Indigenous groups is currently suing the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which grants launch licenses, claiming the agency didn't properly assess the damage that Starlink launches could cause to the South Texas ecosystem and community. (The April 20 launch rained debris on a large area around Starbase.) Phylicia Rashad will not return to her role As Fine Arts Dean at Howard University after the 2023-2024 academic year. She will be leaving at the end of her three-year contract with the institution. Although she was praised by the staff at the institution, she was not disclosed her reason for leaving. Phylicia Rashads Departure From Howard Rashad served as Dean at the Universitys Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts. The institutions president, Wayne A.I. Frederick, shared the news in an email. We deeply appreciate Dean Rashads selfless contributions and commitment to our alma mater during her leadership of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts and the many contributions she has made to Howard Universitys students, graduates, and global community, Frederick said in the email. Dean Rashad has also bolstered our esteemed faculty with the appointment of nationally and internationally recognized scholars, artists, and creatives to serve as department chairs, mentors, teachers, and role models for our students. He also noted that financial contributions increased significantly during Rashads tenure. For instance, Netflix donated $5.4 million to the program. During her tenure, she was also the inaugural Toni Morrison Endowed Chair in Arts and Humanities. Her return to her alma mater in May 2021 marked the reinstatement of Howards College of Fine Arts as an independent school within the university. In 1998, the department was controversially merged with the College of Arts and Sciences for budgeting purposes. The Cosby Show actress was a theater acting major at Howard and graduated magna cum laude. She received a bachelors degree from the university in 1970. Other notable Howard alumni include Chadwick Boseman, Taraji P. Henson, Jessye Norman Alma Thomas, and Roberta Flack. She has also served as adjunct faculty and guest lecturer at several other institutions, including New York University, Carnegie Mellon University, SUNY Purchase, Vassar College, and Fordham University. The post Phylicia Rashad Resigns from Position at Howard University appeared first on 21Ninety. Phylicia Rashad is stepping down as dean of Howard University's Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at the end of her 2023-24 academic term. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) Phylicia Rashad is stepping down as dean of Howard Universitys Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts. The Tony Award-winning actor is stepping down as dean at the end of her 2023-24 academic term. Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick, the universitys outgoing president, announced Rashads exit in an email thanking her for her time with the esteemed HBCU and highlighting her contributions. In 2021, Dean Rashad returned to alma mater to lead the re-establishment of the College of Fine Arts as an independent college and to restore it to its rightful place as the center for arts and creativity at Howard University, Frederick wrote. The college was renamed in honor of world-renowned actor, playwright, director, cultural activist, and Howard alumnus, the late Chadwick A. Boseman. During Dean Rashads tenure, contributions to Fine Arts programming at Howard have increased significantly, anchored by a $5.4 million gift from Netflix to establish The Chadwick A. Boseman Memorial Scholarship. Rashad was a theater acting major at Howard, graduating magna cum laude with a bachelors in fine arts in 1970. She launched her career on Broadway before playing Bill Cosbys TV wife, Clair Huxtable, on the popular 1980s sitcom The Cosby Show. She has starred in numerous stage, film and television projects in the years since. The actors hiring in May 2021 marked the return of Howards College of Fine Arts as an independent school within the university. In 1998, the department was merged with the College of Arts and Sciences for budgeting reasons, upsetting many of the school's performing- and visual-arts students, alumni and faculty. Read more: Phylicia Rashad apologizes for celebrating Bill Cosby's release But just a month after Rashad was welcomed as dean, her Cosby Show ties landed her in hot water. She appeared to be in Cosbys corner after news dropped that the comics 2018 conviction for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand had been overturned because of a due-process technicality. FINALLY!!!! A terrible wrong is being righted - a miscarriage of justice is corrected!, tweeted Rashad. A couple of hours later, as a backlash began to brew, she deleted her post supporting her former TV husband and attempted to clarify her remarks, tweeting, I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward. My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth. Personally, I know from friends and family that such abuse has lifelong residual effects. My heartfelt wish is for healing. By the end of that week, she sent an email to Howard University students and parents, offering her "most sincere apology for celebrating the overturning of Cosbys conviction. My remarks were in no way directed towards survivors of sexual assault. I vehemently oppose sexual violence, find no excuse for such behavior, and I know that Howard University has a zero-tolerance policy toward interpersonal violence, Rashad wrote. She promised to engage in active listening and participate in trainings to not only reinforce University protocol and conduct, but also to learn how I can become a stronger ally to sexual assault survivors and everyone who has suffered at the hands of an abuser. Read more: Debbie Allen on her upbringing with sister Phylicia Rashad and what their mother taught them It wasnt the first time Rashad had defended Cosby. In a 2015 ABC News interview, she said, This is not about the women. This is about something else. This is about the obliteration of legacy. In October 2020, Rashad shared a throwback photo of herself that was taken during Howard University's Class of 1970 commencement ceremony. I had just graduated with a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts and I knew that the world was before me, she wrote in the caption. Looking back at this moment I would say to myself, Take a good look at this campus. It is more than brick and mortar. Yes, you are at the threshold of a new beginning. Take this living vibration of legacy forward with you. Other notable Howard fine-arts alumni include Taraji P. Henson, Jessye Norman Alma Thomas and Roberta Flack. 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. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) The mother of missing Bilibid inmate Michael Cataroja bared that she wanted her son to surrender to Senator Raffy Tulfo, Bureau of Corrections chief Gregorio Catapang told a House hearing on Thursday. "There is a development, because right now there is a possibility that PDL Cataroja is still alive. Even his mother is telling us she wants her son to surrender to Raffy Tulfo," Catapang said. Cataroja was reported missing on July 15, prompting authorities to search for him to determine if he's still alive. BuCor had to seek help from the Philippine Coast Guard and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to locate him. During their search, trained dogs went to the direction of a septic tank inside the maximum security compound of the national penitentiary where a bone was retrieved. But the NBI medico-legal division pointed out in the hearing that the bone is not of a human but of a chicken. Catapang believed Cataroja had escaped. Committee on Justice chairperson Juliet Ferrer, meanwhile, questioned why BuCor officials failed to disclose that there was a missing inmate during its July 25 hearing. "I was wondering why we were not informed at that time. Cause that's already the issue that we're talking about during that time," Ferrer said. "Parang tinago ninyo ba? Alam ninyo pala may problema sa Bilibid, bakit hindi ninyo ininform ang committee?" she added. [Translation: Did you hide it? You know there is a problem with Bilibid, why didn't you inform the committee?] Catapang immediately clarified that there was no intention to hide it and apologized for the non-disclosure. He recommended assigning a liaison officer who will directly communicate with the committee. Just over two years ago, Piedmont Lithium Inc. made its initial appearance before Gaston County leaders at a tense public meeting for its Carolina Lithium project. The company returned before the countys board of commissioners Tuesday night to provide an update on its proposal for a massive mining operation there. It was also an effort to repair the companys relationships and image in its home area. READ MORE: Permitting process drags on for Piedmont Lithiums mine in Gaston Co. Residents packed the chamber in opposition while county commissioners peppered company leaders about plans for the mine. Read more here. VIDEO: Piedmont Lithium CEO: Mining operation is safe for residents The pilot of a small plane has died after crashing in rural Georgia. The FAA alerted the Taylor County Sheriffs Office to a possible plane crash on Thursday morning. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Taylor County Sheriff Jeff Watson asked a private citizen with a small plane to check out the last known area the plane was in. The pilot spotted the wreckage in a rural area in Talbot County about 10 miles east of Talbotton. Sheriff Watson confirmed the crash involved a small plane and that the pilot died in the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board identified the plane as a Cessna P210N. TRENDING STORIES: It does not appear that anyone else was on board the plane, but they cannot confirm that. Its unclear what caused the crash. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] The NTSB is investigating the crash. IN OTHER NEWS: The city of Pittsburgh and several local organizations are holding an event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop. The celebration takes place at Market Square from 3 to 7 p.m. on Friday. A spokesperson for Mayor Ed Gainey said it will pay tribute to the cultural impact Hip-Hop has had on the city and recognize Pittsburgh legends within the genre. Hip-Hop created a culture that everyone in the world continues to copy. Its a generational musical movement that addressed so many ills happening at the time when it was crafted. It also provided space for expression for so many young people. It was the music, DJ, dance, and yes, even the graffiti tags that broke down barriers, the spokesperson said. Those who go to the event will hear several live performances, including a DJ Battle, break dancing and live graffiti. The mayors office says this event has several purposes: its a part of Gaineys Month of Peace and Non-Violence initiative, a collaboration to show the community is open to intergenerational interaction and allows young Black men to be exposed to cultural infusions and positive feedback with the assistance of the My Brothers Keeper organization. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: $1 million-winning Mega Millions ticket sold in Lawrence County Woman takes Lyft hundreds of miles, fires gun where child lives with foster family, police say Woman mowing lawn gets hit with snake dropped by hawk; then the hawk attacked VIDEO: Postal worker robbed of master key in Pittsburgh DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts The Ministry of Defence of Poland plans to increase the number of troops on the border with Belarus by several thousand in order to deter the aggressor from attacking the country. Source: Polish Radio with reference to Mariusz Baszczak, Minister of Defence, reports European Pravda Quote: "About 10,000 soldiers will be on the border: 4,000 will directly support the Border Service, and 6,000 will be in reserve." Details: He says that the ministry is redeploying troops "closer to the border with Belarus to deter the aggressor so that he does not dare to attack" Poland. He added that "the violation of Polish space by Belarusian helicopters cannot be underestimated due to the approach" of Minsk. "This was another provocation. Everything that happens in Belarus is coordinated with the actions of Russia," Baszczak clarified. Background: Poland will reportedly send 2,000 troops to the border with Belarus to stop illegal border crossing attempts, which is twice as many as requested by the Polish Border Guard Service. On 7 August, Maciej Wasik, Polish Deputy Interior Minister, said the country's Border Guard Service needs to be reinforced with an additional 1,000 troops. He noted that the Belarusian authorities currently arrange all attempts to enter Poland illegally. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! Poland to strengthen border with Belarus amid arrival of Wagner PMC mercenaries in the country Poland will increase its military presence on its border with Belarus to 10,000 troops following the arrival of Russian Wagner company mercenaries in the country, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced on Aug. 10. "There will be about 10,000 soldiers 4,000 will be soldiers directly involved in the operation to support the Border Guard at the border, and another 6,000 will be in reserve," he said. Read also: Nervous Poland will send more troops to the border with Belarus Blaszczak added that these soldiers will "improve their skills there, in the garrisons recreated in the east of the country." After the failed mutiny attempt in Russia, some Wagner mercenaries ended up in Belarus by agreement with the self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. Read also: Minsk and Moscow are provoking Poland On July 23, during a meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko said that the Wagner units were "stressing him out" because they allegedly wanted to attack Poland. But later he clarified that he was joking. On July 29, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that more than 100 mercenaries of the Wagner mercenary company had set off toward the Suwalki corridor near the Belarusian city of Grodno. He called such actions "a dangerous situation" and "a step towards a further hybrid attack on Poland." The prime minister suggested that Wagner mercenaries would disguise themselves as Belarusian border guards and help illegal migrants enter Poland. In addition, Morawiecki suggested that mercenaries could begin to enter Polish territory under the guise of illegal migrants, which would create "additional risks." Read also: Polish PM concerned that Wagner mercenaries in Belarus could infiltrate Poland On Aug. 7, Belarus began military drills near the border with Poland and Lithuania. The countries are preparing to strengthen their borders with Belarus. The two EU states also decided to close some border crossing points. 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 Poland is planning to move around 10,000 troops to its eastern border with Belarus amid mounting concerns over Wagner forces in the region. Wagner troops have been stationed within Belarus a close ally of Russia in the wake of a short-lived rebellion carried out by the group. The Polish Defense Minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, told public radio that while 10,000 soldiers will be on the border, 4,000 will directly support the border guard and the remaining 6,000 will be in reserve. Explaining the move, Blaszczak cited alleged violations of Polish air space by two military aircraft, accusations Belarus called far-fetched. The violation of Polish space by Belarusian helicopters cannot be underestimated because of the Belarusian approach, Blaszczak said, calling it another provocation. Everything that is happening in Belarus is coordinated with the actions of Russian, he said. Polish Defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak arrives to take part in the European Air Defence Conference at Les Invalides in Paris on June 19, 2023. - Geoffroy van der Hasselt/AFP/Getty Images The border wall at the Polish Belarusian border on July 09, 2023. - Omar Marques/Getty Images On Wednesday, Blaszczak agreed to send more troops to the border but did not detail an exact number, according to Polish state news agency PAP. Meanwhile Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also discussed plans for Russia to build up its forces on its western borders, according to a readout from a board meeting published by the Defense Ministry on Wednesday. Among the reasons for the move, Shoigu blamed increasing militarization in Poland. Poland has been sounding the alarm about Wagner forces in Belarus in recent weeks. The beginning of August saw increased activity near a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania, known as the Suwalki gap or corridor, which troops from the Russian mercenary group Wagner are moving toward in an apparent attempt to increase pressure on NATO and EU members. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki recently warned that Wagner fighters could pose as migrants to try crossing the border. Another of Belaruss neighbors, Lithuania, has also shored up its border, citing the threat from Wagner fighters. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak (L) said Thursday 10,000 troops are being sent to the border with Belarus "to scare the aggressor" and prevent an attack. Border tensions are high between the NATO country and Russia-allied Belarus. Photo by Radek PietruszkaI/EPA-EFE Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said Thursday Poland is sending roughly 10,000 troops to the border with Belarus to "scare the aggressor so that he does not dare attack us." About 4,000 of the troops sent to the border with Belarus will directly support the Border Guard while 6,000 will be in reserve, Blaszczak said on Polish Radio 1. The troops are reinforcing the border amid ongoing escalating tensions with Russia-allied Belarus following the alleged violation of Polish airspace and repeated attempts to illegally cross the border. Belarus denies that its helicopters entered Polish air space in early August. "Everything that happens in Belarus is coordinated with Russia's actions," Blaszczak said during the Radio 1 appearance. The escalating border tensions between Belarus and NATO member Poland include reports that some Wagner mercenaries are moving toward Poland's Suwalki Gap bordering Russia's Baltic Sea enclave of Kalinigrad. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki described the situation with Wagner troops moving toward the border city of Grodno as increasingly dangerous, warning that the mercenaries could enter Poland posing as migrants. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is also considering sending more troops to its western border, according to a readout of a meeting published by the Defense Ministry Wednesday, citing what Shoigu claimed is increasing militarization in Poland. Poland said it has not ruled out closing the border with Belarus, which recently started military drills near its border with Lithuania and Poland. A Daytona Beach woman was arrested Wednesday and accused of bilking an insurance company out of $1.4 million, Ormond Beach police said. Investigators with the Ormond Beach Police Department and State Attorney's Office arrested Samantha Rae Link, 30, and charged her with grand theft of more than $100,000 and an organized scheme to defraud of more than $50,000. Link was being held in the Volusia County Branch Jail Thursday on $650,000 bail. Link was an accountant for Security First Insurance. The chairman and CEO of the company is Locke Burt who served in the Florida Senate for 12 years. According to its website, Security First Insurance is one of the largest homeowners insurance companies in Florida. Ormond Beach Police Chief Jesse Godfrey praised the teamwork of the investigators as a "testament that offenders will be brought to justice," according to a news release. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach woman accused of stealing from insurance company As King County announces a major drug bust, evidence is mounting that the victims of fentanyl are getting younger. Now a 16-month-old Shoreline girl may have died in June due to fentanyl exposure. King County Sheriffs deputies were called to her house here in Shoreline on June 15th. And they found a toddler, unresponsive. The Shoreline Police say they and the King County Medical Examiner are investigating whether she was exposed to fentanyl. Potentially it was fentanyl-related, yes, said Chief Kelly Park. Now the epidemic is hitting the youngest among us. This is something our officers are going out on a daily basis and administering Narcan to our youths, to our adults, and to everyone in between, Chief Park said. This is a very bad situation. That grim toll may include 16-month-old Xhendaya Johnson. Shoreline police tell us she died on June 15. A friend posted this GoFundMe account, saying only that the little girl died suddenly; that the family needed money for her funeral. But it is not unheard of. The King County Prosecutor says last year 25 people under the age of 20 died from drug abuse, the vast majority linked to fentanyl. And yes, prosecutors have seen toddlers, too. Just this week, the King County Medical Examiner reported nine-year-old Isaiah Cole - may have died from acute drug intoxication from fentanyl inside a house on Military Road South in Kent. And the same day, on 242nd Place in Kent, 15-year-old India Henderson was found dead, likely exposed to fentanyl and methamphetamine, precious lives lost. Were talking about kids who may be in sports, said King County Undersheriff Jesse Anderson, actively involved in schools, on the course of having very productive lives. Just like that, theyre gone. The Undersheriff says ingesting a single fentanyl pill can be deadly. He says they know the pills taken off the street last week wont end the epidemic. That wont happen, he says, until the demand drops. RICHMOND, Ind. City police said when they encountered a Richmond man in recent days, he had meth and heroin in his possession, and ignored their demands to drop a handgun. Andrew Scott Taylor, 35, was charged Wednesday in Wayne Circuit Court with possession of meth, possession of a narcotic drug, resisting law enforcement, unlawful possession of a firearm and two counts of pointing a firearm. Police on Monday night were called to a home along Ridge Street, where Taylor was reported to have entered a relative's garage without permission. When the Richmond man emerged from the garage, he reportedly was carrying a handgun, and ignored repeated demands to drop the weapon. At one point he allegedly pointed the firearm at two officers and told them, "Shoot me in the head." More: Overdose in Wayne County jail leads to more charges against local man Officers then disabled Taylor, shocking him with an electric stun device. He was taken to Reid Hospital for an examination before being delivered to the Wayne County jail. During an interview, the Richmond man told police he was uncertain whether his gun worked, calling it a "paperweight." He also said he would have preferred being shot rather than going to jail. A search of Taylor's backpack resulted in seizure of 13 grams of meth and 21 capsules containing heroin. He continued to be held in the jail on Thursday under a $20,000 bond. The most serious charge against him, possession of meth, is a Level 3 felony carrying up to 16 years in prison. In 2020, Taylor was convicted of nonsupport of a dependent child in a Jay County case that had been filed in 2014. He was convicted of possession of a controlled substance in Randolph County in 2014. Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Police: Richmond man had meth, heroin, refused to surrender handgun Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) Over 400 foreign vessels were sighted within the Philippines exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea, and around 85% of them are Chinese, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Western Command (WESCOM) reported. Based on our last monitoring [on Wednesday], malapit-lapit sa [close to] 500. Lagpas [Over] 400...That is all foreign, all foreign vessel incursions in the West Philippine Sea now, WESCOM Commander Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos told the media on Thursday. Carlos added: 400 plus is a safe estimate because there may be a duplication of sightings siguro mga 85% doon are Chinese [maybe around 85% of them are Chinese]. He said that in Mischief Reef or Panganiban Reef alone, there were 191 Chinese vessels. As a result, AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner said that the Philippines would increase its maritime presence through seafaring vessels and aircraft over the contested waters. We really have to establish in our area, ang labanan dito padamihan. Naturally, hindi tayo lumaban sa level ng China [The fight here is through numbers. Naturally, we cannot fight China at their level head on]We will try to deploy more ships para ma-establish yung presence sa lugar [to establish our presence in the area], Brawner said. This report comes after Beijings latest incursion in the West Philippine Sea, when Chinese Coast Guard vessels on Aug. 5 fired a water cannon at Filipino vessels en route to deliver supplies to BRP Sierra Madre stationed on Ayungin Shoal. READ: Chinese coast guard fired water cannons at PH vessels en route to Ayungin Shoal PCG Carlos added that after the water cannon incident, only one Chinese vessel has been monitored so far near Ayungin Shoal. In 2021, the National Task Force on the West Philippine Sea reported that there were around 287 Chinese vessels suspected to be maritime militia scattered over various parts of the West Philippine Sea. READ: 287 Chinese vessels remain scattered within, outside PH EEZ WPS task force China continues to lead incursions in the West Philippine Sea, despite the 2016 arbitral ruling under the United Nations Convention for the Law of the Sea which nullified its sweeping claims over the South China Sea, one that covered 80% of the Philippines' EEZ. Beijing continues to reject the ruling. The Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Baszczak said on Aug. 10 that 10,000 soldiers will be moved to the country's border with Belarus "to scare away the aggressor so that it does not dare attack us." He told a public radio interviewer that 4,000 will directly support the Border Guard and 6,000 will be in the reserve. "We have to be ready for various scenarios, we do not exclude anything," Baszczak said. The numbers are double that quoted by the Polish Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik on Aug. 9, who said that Poland will deploy an additional 2,000 soldiers to support the Border Guard. Speaking to the Polish Press Agency (PAP), Wasik said the reinforcements will be deployed in the Lublin and Podlaskie provinces within the next two weeks. There are already 2,000 soldiers stationed at the border along with the Border Guard units. While the prime minister warned earlier that Wagner fighters can try to infiltrate Poland from Belarus, Wasik told the PAP that the mercenaries do not threaten Polish security "in a tactical sense." The situation on the Polish-Belarusian border has been growing tense for the past two years. Since 2021, Minsk has been sending migrants mainly from the Middle East to the borders of Poland and the Baltic countries, facilitating an artificial migrant crisis. Recently, the tensions surged again as Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner Group fighters began pouring into Belarus following their short-lived uprising against the Kremlin. Since then, Wagner mercenaries conducted military exercises with Belarusian soldiers in Brest Oblast near the Polish border. On July 29, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki claimed that 100 Wagner mercenaries had been deployed near the Suwalki Corridor, a strategic strip of land between Poland and Lithuania that also divides Belarus from Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast. Adding to the growing tension, two Belarusian helicopters violated Polish airspace on Aug. 1. On Aug. 5, Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski told CNN that the government is considering any steps that will be necessary to protect" Polish territory. Read also: Belarus Weekly: Helicopters violate Polish airspace; Wagner moves closer to border Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Polish President Andrzej Duda believes that with the amount of weapons that Ukrainian forces now have, Ukraine is not able to change the balance of the war in its favour. Source: Andrzej Duda in an interview with The Washington Post, quoted by European Pravda Details: Duda noted that thanks to the military aid of partners, Ukraine now has a much more modern military potential than Russia, but this is not enough. Quote: "The question is: Does Ukraine have enough weapons to change the balance of the war and get the upper hand? And the answer is probably no. They probably do not have enough weapons. And we know this by the fact that theyre not currently able to carry out a very decisive counteroffensive against the Russian military. To make a long story short, they need more assistance." Background: The US Department of Defense has been observing the Ukrainian Defence Forces' advance as part of a counteroffensive but predicts it will be a challenging and prolonged struggle. According to CNN, based on the current situation on the battlefield, Western officials are beginning to consider it unlikely that a major success by the Ukrainian Defence Forces would change the situation considerably. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! The Biden administration is expected to disclose its appeal for billions of dollars in extra funds intended for weaponry and other forms of assistance to Ukraine on Thursday, Aug. 10, Politico reports. According to two undisclosed sources, the emergency funding request is likely to incorporate aid for Taiwan and resources to renew swiftly diminishing disaster relief funds. Neither of these individuals elaborated on the exact sum of the appeal or its specific intended goals. The appeal for increased funding to aid Ukraine during its counteroffensive is certain to add to the already intense clash over government funding on Capitol Hill. Conservatives there are skeptical about procuring further aid packages without a comprehensive account of how previous assistance has been allocated. Government funding will stop on Sept. 30, and and both the House and Senate budget committees are envisioning the incorporation of funds for Ukraine, Taiwan, and disaster relief in a short-term spending plan. Achieving this plan might be challenging however, without substantial bipartisan cooperation. This is especially true in the House, where Republicans hold a slim majority and some conservatives remain opposed to any temporary funding solution that lacks significant spending cuts or GOP policy priorities. A day ago, spokesperson of the U.S. State Department Matthew Miller reported that the U.S. will announce a new military aid package for Ukraine. Additionally, Miller mentioned that the U.S. is thinking about sending new missiles and defense systems. Read also: Doug Klain: How to open NATOs door for Ukraine Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Story at a glance Almost three-quarters of women studying at a four-year college felt stressed this past spring while 56 percent of men said the same, according to a new Gallup poll. Poll findings show that while many students feel stressed, lonely or sad, women are more likely to experience these negative emotions than men. Feelings of stress and loneliness have been a major issue at college and universities since the COVID-19 pandemic. Women in college are more likely than their male classmates to report feeling stressed and worried, a new Gallup poll shows. The findings are the result of a 2,430-person survey of college students pursuing bachelors degrees at a four-year college Gallup conducted in mid-March. During the spring semester, 66 percent of college students in the U.S. reported feeling stressed and another 51 percent reported feeling worried. America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news. Another 39 percent of students reported feeling lonely while 36 percent admitted to feeling sad, according to the poll. But women were far more likely than men to suffer from stress and worry. This past spring, 72 percent of female students in four-year undergraduate programs felt stress a lot of the prior day while 56 percent of male students said the same. Similarly, 56 percent of female students admitted to worrying the prior day, while 40 percent of male students reported feeling worried. Female students are also more likely to experience feelings of sadness and loneliness than their male counterparts. In the March survey, 40 percent of female respondents reported feeling sad while 41 percent said they felt lonely. Meanwhile, 28 percent of male students said they felt sad and 35 percent said they felt lonely. Feelings of stress, worry, loneliness and sadness have challenged higher education institutions in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic began and they are likely to continue into the fall of 2023, poll crafters said in a statement. Incoming students require significant support to overcome the stressors they will face to be able to complete their post-secondary experience and launch successfully into life after graduation. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. The claim: Climate change is a 'scam' because the US was hotter in 1913 than 2023 A July 30 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a screenshot of a post from X, formerly Twitter, that includes side-by-side maps of the U.S. with a scattering of red dots. The US was much hotter in 1913 left than 2023 right, reads the text in the X post. 1913 was 86% of industrial era atmospheric CO2 ago (sic). So much for claims of emissions-driven heat. The Instagram caption adds, "All they do is lie with their fake #climatescam to extend power and control." The Instagram post was liked nearly 300 times in two weeks. The X post garnered more than 1,000 reposts in one week. Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks Our rating: False Climate experts said the posts method of determining which year was hotter based on the number of high-temperature days is not scientifically valid. The average temperature across the contiguous U.S. in 2023 is set to be hotter than that of 1913, continuing a decades-long trend of warming. Scientists have ample evidence that modern climate change is driven by greenhouse gases released from human activity. 1913 was not a hotter year than 2023, contrary to posts The maps in the post purportedly track instances where temperatures have reached and exceeded 100 degrees across the U.S. in both 1913 and 2023. The post also includes a link to an article containing the same maps, but neither the post nor the article specify the source of the information the maps are based upon. Regardless, climate scientists say the method of counting high-temperature spikes is not a valid way to determine if one year was hotter than another. "Climate trends should only be inferred from long-term datasets, Sean Birkel, a climatologist and research assistant professor at the University of Maine, previously told USA TODAY. Long-term warming trends are clear based on data going back several decades to more than a century. While the worlds hottest recorded air temperature was indeed recorded in Death Valley, California, on July 10, 1913, it is a complete untruth that 1913 was a hotter year than 2023, said Howard Diamond, a senior climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Air Resources Laboratory. The posts have no basis in science and are not reflective of the state of today's surface temperatures either in the U.S. or globally, Diamond said. The average temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 51.5 degrees in 1913, according to NOAA data. Diamond noted this year was comparatively cooler than temperatures later on in that century. NOAA data shows it ranked as the 27th-coolest year in the 1900s. While the data for 2023 is not yet available, the average annual temperature of the contiguous U.S. was 53.4 degrees in 2022, according to NOAA. The average temperature across the country has consistently been above the 1901-2000 mean since 1997. Fact check: Climate change measured in decades, day to day temperature Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson Shayla Powell concurred, stating the increase in temperatures from 1913 to 2023 is even more apparent at the global scale. Globally, average surface temperatures have increased by an average of about .1 degrees per decade since 1880, or about 2 degrees in total, according to data from multiple climate agencies. The rate of warming since 1981 has nearly doubled, with global temperatures continuing to increase at a rate of more than 0.3 degrees per decade since the 1980s. Temperatures in the contiguous U.S. have warmed ahead of the global rate since the late 1970s, according to data from the EPA. Carbon dioxide emissions unequivocally driving modern climate change The X post used the temperature spike data to assert human emissions aren't driving global warming, but scientists have ample evidence that modern climate change is driven by greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, like burning fossil fuels. Human activities are releasing more carbon dioxide than natural processes can remove, causing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to build. Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide absorb and radiate heat, warming up the Earths atmosphere and surface temperatures. Fact check: Carbon dioxide has an effect on the climate, contrary to post In 2013, atmospheric carbon dioxide surpassed 400 parts per million for the first time since scientists started tracking levels in the mid-twentieth century. NOAA reported a high of 417 parts per million in 2022. USA TODAY reached out to the X user who shared the post for comment but did not receive an immediate response. 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: False claim 1913 was a warmer year than 2023 in the US | Fact check A Georgia man who died as a Prisoner of War (POW) decades ago, is now being laid to rest. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< Seventy years after his passing, Army Corporal Dewey E. Rewis Junior will be buried with his family present at Wayfare Cemetery. A procession was held starting at the Jacksonville International Airport, through Callahan and Hilliard. The Nassau County Sheriffs Office and Florida Guard escorted the Corporal through the state roads. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] At 18 years old Corporal Rewis unit came under attack in North Korea. He was then reported missing and died as a POW. In 1993, North Korea turned over 33 boxes of remains to the United Nations Command. Through DNA advancements, Corporal Rewis was identified. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] His family will hold a graveside service with full military honors at Wayfare Cemetery in Echols County, Georgia on Saturday, August 12 at 10 A.M. Click here to U.S. Army Cpl. Dewey E. Rewis Jr.s obituary. Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. The Pensacola Police Department announced Thursday they arrested a 38-year-old Pensacola man for homicide that resulted from trafficking fentanyl. Police officers arrested Quantae Solethia Sanders for homicide (distributing fentanyl that caused death), trafficking fentanyl, trafficking methamphetamine and possession of a controlled substance. "During the course of a death investigation from January 2023, it was determined that the victim died from fentanyl intoxication," the press release said. "Sanders was developed as the suspected fentanyl dealer." New No. 1: Pensacola medical district ranks No. 1 in Florida opioid deaths; double state average Overdose homicide: Grand jury indicts Escambia inmate for first-degree murder in cellmate's fentanyl overdose The release says that PPD's Vice and Narcotics Unit along with the U.S. Marshal Task Force arrested Sanders Wednesday. PPD's Criminal Investigations Division and Florida Department of Law Enforcement helped with the investigation, per the release. Sanders is currently held in Escambia County Jail without bond. Other Escambia County overdose cases have resulted in homicide charges Under Florida law, a person can be charged with first-degree murder if that person unlawfully distributed a controlled substance and someone dies as a result of the controlled substance. PPD spokesperson Mike Wood said there are various ways investigators can find drug dealers, but it can sometimes be harder to track overdoses back to the dealer, especially if the person who overdoses dies. While somewhat infrequent, there have been multiple other instances where an individual has faced homicide charges after allegedly selling or supplying someone else with narcotics. Pamela Schwarz In 2022, Escambia County Jail inmate Pamela Schwarz was indicted with first-degree murder after she allegedly snuck fentanyl into her cell and gave some to her cellmate 52-year-old Shirley Barney on May 25. Barney then had an overdose and died, but not before Schwarz allegedly flushed the remaining drugs down the toilet. Several hours later, corrections officers found the 52-year-old unresponsive. Schwarz is currently serving a 20-month sentence for possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and possessing drug equipment, according to court records. She is awaiting her next court date scheduled for Oct. 11. James Mitchell James Mitchell was sentenced to life in prison May 21, 2018, in connection with the overdose death of victim Donald Davis. Over a two-day trial, state prosecutors presented witness testimony that on Jan. 30, 2014, Mitchell sold black tar heroin to the Davis and a group of others. Davis wife found him deceased at their home later that evening. Along with his homicide by delivery of heroin sentence, Mitchell was issued a separate 25-year sentence for trafficking in heroin, conspiracy to possess heroin and resisting an officer with violence. Marcus Dewayne Jackson On Sept. 20, 2017, an Escambia County jury convicted Marcus Dewayne Jackson of homicide by delivery of a controlled substance. On Nov. 20, 2015, the Pensacola Police Department found Jim Cady deceased in a halfway house on Barcelona Street in Pensacola. An investigation determined that Jackson sold a quantity of heroin to Cady the previous day. A medical examiners report determined that heroin was Cadys cause of death. Jackson was ultimately sentenced to life in prison. This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Florida man Quantae Sanders charged in fentanyl overdose Police guard a vehicle parked outside the clinic where presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was taken after he was shot and killed after a campaign rally in Quito, Ecuador. QUITO An Ecuadorian presidential candidate known for speaking up against corruption was shot and killed Wednesday at a political rally in the capital amid a wave of startling violence in the South American country. President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and suggested organized crime was behind his slaying. Villavicencio was one of eight candidates in the Aug. 20 presidential vote, though not the frontrunner. The politician, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement. I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished, Lasso said in a statement. Organized crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law. Ecuadors attorney generals office said a suspect in the assassination of Villavicencio died of wounds after being arrested by authorities. Violence in Ecuador, a historically calm country, has surged in the past year as drug traffickers have flocked to the South American nation, resulting in a concerning uptick in drug trafficking, violent killings and child recruitment by gangs. Videos on social media appear to show the candidate walking out of the event surrounded by guards. The video then shows Villavicencio entering a white truck followed by gunfire, information that was confirmed to the Associated Press by Patricio Zuquilanda, Villavicencios campaign adviser. NEWS DEVELOPING INTO THE EVENING: For an update later tonight, sign up for the Evening Briefing. Zuquilanda said the candidate had received death threats before the shooting, which he had reported to authorities and resulted in one detention. He called on international authorities to take action against the violence, attributing it to rising violence and drug trafficking. The Ecuadorian people are crying and Ecuador is mortally wounded, he said. Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society. Police confirmed that several others were injured, including officers, describing the incident as a terrorist act and promising to get to the bottom of the killing. Villavicencio was one of the most critical voices against corruption, especially during the government of former President Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017. He filed many judicial complaints against high ranking members of the Correa government, including against the ex-president himself. His comments were echoed other candidates who demanded action, with leading candidate Luisa Gonzalez of the Citizen Revolution party saying when they touch one, they touch all of is. Another candidate and former vice president Otto Sonnenholzner, meanwhile, said in a news conference, We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears and we do not deserve to live line this. We demand that you do something. He was married and is survived by five children. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ecuador presidential candidate assassinated at campaign rally Peace of a sort may be at hand between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Wall Street Journal reported the two longtime antagonists are preparing to normalize relations, with Saudi Arabia finally giving formal recognition to Israel in return for "concessions to the Palestinians, U.S. security guarantees and civilian nuclear help." There are still "long odds," but the potential agreement "would be the most momentous Middle East peace deal in a generation." Any deal will probably require a big U.S. investment. Axios reported that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants security commitments from America focused "around a possible military nuclear threat from Iran." And the New York Times' Thomas Friedman reported that President Biden is "wrestling with whether to pursue the possibility of a U.S.-Saudi mutual security pact" to guarantee the agreement. There are critics, though, who say the U.S. should avoid such entanglements. Israel, after all, is caught up in protests over Netanyahu's proposal to reshape that country's Supreme Court. And Saudi Arabia's government still has blood on its hands from the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The U.S. "shouldn't want to keep Saudi Arabia as a client, and it certainly shouldn't want to upgrade that relationship to a formal alliance," Daniel Larison wrote at Substack. What price, if any, should the U.S. pay for a Middle East pact? What are the commentators saying? Brokering a Saudi-Israeli agreement "means giving huge political gifts to two leaders that the Biden administration has rightly been trying to treat as something like pariahs," Peter Beinart wrote at Substack. Netanyahu has created chaos in his country with the Supreme Court reform efforts, while Biden won't even offer a proper handshake to Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman. Getting further entangled with those two leaders would "violate America's values, and even indeed America's interests." "Pushing Saudi Arabia and Israel to normalize relations seems like a no-brainer," Stephen M. Walt wrote at Foreign Policy. But there are two reasons to be skeptical. First, the danger of a new Israel-Arab war is "vanishingly small." Second, getting an agreement would require bestowing Biden's "political capital on two of the least grateful clients in America's portfolio." Netanyahu and bin Salman have both treated the U.S. with "contempt." The U.S. shouldn't object to the two countries normalizing their relations. "But why should it expend any effort at all trying to persuade them?" For the Biden administration, the deal may be less about peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia and more about geopolitical positioning, Ryan Bohl wrote at Time. The White House is aiming for "something like a Middle Eastern NATO," an alliance of countries that will keep "America in, Russia and China out, and Iran down." It's not clear, though, that an Israeli-Saudi pact will achieve those goals: The kingdom coordinates energy policy with Russia and takes investment from Beijing. "Saudi Arabia has shown multiple times that even with U.S. support it won't necessarily align with Washington's worldview." What's next? The deal is "no sure thing," David Rothkopf wrote in the Daily Beast. The path to an agreement is "highly complex" involving calculations about Israel's treatment of Palestinians and Saudi Arabia's relationship with China and "fraught political environments" in Israel and the United States may further complicate those efforts. Seeking to "reverse lifetimes of enmity" is a good thing, "but yellow caution lights are flashing in this case." One of the potential stumbling blocks: U.S. officials may not sign off on American security guarantees unless Palestinians receive a clear benefit from the arrangement, Haaretz reported. "Many of us believe that the long-term sustainable peace can only be secured by addressing the critical Palestinian questions," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). There is still a lot of work to be done before an agreement comes to fruition. The White House says Israel and Saudi Arabia "have not agreed on a shared framework for negotiations," Al Jazeera reported. "We've made progress on a number of issues," said a State Department spokesman. "I'm not going to get into what the progress is, but it is still a long road to go, with an uncertain future." You may also like Homepage Three downtown Sacramento buildings that once served as office space for state workers are one step closer to becoming housing low- and middle-income Sacramentans. Officials from two state agencies awarded the project Wednesday to McCormack Baron Salazar, a St. Louis-based developer. The company is known locally for its revamp of the Twin Rivers public housing project into the 487-unit mixed-income Mirasol Village in the citys River District. McCormack will lead the conversion of three state buildings into affordable housing: the Employment Development Department building at 800 Capitol Mall, the EDD Solar Building at 751 N St. and the state Personnel Board Building at 801 Capitol Mall. State workers, especially starting out, dont make a six-figure salary. And to rent some of these new market-rate units down here, you need a six-figure salary, said Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento. Having hundreds of affordable units right here in our core is a big win for the city of Sacramento. The Employment Development Department building along with the EDD Solar Building and the state Personnel Board Building will all be converted into affordable housing, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. The push to redevelop state properties into housing is part of an executive order signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2019 that directs state officials to identify excess state-owned property that could be transformed into affordable housing. The program has taken on more urgency since state workers moved to hybrid or work-from-home schedules in 2020, leaving downtown offices vacant. The first project to break ground under Newsoms order was Sonrisa, a 58-unit affordable housing building at 13th and O streets. Nonprofit developer Mutual Housing also plans to construct a five-story affordable housing complex on the site of a vacant state-owned warehouse on R Street. The state announced the Capitol Mall projects in January and issued a Request for Qualifications to developers. They received over a half dozen applicants, McCarty said. The former city councilman authored a bill last year that required the Department of General Services to deliver to the Legislature a streamlined plan for how to transition underused office space into affordable housing. State officials at Wednesdays news conference emphasized the importance of having affordable housing in a walkable neighborhood so tenants can live close to their workplaces, as well as public transit lines. They also spoke with a sense of urgency about the need for more housing units. The capital region faces a severe shortage of housing that low-income earners can afford. While significant progress has been made in the last year with the opening or funding of several large projects, Sacramento still has a gap of thousands of units to meet its affordable housing needs. We look forward to this project moving very quickly, said Lourdes Castro Ramirez, secretary of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency. The redesign of the Employment Development Department building will include partially reshaping the building and adding in amenities for residents, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. Timeline, cost still unclear for office-to-housing transition The details of the project including its budget and timeline remain unclear. Adhi Nagraj, McCormacks chief development officer, said the goal is to solve two crises at once too much empty office space and not enough housing and create a mixed-income, vibrant community. The ground floor would ideally consist of businesses, such as shops, restaurants and even child care centers, that would be open to the public, he said. The upper floors could be a mix of housing units that are income-restricted for formerly homeless, low-income and middle-income tenants. Nagraj said the exact mix of unit sizes and monthly rents were being worked out. Over the next several months, he said, his team will start assessing the buildings physical condition, as well as surveying community members to determine what kinds of units are most needed. While no timeline for the project is set, Nagraj suggested that groundbreaking could start in as little as three years. Once the conversion process is completed, the ground floor will consist of businesses and the upper floors will likely be a mix of housing units that are income restricted for formerly homeless, low-income and middle-income tenants. The Department of General Services previously studied transforming the EDD headquarters and found the building could accommodate nearly 400 low-income housing units. Jason Kenney, the agencys deputy director of real estate, said that number could increase significantly if the developer chooses to demolish any of the existing buildings and replace them with taller apartment towers. Kenney said employees presently working in the buildings would be moved to the old Resources Building, which is currently being refurbished, at 9th and O streets. Renovations there should be completed in 2025. That gives the developer plenty of time to get all of their due diligence ducks in a row, Kenney said. While officials and the developer are optimistic the buildings could be repurposed easily, a plan of action wouldnt be completed until contractors were able to see what theyre working with behind the walls. For example, office buildings typically have a centralized heating and air-conditioning system, along with electricity, while modern apartments usually have individual utilities. Kenney acknowledged that theres a possibility the developer would decide the buildings need to be gutted on the inside, or even demolished and built new from the ground up. Still, he and his department are reasonably confident that the buildings can be adapted and repurposed without starting from scratch. The Bees Ryan Lillis contributed to this story. The underused office spaces within the Employment Development Department at 800 Capitol Mall will be turned into affordable units for Sacramento residents, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 9) The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China will be resuming the negotiations for a Code of Conduct (COC) on the South China Sea in Manila on August 22-24. Last month, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said that he looks forward to having an effective and substantive COC. During the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, the Guidelines to Accelerate Negotiations for the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea was adopted, aiming to speed up the negotiations. The ASEAN-China COC negotiations will be taking place at a time when Manila and Beijing clashed over the recent incident in Ayungin Shoal. Maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal said in a forum organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) on Wednesday that while there is no other alternative for ASEAN but to engage with China in COC talks, the Philippines has the option to also consider walking away from it. For ASEAN as a whole thats the only game in town on this issue, but I am putting that suggestion out there. It's a way of calling their attention to take this process seriously, said Batongbacal. In any negotiating situation when you arrive at a deadlock, walking away is always a valid option. It gives time for people to think, reconsider, he added. The maritime expert said that the COC negotiations have been dragging on and the ASEAN appeared to be locked into the idea that countries should just keep talking. Security analyst Ray Powell, meanwhile, cautioned the Philippines and ASEAN over a possible weaker code. If China succeeds in getting a weaker COC, then China will say UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and arbitral tribunal will no longer apply to the South China Sea and outside powers have nothing to say about this, Powell said in the same forum. Philippine-China relations expert Rommel Banlaoi, on the other hand, said that while theres nothing preventing the Philippines from walking away from COC negotiations, Manila should be ready for repercussions. If the Philippines will unilaterally opt out of COC negotiations, it will be isolated [from] the rest of ASEAN. There is nothing preventing the Philippines [from having] bilateral negotiations for a bilateral code of conduct with China, he said. Let us not lose patience, the expert added. Banlaoi said that parties in the dispute can take cooperative activities not only with China but also with other parties. Supporters of an Oklahoma death row inmate scheduled for execution in September continue to proclaim his innocence, disputing the attorney generals claim that evidence in the case "overwhelmingly" points to his guilt. A private investigator claimed that DNA samples collected by investigators from the death row inmate and the murder victim are a 30% match, which he said investigators have not explained, and also alleged other possibly conflicting evidence, including a shoeprint too small to fit the inmate, dozens of fingerprints left in the victim's vehicle that don't match his, and a sketch that might instead bear resemblance to the inmate's father. Investigator David Ballard, hired by the anti-capital punishment group Death Penalty Action, is arguing that, in contrast to what the Oklahoma attorney general's office has claimed, the DNA evidence does not conclusively show guilt for Anthony Sanchez, who was convicted of first-degree murder in the brutal 1996 death of OU dance student Juli Busken. One of the questions that still has not been answered is the fact that the DNA chart (...) shows that Juli Busken is a 30% match to Anthony Sanchez, and that shouldn't happen, unless you're a family member, Ballard said during a virtual news conference Wednesday. And then you go to all of the other evidence, none of which matches to Anthony Sanchez. The latest firestorm in the high-profile death penalty case was sparked last week after an Oklahoma lawmaker urged Gentner Drummond to reprocess DNA evidence in the case upon hearing questions about its accuracy. The AGs office led by Drummond, however, is standing by its prior investigation, denying the legislator's request and offering rebuttals for allegations from Anthony Sanchez, Ballard and other advocates. The Office of the Attorney General has consulted with an expert regarding the concerns of Sanchezs supporters, said Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for the AG's office. Their concerns are unfounded. Insisting that something is amiss does not make it so. It is beyond any doubt that Anthony Sanchez is a rapist and a murderer. What are Anthony Sanchez and his supporters requesting? What is the AG's response? Abraham Bonowitz, executive director of Death Penalty Action, hired private investigator David Ballard to review Anthony Sanchez's case. Anthony Sanchez has long maintained his innocence in Busken's murder, recently claiming that his father, Glen Sanchez, confessed to killing her before dying of suicide last year. Ballard said Anthony Sanchezs legal counsel requested a hearing earlier this year to introduce evidence that could support this claim, but the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals rejected the request. Drummond described Anthony Sanchez's claim as ludicrous and cowardly in a statement earlier this week, saying that DNA analysis thoroughly discredited his allegation. Drummond, in a letter to a lawmaker this week, also said Ballards claim about DNA results of Anthony Sanchez and Busken being a 30% match represents a gross misunderstanding of DNA kinship testing and is without merit. (Anthony) Sanchez counted 9 alleles shared by both himself and Ms. Busken, Drummond wrote earlier this week. As the DNA profiles in this case each contain 30 alleles, Mr. Sanchez divided 9 by 30 to conclude that, according to the profiles, he and Ms. Busken must be 30% related. Because Mr. Sanchez and Ms. Busken are not related, Mr. Sanchez insists there is a problem with the DNA samples. DNA is cracking mysteries and cold cases ... But is genome sleuthing the unregulated wild west? But it is common for unrelated individuals to share alleles, Drummond continued. For example, at one of the locations tested for forensic DNA profiles, there are only 12 common alleles. That is, when a DNA technician generates results for this particular location, he or she will get 1 of 12 numbers. Thus, there must be overlap, even between persons who are not related. So, to determine relatedness between two individuals, a formula has to be used that takes into account the population frequency of each allele. Mr. Sanchez did not use any such formula. The AG said his office consulted with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and Dr. Robert Allen, the former director of Oklahoma State Universitys Human Identity Testing Laboratory, and still has the utmost confidence in the DNA results convicting Anthony Sanchez. The rudimentary computation performed by Sanchez represents a complete misunderstanding of kinship testing and proves nothing, he wrote. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond is pictured Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, in his office. Ballard pointed to his years of work in numerous cases, saying that DNA analysis has evolved over time. DNA is wonderful, and it's got so much capability to it, but we have to remember sometimes, we're still learning, Ballard said. Anthony Sanchez also said publicly in June that he wanted to move forward without his court-appointed attorneys, whom he alleged as "incompetent," and would continue attempting to prove his innocence claim on his own behalf. He has also decided to avoid a request for clemency from Gov. Kevin Stitt, because of what he described as the governor's unwillingness in the past to grant clemency, even if the state's pardon and parole board recommends it. But "no court has ever found Sanchezs attorneys were ineffective in his case," Bacharach told The Oklahoman. Why did Rep. JJ Humphrey request DNA be reinvestigated? State Rep. Justin Humphrey wrote a formal letter via email to Drummond last week requesting the AGs office reprocess DNA evidence after hearing of concerns about accuracy in the initial testing. The AGs office publicly denied the request earlier this week, saying that recent DNA testing had been completed ruling out Glen Sanchez as the murderer and pointing to overwhelming guilt for Anthony Sanchez. In an interview with The Oklahoman, Humphrey said he regretted the request had turned into a media spectacle and added he did not want to seem as if he was challenging the AG. Humphrey also said he was writing another letter Wednesday back to Drummond, thanking him for the work hes done in recent months to improve confidence in the system. But he also told The Oklahoman that Ballard had raised not just one issue but a couple of more issues that warranted another look. Again, if we have DNA evidence, that should be easy for us to confirm, and if it was not run appropriately, if it was done back 20 years ago when there were questionable practices going on for me, after what weve seen in so many cases, we need to correct that breakdown in the system and restore faith in it. Humphrey reiterated his support for the death penalty, but also said hes a pro-get it right person, as well, saying there should be no question of guilt when it comes to executions. Humphrey, who chairs the Oklahoma House Committee on Criminal Justice and Corrections, has previously butted heads with corrections officials and state investigators last month during a House hearing on rapes at Oklahoma prisons. He reflected on what he believed to be inadequacies during investigations into alleged assaults and misconduct, and wondered if similar issues might be showing in the Anthony Sanchez case. Advocates request completely new tests, not just review of old evidence Ballard told The Oklahoman that he believes newer DNA samples of both Anthony and Glen Sanchez should be retested completely. He also argued that old methods used to analyze Anthony Sanchezs and Buskens DNA might not have taken into account the possibility of the evidence being contaminated. If we keep working off that old paperwork, that which was where the questions came from, we're just repeating the same cycle over and over again, Ballard said. Bacharach disputed Ballard's allegation Wednesday, saying that nothing has ever been presented showing that the evidence was improperly stored and that Anthony Sanchez was required to give up a DNA sample while serving time for a burglary. He did, however, say that, as far as he knew, no new DNA sample of Anthony Sanchez has been obtained or tested. Potential issues with DNA testing in decades-old death penalty cases are why, Humphrey told The Oklahoman, the public trust needs to be restored in the criminal justice system. I can tell you, Ive lost faith, and I think a lot of Oklahomans have lost faith, Humphrey said. And I think that we, as public servants, need to go the extra mile to restore faith in our systems, and thats really all I was saying to the AG, and I dont think thats a bad message. Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect a more detailed perspective from AG Drummond on the DNA analysis. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Investigator disputes Oklahoma AG's DNA evidence claim in Sanchez case Rep. David J. Trone, a Maryland Democrat, delivers remarks during the National Second Chance Townhall at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on April 24, 2023 in Washington, DC. Credit - Brian StukesGetty Images Five years ago, Democrat David Trone appeared to have put his days as a GOP donor behind him. The liquor store tycoon had just won a U.S. House seat representing Marylands 6th District, despite some critics questioning his progressive bona fides. Over the previous two decades, Trone had contributed more than $150,000 to Republicans nationwide. It was the cost of doing business, he said. Since then, his personal donations have been almost exclusively to Democrats and left-leaning advocacy groups. Now, Trone is running for a rare open Senate seat in Maryland, one of Americas most liberal states. Hes campaigning as a progressive who will work to safeguard abortion access. Abortion rights are under attack in many states across our nation, he recently tweeted, referring to the more than 20 that have enacted bans or restrictions since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. We need federal protections. As Senator, I'll fight to do just that. But in the years since Trone joined Congress, his company has sent tens of thousands of dollars to anti-abortion Republicans across the country. In the last two election cycles, Trones firm, Retail Services and Systems, donated to GOP officeholders who moved to criminalize abortion in states where access to the procedure was at risk, according to a TIME review of campaign finance records. That includes at least $80,200 the corporation contributed to a dozen Republicans in Georgia who passed a 2019 trigger bill that banned abortions after six weeks, as well as Gov. Brian Kemp, who signed it into law. The measure went into effect shortly after the 2022 Dobbs ruling that ended a constitutional right to abortion. Retail Services and Systems, the parent company that owns Total Wine & More, also donated a total of $12,000 in October and November 2022 to two groups working to elect Republicans to the Wisconsin state legislature, where GOP lawmakers were blocking efforts to repeal an 1849 law that barred virtually all abortions. Those outlays are indicative of Trones and his companys history of making campaign contributions to candidates throughout the nation, Republican and Democratic alike, to advance legislation or regulatory changes favorable to Total Wine, the nations largest privately owned retailer of beer, wine, and liquor, with 254 stores in 28 states. The previously unreported donations stand to galvanize abortion rights champions in Maryland and beyond. To me, the test of being a Democrat worthy of support is not what somebody says in a carefully-crafted statement, or how they vote, but it's what they do with their money and their time, Stephanie Schmid, an abortion rights advocate, tells TIME. I think that these donations clearly evidence a willingness to sacrifice women and families and parents in Maryland and across this country for his bottom line. Trones campaign says those contributions came from his business, not Trone himself. David Trone stepped down as CEO of Total Wine in 2015 and was not involved with these contributions, Jared DeWese, a campaign spokesperson, tells TIME. Moreover, he adds, those expenditures pale in comparison to what Trone personally donated to Democrats during that same timeframe. Davids record of supporting Democrats and the abortion rights movement is unimpeachable. David has donated $8.5 million to the Democratic Party and pro-choice Democratic candidates, and he has been a staunch advocate to protect the fundamental right to have an abortion. Trone, for instance, has a 100% pro-choice voting record in Congress, according to both Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America, and has bankrolled an abortion clinic in rural Maryland. But the revelations could complicate Trones quest to win Marylands Democratic nominating contest, according to John Willis, a University of Baltimore politics professor and former Maryland Secretary of State. Those kinds of things make you question whether you trust this guy, he says. Does he let his business interests outweigh his professed political values? Since entering Congress in 2019, Trone, 67, has maintained co-ownership of Retail Services and Systems and Total Wine with his brother Robert, with whom he founded the companies in the 1980s. When he stepped down as Total Wines CEO in 2015 and president in 2016, he said he would no longer manage day-to-day operations. But Trone has remained involved in the firm. Last year, he and his brother spent $1 million each in Colorado pushing for a ballot initiative to loosen the states liquor laws. In December 2021, an Arizona police report revealed that he was visiting a Tempe store location and engaging with delivery workers. And his picture remains plastered on the company website, which says that he and his brother lead an expert team focused on excellent selections at the lowest prices possible. Ever since Trone got involved in Democratic politics, however, he has stopped writing personal checks to GOP candidates and officials, the TIME review found. During his first House bid in 2016 in a heavily blue district, he drew attention for the $150,000 he had previously given to Republican officeholders, including Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and then-Gov. Pat McCrory of North Carolina. I sign my checks to buy access, he told The Washington Post. We disagree categorically with their political positions on everything social and economic. Trone lost the primary to Jamie Raskin, but two years later ran for an adjacent House seat and won. In the intervening years, his company has continued to donate to Republicans in states where Total Wine has an interest, either via the corporation or its subsidiaries. In Georgia, Total Wine has been lobbying to revoke some of the states stringent alcohol laws, including limits on the number of locations where a retail chain can sell liquor, according to Karen Bremer, who heads the Georgia Restaurant Association. In 2006, Trones firm established Georgia Fine Wine, a limited liability company, which was the entity that made most of the companys recent political contributions in the state. It donated roughly five times more to Republicans than Democrats in the last election cycle, the TIME review found. The GOP recipients of the companys largess not only helped to pass the six-week abortion ban but enacted Georgias restrictive 2021 voting law that is anathema to the Democratic base. Total Wine did not respond to questions about specific donations, but said in a statement that the company has been run by the CEO and a team of seasoned, professional retail leaders since Trone gave up his role as president. Those outlays stand in contrast to Trones recent pattern of personal giving, which has included millions in donations to liberal nonprofits and Democrats, including $15 million to the American Civil Liberties Union and more than $8 million to Democratic candidates at every level of government. He also funded an abortion clinic in a remote part of his district where women struggled to find reproductive care. "For generations, Western Maryland has been an abortion desert, and when we needed an advocate, David Trone stepped up to provide critical support for the Womens Health Center of Maryland, which will expand and protect abortion access in our state while nearby states are banning abortion and shuttering clinics, Lori Richards, a member of Mountain Maryland Alliance for Reproductive Freedom, tells TIME. Trone is currently locked in a competitive Democratic primary to replace outgoing Sen. Ben Cardin. After two months of soul-searching, Raskin decided last month not to seek the seat, making Trones main opponents Prince Georges County Executive Angela Alsobrooks and Montgomery County Council Member Will Jawando. Alsobrooks has stood out as his most formidable rival, drawing high-profile endorsements and mounting an impressive first-quarter fundraising haul. But she wont be able to spend anywhere near as much as Trone. The super-rich wine magnate has already spent millions on television advertising and has told associates hes prepared to dish out as much as $50 million for his bid, according to sources familiar with the matter. That said, Alsobrooks seems poised to attract national interest as a single mom and Black woman running when there are no Black women in the Senate. Nor are there any women currently in Marylands Congressional delegation. Maryland political analysts suspect her story will resonate with the states Democratic voters, especially the nearly 60% who are women, according to state voter data. Abortion-rights advocates say that Trones company funding anti-abortion Republicans will be a factor for those women, especially since a substantial portion of those donations were made around the same time he was castigating those same officials for undermining access to the procedure. For years, radical state legislatures have waged an all-out assault on womens reproductive rights, he said in September 2021, after voting with House Democrats to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law. Abortion rights weren't overturned in a day, Stephanie Schriock, former president of the abortion rights group Emilys List, tells TIME. It's been a decades-long strategy that we have all known was coming. And yet he and his company have been and continue to be supportive of Republicans who are very much part of this strategy, and making it worse, ensuring that abortion is knocked out at the state level. Trone has run for Senate as an unabashed self-funder who is beholden to no one. When someone takes money from PACs, someone takes money from lobbyists, and corporations, those folks aren't just writing those checks out of the goodness of their heart, he told a Baltimore-area radio show last week. I just spend my own money, because I give a damn about trying to change the system." Its a posture thats led some detractors to say Trone is a participant in the system he claims to protest. I find it so hypocritical for him to spend all this time bragging that he doesnt take money from special interests when hes a special interest who gives money to anti-choice candidates, says Susan Turnbull, a former chair of the Maryland Democratic Party who has endorsed Alsobrooks. He can claim it is his company, and not him, all he wants, but lets be realthat company is the ongoing source of his wealth and funds his campaign for Senate. Thats why you question his beliefs, because what comes first: his business or what he claims to stand up for? Trone, for his part, says he would be a reliable vote for abortion rights in the Senate, pointing to his record in the House, and has made the issue a featured part of his platform. On July 27, his campaign blasted an automated text message out to Maryland Democrats. 24 states have already banned abortion care or are planning to, it reads. David Trone is going to fight tooth and nail to make sure fundamental freedoms like reproductive rights are protected federally. The message then included a link to an online form to sign up for his email distribution list. Will you add your name in support of abortion rights by midnight tonight? Contact us at letters@time.com. (Bloomberg) -- A pro-European party that pledges to keep Slovakia within the trans-Atlantic fold is emerging as the main contender against the countrys firebrand frontrunner weeks before a crucial election. Most Read from Bloomberg The Sept. 30 contest may pit former Prime Minister Robert Ficos Smer, an anti-immigrant party that has attacked European Union sanctions on Russia, against Progressive Slovakia, a party thats sworn to defend democratic institutions, the rule of law and LGBTQ rights. Smer maintains a clear lead with about 23% support, while Progressive Slovakia has climbed to 17% up by about a third since the beginning of the year according to an NMS Market Research poll published Thursday. Both parties have eclipsed Voice, a party that led polls in January. The showdown would make Slovakia a key electoral battleground between a party co-founded by the nations reformist president, Zuzana Caputova, and populist forces that have swept across Europe and threatened the unity of the 27-member bloc and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Fico, once an ally of European Social Democrats, has steered Smer out of the EU mainstream with his pledge to stop military support for Ukraine and oppose Russian sanctions, while escalating rhetoric against the US. The former premier, who governed Slovakia for 10 years in three separate terms, was ousted in 2018 amid protests sparked by the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak. Read More: Slovak Firebrands Push to Block Help for Ukraine Hits Trouble Founded in 2017, Progressive Slovakia secured a victory two years later in the presidential race as Caputova pledged to restore public trust and a fight against corruption. Slovakias first female president, Caputova announced in June that she wouldnt run for a second term in 2024, saying she didnt have the energy for another five years after years of vitriolic attacks by opponents. The center-left party is gaining voters who supported the coalition under Premier Eduard Heger, which collapsed in December. That alliance, which unraveled amid persistent infighting over spending during the regions cost-of-living crisis, was elected in 2020 on a post-Fico reformist agenda. Slovakia must be a respected, constructive, and confident member of the European Union and NATO so that we can also pursue our own interests, Michal Simecka, the partys 39-year-old leader and a vice president of the European Parliament, told Bloomberg via a statement from his office on Thursday. The party is counting on voters flocking to its promise to return a degree of normalcy to a political environment buffeted by Ficos strident language, three years of chaotic governance and accusations of corruption. It can be done, normally and professionally, reads a campaign poster weeks ahead of the election. Still, Fico is also gaining steam, helped by far-right voters. Smer has climbed 2.7 percentage points since July, according to the Aug. 1-7 NMS poll, which surveyed 1,416 potential voters. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. In a state where lawmakers recently passed a cluster of anti-transgender legislation, a nonprofit is hosting an event that promotes the support and celebration of the LGBTQ+ community. Free Mom Hugs, a pro-LGBTQ+ organization started by Oklahoma City native Sara Cunningham, will host its inaugural conference Sept. 7-9 at the Oklahoma City Convention Center. Cunningham said Chasten Buttigieg, LGBTQ+ activist, husband of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and author of the memoir "I Have Something to Tell You," will be a special guest speaker. Cunningham 59, famously started the Free Mom Hugs movement in 2015 when she pinned a handmade button with the words "Free Mom Hugs" to her dress and began offering hugs to people attending an Oklahoma City Pride festival. Cunning had been on a transformative journey after her son, Parker, came out as gay, and she wanted to offer the love and acceptance of a mom to LGBTQ+ community members. She soon learned that many of the people she met had been spurned by their loved ones. Three years later, Cunningham shared a Facebook post about her experiences as a Christian mother seeking to share love and acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community in a conservative state like Oklahoma, and the post went viral. She went on to be a "stand in" mom at LGBTQ+ weddings when couples' parents refused to participate. Shortly afterward, Free Mom Hugs was established as a nonprofit, and there are currently chapters in all 50 states and in some countries around the globe. Sara Cunningham Why is the Free Mom Hugs conference being held in Oklahoma? Cunningham said conference organizers initially experienced some internal pushback about holding the inaugural conference in Oklahoma because of the anti-trans legislation that was passed by the Oklahoma Legislature in the most recent legislative session. She also said Oklahoma is not generally known as an affirming or accepting place for people who identify as LGBTQ+. "But this is exactly where we need to be and exactly where this type of conference should be," she said. "It's the political climate, the urgency. There are 28 states where families are challenged, where our people are being thrown out of housing, health care and public spaces." Cunningham said she remembered when she was not accepting of her gay son and how some people in her Christian circle told her that he was destined for hell and she would be, too, if she accepted him. She wrote about her internal struggle in her book "How We Sleep At Night: A Mother's Memoir." Sara Cunningham, founder of Free Mom Hugs, left, dances with Diana Lettkeman at the OKC Pride opening ceremony in May 2023 in Oklahoma City. "I was frozen in that place of fear and ignorance, shaming my child and causing harm, with the very best of intentions," she said. "What I would have done to have a mom like me now to know that I was not alone." Cunningham said it took being educated in the science surrounding LGBTQ+ issues, getting to know the people who make up the community and seeing her son happy and healthy that led her to where she is today. So, she said Oklahoma City is the right place for the Free Mom Hugs Conference because it's where she is from, where the nonprofit is based and because she knows there are parents and other individuals who need to hear the Free Mom Hugs message. "It just means so much to have the conference in the Heartland," she said. Meanwhile, Cunningham said the time seemed right for the nonprofit to hold its debut conference. "We've got visibility down we go to Pride festivals, banquets, national Pride Rides and other events, but this will accomplish what we haven't done a lot of and that's the educational aspect, which is part of our mission," she said. Cunningham said the conference theme is "Love Revolution," which is meaningful because it was education and love that helped transform her heart for her son and so many other people who now embrace the Free Mom Hugs message of love and acceptance. "These were the aspects that changed my mind," she said. "I know the power of ignorance and fear, but I also know of love and education, and that's the key." Cunningham said the overwhelming response to the conference tells its own story. She said organizers' original goal was 250 people, but they have already had to move the event to a larger venue and an estimated 400 people are expected to attend. More: 'From church to Pride festivals' Mother's book shares her journey to acceptance Oklahoma pastors will share message at conference The Rev. Mitch Randall, of Norman, will lead a pastors' panel during the conference. Randall, a member of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a moderate Baptist denomination, and chief executive officer of Good Faith Media, said he and other ministers who will be part of a pastors' conversation are excited to be part of the first Free Mom Hugs Conference because the organization is "stepping into the gap" for LGBTQ+ community members whose parents have not been accepting of them. He said the panel conversation will be important, particularly in Oklahoma. "It's important to demonstrate that it's not in spite of our faith that we are welcoming and affirming but because of our faith," Randall said. "We need more pastors being vocal about that." He said the faith discussion will be key because there are many Christians sitting in the pews of churches, particularly in Oklahoma churches, who struggle to reconcile what they hear from the pulpit and what they feel in their hearts for their children and the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. "The easy route is to avoid these hard conversations in these difficult places like Oklahoma," the minister said. "The hard work is to communicate to people of faith in Oklahoma and the rest of the country that not everyone believes like the pastors and legislators who are not welcoming. We need to show them that there are people of faith in Oklahoma who are welcoming and affirming to people in the LGBTQ community." Free Mom Hugs Conference When : Sept. 7-9. Where : Oklahoma City Convention Center, 100 Mick Cornett Dr. Cost : Virtual pass/in-person passes range from $50 to $159. Information: https://freemomhugs.org/. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Free Mom Hugs to hold inaugural conference in Oklahoma City Professors are finding ways to "ChatGPT=proof" their assignments to prevent cheating. PeopleImages/Getty College professors are looking to "ChatGPT-proof" assignments to curb cheating. Some professors suggest returning to paper exams and asking students to show editing histories. Changes to assignments come as teachers debate the usage of generative AI in the classroom. Since OpenAI's ChatGPT came out last November, a number of teachers have caught their students using the chatbot to cheat and plagiarize on their assignments. Now, professors at colleges across the US and beyond are trying out ways to "ChatGPT-proof" their assignments, as concerns grow that students may be missing out on learning by using AI cut corners and tools that detect AI-generated text have been found to be prone to errors. Bonnie MacKellar, a computer science professor at St. Johns University in New York, said that she is making students in her intro courses take paper exams instead of digital ones and having them handwrite their code. Paper exams will be a bigger portion of her students' grades this fall, she said, compared to previous semesters. In turn, students will be disincentivized to outsource their logical thinking to AI, which she said could stunt their learning and leave them unprepared for more advanced computer science classes down the line. "I hear colleagues in humanities courses saying the same thing: It's back to the blue books," MacKellar said. Other professors seek to curb AI cheating by reframing assignment questions so students are required to "show their work," William Hart-Davidson, an associate dean at Michigan State University who leads AI workshops for faculty members, told Insider over email. Assignment questions, Hart-Davidson said, "should include a request for students to be explicit and reflective about the moves they are making." "We don't just want them to reproduce a fact or a rote response, but to learn to account for their reasoning in a deliberate way," he said. For instance, ChatGPT can easily answer a straight-forward question like "Tell me in three sentences what is the Krebs cycle in chemistry?" he said. To avoid this, Hart-Davidson told Insider that teachers should reframe the question to something like "revise an existing passage" on the Krebs cycle, which would require students to point out errors, identify writing for clarity and accuracy, and explain how the writing could be improved. That way, students are forced to think through their answers, rather than regurgitate what a chatbot tells them, which Hart-Davidson said could help improve their writing. Some professors suggest students show their work by including their editing history and drafts along with their completed assignments. A document that logs all the typos corrected and the sentences rephrased in an essay can prove that a human wrote it, Dave Sayers, a professor at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland, wrote for the Times Higher Education, an education blog. A guide from Butler University in Indianapolis on how to chatbot-proof assignments suggests that teachers could eliminate the essay, issue impromptu oral exams, and foster classroom discussions around how to best use the chatbot's responses. The changes to school assignments come as teachers grapple with how to best integrate AI tools like ChatGPT into their classrooms. While some professors require their students to use ChatGPT to generate project ideas, some schools have outright banned the usage of AI to avoid cases of academic dishonesty. Despite the controversy, some teachers are using AI chatbots themselves to streamline their workflows. Shannon Ahern, a high school math and science teacher in Dublin, Ireland, previously told Insider she used ChatGPT Plus to write lesson plans, generate exercise worksheets, and come up with quiz questions, which she claimed saved her hours of time. As far as cheating goes, some teachers don't see that changing with or without AI. "I worried that my students would use it to cheat and plagiarize," Ahern said. "But then I remembered that students have always been cheating whether that's copying a classmate's homework or getting a sibling to write an essay and I don't think ChatGPT will change that." Are you a student that secretly uses AI for your school work? Reach out to Insider's Aaron Mok at amok@insider.com, or by encrypted messaging app Signal at 718-710-8200. Your identity will remain anonymous. Read the original article on Business Insider A Kansas City teenager faces criminal charges for the killing of his girlfriend after he told investigators he accidentally shot her in the head while waving his gun around during an argument. Jackson County prosecutors charged Sirtain Wilson Jr., 18, on Tuesday with involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the April shooting death of Zameyanna Williams, also 18. As of Wednesday, Wilson was being held in the county jail on a $100,000 bond. At 3:30 a.m. on April 8, Kansas City police officers responded to the 7800 block of East 48th Street for a reported disturbance. Responding officers were directed by family of the slain 18-year-old to the basement of a residence there, where she was found dead of a gunshot wound, according to charging documents filed Wednesday. Wilson was detained at the scene. Detectives discovered Williams, partially inside a northeast bedroom. She had gunshot wounds to her left index finger, which a bullet had appeared to have passed through, and left eye. A .45 caliber handgun was located along with one spent shell casing. There was a damaged pair of eyeglasses, and one of the lenses was broken by apparent bullet damage. Witnesses told detectives on scene the pair had been dating for roughly two years. One said they had a toxic relationship and that Wilson had admitted he accidentally shot the victim. One witness told detectives Wilson at some point changed his story to say Williams had shot herself, according to court documents. Wilson, who was 17 at the time of shooting, later told a deputy juvenile officer he had been putting the gun away when he started to wave it around out of frustration. He said he did not intend to shoot her. In a statement Wilson wrote on whiteboard while being interviewed by the juvenile officer, the 18-year-old said he was in his room with someone when he awoke early that morning to Williams cursing us out. He said she brought him food, and they were in the middle of an argument when he grabbed the gun, raised it, waved it around and yelled. I would never hurt her on purpose I am very sorry. She never grabbed the gun, he wrote, according to the court document. Online court records did not list a defense attorney for Wilson as of Wednesday. Under Missouri law, Wilson faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of involuntary manslaughter. For first-time offenders, an armed criminal action conviction carries a maximum sentence of 15 years to be served consecutively after the underlying conviction. Wilson is scheduled to appear for a bond hearing in the case Aug. 17. A 38-year-old man was being held in the Wyandotte County jail Thursday on a murder charge in a Kansas City, Kansas, shooting. Mahir Alihodzic, of Kansas City, was arrested Wednesday by Kansas City, Kansas, police with assistance from the U.S. Marshals, KCKPD spokeswoman Nancy Chartrand said in a statement Thursday. Alihodzic is being held on a $350,000 surety bond in the killing of 34-year-old Thomas Wheeler. Wyandotte County prosecutors charged him with second-degree murder, Chartrand said. Major Case Unit detectives began investigating the June 5 fatal shooting shortly after Wheeler was found critically wounded in an alleyway behind the 500 block of Elizabeth Avenue. Police officers were dispatched there around 9:20 p.m. on a reported sound of shots call. Wheeler was taken to the hospital and died there the next day, according to police. Detectives continued to investigate the shooting Thursday. Police were asking anyone with information to contact the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS. George Alan Kelly enters Courtroom Three for his preliminary hearing on Feb. 22, 2023, in Nogales. NOGALES The Nogales-area rancher accused of killing a Mexican citizen said in text messages that he put 27 migrants in the ground where they were growing daisies, state prosecutors say. George Alan Kelly, 75, said that he dealt with 33 migrants with his AK-47, which was hot!, according to recently filed court documents that prosecutors said demonstrated Kelly's state of mind before a migrant was killed on his property. In his text messages to unknown recipients, Kelly said that he was mowing down migrants at a large clip, according to court documents. Kelly also referred to being locked and loaded and his AK getting a lot of work, per court documents. Details emerge: Reports, recordings offer new details in Nogales rancher accused of murder case Kelly is accused of shooting and killing Gabriel Cuen Buitimea after Buitimeas body was found Jan. 30 on Kellys roughly 170-acre Kino Springs property. Kelly is charged with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault. Wednesday's hearing was scheduled to resolve issues related to orders given to prosecutors to provide expert witness reports to the defense by Aug. 4. The judge verified the reports were turned in to the defense on time and heard testimony from a law enforcement officer about Kelly's comments after he was taken into custody but didn't rule on anything. Another hearing is scheduled Friday to resolve the remaining evidentiary motions filed by attorneys in the case. In support of a states motion put forward by Santa Cruz County Attorney George Silva, prosecutors filed documents citing the text messages, arguing that the text messages and statements made by Kelly on scene should be admissible in court. They do not take issue with Kelly's political beliefs but focus on his "actions, intent and motive." Kellys text messages show his animosity toward migrants and fantasies about killing them, which ultimately motivated him to allegedly kill Buitimea, prosecutors argued. "Even if we dress it up as politics, it is part of what the State reasonably contends motivated the defendants act of shooting at and killing the decedent, the document read. The defense, in its court filings, claimed that Kellys statements amount to friendly chest-beating between men and Kellys political beliefs, which he shares with approximately 50% or more of the population. Who is George Alan Kelly?: What we know about the Nogales rancher accused of murdering Mexican migrant In the documents, prosecutors compared Kelly with the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski, alleging that Kelly was motivated by his political views, ideas and animosity toward migrants. Whether it is the Unabomber or something much less extreme () you can express your politics whether 50% of the population agrees with you, 100% or 0%, but you cannot kill somebody over it, the court document read. Kaczynski terrorized the country during a 17-year bombing spree that killed three people and injured 23 others. Kaczynski wrote a 35,000-word manifesto that aimed to justify his motives for his bombing campaign from 1978 to 1995. During Wednesday's hearing, Santa Cruz County Sheriffs Sgt. Abraham Pacheco testified Kelly discussed his self-published 57-page book, "Far Beyond the Border Fence, as he was driven to the Santa Cruz County Sheriffs Office in handcuffs after Buitimea's body was found. The book describes how migrants, led by armed human smugglers, would cross through the main characters ranch several times each week. The book has underlying tones of vigilante justice and described the borderlands as a "war zone" where U.S. citizen landowners have no other choice than to protect their lives and property by risking their very lives. The books characters and places share similarities to Kellys real life. Kelly referred to migrants as COVID infected illegals who he blamed for getting him and his wife, Wanda, sick, according to court documents. Kelly also referred to Buitimea as an animal numerous times during a 911 call with the Santa Cruz County Sheriffs Office. Wanda Kelly told detectives that Kelly has shot warning shots in the past and said if you knew the things that been going on out there you wouldnt be waiting around, according to court documents. Kelly's jury trial was slated to begin Sept. 6. 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 X, formerly known as Twitter, @joseicastaneda. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: AZ rancher and accused murderer George Kelly compared to Unabomber Special counsel Jack Smiths office has proposed a January trial date for former President Trumps criminal case stemming from his efforts to remain in power after the 2020 election. Prosecutors on Thursday proposed a Jan. 2, 2024, trial start and indicated they expect it will take no longer than four to six weeks to present their evidence. This trial date, and the proposed schedule outlined below, would give the defendant time to review the discovery in this case and prepare a defense, and would allow the Court and parties to fully litigate any pre-trial legal issues, Molly Gaston and Thomas Windom, two lead prosecutors in the case, wrote in court filings. Most importantly, a January 2 trial date would vindicate the publics strong interest in a speedy trialan interest guaranteed by the Constitution and federal law in all cases, but of particular significance here, where the defendant, a former president, is charged with conspiring to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election, obstruct the certification of the election results, and discount citizens legitimate votes, they continued. Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to the media about an indictment of former President Donald Trump, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, at a Department of Justice office in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) The proposal would also schedule jury selection for Dec. 11. Trump last week pleaded not guilty to the four federal charges in the case, one of three indictments he currently faces. Trumps legal team is due to respond by next Thursday. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an Obama appointee who is slated to oversee the case, has indicated she will make a decision on the trial date at an Aug. 28 hearing. But prosecutors and Trumps lawyers have already begun battling over the timeline. Smiths office has stressed a desire for a speedy trial. At Trumps arraignment, his attorney, John Lauro, said they couldnt suggest a trial date until they see the scope of prosecutors evidence, but Lauro has expressed early concerns the timeline was moving too quickly. Top Stories from The Hill Before Trumps lawyers see the evidence, however, prosecutors are seeking a protective order that would place rules on how they can use the materials. A hearing is scheduled for Friday on prosecutors motion. Assuming that a protective order is entered, the Government expects to have substantially completed discovery in this case by the next hearing on August 28, 2023, prosecutors wrote. This Courtlike federal courts throughout the nationcan and will ensure that the defendant receives both a fair and speedy trial. Prosecutors on Thursday in a separate filing also indicated the evidence includes a minimal amount of classified information, asking for a hearing on Friday alongside the protective order matter to discuss procedure for turning over the classified materials. For several reasons including the minimal amount of classified information potentially at issue here, and the fact that one of the defendants attorneys of record already possesses an interim clearance to review certain classified discoverythe Government does not expect the disclosure of classified material to change or extend the pretrial schedule in this case, prosecutors wrote. Sign up for the latest from The Hill here A Jan. 2 trial date would come just ahead of the first primary contests in the 2024 presidential race. Trump is also slated to go on civil trial in a defamation suit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll beginning Jan. 15, and he faces another civil trial beginning Jan. 29 in a case related to his business dealings. Trumps other two criminal trials are currently scheduled for later in the campaign season. A trial in New York state court in connection with a hush money payment is scheduled for March 25, and the classified documents case in federal court is scheduled to go to trial May 20. Updated 2:55 p.m. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. A prototype "brain-like" chip could make artificial intelligence (AI) more energy efficient, its developer, technology giant IBM, has said. Concerns have been raised about emissions associated with warehouses full of computers powering AI systems. IBM said its prototype could lead to more efficient, less battery draining AI chips for smartphones. Its efficiency is down to components that work in a similar way to connections in human brains, it said. Compared to traditional computers, "the human brain is able to achieve remarkable performance while consuming little power", said scientist Thanos Vasilopoulos, based at IBM's research lab in Zurich, Switzerland. He told the BBC the superior energy efficiency would mean "large and more complex workloads could be executed in low power or battery-constrained environments", for example, cars, mobile phones and cameras. "Additionally, cloud providers will be able to use these chips to reduce energy costs and their carbon footprint," he added. 'Digital to analogue' Most chips are digital, meaning they store information as 0s and 1s, but the new chip uses components called memristors [memory resistors] that are analogue and can store a range of numbers. You can think of the difference between digital and analogue as like the difference between a light switch and a dimmer switch. The human brain is analogue, and the way memristors work is similar to the way synapses in the brain work. Prof Ferrante Neri, from the University of Surrey, explains that memristors fall into the realm of what you might call nature-inspired computing that mimics brain function. A memristor could "remember" its electric history, in a similar way to a synapse in a biological system. "Interconnected memristors can form a network resembling a biological brain," he said. He was cautiously optimistic about the future for chips using this technology: "These advancements suggest that we may be on the cusp of witnessing the emergence of brain-like chips in the near future." However, he warned that developing a memristor-based computer is not a simple task and that there would be a number of challenges ahead for widespread adoption, including the costs of materials and manufacturing difficulties. Using these components makes the new chip more energy efficient but the new chip also has digital elements. This makes the chip easier to put into existing AI systems. Many phones now have AI chips on board to help with things like processing photos. For example, the iPhone has a chip with a "neural engine". In the future, IBM hopes chips in phones and cars could be more efficient, promising longer battery life and new applications. Eventually, chips like IBM's prototype could help save lots of energy if they replaced the chips in the banks of computers powering applications powerful AI systems. They could also cut the water needed to cool the power hungry datacentres. Data centres need huge amounts of electricity to keep them going - a large facility will use as much electricity as a medium-sized town. Professor of IT at the University of Bath, James Davenport, said IBM's finding were "potentially interesting" but warned that the chip was not an "easy to use" solution to the problem but more like "a possible first step". Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) Forty-nine families were evacuated in the municipality of Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro due to floods triggered by the southwest monsoon or habagat, local officials said. The Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (MDRRMO) of Sablayan reported that authorities implemented a preemptive evacuation in Sitio Pandan, Barangay Claudio Salgado on Wednesday night following the rise in water level of the river in the area. Based on the photos posted on the MDRRMOs Facebook page, residents experienced ankle- to knee-deep floods. Until early Thursday morning, the water level remained high. At a briefing on Thursday, PAGASA weather specialist Benison Estareja said areas in the Visayas and Mindanao can still expect rains today due to habagat. After Ohio voters soundly defeated a ballot initiative Tuesday that was largely viewed as a proxy for abortion, the spotlight now turns to Novembers abortion-rights ballot measure. Backers of the abortion-rights amendment are confident they will succeed, but they also recognize the challenge ahead; a proxy fight is not the same as the real issue. I wish we could call it an absolute one to one proxy, but I think that this is a pretty encouraging and positive sign for everyone paying attention to the November race, said Kelly Hall, executive director of the progressive ballot measure group Fairness Project. Ohio is the only state that will vote on abortion this fall, making it the current epicenter of the reproductive-rights fight. The unofficial results from Tuesday showed 57 percent of voters said no to Issue 1, a resounding defeat. Even in many solid red counties, no votes outpaced President Trumps performance from 2020. The measure would have changed the threshold for all future ballot measures to require 60 percent of voters to enact new amendments, instead of a simple majority. It also would have changed the signature gathering process. Though Issue 1 did not mention abortion in the text, it was largely aimed at undercutting Novembers abortion-rights ballot measure. Since it was defeated, constitutional amendments in Ohio will continue to require just a simple majority in order to pass. Ohioans rejected an outrageous attempt by extremists to silence our voices and insert government into our families most personal medical decisions, said Lauren Beene, co-founder of Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights. Today, we begin the battle to protect our constitutional rights and reject government interference in November. Attempts to make it harder to pass ballot initiatives have proven unpopular in the past, and abortion-rights groups will now have to decouple the messaging of abortion from one about protecting the power of voters. Aside from Ohio, legislatures in North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, Arizona, Missouri, Florida and Arkansas have all discussed efforts to block or limit citizen-sponsored ballot initiatives. Only Arizona succeeded in raising the threshold, and that was specifically about ballot measures that raise taxes. But every state that put abortion on the ballot in 2022 voted in favor of protecting access to the procedure in some way, including Republican-leaning Kentucky and Kansas. Ohio polls show support for its abortion ballot measure crosses party lines, but the messaging may be key in a state that has grown increasingly conservative. Anti-abortion groups have argued the amendment would lead to abortions with no restrictions, including for minors without parental consent. Nearly 58 percent of Ohio voters said they would back the abortion-rights amendment, including 81 percent of Democrats and 32 percent of Republicans, according to a July USA TODAY Network Ohio/Suffolk University poll. A Scripps News/YouGov survey of Ohians conducted in June found that 42 percent agreed with restrictions on abortion to some degree, compared to 36 percent who disagreed. Supporters of Issue 1 initially denied that it was aimed at abortion, and many of the ads tried to paint it as a parents rights issue against gender-affirming care for children. They also said it was meant to protect Ohios laws from the influence of wealthy out-of-state interest groups even though much of the pro-Issue 1 funding came from an Illinois-based Republican mega donor. But with Issue 1 defeated, anti-abortion groups are ready to devote more time and money directly to defeating the November amendment. This result will not deter us from continuing to fight the ACLUs extreme agenda this November, which seeks to allow abortion up until birth and take away parents rights to protect their child from being pressured into an abortion or even a sex-change operation, said Peter Range, chief executive officer of Ohio Right to Life. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, one of the countrys leading anti-abortion groups, slammed conservatives who stood on the sideline or pretended the vote wasnt about abortion. So long as the Republicans and their supporters take the ostrich strategy and bury their heads in the sand, they will lose again and again, the group said in a statement. But at the same time, the abortion amendment supporters are also shifting into high gear. The attention was really on Issue 1 for the last two months. What I think happens now is theres an immediate shift to the reproductive freedom amendment in the fall election, said Jeff Rusnak, a strategist for Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights. I think having the spotlight on this issue is whats needed. I think voters are completely engaged on this. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin prepares for future insurrections within Russia by supplying Rosgvardia (Russias National Guard) with tanks, according to Ukrainian Military Intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov. This is a very important signal, primarily to the Russians, Yusov told Ukrainian TV broadcasters on Aug. 10. Read also: UAE President wants to arrange Zelenskyy-Putin talks report The National Guard is an institution created to protect the state apparatus. If heavy weaponry is being supplied to it, it means that they are essentially preparing for future suppression of uprisings. Yuso added that these Russian tanks could potentially be used against the civilian population in Moscow. Read also: Putin remained transfixed by Ukraine during Russia-Africa summit expert The intelligence representative highlighted that Putin brought the war to Russia by his own actions. On Aug. 4, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing the National Guard to be armed with heavy military equipment. The law also simplifies state procurement for the prosecution of the military campaign in Ukraine. Read also: ICC may issue another arrest warrant for Putin Ukrainian intelligence In addition to this, Putin signed a law on conscription of Russians aged 18 to 30 for military service and another law prohibiting citizens from traveling abroad from the day of receiving a draft notice, specifically at their place of work or study. Earlier, media reported that in July 2023, Putin signed a record number of classified decrees, with 62% of the documents remaining unpublished. 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 Maryland sheriff called out the heinous coward who is responsible for the homicide of mother-of-five Rachel Morin. Harford County sheriff Jeffery Gahler gave the update on Wednesday and said the killer must be brought to justice. Together we will solve this crime and find the heinous coward who took Rachel Morin from her family and friends, Mr Gahler said. Mr Gahler said a team of detectives have been working around the clock and some of the more than 100 tips submitted by the public have been promising. Morin, 37, was last seen heading to the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air at around 6pm on Saturday evening, according to the Harford County Sheriffs Office. After she failed to return home that night, her boyfriend Richard Tobin reported her missing. Then, on Sunday afternoon, Maryland father Michael Gabriszeski discovered a womans body in a tunnel off the trail that was later confirmed to be Morin. Mr Gahler announced that her case is now a murder investigation at a press conference that evening. Rebekah Morin, the deceaseds sister, started a GoFundMe to pay for funeral expenses. As of Thursday morning, it has raised almost $41,000. Key points Rachel Morin last seen alive heading to Ma and Pa hiking trail in Maryland Mother-of-five killed just a week after her baby niece died Boyfriend breaks silence over death to deny involvement Morins sister launches GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses Investigators receive over 100 tips from public after appealing for help Rachel Morins mom pens open letter asking for time to grieve 18:22 , Andrea Cavallier Rachel Morins sister Rebekah shared an open letter from Rachels mother asking for time to grieve. The letter was posted to Facebook on Thursday just a day after the Hartford County Sheriff vowed to bring the heinous coward who killed Morin to justice. The post reads: To all the mothers with daughters, to the fathers, brothers and sisters, husbands, to our local community, and to world onlookers: If you have experienced the loss of a dear loved one, then you know how hard it can be to express the pain that you feel in your heart. When its sudden and tragic, your mind looks for ways to cope. As a mom, I appreciate the outpouring of love and support from family, friends, and the worldwide community that grieves with me for my young daughter. Thank you for caring. Truly. Because of the tremendous outpouring of prayers, love and concern, our family is in the process of making arrangements for a Celebration of Life service to which friends and the community will be invited (more details to come). And because Rachel was an avid runner, we are in the early stages of planning a 5K walk/run in her honor with the hope of having a trail of flowers. We are grieving. We need the time and space to grieve as a family. We have not forgotten our community. We just need time. . . I need time. It has only been 4 days since we received the horrific news. I ask that as mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters, that you would please have compassion on us and allow us this. Thank you, Rachels Mom Heavy presence of police patrolling trail 17:00 , Joe Sommerlad After the disappearance and death of Rachel Morin, police in the Harford County Sheriffs Office have begun implementing a heavy presence of deputies patrolling the trail where the 37-year-old went missing. This heavy presence includes authorities patrolling by foot, bike and all-terain vehicles. The new large quantity of patrolling deputies is part of an effort to make members of the community feel safer. Morin was killed over the weekend after going for a jog on the Ma and Pa Trail in northern Maryland. Investigation into Rachel Morins death and disappearance continues The 37-year olds body was found on the Ma & Pa trail here August 6th in Bel Air Authorities have received more than 100 tips saying theyll catch the heinous coward responsible with publics help @wbalradio pic.twitter.com/25zvsKQool Ken Duffy (@kenduffywbal) August 10, 2023 Police do not have a solid suspect as of now and have warned people to act viligantly when embarking on the trail. Father who discovered Rachel Morins body speaks out 16:30 , Andrea Cavallier The Maryland man who found the body of 37-year-old Rachel Morin said he had a feeling about the tunnels where she was found dead off the Ma and Pa Trail. Michael Gabriszeski, 49, told local news outlet WMAR-2 News that he joined the search for Morin after hearing about her disappearance from his daughter who was friends with Morin. Read more here: Father who discovered Rachel Morins body says he had a feeling about those tunnels Maryland sheriff calls out heinous coward who killed Rachel Morin 15:42 , Andrea Cavallier Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler called out the heinous coward responsible for the homicide of mother-of-five Rachel Morin. The sheriff gave the latest update on Wednesday and said the killer must be brought to justice. Together we will solve this crime and find the heinous coward who took Rachel Morin from her family and friends, Mr Gahler said. Mr Gahler said a team of detectives have been working around the clock to piece together a timeline of the case and that some of the more than 100 tips that have been submitted by the public have been promising. Some of your tips have been promising and tremendous in advancing the investigation and bringing us closer to getting the answers that we need, the answers that Rachels family needs, and the answers that our community needs, the sheriff said. He urged the public to keep sending in tips - even if the details may seem insignificant. That might be the key piece of evidence of information we are looking for, he added. Recap: Rachel Morins chilling Facebook post before mother-of-five found dead on Maryland hiking trail 15:00 , Joe Sommerlad Rachel Morin shared a post on Facebook that hinted at her possible affinity for thrill months before she was found dead along a forest trail in Maryland. Morin shared a post in February that read: Risk can be dangerous, but routine can be deadly. Comfort has killed more dreams than daring ever did. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar has more. Rachel Morins Facebook post before she was found dead on Maryland hiking trail Timeline in Rachel Morin case 14:00 , Ariana Baio Saturday, 5 August 6pm Rachel Morin is last seen heading out to run on the Ma & Pa Trail in northern Maryland. 11.23pm The boyfriend of Rachel reports her missing after she does not return home. Police begin searching for Rachel on the trail and surrounding areas. Sunday, 6 August 1pm Body of female victim located off of the Ma & Pa Trail is reported to police. Monday, 7 August Police confirm the body found on the rail is Rachel Morin. More than 100 tips about Rachel Morin have led to tremendous advantage in case 13:00 , Ariana Baio Police in the Harford County Sheriffs Office said theyve received over 100 tips from the public regarding the case of Rachel Morin, many of which have been helpful in the investigation. Some of your tips have been very promising and tremendous in advancing the investigation and bringing us closer to getting the answers that we need, sheriff Jeffery Gahler said in a video posted to Facebook on Wednesday. Mr Gahler asked that people continue to send in all tips, even if they seem minuscule. Even if its something that you might think is insignificant, that might be the key piece of evidence or information we are looking for. Rachel Morins boyfriend has already been questioned by police 12:00 , Ariana Baio Police in the Harford County Sheriffs Office have already questioned Rachel Morins boyfriend Richard Tobin the Harford County sheriff said in a statement posted online. Public speculation surrounding Morins death and disappearance has resulted in online theories about Morins recent boyfriend, Mr Tobin. Mr Tobin released a statement on Facebook earlier this week saying he had nothing to do with Morins death. Police have not released any further information about their investigation into Morins homicide. Rachel Morin was found dead on a popular Maryland hiking trail. Her sister says she did not go willingly 11:00 , Ariana Baio Rachel Morin left her home in Bel Air, Maryland, at around 6pm on Saturday 5 August, and headed to a popular hiking trail just outside of town. When the mother-of-five failed to return that night, her new boyfriend Richard Tobin called police at about 11pm to report her missing, according to Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler. The next morning, the 37-year-olds car was located at the Williams St entrance to the Ma and Pa Trail. Bevan Hurley reports: Rachel Morins homicide probed as sister says she did not go willingly Police ask publics help in collecting information about Rachel Morin 09:00 , Ariana Baio #Alert Rachel Morin Investigation If you were on the Ma & Pa Trail on Saturday, or near the trail or trail heads and took photos or video, we are asking if you would please share them with investigators. Please send it to Sgt. Maddox at maddoxc@harfordsheriff.org. Harford Sheriff (@Harford_Sheriff) August 8, 2023 Community very concerned after Rachel Morin found dead 07:00 , Ariana Baio Harford County Sheriff Jeffery Gahler said for a small community with low crime, Harford County is shaken by the death of Rachel Morin. We are a county that enjoys very low crime, Mr Gahler told Fox News Digital. Mr Gahler said police have no suspects in the investigation into Morins homicide. He said it could have been an act of random violence or something more planned. Our community is rightly very concerned, Mr Gahler said. Rachel Morins infant niece died one week before she went missing 05:00 , Ariana Baio Eight days before Rachel Morin went missing, her baby niece unexpectedly died. On GoFundMe, Rachels sister, Rebekah, created a GoFundMe on 28 July for her brother and sister-in-law whose three-month-old baby, Lily Beth, passed away. This precious baby girl passed away unexpectedly and has left us all with heartbreaking sadness. Lily Beth was always happy and her smile and giggle won the hearts of everyone who came in contact with her, Rebekah wrote in the GoFundMe description. On Facebook, Rebekah posted that she was heartbroken the day her niece died. Man who discovered Rachel Morins body says he had a feeling about those tunnels' 03:00 , Ariana Baio Rachel Morins chilling Facebook post before she was found on Maryland hiking trail 01:00 , Ariana Baio Rachel Morin shared a post on Facebook that hinted at her possible affinity for thrill months before she was found dead along a forest trail in Maryland. Morin shared a post in February that read: Risk can be dangerous, but routine can be deadly. Comfort has killed more dreams than daring ever did. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports: Rachel Morins Facebook post before she was found dead on Maryland hiking trail No suspect in Rachel Morin case yet Thursday 10 August 2023 00:00 , Ariana Baio Investigators in the Harford County Sheriffs Office do not have an official suspect yet in the case of Rachel Morin. Jeffery Gahler, the Harford County sheriff told WBALTV that they are unsure whether or not Morins death was targeted. We do not have a solid suspect. Not knowing whether this was a targeted event specific to Rachel, we are going to say, yes, be aware, be thinking there could be somebody out here and this is a random event, Mr Gahler said. Mr Gahler urged the public to be vigilant when walking along the Ma & Pa Trail and said there will be increased patrols along the trail. Rachel Morins boyfriend says he would never do anything to her Wednesday 9 August 2023 23:00 , Ariana Baio The boyfriend of a Maryland mother-of-five has denied involvement in her death, after police launched a homicide probe into the death of a woman whose body was found on a popular hiking trail. Bevan Hurley reports: Rachel Morins boyfriend denies involvement as homicide probe launched Heavy presence of police patrolling trail Wednesday 9 August 2023 22:07 , Ariana Baio After the disappearance and death of Rachel Morin, police in the Harford County Sheriffs Office have begun implementing a heavy presence of deputies patrolling the trail where the 37-year-old went missing. This heavy presence includes authorities patrolling by foot, bike and all-terain vehicles. The new large quantity of patrolling deputies is part of an effort to make members of the community feel safer. Morin was killed over the weekend after going for a jog on the Ma and Pa Trail in northern Maryland. Police do not have a solid suspect as of now and have warned people to act viligantly when embarking on the trail. $40K raised for Rachel Morin memorial fund Wednesday 9 August 2023 21:00 , Ariana Baio More than $40,000 have been raised in a GoFundMe dedicated to Rachel Morin. The fundraiser, which began shortly after Morins body was found off of the Ma and Pa Trail, has had over 900 people donate to it. Morins sister, Rebekah Morin, set up the GoFundMe to raise money for the family to bury the 37-year-old who police say was killed after going for a jog Saturday evening. Any leftover funds will go to Morins mother and her five children. Harford County sheriff provides update on Rachel Morin investigation Wednesday 9 August 2023 20:30 , Ariana Baio In a video posted to Facebook, Harford County Sheriff Jeffery Gahler provided an update to the Rachel Morin case saying investigators were doing everything they can do find out what happened to the 37-year-old. Mr Gahler said a team of ten investigators were working together scouring every detail of the days, hour and seconds before Rachel died in order to put goether the pieces of a comprehensive timeline. The investigation includes interviews with the people closest to Morin, which authorities have already done. Mr Gahler confirmed investigators already spoke with Morins boyfriend but did not provide further detail. Law enforcement say it is more than obviously apparent Rachel Morin was killed Wednesday 9 August 2023 20:00 , Ariana Baio Jeffery Gahler, the Harford County sheriff, told Fox News Digital that when investigators arrived at the scene where Rachel Morin was found it was apparent something sinister had occurred. It was more than obviously apparent to police officers and our detectives who came up that this was not an accidental injury somebody out exercising who had fallen down and sustained a fatal injury, this was not something that was self-inflicted, Mr Gahler said. This was the actions of one or more persons who took her life in a criminal homicide, an egregious, horrific act. The Harford County Medical Examiners Office has yet to release an official manner of death for Morin. Watch: Update from Harford County Sheriff on Rachel Morin investigation Wednesday 9 August 2023 18:59 , Ariana Baio Bel Air community walks in memory of Rachel Morin Wednesday 9 August 2023 18:00 , Ariana Baio Members of the Bel Air, Maryland community gathered on Tuesday evening to walk along the same trail where Rachel Morin was last seen, and later where her body was found, to make a statement. "A lot of moms that come here walk this trail after they drop their kids off in the morning at camp or school. They walk with their babies and theyre scared to walk the trail," Harford County councilwoman Jessica Boyle-Tsottles told WBALTV. "When people dont feel safe, we need to do something about it." The walk, organised by Ms Boyle-Tsottles, was to honor the life of Morin and promote feelings of safety among the public. "We stand strong and we are united. We dont put up with crime in our community," Ms Boyle-Tsottles said. Morins family did not attend the walk, saying they did not want to be associated with the walk. Father who discovered Rachel Morins body speaks out: I had a feeling about those tunnels Wednesday 9 August 2023 17:00 , Ariana Baio The Maryland man who found the body of 37-year-old Rachel Morin said he had a feeling about the tunnels where she was found dead off the Ma and Pa Trail. Michael Gabriszeski, 49, told local news outlet WMAR-2 News that he joined the search for Morin after hearing about her disappearance from his daughter who was friends with Morin. Morin, a mother of five, went missing on Saturday after going for a jog on the trail. The following day, her body was located off the trail by Mr Gabriszeski. Father who discovered Rachel Morins body says he had a feeling about those tunnels Harford County Sheriffs Office increase patrolling along trail Wednesday 9 August 2023 16:00 , Ariana Baio In the wake of Rachel Morins tragic death, the Harford County Sheriffs Office is increasing the number of patrols around the Ma and Pa trail in Bel Air, Maryland. Harford County Sheriff Jeffery Gahler said authorities do not have a solid suspect in the case yet leaving the public uneasy about their safety. Not knowing whether this was a targeted event specific to Rachel, we are going to say, yes, be aware, be thinking there could be somebody out here and this is a random event, Jeffery Gahler, the Harford County sheriff told local news outlet WBAL. Local man says he had a bad feeling about tunnels where Morin was found Wednesday 9 August 2023 15:00 , Ariana Baio Michael Gabriszeski, the Maryland man who found the body of 37-year-old Rachel Morin said he had a feeling about the tunnels where she was found off the Ma and Pa Trail. Mr Gabriszeski, 49, told local news outlet WMAR-2 News that he joined the search for Morin after hearing about her disappearance from his daughter who was friends with Morin. Mr Gabriszeski said he told police to search tunnels that exist around the Ma and Pa Trail because he had a bad feeling about them. I kept telling them to search the tunnels because I had a feeling about those tunnels, Mr Gabriszeski said. I walked forward to search the one tunnel, and they searched the one, and thats where they found her. Mr Gabriszeski said he hopes locating Morins body can result in a a final resting place so that door can be finally closed for the Morin family. [I hope] they can get the investigation on and, hopefully, catch the person who did this trifling act, Mr Gabriszeski said. He added that whoever is responsible for Morins death should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Community very concerned after Rachel Morin found dead Wednesday 9 August 2023 14:00 , Ariana Baio Harford County Sheriff Jeffery Gahler said for a small community with low crime, Harford County is shaken by the death of Rachel Morin. We are a county that enjoys very low crime, Mr Gahler told Fox News Digital. Mr Gahler said police have no suspects in the investigation into Morins homicide. He said it could have been an act of random violence or something more planned. Our community is rightly very concerned, Mr Gahler said. Rachel Morins infant niece died one week before she went missing Wednesday 9 August 2023 13:00 , Ariana Baio Eight days before Rachel Morin went missing, her baby niece unexpectedly died. On GoFundMe, Rachels sister, Rebekah, created a GoFundMe on 28 July for her brother and sister-in-law whose three-month-old baby, Lily Beth, passed away. This precious baby girl passed away unexpectedly and has left us all with heartbreaking sadness. Lily Beth was always happy and her smile and giggle won the hearts of everyone who came in contact with her, Rebekah wrote in the GoFundMe description. On Facebook, Rebekah posted that she was heartbroken the day her niece died. More than a week later, Rachel was found dead on the side of a hiking trail. Investigators receive over 90 tips in Morin case as man who found body says he had a feeling she would be in trail tunnels Wednesday 9 August 2023 12:00 , Joe Sommerlad Maryland homicide detectives investigating the murder of missing mother-of-five Rachel Morin have said they have already received 90 tips from members of the public about her final movements. In a statement issued on Tuesday, officers appealed for further information: Detectives are asking your your help. If you were on the Ma & Pa Trail on Saturday, or near the trail or trail heads and took photos or video, we are asking if you would please share them with investigators. There could be something helpful in one of your photos that might bring us one one more piece of the puzzle. As of this morning, we have already received nearly 90 tips from concerned community members in reference to the murder of Rachel Morin. Thank you for all the support you have given. Meanwhile, the local man who found her body, Michael Gabriszeski, has told WMAR: I got down and searched the tunnels because I had a feeling about these tunnels. And I walked forward to search the one tunnel, and they searched the one, and thats where they found her. [I hope she can] find a final resting place in her family so that that door can be finally closed. [So] they can get the investigation on and hopefully catch the person that did this trifling act. GoFundMe raises more than $39K Wednesday 9 August 2023 11:00 , Joe Sommerlad Rebekah Morin, the sister of Rachel Morin, has raised more than $39K to pay for her sisters funeral expenses and any additional finances needed for her sisters five children. The fundraiser, which was set up after Morin was found deceased on the side of a trail in Bel Air, had raised $39,562 as of Wednesday morning. We appreciate all those who have shared, donated and thoughtful words, Rebekah wrote in an update on the GoFundMe. Sheriff confirms foul play was involved in Rachel Morins death Wednesday 9 August 2023 09:00 , Ariana Baio On Sunday night, Rachel Morins boyfriend Richard Tobin took to social media to state his innocence while also making reference to his lengthy criminal rap sheet. I love Rachel, I would never do anything to her, let the family and I grieve, Mr Tobin wrote. Yes I have a past but I also have 15 months clean and have changed as a person. Please. Court records show Mr Tobin has two arrests for second-degree assault, and separate arrests for violating restraining orders, malicious destruction of property and drug possession dating back to 2014 Mr Tobin has also faced charges of being a fugitive from justice, resisting arrest and disorderly intoxication, according to Maryland judiciary case search records. Mr Tobin has not been named as a suspect, or accused of any wrongdoing in connection with the homicide inquiry. Mr Tobin only confirmed his relationship with Ms Morin in a Facebook post on 1 August, five days before she was reported missing. Police ask for video and photo tips Wednesday 9 August 2023 05:00 , Ariana Baio #Alert Rachel Morin Investigation If you were on the Ma & Pa Trail on Saturday, or near the trail or trail heads and took photos or video, we are asking if you would please share them with investigators. Please send it to Sgt. Maddox at maddoxc@harfordsheriff.org. Harford Sheriff (@Harford_Sheriff) August 8, 2023 What is The Ma and Pa Trail? Wednesday 9 August 2023 03:00 , Ariana Baio Rachel Morin was reported missing on Saturday night, and after law enforcement appealed for information to find the mother of five, a body was found on The Ma and Pa Trail on Sunday afternoon. The 6.25 mile (10km) trail gets it name from the former Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad corridor that ran through the town of Bel Air in Harford County. The track was dismantled in the 1950s, and later turned into a heritage trail along the railroads former route. It consists of a 3.3mile section through Bel Air and a 1.7mile segment in neighbouring Forest Hill. According to Alltrails.com, the trail is moderately challenging and takes around 2 hours and 25 minutes to complete. In the wake of Ms Morins death, authorities have warned hikers to take particular care and be aware of their surroundings. Watch: Maryland mom of five Rachel Morin was killed just a week after her baby niece died Wednesday 9 August 2023 01:00 , Ariana Baio Community walk being held for Rachel Morin Wednesday 9 August 2023 00:00 , Ariana Baio Members of the Harford County community are being invited to take part in a memorial walk for Rachel Morin, the 37-year-old mother of five who was found dead on the side of a trail. Harford County council member Jessica Boyle Tsottles posted on Facebook inviting people to walk the Ma & Pa Trail where Morin was last seen and eventually found. In order to unite as a community and empower the women of Harford County. Join us as we walk the Ma & Pa trail together. The walk is set to take place at 6.30pm Watch: Authorities search around Ma & Pa trail before identifying Rachel Morin Tuesday 8 August 2023 21:00 , Ariana Baio Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler and a visible group of Deputies on ATVs are here at the Ma & Pa trail in Bel Air today. Gahler tells me investigators are unable to say right now if the homicide of Rachel Morin was targeted or random. @FOXBaltimore pic.twitter.com/2cHcWraNDS Amy Simpson (@AmySimpsonTV) August 7, 2023 Rachel Morins car was found outside of trail Tuesday 8 August 2023 20:30 , Ariana Baio After Rachel Morin failed to return home from her job on Saturday, her boyfriend Richard Tobin called the police at about to report her missing. The next morning, the 37-year-olds car was located at the Williams St entrance to the Ma and Pa Trail. Authorities recovered the vehicle on Sunday morning, and it is being processed for evidence, the sheriffs department said. Who was Rachel Morin? Tuesday 8 August 2023 20:07 , Ariana Baio Rachel Morin, a 37-year-old woman from Maryland, was found deceased near the side of a trail in Bel Air on Sunday. Law enforcement in the Harford Police Department said Morins death was a homicide with foul play suspected. According to reports, Morin was a fitness enthusiast who was going on a run at the Ma & Pa Trail at the time of her disappearance. A friend of Morins, Becca Dill, described her as a fighter who found strength in her faith. Ms Dill told The Baltimore Banner on days [Morin] felt defeated or abandoned by the world she would read scripture. Morins best friend, Claudia Brown, wrote in a Facebook post that, Rachel was so unabashedly herself: witty and genuine, brilliant, daring, and headstrong. Her spirit would light up the room and her smile was contagious. She added that her faith was strong. Rachel Morin, 37, was a fierce protector of her children and loved them with all of her heart, a close friend wrote in a social media tribute (Harford County Sheriffs Office) Ms Brown wrote that Ms Morin had been divorced, and was a fierce protector of her children and loved them with all of her heart. Ms Morin had worked as a model and appeared on the cover of Owl Magazine, Harford Community Colleges student publication, where her brother John Morin worked as a technical director. She also started her own cleaning business, East Coast Cleaners, in 2019, according to Open Corporates. Rachel Morins boyfriend says he would never do anything to her Tuesday 8 August 2023 19:32 , Ariana Baio On Sunday night, Rachel Morins boyfriend Richard Tobin took to social media to state his innocence while also making reference to his lengthy criminal rap sheet. I love Rachel, I would never do anything to her, let the family and I grieve, Mr Tobin wrote. Yes I have a past but I also have 15 months clean and have changed as a person. Please. Court records show Mr Tobin has two arrests for second-degree assault, and separate arrests for violating restraining orders, malicious destruction of property and drug possession dating back to 2014 Mr Tobin has also faced charges of being a fugitive from justice, resisting arrest and disorderly intoxication, according to Maryland judiciary case search records. Mr Tobin has not been named as a suspect, or accused of any wrongdoing in connection with the homicide inquiry. Mr Tobin only confirmed his relationship with Ms Morin in a Facebook post on 1 August, five days before she was reported missing. Watch: Harford Police Department press conference Tuesday 8 August 2023 17:30 , Ariana Baio No suspect in Rachel Morin case yet Tuesday 8 August 2023 17:00 , Ariana Baio Investigators in the Harford County Sheriffs Office do not have an official suspect yet in the case of Rachel Morin. Jeffery Gahler, the Harford County sheriff told WBALTV that they are unsure whether or not Morins death was targeted. "We do not have a solid suspect. Not knowing whether this was a targeted event specific to Rachel, we are going to say, yes, be aware, be thinking there could be somebody out here and this is a random event," Mr Gahler said. Mr Gahler urged the public to be vigilant when walking along the Ma & Pa Trail and said there will be increased patrols along the trail. Timeline in Rachel Morin case Tuesday 8 August 2023 16:30 , Ariana Baio Saturday, 5 August 6pm Rachel Morin is last seen heading out to run on the Ma & Pa Trail in northern Maryland. 11.23pm The boyfriend of Rachel reports her missing after she does not return home. Police begin searching for Rachel on the trail and surrounding areas. Sunday, 6 August 1pm Body of female victim located off of the Ma & Pa Trail is reported to police. Monday, 7 August Police confirm the body found on the rail is Rachel Morin. ICYMI: Maryland police confirm body found on trail is missing mom-of-five Rachel Morin Tuesday 8 August 2023 16:00 , Ariana Baio A spokesperson for the Harford County Sheriffs Office told The Independent that the medical examiners office had identified the body as that of 37-year-old Rachel Morin, on Monday. The spokesperson could not provide a cause of death, what injuries she suffered, or whether any suspects have been identified. Morin was reported missing after she failed to return from a hike on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, about 30 miles northeast of Baltimore, on Saturday night. Her body was found by a member of the public along the 6.25m (10km) trail just after 1pm on Sunday. Bevan Hurley reports: Maryland police confirm body found on trail is missing mom-of-five Rachel Morin Police ask for publics help in Rachel Morin investigation Tuesday 8 August 2023 15:30 , Ariana Baio Investigators in the Harford County Sheriffs Office are asking for the publics help in obtaining information related to the case of Rachel Morin. If you were on the Ma & Pa Trial on Saturday, or near the trial or trail heads and took photos or video, we are asking if you would please share them with investigators, the Harford County Sheriffs Office wrote on Facebook. There could be something helpful in one of your photos that might bring us one more piece of the puzzle (sic). Anyone with photos, videos or information is being asked to share them with Sergeant Maddox at maddoxc@hartfrodsheriff.org. Rachel Morins infant niece died one week before she went missing Tuesday 8 August 2023 15:00 , Ariana Baio Eight days before Rachel Morin went missing, her baby niece unexpectedly died. On GoFundMe, Rachels sister, Rebekah, created a GoFundMe on 28 July for her brother and sister-in-law whose three-month-old baby, Lily Beth, passed away. This precious baby girl passed away unexpectedly and has left us all with heartbreaking sadness. Lily Beth was always happy and her smile and giggle won the hearts of everyone who came in contact with her, Rebekah wrote in the GoFundMe description. On Facebook, Rebekah posted that she was heartbroken the day her niece died. Mom-of-fives new boyfriend breaks silence over death Tuesday 8 August 2023 13:30 , Rachel Sharp Rachel Morins new boyfriend has broken his silence after a body believed to belong to the mother-of-five was found close to a walking trail in Maryland. Richard Tobin took to Facebook on Sunday to deny any involvement in her death. I love Rachel, I would never do anything to her, let the family and I grieve, he wrote. Yes I have a past but I also have 15 months clean and have changed as a person. Please, he added, apeparing to reference his prior criminal record. His denial came as hundreds of people wrote on his Facebook page in the comments section under his recent relationship status post. On 1 August four days before Morin disappeared Mr Tobin changed his status to in a relationship with Morin. Two days later on 3 August, Morin had posted images of the couple together, writing: Only started taking pics few weeks ago.. but these are a few of my favorites . From the beach to the mountains. Richard Tobin changed his status to in a relationship with Rachel Morin on 1 August (Facebook) Harford County police rule out connection to other missing woman Tuesday 8 August 2023 12:30 , Rachel Sharp Officials in Harford County have ruled out any connection between the disappearance and suspected homicide of Rachel Morin and a second woman who went missing in the area the same day. Karen Elliott, 58, was last seen at her home in Bel Air at around 2.20pm on Saturday afternoon. Harford County Sheriffs Office said she was wearing a green shirt and blue jeans and was seen heading into the wooded area behind Cypress Drive. A search for the missing woman has so far not yielded any information as to her whereabouts. In Sunday nights press conference, the sheriff insisted that there is no connection between her disappearance and Morins case. We believe there is no danger to the community in the case of Karen Elliott, the sheriffs office said in a statement. On Monday, police announced that Ms Elliott was located alive and unharmed and that no foul play is suspected in her disappearance. Karen Elliott, 58, was last seen at her home in Bel Air (Harford County Sheriffs Office) Rachel Morins sister says death is not accidental and she did not go willingly Tuesday 8 August 2023 12:03 , Bevan Hurley Rachel Morins family has described her death is not accidental and said the mother-of-five did not go willingly. In a heartbreaking post on a GoFundMe campaign page, Morins sister Rebekah wrote: It is with devastating sadness and a broken heart that our family has been hit with yet another heartbreak. My sister, Rachel Morin went missing on Saturday August 5 2023 around 6pm. In less then 24 hours her body was found by local law enforcement. It has only been a week since my niece Lily Beth passed away from SIDS, and I find that I have to make yet another gofundme to help my mother, Patty Morin with funeral costs. There was no life insurance in place. She added: This was not an (accidental) death, and she did not go willingly and she deserves a funeral worthy of her her beauty. If there are any remaining funds they will go towards things her 5 children may need. Please share, donate, comment and keep this going. Authorities strongly believe a body found on a Maryland hiking trail on Sunday is 37-year-old mother Rachel Morin (GoFundme) Maryland police confirm body is that of missing mother-of-five Rachel Morin Tuesday 8 August 2023 11:30 , Rachel Sharp Maryland police have confirmed that the body found along a hiking trail in Bel Air is that of missing mother-of-five Rachel Morin. Morin, 37, was last seen heading to the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air at around 6pm on Saturday evening, according to the Harford County Sheriffs Office. She failed to return home that night and her boyfriend reported her missing. On Sunday morning, Morins vehicle was found in the parking lot at the entrance to the popular walking route. Hours later, at around 1pm that afternoon, a member of the public discovered a womans body close to the trail. On Sunday night, the Harford County Sheriffs Office said that they believed the body belonged to Morin but were waiting for official confirmation. In a statement on Monday, a spokesperson for the sheriffs office confirmed the tragic news. Earlier this afternoon, we received confirmation from the state medical examiner that the body recovered was that of Rachel Morin, they said. We are asking people if they have information to please stop forward and give that to the sheriffs office instead of discussing it on social media. Hikers warned to stay vigilant Tuesday 8 August 2023 10:03 , Bevan Hurley On Sunday, Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler has said that there may still be a danger to the public, and urged anyone hiking the Ma and Pa Trail to be vigilant. Thankfully we dont have too much violent crime in Harford County, but when we have one, I prefer when I can stand here and tell you that the suspect has been arrested or that its a targeted crime. I cant tell you that is the case, he said. He urged anyone hiking trails in the area to carry a whistle toan alert device, pay attention to their surroundings, and notify family and friends of their plans. Sheriff Gahler also pleaded with the public to call 911 immediately if they spotted anything suspicious, and come forward with any information that might be relevant to the homicide inquiry. The Ma and Pa Trail where Rachel Morin was last seen alive (Harford County Sheriffs Office/Google) What is The Ma and Pa Trail? Tuesday 8 August 2023 08:03 , Bevan Hurley Rachel Morin was reported missing on Saturday night, and after law enforcement appealed for information to find the mother of five, a body was found on The Ma and Pa Trail on Sunday afternoon. The 6.25 mile (10km) trail gets it name from the former Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad corridor that ran through the town of Bel Air in Harford County. The track was dismantled in the 1950s, and later turned into a heritage trail along the railroads former route. It consists of a 3.3mile section through Bel Air and a 1.7mile segment in neighbouring Forest Hill. According to Alltrails.com, the trail is moderately challenging and takes around 2 hours and 25 minutes to complete. In the wake of Ms Morins death, authorities have warned hikers to take particular care and be aware of their surroundings. The Ma and Pa Trial, viewed from the Williams St trailhead, where Rachel Morins car was located on Sunday morning (Google Maps) Woman found safe in separate Harford County missing persons inquiry Tuesday 8 August 2023 07:03 , Bevan Hurley A woman reported missing from Hardford County has been found safe, according to law enforcement. Karen Elliott was located alive and unharmed at 4pm on Monday, the Harford County Sheriffs Office said. No foul play is suspected in her disappearance. Officials had earlier ruled out a link with the Rachel Morin homicide inquiry. The mother-of-five from Bel Air was reported missing on Saturday, and a body was found on the Ma and Pa Trail on Sunday afternoon. Rachel Morins boyfriend says he would never do anything to her as homicide probe launched Tuesday 8 August 2023 04:03 , Bevan Hurley The boyfriend of a Maryland mother-of-five has denied involvement in her death, after police launched a homicide probe into the death of a woman whose body was found on a popular hiking trail. Rachel Morin, 37, disappeared after reportedly heading out for a hike on the Ma and Pa Trail in Bel Air, Hartford County, at around 6pm on Saturday. Her new boyfriend Richard Tobin, 27, reported her missing at around 11pm that night after she failed to return, Hartford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler told a press conference on Sunday. Full story below. Rachel Morins boyfriend denies involvement as homicide probe launched Gig workers in India are celebrating a small but significant victory in their ongoing fight for labour rights and better working conditions. The work is gruelling, hours are long, the pay is meagre and there's no job security or access to basic rights like paid leave, insurance or pension. But on 24 July, the western state of Rajasthan passed a landmark law that aims to provide platform-based gig workers social security benefits - a right they have been demanding for a long time - among other provisions. The Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Act 2023 proposes to set up a social security fund by imposing a welfare tax of 1%-2% on every transaction made by a customer on apps that fall within its ambit, like food delivery and ride sharing. State government grants and contributions by gig workers will also be pooled into the fund. The law also aims to create an online database of gig workers in the state by registering them and the platforms they're associated with; set up a system to address their grievances and a welfare board to monitor and enforce rules and fine aggregator platforms that don't comply. Many labour rights activists have praised the law saying it will give gig workers at least some of the rights enjoyed by those in the formal economy. They also say it will provide a model for other states to follow. But critics argue that the law might slow down the gig economy by irking customers, who may end up paying more for transactions as aggregator platforms could increase prices to pay the welfare tax. India has millions of gig workers, many of them youngsters Gig workers even in the US and UK have been unionising to demand labour rights. Their Indian counterparts have been doing the same as they aren't included under the country's labour laws, since they are not classified as "employees". Gig platforms also do not call themselves "employers", preferring the term "aggregators" instead and call their workers "partners" or "independent contractors". Experts say this is unfair as gig workers aren't given a share of the profits but are expected to adhere to rules laid down by the platform. India has a huge population of platform-based gig workers - a little over seven million, according to the government-run think-tank Niti Aayog. But experts say that this number is likely to be higher. The country's soaring population has fuelled shortages in the job market, forcing many - especially youngsters - to turn to gig work to make a living. Akriti Bhatia, a labour rights activist, calls the Act "significant" as it focusses on registering gig workers, which is the first step towards bringing them under a social security net. "It also makes data transparent, including financial transactions of apps, and this can dissuade platforms from indulging in unfair practices - like deleting a rider's data or charging arbitrary fines," she adds. Nikhil Dey, member of a workers' rights group that spearheaded the drafting of the bill, says that the new law provides a system for workers to organise themselves by giving them representation in the form of a welfare board. It also offers a breakthrough in the way social security funds can be collected and disbursed. As per the law, every gig worker registered on the database will be given a unique ID, which will stay the same no matter the platform they work for and will be valid in perpetuity. Worker can use this ID to check their earnings across platforms through an integrated tracking and financial management system. So, for example, if a driver does two rides with Ola and four with Uber in a day, he can track his earnings across both platforms using the ID. "This system also makes it easy for workers and the board to check who stands to gain how much in social security, depending on their earnings," explains Mr Dey. The nature of gig work isn't constant, and a worker might switch to another industry and never return; or return to gig work after a couple of months or years. In such a scenario, a person can choose to continue making contributions to the fund and enjoy the benefits after the fund matures, Mr Dey says. "It was a strategic decision not to push for regulation but to find a way to implement something everyone agrees on - even aggregator platforms agree that gig workers should get social security," he adds. Experts also say that the Act circumvents some of the problems faced during previous efforts to grant workers social security. Gig workers in the US have been unionising to demand labour rights However, some experts have pointed out that the new law does not address more pressing labour rights issues, like a cap on maximum working hours or minimum earnings. They also say that there needs to be more clarity on how the welfare tax is going to be deducted, so that it is not cut from the workers' incentives or made up through fines. "Only after the law is implemented will we be able to gauge its success," says Nilanjan Banik, an economics and finance professor at Mahindra University. Ms Bhatia, however, says that the law isn't challenging to implement if there is adequate political will. She also says that it provides a roadmap for the creation of similar laws across states and for different jobs in the unorganised sector. Lawmakers and governments have become more amenable to the demands of gig workers - associations representing them say it's because they represent a sizeable vote bank. In 2020, the federal government enacted the Code on Social Security, which obligates gig platforms to contribute towards a fund for their workers, but the rules for it are yet to be framed. In July, the Karnataka government announced that it would provide free accidental and life insurance cover of 400,000 rupees ($4,827; 3,790) to gig workers and that the state would pay the annual premium. The new law too was passed by the Congress-led Rajasthan government just months before the assembly elections are due to take place in the state. Shaik Salauddin, a labour union leader who was a part of government discussions on the bill, says gig workers will continue to put pressure on governments to get their rights. "Parties across the spectrum have realised our potential as a vote bank and they can't ignore us anymore," he says. BBC News India is now on YouTube. Click here to subscribe and watch our documentaries, explainers and features. Read more India stories from the BBC: Joel Caston catches up on ANC duties in his office in Washington, D.C. on June 29, 2021. Credit - Michael S. WilliamsonThe Washington Post/Getty Images I was in my cell when I heard the news of my win5 A.M., barely awake, teeth unbrushed. The units correctional officer said the lieutenant wanted to talk to me. I was now a high profile detainee, warranting new protocols and more security, namely because, as the first incarcerated person to win public office in the nations capital, the media blitz had already begun. I had to get myself together, so I called my mom who had heard the story on the radio. You won, son, she said. Thats when I knew it had really happened. I had just become a D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner. I was granted parole and realized my freedom on November 22, 2021. But before that, inside the D.C. Jail, I assumed the role of unofficial spokesperson long before my win as Commissioner. Part of that came from Young Men Emerging (YME), the program I co-founded with my best friend and freedom fighter Michael Woody wherein a group of us who had served some serious time became mentors to newly incarcerated men between 18 and 25. We transformed a punitive environment into one that centered counseling, education, and financial literacy while activating a communityincluding administration, officers, and those on the outside. With time, our mentees advocated for themselves and thought like citizens; a collective mindset that combated a criminal legal system designed to strip us of our personhood and snuff out our hope for justice. And when D.C. restored our ability to vote in time for the 2020 election, we ignited that citizenship. Read More: The U.S. Prison System Doesn't Value True Justice Mobilizing incarcerated people to vote tells the outside world they cant do whatever they want with us, that we get our voice on the record. So when it came time to cast my ballot in 2020, I wore that sticker every chance I got. I Voted lasted nearly 30 days until the adhesion wore off. I even co-hosted a podcast with a fellow mentor so we could circulate information on our newly restored rights. Like YME, the podcast brought in experts from the outside to discuss issues of democratic participation. And thats when I learned about the seat for Commissioner. The day we interviewed D.C. Council Member Charles Allen, he started talking about the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC): the group of representatives unique to D.C., adopted in 1974 as an experiment in governance at the grassroots, according to policy expert David F. Garrison. Like a council member, each of the eight wards in D.C. has Commissioners to voice the needs of their constituents. In fact, Mayor Muriel Bowser began her political trajectory as a Commissioner. So when I heard that Ward 7Fthe Park Kennedy luxury apartments on C street, the Harriet Tubman Womens Shelter, and the D.C. Jail where I was currently incarceratedhad a vacant seat for the taking, my antenna went up. Between YME and the restoration to vote, I had a taste for civic engagement that freed me. It wasnt a question of why I should do this, but why shouldnt I? I was sentenced to die in prison; but now, away from the places that held me captive in South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Ohio, Oklahoma, West Virginia, New York, Kentuckynow, Im back home, in our nations capital, and had a chance to advocate for my brothers and sisters inside. I had a chance to debunk the myths and the grossly misconceptualized definitions of what it means to be an inmate, a prisoner, a criminal. This seat was for someone like me. Once in office, I became a direct line to the D.C. Jail that hadnt existed before. No one had ever heard of ANC in the jail, and no one had elected to run elsewhere in Ward 7F. So, in the Spring of 2021, when I submitted my petition to run, Joel Caston was the only name on the ballot. The news of my win came a month later, but it was retracted soon thereafter based on a technicality. The Board of Elections proposed a special election and, by then, word had gotten out within the jail about my running and what exactly ANC was. Now, there was a new spotlight on the race, and I could feel this awakened conscience of my fellow incarcerated people who realized they could also be a part of the democratic process. So when four guys stepped up to run against me, I no longer cared if I won. This was a movement. We all needed to run. When it comes to reform or alternatives to incarceration, weve made little progress by leaving the conversation to politicians who have not been directly impacted by the system; who have not themselves been called a number, or faced a judge delivering a decades-long sentence. As we call for more representation in politics, weve left out the key demographic of individuals impacted by incarceration. After all, who better to fight for record expungement, banning the box on job and college applications, minimum wage inside prisons and jails, or creating universal access to life insurance than those who have experienced these legal blindspots? As Keeda Haynes put it when discussing her 2020 loss in Tennessee to then Congressman Jim Cooper: "They want to pick our brains or put us on panels, but what about when it comes to picking someone to lead?" As Commissioner, I led the Redistricting Task Forcethe ANCs Super Bowlto make the D.C. Jail a single-member district, ensuring those incarcerated would have their own, singular representative. I served as treasurer, approving budgets and allocating funds to local community organizations. And when the Director of our facility received a ruling by the Federal Bureau of Prisons to depopulatemeaning transfer people, some of whom had open cases, without warning to facilities across the U.S.as a direct result of January 6, 2021, I stepped in. Those convicted in the insurrection became my cellmates and constituents, which meant I was giving representatives like Marjorie Taylor Greene tours of the facility. At the time, I didnt know who she was, nor did I know many felt she was there to advance the needs of the January sixers. I did know that what Representative Greene said about the jail was accurate: it was like a prisoner of war camp; we were in torturous lockdown. It always had been, we always had been. But trouble isnt trouble until its yours. Soon after, the call for depopulating the Jail came out of an inspection by the U.S. Marshals Service, citing systemic failure like unsanitary conditions, mistreatment by guards, and poor quality food, all of which had been recently raised by various members of the judiciary. We had a new, unprecedented microscope on us. Consequently, FBOP issued a ruling to transfer 400 individuals from the jail. The 40 incarcerated after January 6 were not on this list, but I was. When my name was added, my heart dropped. To be taken out of the jail meant Id lose my title and my access to constituents. At this point in my carceral journey, I had been granted parole and was actively engaged in my transition: securing my apartment, opening a bank account, identifying employment opportunities. And still. Still it could hang over my head that, at any given moment, I could be handcuffed, wrapped in belly chains with a black box on my hands, stored like a package in a plane or van for 6 to 12 hours, all to head to a facility where Id have to adapt to new prison politics. To combat the transfers, including my own, Councilmember Allen held a special hearing where I was given the chance to speak. As a Commissioner on the inside, I knew the terrain, knew the stakes, knew what it felt like when we all watched the insurrectionists on the community rooms TV, knowing had they looked like us they would have been killed on site. I testified that the facilitys poor, unsanitary, and hostile conditions existed long before the incarceration of these peoplethey just came to the forefront because a group of mostly white folks were raising hell. I shared that FBOPs solution would only exacerbate the situation. Those individuals would be taken farther away from their communities and family visitors, with limited access to their legal representation which, for those with open cases, was paramount. Whats more, none of these people had complained about their conditions; they didnt want to leave. Eventually, I was taken off the list, but 400 other men just like me were not. And on July 19 of this year, it was announced that Commissioner Bishop, to whom I passed the baton, was also ripped from his post by the FBOP. When I ran for my seat in 2021, I was the only incarcerated person to run in the first round. In the last election when I passed the baton, there were 20 candidates. Our movement is growing, and my win coincided with other elected officials impacted by incarceration, like Washington Representative Tarra Simmons, who is fighting to increase wages for those inside; Rhode Island Representative Cherie Cruz, who is tackling parole recalculation and record expungement; New York Assembly member Eddie Gibbs, who launched a democratic club for people with conviction histories; and, just last month, Yusef Salaam, one of the Exonerated Five, who was elected as Council member in Harlem. Together, were demonstrating that our people have a voice. Together, were redefining what the blueprint for political leadership looks like.As told to Abigail Glasgow Contact us at letters@time.com. Though summer is still in full swing, the 2023-24 academic year will be here before you know it. If your children are starting school in Pennsylvania, you might need to make sure they are up to date on their immunizations and checkups. Schools in Centre County are set to start in mid- to late August, though start dates vary by district. State College Area School District is slated to begin classes Aug. 22, while Penns Valley Area School District and Bellefonte Area School District, among others, will begin classes Aug. 29. Regardless, time is short to catch up on required immunizations. Fortunately, resources are available in Pennsylvania to connect you with providers, receive same-day immunizations or help low-income patients find treatments. Heres what you need to know about school immunizations in Pennsylvania. When must children get their shots in Pennsylvania? The commonwealths full vaccination schedule, required examinations and more are established under chapter 23 of the Pennsylvania Code. Requirements apply to all students, including those studying at private schools. Children risk exclusion from school if they do not receive required vaccines or have a plan to complete their immunizations. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Health, students need at least five required immunizations before attending school in any grade. For attendance in all grades, children in Pennsylvania need the following vaccines: Four doses of diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis vaccines, usually delivered collectively as DTAP or TDP, with one dose delivered after a childs fourth birthday. Four doses of the polio vaccine, with the fourth dose delivered on or after a childs fourth birthday and at least six months after the previous dose. Notably, a fourth dose is not necessary if the third dose was administered after a childs fourth birthday, according to state guidelines. Two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines, usually delivered as MMR Three doses of the hepatitis B vaccine Two doses of the varicella (chickenpox) vaccine or evidence of immunity, which can include a diagnosis or verification from a health care provider For seventh-grade entry, children in Pennsylvania need the following additional shots: One dose of tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis (TDaP) by the first day of seventh grade One dose of the meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV) by the first day of seventh grade For 12th-grade entry, students in Pennsylvania need the following additional shot: One dose of the meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MCV) by the first day of 12th grade. If one dose was administered at 16 years or older, that will count as the required dose for 12th-grade entry. Though influenza immunization is not required by law, Pennsylvania students and staff are encouraged to annually receive flu vaccines, according to the state Department of Health. COVID-19 vaccines and their subsequent boosters are not required for students, either. Pennsylvania students must also receive several health inspections as they progress through their schooling. These include physical exams, dental exams, vision and hearing tests and scoliosis screenings, among other requirements. Are there exceptions to Pennsylvanias school vaccination requirements? Yes. Families in Pennsylvania can contact schools directly to request immunization exemptions for children on medical, religious and philosophical grounds, the commonwealths health agency says. Generally, a medical exemption would require a physician to evaluate a child and, in writing, state that receiving a certain immunization would endanger the childs life or health. If a physician later determines that immunization is no longer detrimental to the childs health, they would be required to receive the shot. Parents or guardians must separately state in writing reasons for any religious or philosophical exemptions. According to Pennsylvanias code, these exemptions are generally aligned on religious grounds or on the basis of a strong moral or ethical conviction similar to a religious belief. Notably, children who are exempt from vaccinations may be removed from their schools during outbreaks, the Pennsylvania Department of Health warns. These decisions are usually left to schools, though state officials may offer recommendations. How can I get my child vaccinated in Pennsylvania? Most immunizations are available through pediatricians and local health care offices, the Pennsylvania Department of Health advises. Resources are also available for those who need assistance accessing vaccines for their children. Most notable among them is Pennsylvanias Vaccines for Children (VFC) program, which provides immunizations for children who do not have health insurance. Children younger than 18 years old can receive VFC vaccines if they are uninsured, underinsured, eligible for Medicaid or identifying as an American Indian or Alaska Native, as defined by the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. VFC vaccine prices are capped at $23.14 per dose as of 2022, though doctors can charge fees for each shot, but cannot refuse to vaccinate children if parents or guardians cannot cover fees. As of 2022, 12 Centre County sites are recognized as enrolled VFC providers. You can view a full interactive map online with locations spread through the entire commonwealth by visiting health.pa.gov/topics/programs/immunizations/pages/VFC.aspx. Other online resources include informational pamphlets regarding immunizations, portals for immunization records and interactive quizzes to help assess vaccination needs for children and adults. The words of Eternal Father, Strong to Serve could be heard Wednesday from the Virginia Beach United Methodist Church as dozens of community members and former Navy sailors gathered to remember Rear Adm. Fred Metz. The Navy hymn was a favorite of the naval aviator and longtime resident of Virginia Beach. Metz died July 27 at age 87. Metz had a life well lived, said Rev. Tim Craig. A life of service commitment to country, family and to the church. Metz enlisted in the Navy in February 1956, receiving his Wings of Gold and being commissioned an ensign in October 1957. It was the start of a 35-year naval career that took him to the Pentagon, the Gulf of Tonkin, President Ronald Reagans briefing room, and of course the sky. Fred was an aviators aviator, his family wrote in his obituary. During his career, Metz flew more than 5,000 hours, beginning with the A-4 Skyhawk and in 1964 transitioned to A-6A Intruder. He made four combat deployments to the Gulf of Tonkin starting in 1965 and completed his Vietnam service in 1974 as the Commanding Officer of Attack Squadron 145 in Oak Harbor, Washington. In 1979, he met Cmdr. Tom Chafin. I was the executive officer of the USS Caloosahatchee. Fred was coming on board to be my commanding officer. He started out as my boss, but became my brother, Chafin said after Wednesdays memorial service. Metz later served in Washington D.C. and was responsible for the daily briefing of President Ronald Reagan. His final Pentagon assignment placed him in charge of all aircraft carriers and naval air stations. Metz retired in 1990 as a rear admiral. His awards include the Legion of Merit with two gold stars, the Distinguished Flying Cross with three gold stars, the Meritorious Service Medal with two gold stars, the Air Medal with gold numeral 7 and bronze numeral 15, the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat Distinguishing Device and three gold stars, and numerous service and campaign awards. In 1969, Paul Anka wrote a song called My Way for Frank Sinatra he didnt write the music, he wrote the lyrics. Well, he also wrote that for my dad, said Fred Metz Jr. He liked things his way, and those who served with him, know he was tough but he was fair and that was probably why he was so successful in his Navy career. Upon retirement, Metz and his wife of 65 years settled in Virginia Beach. Metz became active in various local veteran and civic organizations, including the Association of Naval Aviation, Kiwanis, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Intruder Association. Over the years, he connected with other military veterans and became fast friends over a shared bond of battle stories and patriotism. I actually met him when he was in his backyard. He had slipped and broken his ankle and needed help. We were friends from that day forward, said Ken Wilson. Wilson went on to join the Association of Naval Aviation at Metzs encouragement. I was an enlisted man in the Navy, an aircraft carrier sailor, but not a flier like Fred, Wilson said. Wilson, who served from 1952-56 through the Korean War, said he and Metz exchanged sea and sky stories, including how Metz came to be so committed to his faith. He had a conversation with God on his last flight from bombing Hanoi. He was all shot up and wasnt sure he was gonna get back to the ship. So, he told me he said to God, If you get me back, I will be your number one disciple forever, Wilson said. Metz sought to live up to that. He was the best Sunday School teacher around taught me more about the Bible in a week than I ever knew, Wilson said with a laugh. Metz was also devoted to maintaining the relationship between the city of Virginia Beach and the Navy. He served on Virginia Beachs Military Economic Development Advisory Committee, and was instrumental in the design and construction of the Naval Aviation Monument at the Oceanfront. Fred was very involved. He met with the architect to design the whole thing, said retired Cmdr. Dave Moore. Moore and Metz met through church 10 years ago. It was important to Fred that the memorial be very family oriented because of how important family is to the military. If things are not going well at home, members are not going to be focused on the mission, Moore said. Loved ones gathered for a reception following the memorial service. They exchanged hugs and condolences. But occasionally, laughter would burst out following as they began sharing stories that began with Remember when Fred. Looking around at full room, Wilson said, Wonderful guy. We are all gonna miss him, but his legacy is strong. Caitlyn Burchett, caitlyn.burchett@virginiamedia.com Rebel Wilson has shared the details of her on-set stunt accident that left her with three facial stitches. Last week, the Australian actor, 43, was rushed to hospital after suffering an injury while on the set of her new film Bride Hard. Now, on Wednesday (9 August), the Pitch Perfect star posted an update on her Instagram Story, thanking fans for all of their well-wishes. Ive actually been healing, quite amazing. The stitches have dissolved out from my on-set accident last week, Wilson said. She had been finishing up a late-night shoot in Savannah, Georgia the last scene of the movie when she got hit in the face with the butt of a gun. It was a complete accident, and it was such a shock, Wilson continued, but luckily, Im healing very well. Raving about how fun it was to do an action movie, she added: But God, it can be a bit dangerous at times, but Im all good. Rebel Wilson on set injury (Rebel Wilson Instagram Story) Directed by Simon West, Bride Hard sees Wilson play a secret agent who struggles to fulfil her obligations as the maid of honour at her childhood best friends wedding. While most Hollywood productions have stopped filming as a result of the ongoing actors and writers strike, Bride Hard was granted an Interim Agreement, thanks to its status as an independent production. In a statement to members last month, the Screen Actors Guild American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) explained the nature of the Interim Agreement system, which has greenlit projects like Bride Hard to continue filming. The Interim Agreement gives many of our journeyman performers and crews the opportunity to pay their rent and feed their families. This approach maintains our strength, solidarity and upper hand with the AMPTP until they yield to the deal we deserve, the guild said. The Interim Agreement is not a waiver. To be clear, it is a contract that includes all terms and conditions for producers looking to employ our members on their specific independent productions. The statement continued: This Interim Agreement was created for several reasons, all of which are aimed at protecting the interests of our members, helping them successfully navigate the strike and demonstrating to the AMPTP that other producers are eager to work with our members under these terms. On 14 July, the actors union joined the Writers Guild of America (WGA) in the fight for a fairer deal. The move has effectively shut down Hollywood and marks the first time since 1960 that both actors and writers have jointly picketed against film and television production companies. A still from a video of a Ukrainian naval drone attacking the Russian amphibious assault ship the Olenegorsky Gornyak The naval drones demonstrated outstanding technical characteristics. Read also: Moscow airports in chaos after multiple reports of drone attacks The successful attack by SBU naval drones on a Russian landing ship in Novorossiysk Bay is an outstanding operation by the Ukrainian special services that is seriously changing the situation in the Black Sea. Despite enhanced security measures at its most extensive naval base and largest commercial port, the Russian Navy has proven unable to defend itself against attacks by Ukrainian maritime drones. The drones have demonstrated outstanding technical characteristics: Drones require a range of more than 1,000 kilometers and a high-quality control system to plan an attack on Novorossiysk and the Crimean Bridge. This means that Ukraine can attack any Russian facility on the Black Sea. Russia has to concentrate even more forces to defend its ports and ships, spending enormous resources. Read also: Ukrainian Navy opens new routes from Black Sea ports All of this has been done from scratch, because Ukraine had yet to develop such weapons before the full-scale Russian invasion. Read also: Over six million Ukrainians leave country since Russian invasion, says official Russia has blocked Ukraine's maritime trade by striking ports and ships in Ukrainian waters, stealing and exporting Ukrainian grain and metal. Now Ukraine has long-range arms to symmetrically respond to the occupiers' maritime trade, to restrict marine transportation just as the occupiers did. Read also: Russian military vessel threatens civilian ship, raising blockade concerns and international alarms Russian maritime trade is a legitimate target for Ukrainian retaliatory strikes. Not only in the Black Sea, but also far beyond the Black Sea. Russian ships and vessels can no longer feel safe anywhere. Text published with the permission of the author 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 Netherlands customs agents seized 17,600 pounds of cocaine hidden inside crates of bananas the largest haul ever collected in Rotterdam's port, authorities said Thursday. Dogs sniffed the cocaine inside 12 pallets of bananas, and customs officials scanned the container to confirm the drugs on July 13. Agents were able to pull the cocaine from the pallets, authorities said, but didn't release the information to the public because of the investigation surrounding the shipment. The drugs were shipped from Ecuador via Panama to Rotterdam and are worth around $660 million, Rotterdam's public prosecutor's office said in a news statement. Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe and in the first six months of 2023, more than 220 million tons were processed through its terminals, according to statistics kept by the port. During recent years the Port of Rotterdam has struggled as organized crime has smuggled cocaine and drugs in massive shipments. Since 2017, record quantities of cocaine have been seized in Europe in particular in Dutch, Belgian and Spanish ports, according to statistics analyzed by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Ports in these countries account for more than 70% of cocaine seized in Europe, and corruption, particularly in maritime routes has been identified as a key threat, according to the center. In February, Rotterdam and Antwerp seaports and five multinational shipping companies announced they were instituting smart containers, with alarm capabilities, and enhanced employee screening in an effort to cut down on smuggling. The two countries were also going to exchange information and develop "international security standards to combat crime and global drug smuggling." "The record seizures in the harbors of Rotterdam and Antwerp are illustrative of the size of the drug smuggling problem in both countries," Netherlands Benefits and Customs State Secretary Aukje De Vries said in a statement. He said the two countries are working closely together to "obtain and study radiographic images from Latin America." In 2022, the Netherlands announced it would spend more than $30 million to fight drug trafficking. The funding will also be used to hire customs officers to work with customs officers in transit countries, mainly in Latin America. Dutch customs officers will view and analyze container scans in an effort to identify drug sources. PayPal expanding cryptocurrency offerings with new stablecoin, PYUSD "No warning": Hawaii resident describes harrowing escape from wildfires NFL teams kick off preseason play (CNN) The estranged second oldest son of Thailands King Maha Vajiralongkorn has made an unexpected visit to the country, his first in almost three decades, in a return that surprised many in the kingdom. Vacharaesorn Vivacharawongse, 42, who has been living and working in the United States, visited a daycare center for underprivileged children in Bangkok on Tuesday. I am delighted to return to Thailand, I have been warmly welcomed. I have been away for a long time, 27 years, Vacharaesorn told reporters at the Foundation for Slum Child Care. Vacharaesorn is the second of four sons of King Vajiralongkorn, 71, and his second wife, Yuvadhida Polpraserth, who he married in 1994 and later divorced. Vacharaesorn, his mother and siblings were estranged after the separation and he does not hold a formal royal title. The Royal Palace has not released any official information or public comment on his visit. Vacharaesorns trip to his homeland comes at a difficult time for the royal family after the Kings oldest child, 44-year-old Princess Bajrakitiyabha, was hospitalized in an unconscious state in December after collapsing due to a heart problem. In January, the palace said in a statement that Bajrakitiyabha suffered a severe heart arrhythmia due to inflammation caused by a mycoplasma infection and doctors have been using a support system to keep her heart, lung and kidneys functioning. There is no clear heir apparent to the King. Vajiralongkorn, who was born in 1952, ascended to the throne in 2016 after the death of his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who had reigned for seven decades. The King has been married four times to Soamsawali Kitiyakara in 1977, Yuvadhida 17 years later, Srirasmi Suwadee in 2001 and Queen Suthida, a former general and deputy commander of the Kings Royal Guard Command who he married days before his coronation in 2019. He has seven children from his marriages two daughters and five sons only one of whom is officially recognized as a prince. Vacharaesorns sister Princess Sirivannavari was later welcomed back to Thailand following their estrangement and is a fashion designer and equestrian. She has frequently been seen in public with the King and Queen, and during mass anti-government protests in 2020 told CNN that Thailand is a peaceful country, saying we love the Thai people, no matter what. The return of the Kings son has been met with surprise in Thailand. A photo of Vacharaesorn in a tuk-tuk in Bangkok, which he shared on his Facebook page, was viewed more than 40,000 times and video appearing to show him arriving at Bangkoks main Suvarnabhumi Airport was widely shared on social media. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Kings estranged son makes surprise return to Thailand after 27 years" You may not believe it when you see my youthful glow, but Im old enough to remember when the only choices for gay movies were indie lesbian rom-coms, violent tragedies, or softcore porn. What a tough decision: the horrific brutality of Boys Dont Cry or conversation therapy melodrama and sculpted muscles in Latter Days. Whos bringing the popcorn? Over the last couple of decades, the problem with gay films has been remediedslightly; there are certainly more of them, and many that dont hinge their entire stories on lowbrow, tear-jerking trauma. But none of these movies can let themselves just be, well, movies. Queer films always have to make some sort of grand statement about their existence. Love, Simon was the first gay studio rom-com for teens; Weekend was all about the singularity of the queer dating and hookup culture; Bros was eager to be the first straightforward rom-com where characters just happened to be gay (despite the movies promotional cycle reiterating that importance endlessly). Even gay holiday movies are desperate to be lauded for their willingness to let two people of the same gender kiss in front of a fake tree from Lowes. Dont get me wrong, those things are significant and I devour them with glee. But sometimes, I wish I could watch a gay movie that is unconcerned with its own manufactured notability, a movie satisfied with its central queer characters having no substance at all. Im ecstatic to report that the day has finally come: Red, White & Royal Blue is a movie content with being absolutely nothing. With this filmwhich premieres on Prime Video Aug. 11 and was adapted from Casey McQuistons bestselling 2019 novelqueer cinema may finally be level with its heteronormative counterparts. At last, we gay people are allowed to be boring, have absolutely no chemistry with our romantic co-leads, and exist as walking archetypes. Red, White & Royal Blue throws the desire to be special or come first out the window. Now, gays can just be cockamamie and utterly vacuous. Equality is here! Sarcasm aside, Red, White & Royal Blue really is something special, in that it is fine with being nothing special at all. It often goes so far as to careen away from anything unique as soon as its outlandish plot comes within 100 feet of feeling remotely distinctive. The film bucks conventions from the start, refusing to open with any character or worldbuilding, and instead thrusting us into its own folly without trying to revolutionize any rom-com cliches. Right away, we meet the potential heir to the English throne, Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine), and his apparent archrival, the son of the American president, Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez). The two men have a feud as vague as both their respective ages and the trade agreement being finalized between the United States and Britain, the diplomatic reason that Alex must attend the royal wedding of Prince Henrys older brother, Philip (Thomas Flynn). If the film spent more time developing Alexs character alone before throwing him into a royal hornets nest, Red, White & Royal Blue might have a chance at getting audiences who havent already read McQuistons novel to care about the fate of the presidents son. Instead, the film haphazardly fills in character backstories with sloppy exposition and poorly executed fake news reels. By the time Alex and Prince Henry get into a wedding cake feud that becomes an international incident, viewers are expected to be invested in Alex and Henrys budding enemies-to-lovers romance. But without establishing their individual motivations and personalities, Alex and Henry feel like nothing more than the two tentpoles of a rom-com trope, about to be moved through the film like board game pieces for the next two hours. Taylor Zakhar Perez as Alex Claremont-Diaz in Prime Video's Red, White & Royal Blue Amazon Studios That hurried start manages to create quite a bit of humor, though its often unintentional or set up with no payoff. At the start of the film, Alex is dressed in ill-fitting tri-blend tees and oversized button-ups. I assumed this to be because his character is in the closet and trying to conform to some outdated idea of how a straight man dresses, a joke that never reached its punchline when Alex eventually comes out and starts dressing better. But first, Alexs mother, President Ellen Claremont (Uma Thurman, jumping on the hot trend of revered actresses doing gay rom-coms), demands a peace accord between the two boys, leading Alex and Henry to realize that their antagonistic relationship is actually their way of flirting. Everyone Has Big Gay Opinions About the Red, White & Royal Blue Trailer Despite their fundamental differences (Henry is apparently the only person on Earth who has never heard Lil Jons Get Low), the romance between the Prince and the Presidents son moves fast. Too fast, evidently, for Alex to wrap his head around the fact that Prince Henry is not allowed to be an out gay man under the laws of the monarchy, even though Henry reiterates that fact to his secret boyfriend constantly. It only takes one same-sex kiss for Alex to accept being bisexualor buh-sexual, as Perez delivers it in his line readingbut Henrys queerness must remain hidden. Why Henry would want to date someone who cant accept the nature of their relationship is a mystery that Red, White & Royal Blue never addresses. These lovers arent so much star-crossed as they are radically different from one another. Perhaps that might explain why Perez and Galitzine have all the chemistry of two gay men who just met for the first time at auditions for Fire Islands all-male production of Evita. Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Henry in Prime Video's Red, White & Royal Blue Amazon Studios Galitzine acts circles around Perez throughout the films distended runtime, bringing one-half of the pair some vital understatedness. But thats about the only subtlety that Red, White & Royal Blue provides. Matthew Lopez and Ted Malawers screenplay is so absurdly overwritten that its a shock as many poorly rendered green screen scenes and bits of outrageous dialogue made it into the films final product as they did. During a long-distance texting montage in which Alex is extolling the virtues of Texan cuisine, he tells Henry, I want to see your mouth coveredin barbecue sauce. It would be a decent fakeout for a silly punchline if Alex didnt double down by following up with, And then I want to lick it off! Red, White & Royal Blue has a strange approach to addressing sex in general. There are love scenes that are more explicit than most gay rom-coms are willing to be, but everything around those moments is confoundingly neutered. References to intimacy are plopped into the script recklessly, always a shock to the system as both characters are written with bizarrely sexless personalities. I began to wonder aloud what phrases Thurman might utter in her Tenessee Williams-adjacent, Southern Cate Blanchett impression, that would fit right in with the films random approach to sexuality. It wasnt two minutes after I said, Honey, we can get you on Truvada, that those words had left Thurmans mouth. Uma Thurman as President Ellen Claremont in Prime Video's Red, White & Royal Blue Amazon Studios In a way, Red, White & Royal Blues terribly predictable nature feels defiant. Its not that it veers on parody. Rather, the movie transcends ironic mimicry for some proprietary mixture of spoof and straightforward, unapologetic silliness, not unlike the peculiar universe seen in And Just Like That. The movie even surpasses the kinds of rote gay sendups that Cary Dubek made in The Other Two to create something truly uncanny. Its impossible to classify Red, White & Royal Blue as any one thing. It frequently defies categorizationalmost as much as Henry and Alex are determined to defy the laws of their lands to create some sort of totally unrealistic, idyllic paradise for themselves by the films hilarious conclusion, one that feels more like American propaganda than a love story. Passages: Why Ira Sachs Made the Horniest Film of the Year Watching this film, I was reminded of when my colleague described Are You There God? Its Me, Margaret as a miracle movie. Whereas Margaret was a beautifully told and enduring coming-of-age story, Red, White & Royal Blue blissfully sits on the other end of the miracle movie spectrum. While its no surprise this movie was made given its source novels massive popularity, its a marvel that it doesnt overexert itself by trying to reinvent the limp-wristed wheel. Striving to only meet the expectations of everyone who enjoyed a mind-bogglingly implausible story instead of trying to reach new unattainable heights is an admirable feat, and I dont say that in jest. Its astonishing that Red, White & Royal Blue sets out with seemingly no intentions. This movie doesnt appear to want to be convincingly romantic, nor a more straightforward gay comedy. Its not particularly sexy, its not a new idea or a fresh execution of a tired genre, andmaybe the best of allit does not want to be the first anything. Red, White & Royal Blue is nothing more than an overlong, inadvertent laugh riot, cobbled together on hundreds of thousands of dollars and a fever dream. I spent my life watching straight people enjoy more of those movies than I can count. Now, its gay peoples turn to be moronic. In its own way, thats beautiful. Liked this review? Sign up to get our weekly See Skip newsletter every Tuesday and find out what new shows and movies are worth watching, and which arent. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. If you, like me, think faith in God and religious affiliation are generally good things for people, then you, like me, ought to feel unsettled by the findings of political scientist Ryan Burge. He argues that religious participation in the United States is now largely the domain of the educated and comfortable, rather than a buttress for those on the margins of society, who historically were the core audience for Christianity, at least. Religion in 21st century America has become an enclave for people who have done everything right, he wrote in a recent piece on the website Religion Unplugged. They have college degrees and marriages and children and middle-class incomes. For those who dont check all those boxes, religion is just not for them. This trend has implications not only for churches, but for the country itself, Burge argues. A professor at Eastern Illinois University and also a pastor in the American Baptist Church the northern, progressive branch of Baptists hes among the more insightful thinkers about spirituality right now. (Disclaimer: My columns also are carried by Religion Unplugged, but Ive never met Burge.) Consider these findings, based on his analysis of the 15 years worth of the Cooperative Election Study, which has a sample size of roughly 60,000 people per year, and at the Nationscape survey, with 477,000 respondents: People with higher levels of education are less likely to identify as atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular. The people most likely to be nonreligious are those who didnt finish high school. As their education increases, so does peoples rate of religious affiliation. Those with masters degrees have the highest level of affiliation. The findings are similar regarding church attendance. Those most likely to attend services weekly a high level of commitment are those with a graduate degree. The least likely are those with a high school diploma or less. Theres a correlation with income. The Americans likeliest to attend religious services regularly are middle-class professionals with college degrees who make $60,000 to $100,000 a year. Married people are significantly more likely to be involved in a church than those who are divorced, separated or never married. Among 40-year-old married people, nearly 30 percent attend services weekly. For those who are separated, divorced or never married, its half that. Of course those married 40-year-olds are likelier to have young children they may want to provide with religious instruction, so having kids at home accounts for a lot of the discrepancy. But a gap in church involvement between the married and unmarried people continues all the way into Americans retirement years. Marriage leads to much higher levels of religiosity at any age, Burge says. Although Burge doesnt say so, marriage is also significantly more common among those with middle and upper incomes suggesting that those churchgoing married folks in the above item are more affluent than the unmarried folks who dont attend. My experience bears out what Burges numbers show. I hail from generations of working-class Kentuckians, people who sometimes lived on the margins. As a pastor, Ive led and ministered to people of every imaginable background. Ive seen up close the shifts Burge is talking about. Decades ago, church seemed to serve as a refuge for people who were struggling in life. Not anymore. Now they avoid religion. Ive asked a great many of these non-churchgoers not pressuring anyone, mind you, just curious why they dont go to church. The answers are numerous: their jobs require odd hours and unpredictable shift work, making attendance difficult; they think churches only want their money, and dont have any to spare; theyre caught in despair, depression or addiction and dont believe religion can help; theyre living in a non-traditional arrangement such as cohabitation or a gay or polyamorous relationship, and think Christians will condemn them; they cant afford church clothes (although most churches today accept any attire). Its hard for me to tell sometimes whats a genuine reason and whats a convenient excuse. But they plainly dont want to go to church. Which is their right, obviously its a free country. I dont pressure anybody. Or judge. Burge thinks there are serious implications in this trend. This is also troublesome for American democracy, he writes. Religion, at its best, is a place where people from a variety of economic, social, racial and political backgrounds can find common ground around a shared faith. Its a place to build bridges to folks who are different than you. Unfortunately, it looks like American religion is not at its best. Instead, its become a hospital for the healthy, an echo chamber for folks who did everything right, which means that its seeming less and less inviting to those who did life another way. I cant help thinking that somewhere along the line Christians have failed those who are having the toughest time. And while I think theyd be better off in church, its equally true that those of us who are in church would be better off if they joined us. We need fresh eyes. Paul Prather is pastor of Bethesda Church near Mount Sterling. You can email him at pratpd@yahoo.com. Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukrainian hospitals, medical workers, and healthcare infrastructure suffered at least 1,014 attacks, according to a report by a coalition of Ukrainian and international institutions published on Aug. 10. On average, the Ukrainian healthcare system suffered two attacks per day since Feb. 24, 2022. As of July 14, 2023, some 148 medical workers were killed and 106 were wounded, the report said. The researchers also recorded 414 strikes that damaged or destroyed hospitals, 79 attacks against ambulances, 57 attacks against children's hospitals, and 40 attacks against maternity wards. The report said that Russia attacks medical targets both deliberately and indiscriminately, creating a long-lasting impact on the civilian population and preventing their access to healthcare. As an example, the report highlights a hospital in a frontline city in Donetsk Oblast that suffers from regular shelling since the start of the invasion. "The missile was designed to destroy our surgery. There were no soldiers there..." an employee of the hospital told the researchers. "The whole infrastructure in the city is destroyed, there are no schools, no kindergartens. We had a hospital, and it too had to be destroyed (by Russian forces). The maternity hospital was the first to suffer." Ukrainian combat medics are also reportedly targeted by Russian forces on the battlefield and suffer torture in Russian captivity. The report was compiled by the Ukrainian Healthcare Center, eyeWitness to Atrocities, Insecurity Insight, Media Initiative for Human Rights, and Physicians for Human Rights. Read also: Russian strike against medical facility in Kherson kills doctor Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Opposing signs on Issue 1 are posted outside the polling site at Toth Elementary School in Perrysburg, Ohio on Aug. 8, 2023. Credit - Kurt SteissThe Blade/AP After Ohio voters rejected an effort to make it harder to change the constitution before a vote on an abortion-rights ballot initiative, Republicans elsewhere may take lessons from the failure as they try to restrict abortion in their own states. On the Republican side there are probably going to be autopsies of just how badly Issue 1 was handled, says Mary Ruth Ziegler, law professor at UC Davis. Ohio's Issue 1, which was defeated on Tuesday, would have raised the threshold to pass a ballot initiative from a simple majority to 60%. As red states have enacted abortion bans after the fall of Roe v. Wade, Democrats have increasingly turned to ballot initiatives to preserve access and in turn, Republicans have started trying to make it more difficult to pass those amendments. Ohio proved again that messaging about abortion on ballot initiative matters may motivate the left more than the right in a post-Roe country. While Ohio's Issue 1 wasn't directly about abortion, activists on both sides set the fall vote on the abortion ballot initiative as the most immediate stakes of the issue.The abortion-related aspects of this certainly motivated many Ohio voters to turn out and vote in what otherwise might have been a sleepy August election, says Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor and election expert. Read More: Dont Look Now, But Ohio Might Be a Swing State Again Some Ohio Republicans shied away from that reasoning and emphasized the need to raise the threshold in order to minimize the influence of special interests in politicsa rationale that Republicans in other states may be more likely to promote in the future."It wouldn't surprise me if you saw another state look at this and say, you know, we're actually going to try to make this as dry and boring and unrelated to abortion as we humanly can," says Ziegler. When abortion is on the ballot, voters since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization Supreme Court decision overturned Roe have resoundingly voted to support abortion rights. Six states had abortion-related measures on the ballot in 2022; all six were victories for abortion-rights advocates, including those in more conservative states such as Kansas and Kentucky. Missouri Republicans also tried and failed this year to make it harder to pass a ballot initiative. Missouri State Rep. Mike Henderson believes the failures in his state and Ohio should be instructive on how to craft these proposals. Instead of Ohios proposed 60% vote threshold, he wanted the bar to be closer to 55%; eventually, the Missouri legislation landed on 57%. 60% in Missouri cannot pass. Weve done polling; we know that people think thats too high a threshold, Henderson says. Henderson has also landed on the messaging strategy: he notes that his effort pre-dates the Dobbs decision and says it isnt about abortion alone. Has that become a part of the equation? Certainly it has. But I don't think that in itself was the only thing," he says. Moreover, trying to get voters to diminish their own political influencewhich is effectively what proposals to make it tougher to pass ballot initiatives would accomplishis a hard sell. The Associated Press wrote that the size of the vote lead in Ohio "indicates that a sizable number of Republicans voted against" Issue 1, despite it being a Republican-led effort. "Voters don't like to have their voting rights taken away," says Hasen. "The process of direct democracy is generally popular with voters... It's not surprising that on a bipartisan basis, voters were not willing to give up their own power." There is a long history of both parties attempting to restrict the ballot initiative process. But recent years have changed the political dynamics. A study published earlier this month that looked at constitutional amendments to restrict the ballot initiative process from 1960-2022 found that the number of amendments restricting direct democracy has not been unusually high recently. (The actual peak is around 1995-2005.) It is, however, more partisan. It's very clear that Republicans are more likely to do this than Democrats, especially in the last 20 years, says John G. Matsusaka, the study's author and a professor of business and law at University of Southern California. Another analysis published on Democracy Docket found a similar trend. That partisanship trend is likely going to continue as Democrats around the country focus on ballot initiatives as a mechanism to protect abortion. The next major fight may be in Arizona, where abortion-rights advocates announced Tuesday that they began an attempt put abortion on the state's ballot in 2024. Progressives are already worried about Issue-1 style restrictions: Legislators in Arizona will try to make the process harder," says Hannah Ledford, deputy executive director and campaigns director at The Fairness Project, a left-leaning advocacy group. "No question. Write to Sanya Mansoor at sanya.mansoor@time.com. Republicans on key foreign policy panels are criticizing an unfolding plan that would release Americans imprisoned in Iran because it involves giving the Islamist regime access to billions of dollars with one calling it a ransom. Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, shared his reservations Thursday as several Americans were moved from an Iranian prison to hotel or house arrest , a key early step in the deal. The plan involves many parts, and it is likely to take weeks to implement. Republican opposition adds another variable to an already fragile situation. The plan involves Iran releasing five Americans in exchange for the U.S. freeing a handful of imprisoned Iranians, according to a person briefed on the deal by the State Department who was granted anonymity because of the issues sensitivity. It also includes giving Iran access to some $6 billion of its frozen assets via Qatar, money it will be allowed to use only for purchasing items such as medicine and food, said a second person familiar with the agreement who was not authorized to discuss it on the record. Risch warned that such machinations set a bad precedent. While I welcome home wrongfully detained Americans, unfreezing $6B in #Iranian assets dangerously further incentivizes hostage taking & provides a windfall for regime aggression, Risch tweeted . The Biden Admin must punish those who use Americans as political pawns and work to end this practice. Other Republicans voiced concerns over what Iran could do with the funds. In a statement , Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the deal a ransom and a craven act of appeasement, warning that Iran would use these ill-gotten gains to attack our troops, fund terrorism, and arm Russia. U.S. efforts to negotiate with longtime adversary Iran on anything, especially its nuclear program, are a subject of constant tensions in Washington, largely but not entirely along party lines. Antipathy toward Iran has risen further as it has helped arm Russia in its war against Ukraine. Theres plenty of sympathy on Capitol Hill for efforts to bring home Americans wrongfully detained in Iran or elsewhere. But details of the deals struck can lead to varying reactions, especially when money is involved. During Barack Obamas presidency, the United States negotiated the release of five detained Americans that coincided with the implementation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and involved prisoner exchanges. At the same time, Obamas team struck a deal with Iran on a separate, decades-old military sales legal dispute . Because the latter involved sending an initial $400 million in cash to Iran just as the prisoners were being released , Republicans slammed it as a ransom that would lead Iran to imprison more Americans. And Tehran has not stopped the practice in the years since. The Trump administration brought home two Americans held in Iran , also through prisoner exchanges. But those didnt involve transferring funds to Iran, so drew no serious opposition on Capitol Hill. And those Americans did not have dual Iranian nationality, making their cases somewhat easier to negotiate. (Iran does not recognize dual nationality. That means it does not recognize Iranian Americans as American citizens.) The five detainees the United States is now trying to free are Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi, Morad Tahbaz and two others whose families opted not to identify. At least some are dual citizens of the United States and Iran. They had been held on dubious charges including espionage. Among those applauding the deal was Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, where Tahbaz has ties. Im thrilled that this day has arrived, Murphy said in a statement, while acknowledging that he wont breathe easy until the prisoners are back home. Republicans online torched President Biden's $6 billion deal to free American hostages from the Iranian regime. The New York Times reported Thursday that Biden had negotiated the release of five American hostages from Iran in exchange for a handful of Iranian nationals serving prison sentences for violating sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Sources told the paper that the U.S. also agreed to unfreeze nearly $6 billion of Irans assets in South Korea, transferring the funds into an account in the central bank of Qatar. BIDEN REACHES $6B DEAL TO FREE AMERICANS IN EXCHANGE FOR JAILED IRANIANS The New York Times reported Thursday that President Biden negotiated the release of five American hostages from Iran in exchange for a handful of Iranian nationals serving prison sentences for violating sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Republicans blasted the deal online, with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying Iran "shouldn't profit from holding Americans hostage." "Releasing $6 billion to the butchers in Tehran just so American hostages can go to a different type of prison is a terrible deal," Pompeo wrote. "Iran shouldn't profit from holding Americans hostage." READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP "While I welcome home wrongfully detained Americans, unfreezing $6B in [Iranian] assets dangerously further incentivizes hostage taking [and] provides a windfall for regime aggression," Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jim Risch, R-Idaho, tweeted. "The Biden Admin must punish those who use Americans as political pawns and work to end this practice," he added. "The U.S. government should NEVER negotiate with terrorists, let alone fund them," New York Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney tweeted. "Now, the Biden administration is giving the Iranian mullahs $6 billion to finance terrorism and oppression of the Iranian people," she added. "Just when the American people thought Bidens foreign policy couldnt get any more disastrous, after his failed Afghanistan withdrawal, he kowtows to Iran," Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk, a Republican, wrote. "The American people deserve better." The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on the criticism. The American prisoners include Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi and Morad Tahbaz, who the U.S. government says had all beenwrongfully detained on bogus spying charges. The names of the other two were being withheld by their families, but one is said to be a scientist, the other a businessman. "We have received confirmation that Iran has released from prison five Americans who were unjustly detained and has placed them on house arrest," National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. "While this is an encouraging step, these U.S. citizens - Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Shargi, and two Americans who at this time wish to remain private - should have never been detained in the first place." "We will continue to monitor their condition as closely as possible. Of course, we will not rest until they are all back home in the United States," the statement added. "Until that time, negotiations for their eventual release remain ongoing and are delicate. We will, therefore, have little in the way of details to provide about the state of their house arrest or about our efforts to secure their freedom." "We are relieved to learn that Iranian authorities have released five U.S. citizens -- Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Sharghi, and two individuals who at this time wish to remain private -- from prison to house arrest," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also said in a statement. "We are in touch with the families of U.S. citizens involved, and we continue to monitor these individuals health and welfare closely. While we welcome the news of these individuals release from prison to house arrest, they should never have been imprisoned in the first place. We continue to work diligently to bring these individuals home to their loved ones. They must be allowed to depart Iran and reunite with their loved ones as soon as possible." When asked when the American hostages might be released, a source familiar with the situation told Fox News, "We expect this process to take weeks before they return home to U.S." According to the Times, Namazi, Sharghi, Tahbaz and a fourth American were transferred from the notorious Evin Prison to a hotel in the Iranian capital of Tehran, where they will be detained for another few weeks before being allowed to board a plane. The fifth person, an American woman with dual Iranian citizenship, is said to already have been released on house arrest earlier this year, the Times reported. Fox News Digital's Danielle Wallace contributed reporting. For generations, the banyan tree along Lahaina town's historic Front Street served as a gathering place, its leafy branches unfurling majestically to give shade from the Hawaiian sun. By most accounts, the sprawling tree was the heart of the oceanside community towering more than 60 feet (18 meters) and anchored by multiple trunks that span nearly an acre. Like the town itself, its very survival is now in question, its limbs scorched by a devastating fire that has wiped away generations of history. For 150 years, the colossal tree shaded community events, including art fairs. It shaded townsfolk and tourists alike from the Hawaiian sun, befitting for a place once called Lele, the Hawaiian word for relentless sun. Ring by ring, the tree has captured history. The tree was just an 8-foot (2-meter) sapling when it was planted in 1873, a gift shipped from India to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first Protestant mission in Lahaina. It was planted a quarter century before the Hawaiian Islands became a U.S. territory and seven decades after King Kamehameha declared Lahaina the capital of his kingdom. There is nothing that has made me cry more today than the thought of the Banyan Tree in my hometown of Lahaina, wrote a poster identifying herself as HawaiiDelilah on X, formerly known as Twitter. We will rebuild," her post said. "And the natural beauty of Maui will be forever. Tiffany Kidder Winn, who surveyed the damage in Lahaina on Wednesday, walked by the tree and saw hope in its charred branches. Maybe it will survive, she thought. Its burned, but I looked at the trunk and the roots and I think its going to make it, she said. It was kind of this diamond in the rough of hope. It is said that the Buddha found enlightenment while sitting under a banyan tree, which is a kind of fig. The enormous tree has many trunks. Aerial roots dangle from its boughs and eventually latch onto the soil to become new trunks. Branches splay out widely and become roosting places for choirs of mynah birds. Its unclear what sparked the fire, which quickly raced toward town Tuesday evening. The flames were fanned by brisk winds and fueled by dry vegetation in nearby hills. When the ferocious blaze swept into the historic town, many of the wooden buildings didnt stand a chance and were quickly turned into heaps of ashes. Theres just so much meaning attached to it and theres so many experiences that everyone has. It's in the heart of a historic town," said John Sandbach, who has lived on Maui for nearly two decades. Sandbach watched from afar as the fire ravaged Lahaina, unable to return home to Maui from Colorado because of flight cancelations. His three children were safe from harm, he said. There was an outpouring of grief over the loss of dozens of lives from the Maui wildfires, and while the Lahaina community will also mourn the loss of the historic tree, Sandbach is more concerned about what will become of the town. The town could have survived the banyan tree burning down," he said, but nothing can survive with the whole town burning down. ___ Associated Press video journalist Manuel Valdes contributed to this report from Seattle. After rise in climate direct action, Europe cracks down FILE PHOTO: People demonstrate against agro industry water 'mega-basins' in Sainte-Soline By Riham Alkousaa and Juliette Jabkhiro BERLIN (Reuters) - Simon Lachner had plans to glue himself to a German city thoroughfare in June to call public attention to climate change. Instead, he ended up in police custody before he'd even left his home. Lachner, 28, is one of thousands of activists caught up in a European crackdown on a wave of direct action protests that gathered pace last year demanding urgent government action against climate change. Roadblocks on major motorways in Britain have caused traffic chaos, protests at oil installations in Germany have disrupted supplies, and in France, thousands of activists and police clashed over water usage, leaving dozens injured. Determined to prevent such protests from strengthening further, states in Germany and national authorities in France are invoking legal powers often used against organised crime and extremist groups to wiretap and track activists, Reuters found, based on conversations with four prosecutors, police in both countries and more than a dozen protesters. In Berlin alone, police have spent hundreds of thousands of hours working on more than 4,500 incidents registered against the "The Last Generation" and "Extinction Rebellion" groups, according to previously unreported data from police. State authorities in Germany are widely using preventative detention to stop people from protesting, including holding at least one person for as long as 30 days without charge, which is permissible under Bavarian law, the prosecutors consulted by Reuters said. Lawmakers passed new surveillance and detention laws in France in July and in Britain in May, with Britain making it illegal to lock, or glue, yourself to property. France has used an anti-terrorism unit to question some climate activists, the police confirmed to Reuters. The governments in Germany and Britain said the response to the protests was aimed at preventing damaging criminal actions. The French government declined to comment but has previously said the state must be able to combat what it calls radicalisation. Activists say they turned to direct action after the failure of other protest strategies. Civil disobedience has a long history in social movements, including in the fight for the vote for women and the U.S. civil rights movement. Reuters could not establish whether European countries were coordinating policies or vigilance of the protesters, beyond normal cooperation between police forces. A French government source with knowledge of the matter said intelligence services across Europe cooperated to monitor protesters' plans and activities. Responding to a Reuters question about sharing intelligence about climate activists between European governments, Germany's interior ministry said it held regular information exchanges with foreign partners, but declined to give details. The police and French interior ministry declined to comment. Britains National Police Chiefs Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment and its interior ministry did not comment. Germany does not have a national policy targeting climate activists, who the government considers mainly non-extremist, a spokesperson for the countrys interior ministry said. However, two of Germanys states are considering whether to outlaw a prominent group in the movement. THE LAST GENERATION Lachner is a member of The Last Generation, a Germany-based group within the Europe-wide A22 network that also includes Britain's Just Stop Oil and is financed by the Los Angeles-based Climate Emergency Fund. Bavarias prosecutor has led a clampdown on The Last Generation, along with an investigation into whether to classify it as a criminal organization under a law that allows widespread telephone surveillance, GPS tracking and property searches. The prosecutor assigned the investigation of The Last Generation to a unit in the state that combats terrorism and extremism because it said the group committed crimes including attempting to sabotage critical infrastructure, a spokesperson for the prosecutor said. Brandenburg has a similar investigation, its interior ministry told Reuters. In response to a question from Reuters, The Last Generation denied its activities were criminal, and said activists show their faces and names during protests and announce events in advance. Prosecutors are investigating the group for closing a valve on the Transalpine Pipeline in Bavaria last year and a protest at a refinery in Brandenburg. The Last Generation confirmed it took part in those protests. In May, police in several states raided homes of seven leaders of The Last Generation. Bavarian prosecutors intercepted the phones of six of the leaders before the raids, part of the investigation into classifying the group as a criminal organisation, the Bavarian prosecutors' office told Reuters. The group's website was also shut down to stop fundraising. If outlawed, supporting the group would be punishable with jail time, under German law. In June, on the day of Lachners planned protest in the Bavarian city of Regensberg, police showed up at his house and took him to a police station for six hours, an example of Bavaria's use of rules that allow police to detain individuals for up to a month without charge to prevent a crime, on the basis of a court order. "I wasnt allowed to get my shoes or socks ... they just dragged me out of the hallway," Lachner said in an interview. Video of the detention posted by The Last Generation on the social media platform X shows him being pulled barefoot over a paved drive. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the footage. Regensberg police said they took Lachner in to prevent a criminal offence after he announced his plans publicly. Bavaria has used preventative custody of longer than 24 hours at least 80 times against climate activists over the past 18 months, the state interior ministry told Reuters, under a state law that permits such actions. The ministry confirmed holding one activist for 30 days. The Last Generation said nine people had been held for 30 days. The ministry did not give details of the people detained or why they were held. Reuters could not immediately establish whether any of the activists held were subsequently charged. Activists have staged hundreds of road blocks since last year in Berlin. As of July 6, Berlin police had spent more than 480,000 hours working on some 4,519 newly registered alleged criminal incidents by environmental activists, the police department told Reuters. Berlin's prosecutor said in a reply to questions from Reuters it had recorded more than 2,200 investigations by June 19 this year into activists from The Last Generation and Extinction Rebellion. The data did not detail the types of offences it was investigating. In response to the wave of protests, Berlin's state lawmakers are now drafting legislation to allow suspects to be held for five days, up from the current 48 hours, a spokesperson for Berlin senate said in an interview. Despite Lachner's detention, the action in Regensberg went ahead, with more protesters gluing themselves to the road than initially planned. "Climate protesters can perhaps be locked away, but the climate catastrophe will come anyway," Lachner said after being convicted in Berlin in July for glueing incidents last year and fined 2,700 euros. He has appealed the sentence and said he would carry on with the protests. FRENCH PROTESTS Germany aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2045, and France in 2050, in line with scientific guidance. But both countries have missed their annual targets for the last two years, and with the planet recording the hottest ever days in July, the activists say more needs to be done. Late in 2022, climate activists dressed in white hazmat-style suits, entered a French cement factory owned by Lafarge Holcim at night, chopping power connections with bolt cutters and smashing installations with hammers, according to a video released by a network called Les Soulevements de La Terre (SLT). A spokesperson said SLT supported the action but did not organise it, adding that the people arrested since were innocent until proven guilty. In March, SLT members joined a protest that aimed to disable under-construction irrigation reservoirs that will pump groundwater for large farms in a drought-hit wetland in Deux-Sevres in the Nouvelle Aquitaine region. An estimated 6,000 protesters were met by 3,000 gendarme anti-riot forces who fired more than 5,000 tear gas shells in the space of two hours. In the chaos, 200 protesters were injured, with two left in a coma and one losing an eye. Forty-seven officers were injured, and 4 of their vehicles burnt. The violence of the water protest caused uproar, with rights groups and protesters saying security forces used excessive violence, and the government accusing the activists of coming armed with steel bowling balls and petrol bombs ready for a fight. Military prosecutors are investigating whether undue force was used by the gendarmes. Under a law passed in 2021, the interior ministry has since banned SLT for allegedly provoking violence. SLT has appealed the ban. The interior ministry and police declined to comment for this story. Wetlands conservationist Julien Le Guet, an organiser of the reservoir protest who is not a member of SLT, was put under police surveillance by the government before the March protest, the local office of the interior ministry told a French newspaper in January, saying the surveillance was ordered under rules to prevent "collective violence that could seriously jeopardise public peace". That process is overseen by the National Commission for the Control of Intelligence Techniques, and surveillance in such cases must be authorised by the prime minister on a case-by-case basis, the commission told Reuters. The prime minister's office did not respond to a request for comment. In an interview, Le Guet said the surveillance included a GPS tracking device attached beneath his car, and a camera placed to watch his father's house. In the January newspaper interview, the local office of the interior ministry confirmed both devices had been installed. Le Guet and six others are due in court in September to face charges of organising protests forbidden by the local interior ministry office, including the March protest. Le Guet said direct action was justified because other forms of protest had not succeeded. Two French security sources told Reuters there had been an increase in eco-activists under surveillance since 2018, without giving details. The police and interior ministry declined to comment. At an administrative court hearing on Tuesday in which SLT was arguing for a suspension of the government decree shutting the group down, the legal representative for the interior ministry acknowledged government surveillance measures against members of the group. "People who have claimed to be part of SLT have ipso facto fallen into the scope of the intelligence services," said Pascale Leglise, adding that "of course not every person is subject to a surveillance technique". (Reporting by Riham Alkousaa in Berlin and Juliette Jabkhiro in Paris; Additional reporting by Andrew MacAskill and William James in London; Editing by Katy Daigle and Frank Jack Daniel) An NYC hotel banned a wealthy teenager after he kept trying to buy alcohol while underage. He started picketing outside, with signs accusing the hotel of Holocaust denial, it said. The Mark Hotel in Manhattan's Upper East Side is now suing the 19-year-old for libel and slander. An exclusive Manhattan hotel is suing a wealthy teenager who protested with signs accusing it of Holocaust denial after he repeatedly tried and failed to get served alcohol while underage, according to a new lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that Theodore Weintraub, then 17, tried multiple times in 2021 to get served alcohol while underage using a fake ID at The Mark Hotel in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Weintraub's repeated efforts to be served alcohol led to his designation as a "disturbance," resulting in a ban from the hotel, the lawsuit said. Despite this, he continued to visit, it said. On one occasion, Weintraub was stopped from taking his seat after he arrived with his family for a dinner reservation, according to the lawsuit. At first, he begged for forgiveness, but when the hotel insisted on enforcing the ban, Weintraub leveled accusations of antisemitism and spitting in people's food against it, the lawsuit said. The dispute then seemed to be over, with Weintraub seemingly not visiting or making contact with The Mark for two years. But this summer, the hotel alleged in the lawsuit, Weintraub launched an "increasingly disturbing campaign" against it. According to the lawsuit, Weintraub began picketing outside of the hotel with antagonistic signs, alongside another man, identified only as John Doe, who the lawsuit alleges was paid by Weintraub. The signs made accusations such as "The Mark Supports Epstein" and "The Mark Denies the Holocaust." Protesters also allegedly made claims about the hotel having mice, according to the pop-culture podcast The Toast. Although Jeffrey Epstein lived near The Mark Hotel, and it does appear in his "little black book," there is no evidence to suggest that it in any way supports him, Patch.com reported. The Mark Hotel is favored by celebrities like Gigi Hadid, Kendall Jenner, Anna Wintour, and Cara Delevingne, and offers rooms starting from $1,095 a night. In an affidavit, the hotel's manager, Etienne Haro, said: "This allegation is made up of whole cloth and, indeed, based upon a review of our records, it appears that Jeffrey Epstein was never even a guest at our hotel." There is also no evidence that the hotel denies the Holocaust. The manager said in his affidavit that the hotel has Jewish ownership and that it recognizes the existence of "one of the most horrific events in history." According to the lawsuit, Weintraub, along with John Doe, repeatedly shouted at both hotel staff and guests, and even subjected VIP visitors to harassment. Patch.com identified one of the guests referenced but not named in the lawsuit as Drake. According to the lawsuit, representatives of the Jewish rapper complained to hotel management about people outside The Mark yelling about Holocaust denial. The situation escalated the following day, July 18, when a protester got into a punch-up with the celebrity's fans, the lawsuit said. The hotel said in the lawsuit that the protests were becoming "increasingly systemic," causing near-nightly disruption to the hotel and its guests. The disruption led to The Mark Hotel filing a lawsuit against Weintraub for tortious interference with prospective business relations, libel, slander, and private nuisance late last month. Last week a restraining order was granted that prevents Weintraub or anyone acting on his behalf from picketing within 150 feet of the hotel. Weintraub was not able to be reached for comment. The Mark Hotel declined to comment. Read the original article on Insider A romance scam defrauded victims of nearly $1 million and left many in dire straits, federal prosecutors say. The kingpin was sentenced Monday, Aug. 7, to roughly six years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $400,000 dollars in restitution, according to court records. Federal officials in California say Okechukwu Nwofor, 32, led a network of money mules accused of deceiving victims through romance scams and business email compromise scams. When the victims would send them money, officials say, they would withdraw or transfer the funds to different accounts to conceal their activities. Defendant and his co-conspirators fraudulent conduct has left many of the victims in dire straits, including one victims inability to care for her disabled son, the foreclose of anothers home, and even one victim tragically taking her own life, prosecutors wrote in the indictment. Nwofor, of Brooklyn, New York, coordinated the scheme with four other Brooklyn-based accomplices through July 2018 to November 2019, prosecutors estimate. One of their victims was a resident of Pasadena, California, who wired $19,000 from her bank account in California to an account in New York controlled by one of the accomplices, according to court records. The group is also accused of inducing one victim to write three cashiers checks worth $152,000. The sentencing memorandum names five victims in total and says the group caused losses of more than $930,000. Nwofor wrote apology letters to victims and the judge, expressing guilt for accepting money and saying he had no idea he was receiving fraudulent funds. I have never in my life duped or intend to dupe anyone of his or her hard earned money nor participated in any crime, he wrote in a message to Central District of California Judge Stephen V. Wilson. In his sentencing on Aug. 7, Wilson called Nwofor the personification of evil, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office. Prosecutors identified Nwofor as the ringleader of the scams. He pleaded guilty to leading a money laundering conspiracy, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. This money, which mostly represented hard-earned savings for many of the victims, was thereafter immediately drained from defendants accounts, and accounts he controlled, and laundered, making any recovery virtually impossible, prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum. McClatchy News could not immediately reach lawyers for Nwofor. Nwofors family pleaded on his behalf for leniency in letters to the court. His parents described his emigration from Nigeria to the United States at the age of 13 and said they had instilled the importance of godly behavior in their son. Nwofors siblings also wrote letters attesting to his character, saying their brother got mixed up in something he didnt understand. I am a hard-working citizen and a good role model to my daughter as a father and to my community, Nwofor wrote. Im a victim of circumstance and fell into the hands of bad people posing as good friends and businessmen. According to the FBI, romance scams occur when a criminal adopts a fake online identity to gain a victims affection and trust. The scammer then uses the illusion of a romantic or close relationship to manipulate and/or steal from the victim. Four other defendants accused of working with Nwofor pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. Three received probationary sentences and one has not yet been sentenced, the news release states. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health or suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800 273-8255 or text the Crisis Text Line at 741741. Florida couple befriended man with dementia and caused him to lose $2 million, feds say Amazon manager stole nearly $10M and bought home, cars, feds say. Shes prison-bound Man duped Christians out of $30 million for Bible outreach and went gambling, feds say Pastor ran theft ring that stole at least $1.4M from Home Depot, Florida officials say Iraqs official media regulator on Tuesday ordered all media and social media companies operating in the Arab state not to use the term homosexuality and instead to say sexual deviance, a government spokesperson said and a document from the regulator shows. The Iraqi Communications and Media Commission (CMC) document said the use of the term gender was also banned. It prohibited all phone and internet companies licensed by it from using the terms in any of their mobile applications. A government official later said the decision still required final approval. The regulator directs media organizations not to use the term homosexuality and to use the correct term sexual deviance, the Arabic-language statement said. A government spokesperson said a penalty for violating the rule had not yet been set but could include a fine. Iraq does not explicitly criminalize gay sex but loosely defined morality clauses in its penal code have been used to target members of the LGBT community. Major Iraqi parties have in the past two months stepped up criticism of LGBT rights, with rainbow flags frequently being burned in protests by Shiite Muslim factions opposed to recent Koran burnings in Sweden and Denmark. More than 60 countries criminalize gay sex, while same-sex sexual acts are legal in more than 130 countries, according to Our World in Data. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Iraq bans media from using term homosexuality, says they must use sexual deviance" Ron DeSantis doesnt believe in the rule of law. Period. Full stop. And hes proven it over and over again. The Florida governors suspension of the duly elected district attorney in Orlando is just the latest attack on the fundamental freedoms that he is sworn to uphold. And this is no isolated incident. Unfortunately, it fits comfortably with his authoritarian brand of partisan politics that has sent shockwaves across Florida and threatens the foundations of our Republic by subverting American democracy. Weak Dictator Ron DeSantis Ousts Another Prosecutor He Dislikes Early Wednesday morning, DeSantis announced that he was suspending State Attorney Monique Worrell of Orange and Osceola counties for what he described as incompetence and neglect of duty. The executive order effectuating the suspension identifies Worrells practices and policies regarding mandatory minimum sentences, juvenile offenders, gun violence, and drug trafficking cases. Following her suspension, Worrell shot back with statistics about how crime in her community has decreased and how her constituents support her policies. This type of debate about an elected officials policies and record makes for healthy dialogue during a campaign. Thats the problem with the executive order; it reads like a list of talking points for a candidate running against Worrell. But this is not a campaign, and there is nothing healthy about it. It isnt neglect of duty when a public official carries out the agenda they promised to the voters who put them in office in a free and fair election. Its the way democracy works, whether youre on the winning team or the losing team after the results are counted. When one elected executive can overturn the will of the voters arbitrarily, simply because he disagrees with their policies, its time to question just what kind of democracy we have. DeSantis just overthrew the results of a fair and free election because he disagrees with how the elected official is doing her job. He is denying the people of Orlando their right to have the state attorney of their choice. He installed the person he wants to be in office, rather than the one the voters elected. Its his typical anti-freedom agenda, and I would know: In August 2022, DeSantis suspended me, the elected state attorney in Tampa. A Ron DeSantis Presidency Would Be All Authoritarian Culture War Nonsense State Attorney Worrell and I are both Democrats, and both of us had spoken out against several of the governors policies before being suspended. I sued DeSantis, and earlier this year a federal judge concluded that the suspension was unlawfulthat the governor had violated state and federal law in trying to remove me from office for politics and for publicity. (The judge said that he lacked the authority to reinstate me and the case is currently pending appeal on that issue.) The judge called on DeSantis to rescind my suspension, noting that if he did not, it would be clear that politics were the true motivation behind it. Unsurprisingly, DeSantis ignored the federal courts invitation to reinstate me to my duly elected office. The governor has also ignored the courts conclusions about the illegality of my suspension, continuing to brag about it in his stump speeches for his presidential campaign, telling lies and making misleading statements that the court found to be wholly inaccurate. The Right Needs to Ask: Why Do These Racists Keep Getting Hired by Us? Its clear from his suspension of Worrell that DeSantis has ignored the rule of law once again. There have been rumors swirling since last year that DeSantis was targeting Worrell. So why suspend her now? Well, timing is everything, and his flailing presidential campaign needed a new distraction. Clearly, his team thought another move out of the authoritarian playbookwith an eye to the culture warswould do nicely. The suspension came the day after news broke that DeSantis fired his campaign manager, his most recent attempt to reboot his campaign. In recent weeks DeSantis has faced growing scrutiny about his campaign strugglesmajor donors backing off, poor polling, and an inability to connect with voters. Suspending Worrell fits with a scared candidate who is desperate to rescue his presidential campaign. But this is no typical campaign shake-up or political Hail Mary that a stumbling candidate might employ. Its far worse, and its not the way things should work in this country. It is an illegal, unconstitutional attack on democracy and the rule of lawthe latest abuse of power in an administration defined by them; championing and passing unconstitutional laws that infringe on free speech; orchestrating criminal stunts to trick unsuspecting migrants; punishing companies like Disney for opposing laws that he supports; and violating campaign finance laws. Today we are questioning DeSantis latest authoritarian move. Tomorrow, we must question who will be targeted next, and when will Floridians say enough is enough? We all know the saying that desperate times call for desperate measures, and the DeSantis campaign seems to have fully embraced that mantra. But when elected officials get so desperate that they are willingand, worse, ableto abuse their authority to advance their political ambitions, it poses a foundational danger to our Republic. Ron DeSantis Wants to Make America Hungary America witnessed that desperation manifest itself in the attack on our Capitol on Jan. 6. Incidentally, last week former President Donald Trump was indicted for conspiring to overturn the 2020 electiona desperate attempt to cling to power after being removed from the White House by the American people, and an attempt to illegally subvert their will and our constitutional rights to choose our leaders. DeSantis and Trump were not the first politicians in U.S. history to do something illegal to win or stay in elected office, and they will not be the last. But our nation has stood as the beacon for democracy throughout the world because we, as a people, have rejected such desperation. We must call out DeSantis latest assault on democracy for what it is. No one who ignores or subverts the laws of our country can ever be permitted to lead it. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert! NO, HIGH TAXES ARENT DRIVING WEALTHY CALIFORNIANS OUT OF STATE Its become a common refrain on the right: Californias high taxes are driving wealthy residents to pack up and move to more forgiving climes. Florida governor and 2024 presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis brought it up on Fox News Tonight in June saying that the Golden State is hemorrhaging wealth. It makes for a good campaign line, but its not true, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-of-center think tank. The report, by Senior Fellow Michael Mazerov, points out that while California has the highest marginal tax rate in the nation, it has the second-lowest out-migration among households earning $200,000 a year or more. And what of Texas and Florida, two states whose politics stand in stark contrast to Californias? According to the report, since 2011 nearly two-thirds of households that moved to no-income-tax Texas from California were replaced by households making the reverse move. Meanwhile, 91% of Californians who moved to Florida another no-income-tax state were replaced by Floridians moving to California. The idea that Californias progressive tax structure is driving people away is a myth, said Kayla Kitson, senior policy analyst at the California Budget & Policy Center, in response to the study. In reality, people choose where to live based on various factors, including job opportunities, family, and the cost of housing. You can read the full study here. BERKELEY IGS POLL FINDS LACK OF VOTER PARTICIPATION IS A CONCERN A new poll by the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found wide differences between California voters who regularly vote and those who do not. Regular voters, defined as those who voted in five or more of the last seven elections, made up approximately 39% of all registered voters in the state. They are older and whiter than the majority of registered voters, and more likely to own a home, be married and have a college degree. Infrequent voters, those who only voted in one or two elections of the last seven, made up 28% of the electorate, while non-voters were 15%. People in those two categories are younger, less likely to have a college degree, more likely to rent and be single and more likely to be Latino. Three-quarters of California voters said lack of voter participation is a concern, with half calling it a major concern. So why arent they voting? Three out of 10 regular non-voters say its because they dont know enough about the issues or that they arent interested. A little more than a quarter said that they believe special interests and big money control everything or that their vote doesnt matter much. Another 14% said they believe voting systems are corrupt and cant be trusted; 9% said election ballots are too long; 6% said they are confused about how to vote, and another 6% said that voting is too inconvenient or takes up too much time. However, a solid majority (63%) believe that Californias recent efforts to change how voting is done, with the switch to universal mail-in ballots, has made voting easier for them. Thats compared to 27% who said the change had no impact on them and 4% who said it made things more difficult. UTAH MAN KILLED BY FBI MADE THREATS AGAINST NEWSOM A Provo, Utah man killed by FBI agents Wednesday morning as they attempted to serve a search warrant made threats against several public figures, including President Joe Biden, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, New York Attorney General Letitia James, New York City District Attorney Alvin Bragg and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The threat against Newsom came in an Oct. 17, 2022 social media post in which Craig Robertson allegedly wrote, Another Patriotic Dream: Im standing over Gavin Newsom with a wound above his brow and my suppressed S&W M&P 9mm still smoking. FREEDOM FROM STUPID DAY!!! I believe Gavin Newsom refers to the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, and wound above his brow refers to a bullet hole in Gov. Newsoms forehead, wrote an FBI agent (whose name was redacted) in the criminal complaint, shared online by the Salt Lake Tribune. Robertsons death came just hours before President Biden visited Utah; social media posts in Robertsons name threatened to kill the president when he came. QUOTE OF THE DAY We need to build more housing, faster. Everyone in California deserves to have a home and in just a few years weve made significant investments and progress to address the states housing crisis. Projects like these are reimagining what our cities look like creating more housing near transit, work, and shops all while increasing affordability and fighting climate change. - California Gov. Gavin Newsom, discussing plans to convert three Sacramento government-owned buildings into housing. Best of The Bee: The dispute between Sacramento city officials and District Attorney Thien Ho over the homeless crisis continued to escalate Wednesday, with Ho accusing the city of failing to enforce its year-old ordinance against tent camps blocking sidewalks, via Sam Stanton . Sen. Dianne Feinstein suffered a minor fall at her home Tuesday and was taken to a hospital, the latest health-related mishap for the California Democrat, via David Lightman . A Trump administration plan for delivering more water to Central Valley farmers bottled up in court by opponents for almost four years could be returned from legal limbo this summer by House Republicans, via Gillian Brassil . The hot labor summer is heating up for workers bargaining with the state of California, via Maya Miller . Prepare for a rematch of one of the closest elections in the 2022 midterms: Former Assemblyman Adam Gray announced Wednesday he is running for Congress in the 13th Congressional District, setting up a potential second head-to-head with Republican Rep. John Duarte, via Andrew Sheeler. The building of the Kupyan City Council after the attack of the Russian Federation Russian forces have dropped an aerial bomb on Kupyansk, resulting in the destruction of a city council building, Oleh Synehubov, the head of the Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, reported on Telegram on Aug. 10. At midnight, the enemy struck Kupyansk with a guided FAB-250 aerial bomb, he said, noting that the impact caused significant damage to the city council building. Read also: Russia relentlessly attacking eastern city of Kharkiv and surrounding oblast t.me/synegubov t.me/synegubov t.me/synegubov Furthermore, at 7.30 a.m., the Russians once again shelled Kupyansk. As of now, there is no information available regarding any casualties resulting from these attacks. Read also: We have fatigue in our eyes, while Russians have only fear Zelenskyy Lieutenant General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, had previously indicated that the Russian forces had selected Kupyansk as a primary target for their advance. Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the Eastern operational command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, declared that the occupiers had made attempts to infiltrate the Kupyansk area, but the Ukrainian Armed Forces had successfully thwarted their intentions. Read also: Kramatorsk informant sentenced to 9 years for revealing UAF locations to Russians Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine Russia is heading back to the Moon as it tries to reassert itself as a significant world power in the wake of its war on Ukraine. A rocket carrying the Luna-25 craft will mark Russias first lunar mission since 1976. The expedition will attempt to land the exploration vehicle on the moons south pole, hoping to dig up water ice beneath the surface. You can tune in to watch the launch here. The Soyuz 2.1v rocket carrying the lander is scheduled to lift off from the Vostochny spaceport in eastern Russia at 7:10 pm Eastern time. If successful, it would be the first spacecraft to make a soft landing on the Moons south pole. NASA confirmed in 2020 the discovery of water molecules in sunlit parts of the Moons surface. Salvageable water could mark a breakthrough for lunar exploration, providing future human lunar missions with life support, fuel (through extracted hydrogen) and even potential agriculture. Russias space trip also serves as a salvo in its attempt to reestablish itself as a significant world power unmoved by the Wests sanctions over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The vessels name is even a callback to the Soviet Space Program: Its last mission was the Luna-24, which spent 13 days heading to the Moon and back to collect samples in 1976. Referencing an era when the Soviet Union was an undeniable world superpower fits with President Vladimir Putins goals to project an image of Russian preeminence. Luna-25 is also in a race against India: the countrys Chandrayaan-3 mission launched on July 14th and entered the Moons orbit this week. Indias craft is scheduled to reach the Moons south pole on August 23rd. The Luna-25 will take five days to reach the Moon and is expected to spend five to seven days in orbit before touching down. That timeline has Russias lander potentially reaching the Moon around the same time as Indias, if not slightly ahead. The craft is expected to conduct experiments using its 68 lbs of research equipment on the Moon for about a year. It includes a scoop that can capture samples up to a depth of 15 cm (six inches) in its hunt for frozen water. You can watch the launch stream below starting at around 7:10 pm EDT. The Russian military launched ten Iranian Shahed-136 drones in an attack in the early hours of Aug. 10, with air defense units downing seven of them, a Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson has said. The origin of the drone attack was identified as being in the vicinity of the Russian city of Kursk, to the northeast of Ukraine. The hour-long attack by the slow-moving flying bomb drones lasted from 11 p.m. on Aug. 9 to 4 a.m. on Aug. 10. Read also: Explosion rocks Vladivostok, unidentified flying object spotted Anti-aircraft-guided missiles and small arms were utilized by air defense units to shoot down the drones. An oil depot in the town of Dubno in the west of the country was destroyed during the nighttime attack, according to Vitaliy Koval, the Head of the Rivne Oblast Military Administration. No casualties were reported from the attack. Meanwhile, over the past twenty-four hours, the Ukrainian Air Force has conducted more than forty sorties, with twenty of them targeted at enemy facilities, equipment, and personnel, the Ukrainian Air Force reported. Read also: 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 KYIV, Ukraine Ukrainian authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation Thursday of nearly 12,000 civilians from 37 towns and villages in the eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian forces reportedly are making a concerted effort to punch through the front line. The local military administration in Kharkivs Kupiansk district said residents must comply with the evacuation order or sign a document saying they would stay at their own risk. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar had said the previous day that the intensity of combat and enemy shelling is high in the area. The city of Kupiansk and the territories around it were under Russian occupation until September 2022, when Ukrainian forces conducted a rapid offensive operation that dislodged the Kremlins forces from nearly the entire Kharkiv region. The retaking of those areas strengthened Ukraines arguments that its troops could deliver more stinging defeats to Russia with additional armament deliveries, which its Western allies duly provided. But as Ukraine has pursued a slow-moving counteroffensive in recent weeks, Russian forces have struck back in some areas. A Ukrainian serviceman of the 31 Brigade fires a D-30 cannon towards Russian positions at the front line in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (Libkos/AP) Maliar said Russia has formed an offensive group and is attempting to move forward in the area in an effort to advance on the Ukrainian-held city of Kupiansk, an important rail junction. Russia has concentrated assault troops supported by tank units, aviation and artillery in the Kupiansk area, Ukraine National Guard spokesman Ruslan Muzychuk said on national television. The Russians have formed eight so-called Storm-Z detachments - made up of convicts released from prison acting under military commanders - for the push, and fighting in the area was intense, according to Oleksandr Syrskyi, the ground forces commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Some positions are passed from hand to hand constantly, he said. It was not possible to independently verify either sides battlefield claims. Ukrainian authorities have periodically ordered evacuations, especially of children, from areas where the fighting has heated up. Officials have previously said the evacuations are necessary to save lives and enable the Ukrainian army to better defend towns from the Russian advance. Millions of Ukrainian refugees left the country after Russias invasion started in February 2022, and millions more left their homes but stayed in Ukraine. Earlier Thursday, Russian air defense systems shot down two drones heading toward Moscow for a second straight day, officials said. The reported attack disrupted flights at two international airports as Ukraine appeared to step up its assault on Russian soil. One drone was downed in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow and another near a major Moscow ring road, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin and the Russian Defense Ministry, which blamed the attack on Ukraine. No casualties or damage were immediately reported. Domodedovo airport, south of the city, halted flights for more than two hours and Vnukovo airport, southwest of the city, stopped flights for more than two and a half hours, according to Russian news agencies. Ten flights were diverted, Russias Federal Agency for Air Transport said. Firing drones at Moscow after more than 17 months of war has little apparent military value for Ukraine, but the strategy has served to unsettle Russians and bring home to them the conflicts consequences. Kyiv officials, as usual, neither confirmed nor denied Ukraines possible involvement in the drone strikes, though Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat remarked: This cannot but please us because people in Moscow thought they were safe. Now, the war affects each and every Russian. We now see that something happens in Moscow on a regular basis, he added. Russias Defense Ministry also said it had stopped Ukrainian drone attacks in Moscow-annexed Crimea. It said it shot down two drones near the port city of Sevastopol and electronically jammed nine that crashed into the Black Sea. The Pentagon is to provide Ukraine with another $200 million in weapons and ammunition to help sustain the counteroffensive, according to U.S. officials. Ukraine has already received more than $43 billion from the U.S. since Russia invaded last year. Ukraines presidential office said at least six civilians were killed and 27 were injured between Wednesday and Thursday mornings. In eastern Ukraines Donetsk province, Russia shelled 16 cities and villages, and three people were killed, the office reported. In Zaporizhzhia, three people were killed and nine wounded, including an 11-month-old baby. Meanwhile, 12 people remained missing after an explosion Wednesday at a factory that makes optical equipment for Russian security forces, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency officials. Russias Emergency Ministry said 71 people required medical assistance after the explosion. Russian officials did not offer a suspected cause of the explosion at the Zagorsk plant in the region around Moscow, which added to jitters about potential Ukrainian drone strikes. The fallout from Russias war against Ukraine has brought concerns to neighboring countries, including the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus this summer after their short-lived mutiny in Russia. Polands defense minister said Thursday that the country intends to put 10,000 soldiers along its border with Belarus amid fears of a spike in illegal immigration. Polish officials have accused Belarusian authorities of organizing illegal border crossings to disrupt and pressure Warsaw, which along with other NATO countries has provided support for Kyivs war effort. Associated Press Writer Yuras Karmanau in Berlin contributed to this report. Russian forces shelled five communities in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast, the Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported on Aug. 9. Throughout the day, the oblast experienced 15 attacks, leading to a minimum of 70 explosions. Russian troops deployed artillery and mortar to carry out the attacks. The communities of Krasnopillia, Velyka Pysarivka, Bilopillia, Nova Sloboda, and Seredyna-Buda came under fire. As of yet, no information about casualties or damage to civilian infrastructure has been made available. Because of its close proximity to the border with Russia, Sumy Oblast is regularly faced with intense shelling of Russian troops. Read also: Kenneth Rogoff: Europe must lead Ukraines reconstruction Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Two civilians died as a result of the missile strike, and another woman died at night in the hospital Russia used a Kh-35 missile in its strike on the city of Zaporizhzhya on Aug. 9, the regional police reported on Facebook on Aug. 10. Law enforcement officers have documented the consequences of an enemy X-35 missile hitting the regional center, the report says. Russia launched a missile strike at a residential area in Zaporizhzhya late on Aug. 9, resulting in the deaths of three civilians. Nine others were wounded. Read also: Death toll in Russian attack on Zaporizhzhya Rises to 3 Interior Ministry Earlier, the head of the Presidents Office, Andriy Yermak, stated that the Russians had likely used an Iskander missile to attack Zaporizhzhya. 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 Three people have been killed and 13 civilians have been injured as a result of Russian attacks over the past day, regional authorities reported on the morning of Aug. 10. In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Governor Yurii Malashko said that three people have been killed in a Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia on the evening of Aug. 9. Malashko reported at 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 10 that a 43-year-old man, and two women aged 21 and 19 had died. Nine others were injured, including an 11-month-old child. The attack hit a church and shops in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the city. The blast also damaged windows in several high-rise buildings. Over the past day, Malasho said that there have been 82 strikes on 21 populated areas of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. An attack on Huliaipole injured two men and two women. Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported that Russian troops continue to attack villages in Kharkiv Oblast, among them populated areas Bohodukhiv, Chuhuiv, Kharkiv, Izium, and Kupiansk. Kupiansk was attacked overnight and at 7:30 a.m. local time this morning, damaging the city council building and a house. Information on casualties has not yet been clarified. The village of Kindrashivka was shelled by Russian forces, wounding two civilians. In Sumy Oblast, Russia attacked the border four times overnight and in the morning of Aug. 10, and the regional military administration reported 28 explosions in total. There were no casualties. Russian forces targeted settlements around Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast with heavy artillery, Governor Serhii Lysak said. No casualties have been reported, but six houses, a gas pipeline, and a car were damaged. In Mykolaiv Oblast, Governor Vitalii Kim said the last day has been relatively calm. Russia continued to shell the area around the city of Ochakiv and the nearby village of Kutsurub, but no casualties have been reported. In Rivne Oblast, Governor Vitaliy Koval reported that a Russian drone attack destroyed an oil depot. There were no casualties reported. Read also: Massive Russian drone attack destroys oil depot in Rivne Oblast Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Russia is suffering significant losses and fallen soldiers are being cremated in an area near the southern city of Melitopol, which is temporarily occupied by Russian forces. Source: Hanna Maliar, Ukraines Deputy Defence Minister, on Telegram Quote from Maliar: "Hostilities are taking place across all fronts now. A lot of enemy soldiers are being killed. There are hundreds of fatalities in the east and the south every day. Russian occupation forces commanders are trying to conceal their true personnel losses and are burying [their soldiers] in temporarily occupied territories [of Ukraine] instead of sending their remnants to Russia." Details: Maliar also said that Russian soldiers who had been killed in action are being taken in trucks to Zaporizhzhia Oblast; their bodies are being cremated at an open area in the vicinity of Melitopol. Local residents have complained about the characteristic acrid smell for several months now. The Deputy Defence Minister added that Russian occupation forces are bringing soldiers killed on the Kherson front to the Chaplynka District Hospital morgue in Kherson Oblast. Russian soldiers are being buried at two sites, one of which has spread over up to 100 hectares. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! (CNN) Theres a new coronavirus variant topping the leaderboard in the United States: EG.5. Nationally, EG.5 is causing about 17% of new Covid-19 cases in the country, compared with 16% for the next most common lineage, XBB.1.16, according to the latest estimates from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. EG may sound like a whole new flavor of the virus, but its not; its a spinoff of the XBB recombinant strain of the Omicron family. And it represents another incremental tweak to the virus rather than a major evolutionary leap like the original Omicron strain. Compared with its parent XBB.1.9.2, it has one extra mutation to its spike, at position 465. This mutation has appeared in other coronavirus variants before. Scientists arent sure exactly what new tricks it enables the virus to do, but variant hunters are paying attention because many of the new XBB descendants have adopted it. The 465 mutation is present in about 35% of coronavirus sequences reported worldwide, including another thats rising in prevalence in the Northeast, FL.1.5.1, suggesting that it is conveying some kind of evolutionary advantage over previous versions. EG.5 also now has its own offshoot, EG.5.1, that adds a second mutation to the spike. That one is also spreading rapidly. Dr. David Ho has been testing these variants in his lab at Columbia University to see how resistant they have become to the antibodies we have to defend against them. Both are only slightly more resistant to neutralizing antibodies in serum of infected and vaccinated persons, Ho, a professor of microbiology and immunology, said in an email to CNN. Clinically, he said, these variants dont seem to be causing different or more severe symptoms than the viruses that came before them. It basically has some more immune escape compared to the ones that were precedents in this XBB series, said Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist at the Scripps Translational Research Institute. It has an advantage, which is why its getting legs all around the world. Beyond the US, EG.5 is growing quickly in Ireland, France, the UK, Japan and China. The World Health Organization upgraded its status on Wednesday from a variant under monitoring to a variant of interest, a move that signals the agency thinks it should be tracked and studied further. The variant has become the most prevalent in the US just as cases, emergency room visits and hospitalizations are going up, although theres nothing to suggest that this specific strain is whats driving those increases. Instead, epidemiologists think human behavior is the engine for this uptick. They point to things like record heat driving more people indoors for air conditioning, which helps the virus spread. Summer travel is sending people outside their normal social circles, which carries viruses to new victims. School is going back into session in many parts of the country too, and as parents know, homework isnt the only thing kids bring home from their classrooms. Still, there are reasons to be hopeful that this wave of cases wont be so bad, says Dr. Anne Hahn, a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health. We are starting from a very low baseline in combination with high population immunity, which would speak against a big surge anytime soon. However, what these new variants will do during wintertime remains to be seen, she said. Levels of virus detected in wastewater in August are about where they were in March, according to data from Biobot Analytics. I do expect that there will be widespread infections, and I would expect that those widespread infections would generally be mild, said Dr. Dan Barouch, an immunologist and virologist at Harvard University in Boston. The people who are at high risk for severe disease, obviously, have to continue to take precautions. Topol says this falls updated Covid-19 booster, which will be targeted against the XBB variant, should be a very close match to the variants circulating now, including EG.5, and he expects that it will convey strong protection if regulatory agencies can get it to people in time. Vaccine manufacturers have said they expect to have the updated shots ready in a few weeks, but CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen has projected that the updated vaccine will be available in October, since it will need sign-off from the US Food and Drug Administration and a recommendation from the CDC. That would be full month later than boosters were available last fall. Why is this taking so long? Topol said. The whole idea of mRNA is that it would you could pivot quickly and within a couple of months, youd have it ready. Topol said the vaccine is particularly important for those who are elderly and who have weakened immune systems because they no longer have effective monoclonal antibodies to help if a Covid-19 case becomes severe. Its not clear why the process seems to be slower than it was last year. The FDA did not immediately respond to a question about its timeline for reviewing the fall vaccines. Topol says the US cant afford to delay its Covid-19 vaccine rollout. Coming up behind EG.5 are a crop of variants with tweaks that enable them to bind more tightly to cells, he says, making them even more infectious. He is worried that those might have the potential to be more consequential. It should be out now, because things are building up, he said. We need it now. This story was first published on CNN.com, "New variant EG.5 is on the rise as Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations go up" Three people were killed and four more were wounded in Russian attacks on Donetsk Oblast on 9 August. Source: Pavlo Kyrylenko, Head of Donetsk Oblast Military Administration on Telegram Quote: "On 9 August, the Russians killed three residents of Donetsk Oblast, including two in Zarichne and one in Chasiv Yar. Four more people in the oblast were wounded during the day." Details: Residents of Mykolaivka and Kurakhivka were wounded. Kyrylenko added that they also managed to establish information about six more wounded in the attack on the village of Pokrovske on 7 August. In total, Russian forces have killed at least 1,654 and wounded at least 3,985 civilians in Donetsk Oblast since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Kyrylenko notes that these numbers are not final because it is not yet possible to establish the exact number of victims in Mariupol and Volnovakha. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! The Russian occupiers began to use new tactics to discredit the Armed Forces Russian invading forces are using mock maneuvers and are shelling their own positions in the occupied territories to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for the Southern Ukraine Defense Forces, said on Ukrainian national television on Aug. 10. The Russians often imitate the abandonment of some settlements, she said. Read also: Russians failing to provide medical services in occupied territories, use hospitals for own soldiers Then they return to them again, but in the pause, while they are absent, they heavily shell these settlements. Later, the invaders go to the locals with explanatory work and tell them that the shelling was allegedly done by the Defense Forces of Ukraine, Humeniuk added. The Ukrainian counter-offensive: Latest Ukrainian forces have breached the first line of Russian defenses in southern Ukraine in some areas of the front, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Aug. 4. Read also: Ukraine makes small gains near Bakhmut, other centers on Eastern front The newest thrust of Ukraines counter-offensive is toward Ukraines southeast, U.S. newspaper the New York Times reported on July 27. The counter-offensive operation is complicated by the fact that large areas of land are mined. Ukrainian troops are also having to advance under relentless enemy artillery fire. Ukrainian defenders described the initial phase of the operation as chaos, reported the Financial Times, adding that Kyiv has changed tactics to avoid heavy losses. Ukraines Armed Forces have knocked Russian invaders from their positions south of Avdiyivka in Donetsk Oblast, a spokesperson for Ukraines General Staff, Pavlo Kovalchuck said on Aug. 2. 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 At least one person died and 11 others were injured in a Russian missile strike against Zaporizhzhia on Aug. 10, local officials reported. One of the injured is in a serious condition, acting Mayor Anatolii Kurtiev said. "Once again, the target of the Russian terrorist attack was a civilian infrastructure building," Zaporizhzhia Oblast Governor Yurii Malashko wrote on his Telegram channel. "Again, no military targets," he added. According to Kurtiev, medical and educational facilities, as well as two high-rise buildings sustained damage in the attack. Russian forces launched a missile strike against the city also on Aug. 9. Yesterday's attack killed three residents, injured nine others, and damaged over a dozen buildings, including a church and high-rise structures. Read also: At least 3 killed in Russian missile strike against Zaporizhzhia Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (L) meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (R) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on May 19, 2023. Bandar Aljaloud / Royal Court of Saudi Arabia / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Kremlin officials are furious about recent Ukraine peace talks in Saudi Arabia. Even Russia's ally, China, attended the talks, while the Kremlin wasn't invited. Kremlin officials are concerned Kyiv is outflanking them diplomatically, The Moscow Times said. In the wake of last weekend's summit in Saudi Arabia where nations gathered to discuss Kyiv's plan to end the Ukraine war, Russia is cutting an ever more isolated figure on the world stage. It seems to be striking a nerve. At the summit in Jeddah representatives from 40 nations gathered to discuss Ukraine's proposals for ending the conflict. In a surprise move even Russia's staunchest international backer, China, sent a representative. A Chinese presence pointed to a growing rift between Beijing and Moscow meanwhile Russia was not invited. In comments to The Moscow Times, four former and current Kremlin officials familiar with Russia's diplomacy were troubled. Ukraine had managed to gather traditional Russian allies at the summit, not just its usual backers in the West, they noted. One official said Ukraine was seeking to cut out Russia and get countries to rally behind its version of how to end the war. "Kyiv's goal is to make these countries if not allies, then partners. And then if a general consensus is reached, Ukraine will try to deepen it and raise more sensitive issues to build such a consensus," the diplomat told the publication. A former high-ranking Russian diplomat also expressed concern to The Moscow Times about Russia's isolation, but added that Moscow's participation in discussions was necessary for ending the conflict. "The fact that we're not there is naturally unpleasant for us. As is the fact that they're gossiping without us," the former official said. He did, however, say that "you cannot solve" the war without Russian input. In recent months, Russia and Ukraine have intensified their struggle to for diplomatic support for their versions of ending the war. Ukraine wants Russia to be totally expelled from its territory, while Russia wants to retain the portions of eastern and southern Ukraine it has conquered and claimed as its own. A major focus is large economies outside the West Brazil, India, China and South Africa which alongside Russia are part of the so-called BRICS group. Many non-Western powers, including India, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia, have sat on the fence during the conflict, refusing to condemn Russia's war or impose sanctions, yet also not offering Russia explicit backing. Each of the BRICS nations apart from Russia sent representatives to Jeddah. A June summit convened by Ukraine in Denmark was more sparsely attended, suggesting there has been progress even in the few weeks since then. Ukraine hopes to persuade nations by pointing to the devastating effect of Russia's war on the grain exports many countries depend on. Russia recently ended a truce with Ukraine to protect the grain trade, sparking widespread condemnation. In return Moscow has promised free grain to some African countries to offset the shortfall. The Jeddah conference shows that more countries are broadly receptive to Ukraine's plans to end the war, and are increasingly weary of Russia's intransigence. "The meeting in Jeddah, inconclusive as it may have been, signals a continuing shift in Ukraine's favor, albeit at glacial speed," wrote Stefan Wolf, a professor of international security at Birmingham University, in a blog post. Read the original article on Business Insider Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses Russian military, National Guard, FSB, and Interior Ministry personnel at the Kremlin in Moscow. SERGEI GUNEYEV/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images A cofounder of Russian internet company Yandex has come out against his country's war in Ukraine. Arkady Volozh, a billionaire who now resides in Israel, had refrained from public criticism. Few Russians of such elite economic status have openly come out against the Ukraine War. The billionaire cofounder of Russia's largest internet company, now living in exile, has broken a monthslong silence on the war in Ukraine and issued a statement forcefully condemning his home country's 2022 full-scale invasion. Arkady Volozh helped launch Yandex in 1997, serving as the firm's executive director up until June 2022, when he resigned after being sanctioned by the European Union for "materially or financially" supporting the Russian government. In particular, the EU accused Volozh's company of promoting Russian state narratives in its search results, according to the BBC. In a statement on Thursday, Volozh said he is personally "horrified" by Russia's war in Ukraine and the plight of Ukrainians "whose houses are being bombed every day," the Financial Times reported. "Russia's invasion of Ukraine is barbaric, and I am categorically against it," he said. Few Russians of such elite economic status have openly and unequivocally come out against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his decision to invade and occupy Ukraine. Pavel Durov, for example, another Russian tech billionaire who now lives in Dubai and now serves as the CEO of Telegram has publicly committed to protecting Ukrainian users' privacy but has held back from explicitly condemning the war effort (in a March 2022 statement, Telegram said it hopes for "an immediate end to the conflict"). Volozh, who now resides in Israel, said he had "reasons" for keeping quiet until now. But, he added, he had to "take my share of responsibility" for Russia's actions. "While there will anyway be questions about the timing of my statement today, there should be no questions about its essence," he said. "I am against the war." Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com Read the original article on Business Insider For many Russian soldiers, fact that leaders mistreat them comes as surprise Russian troops have raised serious concerns about the treatment of their wounded comrades by the command of the Russian Armed Forces, according to video posted online on Aug. 10. The video, filmed at a military airfield in Rostov-on-Don, highlights a characteristic lack of basic living conditions for Russian soldiers. In the footage, wounded Russian soldiers lay sprawled across the runway and its periphery, awaiting their transfer to Moscow. Read also: Ukrainian offensive puts pressure on Russian forces near Bakhmut, says military officer The situation unfolded as the wounded troops were left in the sun without food or adequate provisions, while Moscow-bound flights had been prohibited due to drone attacks. Departure from Rostov Hospital to Moscow. They brought us here at nine in the morning. Flights to Moscow are banned because of drone attacks, we get it lamented one of the occupiers, for whom the Kremlins attitude toward its cannon fodder turned out to be a surprise. Read also: Powerful explosion rocks Russian base in Melitopol, mayor says Just bring buses and load the fighters. So many wounded! Theyve been lying all day under the scorching sun. No food... Only water, and they just brought it recently. This is the kind of treatment we receive, like some beastly indifference. We can walk, we can endure, but these boys (those lying down) are suffering. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine The Russian army attacked the settlement of Bilozerka, Kherson Oblast, injuring people while they were receiving humanitarian aid. Source: Oleksandr Prokudin, Head of the Kherson Oblast Military Administration Quote: "The Russian army shelled Bilozerka with artillery. Six people were injured. Residents who were receiving humanitarian aid at the time came under fire." Details: One person was seriously injured. All the victims were taken to hospital. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! Russian forces dropped an air bomb on Kupiansk at midnight of 9-10 August and damaged the city council building, with two people wounded in the oblast in just one day. Source: Oleh Syniehubov, Head of the Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram Quote: "The enemy attacked the city of Kupiansk at midnight using a FAB-250 guided air bomb. The city council building was damaged." Details: A 41-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman were injured last night in Kindrashivka, Kupiansk district, around midnight, due to an attack on the settlement. Russian forces attacked Kupiansk again at 07:30, damaging a residential building. There was no information about any casualties as of this morning. Syniehubov reported that the Russians massively bombarded populated areas of Bohodukhiv, Kharkiv, Chuhuiv, Izium and Kupiansk districts during the past day, using guided aerial bombs and other weapons. In particular, Kupiansk, Petropavlivka, Pershotravneve, Cherneshchyna, Podoly, Dvorichna, Masiutivka and other settlements came under Russian attacks. Houses and farm buildings were damaged, and fires broke out. Syniehubov added that Ukrainian defenders had repelled Russian attacks in the area of Synkivka and Ivanivka on the Kupiansk front. The occupiers suffered losses. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! Invading Russian forces are attempting to seize the initiative in the Kupyansk area, Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said on Aug. 10. The Kupyansk area is one of those where the enemy is trying to seize the initiative, act aggressively, and break through our defenses, Cherevatyi said. Read also: Russia continues attack on Kupyansk, city council building bombed However, due to the work of the commander of the Ground Forces in this zone, orders were given, and defenses and strike equipment were strengthened. Although the situation is difficult, it is under control, Cherevatyi said. We know the enemy units, commanders, we know their intentions, so were acting there to thwart the enemy, he said. Read also: Ukrainian military makes strategic gains in southeast, Bakhmut, says spokesman The Russians shelled Ukrainian positions with artillery in the Lyman-Kupyansk area 559 times over the past day, with 16 air strikes and four attempts to attack Ukrainian positions being recorded there, the spokesperson noted. The Russian military has chosen Kupyansk as the focal point for its offensive operations, Ground Forces Commander, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Aug. 9. The enemy assembled a strike force comprised of eight assault units codenamed Storm-Z, leading to intense battles, with positions changing hands multiple times, said Syrskyi. 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 President Vladimir Putin wants to strengthen cooperation in space with China and scale back partnerships with the West (Handout) Russia is launching its first mission to the Moon's surface in nearly 50 years on Friday, hoping to reclaim prestige in space despite military and diplomatic setbacks at home over the Ukraine conflict. The Luna-25 launch is Moscow's first lunar mission since 1976, when the Soviet Union boasted a pioneering space programme that has lost its shine because of funding problems and corruption. The launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Far East is scheduled for 2:11 am Moscow time Friday (2311 GMT Thursday), Russia's space agency Roscosmos has said. The four-legged lander weighs around 800 kilogrammes (1,750 pounds) and is set to reach the lunar orbit aroundfive days later. It is estimated to touch near the Moon's south pole sometime around August 21, a source at Roscosmos told AFP. Roscosmos said the module would operate for one year and "take and analyse soil samples and conduct long-term scientific research" on lunar surface material and the atmosphere. Independent space analyst Vitaly Yegorov said the Luna-25 mission was an important test for Russia's space programme. "So the biggest question will be: can it land?" President Vladimir Putin wants to strengthen cooperation in space with China and scale back partnerships with the West, mirroring Russia's geopolitical priorities. Moscow has announced it will end its work with the United States on the International Space Station (ISS) by 2028 and wants to participate in a rival project led by Beijing. - 'Ambition of our ancestors' - The European Space Agency (ESA) said it would not cooperate with Moscow on the Luna-25 launch -- as well as future 26 and 27 missions -- after Putin deployed troops in Ukraine last year. Moscow vowed to go ahead with the mission and replace ESA equipment with Russian-made instruments. Speaking at the Vostochny Cosmodrome last year, Putin said the Soviet Union had sent the first man to space in 1961 despite a "total" sanction regime. He said Russia would develop its lunar programme despite Western economic penalties that reached unprecedented levels over the Ukraine conflict. "We are guided by the ambition of our ancestors to move forward, despite any difficulties and despite external attempts to prevent us from moving," Putin said. In June, the head of Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, described the launch as high-risk. "This mission involves landing at the south pole. No one in the world has ever done such things," he said during a meeting with Putin. Most Moon landings have occurred near the lunar equator. "These kinds of missions are always risky," he told the Russian leader, claiming estimates put the chance of success at around 70 percent. The rocket boosters are predicted to fall in the vicinity of the village of Shakhtinsky in the far-eastern region of Khabarovsk, so the residents of the settlement will be evacuated on Friday morning, local authorities said. The last Soviet Moon mission in 1976, the Luna 24, brought lunar soil samples back to Earth. The Soviets launched the first satellite Sputnik, and sent into orbit the first animal, a dog named Laika; the first man, Yuri Gagarin; and the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova. Russia's programme, which still relies on Soviet-designed technology, has struggled to innovate and the Kremlin has instead prioritised military spending. It has also been plagued by corruption scandals and botched launches, and faced competition from the United States and growing Chinese ambitions. bur/giv/js (CNN) A candidate in Ecuadors upcoming presidential election, Fernando Villavicencio, was assassinated at a campaign event in the capital Wednesday, as a deadly escalation of violence and crime grips the South American country. The bloody incident prompted Ecuadors President Guillermo Lasso to request help from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. An FBI delegation will arrive in the country in the next few hours, he tweeted Thursday. Villavicencio was fatally shot as he was leaving a campaign rally at a school north of the capital Quito, 10 days before the first round of the presidential election was set to take place. He was 59 years old. Nine other people, including a candidate for the National Assembly and two police officers, were also injured in the attack. Lasso vowed has vowed that the incident will not go unpunished, saying that organized crime has come a long way, but the full weight of the law will fall on them. In addition to requesting the FBI, Lasso has announced a state of emergency for 60 days, an immediate mobilization of the armed forces across the country and three days of national mourning. Ecuadors presidential election, scheduled for August 20, will go ahead as planned, the Electoral Council President Diana Atamaint said Thursday. A legislator in the National Assembly, Villavicencio had been outspoken about corruption and the violence caused by drug trafficking in the country. In May, he told CNN En Espanol Conclusiones that Ecuador had become a narco state as he proposed to lead a fight against what he called the political mafia. Opinion polls had Villavicencio in the middle of the pack of the eight candidates, far behind the frontrunner Luisa Gonzalez. Alleged gunman dead, six others arrested Villavicencios suspected shooter died in police custody following an exchange of fire with security personnel, Ecuadors Attorney Generals Office said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. Six others have since been arrested in connection with the killing. Interior minister Juan Zapata said in a news conference Thursday morning that the suspects are foreign nationals and members of organized criminal groups, citing preliminary evidence. During overnight raids, authorities also found a rifle, a machine gun, four pistols, three grenades, two rifle magazines, four boxes of ammunition, two motorcycles, and a stolen vehicle believed to have been used by the men, he said. The slain politicians sister Patricia Villavicencio, said she was standing behind her brother at the rally before he was killed, and told reporters that she held the national government and the Interior Ministry responsible for his death. Where is the security? she asked. Villavicencio did have a security detail at the time of the shooting, comprised of five police officers, multiple patrol cars, and his own armored vehicle, according to Zapata, though he noted that the armored vehicle was not used in Quito. Seven of the Ecuadors eight presidential candidates were under police protection, Zapta also said earlier in the week, according to local media. Shooting captured on social media Video circulating on social media appears to show the moment Villavicencio was fatally shot. The footage appears to show Villavicencio walking away from the campaign rally toward a vehicle surrounded by several police officers and a crowd of onlookers. As he gets into the back seat of the vehicle, at least 12 gunshots can be heard. A policeman quickly closes the door behind Villavicencio and many people are seen taking cover from the gunfire, including his security detail. CNN has asked authorities for more details. The brutal killing sparked condemnation from across the world. The White House called the the killing shocking, with National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby telling CNN that it was not what anybody would want for Ecuadorean democracy. UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk, who has previously expressed concern about political violence in the country, urged authorities to increase protection for politicians, public officers and journalists. Ecuadors remaining presidential candidates were also quick to condemn the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio. Some few temporarily suspended their campaigns. I express my solidarity to his family and supporters, and as a result, Ive decided to suspend my campaign and I invite the other candidates to drop their political flags, Yaku Perez, an environmental activist, said Wednesday. Jan Topic, a businessman, said Wednesday he would be pausing his campaign out of respect for this unfortunate death and for the safety of my campaign team. The front runner for the presidency, Luisa Gonzalez, said, We stand in solidarity with Quito and with the family of the candidate Villavicencio, because when they touch one of us, they touch all of us. She addressed her own security in an interview with Ecuadorian radio Thursday morning. There are people around me who take care of me, she said. But I believe the first one taking care of me is God. Its not a question of how much security you have by your side. My security told me to wear a vest, I said they shoot in the head and there it is. Its as simple as that, or a grenade. The criminals are better armed than the police, Gonzalez said. Rising violence President Lasso dissolved the opposition-led congress in May, paving the way for early elections. He had faced an impeachment vote over accusations from opposition legislators of embezzlement before he took office, which he denies. Calls for his resignation had grown louder in recent months as the country is engulfed by a cost-of-living crisis and a deteriorating security crisis fueled by drug trafficking and a turf war between rival criminal organizations. Once known as the isla de paz an island of peace the Andean country has in recent years reported some of the highest homicide rates in the region. Though Ecuador has no history of producing cocaine, nor its main ingredient coca, it is sandwiched between the two largest narcotics production hotspots in the world: Peru and Colombia. Ecuador has become an integral part in the lucrative cocaine trafficking routes from South America to North America and Europe, according to security experts. And violence has been most pronounced on the countrys Pacific coast as criminal groups battle to control and distribute illicit drugs. The country has also lost control of its overcrowded prisons, which are often ruled by criminal gangs. Security forces have struggled to confront the gangs inside prisons, where inmates often take control of branches of the penitentiaries and run criminal networks from behind bars, according to Ecuadorian authorities. Hundreds of inmates have been killed in brutal prison riots between rival gangs. In July, the mayor of the port city of Manta, Agustin Intriago, was shot dead alongside Ariana Chancay, a young athlete he was talking with on the street. All the candidates in Ecuadors presidential election have pledged to rein in the escalation of violence. But the deteriorating security and economic situation is leading more Ecuadorians to leave the country, with statistics showing thousands making their way north through the treacherous Darien Gap this year, with hopes of reaching the United States. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio assassinated at campaign event" "Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, right, on the set of "Rust" in New Mexico just after the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on Oct. 21, 2021. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer on the set of Rust, where actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021, pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering charges, The New York Times reported. Gutierrez-Reed will go to trial on Dec. 6. Earlier this month, a judge decided not to dismiss the charges against her and told attorneys to stay the course. While on set during a rehearsal in October 2021 in New Mexico, Baldwin was pointing a gun at Hutchins when it went off, killing Hutchins. Baldwin has said that he did not pull the trigger and has no idea how the gun went off. Someone put a live bullet in a gun. A bullet that wasnt even supposed to be on the property, Baldwin told ABC in December 2021. The involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin was dropped in April. Prosecutors allege that Gutierrez-Reed was likely hungover the day of the shooting and had been drinking and smoking marijuana in the evenings during filming. They also allege that she did transfer narcotics to another person with the intent to prevent the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of herself. Gutierrez-Reeds attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A few days after the shooting, Gutierrez-Reeds attorney said that the armorer had no idea where the live rounds came from. A special prosecutor on the case said in a statement in January that Gutierrez-Reed didnt check the rounds she was loading into the firearms before the shooting, allowing live rounds on scene. The prosecutors argued that Gutierrez-Reed wasnt a qualified armorer and didnt have enough experience for the job. Related... One of two teenagers charged in connection with the death of a homeless woman allegedly texted his friend that he was "going hobo hunting." In May, San Diego police found a woman later identified as 68-year-old Annette Pershal unresponsive. She was rushed to a hospital and died three days later on May 11. Investigators found wounds from a pellet gun, and doctors determined Pershal's injuries were "non-survivable," and her death was ruled a homicide, San Diego police said in a press release. In court Monday, Deputy District Attorney Roza Egiazarian read one of William Innes' messages in a group text chain, which included co-defendant Ryan Hopkins: "I'm going hobo hunting with a pellet gun," according to NBC San Diego. SAN DIEGO OPENS FIRST SAFE SLEEPING SITE TENTS FOR HOMELESS PEOPLE Nearly 2,000 people lived outside in the city in April, according to data from the Downtown San Diego Partnership. Innes, 18, and Hopkins, 19, were arrested last Thursday. Innes was charged with first-degree murder, as well as possession of an assault weapon, which are banned in California, and failure to apply for serial numbers for two would-be firearms under state legislation. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP Hopkins was charged with assault with a deadly weapon. Prosecutors said he drove Innes to the crime scene, according to NBC News. CALIFORNIA COURTHOUSE PARKING LOT TURNS INTO HOMELESS ENCAMPMENT WITH 24/7 SECURITY The suspects pleaded not guilty to all charges, and records show they are being held in jail. Pershal was shot in the head, leg and torso, the prosecutor alleged in court. One of the pellets ruptured her aorta, NBC San Diego reported. The homeless woman was living in an encampment on Sandrock Road in San Diego when she was killed. Police reportedly found the possible murder weapon an air rifle loaded with pellets in Innes' home, according to NBC News. WHERE DO I SIGN UP? SAN DIEGO HOMELESS WOMAN SAYS THEYRE SPOILED WITH FREE STUFF, PHONES The homeless crisis in the city has spiraled out of control, with encampments springing up throughout the city. The first of two "safe sleeping" areas for San Diego's homeless opened in early July. The homeless crisis in the city has spiraled out of control, with encampments springing up throughout the city. The area includes a new tent campsite behind a barbed-wire fence opened at San Diegos Central Operations Yard at 20th and B streets. City officials are planning to pitch as many as 136 tents with the capacity to hold approximately 150 people in an effort to move them from downtown areas. The site will be operated by the nonprofit organization Dreams for Change, which previously took part in maintaining "safe parking" sites for people living in vehicles. The area has been described as a "low barrier" shelter that prohibits residents from bringing in weapons, alcohol or drugs but does not require guests to be sober. Homeless residents will also have access to restrooms, meals and mobile showers. According to data from the Downtown San Diego Partnership, nearly 2,000 people lived outside in the city in April, the highest in more than a decade. A more recent count put the number at over 2,100 people living on sidewalks or in vehicles. Mayor Todd Gloria also proposed a city budget that included $81.7 million for homelessness services, a nearly $20 million increase from the last fiscal year. Fox News' Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report. The Santa Barbara News-Press parent company owes millions to former employees, vendors, utility companies and subscribers, according to owner Wendy McCaws updated list of creditors filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court last week. With $5.13 million in total liabilities, Ampersand Publishing owes the largest amounts to McCaw herself, apparently for a 2014 loan to the company; to a media company headed by News-Press co-publisher Arthur Von Wiesenberger and to about 25 former employees, including people owed court settlements for labor disputes. Ampersand Publishing, owned solely by McCaw, filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy on July 21, and the Santa Barbara News-Press eliminated all jobs and stopped publishing. In the 161-page document filed Aug. 3, McCaw claims Ampersand Publishing has $532.96 in the bank. It lists $116,000 in personal property, including office furniture and computers, artwork, five vehicles and printing materials such as newsprint and ink. The 155-year-old newspapers archives, including microfiche and bound copies, are listed as assets with an unknown value, as are the printing presses and associated equipment. The parking lot at the vacant Santa Barbara News-Press building is being used as a pay-to-park site in downtown Santa Barbara. The list of assets has no real property associated with the business. In 2014, McCaw transferred the newspapers historic downtown Santa Barbara building at 715 Anacapa St. to another limited liability corporation she controls. She did the same for the Goleta printing press building at 725 S. Kellogg Ave. in Goleta. What stands out in the long list of creditors are all the Santa Barbara addresses. So many of the people owed money are local. Some creditors appear to be unpaid vendors. A previous document listed about 800 subscribers as creditors who never got refunds when the paper stopped printing in late June and stopped doing anything on July 21 when McCaw filed for bankruptcy. The News-Press owes money to residents, businesses, banks, law firms and nonprofit organizations such as the Foodbank and Santa Barbara Foundation, as well as a church, syndication services, printing-related companies and distributors. It owes money to utility companies including $176,000 to Southern California Edison and to the city of Santa Barbara, the city of Goleta, Santa Barbara County and the state. The latest court filing reveals the News-Press reported gross revenue of $3.36 million in 2021 and $2.97 million in 2022. It is not clear if that includes the $1.1 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans the business received during the pandemic. The second loan for $500,000 was forgiven in July 2022, according to PPP trackers. The vacant Santa Barbara News-Press building at 715 Anacapa St. in downtown Santa Barbara. Central Coast newspapers creditors include past employees The News-Press owes Dave Mason, the News-Press managing editor when it closed, $1,303. He was the person who sent out the email telling staff all their jobs were eliminated, and they would not be getting final paychecks. Director of operations Yolanda Apodaca is not listed as a creditor, and neither is reporting intern Liam Hibbert. About 25 former employees are listed as creditors, including people who havent worked there for years but are owed money in lawsuit settlements for unfair labor practices at the paper. In 2020, a National Labor Relations Board judge ordered Ampersand Publishing and McCaw to pay nearly $2.2 million to former employees and the Teamsters Union for labor violations. The case was filed in 2007, and the 2020 order said Ampersand needs to satisfy the long-standing obligations incurred as a result of its willful defiance of its statutory obligations, which have for more than a decade gone unremedied. Related to that case, Richard Mineards is owed $614,000, followed by Dennis Moran at $216,174, according to the bankruptcy filing. The newspaper owes many other former employees between $30,000 and $80,000, presumably for this and other labor-related settlements. After a tumultuous 22-year ownership by Hope Ranch billionaire Wendy McCaw, the parent company of the Santa Barbara News-Press has filed for bankruptcy protection and reportedly is no longer publishing the newspaper anywhere. Santa Barbara News-Press owes huge power bill The News-Press owes Southern California Edison a staggering $176,000, an amount that implies an astronomical energy bill or one that is long-overdue. SCE stopped service disconnections for nonpayment in 2020, like many other utility companies, and restarted them last year. Commercial customers on payment plans wouldnt get final notice disconnection warnings as long as they paid their monthly balance and payments on the past-due balance, according to SCE. The News-Press also owes $45,000 to Tele Pacific Communications, more than $10,000 to Cox Communications, and money to Southern California Gas, MarBorg Industries, the Goleta Water District, Republic Elevator Company and Mission Uniform Service. The California Department of Fax and Fee Payment Plan Administrators is owed $25,000 and the Employment Development Department is owed $34,000. The business owes $30,000 in payroll taxes for the first quarter, according to the court filing. The News-Press owes $34,000 to Santa Barbara County, via Treasurer-Tax Collector Harry Hagen and $15,000 to the city of Santa Barbara. Among the companys debts are costs apparently associated with printing, distribution and syndication services. Gannett, Reuters, Tribune Content Agency, and other syndicated content companies are all listed among creditors. And then there are the listed creditors known to be associated with McCaw and co-publisher Arthur Von Wiesenberger: $1.47 million to McCaw for a 2014 loan plus interest (This is the only liability with a basis for the claim listed) $215,000 to 1998 Ampersand Aviation LLC, one of McCaws LLCs $390,000 to American Travel Media Corp., whose CEO and president is Von Wiesenberger $41,193.87 to Ampersand Capital, LLC, one of McCaws LLCs $35,000 to Pescadero Point Trust, which is connected to McCaw $1,734.37 to Von Wiesenberger Bankruptcy case has September meeting for creditors Ampersand Publishing filed the bankruptcy case July 21 in the Central District of California, and a meeting of creditors is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Sept. 7. Creditors have been receiving notices of the bankruptcy in the mail, and are told to contact the bankruptcy trustee, attorney Jerry Namba of Santa Maria, for information on how to join the telephone meeting. McCaws Ampersand Capital LLC owns the bankruptcy court building in Santa Barbara, at 1415 State St., where documents can be viewed for this case. McCaw is being represented in the bankruptcy by Anthony Friedman of Levene, Neale, Bender, Yoo & Golubchik, of Los Angeles. The bankruptcy court documents list the law firm as a creditor, and McCaw paid them $15,000 in April. Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Before and after images of Lahaina on Maui's west coast. Maxar Technologies/Reuters Maui's historic town of Lahaina has been decimated by the wildfires raging this week. Dozens of people are dead, sites built in the 1800s and the island's oldest tree have been destroyed. Satellite images show the town before and after the fires struck this week. Parts of Maui have been devastated this week by wildfires raging across the island, killing dozens of people, forcing thousands to evacuate, and wiping out power and cell phone service in the hardest hit areas. The western coast of Maui has been hit particularly hard, and the historic town of Lahaina is now mostly rubble. The Maui Fire Department said in a press release Wednesday that the town suffered "widespread damage" with over 271 structures damaged by the fire. Before-and-after satellite images show how the culturally significant town, once home to around 12,000 people, has been reduced to ash. A number of historic monuments and buildings filled the old town of Lahaina on Maui's west coast The small town of Lahaina as seen from above on June 25, 2023. Maxar Technologies/Reuters Lahaina, which is listed on the US National Register of Historic Places, has a rich cultural history dating back to before Hawaii was a part of the United States. In 1802, Hawaii's ruler King Kamehameha made Lahaina the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, which it remained for 50 years until Honolulu took its place, according to the town's website. A number of historic buildings remained in the town from that era like the Old Lahaina Courthouse, which was built in 1858, and the Baldwin Home, which was built in 1834 and was the oldest house still standing on Maui, according to the town website. That is, until the fires wiped them out. Now, some of the most historic buildings in Lahaina have been reduced to ash An aerial image, with infrared markings, of the same section of Lahaina, taken on August 9, 2023. Maxar Technologies/Reuters The image above shows the destruction of the Old Lahaina Courthouse, along with the world-famous Banyan tree the oldest living tree on Maui beside it. The Baldwin Home Museum just northeast of Banyan Court also appears to be destroyed. Before the fires, trees and grassy fields surrounded the small town of Lahaina Lahaina on Maui's west coast before the fires. Maxar Technologies/Reuters Lahaina was a beautiful seaside town surrounded by lush greenery before the fires struck the region this week. Many of the buildings and greenery in Lahaina have been wiped out An aerial image of Lahaina taken on August 9, 2023. Maxar Technologies/Reuters If you look closely at the image above, you can see that the majority of buildings in this section of town are now just grey piles of rubble, and the streets in between are no longer lined with lush trees. Before the fires, Lahaina was a major tourist destination Another section of Lahaina, as seen on June 25, 2023. Maxar Technologies/Reuters According to Reuters, Lahaina sees about 2 million visitors a year, which is 80% of the total yearly visitors to Maui. It will take a long time to rebuild Lahaina after the fires, the lieutenant governor said Smoke rises from the center of a devastated Lahaina. Maxar Technologies/Reuters Hawaii's Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke told CNN she flew over the town on Wednesday, getting a firsthand view of the wreckage. "The whole town was decimated," Luke told CNN, adding that it was "shocking" and "devastating." "We're still trying to assess the amount of damage but the road to recovery will be long," Luke said, according to the outlet. "It's going to take years." Read the original article on Insider Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is pledging to support the eventual GOP nominee for president, if she doesnt ultimately win the nomination. Haley signed her pledge Wednesday with the Republican National Committee, a requirement in order to appear on the Aug. 23 debate stage in Milwaukee. Alright fellas, your turn, Haley posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Former President Donald Trump has said he wont sign the pledge. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed the pledge. However, when Haley signed her pledge, she made one edit. While the form says Beat Biden, Haley crossed out the presidents name and wrote in President Harris. Haley has repeatedly said that if President Joe Biden is reelected, Harris will take over, a swipe at Bidens age, implying he wont complete the term as Vice President Kamala Harris waits in the wings. However, the campaign has said Haley is not implying Biden will die during a second term. In addition to signing the pledge, GOP candidates need to have at least 40,000 donors, with 200 in 20 or more states and have at least 1% of support in in three high-quality national polls or a mix of national polls and polls taken in early-voting states. Beachside Elementary, which consolidated the Ortona and Osceola Elementary campuses, in Daytona Beach, like schools across Volusia County is preparing to welcome students back Monday, Aug. 14. School starts Monday in Volusia County and local law enforcement agencies are reminding parents and students that certain on-campus safety violations could result in criminal charges based on a State Board of Education rule that went into effect this school year. "We have all the personnel and technology in place to make this a safe school year, but we need everyone in our community to pay attention and help us out," Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood said in a news release Wednesday. What does the education board's rule say? School districts and charter schools must report specific incidents to a school resource officer or law enforcement agency, the rule states. Florida's new Black history curriculum: 'Slaves developed skills' for 'personal benefit' Florida education news: Volusia educators react to state's 'effective banning' of AP psychology course The new rule wont have any major effect on how law enforcement responds to school incidents in Volusia County, according to the sheriff's office. "Deputies have been and will continue to handle a wide range of issues at schools," sheriff's office spokesman Andrew Gant said via email. "The state is just requiring a more consistent reporting standard across all school districts so Florida can collect better data on school safety and security." What kinds of incidents must be reported to law enforcement? The State Board of Education requires that the following incidents be reported: Aggravated battery Alcohol Arson Burglary Criminal mischief (felony vandalism - $1,000 threshold) Disruption on campus (major) Drug sale or distribution Drug use or possession Fighting Grand theft ($750 threshold) Hazing Homicide Kidnapping Other major incidents Robbery Sexual assault Sexual battery Sexual offenses (other) Simple battery Threat/intimidation Trespassing Weapons possession Any incidents that are alcohol-, drug-, gang-, hate crime-, hazing-, injury- or weapon-related also must be reported. Why did the State Board of Education institute new rule? The board approved the rule after finding that incidents on school campuses in some districts, including Duval County, were underreported. Florida education: State agency letter details past complaints about arrested Douglas Anderson music teacher What else is law enforcement advising ahead of new school year? As always, with the start of a new school year, law enforcement agencies in Volusia County will conduct extra patrols and additional speed enforcement near campuses. Safe driving and situational awareness should be a priority with many children traveling sidewalks, crosswalks and streets to reach school, or the bus that will take them there, the Volusia sheriff's news release states. 'Worst-case scenario': What is local law enforcement prepared for and how can residents help? "Deputies, police and school guardians have continued to receive realistic training on response to an activeassailant in the event of the worst-case scenario on a school campus," according to the Volusia sheriff's news release states. "The program includes single-response training, which demands that a solo deputy or officer must immediately move in and confront the threat alone if he or she is the only unit on scene in the first critical moments." The Volusia Sheriff's Office, in conjunction with Volusia County Schools, is continuing to train staff on using the Centegix crisis alert system, which enables school staff to quickly alert law enforcement to an incident via a wearable badge. Residents are encouraged to download the FortifyFL app or use getfortifyfl.com to share information with law enforcement about any possible threats to a school campus. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Chitwood: School violations could result in criminal charges By Adam Makary CAIRO (Reuters) - When war in Sudan's capital forced Sarah al-Sharif and her family to flee, the 19-year-old information technology student left her books and computer behind. Now in Sennar, 30km (18 miles) southeast of Khartoum, she lacks a stable internet connection or passport to travel abroad and like many others sees no way of continuing her studies while fighting between rival military factions rages. The conflict, which began in mid-April, has pushed Sudan's faltering education system into a state of collapse, with many schools shut down or repurposed to host displaced people, and most national end-of-year exams cancelled. "This war has spelled the end of education in Sudan, and things have turned from bad to impossible," said Sharif. The conflict has brought daily battles to the streets of Khartoum, a revival of ethnically-targeted attacks in Darfur, and the displacement of more than 4 million people within Sudan and across its borders. According to Simone Vis of UNICEF in Sudan, there are "an alarming number of reports that both boys and girls are being recruited by armed groups". At least 89 schools across seven states are being used as shelters for the displaced, according the United Nations, raising fears that many children will have no access to schools in the new academic year and could be exposed to child labour and abuse. On Wednesday, the education minister cancelled most end of year school exams in war-affected areas. "In the current circumstances, anyone would see that it is impossible to have a new academic year," said Sahar Abdullah, a displaced teacher from Khartoum also seeking refuge in Sennar. TEACHERS STRIKE Even before the war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Save The Children ranked Sudan as one of the top four countries globally where education was at extreme risk. Now the number of children out of school has risen to 9 million from 6.9 million, more than one million school-aged children have been displaced and at least 10,400 schools have been closed since fighting started, according to the charity. While Khartoum has a proud intellectual tradition, the schooling system had been run down by underinvestment, political interference and a grinding economic crisis. It was then disrupted by street protests before and after the 2019 ousting of former leader Omar al-Bashir, by unusually heavy floods in 2020 and by the coronavirus pandemic. Due to overcrowded school classrooms, "some of the students would bring chairs with them to class. There weren't enough textbooks to help teachers do their job," said Abdullah, the displaced teacher. State-employed teachers staged a three-month strike over pay and working conditions just before the war broke out. As many as 300,000 teachers have not been paid since March, a senior member of the Sudanese Teachers' Committee said. "I haven't been paid a salary in four months, and I have no idea when I'll return to work," said Fatima Mohamed, a displaced teacher who fled Khartoum to Gedaraf state after her school was overtaken by the RSF. 'WAIT AND HOPE' Despite the interruptions in recent years, Rabab Nasreldeen had managed to get to the third year of law studies at the University of Khartoum when the war broke out. Then she too had to flee, abandoning educational certificates and papers that might allow her to continue studying elsewhere. "The only option we have is to wait and hope for the best," she said. Aid workers are trying to help alleviate the crisis, setting up safe learning spaces and providing children with psychosocial support. Education Cannot Wait, the U.N. global fund dedicated to education in emergencies, has raised $12.5 million and aims to provide educational services for 120,000 children in Sudan and neighbouring countries. During the COVID-19 pandemic, parents in wealthy countries "didn't want the children to wait a year or a month for their education," said Yasmine Sherif, the fund's executive director. "So why should we expect them (in Sudan) to wait for education until the conflict is over?" Some of those who have fled Sudan are seeking entry to schools and universities outside its borders, including in Egypt. But in Chad, where more than 377,000 refugees have arrived, there are no such options. "I cannot go back to continue my education and I lost contact with my family," Khalifa Adam, a displaced student who escaped to Adre, Chad from Darfur, told Reuters. "I was told I can continue studying online but the internet connection here in Adre is very bad." (Reporting by Adam Makary in Cairo; additional reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz in Dubai and El Tayeb Siddig in Adre, Chad; editing by Aidan Lewis, William Maclean) Some children will be coming back to school with a significant difference made to their schedule this academic year. Hundreds of school districts across the country have adopted a four-day week, a shift that has become increasingly popular in recent years, according to CBS News. Independence School District is the largest in Missouri to go through the change. An extra 35 minutes will be added to each day to comply with state requirements for instructional time, Superintendent Dale Herl told the news outlet. The district will offer child care on Mondays for $30 a day to assist parents who require it. If they werent using any care, well, certainly, that could be a potential cost that they otherwise would not have, Herl noted. In Missouri, around 25% of schools moved to the new schedule during the 2022 academic year, according to a brief by the National Conference of State Legislatures. The state is far from an exception, with nearly 900 school districts nationwide on a four-day weekly schedule. It has been a rising trend in recent years. In 2020, 650 districts were concerned. In 2023, the number rose to include 876 districts across 26 states, the outlet found. This scheduling change is being made to recruit educators amid a national teacher shortage. As a result, schools are receiving noticeably more applications. The number of teaching applications that weve received have gone up more than fourfold, Herl said. Officials in Chico, Texas, agree. They say that positions that used to receive five applications suddenly received over 20 after they shifted to 4-day school weeks. There are at least 36,500 teacher vacancies across the country, according to estimates communicated to USA Today by Tuan Nguyen, an associate professor of education at Kansas State University. Around 163,000 positions are held by underqualified teachers. As a result of the shortage, some schools have been hiring underqualified educators. If youre underqualified, students tend to do worse on achievement tests, and they tend not to learn the content at the same level as they would if they had a better-qualified teacher, Ed Fuller, an associate professor in the Department of Education Policy Studies at Penn States College of Education, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It limits the opportunity of those children going forward in terms of going to college or choosing a college major. Schools moving to a 4-day week is a shift that needs to be evaluated to see the academic impact on children. Some experts believe other solutions should be explored to tackle the current teacher shortage. The best way is to pay them better, Columbia Universitys Teachers College professor Aaron Pallas told CBS News. He added that Missouri teacher salaries are among the countrys lowest. The teacher shortage, though, is an issue occurring nationwide. Smelt It Dealt It The dust floating around the International Space Station is way worse than what's milling around in your house or apartment and the concentration is way higher, too. In a new study, scientists affiliated with NASA's Glenn Research Center and the UK's University of Birmingham found that the ISS is home to a specific mix of dust particles that include, among other things, microplastics and the kinds of compounds found in flame retardants and building insulation. The study, which was published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters, looked at the space station's specialized air filters to see what was left behind as the air was being circulated. The researchers found a number of chemicals, including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), organophosphate esters (OPEs), and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) the now-infamous "forever chemicals." While some of these chemicals like OPEs have previously been found to be potentially toxic at high levels, the health effects they're having on astronauts, if any, are still unclear. But given their concentration, it's worth investigating. "Our findings have implications for future space stations and habitats, where it may be possible to exclude many contaminant sources by careful material choices in the early stages of design and construction," said co-author Stuart Harrad, a professor of environmental chemistry at the University of Birmingham, in a statement. Dust Devils To be fair, the dust we breathe in our Earth-bound households is also often quite gross, and many of the aforementioned chemicals are not at all uncommon on terra firma. The difference between the dust we breathe in our households and this space station dust, the researchers suggested, is a matter of both concentration and filtration. While the air on the ISS is "constantly recirculated" eight to ten times an hour using its specialized filtration system, as the statement notes, its filters are broadly speaking there to scrub carbon dioxide and other contaminants. However, how much of these chemicals gets filtered out too is anyone's guess. What's worse: the high levels of ionizing radiation that the space station goes through can speed up the aging process of onboard plastics, which causes them to break down faster and turn into micro- or nanoplastics "that become airborne in the microgravity environment." "This may cause concentrations and relative abundance of [potentially harmful chemicals] in ISS dust to differ notably from those in dust from terrestrial indoor microenvironments," the news release adds. The researchers are now hoping that their research could aid scientists in designing future space habitats and making wiser material choices so astronauts can breathe more easily. More on the ISS: NASA Thrilled That Astronauts Drink 98 Percent of Recycled Bodily Fluids The search for a missing California teenager intensified after her car was discovered dumped in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Katie Schneider, 17, has not been seen since 5 July when she left her home driving her white Honda Accord vehicle, police say. Multiple search and rescue crews have been working their way through an isolated stretch of Highway 35 near the Castle Rock State Park. Deputies from Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties were all involved in the search with some crews using ropes to get through the rugged terrain. At least two search dogs were also brought in to help with the search, reported KTVU. A lot of people are very concerned, Saratoga City Council member Chuck Page told the station. Ive gotten emails from people Ive never even met, and theyre like, please help us. And he added: Anytime that a child or a young person disappears, it just breaks our hearts. I mean, many of us have children mine are all grown now but it just breaks our hearts. And so everybody is pulling together. Santa Clara County sheriffs investigators say that the teenagers car was found in the area on Monday, with damage to the surrounding vegetation thought to have been done by another vehicle. Police say that Katie is 5 foot five tall and weighs 115 pounds. Katies mother has shared a photo of her daughter on social media, marking the one-month anniversary of her disappearance. We continue to work closely with law enforcement and have delayed going public in part because we wished to honor their efforts to find Katie, wrote Nola Schneider. At the same time, because Katie is a shy, introverted child, we have tried to protect her privacy, and to do whatever we can to find her. Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of conspiring to obstruct the U.S. governments efforts to recover classified documents from his Palm Beach estate including a new allegation accusing him of collaborating with a personal aide and a Mar-a-Lago employee in an attempt to delete potentially incriminating video surveillance images of a storage area. A defense lawyer for Trump, who was not required to attend his second arraignment in the documents case, entered the plea for him in Fort Pierce federal court. Trump, 77, who lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, is the front-running candidate for the Republican nomination for president. Initially arraigned in June, Trump has called the special counsels documents case along with a recent indictment accusing him of interfering in the Jan. 6, 2021 certification of the last presidential election a persecution by the Biden administration. Trumps valet, Walt Nauta, who used to work in the White House, pleaded not guilty in person to the updated indictment. But Mar-a-Lagos property manager, Carlos De Oliveira, a new defendant, was unable to enter a plea because he has has not retained a local counsel, a requirement to be arraigned in the Southern District of Florida. All three defendants faced arraignment Thursday morning before Magistrate Judge Shaniek Mills Maynard in the Fort Pierce federal courthouse, where their trial is going to take place in May of next year during the presidential election season. While De Oliveira also attended the hearing, his Washington, D.C., lawyer, John Irving, said that they were still trying to find a local attorney for him. Larry Donnie Murrell Jr., a lawyer based in West Palm Beach who stood with them in the courtroom, said he hoped to finalize his representation of De Oliveira by Friday. The magistrate judge, Maynard, rejected a proposal to hold De Oliveiras arraignment on Aug. 25, when a hearing is scheduled on the sharing of classified information in the documents case. Maynard scheduled his arraignment for next Tuesday, but she said he did not need to attend it. The special counsels office is prosecuting Trump over his handling of highly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence and club after he left the White House in 2021. Jack Smith, the special counsel who was appointed by the attorney general, added new charges against the former president and the co-defendants in late July, accusing Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira of attempting to destroy video security footage showing the movement of boxes between the propertys storage area and residence. The superseding 42-count indictment adds three new counts against Trump. One charges him with another count of willful retention of national defense information and two others allege obstruction-related charges involving Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira. According to the indictment, Trump spoke with De Oliveira for 24 minutes after the Justice Department informed his legal team on June 22, 2022, of a draft grand jury subpoena for the surveillance footage at Mar-a-Lago. Two days later, the subpoena was officially delivered to Trumps residence. And on June 25, after changing his travel plans, Nauta flew to the Palm Beach estate. Then, on June 27, 2022, Nauta collaborated with De Oliveira to find and destroy the surveillance video, the indictment states. De Oliveira, who worked at Mar-a-Lago in various capacities before being promoted to property manager in January 2022, is charged with the obstruction conspiracy related to an attempt to delete surveillance video as well as for allegedly making false statements to the FBI. De Oliveira could not be arraigned last month because he had not yet hired a local defense attorney, which is required in the Southern District of Florida. He was represented by Irving, the Washington, D.C., attorney. Nauta, too, faces additional charges related to the attempt to delete surveillance video. Previous filings in the unprecedented case show that a June 2022 grand jury subpoena uncovered video images that prosecutors with the special counsels office say revealed damning evidence. The information provided the basis for FBI agents to obtain a court-approved warrant to search Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, 2022, when they found and seized more than 100 classified documents in the former presidents office and the clubs storage area. According to the prosecutions account of the videos, Nauta could be seen moving 64 boxes between a storage room and other areas at Mar-a-Lago between May 23 and June 2, 2022. The video footage also shows De Oliveira working with Nauta to move 30 of those same boxes from Trumps residence back to the storage area, according to the superseding indictment filed last Thursday. After arriving in Palm Beach and traveling to Mar-a-Lago on June 25, 2022, the indictment reads, Nauta and De Oliveira went to the security guard booth where surveillance video is displayed on monitors, walked with a flashlight through the tunnel where the storage room was located, and observed and pointed out surveillance cameras. Two days later, De Oliveira went to the clubs information technology office and asked an employee identified as the IT director to keep their conversation confidential. The boss wanted the server deleted, De Oliveira told the unnamed employee, according to the indictment. The employee resisted, saying he would not know how to do that, and that he did not believe that he would have the rights to do that, the indictment states. The employee told De Oliveira that De Oliveira would have to reach out to another employee who was a supervisor of security for Trumps business organization. Carlos De Oliveira, a property manager at Donald Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate, leaves federal court on Monday in Miami. He faces charges of scheming with the former president to hide security footage from investigators probing Trumps hoarding of classified documents/ His formal arraignment was postponed until May 10 because he has not yet retained a South Florida attorney. According to the indictment, De Oliveira then insisted to the IT employee that the boss wanted the server deleted and asked, what are we going to do? De Oliveira left the IT office, met with Nauta on an adjacent property, then returned to the office and later reconvened with Nauta that afternoon. Later on the afternoon of June 27, 2022, Trump called De Oliveira and they spoke for approximately three and a half minutes, the indictment states. In June of this year, the federal grand jury in Miami charged Trump with mishandling highly classified documents under the Espionage Act by storing them at Mar-a-Lago and refusing to return them to federal authorities, along with conspiring to obstruct justice. Nauta also was charged with conspiring to obstruct justice. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges in the initial 38-count indictment. Sedgwick County received a new designation that honors local veterans who have been wounded or gave the ultimate sacrifice to the United States. Earlier this week, the Sedgwick County Commission proclaimed the county a Purple Heart County. A Purple Heart is a U.S. military decoration awarded in the name of the president to service members who have been wounded or killed while serving in the U.S. armed forces, according to the Wounded Warrior Regiment. In Kansas, there are 169 documented Purple Heart honorees; 12 are from Wichita, records provided to The Eagle from the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor show. The Kansas honorees were service members in the U.S. Army, Army Air Forces, Marines, Navy and the Air Force and served in World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq War), records show. It is estimated that between 1.8 to 2 million Purple Hearts awards have been given since its inception in 1932. The exact number is unknown since the federal government does not maintain a list of recipients for the award. Peter Bedrossian, program director for the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor museum in New York, said its list of Purple Heart honorees is made up of records sent in voluntarily by recipients, family or friends of service members. The proclamation means Sedgwick County is now a part of the National Purple Heart Trail, a symbolic network of highways, bridges and other monuments that display signs to commend veterans who have been awarded the Purple Heart Medal, a county news release said. This is a great tribute, county board Chairman Pete Meitzner said. This lets veterans and their families know they did not suffer in vain. The trail was established in 1992 and originates at a monument in Mount Vernon, Virginia. Other Purple Heart sites in Kansas include the cities of Derby, Haysville, Holton, Leavenworth, Netawaka and Topeka. A full list of all the Kansas entities is available online. Purple Heart county signs will be installed on 10 major roads and highways leading into Sedgwick County: U.S. 54, Butler County line U.S. 54, Kingman County line K-96, Reno County line K-254, Butler County line U.S. 81, Sumner County line Broadway Street, Harvey County line Meridian Road, Harvey County line 151st W., Sumner County line 95th S., Butler County line Rock Road, near McConnell Air Force Base There are growing calls for a crackdown on the spike in violent attacks against U.S. Postal Service (USPS) mail carriers. Sen. Dick Durbin sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland this week with more than a dozen questions about what is being done to address this problem. In addition to my concern about this brazen criminal activity and its impact on victims, I also worry deeply about the downstream consequences of such crime, Durbin wrote. For example, certain neighborhoods may become delivery deserts where residents cannot rely on the mail for delivery of critical items like medication and food. >>> STREAM CHANNEL 9 EYEWITNESS NEWS LIVE <<< Durbin notes that despite requesting information from the DOJ in April about its efforts to address this issue, DOJ did not provide an informative response about its efforts to work with USPS and USPIS to hold accountable those committing these crimes. He did point out that USPS has taken steps including starting a nationwide initiative to replace arrow locks with electronic locks, since arrow keys are a major target for thieves. According to USPS, the initiative also includes installing high-security collection boxes. Read: It is the loss of democracy: Monique Worrell responds to her suspension as state attorney The spike in attacks against mail carriers has been a topic of concern on Capitol Hill. Robberies of postal carriers have increased by 78 percent resulting in nearly 500 robberies alone in 2022, said Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-MD) during a May hearing. Durbin is asking the DOJ and USPS about how many prosecutions there have been and whether this problem is being prioritized. Read: Orlando police release bodycam footage showing officers shoot, kill woman armed with knives He is also asking for details about the process to switch to electronic locks and about efforts to secure election mail. USPS confirmed it has received the letter and said it will answer the Senator directly. Read: Record number of sea turtle nests reported along Canaveral National Seashore this season Durbin has requested a response within three weeks. So far, we have not heard back from the DOJ about the letter. 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. Seniors face more than $50 billion in unpaid medical bills, many of which they shouldnt have to pay, according to a federal watchdog report. In an all-too-common scenario, medical providers charge elderly patients the full price of an expensive medical service rather than work with the insurer that is supposed to cover it. If the patient doesnt pay, the provider sends the bill into collections, setting off a round of frightening letters, humiliating phone calls and damaging credit reports. That is one conclusion of a recent report titled Medical Billing and Collections Among Older Americans, from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The report recounts a horror story from a patient in southern Pennsylvania over a hospital visit, which should have been covered by insurance. I never received a bill from anyone, the patient said in a 2022 complaint. Then came a phone call from a collection agency. The woman on the phone started off aggressively screaming at me, saying the patient owed $2,300. I told her there must be some mistake, that both Medicare and my supplement insurance would have covered it. It has in the past. She started screaming, very loud, If you dont pay me right now, I will put this on your credit report. I told her, If you keep screaming at me, I will hang up. She continued, so I hung up. Nearly 4 million seniors reported unpaid medical bills in 2020, even though 98 percent of them had insurance, the report found. Medicare, the national health insurance program, was created to protect older Americans from burdensome medical expenses. Total unpaid medical debt for seniors rose from $44.8 billion in 2019 to $53.8 billion in 2020, even though older adults reported fewer doctor visits and lower out-of-pocket costs in 2020. Medical debt among seniors is rising partly because health care costs are going up, agency officials said. But much of the $53.8 billion is cumulative, they said, debt carried over from one year to the next. Figures for 2020 were the latest available. Millions of older Americans are covered by both Medicare and Medicaid, a second federal insurance program for people of limited means. Federal and state laws widely prohibit health care providers from billing those patients for payment beyond nominal copays. Yet, those low-income patients are more likely than wealthier seniors to report unpaid medical bills. The agencys findings suggest that health care companies are billing low-income seniors for amounts they dont owe. The findings draw from census data and consumer complaints collected between 2020 and 2022. Many complaints depict medical providers and collection agencies relentlessly pursuing seniors for payment on bills that an insurance company has rejected over an error, rather than correcting the error and resubmitting the claim. Many of these errors likely are avoidable or fixable, the report states, but only a fraction of rejected claims are adjusted and resubmitted. When a patient points out the error, the creditors might agree to fix it, only to ignore that pledge and double down on the debt collection effort. An Oklahoma senior recounted a collection agency nightmare that followed a hospital stay. After paying all legitimate bills, the patient discovered new charges from a collection agency on a credit report. In subsequent months, additional charges appeared. The patient assembled billing statements and correspondence, hoping to clear the bogus charges. I then proceeded to spend every weekday, all day, for two weeks on the phone, trying to find out who was billing me and why, the patient said in a 2021 complaint. The Oklahoman eventually paid the bills, even though I dont owe them. Then, more charges appeared. Nice racket they have going, the patient quipped. As anyone with health insurance knows, medical providers occasionally charge patients for services that should have been covered by the insurer. Someone forgets to submit the claim, or types the wrong billing code or omits crucial documentation. Some providers charge patients more than the negotiated rate, a discounted fee set between the provider and insurer. Americans spend hours of their lives disputing such charges. But many seniors arent up to the task. Its tiring to have multiple conversations, sitting on the phone for an hour, chasing representatives, said Genevieve Waterman, director of economic and financial security at the National Council on Aging. I think technology is outpacing older adults, she said. If you dont have the digital literacy, youre going to get lost. Older adults are more likely than younger people to have multiple chronic health conditions, which can require more detailed insurance documentation and face greater scrutiny, yielding more billing errors and denied claims, the federal report says. Seniors are also more likely to rely on more than one insurance plan. As of 2020, two-thirds of older adults with unpaid medical bills had two or more sources of insurance. Multiple insurers means a more complex billing process, making it harder for either patient or provider to file a claim and see that it is paid. With Medicaid, you have 50 states, plus the territories, said one official from the federal agency, speaking on condition of anonymity. They each have their own billing system. In an analysis of Medicare complaints filed between 2020 and 2022, the agency found that 53 percent involved debt collectors seeking money the patient didnt owe. In a smaller share of cases, patients reported that collection agents threatened punitive action or made false statements to press their case. The complaints illustrate how difficult it is to identify an inaccurate bill, learn where it originated, and correct other peoples mistakes, the report states. Some providers refuse to talk to consumers because the account has already been referred to collections. Even when providers seem willing to correct their own mistakes, debt collectors may continue attempting to collect a debt that is not owed and refuse to stop reporting inaccurate data. Rather than carry on a fight with collection agents over multiple rounds of calls and correspondence, many seniors become ensnared in a doom loop, the report says, convinced their appeal is hopeless. They pay the erroneous bill. I think some people get to the point where they just throw up their hands and give up a credit card number just to make the problem go away, said Juliette Cubanski, deputy director of the Program on Medicare Policy at KFF. Debt takes a toll on the mental and physical health of seniors, research has shown. Older adults with debt are more prone to a range of ailments, including hypertension, cancer and depression. As the Oklahoma patient said, recalling a years-long battle over unpaid bills, It nearly sent me back to the hospital. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. [Source] A registered sex offender has been arrested after allegedly threatening Muslims at a California park over the weekend. What happened: The incident occurred at Heron Landing Park in Rancho Cordova at around 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. The suspect, identified as 33-year-old Robert Avery, allegedly hurled racist remarks, tried to run over and threatened to shoot and bomb Muslim families in the area. The aftermath: A video shows someone in a car driving erratically through the parks walkways while fleeing the scene. No one was injured in the incident. More from NextShark: Bostons first woman-of-color mayor in 200 years could be Asian American Suspect arrested: Avery, who was also accused of causing a disturbance at a liquor store prior to the park incident, turned himself in the next morning. He is facing felony charges of assault with a deadly weapon and making criminal threats, as well as a misdemeanor hate crime charge. About the suspect: California records show Avery is a registered sex offender who was convicted of annoying or molesting a child under 18. Police are investigating whether the Orangevale resident is even allowed to be near parks, which could result in additional charges. CAIR responds: The Sacramento Valley/Central California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV/CC) issued a statement following Averys arrest. More from NextShark: Husband of Atlanta Victim Soon Chung Park Tried to Perform CPR While Police Stood By We thank local law enforcement authorities for their swift action in taking the suspect into custody and urge federal authorities to consider bringing hate crime charges for this apparently bias-motivated attack on members of a minority community, CAIR-SV/CC Senior Civil Rights Attorney Layli Shirani said. Avery is being held at Sacramento County Main Jail on a $125,000 bond. More from NextShark: Parents in China shave their heads, donate scalp tissue to help son recover from severe burns Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark! 8 People Hospitalized After SUV Crashes Into Chinese Restaurant in San Jose [Source] San Francisco's Chinatown is embracing a modern approach to hosting a time-honored Chinese tradition this August. A different take: Organized by the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, the citys inaugural "Chinatown Hungry Ghost Festival" is transforming the somber "Ghost Month" into a vibrant celebration. Ghost Month, or "," is traditionally observed during the seventh month of the lunar calendar, often falling in August. It is believed that restless spirits roam the earthly realm at this time, prompting caution and reduced outdoor activity, especially at night. Promoting solidarity: Hoi Leung, curator and deputy director of the Chinese Culture Center, explained that the upcoming festival aims to bolster economic development while fostering cross-cultural solidarity. More from NextShark: Viral TikTok shows the harrowing moment a Chinese bus driver saves a suicidal mother and her son The month-long event will showcase the rich cultural heritage of Chinatown and is anticipated to attract a diverse audience. The event will feature art workshops, shopping, art games, Taoist rituals and the "Ghost King Parade," orchestrated by the Lotus Taoism Institute as the grand finale. Art workshops will be held at the Chinatown-Rose Pak Station from 2-6 p.m. on Aug. 11-12, 18-19 and 26. Meanwhile, the Taoist Ritual will be held on at 10 a.m. on Aug. 20 at 829 Stockton St. Upcoming spectacle: Master Ho Ko, director of the Lotus Taoism Institute, shared that this year's parade will be particularly exceptional, featuring a brand-new "Ghost King" and a captivating "Flower Bomb Lantern." The parade, scheduled for Aug. 26 at the Chinatown-Rose Pak Station, promises to be a spectacle, with a towering 15-foot-tall Ghost King that was specially crafted in Hong Kong. More from NextShark: Indian American Cancer Researcher Reportedly Murdered During Morning Jog in Texas Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark! Suspect in botched robbery that left Asian mother dead in NYC is now wanted for HOMICIDE Chinese American Socialite 'Jumps' to Death While Holding 5-Month-Old Daughter Sickle cell disease refers to a group of inherited blood disorders with symptoms like anaemia and blocked blood vessels. About 80% of the worlds sickle cell disease cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Lack of access to comprehensive healthcare in the region adds to the burden of the disease. Nigeria has the largest population of individuals with the condition globally. Reports indicate that about 25% of Nigerians carry the gene that causes it and 2% to 3% of the population suffer from sickle cell disease. The mortality rate for children ranges from 50% to 80%. Clinical presentations vary among sickle cell patients. Some include leg ulcers, fatigue, dizziness and end organ damage. My team and I at Nigerias National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development undertook a critical review to investigate the challenges associated with sickle cell disease in sub-Saharan Africa. We urge governments and relevant stakeholders in this region to prioritise policies that can underpin effective management of the disease. We recommend implementing relevant strategies that will reduce the burden whilst targeting total elimination. These include counselling about how genetic conditions might affect a family. We propose premarital genotype screening and comprehensive health insurance coverage for all sickle cell disease patients. Gaps in the management of sickle cell disease Our review focused on publications in English language journals between 2003 and 2021. The review provided insight on relevant medical interventions and helped to identify prospects for overcoming the burden of sickle cell disease. We found that most of the studies in this area were undertaken in the West African region. Some centred on hydroxyurea in the management of the condition. This drug treats anaemia by helping to prevent the formation of sickle-shaped red blood cells. It has contributed towards reducing the burden of the disease globally. Furthermore, it was observed that the drug has robust efficacy and safety in the treatment of children with sickle cell anaemia. Niprisan has also proven to be effective in the management of sickle cell disease. This intervention is classified as a phytomedicine, which refers to medicines derived from plants in their original state. Developed by Nigerias National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development, it contributed towards reducing the number of hospital admissions among patients. A review of 55 publications found that access to comprehensive management of sickle cell disease was lacking. Specific interventions such as neonatal screening, early diagnosis and preventive penicillin therapy (an important part of infection prevention in sickle cell disease) were not readily available in countries like Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. A lack of adequate knowledge about sickle cell disease in countries like Nigeria, DR Congo, Cameroon and Nigeria contributed to the high prevalence of the condition. A more informed populace will reduce the disease burden. Similarly, poor prioritisation of premarital genetic counselling and screening severely limited its utility in the prevention of the condition. In countries like Cyprus, Greece and Italy, premarital genetic testing is standard practice. However, in most of the reviewed countries, most couples were not aware of genetic counselling. Others did not know the location of facilities which offered the service. Sickle cell related interventions are expensive. It exposes families to financial hardships as most have to seek loans to pay hospital bills and other healthcare costs. In Nigeria for example, the findings of a study showed that few participants (7.2%) were enrolled in the National Health Insurance Scheme. Monthly household income ranged from 12,500 (US.15) to 330,000 (6.64), whilst health expenditure was between 2500 (.43) and 215,000 (6.90). Kenya also has similar examples. Health insurance can be an invaluable tool that can help ease the financial burden associated with the management of sickle cell disease. Saving West African lives There is a need to increase public awareness regarding sickle cell disease. This will correct some of the negative attitudes and wrong practices such as disregard for sickle cell screening prior to marriages, as well as a willingness to marry amongst individuals with genotype incompatibility. Campaigns should be targeted at correcting misconceptions that the disease is a death warrant and contagious. People should know it is possible to live a long life with proper healthcare after diagnosis. Campaigns aimed at improving relevant knowledge, alongside pre-marital screening and counselling, could significantly reduce the prevalence of the disease in West Africa. One idea could be to use public figures such as musicians, actors and social media celebrities in public awareness campaigns. Countries with a high burden like Nigeria also need: adequately equipped and revitalised health facilities regular training of healthcare practitioners comprehensive health insurance coverage for all sickle cell disease patients higher prioritisation as well as increased investment in research and development. Given the high prevalence of sickle cell disease in the region, the continent should lead initiatives to end the disease. New multidisciplinary programmes for affected populations need to be considered. Strategies to prevent, reduce, eliminate and manage the disease have to be integrated and pursued aggressively. A fresh approach needs to harness political will with science-led interventions. Collaboration with private sector entities, development partners and philanthropists must be improved and embedded in strategies. Funding for research and other evidence-based interventions is abysmal resources must be mobilised to these areas. Godspower Onavbavba, a researcher at the NIPRD contributed to this article This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation is trustworthy news from experts. Try our free newsletters. It was written by: Obi Peter Adigwe, National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development. Read more: Obi Peter Adigwe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. The city of San Luis Obispo could move its safe parking program to a new location in a residential neighborhood and some residents arent happy with the proposal. The city plans to temporarily set up an overnight parking site for homeless people within a 200-foot-long stretch of Palm Street between the entrance to the San Luis Obispo Veterans Memorial Building and Grand Avenue. Thats a few blocks from Highway 101 and the entrance to the Cal Poly university campus. Lynn Hamilton, an agribusiness professor at Cal Polys College of Agriculture, Food & Environmental Sciences, called news of the citys plan shocking. Hamilton has owned her home on Palm Street for 25 years. Its a stones throw from where the city plans to set up the interim site. Hamilton Wednesday said she was frustrated the city had selected the site without sufficiently notifying residents. While her neighbors received postcards earlier this week, she said, she was not notified and heard the news instead from another area resident, Mark Adams. Additionally, Hamilton objects to the lack of transparency, lack of opportunity for public comment and the VERY short time period for notification, she wrote in an email to the city she shared with The Tribune. As disruptive as having this parking on our street will be, its even worse the way its being handled, Hamilton told The Tribune in a phone call. San Luis Obispo homelessness response manager Daisy Wiberg said the decision to consider that part of Palm Street as an interim safe parking site was made to make sure current participants in the citys safe parking program would have somewhere to go while the city works to establish a replacement program. Heres why the city is moving forward with an interim safe parking site and what residents think about the move. The city of San Luis Obispo is looking to place an interim safe parking site on Palm Street near the San Luis Obispo Veterans Hall to keep unhoused residents sheltered until the citys rotational safe parking program is ready to open. The parking site would occupy around 200 feet of street between the entrance to the Veterans Hall parking lot and Grand Avenue between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. Why does SLO need new location for safe parking program? The citys Railroad Square Safe Parking Program, which started sheltering unhoused residents in their vehicles in late 2021, is set to shut down Aug. 27, Wiberg said July 29. The Railroad Square site will be replaced by a series of rotating sites hosted by faith-based organizations and private and public property owners. That was projected to start Oct. 1 under the guidance of the Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County, Wiberg said. Wiberg said the city has not finalized its plans with the three faith-based organizations that have engaged in talks so far, potentially leaving a gap in services for people who used the Railroad Square program. To fill that gap, the city can use a directors action permit to select an interim location for the parking site until a rotational model has been finalized, Wiberg said. Directors action permits allow the operators of an approved program to select locations without first consulting the San Luis Obispo Planning Commission, Wiberg said. The Planning Commission approved CAPSLO as administrator for this program, and changed it to a directors action (permit), where its not going back to the Planning Commission to approve each site, but they approved the kind of the program model, Wiberg said. Now, with this site and any other sites that we confirm moving forward, we would do this noticing process ... Then theres an appeal window for residents to to bring forward and appeal, and then it would be approved by our community development director. The directors action permit wont be formally approved until Aug. 14, when the citys community development director decides whether to approve or deny the project, or defer it back to the Planning Commission, Wiberg said. Wiberg said Palm Street was identified as a potential spot for the program because it doesnt experience as much through traffic as other nearby city streets, and is wide enough to accommodate the vehicles. The interim site would operate for a maximum of four months at Palm Street, though the city hopes to have a host site identified by Oct. 1, Wiberg said. We were hopeful that we would have a host site location confirmed and able to launch the rotating model by Sept. 1, so our decision to move forward with this interim location happened later than we would have normally planned, Wiberg told The Tribune. Otherwise, we would have started kind of outreach efforts sooner. However, Hamilton said, the short time frame didnt leave room for input from nearby residents or public hearings, regardless of the citys directors action permit. Its just very disturbing that our public officials can just completely change the nature of your home, and thats what theyre doing, Hamilton said. Theyre completely changing the nature of the street I live on. What could interim safe parking site look like? For the most part, Wiberg said, the interim safe parking site proposed for Palm Street would operate similarly to the existing safe parking program. Like the Railroad Square program, the interim site would be open overnight from 7 p.m. from 7 a.m., and would host no more than 20 vehicles in total, Wiberg said. Those would likely be split between around 10 vehicles and five recreational vehicles. A dumpster, restrooms and a wash station would be available to program participants, Wiberg said. During the programs operating hours, that 200-foot-long stretch of Palm Street would be closed to through traffic, she said. We met with the veterans hall, and theyve been supportive of us using this location, Wiberg said. Obviously, they are adjacent to this site, so we wanted to make sure that we had conversations with them. In accordance with the citys safe parking regulations, the site would have a 50-foot buffer from any residential properties, and CAPSLO would be required to mail contact information and resources associated with the program to residents within a 300-foot radius of the site in accordance with the Citys Good Neighbor Policy, deputy city manager Greg Hermann told Hamilton in an email she shared with The Tribune. The San Luis Obispo Police Department would routinely check the site for disturbances during program hours, Hermann told Hamilton in the email. Neighborhood residents frustrated with lack of outreach Adams, a real estate appraiser, has lived around the corner from the proposed location for the interim site for 24 years. He said he is against running a safe parking program in a residential area. He also takes issue with the lack of transparency in the site selection process. Other changes to a neighborhood, such as opening an Airbnb or changing the structure of a residential home, require public hearings and notifications for nearby residents, Adams said. Adams said the citys efforts to notify residents was not sufficient, and said the citys announcement about the plan in New Times alternate weekly newspaper was a weak excuse. Its coming with a plan not in place its an experiment in the process, Adams said of the city. Adams also said safe parking programs dont do enough to address homelessness permanently, and that other solutions would have been a better use of city funds. Hamilton said the city didnt consider the potential impact of Cal Polys student population. With fall term about to begin, students will soon fill homes in surrounding neighborhoods and overtake street parking, she said. Thats why I chose to buy here, because I have zero commute I ride my bike or I walk, Hamilton said. I think (its) yet another piece of the short-sighted puzzle. In the meantime, Hamilton said she means to appeal the citys safe parking site decision. I dont know why this particular change of use of a street or area doesnt have the same level of scrutiny that private property owners have to go through, Hamilton said. Its insane. Kathy Stidham waves her American flag as the presidential motorcade drives out of the Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News The possibility of seeing President Joe Biden whiz by had about 100 people lined up to await the presidents motorcade on Wednesday evening. Biden landed in Salt Lake City at the end of his circuit through New Mexico, Arizona and the Beehive State. He will speak about the PACT Act Thursday morning at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center and is expected in Park City for a fundraising event. Air Force One landed at Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City at about 4:25 p.m. Those in the small crowd waiting along 2200 North came because they either support Biden, or because they think planes and cars are cool. It was a bright moment after the tragic scene that played out hours earlier in Provo, where Craig Robertson, who had posted threatening messages about the presidents visit, was shot and killed by FBI agents attempting to serve a search warrant at his home. Amber Hendrix, first vice chair for the Salt Lake County Democrat Party, joined the group of motorcade-watchers to catch a glimpse of the president. Hendrix said shes a huge supporter of the Biden-Harris administration. I really appreciate all the investments theyve put into the economy, getting us through the most difficult time (of the pandemic), Hendrix said. I think hes a good man and I appreciate his values. Hendrix brought her teenage kids with her. She wanted to give them a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the motorcade. Maxine Martinez, alongside John Martinez, the second vice chair for the Salt Lake County Democrat Party, said being a Democrat in Utah is hard but theyll never give up. Its rough and we dont always get what we want but we sure try hard, she said. We never stop. Brooke Wilde, a Democrat, said she had never seen Air Force One. Wilde was beaming after the presidents plane landed and the motorcade passed by. People gather to watch the presidential motorcade drive out of the Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News She also stressed the importance of voting, even when it feels like the vote doesnt count. I still always vote, even though I know it doesnt make a big impact, she said. I mean, you have to exercise your rights. Some people were simply there to see the plane and the motorcade, all politics aside. One man said he has seen the last three presidents and was hoping to see Air Force One land, as well as get a glimpse of the motorcade. He collects die-cast models of the presidential limousines. Two sisters, Suzanne Phipps and Natalie Delacruz, said they voted for Biden and theyre big fans. After the motorcade passed, both sisters said it was one of the coolest experiences theyve ever had. He waved at us. It was so cool, Phipps said. Michael Hughes and his son Sumner, 3, watch outside as Air Force One lands at the Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News Air Force One arrives at Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News Kathy Stidham waves her American flag as the presidential motorcade drives out of the Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News Michael Furgis watches with his mom Susanne Gustin as the presidential motorcade drives out of the Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News People gather to watch the presidential motorcade drive out of the Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News Utah highway patrol officers lead the presidential motorcade out of the Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News Kathy Stidham shares American flags with others waiting to watch the presidential motorcade drive out of the Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News Sean Murray uses his binoculars to try and see Air Force One outside of the Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News Michael Furgis holds an American flag over his shoulder as the presidential motorcade drives out of the Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Megan Nielsen, Deseret News Police work ahead of President Joe Bidens arrival at Hotel Monaco in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News President Joe Bidens motorcade arrives at Hotel Monaco in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. President Biden is not in the pictured vehicle. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Security works as President Joe Biden arrives at Hotel Monaco in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News A tent is closed as President Joe Biden arrives at Hotel Monaco in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News People watch as President Joe Biden arrives at Hotel Monaco in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Main Street is closed ahead of President Joe Bidens arrival at Hotel Monaco in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Police work ahead of President Joe Bidens arrival at Hotel Monaco in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Police and security block pedestrian movement just before President Joe Biden arrives at Hotel Monaco in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. | Kristin Murphy, Deseret News Even with their relatively modest output, small modular reactors (SMRs) could help Ukraine compensate for the thermal generation facilities damaged by Russian missile strikes, Petro Kotin, the head of Ukraine's national nuclear operator Energoatom, told journalists on Aug. 10. According to him, Holtec International, a U.S. supplier of equipment for the energy industry, offers small modular reactors SMR-160 with an output power of 160 MW each. Read also: Let's do the math: how much Western equipment has actually been destroyed "If you install two of these side by side, they jointly generate 320 MW. This is roughly equivalent to the power output we have at thermal power plants," Kotin said during a visit to one of Ukraines existing nuclear power plants. Ukrenergo has already identified a site where SMRs can be installed, explains Kotin. Appropriate preparations are currently underway. He went on to emphasize that such reactors are completely safe. Read also: Ukraine gearing up for major operation in Kherson Oblast National Guard "They are significantly different in terms of safety features; it's a completely different level," says Kotin. Read also: Ukrainian Special Forces showcase sniper operations, eliminating Russian invaders in Bakhmut area video "They implement a passive safety system and natural [coolant] circulation, enabling the manufacturer to claim the impossibility of a nuclear or radiation accident during their operation." Read also: Russia abducts another ZNPP employee Energoatom Back in April, Energoatom signed a memorandum with Holtec for cooperation in deploying SMRs in Ukraine, and a plant construction program for manufacturing SMR components is already in place. "We plan for Ukraine to be capable of manufacturing [these] reactors for Europe in the future," added Kotin. 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 China-Africa trade expo rare opportunity to showcase, promote African products: Madagascan officials Xinhua) 11:10, August 10, 2023 ANTANANARIVO, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- The third edition of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo has been a quality platform and a rare opportunity to showcase and promote products from Madagascar and other African countries, and contribute to shared prosperity, Madagascan officials have said. "The fair was attended by businessmen and exhibitors from Madagascar, who had the opportunity to showcase our country's flagship products," said Emi-Haulain Kola, director general of development partnership and the diaspora at the Madagascan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Antananarivo, the national capital. "The event provided them with a high-quality commercial platform, a rare opportunity to showcase our flagship products," he told at a media salon Tuesday organized by the Chinese Embassy in Madagascar. Madagascar was one of the guest countries of honor at the expo. On a 300-square-meter stand, seven companies from Madagascar showcased products ranging from vanilla, cloves, and rum to chocolate, cocoa and essential oils. "This is an economic event of international importance that has enabled political decision-makers, businessmen and participants from different backgrounds to discuss the opportunities and challenges of Sino-African cooperation in a number of areas," Kola said, noting that the fair brought together nearly 9,000 professional buyers and 100,000 visitors. Domohina Rakotovao, head of support for economic operators at the Foreign Trade Department of the Ministry of Industrialization, Trade and Consumer Affairs, said the expo was an opportunity to "further promote businessmen and products from Madagascar." "This opportunity will increasingly encourage exporters, both those who took part this time and those who aspire to take part in future events, to make continuous efforts in terms of production, quality and marketing," she said. Rakotovao also pointed out that the Chinese market is gradually opening up to products of Madagascar such as essential oils and cocoa, expressing the hope that more Madagascan products would be showcased at the next edition of the expo. She said that her ministry would like to see "more exchanges of know-how and support in terms of equipment, infrastructure and progressive access to technology" between Madagascar and China. On the sidelines of the exhibition, China and Madagascar signed a protocol on the inspection and quarantine of sheep meat of Madagascar intended for export to China. Describing the protocol as a "significant milestone" for mutually beneficial collaboration, Fanja Raharinomena, secretary general of the Madagascan Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, said it "marks a crucial step in opening up new trade opportunities for Madagascar and strengthens our position on the international market." "Our cooperation in the agriculture and livestock sector paves the way for shared prosperity. This achievement demonstrates the potential of our national livestock and inspires us to implement policies and strategies aimed at rapidly increasing our production capacity, while preserving national consumption and needs," she added. "We are convinced that these joint efforts will continue to bear fruit and further strengthen our partnership for the well-being of our peoples and the prosperity of our nations," Rakotovao said. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) A social media message alerted authorities of a dead dog at a Lehigh Acres home. Anthony Knight, 31, of Lehigh Acres, is charged with one count of animal cruelty and two counts of probation violation. The Lee County Sheriff's Office said that early Wednesday, authorities received a message on Facebook Messenger from a concerned citizen in reference to a possible deceased dog. Deputies reviewed the original post and said the context of the message was disturbing. Detectives with the sheriff's office's Animal Cruelty Task Force and the East District Criminal Investigations Division to a residence on Meadow Road, in Lehigh Acres, and made contact with Knight, also known on Facebook as Antonio Rodriguez, authorities said. When deputies confronted him with the information, Knight confirmed he posted the messages and showed detectives where he buried his dog, Kalea. Authorities said Kalea was left in a cage within the garage with no ventilation or water, where she died with her face in an empty bowl. After a search warrant was granted, Kaleas remains were collected and sent for a necropsy. Knight was arrested and charged with animal cruelty. The sheriff's office said he's being held without bond. Authorities said he was on probation at the time of Kalea's death. He's next due in court Sept. 11 for his arraignment in the animal cruelty case. Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Threads @tomasfrobeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran, Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews and Twitter @TomasFRoBeltran. This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: LCSO: Social media message leads to arrest in dog's death Owner and designer Tracy Turco poses for a photo behind the counter at the gift shop of the Modernism Museum in Palm Springs in June 2022. In just a few years in Palm Springs, Tracy Turco became prominent and controversial as a socialite and artist who bought multiple prominent homes and remodeled several hotels. Last year, she opened a downtown museum to celebrate the city's mid-century modern legacy. Now, the Modernism Museum is closed and Turco has moved to the east coast, with some harsh words for the city on her way out. She says the city made it impossible to operate businesses and targeted her over her husband's and her perceived political views. The city says nothing of the sort happened and that Turco simply failed to follow city rules, despite repeatedly being given a chance. A tumultuous time in the desert Colorful decor adorns the inside of a room at the Art Hotel in Palm Springs in 2019. The Art Hotel was one of three Palm Springs hotels owned by Tracy Turco. Turco, who is from New York, said she first became enthralled with Palm Springs and its mid-century modern scene after visiting the city on the honeymoon she took with her husband, Jerry, around five years ago. The pair soon moved to the city, purchasing multiple prominent homes, including the famous pink mansion that once belonged to the actress Magda Gabor. Turco would eventually buy three hotels in the city, remodeling them into splashy icons of mid-century modern style. Last year, besides opening the Modernism Museum, she partnered with Desert Hot Springs to rebrand and market that city. But Turco now says that infatuation has come to an emphatic end. Besides closing the museum, she has sold the hotels, ended her partnership with Desert Hot Springs and left California altogether, splitting her time between Palm Beach, Florida, and The Hamptons in New York. Turco said repeated fines from the city of Palm Springs, including $100 a day over the museum's paint color, helped drive her decision. So did what she called a torrent of criticism and harassment over her husband's support of former president Donald Trump. I don't think you can win running a business in Palm Springs, she said. You just don't win That's what we've experienced. City says Turco broke rules, ignored offers of help Christopher Hadwin, the citys director of planning services, said the city has issued no fines over the museum, let alone $100 a day, but instead flagged two issues and extended multiple offers to work with Turco to resolve them. Hadwin said Turco had not secured a required conditional use permit, normally a routine step, and had made unapproved modifications to the downtown building, which is protected historic site. To date, the owners have not adequately responded or engaged with us to resolve those issues despite many attempts to reach them and offers to assist in submitting the necessary applications, he said. A mid-century style beauty salon set is seen at the Modernism Museum in Palm Springs in 2022. Separately, Hadwin said, the city determined through an audit of booking taxes a legally required step when a hotel is sold that Turco's Cheetah Hotel hadn't remitted everything it owed. Turco said the shortfall was $19,000, a figure the city would not confirm. (It was not immediately clear whether that shortage was from a prior owner.) When asked if the city had targeted Turco for political reasons, Hadwin said the city regularly enforces local regulations and has made several attempts to work with the Turcos to resolve the issues and that the couple had not responded but instead closed the museum. Hadwin also said he firmly disagreed with any notion that the city is discouraging economic development. As weve offered many times, city staff are available to assist should Ms. Turco wish to engage in resolving these issues, he said. Further controversy But those disputes with the city arent the extent of the problems Turco said she had in Palm Springs. She said she also started facing criticism on social media after she posted a picture of herself at a charity event at Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort. She said that led to calls for people to boycott her businesses over her supposed support of Trump and her husbands donations to the Republican Party. But Turco said those efforts were misguided as she is not personally a Trump supporter but rather a political independent who did not vote for Trump. She said she and her husband have made donations to members of both parties and that she was at Mar-A-Lago for a fashion event she had been invited to. As a socialite, Turco said, she mingles with people of all political persuasions, not just Republicans. Beyond what took place on social media and with the city, Turco said she also faced other challenges, including a squatter who was living in the museum building when she took it over and threatened her after she had him evicted, plus the museum's large windows bring broken on multiple occasions. It was just like one more thing, one more thing, one more thing, she said. I really didnt want to leave Palm Springs because it is totally my style and vibe. But my husband was like, Come on, this is (expletive). These people are not appreciative and they are not helpful. They are trying to destroy you instead of appreciate you. You have to go where you are appreciated. Moving on While the museum has been closed for months with a gone fishing sign affixed to it explaining that it will be on break until further notice, Turco confirmed to The Desert Sun that the museum is closed for good and that she recently packed up the entire contents and shipped them to Palm Beach. She said she does not know what will ultimately happen to the collection. However, she has had initial discussions with the University of Tampa, her alma mater, about creating an installation there. She has also had similar conversations about creating an installation at a New York hotel. The site of the former Modernism Museum is seen this week in Palm Springs. The downtown building that housed the museum, meanwhile, is listed for sale. Turco also confirmed she has sold properties where she said she was planning to develop new hotels in Desert Hot Springs and ended her promotional partnership with that city. However, Turco has not washed her hands of the desert entirely. She said she and her husband recently took the Gabor mansion off the market after not getting the price they were asking and are planning to turn it into a vacation rental. She said she is still working on creating a 16-unit home development called Art Parc in Joshua Tree, but said it is taking a long time to get approvals. Signs are seen in the window for the former Modernism Museum in Palm Springs this week. Turco said she has moved on to a happier life back east, where the business climate has been much more supportive of her and her husband. However, she said she remains frustrated by how she was treated by Palm Springs, noting she invested $20 million in the city and was considering much more, including buying the famous Racquet Club that has sat deserted for years. Ultimately, she says she has taken away one major lesson from her time in Palm Springs: If you see a beautiful car, you should look under the hood before you buy it. Paul Albani-Burgio covers breaking news and the City of Palm Springs. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and via email at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com. This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Tracy Turco closes Modernism Museum, ending time in Palm Springs The solar farm could supply 14,000 homes a year, developers say A new solar farm has been approved despite concerns about the number of similar schemes already nearby. The installation will cover 163 acres (66 hectares) north of Sadberge in County Durham. Developers Lightrock Power said Longpasture Solar Farm would generate enough power to supply 14,000 homes or 17,700 electric vehicles a year. But Darlington Borough Council planning committee member Deborah Laing said the area around the site was already "a carpet of solar farms". A committee meeting heard the plans had cross-party support in the council. But Ms Laing, Conservative councillor for Middleton St George and Sadberge, said the influx of solar farms was becoming a problem and questioned the consistency of local decisions. Its just going to be a carpet of solar farms, she said. 'Extremely visible' Conservative Lorraine Tostevin, who represents Hurworth, said the public consultation had been "non-existent. She told an agent representing the applicant that it had not addressed concerns raised with the company by parish councils. It hasnt been explained this will be on a hill," she said. "Its going to be extremely visible to a lot of the residents that live there. "The whole of this area is going to be covered in solar farms. The agent responded that the developer "did consult well" and was not invited to attend parish meetings "although we did request to. Concerns have also been raised about a separate application for a large solar farm at Byers Gill, which would cover land between Brafferton and Bishopton, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said. Residents are concerned about the size of the scheme and its impact on local agriculture. Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk. Inside the oldest Protestant church in Los Angeles, guests relax during a sound bath, which can feel spiritual in the acoustic setting without being religious. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Adrienne Bawa pulled into the parking lot of the First Congregational Church of L.A., her seven-seater Volvo filled with fabric, gongs and lights. It was two hours before the registered nurse and sound healer would welcome more than 50 people to a sound bath in the Koreatown church's soaring neo-Gothic Shatto chapel. There was a lot of work to do before they arrived. It looks beautiful already, said Bawa, a petite redhead and founder of Sound Bird Healing, gazing up at the churchs graceful stone pillars, vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows. But wait until you see what we do with it. Yana Horowitz, 36, of Calabasas, plays the crystal singing bowls during a sound bath. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times Lahila Oppenheimer finishes getting ready as guests arrive for a sound bath. Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times Two hours later the traditional chapel had been transformed into a vivid, flickering, cosmic sanctuary. The altar was lit in hues of red and pink (a nod to Venus being in retrograde), galaxy lights swirled on the ceiling and padded mats were laid out on the stone floor along with pillows, eye masks and blankets. By the time the first rhythmic sounds of Bawas skin drum began to fill the room, the space felt like a cross between a yoga class and an enchanted sleepover party. Spiritual? Maybe. Religious? Not so much. It may seem incongruous to hold a sound bath which Bawa describes as a sonic experience that uses live instruments to facilitate and enhance meditative states at the oldest Protestant church in Los Angeles. But sound bath practitioners say church buildings, which were designed with both spirituality and acoustics in mind, are a natural home for these events. Read more: Can you be healed by a sound frequency? From sound baths to TikTok, a debate (gently) rages There are so many people who have come to that space and been in a place of healing and transformation, so the energy is there, Bawa said. And architecturally, churches are designed to transmit sound. The dome ceiling and pillars that stick out from the walls of the Shatto chapel are not just decorative, she explained. They also serve as natural amplifiers, creating reverb by giving the instrumental sounds multiple surfaces to bounce off. They didnt have PA systems centuries ago, so they worked with the architecture, she said. It also helps that churches have historically been spaces meant for spirituality and prayer, said Lynda Arnold , founder of Sonic Devas Divine Feminine Sound Meditation Experience, who is hosting a sound bath at First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica on Aug. 27. Churches are definitely the place to invite people to be still, and to be in a contemplative moment, she said. There's also the issue of size. Guy Douglas held monthly sound baths at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco for more than 1,000 guests before the pandemic. Its beautiful and awe-inspiring, and the acoustics are really amazing, he said, but our whole thing was finding venues that were big enough to hold a lot of people. While many churches have resisted opening up their spaces to sound bath practitioners, others have welcomed this alternative use of their sacred spaces. It suits us very well because we do think about the mind-body-spirit connection, said the Rev. Laura Fregin, CEO and senior minister at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. Having Adriennes sound baths here fulfills a big piece of that for us. Lahila Oppenheimer, right, provides soothing light as guests lie on the floor and relax during a sound bath event inside the Shatto Chapel at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) A massage for the brain The specifics of sound baths are infinitely varied they might include electronic music, voice, wind instruments, gongs, drums, singing bowls and chimes. They can be held just about anywhere living rooms, parks, hospitals, gyms, jails or yoga studios. There may be just one practitioner, or several. For the sound bath at First Congregational Church, which cost between $55 and $66 depending on whether you brought your own mat and pillow, Bawa brought together six sound healers some experienced, some apprenticing. Together they led attendees on a sonic journey that began with drums and the hum of singing bowls, then crescendoed into the shimmering roar of gongs. Read more: Want to feel thrilled to be alive? Try death meditation Later, the musicians shook wide flat ocean drums and rain sticks over the heads of attendees, tinkled wooden beads and rang gentle chimes that called to mind childhood memories, fairies and the way light sparkles on the ocean surface. When it was all over, Bawa led everyone in the room through three loud Oms. Its like a massage for the brain, said Tatiana Arefyeva, a reiki master and tarot reader who attended the event. Bawa has approached several other churches about holding sound baths in their spaces, but most of them turned her down. There is a lot of resistance, she said. Some of them have questions about what is a sound bath and is it a witchy woo-woo thing. Others are worried about how it would be perceived by their members. Some of them were like, We dont understand the gongs or bowls.' First Congregational Church of L.A., where Bawa has been holding sound baths for two years, was more welcoming. A lot of their senior ministry came with an open heart and an open mind, she said. The sound bath felt like an enchanted sleepover party at times. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Fregin, the church's senior minister, had already attended a few sound baths by other practitioners before Bawa approached her. I was just so struck by the feeling of the living, breathing peace in all of us, Fregin said of the experience. The energy you share in a sound bath is just really incredible. In the future, she hopes the Shatto Chapel will host yoga and tai chi classes as well. It gives people the opportunity to be in a sacred space without needing to believe a certain thing or pass a religious test, Fregin said. This building is a wonderful gift and its really our desire to share it with the city. Allowing Bawa to rent the space also has exposed more traditional churchgoers to an experience they might not otherwise have sought out, she said. Last summer Fregin gave a ticket to the mother of one of her staffers, a practicing Christian who had grown up in a very religious home. It was the first time the woman had ever been to a sound bath. The next day she told Fregin that it had been one of the most profound experiences of her life and helped her heal wounds shed had from childhood. You dont go into a sound bath expecting something like that to happen, Fregin said, but what you can do is invite people into experiences that have the potential to be transformative. 'Modern sacred music' for the soul Noah Klein has been bringing new age and experimental musicians to churches since 2019, when he started working with the concert series Ambient Church, and more recently as co-founder of Floating , an L.A.-based collective that presents sonic gatherings (they dont call them sound baths) in beautiful and interesting places in several cities across the country. Read more: Text a cloud emoji to this number to float through L.A.'s sweet summer nights Musicians who use modular synths, strings and elongated vocals are a natural fit for church spaces, he said, because the music they play is not that different from what has traditionally filled those rooms. Its like modern sacred music, but its sacred to the spirit rather than sacred toward a specific version of faith, Klein said. But he also noted that community churches have a long history of hosting decidedly nonspiritual secular music as well, particularly all-ages punk and hardcore shows. You can pick up any zine on all-ages music and they will talk about reaching out to your local community center, rec center or church, Klein said. Fugazi played churches. This has been going on since at least the 80s. Sound bath practitioners say church buildings, which were designed with both spirituality and acoustics in mind, are a natural home for these events. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Katerina Ushakova, 34, from Encino, plays crystal singing bowls alight with an array of colors. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) Dan Dick, lead pastor at the Peoples United Methodist Church in Wisconsin, who has written about how churches can make better use of their buildings , said the modern practice of churches hosting sound baths is reminiscent of when churches used to host coffeehouses in the 90s. Its trying to make the church a more comfortable, real place where people come for a variety of reasons and not just for a traditional Sunday morning service, he said. Ive seen more progressive churches offer things like sound baths as a way to say that not everybody encounters spirit the same way. He added that some of the instruments associated with sound baths have a deep history in the Christian tradition. Many of the early monasteries and convents took vows of silence, but that did not include singing, bells or gongs, he said. Back at the First Congregational Church, nobody was ready to get off their mat when the sound bath ended. People who had been laughing with their friends and taking selfies an hour and a half earlier looked glassy-eyed and peaceful, as if they were coming out of a trance. Arefyeva, the reiki master, said she had looked up the First Congregational Church before she came to make sure she would feel comfortable attending a sound bath in a Christian chapel. She was assured by what she read. "This church is not super traditional or strict," she said. "Here, all faiths are accepted. I know not every church would be on board." Desiree Noel, 40, one of the evening's instrumentalists, also said it was important to her to be in a church that welcomes everyone. It heightens the vibrations, she said. 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. Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 approaches Manchester Boston Regional Airport, Friday, June 2, 2023, in Manchester, N.H. On Monday, a federal judge ordered three Southwest Airlines attorneys to attend religious liberty training as punishment for not following an earlier court-made mandate. | Charles Krupa, Associated Press On Monday, a federal judge ordered three Southwest Airlines attorneys to attend religious liberty training after not following an earlier court-made mandate. Earlier this year, the Dallas-based airline fired Charlene Carter a Southwest flight attendant of more than 20 years for political and religious opinions expressed on social media, reported the Texan. District Judge Brantley Starr awarded the flight attendant $5 million and required the airline to reinstate her. Starr also told the airline to inform Southwest flight attendants that, under Title VII, they may not discriminate against Southwest flight attendants for their religious practices and beliefs, including but not limited to those expressed on social media and those concerning abortion, reported CNN. Instead, the airline wrote a memo to all flight attendants that stated, Southwest does not discriminate against our Employees for their religious practices and beliefs, per The Associated Press. It also included harsh criticism of Carters actions, telling the employees to follow the policy that got Carter fired. The court concluded that training on religious freedom for three lawyers at Southwest the Court finds responsible (Kerrie Forbes, Kevin Minchey, and Chris Maberry) is the least restrictive means of achieving compliance with the Courts order, the judge said, per CNN. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has conducted such training in the past, and the Court deems that appropriate here. Following the other requirement, the airlines attorneys reinstated Carter but still maintained that she was harassing co-workers. Although Southwest contends the Email Notice still substantially complied with the judgment, Southwest has already offered to purge this alleged contempt by providing a corrective notice replacing the does not discriminate language with may not discriminate, they wrote. Put another way, there is no conduct for religious-liberty training to remedy. ADF, a conservative group asked to conduct the training, replied to the mandate in a statement made to CNN that its pleased that the judge and jury protected the religious speech of the employee in this case. The choice to have ADF do the training is troubling to some, like David Lopez, who was general counsel for the U.S. Equal Employment Commission during the Barack Obama administration and current law professor at Rutgers University. The court is moving into some really dangerous territory here, Lopez told Reuters. He told Reuters that because of the groups conservative Christian viewpoint, it could interfere with the lawyers rights, especially if they identify as something other than Christian. The training is to last at least eight hours and be completed before Aug. 28, per CNN. Related Southwest Airlines said it plans to appeal a federal judges order that requires training on religious freedom for three of its lawyers, according to a statement shared with The Hill. U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr, a Trump appointee, on Monday ordered the Southwest attorneys to undergo training by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Christian conservative legal advocacy group. The judge wrote in a 29-page ruling that ADF has conducted such training in the past, and the Court deems that appropriate here. ADF has argued numerous cases seeking to bolster religious protections across the country while also pushing back on LGBTQ and abortion rights. The group describes itself on its website as the worlds largest organization dedicated to protecting religious freedom. The sanctions order follows a previous ruling in which Starr ordered Southwest to reinstate Charlene Carter, a flight attendant fired in 2017 for posting on social media about abortion. A jury issued a verdict against the airline and her union last year, finding it discriminated against her over her anti-abortion stance. The judge wrote Monday that the airline was ordered to inform Southwest flight attendants that, under Title VII, [Southwest] may not discriminate against Southwest flight attendants for their religious practices and beliefs. Instead, Southwests notice said, [t]he court ordered us to inform you that Southwest does not discriminate against our Employees for their religious practices and beliefs.' Southwests notice failed to mention Title VII, that the federal law known as Title VII contains a prohibition, and that that prohibition forbids Southwest from discriminating against flight attendants for their religious beliefs. Instead, Southwests notice communicated that theres nothing to see hereaside from the Courts bequeathing Southwest a badge of honor for not discriminating (which the Court did not do), he added. The judge ordered the training to be completed by Aug. 28, and he told Southwest to reissue language verbatim about the decision to its flight attendants and pay Carters legal fees. We plan to appeal the recent court order and are in the process of appealing the underlying judgment to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Southwest said in a statement Wednesday. The jury awarded Carter $5.1 million last year, but Starr in 2022 had cut the award to about $800,000 while ordering the airline to rehire the woman. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Bob Schavey was three years old when he moved with his parents to Rock Hill in 1963. He has been a member of Grace Lutheran Church ever since, and the church has played a key role in his life. I have seen Grace transform from being that strange church that no one knew much about -- I can remember being in public school and being asked if we believed in Jesus -- to an active part of the Rock Hill community, Schavey said recently. Most of my life has been centered around Grace. I grew up here, I was married here, my children were baptized here, my mothers and fathers funerals were here. When I attend service, I am reminded of this history when I see the eternal flame (the candle) and the stained glass windows that were placed in memory of my mother. As Schavey, now 63, celebrates his 60th anniversary as a member of Grace, the church itself is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The congregation is observing this milestone over the course of this year by looking back at the churchs legacy in the community. For more details go to gracerockhill.com We are going about a decade at a time to look back on what the history of Grace has been here in Rock Hill, said Senior Pastor Gregg Hoffman. Some of that is the historical look back, some of that includes a meal and some concerts that are coming up in the fall. Were bringing back former pastors as their schedules allow, and its been wonderful to see people connect with someone that used to be their pastor in a very direct way and celebrate their legacy. Hoffman said looking back at a century of Graces history is fostering hope for the churchs future. My wife and I have been pastors here for almost five years, so we are newbies compared to the ninety-five years that have preceded us, but it has already been such a special part of our service as pastors to spend time here at Grace, he said. We hope to be here for a long time and hope to continue to be a part of the larger story that God is writing here with these people. It helps us see how everyone has grown and changed and how God has been with us through so many seasons of life, it helps us to celebrate this one, and frankly, it makes us excited about the next one. Schavey said the church has grown from 14 members in 1923 to 500 today, but there are some things that havent changed. To me, some things have always stayed the same. Its the same kind of people, its always been a very friendly congregation, even back when I was really little, and that goes on today, he said. Graces congregation still meets in the original building, erected in 1925. Additional buildings have been added. Grace Lutheran on Oakland Avenue was built in 1923. Grace has always opened its doors to worshippers from all walks of life. In the 1960s, among the congregation was Winthrops first African-American student, Cynthia Plair Roddey. Roddey said she first came to Grace in 1953 during her school breaks and continued attending throughout the Civil Rights Movement. Roddey has been a Friend of Grace for 70 years. I have made so many wonderful friends. Over the years, Grace has made a conscious effort to love thy neighbor. It has sought solutions for racism, homelessness, religious intolerance, sexual discrimination, and political injustice. My home church is Prince of Peace in Charlotte, NC, but Grace has become a place where I can worship in peace, Roddey said recently. Schavey said he takes pride in the amount of community outreach Grace initiates. Fellow Rock Hill citizens certainly see our works in the community. They will remember us from speaking at the Way of the Cross procession downtown during Good Friday, or they may remember the hot chocolate and popcorn during the Rock Hill (Christmas) parade, Schavey said. Even today, I think everybody is welcome here, no matter who they are. Whether its because of race or because of their orientation or anything like that, everyone is always welcome at Grace, Schavey said. Hoffman points to how the church has grown over the years. The most interesting thing is how it has grown from being fourteen people meeting in a room at Winthrop when the school was the womens college to this congregation that is so integrated with the community now, Hoffman said. Were a resource to people who dont even necessarily come for worship. Maybe they vote here, or maybe their quilting group meets here, or they welcome newcomers to York County here, or theyre here for a recovery program. We are not exclusively a resource for faith. We are a way that faith is tangible for people who dont even have it. We can show people what it is to be a disciple of Jesus who makes space for everybody. Whatever theyre looking for, they can find it. There are two services for Sunday morning worship at Grace, one at 8:30 a.m. and another at 11 a.m. However, Graces summer worship schedule with one Sunday service at 10 a.m. extends through Sept. 3. Amid a summer with blistering heat waves and Earth's hottest month on record, Spain is looking to goats as a solution to combat wildfires. Spain has struggled with limited rainfall and dry terrain, making the country susceptible to wildfires. Goat herds, with their ability to clear underbrush and create fire breaks at low cost and without detriment to the environment, have long been seen as a key tool for wildfire mitigation. Various methods are currently being developed to sustain and encourage their use. Using goats to fight fires is not a new idea. In Andalucia, in southern Spain, shepherds have been patrolling forests with their herds "for thousands of years," Laura Rayas, a technical adviser for forest firefighting at INFOCA of the Junta de Andalucia, said in an interview. "Mediterranean ecosystems have been linked to livestock use for thousands of years, so they do not cause disturbances," Rayas said. A shepherd crosses a road with his herd of goats in Andalucia, Spain. Goats are increasingly seen as a solution to wildfire mitigation. / Credit: Getty Images But as wildfires scorch the earth at an increasingly alarming rate, Spain has been working to refine this age-old approach to ensure misconceptions, public perceptions and costs don't hinder the use of goat herds. Low-cost and "highly effective" Goats can reach areas and terrain difficult for humans and impossible for brush-clearing machines to reach. Their propensity and appetite make the herds "highly effective" for clearing shrubs that can grow back quickly. Costs for goats to clear brush run about 180 euros (about $197) per hectare, compared to 1,000 euros (about $1,097) for a brush-clearing crew, said BBVA. Goat herds run about 75% percent cheaper than brush crews, according to the Spanish National Research Council. In the U.S., the use of herds is also considerably less expensive than using machinery or crews to clear brush. Goat-powered fuel reduction costs between $400-$500 per acre, nearly one-third of the cost of more labor-intensive methods of brush clearing, the U.S. Forest Service found after running a pilot program to clear the Cleveland National Forest in California. More countries "think outside of the box" Countries with similar climates have followed Spain's blueprint. In the U.S., California has implemented targeted grazing statewide as part of its strategy to reduce wildfire risks even though recent skirmishes around labor laws and overtime payments could hold up some programs. In the San Francisco Bay Area, goats and sheep are used by the transportation system to mitigate fire hazards. After wildfires devastated several communities in Colorado, some municipalities implemented goat grazing programs. A goat protecting ocean view homes from wildfire in Laguna Beach, CA. Although the goats provide a cost - effective brush-clearing method, some environmentalists worry that they also destroy endangered plants and alter the ecosystem. / Credit: Getty Images Reno, Nevada, announced in June that they will be using young Spanish goats to graze in areas of the city. "Rosewood Canyons is prone to fire," Reno Fire Marshal Tray Palmer said in a news release. "We saw it with the Caughlin Fire and we saw it again with the Pinehaven Fire. Sometimes we have to think outside of the box with fire mitigation and in this case, it's goats." After deadly 2017 wildfires in Chile that left dozens dead, thousands injured and almost 1,700 square miles destroyed, a program modeled on those of Spain's and named "Buena Cabra," or the "good goat," was started to control wildfires, Reuters reported. New approaches to incentivize goat herds In Spain, the next step will be convincing communities of the benefits of letting goats graze freely, as there is still "great ignorance" around the value of this approach, Rayas said. Some herds are outfitted with GPS devices to constrain the goats from wandering and bumping into hikers, tourists, or others, said BBVA Open Mind. Goats are "a key management model for preventing Big Forest Fires," Guillem Armengol, a project technician at the Pau Costa Foundation, told BBVA. A man is seen with his goats close to the fire of Valleseco in the island of Gran Canaria. / Credit: Getty Images In Extremadura, a dry region in western Spain near the Portuguese border, a local professor started the Mosaic Project, which teaches shepherds to grow high-value crops such as olives, chestnuts, fruit trees and vines in fire breaks created by goats. The initiative provides administrative and field technical advice, among other services, and it helps shepherds who want to participate with their applications for funding. Goatherders, shepherds and farmers in Andalucia and Valencia were paid bonuses if they concentrated their herds on fire breaks for a certain amount of time or if the goats cleared a certain amount of vegetation, according to the European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism. In Andalucia, 223 shepherds with more than 6,100 hectares of grazed land had received payments by 2016. Iran moves 4 Americans to house arrest, lawyer says, in possible first step in their release Watch: Virgin Galactic launches first space tourism flight Football player gives his scholarship to hardworking teammate Special counsel Jack Smith, pictured Aug. 1 at the Justice Department, is seeking a Jan. 2 start date for former President Trump's federal felony trial over alleged efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss. (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) Special counsel Jack Smith proposed a Jan. 2 trial date on Thursday in his prosecution of former President Trump on four felony charges related to Trump's alleged efforts to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election. Smith said his team will need four to six weeks to present its case at trial, according to a federal court filing. Trump has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy against rights and obstruction of or attempting to obstruct an official proceeding. He pleaded not guilty Aug. 3. "A January 2 trial date would vindicate the publics strong interest in a speedy trial an interest guaranteed by the Constitution and federal law in all cases, but of particular significance here, where the defendant, a former president, is charged with conspiring to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election, obstruct the certification of the election results, and discount citizens legitimate votes," Smith said in the motion. Trump's legal team has until Aug. 17 to file its own brief with a proposed trial date and estimated trial length. U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan has indicated she plans to set the trial date during an Aug. 28 hearing. Smith said in his filing that a speedy trial should be possible because of the public nature of the investigation and the televised investigation conducted by a U.S. House select committee last year. "The defendant has a greater and more detailed understanding of the evidence supporting the charges against him at the outset of this criminal case than most defendants, and is ably advised by multiple attorneys, including some who have represented him in this matter for the last year," Smith said in the filing. Trump's lawyers have pressed for the Justice Department to provide them with more information about the scope of evidence it will hand over as part of the discovery process. Smith's team has said it is prepared to provide the defense with the evidence as soon as both sides agree on a protective order outlining what information can be made public before the trial and who may access the evidence. The issue could be resolved as soon as Friday morning. Chutkan has ordered prosecutors and Trump's defense team to appear before her after they were unable to reach a consensus. Get the best of the Los Angeles Times politics coverage with the Essential Politics newsletter. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Special counsel Jack Smith Thursday asked a judge to set a Jan. 2, 2024 trial date for former President Donald Trump on charges he tried to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. The bulldog prosecutor says jury selection in the case, which includes Trumps alleged role in the bloody Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, should start in December. Smith estimated the trial itself should take between four and six weeks in a filing requested by U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan. A January 2 trial date would vindicate the publics strong interest in a speedy trial, prosecutors wrote in a filing. (Its) of particular significance here, where the defendant, a former president, is charged with conspiring to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election. Trumps defense team is likely to call for a much later trial date, most likely after the November 2024 presidential election. He has claimed that any trial before the election would be unfair to him as candidate to return to the White House. The former president has until next week to make his case to Chutkan, who has said she will set a trial date at an Aug. 28 preliminary hearing. Trump pleaded not guilty last week to a four-count indictment on conspiring to defraud the U.S., to obstruct official proceedings and to deprive people of their rights, a charge often used in civil rights cases. Smiths proposed trial date and a schedule for pretrial motions is considered extremely aggressive. It would mean Trump would be facing trial before the third anniversary of the infamous Jan. 6 attack in which an army of his loyal supporters sought to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Bidens election win. It is difficult to imagine a public interest stronger than this case in which the defendant the former President of the United States is charged with three criminal conspiracies intended to ... disenfranchise voters, prosecutors wrote. Besides the Jan. 6 case, Trump faces a May 2024 trial in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. He is accused of stashing hundreds of secret documents after leaving office and defying federal efforts to get them back. Prosecutors in Atlantas Fulton County reportedly plan to ask a grand jury there to charge Trump in a sprawling election interference conspiracy as soon as next week. He also faces a March 2024 trial in a Manhattan court on charges related to hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump faces a second civil rape trial in New York in January stemming from a jurys finding that he sexually assaulted writer E. Jean Carroll. It was not immediately clear if that case might need to be moved if the Jan. 6 case is taking place at the same time. By Jacqueline Thomsen WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. prosecutors on Thursday asked a federal judge to begin former President Donald Trump's trial on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden on Jan. 2, 2024. That date would have the trial get under way just two weeks before the first votes are cast in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, a race in which Trump is the front-runner. U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith's office asked a judge in a court filing on Thursday to start the trial on Jan. 2 in part due to the public's interest in a speedy trial. Smith's office said that interest is "of particular significance here, where the defendant, a former president, is charged with conspiring to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election, obstruct the certification of the election results, and discount citizens legitimate votes." A spokesperson for Trump said Smith and the Justice Department "are blatantly playing political games," citing Trump's status as a front-runner in the 2024 election. Trump himself said on his Truth Social platform that any trial should be held after the 2024 U.S. elections. Such a date would potentially give him the power to end his prosecution if he were to become president again. "Such a trial ...... should only happen, if at all, AFTER THE ELECTION," Trump said in a post on Thursday. Prosecutors also predicted it will take about four to six weeks to put forward the bulk of their case against Trump at trial. Trump last week pleaded not guilty to charges over the alleged election conspiracy. Smith's office said it is prepared to turn over to Trump by the end of August most of the evidence it intends to use at trial in a process known as discovery. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, who is presiding over the election case, is set to hold a Friday hearing on how that evidence may be handled by Trump and his defense team. Prosecutors also said there is a "minimal" amount of classified information involved in the election case, and asked Chutkan to address that issue at a previously scheduled Aug. 28 hearing. A January trial would have Trump on trial three times in the first half of 2024. He will go to trial in March over New York state charges that he falsified documents in connection with hush money payments to a porn star. Trump also faces a May trial from Smith in southern Florida over the retention of classified documents after leaving office. (Reporting by Jacqueline Thomsen, Jasper Ward and Kanishka Singh in WashingtonWriting by David LjunggrenEditing by Scott Malone, Deepa Babington and Matthew Lewis) A Spencerport teacher faces federal child pornography charges after he allegedly posed as a high school student and sent sexually explicit photos and videos to a girl. Ian Milam, 37, of Pittsford has been charged with production, receipt, and possession of child pornography, and transfer of obscene material to a minor, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Milam has been an elementary and middle school teacher for the Spencerport Central School District since 2018, according to school district officials. He was most recently a sixth grade teacher at Cosgrove Middle School, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan K. McGuire, who is prosecuting the case, said that Milam is accused of contacting two girls, ages 11 and 12, via Snapchat using the usernames usernames "matteckler" and "mikeywikey37." Milam, who allegedly posed as a Spencerport high school student, is accused of sending sexually explicit photos and videos to an 11-year-old girl and convincing her to send a photo of herself back, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. He is also accused of coercing a 12-year-old girl to send sexually explicit photos to him. Both girls were Spencerport students, according to the criminal complaint. The investigation started on May 3, when the Greece Police Department received a report that a sexually explicit video was discovered on the 12-year-old girls phone. According to federal officials, the girl said she got the video from her 11-year-old friend. Authorities executed search warrants, which traced the videos to Milam's accounts. usernames "matteckler" and "mikeywikey37. Investigators said they also found numerous sexually explicit conversations between Milam and other Snapchat users who appeared to be minors. Ty Zinkiewich, Superintendent of the Spencerport Central School, shared a message with Spencerport staff and families on Wednesday saying he was "upset and angry," but felt it was important to share what he could about Milam's arrest. Zinkiewich said that Milam has been placed on administrative leave and his access to all district electronic resources and buildings has been revoked. He was also directed not to have any contact with SCSD students, staff or families. The FBI and Greece police told district officials about Milam's arrest Wednesday morning, he said. "We are working with investigators to determine whether our students may be involved," Zinkiewich said. "We encourage families with students who may have had him as a teacher or advisor to ask about their online activity." The FBI identified two Snapchat accounts that Milam used: matteckler and mikeywikey37. Anyone with information or who has interacted with these accounts is asked to call the FBI at (585) 279-0085. "The district was never given any reason to suspect illegal or inappropriate behavior by Milam in any way," Zinkiewich said. A background check and employment screening were completed - including a search of the state Sex Offender Registry - before Milam was hired and "came through with the approval from the State Education Department," Zinkiewich said. The district has also initiated its own internal review. School district officials said they are working with Bivona Child Advocacy Center to support Spencerport students and their families. Milam appeared Wednesday in federal court and is being held pending a detention hearing at 10 a.m. Monday. If convicted, the charge carries a minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years in prison. This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Ian Milam charged with producing, possessing child pornography In recent months, Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist organization backed by Iran, has escalated provocations against Israel from Lebanese territory and along the Lebanon-Israel border. This shift in tactics follows a period of relative restraint from the organization and could indicate that the organization sees the unfolding political crisis in Israel as an opportune moment to strengthen its grip on Lebanon. Hezbollah's relentless efforts to gather intelligence over time have led to a deepening understanding of Israel's military, economic and technological might. However, this knowledge has come at a high cost, as the organization's past assessments of Israel's weaknesses have proved erroneous and resulted in disastrous consequences for both Hezbollah and Lebanon. The mastermind behind these provocations is none other than Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader. Nasrallah's dangerous assumption is that these acts of provocation won't trigger a strong Israeli response and confrontation, because he believes Israel has little interest in engaging in such a conflict. In this Nov. 3, 2014, file photo, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah addresses supporters. Today, Israels existence is threatened by Hezbollah on the north and on the south by Hamas in Gaza, both supported by Iran. The primary reason Nasrallah seeks to strengthen Hezbollah's control in Lebanon is to project his group as leading the struggle against the Zionist state within the framework of the Iranian-supported "axis of resistance and defiance." This alliance consists of various Iranian-backed military and political organizations, terror groups and proxies like Hezbollah, Palestinian organizations including Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Iraqi Shiite militias all of which work to realize the goal of Israel's destruction through violence. However, over time, the Lebanese and the Arab world have come to realize that Hezbollah's actions are in fact primarily directed against fellow Arabs, including the Lebanese people themselves. Many openly assert that Hezbollah is merely an Iranian puppet, effectively transforming Lebanon into an Iranian satellite state. Lebanons call for Hezbollah to disarm has been disregarded by Nasrallah, who argues that the group's weapons are necessary to protect the country from Israel and safeguard its interests, such as the land and maritime borders with Israel, and Lebanons offshore gas reserves. Hezbollah's most recent provocation, setting up two tents in the area known as Shabah Farms, reflects another element of its deliberate marketing strategy. Although Lebanon claims the farms as part of its territory, historical evidence proves they were originally part of Syria. Despite this, Hezbollah uses the Shab'ah Farms issue as a pretext, asserting that the groups armaments are meant and necessary for "liberating" the farms and "restoring" Lebanese sovereignty. These tents were placed about 30 yards south of the U.N.-monitored Blue Line, which was established after Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 based on a U.N. Security Council resolution meant to set a border between Israel and Lebanon. This move serves Nasrallah's argument that Hezbollah functions as the protector of Lebanon's interests. Avi Melamed: This is what we can learn from the lessons of the Iran nuclear deal More perspective: Weve recently heard about the Axis of Resistance and Defiance, but what is it? Yet previous misjudgments by Hezbollahs paramilitary planner have resulted in provocations against Israel that led to an Israeli response that devastated Hezbollah and public support for its work. After Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, Hassan Nasrallah famously referred to Israel as a "spiderweb," saying Israel was destined to dissolve and disappear and that Israel wouldnt muster strong responses to Hezbollahs actions. This perception was further reinforced by a series of exchanges of military punches between Israel and Hezbollah in the subsequent years. However, the fateful summer of 2006 saw Hezbollah launch an attack on an Israeli military patrol within Israeli territory, believing that Israel would not respond forcefully. This misjudgment triggered a 33-day war that inflicted enormous destruction and devastation in Lebanon and incited anger among the Shiite population in southern Lebanon a stronghold for Hezbollah targeted against the group. The aftermath of the war saw harsh criticism of Hezbollah in the Arab world, and Nasrallah himself admitted that had he known the attack would lead to such a conflict, he would have refrained from launching it in the first place. Since then, Hezbollah has largely refrained from direct attacks on Israel. While Hezbollah's understanding of Israel has grown deeper, the lessons from the 2006 war have resulted in a more cautious approach. Nasrallah and his organization now fully appreciate the potential consequences of underestimating Israel's response, leading them to exercise restraint in their actions toward their southern neighbor. Amid the severe political crisis in Israel, Nasrallah has brought back his narrative of the "spiderweb theory" and has recently increased provocations by Hezbollah, assuming Israel either wont respond or wont respond meaningfully. However, the measured escalation of these actions indicates that the memory of the devastating 2006 war still lingers. Nasrallah knows that Israel is a very dangerous tiger, even when it is wounded. The incessant strikes that Israel inflicts on Iran in Syria serve as a stark and constant reminder of this. In these tense times, it is crucial to recognize that Hezbollah's provocation holds the potential to spiral out of control, that just one match may lead to a fire that neither side wants. Avi Melamed is a former Israeli intelligence official who went on to serve as deputy and then as senior Arab affairs adviser to Jerusalem Mayors Teddy Kollek and Ehud Olmert, operating as a negotiator during the first and second intifadas. He is the author of "Inside The Middle East | Entering A New Era, and his latest docuseries, The Seam Line, available on the Izzy streaming platform, focuses on Jerusalems flashpoints and his work during the intifadas. Avi Melamed This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Is Hezbollah misreading Israel again? During ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigans long reign, his chief of staff Tim Mapes placed in his office a pointed piece of artwork. The sign, as observers recalled, featured a quote from the classic film The Wizard of Oz, reading: Nobody gets in to see the wizard. Not nobody, not no how. Who in the analogy did you understand the wizard to be? a federal prosecutor asked Rep. Bob Rita, who testified in Mapes perjury trial Thursday. Madigan, Rita answered. Rita, D-Blue Island, was on the witness stand Thursday for the second time this year in one of the sweeping federal cases tied to Madigan and his Democratic allies. Mapes is charged with lying to a grand jury in an attempt to thwart the investigation into alleged wrongdoing by Madigan and his longtime friend, powerhouse lobbyist Michael McClain. When questioned under oath in 2021, Mapes said he couldnt remember anything substantive about Madigan and McClains relationship. His defense asserts that he honestly could not recall certain matters, and that having a hazy memory is not a crime. Asked on Thursday to describe the former power structure at the top of the Illinois House, Rita drew a triangle in the air above him. At the highest point, he said, was Madigan. Then, moving his hands to the lower corners of the triangle, on either side were Mapes the gatekeeper and Madigans confidant, McClain. Rita testified in a thick Chicago accent and frequently sipped water. He often turned his head to cough. At one point, he said he was carrying Jolly Rancher candies with him. McClain has already been convicted in the ComEd Four trial, which also featured Rita as a witness. Madigan and McClain both await trial in a separate racketeering case. They have pleaded not guilty. Tying the three men together Mapes, Madigan and McClain is key to prosecutors claim that it was completely implausible for Mapes not to have known about Madigan and McClains actions. Rita even showed jurors on a blueprint of the speakers suite how McClain often sat by himself working in a conference room situated between the offices of Madigan and Mapes. While Mapes held meetings next to the Wizard of Oz sign or gave orders on the House floor, McClain, a longtime lobbyist, was often seated on a bench outside the speakers offices, Rita said. Jurors were shown a Tribune photo of McClain holding court from the bench facing the Capitol rotunda as he looked up at three other lobbyists standing nearby. Mapes derived significant power from his proximity to Madigan, and he wielded it assertively, Rita said. He ran a tight ship, Rita said, with a frown on his face and a slight waver in his voice. He ran the House, he kept the trains on time, he kept a lot of moving parts moving. Rita took the stand after receiving a letter from federal prosecutors confirming he was not a target of the investigation, he testified. While Ritas testimony was detailed about the goings on in Springfield, it was not as vivid as his under-oath statements during the ComEd Four trial, when he said Madigan ruled his caucus through fear and intimidation. Jurors on Thursday heard the first of what is expected to be many recordings of wiretapped phone conversations. Prosecutors played audio of a May 2018 conversation between Rita and McClain discussing gambling legislation. Whats our next move? Rita asked McClain, kicking off a casual conversation. Twice, McClain tells Rita he will have to check with Mapes on how to go forward. Listen to the audio Even after Mapes was ousted in June 2018 over a #MeToo scandal, he still showed an awareness of what was happening in Springfield, and his attention to detail was sharp, Rita said. While on the stand, Rita also described how Madigan told Rita in 2013 that Rita would be taking over sponsorship of sweeping gambling expansion legislation. Rita said Madigan indicated he had a conflict of interest with the legislation, a concern that generally prompts lawmakers to steer clear of such a bill. The nature of the conflict was not disclosed in court. Shortly after Madigan informed Rita of his new responsibility, Rita testified, McClain appeared outside the speakers Capitol office door. As I was walking out of the office, Rita said, Mike McClain was standing there. He (Madigan) indicated that Mike McClain would assist me and guide me. Gambling legislation, particularly one that included a new casino in Chicago and elsewhere around the state, was one of the thorniest matters to navigate in Springfield because there are so many different special interests seeking input, including horse racing and established riverboats. Rita said McClain was made available so I would be guided in the right direction. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Schwartz immediately asked: The right direction according to whom? The speaker, Rita replied, an answer that signaled Madigan could have influence over the legislation despite his potential conflict of interest. Prosecutors underscored that point when they asked Rita about McClain seeking to add a last minute amendment to far-reaching utility legislation when it passed Dec. 1, 2016. McClain, who was a ComEd lobbyist, had by that time established a rapport with Rita because they had worked closely for nearly three years on gambling legislation. Rita, the utility bills sponsor, was initially opposed to the late amendment when it popped up in a committee hearing because he was unaware it was coming and did not know how it would affect the overall bill. But Rita testified he dropped his opposition when McClain talked to me when the hearing was going on and gave assurances that the amendment would be OK, that Rita could move to adopt it. Mike McClain wouldnt give me advice that would be adverse to what the speaker would want, Rita said, providing another glimpse of Madigans potential influence over legislation even when his fingerprints are not directly on it. In fact, Madigan was recorded as not voting on the final roll call when the overall bill passed. Also Thursday, prosecutors called witnesses to familiarize jurors with the grand jury process, taking them through the procedures in fine-grain detail. Former high-ranking federal prosecutor Gary Shapiro took the stand, as well as the official court reporter who took down the transcript of Mapes 2021 grand jury testimony transcripts that are usually subject to intense secrecy. Flashes of that transcript were displayed on the screen in the courtroom, including the record of an admonishment to Mapes: If you tell the truth youre in good shape, the questioner told Mapes, according to the part of the transcript shown on screen. If you lie, theres a prosecution for perjury potentially in your future. And Mapes testimony was key to federal authorities anti-corruption probe, testified Brendan OLeary, former head of the FBIs public corruption squad in Chicago. Madigan was well known for being cautious about using the telephone, and OLeary said finding out what Madigan was doing required going through his de facto deputies. No cellphone, no email, no text. He relied on his tight inner circle, OLeary said. ... Thats how he communicated. Through people he trusted. Thats how his orders went out. Outside jurors presence, Mapes attorneys revealed that McClain had in fact been interviewed by FBI agents more than once unrelated to the ComEd affair. McClain spoke to authorities in 2013, 2014 and 2016, but U.S. District Judge John Kness barred mention of that in front of the jury, saying it was not relevant to whether Mapes lied. In cross-examining OLeary, the defense set the stage for what will likely be a key part of their argument: that McClain was a notorious blusterer. So even though Mapes had heard McClain say he had assignments from Madigan, Mapes couldnt be certain that was actually true thus, he wasnt lying when he said he didnt know about any such assignments. In an attempt to paint McClain as unreliable, defense attorney Andrew Porter showed OLeary transcripts of wiretapped conversations in which he made wild claims. Porter said, according to transcripts, McClain also suggested then-Gov. Bruce Rauner might pay to up $100,000 in exchange for a report making Madigan look bad. Porter also pointed to a transcript in which he said McClain accused someone of shaking down Major League Baseball. In opening statements Wednesday, prosecutors alleged Mapes deliberately lied and misled a federal grand jury because he wanted to protect the boss. The Mapes defense team countered he did his level best to answer truthfully but could not remember details about Madigans activities with McClain, partly because Madigan jettisoned Mapes in June 2018. Madigan asked for Mapes resignation from three major roles chief of staff, House clerk and executive director of the Madigan-run Democratic Party of Illinois after a downstate staffer accused him of sexual harassment and fostering a culture of sexism, harassment and bullying. When Madigan first pushed Mapes out, one political operative told the Tribune that the existence of the Wizard of Oz sign in Mapes office represented a nod to the chief of staffs heavy-handed gatekeeper role. mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com rlong@chicagotribune.com EVANSVILLE For the first time since Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation Board of Trustees member Amy Word's arrest, a witness willing to testify against her was scheduled to appear in open court. But things did not go as prosecutors had hoped Thursday morning. The witness, Bryan Biggs, was set to receive limited immunity to testify about his knowledge of alleged drug use and dealing at Lamasco Bar & Grill, which Word owns and which the police deemed to be a "common nuisance." But as Circuit Court Magistrate Judge Ryan C. Reed initiated proceedings Thursday morning, Biggs was nowhere to be found. Biggs' attorney tried, and failed, to locate his client who was scheduled to be deposed by prosecutors Thursday afternoon. A redo is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday. In another strange twist during Thursdays hearing, a paragraph in a separate motion filed by prosecutors claimed Word would receive her own limited immunity. Reed zeroed in on that claim, saying he was a bit confused by it. Ultimately, it was just a typo. Word is still charged with maintaining a common nuisance, a Level 6 felony, to which she has pleaded not guilty. Since her July 2022 arrest, Word has been on an unpaid leave of absence from the EVSC school board. Evansville police described Biggs as a former Lamasco employee who was arrested and initially charged with dealing cocaine in August 2022. Biggs required limited immunity to conduct depositions and testify, prosecutors wrote, in order to avoid incriminating himself. According to court records, Biggs ultimately pleaded guilty to possession of a narcotic drug in October 2022, but a final judgment in his case was withheld, and he was transferred to the county's pre-trial diversion program. According to an affidavit of probable cause, Biggs previously told Evansville Police Department detectives he acted as a "middleman" during cocaine deals while he worked at Lamasco Bar & Grill. "Biggs stated he gets the money and meets the dealer in the back parking lot [of Lamasco] and delivered the cocaine back inside Lamasco," Detective Matthew Knight wrote in Biggs' arrest affidavit. During a police interview, Biggs reportedly said cocaine and other drugs were frequently sold at Word's bar, especially on Friday nights. Word and her attorney, Bob Canada, have disputed several claims Knight put forth in multiple arrest affidavits associated with the EPDs Franklin Street investigation, including Words. Just weeks earlier, Canada said he believed prosecutors had found only two witnesses who would testify at Word's trial, which is scheduled to be held at a yet-to-be-determined location outside of Vanderburgh County in March 2024. Canada characterized the two witnesses as a woman accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from Word's bar and their romantic partner, both of whom would have an incentive to lie about Word, Canada contended. More: Ahead of trial, Amy Word and her attorney go on the offensive against witnesses, police On Thursday, Canada told the Courier & Press that Biggs was not one of the two witnesses he cited in the July Courier & Press report. And aside from Biggs, there now appears to be another state witness Canada did not previously mention. But Words defense team isnt worried, at least publicly. I believe that they will establish that Amy had no involvement or knowledge of illegal activities, Canada said after Thursdays proceedings. The state also intends to grant limited immunity to Dylan Wallace in order for him to testify about his knowledge of drug activity at Lamasco, according to an Aug. 4 filing. As with Biggs, the scope of Wallaces immunity is not expansive. It would protect him from prosecution for incriminating statements he makes in order to illustrate that Lamasco Bar & Grill constituted a common nuisance and that Word knew about it. The offer and grant of immunity shall not include any immunity from perjury, false swearing or contempt committed by Dylan Wallace in answering or failing to answer any question or questions, Deputy Prosecutor James Doyle wrote in the Aug. 4 filing. Biggs and Wallace would also not receive immunity from prosecution for crimes committed outside the scope of Words criminal case. Wallace caught the attention of Evansville law enforcement during its investigation into narcotics dealing along Franklin Street, records state. Two detectives claimed to have observed Wallace meeting with various people over short periods of time a pattern investigators attributed to the sale of drugs. Officers initiated a late-night traffic stop on Wallaces 2004 Kia on May 18, 2022, after he reportedly drove eight mph over the speed limit. Inside Wallaces car, detectives claimed to have recovered more than 20 counterfeit pills that contained fentanyl along with a scale and $750 in cash, an affidavit states. Prosecutors charged Wallace with dealing in a narcotic drug10 or more grams, a Level 2 felony, and dealing in a narcotic drug between 1 and 5 grams, a Level 4 felony. As of Thursday, court records listed the case as pending. Wallace was not scheduled to appear in court Thursday, according to Canada, but a formal hearing to confer his immunity will likely be held at a later date. On Aug. 31, Word herself will appear in court, this time to discuss an amended charging document filed by Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Diana Moers office. The document lengthens the amount of time prosecutors allege Lamasco Bar & Grill constituted a common nuisance. Initially, that timeframe was limited to on or about July 30, 2022. Now, prosecutors contend that Word's bar was a common nuisance under Indiana law from about Jan. 1, 2022, to July 30, 2022. Word did knowingly or intentionally maintain a building, and/or structure, maintained for the unlawful use, and/or keeping of controlled substances, contrary to the form of the statutes and against the peace and dignity of the State of Indiana, the amended filing states. Word vehemently denies that she had knowledge of drug dealing inside her bar, and Canada remains confident the school board member can beat the charge she faces. Houston can be contacted at houston.harwood@courierpress.com This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: State witness in Amy Word case fails to appear for immunity hearing The News Streaming services are hiking up their prices. Ad-free access to Disney+ will now cost $14 a month this fall, up from $11. Ad-free Hulu is going up from $15 to $18. Weve curated reporting and analysis on what the price increases mean for the future of the industry. Insights Its the end of an era" for cheap streaming access, CNNs Oliver Darcy declared, as Max, Paramount Plus, and Peacock have all increased their prices this year. With Disney+ now costing twice what it did when it launched four years ago, its a sign of the changing media landscape, as companies abandon ad-free models at too-good-to-be-true, one-size-fits-all prices, Darcy wrote. The question of how much people will pay for streaming services, and how many theyll pay for, is pretty uncharted, Semafors Ben Smith told CNBC. Disney at $7 a month is the tax you pay so that every child in America can watch the Lion King once a month. At $14, I think there are probably some people who turn that off, Smith said. The return of Bob Iger as Disneys CEO hasnt turned around the companys slump just yet its stock is still down and it lost 300,000 domestic Disney+ subscribers. But the price hikes are among Igers first strategic moves, Dan Gallagher wrote in The Wall Street Journal. In doing so, Disney is acting like Netflix," which has introduced new pricing and was rewarded by investors for it. Americano Media, a Miami-based conservative media network that aims to become a Spanish-language version of Fox News, has run out of money and has been unable to pay employees for months as it seeks a new investor to stay afloat. The radio, online news and online TV network has not been able to pay salaries since May, employees told the Miami Herald, with the company admitting that many if not all of its 100-plus staffers have been working without pay, hoping to be compensated once the company finds an investor willing to throw it a lifeline. Sources familiar with the companys situation said that founder and CEO Ivan Garcia-Hidalgo is expecting an offer from Texas-based Voz Media owner of Miami and Puerto Rico TV stations Mega TV that would allow Americano Media to continue operations. The offer, which sources said was expected within hours and that would include provisions that would make the rank and file employees whole, was yet to be presented Thursday afternoon. Garcia-Hidalgo told the Herald that challenging economic conditions made it difficult for Americano Media to reach its goals before the companys funding ran out. Americano Media is establishing a new multimedia platform during an historic recession, where attracting investment has turned out to be more challenging than we expected, Garcia-Hidalgo said in a brief statement to the Herald. As a result, our company grew faster than our fundraising. Like any startup, we are making adjustments to move forward. We are committed to paying our obligations, especially back salaries of our team, and to moving forward resolutely into the future. Americano Media launched in March 2022 with $20 million from investors backing Garcia-Hidalgos vision to build a Fox News-like network in Spanish. The company sought to own 50 radio stations in key political markets nationally ahead of the upcoming 2024 elections. In Miami its programs air on 790 AM. Speaking to the Washington Post in April, Garcia-Hidalgo said that he aimed to have those stations running by the end of the year to potentially reach 10 million listeners and boost the percentage of Latinos voting Republican in the 2024 presidential election. While agreeing that there is still potential for the development of a conservative network for the Spanish-speaking audience in the U.S., Americano Media employees told the Herald there were flaws in the plans execution. What happened in Americano is due to bad management on the part of its president, and not, whatsoever, on the idea that conservative news media does not have potential in Spanish, said Alfonso Aguilar, former senior vice president and political director of the company who said that he resigned a few days ago because he was not satisfied with the media groups business plan and the CEOs vision. This is a great tragedy because we have here more than 100 employees who have not received salaries for more than two months and the problem during all that period is that we kept on being told to relax because the money was about to come in, Aguilar added. Several Americano Media employees who spoke to the Herald asked that their names not be used for fear that commenting publicly would hurt their chances of collecting the wages theyre owed. They all agreed that overspending and mismanagement were behind the companys troubles and not the market conditions, which they feel still provide a strong opportunity for a well-run conservative news outlet in Spanish. Among the complaints from staffers is that a number Garcia-Hidalgos family members work for the company, but others said this was not a sign of mismanagement but rather that the company was initially a family business that grew into an attractive startup once the investors came in. Employees said the radio and online news operations were doing well, with the website getting about 200,000 unique visits per month. They said the radio station was slowly gaining ground after hiring well-known talent from other stations that had changed format and were no longer conservative outlets. The company began running into trouble, one staffer said, when it attempted to build out an online TV division. They began to spend millions and millions, betting on traditional TV content, that turned into an operation that was expensive and slow to start and that was having trouble establishing an audience, the staffer said. The situation was made worse by the technology platform chosen for the TV operation, which required potential viewers to subscribe through an app that seemed cumbersome in comparison to news programs readily available through social media, he said. Other employees agreed that the company spent way too much resources on the TV side of the operation, entering into the project at full speed without first establishing a solid revenue stream through the other divisions. Marla Baker, left, and her daughter, Amara Harris, with attorney S. Todd Yeary outside the DuPage County Courthouse in Wheaton, Ill. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune via Zuma Press Wire) For 20-year-old Amara Harris, it was a matter of principle. For more than three and a half years, she stood her ground, refusing to pay a $120 ticket issued to her by police who charged her with having stolen a classmates AirPods at Naperville North High School in suburban Chicago. Harris never deviated from her initial account of what happened, saying shed simply picked up the wrong AirPods and had never meant to steal them from another student. On Thursday, a six-person jury in DuPage County, Ill., ruled that she had not violated Naperville's theft ordinance and cleared her of having to pay the ticket, ProPublica reported. Serial number presented as evidence A lawyer for the prosecution noted during trial that the serial number on the AirPods found in Harriss possession matched those belonging to the student who accused her of stealing them. After getting the AirPods back, that student later noticed they had been digitally labeled Amara's AirPods. City prosecutor Joseph Solon Jr. said that showed Harris had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. I didnt steal them Harris, now a college student, insists she was wrongly accused of stealing another student's AirPods. (Armando L. Sanchez/TNS via Zuma Press Wire) I didnt steal them, so there was no need for me to pay a fine, Harris, who is now attending Spelman College in Georgia, testified Wednesday, adding, I didnt take the AirPods. On Wednesday, she testified that she lost her AirPods while she was at school one morning and retraced her movements in an attempt to find them, the Chicago Tribune reported. After she discovered a pair in the school commons that she believed were the missing AirPods, she unsuccessfully tried to pair them with her phone, she told the jury. Later, however, she was able to pair them and never received a notification telling her they were not hers. The prosecution did not call any technical experts as witnesses. If the jury had found she knowingly took the AirPods and found her liable in the case, Harris would have faced a maximum penalty on the theft charge of $500 and a $100 court fee. Student tickets Juan Leon, the school police officer who issued Harris the $120 ticket, also testified in the case, telling jurors he had decided to ticket her after her mother refused to discuss the possibility of downgrading the offense to a station adjustment, which could have entailed requiring Harris to perform community service. ProPublica conducted an investigation of municipal fines handed down to Illinois students, finding that 12,000 had been issued over a nearly three-year period and that Black students were nearly five times more likely than white students to receive them. Justice is done After the judge read the jurys decision in the courtroom, an elated Harris hugged her mother and grandmother, the Chicago Tribune reported. Justice is done, Harris said. HOLLY SPRINGS, Miss. Annthiesa Warren has grown so accustomed to frequent power outages in her tiny north Mississippi town that she gets wary if theres a rainy or gusty day in the forecast. A breeze blows, she said. The lights go out. When that happens, she pulls out her generator that puts out just enough power to run a lamp and her refrigerator in the stifling Mississippi heat. But Warren and others in and around Holly Springs said they have grown frustrated with the frequent outages. The problem is so severe that the Tennessee Valley Authority which provides power to millions of customers across seven Southern states says 70% of the complaints that it has received this year are tied to the small city-managed utility, which is responsible for nearly 12,000 customers. Residents who have been dealing with power outages attend a City Council meeting in Holly Springs, Miss., on Aug. 1, 2023. (Vanessa Charlot for NBC News) The department has faced several key problems, including a leadership gap that has left managerial responsibilities in the hands of a small-town mayor for months and chronic issues with crumbling power poles and overgrown foliage, according to local officials and department staff. Last month, an assistant electric superintendent with the department publicly warned that the system is collapsing now. Its a never-ending problem, said state Sen. Neil Whaley, a Republican from Potts Camp, Mississippi, whose district has been hit hard by the outages. You think that youre getting a little bit of relief and, bam, youre right back in the same situation. As a response, Whaley has proposed legislation switching any customer living outside of the Holly Springs city limits to a new provider. But his bill failed this session. Several families dependent on private wells for their water told NBC News that blackouts cut off their supply. Others have had to use vacation time for their remote-work jobs because of the systems failures. On a local Facebook group dedicated to tracking the outages, some members have said the disruptions are particularly concerning for people reliant on oxygen machines and with other health challenges. Betsy Irmischer, whose husband, Orville Stacy, died in February, has faced ongoing power outages. (Vanessa Charlot for NBC News) Some critics recently have blamed Holly Springs Mayor Sharon Gipson, who stepped in to help manage the utility after the December 2022 retirement of the departments general manager. Gipson, the mayor since 2021, said the problems predate her, pointing to the systems aging infrastructure. She added that disagreements among the citys Board of Aldermen also have delayed the citys hiring decisions. Gipson said at least four people have applied for the general manager position, but the city has yet to fill the role. She said she has received fewer calls about the systems issues and believes her administration has made progress, but acknowledged that with power outages even if its one person, that is a crisis. Mayor Sharon D. Gipson at a City Council meeting in Holly Springs, Miss. on Aug. 1, 2023. (Vanessa Charlot for NBC News ) An attorney with the Mississippi Public Service Commission said the state regulator does not have jurisdiction over the utility, but had worked with the Tennessee Valley Authority, or TVA, to "determine appropriate steps to address the quality of service being provided by the city." In March, the TVA released a report that found the Holly Springs department was spending 22% less on operations and maintenance compared to similar systems. It also reported that more needed to be done to clear away vegetation that can contribute to outages. The problems were significant enough that some local companies were uncomfortable loaning workers to help in Holly Springs because of the condition of the system, according to the report. The review also found that the utilitys power outage tracking data was unreliable. As of July, the agency said it had not received a plan from the city addressing the systems problems. A spokesperson for the TVA said in a statement that the agency was aware of the issues with the Holly Springs power system, calling it a difficult situation for customers. Although the agency is limited in the ability to intervene, it is monitoring the citys plan to assess its system. TVA is committed to helping find solutions as to how best support the improvement of HSUD (Holly Springs Utility Department) and to best support all of the customers HSUDserves, the spokesperson wrote. Overgrown utility lines in Marshall County on Aug. 3, 2023. (Vanessa Charlot for NBC News) Gipson said although she had not provided a written response, she has spoken with TVA officials. Away from city hall, longtime residents and newcomers alike say they are desperate for help. On July 31, a crowd of more than 200 people filled an auditorium on the campus of Rust College, a historically Black college, for a public hearing on the utility problems. Becky Brown, a single mother of two, said she relied on a generator that was just powerful enough to run a small space heater during the February ice storm outage. Brown spent the night going out into the cold to fuel up the generator and piled blankets on her kids to keep them warm, she said. Brown said her mother has had to use paid time off during power outages because she works remotely. She also is concerned about how her 10-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son will use their school-issued laptops without reliable power, she said. Becky Brown with her two children at her home in Red Banks, Miss. (Vanessa Charlot for NBC News) I inherited my land from my grandfather, who worked his tail off to buy a little piece of property that people spend their lives trying to buy. I promised him on his deathbed that property would not leave our family, Brown said. That is a promise I worked really hard to keep and I am struggling. Residents are still reporting outages on social media in the sweltering summer heat. Although the city is working with a public power association to evaluate its system, long-term relief could take time. Its just not about comfort anymore, said Michelle Keel, who relies on power for her spinal implant. Its about safety and health and a service youre paying for that you cannot rely on. Keel said the medical device helps her with pain that would be debilitating otherwise and leave her confined to bed. Her family has made plans to set up a whole house generator. But she knows that not everyone is in the same boat. Some households struggle to replace the groceries they lose, let alone the amount it would take to buy a generator. I would put it right up there with a natural disaster, she said. Betsy Irmischer, sprays her horses down with water due to the excessive heat and lack of access to water at her home in Lamar, Mississippi in Marshall County on Aug. 3, 2023. (Vanessa Charlot for NBC News ) About 20 minutes away in Lamar, Betsy Irmischer, 62, has grown frustrated with the heavy lift that outages require on her familys plot, consisting of a pasture and several horses. When the electricity went out, a neighbors son had to help her haul 5-gallon buckets from her pond to water both familys horses. Its like youre living in the 1800s, she said. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Around this time last month, New York police were closing in on the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer and respected businessman who had a Fifth Avenue office in Manhattan and commuted from a nearby suburb. On this day in 1977, another task force had tracked another Big Apple bad guy down arresting the "Son of Sam" gunman David Berkowitz at his home in Yonkers. While the "Son of Sam" and Gilgo Beach slayings happened under dramatically different circumstances, in different eras and targeted completely different types of victims, the suspects in both cases may have a handful of things in common. "They were both pretty active in the summer," said John Kelly, a criminal profiler and the president of STALK Inc., who noted that some slayings also took place in other parts of the year, especially in Berkowitz's case. REX HEUERMANN'S LAWYER CLAIMS PIZZA BOX DNA DOESN'T SHOW PROBABLE CAUSE IN GILGO BEACH MURDERS Decades after Berkowitz's arrest, his story would inspire the title of Spike Lee's movie "Summer of Sam," starring John Leguizamo and Adrien Brody. On July 29, 1976, Berkowitz shot and killed Donna Lauria in the Bronx and wounded her friend Jody Valenti. A year later, he shot 13 people, killing six. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP "I could only imagine if social media was around when Son of Sam was active, wow," said Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "The city was gripped with fear, and I remember it so well." From 1976 to 1977, "Son of Sam" targeted victims at random with a .44-caliber revolver, sometimes opening fire on multiple people at once, including couples in cars and friends chatting on the sidewalk. Reports that he preferred to attack long-haired women instilled so much fear in the Big Apple that young women cut and dyed their hair. Couples stopped going out at night. HOW UNTRACEABLE BURNER PHONES HELPED POLICE BUST ALLEGED GILGO BEACH SERIAL KILLER This note was found by police in the 1970 Ford Galaxy owned by David Berkowitz when they arrested him, late Aug. 10 of 1977, as he sat in the car in front of his Yonkers, New York, home. It is written in the style of the .44 caliber killer. Berkowitz later pleaded guilty to the "Son of Sam" killings. Giacalone said the year of fear was "far more terrifying" than the search for a suspect in the Gilgo slayings. "[Berkowitz was] hunting lovers' lanes and all in the boroughs," he told Fox News Digital. The Gilgo Beach murders shocked the community but did not incite a widespread panic. The Gilgo victims were a very specific set of targets, Kelly said. They were all prostitutes, all around 5 feet tall and all around 100 pounds, according to investigators. They were targeted over several years. Berkowitz's slayings happened in quick succession and seemingly at random. "The Son of Sam attacked the girls and boys next door, people who don't live risky lifestyles," he told Fox News Digital. Suspected Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann faces six charges total in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27. He remains the prime suspect in the death of a fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25. REX HEUERMANN'S WIFE PICTURED FOR FIRST TIME AS SHE FILES FOR DIVORCE FROM GILGO BEACH SERIAL SLAYING SUSPECT Brainard-Barnes was last seen on July 9, 2007; Barthelemy on July 10, 2009; Waterman on Jun 6, 2010; and Costello on Sept. 2, 2010. Heuermann allegedly met them online, using anonymous "burner" phones in a high-tech effort to conceal his communications. According to one expert, both suspects may suffer from "mommy issues." A road sign directing drivers to Gilgo Beach off Ocean Parkway, about 45 miles east of New York City. Criminologist Scott Bonn, who provided a remarkably accurate profile of the Gilgo suspect in 2011 and has interviewed Berkowitz, told the New York Post earlier that he heard Heuermann's mother, who raised him alone after his father died at age 11, was "controlling and domineering." "Who knows what was ticking beneath the surface," he told the outlet. "He may [have been] projecting the loving doting son, when in fact there may have been some deep-seated resentment toward mom." WATCH: GRIM TIDE ON FOX NATION Without a potential motive explaining the allegations against Heuermann, "its difficult to discuss their objectives as killers," said Dr. Katherine Ramsland, an expert on serial killers and professor of forensic psychology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania. Rex Heuermann used fictitious names, these photographs and online accounts to solicit and arrange sexual activity, according to court documents. EXCLUSIVE: 'SON OF SAM' SERIAL KILLER DAVID BERKOWITZ SAYS HE WON'T SEEK PAROLE IN 2012 "Maybe the phone calls are like [David Berkowitz's] attempt to communicate," she said. Berkowitz sent out taunting letters to police and to famed newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin, who died in 2017. When police arrested him, they found an unsent letter in his car. Heuermann, on the other hand, allegedly used his victims' own phones to call and harass their families. "Victimizing others seems to be a source of power for both, but its a stretch to say they have a similar motive," Ramsland said. GILGO BEACH SUSPECT REX HEUERMANN STALKED EX-COP AFTER TRAIN ALTERCATION, RIDER SAYS Heuermann stands 6-feet, 4-inches tall and has now been described by Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison as both a "demon" and an "ogre." Berkowitz, who is about 5-feet, 8-inches tall, claimed a demon spoke to him through his neighbor's dog. David Berkowitz, 24, center, sits in police car Aug. 11, 1977 after his arrest the prior day by Detective Edward Zigo, right, in connection with the .44-caliber killings. He was arrested outside his Yonkers, New York, apartment sitting in his 1970 Ford Galaxy. Under the seat police said they found a .44-caliber Bulldog revolver, identified by ballistics experts as the gun used by the "Son of Sam" killer in eight lovers' lane attacks. "[Berkowitz] also had instability issues that arent evident in Heuermann," Ramsland said. "You might find a parallel in the hunting behavior even though [Heuermann] didnt hunt his victims, he did love to hunt." Heuermann, according to other local duck hunters and his now-estranged wife's lawyer, was an avid duck hunter. Additionally, police recovered around 300 firearms from his home in Massapequa Park after his arrest. GILGO BEACH MURDERS: THE INVESTIGATION IN PHOTOS Berkowitz ultimately pleaded guilty. He is serving multiple life sentences in a New York prison, where he now professes to be a born-again Christian and has attempted to apologize for the murder spree. Heuermann pleaded not guilty at his arraignment last month and is due back in court on Aug. 15. Fox News' Stephanie Pagones contributed to this report. Sen. Alex Padilla speaks at the Lake Tahoe Summit in Kings Beach, Calif, on Aug. 9, 2023. (Max Whittaker / For The Times) Sen. Dianne Feinstein once spoke of a time 70 years ago when North America's largest alpine lake was crystal clear and its air unspoiled. As a 16-year-old, the San Francisco native fell for the region while at summer camp on the lake's north shore and decades later built a vacation home near one of its many bays. Part of her life's work as a politician has been directing federal funding to preserving the gem on the California-Nevada border in the Sierra, where visitors flock by the millions to ski its mountain peaks, frolic in the lake and enjoy the natural splendor. Central to the Democrat's effort is the annual Lake Tahoe Summit, which she helped inaugurate in 1997 with former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and where Feinstein was honored Wednesday. The bipartisan gathering attracts the top leaders from California and Nevada and, on occasion, U.S. presidents to take stock of what was needed to keep the lake's waters clear and fend off toxic algae. "Tell them this: 'I was a child in Lake Tahoe,'" Feinstein said in a text message read by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) on Wednesday. "'I was an adult at Lake Tahoe. I am a senator for Lake Tahoe. And I'm determined that Lake Tahoe will survive.'" Rep. Nancy Pelosi speaks at the Lake Tahoe Summit. (Max Whittaker / For The Times) Feinstein, 90, missed this year's conference, which was hosted by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), the state's junior senator, another milestone in the slow transition of California's top leadership to a new generation of rising politicians. Feinstein already announced plans to retire after her current term, following the venerable Sen. Barbara Boxer and Gov. Jerry Brown out of public office. Pelosi, who stepped down as speaker, has not announced her plans. The inaugural Lake Tahoe Summit led to federal legislation and a near-yearly tradition in which politicians from Nevada and California descend on the mountain town and assess government efforts to keep the lake healthy, the drought-ravaged forests adequately maintained and the trails spotless. The conference has led to almost $1.3 billion in funds being funneled to projects related to the lake. Rep. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Grove), who served as deputy Interior secretary in the mid-1990s, recalled receiving a phone call from Feinstein. "She finally said, 'Hey, John, we've worked out a deal here. Harry Reid and I, we've got a deal going, and we're going to need your help. We want to have a celebration,'" Garamendi told the crowed gathered on Tahoe's northern shore. "About a week later, I got a call from the White House who said, 'You need to figure out a big event at Tahoe, Reid and Feinstein are all over our back, and they want to celebrate this deal that they've put together.'" It was a measure of her relentless advocacy for the lake, he said as he looked at the glistening water behind him. Still the work continues to preserve and protect the lake and surrounding forests, along with the tourism that sustains the region economically. On Wednesday, Herman Fillmore of the Washoe Tribe offered a benediction celebrating land his people value so much, as three paddle boards languidly floated behind him, three people in kayaks passed by and three jet skis zoomed along in the distance. The scene was a coda for the displacement his people have experienced and the environmental destruction that's occurred here as a result. "We had newcomers to this place," Fillmore translated at the end. "When they arrived, they cut down all of the trees and stole them. They dug up the ground. They took the gold and the silver that they were looking for, and because of that our forests and our lands and our waters are no longer clean and they're sick. Today, our land is no longer good." Read more: Feinstein leaves hospital after 'minor fall' in her San Francisco home This degradation was top of mind at this year's conference. But it also focused on Feinstein's legacy. Her health has been failing of late, and she hadn't planned to attend this event because of the rigors of the travel involved. Just this week she was briefly hospitalized after a minor fall in her home in San Francisco, according to a spokesperson for her office. This came on top of an extended absence from Washington this year as she recovered from a bout of shingles. At Kings Beach on Wednesday, though, colleagues and admirers dwelt on her capacity to keep the lake's restoration at the top of the federal government's mind. The focus led to a visit from President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore at the first conference, as well as President Obama in 2016, and a renewed effort this year to extend the life of the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act. Still, that infusion of capital hasn't been enough. Speaker after speaker at the conference mentioned a recent report revealing that the lake's waters contain microplastic concentrations higher than those observed in ocean gyres systems of ocean currents notorious for accumulating plastic waste. Paddlers on Lake Tahoe during the Lake Tahoe Summit. (Max Whittaker / For The Times) The restoration act is set to expire next year. Elected officials from Nevada and California Republican and Democrat stated with confidence that the renewal, which would allow for the allocation of previously authorized federal funds, would pass Congress. Though Feinstein is a sponsor of the bill, Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto has been leading the charge for renewal. "It was Dianne and consistently has been Dianne who believes in what we're doing here around Lake Tahoe, and I just want to thank her, and of course, Sen. Reid, for starting this back in '97," Cortez Masto told the audience of local environmental groups, government officials and advocates. Cortez Masto, Garamendi and others said Feinstein would be as aggressive as ever to bring resources home. The event ended with a recorded statement from Feinstein apologizing for missing the conference. She recalled riding her bike around the lake as a kid and lots of family vacations spent on its crystal-clear waters. "I'm a city girl at heart, but there's no denying that Tahoe has been a very special place for me, just as it is for so many who call it home or visit its shores," she said, her voice booming over loudspeakers. "That's why I've made it my mission to preserve and protect this magical place from the many threats that it continues to face from overdevelopment, climate change, invasive species and wildfire, so that everyone can enjoy its wonders for generations to come." 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 defence of Donald Trump playing out on television and on social media for the most serious charges against him yet revives the same bogus theory that the US Supreme Courtshot down less than two months ago. That legal theory formed the basis of the same false claims that the former president and his co-conspirators are accused of making as they allegedly schemed to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The former president has been charged with three overlapping criminal conspiracies, fuelled by knowingly false claims about election fraud and a fraudulent reading of the US Constitution from the fringes of right-wing legal activism. Unfortunately for Mr Trump, that defense has never been available to him, because the independent state legislature theory has always been wrong, Eliza Sweren-Becker, senior counsel with the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law, told The Independent. But it is especially bad timing for him because the Supreme Court just shot down this idea a mere five and a half weeks ago, she said. The independent state legislature theory misreads the Constitutions elections and electors clauses for regulating federal elections like presidential ones by asserting that state lawmakers have unilateral authority to determine the results. The outcomes of presidential elections rest on slates of electors who decide their votes based on the outcome of their states popular vote. A 45-page federal indictment outlining the case against Mr Trump alleges a multi-state scheme to arrange slates of alternate electors in seven states he lost to Joe Biden, a plot to effectively toss out electors representing the votes of millions of Americans. The independent state legislature theory re-emerged from the fringe of right-wing academia and legal groups in 2020, as Mr Trump and his allies tried to prevent governors, secretaries of state and election officials from implementing election policies that would make it easier for people to vote at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. After courts struck down attempts to challenge vote-by-mail policies, and after the failures of his campaign and administration to find the evidence of fraud to defend his claims, then-President Trump routinely used his bully pulpit at the White House and on stage at his campaign rallies to launch a flood of false claims spread widely among his supporters and on social media. And after months of laying the groundwork, Mr Trump relied on the predictable delay between the counts for Election Day votes and mail-in ballots as a pretext to convince his supporters that the election was stolen from him. As the indictment alleges, he spent the weeks that followed planning with his co-conspirators and state officials to undermine those results, using the independent state legislature theory as their guide. That was 2020. Jump forward to December 2022, when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Moore v Harper, an unrelated but not unfamiliar case about election rules. The case involved North Carolinas Republican-drawn gerrymandered congressional map and a lawsuit from voters and advocacy groups against it. North Carolina Republicans, with support from an influential right-wing legal group, appealed to the Supreme Court with a question invoking the independent state legislature theory at the centre of its argument. US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar warned justices that the so-called independent state legislature theory would wreak havoc on elections. Neal Katyal, a former acting solicitor general under Barack Obama who argued the case on behalf of voting rights groups and the states Democratic voters, said the theorys blast radius would sow election chaos. Months earlier, there were some signals from the Supreme Courts conservative justices including Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas that the court would be willing to hear a case involving the theory, arguing that it presents an exceptionally important and recurring question of constitutional law. In 2020, Justice Gorsuch wrote that the Constitution provides that state legislatures not federal judges, not state judges, not state governors, not other state officials bear primary responsibility for setting election rules. In dozens of briefs to the court, constitutional law experts, election officials, voting rights advocates, judges and prominent Republicans including lawyer Ben Ginsberg, who worked on the landmark Bush v Gore case in 2000 that opened the door for the theory to take shape urged the justices to reject that idea. On 27 June, the nations highest court issued a 6-3 opinion wholly rejecting the theory. Justices Alito, Gorsuch and Thomas dissented. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion with support from Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Trump-appointed justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett plainly asserting that the Constitution does not vest exclusive and independent authority in state legislatures to set the rules regarding federal elections. That decision was about as unequivocal as the Supreme Court gets, Ms Sweren-Becker told The Independent. The court reaffirmed hundreds of years of precedent and practice in the United States, and stated that state legislatures are not above their own state constitutions. Theyre not above judicial review, she added. And the chief wrote in no uncertain terms that that was the case, and that to argue otherwise was a complete manipulation or an attempt at manipulating the courts precedent and was totally ungrounded in history and practice and the text of the Constitution and, frankly, the system of government and the rule of law that we have had for hundreds of years. Two months later, the former presidents lead defence attorney performed an apparent media tour insisting the exact opposite. John Lauro told CNN on 1 August that the actual responsibility for qualifying electors is in the state legislatures. The president was told, given advice, that under these circumstances, the state legislatures have the ultimate ability to qualify electors, he added. He followed that advice. Now you may disagree as to whether or not those things actually occurred or not. Thats why we have political debate; we dont have criminal trials over that. We have the discussion, like were just having. On 3 August, hours after appearing in court for his clients arraignment, he told Fox News that Mr Trump wanted to halt and pause the voting to allow state legislatures to take one last look and make a determination as to whether or not the elections were handled fairly. Thats constitutional law, he said. Thats not an issue of criminal activity. His claims are simply not grounded in any real law, Ms Sweren-Becker told The Independent. This is the difference between arguing a case in the court of public opinion and arguing the case in a court of law, she added. Just because Mr Trumps lawyers can make these arguments on air doesnt mean that they hold water in court. Ultimately, its the role of the judiciary to be our system of accountability, and thats where we will need to watch and see how this plays out. Former US Attorney Joyce Vance said Mr Lauros defence would be funny if it wasnt so serious. You know who else asks people to commit crimes in an aspirational way without directing them to? she said. Mob bosses, human traffickers [and] the heads of organized drug rings. Right-wing pundits were also quick to adopt Mr Trumps defence. On advice of counsel, Trump asked Pence to kick it back to the states for recertification where state legislatures are constitutionally empowered to determine elections. Thats called politics, Fox News host Jesse Watters said on his prime-time programme. During a media blitz on 6 August, Mr Lauro told CNN that Mr Trump was told, given advice, that under these circumstances, the state legislatures have the ultimate ability to qualify electors. On ABCs This Week, he said that John Eastman a chief architect of the fake elector plan told Mr Trump that there is a constitutional pathway to nullify a states popular vote and install electors loyal to the loser. A technical violation of the Constitution is not a violation of criminal law, he told NBCs Meet the Press. Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis said the criminal conspiracy charge against Mr Trump for allegedly depriving peoples right to vote is exactly that. When a person conspires to injure a constitutional right like the right to vote and have it counted then a constitutional violation is a crime, he wrote. That long-standing statute was established in 1870 to protect what were then newly enshrined constitutional rights of equal protection under the law and due process. The idea that a president can run roughshod over voters ability to cast ballots in a free and fair election as an exercise in vanity in pursuit of power is profoundly wrong, Mr Kreis wrote. The former president spent the days after his indictment and court appearance lashing out at federal prosecutors and casting himself as a victim of political persecution from his Democratic rival, using the multiple criminal indictments against him in his campaign fundraising messages and in his stump speeches as he seeks the 2024 Republican nomination for president. He is also defending his alleged actions as First Amendment-protected speech, a point that US Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith appeared to anticipate in the indictment; Mr Trump has a right like every American to lie about election results, the charging document states. But theres no First Amendment right to participate in a conspiracy. Mr Trump isnt being prosecuted for what he said but whether those actions amount to criminal conspiracy. What President Trump was doing is within the reality and the realm of free speech, Mr Lauro told CNN on 6 August. What President Trump did not do is direct Vice President Pence to do anything. He asked him in an aspirational way. Asking is covered by the First Amendment. Days earlier he told Newsmax that Mr Trump wanted to get to the truth of the election in the courtroom and by lobbying legislatures thats all First Amendment. And then at the end he asked Mr Pence to pause the voting for 10 days, allow the state legislatures to weigh in, and then they could make a determination to audit or re-audit or re-certify, he said. The indictment doesnt allege misconduct on the basis of Mr Trumps speech. It alleges misconduct on the basis of his acts, Ms Sweren-Becker said. So the First Amendment as a defence is really a red herring. For now, the Supreme Courts rejection of the independent state legislature theory cuts off any attempt to similarly subvert the outcome of the 2024 election, a ruling that Mr Ginsberg said keeps the toothpaste in the tube while conspiracy theory-fuelled state lawmakers and election-denying officials manoeuvre potential future losses. The theory is firmly dead, Ms Sweren-Becker said. And so that makes the attempt to resuscitate it, in defense of this indictment, particularly unfounded. Its clear now that the court has seen the evidence and deeply considered the issue and that they have firmly rejected this radical notion and reaffirmed that it has never been a part of our law, she said. It has never been a part of our system, and it wont be going forward. WASHINGTON The Supreme Court put the bankruptcy reorganization of opioid maker Purdue Pharma on hold Thursday, granting an emergency request from the Biden administration that raised objections about a provision that protects the Sackler family from liability for lawsuits. The justices, in a brief order with no dissenting votes noted, blocked an appeals court decision that allowed the bankruptcy to move forward. As part of the deal, the Sackler family, which controlled the company, had agreed to pay $6 billion that could be used to settle opioid-related claims but only in return for a complete release from any liability in future cases. The court also agreed to take up the government's appeal, meaning it will hear oral arguments in December and likely issue a ruling early next year. The legal question raised is whether the bankruptcy court had the authority to release the Sackler family members from the claims being made by opioid victims. Bottles of Purdue Pharma L.P. OxyContin medication sit on a pharmacy shelf in Provo, Utah on Aug. 31, 2016. (George Frey / Bloomberg via Getty Images) A Purdue spokesperson said in a statement that the company is "confident in the legality of our nearly universally supported plan of reorganization, and optimistic that the Supreme Court will agree." Purdue made billions from OxyContin, a widely available painkiller that fueled the opioid epidemic. The company's tactics in aggressively marketing the drug came under increasing scrutiny as thousands of people died from opioid overdoses in recent years. In asking the Supreme Court to intervene, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar noted that Sackler family members had withdrawn $11 billion from the company amid an effort to shield themselves from liability. Purdue itself sought bankruptcy protection but the Sackler family members did not. Instead, they negotiated a separate deal with Purdue and some plaintiffs that would allow the company to reinvent itself in an effort to combat the opioid crisis. Prelogar wrote that bankruptcy law prohibits such an arrangement, saying it "constitutes an abuse of the bankruptcy system" that is unfair to potential plaintiffs who did not agree to the release of the Sackler family claims. In a May decision, the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approved the plan over the objection of William Harrington, the U.S. government trustee monitoring the bankruptcy. The Justice Department's trustee program of which Harrington is part is aimed at ensuring that the bankruptcy system operates as required under law. Purdue's statement criticized Harrington's role, saying that, despite having no concrete interest in the case, he has "been able to single-handedly delay billions of dollars in value that should be put to use for victim compensation, opioid crisis abatement for communities across the country, and overdose rescue medicines." Eight states and the District of Columbia had initially opposed the plan, but they eventually signed on to a renegotiated agreement and did not join the Biden administration in asking for the deal to be blocked. A group representing 60,000 people seeking compensation filed a brief at the Supreme Court backing the plan. "Personal injury victims recognized that the third-party releases are necessary to a global settlement that delivers critical value to all opioid-affected communities in America through direct payments to those injured and billions of dollars of abatement funds to prevent further injuries," their lawyers wrote. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily blocked OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma from carrying on with its bankruptcy proceedings and said it will hear oral arguments in the case this December amid a circuit court split tied to the issue. U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who is responsible for overseeing litigation involving the government, asked the high court to intervene in the case. In her petition, Prelogar had noted that the Sackler family, the billionaire owners of Purdue Pharma who had controlled the company until recently, had withdrawn $11 billion while seeking to shield family members from liability. The administration of President Joe Biden has called an arrangement reached between Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family "unprecedented." Officials had pushed for a halt to the bankruptcy reorganization of the opioid maker over objections to litigation releases that protect the controversial Sackler family. The U.S. Appeals Court for the Second Circuit had determined in May that the Sacklers could be shielded from future opioid lawsuits as part of the bankruptcy plan. Purdue Pharma has faced a string of lawsuits dating back to the early 2000s related to OxyContin. File Photo by Justin Lane/EPA-EFE Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family have largely been seen to share in the blame for the ongoing opioid epidemic in the United States. In recent years, the company pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to its marketing of the addictive painkiller and other crimes. The company has faced a string of lawsuits dating back to the early 2000s related to OxyContin. The Sacklers agreed to a $6 billion settlement and agreed to give up ownership of the company in exchange for the litigation releases that absolve them from future liability. But the concern over the litigation releases has caused a split between separate circuit courts. Bankruptcy proceedings normally shield companies from legal claims but do not normally extend that protection to the owners of the company. The decision of the Second Circuit court to allow them in this case stands in contrast to bans imposed by the Fifth, Ninth and Tenth circuit courts. Such splits cause the type of uncertainty in the judicial system that would prompt the Supreme Court to weigh in. "The parties are directed to brief and argue the following question: Whether the Bankruptcy Code authorizes a court to approve, as part of a plan of reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, a release that extinguishes claims held by nondebtors against nondebtor third parties, without the claimants' consent," the Supreme Court wrote in its order granting the petition to hear the case. "The clerk is directed to establish a briefing schedule that will allow the case to be argued in the December 2023 argument session. The stay shall terminate upon the sending down of the judgment of this Court." There were no dissenting votes noted in the opinion. A local surf instructor jumped into the water to rescue a drowning summer off a beach in Fort Lauderdale Thursday morning, giving him CPR before Fire Rescue arrived, officials say. The swimmer is now in the hospital in critical condition. A little before 8 a.m., the surf instructor saw the swimmer partially submerged about 100 yards offshore near 2000 N. Ocean Blvd., Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Garrett Pingol wrote in a media release. The surf instructor paddled his surfboard out to the swimmer and got him onto the board, all while trying to keep his head above the water, then paddled back to the beach, where he began CPR on the swimmer while shouting for help. Off-duty Fort Lauderdale lifeguards who happened to be in the middle of training on the beach witnessed what was happening and notified on-duty Ocean Rescue lifeguards, Pingol said. The lifeguards took over CPR while waiting for Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue to arrive. Fire Rescue transported the swimmer to Broward Health in critical condition, Pingol said. He didnt have any updates on the swimmers condition as of 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Surfside Beach leaders have always had a fragile relationship with its pier committee. Now, they have none at all. A recent vote by town council to suspend the volunteer group on Aug. 8 came shortly after members learned theres still no grand opening date for the closely watched, multi-million dollar project. Officials said the committee could be reinstated once the pier is opened. The realistic time is, there is no time, council member Chris Stamey said during the council meeting Aug. 8. It bothers me. Its bothered me all along. Set a date and stick to it. If we had a set a date, wed done have a pier by now. In October, a pair of stop-work orders issued over design conflicts and licensing oversights slowed construction, though both were lifted within a matter of days. Public works director John Adair said Aug. 8 crews are hopeful the pier will be ready for walkers by Augusts end, but an official grand opening likely wont take place until mid way through next year. He ran through a punch list of ongoing work: Handrails are on site and being installed while ADA-accessible handrails are en route Elevator and fire alarm companies are doing final connections and following up with state inspectors Light pole inspections have been completed Undersled insulation should be delivered by weeks end Podium to pier gate is being fabricated and expected on site by mid-August Parking lot in progress with some drainage already installed along with concrete slabs, trash enclosure and entry plaza poured Dominion and Santee Cooper installing underground lines over the next two weeks Drippys Homemade Ice Cream outfit in progress Town office storage space outfit in progress Signage and trash cans also in progress. Surfsides pier has been a part of the coastal towns identify for a half century. Initially built in 1953, it was rebuilt three times because of storm damage. In 2016, powerful winds from Hurricane Matthews sheared off half its 800-foot-long walkway and closed it indefinitely. FEMA awarded the town $15 million in 2021 to pay for the piers upgrades, but the costs have climbed to roughly $20 million. To help make up the difference, the town implemented a new parking policy that put meters at all beaches and converted one-hour parking along Surfside Drive from Hollywood to Pinewood drives to paid. Despite the setbacks, Surfside Beach resident Patricia Magliette said shes willing to be patient as the pier work continues. We are still going to have a concrete pier, and even though you dont like the fact it took so long to build, with any blessing this concrete piers never going to come down again, she said. It needs to be done right. Sixty years after civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. gave his monumental I Have a Dream speech at the March on Washington advocating for racial equality for all Americans, particularly Black Americans, a new Pew Research survey found that more than one in three Republicans say these efforts have gone too far. The report based on a survey of 5,073 U.S. adults and conducted April 10-16 online analyzed Americans' views of progress on racial equality six decades removed from the height of the civil rights movement. Its findings revealed that 37% of Republicans say efforts to ensure equality for all, regardless of race and ethnicity, have gone too far. In contrast, just 24% of Republicans say these efforts have not gone far enough. Most Democrats, or 78%, agree, compared to just 6% of Democrats who say that efforts have gone too far. Theres no consensus among Americans on how much progress the country has made in ensuring racial equality in the last 60 years, Juliana Horowitz, the reports author, told Yahoo News, noting that views vary considerably by race, ethnicity and political affiliation. Republican and Democratic supporters protest as US President Donald Trump visits the Trump National Golf Club on September 5, 2020, in Sterling, Virginia. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images) Democrats and Republicans see the world differently Overall, about half of Americans, or 52%, say theres been a great deal or a fair amount of progress in the last sixty years, while 33% say theres been some progress and 15% say there hasnt been much or any progress at all. For many people, the survey results validate a sense of stagnation they had felt in recent years, particularly in the aftermath of the 2020 murder of George Floyd, where for months millions of people and corporations pledged to combat racial justice. Last month, several leaders of local Black Lives Matter chapters expressed doubt about whether real progress has occurred for Black Americans since 2020. The results of this Pew survey come just weeks after a Yahoo News/YouGov poll revealed that the majority of Donald Trump voters believe that racism against white Americans has become a bigger problem than racism against Black Americans. More specifically, 62% of Trump voters say that racism against Black Americans is a problem today while 73% say that racism against white Americans is a problem. Both sets of data from Trump voters and self-identified Republicans, overlapping but not identical cohorts in comparison to Democrats offer insight into how political affiliations shape Americans view on issues regarding race. Between 200,000 and 500,000 demonstrators participate in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Aug. 28, 1963. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) The idea that theres partisan polarization in terms of viewpoint is just a general fact of life, Andra Gillespie, an Emory University political science professor, told Yahoo News. Democrats and Republicans see the world differently. We also cannot ignore the demographic realities of what the Democratic and Republican coalitions look like, with the Democratic coalition having a disproportionate share of people of color and [a] disproportionate share of Black folks, she added. The racial climate in 1963 In 1963, the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, life for African Americans was bleak: high levels of Black unemployment, little to no economic mobility and the disenfranchisement in every facet of American life was pervasive throughout the country, especially the South. It was this lack of progress that led to frequent boycotts and mass demonstrations. King's speech at the March on Washington galvanized supporters of desegregation and prompted the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ( AFP via Getty Images) As King and other Black leaders stood before the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., in front of upwards of 250,000 people, advocating for equitable economic and civil rights for Black Americans, the country was in the midst of the largest civil rights movement it had seen at the time. When Dr. King took the podium on Aug. 28, 1963 and gave his famous I Have a Dream speech, it ultimately served as a rallying cry for Black Americans to press on despite the daily hardships of Jim Crow, a racial caste system in which African Americans were relegated to second-class citizens. Sixty years later, some believe that, while total progress has not been achieved, the considerable steps forward for Black Americans cannot be understated. We would be remiss to deny progress, Gillespie said. There has been progress that has been made. On the other hand, it has been uneven. The problem is the problem of narrative, she added. We Americans like a nice neat story that we can tie up with a bow. This isn't that story and it's never been that story. The story has actually always been jagged. Tee Dang and her family suffered burns as they sat in the ocean for nearly four hours to escape the wildfire in Lahaina Tee Dang was in a rental car with her three children and husband on Lahaina's Front Street when she saw the flames inching closer and closer towards them. But when the vehicles around them began catching fire they decided to grab their food, water and phones and run for the waves. They had already watched others trying to flee the rapidly moving flames do the same, including an elderly woman who was helped into the ocean. "We have to get to the ocean," the Kansas mother told BBC News on Thursday. "There was nothing else because we were cornered in." With their children - ages five, 13 and 20 - they at first stayed close to shore. But as evening approached, and the tide rose, the water started smashing her into the rock wall of the harbour, severely cutting her leg. When the line of cars on Front Street - "at least 50" of them - started exploding, they were forced to move into deeper water to seek shelter from the "shooting debris". They were in the water for nearly four hours, she said. It was a Tuesday afternoon, but the sky behind them was pitch black from the wildfire smoke. It was a harrowing ordeal for the family, who wondered if they were going to make it out alive. At one point, one of Mrs Dang's children fainted in the water. They were eventually rescued by a firefighter who directed them through the burning streets. Leading a group of about 15 survivors, she recalls the firefighter telling them: "I don't even know if we're gonna make it at this point. Just do everything I say. If I say jump, jump. If I tell you to run, run." The entire family suffered burns. After reaching shelter at the Maui Prep School, the family was forced to move twice more, including once because one shelter came under threat from flames. Seventeen more people were confirmed to be dead on Thursday afternoon, bringing the death toll to at least 53, after a series of fires broke out across the Hawaiian island of Maui earlier this week. Thousands others have been displaced. The hardest hit is the historic town of Lahaina, home to 12,000 residents and a popular destination for tourists. At a news conference on Thursday, Hawaii Governor Josh Green said this is "the largest natural disaster in Hawaii's state history". "We will continue to see loss of life," Gov Green said. Officials said they do not know how people are missing at this point as they continue to survey the damage. None of the fires are 100% contained. Gov Green added the state is struggling to house thousands of displaced people. He has called on Hawaiians elsewhere in the state to offer rooms and shelter for those in need. Many have lost their homes, including Bryce Baraoidan, who was forced to flee with his family. Mr Baraoidan said they left nearly all of their possessions behind, thinking their house would be still standing when they returned, but it did not survive. "When we found out my mother burst into tears," he told the BBC. "Not just the whole street, but the whole neighbourhood is gone." Bryce Baraoidan and his family had to leave most of their belongings behind "The thing I am saddest about leaving behind was my five pet chameleons," the 26-year-old said. "I was very attached to them and I regret not taking them with us when we left." Steve Kemper, a photographer, lost a gallery that he managed on Front Street in Lahaina, his sister, Susanne Kemper, told the BBC. Because only one road leads in and out of the town, it took him three hours to escape and drive east to the Maui town of Haiku, where his son is living. "It was a close call," she said. "He was absolutely exhausted when he got to my nephew's. He was shattered." Ms Kemper, who has spent time in Maui and other Hawaiian islands, explained that many of the buildings in the old town of Lahaina are made of wood, a legacy from when the town served as a major whaling port. This likely facilitated the spread of the fire in the town, she said. "It just went up like a torch," she said. "They were like matchsticks on the ground." She and others have struggled to get in touch with friends and family living in the area, as the blaze has cut power to thousands on the island. One woman who spoke to the BBC said she could not get in contact with her parents who were staying at a hotel in Lahaina for their honeymoon. She registered their names with the Red Cross, but hadn't heard from them in 24 hours. After escaping and moving from shelter to shelter, Mrs Dang and her family managed to get to the airport in Maui, where they planned to board a flight back to Kansas. Some 14,000 tourists were moved off Maui on Wednesday, officials say, with a further 14,500 set to be moved on Thursday. As for the 26-year-old Mr Baraoidan, he and his parents have been staying with family on the other side of Maui since they evacuated their home. All they managed to take were some important documents, a bag of clothes and their two dogs. "We are all in shock," he said. But, he added: "My dad told me that everything in the house is replaceable and we are lucky to have each other." With additional reporting from Nadine Yousif. Banner saying 'Get in touch' How are you affected by the wildfires? If it is safe to do so please get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission. News Daily banner Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox. Suspect in killing of Ecuador candidate Villavicencio dead-attorney general's office Ecuadorean presidential candidate Villavicencio killed at campaign event, in Quito QUITO (Reuters) - A suspect in the killing of Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has died from injuries sustained during the shootout that lead to his capture, the attorney general's office said on Wednesday on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Villavicencio's party Movimiento Construye said on X that armed men attacked its Quito offices. (Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb) Last spring, in the midst of all the overheated debate over transgender issues in Frankfort, Rep. James Tipton did a very sensible thing. He wrote a letter to a University of Kentucky healthcare clinic to see if they performed any gender-affirming surgery. It turns out UKs Transform Health Clinic had performed some mastectomies on transgender teens, so small a number that they wouldnt even say how many because it might violate HIPPA laws. (In my experience with UK, that means fewer than five cases.) But then, Tipton did the political thing. He turned the UK letter over to Republican leadership. It was mentioned in a floor speech by Sen. Lindsay Tichenor in March. But instead of using the letter to answer a lot of questions, or hold a press conference, they sat on it until the governors race got heated up, then released it to a right-wing media site called the Washington Free Beacon. That left a lot of people including Gov. Andy Beshear, LGBTQ advocates and some media with egg on their face because they had said gender reassignment surgeries dont happen in Kentucky. UK could have also made this issue more clear, but they were keeping quiet in the middle of a political maelstrom, caught in the constant trap of trying to do the right thing, like provide non-surgical healthcare to trans children, without annoying the legislative GOP super-duper majority which thinks they know better than those childrens parents. In truth a lot of people dont think of mastectomies or top surgery as gender reassignment surgery, but the general public does. Chris Hartman of the Fairness Campaign said his group didnt do any open records requests, but in constant conversations, it was well known that gender reassignment or bottom surgery didnt happen here on minors. Nonetheless, theres a good adage to use here: Trust but verify. Still, this issue is dumb because the one thing that everyone Republicans, Democrats, Gov. Beshear, LGBTQ advocates, your Aunt Sue and cousin Jack agree on is that its fine to have a ban on gender reassignment surgery for anyone under 18. Beshear has said so repeatedly. He vetoed SB 150 not because it banned such surgery but because it was a cruel and unnecessary bill that violated medical privacy, took rights away from parents, and added onerous problems for our teachers and schools. He absolutely did the right thing. This is a wholly politically manufactured story, Hartman said. It is suspicious and politically convenient that they sat on this letter for half a year and waited until election season. Its been a good gotcha, in which challenger Daniel Cameron got to score off the governor for a hot minute. But its strange Cameron would pick up this particular cudgel when it worked so poorly for the person who really embraced it, third place primary finisher Kelly Craft. In the end, trans issues affect about 2,000 kids statewide, .068 percent of a Kentucky population that suffers from some of the worst educational, health and employment outcomes in the country. Culture wars are what happen when you dont have much policy to run on. Its also a tenuous culture war. In March, polling from Data for Progress asked voters about the more than 400 pieces of legislation working their way through statehouses, aimed at limiting the rights of transgender and gay people in America. Sixty-four percent of respondents, including 55 percent of Republicans, sided with the statement This is too much legislation. Politicians are playing political theater and using these bills as a wedge issue. A later Fox News poll found that 57 percent of registered voters said that attacks on transgender children and families are a major problem. One reason Republicans have embraced anti-trans rhetoric is they no longer have abortion as the red flag to bring the party faithful to the polls. And that may be a risk as well, as we can see from Ohio, a red state where voters rejected GOP attempts to limit their ability to put abortion rights on an amendment. Most people regardless of party do not want government getting between them and their doctors, whether theyre pregnant, transgender, or getting a checkup. Real people are so fatigued by the fascination and focus that GOP legislators have on a population that is so small, Chris Hartman said. Its shocking that Cameron would do it after it failed in a Kentucky primary. Hes putting his eggs in the wrong basket. No one is fooled by the idea that these laws gives parents more rights. But political campaigns abhor nuance, facts or rationality. No reason why the most publicized governors race in the nation should be any different. LONDONSwitzerland is roiled by controversy after getting called out by a U.S. government agency for falling for a plot orchestrated by notorious Trump Tower lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. Switzerland is fighting for its reputation, wrote Swiss newspaper of record Neue Zurcher Zeitung. The fallout comes after the U.S. Helsinki Commission wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggesting that three Swiss nationalstwo ex-prosecutors and one former law enforcement officialshould be sanctioned by the U.S. These individuals have abetted Russian nationals sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act, the letter read. Veselnitskaya, the pro-Kremlin lawyer who attended an infamous meeting with Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner in 2016, held secret talks with one of the menVinzenz Schnellwhile he was supposed to be investigating the Magnitsky affair, one of the worlds most notorious frauds, which Veselnitskaya was tasked with covering up. One of the Schnell-Veselnitskaya summits took place in Moscow on an illicit trip to Russia bankrolled by the Russians. Schnell, who was a consultant to the Swiss Federal Prosecutors Office at the time, was eventually fired and convicted when it emerged that he had been gifted multiple luxury vacations, including a bear hunting escapade, all while he was in a key position investigating the case against a network of Russians who had funneled some of the stolen $230 million into Swiss bank accounts. During one of these trips to the picturesque Lake Baikal he was photographed with Switzerlands attorney general Michael Lauber and prosecutor Patrick Lamonthe other two men targeted by the Helsinki Commissionalong with senior Russian officials. Despite Schnells convictionand the details of Veselnitskayas influence campaign being aired in open courtSwitzerland decided to return 80 percent of the funds that had been frozen by the authorities to sanctioned Russians, as first reported by The Daily Beast. Swiss Will Send Millions to Sanctioned Russians After Veselnitskaya Plot The Helsinki Commissions suggestion that former Swiss officials should be sanctioned has called into question Switzerlands reputation for the rule of law. The Luzerner Zeitung newspaper this week bemoaned the way the Swiss justice system had handled the fraud. Switzerland is under international pressure because of its strange investigations into the Magnitsky case, the paper wrote, under the headline This Fatal Proximity to Russia. The Neue Zurcher Zeitung on Sunday wrote about panic in the Swiss government, and the Watson website explained: Switzerland investigated in a way that made it vulnerable to international attackand which is now costing it dearly. The letter from Helsinki Commission chairman Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and ranking member Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), dated July 27, made it clear that the apparently tainted Swiss investigation into the Magnitsky affair came to a totally different conclusion than the U.S. government. These findings are in direct contradiction to the findings of our government and many of our allies. The Swiss Federal Prosecutors Office repeated verbatim the statements they received from the Russian government, they wrote. Bill Browder has led a global campaign for justice since tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was abused and left to die in a Russian jail cell after uncovering the massive fraud. Switzerland has had a long and shady history of providing secret accounts, looking after dictators money and hiding Nazi gold. It seems that since Putins murderous invasion of Ukraine, they are adding to its negative reputation by returning dirty money to sanctioned Russian gangsters amid a worldwide effort to starve Putin of his financial resources, he told The Daily Beast. Switzerlandthe famously neutral banking hubhas largely tried to stay out of the global movement to pressurize President Vladimir Putin for launching an invasion against Ukraine. The Swisswho are not members of NATOdid go along with European Union sanctions on Russia but they still refuse to re-export arms to Ukraine, citing their neutrality. Washingtons pressure over Magnitsky is part of a squeeze on Bern to take more responsibility. In the words of Switzerlands SRF network: The pressure from the U.S. on Switzerland is increasing. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. Cleveland Guardians' Noah Syndergaard pitches in the first inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) CLEVELAND (AP) Noah Syndergaard won for the first time since April 30, rookies Brayan Rocchio and Jose Tena sparked Clevelands offense, and the Guardians defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 on Thursday. Syndergaard (2-5) allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings and was removed with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth. Nick Sandlin retired Nathan Lukes on a ground ball to end the inning. Syndergaard made his third start with Cleveland since being acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers for shortstop Amed Rosario on July 26. He allowed a career-high four home runs against the Chicago White Sox on Saturday. The 30-year-old right-hander has battled injuries over the past several seasons. He made 12 starts with the Dodgers before being sidelined with a blister and also underwent Tommy John surgery in 2020. Theres really no excuse or no reason why I should not be the pitcher that I was before, but every five days I got to go there and compete with what I got, Syndergaard said. Syndergaard has quickly found a comfort level with his new team. Every day I just try to get a little bit better, he said. I'm definitely not where I want to be, but I think the coaches that I have here put me in the right direction. The game's drama level increased after Syndergaard left. Toronto scored twice and loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but Cleveland managed to stay ahead. I felt like I've been at the dentist since two o'clock or whatever, Guardians manager Terry Francona said. I mean, that was a long ending. Cleanup hitter George Springer and manager John Schneider were ejected by home plate umpire Jeremie Rehak during the rally. Springer had words for Rehak after a 3-2 pitch with two runners on was called strike three and shrugged his shoulders as walked to the dugout. Rehak ejected Springer, which quickly brought an angry Schneider out of the dugout. Schneider was ejected and crew chief Chad Fairchild came down from first base to calm down the Blue Jays manager. Springer returned to the field after he discovered he had been thrown out. Schneider thought the called third strike was low, but took more issue with Springer being ejected while he was heading to the dugout. I didnt like the way he threw George out, Schneider said. Youre taking one of our best players and one of the best players in baseball out of the game. Its always unfortunate when the players ultimately cant decide the outcome. While Schneider thought Springer should have remained in the game, he believed his second ejection of the season was justified. What he said I dont think warranted an ejection, Schneider said. What I said did. Toronto then loaded the bases, but Trevor Stephan retired Alejandro Kirk on a popup and struck out Davis Schneider. Emmanuel Clase pitched the ninth for his 31st save in 39 chances. Runs were difficult to come by as the teams split the four-game series. Toronto won Monday's opener by a 3-1 score before the team exchanged 1-0 outcomes the following two nights. Rocchio had RBI doubles in the second and fifth. Tena had an RBI single in the second for his first major league hit and a double in the fifth. Alek Manoah (3-9) was pulled after the first two batters in the fifth reached base. He was charged with four runs and allowed four hits in four innings. Manoah struck out six, walked three and threw 93 pitches. Whit Merrifield, Brandon Belt and Santiago Espinal had RBIs for Toronto. Catcher Danny Jansen was removed with a bruised hand after being hit by a pitch in the sixth. THE KIDS CAN PITCH Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee and Logan Allen are the second Cleveland rookie trio of pitchers to allow a total of one earned run in three consecutive starts. The previous time it happened was 1916. TRAINERS ROOM Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette (right knee tendinitis) has hit in the batting cages the past two days and has started jogging. RHP Jordan Romano (lower back) threw 33 pitches in a bullpen session Wednesday. The next step in his rehab will be decided when the team returns home. LHP Hyun Jin Ryu is scheduled to start Sunday. He was forced to leave Mondays game after being hit on the right knee by a line drive in the fourth inning. UP NEXT Blue Jays: Toronto begins a three-game series at home Friday night against the Chicago Cubs. RHP Jose Berrios (9-7, 3.38 ERA) will start the opener. Guardians: RHP Xzavion Curry (3-1, 2.95 ERA) will start Friday night against the Rays. Cleveland will face former teammate Aaron Civale, traded to Tampa Bay on July 31. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb The Taliban's treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan is a "crime against humanity", Gordon Brown has told the BBC. The former prime minister is calling on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute those responsible for the "vicious" abuse of human rights. The Taliban government has severely restricted the freedoms of women and girls since regaining power in 2021. "This is the systematic brutalisation of women and girls," he said. Speaking to BBC Radio 4 Today's Nick Robinson, Mr Brown, now the UN's special envoy for global education, said: "They've been excluded from education, excluded from employment, excluded from visiting public places. "All these bans are a form of discrimination. It's probably the most heinous, most vicious, most comprehensive abuse of human rights in place around the world today." He said some described the system as a form "gender apartheid", and that it should be considered a crime against humanity. "It's right then for the International Criminal Court, which has responsibility for dealing with crimes against humanity, to both investigate and prosecute those responsible." The ex-Labour prime minister, who led the UK from 2007 to 2010, suggested the pressure of a potential prosecution could force the Taliban to reconsider, and said he was shocked by there was "so little international pressure on the regime". Mr Brown also called for UK sanctions against the Taliban leadership, and leaders and clerics from Muslim-majority countries to help persuade them that "Islam is a religion that values women and girls". The UN has described women reporting feeling isolated and living in prison-like conditions The former prime minister's intervention comes as the two-year anniversary approaches of the fall of the democratic government and Taliban takeover following the withdrawal of Western troops. Taliban leaders promised a more moderate rule than during their previous period in power from 1996 to 2001. Last month Afghan women held a rare protest against the Taliban's decision to shut female beauty parlours and salons. Girls have been banned from attending secondary school and women excluded from university. Women and girls are also prohibited from entering amusement parks, gyms and working in non-governmental organisations, and must adhere to a strict dress code. The UN has previously said women reported feeling "invisible, isolated, suffocated, living in prison-like conditions", with many unable to meet and their basic needs without employment or aid. Around 40% of the country's 40 million people suffer acute food insecurity, according to the IPC scale that measures levels of malnutrition. Fereshta Abbasi, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, said on Thursday that Afghans were "living a humanitarian and human rights nightmare under Taliban rule". She called on Taliban leaders to "urgently reject their abusive rules and policies" and implored the international community to hold them accountable for the crises their country faces. A man who alleges he inhaled smoke while he was restrained on a roller coaster that was on fire last year in Arlington has filed a lawsuit against Six Flags Over Texas and its parent corporation. Connor Spitzig alleges in the suit that proper maintenance and inspection would have prevented the April 10, 2022, fire on Mr. Freeze that occurred while the ride was in a tunnel. Spitzig, who was in a seat in the front row of the car at the front of the ride, was locked in with other passengers by a lap bar. Spitzig, who is 33, was in Arlington to attend a funeral and went to the amusement park before returning to his home in Venice, California, said Amber Russell, an attorney who, with Jean Phillips, represents the plaintiff. Spitzig also alleges in the suit, which was filed on Tuesday in state district court in Tarrant County, that his extrication was delayed for a period that increased his smoke inhalation and trauma. It took an employee at least 10 minutes to free the passengers from their seats, Russell said. The employee had not been trained on emergency lap bar release protocol, Russell said. Spitzig and three others were taken to a hospital. The fire was caused by an overheated motor, according to an Arlington Fire Department record cited in the suit. A Six Flags Over Texas spokesperson declined a reporters request to release information about the maintenance and inspection of the motor prior to the fire or to offer an assessment of the passenger evacuation. The fire was extinguished before Arlington firefighters arrived. A Six Flags employee suffered a minor injury. First responders arrived just in time to prevent the loss of life, but not before the riders suffered injuries and extreme trauma, Russell and Phillips wrote in the suits petition. Spitzig seeks damages over $1 million. Russell and Phillips in the petition described the roller coasters operation during Spitzigs time on it. The ride shoots the passengers out of the boarding area at 70 mph and runs the course backward and then forward. Near the end of the ride, the train returns through a dark tunnel before the exit. Instead of reaching the exit, the cars suddenly skidded to a stop. The ride was malfunctioning, but there was nothing the riders could do. The restraints were still locked, holding them in place. Smoke billowed in front and beside the front car. Taylor Swift performs at the Eras Tour in Los Angeles, California, on August 9, 2023. Kevin Winter/Getty Images Taylor Swift performed in Los Angeles, California, for the sixth night in a row on Wednesday. She wore multiple blue outfits, including never-before-seen looks, during the Eras Tour stop. The ensembles preceded Swift announcing the upcoming release of "1989 (Taylor's Version)." Taylor Swift ended the first leg of her massive Eras Tour on Wednesday night, and she wore some of her most showstopping looks to date. Taylor Swift performs at the Eras Tour in Los Angeles, California, on August 9, 2023. Kevin Winter/Getty Images The show was one of six sold-out nights Swift played at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California, before taking a break. She'll return to the Eras Tour later this month with four shows in Mexico City, Mexico. Swift debuted her first new outfit of the night a baby-blue ball gown covered in crystals about halfway through the show. Taylor Swift performs at the Eras Tour in Los Angeles, California, on August 9, 2023. Kevin Winter/Getty Images The halter dress with a fitted bodice and full skirt was custom-made for Swift by Nicole + Felicia, a sister design duo who previously created other "Speak Now" looks for the Eras Tour. In an Instagram post, the designers said the sparkling dress was decorated with their "signature intricate beadwork and 3D floral embellishments." She surprised the audience again during the "Folklore" section, appearing onstage in a baby-blue version of the flowing dress she wears each night. Taylor Swift performs at the Eras Tour in Los Angeles, California, on August 9, 2023. Kevin Winter/Getty Images Designed by Alberta Ferretti, the floor-length dress was adorned with small crystals across the chest and cape sleeves. Shortly after, Swift performed "1989" hits in a deep-blue crop top and miniskirt another never-before-seen look. Taylor Swift performs at the Eras Tour in Los Angeles, California, on August 9, 2023. Kevin Winter/Getty Images Swift has worn the same outfit in different shades each time she's performed the "1989" section of the Eras Tour. And Roberto Cavalli has designed each one. The two-piece set she wore on Wednesday was mostly the same, featuring a beaded fringe crop top with thin straps and a matching, high-waisted miniskirt. But its colorway was entirely new, crafted with ocean-blue beads that perfectly mirrored the 2014 era. Fans had anticipated that Swift would announce the release date of "1989 (Taylor's Version)" at the Wednesday night show. She did just that in an ocean-blue wrap dress. Taylor Swift announced "1989 (Taylor's Version)" during her final Eras Tour show on the US leg. Kevin Winter/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Each night of the Eras Tour, Swift has covered her "1989" outfit with a Jessica Jones wrap dress to perform at least two surprise songs. While she's worn various colors throughout the tour pink, green, and yellow, to be exact she'd never worn a blue version of the off-the-shoulder dress until Wednesday night. During the final section of the show, Swift stepped onstage wearing a sparkling T-shirt dress in, you guessed it, a baby-blue shade. Taylor Swift performs at the Eras Tour in Los Angeles, California, on August 9, 2023. Kevin Winter/Getty Images Swift has worn the sparkling, baby-blue T-shirt dress at least twice before, the most recent time being her second Nevada show in March. When she removed the T-shirt and her fuzzy jacket a few songs later, Swift revealed a daring bodysuit covered in cutouts. Taylor Swift performs at the Eras Tour in Los Angeles, California, on August 9, 2023. Kevin Winter/Getty Images Zuhair Murad designed the high-neck piece, saying on Instagram that it features "shimmering crystal embellishments, cascading intricate beaded fringes," and a matching garter. Swift actually debuted the outfit on Tuesday night, leading fans to question if it was a "1989 (Taylor's Version)" Easter egg because Swift had worn a similar outfit on her original 1989 tour. They seemed to be right. Read the original article on Insider Severe storms have swept across the United States, spawning tornadoes, hail and damaging winds in multiple states. In Hawaii, both Maui and the Big Island have been hit by firestorms with severe destruction. CLICK TO GET KURTS FREE CYBERGUY NEWSLETTER WITH SECURITY ALERTS, QUICK TIPS, TECH REVIEWS AND EASY HOW-TOS TO MAKE YOU SMARTER Unfortunately, that means that some people whose houses are still intact are going to experience damage to their homes, whether it be roof damage, flooding, leaks, structural issues or something else. What's even more unfortunate is that this is a time when scammers will prey on, and try to take advantage of, innocent down-and-out Americans who are just trying to get their homes back to normal. Here's what you can do to avoid the double whammy of a post-disaster scam. HOW TO SPOT RED FLAGS FOR THIS LATEST FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE SCAM READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP Scammers will use severe weather and pretend to be contractors who can fix your home. If you've ever had damage to your home from severe weather, you know how stressful the process can be to get your home back to normal. The process can be intimidating and long-winded, which is why scammers will create fake deals and claim that they can get your home fixed more quickly than anyone else. They will claim to be a contractor who can fix your home fast and will ask for you to pay them directly in cash. Before you know it, your money is gone, the job still needs to be done, and the "contractor" has disappeared without a trace. This is all too common and can be avoided with the proper steps taken. DON'T FALL FOR GEEK SQUAD, PAYPAL SCAM ALERT The first step you should take after your home has been damaged is to reach out to your home insurance provider. Many insurance companies also offer mobile apps that allow you to report and track damage claims. These apps often have features that can help you identify reputable contractors and avoid scams. For example, the app may provide a list of recommended contractors whom the insurance company has vetted or provide tips on how to spot common scams. Once you get the list of contractors from your home insurance provider, start doing your research on each one. One way to do this is through the Better Business Bureau, which is there to help you see if these companies have ever had any complaints, how they go about resolving complaints, and if they're worth hiring. You do not have to use any of the companies that your home insurance provider recommends. However, you must do the research before hiring anyone, whether they were recommended to you or not. MORE: HOW TO PREVENT PHONE SCAMS AGAINST OLDER LOVED ONES One way of avoiding scammers posing as contractors is to contact your insurance company. MORE: HURRICANE AND DISASTER PREP: BEST TIPS FOR PREPARING FOR WEATHER EVENTS If you decide that you do not want to use a company recommended by your insurance, there are many online directories that you can use to find reputable contractors in your area. These directories often include reviews and ratings from other customers, which can help consumers make informed decisions about whom to hire. Examples of such directories include HomeAdvisor, Angie's List and Yelp. Don't forget about using your social media, which can also be a valuable resource in dealing with storm damage. You can use social media to ask for recommendations from your friends and family or to join local groups where you can get advice from others who have dealt with similar situations. You can also see if the company you're interested in using has a social media presence or a website so that you can see some previous work it's done. Overall, the key is to stay informed and use technology to your advantage. By using the resources available to you, you can protect yourself from scammers and ensure that you get the help you need to repair any damage caused by a storm. FOR MORE OF MY TECH TIPS & SECURITY ALERTS, SUBSCRIBE TO MY FREE CYBERGUY REPORT NEWSLETTER BY HEADING TO CYBERGUY.COM/NEWSLETTER BEWARE OF THIS NEW BITCOIN BLACKMAIL SCAM One of the biggest scam tactics that the Better Business Bureau has seen is when a contractor asks for you to pay them directly in cash or give them the check that you've received from your insurance company. Often times, when insurance companies pay claims, they will send one check that is meant for multiple contractors, such as a roofing team, siding team, and others. You should never hand that insurance check over to a contractor or pay them in cash. HOW TO GUARD AGAINST 'BRUSHING' SCAMS One red flag in spotting a scammer posing as a contractor is when they asked to be directly in cash. The best way to pay a contractor is via credit card. That way, you have their name, and that you paid them, on file, and you can reach out to your credit card company in case anything goes wrong. If you ever do need to file a complaint, contact the Better Business Bureau, where you can file a claim 24/7. HOW TO AVOID THE MALICIOUS PHONE SIM SWAP SCAM There are websites dedicated to tracking and reporting scams related to storm damage. You can use these sites to stay informed about common scams and to report any suspicious activity you encounter. Here are a few examples: The National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) - You can call their hotline at 866-720-5721 to report fraudulent activity related to natural disasters. They also have a website where you can report scams and find resources on how to protect yourself from fraud. Better Business Bureau - The BBB has a Scam Tracker tool on its website where you can search for scams related to storm damage and other types of fraud. ScamPulse.com - This website is run by the Better Business Bureau and allows you to search for scams related to any natural disasters. You can also report a scam and find resources on how to protect yourself from fraud. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) - FEMA has a webpage dedicated to disaster fraud where you can learn how to recognize and report scams related to storm damage. StopFraud.gov - This website is maintained by the United States Department of Justice and provides information on how to report and prevent fraud related to natural disasters. It's important to be vigilant and cautious when dealing with storm damage and always verify the legitimacy of contractors and repair services before hiring them. DON'T FALL FOR THESE WRONG NUMBER TEXTING SCAMS FEMA has a webpage specifically dedicated to disaster fraud. Before a storm even hits, consider investing in a personal locator beacon, also known as a PLB, which is a small, handheld device that transmits a distress signal to emergency services in the event of an emergency. It uses satellite technology to pinpoint your exact location and can alert rescuers where cell coverage may be limited or non-existent. Stay safe with these five best personal locator beacons If you have no cell phone service after a storm, but own an iPhone 14 or an iPhone 14 Pro or later model, you can use the feature - Emergency SOS via satellite. Apple has partnered with satellite communications company Globalstar to create the feature and uses satellite connectivity to put you in touch with local emergency dispatch centers if they are in an area with no cellular coverage. I also recommend you have a well-stocked emergency kit that includes essential supplies such as non-perishable food, water, first aid supplies, and a battery-powered or hand-crank radio. It's also a good idea to have a plan in place for where to go and what to do in the event of a severe weather emergency. Get my six survival gear must-haves by heading to Cyberguy.com/SurvivalGear WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A CYBERCRIMINAL GETS ACCESS TO YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS? By taking these precautions and being prepared ahead of time, you can increase your chances of staying safe and minimizing the impact of a storm on yourself and your loved ones. It is also important to exercise caution and remain vigilant after a severe storm; as I mentioned, scammers often exploit the vulnerability of innocent individuals like us. Thus, it is imperative to stay alert and take necessary precautions. Have you ever experienced storm damage or encountered a scam related to it? Share your story with us, and let us know how you dealt with it by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact. For more of my security alerts, subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by heading to Cyberguy.com/Newsletter Copyright 2023 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved. Around 2:30 a.m. in March 2022, a group of young men smashed the window of an unmarked police car parked outside of the officers Nashville home and took his department-issued Glock pistol, ammunition and two personal guns all locked in a case in the trunk. They even stole his set of spike strips. The officer, Det. Randall Smith with the Metro Nashville Police Department, had arrived home from a late shift around 1 a.m. that morning and said he left the guns secured in his trunk since he had to be back at work in a few hours for a 6 a.m. training, according to police records. In most cases, guns stolen from cars are tough to track down until they turn up months or years later when theyre used in a crime. But in this case, officers were able to catch some of the suspects later that day thanks to surveillance videos that showed a rash of car break-ins in the neighborhood. Police recovered Smiths Glock magazine and one of his personal guns, according to an arrest affidavit. Police arrested another suspect the next day after the man was spotted on a live social media post holding the officers short barrel rifle. Smith was given a one-day suspension for violating protocol, records show. His supervising sergeant noted that he should have stored the guns inside his home while off duty. Those guns were just a few of the more than 1,300 stolen from cars in Davidson County last year, in a statewide epidemic that has skyrocketed in the past decade. The problem is so alarming that law enforcement sends out regular news alerts with the latest stolen guns statistics and reminders for people to lock their car doors and secure their firearms. This month, Nashville police began offering free gun locks to all residents. But gun control advocates say the pleas have done little to curb the crisis. In a push to deter criminals, the state in 2021 passed a law strengthening the penalty for stealing a gun from a misdemeanor to a Class E felony with a mandatory minimum sentence of six months in jail. The law was part of a legislative package that year that made Tennessee a permitless carry state, and it was added to appease concerns that allowing people to carry handguns without a permit could lead to more crime. Gov. Bill Lee even included an extra $17 million in the state General Fund that fiscal year for an anticipated jump in incarceration rates. But while the effort was meant to address crime and stiffen penalties, attorneys who spoke with The Tennessean said the new law actually makes the cases harder to prosecute. To begin with, its a tough crime to prove. A stolen gun can change hands multiple times before its recovered, and witnesses and the gun owners can be hard to track down or reluctant to testify. Under the new penalty, defense attorneys have little bargaining room with the six month mandatory jail time and are less likely to settle a case. As a result, most felony gun theft charges are dropped. The Tennessean reviewed more than a 100 Davidson County court cases from 2022 through May 2023, after the law went into effect, and found that the vast majority of gun theft charges were eventually dropped or dismissed, mostly due to lack of proof and witnesses. In most cases, defendants will end up being convicted on other criminal charges since most of them are committing other crimes along with the gun theft. But the dropped charges show how a law that was meant to bring change in reality does little once it hits the court system, said David Raybin, a longtime local criminal defense lawyer. The dynamic has changed because now the sanction is so severe on a mandatory minimum case thats already very hard to prove, he said. Its the same philosophy that if we make the penalties harder its going to end the crime, and thats absurd. As for the young men accused of stealing guns from the police car in 2022, three of the defendants, all 21 years old, were allowed to plead guilty to the lesser offense of property theft, according to the Davidson County District Attorney's Office. The case against a fourth man is pending. As Tennessee grapples with the massive problem, lawmakers in a special session this month are hoping to pass some type of bill that would provide a deterrent for people leaving unlocked guns in cars. Lee is proposing doing away with taxes on firearm safes and safety devices, providing free gun locks, expanding safe storage training in state-approved safety courses and launching a safe-storage public service campaign. But the perimeters Lee set for the special session on Wednesday specifically prevent lawmakers from passing any penalties for those who fail to safely store their firearms. The epidemic In 2013, Tennessee passed whats known as the gun in trunks law, which allowed people to keep guns in their vehicles if theyre locked and secured. Since that time, the number of stolen guns from cars in Nashville has jumped nearly tenfold, from 206 in 2013 to a record 1,378 last year. And Nashville looks to be on track for another record year, with more than 700 guns stolen from cars so far this year, marking 80% of all stolen firearms. The number of guns stolen from vehicles in Nashville has increased year-over-year for a decade, police data shows. The problem is just as bad in Memphis and Chattanooga. An analysis by the gun control advocacy group Everytown listed the cities as the top two in the nation for stolen guns from cars in 2020. In fact, Tennessee that year had the unfortunate honor of being the only state to have four cities Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga and Jackson in the top 15. Republican lawmakers have said they do not see a correlation between the change in the law and the spike in gun theft, instead attributing it to a rise in juvenile crime and gang activity. While law enforcement acknowledges that youth stealing guns from cars is a major concern, theres also the problem of people haphazardly forgetting to lock their cars and secure their weapons. In many cases, teens will wander through a neighborhood in groups checking for unlocked cars, said Davidson County Deputy District Attorney Roger Moore. If they find a gun, theyll keep it for a few days and then sell it off, which makes it harder to prove who stole it, he said. It even happened to Memphis Police Chief "C.J." Davis last year when two 17-year-olds were arrested for stealing her department-issued gun from a car parked outside of a home supplies store. Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn "CJ" Davis speaks during a news conference in September. The car was locked and her gun was stored in a lockbox under the seat, but Davis later apologized and acknowledged that it was out of protocol since the lockbox was not secured to the car. The epidemic was further highlighted this year when Metro Nashville Police Officer Donovan Coble was shot with a stolen gun near Donelson Pike. The suspect, 37-year-old Delama Casmir, who died in the shooting, allegedly stole the gun from an SUV left in an airport parking lot, according to police. The SUVs owner, a man from Russellville, Kentucky, said he had left his wifes pistol in the center console. Coble survived and was expected to make a full recovery. A tough case to prove As Tennessees stolen gun numbers climbed, officials were hopeful that the new law strengthening the penalty from a misdemeanor to felony would help curb the crime, and the burden shifted to prosecutors for enforcement. But it was a different story once the law reached the court system, Davidson County Court records show. Of 61 felony gun theft cases adjudicated in General Sessions Court from from 2022 through May 2023, all of them were dropped, dismissed or retired, mostly due to lack of proof. The majority of more than 60 gun theft cases in criminal court were also dropped or dismissed. The more severe the punishment for any offense, the less likely it is for a defendant to want to plead guilty, said Moore, with the district attorneys office. Assistant District Attorney Emily Todoran, a general sessions court team leader for Davidson County, said the challenge is proving the crime beyond a reasonable doubt when in many cases they cant even locate the gun owners. They wont show up in court or we dont know who the victims are, she said. We hardly ever have the proof we need. If I could prove them, I would. Defendants in most cases end up being convicted of other charges, like drugs or being a felon in possession of a weapon, since many defendants have criminal records, she said. Federal prosecutors sometimes take on the cases if the defendant has a lengthy record, she added. Its unclear how the cases are being handled in other counties. A handful of other counties reviewed by The Tennesean didnt yet have a specific category for felony gun theft and dont track the cases. The cases instead are lumped in with general theft. Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp in Chattanooga said her office doesn't specifically keep data on felony gun theft charges, but it is prosecuting the cases. Wamp said she believes the law with its stricter penalties does act as a deterrent for criminals, and its a better solution over possibly penalizing gun owners who irresponsibility leave guns in cars. I wouldnt criminalize the victim of a crime, because then you dont have a victim, she said. However, stolen guns remain a major problem in Chattanooga. This month, Wamp put her face on a series of billboards, reminding people not to leave their firearms in their cars. House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, who sponsored the bill that changed the law, said increasing the penalties recognizes the seriousness of the crime. "An inconvenient truth is that criminals dont obey laws; gun theft leads to more crime," Lamberth, a former prosecutor, said in a statement. "If we need to impose harsher penalties for gun theft, that is something I would consider." New legislation While some officials, like Wamp, want to move away from penalizing gun owners, others see it as key in fighting the problem. Earlier this year, Rep. Caleb Hemmer, D-Nashville, introduced a bill that would have made it a misdemeanor for gun owners to improperly store guns in a car or boat. As punishment, offenders would be required to enroll in a court-approved firearm safety course a decidedly lighter penalty in a state that largely supports gun ownership. Lawmakers ended their session without considering the bill, but Hemmer said hes hoping to reintroduce similar legislation when they convene this month in a special session. However, he's facing an uphill battle as Lee on Wednesday said he is blocking any legislation that would penalize people for carelessly leaving guns in cars. Hemmer said he still plans to propose some type of bill that will address the issue. His original bill had bipartisan support and backing from major police groups, including Nashville Police Chief John Drake. Caleb Hemmer "It's disappointing and frustrating because there should be penalties," he said. "But I'm resolute and ready to push forward with some common sense solutions for this epically bad problem in Tennessee." Guns have been a top concern in the state this year following the March 27 mass shooting at Nashvilles Covenant School that left six people dead, including three children. As for the current law, Linda McFadyen-Ketchum, a volunteer with the gun control group Moms Demand Action Tennessee, said the harsher penalty for a stolen gun isnt effective if people dont get jail time. And Im not a great proponent of jail time, but the jail time and pushing it to a felony was sort of a concession when permitless carry was passed, she said. It was supposed to be the governors take to get a handle on guns stolen from cars, and it doesnt appear to be working. Reach Kelly Puente at kpuente@tennessean.com. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee stiffened the penalty for stealing a gun. Is the law working? Tesla's sales in China have tumbled and its slumping economy may not be to blame, Bank of America says A Tesla Model S at a charging station in New York. Bruce Bennett/Getty Images Tesla sales in China have slumped and it's faltering economy may not be the reason why, according to Bank of America. That's because demand for Tesla rival BYD rose 4%, while Tesla deliveries dropped 31% month-over-month in July. It suggests demand for Teslas in China is waning in the face of local competition. Tesla sales in China have slumped showing its aggressive price cuts are no longer proving fruitful, according to Bank of America. In a recent note, the bank highlighted Tesla Model 3 and Model Y deliveries in China dropped by 31% month-over-month in July, while its largest EV competitor in China, BYD Auto, grew 4% month-over-month. "TSLA experienced several months of strong demand in China after it lowered prices in December 2022 on the Model 3 and Model Y by 13.5% and 10%, respectively, but the demand reversal in July suggests those initial gains may be temporary," John Murphy, a Bank of America research analyst, said. Tesla has repeatedly dropped prices of its vehicles over the past year, in a bid to undercut rivals and boost market share. The cuts were initially a success story in China, stoking demand in comparison to BYD. In January this year, a Wedbush survey even found that 70% of consumers in China said they were incentivised to buy a Tesla because of the price cuts. But now, the wheels have turned in favour of BYD. "With the 31% MoM drop, TSLA's July deliveries on absolute basis were well below the YTD average of ~80k and closer to the level seen in early 2022. Meanwhile, BYD, which is TSLA's largest EV competitor in China, showed its 6th straight month of positive MoM growth in July," Murphy said. "This seems to indicate that the drop in demand for TSLA vehicles was not driven by broader economic factors in China," he added. So it seems Tesla may have a China problem. Growing demand for BYD comes despite a worsening economic backdrop in China. The country's economy has slipped into deflation, with shop and factory prices both falling last month. The data is the latest red flag for Beijing, which is also struggling with stuttering growth, a property-sector crisis, and surging youth unemployment. Read the original article on Business Insider (Bloomberg) -- A populist Thai political party leading efforts to form a government sought to allay central bank concerns that its pre-election pledges of billions of dollars in cash handouts will undermine the nations fiscal stability. Most Read from Bloomberg A government headed by Pheu Thai will ensure each baht spent by it contributes to fiscal stability in the long term, Deputy Secretary-General Paopoom Rojanasakul said in a statement Thursday. A promise to give 10,000 baht ($285) to each Thai citizen above 16 years will help revitalize the nations fragile economy, he said. Read more: Thai Party Pledges $15 Billion Tokens to Resuscitate Economy Pheu Thais defense of its election pledges came a day after Bank of Thailand Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput said the central bank was concerned about political risks and policies that could undermine stability. He urged parties to implement only those spending plans which have a clear funding arrangement. All Pheu Thai policies give utmost priority to fiscal stability, Paopoom said. Every baht we spend will have high returns and come back to support the fiscal stability over the long term. Pheu Thai, which campaigned around measures to fire up household income to counter high debt and cash injection to stimulate the economy, finished second in the May 14 general election. Its now heading a coalition to form the next government with support from other parties. Though Southeast Asias second-largest economy is poised to expand more than 3% this year due to a rebound in tourism and private consumption, it faces headwinds from sluggish global demand for its goods and rising borrowing costs. Investors are also concerned that the delay in government formation even after almost three months of the vote may push back state budget approvals and public spending. Read more: Election Freebies Have Thai Businesses Worried About Rising Cost While the fledgling coalition has yet to spell out its policy priorities, Paopoom said it was necessary to implement its flagship digital wallet proposal of giving 10,000 baht that will cost a total of about 560 billion baht. The party had also previously pledged a 70% hike in minimum wage and tripling of farm profit to gradually boost economic growth rate to 5%. Pheu Thai agrees with the central bank that urgent measures are needed to tackle household debt, which is now about 90% of the gross domestic product, Paopoom said. The party plans debt relief measures for Covid-hit farmers and small and medium enterprises, he said. A Pheu Thai-led government will work with the central bank to ensure a seamless coordination of fiscal and monetary policies that will help tackle the economic crisis facing the country, Paopoom said. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. On the evening of June 24, 16-year-olds Tihran Ohannisian and Mykyta Khanhanov went for a walk in their hometown of Berdiansk, a Russian-occupied city in Ukraines southeastern Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The two got some street food, saw some friends, and discussed how they would celebrate Khanhanov's 17th birthday the next day. At around 7 p.m., Ohannisian called his mother, who had earlier fled occupied Berdiansk and moved to Germany with her younger children. He sounded calm and shared plans for the future, and that he would also go to Germany. He said he would be back home by 9 p.m. But the boys' plans and dreams were never to come true. Russian proxies murdered Ohannisian and Khanhanov later that night. "We saw reports about a shooting in Berdiansk and realized something (bad) had happened there," says Olha Reshetylova, the head of the Media Initiative for Human Rights (MIHR), a human rights organization that has been in touch with the families of the two teenagers. Shortly after the reports, a self-filmed video by Ohannisian surfaced in which he has a rifle in his hand, saying: "Two (people) for certain. That's it, it's death, guys. Goodbye! Glory to Ukraine!" It is unclear from the video what two people Ohannisian is referring to or to whom he is saying goodbye. Following the boys deaths, Russian proxy in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast Vladimir Rogov claimed that "two pro-Ukrainian terrorists" had been killed, adding that Ohannisian was among them. Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets confirmed the two had been killed on June 25. Reshetylova, whose team is now investigating the events, says Russian-installed law enforcement had been after the pro-Ukrainian teenagers since last fall, illegally charging them with conspiring with Ukraine's Armed Forces and planning sabotage. The charges carry up to 20 years of imprisonment, according to Russian law. Until now, much of what happened that night remains unknown since there is no access to the Russian-occupied territory and because Russia has refused to give the boys' bodies to their relatives. Although Russian proxies have made different claims regarding Ohannisian and Khanhanov's death, saying it was a suicide or that they were "liquidated" by a sniper, Reshetylova says their claims are far from true. "It was definitely not a suicide because suicide is not committed by several shots into different body parts. And it was not just simple liquidation of dangerous terrorists by a sniper shot, as they claim, because there were many wounds on their bodies," she says. Lubinets called it an "extrajudicial execution" of Ukrainian teenagers. "It is clear that they (Russian troops) try to instill this endless fear among the freedom-loving (Ukrainian) children," says Reshetylova. As of Aug. 10, Russia's all-out war has killed 499 children in Ukraine, according to the Prosecutor General's Office. The actual numbers may be much higher since they do not fully account for territories still under Russian occupation, recently liberated by Ukrainian forces, or experiencing heavy fighting, the Prosecutor General's Office said. Read also: The little victims: Russias war killed these children Prosecuting freedom Over the 1.5 years of its all-out war in Ukraine, Russia has firmly proved that any form of free will and love for Ukraine is not welcome in the settlements it occupies. Located on the northern coast of the Azov Sea, the city of Berdiansk occupied since the early days of the full-scale invasion is no exception. Classmates and good friends Ohannisian and Khanhanov had been persecuted by the Russian proxies in Berdiansk since last fall. While Khanhanov lived there with his parents, Ohannisian stayed with his grandmother, as he refused to leave her alone and flee Berdiansk with his parents in the early months of the full-scale war. On Sept. 30, around 20 Russian soldiers came to Ohannisians home. The boy's mother, Oksana Starovierova, told MIHR that they searched the house for over two hours, hitting her son and his grandmother with a machine gun, as well as stealing some computer equipment, phones, and food. Read also: Civilian forced to dig trenches for Russians: I wanted to jump on a mine and end it Russian troops said they had received a report of a "dangerous criminal" living there, putting a plastic bag over Ohannisian's head and taking him to a pre-trial detention facility. For the next five days, Ohannisian barely ate and "was severely tortured with electricity," according to Reshetylova. Russian troops also took him to some field and "imitated shooting at him," Reshetylova adds. The same day in September, Russian soldiers came after Khanhanov, but the boy and his family were not at home. They returned around two weeks after, taking Khanhanov and his father to the police station for interrogation and releasing them soon after. Since then, both Ohannisian and Khanhanov were forced to constantly report to the local Russian-controlled police department, says Reshetylova. Ohannisian's uncle, Yurii Petrenko, told the Ukrainska Pravda media outlet that his nephew would enter the police department saying "Glory to Ukraine" to the Russian proxies. Petrenko said the boy was fond of Ukraine's history and tore down Russian flags in Berdiansk, the media outlet reported. Ukrainian teenagers Mykyta Khanhanov (L) and Tihran Ohannisian were killed in Russian-occupied Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, on June 24, 2023. (Photo: Media Initiative for Human Rights) Reshetylova says Ohannisian's mother and stepfather tried to get him to leave Berdiansk in January. However, they were brought back to the city after being stopped and interrogated in the Russian city of Taganrog. While Ohannisian's parents were eventually allowed to flee Berdiansk, the boy was made to stay there, Reshetylova says. Just like Ohannisian, Khanhanov wasnt allowed to leave the city either, she says. Reshetylova believes Russian-installed authorities decided to prosecute the teenagers as "leaders in their community and for patriotic views." "But this does not mean they were preparing some kind of sabotage," Reshetylova adds. They were not some "degenerates or nazis," as Russia claims, but "absolutely adequate, educated, interesting, young people with a large number of friends," according to Reshetylova. "And I think it was fundamental for the Russians to commit this massacre so that others would be afraid. I think that was their main goal," she says. Fake justice, failed system Reshetylova says that for a while she and her team thought Russian forces actions towards the teenagers were some "preventative measures and intimidations" to stop them from "committing any patriotic actions." In May, however, it became clear that it was not simple intimidation: Russia was really after the two. On May 24, Russia's Investigative Committee charged Ohannisian and Khanhanov for allegedly planning to sabotage a local railway and conspiring with Ukraine's Armed Forces. According to the Russian Criminal Code, they could have faced 10 to 20 years of imprisonment. After what Ohannisian went through during his five-day detention in September, being arrested by the Russian troops was something the two feared "most of all," Reshetylova says. Both she and Ukrainian lawyer Andrii Yakovliev, who represents Ohannisian's family, agree that the case against the teenagers was fabricated: There was no fair investigation, nor independent lawyers, not to mention the pressure the two were under. Read also: Torturing people is fun for them. 16-year-old Ukrainian recalls his 3 months in Russian captivity Reshetylova says they tried to find lawyers in Berdiansk who would agree to defend Ohannisian and Khanhanov, but it was impossible since "they either fled the city or were too afraid." The teenagers had Russian-installed lawyers instead. "One of the lawyers offered to plead guilty while the other did not come to the hearings but only showed up to sign some documents," Yakovliev told the Kyiv Independent. He says that Khanhanov at least had the psychological support of his family since they were allowed to attend the interrogations. Having no parents around, Ohannisian, as a minor, was appointed a social worker. "She (the social worker) put a lot of pressure on him psychologically, also saying that he ruined his life," says Reshetylova. "There was no question of any justice or standards at all." Yakovliev says that "those who Russia persecutes have practically no chance." "Not to exonerate or dispute. It's a process that has a predetermined end," he adds. Fleeing the Russian-occupied territory was likely the only possible way for the two teenagers to escape prosecution. Following the MIHR's appeals to rescue Ohannisian and Khanhanov, British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons, the U.S. State Department, and the U.S. Mission to the OSCE condemned Russia's actions and called on the country to drop the charges. On June 15, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the "immediate termination of the proceedings and dismissal of all charges" against Ohannisian and Khanhanov. In its resolution, the European Parliament also called on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) "to facilitate their safe return to Ukrainian-controlled territory." However, there has never been any official reaction from the ICRC, Reshetylova says. "They had time to react, intervene, and start negotiations with the occupation authorities. They didn't do it," Reshetylova says. "We can only say that, for sure, this tragedy could have been prevented and avoided," says Yakovliev. The Kyiv Independent requested a comment from the ICRC but has not heard back by the time of publication. "The situation with Tihran and Mykyta is just a vivid example of how they (ICRC) simply ignored a critical situation for two teenagers in danger of death," says Reshetylova. "And in the end, the teenagers were killed." Screenshot from the self-filmed video by Tihran Ohannisian shortly before he was killed on June 24, 2023. (Screenshot from the video) Murdered, brutally A day before the tragedy, Ohannisian ran away from his home, fearing detention, as he saw a Russian investigator approaching. When he returned home after hiding, the detective "immediately" showed up, too, and had a "long conversation" with Ohannisian, the subject of which is yet unknown, says Reshetylova. "But we suspect that something in that conversation may have triggered what happened next," she adds. The two friends went out later in the day, meeting some other friends and discussing Khanhanovs upcoming 17th birthday. There were no signs of what was about to happen, according to their family and friends. Soon after Ohannisians last conversation with his mother, local Telegram channels reported a shooting in Berdiansk. In the self-filmed video, which soon emerged online but whose source the teenagers lawyers couldnt disclose, Ohannisian says, "Two for certain," which could mean they either planned to kill or killed two Russian proxies. The Russian-installed investigative department of the Russian Investigative Committee in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast later claimed that Ohannisian and Khanhanov had stolen a gun from one of the local police officers, injured several people, and shot one dead. Following the reports of their death, members of the local underground resistance "Berdiansk Partisan Army" wrote on Telegram that it was a "brutal and staged murder" of the two teenagers and that it was a "planned action" of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). "Russians gave the guys a choice: Either die in the basement or take a weapon and shoot. Knowing the future course of events," reads the post. Reshetilova says they are closely cooperating with Ukrainian law enforcement as the investigation is ongoing. So far, she says, they have not come to a "single version or established the exact chronology of events." "We have photographs of their dead bodies that show that it was obviously not a suicide and not just a liquidation with one (sniper) shot," says Reshetylova. "There are traces of cruel treatment and torture," she adds. The Kyiv Independent has also seen the photographs of the teenagers but does not publish them due to their violent nature. Even after killing Ohannisian and Khanhanov, Russias cruelty continues as it has not allowed their parents to bury their children and say goodbye to them. "I believe this is another reason for the ICRC or the UN to intervene and demand to return the bodies," says Reshetylova. "The whole world must understand that human rights are violated every day in the occupied territories," Lubinets wrote on Telegram following the tragedy. "Until Ukraine returns its territories, it will continue." Note from the author: Hi! Daria Shulzhenko here. I wrote this piece for you. Since the first day of Russia's all-out war, I have been working almost non-stop to tell the stories of those affected by Russias brutal aggression. By telling all those painful stories, we are helping to keep the world informed about the reality of Russias war against Ukraine. By becoming the Kyiv Independent's member, you can help us continue telling the world the truth about this war. Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Former President Donald Trump questioned why hed sign the Republican National Committees loyalty pledge and named his problem with it being a requirement for candidates to take part in the first GOP presidential primary debate later this month. The loyalty pledge, also known as the Beat Biden pledge, requires qualifying candidates to agree to back the Republican Partys eventual nominee in 2024. Trump, who has yet to confirm whether hell take part in the debate set for Aug. 23, told Newsmaxs Eric Bolling that he wouldnt sign the loyalty pledge as there are candidates that he wouldnt endorse. I have a problem with the debate for another reason. I wouldnt sign the pledge. Why would I sign a pledge? There are people on there that I wouldnt have. I wouldnt have certain people as, you know, somebody that Id endorse, Trump explained to Bolling on Wednesday. So they want you to sign a pledge but I can name three or four people that I wouldnt support for president, he continued. So right there, theres a problem, OK? Right there, theres a problem. The former president, whom Fox News executives reportedly have lobbied in an effort for him to join the network-hosted debate, has suggested he may skip the debate while a number of his GOP rivals have pushed back at the possibility of his absence. Hopefully, former President Trump has the courage to show up, former Vice President Mike Pences campaign said on Tuesday after it announced the candidate has met the donor threshold for the debate stage. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie argued in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday that a no-show from Trump would exhibit a complete lack of respect for Republican voters. Trump told Bolling that hes already decided on the debate and hell make an announcement next week. The RNC loyalty pledge has been a point of contention among Republican candidates. Christie, along with former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, have expressed concern over the requirement. Former Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), who took a swipe at Trump in an Iowa speech last month, has indicated he wouldnt sign the loyalty pledge. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy have been the only two candidates to sign the RNC loyalty pledge ahead of their expected attendance at the debate. Trump said Wednesday that he expected Hutchinson and Christie to ask him nasty questions on the debate stage while Ramaswamy along with Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) have both been very nice. I mean, these are, you know, very capable people, very good people but why would you do that when youre leading by so much? asked Trump before referring to Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon skipping out on debates. H/T Mediaite Related... Thief looks through fridge before stealing honor system jar from Hall store, deputies say Authorities in Hall County are searching for a man who broke the honor system. Surveillance video from inside a local farm business shows a man in his mid-50s walk into the store on Clarks Bridge Road on August 6 and look through a refrigerator. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] He can then be seen grabbing some cash out of the money jar. Deputies say honest customers use the jar to pay for their items on the honor system. The suspect is described as being six feet tall and approximately 170 pounds. TRENDING STORIES: Its unclear how much money he took from the business. Anyone who recognizes the suspect should contact investigators at 770-531-3153. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] IN OTHER NEWS: The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is searching for two men who it says stole $300,000 worth of Magic: The Gathering cards from a gaming convention. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Police say someone stole more than $300,000 worth of gaming cards from Gen Con, a tabletop gaming convention. The Magic: The Gathering sets that were stolen sell for $300 to $400 a piece, according to Kotaku. Post Malone bought the most expensive Magic: The Gathering card for $2 million last week. Two people in Indiana walked out of a gaming convention pulling a pallet carrying more than $300,000 worth of Magic: The Gathering cards in broad daylight, police said. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that the theft took place at Gen Con, an annual tabletop gaming convention, before the event was set to open on August 2. Gen Con is a massive convention that attracted more than 70,000 visitors this year and had an estimated economic impact of $75 million on the economy of Indianapolis, according to a local NBC affiliate. According to police, the two people took a "pallet jack" from the venue where Gen Con was being held and loaded it with $300,000 worth of "gaming cards" before walking with it out of the venue. The police department's statement was accompanied by five photos of the two suspects, one of which shows the two people pulling a dollie with several boxes stacked on top of it. The cards were initially believed to be from the highly anticipated Disney Lorcana card game which is scheduled for release on August 18, but were later determined to be cards from Magic: The Gathering, according to Kotaku. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police did not immediately return Insider's request for comment on Thursday, but the department told Kotaku that it has not identified the suspects and that the theft case is "still active." Pastimes Comics & Games, the retailer which the cards were stolen from, said on Facebook that most of the cards stolen were Commander Masters Set and Collector Boosters. The card sets typically sell at retail for $300 to $400 and usually contain multiple rare cards, Kotaku reported. Magic: The Gathering also made headlines last week when artist Post Malone bought the one-of-a-kind "One Ring" card from a "Lord of the Rings" crossover off a TikToker who found it in a deck of cards he bought. Malone paid $2 million for the card, making it the most expensive Magic card in existence and outdoing a Black Lotus card that Malone purchased last year for $800,000. Read the original article on Insider Police are searching for the thieves who targeted a letter carrier and robbed her at gunpoint in Uptown Charlotte. A neighbor captured a picture on his doorbell camera moments before Wednesdays robbery. It happened just before 4 p.m. in the Third Ward neighborhood on Westbrook Avenue. Channel 9s Genevieve Curtis learned the worker was on her route right before that attack. 9 FOCUS STORIES: Mail Theft Incidents I heard sirens, I came up to the window up in my house and looked outside -- theres half a dozen police cars. And I see the USPS lady, neighbor Houston Cutshaw told Curtis. Cutshaw said police filled the street after two suspects armed with a gun robbed the U.S. Postal Service worker. He said investigators were there for hours trying to get footage of the two men in a sedan. You wouldnt think there would be a robbery in the middle of the day, especially with USPS delivery mail, he said. Its just unexpected. Cutshaw gave investigators video of that worker delivering his mail just moments before those suspects drove up and robbed her at gunpoint. Poor girl, she couldnt have expected that just delivering mail, he said. Probably didnt have anything too valuable in there, I wouldnt think, but I dont know what they were looking for. ALSO READ: USPS carrier accused of using universal key in $40K check-stealing scheme It appears it was the USPS mailbox keys they were after, because the police report says thats all the suspects stole. Channel 9 has reported on the alarming spike in U.S. mail carriers being attacked for those master keys allowing thieves to break into mailboxes and steal checks. Its a problem lawmakers on Capitol Hill are discussing this week. Robberies of postal carriers have increased by 78%, resulting in nearly 500 robberies alone in 2022, said Maryland Rep. Kweisi Mfume. No injuries were reported in this attack. Curtis asked CMPD for any videos of the suspects or the vehicle in this latest attack. Hopefully they got some footage from some doorbells, they can figure out who did this, Cutshaw said. Curtis reached out to the U.S. Postal Workers Association for comment, and they shared the following statement: This is a very dangerous situation. Postal-related street crime is spreading like wildfire and the Postal Service is fanning the flames by refusing to deploy Postal Police Officers. It seems every day another letter carrier is robbed and there is no sign of it ending anytime soon. What will it take for the Postal Service to admit that benching the Postal Police Force was a mistake? Its actually worse than simply refusing to admit a mistake was made. The Postal Inspection Service is actively fighting against having the ability to deploy PPOs. In other words, the Inspection Service does not want the option to deploy PPOs because it would be indefensible not to deploy PPOs otherwise. Can you imagine a law enforcement agency that doesnt want the ability to deploy its uniformed police force to stop the attacks on the very employees it is sworn to protect? Well you just imagined the Postal Inspection Service. Other than mouthing talking point after talking point, the Inspection Service is doing very little to stop the Mail Theft Epidemic. Apparently Postmaster General DeJoy is buying what the Inspection Service is selling. Its very unfortunate. If not for the fact that I have been a postal employee for almost 30 years I would never have believed that this level of mismanagement exists. Attacks on our Nations letter carriers are spiraling out of control. Congress needs to pass HR 3005, the Postal Police Reform Act as soon as possible. (WATCH BELOW: Thieves steal from at least 14 mailboxes in Union County; crimes tied to Charlotte area) An airplane parked on the tarmac of an airport. Shannon Fagan/Getty Images The Federal Aviation Administration says unruly passenger behavior has significantly decreased since 2021. So far this year, the FAA has received 1,177 reports of unruly passengers. In 2021, the FAA received 5,973 reports, which was a record high. From skiplagging to planes diverting over wine, a constant stream of flight drama has filled many people's news streams and social-media pages. But according to the Federal Aviation Administration, unruly passenger behavior has significantly decreased since 2021. The FAA investigates incidents of unruly behavior reported by airline crews. According to the agency's site, reports of unruly passengers have decreased by 80% since 2021. As of Monday, the FAA has received 1,177 reports in 2023 so far. There were 5,973 reported incidents in 2021, which the FAA says was a record high. These numbers didn't surprise experts. "There is nothing especially mysterious about this," Kathleen Andereck, the director of the Center for Sustainable Tourism at Arizona State University, told Little Rock Public Radio. "No more COVID protocols to deal with such as mask-wearing, and less stress. That is what most of the drop is related to." Cases of unruly behavior are still being sent to the FBI In 2021, the FAA partnered with the FBI to bring criminal charges against unruly passengers. On Tuesday, the FAA announced that it has referred 22 more cases of unruly passenger behavior to the FBI. Since the partnership started, the FAA has referred more than 270 of "the most serious cases," the agency's website states. The FAA says passengers can face up to $37,000 in civil penalties per violation. The latest group of violations took place between December 2021 to April 2023, and as Insider reported, the majority of the cases involve physical or sexual assaults, though one involves a passenger who sent a bomb threat via AirDrop last October. "Unruly behavior poses serious safety concerns for passengers and crew alike, which is why we are addressing this issue aggressively," US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. Read the original article on Insider North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme suffered what he described as seizure-like symptoms during a recent trip to Africa, where he fainted during a lunch, he told the Miami Herald. Oh my God, it was the scariest moment of my life, he told the Herald shortly after landing in Miami on Wednesday. For the past few days, Desulme was being treated at Johns Hopkins at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. Desulme said he was among 40 South Florida delegates on a two-week trip to Africa, visiting four countries including Sierra Leone, where he passed out during a lunch with Nigeria and Sierra Leone representatives. Desulme said the council members were invited on the trip by Miami-Dade County, but paid for their portion of the trip. Desulme said the basic package for the trip was $4,500 to visit the four countries. The city has a $15,000 budget for Sister Cities-related activities, according to its fiscal year 2022-23 adopted budget. North Miami held a Sister Cities signing ceremony in Banjul, Gambia. Desulme was joined on the trip by Vice Mayor Mary Estime-Irvin, council members Scott Galvin and Pierre Frantz Charles and two North Miami staffers. Officials from Miami-Dade, Miramar and North Lauderdale were also on the trip. North Lauderdale City Manager Michael Sargis said Mayor Samson Borgelin, Vice Mayor Regina Martin and Commissioners Mario Bustemante and Darrell Dee Lewis-Ricketts also were on the trip, which cost between $10,000 and $15,000. The mayors wife, Dorothy Suzan, also attended, but she paid out of her own pocket, Sargis said. Miramar city officials did not respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment about the trip, including who attended and the cost. RELATED: North Miami mayor recovering after medical emergency during Africa visit South Florida officials arrived in Banjul, Gambia North Miamis sister city on July 31 and spent two days there before arriving in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on August 3, according to a trip itinerary shared by the city of North Miami. Other stops included Dakar, Senegal, and Lagos, Nigeria. Officials are expected to return Friday. Desulme said he hadnt been able to sleep the night before the lunch in Sierra Leone so he took a sleeping pill and Tylenol PM, but neither worked, he said. I wasnt feeling good because I have a case of insomnia, I dont sleep, and I didnt sleep at all the day before, he said. By the time the morning came, Desulme had a full day scheduled, including a meeting with the Sierra Leone president after lunch. But the mayor said he never even got a chance to meet him. I just sat down, I asked one of the commissioners, Hows the food taste? I didnt eat a lot of food, and then thats all I remember, he said. In a matter of minutes, Desulme said two people from North Lauderdale Lewis-Ricketts and Suzan rushed to his aid. At one point, he was turned on his side and blood came out of his mouth. As told to him by his colleagues, Desulme said the room went into a panic and some cried. They thought I was dead, Desulme said. Desulme said he was rushed to the hospital by a police escort and he regained consciousness at the hospital. So, when I woke up. I saw all these people around me, and Im like, Why am I here? Whats happening? he said. He was later taken to a different hospital, where doctors ran blood tests and took X-rays and said everything came back OK. Desulme said while the doctor said he exhibited symptoms of a seizure, including convulsing at one point, she said she believed much of what he experienced was likely due to fatigue. He also said the blood was due to biting his tongue. Desulme returned to the U.S. on a commercial flight after Sierra Leone doctors advised him to return home and seek medical attention. Doctors at Johns Hopkins at Sibley Memorial Hospital agreed that Desulme may not have had a seizure but believed sleep deprivation contributed to him fainting, Desulme said. While he said hes taking it easy, Desulme said he plans to return to the office Monday, ahead of back-to-school activities the city has planned. But hes still being cautious about his health and plans to see a neurologist next week. My doctor told me, just for my primary care sake, go because they will help me with the sleep, too, he said. So Im looking forward to that. The death happened during riots and looting in Marseille (CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU) Three French police were charged on Thursday over a 27-year-old man's death during nationwide rioting earlier this summer, prosecutors said, an uncommon instance of officers facing a criminal case over on-duty violence. An autopsy of the man who died in Marseille during the riots showed marks on his chest consistent with the impact of a shot from a blast ball commonly used by police, prosecutors said. The officers were arrested on Tuesday over the incident. It was the only known death at, or on the margins of, the unrest that gripped France in late June and early July over the killing of a teenager by a policeman during a traffic check outside Paris on June 27. The riots were met by a forceful police response. The man, Mohamed Bendriss -- a married father of one whose widow is expecting a second child -- died after feeling unwell while riding a scooter. Prosecutors have said they considers it "probable" that the man's death was "caused by a violent impact to the thorax caused by the firing of a projectile of the blast ball type". The three will be charged with "armed violence unintentionally causing death". The prosecutor's office also said the victim may have been involved in the looting of a shoe outlet in the city. Indications were that Bendriss had been involved in theft from the shop and was being pursued by police as he rode his scooter away. As he rode on the pavement past police, he was hit by one projectile. Another -- a so-called bean bag round -- hit his scooter. He rode on but was later found to have suffered cardio-respiratory arrest and died, the prosecutors said. In all, five police officers from the elite Raid unit were taken into custody on Tuesday. Two were soon released. - French police controversy - Several civilians and police are giving evidence as witnesses in the case. The officers will remain under judicial supervision. They are banned from having any contact with plaintiffs in the case and from participating in any police contingent concerned with urban riot control or large-scale events. The investigation is the latest high-profile incident involving Marseille police. The June 27 killing which first sparked the violent protests happened when a 17-year-old, named as Nahel, was shot during a police traffic stop. A video of a police officer shooting the teen at point-blank range went viral, fuelling existing tensions over police brutality and racism in the country. On Thursday, a court in Versailles upheld an earlier decision to detain the police officer suspected of fatally shooting Nahel. The suspect, named as Florian M., a 38-year-old police motorcyclist, is under investigation for voluntary manslaughter over the death. His lawyer, Laurent-Franck Lienard, told AFP he would appeal against the ruling, saying that his client's detention was illegal and "not justified in law or in fact". Last month. a 22-year-old man called Hedi had to have part of his skull removed after being beaten up and fired on with a blast ball on July 21 by a group of men suspected to be police officers. Four Marseille police officers have been charged over that incident. Three have been released under judicial supervision. The fourth has been remanded in custody for the duration of the investigation. His detention caused huge controversy within the French police. Officers across the country went on sick leave en masse as a sign of protest but a court rejected the appeal against his detention. jra-iw/jh/pvh/gil Allsummer,people have been obsessing over the aging filter on TikTok, which is so spot on that some dermatologists have praised its accuracy. But queer men across the social media platform have been completely freaking out at the elder versions of themselves and we need to talk about it. Whether its gay men joking that they need to drive off a cliff or pointing out how much they hate it here, there seems to be a genuine animosity toward the aging filter. And although theyre mostly jokes, I cant help but feel that these TikToks point to a deeper problem within our community: Many of us are extremely uncomfortable with the thought of getting older. Of course, aging can be scary for anyone. But in the gay community specifically, youth tends to be such a high metric for self-worth that gay men often struggle with getting old, and derogatory terms like sugar fossil are common among older queer men. Theres more to it than being less desirable, though; aging can also bring to mind how the AIDS crisis left us without so many of the people who would now be elder queers. And the reality is that the messaging we all receive daily about gay men from pop culture to Hollywood doesnt really prepare us to think about life beyond youth. It sometimes feels like theres no road map for getting ready to live as older queer men. Our shortsightedness is evident in the spaces weve built for ourselves, especially considering that gay spaces tend to take the form of nightclubs and bars, which usually cater to younger people. But if were lucky, were all going to get older, and its time we start to seriously address that stigma. When were no longer young and we need new kinds of physical and emotional support, some of us could end up in community centers where we might not feel comfortable being ourselves. In fact, a 2018 survey found that 34% of LGBTQ+ adults ages 45 and older were worried about having to hide their identities to access suitable housing. We should all be thinking about that a little bit more. As queer men, its time to accept that we wont always look young, and that our looks are not a direct reflection of our worth. This TikTok filter is, frankly, too harsh of a wake-up call but if we need to laugh till we cry with some form of acceptance, Im OK with that. New York Attorney General Letitia Jamess office dropped its role Thursday defending the Hochul administration in litigation over the states responsibility to shelter migrants, a highly unusual step that appeared to suggest policy differences between two of the states most powerful Democrats. The Manhattan law firm Selendy Gay Elsberg has replaced James legal team in the case, according to a filing in Manhattan Supreme Court. The move came in a case centered on the citys right-to-shelter mandate established in 1981, which mandates the city provide shelter to anyone who requests it. Mayor Adams administration has struggled to meet the requirements of the provision over the last year, with the city strained by the arrival of about 100,000 asylum seekers. The Legal Aid Society has asserted the state must do more to help the city. Gov. Hochul, a Buffalo Democrat, has in turn argued that the right-to-shelter rule only applies to the five boroughs. Delaney Kempner, a spokeswoman for the attorney generals office, declined to comment on the decision to drop from the case. But the decision by James first reported by Politico raised eyebrows. Its uncommon for the attorney generals office which typically serves as the states lawyer to withdraw from representing the state in a case, and even more so without an explanation. Its extremely rare, said Mark Peters, a former commissioner for the city Department of Investigation who worked in multiple roles in the attorney generals office in the early 2000s and now leads the firm Peters Brovner LLP. And Steven Cohen, who served as chief of staff in then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomos office, said in a text message that New York attorney generals do not decline their role as lawyer for the state except when there is an institutional conflict that cannot be reconciled or there is a fundamental and meaningful policy conflict. Cohen added that the attorney general doesnt step away in favor of a private law firm for no-good reason. In 2017, the attorney generals office under Eric Schneiderman withdrew from representing his predecessor and then-Gov. Cuomo in two federal civil rights cases after New York appeared to jeopardize a settlement giving people with mental illness the chance to leave institutions and reenter the community, citing disagreements about how to handle the case. At a news conference in Albany Thursday, Hochul downplayed the shift in the migrant case, presenting the change as a consequence of the complicated nature of the litigation. Its not uncommon for outside counsel to be brought in, said Hochul, herself a lawyer. This is going to come down to a very sophisticated constitutional question. Weve brought in outside constitutional experts to assist with managing this. Hochul said her office could offer other examples of the attorney generals office not representing the state, but the governors office did not immediately provide them. The governor added that she was convinced that the state is not a party to the civil settlement that orders New York City to provide shelter to anyone who needs it. The right to shelter does not expand to the whole of the state, the governor said. That being said, we are still being very supportive. Josh Goldfein, a senior attorney with the Legal Aid Society, which petitioned the court to hold an emergency conference for judicial intervention after migrants languished for days outside the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown, said Hochul was wrong about the right to shelter. The right to shelter derives from the New York State Constitution, and the New York State Constitution applies statewide, Goldfein said. He said the landmark settlement outlined the right to shelter under Article 17 in the state Constitution. In 1981, city and state officials signed a compact requiring the city to provide shelter to the homeless. The so-called consent decree stemmed from a Manhattan Supreme Court case, Callahan v. Carey, that began in 1979. The timing of James withdrawal from the current case an outgrowth of Callahan v. Carey came immediately after the citys submission of a court-ordered list of needs to the state to help deal with the migrant crisis. The state has until Aug. 15 to respond. The city has declined to publicly release the list. With Michael Gartland FIRST ON FOX: House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is blasting a "damning photo" showing then-Vice President Joe Biden with his Hunter Biden-linked current adviser aboard an Air Force Two flight during his infamous 2015 trip to Ukraine. Amos Hochstein, President Bidens current special presidential coordinator, was apparently in communication with Hunter and Hunters associates at Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings when the first son was serving on the firms board, according to emails previously reported by Fox News Digital. A photo taken by White House photographer David Lienemann shows Biden being briefed by Hochstein aboard Air Force Two on his way to meet Ukrainian leaders in Kiev on Dec. 6, 2015, when he threatened to withhold $1 billion in U.S. aid if they did not fire their top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. "This damning picture of then Vice President Joe Biden on Air Force Two en route to Ukraine talking with Amos Hochstein is just further evidence that Biden and senior officials in the Biden Administration not only knew of Hunter Biden's corrupt foreign business dealings, but also that Joe Biden was intimately involved while Vice President," Stefanik told Fox News Digital in a statement. TIMELINE OF BIDEN ADVISER'S COMMUNICATIONS WITH HUNTER, MEETINGS WITH VP ABOUT BURISMA RAISES QUESTIONS "At the time of this photo, Hochstein was in communication with Hunter Biden and Burisma where Hunter served on the board," she continued. "We also know that this photo was taken on Air Force Two ahead of Joe Biden's now infamous meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, where Biden threatened to have aid withheld if a Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Burisma was not fired." READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP "All evidence points directly to Joe Biden being deeply compromised. House Republicans will leave no stone unturned in our investigations into Bidens involvement in his family's influence peddling scheme," Stefanik added. President Biden, Amos Hochstein and Hunter Biden Hochstein, who served as special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs under the Obama-Biden administration, was tapped as Bidens special coordinator for global infrastructure and energy security in August 2021, and he was made special presidential coordinator to Biden in February 2022. BIDEN'S NARRATIVE ON NEVER DISCUSSING BUSINESS DEALS WITH HUNTER CONTINUES TO CRUMBLE Fox News Digital reported in June that in the summer of 2014, shortly after joining the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma Holdings, Hunter and his associates at Burisma and his now-defunct Rosemont Seneca Partners discussed speaking with Hochstein for contacts who could help navigate a new tax in Ukraine on private energy companies. On July 31, 2014, top Burisma executive Vadym Pozharskyi expressed frustration in an email to the group that the Ukrainian parliament had "voted in favor of the package of laws, among which is a draft law on raising the tax for private gas producers." Amos Hochstein, senior energy security adviser for the U.S. Department of State, listens as President Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on Oct. 19, 2022. Minutes later, Heather King, who did crisis communications for Burisma at the time and was in frequent communication with Hunter, said she was concerned by the news. "This news is very concerning," she wrote. "I assume you will be sending an email to the State Dept today about this? We will also get you connected with the US Embassy contact so you can hopefully meet with the guy Hochstein recommended as soon as possible." Nearly two months later, on Sept. 24, 2014, Pozharskyi emailed another communications consultant, Georgette Spanjich, and copied King, Burisma lobbyist David Leiter and Burisma board member Devon Archer, writing that "Ukrainian authorities are still pushing for further legislative initiatives which are going to cause even more damage to the gas industry." Amos Hochstein, special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, is interviewed in Houston on Aug. 15, 2016. "I am genuinely looking forward to your ideas on how we could influence this process," Pozharskyi wrote. "Please, note that I am going to share this information with the US embassy here in Kyiv, as well as the office of Mr Amos Hochstein in the States." On Nov. 13, 2014, seven weeks after Pozharskyi said he would forward Burismas response to the Ukrainian tax hike to Hochsteins office, Hochstein attended a meeting at Bidens Naval Observatory residence, according to White House visitor logs. The next day, Eric Schwerin, the then-president of Rosemont Seneca Partners, sent Hunter a link, without comment, to Hochsteins biography on the State Departments website. Eric Schwerin sent Hunter Biden a link to Amos Hochsteins biography on the State Departments website. Three days later, on Nov. 17, 2014, Hochstein met with Kathy Chung, according to the White House visitor logs. Chung was Bidens executive assistant at the time and now serves as the Pentagon's deputy director of protocol. A few days later, Hunter asked Schwerin to send Hochsteins contact information to Archer, Hunters fellow Burisma board member and a co-founder of Rosemont Seneca Partners. A couple of weeks later, on Dec. 11, 2014, Hochstein met with Biden and Chung in two separate meetings and later attended a holiday party at Biden's residence that same day. Four days later, Hochstein attended a "meeting" at the vice presidents residence, according to White House visitor logs. HOUSE GOP RELEASE BANK RECORDS ON HUNTER BIDEN PAYMENTS FROM RUSSIAN, KAZAKH OLIGARCHS, TOTAL CLEARS $20 MILLION Four months later, on April 16, 2015, Hochstein met with Biden in the West Wing of the White House, the visitor logs show. That meeting took place the same day that Hunter introduced his father to Burisma executive Pozharskyi and other business associates from Kazakhstan and Russia during a dinner at Cafe Milano in Washington, D.C., Fox News Digital previously reported. It is unclear whether Burisma or Pozharskyi's visit to Washington, D.C., was mentioned during that meeting. Then-Vice President Joe Biden and Amos J. Hochstein, special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, talk during the Caribbean Energy Security Summit at the State Department in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 26, 2015. The day after the dinner, Hunter received an email from Pozharskyi that read, "Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together." BIDEN'S CLAIM TO HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF HUNTER'S BUSINESS DEALINGS IS BECOMING HARDER TO MAINTAIN Two months later, on June 17, 2015, Hochstein met with Biden twice, according to the visitor logs. He met with Biden again the next month in the West Wing on July 13, 2015, and with Chung again months later on Nov. 2, 2015. According to a Senate Republican report on Hunters business dealings released in December 2020, testimony and public records show that Hochstein in October 2015 raised concerns with both Biden and Hunter that Hunter's position on Burismas board enabled Russian disinformation efforts and risked undermining U.S. policy in Ukraine. Senior adviser for energy security Amos Hochstein and Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman al-Saud speak after signing bilateral agreements during an investment agreement signing ceremony in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah on July 15, 2022. Victoria Nuland, who was serving as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian Affairs in 2015, testified to Congress in 2020 that Hochstein had another conversation about Hunter's position on Burismas board with Biden on the way to Ukraine in 2015, according to the Senate report, during the same plane ride shown in the photograph criticized by Stefanik. During Hochsteins testimony in the 2020 report, he recounted that he spoke with Biden about Burisma in the West Wing of the White House in October 2015. According to visitor logs, he visited the White House three times in October 2015, with two of the visits occurring in the West Wing and the other on the second floor of the West Wing. MONEY GUY: THIS HUNTER BIDEN BUSINESS PARTNER COULD BLOW THE LID OFF BIDEN FAMILY'S BUSINESS DEALINGS "We were starting to think about a trip to Ukraine, and I wanted to make sure that he [Vice President Biden] was aware that there was an increase in chatter on media outlets close to Russians and corrupt oligarchs-owned media outlets about undermining his message to try to undermine his [Vice President Bidens] message and including Hunter Biden being part of the board of Burisma," Hochstein told Congress, according to the report. According to Hochstein, Biden told Hunter about the meeting, prompting Hunter to request a meeting with Hochstein, according to the 2020 Senate Republican report. "You are all set to meet with Amos on Friday at 4pm for coffee," Joan Mayer emailed Hunter on Nov. 3, 2015, referring to their Nov. 6 meeting. She later emailed Hunter to let him know the Nov. 6 meeting with Hochstein at a Starbucks in Georgetown had been moved to 3 p.m. Hochstein met with Biden in the White House Situation Room the day before on Nov. 5, 2015, the visitor logs say. Joan Mayer emailed Hunter Biden to let him know the Nov. 6 meeting with Amos Hochstein at a Starbucks in Georgetown had been moved to 3 p.m. "Well, he [Hunter] asked me for a meeting," Hochstein said in his testimony. "I think he wanted to know my views on Burisma and [Mykola] Zlochevsky. And so I shared with him that the Russians were using his name in order to sow disinformation attempt to sow disinformation among Ukrainians." The report said Hochstein "did not go so far as to recommend that Hunter leave the board," citing an earlier article by the New Yorker. About a week later, on Nov. 12, 2016, Mayer let Hunter know that he missed a call from Hochstein, adding, "Please call back today if possible." Hochstein met with Vice President Biden again in the White House Situation Room less than two weeks later, on Nov. 23, 2015. On Nov. 12, 2016, Joan Mayer let Hunter Biden know that he missed a call from Amos Hochstein, adding, "Please call back today if possible." On Dec. 11, 2015, two days after they returned from Ukraine, Hochstein met with Biden in the West Wing. Biden visited Ukraine from Dec. 7-9, 2015. Three months after the visit, Shokin was fired, and Biden would later use it to boast about his foreign policy skills. Shokin was investigating Mykola Zlochevsky, the founder and then-president of Burisma Holdings, where Hunter served as a board member from April 2014 to April 2019. Biden's defenders have said that Shokin was fired not because he was pursuing corruption too aggressively, but rather because he was too lax. On Dec. 17, 2015, less than a week after his meeting with Biden, Hochstein attended a holiday party at the vice president's Naval Observatory residence, where Hunter was also in attendance. Hochstein visited Biden at least another six times in 2016, including the day after Shokin was fired on March 29, 2016. The Obama administration had pushed for Shokins firing, and Biden boasted on camera in 2018 that when he was vice president he successfully pressured Ukraine to fire Shokin. "I looked at them and said: Im leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, youre not getting the money," Biden said in 2018, according to a transcript of his remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations. "Well, son of a b----. (Laughter.) He got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time." The White House and the State Department did not respond to Fox News Digital requests for comment. Two prominent Indigenous leaders this week separately pressed President Joe Biden on why he hasnt released Leonard Peltier from prison and signaled that tribal leaders and Native rights advocates plan to make this a priority issue in the 2024 presidential election. Fawn Sharp, the president of the National Congress of American Indians, said in a Monday letter to Biden that he regularly talks about his commitment to strengthening the federal governments relationship with Native communities. But lost in that commitment is doing anything about Peltier, the Indigenous rights activist the U.S. government put in prison nearly 50 years ago after a trial riddled with misconduct and lies. Enough is enough, Mr. President, said Sharp. After nearly five decades of imprisonment, this is now a matter of not only justice but mercy as well. We urge you to immediately commute the sentence for Leonard Peltier or support his petition for compassionate release. In a Wednesday interview with HuffPost, Sharp, whose organization is the largest Indigenous rights group in the country and serves as a unified voice of all tribal nations, took a sharper tone than the more diplomatic one conveyed in her letter. It is a choice, Sharp said flatly of Biden singularly having the power to free Peltier. Being silent on this issue, given all the facts, given all the advocacy, given all the issues raised by Indian Country, when it is your choice and youre the top person and you choose to ignore it, youve become complicit in this injustice for Indian Country. In another letter sent to Biden on Wednesday, Suzan Harjo, a longtime Indigenous rights advocate and 2014 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, traced her professional history with the president from the 1970s through 2014. She praised him for being a strong supporter of restoring Native peoples rights, from his work on the Indian Child Welfare Act to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act to the Violence Against Women Act. Mr. President, I have long admired your commitment to fighting injustice and to restorative justice, Harjo said. As you weigh the pleas of justice for Mr. Peltier, I call on your compassionate core and spirited record of fighting against injustice and for democratic institutions. Each and every person in this country deserves a fair trial and rectification if the institutions meant to protect them do not do so. Leonard Peltier deserves that. The letters mark the first time that both leaders are publicly calling on Biden to free Peltier. HuffPost obtained copies of both letters, which you can read here and here. "Youve become complicit in this injustice for Indian Country," said Fawn Sharp, president of the National Congress of American Indians, of Biden's silence on the imprisonment of Leonard Peltier. Peltier, a member of the Indigenous rights activist group American Indian Movement, has been in prison since 1977 and is easily Americas longest-serving political prisoner. The FBI and U.S. Attorneys Office made Peltier their fall guy when they couldnt figure out who killed two FBI agents during a 1975 shootout on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The government never had evidence that Peltier killed anyone, and his trial was outrageous: Prosecutors hid exculpatory evidence. The FBI threatened and coerced witnesses into lying. Peltier was separated from his co-defendants, all of whom were acquitted on the grounds of self-defense. A juror admitted she was racist against Native Americans on the second day of the trial but was allowed to stay on. Nonetheless, Peltier was convicted and sentenced to prison for two consecutive life terms. Peltier, now 78, has maintained his innocence for all of these years, even as it has almost certainly prevented him from being paroled. His decades-long parole process has been so problematic that United Nations legal experts last year made the unusual decision to revisit his case. Last summer, they called on Biden to release Peltier immediately. Mr. Peltier continues to be detained because he is Native American, they concluded in their damning 17-page legal opinion. Peltier remains in a Florida maximum security prison despite all of these problems; despite pleas for his freedom by international human rights leaders including Pope Francis, Nelson Mandela and Coretta Scott King; despite nearly 50 years of concerts and letter-writing campaigns and petitions circulated by thousands of supporters, politicians, Indigenous leaders and celebrities. He uses a walker to get around now. He is blind in one eye from a partial stroke. He has serious health concerns related to diabetes and an aortic aneurysm. When it is your choice and youre the top person and you choose to ignore it, youve become complicit in this injustice for Indian Country.Fawn Sharp, president of the National Conference of American Indians Sharp told HuffPost that Peltier has become a symbol of something much bigger and more personal for many Indigenous people: The entirety of injustices that Native people have endured, for centuries, by the U.S. government. Thats why Peltiers freedom has only become a bigger priority over time, she said, and why her organization is absolutely planning to ramp up pressure on Biden to release him as he eyes reelection. When Im talking to tribal leaders whether its about freeing Leonard Peltier or addressing the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people or the legacy of boarding schools, theres a lens of justice that is very, very prominent in Indian Country, Sharp said. If ever there was a time going into an election [to free Peltier], the time is now. Indigenous voters certainly delivered for Biden in 2020, and the president is clearly proud of all hes done to lift up Native communities and tribes since taking office. (He should be, its a lot.) But his silence on Peltier, now more than two and a half years into his presidency, is a glaring contradiction to his vows to restore justice to Native communities. From a purely political perspective, Bidens action (or inaction) on Peltier could be a real factor in driving Native voters to the polls in 2024, said one prominent Indigenous rights lobbyist who requested anonymity in order to speak freely. Where there are any soft spots in Indian Country, where people may not agree with President Biden, this will be something that will unilaterally motivate Indian Country, said this lobbyist. Everyone simply says, Its time. Its time. I dont know that theres anything more that might motivate folks to turn out, you know? What, you finally freed Leonard? Yes, this would be a motivator. This lobbyist added that Native rights advocates are absolutely teeing up events to coincide with the election to demand Peltiers freedom. Its unclear if Biden has even considered granting clemency to Peltier something HuffPost has been pressing the White House on for nearly two years and gotten nowhere. A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment about whether the president is weighing clemency or has seen the new letters about Peltier. Time is running out for Peltier, added Sharp, before noting it is entirely on Biden to decide whether to free an innocent man before its too late. She said, Its simply a choice we fully expect him to make. Related... Perminus Njeru, 47, landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport eight days ago from Kenya after escaping a situation that he said left him "fearing for his life." Njeru is among the hundreds of asylum seekers who have landed in Toronto over the past several months. He said the research they conducted prior to their arrival in Canada left them with the impression that they were guaranteed to find a roof over their heads. They assumed they would have their basic needs met while filing paperwork that would legalize their new beginning in the country. Kenyan asylum seeker Perminus Njeru, 47, pictured in Etobicoke After an Uber trip from the airport to the Toronto Streets and Homes Assessment and Referral Centre located at 129 Peter Street, Njeru says he was told that the shelter was at capacity and he would have to make other arrangements. After travelling by air for over 15 hours and being thousands of miles away from his home country and loved ones, Njeru said there was no backup plan. "I was stranded on the streets for three days. I slept on the sidewalk, and it was very cold at night. What we went through was very traumatizing," Njeru said in an interview with Yahoo Canada. "For a moment, I regretted coming. I came from trouble and I found myself in more trouble." On my walk home this evening, I came to the realization that this will be another rough night on the street for the number of individuals on the pavement at Richmond and Peter St in #Toronto #Ontario #Canada!#Newcomers #Refugee #Asylum #HumanRights https://t.co/o9H9z21ZyM pic.twitter.com/63n5SouuKk Gary Pieters (@mrpieters) July 13, 2023 During the three days he spent camped on the sidewalk outside 129 Peter Street, Njeru said he was thankful for those who would come by and drop off meals and supplies like socks and gloves. It was not until he heard about an Etobicoke church, which was providing shelter and other basic necessities for asylum seekers, that Njeru said his hope of a new start in Canada was restored. Churches across the GTA open their doors to asylum seekers News of the growing crisis on the Peter Street sidewalks made its way through the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) community, prompting several churches and non-profit agencies to spring into action one of those being Etobicoke's Pilgrim Feast Tabernacles church. Josh Paul, who volunteers at the church as a coordinator, explained to Yahoo Canada that a call from a different GTA church that was at capacity with sheltering asylum seekers prompted them to join in providing a safe space for Canadian newcomers. "We are working to provide a safe place for people to sleep, to eat and offer them peace of mind, because people leave countries back home for many sudden reasons many being their personal safety," Paul, a recent refugee from Uganda himself, said. Nothing short of a miraclePerminus Njeru, Kenyan asylum seeker With an increasing number of churches running out of space, and demand for support surging, Paul explained they are in a tough position as his church has been covering the cost of mattresses, food and other essentials the Canadian arrivals require, and the resources on hand are not infinite. As a result, asylum seekers are being limited to stays ranging from five to eight days, and he stressed this is only a temporary solution as the city searches for a sustainable long-term solution. At the time of speaking with Paul, he shared there were over 79 asylum seekers in their care, with more arriving every day. Why are asylum seekers winding up on Toronto streets? TORONTO, ON - JULY 15 : A man holds a placard as refugees are seen outside Assessment and Referral Centre at Richmond and Peter streets in Toronto, Ontario on July 15, 2023. Due to lack of beds around 30 refugees and asylum seekers camp outside Assessment and Referral Centre. (Photo by Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Between the months of January and June of 2023, a combined total of 33,920 asylum claimants were granted entry into Canada, according to statistics released by the federal government. Ontario alone welcomed 8,425 asylum asylum seekers this year up significantly from the 5,260 reported by the border agency from January to July 2022. Ontario Premier Doug Ford advocated for asylum seekers in March when questioned by media about the situation in Niagara Falls where hotel rooms were being used to house thousands of asylum seekers. "Canada should embrace those escaping tyranny or seeking a better life. Lets just help them any way we can, the premier said. However, as provincial funding and resources dwindled as the year progressed, many questioned Canada's preparedness to handle the influx of newcomers and prompted the Province of Ontario to turn to the federal government for financial assistance. Since the beginning of June, Toronto city programs have stated they have been forced to turn asylum seekers away from shelters. The number of asylum seekers in the shelter system grew a staggering 500 per cent over the past 20 months, Toronto Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie said. In a letter drafted to newly-elected Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow on July 24, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland outlined that the federal government had provided over $6 billion in funding to the city since the party's election in 2015 and if additional aid was needed, Toronto should pull money from reserve accounts or request funding from Ford's provincial government. Refugees and asylum seekers have found themselves in increasingly challenging conditions over the past few months after their arrival in Canada. Chow issued an apology on July 28 while visiting them at a North York church. "I also want on behalf of the City of Toronto and other levels of government to apologize for the way they've been treated on the streets and the lack of dignity that they experienced," the mayor said. All levels of government announce assistance to aid crisis In a joint statement released late July, Chow and Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced that both the province and the city will be providing a one-time funding top up to the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit of $6.67 million. The top up will be aimed at providing eligible households with a housing benefit to assist with the cost of rent, as a means of getting people into permanent housing from city shelters. The scenes we're seeing with some of the most vulnerable being forced to sleep on the streets are heartbreakingOntario Premier Doug Ford and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow joint statement Immigration Minister Sean Fraser also announced in late July that $210 million in funding was being provided from federal coffers to help house asylum seekers, with nearly half of that money going directly to the City of Toronto. "The City of Toronto's share of this funding will be close to $100 million, more like $97 million is where I expect this to land," the immigration minister said. "Our modelling demonstrates this should more than enough to cover the costs of interim housing for the people who are currently being denied access to the shelter system by the city of Toronto." How can you help? Njeru, along with other asylum seekers who have recently landed in Canada, say they are thankful to the churches that have opened their doors and provided them with shelter and resources, allowing them to complete their entry paperwork in a safe environment and ultimately, keeping them off the streets. "How I arrived was not good, and I hope for the others who arrive after me, that they will not have to experience the same," Njeru said. Paul indicated he is grateful for the growing awareness of the crisis, and will continue sharing intimate glances of the work his church is doing on his TikTok account. He went on to share that as the church has been funding most of the temporary shelter themselves, resources such as donations, food and even translating services are desperately needed. Asylum seekers find refuge at Etobicoke church "When people arrive at our church and others, and they see they have a place to sleep, have a warm meal you can see the joy on their faces, and it calms them down. Many people who arrive have not had sleep or a shower in several days," Paul said. If you feel inclined to support this initiative in any way, head over to Pilgrim Feast Tabernacle to donate or visit 988 Albion Road in Etobicoke to drop off supplies. Another sign of the harm caused by the tourist tax emerged today, with Watches of Switzerlands sales at UK airports still less than half of pre-pandemic levels even as passenger traffic returns to normal. CEO Brian Duffy told the Standard that sales at showrooms in Heathrow and Gatwick were still only 40% to 50% of what it was, and added that the removal of VAT-free shopping had an especially big impact on its airport business. He added that some of the impact was also due to the group pulling back on the number of watches from Rolex, always among the most in-demand brands, it stocks at the airport showrooms because of supply changes. But he added: Demand is still strong when you consider that people are paying full price. For the three months to July 30, UK and Europe revenue was down 8%, but Duffy said this was largely because of fluctuations in supply. Because many products have years-long waiting lists, the booking of sales often depend on when the watches are delivered. Watches of Switzerland, which sells high-end brands such as TAGHeuer, IWC and Breitling, had received a wealth of in-demand timepieces in the previous quarter, which boosted sales for that period but then meant that fewer were delivered this quarter. Duffy said supply always works itself out over the course of a year, but quarterly fluctuations like this arent uncommon. For reasons well never fully understand, Q4 of last year supply was particularly good, he said. So sales were very good but we new that Q1 of this year would offset that. Group revenue slipped by 1% to 382 million, with strong trading in the US cancelling out most of the European decline. Duffy added: Looking ahead, we expect to return to more normalised growth rates in the balance of the financial year. Our full year guidance for another year of strong growth remains unchanged, underpinned by our supply visibility, client Registration of Interest lists and strong pipeline of showroom openings, refurbishment and investment, as luxury watch demand continues to outstrip supply. We look forward to presenting our Long Range Plan update in the Autumn, which will outline our growth ambitions to FY28. The business also launched a certified pre-owned channel for selling used Rolex watches during the quarter, and expects to roll this out in the UK in September. The unnamed driver plowed his own car into the front of the driving school where he was training. Lakewood Police Department A trainee driving instructor crashed his car into the driving school where he worked while trying to park. Lakewood Police in Colorado said the unnamed driver was cited for a traffic violation. The owner of the school told local publications the driver wasn't yet instructing students. A trainee driving instructor plowed his Hyundai into the front of the driving school where he worked while trying to park during his second day on the job. In a post on X, previously known as Twitter, Lakewood Police posted a picture Wednesday of the vehicle. The image showed an SUV sitting in what was identified by local media as Community Driving School in Lakewood, Colorado. The police department said one person suffered minor injuries in the incident, and that the unnamed driver was cited for a traffic violation. Steve Rohman, the franchise owner of the Learn to Drive school, told CBS 11 News that the driver was in his personal vehicle and attending his second day of training, but crashed while trying to park. He added that the driver had not yet begun to instruct and there was no student in the car with him at the time. "The safety of our employees and students is paramount," Rohman told 11 News. Rohman also told The Denver Gazette had "yet to instruct anything." He added that the employee no longer worked at the school. "As a new driver, you have to understand that driving is something where mistakes are going to be made," Rohman told the Gazette. The driving school and Lakewood Police Department didn't immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment, made outside normal working hours. Traffic incidents are on the rise in Colorado. Citing data from the Colorado Department of Transportation, The Denver Post reported that 745 people died in traffic incidents across the state last year. That amounts to a 57% increase in the past 10 years, and the deadliest year on Colorado's roads since 1981, it reported. In January, a bill that would require under-21s in Colorado to attend at least 36 hours of driver's ed classes was introduced to the state legislature. Read the original article on Business Insider The Pechersk Court in Kyiv imposed travel restrictions on Oleksandr Dubinsky on Aug. 10. The lawmaker is currently under investigation for a vacation abroad during wartime. Dubinsky is not allowed to leave Kyiv Oblast without permission from a judge, must hand in his passport, and must wear an electronic bracelet until Oct. 8. After Russia launched it's all out war, Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 years of age are not allowed to leave the country without a special permit from state authorities. He is also required to appear in court at the request of the prosecutor and investigating judge, and must inform the investigation if he is to change his place of residence or employment. The MP said on Aug. 9 that he was suspected of falsifying official documents in a case related to his recent travel abroad. Dubinsky said he received permission to leave the country legally at the end of June. However, investigators believe that the MP traveled abroad under the pretext of accompanying his father for medical treatment outside of Ukraine. Dubinsky's father went abroad without him and returned to Ukraine before the lawmaker. According to Ukrainska Pravda, his trip became public when a Health Ministry document requesting his permission to travel was leaked. He was supposed to return by July 10, but at the end of July he was featured in an Instagram post by his girlfriend who was on holiday in Barcelona. He allegedly spent several weeks on holiday in Italy, Croatia, and Spain in July. On Aug. 3, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and State Bureau of Investigation announced they were investigating the lawmaker. On Aug. 5, media reports emerged that the the Bureau had searched the office of Volodymyr Kolodiuk, Dubinsky's assistant. The forgery charge relates to how the MP "was able to sign and send official documents" during his stay abroad. The evidence of Dubinsky not being in Ukraine on the days the documents were signed "may indicate their forgery," the Bureau said. The independent MP was removed from President Volodymyr Zelensky Servant of the People party in 2021 for "violating the statute and disobeying the party's governing bodies." He has repeated said since the beginning of the investigation that the charges are politically motivated. Read also: MP from Zelenskys party investigated for trip to Maldives Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Dozens of concert-goers were left needing medical attention following a pepper spray incident at Travis Scotts gig in Rome, according to US reports. The 32-year-old brought his Utopia tour to the citys Circus Maximus venue on Monday, where embattled rapper Kanye West, also known as Ye, joined him on stage for a surprise performance. However, dozens of fans were left injured with 60 in need of medical treatment after someone sprayed pepper spray into the crowd during the gig, Romes civil protection department confirmed to CNN. CNN also reported that a teenager was hospitalised after falling four metres. The 14-year-old is believed to have fallen after he tried to escape security at the venue in an attempt to watch the concert. Scott brought his Utopia tour to Rome. The rapper pictured in 2021 (Amy Harris/Invision/AP) Meanwhile, Italys fire service also told CNN that it received hundreds of calls from concerned residents who feared there had been an earthquake in the capital while the concert was going on. The movement was a result of tens of thousands of people jumping up and down to the music, which was no doubt egged on by Ye taking to the stage for the first time since his controversial antisemitic comments. The Standard has contacted Travis Scotts representative for comment. The incident comes weeks after Scott avoided criminal charges over a crowd crush at the 2021 Astroworld disaster that left 10 dead and injured thousands. A Texas grand jury declined to press criminal charges against the rapper and five others over the incident. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said the grand jury was the culmination of 19 months of investigation into the tragedy at Scotts Astroworld Festival in November 2021. Our investigators and prosecutors gave it everything they had to ensure that the grand jury could reach the truth, Ms Ogg said at the time. Scotts attorney, Kent Schaffer, said the findings confirmed Scott was not responsible for the tragedy at the festival. 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, Mr Schaffer said in a statement. Five others, including Live Nation festival manager Brent Silberstein, were also cleared. The probe stemmed from a deadly surge of fans at Astroworld in Houston, where thousands were injured when the over-capacity crowd pressed forward as Scott took the stage. Ten people were killed after panic broke out during the rappers headline performance. Seven people tied to a quasi-religious group in Kansas City, Kansas, are slated to stand trial next year on accusations that they forced children to perform labor without pay and doled out physical abuse for years. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson on Thursday set the weeks-long trial to begin March 4. The defendants, alleged leaders of a group once known as the United Nation of Islam, were indicted in 2021 on accusations that they persuaded parents across the U.S. to send their kids to an unlicensed school they ran in Kansas City, Kansas. But instead of providing a top-tier education, prosecutors say, they forced children as young as 8 to work 16-hour days at their businesses. Some kids were allegedly trafficked to other states to illegally work at businesses operated by the group, which a federal judge in Kansas labeled a cult in 2018. The indictment references 10 minor victims who federal prosecutors say were forced to work for the organization between 2000 and 2012. Some were allegedly forced to work for as long as 12 years without pay. The indictment also details allegations of physical abuse, including an accusation that one member was knocked unconscious by one of the defendants. Some victims said they were struck with a paddle, while another was said to have been hit with an extension cord. The group, which has been renamed the Value Creators, was founded by Royall Jenkins in the 1970s after he left the Nation of Islam. A truck driver, Jenkins started gathering members for his new sect in Maryland, but moved headquarters in the late 1990s to Kansas City, Kansas. He called the community Heaven and opened businesses with names like Your Diner and Your Service Station. A screenshot of a Facebook page once run by The Value Creators. Jenkins, who at times lived at a home on North 10th Street, represented himself as Allah, or God, and believed he was the Supreme Being. He told followers that in 1978 he was abducted by angels or scientists who took him through the galaxy in a spaceship and showed him the proper way to rule on Earth, according to the indictment. His sect amassed a few hundred followers. Jenkins died of COVID-19 complications in September 2021 just weeks before a grand jury returned the eight-count indictment on accusations of forced labor and conspiracy to commit forced labor, according to court documents. Eight members of his groups leadership were arrested across the U.S.: Randolph Hadley, Jacelyn Greenwell, Dana Peach, Daniel Jenkins, James Staton, Yunus Rassoul, Kaaba Majeed and Etenia Kinard. Three of the defendants were among Jenkins many wives, prosecutors say. One of the them, Kinard, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy to commit forced labor, for which she faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. She and another of Jenkins wives oversaw the groups youth membership, prosecutors say. Kinard, the only defendant to plead guilty, admitted to creating the work schedules for victims at a restaurant in Atlanta. She also acknowledged, among other things, helping to decide where to move victims for labor between 2000 and 2008. The organization funded itself almost entirely through that unpaid work, according to her plea agreement. Living conditions for the children and young adults were harsh, prosecutors allege. They were kept in overcrowded dormitories, barracks, or households of adult members who they were not related to. Royall Jenkins The sect allegedly controlled many aspects of the victims lives, including what they read and to whom they spoke. Many were restricted to two meals a day or ordered to cleanse by consuming only lemon juice for days, according to the indictment. Others said they were subjected to colonics, a procedure performed by adult members during which gallons of water were streamed through the body by a tube inserted through the rectum. Prosecutors allege the group used threats and coercive tactics to keep members in line, telling them, for example, that if they did not comply with UNOIs strict rules, they would burn in an eternal hellfire. In 2008 or 2009, Jenkins also claimed to members and victims that he had his daughter killed for leaving the organization, according to the indictment. Humiliating and degrading In 2017, Kendra Ross sued the sect, saying she was forced to work without pay for 10 years. She said that from age 11, she was forced to work in restaurants and as a maid, cook and childcare provider in several cities, including KCK. The next year, U.S. Judge Daniel Crabtree in the District of Kansas ordered Ross be paid nearly $8 million. Crabtree, who referred to the group as a cult, found that Ross was subjected to physical and emotional abuse and years of humiliating and degrading treatment. The settlement, The Washington Post reported at the time, was believed to be the largest trafficking-related verdict for a single survivor in U.S. history. Long before its leaders were indicted, UNOI was credited with revitalizing parts of Quindaro Boulevard in the early 2000s. The sect received warm welcome from officials at the Unified Government, which deeded the group several buildings that were set to be demolished, the Kansas City Business Journal reported in 1999. As the group claimed its workers were volunteers, UNOI was credited by police and in media reports with cleanup and development along Quindaro, known at the time for drugs, sex work and gunfire. We have been so effective, James Staton, who is now among the indicted defendants, told The Star in 2004, because we dont have a double standard. The Royall Touch, which closed in July, operated across the street from the federal courthouse in Kansas City, Kansas. Several years ago, the sect reportedly opened a restaurant, called the Royall Touch, across the street from the federal courthouse in KCK where Royall Jenkins followers are slated to stand trial. A sign on the eatery informs customers that the restaurant closed in July, but that it intends to open at a new location. Its phone number has been disconnected. The sign bearing Jenkins name, though, remains. The Stars Bill Lukitsch contributed to this report. In early August, three years after receiving a $700 million federal loan as part of a pandemic relief program, the trucking company Yellow filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Yellow claimed it was forced into bankruptcy by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, as the union prevented it from being able to modernize operations, "literally driving our company out of business," Yellow CEO Darren Hawkins said. The Teamsters disagreed, placing the blame solely on Yellow's executives. The company's "dysfunctional, greedy C-suite failed to take responsibility for squandering all that cash," Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien said. "They shamelessly pin their corporate incompetence on working people." With Yellow going out of business, 30,000 of its employees are now out of work. What is Yellow? Yellow, which previously went by the name YRC Worldwide, is a trucking giant that was founded nearly a century ago. The company said it invented the less-than-truckload method of transportation, meaning it consolidates several smaller freight shipments that otherwise would not take up a full trailer. Yellow accounted for between 10 and 15% of the less-than-truckload market share, moving approximately 50,000 shipments a day, and had more than 300 terminals across the United States. What led to its bankruptcy? Yellow was struggling even before the pandemic, losing more than $100 million in 2019. It took on a lot of debt when it acquired the trucking firms Roadway and USF in 2003 and 2005, and today has more than $1.5 billion in outstanding debt, including the government loan. Analysts said the company also had an aging fleet and a history of mismanagement. Why is Yellow fighting with the Teamsters? The Teamsters and Yellow attempted to come to an agreement before the union's contract with the company expired in 2024, but couldn't reach one. The main sticking points were whether Yellow truckers would have to start loading and unloading freight at docks and the possibility of Yellow having more say in where truckers worked. On August 8, Yellow sued the Teamsters, accusing the union of causing more than $137 million in damages by blocking a restructuring plan and trying to "cause Yellow's economic ruin." O'Brien called the lawsuit's accusations "unfounded and without merit." Will Yellow pay back its federal loan? The loan comes due in 2024, and so far, Yellow has paid back about $66 million in interest and only $230 of the principal. Executives have said they plan on paying the loan in full, and "their success will depend on proceeds from selling Yellow's properties and roughly 12,000 trucks," bankruptcy experts told Reuters. Yellow was facing charges of defrauding the federal government when it received the loan in 2020, after Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) asked then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to help the company before it collapsed. The loan was granted on national security grounds, as Yellow shipped protective equipment, meal kits and other supplies to military bases. At the time, Yellow had financial backing from the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, which had close ties to several officials in the Trump administration, The New York Times reported. The Treasury Department said the approval for the loan, which Yellow said would be used to cover pension and health care costs and to pay for trailers and trucks, was "based on certification by the secretary of defense that YRC is critical to maintaining national security." In July 2023, a congressional investigation into the matter found that both the Defense and Treasury departments "made missteps" when granting the loan, and that Yellow's "precarious financial position at the time of the loan, and continued struggles, expose taxpayers to a significant risk of loss." Who are some of Yellow's customers? Home Depot, Walmart, Amazon, and the federal government are among the company's clients. Yellow's bankruptcy will help its rivals, like Forward Air, FedEx Freight, Old Dominion, and ArcBest gain more business, but it's going to come at a steep price Yellow offered below-market rates, and its customers can expect to see double-digit price increases from its competitors, Stifel analyst Bruce Chan said in a client note on Monday. When it comes to transporting cargo for the Department of Defense and the government's procurement arm, the General Services Administration, Yellow's rivals "have said they have the capacity to handle the shipments, but experts say few may be willing to haul the goods at Yellow's prices," The Wall Street Journal reported. You may also like Homepage OTTAWA, Ont. Justin Trudeau's vacations always make headlines. So even as he heads off the grid to an undisclosed location in British Columbia for a week of west-coast R&R, Canadians know to anticipate news. The Canadian prime minister is traveling with Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and their kids in a new configuration the couple are officially separated but have publicly committed to co-parenting. The Canadian Press reports that the Trudeaus will foot the bill for their stay, and have cleared their jaunt with the federal ethics commissioner's office to-do list details that the prime ministers past getaways have made compulsory. Unlike President Joe Biden, who travels to the beach with White House reporters in tow, Canadas prime minister is not expected to vacation with the press pool. The Prime Minister's Office typically releases scant information about the getaways. Even so, details get out. On his first vacation as prime minister in 2015, Trudeau and his family got the TMZ treatment after traveling to Paradise Beach Resort in St. Kitts & Nevis. The next year, he and an entourage landed on a private island in the Bahamas to stay with the Aga Khan a close, personal friend. The trip became the subject of a 66-page report in which a government watchdog identified the ethical faceplant for what it was: an exclusive getaway with a man whose foundation lobbied the government, and received millions in federal funding. There was also a post-election trip in 2021 to Tofino, B.C., which coincided with Canadas first-ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a date established to recognize the dark legacy of the countrys treatment of Indigenous people and First Nations communities. The prime minister had been invited to spend the day at Tkemlups te Secwepemc, a community that made international headlines after announcing the discovery of what is thought to be 200 unmarked graves of children who died there while attending residential school. The prime ministers airplane flew over Tkemlups te Secwepemc that day, but only en route to some time off in Tofino on Vancouver Island. Trudeau would later own up to the screw up. I regret it, he told reporters. There have been other trips outside Canada to Florida, to Jamaica, twice to Costa Rica. But at least those flights were relatable: When it's cold, Canadians fly south. Any Trudeau travel is a guaranteed talker. A litany of snafus and receipts have seen to that. Canadians want to know where he's going, with whom he's partying, how much it'll cost taxpayers, and whether or not he'll come to regret it. Critics can't resist digging up the literal receipts trip expenses that include the staff and security that trails Trudeau and his crew wherever they go surfing and otherwise kick back. In 2021, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation revealed the total cost of the Trudeaus' 16-day Christmas escape to Costa Rica in 2019: C$196,137. The prime ministers 2023 summer vacation comes with extra baggage since he and Gregoire Trudeau recently shared news of their split after 18 years of marriage. Theyre now en route to B.C., so cue national debate about how, and where, they should spend their personal time. Should Trudeau foot the bills? Should taxpayers? The only thing Canadians can agree on is that arguing about a prime ministers personal time is a time-honored tradition. This reporting first appeared in POLITICOs Ottawa Playbook. Subscribe here. Former President Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to new charges related to classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, the second time in one week he has denied allegations brought by federal prosecutors as he remained the GOP front-runner for the White House in 2024. U.S. Magistrate Judge Shaniek Mills Maynard formally accepted the plea from Trump, who told the judge in court papers last week that he is not guilty and waived his right to appear at the Thursday hearing in person. Trump's aide Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, the property manager of Mar-a-Lago, were both present for Thursday's hearing. Nauta also pleaded not guilty to the superseding indictment. De Oliveira was unable to enter a plea in the case because he still has not secured a Florida-based attorney, which is required under local court rules. His arraignment was therefore pushed back a second time and is now scheduled for Aug. 15. DOJ RAISES POSSIBLE 'CONFLICTS OF INTEREST' WITH TRUMP AIDE WALT NAUTA'S DEFENSE LAWYER: 'DIVIDED LOYALTIES' De Oliveira and Nauta appeared in the federal court in Fort Pierce, Florida, on an updated indictment, brought by special counsel Jack Smith, alleging they schemed with the Republican former president and current 2024 GOP front-runner to try to delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance video sought by investigators. Carlos De Oliveira, property manager of former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, arrives at the Alto Lee Adams Sr. U.S. Courthouse in Fort Pierce, Florida, on August 10, 2023. His arraignment was delayed a second time. Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira face charges including conspiracy to obstruct justice in the case stemming from secret government documents found at Trump's Palm Beach club after he left the White House in 2021. De Oliveira made his first court appearance in the case last week when he was released on a $100,000 bond but could not be arraigned without retaining a Florida lawyer. Nauta's own arraignment had also been delayed several times under similar circumstances. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP MAR-A-LAGO WORKER CHARGED IN TRUMP'S CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS RELEASED ON $100K BOND, ARRAIGNMENT SET FOR AUGUST Trump has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in three different cases this year as he tries to reclaim the White House in 2024. The Republican has denied any wrongdoing and has characterized all the cases against him as politically motivated. Walt Nauta, personal aide to former President Trump, pleaded not guilty during a court appearance in Fort Pierce, Florida, on Aug. 10, 2023. Trump pleaded not guilty in Washington, D.C., federal court last week in a second case brought by Smith that accuses Trump of conspiring with allies to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The updated indictment in the documents case raises allegations about surveillance footage at Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach. Trump is alleged to have asked for the footage to be deleted after FBI and Justice Department investigators visited in June 2022 to collect classified documents he took with him after leaving the White House. The former president and his team deny the new allegations and have publicly stated that the footage was turned over to authoritiees. The Associated Press contributed to this report. By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump on Thursday appealed a judge's dismissal of his claim that the writer E. Jean Carroll defamed him by accusing him of rape, after a jury awarded her $5 million for defamation and sexual abuse but not rape. The former president asked the federal appeals court in Manhattan to overturn an Aug. 7 decision by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan that also rejected some of his defenses in a second defamation lawsuit by Carroll. Kaplan said the May 9 verdict reflected a finding that Trump "deliberately and forcibly" penetrated Carroll's vagina with his fingers. He said that amounted to rape as people commonly use the term, though state law defines it more narrowly, establishing the "substantial truth of Ms. Carroll's 'rape' accusations." Carroll, 79, a former Elle magazine columnist, is seeking at least $10 million from Trump, 77, in her second lawsuit. Both cases stemmed from Trump's denials that he raped Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. Lawyers for Carroll did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A trial in the second lawsuit is scheduled for Jan. 15, 2024, but Trump wants it put on hold during his separate appeal of Kaplan's June 29 refusal to dismiss it. Carroll's lawyers opposed that request on Thursday, saying she has waited long enough, and the public would be "poorly served" by granting Trump an "effectively indefinite delay." Trump is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He has also pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in three separate criminal indictments, including over his effort to reverse his 2020 election loss and his role in events leading to the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol. In suing Carroll, Trump said she tarred his reputation by maintaining in comments on CNN following the jury verdict that he had raped her. 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 Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis) Less than a year ago, Ron DeSantis was a winner and Donald Trump was a loser. This was one of two marquee takeaways from the midterm electionsthe other was that the pundits were wrong, but thats true in every election. The ensuing narrative ran hot and heavy: DeSantis was both Donald Trumps anointed successor and the Republican Partys savior-in-waiting. The evidence was so glaring as to be practically incontrovertible: DeSantis had romped to reelection in a purplish state, winning a second term as Floridas governor by nearly 20 points; Trump, meanwhile, was revealed as an albatross for the GOP and the architect of the partys disappointing performance. One wonders what might have happened if DeSantis had jumped into the presidential race a few weeks later. That is, and will be, one of the great hypothetical questions of this election cycle. Regardless, DeSantiss victory looks different now. Its never been entirely clear just how much his landslide reelection was due to his political acumen and how much of it was down to the simultaneous collapse of Floridas Democratic Party and the transformation of Florida into a reliably Republican state. But since those heady days, DeSantis has proven to possess several glaring deficiencies as a presidential candidate. Where to begin? He is an abysmal campaigner with an off-putting personal touch; videosoften manycirculate of him coldly greeting voters or awkwardly impersonating an easygoing, natural person after nearly every campaign stop. The centerpiece of his campaignhis war on wokedoes not seem to be animating voters, and yet he hasnt been able to pivot. He increasingly seems to be on an island: too Trumpy for Never Trumpers but not MAGA enough for the die-hards. Its only August, but hes already having to do a painful and protracted reset. DeSantis is the loser now, and he has been for weeks. Trump, meanwhile, has a lead so vast hes considering skipping the primary debates. (He probably should.) So far, no one in the GOP field has been able to lay a glove on Donald Trumpthough its also the case that no one has really tried. Chris Christie has made the most aggressive push against the former president, but he is barely registering in the polls and has basically no shot of being the partys nominee. Still, the best argument against Trump is the one that many were making last fall: that Donald Trump is a loser who bears responsibility for three consecutive electoral defeats between 2018 and 2022and that nominating him once again would only spell disaster for the party. Whether its too late to effectively make this case and knock Trump down from his heights atop the polls is an experiment that DeSantis is showing signs of belatedly adopting. Asked by NBC reporter Dasha Burns if he agreed with Trumps persistent lies that he was the real winner of the 2020 election, DeSantis at first tried to dodge. Whoever puts their hand on the Bible on Jan. 20 every four years is the winner, the Florida governor said before issuing a series of familiar complaints: the use of mail-in ballots due to the pandemic, the suppression of news about Hunter Bidens laptop, donations from Mark Zuckerberg to election administrators. But after a follow-up from Burns, DeSantis was more direct. No, of course he lost, he said. Joe Bidens the president. This is new. Republicans have heretofore been caught in a trap with regard to Trumps election lies. These claims are obviously bogus, and Trumps constant complaining on the matter is a big reason hes been a drag on his partys dismal electoral performance. And yet Republicans do largely believe that the 2020 election was stolen. Which probably explains why what DeSantis did next was try to to square the circle. Heres the issue that I think is important for Republican voters to think about: Why did we have all those mail votes? Because Trump turned the government over to [Dr. Anthony] Fauci, DeSantis said. They embraced lockdowns. They did the Cares Act, which funded mail-in ballots across the country. This is too clever by half. As New Yorks Ed Kilgore persuasively argued, while DeSantis has amended his rhetoric, he is still trying to have it both ways, claiming that Trump lost the election while at the same time blaming himas opposed to a shadowy cabal of Democrats and elitesfor his election loss. The suggestion that Biden didnt legitimately win but that Trump helped rig the election for him sure does make the former president look like a loser, all right, without for a moment legitimizing President Biden, who just watched the White House fall into his lap, Kilgore writes, hitting the nail on the head. Still, this is a way of attacking Trumps inevitability that is potentially fruitful. Going toe-to-toe with Trump on insults never ends well for anyonejust ask Marco Rubio. And yet Trumps lack of electoral successand the fact that he, you know, lost the last election against the guy Republicans will be facing again in 2024is arguably his biggest weakness with GOP voters. These voters like the fact that Trump is erratic. They like the fact that hes bombastic and uncontrollable. But at the core of his political identity is the argument that this is what it takes to win; that the only way to take down a corrupt, liberal establishment is by embracing chaos and fighting dirty. No other Republican candidate can take on that mantle. But they can make the case that Trumps approach has failed and that backing him again would be catastrophic: that they may not like Ron DeSantis as much as they like Donald Trumpand they certainly dontbut that its clear that Trumps approach is ineffective. DeSantis has thus far tried to make the case that hes a more market-corrected version of Trump, where you get all of the culture-war stuff and authoritarianism but with a more substantial helping of effectivenesswith little success. But part of that failure is because Republican voters believe that Trump is a winner, and the rest of the GOP field has done nothing to dissuade them of that notion. Its well worth DeSantis giving it a shot. He might have done better to argue this point, however, before the race got to the point where Trump was pasting him. In an interview on Newsmax Wednesday, former President Trump called his former Attorney General Bill Barr a coward for not prosecuting Hunter Biden or investigating alleged election fraud. You know, Bill Barr was a coward, Trump said in the interview. He was afraid to do things; he was afraid he was going to be impeached. In recent months, Barr has taken many chances to criticize his former boss publicly, especially after Trumps indictments. After the former presidents indictment in the Department of Justices (DOJ) Mar-a-Lago documents case back in June, he called Trumps defenses absurd and compared him to a 9-year-old child. Trump hit back at Barr in a response on Truth Social. He called his former attorney general a coward, much like in the Newsmax interview, a gutless pig and a RINO, which stands for Republican in name only. So nice to see that Sloppy, Low Energy RINO Bill Barr, gets loudly booed and shouted at everywhere he goes! He is sooo bad for America, Trump wrote in his response post. Top Stories from The Hill In the wake of Trumps indictment in the DOJs investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, Barr said he would be willing to testify as a witness in a trial for the case. He also said he found no evidence to support the former presidents claims of election fraud when investigating it. Well, I go through that in my book in painstaking detail, but on three occasions at least, I told him in no uncertain terms, that there was no evidence of fraud that would have changed the outcome, Barr said on CBSs Face the Nation earlier this week. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. The sweeping indictment brought against Donald Trump in the Jan. 6 case touches on nearly every aspect of the former presidents plot to stay in power. But a few eye-catching omissions in the high-profile case point to the complexities facing the Justice Department (DOJ), while raising questions about prosecutors future plans to hold to account those involved with Trumps plans. The main thing that sticks out isnt so much missing facts or missing charges, so much as the lack of co-defendants, said Josh Stanton, an attorney with Perry Law who helped write a model prosecution memo analyzing the case. That is the most notable missing piece of this indictment. The indictment aligned closely with the report prepared by the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, a high-level review of evidence laid out over the course of months of hearings, a format that allowed the public to hear directly from some witnesses. However some conduct and testimony exposed by the congressional panel doesnt feature prominently in the indictment. Its only a 45-page summary, and obviously, the committee report was over 800 pages, said Tom Joscelyn, a principal author of the panels report, who noted the indictment captures the Trump campaign effort to overturn the election at every point they could. They dont have to put everything in the indictment. Thats just the summary of the case. When it comes to whom to hold responsible for the attack, the indictment likewise hews closely to the panels recommendations. Trumps indictment lists six co-conspirators in the effort to block the transition of power after the 2020 election, whose roles were largely highlighted by the committee, such as then-Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, who drafted the memo laying out a plan for then-Vice President Mike Pence to buck his ceremonial duty to certify the election results. But none of them have been charged yet, and while the list was expected to include just a fraction of those involved, there are notable exclusions. The indictment makes few references to Trumps chief of staff Mark Meadows, who was involved in numerous aspects of Trumps plan, or nods to the lawmakers who routinely coordinated with the White House on various methods for fighting President Bidens victory. Meadows was a central figure in coordinating with lawmakers, as well as a participant in the campaign to pressure Justice Department officials to open investigations into baseless claims of election fraud. Hes maybe the highest-level omission from the indictment that could have been included. But I would note theres likely dozens of other people that could have been included as potential unnamed co-conspirators, said Stanton. This could have been an indictment that named 30-plus people, so there was some paring that had to happen in order to focus on just Trump. Meadowss absence from the indictment has fueled speculation that he may be cooperating with DOJ in the matter. George Terwilliger, Meadows attorney, did not respond to a request for comment. If Mark Meadows is a cooperating witness, youre not going to necessarily reveal that in a speaking indictment. Because theres also a strategy in supporting the charges with evidence that is already known and holding back key evidence for trial, Soumya Dayananda, a senior investigator for the House Jan. 6 committee and an attorney now in private practice, told The Hill. Also given little thought in the indictment are the lawmakers with whom Meadows coordinated, with the chief at one point writing after a meeting with Trump and GOP members of Congress that they were preparing to fight back, citing false claims of voter fraud. Dayananda said the committee was not able to glean as much information about lawmaker involvement as it would have liked, pointing to lawmakers who rebuffed subpoenas issued by the panel. The indictment does mention efforts of Trump associates to reach lawmakers on Jan. 6, but she said theres a difference in being solicited by the team versus acting as a vital co-conspirator. It may be that evidence didnt reveal a criminal intent to enter in any of the schemes, but rather that they intended to take advantage of a political situation to their benefit, Dayananda said. Stanton agreed, saying lawmakers would likely be able to push back on potential charges citing the Speech and Debate Clause as a defense, which protects members of Congress from being questioned about many of their activities outside that branch. Absent the Speech or Debate Clause, they would be very much at risk of prosecution for obstruction of an official proceeding or conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. But the Speech or Debate Clause casts a fairly wide net, and theres a pretty good argument it would protect here, he said. Joscelyn, now a fellow at the Reiss Center on Law and Security at the NYU School of Law, said its possible lawmakers activity could feature more heavily in any other indictments the special counsel might bring. He pointed to the search warrant executed on Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who introduced Trump to former DOJ attorney Jeffrey Clark, one of the co-conspirators listed in the indictment and whom Trump mulled installing as attorney general. We know that [Smith] was investigating Congressman Scott Perrys role with trying to install Jeffrey Clark as the acting Attorney General, and we dont know where that came out. It may be that that is something that if theres a subsequent indictment of Jeffrey Clark, maybe Perry played a role in that who knows, Joscelyn said. The Justice Department also chose not to pursue any charges under the Insurrection Act, avoiding the rarely used charges that could have stripped Trumps right to run for office even as he argues the broader prosecution is an effort to hinder his electoral prospects. It may well have been prudent for Smith not to pursue those charges because of the relatively spare history of such charges having been brought. Nonetheless, if you dont bring insurrection charges in this type of case, its not clear that you can ever bring such charges, Stanton said. The charges they pursued are run-of-the-mill charges including the deprivation of rights charge, which is less common than the other two, but one that has been brought on numerous occasions for election fraud type cases. So there are no novel legal theories here. Its a relatively straightforward set of facts, [and] relatively straightforward legal case. Dayananda described it as a carefully drafted indictment from a DOJ that likely pursued only the charges where it could make the strongest case. I think that the charges adequately reflect the former presidents conduct and can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, she said. I think its fair in how they phrased it in the indictment, that the former president exploited the violence. But inciting the violence is a different state of mind, which again requires evidence of intent beyond a reasonable doubt. If there wasnt sufficient evidence, it shouldnt be charged. Joscelyn said the strength of DOJs case and the rationale behind some of its strategies will come into sharper focus in an eventual trial, where the court might hear from Meadows or even Pence. There are some new details here and there that I think strengthen the case, especially when it comes to presenting in front of the jury, he said, pointing to the inclusion of notes from Pence the committee never had. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Former President Trump on Thursday unleashed a torrent of insults against President Biden, attacking him in personal terms as Trumps legal problems continue to mount. What Crooked Joe Biden, who cant string two sentences together, has done to our once great Country through his Open Borders CATASTROPHE, may go down as the greatest and most damaging mistake ever made in USA HISTORY, Trump wrote on Truth Social. It is not even believable that such incompetence and stupidity could have been allowed to happen. Trump claimed Biden has the mind, ideas, and I.Q. of a First Grader. In a subsequent post, Trump wrote he thinks Biden is not only dumb and incompetent, I believe he has gone MAD, a stark raving Lunatic, with his HORRIBLE AND COUNTRY THREATENING ENVIRONMENTAL, OPEN BORDERS, & DOJ/FBI WEAPONIZATION POLICIES. HE IS A MENTAL CATASTROPHE THAT IS LEADING OUR COUNTRY TO HELL! Former President Donald Trump speaks at a fundraiser event for the Alabama GOP, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, in Montgomery, Ala. Former Vice President Mike Pence is refuting claims from Trumps legal team that Trump never asked him to reject votes from certain states while certifying the 2020 election.(AP Photo/Butch Dill, File) Trumps escalation in language comes as the former president faces growing legal problems, some of which Trump claims are the result of political persecution from his top opponent in the 2024 election. Trump is facing felony charges in Manhattan over an alleged hush money scheme to keep quiet an affair in the months before the 2016 election. He is facing felony federal charges in Florida over his retention of classified materials after leaving office and he is facing federal charges in Washington, D.C., over his efforts to subvert the 2020 election results and remain in power. Trump is also expected to face charges in Georgia in the coming weeks over his attempts to overturn the states election results in 2020. Top Stories from The Hill The former president has repeatedly sought to frame the charges against him as election interference brought by Biden because Trump is leading in GOP primary polls. But Biden and White House officials have not publicly weighed in on Trumps cases, and they have been adamant about maintaining independence from the Justice Department. A New York Times/Siena College poll released last week found Trump and Biden tied in a hypothetical 2024 matchup, with each of them garnering support from 43 percent of voters. Trumps incendiary language also comes one day after a Utah man was shot and killed during an FBI raid linked to threats against Biden and other Democratic officials. The FBI said the incident occurred after special agents attempted to serve arrest and search warrants at a residence in Provo, Utah. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Walt Nauta, valet to former U.S. President Donald Trump and a co-defendant in federal charges filed against Trump, leaves with Lawyer, Stanley Woodward, at the James Lawrence King Federal Justice Building on July 6, 2023 in Miami Credit - Alon SkuyGetty Images FORT PIERCE, Fla.Donald Trumps valet pleaded not guilty on Thursday to new charges in the case accusing the ex-president of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate while the property manager had his arraignment postponed because he still hasn't secured a Florida-based attorney. Trump waived his right to appear alongside valet Walt Nauta and property manager Carlos De Oliveira at the hearing in the federal court in Fort Pierce, and the judge accepted a not guilty plea he made in court papers last week. De Oliveira's failure to finalize local counsel marks the latest delay in the case, which is scheduled to go to trial in May a date Trump's lawyers made clear they want to push back. The judge set a new arraignment date for De Oliveira on Tuesday. An updated indictment brought by special counsel Jack Smith late last month accuses Nauta and De Oliveira of scheming with the Republican former president to try to delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance video sought by investigators. They face charges including conspiracy to obstruct justice in the case stemming from secret government documents found at the Palm Beach club after Trump left the White House in 2021. Nauta and Trump were charged in June and previously pleaded not guilty, but a new indictment added more charges and De Oliveira to the case. De Oliveira made an initial appearance in court in July but didn't enter a plea because he hadn't retained local counsel. Trump was already charged with dozens of felony counts, and the indictment added new counts of obstruction and willful retention of national defense information. It's one of three different criminal cases Trump is facing this year as he tries to reclaim the White House in 2024. Hes also gearing up for a possible fourth indictment, in a case out of Fulton County, Georgia, over alleged efforts by him and his Republican allies to illegally meddle in the 2020 election in that state. The county district attorney, Fani Willis, a Democrat, has signaled that any indictments in the case would likely come this month. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has characterized all the cases against him as politically motivated. He pleaded not guilty in Washingtons federal court last week in a second case brought by Smith that accuses him of conspiring with allies to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Smith's team is expected on Thursday to propose a trial date for that case. Trump is already scheduled to stand trial in March in a New York state case stemming from hush money payments made during the 2016 election and in May in the classified documents case. The updated indictment in the documents case centers on surveillance footage at Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate. Trump is alleged to have asked for the footage to be deleted after FBI and Justice Department investigators visited in June 2022 to collect classified documents he took with him after leaving the White House. Video from Mar-a-Lago would ultimately become vital to the governments case because, prosecutors said, it shows Nauta moving boxes in and out of a storage room an act alleged to have been done at Trumps direction and in an effort to hide records not only from investigators but also from Trumps own lawyers. Days after the Justice Department sent a subpoena for video footage at Mar-a-Lago to the Trump Organization in June 2022, prosecutors say, De Oliveira asked an information technology staffer how long the server retained footage and told the employee the boss wanted it deleted. When the employee said he didnt believe he was able to do that, De Oliveira insisted the boss wanted it done, asking, What are we going to do? Prosecutors allege that De Oliveira later lied in interviews with investigators, falsely claiming that he hadnt even seen boxes moved into Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House. De Oliveira's Washington attorney, John Irving, told reporters after the last hearing that he looks forward to seeing what potential evidence the Justice Department has, and he declined to comment about whether De Oliveira has been asked to testify against Trump. The new indictment also charges Trump with illegally holding on to a document hes alleged to have shown off to visitors in New Jersey. ___ Contact us at letters@time.com. Donald Trump's lawyers on Wednesday asked a federal judge in Florida to order the government to "re-establish" a secure facility at his Mar-a-Lago resort where they could safely discuss the national security documents prosecutors say he illegally kept there. In a court filing to U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, Trump attorneys Todd Blanche and Chris Kise asked for the accommodation after arguing special counsel Jack Smith's proposed protective order on how they can discuss the sensitive materials recovered from the former president's home was too onerous. "This request is based on the immense practical and logistical hurdles and costs that make it virtually impossible for President Trump to make regular trips to a public facility to discuss classified discovery material with counsel as necessary to conduct a defense consistent with the rights afforded by the Constitution," their filing said. Smith's office said in a filing last month that Trump and his lawyers should stick to the established protocol for discussing the documents going to a court-approved sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF. "The government is not aware of any case in which a defendant has been permitted to discuss classified information in a private residence, and such exceptional treatment would not be consistent with the law," the July filing said. Blanche and Kise called that argument "misleading," citing the "uniqueness of President Trumps residence, including that it is in a highly protected location guarded by federal agents that previously housed a secure facility approved for not only the discussion, but also the retention, of classified information." They acknowledged that facility was "decertified" in early 2021. Trump was charged in June with mishandling more than 100 classified documents, including holding on to sensitive materials that he knew were classified after he left the White House. The indictment alleged that national security documents were stored at times in different parts of the resort, including a ballroom stage and a bathroom. Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case. In Wednesday's filing, Blanche and Kise contended that a Mar-a-Lago SCIF would save the government money given "the logistical hurdles and incredible resources that will be required every time President Trump travels to one of the governments contemplated SCIFs." "Efforts to safely transport and protect President Trumpall of which are required by the Secret Servicecost the United States government and state and local municipalities hundreds of thousands of dollars per visit, which is significantly more than the fixed amount necessary to re-establish the secure area at which President Trump (and his lawyers) were once permitted to discuss classified information," they said. The filing stressed that a Mar-a-Lago SCIF would only be used to discuss classified material and that Trump is not asking permission to review or store any documents in that location. The special counsel's office declined comment on the filing; Trump's attorneys did not respond to a request for comment. Both sides are due in court Thursday before a magistrate judge for an arraignment on the superseding indictment alleging Trump was part of a scheme to delete subpoenaed security video in the case. Trump, who is not required or expected to attend the hearing, has entered a not guilty plea via his lawyers. His two co-defendants Trump aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago employee Carlos De Oliveira are expected to attend in person. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas poses for the official photo. OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images Trump's lawyers wanted Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to help them stop Biden's 2020 election. One Trump lawyer wrote that "our only chance to get a favorable judicial opinion" that "might hold up the Georgia count in Congress, is from Thomas." "I think I agree with this," another Trump-aligned lawyer responded. Donald Trump's lawyers who were identified as co-conspirators in Trump's latest federal indictment wanted Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to help them stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's 2020 election victory. That's according to emails previously obtained by the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot, as well as an internal campaign memo that The New York Times reported on this week. "The point is to have the court say that probably the election was void, which should be enough to prevent the Senate from counting the Biden electoral votes from Georgia, right?" one Trump lawyer, Kenneth Chesebro, wrote in a December 31, 2020 email to other attorneys working on Trump's behalf to nullify Biden's victory. Georgia was one of seven battleground states that Biden won in the 2020 election. Chesebro went on to say that "possibly Thomas would end up being the key here circuit justice, right? We want to frame things so that Thomas could be the one to issue some sort of stay or other circuit justice opinion saying Georgia is in legitimate doubt." Thomas is the circuit justice for Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, meaning he oversees emergency requests coming from those states. "Realistically, our only chance to get a favorable judicial opinion by Jan. 6, which might hold up the Georgia count in Congress, is from Thomas do you agree, Prof. Eastman?" Chesebro wrote in the email. He was referring to the conservative lawyer John Eastman, who was one of the recipients of the email. "I think I agree with this," Eastman replied. "If the court were to give us 'likely,' that may be enough to kick the Georgia Legislature into gear, because I've been getting a lot of calls from them indicating to me they're leaning that way." Both Chesebro and Eastman were referenced as unnamed co-conspirators in the special counsel Jack Smith's latest indictment against Trump. The former president was charged with four counts of conspiracy and obstruction earlier this month in connection to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Chesebro and Eastman haven't been criminally charged. Read the original article on Business Insider "Disinformation is by no means a new concern, yetinnovative technologieshave enabled the dissemination of unparalleled volumes of content at unprecedented speeds," reads a November 2022 United Nations report. Likewise, a January 2023 NewsGuard newsletter said "ChatGPT could spread toxic misinformation at unprecedented scale." The very idea of "disinformation" sounds terrible: poor innocent victims viciously assaulted by malicious liars. At first glance, I'm sympathetic to the idea we should stop people from saying false things, when we can find truth-authorities to at least roughly distinguish what is false. Thankfully, many widely respected authoritiesincluding journalists, academics, regulators, and licensed professionalsdo offer such services. But we also have meta-authoritiesthat is, authorities on the general topic of "censorship," such as John Milton, John Stuart Mill, Voltaire, George Orwell, Friedrich Hayek, Jurgen Habermas, Noam Chomsky, and Hannah Arendt. Most meta-authorities have warned against empowering authorities to limit what people can say, at least outside of extreme cases. These meta-authorities have said we are usually better off if our truth-authorities argue against false claims rather than censoring them. When everyone can have their say and criticize what others say, then in the long run most can at least roughly figure out who to believe. In contrast, authorities empowered to censor are typically captured by central powers seeking to silence their criticswhich tends to end badly. Some say that made sense once upon a time, back when humanity's abilities to speak persuasively were in a natural talk equilibrium with its abilities to listen critically. But lately, unprecedented new technologies have upended this balance, putting those poor innocent listeners at a terrible disadvantage. This is why, they say, we must empower a new class of tech-savvy authorities to rebalance the scales, in part by deciding who may say what. Many pundits have spoken gravely of the unprecedented dangers of disinformation resulting from social media and generative artificial intelligence (A.I.), dangers for which they advise new censorship regimes. Such pundits often support their advice with complex techno babble, designed to convince you that these are subtle tech issues that must be entrusted to tech experts like themselves. Don't believe them. The latest tech trends don't usually make that much difference to what are the best policies. Most of the meta-authorities who have warned against censorship lived in eras long after a great many unprecedented techs had repeatedly introduced massive changes to humanity's talk equilibrium. But as the analysis of these meta-authorities was simple and general, it was robust to the tech of their day, and so it remains relevant today. Social media and generative A.I. might seem like big changes, but humanity has actually seen far larger changes to our systems of talking, all "unprecedented." Consider: language, translation, reason, debate, courts, writing, printing, schools, peer review, newspapers, journalism, science, academia, police, mail, encyclopedias, libraries, indexes, telephones, movies, radio, television, computers, the internet, and search engines. Humanity has been generally successful at managing our growing zoo of talk innovations via the key trick of calibration: We make and adjust estimates of the accuracy of different sources on different topics. We have collected many strategies for estimating source reliability, including letting different sources criticize each other, and track records comparing source claims to later-revealed realities. As a result, we sometimes overestimate and sometimes underestimate source reliabilities, but, if we so desire, we can get it right on average. Thus, with time and experience, we should also be able to calibrate the reliability of social media and generative A.I. Our main problem, as I see it, is that we humans are generally less interested in calibrating our sources against revealed physical truths than against social truths. That is, we want less to associate with accurate sources, and more to associate with prestigious sources, so that their prestige will rub off on us, and with tribe-affiliate sources, to affirm loyalty to our tribes. In light of this, it could make sense to ask if any particular talk innovation, including social media or generative A.I., seems likely to exacerbate this problem. But in fact, it seems pretty hard to predict what effects these new techs might have on this problem. Maybe social media weakens prestigious sources but increases tribe-affiliation sources. It seems way too early to guess which ways generative A.I. might lean. However, what seems clearer is that our most prestigious powers and our most powerful tribes would have big advantages in struggles over the control of any institutions authorized to censor social media or generative A.I. That is, the very act of increasing censorship would probably make the social-influence problem worsewhich, of course, has long been the main warning from our meta-authorities on censorship. Widely respected authorities should tell us if (and why) they think we are over- or underestimating the reliability of particular social media or generative A.I. sources. Then they should let us each remain free to decide for ourselves how much to believe them. The post Can We Trust A.I. To Tell the Truth? appeared first on Reason.com. Libyan border guards stand behind black African migrants reportedly abandoned in the desert by Tunisian authorities (Mahmud Turkia) Tunisia and Libya agreed Thursday to share responsibility for providing shelter for hundreds of migrants stranded for up to a month at their border, after dozens died in the desert. The migrants, primarily from sub-Saharan African countries, had been driven to the remote desert area of Ras Jedir by Tunisian authorities and left there to fend for themselves, according to witnesses, rights groups and UN agencies. Aid groups said three groups of about 300 migrants in total from sub-Saharan African countries remain stranded there in life-threatening conditions. It is not known whether the agreement will also help prevent the arrival of hundreds of migrants in the Al-Assah area some 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Ras Jedir. Since the start of July, "at least 27 migrants" have been found dead after being abandoned in the Tunisian-Libyan border area and another 73 are missing, a humanitarian source told AFP on Thursday. A spokesman for Tunisia's interior ministry, Faker Bouzghaya, said during a joint meeting with Libyan authorities in Tunis that "we have agreed to share the groups of migrants who are at the border". "Tunisia will take charge of a group of 76 men, 42 women and eight children," Bouzghaya told AFP. He said the groups were transferred on Wednesday to reception centres in the cities of Tatouine and Medenine and provided with health and psychological care, with the help of the Tunisian Red Crescent. Under the agreement, Libya will take in the remaining 150-200 migrants, humanitarian sources said. The Libyan interior ministry announced the agreement to "put an end to the crisis of irregular migrants stranded in the border area". - Racial tensions - In a later statement, it said there were no more migrants stranded at the border following the agreement, adding that joint patrols were being organised to "secure the border". On August 2, UN chief Antonio Guterres's spokesman had said the world body was "deeply concerned about the expulsion of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers from Tunisia to the borders with Libya and also Algeria". Racial tensions had flared in Tunisia's second city of Sfax after the July 3 killing of a Tunisian man following an altercation with migrants. Humanitarian sources say that at least 2,000 sub-Saharan Africans have been expelled or forcibly transferred by Tunisian security forces to desert regions bordering Libya or Algeria. The Tunisian Red Crescent had on July 12 provided shelter to about 630 migrants found at Ras Jedir, as well as 200 others who had been pushed towards Algeria, non-governmental groups said. But AFP journalists and other media reported that about 350 migrants had remained stranded at Ras Jedir in the following weeks. At Al-Assah, hundreds of other migrants were seen pouring into Libya, with no access to food, water and vital supplies until they were rescued by Libyan border guards in early August, according to an AFP team there. Until Wednesday, migrants had continued to arrive in Libya at Al-Assah at a rate of about 50 per day before being rescued by Libyan guards, a humanitarian source said. The source said that "around 270 people" are now being housed at Al-Assah after the others were taken elsewhere, said the source who feared that evacuees from Ras Jedir might be sent to detention camps. Libyan authorities have come under sharp criticism from the United Nations over reported violence against migrants, about 600,000 of whom live in the war-scarred North African country. - Deadly shipwreck - Both Libya and Tunisia are major gateways for migrants and asylum seekers attempting perilous voyages in often rickety boats in the hope of a better life in Europe. Mediterranean Sea crossing attempts from Tunisia multiplied in March and April following an incendiary speech by President Kais Saied who had alleged that "hordes" of irregular migrants were causing crime and posing a demographic threat to the mainly Arab country. Xenophobic attacks targeting black African migrants and students have increased across the country since Saied's February remarks, and many migrants have lost jobs and housing. At least 11 migrants died in a shipwreck off the coast of Sfax, court spokesman Faouzi Masmoudi said on Monday, adding that another 44 were missing and only two were rescued. The distance between Sfax and Italy's Lampedusa island is only about 130 kilometres (80 miles). The United Nations has described the central Mediterranean migration route as the world's deadliest, claiming hundreds of lives each year. More than 1,800 people have died attempting the route so far this year, according to International Organization for Migration figures. rb-ayj-fka/srm/kir Even in a country which regularly holds the world record for jailing journalists, the case of Turkish investigative reporter Baris Pehlivan stands out. Pehlivan, whose latest book accused Turkey's last interior minister of having links with organized crime, is about to be locked up for the fifth time in three years. Having been jailed, released on parole and locked up again, this time Pehlivan has been ordered back behind bars by text message. The order has been widely condemned, with the Committee to Protect Journalists joining 18 other international human rights and media freedom organizations uniting to decry "the repeated judicial harassment of Pehlivan, who is exercising his fundamental right to free speech as a journalist." "Pehlivan has already been incarcerated four times due to his journalism, two of those... for the same sentence," they added. "This order would mark his fifth time behind bars." The journalist said he was informed by the Turkish justice ministry on August 2 that he had to turn himself in at the Marmara Detention Centre, formerly known as Silivri prison, where many of the critics of Turkey's government are held, on August 15. Turkish soldiers stand guard as two men enter the Silivri Prison and Courthouse complex in Silivri, near Istanbul on February 18, 2020. / Credit: OZAN KOSE/AFP via Getty Images "Bars Pehlivan did not deserve to be imprisoned over his reporting three years ago, and he definitely does not deserve to lose eight more months of his life behind bars," Ozgur Ogret, CPJ's Turkey representative, said in a statement. "Turkish authorities must stop arresting members of the press and instead provide a safe environment where journalists can do their job without fear of judicial retaliation." Pehlivan and six other journalists were sentenced to three years and nine months in prison in 2021 for reporting the funeral of a member of Turkey's MIT secret services who was operating in Libya, where Ankara supports the UN-recognized Tripoli government. While his death has never been denied by the Turkish authorities, the reporters were charged with revealing "state secrets." Pehlivan, editor in chief of the OdaTV website and a contributor to the secular daily Cumhuriyet, was conditionally freed on May 15, then sent back to jail for a day after multiple cases were opened against him. On Wednesday, Turkey's justice minister canceled a meeting with the main opposition party about the case at the last minute, to the fury of the CHP MPs. "A few minutes before the meeting, the minister announced that he had something very important to do," said CHP MP Ali Mahir Basarir. Pehlivan whose name means wrestler in Turkish said he was resigned to turning himself in "for the fifth time" while posting an image of the text message he received ordering to him jail. Hic kimseyi oldurmedim. Hic kimseye tecavuz etmedim. Hic kimseye uyusturucu satmadm. Eger bu agr suclar isleseydim utancmdan yasayamazdm ama iktidar bana ozgurluk bahsederdi. Ckan yeni yasayla hukmu kesinlesmis cok agr suclar isleyenler cezaevinden ckabiliyorken, ben pic.twitter.com/y8hiAMUQe7 Bars Pehlivan (@barispehlivan) August 2, 2023 "I have neither killed nor raped anyone," he wrote on Twitter, now known as X. "I have never sold anyone drugs." In its open letter to the Turkish government, press freedom groups including PEN International and Reporters Without Borders called upon Ankara to "reverse the decision to reimprison Pehlivan and end the systematic judicial harassment against him and other journalists." It also highlighted how the journalist was targeted after co-writing a book, "SS," about the then interior minister Suleyman Soylu, in which he accused him of "having ties to organized crime." The press freedom groups said Pehlivan's parole was revoked before he was even charged with insulting Soylu, who is deputy chairman of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party. Soylu has denied being linked to the Turkish mafia despite being named by exiled mob leader Sedat Peker in a series of sensational YouTube videos, which detailed alleged ties between politicians and the criminal underworld. RSF's Erol Onderoglu said the "threat of prison hangs over the press at every turn" in Turkey, which came 165th out of 180 countries in its latest press freedom index. Pehlivan "should not spend another day in prison," he told AFP. "The truth is that he is constantly the victim of abusive prosecutions." Twenty journalists remain behind bars in Turkey despite 15 being released last month, according to press freedom groups. According to CPJ data, 363 journalists were imprisoned worldwide in 2022 40 of them in Turkey. Iran moves 4 Americans to house arrest, lawyer says, in possible first step in their release Watch: Virgin Galactic launches first space tourism flight 6 arrested in assassination of Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio Popular influencer Kai Cenat spoke out publicly Wednesday for the first time since a planned giveaway went awry in New York City last week, resulting in public chaos and multiple arrests. In a Twitch stream titled First stream after New York, the 21-year-old internet personality condemned his fan base for causing havoc Friday around Union Square in Manhattan. He vowed that when he does another fan giveaway, hell do it in the rightful manner. I am beyond disappointed in anybody who became destructive that day, Cenat said during his Twitch stream. Bro, that s is not cool. I want people to know that. None of that was my intention, Cenat added, noting his displeasure with videos of his fans dancing on residents vehicles. You feel what Im saying? None of that I had good intentions for the whole thing, and none of that was my intentions. Cenat also acknowledged the charges he is facing for the chaos around the event and will be due in court next week. We all have to do better, and Ill find the ways If I ever want to do something like this in the future, he added, saying that hell have to keep a low profile until his legal matters are handled. I gotta make the right calls; I do the right things, he said. And also bro, once again I cant stress this enough, bro, it was not my intention bro; I dont condone any of the things that went on at Friday. The Twitch streamer, who won the Streamy Awards Streamer of the Year award last year, announced an impromptu meetup and giveaway early Friday, promising to give out free PlayStation 5 consoles, video games and gaming gift cards. The event, which attracted thousands, ended with his arrest after the city was forced to shut down surrounding streets and re-route nearby subway lines. He was charged with one felony first-degree riot, causing public injury and damage and two misdemeanors inciting a riot and unlawful assembly, ABC News reported. New York Police Department made 65 total arrests during the ordeal, mostly apprehending juveniles at the gathering, according to ABC News. Cenats streams, which have a massive following on various social media platforms, usually include videos reacting to popular online content or hosting interviews and conservations with celebrities such as rapper Ice Spice. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Special counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed Twitter for records related to former President Donald Trump's account, as part of Smith's investigation into Trump's actions surrounding the 2020 election and January 6 (actions that prompted a federal indictment against Trump last week). Smith obtained a search warrant for the records back in January of this year but Twitter missed the compliance deadline and was fined $350,000, a federal court decision unsealed yesterday shows. Twitter was also barred from telling anyone about the existence or contents of the warrant. Subpoenaing social media records for law enforcement purposes isn't in itself problematic, of course. But there are potentially troubling elements to Smith's investigative demands and process in this case. At this point, Trump's account had been reinstated by Twitter and was once again viewable by the public. "It's unclear what information Smith may have sought from Trump's account," notes the Associated Press. "Possibilities include data about when and where the posts were written, their engagement and the identities of other accounts that reposted Trump's content." I'm not sure exactly what could be gleaned from location and time-stamp data from Trump's tweets, but I'll grant that there could be information important to the indictment in there. However, seeking to see who engaged with Trump's tweets or the identities of accounts that reposted them raises more red flags. What could federal prosecutors possibly need with information like that? Granted, the kinds of information Smith sought are speculative at this point. What's not speculative is the secretive process by which Smith's subpoenaing of Twitter played out. "The government also obtained a nondisclosure agreement that had prohibited Twitter from disclosing the search warrant," reports the A.P. So, Twitter was not allowed to even revealpublicly or to Trumpthat federal prosecutors were requesting records at all. "The court found that disclosing the warrant could risk that Trump could jeopardize the ongoing investigation by giving him 'an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior' or notify his allies," notes the A.P. But Smith was very publicly appointed to investigate Trump back in November 2022. By mid-January 2023, when Smith obtained the Twitter search warrant, Trump had already long known that he was under investigationwhich makes the idea that this was about stopping Trump from destroying evidence seem suspect. It's this nondisclosure order that riled up the folks at Twitter, per the A.P.: Twitter objected to the nondisclosure agreement, saying four days after the compliance deadline that it would not produce any of the account information, according to the ruling. The judges wrote that Twitter "did not question the validity of the search warrant" but argued that the nondisclosure agreement violated its First Amendment right to communicate with Trump Twitter said if it had to turn over the records before the judge assessed the legality of the nondisclosure agreement, it would prevent Trump "from asserting executive privilege to shield communications made using his Twitter account," the document says. When Twitter failed to turn over data by the January 27 deadline, a court found Twitter in contempt. "Although Twitter ultimately complied with the warrant, the company did not fully produce the requested information until three days after a court-ordered deadline," according to judges with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. "The district court thus held Twitter in contempt and imposed a $350,000 sanction for its delay." Details about the search warrant and Twitter's response were kept under seal for months but recently came out in a July appeals court decision unsealed Wednesday. The appeals court rejected Twitter's arguments that the nondisclosure order violated the First Amendment and the Stored Communications Act, that the district court shouldn't have enforced the search warrant until resolving Twitter's objections, and that Twitter shouldn't have been found in contempt and sanctioned. FREE MINDS A warning about trigger warnings. As a writer for the blog Feministe back in 2008, Jill Filipovic believed in trigger warnings. "Back then, I was convinced that such warnings were sometimes necessary to convey the seriousness of the topics at hand (the term deeply problematic appears a mortifying number of times under my byline)," writes Filipovic at The Atlantic, while noting that she "chafed at the demands to add ever more trigger warnings, especially when the headline already made clear what the post was about." Since then, trigger warnings have become "the norm in online feminist spaces" and also "migrated from feminist websites and blogs to college campuses and progressive groups." These days, Filipovic is worried they can do more harm than good: Around 2016, Richard Friedman, who ran the student mental-health program at Cornell for 22 years, started seeing the number of people seeking help each year increase by 10 or 15 percent. "Not just that," he told me, "but the way young people were talking about upsetting events changed." He described "this sense of being harmed by things that were unfamiliar and uncomfortable. The language that was being used seemed inflated relative to the actual harm that could be done. I mean, I was surprisedpeople were very upset about things that we would never have thought would be dangerous." Some students, for instance, complained about lecturers who'd made comments they disliked, or teachers whose beliefs contradicted their personal values. To a certain degree, Friedman said, this represented a positive change. Mental illness was becoming less stigmatized than ever before, and seeking care was more common. But Friedman worried that students also saw themselves as fragile, and seemed to believe that coming into contact with offensive or challenging information was psychologically detrimental. In asking for more robust warnings about potentially upsetting classroom material, the students seemed to be saying: This could hurt us, and this institution owes us protection from distress. Trigger warnings were only one part of a larger shift. Complaints quickly entered the wider culture, and were applied to "toxic" workplaces and "problematic" colleagues; students decried the "potential trauma" caused by ideas and objected to the presence of some speakers and works of art. My own doubts about all of this came, ironically, from reporting on trauma. I've interviewed women around the world about the worst things human beings do to one another. I started to notice a concerning dissonance between what researchers understand about trauma and resilience, and the ways in which the concepts were being wielded in progressive institutions. And I began to question my own role in all of it. Feminist writers were trying to make our little corner of the internet a gentler place, while also giving appropriate recognition to appallingly common female experiences that had been pushed into the shadows. To some extent, those efforts worked. But as the mental health of adolescent girls and college students crumbles, and as activist organizations, including feminist ones, find themselves repeatedly embroiled in internecine debates over power and language, a question nags: In giving greater weight to claims of individual hurt and victimization, have we inadvertently raised a generation that has fewer tools to manage hardship and transform adversity into agency? Read the whole thing here. FREE MARKETS National monument designation near the Grand Canyon means no more uranium mining, ever. President Joe Biden is designating almost 1 million acres of land near the Grand Canyon as a national monument. Uranium mining is already restricted in the Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni area through 2032, but Biden's designation makes the mining moratoriuminitially enacted in 2012permanent. Designating this area as a national monument will protect "landscape sacred to Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples and advance President Biden's historic climate and conservation agenda," said the White House in a statement. The Biden administration has portrayed the decision as a small trade-off, saying the area contains just 1.3 percent of known U.S. uranium reserves. But critics of Biden's decision say it will further U.S. reliance on foreign uranium from places like Russia. "President Biden and his radical advisers won't be satisfied until the entire federal estate is off limits and America is mired in dependency on our adversaries for our natural resources," said Rep. Bruce Westerman (RArk.) in a statement. The Wall Street Journal editorial board called the designation "a gift to Putin," writing that the land in question "includes America's only source of high-grade uranium ore that is economically competitive on the global market." At present, "the U.S. imports about 95% of uranium used for nuclear power reactors, mostly from Kazakhstan, Canada, Russia and Australia," the Journal points out. The Journal editorial board also pushes back against the idea that uranium mining in the area would contaminate local waters and wildlife. "A U.S. Geological Survey in 2021 found springs and wells in the region met federal drinking-water standards despite decades of uranium mining," it states. It also warns that the designation is just one part of a larger push "to block all mining in the U.S."even though this "means mining will occur in countries with fewer environmental protections"and of an overly expansive reading of the president's power under the Antiquities Act of 1906, which lets presidents designate federal land for national monuments. "Environmental groups even argue that Presidents can't roll back predecessors' designation," the board writes. "This interpretation of one-way executive power is more sweeping than the Grand Canyon and is crying out for a legal challenge." QUICK HITS Read Reason's Matt Welch on "why Kamala Harris won't be asked about the suicide of a newspaperman she persecuted." The House Judiciary Committee is seeking more information about FBI efforts to investigate "violent extremists in radical-traditionalist Catholic ideology." While the FBI "cast it as the work of a single rogue field officeit looks like the effort was more widespread than our G-men admitted to the public," notes The Wall Street Journal. "The U.S. State Department encouraged the Pakistani government in a March 7, 2022, meeting to remove Imran Khan as prime minister over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine," reports The Intercept, which obtained a classified Pakistani government document about the meeting. "The cable, known internally as a 'cypher,' reveals both the carrots and the sticks that the State Department deployed in its push against Khan, promising warmer relations if Khan was removed, and isolation if he was not." "NIMBYs have throttled the supply of homes across the country. In Montana, the state government was not just paying attention but primed to do something about it," notes Annie Lowrey at The Atlantic. That included transforming its land-use policies and allowing dense developmentpolicies it ushered in "on a bipartisan basis and at warp speed." And the result may have been enough "to fix its housing crisis," writes Lowrey. How Biden is escalating the trade war with China. Nick Gillespie talks to Tara Isabella Burton, author of Self-Made: Creating Our Identities From Da Vinci to the Kardashians. The post Twitter Fined for Failing To Quickly Turn Over Trump Data to Jack Smith appeared first on Reason.com. TWO RIVERS Police in Two Rivers are reminding businesses to remain vigilant regarding their security after a local tobacco shop was burglarized Thursday morning. Police said in a news release that officers responded to Sweet Fire Tobacco, 1803 Washington St., shortly before 6 a.m. Thursday after being alerted to a burglary alarm being activated. When officers arrived, they found entry was made into the business through a smashed glass window. Police said the suspect took various items from the store and fled before officers arrived. A suspect was later identified and arrested and police said it is not believed any other suspects were involved. The suspect's name was not released. Arrest made in drug overdose death: Manitowoc woman arrested on suspicion of first-degree reckless homicide in June overdose death Police said businesses should make sure doors are locked when they close and ensure alarms are functioning and alarm companies have current information for keyholders, in addition to ensuring video surveillance systems are working and there is adequate lighting outside. Police also said to make sure no objects like large rocks, bricks or other blunt objects outside would be opportunistic for burglars to use as tools to break into a business. Any businesses with questions about security can contact police by calling 920-793-1191, the department said. Contact Brandon Reid at 920-686-2984 or breid@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @breidHTRNews. This article originally appeared on Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter: Two Rivers Sweet Fire Tobacco shop burglarized, police arrest suspect Two young musicians, Khrystyna Spitsyna and Svitlana Semeykina, were killed in the Russian missile strike on Zaporizhzhya on Aug. 9, the Matviivske Village Center for Culture and Leisure reported on Facebook on Aug. 10. As a result of a missile strike by Russian terrorists on Zaporizhzhya, our talented girls, Svitlana Semeykina and Khrystyna Spitsyna, tragically lost their lives. Just yesterday, they were singing and playing for people, and today, neither of them are with us anymore. The Russian missile ruthlessly took away their voices, their lives, and along with that, a part of the soul of every one of us. The two young women initially embarked on their musical journeys as solo artists but eventually united to form the duo known as Similar Girls. These young women believed in a vibrant and peaceful life under the Ukrainian flag. They believed in victory, and they were striving for it with their own strength. Therefore, now we must do it for them, the center added. The musicians were 19 and 21 years old respectively, and were both daughters of servicemen who are currently fighting on the Zaporizhzhya front. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine The lawsuit alleges negligent hiring, supervision, and retention during the alleged incident that occurred in February of this year. Tyrese Gibson is suing Home Depot. Per recent reports, the actor has filed a suit against the company for civil rights violations after an incident in February in which the actor alleges he was the victim of racial profiling. According to Fox 11 Los Angeles, Gibson and two associates, Eric Mora and Manual Hernandez, are plaintiffs in the suit, which alleges negligent hiring, supervision and retention in addition to racial profiling. They reportedly are seeking $1 million in compensatory damages, which is the amount the suit claims Gibson has spent over time at Home Depot. Gibson is also seeking punitive damages. Tyrese Gibson addresses an audience during Junes BET Awards Media House at Quixote Studios in West Hollywood, California. The actor is suing Home Depot, alleging racial profiling. (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images for BET) Per the reports, Gibson went to the Victory Boulevard Home Depot on Feb. 11 alongside construction workers. To not cause a distraction, he left the items and his credit card with the workers so they could pay and he went to the car. According to the suit, Gibson returned to the store after the cashier refused to complete the transaction. The suit details that Gibson, one of the most recognizable Black actors and musicians in the United States, and his associates experienced outrageous discriminatory mistreatment and consumer racial profiling first-hand inside the Home Depot retail store in West Hills. The suit alleges that the cashier simply repeated store policy and gave no explanation as to why the transaction could not be completed while demanding to see identification. The suit states, there is no other plausible explanation for the mistreatment of plaintiffs. TheGrio has reached out to Home Depot for comment. TheGrio is FREE on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today! The post Tyrese Gibson suing Home Depot after alleged racial profiling incident appeared first on TheGrio. Fitch Ratings just downgraded the U.S. government's credit rating due in part to Congress' erosion in governance. Indeed, year after year, we see the same political theater unfold: last-minute deals, deficits, and, all too often, the passage of gigantic omnibus spending bills without proper scrutiny, along with repeated debt ceiling fights and threats of shutdown. But these are just symptoms of a budget-making process that remains in desperate need of reform. With legislators chronically delinquent about following their own rules, the change may need to be as much cultural as procedural. No matter how good the rules are, they're useless if politicians ignore them. And in a world where politicians are rarely told no when it comes to creating or expanding programs, most simply refuse to have their hands tied or behave as responsible stewards of your dollars. Adding insult to injury, the budget process has become a winner-takes-all competition, leaving the minority party with little to no voice in budgetary outcomes. Under these conditions, battles over the debt ceiling, continuing resolution votes, and threats of shutdowns are the only ways for the voiceless to state their demands. Bad processes lead to bad outcomes. The lack of oversight and the general absence of a long-term vision is creating inefficiency, waste, and red ink as far as the eye can see. Without real reform, no one can stop it. So, let's have some real reform. What we need is a comprehensive budget process under which programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are no longer permitted to grow without meaningful oversight. Combined with other mandatory, more-or-less automatic spending items, they make up more than 70 percent of the budget. Thus, they must be included in the regular budget process and subjected to regular review. Only then will our elected representatives be forced to stop ignoring the side of the budget that requires their attention the most. This would also help deal with the fact that entitlement spending is, as every serious observer knows, unsustainable. Unless reformed, these programs will drain wealth not only from the government but from the economy. Ensuring their sustainability must be part of any serious budget process reform. Enter a "Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC)"-style fiscal commission, an idea promoted by the Cato Institute's Romina Boccia. This commission would be staffed with independent experts appointed by the president. It would be "tasked with a clear and attainable objective, such as stabilizing the growth in the debt at no more than the GDP of the country, and empowered with fast-track authority, such that its recommendations become self-executing upon presidential approval, without Congress having to affirmatively vote on their enactment," Boccia explains. I'm uneasy about delegating the president power to appoint "experts." Unfortunately, Congress has proven they will never seriously address the problem unless forced to. The idea is not unprecedented. Congress has already delegated a lot of its legislative power to administrative agencies and the executive branch. It's also how the political class dealt with the closures of military facilities after the Cold Waranother set of hard choices they refused to make on their own. What's more, Congress would retain some veto power. If they disapprove of the proposal, the House and Senate can reject it through a joint resolution within a specified period. Whether it's the best solution to address our fiscal problems remains to be seen, but it's worth considering. There are many more budget reform ideas out there. I'll leave you with one more. For years now, Congress has failed to pass a budget, and in turn brought the country to the brink of a government shutdown by fighting over the need for a continuing resolutiona temporary measure that extends previous funding levels for a few months. Making continuing appropriations automatic in case of a lapse could remove the threat of shutdowns. As explained in one senator's proposal, if appropriations work isn't done, "implement an automatic continuing resolution (CR), on rolling 14-day periods, based on the most current spending levels enacted in the previous fiscal year." Further, to avoid overrelying on CRs, "all Members of Congress must stay in Washington, D.C., and work until the spending bills are completed." The road to reform is never easy. Entrenched interests and complexity, combined with congressional spinelessness, are a daunting challenge. But the stakes are too high to shy away. It's time to completely rethink the way we approach the federal budget, grounding our efforts in the principles of transparency, accountability, and fiscal responsibility. COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS.COM. The post The U.S. Credit Rating Just Dropped. It's Time for Radical Budget Reform. appeared first on Reason.com. FILE PHOTO: A man walks past the carcass of sheep that died from the El Nino-related drought in Marodijeex town of southern Hargeysa, in northern Somalia's semi-autonomous Somaliland region (Reuters) - There is a more than 95% chance that El Nino conditions will prevail from December 2023 to February 2024, a U.S. government weather forecaster said on Thursday, exacerbating the risks of heatwaves and floods across several countries. The weather phenomenon, a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific, is already spurring natural calamities across the globe, with the stakes seen higher for emerging markets more exposed to swings in food and energy prices. The Climate Prediction Center's (CPC) latest outlook was a slight upgrade from July, when it forecast a 90% chance of the phenomenon persisting through winter. Earlier in the day, Japan's weather bureau forecast the chances of an El Nino through the northern hemisphere winter at 90%. The World Meterological Organization had in May warned that the weather pattern could contribute to rising global temperatures. "In July, El Nino continued as indicated by above-average sea surface temperatures across the equatorial Pacific Ocean," the CPC said. Given recent developments, forecasters are more confident in a "strong" El Nino event, with roughly two in three odds of temperatures rising by about 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) or more in November-January, it added. The El Nino also threatened global rice supplies, amid a ban on shipments of a crucial variety of the staple from top exporter India, as well as other crops such as coffee, sugar and chocolate from southeast Asia and Africa. It was also expected to bring drier weather across West Africa, South-East Asia and northern South America, and wetter conditions to southern South America in the second half of the year. (Reporting by Brijesh Patel and Anjana Anil in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Seher Dareen; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Mark Potter) Last month, Air Force veteran and former member of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency David Grusch renewed his allegations in front of the House Oversight Committee, accusing the US government of secretly hiding evidence of extraterrestrial life and working to reverse-engineer the otherworldly relics. We remain deeply skeptical of his far-fetched claims at least pending extraordinary evidence and now, new details about Grusch's personal life have surfaced that further shroud his allegations in doubt. As The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein reports, the former intelligence officer-turned-whistleblower has had a turbulent past, suffering from PTSD and severe depression. According to records obtained by Klippenstein, Grusch appears to have been committed to an inpatient psychiatric program after making a suicidal statement to his wife. The eyebrow-raising report sheds light on a far-too-common plight of veterans. Whether his personal issues are directly relevant to his claims that the US government is hiding aliens will likely remain a subject of debate but they certainly don't instill confidence. And the ensuing chaos following The Intercept's report doesn't help either. Grusch, for his part, maintains that he has become the victim of an even greater conspiracy. "It has come to my attention that The Intercept intends to publish an article about two incidents in 2014 and 2018 that highlights previous personal struggles I had with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Grief and Depression," he wrote in a statement shared by Australian UFO journalist Ross Coulthart. Grusch also reiterated that the evidence he told Congress about came from "over 40 credentialed intelligence and military personnel." Coulthart, who has since come out firmly on Grusch's side, called Klippenstein's report which was based on records obtained through a simple Freedom of Information Request an effort "to try to discredit an American patriot by leaking his struggle with PTSD." "The intelligence community and the Defense Department clearly accepted there was no issue because he was allowed to keep his security clearance," Coulthart told NewsNation's Chris Cuomo in a Tuesday interview that aired before The Intercept published its report. Coulthart was clearly incensed by the publication of the records, comparing the purported leak to Richard Nixon's attempt to stop the leak of the Pentagon Papers. Meanwhile, NewsNation had to publish a correction admitting that Coulthart "erroneously suggested records" were "leaked by government." "The UFO whistleblower is accusing me of using confidential medical records leaked to me by the intelligence community," Klippenstein https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/1689366091280084992">tweeted. "Every part of that is false. I used publicly available police records I obtained under FOIA." Meanwhile, as Klippenstein discovered, truthers on Reddit's biggest UFO subreddit r/UFOs had to issue a public statement, telling others not to "harass Klippenstein at his fucking house." At the end of the day, there are still plenty of reasons, even outside of all of this drama, to be skeptical of Grusch's claims. For one, the Air Force veteran has maintained that he has never seen any evidence of the existence of aliens with his own eyes, relying instead on things people told him. Several experts and government officials have also thrown cold water on his claims. "The recent UFO hearing is an embarrassment to everyone involved," Steven Aftergood, former director of the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy, told The Intercept. We couldn't have said it better ourselves. More on Grusch: Former Intelligence Guy Tells Congress the Government Is Reverse-Engineering Alien Relics By Elias Biryabarema KAMPALA (Reuters) -Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday denounced the World Bank's decision to suspend new funding in response to a harsh anti-LGBTQ law and vowed to find alternative sources of credit. The country would have to revise its budget to absorb the move's potential impact, a junior finance minister said. The World Bank said on Tuesday that the law, which imposes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts, contradicted its values and that it would pause new funding until it could test measures to prevent discrimination in projects it finances. The World Bank has an existing portfolio of $5.2 billion in Uganda, although these projects will not be affected. The anti-LGBTQ law, enacted in May, has drawn widespread criticism from local and international rights organisations and Western governments, though it is popular domestically. Museveni said in a statement that Uganda was trying to reduce borrowing in any case and would not give in to pressure from foreign institutions. "It is, therefore, unfortunate that the World Bank and other actors dare to want to coerce us into abandoning our faith, culture, principles and sovereignty, using money. They really underestimate all Africans," he said. Museveni said that if Uganda needed to borrow, it could tap other sources, and that oil production expected to start by 2025 would provide additional revenues. He added he hoped the World Bank would reconsider its decision. The government will ask parliament to vote through a revised 2023-2024 (July-June) budget to reflect the potential financial impact of the lending suspension, junior finance minister Henry Musasizi told parliament on Thursday. "We shall be coming in one week or so... to ask for your approval," Musasizi told lawmakers. In June, the United States imposed visa restrictions on some Ugandan officials in response to the law. President Joe Biden also ordered a review of U.S. aid to Uganda. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Hereward Holland, George Obulutsa, Aaron Ross, Bernadette Baum and Tomasz Janowski) The Ukrainian government has announced a new trade corridor for vessels exiting Ukrainian ports, according to the Ukrainian Navy. File Photo by Gokhan Mert/UPI Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The Ukrainian navy on Thursday announced the creation of a new trade corridor for vessels exiting Ukrainian ports. The navy said the new temporary routes will primarily be used for civilian vessels to exit from the ports of Chernomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyi. It warned, however, that "a military threat and mortal danger from the Russian Federation" remained after Moscow withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative on July 17. The initiative allowed Ukrainian and Russian agricultural products via the Black Sea with Turkey acting as guarantor. "We remind you that the last ship with Ukrainian food left the port of Odessa July 16. After Russia's exit from the grain infrastructure in order to stop access of Ukrainian food to world markets. World leaders, including African countries, urged Russia to stop blackmailing the food and not to interfere with Ukrainian agroexport," the navy said. Since withdrawing from the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July, Russia has launched a series of attacks against Ukrainian ports. File Photo by Operational Command South/EPA-EFE Russia's withdrawal from the initiative was followed by a sustained series of attacks against Ukrainian ports and grain facilities. In July, an attack on the Chornomorsk port destroyed 60,000 tons of grain, according to Ukrainian officials. Turkish President Recap Tayyip Erdogan plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in August, according to the Russian state-backed TASS News agency. Russia media, citing anonymous sources, says Turkish President Recap Tayyip Erdogan will discuss Black Sea trade when they meet in August. File Photo by Iranian Presidential Office/UPI "Obviously, one of the main issues during the Russian president's potential visit will be the revival of the grain deal. Progress in this area will make it possible to prevent further growth of grain prices after the suspension of implementation of the Istanbul agreements," Tass quoted a diplomatic source as saying. "The current situation affects the countries most in need of agricultural products, and this problem should be solved in parallel with Russia's questions to the parties to the deal," the source said. Ukraine's Naval Forces announced on Aug. 10 new temporary routes for civilian vessels moving to or from the Black Sea ports amid a Russia-declared blockade. The corridor will initially be used to enable the exit of civilian ships stuck in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa, and Pivdenny since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion. However, the military threat from Russia and mine risks remain along all the routes, the navy said, adding that only vessels whose owners or captains officially confirm their readiness to sail under such conditions will be allowed to pass through. According to the statement, Ukraine already proposed these routes to the International Maritime Organization, which recognized Ukraine's right to free commercial navigation, guaranteed by international maritime law. Read also: Blinken: Russias war in Ukraine is assault on global food system "The corridor will be very transparent, we will put cameras on the ships, and there will be a broadcast to show that this is purely a humanitarian mission and has no military purpose," Oleh Chalyk, a spokesperson for Ukraine's navy, told Reuters. The navy didn't clarify whether the new routes had been agreed with Moscow. On July 19, the Russian Defense Ministry said that all vessels sailing to Ukrainian ports would be considered "potential carriers of military cargo" and, therefore, legitimate targets. This policy went into effect after Moscow's one-sided termination of the Black Sea Grain Initiative that had allowed Ukraine to continue exporting its grain during the full-scale war. However, according to the Institute for the Study of War's July 26 report, Russia's chances of implementing a Black Sea blockade are slim as this would entail Russian forces firing on any ships attempting to reach Ukraine, a move that risks direct military conflict with NATO countries. Read also: Risk of big disruptions high in grain markets, says Black Sea expert Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. At least 380 children who were deported to the Russian Federation have been brought back to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. The exact number of children is "380 or 383". Source: Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraines Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, in an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Vereshchuk says that a meeting of the coordination headquarters is held every Friday, where the issue of bringing back individual and groups of children is considered. Iryna Vereshchuk commented on the words of Maria Lvova-Belova, Children's Rights Commissioner for the President of the Russian Federation, who reported that 700,000 Ukrainian children had been deported to the Russian Federation since 24 February 2022. Photo: sabphoto/Depositphotos Quote from Vereshchuk: "I'm not sure about 700,000, but it's definitely more than the information we have. We know that almost 20,000 were taken away," Iryna Vereshchuk said. The minister added that the Ministry of Reintegration is currently cooperating with the international community to bring back, in particular, orphans for whom the state is responsible, as soon as possible. If the child has parents, they can pick up the child themselves. "We demand that Russia provide, first of all, the lists of orphaned children. If they call it rescue and call it evacuation, then we demand the children be brought back from such evacuation," Vereshchuk added. Background: Ten-year-old Varvara and six-year-old Renat met their mother for the first time after Russian captivity. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! Ukraine's National Corruption Prevention Agency (NACP) added the world's largest private alcohol company Bacardi Limited to the "international sponsors of war" list on Aug. 10. The Bermudian company continues to do business in Russia during its all-out war against Ukraine. Following Moscow's full-scale invasion, Bacardi Limited said it would stop exporting to Russia and investing in the market's advertising, but this pledge was later removed from the original statement, reads the report. The company reportedly kept supplying its products worth millions of dollars to Russia and has been advertising for new employees. "Thus, Bacardi Limited continues to pay significant taxes to the budget of Russia, support its economy and sponsor aggression against Ukraine," the NACP wrote. After Feb. 24, 2022, several major international brand owners exited the Russian alcohol market, which has reduced competition and created opportunities for those who remained. Read also: Tetiana Khutor: Are legal constraints an excuse for dragging feet on mobilizing Russian assets? As the anti-corruption agency put it, the Russian division of the company, Bacardi Rus, "took advantage of the situation," having imported goods worth $169 million in the first year of the full-scale war. According to the data published by Russia's Federal Tax Service, Bacardi Rus' revenue increased by 8.5% to 32.6 billion rubles (around $33 million) in 2022, while the net profit rose to 4.7 billion, which is 206.5% more than in 2021. Last year, Bacardi Limited paid more than $12 million in income tax to Russia's state budget, the NACP added. Bacardi Limited owns over 200 brands and labels, including Grey Goose, Bombay, and Martini, and sells products in more than 170 countries. The company is primarily known for its Bacardi rum, the best-selling rum brand in the world. Read also: A year into full-scale invasion, West struggles to seize Russian assets for Ukraine Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Ukrainian citizens who have left the country due to Russias full-scale invasion are likely to return after the war ends as Ukraine holds a lot of promise, Mykolayiv regional governor Vitaliy Kim told Radio NV in an interview on Aug. 9. I think over 90% (of Ukrainians) will come back at least once to see what has changed, what has become better after the war, Kim said. And when these people come back and see that it makes sense to stay here, they will stay. At the same time, many of those who left had never left their own region before, and when they moved there, the only thing that stops them (coming back) is the need to start everything again, to do something, make changes, etc, Kim said. Thats the biggest challenge in bringing people back, I dont mean to offend, but I mean those who are inert in decision-making or quick decisions. These are mostly older people. This is really a problem. Read also: How many Ukrainians will return from abroad and what the population will look like in 2030 In order for people to return, it is also necessary for the authorities to support them, the governor emphasized. As long as the salary is higher and costs are lower somewhere else no one will return, Kim said. I believe that Ukraine will be very promising. Its a very promising country but will revive better after the war than it was before. Based on the experience of wartime migration in other countries, it is believed that a third of those who leave eventually return after the conflict ends, Ella Libanova, director of the Ptoukha Institute for Demography and Social Studies, said on Dec. 21. But I dont believe in this either, and I think more will come back, she said. This will mainly depend on the amount of time that women will be abroad, because each new month of their stay there deepens their adaptation their knowledge of the local language improves, their children go to schools and universities, and mothers take on work. 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 Social media posts claim Ukraine has asked the Canadian government to send residents of Ukrainian descent to fight in the war against Russia. This is false; both countries told AFP there is no such recruitment campaign. "Now, when the historical homeland needs them, they must be here," says a quote attributed to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov in an August 3, 2023 post on Twitter, which is being re-branded as "X." "They are Canadian citizens, but above all Ukrainians. We will ask the Canadian government to send 30,000 men of military age to us." The post received more than 1,000 likes and 300 shares. It includes an image with a block of Russian text, as well as a photo of people carrying the Canadian and Ukrainian flags. The same photo and other variations of the claim spread across X and Facebook, including in Vietnamese and French. Screenshot of a post on Twitter, which is being rebranded as "X," taken August 9, 2023 Screenshot of a Facebook post taken August 9, 2023 According to the Canadian Encyclopedia (archived here), the country has the second largest population of the Ukrainian diaspora in the world, after Russia. During the 2021 census, 1.3 million Canadian residents reported having Ukrainian ancestry (archived here). Some Canadians have traveled to Ukraine to volunteer as fighters. But a high-ranking source in Ukraine's Ministry of Defence told AFP the country does not have a recruiting program like the one described in the posts. "Such an idea, request, proposal from Oleksiy Reznikov never existed to the government of any country," the source. Jeremie Berube, a spokesman for Global Affairs Canada, confirmed the supposed recruitment campaign does not exist. "Canada has not received such a request from Ukraine," he told AFP in an August 9 email. Berube said Canada is involved in multiple efforts to combat misinformation about the invasion of Ukraine, including compiling a database of myths and facts (archived here). Canada-Ukraine defense relationship Canada is among more than 50 countries in the United States-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which provides military aid to the country in its war with Russia (archived here). According to the Canadian Department of National Defence (archived here), Canada has committed more than CAN$8 billion (US$6 billion) in aid -- including more than CAN$1.77 billion in military assistance -- to Ukraine since Russia's invasion in February 2022. Since 2015, Canada has also participated in a mission with Ukraine known as Operation UNIFIER (archived here). More than 300 Canadian Armed Forces personnel are deployed in the United Kingdom, Latvia and Poland, according to the Department of National Defence website (archived here) -- with the goal of training and facilitating military donations from allies. The agency does not mention contributing troops to fight in Ukrainian war zones. Canada's chief of the defense staff has previously declined to comment on reports of soldiers on the ground in Ukraine. On June 15, 2023, then-Minister of National Defence Anita Anand announced Operation UNIFIER would be expanded and extended to 2026 (archived here). In August, Ukraine's Reznikov thanked Canada for a new provision of armored vehicles. More of AFP's reporting on misinformation about the war in Ukraine is available here. A mandatory evacuation has been ordered for the Ukrainian city of Kupyansk and its surrounding areas, as Russia intensified shelling of Ukraines northeastern Kharkiv region and claimed to have captured Ukrainian positions near the city on Thursday. Kupyansk, which lies close to the Russian border, fell to Moscows forces within the first week of their invasion in February last year. It remained under Russian control for several months, before a swift Ukrainian offensive liberated the city in September, along with a number of other settlements in the region. But in recent weeks Russia has stepped up its efforts to capture the city for a second time. A local Ukrainian official said Thursday that substantial Russian reinforcements had turned the northern front of Kharkiv region into the epicenter of hostilities, where the enemy is concentrating its main efforts. Kupyansk authorities estimated that around 12,000 people, including more than 600 children, are now subject to evacuation orders. Evacuations of this scale are infrequent. Russian-appointed officials organized partial evacuations of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region in May, amid shelling around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Thousands were also evacuated from the Kherson region in June, after the breach of the Nova Kakhovka dam caused severe flooding. But Ukrainian authorities have not ordered an evacuation of this scale since October last year, when they launched an offensive to reclaim territories captured by Russian forces in Kherson and sought to protect civilians by removing them first. The Kupyansk evacuation order includes settlements to the north and east of the city on both sides of the Oskil river. Ukrainian forces have held onto positions on the east bank, but are getting pummeled by dozens of air strikes and artillery barrages every day. A Russian bomb hit a blood transfusion center in Kupyansk on August 5, 2023, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. - Volodymyr Zelensky/Telegram Andriy Kanashevych, acting head of the Kupyansk District Military Administration, said it was difficult to say how many people had already left, because it was unclear how many had remained in Kupyansk after it was liberated last year. Kanashevych told Ukrainian television he expected those affected by the order to pack up and leave, but added we realize that not everyone will want to do so. However, he warned that Russian assaults had markedly intensified this week, saying that more powerful weapons are being used and warning of a significant threat to local residents. Russian terrorists are becoming even more cynical and completely indifferent to human life. As a result, almost every day we have dead and wounded among the civilian population, he said. The new epicenter Russia has been preparing to mount an advance on Kupyansk for several weeks. In July, Serhii Cherevatyi, a Ukrainian spokesman for the Eastern Military Grouping, warned that Russia had dramatically bolstered its forces in the region. The enemy has concentrated a very powerful grouping on the Lyman-Kupyansk direction, with over 100,000 personnel, over 900 tanks, and over 370 MLRS (rocket launchers), Cherevatyi said, adding that Russian forces were putting everything into breaking through our defense. Earlier this week, Ukrainian authorities had urged Kupyansk residents to evacuate children and those with limited mobility. At least three civilians were killed and nine others injured in a Russian missile attack near the city on Tuesday. The strikes intensified throughout this week, with the city council building in Kupyansk targeted in an airstrike overnight Wednesday, which killed two people. Over the past 24 hours, Russians massively shelled settlements of Bohodukhiv, Kharkiv, Chuhuiv, Izium and Kupyansk districts with guided aerial bombs and other weapons, said Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Thursday that its forces had captured Ukrainian positions and observation points around the village of Vilshana, northeast of Kupyansk, adding that its forces had defeated up to a platoon of infantry in the area (between 20-50 soldiers). By concentrating their efforts on Kupyansk and the surrounding area, Russia is hoping to fix Ukrainian troops in the region, preventing them from assisting in Kyivs counteroffensive elsewhere especially in attempts to reclaim territory around Bakhmut, south of Kupyansk in Donetsk region. This strategy also aims to bring Russia closer to one of its stated goals of securing all of the eastern Luhansk region and possibly reaching the natural barrier of the Oskil. Russia may also have attempted to exploit potential vulnerabilities in Ukrainian defenses where it suspected units may be weaker. Since recapturing Kupyansk and other parts of Kharkiv region in September last year, Ukraine has embarked on an ambitious offensive in the south. Its forces are stretched at multiple points, along a front line extending nearly 1,000 kilometers. Ukrainian officials say that Russian forces expended half a million rounds of munitions in one recent week on the Kupyansk-Svatove front alone. Ruslan Muzychuk, a Ukrainian National Guard spokesman, told Ukrainian television Thursday that the Kupyansk direction remains the epicenter of hostilities, where the enemy is concentrating its main efforts. The number of enemy forces and means and its recent activation in this area of the front are aimed at trying to turn the tide in this section of the front. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Ukraine says Saudi talks were 'breakthrough', Kyiv has more to offer Africa than Russia Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba speaks during an interview with Reuters in Kyiv By Dan Peleschuk and Anna Dabrowska KYIV (Reuters) - Saudi-hosted talks last weekend were a "breakthrough" for Kyiv that showed it is possible to rally global support around the 10-point plan proposed by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to end Russia's war, Ukraine's foreign minister said on Thursday. "If a country wants to be in the front seat of world politics, it has to become part of these coordination meetings," Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with Reuters, referring to the talks in Jeddah and a smaller event earlier this summer in Copenhagen. Officials from more than 40 countries - including China, India, Brazil, the United States, and European countries, but not Russia - took part in the talks, which were seen as an attempt by Kyiv to build a broader coalition of powers to support its vision of peace. Ukraine has had strong support from the West as it has fended off Russia's invasion, but it has been harder to win over major Global South economies. Zelenskiy's plan, which Kyiv wants to serve as the basis for peace to end the war launched in February 2022, includes the withdrawal of all Russian troops and the return of all Ukrainian territory to its control. Kuleba said the number of countries interested in participating in meetings such as the Jeddah gathering has "increased dramatically" in recent weeks, adding the events lay a crucial foundation for future talks on Ukraine's vision for peace. "We are fully satisfied with the dynamics of this process," he said."I believe the meeting in Jeddah was a breakthrough because for the first time, we brought together countries representing (the) entire world, not only Europe and North America." Russia has said it is open to peace talks with Kyiv but insists on its claim to four Ukrainian provinces it said it annexed last year and fully or partly controls, as well as Crimea that it annexed in 2014 - a condition Kyiv will not accept. VYING FOR AFRICA Kuleba acknowledged that countering Russian influence in places like Africa - where ties to Moscow date back to the Soviet era - remains a challenge as Ukraine seeks to broaden the range of countries behind it. The minister has made three wartime visits to the continent. He sought to contrast Ukraine's aims there - which he said included cooperation in areas such as education, construction, and digitalisation - with the presence in Africa of the Russian mercenary group Wagner. "Unlike Russia, we want to invest in Africa what will benefit both them and us, because Russia's biggest investment in Africa is Wagner," Kuleba said. "And this is the investment in (the) insecurity of Africa." Russia's refusal last month to extend a pact allowing Ukrainian grains to leave Black Sea ports has also hit the continent hard. During a summit in St. Petersburg last month, African leaders pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to pursue their own plan for peace. But Kuleba said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who has balanced relations between Moscow and Kyiv, stood the best chance of reviving the U.N.-brokered deal. "I think it will not be an exaggeration to say that President Erdogan is probably the only man in the world who can convince President Putin to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative," he said. WEST STILL 'ON TRACK' Kuleba also played down the notion that Kyiv's slow-moving counteroffensive to reclaim Russian-occupied territory, launched in June, could dampen Western support for Ukraine at a critical time and force it into negotiations. Ukrainian forces have made only incremental gains in parts of the east and south, where well-built Russian defences have slowed their push across vast swathes of the steppe. While acknowledging that certain public "voices" in the West were questioning the logic of their respective governments' support for Ukraine, Kuleba said he saw no signs from officials that support was waning. "The key thing for us is to keep governments on track - and they are on track so far." A White House spokesman said last month the Ukrainian operation was "not a stalemate" and that Kyiv's forces "are moving." Kuleba also expressed optimism that Ukraine would eventually receive the long-range missiles it is seeking from the U.S. and Germany, which would allow Ukrainian forces to strike deeper behind Russian lines. "They are in the process of making their own calculations and analysis," he said. "And these options...I think they will be unlocked. But it requires more time." (Reporting by Dan Peleschuk and Anna Dabrowska; Editing by Frances Kerry) Russian troops are now less than five miles from Kupiansk. As Russia presses the main thrust of its offensive in Kharkiv Oblast closer to the city of Kupiansk, officials there are planning a mandatory civilian evacuation. Ukrainian military officials say Russian troops are now less than five miles from the city. It's a situation that, if unchecked, could impact Kyiv's ongoing counteroffensive. More than 11,000 people, including 600 children, are expected to be evacuated, Kharkiv Regional State Administrator Oleg Synegubov said Wednesday on his Telegram channel. Everyone will be provided with the necessary assistance, evacuees will be provided with temporary housing in safer areas. https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1689318206115127323?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A The evacuation plan was discussed at a meeting Wednesday, said Synegubov, as the impact of war gets closer. The enemy has significantly increased the shelling of settlements close to the front line and continues to terrorize the civilian population, including using airstrikes, he said. Under such conditions, the risks to the life and health of civilians have increased significantly. In addition to drawing up evacuation plans, officials in Kupiansk are working on a way to keep education programs going for those who choose to stay. That includes a mixture of remote and in-person learning. Kharkiv Regional State Administrator Oleg Synegubov (third from left) discusses plans to evacuate Kupiansk. (Oleg Synegubov Telegram) Shelters in all educational institutions of the Kharkiv region that plan to conduct classes offline will be checked for compliance with safety requirements, said Synegubov. Preschool, school, professional pre-higher and higher education institutions should promptly inform law enforcement agencies and the State Emergency Service authorities about their decisions regarding mixed or face-to-face education because all ready-made shelters must pass an inspection, said Synegubov. Currently, 11 institutions of general secondary education in the Kharkiv region are planning to start the educational process using a mixed form of education. But this will be possible only if the shelters meet the safety requirements. The same applies to 18 preschool institutions and five institutions of higher education, which plan to work in a mixed format. The evacuation plans in Kupiansk are being drawn up as the Ukrainian military says the main thrust of the Russian offensive in the region is pushing toward the city. The Russians have created an offensive group consisting of eight "Storm-Z assault units" to take Kupiansk, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told Ukrainska Pravda Wednesday. At the same time, the Russians were advancing from the area of Novoselivske - about 16 miles southeast in Luhansk Oblast, Syrskyi told the publication. They unsuccessfully attempted to cut off the Ukrainian defenders with a flank attack and encircle some of the brigade's units defending there, he said. The general visited the Kupiansk area on Tuesday, he said on his Telegram channel. "Our soldiers are bravely holding the defense, repelling all the enemy's attempts to advance," Syrskyi stressed. The Russians have also been staging unsuccessful offensives in the Sinkivka district of the Kharkiv region for several days, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Wednesday on her Telegram channel. That's about three miles northeast of Kupiansk. The goal is to break through the defense of our troops and go directly to Kupiansk. The intensity of hostilities and enemy shelling is high. For some positions, there are several position changes per day. https://twitter.com/Flash_news_ua/status/1689266107146702848 The Russian Defense Ministry said its forces have achieved success in their push toward Kupiansk. In the course of combat operations in Kupiansk direction, assault groups of the 6th Combined Arms Army captured four strongholds, five observation posts, destroyed a U.K.-manufactured Spartan Armored Personnel Carrier, one supply point and destroyed up to a company of infantry from the 67th Separate Mechanized Brigade near Mankovka tract, the Russian MoD claimed. In addition, during the day the enemy carried out nine counterattacks by units of the 67th and 14th separate mechanized brigades on Russian positions close to Sinkivka and Mankovka tract. All counterattacks were successfully repelled. The enemy losses were up to a platoon of manpower. Kupiansk, where Russian forces are making a push toward, is about 60 miles east of Kharkiv City. (Google Earth image) An evacuation from Kupiansk would mark the second time since March that officials there have urged residents to flee to safer places because of the fierce fighting in the area. Enemy forces are relentlessly trying to attack the positions of our forces. Thats why we announced mandatory evacuation, Synegubov said on national television in March. He added that the local authorities and volunteer groups were trying to move people to safer locations elsewhere in the region. But even before March, the city has borne a significant brunt of this all-out war. In September, Ukraine recaptured all of Kupiansk, crossing over the Oskil River. It was a key moment in its successful 'lightning' Kharkiv counteroffensive. The current fighting comes weeks after Ukrainian military officials claimed that Russia had amassed more than 100,000 troops and 900 tanks in that part of the battlefield. Given the slow and costly nature of Ukraines counteroffensive in Zaporizhzhia Oblast and the Donbas, any Russian breakthrough in Kharkiv Oblast would be of great concern to Kyiv. It could force Ukraine to reallocate forces and equipment to shore up that front, further diminishing its ability to liberate territory, up to and including Crimea. We will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates when warranted. Before we head into the latest news from Ukraine, The War Zone readers can catch up on our previous rolling coverage here. The Latest Elsewhere on the battlefield, Ukrainian forces are continuing their push south toward Melitopol and Berdiansk, and appear to be making incremental gains between Robotyne and Verbove in Zaporizhzhia Oblast and near Urozhayne in Donetsk Oblast. Our defenders had partial success in the direction of Urozhayne, Priyutne and Verbove. Now they are fixed at the achieved boundaries, Maliar, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister, said Wednesday on her Telegram channel. https://twitter.com/euromaidanpress/status/1689248199716868096?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A Several Russian Telegram channels agreed with her assessment about the Robotyne area and offered more details. In a battle that raged into the morning hours Wednesday, combined assault units of the 46th Marine Brigade, with the support of the 15th brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, once again attacked the positions of the Russian Armed Forces east of Robotyne, the Kremlin-connected Rybar Telegram channel reported Wednesday. Before that, the sappers of the two brigades removed minefields and went on the attack with the task of penetrating the defenses 400 meters between two villages. As a result of the fighting, the Armed Forces of Ukraine entrenched 3 km east of Robotyne. Ukrainian forces did not achieve their initial goals, however, they were able to consolidate on a stronghold, which was previously in the gray zone, Rybar reported. Now the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is striking at the front line, supporting the infantry with fire. https://twitter.com/rybar_force/status/1689288230451994624 The Armed Forces of Ukraine are again throwing waves of infantry into the attack on our positions in the fields at the Robotyne-Verbove line, the Operation Z Telegram channel reported, adding that Ukrainian troops are carrying out dismounted attacks in the area. Ukrainian artillery is firing massively, trying to knock out ours with cluster munitions. Assault groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine roll on our positions again without armored vehicles, breaking through to our trenches. https://twitter.com/whereisrussia/status/1689256968869879808?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A Speaking of Kupiansk, Ukrainian soldiers stationed there say there is a large disconnect between the type of training provided by NATO allies and the fighting that actually takes place. I dont want to say anything against our partners, but they dont quite understand our situation and how we are fighting, a senior intelligence sergeant in the newly formed 41st Mechanized Brigade - who goes by the name Dutchman - told openDemocracy. Thats why the main training and the integrated training happens here. To date, the U.S. and NATO allies have trained more than 60,000 Ukrainian troops. Yet NATO can only currently offer Ukrainian soldiers basic training, shifting the burden of vital combat training back to Ukraine, openDemocracy reported Tuesday. Time constraints mean that stage two training doesnt always happen, or happen in full, in Ukraine or the West. It would be better if either [the instructors] came here to see what were facing or we went there to train their instructors to train our troops, Dutchman told openDemocracy, adding that he recognizes that NATO preclusions about putting boots on the ground would not allow them to visit Ukraine. Members of the 41st Brigade told the publication that their instructors often used examples of NATO operations in the Middle East, where the objective is to clear houses and identify potential insurgents among the local population. But thats not really relevant to us, said Dutchman. For the most part, [Western instructors] have fought wars in cities and towns urban settings. We are on flat ground a lot of the time, said Dutchman. The tactics that Ukrainian officers and commanders badly want their troops to learn while being trained abroad are either only part of the syllabus or not featured at all. We need people to understand how to effectively clear trenches, enter them, how to throw grenades effectively, how not to trip on booby traps, to understand what grenades the [Russians] throw essentially to understand the enemy, explained Dutchman. https://twitter.com/IKoshiw/status/1689184015301963776 The Biden administration will announce a request for billions of dollars in additional funding for weapons and other aid for Ukraine on Thursday, Politico is reporting. The outlet cites two people with direct knowledge of the timing of the request. The ask is also expected to include aid to Taiwan and money to replenish rapidly dwindling disaster relief cash, the publication said, adding that final spending authority lies with the White House Office of Management and Budget. Politicos sources did not provide details on the amount of the request or what might weapons it might contain. The request for additional money to help Ukraine comes amid an already pitched government funding battle on Capitol Hill, Politico noted. Several conservative lawmakers maintain deep skepticism over giving the country another dime without a fuller accounting of how assistance has been spent to date, the publication stated. Government funding dries up at the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30, and House and Senate appropriators are anticipating that money for Ukraine, Taiwan and disaster relief could ride to passage with a stopgap spending patch that averts a shutdown. The Pentagon has declined to talk about any additional funding requests. But regardless of political fights, it still has about $6 billion in Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) funding to spend this fiscal year, Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters on Tuesday. That represents money the Pentagon found earlier this year after an accounting revaluation. PDA packages are made up of weapons already in the Pentagons stocks as opposed to having to purchase new ones. That is still a substantial amount and we feel confident that we can continue to supply Ukraine with what it needs on the battlefield, Singh said, but I'm just not going to get ahead of anything in terms of any supplemental or any additional requests to Congress. https://twitter.com/laraseligman/status/1689335008396251137?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A Germany on Wednesday announced it was providing Ukraine with two additional Patriot air defense launchers in its latest package of aid. Thats in addition to the system Berlin already provided in April that consisted of German and Dutch components. The package also includes more than 6,500 rounds of 155mm howitzer smoke rounds, 100 MG5 machines guns, additional trucks and other equipment. https://twitter.com/kyivpost/status/1689299129921425409?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A Ukraine relies heavily on the SpaceX Starlink satellite communications system for relatively secure, reliable and remote comms. And now Ukraine is getting some additional terminals, this time from a Swedish company. Satcube will transfer about a hundred of its satellite communications terminals to Ukraine, the Swedish Dagens Nyheter news outlet reported Wednesday. Satcube CEO Jakob Kallmer said Ukraine received the first terminals in early summer. Unlike Starlink, which uses its own constellation of satellites, Satcube relies on the geostationary satellite network of the American operator Intelsat Ltd. https://twitter.com/militarnyi_en/status/1689181515094126592 The Ukraine Weapons Tracker open source intelligence group posted what it says are the first images seen of North Korean munitions being used by Russians in Ukraine. These R-122 122mm rockets, provided to BM-21 Grad multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) crews, most likely didn't come from North Korea directly, according to Ukraine Weapons Tracker. Instead, they were most likely sent to Russia by Iran, the group said. It's no secret, however, that Russia has been turning to North Korea for badly needed ammunition. As we noted last month, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu asked North Korea for 152mm artillery shells during his recent visit to Pyongyang. A Pentagon spokesperson on Tuesday said "any arms deal between the DPRK and Russia would violate UN Security Council resolutions." "We will continue to identify and expose these transfers...and make sure that any country that does decide or plans to do business with North Korea is prepared for the consequences," said Singh, the Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary. "We'll make sure that we're doing our part and due diligence in exposing that." https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1689294822392094720?s=20 https://twitter.com/UAWeapons/status/1689294827911843840 Speaking of BM-21 Grads, video recently emerged of a long column of nearly two dozen sporting "cope cages." The metal appendages began appearing on Russian armored vehicles in late 2021 amid the pre-war buildup as a counter to loitering munitions and drone-dropped bomblets. https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1689269386056527872?s=20 New video has emerged of an apparently unsuccessful Ukrainian uncrewed surface vessel attack attempt on a Russian Navy warship. The video shows a Ukrainian USV approaching a Project 22160 corvette ship, then turning toward its port bow before traversing the length of the ship. The video seems to pause at about the 24-second mark and what happened next is unclear. It is also unclear when the video was taken, or if it is connected to any previously reported such attacks. Last month, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed it destroyed two Ukrainian USVs attempting an attack on the Sergey Kotov, a Project 22160 vessel. You can read more about that in our story here. Ukraine has used USVs in many attacks on Russian vessels in the Black Sea, most recently damaging the chemical/oil tanker Sig, which was previously sanctioned for carrying jet fuel to Syria. You can read more about that in our story here. https://twitter.com/capt_navy/status/1689187057678397440?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A On Wednesday, new images emerged of the Russian Project 775 Ropucha-class landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak which was heavily damaged Aug. 3 by Ukrainian drone boats. The vessel is seen in this Planet Labs satellite image on a dry dock at the Novorossiysk Navy Base in Russia. https://twitter.com/kromark/status/1689178510055665664 The M113 Armored Personnel Carriers provided to Ukraine are far from the newest or most capable vehicles around, but at least some have apparently been equipped with Turkish SARP-Dual remotely operated, stabilized weapons systems that have day/night vision capability, automatic target tracking and computer-based shot control functions. https://twitter.com/mil_in_ua/status/1689338623085199360?s=20 Another video of a U.S.-supplied vehicle hitting a mine emerged on social media. The Humvee in the video below saw its engine compartment blown up by an apparent mine. It is unknown from this video what happened to the troops it was hauling. https://twitter.com/Trollstoy88/status/1688819400621879296?s=20 As the fight continues around Bakhmut, Ukrainian troops are seen in this video advancing toward Russian positions, eventually reaching one and capturing several troops, some who were provided medical treatment. https://twitter.com/gloooud/status/1689233538162257920?s=12\u0026t=BQRSNakUKt7_8ssZiGBW-A Here's another view of a Ukrainian AK-74 with a "Black Storm" bullpup conversion kit that moves the magazine to the rear of the grip instead of in front of it. https://twitter.com/trip_to_valkiri/status/1689263262490058752?s=46\u0026t=cbCZ6V64euYCCy5V9r9oiQ And finally, while it may not exactly be "glamping," this Ukrainian field camp set up in the back of a U.S.-donated M2A2 Bradley Fighting Vehicle at least offers a relatively protected place for tired troops to catch some much-needed rest. https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1689037121376468992?s=20 That's it for now. We'll be back when there's more news to report about Ukraine. Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com Ukraine submits report on use of cluster munitions to Pentagon Ukraine has provided the Pentagon with a report on its use of controversial U.S. cluster munitions in the fight to liberate its territory from Russian military occupation, U.S. televisions news channel CNN reported on Aug. 9. The report includes information about the total number of cluster munitions used, and the total number of Russian targets destroyed. Read also: Russia, China exploring paths for military collaboration, says Pentagon Ukrainian officials have said they expect the Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional bombs (DPICM), also known as cluster bombs, to be more effective than standard artillery rounds, particularly against large groupings of Russian troops and equipment. Last month, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the munitions were having an impact on Russias defensive formations and Russias defensive maneuvering. The United States, Russia, and Ukraine are not signatories to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the production and use of the weapons. The convention has been signed by more than 100 countries. Read also: Pentagon greenlights first batch of Abrams tanks for Ukraine Cluster munitions for Ukraine: What is known On July 7, Washington announced a new package of military aid for Ukraine, which included cluster bombs. U.S. President Joe Biden later clarified that his decision to supply these bombs was made in light of the Ukrainian militarys dwindling artillery stocks. Read also: Ukrainian Army welcomes transfer of US cluster bombs to Ukraine - senior officer The provision of this ammunition to Ukraine provoked different reactions around the world. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said that the supply of such weapons would help compensate for the Ukrainian armys shell deficit. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance does not influence the decisions of individual countries to supply such weapons, while the United Kingdom and Spain said they disapproved. Russia claims that the supply of cluster bombs to Ukraine will not change anything, while Cambodia warned against the use of these bombs because of the risks to the civilian population. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on July 12 that the Armed Forces would use cluster bombs exclusively to engage military targets in the occupied territories. Read also: US prepares another military aid package for Ukraine Ukrainian General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi confirmed on July 13 that Ukraine had received cluster bombs from the United States. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry stated that they would only use cluster munitions in areas where Russian forces are concentrated, away from urban areas, in order to minimize risks to civilians. During a press briefing on July 20, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby confirmed that Ukrainian troops had used U.S.-supplied DPICM artillery rounds against Russian forces. Read also: Ukraine starts using US-supplied cluster munitions report Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine Map showing the situation in Ukraine as of August 10 at 0700 GMT (Clea PECULIER) Ukraine urged civilians near the northeastern front line to evacuate on Thursday as Russia ramped up an assault to capture territory already seized once during the conflict. Kupiansk and the surrounding areas of Ukraine's Kharkiv region were recaptured by Kyiv's forces in September but Moscow has since pushed back into the region. "Given the difficult security situation and the increasing amount of shelling by Russian terrorist forces in Kupiansk community, you have the opportunity to evacuate to a safer place," the city administration said. It said residents could evacuate to Kharkiv, some 90 kilometres (56 miles) west, where they would have the option to move to safer regions, and urged children, the elderly and the sick to leave. "Do not neglect your safety and the safety of your loved ones," said the statement. The warning came as Russia's defence ministry announced its soldiers had "improved their position" along the front line near the city, after reporting advances earlier in the week. "In the course of offensive operations near Kupiansk, assault teams of the Western battle group improved their positions along the forward edge of the front line," it said in a daily briefing. In the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, a Russian strike on a civilian building killed at least one person and wounded 14 others on Thursday, Ukrainian officials said. Among the wounded were a three-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy. "A fire broke out in a civilian building after the occupiers hit it with a missile. One person is currently reported dead," President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram. - Evacuations underway - Sergiy Cherevaty, spokesman for Ukraine's eastern forces, confirmed to national television that Russian forces were trying to break through in the Kupiansk area. "The situation remains difficult but under control," he added. "The evacuation started yesterday, when the order was signed," said the head of the Kupiansk city military administration Andriy Besedin on national television. Residents could refuse to go but had to submit a written statement to the authorities, he added, and local officials were considering forcing the evacuation of children "if the escalation continues and the shelling increases". "It looks like the Russians are erasing places in the Kupiansk area," said Rostyslav Melnykiv, professor at a university in Kharkiv. "People are in danger of losing their lives, not just their homes," he told AFP. One resident in the small town of Kivsharivka just outside Kupiansk said she was preparing to evacuate with her children, while her husband refused to leave in order to care for his elderly mother. "It's hard to leave them behind," Anna Koresh, 36, told AFP by phone. In Russia, the governor of the Bryansk region said on Thursday that two people had been killed after Ukraine shelled the small village of Chausy, about five kilometres from the border. Russian regions bordering Ukraine have repeatedly accused Kyiv's forces of indiscriminate shelling that has damaged infrastructure and caused civilian deaths. Ukraine launched its counter-offensive in June after stockpiling Western weapons, but has struggled to make major breakthroughs. Moscow said earlier Thursday it had downed 11 Ukrainian drones nearing the Crimean peninsula and two heading for Moscow, in the latest in a wave of attacks targeting Russia and Russian-held territory. "As a result of the thwarted terrorist attacks, there were no casualties or damage," the Russian defence ministry said on Telegram. - Drone attacks - Moscow was largely spared in the early months of the war but the number of drone attacks on the Russian capital has risen in recent months, with the city targeted multiple times this week. Russian officials on Thursday gave updates following an explosion the previous day at a factory northeast of Moscow. "Twelve people are considered as missing," said a statement from the local investigating committee posted on Telegram. Wednesday's blast killed one woman and 15 people were still being treated in hospital according to the latest health ministry update. In the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory of Nova Kakhovka one person died and one was wounded in Ukrainian shelling, the Moscow-backed administration said on Telegram. Ukrainian President Zelensky warned last month that "war" was coming to Russia, and that the country's "symbolic centres and military bases" would become targets. On the other side of the front line, an oil depot in Ukraine's western Rivne region was destroyed during a "massive drone attack" on Thursday, governor Vitaliy Koval said. Tensions have also risen on the Black Sea since Russia exited a deal allowing safe passage for grain exports. In a challenge to Russia, which announced in July that it would consider any ships nearing Ukraine in the Black Sea as potential military cargo carriers, Ukraine said it had opened maritime routes for civilian vessels from several southern ports. Ukrainian Navy spokesman Oleg Chalyk said a first ship would take the newly open route "in the near future". And in Washington, President Joe Biden's administration asked Congress for more than $13 billion in new military spending for Ukraine, bur-cad/jj/lcm Key developments on Aug. 10: Russian attacks on Zaporizhzhia kill 4, injure 20 within 24 hours Fire at oil refinery in Belarus, Ukraine warns of Russian 'provocation' Poland to station 10,000 troops at border with Belarus Ukraine announces 'temporary corridor' in Black Sea Politico: U.S. to announce new military package for Ukraine Four people have been killed and 20 civilians have been injured as a result of two Russian attacks on Zaporizhzhia less than 24 hours apart. Governor Yurii Malashko said that three people have been killed in a Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia on the evening of Aug. 9. Malashko reported at 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 10 that a 43-year-old man, and two women aged 21 and 19 had died. Nine others were injured, including an 11-month-old child. The attack hit a church and shops in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the city. The blast also damaged windows in several high-rise buildings. At least one person died and 11 others were injured in another Russian missile strike against Zaporizhzhia on Aug. 10, local officials reported. One of the injured is in a serious condition, acting Mayor Anatolii Kurtiev said. "Once again, the target of the Russian terrorist attack was a civilian infrastructure building," Governor Malashko wrote on his Telegram channel. "Again, no military targets," he added. Read also: Stranded civilians brave shelling, return to Ukraines front-line towns Drone attacks The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that air defense units destroyed 11 drones moving toward the city of Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea on the night of Aug. 10. The report alleged that two drones were shot down by air defense and nine were intercepted by "electronic warfare equipment," crashing into the Black Sea before reaching their target. No damage or casualties were reported. In the announcement, Russia blamed Kyiv for the attempted strike. They also blamed Ukrainian forces for the drones allegedly launched at Moscow earlier in the night. Two attack drones were intercepted en route to Moscow at 4 a.m. local time on Aug. 10, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin claimed via Telegram. The mayor claimed that air defense shot down one drone in Kaluga Oblast, southwest of Moscow. Ukraine didn't comment on the attack. Read also: From Moscow to Novorossiysk: The list of attacks on Russian soil Some recent Ukrainian airstrikes in Crimea have hit valuable targets, including the Chonhar Bridge connecting the occupied peninsula to occupied territories in the mainland. These attacks have upended Russian military logistics in the area. Ukraine confirmed launching the attacks that struck the bridges. Moscow has also been plagued by drone strikes in recent days. Two drone strikes on the same target, a high-rise building in Moscow's business district where several Russian ministries are housed caused damage on July 30 and Aug. 1. On Aug. 6, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian forces had launched over 100 drones at Ukraine in the past week alone. Read also: Increased attacks on Crimea disrupt Russian logistics, attempt to derail its southern defenses Fire at oil refinery in Belarus, Ukraine warns of Russian 'provocation' A fire broke out at a gasoline production unit of the Mozyr oil refinery in southeastern Belarus on Aug. 10, the country's emergency ministry reported. First responders put out the fire, and the incident is being investigated, the ministry wrote. No casualties were reported. Earlier, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said it had gathered intelligence indicating that Russia was preparing a large-scale false flag operation at the refinery. Under the alleged plan, a Russian sabotage-reconnaissance group would carry out a "provocation" at the refinery, the SBU wrote on Aug. 4. Moscow would then blame the attack on Kyiv in an attempt to drive Belarus into the war against Ukraine. The sabotage group reportedly comprises Russia's military personnel and employees of special services who were sent to Belarus under the guise of Wagner mercenaries. The Mozyr oil refinery is located in the Belarusian city of Mazyr, some 50 kilometers from the Ukrainian border and over 150 kilometers from Russia's border. After the Wagner Group's failed rebellion against the Russian military leadership, thousands of Wagner troops and heavy equipment were relocated to Belarus from Russia. Minsk has claimed that the mercenaries are training the Belarusian military. Belarus has been one of Russia's main allies and supporters since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022, having supplied Russia with over 130,000 tons of ammunition over the past year. Russia has also used Belarus as a strategic launching point for invading Ukraine. Most recently, Moscow claimed to have deployed tactical nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory. Poland to station 10,000 troops at border with Belarus The Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Baszczak said on Aug. 10 that 10,000 soldiers will be moved to the country's border with Belarus "to scare away the aggressor so that it does not dare attack us." He told a public radio interviewer that 4,000 will directly support the Border Guard and 6,000 will be in the reserve. "We have to be ready for various scenarios, we do not exclude anything," Baszczak said. The numbers are double that quoted by the Polish Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik on Aug. 9, who said that Poland will deploy an additional 2,000 soldiers to support the Border Guard. Speaking to the Polish Press Agency (PAP), Wasik said the reinforcements will be deployed in the Lublin and Podlaskie provinces within the next two weeks. There are already 2,000 soldiers stationed at the border along with the Border Guard units. While the prime minister warned earlier that Wagner fighters can try to infiltrate Poland from Belarus, Wasik told the PAP that the mercenaries do not threaten Polish security "in a tactical sense." Read also: National Resistance Center: New Wagner camp under construction near Ukraines border Ukraine announces 'temporary corridor' in Black Sea Ukraine's Naval Forces announced on Aug. 10 new temporary routes for civilian vessels moving to or from the Black Sea ports amid a Russia-declared blockade. The corridor will initially be used to enable the exit of civilian ships stuck in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa, and Pivdennyi since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion. However, the military threat from Russia and mine risks remain along all the routes, the navy said, adding that only vessels whose owners or captains officially confirm their readiness to sail under such conditions will be allowed to pass through. According to the statement, Ukraine already proposed these routes to the International Maritime Organization, which recognized Ukraine's right to free commercial navigation, guaranteed by international maritime law. "The corridor will be very transparent, we will put cameras on the ships, and there will be a broadcast to show that this is purely a humanitarian mission and has no military purpose," Oleh Chalyk, a spokesperson for Ukraine's navy, told Reuters. The navy didn't clarify whether the new routes had been agreed with Moscow. On July 19, the Russian Defense Ministry said that all vessels sailing to Ukrainian ports would be considered "potential carriers of military cargo" and, therefore, legitimate targets. A day prior, Moscow announced a one-sided termination of the Black Sea Grain Initiative that had allowed Ukraine to continue exporting its grain during the full-scale war. Read also: This Week in Ukraine Ep. 17 Black Sea grain deal is dead. What can Ukraine do? Politico: Biden to request new military package for Ukraine U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is expected to disclose its appeal for billions of dollars in extra funds intended for weaponry and other forms of assistance to Ukraine on Aug. 10, Politico reported. According to two undisclosed sources, the emergency funding request is also likely to incorporate aid for Taiwan and resources to renew disaster relief funds. Neither of these individuals elaborated on the exact sum of the appeal or its specific intended goals. According to Politico, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with over $43 billion since February 2022, and promised over $1 billion in weapons to Taiwan. On Aug. 9, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller reported that the U.S. will announce a new military aid package for Ukraine. Additionally, Miller mentioned that the U.S. is thinking about sending new missiles and defense systems. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Germany transfers 2 Patriot launchers to Ukraine in latest aid package Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. A shark has attacked a person in New York for the first time in many years. Details: The woman is in severe but stable condition, says The New York Times. Media reports indicate that Tetiana Koltuniuk, 65, was the victim of the attack. Oleh Nikolenko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, confirmed this information to BBC Ukraine. "The victim's Ukrainian citizenship has been confirmed. The consuls have contacted the healthcare facility in order to obtain information on her current condition and are also establishing contact with the woman's relatives," Nikolenko said. The shark bit Tetiana in the left leg while she was swimming near Rockaway Beach on 59th Street. The victim was swimming alone when rescuers heard her screaming for help. This is the first time a shark has attacked a human in this area in decades. Photo: Whitepointer/Depositphotos The emergency rescuers pulled the victim out of the water and provided first aid before taking her to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in critical condition. Her condition was assessed as "critical but stable" on 8 August, the police said. This was the most severe shark attack in New York waters since at least the 1950s, Gavin Naylor of Florida State University told AP. The bite marks suggest it was likely a young white shark, but it could have been a bull or sand shark. Background: Earlier, a petition was initiated in Kyiv to erect a monument to the shark that attacked a Russian in Egypt. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, has said that the idea of holding elections in time of war raises "a lot of questions" and pointed out that elections should be conducted fairly. Source: Danilov in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda Quote: "The state must ensure that all citizens, without exception, can participate in the electoral process. It's hard for me to imagine how the men and women who are near Bakhmut today, who are in other parts of the front today, will vote. How can they do it physically? And if they don't vote, then it's unfair. They are defending our country. Should they stop and go somewhere to vote or what? Who can imagine that? And what about those citizens who are now outside our country, who have temporarily left?" Details: Danilov said that "no one will allow anyone to conduct elections in an unfair manner". Background: According to Article 83 of the Constitution of Ukraine, "in case of expiration of the term of office of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine during martial law or a state of emergency, its powers shall be extended until the first meeting of the first session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine elected after the cancellation of martial law or a state of emergency". However, in late July, Ruslan Stefanchuk, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, stated that "there is no constitutional ban on holding elections during the war". Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! Special Operations Forces of Ukraine published footage demonstrating the destruction of Russian equipment in the southern part of the front. Source: Press service of the Special Operations Forces Details: It is noted that thanks to the operators of one of the units of the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine, Tornado special engineering systems on the basis of URAL trucks and automobile equipment for delivering ammunition were destroyed. Footage of explosions shot through a thermal imager indicates that this happened at night, while the results of the attack were recorded during the day. Quote: "This happened on the southern front. There, our soldiers conducted reconnaissance of enemy positions, and after identifying the targets, they successfully destroyed them. In total, five enemy targets were hit with precise fire. In addition to engineering systems, mortar and enemy armoured vehicles were also destroyed." Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! The Russian occupiers launched 10 Shahed attack drones over Ukraine on the night of 9-10 August, and the Air Forces were able to shoot down 7 of them. Source: Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Telegram Quote from Air Forces: "7 attack drones were destroyed. In total, the Russian occupiers used 10 attack UAVs, Shahed-136/131s". Details: The Russians launched Iranian drones on the night of 9-10 August from the northeastern direction, from Kursk Oblast. The attack lasted from 23:00 to 04:00. The Russian UAVs were shot down with anti-aircraft guided missiles and small arms by direct cover units. It is also reported that over the past 24 hours, the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have carried out more than four dozen sorties, 20 of which were aimed at attacking Russian targets, areas where their equipment and manpower were concentrated. Background: Air-raid warnings were issued throughout Ukraine on the night of 9-10 August due to a missile threat, and in some oblasts there was a threat of the Russians using attack drones. The Russian occupiers launched a large-scale drone attack on Rivne Oblast on the night of 9-10 August, hitting an oil depot in the Dubno district. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! Due to increased Russian attacks, the local authorities began a mandatory evacuation of civilians from 37 settlements in the Kupiansk district, Kharkiv Oblast. According to the Kupiansk City Military Administration, residents will be relocated to safer Ukrainian regions. The evacuation will take place in the communities of Dvorichna and Petropavlivka as well as in parts of the Kindrashivka, Kurylivka, and Kupiansk communities. In the city of Kupiansk, locals residing near the Zaoskillia train station on the east bank of the Oskil River will be evacuated, the authorities wrote on Aug. 10. Read also: Trained in the heat of battle: The journey of Kharkiv Oblasts Territorial Defense Earlier, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov announced the plans to evacuate more than 11,000 people, including 600 children, from the area. The enemy has significantly increased the shelling of settlements close to the front line and continues to terrorize the civilian population, including conducting airstrikes, wrote Syniehubov. Under such conditions, the risks to the life and health of civilians have increased significantly. Russia has been concentrating its forces around Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast since mid-July, trying to regain the positions lost during the Ukrainian surprise counteroffensive last autumn. Ukraine liberated Kupiansk from Russian occupation in September 2022. Due to its close proximity to the border, the city and other surrounding areas of Kharkiv Oblast have been under constant attack since the start of the full-scale invasion. Read also: We pushed and they collapsed: How Ukraine liberated Kharkiv Oblast Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Russia continues to suffer losses in its aggressive war against Ukraine. As of 10 August, the Russian Federation has lost about 252,200 soldiers, 4,278 tanks, and 313 helicopters. Source: General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook Details: The total combat losses of the Russian forces from 24 February 2022 to 10 August 2023 are estimated to be as follows [figures in parentheses represent the latest losses ed.]: approximately 252,200 (+580) military personnel 4,278 (+16) tanks 8,303 (+13) armoured combat vehicles 5,028 (+15) artillery systems 711 (+0) multiple-launch rocket systems 469 (+0) air defence systems 315 (+0) fixed-wing aircraft 313 (+1) helicopters 4,179 (+4) operational-tactical UAVs 1,377 (+0) cruise missiles 18 (+0) ships/boats 7,495 (+16) vehicles and tankers 746 (+4) special vehicles and other equipment The information is being updated. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! The Ukrainian Armed Forces are pressing forward in their counter-offensive on multiple fronts, including Bakhmut, Melitopol, and Berdyansk, Andrii Kovalyov, spokesperson for the Ukrainian militarys General Staff, said on Aug. 10. Significant progress has been made in the Urozhayne and southeast of Mayorske regions, Kovalyov said. Read also: Zelenskyy holds "special format" Commander-in-Chief briefing Ukrainian military personnel are successfully consolidating their positions in these populated areas, meeting their designated objectives. In contrast, Russian occupiers have faced repeated setbacks in their attempts to advance, specifically in the areas of Novokalynove, Avdiyivka, Peremoha, and Novomykhailivka, leading to significant personnel, armament, and equipment losses. Further south, Ukrainian troops are firmly securing the positions they have gained in the Bakhmut region. The defense forces are also effectively containing the enemy along the Kupyansk and Lyman fronts. Read also: US State Department says aid for Ukraine is not limited to one presidential administration Russian forces have struggled to reclaim lost ground on the outskirts of Klishchiyivka, highlighting the resilience of the Ukrainian forces. Two months of counter-offensive: Details On June 8, several Western media outlets, including the Washington Post, reported that Ukraine had launched a counter-offensive, highlighting increased attacks by the Ukrainian Army along the frontlines in the countrys southeastern part. Ukraines Defense Ministry had repeatedly stated that they wouldnt announce the start of a counter-offensive. However, on June 5, they announced a transition to offensive actions on certain fronts and reported some successes on the Zaporizhzhya front. On June 10, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that the counter-offensive was underway but did not specify the directions of the troops movement. Read also: Ukraine makes small gains near Bakhmut, other centers on Eastern front UK intelligence reported that Ukrainian troops were conducting large-scale offensive operations on three main fronts in the south and east of Ukraine. In June, Ukraine successfully liberated several settlements on the border of Zaporizhzhya and Donetsk oblasts, including Blahodatne, Neskuchne, Makarivka, Storozhove, as well as Pyatyhatky and Rivnopil. Furthermore, on June 24, Ukraines Defense Ministry announced the start of an offensive in several directions in the east, where Ukraine retook parts of Donetsk Oblast, which had been occupied since 2014. However, Defense Ministry spokesperson Hanna Malyar mentioned that part of Ukraines reserve troops would be deployed later during the counter-offensive, and the main attack is still ahead. Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov clarified that Ukrainian military personnel were currently carrying out a preparatory operation. Meanwhile, some Western media outlets reported that Ukraines progress was behind schedule. Western partners, commenting on the challenges of the counter-offensive, noted that Russian occupiers managed to build defensive structures, including minefields, in the captured territories. President Zelenskyy acknowledged that achievements were slower than desired. Nevertheless, he emphasized that there was progress on all fronts of the advance. Western media outlets at the end of July reported that Ukraine had changed its counter-offensive tactics after setbacks in the initial stage. Read also: Ukrainian counter-offensive continues unabated, says intel chief At that time, reports emerged that Ukraine had commenced a new phase of the counter-offensive, with a primary focus on the southeast. UK intelligence highlighted an escalation of battles in the south during this period. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine The Ukrainian Navy has opened new, temporary routes for the movement of civilian vessels to and from Ukraines Black Sea ports, according to a press release on Facebook on Aug. 10. Ukraine has previously submitted these routes in an appeal to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In turn, the IMO Council recognized Ukraines right to free commercial shipping guaranteed by international maritime law. The routes will primarily be used to enable the exit of civilian vessels that have been moored at the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa, and Pivdennyi since the beginning of Russias full-scale. Read also: Russians unable to fully blockade Ukrainian ports Navy spokesperson Vessels whose owners and or captains can officially confirm that they are ready to sail in the current conditions will be allowed to use the routes. The last ship carrying Ukrainian food products left the port of Odesa on July 16, 2023. After Russia withdrew from the grain deal on July 17, it attacked the ports grain infrastructure toprevent the supply of Ukrainian food products to global markets. 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 Enjoy train trip to NW China's Shandan county, home to one of the world's highest high-speed railway stations People's Daily Online) 11:23, August 10, 2023 (Photo from the official account of China Railway on WeChat) The Shandan Horse Ranch Railway Station, sitting at an elevation of 3,108 meters in Shandan county, Zhangye city, northwest China's Gansu Province, is one of the highest high-speed railway stations in the world. Located at the foot of the Qilian Mountains, Shandan county has an average temperature of below 25 degrees Celsius in July. (Photo from the official account of China Railway on WeChat) Based on the new train operation diagram for the third quarter of the year, more trains running along the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway now stop at the Shandan Horse Ranch Railway Station. Boasting beautiful scenery and cool temperatures, Shandan county has become a popular choice for passengers and tourists to stay cool in summer. (Photo from the official account of China Railway on WeChat) The Shandan Horse Ranch was voted one of the six most beautiful grasslands in China by the Chinese National Geography. Situated in the Qilian Mountains and covering an area of nearly 3.3 million mu (2,200 square kilometers), the Shandan Horse Ranch is one of the world's oldest royal ranches. Every day, six high-speed trains departing from Lanzhou, the provincial capital of Gansu, stop at the Shandan Horse Ranch Railway Station, making it easier for tourists to travel around Shandan county during the summer vacation. (Photo from the official account of China Railway on WeChat) In addition to the picturesque scenery, Shandan county also offers delicious food like boiled mutton, or hand-grasped mutton, braised mutton and chicken braised with dough rolls. (Photo from the official account of China Railway on WeChat) (Photo from the official account of China Railway on WeChat) (Photo from the official account of China Railway on WeChat) (Photo from the official account of China Railway on WeChat) (Web editor: Chang Sha, Liang Jun) Iraq has officially banned the word 'homosexual' in media and on social media platforms. However, the official media regulator in Iraq has yet to get its final approval. Iraq Bans 'Homosexual' Term on All Media and Social Media As per CBS News, Iraq has boldly banned the term 'homosexual' across all media and social media platforms. Iraq's Media and Communications Commission, the country's media regulator, now asks social media services to stop using "homosexual" and "homosexuality" terms. The government's directive states that instead of using the term 'homosexual,' media outlets and individuals are encouraged to employ the phrase "sexual deviancy." Iraq's decision to ban the use of the term 'homosexual' stems from its cultural and religious beliefs and broader societal attitudes towards LGBTQ+ issues. The government contends that the term 'homosexual' does not align with their values and seeks to use language that aligns more closely with their cultural norms. CBS reports that the Media and Communications Commission says the recent ban seeks to protect the country's public order and societal values. On top of that, the media regulator also pointed out that these terms contain negative connotations. In a statement, the Iraq regulator "directs media organizations not to use the term "homosexuality" and to use the correct term "sexual deviance." However, a government representative admitted that the penalty for violating the detective has yet to be determined. But violators would most likely have to pay a fine. Read Also: Iraq Summons Swedish Envoy To Protest Against Planned Koran Burning Is Gay Sex Illegal in Iraq? The latest ban is a further sign of the growing intolerance towards LGBT people in Iraq. According to NBC News, gay sex is not technically illegal in the Iraqi nation. However, the country considers it immoral under its penal code. Thus, this measure has been used to target LGBTQ+ community members. The Hill reports that the Iraqi penal code loosely forbids "immodest acts" in public. And as such, Human Rights Watch argued that it is "a vague provision that could be used to target sexual and gender minorities." A Human Right Watch (HRW) research in Iraq, published in 2021, shows that domestic violence targeting gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender people is rampant in the country. In a more recent report, the HRW accused several armed gangs in the country are killing, raping, abducting, and torturing members of the LGBTQ+ community. CBS News reports that Arab countries primarily base their treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals on their religious beliefs. It is worth noting that Islamic texts, such as the Quran, include anecdotes, citing Prophet Muhammad, which condemn same-sex affairs. Related Article: US Says Drone Attack Kills ISIS Leader Usamah al-Muhajir in Syria @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Ukrainian soldiers fire artillery at Russian targets in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, on Sunday. The soldiers in the picture are not related to the story. Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images A Ukrainian described losing his leg to a land mine while speaking with The Washington Post. Ruslan Proektor, 52, said he regretted going to war and that soldiers like him were poorly prepared. He was one of several to express a relatively rare note of despondency in the war against Russia. A Ukrainian soldier who lost his leg in battle told The Washington Post that he wouldn't volunteer to fight for his country again expressing a rare but growing pessimism around the war. Ruslan Proektor, 52, told the outlet in a report published Thursday that he lost his leg this summer after stepping on a Russian mine. The soldier who rescued Proektor also stepped on a mine, causing additional injuries, he said. Proektor, now recovering in Kyiv, said that if he were given the choice to join the military now, he would not sign up. "They are taking everyone and sending them to the front line without proper preparation," he told the Post. "I don't want to be in the company of unmotivated people." It is unclear which brigade Proektor fought in or whether he had military experience before the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. Ukraine is deep into its much-anticipated counteroffensive, which is meant to regain territory in the east and south of the country. Many of the units being sent into battle in these areas are drawn from brigades that have been hastily trained and equipped in NATO countries over the past few months. These troops are suffering heavier losses compared with more-experienced but worse-equipped units, The Guardian reported. Michael Kofman, a well-known military analyst, told The Guardian that the lack of training probably was pivotal. "I think it is very fair to have been skeptical that, with so little training, you could create cohesive units that can perform in combat for the first time against such well-prepared defenses," he said. Some Western-trained brigades have even started to abandon US-taught tactics because they have proved ineffective, The New York Times reported earlier this month. Instead of attacking Russian positions head-on using complicated Western-military maneuvers, many Ukrainian service members have resorted to artillery and missile barrages, the Times said. Proektor was not alone in feeling bleak about the war, which shows little sign of resolution after more than a year and a half. Other people who spoke with The Washington Post also deviated from the prevailing Ukrainian sentiment of unity and defiance, citing the disappointing counteroffensive as a cause of their fading hopes. Read the original article on Business Insider The Special Operation Forces (SSO) of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are demonstrating their sniper prowess as they target Russian invaders in the vicinity of Bakhmut, a video released on Aug. 10 shows. Ukrainian troops detected the movement of enemy forces in the area, SSO reported on Telegram. But thanks to the precise work of the snipers, two invaders were quickly neutralized. Read also: Ukraine launches military jobs website Pressing onward! the SSO said. The video captures the dramatic scene as Russian invaders attempted to flee, only to be cut down by the deadly accuracy of the Ukrainian snipers. Over the past 24 hours in Ukraine, a total of 580 Russian invaders have been eliminated, and a helicopter has been shot down. Read also: General Syrskyi praises Ukrainian snipers sharp-shooting in Bakhmut video Russias total military personnel losses since the start of the full-scale invasion are now around 252,000. 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 Ukrainian soldier from the 24th separate mechanized brigade on duty at the frontline in Donbass, Ukraine, on August 8, 2023. Wojciech Grzedzinski/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Ukrainian troops underestimated Russia's response to their counteroffensive, CNN reported. Troops fighting on the southern front told the outlet they "expected less resistance." One Ukrainian tank operator told CNN: "The biggest problem is underestimation of the enemy." Ukrainian troops fighting on the southern front "expected less resistance" from Russia, a tank unit commander told CNN. In an interview with the outlet, the commander known only by his call name "Lotos" said that Russia had months to prepare for Ukraine's counteroffensive, which had made it more difficult to advance. "It won't be as easy as in Kharkiv," Lotos told CNN, in reference to Ukraine's swift and successful counteroffensive conducted in September last year. "Here the enemy was ready, unfortunately. Everybody chatted for months that we would move here," he added. "We expected less resistance. They are holding. They have leadership. It is not often you say that about the enemy." Ukraine is several weeks into its much-anticipated counteroffensive, which is aimed at regaining territory in the eastern and southern regions of the country. But its military has only made small territorial gains, largely because Russia's troops have built layers of sophisticated defenses designed to inflict as much pain on Ukraine's troops as possible. These defenses include a 600-mile front line equipped with minefields, trenches, and rows of "dragon's teeth" spiky pyramids of concrete that can block or damage tanks and other armored vehicles. Russia's heavy fortifications have forced Ukrainian forces to leave behind some of their advanced Western tanks and manually clear the mines instead, often using small teams of soldiers who need to crawl on the ground. Many of the Western-trained Ukrainian troops have also started to abandon US tactics because they have proved ineffective, The New York Times reported earlier this month. The slow-moving counteroffensive has prompted some criticisms from the West, which has been supplying Ukraine with weapons, training, and armored vehicles. But a Ukrainian tank operator from the 15th National Guard told CNN that Western criticism is "wrong." "We have success," the tank operator, identified only as Vitaly, told CNN. "Sometimes more, sometimes less. It depends on how fortified they are." "The biggest problem is underestimation of the enemy," he added. Read the original article on Business Insider FILE PHOTO: U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks about the Black Sea grain corridor outside U.N. Security Council at U.N. headquarters in New York UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is very concerned about the reported "deplorable living conditions" of Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum and his family in arbitrary detention, a U.N. spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday. "The Secretary-General reiterates his concern over the health and safety of the President and his family and once again calls for his immediate, unconditional release and his reinstatement as Head of State," the U.N. spokesperson said. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Christopher Cushing) Denise Brown, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine, issued a statement condemning the Russian military's Aug. 10 attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia. The missile strike, which killed one person and injured 16 others, damaged the Reikartz Hotel on the Dnipro River. The hotel was often used by UN staff and NGO workers. Brown said she was "appalled" by the attack, calling the strike "unacceptable." "The number of indiscriminate strikes that have damaged civilian infrastructure and killed and injured civilians has reached an incredible level," Brown said. "And they are a violation of international humanitarian law." Brown said that the Reikartz Hotel served as a hub for UN humanitarian aid workers in the city. The UN used the hotel as a base for its civilian evacuation of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol in May 2022. The attack on the hotel was the second deadly missile strike on Zaporizhzhia in two days. Three people were killed in the Aug. 9 attack. Brown called for Russia to "immediately cease its indiscriminate attacks on Ukraine." Read also: What we know about Russias killing of 2 Ukrainian teenagers in occupied Berdiansk Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. FILE - Delegations gather for a United Nations Security Council meeting on nuclear non-proliferation regarding the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, March 23, 2023, at United Nations headquarters. The U.N. Security Council will hold its first open meeting on North Koreas dire human rights situation since 2017 on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023, the United States announced. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) UNITED NATIONS (AP) The U.N. Security Council will hold its first open meeting on North Koreas dire human rights situation since 2017 next week, the United States announced Thursday. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters that U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk and Elizabeth Salmon, the U.N. independent investigator on human rights in the reclusive northeast Asia country, will brief council members at the Aug. 17 meeting. We know the governments human rights abuses and violations facilitate the advancement of its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles program, Thomas-Greenfield said, adding that the Security Council must address the horrors, the abuses and crimes being perpetrated by North Korean leader Kim Jong Ils regime against its own people as well as the people of Japan and South Korea. Thomas-Greenfield, who is chairing the council during this months U.S. presidency, stood with the ambassadors from Albania, Japan and South Korea when making the announcement. Russia and China, which have close ties to North Korea, have blocked any Security Council action since vetoing a U.S.-sponsored resolution in May 2022 that would have imposed new sanctions over a spate of its intercontinental ballistic missile launches. So the council is not expected to take any action at next week's meeting. China and Russia could protest holding the open meeting, which requires support from at least nine of the 15 council members. A senior U.S. official from the U.N. mission, who was not authorized to speak publicly, indicated the U.S. has enough council support for the meeting to take place. The Security Council imposed sanctions after North Koreas first nuclear test explosion in 2006 and tightened them over the years in a total of 10 resolutions seeking so far unsuccessfully to cut funds and curb the country's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. At a council meeting last month on Pyongyangs test-flight of its developmental Hwasong-18 missile, North Korea's U.N. Ambassador Kim Song made his first appearance before members since 2017. He told the council the test flight was a legitimate exercise of the Norths right to self-defense. He also accused the United States of driving the situation in northeast Asia to the brink of nuclear war, pointing to its nuclear threats and its deployment of a nuclear-powered submarine to South Korea for the first time in 14 years. Whether ambassador Kim attends next weeks meeting on the countrys human rights remains to be seen. In March, during an informal Security Council meeting on human rights in North Korea which China blocked from being broadcast globally on the internet U.N. special rapporteur Salmon said peace and denuclearization cant be addressed without considering the countrys human rights situation. She said the limited information available shows the suffering of the North Korean people has increased and their already limited liberties have declined. Access to food, medicine and health care remains a priority concern, Salmon said. People have frozen to death during the cold spells in January, and some didnt have money to heat their homes while others were forced to live on the streets because they sold their homes as a last resort. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council will meet publicly to discuss human rights abuses in North Korea next week, a move requested by the United States, Albania and Japan that is likely to anger Pyongyang and face opposition from China and Russia. It will be the first formal public meeting of the 15-member council on the issue since 2017. North Korea has repeatedly rejected accusations of abuses and blames sanctions for a dire humanitarian situation. Since 2006 it has been under U.N. sanctions over its ballistic missiles and nuclear programs, but there are aid exemptions. "It is long overdue," said U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, reading a joint statement by the United States, Albania, Japan and South Korea. "We know the government's human rights abuses and violations facilitate the advancement of its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, she said. The council would meet on Aug. 17 and be briefed by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the DPRK, Elizabeth Salmon, said Thomas-Greenfield. China and Russia object to the issue being raised in the council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security. They say rights issues should be confined to other bodies such as the U.N. Human Rights Council or General Assembly. China and Russia could call a procedural vote next week, but a senior U.S. official said they were confident they have the minimum nine votes needed hold the meeting. Vetoes do not apply on procedural issues. In March, the United States accused China of attempting to hide North Korea's atrocities from the world by blocking the webcast of an informal meeting of Security Council members on accusations of human rights abuses by Pyongyang. The council has held annual formal meetings on the issue for the past three years, but behind closed doors. Between 2014 and 2017 the council held annual public meetings on human rights abuses in North Korea. In 2018 it did not discuss the issue amid since-failed efforts by North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and then U.S. President Donald Trump to work toward Pyongyang's denuclearization. Then the following year the United States instead convened a meeting on the threat of escalation by North Korea amid growing tensions between Pyongyang and Washington. A landmark 2014 U.N. report on North Korean human rights concluded that North Korean security chiefs - and possibly leader Kim himself - should face justice for overseeing a state-controlled system of Nazi-style atrocities. The United States sanctioned Kim in 2016 for human rights abuses. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Alex Richardson) Yahoo Sports McLaren looked like it was heading nowhere early in the season, but over the last four races the team has come around in dramatic fashion. Chris Rooney, better known as Uncle Chris, and his niece Marleigh. @theyeeetbaby/TikTok Chris Rooney is a beloved TikToker who began making videos with his niece and his nephew in 2020. Rooney, better known as Uncle Chris, has amassed more than 5 million followers on the platform. His family said he checked himself into a mental-health facility after watching "Sound of Freedom." Chris Rooney, better known as Uncle Chris, is a beloved TikTok creator who recently fell into a crisis. Rooney, a 26-year-old from Fredericksburg, Virginia, found a huge audience when he started making videos with his young niece and his nephew in January 2020. Most of the videos involved the toddlers making a big mess while attempting to pour drinks into glasses. The videos are posted on the account @theyeeetbaby, fronted mostly by Rooney, his niece Marleigh, and his nephew Jack. Footage of Marleigh and Jack making a mess with milk, sodas, and other drinks, charmed the internet and gained 5.7 million followers. One of the most popular videos, in which the children poured chocolate milk over a table and themselves, has more than 87 million views. The origins of Yeet Baby Marleigh and Jack's parents, Alexandra and Tyler Grant, are mostly off-screen but played a part in managing the Yeet Baby social-media accounts. The name, Yeet Baby, originated because Marleigh's first word was apparently "Yeet" internet slang for throwing something, often used as an exclamation. Rooney and the account faced some criticism in recent years amid the growing debate about making viral content with children too young to give consent. However, his fan base has remained strong, and the TikToks continue to perform well, often gaining more than a million views. Rooney's disappearance His family wrote on Instagram that Rooney had disappeared on July 25 and reappeared on August 3 after checking himself into a mental facility. The post said Rooney had been "found safe" on August 3. Before vanishing, he posted a video on his personal TikTok account that some found troubling. In the video, Rooney replied to a comment about his separation from his wife, Emily Rooney: "Alcohol is poison. You lost your beautiful wife because of it so that tells me you need to stop drinking 100%. Have you tried naltrexone?" Rooney, clearly upset, said the comment was "not even remotely true." "Comments like this, they trigger me," he said. "They make me an angry person. So please don't make me an angry person. Because if I'm around other angry people, you know, we're going to have to get to fighting because too many stupid comments like this." The video has now been deleted but has been recirculated on Reddit. A further statement from Rooney's family, posted on August 8, went into more detail about what had happened. It said he had struggled mentally after watching the child-sex-trafficking movie "Sound of Freedom." "We, as his family and friends, were afraid for his life. We posted immediately on social media to look out for him to aid police in looking for him," it read. "After several hours of not knowing if he was alive or dead, we got word that he had checked himself into a mental health facility." The statement also included a message attributed to Rooney that thanked followers for their support. "Unfortunately, there was nothing anyone could do to help me," he said. "It is something that I have to work on and am going to make it my life's mission to not only get myself healthy but also others." Rooney received thousands of comments, thanking him for being candid about his mental health and encouraging him to return when he was ready. Read the original article on Insider Whatcom County has a high rate of child abuse compared with the Washington state average and other counties its size. Its not clear why child abuse is so prevalent here. But factors that contribute to it can include social isolation, such as during the pandemic; alcohol and substance abuse, financial problems at home, and parental mental illness, experts say. The realities of child abuse are unpleasant to talk and hear about. Its still important to know about, Jenn Lockwood, executive director of the Brigid Collins Family Support Center said in a statement to The Bellingham Herald. Whatcom Countys rates of child abuse and neglect have been well above the state average since 2007, with the highest rate 56.2 per 1,000 children being reported in 2019, according to the most recent data available from the Washington State Department of Social and Health Service (DSHS). The average rate of child abuse across the state in 2019 was 37.93 per 1,000 children. The average rate of child abuse for what the report calls Counties Like Us in that same year was 40.56 per 1,000 children. In 2022, the year with the most recent available data, the rate of reported child abuse in Whatcom County was 43.57 per 1,000 children. Thats compared with a rate of 35.35 across the state and 41.05 among comparable counties. Whatcom County has more accepted referrals of child abuse and neglect per 1,000 children than the state as a whole and other counties like Whatcom County. A referral is a report of suspected child abuse that may have multiple listed victims. If the information provided meets the sufficiency screen, the referral is accepted for further action. Most years with reported data show that more than 2,000 children are identified as victims of abuse or neglect each year in Whatcom County and that number is increasing. Young children under age 5 are most likely to be identified as victims of maltreatment, particularly neglect, according to Whatcom Countys 2020 Child and Family Action Plan. Child injury and accident hospitalizations, and women injury and accident hospitalizations in Whatcom County also outpace the state averages, DSHS data shows. This graph shows child injury or accident hospitalizations as a percent of all hospitalizations for children up to 17 years old in Whatcom County compared to Washington State as a whole and counties similar to Whatcom County. Counties like us refers to a group of counties that are similar in characteristics to Whatcom County. These characteristics include the number and percentage of young people between the ages of 10 and 24 and the percentage of deaths in the county that are alcohol and drug-related. Counties similar to Whatcom County are considered to be Benton, Clark, Kitsap, Thurston and Yakima, according to DSHS. A total of 4,122 children were accepted by Child Protective Services (CPS) as having been found to be victims of abuse and neglect in the North Puget Region in 2021. A total of 2,078 of those children were from Whatcom County alone, DSHS reports show. Still, these numbers only show accepted referrals made to CPS. A referral is a report of suspected child abuse. If the information provided meets the sufficiency screen, the referral is accepted for further action. Not all cases meet the screening criteria. The fight to end child abuse Unfortunately, child abuse is more prevalent in our community than most people realize, the Brigid Collins Family Support Centers Lockwood said. We also have a lot of childhood trauma. The not-so-obvious reality of our community is that children are physically abused here, they are neglected here, they are sexually abused here. Brigid Collins Family Support Center is a Bellingham-based nonprofit organization dedicated to ending child abuse through basic family support, prevention, community education and abuse response. A room in the Brigid Collins Family Support Center is ready to facilitate a child forensic interview of children who may have experienced abuse or neglect on July 18, 2023, in Bellingham, Wash. A two-way glass window allows child welfare caseworkers and law enforcement officers to watch the interview and gather necessary information. In 2022, Brigid Collins served more than 1,500 children and youth who had experienced child abuse and/or neglect. The Whatcom and Skagit County Childrens Advocacy Centers (CACs), which are housed within Brigid Collins agency, conducted almost 200 child forensic interviews that year. Ninety of those forensic interviews were done at the Whatcom County center, according to Brigid Collins Donor Development Officer Barb Lupo. As of July 17, 2023, the Whatcom County CAC had already conducted 76 child forensic interviews. The Skagit County CAC is also seeing a 10 percent increase in cases over last year. And were only halfway through the year, Lupo said in an interview with The Herald. Making sense of the numbers Both Lockwood and Lupo said its hard to know why Whatcom County has higher rates of abuse or why the county continues to see an increase in numbers. But research shows that social isolation is one of the indicators of child abuse and neglect. So the community isolation created by the pandemic likely didnt help, Lockwood told The Herald. When kids werent in schools, you didnt have as many mandated reporters with eyes on [them], Lockwood said. Parental and caregiver substance abuse also remain leading contributors to child abuse and neglect, Whatcom Countys 2020 Child and Family Action Plan shows. Opioids, alcohol, methamphetamines and other substances have significant ramifications for children and families in Whatcom County, as parents struggling with drug addiction have difficulty meeting childrens basic needs. Family economic hardship, housing instability, social isolation, parental incarceration or criminal history and parental mental illness can also put children at greater risk for maltreatment and toxic stress. Children are most commonly abused by someone they know or someone who is known well to the family, Lockwood told The Herald. A room in the Brigid Collins Family Support Center is ready to provide a medical examination of a child who may have experienced abuse or neglect on July 18, 2023, in Bellingham, Wash. Particularly among instances of child sexual abuse, predators try to groom the children they intend to harm along with their supervising adults in order to reduce the likelihood of the child disclosing the abuse and to reduce the chances that other adults suspect them of abuse, according to Lockwood. Child predators also often use manipulation tactics like threatening to harm loved ones or threatening to expose embarrassing images in order to keep their victims from disclosing abuse, Lockwood said. All adults can play a part in paying attention to children in our community and speaking up when something doesnt seem right or when a child discloses abuse, Lockwood told The Herald. A timeline of high-profile child abuse cases The Bellingham Herald has reported on a number of child abuse and neglect cases in recent years: A 3-month-old infant starved to death in 2015 due to parental neglect. An autopsy found Lucian Mykael Shields died on Dec. 8, 2015, from malnutrition, dehydration and neglect of ordinary care of an infant, according to the county medical examiners office. The infants mother, Brittany Shane Daniels, pleaded guilty in 2019 to one count of second-degree manslaughter for the death. In 2021, Lucians father, Cody James Shields, was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter for the death. In 2019, 3-year-old Hazel Journey Homan of Bellingham was killed by her caregiver after extensive abuse. A jury found Kamee Nicole Dixon guilty of homicide by abuse. The jury also found that Dixon used her position of trust or responsibility to commit homicide by abuse and that Dixon knew or should have known that Hazel was vulnerable or incapable of resistance. Dixon was the first person to be charged, tried and convicted for homicide by abuse which has been a criminal charge since 1987 by the Whatcom County Prosecutors Office. She was sentenced to 34 years in prison, with three years probation. In 2023, three people were arrested and accused of murder in the March death of a 5-year-old girl in Ferndale. Olivia R. Doane died due to a very high and fatal amount of fentanyl in her bloodstream. Also this year, a former schoolteacher and Blaine school board candidate, Tana Perkins Reneau, was arrested in June of 2023 and currently faces more than 10 charges related to the alleged years-long physical and sexual abuse of four children. A room in the Brigid Collins Family Support Center is empty on July 18, 2023, in Bellingham, Wash. The room offers a quiet space for licensed professionals to conduct forensic interviews of children who may have experienced abuse or neglect. Warning signs Child abuse and maltreatment can lead to poor mental and physical health well into adulthood, according to the Whatcom County Public Health Department. Here are some signs and symptoms of child abuse to watch out for, according to the Mayo Clinic: Withdrawal from friends or usual activities. Changes in behavior such as aggression, anger, hostility or hyperactivity or changes in school performance. Depression, anxiety or unusual fears, or a sudden loss of self-confidence. Sleep problems and nightmares. An apparent lack of supervision. Frequent absences from school. Rebellious or defiant behavior. Self-harm or attempts at suicide. Resources Brigid Collins Family Support Center: 360-734-4616, brigidcollins.org Child Protective Services: Washington state hotline for reporting child abuse and neglect, 866-829-2153. Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Services: 24-hour Help Line: 360-715-1563, Email: info@dvsas.org. Lummi Victims of Crime: 360-312-2015. Tlils Taaaltha Victims of Crime: 360-325-3310 or nooksacktribe.org/departments/youth-family-services/tlils-taaaltha-victims-of-crime-program/ Bellingham Police: You can call anonymously at 360-778-8611, or go online at cob.org/tips. WWU Consultation and Sexual Assault Support Survivor Advocacy Services: 360-650-3700 or wp.wwu.edu/sexualviolence/. Brigid Collins Family Support Center professionals are on-call between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, to answer questions about children, families, abuse prevention or treatment at (360) 734-4616. If you or a child is in immediate danger, call 911 and make a report to law enforcement. To report child abuse or neglect call 1-866-END HARM. (Photo : Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) Virgin Galactic is scheduled to launch its second commercial space flight on Thursday with three passengers who have no background as astronauts. Virgin Galactic will kick off its space tourism by bringing private civilians close to Earth's orbit in the company's second commercial space flight. The flight launch is scheduled for Thursday morning and is the much-anticipated milestone in the company's founder Richard Branson's mission to build a "spaceline for Earth." The commercial space flight will launch from a New Mexico spaceport and culminate nearly two decades of technological development and effort. Virgin Galactic's Second Commercial Space Flight The company will use the launch to finally begin the clearance of a backlog of roughly 800 ticket holders who have been eagerly waiting for their chance to experience space. Virgin Galactic is competing with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company in efforts to sell trips to avid space fans, as per Bloomberg. The flight will have three of its passengers having a different background than astronauts' typical background and the training they undergo. Virgin Galactic plans to hold commercial space flights every month after the latest expedition, which would usher in a new era of space travel. The civilian passengers onboard the launch, Galactor 02, were identified as Keisha Schahaff, Anastatia Mayers, and Jon Goodwin. The first two are a mother and daughter hailing from the Caribbean and are the winners in a ticket raffle. The third is an 80-year-old former Olympian athlete. The space company's latest endeavor comes after completing its first spaceflight in June. The passengers included people from the Italian Air Force and National Research Council on that particular flight. Space tourism is expected to generate a massive profit for the company established in 2004. In Virgin Galactic's second-quarter earnings report, officials attributed an increase in quarterly revenue from $0.4 in 2022 to $2 million this year to "commercial spaceflight and membership fees related to future astronauts." Read Also: Xplore Launches Its Jupiter 3 Satellite Into Space The Future of Space Tourism The tickets to one of Virgin Galactic's space flights could cost customers up to $450,000, but some people like Goodwin, who bought his ticket more than a decade ago, only spent $250,000. According to Business Insider, the interstellar price of the trip is seen as the major factor in driving many people away from the opportunity. The company's 2022 annual report showed that as of the end of last year, only about 800 tickets for commercial space flights had been reserved. These tickets will be turned into roughly $207 million in future revenue. In the stiff competition for the market, Bezos' Blue Origin in July 2021 sent four people, which included the company's founder himself, 62 miles above our planet's surface. It marked the first passenger spaceflight completed by the space company, founded in 2000. The passengers of Virgin Galactic will be traveling aboard the VSS Unity plane, which is being carried 50,000 feet upwards by another aircraft, the VMS Eve. At that particular altitude, Eve will release Unity, which would then fire up its rocket to blast itself to roughly 282,000 feet, only about nine miles short of the Karman line, the point widely regarded as the beginning of space, said Digital Trends. Related Article: NASA Detects Signal from Voyager 2 After Sending Wrong Command Sequence @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The United States has reached a $6bn agreement with Iran for five American detainees to be released from prison, say reports. The Iranian Americans, Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi and Morad Tahbaz, as well as two unnamed prisoners, had all been held on charges of spying in the notorious Evin prison and have now been placed under house arrest in a Tehran hotel, reported The New York Times. The US government will unfreeze $6bn in oil assets and a number of Iranian prisoners will also be freed as part of the deal, according to the newspaper. The group will be held at the hotel for several weeks before being allowed to board a plane and leave the country, stated Jared Genser, the lawyer for Mr Namazi. One of the unnamed Americans is a scientist and the other is a businessman, sources told the newspaper. Another prisoner, an American woman, has already been moved to house arrest. The move by Iran of the American hostages from Evin Prison to an expected house arrest is an important development, said Me Genser told CNN. While I hope this will be the first step to their ultimate release, this is at best the beginning of the end and nothing more. Walt Nauta, personal aide to former US president Donald Trump, leaves a federal courthouse in Florida after his appearance (CHANDAN KHANNA) Prosecutors recommended Thursday that Donald Trump go on trial in January for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 US election, threatening the former president with a high-profile court case days before the Republican primary contest begins. The Justice Department accuses the 77-year-old billionaire of plotting with aides to illegally pressure local and national government officials and have party activists fraudulently certify bogus Trump victories in several states won by Joe Biden. "The government's proposed trial date represents an appropriate balance of the defendant's right to prepare a defense and the public's strong interest in a speedy trial in the case," lead prosecutor Jack Smith said in court filing asking for a January 2 start. Trump, who is facing prosecution in multiple jurisdictions over allegations of criminal conduct before, during and after his presidency, quickly responded to the request with a furious post claiming "Election Interference." "These Fake Indictments against me didn't come down from heaven, they came from the most corrupt President in the history of the United States, Crooked Joe Biden, in order to Rig & Steal another Election," he said. Smith, a former war crimes prosecutor at the Hague, charged Trump last week with four felony counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct, and actual obstruction of, an official proceeding; and conspiracy against the right to vote. - Nuclear secrets - The suggested start for what is expected to be one of the most sensational trials in US history would place it just before the anniversary of the January 6, 2021 insurrection, which prosecutors say was the culmination of the election plot. Crucially, it would also come two weeks before the all-important Iowa caucus, the opening vote in the Republican primary season, where candidates can pick up crucial momentum -- or fall at the first hurdle. Biden's attorney general, Merrick Garland, appointed Smith as a special counsel in the election conspiracy case, giving him sole charge of prosecuting decisions in a bid to avoid actual or apparent political influence. The case is the most serious of four criminal probes that have yielded dozens of felony charges, including allegations that Trump covered up hush money payments to a porn star in a bid to cheat campaign finance rules ahead of the 2020 election. The government also accuses Trump of mishandling dozens of classified documents he took from the White House as he left office, including military plans and nuclear secrets, and plotting with his staff to hide them from investigators. Trump's personal assistant Walt Nauta pleaded not guilty on Thursday to new federal charges brought over his alleged attempts to help Trump conceal documents that had been demanded in a grand jury subpoena. - Impeachments - Nauta appeared at a federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of Miami, to deny two new obstruction counts added to several charges he was already facing for allegedly attempting to stymie the investigation. Trump was also facing new charges -- bringing the felony counts he faces in the case to 40 -- but wasn't required to appear and signaled last week that he would be pleading not guilty. Carlos de Oliveira, the property manager at Mar-a-Lago, is accused of helping Nauta move some of the boxes. Prosecutors say the pair asked an employee if they could delete security footage, and later lied to investigators about their involvement. De Oliveira appeared alongside Nauta but his plea on four counts -- including conspiracy to obstruct justice and making a false statement -- was postponed because he doesn't have a Florida lawyer yet. Trump was impeached twice during a single term in office -- first for trying to get Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden ahead of the 2020 election while holding up vital military aid for the US ally, and then over allegations that he incited the 2021 insurrection. ft/acb By Moira Warburton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a maverick Democrat who has often bucked party leadership, told a radio station in his home state of West Virginia on Thursday that he is "thinking seriously" about leaving the party. "I'm not a Washington Democrat," Manchin said in the interview on Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval, a West Virginia Metro News show. "I've been thinking seriously about that (becoming an independent) for quite some time." Manchin and Democratic-turned-independent colleague Senator Kyrsten Sinema have been thorns in top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer's side since the party won its majority in 2020. Democrats hold a 51-49 majority, including three independents who caucus with them. Last month Manchin further stirred Democratic concerns with an appearance in the early-voting state of New Hampshire with the "No Labels" group, where he mulled starting a third-party presidential campaign in 2024, challenging Democratic President Joe Biden. Having a third-party candidate would "threaten" the two major political parties, Manchin said. Manchin has used his influence to block legislation that he opposes - including expanding voting rights protections and child tax credits - and to ensure passage of bills he supports, such as a major tax and climate law that passed last summer. He faces a tough re-election bid next year in Republican-leaning West Virginia, which former President Donald Trump won by almost 39 percentage points in 2020. Manchin has not yet said if he will seek re-election, but he would face an even steeper road if he spurned his party and the fundraising support it can provide. West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, a former Democrat-turned Republican, began his campaign in April for the Republican nomination to seek Manchin's seat. Manchin, a popular former governor who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010, has kept his seat in part by maintaining a reputation as a rare conservative Democrat in Washington. (Reporting by Moira Warburton in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Grant McCool) Fernando Villavicencio, 59, had pledged to end corruption and take on drug traffickers that he said had turned Ecuador into a 'narco state' - KAREN TORO/REUTERS Joe Biden is preparing to send the FBI to Ecuador to help authorities investigate the murder of a presidential candidate who was gunned down on Wednesday. Police have arrested six people in connection with the murder of Fernando Villavicencio, 59, who had pledged to end corruption and take on drug traffickers that he said had turned Ecuador into a narco state. Mr Villavicencio had pledged to strengthen the Ecuadorian authorities ties with Britain to reduce the quantity of cocaine smuggled to the UK by the Albanian mafia. He was assassinated on Wednesday while leaving a school north of the countrys capital, Quito, where he had held a campaign rally. The suspected gunman was injured in a shootout with security officials and taken to the attorney generals office, where he died of his injuries. Supporters run for cover after shots were fired at the end of the rally - STRINGER/AFP Police conducted raids on addresses in Quitos Conocoto and San Bartolo neighbourhoods, apprehending six suspects on Thursday, all Colombian nationals according to the attorney generals office. An official source told The Telegraph that The White House has offered the assistance of the FBI in investigating Mr Villavicencios death. The perpetrators of the killing have not yet been revealed but Guillermo Lasso, the Ecuadorian president, suggested Mr Villavicencio was the victim of a gang assassination and that the full weight of the law will fall on them. Mr Lasso announced a 60-day state of emergency and ordered troops onto the streets to keep peace while the country enters a three-day period of national mourning. Late night marches decrying the murder took place in several cities on Wednesday, including Mr Villavicencios hometown of Alausi. A woman was wounded after shots were fired at the end of the rally - STR/AFP This is a political crime, which has the character of terrorism, and we do not doubt that this murder is an attempt to sabotage the electoral process, Mr Lasso said in a video statement after meeting with security officials. The presidential election will go ahead on Aug 20, he said. A brazen attack on democracy Brian Nichols, the assistant US secretary of state for the western hemisphere, said the incident was a brazen attack on democracy and the rule of law. We urge a swift and thorough investigation by the appropriate authorities and offer our support, he said in a statement on Twitter. Shortly after the attack, a video emerged online of masked men purportedly from the gang Los Lobos (The Wolves), claiming responsibility for the attack and accusing Mr Villavicencio of taking their money and failing to fulfil his promises. A second video of men without masks, who also claimed to be from the Los Lobos gang, said they were not responsible for the assassination and that the first video was designed to frame them. Online footage of masked men purportedly from the gang Los Lobos (The Wolves), claiming responsibility for the attack - TWITTER/@ioangrillo Footage from a second video shows men without masks, who also claimed to be from the Los Lobos gang, denying responsibility - @ioangrillo/TWITTER Intelligence sources in Ecuador told The Telegraph that it is not uncommon for gangs to try and pin blame on their rivals, but that regardless of these public claims and counterclaims, they believe Los Lobos to be behind the murder of Mr Villavicencio. Theyre a fragmented group and often one faction is not aware of the actions of others, the source said. So public statements of this kind need to be taken with caution. I am not afraid of them Before his murder, Mr Villavicencio said he had been the subject of threats from the leader of another group, Los Choneros, who said the gang would kill him if he continued to refer to them in his campaign against violent crime and corruption. What this confirms is that our campaign proposal does indeed seriously affect these criminal structures, he said in a video posted online. And here I am, showing my face. Im not afraid of them. For 20 years, I have gambled in this country against these criminal structures, and I repeat: I am not afraid of them. Ecuador has experienced a spike in violent crime in recent years, after Colombian and Mexican drug cartels infiltrated local gangs. Political assassinations, car bombs and gun battles have become commonplace in many of Ecuadors cities and the homicide rate has quadrupled in the last four years. Ecuador, a narco state The violence is driven by increased drug trafficking by organised criminals from Albania and around South America, who export the drugs to the United States and Europe. On Thursday, Dutch authorities seized over eight tonnes of cocaine from a container ship that had travelled from Ecuador the largest ever discovery. Inspectors said they had found cocaine worth around 600 million euros (520 million) hidden in 12 pallets of bananas that travelled to Rotterdam via Panama. The rise in crime has dominated Ecuadors presidential election campaign, which was triggered by Mr Lasso earlier this year. Mr Villavicencio, a former journalist, trade unionist and leader of the Movimiento Construye party, built his campaign on promises to end political corruption and was a vocal critic of Rafael Correa, the former president. He was convicted for defamation and sentenced to 18 months in prison after he published an investigation that alleged the army killed at least five people while extracting Mr Correa from a hostage situation in 2010. While his campaign had attracted the ire of organised criminals, it also had a base of public support, with Mr Villavicencio in the middle of the pack in this months eight-person presidential race. In an interview with CNN earlier this year, he derided Ecuador as a narco state and pledged to take on the political mafia he said colluded with organised criminals and failed to bring down the rates of violent crime. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer. The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it has sanctioned three Sinaloa Cartel members involved in the trafficking of illicit fentanyl into the United States including one gangster dubbed "the Anthrax Monkey." The Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control announced the sanctioning of three men, who are alleged to be involved in the trafficking of fentanyl which is primarily created in Mexico and smuggled across the U.S. border. It is tied to over 70,000 overdose deaths a year in the U.S. In a release, the Treasury said that two of the men worked as "plaza bosses" to manage operations in Tijuana, Mexico, and the surrounding areas and were involved in smuggling large quantities of drugs into the U.S. as well as being involved in kidnappings and executions. WHITE HOUSE RECOGNIZES 'BEST OF THE BEST OF LAW ENFORCEMENT IN FIGHT AGAINST FENTANYL, DRUG TRAFFICKING A Mexican soldier stands guard next to some graffitis of the drug trafficker Mayo Zambada (MZ) and the criminal group "Cartel de Sinaloa" (CDS), in Palmas Altas village, Jerez de Garcia Salinas municipality, Zacatecas state, Mexico, on March 14, 2022. Also designated was Rafael Guadalupe Felix Nunez, who started as a hitman for the cartel and was part of an armed wing known as "Los Antrax." Felix Nunez would become known as "El Changuito Antrax" or "The Anthrax Monkey." He escaped from a Mexican prison in 2017 and remains at large and authorities say he has become a powerful and violent carel leader in Manzanillo. All three men have their property and interests in the U.S. blocked, and U.S. citizens are barred from having any transactions with them. READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP The White House noted that the latest actions mean that there have been more than 170 sanctions imposed on drug traffickers as part of a broad agenda to tackle the opioid crisis in the U.S. MEXICAN CARTELS' DRUG DEALINGS TOP PRIORITY AS FENTANYL POURS ACROSS SOUTHERN BORDER, DEA SAYS "As part of President Bidens Unity Agenda, we have now sanctioned more than 170 drug traffickers," White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Dr. Rahul Gupta said in a statement. "A key driver of the overdose epidemic is drug traffickers and their profits. President Biden has made clear: we will crack down on the illicit drug supply chain at every choke point and make drug trafficking more costly at every step of the way." "These sanctions are coordinated closely with the Government of Mexico and will help strengthen our critical efforts to disrupt global drug trafficking, a key part of our strategy to beat the overdose epidemic and save lives. We will continue to work across all of government to hold drug traffickers accountable for killing Americans," he said. "Todays action targets key individuals responsible for facilitating the illicit trafficking of deadly drugs, including fentanyl, into the United States, where it wreaks havoc on our communities," Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement. "Treasury remains committed to leveraging our tools in support of our whole-of-government effort to aggressively target all aspects of the supply chain and starve these criminal groups of the funding they need to operate. The majority of the sanctions 76% are against two cartels, Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation, who are the primary suppliers of the drug into the U.S. Sanctions have increased by 119% over last years total, the White House said, and have been made possible through an executive order signed by President Biden that expanded the Treasury's powers to sanction those involved in the drug trade. The administration has launched a global coalition to address the threat of fentanyl, including cooperation with countries like Mexico to crack down on smugglers and regulate precursor chemicals. At home, it has been expanding access to drugs to counter overdoses, and seeking additional funding from Congress to support expansion of prevention, treatment and recovery for those addicted while also expanding the use of technology at the southern land border to detect quantities of the incoming drug. The United States support for Ukraine is long-term and will not last for just one presidential administration, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Aug. 9. Miller was speaking in response to former president Donald Trumps call for military aid to Ukraine to be re-examined. Read also: Trump, DeSantis oppose transferring cluster bombs to Ukraine With respect to our conversations with allies overseas, we have made clear that we need to do two things, Miller said. One is to continue to support Ukraine for the battle its facing now, but then the second is to lock in long-term security agreements that will outlive any administration, any government, both here in the United States and among our allies and partners who have signed up for the same type of long-term security commitments. The United States is currently in discussions with Ukraine about what those security commitments look like, Miller said. Read also: All US aid to Ukraine would stop under Trump, political observer says We are in discussions with the United States Congress about what both our current funding posture for Ukraine ought to be and what the long-term funding posture ought to be and well continue to have those conversations. The U.S. Congress will continue to support Ukraine, Miller added. We have been heartened that every time we have gone to the Congress to look for more support for the government of Ukraine, the military of Ukraine, and the people of Ukraine, Congress has always been there, and we expect that they will continue to be there, he said. European nations are more directly impacted by the war and are doing very little compared to the United States, Trump said on July 23. He stressed that he would make sure Europe was doling out the same if not more, financial aid to Ukraine than the United States has provided. Read also: White House to send $2 billion worth of air defense weapons to Ukraine for counteroffensive, Bloomberg If re-elected, Trump said he would also ask Europe to pay the United States for the weapons that have already been sent to 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 FILE - In this Nov. 20, 2015 file photo, a man walks along a trail during sunset near Manhattan, Kan. In 2022, about 49,500 people took their own lives in the U.S., the highest number ever, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File) NEW YORK (AP) About 49,500 people took their own lives last year in the U.S., the highest number ever, according to new government data posted Thursday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which posted the numbers, has not yet calculated a suicide rate for the year, but available data suggests suicides are more common in the U.S. than at any time since the dawn of World War II. There's something wrong. The number should not be going up, said Christina Wilbur, a 45-year-old Florida woman whose son shot himself to death last year. My son should not have died, she said. "I know it's complicated, I really do. But we have to be able to do something. Something that we're not doing. Because whatever we're doing right now is not helping." Experts caution that suicide is complicated, and that recent increases might be driven by a range of factors, including higher rates of depression and limited availability of mental health services. But a main driver is the growing availability of guns, said Jill Harkavy-Friedman, senior vice president of research at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Suicide attempts involving guns end in death far more often than those with other means, and gun sales have boomed placing firearms in more and more homes. A recent Johns Hopkins University analysis used preliminary 2022 data to calculate that the nations overall gun suicide rate rose last year to an all-time high. For the first time, the gun suicide rate among Black teens surpassed the rate among white teens, the researchers found. I dont know if you can talk about suicide without talking about firearms, Harkavy-Friedman said. U.S. suicides steadily rose from the early 2000s until 2018, when the national rate hit its highest level since 1941. That year saw about 48,300 suicide deaths or 14.2 for every 100,000 Americans. The rate fell slightly in 2019. It dropped again in 2020, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some experts tied that to a phenomenon seen in the early stages of wars and natural disasters, when people pull together and support each other. But in 2021, suicides rose 4%. Last year, according to the new data, the number jumped by more than 1,000, to 49,449 about a 3% increase vs. the year before. The provisional data comes from U.S. death certificates and is considered almost complete, but it may change slightly as death information is reviewed in the months ahead. The largest increases were seen in older adults. Deaths rose nearly 7% in people ages 45 to 64, and more than 8% in people 65 and older. White men, in particular, have very high rates, the CDC said. Many middle-aged and elderly people experience problems like losing a job or losing a spouse, and it's important to reduce stigma and other obstacles to them getting assistance, said Dr. Debra Houry, the CDCs chief medical officer. Suicides in adults ages 25 to 44 grew about 1%. The new data indicates that suicide became the second leading cause of death in that age group in 2022, up from No. 4 in 2021. Despite the grim statistics, some say there is reason for optimism. A national crisis line launched a year ago, meaning anyone in the U.S. can dial 988 to reach mental health specialists. The CDC is expanding a suicide program to fund more prevention work in different communities. And there's growing awareness of the issue and that it's OK to ask for help, health officials say. There was a more than 8% drop in suicides in people ages 10 to 24 in 2022. That may be due to increased attention to youth mental health issues and a push for schools and others to focus on the problem, CDC officials said. But even the smaller number masks tragedy for families. Christina Wilbur lost her 21-year-old son, Cale, on June 16 last year. He died in her home in Land O Lakes, Florida. Cale Wilbur had lost two friends and an uncle to suicide and had been dealing with depression. On that horrible morning, he and his mother were having an argument. She had confronted him about his drug use, his mother said. She left his bedroom and when she returned he had a gun. I was begging him not too, and to calm down, she said. It looked like he relaxed for a second, but then he killed himself. She describes her life since as black hole of emptiness and sorrow, and had found it hard to talk to friends or even family about Cale. Theres just this huge 6-foot-2 hole, everywhere, she said. Everything reminds me of whats missing. It's hard to find professionals to help, and those that are around can be expensive, she said. She turned to support groups, including an organization called Alliance of Hope for Suicide Loss Survivors that operates a 24/7 online forum. There's nothing like being with people who get it, she said. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content. The United States, Britain and Canada have announced coordinated sanctions against Lebanon's longtime central bank chief Riad Salameh (JOSEPH EID) The US Treasury announced coordinated sanctions with Canada and Britain on Thursday against Riad Salameh, Lebanon's longtime central bank chief, who recently left office without a successor. Salameh, wanted for alleged financial crimes in several European countries, stepped down at the end of his term in late July after three decades in the post. The 73-year-old's "corrupt and unlawful actions have contributed to the breakdown of the rule of law in Lebanon," the US Treasury Department said in a statement. "Salameh abused his position of power, likely in violation of Lebanese law, to enrich himself and his associates by funnelling hundreds of millions of dollars through layered shell companies to invest in European real estate," the statement said. "We are joining the United Kingdom and Canada in imposing sanctions on the former governor because he used his position to place his personal financial interests and ambitions above those of the people he served." The US, British and Canadian sanctions target Salameh, his brother Raja Salameh, and his former assistant Marianne Hoayek. Washington and London also include his former partner Anna Kosakova in their lists, while the United States also sanctioned his son Nady Salameh. The US measures effectively freeze any assets of Salameh and those associates based there and prohibit transactions between them and US citizens or businesses. The statement made clear the sanctions do not apply to the Lebanese central bank. Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said the sanctions sent a clear message that the allies "will not tolerate the acts of significant corruption that have contributed to Lebanon's economic collapse." Britain noted it was the first time London has used its Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions regime -- introduced in 2021 to better align its actions with Washington and Ottawa -- against individuals in Lebanon. The Foreign Office added the quartet it had hit with UK asset freezes and travel bans had all played parts "in the diversion of over $300 million" from Lebanon's central bank. - Lebanese probe postponed - Salameh is wanted in France and Germany, and Interpol has issued a Red Notice for his arrest, but Lebanon does not extradite its nationals. A European diplomatic source has told AFP that Salameh is soon to be tried in Paris. France, Germany and Luxembourg seized assets worth 120 million euros ($135 million) in March 2022 in a move linked to a probe into Salameh's wealth. He was the subject of judicial investigations at home and abroad into allegations including embezzlement, money laundering, fraud and illicit enrichment, charges that he denies. In February, Lebanon charged him with embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion as part of its own investigations. But also on Thursday, a Lebanese judicial official told AFP that the domestic probe had been suspended -- potentially for months or years -- after investigating judge Charbel Abu Samra was sued by another judge for failing to arrest Salameh. Hearings scheduled for Thursday for Hoayek and Raja Salameh were also postponed, the official added. A second judicial official, who is close to Abu Samra, said that "what has happened has no explanation." Both judicial officials requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media. bur-jul-jj/jwp/sst Flowers laid by firefighters are seen in front of the home of Craig Robertson, Thursday, Aug 10, 2023, in Provo, Utah. Robertson was killed by FBI agents Wednesday during a confrontation after making violent threats against President Joseph Biden and other public officials. (AP Photo/Sam Metz) PROVO, Utah (AP) An armed Utah man killed by FBI agents after making violent threats against President Joe Biden was described by family and neighbors as a gun enthusiast and devoted churchgoer who became distraught over what he saw as a corrupt and overreaching government." The family insisted in a statement on Thursday that Air Force veteran Craig Deleeuw Robertson would not have acted on the threats and committed violence over political disagreements, despite court records in which prosecutors depicted him as radicalized. Robertson, who public records say was 74 years old, was killed Wednesday by agents trying to serve a warrant at his Provo home hours before the president landed in Utah to visit a Veterans Affairs hospital in Salt Lake City, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) away. Prosecutors had filed three felony charges against Robertson under seal for alleged threats, including one this week that he was cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle in anticipation of Biden's Utah visit. The self-employed woodworker was largely homebound and had limited mobility, his family said. Robertson referred to himself as a MAGA Trumper, a reference to former President Donald Trumps Make America Great Again slogan, and posted threats including against Biden, the FBI and numerous law enforcement officials overseeing court cases against Trump, according to an FBI affidavit. There was very little he could do but exercise his First Amendment right to free speech, Robertsons family said in a statement posted to social media. The statement added that he was a decent man who voiced his sometimes intemperate grievances in what has become the public square of our age the internet. The family added that it had no animosity against law enforcement agents who took part in the events leading up to his death. The salient point is that he was never actually going to hurt anyone," family member Julie Robertson said in a text message. He didn't even leave his house on the day of the presidential visit. The FBI investigation began following a March tip about a threat Robertson made on Trumps social media platform, Truth Social. Robertson also referenced a presidential assassination and posted threats against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and New York Attorney General Letitia James, authorities said. He called for assassinating the president and vice president, called an assault rifle a "Democrat eradicator and regularly posted photos of firearms accompanied by threatening messages, they said. In Provo, a growing area south of Salt Lake City known for outdoor recreation and Brigham Young University, several of Robertson's neighbors said they witnessed and filmed parts of the FBI raid. They echoed the family's account, questioning whether the elderly veteran they knew was a credible threat to the president in light of his social media posts. Multiple neighbors said they could hear law enforcement agents identifying themselves as FBI broadcasting on a vehicle loud speaker to demand Robertson exit his home. Roughly 20 law enforcement agents came to Robertson's house, on a cul-de-sac, at about 6 a.m. Wednesday, according to neighbor Jon Michael Ossola. Ossola said he heard them tell Robertson to come outside and Robertson yelling back, saying he hadnt committed any federal crimes. The shouting escalated until a window was broken, Ossola said, then he heard a cacophony of bangs and eventually saw agents bring Robertsons body outside. "It was clear he was gone, Ossola said. I understand that, like, he had guns, and he had mentioned that he would use them, and so theres definitely a concern there," Ossola said. "But it still felt, like, a bit unsettling about how many people were there and just kind of how forceful it felt. Katie Monson, Robertson's next door neighbor, said she saw agents attempt to breach his front door with a battering ram before driving a tactical vehicle onto his lawn, close enough to pierce his front window. She couldn't hear Robertson exchange words with law enforcement but heard six quick shots, a pause and then an exchange of bullets from what sounded like multiple firearms. Tactical officers dragged his shirtless body onto the sidewalk to wait for emergency medical personnel, who checked if he was still alive, she said. Local firefighters on Thursday laid flowers in front of Robertsons home after cleaning blood off the area. Robertson was armed at the time of the shooting, according to two law enforcement sources who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of an ongoing investigation. Robertson's body remained there for several hours until forensic investigators while police began to remove what Monson described as an arsenal of firearms from his home and the sheds behind it. She and other neighbors said Robertsons violent, threat-laced social media posts were markedly different from how he interacted with the community. He would ask about neighbors children and offer to drive people home from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' meeting house near his home. Monson said Robertson was a kind and played with kids in neighbors' yards. She likened the contrast between his in-person demeanor and online persona to "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." After living next to this guy for six years, hes just like this super sweet grandpa for the most part. Yes, he has rants and opinions," Monson said. I cant speak to his online life, but he had a peaceful, religious, community-centered side to him. That was how he presented himself in everyday life. In addition to growing concerns about online radicalization, the fatal confrontation came as Trump and other Republicans, who have traditionally touted themselves as the party of law and order, have escalated their verbal attacks on law enforcement and especially the FBI. That animosity was on stark display Thursday after a right-wing activist published Ossolas footage online, casting suspicion on federal law enforcements actions and raising questions about how credible a threat was posed by an overweight, elderly man. FBI representatives did not immediately respond to the familys statement. Agency spokesperson Sandra Barker declined to say if agents were wearing body cameras. Biden last year signed an executive order requiring all federal law enforcement agencies to mandate that body cameras be used during operations such as arrests and searches. However, a 2022 FBI policy says agents executing arrest and search warrants do not have to wear them if it is considered unsafe. Military records show Robertson is a U.S. Air Force veteran who entered active duty in 1970 and served four or fewer years, according to Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek. He was an airman first class and his service included work as a metalworker helper, she said. He was last stationed at Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois, which has since been decommissioned. Further details on his service were not immediately available. A White House official who requested anonymity to discuss the matter said Biden was briefed after the raid. He made no mention of it during his Thursday appearance in Salt Lake. ___ Slevin and Bedayn reported from Denver and Brown reported from Billings. Associated Press writers Tara Copp in Washington, Thomas Peipert in Denver, Chris Megerian in Salt Lake, and researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report. ___ Jesse Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Amanda Darrow, director of youth, family and education programs at the Utah Pride Center, poses with books that have been the subject of complaints from parents on Dec. 16, 2021, in Salt Lake City. Associated Press Utah Parents United is a conservative Christian group that pushes for education reform in Utah. Utah Parents United released a training video that teaches parents how to confront teachers. Utah passed the Sensitive Materials in Schools Act in 2022. Critics say it targets books with LGBTQ+ themes. A parent group in Utah that has campaigned to ban books it doesn't like published a training video on how to pressure teachers into changing their curriculums while still "preserving the relationship" between the family and the school. Utah Parents United is a Christian parents group that advocates for book bans as well as legislation that gives parents more power to make changes to school curriculums. In March 2022, the group launched a political action committee to further expand its reach into education in the state, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. As part of that effort, the group created a two-hour training video that aims to teach parents "how to have uncomfortable conversations with your teacher or principal." The video was published on their website, which also includes other informational packets and presentations. All these resources cover how to pressure teachers to conform to parents' views on their children's education. Jen Brown, the director of Utahns for the Constitution, starts the video by sharing personal anecdotes of how she encouraged less "screen time" in the classroom for her kids. She says that her son now gets paper books in class even when other children use screens because she was worried her son was playing games. "I have learned in this time that we really have to be advocates for our children," Brown says in the video. "I would have said 'let me just show you a couple of the state laws about parental rights' and that 'I am in charge of my son's education' and that 'we also have the right to be given a commensurate assignment for whatever reason, basically,'" Brown added. Some of Brown's tips for calmly pressuring educators include keeping the tone of your voice "kind," never resorting to personal attacks, expressing how the information presented to your child makes you feel, and arriving prepared with laws to back up your position. Brown urges parents who see content that is "inappropriate" in their child's education to "not let it go" because "that's where we can have a lot more force." "A lot of teachers will make a change because they don't want confrontation," Brown adds. Parents' rights laws in Utah Utah has become a haven for conservative parents in recent years, passing laws like the Sensitive Materials in Schools Act, which bans "pornographic or indecent" material from schools and school libraries. Critics of the bill say it has been used to disproportionately target books written by people of color and books with LGBTQ+ themes. One parent, who opposed the law, used it to get the Bible banned from schools in Davis County after complaining that it included "incest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape, and even infanticide." Republican State Rep. Ken Ivory, who sponsored the bill, originally called the parent's complaint a "mockery," but later changed his tune and agreed after the school district banned The Bible. Book bans and other course material objections from conservatives have swept the country in recent years, first starting with objections to the supposed teaching of "critical race theory," and later targeting any content deemed "inappropriate" or "sexual," which is typically aimed at LGBTQ+ material. Annie Massey, a parent in Utah who leads part of the video training, says in the video that she "fell in love" with Utah's parents' rights laws after moving to the state from Alaska because "they really are on our side." "This one is so beautiful. When I first read it, I came to tears," Massey says in the video when reading a section of the law. At one point in the video, Utah Parents United Public Relations Director Corinne Johnson shows an assignment from one of her children's classes that included art related to the Black Lives Matter movement and the murder of George Floyd. In an email to Insider, Johnson said that her daughter's art teacher asked the students to choose their favorite piece of art and explain why they liked it, which Johnson said made her daughter uncomfortable. Johnson says in the video that the object of the assignment was to have her child choose their favorite piece of art from the pieces presented. The page presented by Johnson asks the reader so "study each image carefully" and then asks, "What do you think each artist communicates." Johnson says she complained to her child's school about the assignment but wishes she had more training at the time because she would have asked to see the teacher's entire curriculum. "You can see the curriculum for your teacher's class for the entire year, and track every assignment, and see what's going into this teacher's curriculum," Johnson said. "This is an assignment she's chosen. There's an agenda. She's asking these children to identify with something that they may have a conscience, a belief against." Read the original article on Business Insider Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was tragically killed during a campaign rally less than two weeks before the upcoming election. Local police say that the gunmen shot Villavicencio to death. Ecuador Presidential Candidate Fernando Villavicencio Shot to Death The campaign rally, meant to be a platform for Villavicencio to share his vision for a brighter Ecuador, turned into a scene of horror and chaos. As per the Washington Post, local authorities confirmed that a group of gunmen assassinated Villavicencio at a campaign event on Wednesday, August 9, two more weeks before Ecuadorians head to the polls. The Ecuadorian president Guillermo Lasso confirmed Villavicencio's death on social media. In a recent post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Lasso says he is "outraged and shocked by the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio." He also took the chance to send his condolences to the bereaved family of the former Assembly member. It is worth noting that Villavicencio was a former National Assembly member before it disbanded last May. The Ecuadorian national police deputy commander General Manuel Iniguez disclosed that the gunmen shot Villavicencio several times. According to BBC News, witnesses say the suspects shot him three times. Meanwhile, Aljazeera notes that social media videos show the former legislator walking out of the campaign event alongside his security detail. The presidential candidate then goes inside a white truck. However, gunshots echoed the tragic scene. Photos inside the campaign venue show people crouching on the floor upon hearing the gunfire. The authorities still went on to rush the former Assembly member to a nearby health facility. However, the doctors pronounced him dead at 59 years old. Read Also: Ecuador Jail Riots Leave Dozens Dead Amid Gang Warfare The Rise of Violence in Ecuador Villavicencio's death has cast a spotlight on the current political climate in Ecuador, where tensions have been escalating in the lead-up to the presidential elections. Local media reports that the fatal incident injured several other people at the venue. President Lasso says, "Organized crime has gone very far, but all the weight of the law will fall on them." He further assured that the assailant for Villavicencio's death would be punished. BBC notes that this year's presidential campaign heavily tackled the rampancy of drug cartels in the country, causing a significant uptick in violent crime. The Ecuador president recently announced night curfews and states of emergency encompassing three provinces following the widespread killings. Villavicencio's campaign adviser, Patricio Zuquilanda, revealed that the former Assembly member received death threats and reported it to the authorities. Related Article: Ecuadorian Woman Knocks From Inside Coffin During Her Wake @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. [Source] A Utah school district will pay $2 million to the family of a bullied Black, autistic 10-year-old girl who died by suicide in 2021. Key details: A Utah Legislature committee overseeing the settlement approved the amount on Tuesday, which will be given by the Davis School District to the family of Isabella Izzy Faith Tichenor, a former student of North Salt Lakes Foxboro Elementary School. What happened: Tichenor was reportedly found hanging in her closet on Nov. 6, 2021. Her death came amid investigations of the Davis School District due to the reported racial harassment of Black and Asian students. According to past reports, Tichenor was constantly bullied by her classmates, who would call her the N-word and make fun of her for being autistic. She was also allegedly harassed by her classmates and her schools staff members due to her hygiene. More from NextShark: SF students create a resolution urging the city to apologize for its anti-Chinese past The aftermath: Following her death, the girls mother, Brittany Tichenor-Cox, sued the school district for $14.5 million in damages. Latest development: In a joint statement with the Tichernor-Cox family on Tuesday, the school district noted that it would continue to assess and expand its efforts to better support every student who attends its schools by implementing trauma-informed counseling and other resources for its students. The Davis School District also publicly apologized on Tuesday and announced it would be paying an additional $200,000 settlement to three other Black students who claimed to have experienced daily discrimination in the district. More from NextShark: Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi sentenced to two years in prison To remember what happened: Besides the settlement, the Davis School District also announced it would be placing a statue of Tichenor in the library of her former school. In a statement, attorney Tyler Ayres noted that the statue is "important to me and our community for two reasons." "One, we can never forget the injustice suffered by Izzy for being forgotten and ignored. And two, its our hope that the next African American child in this in this school, and in this state, will see someone who looks like them being celebrated in this state, in this statue of Izzy. If you or people you know are at risk of self-harm, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides 24-hour support at 1-800-273-8255. More from NextShark: Elaine Chao reveals why she resigned from Trumps cabinet Enjoy this content? Read more from NextShark! Veterans Help Catch Thief Who Stole Elderly Womans Phone in SF Chinatown Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson (R) touted endorsements from dozens of state lawmakers ahead of a possible primary challenge for Republican Sen. Mitt Romneys seat in 2024. I am honored and encouraged to have the support of so many leaders from all corners of this great state, Wilson said in a Thursday press release. Utah needs a bold, conservative fighter in the U.S. Senate and I am humbled at the support and encouragement weve received so quickly. Wilson listed endorsements from more than 60 members of the Utah House and Senate, who are encouraging him to run for the U.S. Senate. The list includes endorsements from about three-quarters of state House Republicans and from more than two-thirds of Utah Senate Republicans, according to the press release. House Majority Leader Mike Schultz and Senate President Stuart Adams are among the legislators listed as endorsing Wilsons potential Senate bid. Wilson is considering challenging Romney, who has filed for a second term serving the U.S. Senate in 2024. Romney, a conservative lawmaker, has been a vocal critic of former President Trump and has exhibited an independent voting streak throughout his first term. Romney was the sole Republican senator who voted to convict Trump the first time he was impeached. Romney voted again to convict the former president again when he was impeached after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. He also said he did not vote for Trump in the 2020 election. Romney narrowly avoided being censured at the Utah GOP convention in 2021, following his vote to impeach Trump. The measure which cited Romneys conviction votes and was filled with conspiracy theories about Biden and the election failed 711-798. Romney earlier was censured by a Utah county Republican party. Romney already faces primary challenges, including from Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs. The Hill Elections 2024 coverage Wilson has filed as a candidate for the U.S. Senate but called his campaign Brad Wilson Exploratory Committee, he told KSL NewsRadio last month. Wilson told the local radio news outlet in July he has not yet decided whether he is running, but that, We created an exploratory committee under the framework of being a candidate, so we dont actually have to do anything by the 15th, referring to the Federal Election Commission filing deadline. All we will do in the fall if we choose to run a full campaign is we will go into the [FEC] and we will change the name of the committee to a full campaign, he told the outlet. Updated at 4:32 p.m. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. The beginning of the 2023-24 school year is just around the corner, and children must be up-to-date on their vaccines to enter Illinois public school classrooms. Cases of measles have been reported in the U.S. this year, and more than 30 chickenpox cases had been reported in Illinois as of February, according to a report from the Jacksonville Journal-Courier. Measles can cause serious health complications, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the disease is highly contagious. About 1 in 5 U.S. residents who contract measles require hospitalization, the CDC reports, and between 1 and 3 out of 1,000 people who get measles die, even after receiving medical care. Two doses of the vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and rubella are roughly 97% effective at preventing measles, according to the CDC, and one dose is 93% effective. Vaccinations remain one of our greatest public health achievements, Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said in an Aug. 4 statement. Vaccines have resulted in the eradication of smallpox, the near elimination of polio, and decreased levels of many infectious diseases across the United States and world. As a pediatrician, I encourage parents to place routine childrens vaccines at the top of their back-to-school checklists. Dont wait, get your kids up-to-date! Heres what to know about vaccine requirements in public schools in Illinois. What vaccines are required in Illinois public schools? Pre-K programs, child care, preschool Three doses of the diphtheria, retanus, pertussis vaccine by 1 year old, one additional dose by second birthday Two doses of the polio vaccine by 1 year old, one additional dose by second birthday. Three doses for children 24 months or older, appropriately spaced One dose of the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine on or after first birthday Three doses of the hepatitis B vaccine, spacing requirements apply Hib vaccination PCV vaccine One dose of the varicella vaccine (chickenpox) on or after first birthday Kindergarten or first grade (entry into school) Four or more doses of Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis (DTP or DTaP) vaccine with the last dose being a booster and having been received on or after the 4th birthday, per state guidelines. Children age 7 or older should follow the catch-up schedule. Any child entering kindergarten must have proof of a four-dose booster series for the polio vaccine, with the last dose on or after their fourth birthday. Grade school The same four-dose DTP requirement applies from kindergarten to sixth grade. From seventh to 12th grade, three or more doses of the polio vaccine with the last dose on or after the fourth birthday are required. From kindergarten through 12th grade, two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine are required. Students entering sixth grade to 12th grade need three doses of the hepatitis B vaccine, spaced out. Two doses of the chickenpox vaccine are required for all grade levels, with the first dose on or after the first birthday and the second dose at least 28 days later. Students entering sixth to 11th grade must receive one dose of the meningococcal conjugate vaccine on or after their 11th birthday. Students entering 12th grade must receive two doses of meningococcal conjugate vaccine, with the second dose administered on or after their 16th birthday and at least eight weeks after the first dose, the state health department says. The second dose is not required if the first dose is administered on or after the childs 16th birthday. Additional requirements may apply, including catch-up schedules and certain exceptions. For more details, including information about required intervals between vaccinations and minimum ages, check the Illinois Department of Public Healths 2023-24 vaccine schedule. The CDC has not yet released its recommendations for COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters for this fall, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. As such, the vaccine is not included in the states public school requirements. The state health department will provide free vaccines, dental exams and physicals to children at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield this year. Immunizations and physicals will be offered Aug. 11 and Aug. 12, while dental exams will be available Aug. 15 and Aug. 18. Insurance is not required to receive vaccines or physicals at the fair. Vandals caused up to $100,000 worth of damages at Paso Robles High School early Thursday morning, according to the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District. The security system at Paso Robles High School notified police that alarms were set off in multiple classrooms shortly after midnight, the Paso Robles Police Department said in a Thursday news release. When officers arrived on scene, police said, they found a group of juveniles fleeing from one of the classrooms. Two of the juveniles were detained, police said. One of the suspects was carrying a large hammer and a fire extinguisher, according to the release. Both juveniles were booked into San Luis Juvenile Services Center on suspicion of burglary and vandalism, the release said. It was unclear Thursday whether the juveniles were students at the school. During the officers investigation, they discovered multiple classrooms with broken windows and damaged property scattered across the campus, police said in the release. According to a news release from the school district, the vandals caused $30,000 to $100,000 in damage to school property. Police said the investigation into the incident is ongoing. The Paso Robles Police Department asks anyone with information to call 805-237-6464 or, to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 805-549-STOP (7867) or by texting SLOTIPS plus your message to CRIMES (274637). U.N. General Assembly to vote on whether to ask top global court to issue opinion on climate responsibility By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) - Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau said political instability in the Pacific Islands nation could impact investment and tourism, after his government boycotted a no-confidence vote in parliament on Thursday. Vanuatu, at the centre of strategic rivalry between China and Western countries in the region, was plunged into political crisis after Opposition leader Bob Loughman last week lodged a no-confidence petition with 29 signatures out of 51 lawmakers - enough to topple the prime minister. Debate on the motion was delayed until next Wednesday after 26 opposition lawmakers including the speaker arrived at parliament, and the government said this fell short of the quorum needed. Kalsakau said in a televised press conference the move against him, eight months after a national election, was "irresponsible" and instability could impact tourism and investment. The reasons given for removing the prime minister had "no basis", he added. Loughman has criticised the government for lifting the minimum wage and signing a security pact with Australia, which he says compromises Vanuatu's "neutral" status. China has been a major infrastructure lender to Vanuatu, donating the parliament building, stadiums and prime minister's office, as well as constructing roads and wharves. Loughman drew Vanuatu closer to China as the previous prime minister, until his government lost a snap national election in 2022. The United States and its allies are seeking to deter Pacific Islands nations from establishing security ties with Beijing, after China signed a security pact with Solomon Islands. In a bid to boost government numbers, Jotham Napat stepped down as foreign minister and deputy prime minister on Monday, allowing a cabinet reshuffle that won back two lawmakers. Kalsakau said the constitution requires an absolute majority for the removal of a prime minister, and Loughman did not have the numbers in parliament on Thursday to debate the motion. Loughman countered that he had the numbers to form government next week, Vanuatu Daily Post reported. Underlining China's strategic interest in the region, Chinese navy medical ship, Peace Ark, is visiting Vanuatu to provide medical services to the public, in the sixth visit by a Chinese navy vessel, media reported. (Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by Stephen Coates) A South Carolina county judge has prevailed against a group of lawmakers in his fight to remain on the bench. The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Richland County Legislative Delegation must forward Judge Joseph Stricklands name to Gov. Henry McMaster for reappointment as master-in-equity. Strickland has served in that role since 1989. At issue in Sticklands challenge was whether the county delegation, which comprises the state senators and representatives elected from the county, has a statutory obligation to submit a candidates name determined by the Judicial Merit Selection Commission to be qualified, when the commission recommends only one candidate to the delegation. The court said yes. While a county legislative delegation retains authority over the selection of the ultimate candidate to recommend to the governor, that authority has been expressly limited to recommending only a candidate found qualified by the (Judicial Merit Selection Commission), the court said. Now, the Richland County lawmakers have 10 days to submit Stricklands name to McMaster for reappointment as master-in-equity. We are going to abide by the direction of the Supreme Court, said state Rep. Leon Howard, who chairs the Richland County Legislative Delegation. Were getting ready to send (Stricklands) name to the governor and see where things go. But Howard suggested that the majority of the delegation isnt going down without a fight, adding that he plans to send a letter to McMaster indicating that Strickland was voted down 11-3 by the group of lawmakers and requesting that McMaster honor the delegations decision. Its unclear at this point how McMaster will respond. In 2021, the Judicial Merit Selection Commission reported to the Richland delegation that Strickland was qualified to continue serving as master-in-equity. The delegation failed to take any action on the report until this summer, two years later, when Howard sent a letter to the commission asking that it announce Stricklands position as vacant. Howard and delegation member state Rep. Todd Rutherford, who represented the delegation against Stricklands lawsuit, argued the delegation had discretion in deciding whose name to forward to McMaster for master-in-equity, regardless of the number of names deemed qualified by the Judicial Merit Selection Commission. And just last week, during a delegation meeting, members displayed fits of shouting, dysfunction and anger as they slung a series of insults toward one another over the way the body had conducted the process of selecting the Richland County master-in-equity. State Reps. Heather Bauer and Annie McDaniel and state Sen. Dick Harpootlian stood in opposition to the delegations decision to withhold Stricklands name from the governor, with Bauer and Harpootlian state Rep. Seth Rose even filing a return with the court in support of Stricklands position. The courts decision demonstrates how really dysfunctional the Richland County delegation is, Harpootlian said. This whole issue came about because the chairman, Leon Howard, and Todd Rutherford wanted to create some scheme to depose Judge Strickland in clear violation of the law as stated by the court. In South Carolina, candidates for judicial office must first apply to the Judicial Merit Selection Commission, which is a 10-member statutorily created body charged with considering candidates qualifications. Following a review of a candidates background, the commission then forwards a report to the General Assembly, detailing whether the candidate is fit to serve. Legislators then decide which candidate theyll recommend to McMaster for appointment. Stricklands term expired in April of 2021, and without being officially reappointed, he remained in whats known as a carryover status, meaning he could remain on the bench until another candidate was appointed to replace him. Masters-in-equity are county-based judges who have jurisdiction in matters referred to them by the circuit courts, such as cases involving foreclosures or contracts. Masters are appointed to a six-year term by the governor, subject to the advice and consent of the General Assembly. Typically, the Supreme Court said, the selection of county judges by legislative delegations involves a question in which the court could not intervene. Here, however, the facts are unique: (Strickland) was the only JMSC-qualified candidate who applied for the position of Richland County Master, the courts order said. The lack of any other candidates strips the RCLD of any possible discretion and merely requires the RCLD to complete ... a task, that being to formally submit the only qualified candidates name to the governor for his consideration. Australian crime drama Black Snow is set to arrive in the UK on the BBC. The series, which debuted in its home country earlier this year, stars Vikings' Travis Fimmel and follows the reopening of the case of a high school student's murder 20 years prior. It has now been revealed that the six-part series will air on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer in the UK, with an exact release date yet to be confirmed. BBC Related: Vikings star Alyssa Sutherland teases Evil Dead Rise's wildest moments The full synopsis reads: "A small-town Australian high-school gathers for the ceremonial opening of a time-capsule buried by a class some 20 years ago, shortly after the murder of class-member Isabelle Baker. "Isabelles family and the police are shocked when the capsule is opened to reveal cryptic messages in Isabelles written statement. "These messages and other long-lost items suggest Isabelle had known she was in danger in the days leading to her murder. The case is re-opened causing heartache for the family and raising questions that certain people would rather not answer." Daniele Venturelli - Getty Images Related: Netflix confirms future of Vikings: Valhalla Head of BBC programme acquisition Sue Deeks said: "Australias South Sea Island community is the fascinating setting for this dark and haunting murder mystery its twists and turns will keep viewers guessing until the very end." As well as Fimmel, Black Snow stars Dark Shadows' Gulliver McGrath, Jemmason Power, Talijah Blackman-Corowa, Eden Cassady and Seini Willett. Meanwhile, last year it was confirmed that Fimmel had joined Dune spin-off series Dune: The Sisterhood in the role of Desmond Hart, "a charismatic soldier with an enigmatic past who seeks to gain the Emperors trust at the expense of the Sisterhood". Black Snow will air on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer. You Might Also Like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was arrested in Chicago 60 years ago this week. Then a 21-year-old University of Chicago student, Sanders was charged with resisting arrest during an Aug. 12, 1963 demonstration in Englewood along with comedian Dick Gregory and 54 others against the use of mobile classrooms in the citys public schools. Chicago Public Schools superintendent Benjamin Willis refused to allow Black children to be bused from their crowded neighborhood schools to those in white areas with more resources. Thats why the portable classroom trailers were nicknamed Willis wagons and became symbolic of the citys long struggle over segregated education. Demonstrations against Willis wagons were a precursor to a more sweeping civil rights movement in Chicago that drew the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to the city in 1966 the same year Willis resigned. Mobile classrooms began to be phased out of Chicago schools in the 1970s, but photographic proof of Sanders participation in the 1963 Englewood protest wouldnt be discovered in the Tribune archives until decades later when he was a Democratic presidential hopeful. Chicago history | More newsletters | Puzzles & Games | Todays eNewspaper edition Benjamin Willis, of Buffalo, N.Y., accepts a $30,000 per year (roughly $340,000 in todays dollars) offer to become superintendent of Chicago Public Schools. His decision, Willis said, was based on two considerations: first, the challenge presented by a position which offers greater opportunity in the number of persons to be served, and second, the professional advancement involved. Soon he would become the highest paid school official in the United States and the third-highest paid public official, trailing only President John F. Kennedy ($100,000) and New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller ($50,000). The Supreme Court rules unanimously in the Brown v. Board of Education case that separating Black and white children is unconstitutional because it denies Black children the 14th Amendments guarantee of equal protection under the law. The Brown decision overturned the courts Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which on May 18, 1896, established a separate but equal doctrine for Blacks in public facilities. In the field of public education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. A lawsuit filed on behalf of 32 Black children who attend five overly crowded elementary schools accuses Willis of drawing school districts on racial lines and seeks a court order to allow the children to register at desegregated schools outside their present school districts where there are vacancies. Dr. Willis is fully aware that by rigidly adhering to these district lines he has compelled the children to attend not only racially segregated schools, but schools at which they are only able to obtain a part time education, the lawsuit says. Willis denied the allegations of gerrymandering district boundaries to keep the Chicago school system segregated. Instead, he says the double shift classes where students attend school in half-day shifts are the result of an overwhelming increase in enrollment in those areas. Most of the empty rooms were in predominantly white neighborhoods, the report said, while largely Black neighborhoods had overcrowded schools. The report also found that Black schools received only two-thirds of the funding that white schools received. Willis says only 14 classrooms are empty and that the alleged 382 undercounted rooms evaporate into thin air when a proper and valid comparison is made. Rather than allowing children to enroll at underutilized white schools that in many cases were only a few blocks away, Willis recommends the purchase of 150 trailer classrooms as a solution to overcrowding and double shifts in schools on the citys West and South sides. The more than $300 million budget for 1962 the largest in Chicago Public Schools history at the time earmarked funds for the 30-student portable trailers. The purchase of these trailers was approved by the board two weeks later. The job of the public school system is not integration but education of every child regardless of race, color or creed, Board president William G. Caples told reporters. Board of education members should quit and make room for others if they do not want to face up to the problem of eliminating segregation in the Chicago school system, said Rev. Arthur M. Brazier, pastor of the Apostolic Church of God and spokesperson for the Temporary Woodlawn Organization. Opponents of the mobile classrooms start nicknaming them Willis wagons after the controversial CPS superintendent. Where portable classrooms were installed, picket signs followed. On May 18, 1962, 1,000 students boycotted classes at Carnegie Elementary School. Protesters held an eight-day sit-in at the office of the school board president in July 1963. One of the most publicized protests was held in August 1963 when activists blocked the installation of wagons in a vacant lot adjacent to the railroad tracks at 73rd Street and Lowe Avenue. Willis resigned his position on Oct. 4, 1963, citing the school boards encroachment on his authority. A Superior court judge had ordered him to put into effect a pupil transfer directive adopted by the school board. That order was rescinded and Willis remained superintendent. Almost half of all Chicago Public Schools students roughly 200,000 boycott during a Freedom Day protest on Oct. 22, 1963. Three years after delivering his I Have a Dream speech and two years after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, King moved to Chicago to lead what he called the first significant freedom movement in the North. King led marches including one through Marquette Park in which he was struck in the head by a rock and announced, I have never seen anything so hostile and so hateful as Ive seen here today and met with city leaders to discuss how to provide better schools and housing for Chicagos Black community. Though he had promised previously to retire on his 65th birthday (Dec. 23, 1966), Willis says he will step down Aug. 31, 1966 to allow for a more orderly transition for his successor. Thirteen years after Willis left the Chicago school system, the U.S. Office for Civil Rights charges in a 102-page document that the Chicago Board of Education had systematically contained Black students in overcrowded, segregated schools, primarily through the use of mobile classrooms. After the federal agencys findings, the Chicago schools moved to create Magnet Schools and other programs that attract students from across the city. Magnet schools and other programs designed to draw students from across the city were created in response to the findings. No longer needed since school populations were decreasing, CPS Superintendent Joseph Hannon begins to eliminate mobile classrooms and introduces a multiphase plan to discontinue their use. The black-and-white photo shows a 21-year-old Sanders, then a University of Chicago student, being taken by Chicago police toward a police wagon during a 1963 protest. An acetate negative of the photo was found in the Tribunes archives more than 50 years later, said Marianne Mather, a Tribune photo editor. Want more vintage Chicago? Thanks for reading! Join our Chicagoland history Facebook group and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicagos past. Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Ron Grossman and Marianne Mather at rgrossman@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com. Anastatia (Ana) Mayers, Jon Goodwin and Keisha Schahaff, boarded the VSS Unity for a 90-minute trip into space Virgin Galactic has taken a former Olympian, a University of Aberdeen student and her mother to the edge of space on its first flight for tourists. Ana Mayers, 18, and her mother Keisha Schahaff, 46, both from Antigua, won their tickets in a competition. They became the first mother-daughter duo to fly to space together. Jon Goodwin, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, became the second person with Parkinson's disease to go to space, a trip he called "completely surreal". Mr Goodwin bought his ticket for $250,000 (then 191,000) in 2005. The carrier mothership VMS Eve took off from Spaceport America, in the state of New Mexico, at 08:30 local time (15:30 BST). Fifty minutes into the flight, the Unity rocket ship separated from Eve as planned. A short time later, the passengers were given the all-clear to unbuckle and enjoy zero gravity, at an altitude of around 85km (280,000ft). Ms Mayers, a second-year philosophy and physics student at the University of Aberdeen, immediately reached for the window to take in the views of Earth and the black of space. The three then returned to their seats and strapped themselves back in ahead of the return journey. They successfully landed back at Spaceport America just over an hour after taking off. A BBC graphic shows the flight plan of Virgin Galactic's Unity rocket. It is scheduled to take off from Spaceport America in New Mexico, after which the Eve carrier plan and the Unity rocket ship will separate, which will be followed by a 90-second climb at close to 4,000 km/h, with the craft then reaching the edge of space at just under 100km, and then experiencing zero gravity, before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere with folded tailbooms, and then going into an unpowered glide before returning to the ground Speaking at a press conference after the flight, Ms Schahaff - who won the prize while flying to the UK to visit her daughter in Scotland - said she was still "up there" following the experience. "Looking at Earth was the most amazing" part of the trip, she said. Mr Goodwin described his experience as the most exciting day of his life. Despite being diagnosed with Parkinson's several years ago, he was given the all-clear to fly. "I'm hoping that I instil in other people around the world, as well as people with Parkinson's, that it doesn't stop you doing things that's out of the normal if you've got some illness," he said. "The most impressive thing was looking at Earth from space - the pure clarity was very moving." In a video posted on social media, Sir Richard Branson - Virgin Galactic's founder - shed tears of joy as he celebrated the mission from Ms Schahaff and Ms Mayers' native Antigua. Sir Richard, who completed a similar trip in July 2021, wrote: "Today we flew three incredible private passengers to space: Keisha Schahaff, Anastatia Mayers and Jon Goodwin. "Congratulations Virgin Galactic commercial astronauts 011, 012 and 013 - welcome to the club!" Mr Goodwin was the first on a list of 800 or so individuals who have bought tickets for a ride on the Unity rocket. Some of them - including Mr Goodwin - have been waiting over a decade to get their chance, and most still face a long wait. Sir Richard first announced his intention to make a space plane in 2004, with the belief he could start a commercial service by 2007. But technical difficulties - including a fatal crash during a development flight in 2014 - have made the space project one of the most challenging ventures of his career. Recently, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin beat Virgin Galactic in the race to become the first company to take paying passengers into space. Both companies say their missions further science as well as catering to the very rich. But, space tourism has been criticised for its cost and environmental impact. (Photo : Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Disney) Disney CEO Bog Iger announced that the company would start cracking down on password sharing on its Disney+ streaming service to address massive financial losses. Disney+ becomes the latest streaming service to begin cracking down on password sharing on its platform after the company said it aims to address financial losses. Disney CEO Bob Iger announced the development during the latest earnings call. He marked the moment that the company joins others, such as Netflix, in addressing sharing accounts between people, some of whom do not pay for the service. Disney+ To Crack Down on Password Sharing In his statement, Iger said they are currently exploring ways to address the issue and discussing the best options for paying subscribers to share their accounts with friends and family. He said that they will update their subscriber agreements with additional terms and sharing policies later this year. Iger also said that he needs to learn how much cracking down on password sharing will drive the streaming service's growth. He noted that Disney+ lost billions of dollars since its original launch and described the latest situation as a "priority," as IGN stated. The situation comes after Netflix began limiting the sharing of passwords among its customers earlier this year after losing a good chunk of its subscribers. In July, the streaming service also announced that the decision to crack down on password sharing increased revenue. On top of Disney's plan to crack down on password sharing, officials also revealed plans to increase prices for the streaming service's subscriptions. From Oct. 12, Disney+ Premium will cost $13 per month, up from $10.99, and Huly will cost $17.99 per month, up from $14.99. It marks the second time Disney+ has increased its prices in less than a year. Iger noted that the company remains committed to streaming, arguing that it is still a relatively young business but is nevertheless one of its core pillars moving into the future. Disney plans to lean on core franchises for the streaming service as new series are set to release soon. Read Also: Zoom Now Asking Employees to Return to Office: Here's Why Addressing Financial Losses The Disney CEO was previously asked how many people share passwords on its streaming platform, but he declined to reveal a number, only noting that it was "significant." He added that the company can technically monitor sign-ins, according to The Verge. He said that while the company plans to begin efforts to address the issue in 2024, it could not be completed within the calendar year. Furthermore, subscribers to the streaming service located in the United States and Canada decreased from 46.3 million to 46 million. This is seen as one of the reasons that drove the company to crack down on password sharing. The company's India-based Hotstar service also suffered a huge blow, losing more than 12 million subscribers since April this year, leaving it with only 40.4 million. The crackdown on password sharing is one of Disney+'s options in addressing financial losses and includes other efforts such as cutting content spending and introducing cheaper, ad-supported options, said CNBC. Related Article: TSMC Announces Plans to Build 2nm Chips in Kaohsiung Plant @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Anastatia Mayers, Jon Goodwin, and Keisha Schahaff will become the first all-civilian crew to fly on Virgin Galactic's second commercial flight when it lifts off Thursday. Photo courtesy of Virgin Galactic Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Virgin Galactic on Thursday launched its second commercial spaceflight and its first to carry an all-civilian crew including the first Caribbean astronauts, on the mission called Galactic-02. A mother, her daughter and an 80-year-old former Olympian lifted off from the commercial Spaceport America in New Mexico aboard Virgin Galactic's reusable space plane VSS Unity for the 90-minute flight, which included three minutes of total weightlessness in suborbital space, 53 miles above Earth The VSS Unity was carried aboard the VMS Eve Spaceship Carrier aircraft before separating at about 50,000 feet and flying to the edge of space under its own power. While VSS Unity does not reach orbit, its trajectory and altitude create several minutes of weightlessness as the crew was able to view the curvature of Earth against black space. After completing its suborbital flight and adjusting its orientation the three astronauts, Keisha Schahaff, Anastatia Mayers and Jon Goodwin re-entered the Earth's atmosphere as the VSS Unity glided to its landing strip in New Mexico. Virgin Galactic's second SpaceShipTwo vehicle, known as VSS Unity, carried its first all-civilian crew into space Thursday. While VSS Unity does not reach orbit, its trajectory created several minutes of weightlessness during the 90-minute flight. Photo courtesy of Virgin Galactic "Welcome back to Earth Galactic 02! Our pilots, crew and spaceship have landed smoothly at Spaceport America, New Mexico," Virgin Galactic posted on X, at 11:39 a.m. Thursday's flight was the company's seventh trip to space. Schahaff, 46, and her daughter Mayers, 18, became the first mother-daughter duo to travel to space. Both are from Antigua and Barbuda, which will make them the first astronauts from the Caribbean. Schahaff and Mayers won their spots through a lottery benefiting the nonprofit Space for Humanity. Schahaff told NBC that she was looking forward to "looking back and seeing a beautiful planet and then looking across to see my daughter's face while she's looking at it as well." Mayers is a college student at Aberdeen University in Scotland, where she is studying philosophy and physics, and became the second youngest astronaut to fly. "I'm hoping to give myself that confidence to try new things and be a little bit uncomfortable sometimes," Mayers said. Jon Goodwin, 80, is a record-holding Olympian from Britain who competed in the slalom canoe event in the 1972 Olympics in Munich. While he became the first Olympian astronaut in space, Goodwin also became the second person diagnosed with Parkinson's to fly. "The fact that I'm suffering with Parkinson's for 9 years just shows you this attitude of space for all is a wonderful attitude," Goodwin said in an interview with Virgin Galactic. In June, Virgin Galactic completed its first commercial flight carrying three Italians to suborbital space. Each of the passengers paid $450,000 for the ride. Despite the high price, there are more than 800 people on the waitlist, according to Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson. Welcome back to Earth, #Galactic02! Our pilots, crew and spaceship have landed smoothly at Spaceport America, New Mexico. pic.twitter.com/rzV1iyvmBA Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) August 10, 2023 A rocket plane is due to fly from New Mexico carrying an 80-year-old British former Olympian, an Aberdeen student and her mother into space. Anastatia Mayers and her mother Keisha Schahaff won the tickets to board the Virgin Galactic flight in a competition. Jon Goodwin, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, will become the second person with Parkinson's disease to go to space. The mission will be seen as another test of how viable space tourism is. The launch window for the Virgin Galactic 02 flight opens at 08:30 local time (15:30 BST). It is Virgin Galactic's second commercial flight. The first was in June when the Italian Air Force and scientists conducted experiments in weightless conditions on a 70-minute mission. The Unity rocket plane is carried on the first stage of its journey slung underneath a carrier jet, known as Eve. Unity will then aim to ignite its engine and travel to an altitude of 279,000ft (85km). The advertised price for a place on a Virgin Galactic flight has been as high as $450,000 (350,000). Mr Goodwin, who competed in the 1972 Olympics as a canoeist, paid $250,000 for his ticket in 2005 but had feared his diagnosis would mean he could not take part. He said he wanted to prove that his condition - Parkinson's disease is a condition in which parts of the brain become progressively damaged - did not define him. Around 100 people will watch him travel into space at a party in Stoke-on-Trent organised by Parkinson's UK. Ms Schahaff, from Antigua, was flying to the UK to sort out her daughter's visa when she entered a competition to join the spaceflight. She found out months later that she had won two spaceflight seats in the draw. "Suddenly, who's walking into my yard? Richard Branson. The whole team just swarmed into my house saying 'you're the winner, you're going to space'," she said. Her daughter Anastatia will become the second-youngest person to go to space, and says she hopes to inspire others. "That would be very important to me, both in Scotland and Antigua and anywhere else I have any ties," she says. "My intention is to just break any barriers that we set for ourselves or that the world sets for us." The flight will aim to reach the edge of space, around 53 miles (85km) above Earth, where the passengers will have a few minutes to experience weightlessness. The spaceship does not have the velocity to complete a full orbit of the globe. Jon Goodwin is the first on a list of 800 or so individuals who have bought tickets for a ride on the Unity rocket. Some of them have been waiting over a decade to get their chance, and most will have a long wait still. US multi-millionaire Dennis Tito became the world's first ever space tourist in 2001, paying a reported $20m. Recently, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin beat Virgin Galactic in the race to become the first company to take paying passengers into space. Both companies say their missions further science as well as catering to the very rich, but space tourism has been criticised for its cost and environmental impact. News Daily banner Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox. Virginia Beach Public Schools made some progress in its review of the states model policies on the treatment of transgender students in a committee meeting Thursday morning and more work is needed. However, much of the school boards policies do not require much change, according to the school board attorney. The policy review committee, made up of board members Jessica Owens, Beverly Anderson and Kathleen Brown, had added several items to its agenda this week in order to work through the Model Policies on Ensuring Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginias Public Schools after the school board directed them to start the process of reviewing board policy and determining what changes needed to be made. This meant the committee members did not have much time to review the policies in-depth and a special meeting will be set for Monday morning to continue the work. Typically, we have more time to review the proposed changes, said Owens, who was voted chair of the committee Thursday. Those came this morning, and so it wasnt ideal. Chief of staff Donald Robertson, who will become acting superintendent at the end of the month, said the school division can implement what is required under the model policies released under Gov. Glenn Youngkins administration, but to do so, he would need direction from the board. He is now tasked with reviewing and updating division regulations, which are developed by division leadership and provided to the board for review and feedback to ensure it aligns with board policy. The goal, Owens said, is to have the regulations revised and reviewed by the board by Wednesday. That way, those can be figured out before training for school personnel begins the following week. Though she said it was unclear how much change would be needed. The committee approved updating policy 5-7, which deals with non-discrimination and non-harassment, to remove the title of the now-defunct 2021 model policies regarding the treatment of transgender students. This change will be brought to the board for information and a future vote. Board member Victoria Manning brought a resolution forward Tuesday to push the board toward adopting the model policies without any modifications. Not all board members supported this idea, and several said each school system in the state could work through the model policies to best suit the division. However, Manning said the resolution would direct leadership to stay in compliance with state mandates. This resolution could be up for a vote at the next meeting on Aug. 22. Kelsey Kendall, kelsey.kendall@virginiamedia.com A vital permit has just been approved to rebuild the bridge to Long Island. Boston 25 News learned on Wednesday morning that the third of four permits had been approved by the state. The Chapter 91 license, which was expected to be one of the final hurdles in the process, ensures that the project meets public-access requirements. The city of Boston is hoping to acquire the final permit in the coming months. However, a new addiction-recovery campus on Long Island is still at least four or five years away from coming to fruition. Am I going to going to deal with this for five more years? No Im not, said Gerry DiPierro, owner of DiPierro Construction. If I last another year, thats a lot. Business owners, neighbors and community leaders told Boston 25 News they are in dire need of an immediate long-term solution, even if its temporary. Thats something Sue Sullivan, with the Newmarket Business Improvement District, says is being worked on. We will be coming up with a solution real quickly here, hinted Sullivan. There are so many things happening right now that are putting people over the edge. The violence thats been escalating all summer continues to be a pressing concern for people in the area. The latest example of that unfolded on Tuesday night near the Roundhouse Hotel when a person was stabbed repeatedly. Police have not yet made any arrests in connection with the 41st stabbing to happen this year in the Mass and Cass area. I wasnt surprised because thats the environment were in, said Bill Lim, who owns the Sunoco on Mass Ave. I think the city has to enforce the law. Lim said aggressive panhandlers are threatening his business and harassing customers who are pumping gas. They chase away the customers, he explained. A list of lawmakers asked law enforcement officials last week to crack down on people with certain warrants in the area. Multiple letters addressed to State Police Colonel John J. Mawn Jr. and Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox have not yet been publicly addressed. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is expected to hold a virtual press briefing Thursday morning to discuss the critical next steps in rebuilding the bridge to Long Island and jumpstarting the Citys efforts to reopen the recovery campus. 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 Russias Wagner mercenary company is carrying out drills along the Polish-Belarusian border to stretch the presence of Polish troops, Ukrainian state civil defense organization the National Resistance Center or NCR reported on Aug. 10. Read also: Minsk and Moscow are provoking Poland About Russian 250 mercenaries are deployed there, indicating that the Russians were conducting a psychological operation to escalate tensions rather than mounting a serious attack, the center said. Earlier, the NRC noted that the creation of a camp to accommodate about 1,000 Wagner mercenaries had begun at Zyabrovka airfield in Belarus. Russia supposedly plans to use Wagner PMC to simulate subversive activities on Belarus borders with Chernihiv Oblast and EU countries. Wagner in Belarus: What is known After a failed mutiny attempt in Russia, some of the Wagner mercenaries ended up in Belarus through an agreement with Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. On July 23, during a meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko said that the Wagner mercenaries were "stressing him out" because they allegedly wanted to attack Poland. But later he clarified that he was joking. Read also: Nervous Poland will send more troops to the border with Belarus On July 29, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that more than 100 mercenaries from Wagner PMC had moved towards the Suwalki Corridor, a 100-kilometer stretch between Poland and Lithuania that connects the Baltic states with Poland and the rest of NATO, and separates the Russian enclave in Kaliningrad Oblast and Belarus. He called such actions "a dangerous situation" and "a step towards a further hybrid attack on Poland." Morawiecki suggested that Wagner mercenaries would disguise themselves as Belarusian border guards and help illegal migrants enter Poland. In addition, Morawiecki suggested that militants could begin to enter Polish territory under the guise of illegal migrants, which would create "additional risks." Read also: Polish PM concerned that Wagner mercenaries in Belarus could infiltrate Poland On Aug. 3, Morawiecki urgently met with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on the Isthmus of Suwalki after reports of Wagner PMC mercenaries approaching from Belarus. On Aug. 7, Belarus began military drills near the border with Poland and Lithuania. The countries are preparing to strengthen their borders with Belarus. The two EU states also decided to close some border crossing points. On Aug. 10, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced that his country would send 10,000 troops to the border with Belarus. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is considering reinstating a spring bear hunt in 2024. For decades, a spring season was permitted. Officials report historically, about 6,000 hunters applied and of that group, 600 received permits. At most, 150 bears were harvested. Its a highly coveted hunt because its a good time of year, said Assistant Director of the Wildlife Program, Eric Gardner. Theres not a lot of other hunting opportunity at that time of year. Local hunter, Will Hunter is preparing for his first bear hunting trip this fall. Hunter says this, growing to be in our backyard is garnering national attention from the hunting community. Its a political quagmire to say the least, said Hunter. " theres a big push right now to cut a change the way Washington does wildlife management. Opponents expressed their disapproval during public comment: It is cruel and inhumane to kill females with cubs hidden that will be left alone to die. Bear hunting with dogs puts tourists and residents in danger. The Commission will consider a proposal to begin rule making Friday. The 2024 campaign cycle is expected to unleash a torrent of AI-generated deepfake videos and images capable of deceiving voters but the early attempts in Washington to stem the problem have already hit political snags. Election watchdogs hope to clear one such hurdle Thursday. The Federal Election Commission is scheduled to vote on a petition, initiated by advocacy group Public Citizen, that calls for banning political campaigns from distributing fake audio, video and images of their opponents. Public Citizen notes that deepfakes have already appeared in ads supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, including fake photos that depict former President Donald Trump embracing Anthony Fauci. Such forgeries have alarmed election officials and advocates alike for their potential to confuse voters and skew election outcomes. They're already good enough to fool you if you're not paying careful attention, Public Citizen President Robert Weissman said in an interview on Thursdays episode of the POLITICO Tech podcast. We're going to have very high-quality deepfakes in advance of 2024, he added. And in the absence of some federal prohibition on the use of deepfakes, I think it's a near certainty that political actors of all political stripes will use them. Public Citizen is calling on the FEC to specify that existing rules against fraudulent misrepresentation apply to fake video, audio and images, which due to advances in artificial intelligence have become increasingly realistic and easy to produce. Thursdays expected vote is a preliminary step that would determine whether the FEC seeks public comment on the proposed ban. The so-called notice of availability does not commit the commission to taking further action and such moves generally face little opposition. But an earlier version of the petition failed in June after a similar vote split along party lines, with the FECs three Republican commissioners arguing that Public Citizen did not properly cite the regulation in question and, more critically, that the requested rule change would exceed the agencys authority. Congress has given us very sharply limited authority, Republican Commissioner Allen Dickerson said at the June meeting. Our jurisdiction on this point is limited to instances where a campaign broadly misrepresents itself as acting on behalf of any other candidate or political party. Instead of coming to us, you take this up with Congress, he continued. I wish it luck. But in Congress, the issue has also taken on a partisan tone. Democratic Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill in May that would mandate political ads disclose the use of AI-generated material. Then in July, 50 Democrats signed a letter to the FEC backing Public Citizens petition. The biggest hurdle preventing Washington from taking action at the moment is who owns the problem, said Katie Harbath, the senior adviser for technology and democracy at the International Republican Institute. The FEC kicked it back to Congress. Congress doesnt seem to be in a huge hurry. The Biden administration says they want to use existing laws to regulate it. So theres a lot to sort out there, continued Harbath, a former public policy director at Facebook. Harbath anticipates mainstream media will vigilantly fact check AI-generated deepfakes and that the technology used to identify spoofs will evolve along with the technology used to make them. Even still, the right systems are needed to prepare for the things you can imagine might happen and how to react to the things you didnt imagine, she said. Theres no real deadline or no turn-back-now sign as these problems will last well past the election, but that doesnt mean we can wait, Harbath said. Weissman said an updated petition that Public Citizen submitted last month should address Republican commissioners concerns and he is cautiously optimistic they will at least allow a period for public comment. Still, the vote in June suggests Republican commissioners are hesitant to entertain new rules on artificial intelligence. And even if they collect comments, partisan gridlock has halted the FEC from undertaking any serious rulemaking in recent years. But, Weissman contends, the problems posed by deepfakes are not limited to one party. If there are Republicans or if there are Democrats who think that only Republicans are going to use this tool, they are wrong, Weissman said. It is a near certainty that all political actors, all the outside consultants, all the outside organizations, will use this tool if it's legal to do so. And he predicts unfettered use of deepfakes will cause people to doubt all media, legitimate or otherwise, leading them to simply decide for themselves what is real or not based on whether it underpins their existing political views. The deeper, more fundamental problem is that people stop believing what's before their eyes, Weissman said on POLITICO Tech. Every bad tendency we have for tribalism will be reinforced. Annie Rees contributed to this report. Subscribe to our new POLITICO Tech podcast for a daily download on the ways technology is disrupting politics and policy. Dozens of Leopard 1 tanks might undergo refurbishment and be dispatched to Ukraine, following a purchase by an undisclosed buyer from a private Belgian dealer, according to the Washington Post. Belgian dealer Freddy Versluys, who is a chief executive of the defense company OIP Land Systems, obtained the tanks years back as the Belgian army undertook cost-cutting actions that involved selling off these vehicles. Versluys chose not to share the price paid for the tanks or any additional particulars about the transaction. Nonetheless, he objected to claims indicating that he had insisted on 500,000 euros for each vehicle, noting that he had acquired them for 15,000 euros each. In early 2023, Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder disclosed Belgium's interest in repurchasing the Leopards. However, she pointed out that the price quoted was considered "unreasonable." The arrival date of the tanks in Ukraine, along with the viability after they get refurbishment, remains unclear. Handelsblatt, a German newspaper, reported that a significant number of the Leopards were in such dire condition that their use was limited to providing spare parts. Two days ago, the personality of the unknown buyer of Leopards was unveiled, and it was the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall. The tanks were bought with the intention of including them in the upcoming export to Kyiv. Read also: Belarus Weekly: Helicopters violate Polish airspace; Wagner moves closer to border Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. It was shaping up to be a bountiful year for Liz Adler and Ben Perreault the married owners of Mountain View Farm. Honestly, those fields were more beautiful than theyve ever been, said Adler. They were weed-free and weve never been prouder of those fields this year. In those fields, the couple looked to harvest an array of organic summer vegetables from corn to tomatoes to eggplant and much more. And then came the flood. In mid-July, an epic amount of rain fell on parts of New England up to nine inches in some areas of Vermont. With the ground already saturated from a generally wet summer, much of the runoff ended up in area rivers including the Connecticut River which flows through Western Massachusetts and adjacent to some of Mountain Views fields. As all that rain fell, Adler and Perreault knew there was a potential for catastrophe. We saw the river projections, we saw what was happening in Vermont, said Adler. My husband kept showing me the charts. But Adler was optimistic something she thinks is almost a prerequisite to farming. I just didnt believe it was going to flood, she said. The night before the water was coming right up to my feet and I just didnt believe it was going to flood. It flooded big time. The water rose so high that Perreault had to navigate the cornfield using a kayak. In all, Mountain View Farm lost 45 acres of summer and winter crops. Those fields contained all of our sweet corn, said Adler. Some of that sweet corn was ready, literally, the morning that it flooded. Also lost: the entire crop of tomatoes and green peppers, most hot peppers, winter carrots, celeriac, and leeks. In all, the loss totaled about $650,000. That loss was offset somewhat by the fact Mountain View Farm runs a Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA), in which customers buy shares in advance of the growing season. So they are supporting the farm, theoretically, in good times or bad, said Adler. Part of the underpinning of the CSA model is that they share in the risks of growing food and those risks are for the whole community to share. And so we are better insulated than a lot of farms because we have that support. The trouble is, Mountain View had not yet sold shares for its fall and winter crops. And aside from sweet potatoes, which are grown on a field in Hadley, many of those cold-weather vegetables were swept away. Mountain View is not the only farm to get wiped out by last months flooding. The State Department of Agriculture tells Boston 25 News that at least 110 farms in Western Massachusetts suffered flood damage with at least 2,700 acres gone. And the state expects those numbers to grow. In response to the flooding, Governor Maura Healeys supplemental budget included $20 million in relief for affected farmers. That money might help get farmers through this bad season but what it wont do is make farming any easier. In fact, its likely to get more difficult because of climate change. Back when we started (in 2006), two to three inches of rain would be a major weather event, Adler said. And now it feels like that sort of thing happens all the time. Im not exactly sure when that transition happened. It feels like the weather events are getting more and more frequent and more and more extreme. And Adler worries this summers flooding could have implications down the road in the form of plant diseases. Lots of diseases spread through moisture droplets, she said. And lots of them are fungal diseases that spread through spores. And the farmers that didnt flood this year are going to have a really challenging season because theyre going to deal with all of that. I keep thinking its like dying a slow death rather than going under all at once. The fact that Mountain View Farm went under all at once even shocked Liz and Bens teen daughter, Ollie, a youth climate activist. I think we talk so often about how climate change is going to impact every aspect of our lives and then when it does its still so startling and alarming, she said. Now that its happening to my family in my own backyard it has taken on a new meaning for me. Ollie, who was awarded last fall with a Boston Celtics Heroes Among Us award for her environmental activism, said she was pleasantly startled at the number of people blaming the flooding on climate change. At the same time, shes disheartened by a lack of action. Nobodys talking about the preventative measures that were going to take as a state moving forward, she said. Actually, late last year, the Baker Administration unveiled a state plan to help offset climate change. The Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2050 outlines the various steps needed to achieve net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by mid-century. But thats 27 years away. And when their fields initially flooded, Adler said she and her husband considered throwing in the towel on farming. Our first reaction was, definitely, that were done, she said. My husband wanted to take our sign down off the road and just kind of give up. But then the community stepped in the thousands who supported the farm for so many years, accepting good harvests and bad. The feedback on what the farm has meant to people and seeing the reality of what this CSA model can be it was so healing for us, Adler said. We just heard over and over every day for two weeks, about how important the farm has been to people. Now, given the support from the community, we actually feel more resolved than ever to keep going and just keep trying our best. I feel like if they dont want to give up, then we wont either. But thats not to say Adler and Perreault dont have apprehensions. With climate change producing, in general, wetter storms or, if not that, drought conditions, farming is set to become increasingly challenging. We are going to have to figure out how to manage disease, what to plant where and be even more conscientious about spreading our risk, said Adler. Because these events are not going to stop. Mountain View Farm set up a GoFundMe to help cover their losses -- and many in the community have already donated. To make a donation, click the link here. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW As of Aug. 1, citations for vehicle equipment violations that are issued by the Wauwatosa Police Department will now be handled in the city's municipal court. The ordinance passed 12-2. On Aug. 1, the Wauwatosa Common Council decided, 12-2, that citations involving traffic equipment violations, like broken taillights and cracked mirrors, should be handled at the city level. For decades, Wisconsin police have already been able to issue these kinds of citations, so some residents and city officials are asking: why now? Here's what the ordinance means, why police wanted it passed, and why some officials say this will disproportionately affect Black drivers. What's the difference between a Trans 305 citation in circuit vs. municipal court? The state statute that outlines "standards for vehicle equipment" is called Trans 305. In a municipality where Trans 305 isn't adopted into its municipal code, citations under this statute are handled in circuit court. Municipal courts hear city ordinance violations, while circuit courts hear a wide variety of cases that are in violation of state law. Fines paid through circuit court go to the state. Fines paid for an ordinance violation handled in municipal court go to the municipality. So as of Aug. 1 in Wauwatosa, fines paid for a Trans 305 violation go to city revenue. Wauwatosa's municipal court has options for people to come in at night, while Milwaukee County Circuit Court does not, said Wauwatosa Police Sgt. Abby Pavlik. There's also more flexibility when it comes to how an ordinance violation is handled, Pavlik said. If a driver proves they fixed their violation before their municipal court date, the citation fee is waived, Pavlik said. "Our approach right now is to educate that person," Pavlik said. "You know, 'Did you know that your window is illegally tinted?' and then we can issue them a ticket and say, 'Hey, I need you to get this fixed.'" Why did Wauwatosa police ask for Trans 305 to be adopted into municipal code? The Wauwatosa Police Department showed examples of illegally tinted car windows during the department's proposal to the city's Transportation Affairs Committee on June 13. The Wauwatosa Police Department first proposed adopting Trans 305 into the city's code to city officials on June 13. The main concern presented explained how vehicles' illegal window tints threaten officer safety. When windows are illegally tinted, officers "have a difficult time seeing what's going on in the car, and we are basically at the whims of the (vehicle) occupants to listen and put the windows down for us so that we can see in," said Wauwatosa Police Captain Luke Vetter. Transportation Affairs Committee member John Dubinski, who said he has 35 years of experience working in law enforcement, agreed that illegal window tints compromise safety. "Walking alongside a car, trying to look in, I can't tell if it's a bunch of kids playing in the backseat with their toy guns, or if it's a bunch of thugs that just committed a crime," Dubinski said. Permissible window tints permit "passage through the windows of at least 50% of the visible light striking the windows," state law says. While this was already enforceable under state law, officers "shied away" from issuing these citations when they were handled at the circuit court level, said Wauwatosa Police Chief James MacGillis at a July 25 Transportation Affairs Committee meeting. At the municipal level, police have the flexibility to release a citation if the issue is fixed, he said. "Enforcement isn't always going to involve (paying) a citation," said MacGillis. "We also want to have releasability for people that are issued a citation if we want to have safe vehicles on our roadways." More stops for Trans 305 violations will disproportionately impact low-income drivers and people of color, public officials and residents say Data provided by the Wauwatosa Municipal Court shows that people who are Black are more likely to be cited for ordinance violations. The potential for an increase in stops for equipment violations sparked concerns regarding people of color who are already disproportionally cited, court records show. "Why was this proposal never sent to the diversity, equity and inclusion committee?" said Ald. Andrew Meindl at the council's Aug. 1 meeting. In 2022, for both nontraffic and traffic violations, 63.8% of citations were issued to Black people, while 24.8% were issued to white people, according to Wauwatosa's municipal court data. "How can this body pass this without the whole picture and understanding of how this will impact our residents and visitors?" Meindl said. While some officials mentioned that tickets can be dealt with more easily if they can be handled in Wauwatosa, municipal court data shows that most citations issued are for non-Tosa residents. Wauwatosa Municipal Court data shows that most citations issued for ordinance violations are for non-Tosa residents. Black people are more likely to be harmed in a traffic stop, according to the database Mapping Police Violence. To combat these statistics, The Center for Policing Equity, a California-based research center that analyzes and presents data for safer policing outcomes, recommends trying nonpolice alternatives for low-level traffic offenses. In July, Ann Arbor, Michigan's city council unanimously voted to ban traffic stops for equipment violations in order to gain trust with its minority community. Pulling over someone solely for something like tinted windows is "not usually a reason why an officer stops a vehicle," Pavlik said. Cracking down on vehicle equipment violations is unfair to low-income drivers, said Wauwatosa resident Nicole Etter in a letter to the common council. "Folks still need to be able to get to work, school, and doctor's appointments in our community," Etter wrote. "To assume that everyone can immediately afford to remedy their vehicle issue and get their ticket dropped is the height of privilege." Pavlik said there's no guarantee that citations will increase now that they are handled at the city level. "Any stop we make is at officer discretion, so it's all to be determined," Pavlik said. More: Police officers speak to Black drivers less respectfully, study finds. Here's why it matters Making Trans 305 a city ordinance violation could be a financial incentive for police, Ald. Meindl says Handling Trans 305 violations at the municipal level takes away funding from Wisconsin's Common School Fund, "the only source of funding for Wisconsin school libraries," Meindl said. "We will be taking dollars away from school libraries and instead bringing that revenue to the city of Wauwatosa," Meindl said. "City revenue will likely be an incentive for police to ticket for minor equipment violations." Police did not mention an increase in revenue during their proposals to city officials. Instead, Pavlik told the Journal Sentinel that the primary goal of the proposal is to have these violations fixed. The newly passed ordinance is a chance to increase awareness around vehicle equipment safety, Pavlik said, and she plans to coordinate public outreach initiatives to help people understand vehicle requirements and which modifications, like tints and lifts, are allowed. Quinn Clark can be emailed at QClark@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Quinn_A_Clark. More: Tyre Nichols' death is the latest example of a minor traffic stop turning deadly, experts say More: She thought her municipal court was operating like a 'cattle call.' So she decided to change it. THANK YOU: Subscribers' support makes this work possible. Help us share the knowledge by buying a gift subscription. DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tosa passes new ordinance on vehicle equipment violations (Photo : Photo by Daniel Tausis on Unsplash) Eleven bodies were discovered in eastern France after a fire ripped through a vacation home for people with intellectual disabilities. In a devastating incident that unfolded in the early hours of the morning, a fire ravaged a holiday cottage for disabled people located in Wintzenheim, a town approximately 50 miles south of Strasbourg, France. The blaze, which broke out before 6:30 am (0430 GMT), tragically claimed the lives of eleven individuals, officials have confirmed, according to New York Times. Tragic Situation in French Holiday Cottage The victims included individuals with learning disabilities as well as their caregivers, who were occupying the top floor of the two-storey building when the fire ignited. The fire's rapid spread hindered their escape, and as the flames intensified, their lives were tragically cut short. As Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and other officials visited the site, Deputy Prosecutor Nathalie Kielwasser provided a grim confirmation of the death toll: "I can confirm there are 11 victims." Among the victims were ten people with disabilities and one caregiver. Despite the valiant efforts of the firefighting teams, eight bodies were discovered amidst the wreckage, with three more expected to be found once the debris is carefully removed. Seventeen individuals were successfully evacuated, with one person receiving medical attention for shock. Authorities managed to bring the flames under control, but the inferno had already taken a significant toll on the building. The tragic event unfolded as the holiday-goers were renting the cottage for the summer through two charities that specialize in caring for individuals with learning disabilities. The visitors from the nearby city of Nancy were divided between the two floors of the house, and out of the total 28 occupants, seventeen managed to escape the fire's grip. The authorities revealed that the victims were likely to have been between the ages of 25 and 50, as per Daily Mail. Read Also: Niger: Ex-Rebel Launches Anti-Coup Movement to Restore Bazoum Fatal Fire Strikes French Cottage, Sparking Investigation Despite the efforts of search and rescue teams, it became evident that those on the top floor had been trapped by the flames, leaving little hope of survival. The cause of the fire remains unknown at this point, and an investigation is set to be initiated by regional prosecutors. Christophe Marot, Secretary General of the Haut Rhin prefecture, stated that there was a high probability that the victims were unable to escape due to the rapid progression of the fire. The traditional semi-timbered building, showcasing the architectural style of the Alsace region, sustained significant damage from the blaze. The fire, which likely began as a small smoldering flame before quickly escalating, reduced approximately two-thirds of the structure to ruins. French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his condolences, saying, "In the face of this tragedy, my thoughts are with the victims, the injured and their families. Thank you to our security forces and emergency services." Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin also expressed his gratitude to the firefighters and extended his sympathies to the victims' families. As investigations into the incident are underway, the focus remains on understanding the circumstances that led to this horrific event. The community, along with the nation, mourns the loss of eleven lives and the irreparable damage caused by the fire. As the debris is cleared and the investigation unfolds, questions surrounding the origin of the blaze and the potential for preventing such tragedies in the future will likely take center stage, BBC reported. Related Article: Hawaii Declares State of Emergency Due to Ongoing Wildfires Fueled by Hurricane Dora @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. WAYNESBORO A man who stomped on the mother of his child and shot her companion earlier this year is headed to prison after pleading guilty Wednesday in Waynesboro Circuit Court. On the afternoon of March 20, the woman was dropping off her 4-year-old daughter she shares with Zaine A. Wells Jr., 25, near the intersection of Ohio Street and North Magnolia Avenue, according to Waynesboro Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Elysse Stolpe. The prosecutor said Jamal Faqiri was with the woman. After arriving, Stolpe said multiple recording devices from nearby residences showed that Wells shoved the woman to the ground after she'd gotten their daughter out of the vehicle. Stolpe said Wells "stomped on her multiple times." Wells then pulled a handgun from his waistband, leaned inside the vehicle and shot Faqiri, who exited the vehicle and fell to the ground, Stolpe said. Eric Anderson, of the Public Defender's Office in Staunton, noted in court there was some prior animosity between Wells and the shooting victim, and said the night before the incident during a video chat that Faqiri allegedly threatened Wells and flashed a gun. On Wednesday, Wells pleaded guilty to charges of malicious wounding, use of a firearm in the commission of a malicious wounding, use of a firearm by a convicted felon, and assault and battery. In a plea deal, Wells was sentenced to a total of 16 years in prison with 11 suspended, giving him five years to serve. In court, Stolpe said when told of the deal, Faqiri indicated he didn't want Wells to spend any time behind bars. Stolpe also noted the woman who was assaulted wasn't interested in prosecuting Wells, stating she "was not exactly cooperative at the preliminary hearing" in June. Wells remains at Middle River Regional Jail in Verona. He will be transferred to the Virginia Department of Corrections to serve his sentence. Lawsuit in Augusta County claims signs of stroke were missed by emergency room physician Staunton's Dogwood Square sees new life with arrival of Planet Fitness Brad Zinn is the cops, courts and breaking news reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip? Or something that needs investigating? You can email reporter Brad Zinn (he/him) at bzinn@newsleader.com. You can also follow him on Twitter. This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Waynesboro man pleads guilty in shooting, sentenced to prison An excessive heat warning has been issued for South Florida for the third straight day. The National Weather Service in Miami said the warning is in effect until 7 p.m. Thursday. The Florida Keys will be under a heat advisory, which could turn into a warning. Forecasters expect a feels like high temperature of 111, which triggered the warning. Its going to be a scorcher, said Lissette Gonzalez, a meteorologist at CBS News Miami. Record heat will be possible. MORE: How hot is South Florida? Beach sand was 137 degrees and playground floor reached 177 What the warnings mean The weather service lowered the threshold for the severe weather alerts this year. Heres what to know: A heat advisory issued when the heat index will be 105 degrees or higher for at least two hours. An excessive heat warning is issued when the heat index will be 110 degrees or higher dangerously hot for at least two hours. #WeatherExplained: The Science Behind The Heat Index Compared to the actual air temperature, the heat index (a.k.a. the feels-like temp.) is a better measure of how the temperature feels to the human body. Today, Miami International Airport recorded a heat index of 114F. pic.twitter.com/5EuIFXNrL5 NWS Miami (@NWSMiami) August 10, 2023 What is the heat index? Measurement: The heat index is a measure of how how it really feels, according to the National Weather Service, when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature. Calculator: The weather service uses a heat index calculator to come up with the number. South Florida forecast Thursday: High 94, low 81, 30% rain chance. Friday: High 93, low 82, 30% rain chance. Saturday: High 93, low 81, 80% rain chance Sunday: High 92, low 81, 70% rain chance West African leaders on Thursday said they firmly supported diplomacy in the search to end the crisis in Niger, stepping back from a threat to intervene militarily in the coup-stricken country. "We prioritise diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach," said Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, chairing an emergency summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja. The 15-nation bloc is struggling to stem military takeovers that have now swept through four of its members in three years. Their summit came four days after the expiry of an ultimatum to Niger's coup leaders to reinstate the elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, who was detained by guards on July 26. But the regime ignored the deadline. "Regrettably, the seven-day ultimatum we issued during the first summit has not yielded the desired outcome," Tinubu acknowledged. "We must engage all parties involved, including the coup leaders, in earnest discussions to convince them to relinquish power and reinstate President Bazoum," he said. "It is our duty to exhaust all avenues of engagement to ensure a swift return to constitutional governance in Niger." The coup leaders on Thursday signalled further defiance by appointing a new government. The 21-member cabinet will be headed by Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, a civilian, with generals from the new military governing council at the defence and interior ministries. The possibility of military intervention in Niger, a fragile nation that ranks among the world's poorest, sparked debate within ECOWAS and warnings from neighbouring Algeria as well as Russia. Niger's neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, both ruled by military governments that seized power in coups, also declared an intervention would be a "declaration of war" on their countries. - Hopes for 'real discussions' - On Tuesday, a bid to send a joint team of ECOWAS, UN and African Union representatives to Niger's capital Niamey was rejected by the coup leaders. But in a twist on Wednesday, a former emir of the Nigerian city of Kano said he had met with the coup leaders to help mediate the crisis. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi told Nigerian state television he had spoken to coup leader General Abdourahamane Tiani and would deliver a "message" to Tinubu, though he was not an official government emissary. "We came hoping that our arrival will pave the way for real discussions between the leaders of Niger and those of Nigeria," said Sanusi, who is known to be a close friend of Tinubu. Current ECOWAS chair Nigeria is taking a hard line against last month's coup, the fifth in Niger since independence from France in 1960. Speaking before flying to Abuja on Wednesday, Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo said the future of ECOWAS was at stake following coups in four member states -- Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and now Niger. Bazoum remains Niger's sole recognised president and coups must be banned, he added. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres joined a chorus of concern about 63-year-old Bazoum, saying that he and his family were reportedly living in "deplorable living conditions". CNN reported Wednesday that Bazoum was being kept in isolation and given meals of only plain rice and pasta. - Unstable Sahel - Countries in the Sahel are battling a jihadist insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012, spread to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015, and is now causing jitters in states on the Gulf of Guinea. The bloody campaign has been devastating for those three countries, which have turbulent histories and rank among the poorest nations in the world. Niger has the misfortune of facing a double jihadist insurgency, both in its southwest and also from militants crossing into the southeast. Across the region, thousands of civilians, police and soldiers have been killed. I Bazoum's election in 2021 had helped Niger cement close ties with France and the United States, which have major bases and troop deployments in the country. France last year withdrew its forces from Mali and Burkina Faso after falling out with their military leaders, refocussing its anti-jihadist strategy on Niger. cma/ri/js Motorcyclists ride by the entrance of the airport in Niamey, Niger, Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. West African heads of state have begun meeting Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023 in Abuja, Nigeria, on next steps to take after Niger's military junta defied their deadline to reinstate the deposed president. Analysts say the bloc known as ECOWAS might be running out of options as support fades for a military intervention. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick) NIAMEY, Niger (AP) Nigers junta told a top U.S. diplomat that they would kill deposed President Mohamed Bazoum if neighboring countries attempted any military intervention to restore his rule, two Western officials told The Associated Press. They spoke to the AP shortly before the West African bloc ECOWAS said it had directed the deployment of a standby force to restore democracy in Niger, after its deadline of Sunday to reinstate Bazoum expired. The threat to the deposed president raises the stakes both for ECOWAS and for the junta, which has shown its willingness to escalate its actions since it seized power on July 26. Niger was seen as the last country in the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert that Western nations could partner with to counter jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group that has killed thousands and displaced millions of people. The international community is scrambling to find a peaceful solution to the countrys leadership crisis. Representatives of the junta told U.S. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland of the threat to Bazoum during her visit to the country this week, a Western military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. A U.S. official confirmed that account, also speaking on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The threats from both sides escalate tensions but hopefully nudge them closer to actually talking, said Aneliese Bernard, a former U.S. State Department official who specialized in African affairs and is now director of Strategic Stabilization Advisors, a risk advisory group. Still, this junta has escalated its moves so quickly that its possible they do something more extreme, as that has been their approach so far, she cautioned. Nine leaders from the 15-member West African bloc met Thursday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to discuss their next steps. Speaking after the talks, ECOWAS commission president Omar Alieu Touray said he could only reaffirm the decisions by the military authorities in the subregion to deploy a standby force of the community. Financing had been discussed and "appropriate measures have been taken, he said. He blamed the junta for any hardship caused by the sanctions imposed on Niger and said further actions by the bloc would be taken jointly. It is not one country against another country. The community has instruments to which all members have subscribed to, he said. A former British Army official who has worked in Nigeria told The Associated Press the ECOWAS statement could be seen as the green light to begin assembling their forces with the ultimate aim of restoring constitutional order. With regards to the use of force, the official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said there was currently nothing in place other than Nigerian forces. Without enablers and the support of other regional armies, its unlikely theyd enter, the official said. ECOWAS has imposed harsh economic and travel sanctions on Niger, but analysts say it may be running out of options as support fades for intervention. The bloc has failed to stem past coups in the region: Niger is the fourth of its member states to undergo a coup in the last three years. Nnamdi Obasi, a senior adviser with the Crisis Group think tank, said ECOWAS should further explore diplomacy in Niger. The use of force could lead to unintended and catastrophic consequences with unpredictable outcomes, he said, warning that a military intervention could also trigger a major regional conflict between democratic governments and an alliance of military regimes. The wider African Union has yet to weigh in on this crisis. The AU Peace and Security Council could well overrule this ECOWAS decision if it felt that wider peace and security on the continent was threatened by an intervention, said Cameron Hudson, a former official for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Any coup that has succeeded beyond 24 hours has come to stay. So, as it is, they are speaking from the point of strength and advantage, said Oladeinde Ariyo, a security analyst in Nigeria. So, negotiating with them will have to be on their terms. The junta has cut ties with France and exploited popular grievances toward its former colonial ruler. It also has asked for help from the Russian mercenary group Wagner, which operates in a handful of African countries and has been accused of committing human rights abuses. Moscow is using Wagner and other channels of influence to discredit Western nations, asserted Lou Osborn , an investigator with All Eyes on Wagner, a project focusing on the group. Tactics include using social media to spread rumors, mobilize demonstrations and spread false narratives, Osborn said. She pointed to a Telegram post on Wednesday by an alleged Wagner operative, Alexander Ivanov, asserting that France had begun the mass removal of children likely to be used for slave labor and sexual exploitation. Neither Russia's government nor Wagner responded to questions. Meanwhile, Niger's approximately 25 million people are feeling the impact of the sanctions. Some neighborhoods in the capital, Niamey have little access to electricity and there are frequent power cuts across the city. The country gets up to 90% of its power from Nigeria, which has cut off some of the supply. Since the coup, Hamidou Albade, 48, said he's been unable to run his shop on the outskirts of Niamey because there's been no electricity. He also works as a taxi driver but lost business because a lot of his foreign clients have left. It's very difficult, I just sit at home doing nothing, he said. Still, he supports the junta. Were suffering now, but I know the junta will find a solution to get out of the crisis, he said. ___ Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria. Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Dan Ikpoyi in Lagos, Nigeria, Ellen Knickmeyer and Matthew Lee in Washington, DC contributed. The News Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said Thursday that diplomatic negotiations and dialogue will be the bedrock of any attempt to persuade Nigers military junta to engage in a peaceful resolution to last months coup. The statement was made at an emergency summit of leaders representing the West African bloc Ecowas in Nigerias capital, Abuja. Coup leaders in Niger defied a weekend deadline to release the countrys democratically elected president or face potential military intervention, and have since resisted efforts at mediation. Weve curated news and analysis on the developing situation in Niger and whether meaningful negotiations are likely. Insights Nigers coup leaders revealed a new government of 21 ministers on Thursday including three top generals who helped oust President Mohamed Bazoum. No further plans were announced. The military junta reportedly sought help from Russias Wagner paramilitary group as the deadline to release Nigers president or face possible military intervention was looming. Speaking to the Associated Press, Wassim Nasr, a journalist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center said that coup leaders need Wagner because they will become their guarantee to hold onto power. Amad Hassane Boubacar from the University of Niamey labeled the junta involving Wagner a sham. Coup leaders, Boubacar noted, opposed foreign interference but were ready to make a pact with Russia. One of the leading coup plotters has been the U.S.s top ally in the fight against Islamist militants in West Africa, The Wall Street Journal reported. Brig. Gen. Moussa Salaou Barmou, the juntas Chief of Defense staff, trained his men alongside American troops in Niger. But since the uprising, Barmou has expressed a divergence of interests from the U.S. which could cost Niger its American military aid. If that is the price to pay for our sovereignty, then let it be, Barmou said to the Journal. Tech blow-ups are ten-a-penny but few companies better illustrate the willingness of venture capitalists to swallow the overblown promises of charismatic founders than office rental outfit WeWork. The company limps on for the time being, desperately trying to rediscover the spark that made it the darling of the start-up world. WeWork once secured a preposterous albeit short-lived $47bn (37bn) valuation that defied a long track record of steep losses. Those heady days are ancient history. Its latest financial results reveal an outfit in a ferocious battle just to keep its head above water. The New York-based company is haemorrhaging cash, and customers are cancelling their memberships, prompting an admission that it is at risk of going bust. The announcement triggered a further 33pc collapse in its already weedy share price. Having raised billions, WeWork is now valued at less than $300m. Perhaps some good can come from its potential demise. The fate of WeWork should serve as a fable for the entire start-up world. Tech moguls and their financiers should stop to consider how so many of them bought so credulously into the WeWork story in the first place. Recall that WeWork founder Adam Neumann proudly tells the story of how Japanese technology super-investor Masayoshi Son promised to hand WeWork $4.4bn after Neumann gave him a tour of one of its offices in 2016 lasting just 12 minutes. Japanese super-investor Masayoshi Son promised to hand WeWork $4.4bn after a 12-minute tour of its offices in 2016 - STR/AFP Thats not quite the shock it seems. With the British microchip designer Arm an honourable exception, Masayoshis Vision Fund has emphatically failed to live up to its grandiose name with an uncanny knack of picking duds that have left it nursing colossal losses. More surprising perhaps is that 12 minutes of Neumanns waffle wasnt enough to convince the Japanese telecoms supremo to run a mile. This was a company that claimed to be elevating the worlds consciousness. What does that even mean? Neumanns wife and co-founder Rebekah was referred to as a strategic thought partner. Such drivel should set off deafening alarm bells, not be taken as evidence of some extraordinary business genius deserving of extraordinary financial backing. One of the biggest problems with tech industry culture and the venture capitalists that fund so much of it, is the ability of entrepreneurs to convince supposedly sophisticated investors to part with truckloads of cash on the basis of what is essentially little more than the repackaging of a fairly mundane, or worse, an entirely unoriginal idea as something profound and life-changing. It is simply too easy to claim the tech company status and the rating that goes with it. There was Greensill, a glorified lending shop that spent years masquerading as a fintech disrupter before it collapsed owning very little technology at all; Peloton, the maker of exercise bikes with video stream workouts, which described itself as a technology company that meshes the physical and digital worlds when it went public in 2019; and Moonpig, an online greetings card seller that shouts about its proprietary algorithms and machine learning tools. Meanwhile, investors searching for a home for all that cheap money, have been only too happy to indulge such fantasies. This matters because too many mediocre companies fail to live up to the hype, and shareholders many of whom have been tasked with investing our money are left out of pocket as result. Neumann seems to have blinded people with the sort of cringeworthy words and phrases you might find tumbling out of the mouth of an obnoxious candidate on The Apprentice. In reality, WeWork was little more than an office landlord trying to charge a premium for a desk with access to ping-pong tables and free craft beer. Yet, to listen to Neumanns credulous acolytes in those early days you would be mistaken for thinking theyd uncovered the next Bill Gates or Elon Musk. Another serious shortcoming of the tech industry is a willingness to overlook some major financial red flags on the basis that somehow they dont apply to high-growth companies. It is only later it emerges that the basic rules of business count after all. WeWork stretched the boundaries to the limit and in the end it took an abandoned stock market float in 2019 to expose the precariousness of its balance sheet: losses of $1.9bn on $1.8bn of turnover the previous year, taking net losses to $4.2bn since 2016; $47bn of lease obligations; and cash burn of $700m a quarter. The float prospectus came with 30 pages of risk factors, prompting one observer to remark that it was more performance art than financial document. A company worth $47bn at the start of the year suddenly found it was unable to get a listing away at a vastly reduced valuation of between $15bn and $18bn just months later. The share sale was eventually resurrected in 2021 with WeWork commanding a market cap of $9bn, roughly a fifth of what it achieved at its peak. It has gone on to shed 98pc of its value, leaving it worth less than $300m. This is a business offering flexible office space during the biggest hybrid working boom in history and it still isnt making money. If WeWorks bosses cant find a way to make the model work now then surely they never will. Meanwhile, some serious soul-searching is required in venture capital land. Instead, Neumanns next property-technology venture has already raised $350m from a Silicon Valley investor. 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. Republican presidential candidates are set to face off in just two weeks at the partys first primary debate in Milwaukee, but the White House hopefuls first have to agree to the Republican National Committees (RNC) required pledge to support whoever becomes the eventual GOP nominee. I affirm that if I do not win the 2024 Republican nomination for President of the United States, I will honor the will of the primary voters and support the nominee in order to save our country and beat Joe Biden, reads the pledge, according to copies shared online by some of the candidates. The Beat Biden pledge is among several RNC requirements for candidates vying to get on the Aug. 23 debate stage. Candidates also must meet specific polling thresholds and secure 40,000 or more unique donors, including at least 200 unique donors from 20 or more states and territories. Theyre also asked to not participate in any debates not sanctioned by the RNC, and to promise they wont run as an independent or write-in candidate. But the loyalty pledge has become the most contentious requirement, with some candidates skirting questions about backing the partys eventual nominee, and others outright critical of the ask. Heres where the candidates stand on signing the pledge: Donald Trump The former president said Wednesday that he wont sign the loyalty pledge. I wouldnt sign the pledge. Why would I sign a pledge if there are people on there that I wouldnt have? I wouldnt have certain people as somebody that I would endorse, Trump told Eric Bolling on Newsmax. He had long been noncommittal about the pledge, saying back in February that his support would depend on who the nominee was. Trump has hit the polling and donor benchmarks, but whether he joins his fellow candidates onstage is still up for debate. Hes threatened to pass on the event, something he also floated during his 2016 and 2020 bids, but he said Wednesday that hell announce next week whether he plans to attend. RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and several of Trumps GOP rivals are among those pressing for him to be part of the upcoming debate. Ron DeSantis The Florida governors team on Wednesday shared a copy of his signed pledge, captioned See you in Milwaukee! DeSantis had previously ducked questions about whether hed support the eventual GOP nominee. According to DeSantiss campaign, the requirement that candidates not participate in debates unsanctioned by the RNC wont impact plans for a debate between DeSantis and Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The Florida GOP has also said it will ask presidential candidates to sign word-for-word the same language as the RNC pledge to support the eventual Republican winner. Nikki Haley Haley on Thursday also shared a copy of her signed pledge, captioned, Alright fellas, your turn. The former South Carolina governor had crossed out the Beat Biden header on the document and added text to read, Beat President Harris. She recently rebuked her fellow candidates for not supporting the loyalty pledge, saying that its absolutely irresponsible that Trump, DeSantis, and others wont commit 100% to supporting the Republican nominee. Vivek Ramaswamy The Washington Post earlier this week reported that Ramaswamy had become the first GOP candidate to formally qualify for the debate by signing the loyalty pledge. The conservative entrepreneurs campaign had previously told The Hill he planned to sign the agreement. Chris Christie Christie has called the RNCs required pledge to support whoever wins the partys nomination in 2024 a useless idea, saying on CNN its only [in] the era of Donald Trump is such a pledge is needed. In all my life, we never had to have Republican primary candidates take a pledge. You know, we were Republicans, and the idea is youd support the Republican whether you won or whether you lost, and you didnt have to ask somebody to sign something, Christie said. The former governor said on ABC that hell do whatever he has to do to get on the debate stage, but that hell take the pledge to back the GOP nominee just as seriously as Donald Trump did eight years ago. Mike Pence Ive always supported the Republican nominee for president in the United States. And Ill support the Republican nominee in 2024, especially if its me, the former vice president told CNN during a town hall event. At the same time, Pence has been critical of his former running mate. As Trump faces legal woes related to the transfer of power after he lost the 2020 election, Pence has said anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again. Pence is the first former vice president in decades to run against the president he once served. Will Hurd I wont be signing any kind of pledges, and I dont think that parties should be trying to rig who should be on a debate stage, Hurd told CNN. The former Texas representative said plainly that he wont support Trump and that hes not in the business of lying to the American people in order to get a microphone. And so I cant honestly say Im going to sign something even if he may or may not be the nominee, Hurd said. Hurd also doesnt appear to have reached the polling and donor requirements with just two weeks to go before the debate. Tim Scott Asked whether Scott has met the RNCs requirements, including the candidate commitment to back the eventual nominee, a spokesperson for the South Carolina senators campaign told The Hill that Scott looks forward to being on the debate stage. All Republican candidates would be better than any Democrat candidate, Scott told Fox News. Scott on Aug. 11 became the latest candidate to share a copy of his signed pledge. I look forward to sharing my positive, optimistic message on the GOP Debate stage in Milwaukee, Scott wrote. Republicans are ready for conservative leadership with a backbone, one that will crush the cartels, stand up to China, and protect the America we all love. Doug Burgum Burgums campaign on Thursday announced that the North Dakota governor has signed the pledge. Hed previously been vocal about his plans to support whoever secures the nomination, including Trump. Im gonna support whoever the Republican candidate is going forward in 2024, Burgum said on Good Morning America. Asa Hutchinson Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has promised to meet whatever is set as the criteria to get on the debate stage, but hes been critical of the RNCs requirements overall. I have always supported the party nominee, but I have never supported a party loyalty oath. The pledge should simply be that you will not run as a third party candidate, Hutchinson said in a statement. The pledge, as shared by the candidates, does include a promise not to run as an independent. Hutchinson also knocked the polling and donor benchmarks, but added I do intend to be on the debate stage because it is important. He appears to have met the polling requirements but said in early August that he was still short on donors. Francis Suarez I think every single Republican candidate who wants to be on the debate stage has to pledge to support the nominee, and I will do that as well, the Miami mayor said on ABC News. Suarez has announced his campaign crossed the donor threshold to qualify for the first debate, but he still needs to reach the polling requirements to get on stage. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. The White House on Thursday outlined a supplemental funding request for Congress for the start of the coming fiscal year, asking for billions more dollars for assistance to Ukraine amid its war with Russia as well as money for domestic priorities like disaster relief and border management. The Biden administration is asking Congress for roughly $40 billion total for the first quarter of fiscal 2024, providing short-term funds for key priorities as lawmakers are set to negotiate over larger spending bills. With the end of the fiscal year quickly approaching, today, the Administration is transmitting a supplemental funding request to the Congress to address three sets of critical needs for emergency funding as part of a potential short-term continuing resolution for the first quarter of FY 2024, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young wrote in a letter to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) Heres a look at whats in the administrations supplemental funding request: Ukraine funding The Biden administration is asking Congress for a total of $24 billion in military, financial and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine. The request includes about $13 billion in defense funds to assist Ukraine: $9.5 billion for equipment and replenishment of Pentagon stocks, and $3.6 billion for continued military, intelligence and other defense support. The request also includes $8.5 billion in funding for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide economic, humanitarian and security assistance, as well as $2.3 billion through the Treasury Department so Ukraine does not have to rely on financing through China or other coercive sources. The Administration is requesting supplemental security, economic, and humanitarian assistance funding that would support Ukraine as well as countries and vulnerable populations worldwide impacted by Russias unprovoked and brutal invasion of Ukraine, Young wrote in her letter to McCarthy. President Biden has been adamant that the U.S. will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes as the Russian invasion extends into another month. And while there is broad bipartisan support for Ukraine aid, some Republicans have voiced concerns about providing additional funds to the Ukrainians for a war with no end in sight. The question for the White House is whether enough Republicans, particularly in the House, can be won over to back the supplemental funding request to provide another burst of funding for Kyiv. A senior administration official told reporters that there is enough funding already approved for Ukraine aid to last through the end of the current fiscal year. The official added that the White House wont be bashful about going back to Congress to ask for more funding in the future. Disaster relief The White House is requesting $12 billion in supplemental funds to ensure the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has enough money to respond to natural disasters, as well as to handle future disasters. FEMA is projected to have a significant deficit in its disaster relief fund, officials said. The $12 billion would help address ongoing disaster response recovery efforts at a time when wildfires have destroyed parts of Hawaii and hurricane season is on the horizon. A senior administration official said the funding request reflects both current needs and our best projections of what is expected to be required. In addition, the administration is asking for $45 million through the Department of Agriculture and $15 million through the Department of Interior to implement wildland firefighter pay increases for the first quarter of fiscal 2024. Border and migration The administration is requesting roughly $4 billion total in supplemental funding for border and migration efforts, an ask that may help to win over some GOP supporters who would otherwise be skeptical of approving more spending. The White House is specifically asking for $2.65 billion in funding through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Of that, $2.2 billion would be allocated for border management operations and shelter and services for migrants released from DHS custody. An additional $416 million through DHS would be for nonintrusive inspection system deployment and other measures meant to counter fentanyl trafficking. The administration is also asking for $59 million for the Executive Office for Immigration Review immigration judge teams and for fentanyl testing, tracing, networking targeting and data systems. White House officials have argued they inherited a broken immigration system and have been working to streamline it to make it more humane while also getting the flow of migrants under control. Young, in her letter to McCarthy, wrote that the administrations plan is working as intended, but the additional funds are needed. We are operating within a fundamentally broken immigration systemeveryone agrees on that pointbut only the Congress has the power to update our immigration and asylum laws, and we continue to stand ready to work with the Congress on solutions, Young wrote. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. WASHINGTON The White House on Thursday asked Congress for nearly $800 million in additional funding to fight drug addiction and overdoses, which killed more than 100,000 people in the U.S. last year, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The request comes during a "critical inflection point," Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in an interview. He said that after years of increases in overdose deaths, the trend is starting to flatten out. "Just like a large ship, you have to slow it down, stop and then turn it around," Gupta said. "And that's exactly what we're seeing in real time." He said someone in the U.S. dies every five minutes from an overdose, "so the urgency could never be more important at this point in time." The funding request, which was detailed first to NBC News, is part of a larger funding appeal from the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Shalanda Young. On Thursday, Young sent a letter whose recipients included House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate appropriations committees requesting supplemental funding for Ukraine assistance, disaster recovery and border management. Young said in the letter that the requested resources to manage the Southwest border include efforts to reduce the "influx" of drugs like fentanyl. "We are operating within a fundamentally broken immigration system everyone agrees on that point but only the Congress has the power to update our immigration and asylum laws, and we continue to stand ready to work with Congress on solutions," she said. Reached for comment, a McCarthy spokesperson said in an email: "A Republican-led House will not rubber-stamp any blank-check funding requests; rather, the Administrations emergency funding requests must be reviewed and scrutinized on their merits consistent with the practice and principles of our majority." Leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in a statement that they "look forward" to reviewing the funding request and called the targeted areas "important priorities." The letters other recipients did not immediately reply to requests for comment. The new drug prevention-related funding aims to expand access to addiction care and help the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services reduce the amount of fentanyl entering the U.S. Of the approximately $800 million, $350 million would go to HHS for prevention, support and recovery services, $50 million of which would be transferred to the Indian Health Service. DHS would receive $323 million to fund fentanyl detection at ports of entry and counter drug trafficking. Gupta said he is "absolutely optimistic" that Congress will grant the funding. "This is a bipartisan issue, and this is exactly why the president has made this one of the four pillars of his unity agenda, because he's aware and he knows that this is an issue that no one individual, agency or state can solve for themselves," he said. "This is going to take an all-hands-on-deck approach." The number of drug overdose deaths last year reached about 105,000 in the U.S., relatively similar to the previous year, according to provisional data from the CDC. The CDC projected that more than 82,000 of them involved opioid overdoses. A CDC report last year found that the rate of fatal drug overdoses rose by 30% from 2019 to 2020, with most of the deaths due to fentanyl. Xylazine, an animal tranquilizer, is on the rise in fentanyl products. The monthly percentage of deaths from illicitly manufactured fentanyl products that included xylazine spiked from 2.9% in January 2019 to 10.9% in June 2022 in 20 states and Washington, D.C., according to a CDC study. Last month, the White House released a national response plan for handling the drug combination. That followed April's announcement that the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy was designating the drug combination as an emerging threat. President Joe Biden included addressing drug overdoses as part of what the administration has dubbed his "unity agenda." The agenda outlines four areas for bipartisan cooperation: addressing drug overdoses, prioritizing mental health, fighting cancer and supporting veterans. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com White Mother Accused Of Trafficking Her Biracial Daughter: The Way This Was Handled Was So Unprofessional | Daniel Knighton via Getty Images A mother has filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines after a flight attendant accused her of trafficking her own daughter in 2021. The mother is white and her child is biracial. According to the lawsuit, Mary MacCarthy was traveling from Los Angeles to Denver with her 10-year-old daughter when the airline employee made a racist assumption about a mixedrace family and reported her to police. In her lawsuit filed on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, the California resident said she was flying to Denver to attend the funeral of her older brother when she faced the accusation. According to CBS News, MacCarthy said two armed officers from the Denver Police Department confronted her when she landed. The officers informed them that they wanted to question Plaintiff MacCarthy and her daughter because a Southwest Airlines employee had reported them as suspicious and Plaintiff MacCarthy as a potential human trafficker, the lawsuit states. As the officers spoke with Plaintiff MacCarthy, Plaintiff M.M. began to sob, fearing that she and/or her mother were in legal trouble for some reason. MacCarthy and her daughter were allowed to go after the mother showed her identification and explained why she traveled to Denver. I travel with my daughters birth certificate because Im ready to answer any questions if necessary, MacCarthy said at that time according to NBC Chicago. The fact that were mother and daughter, the fact that Im a single parent traveling with my daughter, its the right of TSA to ask those questions. Im open to that. But the way this was handled was so unprofessional. MacCarthy said the incident caused extreme emotional distress for herself and her daughter. The California mother is now seeking economic damages and compensatory damages in her complaint, as well as punitive and exemplary damages. Attorney David Lane, whos representing MacCarthy, said the airline needs to re-examine its training and policies. In using racial profiling to cause the Denver police to stop innocent travelers, Southwest Airlines has attempted to address the serious crime of sex-trafficking through use of a stereotypical, easy formula, Lane told CBS News. Just as the police are constitutionally not permitted to stop-and-frisk young men of color based upon their race, corporate America is similarly not permitted to resort to such profiling in using law enforcement to stop and question racially diverse families simply based upon their divergent races, which is what Southwest did. A Southwest Airlines spokesperson who spoke with CBS News said the company doesnt have anything to add right now on this pending litigation. (Photo : hoto by VINCENZO CIRCOSTA/AFP via Getty Images) According to reports from the Italian Red Cross and rescue organizations, a migrant boat capsized in rough waters near Tunisia, possibly leading to the tragic loss of 41 lives. Reports from the Italian Red Cross and various rescue organizations indicate that a boat transporting migrants overturned in turbulent waters near Tunisia, potentially resulting in the loss of 41 lives. This information comes from four survivors who were successfully rescued and brought ashore on Wednesday, As per Fox News. Tragedy Strikes as Migrant Boat Capsizes Near Tunisia The vessel, which had departed from Tunisia, sank mere hours after setting sail, leaving only four survivors among the 45 passengers on board. Miraculously, the survivors managed to cling to inner tubes and remain afloat until they were spotted by a merchant ship. Rescued after enduring what could have been a day in the water, the survivors were transferred to an Italian Coast Guard vessel. Tragically, no other passengers from the ill-fated ship were found or saved. The survivors, originating from the Ivory Coast and Guinea, asserted they had no connection to the other passengers on the ship. Among the passengers were at least three children, yet only a 13-year-old boy managed to survive. The remaining survivors comprise a woman and two men. Healthcare workers at a migrant center on Lampedusa, operated by the Italian Red Cross, confirmed that all four survivors were in stable health. The incident serves as a grim reminder of the perilous journeys undertaken by migrants seeking refuge. Over the weekend, the Mediterranean witnessed a series of tragedies caused by stormy weather, leading to numerous boat sinkings and loss of life. In two separate shipwrecks, at least 30 people went missing, with only two confirmed fatalities. The Italian Coast Guard successfully rescued 57 individuals from these two vessels. The migrant crisis in Italy shows no signs of abating, with approximately 92,000 migrants arriving since the year's commencement, including 43,000 who have made the treacherous sea journey. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) disclosed a harrowing statistic: over 2,000 individuals have either died or disappeared in the Mediterranean this year, according to Reuters. Read Also: Abducted American Nurse, Kid Released in Haiti: Aid Organization Red Cross Revamps Lampedusa Migrant Center Amid Crisis The vast majority of these casualties-around 1,800 people-followed the perilous "Central Mediterranean route." The IOM's Missing Migrants Project further highlighted the grim toll of such journeys. Since 2014, around 27,800 migrants have gone missing while attempting to navigate this route. In an effort to improve conditions for migrants, the Italian Red Cross assumed control of the Lampedusa migrant center on June 1. The center had previously suffered from inadequate medical staff and substandard facilities. The Red Cross promptly addressed these issues, refurbishing the center by installing new bathrooms, improving emergency capabilities, and providing a fresh medical team to ensure better living conditions for those seeking asylum. As Italy grapples with the ongoing migrant crisis, these incidents underscore the urgent need for international cooperation to address the underlying causes of migration and enhance the safety of these perilous journeys. In the broader context of Italy's ongoing migrant crisis, these incidents serve as a somber reminder of the urgency for global collaboration and collective action. As migrants continue to embark on perilous journeys in search of safety and refuge, the international community faces a shared responsibility to address the root causes of migration. By addressing issues such as conflict, economic instability, and lack of opportunity in migrants' countries of origin, the international community can work towards reducing the need for such risky ventures, Dailymail reported. Related Article: China Exports Slump, Imprelling Xi Jinping's Effort for Economic Recovery @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Five people affiliated with white nationalist hate group Patriot Front are suing a Seattle-area man who they say infiltrated the group and disclosed their identities online, leading them to lose their jobs and face harassment, according to The Seattle Times. What theyre really upset about is suffering the consequences of their abhorrent views views that they feel so strongly about, they dont want anyone to know. The suit accuses David Alan Capito, 37, also known as Vyacheslav Arkhangelskiy, of using a false name in late July 2021 to convince Patriot Front to accept him as a member. Once inside the group, Capito took pictures at its get-togethers in the Pacific Northwest, surreptitiously recorded members license plates and used hidden microphones to record conversations, according to the lawsuit. The suit also accuses Capito of using another group to hack into online chat rooms, further exposing members appalling views. We dont condone doxxing, or searching for and publishing private or identifying information about an individual on the internet, typically with malicious intent. We are not weighing in on whether this lawsuit has merit and we certainly dont condone breaking the law, which might be whats found to have happened here, as the members claim. Whats most interesting about this suit is that the Patriot Front members are complaining that their hideous, unpopular beliefs have consequences. The five plaintiffs say they were fired from their jobs, have been threatened at their homes and have had their tires slashed, among other things, according to the lawsuit. While those latter two things certainly go way across the line, the first is a result of actions having consequences. This complaint seeks to vindicate the rule of law and basic principles of free expression for persons who espouse unpopular opinions, according to the lawsuit. Its a warped view of freedom of expression when Patriot Front members attempt to completely conceal their ownership of said expression. Their views are so detestable, they wear masks in public and use pseudonyms online to disguise their identities. Idahoans are perhaps most familiar with the Patriot Front from a 2022 incident in which members piled into the back of U-Haul truck to try to disrupt an LGBTQ+ Pride celebration in Coeur dAlene. More than two dozen men were arrested and charged with planning to riot. Two of the three plaintiffs in this case Colton Brown, 33, who led the Washington states Patriot Front chapter, and James Julius Johnson, 37, from Skagit County in Washington were among the 31 people arrested, according to The Seattle Times. Johnson and four other men were convicted of misdemeanor conspiracy to riot and sentenced last month to a week in jail and a $1,000 fine. The Patriot Front suit does not attempt to hide its racist ideology and its mission to reforge our people, born to this nation of our European race as a new collective capable of asserting our right to cultural independence. It describes the groups actions as provocative but nonviolent. In the Pacific Northwest, the group has defaced civil rights and Pride murals, and monuments and signs that promote equality, a tactic it employs nationally, according to the Counter Extremism Project, The Seattle Times reported. Stephen Piggott, of the Western States Center, which tracks right-wing extremist groups, told the newspaper that the group has morphed its tactics in recent years, moving from defacing murals and placing stickers in the middle of the night to more confrontational public flash demonstrations. You have this uptick in activity, and the activity is getting more and more violent, he said. Since 2019, Patriot Front has been responsible for the vast majority of white supremacist propaganda distributed in the United States, according to the Anti-Defamation League. And the members own their abhorrent opinions by trying to keep their identities a secret. They seem to be most upset that Capito was trying to hold them up to public scrutiny like the rest of us. Hiding behind anonymity has become an all-too-common feature of white nationalist and extremist trolls who lurk in the shadows of social media, hiding behind bogus accounts and fake avatars, spewing hate, sowing division, and threatening and intimidating others. Its that anonymity that allows their putrescent views to grow and spread like a flesh-eating bacteria except in this case, its more like a brain-eating disease. The fact the Patriot Front members main complaint is that theyve suffered for being associated with these views is telling. The fact that employers even their own relatives, in the case of Brown want nothing to do with them tells you all you need to know. If Patriot Front members believe that they are right and just, why not attach their names to their beliefs and putrid goals? Otherwise, theyre just behaving in a cowardly fashion, hiding behind ridiculous masks, fake social media accounts and in the darkness of the back of a U-Haul van. 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 members Mary Rohlfing and Patricia Nilsson. A self-proclaimed white supremacist was arrested on criminal charges related to his alleged obstruction and witness tampering in the federal trial of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. Hardy Carroll Lloyd, 45, was taken into custody early Thursday morning. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Local self-proclaimed white supremacist, ex-felon arrested According to the criminal complaint, Lloyd made online comments about the federal hate crimes trial of Robert Bowers, the Pittsburgh synagogue mass shooter. Lloyd, a self-proclaimed reverend of a white supremacy movement, made threatening social media posts, website comments, and emails toward the jury and witnesses during the trial. Federal agents say he was calling on the jury to free Bowers. Hes also accused of posting the identity of a witness online to a page labeled enemies. His rhetoric and his messages escalated during the trial and he was hyper-focused on the trial. He believed the defendant is innocent and hes a supporter of the defendant. That was really hard to see and hard to read, said Shawn Brokos, the Director of Community Security for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. Lloyd, who used to live in Crafton, also placed or had others place stickers in predominantly Jewish areas of Pittsburgh, directing people to the website containing his threats and antisemitic messages. RELATED COVERAGE: Multiple people reportedly find anti-Semitic stickers, flyers at playground in Squirrel Hill Jury trials are a hallmark of the American justice system and attempts to intimidate witnesses or jurors will be met with a strong response, said United States Attorney William Ihlenfeld in a release. The use of hateful threats in an effort to undermine a trial is especially troubling. Lloyd is charged with obstruction of the due administration of justice, transmitting threats in interstate and foreign commerce and witness tampering. He faces up to ten years in prison for the obstruction charge, up to five years for the threats charge, and up to 20 in prison for the tampering charge. The arrest of Hardy Lloyd has been a long time coming. Hes been somebody whos been a threat to the Jewish community here in Pittsburgh and other Jewish communities across the country, as well as the Pittsburgh community at large, Brokos said. The FBI is investigating. We know he had a propensity for violence. We know hes been in prison for many years for gun violations, said Brad Orsini, a former FBI agent and a National Security Advisor for Secure Community Network. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and Secure Community Network applauded the arrest, saying in the past month alone, Lloyd has targeted multiple organizations and individuals, including their own staff members as well as families and victims from the 2018 massacre. We would probably have three to four postings a day from Hardy Lloyd that was shared immediately, so as soon as our analysts would identify a post, we would push it on to make sure law enforcement got that information, Orsini said. They said that since his 2020 release from prison and a halfway house, the alleged offender was being closely monitored. The offender in this case targeted the Jewish community for years with hate, vitriol, and calls for violence. He is well known to the Jewish community. He is also well known to the security professionals at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and SCN, and to the members of law enforcement. He can now become well known once again to those in our penal system, said SCN National Director and CEO Michael Masters in a release. Through our strong coordination, the Federation and SCN have worked to support law enforcement as they diligently undertook this sensitive investigation; we commend and thank the members of law enforcement for their ongoing and thorough work on behalf of the safety and security of the Jewish community. Religious freedom is a bedrock principle in our nation and we will not allow any individual to undermine it through threatening violence on a member of the Jewish community, or any faith-based community, without repercussion. The offender sought to terrorize the community. We now seek justice and accountability. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW TRENDING NOW: Concerns arise over vulgar signs along North Fayette road 5 killed when recreational vehicle blows tire, crashes head-on into tractor-trailer Study: Dementia risk may increase with long-term use of acid reflux drugs VIDEO: McKeesport teachers could return to class without a contract DOWNLOAD the Channel 11 News app for breaking news alerts Forget the purported MMA cage match between Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, the owner of the social media company formerly known as Twitter, now known as X. The real action is the fight between Musk and Special Counsel Jack Smith over former President Donald Trumps Twitter accountwhich took place in secret for months. Musk was ultimately forced to submit to the search warrant, and also had to pay hundreds of thousands in court-ordered fines. According to a just unsealed D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion, the special counsel obtained a court-approved search warrant for Trumps @RealDonald Trump Twitter account in January 2023 as part of the investigation into Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 electionbut Twitter fought a court battle arguing it had a First Amendment right to tell Trump about the search warrant. The Hidden Messages in the New Trump Indictment As is common in law enforcement investigations, the warrant was accompanied by a non-disclosure order which required Twitter to refrain from telling the subject of the searchTrumpabout the existence of the warrant, so as to guard against potential destruction of evidence. Twitter challenged the constitutionality of the order, arguing that it had a First Amendment right to tell Trump about the warrant. Federal district court Judge Beryl Howell disagreed with Twitters argument, but agreed with Smiths team that there were reasonable grounds to believe that telling Trump would seriously jeopardize the ongoing investigation by allowing him a chance to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior [or] notify confederates. Initially, the government also claimed that another reason to keep the warrant a secret from Trump was the risk that he might flee the country, but the government later retracted that reason, saying it had been mistakenly included. Tellingly, the court agreed with this reason, as well, before the prosecutors retracted it as a mistake. Special Counsel Jack Smith delivers remarks on a recently unsealed indictment including four felony counts against former President Donald Trump at the Justice Department on August 1, 2023 in Washington, D.C. Alex Wong / Getty Twitters legal performance was also telling. In an astounding display of ineptitude, Twitters online portal through which law enforcement requests are made was not working when prosecutors sought to serve the search warrant. While perhaps to be expected given Musks layoffs of staff and decimation of Twitters legal departmentincluding his firing of Twitters chief legal officer and general counsel within hours of buying Twitter, and then later removing the lawyer he had picked to replace themit is still astounding that a major social media company would display this kind of technical incompetence, given the volume of law enforcement requests. For example, in just the first half of 2020, Metathen known as Facebookreceived 61,500 law enforcement requests for data, Google received 39,500, and Microsoft received 5,500. These requests included both search warrants, as well as subpoenas. When Twitters online portal did finally start working, the government served the warrant, but several days later Twitters legal counsel told the government they were unaware of the warrant. Twitter did not legally challenge the search warrant until four days after the deadline for production had expired. Accordingly, Judge Howell imposed contempt fines of $50,000 per each day of lateness, doubling with each succeeding day and ultimately piling up to $350,000. Twitters legal objection was also unusual because in the vast majority of law enforcement requests, major social media companies comply (Meta/Facebook complied with 89 percent of search warrant requests; Google complied with 83 percent of requestswith 39% of those being search warrants). Social media companies do contest some of these requests based on the scope of the requests and/or whether law enforcement has proper authority for the requests, but Twitter went to court because it wanted to tell Trump about the request despite the court-ordered secrecy. Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, and the Apocalyptic Centrists As befitting Musks proclamation that he is a First Amendment absolutist, Twitter claimed that being denied its desire to snitch on the search warrant to Trump was a violation of its First Amendment free speech rights. Judge Howell rejected that argument, as well as a request to stay compliance with the warrant pending litigation. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Judge Howell. Writing for a unanimous panel, appeals court Judge Florence Pan rejected Twitters assertion that the failure to provide a stay was unconstitutional and put down the legal argument as underdeveloped. Twitters other arguments included saying that it needed to tell Trump about the warrant so that Trump could raise executive privilege arguments. The executive privilege argument seems particularly bogus, given that executive privilege is a doctrine meant to protect the presidents confidential discussions with advisors from public scrutiny. Thus, Musk appears to argue that Trump could be getting confidential advice from his social media account with millions of followers. U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office before signing an executive order related to regulating social media on May 28, 2020 in Washington, D.C. Doug Mills / Getty But using the First Amendment as a go-to weapon is now a typical tactic by the conservative right. For example, the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis held that a wedding website planner could refuse to design websites for gay couples based on the First Amendment speech rights for businesses. Ultimately, the prosecution modified its position on disclosure to allow Twitter to let Trump know, but with an important exception: the name of the agent making the affidavit in support of the warrant had to be kept confidential. This protection was well warranted in light of the threats and harassment that Trump and his supporters have directed against anyone deemed as an enemy of Trumpfor example, the Georgia election workers falsely accused of engaging in election fraud. The necessity of such protections was confirmed as Trump blasted out his anger over the warrant on his Truth Social account, baselessly claiming that the search warrant was a means for President Joe Biden to attack his candidacy. Trump Was Indicted for Being WrongWhich Is Not a Crime The legitimate reasons for obtaining a court-approved search warrant for Trumps account are many. They include the simple evidentiary requirement that any evidence provided by his tweets regarding his state of mind about the 2020 election would need to be admitted through evidence obtained from the account itselfto show integrity of the evidence. It is also possible that less-public information contained in direct messages and metadata could have further investigative value not yet known publicly. In contrast, Twitters obstructionist position, now twice rejected by both the trial and appellate courts, seems baseless. When Musk took Twitter private he gained the ability to shape the social media platforms policies to his own personal predilections. The fight over access to Trumps account tells a lot about how those, as well as how the company is being run under Musks stewardship. And that is far more revealingand more troublingthan any MMA fight showcasing how White Billionaires Cant Fight. What the formerly secret Twitter fight over Trumps account shows is just what one white billionaire wants to fight about. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. On a clear morning earlier this summer, a whistle blew. Stampeding children rushed down Clearwater Beach and dove into the warm water. Thrashing about, they each grabbed their drill partners who were smiling and bobbing above the waves and pulled them ashore. Quynh Tollon, 11, and her fellow campers were learning what it takes to be one of Clearwaters lifeguards. While most of the kids said they enjoy pretending to be saved from drowning, Quynh said she prefers playing the lifeguard role. The saving part is fun, too, she said. Clearwater began staffing lifeguards on its beach year-round in 1975. It costs about $1.2 million a year, but city officials say its worth it because of the high volume of beach incidents. In 2021, Clearwater tallied more than 75,000 actions taken by lifeguards which vary from swim zone rule violations to missing person searches. So far this year, the citys beach lifeguards have 59 saves on the 1 miles of sand they cover. Clearwater, however, is an exception in Pinellas County, which reported its highest-ever tourism numbers last year. The countys other cities and towns that cover the remaining 34 miles of beach let swimmers venture out at their own risk. According to the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiners Office, 99 people have drowned in gulf waters in their district since 2014. There have been as few as five in 2018 and as many as 21 in 2020. Last year, there were seven. As drowning deaths remain steady, beaches from Belleair to Treasure Island without lifeguard programs have two choices: Continue to rely on local fire rescue or start a new program from scratch. They cite costs and liability as reasons to avoid hiring lifeguards. Some beach community leaders say its time for a change. I have zero concern about liability, said Madeira Beach fire chief Clint Belk. Our entire job is based off of helping the community. How much more liable can you get? Where are the lifeguards? A national lifeguard shortage caused by better-paying jobs and pandemic-related training disruptions has forced beaches and pools to find creative ways to get adolescents to choose lifeguarding over busing tables at a restaurant. And as global temperatures continue to rise, public pools and beaches will be critical for people without access to air conditioning to cool off during hot summer months. Treasure Island, a small beach town spanning two ZIP codes, has never had lifeguards and, for the foreseeable future, doesnt plan to hire any. Tyler Payne sat on the City Commission for three years before he was elected mayor in 2021. In those six years, Ive never had one resident reach out to me requesting that we have lifeguards, he said. The city of St. Pete Beach has a population of nearly 9,000 residents and 4 miles of public beach access. Public officials havent seriously considered adding a lifeguard program either, though some residents have shown concern over recent drownings, said beach manager Ayako Ruckdeschel. A father and his 10-year-old daughter drowned in April, and a mother died saving four children caught in strong rip currents in 2018. In a perfect world, yeah, she said. If we didnt have the other difficulties that we face, there should be lifeguards every 100 yards down the beach. That would mean about 70 lifeguards stationed from Pass-a-Grille to Blind Pass. Ruckdeschel said these difficulties range from recruitment struggles to equipment and staffing costs she estimates a lifeguard program would cost the city about $1 million annually out of its nearly $73 million budget. I think it comes down to liability, as well, she said. It would place a burden of liability on the city if we were to introduce such a program. Another beach town breaks ranks Belk said hes been pushing for a program in Madeira Beach since taking over as fire chief in 2020. There was a time when every Madeira Beach firefighter was lifeguard-certified, Belk said. Now, there are only a handful of firefighters qualified for water rescue, which he said only increases the need for a full-fledged lifeguard program. While Belks previous beach safety ideas were shot down by local officials who said they didnt fit into the city budget, hes had more luck lately. Last week, his staff met with the city manager about how a lifeguard program would work in Madeira Beach. Belk said they agreed on a budget of $1 million to get the program up and running. He said he isnt exactly sure where the city will get the money, but a half-cent tax on parking might be a good starting place. I told them it has to be sustainable, Belk said. It cant be just for a couple years getting that first million dollars and then its gone. Its likely Madeira Beach wont see any lifeguards for another two years. But thats OK, Belk said. The Fire Department is already struggling with recruitment, and Belk expects the same will be true for a lifeguard program. We dont want to go out there and embarrass ourselves, he said. We want to make sure we do it right. Ideally, the Fire Department would oversee lifeguards, Belk said. Hes pushing for between eight and 10 onshore positions. But there are other costs, such as Jet Skis, all-terrain vehicles and shaded lifeguard towers. We cant have these guys sitting in a lawn chair in the heat all day, Belk said. We have to have some kind of protection. In Pinellas small beach towns without lifeguard programs, the responsibility to save people drowning or trapped in riptides historically falls on fire departments. Belk said it takes three minutes for one of his firefighters to get from the station to the beach at Johns Pass in a boat. But a lifeguard could reach a drowning person in 30 seconds. We dont fight as much fire as we used to, but the water rescues are going to continue, Belk said. Thats our main focus now. Some of Belks firefighters previously worked as lifeguards for DeSoto County and Clearwater Beach. He said hes taking cues from nearby programs while trying to build his own. Small wages and even smaller staffs Konrad Ciolko, Clearwater Beach water safety supervisor, said lifeguarding was his first job when he turned 18. Ciolko, now 39, said he doesnt regret sticking around despite low wages. He definitely doesnt do it for the money, and said he worked a second job for eight years to supplement his lifeguard salary. I live below my means, Ciolko said. I dont own a big boat and big house. An increasingly long beach season has also put stress on Clearwaters lifeguards. Tourism used to slow down after Labor Day, but now theres a need for lifeguards year-round, according to beach lifeguard manager Patrick Brafford. As long as the weathers good, the beach is busy, he said. The Clearwater Fire & Rescue junior beach lifeguard camp is one way the city is trying to rekindle interest in the job. And, so far, program managers say its worked. Clearwaters lifeguard program has recently seen growth after a few hard years, Brafford said. Part-time wages have risen from about $12 an hour to more than $17 in the past few years. The city has also added another full-time position and more part-timers one being a former junior lifeguard camp attendee. Dylan Feger, 17, spent his summer in 2020 learning water rescue from Clearwater lifeguards. Now, theyre his co-workers. His parents had summer jobs as lifeguards, and Feger said they pushed him to give lifeguarding a try. I love helping people out, he said. Its a big part of this job. Brafford has worked as a lifeguard for 22 years. He said retaining staff hasnt been a problem. Getting people to give lifeguarding a chance has been. What better way to spend your summers and your time off from school than doing something like this, you know, doing something that makes a difference, he said. Im biased, but I think its the greatest job ever. Extreme heat. Smoked filled skies. Violent storms and deadly flash floods. Record-breaking ocean temperatures.Clear signs of a worsening climate crisis seem to be everywhere this summer, along with the threats they pose to the health and safety of our family, friends and neighbors. Make no mistake, the risk to our communities is real. A recent study by Moodys Analytics found that Delaware faces one of the highest threats of disaster due to climate change behind only Florida, Louisiana and the Carolinas. We are also the fourth-fastest warming state tied with Arizona, which is home to the Sonoran Desert. Predictably, the Environmental Protection Agency also recently confirmed what the residents of Delawares historically underserved communities have long suspected: its communities of color who face the greatest risk from climate change. Brandywine Creek is heavily flooded due to the heavy rainfall on Wednesday from the remnants of Hurricane Ida. Black families are already at greater risk of seeing their children develop asthma, being forced from their homes due to flooding and losing a loved one due to extreme heat all of which will only worsen as the climate warms.Wilmington is in the Top 10 of Moodys ranking of U.S. cities facing the greatest chronic physical risk, just behind Phoenix and Tucson. Wilmington is currently seeing 7 more days a year of temperatures above 90 degrees than it did 50 years ago, and storms like Hurricane Ida, which forced 200 Wilmington residents from their homes just two years ago, are becoming more common. How we got here is obvious: fossil fuel companies polluted our climate, air, and water for decades, while spreading disinformation about their products and fighting clean energy alternatives. Even now as we suffer through record-high temperatures, they are raking in billions of dollars in record-high profits. Thanks to Attorney General Kathy Jennings, Delaware is helping lead the charge in holding these polluters accountable. In 2020, the attorney generals office filed a potentially landmark lawsuit against more than two dozen major oil and gas companies including ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, and Chevron to make them pay for the mess theyve made. Our states fight to put these companies on trial won a major boost recently, when the U.S. Supreme Court turned down Big Oils request to stop the case from moving forward in state court, where a jury of Delaware residents would hear it. More: They struggled during Ida. Now one Wilmington community is finding a better way to respond More: She narrowly missed being hit by tree that came through her bedroom window in Monday storm More perspective: This bipartisan bill will account for industrial carbon emissions and help Delaware While Delawareans deserve our day in court to hold Big Oil accountable for cleaning up the mess they caused, there is work we can do now to address the harm that has already occurred. As chair of the African American Task Forces Infrastructure and Environment Subcommittee, I led a team of elected leaders, state experts and community members to develop a series of recommendations on how we can give long-ignored communities a greater say in their futures and direct resources to promote environmental justice throughout our state. In June, the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus sponsored legislation to require that all qualified development projects proposed in underserved communities must undertake substantial community outreach before the first permit is awarded. The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control recently created an environmental justice administrator position to serve as a liaison between historically underserved communities and the states lead environmental agency. My colleagues and I are working with DNREC to stand up a panel of community members and environmental justice experts capable of advising the State of Delaware on how best to address current and historic injustices, much like the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council at the federal level. And we are having ongoing discussions with DNREC about the penalties and fines they hand down to polluters to ensure those sanctions better reflect the total impact and costs of violations. We all want and deserve a clean, safe and healthy environment. Getting there will take a strong legal strategy to hold polluters accountable, as well as an intentional and concerted effort to reach the communities most directly impacted by damage they have caused. State Sen. Elizabeth Tizzy Lockman represents the Third Senate District, which encompasses communities in central and west Wilmington and reaches into New Castle County to the south, including portions of Newport. Elected by her peers as the Senate Majority Whip, she chairs the Senate Housing and Land Use Committee and serves on the Senate Environment, Energy and Transportation Committee. Sen. Elizabeth Tizzy Lockman represents the 2nd District, which includes East Wilmington and Wilmington Manor. This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Delaware climate change: Hold Big Oil accountable Control of the Dolphin Expressway and other busy toll roads would shift from Miami to Tallahassee if a court doesnt block an attempted takeover of a local board. The fight over the Dolphin and four other toll roads controlled by the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX) isnt new. Since 2019, the Republican-controlled Legislature in Tallahassee has passed laws attempting to turn over the MDX system and its $240 million in yearly toll revenue to a new state-controlled board called the Greater Miami Expressway Agency (GMX). READ MORE: Who controls the Dolphin Expressway and can spend $200M in tolls? MDX goes to court MDX and Miami-Dade County, which controls a majority of the MDX board seats, have so far fended off the laws with court challenges against GMX, where Floridas governor appoints a majority of the directors. On Monday, a judge in Leon County ruled in favor of the takeover after GMX sued Bank of Americas Tallahassee branch to get access to an MDX checking account with about $12 million in it. Judge Angela Dempsey ruled a 2023 amendment to the original law left no doubt that the Legislature had dissolved MDX and put GMX in charge. MDX was an agency of the state, Dempsey wrote in her ruling. The Miami-Dade Expressway Authority was legislatively dissolved as of July 1, 2023. Now MDX and its legal team are hoping to get a court order of their own blocking GMX from going farther. At a meeting at the state Transportation Departments Miami office, the GMX board of appointees by Gov. Ron DeSantis voted to suspend MDXs top management and halt payments to its outside lawyer, Gene Stearns. We must assure we have adequate control and authority, said Torey Alston, a DeSantis appointee on the Broward County School Board and former Transportation Department administrator who now serves as GMXs executive director. I will follow the law. Later that day, MDX members held an emergency meeting at the agencys headquarters near Miami International Airport to endorse more legal action to block GMX. You need to continue on, Jose Pepe Diaz, the mayor of Sweetwater and one of three former Miami-Dade commissioners on the MDX board, told Stearns. And fight the fight. READ MORE: Dems blame grudge by Lt. Gov. Nunez for latest state takeover bid of Miami toll roads MDX paid about $91 million to Florida when it took over the Dolphin and four other expressways in 1994 as part of the formation of the new toll agency at a time of political backlash against the state-controlled toll dollars funding projects elsewhere. The other MDX expressways are the Airport, Don Shula, Gratigny and Snapper Creek. The County Commission appoints a majority of MDXs board seats, while Floridas governor appoints a majority of GMXs seats. The GMX law also gives a legislative committee in Tallahassee veto power over borrowing decisions by the new toll board. In an interview, Stearns called the Leon County suit an end-run against the legal battle MDX was already winning in Miami-Dade, where a judge ruled the GMX takeover violates the countys Home Rule independence that prevents Tallahassee from dictating local affairs. The behavior of the DeSantis administration is little more than what youd expect from Fidel Castro and dictators in Latin America, Stearns said. This is socialism. WASHINGTON Religious parents in one of the nation's most liberal counties are clashing with public school officials over whether elementary students should be allowed to opt out of reading books with LGBTQ+ characters, the latest culture war battle being waged inside the classroom. Three sets of parents and an advocacy group representing other families are asking a federal court in Maryland to suspend the policy opening a new legal front at a time when schools are grappling with rules for transgender students and education has become a political flashpoint. The parents object to a book titled "Pride Puppy," for instance, that tells the story of children who chase their dog through a pride parade. Another, "Prince and Knight," features a romance between two male characters. "Born Ready" is about a boy coming to terms with his gender identity. Parents vs. schools: Who decides curriculum? In the lawsuit, Mahmoud v. McKnight, the parents say that by denying the ability to opt out of engaging with the books, Montgomery County schools outside of Washington, D.C., are infringing on their religious beliefs. Touching on an argument that has become a conservative rallying cry, they say the policy also interferes with their ability to raise their children. There's no question that the school board is trying to enforce a certain viewpoint," Eric Baxter, an attorney with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the parents, told a judge Wednesday. The parents aren't challenging the use of the books, only their inability to opt out. Fighting back: How a Christian transgender man is taking the fight over LGBTQ+ rights to religious schools But the school district says it has an interest in creating inclusive classrooms and that simply exposing students to the material doesn't stop parents from raising their children however they choose at home. The First Amendment's protection of religion, school officials say, doesn't give parents veto power over the curriculum. District officials also told the court that they cannot accommodate all of the opt-out requests without causing disruptions. "This is about making a curriculum modestly more representative of the community," Alan Schoenfeld, the lawyer for the school, told the court. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman, appointed by President Joe Biden, indicated after oral arguments Wednesday that she would rule on the parents request before students return to school later this month. Mae Keller, a senior, carries a "Trans Kids Matter" sign and cheers as hundreds of students walk out of school on Transgender Day of Visibility outside Omaha Central High School Friday, March 31, 2023 in Omaha, Neb. Big picture: A shift in favor of religious freedom The suit is one several playing out in courts across the country that deal with the intersection of religious freedom and LGBTQ+ rights at school. A federal appeals court in Chicago this year sided with an Indiana school district that pushed a music teacher to resign after he refused to use transgender students pronouns, in part citing his religious beliefs. That case is still pending. The potential for discrimination is a central component of a lawsuit filed in an Oklahoma court this summer challenging what would be the nations first religious charter school. Opponents fear the school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, would refuse LGBTQ+ students despite being funded by taxpayers. The Supreme Court has increasingly sided with religion over LGBTQ+ rights in recent years. In one high-profile example in June, the high court backed a graphic artist who will decline to design wedding websites for same-sex marriages. In 2021, a unanimous court ruled that a Catholic foster care agency in Philadelphia could turn away gay and lesbian couples as clients. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Parents, school clash over LGBTQ+ books in federal court A 43rd wedding anniversary gift yielded a $25,000 per year prize for a New Hampshire couple, the Massachusetts Lottery reported. Shelley German of Salem slipped a Lucky for Life lottery ticket into an anniversary card for her husband, thinking it had four out of five winning numbers, officials said in a news release. But when the couple rechecked the ticket for the July 28 drawing, they discovered they had all five winning numbers, the lottery said. German and her husband claimed their prize of $25,000 per year for 20 years, before taxes, on Aug. 2, officials said. A regular Lucky for Life player, German said she plans to spend some of the money on home improvements. She told officials she won a new car in a raffle on their 38th anniversary, but said her first real jackpot was her husband. German bought the winning ticket at a convenience store in Methuen, Massachusetts, which receives a $5,000 bonus for its sale of the ticket, the lottery said. Salem, New Hampshire, is near the Massachusetts state line, about 40 miles southeast of Concord. Multi-state Lucky for Life drawings are held seven nights a week Many people can gamble or play games of chance without harm. However, for some, gambling is an addiction that can ruin lives and families. If you or a loved one shows signs of gambling addiction, you can seek help by calling the national gambling hotline at 1-800-522-4700 or visiting the National Council on Problem Gambling website. Lottery winner shows up to claim $10,000 prize and learns he actually won much more Lottery winner kept tabs on growing jackpot before surreal victory. It was historic Man buys lottery ticket while wearing shirt inside-out. Turned out to be good luck LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) A search of the wildfire devastation on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Thursday revealed a wasteland of obliterated neighborhoods and landmarks charred beyond recognition, as the death toll rose to at least 53 and survivors told harrowing tales of narrow escapes with only the clothes on their backs. A flyover of historic Lahaina showed entire neighborhoods that had been a vibrant vision of color and island life reduced to gray ash. Block after block was nothing but rubble and blackened foundations, including along famous Front Street, where tourists shopped and dined just days ago. Boats in the harbor were scorched, and smoke hovered over the town, which dates to the 1700s and is the biggest community on the islands west side. Lahaina, with a few rare exceptions, has been burned down, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told The Associated Press. More than 1,000 structures were destroyed by fires that were still burning, he said. Already the state's deadliest natural disaster since a 1960 tsunami killed 61 people on the Big Island, the death toll will likely rise further as search and rescue operations continue, Green added. We are heartsick, Green said. Many businesses, including one of the towns oldest shops, were destroyed. As owner Tiffany Kidder Winn assessed the damage Wednesday at the Whaler's Locker gift store, she came upon a line of burned-out vehicles, some with charred bodies inside. It looked like they were trying to get out, but were stuck in traffic and couldnt get off Front Street, she said. She later spotted a body leaning against a seawall. Winn said the destruction was so widespread, I couldnt even tell where I was, because all the landmarks were gone. Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the fire started Tuesday and took Maui by surprise, racing through parched growth covering the island and then feasting on homes and anything else that lay in its path. The official death toll of 53 as of Thursday makes this the deadliest U.S. wildfire since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, which killed at least 85 people and laid waste to the town of Paradise. The Hawaii toll could rise, though, as rescuers reach parts of the island that had been inaccessible due to the three ongoing fires, including the one in Lahaina that was 80% contained on Thursday, according to a Maui County news release. Dozens of people have been injured, some critically. We are still in life preservation mode. Search and rescue is still a primary concern, said Adam Weintraub, a spokesperson for Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. Search and rescue teams still won't be able to reach certain areas until the fire lines are secure and access is safe, Weintraub added. The flames left some people with mere minutes to act and led some to flee into the ocean. A Lahaina man, Bosco Bae, posted video on Facebook from Tuesday night that showed fire burning nearly every building on a street as sirens blared and windblown sparks raced by. Bae, who said he was one of the last people to leave the town, was evacuated to the island's main airport and was waiting to be allowed to return home. Marlon Vasquez, a 31-year-old cook from Guatemala who came to the U.S. in January 2022, said that when he heard the fire alarms, it was already too late to flee in his car. I opened the door, and the fire was almost on top of us," he said from an evacuation center at a gymnasium. We ran and ran. We ran almost the whole night and into the next day, because the fire didnt stop." Vasquez and his brother Eduardo escaped via roads that were clogged with vehicles full of people. The smoke was so toxic that he vomited. He said he's not sure his roommates and neighbors made it to safety. Lahaina residents Kamuela Kawaakoa and Iiulia Yasso described their harrowing escape under smoke-filled skies. The couple and their 6-year-old son got back to their apartment after a quick dash to the supermarket for water, and only had time to grab a change of clothes and run as the bushes around them caught fire. We barely made it out, Kawaakoa, 34, said at an evacuation shelter, still unsure if anything was left of their apartment. As the family fled, they called 911 when they saw the Hale Mahaolu senior living facility across the road erupt in flames. Chelsey Vierra's great-grandmother, Louise Abihai, was living at Hale Mahaolu, and the family doesn't know if she got out. She doesnt have a phone. Shes 97 years old, Vierra said Thursday. She can walk. She is strong. Relatives are monitoring shelter lists and calling the hospital. We got to find our loved one, but theres no communication here, said Vierra, who fled the flames. We dont know who to ask about where she went. Communications have been spotty on the island, with 911, landline and cellular service failing at times. Power was also out in parts of Maui. Tourists were advised to stay away, and about 11,000 flew out of Maui on Wednesday with at least 1,500 more expected to leave Thursday, according to Ed Sniffen, state transportation director. Officials prepared the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu to receive thousands. In coastal Kihei, southeast of Lahaina, wide swaths of ground glowed red with embers Wednesday night as flames continued to chew through trees and buildings. Gusty winds blew sparks over a black and orange patchwork of charred earth and still-crackling hot spots. The fires were fanned by strong winds from Hurricane Dora passing far to the south. It's the latest in a series of disasters caused by extreme weather around the globe this summer. Experts say climate change is increasing the likelihood of such events. Wildfires aren't unusual in Hawaii, but the weather of the past few weeks created the fuel for a devastating blaze and, once ignited, the high winds created the disaster, said Thomas Smith an associate professor in Environmental Geography at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Hawaii's Big Island is also currently seeing blazes, Mayor Mitch Roth said, although there were no reports of injuries or destroyed homes there. With communications hampered, it was difficult for many to check in with friends and family members. Some people were posting messages on social media. A Family Assistance Center opened at the Kahului Community Center for people looking for the missing. Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, of the Hawaii State Department of Defense, said Wednesday night that officials were working to get communications restored, distribute water and possibly add law enforcement personnel. He said National Guard helicopters had dropped 150,000 gallons (568,000 liters) of water on the fires. The Coast Guard said it rescued 14 people who jumped into the water to escape the flames and smoke. Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. said Wednesday that officials hadn't yet begun investigating the immediate cause of the fires. President Joe Biden declared a major disaster on Maui. Traveling in Utah on Thursday, he pledged that the federal response will ensure that anyone whos lost a loved one, or whose home has been damaged or destroyed, is going to get help immediately. Biden promised to streamline requests for assistance and said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was surging emergency personnel on the island. ___ This story has been corrected to state that Louise Abihai is Chelsey Vierras great-grandmother, not her grandmother. ___ Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about APs climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___ Sinco Kelleher reported from Honolulu, Rush from Kahului and Weber from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand; Andrew Selsky in Bend, Oregon; Bobby Caina Calvan and Beatrice Dupuy in New York; and Chris Megerian in Salt Lake City, Utah, contributed. FILE - Former President Donald Trump arrives at a rally, Aug. 5, 2022, in Waukesha, Wis. A Wisconsin judge on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023 allowed a civil lawsuit filed against 10 fake electors for former President Trump and two of his attorneys to proceed, rejecting a move to dismiss the case. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) MADISON, Wis. (AP) A Wisconsin judge on Thursday allowed a civil lawsuit filed against 10 fake electors for former President Donald Trump and two of his attorneys to proceed, rejecting a move to dismiss the case. The lawsuit is moving ahead in Wisconsin after Michigans attorney general filed felony charges on July 18 against 16 Republicans who acted as fake electors for Trump, accusing them of submitting false certificates that confirmed they were legitimate electors despite Joe Bidens victory in the state. The fake elector plan was central to the federal indictment filed against Trump earlier this month that alleged he tried to overturn results of the 2020 election. Federal prosecutors said the scheme originated in Wisconsin. Wisconsin's Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has signaled that he is relying on federal investigators to look into what happened in Wisconsin, while also not ruling out a state probe. The pending civil lawsuit, filed by two Democratic electors and a voter, seeks $2.4 million from the fake GOP electors and two of Trump's attorneys, alleging they were part of a conspiracy by Trump and his allies to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential race. It also seeks to disqualify the Republicans from ever serving as electors again. Wisconsin Republican Party Executive Director Mark Jefferson said in a statement that he was confident it will come up short. He repeated the claim from the fake electors that they were acting as an alternate slate in order to preserve an ongoing legal strategy. Wisconsin Republicans were not told of any other purpose and would not have approved any other use, Jefferson said. Scott Thompson, one of the attorneys who brought the lawsuit, said he was pleased with the order that will allow attorneys to fully investigate and present our case in court. Our democracy matters, Thompson said. So, we must seek accountability for those who attempt to undermine it. Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington has scheduled the case to go to a trial by jury in September 2024, two months before the presidential election. Fake electors met in Wisconsin, Michigan and five other battleground states where Trump was defeated in 2020 and signed certificates that falsely stated Trump won their states, not Biden. The fake certificates were ignored, but the attempt has been subject to investigations, including by the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Republicans who participated in Wisconsin said they were trying to preserve Trumps legal standing in case courts overturned his defeat. Electors are people appointed to represent voters in presidential elections. The winner of the popular vote in each state determines which partys electors are sent to the Electoral College, which meets in December after the election to certify the outcome. Democrats who brought the lawsuit in Wisconsin are represented by the Madison-based Law Forward law firm and the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at the Georgetown University Law Center. In May, Remington also revived a complaint brought by Law Forward against the fake electors filed with the Wisconsin Elections Commission. That complaint sought sanctions against the fake electors. In that ruling, Remington said the complaint must be heard again because a commissioner who considered the complaint last time should have recused himself. That commissioner, Robert Spindell, also served as a fake elector and is one of the defendants in the lawsuit seeking damages. President Joe Biden won Wisconsin by nearly 21,000 votes, a result that has withstood recounts, partisan-led investigations, a nonpartisan audit and multiple lawsuits. False Electoral College certificates were submitted declaring Trump the winner of Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada and Pennsylvania. (Photo : Photo by TORE MEEK/NTB SCANPIX/AFP via Getty Images) The dam on a Norwegian river partially collapsed after heavy rain on Wednesday, sending water streaming through a large hole in the structure. A dam in southern Norway experienced a partial breach, triggered by days of intense rainfall that had unleashed landslides and floods across the mountainous area. This calamity led to the evacuation of downstream communities, adding to the toll of disaster and disarray, according to ABC News. Norway's Southern Dam Breach The Braskereidfoss hydroelectric power plant's dam on the Glama, Norway's longest and most voluminous river, found itself at the epicenter of this crisis. Amidst the catastrophe, authorities contemplated a controlled detonation of part of the dam to alleviate downstream flooding risks. However, this approach was abandoned as water ultimately managed to break through the structure. Fredrik Thomson, a police spokesman, explained the decision's rationale, stating, "The damage from a possible explosion of the concrete plant would be so great that it would serve no purpose." The subsequent hope now lies in the gradual stabilization of the water level. Yet, this calamity remains far from over. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stre issued a cautionary message that flooding could persist as the excess water continues its journey downstream. He highlighted the gravity of the situation, noting that this could potentially mark the highest water levels seen in half a century or more. The crisis unfolded as the dam's generators ceased operations due to a power grid failure, according to Hafslund Eco, the plant operator. The situation escalated as the automatic system responsible for opening floodgates malfunctioned, causing rapidly rising waters to surge over the dam and into the power station itself. This resulted in considerable damage to the infrastructure. Massive quantities of water surged over various parts of the dam, resulting in significant destruction, including the rupture of a two-lane road and fences that spanned the dam's top. The incident prompted swift evacuation measures for the approximately 1,000 people residing in nearby communities along the river, asper The Guardian. Read Also: US Navy Sailor Sells Naval Secrets to China, Says Mom Encouraged Him to Trade Sensitive Military Details Norwegian Woman's Fatal Fall and Climate Change's Impact on Extreme Weather Coincidentally, a Norwegian woman in her 70s tragically lost her life after falling into a stream the day prior. The rescue efforts were hindered by the flooding, which caused delays in her transportation to a hospital. The incident coincides with the weather system called Storm Hans, which wreaked havoc across Scandinavia and the Baltics, inducing overflow of rivers, road damage, and falling branches that led to injuries. Experts have yet to thoroughly analyze the data to determine the role of human-caused climate change in these events. However, scientists have long warned that warming temperatures can lead to more intense storms and heavier rainfall. The capacity of warmer air to hold more moisture, along with shifts in the jet stream, can contribute to these extreme weather events. As rainfall patterns intensify, older dams face increasing challenges in handling the resulting deluges. Many dams, designed to withstand rare-century floods, now encounter such events with higher frequency. This predicament highlights the growing conflict between climate change and existing hydrological infrastructure. As the situation in Norway and Sweden unfolds, experts predict further rainfall and potential consequences. Erik Hojgard-Olsen, a meteorologist, emphasized the unusual nature of the weather patterns for this time of year, noting the persistence of low-pressure systems like Storm Hans. The crisis underscores the vulnerabilities of existing infrastructure in the face of changing climate dynamics. While experts strive to analyze the causes and consequences of such incidents, urgent attention and international cooperation are paramount in addressing these challenges and mitigating their impact on communities, Strait Times reported. Related Article: Pakistan Bans Former Prime Minister Imran Khan From Politics for Five Years Following Arrest Over Selling State Gifts @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Wisconsin socialist former Democratic lawmaker says cops 'have neither dignity nor value' A Wisconsin socialist Democrat former lawmaker said that police officers "have neither dignity nor value" in recent Facebook comments. Wisconsin Democrat former state Rep. Ryan Clancy, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and now a Milwaukee supervisor, went after police in the Facebook comments section responding to a user. "All work had dignity and value, Lis Marie* Even trolling (sic)," Clancy said "What is it that you do?" WISCONSIN GOP REP. TOM WILSON ANNOUNCES HE WON'T RUN FOR SENATE IN 2024, LEAVING FIELD OPEN "*Not cops, though," he added. "So for the record you just state a Police Officer's job has NO VALUE OR DIGNITY," the user replied. "Just want you to verify that before I pass that along to some who might enjoy hearing it." READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP Clancy said the user was "entirely correct" and that police officers "may be perfectly fine individuals, but their jobs have neither dignity nor value." "I'm not sure how you've been obsessed about my social media for as long as you have and seem surprised by this," Clancy wrote. "[And] once more, what is it you do again? Or is trolling your full-time volunteer position?" Clancy was arrested in 2020 during the George Floyd riots and filed a suit with the Milwaukee circuit court about the charges, claiming police brutality. "Thats not how quotation marks work. I did not attack individual police officers as having neither dignity nor value," Clancy told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. "Policing as an institution, as a legacy of slave catching and union busting, has neither dignity nor value," he continued. "It is inherently racist, classist and cannot be reformed." The comments come as crime in the U.S. continues to rise. A teenage girl was arrested on assault charges after footage of her attack on a Nevada family riding the New York City subway while on vacation went viral last week, police said. The 16-year-old, whom the New York Police Department has not named due to her age, turned herself in around 9:45 a.m. Tuesday to the 6th Precinct in Manhattan, close to the scene of Thursday's West 4th Street station beatdown. The teen was charged with two felony counts of assault, the NYPD told Fox News Digital. Video captured the teen battering 51-year-old Sue Young in front of her husband and 11-year-old twin daughters and hurling racial epithets at the unsuspecting Asian tourists, according to PIX 11 . Fox News Digital Christina Coulter's contributed reporting. Three months after state officials ruled a fire at an Ocala Japanese restaurant that injured two people was not intentional, one of the victims has filed a lawsuit against the eatery. Tyler Swift, a lawyer with Dan Newlin Injury Attorneys, said in the complaint that the plaintiff, Megan Peralta, is seeking damages exceeding $50,000, exclusive of interest, costs and attorney's fees. State report The suit is filed against Edo Japanese Restaurant, 4414 SW College Road, Unit 30. At issue is the May fire that burned Peralta. Goiquin You, a cook at the restaurant, also was burned, according to the state Bureau of Fire, Arson & Explosives Investigations report. Edo Japanese Stakehouse In an interview with a Star-Banner reporter in May, You, 33, said that, because of his injuries, he had not yet returned to work. Peralta, 28, suffered second- and third-degree burns on her head, face, neck, legs and torso, according to the report. You sustained second- and third-degree burns to his face, neck and chest. The chef's uniform caught fire, but it was removed by a customer. You and Peralta were taken to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville for treatment, the report notes. The investigator said in the report that You was using isopropyl alcohol while cooking for patrons who were sitting at the countertop at the restaurant. You said he was using 90 percent rubbing alcohol and the bottle was too close to the fire. He said he "heard a loud boom." The report states that a video of the fire was consistent with You's account of what happened. About the lawsuit Edo Ocala "owed Plaintiff a non-delegable duty to exercise reasonable care for her safety to maintain its premises, including the cook table/hibachi grill/teppan griddle in a responsibly clean and safe condition for its invitees and members of the general public utilizing said premises, and to warn its invitees and members of the general public of any known hazards or hazardous conditions, including fire hazards and/or burn hazards, about which Defendant, EDO OCALA, knew or reasonably should have known through the exercise of reasonable care," the suit says. Japanese Stakehouse The suit says Peralta was "sitting and dining at a cook table/hibachi grill/teppan griddle on Defendant's premises" when the "table exploded or otherwise caught fire due to the chef's use of alcohol and/or oil on or near said table, causing severe burns and bodily injuries." Fire investigation: State investigators ruled two people injured in fire at Japanese restaurant was accidental The lawsuit mentions that Peralta's "losses are either permanent or continuing, and Plaintiff will suffer the losses in the future." The suit says Peralta suffered severe bodily injury that has led to a number of scars, as well as expenses and a loss of earnings. An employee at the restaurant told a Star-Banner reporter that they don't have any comment on the lawsuit. Asked if the cook had returned to work, the employee said she did not know. Contact Austin L. Miller at austin.miller@starbanner.com This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Lawsuit filed by woman against Japanese restaurant in Ocala After a womans parents dropped off clothes at a Las Vegas funeral home for her open casket funeral, they were called to return for an emergency, according to a new lawsuit. Joaquin and Maria Ruacho were ushered into a private room, where Davis Funeral Homes and Memorial Park employees told them their daughter, Loren Chavez, was accidentally cremated on Oct. 4, a complaint filed Aug. 7 in district court in Clark County, Nevada, says. Cremation is against the familys religious beliefs, as they believe the body must be honored by burial in its original form so it can be resurrected and live in the afterlife, family attorney Christian Morris told McClatchy News on Aug. 10. Now, the family cant even trust if the ashes they were given are Lorens ashes, Morris said. Chavez was to be buried on Oct. 7, less than a month after she died as a result of domestic violence on Sept. 17, according to the complaint. She was killed by her husband, who died by suicide the same day in Las Vegas, officials told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Loren was killed twice, her family said in a statement provided to McClatchy News by Morris. Once by the man who was supposed to love and care for her, and the second time by a business that treated Loren like just another body to carelessly process while focused on their bottom line, Morris said. Chavezs family is suing the Davis Funeral Homes and Memorial Park on several causes of action, including negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. They are seeking more than $15,000 in damages, the complaint shows. McClatchy News contacted the funeral home for comment on Aug. 10 and didnt receive an immediate response. In a statement to the LA Times, Mike Wilfong, the funeral homes general manager, said an unfortunate event occurred in regard to Chavezs cremation. We have spoken to the family involved and are working diligently to try to resolve the issue, Wilfong told the newspaper. Unforgivable The lawsuit accuses the funeral home of failing to correctly identify and keep track of Chavezs body, with such negligence resulting in her wrongful cremation. This is something that should never happen and there are so many checks and balances in place to prevent it from occurring; its unfathomable that this is just an accident like they told her parents, according to Morris, who called what happened unforgivable. The burial was supposed to provide some sense of closure for Chavezs family, who had decided on the color of her casket and clothes for her viewing, Morris said. Because of their religious beliefs, cremations are generally prohibited and Chavezs cremation has left the family to endure extreme emotional distress, the complaint says. Morris confirmed the family is Catholic. The most egregious part of this is that her son, her sister, her parents, and her brother never got to say goodbye to her and are robbed of the hope that they can be together in the afterlife because the funeral home desecrated her body, Morris said. Chavezs son has sought out counseling as a result of the funeral homes negligence, the complaint says. Wilfong told the LA Times that the funeral home has never wrongfully cremated someone and that they have measures to ensure that doesnt happen, according to the newspaper. Meanwhile, Morris said Chavezs family wants answers. Filing this lawsuit was painful for the family, but they want answers as to what really happened to Loren, how the system failed, why it failed and what can be done to prevent it from ever happening again, Morris said. Dad died emaciated in California jail cell littered with feces and trash, lawsuit says Toddler exposed to fentanyl in babysitters room died, grandfather says. Hes suing Mom of 4 died after using kratom in Florida, lawsuit says. Company owes family $11M Meghan Tubbs put her belief in the importance of voting to the test last weekend when she made the choice to drive back to Clark County from her grandfathers home in Warren, Pennsylvania, to vote against Issue 1. >>RELATED: Issue 1 could be headed for recount in Clark County, where voters rejected it by 1 vote The Springfield woman traveled to the city along the Allegheny River on Sunday to be with Ronald Tubbs, 83, who died peacefully Monday morning, she told News Center 7s Brandon Lewis on Wednesday night. It was very difficult to leave my family that soon, but I knew I had to get back to Clark County so that I could vote on Tuesday for the special election, she said. Tubbs made it back to Springfield in time to go to the polls with her husband, Clint. Both voted no on the ballot question, which was unofficially defeated in the county by one vote. Voters statewide rejected the ballot question, with all precincts reporting and 58,000 absentee and provisional ballots outstanding, by a margin of 57.01% to 42.99%. Its pretty incredible to think that if I hadnt made that drive back, the outcome might have been different, she said. Its also incredible to think that if anyone of the 16,000 people [in Clark County] who voted no had missed it for some reason, the outcome might have been different. Her belief and drive, as it were, to vote was instilled in her by family and her grandparents. It was an incredibly important election, Tubbs said. I knew that it was going to have long lasting consequences. I think its really important that Ohioans are able to have their voices heard. She knew her grandparents would want her to be in the voting booth in that moment because they never missed an election. Democracy really won yesterday and that would have made my grandparents really proud, Tubbs said. Her experience, she said, is a good reminder that every vote is important. Its also a good reminder to make voting as accessible as possible for everyone. A lot of people feel like their vote doesnt count. It takes a story like this one to remind them that it really does. And that reasonates with a lot of poeple right now. A woman punched and pepper-sprayed an employee at a taco stand in California after she was asked to pay for her food, police said. At 6:35 p.m. on Aug. 6, police were dispatched to a taco stand in Los Angeles and learned about the assault on the female employee, according to a news release by the department. When she finished spraying me, she started throwing everything and then she grabbed me and started to hit me, the worker told KTLA. She pulled my hair and then punched me in my shoulders. She punched me in the face. She unloaded on me and then let me go. A witness then started recording the woman, identified as 36-year-old Renee Latrice Hines, the release said. Hines got mad, grabbed the stands sign and threw it at the person recording, police said. Then she fled in a purple Lexus, according to the release. She was arrested and booked on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon on Aug. 9, according to the release. Her bail is set at $30,000. Los Angeles fire personnel treated the victim at the scene, the release said. Theyre hard-working people, Steve Alonzo, a local resident, told KTLA of the taco stand. Thats the message we want to get out to the masses. Theyre hard-working people. Leave them alone. Bicyclist stabbed in the neck and pepper sprayed by random attacker, Indiana cops say Dog owner attacked with pepper spray as woman steals 1-month-old puppy, CA video shows Partygoers pepper-sprayed after throwing rocks and bottles at police cars, NC cops say In this November 2019 photo, Wichita Falls police close parts of Kell Freeway westbound to continue an investigation into a late September fatal accident. A Lawton woman accused of killing a woman in a drunk driving accident in Wichita Falls is set for trial Aug. 21 for a charge of intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle. Justine Brittany Gallegos is suspected of killing 28-year-old Pimporn C. Kasemthaveetsak of Burkburnett in a head-on crash Sept. 28, 2019, on Kell Freeway, according to court documents. Gallegos, 33, has a drunk driving conviction in Oklahoma likely to figure into the Wichita County intoxication manslaughter case. A former Comanche County assistant district attorney, now a judge, is on the state's witness list. Gallegos was free Thursday from the Wichita County Detention Center on a $125,000 bond, online jail records show. Intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Gallegos has pleaded not guilty. Her trial was on hold while she served a one-year sentence for drunk driving in the Comanche County Detention Center in Lawton. Gallegos' sentence ended April 27, 2022. She was booked into the Wichita County Detention Center April 28, 2022, and bonded out the next day. Gallegos was sentenced to a year behind bars on April 27, 2021, in Oklahoma and was not able to make court appearances in Wichita County, according to a letter she wrote. At the time of her sentencing in Oklahoma, Gallegos was free on bond for the Wichita County manslaughter charge. A witness list that prosecutors filed June 29 for Gallego's trial includes Christine Galbraith, formerly of the Comanche County DA's Office. Galbraith was sworn in as a special judge for the Fifth District in Comanche County in January. Wichita Falls police discovered Kasemthaveetsak dead in her car after responding to a crash at Kell Boulevard West and Taft Boulevard about 11:12 p.m., according to allegations in a probable cause affidavit. When police arrived, a lot of debris was blocking the freeway. A white 2017 Chrysler 300 with Oklahoma tags had heavy damage. Justine Gallegos, the vehicle's only occupant, was sitting in the driver's seat. A blue 2007 Mazda 3 had crashed into a tree on the north side of the freeway. The car was damaged on the left side and front, and the driver, Kasemthaveetsak, was pinned in and deceased. Witnesses told police Gallegos was driving at high speed on Kell Freeway East when she crossed over the median and into oncoming traffic on Kell Freeway West. Gallegos' vehicle hit Kasemthaveetsak's vehicle head-on. After the crash, police detected a strong odor of alcohol coming from Gallegos. An officer asked her if she was OK and noticed her bloodshot eyes and slurred speech. Gallegos looked to have extensive injuries, so she was not a candidate for field sobriety tests. The officer asked her if she had been drinking alcohol, but Gallegos declined to answer questions. The officer arrested her for a charge of intoxicated manslaughter with a vehicle. More: Felony charge dismissed against the wife of Rocky's killer Trish Choate, enterprise watchdog reporter for the Times Record News in Wichita Falls, covers education, courts, breaking news, investigative projects and more. Contact Trish with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Her Twitter handle is @Trishapedia. This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Woman accused of drunk driving set for trial for Burk woman's death CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter, Elon Musk. Chesnot via Getty Images Former Twitter employees filed a lawsuit accusing Elon Musk of sex, race, and age discrimination. The lawsuit said it wasn't surprising that more women were laid off than men given Musk's sexism. The lawsuit notes that within weeks of the layoffs, Musk tweeted: "Testosterone rocks, ngl." A group of former Twitter employees filed a lawsuit on Tuesday accusing the platform's owner, Elon Musk, of sex, race, and age discrimination. The seven plaintiffs all worked for Twitter, now known as X, until November 2022, when the company initiated major layoffs following Musk's acquisition earlier in the year. The lawsuit, which was obtained by Insider, was first reported by Rolling Stone. The lawsuit alleges some employees were laid off after either taking or preparing to take family or medical leave. It also alleges that the layoffs disproportionately impacted women, Black employees, and employees aged 50 and older. "The fact that more women than men were laid off is not surprising given Musk's history of making sexist, demeaning, and hostile comments against women," the lawsuit said, going on to cite examples of "discriminatory and demeaning comments" made by Musk. The lawsuit notes that within weeks of the layoffs, Musk tweeted on December 4, "Testosterone rocks, ngl," using the abbreviation for "not gonna lie." Musk was responding to another tweet referencing director James Cameron's view that testosterone is a "toxin that you have to slowly work out of your system." This is not the first time Musk and X have been hit with similar accusations. In December 2022, two women who lost their jobs at Twitter filed a lawsuit claiming that the company's layoffs "impacted female employees to a much greater extent than male employees." The suit was dismissed in May by US District Judge Jon Tigar, who said the plaintiffs should have resolved the complaint through federal agencies first. In March, Musk also had to apologize to a former Twitter employee after baselessly accusing him of using his disability as an "excuse" to do "no actual work." And in April, Musk's electric vehicle company Tesla was ordered to pay $3.2 million in damages to a Black employee. The employee accused Tesla in 2017 of failing to prevent the racist abuse he faced while working at the company's Fremont plant. Representatives for X did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider sent outside regular business hours. Read the original article on Business Insider Kansas City Council members announced concerns Thursday over whether the former downtown AT&T building where a worker plunged to his death had been providing laborers with fair compensation and the proper safety resources. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Kansas City police have launched an investigation into the death of a Nicaraguan man. He was brought to the metro from an Indianapolis temp agency, Infinity Resources, to work on the buildings renovations. It is believed his name was Jose Sanchez, according to Councilman Kevin ONeill. He left behind two children: A 13 year old and a 17 year old. Manny Abarca, executive director of the Fair Contracting Alliance, previously alleged the man appeared to be an undocumented worker. During a Thursday morning press conference, ONeill partnered with fellow council members Lindsey French, Melissa Patterson-Hazley, Darrell Curls, Andrea Bough and Johnathan Duncan to voice their concerns over the safety of workers operating on the project site. Rumors of inadequate safety equipment and, due to the buildings old age, exposure to potentially hazardous materials within the sites insulation have been circulating since the mans death, he said. We have around 400 jobs at any given time that are incentivized by the city. And we dont have enough people going out and checking if abuses are taking place. ONeill announced that the city has hired a third party contractor to investigate such workplace abuses. In a first for the city, according to ONeill, the contractor will work with the metros department of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity to interview labor brokers, check company payrolls and inspect safety regulations at the sites of projects receiving public funding, including that of the former AT&T building. Its always been a shortfall here, and its never been a priority, ONeill said. The contractors employees will begin work in October and undergo training in September, after the installment of the CREO departments new director, Jamie Guillen. No prevailing wages In the weeks following the mans death, ONeill said, he has also learned of a loophole in a year-old ordinance that may have allowed the developers, the Bernstein Company, to forgo paying the workers renovating the building a fair wage. The project renovating the downtown building into condos received public funding through historic preservation credits and other city incentives. Due to the historic status, ONeill said, the developers were not required to pay employees a prevailing wage, otherwise known as a state mandated minimum wage. Apparently we made a mistake... We need to go and rectify that, ONeill said. If we had a prevailing wage on this job, they wouldnt have been able to hire many of these low income workers. He said he plans to amend the ordinance to ensure a prevailing wage is required on projects over a certain amount of money. Anything this big, especially where youre working vertical like that... forget the fall down the elevator shaft, the ramifications of working with the potential carcinogens... It could have significant long term effects, he said. Its still unclear whether there will be penalties for the building, which has resumed construction, according to ONeill. He said he would not be surprised if all that comes out of the mans death is a workmans compensation complaint, which runs the risk of a $5,000 penalty against the company. Thats why the city needs to keep going on this and finding out exactly what we can do to make sure this doesnt happen again. Arkady Volozh, co-founder of Russia's most popular search engine Yandex, denounced Russian aggression against Ukraine in a statement published by the Russian independent outlet Meduza on Aug. 10. "I categorically oppose Russia's barbaric invasion of Ukraine, where I, as well as many others, have friends and relatives," Volozh said. "I am horrified by the fact that every day, bombs fall on Ukrainian homes. Despite the fact that since 2014 I do not live in Russia, I understand that I also bear responsibility for the acts of the country." The co-founder of the Russian tech giant has been living in Israel with his family since 2014. "There were many reasons why I had to remain silent. You can argue about the timeliness of my statement, but not about its essence. I am against the war," he added. The EU sanctioned Volozh in June 2022, arguing that his company serves the interests of the Russian government and promotes pro-Kremlin media and narratives, as well as censors content critical of the regime. In November 2022, Ukraine's Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets noted that Mariupol buildings destroyed by Russia have been hidden on Yandex's online maps while remaining visible on Google Maps. Following the sanctions, Volozh resigned as the CEO of Yandex and from other senior positions in its subsidiaries. The company also sold its news services to a state-controlled social media platform VK. The company has clashed with the Russian authorities as well. This year in June, a Russian court fined Yandex 2 million rubles ($20,500) for repeatedly refusing to provide Russia's security services with information about its users. Earlier in August, Volozh presented himself as an "Israeli entrepreneur born in Kazakhstan" in his online biography, omitting his Russian ties. Read also: NYT: Russian oligarchs enjoy luxury life in UK under sanctions exemptions Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. (Photo : Photo by STR/KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Images) Kim Jong Un fired his top commander and ordered "offensive" war preparations, including increasing weapons production and training. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's recent three-day tour of the country's key weapons factories, as reported by state media, underscores his commitment to enhancing the military's armaments and readiness. This tour took place against the backdrop of escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula and the upcoming joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea, as per Global News. Kim Jong Un's Strategic Weapon Factory Tour During his visits, Kim assessed facilities responsible for producing artillery systems and launch vehicles for nuclear-capable ballistic missiles. He underscored the importance of accelerating efforts to bolster military preparedness. These actions coincide with North Korea's ongoing missile tests and the joint US-South Korea military drills, which Kim views as rehearsal for invasion. In addition to his inspections, Kim dismissed the military's top general, Chief of the General Staff Pak Su Il, during a meeting. However, the specifics of this development were not elaborated upon by the report. While experts analyze Kim's actions, some suggest that his factory visits may relate to potential military collaboration with Moscow. This speculation arises as Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks international support for the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. The prospect of North Korean supplies of artillery and ammunition to Russia is being considered. South Korea's Unification Ministry spokesperson, Koo Byoungsam, proposed that these staged visits to arms factories could serve both to exhibit North Korea's military prowess and to signal intentions for weapons export. The international community expresses concerns about North Korea's continued weapon development, encompassing nuclear capabilities and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). As this crisis unfolds, the urgency for cooperation to address the growing threat remains paramount. Kim's inspection of a large-caliber artillery systems factory revealed his emphasis on strengthening the facility's role in the military's preparations. He commended the application of scientific and technological advancements to enhance shell quality and streamline manufacturing processes. The pursuit of new ammunition types also marked a significant part of his message. This sentiment was echoed during visits to other factories, where Kim highlighted the priority of launcher trucks for ballistic missiles and the need for engines for cruise missiles and drones, according to The Guardian. Read Also: Texas: Austin Police Suspends Less-Than-Lethal Shotgun Usage, but Only Temporarily Kim Jong Un's Strategic Moves Amid Rising Tensions In light of the heightened tensions, Kim's strategic approach involves showcasing his alliances with Moscow and Beijing. By fortifying these partnerships, he aims to assert himself on the global stage and create a united front against the United States. Kim's tour follows a major military parade in Pyongyang, where his presentation of powerful missiles signaled North Korea's capabilities to target South Korea and the United States. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's presence at the parade raised eyebrows and hinted at potential arms supply to Russia for its Ukraine conflict. Analysts speculate that Kim's factory visits align with his aspirations for both domestic modernization of weapons and exploring avenues for exporting artillery and ammunition, possibly to Russia. His focus on missile-launch trucks could indicate advancements in ballistic weapons production, suggesting the potential expansion of operational range to target neighboring rivals and even the US mainland. As the Korean Peninsula faces heightened tensions, Kim's actions underline the need for vigilance and proactive diplomatic efforts to defuse the escalating situation, Korean Herald reported. Related Article: Negasi Zuberi Case: 'Judge Judy' Guest Accused of Sexually Assaulting, Locking Woman in Hommade Cell @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. At the end of July, New York City Mayor Eric Adams issued a blunt warning about the city's ongoing migrant crisis. "Our next phase of this strategy, now that we have run out of room, we have to figure out how we're going to localize the inevitable that there's no more room indoors," he said during a violence prevention task force meeting in conjunction with Governor Kathy Hochul (D) and other city and state officials. The comments notably arrived after The Roosevelt Hotel, where many migrants are being housed, reached full capacity, and incoming hopefuls were left stranded outside on the street in the heat. "We need to call a state of emergency, and we need to properly fund this national crisis," the mayor said, noting that his administration will soon be starting the "next phase of our operation." How did so many migrants end up in NYC? New York has always been a city of newcomers, in part a reflection of its ethos as a sanctuary city but also due to a legal obligation to offer shelter to anyone that wants it, setting it apart from other urban areas like Chicago or Washington, D.C. First enacted in 1981, the right-to-shelter mandate arrived in the wake of a 1979 class-action lawsuit against the city, wherein a homeless man named Robert Callahan served as a plaintiff on behalf of homeless people facing overcrowding in shelters, per Bloomberg. Since then, several city administrations have attempted and failed to squash the rule. The impetus of the current crisis is also political, largely because of pushback from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R). In protest of what he sees as lax federal policies at the U.S.-Mexico border, Abbott has bussed migrants out of Texas towns and into larger, more liberal northern cities like Chicago, D.C. and New York City. How many have arrived? According to the mayor's office, almost 100,000 migrants have arrived since last spring. The city has "opened 194 sites, including 14 humanitarian release centers," for these asylum seekers, and more than 1,300 asylum applications have been "submitted since the city launched a health center in June," per Axios. "We get 2,300 people a week," Anne Williams-Isom, the deputy mayor for Health and Human Services, said during an early August briefing. "I can only speak to what we are doing in New York City. We are giving our blood, sweat and tears into this, doing the best that we can. I can't speak to the federal government." The city estimates that the migrant influx will cost it more than $4 billion over two years. What does 'no more room' really mean? At the end of July, New York had enough beds to fulfill its right-to-shelter obligation. But at some point in the ensuing days, "that stopped being the case," the Times reported. "There is no more room," Adams said at the time. "From this moment on, it's downhill." Migrants were soon stuck in lines outside The Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown, sleeping on sidewalks in extreme heat, while the 194 other relief locations were also allegedly at capacity. Most of the migrants were later cleared from the sidewalk near the hotel, but the overarching problem nonetheless remains. What's being done? "Everything is on the table" as the city searches for more room, said Williams-Isom. A new relief center capable of serving 2,000 adults will soon open on Randall's Island, and two others are set to open in the coming weeks. (A temporary facility opened and closed on Randall's Island last year.) Officials have also announced plans to "convert a long-abandoned psychiatric care facility in Queens into a humanitarian relief center," per Bloomberg. "It's not that there's no spaces, it's that the spaces we have are encumbered by bureaucratic barriers that make it time-consuming and difficult to get people into them," Catherine Trapani, the executive director of nonprofit coalition Homeless Services United, told the Times. There are also likely spots in which the city could set up temporary beds, such as school gyms, but they aren't venues officials could "use on an ongoing basis," added Joshua Goldfein, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society. Still, "if you just brought people inside, gave them a place that is not exposed to the weather that would be better." Meanwhile, Adams has sought to discourage migrants from attempting the journey to New York with a plan to distribute flyers at the southern border. The papers, which suggest asylum seekers "consider another city," are meant to "combat misinformation at the border," his office said. The mayor has also asked a judge to suspend the right-to-shelter order. Is the federal government involved? Adams has voiced complaints that the Biden administration has not sent enough financial aid or acted on "requests like expedited work authorization," Politico reported, which would allow migrants to quickly obtain jobs, move out of shelters and travel elsewhere in the country. "There were bordering states that received more money than us, and they're using the money to bus people to New York," the mayor said at a recent news conference, claiming NYC has received just $30 million in federal aid, despite state congressional leaders announcing in June that the city would receive almost $105 million in FEMA funds to address the problem. "No one wants anyone sleeping on the street or being used as a pawn in a political fight, but it's just plain reality that there's no more room," a City Hall adviser told Politico. "And week after week, the pressure is going to keep mounting on Washington to do something now or wait for it to impact the 2024 elections." You may also like Homepage President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the creation of the Ukrainian Doctrine The Ukrainian leadership is working on a comprehensive framework document the Ukrainian Doctrine which will form the basis for the countrys transformation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his Aug. 10 evening address. "We continue to prepare the Ukrainian Doctrine a comprehensive document that will lay the foundation for the transformation of our state," Zelenskyy stated. Read also: MP urges reform of Economic Security Bureau in line with IMF guidelines The head of state emphasized that these efforts are guided by a singular goal "to win the war and not to lose the country" in the process. Read also: Ukraine-EU summit to commend progress on reforms, but swift accession unlikely media reports "Ukraine is obliged to realize its historical chance for development, which was achieved by the courage of our people all of our people," he said. Read also: Russia strikes Zaporizhzhya in deadly attack president Zelenskyy On June 28, Zelenskyy outlined the main pillars of the future Ukrainian Doctrine during his speech in the Ukrainian parliament on Constitution Day. Besides the cornerstone being defeating Russia, the eventual document will encompass the global nature of Ukraines post-war security arrangements, state policy grounded in justice as its core value, and working towards transforming the nature of the state relationship with its citizens over the next decade. 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 President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is looking for a replacement for Oleksii Reznikov as Ukraines Minister of Defence; there are at least two candidates. Source: sources of Ukrainska Pravda in the government Details: Reznikov's resignation is again under consideration; according to Ukrainska Pravda, it has moved from theoretically possible to practically possible. Reznikov's resignation was already discussed in early February after a series of scandals. The candidate for Minister of Defence then was Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraines Defence Intelligence Chief. Reznikov himself once expressed a desire to work as Minister of Justice, but he did not accept the position of Minister for Strategic Industries, so in February everyone remained in their places. Now, according to Ukrainska Pravda, Zelenskyy once again looks into candidates to replace Reznikov, and there have already been discussions with two of them. The first is Oleksandr Kubrakov, the Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine, and the second is Oleksandr Kamyshin, the Minister for Strategic Industries of Ukraine. Ukrainska Pravda was not informed whether there were conversations with other candidates. Reznikov allegedly does not mind becoming ambassador to the United Kingdom, but whether such an opportunity is actually being considered is also not known. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met with Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop of Constantinople; Metropolitan Emmanuel is currently in Ukraine on a visit. Source: Office of the President of Ukraine; President Zelenskyys video address Quote from Zelenskyy: "As for the meetings I held today and that I can discuss publicly, I spoke with a representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Metropolitan Emmanuel. We are working at every level, and with every stakeholder in global relations, to implement the Peace Formula, which includes bringing back to Ukraine every child who has been deported from our land. I am grateful to the Ecumenical Patriarchate for its willingness to help [Ukraine in this effort]." Details: Zelenskyy and Metropolitan Emmanuel also discussed ways to strengthen Ukraines "spiritual independence" and how to reach spiritual peace in the country. Quote from Zelenskyy: "Our country is one of Christianitys historical centres. And this will remain so. Ukrainian people have fostered a special framework for religious relations in their home: our country has a Council of Churches and Religious Organisations, which ensures that every [religious] community is respected, can communicate its opinions to the state, and can take part in addressing key public issues. [Ukraine] will never allow the aggressor state to weaponise any of Ukraines religious communities. Ukraine will endure and will preserve its independence in its every manifestation, including spiritual independence. And I am grateful to everyone in the world who supports our country and our people in this." Details: Zelenskyy told Metropolitan Emmanuel that his visit was a crucial indication of the Ecumenical Patriarchates support for Ukraine and its people in the full-scale war Russia is waging on Ukraine. He added that "Ukraine" is one of historical centres of Christianity", and it will stay this way. "I greatly appreciate the dialogue we engaged in with His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew during my recent visit to Turkiye. It was very important," Zelenskyy stressed. He invited the Ecumenical Patriarch to visit Ukraine. Emmanuel, Metropolitan of Chalcedon Emmanuel, Metropolitan of Chalcedon president.gov.ua Metropolitan Emmanuel conveyed Patriarch Bartholomews good wishes to President Zelenskyy. "We strongly support you in this difficult moment. You can rest assured of our support and that we will do everything we can in the name of the Ecumenical Patriarchate," he said. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a private conversation with representatives of the UK military leadership, which he called productive. Source: Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the evening video address Quote: "We are preparing more defence packages for our soldiers and more defence systems for the entire Ukrainian society, in particular air defence systems. I also had a private conversation with representatives of the UK military leadership today. A productive conversation." Background: On 10 August, on behalf of Zelenskyy, a video conference meeting was held at the President's Office. Representatives of Ukraine and the United States discussed the situation at the front and defence cooperation. Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy intends to replace the current Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov and has at least two candidates for the position Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is currently looking to replace incumbent Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and has several candidates for the position, according to the Ukrainska Pravda (UP) reported on Aug. 10, citing sources in the government. The article says that the issue of Reznikov's resignation has recently been discussed, advancing from "theoretically possible to practically possible." Read also: Defense Minister Reznikov shows off new Canadian armored vehicles According to the report, amidst a series of scandals in early February, the resignation of the current Defense Minister was already being debated. Then, Ukrainian Military Intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov was a candidate for the position. UP added that Reznikov once "expressed a desire to work as Justice Minister, but refused the position of Minister of Strategic Industries so in February everyone stayed in their places." Read also: Reznikov wont be appointed Ukrainian Ambassador to UK foreign ministry Currently, Zelenskyy has again started the search for Reznikov's replacement. The media underscore that the government has already had talks with two people about this topic. The first is Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, and the second is Ukraines Minister for Strategic Industries, Oleksandr Kamyshin. The journalists write it is currently unknown "whether there were talks with other candidates" and adds that Reznikov allegedly was open to becoming an ambassador to the UK, but UP does not know "whether such an opportunity is actually being considered." Read also: Who will replace Reznikov if Defense Minister needs replacing? MP Kostenko In February 2023, media reports said that Reznikov could resign amid a corruption scandal in the Defense Ministry regarding overpriced contracts for procuring food supplies for the Ukrainian military and suspicions of several top ministry officials embezzling funds. Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron! Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine needs many more air defence systems and modern fighter jets to be able to protect civilians from Russian missiles. Source: President Zelenskyys video address Details: Zelenskyy thanked Germany for giving Ukraine additional Patriot missile defence systems but said that Russian forces were still able to launch a missile strike on Zaporizhzhia, killing civilians. Quote: "Every day, every week, we are working to ensure that the forces protecting our sky have more air defence systems and missiles for them. Tomorrow I will continue this work, trying my best to provide more protection for the sky. Our entire territory needs many more air defence systems than we have now. Step by step, we are turning this [abstract idea of] many more [defence systems] into concrete capabilities for our Air Force, our anti-aircraft gunners, and our mobile fire brigades." Details: Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine was preparing to outline "more specifics" on modern fighter jets for Ukrainian forces. "I have no doubt that F-16s will be in our skies," Zelenskyy concluded. Background: Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron! Two felony charges stemming from a March incident involving Del. Matt Fariss, R-Campbell, were certified to a grand jury following a preliminary hearing in Campbell General District Court, according to the specially appointed prosecutor. Fariss, who faces two felony charges of malicious wounding and felony hit-and-run, as well as one misdemeanor reckless driving charge from the incident, appeared in court Aug. 8 where three witnesses the responding Virginia State Trooper, an independent eyewitness and the victim, Julie Miles testified to the events that transpired on the evening of March 2, Roanoke County Commonwealths Attorney Donald Caldwell said. According to a written complaint filed by Miles on March 3, the day after the alleged incident took place, she was riding in the car with Fariss on March 2, heading to Halifax. Miles wrote Fariss was tailgating someone and she told him to cut it out, leading Fariss to pass the car at an excessive speed, causing a tire to blow out. She wrote during the tire change, Fariss became angry, prompting her to start to walk up 501 to my cousins home in Winfall, which Miles wrote was about an hour away. According to her complaint, Fariss began yelling at her to get in the truck, to which she responded with a firm no, the complaint shows. She then wrote Fariss turned the vehicle to the left at a 90-degree turn and hit me [with] the Tahoe from Miles left, spinning her to the ground. This could have easily killed, paralyzed, maimed me, she wrote in the complaint. She went on to write Fariss told her You should have gotten in the g d car, as she was scampering away on the ground, fearing at this point he may shoot me. According to her complaint, an onlooker saw all of it transpire from across the street, and once Fariss saw the man, Miles wrote he got in his car and fled the scene. Fariss turned himself in to police on March 3 and was released on a $7,500 bond, court records show. Caldwell and Fariss attorney Chuck Felmlee told The News & Advance the charges were certified to the upcoming term of the grand jury, which is scheduled to meet on Sept. 11 in Campbell County. Additionally, Felmlee said the judge issued an extended protective order against Fariss, however they have appealed that decision. Fariss, a Republican, was first elected in 2011 to represent the Virginia House of Delegates 59th District, which covers Appomattox and Buckingham counties, plus parts of Albemarle, Campbell and Nelson counties. While he did not receive the Republican Partys nomination for the newly drawn 51st District in this Novembers House of Delegate elections, Fariss has registered to run as an independent, according to Campbell County Registrar Kelly Martin. Weather Alert ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON MONDAY TO 10 PM CDT WEDNESDAY... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with heat index values up to 110 expected. Minimum overnight temperatures are forecast to remain at or above 75 degrees. * WHERE...Portions of west central Iowa and east central and northeast Nebraska. * WHEN...From noon Monday to 10 PM CDT Wednesday. * IMPACTS...Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses to occur. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. && (Photo : Photo by GULSHAN KHAN/AFP via Getty Images) A British doctor was shot and killed in Cape Town after taking an incorrect turn from the airport and confronting violent protests related to a taxi driver strike. British Tourist Fatally Shot Amid Unrest Cape Town is currently grappling with a week-long minibus taxi strike that has taken a violent turn, resulting in tragic fatalities and disrupting daily life. Amid this turmoil, a 40-year-old British doctor lost his life after inadvertently entering a dangerous area during the strike, as per The Sun. British Tourist Fatally Shot Amid Unrest The strike, triggered by perceived heavy-handed tactics of law enforcement against taxi drivers, has spiraled into chaos. Taxi drivers and owners expressed grievances over vehicles being impounded for minor infractions, including seatbelt violations and driving in emergency lanes. They contend that similar offenses by other drivers merely incur fines, raising concerns of discriminatory targeting. The strike's impact has been widespread, leading to roadblocks, halted taxi routes, and even arson. Residents of the Masiphumelele township created barricades, further intensifying the unrest. Police have been actively working to quell incidents of looting, stone-throwing, and arson that have occurred during the strike. Regrettably, the toll has included fatalities, including a police officer. Despite efforts to end the strike through negotiations, progress has been elusive. Cape Town's mayor has refused to engage with those resorting to violence. The strike has paralyzed the city's transportation system, affecting not only commuters but also leading to the closure of businesses and schools. This incident coincides with escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula and the upcoming joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea. This visit to weapons factories showcases Kim Jong Un's determination to enhance his military's armaments and readiness, The Telegraph via MSN reported. Read Also: Will AI Soon Replace Pets? Expert Voices Concern Travel Warnings Highlight Fragility and Disruption As the situation unfolds, the British Foreign Office has issued travel warnings, categorizing the strike as a high security threat for tourists visiting South Africa. Travel advice encourages tourists to stick to main routes and avoid areas of unrest, where protests have the potential to escalate into violence. The taxi strike has exposed the fragility of Cape Town's transportation infrastructure, with minibus taxis serving as the main mode of travel for countless residents The tragic incident involving the British tourist underscores the fragility of transportation infrastructure in Cape Town and the broader consequences that civil unrest can have on various facets of city life. It serves as a somber reminder of the complexities that arise during times of social tension and highlights the critical need for swift and effective resolutions that prioritize safety and well-being. As the city navigates these challenging times, it remains a reminder that unity, dialogue, and peaceful solutions are key to overcoming such challenges and ensuring a harmonious and secure future for all. The disruptions resulting from the strike emphasize the importance of maintaining open lines of communication and seeking peaceful solutions to address grievances and improve transportation services, according to the BBC. Related Article: Romanian Care Homes Probed Over Allegations of Elderly Abuse @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Romania on Wednesday thanked the Kingdom of Morocco for its important support for the release of Romanian hostage Iulian Ghergut, who had been held in the Sahel region since 2015. In a statement, the Romanian Foreign Ministry announced the release of the security officer from a manganese mine in northern Burkina Faso, near the borders of Mali and Niger, who was kidnapped on April 4, 2015 by the Al Mourabitoun group, which has pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), while thanking Morocco for its important support for his release. According to the ministry, Iulian Ghergut is currently safe in Romania, where he returned on Wednesday. For his part, President Klaus Iohannis thanked, via the social network X (formerly Twitter), the external partners who supported Romania in this difficult undertaking. Huayou, a Chinese manufacturer of electric vehicles battery materials, would invest 200 billion dirhams or $20 bln in a plant in Moroccos region of Laayoune Sakia El Hamra in the Sahara, the regional investment center announced. A delegation of the Chinese group visited the region where officials introduced competitive attractions to help the company export to Europe and the US where demand is on the rise on electric vehicles. The plant would be completed in 7 years and would employ 13,000 people, the regional investment center said in a statement. The plant is expected to have a capacity to supply batteries to 6 million cars annually with a potential to export to Europe and the US, it said. Morocco has already announced plans to attract EV batteries manufactures to adapt its growing automotive sector to low-carbon requirements. Cars and their components have topped Moroccos exports so far this year outperforming phosphates and fertilizers sales. Photo: Jose A. Alvarado Jr./The New York Times/REDUX A man paralyzed from the neck down after striking his head on the concrete floor following a takedown by guards. An officer standing by while an inmate was beaten in his cell. Others in custody pepper sprayed during an unsanctioned hostage drill. These are just a few examples of how people held at Rikers Island have been treated over the past several years, according to a court-appointed federal monitor who has issued multiple reports in recent months about the inhumane conditions at the citys most notorious jail. On Thursday, the court will begin hearings about the citys management of Rikers and a judge will decide in the coming weeks whether the jail should be placed under federal control. Essentially, Rikers Island will be put on trial. The legal battle goes back more than a decade. In 2011, inmates filed a class-action lawsuit with the Legal Aid Society against the Department of Correction alleging excessive force by corrections officers, Nunez v. City of New York. Four years later, after federal prosecutors in Manhattan joined the plaintiffs, the city settled and agreed to a monitor. The agreement also established a new use of force policy, called for additional conflict resolution and crisis intervention training, and ordered the installation of thousands of new security cameras throughout Rikers. During a June conference in the case though, Judge Laura Taylor Swain said that her confidence in the Department of Corrections ability to implement reform was shaken by reports of violence and neglect from Steve J. Martin, the monitor charged with observing Rikers. In a May 26 report, Martin relayed disturbing details about the deaths of two inmates. One was a 31-year-old man named Joshua Valles who was initially believed to have suffered cardiac arrest, only for an autopsy to reveal that he had a fractured skull. Martin wrote in an additional letter that his team only learned of Valless death from an outside source not from the department itself. Another inmate, 52-year-old Rubu Zhao jumped from an upper level of the jails psychiatric unit and later died from his injuries, an incident that Martin said he only found out through news reports. In late May, the Department of Correction announced that it would no longer publicly announce deaths that occur behind bars. Martin wrote in May that there was significant cause for concern about the imminent risk of harm to people in custody, and suggested that the Department of Corrections lack of transparency with the monitoring team and approach to addressing problems on Rikers was antithetical to advancing reform. In July, he called for the city to be held in contempt for not abiding by the Nunez settlement in order to force action on urgent security and safety concerns, adding that his team does not make such a recommendation to the Court lightly. Mary Lynne Werlwas, the director of the Legal Aid Societys Prisoners Rights Project, said conditions on Rikers are worse today than when Nunez was settled. Weve seen enormous harm to people who are incarcerated, both in injury, self harm in housing areas that are left abandoned by staff, and of course deaths that are, in far too many cases, attributable to the very problems Nunez is meant to solve, she said. Though Rikers has long had a reputation for violence and abuse at the hands of officers, conditions deteriorated during the pandemic, especially as corrections officers went out on sick leave en masse. In 2021 alone, at least 15 inmates died while in custody and 19 died in 2022. So far this year, seven have perished in Rikers, which has spurred renewed calls for a federal takeover among elected officials including City Comptroller Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. Bill de Blasios administration issued a plan to close Rikers in 2027 and replace the facility with smaller borough-based jails. Mayor Eric Adams, who first took office in 2021, inherited the plan but has often cast doubt on its feasibility, especially given that the proposed sites for the new jails have received pushback by neighboring residents. Meanwhile, Adams has vowed to reform Rikers. The city filed an action plan last year intended to address the staffing crisis as well as decrease the violence and number of deaths at Rikers. The plan called for increased searches, additional recruitment for correction staff as well as requiring routine tours of all of the jails housing units. This week, Martin called Department of Corrections latest efforts at reform haphazard, tepid and insubstantial. Adams has rejected the calls for federal control and has continued to commend the work being done by Louis Molina, the Department of Correction commissioner who has been in the role since the beginning of last year. During an unrelated event last month, the mayor said Molina was doing a goddamn good job. However, that same day, Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan said in a statement that he intended to pursue contempt proceedings and called for a federal takeover, saying that Rikers has been in crisis for years. This is a collective failure with deep roots, spanning multiple mayoral administrations and DOC commissioners. But after eight years of trying every tool in the toolkit, we cannot wait any longer for substantial progress to materialize, he said. Molina and Adams have attempted to push back against the monitors findings, sharing footage of some of the incidents to selected news outlets. The commissioner told WCBS that the administration took this action to show that they have nothing to hide and that the incidents actually portray the level of restraint and empathy that we have moved this department to under this administration. A spokesperson for City Hall said in a statement that the administrations efforts have led to significant improvements on Rikers. While much more remains to be done, the numbers speak loudly double digit reductions in slashing and stabbings, assaults on staff, injuries to people in custody, serious use-of-force incidents, drug recoveries, and absenteeism. We take our obligation to keep people placed in our charge safe very seriously, and our administration remains committed to continued reform and working with the monitor, the statement read. If appointed, a receiver would assume full control over the jail and answer solely to the court. A receiver could make many of the day-to-day operational decisions that go into complying with court orders and have the authority to make the changes that the citys either unwilling or unable to make to get compliance with the courts orders, Werlwas of Legal Aid said. On Wednesday, the Board of Correction, the oversight board that acts as a watchdog of the citys jails, filed a lawsuit against the Department of Correction over access to security footage in Rikers and throughout the entire system. In an op-ed in the New York Daily News, a majority of the board members said the Department of Correction revoked their ability to monitor body camera footage and security video, writing the DOC has consistently made attempts to block transparency and undermine our work. The members also announced their support for placing Rikers in federal hands, adding that they have lost faith in this administration to do what is right. The department is attempting to shroud the jails in impenetrable darkness. Their preference for looking good over doing good is patently dangerous to all who are held or work in the jails, they wrote. Photo: Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images Governor Kathy Hochul has so far managed to keep a low profile when it comes to New Yorks growing migrant crisis. She has avoided press conferences while quietly working the phones in frequent conversations with the White House and City Hall. But a ruling by a state judge last week changed that, putting the governor in the policy hot seat. She now has both the obligation and the opportunity to take the lead on the challenging issue. The stakes are high. If she succeeds, Hochul could become the kind of national leader whose name gets floated for cabinet positions or even a future shot at the White House. In the short term, she must prepare a response to Judge Erika Edwards of the Manhattan Supreme Court, who oversees the decades-old legal settlement that created the states right to shelter and recently gave Hochul a deadline of August 15 to lay out a plan for helping Mayor Adams handle the crush of migrants that has overwhelmed the citys shelter system. What weve seen is that on the state side, no one has been treating this as an urgent matter, and the result is that the city has not had the resources that it needs, attorney Josh Goldfein of the Legal Aid Society said after a recent closed-door court hearing. The judge made it clear that the state needs to start treating this as an urgent matter and that they have responsibilities they have to meet. Thats not quite fair: Hochul, who declared a state of emergency in May, got the state legislature to allocate $1 billion to help Adams handle the migrant surge, including $767 million for housing expenses, $162 million for support from the National Guard, and $137 million for health care. Thats a sizable down payment on the $4 billionplus Adams says it will cost to house the migrants. I have a feeling were gonna need another billion dollars next year, Hochul told me on Tuesday. Gov. Hochul faces both an obligation and an opportunity. Photo: Lev Radin/Pacific Press/Shutterstock/Lev Radin/Pacific Press/Shutters But in addition to state money and an aggressive hunt for more beds, Hochul must supply a crucial missing ingredient: the confident, high-profile, public-facing leadership that only a governor can provide. Remember how, at the height of the COVID pandemic, ex-governor Andrew Cuomo famously delivered televised briefings with candid, detailed explanations of the tangle of medical, legal, logistical, and fiscal issues he was grappling with? In addition to calming a panicked public, the fact-filled briefings helped Cuomo build the leverage needed to strike deals with the White House, make demands on behalf of his fellow governors, and rally local officials to pressure the Trump administration for vaccines and other help. That high-wire act later backfired on Cuomo: His actions on nursing homes drew widespread criticism, and an ill-conceived, self-congratulatory book documenting his COVID management (for which he took a multimillion-dollar advance) resulted in an ethics investigation, a lawsuit (that Cuomo ultimately won), and became an item in the state assemblys impeachment proceedings that pushed him to resign. But Cuomos masterful rise to national prominence remains a modern example of Lincolns famous observation that with public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed he who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions. Hochul, if she chooses, could play a similar role in building on and explaining to New York and the rest of the nation our states little-noticed but extraordinarily successful track record of quietly resettling thousands of refugees in upstate cities and towns in recent decades, creating what some leaders have called a refugee renaissance. New York should stop treating the migrant crisis as a short-term issue of where to place the next 500 or 2,000 arrivals. Were way past that point. A year ago, the first buses, chartered by the Texas state government, began ferrying Venezuelan asylum seekers to midtown Manhattan. Back then, local media outlets like Fox 5 News reported that 54 people had shown up without prior notice to City Hall. As more buses began arriving in the following days, the citys immigration affairs commissioner, Manuel Castro, who had himself crossed the U.S.-Mexico border when he was 5 years old, made a point of traveling to the Port Authority Bus Terminal to greet newly arriving people with a handshake and a word of welcome. Newly arrived migrants. Photo: Brendan McDermid/REUTERS Castro condemned the Texas stunt at the time as morally corrupt and cowardly. His boss, Adams, even threatened direct political retaliation against that states governor, Greg Abbott. I am deeply contemplating taking a busload of New Yorkers to go to Texas and do some good old-fashioned door knocking, he said. For the good of America, we need to get him out of office. But 12 months later, as the early trickle turned into a flood, its clear that Texas is no longer the sole source of new migrants, and Venezuela isnt the only point of origin. As the Daily Mail noted, the line of migrants sleeping outside the intake center at the Roosevelt Hotel recently included men from Ecuador, Chad, Sudan, Bhutan, Mauritania, and Senegal. New York is part of a global phenomenon that saw a record-high 100 million people displaced across multiple continents last year due to persecution, wars, and human rights violations, according to the U.N. high commissioner of refugees. Even before Governor Abbott was busing people to New York, people were making their way here on their own. And it has been a really diverse immigrant population folks from Africa, folks from Eastern Europe, with the vast majority coming from South and Central America, Murad Awawdeh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, told me. For the most part, the demographics are not changing very much. But this is the population thats been coming. We know about some of the headline-grabbing conflicts, like the ongoing armed conflicts in Ukraine, Yemen, Syria, and Sudan. But other slow-burning tragedies are displacing people every day, like the disaster in Haiti that recently led the State Department to order all U.S. government personnel to leave the country due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and poor health-care infrastructure. There are no elected officials in Haiti. Zero. None, journalist Gary Pierre-Pierre, founder of the Haitian Times, told me recently, referring to the 2021 assassination of the countrys president, the refusal of his successor to call elections, and the steady attrition of local mayors and legislators who left office at the conclusion of their terms. With gangs in control of crucial infrastructure on the island, we should expect a new wave of people fleeing the chaos to end up in New York. The same is true for the string of countries across central Africa that have recently been wracked by military coups, including Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali. Far from fearing the coming wave of migrants, New York should build on existing, successful efforts to quickly help them get settled, much of which has been documented by local media stories and a series of studies in a book called Immigration: Key to the Future, published by the New York State Bar Association. From 2002 to 2022, Buffalo became a new home for 16,000 refugees, many of them Burmese, Bangladeshi, and Sudanese, who helped reverse a 70-year decline in the citys population. In Syracuse, an estimated 5,656 refugees settled between 2009 and 2014, reversing that citys longtime population decline and pumping millions into the local economy. Utica has absorbed more than 17,000 refugees from dozens of countries since 1979, mostly from Southeast Asia, the former Soviet Union, and the lands that once made up Yugoslavia. One in five city residents is now a refugee or the child of refugees; economic studies found that early years of spending on language, health, and education services later led to stable, taxpaying families. That is the endgame, Hochul told me. Buffalos population was declining; it went up by over 8,000, which is a big deal for a city that size. I have walked the streets. I have gone to the refugee centers. I know what they did in Buffalo. But heres the difference: They all have legal work status, and in fact theyre required to work for five years in order to receive permanent legal status. Thats the difference. So theyre taking jobs immediately, and employers are saying, were so grateful youre here. People from Burma and Thailand and Somalia, that is now part of the fabric of a place like Buffalo. Theyre doing the same in Utica. Albany is doing the same. So we need to get legal work status, and it changes everything. New Yorks path to success, says Hochul, lies in getting the White House to approve expedited work authorizations for asylum seekers and then figuring out a way to get them plugged into upstate jobs. This could change everything, if we could get legal work status, temporary protected status for, for example, people coming from, lets say, Venezuela. Treat them as we treat the people from Afghanistan and Ukraine and Cuba and Haiti, she said. I got a call, people said to me, I need them in my North Country, Lake Placid Hotel, or a restaurant over in Syracuse, or a nursing home on Long Island. There are so many jobs that they could be absorbed into our economy so easily. Five thousand open farm jobs today. We have to get the crops, that produce, down here to New York City restaurants. New York doesnt have to reinvent the wheel to make that happen. Our states Office of New Americans, launched in 2012, is the countrys first legislatively created office designed to help integrate immigrant families into the state economy. Hochul needs to beef up the size, authority, and visibility of the office and give its leaders a crash course on best practices learned by grassroots organizations like the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees in Utica, Refugee and Immigrant Self-Empowerment in Syracuse and Buffalos International Institute. We should also take advantage of the expertise of the International Rescue Committee, which works with refugees all around the world and whose global headquarters on East 42nd Street is a couple of blocks from the citys migrant intake center at the Roosevelt Hotel. Someday, we will look back and marvel that New York in 2023, even after centuries of converting ragged, desperately poor immigrants into healthy, housed Americans, had not created a robust, properly staffed, well-organized bureaucracy with the sole, explicit goal of getting massive numbers of new arrivals moved from shelter to stability. It may not be the mission Hochul expected, but its one she can no longer avoid. Photo: Ben Gray/AP As Donald Trump waits to learn whether he will be facing a fourth indictment in Georgias 2020 election-interference probe (all signs point to yes), he has decided to go after the woman at the helm of the investigation: Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis. On Sunday, Trumps campaign began running an ad in the state criticizing Willis, attempting to portray her as a corrupt prosecutor who is only going after the former president on President Bidens orders. NBC News reports that the ad is slated to run in Atlanta from Wednesday through Sunday. There is speculation that charges in Williss inquiry will be revealed as soon as next week. The ad, entitled The Fraud Squad, goes after Willis personally, claiming that she is guilty of prosecutorial misconduct and alleging that she had an affair with a gang member she was prosecuting. The one-minute-long video calls Willis Bidens newest lackey, lumping her in with other prosecutors who have sought charges against Trump, including special counsel Jack Smith and Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained an email Willis sent to her staff asking them not to respond publicly to the ad, writing that the claims made in the video were derogatory and false. You may not comment in any way on the ad or any of the negativity that may be expressed against me, your colleagues, this office in the coming days, weeks or months, she said. We have no personal feelings against those we investigate or prosecute and we should not express any. Trump has always attacked the people who have investigated him for wrongdoing, and the pattern is continuing. In the days since Smith indicted the former president in his classified-documents and January 6 inquiries, Trump has called the veteran prosecutor deranged. In a social-media post, he wrote that Bragg was a degenerate psychopath. Most recently, Trump has aimed his ire at U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, the Obama appointee who has been assigned to the Justice Departments election-fraud case. On Truth Social, he claimed her selection was unfair, saying that Chutkan was Smiths number one draft pick. CNN reported that Chutkan has received an enhanced security detail due to her presiding over the case. Jesus. She is in her full on cult bag. Reply Thread Link I have sooo many salty friends that they didnt get a presale code and theyre annoyed Americans are trying to come to the measly six dates Canada got. Reply Thread Link Well there were Canadians and other fans from other countries who came to the US dates so like they have no leg to stand on. Reply Parent Thread Link i mean the US gets dozens of shows, canada gets 6 at a smaller venue in one city Reply Parent Thread Expand Link They absolutely have a leg to stand on. The US got 50+ shows, Canada got 6. It costs roughly $600-$800 to fly in Canada. It costs significantly less to travel in the US. Its just not comparable at all. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Does that mean CAD$ is about to go up? LOL Reply Parent Thread Link lmao already cackling at the discussion in this one little thread. Taylor Swift - geopolitical menace!! Reply Parent Thread Link I didn't sign up for Toronto for this season! Chose NOLA and Indiana, but sadly waitlisted :( :( :( :( :( Reply Parent Thread Link I didn't know what many people lived in Canada, ngl. Reply Thread Link There are now 50 million lmao. Yes this shocked me too. Im in Canada fwiw Reply Parent Thread Link Unless I really missed something, I think we're approaching (or maybe recently hit?) 40 million. Reply Parent Thread Link We're nearing 40 Million. Reply Parent Thread Link Since when? Last I looked, it was under 40 million. Slightly fewer people than California. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I wonder how many of the 30M though were from other countries (I.E. US) trying to snag tickets to Toronto dates. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I'm sure half were people from other countries Reply Parent Thread Link Lol were big on land mass, tiny on population. Lots of people probably used several emails to hedge their bets on getting an access code. Source: my niece using several phone numbers and email addresses including mine lol Reply Parent Thread Expand Link ugh, I want that jacket. Screw 90's coming back-- I remember the 70s style being trendy during the 90's, soooooo.... Reply Parent Thread Link RBC's Avion Rewards What the hell is even that?? Reply Thread Link travel rewards credit card avion is plane in french Reply Parent Thread Link i have an avion card and i attempted to get a hotel covered with my travel insurance and they denied me because it was too expensive WHAT REWARDS IS THAT, YOU BULLSHIT CARD (if you are legit asking, RBC is a bank. Avion is a type of credit card) Reply Parent Thread Link Hahaha, Im from Canada, I know of RBC, Ive just never heard of RBC Avion. Reply Parent Thread Link I'm glad I was interested in tickets lol. I liked folklore and evermore but tbh the national is my favourite band and I really feel the influence on those ones. I have alot of friends who are trying for tickets though. I think at 40, my age group is kinda on the upper end of her major fans? I just don't feel like I know anyone who is obsessed w her. Reply Thread Link This is me. She has some songs I like, but I literally wasn't even aware of her until 1989. If someone had an extra ticket, I'd go to a show, bu I have no desire to spend my time getting tickets for myself. I did get caught in the madness round 1 while helping my bro's gf get tickets. She's actual Swiftie that didn't get a code, but her parents and I did. Reply Parent Thread Link I didnt know that Taylor swift was Canadian https://t.co/bZWiikAeDn AINSLIA (@ainsliahelena) March 28, 2023 Tbh not a lot of people know that Taylor is actually Canadian and not American. Reply Thread Link LMAO Reply Parent Thread Link I legit gurgled Reply Parent Thread Link and ontd still pretends she's not an icon Reply Thread Link swifties still like to pretend everyone hates her Reply Parent Thread Link people don't, just ontd lol Reply Parent Thread Expand Link thats just her core fanbase! no impact! Edited at 2023-08-10 12:28 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Expand Link oh she's definitely mega huge, anyone who says otherwise is delusional. what's fucking tragic is that someone so aggressively mediocre is as big as she is. Reply Parent Thread Link i was in the psych hospital. finally an appropriate post to say that i'm back... Reply Thread Link lol aww the little slippers! Reply Parent Thread Link Glad to have you back. Reply Parent Thread Link Im glad youre back Reply Parent Thread Link welcome back! Reply Parent Thread Link Welcome back Reply Parent Thread Link My group of 4 plus 4 of my family members all got waitlisted. I guess I was delusional thinking I'd at least get a chance to buy tickets. Hoping for the Avion presale but have pretty much given up hope. The fact that they are already on stubhub for thousands of dollars makes me so mad. Taylor should have done what she did for Rep tour where real fans could boost their chances by watching her videos and doing other shit Reply Thread Link i know so many people who signed up and no one got codes i wonder what RBC's allocation is Reply Parent Thread Link I imagine similar to what the capital one sales in the US were, which wasn't much? but who knows. hopefully less people/Americans knew about this presale vs the regular one Reply Parent Thread Link I had a friend for the US tour, first round, be waitlisted and then get an email 2 weeks later allowing him to buy 2 tickets and he just bought 1. So I'm trying to hold out hope Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Hit 40 million in June. There was a tracker and everything you could watch. Anyway Im embarrassed by my countrymen for this. :\ Reply Parent Thread Link Im sure many of the registrations were from people in other countries. Especially US. Toronto is only like 80 miles from the US border. And a lot of US fans who didnt get tickets on the first leg have been trying for Toronto. Sadly a lot of Canadians are getting phased out and not even getting codes whereas some from US are Reply Parent Thread Link People probably registered multiple times. Thats what I did in Germany. Had to have 10 accounts to manage to buy tickets on ONE Reply Parent Thread Link If any artist has the power to do things better, it's her Reply Thread Link ya she could ban resales and still sell out instantly, but at least more fans would get tickets Reply Parent Thread Link This. I see so many of her fans blame bots, scalpers and Ticketmaster etc which yeah theyre a problem. But she literally has the power to prevent resale. If Ed Sheerans lame ass can do it so can she. She holds so much power, she could use it to make real change instead of just serving lip and calling it a day. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link In Europe (at least Germany and Poland) the tickets are tied to the person who purchased them like it said 5 times before and after purchase that the ticket buyer needs to be present and show an ID or else they will not have access to the venue and the only way to Resell them is via the official channel for the same price or less. I guess thats at least something Edited at 2023-08-10 05:44 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link This is that George Bush math... Reply Thread Link I miss the 1989 PLEASE WELCOME TO THE STAGE days. Reply Thread Link that was truly iconic... my show's special guest was walk the moon because shut up and dance was a hit back then lol Reply Parent Thread Link lmaooooo you know this made her so mad at the time too. like "these people dont understand SISTERHOOD. sorry i have FRIENDS" Reply Parent Thread Link Lol isn't this from Ed Droste? LOL I remember him hating her ass cause he claimed she was scary and threatening. Reply Parent Thread Link THE BLAIR WITCH always gets me Reply Parent Thread Expand Link why the fuck are they having concerts in the circus maximus? Reply Thread Link mte how they hell do they keep that place up to code Reply Parent Thread Link They did Live 8 there too a while back Reply Parent Thread Link Believe it or not, they've done quite a lot of concerts there but apparently, after what happened at TS concert, they want to stop ^^' Reply Parent Thread Link yeah, i read that people were complaining it felt like an earthquake, an archaeologists are pissed. i think the city councilman quoted at the end of the nyts article on it is on the take. Reply Parent Thread Link It's an open field next to an archeological area, it's not that different from most festivals I've been at. This one was an absolute fucking mess because crowd control was nonexistent and the barriers sucked. I've been to several concerts there and it was always great! Like, I've seen Maneskin and Bruce Springsteen there, so not exactly quiet crowds, and it was an absolute positive. I'm gonna go ahead and assume it was Travis who's at fault for shit poor organisation. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link This man is a public menace tbh. Keep him away from stage performances. Edited at 2023-08-10 01:36 am (UTC) Reply Thread Link how did a pepper spray incident hurt 60 people? The 14 year old trying to sneak in and falling 12 feet? WTF happened. Reply Thread Link Probably people getting blinded and panicking also breathing it in if you have any respiratory issues. Reply Parent Thread Link If I had to guess, probably caused a mini-stampede of people running away from whatever psycho was using pepper spray. Reply Parent Thread Link wait - they do concerts there? honestly I had no idea lol Reply Thread Link Having been to both Pink and Stevie Nicks concerts in the past two weeks and seeing how those crowds were during/after I would 1000% not be able to handle his where chaos is encouraged. Reply Thread Link Wow, I wouldnt expect to be worried at all to attend those entertainers concerts. I went to Kellys concert in Vegas and other than being surprised at how many boomers felt it necessary to hold up their phones recording the ENTIRE time, the atmosphere was fun, friendly, and dancy. The audience was so respectful towards Kelly when she walked off stage and into the crowd to sing Breakaway and hug/shake fans hands. And she told the crowd at the beginning that if they want to throw things on stage, she most prefers diamonds. Someone in the crowd gave her a stuffed animal that she held for a bit and then walked back and carefully set it down sitting upright, like it was there to watch her show too. Edited at 2023-08-10 02:20 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link Kelly and Seth Meyers Day Drinking made me love her forever Reply Parent Thread Link The concerning part about the crowds I witnessed was the amount of people who showed up to both concerts absolutely plastered, AND the amount of people completely trashed at the end of them. Ive never seen crowds that drunk pre show and people just laying on the ground as their friends tried to help them up after. Reply Parent Thread Link By chance I googled the circus maximus to get an idea on how it looked. Someone one put up the concert. You'd think after the Astroworld tragedy he wouldn't get another festival like setting. But the crowd looks crazy Reply Thread Link imagine spending hundreds of euros to get yelled at in auto tune Reply Parent Thread Link i randomly clicked at 8:00 and like..... i cannot believe this is real lmaooo im actually shocked at how bad this is Reply Parent Thread Link This is so much worse than I even thought. Oof. Reply Parent Thread Link Im sorry but how is it that Taylor, Kehlani, Beyonce, and many more are touring these massive venues every night this summer and not one person gets injured, attacked, or hurt ? What is going on at these mens shows?!? A pepper spray incident? Someones child falling from a height I refuse to try and convert ?!? So irresponsible. I hope the victims recovery swiftly and sue to the heavens Reply Thread Link For Taylor, I was walking through the stadium, absolutely surrounded on all sides by people and thought "why am I not anxious in this crowd like I normally am?" And then I realized I was surrounded by women and it all made sense. I didn't feel anxious or unsafe for my Beyonce concerts either. No one was even rude to/near me. Reply Parent Thread Link Did you just say you went to both Beyonce and Taylors concerts?!? Okkkkay moneybags!!!! I see you! Reply Parent Thread Expand Link i went to two 1d concerts at their peak - biggest crowds ive ever been in, zero uncomfortable moments, good vibes only. audience probably 90% female and 10% a mix of gay men and obliging dads lol Reply Parent Thread Expand Link The worst concert crowds I've ever been in are the ones where the band/artist has a lot of male fans. Brand New, for example, had awful frat boy stans who spent their time at shows killing the vibe and sexually harassing women. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I was anxious, but my edible was wearing off lol Reply Parent Thread Link Unlike them Travis def encourages that hype behavior from his fans. Like he completely feeds off it. Reply Parent Thread Link I used to go to much smaller rap concerts in my 20s and I can see how someone could get injures. It was mostly men and they were much less careful about space, no issue with pushing people. I'm sure people are jumping at Bey/Taylor concerts but they prob are more respectful while getting hype. The 2nd to last rap concert I went to I got pushed a good 15 feet w/o my feet touching the ground. And Travis seems to encourage that type of thing Reply Parent Thread Link What is going on at these mens shows?!? Reply Parent Thread Link its over 13 feet. i dont know how the kid is doing but they probably broke something Reply Parent Thread Link Travis has been actively encouraging people to rush the stage and "get wild" since 2015. Earlier this year he beat a sound tech for telling him his music was too loud for the club he was playing in. He seems to really get off on his concerts getting chaotic and dangerous Edited at 2023-08-10 06:06 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I think people are actually hurt way more often than we hear about-- mostly drug/alcohol related. Reply Parent Thread Link At this point if you go to a Travis Scott concert you should plan ahead for being involved in a mass casualty event. And also you're dumb. Reply Thread Link Seriously? Damn Reply Thread Link Again?! Not a good look, Travis Reply Thread Link Someone stop this man Reply Thread Link "Where he isn't" words of wisdom tbh!!! Reply Thread Link Andrea Riseborough, Domhnall Gleeson Lead Offbeat Channel 4 Romance 'Alice & Jack,' Directed by 'Compartment Number 6' Helmer (EXCLUSIVE) https://t.co/QIX0kl8IKk Variety (@Variety) August 9, 2023 Domhnall Gleeson is set to join the cast of Apple Original Films 'Echo Valley,' a new dramatic feature and original screenplay by Brad Ingelsby, starring Julianne Moore and Sydney Sweeney https://t.co/YgstkwE413 Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) April 6, 2023 Register to host a coffee morning to support your local Hospice on https://t.co/RLXKFcpcf2 or call 0818 995 996 on September 21 - or a date that suits you. If you can not host or attend one, you can make a donation at https://t.co/D9cAZdfz4O. pic.twitter.com/Mwtn9zN3hk NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) August 2, 2023 Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson and Ruth Negga to star in a film adaptation of NIGHT BOAT TO TANGIER. It follows Maurice and Charlie, a pair of gangsters from Ireland, who travel back to southern Spain re-visiting old haunts and old flames. (https://t.co/wvJmeSXPGE) pic.twitter.com/qJSEGHs8hp Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) April 13, 2023 -the romantic comedy will also star Aisling Bea (Greatest Days), Aimee Lou Wood(Sex Education) and Sunil Patel (This Time with Alan Partridge)-filmed last summer in and around London-no airdate announced yet-Moore plays a horse trainer whose daughter (Sweeney) comes home covered in someone else's blood one night-Gleeson will play a local criminal who is somehow involved with Moore's character. If you're expecting some hot ginger-on-ginger action, you'll be disappointed because they dyed his hair blonde -was filmed pre-strike in NJ-as he's done for many years, he's heavily promoting the Big Coffee Morning Social to raise money for local Irish hospices-you can listen to the full interview here, where he discusses the hospices, the fundraiser, his grandparents who were there and how well they were taken care of, the strike, . and how privileged and lucky he was to have the opportunities he did as a nepo-baby -if you haven't seen them, here's the hilarious sketches he co-wrote and starred in to raise money back in 2012 Immaturity for Charity -will play an Irish gangster "Charlie" who travels to Spain-no other word on filming or release dates via GIPHY OnePlus has announced a lifetime screen warranty offering for all devices affected by the green line issue in India. The new policy puts an end to screen-related worries for its users. But the big question on everyone's mind is: Will this impressive offer make its way to the United States (US)? OnePlus Lifetime Screen Warranty in India In a tech-savvy nation like India, smartphone screens are essentially the windows to our digital worlds. Recognizing this, OnePlus has taken a remarkable stride to ensure customer satisfaction by launching a Lifetime Screen Warranty. This game-changing initiative comes hot on the heels of a pesky display concern - the notorious "green line" issue that has been the source of annoyance for many OnePlus users. As per 9to5 Google, the Chinese phone maker OnePlus, which is widely popular in India and the US, has introduced a Lifetime Screen Warranty for its devices in India. The new warranty policy seeks to end "green line" screen issue woes, elevating user experience to a whole new level. A OnePlus spokesperson disclosed that they realized that the "green line" screen issue " has caused a great deal of inconvenience to the affected users." And as such, the giant phone maker is now offering a free screen replacement for all affected devices. And on top of the free screen replacement, OnePlus also gives users a lifetime screen warranty for all affected devices. According to Android Authority, the lifetime warranty policy exclusively caters to users based in India. The tech news outlet reached out to OnePlus US and OnePlus United Kingdom (UK) regarding any plans to deliver the same game-changing initiative. However, they have yet to respond. Besides the free screen replacement, the tech firm lets users upgrade their affected OnePlus phone to a new device. But this policy only applies to online purchased devices. Read Also: OnePlus 3 Plus challenges iPhone 7 Plus, Google Pixel with Snapdragon 821, dual cam, 3500 mAh battery features Which Devices Are Supported by the Lifetime Screen Warranty? As Phone Arena reports, the lifetime screen warranty only applies to OnePlus phones, which carry the notorious "green line" screen issue. The green line issue is a hardware defect that causes a vertical green line to appear on the screen of some OnePlus devices. The issue is affecting a variety of OnePlus phones, including the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 9. The OnePlus 8T, OnePlus 8 Pro, and the OnePlus 9R are also grappling with the pesky defect. Phone Arena notes that other phone makers, such as Google, Apple, and Samsung, are also grappling with the same screen defect, wherein annoying "green lines" suddenly appear. Yet, these tech giants have to provide a similar policy. Related Article: China Plans to Limit Children's Smartphone Use to 2 Hours: 40 Minutes For Younger Kids? @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. CSHEMA Names Its 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient Dr. Dennis Terpin received the honor at the organizations annual conference. The Campus Safety, Health and Environmental Management Association (CSHEMA) just named its Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Dr. Dennis Terpin. CSHEMA announced the winners at its 70th Annual Conference in Boston in July 2023. More than 600 members and guests attended the Annual Awards Presentation, celebrating the years top achievements by higher education institutions and individuals. Winners are based on nominations submitted by the more than 4,000 professionals who comprise the CSHEMA membership. The nominees are evaluated based on their innovation, marketing and communication and individual career achievement. Dr. Terpin, Ph.D., O.H.S.T. is retired, a Certified Fire Officer, an EMT-P, an EMT instructor and a retired senior industrial hygienist, hospital safety officer and emergency manager at The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC). He has also provided Professional Level training classes for organizations such as the Board of Certified Safety Professionals, the American Society of Safety Professionals, the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists and over 100 colleges, universities and companies. In addition, Dr. Terpin sits on the board of directors of the West Maui Taxpayers Association, specializing in emergency management and occupational safety and health. Hes also active on the American Society for Testing and Materials F23.65 International Respiratory Protection Committee on protective clothing and respiratory protection. Dr. Terpin is also a Master Level Instructor for the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security at the Center for Domestic Preparedness and The Emergency Management Institute. The CSHEMA Honorary Life Award is granted to retired individuals who have contributed to environmental health and safety programs for at least 10 years as a member of CSHEMA. According to a release, Dr. Terpin received this honor for 53 years of experience in Occupational Safety, Laboratory Safety, Health, Emergency Response, Rescue and Emergency Management. His major certifications include Certified Safety Manager, O.H.S.T. Fire Officer, Paramedic, Hazardous Materials Technician, All Hazards Incident Commander Instructor, All Hazards Safety Officer Instructor. Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary and Romania have reached an agreement to push ahead with a project to generate green energy from renewable sources in Azerbaijan and to export the power to Europe via a subsea cable under the Black Sea. The project is called the Caspian Sea-European Union Green Energy Corridor. Meeting in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, on July 25, officials from the four countries signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint venture between their national electricity grid operators in order to coordinate activities and to push ahead with the project. The meeting was also attended by representatives of Bulgaria and the European Commission, both of which have expressed support for the venture. The rationale for the project is that Azerbaijan has significant untapped potential for generating power from onshore and offshore wind farms along its Caspian Sea coast as well as potential for solar generation. Power generated could be transited across the Black Sea to countries in eastern and central Europe, which now have low renewable power potential and are heavily reliant on natural gas and coal. The concept has been under discussion for some years, and was the subject of a World Bank methodology report in June 2020, which concluded that a subsea cable across the Black Sea would generate sufficient economic benefit to warrant further consideration. The bank has yet to conduct a full feasibility study, however. In 2021, USAID and the United States Energy Association completed a technical assessment and concluded that with minimal upgrades to the existing power transit grids of Georgia and Romania, the four countries are sufficiently robust to transfer up to 1,000 megawatts. The project took on a more formal structure when on December 17 last year when President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, and prime ministers Irakli Garibashvili of Georgia, Nicolae Chuke of Romania and Viktor Orban of Hungary signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement committing them all to work together on the project. The agreement was signed in the presence of Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, representing the European Union, which in July 2022 signed a memorandum of understanding with Azerbaijan to provide assistance with Azerbaijan's renewable energy plan in return for Baku agreeing to double gas exports to Europe by 2027. The project agreed between the four states envisages the laying of a 1,200-kilometer cable with a capacity to carry 1,000 megawatts across the Black sea between Georgia and Romania, as well as expanding the onshore capacities of existing transmission cables in the four countries involved. Italy's CESI was commissioned by Georgia to conduct a feasibility study for the subsea cable with an integral digital interconnection aimed to boost broadband speeds in Georgia. Delegates at the meeting in Bucharest were told that the feasibility study is expected to be completed in October, with further coordination of feasibility work entrusted to Azerbaijan's State Agency for Renewable Energy Sources. There seems to be widespread agreement that such a cable would help boost European security and benefit the economies of Azerbaijan, and Georgia and those countries in central and southeastern Europe through which new or expanded transit lines pass. But a number of serious challenges lie ahead. To begin with, the studies conducted so far were completed before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While that war has increased efforts by the EU to find additional sources of oil, gas and electricity, it has also had a significant impact on the safety of shipping in the Black Sea, including from free floating mines. Azerbaijan's Baku-Supsa oil pipeline has been shut down due to the added risk to tankers lifting cargoes of crude oil from the Georgian port. A similar risk would be faced by any vessel laying a cable across the Black Sea. The cable itself would present a comparatively simple target for would-be saboteurs. The war in Ukraine has greatly increased the urgency of the European Union's interest in securing any new sources of energy it can, and it seems certain that Brussels would accept any "green" power that Azerbaijan can deliver. ADVERTISEMENT It remains to be seen whether the EU itself or any other international funding agencies would be prepared to put up money or guarantee loans for a project in such a high-risk location. And without guarantees that there will be a cable to carry power to European markets, it's difficult to see how Baku will be able to persuade international investors to fund its ambitious plans for generating green energy for export. Azerbaijan has its own pressing need to diversify into renewables for power generation in order to free up more gas for export. But up to now, Baku has been more focused on touting its plan to meet 30 percent of the country's power demand from renewables rather than actually delivering on it. It was only in June that work began on the country's first grid-scale solar power plant, which is expected to come online by the end of this year. As such it's still far from clear whether Baku will be able to meet its own 2030 deadline, never mind whether it can also develop sufficient renewables capacity to make a Black Sea transmission cable feasible. By David O'Byrne of Eurasianet.org More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Morocco is trying to turn around its energy legacy, from an energy mix heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels, to becoming a net exporter of clean energy. Moroccos sunny climate, coastline, and wide open spaces lend themselves to massive scale solar and wind farms, and its proximity to Europe puts the country in a prime position to be a key source of energy for the European Union. While the potential is enormous, so too are the challenges facing the North African nation. The biggest challenge for Morocco will be to balance its economic needs which will be greatly benefitted by an ongoing green energy trade with Europe with its own energy needs. In order to develop sustainably and reach its own climate goals, Morocco must prioritize clean energy production for its own grids, but the nations domestic decarbonization needs could be easily overrun by Europes current green energy agenda. Europes demand for new clean energy sources has proven to be nearly insatiable as the continent struggles to reshape its own energy markets in the wake of last years energy crisis. The European Continent was overwhelmingly dependent on Russian oil and gas at the start of 2022, when Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Since then, the European Union and Russia have been on opposite ends of an all-out power war in which both try to use their pivotal trade relationship as leverage for their own political agendas. As a result, Europe has been scrambling to move away from Russian fossil fuels and to kickstart its own green energy transition. Already, Europe has invested heavily into homegrown clean energy production and shattered its own clean energy production records, and has just agreed to raise its clean energy commitments to even higher levels. Reaching that goal will require the development of a huge amount of new clean energy resources. This is where Morocco comes in. Unlike most European countries, Morocco has lots of undeveloped land suitable for massive solar and wind farms, which require as much as ten times more land area than coal and natural gas, and the national policy environment is open to its development. While Morocco has enormous production potential, however, the country would essentially have to start up a clean energy sector from scratch. At present, Morocco imports 90% of its energy, most of which comes in the form of fossil fuels. It will require a huge amount of investment and infrastructure development to bring the sector up to speed, and Europe is offering a major assist to make it happen. Already this year, the EU has earmarked 624 million ($688.6 million) over various projects to support Moroccos green energy transition, as well as tackling irregular migration, and facilitating key reforms in crucial areas like social protection, climate policy and public administration, according to reporting from Arab News. Many view the potential trade relationship between Morocco and Europe as a win-win: Moroccos economy would receive a much needed stimulus through the creation of major contracts offering lots of jobs, and Europe would secure some of the energy that it needs to meet its own energy security and decarbonization needs while also diversifying its energy portfolio. Producing wind and solar energy for export to Europe via undersea cables could create as many as 28,000 jobs per year, according to the World Bank's lead economist for the region, Moez Cherif. This is particularly huge when you consider that Moroccos unemployment rate is currently 11.2%. Cherif also said that by saying yes to Europe, Morocco could "position itself as an industrial hub for investments for exports of green industrial products." However, there are some considerable drawbacks as well. For one thing, there are significant environmental concerns about building such major projects in the fragile Saharan ecosystem without proper environmental assessments. For another, there are concerns that such contracts would economically benefit relatively few Moroccans while leaving the wider populace without what it really needs clean and affordable energy for its own use. Today, 600 million people across the African continent still lack access to energy, and in order to continue to develop African economies without significantly contributing to global greenhouse gas emissions and man-made climate change, Africa will have to leap-frog over cheap fossil fuels and straight to clean energy development. By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com ADVERTISEMENT More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Colombias beaten-down oil industry is struggling to recover from the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, with the tempo of operations and production lower than in 2019. The 2022 electoral victory of former guerilla and senator Gustavo Petro which saw him become Colombias first leftwing President, cast a cloud of uncertainty over the hydrocarbon sectors future. Petro, as part of transitioning Colombia to cleaner renewable forms of energy, plans to end contracting for hydrocarbon exploration in the Andean country and ban hydraulic fracturing. This will threaten Colombias energy security and economic well-being because of the strife-torn countrys dependence on fossil fuels for exports and government revenue. Even after two years, Colombias oil industry has been unable to return to overcome the 2020 pandemic and return to a pre-pandemic tempo of operations. For May 2023, the petroleum-dependent country lifted an average of 773,789 barrels per day, which was 1% lower than a month earlier but 3.6% higher year over. Despite that solid year-over-year growth, the May 2023 production volume was still significantly lower, by 13.5%, than the 894,519 barrels per day pumped for the same month during 2019, indicating production has not returned to pre-pandemic volumes. Natural gas output has also yet to recover, which is creating considerable consternation in a country already facing shortages and a potential natural gas crisis. July 2023, natural gas output of 1.1 billion cubic feet per day, while nearly 4% higher than a month earlier, was 4% less than for the same period in 2023 and lower than in 2019. There are a range of reasons for this, the key is a sharp drop of investment in Colombias energy patch. The Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP Spanish initials) earlier this year stated investment by private oil companies in exploration will plunge 33% year over year to $700 million. Ecopetrols decision to substantially boost spending on upstream operations in Colombia during 2023 will compensate for the significant reduction in spending on exploration activities by private drillers. For that reason, the total annual investment in hydrocarbon exploration in Colombia during 2023 will only decline by 4% to $1.24 billion. Overall, 2023 investment in the Andean countrys energy patch is forecast by the ACP to be just over $5 billion, with $3.81 million, or 75% of total capital spending, to be directed to production and development activities, representing a 6% increase year over year. The decision by private oil companies to significantly slash capital spending during 2023 can be blamed on Petro hiking industry taxes during November 2022 and his plans to cease awarding new contracts for oil exploration. Those strategies form a key plank in Petros plan to wean Colombia off its fossil fuel dependence, with oil responsible for 29% of Colombias exports by value for the first six months of 2023 and accelerate the countrys transition to renewable sources of energy. Since the late 1990s, petroleum has been a crucial economic driver for Colombia, with it eventually becoming the largest legal export by value and an important source of government income. Heightened insecurity, frequent anti-oil industry protests, the latest against Sinopec-owned Emerald Energy in Caqueta Department, a deteriorating social license and elevated geopolitical uncertainty are weighing on Colombia's hydrocarbon sector. The negative impact of these events is magnified by the scandals embroiling Petros administration and even the president himself, with his son Nicolas Petro arrested and charged with money laundering. During July 2023, allegations of misconduct claimed the scalp of Petros energy minister Irene Velez. These purported wrongdoings make it near-impossible for the president to gain the necessary support in Congress to implement his proposed reforms, including ending hydrocarbon exploration, seeing Petros activist agenda grind to a halt. These events are not only preventing oil production from returning to pre-pandemic levels but are responsible for a decline in vital drilling activity. Despite the ACP predicting that 55 to 60 exploration wells will be drilled this year data from Colombias hydrocarbon regulator (Spanish), the National Hydrocarbon Authority (ANH Spanish initials) shows only 28 wildcat wells were completed during the first five months of 2023. The data, thus far, indicates that a substantially lower number of exploration wells will be completed during 2023 when compared to 2022, when 68 were drilled. The latest Baker Hughes International Rig Count indicates drilling activity is in decline. During July 2023, there were only 24 active drill rigs in Colombia compared to 35 at the end of December 2022 and 33 for the same month a year earlier. Declining investment and drilling activity will weigh on Colombias hydrocarbon production, and it is already being felt as production data shows with current output is less than was reported for 2019. This highlights the considerable risks posed by Petros plan to end hydrocarbon exploration in a country that economically depends on petroleum exports yet possesses limited proven reserves with no major oil discoveries in over a decade. There are fears the presidents policy will endanger Colombias energy security, especially with a natural gas shortage looming. By ending oil exploration, the ACP believes there will be a need to substantially boost natural gas imports and that Colombia, which is a net oil exporter, will be forced to start importing petroleum by as early as 2028. This will place considerable pressure on a fiscally weak Bogota, where oil is responsible for up to a fifth of government revenue. By Matthew Smith for Oilprice.com ADVERTISEMENT More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Despite risks of potential hits due to the war, traders have started to store natural gas at storage sites in Ukraine, taking advantage of the lower costs and high available storage capacity. Europes benchmark natural gas prices are lower for the summer months compared to the winter of 2023/2024, making storage worthwhile for traders willing to risk holding gas in Ukrainian storage. Some natural gas traders and energy groups in Eastern Europe are already holding natural gas in Ukraine, and are comfortable with doing so, executives have told Reuters. The commodity can be bought anywhere and sent to Ukraine via reverse flows in pipelines from Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland. EP Commodities, part of Czech energy group EPH, is one of those companies. EP Commodities transports natural gas to Ukraine and uses Ukrainian gas storage facilities, EP Commodities chairman Miroslav Hasko told Reuters. Another firm operating close to Ukraine, Slovakias state-held SPP, is also looking at opportunities to store natural gas in Ukraine, the company told Reuters. We consider gas storage in Ukraine as one of the interesting business opportunities that we are currently considering. SPP supplies most of the gas on the market in Slovakia, including partly Russian gas that still flows via one pipeline through Ukraine. Despite the risks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the possibility of a direct hit or a deliberate attack on Ukrainian gas infrastructure, some traders believe that the risk is worth takingcosts for storage are cheaper and capacity is available. Related: Germany Plans $63 Billion In Green Energy Investments For 2024 The front-month futures for September at the TTF hub, the benchmark for Europes gas trading, settled at $34.08 (31.05 euros) per megawatt-hour (MWh) at the end of the trading day on August 8. At the same time, the futures for the first quarter of 2024, the height of the winter, were at $54.72 (49.85 euros) per MWh. For traders waiting for higher gas prices in Europe next winter, Ukraine is a good bet for storage sites, especially because EU storage is filling and very close to hitting well in advance the 90% full target by November 1. Unlike in the previous two years, EU gas storage levels are highmuch higher than the five-year average and the levels from this time last year, easing concerns about Europes gas supply. The EU has set a target to reach 90% full gas storage by November 1, 2023. Not only will it hit that target ahead of schedule, but it could also fill its storage tanks to 100% by early September, according to Morgan Stanley. The EU gas storage sites were 87.7% full as of August 7, according to data from Gas Infrastructure Europe. Ukraines storage, on the other hand, was 26.6% full. With the EU storage nearly full, Ukraines available capacity could help the bloc ease gas supply concerns ahead of the winter, Brussels-based think tank Bruegel said in an analysis last month. Ukrainian gas storage could help Europes security of supply, as the EU can use spare capacity in Ukraine to top up stored gas volumes for the coming winter, Bruegel said. There are risks to storage, of course, war risks being the biggest, but Ukraines available storage capacity in volume terms currently exceeds the as-yet unfilled storage capacity in the EU, according to the think tank. ADVERTISEMENT Utilising this capacity would increase the EUs storage capacity by about 10 percent, wrote Ben McWilliams and Georg Zachmann, authors of the analysis. Ukrainian storage could be an option for gas during October, with the result that the EU would enter winter 2023-24 in a more comfortable position, Bruegels fellows said. Ukraine has a 100 TWh capacity available for natural gas storage. If the EU uses it or part of it, this will provide a nice boost to Europes winter outlook, and a welcome boost to Ukraines income. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Iraq boosted its oil exports to the United States by 30.5% in the first five months of 2023, according to data by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) calculated by the Shafaq News agency. Compared to the same period in 2021, the total Iraqi exports to the U.S. between January and May 2023 surged by 61%. Per the EIA data of U.S. imports of Iraqi oil, February saw the biggest volume of Iraqi oil entering the United States so far this year, 12.168 million barrels. March 2023 was the month with the lowest U.S. imports between January and May, with U.S. oil imports from Iraq totaling 9.409 million barrels. Generally, the share of U.S. petroleum imports from OPEC and Persian Gulf countries has declined over the past decades, while the share of imports from Canada has increased, the EIA says. U.S. petroleum imports peaked in 2005 as increased domestic petroleum production and higher petroleum exports have helped to reduce annual total petroleum net imports. Last year, Iraq was in the top five sources of U.S. total petroleum including crude oil imports by percentage share of total petroleum imports. Imports from Iraq accounted for 4% of all, placing Iraq fourth in the ranking after Canada with 52%, Mexico with 10%, and Saudi Arabia with 7%, according to the EIA data. Iraq was also fourth in terms of U.S. crude oil imports by percentage share of U.S. total crude oil imports in 2022. The U.S. imported 4% of its crude from Iraq last year, while it purchased 60% of the imported crude from Canada, 10% from Mexico, and 7% from Saudi Arabia. Iraq, for its part, has seen overall exports drop since the halt of around 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil flows, following the March 2023 dispute with Turkey over exports of crude from the northern Iraqi oilfields and the semi-autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com ADVERTISEMENT More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: With Europe out of the picture due to sanctions, Russia has begun rerouting oil previously destined for the continent to China and Asia via the Arctic Oceans North Sea Route (NSR). Russia sent two initial crude oil shipments to China in mid-July, with four more oil tankers currently headed the same way via the Arctic, each carrying around 750,000 barrels of crude oil. The Arctic shortcut is around 30% faster than the traditional route through the Suez Canal, and experts are saying the NSR will be key to diverting the flow of crude oil away from Europe and toward Asia. Until recently, Russia had used the NSR to send oil shipments to Asia only sparingly over the past decade But the pivot to the East in terms of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows was always planned by the Russian government, Matt Sagers, specialist in Russian energy at S&P Global, has told High North News. This process is now being pushed harder with the loss of the European market for Russian oil and the re-orientation of oil exports to East of Suez. Use of the Northern [Sea] Route reduced the number of days at sea and therefore the number of tankers (and overall capacity) that is required to move oil eastward. Entire upstream developments, like Vostok Oil, are intended to be evacuated via the route, Sagers has explained And, transit volumes via the NSR are likely to expand even more rapidly. According to our records, Russian state-owned tanker company - Sovcomflot (SCF) alone owned over 35 ice class tankers above 70,000 dwt. There is more tonnage in operation, with varied ownership, Svetlana Lobaciova, Senior Market Analyst at E.A. Gibson, has told High North News. But environmentalists are warning that expanding NSR flows pose a serious threat to the delicate Arctic ecosystem. According to Mawuli Afenyo, Professor of Maritime Business Administration at Texas A & M University, increased traffic increases the probability of an accident occurring in this region, with very dire consequences. According to Afenyo, oil encapsulated in ice can quickly travel large distances before the ice melts and the oil gets released into the seas. By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com ADVERTISEMENT More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Shell is set to begin geophysical surveys next week to explore potential drilling opportunities offshore Malaysia, Upstream reported on Thursday. The work at the site of the survey is expected to continue through September. Shell will be looking for drilling opportunities in the acreage offshore Sarawak which include the supermajors MLNG, SK 439, and SK 440 production sharing contracts, according to Upstream. Petroleum Sarawak Exploration and Production (PSEP) of Malaysia is Shells partner in the SK 439 and SK 440 blocks. In March 2022, Shell signed three production-sharing contracts with Malaysias state energy firm Petronas, to explore oil and gas offshore Sabah and Sarawak, with Sabah Shell Petroleum Company Limited (SSPC) and Sarawak Shell Bhd (SSB) operating the exploration initiatives. The production sharing contracts include exploration of blocks SK439/SK440 in shallow water, off the coast of Sarawak and exploration of blocks SB-2W and SB-X in deep water, off the coast of Sabah. Our long and successful partnership with PETRONAS in Malaysia continues, as together we seek to provide the energy of today while funding the energy of tomorrow. I look forward to further successful collaboration on growing a sustainable energy industry in Malaysia, Shell said at the time. A year after signing these deals, Shell laid out plans in June 2023 to grow its gas business and extend its position in the upstream. It is critical that the world avoids dismantling the current energy system faster than we are able to build the clean energy system of the future. Oil and gas WILL continue to play a crucial role in the energy system for a long time to come with demand reducing only gradually over time, Shells chief executive Wael Sawan said on Shells Capital Markets Day in the middle of June. Continued investment in oil and gas is critical to ensure a balanced energy transition, Sawan added in the pivot to ensure todays energy needs, similar to what BP announced earlier this year. ADVERTISEMENT By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Turkey expects the first investments from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into its economy to start flowing by the end of this year after the two countries signed a major investment deal last month. We have very productive dialogue with Gulf countries, with the most concrete example being the $51 billion financial investment package announced by the UAE, Turkeys Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek told the Yeni Safak newspaper in an interview published on Thursday. In July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed the multi-billion investment deal while visiting the UAE, one of the worlds top crude oil producers and exporters, as part of a tour of several countries in the Gulf. UAE President, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Erdogan signed several landmark deals during the Turkish presidents visit. In one of those, ADQ, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, announced two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Turkish entities to deepen bilateral cooperation and contribute to Turkeys economic development. ADQ will finance up to $8.5 billion of earthquake relief financing bonds to accelerate reconstruction efforts from the devastating earthquake in Turkey in early February. The UAE and Turkey also agreed on $30 billion worth of energy deals, but these are provisional, may not materialize, and many will take time, the Turkish minister Simsek told Yeni Safak as carried by Bloomberg. Turkey is trying to shore up its economy while betting on recent natural gas discoveries to turn it from a major importer of energy to an energy-independent country. The volumes of natural gas that Turkey has found so far in the Black Sea are worth in excess of $500 billion, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez told broadcaster CNN Turk earlier this year. ADVERTISEMENT The huge gas finds would be enough to supply all households in the country for 35 years, or to cover total Turkish natural gas consumption, including from industry, for 15 to 20 years, the minister added. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The United States has agreed to give Iran access to $6 billion in currently frozen Iranian oil revenue currently held in South Korea, media reported on Thursdayin exchange for the release of five Americans imprisoned in Iran. Iran has released five Iranian/American dual citizens, which now remain under house arrest in a hotel in Tehran. The prisoners will be held in the hotel for weeks until they can board an airplane to return to the United States. A lawyer for one of the prisoners cautioned that there are simply no guarantees about what happens from here. White House officials have not confirmed what they gave Iran in exchange for the prisoner release, but anonymous sources familiar with the matter suggested that when the Americans are finally allowed to return home, several Iranian nationals doing time for violating sanctions will be released from prison. In addition to the prisoner release, the White House will also arrange a transfer of $6 billion of Iranian oil revenues that are currently being held in South Korea to a bank in Qatar. The money will be controlled by the government of Qatar, which will make sure Iran only uses the money to pay vendors for purchases related to humanitarian needs, like medicine and food. The deal has been in the works for weeks, according to people familiar with the negotiations, which were mediated by Oman, Qatar, and Switzerland. The Americans will not be allowed to return home until the oil moneywhich can only be used for humanitarian purposesis in the Qatari bank account. According to the Iran director for the International Crisis Group, Ali Vaez, All Iran can do under this deal is submit orders to a bank in Doha for food and medicine and a limited number of medical equipment that do not have dual military use. The bank in Doha would pay for the goods, and Qatari companies would deliver them to Iran. Iran has no direct access to the funds at all. By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com ADVERTISEMENT More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Chinese experts showcase new seed varieties, technology at Uganda agricultural exhibition Xinhua) 13:11, August 10, 2023 This photo taken on Aug. 8, 2023 shows variety of seeds displayed at the booth of the Chinese agricultural experts at the national agriculture exhibition in Jinja, Uganda.(Xinhua/Nie Zuguo) JINJA, Uganda, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese agricultural experts in Uganda since Tuesday have been showcasing new seed varieties and technology at the country's ongoing annual agriculture exhibition in the city of Jinja, the Eastern Region, which has immensely impressed local farmers. Visitors who thronged their stall shared with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) were keen on knowing the high-yielding rice seeds, foxtail millet, and several small agricultural gadgets. "If we want to get out of poverty, we need to open our eyes and ears, so that we can learn especially about the seeds that are giving high yields," Jubilee Amooti, a commercial farmer, told Xinhua after visiting the experts' stall. "I learned a lot, I'm going to practice what they have told me to do. They gave me a sample (sorghum) to go and try, after seeing how it is yielding, I can plant it on a bigger scale." Joseph Mutale, a local farmer, said the Chinese have exhibited some machines which can be critical to farmers, especially during the planting season. "It is costly but if we can buy it as a group, then it is affordable," Mutale said, referring to a two-wheeled seed planter. Dick Nuwamanya, the president of the Uganda National Farmers Federation, told Xinhua that Chinese agriculture experts are important in technology transfer, especially in rural areas. "Chinese being here, with new varieties and expertise, is absolutely a welcome move for us. The more we see it (technology) the better for us because it means we will learn how things are done differently," Nuwamanya said. A team of Chinese experts is delivering their service in Uganda under tripartite cooperation with Uganda, China, and the FAO under the South-South cooperation framework. They are sharing experiences with local farmers on how to boost production and promote agricultural transformation. Speaking to Xinhua at the exhibition, Zhang Xiaoqiang, head of the Chinese agriculture team under the FAO-China South-South Program in Uganda, said this was their first time participating in the country's national agricultural show, which opened on Aug. 4 and will conclude Saturday. "Through this exhibition, local farmers can better experience our agricultural technologies, leading to the adoption of our new varieties and techniques by more farmers. This will play a crucial role in increasing food production, income, and food security levels in the country," said Zhang. He said the seed varieties they have brought to the show were of excellent drought and disease resistance with high yields, and visitors have been highly impressed by the taste of the cooked rice and millet they have prepared. The agricultural exhibition, organized by the Uganda National Farmers Federation in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, provides farmers and agro-industry players an opportunity to showcase their innovations and technologies as well as to engage in business networking. It also brings together agricultural scientists, small and large-scale farmers, and service providers from across the value chain. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) A group of LGBTQ veterans is suing the United States (US) Department of Defense (DoD) over their dismissal from the military. The class action lawsui filed in the Northern District of California asks the Defense Department to correct the "ongoing discrimination" against gay and lesbian vets. LGBTQ Veterans Sue US Defense Department Discriminatory Discharge According to NBC News, LGBTQ veterans filed a groundbreaking suit against the Defense Department. The class action suit seeks justice and accountability for what they claim are discriminatory discharges from the military. The group of brave LGBTQ veterans is now stepping into the legal spotlight, challenging the dismissals they faced from the military due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. These former service members argue that these discharges were not only unjust but also in direct violation of their civil rights. The lawsuit, as reported by CBS News, aims to shine a light on the experiences of countless LGBTQ individuals who served their country proudly, only to face the heartbreak of being dismissed from the military because of who they are. By filing the suit, the group of LGBTQ vets aims to grant them honorable discharges, providing them with a long list of benefits that veterans enjoy. It includes college tuition assistance, loan programs, health care, and jobs. The suit says, "Requiring LGBTQ+ veterans to first bear the stigma and discriminatory effects of carrying indicators of sexual orientation on their [discharge papers] and then navigate a broken record correction process to seek resolution violates their constitutional rights to equal protection, informational privacy, property, and due process protected by the Fourteenth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution." On top of the honorable discharge grant, the LGBTQ vets are demanding an update on their discharge documents. They wanted the removal of their sexualities in the papers, citing privacy violations. Read Also: Target Faces Bomb Threats in Utah Stores Amid LGBTQ Pride Month Collection Backlash Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy The plaintiffs include veterans who were discharged from the military under the now-defunct "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, as well as veterans who were discharged from other discriminatory policies. CBS News reports that the US military has already lifted the discriminatory policy, dubbed "don't ask, don't tell," which banned lesbian and gay troops from the service. The longstanding ban ceased taking effect for roughly a decade ago, or in 2010, to be exact. An LGBT research organization, the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, discovered that the "don't ask, don't tell" policy discharged roughly 13,000 service members from the military. Since its repeal over a decade ago, LGBTQ veterans have come forward to urge the US government to modify their discharge status. The group of gay and lesbian vets is also seeking an apology. Related Article: US LGBTQ+ Community Is in State of Emergency, Says Human Rights Campaign @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Venezuelas Citgo Petroleum Corp saw its net profit fall to $380 million in the second quarter of this year, the company reported on Thursday. Citgos Q2 profit last year was $1.29 billion, and $937 million in the first quarter of 2023, and the refinery posted a record $2.8 billion in net profit for the full year 2022. In the two years prior, Citgo reported two years of losses. Citgo refined 761,000 barrels of crude oil per day in the second quarter, with 94% capacity utilization. Thats down from Q1 figures, which showed the refinery processing 772,000 bpd of crude oil with 96% utilization. Citgos total throughput for Q2 was 804,000 bpddown from 837,000 bpd in Q2 2022. Venezuelas state-run oil company, PDVSA, is the majority holder of Citgo, which is staring down the barrel of being pieced out and auctioned off this fall to pay PDVSA debts. Shares of Venezuelas PDV Holding, the unit that owns Citgo, will be sold at auction in October. Companies such as Crystallex will be waiting with their hand out for about $5 billion as recompense after PDVSA expropriated many foreign businesses with total claims amounting to more than $20 billion. Citgo Petroleum is PDVSAs crown jewel refinery in the United States, and so far, the United States has shielded the PDVSAs U.S. refinery from being broken up and sold off. Citgo has plants in Texas, Louisiana, and Illinois, along with pipelines and a gasoline distribution network that supplies 4,200 outlets in the United States. Citgo severed ties with Venezuelas declared President, Nicolas Maduro, after the United States levied sanctions against Venezuela and the Maduro regime. ADVERTISEMENT By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: LINCOLN University of Nebraska President Ted Carter will be eligible to receive a $144,000 bonus after meeting nearly all of the goals set for him by the Board of Regents in the 2022-23 academic year. A boost in state appropriations to the NU system over the next two years, increases in research expenditures and universitywide improvement in retention rates were all high points in Carters performance review. But in light of a $58 million budget shortfall faced by the NU system, Carter plans to donate any bonus which is funded through the universitys state-aided budget to charity, a spokeswoman for the university system said. Carter plans to keep the target of his charitable giving anonymous, according to NU. According to the regents Aug. 17 agenda, Carter made progress on eight Core Leadership Pillars established during the 2019 search that led to his hiring, and also scored high on a series of accountability measures over the last year. The accountability measures considered by regents include: * The public launch of the Only in Nebraska: A Campaign for Our Universitys Future fundraising effort, which has raised $1.9 billion to date, roughly 65% of the $3 billion goal. A 3.7% increase in state appropriations for the next two years. NU will receive an additional $18.1 million in state funding for 2023-24, and a $31.1 million increase in 2024-25. Increased participation (14.6%) from Nebraska businesses on Handshake, a portal that allows businesses to connect with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Overall improvement in first- to second-year retention rates across the NU system. At UNL, retention increased by 1.8%; retention rates were up 4.5% at UNO; at UNK, retention rates fell 1.5%. Research expenditures across the NU system jumped 9%, or by more than $50 million, from the 2021-22 year. Regents also commended Carter on his active participation in several global and national organizations focused on advancing higher education. In April, Carter was appointed as a commissioner to the Council on Higher Education as a Strategic Asset, which brings together leaders from businesses, government, higher education, the military and nonprofits to focus on global competitiveness and economic prosperity. Carter also was elected to the American Council on Educations Board of Directors in March. The organization helps shape public policy on higher education in the U.S. He also joined the executive committee of the Council on Competitiveness, which includes members from academia, business, labor and research to set an agenda to further entrepreneurship and commercialization of research. In all, Carter scored a combined 99.3% on the two sets of metrics considered by regents, which entitles him to the full bonus this year. Last August, regents awarded Carter a $105,000 bonus for the 2021-22 academic year, which was less than the $140,000 he was eligible to receive after he hit 89% of his performance benchmarks. A contract extension approved by the board last year will keep Carter at NU through 2027. It also raised his base pay from $934,600 to $962,638, and kept a deferred compensation package equal to 11.5% of his base salary. Carters renegotiated contract also included a second deferred compensation account that deposited $340,000 in private funds into an account beginning earlier this year. Carter can access that money starting in January 2024. When the board convenes next week, regents will hear presentations from the 2023 Presidents Excellence Award winners announced in April: Rick Bevins of UNL won the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award. Betty Love of UNO and Geoffrey Talmon each won the Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award. Dejun Su of UNMC was named the Innovation, Development, and Engagement Award winner. Howard Gendelman of UNMC won the Faculty IP Innovation and Commercialization Award. UNO health Careers Resource Center was named the Inclusive Excellence Collaboration Award winner. UNLs School of Biological Sciences won the universitywide Departmental Teaching Award. Our best Omaha staff photos & videos of August 2023 BUCHA, Ukraine (AP) Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has become the second 2024 Republican presidential hopeful to visit Ukraine, meeting Friday with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, touring ravaged villages and saying what he saw further impressed to him that the U.S. should continue to help the country fend off Russia's attack. I feel the cruelty, and you feel the inhumanity, Christie said during his trip, which included stops in the villages of Bucha and Moshchun, both on the outskirts of Kyiv. And you look at this, and I dont think theres anyone in our country who would come here and see this and not feel as if these are the things that America needs to stand up to prevent." During the visit, Christie placed flowers at the memorial complex in Bucha, where there was a mass grave of civilians, and prayed for Ukrainian volunteers who were killed by Russian troops at the beginning of the war in Moshchun. I really suspected that if I saw this in person that it would arm me to be a better advocate for support, I think, from the stuff I saw today just now, and the meeting with the president ... I think I'm much better off, Christie said after his meeting with Zelenskyy. Christie said the Ukrainian president spoke about his desire for there to be bipartisan support for Ukraine, but made no comments on the U.S. presidential race. He was very complimentary of President Biden, some of the things that hes advocated for, but also made clear that he thought there was more that needed to be done," Christie said. There was no conversation at all from him about, you know, the race that Im in. The GOP presidential field is divided over the future of U.S. involvement in the war. Christie has leveled criticism over Ukraine at President Joe Biden, whose administration has provided more than $43 billion in military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022. On Friday, he said that America needs to stand up to prevent and to work with friends like the Ukrainians to give them the means necessary for them to be able to secure once again their liberty and their freedom. During a July town hall in Columbia, South Carolina, Christie called the conflict a proxy war between the United States and China, arguing that Ukrainians dont want American men and women on the ground in Ukraine, nor would I send American men and women on the ground in Ukraine. What they want is the hardware to have a fair chance to beat the Russians. Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence have both also warned that the failure to stem Russias advances could lead to further global conflict, potentially signaling to China that it could be successful in moving to overtake Taiwan. Last month, the U.S. announced $345 million in military aid for Taiwan, in what is the Biden administrations first major package drawing on Americas own stockpiles to help Taiwan counter China and to deter China from considering attacking, by providing Taipei enough weaponry that it would make the price of invasion too high. Pence made a trip to Ukraine in June after launching his own presidential bid. Former President Donald Trump, the current GOP front-runner, has called on congressional Republicans to halt all military support for Ukraine until the Biden administration cooperates with their investigations into the president and his son Hunter Bidens business dealings. Trump has also argued that he could stop the war swiftly after returning to the White House. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis who drew criticism in March from a number of fellow Republicans who expressed concern about his dismissive description of the conflict as a territorial dispute," subsequently walking it back has endorsed a cease-fire and argued that the U.S. should not get more involved in the war. In an interview with The Washington Post aboard a train from Poland to Kyiv, Christie said he hoped Republican voters had begun to reconsider which of their partys candidates will have the bandwidth to grapple with the really complicated issues that the next president will have to deal with including Ukraine and who is going to be dealing with trying to keep themselves out of jail. Christie also told the Post that some of his fellow GOP contenders, including Trump, DeSantis and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are giving people a false choice, which is Well, we can only do one thing; we can either improve things in the States or we can help Ukraine,' calling that "a ridiculous statement. Kinnard reported from Columbia, South Carolina, and can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP The Woodhouse Auto Family is now operating on both sides of the highway. Woodhouse began operating the former Edwards Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Bellevue on Aug. 1, according to a news release. The company already also operates Mazda and Nissan dealerships on Nebraska Drive. All three dealerships are off the Chandler Road exit of Highway 75. Corwin Toyota of Bellevue also operates in the area, while Bellevue's other auto dealers remain along Fort Crook Road, including Beardmore's Hyundai, Chevrolet and Subaru dealerships as well as Honda Cars of Bellevue. Woodhouse has operated a Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealerships in Blair since 1991 and Sioux City, Iowa, since 2023. H&H also operates a Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealership as part of its new campus in Papillion, where it also has a car wash and Chevrolet dealership and where a new Kia dealership is actively under construction. Edwards still has Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealerships in Omaha and Council Bluffs. The new Bellevue dealership is the 21st location in Woodhouse's portfolio. This location provides our current customers additional convenience and us as an organization an opportunity to develop a relationship with customers" unwilling to travel to Blair, said Jason Pittack, president and CEO of Woodhouse Auto Family. WASHINGTON The nation's most prominent gun safety groups joined together to back President Joe Biden in 2024, an early endorsement that underscores Biden's grip on key Democratic coalitions as the party seizes on gun policy as a politically advantageous issue ahead of his reelection campaign. The endorsement represented the first time the groups jointly announced support for a presidential candidate. The groups include Brady and its youth-led arm, Team Enough; Community Justice Action Fund; Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and its grassroots networks, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action; and Giffords. It follows similar joint endorsements from abortion rights groups, labor unions and climate organizations a strategy meant to demonstrate Biden's strength among various party constituencies as he faces nominal primary challengers and skepticism from many Democratic voters over whether he should run for a second term. The groups pointed to the Biden administration's record in establishing policies meant to reduce gun violence most notably a bipartisan law enacted last year that marked the most comprehensive effort to restrict access to firearms in three decades. "President Biden and Vice President (Kamala) Harris are leading the strongest gun-sense administration in American history, a title they have earned by doing everything in their power to protect our families and communities," said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action. In all, the groups represent 15 million members. Officials said the endorsement allows them to make an early and frequent contrast with Republican presidential hopefuls who are seeking to loosen gun laws at a time when gun violence is on the rise in the U.S., while mobilizing voters critical to Biden's reelection strategy, including suburban women, voters of color and younger voters. Biden's rhetoric has grown stronger on guns, including routinely calling for banning so-called assault weapons, a political term for guns most often used in mass shootings with the capacity to kill a lot of people quickly. He is pushing a platform restricting guns that was all but politically unthinkable for Democrats as recently as Barack Obama's term. "We have taken the politics of yore and turned them on their head," said Peter Ambler, the executive director of Giffords. "It is now a scarlet letter, not a badge of honor, to have the NRA endorsement." Ambler also added that Biden is "not just the beneficiary of a shifting politics on this issue, he is one of the people that shaped the politics of this issue through his decades of service in the Senate." Indeed, Biden has a lengthy and often personal history with various gun groups. In its endorsement, Brady noted the organization worked alongside Biden in 1994, when he was a senator, to pass a federal ban on certain high-powered firearms. Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, D-Ariz., who was nearly killed in a mass shooting in 2011 and the namesake of one of the groups that endorsed Biden, has spoken about the support from the then-vice president as she recovered from her injuries. His aides say Biden long understood that calling for tougher gun laws resonates with Americans, particularly after meeting with survivors and family members of gun violence victims, which emboldened him to speak frequently about the topic. In separate endorsements, Giffords, Everytown and Brady threw their support behind Biden in March 2020, when the former vice president was campaigning to lock up the Democratic nomination against independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Community Justice Action Fund did not endorse in 2020. "With their very first executive action on public safety, President Biden and Vice President Harris made historic investments in community violence intervention, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to treating gun violence as the public health emergency that it is, and taking the most significant strides toward ending this crisis in decades," said Greg Jackson, executive director of Community Justice Action Fund. Just over half of voters want to see nationwide gun policy made more strict, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 94,000 voters nationwide conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago. There are clear partisan divides: About 9 in 10 Democrats want stricter gun laws, compared with about 3 in 10 Republicans. Biden issued an executive order that cracked down on "ghost guns," homemade firearms that lack serial numbers used to trace them and are often purchased without a background check. He's also moving to tighten regulations on pistol-stabilizing braces. Last month, he announced another order that aimed to stiffen background checks to buy guns, promote more secure firearms storage and ensuring law enforcement agencies get more out of the bipartisan law enacted last summer. Julie Chavez Rodriguez, campaign manager for Biden's reelection, said Biden and Harris were "humbled" to receive the endorsement. Photos: A list of high-profile mass shootings in the US this year Monterey Park, California Half Moon Bay, California Nashville, Tennessee Louisville, Kentucky Dadeville, Alabama Bowdoin, Maine Cleveland, Texas Allen, Texas CHICAGO Abortion wasn't technically on the ballot in Ohio's special election. But the overwhelming defeat of a measure that would have made it tougher to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution this fall was the latest indicator that the issue remains a powerful force at the ballot box. The election saw record turnout for what's typically a sleepy August election date and sets up another battle in November, when Ohio will be the only state this year to have reproductive rights on the ballot. It also gives hope to Democrats and other abortion rights supporters who say the matter could sway voters their way again in 2024. That's when it could affect races for president, Congress and statewide offices, and when places such as the battleground of Arizona may put abortion questions on their ballots as well. Democrats described the victory in Ohio, a one-time battleground state that shifted markedly to the right, as a "major warning sign" for the GOP. "Republicans' deeply unpopular war on women's rights will cost them district after district, and we will remind voters of their toxic anti-abortion agenda every day until November," said Aidan Johnson, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The measure voters rejected Tuesday, known as Issue 1, would have required ballot questions to pass with 60% of the vote rather than a simple majority. With the count nearly completed, votes against the measure, or No votes, received 57% compared with 43% in favor, a lead of almost 430,000 votes. Interest was unusually high, with millions spent on each side and turnout by far the highest for an August election in Ohio, which in the past have been mainly limited to local races. Turnout was even higher than the most recent off-year election in November, when voters in 2017 decided two statewide ballot measures. Opposition to the measure, which became a kind of proxy for the November abortion vote, extended even into traditionally Republican areas. In early returns, support for the measure fell far short of Donald Trump's performance during the 2020 election in nearly every county. The November ballot question will ask voters whether individuals should have the right to make their own reproductive health care decisions, including contraception, abortion, fertility treatment and miscarriage care. Ohio's GOP-led state government in 2019 approved a ban on abortion after cardiac activity is detected about six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant but the ban was not enforced because of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, which granted a federal right to the procedure. When a new conservative majority on the high court last year overturned the nearly 50-year-old ruling, sending authority over the procedure back to the states, Ohio's ban briefly went into effect. A state court put the ban on hold again while a challenge alleging it violates the state constitution plays out. While the ban was in place, an Indiana doctor came forward to say she performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio who could not legally have the procedure in her home state. The account became a national flashpoint in the debate over abortion rights and underscored the stakes in Ohio. Ohio is one of about half of U.S. states where citizens may bypass the legislature and put ballot questions directly to voters, making it an option that supporters of reproductive rights have increasingly turned to since Roe v. Wade fell. After abortion rights supporters said they hoped to ask voters in November to enshrine the right in the state constitution, Ohio Republicans put Issue 1 on Tuesday's ballot. In addition to raising the threshold to pass a measure, it would have required signatures to be collected in all 88 counties, rather than 44. The 60% threshold was no accident, abortion rights supporters say, and was aimed directly at defeating the Ohio abortion measure. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, six states had elections regarding reproductive rights. In every one, voters supported abortion rights. In Kansas, 59% voted to preserve abortion rights protections, while in Michigan 57% favored an amendment that put protections in the state constitution. Last year, 59% of Ohio voters said abortion should generally be legal, according to AP VoteCast, a broad survey of the electorate. Last month, a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found the majority of U.S. adults want abortion to be legal at least through the initial stages of pregnancy. Peter Range, CEO of Ohio Right to Life, said he traveled across Ohio talking to people and "I've never seen the grassroots from the pro-life side more fired up to go and defend and protect the pre-born." Access to abortion in Ohio is pivotal to access across the Midwest, said Alison Dreith, director of strategic partnership for the abortion fund Midwest Access Coalition. Nine Midwestern states Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Nebraska, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin are considered restrictive, very restrictive or most restrictive of abortion rights by the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization that supports legal access to abortion. "Ohio in particular has always been a destination state for the states around it," Dreith said. "If we don't protect abortion access in Ohio, the options just continue to shrink for people seeking care in the Midwest." Abortion in America: How access and attitudes have changed through the centuries 1970s: Roe v. Wade protects women's right to abortion; politics shift TALLINN, Estonia On the battlefields of Ukraine, the fog of war plagues soldiers. And far from the fighting, a related and just as disorienting miasma afflicts those who seek to understand what's happening in the vast war. Disinformation, misinformation and absent information all cloud civilians understanding. Officials from each side denounce devious plots being prepared by the enemy, which never materialize. They claim victories that cant be confirmed and stay quiet about defeats. None of this is unique to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Any nation at war bends the truth to boost morale on the home front, to rally support from its allies, to try to persuade its detractors to change their stance. But Europes largest land war in decades and the biggest one since the dawn of the digital age is taking place in a superheated information space. And modern communications technology, theoretically a force for improving public knowledge, tends to multiply the confusion because deceptions and falsehoods reach audiences instantly. The Russian government is trying to portray a certain version of reality, but its also being pumped out by the Ukrainian government and advocates for Ukraines cause. And those people currently also have views and are using information very effectively to try to shape all of our views of the war and its impact," says Andrew Weiss, an analyst at the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace. Even before the war began, confusion and contradiction were rife. Russia, despite massing tens of thousands of soldiers on the border, claimed it had no intent of invading. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy consistently downplayed the likelihood of war an alarming stance to some Western allies although the defense of Kyiv showed Ukrainian forces were well-prepared for just that eventuality. Within a day of the wars start on Feb. 24, 2022, disinformation spread, notably the Ghost of Kyiv tale of a Ukrainian fighter pilot who shot down six Russian planes. The storys origin is unclear, but it was quickly backed by Ukrainian official accounts before authorities admitted it was a myth. One of the most flagrant cases of disinformation arose in the wars second week, when a maternity hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol was bombed from the air. Images taken by a photographer for The Associated Press, which had the only foreign news team in the city, appalled the world, particularly one of a heavily pregnant woman being carried on a stretcher through the ruins. The brutal attack flew in the face of Russian claims that it was hitting only targets of military value and was avoiding civilian facilities. Russia quickly launched a multi-pronged and less-than-coherent campaign to tamp down the outrage. Diplomats, including Russias U.N. ambassador, denounced APs reporting and images as outright fakes. It claimed that a patient interviewed after the attack who was standing and appeared uninjured and the woman on the stretcher were the same person and that she had been a crisis actor. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov alleged Ukrainian fighters were sheltering in the hospital, making it a legitimate target. The patient who was interviewed muddied the situation by later claiming she had not given journalists permission to cite her and saying she had not heard planes over the hospital before the blasts, suggesting it could have been shelled rather than bombed. Russian authorities seized on those statements to bolster their claims, although the woman confirmed the attack itself was real. A week later, Mariupols main drama theater was destroyed in an airstrike even though the word children was written in Russian in large letters in two spots around the theater to show that civilians were sheltering there. The blast killed as many as 600 people. Russia denied the attack, claiming again that Ukrainian fighters were sheltering inside and that the fighters themselves blew up the building. The Russian ministry almost daily makes claims of killing dozens or hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers, which cannot be confirmed and are widely believed to be inflated. Sometimes the fact of shocking destruction cannot be denied, but who caused it is disputed. When a renowned cathedral in Odesa was heavily damaged in July, Ukraine said it was hit by a Russian missile; Russia said it was hit by the remnants of a Ukrainian defense missile. The disastrous collapse in May of the Kakhovka dam, which was under Russian control, brought vehemently competing accounts from Russia which claimed it was hit by Ukrainian missiles and Ukraine, which alleged Russian forces blew it up. An AP analysis found Russia had the means and motive to destroy the dam, which was the only remaining fixed crossing between the Russian- and Ukrainian-held banks of the Dnieper River in the frontline Kherson province. Both sides play at demonizing the other with claims of the others devious plans. Sometimes one alleges the other side is preparing a false-flag attack, as when Ukraine claimed Russia planned missile strikes on its ally Belarus in order to blame Ukraine and to draw Belarus troops into the war. In the war, fog shrouds both events that occur and didnt occur and obscures understanding of what may occur next. And it does not creep in on little cat feet, but spreads instantly as Russia and Ukraine each take advantage of social media, messaging apps and the world's hunger for news to put forth both facts and deceptions. Photos: Russia's war in Ukraine reaches the 500-day mark Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen expects to talk a lot this next year about whats in the states new voter ID election law. Evnen stopped by The Telegraphs offices Tuesday as part of a series of initial press visits to discuss how voters can cast ballots and satisfy the 2023 law they mandated by signing initiative petitions and adopting a state voter ID constitutional amendment last year. His office will be putting this word out repeatedly through press outlets and social media before the May 14, 2024, primary the first election that will require voter ID and the Nov. 5, 2024, general election. The good news, Evnen said, is that 97% to 98% of Nebraskans already have the two main types of photo ID: a state-issued drivers license or ID card. Legislative Bill 514, which Evnens office wrote at the request of state Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, outlines several other types of ID that Nebraskans can present in person at the polls or copy to include when voting early. But for most voters, Evnen said, satisfying voter ID will be simple: Show your drivers license or state ID at your polling place or election office on Election Day, get your ballot and vote. I dont think its going to be a large problem, because people have to show their IDs for everything, he said. This is nothing they should find out of the usual or extraordinary. LB 514 also says that if you want a state-issued ID and you dont have the money, the state DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) will issue it to you for free if youre using it for voting purposes. The U.S. Supreme Court has mandated free access to state ID cards in rulings on voter ID, Evnen said. The state Bureau of Vital Statistics will provide a free certified copy of ones Nebraska birth certificate if its needed to obtain a state ID card. LB 514 says people with a reasonable impediment the lack of allowable documents, disability, illness or a religious objection to being photographed can fill out a form when they register to vote. Evnen stressed that the 2022 initiative wasnt all the Legislature had to satisfy in crafting LB 514, which senators passed 38-1 and Gov. Jim Pillen signed on June 1. The voter ID bill had to be practical to implement and meet the requirements of the initiative, but it also had to satisfy the U.S. Constitution, he said. In my view, that bill does all three of those things, Evnen said. If you dont already have a drivers license or state ID card, LB 514 says eligible voters can present one of the following documents to satisfy the law: A U.S. passport. A military ID card. A Native American tribal ID card. A photo ID issued by a Nebraska college or university. A photo ID issued by a Nebraska state agency or local government. People who live in assisted-living centers, nursing homes or skilled care facilities also may present a record from that facility with their name and photo. Medicare requires those facilities to keep such records, Evnen said. As long as the above records have the voters name and photo, theyll be valid under voter ID even if theyre expired. People who forget to bring their photo ID to the polls can vote provisionally on Election Day. But LB 514 says theyll have to present a valid photo ID at their county election office on or before the Tuesday after the election. Evnen said Nebraskans asking for early ballots will have to provide their drivers license or state ID number on their ballot application form. County clerks or election commissioners employees will look up that number in preparing their early ballot. Those who apply for early ballots in writing must include a copy of one of the allowable photo IDs or their reasonable impediment certification when they mail or deliver their application, Evnen said. Eleven Nebraska counties, including several in the Sandhills, conduct all their elections by mail. When their voters return ballots, Evnen said, theyll have to insert a copy of an acceptable ID document or write their drivers license or state ID number in an indicated space on the envelope. The (sealed) flap will cover those numbers, so theyll only be seen when theyre opened in the election office by an election official, he said. The secretary of state added that his office and the state DMV are working on legally allowable methods under federal law to verify a voters U.S. citizenship if evidence suggests the voter isnt a citizen. Nebraskans who register to vote already must swear under penalty of law that theyre a citizen, Evnen said. They can be charged with a state felony if theyre lying. But we are not permitted to delay registration while we check on it, he added. What we can do is accept it, put them on the rolls and use what resources we can to confirm it. Should evidence turn up that the voter isnt a citizen, well ask them to reconcile it, although they do not have to do that. We cannot take them off the rolls. Thats not allowed under federal law. Either way, Evnen said, his office can turn over evidence to the appropriate county attorney should it appear that a registered voter lied on oath about being a U.S. citizen. But were not going to jump to conclusions, he said. Well give people the opportunity to rectify it if theres contrary evidence. The state Elections Division in Evnens office is developing a webpage with a link to LB 514 and other information on voter ID. Visit sos.nebraska.gov/elections/voter-id. Two members of a Nebraska family were killed and three children were seriously injured after a head-on collision on U.S. Highway 6 just east of Hastings on Wednesday. Nicole Pavelka, 30, and her 8-year-old son Ryder Schlichtman were killed when a westbound semitrailer truck entered the eastbound lane and struck their car head-on. Three other children in the car sustained serious injuries. The driver of the semi, 21-year-old Justin Zoerb of Hazard, Nebraska, was arrested but is not currently facing charges related to the crash. He was arrested on an active warrant for failing to appear in court on misdemeanor truck maintenance violations. According to a press release from the Nebraska State Patrol, Zoerb was driving his semi westbound on Highway 6 about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday. As he approached Hastings, he came upon westbound traffic that had stopped as a vehicle was waiting to turn onto an adjacent road. Zoerb allegedly failed to slow down for the stopped traffic and entered the eastbound lane of the two-lane highway before losing control of the semi. The semi struck an eastbound Buick Enclave occupied by one adult and four children. Pavelka and Schlichtman were both declared dead at the scene, and the three other children were taken to area hospitals with serious injuries. Two children, ages 10 and 11, were transported to Childrens Hospital in Omaha, while a 9-year-old child was transported to Mary Lanning Hospital in Hastings. Zoerb was issued a misdemeanor traffic citation in May for having worn-down tires and failing to stop at a weighing station. He allegedly failed to appear in court in June, and prosecutors in Hitchcock County issued a warrant for his arrest earlier this month. He is currently being held in custody at the Adams County Jail. The crash remains under investigation, and the State Patrol is conducting a full crash reconstruction. A GoFundMe has been set up to help the Pavelka and Schlichtman family, who are from Davenport, Nebraska, pay for funeral and medical expenses. BLOOMINGTON A new facility is expected to bring wind and solar technicians from across the country to train in Bloomington. EDP Renewables, the company behind three of McLean Countys wind farms, unveiled its new technician training facility, located at 1616 E. General Electric Road, on Thursday. It is the global energy companys first site in Illinois dedicated to training in renewable energy. This is really the cutting edge of energy, said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, after touring the facility with EDP leaders. Technician trainees will come from across the country and Canada, to take part in a two-week induction training period at the Bloomington facility to learn about how wind and solar operations work with an emphasis on safety, CEO Sandhya Ganapathy said. Im super excited that we have something like this and really hoping that we can get many of them trained over the years, and we can churn out a lot of really talented, skilled people, she said. Close to 50 technicians have been trained at the facility in the last few months as part of a soft launch. In accordance with the policies of the Global Wind Organisation in regards to capacity and trainer-trainee ratios, Ganapathy said they will be able to train at least 100 people on an ongoing basis every year, including new training and more advanced training. It is unclear how many operations managers will be on-site in Bloomington training new technicians. Durbin said the facility represents exactly what we need to ensure technicians are trained to do their jobs effectively and safely. The senator, who visited the Normal manufacturing facility of electric automaker Rivian Automotive before the EDP unveiling, said Central Illinois has a bright, optimistic, positive future ahead of us, leading in renewable energy and innovation. He said it wasnt long ago when Illinoisans considered themselves part of the Rust Belt, yesterdays success story, and wondered whether this area had a future. We wondered if the next wave of innovation and creativity would include us, he said. Now, take a look around and see whats happening here. We have had dramatic increases just in this Bloomington-Normal community. We are looking at new sources of energy that are good for our environment, he said, noting the effects of climate change seen in the extreme heat this summer and extreme weather events that have increased in recent years. Things are changing and weve got to adjust to that change. Part of it is looking for renewable energy sources, using what God has given us and making certain that we build the kind of facilities that will serve our state and our nation for many years to come. EDP Renewables has been in McLean County for 15 years with $2.5 billion invested in the area and five wind farms across Central Illinois with two of those split into two phases producing 1,200 megawatts, which is enough to power more than 412,000 homes. "Were planning to increase (training) as our investments increase (and) embrace people from profiles, different backgrounds. We want a really diverse workforce; thats something that Im committed to, thats something that the company truly believes in, Ganapathy said. Since the company began to expand in Illinois, its CEO said, the state has embraced EDP. So when we were thinking about where exactly we want to install and house this facility, we couldnt think of a better place, she said, standing between training areas of the Bloomington facility. Im really happy that we got the space. Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe said the unveiling was truly a celebration of a new chapter of engagement and empowerment, as EDPs vision extends beyond the horizons of energy production and embraces the goal of inspiring and nurturing the talents of the next generation. He called the training facility a gift to the next generation, an invitation to embrace the challenges and rewards that await. It will serve as a launch pad of knowledge where bright individuals can learn, experiment and innovate. A place to encourage curiosity, sharpen skills and forge our future leaders." Mwilambwe said EDPs values perfectly align with ours, including employee-centric policies, gender equity and sustainability. The mayor also said adding this training facility to the opportunities available in Bloomington is a dedication to sustainability, not just in terms of clean energy production but also in terms of sustainable growth of our workforce. Bringing trainees into Bloomington and Central Illinois could help to keep them here, Mwilambwe said. One of the best ways to attract people to a community is to actually have them experience the community, he said. Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term A complaint was filed against a Georgia hospital and other parties involved in the birth of a woman who claims her newborn was decapitated last month during delivery, as CNN reported. Decapitated Infant? According to the lawsuit issued in Clayton County, Georgia, on Wednesday, August 9, Southern Regional Medical Center allegedly tried to keep the baby's cause of death a secret from the mother, Jessica Ross, 20, and her boyfriend, Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr. The family attorney confirmed that the infant, who was given his father's name, was born healthy and at full term. The reason for the infant's death has not been made public by the county medical examiner's office. Brian Byers, head of the office, told CNN that they are still trying to finish the autopsy on the baby. The claim states that Ross went into labor on July 9 and that her doctor made many attempts to vaginally deliver the baby, including placing traction on the baby's head. The complaint alleges that the baby's shoulders were trapped in the vaginal canal, a condition known as shoulder dystocia, which prevented the baby's descent during the attempted birth. The doctor "failed to practice according to medical standards," the lawsuit states. The suit also asserts that the doctor "grossly" and "negligently" applied excessive traction on the baby's head and neck and failed to perform a Cesarean section at the appropriate time. Hospital workers allegedly informed Ross and Taylor they could not see or hold their newborn, as stated in a statement sent by a family spokesman. The hospital only let the young parents see their deceased kid once. "During this viewing, their baby was wrapped tightly in a blanket with his head propped on top of his body in a manner such that those viewing him could not identify that he had been decapitated," the statement reads. The lawsuit requests a jury trial and seeks compensation for the loss of the baby's life, including loss of future wages, funeral and burial expenses, and mental anguish. Also Read: Missing Georgia Mom: Imani Roberson's Husband Arrested After Remains Found Burned with SUV Vehicle Hospital's Response Southern Regional Medical Center sent a statement to CNN on Wednesday afternoon denying the charges made against it in the legal action. For reasons of patient confidentiality and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Southern Regional Medical Center declined to comment on the care and treatment of individual patients. "Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the family and all those impacted by this tragic event ... Our prayers also remain with the dedicated team of physicians, nurses, and staff at Southern Regional Medical Center who cared for this patient. Our commitment is to provide compassionate, quality care to every single patient, and this loss is heartbreaking." The statement added that the delivering doctor was not a hospital employee. The facility said it has done all its power to address this serious matter. Also Read: Georgia: Children Might Need Parental Consent Before Using Social Media @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. LEXINGTON Over a dozen farmers from Brazil stopped in Wednesday morning at the Illinois State University teaching farm in Lexington for a tour and presentation on economically sustainable and organic agriculture methods. Two farm owners and 19 employees trekked in with Grupo Horita, a large agricultural firm in Brazil, as part of a roughly week-long trip in the United States. The are from Barreiras, a city in the western part of the Bahia state of Brazil. Aslihan Spaulding, interim chair for ISUs department of agriculture, said it was a great idea for them to come and learn about their farm. And, it was also helpful for agriculture faculty to learn from farmers from far away. She said another part was marketing their undergraduate and graduate programs for potential student recruitment. Prosperous paths The visitors were given an introductory presentation about the university that morning, followed by a talk on regenerative farming by the founder of Atlantas PrairiErth Farm. Dave Bishop defined regenerative farming as a set of five principles that provide a pathway to an organic system. While there isnt an exact procedure that works for all farms, he said a main principle utilizes diversity in crop and livestock management practices. Bishop said that could mean rotating corn, soy and cover crops on the same grounds with livestock operations, which then adds manure to soil for fertilization. He added rotation can act as a form of insurance too. Livestock is a whole different market than grains, Bishop said. So if the grain market falls apart, youve got livestock to work. PrairiErth Farms he said works 480 acres of corn, soybeans, small grains and occasionally vegetables, plus a variety of livestock, like cattle, hogs and some poultry. We are more diversified than some of our neighbors, he said, noting that diversity makes a farm more resilient and profitable. Weeding out pests Former agriculture department chair and current agronomics professor Fansom Kidwaro addressed visitors by providing a brief history of the ISU teaching farms dating back to 1914, detailing where they began and have moved. Agriculture sites managed by ISU currently include 165 acres of property on Gregory Street in Normal and 440 acres in Lexington. The latter location grows corn, soybeans, alfalfa and cover crops, and cares for hogs, beef cattle, sheep and a llama, which Kidwaro said helps protects the sheep. Around 3,000 people visit annually. Crop sciences professor Nicholas Heller spoke as well on how the ISU farm is transitioning to regenerative farming. His presentation noted cover crops planted at the farm, such as pennycress, cereal rye and red clover. He also said the visitors had requested hearing about regenerative farming. He said guests also thought Central Illinois has very fertile soils with lots of organic matter, which is more than theyre used to in Brazil. Heller said since Brazil doesnt get freezing winter temperatures, farmers there have to battle pests. That also causes a green bridge for pathogens that spreads over between crops, he said. The professor said visiting farmers were very concerned about weeds too. Theres clearly not a bulletproof solution to controlling weeds certainly in soybean (fields), he said. Heller said before there were herbicide resistant weeds, some pests were resisting pesticides too. Thats why they switch whats in the fire ant killer every year, he said, because if you killed 99.9% of them, the only ones you didnt kill are the ones youre going to have next year. Heller said with herbicides, chemical companies started off by advised farmers to walk out and kill any weeds in their fields that survived their sprays. Somewhere along the way, weve forgotten to do that, he said, Participation is down 40% in this agricultural program that protects wildlife, water, and soil Participation is down 40% in this agricultural program that protects wildlife, water, and soil There is less land in the Conservation Reserve Program than there used to be Most counties have seen declines in participation over the past 10 years Grassland establishment and habitat expansion are among the most common programs New changes from the USDA seek to improve participation NORMAL Roger Schmidgall, a State Farm retiree and Rotarian who has been active in promoting intercultural understanding and Christian fellowship, has been named Normal's 2023 Citizen of the Year. "On many occasions, I've personally witnessed this person's compassion for all, commitment to building up others and a desire to create strong relationships," said Normal Mayor Chris Koos in preparing to announce the honoree at the town's Appreciation Reception on Wednesday at the University Galleries near Uptown Circle. "It's my honor to recognize this person tonight for his positive impact and dedication to creating a welcoming community that is attentive to all. He exemplifies a lifelong effort and support to the underserved populations locally, nationally and internationally." Schmidgall, a member of Normal's Sunset Rotary Club, has served as club president and pursues the Rotary mission of "providing service to others, promoting integrity, and advancing world understanding, goodwill and peace." In that vein, he served as the Bloomington-Normal coordinator for Friends Forever International, which hosts groups of Palestinian and Israeli youths traveling together to build relationships and cultivate an understanding among their peoples. Schmidgall also travels internationally on humanitarian and faith missions and has been to Pakistan, China, Japan, Lebanon and several Latin American and Caribbean countries, including Honduras and Trinidad. The town said Schmidgall also advises community leaders on what it means to be a welcoming, sustainable and productive community where all individuals can thrive. "I think we have a way to go to overcome some prejudices about Muslims in particular and the value that they can add to our communities, too," Schmidgall said. Noting Friends Forever has hosted groups of 10 teenagers annually since about 2012, Schmidgall said, "Many of them tend to grow up in a closed community where they don't get to meet other teens from the other community, so every year brought up some friction between the groups and their perspectives on the world and their own nation and they could work through it." Schmidgall said he worked last year to help some refugees from Afghanistan with transportation, housing and employment during their short stay here. The community can do more, he added. "I think refugees are obviously in need throughout the country and we are a rich community," Schmidgall said. "We have lots to offer, and as big cities fill up and are at capacity with refugees and immigrants, a smaller community like ours have an opportunity and a responsibility to step forward." Schmidgall said he hopes to visit his grandson in New Mexico and continue his volunteer work with BibleTelling, a nonprofit Christian organization that helps people learn the stories of the Bible in simplified English so they can share them. The group takes people on weeklong trips to Israel and Jordan, and in October they will go to Turkey, Greece and Rome, so people can see where these stories happened. "It's just a unique way to have a deeper experience of our Christian faith ... to see the land and experience the culture and the stories," he said. As for the younger generation, Schmidgall said he encourages young people to consider a service club where they can work with friends to encourage them and feel that they are not just doing it for themselves. "I think if we value the community where we live, it's just natural to give back in whatever little ways we can, and it takes a team," he added. Photos: 27th annual Glorious Garden Festival takes root in Bloomington-Normal Tending succulents Tropical Flowers Cactus Succulent Shed Climbing Onion 2023 Dan Anderson 1 GLORIOUS GARDENS 071523-blm-loc-gardenfest4 Video: Children's librarian Alex Bell talks about StoryWalk PARK FOREST At Ludeman Developmental Center in Park Forest, 37 employees have been fired, resigned or face pending disciplinary action after a state watchdog found that they defrauded a federal pandemic-era small business loan program. The employees who work at the state-run developmental center in south suburban Cook County include 32 mental health technicians about 6% of frontline workers with that job three residential services supervisors, one habilitation program coordinator and a licensed practical nurse. A spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Human Services, the agency that runs the 383-bed residential center for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, confirmed these additional details late last week. Neil Olson, the general counsel for the Illinois Office of the Executive Inspector General, previously confirmed to Capitol News Illinois that dozens of employees of state agencies and other entities under the OEIGs jurisdiction are the subjects of an ongoing investigation into whether they fraudulently obtained Paycheck Protection Program loans. Beyond confirming the investigation, Olson declined to provide any additional details about the probe. The U.S. Small Business Administration loans were intended to help small businesses remain open and their employees paid as COVID-19 forced mass shutdowns to protect public health. But in a rush to disburse the funds, fraudsters across the country stole billions of dollars meant to prop up mom-and-pop shops, a federal watchdog report found last month. The inspector general for the SBA estimated that the agency paid out more than $200 billion in potentially fraudulent aid during the pandemic about 17% of the $1.2 trillion that was dispersed through the PPP and other similar programs. The employees facing discipline sought loans for small businesses outside of their state work. But those businesses may not have existed, or if they did, may not have earned the income they claimed. The state workers who have faced disciplinary action to date received loans of at least $20,000. To receive that amount meant they claimed income in their second jobs of at least $100,000 on their PPP loan applications. While state employees are not prohibited from secondary employment, state policies require employees to disclose outside work to the agencies that employ them. Certain state workers, such as managers and people who are responsible for procurement and other financial dealings, must also file statements of economic interest with the secretary of states office that would detail any outside business ownership or income. The investigations center around whether the workers filed fraudulent paperwork to obtain the loans, thereby acting in a way unbecoming of a state employee, or failed to follow disclosure rules for secondary income or both. State employees who took PPP loans for legitimate businesses that were properly disclosed would not face discipline. IDHS is not the only Illinois government agency whose workers may face disciplinary action up to termination. But the loss of employees at the states developmental centers is particularly troubling given longstanding challenges to maintain an adequate workforce and provide care to some of the states most vulnerable citizens. In total, IDHS confirmed that, as of early August, 47 of its workers had been fired, resigned or face pending discipline related to PPP loan fraud. The other 10 employees five each were employed at Kiley Developmental Center in Waukegan on the Wisconsin border and Shapiro Developmental Center in Kankakee, in north-central Illinois. A July investigation by Capitol News Illinois, Lee Enterprises and ProPublica detailed numerous instances of patient abuse and neglect inside IDHS seven statewide centers, including some circumstances that contributed to serious resident harm or death. In prior statements, IDHS has attributed some of the problems at its centers to staffing shortages, while noting that workforce challenges in health care are a nationwide problem. AFSCME Council 31, the union that represents most workers at Ludeman, has also publicly shared concerns about staffing issues at the states 24/7 facilities, including developmental centers. In April, the union shared a report to its website specifically calling attention to concerns among workers at Ludeman. In the piece, a Ludeman employee says workers are sometimes asked to work multiple double or triple shifts in a week, leading to burnout and safety issues. Anders Lindall, the spokesperson for AFSCME, did not respond to specific questions about the OEIGs widespread investigation into PPP loan fraud by state employees. In any investigation that may lead to discipline, the unions role is to ensure that members are treated fairly, the contract is followed and due process is upheld, he said. Previously, IDHS spokesperson Patrick Laughlin said in a statement that the agency takes OEIGs findings seriously. Falsifying a federal loan document, for significant and improper personal gain, calls into question ones character, honesty, and ability to act ethically, the prior statement read. While the vast majority of IDHS roughly 14,000 state employees are hard-working people of strong character who work tirelessly to help the most vulnerable, it is deeply concerning anytime an employee takes advantage of public programs. In response to questions about how the loss of employees at Ludeman is affecting overall workforce shortages, Laughlin said in a new statement that the agency has been working to hire more staff at Ludeman since receiving notice of the PPP loan fraud among the centers workers. Because it is in Cook County, the facility traditionally has a lower vacancy rate and larger applicant pool than the other centers located in rural areas and small towns, the agency added. The OEIG is not a criminal law enforcement agency. It investigates state employees and others under its jurisdiction for misconduct and makes recommendations that could range from retraining to termination. But the OEIG has the authority to share its findings with law enforcement. On June 30, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law that extends from five to 10 years the statute of limitations in Illinois to bring charges against people who fraudulently obtained pandemic-era aid, such as PPP loans and unemployment benefits. Pritzkers office did not respond to detailed questions about the scope of the investigation into fraudulent PPP loans obtained by state workers. We do not provide comment on investigative and disciplinary matters as they proceed through the appropriate processes, the governors office said in a statement. With respect to the new law, a spokesperson said that the governor supports holding bad actors who took advantage of an unprecedented crisis accountable. Its important that authorities have more time to investigate these crimes and prosecute those who violated the law. Photos: Pritzker sworn in for second term CHICAGO The next time you hail an Uber in Chicago, make room for Big Brother. Uber rolled out a new safety feature Wednesday in Chicago and other markets that will allow drivers and riders to record audio during the trip to deter and resolve conflicts. Once enabled, the safety feature will pop up on the app, giving both the driver and rider an option to hit the record button for all or part of the journey. The completed audio file is encrypted and stored on the users smartphone for seven days in the event that either party wants to submit an incident report to Uber. We want to just make sure on the trip, there are safe, comfortable interactions. Thats No. 1, said Sachin Kansal, vice president of product management at Uber. No. 2 is we want a source of truth ... to determine if one or the other party had any wrongdoing. Launched in Latin America in 2019, the audio recording feature was introduced in three U.S. cities Kansas City, Missouri; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Louisville, Kentucky beginning in December 2021. It has since expanded to more than a dozen countries and 150 U.S. cities, including New York in April. The rollout was slated to go live in Chicago and remaining U.S. markets in phases beginning Wednesday. Uber users will get an email over the coming days to let them know the recording feature is available. Enabled through the app, riders and drivers will be able to activate the audio recording feature at any time during the trip. The recording will end automatically after the drive is completed. Kansal declined to share usage figures, but said the feature has been well-received in other markets. The response from riders and drivers equally has been very, very strong, Kansal said. Riders may not find the need to record on every trip. You may expect more nighttime use than daytime use. There were 75,000 ride-share drivers registered to work in Chicago as of May, with 50,000 taking at least one trip during the month, according to Elisa Sledzinska, spokesperson for the citys Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, which regulates the industry. This year, the city received 98 consumer complaints against ride-share drivers and companies from January through July, Sledzinska said. Ride-share complaints can encompass driver conduct, payment issues, unsafe driving and vehicle condition. Lenny Sanchez, director of the Illinois chapter of the Independent Drivers Guild, which has about 10,000 members in the Chicago area, is skeptical the audio recording feature will do much to deter bad behavior, especially by passengers. Its just more or less fluff, Sanchez said. So it sounds good to the drivers and sounds good to the users just to create a sense of security to build up their brand. Uber was forced to navigate state-by-state privacy laws to add the recording feature to its app. Illinois is a two-party-consent state, which means it is illegal in most circumstances to record a private conversation unless all parties agree to it. When hailing a ride, drivers and passengers will be notified if either party has enabled the audio recording feature. Accepting the ride provides tacit consent to be recorded, Kansal said. Effectively when youre on a trip, both parties can record, neither party record or either party record, he said. So all combinations are possible. Kansal said they have not seen riders or drivers cancel in other markets when notified that the other party may record the trip. To assuage privacy concerns, the audio files are encrypted, meaning neither the driver nor the rider can listen to them on their devices. The recording can be decrypted if a rider or driver submits the file as part of a safety report to Uber. As in Mission: Impossible, the audio file will self-destruct after seven days if no action is taken. The audio recording feature is the latest effort by Uber to enhance safety in the ride-sharing industry. In 2021, with carjackings on the rise in Chicago and other markets, Uber launched a nationwide verification program for riders using anonymous payment methods as a safety measure to protect drivers. That has actually helped a lot in terms of both stopping certain riders who may have the wrong intent, but also making drivers more comfortable, Kansal said. Sanchez said the verification program was a step in the right direction, but didnt go far enough to protect drivers. Ride-sharing, he said, remains a risky business for drivers in Chicago. They may have slightly dropped from what they were at the peak during the pandemic, but carjackings and assaults of drivers are still happening on a daily basis, he said. Kansal declined to specify what kinds of incidents have prompted the submission of audio files in markets where the recording feature has been available. But he did say that the audio files have proved helpful in determining the nature of disputes, resulting in warnings and stronger actions against both riders and drivers. In a lot of cases, that may be just a precautionary thing on the side of either the rider or the driver, and theyre sharing with us, he said. And in some cases, there may be an actual issue that we have to deal with. While Sanchez is skeptical the audio feature will do much to deter ride-sharing conflict, he said there is a solution that has proved effective: video. Drivers who install dashcams in their cars have seen an observed difference in initially rowdy passengers suddenly being on their best behavior when they notice they are under video surveillance during the ride. Our recommendation 100% is for every driver to have a dashcam, Sanchez said. I dont care if you drive 10 hours a week or 50 hours a week. You have to have a dashcam. Photos: Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Election 2023 Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2023 Brandon Johnson - 2023 Brandon Johnson - File Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 Brandon Johnson - 2022 The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has responded to the Minority Caucus in Parliament, providing an explanation for its loss of GH60 billion in 2022. The Bank of Ghana (BoG) reportedly lost over 60 billion cedis, equivalent to 6 billion dollars, last year. According to a statement read by Cassiel Ato Forson, the leader of the Minority in Parliament, during an NDC event titled "Moment of Truth" on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, the BoG report showed a "catastrophic decline" of the bank. He disclosed "The Bank of Ghana recorded a staggering loss of GHS60.8 billion, which is equivalent to $6 billion. This is twice the amount we are to receive from our recent IMF bailout". The Minority accused Dr. Ernest Addison, the Governor of the central bank, of causing the loss and called for his resignation, as well as that of his deputies. The central bank has however attributed the loss to the government's Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) in a statement. Read the full statement below STATEMENT ON BANK OF GHANAS 2022 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Bank of Ghana released its full-year 2022 audited financial statements on 28th July 2023. The financial statements reported a total loss of GH60 billion, which has since become a matter of unfortunate politicisation. It is noteworthy that GH53.1 billion of those losses were a direct result of the Governments domestic debt restructuring exercise (phase 1 and II). It is important to put the Bank of Ghanas 2022 financial results in proper context with a clear statement of the problem that Ghana faced and the chronology of events in Ghana since 2019. There was a clear mismatch between revenue inflows and expenditure financed in 2020 by exceptional support from the IMF and World Bank resources, and in addition to financing from the Bank of Ghana through the issuance of the GH10 billion Covid-19 bond. As a result, sovereign spreads on Ghana bonds widened, signalling investor dissatisfaction with the stance of fiscal policy. The Budget for 2022, which was read in 2021, failed to address fiscal concerns as the Budget was even more expansionary by about 23% with a raft of revenue measures to raise financing. As a result, the Credit Rating Agencies further downgraded Ghanas sovereign debt rating, which blocked Ghanas access to international capital market borrowing. This triggered a liquidity crisis, spilling over into a balance of payments crisis. External and domestic payments needed to be made, the domestic auction was failing, and the Bank of Ghana had to step in to arrest a major economic and social crisis. In 2 months, the Bank of Ghana lost US$500 million in reserves and built significant overdraft with the government as a result of the auction failures. It became clear that Ghana was on a path that was unsustainable, and the Government had to approach the IMF for support in July 2022. The IMF process included putting into place a credible programme of reform, which included restructuring of the total government debt to sustainable levels. Until Staff Level Agreement with the IMF was reached in December 2022, the Bank of Ghana had to continue to provide the necessary support to keep the economy running. In line with the provisions of the Bank of Ghana Act, (Act 612), as amended, the Bank informed the Minister of the developments in its finances. The Minister reported this to Parliament as part of his briefing to Parliament on the IMF programme and the Domestic Debt Exchange. A major plank of the corrective action required for the IMF programme was the Domestic Debt Exchange, where the stock of Government of Ghana debt was to be halved from 105% of GDP to 55% of GDP by 2028. The holders of Government debt had their debt instruments exchanged for new ones with lower interest payments and longer terms. Despite the losses inflicted on households and banks, the threshold of 55% of GDP was not met. The Bank of Ghana was used to close the gap to enable Ghana meet the debt threshold that qualified Ghana for the IMF programme (Bank of Ghana therefore, acted as a loss absorber). This means the Bank of Ghana had to absorb a 50% haircut on its non- marketable holdings of Government debt instruments. This singular act led to significant impairment losses of GH32.3 billion to the Banks accounts. Impairments of marketable instruments also accounted for another GH16.1 billion, bringing the total impairments of Government holdings to GH48.4 billion. As experienced by central banks globally, price and exchange rate movements led to a loss of GH5.2 billion whiles impairments of Cocobod loans amounted to GH4.7 billion. This is the reason the Bank of Ghana reported a loss of GH60 billion in 2022. Central banks are not commercial banks. This financial outcome has very little implication for the operations of the Bank of Ghana as supported by evidence from other central banks. Technically, Central Banks cannot be insolvent or bankrupt. Bank of Ghana assures key stakeholders and the general public that we are committed to the highest standards of prudent management, governance, and transparent accounting and audit practices. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Nigerias President, Bola Tinubu, is facing a huge backlash at home over his threat to use military force to reverse the coup in next-door neighbour, Niger. Local media report there was strong opposition to military intervention at a session of the upper chamber of parliament, the Senate, on Saturday, despite the fact that it is controlled by Mr Tinubus party. This was especially the case among lawmakers representing states along the more than 1,500km (930 mile)-long border with Niger, but there has also been countrywide condemnation of the possibility of war. West African regional bloc, EOWAS, had set a deadline of Sunday for the junta to give up power or face possible military action. The decision was very much seen as Mr Tinubus as he is ECOWAS current chairman, and Nigeria is its most influential member. Although the junta has defied the ultimatum, ECOWAS did not respond by immediately sending troops. This came as a relief to many Nigerians who prefer a diplomatic resolution to the crisis. Some question whether a seven-day deadline was realistic given that Nigeria and other countries have to get parliamentary approval before deploying the military. Many people are also appalled that electricity to Niger was cut on President Tinubus orders, causing blackouts in Nigers capital, Niamey, and other cities. Critics claim that this is in violation of a treaty that had enabled Nigeria to build a dam on the River Niger, though Mr Tinubus supporters say the power cuts are aimed at pressuring the junta to hand back power to ousted President, Mohamed Bazoum, without military confrontation. Nigeria and Niger share strong ethnic, economic and cultural ties and any military intervention against Niger would affect northern Nigeria, already facing serious security challenges of its own. An influential group of Muslim clerics in northern Nigeria said Mr Tinubu must not rush into an avoidable conflict with a neighbour at the behest of global politicking. Mr Bazoum was a key ally of the West, allowing former colonial power, France, and the US to keep military bases in the country to help in the fight against militant Islamists wreaking havoc across much of West Africa. The military juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso have vowed to come to the defence of Nigers coup leaders if ECOWAS does use force, raising the prospect of a major regional conflict. All eyes are now on Mr Tinubu who has been the most vocal in condemning coups in West Africa, and said last month that ECOWAS cannot be made up of toothless bulldogs Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video West African leaders are meeting on Thursday to try to decide whether to use military force or diplomacy to restore democracy in Niger. Its a fortnight since Nigers President was detained by his own guards who then seized power the latest in a string of military coups stretching across the continent. Leaders of the regional Ecowas bloc are meeting in Nigerias capital, Abuja. There are no easy options for them. Theyre anxious to restore democracy in Niger a vast, impoverished nation already battling against Islamist insurgents. But the soldiers who seized power in Niger have, so far, shrugged off diplomatic and economic pressure. The regional bloc led by Nigeria has also threatened to use military force. A few years ago, that might have been a fairly straightforward option. But other neighbouring countries Mali, in particular have recently succumbed to military coups, backed by Russian mercenaries and theyre now siding with Nigers generals. There is a lot at stake now for a huge and increasingly unstable slice of Africa. Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah, a Governance lecturer at the Central University, has slammed the Bank of Ghana following revelations by the Minority in Parliament that the bank lost over 60 billion cedis last year. The Minority engaging with the media at their event dubbed "Moment of Truth" on Tuesday, August 9, called on the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison and his deputies to resign within 21 days. They threatened to picket the bank if the Governors refuse to heed their ultimatum. The Minority accused the Governor of mismanaging the bank disclosing "the Bank of Ghana recorded a staggering loss of GHS60.8 billion, which is equivalent to $6 billion. This is twice the amount we are to receive from our recent IMF bailout". "This means the recklessness and mismanagement of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana has cost the nation twice what we are struggling and sacrificing to receive from the IMF amid major conditionalities", the Minority Leader, Cassiel Ato Forson stated. They further said; "The bank has also recorded a negative equity of over GHS55.1 billion. What this simply means is that the Bank of Ghana is insolvent. In other words, the once prestigious Bank of Ghana, the mother of all banks in Ghana, has been bankrupted and collapsed by this NPP economic management team led by Dr Mahamudu Bawumia with the complicity of the Governor of the Central Bank." Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah, commenting on the issue during Peace FM's morning show, admonished the authorities of the Bank of Ghana to sit up and put their things in order. "They should put their things in order; what's going on is not proper...They should do their job well because you have a very huge task. Your regulatory and supervisory aspects are not going well", he emphasized. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Reverend Dr Joyce Aryee, the Executive Director of Salt and Light Ministry, has advised the youth to harness the positives of social media to improve their lives instead of the negatives. According to her, social media had good and bad sides and the youth must explore the good side to enhance their education and lives. Rev. Dr Aryee gave the advice on Friday during the Lead Yourself Conference for Senior High students held at the Achimota College. The programme, organised by the David Douglas Leadership Forum (DDLF) in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Accra, was attended by more than 2,500 Senior High School (SHS) students across the country. They included Adisadel College, Achimota College, St Thomas Aquinas SHS, Labone SHS, Accra Girls SHS, OReilly SHS, Mando Senior High and Technical School, Mfantsiman SHS, and Presbyterian Senior High School, Osu. Under the theme The Importance of Entrepreneurship in National Development, the objectives of the programme were to equip the students with entrepreneurship, leadership and technical skills to prepare them to be job creators instead of seekers. Rev. Dr Aryee, who gave the keynote address on the topic How to Unlock your Potential, expressed concern about the practice where the youth and students used social media to engage in social vices instead of learning. She said social media has become a platform where an individual could learn any skill or trade. The Chief Executive Officer of the KAMA Group of Companies, Dr Michael Agyekum Addo, said the 21st century was a period for technical entrepreneurship, requiring people to create products and services to address the needs and problems of society. The President of Ghana Traders Association, Dr Joseph Obeng, for his part, said the youth could create their own businesses through the ideas they had, adding that social media could be a veritable means to help the youth create their own businesses. The Executive Director of DDLF, David Douglas Tengey, said the increasing youth population and the number of students being churned out by the various tertiary institutions did not commensurate with existing jobs, hence the growing unemployment rate in the country. He said there was a need to promote entrepreneurship in the country, hence the focus of the DDLF on entrepreneurship to equip the students with entrepreneurship skills and knowledge to help the students to become entrepreneurs. Source: Ghanaiantimes.com.gh Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, says chiefs must be allowed to participate in active party politics in the country. He has therefore, proposed a relook into constitutional provisions that barred chiefs from participating in active politics, adding that Ghana needs to re-orient its democratic architecture and ensure that the wisdom and expertise of chiefs can be tapped to enhance representative governance in the country. Mr Bagbin also stressed the urgent need to tackle the seemly exclusion of the citizenry from harnessing dividends of Ghanas democratic experience. He made the proposal at a public forum in Takoradi yesterday as part of activities to mark 30 years of parliamentary democracy. The forum was on the theme 30 years of parliamentary democracy under the 4th Republic: The journey thus far. He added that We need to listen, think together, and well be taking stock on what we did wrong with our leaders, that chiefs should not be in active politics and thats not helping us. They used to govern; today we have imposed other chiefs on our chiefs, so we have District Chief Executives. Historically, Mr Bagbin noted that the African, by tradition, embraced a democratic culture which promoted competition and that the concept of Parliament was instituted in kingdoms, empires, long before the coming of the whites (Europeans). He said the kingdom systems ensured movement of people in different directions and bonding together with their own traditions and a sense of leadership based on the three pillars of government, which the Fante Confederacy copied. We Africans started with so many of the things and they came and stole from us, polished, rebranded and brought them back to us as if there were new things that we are to learn from, the speaker of Parliament said. Mr Bagbin said God had blessed Ghana so much that there was no need for people to be afraid but, be patient while the mistakes were corrected. He said the current explosion of social and political upheavals blowing across the sub-Saharan corridors were an indication that the citizenry had lost touch with governance. Mr Bagbin said after 30 years of democratic experiment, there was the urgent need for Parliament to get closer to the people, explain the challenges to them and as to how to correct the hurdles. Nana Kobina Nketsia, paramount chief of Essikado Traditional Area, said he believes it was time Parliament showed serious interest in public affairs and debates within the public space and help find ways to deal with issues of economic justice the country faced, today. On the Speakers entourage were Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah; Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah; MP, Wassa East, Isaac Adjei Mensah; Deputy Clerk of Parliament, Ebenezer Ahumah Djetoro; Director of Public Affairs, Kate Addo and Director Media Relations, David Damoah. Source: Ghanaiantimes.com.gh Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A 6-year-old Virginian student boasted about shooting his teacher. This was revealed in the newly released unsealed court documents. Virginia: 6-Year-Old Student Boasts About Shooting Teacher According to BBC News, the shooting incident in Virginia involving a 6-year-old boy and a teacher happened earlier this 2023. The documents claim that the boy admitted that he was the one who shot Abigail Zwerner, an American teacher at Richneck Elementary School. "I shot her dead," said the boy. The kid said that he did it after getting his mom's gun the night before the incident. Court documents stated that the student said these statements while he was being restrained by authorities. Despite the boy's crime, he wasn't charged. Instead, his mother, Deja Taylor, is the one facing felony child neglect and misdemeanor recklessly leaving a loaded gun that could endanger a child. Before this, the woman was also charged with unlawfully using a controlled substance while owning a firearm, as well as making a false statement during her firearm purchase. Because of all these charges, the boy's mother will be sentenced in October and could be imprisoned for up to 25 years. Read Also: Missing Georgia Mom: Imani Roberson's Husband Arrested After Remains Found Burned with SUV Vehicle What Happened to the Teacher? CBS News reported that the 25-year-old teacher suffered gunshot wounds to her hand and chest. She needed multiple surgeries to recover. Zwerner decided to file a $40 million lawsuit against the elementary school after the shooting incident. She accused officials of gross negligence because they allegedly ignored multiple warnings that the student had a gun and violent mood before the incident. Based on the police search warrant, many school staff members said that they heard two students talking about the 6-year-old boy carrying a gun in his book bag. One of these staff members is Amy Kovac, a reading specialist in the elementary school. She is also one of the individuals who restrained the 6-year-old shooter. "While I was holding him, he told me he had gotten his mom's gun the night before and put it in his backpack," said Kovac. "He also told me he only had time to load one bullet," she added. This is not the first time that the kid did something violent in school. Court documents revealed that when the boy was in kindergarten, he choked a teacher to the point she couldn't breathe. You can click this link to learn more about it. Related Article: Texas: Austin Police Suspends Less-Than-Lethal Shotgun Usage, but Only Temporarily @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Former Central Regional Minister, Kwamena Duncan has reprimanded the Minority in Parliament and opposition National Democratic Congress for issuing a 21-day ultimatum to the Governor of Bank of Ghana, Dr. Ernest Addison and his deputies to resign. The Minority accused Dr. Addison and his team of recording a staggering loss of GH60.8 billion within the 2022 fiscal year due to their mismanagement. "We in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) saw the red flags and have consistently warned of the mismanagement of the financial sector by the Governor of the Central Bank and his team of incompetent deputies. "Only last week, the Annual Report and Financial Statement of the Bank of Ghana was released. This report depicted the catastrophic decline of the Bank into a bottomless pit. The report revealed the following astonishing facts...Bank of Ghana recorded a staggering loss of GHS60.8 billion, which is equivalent to $6 billion...twice the amount we are to receive from our recent IMF bailout," Minority Leader, Ato Forson said during an event dubbed "Moment of Truth" held by the NDC on Tuesday, August 8. He added; "This means the recklessness and mismanagement of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana has cost the nation twice what we are struggling and sacrificing to receive from the IMF amid major conditionalities." The Minority therefore says they will picket the Bank of Ghana (BoG) should the Governor and his deputies fail to resign but Kwamena Duncan finds the Minority's position ridiculous. He described their threat to picket the BoG as a political ambush targeted at the Governors. "That's not how we want to run our country. You want to use a certain political ambush. There are laws," he slammed the Minority and the NDC while discussing the issue during Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' show Wednesday morning. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video " " This makeshift memorial for victims in the Gilgo Beach murders stands along Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach, New York. The Long Island killer is still at large. Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday RM via Getty Images There's something irresistibly macabre about serial killers that has long fascinated humans since the early days of newspapers. Perhaps it's the psychological fascination offered by someone who could do something so far out outside the bounds of social acceptance, or it might be the fear readers get from wondering about the tiny chance the person working at their local grocery store may have the most chilling of secrets. But the stories that really keep the public up at night, or at least make the average person triple-check their front door dock, are the serial killers who haven't been caught. While it's unsettling to read about the atrocious acts committed by serial killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy, it's just as engrossing to speculate about the ones still at large or the ones who are so skilled we don't even know they're out there. Advertisement Here are 10 of the most chilling stories of serial killers who have never been caught and may forever get away with their crimes. Crows have a significant presence in mythologies and folklore across different cultures. Let's explore some of the fascinating stories and meanings associated with these enigmatic birds. Native American Crow Meanings In Native American tribes, crows are revered for their intelligence and spiritual significance. They are seen as messengers from the spirit world, holders of universal wisdom, and protectors against evil forces. The Tlingit and Haida people believe that crows assisted the Creator in organizing the structure of the world and bringing fire to Earth. Advertisement Crow clans exist in various Native American tribes, such as the Hopi, Chippewa, and Menominee. These clans consult crows for guidance and wisdom in times of need, recognizing their unique connection to the spiritual realm. Greek Mythology and the Crow In ancient Greece, crows were associated with the god Apollo and the goddess Hera. Apollo had a white crow that served as his watchful companion, while Hera regarded crows as symbols of war and marriage. The Romans also observed the behavior of crows as part of their spiritual practice of augury, seeking guidance from the flight patterns and behaviors of these birds. Celtic Mythology and the Crow The Celts held crows in high regard, associating them with the god Lugh and the goddess Morrigan. Crows were seen as protectors and warriors, embodying the qualities of intelligence and strategic thinking. The crow's ability to shapeshift, ascribed to Morrigan, further emphasizes their transformative nature. Crow Symbolism in Asian Cultures In Chinese mythology, crows were believed to be sunbirds, representing the ten suns that once scorched the Earth. One famous tale recounts how the archer Houyi shot down all but one of the sunbirds to save the world from destruction. This association with the sun reflects the crow's connection to fire and illumination. In Japanese culture, crows are viewed as messengers from the spirit world and symbols of transformation and rebirth. They are believed to possess great wisdom and insights into both the physical and spiritual realms. Crows in Hinduism In Hinduism, crows are considered messengers from ancestors, carrying their souls and delivering messages to the living. They are seen as sacred birds and are often fed during rituals and ceremonies. The crow's presence is believed to bring blessings and guidance from departed loved ones. One of the most fascinating aspects of Irish folklore is the abundance of mythical creatures that populate its stories. From mischievous leprechauns to ethereal fairies and fearsome banshees, these creatures have captured the imaginations of people worldwide. The Irish belief in these supernatural beings stems from a deep connection to the land and a reverence for the natural world. Let's take a closer look at some of the most iconic creatures from Irish folklore: Leprechauns: The Mischievous Tricksters Leprechauns are perhaps the most well-known creatures from Irish folklore. These small, mischievous beings are often depicted as old men with beards, wearing green coats and hats. According to legend, leprechauns are skilled shoemakers who hide their pots of gold at the end of rainbows. If you catch a leprechaun, he must grant you three wishes in exchange for his freedom. However, leprechauns are notorious tricksters and will do everything in their power to escape capture. Advertisement Fairies: Guardians of the Enchanted Realm Fairies play a prominent role in Irish folklore, believed to be guardians of the enchanted realm. These ethereal beings are often depicted as beautiful, winged creatures who possess magical powers. They are known for their love of music and dance and are said to gather in secret fairy rings, invisible to human eyes. Fairies can bring good fortune or misfortune, depending on how they are treated. It is believed that leaving offerings, such as milk or honey, can appease these mystical beings and ensure their blessings. Banshees: Harbingers of Death Banshees, also known as "bean sidhe" in Irish, are female spirits associated with death and the supernatural. According to legend, these wailing apparitions appear to foretell the imminent death of a family member. Banshees are often depicted as old women with long, flowing hair and blood-red eyes. Their eerie cries are said to send chills down the spine of anyone who hears them. In Irish folklore, it is believed that hearing the cry of a banshee is a warning that death is near. Selkies: The Seal People Selkies, also known as seal people, are mythical creatures that inhabit the shores of Ireland and Scotland. These beings are said to be seals in the water but can shed their skins to assume human form on land. Selkies are known for their enchanting beauty and are often the subject of tragic love stories. According to legend, if a human steals a selkie's seal skin, they can force the selkie to become their spouse. However, if the selkie ever finds their skin again, they will return to the sea, leaving their human partner behind. As we conclude our exploration of the fascinating history of maneki neko, we are left with a deeper appreciation for the cultural significance and enduring popularity of these beckoning cats. From their ancient connections to cats as skilled hunters to their modern-day presence as symbols of good fortune, maneki neko continues to capture the imagination and hearts of people around the world. So, the next time you encounter a maneki neko, remember its rich history and the blessings it represents. Embrace the charm and embrace the good fortune it beckons into your life. This article was created using AI technology. An essential contribution to the luckiness of the rabbit's foot in 20th-century African American culture was the object's association with a dark event. In 1925, sociologist Niles Newbell Puckett observed: "In New Orleans these rabbit-foot charms, mounted in silver or gold, are conspicuously displayed in the windows of prominent jewelry shops up and down Canal Street. The managers of these stores assure me that the sales are enormous. The one I purchased had with it a printed slip containing a graphic illustration of the rabbit in the act of being shot and the following inscription: This little luckie is the left hind foot of a graveyard rabbit killed in the full of the moon. [source: Puckett] Advertisement Which grave the rabbit was killed on matters too. Puckett explained that former President Grover Cleveland received a foot taken from a rabbit killed on the grave of Jesse James because "the more wicked the person who is dead the more effective the charms associated with his remains." Similarly, the more uncanny details associated with the rabbits foot, the luckier it was. For example, the left hind foot was the luckiest (the Latin word for "left" is "sinister"). Better still was the left rear foot of a rabbit killed in a cemetery at midnight, on a rainy Friday, or Friday the 13th. 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 satellite image from NASA shows thick bushfire smoke moving into the Tasman Sea from NSW and Victoria on January 3, 2020. Credit: EPA/NASA HANDOUT As I hear reports of the fire tearing through the Hawaiian island of Maui, I feel utterly depressed. As a fire scientist, I know the unfolding horrorwhich has killed 36 people so faris just the beginning. It's a portent of what Australia and other countries will experience in a warmer world. For Australians, the reports inevitably bring back memories of our awful Black Summer in 2019-20. Like the Maui tragedy, those huge, uncontrollable bushfires were a terrifying glimpse of the intense fires we can expect as climate change worsens. Global warmingthe result of fossil fuel burningmeans bushfires will become more frequent and severe. Of course, we must reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That is blindingly obvious. But we must do more than that. Australians must urgently adapt to our fiery future. Record-breaking heat and fires The Maui fires have been fueled by strong winds, dry vegetation and low humidity. People were forced to run into the ocean for safety. Hundreds of structures have been damaged or ruined and many people are injured. Hawaii is not the only part of the northern hemisphere being ravaged by fire. In recent weeks, wildfires have ripped through through Canada, Greece, Spain, Portugal and elsewhere. At one point, 1,000 fires were burning in Canada alone. The fires have in part been fueled by record-high temperatures. In July, temperatures reached 53.3 at California's Death Valley. In fact, July was Earth's hottest month on record. The southern hemisphere is also experiencing highly unusual conditions. Antarctica is struggling to freeze over; it's reportedly missing a chunk of ice bigger than Greenland. Australia is experiencing an unseasonably warm winter. The country looks set for a hot, dry, El Nino-fueled summer, putting fire crews on high alert. Australians must heed the warnings Australia, too, is fast becoming a continent of more uncontrolled fire. Let's compare the two decades to 2001, compared to the two decades afterwards. In Australian forests, the average annual burned area in that period increased by 350%. If we include 2019the year the Black Summer fires beganthe increase in burned area rises to 800%. The Black Summer fires were started by lightning and human activity. They were fueled by extreme heat, record low rainfall and widespread dieback of vegetation. It meant the fires burned at unprecendented intensity. The Black Summer fires burned more than 24 million hectares nationally. Some 33 people were killed by the fires, more than 429 died from smoke-related effects, and more than 3,000 homes were destroyed. The drying and warming that drove the Black Summer fires are linked to human-caused climate change. These changes are resulting in longer fire seasons and extended periods of drought. As I watch the fires blazing in Hawaii, I'm constantly asking myself: when will Australianswho live on one of the most fire-prone continents on Earthget a grip on this escalating global problem? How many more warning signs do we need? What must be done When the bushfire royal commission handed down its report in October 2020, I described it as a "clarion call for change". Finally, Australia had a map for its journey toward adapting to fires and other natural disasters. The scope of the commission's recommendations was vast. For governments alone, it called for changes across land-use planning, infrastructure, emergency management, social policy, agriculture, education, physical and mental health, community development, energy and the environment. The commission also called for an acknowledgement of the role of Indigenous fire managers in mitigating bushfire risks. Almost three years on, we haven't seen the changes needed. We're behaving as if we've got an endless amount of time. Australia is sleepwalking into our fiery future. The pandemic shows humans are amazingly adaptable. We used an integrated approach to mitigate and adapt to that threat. We need an equivalent response to adapt to fire and climate changebut it's just not happening. There is much Australia can do to adapt to fire. We can improve our urban planning regimes and building standards. We can better manage fuel loads in our forests. We can increase our firefighting capacity and get much better at bushfire preparation and early warning systems. And importantly, we should draw on Indigenous knowledge and the expertise of Aboriginal communities. These approaches could prove vital not only managing extreme fires in Australia, but elsewhere in the world. Looking ahead One thing Australians can all agree on is that we don't want catastrophically uncontrolled fires. As our Black Summer showed, these fires now only destroy lives, homes and biodiversity. They actually threaten the Earth's systems. Black Summer pumped huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. It depleted the ozone layer. It created an algal bloom in the Southern Ocean bigger than the Australian continent. It's vital that we slash greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible, to stabilize Earth's climate. But that's not sufficient. Australians have to adapt to fire, too. The fires in Hawaii remind Australians that our summer is just around the corner. We don't have much time. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Distribution of aerobic traits scores along alphaproteobacterial lineages and mitochondria. The figure presents the lineage-dependent plot of the cumulative scores for a set of 20 aerobic traits. The mean values for each lineage follow the branching order of such alphaproteobacteria lineages along the x axis (except for the mitochondria on the left). Asterisks indicate the distribution values that are not significantly different from that of aerobic mitochondria (P > 0.1 with the 99% confidence t test). Note that the lineage of MarineProteo1 lacks the A1 type COX13 proteins that are shared by alphaproteobacteria and mitochondria.Credit: Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh0066 A group of genomic researchers at the Center for Genomic Sciences, in Mexico, working with a colleague from the Institute of Biotechnology, also in Mexico, has found a type of bacteria that might be the closest modern relative of the mitochondria precursor. In their study, reported in the journal Science Advances, Otto Geiger, Alejandro Sanchez-Flores, Jonathan Padilla-Gomez and Mauro Degli Esposti surveyed thousands of bacterial genomes, looking for those that most closely matched what are believed to be attributes of the genome of the mitochondria precursor. Parth Raval, William Martin and Sven Gould with Heinrich Heine University have published a Focus piece in the same journal issue describing prior research into the search for the mitochondria precursor and summarize the work done by the team on this new effort. Scientists believe that life first appeared on Earth approximately 3.7 billion years ago. They also believe that evolution of a type of bacteria led to a precursor of mitochondria approximately 1 billion years ago, spurring the evolution of all forms of modern life. But, as Raval, Martin and Gould point out, because they left no evidence of their existence behind, scientists must use other tools to approximate the genome of those early bacteria that took up residence in the cells of other marine life. In this new study, the researchers sought to find out which bacteria today most closely resemble mitochondria precursor bacteria. To that end, they studied the genomes of all known modern alphaproteobacteria, looking for likely traits of mitochondria precursor bacteria. In their work, the research team noted that there are two compounds produced by all mitochondria, both of them lipids. Such lipids, they further note, are found in just a few types of modern bacteria. That helped to narrow the search. Eventually, the team landed on types of marine bacteria that are commonly found in hot springs around the world. The researchers suggest they are good candidates to represent modern relatives of the ancient mitochondria precursor bacteria. One factor that ties them all together, they note, is the high oxygen gradient in such places, which the types of bacteria that live there need to survive. More information: Otto Geiger et al, Multiple approaches of cellular metabolism define the bacterial ancestry of mitochondria, Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh0066 Parth K. Raval et al, Mitochondrial evolution: Gene shuffling, endosymbiosis, and signaling, Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj4493 Journal information: Science Advances 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: The UCI team made its finding this while investigating the Heliconius butterfly. Credit: Alejandro Santilana As butterflies flit among flowers, they don't all view blossoms the same way. In a phenomenon called sexually dimorphic vision, females of some butterfly species perceive ultraviolet color while the males see light and dark. University of California, Irvine biologists have discovered that in at least one species, the variation results from a vision gene's jump onto a sex chromosome. It's the first known finding that this kind of genetic change causes sexually dimorphic vision. The study appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The UCI team determined this while investigating the Heliconius butterfly genus. Some of its species see ultraviolet color, an array wider than the visible light spectrum that humans perceive. A substance produced by the opsin gene accounts for these butterflies' visual capacity. In Heliconius species with sexually dimorphic vision, ultraviolet color perception is only present in females. In searching for the genetic mechanism behind this difference, the UCI biologists selected as their subject Heliconius charithonia, in which visual capacity is sexually dimorphic. When they finished assembling the first complete genome for this species, they learned that its Wor femalechromosome contained the opsin gene. "This is the first known instance where dimorphic color vision in animals comes from a single gene moving to a sex chromosome," said first author Mahul Chakraborty, an assistant project scientist in ecology and evolutionary biology. "Besides the discovery's scientific significance, it highlights the complexities of automated genetic sequencing and the crucial role of validation." He did much of his work on the project while a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratories of co-corresponding authors Adriana Briscoe and J.J. Emerson, both faculty members in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Previously assembled genomes for Heliconius charithonia were fragmentary. None included the W chromosome, whose highly repetitive code can pose stumbling blocks for automatic sequencing. UCI researchers began their study by automatically sequencing the species genome, but this failed to reveal all expected copies of the opsin gene. Undeterred, they next examined the coding manually. "I went through every bit of the sequencing," said Angelica Lara, who was an ecology and evolutionary biology undergraduate when she started working with the investigative team. Lara continued to participate in the project as a postbaccalaureate researcher after earning her degree. "I still couldn't find the opsin after all that review. Then I realized a part of the code for the W chromosome had not been well formatted, and I believed the opsin had to be located there," she said. Lara's efforts cued Chakraborty to examine that segment more closely. It turned out that the automatic sequencing had dropped that section of the chromosome's coding, likely stymied by its repetitiveness. Restoring it revealed the opsin gene, and the team confirmed the finding with additional tests. "Without this manual annotation and investigation, we would have made assumptions that were incorrect and misleading," said Briscoe, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. "Now that we've made this discovery, we can dig much deeper into the mechanics behind the dimorphism and understanding its purpose." Scientists believe the vision difference may be the reason that females and males within some butterfly species feed on different types of flowers. So far, the only other creatures known to have sexually dimorphic vision are certain kinds of primates. More information: Mahul Chakraborty et al, Sex-linked gene traffic underlies the acquisition of sexually dimorphic UV color vision in Heliconius butterflies, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2301411120 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 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: Europe aims to expand seaweed production for health and environmental gains. Credit: Bjoertvedt, CC BY-SA 4.0 If the idea of adding fermented seaweed to meals at home isn't yet appealing, Olavur Gregersen believes it soon will be. For the past decade, Gregersen and his family in the Faroe Islands have been experimenting with all types of seaweed-inspired cuisine. The results range from seaweed butter to his new favorite: seaweed pesto. Daily dose "Every day we make sure we have a tablespoon of seaweed with some of our meals," Gregersen said. Whether it is sprinkled on yogurt at breakfast, salad for lunch or meat and fish in the evening, he thinks seaweed both tastes great and offers big health and environmental benefits. For human health, seaweed is packed with essential nutrients such as protein and omega-3 fatty acids. The European Food Safety Authority in 2019 referred to seaweed's reputation as a "superfood" and cited its high nutritional value. From an environmental point of view, seaweed also has plenty of advantages, sucking up CO 2 and requiring no additives, fertilizer or fresh water. Seaweed farming has the potential to offer "many" environmental benefits including in the fight against climate change, according to a 2023 United Nations report. Understanding the overall potential, the European Commission in 2022 published an action plan for increasing seaweed production in Europe. Stepped-up research is a central part of the strategy along with better legislation, targeted business support and greater social awareness. Seaweed can be grown in the open sea or in tanks on land. The EU is currently one of the world's biggest seaweed importers, getting shipments from China, South Korea and Chile for food and industrial uses such as fertilizer. The global market for seaweed was worth nearly 14 billion in 2021 and is projected to grow to more than 22 billion in 2028, according to the Dutch government. The European market for seaweed could be worth 9 billion in 2030 with demand in Europe forecast to rise from 270,000 metric tons in 2019 to 8 million metric tons over the period, according to the EU. It says production growth in Europe could create around 85,000 jobs. Food, feed and more Gregersen is an entrepreneur and a co-founder of Ocean Rainforest, which has been pioneering seaweed cultivation offshore in the Faroes since 2010. He also coordinates a European research project that received EU funding to develop new seaweed-based products. Called SeaMark, the four-year initiative runs through June 2026. Gregersen sees a big untapped potential in Europe for seaweed, which has been a staple in Asian cuisine for centuries. He wants to prove that it can be grown profitably in Europe and have multiple uses. The project is developing 12 products ranging from food ingredients and feed additives to health supplements and packaging materials. Specific examples include a fiber for food, beta-glucans for skincare and compounds for pelleted bio-packaging. "Our aim with Seamark is to demonstrate that it's possible to make the process of seaweed cultivation more efficient and to show that there is a big market in Europe for these products," Gregersen said. One part of the project is looking at refining lacto-fermentation of seaweed so it can be used in animal feed. Early results showed that, by increasing microflora in the gut, pigs fed seaweed produced more milk and needed less feed. This is now being tested with 500 sows on a farm in Denmark. Growth potential On the cultivation front, one particular seaweed that has caught SeaMark's attention is a brown algae known as sugar kelp, which looks like lasagna noodles and has a sweet flavor. Also known as Saccharina latissima, it grows naturally along the coast of northern Europe and as far south as Galicia in Spain. Sugar kelp can be cultivated quickly, making it ideal for production as long as costs can be lowered. A closely related type is prominent in Japanese cuisine and is harvested and sold in Japan as "kombu." In the Faroes, where the temperature, nutrients and light are optimal for growing seaweed, the SeaMark team has tested new machines that accelerate the sea equivalent of planting rows of seeds in a field. Separately, the project is testing machines to speed up harvesting once the biomass is ready. The equipment can replace time-consuming manual labor, reduce production costs and open the way for increased output, according to Gregersen. Ocean Rainforest is expanding its activities with offshore cultivation trials in Norway and land-based seaweed farming in Iceland. Sinead O'Brien with a handful of Irish seaweed. Credit: Mungo Murphy's Seaweed Co Seaweed strains On the west coast of Ireland, SeaMark is drawing on the expertise of an algal specialist at the University of Galway: Dr. Ronan Sulpice. Sulpice is helping to identify the best seaweed strains for growing sugar kelp and Ulva, also known as "sea lettuce," which in addition to its nutritional value has substances that can be extracted for pharmaceuticals. The goal is to ensure that yields are high and qualityespecially protein contentis optimal. As it happens, Sulpice is also leading a separate EU-funded research project to identify seaweed strains ideally suited for aquaculture. The project, called ASPIRE, runs for two years through September 2024. To find seeds for growing, seaweed farmers typically go out to sea or along the shore to collect wild strains. But this practice means the seaweed grown can vary considerably from year to year. Given the increased interest in the crop, Sulpice wants to help farmers improve strain selection and boost production. "At present, how we cultivate seeds for seaweed in Europe is a bit like how we cultivated land crops 10 000 years agoit's very basic but it is developing," he said. "Through ASPIRE there is an opportunity to cultivate seaweed varieties which have been selected according to producer and consumer preferences." Portugal, Ireland tests Sulpice has already helped Portuguese farmers who grow Ulva by screening different strains sent to his laboratory in Ireland. The results revealed significant differences in growth rates between the best and worst performing strains; some yielded five times more biomass. This insight has helped one farm in Portugal double its productivity, according to Sulpice. The main focus of ASPIRE, however, is a reddish-brown seaweed named Palmaria palmata. It is rich in protein, grows in the Atlantic Ocean from Sweden to Portugal and tastes like bacon when fried. Appetite for Palmaria palmata, also known as dulse or dillisk, is high and the crop can fetch up to 250 a kilogram. By comparison, imported seaweed in parts of Europe cost around 6 a kg in 2020. Sulpice believes ASPIRE can help seaweed businesses in Europe, including operators in Ireland, exploit such potential. One such business is Mungo Murphy's Seaweed, a seaweed farm in the Connemara district of western Ireland. Since 2014, Mungo Murphy's has been growing seaweed including Ulva and Palmaria palmata alongside abalone and sea cucumbers in land-based tanks. It's a form of aquaculture that is increasingly important in Ireland, according to Cindy O'Brien, who founded the company and built the farm. She now runs it with her daughter Sinead. Consumer appeal For Mungo Murphy's, the hope is that working with Sulpice will offer a chance to refine the products being grown. "This collaboration will allow us to produce more raw material through aquaculture and not be dependent on wild harvested seaweed," Cindy O'Brien said. Seaweed grown on the farm is being turned into a range of consumer products. These include cosmetics like seaweed-infused bath bags and facemasks and foods such as seaweed seasonings for soups, breads, salads and even popcorn. O'Brien says people are often surprised by the versality of seaweed. Mungo Murphy recommends ways for chefs to use it in their dishes and highlights its uses in consumer goods. As ASPIRE reaches its halfway point, O'Brien is counting on the project to play its part in expanding the general appeal of seaweed. "This will help us produce more healthy products for human consumption," she said. SeaMark ASPIRE A possible boost for the tourist sectors of the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Australia has come as China lifted its restrictions on group trips imposed during the Covid pandemic. China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism made the announcement on Thursday, August 10, and it will take effect immediately. China's Third Set of Approved Nations According to Reuters, group trips were expected to account for almost 60% of the $255 billion in spending that mainland Chinese visitors racked up in 2019 before the virus hit. Many companies throughout the world that rely on tourism have experienced financial difficulties as a result of the lack of customers since the outbreak. While restrictions were eased for several nations, including Germany and the United Kingdom, Canada's recently tense political ties with China prevented them from being reinstated. This was China's third set of approved nations. A total of 20 nations were included in the first group that was given the green light in January. This group includes countries like Thailand, Russia, Cuba, and Argentina. Among the 40 nations that made up the second group in March were Nepal, France, Portugal, and Brazil. China has never explained why it delays licenses for certain nations while speeding them up for others, but experts have seen a correlation between political and trade friction between China and the countries that take longer to acquire clearance. Also Read: China Exports Slump, Imprelling Xi Jinping's Effort for Economic Recovery Reactions From Tourism Sector South Korean and Australian tourism ministries, as well as the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, praised the decision, saying it would be good for business. Australia's Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell, called it another positive step towards the stabilization of their nation's relationship with China. It is unclear how much Chinese outbound travel will increase for the most recent round of nations. After the borders were reopened in previous months, many people expected a surge in demand. However, this has not materialized thus far. As of July, China's international air traffic has only rebounded to 53% of 2019 levels. The domestic economy is faltering, and many Chinese tourists are reluctant to make large purchases while abroad because of this. And Visa processing times for Chinese visitors are long because of backlogs in many Western countries. Yet, according to Trip.com, China's biggest travel operator, there was a sudden increase in interest in traveling to countries like Australia and Japan when the news broke. Companies' shares in the most recent cluster of nations that are highly exposed to Chinese tourists' spending surged as a result of the announcement. Grand Korea Leisure and Paradise are two South Korean casino operators that had significant gains, increasing by 21% and 18%, respectively. Also Read: China Allegedly Completed COVID-19 Genome Sequencing Days Before Outbreak @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The wildfires devastated the town of Lahaina in Hawaii. Fast-moving wildfires have claimed at least 36 lives in the US tourist paradise of Hawaii, where rescuers raced Thursday to evacuate more people from the worst-hit island of Maui. Brushfires on Maui's west coastfueled by high winds from a hurricane passing to the southbroke out Tuesday and rapidly engulfed the seaside town of Lahaina. The quick-moving flames forced many to flee into the ocean to escape, officials said. President Joe Biden declared the fires a "major disaster" and unblocked federal aid for relief efforts, as residents said they needed more help and feared it would take years for the town to recover. US Coast Guard commander Aja Kirksey told CNN that initial reports indicated there "were around 100 that had to enter the water." Kirksey said helicopters dispatched to the area faced extremely low visibility due to the smoke, but that a Coast Guard vessel had been able to retrieve more than 50 people from the water. "It was a really rapidly developing scene and pretty harrowing for the victims that had to jump into the water," she added. For resident Kekoa Lansford, the official response was lacking. "We have been pulling people out... We're trying to save people's lives, and I feel like we are not getting the help we need," Lansford told CBS. Brushfires on Maui's west coast rapidly spread to engulf the seaside town of Lahaina, forcing many to flee into the ocean. "We still get dead bodies in the water floating and on the seawall." Aerial photographs of Lahaina, which served as the Hawaiian kingdom's capital in the early 19th century, showed entire blocks reduced to cinders. Officials said 36 people had been confirmed dead, with the toll expected to rise as searches continue. "With lives lost and properties decimated, we are grieving with each other during this inconsolable time," Mayor Richard Bissen said in a video posted to Facebook. "In the days ahead, we will be stronger as a (community)..." he added, "as we rebuild with resilience and aloha." Evacuations Thousands of people have been evacuated from Maui, with plans for more flights out of the main airport in Kahului on Thursday. Maui county has requested that visitors leave "as soon as possible," and has organized buses to move evacuees from shelters to the airport. US: deadly fires in Hawaii. A first responder who was in the town after the blaze swept through described a scene of devastation. "As you drive down the road... either way you look, it's honestly just rubble," the person told AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. "With how much charred materials there were... I don't think much is alive in there." Hawaii Governor Josh Green was returning early from a trip to deal with the crisis. On Thursday, Biden declared a "major disaster" in Hawaii and issued a declaration, sought by Green, that will unblock federal emergency aid to supplement the state's efforts, both for individuals and local governments. Call for climate emergency Fires also erupted on Hawaii's Big Island, but local evacuation orders were lifted late Wednesday. The state's tourism chief Jimmy Tokioka acknowledged the tragedy but reiterated that the "rest of Hawaii is open." Passengers try to sleep below a 'Welcome To Maui' billboard on the floor of the airport terminal while waiting for evacuation flights off the island. With a hurricane passing to the south of Hawaii, high winds and dry vegetation fueled the flames. Thomas Smith, a professor with the London School of Economics, said that while wildfires are not uncommon in Hawaii, the blazes this year "are burning a greater area than usual, and the fire behavior is extreme, with fast spread rates and large flames." The Hawaii fires follow other extreme weather events this summer in North America, with record-breaking wildfires still burning across Canada and a major heat wave baking the US southwest. As global temperatures rise over time, heat waves are projected to become more frequent, with increased dryness due to changing rainfall patterns creating ideal conditions for bush or forest fires. Some are calling on Biden to declare a national emergency related to climate change in order to access more administrative powers to tackle the crisis. When asked Thursday if the Hawaii wildfires had altered the president's thinking on the issue, White House official John Kirby told CNN that a decision has not yet been made. "But for all intents and purposes, he's treating this with all the due gravity and the seriousness that the climate crisis deserves," he said. "These wildfires and all the severe storms that we continue to see are definitely caused as a result of what's going on in the rising temperature across the globe and so we've got to treat this seriously." 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: The findings will provide new ammunition against ageist stereotypes. Credit: Shutterstock Julie Wainwrightworking as a CEO for almost two decadeswas in her mid-50s when she created The RealReal platform for secondhand luxury. Harland Sanders was 62 when he started Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant chain, and Bernie Marcus was 50 when opening the first Home Depot home-improvement store. But just how common is such innovation potential in older entrepreneurs? As populations are aging in many developed countries and people are working longer, it is important to know how we can best take advantage of the experience of more mature individuals. In our study published in July, we provide evidence that older entrepreneurs have a lot to offer. Our findings show that those who start businesses later in life (50 years old and above) are more likely to bring radical innovations to the market than younger business owners. These novel products and services are of great benefit to the economy. This means that skills and experiences of older entrepreneurs are highly valuable. Older entrepreneurs innovate bigger, and sell more Based on data on 2,900 founders of new ventures in Germany in 20082017, we found that for every 10 more years of age increases a founder's likelihood to introduce a market novelty by up to 30%. Thus, those late-career entrepreneurs who are highly innovation-oriented and managerially experienced are more than three times more likely to introduce market novelties than the sample average. In terms of sales, ten additional years of age means about 35,000 euros more sales from innovations per year, which is about 26% more than the sample average. The positive impact of founder's age on novel products or/and services continues up until their retirement. In contrast, younger founders introduce a larger number of innovations overall, but these are innovations that are more common in businesses and focus on improving the processes and product offering of a particular company. They may involve creating a novel software to cut costs, using new technology to reduce production time, or introducing new features to make a product/service more user friendly. The key reasons for these findings is that older founders tend to benefit from managerial experience and personal wealth when starting their own firms. Individuals who switch from paid employment to entrepreneurship later in life are also likelier to hire more highly educated employees. A mix of all these factors changes the entrepreneurs' motivations and ability to create innovations, and make older founders successful in developing novel products or/and services that disrupt the markets. Breaking the myth of the young entrepreneur Our findings challenge the dominant stereotype that older founders are not very innovative. We show that it is important to distinguish between those innovations that are simply new for a particular company and those innovations that are new in the market. For states to benefit from older entrepreneurs' capacity to develop truly novel innovations requires breaking the myth that entrepreneurship is only for the young. In practice, this requires pension schemes that encourage working longer as an entrepreneur. We must also encourage career mobility, so that individuals can transition to entrepreneurship later in life. For the management of established companies, our findings suggest that older workers have a lot of innovation potential. Currently, these workers may leave their jobs and become entrepreneurs to pursue radically new and commercially successful ideas. Management should therefore challenge stereotypes about older workers and create work environments where older workers, with innovative ideas and broad skills, can drive innovation forward. More information: Martin Murmann et al, How does late-career entrepreneurship relate to innovation?, Research Policy (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2023.104763 This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Scientists collected high-quality DNA from footprints made by one of the researchers on an uninhabited island. Sequencing the DNA revealed identifiable information about the participant's genome. Credit: David Duffy In May, University of Florida scientists announced that they had unearthed high-quality, information-rich human DNA from nearly every spot they could think of. Rivers, beaches, oceanseven vacuumed up from the air. The era of human environmental DNA, or eDNA, has arrived. That discovery means huge changes are on their way across scienceand our livessays David Duffy, the UF researcher who led the recent project unveiling how widespread our genetic information really is in the environment. There are countless exciting new opportunities, from protecting public health to identifying violent criminals. We could uncover the secrets of the past with DNA from hidden gravesites or protect the environment; all with nothing more than a cup of water at a sewage plant or an air filter hooked up in a park. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. "This can potentially be useful for things we haven't even thought about yet," said Duffy, a professor of wildlife disease genomics at UF's Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience. "We're only at the beginning of understanding the possibilities of this technology." Nabbing criminals Straight out of TV procedurals, one obvious application of this new kind of DNA analysis is upgrading our ability to identify criminals. "We potentially already have the technology to do forensics using environmental DNA samples," Duffy said. But eDNA forensics will look different than today's crime lab. U.S. police departments today rely on matching about 20 individual portions of the human genome spread across the 23 pairs of chromosomes. With enough matches, it's almost certain that the DNA comes from a unique individual. But eDNA is too fragmented and mixed up, making it impossible to tell if different chromosomes in a sample come from one person or many. So eDNA forensics would need to focus on genetic variation that is on individual chromosomes, in hopes that a long stretch of sequenced DNA captures multiple regions that vary between people. In the future, eDNA analysis could also look for missing or duplicated chunks of genetic code, which are known as deletions and insertions, which eDNA tech can readily identify. But more work is necessary to understand how these errant marks in our DNA vary between people before it can be used to identify criminals. "We have to catch up with our knowledge of these genetic differences to build the medical and forensics databases to better understand the diversity of human insertions and deletions," Duffy said. Improving forensics with eDNA relies on the idea that finding someone's DNA in a room, or even on a murder weapon, means they were at the crime scene or pulled the trigger. But that might not be the case. "You cannot assume that because you found someone's eDNA in a location, that means that person was there. All you can say is their DNA was there," said Connie Mulligan, a professor of anthropology at UF who researches human genetics and forensics. "If you're sampling the air outdoors, you may not even be able to say the person was nearby once you consider air currents." With her graduate student Samantha McCrane, Mulligan recently showed that DNA can easily be transferred from one person to another and then to a gun through a simple handshake. These transfers can even happen multiple times, making a DNA identification on a weapon murky at best. So the criminologists of the future must be cautious in how they interpret eDNA signals. "Our imaginations are probably not wild enough to conceive of all the scenarios in which a person's DNA can be moved to places that that person never was, whether through touch, or coughing, or sneezing, or air currents," Mulligan said. Sewage plant health boost During the COVID-19 pandemic, public health officers were able to see viral surges weeks in advance by spotting signs of the virus at sewage plants. This wastewater monitoring was most people's first taste of the power of eDNA, and its success during the pandemic means this kind of pathogen monitoring will likely continue. The technology has already been applied to many other human pathogens. "It totally makes sense to monitor wastewater for any kind of human pathogen," said Mulligan. "It's easy. It's cheap. Although the largest benefit to population health likely comes from pathogen surveillance like this, it's possible that signals of genetic susceptibility to diseases in humans could provide a way to protect the health of whole communities. "If you're a public health specialist, it might be very useful to have an anonymized readout of what sort of susceptibility any given population has to particular diseases," Duffy said. One application could be linking chemical spills or radioactive waste to cancer mutations in a town by collecting eDNA from wastewater. Identifying a definitive link between contaminants and disease could help people demand cleanup or medical care. Protecting the environment Wastewater monitoring could also help scientists protect vital waterways. Human waste is a powerful contaminant for rivers and lakes, but it can be difficult to prove the source of contamination. If a lot of human DNA is in a water sampleespecially if it's matched to the population of a nearby townscientists could pinpoint faulty treatment plants or broken sewer lines as likely culprits and remedy the problem. And eDNA will continue to benefit wildlife scientists, wholike Duffydeveloped many of today's eDNA techniques to study and protect animals. Duffy has already used eDNA to research the viral cancers to which sea turtles are susceptible. With the ability to easily sequence the DNA of every species in a sample, scientists could identify key habitats to conserve, study hidden migrations, or look for species that are presumed extinct. "Our human eDNA discoveries are showing us what it will be possible to achieve with wildlife and biodiversity eDNA in the very near future," Duffy said. What's next These are just some of the potential benefits we will draw from ever-improving eDNA science. And the underlying technology is improving all the time. Sequencing eDNA is getting more reliable and cheaper every year. "This is why I'm convinced we are only scratching the surface," Duffy said. "While this is a major advancement, there are many more on the horizon." More information: Samantha M. McCrane et al, An innovative transfer DNA experimental design and qPCR assay: Protocol and pilot study, Journal of Forensic Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.15243 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: Google Maps In recent research published by myself and my colleague Tony Yeates in the journal Tectonophysics, we investigate what we believebased on many years of experience in asteroid impact researchis the world's largest known impact structure, buried deep in the earth in southern New South Wales. The Deniliquin structure, yet to be further tested by drilling, spans up to 520 kilometers in diameter. This exceeds the size of the near-300km-wide Vredefort impact structure in South Africa, which to date has been considered the world's largest. Hidden traces of Earth's early history The history of Earth's bombardment by asteroids is largely concealed. There are a few reasons for this. The first is erosion: the process by which gravity, wind and water slowly wear away land materials through time. When an asteroid strikes, it creates a crater with an uplifted core. This is similar to how a drop of water splashes upward from a transient crater when you drop a pebble in a pool. This central uplifted dome is a key characteristic of large impact structures. However, it can erode over thousands to millions of years, making the structure difficult to identify. Structures can also be buried by sediment through time. Or they might disappear as a result of subduction, wherein tectonic plates can collide and slide below one another into Earth's mantle layer. This map shows the distribution of circular structures of uncertain, possible or probable impact origin on the Australian continent and offshore. Green dots represent confirmed impact craters. Red dots represent confirmed impact structures that are more than 100km wide, whereas red dots inside white circles are more than 50km wide. Yellow dots represent likely impact structures. Credit: Andrew Glikson and Franco Pirajno Nonetheless, new geophysical discoveries are unearthing signatures of impact structures formed by asteroids that may have reached tens of kilometers acrossheralding a paradigm shift in our understanding of how Earth evolved over eons. These include pioneering discoveries of impact "ejecta", which are the materials thrown out of a crater during an impact. Researchers think the oldest layers of these ejecta, found in sediments in early terrains around the world, might signify the tail end of the Late Heavy Bombardment of Earth. The latest evidence suggests Earth and the other planets in the solar system were subject to intense asteroid bombardments until about 3.2 billion years ago, and sporadically since. Some large impacts are correlated with mass extinction events. For example, the Alvarez hypothesis, named after father and son scientists Luis and Walter Alvarez, explains how non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out as a result of a large asteroid strike some 66 million years ago. Uncovering the Deniliquin structure The Australian continent and its predecessor continent, Gondwana, have been the target of numerous asteroid impacts. These have resulted in at least 38 confirmed and 43 potential impact structures, ranging from relatively small craters to large and completely buried structures. As you'll recall with the pool and pebble analogy, when a large asteroid hits Earth, the underlying crust responds with a transient elastic rebound that produces a central dome. Such domes, which can slowly erode and/or become buried through time, may be all that's preserved from the original impact structure. They represent the deep-seated "root zone" of an impact. Famous examples are found in the Vredefort impact structure and the 170km-wide Chicxulub crater in Mexico. The latter represents the impact that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. The Deniliquin structure was likely created in eastern Gondwana during the Late Ordovician. Credit: Zhen Qiu et al, 2022, CC BY Between 1995 and 2000, Tony Yeates suggested magnetic patterns beneath the Murray Basin in New South Wales likely represented a massive, buried impact structure. An analysis of the region's updated geophysical data between 2015 and 2020 confirmed the existence of a 520km diameter structure with a seismically defined dome at its center. The Deniliquin structure has all the features that would be expected from a large-scale impact structure. For instance, magnetic readings of the area reveal a symmetrical rippling pattern in the crust around the structure's core. This was likely produced during the impact as extremely high temperatures created intense magnetic forces. A central low magnetic zone corresponds to 30km-deep deformation above a seismically defined mantle dome. The top of this dome is about 10km shallower than the top of the regional mantle. Magnetic measurements also show evidence of "radial faults": fractures that radiate from the center of a large impact structure. This is further accompanied by small magnetic anomalies which may represent igneous "dikes", which are sheets of magma injected into fractures in a pre-existing body of rock. Radial faults, and igneous sheets of rocks that form within them, are typical of large impact structures and can be found in the Vredefort structure and the Sudbury impact structure in Canada. Currently, the bulk of the evidence for the Deniliquin impact is based on geophysical data obtained from the surface. For proof of impact, we'll need to collect physical evidence of shock, which can only come from drilling deep into the structure. When did the Deniliquin impact happen? This total magnetic intensity image of the Deniliquin impact structure portrays its 520km-diameter multi-ring pattern, the central core, radial faults and the location of shallow drill holes. Credit: Data from Geoscience Australia, published in Glikson and Yeates, 2022 The Deniliquin structure was likely located on the eastern part of the Gondwana continent, prior to it splitting off into several continents (including the Australian continent) much later. The impact that caused it may have occurred during what's known as the Late Ordovician mass extinction event. Specifically, I think it may have triggered what's called the Hirnantian glaciation stage, which lasted between 445.2 and 443.8 million years ago, and is also defined as the Ordovician-Silurian extinction event. This huge glaciation and mass extinction event eliminated about 85% of the planet's species. It was more than double the scale of the Chicxulub impact that killed off the dinosaurs. It is also possible the Deniliquin structure is older than the Hirnantian event, and may be of an early Cambrian origin (about 514 million years ago). The next step will be to gather samples to determine the structure's exact age. This will require drilling a deep hole into its magnetic center and dating the extracted material. It's hoped further studies of the Deniliquin impact structure will shed new light on the nature of early Paleozoic Earth. More information: A.Y. Glikson et al, Geophysics and origin of the Deniliquin multiple-ring feature, Southeast Australia, Tectonophysics (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.tecto.2022.229454 This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Only Russia, the US and China have made the 384,000-kilometer (239,000-mile) journey and landed safely on the Moon's surface. Russia's plan to launch its lunar lander on Friday is the latest in an international push to return to the Moon that includes the world's top powers but also new players. Technology, science and politics are all essential factors in the Moon race. Here is the latest: China's great leap China is pursuing plans to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030 and plans to build a base there. The world's second-largest economy has invested billions of dollars in its military-run space program in a push to catch up with the United States and Russia. China was the third country to put humans in orbit in 2003 and Tiangong is the crown jewel of its space program, which has also landed rovers on Mars and the Moon. The unmanned Chang'e-4 rocket landed on the far side of the Moon in 2019, with another robot mission to the near side raising the Chinese flag there in 2020. That moonshot brought rock and soil samples back to Earth, the first time that has been done in more than four decades. NASA's Artemis NASA's Artemis 3 mission is set to return humans to the Moon in 2025 including its first woman and first non-white astronaut. Under the Artemis program, NASA is planning a series of missions of increasing complexity to return to the Moon and build a sustained presence in order to develop and test technologies for an eventual journey to Mars. The first, Artemis 1, flew an uncrewed spacecraft around the Moon in 2022. Artemis 2, planned for November 2024, will do the same with crew on board. NASA's Artemis I unmanned lunar rocket lift off on November 16, 2022. NASA sees the Moon as a pit stop for missions to Mars and has done a deal with Finnish mobile firm Nokia to set up a 4G network there. However, NASA said this week that the Artemis 3 mission may not land humans on the Moon, depending on whether certain key elements, including the landing system developed by SpaceX, were ready. Elon Musk's firm won the contract for a landing system based on a version of its prototype Starship rocket, which remains far from ready. An orbital test flight of the uncrewed Starship ended in a dramatic explosion in April. Russia's Luna Russia's launch of Luna-25 on Friday will be its first to the Moon since 1976 and marks the beginning of Moscow's new lunar project. President Vladimir Putin is looking to strengthen space cooperation with China after ties with the West broke down following the start of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. New players Recent technological progress has reduced the cost of missions and opened the way for new players in the public and private sector to get involved. India's latest space mission Chandrayaan-3 entered the Moon's orbit in August ahead of the country's second attempted lunar landing later this month. But getting to the Moon is not an easy task. Israeli non-profit SpaceIL launched its Beresheet lunar lander in 2019, but it crashed. And in April this year Japan's ispace was the latest company to try, and fail, at the historic bid to put a private lunar lander on the Moon. Two other US companies, Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines, are set to try later in the year. 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: African fish called mormyrids communicate using pulses of electricity. Credit: Tsunehiko Kohashi During the rainy breeding season, the underwater "conversation" among electric fish changes. Fish revved up to make a match broadcast slightly different signals to advertise their presence and identify compatible mates. New research from Washington University in St. Louis shows that the hormone testosteronewhich naturally triggers male electric fish to elongate the electric pulses they send out during the breeding seasonalso alters a system in the fish's brain that enables the fish to ignore its own electric signals. The study by biologists Matasaburo Fukutomi and Bruce Carlson in Arts & Sciences is published in Current Biology. All animals, from electric fish to elephants, need to have ways to discriminate between the signals that they share themselves versus signals or stimuli from others. Accurately perceiving and acting upon information from others can make all the difference for reproduction and survival. The electric fish known as mormyrids send out electric pulses as signals; they also have developed a way to ignore or block their own messages. A system called corollary discharge inhibits the fish's sensory perception for a brief, well-defined period of time after it releases an electric pulseallowing it to prioritize messages from others, such as potential mates. Previous studies have shown that testosterone treatment affects electric organs in mormyrids. Adding testosterone to a fish's system causes changes to their behavior by extending the length of the signals that male fish produce. This new research is the first to describe how hormone treatment also alters the fishes' signal perception in a coordinated way. It all boils down to a straightforward question of timing control, the study co-authors said. "Testosterone adjusts corollary discharge timing in order to continue ignoring self-generated behavior," said Fukutomi, first author of the new study and a postdoctoral fellow in biology. "Circulating testosterone independently regulates the behavioral output of the electric organ and the corollary discharge that predicts the sensory consequences of that behavior." Fukutomi and Carlson hope these findings pave the way for future studies on the underlying mechanisms for how testosterone alters electric fishes' behavior and perception. Additional research also could help resolve whether the same mechanisms are involved with both seasonal and evolutionary changes in electric fish. Such research will help bridge the gap between neurons and behavior by revealing how hormones alter the function of neural circuits through their actions on individual cells. "Early pioneering studies in this system paved the way toward better understanding of corollary discharge across animals, including humans, and this system continues to shed new light on corollary discharge function," said Carlson, a professor of biology. More information: Matasaburo Fukutomi et al, Hormonal coordination of motor output and internal prediction of sensory consequences in an electric fish, Current Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.06.069 Journal information: Current Biology 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: Northwestern University A Northwestern University astrophysicist has created the longest time-lapse video of an exoplanet to date. Constructed from real data, the footage shows Beta Pictoris ba planet 12 times the mass of Jupitersailing around its star in a tilted orbit. The time-lapse video condenses 17 years of footage (collected between 2003 and 2020) into 10 seconds. Within those seconds, viewers can watch the planet make about 75% of one full orbit. "We need another six years of data before we can see one whole orbit," said Northwestern astrophysicist Jason Wang, who led the work. "We're almost there. Patience is key." An expert in exoplanet imaging, Wang is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and member of the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA). Late last year, Wang unveiled a 12-year time-lapse video (below) of a family of four exoplanets orbiting their star. Credit: Jason Wang/Malachi Noel Beta Pictoris b is an enormous planet, located about 63 light-years from Earth in the constellation Pictor. The distance between Beta Pictoris b and its star (Beta Pictoris) is about 10 times the distance between the Earth and the sun. Compared to our sun, Beta Pictoris is 1.75 times as massive and 8.7 times more luminous. It also is very youngonly 20 to 26 million years old. When Beta Pictoris b was first imaged in 2003, its size and brightness made it easier to spot, compared to other exoplanets. "It's extremely bright," Wang said. "That's why it's one of the first exoplanets to ever be discovered and directly imaged. It's so big that it's at the boundary of a planet and a brown dwarf, which are more massive than planets." Credit: Northwestern University Wang began tracking the exoplanet years ago, constructing his first time-lapse footage of the system to show five years of its journey. For the updated, longer version of the time-lapse, Wang sought help from Malachi Noel, a student at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. Noel spent summer 2022 as a member of CIERA's Research Experiences in Astronomy at CIERA for High School Students (REACH) program. Then, as a REACH graduate, Noel began working under Wang's mentorship during January 2023. Noel used AI-driven image-processing techniques to uniformly analyze archival imaging data from three instrumentsone at the Gemini Observatory and two at the European Southern Observatory. After Noel uniformly processed the data, Wang then used an algorithmic technique called motion interpolation to fill in gaps to create a continuous video. Otherwise, the exoplanet would jump around instead of smoothly orbiting through space. "If we just combined the images, the video would look really jittery because we didn't have continuous viewing of the system every day for 17 years," Wang said. "The algorithm smooths out that jitter, so we can imagine how the planet would look if we did see it every day." "Due to the long time-range, there was a lot of diversity among the datasets, which required frequent adaptations to the image processing," Noel said. "I really enjoyed working with the data. While it is too early to know for sure, astrophysics is definitely a career path I am seriously considering." To assemble the video, Wang also used technology called "adaptive optics" to correct image blurring caused by Earth's atmosphere and specialized instrumentation to suppress the glare of the system's central star. (This is why the video has a black circle surrounding a cartoon star icon in the center.) Even with these techniques, the star's glare is still so intense that it outshines the exoplanet when it gets too close. For those sections, Wang marked the briefly unobservable exoplanet with an "x," so viewers can trace its path. Wang hopes his exoplanet videos give viewers a glimpse into planetary motion and an admiration of the universe's inner workings. "A lot of times, in science, we use abstract ideas or mathematical equations," Wang said. "But something like a moviethat you can see with your own eyesgives a visceral kind of appreciation for physics that you wouldn't gain from just looking at plots on a graph." To assemble the video, Wang used data from the Gemini Observatory's Gemini Planet Imager and the European Southern Observatory's NACO and SPHERE instruments. 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: North Atlantic cooling event 1.127 million years ago, which contributed to the depopulation of Southern Europe. (Photo credit Homo erectus skull, Axel Timmermann). Pink shading in map highlights areas, where early human species suffered a major reduction in habitat suitability due to cooling, drying and reduction in food resources. Credit: Institute for Basic Science A new study published in the journal Science finds that around 1.12 million years ago a massive cooling event in the North Atlantic and corresponding shifts in climate, vegetation and food resources disrupted early human occupation of Europe. The study published by an international group of scientists from the UK, South Korea and Spain presents observational and modeling evidence documenting that unprecedented climate stress changed the course of early human history. Archaic humans, known as Homo erectus moved from Africa into central Eurasia around 1.8 million years. From there on they spread towards western Europe, reaching the Iberian peninsula around 1.5 million years ago (Ma). Experiencing initially rather mild climatic conditions, these groups eventually established a foothold in southern Europe, as documented by several dated fossils and stone tools from this period. But given the increasing intensity of glacial cycles in Europe from 1.2 Ma onwards, it remains unknown for how long early humans lived in this area and whether the occupation was interrupted by worsening climate conditions. To better understand the environmental conditions, which early human species in Europe experienced, the team of pollen experts, oceanographers, climate modelers, archaeologists, and anthropologists combined data of a deep ocean sediment cores from the eastern subtropical Atlantic with new supercomputer climate model and human habitat model simulations covering the period of the depopulation event. Video highlighting how paleoclimate evidence shows that around 1.1 million years ago, the southern European climate cooled significantly and likely caused an extinction of early humans on the continent, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. Credit: UCL Sieving through thousands of small plant pollen stored in the ocean sediment core and analyzing preserved temperature-sensitive organic compounds left by tiny algae, which lived over a million years ago, the scientists discovered that around 1.127 million years ago, the climate over the eastern North Atlantic and the adjacent land suddenly cooled by 7oC. "This massive cooling marks one of the first terminal stadial events in the paleoclimatic record. It occurred during the last phase of a glacial cycle, when ice-sheets disintegrated, releasing large amounts of freshwater into the ocean, and causing ocean circulation changes and a southward expansion of sea ice," says Prof. Chronis Tzedakis from University College London (UCL), senior author of the study. The pollen data extracted from the ocean sediment core further add to this scenario "Rivers and winds bring tiny pollen from the adjacent land to the ocean, where they sink and get deposited in the deep ocean. According to our ocean sediment core pollen analysis, the North Atlantic cooling event switched western European vegetation to an inhospitable semi-desert landscape," adds Dr. Vasiliki Margari from UCL, lead author of the study. To quantify how early humans may have reacted to such an unprecedented climate anomaly, scientists from the IBS Center for Climate Physics (ICCP) in South Korea, conducted new computer model simulations for this period. By adding glacial freshwater to the North Atlantic, Dr. Kyung-Sook Yun, and Ms. Hyuna Kim from the ICCP were able to reproduce key features of the terminal stadial event, such as the cooling and drying over southern Europe. "We then used this global climate model simulation as an input for a human habitat model, which determines whether certain environmental conditions were suitable for early Homo erectus or not. We found that over many areas of southern Europe, early human species such as Homo erectus would have not been able to survive," said Prof. Axel Timmermann, Director of the ICCP at Pusan National University and co-corresponding author of the study. Even though the cooling event only lasted for about 4,000 years, a lack of stone tools and human remains over the next 200,000 years further raises the possibility of a long-lasting hiatus in European occupation. Europe was again repopulated around 900 thousand years ago by a group that is often referred to as Homo antecessor. This group and its descendants were much more resilient, because they were able to adapt to the increasing intensity of glacial conditions over Europe. "Our study on past climates documents the sensitivity of Southern European vegetation and human food resources to North Atlantic temperature changes. This result adds to the mounting evidence that our human history has been shaped by past climate changes," adds Prof. Timmermann. More information: Vasiliki Margari et al, Extreme glacial implies discontinuity of early hominin occupation of Europe, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.adf4445. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf4445 Journal information: Science 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: Supercell forming in Edson, AB (west of Edmonton) on July 24, 2023. Credit: Aaron Jayjack In the blockbuster 1996 movie Twister, meteorologists successfully deployed small weather sensors into the heart of an active tornado to collect data and revolutionize severe weather safety. Previously the stuff of legend, a researcher from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology teamed up with University of Western Ontario's Northern Hail Project (NHP) this summer to turn science fiction into fact as they unleashed similar sensors, known as hailsondes, into an Alberta hailstorm for the first-time ever. The 24g hailstone-shaped probes were attached to balloons and released inside storm updrafts. Once released, they behaved like hailstones, capturing measurements of the pathways hail took and the conditions in which hailstones grew as they moved through a storm. The probes also measured significant ice growth and traveled in a half-circle around the storm's rotation, also known as the "mesocyclone." "It started as a weekend project to see if the technology was there to build such a device," said Joshua Soderholm, an Australian thunderstorm scientist and long-time collaborator of NHP executive director Julian Brimelow. "There was a significant amount of engineering to ensure it could also survive the extreme conditions inside storms." Soderholm designed the technology in 2021 with Matthew Kumjian from Pennsylvania State University; Jordan Brook, Ph.D. student at the University of Queensland, and Anders Petersson from the Swedish atmospheric measurement solutions company Sparv Embedded. Brimelow invited Soderholm to participate in the ongoing 2023 NHP field study in Alberta to conduct research and train student interns in the new technology. "Collecting data from the eye of the storm is the white whale of meteorological research," said Brimelow. "This unique dataset will improve our capacity to simulate models of hailstorm events and provides direct validation of what hailstones experience during a storm." Joshua Soderholm releases a hailsonde into the approach supercells inflow region. Credit: University of Western Ontario Several hailsonde sensors recently finished the final stages of testing and development. On days with severe hailstorms, Soderholm deployed the hailsonde system alongside NHP equipment to measure the conditions in which hailstones grow. "This is not as simple as it sounds and requires being at the right location at the right time with the right type of hailstorm," said Soderholm. After several days without any luck, the team intercepted a supercell (severe storm with rotating updraft) producing giant hail east of Edmonton on July 24 around 4:30p.m. and successfully launched two hailsondes into the storm. The hailsondes were captured by the supercell and then detached from their balloons, continuing their ascent just like real hailstones, lofted more than seven kilometers high by winds exceeding 120 km/h. With the new-found success of the hailsondes, plans are now underway to use larger numbers and devise a method to retrieve the devices once they've fallen to the ground to study the ice collected. This game-changing technology was a finalist for the 2022 Harry Otten Prize for Innovation in Meteorology. The international award is presented every second year by the European Meteorological Society (EMS) for hardware or software innovation that can be readily applied and bring benefits quickly. 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: Graphical abstract. Credit: Science of The Total Environment (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165954 A study of four common fish species by University of Manchester scientists has revealed that gene expression changes when their developing embryos are exposed to warmer waters. The analysis of the small-spotted catshark, zebrafish, European seabass, and the three-spined stickleback is published in the journal Science of The Total Environment. Though scientists already know that the warming of our rivers and oceans causes direct physiological stress to fish, this study shows the impact on their developing embryos has a deep-seated effect on their gene expression patterns as adults. These changes may also affect their capacity to respond to future changes in temperature, having consequences for surviving climate change in their adult life. Scientists have failed to find consistent differentially expressed genes implicated in biological changes linked to global warming. However, the University of Manchester analysis suggests different phenotypes identified in later life may occur through changes in the organization of the transcriptomethe genetic code as it is readone crucial element of life itself. Their findings, using sophisticated modeling, show that transcriptomes of developmentally warmed fishes are characterized by an increased disorder in the way genes interact, implying a less structured, more 'random' set of gene interactions. Professor Holly Shiels, from The University of Manchester, said, "Climate change is a major threat facing animals. As the world's oceans and rivers continue to warm the physiological and population level stresses exerted upon fishes will continue to grow. "If we are to predict and mitigate the consequences of global warming, it is crucial we understand how it influences an animal's biological capacity to respond to future environmental challenges." Dr. Dan Ripley, from The University of Manchester, said, "Our findings suggest that exposure to elevated temperatures during the development and growth of an embryo may influence the ability of fish to respond to future challenges they face in later life." Dr. Adam Stevens, from The University of Manchester, added, "In our study, we found that developmental warming influenced the relationships between genes. The 'plumbing' of the system was changed, with knock-on consequences for how it then functions in adulthood. "This was absent in animals reared under 'control' conditions." The embryos were held in either control conditions, representing everyday temperatures, or warmer treatment conditions, representing future conditions under climate change. Following embryogenesis, all fish were moved to control conditions, simulating adult fish in the wild moving to find areas at their preferred temperature. Despite living in their preferred temperature range as adults, genomic differences were found between the groups related to the temperatures they experienced as embryos. These differences were associated with an altered capacity to respond to future warming as adults. More information: Daniel M. Ripley et al, Warming during embryogenesis induces a lasting transcriptomic signature in fishes, Science of The Total Environment (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165954 Journal information: Science of the Total Environment Ecuador's outgoing President Guillermo Lasso has vowed to hunt down the assassins of slain presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was shot while campaigning in the capital Quito Wednesday (August 9). Lasso said organized crime has been rampant in his country, "but the full weight of the law will fall on them." The suspected gunman died after exchanging shots with police. It was later revealed the criminal gang called "Los Lobos" (The Wolves), one of Ecuador's largest criminal outfits, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Lasso announced a state of emergency for 60 days, immediate mobilization of the armed forces across the country, and three days of national mourning, CNN reported. The election, scheduled for August 20, would go ahead as planned, Ecuadorian electoral council chief Diana Atamaint said Thursday (August 10). Villavicencio was survived by his wife and their five children. Read Also: Ecuador Jail Riots Leave Dozens Dead Amid Gang Warfare Han asesinado a Fernando Villavicencio. Ecuador se ha convertido en un Estado fallido. Dueles Patria. Mi solidaridad con su familia y con todas las familias de las victimas de la violencia. Los que pretenden sembrar aun mas odio con esta nueva tragedia, ojala entiendan que Rafael Correa (@MashiRafael) August 10, 2023 Reaction to the Shooting Meanwhile, several key political figures in Ecuador and around the world also expressed their sentiments on the death of Villavicencio aside from Lasso. The Ecuadorian Attorney-General's office said they are launching an investigation into the shooting, which also injured nine people, including a candidate for the National Assembly, Ecuador's parliament, and two police officers. Six people have been arrested by police during follow-up raids in Quito's Conocoto and San Bartolo neighborhoods. Videos of the shooting have been shared on social media following the incident. Villavicencio's sister, Patricia, told local media the national government and the interior ministry were responsible for the death of her brother for the alleged lack of police protection, something Ecuadorian interior minister Juan Zapata earlier assured. Former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa, on the other hand, said the country has become a failed state. "Those who intend to sow even more hatred with this new tragedy, I hope they understand that it only continues to destroy us," he added. The US Ambassador to Ecuador Michael J. Fitzpatrick said in a statement he was "deeply shocked" by Villavicencio's assassination, calling him a "fighter against the corrupt and narco-criminals who have done so much damage to Ecuador." He added the US "strongly" condemned the attack and is willing to extend assistance to Ecuadorian authorities in investigating the incident. Who Was Fernando Villavicencio? As a lawmaker, Villavicencio has been outspoken about corruption and the violence caused by drug trafficking in Ecuador. He even told CNN's Spanish language bureau that his country is becoming a "narco-state," and he is running for president to lead the fight against what he called the "political mafia." While his death was high-profile, Villavicencio was not the top pick to become the next Ecuadorian president. The frontrunner distinction goes to fellow candidate Luisa Gonzalez, who also condemned the attack on her competitor. Prior to politics, Villavicencio was a journalist who obtained documents about a government surveillance program under the presidency of Correa that he sent to WikiLeaks but eventually published himself. For this, he was forced into exile in Peru in 2017 to seek political asylum there. Related Article: Ecuador Presidential Candidate Fernando Villavicencio Killed Amid Campaign Rally @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Illustration of the photoreactor model, which can be placed on rooftops; upper left shows the photoreactor panels; upper right shows the photoreactors' V-shaped concentrators and tube-like cavity. Credit: University of Toronto An international team that includes researchers from the University of Toronto has designed and implemented a new model for photoreactors, a solar-powered technology for converting water, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen into greener chemicals and fuels. The innovative design allows the photoreactor to capture photons at high efficiency under varying sun directions, eliminating the need for sun-tracking. The panels are also manufacturable via extrusion of polymers, making them inexpensive and easily manufacturable at scaleall of which could help make a sustainable future more affordable and practical. Geoffrey Ozin, University Professor in U of T's department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science, and his team collaborated with researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany on the project. "Solar cells are renowned for efficiently and economically converting sunlight to green electricity, circumventing the use of greenhouse-gas-emitting fossil fuels," Ozin says. Unlike thermoreactors, photoreactors combine the photons in sunlight and reactants to generate green chemicals and fuels. By using sunlight and water, photoreactors could effectively reduce carbon emissions. Despite their potential, many photoreactors have been plagued by several challenges, including the high cost of construction materials. They can also be inefficient in converting photons to products. To create these photochemical conversions, photoreactors rely on a photocatalyst, a material that absorbs light and converts a reactant into a product. However, non-productive processes due to the reflection, scattering, transmission and absorption of light by the photocatalyst and the photoreactor materials can result in energy loss. Photoreactors would benefit from sun-tracking, a device that adjusts the angle of the photoreactor with respect to the position of the sun for optimal harvesting of light. To be technologically and economically viable, the photon-to-product conversion efficiency of the photoreactors must be at least 10%. While the science of integrating photocatalysts into photoreactors over the past decade for making green chemicals and fuels has yielded significant advances, the efficiencies have remained lowoften one percent or less. Ozin's team and the group from KITwhich included postdoctoral researcher Paul Kant, Ph.D. student Shengzhi Liang, research scientist Michael Rubin and Professor Roland Dittmeyerdeveloped a panel-like photoreactor that contains hundreds of parallel microscale reaction channels. They published a paper on the promising results of their proposed model in the journal Joule. A key feature of their design is that each reaction channel is connected to a V-shaped light-capture unit that guides the light into the channel where the photocatalyst is located. All surfaces are highly reflective to optimize the transport of photons from the external light source to the photocatalyst housed in the microchannels with minimal light losses. The innovative design allows the photoreactor to capture photons at high efficiency under varying sun directions, eliminating the need for sun-tracking. The panels are also manufacturable via extrusion of polymers, making them inexpensive and easily manufacturable at scale. Future design adaptations can address the issue of intermittent sunlight by using light-emitting diodes integrated into the photoreactor as the photon source, powered by renewable electricity from photovoltaics and backed up by lithium-ion battery storage to provide 24-7 operations. The new photoreactors model can outperform existing state-of-art photoreactors and can be used on rooftops of houses and solar farms, as well as be integrated with photovoltaics to produce both renewable electricity and green chemicals and fuels. "This technology has inspired the development of a new generation of solar-powered devices that instead make green fuels such as hydrogen from sunlight and water," Ozin says. The advancement comes at a time when the need to combat climate change is more pressing than ever, with record-breaking temperatures marked around the world this summer. "These solar products will substitute their fossil-based analogsand will help to reduce our carbon footprint," says KIT researcher Kant. "This directly increases chances that we will be able to reach the dream of a sustainably living humanity. Hopefully, we will even make it in timewithout drastic temperature overshoot and related disasters." More information: Paul Kant et al, Low-cost photoreactors for highly photon/energy-efficient solar-driven synthesis, Joule (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2023.05.006 Journal information: Joule 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 The attitudes of European people towards specific types of asylum seeker have been stable over time, research in Nature suggests. The study identifies attributes of refugees that people are more likely to view favorably and suggests that Ukrainians displaced by the Russian invasion in 2022 were welcomed because they fit this profile. The findings may help us to understand the factors that drive support for refugees, which could be used by policymakers to respond to pressures on the asylum system. In the past decade, the 20152016 Syrian refugee crisis and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine have contributed to the arrival of millions of asylum seekers into European countries. How such repeated humanitarian crises affect people's perception of refugees is unclear; one view is that ever-increasing numbers of refugees may reduce support from the public, a view that is challenged by the welcoming response towards Ukrainian refugees. To understand public attitudes towards refugees, Kirk Bansak, Jens Hainmueller, and Dominik Hangartner compare results of repeated experiments conducted during the 20152016 and 2022 refugee crises. Approximately 33,000 citizens in 15 European countries were asked to evaluate randomly varied profiles of asylum seekers (around 18,000 and 15,000 people were surveyed in 2016 and 2022, respectively). The surveys reveal characteristics of refugees that are viewed preferably by Europeans, such as being female, Christian and young (around 21 years old). In addition, the circumstances of displacement had an effect, with refugees escaping war being viewed as more favorable than those moving for economic reasons. The authors find that these public preferences have remained stable and that general support has, if anything, increased over time. They also show that Ukrainians were welcomed in 2022 because of their demographic and displacement profile, but this does not come at the expense of other marginalized refugee groups, suggesting that support for all refugees remains generous, especially during times of crisis. One limitation of the study is that the data were only collected at two points in the past decade, which may mean that fluctuations in public views between these points have been missed. However, the consistency seen in both study periods suggests that preferences have remained stable, the authors conclude. More information: Kirk Bansak et al, Europeans' support for refugees of varying background is stable over time, Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06417-6 Journal information: Nature 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: Winter rye cover crops offer multiple benefits, including carbon sequestration. Credit: Tom Kasper, D3362-1 Winter rye is prized for its versatility. It is a source of grain and also a forage and ground cover that protects the soil from erosion by wind and rain. But the benefits of winter rye don't stop there. A series of studies, begun in 2015, by a team of Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and university collaborators suggest that establishing a cover crop of winter rye between rotations of corn and soybean can reduce nitrate losses, sequester carbon, and provide a source of renewable natural gas. Robert Malone, an agricultural engineer with the ARS National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment in Ames, Iowa, is coordinating the studies to evaluate rye's potential role in the "sustainable intensification of agriculture"an approach deemed critical to meeting growing world demand for food, feed, fiber, and fuel without overtaxing what the land and natural resources can provide. In the latest studies, the team used a field-scale computer model to simulate rotations of corn and soybean, with or without winter rye cover crops, at 40 sites across the North Central United States, including parts of the Mississippi River Basin, which empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Among results recently published in the journal of Environmental Research Letters: Establishing a winter rye cover crop between corn-soybean rotations in tile-drained fields (meaning, those using a system of underground drainage pipes to remove excess water) reduced nitrate levels in drainage water by more than 45% compared to rye-free fieldsor about 21 and 44 kilograms per hectare, respectively. Across the 63-total million hectares (approximately 156 million acres) of North Central farmland that the model's simulations encompassed, use of a winter rye cover crops on tile-drained fields translated to a 27% reduction in nitrate loads entering the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River basin. Nitrate poses an environmental concern when it goes unused by crop plants and escapes into streams, river, lakes and other bodies of surface water, compromising water quality and helping fuel algal blooms. The subsequent death and decay of the algae in these blooms consumes oxygen, killing or driving off fish and other aquatic life. In coastal waters like the Gulf of Mexico, this condition is known as hypoxia, and it creates a "dead zone" spanning several thousand square miles, a size that can exact a costly toll on commercial fisheries and other associated industries. This summer, for example, the Gulf's dead zone is forecasted to cover 4,155 square miles. "A variety of factorsincluding the effects of excess nutrients and water-body stratification (layering) due to saline or temperature gradientscan create hypoxic conditions. In North America, the size of the hypoxic area in the Gulf of Mexico correlates strongly with spring nitrate-nitrogen loads from the Mississippi River," explained Malone, who collaborates on the modeling studies with 15 other researchers from three ARS laboratories and four universities. Climate-change may increase the likelihood of hypoxic conditions in the Gulf of Mexico, lending urgency to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency task force efforts to reduce nitrogen and phosphorous loads from the Mississippi River basin by 45% by 2035. "The use of cover crops such as winter rye in corn-soybean rotations in the North-Central U.S. is one of the most promising conservation strategies for reducing nitrate loads to streams and rivers that discharge into the Mississippi River," according to Malone. In addition to curbing nitrate losses, winter rye cover crops may also have a role to play in capturing (or, "sequestering") carbon. According to the model's simulations, establishing winter rye cover crops in corn-soybean rotations across the North Central U.S. could produce more than 18 million metric tons (19.8 million tons) of field residue, called "biomass." That rye residue, in turn, has potential to yield 210 million megajoules of energy annuallythe equivalent energy content of 2.3 billion gallons of ethanolwere it to be converted into bio-methane gas using anaerobic digesters. The simulations also indicate that in the bio-methane production process, a standard filtration step called "upgrading" could enable the removal and capture 7.5 million tons (8.3 million tons) annually of carbon dioxide, preventing its release back into the atmosphere when the biogas is burned for power or heat and creating a carbon sequestration benefit for farmers. The researchers don't view winter rye cover crops as a proverbial "magic bullet" for managing nitrogen and improving the environment, however. Rather, it's likely to be integrated with other measures, including the use of saturated riparian buffers, controlled drainage, wetlands and bioreactors. "Combined conservation practices such as winter rye cover crops and edge-of-field practices like using the saturated buffers are sometimes called 'stacked practices,' and they may reduce nitrogen loss more than when each practice is used individually," said Malone. More information: Robert W Malone et al, Harvested winter rye energy cover crop: multiple benefits for North Central US, Environmental Research Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/acd708 Journal information: Environmental Research Letters 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: TESS target pixel file image of TOI-4860 in Sector 10. Credit: Almenara et al., 2023. Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered a new giant exoplanet transiting a nearby M-dwarf star. The newfound alien world, designated TOI-4860 b, is comparable in size and mass to Saturn. The finding is reported in a paper published August 2 on the pre-print server arXiv. TESS is conducting a survey of about 200,000 of the brightest stars near the sun with the aim of searching for transiting exoplanets. So far, it has identified over 6,700 candidate exoplanets (TESS Objects of Interest, or TOI), of which 373 have been confirmed so far. Now, a group of astronomers led by Jose Manuel Almenara of the Grenoble Alpes University in France, reports the confirmation of another TOI monitored by TESS. They identified a transit signal in the light curve of an M-dwarf star known as TOI-4860. The planetary nature of this signal was confirmed by ground-based follow-up photometric observations. "We report here the validation and mass measurement of TOI-4860 b. Ground-based photometry confirms that the transits around TOI-4860, initially identified by TESS photometry, are produced by a giant planet," the researchers wrote in the paper. TOI-4860 b has a radius of nearly 0.77 Jupiter radii and its mass is estimated to be 0.27 Jupiter masses, what yields a mean density of 0.75 g/cm3. The planet orbits the host star every 1.52 days, at a distance of some 0.018 AU. The equilibrium temperature of TOI-4860 b was calculated to be 694 K. Given that TOI-4860 b is very close to its host star, the astronomers assume that the system undergoes strong tidal interactions. These interactions distort the planet and lead to orbital decay. The parent star TOI-4860 has a spectral type M3.5 and is about one third the size and mass of the sun. The effective temperature of TOI-4860 is approximately 3,255 K and its metallicity is at a level of 0.27. The star is located around 262 light years away. The researchers also found an additional signal in the radial velocity data, suggesting the presence of another planet in the TOI-4860 system. This planetary candidate has an orbital period of about 427 days and its mass is estimated to be at least 1.66 Jupiter masses. "This raises the possibility that TOI-4860 b ended up in its small-periapsis orbit through planet-planet scattering or Kozai resonance with the outer planet, and then became circularized by tides," the authors of the paper concluded. Summing up the results, the astronomers noted that TOI-4860 b joins the small set of massive planets found around mid-to-late M-dwarfs and is an interesting target for atmospheric characterization with transmission spectroscopy. More information: Almenara et al, TOI-4860 b, a short-period giant planet transiting an M3.5 dwarf, arXiv (2023). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2308.01454 Journal information: arXiv 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: Time evolution of miscible viscous fingering dynamics with effective interfacial tension (EIT). Credit: Yuka F. Deki, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology Scientists have conducted a study of the interface between two liquids, focusing on a force called interfacial tension. Their numerical simulation helped them better understand the mechanism at work in interfacial tension. This work contributes to the understanding of interfacial fluid dynamics. It offers potential applications in a variety of fields ranging from oil recovery to medical use. Their work is published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics. In the interface between two fluids, scientists consider diffusion to be important in a completely miscible or fully mixed system. By contrast, oil and water are examples of immiscible liquids, that do not mix well together. Scientists have considered interfacial tension to be important in a completely immiscible system. However, even in a completely miscible system, if the mixing process is slow, a force such as interfacial tension is expected to act. This is called effective interfacial tension. Scientists also know that there is a monotonic relationshipnever increasing or decreasingbetween the flow strength and the hydrodynamic instability of the interface. The stronger the flow, the greater the hydrodynamic instability. Recent experiments using flow and effective interfacial tension have shown a break in the monotonic relationship. However, the experiments have not clarified the mechanism at work in this process. "We thought that it would be of academic value in the field of interfacial fluid dynamics to elucidate the mechanism," said Ryuta X. Suzuki, an assistant professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. Measured results showing the effect of Pe on finger width for (a) R=0.75, (b) R=1.00 and (c) R=1.25. Credit: Yuka F. Deki, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology The research team used a numerical simulation to clarify the effect of effective interfacial tension on the flow in the mixing process of two solutions. They investigated the effect of the weak interfacial tension, or effective interfacial tension, that occurs between two liquids until they completely mix on the hydrodynamic instability of the interface. They specifically examined the phenomenon called viscous fingering, in which the interface spreads in a finger-like shape because of the difference in the viscosity of the two fluids. Viscous fingering, also called Saffman-Taylor instability, is a fundamental, yet difficult to control, interfacial instability. With their numerical simulation, the team obtained results that overturned the conventional wisdom that hydrodynamic instability at the interface increases, that is, the finger width decreases, as the flow velocity increases. Their work clarified the mechanism behind this phenomenon. "In particular, the results of the present study overturned the assumption that the flow strength and instability vary monotonically," said Manoranjan Mishra, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar. "This result suggests that the hydrodynamic instability at the interface can be controlled by the effective interfacial tension and the velocity of flow, and is a forerunner to future experimental, numerical, and theoretical studies that will lead to control methods for viscous fingering with effective interfacial tension," said Suzuki. (a) Concentration profile for various Pe at t=1 and (b) the value of EIT term with =-210^(-5) calculated based on (a). Credit: Ryuta X. Suzuki, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology The team views this result as an important discovery that will contribute to the creation of new control methods for enhanced oil recovery processes. They also see their work having important applications in processes where stomach acid does not dissolve the stomach, but only the food. The relationship between gastric acid and gastric mucus is related to this study and may become an important concept in the field of medicine in the future. "While viscous fingering has been studied since the 1950s, this research is academically valuable because it is a decisive result that overturns the conventional wisdom that there is a monotonous relationship between flow strength and interfacial hydrodynamic instability," said Suzuki. Looking ahead, the team is hopeful that their work will be a precursor for further experimental, numerical, and theoretical studies on the control method of viscous fingering with effective interfacial tension. More information: Yuka F. Deki et al, Numerical study of the effect of Peclet number on miscible viscous fingering with effective interfacial tension, Journal of Fluid Mechanics (2023). DOI: 10.1017/jfm.2023.405 Journal information: Journal of Fluid Mechanics Provided by Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology 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: Researchers led by an Oregon State University scientist have identified a new species of beetle from Burmese amber, a specimen with antennae nearly 8 millimeters long attached to a 2.3-millimeter body. Collaborators named the new silvan flat bark beetle Protoliota paleus. Credit: George Poinar Jr., OSU College of Science. One hundred million years ago, as iguanodons and triceratops fled from hungry tyrannosaurs, another biological drama played out on the ground where the giant reptiles trod: Male beetles using their supersized antennae in combat for mates. Researchers have identified a new species of beetle from Burmese amber, a specimen with antennae nearly 8 millimeters long attached to a 2.3-millimeter body. George Poinar Jr., who holds a courtesy appointment in the Oregon State University College of Science, and collaborators named the new silvan flat bark beetle Protoliota paleus. Fernando Vega, a retired research entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Andrei Legalov of Russia's Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals collaborated on this study, which was published in Ecologica Montenegrina. "This new insect differs from a previous member of the genus described in Burmese amber by its small body size, weakly protruding eyes, long mandibles and narrow pronotum," said Poinar, an international expert in using plant and animal life forms preserved in amber to learn about the biology and ecology of the distant past. The pronotum is a prominent, plate-like structure covering all or part of the thorax of some insects; the thorax is the middle part of the body, where the legs and wings attach. "We also see evidence of sexual secretions on tarsal hairs on the fossil beetle, similar to those that attract females on today's silvanid beetles," Poinar said. "So we have a scenario of a combative male beetle that chased females under the feet of dinosaurs. David Attenborough shows similar male beetles fighting over females in tropical forests today." Although having such long antennae might have its drawbacks, like getting tangled in vegetation and otherwise hindering movement, those extended male antennae come in handy for finding mates as well as battling over them, Poinar said. "Some modern beetles are known to walk along larval host trees with their antennae outstretched, looking for females that they recognize solely by antennal contact," he said. "Longer antennae mean a wider reach, increasing the likelihood of encountering a female. And of course the longer the antennae, the bigger the weapons the beetle has at its disposal for combat with other males." There is no evidence, however, that female beetles choose mates by comparing antennae length. "In our new specimen, the setal sex patches on its foretarsi probably produced pheromones that attracted females," he said. "And in addition to finding and fighting over females, the long antennae were likely used to shield the female during egg laying. This study is one of the rare times where behavioral patterns of a fossil insect can be surmised from its physical features." Silvanidae, a beetle family in the superfamily Cucujoidea, consists of 62 described genera and about 500 described species, Poinar said. The family appears on all continents except Antarctica. Most silvan beetles are saprophylic, meaning they live under the bark of dying or dead trees and eat fungi, the scientist said. Others such as the sawtoothed grain beetle and the merchant grain beetle are pests that feed on stored products. More information: George Poinar Jr. et al, Protoliota paleus sp. nov. (Coleoptera: Silvanidae)new long antennae beetle in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, Ecologica Montenegrina (2023). DOI: 10.37828/em.2023.62.9 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: Woman washing clothes in the Parnaiba River near Nazaria, Piaui state, Brazil. Credit: Wilson Dias/Agencia Brasil Brazilian researchers combined environmental physical, social and economic indicators to create an index that measures a region's vulnerability and used it to analyze the basins of the Parnaiba River and Sao Francisco River in the Northeast of Brazil. The index is named SEVI (for Socio-Environmental Vulnerability). The Parnaiba and Sao Francisco basins are considered crucial to agricultural expansion and biodiversity conservation. They contain more than 780 municipalities and part of the semi-arid Caatinga and savanna-like Cerrado biomes, which are threatened by deforestation as well as adverse effects of climate change. The study shows that the main obstacles to improving the socio-environmental vulnerability of the Parnaiba basin, the second largest river basin in the Northeast, are deficits in infrastructure, income, and conditions for human development, all of which impair adaptive capacity, defined by the researchers as "the ability of a system to evolve in order to accommodate environmental hazards or anthropogenic impacts." In the Sao Francisco basin, the most significant causes of vulnerability are population density, soil degradation/desertification, and climate factors, especially temperature and precipitation. These findings are reported in an article on the study published in the journal Sustainability. The authors are affiliated with the National Space Research Institute (INPE) and the National Disaster Surveillance and Early Warning Center (CEMADEN). "The study showed that sustainable development projects should take specific characteristics of each region into consideration and brought to light the deficiencies of some public policies. We analyzed a problem that affects agricultural areas in several countries, especially in the developing world," biologist Rita Marcia da Silva Pinto Vieira, first author of the article, told Agencia FAPESP. She was at INPE when the study was conducted. Including socio-economic indicators allowed the researchers to strengthen the argument that sustainability is not linked only to climate, environmental factors and soil degradation but also to human activity and biodiversity. "Vulnerability indicators typically focus on one factor in isolation. By integrating environmental and socio-economic data, we showed that vulnerability has as much to do with exposure to environmental, social and political stress as it does with the system's capacity to adapt. The index highlights areas where vulnerability is particularly acute," said Lincoln Muniz Alves, a climatologist at INPE and penultimate author of the article. The last author is Jean Pierre Ometto, a senior researcher in the Impact, Adaptation and Vulnerability Division of INPE's Department of Earth Sciences (DIIAV-CGCT). Methodology The SEVI index resulted from a combination of indicators relating to adaptation (human development, infrastructure and income), sensitivity (days without rain, land use and cover, temperature, and soil type), and exposure (population density and soil degradation or desertification). The methodology was based on the environmentally sensitive areas (ESA) approach developed by MEDALUS (Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use), a project conducted in eight European Union countries in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The indicators and overall index were weighted from very low to very high. The area of the regions analyzed totaled about 962,000 square kilometers (km), with a population of some 20 million, mostly urban. Sixteen million people live in the Sao Francisco basin. The river runs through six states from Minas Gerais to the Alagoas-Sergipe border. Four million live in the Parnaiba basin. According to the SEVI index, vulnerability levels were "very high" and "high" in 53% of the Sao Francisco basin, pointing to 337,569 km with socio-environmental fragilities, partly coinciding with desertification hotspots officially recognized by the Environment Ministry. In the Parnaiba basin, the proportion was 37% (121,990 km). Adaptive capacity was "very low" and "low" in 57% of the area analyzed (549,830 km). Exposure was "very high" and "high" in 62.8% and 30.7% of the Sao Francisco and Parnaiba basins respectively. Sensitivity was also high in a significant proportion of both (341,726 km and 123,666 km). These results mainly reflected population density, soil degradation, desertification, and the number of days without rain, which directly influences the risk of wildfires during the dry season. The authors of the article expect these problems to become steadily worse as a consequence of climate change. Previous research using global models projected a drop of 46% and 26% in streamflow in the Sao Francisco and Parnaiba rivers respectively in the decades ahead, and socio-environmental vulnerability is set to increase significantly, especially in areas where the population is poor, as extreme weather becomes more frequent. Furthermore, deforestation has hit the region hard in recent years. In the Cerrado, it affected 10,689 km in 2022, more than in any year since 2015 (11,129 km), and in the Caatinga, it increased 25% compared with 2021, according to INPE's monitoring program (PRODES). This year, the number of deforestation alerts for the Cerrado jumped 35% in the first five months compared with the corresponding period of 2022, according to INPE's early warning system (DETER). Protected areas The researchers also analyzed conservation units located in both basins, concluding that units in the Parnaiba basin were less vulnerable. In the Sao Francisco basin, 32.4% of the area (12,477 km) was highly vulnerable within a 5 km buffer zone, indicating human pressure from deforestation and burning in fully protected areas. On the upside, Lapa Grande State Park in Minas Gerais was the most well-preserved conservation unit in the region, with low vulnerability in 84.6% of its area. "The study pinpointed the areas with high vulnerability and emphasized the importance of conservation units. In our recommendations, we stress that the sustainable practices used in these units can also be implemented in adjacent areas," Alves said. For the authors, it is critically important to extend conservation units, introduce sustainable land management practices in adjacent buffer zones, and develop strategies for the protection of ecosystem services and local vegetation. These management practices and their modernization should be shared with farmers in the region, according to the article. Many smallholders located in the areas with high socio-environmental vulnerability lack funds, and their traditional land-use practices deplete natural resources and aggravated poverty. Contributions According to the authors, the information on socio-environmental vulnerability with regional characteristics provided by the SEVI index contributes to support for programs such as the National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (PNA), as well as public policies aimed at rehabilitating degraded areas. "We used specific variables for the Caatinga and Cerrado, but the methodological framework we developed for SEVI can certainly be applied elsewhere, using the peculiarities of each region and biome," Vieira said. More information: Rita Marcia da Silva Pinto Vieira et al, Socio-Environmental Vulnerability to Drought Conditions and Land Degradation: An Assessment in Two Northeastern Brazilian River Basins, Sustainability (2023). DOI: 10.3390/su15108029 Provided by FAPESP This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: (a) First letter (archive catalog number is II 365), dated August 4, 1475, here investigated, also showing the positions of the EVA strips (brownish rectangles) applied to its surface for capturing biological material; (b) mapping of the fluorescence of phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan under flash UV illumination. Credit: Analytical Chemistry (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c01461 A team of chemical scientists from the University of Catania, SpringStyle Tech Design Ltd, Romania National Archives and Politecnico di Milano, Via Mancinelli, has found evidence suggesting that Vlad the Impaler, may have suffered from a variety of ailments, including one that could have made the famous prince cry tears mixed with blood. In their paper published in the journal Analytical Chemistry, the group describes their analysis of proteins and peptides from three letters written by Vlad Draculea and what they learned from them. Count Vlad Draculea, also known as Vlad the Impaler, and possible inspiration for the fictional character Dracula, was the ruler of Wallachia during the 15th century. He was known to be a fierce defender of his land. Historians have found evidence suggesting he was responsible for the deaths of as many as 80,000 Ottoman people, many of whom died due to impalement. In this new study, the researchers wondered what sorts of ailments, if any, might have plagued the ruthless leader. To find out, they obtained and analyzed three documents written by the Count. When writing by hand, it is common for the person doing the writing to touch the paper. Initially such touching would involve use of the fingers for paper placement on a surface, such as a desk. Thereafter, the lower parts of the palm would rest against the paper as writing was conducted. Both activities result in various chemicals and molecules transferring from the skin to the paper. In their work, the research team looked for them on the papers, and once found, traced their typical origins. To capture material from the paper without causing damage, the team used a technique that involves applying and removing ethylene-vinyl acetate. Then once removed, the material was tested using mass spectrometry. The team found residue containing more than 500 peptides, which they narrowed to 100 of human origin. This letter written by Vlad the Impaler in 1475 contains proteins that suggest he suffered from respiratory problems and bloodied tears. Credit: Adapted from Analytical Chemistry, 2023, DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c01461 From those, they found evidence of ciliopathy, a genetic disorder that compromises cell function and organs. They also found evidence of inflammatory disease, likely resulting in problems with the respiratory tract and skin. And they found compounds that suggested the Count also suffered from hemolacriaa condition that causes blood to mix with fluid in the tear ducts, resulting in blood-tinged tears. More information: Maria Gaetana Giovanna Pittala et al, Count Dracula Resurrected: Proteomic Analysis of Vlad III the Impaler's Documents by EVA Technology and Mass Spectrometry, Analytical Chemistry (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c01461 Journal information: Analytical Chemistry 2023 Science X Network By Nasratu kargbo The Proprietor and Principal of the Education Centre for the Blind and Visually Impaired Thomas Alieu has called on the government and other stakeholders to ensure they have a Braille version of civic education materials and other national documents. Alieu in an interview with Politico on the 4th of August 2023 said: My cry has been for us to have these civic materials in braille. He explained that civic education is geared towards ensuring that students love their nation and become patriotic citizens, adding that it is a national issue that makes it important that blind students get theirs. There is a need to ensure that whatever national document they have; they should put them into braille. If the government is saying they want inclusive education, nobody should be left behind the Principal said. He added that if the Ministry of Education says they want quality education for all, the blind and deaf should not be left behind. He added that he believes all laws enacted in parliament should be embossed, citing that the country may one day have a blind parliamentarian that will be expected to perform effectively. The Proprietor said he had visited the National Commission for Civic Education and Democracy (NaCCED), but said they havent had a positive outcome. Alieu explained that the blind and hearing -impaired face challenges in learning, stating that their way of learning is very difficult to undertake and is also expensive. Recalling the challenges he faced during his time in college, Alieu explained that after he had studied for his first degree in History and Political Science at Fourah Bay College, he wanted to be the countrys first blind lawyer and had started to pursue a law degree but could not continue due to unavailability of braille materials for the visually impaired. The Principal added that he was able to study law to honours one, but was forced to drop out due to the constraints he faced. Unfortunately my dream was not realized because the libraries of the universities were not equipped to handle my case as a blind law student. We never had braille books in the library he said. Other visually impaired persons have in the recent past advocated for braille documents; amongst them - Mohamed Samuel Fullah from Christian Union for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CUBVI) who called on the countrys parliament to consider the blind by producing a braille version of all national documents. He added that they can boast of being citizens if they are conversant with current national issues by easily reading informative documents through the system for people who are blind. Copyright 2023 Politico (09/08/23) The U.S. will join the first Malabar naval exercise in Australia, which will start on Friday, Aug. 11, off the coast of Sydney. US to Join 1st Malabar Naval Exercise in Australia According to Reuters' latest report, the U.S., together with Australia, Japan, and India, will hold the Malabar Naval exercise this 2023. Before the military activity, Indian and Japanese navy vessels stopped in Pacific Island countries Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. This just shows the strategic importance of the region as the tension between China and the United States intensifies. On Thursday, Aug. 10, a press conference happened in Sydney. Vice Admiral Karl Thomas, the Commander of the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet, attended this event. He clarified that the Malabar naval exercise doesn't aim to make an issue with a country, saying that it specifically aims to improve the ability of the four nations to work with one another. "The deterrence that our four nations provide as we operate together as a Quad is a foundation for all the other nations operating in this region," he explained. "Oceania, the island nations that are just northeast of Australia...all of our nations now are focusing on those countries," added Thomas. Read Also: US Army Awards Contract to American Rheinmetall-Led Team to Replace Bradley IFV About Malabar Naval Exercise 2023 Asian News International reported that the Malabar navy exercise 2023 is a 10-day naval drill that aims to deepen the interoperability between the U.S., Japan, India, and Australia. Aside from this, the activity will also enhance the partnership for the Indo-Pacific region. When the Malabar navy exercise start, two major Australian ships, HMAS Choules and HMAS Brisbane, will perform an entry into the Sydney Harbour. After that, these vessels will proceed out to an exercise area off the coast of New South Wales. Meanwhile, the Indian Navy will bring its multi-role stealth frigate INS Sahyadri, as well as its INS Kolkata, an indigenous destroyer. The United States will bring a destroyer and Japan will participate with its major surface vessel. Related Article: US Navy Sailor Sells Naval Secrets to China, Says Mom Encouraged Him to Trade Sensitive Military Details @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A 28-year-old Cincinnati man was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in a 2015 shooting that killed two people in Vineland, the Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office said Thursday. The verdict against Michael R. Loftin Jr. was reached Wednesday following a 12-day jury trial. Loftin was acquitted on several charges, including two counts of murder, one count of aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon. Loftin, who is being held in the Cumberland County jail, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 27 and faces 10 to 20 years in prison, the Prosecutor's Office said in a news release. At 12:19 a.m. March 8, 2015, Vineland police were dispatched to the 100 block of West Grape Street for a report of several gunshots. When police arrived, they found the victims vehicle with four occupants inside. As a result of the gunshots, the officers found Damien Mills dead at the scene. Kevin Peterson, who suffered four gunshot wounds, later died at a hospital. A female victim, who survived, had a gunshot wound to the leg. During the investigation, police found a flip phone in close proximity to shell casings and the victims vehicle. After examining the phones contents, certain phone numbers led them to a residence in the 200 block of East Oak Road. The phone was swabbed for DNA and returned positive as a match to Loftin, who was charged June 2, 2015. Co-defendant Sheldon Goldsborough was also charged in the shooting and is awaiting trial. Murder charges lead Vineland police to drug ring VINELAND Three people were arrested on drug charges, including running a drug-production s GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP Stockton University was awarded more than $460,000 from the state to expand its mental health resources, the school said Wednesday. The money will go toward a new Student Wellness Room, a new community outreach coordinator position and additional funds to provide mental health first-aid training, the university said in a news release. In total, the school will receive $461,682 from the Mental Health in Higher Education: Community Provider Partnership and Professional Development Grant from the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education. Receiving this grant enhances our mental health services and provides additional support for our students health, well-being and sense of belonging, which are important indicators in student success, said Dr. Zupenda Davis, Stocktons assistant vice president for Student Health and Wellness. About $220,000 of the grant will go toward the Student Wellness Room, the location of which has yet to be determined, Davis said. The room is intended to give students a private place for virtual clinical sessions and to "be in their own bubble," she said. This is also helpful for students who may be neurodivergent, which includes various conditions, such as, autism, ADHD, social anxiety and sensory processing disorders, Davis said. This gives them that privacy or opportunity to take a break, especially if they are in an environment where its too noisy or creates anxiety. Stockton University program encourages entrepreneurship Thirteen high schoolers from around the state were given a taste of college academics this month when Stockton University hosted its Summer Entrepreneurship and Business Academy. Stockton will put more than $100,000 toward consultant and training services. The college will partner with the Mental Health Association of Atlantic County for mental-health first-aid training and QPR (Question, Persuade and Refer) training for suicide prevention. Because of this grant, Stockton can become a member of the JED Campus Program, a nationwide nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for teenagers and young adults. When you have regular life stress on top of stressors due to bias, racism, microaggressions and biases from being LGBTQ+, for example, it helps to assess if our students are experiencing those things and what are the strategies to help with those unique risks, Davis said. The full-time community outreach coordinator will facilitate students' connections to off-campus clinical and nonclinical mental health resources. We want to make sure we provide as many resources as we can that provide a more comprehensive approach to mental health, Davis said. This grant offers that in many different ways. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy ATLANTIC CITY Striking actors staged a rally Wednesday afternoon on the Boardwalk, demanding studio officials meet to end the holdout. Several dozen SAG-AFTRA members from New Jersey picketed at Kennedy Plaza across from Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall. The actors union is urging the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to meet for a new contract. A separate strike between production studios and the Writers Guild of America is also ongoing. Union members are demanding higher wages, protections from artificial intelligence and a revamped streaming platform structure, Philadelphia SAG-AFTRA President Nikki Izanec said. Since the strike began last month, demonstrations have been held across the country, Izanec said. This industry is full of hard work work that needs to be recognized differently under a contract that provides equity and sustainability for us working people, Izanec said Wednesday. Some of the citys largest unions came out to support the striking actors. South Jersey actors deal with setbacks due to strike At the end of the last decade, things were looking up for actors who settled in southern New Minutes before the rally began, members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 77 joined the crowd, breaking for lunch while preparing the beach for the TidalWave Music Festival. Casino workers from Unite Here Local 54 also appeared in their unions red T-shirts to show their support for the cause. Izanec said previously she chose to host Wednesdays rally in the resort because it is synonymous with New Jersey. Most of the SAG-AFTRA members involved in the rally live in the New Jersey. Many guild members said they travel to New York and Philadelphia to work to support their families and careers. Mayor Marty Small Sr. said the resort, being built on union labor, stands behind the actors. We wont tolerate anyone disrespecting our hard-working laborers, Small said during the rally. Chances of a new contract for the Writers Guild appear to be possible. Union leaders told striking writers last week they plan to meet with representatives from the studios to discuss restarting negotiations. Ocean City Jeopardy! champ, other winners wont cross picket line for Tournament of Champions Jeopardy! champ Cris Pannullo, a customer-success operations manager from Ocean City who took home $749,268 before taxes during a 21-game winning streak in December, announced in a post on Reddit he wont show up to film this seasons Tournament of Champions if the shows writers are still on strike. The Writers Guild sent an email to members saying the AMPTP, which represents major studios, streaming services and production companies, requested a meeting recently to discuss the resumption of contract talks. The AMPTP has not yet made a similar overture to union leaders for Hollywood actors, who have been on strike since July 14, according to The Associated Press. Many of the actors guilds members serve as extras in film and television productions. Theyre displeased with their pay for long hours on consecutive days. Emerging use of artificial intelligence is also threatening acting work in the industry, union members say. I just want to be able to live and support my family doing this business, actor Jason Szalma, 37, of Mount Holly, Burlington County, told the crowd. Theres no reason why they should be hoarding all the wealth and giving everybody that makes that wealth for them crumbs. Local media personality Whitney Ullman, a SAG-AFTRA member, said despite it not being a large metropolis, Atlantic City has a vibrant history with cinema production. Because of that, local actors deserve stronger salaries to support their livelihoods. When things (productions) came to Atlantic City, that was a big deal, Ullman said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. GALLERY: SAG-AFTRA rally at Kennedy Plaza in Atlantic City TRENTON Gov. Phil Murphy, a host of lawmakers and numerous mourners poured into the Statehouse rotunda Thursday to mourn the late Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, whose U.S. flag-draped casket lay in state just over a week since she died after a hospital stay for an undisclosed medical issue. God Bless Sheila, Murphy, a Democrat, said after a State Police honor guard placed her remains near the state seal in the rotunda. A stream of legislators, former staffers and members of the public paid their respects to Oliver, who was the first Black woman elected to statewide office in New Jersey history, as well as the first Black woman to be Assembly speaker. She was 71. Donna Jackson, 60, of Trenton, carried an umbrella into the Statehouse as she prepared to pay her respects. Jackson said she met Oliver once at a rally years ago and said she loved her. She echoed many of the eulogies about Oliver that cast her as a trailblazer. Its empowering that a Black woman accomplished this much, Jackson said. Murphy and first lady Tammy Murphy attended a private visitation with Oliver before the rotunda opened to the public. Murphy ordered flags to be flown at half-staff for a month and commissioned a portrait of her that he has said would hang in the Statehouse. In addition to serving as Murphys top deputy, stepping in while he was out of the state, Oliver also oversaw the Department of Community Affairs, which coordinates state aid to towns and cities and supervises code enforcement. Oliver served in the Assembly, where she was elected speaker in 2010. She served in that role until 2014, returning to the back benches when Murphy tapped her to be his running mate in 2017. They won the election that year and were reelected together in 2021. She began her legislative career in 2003, when she won an Assembly seat in her native Essex County. Before that she served on the Essex County board of chosen freeholders from 1996 to 1999. Born and raised in Newark, she earned a sociology degree from Pennsylvanias Lincoln University and had a masters degree in community organization from Columbia University. Speaking from his office last week, Murphy remembered her as an advocate for affordable housing and for urban communities across the state, including Atlantic City, where she was the de facto final decision maker for some of the citys most consequential decisions. A law passed under Republican Gov. Chris Christie gave control over much of the citys major decisions to the state. As acting governor she signed a bill in 2021 that established a pilot program to overhaul the states juvenile justice system in four cities and which aimed to reintegrate young people into their communities. Another measure she signed in 2021 revived a defunct fund for urban enterprise zones aimed at driving economic development in cities through lower sales tax rates. After lying in state in the Statehouse on Thursday, Olivers remains will lie in the historic Essex County courthouse Friday. A funeral service where Al Sharpton and the governor will eulogize her is set for Saturday. The state constitution requires Murphy to name a successor within 45 days of the vacancy. He so far has not nominated anyone. Senate President Nicholas Scutari will serve as acting governor if Murphy leaves the state or is incapacitated in the interim. In the Region Tajikistan Says Border with Kyrgyzstan Will Open, Kyrgyzstan Says Not Just Yet The governor of Tajikistans Sughd Province said an agreement to reopen the Kyrgyz-Tajik border has been reached, but Kyrgyz officials say there are still some matters that need to be resolved. Kyrgyzstan closed its border with Tajikistan shortly after the clashes between the two countries April 28-30, 2021. On August 3, Sughd Governor Rajabboy Ahmadzoda announced an agreement was reached with Kyrgyzstan about reopening border crossings. Sughd Deputy Governor Davron Zohidzoda said during recent Kyrgyz-Tajik talks that Abdikarim Alymbaev, the governor of Kyrgyzstans Batken Province, stressed the need to reopen the border. The Kyrgyz government said later on August 3 that first the process of border delinon and demarcation needs to be completed before a gradual process of reopening the border could start. Clashes with both sides using mortars and artillery have erupted along the Kyrgyz-Tajik frontier twice. During the April 2021 conflict, 36 Kyrgyz citizens and and 19 Tajik citizens were killed. The September 14-17, 2022 clashes left 63 Kyrgyz citizens and 41 Tajik citizens dead, though RFE/RLs Tajik Service Ozodi released a list of 83 citizens killed in that conflict. In 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, bilateral trade totaled $67.7 million. In the first seven months of 2022, trade between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan amounted to only $3.2 million. The communities on both sides of the border have been hit hard by this sharp decline in trade. Why Its Important: Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are the two poorest countries in Central Asia. Since the April 2021 clashes, they have increased their defense spending. The situation along the border remains tense and arguments between members of the closely packed border communities quickly lead to armed stand-offs. Its good the two sides continue talking, especially about reopening the border. Uzbek Police Convicted for Their Role in Deadly Karakalpak Violence Three Uzbek policemen are the first members of law enforcement to be convicted for their part in the unrest in Uzbekistans western Karakalpakstan Republic that left at least 21 people dead last year. An Uzbek court found two policemen guilty of using torture on suspects and sentenced them both to seven years in prison. The third policeman was found guilty of negligence resulting in a persons death and of perjury. He was sentenced to three years in prison. Large protests started in Karakalpakstan on July 1 after people there learned proposed constitutional amendments would strip Karakalpakstan of its nominal status as a sovereign republic. Karakalpakstan would also have lost its nominal right to hold a referendum to secede from Uzbekistan. When police and security forces moved to disperse the large crowd that had gathered outside the administration building in the regional capital Nukus, violence started. The violence continued into the next day and when it was over, in addition to those who were killed, 243 people had been injured. In two separate trials, one that concluded in January 2023 and another in March, 61 of the protesters were convicted. Forty of them were given prison sentences of seven years or more. Why Its Important: Of the 21 people killed in the Karakalpakstan violence, four were law enforcement officers. Human Rights Watch (HRW) wrote in November 2022 that among the protesters killed and injured there were some with the most horrific injuries. HRW said, Uzbek security forces unjustifiably used lethal force and other excessive responses to disperse mainly peaceful demonstrators. Improper use of stun grenades and teargas cannisters seems to be the cause of most of the severe wounds inflicted during the unrest. The three policemen were not charged with any crimes related to use of excessive force during the violence. The report on their convictions did not mention if any other law enforcement officers would be put on trial. The convictions of the three policemen do little to show that Uzbek authorities commitment to bring those responsible for the violence to justice. The Latest Majlis Podcast This weeks Majlis podcast looks at the direction of domestic politics in the five Central Asian states and what domestic and foreign forces are influencing or supporting their policies. The podcast is timed with the upcoming 32nd anniversary of independence in the Central Asian states. We discuss how the politics of the first decades shaped the situation in the five countries now, and where those policies are leading them. This weeks guests are: Assel Tutumlu, originally from Kazakhstan and currently a Lecturerat the Department of International Relations and Political Science at the NearEast University in Nicosia, Cyprus; Luca Anceschi, Professor of Central Asian Studies at Glasgow University and author of several books on Central Asia; and Alexander Cooley, Claire Tow Professor of Political Science and Vice Provost at Barnard College, former director of Columbia Universitys Harriman Institute, and an accomplished author on Central Asia. What I'm Following Russian Military Recruiting in Kazakhstan Reuters reported that advertisements to join the Russian army are appearing on Internet sites in Kazakhstan. The report said the advertisements offer a one-off payment of 495,000 Russian rubles ($5,300) to those who sign a contract with the Russian military, and a monthly salary equivalent to $2,000. The advertisements also say recruits would join Russian forces on Sakhalin Island, north of Japan and far from Ukraine. Russias military has been recruiting among the Central Asian migrant laborer community in Russia, most of whom are Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Turkmen. This is first report Ive seen of efforts to recruit people inside Kazakhstan. Remittances to Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan Way Down Kyrgyzstans National Bank announced remittances for the first six months of 2023 dropped by 28.5 percent compared to the January-June period in 2022. Uzbekistans Central Bank said remittances during the first six months of this year decreased by 21.5 percent. Eighty percent of Uzbekistans remittances and 90 percent of Kyrgyzstans come from their citizens working in Russia. Fact of the Week During the August 3-5 Kazakh-Afghan Economic Forum in the Kazakh capital Astana, Kazakh media stated that trade between Kazakhstan and Afghanistan in 2022 increased to $987.9 million. In 2021, the year the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, trade between Kazakhstan and Afghanistan totaled $473.3 million. Thanks for Reading Thanks for reading Central Asia in Focus! I appreciate you sharing it with other readers who may be interested. Feel free to contact me on Twitter or by responding to this email, especially if you have any questions, comments, or just want to connect about topics concerning Central Asia. See you next week for more on whats happening in Central Asia. Until next time, Bruce Importance of CCTV cameras is vital for security. The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has installed 2,400 cameras in the city and thousands others under the Smart City project. However, around 75 per cent of these cameras are non-functional. On the sidelines of the inspection and monitoring of the trouble spots falling under the citys security and surveillance, Commissioner of Police (CP) Vinay Kumar Choubey, DCP Sanjay Shinde, Addl CP Vasant Paradeshi and others visited the CCTV command control room to discuss the challenges and obstacles in making these CCTV cameras operational. Due to the non-functioning of a significant number of CCTV cameras in the city, the police are facing challenges. Wiring of the cameras installed under the Smart City initiative has not been completed, which was brought to the attention of the authorities seven to eight months ago. However, nothing has been done yet. This issue was also highlighted during the investigation of the Aditya Ogle kidnapping-murder case. Moreover, footage from several cameras has been unclear due to poor lighting. As a result, the authorities immediately informed civic and Smart City officials about the urgent need to resolve the matter. However, even after eight months, 75 per cent of the cameras in the city remain non-functional. Poor quality, no wiring In fact, the quality of the cameras installed under the Smart City plan is not satisfactory. Moreover, the cameras have been installed, but their wiring has not been completed. Many such cameras are located at key junctions in the city, including Nehru Nagar Zero Boyz Chowk, Gandhi Nagar, MIDC road, Wakad, Pimple Saudagar, Ravet and Nigdi Pradhikaran. The wiring work was supposed to be completed by November 2022. However, it is still incomplete, said a senior police official, on condition of anonymity. While their union negotiates a new contract, the food service employees at a Las Vegas Strip stadium plan to hold a demonstration under the bright lights of the famous tourist boulevard on Thursday night, August 10. 'One Job Is Enough' Workers at T-Mobile Arena have been in contract talks with their employer Levy Premium Food Service for over a year, as per a statement released by the Culinary Workers Union, a political organization in Nevada. According to the employees, they need a fair contract so that "one job is enough to provide for their families." The T-Mobile Arena is the home of the Vegas Golden Knights and is home to 200 Levy employees. The union represents 60,000 hospitality workers in Las Vegas and Reno. The union's second gathering on the Strip in recent months highlights the ongoing negotiations with Levy, which provides food and drink services to stadiums, convention centers, and other venues across the country. Thousands of people are expected to attend the Thursday rally, which will take place close to the arena. This news comes weeks after members voted 97% in favor of enabling a walkout if a contract cannot be agreed upon soon. According to AP News, Levy issued a statement saying it was disheartened by the union's decision to protest after months of talks broke down. "We remain committed to working diligently with the Union to reach a fair agreement that shows our team members how much we value them ... and we look forward to returning to the bargaining table soon." Also Read: Los Angeles: Over 11,000 Local Workers Go On 24-Hour Strike to 'Shut Down' City Looming Strike Risk Since the arena opened in 2016, Lucia Orozco has been a chef there. She said that she and her husband, who works in hospitality at a neighboring Strip casino, rarely go over their budget very often. But they have no retirement savings and must rely on each salary they get. The 56-year-old chef was concerned since she is very close to retirement. The strike threat hangs over the Golden Knights as they prepare for their first home preseason game on September 27 against the Los Angeles Kings and their regular season home opener on October 10 against the Seattle Kraken. If the union continues to strike, it will occur a month following thousands of Southern California hospitality workers who went on protest for the same reasons (more pay and better benefits). It was the biggest strike in the union's history, they said. Workers from the Strip and downtown Las Vegas are also likely to attend Thursday's march in support of the union. In June, hundreds of members clad in red filled whole sidewalks on the Strip to attract attention to the contract discussions with Levy, waving posters reading "ONE JOB SHOULD BE ENOUGH" at passing motor vehicles. Also Read: Taylor Swift's LA Shows May Be Postponed as Politicians Urge Support for Striking Hotel Workers @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Testimony has begun in Henry Earl Dinkins' trial in Scott County Court in the kidnapping and death of 10-year-old Breasia Terrell. The first witness in the trial is Geoffrey Peiffer, a sergeant in the Davenport Police Department. He was one of the officers who responded to the report that Breasia was missing. Dinkins is charged with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree murder. A jury trial had been expected to start earlier this week in Cedar Rapids. The trial was moved from Scott County to the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids after the Iowa Supreme Court granted a change of venue April 22, 2022. Jury selection began Tuesday, but potential jurors were sent home when Dinkins opted for a bench trial. The decision brought the trial back to Scott County. On March 22, 2021, two fishermen found human remains in a remote pond three miles north of DeWitt. The next day, investigators from the Division of Criminal Investigation finished removing the remains from the pond. Davenport Police Chief Paul Sikorski confirmed on March 31, 2021, the remains were those of Breasia Terrell. On Thursday, Peiffer testified that he was called to the Jersey Meadows apartment complex at 2744 E. 53rd Street after another officer responded to a report of a missing child on July 10, 2020. Peiffer learned the missing child was Breasia, and she had been spending the night in apartment No. 8 with her brother, Dinkins and Dinkins' girlfriend. Dinkins is the father of Breasia's brother. According to Peiffer, the first officer told him the case did not feel like a "typical missing kid incident." It became clear Breasia was gone from the apartment for a significant amount of time, Peiffer testified. Davenport police began canvassing the area, including unoccupied apartments and garages in the complex. "This incident was clearly not like any other we had experienced, due to the lack of details," Peiffer told Scott County Attorney Kelly Cunningham. This story will be updated. Photos: Breasia Terrells Garden at Monroe Elementary School Iowa families can now check their household's eligibility for free and reduced-price school meals this upcoming school year. These policies finalized by the Iowa Department of Education (IDOE) and Bureau of Nutrition and Health Services apply to children unable to pay the full price of meals at schools participating in the federal National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. State and local school officials have set the following criteria for the 2023-2024 school year: This year, more households may be able to qualify their children for free and reduced-price meals as the eligible annual incomes for 2023-2024 range from approximately 7.3 to 8.4% increase from last school year's guidelines. For example, a two or four-person household must earn annual incomes of $25,636 and $39,000, respectively, to qualify for free school meals. Last year, two-person households had limits of $23,803 yearly, and a four-person at $36,075. Income eligibility for reduced-price meals this year land at $36,482 for a two-person household, and $55,500 for a four-person household. These figures stood at $33,874 and $51,338 last school year. Households at or below the income thresholds can complete a single application and return it to their school. The application will require the last four digits of the primary wage earner's Social Security number, or that of another adult household member. Some households, such as those that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program benefits, may receive a letter that they are automatically qualified. Special Supplement Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) participants may also qualify for free or reduced price meals, based on a completed application. Households will also be notified of any child eligible for free meals, so long as a school knows these students are enrolled in a Head Start/Even Start program or, if these children are considered homeless, migrant or runaway. Free or reduced-price meal eligibility from last year will continue for 30 operating days into the 2023-2024 school year. How school cafeteria meals have changed How school cafeteria meals have changed 1894: First school lunch program appears 1900: Boston and Philadelphia lead the way 1920s: The Americanization agenda 1930s: School lunch and the New Deal 1940: WWII ups the ante 1946: The National School Lunch Act signed 1950s: Nutritional quality goes down 1962: National School Lunch Week established 1966: School breakfast program begins 1966: Special Milk program first offered 1968: Summer food program begins 1977: Nutritional value called into question 1981: Ketchup is a vegetable 1980s: School lunches become a privatized business 1995: The Department of Defense is placed on vegetable duty 2000s: Fast food vendors amp up their lunchroom presence 2010: The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act passes 2014: Smart Snacks in School standards implemented 2018: Trump rolls back nutrition standards 2020: COVID-19 necessitates curbside grab-and-go Republican presidential candidate and former vice president Mike Pence kicked off a three-day statewide tour in Iowa at the Quad Cities Veterans Outreach Center. Several dozen people gathered with conversations buzzing as anticipation built for Pences arrival. The stop was his first one of the day before heading to the Scott County Republican Lincoln Club Luncheon, then the Iowa State Fair. Pence went around the room, shaking hands with everyone, stopping for a quick conversation or two, and thanking those who served as many in attendance were veterans. One of the last few people Pence thanked was Davenport Mayor Mike Matson, who served in the United States Army for more than two decades. I want to say from the bottom of my heart, for all of you who wore the uniform of the United States, those of you that served in the Vietnam era, let me say from my heart, Welcome home, Pence said. If he has the privilege to serve as the president of the United States, he said, he promises to continue doing everything he can to expand benefits for veterans and keep promises already made to those who have served. A few areas of his focus are ending veteran homelessness nationwide, addressing mental health needs to help lower veteran suicide rates to zero, and ensuring access to medical care. My dad was a combat veteran in the Korean War, he said. He came home with some medals in a box and put them in the dresser, and he never talked about it to me and my three brothers and two sisters. Those of you that have seen combat understand that better than I ever will. Anytime his father was called a hero, Pence recalled that his father would say heroes were the guys that didnt get to come home. Pence also has a son who currently serves in the United States Marine Corps and a son-in-law in the United States Navy. Most of those in attendance shared struggles of not being able to receive proper healthcare, asking the former vice president what else he could do for them. Pence said he would expand on veterans programs already in place and ensure there are no obstacles to prevent veterans from receiving the care needed. He also highlighted what was accomplished under the Trump-Pence administration. Under their administration, he said, they expanded the Veterans Choice Program to allow veterans to get healthcare at another public or private health facility. If someone was not able to receive help at Veterans Affairs, he said, a voucher could be given, so they could go somewhere else for help. One of the biggest points Pence is taking away from the visit with Quad-City area Veterans is inspiration from Davenport, he told members of the media. To see how the Quad Cities Veterans Outreach Center helps those in the community, and Davenport ending veteran homelessness is inspirational, he said. It just shows me that the cure for what ails this country is ultimately going to come from the generosity, the compassion and the innovation of the American people, said Pence. In November 2020, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness sent a letter to the city of Davenport, confirming that Davenport and the Quad-Cities Bi-State Region effectively ended veteran homelessness. Pence also highlighted he would secure the southern border to prevent illegal immigration and also look at ways to fix a broken immigration system. He suggested a merit-based immigration system. If youre willing to come and work in this area, were going to give you a legal pathway to come into this country, he said. Pence is one of many Republicans vying for the 2024 Republican Presidential nomination. One of those candidates includes former President Donald Trump, who has been indicted for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump has repeatedly attacked his former vice president for not overturning the election results. Talking to members of the media, Pence said he understands the disappointment of the last election and that he was also on the ballot. But he reminds people that he took an oath of office to support and defend the Constitution. When that day came, and we began to hear suggestions from the president, and some of his outside lawyers that I had the authority to reject or return votes, I dismissed, he said. There is almost no idea more un-American than the idea that any one person could choose which votes to count. For the American presidency, it belongs to the American people. For people in Scott County, Pence said, he wants them to know that he is a Christian, conservative and Republican in that order. I hope when they have an opportunity to look at our candidacy, theyll look not just at my years as vice president but also my years as the governor of Indiana ... as a member of Congress of the United States, he said. The former second lady and Pences wife, Karen, also was in attendance and shook hands with those in attendance, stopping to talk with a few and holding conversations with those who approached her following her husbands speech. Iowa Republican Attorney General Brenna Bird has led 16 states in a letter to U.S. congressional leadership, urging passage of legislation to prohibit states from banning animal products from outside the state that dont meet certain confinement standards. The Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression, or EATS, Act is aimed at Californias Proposition 12, a law regulating the conditions of livestock whose products are sold in California. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to Proposition 12 earlier this year. Farm groups that challenged the law argued it violated constitutional provisions banning states from regulating interstate commerce. Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, of Marion, introduced the bill in the House alongside fellow Iowa GOP U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, of Bondurant. Iowa Republican U.S. Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley co-led the Senate version of the bill. Opponents have taken particular aim at the pork provision in California's law. It requires that sows that give birth to pigs sold for pork in California be given at least 24 square feet of space, more than most Iowa farmers use. Birthing sows generally are held in small gestation crates without enough room to turn around. Animal rights groups have called the practice cruel and argued it could harm public health. California accounts for about 13 percent of the nations pork consumption. Bird said Proposition 12 sets harsh regulations that increase prices for consumers, and may force many pork producers unable to comply to close their businesses. California needs to keep their hands off our bacon, Bird said in a statement. No other state should be dictating how Iowans farm, let alone Californias bureaucrats. The EATS Act stops Californias overreach and gives state attorneys general the tools they need to fight for farmers and ranchers. We urge Congress to pass the EATS Act and stand up for livestock producers across the nation. Critics, including California farmers and ranchers, also argue the bill would dismantle hard-fought state laws that support farming families invalidating thousands of state-level agriculture laws. Straw Poll returns to Iowa State Fair Iowa State Fair attendees will again be able to vote for their preferred presidential candidate in the Iowa Secretary of States State Fair Straw Poll. Secretary of State Paul Pate announced the return of the unscientific poll, which allows fairgoers to cast a vote for their favorite candidate in the presidential primary, as well as their favorite fair food. The poll also encourages individuals to register to vote, update their registration and cast a ballot in upcoming elections. The State Fair Straw Poll can be accessed on iPads at the Iowa Secretary of State booth inside the Varied Industries Building at the fairgrounds in Des Moines. Results will be available at https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/statefair/strawpoll/statefairresults.aspx. The poll will include 36 presidential candidates, including Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians who have been identified as candidates by their respective political parties. Pate has invited each presidential candidate and their supporters to visit the booth and participate in the straw poll. The Secretary of States Office takes no official role in Iowas upcoming precinct caucuses, which are functions of Iowas political parties. This is just a fun way to engage with Iowa State Fairgoers and measure what the caucus results could look like in 2024, Pate said in a statement. Treasurer reunites Iowan with $4.5 million Iowa State Treasurer Roby Smith said his office has reunited an Iowan with unclaimed property valued at a record-breaking $4.5 million from the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt. At some point, the owner invested in over 15,000 shares in McDonalds Corporation. When the company deemed the property unclaimed, it was turned over to the State since the owners last known address was in Iowa, Smith said in a news release. Like we do for all owners, my office sent a due diligence letter to inform them of the unclaimed funds in the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt. This prompted a claim, and the rest is history. The Great Iowa Treasure Hunt has returned more than $346 million to more than 951,000 individuals, according to the treasurers office. Smith said its a great reminder to log into ones investments periodically so the account doesnt go dormant. In addition to shares, forgotten checking and savings accounts, stocks, uncashed checks, life insurance policies, utility refunds and abandoned safe deposit box contents are examples of unclaimed property that gets turned over to the state. Businesses and financial institutions are required by law to send such assets to the State Treasurers Office after going a certain period of time with no successful contact with the owner generally three years. Iowans can search for unclaimed property that may be owed to them at GreatIowaTreasureHunt.gov. Counties with the highest heart disease rates in Iowa Counties with the highest heart disease rates in Iowa #25. Ida #24. Fremont #23. Humboldt #22. Fayette #21. Montgomery #20. Osceola #19. Allamakee #18. Keokuk #17. Adams #16. Cherokee #15. Clarke #14. Cass #13. Sac #12. Audubon #11. Kossuth #10. Monona #9. Franklin #8. Lucas #7. Ringgold #6. Van Buren #5. Pocahontas #4. Wright #3. Wayne #2. Clayton #1. Appanoose Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Marlette, South Dakota National Guard Adjutant General, retired after 36 years of military service to his community, state and nation. A retirement ceremony was held at the Joint Force Headquarters, Camp Rapid, on Aug. 4. Marlette retired as South Dakota's 22nd Adjutant General, a position he has held since June 8, 2019. He also serves on Gov. Kristi Noem's cabinet as the Adjutant General. He was responsible for the preparation of more than 4,200 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen and more than 1,000 full-time federal and state employees to respond in times of state or national emergencies. "Thank you all for being here with us. I can tell you this has been a tremendous honor and privilege for me to serve in this role and wear this uniform," Marlette said. He began his South Dakota National Guard career in 1980 and received his commission as a second lieutenant through the South Dakota Military Academy Officer Candidate School program in 1982, branching as an engineer officer. He served at every level of command and was the first commander of the 196th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade. He also served as the state's Assistant Adjutant General - Army from April 2011 to October 2012. Marlette deployed to Iraq 2004 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as the commander of 2nd Battalion, 147th Field Artillery. The battalion was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation for their outstanding performance during the deployment. During his tenure as the Adjutant General, the South Dakota National Guard had more than 1,000 Soldiers and Airmen deployed to more than 30 countries and supported 25 different state active duty missions. Marlette's units and members received 54 national and individual awards for superior performance, safety, and strong financial stewardship. "We've had soldiers and airmen deployed every day since 9-11," Marlette said. "It's a tough job and a big job but you're up for it." Marlette has been awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Combat Action Badge, Ancient Order of Saint Barbara, and multiple other awards. He holds a bachelor's degree in education and a master's degree in education administration from Northern State University in Aberdeen. He also earned an Education Specialist Degree from the University of Sioux Falls, and a master's degree in strategic studies from the U.S. Army War College. "For many years Maj. Gen. Marlette and his wife Sandy have not only been advisors but people who have lead by example and they've been friends," Noem said during Marlettes retirement ceremony. "I have been able to make the right decision because of this man [Marlette], because this man who cared about doing things right and correct. He's helped me become a better leader." Pearl Hoel, the woman known as the first lady of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, was honored at this years rally with a womens motorcycle ride inspired by her legacy. The inaugural Pearls Girls Ride took place Wednesday morning. Sturgis City Council President Beka Zerbst led a group of women on a motorcycle tour through some of her favorite rides among the Black Hills. The ride concluded with lunch at the Woodland Park Shelter. This year Tammy Even-Cordell, our rally director, said Lets do a womens ride and lets call it Pearls Girls after Pearl Hoel, Zerbst said. J.C. "Pappy" Hoel was a racer, an Indian motorcycle dealer and race promoter who founded the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in 1938. He also founded the Jackpine Gypsies Motorcycle Club. His wife, Pearl, helped plan and host the rally in its early years. With help from other club members wives, Pearl cooked a free meal for the first gathering of about 150 people, recalling the menu that year was weenies, sloppy joes, potato salad and watermelon for dessert with iced tea or coffee, served in a tent behind the Hoels garage at their dealership. Camping was provided in the Hoels backyard behind their motorcycle shop in Sturgis. Pearl was the consummate hostess. She worked alongside Pappy and she was also an educator. She was a teacher in Meade County. She went to Black Hills State when it was Spearfish Normal School, Zerbst said. She was active in Sturgis with different civic organizations, and I feel that she was just a great partner with Pappy in business, and when it came to the rally she was there to welcome guests. Through the years of the rally, Pearl developed friendships with people worldwide. She was interviewed by National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel and other media. When people talk about the importance of the Hoels, its not an understatement, Zerbst said. Pearl died in 2005 at the age of 99. A tribute written about her noted that while Pearl didnt personally enjoy riding motorcycles, she supported Pappys early efforts and continued her support of the rally after Pappy died in 1989 and for the rest of her life. She was still participating. Shed be seen at the races and around the rally, Zerbst said. A sisterhood of riders The Pearls Girls Ride is a tribute to Pearl Hoels contributions and to growing numbers of women riders and womens motorcycle organizations, such as the Wild Gypsy Tour Festival, Women on Wheels, Biker Belles, and The Litas. Zerbst is a member of The Litas and said the local chapter of that group regularly hosts rides in the Black Hills. Zerbst grew up in Sturgis and, after her husband retired from the Army, the Zerbst family returned to Sturgis in 2017. Zerbst has served on the city council since 2018. Growing up in Sturgis, Ive always appreciated motorcycles and I always wanted to have a motorcycle. I took the safety course put on by the state of South Dakota and bought a motorcycle, she said. A womens ride has been a topic of discussion in the city council when we talk about rally planning. A national survey from by the Motorcycle Industry Council shows that about 20% of motorcycle riders are women. For the inaugural Pearls Girls Ride, Zerbst led other women riders on a tour that showcased the beauty of the Black Hills. The group included the rally parades grand marshal, Laura Klock, and Sturgis city council vice president Angela Wilkerson, along with other riders. They rode from Sturgis through Whitewood to Spearfish and Spearfish Canyon, to Cheyenne Crossing and Deadwood and back to Sturgis. I love Spearfish Canyon. I think it is beautiful. Its really kind of a gem of the Northern Hills, Zerbst said. Theres something about being on a bike in the Black Hills. It surrounds your senses. You can smell the pine. Its the fresh air, its the beauty of Spearfish Canyon. Theres something about riding thats therapeutic and when you have a beautiful backdrop, it enhances that. Zerbst said the plan is for the Pearls Girls Ride to become an annual event. Im excited we have people interested. We in the city see the growing demographic of women riders, Zerbst said. Were adding to the opportunities for women to have the fellowship and the sisterhood. Were looking forward to building on this year. I think theres something so empowering about riding with other women, she said. Thousands make the journey to Sturgis for the motorcycle rally each year. Here are some of the faces that stood out. Name: Sally Henry and Jessica Thomas Age: 29 and 32 From: Denver, Colorado How many rallies have you attended previously? Henry: My ninth. I used to live here. Thomas: Second. Favorite thing about the rally? Henry: It's like coming home. Thomas: I learned how to ride at my first one. Name: Colin Reardon Age: 41 From: Calgary, Alberta How many rallies have you attended previously? This is the first one. Favorite thing about the rally? The people. Name: Lynn Youness and Mike Youness Age: 64 and 70 From: St. Paul, Minnesota How many rallies have you attended previously? Lynn has attended 10 or more. Mike has attended "about 20." Favorite thing about the rally? For Lynn: "People watching." For Mike: "The pretty girls." Name: Ken Sackowski and Joanne Sackowski Age: 65 and 62 From: New York How many rallies have you attended previously? Ken has attended five. This one is Joanne's first rally. Favorite thing about the rally? Ken: The people and the motorcycles. Joanne: A nice place to come. Because of how much Ken enjoyed it, I decided to go. Name: Scott Adams Age: 62 From: Milwaukee, Wisconsin How many rallies have you attended previously? I've been a vendor about four years and have been coming for about 15 years. Favorite thing about the rally? The energy, being together, meeting new people and being in the beautiful area. Another Kalispell man accused in a bank robbery in Butte last year will avoid prison and could clear a felony conviction from his record if he abides by probation terms over the next three years. District Judge Kurt Krueger gave John Robert Austin a three-year deferred sentence Thursday for his part in robbing the Wells Fargo bank on Harrison Avenue on Sept. 1, 2022. Prosecutors say Austin and Logan Christopher Nadasi waited in car while Caleb Weston Bernhardt went inside, threatened to shoot a teller unless she handed over money, and got away that day with $2,350. All three were 19 at the time. Bernhardt pleaded guilty to robbery and Austin and Nadassi pleaded guilty to robbery by accountability, but the crimes carry the same maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. The teller who was robbed expressed compassion and didnt want any of the young men sent to prison, so based on that and other factors, prosecutor Kelli Fivey recommended deferred sentences for all three. District Judge Robert Whelan gave Bernhardt a three-year deferred sentence Wednesday. He noted that Bernhardt had no prior criminal record but said he never would have considered such a light sentence unless the victim agreed to it. The teller hugged Bernhardt in the courtroom after Wednesdays hearing. Prosecutor Ann Shea, who was filling in for Fivey during Austins sentencing hearing Thursday, also cited the tellers wishes. The victim was very clear that based on the ages of the defendants, even as serious as this offense is, she did not want a sentence that would affect their futures, Shea told the judge. She wanted them to have the opportunity to show that they can be productive members of society." Krueger noted that a deferred sentence could lead to an expunged record if Austin met all probation conditions over the next three years. He then asked Austin if he could comply. Absolutely, Austin said. Nadasi, the other defendant in the case, is to be sentenced Sept. 13. In these disrupting times of continuous redevelopment and innovation, the real estate sector emerges as a virtuoso conductor which is breathing new life into aging structures and spaces. Here, evangelizing architectural designers services step onto the stage to metamorphose once obsolete or underutilized spaces into contemporary, purposeful, and sustainable places that resonate with the evolving markets desires. Having said that, today, clients crave designs that mesmerize and stand apart from the mundane. To deliver such enchantment, one must embrace the rhythmic play of staying abreast with trends, technologies, and materials, while letting their senses drink from the well of knowledge.Unleashing its explorers spirits, Span Associates has been venturing into uncharted realms, unearthing fresh ideas and devising innovative solutions, like treasures for its niche clients to cherish. The companys range of offerings span across numerous architecture and interior design services respective of the project type residential, commercial, institutional, and more.In 2014, the seedlings of Span Associates sprouted from the minds of three visionary college friends: Swarna Tamilarasu, Pavan Suravarapu, and Nageshwaran Ramu. Their journey began amidst the verdant embrace of Indiranagar Park in Bangalore, blossoming into a triumvirate of branches spanning three states: the dynamic core in Bangalore-Karnataka, the architectural heartbeat in Hyderabad-Telangana, and the creative sanctuary in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. Like adventurous pollinators, their ambitions took flight, and now their artistic prowess across the majestic projects of Dubai, a testament to their unfaltering expertise.In the realm of client-architect relationships, communication is the key that unlocks success. We become avid listeners, ears tuned to the symphony of our clients needs, goals, and preferences. Their vision unfolds before us, like a vivid painting in our minds. Attention to detail becomes our guiding star, carefully etching precision into drawings, specifications, and material selections, ensuring flawless execution, like a master craftsman at work, says Swarna Tamilarasu, Co-founder at Span Associates.This grand tapestry of exceeding expectations calls for a harmonious blend of technical prowess, eloquent communication, boundless creativity, and meticulous project management. Understanding this, we place client needs on a pedestal, painting strokes of excellence in every aspect of our endeavors, crafting masterpieces that transcend time. Through this alchemy, we forge lasting bonds, turning clients into patrons of our artistry, she adds.For Span Associates, the clients reign supreme, and their needs, desires, and objectives are its path maker. The company embarks on a journey of thorough consultations, immersing ourselves in heartfelt conversations to unravel their visions, requirements, and budgetary considerations. With attentive ears, it absorbs their ideas, concerns, and priorities, ensuring that the very essence of their being is woven into the tapestry of our designs. Like artisans sculpting masterpieces, Span Associates customizes its design approach to stay inline with the distinctive desires of each client. Their lifestyles, cultural influences, functional necessities, and aesthetic inclinations become the threads that shape the complete design solutions; a personalized, purposeful, and brimming with significance. We focus on communicating the constraints, challenges, and limitations that may emerge on the design horizon. We guide our clients, balancing their aspirations with the pragmatic realities, ensuring a harmonious dance between dreams and practicality, highlights Pavan Suravarapu, Co-founder at Span Associates. Our commitment stretches far beyond the completion of a project. Even after the final brushstroke, we stand by our clients, offering unwavering support. Whether its post occupancy evaluations or additional design services, we adapt to their evolving needs, ensuring their satisfaction remains unwavering, he adds. A Holistic Outlook Span Associates is a place where architectural and interior design services thrive in harmony with the ever growing demand for exceptional spaces. The company has mastered the art of understanding its clients desires, weaving their dreams into reality through ingenious solutions and an unforgettable personalized journey. By engaging in meaningful dialogues, the company unwinds the essence of clients aspirations, delving deep into their goals, preferences, and financial aspects; involving them in every step of the design process. Our services embody the essence of tailored collaboration, a symphony that harmonizes with the unique desires of our clients. And our true jewel in the crown lies in our commitment to design excellence a commitment that continuously evolves alongside the ever-changing tastes and needs of our cherished clientele. We are here to help them discover their preferred design style, effortlessly translating it into our signature aesthetics, signifies Nageshwaran Ramu, Co-founder at Span Associates. Embracing the philosophy of tailored design solutions, we embark on a voyage of ingenuity, crafting bespoke creations that cater precisely to the unique requirements of each project. Our expertise shines through as we fearlessly conquer design challenges, ingeniously considering spatial limitations, illuminating possibilities with captivating lighting arrangements, orchestrating acoustics that dance with harmony, and thoughtfully curating materials that embody perfection, he adds. Never stagnant, Span Associates has always been at the forefront of architectural and interior design trends, staging parallel with the constantly evolving market dynamics. The company has been weaving together cutting-edge materials, harnessing the power of technology, and embracing the avant garde concepts that define modern aesthetics. This results in more captivating spaces that transcend time, captivating the clients hearts and breathing life into their surroundings. Span Associates is not just creators of spaces, but also the curators of dreams, crafting exceptional experiences that resonate deeply with the clients. Shaping Spaces that Transcends the Ordinary This convergence of talents allows for a holistic and all encompassing approach to design conundrums and conundrums they shall conquer. These aforementioned three visionaries, with their wealth of experience woven together, form an unstoppable force capable of conquering the most intricate of projects. Their diverse backgrounds and specialized knowledge in various architectural styles and techniques enrich their collective prowess, resulting in a dynamic and versatile team that fearlessly tackles even the most complex endeavors. Right from the nascent stages of conceptualization to the meticulous development of designs, this competent trio leaves no stone unturned. They deftly navigate the labyrinth of construction documentation, ensuring every detail is meticulously accounted for. And in the grand finale of project coordination, their collaboration reaches its zenith, ensuring that functionality, aesthetics, and technical requirements work in tandem flawlessly. For those who seek architectural mastery, this formidable trio delivers results beyond expectation. Delivering Results Span Associates portfolio boasts a plethora of triumphant home renovation projects, where it has skillfully orchestrated transformations that transcend mere style adjustments. A proficient designer possesses the ability to envision spaces anew, meticulously considering crucial elements such as layout, color palettes, material selection, and furnishing choices, all aimed at achieving the desired metamorphosis. The companys approach enclose a versatile range of techniques, including strategic alterations to architectural features, judicious updates to finishes, and the introduction of captivating decor, resulting in a unified and visually captivating aesthetic. A Robust Roadmap Ahead In response to the escalating call for environmentally conscious constructions, Span Associates is poised to prioritize the provision of sustainable design services. The companys strategic approach will transcend the seamless integration of energy-efficient technologies, the utilization of eco-friendly materials, and the thoughtful incorporation of renewable energy sources within its meticulously crafted designs. More over, the company aims to contribute to the preservation of our planet while delivering exceptional solutions that align with its clients vision for sustainable and forward-thinking spaces. Going forward, the company wants to embrace the ever-advancing frontiers of technology, including virtual reality and artificial intelligence, to elevate the art of design visualization, foster profound client engagement, and optimize project workflows with seamless efficiency. Further, Span Associates would be continuously pursuing towards creating a global footprint through the flawless execution of projects on an international scale, securing an esteemed reputation within the esteemed realm of the worldwide architectural community. We want to remain in a perpetual state of adaptation and evolution as a firm, wholeheartedly embracing forthcoming trends, cutting-edge technologies, and societal imperatives, positioning ourselves as unparalleled trailblazers in the dynamic Design industry. We always believe in taking proactive involvement in community initiatives and dedicate our expertise to pro bono projects, magnanimously giving back to society and leaving a lasting positive impact on underserved communities, concludes Swarna. Date of Establishment:JAN 2014 Number of Employees & Office Locations:30 plus team Bangalore, Hyderabad, & Vellore Awards & Recognition: One of our Private Residence at Hyderabad Published in 50 Beautiful Houses in India (Vol 6) Our apartment project - BK Enchanting Enclave Awarded The Best Project for the Design and Concept in non-metro by 2nd Estrade Real Estate Awards, Singapore Kathmandu: H.E. Mr. KIKUTA Yutaka, Ambassador of Japan to Nepal, visited the Nagdhunga tunnel construction site today to inspect the breakthrough of the evacuation tunnel. The excavation of the 2.557 km-long evacuation tunnel wa completed today, and the remaining work, including the excavation of the main tunnel and equipping inside facilities of the tunnel, will be continued. The construction of the tunnel began in October 2019. Since then, this project has come a long way overcoming many difficulties such as the threat posed by the Covid19 pandemic, geological challenges and many others. On this occasion of milestone Ambassador Kikuta congratulated all the stakeholders, both Japanese and Nepali sides, for coming so far in spite of so many obstacles and wished them the best of luck for a smooth completion of the remaining work. He has also emphasized the importance of ensuring proper safety measures in the construction site. Nepal is a mountainous country like Japan. Thus, tunnels would take an indispensable part in the transport sector in Nepal. Japan has a highly developed tunnel construction technology and rich experiences. As this project being the first-ever road tunnel construction in Nepal with the technology transfer from Japan, the implementation of this project would not only improve the traffic situation of the construction site but also would facilitate future development of transportation sector in Nepal. The Naubishe -Thankot section of the Tribhuvan Highway is affected by poor road conditions and inefficiency of vehicle mobility, due to numerous sharp bends and steep gradients. The completion of this project is expected to improve a traffic flow significantly, in terms of travel time and cost, which will also contribute to the economic development of Nepal. Wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui killed dozens of people and forced evacuations, prompting airlines to increase flights to get tourists off the island. More Flights Are Being Added Airline companies such as American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and Alaska Airlines all announced expansions of service to assist passengers in making their departures. Since the flames started, more than 11,000 people have been evacuated by air, according to the state's transportation director, Ed Sniffen. He talked at a press conference on Wednesday, August 9, as reported by NBC News. As a result of hurricane-fueled ablaze, most of the coastal village of Lahaina was destroyed. Due to high passenger volumes at Kahului Airport in Maui, Hawaiian Airlines strongly advised against walk-in visitors without prior reservations. "While we are currently operating our full schedule and have seats available on flights out of Maui today, we are concentrating our resources on transporting essential personnel and first responders." According to CNBC, a representative for American Airlines said the company would run all of its planned flights to and from Kahului Airport as usual on Thursday, August 10. The spokeswoman added that they had upgraded one aircraft and scheduled an extra trip to accommodate passengers that needed to leave Maui. The airline switched certain flights from using Airbus A321s to Boeing 777-200s. The former are narrow-body jets that can seat up to 190 people, while the latter is one of the biggest planes in the inventory, which can seat up to 273 passengers. South West Airlines recently said it would be expanding its service to include nonstop flights between cities on the Hawaiian islands. Meanwhile, United Airlines said Thursday that it would not be operating any flights into Kahului Airport, but it would be flying empty planes to Maui to pick up passengers. There are now a total of nine departures from Maui every day thanks to the addition of Alaska Airlines' "rescue flight" on Thursday. In a statement, the carrier said, "Our main concern is the safety of our employees and guests. We're assessing the addition of more rescue flights to help get people off the island." Also Read: Statement from President Joe Biden on the Wildfires in Hawaii State of Emergency in Hawaii As Hurricane Dora fuels flames throughout Hawaii, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke signed an emergency declaration for Gov. Josh Green. The mandate lasts until August 15. Hawaii and Maui's North Kohala, South Kohala, Kula, and Lahaina districts have burned hundreds of acres, forcing evacuations and highway and school closures. The governor authorized the Hawaii National Guard and Major Disaster Fund by declaring a state of emergency. It also authorized emergency alert and warning power for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency director and administrator and activated state personnel to tackle the raging blazes. Also Read: As Maui Wildfires Continue To Burn, Displacing Thousands, Overwhelming Hospitals, Cutting 911 Service @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korean leader Kim Jong Un replaced the military's top general and called for more preparations for the possibility of war, a boost in weapons production, and expansion of military drills, state media KCNA reported on Thursday. Kim made the comments at a meeting of the Central Military Commission which discussed plans for countermeasures to deter North Korea's enemies, which it did not name, the report said. The country's top general, Chief of the General Staff Pak Su Il was "dismissed," KCNA reported, without elaborating. He had served in his role for about seven months. Pak was replaced by General Ri Yong Gil, who previously served as the country's defence minister, as well as the top commander of its conventional troops. Ri also previously served as the army chief of staff. When he was replaced in 2016 his sacking and subsequent absence from official events sparked reports in South Korea that he had been executed. He reappeared a few months later, when he was named to another senior post. Kim also set a target for the expansion of weapons production capacity, the report said, without providing details. Last week he visited weapons factories where he called for more missile engines, artillery and other weapons to be built. Photos released by KCNA showed Kim pointing at Seoul and areas surrounding the South Korean capital on a map. The United States has accused North Korea of providing arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine, including artillery shells, rockets and missiles. Russia and North Korea have denied those claims. Kim also called for the military to conduct drills with the country's latest weapons and equipment to keep its forces ready for combat, the report said. North Korea is set to stage a militia parade on Sept. 9, marking the 75th anniversary of the Day of the Foundation of the Republic. North Korea has a number of paramilitary groups it uses to bolster its military forces. Sprezza Italian Ristorante is moving out of Shockoe Slip and into the former Balliceaux space at 203 N. Lombardy St. in the Fan District. As our one year lease was coming to an end we spoke with our staff and decided that we really wanted to give Sprezza a shot in the Fan, owner Angela Petruzzelli posted to social media. The Fan was where I first lived when I moved to Richmond and I instantly fell in love. Sprezza started as a popular pop-up at such spaces as The Broken Tulip and Pizza Bones before moving into a brick-and-mortar spot at the former Mortons the Steakhouse location at 111 Virginia St. in Shockoe Slip for one year. But the location never seemed like the right fit, Petruzzelli said. She is hoping the new digs in the Fan will be better suited to Sprezza, which serves authentic food from the Puglia region in southern Italy. Petruzzelli, who moved to Richmond from Miami at the beginning of the pandemic, grew up cooking that type of food. I really love it here, she said. The community of the Fan is unmatched. Ive never felt that anywhere before. Thats why were excited to get back to the Fan. As for the menu, Petruzzelli will be keeping many of the favorites, such as the made-from-scratch lasagna that takes eight hours to assemble, but the biggest change will be adding lunch. Ive always wanted to do an Italian lunch. More sandwiches and really good salads, Petruzzelli said. The dinner menu will stay mostly the same, while she hopes to introduce brunch at a later date. Most recently, 203 N. Lombardy St. was home to Brun, a short-lived whiskey-and-cigar lounge that closed earlier this year. It was occupied by Balliceaux from 2009 to 2017. And before that, the space was well-known as Bogarts, a Fan mainstay from 2001 to 2008 with jazz in the back room. Petruzzelli is planning to use the back room space for private events and themed nights. While street parking proved a challenge to previous tenants, Petruzzelli said she is not concerned about it. There is a lot of street parking. The Fan is very walkable. Its very Italian, to have a nice walk to dinner, she said. Petruzzelli is hoping to open in mid-September. Its a great space, she said. We have a few artistic touches to make it feel like Puglia. But its pretty turn-key. Top five weekend events: Richmond Jazz Festival, Carytown Watermelon Festival Carytown Watermelon Festival Richmond Jazz and Music Festival Parliament Funkadelic featuring George Clinton JamPacked Craft Beer & Music Festival RVA Rapper's Delight Fortune 500 insurer W.R. Berkley Corp. is expanding the Henrico County home office of its Berkley Mid-Atlantic Insurance Group with a $6.1 million investment that will create a projected 72 jobs. More than 175 employees are based out of the Henrico office, which also handles the companys growing excess and surplus lines businesses as well as Berkley Mid-Atlantics property and casualty insurance. Berkley Mid-Atlantic focuses on small and mid-sized companies, particularly in the construction, retail, service, wholesale, real estate and manufacturing sectors. The new jobs will be for underwriters, financial analysts, accountants and C-suite top management positions. Henrico as a hub for our business expansion is undeniable, and we embrace the opportunities that lie ahead, said Berkley Mid-Atlantic President Michelle D. Middleton in a statement. As we reflect on the exceptional talent that Henrico has consistently provided for us, particularly in the realm of excess and surplus lines insurance, we are excited for the future, she said. We envision continued growth, bolstered by the incredible talent pool and the invaluable relationships we have cultivated with insurance brokers in this region. Virginia competed with Arizona and Ohio for the project, which will mean Berkley taking on an additional 8,920 square feet of office space in the Innsbrook business park. Berkley will be the fourth firm to locate in the technology zone established by Henrico in Innsbrook, in which the county can waive permit and planning fees and offer customized incentives for corporate headquarters, finance and insurance firms, health sciences, financial technology centers, IT firms and shared services operations. EAB, an education research and technology firm; Genworth; and Berkshire Hathaway Energy are the others that have located facilities in the technology zone. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the Henrico Economic Development Authority to secure this project for Virginia. Gov. Glenn Youngkin approved $217,500 from the Commonwealths Opportunity Fund to assist Henrico with the project. Funding and services to support the companys employee training activities will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program. Greater Richmond is known for providing the robust talent pipeline that leading businesses like Berkley Aspire, Berkley Mid-Atlantic, and Verus Specialty require, and we look forward to supporting their next chapter of growth, Youngkin said. Gallery: Henrico Sports and Events Center North Chesterfield-based plastic films maker Tredegar Corp. is shutting down its technical center in Henrico County and scaling back production. The Polyethylene Films technical center at 5700 Eastport Blvd. is scheduled to close by December. Teel: Stanford, Cal, SMU and ACC expansion in FAQ form ACC presidents convened virtually again Wednesday evening at least two were traveling internationally without resolving the expansion question The move was announced in an earnings report that showed the company reported a loss of $18.9 million in its second quarter. Sales volume declined significantly to 35.5 million pounds during the period from 49 million pounds in the second quarter last year, the report said. The earnings report also showed net sales from its semiconductor film operation, supported by the technical center, decreased 49.3% between the two quarters. The closure is expected to save $3.4 million annually, the company said. Future research and development will be performed at a facility in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. President and CEO John Steitz did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It is not clear how many workers are employed at the center or if they will transition to different roles within the company. Tredegar was founded in 1989 and has about 2,300 employees. From the Archive: Remember these Richmond-area restaurants? The Hanover County School Board has added a new guide for its librarians to use while deciding what books are on its school shelves. The new professional selection source, called BookLooks, was spearheaded by a member of parents rights group Moms for Liberty, which has been leading a charge to remove books from schools nationwide. Experts say a significant chunk of those books center around LGBTQ+ and minority characters and themes. The move to add this guide comes less than two months after the Hanover School board moved to amend its library policies. The body gave itself the authority to remove any book from the system with a majority vote, then voted to ban 19 books. The school board said these books had sexual content that was unsuitable for students, while opponents worried that it takes power from trained librarians and called the move censorship. Professional selection sources are used by school librarians to help them wade their way through dozens if not hundreds of books. Schools often work with vendors that have extensive lists of offerings each year. Selection sources are often trusted to give full reviews for books including the full context without librarians needing to read through thousands of pages. Hanovers full list of selection sources includes nine other sources like Common Sense Media, Library Journal, Kirkus Review and Publishers Weekly, which are widely considered as industry standard for librarians nationwide. BookLooks first filed as an LLC in 2022 with a mission to Write and collect detailed and easy to understand book content reviews centered around objectionable content, including profanity, nudity, and sexual content and make those reviews easy for parents to understand. The sites official stance is that it isnt affiliated with Moms For Liberty, but that it does communicate with individuals and groups that have common values. School Board Chair Bob May said the new source will serve as an added layer of information should there be a concern about books content. The school board voted not to include a similar selection source called Ratedbooks. The site is associated with No Left Turn in Education, a group founded to combat a perceived left-wing teachings in Americas schools. May said the school board chose not to include Ratedbooks based on various feedback and information that we receive from various constituencies in an attempt to have policies that best serve students, faculty, staff, families and the community. May said at Tuesday nights school board meeting that BookLooks would be used for vetting books that are already in the schools. He said the site would be used in instances when a complaint is made about a book. The previous nine selection sources are more often used when acquiring books, he said. Library experts questioned the validity of BookLooks as a resource. Booklooks.org is not a professionally recognized source for considering the purchase of school library books, said Margaret Baker of the Virginia Association of School Librarians. Librarians are trained professionals who strive to offer a library collection that reflects the educational objectives and needs of their school population. A leader for PEN America, a nonprofit group with the mission of protecting freedom of expression, says BookLooks is part of a larger nationwide push to challenge school books. Increasingly we have seen the introduction of Booklooks as yet another kind of resource that provides some sort of evaluation on books, said Kasey Meehan, director of the Freedom to Read project at PEN America. They are overwhelmingly used by individuals that are looking to challenge and get books removed. The larger movement of parents wanting to challenge books includes a web of rating websites and Facebook groups. Some groups are for specific states, while others are nationwide. Some of the popularly shared books in those spaces like Choke, Flamer, and The Bluest Eye were among the books Hanover voted to remove in June. Meehan said BookLooks is one of many tools the movement is using to challenge and remove books. Often what we see happening is content being taken out of context, being evaluated as a part, versus following best practices, which is to review the work as a whole, Meehan said. there is this mislabeling happening where sexual content is being categorized as pornographic, as obscene. Many of these sites assign a rating to books from 1-5, equating to the books suitability. Meehan said that type of system can be misleading when relying completely on someone elses opinion. Current industry conventions usually separate books into broader categories like picture books, easy reader, middle grade and young adults. Virginia recently amended its definition of sexual content to remove the word homosexuality. This could have implications on materials that are considered sexually explicit in school materials. Sexual conduct is defined as actual or explicitly simulated acts of masturbation, homosexuality, sexual intercourse or physical contact in an act of apparent sexual stimulation or gratification with a persons clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or, if such be female, breast. Many challenges for books around LGBTQ+ have included reasoning for depictions of sexual acts. Patti Davis is a longtime Hanover schools employee, now a substitute teacher who previously worked in the libraries. She said she is concerned that the addition of this new source could impede librarians decisions. The whole supposition is that librarians are out to pervert your child, Davis said. And the premise is just wrong. Do books get by? Yes. Do people disagree? Yes. And that's understandable. But I hate the whole premise. And that's what's so troubling. Theyre asking an outside source to make a decision. Its not trusting the people youve hired. A middle tier in Hanovers new book policy is still yet to be fully formed. A freshly created Library Materials Committee serves as an intermediate decision-maker over several book decisions, from challenges to the approval of books that are already in the school system. That seven member body will have one appointee from each of the countys magisterial districts. May said board members are working as quickly and as diligently as possible to identify a committee member from their districts, with completion hoped in the near future. From the Archive: Remember these Richmond-area restaurants? FORT PIERCE, Fla. Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of conspiring to obstruct the U.S. governments efforts to recover classified documents from his Palm Beach estate including a new allegation accusing him of collaborating with a personal aide and a Mar-a-Lago employee in an attempt to delete potentially incriminating video surveillance images of a storage area. A defense lawyer for Trump, who was not required to attend his second arraignment in the documents case, entered the plea for him in Fort Pierce federal court. Trumps valet pleaded not guilty on Thursday to new charges in the case accusing the ex-president of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate while the property manager had his arraignment postponed because he still hasn't secured a Florida-based attorney. Trump waived his right to appear alongside valet Walt Nauta and property manager Carlos De Oliveira at the hearing in the federal court in Fort Pierce, and the judge accepted a not guilty plea he made in court papers last week. De Oliveira's failure to finalize local counsel marks the latest delay in the case, which is scheduled to go to trial in May a date Trump's lawyers made clear they want to push back. The judge set a new arraignment date for De Oliveira on Tuesday. Attorneys for Trump, De Oliveira and Nauta left the courthouse without commenting to reporters about the case. An updated indictment brought by special counsel Jack Smith late last month accuses Nauta and De Oliveira of scheming with the Republican former president to try to delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance video sought by investigators. They face charges including conspiracy to obstruct justice in the case stemming from secret government documents found at the Palm Beach club after Trump left the White House in 2021. Nauta and Trump were charged in June and previously pleaded not guilty, but a new indictment added more charges and De Oliveira to the case. De Oliveira made an initial appearance in court in July but didn't enter a plea because he hadn't retained local counsel. A Florida-based attorney appeared with De Oliveira in court on Thursday but hadn't been retained on the case. Trump was already charged with dozens of felony counts, and the indictment added new counts of obstruction and willful retention of national defense information. It's one of three different criminal cases Trump is facing this year as he tries to reclaim the White House in 2024. Hes also gearing up for a possible fourth indictment, in a case out of Fulton County, Georgia, over alleged efforts by him and his Republican allies to illegally meddle in the 2020 election in that state. The county district attorney, Fani Willis, a Democrat, has signaled that any indictments in the case would likely come this month. Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has characterized all the cases against him as politically motivated. He pleaded not guilty in Washingtons federal court last week in a second case brought by Smith that accuses him of conspiring with allies to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Smith's team is expected on Thursday to propose a trial date for that case. Trump is already scheduled to stand trial in March in a New York state case stemming from hush money payments made during the 2016 election and in May in the classified documents case. The updated indictment in the documents case centers on surveillance footage at Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate. Trump is alleged to have asked for the footage to be deleted after FBI and Justice Department investigators visited in June 2022 to collect classified documents he took with him after leaving the White House. Video from Mar-a-Lago would ultimately become vital to the governments case because, prosecutors said, it shows Nauta moving boxes in and out of a storage room an act alleged to have been done at Trumps direction and in an effort to hide records not only from investigators but also from Trumps own lawyers. Days after the Justice Department sent a subpoena for video footage at Mar-a-Lago to the Trump Organization in June 2022, prosecutors say, De Oliveira asked an information technology staffer how long the server retained footage and told the employee the boss wanted it deleted. When the employee said he didnt believe he was able to do that, De Oliveira insisted the boss wanted it done, asking, What are we going to do? Prosecutors allege that De Oliveira later lied in interviews with investigators, falsely claiming that he hadnt even seen boxes moved into Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House. De Oliveira's Washington attorney, John Irving, told reporters after the last hearing that he looks forward to seeing what potential evidence the Justice Department has, and he declined to comment about whether De Oliveira has been asked to testify against Trump. The new indictment also charges Trump with illegally holding on to a document hes alleged to have shown off to visitors in New Jersey. The Miami Herald contributed to this report. Scientists said July 2023 was the hottest recorded month in history. Dominion Energy has said more people reaching for their thermostats is justification for a proposed new natural gas plant in Chesterfield County. But environmental groups and some area residents say the heat is why the company shouldnt build a new project powered by fossil fuel. Pending regulatory approval, Dominion plans to construct four natural gas combustion turbines as part of what it calls the Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center. The company expects the project to have about 1,000 megawatts of capacity able to power up to 250,000 homes. Dominion hopes to begin construction in 2025. Our focus is on maintaining reliability and keeping our customers lights on especially on the hottest and coldest days of the year, said Jeremy Slayton, a spokesperson for Dominion Energy. On a call with members of the press Wednesday several environmental experts rebutted the need for a new fossil fuel project. I think we now know the definition of chutzpah, right?, said Cale Jaffe, an environmental law professor at the University of Virginia. Theyre exacerbating their problem. And then to say the only solution to the problem weve helped build is to make that problem worse I dont know what more to say than that. The companys Integrated Resource Plan indicates a need to rely on fossil fuel to meet energy demands for customers due to projected increase in demand linked in part to data center growth and electrification. Del. Rip Sullivan, D-Fairfax, an author of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, recently told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that he thinks the plant is backtracking and that he thinks Dominion is sending a signal. But Slayton said the new plant doesnt mean Dominion isnt committed to embracing the renewable energy it is mandated to switch to. Slayton noted the companys ongoing wind project off the shore of Virginia Beach the largest such project in America and that the company has invested in solar projects around the state. By the time Virginia approaches the 2045 goal of zero carbon emissions, companies like Dominion can petition the State Corporation Commission (which regulates utility companies) for permission should they still see a need for fossil fuel-powered energy sources. While natural gas burns cleaner than coal, it is still a fossil fuel. Dominion asserts the proposed fossil fuel plant in Chesterfield is meant to be used in limited capacity for when energy use peaks. As such, advocates have more colloquially referred to it as a peaker plant. Environmental advocates and some lawmakers caution against new fossil fuel use, even if its not coal. There is no such thing as a clean peaker plant, said Gustavo Angeles, a program manager in Virginias chapter of the Sierra Club. Jaffe pointed to the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which requires energy producers to phase out fossil fuel use with the goal of producing zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. While the VCEA incentivizes increased clean energy sources like solar, there has been a backlog reported by the Pennsylvania-based company that reviews proposals for several states. The company, PJM Interconnection, is currently reforming its review process. He also mentioned the Community Flood Preparedness Act which funding from participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative goes toward. Jaffe referred to the laws as decarbonization statutes. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, known as Reggie in its shorthand form, is an 11-state carbon market where energy producers trade emission reductions for credits or buy credits to emit carbon dioxide past a capped amount. Virginias air pollution control board voted this summer to remove the state from RGGI as Gov. Glenn Youngkin has wished, despite ongoing debate from legislators and activists, who say its not the governors or air boards purview to do so, because the legislature voted to put the state in the program. The effort to remove Virginia from RGGI was recently published in the states register of regulations. Environmental groups have pledged to fight the proposed removal. Any attempt to repeal the move would need to be filed to relevant state agencies by Aug. 30. Meantime, Youngkins state energy plan, unveiled last fall, has called for an all of the above approach to energy use. Dominion shares the sentiment. We need an all of the above approach renewables plus nuclear plus always-ready natural gas, Slayton said. That is what it takes to keep the lights on for our customers. Top five weekend events: Richmond Jazz Festival, Carytown Watermelon Festival Carytown Watermelon Festival Richmond Jazz and Music Festival Parliament Funkadelic featuring George Clinton JamPacked Craft Beer & Music Festival RVA Rapper's Delight Airline passenger arrested inside Chiapas International with half a million pesos in cash Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas An airline passenger found in possession of half a million pesos in cash has been detained. National Guard (GN) detained the unnamed man at the Angel Albino Corzo International Airport in Chiapa de Corzo. The cash was located by agents in a security filter during an X-ray of his luggage prior to boarding his flight. A physical inspection of the bag revealed the bundled cash. Agents reported locating several bundles of bills in denominations of 200, 500 and 1,000 pesos. When counted, agents found 510,000 pesos in national currency. The traveling man was without any declaration for the cash and was arrested. His final destination was the city of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. Pair to remain imprisoned after Cancun police locate large amount of fentanyl Cancun, Q.R. Two men accused of drug trafficking and possession of weapons in Quintana Roo have been formally charged. The Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) says the men were charged after the discovery of a large amount of fentanyl in a Cancun home. Both men have been ordered to remain imprisoned during their trials. The men are being charged with possession of fentanyl with the intent to sell. They are also facing illegal firearm charges. Their arrests stem from a joint operation between agents of the Federal Ministerial Police (PFM) of the Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC) and members of the National Guard (GN) who carried out a property search in Cancun. Police seize fentanyl and a weapon from the home. Photo: FGR August 6, 2023. During the search operation, Manuel H, a Guatemalan national and Lester M, a Mexican national, were arrested. At the scene, a total of 600 fentanyl tablets, a loaded short firearm, six mobile devices and a van were seized. Their trials are scheduled to begin in two months. State authorities are now on alert to the presence of fentanyl in Quintana Roo. A new book by the archduke of Austria offers insights into what contributed to his illustrious ancestors success in ruling a multiethnic empire. But could any of it be relevant to 21st-century America? Lord Acton believed that the only real political noblesse on the Continent is the Austrian. In The Habsburg Way, Eduard Habsburg, archduke of Austria and Hungarian ambassador to the Holy See and the Sovereign Order of Malta, has written a charming and insightful book. Despite being subtitled Seven Rules for Turbulent Times, this is no self-help bestseller-wannabe peddling the latest psychobabble and technocratic fashions. After all, along with its emphasis on learning from the past, the book contains countercultural rules like Get Married and Be Catholic. Habsburg thankfully is not embarrassed by Western civilization or the legacy of his renowned family, whose two dynastic branches played a major role in European and even world politics from the 1300s into the 20th century. As the archduke says, This book is a love letter to my family. In other words, this is no royal list of grievances like Prince Harrys Spare. The Habsburg Way is rooted in principles deeper than its light conversational style might suggest. Prominent among these principles are subsidiarity, the role of virtues like prudence in human affairs, the importance of the Christian faith to Habsburg and European identity, and the dignity of the human person. Habsburg gleans valuable lessons about the subsidiary role of government from his familys imperial past. Subsidiarity is a core principle of Catholic Social Teaching. Subsidiarity, Habsburg writes, is the principle that issues should be addressed by the lowest institutional level that is competent to resolve them. This is about as close to John Paul IIs classic definition of subsidiarity as you can get: a community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to coordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good. If you want to understand the Holy Roman and Austro-Hungarian empires, according to Habsburg you need to understand the key word and principle of subsidiarity. Habsburgs ancestors learned about the importance of local governance the hard way. Local governance is not the first phrase that comes to mind when one thinks of the European Union, and subsidiarity is important to the authors critique of the EUs ponderous bureaucracy. Among the more practical reasons to promote the subsidiary role of government are efficiency, accountability, and knowledge. As Habsburg recognizes, however, subsidiarity ultimately is based on the nature of the human person. Human beings are made for local interaction, in families, towns, and countries with common cultures. The EU thus fails to take into account human nature and human dignity even as it crushes local variety and culture, all the while planning Europes post-Christian future from a room in Brussels. Worse still, the EU lacks what the Holy Roman and Austro-Hungarian empires had: an overarching leadership that embodies the traditional, European values the way the emperor, in his very person, reminded people of the things that united them. Admittedly, not all the emperors were great or saintly, but Habsburgs admiration for the best among them rests not so much on their sanctity (except perhaps in the case of Bl. Emperor Karl) as on their ability to translate values into the appropriate form for any given time without sacrificing the principle. The Habsburg Way provides plenty of historical examples of what to do and what not to do when it comes to decision-making in turbulent times. Governing wisely amid uncertainty requires the virtue of prudence. As Russell Kirk argues, Just how much change a society requires, and what sort of change, depends upon the circumstances of an age and a nation. The prudent leader recognizes this and applies principles, rather than policy prescriptions, believed to be universally applicable in all times and places. The Habsburgs concern for their subjects souls meant legally binding their subjects to be Catholic. Ferdinand II argued that heresy had to be banned out of love, for it was not loving to allow someone to remain in error. Catholic doctrinal development since the 1600s has come to recognize the necessity of freedom for one to act virtuously, as well as the freedom inherent in ones response to God. As it turns out, even Ferdinand was more prudent than these statements reveal. Lord Acton praises his practice of territorial toleration, for example. Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor who made war against Protestants as well as Pope Clement VII while trying to stop the Ottoman invasion of Christendom, abdicated his thrones in 1556. Acton praises him not for this or for his Machiavellian moves to stay in powerindeed, Charles was a man of his age. But the emperor, as king of Spain, defended in the New Laws of the Indies (1542) the liberties of Native Americans against their enslavers. Moreover, Acton argues, he proclaimed the rights of conscience in language worthy of a better time. That better time arrived with the Second Vatican Council and the doctrine on the freedom of conscience as rooted in the nature of the human person: Nobody may be forced to act against his convictions, nor is anyone to be restrained in acting in accordance with his conscience in religious matters in private or in public, alone or in association with others, within due limits. This teaching is based on the very nature of the human person, whose dignity enables him freely to assent to the divine truth. And it applies to those who do not fulfill their obligation to pursue the truth. The sanctuary of conscience, as John Paul II called it, must be honored. The Church proposes; she imposes nothing. The best that Habsburg can say about his ancestors religious policies is that in those centuries gone by, people truly believed that only by living the Catholic faith could you get to Heaven, so encouraging, indeed requiring, your subjects to be Catholic was not only part of your duty as emperor; it was an act of charity because it helped others reach eternal salvation. To judge too harshly the confessionalization of Europe during the 1500s and 1600s would be to engage in what C.S. Lewis called chronological snobbery. But we ought to avoid the error at the other extreme, which is to extract the Habsburg model from the 1500s or 1800s and reinstitute it now, as is suggested in some integralist circles. Doing so does not help others reach salvation, for as the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it, one must freely assent to the divine truth which transcends the temporal order. So where does The Habsburg Way come down on this question of religious liberty and the state? The state can corrupt faith just as readily as faith can corrupt the state, Habsburg admits. But he opposes the intemperate modern push to drive all religion from the public square or for political leaders to compartmentalize their faith, precisely because he recognizes the social nature of the person. If religion is entirely excluded from the public square, he correctly points out, then it can have no influence on individuals, because individuals (unless they are hermits) live much of their life in that same public square. This is especially true of politicians, who are in the public eye almost constantly. The virtues of prudence and moderation, combined with local traditions and armed with a recognition of the dignity and social nature of the human person, ought to determine church-state relations. Eduard Habsburg has much to say about his and his ancestors Catholic faith. Indeed, the only one of the seven rules that is broken into two parts is Be Catholic, signaling how important he thinks it is to practice ones faith. Doing so is not just for ones own well-being but also for that of ones spouse, for community flourishing, and for the common good. The conservatism of the Habsburgs, as presented in The Habsburg Way, means that with some notable exceptions, like Joseph II, they stood for continuity and traditional values, believing that honor demanded them to stand for the values of their fathers. This translated to maintaining peace in the realm (most often through marriage) and caring for their subjects soulsor not, and Habsburg is able to draw lessons from his ancestors mistakes as well as their successes. As Gertrude Himmelfarb argues in her excellent study of Lord Acton, mid-19th-century Habsburg Austria provided a test case of Actons views, for it boasted the Conservative attributes of tradition, aristocracy and monarchy. Acton strongly criticized John Stuart Mills approach to liberty and order as too willing to toss aside tradition, custom, and mores in favor of a purely rationalist approach to freedom that would result only in individualistic happiness rather than the rightly ordered freedom to do what one ought. Himmelfarb called this a utopian variety of Liberalism. Acton instead urged a virtuous balance of authority, tradition and experience. This was conservatism in the tradition of Edmund Burke. We see it in Eduard Habsburgs own arguments as well as in his portrayal of many of his ancestors in The Habsburg Way. All times are turbulent, even if some are more fraught with danger than others. Habsburg recognizes this and strikes a hopeful tone even as he encourages readers to demand law, justice, and traditional values from their leaders. Believe in subsidiarity, he says, and use it as a map to judge politics. In our age of history-cleansing iconoclasm and cultural self-flagellation, The Habsburg Way is a welcome relief. Amazon's cost-cutting efforts now include removing some of the company's private label brands. In an official statement, Amazon Private Brands Vice President Matt Taddy shared why the e-commerce giant decided to do this. Amazon to Remove In-House Private Label Brands According to CNBC's latest report, Amazon is scraping some of its in-house private-label brands. For those who are not aware of this, the giant retailer also offers goods produce in-house. Just like other store brands, Amazon offers its private labels together with products from other companies. For the past few years, Amazon was able to expand these in-house private-label products. These include Rivet furniture, Presto! paper towels, Amazon Basics batteries, and Goodthreads apparel. However, the e-commerce company needs to eliminate them to reduce its costs. Matt Taddy explained that they need to do this since some of the firm's private-label brands were not able to resonate with consumers. But, there are also other Amazon private label products that attract lots of buyers. "We always make decisions based on what our customers want, and we've learned that customers seek out our biggest brands," said Taddy. "Amazon Basics and Amazon Essentials - for great value with high-quality products at great price points," added the Amazon Private Brands VP. Read Also: Las Vegas Food Industry Staff Organizing Walkout for Higher Wages, Better Working Conditions What Private Label Brands Are Affected? Amazon didn't confirm the private label brands it plans to remove. But, Yahoo Finance reported that the retailer will eliminate 27 of its 30 in-house label clothing divisions. This will leave only the Amazon Collection, Amazon Aware, and Amazon Essentials. Some sources also claim that the e-commerce giant will scrape its private-label furniture. If this is true, then the Rivet and Stone & Beams brands will no longer be offered to consumers. Matt Taddy said that if certain products are not resonating with consumers, they will remove those items and find other opportunities to better meet their demands. Aside from being part of the company's wider cost-cutting efforts, analysts also said that the private label brands removal could be its preparation for the possible antitrust lawsuit from FCC (Federal Trade Commission). If you want to learn more details about the plan of Amazon to scrape some of its private label brands, you can click this link. Related Article: Amazon to Increase Same-Day Delivery Warehouses-Hinting at Plan to Overtake Competitors With Faster Deliveries @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. DANVILLE A day after Tyson Foods announced it will shutter four more plants across the nation, a company spokesperson confirmed its new Ringgold facility is still on track to open next month. First announced in October 2021 with a visit from then-Gov. Ralph Northam, the new facility in Cane Creek Centre should start production the week of Sept. 10, MaKenzie Williams, a spokesperson for Tyson, told the Register & Bee. Williams did not answer questions centering on the impact the closings may have on the newly constructed 325,000-square-foot facility. On Monday, Tyson said it would close four chicken plants in North Little Rock, Arkansas; Corydon, Indiana; Dexter, Missouri; and Noel, Missouri. Also Aug. 7, the company reported a loss of $417 million for its fiscal third-quarter, according to The Associated Press. Donnie King, president and CEO of Tyson, called it a difficult decision to shut down the four plants. The company in March told workers at the Glen Allen processing plant it would shut down by May. That resulted in the elimination of about 700 jobs. Following that initial opening by the second week in September, the Ringgold plant plans to add more lines and shifts. At this time, we are still processing applications from our recent job fair over the weekend, Williams told the Register & Bee. That job fair coincided with a food giveaway Saturday at the Danville Police Department. Tyson brought a tractor-trailer load of about 40,000 pounds of frozen food designed to be handed out in a drive-thru style operation. However, the response overwhelmed roads and created a traffic backup of nearly 2 miles. Because of safety concerns, the giveaway was halted early and instead food was distributed in neighborhoods in Danville. The new Ringgold facility will create about 400 jobs that include 46 in management and 350 hourly workers, Williams said. The plant will cook, season, flash-freeze, package and ship out foods including Anytizer Snacks, chicken nuggets and other products, the Register & Bee reported in 2021. Average annual salaries for the positions will be between $40,000 to $45,000. The Crest Hill Tea Room is opening at 338 N. Washington Ave. in downtown Pulaski. The business describes itself as "English style tea room, offering over 30 blends of teas and beverages, fresh lunch sandwich options, scones and an experience you're sure to cherish." The restaurant is part of a longrunning Northern Virginia brand, but only recently opened in Pulaski. The founder, Sally Deluca, retired last year with a celebration at the restaurant's flagship location in The Plains. Matthew and Laura McClelland of Fredericksburg reported on the restaurant website that they'd bought the business. Crest Hill will hold a ribbon cutting for the new location at 11 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 10, and the grand opening will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 12. Regular hours, beginning Aug. 16, will be 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. For more information or to make a reservation, visit cresthilltearoom.com. The city of Roanoke will not be taking over Fair View Cemetery and Cedar Lawn Memorial Park, but a new board will keep looking for a permanent solution to secure the historical graveyards futures. In February, FV Cemetery Co. the entity responsible for maintaining and operating the two properties announced it would be dissolving after June 30 and attempting to transfer its assets to the city. For the last 15 years, the companys board of directors looked for a way to keep afloat, but the aging board members were no longer in the position to keep running things. The city tacitly declined ownership of the graveyards, but in April the company announced that it would not be dissolving and was instead seeking new board members to take over. Thats not the end of the story, though. The new board which includes Roanoke attorney and cemetery board volunteer William B. Hopkins Jr. will continue the search for a more sustainable business model. I think well continue along the searches made by the old board and ... if the city of Roanoke is the ultimate solution I think more work needs to be done with the city manager and council, Hopkins said. Fair View and Cedar Lawn belong to a growing number of graveyards across the United States that are struggling under an outdated business model. The most obvious example is more people are being cremated, Hopkins said. Cremation is cheaper for survivors, but it also brings in less revenue for cemeteries. Across the United States, groups like FV Cemetery Co. are turning maintenance and operations over to local governments. Just looking on the internet, without a formal count, over 60 cemeteries in Virginia are run or operated or both by counties and cities. The Virginia code clearly has provisions that contemplate municipalities owning and operating cemeteries. So its a core function of a municipality to do that, Hopkins said. The FV Cemetery board looked to Roanoke in February based on a provision in the companys original articles of incorporation that the city will take over if the company ever becomes defunct. We never got a formal response, but we got a response. I didnt get it wrapped up in a letter ... but it was clear that they werent willing to take over the cemeteries at this time. But I will say that I think the city did indicate a willingness to work with us in finding a solution, Hopkins said. The security of Fair View and Cedar Lawn is particularly important because of their historical significance, Hopkins indicated. Graham Claytor is buried there. ... His brother was president of the Norfolk and Western, Bob Claytor. And Graham Claytor was president of the Southern Railway. I believe he was Secretary of the Navy ... and he was a Harvard-educated lawyer who clerked for a U.S. Supreme Court justice, Hopkins said. Thats just one example of the type of person interred at Fair View and Cedar Lawn. The two graveyards contain markers for many notable regional figures, including congressmen, federal judges and mayors. In April, the company said it had communicated with more than 10,000 property owners and family members invested in the futures of Fair View and Cedar Lawn. We have a good staff in place, dedicated to running the cemeteries, dedicated to continuing to operate them and provide good service. And all of us are committed, as we should be, to seeing that these cemeteries are preserved and continue to operate, Hopkins said. Alonso Cantu-Cantu, a major player in a conspiracy to ship more than $1.4 million worth of methamphetamine and cocaine from Mexico to Southwest Virginia, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison Thursday. Cantu-Cantu is one of about 25 people convicted in an operation that distributed methamphetamine that was placed in liquid form into 55-gallon drums, concealed in water tanker trucks and smuggled into the country, according to court records. More than 33 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and nearly 7 kilograms of cocaine were distributed over a four-year period that ended in 2020, reaching communities that stretched from Harrisonburg to Bristol. The drugs had purity levels of 95% or higher. Methamphetamine is an extremely dangerous drug, particularly at purity levels such as this, and has significantly impacted Southwest Virginia to great detriment, Suzanne Kerney-Quillen, a special assistant U.S. attorney, wrote in a sentencing memorandum. Cantu-Cantu, a 46-year-old Houston man, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James Jones following his April conviction by a jury in Abingdons federal court. In asking Jones to impose a punishment at the high end of sentencing guidelines, prosecutors cited the defendants criminal record, which includes prior convictions of distributing drugs, unlawful possession of a gun and reentering the United States following his deportation. Cantu-Cantu was charged as part of a six-year state and federal investigation that began with reports of street-level dealers in Smyth County. Defense attorney Matthew Felty of Abingdon argued that it will cost taxpayers $44,258 a year to keep Cantu-Cantu in prison under tough laws and sentencing guidelines that have achieved little more than mass incarceration. The War on Drugs and its flawed approach, over the past five decades, of increasing the amount of prison time for distribution of controlled substances has accomplished none of its goals, Felty wrote in a court document. There is no less incidence of drug use, drug distribution, or drug arrests. Last month Sixth District Rep. Ben Cline joined the Republican majority in Congress to pass the annual National Defense Authorization Act. Taking every opportunity to fight culture wars, Cline and other Republicans approved amendments banning reimbursements to soldiers who need to travel out-of-state for abortions if they are stationed in states that outlaw the procedure; banning payments for soldiers to undergo transgender surgery or hormone replacement therapy; and gutting programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion in the military. The House version of the NDAA stands no chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate. But several amendments, because they failed, flew under the radar. I want to call attention to three in particular: An amendment by Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene to cut $300 million in funding to Ukraine. An amendment by Republican Andy Ogles to cut off lend-lease authority to Ukraine. An amendment by Republican Matt Gaetz to prohibit security assistance to Ukraine. On all three amendments, Ben Cline voted YES. That is, Cline voted to cut off all U.S. military aid to Ukraine in its fight against brutal and murderous Russian aggression. Despite the Russian regimes illegal invasion of a sovereign country, its criminal attacks killing thousands of civilian men, women and children, and its deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, Cline and the one-third of Republicans who voted this way did exactly what Russian dictator Vladimir Putin wanted. Surely even Cline knows that without vital U.S. military assistance, the Ukrainians could not continue to resist and ultimately defeat the Russian onslaught. Besides Republican Bob Good, Cline was the only Virginian in the House to support this effort to betray Ukraine and enable Russia to crush a free, independent and democratic country. This isnt the first time Cline has voted in agreement with Putin. Last year he was one of only 18 House members to vote against expressing support for Finland and Sweden to join NATO following Russias invasion of Ukraine. What makes this all the more disgraceful is that Cline bragged in an email to supporters last year that he was one of several House members being sanctioned by Russia. In a plea for donations to his reelection campaign, he claimed he was targeted because of my unwavering support for our ally Ukraine. (What Cline didnt mention is that the several sanctioned House members were in fact 398 ranging from Democrats like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene. Even then-Rep. Madison Cawthorn who called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a thug and the Ukrainian government incredibly evil was on the sanctions list.) Cline added: Today, I ask you to stand with me and send Russia a message that sanctioning me or any other U.S. Representative will only be rewarded by the citizens of the Commonwealth and the United States! Regardless of how much you give, $1, $5, $10, $25, or more, it will be a signal to Russia that those of us who represent the citizens of the United States will NOT BE BULLIED! Times have changed. Cline now sides with the increasingly isolationist far-right element of his party an element that includes outright apologists for Putin like Tucker Carlson. Anyone who contributed to Cline based on that message has a right to feel betrayed. Now that Cline is voting precisely the way that Putin wants him to vote, I doubt hell end up on any more Russian sanctions lists. Rather, he probably would be a most welcome guest at the Kremlin. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. The Empress tarot card is a symbol of creation, romance, art, business, and the germination of an idea before its maturation. Often associated with mother earth, feminine energy, and creativity, the Empress encourages one to embrace their softer side, explore emotions, listen to intuition, provide empathy, compassion, and nurturing. The divinatory meanings of the Empress tarot card encompass fertility, action, initiative, longevity, the obscure, clandestine, complexity, uncertainty, lack of knowledge, illumination, veracity, the clarification of intricate matters, public celebrations, and indecision. In this context, understanding the empress tarot card meaning is essential for a deeper connection with the cards energy and symbolism. It also represents the balance between masculine and feminine energies. The Empress is associated with the planet Venus in astrology, encouraging connection with the feminine side and nurturing of creative and emotional aspects. Deemed a strong indicator of pregnancy, the card represents the abundant nature of life and potential for growth and creation. Advertisement The Empress tarot card also recommends natural remedies such as meditation, the utilization of crystals, and aromatherapy to address health issues and encourages exploration of creative ideas and self-expression. Symbolism of the Empress The Empress card is rich with symbolism, depicting motherhood in both physical and metaphysical forms. The twelve stars on her crown signify an undeniable link to the universe. They represent the womb of it, with the Empress symbolizing Goddess Gaia and the divine feminine energy. The pomegranates and ripe fields seen on the card are indicative of her creative aptitude, and the twelve stars on the Empresss crown symbolize her spiritual connection with the divine realm and the cycle of nature. The Empress tarot card is often portrayed as a beautiful pregnant woman wearing a crown of twelve stars and a loose dress adorned with pomegranates. Seated upon a luxurious throne in a lushly ripe field ready for harvesting, the Empress represents the nurturing and abundant nature of life. The venus sign on her throne cushion is a representation of love, harmony, creativity, and beauty, and the number three holds significance in numerology, symbolizing abundance, fertility, and growth, which is linked to the Empress tarot card. The Empress and Feminine Energy The Empress tarot card symbolizes a powerful association with femininity, which can be expressed in a variety of forms, including grace, sensuality, fertility, creative expression, and nurturing. The Empress encourages the embracement of ones feminine side regardless of gender and is associated with emotions, promoting nurturing of them. When the Empress tarot card appears in an upright position, it calls for one to connect with their feminine side and energy, as well as to utilize their creativity. The Empress tarot card is also associated with health and personal growth. When in an upright position, the card is indicative of fertility and vitality, and may suggest pregnancy and motherhood. The emotions associated with the Empress card are love, creativity, and nurturing. The Empress encourages one to explore various methods of expressing themselves creatively, such as painting, music, drama, or other art forms, and to cultivate a new hobby that allows them to access this part of themselves. The visual elements of the High Priestess tarot card hold deep symbolism, offering insight into its many layers of meaning. The high priest sits in silent contemplation on a cubic stone between the two pillars of wisdom, Jachin and Boaz, at Solomons Temple, foretelling of secret openings and that the truth will be unveiled in due time. Enveloped in a celestial blue robe adorned with a cross, the High Priestess emanates celestial wisdom and her position as a celestial ruler. The scroll with the word Tora on it, partly covered by the High Priests robe, symbolizes ancient Jewish scripture or perhaps an anagram for the tarot, or both. It implies that sacred wisdom is both obvious and hidden, and that one can only perceive it when prepared to venture beyond the physical realm. Advertisement Let us now delve deeper into the specific elements of this card, such as the pillars, the crescent moon, and the veil of pomegranates. Pillars and Duality The pillars in the High Priestess card signify the harmonious balance of masculine and feminine energies, with the black pillar representing the masculine and the white pillar representing the feminine. The duality of existence, embodied by these pillars, is a key aspect of the High Priestess card, signifying the balance between darkness and light, good and evil, positive and negative. The two pillars in the High Priestess Tarot Card represent the pillars of Boaz and Jachin, which were placed at the entrance of King Solomons Temple, signifying the duality of existence and the balance of opposites. The wisdom and understanding of duality are requisite to access the hallowed space, for the pillars embody the harmony of masculine and feminine energies. By acknowledging and embracing this duality, one can unlock the mysteries held within the High Priestess card. The Crescent Moon The crescent moon in the High Priestess Tarot Card represents femininity, cycles, emotions, and the realm of the unconscious. Resting at the feet of the High Priestess, its a reminder of her mysterious connection to the divine feminine, her inner wisdom, and the natural rhythms of the moon. The crescent moon is also a symbol of the mysticism of intuition and the subconscious mind, urging those who encounter this card to heed the call of their inner voice and to be guided by their intuitions divine wisdom. At the High Priestess feet, the crescent moon signifies her dominion over the moons power and a mastery of her own emotions. By channeling the subtle energy of the moon, the High Priestess encourages us to be vigilant of our feelings and maintain a balance in our inner realm, allowing us to navigate life with clarity and wisdom. The Veil of Pomegranates The veil of pomegranates in the High Priestess Tarot Card is a symbol of abundance, fertility, and the divine feminine. It serves as a portal to the mysteries that can only be unlocked by those who have been blessed with initiation. The veil represents a sacred threshold, a boundary between the material and spiritual realms, inviting us to venture deeper into the world of the High Priestess. The mystical significance of the veil of pomegranates lies in its connection to the sacred feminine and her unwavering ambition. By embracing the divine power of the sacred feminine, we can access the ancient wisdom and spiritual truths hidden within the High Priestess tarot card, allowing us to tap into our own inner guidance and intuitive abilities. " " The Kraken is an enormous, legendary sea monster that is said to dwell off the coasts of Norway and Greenland. duncan1890 / Getty Images The deepest parts of the world's oceans can be mysterious and frightening enough without legendary sea serpents and or a colossal octopus with huge eyes lurking about. That still doesn't stop our imaginations from running a bit wild. For centuries, seafarers have spread legends of the Kraken attacking sailing vessels on the high seas. The giant cephalopod, known for its enormous size and strength unheard of in the natural world, has garnered credit for an untold amount of wreckage that has washed ashore, in spite of a distinct lack in concrete proof of it existing as a real animal. Advertisement But the giant squid ended up being real why not a cryptid like the Kraken? Image of the Sun from the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter mission. The diagram shows the density increase in the atmosphere and the subsequent loss of altitude of a satellite at 490 km - both caused by a coronal mass ejection on 21 November 2003. Credit: ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI team - Data: TU Graz & Uni Graz After a successful test phase, the Satellite Orbit DecAy (SODA) service, which was jointly developed by TU Graz and the University of Graz, officially became part of the ESA's Space Safety Programme in mid-July. SODA provides accurate forecasts of the effects of solar storms on low Earth orbiting satellites. This makes TU Graz only the third Austrian institution contributing to this ESA programme. Seibersdorf Laboratories, and the University of Graz, through the Kanzelhohe Observatory and the Institute of Physics, have previously already been involved in the agency's work. The new forecast service is freely available via the ESA Space Weather Service and offers a warning with a lead time of around 15 hours. The commissioning of SODA is of particular interest at this stage since the solar activity is expected to reach its maximum within the next two years. The extent to which solar storms can affect satellite orbits has already been demonstrated in SWEETS, a project funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), on whose findings SODA is based. For the SWEETS project, atmospheric density data was combined with real-time measurements of solar wind plasma and the interplanetary magnetic field to calculate the effects of solar events. This research has shown that large coronal mass ejections have the capability to trigger satellite orbit decays of up to 40 metres for satellites at an altitude of 490 kilometres. In early February 2022, 38 Starlink satellites were even lost shortly after launch at an altitude of 210 kilometres due to a solar storm. Solar activity reaches its maximum Such losses of altitude largely occur because the charged plasma particles emitted by the Sun strike the Earth's magnetic field and cause a heating and expansion of the upper layers of the Earth's atmosphere. As a result, the atmospheric drag increases and subsequently causes satellites to lose speed and altitude. In light of the upcoming solar maximum, the ESA has already increased the altitude of some of its satellites by a few kilometres to get through this period safely. Accordingly, the predictions provided by SODA are intended to add an additional level of security. TU Graz contributed its expertise in the processing of satellite data available at the Institute of Geodesy, while the University of Graz's involvement was based on its experience in the field of solar and heliospheric physics as well as interplanetary magnetic field observation. Illustration of the ESA service SODA developed at TU Graz and Uni Graz. The gray area shows the prediction of the expected altitude loss for satellites at 490 km before the Starlink event in early February 2022. Credit: Graz University of Technology & University of Graz The team led by Sandro Krauss from the Institute of Geodesy at TU Graz reviewed atmospheric densities over a 20-year period. For this purpose, they processed data from several low Earth orbit satellite missions, including CHAMP, GRACE, GRACE Follow-on and Swarm. At the University of Graz, a group led by Manuela Temmer from the Institute of Physics analysed around 300 solar storms catalogued between 2002 and 2017 based on measurements of the interplanetary magnetic field by probes at the L1 Lagrange point, which is about 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth in the direction of the Sun. TU Graz afterwards used the information to relate the atmospheric density variations to these solar storms. The forecasting model SODA was developed from the joint analysis of these interdisciplinary datasets. Space researchhighly valued in Austria "I am very pleased that, through SODA, TU Graz, together with Uni Graz and Seibersdorf Laboratories, is now the third Austrian institution to contribute to ESA's Space Safety Programme," says Sandro Krauss from the Institute of Geodesy at TU Graz. "Of the five Expert Service Centres that constitute the ESA Space Weather Service Network, Austria is now represented in four, with only the United Kingdom involved in all five. This clearly underscores just how highly valued space research is in Austria. The partnership with the University of Graz on this project also provides proof of how valuable interdisciplinary research work is. And we are already working together to further improve SODA." Manuela Temmer from the Institute of Physics at the University of Graz explained: "For Uni Graz and TU Graz, supplying ESA with this service is a welcome recognition of our work. I am also pleased that our partnership will continue as we work to improve SODA together within the framework of the FFG-funded project CASPER. It will help us to gain a better understanding of more complex solar storms, such as situations where two storms overlap on their way to Earth. We would also like to calculate the atmospheric density at altitudes of 450 and 400 kilometres490 kilometres is the lowest altitude we can calculate the density for so far. Since the field of solar storm forecasting is not yet very well researched, we are looking forward to some interesting insights." Provided by Graz University of Technology Because Russia has been heavily sanctioned by Europe and the West due to its invasion of Ukraine, it has now rerouted its oil exports to China and Asia by using the North Sea Route (NSR) in the Arctic Ocean. According to a High North News report, the country sent two initial crude oil shipments to China in mid-July, with four more oil tankers currently following the same route. Each of them would carry around 750,000 barrels of crude oil. The first two tankers were named Scf Baltica and Korolev Prospect, both of them departing the Floating Storage Offloading Vessel (FSO) named Umba near Murmansk in the last 10 days. The Arctic shortcut is around 30% faster than the traditional route through the Suez Canal, and experts said the NSR would be key to diverting the flow of crude oil away from Europe and toward Asia. Read Also: China Exports Slump, Imprelling Xi Jinping's Effort for Economic Recovery Repurposing the NSR Until recently, Russia used the NSR to send oil shipments to Asia only sparingly over the past decade. But with Western sanctions in place due to the war, transit volumes through the Arctic would likely expand fast. S&P Global Russian energy specialist Matt Sagers told High North News Russia's Eastern oil pivot was always planned by the Kremlin. "Use of the Northern [Sea] Route reduced the number of days at sea and therefore the number of tankers (and overall capacity) that is required to move oil eastward," he explained. "Entire upstream developments, like Vostok Oil, are intended to be evacuated via the route." Increase in Shipping Activity May Harm Arctic Ecosystem, Environmentalists Warn However, environmentalists have warned that expanding NSR flows would pose a serious threat to the delicate Arctic ecosystem. Texas A & M University professor of maritime business administration Mawuli Afenyo said the increased traffic would increase the probability of an accident occurring in the region, with very dire consequences. Afenyo added the oil encapsulated in ice can quickly travel large distances before the ice melts and the oil gets released into the seas. Related Article: At Least 60 Dead Following Massive Explosion at an Industrial Plant in Moscow as Officials Continue Rescue Operations @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. HARTSVILLE, S.C.A former Hartsville High School teacher has been arrested after being accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a student, according to a Hartsville Police Department report. Obonyo Matthew Abongo, 44, was arrested on Tuesday charged with criminal sexual conduct with a student and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. According to the S.C. Department of Corrections web site, Abongo was being held under a $75,000 bond. According to the incident report, officers were contacted by the high school, specifically the school resource officer, Tuesday in reference to a teacher having a relationship with a child. Officers spoke with Principal Corey Lewis who had two people in his office that came to school with the accusation that Abongo had been having a relationship with a student. After further investigation of the claims, officers found reasonable and probable cause that between December of 2022 to present there had been a sexual relationship between Abongo and the student, with enough cause to warrant an arrest. According to the police report, computer hardware/software, one portable hard drive and two flash drives, and several phones belonging to Abongo were seized by law enforcement. His vehicle was also impounded. The Darlington County School District released the following statement: Yesterday the Hartsville Police Department arrested a former Hartsville High School employee in regard to allegations he engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a high school student in the Darlington County School District. The safety of our students is our highest priority. The district is cooperating fully with the law enforcement investigation. FLORENCE, S.C. The Housing Authority of Florence has countersued former executive director Clamentine Elmore after she sued the authority and one of its commissioners for breach of contract, defamation and violation of state labor laws. In a July 31 filing, the Housing Authority of Florences attorney claimed that Elmore misused Housing Authority funds for her own personal gain by giving herself raises without the Board of Commissioners knowledge or permission. Elmore was fired by the Housing Authority of Florence Board of Commissioners March 22 after an internal investigation. The reasons for Elmores termination include, but were not limited to, malfeasance in the performance of her job duties, and payment of unauthorized compensation and benefits, the countersuit says. Attorney Samuel Arthur of the law firm Aiken, Bridges, Elliott, Tyler & Saleeby, P.A., said in the countersuit that Elmore gave herself raises without the Housing Authority Board of Commissioners knowledge or approval and tricked the Housing Authority of Cheraws Board of Commissioners into giving her a large, one-time bonus. When Elmore was hired in 2017, she was given a starting yearly salary of $110,000, according to the countersuit. Between January 2017 and March of this year, Elmore raised her own salary 12 times for a final total of $182,543, the lawsuit claims. On several occasions, Elmore had increased her annual salary without the approval and authority from the HAFs Board of Commissioners, Arthur said in the suit. On several occasions, Elmore failed to accurately disclose to the HAFs Board of Commissioners her annual salary increases. In addition to the annual salary increases, Elmore received a $10,000 bonus from the Housing Authority of Cheraw by lying to its commissioners, the countersuit claims. It also says that the Housing Authority of Florences Board of Commissioners never approved the bonus. The Housing Authority of Florence manages and oversees the Housing Authority of Cheraw, in addition to the Housing & Community Redevelopment Authority of Marlboro County and the Palmetto Housing Corporation. The countersuit does not say what false and inaccurate information Elmore told Cheraws commissioners that led them to give her the bonus, but Elmores original lawsuit claims the bonus was given to her because she secured three large grants for the authority. The countersuit denies that Elmore got these grants for the authority. Finally, the countersuit claims that Elmore deleted Housing Authority information from her electronics before returning them to the authority. The Housing Authority of Florence is looking to recover its attorney fees and the money it claims Elmore wrongfully took while the executive director. HAF has been damaged by Elmores wrongful acts and is entitled to actual and punitive damages in the amount to be determined by this Court, the countersuit says. In addition to bringing their own claims against Elmore, the Housing Authority denied the claims made against them. Elmores attorney, Chance Sturup at the law firm Cromer, Babb, Porter & Hicks, LLC, alleged in the lawsuit that the Florence Housing Authority Board of Commissioners wrongly ended Elmores employment contract without cause. The lawsuit alleges that her contract, which was supposed to last until Dec. 1, 2027, said she was entitled to pay and benefits for the remainder of the contract if she was fired without cause. Even if she was fired with a cause, the contract still required the Housing Authority to pay her for all paid vacation days and 7% of her unused sick days, according to the lawsuit. It says that if no proper cause was given, the authority would instead need to pay her back in full for all her unused sick days. If the Board of Commissioners had an issue with her performance, they were required by Elmores contract to give her a written notice that explained the problems, the lawsuit alleges. Once she was given the notice, Elmore was then supposed to have at least 180 days to fix the issues. The Housing Authority admits that it did not provide a written notice to Elmore but denies that it was required under her contract. In addition to seeking the wages and benefits that Sturup alleges Elmore is owed, the lawsuit seeks payment for damages to Elmores reputation by the Housing Authority and commissioner J. Jerrod Moultrie. Moultrie made multiple false statements about Elmore, alleged she did a number of crimes and reported to her law enforcement agencies, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also alleges that Moultrie knew the allegations were false yet still made them to law enforcement, government officials, community members and on Fab News, which is a website owned by Moultrie. The countersuit says the Housing Authority does not have enough information to know if the claims made against Moultrie are true or false. Moultrie has not responded to the lawsuits claims with his own filing as of the time of this report. Employees and representatives of the Florence Housing Authority also made false claims against Elmore, the lawsuit alleged. However, it says that Moultrie was the cause of her being fired. Moultrie previously told the Morning News that he does not understand why he was singled out by Elmore when the Florence Housing Authority Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to remove her. I dont have the power to fire anybody by myself, he said. As far as the defamation of character, what I will say is that allegations were reported to the board, and we dealt with it. After learning of the bonus given to Elmore by the Cheraw authority, Moultrie claimed that Elmore stole the money and reported her to the Florence County Sheriffs Office, which investigated and found that the money was not stolen, the lawsuit alleges. Moultrie also claimed that Elmore was acting improperly and breaking laws when she paid former commissioner Linda Becote to cater a party in her honor using Housing Authority funds, according to the lawsuit. Before accepting Becotes offer to cater the event, Elmore asked the United States Department of Housing and Development if she was able to pay Becote to cater the event. The department said yes on the condition that Becote only be reimbursed for her costs and that she was not profiting off of the event, the lawsuit alleges. Becote was removed from the Florence Housing Authority Board of Commissioners by the Florence City Council at an April 20 hearing, at which the reimbursement money was brought up. Becotes lawyer, John Bledsoe, filed an intent to appeal the decision in circuit court April 27. The city of Florence responded June 27 with a motion to dismiss the appeal, which Bledsoe responded to July 14. HARTSVILLE, S.C. After 24 years of service on the Hartsville City Council, Johnny Andrews announced Wednesday that he will not seek re-election in November. It has been my privilege and honor to serve on Hartsville City Council as the representative from District no. 4 since 1999, said Andrews. Hartsville is my home and I dearly love this community and its citizens. I am optimistic about Hartsvilles future. I also believe that the time is right for me to retire from City Council. I will not file for re-election and sincerely thank those who have supported me in the past and continue to support Hartsvilles progress. Andrews has served six terms representing District No. 4 on the council. He has worked with four mayors and served as mayor pro tem for 14 years. I have been honored to serve alongside Johnny, said Hartsville Mayor Casey Hancock. He has mentored me as I settled into my position, always helping me stay on track during meetings, but that is nothing compared to what he has done for our city and her people. He has seen through 24 years of revitalization in Downtown Hartsville, helping create a sense of place for Hartsville and a destination for visitorsand helping us win our second All-America City Award. He continues to serve as a steward for the Historic Marion Avenue Cemetery and Hartsvilles other historic assets. I cant thank Johnny enough for guiding me and serving the people of Hartsville. He has good taste in beer, too, and I look forward to keeping up with him outside of council chambers. When asked if there was a moment from his tenure on the council that stood out to him, he said Hartsville receiving its second All-American City Award in 2016 was very special. We put a lot of work into it and a great group, including a lot of students, flew out to Denver to represent the city, Andrews said. We were competing against some much larger cities, but our presentation really stood out. Andrews retired from a 41-year career in education in 2016. He taught history at Hartsville High School most of those years and served as head of the schools International Baccalaureate program. Upon his retirement from the council, Andrews says he plans to spend more time with his family, particularly his four grandchildren. Various wildlife conservation organizations estimate only approximately 5,000 panthera tigris tigers remain in the wild. This alarming number equals a roughly 95% decrease in wild tigers in the past century or so. Endangered since 1986 due to multiple factors, including loss of habitat due to human activity as well as poaching to illegally sell tiger parts for use in traditional medicine, tiger numbers have dwindled dramatically in recent decades. These devastating statistics prompted Clemson University President and member of the Global Tiger Initiative Council Jim Clements, Ph.D. to act in 2017. He chartered the Tigers United University Consortium, a group of tiger mascot universities in the Southeastern U.S. comprised of Clemson University, Auburn University, Louisiana State University and the University of Missouri, to help save the remaining population of wild tigers. Clements appointed former Clemson Dean Brett Wright as director of Tigers United to connect key university stakeholders to the highest-level conservation officials in India, the worlds preeminent tiger range country where more than 70% of the worlds tigers roam. Tiger Habitats Along with poaching, a dramatic reduction in tiger habitats has contributed to the decline of the species. Tigers currently exist in 10 of the On his most recent trip to India, Wright traveled with distinguished guest Wendy York, dean of the Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business at Clemson University and honorary member of the Global Tiger Forum. After touring the country and speaking with government officials, York and Wright see a different path to success in tiger protection. Business. Poaching, at its core, is a business proposition. In areas with few economic opportunities, the black market sale of exotic, endangered animals presents a way to earn more money than the local economy can provide. In India, where tiger numbers are on the rise after decades of conservation efforts, community-based eco-development committees focus on a business solution: making poaching obsolete by creating jobs and providing ways to bring products to market. Wendy York Wendy York, dean of the Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business at Clemson University, met with Divya Khandal of Dhonk Crafts to learn mo We can create a ring of protection around places like the Periyar Tiger Reserve by developing a true economic alternative to poaching, explained York. We met with businesspeople who gather wild honey, grow spices and create beautiful fabrics, but they need a way to get these goods to market. Business solution Eco-development committees across India are making progress in creating opportunities and standardizing markets for local businesses. During her visit, York spoke with a variety of entrepreneurs, including Divya Khandal of Dhonk Crafts. Located in Ranthambore, an area known as the tiger capital of India and home of the Ranthambore National Park and Tiger Reserve, Dhonk Crafts works specifically to create sustainable livelihood opportunities for the tigers neighbors by up-skilling them in traditional arts and crafts. After seeing the entrepreneurial spirit of Khandal and others who are determined to take control of their future and create a positive impact on tiger conservation, York brainstormed with Wright to create an outline for what she hopes will become a set of academic programs that create amazing student experiences and unique faculty research opportunities all while strengthening the local economies that surround tiger reserves in India. It makes sense that, given a safer way to support their families, people will work to preserve the asset that brings a lot of tourists into the area to purchase their goods and services, said York. Ecotourism can contribute to the success of these local economies, but the animals have to thrive alongside the businesses in order for this to work. Connecting Clemsons business leader and, thus, classes of brilliant business students to this amazing landscape of people and wildlife in India will, we believe, produce profitable outcomes for both sides an incredible and meaningful learning experience for Clemson students and numerous benefits for the areas eco-development committees, commented Wright. Tigers United Consortium In April 2023, Tigers United University Consortium sent a team of Clemson University administrators, faculty and Ph.D. students to India to le York looks forward to supporting Wright as he and his team develop proposals for faculty and student programming that could include learning experiences, research opportunities and industry engagement all designed to elevate endangered tigers and impact the economies that protect them. Its a wonderful opportunity for our faculty and students to think more globally, said York. All animals play a part in the balance of nature, and we have a responsibility to be mindful of the impact of our actions. On her trip to India, York joined a cadre of Clemson University representatives, from Ph.D. students to faculty and administrators: Lori Dickes, associate professor and associate chair, Department of Political Science; Aby Sene-Harper, assistant professor, Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management; Sarah White, professor and nursery Extension specialist, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences; Cameron Smith, Ph.D. student, Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management; Ifeanyi Ogbekene, Ph.D. student, Department of Political Science. Small differences, big changes For individuals who wish to make a difference, York recommends supporting the Tigers United University Consortium at Clemson University and the local businesses that will help to protect tigers and other endangered animals by providing a financial alternative to poaching. We have a real responsibility, said York. We each can make a small difference, even when we cannot travel to India. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Pancake Breakfast St. John Lutheran Church, 2801 Jackson St., will host a pancake breakfast from 8 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 19. Free will offering. Menu will include pancakes, sausage, eggs, coffee, juice, milk, butter, and syrup. Proceeds will go to benefit the World & Community Ministry to support the community and St. John Food Pantry Mission. LSI Appoints Interrim President and CEO The Lutheran Services in Iowa (LSI) Board of Directors recently appointed Dan Dean, vice president of capacity and strategy development, as interim president and CEO for the statewide human services agency. The Board also established a search committee and initiated the search for the organization's next leader. Dan Dean has been at LSI for 27 years and has led the agency's personnel, quality improvement, and compliance programs across the state. He has also been responsible for strategic planning, development, measurement and oversight of operations at all sites. LSI is one of Iowa's largest human services agencies. Blessing of the Backpacks St. Mark Lutheran Church, 5200 Glenn Ave., will hold "Blessing of the Backpacks" at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 20, for all students (preschool through university!) and for all educators. Summer Worship St. Mark Lutheran Church ELCA begins Wednesday evening worship in the summer months at 7 p.m. All are welcome for this brief service of prayer, scripture, and Holy Communion. St. Mark is in the east Morningside neighborhood at 5200 Glenn Ave. Food pantry St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 1200 Douglas St., will have its food pantry open from 10 a.m. to noon Mondays. If Ludacris invites you to dinner this weekend, expect tacos. Before launching his Discovery+ series, Luda Cant Cook, he admitted they were his forte. I have a wife and she does all the cooking, which is part of the reason I cant cookbecause Im lazy, he said in a Zoom call. "The whole Luda Cant Cook thing is only 99 percent true. Theres one percent -- I can cook tacos. But I want to learn. In the series, Chris Ludacris Bridges got to sample a host of dishes -- and learn the secrets to their success. Indian food, he said, was a real challenge. Using all the spices just opened my mind to something completely new that I never even thought about. Cooking is all about making things your own, so you start using different spices and different ingredients to create your own style. Thats what I learned (from the show). Ludacris Recently touring with Janet Jackson, Ludacris brings his stage show to Battery Park for a concert Saturday night. More to offer A master of mixing things up, Ludacris made his name in music, then branched into film and television. His hit franchise, The Fast and the Furious, just released its 10th installment, Fast X, and, as predicted, topped the movie charts. A host of reality shows has kept him on television for more than a decade, and touring has ensured his music career is healthy. This weekend, he closes out the Hard Rock Hotel and Casinos Battery Park concert series. Most recently, he got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and appeared in concert with Janet Jackson. With Luda Cant Cook under his belt, Ludracris also made an appearance on Top Chef. At home, he said, wife Eudoxie Mbouguiengue has control of the kitchen. When he gets involved, its all about ease. I need my food ready, he explained. Im hungry and then I got to get back to work. Its that simple. An air fryer, a George Foreman Grill -- anything that makes it easier for us to cook faster is what I want. While Ludacris has several restaurants, hes not one to dictate the menu. He loves Italian food (chicken parmesan is one of his favorites) but doesnt have all the details down pat. I just go to the store and buy stuff pre-made, he said. Theres a large variety of what cooking means to different people. To me, it means knowing how to do everything from scratch. Those are the true cooks and the true chefs. Mom, he said, wasnt exactly the best cook so his abilities were at a disadvantage. I dont even know how to cook rice, he said. Im learning things along the way. It was an eye-opener (doing the show) because you see all these instruments and you see all these different utensils in the kitchen and you dont know what goes with what. If I tried to put some rice in a pot, its going to stick to the pot. Its all badthats why the show is great. Ludacris Rapper Ludacris in 2019. A smart idea Executive Producer Will Packer thought it would be interesting to take celebrities out of their comfort zones and show how they approach a learning curve. Chefs like Robert Irvine and Guy Fieri, he said, bring a different vibe to the culinary world. Personalities like Ludacris (give us) a broader playground, which is really exciting. Ludacris Rapper Ludacris With Jackson on her Together Again tour since April, Ludacris has been able to remind audiences of his Grammy-winning rap and hip-hop ways. A three-time recipient, he has posted backstage details on social media and, most recently, shared his workout secrets with Mens Health. At 45, he uses martial arts to stay fit. Growing up, Ludacris said, he had no idea he would have so many varied interests later in life. A cooking show was definitely not one of them. When you dont have two nickels to rub together, you can do a lot of things with canned foods, baloney sandwiches and grilled cheeses. Thats why all of this is so exciting. Because its completely something that not even I would think about. Furious 7 The "Fast and Furious Franchise" has been a big force for its stars. Among them, in "Furious 7," from left, Tyrese Gibson, Michelle Rodriguez, A skull, an elbow, one hand, ribs, a right toe, the left leg, and a foot bone. According to Thursdays testimony from a Davenport police crime scene technician, those scattered remains were all that was left of 10-year-old Breasia Terrell when she was found near a pond in rural Clinton County on March 22, 2021. The crime scene technician, Sgt. Kristopher Mayer, offered the testimony during the first day of Henry Earl Dinkins trial in front of Judge Henry Latham. Dinkins is accused of abducting and killing Breasia and faces charges of first-degree kidnapping and murder. She disappeared July 10, 2020 while spending the night with her younger brother at the apartment Dinkins shared with his girlfriend, Andrea Culberson. Breasias younger brother is Dinkins son. Dinkins originally was to face a jury in a change-of-venue trial in the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids. The trial moved back to Scott County after Dinkins opted for a bench trial earlier this week. Scott County Attorney Kelly Cunningham and assistant prosecutor Liz ODonnell called four witnesses Thursday. Mayer was the third to take the stand, and he described the evidence investigators marked at the scene where Breasia was found. Besides the skeletal remains, Mayer said two bullets were found, portions of a shirt, and shoes were located near a small farm pond roughly two miles north of DeWitt. Everyone sounded normalMona Varela was the second witnessed called Thursday, and the former day shift report taker at the Davenport Police Department described the morning of July 10, 2020, when Breasias mother, Aishia Lankford, called to report her daughter missing. Under direct questioning by Cunningham, Varela said the 10-year-old may have first been considered a runaway, but that characterization didnt last long when Lankford told Varela that Breasia wouldnt run away. Varela testified Breasia spent the night at Dinkins apartment and Dinkins was on his way to the police station to report the girl as missing. Varela reached Dinkins by phone. He said he changed his mind, and he wasnt on his way, but that Breasia is a good kid who never gets into trouble, she testified. Dinkins then tried to put his son on the phone, and I explained to him that I didnt want to speak with his son. He put the phone to his son, and his son said a few things. Valera said she called Culberson to tell her to stay at the apartment, because police were on their way. Valera said Culberson was reluctant to give her the apartment number and testified she was growing concerned about the situation, because there seemed to be red flags appearing during the phone calls. Valera then called Dinkins back, and he told her he was headed to the apartment. One of Dinkins attorneys, Chad Frese, cross-examined Valera, repeatedly asking why she called Dinkins back when she only had one phone conversation with Lankford and one with Culberson. When asked if Dinkins was polite, respectful and sounded normal while one the phone, Valera responded yes. Through questioning Valera, Frese also established that Lankford never expressed concern during the call that Dinkins had anything to do with Breasias disappearance. Valera then added, To me, thats what was so alarming. Everyone was sounding normal. Under redirect from Cunningham, Valera added that people dealing with the possibility of a missing child dont sound normal during their calls. A lack of details Geoffrey Peiffer, a sergeant in the Davenport Police Department, was the first witness called Thursday. He was one of the officers who responded to the report that Breasia was missing. He testified that he was called to the Jersey Meadows apartment complex at 2744 E. 53rd Street after another officer responded to a report of a missing child on July 10, 2020. Peiffer learned the missing child was Breasia, and she had been spending the night in apartment No. 8 with her brother, Dinkins and Dinkins girlfriend. According to Peiffer, the first officer told him the case did not feel like a typical missing kid incident. It became clear Breasia was gone from the apartment for a significant amount of time, Peiffer testified. Davenport police began canvassing the area, including unoccupied apartments and garages in the complex. This incident was clearly not like any other we had experienced, due to the lack of details, Peiffer testified. China continues to set agenda for international cooperation Xinhua) 13:14, August 10, 2023 KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Unfettered by global uncertainty and challenges, China will continue to set an international agenda for cooperation, peaceful development, open inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Ouyang Yujing said on Wednesday. In his remarks at the 36th Asia-Pacific Roundtable (APR), Ouyang emphasized that China has remained steadfast to the ideals of international cooperation, seeing it as a vital element in restoring certainty in a world facing numerous disruptions. "The world is full of uncertainties and instabilities. We are once again at the crossroads. Which path to take? We have to choose. To pursue common prosperity or let go of the trend of the poor becoming poorer and rich becoming richer? To conduct win-win cooperation or play zero-sum games?" he said. "To these questions, China has given its clear-cut answer. It is to take the path of peaceful development, open inclusiveness and win-win cooperation. China is dedicated to giving a safe and prosperous life to both its own people and other peoples in the world," he explained. China has continued to put its words into action through its proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Global Development Initiative (GDI), both of which have driven growth in participating countries and created an environment of progressiveness and hope, Ouyang said. "After 10-years of collaborative efforts, the BRI has brought enormous growth to both China and its partner countries. China has become the largest trading partner of 25 BRI countries, successfully helping many realize their railway dream, bridge dream and poverty alleviation dream," he said. "By June 2023, the GDI has won support from more than 100 countries and international organizations, with nearly 70 countries joining the UN-based GDI Group of Friends. Over the last 10 years, China has made a more than 30 percent average contribution to global economic growth," he added. In addition to these economic initiatives, China has also pursued international peace and stability through its Global Security Initiative (GSI), which advocates a new security path that takes dialogue over confrontation, partnership over alliance, and win-win cooperation over zero-sum rivals. "It has won support and appreciation from over 90 countries and regional organizations, and has been written into more than 30 bilateral and multilateral documents," he added. China plays an active role in helping to resolve conflicts and confrontation, and with its efforts and meditation, Saudi Arabia and Iran have achieved the historic rapprochement, said the Chinese ambassador. The APR, which runs from Aug. 8 to Aug. 10, is the signature international conference of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia. The event has brought together experts from across the region to explore the latest trends and developments in the region, with the aim to provide insights into how businesses and governments can navigate an increasingly complex strategic landscape. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Ukraine ordered a mass evacuation of thousands of Ukrainians as Russian troops push forward. Ukrainian officials announced the mandatory evacuation on Thursday, Aug. 10. Mass Ukraine Evacuation Mandated as Russian Forces Intensify According to Fox News' latest report, the mandatory evacuation affects nearly 12,000 civilians in Ukraine. These individuals are located in 37 towns and villages in the eastern Kharkiv region. Ukrainian officials said that Russian forces in this region are intensifying as they make a concerted effort to push through the front line. CNN World reported that some Ukrainian positions near the city were captured. This just shows that Russia's attacks in the country are getting serious. Because of this, the local military administration in Kharkiv's Kupiansk district said that residents should follow the mandated evacuation. But, they still expect that some people will choose to stay. Officials said that residents who will decline to leave the region need to sign a document confirming that they would stay at their own risk. Read Also: China-Philippines Water Cannon Incident: Dispute Could Turn Into Superpower Conflict, Warn Experts Latest Ukrainian Evacuation Is Large Scale The latest evacuation in Ukraine is unusual since the Ukrainian government hasn't made one at this scale. Experts said that Ukrainian authorities have not mandated an evacuation as large as the one in the Kharkiv region since October 2022. But, it has to be done to ensure the safety of residents against Russian forces. Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Head Oleh Syniehubov said that Russian troops massively shelled settlements of Kharkiv. Aside from this district, the official said that Chuhuiv, Izium, and Kupyansk are also affected by guided aerial bombs and other attacks conducted by the Russian military. There's a reason why Russia concentrates its attacks on Kupyansk. Military experts said that the Russian military wants to prevent Ukrainian troops from assisting Kyiv's counteroffensive. "The number of enemy forces and means and its recent activation in this area of the front are aimed at trying to turn the tide in this section of the front," explained Ukrainian National Guard spokesman Ruslan Muzychuk. If you want to learn more about the latest mass evacuation in Ukraine, you can click here. Related Article: Russia Targeted Pokrovsk Hotel Used by Journalists with Missile Strike, Leaving 5 People Dead @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. SOUTH SIOUX CITY When Rony Ortega interviewed for the South Sioux City superintendent position, he said that out of the 244 districts in Nebraska, there were only three that he would consider leading -- South Sioux City was one of them. "The truth is, it was my top choice, I just couldnt say that," Ortega said during an interview with The Journal in his new office. Ortega was selected to become South Sioux City School's new superintendent in December, replacing Todd Strom, who retired after 33 years with the district. He officially started in July. The reasons Ortega felt South Sioux was his top choice included geographical location, a diverse community and a community that fit his vision, mission and strengths. I feel that my strengths perfectly align to your challenges here. You have everything in place. It just needs some strong leadership and the right kind of leadership to really move things forward," he said during a public interview in November. Ortega was approached about applying for the superintendent position by a variety of people. He said he has never chased jobs, but instead has sought opportunities to make a bigger impact and that fit his strengths. I felt like South Sioux was a perfect match in that way for me with my background and strengths. I jumped at the opportunity when I heard about it, he said. I felt a calling to do more for an entire community. He said South Sioux City embraces diversity and the school district is small enough to allow meaningful connection with the students and parents, but large enough to offer a high-quality, comprehensive education. South Sioux City Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Rony Ortega Dr. Rony Ortega, Superintendent of the South Sioux City Community Schools, is shown at the district's high school. Ortega was named to the pos Ortega was the Bryan High School principal in Omaha before accepting the position. He has had a long history in education in a variety of positions including teacher, school counselor, assistant principal, principal, central office executive and university adjunct instructor in the Omaha metro area. He said he has worked in suburban communities, urban communities, Spanish as the first language communities, and communities with very few foreign language speakers. He has a doctorate in educational leadership, a master's in education leadership and a master's in school counseling from the University of Nebraska - Omaha and a bachelors in secondary education from the University of Nebraska--Lincoln. Ortega did not love school as a kid. I struggled in school. I attended schools in L.A., at a time when it was very dysfunctional. And so I had a lot of gaps in my education. But I felt like the system, in many ways, had let me down, he said. Ortega decided to pursue education to prevent that from happening to other kids. He wants kids to have high-quality teachers and safe schools. South Sioux City Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Rony Ortega Dr. Rony Ortega, superintendent of the South Sioux City Community Schools, is shown in his office at the district's headquarters in South Sioux City. Making the move This summer has been busy for Ortega and his family. They packed up their Omaha home, built a new home in South Sioux, became familiar with the district and started integrating into the area. Its just an hour-and-a-half away but it seems like we moved across the country, he said. But its been very positive. While South Sioux is smaller than Omaha, Ortega said he is familiar with living in a small community and enjoys the smaller setting and connections made in those types of communities. Ortega moved to Nebraska when he was a junior in high school and graduated from Schuyler Central High School. Youre not as anonymous as you are in a big city, so it felt comfortable, he said. Ortegas family did not initially know he applied for the South Sioux superintendent position. He said he didnt want to create stress for his family until later in the interview process. As he got further, he told his wife, Cara. Of course, she was excited for me. Shes been my No. 1 supporter. She knows all of those late-night conversations about wanting to make a difference and impact communities and kids and how education changed my life, he said. He said his children were excited about him getting the job. His two oldest daughters, Gabriela and Ariana, will be starting their junior and sophomore years at UNO this fall. His youngest daughter, Natalia, will be entering the seventh grade, and his son, Sebastian, just turned 2. [Natalia] was a harder sell, as you can imagine. She thinks her life has just come to an end, but shes come around and I think shes getting excited about being here, he said. South Sioux City Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Rony Ortega Dr. Rony Ortega, superintendent of the South Sioux City Community Schools, talks about his goals for the district. Jumping right in The transition work began immediately after Ortega was selected. During his public interview, he shared with the board a document outlining his suggestions for a transition plan. Ortega met with Strom and had transparent conversations about the state of the district. Ortega said Strom was welcoming and didnt withhold any information. While this is Ortegas first time as a superintendent, he said it felt like the natural next step. I feel blessed and grateful, he said. Its been a lot of hard work getting here. Nothings ever been handed to me it's always been a really purposeful, a higher calling for me to really give back and transform lives through education. When there is a leadership change, Ortega said the community reflects on where the district is and what they want changed. One of the areas of focus shared with Ortega is becoming a small community again with positive relationships between the school and the community. Where we are having personal conversations, where we are truly leveraging each other, and supporting one another and collaborating with one another, he said. Connecting the entire district, between schools, among schools in schools, is something that I think is needed. He also said a challenge has been engaging the entire community in a meaningful, authentic way. While the community values and appreciates diversity, Ortega said he wants to push it past that and start leveraging the diversity and ensuring equitable outcomes. I think the community is ready for that. And so thats not something Im going to do in this office. Thats something thats going to happen in our schools with multiple people involved in the process, he said. First steps as superintendent The first steps as superintendent for Ortega involve the ABCs. Assessing our district, building relationships with staff and [building] trust, and trying to communicate very transparently with the community and with staff to earn that trust, he said. On the back of Ortegas office door, a pie chart shows how he wants to spend his work day. He said the chart was a collaboration with school leadership and is a continual work in progress. The largest portion of his chart is dedicated to time in the schools with another large portion being dedicated to the community. Thursday is the first official day for the South Sioux City Schools. Ortega plans to be with students, support staff, teachers and principals in the schools. "The energy and excitement of the first day of school can't be matched, I'm excitedly looking forward to our first day in SSC," Ortega said. SIOUX CITY Four men were ordained to the permanent diaconate Aug. 5 at the Cathedral of the Epiphany. Will Fergen of Sioux City, Alan Loew of Carroll, Jeff Stanek of Callender and Mark Steinberg of Fort Dodge received the sacrament of holy orders from Bishop Walker Nickless at an ordination Mass. Permanent deacons are ordained ministers in the Catholic Church and are considered clerics. These four men will provide a ministry of service and proclaim the Word of God in their home parishes, the Diocese of Sioux City said in a press release. Permanent deacons are contrasted with transitional deacons; men ordained as a transitional deacon most likely will be ordained as a priest later. The principal function of the deacon, therefore, is to collaborate with the bishop and the priests in exercise of a ministry which is not of their own wisdom but of the Word of God, calling all to conversion and holiness, according to the Congregation for the Clergy, Directory for the Ministry and Life of Permanent Deacons (a set of Catholic instructions). The deacons can preach at Masses, assist at the altar, baptize, officiate at Catholic marriages with the permission of their pastor, officiate at funeral services that do not include a Mass, visit the sick and works of charity as well as assisting their pastor in various capacities. In the Catholic tradition, to be eligible to enter into formation for the permanent diaconate, a man must be at a practicing Catholic that is at least 35 years old. Permanent deacons can be married at the time of ordination. Candidates will complete a program of study and discernment before being considered for ordination. In contrast, a man ordained to the transitional diaconate in the Catholic Church must be unmarried as those candidates are studying for the priesthood. SIOUX CITY -- Learn about a community in rapid change during "History at High Noon: Sioux City in Transition 1960 - 1969" from 12:05 - 12:45 p.m. Aug. 17 at the Sioux City Public Museum, 607 Fourth St. History curator Matt Anderson will showcase images from the turbulent decade, which saw the opening of Interstate 29, the completion of the Floyd River and Missouri River flood control projects, the first River-Cade celebration, the advent of Iowa Beef Processors (IBP), the construction of the first suburban shopping centers and the passage of s school bond issue that thoroughly reorganized the city's junior and senior high schools. Here's a look at trending content for today, Aug. 9: Lil Tay Lil Tay, a young social media star who went viral for her foulmouthed videos, is not dead as online posts reported Wednesday, her family said. Her family said Thursday that the rising 14-year-old rapper's Instagram account was hacked. Lil Tay (real name Claire Hope) rose to popularity in 2018 for her Instagram photos and posts where she flaunted designer clothes and luxury cars. Find out more about her here: Editor's note: A previous version of the story published Aug. 9 cited the false post reporting her death. Maui fire Wildfires in Hawaii fanned by strong winds burned multiple structures in areas including historic Lahaina town, forcing evacuations and closing schools in several communities Wednesday, and rescuers pulled a dozen people escaping smoke and flames from the ocean. The U.S. Coast Guard responded to areas where people went into the ocean to escape the fire and smoky conditions, the County of Maui said in a statement. The Coast Guard tweeted that a crew rescued 12 people from the water off Lahaina. The county tweeted that multiple roads in Lahaina were closed with a warning: "Do NOT go to Lahaina town." Fire was widespread in Lahaina, including Front Street, an area of the town popular with tourists, County of Maui spokesperson Mahina Martin said in a phone interview early Wednesday. Read more about it here: Robbie Robertson Robbie Robertson, The Band's lead guitarist and songwriter who in such classics as The Weight, Up on Cripple Creek and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" mined and helped reshape American music, has died at 80. Robertson died surrounded by family, a statement from his manager said. From their years as Bob Dylan's masterful backing group to their own stardom as embodiments of old-fashioned community and virtuosity, The Band profoundly influenced popular music in the 1960s and '70s, first by literally amplifying Dylans polarizing transition from folk artist to rock star and then by absorbing the works of Dylan and Dylan's influences as they fashioned a new sound immersed in the American past. Get more info on him here: *** Get more of today's trending topics here: Dianne Feinstein Tory Lanez Yankton Press & Dakotan. July 25, 2023. Editorial: Regents Decide To Freeze Tuition Again South Dakotas Board of Regents made the best call last week in deciding to seek a tuition freeze for state public universities for the coming year. It would mark the fourth consecutive year that the regents have frozen tuition. This move would cost the state an estimated $14.3 million. The regents opted to make this their top priority for the new budget, supplanting the proposed system-wide civic engagement center, which is tied in principle to the state Board of Education Standards adoption of the controversial new social studies standards. That story has been well chronicled and remains a subject of serious debate. The tuition freeze is vital because, frankly, it sets the stage for most everything else. In adopting the stance, the regents said it was important to keep South Dakota tuition rates financially competitive with other states in the region. That must certainly stand as an important consideration. It also acknowledges that the student loan debt issue is a real one for many people, and with student loan debt reduction still uncertain, efforts by the regents and the state to hold down the costs can offer a little help on the front end. Other budgetary matters supported by the regents and besides the civic engagement center, which was moved to the second tier of priorities due to a lack of consensus, according to Regent Jeff Partridge include, among other items, the expansion of the Teacher Apprenticeship Pathway and creating a Center for Quantum Information Science and Technology. These steps would also bolster the states higher-education offerings, thus making them more attractive as well as competitively priced. Ultimately, it comes down to this: Whatever quality of education is offered by the states universities wont mean a lot if students arent attending these schools. Making higher education here affordable and attractive, especially in an age when student loan debt is a crisis, is imperative, and it will likely remain so for a long time to come. END Skeptical Science New Research for Week #32 2023 Posted on 10 August 2023 by Doug Bostrom, Marc Kodack Open access notables From this week's government/NGO section and UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy, an attractive choice: 2035 and Beyond: The Report The authors show that the United States has one of the worlds best offshore wind potentials, enough to power up to 5 percent in 2035 and 25 percent of Americas total power needs in 2050 with this abundant clean energy. Progress in the next decade is critical to build out the U.S. offshore wind supply chain. The right mix of policies that start today can make offshore wind a cornerstone of the transition to a zero-emission economy, creating jobs, improving grid reliability, and keeping electricity affordable. Over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential is available along the U.S. coastline, including the Great Lakes, which could greatly complement onshore resources such as solar and wind to help achieve a 95% clean electricity grid by 2050 without substantially affecting wholesale electricity costs. Increasing ambition for offshore wind development could inject up to $1.8 trillion of investment into the U.S. economy and employ up to 390,000 workers in the sector in 2050. How to get a quick snapshot of reality? For some matters, we only need ask the insurance industry. For instance, there are persistent, misogynist-whiffy jokes about "women drivers," but the jealously guarded bottom-line of insurance companies sets us straight: automobile driver's insurance is lower for women. Case closed, jokes deflated! So, how about another myth-afflicted topic climate change? Over the decades anthropogenic climate change has been sliding into view on the calculators of insurance companies, and this activity has commensurately crept into the attention of academics interested in this sphere of economic activity. Lin Yang-Han & coauthors track this evolution from its inception, with Evolution of research on climate risk insurance: A bibliometric analysis from 1975 to 2022 just published in Advances in Climate Change Research. Some 33 million smallholder farms supply about 70% of sub-Saharan Africa's food supply. A collective of "small" farms are the large foundations of stability for the entire continent, and attention must be paid. Just so: Isaac Ayo Oluwatimilehin and Ayansina Ayanlade's article Climate change impact on staple crops: assessment of smallholder farmers adaptation methods and barriers just published in Climate Risk Management suggests that while smallholders currently lack capacity to adapt their agricultural practices to the mess we're rapidly making of our climate, such adaptation holds promise not only to mitigate degradation of these farms but can in fact improve their output. Frequency control is a big deal in AC (alternating current) power systems, such as those supplying the electrical outlets and equipment in our homes and factories. Various devices powered by our grid need fairly precise AC frequency in order not to malfunction or be damaged. Our generation systems evolved from the beginning so as to be very "stiff" against wavering load demand, thanks to the enormous collective mass of huge spinning armatures in myriad large generators. Much of this equipment is on the way out of the picture because it's overwhelmingly been part of big thermal plants consuming fossil fuels for operation. This largely leaves nuclear and hydroelectric plants to handle the momentum requirements for frequency control, as outmoded combustion thermal plants are retired. It's not really possible for many reasons for those to pick up all of the necessary "oomph" duty. An intriguing paper in Wind Energy explores how wind generation can help to close the gap: Providing power reserve for secondary grid frequency regulation of offshore wind farms through yaw control. The article is exemplary of the detail work needed to "just" transition to modern, permanent energy supplies now that we've twigged that fossil fuels are an ephemeral and hazardous power source. 107 articles in 53 journals by 566 contributing authors Physical science of climate change, effects Mechanisms of Tibetan Plateau Warming Amplification in Recent Decades and Future Projections, Hu et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-22-0471.1 The Relationship Between the Present-Day Seasonal Cycles of Clouds in the Mid-Latitudes and Cloud-Radiative Feedback, Furtado et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2023gl103902 Observations of climate change, effects Atmospheric Water Vapor Transport between Ocean and Land under Climate Warming, Wang et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-22-0106.1 Climatology and Changes in Extratropical Cyclone Activity in the Southern Hemisphere during Austral Winters from 1948 to 2017, Zhan & Chen, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology 10.1175/jamc-d-22-0061.1 Contrasting Trends and Drivers of Global Surface and Canopy Urban Heat Islands, Du et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2023gl104661 Evolution of heatwaves in Chile since 1980, Gonzalez-Reyes et al., Weather and Climate Extremes Open Access 10.1016/j.wace.2023.100588 How Unusual Is the 2022 European Compound Drought and Heatwave Event?, Tripathy & Mishra, Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2023gl105453 Temporal changes in dependence between compound coastal and inland flooding drivers around the contiguous United States coastline, Nasr et al., Weather and Climate Extremes Open Access 10.1016/j.wace.2023.100594 Unprecedented wildfires in Canada and transboundary effects of carbon monoxide pollution, Shakoor et al., Natural Hazards 10.1007/s11069-023-06117-4 Instrumentation & observational methods of climate change, effects Performance of climate reanalyses in the determination of pan-Arctic terrestrial rain-on-snow events, TAO et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2023.08.002 Modeling, simulation & projection of climate change, effects Climatological features of future MCSs in convection-permitting climate models using CMIP6 and ERA5 in the central United States, Hwang et al., Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 10.1002/qj.4549 Effects of urban expansion and anthropogenic heat enhancement on tropical cyclone precipitation in the Greater Bay Area of China, He et al., Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 10.1029/2022jd038184 Future Physical and Biogeochemical Ocean Conditions under Climate Change along the British Columbia Continental Margin, Pena & Fine, Atmosphere Open Access pdf 10.1080/07055900.2023.2239186 Hysteresis of the El NinoSouthern Oscillation to CO2 forcing, Liu et al., Science Advances Open Access pdf 10.1126/sciadv.adh8442 Increasing connections of the leading internal mode of the summertime Northwest Pacific subtropical anticyclone with preceding ENSO under greenhouse warming in FGOALS-g3 super-large ensemble, Ma et al., International Journal of Climatology 10.1002/joc.8197 Projected changes in extreme climate events over Africa under 1.5 , 2.0 and 3.0 global warming levels based on CMIP6 projections, Ayugi et al., Atmospheric Research 10.1016/j.atmosres.2023.106872 Sensitive temperature changes on the Tibetan Plateau in response to global warming, Meng et al., Atmospheric Research 10.1016/j.atmosres.2023.106948 Temporal and Spatial Amplification of Extreme Rainfall and Extreme Floods in a Warmer Climate, Faghih & Brissette, Journal of Hydrometeorology 10.1175/jhm-d-22-0224.1 The Effect of Tropical Pacific Air-Sea Coupling on the Rainfall Response to Quadrupled CO2 Forcing, Hsu et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2023gl103466 Trends and climate change analysis for common climate variables in Gelgel Belese Watershed, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia, Shitu et al., Theoretical and Applied Climatology 10.1007/s00704-023-04568-0 Advancement of climate & climate effects modeling, simulation & projection A Pacific Tropical Decadal Variability Challenge for Climate Models, Zhao et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2023gl104037 An Approach to Link Climate Model Tropical Cyclogenesis Bias to Large-Scale Wind Circulation Modes, Feng et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2023gl103838 Applicability of CMIP5 and CMIP6 Models in China: Reproducibility of Historical Simulation and Uncertainty of Future Projection, Jia et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-22-0375.1 Climate Models Underestimate Dynamic Cloud Feedbacks in the Tropics, Hill et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2023gl104573 Historical Changes and Reasons for Model Differences in Anthropogenic Aerosol Forcing in CMIP6, Fiedler et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2023gl104848 Improved theory of ocean iron cycle resolves modelling issues, Toner, Nature 10.1038/d41586-023-02406-x Model bias in calculating factor importance of climate on vegetation growth, Liang et al., Global and Planetary Change 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104209 Projection of urban land surface temperature: An inter- and intra-annual modeling approach, Chen et al., Urban Climate 10.1016/j.uclim.2023.101637 Simulations of the North Tropical Atlantic ModeENSO connection in CMIP5 and CMIP6 models, Tian et al., Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 10.1029/2023jd039018 The CESM2 Single-Forcing Large Ensemble and Comparison to CESM1: Implications for Experimental Design, Simpson et al., Journal of Climate 10.1175/jcli-d-22-0666.1 The performance of CMIP6 models in describing the temperature annual cycle in China from 1961 to 2014, Zhang et al., Theoretical and Applied Climatology 10.1007/s00704-023-04580-4 Cryosphere & climate change Constraints on the Cryohydrological Warming of Firn and Ice in Greenland From Rayleigh Wave Ellipticity Data, Jones et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2023gl103673 CRYO, Wright et al., Microscopy and Microanalysis Open Access pdf 10.1017/s1431927603440518 Constraints on the Cryohydrological Warming of Firn and Ice in Greenland From Rayleigh Wave Ellipticity Data, Jones et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2023gl103673 Sea level & climate change How accurate is accurate enough for measuring sea-level rise and variability, Meyssignac et al., Nature Climate Change 10.1038/s41558-023-01735-z Paleoclimate & paleogeochemistry Climate system asymmetries drive eccentricity pacing of hydroclimate during the early Eocene greenhouse, Walters et al., Science Advances Open Access pdf 10.1126/sciadv.adg8022 Living through changing climates: Temperature and seasonality correlate with population fluctuations among Holocene hunter-fisher-gatherers on the west coast of Norway, Lundstrom, The Holocene 10.1177/09596836231185839 Triassic-Jurassic vegetation response to carbon cycle perturbations and climate change, Bos et al., Global and Planetary Change Open Access 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2023.104211 Biology & climate change, related geochemistry Climate-driven tree growth and mortality in the Black Forest, GermanyLong-term observations, Spiecker & Kahle, Global Change Biology Open Access pdf 10.1111/gcb.16897 Impacts of climate change on Herpetofauna diversity in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), Alex et al., Conservation Biology 10.1111/cobi.14155 New-generation geostationary satellite reveals widespread midday depression in dryland photosynthesis during 2020 western U.S. heatwave, Li et al., Science Advances Open Access pdf 10.1126/sciadv.adi0775 Ocean acidification in the Philippines and the potential role of water pollution management in mitigating an unaddressed threat, Reyes et al., Regional Environmental Change 10.1007/s10113-023-02102-6 Predicted range shifts of alien tree species in Europe, Pucha?ka et al., Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 10.1016/j.agrformet.2023.109650 Projected Rainfall-Driven Expansion of Woody Cover in African Drylands, Zhang et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2023gl103932 The effects of climate change on the ecology of fishes, Nagelkerken et al., PLOS Climate Open Access pdf 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000258 The response of coral skeletal nano structure and hardness to ocean acidification conditions, Tan et al., Royal Society Open Science Open Access 10.1098/rsos.230248 GHG sources & sinks, flux, related geochemistry A Shift From Temperature to Water as the Primary Driver for Interannual Variability of the Tropical Carbon Cycle, He et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2023gl102812 Effects of herbivore on seagrass, epiphyte and sediment carbon sequestration in tropical seagrass bed, Jiang et al., Marine Environmental Research 10.1016/j.marenvres.2023.106122 Long-term organic carbon preservation enhanced by iron and manganese, Moore et al., Nature Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41586-023-06325-9 Spatial and temporal variations of gross primary production simulated by land surface model BCC&AVIM2.0, Li et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2023.02.001 Spatial predictions and uncertainties of forest carbon fluxes for carbon accounting, Araza et al., Scientific Reports Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41598-023-38935-8 The carbon transfer from plant to soil is more efficient in less productive ecosystems, Fan et al., Global Biogeochemical Cycles 10.1029/2023gb007727 Decarbonization Accelerated ageing of organic and perovskite photovoltaics, Burlingame et al., Nature Energy 10.1038/s41560-023-01330-8 Are research and development on energy efficiency and energy sources effective in the level of CO2 emissions? Fresh evidence from EU data, Bilgili et al., Environment, Development and Sustainability 10.1007/s10668-023-03641-y Determining an equation for estimating the evaporation from water surfaces covered with photovoltaic panels, Asmani et al., International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology 10.1007/s13762-023-04910-z Early adopters of residential solar PV distributed generation: Evidence from Brazil, Chile and Mexico, Chueca et al., Energy for Sustainable Development 10.1016/j.esd.2023.101284 Evaluation and modeling of a solar photovoltaic power plant: Case of the Sakal plant, Sene et al., Energy for Sustainable Development 10.1016/j.esd.2023.101287 Providing power reserve for secondary grid frequency regulation of offshore wind farms through yaw control, Oudich et al., Wind Energy Open Access pdf 10.1002/we.2845 Response of mineral market to renewable energy production in the USA: Where lies the sustainable energy future, Abbas et al., Energy Policy 10.1016/j.enpol.2023.113749 Geoengineering climate Public response to solar geoengineering: how media frames about stratospheric aerosol injection affect opinions, Bolsen et al., Climatic Change 10.1007/s10584-023-03575-4 Climate change communications & cognition Do Flood and Heatwave Experiences Shape Climate Opinion? Causal Evidence from Flooding and Heatwaves in England and Wales, Lohmann & Kontoleon, Environmental and Resource Economics Open Access pdf 10.1007/s10640-023-00796-0 From causes to consequences, from chat to crisis. The different climate changes of science and Wikipedia, Korte et al., Environmental Science & Policy Open Access 10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103553 Key predictors for climate policy support and political mobilization: The role of beliefs and preferences, Simon, PLOS Climate Open Access pdf 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000145 Public recognition of climate change inequities within the United States, Schuldt & Pearson, Climatic Change 10.1007/s10584-023-03594-1 The concerned steward effect: Exploring the relationship between climate anxiety, psychological distress, and self-reported climate related behavioural engagement, Lukacs et al., Journal of Environmental Psychology 10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102091 Agronomy, animal husbundry, food production & climate change Assessing energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in Cretan vineyards for the development of a crop-specific decision support tool, Pilafidis et al., Environment, Development and Sustainability 10.1007/s10668-023-03649-4 Building climate resilience, social sustainability and equity in global fisheries, Prellezo et al., npj Ocean Sustainability Open Access pdf 10.1038/s44183-023-00017-7 Climate change impact on staple crops: assessment of smallholder farmers adaptation methods and barriers, Ayo Oluwatimilehin & Ayanlade, Climate Risk Management Open Access 10.1016/j.crm.2023.100542 Climate-smart peatland management and the potential for synergies between food security and climate change objectives in Indonesia, Lupascu et al., Global Environmental Change 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2023.102731 CO2 and temperature dominate the variation characteristics of wheat yield in China under 1.5 C and 2.0 C warming scenarios, Yang et al., Theoretical and Applied Climatology 10.1007/s00704-023-04574-2 Effect of forest management choices on carbon sequestration and biodiversity at national scale, Makela et al., Ambio Open Access pdf 10.1007/s13280-023-01899-0 Social influence and reduction of animal protein consumption among young adults: Insights from a socio-psychological model, Severijns et al., Journal of Environmental Psychology 10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102094 The influence of increasing temperatures on highland barley yields and on the maximum cultivation altitude on the Tibetan Plateau, WANG et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2023.08.001 Hydrology, hydrometeorology & climate change Energy Surplus and an Atmosphere-Land-Surface Tug of War Control Future Evapotranspiration, Xu et al., Geophysical Research Letters Open Access pdf 10.1029/2022gl102677 MOPREDAS_century database and precipitation trends in mainland Spain, 19162020, Gonzalez-Hidalgo et al., International Journal of Climatology Open Access pdf 10.1002/joc.8060 Climate change economics Taxing household energy consumption in the EU: The tax burden and its redistributive effect, Amores et al., Energy Policy 10.1016/j.enpol.2023.113721 Towards low carbon and sustainable environment: does income inequality mitigate ecological footprints in Sub-Saharan Africa?, Gimba et al., Environment, Development and Sustainability 10.1007/s10668-023-03580-8 Climate change and the circular economy Biogas-based systems: An opportunity towards a post-fossil and circular economy perspective in Italy, Sica et al., Energy Policy 10.1016/j.enpol.2023.113719 Climate change mitigation public policy research Assessing the co-benefits of emission reduction measures in transportation sector: A case study in Guangdong, China, Hu et al., Urban Climate 10.1016/j.uclim.2023.101619 Better clean or efficient? Panel regressions, Schneider & Sinha Preisig Rzechowicz Cella Almahdawi Young Jeffery Anita Liang Zhang Kanegsberg McLaren Brooks Rugg Rugg Sithole de Boyrie Acar Alshomer Shabbir Godwin Jeon Chia Fah Ting , Climatic Change Open Access 10.1007/s10584-023-03563-8 Energy sector sustainability for a fast-growing economy like Bangladesh: an empirical assessment, Mahmud & Roy, Sustainability Science 10.1007/s11625-023-01385-2 Impact of siting ordinances on land availability for wind and solar development, Lopez et al., Nature Energy 10.1038/s41560-023-01319-3 Nature to the rescue: past drivers and future potential of the Australian land-based carbon offsets market, Barber et al., Climate Policy Open Access pdf 10.1080/14693062.2023.2239758 On the preferences for an environmentally friendly and fair energy transition: A stated choice experiment for Germany, Kanberger & Ziegler, Energy Policy 10.1016/j.enpol.2023.113730 Optimal productioninventory decision with shortage for deterioration item and effect of carbon emission policy combination with green technology, Muthusamy et al., Environment, Development and Sustainability 10.1007/s10668-023-03621-2 Policy designs to increase public and local acceptance for energy transition in South Korea, Moon et al., Energy Policy 10.1016/j.enpol.2023.113736 Sustainable development pathways of China's wind power industry under uncertainties: Perspective from economic benefits and technical potential, Wang et al., Energy Policy 10.1016/j.enpol.2023.113737 The impact of climate policy uncertainty on ESG performance, carbon emission intensity and firm performance: evidence from Fortune 1000 firms, Persakis, Environment, Development and Sustainability 10.1007/s10668-023-03634-x The impact of government subsidies on technological innovation of new energy vehicle enterprises: from the perspective of industry chain, Wu et al., Environment, Development and Sustainability 10.1007/s10668-023-03697-w Climate change adaptation & adaptation public policy research Assessing climate service products with evaluation metrics: an application to decision support tools for climate change adaptation in the USA, Jahan et al., Climatic Change 10.1007/s10584-023-03595-0 Climate adaptation research priorities and funding: a review of US federal departments climate action plans, vonHedemann et al., Climate Policy 10.1080/14693062.2023.2242313 Disaster-driven climate adaptation: bringing institutions in, Zhang, Urban Climate 10.1016/j.uclim.2023.101638 Futuremaking in a disaster zone: Everyday climate change adaptation amongst Quechua women in the Peruvian Cordillera Blanca, Moulton & Carey, Environmental Science & Policy 10.1016/j.envsci.2023.103551 How climate change could affect different cities in Canada and what that means for the risks to the built-environment functions, Viseh & Bristow, Urban Climate 10.1016/j.uclim.2023.101639 Linking sea-level research with local planning and adaptation needs, Blankespoor et al., Nature Climate Change Open Access 10.1038/s41558-023-01749-7 Urban variables for adaptation to global warming in a hot-humid climate. Cuban cities as a case study, Conzalez Couret et al., Urban Climate 10.1016/j.uclim.2023.101633 Community-based adaptive entrepreneurship addressing climate and ecosystem changes: evidence from a riparian area in Bangladesh, Shahidullah, Climate Risk Management Open Access 10.1016/j.crm.2023.100543 Climate change impacts on human health Systematic exploration of heat wave impact on mortality and urban heat island: A review from 2000 to 2022, Yadav et al., Urban Climate 10.1016/j.uclim.2023.101622 The hidden health costs of climate change: Accounting for extreme heat harms to women in the global South, Limaye, PLOS Climate Open Access pdf 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000267 wMel replacement of dengue-competent mosquitoes is robust to near-term change, Vasquez et al., Nature Climate Change Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41558-023-01746-w Other Cessation of Labrador Sea Convection Triggered by Distinct Fresh and Warm (Sub)Mesoscale Flows, Clement et al., Journal of Physical Oceanography Open Access pdf 10.1175/jpo-d-22-0178.1 Challenging the values of the polluter elite: A global consequentialist response to Evensen and Graham's (2022) The irreplaceable virtues of in-person conferences, Whitmarsh & Kreil, Journal of Environmental Psychology 10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101881 Decadal changes in Atlantic overturning due to the excessive 1990s Labrador Sea convection, Boning et al., Nature Communications Open Access pdf 10.1038/s41467-023-40323-9 Evolution of research on climate risk insurance: A bibliometric analysis from 1975 to 2022, Yang-Han et al., Advances in Climate Change Research Open Access 10.1016/j.accre.2023.08.003 Sustainable management in the slow fashion industry: carbon footprint of an Italian brand, de Albuquerque Landi et al., The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Open Access pdf 10.1007/s11367-023-02205-6 Informed opinion, nudges & major initiatives As climate changes, everything changes, Christian Bernhofer, Theoretical and Applied Climatology Open Access 10.1007/s00704-023-04548-4 Supporting adaptation, Editorial, Nature Climate Change, Open Access 10.7748/eldc.8.6.39.s33 Articles/Reports from Agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations Addressing Aspects of Climate Change Renewable Electricity in New York State, Review and Prospects, Thomas DiNapoli, Office of the New York State Comptroller To carry out the goals and directives of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, New York is pursuing an aggressive campaign to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to levels identified by climate scientists as necessary to limit the most dangerous impacts of climate change. While this effort will require changes in the use of energy across all economic sectors, success in these efforts is predicated on our ability to encourage the development of a large supply of zero-emitting renewable electricity. 2035 and Beyond: The Report, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, Energy Innovation Policy & Technology, GridLab The authors show that the United States has one of the worlds best offshore wind potentials, enough to power up to 5 percent in 2035 and 25 percent of Americas total power needs in 2050 with this abundant clean energy. Progress in the next decade is critical to build out the U.S. offshore wind supply chain. The right mix of policies that start today can make offshore wind a cornerstone of the transition to a zero-emission economy, creating jobs, improving grid reliability, and keeping electricity affordable. Over 4,000 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind potential is available along the U.S. coastline, including the Great Lakes, which could greatly complement onshore resources such as solar and wind to help achieve a 95% clean electricity grid by 2050 without substantially affecting wholesale electricity costs. Increasing ambition for offshore wind development could inject up to $1.8 trillion of investment into the U.S. economy and employ up to 390,000 workers in the sector in 2050. Cooling Cities, Crown et al., Natural Areas Conservancy The authors focused on quantifying differences in air and surface temperature between types of urban greenspace, with a focus on natural areas. They found that natural areas are the coolest types of greenspaces in cities. Natural areas were significantly cooler than non-natural and landscaped areas, and forested natural areas have lower air temperature than areas of landscaped trees by several degrees. In some cities on a hot summer day it was over 10 F cooler in a forested natural area compared to under landscaped trees just a few hundred feet away in a street scape. They also found that forests that were higher quality tended to be cooler than those that were more degraded during the warmest point of the day and had lower high temperature extremes. Umweltbewusstsein in Deutschland 2022 (Environmental awareness in Germany 2022), Grothmann et al., Herausgeber Bundesministerium fur Umwelt, Naturschutz, nukleare Sicherheit und Verbraucherschutz (BMUV) Arbeitsgruppe Offentlichkeitsarbeit, Online-Kommunikation, Trends & Analysen (Publisher Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) Working Group on Public Relations, Online Communication, Trends & Analysis) Die Studie zum Umweltbewusstsein im Jahr 2022 zeigt, dass der Umwelt- und Klimaschutz weiterhin ein wichtiges Thema fur die Bevolkerung ist auch, wenn andere gesellschaftliche Herausforderungen gerade starker im Vordergrund stehen. Als Schwerpunktthema behandelt die Studie den umwelt- und klimafreundlichen Umbau der deutschen Wirtschaft, welcher von einer deutlichen Mehrheit (91 Prozent) befurwortet wird. Die Ergebnisse weisen aber auch auf weit verbreitete Sorgen hin, dass durch den okologischen Wirtschaftsumbau soziale Ungleichheit und gesellschaftliche Konflikte zunehmen. Dem Staat kommt daher aus Sicht der Befragten die wichtige Rolle zu, den Umbau sozial gerecht zu gestalten. Fur die Studie wurden im Sommer 2022 rund 2.000 Personen mittels reprasentativer Online-Interviews befragt. Die Studie bietet eine sozialwissenschaftlich fundierte Grundlage fur die Umweltpolitik und Umweltkommunikation und richtet sich an die fachlich interessierte Offentlichkeit. The study on environmental awareness in 2022 shows that environmental and climate protection continues to be an important issue for the population - even if other social challenges are more in the foreground. The study focuses on the environmentally and climate-friendly restructuring of the German economy, which is supported by a clear majority (91 percent). However, the results also point to widespread concerns that social inequality and social conflicts will increase as a result of ecological economic restructuring. From the point of view of the interviewees, the state, therefore, has an important role to play in shaping the restructuring in a socially just manner. For the study, around 2,000 people were surveyed in the summer of 2022 using representative online interviews. The study offers a socio-scientific basis for environmental policy and environmental communication and is aimed at the interested public. Sustainable Metals Manufacturing Opportunities in Indiana, Johnson et al., American Council for Energy-Efficiency Economy and Citizens Action Coalition Indiana is home to more than a quarter of the United States' steelmaking capacity and has more manufacturing jobs per capita than any other state. It also houses one of only five remaining U.S. primary aluminum smelters. These primary metals manufacturing facilities are the basis of many supply chains and are especially critical to the emerging electric vehicle industry. The authors analyze the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for Indianas steel and aluminum manufacturing industries. Leaders from state and local government, communities, organized labor, and industry must come together to chart a path forward for sustainable metals manufacturing in the state and ensure that Indiana leads the U.S. into the future of sustainable domestic manufacturing. The state can accomplish this by building new manufacturing facilities, expanding access to clean energy, and ensuring a well-trained workforce that is ready to engage with new, advanced manufacturing technology. Future of Americas Forests and Rangelands, US. Forest Service The authors summarize findings about the status, trends, and projected future of the Nation's forests and rangelands and the renewable resources that they provide. They specifically focuses on the effects of both socioeconomic and climatic change on the U.S. land base, disturbance, forests, forest product markets, rangelands, water, biodiversity, and outdoor recreation. Differing assumptions about population and economic growth, land use change, and global climate change from 2020 to 2070 largely influence the outlook for U.S. renewable resources. Land development will continue to threaten the integrity of forest and rangeland ecosystems. In addition, the combination and interaction of socioeconomic change, climate change, and the associated shifts in disturbances will strain natural resources and lead to increasing management and resource allocation challenges. At the same time, land management and the adoption of conservation measures can reduce pressure on natural resources. Critical Materials Assessment, Bauer et al., Department of Energy The authors analyze the results of a formal material criticality assessment to identify which materials are critical to the continued worldwide deployment of clean energy technologies. They used previous Department of Energy supply chain deep-dive assessments to develop the initial list of materials to evaluate. The authors include engineered materials that were identified as bottlenecks for clean energy deployment in DOEs deep-dive assessments, namely silicon carbide (SiC) and electrical steel. The use of SiC in power electronics has become more significant, particularly for electric vehicle (EV) inverters. While expansion of SiC wafer manufacturing capacity seems able to keep up with demand, but low yield and high cost are key constraints on growth. In addition to engineered materials, this assessment considers a larger set of materials and technologies than previous reports and introduces a formal screening method to determine which materials to include in the criticality assessment. Obtaining articles without journal subscriptions We know it's frustrating that many articles we cite here are not free to read. One-off paid access fees are generally astronomically priced, suitable for such as "On a Heuristic Point of View Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light" but not as a gamble on unknowns. With a median world income of US$ 9,373, for most of us US$ 42 is significant money to wager on an article's relevance and importance. Here's an excellent collection of tips and techniques for obtaining articles, legally. Unpaywall offers a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that automatically indicates when an article is freely accessible and provides immediate access without further trouble. Unpaywall is also unscammy, works well, is itself offered free to use. The organizers (a legitimate nonprofit) report about a 50% success rate The weekly New Research catch is checked against the Unpaywall database with accessible items being flagged. Especially for just-published articles this mechansim may fail. If you're interested in an article title and it is not listed here as "open access," be sure to check the link anyway. How is New Research assembled? Most articles appearing here are found via RSS feeds from journal publishers, filtered by search terms to produce raw output for assessment of relevance. Relevant articles are then queried against the Unpaywall database, to identify open access articles and expose useful metadata for articles appearing in the database. The objective of New Research isn't to cast a tinge on scientific results, to color readers' impressions. Hence candidate articles are assessed via two metrics only: Was an article deemed of sufficient merit by a team of journal editors and peer reviewers? The fact of journal RSS output assigns a "yes" to this automatically. Is an article relevant to the topic of anthropogenic climate change? Due to filter overlap with other publication topics of inquiry, of a typical week's 550 or so input articles about 1/4 of RSS output makes the cut. A few journals offer public access to "preprint" versions of articles for which the review process is not yet complete. For some key journals this all the mention we'll see in RSS feeds, so we include such items in New Research. These are flagged as "preprint." The section "Informed opinion, nudges & major initiatives" includes some items that are not scientific research per se but fall instead into the category of "perspectives," observations of implications of research findings, areas needing attention, etc. Suggestions Please let us know if you're aware of an article you think may be of interest for Skeptical Science research news, or if we've missed something that may be important. Send your input to Skeptical Science via our contact form. Journals covered A list of journals we cover may be found here. We welcome pointers to omissions, new journals etc. Previous edition The previous edition of Skeptical Science New Research may be found here. Democrats won all sorts of pleasant surprises on midterms election night last November, none more pleasant or more surprising than the shocking triumph of Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in Washingtons 3rd District. Here was a millennial mother, sporting bangs, Blundstones, and cool jeans, working in a mechanic shop, who beat Joe Kent, a virulent election denier and Trump endorsee, in a red and rural district, the exact sort of place where Democrats had been in steep decline. She was, perhaps, the way forward: young, populist, and supportive of anti-corporate policies like right to repair. Unequivocally pro-choice but also pro-gun, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez campaigned as a progressive who was rough around the edges of liberal piety, the moderates answer to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Advertisement Six months into her first term, she is not at all what her backers expected. On abortion, environmental issues, student debt, and criminal justice, she has opposed and undercut the president, alienated activist groups, spurned Democrats and sided with Republicans repeatedlyso much so that she is voting against her party more than almost any other Democrat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its equal parts confounding and disappointing. Democrats in red and purple districts do take tough votes, and its well understood that they may break with the party on certain issues. South Texas Henry Cuellar votes against the party on abortion; Alaskas Mary Peltola bucks the Dems in support of Arctic drilling. But usually, its a give and take: A vote with Republicans on one particular issue is followed by votes with Democrats on other parts of the program. Advertisement This was the expectation with Gluesenkamp Perez, especially when it came to gun control, but not on popular, winning Democratic issues like student debt relief or abortion. And yet, here is a sampling of the votes shes helped Republicans with: She was one of just seven Democrats to side with Kevin McCarthy on a resolution condemning the use of elementary school facilities to provide shelter for undocumented immigrants. She voted present, rather than yes, on a failed effort to expel Republican con man George Santos. She voted with Republicans in favor of the Save Our Gas Stoves Act, a completely ridiculous messaging bill that the L.A. Times editorial board called pro-fossil-fuel foolishness. She voted with Republicans to repeal the D.C. criminal code revision, which the D.C. ACLU called an insult to the name of democracy and common sense. And she was one of only four Democrats to vote for a National Defense Authorization Act that limited transgender health care and diversity training, banned critical race theory for military personnel, and, most jarringly, restricted abortion access for service members. Advertisement Advertisement This last vote cost her credibility with abortion activists, at a time when abortion is perhaps Democrats winningest issue. Greg Greene, who spent six years as associate director of Planned Parenthood Federation for America, said that Gluesenkamp Perezs vote for the NDAA raises real questions about how much shes willing to stand by her campaign rhetoric about defending reproductive freedom. Advertisement Thats pretty bad. But it was Gluesenkamp Perezs vote with Republicans on student debt, where she was one of just two Democrats to vote for a proposal that would have thrown out the entirety of President Joe Bidens student debt relief planand would have also retroactively reinstated interest payments and reinstated some already forgiven loansthat really stung. Advertisement Expansions of student debt forgiveness need to be matched dollar for dollar with investments in career and technical education, Gluesenkamp Perez said after her vote against student debt relief. I cant support the first without the other. The severe shortage of trades workers needs to be seen and treated as a national priority. Its about respect. Its almost convincing, except for the fact that Gluesenkamp Perezs colleague, fellow Washington Democrat Pramila Jayapal, has a bill called College for All, which makes community college and most four-year colleges tuition free; crucially, it includes trades school, and Gluesenkamp Perez has thus far declined to sponsor it. (Gluesenkamp Perez has been a willing sponsor of Democratic priority bills elsewhere.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement sent over email, Gluesenkamp Perezs campaign manager wrote: A comprehensive look at Maries voting record, her bill sponsorships, and her public statements would show she is fighting in Congress every day to represent the interests of working people, rural communities, and small business ownersnot corporate interests or D.C. elites.* How to make sense of it? There is a one glaring clue that might help explain Gluesenkamp Perezs surprise Republican bent. In a recent campaign finance disclosure, she was one of just a very small handful of Democrats to accept money from the Chamber of Commerce, one of D.C.s biggest and most influential corporate lobbies, a consortium of the largest and most powerful corporations on the planet. Though Gluesenkamp Perez has pledged to refuse corporate PAC money, recent campaign finance filings show that she was one of just eight Democrats to accept a donation from the Chamber. Incidentally, she has voted in lockstep with the lobbys stated positions repeatedly, especially on hot button Democratic priorities. The Chamber of Commerce is strongly opposed to Bidens efforts to cancel student loan debt, and the group circulated multiple letters in support of the NDAA bill that restricted abortion access (among other things) for members of the armed forces. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gluesenkamp Perez has also become co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition, a notoriously lobbyist-adjacent caucus beloved by corporate America that suffered major defections at the beginning of this year over its reputation as a too-socially-conservative Southern boys club; the group was left with just seven members, all male, before Gluesenkamp Perez and Peltola joined in May. The Chamber of Commerce and PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry front group, are among the top Blue Dog backers and associates. But Gluesenkamp Perezs corporate coziness still doesnt account for how swift her transition has been. She is a freshman who has only been in office since January, and she is voting with Republicans more than other Democrats who represent districts that are far redder than hers. Even fellow Blue Dog Mary Peltola, who also ran on abortion rights, didnt vote for the NDAA bill that restricted abortion access, for example. Nor did Peltola vote for the Republican student loan policy. Trump carried Alaska, which Peltola represents in its entirety, by more than 10 pointsmore than double the margin of Gluesenkamp Perezs district. Advertisement Maybe theres a deeper strategy here. But the 2022 midterms election cycle proved that when Democrats try to out-Republican Republicans these days, they dont often do very well. And a number of leading Blue Dogs were run out of office in 2022 after taking exceptionally unpopular votes to gouge Bidens agenda, including on measures to cut prescription drug prices. In one of the districts nearby and similar to Gluesenkamp Perezs, progressives beat the incumbent and Republicans ended up taking the seat. Advertisement Advertisement Related From Slate The 2024 Campaign Has Big Third-Party Energy Read More Gluesenkamp Perez is looking at a fierce reelection campaign, and shes going to need some Democratic groups to support her. Her district, though rightly described as rural, is mostly the suburbs of Portland, Oregon; her auto body shop is in Northeast Portland.* Advertisement Advertisement Marie promised to be an independent voice for her constituents in Southwest Washington, and those are the only voices she listens to before casting her votes, her office communicated in an email statement. She is delivering on her campaign promises, and anyone who is surprised by her record simply wasnt paying attention during the campaign. Perhaps anticipating rising frustration or negative sentiment, Gluesenkamp Perez availed herself to the New York Times for a recent interview about a series of negative Yelp and Google reviews that were left over the past month on pages for her auto body shop. The auto body shop, called Deans Car Care, has become the target of vicious online trolling from the left, the paper claimed. Progressives from around the country are review-bombing the establishment with posts expressing their ire at the first-term congresswoman for siding with Republicans on a bill to repeal President Bidens student loan relief initiative. Advertisement I read through the Google reviews of Deans Car Care and couldnt find a single one related to her student debt posture. On Yelp, I found six negative reviews pertaining to the congresswomans voting record. Four more reviews had been removed over community standards around the time of the now-infamous student debt voteits possible they were student debtrelated but I couldnt read them. I found seven five-star reviews defending Gluesenkamp Perez from the woke mob. I also found plenty of talk about successful hipster van conversions. Melissa Byrne, the executive director of We, the 45 Million, a student debtor advocacy group based in D.C., scoffed at the idea of a coordinated campaign to review-bomb Gluesenkamp Perez. If we were doing a coordinated campaign, it would have been thousands of reviews, Byrne said. Its bad on so many levels, Byrne said, speaking more broadly about Gluesenkamp Perezs metamorphosis. Shes a Kyrsten Sinema wannabe. How many votes has she taken that Joe Kent wouldnt have? Georgia musician Brian Moore Jr. took on the most powerful government in the world and won. He fought back and reclaimed what belonged to him when federal agents seized his cash. But he still lost money in the end. Trouble started in March 2021 at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Three Drug Enforcement Administration agents detained Moore without probable cause, searched his luggage, and seized $8,500. The money came from the sale of a vehicle owned by Moores late grandfather, and Moore was taking the savings to Los Angeles to record a music video. Advertisement Carrying cash is not a crime, and Moore did nothing wrong. But the government saw a potential payday using civil forfeiture, a process that allows law enforcement agencies to confiscate cash, cars, and other valuables and pocket the proceeds. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Civil forfeiture does not require a criminal conviction or proof beyond a reasonable doubt. More than 90 percent of the time, civil forfeiture does not require proof by any standard because cases never reach a judge. The government wins administratively. Moore was not even arrested or charged. Agents speculated his cash was connected to drugs, but they had no coherent theory to explain how. This did not stop them from dragging out the case until September 2022, when they finally conceded defeat and agreed to return the full amount. Advertisement By then Moore had racked up 18 months of attorney fees. Fighting the worlds most powerful government is not cheap. But when he asked the court for reimbursement, he got stiffed. I had to spend thousands of dollars to get my own money back, says Moore, a U.S. Army veteran and aspiring rap artist. When the government takes something from you wrongly, it should be the one to pay. Congress agrees. The Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000 specifies that if anyone contests civil forfeiture at the federal level and substantially prevails, then the United States shall be liable for reasonable attorney fees. The provision, which ignores factors like lost time and emotional turmoil, partially corrects one problem with civil forfeiture. Unlike criminal proceedings, which include the right to counsel, civil forfeiture requires property owners to pay for their own defense. Many people give up because they cant afford an attorney. Others quit because legal costs would outweigh the value of seized assets. Advertisement Advertisement Moore kept going. Yet when the government realized it would lose, it filed for dismissal of the case as a strategic ploy to avoid liability. The rationale, which the court accepted, was that Moore had not substantially prevailed because no trial occurreddespite the extensive legal wrangling. Advertisement Federal agents have used similar tactics previously, creating a lose-lose-lose scenario for civil forfeiture victims. If people walk away, they lose everything thats been seized. If they settle out of court, they lose a portion of their assets. And if they fight back and prevail, they lose attorney fees. Rather than accept the rigged system, Moore took his motion for attorney fees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in May. Our public interest law firm, the Institute for Justice, which was not previously involved in the case, represents him for free during the appeal. Advertisement A victory would hinder the ability of federal agencies to use legal fees as a deterrent to civil forfeiture challenges. Cost is a potent weapon the government exploits to break down resistance. Another weapon is delay. Many property owners facing civil forfeiture go months without a post-seizure hearing. The FBI gave Los Angeles mother Linda Martin the silent treatment for more than two years before finally returning the money it had seized from her safe-deposit box. A third weapon is complexity. Property owners facing civil forfeiture must navigate a maze of federal procedures which makes self-representation nearly impossible. Foster mom Cristal Starling tried contesting civil forfeiture without an attorney after the DEA launched proceedings against her cash in Rochester, New York. Despite her innocence, she lost on technicalities without ever seeing a judge. Cost, delay, and complexity work together against property owners facing civil forfeiture. People who persevere and prevail deserve more than congratulations. They deserve to be made whole. Over the course of Donald Trumps three indictments, the former president has taken to social media to deride prosecutors, judges, and witnesses. His actions are threading a fine line and could be interpreted as violating a slew of different court rules and lawsbut what exactly are these rules? The countrys entire judicial system has an extensive set of guidelines that come from the U.S. Constitution, stemming from the Bill of Rights, which includes a right to due process, legal counsel, jury trial, and to not have to testify against oneself. There are also federal rules that govern all civil and criminal cases across the country, which are established by the Supreme Court and Congress. States can also set their own court rules and offer more protection to defendants in criminal cases than what the U.S. Constitution or federal rules call for, but they cant offer any less protection. The rules and laws of the U.S. judicial system start out pretty simple, like recommending formalwear during a courtroom proceeding, standing up when a judge enters or leaves the courtroom, and turning off any and all electronic devices. Then there are the more serious rules related to witness and evidence tampering, unreasonable searches and seizures, and much more. Advertisement When Trump posted the message IF YOU GO AFTER ME, IM COMING AFTER YOU! on Truth Social the day after he was arraigned in Washington, D.C., over election interference charges brought by the Department of Justice, its widely considered he crossed a line. I think its very intentional to try to influence the jury pool, Rick Rossein, a law professor at the CUNY School of Law, told me in an interview. Advertisement Trying to influence a jury pool isnt just a violation of a court rule; its law, and if breached it can land a person in jail. In Trumps case, this type of rhetoric could also be considered a violation of his pretrial release, which Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya warned Trump of during his arraignment: It is a crime to try to influence a juror or to threaten or attempt to bribe a witness or any other person who may have information about your case, or to retaliate against anyone for providing information about your case to the prosecution, or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice. Advertisement Trumps post promptly drove the DOJ to file for a protective order to limit what Trump and his attorneys can do with the evidence handed over to them by the prosecution as part of the cases discovery. Its also not the only questionable social media post the former president has made. He described former Vice President Mike Pence, a potential witness in the DOJs case, as delusional, adding that hes gone to the Dark Side. Trump also described Jack Smith, the special prosecutor leading the DOJs cases against him, as deranged, and promised to ask for a recusal from federal Judge Tanya Chutkan, who was randomly assigned to his election interference case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Certainly Trump has a right to make various statements, but if it impinges on the fairness to the United States, and to himself, and in the process of ensuring an impartial jury pool, and one thats not intimidated, the judge may look further in this particular case, said Rossein. Related From Slate The Risk for Trump of Not Showing Up to the Debates Read More In the case of Trump declaring, IF YOU GO AFTER ME, IM COMING AFTER YOU, the statement is broad enough that its effect could go beyond just the jury pool. Rossein noted it could have a chilling effect on witnesses, dissuading them from coming forward and telling the truth. The message could also be read as a threat to prosecutors and their families. Weve seen enough in this country over the last two years, sometimes by organized groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who hear these words from defendant Trump and act upon it. So this is threatening language, explained Rossein. Advertisement So what happens if a judge finds Trump is indeed in violation of an eventual court order? Well, it depends on the judge, as they are the arbitrators of the court, but its treated as a violation of law. The judge would determine the seriousness of the violation and would likely start with a warning. But if the violations continue, the judge could decide Trump should be fined. In a worst-case scenario, a judge may decide Trump should be held in contempt of court and actually jail him. Advertisement Advertisement Amid Trumps many targeted Truth Social posts, the prosecution also has the power to request a gag order, which goes further than a protective order. A gag order bans lawyers and defendants from making any public comments about the case, but its used very sparingly, as judges are hyperaware of impeding anyones First Amendment rights. (The Trump legal teams response to the DOJs protective order request hinges on their clients freedom of speech.) Advertisement Ultimately all court orders and rules are meant to uphold both sides constitutional rights so that a fair trial can happen with due process. When a judge moves to enter an order, in Trumps case a protective order, the defense and prosecution are able to provide their views, and the language is established with both sides input. Once a judge signs an order, it essentially becomes law and must be followed, though a party can attempt to appeal it. Moving forward, when it comes to the DOJs election interference case, Judge Chutkan will decide whether Trumps online rhetoric has gone too far. Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of labor, urged Chutkan not to hold back her authority in a recent op-ed: The court must fully assert the rule of law during these proceedings, even if that requires threatening Trump with jail pending his trial. And if he continues to refuse to abide by the conditions of his release, it might be time to actually jail him. The clock tower in Banska Bystrica was built in 1552. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Share Share Twitter Facebook Whatsapp E-mail Link to the page The clock tower with two other towers just behind it in this World War II-era postcard. (Source: Branislav Chovan) The clock tower in Banska Bystrica was built in 1552, when the city was faced with the threat of an Ottoman invasion. The Ottomans were lured to central Slovakia by the regions mining towns. Enormous wealth was hidden behind these towns defensive walls. They were also far away from Vienna or other imperial army forces that could help defend them. Thus, the regions towns were left to defend themselves, which is why they were often heavily fortified. Banska Bystricas residents, however, were apparently more concerned about their city clock. While nearby towns Banska Stiavnica and Kremnica each had two city clocks, Banska Bystrica had only one - and a poorly functioning one at that time. Though the city could have simply replaced the clock, the council decided to build another clock tower instead, arguing that the existing clock could not be seen from everywhere. Neither the construction nor the operation and maintenance of the clock tower were cheap. The city paid a clock administrator on a weekly basis to maintain, guard and set the clock. In the following centuries the tower burned down several times, but the people of Banska Bytrica replaced it each time. Even though the demanding and repeated construction of the tower seems to have been pointless, other than keep up with other towns, it did play a role in defending against the Ottomans: a platform near the top of the tower was used by guards to patrol the area and warn against approaching invaders. We can see the clock tower with two other towers just behind it in this World War II-era postcard. https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d84199.39738864463!2d19.048571222623924!3d48.739280776278335!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x47153de36e8ad42f%3A0xf8223f8a0b8b9032!2sBansk%C3%A1%20Bystrica%2C%20Slovakia!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sca!4v1691623227936!5m2!1sen!2sca This story was first published by The Slovak Spectator on May 26, 2014. We have updated the piece to make it relevant for today. Niger's junta told US Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland they would kill deposed Nigerien president Mohamed Bazoum if neighboring countries would attempt any military intervention to restore his rule. According to the Associated Press, two Western officials told its reporters about the threat, on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, before the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced they have approved of the deployment of a "standby force" to restore Bazoum to power without giving details about its make-up, location or proposed date of deployment. Bazoum is currently held hostage since he was deposed by coup leaders on July 26. Separately, the leaders of nine of the 15 ECOWAS member states met Thursday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to discuss their next steps after the junta defied their August 6 deadline to reinstate Bazoum. The bloc has considered both economic sanctions and military intervention as their means to return to civilian government. ECOWAS commission president Omar Alieu Touray blamed the Niamey junta for any hardship caused by the harsh economic and travel sanctions imposed on Niger, saying that further action would be taken jointly and not by any single country. "It is not one country against another country," he said. "The community has instruments to which all members have subscribed to." ECOWAS Gives Green Light on Military Positioning According to a former British Army official who worked in Nigeria, the ECOWAS statement could be seen as a green light for member states to begin assembling their forces with the ultimate aim of restoring constitutional order. The official said there was currently nothing in place regarding the use of force other than Nigerian forces. Without enablers and the support of other regional armies, it's unlikely they'd enter, the official added. Recently, a former Nigerien rebel named Rhissa Ag Boula launched his counter-coup against the Niamey junta called the Council of Resistance for the Republic. In a statement Wednesday (August 9), He said he and his group support ECOWAS and other international actors seeking to restore constitutional order in Niger, saying his group would make itself available to the bloc for any useful purpose. On the other hand, former Nigerian presidential aide Reno Omokri urged ECOWAS to respond strongly to threats made by junta leader Abdourahmane Tchiani. "I urge [Nigerian President Bola] Tinubu and ECOWAS to respond strongly with a warning that if General Tchiani carries out his threat, he will be treated as a common criminal when ECOWAS restores order," he said on social media. "This threat calls for decisiveness, not niceness!" Analyst: ECOWAS Should Still Seek Diplomatic Means on Niger Meanwhile, international think tank Crisis Group senior adviser Nnamdi Obasi said ECOWAS should still explore diplomatic means to deal with Niger and its junta. "We need to tread cautiously on the idea of using force in resolving the crisis," he warned. "The use of force could lead to unintended and catastrophic consequences with unpredictable outcomes." He added that military intervention would trigger a "major regional conflict" between democratic governments and an alliance of military regimes. Niger was seen as the last country in the Sahel region that western nations could partner with to counter jihadi violence linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, which killed thousands and displaced millions of people in the process. Read Also: Thousands of Niger Residents Gather To Show Support to Rebel Leaders who Refused To Reinstate Ousted President Niger's Junta Adamant in Staying in Power On the other hand, Nigerian security analyst Oladeinde Ariyo said any coup that succeeded beyond 24 hours would mean any negotiation with the plotters would have to be on their own terms. "[A]s it is, they are speaking from the point of strength and advantage," Ariyo added. On Wednesday, a Nigerian delegation met with Tchiani. However, Nuland was denied access to both Tchiani and Bazoum. A separate delegation composed of ECOWAS, the United Nations, and the African Union was barred from coming at all. The Russian Connection Since seizing power, the junta has cut ties with former colonizer France and other Western countries but increasingly asked for the help of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, who currently has a foothold in several African nations, and following their operation in Ukraine and Yevgeny Prigozhin's failed mutiny against Moscow, have been training in Belarus for a future expansion in the Sahel. All Eyes on Wagner investigator Lou Osborn asserted the Kremlin was using Wagner and other channels of influence to discredit Western nations, such as using social media to spread rumors about Wagner's upcoming arrival in Niger, as well as employing fake accounts to mobilize demonstrations and spread false narratives. She additionally pointed to a Telegram post on Wednesday by an alleged Wagner operative named Alexander Ivanov, asserting that France had begun the "mass removal of children," likely to be used for slave labor and sexual exploitation. Both the Kremlin and Wagner did not respond to reporters' questions about the accusations, but Sahel experts said such influences would leverage Russia's opportunity to gain a stronger foothold in the region, which Western nations were trying to avoid. Related Article: Niger: Ex-Rebel Launches Anti-Coup Movement to Restore Bazoum @ 2023 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. More constituencies instead of one in the national election could change things for the better, an expert says. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Share Share Twitter Facebook Whatsapp E-mail Link to the page If the elections were to turn out based on the latest survey by the AKO polling agency, approximately 30 Slovak districts would not have any representatives in the parliament. In this article, the daily Sme assumed, for the sake of simplicity, that voters would not circle candidates and that the mandates would be shared by the highest-ranking candidates on the lists of parties. Among them, up to a third have permanent residence in Bratislava. This is partly due to the capital city effect - a large number of the elites leaving corners of Slovakia to settle in Bratislava, where there are more job opportunities. But an even more important factor is the system of a single constituency. The creation of a candidate list is a decision of the close leadership of the party, which is mostly concentrated in Bratislava. The representation of various Slovak distrcits on the parties' candidate lists, with most - 54 - being from Bratislava. Districts coloured in deep grey would not have any representation. (Source: SME) According to electoral geographer Tibor Madlenak from Matej Bel University in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, the system of a single constituency does not force party leaders to look for personalities in the regions. Party leaders are basically comfortable with this system because no one threatens their power. Although many candidates from the Slovak regions can be found on the lists, as the daily Sme analysis shows, the higher on the list, the more often they come from the western Slovakia districts. Most of the environmental burdens originated during the communist regime. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Share Share Twitter Facebook Whatsapp E-mail Link to the page Life without clean, fresh water is impossible. However, as one ecologic disaster after another has shown, fresh water can become contaminated very easily. One well-known example of this in Slovakia is the leaking toxic landfill site in Vrakuna in Bratislava. A legacy of the communist regime, the leak, and the states repeated failure to deal with it, means that people living in the area have been unable to use water from their wells for the last two decades. Related article Related article The ecological disaster that turned a village into Slovakia's Chernobyl Read more But it is far from the only case of its kind, and Slovak scientists have begun to research possible ways to extract pollutants from water to make it clean again. Zuzana Bartova is a scientist at the Mineral Biotechnologies department of the Institute of Geotechnics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Kosice. The department is headed by Daniel Kupka. Focusing on waters polluted by inorganic substances, especially metals, and waters polluted by organic substances, such as products of chemical production, Kupka, Bartova and others are looking at ways to address the problems at Vrakuna, but in other places in Slovakia. To stay up to date with what scientists in Slovakia or 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 able to clean properly When it comes to wastewater treatment plants in the country, they have one fundamental shortcoming - they were built a long time ago, explains Bartova. ZAR wants to become energy independent. One of ZAR's facilities, the ViaJur winery in Svaty Jur near Bratislava, alreday harness the sloar energy. (Source: Courtesy of ZAR) Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Share Share Twitter Facebook Whatsapp E-mail Link to the page Following the recent energy shocks, ZAR, a family investment company investing in premium real estate in Slovakia, does not want to rely on electricity supplies from common sources. It plans to build a photovoltaic power plant and huge battery power storage system in Bunkovce, eastern Slovakia, to supply its facilities with green energy. The total investment is planned at 18 million and the power plant should be launched by the end of 2024. The project is at the beginning of an environmental impact assessment (EIA). The power plant will be part of the group and will primarily generate electricity for our facilities, said Lenka Kapustova, ZARs media representative, as cited in the press release. We want to be energy independent as of 2025 at the latest. Related article Related article OFZ metallurgical company leaves Slovakia for Uzbekistan Read more ZAR will sell remaining electricity on the power market, and is not ruling out potential investors in the adjacent industrial park becoming customers as well. Extraordinary battery energy storage system The output of the power plant is projected at 20 MW, with the possibility of increasing it to 30 MW. But the photovoltaic power plant will be unique especially with its battery energy storage system. Its capacity will be 9 MW. Such a big battery energy storage system does not exist in Slovakia today, said Kapustova. We also envisage part of its capacity being used for support activities regarding the electricity transmission system as such. The power plant will consist of 54,000 bifacial photovoltaic panels, to be placed on a revolving system. Small power plant near vineyards The production of solar power is not new to ZAR. It already has such a small power plant at the agrotechnical hall near its vineyards in Farna, Nitra Region. Up to this, it is currently completing the installation of photovoltaic panels on the roof of Malacky Hospital. ZAR operates as a family-owned investment company that has been investing in premium real estate in Slovakia a long time. Among others it owns the oldest hotel in the High Tatras, Hotel Lomnica, Palffy Manor and the ViaJur winery in Svaty Jur near Bratislava. Slovaks registered from as far as Madagascar. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Share Share Twitter Facebook Whatsapp E-mail Link to the page The highest number of Slovak citizens living abroad in history have expressed their interest in casting a vote in the upcoming early elections. Foreign votes in previous parliamentary elections: 2006: 3,427 2010: 5,861 2012: 7,051 2016: 17,278 2020: 48,925 Source: Interior Ministry As many as 72,993 citizens had applied to vote from abroad by August 9, which was the registration deadline. More than 3,000 people have already voted. Most applications were made via an application launched by the Interior Ministry as a novelty for the elections. Only 477 voters decided to apply via paper form. The elections will take place on September 30. Slovaks abroad have to deliver their ballot to the Slovak Interior Ministry by midday on September 29. "I believe that the significantly higher interest in voting by mail is also due to the fact that the system is simpler and because we ran a campaign," noted acting PM and Interior Minister Ludovit Odor. From Nitra to the Big Apple and back why one Slovak wants to come home and help his country Read more Applications came from 131 countries around the world. The majority were from the Czech Republic. Slovaks also registered from Madagascar, Greenland and Zimbabwe. Odor stressed that it does not mean that almost 73,000 registered Slovaks will actually cast their vote. In the 2020 elections, more than 55,000 voters applied to vote from abroad, but nearly 49,000 voted in the end. Flights to Athens coming soon, zucchini soup with dill, and how scientists plan to clean Slovak waters. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Share Share Twitter Facebook Whatsapp E-mail Link to the page Good evening. Here is the Thursday, August 10 edition of Today in Slovakia - the main news of the day in less than five minutes. New toll system should come from Czechia CzechToll created a toll system for the Czech Republic in 2019. (Source: Tibor Somogyi) CzechToll, a Czech firm, submitted the best offers in two separate tenders announced by the National Highway Company and should thus supply Slovakia with a new electronic toll system and toll services. The new toll system, which will be managed and owned by the state, should cost 13.7 million without VAT. Three different offers were submitted in this case. As for the other procurement, CzechToll will supply on-board OBU units for carriers, but also payment infrastructure services, and provision of customer locations. Of two offers, CzechToll's 28.7 million bid was assessed as best, the TASR news agency wrote. The National Highway Company had to re-evaluate the tenders following the decision of the Public Procurement Office. CzechToll operates a toll system in the Czech Republic. Its partner in ITIS Holding is the toll operator in Slovakia, SkyToll. Slovakia concluded a much criticised and disadvantageous contract with SkyToll in 2010. The company should become one of CzechToll's subcontractors. Due to the delay in the procurement of the new toll system, SkyToll will continue to operate the current toll system until 2024. Toll services have been procured by the National Highway Company anew since the end of last year. The firm expects the new toll system to be more flexible and economical. It should bring more resources for the maintenance of the toll network and should be compatible with the European toll system. 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 THURSDAY From polluted to clean water again Orange river Slana. (Source: TASR) Have you heard about biomining? Various types of microorganisms could help Slovakia clean its polluted rivers and obtain raw materials for further use at the same time without opening new mines. BRATISLAVA EVENTS 3 free things to do in Bratislava Bratislava - Raca. (Source: SME - Jozef Jakubco) Set out on a hike to Pajstun Castle, explore the history of Raca or spend your late afternoon in a popular Bratislava park and listen to classical music. A trip outside Bratislava: A guided hiking trip will take place at 14:00 on August 13 near Zarnovica. Hikers will be taken to the declined castle called Rudno in Rudno nad Hronom. (TASR) In other news Slovak people support the modernisation of the army , an AKO poll from late July shows. Specifically, 33.2 percent of the respondents think the government should definitely invest in army modernisation, 33.5 percent think it should probably invest in it. (JOJ) , an AKO poll from late July shows. Specifically, 33.2 percent of the respondents think the government should definitely invest in army modernisation, 33.5 percent think it should probably invest in it. (JOJ) On September 6, the Slovak Environment Agency will announce the fourth call for the restoration of family homes . The new call will now include the modification of chimneys, biomass boilers or battery storage as well. . The new call will now include the modification of chimneys, biomass boilers or battery storage as well. If the parliamentary elections had been held in August, Smer would have won with 23.3 percent , the latest NMS Market Research poll shows. Progresivne Slovensko would have followed with 17 percent, Hlas would have obtained 11.5 percent. Republika, SNS, Sme Rodina, KDH would also have won seats. (Sme) , the latest NMS Market Research poll shows. Progresivne Slovensko would have followed with 17 percent, Hlas would have obtained 11.5 percent. Republika, SNS, Sme Rodina, KDH would also have won seats. (Sme) Slovakia wants to strengthen economic cooperation with the Central Asia region . A Slovak-Uzbek business forum was held in Bratislava this week to help achieve this goal. As the Economy Ministry reported, it was aimed at several sectors, but especially at the electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, textile and silk industries, as well as at metallurgy and agriculture. (SITA) . A Slovak-Uzbek business forum was held in Bratislava this week to help achieve this goal. As the Economy Ministry reported, it was aimed at several sectors, but especially at the electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, textile and silk industries, as well as at metallurgy and agriculture. (SITA) It will be possible again after several years to fly directly to the capital of Greece from the airport in Bratislava. The airline Aegean Airlines will start operating a regular route between Bratislava and Athens from September 14 twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. The R2 motorway between Krivan and Mytna, central Slovakia, on August 10, 2023. (Source: TASR - Jan Kroslak) WEATHER FOR FRIDAY: Clear skies. The highest daytime temperature will rise to 27C. (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). Welcome to The Sprudge Twenty Interviews presented by Pacific Barista Series. For a complete list of 2023 Sprudge Twenty honorees, please visit sprudge.com/twenty. Twenty years ago, I stumbled across a farm name in Portuguese: Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza. In English, my native tongue, it translated to me as Environmental Fortress Farm. There was something incredibly memorable about the bold name for me, and after enjoying some of their coffee, I reached out to begin a working relationship with one Felipe Croce. Felipe is one of those friends of every type of person. He is easy to connect with and open with his trade. The vision he works to espouse in both practice and teaching is vital for the survival of our endangered coffee shrubs. Simply put, Felipe is a coffee producer par excellence. He is a leader in farming coffee in natures image (regenerative, biodynamic, etc.) and developing a borderline spiritual experience in coffee cultivation. Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza, FAF, and Felipe are mighty gemstones proving that Brazil can produce incredible coffees. In a cascading climate collapse, coffee farming must migrate from monocultures to diverse perennial polycultures. My words fall short of capturing the importance of Felipe in this great turn from a culture of extractive measures to a new generative way of growing coffee. He has inspired my work, developing new coffee farms and working with coffee growers. His community-centered approach and commitment to excellence are palpable, sensual, and vibrant. As a result, he has helped his friends and neighbors have their coffee bought by the likes of Blue Bottle, 49th Parallel, Tim Wendleboe, 1000 Faces, Linea, and many other leading specialty roasters. I am attaching a talk he gave to our growers on our you-tube channel. Nominated by Benjamin E Myers What is the quality you like best about coffee? Coffee helps me center myself, align my energy in an almost spiritual way. What was your first coffee job? Intern at Kaldis Coffee in St. Louis, MO. What is your current role in coffee? Co-founder and CEO of FAFCoffees Did you experience a god shot or life-changing moment of coffee revelation early in your life? Tasting an Ethiopian Harrar Natural back at Kaldis in 2007. Although I grew up in a coffee-producing family, this was the first cup of coffee that blew my mind with its blueberry notes. What issue in coffee do you care about most? What cause or element in coffee drives you? Finding a use for all the beans that come off the tree into products in order to dis-associate from the Commodity pricing market. I call it Full-farm profitability. Thus being able to create a prosperous pricing structure for the whole supply chain. Do you often make coffee at home? If so, tell us how you brew! Everyday! I use my Baratza Forte grinder to grind fresh and dose then I use a Kalita pour-over. What is your favorite song to brew coffee to? Happy Together The Turtles What is your idea of coffee happiness? Brewing a tasting flight of different varieties and processes from my farm for friends, family, and loved ones overlooking a landscape of well-tended agroforestry and regenerative coffee fields. Who inspires you in the world of coffee? So many people, its hard to choose one! Ill go with Angel Barrera from Belco; a producer turned coffee buyer in France and now exporter in Colombia. He does everything with a deep philosophical mindset and pure intentions. Angel has a warm humanity about him that is unique to him. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230809/play-it-again-joe-biden-denies-sitting-in-on-hunters-business-dealings-via-speaker-phone-1112495721.html Play It Again, Joe: Biden Denies Sitting In on Hunter's Business Dealings Via Speaker Phone Play It Again, Joe: Biden Denies Sitting In on Hunter's Business Dealings Via Speaker Phone US President Joe Biden denied that he sat in on his son Hunter Biden's business dealings through speakerphone while employed by the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. 2023-08-09T22:37+0000 2023-08-09T22:37+0000 2023-08-09T23:37+0000 americas hunter biden joe biden james comer burisma congress business deal vice president /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/04/0c/1109390334_0:0:3071:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_6dfe15554005d0fd09a7091410c2a18c.jpg "I never talked business with anybody," Biden said on Wednesday when asked about Hunter Biden's business associate Devon Archer's testimony to Congress. Biden claimed the accusation is not true and described the question posed by Fox News' Peter Doocy as "lousy." When confronted over his response, Biden doubled down and claimed the question was bad because "it's not true."Last week, Archer told the US House Oversight Committee that then-Vice President Joe Biden was often put on speakerphone by Hunter Biden and his Burisma business associates. However, Archer made clear to the committee that Joe Biden never discussed business on those occasions. According to Archer, he recalled Hunter Biden put his father Joe Biden on speakerphone with Burisma executives about 20 times, including during dinners in Paris and Beijing. Earlier Wednesday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer revealed a third batch of financial documents related to the matter that showed evidence the Biden family received millions of dollars from foreign businessmen in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan during Joe Bidens vice presidency in 2014. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230809/gop-memo-hunter-sold-biden-brand-for-at-least-20-million-during-joes-vice-presidency-1112492628.html americas Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International us president joe biden, hunter biden's business dealings, ukrainian energy company burisma https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/biden-banking-on-congressional-blessing-for-billions-in-additional-ukraine-funding--1112499900.html Biden Banking on Congressional Blessing for Billions in Additional Ukraine Funding Biden Banking on Congressional Blessing for Billions in Additional Ukraine Funding President Joe Biden reportedly intends to ask Congress to greenlight more supplemental funding to aid Ukraine. 2023-08-10T10:52+0000 2023-08-10T10:52+0000 2023-08-10T11:32+0000 americas us joe biden ukraine congress funding /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/08/0a/1112499575_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_14509d9fe12da249e1fe1e007fb89547.jpg President Joe Biden reportedly intends to ask Congress to greenlight more supplemental funding, meaning billions of dollars will again be sucked into the black sinkhole that is Ukraine aid.The emergency request is to total around $25 billion, according to cited sources, including approximately $12 billion for disaster relief and $13 billion for defense funds. It is the latter that will incorporate additional assistance for Ukraine, claimed the report. Budget caps would not apply to these emergency funds, it was specified.Earlier in the week, reports stated that the White House intended to seek congressional approval for upwards of $10 billion in supplemental funding for Ukraine, with US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller commenting that new aid announcements would be made "later this week." Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh had declined to comment on the reports, though, saying on Tuesday that the US has not yet run out of funding for Ukraine under the presidential drawdown authority. She added that the US was confident in the military capabilities it had already provided Ukraine forces, such as artillery, air defense, along with training.Such figures are already off the charts, an American media report stated earlier this month, offering a detailed breakdown of the funding. According to it, $23.5 billion were for weapons and equipment from the Pentagon's stockpiles based on the presidential drawdowns. Also, a $18 billion handout was for security assistance pledged by the DoD to invest in more weapons, along with training, advising, logistics and equipment through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. $1.5 billion were for grants and loans for weapons and equipment for purchase through the Foreign Military Financing program.However, what does the Kiev regime have to show for this? The counteroffensive that finally started on June 4 after a series of delays is barely keeping its head above water, with both Ukraine's officials and their Western string-pullers acknowledging this.Support Dwindling For Bankrolling Proxy WarThis comes as increasingly more Republican leaders in the House are reluctant to approve more Ukraine aid. After the US debt ceiling deal was finally hammered out in early June and an imminent government default dodged, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he didn't want to pursue an additional spending package above levels set down in the bill signed by President Biden that also curbs federal spending. However, already then Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), were cited as saying the bipartisan debt deal wouldn't necessarily stop Congress from passing supplemental funding for Kiev. For the record, the bill signed into law by Biden set $886 billion for defense in the next fiscal year. Accordingly, a supplementary funding request from the White House will set the stage for an anticipated showdown over spending, obfuscating Congress ability to avert a government shutdown when funding expires after September 30.Meanwhile, support for ending financial assistance to Ukraine is mounting among US lawmakers and the American people, independent candidate for the US Senate from New York Diane Sare told Sputnik.Sare noted that the recent vote in the Senate on having an inspector general for Ukraine aid also proves that, despite the amendment failing in a 51-48 vote. Increasing numbers of lawmakers would like to know where the money is going, she pointed out. She added that believing that Ukraine is going to win is total "fiction," and the US should stop "living in a fantasy." https://sputnikglobe.com/20230808/us-senator-ukraine-cant-win---theyre-a-junior-high-team-playing-a-college-team-1112455927.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230809/support-for-ending-ukraine-aid-growing-in-us-congress-society---senate-candidate-1112477167.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230809/new-poll-reveals-majority-of-americans-oppose-more-aid-to-ukraine-1112466361.html americas ukraine Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko additional ukraine funding, additional funding for ukraine, defense spending, ukraine's counteroffensive https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/critical-mineral-shortage-to-put-us-energy-security-at-risk-1112497761.html Critical Mineral Shortage to Put US Energy Security at Risk Critical Mineral Shortage to Put US Energy Security at Risk The US should develop new clean energy technologies to reduce reliance on critical minerals amid looming shortages and Chinas supply chain dominance, while boosting emergency reserves in the meantime, experts told Sputnik. 2023-08-10T02:21+0000 2023-08-10T02:21+0000 2023-08-10T02:20+0000 analysis ecuador mineral resources china department of energy (doe) international energy agency (iea) washington beijing /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/104403/09/1044030900_0:52:1000:615_1920x0_80_0_0_8b28153a8bcfd21fc13c5037baa57038.jpg Last week, the US Department of Energy (DOE) in a new assessment expanded its list of critical materials, defined as those indispensable to the clean energy transition with high supply risks, adding six new elements in 2023. The DOE warned the list will only grow bigger amid the global race to net-zero emissions and underscored the importance to energy security of establishing reliant and robust critical mineral supply chains. The DOE raised the status of copper and aluminum from non-critical to "near critical" in the medium term largely due to their importance to electrification across a wide spectrum. The report, citing International Energy Agency (IEA) data, said critical mineral demand will have to grow by up to 600% by 2040 if the world is to achieve net-zero by 2050. The demand for critical minerals is being driven by a surge in the adoption of electric vehicles, which the IEA says could account for 60% of all auto sales by 2030. The swift growth in EV sales and green electricity networks boosted demand for vital components such as lithium-ion batteries and rare earth magnets, the report noted. Long Road AheadThe US faces a daunting task in breaking its mineral dependence on China. For example, China is the leading producing nation for 30 of 50 minerals the US Geological Survey classified as critical to the economy with vulnerable supply chains. Jonathan Poston, a business strategy consultant for Artax Consulting, shed more light on the implications involving Chinas dominance of key critical minerals, most particularly, rare earth elements. Poston, who has taught geopolitics and trade at universities in Ecuador, Belize and China, predicted the US will likely boost domestic mining in a bid to close the gap, and suggested innovative substitution as another potential option. "New technologies will also emerge that reduce the need for critical minerals, such as battery tech that doesn't use lithium-ion," Poston said. The US will need to take a multilateral approach to the problem, he added. Resource sharing, via global alliances and joint ventures, Poston said, will become more important to secure mineral supplies. Poston said he is also worried about cobalt, another critical mineral used in the manufacture of high-performance magnets, essential for electric vehicles and wind turbines. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), he added, is the world's leading producer of cobalt, but there are concerns about the country's political stability and human rights record. California's Mountain Pass, owned by MP Materials, is the only operational integrated rare-earth mining facility in the United States. The company currently ships the concentrate to China for refinement and final processing. This entails the complex process of separating neodymium and praseodymium, a critical step in producing magnets. According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, China refines nearly 90% of the world's neodymium and praseodymium. MP Materials in recent weeks has finally begun processing rare earths on its own, with the hopes of delivering to GM finished electric motor magnets by the end of 2023. As the US develops plans and long-term solutions to the critical minerals dilemma, some have called for immediate action, especially after data on US reliance on China was released and amid rising concerns about energy security. Brookings Institution scholar Michael OHanlon, a member of the Pentagons Defense Policy Board, told Sputnik the US strategic minerals and materials reserves declined 90% since the Cold War ended. OHanlon said Washington could "beef it up" as the United States struggles to establish diversified supply chains. The mission of the stockpile is to "decrease and preclude dependence upon foreign sources or single points of failure for strategic materials in times of national emergency," according to the Pentagon's strategic materials team. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230222/south-african-metal-producer-moves-to-take-over-australian-zinc-miner-1107660403.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230710/crunch-deep-sea-mining-talks-resume-amid-growing-global-hunger-for-rare-minerals-1111790993.html china washington beijing Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International critical mineral shortage, us energy security, supply chain dominance, china, us, emergency mineral reserves, https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/fact-check-why-are-british-starstreak-missiles-no-wonder-weapon-for-ukraine-1112517383.html Fact Check: Why Are British Starstreak Missiles No 'Wonder Weapon' for Ukraine? Fact Check: Why Are British Starstreak Missiles No 'Wonder Weapon' for Ukraine? The UK is reviving the production of its Starstreak missiles to ramp up deliveries of the "wonder weapon" to Ukraine. But have Starstreaks proven effective so far? 2023-08-10T18:09+0000 2023-08-10T18:09+0000 2023-08-12T16:50+0000 ukraine russia united kingdom (uk) science & tech air defense systems (manpads) ukrainian armed forces sputnik explains nato opinion ukrainian counteroffensive attempt /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/08/0a/1112517031_0:154:3093:1894_1920x0_80_0_0_6eb13881ec6daed7404feb410eaba334.jpg The Starstreak, also known as the High-Velocity Missile (HVM), have been in use by the Ukrainian Armed Forces since the beginning of the conflict, being extensively lauded by the Western press. Still, Russian military observers argue that the missile system has been overpraised.So what's the Starstreak missile system and how does it work?How Does the Starstreak Work?Starstreak is a short-range surface-to-air missile that can be used as a man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) or be integrated within portable stand-type Lightweight Multiple Launchers (LML) that carry three rounds. The Starstreak High-Velocity Missile system could also be mounted on the Alvis Stormer armored vehicle platform turning it into a mobile short-range air defense system.The weapon comprises three tungsten darts and a carrier powered by a rocket motor. Having been released from the carrier, the darts are accelerated to over Mach 3.0. The velocity of the darts allows the Starstreak to penetrate heavily armored targets. The fire control system's laser beam guides the missile to ensure exceptional accuracy while being completely unjammable, as per the manufacturer.Why Was Starstreak's Production Halted?The Starstreak has been in British military use since 1997, being manufactured by Thales Air Defense (formerly Shorts Missile Systems) in Belfast, Northern Ireland. However, in 2012, Thales stopped the production of the missile systems, supposedly because it switched to manufacturing the Lightweight Multi-role Missiles (LMM) for the Royal Navy's Wildcat Lynx combatant helicopter. The company's officials said at the time that they agreed with the UK Ministry of Defense of the need to "re-role previously contracted budgets to facilitate the full-scale development, series production and introduction of the LMM."What are It's Advantages and Disadvantages?In addition, this system can be mounted on armored vehicles, railway platforms, and all kinds of vessels. Coupled with a reported striking range of 7 km and high speed, the Starstreak appears to have advantages over other Western MANPADS, per the expert.Still, there's the rub: First, the missile system requires an operator to "guide" the missile throughout the engagement process, while other MANPAD missiles are mostly working in a "fire and forget" mode, according to Koshkin. The operator uses the aiming unit which projects two laser beams onto the target, while the missile's sensors calculate the relative positions until impact.Second, the missile is not that inexpensive. In fact it costs more than a Stinger missile, as per open sources. Thus, the Starstreak's missile price tag is about 100,000-130,000 ($127,000- $168,740) while the Stinger's missile costs around $119,000. That means that the operator cannot afford to waste the British-made missiles on myriads of cheaper drones in the battle zone, according to Koshkin.Has the Starstreak Proven Effective in Ukraine?Despite being touted as a "wonder weapon" the Starstreak has not "called the shots" on the Ukrainian battlefield so far, per Sputnik's interlocutor.Koshkin noted that British military experts cited by the Western press are claiming that Starstreak MANPADs have been used in Ukraine against Russia's unmanned aerial vehicles and even helicopters.However, these reports have not been backed by solid evidence; moreover, there is no credible statistics that would have proven that the Starstreak "outperformed" other portable missile systems in use by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.In early March 2022, the Western press announced that the British military department planned to supply the Kiev regime with its "state-of-art" Starstreak MANPADs. A few days later the UK MoD confirmed this information, while in April 2022 the Ukrainian and Western started releasing reports claiming that the British MANPAD had been downing Russian planes and helicopters. To back their narrative they attached photographs and video footage of extremely poor quality which did not allow identifying the target or the weapon used for shooting it down.As per uncorroborated reports, the alleged successful use of the Starstreak was due to a covert agreement between the Ukrainian and the UK military to attribute most of the successful missile launches to Starstreak MANPADs. Thus, the Ukrainian side advertised the weapon "in exchange" for supplies, according to some reports.Per Russian publications specializing in military analysis, the actual capabilities of modern British MANPADs are not as impressive as the manufacturer's advertisement. Under the battlefield conditions, the Starstreak's peculiar guidance system has proven to be useless, largely contributing to the low efficiency of the launches. The need for manual control by the operator on many occasions eliminated the technical advantages of the missile.Are Western Weapons Superior to Russian Analogues?As per Koshkin, Russia will always have defense means to "respond" to its rivals with Russia's arms manufacturers having enough cards up their sleeve to compete with the Western military-industrial complex. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230627/fact-check-have-british-storm-shadows-proved-effective-on-ukraine-battlefield-1111509648.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230712/what-are-scalp-missiles-and-how-may-they-affect-ukraines-counteroffensive-1111834010.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230809/germanys-patriot-air-defense-systems-to-remain-in-poland-until-end-of-2023---reports-1112484713.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230808/watch-russian-ka-52-alligator-turn-ukrainian-infantry-fighting-vehicle-into-toast-1112456221.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230705/fact-check-is-nato-weaponry-superior-to-russian-arms-in-ukraine-1111682241.html ukraine russia united kingdom (uk) Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Ekaterina Blinova Ekaterina Blinova News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Russian Su-25 aircraft crews' work in special military op zone Russian Su-25 aircraft crews' work in special military op zone 2023-08-10T18:09+0000 true PT1M20S 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ekaterina Blinova uk-mad starstreak missiles, starstreak manpad, starstreak ukraine, uk military aid ukraine, starstreak cost per missile, starstreak vs stinger, starstreak stormer, starstreak missile in action, starstreak speed, starstreak range, ukrainian counteroffensive, ukrainian offensive, war in ukraine, ukraine war Finally receiving the packages we ordered online is one of the best feelings out there. In the case of a Canadian woman, receiving packages has turned into a nightmare as rejected and unwanted boxes continuously arrived at her doorstep. Non-Stop Arrival of Unwanted Boxes The woman who goes by Anca Nitu has been inconvenienced by more than 50 boxes and counting arriving at her address even without her purchasing a thing. The packages come with pairs of shoes and return slips from a buyer in North America. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) suspects that it's a vendor-return scheme that's common in the IS, wherein foreign sellers would try to avoid fees for storing and shipping returned items by sending them to a different address. The victim who owns the given address will then have to deal with the issue, or even pay for the avoided fees. According to Ars Technica, Nitu has already paid Collect-On-Delivery charges from UPS which has reached more than $300. Nitu even expressed that she starts shaking when she sees packages at her door and they just keep coming. It doesn't help that the recipient of the unwanted packages is not receiving any help from both UPS and Amazon. She stated that she refused to pay the charges and the dispute with UPS is still ongoing. In addition to that, she explained that the logistics company was being unreasonable and when she tried to explain the situation, they were "not nice." Anca Nitu believes that the sellers stole her Amazon account information and used her name and address to conduct their business. What troubles her most is that the seller accounts are not free and that her name and address are linked to the seller account that the retailer is charging. A spokesperson from Amazon says that the issue has already been addressed and that "corrective action is being taken to stop the packages." As for dealing with the UPS, Nitu taped a note on her door saying that COD deliveries for her are refused. Read Also: Amazon Claims Delivery Drivers on Strike Aren't Their Own Employees Difficulty of Asking Amazon to Take Action This isn't the first time that a person had trouble trying to get Amazon to resolve an issue that involves the company. An author, Jane Friedman tried to reach out to the retail giant after finding out that AI-generated books listed her as the author. Amazon asked her to provide her trademark registration number, which Friedman said most authors don't have. The retailer said they were reviewing the case, but nothing came of it until the issue was brought up by the author publicly, which led to a backlash against Amazon. Only then did Amazon take down the books. Friedman did state that it would take a "publicity nightmare" before the company took down the books. There were half a dozen books that already had a few purchases. This shows that it can be a difficult process before Amazon addresses problems in different systems, especially when it comes to the unpermitted of their customers' data which is the case with both Friedman and Nitu. Related: Amazon Took Down AI-Generated Books Published Under a Real Author https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/fbi-memo-linking-catholic-faith-to-extremists-drafted-by-several-offices---gop-lawmakers-1112517233.html FBI Memo Linking Catholic Faith to 'Extremists' Drafted by Several Offices - GOP Lawmakers FBI Memo Linking Catholic Faith to 'Extremists' Drafted by Several Offices - GOP Lawmakers House GOP lawmakers have blasted the FBI director for inconsistencies after he claimed that a report identifying radical traditionalist Catholic ideology as a potential source of violent extremism was an isolated incident. 2023-08-10T19:52+0000 2023-08-10T19:52+0000 2023-08-10T19:52+0000 americas christopher wray fbi richmond, va house judiciary committee abortion white supremacy extremism /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/05/14/1095668386_0:192:2560:1632_1920x0_80_0_0_19ed9301d7e424b7525252916931bc06.jpg In a Wednesday letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray that was published by US media, US Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), who chairs the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, requested a slew of bureau documents related to communications between FBI field offices in Richmond, Virginia; Portland, Oregon; and Los Angeles, California.This new information suggests that the FBIs use of its law enforcement capabilities to intrude on Americans First Amendment rights is more widespread than initially suspected and reveals inconsistencies with your previous testimony before the Committee, they lawmakers said. Given this startling new information, we write to request additional information to advance our oversight.The memo, which was leaked to the press in February, said the office had received a tip from a local informant leading them to believe in an increasingly observed interest of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) in radical-traditionalist Catholic (RTC) ideology. This, they said, was especially associated with the sect of Catholics who rejected the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in 1965 and with "white supremacist ideology."Notably, the unredacted parts of the document do not contain the words potential terrorists, as reported in some parts of the American press.In response to the lawmakers letter, the FBI gave a statement to US media on Wednesday doubling down on Wrays testimony, saying the lawmakers had become confused by similar terminologies used by multiple FBI field offices."To be clear, the document was a domain perspective which is an intelligence product designed to address potential threats in a particular area - in this case, the Richmond Field Offices area of responsibility, the bureau continued. Because the product failed to meet FBI standards, it was quickly removed from all FBI systems and a review was launched to determine how it was produced in the first place."However, conservatives especially have accused the FBI of political bias for years, pointing to its investigation of Donald Trumps presidential campaign in the months preceding the 2016 presidential election and its August 2022 raid on Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate to serve a search and seizure warrant for hundreds of classified files Trump did not return to the National Archives after leaving office. The former president is facing dozens of criminal charges related to alleged mishandling of the secret files. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230809/fbi-agents-shoot-kill-utah-man-reportedly-planning-threats-against-biden-1112493681.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230731/report-fbi-contracted-firm-that-circumvented-federal-blacklist-to-buy-nso-spyware-1112308719.html americas richmond, va Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Fantine Gardinier Fantine Gardinier News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Fantine Gardinier christopher wray; jim jordan; fbi field office; richmond; abortion; catholics https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/imran-khans-party-demands-probe-into-us-role-in-pakistani-leaders-2022-ouster-1112518109.html Imran Khan's Party Demands Probe Into US Role in Pakistani Leader's 2022 Ouster Imran Khan's Party Demands Probe Into US Role in Pakistani Leader's 2022 Ouster MOSCOW - (Sputnik) - The Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has called for an independent investigation into the role played by the US in last year's vote of no-confidence that led to Khan's ouster. 2023-08-10T18:20+0000 2023-08-10T18:20+0000 2023-08-10T18:20+0000 world imran khan pakistan washington state department tehreek-e-insaf (pti) us ukraine /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/0b/07/1103847371_0:0:3087:1737_1920x0_80_0_0_e36348dfe16a77dcbe838ceb8af0293d.jpg The call comes a day after independent US media published a leaked cable confirming Khan's repeated accusations that the US engineered his ouster from power in 2022 to be true.The diplomatic cypher obtained by US media showed that the State Department deployed a series of incentives and threats to convince the powerful Pakistani military and its civilian allies to have Khan removed after he declared Pakistan's neutrality in the Ukrainian crisis.A senior State Department official was revealed to have told the then-Pakistani ambassador to Washington in a March 7, 2022 meeting that "if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven." Otherwise, Washington warned, measures would be taken to ensure Pakistan's international isolation.In October 2022, Pakistan's election commission stripped Khan of his parliamentary mandate as well as the right to be elected and appointed to both the country's federal and regional legislatures for five years, after finding him guilty of selling 52 valuables stored in the Toshakhana, Pakistan's national treasury, and concealing information about gifts he received personally. In April 2022, then-opposition leader and current Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Khan had sold state treasures in Dubai worth a total of 140 million Pakistani rupees ($500,000). Khan has denied wrongdoing and accused his political enemies of engaging in a politicized "witch hunt" against him. On Saturday, media reported that an Islamabad court has sentenced Imran Khan to three years in prison after finding him guilty of corrupt practices in the Toshakhana case. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230809/confirmed-us-pressed-pakistani-government-to-oust-imran-khan-over-neutrality-on-ukraine-1112492001.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230808/goal-of-imran-khans-arrest-to-keep-ex-pakistani-pm-out-of-elections-1112461506.html pakistan washington ukraine Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International pakistan, united states, probe, investigation, meddling, ouster, imran khan, ukraine https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/joe-bidens-climate-stuff-niger-in-trouble-and-multiple-us-cities-fed-up-with-migrants-1112496052.html Joe Biden's 'Climate Stuff', Niger in Trouble, and Multiple US Cities Fed up With Migrants Joe Biden's 'Climate Stuff', Niger in Trouble, and Multiple US Cities Fed up With Migrants On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including US involvement in the ousting of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, and the EU reportedly prepares sanctions against Niger. 2023-08-10T04:04+0000 2023-08-10T04:04+0000 2023-08-10T13:32+0000 the backstory radio climate oakland delaware gop impeachment media alabama space force /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/08/09/1112495895_0:0:1920:1080_1920x0_80_0_0_ff6a6f6eec71c9c6f05ee920791b18b4.png Joe Biden: "Climate Stuff", Niger in Trouble, and Multiple U.S. Cities Fed up with Migrants On todays episode of The Backstory, host Lee Stranahan discussed current events including US involvement in the ousting of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, and the EU reportedly prepares sanctions against Niger. Carmine Sabia - Writer and Editor at Large at SabiaReport.com | The Alabama Brawl, Tim Scott Would be a Great Candidate for the 2024 election, and The Impeachment Will be Slow Rolled by RepublicansTyler Nixon - Attorney, Media Relations Specialist | The Losers in the Delaware Republican Party, Writing for Roger Stone, and The Money Behind PoliticsIn the first hour, Lee spoke with Carmine Sabia about the media's attempts to divide Americans racially, hate crime laws, and how the media chooses stories to cover. Carmine talked about the Montgomery, Alabama boat fight and how the media used this story to divide Americans through racial lines. Carmine spoke about Tim Scott and his ability to beat Joe Biden in the 2024 Election.In the second hour, Lee spoke with Tyler Nixon about boring politicians, the money machine behind establishment politicians, and the team cleaning up Hunter Biden's mess in Ukraine. Tyler discussed his time in Delaware politics and the influence of political candidates' spouses. Tyler commented on Andrii Telizhenko's recent Backstory interview and the revelations of Hunter Biden's drug abuse in Ukraine and the team of people in Ukraine who cleaned up Hunter Biden's mess.We'd love to get your 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. oakland delaware alabama ukraine pakistan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Lee Stranahan https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125222_0:0:293:292_100x100_80_0_0_a8bc846f559660e5bf7574f8a9608a1d.png Lee Stranahan https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125222_0:0:293:292_100x100_80_0_0_a8bc846f559660e5bf7574f8a9608a1d.png News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Lee Stranahan https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125222_0:0:293:292_100x100_80_0_0_a8bc846f559660e5bf7574f8a9608a1d.png the backstory, 2024 presidential election, hate crime laws, racial division in america, boring politicians, hunter biden in ukraine https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/lawmaker-fears-german-support-for-ukraine-could-spark-european-war-1112518548.html Lawmaker Fears German Support for Ukraine Could Spark European War Lawmaker Fears German Support for Ukraine Could Spark European War Germany has been hit hard by NATOs proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, its economy sliding into a recession after being cut off from Russian energy, and... 10.08.2023, Sputnik International 2023-08-10T19:21+0000 2023-08-10T19:21+0000 2023-08-10T19:27+0000 world volodymyr zelensky olaf scholz ukraine russia germany nato bundestag alternative fuer deutschland (afd) social democratic party /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/106738/14/1067381490_0:142:3799:2279_1920x0_80_0_0_a53127fed0bbda00e5ef54561c6b4c1c.jpg German support for Kiev in the ongoing proxy conflict with Russia could easily escalate into a wider European war, and needs to stop immediately, Bundestag lawmaker Steffen Kotre has said.Arms deliveries are a mistake. This is not our conflict. We should stay away from all this, and of course begin to promote peace initiatives, Kotre, a member of the Alternative fur Deutschland party, told independent German media in an interview.There is a growing danger that [Germany] and the whole of Europe will be drawn into this conflict. That is why arms supplies are the last thing we should be doing, the lawmaker said.Kotre suggested that a peace deal could have been reached a long time ago if it had not been for efforts by some NATO allies, particularly the US and Britain, to torpedo it.Slamming sanctions on Russia as illegal and stressing that they harm Berlin more than they do Moscow, Kotre said Germany has no alternative but to restore cooperation with Russia for its energy needs.Kotre also expressed concerns about the impact of the rupture of German-Russian relations on Berlins status and influence on the world stage, saying that giving Russia the cold shoulder has pushed Moscow toward China and other rising BRICS bloc nations. In regions like Africa, sympathy is growing for this bloc, which means this bloc is being strengthened, the politician noted.The lawmaker also challenged the rationale behind Western support for Ukraine, including ideas of supporting freedom and democracy. He recalled Ukraines massive problems with corruption, which he said have only grown during the conflict, as well as the Zelensky governments ban on opposition parties, and the crackdown on the Russian language. Meanwhile, he said, there is mounting evidence that the Western weapons sent to Ukraine have been disappearing onto the black market. Zelensky is portrayed in Germany as a saint, while in reality the opposite is the case, Kotre said.Starting out as a small, fringe conservative populist party in 2013, the AfD has managed to dramatically increase its support base in the face of various crises pummeling Germany over the past decade, from the 2015 migration crisis to the Ukraine conflict. A poll released in June showed that if elections were held today, the party would win 18 percent of the vote on a par with Chancellor Olaf Scholzs Social Democratic Party.Germans are divided regarding continued support for Ukraine, with majorities expressing opposition to tank and jet deliveries, and a growing regional split becoming visible as the conflict drags on with residents of the former East Germany, once a key ally to Moscow during the Cold War, more likely to oppose continued support for Kiev than their 'Wessie' counterparts. https://sputnikglobe.com/20221128/german-statesman-slams-eu-leaders-spinelessness-demands-natos-dismemberment-closure-of-us-bases-1104796406.html https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/russian-economy-overtakes-germany-uk-and-france-despite-western-sanctions-1112511026.html ukraine russia germany Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Ilya Tsukanov Ilya Tsukanov News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Ilya Tsukanov germany, ukraine, russia, conflict, war, danger, risk, escalation, support, aid, assistance, economy, energy https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/nuland-visits-niger-amid-growing-fears-of-war-in-west-africa-1112494015.html Nuland Visits Niger Amid Growing Fears of War in West Africa Nuland Visits Niger Amid Growing Fears of War in West Africa On this episode of Fault Lines, host Jammarl Thomas and Melik Abdul discussed a number of topics from around the globe, including how the western mainstream media is portraying Niger coup and the political situation in that country as advantageous for Russia as US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland visits Niger. 2023-08-10T04:24+0000 2023-08-10T04:24+0000 2023-08-10T13:54+0000 fault lines radio california strike donald trump economic community of west african states (ecowas) west africa niger russia /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/08/09/1112493858_0:0:1920:1080_1920x0_80_0_0_8802eb0c1419763f7986058da2ae4b73.png Nuland Visits Niger Amid Growing Fears of War in West Africa On this episode of Fault Lines, host Jammarl Thomas and Melik Abdul discussed a number of topics from around the globe, including how the western mainstream media is portraying Niger coup and the political situation in that country as advantageous for Russia as U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland visits Niger. Thabiso Lehoko: Sputnik Correspondent in South AfricaTed Harvey: Former Colorado State SenatorMark Sleboda: International Relations and Security AnalystArmen Kurdian: Retired Navy Captain, Entrepreneur and Investor living in CaliforniaIn the first hour, Fault Lines discusses the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland visit to Niger after the military coup in late July 2023 led to considerable coverage of the West African nation. Since then, the increased threat of military intervention by Western-backed ECOWAS nations, led by Nigeria, has created a growing concern for Nigeriens. Sputnik correspondent Thabiso Lehoko joins the show to explain how western media has portrayed the coup aftermath as advantageous for Russia.In the second hour, Fault Lines explores why Former US President Donald Trump has received significant criticism and criminal charges for his role in the 2020 election. Fault Lines is joined by political commentator Ted Harvey, who highlights the hypocrisy in the US perspective on the 2020 election.In the third hour, the Fault Lines team discusses how the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Donbass has been unsuccessful thus far and it has created apprehension for those funding Kiev. Military analyst Mark Sleboda gives his assessment about the Ukrainian regime's offensive and why it has been unsuccessful thus far.Later in the last hour, Fault Lines discusses the impact of Thousands striking in Los Angeles amid poor economic conditions. Armen Kurdian joins Fault Lines to explain why LA is seeing mass strikes in one of the US' largest cities.We'd love to get your 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. california west africa niger russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Jamarl Thomas https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/02/12/1082114086_0:0:373:374_100x100_80_0_0_c7506df4524fd8cdd4e40ad19918cd78.png Jamarl Thomas https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/02/12/1082114086_0:0:373:374_100x100_80_0_0_c7506df4524fd8cdd4e40ad19918cd78.png News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Jamarl Thomas https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/02/12/1082114086_0:0:373:374_100x100_80_0_0_c7506df4524fd8cdd4e40ad19918cd78.png fault lines, victoria nuland visit to niger, coup in niger, western-backed ecowas, trump criminal charges, ukrainian regime's offensive, mass strikes in la https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/poland-prepares-political-pretext-to-occupy-western-ukraine-diane-sare-says-abolish-nato-1112496513.html Poland Prepares Political Pretext to Occupy Western Ukraine; Diane Sare Says Abolish NATO Poland Prepares Political Pretext to Occupy Western Ukraine; Diane Sare Says Abolish NATO Sputnik International reported that Poland is preparing a political pretext to occupy Western Ukraine, and Diane Sare, former Congressional candidate from NY says that NATO should be abolished. 2023-08-10T04:44+0000 2023-08-10T04:44+0000 2023-08-10T14:53+0000 the critical hour radio poland nato palestinians journalists nuclear power russia strike niger /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/08/09/1112496355_0:0:1920:1080_1920x0_80_0_0_367b2c4a59cfdf966fc13e5a2b6d7fd8.png Poland prepares political pretext to occupy Western Ukraine; Diane Sare says abolish NATO Sputnik International reported that Poland is preparing a political pretext to occupy Western Ukraine, and Diane Sare, former Congressional candidate from NY says that NATO should be abolished. Brian Berletic, ex-US Marine, independent geopolitical researcher and writer based in Bangkok, joins us to discuss the conflict in Ukraine. Sputnik International reported that Poland is preparing a political pretext to occupy Western Ukraine, with Warsaw announcing its intention to build the "strongest army in Europe." Brian points out that it will take many years for this goal to be completed, and even when it is, and Poland technically has the strongest army around, so did Ukraine at the beginning of the Russian military operation. Brian says that just as it went poorly for Ukraine, and it will go poorly for Poland. He also says that this is just one of the ideas the West is exploring to give what's left of Ukraine's military a safe haven to operate.Dr. David Oualaalou, international geopolitical consultant, veteran, and author of many books, including "The Dynamics of Russia's Geopolitics: Remaking the Global Order," international security analyst, and host of the "Geopolitics in Conflict" Show on YT, joins us to discuss the former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan being banned from public office for five years. Dr. Oualaalou posits that the US had involvement in what happened to Khan and that the ban came about because when he was Prime Minister, Khan turned down a US request to establish a drone base in Pakistan. Dr. Oualalou also explained that by arresting Kahn in his home, they are sending the message that their government can "get you no matter what if you don't turn the party line."Diane Sare, political organizer and 2024 candidate for the New York US Senate, joins us to discuss NATO. The former independent candidate for the US Senate from New York told Sputnik, "NATO is a relic that should have been abolished after German reunification." She further stated that NATO is a dinosaur of an institution whose alliance depends on how long some of its members in Europe "who bear the brunt of the insanity of the current American and British leadership want to stick around and play that game of having their economies destroyed."Margaret Kimberley, editor and senior columnist at Black Agenda Report and author of "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents joins us to discuss the conflict in Niger. Margaret discussed the reports that Niger is slipping away from the West with little sign of Nigeria and Senegal readying an intervention. Margaret weighs in about the conflict, reminding listeners that the US has a drone base in Niger, and France is concerned about how the conflict could affect the supply of uranium it receives from Niger, making Washington and France oppose Niger's sovereignty. In the meantime, the Nigerian president states that "diplomacy is the best way forward" and "is representing the consensus position of the ECOWAS heads of state.Jim Kavanagh, whose work can be found at Jim Kavanagh's Substack, thepolemicist.net, and Counterpunch, joins us to discuss the one-day strike by thousands of city workers in Los Angeles yesterday. Dr. Kavanagh says this is a strike of the workers who make the city run and was limited in that it was a one-day strike focused on whether they would continue negotiation on unresolved issues from last year's contract. "What it demonstrates, says Dr. Kavanagh, is that the workers are willing to fight for their power to withhold their labor and cause trouble." Kavanagh says that fighting is the only way for workers to get what they need and the worker's power is to work together in order to overcome the devastations that are happening in the economy.Dr. Jack Rasmus, professor of Economics and Politics at St. Mary's College in California, joins us to discuss the economy. The World Bank released its updated GDP estimates for countries worldwide, and according to its estimates, Russia ranked in the top five largest economies globally, even surpassing Germany. Dr. Rasmus posits that not only has the European economy slowed down, but that has a lot to do with the global forces set in motion by the US providing cheaper energy and Europe paying more for US goods which takes a toll on its economy. Dr. Rasmus further suggests that the US is obtaining its objective, which is to drive Russia totally out of the US so that the US can enter that vacuum and make Europe economically dependent on the US.KJ Noh, peace activist, writer, and teacher, joins us to discuss Asia. The Mayor of Nagasaki, Japan, urged nuclear weapons-possessing states and their allies to "show courage" by breaking free from nuclear deterrence principles during a scaled-down ceremony to mark the 78th anniversary of the atomic bomb attack on the city. KJ explained that the peace declaration's sentiment was that nuclear weapons should be banned completely and that nuclear deterrents that other nations like the US have exercised have been a form of nuclear blackmail. Wilmer and KJ also discuss the Asia Times article that claims South Korea would not aggressively attack if there was a Taiwanese war because South Korea would be afraid of the extinction of the Kim regime. KJ says that to believe South Korea would do nothing is a serious miscalculation.James Carey, host of The Left is Dead podcast, joins us to discuss the Middle East. Israel has been cracking down on independent media as Palestinian journalists document Israel's actions against Palestinians. James provides insight, emphasizing that independent media has become a danger for Israel in that while most media outlets have normalized Israel's movements, the independent news outlets are the only news outlets getting out the stories about what is really happening, and that is why Israel is cracking down on independent media and stifling their coverage.We'd love to get your 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. poland russia niger ukraine israel Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Garland Nixon https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125302_0:0:239:239_100x100_80_0_0_d5d43c970b0740f228597fbcdb4ffd66.jpg Garland Nixon https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125302_0:0:239:239_100x100_80_0_0_d5d43c970b0740f228597fbcdb4ffd66.jpg News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Garland Nixon https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e5/02/13/1082125302_0:0:239:239_100x100_80_0_0_d5d43c970b0740f228597fbcdb4ffd66.jpg the critical hour, conflict in ukraine, polnad wants to seize western ukraine, imran khan, diane sare interview, conflict in niger, strike in la https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/verbal-guarantees-received-by-turkiye-from-west-not-enough-to-resume-grain-deal---source-1112505285.html Verbal Guarantees Received by Turkiye From West Not Enough to Resume Grain Deal - Source Verbal Guarantees Received by Turkiye From West Not Enough to Resume Grain Deal - Source Turkey has received verbal guarantees on the export of Russian products as part of the Black Sea initiative in negotiations with the West, but this is not enough to resume the grain deal, a source in Ankara participating in the talks told Sputnik on Thursday. 2023-08-10T10:05+0000 2023-08-10T10:05+0000 2023-08-10T10:05+0000 world european union (eu) black sea turkiye russia black sea grain deal /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e6/09/0a/1100633252_0:159:3078:1890_1920x0_80_0_0_9a6221e13ee15486cd0dfc78f8f64a01.jpg "Negotiations with a number of Western countries are ongoing. [Turkish] President [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] in his recent statement also pointed out the importance of constructive steps from the West for the resumption of the work of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. In negotiations with us, we receive verbal guarantees from our partners, but practice shows that this is not enough. Especially when it comes to first resuming the operation of the mechanism, and then making the process stable," the source said.On July 18, the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which provided a humanitarian corridor to allow exports of Ukrainian grain over the past year, expired, as Russia did not extend its participation. Moscow said that the deal's component on facilitating Russian grain and fertilizer exports had not been fulfilled and that the largest share of Ukrainian grain exports had ended up in the European Union and not in poor African countries. https://sputnikglobe.com/20230809/door-for-resumption-of-black-sea-grain-initiative-remains-open---russian-ambassador-to-us-1112475448.html black sea turkiye russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International black sea initiative, grain deal, russian products, resume grain deal https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/watch-russian-and-chinese-warships-conduct-joint-patrol-in-pacific-ocean-1112507268.html Watch Russian and Chinese Warships Conduct Joint Patrol in Pacific Ocean Watch Russian and Chinese Warships Conduct Joint Patrol in Pacific Ocean Ships of the Russian and Chinese navies have repulsed an air attack by a conditional enemy during a joint patrol in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. 2023-08-10T12:42+0000 2023-08-10T12:42+0000 2023-08-10T12:42+0000 military russian defense ministry pacific ocean china russia russian navy navy video /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/08/0a/1112510382_108:0:1322:683_1920x0_80_0_0_b127b7b2c07bcfba79b30adb71795c61.jpg The Russian Defense Ministry has released a video clip of warships of the Russian Navy and the Navy of the People's Liberation Army of China conducting special drills with aircraft and helicopter crews as part of the tasks of the third joint maritime patrol in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. As part of an air defense exercise, the crews of the ships practiced algorithms for repelling an attack by conditional enemy air attack means from various altitudes and directions. pacific ocean china russia Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Russian and Chinese Navy ships repelled a mock air raid by during joint drills in the Pacific Ocean Russian and Chinese Navy ships repelled a mock air raid by during joint drills in the Pacific Ocean 2023-08-10T12:42+0000 true PT2M27S 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International repell air attack, russian and chinese warships, joint patrol https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/what-is-known-about-killing-of-ecuadors-presidential-candidate-fernando-villavicencio-1112505153.html What Is Known About Assassination of Ecuador's Presidential Candidate Fernando Villavicencio? What Is Known About Assassination of Ecuador's Presidential Candidate Fernando Villavicencio? What is known so far about killing of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio at a political rally in the capital, Quito, on August 9. 2023-08-10T12:51+0000 2023-08-10T12:51+0000 2023-08-10T13:01+0000 americas ecuador assassination quito campaign rally presidential candidate rafael correa guillermo lasso sinaloa cartel /html/head/meta[@name='og:title']/@content /html/head/meta[@name='og:description']/@content https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/08/0a/1112504544_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_b8e652f708402fc2550c9bd169503464.jpg An Ecuadorian presidential candidate was gunned down at a political rally in the capital, Quito, on August 9. The assassination of Fernando Villavicencio occurred less than two weeks before the presidential election in the South American country, slated for August 20.Here is what is known so far about the killing.What Happened at the Quito Rally?Fernando Alcibiades Villavicencio Valencia, an Ecuadorian politician and journalist, was one of eight presidential candidates contesting the early elections scheduled for August 20. The nation's President Guillermo Lasso announced in May that he was dissolving the countrys legislature, the National Assembly, to avoid an impeachment vote, with new elections to be held within 90 days.Villavicencio, who cast himself as an anticorruption candidate, had been addressing a campaign rally at a local high school in the country's capital. The campaign stop was aimed at wooing young supporters. Numerous videos later posted on social media showed Villavicencio leaving the campaign event and entering a white vehicle before gun shots rang out. The 59-year-old sank to the ground.Villavicencio had been shot several times, according to police and local media reports. The politician was transported to a nearby clinic but medics were unable to save him.Slightly before 8:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Lasso posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Villavicencio had been killed, vowing the "crime will not go unpunished." El Universo, Ecuador's main newspaper, reported that the politician was assassinated hitman-style and with three shots to the head. A member of Villavicencio's campaign, Carlos Figueroa, present at the rally and a witness to the shooting, told the media:The attorney general's office said one suspect in the crime subsequently died of injuries sustained in the shootout that followed. There is no exact information as to the number of assailants involved. It was also revealed that a grenade had been lobbed at the crowd near the politician, which, fortunately, did not explode. Nine other people, including a candidate for the legislature and two police officers were injured.The attorney generals office later said it had arrested six people so far in connection with the crime during raids in Quito.A criminal gang called Los Lobos (The Wolves) - the second-largest gang in Ecuador, and a breakaway faction from the Los Choneros gang - appears to have claimed responsibility for the killing. A video doing the rounds on social media shows gang members wearing balaclavas and waving their weapons.Lasso announced on Thursday that while a state of emergency would be in place across the country for 60 days in connection with the assassination but that the date of the presidential election in Ecuador will not change.Who Was Fernando Villavicencio?Villavicencio was formerly a union leader at the state oil company, Petroecuador. Originally from Chimborazo province, he served as a member of Ecuador's National Assembly from 2017 until it was dissolved earlier this year. He boasted an impressive history in Ecuador's public affairs, and was an avid anti-corruption campaigner, denouncing the violence caused by drug trafficking in the country.Villavicencio was also a vocal critic of former President Rafael Correa, who was sentenced to prison for corruption in 2020. Villavicencio was at one point accused of defaming the former president and sentenced to 18 months in prison, according to media reports, which prompted him to flee to Peru. However, he returned after Correa left office.For his presidential run, Villavicencio was representing the Build Ecuador Movement, a broad center-right coalition. Villavicencio was not a frontrunner in the race, with opinion polls showing him hovering somewhere in the middle of the eight candidates. Luisa Gonzalez is the frontrunner of the pack. At one point earlier in the year Villavicencio was cited as telling the media that Ecuador had become a narco state. Prior to the shooting, Villavicencio claimed on national television that he had received multiple death threats, including from a jailed leader of the Choneros gang, as well as leaders of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, ostensibly operating in Ecuador.The slain politician was married with five children, according to local media reports.What Is the Situation in Ecuador?For years now the South American nation has witnessed a surge in violent, gang-related crime, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. According to media reports, raging turf wars among rival drug-trafficking criminal organizations have resulted in a huge spike in murder rates. The country is struggling to deal with the situation in its overcrowded prisons, where criminal gangs often take control of the penitentiaries, with hundreds of inmates kiled. Furthermore, Ecuador has found itself part of an active cocaine trafficking route from South America to North America and Europe, security experts have been cited as saying.After Wednesdays killing, Lasso stated, as per translation offered in media reports: https://sputnikglobe.com/20230810/ecuadors-lasso-declares-60-day-emergency-state-over-presidential-candidates-murdering-1112499755.html americas quito Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 2023 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rosiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko killing of ecuadorian presidential candidate, fernando villavicencio gunned down, death of fernando villavicencio, political rally in quito, ecuadorian presidential candidate assassinated The Prince Edward Island Harness Racing Industry Association (PEIHRIA) is offering a bursary in the amount of $500 to eligible candidates who have participated in the Matinee Racetrack Development Program and who are attending a post secondary education program in 2023. Bill and Denise Andrew of Meridian Farms have generously agreed to sponsor the bursary, which will assist the successful applicant(s) with costs associated with their post-secondary education. To be eligible for this bursary, applicants must provide the following documentation: Proof of P.E.I. residency Proof of enrollment in either a college, university, online or technical post-secondary education course(s). Applicants must provide a copy of their acceptance letter with their application and proof of tuition payment. Applicants will need to provide a short essay (500 words+ no longer than a page) describing the following: a) how they became involved in the Matinee Program; b) what skills and lessons they learned through the program; c) what role the matinee program played in assisting them with furthering their education on the harness racing industry; and d) why they feel it is important to continue the Matinee Program on Prince Edward Island. Applicants must also provide references from two Island horsemen who are not family members, describing why they feel the applicant is deserving of this bursary. The deadline to apply will be Aug. 28, 2023. Applications can be sent to [email protected]. For any questions regarding the bursary, contact PEIHRIA Executive Director Julie Jamieson at 902-569-1682 or by emailing [email protected]. (PEIHRIA) Progressive rock band Dongyang Gozupa / Courtesy of Dongyang Gozupa By Kwak Yeon-soo Through a blend of the "yanggeum," a Korean metal-stringed zither, and modern Western sounds, progressive rock band Dongyang Gozupa, which translates to "eastern high frequency," has created a trailblazing sound. Consisting of bass guitar, percussion and the yanggeum, the trio fuses "gugak," or traditional Korean music, with progressive rock, experimental music and heavy metal. What sets them apart from other fusion bands that reinterpret gugak is that they don't have vocals. Instead, they try to create a percussion-driven sound with the yanggeum at its center. "We wanted to focus more on the rhythms than the vocals. Vocalists are often the main focus of a band, but music without vocals can be beautiful. I think instrumental compositions are enough to communicate with our fans," percussionist Jang Do-hyuk said during a recent interview with The Korea Times. After their debut in 2018, the trio gained a lot of attention quickly through global tours. They were the first Korean band to be invited to Worldwide Music Expo (WOMEX) for two consecutive years, in 2020 and 2021. Since then, the trio has built their global presence through a number of international festival appearances and headline shows including at the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF), the largest music festival in Malaysia, and WOMAD Chile in 2022. The band's Southbank Centre debut in London is a part of their international tour this year followed by performances in Denmark. The band recently wrapped up their North America tour performing at Winnipeg Folk Festival, Vancouver Island Musicfest, Mission Folk Festival in Canada and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in the U.S. "We received more attention than we expected. We were able to gear toward audiences of all ages because Winnipeg Folk Festival attracts young audiences whereas Vancouver Island Musicfest is family-friendly. A gig at Lincoln Center was an opportunity to level up our performance," Jang said. Jang, 37, a percussionist of now disbanded psychedelic rock band Danpyunsun and the Sailors, started Dongyang Gozupa with Yun Eun-hwa, 40, a yanggeum player, and Choi Woo-young, a bassist. In 2020, Choi left the band and Ham Min-hwi, 38, joined as a new bass player. "I wanted to create a new band with yanggeum at its center and no vocalist. I initially reached out to Yun, asking her to introduce some of her students. But Yun said she is interested in joining the band," he said. "So I visited her studio and listened to her live performance, which caught me off guard. I imagined she would have a typical gugak stage presence with sad but beautiful melodies. But, she was so charismatic; it felt like she was going to destroy her instrument." Ham, who joined the band in 2020, said he was surprised by the band's high-energy shows that are physically daunting. "Before I joined the band, I knew Dongyang Gozupa is an extreme band that practices dark yet plaintive music. But I didn't expect it to be this hard," he said. Progressive rock band Dongyang Gozupa / Courtesy of Dongyang Gozupa A member of a family run farm and farm stand in Madison County was among the winners in the recent Virginia Agriculture Week photo contest sponsored by Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Annsley Rider, 22, won in the category of Farmers Market and Farm Shops for an autumn scene she captured with her iPhone of her familys longstanding 5 Riders Farm Stand. The locally popular stand, kept going by the family of five, is situated in front of their homestead on Twymans Mill Road, off U.S. Route 15 near Locust Dale. The stand has been around in some form since 2010 and offers fresh, locally grown produce from the family farm. Annsley is the youngest of three siblings operating the farm with their parents. Congrats to all the Virginia Ag Week photo contest winners! We loved meeting you in person and presenting you with your gift basket, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services posted on Facebook. Thanks to everyone that submitted photos this year! We cant wait to see the beautiful images you send next year. The photo taken by Rider, a 2019 graduate of Madison County High School, along with other winners, will be on display at the State Fair in the Farm Bureau building and published in the 2024 Virginia Agriculture magazine. Michael Wallace, communications director with the department, visited the farm stand to present Annsley, and matriarch Kristin, with a gift basket of Virginias Finest products. Rider said she entered a whole bunch of different photos of the stand in the contest and was happy to win in the category she did. Other categories included Agricultural Landscapes, Virginia Livestock, Celebrate Local, Virginia Produce and Crops and Virginia Aquaculture. Asked what makes her familys farm stand stand out, Rider responded, I think because we are open each day during our season and it makes fresh, local food accessible seven days a week. And, we are a fulltime working farm. 5 Riders Farm Stand is open every day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 3849 Twymans Mill Road and is also at the Madison County Farmers Market 9-11 a.m. on Saturdays, located at at 1110 Fairground Road in Madison. The stand offers watermelons, peaches, blueberries, sweet corn, tomatoes, squash, cherry tomatoes, peppers, red cabbage, potatoes, fresh dill pickles, salsa and more. Much of Southwest Virginia lies in the midst of an unforgiving desert. Rick Mitchell remembers when he saw it highlighted on a map. The director of Bristol Lifestyle Recovery, a residential substance abuse treatment program, Mitchell was attending a conference. A population map was put up showing the areas of the country with the most severe meth addiction crises. The areas highlighted included Miami, New York City, Chicago, and the Tri-Cities region of western Virginia and eastern Tennessee. The region has one of the most critical drug problems in the world, but no formal education programs in the area to help address it, Mitchell observed. Thats changing now. Of the news that Emory & Henry College School of Health Sciences plans to launch a Master of Science in Addiction Counseling Program this fall, Mitchell said, We are ecstatic. Dr. Stephanie Rutledge, the founding chair for E&Hs Clinical Mental Health Counseling department that will host the degree, shared his enthusiasm. She lauded the college continuing to invest in the mental health program. Rutledge said the addiction-oriented degree program is part of E&Hs strategic plan to help meet this regions needs. Were a mental health [care] desert basically, she said. Behavioral health data taken from state and Community Service Boards (CSB) backs up that description. For Smyth and Washington counties, the mental health provider to potential patients ratio is 485 to 1. Over the last decade, CSB behavioral health needs have increased by 10%. For youth, in Smyth, more than 30% self-report being depressed and more than 10% say theyve considered suicide. In Washington County, 39.4% of youth reported depression, while 12.5% said theyd thought about suicide. In the 2023 State of Mental Health report, Virginia was ranked 39th regarding the ratio of mental health patients to mental health professionals. This Health Resources and Services Administration designates this region as a High Needs Mental Health Professional Shortage Area. At the same time as the need for behavioral health care is growing, providers are struggling to find counselors and other providers. Rutledge pointed to ongoing vacancies and the use of sign-on bonuses at the Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute in Marion. Mitchell described the necessity for providers as glaring. Despite the need, Rutledge said, theres not a comparable degree program to E&Hs in the region. The online program is a 60-credit, 24-month program, consisting of six consecutive semesters. Rutledge said it will put an informed focus on the role of trauma and how it plays a part in addiction. Mitchell backs that move fully. More often than not, he said, addiction is a trauma response. Mitchell has worked in the substance abuse field for more than 30 years. Hes proud of a recent expansion of Bristol Lifestyle Recovery, which went from 66 beds to 80. Still, he said, demand is exceeding capacity. Leaders began to reach out to several grad schools about the need to train counselors. Mitchells daughter was an E&H grad and he naturally turned the college, knowing of its existing mental health program. The specialized addiction classes that will be offered in this counseling degree, he said, will give the future providers extra competence and understanding of the process. Its critical, he said, that addicts are guided to not try to take too big steps or move too quickly and set themselves up for failure. Mitchell also believes much of basic human stuff such as compassion and non-judgmental listening play key roles. Connection, he said, is the opposite of addiction. John Graham, who is helping lead the development of an in-patient treatment center in Marion known as the Appalachian Center for Hope, is grateful for E&Hs decision to add the addiction counseling program. He envisions students not only becoming providers at the center but also learning there. From the first semester, students will be engaged in experiential learning that comes to life in our hybrid courses, said Rutledge. The program, she said, will include three weeks of clinical work in addiction counseling with an emphasis on evidence based practices. Graduates of the program will be eligible to apply for a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) credential and apply to become a resident in counseling, which would open up multiple career opportunities in a variety of settings, including community mental health agencies, substance abuse treatment programs, colleges, hospitals, residential treatment programs, employee assistance programs, and social service agencies. Rutledge, who possesses extensive experience in counselor education and program accreditation, including serving as department chair in a large graduate program in New Jersey, noted that a program director has been hired and was expected to start work last week. Paper leaflets were distributed throughout the town of Tayana coercing women to conform to a specific Islamic dress code, according to Enab Baladi. This week, paper leaflets were distributed throughout the town of Tayana in the eastern countryside of Deir-ez-Zor. These leaflets contained concerning messages, including threats aimed at women, coercing them to conform to a specific Islamic dress code under the risk of violence. One of the distributed materials featured an image of women dressed in black attire, alongside the flag of a certain group. The content of these leaflets went as far as issuing a direct threat against women. Enab Baladis correspondent in Deir-ez-Zor reported on this development on Tuesday. Instances of such leaflets or activities associated with this organization are not novel to the city of Deir-ez-Zor The group has previously exploited events like a demonstration in Deir-ez-Zor to further its agenda. During that incident, the group denounced the alleged burning of the Quran and utilized the situation to prominently display its flag. Similar leaflets were distributed in the same vicinity, containing menacing messages targeted at the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the controlling authority in the region. Does the post really go back to the organization? The content within the post exhibits evident linguistic errors. This aspect served as a focal point for Orabi Orabi, a researcher specializing in jihadist groups, during an interview with Enab Baladi. Orabi employed these errors as evidence to disassociate the publication from the organization in question. In his conversation with Enab Baladi, Orabi emphasized that the media office of the Islamic State refrains from disseminating documents, statements, or publications that contain linguistic inaccuracies. This stands as a key principle guiding their communication strategy. Furthermore, Orabi noted a distinct discrepancy in the font utilized in the leaflet compared to the font consistently employed by the group in their analogous publications. Nevertheless, Orabi clarified that the absence of these leaflets being directly traced back to the group does not necessarily signify their non-presence in the region. This can be attributed to several factors connected to individuals who had previously collaborated with the organization during its control of the area. Orabi elaborated on the groups strategy, highlighting how their abduction of individuals from the region compels their families into collaboration. Additionally, he highlighted instances where promises of releasing relatives incarcerated by the SDF motivate cooperation with the group. The groups ongoing existence is further underscored by the collection of funds through the so-called sultan cost. This refers to zakat payments extracted from the population, including civilians and capital owners, backed by threats of reprisal for non-compliance. In tandem with the proliferation of these publications, there has been a notable downturn in the groups offensive activities against the SDF. While the organization typically executed 25 operations against the SDF monthly, this figure plummeted to a mere 13 operations in the preceding July, as reported by Orabi. Orabi attributed this reduction in military operations to ongoing negotiations between the group and factions within the region. These discussions aim to establish a ceasefire between the two sides. Given this context, it appears incongruous for the group to disseminate comparable threats to the local population, as articulated by Orabi. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.Salvation Government Imposes Islamic Dress Code and Segregation of Boys and Girls in Idleb Schools Numerous young individuals have crossed into Turkish territory via illicit routes originating from Ras Ain, according to Baladi News. On Tuesday, the Syrian Human Rights Watch Network reported a significant surge in migration among the areas controlled by the SDF, with a notable focus on young people travelling to Europe through Turkey. In a released statement, the network revealed that numerous young individuals have crossed into Turkish territory via illicit routes originating from Ras Ain and Tal Abyad. They have chosen various pathways to enter Turkey, with the ultimate goal of reaching Europe. The statement emphasized that this wave of migration is unprecedented in scale, marking a departure from trends seen since 2015. The network highlighted the factors propelling this migration. These include the escalating devaluation of the Syrian currency against the U.S. dollar, exorbitant price hikes in the aforementioned regions, compulsory conscription enforced by the SDF targeting the youth, shortcomings in the educational system administered by the Autonomous Administration, and parental concerns for their children aged 13 to 16 who face potential abduction by the Revolutionary Youth Organization and subsequent recruitment into its camps. All these pressures compel the local population to seek an escape route, searching for safety and refuge for their offspring and their lives, the spokesperson stated. The network further stressed that the predominant catalyst for this wave of migration is the prevailing state of security chaos witnessed in the areas under SDF control. The network documented instances of hundreds of young people recently making their way to Ras Ain and subsequently venturing into Turkish territory, embarking on a journey to Europe that exacts steep financial costs, often amounting to tens of thousands of dollars, coupled with substantial risks. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. DGB Daegu Bank's headquarters in Daegu / Yonhap DGB Daegu Bank workers allegedly forge documents to open 1,000 customer accounts By Lee Yeon-woo Amid a sharp drop in public trust sparked by the unethical behavior of some bank employees, DGB Daegu Bank is facing scrutiny for allegedly forging customer documents in order to open up accounts. Such impropriety has raised serious concerns about the industry's apparent lack of effective internal controls, further eroding trust in the banking industry. According to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), Thursday, the financial regulator has initiated an investigation into DGB Daegu Bank. The move comes after discovering that some bank employees allegedly forged customer documents and covertly opened accounts in customers' names without notifying them, aiming to boost their performance for upcoming employee evaluations. Since August 2021, the bank has introduced a service that facilitates the use of the bank's accounts as a way to open securities accounts with various securities firms. It is understood that bank employees duplicated the application forms filed out by customers wishing to open securities accounts. They then modified these duplicates to open accounts with a different stock firm. It is also alleged that they blocked notification texts related to the creation of the said accounts in order to cover up these unauthorized accounts. The FSS assumes that the number of accounts created in this manner might exceed 1,000. "We will thoroughly investigate all accounts suspected of unauthorized creation. Strict measures will be taken against any illegal and unfair practices revealed as a result of the inspection," the FSS stated. With this incident, DGB Daegu Bank's aspirations to transition into a commercial bank could also face setbacks depending on the severity of the misconduct. Initially, the bank was expected to undergo this transition seamlessly within the year. "In the face of behaviors that undermine the principles of sound management, we pledge to take decisive action. In cooperation with the FSS' inspections, we are committed to diligently enhancing our systems to prevent any recurrence of such incidents," DGB Daegu Bank stated in their official release. The recent illicit activities of local banks have sent profound shockwaves throughout society. Just a week ago, an executive at BNK Kyongnam Bank was discovered to have embezzled 56.2 billion won ($42.6 million) from the bank's project financing loan department. This Thursday, workers at KB Kookmin Bank were accused of securing 12 billion won in illicit profits through stock trading using confidential information. Despite the financial authorities ardently urging financial firms to bolster their internal controls and even implementing a systemic improvement strategy last year, malpractices by bank employees continue. "The most crucial aspect in a financial transaction is trust. It is really hard to regain the public's trust when these types of incidents happen and become known to the public," a bank official told The Korea Times. For this reason, regulators are likely to expedite amendments to the current governance act. This would delineate duties related to internal controls for top leadership, including CEOs and other executives, further strengthening their responsibilities. The blast originated from an explosive device planted within a vehicle belonging to Military Security, according to Baladi News. On August 9th, 2023, a powerful explosion occurred in the Al-Chiya area of Daraa Governorate, targeting a high-ranking officer and other individuals associated with the regime. This incident took place near the Jordanian border, marking a significant development in the ongoing conflicts within the region. The blast originated from an explosive device planted within a vehicle belonging to Military Security. The explosion resulted in the loss of several lives, including a prominent commander from Military Security, Mustafa Al-Masalmeh, renowned by the moniker Al-Kasm. The explosion claimed the lives of security personnel as well as media correspondents linked to the regimes media outlets. Among those who perished was Firas al-Ahmad, a correspondent affiliated with the loyalist Sama Network, as confirmed by the channel itself. Souria Al-Ikhbaria (Syria News), another pro-government, channel also initially reported the demise of its cameraman, Ahmed Al-Masalmeh, in the attack, but later clarified that he survived and is receiving medical attention after being transported to a hospital. Local reports indicate that the explosion led to the deaths of two assistant non-commissioned officers from the Military Security Branch, Muhammad al-Khalaf, and Wissam Hammoud, an investigator. The official media aligned with the regime expressed grief over the loss of life, disclosing the casualties. SAMA TV reporter, Firas al-Ahmad, and three members of the army forces were martyred when an explosive device planted by terrorists went off on their way back to al-Shayyiah in Daraa countryside, reported SANA. The car carrying al-Ahmad and other army members was targeted in an IED planted by terrorists on a road in the area of al-Shayyiah in Daraa countryside, claiming his life along with three members of the army, a field source told SANA. Informed sources indicate that the targeted prominent figure, Al-Kasm, was accompanied by a Military Security patrol and two reporters. The incident unfolded within the Chiyah area, situated in proximity to the Syrian-Jordanian border. While the regimes media asserted that the patrol was engaged in combatting drug smuggling, sources associated with the Free Horan Rally contradicted this account. They contended that the targeted figure, Al-Kasm, was a prominent local government official in Daraa, previously associated with opposition factions before entering a settlement agreement orchestrated by the Syrian regime in 2018. Notably, Al-Kasm had been subject to sanctions by both the US and British governments since March, due to his alleged involvement in drug trafficking and smuggling operations spanning from Syria to Jordan. This incident marked the eighth assassination attempt targeting Al-Kasm since 2018. Previous attempts involved gunfire and explosive devices, resulting in fatalities among his companions. As of now, the Syrian regime exercises control over a significant portion of the Daraa Governorate, facilitated by settlement agreements forged with opposition factions and local authorities (Central Committees) in collaboration with Russian mediation. Local networks and observatories persistently document the grim reality of daily targeting and assassinations, encompassing civilians, military personnel, former opposition members, as well as officers and personnel affiliated with the Assad forces. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Assad noted that Hafez keeps his distance from political affairs, Syria TV remarks. Syrian President Bashar Assad said there would be no meeting with Turkish President Erdogan on his terms, and that his son Hafez was out of politics. Assads remarks came during an exclusive interview with Sky News Arabia, which will be broadcast on Wednesday evening. Assad added in a new attack on the Turkish government, as a source of what he described as terrorism in Syria, saying: Terrorism in Syria is a Turkish industry. Assad considered that the Turkish presidents goal in sitting with him is to legitimize the presence of the Turkish occupation in Syria, adding: Without preparation, I mean, without results, why do we meet Erdogan, in order to drink refreshments, for example. Meetings have already taken place between the foreign ministers of the Syrian and Turkish regimes under the auspices of Russia, in preparation for a possible meeting between Erdogan and Assad, which requires the withdrawal of Turkish forces from northwestern Syria in exchange for the meeting, but Turkish officials have stated more than once that this is not possible. In July, the Turkish president said that Bashar Assad wants Turkey to leave northern Syria, there can be no such thing, explaining: We are fighting terrorism there where there is a threat to Turkish national security. Bashar Assad: My son is out of politics In his Sky News interview, Bashar Assad discussed his son, Hafez, emphasizing that their relationship primarily revolves around family matters, and he does not engage in conversations regarding governance matters with him. Assad also noted that Hafez keeps his distance from political affairs. Addressing the topic of relinquishing power, Assad expressed that the notion of stepping down was never a consideration. He mentioned that stepping down could be interpreted as an evasion tactic due to the ongoing war circumstances. The Arab League, Hamas, and Drugs In his Sky News interview, Bashar Assad discussed his son, Hafez, emphasizing that their relationship primarily revolves around family matters, and he does not engage in conversations regarding governance matters with him. Assad also noted that Hafez keeps his distance from political affairs. Addressing the topic of relinquishing power, Assad expressed that the notion of stepping down was never a consideration. He mentioned that stepping down could be interpreted as an evasion tactic due to the ongoing war circumstances. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. The Free Syrian Army faction in the Tanf region stated the SDF and other armed factions across Syrian territories are actively pursuing unified efforts, according to Athr Press. The leader of the US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) faction, Muhammad Farid Qassim, has announced significant strides in collaboration with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and undisclosed armed groups to establish a joint operations center. Qassim stated the SDF and other armed factions across Syrian territories are actively pursuing unified efforts. He emphasized that there is a growing consensus on the necessity of coordinating the endeavours of all armed factions within Syria to attain their shared objectives, as reported by opposition media. Explaining the recent activities of the Free Syrian Army faction in the Tanf region, its commander detailed that recent exercises are geared towards active participation in upcoming military engagements, underscoring that the faction stands at the forefront of any defensive action in the area. These declarations come shortly after the faction refuted claims of coordination with the Turkish-backed National Army group in northern Syria, regarding the deployment of forces to the Tanf region situated at the Syrian-Jordanian-Iraqi border junction for border security. According to the opposition outlet Sham, reliable information confirms that members of the National Army factions have initiated the registration process to redeploy to the Tanf region along the Syrian-Jordanian border. The intention is to utilize these forces as border guards, akin to their prior mission in Libya. Allegedly, faction leaders from various components have instructed their members, via discrete channels, to enroll for potential military assignments in the Tanf area, in exchange for remuneration of up to one thousand US dollars. On July 12th, the FSA faction explicitly dismissed claims of imminent military operations in Deir-ez-Zor, underscoring that their primary responsibility is safeguarding the 55-kilometre expanse and the Rukban camp. Notably, US forces conducted joint military exercises with the SSDF in northeastern Syria on July 4. This followed similar exercises by US forces from the Tanf base with the Free Syrian Army faction at the tripartite Syrian-Jordanian-Iraqi border junction, culminating a day earlier. Rumours circulate regarding a US strategy to establish a link between the Tanf base in southern Syria and territories controlled by the SDF in the northeast. However, challenges are apparent, given the significant 120-kilometre distance between Tanf and Bukamal to the northeast, compounded by the arduous expanse of the Syrian desert, which poses obstacles to the mobility of US-backed factions. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. More and more visits between Iran and Syria have economic goals, according to al-Tareek. Vahid Jalalzadeh, the head of Irans National Security Committee in the parliamentary realm, has exposed Irans thirst to increase economic and trade relations with the Syrian government, benefitting from the Assads government predicament. During a three-day official visit to Damascus, an Iranian parliamentary delegation led by Jalalzadeh engaged in discussions with key figures from the Syrian regime. These discussions encompassed meetings with the Syrian Prime Minister, Hussein Arnous, Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad, and the head of the Peoples Assembly, Hamouda al-Sabbagh. The delegation, which included members of Irans National Security Committee and Hussein Asadi, the Secretary of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in the Iranian Shura Council (Parliament), deliberated on strategies to fortify collaboration across various economic, commercial, and energy sectors. Additionally, they addressed the concrete steps taken to actualize the understandings and agreements that were established during Iranian President Ibrahim Raisis recent visit to Syria. Characterizing the bilateral relations between Iran and the Syrian regime as essential, the Iranian representative emphasized Irans steadfast commitment to augmenting cooperation in diverse domains with their Syrian counterparts. Iran has been showing a different face than the one it showed in the past, as more and more visits have economic goals. In July, a political and economic delegation from the Syrian government, led by Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad, embarked on a productive visit to Iran. During this visit, a series of political and economic discussions took place, involving Iranian officials. The delegation, including key figures such as Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad, Minister of Economy and Trade Muhammad Samer al-Khalil, and Minister of Communications Muhammad Iyad al-Khatib, worked closely with their Iranian counterparts to fortify the ties between the two nations. Their deliberations also centred on the follow-through of the understandings and agreements reached during the Iranian Presidents earlier trip to Damascus in late May. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Residents question why the rehabilitation process has not commenced, according to Baladi News. The residents of Astamu village, nestled within the Qardaha countryside, have voiced their grievances over what they perceive as a lack of attention in the aftermath of the destructive earthquake that struck on February 6. The communitys concerns revolve around the failure to clear the debris of collapsed structures and the pressing need to demolish buildings teetering on the brink of collapse, which pose imminent threats to public safety. According to a report by the loyalist newspaper Al-Watan, local residents expressed their discontent with the safety committees that were established to inspect their residences and other damaged edifices within the village. Puzzlingly, the residents pointed out that the procedures initiated by these committees remain unfinished, leaving them uncertain about whether these efforts will be resumed or abandoned. Furthermore, parents within the village have implored authorities to address the situation concerning schools that have been rendered inoperable due to structural damage inflicted by the earthquake. The deteriorating condition of these educational institutions not only jeopardizes their childrens safety but also threatens teachers welfare. They question why the rehabilitation process has not commenced, especially considering the imminent start of the school year. It is worth noting that despite the Syrian regime receiving substantial aid from various countries to address the aftermath of the catastrophic earthquake, media reports have raised concerns that this assistance may not have been appropriately allocated to its intended purposes, with beneficiaries not reaping its benefits. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Assad's recent televised interview with Sky News Arabia has raised intriguing questions about the source of his self-assured demeanour, according to Sateh Noureddine in al-Modon. President Bashar al-Assads recent televised interview with Sky News Arabia has raised intriguing questions about the source of his self-assured demeanour. Amidst an ongoing war and signs of renewed conflict, economic collapse, and shifting alliances, his confidence seems paradoxical. Al-Assads victory over the revolution remains incomplete, as opposition sentiments gain strength, and the spectre of famine haunts a populace decimated by over a decade of warfare. This prompts us to question: what fuels his audacity? The interview itself does not provide an explanation for this trust. Speculations that UAE officials influenced this interview, prompting al-Assad to speak candidly to a channel headquartered in Abu Dhabi, only deepen the puzzle. In his discourse, he confronted Arab nations and launched a vehement campaign against Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, even as he refrained from criticizing his new allies. This narrative deviates from expectations that he would express gratitude for their support in a time of need. The current Turkish-Russian relations and evolving Turkish-Arab ties add complexity to the picture. Al-Assads decision to openly challenge Erdogan and rebuff a meeting on Turkish terms implies a deeper understanding of these geopolitical dynamics. With Turkey fostering reconciliatory ties with the UAE and Saudi Arabia and injecting significant investments into the Turkish economy, Assads actions seem poised to cause tension rather than foster diplomatic progress. Iran, another significant player, is aiming to normalize Arab relations while negotiating with al-Assad over the reimbursement of expenses incurred during the Syrian conflict, which reportedly amounts to $50 billion. Al-Assads current discourse does little to alleviate his political isolation or economic woes. The anticipated Emirati funding is yet to materialize, contributing to the plummeting Syrian currency and deteriorating living standards. Assads audacity could stem from privileged insights, diverging from the external perception that his words appear baseless. This is particularly baffling considering Syrias current trajectory towards famine, which could obliterate its allure for foreign investments. Russia and Iran, central to Syrian dynamics, seem to pursue goals that contrast with al-Assads rhetoric. A future where he offers Syria to a friendly nation becomes less plausible as Syrias value dwindles daily. Lebanons ruin serves as an eloquent cautionary tale. The value of a nation can quickly erode, especially amidst turmoil. Al-Assads confident stance raises more questions than answers, drawing attention to the intricate interplay of regional politics, shifting alliances, and Syrias uncertain future. As the lion emerges from the ruins, its roar must resonate with more than mere words to shape the path ahead. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Bashar al-Assad addressed key issues regarding his country's relations with the Arab world, Turkey, and the international community. In an interview with Sky News Arabic, an Abu Dhabi-based channel, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad addressed key issues regarding his countrys relations with the Arab world, Turkey, and the international community. In his discussions, Assad tempered expectations for swift economic gains from rekindled ties with the Arab world, while also ruling out a summit with Turkish President Erdogan due to disagreements over the withdrawal of Turkish troops from rebel-held territories. He denied Syrian state involvement in drug smuggling and provided insights into ongoing talks with the United States amid sanctions. Additionally, Assad highlighted the role of Iran and Russia in stabilizing Syria, discussed the challenges his country faces, and underscored the complexities of normalizing relations amidst a prolonged conflict. Heres a report highlighting the major ideas mentioned in the interviews with President Bashar al-Assad: Renewed Ties and Expectations: Assad tamps down expectations for swift economic gains from renewed ties with the Arab world. Reiterated that improved relations with Arab states would not lead to immediate economic results within months. Meeting with Erdogan: Assad rules out a summit with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan due to differences over the withdrawal of Turkish troops from rebel-held northwest Syria. Erdogans goal is seen as legitimizing Turkeys presence, while Assads goal is Turkeys withdrawal from Syrian territory. US-Syria Talks and Sanctions: Assad claims that his government held secret talks with the US but those talks did not lead to any significant results. The Caesar Act of 2020 and other sanctions have hindered Syrias reconstruction efforts. Assad acknowledges the impact of the sanctions but asserts that Syria has managed to bypass them in various ways. Drug Trade and Accusations: Assad denies Syrian state involvement in drug smuggling, calling it illogical to accuse his government. Attributes the flourishing drug trade to the chaos caused by war and external factors. Support from Iran and Russia: Assad credits Iran and Russias support for stabilizing Syria during the conflict. Asserts that Syrias close relations with these countries demonstrate its ability to choose its allies. Syrias Current State: Acknowledges Syrias dire economic situation, including currency collapse, sanctions, and loss of oil-producing regions. Claims that terrorism, not the government, was responsible for the destruction caused during the conflict. Normalization Efforts: Despite improved relations with some Arab states and reentry into the Arab League, normalization efforts face challenges due to the ongoing conflict and divisions within the region. Turkish Role and Terrorism: Accuses Turkey of being responsible for spreading terrorism in Syria. Denies rumors of a meeting with Erdogan, stating that Erdogans aim is to legitimize Turkeys presence in Syria. US Sanctions and Talks: Syria engaged in sporadic, behind-the-scenes dialogues with the US over the years, but these talks did not yield significant results. Claims that Syria has overcome US sanctions through different means. Captagon Trade and Chaos: Rejects accusations that Syria is involved in the Captagon drug trade, attributing the trade to the chaos caused by war. Challenges and Economic Results: Acknowledges that Syrias economic situation has deterred many displaced Syrians from returning home. Reiterates that expectations of economic results from normalization should not be unrealistic within a short time frame. Assad expressed hope for the development of stronger Arab institutions, according to SANA. In a recent interview with Sky News Arabia, President Bashar al-Assad placed blame for the widespread destruction in Syria squarely on those who supported terrorism and plotted for war. He emphasized that it is these actors who should bear the responsibility for the devastation that has swept through the country, rather than those who took up arms against terrorism. President al-Assad acknowledged that nearly half a million refugees had returned to Syria in recent years. However, he raised a poignant question: How could refugees rebuild their lives without access to fundamental necessities such as water, electricity, schools, and medical care? He asserted that these basic elements of existence were prerequisites for any meaningful return of refugees. The Syrian leader also addressed the theoretical possibility of averting the war. He stated that while it might have been conceivable to avoid conflict by acquiescing to the demands imposed on Syria, this course of action would have come at an exorbitant cost in terms of surrendering Syrian rights and interests. President al-Assad underscored his commitment to defending his nations sovereignty and interests. Reflecting on the magnitude of the destruction caused by terrorism, President al-Assad admitted that the extent of the devastation was unforeseen. He explained that although Syria was aware of impending threats and plots, the intricate details of the orchestrated destruction were beyond anticipation. Even in the direst circumstances, no state, no matter its nature, intentionally destroys its own homeland. Terrorism was the destructive force here, President al-Assad stressed. He maintained that the states constitutional duty was to protect the nation against external threats. Regarding the impact of friendly nations on Syrias resilience, President al-Assad acknowledged their crucial support but emphasized that ultimate steadfastness lay within the heart of the Syrian people. Responding to questions about Syrias potential return to the Arab League and the status of inter-Arab relations, President al-Assad emphasized the need for substantial changes in the nature of these relationships. He indicated that a return to formal diplomatic ties would be contingent upon tangible progress in addressing the core issues affecting Arab unity. The topic of refugees remained central to the discussion. President al-Assad pointed out that while hundreds of thousands of refugees had returned to Syria in recent times, the momentum had waned due to the dire living conditions in the country. He reiterated that the absence of basic amenities like water, electricity, education, and healthcare was a deterrent to successful repatriation. Addressing drug trafficking concerns, President al-Assad dismissed claims that Syria actively encouraged such activities. He argued that if the state were promoting drug trafficking, it would be tantamount to inviting terrorism, as the outcomes were similarly destructive. He placed responsibility on external forces that contributed to Syrias destabilization. President al-Assad acknowledged that the Caesar Act posed challenges to the countrys economic recovery, primarily due to the destruction of infrastructure by terrorists and the wars indelible impact on Syrias image as an investment destination. In addressing expectations from the Arab side, President al-Assad expressed hope for the development of stronger institutions and relations grounded in a foundation of mutual respect. Commenting on the term opposition, President al-Assad emphasized the importance of locally-rooted opposition that possessed a genuine national agenda and public support. Regarding Israeli aggression, President al-Assad asserted that the Syrian army remained a primary target, often under the guise of Iranian presence. He indicated that these attacks persisted as long as Israel maintained its adversarial stance and Syria thwarted terrorist plans. When questioned about a potential meeting with Turkish President Erdogan, President al-Assad emphasized the necessity of a clear goal and agenda for such a dialogue. He highlighted the divergence in objectives between the two leaders, making it difficult to reach common ground and suggesting that a meeting under Erdogans terms was unlikely. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. The U.S. wants to obstruct the resistance axis extending from Tehran to Beirut through the Syrian-Iraqi border, according to Athr Press. Over the past few months, Syria has become a theater of heightened US military presence, particularly in the eastern and southern regions, with the Syrian Al-Tanf area serving as a focal point for these developments. The surge in US military movements includes the deployment of reinforcements and the provision of military training. Leaks from insider sources suggest that Washington is contemplating the creation of a force comprising Arab units. The escalating momentum of these activities has led to speculation about the potential initiation of a military operation. Lebanons Al-Akhbar newspaper featured an article by writer Muhammad Noureddine, in which he construed these movements as indicative of Syrias escalating field tensions. The daily remarked, The signs of escalation in Syria have manifested through various indicators, such as Russian airstrikes targeting armed groups near Idlib, clashes between the Syrian army and these groups along multiple frontlines, and the growing proximity of Russian and American aircraft in Syrian airspace. Additionally, theres the near-daily Israeli airstrikes in the vicinity of Damascus. Noureddine connected the dispatch of 3,000 US troops to the Gulf region to Washingtons exerted pressure on Tehran within Syria. He revealed that the US is in the process of forming an Arab tribal force, numbering nearly 2,500, which is set to be stationed in regions spanning Deir ez-Zor and the borderlands of Syria and Iraq. This strategy aims to sever supply lines and communication routes beneficial to the resistance axis linking the two countries. Further insights emerged from the Al-Mayadeen website, another Lebanese network, which carried an article by Syrian writer Joe Ghanem. Ghanem underscored the intensification of American aggressive actions in eastern Syria, underscoring renewed occupation designs in regions such as Badia, Deir-ez-Zor, Al-Hassakeh, and Raqqa. He noted the recent calls for reinforcements and a buildup of weaponry by the US occupation forces leadership. Ghanem disclosed that the US strategy pivots toward greater reliance on Arab elements, with an aim to direct their movement toward Al-Bukamal and the surrounding territories, where Syrian army, auxiliary, and friendly resistance forces are stationed. The ultimate objective is to establish an enclave stretching from the Jordanian border to the northeastern regions, enabling unrestricted Israeli movement. This move would also obstruct the resistance axis extending from Tehran to Beirut through the Syrian-Iraqi border. Ghanem highlighted the Syrian armys preparation, supported by Iranian and Russian allies, with significant military maneuvers conducted in recent weeks. He added that Moscow is actively engaging in dialogues with Kurdish groups to deter their participation in the impending conflict. In a piece from the Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak, closely linked to Turkish authorities, a columnist assessed the unfolding situation in Syria within the framework of a new American strategy. Afroglu emphasized that after thirteen years of Syrian conflict, the US is reshuffling its cards, exemplified by the deployment of approximately 3,000 militants along the Deir ez-Zor-Al-Tanf line, with the intention of obstructing the Iraq-Syria route. Since last March, Russian intelligence services have been alerting to the various military moves orchestrated by US forces in Syria. These actions, coinciding with increased Arab engagement with Syria, commenced following the visit of US Chief of Staff Mark Milley to American bases in the eastern and Al-Tanf regions of southern Syria. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. A Longview man pleaded guilty Wednesday morning to threatening a police officer and punching a correctional officer. Roy DeLaine Gifford, Jr., 57, of Longview, pleaded guilty to one count of felony harassment and another count of custodial assault. He was sentenced to two and a half years in a Washington state prison and a year of community custody. According to the probable cause statement, on May 9 at about 2:37 p.m., Longview Police Officer Daniel Butler, 28, responded to the 1460 block of Baltimore Street regarding a male resident flipping tables and breaking things. The report says Gifford was arrested the previous day for disorderly conduct after numerous complaints. Butler writes in the probable cause statement that Gifford was argumentative and reluctant to comply, after being asked to turn down the music and warned him he could be arrested. According to the report, Gifford called his landlord a racial slur, threatened to kick the officer between his legs, and said, Im going to kill you! Gifford reportedly slammed the door in Butlers face. After obtaining a warrant to enter Giffords home, Butler writes that Gifford ignored numerous verbal orders and that he used his pepper spray to subdue and arrest him. After being transported to the Cowlitz County Jail, Gifford allegedly struck a jail officer with a closed fist in the head during the booking process. Gifford has a lengthy criminal history, including burglary, harassment, second-degree theft, attempted theft, and riot. He initially faced two additional charges of intimidating a public servant and disorderly conduct, but they were dismissed as part of his plea deal. From left, Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Bok-hyun, Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok and Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo pose after signing a memorandum of understanding to support small and medium-sized enterprises with environmental, social and corporate governance efforts at Hana Financial Group Global Campus in Incheon, Thursday. Courtesy of Hana Financial Group By Yoon Ja-young Hana Financial Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Incheon Metropolitan City and Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) efforts. In the first collaboration between a financial company and a local government to support SMEs' ESG efforts, they agreed to share information, provide advice and hold education sessions and seminars related to ESG. The agreement aims to strengthen the competitiveness of SMEs in exports by supporting them with ESG efforts. Incheon will be in charge of selecting SMEs located in the city that are in need of ESG support. The financial regulator will share its know-how and plan and control the overall procedure to get the most out of the MOU. Hana Financial Group, meanwhile, will be providing ESG consulting to SMEs, including evaluating the current status of their ESG management and suggesting solutions. As ESG is also becoming crucial in supply chains, Hana will support the SMEs with carbon emission measurements as well as checking whether they are meeting requirements in sectors such as work environment. By taking such preemptive measures, SMEs are expected to minimize fallout from new regulations in supply chains. The FSS and Hana Financial Group, meanwhile, can also expect to minimize potential delinquency risks of loans offered to SMEs by offering them practical help in coping with global ESG regulations. "Recently, ESG management is getting more important than ever with governments around the world requiring disclosure of corporate ESG information and positively evaluating firms focusing on ethical management," Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok said. The MOU will help strengthen the competitiveness of exporters and equip SMEs with medium- to long-term sustainability." "The MOU will not only improve SMEs' expertise in coping with supply chain issues but also enhance their awareness of ESG management. The FSS will continue supporting the financial industry and businesses in diverse ways so they can more actively cope with the ESG regulation," FSS Governor Lee Bok-hyun said. "With the global expansion of ESG management, SMEs are having trouble as they are also required to cope with the issue. Hana Financial Group will spare no efforts in supporting SMEs to overcome this problem," Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo said. Hana Bank launched a sustainability-linked loan for SMEs in July, supporting them with funding worth 500 billion won ($379 million). Matthew Merz, the embattled Kalama City Council member, has been ordered to vacate his seat due to his criminal conviction earlier this year. In a ruling Wednesday afternoon, Cowlitz County Superior Court Commissioner Jill Karmy ruled Merzs felony convictions met the requirements in state law for an elected official to forfeit their position. It is very, very clear to me. Almost without hesitation, one of the clearest cases I had in front of me all day, Karmy said. As part of the ruling, Merz is required to return all property and documents he received as a councilmember and is barred from holding public office in the state of Washington again. Merz was convicted of computer trespass and electronic data theft in March after he illegally accessed the email account of a fellow City Council member. He was sentenced to perform 160 hours of community service. When Merz decided not to voluntarily step down after the conviction, the Cowlitz County Prosecuting Attorneys Office petitioned the court in May on behalf of the Kalama City Council for a Quo Warranto decision forcing him to forfeit his seat. Douglas Jensen, Chief Civil Deputy for the prosecutors office, argued Wednesday there was no reason to further delay a decision in the case given that Merzs conviction met the requirements in Washington state law for forfeiture of office. Additional pleadings arent going to help Mr. Merz. So far as the law goes, dating back over 100 years in this state, all the boxes are checked, Jensen told Judge Karmy. During the hearing, Merz said he left the county to avoid harassment by other elected officials. Merz has claimed he accessed the emails of councilor Jon Stanfill in 2022 to search for evidence of alleged and unproven misconduct by city officials and the Kalama Police Department. Merz told Karmy he was willing to voluntarily resign but I have to have a person with honor and integrity say thats what you need to do. Merz would not have remained on the City Council much longer even without the court decision. Merz ran against councilwoman Wendy Conradi for her council seat but is on track to be eliminated from the race in the August primary. Rob Gibbs and Deb Geiger are running to be elected to Merzs current seat in November. Kalama Mayor Mike Reuter said Wednesday the city was determining the timeline and process to appoint somebody to fill Merzs now-vacant seat. A slew of plants and insects make their way to the Northwest each year, entangling themselves in other plants and eventually eating away at the native flora. Some of them, like knapweed, are toxic to the touch. Local, state and federal agencies across Southwest Washington and in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest are constantly working out the best ways to handle plants that are not just obnoxious but dangerous to a delicate ecosystem that will only get more vulnerable in a warming climate. The native plants here co-evolved and rely on each other in some way or another, said Brad Krieckhaus, a botanist and invasive species specialist with the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. When an invasive species comes in, it disrupts those relationships. Finding the invaders Managing invasive species can be a difficult job that relies on constant surveyance and self-reporting, said Andrea Thorpe, a natural resources program manager with Washington State Parks. We have people who are trained to identify invasive species, and we have some of these sentinel efforts to try to find them, Thorpe said. And then in addition to that, there are different ways that the public can report invasive species that they see. Stay up to date on Lower Columbia news, wherever you go Easily access the latest Lower Columbia news in an app that lets you select the topics that matter most to you. Giant hogweed, a Class-A federal noxious weed and on the states invasive species list, was discovered last summer in the county. By state law, a noxious weed is a plant that is highly destructive, competitive, or difficult to control by cultural or chemical practices. Property owners are paying for removal of these destructive plants, too, at $4.82 per parcel and 10 cents per acre. The program has seen success since 2020, officials say. In April, the U.S. Forest Service joined an interagency agreement with Cowlitz County to add $40,000 to support the management of noxious weeds at the Mount St. Helens Volcanic Monument, according to a Daily News report. In the Mount St. Helens region, traps are set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in preparation for the spongy moth that comes north on an annual basis. Some traps can be seen near Lake Sacajawea in Longview. The traps employ artificial lights and sticky pheromone-coated glue to attract and ensnare the moth, according to sustainable magazine Plantura. Native to Europe, the spongy moth can cause defoliation as it eats away at a wide variety of hardwood and softwood trees, according to Canadas Invasive Species Centre. People can also report when they see what looks like an invasive species to the Washington Invasive Species Council, Thorpe said. Effects of destructive plants Other species that overtake some of the flora and wildlife include the emerald ash borer and knapweed, Thorpe said. The department sends out arbor teams to find these species and work to manage them once they are spotted. In Cowlitz County, the list includes insects such as scotch broom, dalmatian toadflax, Bruchidus villosus, Exapion fuscirostre, Mecinus janthiniformis and larinus, according to the countys website. Another example thats really pertinent to (Southwest Washington) is the emerald ash borer, which is a beetle that attacks our native ash trees as well as some other species of trees that was recently found down in the Portland area, Thorpe said. And while it hasnt been found in Washington yet, if it were to come to Washington, it could devastate a lot of our natural species. Hawkweed species have also been highly invasive in the region, said Jennifer Mendoza, program coordinator with the Cowlitz County Noxious Weed Control Program, in an email to The Daily News. Species can get established from disturbances in the ground, soil or waterways that can bring buried seeds to the surface, Mendoza said. The 1980 Mount St. Helens is an example of an event that provided significant disturbance, she added. High foot traffic also increases the potential for invasive species, as visitors to parks can unwittingly carry plants in or out on the bottom of their shoes or clothes, Mendoza said. And sometimes invasive plants were brought in on purpose. Scotch broom was originally planted to stabilize embankments and has since become quite a problem, Krieckhaus said, because of how easily the seeds spread. The same is true for knapweed, he added. Surveys have to be done constantly to help officials target and identify infestations, Mendoza said. Knapweed especially causes a headache for researchers who have been trying to manage the plant for a decade now, Krieckhaus said. Were trying to protect habitats. ... Its a tough plant to get rid of, Krieckhaus said. Climate change worsens the problem Researchers generally know what to expect each season, Thorpe said. But a warming climate, which has made heat waves and droughts more common, has made that job harder in recent years. With a changing climate, its hard to say which native or invasive species may dwindle or thrive, Mendoza said in an email, though invasive species seem to hold an advantage in adapting to a changing climate. Spongy moths have begun to invade western Canadian forests, according to the Canadian Forest Service, creating a new problem for forests that typically didnt have to deal with the insects. Thats also making it easier for some of these species to move around, Thorpe said. Some of the insects that maybe couldnt have lived here before, because it got colder in winter, potentially (will be) able to get established here. Its going to become a bigger and bigger issue moving forward. And so hopefully we can find some additional resources to deal with that as conditions change. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: In all California counties, the share of primarily Spanish-speaking individuals is smaller (i.e., below the di-agonal) among GetCalFresh applicants relative to the population living under the poverty linea common proxy for SNAP eligibility. Scatter dot sizes correspond to total population of county. In San Diego county, roughly 23% of adults living below the poverty line primarily speak Spanish at home. Credit: Popular Support for Balancing Equity and Efficiency in Resource Allocation: A Case Study in Online Advertising to Increase Welfare Program Awareness (2023) A Cornell-led research team has discovered that the algorithm behind Google Ads charged significantly more to deliver online ads to Spanish-speaking people about the benefits of SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. Together with a survey of 1,500 Americans that found broad support for a more equitable approach to promoting SNAP, the findings led to changes to directly target more Spanish-speakers in California who seek help paying for food. "SNAP is a really important resource to get right," said Allison Koenecke, assistant professor of information science in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science. "When faced with an algorithm that has disparate impact, our research asks, how do you pick a strategy to interact with the algorithm to equitably recruit SNAP applicants?" Koenecke is the lead author of "Popular Support for Balancing Equity and Efficiency in Resource Allocation: A Case Study in Online Advertising to Increase Welfare Program Awareness," which was presented at the AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media in June. "Our goal was to go beyond just quantifying these ad cost disparities," she said. "We also wanted to address questions asked by real-life decision-makers, like what do we actually do about this? How do people actually want to allocate these ads?" Californians can apply for SNAP benefits using a website called GetCalFresh, which is developed and managed by Code for America, a civic tech nonprofit that builds digital tools and services for community leaders and governments. Code for America primarily recruits GetCalFresh applicants through Google Adsfor example, spending roughly $400 daily to reach anyone from San Diego County who punches key words and phrases like "how to apply for food stamps" into Google. However, despite GetCalFresh being offered in multiple languages, Spanish-speakers were filling out proportionally fewer applications than English-speakers. In San Diego County, 23% of families living below the poverty line speak Spanish as their primary language, and yet just 7% had applied for SNAP via GetCalFresh, researchers said. Koenecke and her collaborators discovered one possible reason: the default, dollar-stretching algorithm behind Google Ads was working too efficiently and disregarding Spanish-speaking people in the process. When Google Ads is configured to garner the most SNAP enrollments per dollar, it ends up delivering fewer ads to prospective Spanish-speaking applicants because such ads cost more than those for English speakers, the team found. At the time, for every $1 spent on Google Ads to "convert" an English-speaking applicant into a SNAP benefits holder, it cost $3.80 to convert a Spanish-speaking personnearly four times more. Another bidding option on the Google Ads platform cost 1.4 times more to reach Spanish-speakers versus English-speakers. Koenecke and her collaborators can't definitively explain the difference, since Google Ads is a black boxa proprietary machine-learning tool outside of public review. It could be attributed to any number of factors, like supply and demand or a bug in the system, she said. For GetCalFresh, the research findings pose an important ethical question regarding how to spend its limited online advertising budget: Should they reach as many Californians as cheaply as possible, even if that means fewer Spanish-speaking applicants, or advertise more to Spanish-speakers, even if that yields fewer total applicants? Trade-offs such as these are at the heart of Koenecke's research into fairness and algorithmic systems, which are increasingly being used to help with decision-making in areas with real consequences, like health care, banking and child services. But without additional scrutiny, algorithmsincluding a seemingly harmless one behind an advertising platformcan exacerbate inequality or produce results that run counter to what people actually want or need, she said. Koenecke and her collaborators asked the public to weigh in, surveying roughly 1,500 Americans on how they would balance efficiency and equity in advertising SNAP benefits. Across age groups, gender, race, welfare status and even political party affiliation, respondents generally preferred reducing total enrollments to facilitate more enrollments among Spanish speakers, researchers found. When they ran the survey among Code for America staff, they found similar resultsa strong desire for equitable access. "If you compare the fact that the majority of both Republicans and Democrats actually prefer some amount of equity in this particular case, then this opens the door to more bipartisanship in thinking about how fairness can play a role in online applications involving the algorithmic distribution of goods," Koenecke said. As a result of the team's findings, Code for America adjusted its online advertising strategy to directly target more Spanish-speaking prospective applicants. "It's important for the field and the public to have productive dialogs about the kinds of metrics we should be using in these algorithmic systems," she said. "The communities most impacted by the algorithms should be given more power in the decision-making process." 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: Dr. Stephanie Laggini Fiore, Associate Vice Provost and Sr. Director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, hosts a faculty teaching circle on artificial intelligence on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, at Temple University in Philadelphia. Educators say they want to embrace the technologys potential to teach and learn in new ways, but when it comes to assessing students, they see a need to ChatGPT-proof test questions and assignments. Credit: AP Photo/Joe Lamberti When philosophy professor Darren Hick came across another case of cheating in his classroom at Furman University last semester, he posted an update to his followers on social media: "Aaaaand, I've caught my second ChatGPT plagiarist." Friends and colleagues responded, some with wide-eyed emojis. Others expressed surprise. "Only 2?! I've caught dozens," said Timothy Main, a writing professor at Conestoga College in Canada. "We're in full-on crisis mode." Practically overnight, ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots have become the go-to source for cheating in college. Now, educators are rethinking how they'll teach courses this fall from Writing 101 to computer science. Educators say they want to embrace the technology's potential to teach and learn in new ways, but when it comes to assessing students, they see a need to "ChatGPT-proof" test questions and assignments. For some instructors that means a return to paper exams, after years of digital-only tests. Some professors will be requiring students to show editing history and drafts to prove their thought process. Other instructors are less concerned. Some students have always found ways to cheat, they say, and this is just the latest option. Education Artificial Intelligence CheatingDr. Stephanie Laggini Fiore, Associate Vice Provost and Sr. Director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, center, hosts a faculty teaching circle on artificial intelligence alongside Lori Anne Salem, Assistant Vice Provost and Director of the Student Success Center, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, at Temple University in Philadelphia. Educators say they want to embrace the technologys potential to teach and learn in new ways, but when it comes to assessing students, they see a need to ChatGPT-proof test questions and assignments. Credit: AP Photo/Joe Lamberti An explosion of AI-generated chatbots including ChatGPT, which launched in November, has raised new questions for academics dedicated to making sure that students not only can get the right answer, but also understand how to do the work. Educators say there is agreement at least on some of the most pressing challenges. Are AI detectors reliable? Not yet, says Stephanie Laggini Fiore, associate vice provost at Temple University. This summer, Fiore was part of a team at Temple that tested the detector used by Turnitin, a popular plagiarism detection service, and found it to be "incredibly inaccurate." It worked best at confirming human work, she said, but was spotty in identifying chatbot-generated text and least reliable with hybrid work. Will students get falsely accused of using artificial intelligence platforms to cheat? Absolutely. In one case last semester, a Texas A&M professor wrongly accused an entire class of using ChatGPT on final assignments. Most of the class was subsequently exonerated. So, how can educators be certain if a student has used an AI-powered chatbot dishonestly? It's nearly impossible unless a student confesses, as both of Hicks' students did. Unlike old-school plagiarism where text matches the source it is lifted from, AI-generated text is unique each time. In some cases, the cheating is obvious, says Main, the writing professor, who has had students turn in assignments that were clearly cut-and-paste jobs. "I had answers come in that said, 'I am just an AI language model, I don't have an opinion on that,'" he said. Robin Kolodny, left, a political science professor, works with Eunsook Ha Rhee, an associate professor of instruction, during a faculty teaching circle on artificial intelligence on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, at Temple University in Philadelphia. Educators say they want to embrace the technologys potential to teach and learn in new ways, but when it comes to assessing students, they see a need to ChatGPT-proof test questions and assignments. Credit: AP Photo/Joe Lamberti In his first-year required writing class last semester, Main logged 57 academic integrity issues, an explosion of academic dishonesty compared to about eight cases in each of the two prior semesters. AI cheating accounted for about half of them. This fall, Main and colleagues are overhauling the school's required freshman writing course. Writing assignments will be more personalized to encourage students to write about their own experiences, opinions and perspectives. All assignments and the course syllabi will have strict rules forbidding the use of artificial intelligence. College administrators have been encouraging instructors to make the ground rules clear. Many institutions are leaving the decision to use chatbots or not in the classroom to instructors, said Hiroano Okahana, the head of the Education Futures Lab at the American Council on Education. Dr. Stephanie Laggini Fiore, Associate Vice Provost and Sr. Director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, hosts a faculty teaching circle on artificial intelligence on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, at Temple University in Philadelphia. Educators say they want to embrace the technologys potential to teach and learn in new ways, but when it comes to assessing students, they see a need to ChatGPT-proof test questions and assignments. Credit: AP Photo/Joe Lamberti At Michigan State University, faculty are being given "a small library of statements" to choose from and modify as they see fit on syllabi, said Bill Hart-Davidson, associate dean in MSU's College of Arts and Letters who is leading AI workshops for faculty to help shape new assignments and policy. "Asking students questions like, 'Tell me in three sentences what is the Krebs cycle in chemistry?' That's not going to work anymore, because ChatGPT will spit out a perfectly fine answer to that question," said Hart-Davidson, who suggests asking questions differently. For example, give a description that has errors and ask students to point them out. Evidence is piling up that chatbots have changed study habits and how students seek information. Chegg Inc., an online company that offers homework help and has been cited in numerous cheating cases, saw its shares tumble nearly 50% in a single day in May after its CEO Dan Rosensweig warned ChatGPT was hurting its growth. He said students who normally pay for Chegg's service were now using ChatGPT's AI platform for free instead. Dr. Stephanie Laggini Fiore, Associate Vice Provost and Sr. Director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, back, hosts a faculty teaching circle on artificial intelligence on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, at Temple University in Philadelphia. Educators say they want to embrace the technologys potential to teach and learn in new ways, but when it comes to assessing students, they see a need to ChatGPT-proof test questions and assignments. Credit: AP Photo/Joe Lamberti At Temple this spring, the use of research tools like library databases declined notably following the emergence of chatbots, said Joe Lucia, the university's dean of libraries. "It seemed like students were seeing this as a quick way of finding information that didn't require the effort or time that it takes to go to a dedicated resource and work with it," he said. Shortcuts like that are a concern partly because chatbots are prone to making things up, a glitch known as "hallucination." Developers say they are working to make their platforms more reliable but it's unclear when or if that will happen. Educators also worry about what students lose by skipping steps. "There is going to be a big shift back to paper-based tests," said Bonnie MacKellar, a computer science professor at St. John's University in New York City. The discipline already had a "massive plagiarism problem" with students borrowing computer code from friends or cribbing it from the internet, said MacKellar. She worries intro-level students taking AI shortcuts are cheating themselves out of skills needed for upper-level classes. Dr. Stephanie Laggini Fiore, Associate Vice Provost and Sr. Director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, right, hosts a faculty teaching circle on artificial intelligence alongside Lori Anne Salem, Assistant Vice Provost and Director of the Student Success Center, on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, at Temple University in Philadelphia. Educators say they want to embrace the technologys potential to teach and learn in new ways, but when it comes to assessing students, they see a need to ChatGPT-proof test questions and assignments. Credit: AP Photo/Joe Lamberti "I hear colleagues in humanities courses saying the same thing: It's back to the blue books," MacKellar said. In addition to requiring students in her intro courses to handwrite their code, the paper exams will count for a higher percentage of the grade this fall, she said. Ronan Takizawa, a sophomore at Colorado College, has never heard of a blue book. As a computer science major, that feels to him like going backward, but he agrees it would force students to learn the material. "Most students aren't disciplined enough to not use ChatGPT," he said. Paper exams "would really force you to understand and learn the concepts." Takizawa said students are at times confused about when it's OK to use AI and when it's cheating. Using ChatGPT to help with certain homework like summarizing reading seems no different from going to YouTube or other sites that students have used for years, he said. Other students say the arrival of ChatGPT has made them paranoid about being accused of cheating when they haven't. Lori Anne Salem, Assistant Vice Provost and Director of the Student Success Center, hosts a faculty teaching circle on artificial intelligence on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, at Temple University in Philadelphia. Educators say they want to embrace the technologys potential to teach and learn in new ways, but when it comes to assessing students, they see a need to ChatGPT-proof test questions and assignments. Credit: AP Photo/Joe Lamberti Lori Anne Salem, Assistant Vice Provost and Director of the Student Success Center, hosts a faculty teaching circle on artificial intelligence on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, at Temple University in Philadelphia. Educators say they want to embrace the technologys potential to teach and learn in new ways, but when it comes to assessing students, they see a need to ChatGPT-proof test questions and assignments. Credit: AP Photo/Joe Lamberti Dr. Stephanie Laggini Fiore, Associate Vice Provost and Sr. Director of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, hosts a faculty teaching circle on artificial intelligence on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, at Temple University in Philadelphia. Educators say they want to embrace the technologys potential to teach and learn in new ways, but when it comes to assessing students, they see a need to ChatGPT-proof test questions and assignments. Credit: AP Photo/Joe Lamberti Lori Anne Salem, Assistant Vice Provost and Director of the Student Success Center, left, hosts a faculty teaching circle on artificial intelligence on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, at Temple University in Philadelphia. Educators say they want to embrace the technologys potential to teach and learn in new ways, but when it comes to assessing students, they see a need to ChatGPT-proof test questions and assignments. Credit: AP Photo/Joe Lamberti Arizona State University sophomore Nathan LeVang says he doublechecks all assignments now by running them through an AI detector. For one 2,000-word essay, the detector flagged certain paragraphs as "22% written by a human, with mostly AI voicing." "I was like, 'That is definitely not true because I just sat here and wrote it word for word,'" LeVang said. But he rewrote those paragraphs anyway. "If it takes me 10 minutes after I write my essay to make sure everything checks out, that's fine. It's extra work, but I think that's the reality we live in." ___ Editor's note: Previous versions of this story misstated the timeframe for the decline in Chegg's share price. The stock fell nearly 50% in a single day in May. 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Participants of the Korea Finance Society Korea Forum network before the start of the event at 63 Building in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Anna J. Park By Anna J. Park The Korea Finance Society (KFS) held its annual forum in Seoul on Thursday afternoon, providing a platform of networks between successful Korean American financial experts working in the U.S. and local institutional investors in Seoul. The 2023 Korea KFS Forum held in Seoul's financial district of Yeouido was larger than usual in terms of the number of attendants. Over 200 high-ranking institutional investors and finance professionals from the National Pension Service (NPS), the Korea Investment Corp. (KIC) as well as various financial investment firms located around Korea joined the event to build connections with the professionals from the U.S. This year's speakers included Bank of America (BofA) Securities COO and Head of North America Mike Joo; Charlesbank Capital Partners Head of Credit and Managing Director Sandor Hau; California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) Investment Director of Private Equity Yup Kim; Providence Equity Partners Managing Director Lisa Lee; One Rock Capital Partners Co-founder and Managing Partner Tony Lee; Goodwater Capital Co-founder and Managing Partner Eric Kim; and Truist Securities Managing Director Stellar Tucker. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and Financial Services Commission (FSC) Vice Chairman Kim So-young also delivered congratulatory speeches for the session. "As the KFS is raising Korea's reputation on Wall Street, which leads the global finance, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is also trying its best to make the City of Seoul become the hub of Asia's innovative finance," Oh Se-hoon said during a video message, adding that he hopes the forum provides a place for constructive debates for the development of financial markets. Charlesbank Capital Partners Head of Credit and Managing Director Sandor Hau, left, speaks during a session at the Korea Finance Society Korea Forum held at 63 Building in Seoul, Thursday. Korea Times photo by Anna J. Park As fall approaches, memories of going back to school fill my mind. In the 1940s-50s, there were no school supplies lists in local chain stores because there were few supplies required and there were no chain stores in our town. A Big Chief tablet, a yellow pencil, a small protractor, and a new box of crayons filled our needs. But there was no lack of excitement to return to school and see your friends and know that it was time to get to work again diagramming sentences, taking spelling tests, learning the multiplication tables, having a scripture read over the loud speaker, and saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag and to the nation for which it stands. The questions of how to help each generation of Americans become good and productive citizens were always major concerns of American education, in the 1940s, just as they were in the 1640s when the Puritans in Massachusetts passed the Old Deluder Satan Act, and as they were in the 1840s, when Horace Mann and others created the Common Schools for the Children of the Republic, and as they are today when we see school boards battling with parents and politicians over the proper curriculum. We have gone through many transitions since the creation of public education in this country, as Lawrence Cremin pointed out in 1961 in The Transformation of the School: Progressivism in American Education, 18761957. And there is a long list of distinguished educators who have contributed to the attempt to understand what American education has been and should be, from Bernard Bailyns Education in the Forming of American Society to W. D. Hirschs The Schools We Need to what Hochschild and Scovronick called The American Dream and the Public Schools in 2004, to those still being written today. But no one has done more than Horace Mann to articulate the problems facing American education which continue to be major concerns for those who support public education today. How to finance public education and how to educate the flood of immigrants were only two of the issues he faced. Having given up a promising career in political office, Mann became the secretary to the Board of Education in Massachusetts and in that largely symbolic office, he wrote 12 Reports on Education each year he served. All of these reports offer great wisdom and insight into the challenges he faced in creating the Common Schools in Massachusetts, which became the model for public education in the nation. None is more timely today than his final report, written in 1848. In this report he responds to the educational, political and religious charges that he was taking God out of the curriculum and that he is not supporting the values of the residents of Massachusetts. He begins by asserting that the Common School, improved and energized as it can easily be, may become the most effective and benignant of all the forces of civilization. His first concern is for teaching the great laws of God for human physiology and hygiene, making these the common inheritance of all. These laws embrace all cases where excesses, indiscretions or exposures, may induce disease; or where exercise, temperance, cleanliness and pure air may avert it. He then turns to Intellectual Education As A Means of Removing Poverty, and Securing Abundance concerns that today would be called Equity. According to the European theory, men are divided into classes some to toil and earn, others to seize and enjoy. According to the Massachusetts theory, all are to have an equal chance of earning, and equal security in the enjoyment of what they earn. He suggests that, for many reformers, the view is that some are poor because others are rich, thus they work to redistribute the existing property or wealth. Mann suggests, however, that the beneficent power of education creates new treasures not before possessed or dreamed of by anyone. In America, Education beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance wheel of social machinery. Regarding political education, he speaks of the need for general intelligence. He reminds his readers that in a republican government, legislators are a mirror reflecting the moral countenance of the constituents but the establishment of a republican government without efficient means for the universal education of the people, is the most rash and fool-hardy experiment ever tried by man. Woe to the Republic that rests upon no better foundations than ignorance, selfishness and passion. He states that if the future obligations of the children of the Republic, had been better understood, would the Patriot have had to mourn where the voter, not being able to accomplish his purpose by voting, has proceeded to accomplish it by violence where agreeing with his fellow citizens to use the machinery of the ballot, he makes a tacit reservation, that if that machinery does not move according to his pleasure, he will wrest or break it. Finally, he warns that if the tempest of political strife were to be let loose upon our Common Schools, they would be overwhelmed with sudden ruin thus reminding us that it may be an easy thing to make a Republic, but it is a very laborious thing to make republicans. So heres to the beginning of another school year and to those who have committed to the challenging task of educating the Children of the Republic. May you find this laborious work to be a rewarding labor of love. Thank you for your service to our children, our communities, our country and our world. Americas political scribes would do us a favor if they would drop the word storied before the name Kennedy. America does not have families who are royal, storied or otherwise special because of the circumstances of members birth. Or it shouldnt. Lest anyone forget the point of the American Revolution, our representatives are not chosen by hereditary succession, which, to quote Thomas Paine, is an insult and imposition on posterity. The word storied has been unearthed with the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for president. He calls himself Bobby, undoubtedly to establish a link to his father, the late Robert (Bobby) F. Kennedy Sr. His dad became U.S. attorney general after, in an act of outrageous nepotism, his presidential brother, the sainted John F. Kennedy, appointed him that. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a total nut job. He rails in his shaky voice against vaccines, calling the COVID-19 vaccine the deadliest vaccine ever made. He recently opined that the COVID-19 virus was manipulated to leave Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese immune to the disease. He was kicked out of private schools for taking heroin. RFK Jr. is clearly not playing with a full deck. At first the scribes believed that because of his storied name, the guy might drain votes away from the Democratic candidate for president. But as time goes on, one recognizes that his crazy conspiracy theories would feel right at home in Donald Trumps right-wing MAGA cult. Republicans now wonder whether they should be worrying about having this guys name on the ballot. John F. Kennedy did have style, but a lot of his Camelot peddling was truly hokum. He would swan at elegant White House dinners with Jackie but cheated on her with abandon, including, an FBI memo alleged, at orgies. Democrats lionized his brother Ted Kennedy, Senator-Forever from Massachusetts. Others have mixed feelings about him, and not only because of that terrible incident on Marthas Vineyard where, in a late-night drive off a bridge, he left a female passenger to drown. Another low point was his opposition to plans for a wind farm on Nantucket Sound. Ted had joined a group of local plutocrats who didnt want their perfect waterfront views marred by wind turbines. That the peasants in nearby New Bedford were living under a belching coal-fired power plant did not seem to matter. When Ted Kennedy was asked why he wanted to stop this clean-energy project, he gave a Louis XIV answer: Dont you know that I sail in those waters? Teds son, Patrick Kennedy, was a nice kid but totally unsuited intellectually and mentally to represent half of Rhode Island in Congress. But Patrick needed a job, and they figured, run the kid in Rhode Island where the little people will nominate a Kennedy rather than the steadfast local Democrat who served them for years. Patrick was elected, but his addictions got the better of him. He has since left politics and seems to have built a more dignified life. Good for him. But the familys using Rhode Island as fancy employment for a struggling offspring was fair neither to Rhode Islanders nor to Patrick. Finally, theres this thing about elevating JFKs daughter, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg a Kennedy princess to ambassadorial posts in important places. At the 2000 Democratic convention, she ascended the stage to the tune of Camelot and royally thanked the American people for sustaining us through the good times and the difficult ones, and for helping us dream my fathers dream. For too long Democrats have been groomed to serve the storied Kennedys, and now look what theyve got: bat-crazy Bobby F. Jr. getting serious face time as one of their presidential candidates. FIGS (NYSE:FIGS Free Report) had its target price raised by Barclays from $5.00 to $7.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an underweight rating on the stock. A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on FIGS. Roth Mkm assumed coverage on FIGS in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. They set a buy rating and a $9.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James downgraded FIGS from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $11.00 price target on shares of FIGS in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, FIGS presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $9.02. Get FIGS alerts: Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on FIGS FIGS Stock Down 0.4 % FIGS traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $6.76. 3,285,947 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,180,923. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.59, a P/E/G ratio of 4.88 and a beta of 1.40. FIGS has a 1-year low of $5.55 and a 1-year high of $13.60. The firms 50 day moving average price is $7.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.61. FIGS (NYSE:FIGS Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $138.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $133.07 million. FIGS had a return on equity of 6.17% and a net margin of 2.62%. The firms revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that FIGS will post 0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Insider Activity In related news, insider Heather L. Hasson sold 88,819 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.45, for a total value of $750,520.55. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,331,142 shares in the company, valued at $11,248,149.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other FIGS news, CFO Daniella Turenshine sold 13,557 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.34, for a total transaction of $113,065.38. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 454,776 shares in the company, valued at $3,792,831.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Heather L. Hasson sold 88,819 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.45, for a total value of $750,520.55. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,331,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,248,149.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 508,558 shares of company stock valued at $4,151,857 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 21.40% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On FIGS Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in FIGS by 79.7% during the second quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 277,600 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,296,000 after buying an additional 123,100 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in FIGS by 3.1% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 172,725 shares of the companys stock worth $1,428,000 after purchasing an additional 5,139 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of FIGS by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 892,287 shares of the companys stock worth $7,379,000 after purchasing an additional 11,397 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of FIGS by 63.5% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 38,597 shares of the companys stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 14,991 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Malaga Cove Capital LLC purchased a new stake in FIGS in the second quarter worth approximately $258,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.78% of the companys stock. FIGS Company Profile (Get Free Report) FIGS, Inc operates as a direct-to-consumer healthcare apparel and lifestyle company in the United States. It designs and sells healthcare apparel and scrubwaer and non-scrubwear offerings, such as lab coats, under scrubs, outerwear, loungewear, compression socks footwear, and other lifestyle apparel. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for FIGS Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for FIGS and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. FineMark National Bank & Trust raised its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO Free Report) by 5.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,462 shares of the utilities providers stock after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trusts holdings in Southern were worth $589,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Southern by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 19,514,403 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,394,004,000 after purchasing an additional 584,893 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 15,078,828 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,076,779,000 after purchasing an additional 140,698 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Southern by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,190,526 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $656,296,000 after purchasing an additional 255,838 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 34.9% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 7,613,826 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $529,770,000 after purchasing an additional 1,969,743 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $435,979,000. Institutional investors own 63.25% of the companys stock. Get Southern alerts: Southern Price Performance NYSE:SO traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $69.19. The stock had a trading volume of 3,727,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,205,171. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $70.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.31, a P/E/G ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.50. The Southern Company has a one year low of $58.85 and a one year high of $80.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.83. Southern Announces Dividend Southern ( NYSE:SO Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $5.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $6.47 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 9.86% and a net margin of 11.17%. The businesss quarterly revenue was down 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.07 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 21st will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 18th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.05%. Southerns dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.94%. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,435 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total transaction of $100,435.65. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,246 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,196,477.54. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,435 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total transaction of $100,435.65. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,246 shares in the company, valued at $5,196,477.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 20,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.62, for a total value of $1,452,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 98,659 shares in the company, valued at $7,164,616.58. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 138,761 shares of company stock valued at $9,804,044 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.37% of the companys stock. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $69.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Southern from $75.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Friday, August 4th. StockNews.com cut Southern from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on Southern in a research report on Wednesday. They set a buy rating and a $72.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $73.47. Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Southern Southern Company 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. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Southern Company (NYSE:SO Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Southern Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Southern and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IWO Free Report) by 18.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,748 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after purchasing an additional 6,853 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.11% of iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF worth $10,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Investment Partners LTD. increased its holdings in shares of iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF by 0.8% during the first quarter. Investment Partners LTD. now owns 10,967 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $2,487,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 3,942 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $894,000 after buying an additional 408 shares during the period. WealthShield Partners LLC raised its stake in iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. WealthShield Partners LLC now owns 7,254 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $1,645,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Bailard Inc. acquired a new position in iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF in the 1st quarter valued at $206,000. Finally, Integrated Advisors Network LLC increased its stake in shares of iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 3,641 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $826,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Get iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF alerts: iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF Stock Performance Shares of NYSEARCA IWO traded down $2.92 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $240.94. 590,552 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 420,043. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.55 and a beta of 1.15. iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF has a 52-week low of $201.72 and a 52-week high of $255.10. The companys 50-day moving average is $242.61 and its 200-day moving average is $233.13. About iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Russell 2000 Growth Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the small-capitalization growth sector of the United States equity market. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IWO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IWO Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE:OHI Free Report) had its target price increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $32.00 to $33.00 in a research report report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the real estate investment trusts stock. OHI has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Omega Healthcare Investors from $36.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 3rd. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Omega Healthcare Investors from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 30th. Berenberg Bank started coverage on shares of Omega Healthcare Investors in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Omega Healthcare Investors in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. They issued a market perform rating and a $34.50 price objective on the stock. Finally, Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Omega Healthcare Investors from $29.00 to $33.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $31.25. Get Omega Healthcare Investors alerts: Read Our Latest Analysis on Omega Healthcare Investors Omega Healthcare Investors Stock Up 0.1 % Omega Healthcare Investors Dividend Announcement Shares of NYSE:OHI traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $31.72. The stock had a trading volume of 1,893,867 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,095,569. Omega Healthcare Investors has a 1 year low of $25.61 and a 1 year high of $33.71. The firms 50 day moving average is $31.23 and its 200-day moving average is $29.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 5.55 and a current ratio of 5.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.06 and a beta of 1.00. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Investors of record on Monday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 28th. Omega Healthcare Investorss dividend payout ratio is currently 262.75%. Institutional Trading of Omega Healthcare Investors A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of OHI. Edmp Inc. boosted its stake in Omega Healthcare Investors by 2,534.9% during the 4th quarter. Edmp Inc. now owns 3,800,453 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $135,973,000 after purchasing an additional 3,656,216 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Omega Healthcare Investors by 7,010.8% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,482,964 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $77,369,000 after acquiring an additional 2,448,046 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Omega Healthcare Investors by 14.8% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,300,467 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $414,443,000 after acquiring an additional 1,715,004 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new stake in shares of Omega Healthcare Investors in the 2nd quarter worth $51,212,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Omega Healthcare Investors in the 4th quarter worth $36,626,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.04% of the companys stock. About Omega Healthcare Investors (Get Free Report) Omega is a REIT that invests in the long-term healthcare industry, primarily in skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. Its portfolio of assets is operated by a diverse group of healthcare companies, predominantly in a triple-net lease structure. The assets span all regions within the U.S., as well as in the U.K. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Omega Healthcare Investors Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Omega Healthcare Investors and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Teradata (NYSE:TDC Free Report) had its target price lifted by Morgan Stanley from $51.00 to $74.00 in a research note released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the technology companys stock. Several other research firms have also commented on TDC. TheStreet upgraded shares of Teradata from a c rating to a b- rating in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Northland Securities began coverage on shares of Teradata in a report on Tuesday, May 2nd. They issued an outperform rating and a $63.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Teradata from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim upgraded Teradata from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $62.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on Teradata from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $52.33. Get Teradata alerts: Read Our Latest Research Report on TDC Teradata Stock Down 0.4 % Shares of NYSE TDC traded down $0.18 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $45.90. 2,682,951 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 934,718. The company has a market capitalization of $4.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.96. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $52.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.43. Teradata has a twelve month low of $28.65 and a twelve month high of $57.73. Teradata (NYSE:TDC Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 7th. The technology company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.03. Teradata had a net margin of 3.21% and a return on equity of 31.69%. The firm had revenue of $462.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.09 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.03 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Teradata will post 1.03 EPS for the current fiscal year. Insider Activity In related news, CFO Claire Bramley sold 4,528 shares of Teradata stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.21, for a total value of $200,182.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 120,920 shares in the company, valued at $5,345,873.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Claire Bramley sold 4,528 shares of Teradata stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.21, for a total value of $200,182.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 120,920 shares in the company, valued at $5,345,873.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael P. Gianoni sold 29,053 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.57, for a total value of $1,498,263.21. Following the transaction, the director now owns 38,107 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,965,177.99. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,081 shares of company stock worth $2,310,946. 0.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Teradata Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dfpg Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Teradata by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dfpg Investments LLC now owns 11,931 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $667,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Teradata by 10.9% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,575 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $104,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. lifted its stake in Teradata by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 18,994 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $765,000 after acquiring an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in Teradata by 40.5% in the 1st quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,031 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Teradata by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,602 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.89% of the companys stock. About Teradata (Get Free Report) Teradata Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides a connected multi-cloud data platform for enterprise analytics. The company offers Teradata Vantage, a data platform that allows companies to leverage their data across an enterprise, as well as connects various sources of data to drive ecosystem simplification and support customers on their journey to the cloud through an integrated migration. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Teradata Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Teradata and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. An undated photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Aug. 6, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un holding a weapon during an inspection of major munitions factories at an undisclosed location in North Korea. EPA-Yonhap North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for preparing for a possible war in an "offensive" manner, the North's state media said Thursday, as South Korea and the United States plan to stage joint military drills later this month. Kim made the remarks while presiding over an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea the previous day, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Such meetings were previously held consecutively in February, March and April. "He deeply summarized and analyzed the present situation of the Korean peninsula and its vicinity and made an important conclusion on further stepping up the war preparations of the KPA in an offensive way," the KCNA said. The KPA is an acronym for the North's Korean People's Army. The meeting came as South Korea and the United States plan to hold their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise later this month, which Pyongyang has denounced as a rehearsal for an invasion of the North. It also came as the North appears to be focused on flexing its military muscle. Following a rare visit by a Russian military delegation led by its Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu last month, Kim recently conducted a three-day "field guidance" of major munitions factories in the North. The North Korean leader again highlighted the role of munitions factories, saying they have a "very important duty" to strengthen the KPA and called on them to push ahead with the modernization and mass production of weapons. Kim also stressed the importance of a "strong army" in carrying out the party central committee's military strategy and called for "securing more powerful strike means for carrying out the mission of war deterrence" and "intensifying the work for deploying them in the units for action in a mobile way," it said. Noting that "hostile forces are getting ever more undisguised in their reckless military confrontation," forcing the North to be equipped with "perfect military readiness for war," the North said Kim signed a written order discussed by the party military commission. State media photos showed Kim speaking to officials in front of a blurred map of South Korea with his finger pointing to areas that appeared to be Seoul and the Gyeryongdae military headquarters, 160 kilometers south of the capital. During the meeting, North Korea replaced its top general, chief of the General Staff, Pak Su-il, with Ri Yong-gil. It is unclear whether Ri, the North's defense minister, is keeping his post as minister. Other "important tasks" discussed during the meeting included preparations for a militia parade to mark the 75th anniversary of its founding on Sept. 9, according to KCNA. (Yonhap) Ambac Financial Group (NYSE:AMBC Get Free Report) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.13, RTT News reports. Ambac Financial Group had a net margin of 109.98% and a return on equity of 46.53%. The business had revenue of $62.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $48.80 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. Ambac Financial Group Trading Down 1.7 % AMBC traded down $0.24 on Thursday, reaching $13.84. 308,804 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 433,941. The companys 50 day moving average is $14.06 and its 200-day moving average is $14.87. The company has a market cap of $627.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.13. Ambac Financial Group has a twelve month low of $12.03 and a twelve month high of $17.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Get Ambac Financial Group alerts: Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ambac Financial Group Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in Ambac Financial Group by 42.1% during the second quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 39,932 shares of the companys stock worth $569,000 after acquiring an additional 11,826 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Ambac Financial Group by 1.6% during the second quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 98,600 shares of the companys stock worth $1,404,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ambac Financial Group by 40.6% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 247,007 shares of the companys stock worth $3,824,000 after buying an additional 71,319 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ambac Financial Group by 613.2% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 823,450 shares of the companys stock valued at $12,747,000 after purchasing an additional 707,991 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in Ambac Financial Group by 5.2% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,754,872 shares of the companys stock valued at $27,165,000 after acquiring an additional 87,376 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.31% of the companys stock. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades AMBC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ambac Financial Group from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday. Compass Point raised shares of Ambac Financial Group from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $18.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Get Our Latest Report on Ambac Financial Group Ambac Financial Group Company Profile (Get Free Report) Ambac Financial Group, Inc operates as a financial services holding company. It operates three businesses: Specialty Property and Casualty Insurance, Insurance Distribution, and Legacy Financial Guarantee (LFG) Insurance. The Specialty Property and Casualty Insurance business provides specialty property and casualty program insurance with a focus commercial and personal liability risks. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Ambac Financial Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ambac Financial Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE:ARI Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of Hold from the five brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $11.10. Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from $11.50 to $10.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating for the company. BTIG Research restated a neutral rating on shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in a research note on Tuesday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and set a $10.50 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Get Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance alerts: Get Our Latest Report on ARI Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Trading Down 0.3 % Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Dividend Announcement NYSE ARI opened at $10.76 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 49.19 and a quick ratio of 49.19. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.97 and a beta of 1.61. The stocks 50-day moving average is $11.22 and its 200-day moving average is $10.65. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance has a one year low of $7.91 and a one year high of $13.10. The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 14th. Investors of record on Friday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 13.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 29th. Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finances dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 181.82%. Insider Activity In other Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance news, CEO Stuart Rothstein sold 40,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.80, for a total transaction of $472,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 530,766 shares in the company, valued at $6,263,038.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.61% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its position in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 56.2% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,096 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 1,474 shares during the last quarter. Horan Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 340.1% in the 2nd quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 4,401 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 3,401 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 721.0% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,310 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 3,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance by 454.5% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 8,662 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 7,100 shares during the last quarter. 55.66% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (Get Free Report Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that originates, acquires, invests in, and manages commercial first mortgage loans, subordinate financings, and other commercial real estate-related debt investments in the United States. It is qualified as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Investment analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Argo Group International (NYSE:ARGO Get Free Report) in a research report issued on Tuesday. The firm set a hold rating on the stock. Separately, TheStreet raised Argo Group International from a d+ rating to a c- rating in a report on Friday, May 26th. Get Argo Group International alerts: Read Our Latest Report on Argo Group International Argo Group International Trading Up 0.1 % ARGO stock traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $29.68. The companys stock had a trading volume of 345,554 shares, compared to its average volume of 486,330. Argo Group International has a 1 year low of $19.00 and a 1 year high of $30.13. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.75 and a beta of 1.00. Argo Group International (NYSE:ARGO Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.31) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.80 by ($1.11). Argo Group International had a negative net margin of 12.43% and a negative return on equity of 4.57%. The company had revenue of $419.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $461.90 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Argo Group International will post 1 EPS for the current year. Institutional Trading of Argo Group International A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Argo Group International by 2.3% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 22,288 shares of the companys stock valued at $822,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Argo Group International by 2.3% during the second quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 23,984 shares of the companys stock valued at $710,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management grew its position in shares of Argo Group International by 50.0% during the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 1,680 shares of the companys stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Argo Group International by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 4,760 shares of the companys stock valued at $123,000 after buying an additional 701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of Argo Group International by 334.7% in the first quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 926 shares of the companys stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 713 shares during the period. About Argo Group International (Get Free Report) Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. underwrites specialty insurance and reinsurance products in the property and casualty markets. The company operates in two segments, U.S. Operations and International Operations. It offers primary and excess specialty casualty, general liability, commercial multi-peril, and workers compensation, as well as product, environmental, and auto liability insurance products; management liability, transaction liability, and errors and omissions liability insurance; primary and excess property, inland marine, and auto physical damage insurance; and surety, animal mortality, and ocean marine insurance products. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Argo Group International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Argo Group International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Valaris (NYSE:VAL Free Report) had its target price raised by Barclays from $80.00 to $84.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on VAL. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Valaris in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a sell rating on the stock. TheStreet cut Valaris from a b- rating to a c rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Valaris in a report on Wednesday, July 5th. They set a buy rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Valaris currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $88.50. Get Valaris alerts: Get Our Latest Analysis on Valaris Valaris Trading Up 0.7 % Insider Transactions at Valaris Shares of Valaris stock opened at $74.17 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $5.49 billion, a PE ratio of 46.94 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $66.26 and a 200-day moving average of $65.92. Valaris has a 52-week low of $45.81 and a 52-week high of $80.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 2.20 and a current ratio of 2.20. In related news, VP Colleen Grable sold 5,034 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $377,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 15,074 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,130,550. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, VP Colleen Grable sold 5,034 shares of Valaris stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $377,550.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 15,074 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,130,550. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Hill Advisors Lp Oak sold 4,200,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.10, for a total transaction of $307,020,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 4,766,016 shares in the company, valued at $348,395,769.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the companys stock. Institutional Trading of Valaris Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its position in Valaris by 50.5% in the 1st quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 5,326,731 shares of the companys stock worth $346,557,000 after buying an additional 1,787,419 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Valaris by 42.3% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,935,795 shares of the companys stock valued at $191,003,000 after purchasing an additional 873,364 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Valaris by 64.6% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,209,606 shares of the companys stock valued at $143,757,000 after purchasing an additional 867,097 shares in the last quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Valaris during the 1st quarter valued at about $50,966,000. Finally, Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. grew its position in shares of Valaris by 74.4% in the second quarter. Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. now owns 1,526,756 shares of the companys stock valued at $96,079,000 after purchasing an additional 651,428 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.98% of the companys stock. Valaris Company Profile (Get Free Report) Valaris Limited provides offshore contract drilling services to the international oil and gas industry. The company owns an offshore drilling rig fleet, which include drillships, dynamically positioned semisubmersible rigs, moored semisubmersible rig, and jackup rigs. It serves international, government-owned, and independent oil and gas companies in the Gulf of Mexico, South America, the North Sea, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Valaris Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Valaris and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. CAE (TSE:CAE Get Free Report) (NYSE:CAE) had its price objective lifted by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from C$35.00 to C$37.00 in a report issued on Thursday, BayStreet.CA reports. The firm presently has an outperform rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canadas price target points to a potential upside of 17.65% from the companys previous close. Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on CAE. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of CAE from C$37.00 to C$39.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. National Bankshares raised their target price on shares of CAE from C$37.00 to C$38.00 in a research note on Thursday. CIBC raised their target price on shares of CAE from C$37.00 to C$38.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of CAE from C$35.00 to C$37.00 in a report on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, CAE currently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of C$37.38. Get CAE alerts: Read Our Latest Research Report on CAE CAE Price Performance Shares of CAE traded down C$0.55 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching C$31.45. The company had a trading volume of 641,678 shares, compared to its average volume of 512,013. The company has a market capitalization of C$10.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 70.82, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.71. The companys 50-day moving average is C$28.97 and its 200-day moving average is C$29.79. CAE has a twelve month low of C$20.90 and a twelve month high of C$32.68. CAE (TSE:CAE Get Free Report) (NYSE:CAE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 31st. The company reported C$0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts consensus estimates of C$0.35. CAE had a net margin of 5.30% and a return on equity of 5.35%. The company had revenue of C$1.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$1.21 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that CAE will post 1.1687177 EPS for the current year. About CAE (Get Free Report) CAE Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides simulation training and critical operations support solutions in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, Oceania and Africa, and Rest of Americas. It operates through three segments: Civil Aviation, Defense and Security, and Healthcare. Read More Receive News & Ratings for CAE Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for CAE and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Atalaya Mining (LON:ATYM Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by Canaccord Genuity Group from GBX 590 ($7.54) to GBX 600 ($7.67) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Groups price target indicates a potential upside of 81.27% from the companys current price. A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on ATYM. Canaccord Genuity Group restated a buy rating and set a GBX 600 ($7.67) target price on shares of Atalaya Mining in a research report on Monday, May 15th. Berenberg Bank reissued a buy rating and issued a GBX 420 ($5.37) target price on shares of Atalaya Mining in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Get Atalaya Mining alerts: Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Atalaya Mining Atalaya Mining Price Performance Atalaya Mining Company Profile LON ATYM traded up GBX 4 ($0.05) during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting GBX 331 ($4.23). The stock had a trading volume of 116,530 shares, compared to its average volume of 236,246. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 14.42. The company has a market cap of 463.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2,193.33, a P/E/G ratio of -2.02 and a beta of 1.71. Atalaya Mining has a 52-week low of GBX 183 ($2.34) and a 52-week high of GBX 385 ($4.92). The company has a 50 day simple moving average of GBX 325.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of GBX 339.56. (Get Free Report) Atalaya Mining Plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the mineral exploration and development in Spain. The company's flagship property is its 100% owned Proyecto Riotinto mine, an open-pit copper mine located in the Andalusia region of Spain. It produces copper concentrates, including silver by-products. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Atalaya Mining Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Atalaya Mining and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. TransAlta Renewables (OTCMKTS:TRSWF Get Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by equities researchers at CIBC from C$13.00 to C$13.50 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, FlyOnTheWall reports. Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of TransAlta Renewables from C$12.00 to C$12.50 in a research report on Monday, May 8th. Credit Suisse Group cut shares of TransAlta Renewables from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. National Bank Financial cut their price target on shares of TransAlta Renewables from C$13.00 to C$12.50 in a research note on Thursday, July 6th. Finally, Raymond James cut their price target on shares of TransAlta Renewables from C$15.50 to C$13.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 12th. Get TransAlta Renewables alerts: View Our Latest Research Report on TransAlta Renewables TransAlta Renewables Stock Performance About TransAlta Renewables TransAlta Renewables stock opened at $10.00 on Tuesday. TransAlta Renewables has a fifty-two week low of $7.78 and a fifty-two week high of $14.27. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $9.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.14. (Get Free Report) TransAlta Renewables Inc owns, develops, and operates renewable and natural gas power generation facilities and other infrastructure assets in Canada, the United States, and Australia. The company operates through Canadian Wind, Canadian Hydro, Canadian Gas, US Wind and Solar, US Gas, and Australian Gas segments. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for TransAlta Renewables Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for TransAlta Renewables and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd increased its stake in Ormat Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:ORA Free Report) by 7.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,318,362 shares of the energy companys stock after acquiring an additional 166,625 shares during the quarter. Ormat Technologies comprises 2.9% of Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltds holdings, making the stock its 9th largest holding. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd owned about 4.13% of Ormat Technologies worth $196,528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Ormat Technologies by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,963 shares of the energy companys stock worth $324,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ormat Technologies during the first quarter valued at approximately $360,000. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Ormat Technologies by 2.5% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 14,424 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $1,150,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ormat Technologies by 57.7% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 24,095 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $1,972,000 after buying an additional 8,812 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ormat Technologies by 0.5% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,650,385 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $380,541,000 after purchasing an additional 20,844 shares in the last quarter. 88.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Get Ormat Technologies alerts: Ormat Technologies Stock Performance Ormat Technologies stock traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $77.15. 255,264 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 439,105. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $82.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.14. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.93, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.44. Ormat Technologies, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.56 and a fifty-two week high of $101.81. Ormat Technologies Dividend Announcement Ormat Technologies ( NYSE:ORA Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 2nd. The energy company reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $194.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $196.74 million. Ormat Technologies had a net margin of 11.74% and a return on equity of 5.17%. Ormat Technologiess revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.22 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ormat Technologies, Inc. will post 2 earnings per share for the current year. The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 15th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. Ormat Technologiess payout ratio is 30.97%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America increased their target price on Ormat Technologies from $85.00 to $87.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 14th. Roth Capital upgraded Ormat Technologies from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ormat Technologies from $86.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Roth Mkm raised Ormat Technologies from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $92.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays started coverage on Ormat Technologies in a research report on Monday, May 22nd. They issued an equal weight rating and a $89.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $92.29. Get Our Latest Research Report on Ormat Technologies Ormat Technologies Company Profile (Free Report) Ormat Technologies, Inc engages in the geothermal and recovered energy power business in the United States, Indonesia, Kenya, Turkey, Chile, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Ethiopia, New Zealand, Honduras, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Electricity, Product, and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment develops, builds, owns, and operates geothermal, solar photovoltaic, and recovered energy-based power plants; and sells electricity. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Ormat Technologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ormat Technologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Hudock Inc. lessened its position in shares of American Express (NYSE:AXP Free Report) by 13.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,316 shares of the payment services companys stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Hudock Inc.s holdings in American Express were worth $217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of AXP. Elequin Securities LLC purchased a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Chelsea Counsel Co. purchased a new stake in American Express during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Steward Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 104.9% in the 1st quarter. Steward Financial Group LLC now owns 211 shares of the payment services companys stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Lakewood Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of American Express in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of American Express by 1,400.0% in the 1st quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 225 shares of the payment services companys stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.84% of the companys stock. Get American Express alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets Several analysts have recently commented on AXP shares. Stephens reaffirmed an underweight rating and issued a $146.00 price objective on shares of American Express in a report on Tuesday, July 18th. 22nd Century Group reaffirmed a reiterates rating on shares of American Express in a report on Friday, June 30th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of American Express from $205.00 to $203.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and set a $197.00 price target on shares of American Express in a report on Monday, July 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded shares of American Express from a neutral rating to an underweight rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $172.00 to $149.00 in a report on Monday, July 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $172.88. American Express Price Performance Shares of NYSE AXP traded down $2.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $163.82. The companys stock had a trading volume of 2,438,639 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,277,069. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $170.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $166.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.59. American Express has a 1-year low of $130.65 and a 1-year high of $182.15. American Express (NYSE:AXP Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 21st. The payment services company reported $2.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $15.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $15.41 billion. American Express had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 29.26%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.57 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that American Express will post 11.16 EPS for the current fiscal year. 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. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for American Express Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for American Express and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Macerich (NYSE:MAC Get Free Report) posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.42 by ($0.49), MarketWatch Earnings reports. The company had revenue of $212.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $193.97 million. Macerich had a negative return on equity of 2.96% and a negative net margin of 10.21%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.46 EPS. Macerich updated its FY 2023 guidance to $1.77-$1.83 EPS. Macerich Trading Up 1.9 % Shares of Macerich stock traded up $0.24 on Thursday, reaching $12.90. The company had a trading volume of 47,229 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,199,835. The firms 50 day moving average price is $11.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.18. The firm has a market cap of $2.77 billion, a PE ratio of -31.64, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 2.14. Macerich has a 52-week low of $7.40 and a 52-week high of $14.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. Get Macerich alerts: Macerich Dividend Announcement The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 18th will be paid a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.27%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 17th. Macerichs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -170.00%. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Macerich Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MAC. Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Macerich by 59.5% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 17,799 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 6,640 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Macerich by 19.2% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 26,417 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $413,000 after purchasing an additional 4,253 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in shares of Macerich by 10.5% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 78,076 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $1,221,000 after purchasing an additional 7,444 shares in the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can grew its holdings in shares of Macerich by 5.9% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 295,511 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $4,777,000 after purchasing an additional 16,588 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Macerich by 1.4% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 120,805 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $1,889,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. 83.38% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Macerich from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report on Friday, May 5th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Macerich in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a sell rating for the company. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Macerich from $15.00 to $14.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 28th. 22nd Century Group restated a maintains rating on shares of Macerich in a research report on Thursday, June 29th. Finally, VNET Group restated a maintains rating on shares of Macerich in a research report on Wednesday, May 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $11.25. View Our Latest Report on MAC About Macerich (Get Free Report) Macerich is a fully integrated, self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT). As a leading owner, operator, and developer of high-quality retail real estate in densely populated and attractive U.S. markets, Macerich's portfolio is concentrated in California, the Pacific Northwest, Phoenix/Scottsdale, and the Metro New York to Washington, DC corridor. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Macerich Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Macerich and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, right, shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken before their talks in Washington, U.S., Feb. 3 in this photo provided by Seoul's foreign ministry. Yonhap The top diplomats of South Korea and the United States have held phone talks to discuss preparations for an upcoming trilateral summit among the leaders of Seoul, Washington and Tokyo next week, the South's foreign ministry said Thursday. Foreign Minister Park Jin held the talks while on a visit to Ethiopia on Wednesday (local time) with his U.S. counterpart, Antony Blinken, during which they agreed to closely cooperate for the successful opening of the summit. The two sides also agreed the summit will mark a "historic turning point" in the trilateral cooperation among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo, according to the ministry. Park said he expects the three countries to step up security cooperation against North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats, and bolster trilateral cooperation in economic security, technology and people-to-people exchanges. U.S. President Joe Biden is set to host South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a trilateral summit at Camp David on Aug. 18 (local time). The upcoming meeting will be the first stand-alone trilateral summit arranged solely for their shared agenda, not on the sidelines of a multilateral forum. (Yonhap) Macquarie Group Limited (ASX:MQG Get Free Report) insider Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz purchased 283 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of A$176.55 ($116.15) per share, for a total transaction of A$49,963.08 ($32,870.45). Macquarie Group Price Performance Macquarie Group Company Profile (Get Free Report) Macquarie Group Limited provides diversified financial services in Australia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through four segments: Macquarie Asset Management (MAM), Banking and Financial Services (BFS), Commodities and Global Markets (CGM), and Macquarie Capital. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Macquarie Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Macquarie Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 2nd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.275 per share by the oil and gas producer on Friday, September 1st. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 11th. Murphy Oil has a payout ratio of 19.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Murphy Oil to earn $5.74 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.10 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 19.2%. Get Murphy Oil alerts: Murphy Oil Stock Up 1.7 % Shares of NYSE MUR opened at $44.70 on Thursday. The firms 50-day moving average price is $39.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.67. The company has a current ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 2.38. Murphy Oil has a 12-month low of $31.90 and a 12-month high of $51.28. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Murphy Oil ( NYSE:MUR Get Free Report ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The oil and gas producer reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $814.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $779.77 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 25.86% and a return on equity of 15.09%. The businesss revenue was down 26.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.93 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil will post 4.39 EPS for the current fiscal year. Several brokerages recently commented on MUR. Piper Sandler cut their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $59.00 to $51.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Monday, May 15th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $60.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Monday, July 24th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Murphy Oil in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. They issued a neutral rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $40.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $46.90. Check Out Our Latest Research Report on MUR Insider Activity In related news, VP John B. Gardner sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.95, for a total transaction of $429,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 19,895 shares of the companys stock, valued at $854,490.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, VP John B. Gardner sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.95, for a total transaction of $429,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 19,895 shares of the companys stock, valued at $854,490.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Thomas J. Mireles sold 14,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.14, for a total transaction of $509,530.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 58,372 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,051,192.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 124,500 shares of company stock worth $5,269,030. Corporate insiders own 6.20% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its position in Murphy Oil by 73.5% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 21,212 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $857,000 after buying an additional 8,987 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 45.2% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 15,252 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 4,749 shares during the period. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 22.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 10,669 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $431,000 after purchasing an additional 1,961 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.2% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 446,302 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $18,026,000 after purchasing an additional 9,758 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 10.5% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 53,213 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $2,149,000 after purchasing an additional 5,075 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.02% of the companys stock. Murphy Oil Company Profile (Get Free Report) Murphy Oil Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and natural gas exploration and production company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It explores for and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. The company was formerly known as Murphy Corporation and changed its name to Murphy Oil Corporation in 1964. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Murphy Oil Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Murphy Oil and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD Get Free Report) issued an update on its FY23 earnings guidance on Wednesday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 1.54-1.57 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $1.53. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several equities research analysts recently commented on NOMD shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Nomad Foods from $21.00 to $24.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 11th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Nomad Foods from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 14th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Nomad Foods from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Friday, May 12th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Nomad Foods from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nomad Foods has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $22.33. Get Nomad Foods alerts: Get Our Latest Analysis on NOMD Nomad Foods Trading Down 0.8 % Shares of NOMD stock traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $17.98. 142,686 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 575,240. The stock has a market cap of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. Nomad Foods has a fifty-two week low of $12.50 and a fifty-two week high of $19.82. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.97. Nomad Foods (NYSE:NOMD Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 10th. The company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.08. Nomad Foods had a return on equity of 11.63% and a net margin of 7.87%. The firm had revenue of $831.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $811.47 million. Equities analysts expect that Nomad Foods will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nomad Foods Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Nomad Foods by 117.5% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,897 shares of the companys stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 1,025 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC purchased a new stake in shares of Nomad Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at $66,000. State of Wyoming grew its stake in shares of Nomad Foods by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 9,221 shares of the companys stock valued at $159,000 after buying an additional 1,404 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Nomad Foods during the 3rd quarter valued at $175,000. Finally, American Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Nomad Foods during the 4th quarter valued at $191,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.71% of the companys stock. Nomad Foods Company Profile (Get Free Report) Nomad Foods Limited manufactures, markets, and distributes a range of frozen food products in the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France, Sweden, Austria, Norway, Spain, Serbia, Croatia, Switzerland, and rest of Europe. The company offers frozen fish products, including fish fingers, coated fish, and natural fish; ready to cook vegetable products, such as peas and spinach; and frozen poultry and meat products comprising nuggets, grills, and burgers. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Nomad Foods Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Nomad Foods and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Roth Capital upgraded shares of Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA Free Report) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, PriceTargets.com reports. Several other research firms also recently weighed in on ORA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Ormat Technologies from $86.00 to $89.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. Roth Mkm raised shares of Ormat Technologies from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $92.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Ormat Technologies in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a sell rating on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Ormat Technologies from $85.00 to $87.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 14th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Ormat Technologies in a research note on Monday, May 22nd. They issued an equal weight rating and a $89.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Ormat Technologies presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $92.29. Get Ormat Technologies alerts: Read Our Latest Research Report on ORA Ormat Technologies Stock Down 0.6 % Shares of NYSE:ORA opened at $77.13 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $82.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.14. Ormat Technologies has a 52-week low of $75.56 and a 52-week high of $101.81. The company has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.44. Ormat Technologies (NYSE:ORA Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 2nd. The energy company reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.02. Ormat Technologies had a net margin of 11.74% and a return on equity of 5.17%. The business had revenue of $194.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $196.74 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.22 earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ormat Technologies will post 2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Ormat Technologies Announces Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 16th will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 15th. Ormat Technologiess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.97%. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ormat Technologies Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ORA. Ruedi Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Ormat Technologies in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Ormat Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ormat Technologies during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Agur Provident & Training Funds Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Ormat Technologies in the first quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in shares of Ormat Technologies by 375.7% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 823 shares of the energy companys stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.23% of the companys stock. About Ormat Technologies (Get Free Report) Ormat Technologies, Inc engages in the geothermal and recovered energy power business in the United States, Indonesia, Kenya, Turkey, Chile, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Ethiopia, New Zealand, Honduras, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Electricity, Product, and Energy Storage. The Electricity segment develops, builds, owns, and operates geothermal, solar photovoltaic, and recovered energy-based power plants; and sells electricity. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Ormat Technologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Ormat Technologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK Free Report) by 3.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 972 shares of the asset managers stock after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the quarter. Ropes Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in BlackRock were worth $651,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BLK. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Steward Financial Group LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC increased its position in BlackRock by 168.1% in the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 47 shares of the asset managers stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Tyler Stone Wealth Management increased its position in BlackRock by 71.4% in the 4th quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 48 shares of the asset managers stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 79.37% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get BlackRock alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at BlackRock In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 20,200 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $742.04, for a total transaction of $14,989,208.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 464,125 shares of the companys stock, valued at $344,399,315. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 2,079 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $733.82, for a total transaction of $1,525,611.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,160 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,520,331.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 20,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $742.04, for a total value of $14,989,208.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 464,125 shares of the companys stock, valued at $344,399,315. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.06% of the companys stock. BlackRock Trading Down 0.7 % NYSE BLK traded down $4.89 on Wednesday, reaching $692.09. The company had a trading volume of 440,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 656,503. The stocks 50 day moving average is $704.69 and its 200-day moving average is $689.23. The stock has a market cap of $103.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 4.20, a current ratio of 4.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $503.12 and a 52 week high of $785.65. BlackRock (NYSE:BLK Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 14th. The asset manager reported $9.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $8.52 by $0.76. The business had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.29% and a net margin of 29.90%. The firms revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $7.36 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 35.16 earnings per share for the current year. BlackRock Dividend Announcement The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 8th will be paid a $5.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 7th. This represents a $20.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. BlackRocks payout ratio is 58.41%. Analyst Ratings Changes Several research analysts have commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on BlackRock from $780.00 to $785.00 in a research report on Monday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on BlackRock from $881.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on BlackRock from $780.00 to $770.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on BlackRock from $780.00 to $820.00 in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group boosted their price target on BlackRock from $662.00 to $673.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, April 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $767.69. View Our Latest Report on BlackRock About BlackRock (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. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BLK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for BlackRock Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for BlackRock and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Bunker Hill Mining Corp. (OTCMKTS:BHLL Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,900 shares, a drop of 77.6% from the July 15th total of 44,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 351,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.0 days. Bunker Hill Mining Stock Up 2.3 % Shares of OTCMKTS BHLL traded up $0.00 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $0.11. 387,010 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 237,046. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $0.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $0.12. The company has a market capitalization of $29.61 million, a P/E ratio of 5.45 and a beta of 1.90. Bunker Hill Mining has a 52-week low of $0.07 and a 52-week high of $0.22. Get Bunker Hill Mining alerts: About Bunker Hill Mining (Get Free Report) Featured Stories Bunker Hill Mining Corp., a mineral exploration company, engages in the acquisition, development, and mining of mineral properties in Canada and the United States. It focuses on exploring for zinc, lead, and silver ores. It holds an option agreement to acquire interest in the Bunker Hill mine located in the Silver Valley, Idaho. Receive News & Ratings for Bunker Hill Mining Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bunker Hill Mining and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM Get Free Report) had its price target decreased by equities research analysts at Guggenheim from $153.00 to $152.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the restaurant operators stock. Guggenheims price objective would indicate a potential upside of 13.12% from the companys previous close. A number of other research analysts also recently commented on YUM. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Yum! Brands from $179.00 to $173.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Yum! Brands from $139.00 to $138.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Piper Sandler started coverage on shares of Yum! Brands in a report on Tuesday, June 13th. They set a neutral rating and a $142.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Yum! Brands from $138.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their target price on Yum! Brands from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $148.84. Get Yum! Brands alerts: Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Yum! Brands Yum! Brands Trading Up 0.8 % Yum! Brands stock traded up $1.09 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $134.37. The company had a trading volume of 1,148,897 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,612,465. The stock has a market cap of $37.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.01. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $135.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $133.17. Yum! Brands has a 1-year low of $103.96 and a 1-year high of $143.24. Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The restaurant operator reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.24 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. Yum! Brands had a net margin of 20.31% and a negative return on equity of 16.16%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Yum! Brands will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Insider Buying and Selling at Yum! Brands In other news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,920 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.90, for a total transaction of $544,488.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 57,325 shares of the companys stock, valued at $7,962,442.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Yum! Brands news, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,884 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.87, for a total value of $531,603.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 57,325 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,846,072.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Gibbs sold 3,920 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $138.90, for a total value of $544,488.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 57,325 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $7,962,442.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 18,013 shares of company stock valued at $2,468,504. 0.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. RB Capital Management LLC grew its position in Yum! Brands by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. RB Capital Management LLC now owns 4,890 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $580,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Yum! Brands by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 761,575 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $90,284,000 after acquiring an additional 3,024 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in shares of Yum! Brands in the 1st quarter worth approximately $664,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 7,530 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $893,000 after buying an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in shares of Yum! Brands by 10.8% in the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 2,862 shares of the restaurant operators stock worth $339,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.82% of the companys stock. About Yum! Brands (Get Free Report) Yum! Brands, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through four segments: the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division. It operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Yum! Brands Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Yum! Brands and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada Zip Code Interpol has announced the takedown of a phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) platform called 16Shop, in addition to the arrests of three individuals in Indonesia and Japan. 16Shop specialized in the sales of phishing kits that other cybercriminals can purchase to mount phishing attacks on a large scale, ultimately facilitating the theft of credentials and payment details from users of popular services such as Apple, PayPal, American Express, Amazon, and Cash App, among others. "Victims typically receive an email with a pdf file or link that redirects to a site requesting the victims' credit card or other personally identifiable information," Interpol said. "This information is then stolen and used to extract money from the victims." No less than 70,000 users across 43 countries are estimated to have been compromised via services offered on 16Shop. The law enforcement operation has also led to the arrest of the site's administrator, a 21-year-old Indonesian national, along with seizing electronic items and several luxury vehicles in the process. Two other suspected facilitators, one each in Indonesia and Japan, have been apprehended based on additional intelligence. Singapore-based cybersecurity firm Group-IB, which partook in the efforts, said over 150,000 phishing domains were created using the phishing kits to target users in Germany, Japan, France, the U.S., the U.K., and Thailand, among others. The phishing kits were peddled on underground forums for anywhere between $60 and $150 based on the brand impersonated since at least November 2017, with the bogus pages supporting more than eight languages to serve content based on the victim's geolocation. "Phishing kits represent archive files with a set of scripts that ensure the work of a phishing website," the company said. "This toolset enables cybercriminals with modest programming skills to deploy phishing pages quickly and in large numbers, often using them as substitutes for each other." The disclosure comes as the international police organization said it has seized more than 2 million in connection with a crackdown on West African organized crime dubbed Operation Jackal. To that end, the cross-border exercise has resulted in the blockade of 208 bank accounts linked to the illicit proceeds of online financial crime, 103 arrests, and the identification of 1,110 suspects. "Black Axe, and an increasing number of other West African organized crime syndicates, is a violent mafia-style gang renowned for cyber-enabled financial fraud, in particular business email compromise schemes, romance scams, inheritance scams, credit card fraud, tax fraud, advance payment scams and money laundering," the agency noted. The development also follows the shutdown of a bulletproof hosting service called Lolek Hosted undertaken by the U.S. government as part of a coordinated law enforcement action in partnership with Poland. KEARNEY Air compressor. Safety vest. Tornado shelter. These arent terms Beth Montag and Rebekah Andersen usually focus on when theyre teaching classes at the University of Nebraska at Kearneys English Language Institute. Typically, the curriculum is geared toward international students preparing for admission into a degree program, so theyre learning about things such as academic writing, public speaking and American culture while developing their vocabulary. They definitely dont talk about forklifts and fire extinguishers. At one local manufacturing facility, though, those are common words employees need to know. Over the past eight weeks, instructors from the English Language Institute (ELI) worked with Spanish-speaking employees at Eaton to help them improve their English skills and better communicate with co-workers. ELI really serves two purposes. We have our students who want to go the academic, degree-seeking route, but we also have the community side, too. Those students are often interested in learning English for everyday purposes or professional purposes, or maybe they have a degree or certifications in their first language but theyre having trouble utilizing those skill sets here, said Andersen, an ELI instructor. The institute previously offered on-campus classes for employees at Tyson Fresh Meats in Lexington, but that partnership ended during the pandemic. Weve always wanted to come back to it, but COVID really interrupted everything, said Montag, an instructor and ELI coordinator. Im very passionate about this kind of education, because its an essential thing. As you improve your English skills, you improve your employability. Veronica Sanchez, a bilingual human resources generalist at Eaton, sees the same value. Our employees are the most important resource we have at Eaton, she said. Our success is due to our employees hard work and dedication. It is crucial that we provide the resources and tools for them to be successful. By offering English classes, we are investing in our employees and we are able to hire and retain a broader range of talent. The global intelligent power management company, which produces engine valves and gears at its Kearney facility, decided to partner with UNK because the university has a long history of providing English language training thats engaging and effective. The curriculum can also be customized to meet the companys needs. Before the program started in early June, Montag and Andersen met with supervisors and completed an analysis to determine which terms were the most important for Eaton employees. They also asked the participants what they wanted to learn, which led to lessons that will help them communicate with health care providers, teachers and other community members. The instructors and English language learners met twice a week inside a conference room at Eaton, allowing the employees to attend classes during or directly before their shifts. Those face-to-face interactions were an important aspect of the program, which was offered to employees at no cost. This allows them to be more engaged theyre more excited to learn and theyre bringing their own ideas, Andersen said. That relationship-building also helps create a level of comfort. Part of the program is developing the actual skill set, and the other part is reaching that confidence level needed to communicate more effectively. Thats what we want to give the students. We want them to be proud of themselves and feel comfortable communicating in English, because thats hard. If youve ever tried to speak in a foreign language, its intimidating. Although its impossible to learn an entire language in eight weeks, the Eaton employees certainly made significant progress. Our employees had an excellent experience and instruction, Sanchez said. The teachers tailored the classes to meet each employees needs while broadening their language around safety, production and their specific job duties. We have seen an improvement in their language skills and theyre more confident in communicating with others. Calling the program a great success, Sanchez hopes to see the partnership with UNK and its English Language Institute continue so more employees can take advantage of this resource. In fact, theres already a waitlist for future classes. We have employees who are interested in learning English, and we want our employees to learn and be successful in their jobs, Sanchez said. Andersen and Montag see an opportunity to go one step further by expanding the program to additional businesses in the Kearney area. I just feel like theres such a need in the community, Montag said. Obviously the businesses want their employees to be safe and they want them to be able to do their jobs effectively, but I also see it as a way that UNK can really make an impact. We have a lot of people within a 50-mile radius who are English language learners and this is a way to offer them something that can really impact their lives. We hope this becomes more of an opportunity for us to serve those in our community who have a lot to offer great skill sets, great motivation, great attitudes theres just that language barrier. We want to break that down a little bit, Andersen added. Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, right, speaks with U.S. President Joe Biden, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ahead of their three-way talks in Hiroshima, Japan, May 21. Yonhap The upcoming trilateral summit between the leaders of Korea, Japan and the United States will be of historic importance to the region and the entire world, a National Security Council (NSC) official said Wednesday. John Kirby, NSC coordinator for strategic communications, also highlighted the importance of a strong trilateral relationship between the countries. The White House earlier announced that President Joe Biden will host Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a trilateral summit at Camp David next Friday. "The president is looking forward to hosting both of these leaders Prime Minister Kishida, President Yoon at Camp David for what we believe is a discussion of historic proportions in terms of the importance of this trilateral relationship to the Indo-Pacific region and frankly to the world," the NSC coordinator told a virtual press briefing. Kirby earlier noted that Yoon and Kishida will be the first foreign leaders to visit the U.S. presidential retreat since 2015. The trilateral summit will also be the first "stand-alone" three-way summit of Korean, American and Japanese leaders. "Camp David, as you know, has been a historic setting for summit meetings and for significant foreign policy conversations throughout its existence," he told the virtual briefing when asked the reason for the selection of Camp David as the venue for the upcoming three-way summit. The NSC official declined to elaborate on the summit, saying more details, including its agenda, will be provided later. Still, he stressed the importance of the trilateral relationship, as well as bilateral relationships between the three countries. "This is an important trilateral relationship. Obviously important bilateral relationship that we have with the both of these treaty allies, but they also Japan and Korea are forging a closer bilateral relationship between the two of them," he said. "And that's good. That's good for us. It's good for them. It's good for the region. So there's going to be an awful a lot to discuss over the course of the discussions at Camp David," added Kirby. (Yonhap) LINCOLN The Nebraska Corn Board plans to meet Friday, Aug. 18, at Cardinal Inn Hotel in Albion. The board will conduct regular board business. The meeting is open to the public and will provide an opportunity for public discussion. A copy of the agenda is available by writing to the Nebraska Corn Board, 245 Fallbrook Blvd. Suite 204, Lincoln, NE 68521, sending an email to renee.tichota@nebraska.gov or by calling 402-471-2676. The Nebraska Corn Board is funded through a producer checkoff investment of half-cent-per-bushel checkoff on all corn marketed in the state and is managed by nine farmer directors. The mission of the Nebraska Corn Board is to promote the value of corn by creating opportunities. Center for Rural Affairs plans training sessions in Aurora AURORA The Center for Rural Affairs will host an Organic Transition Academy from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 18, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 19, at the Leadership Center in Aurora. Vegetable or fruit farmers, beginning farmers, and grain or livestock producers who have thought about starting a certified organic operation are invited to a training that will help them explore the transition and economics of certified organic production. A farm tour at Grain Place, a certified organic operation, and a community night featuring a farm-to-table dinner are planned, as well as an opportunity to network with regional organic farmers, technical assistance, and resource providers. Stipends of $200 are available to assist with travel and lodging costs for the first 45 farmer participants who register. For more information, contact Angelyn Wang at 402-870-1721 or angelynw@cfra.org. Registration at cfra.org/events is required in advance. North Platte to host annual Water and Crops Field Day NORTH PLATTE The West Central Research, Education and Extension Center in North Platte will host its 19th annual Water and Crops Field Day on Thursday, Aug. 24. Producers, industry representatives, and researchers will share their knowledge of the latest technologies and practices in agriculture. The event will host producer and industry panels focused on cover crops and the USDAs Climate Smart Initiatives focused on conservation and payments that may be available through certain programs. Panelists include Jimmy Emmons, senior vice president of Climate Smart Programs; John Schroeder, manager at Darr Feedlot; Sarah Carlson, director of Practical Farmers of Iowa; Grant Keenen, director of cattle management at Walmart; and Jeff Huffman, Frito-Lay corn producer. Lunch will be provided with a legislative update from District 42 Sen. Mike Jacobson. Afternoon sessions will invite those attending to participate in field tours and demonstrations which will cover the topics of irrigation sensing tools, cover crops, western bean cutworm, and drones in pesticide application. Registration starts at 8:30 a.m. with the program running from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the WCREEC, 402 W. State Farm Road. Preregistration is required by Aug. 21 at https://go.unl.edu/2023-watercropsfielddayregistration or call 308-696-6700. HASTINGS Six individuals will celebrate their induction as the fourth class to join the Hastings College Fine Arts of Fame during a reception and ceremony planned in conjunction with Hastings College Homecoming on Friday, Sept. 29 at Scott Studio Theatre, 806 N. Turner Avenue. Appetizers will be served at 5:30 p.m., with the ceremony to follow at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the event are $25 per person and may be purchased at hastings.edu/homecoming or by contacting the Hastings College alumni office at 402.461.7363 or alumni@hastings.edu. The 2023 Hastings College Fine Arts Hall of Fame class includes: Erica Christensen, Class of 2000, Burbank, California, theater Jason Levering, 1997, Omaha, theater Carla Hanzal, 1987, Charlotte, North Carolina, art Dave Stewart, 1961, Hastings, art Stan Johnson, 1960, Shickley, music Dr. Barbara Wheeler, 1970, Surf City, New Jersey, music The Fine Arts Hall of Fame aims to recognize Hastings College alumni who are making a difference in their communities through their talents in fine arts. Christensen is a native of Omaha and lives in Los Angeles, where she is a stage manager for live events in theater, radio, corporate events, press events, stunt shows, immersive events, television events and award shows. She has worked with the Actors Gang on the National Tour of 1984 and with the Center Theatre Group on the Pulitzer finalist and Tony Award-nominated Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. Her stage management of Stranger Things Drive-Into Experience was one of, if not the only, live experiences in Los Angeles during the fall and winter of 2020. Among her television stage management greatest hits include Beauty and the Beast: The 30th Anniversary Celebration, the Grammy Awards, Creative Arts Emmys and Grammy Salutes to Aretha Franklin, Prince and The Beach Boys. She was on the DGA Award-winning team and Emmy Award-winning team of Adele: One Night Only, along with the Academy of Country Music Awards, the Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards, and Americas Got Talent. Levering is the programming director for Benson Theatre in Omaha. He is the co-founder of the Omaha Film Festival, for which he served as executive director for 15 years. Levering helped Benson Theatre gain national attention with his production of the first ever stage adaptation of Stephen Kings The Shining in 2014, which he co-wrote and directed. His follow-up play, Hummingbird, was written as a tribute to the late Robin Williams and was well received at the inaugural Omaha Fringe Festival in 2019. He is also currently serving as artistic director for the Omaha Fringe. In the last year, Levering has found his way back on stage as an actor, which is where his passion for theater first began. He recently played the role of Alper in The Tenth Man, and will be tackling the role of Dr. Seward in an upcoming reinvention of Dracula. Hanzal received a Master of Arts Administration at The American University, Washington, D.C., where she was a Truman Scholar and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow. She is an independent curator and consultant in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she works with corporate developers and educational institutions to acquire or commission new works of art. Among several of her project highlights are collaborating with artist Sheila Hicks to assist with installation at Sao Paulo Biennale in 2012; securing panelists for the International Sculpture Centers Conference in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2013; consulting with Blowing Rock Art Museum and Cameron Art Museum to create exhibitions and sculpture installations; and consulting and procuring artwork for Armature Works in Washington, D.C., in 2022. Hanzal previously worked as vice president of public art for the Arts and Science Council and Public Art Commission in Charlotte, North Carolina, from 2015 through 2021. In this position, she arranged for the acquisition and installation of publicly displayed artworks from many of the worlds most prominent living artists. She was the curator of modern and contemporary art for the Mint Museum of Charlotte, North Carolina; chief curator of Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art; and held multiple director roles at the International Sculpture Center (ISC) in Washington, D.C. Stewart was born in Hastings in 1939. For most of his working career, he was the owner of a successful plumbing company. After retiring from plumbing and while working as a janitor in the Hastings College Art Department, he began making sculptures in 1988. By 1995, he was heralded by Norman Geske, then the director of the Sheldon Museum of Art in Lincoln, and Kyle McMillan, an art critic for the Omaha World-Herald, as being among the most important living artists in Nebraska. Stewart has exhibited solo at many colleges, universities, galleries and museums. Among the most important shows were ones at the Haydon Art Gallery, Des Moines Art Center, the Museum of Nebraska Art and at Assemblage in Lincoln. Large blocks of his work have recently been acquired by major collectors including Robert and Karen Duncan, Marc and Kathy LeBarron, Diana Bosselman and Kiechel Fine Arts. MONA and Hastings College both have extensive holdings of Stewarts work in their permanent collections. Stewart was the recipient of the Governors Art Award in 2019. Johnson, a retired band director, has been recognized by Marquis Whos Who Top Educators for dedication, achievements and leadership in music education. An expert in instrumental music education who thrived as a music educator for several decades, Johnson has been widely recognized for his professional achievements. He worked throughout his career as a band director and high school teacher for 48 years, the last 19 at Shickley High School. Upon his retirement in 2009, he became a part-time instructor in the University of Nebraska at Omahas music department until 2020. School Band and Orchestra magazine recognized him as one of 50 directors in the United States who have made a positive difference in childrens lives during the 1999-2000 academic year. He was featured in Teaching Music magazine in 2006, with an article on Teaching Music In Rural America. The Nebraska State Bandmasters awarded him its Distinguished Service Award in 2007 and in 2018. In 2007, he was named Nebraska Music Educator of the Year by the Nebraska Music Education Association. In 2010, the National Federation of High School and College teachers named him one of 11 national winners, representing Nebraska. The Nebraska State Bandmasters awarded him the Donald A. Lentz Outstanding Bandmaster Award in 2019. In addition to his degree in music performance and education from Hastings College, Johnson earned a masters degree in instrumental music education from the University of Northern ColoradoGreeley, and earned a lifetime teaching certificate. Dr. Wheeler holds the designation of professor emeritus from Montclair State University, where she taught from 1975 to 2000. She initiated the music therapy program at the University of Louisville in 2000, retiring in 2011. She presents and teaches in the U.S. and internationally, with current faculty appointments at the University of Applied Sciences Wurzburg Schweinfurt, Department of Social Studies, Wurzburg, Germany; and Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, Katowice, Poland; and is the external examiner for the MA in Music Therapy at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick. She has been an active clinician throughout her career and worked with a variety of clientele, most recently with hospitalized patients, including oncology and rehabilitation. Wheeler edited Music Therapy Handbook (2015); Music Therapy Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives (1995); Music Therapy Research (2nd Edition, 2005); is one of the editors (with Kathleen Murphy) of Music Therapy Research (3rd Edition, 2016); and is coauthor (with Donna Polen and Carol Shultis) of Clinical Training Guide for the Student Music Therapist (1st Edition, 2005; 2nd Edition, 2017). She is also the author of numerous other articles and chapters. She is a past president of the American Music Therapy Association and received an Award of Merit from the American Music Therapy Association in 2016. GREELEY An opponent of the Greeley County wind farm says the 41 wind towers approved Tuesday will not be as financially profitable for the county as some people expect. Nebraska Department of Revenue figures for the last couple of years show each wind tower generates about $6,400 per year for the county in which its located, said Robert Bernt. If you multiply that figure times 41, it totals about $262,000 a year for the county. Those dollars come through Nebraskas nameplate capacity tax. The turbines will be built by NextEra Energy Resources, which is based in Juneau Beach, Florida. On Tuesday, the Greeley County Commission approved a special use permit that allows the project to go ahead. Its possible Greeley County might not receive $262,000 a year, Bernt said. If Nebraska Public Power becomes involved in the project, the use of exemptions could wipe out the countys income, Bernt said. That means our county wont receive a dime if that happens, Bernt said. Bernt, who belongs to the Greeley County Alliance for Wise Energy, spoke at Tuesdays meeting in Greeley. He said the $220 million project will generate 115 megawatts of electricity per year. The wind towers will be built between Greeley and Scotia, Bernt said. Omaha attorney David Levy, representing NextEra, differed with Bernts figures at Tuesdays meeting. Before the commission approved the special use permit, Levy said the nameplate capacity tax will generate about $400,000 per year. Property tax will bring about $470,000 a year in new tax revenue to the county, Levy said. Already approved Levy said landowners involved have put their time, energy and resources into the project for 15 years. This county has approved this project already, twice, Levy said. Weve had five public hearings during this process. These landowners have property rights, Levy said. They have a right to put their land to this use. The county has a right to regulate how they do that, but only as far as minimally necessary to protect the public health, safety and welfare. In addition to findings of fact, Levy pointed out that the commission included 42 conditions in its resolution. This projects meets all of the requirements of the countys zoning regulations, Levy said. The project is consistent with the countys comprehensive plan. Youve got 42 well-thought out, well-drafted conditions of approval that further tighten the screws on this project and further ensure that this project will not be detrimental to the public health, safety and welfare of Greeley County, its residents, property owners and taxpayers. And so at this point I would respectfully submit to you that the only thing to do legally is to approve this project. It meets all of the requirements, Levy said. The conditions of approval will significantly help to ensure that the project is compliant with public health, safety and welfare, Levy said. Weve done everything youve asked of us and, with that, I would respectfully request that you approve this permit, and allow us to go forward, Levy said. No choice but to approve Later in the meeting, after the conditional use permit was approved, Trevor Nekoliczak, of Greeley, was one the people who addressed the board. He thanked the commissioners for adding the conditions. But, referring to a comment made by Levy, Nekoliczak said he didnt think it was proper for someone to tell duly elected commissioners they must vote a certain way. Greeley County commissioners believe they had no choice but to approve the permit. It was necessary, they feel, tha they follow the comprehensive plan and regulations that were in place at the time of the application. Bernt believes the wind farm could drive some people away from the area. One couple was going to return to the familys historic farm, but decided theyre going to move to Valley County instead, Bernt said. Hes talked to three retired couples who moved to Scotia. They told him they wouldnt have come to Nebraska if they knew about the wind farm. Bernt is also skeptical about how many NextEra employees will move to the area. We dont need to lose any more people. We already are short, Bernt told the commission. Bernt doesnt blame landowners whove signed leases with NextEra. These are tough times, he said. But the possibility exists that the project will be detrimental to the county, he said. Concerned about health, safety Bernt appreciates some actions taken by the board. He admires the steps taken to fund the eventual dismantling of the towers and to handle road needs. He also told commissioners he knows theyre concerned about the health, safety and well-being of people in this community. But in an interview after the meeting, Bernt was critical of NextEra Energy Resources. He said NextEras representatives have given varying figures about how much money the wind project will earn the county. Bernt said there is no actual feasibility study done on the environmental impact. The study was done by a company hired by NextEra, he said. The wind farm may harm an endangered species of bat that frequents the Happy Jack chalk mine near Scotia, he said. The mine is a very short distance from where the turbines will be built, he said. The bats provide a $60,000 benefit each year to the Greeley County ag economy, he said. Bernt said hes not against green energy. Im in favor of wise energy. The facilities need to be placed in areas where theyre not going to harm people or the environment, he said. Questions bird counts Bernt said NextEra representatives scare bald and golden eagles out of an area before turbines go into operation, in order to skew the bird counts. Bernt also believes that wind turbines harm the health of people who live within three miles of the blades. A number of Nebraska counties have widened the setback requirements because of those health concerns, he said. At Tuesdays meeting, Bernt talked about the actions Greeley County boards have taken. I would hope that we could bring this community back together. Its been a sad day, to see the people behind me, neighbors and family members, having the issues that these gentlemen to my left have caused, he said, referring to NextEra attorneys. He doesnt like to put the blame on someone because a lot of people are blaming me, Bernt said. People shouldnt blame an organization that wants the truth, he said. Before the vote was taken, Bernt urged the commissioners to please take your time. Make sure that this decision is one made by God almighty himself, and not by the money thats been flowing into this county inappropriately. Thank you. Bernt said the membership total of Greeley County Alliance for Wise Energy is pushing 300. The groups members include well over 10% of the county, he said. GREELEY A special use permit approved by the Greeley County Commission Tuesday paves the way for a wind farm that will be built southwest of Greeley. The commission approved the motion on a 3-0 vote. The members of the board are Jordan Foltz, Dennis Wadsworth and Joe Leslie. Forty-one turbines will be built as part of the commercial wind farm project The permit was requested by Greeley Wind II LLC, which was identified on the agenda as NextEra Energy Resources. The resolution refers to the project as a "utility-scale wind energy conservation system." Foltz, the board's chair, said the electricity will interconnect to the Nebraska Public Power transmission system. In approving the motion, the board approved a list of 42 conditions that must be met. About 50 people attended the meeting, which was held in the old Sacred Heart gymnasium. NextEra Energy Resources, based in Juneau Beach, Fla., was represented at the meeting by Omaha lawyer David Levy. "We're grateful that the county issued the permit," Levy said after the meeting. Before making the motion, Foltz said the commissioners have "listened to testimony from all sides for approximately nine months working our way through this. "My personal opinion is that no project is perfect," Foltz said, adding that he "has serious concerns about the long-term viability of a commercial wind farm at this point." "This would be an easy decision if it was my personal decision. However, it is not. As a county commissioner, I have a duty to listen to all sides of the argument," Foltz said. He's listened to comments on both sides and respects them, he said. He's weighed every facet of the issue and has "taken great care to apply the proper standard of voting, as is my duty," Foltz said. "In the field of renewable energy, Nebraska is unique because it's the only state in the country where electric utilities are publicly owned," Foltz said. Nebraskans vote for the people who sit on the boards of those utilities, he said. In 2021, Foltz said, the board of directors of the Nebraska Public Power District, the largest utility in the state, "voted in favor of adopting a nonbinding decarbonization goal of zero emissions by 2050, which means that Nebraska is now the only Republican-controlled state in the U.S. which plans to fully decarbonize the electricity sector by mid-century." The state's two other major utilities, Omaha Public Power District and the Lincoln Electric System, "have committed over the past few years to reach net zero emission by 2050 and 2040 respectively," Foltz said. "With the announcement of Nebraska Public Power District, almost every single Nebraskan could get 100% of their power from a zero carbon source by mid-century." In ruling on the conditional use permit, Foltz said, the commissioners have to follow the comprehensive plan and regulations that were in place at the time of the application. It would be unethical, lacking in integrity "and be downright illegal to say to an applicant well, this is what we have in place, but we're now going to change the rules to exclude you," Foltz said. What was the standard 10 years ago "really doesn't serve us now," Foltz said. The Greeley County planning and zoning book, passed in 2015, "does not meet our future needs. And make no mistake, Greeley County needs to be more progressive," Foltz said. Foltz believes that the terms and conditions set out in the resolution will protect the county's taxpayers and citizens "to the fullest extent" possible, he said. Foltz said he hopes that people who've taken part in recent wind farm discussions will stay involved. Greeley County Commissioners and the planning and zoning board approved permits for essentially the same project in 2016 and 2019, but those permits have expired, Foltz said. Foltz and Wadsworth pointed out that Greeley County has passed a moratorium on any renewable energy permit applications. Wadsworth said the board has tried to "keep an open mind all the way through this, listening to both sides." Commissioners tried to come up with the best decision they could, Wadsworth said. "I can say we've all put countless and countless hours of thought into this, probably more than most of you think." Wadsworth agreed with Foltz that the planning and zoning regulations are outdated. But public hearings were held back in 2015, and people expressed their opinions, Wadsworth said. Public hearings were also held in 2016 and 2019, when the previous applications were approved, Wadsworth said. So everyone had a voice in this, he said. "Sometimes, things slip through the cracks, I guess you could say," and hindsight is always 20-20, Wadsworth said. "Should we have done things differently in the past? Maybe," Wadsworth said. Those are things that need to be talked about moving forward, he said. With the moratorium in effect, people are encouraged to give their input, he said. Wadsworth said he's not 100% in favor of the project. A yes vote "doesn't necessarily mean that we believe in wind energy. I'll flat tell you that. I'm being honest, I guess," Wadsworth said. "The bottom line is they applied for a special use permit and that's what we're voting on -- is the special use permit. It's not whether we believe in wind energy or what we believe in," Wadsworth said. Commissioners were voting on the special use permit that was in front of them, he said. Commissioners realize the issues involved, Wadsworth said. "I think we've done a good job trying to put together conditions here to satisfy everyone the best we can," Wadsworth said. The conditions address land owners and the possibility of decommissioning the turbines. The conditions talk about aerial spraying, road plans and "everything that we can look at," said Wadsworth, who seconded the motion. One of the speakers in opposition was Robert Bernt, who's a member of Greeley County Alliance for Wise Energy. Other opponents of the project spoke later in the meeting, after the vote was taken. Bill Spelic said if the project was taken to Greeley County voters, it wouldn't have passed. Spelic held up a NextEra brochure, in which the company says it puts the community first. Spelic said the wind farm wasn't done for the community. "It's all about money," he said. Charlotte Jarman said she was disappointed in the commissioners. They know in their heart that their vote was wrong, she said. A longer story about this subject will run in The Independent later this week. UNLs Nebraska On-Farm Research Network is joining forces with innovative farmers, Nebraska Natural Resource Districts, and Sentinel Fertigation to host Sunset Seminars across Nebraska. Seminars are being hosted by growers working with the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network who have trialed Sentinel Fertigations N-Time software this growing season and have experienced its impact on their farm. N-Time is Sentinels flagship software system that analyzes field imagery to detect early signs of crop nitrogen stress and provide growers with timely fertilizer application recommendations. N-Time was developed through research and proven through trials. The data collected from those on-farm pilots will be presented during the seminars by representatives from UNL, providing growers with data quantifying N-Times impacts on Nitrogen Use Efficiency while maintaining or improving yield. Data on the effects of other nitrogen management technologies will also be discussed at certain locations. In addition to UNLs presentation, the Sentinel Team will demonstrate exactly how N-Time functions and how it can be implemented with advanced fertigation systems. After the demo, host growers will have the opportunity to talk about their experiences and answer questions about using image-based fertigation technology. One seminar is scheduled for Aug. 15 in Gibbon; others are planned in Stapleton on Aug. 9, and Lexington on Aug. 10. Seminars will begin at 7 p.m. and should conclude around 8:30 p.m. Light snacks and beverages will be provided during the seminars. A full schedule can be found at https://www.sentinelfertigation.com/sunset-seminars Those interested in attending a Sunset Seminar can learn more and register online at this website. Questions can be directed to Sentinel Fertigation at 531-893-1559. Taiwan cooling module maker to expand investment in Vietnam By Van Thuy Thu, August 10, 2023 | 9:07 pm GTM+7 Taiwans cooling module maker Asia Vital Components (AVC) plans to expand investment and production in Vietnam to meet growing demand from its U.S. customers. This information was reported Thursday by Digitimes, a Taiwan-based news platform tracking electronics manufacturing, citing AVC chairman Shen Ching Hang. The report did not elaborate on the scale or quantum of the planned expansion. AVC Vietnam, the companys Vietnam subsidiary, operates a $50 million production plant covering 10 hectares at the Dong Van 3 Industrial Park in Ha Nam province near Hanoi, according to provincial data. AVC Vietnams manufacturing plant at the Dong Van 3 Industrial Park, Ha Nam province, northern Vietnam. Photo courtesy of the company. The plant started commercial operations in October 2020, employing around 1,500 workers, local media reported in late June. The report said that the plant, which makes cooling devices, computer fans and cases for export, was looking to expand its labor force signficantly. It quoted AVC Vietnams human resources director Vu Duy Quyet as saying that the company needed another 1,500 workers soon. Quyet added that the company could be looking to employ a total of around 6,000 workers at the beginning of 2024. AVC Vietnam has repeatedly run labor recruitment announcements on its Facebook page. Vietnam slaps anti-dumping tax on sugar imports from some Thai firms By Van Thuy Thu, August 10, 2023 | 9:42 am GTM+7 Vietnam has decided to impose an anti-dumping levy from 25.73% to 32.75% on cane sugar imported from some major Thai producers until 2026. The levy is effective from August 18, 2023 to June 6, 2026, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade said in a decision issued on Tuesday. The ministry added it had conducted a "careful and fair investigation" prior to the decision. Cane sugar products seen at a supermarket in Ho Chi Minh City, southern Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Vietnams Youth newspaper. The Thai cane sugar producers listed are Mitr Phol Sugar and four associated companies and Czarnikow Group Limited (anti-dumping tax of 32.75%, anti-subsidy tax of 0%); Thai Roong Ruang and five affiliates (anti-dumping tax of 25.73%, anti-subsidy tax of 4.65%). Starting in June 2021, the ministry imposed anti-dumping tax and anti-subsidy tax totaling 47.64% on cane sugar products imported from other Southeast Asian countries but originating from Thailand for four years. In 2020, Vietnam removed duties on cane sugar imported from Southeast Asian countries in line with the commitments of the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), which aims to achieve free flow of goods in the region resulting in less trade barriers and deeper economic linkages among ASEAN member states, lower business costs, and enhanced trade. However, the member states are allowed to impose import duties to protect the rights and interests of domestic industries against anti-competitive behavior. Cybersecurity Collaboration New Public, Private Help for K12 Cyber Defense Efforts Announced at White House Summit The Biden-Harris administration has unveiled new public sector efforts and private sector commitments to bolstering cyber defenses across the nations public schools, including a new Government Coordinating Council within the U.S. Department of Education to facilitate formal collaboration between every level of government and the education sector. The announcements were made on conjunction with the White Houses Back to School Safely: Cybersecurity Summit for K12 Schools, where Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, First Lady Jill Biden led discussions with school administrators, educators, nonprofit leaders in IT and cybersecurity, and private sector companies, according to a news release. Participants discussed EDs new framework of best practices for K12 digital infrastructure, detailed in a series of briefs co-authored by CISA and EDs Office of Educational Technology; the publications began dropping last week with three available already: Future briefs not yet published are expected to cover accessibility and equitable access, and digital literacy, safety, and mental health. During the summit on Tuesday, cybersecurity and education leaders from the public and private sector detailed a number of recent and new commitments to helping K12 schools better defend their tech infrastructure now and in the future: Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel recently proposed establishing a pilot program under the Universal Service Fund to provide up to $200 million over three years to strengthen cyber defenses in K12 schools and libraries in tandem with other federal agencies that have deep expertise in cybersecurity. ED will establish a Government Coordinating Council that will coordinate activities, policy, and communications between, and amongst, federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial education leaders to strengthen the cyber defenses and resilience of K12 schools. By facilitating formal, ongoing collaboration between all levels of government and the education sector, the GCC will be a key first step in the departments strategy to protect schools and districts from cybersecurity threats and for supporting districts in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from cybersecurity attacks, the agency said in its announcement. CISA announced it will provide tailored assessments, facilitate exercises, and deliver cybersecurity training for 300 new K12 entities over the coming school year, with plans to hold about one cyber exercises per month starting this fall. CISA said it is currently accepting exercise requests from government and critical infrastructure partners, including the K12 community. The FBI and the National Guard Bureau said they will soon release updated resource guides to ensure state government and education officials know how to report cybersecurity incidents and can leverage the federal governments cyber defense capabilities. Amazon Web Services announced a number of new no-cost resources for K12 schools cyberdefense efforts: $20 million for a K12 cyber grant program available to all school districts and state departments of education Free security training offerings tailored to K12 IT staff delivered through AWS Skill Builder No-cost cyber incident response assistance through its Customer Incident Response Team for school districts experiencing a cyberattack Free well-architected security reviews for U.S. ed tech vendors providing mission-critical applications to the K12 community Cloudflare said its Project Cybersafe Schools program will provide a suite of free zero-trust cybersecurity solutions to public school districts with fewer than 2,500 students. PowerSchool said it will provide new free and subsidized security as a service courses, training, tools and resources to all U.S. schools and districts. Google unveiled an updated K12 Cybersecurity Guidebook for schools on the most effective and impactful steps education systems can take to ensure the security of their Google hardware and software applications. D2L announced it will provide access to new cybersecurity courses in collaboration with trusted third-parties; extend its information security review for the core D2L integration partners; and pursue additional third-party validation of D2L compliance with security standards. Read the full White House announcement at WhiteHouse.gov. Hong Kong: Stance on helper hire fees reiterated Secretary for Labour & Welfare Chris Sun today met the Acting Consul-General of the Republic of Indonesia in Hong Kong, Slamet Noegroho, to reiterate Hong Kongs stance on the issue of placement fees for the employment of Indonesian domestic helpers. Mr Sun made it clear that in order to maintain cordial, mutually beneficial and close co-operation between Hong Kong and Indonesia, no change should be made by Indonesia to arrangements for the placement of Indonesian domestic helpers in Hong Kong that would increase the burden on Hong Kong employers or undermine employment opportunities for such helpers. He added that even if changes were to be made, Hong Kong should not be singled out for different treatment compared to other places. Mr Sun stated: Mr Noegroho clarified at the meeting that there is no change to the cost structure of fees for arranging Indonesian domestic helpers to work in Hong Kong. The Acting Consul-General said that both governments policies and regulations remain the same, and issues relevant to the employment of Indonesian domestic helpers in Hong Kong should continuously be discussed between the Indonesian Government and the Hong Kong SAR Government. Regarding information disseminated by the Indonesian Manpower Placement Agency Association to employment agencies in Hong Kong last week, Mr Noegroho told Mr Sun that the association does not represent the Indonesian Government. The Labour & Welfare Department said the Hong Kong SAR Government will continue to talk and work with the Indonesian consulate-general in protecting the interests of Indonesian helpers in Hong Kong, as well as those of their employers, with the aim of maintaining Hong Kong as an attractive place for foreign domestic helpers to come to work. The Hong Kong SAR Government will also hold discussions with other places, including Bangladesh and Cambodia, to widen the potential sources of foreign domestic helpers for the city, the bureau added. This story has been published on: 2023-08-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. China calls for cessation of hostilities in Sudan Xinhua) 13:23, August 10, 2023 UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday called on the Sudanese parties to cease hostilities as soon as possible. The armed conflict in Sudan has been going on for nearly four months with increasing civilian casualties and a worsening humanitarian situation. As a good friend and partner of Sudan, China deeply regrets these developments, said Dai Bing, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations. China hopes that the parties concerned will, in the interests of the country and its people, put an end to the fighting as soon as possible, promote de-escalation and resolve their disputes through dialogue so as to create conditions for peace and reconciliation, he told the Security Council. China welcomes the considerable efforts made by the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the Arab League and countries in the region to resolve the crisis in Sudan. China expects regional countries and organizations to strengthen coordination with the parties in Sudan and to play a key role in facilitating peace talks. The international community and partners outside the region should provide the necessary support and cooperation, he said. Sudan is currently facing enormous humanitarian needs with spillover effects on neighboring countries. China calls on the international community to help Sudan and neighboring countries improve their humanitarian response capacity, expand the scale of relief and support regional humanitarian initiatives. "At the same time, humanitarian support to Sudan should respect the sovereignty and ownership of Sudan and follow the UN guiding principles for humanitarian aid. The Sudanese parties should also comply with the obligations under international humanitarian law and facilitate humanitarian relief," said Dai. The situation in Darfur has been seriously affected by the conflict. The international community should provide constructive support to ease the situation in Darfur and avoid escalation, he said. Sudan is an important country in the Horn of Africa. An early cease-fire and return to normalcy and order are in the fundamental interests of Sudan and countries of the region. Recently, regional countries have repeatedly stressed the need to safeguard the sovereignty, independence, and territory integrity of Sudan and oppose external interference in the internal affairs of Sudan. The international community should heed the calls of those countries, support the good offices of the countries and regional organizations, and avoid externally imposed programs and sanctions and pressure, he said. China believes that the Sudanese people have the ability and wisdom to overcome the current difficulties and challenges and put an end to the fighting as soon as possible. China stands ready to work with the international community to support the efforts of the Sudanese people, said Dai. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller is seen speaking during a daily press briefing at the department in Washington, Aug. 9, in this captured image. Yonhap The United States will continue to enforce its sanctions and impose new ones on North Korea if necessary, a state department spokesperson said Wednesday when asked about possible illegal exports of North Korean products from a joint industrial complex. The department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, added the U.S. will also continue to crack down on efforts to evade sanctions by North Korea and its friendly nations. When asked about North Korea's possible operation of the now defunct Kaesong industrial complex, the spokesperson said he will only say "that we will continue to enforce our sanctions and impose new sanctions when necessary." South Korea's unification ministry said in June that Pyongyang has continued to operate the Kaesong industrial complex, years after South Korean businesses were forced to withdraw from the industrial park in North Korea while leaving all their equipment behind. South Korea has repeatedly warned that it will seek legal actions against North Korea's "unauthorized" use of South Korean facilities and equipment at the industrial complex in Kaesong, located some 40 kilometers north of the inter-Korean border. "I am not going to speak to it specifically other than to say that we will continue to impose and enforce our sanctions," Miller said when asked about possible shipments of products, including military uniforms, produced at Kaesong to Russia. "We will look for evidence of people who are invading our sanctions. If necessary, we will tighten our sanctions and we will crack down using all the tools available to us," he added. Miller and many other U.S. administration officials have pointed out that any weapons deals with North Korea would violate multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions. North Korea reportedly provided artillery shells and other munitions to Russia for use in the latter's ongoing war in Ukraine, according to U.S. officials. John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, earlier noted the North may be considering providing Russia with additional military support for its war against Ukraine following Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu's trip to Pyongyang late last month. (Yonhap) The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. To sign-up for EZ-Pay, call us at (903) 785-6901 or e-mail us at circulation@theparisnews.com. We will use the information you provide to change your current billing to EZ-PAY. Your current subscription delivery schedule will not be changed. No refunds for early cancellations. Remainder of early cancellation funds will be donated to Newspapers in Education. Line dancing classes every Thursday Beginner line dance classes will be held every Thursday from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center. For more information, call 803-664-1000. Blood drive Friday at OCL The Blood Connection will be holding a blood drive from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 11, at the Orangeburg County Library, 1643 Russell Street, in Orangeburg. Earn $60 in rewards. For more information, or to make and appointment, visit https://donate.thebloodconnection.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/212983. Community health fair Aug. 12 at Voorhees Motivated Woman, a nonprofit organization, is partnering with Voorhees University and South Carolina Institutes of Innovation and Information (SCIII) to host a community health fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Aug. 12 at Voorhees University in the Leonard E. Dawson Health and Human Resources Center. The health fair is for men, women and children and will offer free mammograms, rapid HIV testing, COVID vaccines and test kits and health screenings to monitor blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar. Vets Helping Vets to meet Aug. 16 The Vets Helping Vets group are planning to meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 16, at the Orangeburg Area Boys & Girls Club, 1313 Cannon Bridge Road, in Cordova. All veterans of the military are invited. Refreshments will be provided. For more information, call 803-308-6908. OCSO holding a Town Hall event Aug. 29 The Orangeburg County Sheriff's office will be holding a Town Hall event, "Know Us Before You Need Us," from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 29, at the Santee Convention Center, 1737 Bass Drive, in Santee. The public, community in welcome to attend. SCSU Alumni Membership Drive, Fish Fry Aug. 31 The SCSU National Alumni Association, Greater Orangeburg Chapter, will hold its annual Membership Drive and Fish Fry from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 31, at Staley Hall Field on the campus of SC State University. There will be music, prizes and fellowship. Bring your lawn chairs. For more information, call 803-535-9754. B-E Class of 1974 members sought The Bamberg-Ehrhardt High School Class of 1974 have begun planning for its 50th reunion. Any members of that class are asked to contact the reunion committee via email at beclassof1974@gmail.com. Praise Out Cancer annual fashion show Sept. 23 The Praise Out Cancer Foundations Look Good Feel Good Fashion Show will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23, at the Lovely Hill Baptist Association Conference Center, 5905 West Jim Bilton Blvd., in St. George. Local men and women, breast and prostate cancer survivors, will walk the runway dressed in their Sunday Best fashions. The event is the largest annual fundraiser for the Praise Out Cancer Foundation, a nonprofit that assists breast and prostate cancer patients with short-term financial support in our local communities. Tickets are available by calling Mary Charley at 843-563-6069 or Alfred Charley at 803-614-1195. How to submit your events Please submit Community Datebook column items in writing. Items must be received no later than noon Tuesday of each week. The T&D does not guarantee when items will run. Items may be submitted by: Email: news@timesanddemocrat.com; In person: 1010 Broughton St. Raymond, NH The Regional Economic Development Center (REDC) announced that Enterprise Bank has purchased $25,000 in tax credits to benefit the NH New Americans Loan Fund Tax Credit program. REDCs Tax Credit Award, from New Hampshire's Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA), allows NH businesses to contribute funds to community development projects. Enterprise Banks tax credit donation will support REDCs NH New Americans Loan Fund, which provides access to technical assistance and loans to first-generation Americans who are prospective or current business owners throughout the state. This is Enterprise Banks second contribution to the Fund within a year, making their overall $75,000 donation the largest received in this tax credit cycle. Peter Rayno, Executive Vice President/Community Banking & Lending Director at Enterprise Bank, stated, We at Enterprise Bank have been honored to financially support the NH New American Loan Fund since the programs inception five years ago. Renewing our financial commitment to this program through REDC is important to us. Were so pleased to be able to contribute in REDCs efforts to assist first generation Americans in financing their own businesses as they pursue their dreams. The REDC and Enterprise Bank have a long partnership in co-lending to small business clients, collaborating often to fit the needs for the businesses they serve. REDC President Laurel Adams stated, Enterprise Bank has supported this critical program since the beginning, as a purchaser of tax credits, and we thank them deeply for their ongoing support. Enterprise Bank, with this third donation, continues to be one of our strongest lending partners as we work to create jobs and business opportunities for new Americans throughout New Hampshire. Microloans made from the NH New American Loan Fund are used for working capital, equipment acquisition, inventory, and renovations. In addition to microloans, part of what will make clients successful is REDCs robust technical assistance, which can include discussing business plan development, business financials, partnerships, financial packaging recommendations, exporting and importing support, market research help, employee guidance, and marketing and graphic design startup support. To purchase tax credits or learn more about this program, please contact Laurel Adams at 603-772-2655. Learn more about this fund at www.redc.com/newamericanloanfund. About the Enterprise Bank Established in 1989 and headquartered in Lowell, Massachusetts, Enterprise Bank is a commercial bank and financial services company which operates 27 full-service branches including 7 located in the New Hampshire towns of Nashua, Salem, Derry, Windham, Hudson, Pelham, and most recently Londonderry. The Banks mission is to help create successful businesses, strong, vibrant, and prosperous communities, and to create opportunities and wealth for its customers, shareholders, and employees. More information can be found at the Banks website, www.enterprisebanking.com. About the REDC REDC was established in 1994 as a non-profit economic development organization with a mission to serve new and growing businesses in southern New Hampshire. REDC seeks to promote responsible, sustainable economic development activities within New Hampshire by creating jobs for low-to-moderate income people, accessing alternative financing for businesses, and industrial expansion or relocations. These initiatives provide tax relief for our communities. REDC also provides start-up and ongoing business advising, which supports businesses as they grow. To learn more about the programs REDC offers to entrepreneurs in NH, visit www.redc.com. (TBTCO) - Lam phat thap duy tri nua au nam la mot trong nhung yeu to thuan loi trong ieu hanh cua Chinh phu. Tuy nhien theo cac chuyen gia, nho mat bang gia xang khong cao cua 7 thang au nam ngoai khien chi so gia tieu dung (CPI) nam nay khong tang cao, song tu thang 8, tac ong keo CPI cua gia xang khong con, cong voi mot so mat hang thiet yeu co bien ong nen du bao CPI thang 8 se tang nhe. President Yoon Suk Yeol shakes hands with U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Paul LaCamer, fourth from left, who also serves as the commander of the United Nations Command (UNC), at a meeting with UNC officials held at the presidential office in central Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap President Yoon Suk Yeol met with key officials of the United Nations Command (UNC) on Thursday and vowed South Korea will not be fooled by pro-North Korean forces calling for the disbandment of the UNC to achieve "false peace." "The U.N. Command protected the free Republic of Korea when the country was in crisis, hanging by a thread, and is continuing to play a pivotal role in maintaining peace on the Korean Peninsula even after 70 years," Yoon said in a meeting with UNC officials at his office in Seoul, referring to South Korea by its official name. The meeting was attended by U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Paul LaCamera, Lieutenant General Andrew Harrison, the deputy commander of the UNC, and other UNC officials, as well as National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong and Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo. "North Korea still thinks the UNC is the biggest barrier to unifying the Korean Peninsula under communism," Yoon said, citing the UNC's power as the reason pro-North forces call for the UNC's dismantlement in exchange for the end-of-war declaration. The UNC was established after the Korean War broke out in July 1950 and has been working to secure peace on the Korean Peninsula. (Yonhap) Read the full article at The Blue By You Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer () How to get rid of these ads and support TW ToffeeWeb Gnonto links strengthen again as winger pushes for Everton move | 10/08/2023 Evertons chances of finally signing Wilfred Gnonto this summer have improved dramatically with reports that the club is close to agreeing a fee with Leeds for the winger. The Blues appeared to be on the verge of landing Gnonto earlier in the summer transfer window but negotiations stalled as the Yorkshire outfit changed ownership and seemed to be holding out for as big a fee as possible. The Italian, known to want a quick return to the Premier League, appears to have grown frustated with the impasse and made himself unavailable for Leeds's Carabao Cup tie against Shrewsbury Town this week. That might have prompted Leeds back to the table to discuss a potential 12m deal according to the latest reports. Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer () How to get rid of these ads and support TW ToffeeWeb You have reached a premium content area of Transitions. To read this entire article please login if you are already a Transitions subscriber. Not a subscriber? Subscribe today for access to: Full access to the website, including premium articles videos, country reports and searchable archives (containing over 25,000 articles). A Casper man is requesting a second opinion ahead of his upcoming jury trial on whether he was mentally fit when he allegedly repeatedly stabbed his mother-in-law and killed her husband. George Dickerson pleaded not guilty in February to second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder by reason of mental illness or deficiency. His initial medical evaluation results were sent to the court June 28 over one month after his originally scheduled jury trial was meant to start, court filings state. His trial has since been rescheduled for Dec. 4. This evaluation, or the criminal responsibility report, details if Dickerson lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the alleged murder and attempted murder, court filings state. Although the findings are not public, they likely did not go in favor of Dickersons mental health defense, as he is now asking for a second opinion. [Dickerson] will inform the court of the designated examiner as soon as possible if payment for such evaluation is approved by the Wyoming Office of the State Public Defender, the filing states. Every defendant is presumed to be mentally responsible, according to Wyoming criminal procedure statutes. The burden of proving by the greater weight of evidence that, as a result of mental illness or deficiency, he lacked capacity to understand the weight of a crime or conform to the law falls on the individual rather than on the state. If an individual doesnt have sufficient evidence of mental illness or deficiency, there arent other legal roads to take in terms of mental health defenses. There is no diminished capacity option in Wyoming. When Dickerson allegedly called to report a double homicide on Jan. 8 from a Casper Loaf N Jug, he told police his brain is broken, the affidavit in his case states. At the time, he believed he had killed two people. The man who was killed was identified as Andy William Martin Jr., 76, of Casper. The surviving victim, Rose Dennis, 84, is Dickersons mother-in-law. Martin and Dennis were in declining health, so they regularly had several in-home health care providers, the affidavit states. Dickerson believed Martin was abusing the workers, so he went to their Paradise Valley home to confront him, the affidavit states. Martin had made the environment so unpleasant that the health care workers didnt feel safe providing care to Dennis ... a family member told police, according to the affidavit. When officers arrived at the longtime couples house, they found them lying on their bedroom floor covered in blood, the affidavit states. Martin was already dead, and Dennis was naked and moaning in distress. It is unclear what transpired that evening, but it was a shock to the whole family that Dickerson would behave in that manner, the affidavit in his case states. Dickerson faces no less than 40 years in prison if found guilty on both charges. Your news on your smartphone Your story lives in Wyoming, and our new mobile app is designed to make sure you dont miss breaking news, the latest scores, the weather forecast and more. From easy navigation with the swipe of a finger to personalized content based on your preferences to customized text sizes, the Star-Tribune app is built for you and your life. Dont have the app? Download it today from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Authorities plan for a final search Friday after a 28-year-old woman went missing almost three weeks ago near Nowater Trail by the Worland Municipal Airport, Washakie County Sheriff Austin T. Brookwell said in a statement. Breanna Mitchell was last contacted July 22. Her vehicle got stuck along rugged terrain. She was believed to be barefoot a boot and a shirt were found in the area. At this point, if Mitchell is still out in the area, chances are very high it will be a recovery and not a rescue, Brookwell said. I am asking anyone who comes out to search if you happen to come across what looks like human remains or items that could be evidence, DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING! the statement said. Mitchell is described as a white woman with green eyes and brown hair, though her hair may be black now, according to posts on Facebook. She is 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs about 130 pounds. A private company, Find-911, is assisting Thursday before the final search, the statement said. The Cody-based company has k-9s, a drone, and really advanced software to process the images the drone takes to hopefully get answers, the statement said. The public is urged to avoid the area while he works. On Friday, multiple agencies will be conducting the final search, as long as the weather permits it, the statement said. Park County, Johnson County and the Hot Springs Sheriffs Office are sending search and rescue teams to assist, the statement said. They will be briefed at 5 p.m. before heading out. Officials are not asking for the publics help with Fridays search, but they still can if they want to, the statement said. Again, members of the public are urged not to touch anything they find. They can call 307-347-2242 to provide GPS coordinates to dispatch, the statement said. Officials plan to put out one last update after the searches are complete. Your news on your smartphone Your story lives in Wyoming, and our new mobile app is designed to make sure you dont miss breaking news, the latest scores, the weather forecast and more. From easy navigation with the swipe of a finger to personalized content based on your preferences to customized text sizes, the Star-Tribune app is built for you and your life. Dont have the app? Download it today from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Wyomings own Dont Say Gay law must find a new path forward after it failed to clear its first hurdle this week. Lawmakers now must personally revive the ban on gender identity and sexual orientation in the classroom ahead of the 2024 legislative session after an education panel voted against it during an interim meeting Tuesday in Cheyenne. While it marks a setback for some conservative lawmakers, the Joint Education Committee also advanced an expansion of parental rights that would allow parents to more closely scrutinize and control their childs health while at school, a significant step for those in the state who argue parents should have absolute authority over their students. The draft law brought forward by Sen. Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, recycled a bill from Sen. Dan Dockstader, R-Afton, which failed in the House last session after easing through the Senate. It was almost an exact copy of Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis controversial Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed Dont Say Gay by its opponents. It would have prohibited classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity for K-3 students, or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate. Of the nine-page bill, just eight lines were devoted to the ban. Yet they drew almost all of the Joint Education Committees attention, as well as that of the Legislative Service Office and those in attendance. The panel fielded a packed room at the Wyoming Capitol Extension with rows of people in support and against the proposed ban, an unusual sight for often sleepy interim meetings. Lawmakers first heard warnings from the Legislative Service Office that the ban on gender identity and sexual orientation in the classroom could face legal challenges amid questions about its constitutionality. A publicly released memo from the agency shared last month concluded that the ban may violate both the U.S. and Wyomings constitutions. As currently drafted, the bill would restrict certain speech (classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-3) that may impermissibly prohibit protected speech, wrote Tania Hytrek, an operations administrator with the Legislative Service Office. The First Amendment prohibits any law that, among other things, abridges the freedom of speech. The memo pointed out that the bill could also face challenges for being discriminatory and too vague. Lawmakers appeared undeterred by the warnings. Sen. Charlie Scott, R-Casper, said he supported the ban and didnt see it as a potential constitutional conflict. Why isnt that just as constitutionally justified as saying, You ought to teach reading in the first three grades? he said. Hytrek replied that the issue was the targeting of specific subjects of gender identity and sexual orientation. There is some precedent that in the event that you are chilling the environment that students are being educated in or youre chilling the environment that educators are educating [in], that that is a violation of the students First Amendment rights or the teachers First Amendment rights, she said. A number of teachers and the Wyoming Education Association spoke out against the ban, saying that it would have a chilling effect for educators. Ryan McKenzie, a teacher with Laramie County School District No. 1, said he would foreseeably be unable to mention his husband in his classroom while other teachers in heterosexual relationships could continue to speak about their families. Others told lawmakers the ban on classroom instruction was so broad it would leave them unsure if they could acknowledge gay or transgender students or even gender as a whole. Grady Hutcherson, the president of the Wyoming Education Association, said simply teaching English would become complicated. You cant not talk about gender identity and the use of pronouns and when you use he or she, he said. This bill becomes very concerning when it comes to practicality in the classroom. Lawmakers wrestled with further clarifying the ban and trying to understand its real world effects. Some of those who testified both in support and against the ban said lawmakers needed to at least make the ban more specific so teachers knew what they could discuss in the classroom. Yet, just as many people told the panel that the law should be enacted as it stands. We need to focus on reading, writing, arithmetic real enrichment social studies, promoting our views, our true history, said Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray. This gender ideology that is being injected in our schools is extremely damaging to the future of our state. An expansion of parental rights The education committee ultimately voted to separate the ban on gender identity and sexual orientation in the classroom from the rest of the bill. It failed by a 6 6 vote, meaning the committee wont sponsor the bill and an individual lawmaker will have to take it up for it to be considered during the 2024 legislative session. But lawmakers did push forward the rest of the bill, a measure that would expand parental rights in Wyomings K-12 schools. For as little attention as it received, the parental rights portion of the bill is significant. It would require schools to immediately report to parents if there is a change in the students services or monitoring related to the students mental, emotional or physical health or well-being. At the same time, teachers would have to encourage students to discuss issues around their wellbeing with their parents. School districts could also not adopt any polices that would have the effect of encouraging a student to withhold information about their health and wellbeing from their parents. The bill has the potential to drastically reshape the role that schools play in student health. At the start of each year, districts would have to share every health care service they offer with parents, allowing them to opt out of any or all of them. Schools would also have to notify parents when they planned to give students a health questionnaire or screening, giving the parents the questions in advance and again allowing them to opt out their student. Few of those who opposed the bill spoke directly about the broadening of parental oversight at schools. But those that did said it could have consequences. A significant amount of neglect and abuse cases are first detected within those health screenings that we conduct at our school districts, said Tate Mullen, the government relations director for the Wyoming Education Association. Im curious as to what you think an adult or an abusive parent would do if they were given the opportunity to opt out of that screening that is the very thing that catches most of them. The bill does include an exception allowing school districts to suspend the notification requirements they suspect the information could result in abuse or neglect of a student. Ashley Willey, a Rock Springs mother embroiled in an ongoing lawsuit against Sweetwater County School District No. 1 for allegedly concealing her childs requests to use a male name and pronouns, told lawmakers that it was past time that they passed a law to protect a parents authority to supervise and make decisions for their children. I am my childs No. 1 advocate, she said. I love her and support her through everything and I am the one that is going to protect her in everything, not the school district. Your news on your smartphone Your story lives in Wyoming, and our new mobile app is designed to make sure you dont miss breaking news, the latest scores, the weather forecast and more. From easy navigation with the swipe of a finger to personalized content based on your preferences to customized text sizes, the Star-Tribune app is built for you and your life. Dont have the app? Download it today from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. GUARDIAN Holdings Ltd is not just sold as a rock, it is as solid as bedrock, its chief executive officer Ian Chinapoo has said, as he assured that the group, even in the face of recent concerns, remains both stable and reliable. At the end of the day we know who we are, we know we are very, very, very strong, we know our investments are all over the world, we know that we are well diversified, we know that we have a business that has honoured every single claim, Chinapoo told the Express during a sit-down interview at his Westmoorings office. Several Government and Opposition MPs listed their lands and properties on Form B of their declaration forms to the Integrity Commission, a search by the Sunday Express has found. There has been controversy over Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowleys non-declaration of his Inez Gate, Tobago, townhouse on Form B of his declaration filed for 2019 to the Integrity Commission. Choi Won-jong, the 22-year-old suspect of a fatal stabbing attack in Seongnam, answers questions from reporters as he leaves the police station in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 10. Yonhap The 22-year-old suspect behind last week's fatal department store stabbing rampage in Bundang, south of Seoul, apologized as police referred him to the prosecution for further investigation. "I am very sorry to the victims," Choi Won-jong, 22, said at a police station in Seongnam on his way to be transferred to the prosecution for further investigation and potential indictment. Choi was formerly arrested Saturday, after he rammed a car into pedestrians outside a department store in Seongnam's Bundang district and randomly attacked shoppers with a knife inside the store two days earlier. The incident left one person dead and 13 others injured. One of the surviving victims became brain dead. On Thursday, the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency referred Choi to the Suwon District Prosecutors Office on charges including murder and attempted murder. Wearing a navy T-shirt with stubble covering his chin, Choi showed up without a mask covering his face. "I hope those who are now at the hospital recover as soon as possible," he said. "I also extend my condolences to the dead victim and would like to say I am very sorry to the bereaved family." The suspect of a stabbing attack in Seongnam, which left one person dead and 13 others injured, is transferred to the prosecution, Aug. 10. Yonhap As was widely expected, the local government election (LGE) resulted in a repeat of the control of the 14 local government bodies being split 7-7 between the PNM and UNC. Crumbs of votes were sprinkled on the minor parties. We have reconfirmed our propensity to condemn ourselves to continued political stagnation. After weeks of anticipation, the Tucson run of Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience opens on Friday, Aug. 11, at the Oro Valley Marketplace. But unless you reserved tickets early, you might miss out on the opening weekend. Most of the time slots Friday through Sunday, Aug. 13, are sold out; Monday, Aug. 14, is a safer bet if you want to go in the afternoon. The high-tech digital art exhibition features some 400 images, digital and canvas reproductions, from the seminal 19th century Franco-Dutch Post-impressionist artist, including his famous sunflower paintings. the iconic The Starry Night, The Siesta and his final work, Tree Roots. The creator, Exhibition Hub, arranged the exhibit chronologically, allowing visitors to learn about van Goghs life beyond the ubiquitous story of the tortured artist who cut off his ear. Van Gogh is a rock star, said John Zaller, Exhibition Hubs executive producer whose 25-year career creating immersive experiences has included being part of the creative team behind Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition; Jurassic World: The Exhibition; Bodies the Exhibition; and Star Trek: The Exhibition. Theres a big buzz around this but the buzz is created as much by the technology as the artist himself. Van Gogh is such a big name. Hes still the star of the show; hes just on a different stage. Exhibition Hub, one of several companies touring immersive, high-tech van Gogh shows nationwide, creates a narrative of van Goghs short and troubled life and how that translated into works that transformed the art world in the late 19th century through today. We meet his sisters, who were not fans until after his death, and his beloved brother Theodorus, who was his most ardent champion until his death and was so heartbroken by the loss that his health deteriorated and he died six months later. The exhibit in the old World Market space includes two 3D stages where visitors can take photos: the 1888 Bedroom in Arles and the Vestibule in the Asylum from 1889. One of the most anticipated highlights of Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience comes at the end, when visitors enter a large room that features a 360-degree digital show that brings 200 van Gogh masterpieces to life. Sixty projectors are used to animate the walls and floors with images. Sit on one of the benches or in the camping chairs set up around the space and you will feel like you are in the middle of van Goghs creative process. Images appear behind digital Japanese-style screens and the walls fill with brilliant almond blossoms and his trademark sunflowers. At the end of the exhibit, visitors can take a virtual reality tour of a day in van Goghs life and visit the crayon table where they can color a van Gogh drawing or create their own. Zaller said audience members often leave with a bigger appreciation for van Gogh and come out inspired to create their own art. They come out feeling peaceful, he said, adding that a guest at a show in Los Angeles recently commented to him that if there was a heaven on Earth, this would be it. Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience runs Thursdays-Mondays through Sept. 30. Zaller said the show could be extended based on community interest. We would love to continue to bring content here, he said. Its a wonderful part of the country and its a community that supports the arts. Photos: Step inside the Tucson run of "Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience." Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, 2023 Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, 2023 Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience University of Arizona: Watermark, a provider of software solutions for higher education, announced its Insights, Innovation, and Impact Client Awards. The University of Arizona was honored with the Insights Award for its utilization of data and insights to catalyze advancements across teams, faculty, student outcomes and institutional success. The recognition highlights their dedication to leveraging valuable information for transformative growth and excellence. Isaac Figueroa: CoStar Group, Inc., a provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces, announced the CoStar Power Broker Quarterly Deals winners for the second quarter of 2023. Isaac Figueroa of Larsen Baker came out on top in the list of winners in Tucson. The CoStar Power Broker Quarterly Deals winners are determined by the top deals executed every quarter, based on price and square footage. Keslie Blackwell: National trade publication Beckers Hospital Review has named Keslie Blackwell to its annual list of Women Hospital and Healthcare CFOs to Know. Blackwell is the chief financial officer for Tenet Healths Arizona Group, which includes the Carondelet Health Network hospitals in Southern Arizona and Abrazo Health hospitals in Phoenix. Blackwell is responsible for oversight of the financial integrity of the Carondelet and Abrazo hospitals including strategic financial planning, annual operating budgets and capital deployment. Autism Society of Southern Arizona: Arizona Complete Health awarded Autism Society of Southern Arizona a grant for $27,000 to fund its Autism Friendly Communities program. The Autism Friendly Communities program strives to create a community that supports the autistic community through education and training. The program offers personalized training to schools, emergency responders, organizations and anyone who wants to make their business or organization more inclusive for the autistic community. Autism Society has been able to train the Tucson Police Department, as well as the Bisbee and Douglas police departments, Pima County Public Library, Therapeutic Riding of Tucson, Humane Society of Southern Arizona, Tohono O'odham Nation's special needs department, and Amazon's fulfillment center. Cho Min, the daughter of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk, arrives at the Busan District Court to attend a hearing as a witness on her suit, March 16. Yonhap The prosecution on Thursday indicted the daughter of former Justice Minister Cho Kuk on charges of university admission fraud. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office charged Cho Min with document forgery and obstruction of business for allegedly collaborating with her mother to submit falsified documents, including an admission form, a cover letter and a commendation letter, to Pusan National University (PNU)'s Graduate School of Medicine in June 2014. She is also alleged to have conspired with her parents to submit fabricated documents to Seoul National University (SNU) College of Medicine in June 2013. Cho Kuk resigned as justice minister in October 2019, just one month after his appointment, following allegations of academic fraud involving his children. His wife, Chung Kyung-sim, is currently serving a four-year prison sentence for her involvement in document forgery related to their daughter's admission to the PNU medical school in Busan. In February, a district court handed down a two-year prison sentence to Cho Kuk, who was found guilty on multiple charges, including his role in admission irregularities concerning his daughter and son. The indictment of the daughter came as the statute of limitations for the admission irregularities at PNU was set to expire on Aug. 26. The deadline for the SNU case has been temporarily suspended due to the ongoing appellate trial involving her father. The prosecution suspects Cho Min was actively involved in the forgery of the commendation letter from the president of a university where her mother formerly taught. "Based on the facts confirmed by the Supreme Court, Cho Min's level of involvement does not appear to be minor. Rather, she seems to have played a proactive role beyond just being a beneficiary," a prosecution official said. The official was referring to the guilty verdict handed down by the highest court in the case of her mother. The prosecution questioned Cho Min as a suspect on July 14. Korea University in Seoul and PNU last year revoked her admissions citing allegedly false documents submitted. Cho filed suits against her alma maters' decisions but withdrew them in July. A few days later, her younger brother, Cho Won, also said he will relinquish his master's degree from Yonsei University Graduate School following years of controversy over admission irregularities involving a purportedly falsified internship certificate. He also underwent written questioning by the prosecution last month. (Yonhap) The road to the top of Kitt Peak remains closed to the public more than year after a wildfire damaged parts of the highway. The Arizona Department of Transportation is still replacing the guardrails along an 8-mile stretch of Arizona 386 that was burned by the 29,482-acre Contreras Fire in June of 2022. The work began in March and is expected to last until late October. The project's budget is $3.3 million. Until then, the road is only open to authorized personnel, including staff members at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Lars Lindberg Christensen is head of communications, education and engagement for the National Science Foundations Tucson-based National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, or NOIRLab for short, which operates the observatory. He said NOIRLab officials are hoping to gradually reopen the observatory for daytime visits in late September or early October, as soon as it is safe to do so. Evening events such as the Nightly Observing Program should resume soon after, though he said advance registration will likely be required during the first month or two as we ramp up. Were aware that many people are eager to come visit Kitt Peak by car, bicycles or even on foot, Christensen said in a written statement. The public visits have been missed on the mountain by our staff and visiting astronomers. Unfortunately both the pandemic and the Contreras Fire made these visits impossible for safety reasons. Since the fire, the only way for the public to visit Kitt Peak has been through the observatorys Overnight Telescope Observing Program, a guided experience with a starting price of $945 that includes dinner, dorm accommodations and access to four telescopes at the observatory on the Tohono Oodham Nation, 55 miles southwest of Tucson. In the past year, just 36 very thrilled stargazers have taken part in the exclusive program, which is capped at four visitors per night and is only held around the time of the new moon, Christensen said. The Contreras Fire was sparked by lightning in the Baboquivari Mountains on June 11, 2022, and forced the evacuation of Kitt Peak and the Tohono Oodham community of Pan Tak. None of the 24 mountain-top telescopes burned, but three support buildings a dorm, a cabin and a small shed behind the observatorys fire barn were destroyed before fire crews could contain the blaze with help from a monsoon rainstorm. Photos taken after the fire swept across the peak showed patches of burned trees and brush within a few yards of some telescope domes. It was the largest fire to threaten the observatory since it was established in 1958, but it wasnt the first. In June 1970, lightning touched off several blazes that burned toward the peak, though roughly 20 Kitt Peak staff members stayed on the mountain and continued to work during the fire. In July 2007, the Alambre Fire prompted firefighters to set up defenses around the telescopes on Kitt Peak but the 7,300-acre blaze never seriously jeopardized the observatory. PHOENIX A judge has rebuffed efforts by the Arizona Democratic Party to keep a potential competitor and its candidates off the states 2024 ballot. The Democrats complaints of legal flaws in the paperwork filed by the No Labels Party to get ballot standing in Arizona do not stand up under scrutiny, said Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper. Neither, she said, do their arguments that the order in which certain signatures were collected violates Arizona law. The ruling is a setback for the Democrats, who said in filing suit earlier this year they believe having the No Labels Party on the ballot will make it more difficult to elect Democratic Party candidates. But Cooper gave an attorney for the Democratic Party the opportunity to refile the case in the next month based on some new allegations that were not part of the original lawsuit. There was no immediate response from the Democratic Party. Morgan Dick, executive director of the Arizona Democratic Party said the organizations is "evaluating all of our options.'' But Dick said the lawsuit is about more than additional ballot competition. She said the litigation is designed to ensure that Arizona voters know "who is bankrolling this organization as they inject themselves into our elections.'' No Labels, founded in 2009, has the stated goal of combating what it calls the polarized political climate that has led to the most prominent voices often found the farthest from the center. Its website says it is creating what it calls an insurance plan that would allow a Unity ticket to run in 2024 if the two parties select unreasonably divisive presidential nominees, terms it does not define. A third-party contender could have implications for Democratic President Joe Biden in 2024, particularly in Arizona. He only narrowly edged out then-President Donald Trump by 10,457 votes in 2020. In filing suit in March, Roy Herrera, attorney for the Democrats, complained that No Labels is organized under a section of the Internal Revenue Code as a social welfare organization. That limits the amount of money it can spend on political purposes, the lawsuit said. The IRS status also means the No Labels Party is not required to disclose its contributors, a requirement that exists in state law for other recognized political parties in Arizona, Herrera said. To date, No Labels has not publicly disclosed its donors, leaving the sources of much of its funding largely unknown, the lawsuit said. Nor has No Labels publicly identified the donors behind the initiative to have it certified as a political party in Arizona, despite federal laws requiring political party committees spending more than $5,000 to influence a federal election to identify their donors in filings with the Federal Election Commission. But the lawsuit focused instead on the decision by Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, having reviewed the paperwork filed by No Labels, to conclude it meets the qualifications for ballot status in Arizona. One charge leveled by Democrats was that the affidavit containing the legally required number of signatures to qualify for ballot status should say that the signers thereof be recognized as a new political party. Instead, it said the assigners of the attached petitions. Cooper essentially called that a difference without a distinction. There is no statutory requirement that the affidavit use these exact words, the judge said. She said all that is needed is substantial compliance. Moreover, The complaint does not allege that anyone was confused or misled by the phrase, Cooper wrote. The judge was no more impressed by the Democrats arguments that the process to petition for party status was not followed. That process required No Labels to submit petitions with at least 34,127 valid signatures to the Secretary of States Office. It submitted 41,663, according to Fontes. It also required there be separate affidavits of at least 10 people, attached to the signatures, asking for party recognition. But Herrera complained that No Labels continued to collect signatures after those affidavit sheets were signed. Coopers response, essentially, was that it doesnt matter. The statute does not mandate that the verification be signed only after all signatures in support of the petition have been collected, she wrote. Moreover, the court has no authority to insert such a requirement. Cooper declined to consider a separate late argument presented by the Democrats which cited a letter sent from No Labels to Fontes saying it will not participate in the states primary election and therefore does not need to follow other laws about formation of a committee or filing campaign finance reports. Herrera argued that means the petition to seek party status the one he could not get tossed is defective because signers were falsely told No Labels would participate in the primary. The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer: I came across a groundbreaking report from the United Nations that shook me to the core. Its findings were as disheartening as they were eye-opening: despite a decade passing, bias against women remains deeply entrenched, with an astonishing 90% of men and women worldwide still harboring such prejudices. What struck me more was the glaring disparity between womens educational advancements and their ongoing struggle for economic empowerment. Despite being more educated and skilled than ever, women continue to face a staggering gender income gap of 39% in favor of men, even in the 59 countries where women have surpassed men in education. As a woman, I need no convincing of the bias women face in society and the workplace. However, the universality of this bias is what truly distressed me. It transcends borders, industries, and even genders a pervasive global issue affecting us all. The devaluing impacting all women is disconcerting. But I cant help but think of young girls born outside privilege, who check the felon box, or who are minorities. Women in higher economic classes might face more barriers in politics and business, and thats appalling. However, women in lower economic classes face more barriers to finding meaningful work, denying them independence and the ability to care for themselves and their families. How do we make sense of this? How, as a society, are we OK with this? In my journey from incarceration to now holding a C-suite position, Ive experienced the double whammy of gender bias and the stigma of being formerly incarcerated. I started my career with Televerde in 1996 while serving my prison sentence. I made some foolish choices, but I decided to use my time in prison as an opportunity to change the trajectory of my life. Upon my release, I was offered a job in sales at Televerde. I worked my way up the corporate ladder, eventually becoming the Chief Impact Officer of Televerde and now the CEO of the Televerde Foundation. I realize, however, that my journey with Televerde has been an anomaly. Companies do not build their workforces with teams of incarcerated individuals. The trend for women like me is stigma and loss of economic opportunity. Case in point: Curiosity drove me to apply for a job outside Televerde in 2018. I was automatically rejected once I disclosed my felony conviction. The bias against formerly incarcerated individuals, especially women, remains a significant barrier to reentry and rehabilitation. The UN report is more than a wake-up call its an urgent call for action. We must address gender bias head-on, not just for the sake of women but for the betterment of our communities, our children, and our future. Our journey toward equality involves several key steps: Support Empowerment Organizations: We must bolster organizations at the forefront of change. These entities extend beyond providing resources and opportunities for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women. They are champions of womens empowerment, advocates for educational equality, and catalysts for initiatives that uplift women in all spheres of life. Advocate for Policy Changes: We must actively advocate for policies that dismantle deeply entrenched systemic biases, tearing down the institutional barriers that have long hindered womens progress and stifled their opportunities for success. By championing policy reforms that promote gender equality, we can create a more inclusive and equitable society for all. Confront Our Biases: We must confront our biases and prejudices, no matter how uncomfortable they may be. We must actively challenge personal and societal biases and work tirelessly to change them. This is not a task for the faint-hearted, but its a necessary step towards creating a world where every woman is valued and allowed to thrive. Build Alliances: This is not a battle women should or can fight alone. We need allies. We need men to stand with us, acknowledge the bias, and work to dismantle it. This isnt about tipping the scales in favor of women but about balancing them to ensure fairness and equality. Promote Unity Among Women: To the women, we must remember that our strength lies in our unity. We need to support each other to collaborate rather than compete. We need to create a culture where every woman is valued and where every woman, regardless of her background or circumstances, has the opportunity to succeed. Question Is there anything like a moderate Republican anymore? Or even a (gasp) liberal Republican? Thad Appelman Northwest side Always Trump Most days the former president is at the top of the news headlines as if he was the most important person in the world. Even in the supposedly liberal Star, most days there is nothing about the other people vying to be nominated to run on the Republican ticket or their ideas and platforms. Some of those people are actually worthy of holding the office, like Nikki Haley. You in the media are guilty of giving him what he wants and needs. Please stop already! Put 45 on the back page where he belongs! Holly Finstrom West side Tucsons Housing Crisis Re: the Aug. 1 article What developments confirm about Tucsons bleak future. The writer described two recent approved housing proposals as indicators of a larger problem here in Tucson. How wrong this is, on so many levels! Tucson has a critical housing shortage, and the only way to solve this is to build housing. We need urban infill housing, built within the metro area, not on the perimeter. We dont just need these two developments, in fact we need ten or fifteen more developments like them. We need apartments, we need market-rate housing, we need affordable housing, we need townhomes, we need all of it. There are two primary obstacles to solving our housing crisis: First, our local zoning codes have over 50% of the land area limited to single family housing. There just is not enough land available for developments. Second is the inevitable NIMBY opposition to every proposal. Developers are not Tucsons primary problem, as the writer seems to suggest. Zoning codes and NIMBYS are. Robert Lanning Downtown Trump kids profits Re: the Aug. 3 letter Biden business. Typical of many letters is the failure to provide factual information and the letter writers opinion about Hunter and Joe Biden is a classic example. The writer blasts Joe Biden (JB) and his son for participating in negotiations with Ukrainian Gangsters. Wonder how he confirmed that, plus he states that the transcripts will bear out his information. In reviewing the actual transcripts, Devon Archer (DA) offered a stark rebuke to the claims leveled against Joe Biden. DA offered that nothing of importance was discussed the 20 times Hunter called JB. Additionally DA was not privy to any conversations between Hunter and JB in which they discussed how JB would take any action on behalf of Hunter, nor did DA have any knowledge of any alleged bribery scheme nor profiteering involving Joe Biden when he was the VP. This pales in comparison to the Trump kids who made up to $640 million during the Trump administration for their activities. Lets get our innuendos cleaned up!! Wayne Kielsmeier Foothills Move to Russia Re: the Aug. 5 letter Congress hard right and hard left. I object to the writer who says, There are far more Democrats in Congress that are in the hard Left than Republicans are in the hard Right. Look where he got his outrageous data: from The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). It held international meetings in Hungary to learn from and cozy up to its authoritarian prime minister, a would-be best buddy (like Putin) of former president Trump. Ive learned its in the anti-democracy, autocrat playbook to accuse your opponents of exactly what you do. ... the Republicans have moved more to the middle, asserts the letter writer. Maybe the writer should move to Hungary or Russia, where hell feel more comfortable in the middle, but please, dont move Hungary or Russia here, thank you! Amy Gaiennie East side Master of mendacity The Master of Mendacity manipulates the MAGA milieu. Air is permeated with his phony righteous indignation as impious perspiration pores from pores and sanctimonious sweat glistens. He vilifies the innocent, violates tolerance and venerates vengeance. But more and more people are realizing The emperor wears no clothes, and the Overlord (Underlord?) is being exposed for what he really is: an interpreter of iniquity and bodacious bully who is subject to the law of the land like anyone else. Stella Miles West side Trumps assault on America All along the way, Trump has brilliantly understood the wayward propensities of his accomplices and supporters. He knows that they are by and large gullible, unethical, non-astute, and criminally inclined. Aided by the Murdoch-Fox empire of strategic deceit, Newsmax, and much of Conservative talk radio, Trump continues to play them pitch-perfect. How sad. How dangerous to decency and to our country. Ron Rude West side Water use issues Re: the Aug. 7 article Proposed rural groundwater-control laws are bad. Have to say it sure sounded convincing Representative Griffin has deep roots in rural Arizona until I read The Arizona Republics online OpEd penned by other rural Arizonans, the Mohave, Coconino, Yavapai and La Paz County Supervisors supporting the legislation Griffin opposes. Water is the number one most important issue in our State and I would love to hear expert non politician testimony so I could make an informed judgment the rock basis of our democracy, an informed citizenry. But Representative Griffin blocked any testimony on this legislation, she blocked any hearing whatsoever. Arizonans cannot allow water use issues to be controlled by one person. Legislators, lobbyists and staff tiptoe around her fearing reprisals for crossing her. That itself is outrageous behavior for a public servant. You want to talk about water? She earlier blocked the Community Choice Energy Legislation from a hearing, legislation that if enabled has the likely path to save millions of gallons of water annually-millions! What kind of legislator are you madam? How dare you! Rick Rappaport Oro Valley Robbing us dead Re: the Aug. 3 article Fossil fuels are killing the planet and the July 20 article Hows everyone enjoying their politicized heat waves this year? When I read this, I was still feeling agitated by Rachel Marsdens July 20 column claiming that all the fuss about heat waves is just the nanny state. . . imposing a climate-related guilt trip as an excuse to rob us blind. Sorry. Weve already been robbed blind by a fossil fuel industry that lied for decades about the dangers of its product. Were just beginning to pay the price. Now it claims to be leading the transition to a carbon-neutral future, but a recent International Energy Agency report debunks that falsehood. (See NY Times 8/7/23 Behind All the Talk, This Is What Big Oil Is Actually Doing.) Big oil is failing us, and if you dont trust nanny state regulation, why not let the market do some heavy lifting? Mike Carrans proposal for a carbon fee and dividend (HR-2307) might save us yet. Greg Lewis Midtown Cancer treatment I want to thank all the people at the Rudasill Arizona Oncology for all the help with my Leukemia. We found at age 84 that I had come down with cancer early this year. The chemotherapy has been very rough but everyone at Arizona Oncology has been so great and given me back some time with my daughters and partner Jan that I cant thank them enough. All the doctors and nurses are really the greatest and I just want thank them all publicly. Thomas R. Crawford Foothills Quality control over elected officials Re: the July 22 article An open letter to all elected officials. Mr. Chesters open letter to the elected officials expressed what we, the voters, wish in all our elected officials; it inspired me to propose the following. It would be extremely hard to expect enough elected officials to establish laws governing ethical behavior described by Mr. Chester, e.g., some Supreme Court justices under public scrutiny openly objected any rules be applied to them. While we still have the path to referendum by petition in Arizona, before the legislators try to block it again, lets initiate and pass a proposition requiring all candidates running for office take an oath modeled after Mr. Chesters list of standards before their names be printed on the ballots. This is our only way for quality control over the elected. As soon as such a proposition is drafted by some able minds and set to motion, I will participate in collecting the signatures. Ke Chiang Hsieh Midtown Homelessness and immigration A recent letter stating that homelessness has been swept under the rug has prompted this thought. I am frustrated that we, as a country, can argue about any number of things like woke LGBTQ and immigration but unfortunately there has been no resolution in what I consider an important area of concern on the subject of homelessness. This problem has been with us for a number of years with little or no effort to reduce or eliminate it all together but we insist, as a country we have great resources to do whatever we choose and I believe that we need to pay attention and solve this crisis because it will only get worse if we dont. Fred Thompson RENO, Nev. (AP) Over the objections of wild horse advocates, a judge cleared the way Wednesday night for the U.S. government to continue capturing thousands of mustangs in Nevada despite the deaths of 31 horses during the weekslong roundup. In a ruling from the bench after a seven-hour hearing in Reno, U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks said he was denying Wild Horse Education's bid for an emergency order to halt the roundup the nonprofit advocacy group argues is inhumane and illegal. The fact is, I don't have evidence that would support the granting of a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order, Hicks said. The judge said the deaths of the horses were tragic. But he said that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management appears to be complying with the law and doing everything it can to gather the mustangs as humanely as possible from the range to cull overpopulated herds. These tragedies are going to occur when you have gathers, so I cannot find there are inhumane treatments with these incidents, Hicks said. The stallions, mares, foals they are beautiful animals but at they same time they are wild animals. There are going to be some that are lost, he said. Of little consolation to horse advocates, Hicks said he agreed with their claim that the federal agency illegally denied them access to observe one of the mustang traps because it required passing through private land owned by a man who didn't want the public there. But the judge said bureau officials assured him the roundup in that particular area was complete and a similar situation wouldn't occur again. I'm of the view that was a constitutional violation," Hicks said. "But I'm also of the opinion that is moot. ... It's behind us. Government lawyers representing the Bureau of Land Management said the deaths among 2,500 horses gathered since July 9 were unfortunate but expected. They said the free-roaming animals pose a threat to the ecological health of public rangeland. Horse advocates argued the deaths were unnecessary, resulting from inhumane tactics being used to expedite removals from public lands where pregnant mares and young foals were being chased in summer heat across rocky high desert into makeshift corrals. The roundup halfway between Reno and Salt Lake City is scheduled to continue through Aug. 22. Laura Leigh, founder of the Nevada-based Wild Horse Education, said Wednesday night that she was extremely disappointed in the ruling. We are discussing with our attorney our options on how to proceed with the underlying complaint to address the lack of enforceable humane standards, she said in an email to The Associated Press. Although the Judge said that our Constitutional Rights to view one of the traps was likely violated, he did not see any necessity to restrain BLM from doing it again," Leigh said. He trusted that BLM's statement that there would be no further trapping on private property with access denial. Government lawyers said in earlier court filings the horse advocates have been trying to inflame emotions with photos and videos of injured mustangs trying to flee helicopters and wranglers on horseback. One with a broken leg was chased for 35 minutes before it was euthanized. Deaths are tragic, but they are a known and anticipated part of wild horse gathers that must be weighed against the harm the same horses face under drought and overpopulation conditions if the gather cannot be completed, Justice Department lawyers wrote. The agency says the 31 deaths are within the average mortality rate of 1% to 1.2% for wild horse gathers conducted from 2010 to 19. Despite plaintiffs sensational allegations, there is nothing out of the ordinary ... and nothing to suggest the conditions of these gathers have been unusually dangerous to the horses, government lawyers said. Horse advocates said the mustangs have been made scapegoats for damage most often caused by taxpayer-subsidized cattle grazing the same limited forage on the high-desert range at much higher numbers. Among other things, they said in a lawsuit filed July 26, the roundup is illegally based on an outdated environmental review that fails to reflect current conditions on the range. They said it also ignores evidence the herds are still in the midst of foaling season when the use of helicopters is largely prohibited. Democratic U.S. Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada is pushing legislation in Congress to outlaw the use of helicopters altogether. James D. Watts Jr. Tulsa World Scene Writer Follow James D. Watts Jr. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Mark Twain once wrote that he could understand why people would want to enjoy the company of cats for a short period of time, and that he has devised for himself the perfect way to do it. Twain said that, when he wanted to enjoy the society of cats while on vacation, he would rent cats by the month for the summer, and return them to their good homes at the end of it. That is sort of the idea behind the concept of the cat cafe, a business where people can spend time interacting with or being pointedly ignored by any number of friendly felines for an hour or so. Cat cafes originated in Taiwan in the late 1990s but really became a phenomenon in Japan, especially in heavily populated urban areas, where pet ownership is at best problematic. Today, cat cafes can be found all over the world with Oklahoma being a notable exception. That is something Michaela and Adam Fitzpatrick set out to remedy earlier this year, when the couple opened Dont Stress Meowt, 1900 Linwood Blvd. in Oklahoma City. And the response has been such that a second location, this time in Tulsa, is already in the works. Weve only been open for about three months, and weve been booked pretty solidly from the start, Adam said. Its to the point where people have to take what, in my opinion, is an uncomfortable amount of advance planning to visit us. But that doesnt seem to be a problem for a lot of people. Dont Stress Meowt has anywhere from 15 to 25 cats in residence, who are able to roam freely between the Cat Lounge, where up to eight visitors at a time may share the cats space for an hour, and a more private place to which the cats can escape when theyve had enough of the human touch. The Cat Lounge is outfitted with furniture designed for relaxing, as well as apparatuses useful for scratching, climbing and perching, toys to bat about, and vending machines that can dispense special treats to share with the pawed populace. Cost for a one-hour stay amongst the various members of the Felidae family is $15. A portion of the proceeds from these fees is donated to local nonprofit organizations, such as Read to OKC, the literacy program of Oklahoma City Public Schools, and ReMerge, which helps women who have been through the justice system get re-established in society and with their families. We want this to be a platform to give back to the community and maybe make a difference in peoples lives, Adam said. Like many cat cafes in the United States, the cats at Dont Stress Meowt come from a rescue agency, Safe Haven Animal Rescue, an Oklahoma City nonprofit dedicated to finding homes for homeless and abandoned animals. So far, weve had about 60 cats come through the cafe, said Michaela Fitzpatrick. And weve been able to help 43 cats find permanent homes. While the Cat Lounge may be the obvious draw for ailurophiles, the Fitzpatricks wanted to make sure that the cafe aspect of Dont Stress Meowt cat cafe was treated with the same attention to detail. When we decided to do this, we went to a lot of cat cafes around the country, both to get ideas for what works and more importantly, for what doesnt work, Adam said. In a lot of these places, maybe you can get a can of soda or a cup of coffee from a machine. We made the decision that this was going to be a full-service coffee shop as well, and I think were on a par with the best coffee houses in town. The coffee shop portion of Dont Stress Meowt, which also offers baked goods and sandwiches supplied by a local vegan restaurant, requires no reservations. Because of the glass wall that separates it from the Cat Lounge, coffee shop patrons can vicariously enjoy watching the cats going about their business in the lounge if they wish, or simply attend to the usual coffee shop activities of enjoying beverages and fiddling with electronic devices. Adam Fitzpatrick said one aspect about Dont Stress Meowt that he is personally most pleased with is the fact that it doesnt... well... smell like a cat cafe. People think its magic, he said, laughing. But theres a lot of thought that went into it. My job is as a mechanical engineering manager for an architecture and engineering firm, and Im responsible for building codes and HVAC design and indoor air quality. So much of what we did has been significantly over-engineered to avoid the smell problem. Thats truly one of the things that sets us apart. The Fitzpatricks said that, while they had no idea the business would prove to be as successful as it has, they had considered expanding to additional locations as they created their business model. We also knew that Tulsa was the other logical place for a business such as this, he said. We spent a lot of time designing this business so that everything would be streamlined, to make it as easy as possible for our employees, and also to make it a business model we could easily replicate so if we wanted to expand, it would almost a cut-paste-revise situation. The Fitzpatricks at present have no opening date for the future Tulsa location of Dont Stress Meowt, but they are hoping to find a location along the stretch of 11th Street that is also part of historic Route 66. One place the couple found especially appealing is the 918 Coffee location, at 2446 E. 11th St. They happened upon it some weeks ago when scouting for potential locations, before the owners of the shop announced they were retiring. We talked with the owners, and they came down to Oklahoma City to see what were doing here, Adam said. They are great people, and they seemed interested in what we were doing as a good concept to go into that building. But its still very early in the process, and its very much their decision as to what they want to do with the building. The idea of starting a cat cafe business began almost as a joke, the couple said. Before the pandemic, I came across an offer for round-trip airline tickets to Tokyo and went ahead and bought them and said, Hey, were going to Japan, Adam said. Michaela was really hesitant about it, so the way I convinced her to go was to tell her about Tokyo Disneyland, and then I said, Didnt you say there were cat cafes in Japan? That was how I got her onboard with the idea of the trip. Prior to the trip, the couple visited the South Beach area of Miami, Florida, and happened to notice a sign advertising a cat cafe. We ended up talking with the owner, who mentioned that Oklahoma was something of a cat cafe desert, Adam said. A short time later, we were having dinner with my mother, and this came up, and she said, Well, why dont you start one? And she laughed, like it was just a joke. But I ended up just running with it, and within a week, we had a business plan. Once we put it out on social media, that we were going to do it, things just blew up, and we knew that it was something we had to do, he said. That planned trip to Tokyo, however, never took place, as the COVID-19 pandemic put an end to such trips. But were absolutely going to get to Tokyo, Adam said. Its now more important than ever, because we have our own cat cafe now. And I still want to go to Tokyos Disneyland, Michaela added, laughing. Thats just as important. The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today. Jimmie Tramel Tulsa World Scene Writer Follow Jimmie Tramel Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today The Deer Lady, a fan-favorite supernatural character in the shot-in-Oklahoma series Reservation Dogs, gets an origin story in the third episode of the current and farewell season. Titled Deer Lady, the episode is preceded by a viewer discretion advisory due to images of abuse and abduction. The powerful episode, written by Reservation Dogs co-creator Sterlin Harjo, includes flashbacks to Deer Ladys childhood at an American Indian boarding school, where its young residents were forced to assimilate into a culture other than their own. This show is such a modern show, so it doesnt often dip into something historical and this Deer Lady origin story that was so brilliantly written by Sterlin takes us back to real history, Danis Goulet, who directed the episode, said. I think thats probably the power of where it comes from is in knowing that this happened to children, and that this boarding school system didnt just happen to one child at one school. It was an entire system set up across America to eradicate the Indian in the child, which was the goal of the school. We now, of course, know that this is wrong. That it was written as a Deer Lady episode was such a brilliant way into it because shes such a fantastic character. Goulet said Kaniehtiio Horn, who plays Deer Lady, is an incredible actress who can handle so many complex moments from rage to sadness with grace. And what I love about the episode is that we really get a deeper view into who she is as a character, Goulet said. Because she is a fantastical character, its easy to go, Yeah, shes badass. She marches in and does what she wants. But to really peek behind the curtain to see who she is, and why, I think is really amazing. Then to choose to place that in a real historical context is such a brilliant move by Sterlin. In the writing of this episode, its almost like using the Deer Lady as a Trojan horse to talk about things that people find very difficult to talk about. Its an incredibly difficult subject. Its very traumatic, and I also dont think its been contended with in the U.S. enough. In 2022, the U.S. Department of the Interior released a report on the abuses children endured in the federal Indian boarding school system (408 schools in 37 states or territories) from 1819 to 1969. The investigation, which identified marked and unmarked burial sites at 50-plus schools, determined the federal Indian boarding school system used systematic militarized and identity-alteration tactics in an attempt to assimilate American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children through education and measures like assigning different names, cutting residents hair and discouraging/preventing the use of Native languages, religions and cultural practices. Goulet, asked what she hopes or thinks the reaction to the Deer Lady origin episode will be, said, Well, I know its going to be emotional. I know it might be tough for people. We had to ask ourselves so many questions about how much to show and how much to hold back. But I think if people are not familiar with this history, I really do hope that it leads to more understanding about what happened. Continuing, Goulet said Reservation Dogs is a groundbreaking series that shows Indigenous people as complex characters and, in a way, you shouldnt have to celebrate that. But the episode will help viewers sink into a deeper understanding of the violence inflicted on Indigenous people. And whats so important is the Deer Lady as a character has so much agency, in spite of the fact that this has happened to her, Goulet said. Shes just got so much power. And I think its important for people to be affected by seeing that. I would hope that any human being would watch that and feel something and, by feeling that, they would have a deeper understanding of what Indigenous people have been through in this country and what it means to take children away from their families. Goulet said the child actors who portray the boarding school residents were wonderful. And they were speaking in Kiowa, which is an endangered language, she said. So not only did they have to perform and do action and show emotion, they had to speak lines in a language that they didnt know that very few people speak. And so to bring that kind of specificity and to bring the Kiowa language to the screen, when it was the boarding schools that had the agenda to take that language away, it was incredibly emotional for those of us shooting it. Kevin Canfield Tulsa World Staff Writer Follow Kevin Canfield Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Related content Coverage of State Superintendent Ryan Walters Mayor G.T. Bynum met with State Superintendent Ryan Walters at City Hall on Wednesday to discuss Tulsa Public Schools. Bynum said Walters did not share any definite recommendations he plans to make regarding Tulsa Public Schools accreditation. He was very generous with his time on short notice and candidly answered all of my questions, Bynum said. Based on my discussion with him today, I will be visiting again with TPS leadership soon. Bynum said he had called Walters to see if there was a time they could meet in Oklahoma City and was told Walters would be in Tulsa on Wednesday. And (he) offered to meet with me today, so we did, Bynum said. As he was entering City Hall late Wednesday afternoon, Walters told the Tulsa World he was going inside to discuss Tulsa Public Schools but declined to say with whom. After the meeting, neither Bynum nor Walters provided details of what they discussed. But in an interview with the Tulsa World on Monday, Bynum said he would like to see the discussion surrounding Tulsa Public Schools accreditation status move beyond personalities and instead focus on what can be done to ensure that Tulsas children are getting the best education possible. He suspects that might be an unpopular opinion, but he said less memes, more talk on educational strategy would be helpful. I think there is a great disservice being done right now by dumbing this down into some sort of Dr. (Deborah) Gist versus Superintendent (Ryan) Walters contest, Bynum said. The important thing here is: Are kids in Tulsa schools getting the best education possible? Period. And that is all I care about. And the other probably unpopular opinion with probably both folks who would be in those camps is, in talking with them (Gist and Walters), I think they both want Tulsa schools to be doing better. I think they probably have different ideas on how we achieve that, but I really do think both of them want kids in Tulsa schools to be getting a better education. Gist is superintendent of Tulsa Public Schools, hired by the locally elected school board. Walters is state superintendent of public instruction, elected in Novembers general election. Walters is expected to make his recommendation regarding TPSs accreditation to the rest of the State Board of Education on Aug. 24, a week after TPS students return to their classrooms. School system officials have been advised that the states accreditation office is recommending that the district as a whole be accredited with two deficiencies for the coming school year. One deficiency would be due to the late submission of a report. The other, referred to as lack of internal controls, is tied to a self-reported embezzlement case involving a now-former TPS administrators handling of $364,000 in vendor contracts, which is still under investigation by federal law enforcement officials. Citing what he claims has been poor management and consistently low academic outcomes for Tulsa Public Schools students, Walters has said he may not go with the accreditation office recommendation and is leaving all options on the table, including not accrediting TPS and allowing the Oklahoma State Department of Education to take it over. Bynum said he shares Tulsans concerns about what that could mean for the community. My point is: I hear way too much about Deborah Gist is the woke superintendent who has driven the bus into the ditch, and Ryan Walters is the right-wing state superintendent who wants to take everything over and we have to defend Tulsa Public Schools, and do you stand with Tulsa Public Schools? Bynum said. And I think that is personalizing this in a way that is not productive. Gist clearly has a strategy in mind on how to improve outcomes. Like thats what she was nationally famous for when she was hired, Bynum continued. And he (Walters) clearly has some strategy in mind on how we do those. All Im saying is: I would love for the discussion more to be about that and what the different philosophies are around improving education in Tulsa rather than having it be this battle of personalities, which I dont think is relevant. Bynum said his hope is that Tulsans can get a better understanding of what those visions for the district are rather than the latest meme about Dr. Gist or Superintendent Walters that you saw on social media. My interest is in what is his plan for that and what is TPS administration plan for that, Bynum said. My hope is that then the citizens of Tulsa can get a better grasp of what those two visions are. On Tuesday, Gist said TPS has received no guidance from Walters regarding how the school district should address his concerns. The 2022-23 school year was the first year of a five-year plan adopted by the Tulsa school board after a series of community meetings to solicit feedback about educational priorities. Although its goals do include increasing students reading test scores, the plans measuring stick is not the Oklahoma State Testing Program, which is administered annually to students in grades three through eight. Instead, it uses two other exams: MAP and ACCESS 2.0. Used by more than 9,500 school districts nationwide, MAP is administered three times per year to students in kindergarten through eighth grade. With multilingual students accounting for about one-third of the districts total enrollment, ACCESS 2.0 is administered annually to assess language proficiency among English language learners. Asked Monday whether he would push back if Walters recommendation is that the state take over Tulsa Public Schools, Bynum said he wants to understand what the state superintendent thinks that would achieve. To those who would criticize him for not being more outspoken about the issue, the mayor said he is taking the same approach he has in other disputes involving officials in other governments, which is: I think Im a more effective advocate if the people that I am trying to advocate to arent reading about my quotes about them in the paper or on the internet and that I can be more effective and more open minded from both vantage points if Im just keeping the communication direct with each side, Bynum said. And I do think Im in a unique position, because Im pretty confident Im one of the few people in the state who is on good speaking terms with both Dr. Gist and Superintendent Walters. Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton contributed to this story. Karoline Leonard Tulsa World Staff Writer Follow Karoline Leonard Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Housing Solutions Social Services Hub is celebrating two years in operation at Iron Gate and reports having helped more than 3,300 Tulsans since its opening in 2021. The Social Services Hub at Iron Gate, operated by Housing Solutions Landlord Tenant Resource Center, offers resources, education and assistance to people facing housing instability or eviction. The hub also attempts to improve dialogue among tenants and landlords. We really just want to offer resources and education for landlords and tenants at our hub and through the resource center, said James Reynolds, who was recently promoted to director of the Landlord Tenant Resource Center. Housing Solutions is a nonprofit organization with the goal of ending homelessness in Tulsa. It is also the lead agency in Tulsa County for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development-funded Continuum of Care Program. At its Social Services Hub at Iron Gate, tenants and landlords can receive legal referrals, assistance, guidance and support services, Reynolds explained. He said the hub saw 980 unique individuals for the first time in May and 858 unique individuals in June. He said numbers usually rise as seasons change. The hub, a joint collaboration among Housing Solutions, Restore Hope Ministries, Legal Aid Services of Oklahoma, Iron Gate and Tulsa County District Court, served 2,912 people in its second year alone and a total of 3,319 people since its opening in 2021, according to a press release from the office. A Way Home For Tulsa, the name of the local Continuum of Care program, is made up of these organizations and more. Reynolds explained that the Social Services Hubs coordination with the agencies makes it successful. These organizations do amazing work throughout the city, Reynolds said. Because of them weve been able to help more people stave off eviction or housing instability. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a moratorium was placed on evictions. Reynolds said that when the moratorium was lifted in 2021, organizations such as Housing Solutions saw an increase in homelessness, but he said the number of evictions hasnt risen to pre-COVID levels yet. A Way Home For Tulsa found an 8.6% increase in homelessness from 2021 to 2023 in its Point-in-Time Count data collection. It also found a nearly 34% increase in family homelessness since 2020. Of the homeless people surveyed, help obtaining housing was their top need. Reynolds said life hurdles often bring new people needing assistance to the hub. These life hurdles have included property damage from the Fathers Day windstorm in June, injuries, car maintenance and more. He said people often have to pick between something else and paying rent, which leads to housing instability. We have an opportunity to not only stave off evictions but an opportunity to help stabilize housing and help people find that stability and get on a better path, Reynolds said. He said landlords can request that the resource center visit their apartment complexes to educate tenants or offer assistance to tenants or landlords throughout the eviction process. Reynolds said the resource center has people, including a landlord liaison, who help open dialogue with landlords. Reynolds said evictions and rent are tricky for all parties, so having somebody to understand a landlords side can help all parties involved. Our program is a unique and most-equitable program. Not just on a local or state level but nationally, Reynolds said. Its a game changer. Social Services Hub The Social Services Hub is open from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays at Iron Gate, 501 W. Archer St., across the street from where the Tulsa County eviction docket is heard. The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today. Thanh Cong (TC) Group, the assembler and distributor of Hyundai vehicles in Vietnam, will build the Thanh Cong - Viet Hung auto plant in Quang Ninh Province, northern Vietnam at a cost of over VND8.6 trillion (US$365 million). TC Group will contribute roughly VND2.6 trillion ($109 million), or 30 percent, to the project in phases, while the rest will be mobilized from other sources. The Ministry of Industry and Trade recently requested the Ministry of Science and Technology to appraise the technology utilized at the auto plant project, proposed by Thanh Cong Viet Hung Technology Industrial Complex JSC, a subsidiary of TC Group. Thanh Cong Viet Hung is headquartered at Viet Hung Industrial Park, located in the provinces Ha Long City, with its charter capital reaching VND1.736 trillion ($72.9 million). TC Group aims to develop the auto plant project into the Thanh Cong Viet Hung automotive supporting industry complex in the years ahead. In September 2020, the group broke ground on the complex, which was expected to attract many enterprises in the auto ancillary and auto manufacturing industry. The Quang Ninh Economic Zone Authority on September 18, 2020 granted an investment certificate to the Thanh Cong Viet Hung auto plant project, whose construction is scheduled to last until March 2025. The auto manufacturing and assembling plant, once being put into operation, could churn out 120,000 cars per year and will become the first facility to assemble and make Skoda Auto-branded cars in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. According to a deal signed between the groups TC Motor and the Czech automobile manufacturer Skoda Auto, the plant will launch two CKD (completely knocked-down) car models, namely Kushaq and Slavia, in 2025, paving the way for Skoda products made in Vietnam to be shipped to ASEAN markets. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Deputy National Assembly Speaker Chung Jin-Suk speaks to reporters after the court sentenced him to six months in prison for defaming the honor of the late President Roh Moo-hyun at the Seoul Central District Court, Aug. 10. Yonhap Deputy National Assembly Speaker Chung Jin-Suk was convicted Thursday of defaming the honor of late President Roh Moo-hyun with his derisive remarks about Roh's tragic death. Judge Park Byung-gon of the Seoul Central District Court sentenced the fifth-term lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party to six months in prison, a ruling heavier than the prosecution's demand for a fine of 5 million won ($3,793). He was not taken into custody immediately. If the sentence is confirmed by the Supreme Court, Chung will lose his parliamentary seat. The charges against Chung stem from a post he made on his Facebook account in September 2017, commenting on Roh's suicide death in May 2009 amid a corruption investigation. Chung claimed Roh's wife, Kwon Yang-sook, and their son had received millions of dollars in bribes from a businessman close to the president. He further claimed that following an investigation by the prosecution into the allegations, a domestic dispute ensued between the couple and she left their home. On that night, Roh, left alone, took his own life, Chung wrote. Following his allegations, the bereaved family of Roh filed a complaint against Chung with the prosecution. "The post constituted a malicious or very reckless attack and cannot be protected in the name of freedom of expression given its context and circumstances," the judge said. He noted that the bereaved family clearly expressed their desire for severe punishment against the defendant. The judge also criticized the prosecution for investigating the case at an unreasonably slow pace. Last September, five years after the complaint was lodged, the prosecution requested the court to impose a summary fine of 5 million won. But the court opted to bring the case to formal trial. (Yonhap) WINTZENHEIM, France -- Eleven people died in a fire that tore through a holiday home for disabled people in eastern France in the early hours of Wednesday, officials said. The blaze broke out around 6:30 am (0430 GMT), as the holiday-goers with learning disabilities and their carers were still asleep in the two-storey building in the town of Wintzenheim, about 70 km (50 miles) south of Strasbourg. "I can confirm there are 11 victims," deputy prosecutor Nathalie Kielwasser told reporters as Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and other officials visited the site of the fire. A firefighter told Borne, who described the blaze as a "shocking tragedy," that eight bodies had been found and three more were thought to have been located under the rubble. Local media said the dead were 10 people with disabilities and one carer. A neighbour, Nathalie, told BFM TV that she heard people scream and saw huge clouds of smoke from her window. "Everything happened very quickly," an unnamed witness told France 3 TV. The remnants of a holiday home is seen in eastern France near Colmar where disabled people were killed as fire broke out during their summer holidays in Wintzenheim, August 9, 2023. Photo: Reuters The holiday home was rented for the summer by two charities that take care of people with learning disabilities, with each group occupying one floor of the house. Twenty-eight people were staying there, 17 of whom managed to escape the fire. "A few of the people who were (sleeping) on the first floor managed to escape, but most of those who got out were on the ground floor," Lieutenant Colonel Philippe Hauwiller, who headed the rescue operations, told reporters earlier in the day. The fire destroyed about two-thirds of the building. An investigation was underway to determine the cause of the blaze. Kielwasser told reporters it had likely been a low-level fire that had burnt for a while before growing bigger and tearing the house down. Those missing were likely to have been aged between 25 and 50, Wintzenheim deputy mayor Daniel Leroy told BFM TV. French police officers are seen the site of a holiday home in eastern France near Colmar where disabled people were killed as fire broke out during their summer holidays in Wintzenheim, France, August 9, 2023. Photo: Reuters The remnants of a holiday home is seen in eastern France near Colmar where disabled people were killed as fire broke out during their summer holidays in Wintzenheim, France, August 9, 2023. Photo: Reuters A dam on a Norwegian river partly collapsed after heavy rain on Wednesday, sending water gushing through a wide gap in the structure, and the prime minister said the country should be prepared for more floods in the coming days. The Braskereidfoss power dam on the Glomma River, Norway's biggest waterway, was unable to open its hatches after its control room flooded. Norway has evacuated more than 3,000 people this week as rivers swelled to their highest levels in at least 50 years, and homes and businesses have been submerged or swept away by landslides. Main roads were closed and train services suspended across wide parts of southern Norway as rivers breached their banks, and authorities warned of more flooding to come in the days ahead as the water moves towards lower-lying coastal regions. "The next two to three days will be absolutely critical and we'll be mobilising around the clock," Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a press conference. River flows normalise Water levels at the Braskereidfoss dam later subsided, flowing in a controlled manner and avoiding major downstream flooding, a police spokesperson said. Police earlier considered blowing one of the 45-year-old dam's hatches to help relieve the water pressure, but decided not to as the explosion would have been difficult to control. A railway bridge collapsed on the line connecting Oslo to Trondheim, Norway's third-largest city, but there was no danger as trains had been suspended since Monday. Innlandet county, one of Norway's worst-hit areas, said many people were isolated by the floods and that first responders may not be able to reach those in need. "We're in an emergency situation of national dimensions," Innlandet Mayor Aud Hove said in a statement. The government on Wednesday mobilised more helicopters to take part in evacuations, the ministry of justice and public security said. Strong winds, intense rain and landslides hit different parts of the Nordic region in recent days, knocking out power lines in Finland, flooding villages in Norway and Sweden and bringing public transport to a standstill in hard-hit areas. On Monday, a Swedish train derailed when a railway embankment was washed away by floods, injuring three people. Authorities in Norway and Sweden maintained red alerts, their most severe flood warnings, for several regions on Wednesday. Approximately 21,000 ampoules of intravenous Phenobarbital, a drug for severe hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) treatment, have arrived in Vietnam after a supply interruption, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health informed on Wednesday. The shipment is expected to supplement currently available drugs for the treatment of severe HFMD cases at three pediatric hospitals and the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases. The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health had earlier received 1,000 vials of Gamma-globulin for the treatment of HFMD. Phenobarbital supplies were disrupted at the end of 2020, causing difficulties in HFMD treatment. A professional council created by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health had earlier reached a consensus on choosing other available drugs, including Diazepam and Midazolam, as temporary substitutes while waiting for domestic pharmaceutical enterprises to find supplies from other countries. The department also proposed that the Ministry of Healths Drug Administration of Vietnam provide support in seeking suppliers to meet hospital demands. The Drug Administration of Vietnam on June 22, 2020 announced that Daihan Pharm Co. Ltd. would stop producing Danotan, whose main ingredient is Phenobarbital, and requested that pharmaceutical importers contact foreign partners to secure alternatives. On February 1 this year, Central Pharmaceutical Company No. 1 reported that it had found a supplier of Phenobarbital. The company was later granted a license to import 21,000 ampoules of intravenous Phenobarbital from Bangladeshs Incepta Pharmaceutical Company. However, it quite a while to complete import procedures as Phenobarbital is a psychotropic drug which requires special control and an export license from the exporting countrys competent authority. As a result, the batch was not shipped to Vietnam until July 31. The Drug Administration of Vietnam has also licensed Daihan Pharm Co. Ltd. to import materials for the production of intravenous Phenobarbital. Ho Chi Minh City recorded more than 7,800 HFMD cases from January 1 to July 14, including 2,370 patients who were treated at hospitals and 212 critical cases, according to a report the municipal Department of Health sent to the Ministry of Health. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) will soon roll out iCute a self-developed shared check-in service for passengers flying with different airlines in an attempt to equalize waiting lines at airports throughout Vietnam. With iCute, passengers flying with several different airlines will only need to check in at the nearest counter instead of visiting their airlines designated check-in area, an ACV representative told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. The iCute system will not only help airlines and airport operators make the best use of airport infrastructure facilities, but it will also enable them to improve the quality of ground services and create equality among passengers of different airlines so that they can enjoy similar check-in experiences, the ACV representative elaborated. An official from a ground service provider at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City said each airline operating at the airport is in charge of a check-in area to serve their passengers, but their opening hours vary, which can lead to big gaps in waiting times. Check-in counters served by Vietnamese carrier Pacific Airlines, for example, are often very busy between 7:00 am and 9:00 am, while local competitor Vietravel Airlines rarely uses all of its counters in that same time slot due to a low number of flights. Consequently, many Vietravel Airlines counters stay closed while Pacific Airlines counters are overwhelmed. In addition, given the fact that every carrier uses its own check-in system, if a system encounters problems at a certain time, passengers cannot use check-in service. Last year, a computer system linking a local carrier with Tan Son Nhat became congested, resulting in a host of flight delays and leaving thousands of passengers stranded at the airport. It took around four days to address the incident. Besides the launch of iCute, the ACV is facilitating other applications of technology at Vietnamese airports. Vu The Phiet, general director of ACV, said the technology upgrade at airports nationwide will focus on digital infrastructure development and data digitization. Some of the new applications set to roll out include shared bag drop counters, eGates, and Self Boarding Gate, Phiet shared. The application of technology in the local aviation industry is already proving to be a boost to the local airline industry. Huynh Chau, a resident in Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City, shared that traveling by air is much more convenient thanks to technology, as passengers only need a smartphone to conduct flight procedures and do not need to queue to get a boarding pass at check-in counters. Hang, another air passenger, also praised the application of technology at local airports, but added that she had yet to enjoy a seamless airport experience. Passengers still need to line up at airport security checkpoints and the currently in-use facial recognition technology employed at airports is still not popular, Hang said. A leader of a local carrier said digital transformation will cost airlines a small fortune but it will bring about benefits in the long run. Therefore, local airlines are facilitating efforts to roll out more technology solutions to better serve their customers, despite facing obstacles due to inadequate infrastructure facilities at different airports. A representative of the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines told Tuoi Tre that it aims to become a digital airline. Aside from maintaining safe and stable operations, Vietnam Airlines has ramped up the application of technology to ground and air services. Vietnamese low-cost carrier Vietjet said it is also expanding online check-in services at domestic airports. In related news, ACV previously chose Cat Bi Airport in the northern port city of Hai Phong to upgrade the entire technology system, making Cat Bi the first airport to pilot facial recognition technology at the airport security checkpoint. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Authorities of southeastern Vietnamese localities, including Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Binh Duong Province, Binh Phuoc Province, Dong Nai Province, and Tay Ninh Province, have thrown their support behind the study and planning of a road along the Saigon River which would connect the southern metropolis with the other provinces in the region. The provinces reached a consensus on studying the development of a corridor along the Saigon River to comprehensively connect Ho Chi Minh City with neighboring Binh Duong Province and other southeastern localities at a meeting last month. The road planning would be important in leveraging the potential of the riverside, port, tourism, and waterway economies, as well as protecting the environment and ensuring water supply in such localities. The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Architecture was asked to coordinate with consulting units and other localities to study the planning for Saigon riverside areas to connect technical infrastructure, including bridges, roads, inland waterway ports, and cargo terminals to other southeastern provinces. It will later submit a proposal to the municipal Peoples Committee as part of an update to the citys development planning until 2040 with a vision to 2060. The department will also consult the Departments of Construction of regional provinces over the Saigon riverside area planning this month. The agency is currently developing a project to boost the night-time economy along the Saigon River. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Its been 14 years since Nine screened Missing Persons Unit, a factual series narrated by Mike Munro, in which cameras followed NSW police investigating state cases. In revisiting the subject for Missing Persons Investigation, narrated by actor Caroline Craig, the cases will now span NSW, Victoria, Queensland, WA, Northern Territory and Tasmania with access through the National Missing Persons Coordination Centre at the AFP. Executive Producer Laurie Critchley of Southern Pictures (The Mosque Next Door, The Swap, Miriam Margolyes: Australia Unmasked, Magdas Big National Health Check) hopes the new 8 part series will put viewers at the centre of an investigation as it unfolds. You can never assume what is happening in any one investigation Our motivation in this, and we talked about it a lot with police and with the NMPCC, was to follow investigators in real time so that we had the experience of understanding what it is like, literally minute by minute, hour by hour, she tells TV Tonight. Every missing persons case begins in a similar way with a report of a missing person and a phone call. From that point, it can have immensely different outcomes and none of those are predictable. You can never assume what is happening in any one investigation. We started talking about the issue of missing persons, and how good it would be to show the breadth of work that happens and take people through the experience of missing persons and raise, I suppose, a sort of public literacy -for want of a better word- giving people an understanding, because it wasnt very front of mind. Filmed over an 18 month period, the series draws upon witness interviews, CCTV footage, as police work with helicopters, drones, divers, tracker dogs, technology andforensic analysis. It also captures how geography plays a role from case to case. Landscape, especially in a country like Australia, and time are absolute factors in these cases. The longer time goes on the harder it becomes to find someone or to find someone well, Critchley continues. I have enormous respect for families and empathy, because when a loved one is missing time your world stops. But for you that clock is always ticking, waiting for some kind of answer a resolution to know whats become of your loved one. We work with the family to talk to them at the time, where theyre most comfortable Each episode profiles two contrasting cases. The diversity is enormous. It goes from missing persons that have evolved over 12 hours, or a day to people whove been missing for over 20 years, she reflects. We work with the family to talk to them at the time, where theyre most comfortable to talk to us, but its always within the process of the investigation. But what was important to us was the factual accuracy of the police process and weve worked really closely with police to make sure were very factually accurate in the process that unfolds. And often not having all the answers. From the point of view of families, its very traumatic Critchley also credits Nine with giving producers time to film their complex cases. Its a very detailed show, and particularly from the point of view of families, its very traumatic. Going missing is not a crime but sometimes these investigations take time to play out. Sometimes theyre never resolved, she observes. Nine were extraordinary in giving us the scope, to to engage at all those levels. Editorially, theyve been amazing. Tina Diaz is a fantastic commissioning editor and her feedback and (Head of Content) Adrian Swifts feedback was incredibly helpful, because theyre very complex stories, so not overloading people with information, when youre in the detail of the procedure, and working through it means you need a really good sounding board. And Nine have been a terrific sounding board. In episode one a woman vanishes in broad daylight in Sydney, leaving all her possessions behind. Detectives must rely on eyewitnesses to find her. Shes initially reported because of a bag found with her belongings, and it escalates into a Missing Persons Investigation. There are concerns for the young womans welfare, but the case evolves in a very unexpected way, she explains. The second case is a gentleman who goes missing in the middle of a storm in Melbourne, near a flooded river. Police and emergency services are stretched to the limits and theres a real question of where he could be. The search goes all night. Missing persons is something that touches so many of us Missing persons is something that touches so many of us, and most of us have been touched in one way or another by some experience of a loved one going missing. It might only be for a few hours, but it could be longer. We as a community can really play a part. Its not a crime to go missing. But police investigators do rely on the public to come forward with information. Missing Persons Investigation screens 8:45pm Monday on Nine. TCN News An 11-member fact-finding team from the Association for the Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) visited communal violence-affected areas in Haryana to present the ground realities and prevailing tensions in the areas, as well as the roles of law enforcement and the administration. Support TwoCircles The fact-finding team recorded statements of responsible residents working in the area as well as the accounts of affected families of persons arrested by the Nuh Police. Background of the Communal Clashes On July 31, communal violence erupted in Haryanas Nuh district after a Hindu procession organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal (BD), both affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, turned violent. Following the violence, many instances of anti-Muslim violence in response to the Nuh clashes were reported from different parts of Haryana like Sohna, Gurugram, Palwal, Bahadurgarh, and Faridabad. Six people were killed in the violence, including two cops. A mob stabbed to death a 22-year-old Muslim cleric in Gurugram, which is home to several multinational corporations. Reports of hate assemblies calling for boycotts and attacks against Muslims were reported from different cities. Administrative Action And Inaction During Violence According to the fact-finding report, despite being warned of potential unrest, including hate speeches and provocative videos shared by Monu Manesar and Bittu Bajrangi, the administration failed to take timely and appropriate action. These warnings went unheeded, which contributed to the escalation of violence. The polices inability to maintain law and order was evident, as shown by the rescue of ACJM Anjali Jain and advocates by locals during the violence. This exposed the administrations failure to ensure the safety of citizens and protect public property, said the report. Violence on July 31 was premeditated and planned, with evidence communicated to the administration prior to the outbreak. The medias inflammatory content further fueled the hostile environment, the report said. According to the report, multiple witnesses pointed to police complicity in the violence. Videos and accounts suggested that police actively participated in the vandalism, destruction, and intimidation during the riots, undermining the trust citizens have in law enforcement, it said. Targeted Arrests of Muslims in Nuh It claimed that police arrests were biased, targeting Muslims while ignoring any potential involvement by Hindus. This skewed approach to arrests further deepened the divide between communities, the report stated. Meoli is one such Nuh village where locals have complained about a brutal police crackdown. On August 1, nine men from one family were picked up at 5 a.m. Chaudhary Shfaat, a 77-year-old landlord, alleges that police are making arbitrary arrests in his village. The arrested individuals are not being allowed to see their families. Due to fear, the families of victims didnt report their grievances, said the report. Jaan Mohammad shared testimony about his son Shahrukh, a 30-year-old guard who was arrested on 1 August. The Nuh Police Station invoked various sections of the Indian Penal Code, as well as provisions of the Arms Act, against Shahrukh. Similar detentions and arrests have occurred in the neighborhood of Meoli, in villages such as Khedi and Murad Bas, which are similarly desolate. The widespread dread among inhabitants, particularly Muslims, drove many to seek refuge in mountains and fields, reflecting a sense of insecurity and distrust in the authorities. The fact-finding team also spoke with Chaudhary Aftab Ahmed, the local Congress MLA in Nuh. He stated that previously, people did not come forward, but now people have started to come forward with complaints. They have started submitting complaint applications, but they still havent been converted into FIRs yet. Their intention is to approach the court under Section 156(3). Regarding questions about Monu Manesar, he stated that the Haryana government does not want that he is arrested, it said. Targeted Demolition of Muslim Properties in Nuh Following the violence, properties belonging to the Muslim minority were demolished under the pretext of lacking proper documentation. The violence and subsequent actions by the administration led to significant economic losses for the community. Many businesses were destroyed, affecting livelihoods, especially among the Muslim population. The authorities justified the demolition by claiming that the properties lacked sufficient documentation, an assertion that Advocate Hussain strongly refuted. Deceptive backdated notices left residents with no chance to defend their rights, leading to the ruthless destruction of their homes and businesses within mere hours. The notices are written in backdate and then stuck to the gates of properties and the properties are being demolished in an hour or so afterward, he said in the report. Officials allege that demolished structures were built on government land and were used by the suspects during the recent communal clashes which up until now has not been proven to have any basis, it added. Regarding the killing of the 22-year-old Muslim cleric, the fact-finding team spoke with the Commissioner of Police in Gurugram on 2 August, who informed them that 55 people had been arrested. She also mentioned that appropriate actions will be taken against those who are posting on social media. The full report can be accessed here: https://qrco.de/beEM6B SWNS A young woman has proudly spoken of her amazing tattoo which covers her entire back and bum - but is completely invisible from the front. Alexandra Cornish, 24, opted to get a unique back tattoo - which spans her entire back, bum and the back of her thighs. A tattoo artist herself, Alexandra, from Hillarys, Perth, Australia, took inspiration from Japanese 'bodysuit' tattoos. She got the 3,000 ink done over NINE sessions in a year, taking more than 50 hours to complete in total. The tattoo centres around Princess Wakana and also features flowers, skulls and spiders on a spider web background. She loves seeing people's reactions when they see her from the front, with no visible ink - then she turns around. Alexandra, who is currently living with her partner in Singapore, said: "I never looked at myself originally with a big back piece. "But traditionally with Japanese back pieces, they're supposed to tell the story of the rest of your body and all images link to the back and I liked that. "When people say the back is quite painful, I didnt find it too bad. My waist and tailbone hurt though. "Tattoos like this are designed to be hidden under clothes - and it's good I can have it hidden. "I love having it on display though. I love the contrast of not looking tattooed from the front, but having a heavy back piece. "I do notice people staring when I'm out - but I take no offence. "I put 50 hours into it - I don't care who looks!" Alexandra had two tattoos but nothing on her back when she first reached out to tattoo artist Dan Molloy, based in Perth, Western Australia in January 2021. She already knew him from a previous tattoo he did for her and she feels he is "one of the best artists" in Australia. Initially unsure what she wanted, they came up with an idea around Princess Wakana, the beautiful daughter of Lord Otomo no Sorin, a Japanese feudal lord of the 1500s. She studied magic and had a special connection with spiders which taught her magic spells, according to Japanese art from the 1800s. Alexandra said: "I told Dan I wanted a woman that wasnt too feminine, but nothing too intense, and he suggested Wakana. "Originally I didn't like spiders and I wasn't inclined, but I have always liked magic and fantasy, so I went with it." She explained these back pieces normally only cover the back when done on men because they have broader shoulders. But due to her feminine proportions, it made more sense for the design to stretch lower, and cover her entire bum and the tops of her thighs. Alexandra's first session took place in September 2021. She had to fly to and from Dan's studio Kurikara Fudo Tattoo in Perth from where she was living in Surry Hills, Sydney at the time. The entire tattoo took nine sessions - with some as long as eight hours in one go - and the entire piece took 50 hours to complete. She said: "When people say the back is quite painful, I didnt find it too bad. "Certain parts were better than others. The shoulders, I found so easy. "But I didnt like my waist or ribs. The worst part was the very bottom, my tailbone. "People say the butt is sore but I found that and my thighs ok - I was expecting it to be worse. "The hardest thing was the bruising when travelling for the days after." By August 2022 her back was completed - delayed by travel restrictions in Sydney due to local Covid outbreaks. Since then, she has proudly showed off her unique ink and loves it. While her parents weren't originally big tattoo fans, now they see it as "art" - although not everyone agrees. Alexandra said: "A comment that irks me is 'I like it but I wouldnt get it' - I just dont really care. "It's not on their body! "The way mine is, and where it is a whole design, it looks like art. "Someone else commented that I'm beautiful but the tattoos ruined me. "Someone once asked if I'm worried that men won't be attracted to me - but then why would I be attracted to them? I'm a tattoo artist! "Ten out of ten times someone approaches me, it's about my tattoo - I get it in clubs, the gym, the shop, cafes, everywhere." She said she loves surprising people - who don't expect her to have ink on her back after seeing her from the front. She said: "Personality wise I am friendly and bubbly, I dont have a face where I look like I'll be heavily tattooed. "Its a good contrast. "I still like the look of being heavily tattooed, I love that look, as a tattooer myself. "But for me personally I am not at a point yet where I want that next step. "For now, I'm very content with the 'shock factor'". The UK will experience what has been dubbed as a "brief taste of summer" today, as temperatures push towards 29C. Forecasters believe there will be a 24-hour break from the wet weather across large parts of the UK, with rising temperatures predicted. On Wednesday, the mercury peaked at 25.9C in Yeovilton in Somerset. Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge said: "Thursday is a mostly dry day. There could be a little bit of mist and fog around first thing, particularly across south-western parts of England, but generally sunny spells through the day and mostly dry. "We could get a few showers developing in the afternoon across northern parts of Wales, drifting up across northwest England. The odd rumble of thunder is possible but they are very few and far between. "The big thing is obviously the temperatures. Temperature wise for [Thursday] we are looking at many parts of England, Wales and southern Scotland reaching the mid-20s. "We could see highs of 27C to 28C, possibly 29C somewhere in eastern England. "Midlands or East Midlands. Somewhere around the central parts of the UK is where you could see the highest temperature of a possible 29C." Get the latest weather forecast where you are However, the warm weather is likely to be short-lived, with rain moving eastwards across the country from Thursday night into Friday, with heavier showers in Scotland, the Mr Partridge said. He also predicted Friday would be a mix of "sunshine and showers", with temperatures sat around the low to mid-20Cs, with East Anglia getting the best of the weather. Read more: Slushies should not be given to under-fours, says regulator Food Standards Agency Mr Partridge said: "As we go into weekend we'll slowly see temperatures come back to high teens, low-20Cs through the weekend. So yes, it's short-lived unfortunately, but a brief taste of summer. "The good news is, although this weekend will be a bit cooler than [Thursday], it is still around about average for the time of year. Story continues "There will be showers around, but there will also be a good amount of sunshine, so it's not going to be as bad as previous weekends we have seen recently." The Met Office has issued a yellow rain warning for parts of Northern Ireland this evening, which they say could lead to some localised disruption. The warning is in place from 8pm on Thursday evening until the early hours of Friday morning, impacting central and eastern parts of Northern Ireland. Some Scouts arrive at Myongji University's dormitory in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday, after leaving the campsite of the World Scout Jamboree in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, due to an approaching typhoon. Yonhap By Kim Se-jeong Many Scouts who left the 25th World Scout Jamboree campsite in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, due to a typhoon forecast, found themselves in university dormitories mostly in Seoul and the surrounding capital region as educational institutions accepted the government's request to offer accommodations. But their arrival came as a surprise to some students at the universities who were asked to be hospitable without any prior notice. "We see three to four people arriving in a dorm that is designed for two people. Shower rooms and bathrooms are a disaster," a University of Seoul student was quoted as saying by a local newspaper. "The university accepted the Scouts without consideration of the school's capacity." While more than 3,000 Scouts are scattered among 12 university dormitories in the capital, the University of Seoul is hosting around 500 of them. Myongji University offered male Scouts rooms at a female dormitory building by mistake, enraging female students. "I have no problem with offering help, but the school also must respect existing students," one student was quoted as saying by another newspaper. The biggest complaint was about food as the universities prioritized school cafeterias to serve the Scouts first. "University cafeterias are very important infrastructure and many students rely on them for food. If it closes down so suddenly, how can students survive?" another University of Seoul student wrote on the university's online platform. University of Seoul President Won Yong-kul sent a text message to all students asking for their understanding. "With all eyes on the World Scout Jamboree, the help was needed to finish the event safely. The University of Seoul responded to the call for help and this can mean inconveniences for some students. We would like to ask for your understanding." Yet, his message was criticized for being superficial. "The school only wants us to endure and stay quiet," one student was quoted as saying. A Ukrainian special-forces soldier in Kharkiv, Russia, in March 2022, not long after Russia's full-scale invasion began. FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images Ukrainian forces launched a raid across the Dnipro River under cover of darkness. They killed and captured dozens of Russians, reports said. It's a rare breakthrough for Ukraine in its grueling counteroffensive to drive back Russia. Ukrainian special forces broke through Russian defensive lines, capturing or killing dozens of enemy soldiers in a daring raid across the Dnipro river, reports said. Russian military bloggers, who've provided valuable information about front-line battles, said that seven boats, each carrying six to seven soldiers, landed in a village just east of Kherson city, taking Russian forces by surprise, the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. The military bloggers' posts said the Ukrainians managed to smash through Russian defenses, killing or capturing dozens of Russians. The Dnipro is the main watercourse in Ukraine, dividing the country into east and west. For about 150 miles in the south, the river forms the dividing line between Ukrainian and Russian territory. Crossing points have repeatedly come under attack, and trying to get across the river is a risky move that exposes troops to enemy fire. The Dnipro river flows through Kyiv, the capital, heading southeast toward the city of Dnipro, before curving back round to meet the Black Sea in the southwest. Google maps Along much of its course, the river forms part of the front line in south Ukraine, with Ukraine holding one bank of the river near Kherson and Russia the other. It has been the site of intense fighting in recent weeks, as Ukrainian forces seek to break through Russian lines as part of their counteroffensive. In the wake of the raid, conflicting accounts emerged of whether it had been successful. Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-backed head of government in occupied parts of the Kherson region, said the raid was forced back. But The Institute for the Study of War, an influential US think tank, said it had seen evidence that Ukraine had indeed inflicted damage on Russian forces. "The majority of prominent Russian milbloggers claimed that Ukrainian forces managed to utilize tactical surprise and land on the east bank before engaging Russian forces in small arms exchanges," it said. Story continues The ISW said Ukrainian forces appeared to have taken advantage of a Russian troop rotation when experienced soldiers were moved out from Kherson to reinforce Russian lines elsewhere. Ukraine has made incremental but slow progress in its bid to push back Russian forces across the front line, with Russian positions heavily defended and protected by miles of landmines. Read the original article on Business Insider BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Irish police are aware of a claim that militant groups are in possession of details of officers it accidentally shared publicly this week, and have not yet been able to verify if the claim is correct, the region's police chief said on Thursday. The surnames, initials, work location and department of all officers were made public for over two hours on Tuesday, after they were included in error in response to a freedom of information request, and published on the requester's website. The accidental data leak is hugely sensitive in Northern Ireland, where officers are still sporadically targeted by dissident groups in bomb and gun attacks, despite a 1998 peace deal largely ending three decades of sectarian violence. "We are now aware that dissident republicans claim to be in possession of some of this information circulating on WhatsApp," Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable Simon Byrne told a news conference. "We haven't yet been able to verify what the substance is behind that claim or see any of the information that dissident republicans assert that they'd have, but we're keeping this on under review." Byrne said over 500 referrals had been made to an emergency threat assessment group set up on Wednesday, when the PSNI updated personal security advice to its officers. No officers have yet been redeployed or advised to move from their home but Byrne said the PSNI is reassessing whether some specialist officers need to redeployed away from their usual place of work to a new location. Byrne said he had not been asked to resign at a meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board on Thursday, and did not think any senior resignations would help fix what he called an "unprecedented" and "grave" crisis. (Reporting by Amanda Ferguson, writing by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar) Big vacuum: Ben Wallaces departure presents a problem (PA) Have you heard the one about Private Pike and the MoD? It was the nickname given to Gavin Williamson when he was defence secretary in the Theresa May government. Allies of the then-chancellor Philip Hammond briefed the Dads Army jibe to the press in return for the young Williamson allegedly stirring up a backbench rebellion on defence spending. Williamson was pushing for billions more in funding for the armed forces but No 10 and No 11 were unimpressed as they had other plans for the cash. Its precisely this scenario that Rishi Sunak is trying to avoid in the ministerial shake-up he is planning for when MPs return in the autumn. Reshuffles are hard to predict and rarely go to plan just look at all the contradictory speculation that tends to fill the papers in the months leading up to one. But one thing is certain: he needs a new defence secretary. Last month, Ben Wallace pre-announced his resignation saying he would leave the Cabinet at the next reshuffle as part of a phased exit from politics (he is stepping down as an MP at the next election). The appointment is important electorally. The next election will take place against the backdrop of the Ukraine war. If the contest takes place in the autumn October or November the campaign will run in parallel to the US presidential election. Should the Republican nominee perhaps Donald Trump appear to be going cold on providing military support for Ukraine, the backdrop to the UK election could be one in which there is much fear in Europe and beyond about what comes next. Those suddenly posting pictures of themselves with the army are seen to be on manoeuvres That means the party most trusted on defence and Ukraine could have the edge. For the Tories, it is one of the few areas on which the polling is fairly positive. In the latest Ipsos political monitor, responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine was the only policy area where voters thought that Labour would do worse than the Tories. Ten per cent said Labour would do better but 21 per cent said Sir Keir Starmers party would do worse 57 per cent said it would be about the same. One minister questions why Sunak doesnt talk more about defence. Defence should have been in the five priorities, a senior minister says. Its one area where we can lead. Story continues Wallace who also tops the Conservative Home cabinet league table and is a favourite of the Tory grassroots leaves big shoes to fill. Runners and riders lists tend to include Tom Tugendhat, current defence minister James Heappey, Penny Mordaunt and Chief Secretary to the Treasury John Glen. Those suddenly posting pictures of themselves with the army or praising the forces are seen to be on manoeuvres. But what is really going to get someone the plum job is no social media charm offensive but whether they can be trusted to hold the line on spending. During the Tory leadership contest, Sunak refused to pledge big on defence spending. Liz Trusss promise to spend three per cent of GDP on defence by 2030 saw her clinch Wallaces endorsement. But when her premiership blew up and Sunak came in, he watered it down. He has since announced a 5 billion increase in military spending and pledged to boost funding to 2.5 per cent of GDP in the long term. Its also the case that the UKs own military supplies are depleted with much going to Ukraine. Spending was a cause of friction between Wallace and Sunak. It means whoever takes on the role will have tough decisions to make. What government aides want to avoid is someone who chooses to grapple with that rather than make a crusade of their own. It means trust will be valued over charisma. The more charismatic of the contenders include Mordaunt, the current leader of the house who had a brief spell in the Ministry of Defence. She would be a popular appointment with voters and the party but some allies of Sunak remain sceptical of her after she refused to stand aside in the Tory leadership contest attempting (and failing) to take the second contest of last year to the membership. On the opposite end of the scale to Mordaunt is Glen. A long time supporter of Sunak, he is seen as trustworthy and his current role in the Treasury means he is likely to be sympathetic to the strains on the public purse. However, his appointment would lead to allegations of jobs for the boys with one MP warning in advance that it would be underwhelming. Sunak must try to find a middle ground a team player but one who will also make a mark. Those auditioning for the role best leave spending demands at the door. Katy Balls is political editor of the Spectator The UK is reportedly close to rejoining the EU Horizon science funding scheme. Credit: Adobe/Getty/Mark Hall The UK is reportedly close to agreeing a deal to rejoin the EU's Horizon science research programme, in what could be another Brexit climbdown. Britain left the pan-European funding scheme during negotiations over Northern Ireland, despite the country's leading scientists saying it would cause significant damage. It was seen as one of the best reasons for remaining in the EU. The Conservative government had been considering a UK-based alternative to the collaboration scheme known as Pioneer. However now reports in the Times say an announcement about rejoining Horizon could happen as soon as next month after "significant" progress in negotiations. Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the G7 summit. Credit: Stefan Rousseau - WPA Pool/Getty Images It would mark another Brexit U-turn after the government announced that it was keeping the European CE product mark, and post-Brexit food checks have been delayed again. What is Horizon Europe? Horizon Europe is a EU funding programme, which will allocate around 81 billion of grants to scientific projects between 2021 and 2027. It follows the Horizon 2020 programme, which ran from 2014 to 2020 and the UK was a part of. EU member states and Horizon associate members, which Britain could become, contribute the funds which get allocated to individuals or institutions on merit. The aim is to tackle the continent and world's most pressing issues from disease to climate change and energy security. Britain historically received more back in grants than money it paid into the programme, and a report in 2016 found scientific and medical research was significantly propped up by EU funding. The UK Research and Innovation fund has been providing grants which otherwise would have been given by Horizon, however scientists argue that collaborating across Europe is what makes the programme so successful. What have scientists said? Sir Patrick Vallance, who was previously the chief scientific officer to the government, has said we should have already joined the Horizon scheme and the ongoing absence was "damaging" for the UK and Brussels. Story continues Vallance, who played a central part in the handling of the Covid pandemic by Boris Johnsons government, said it wasn't sensible to build a domestic scheme when a Europe-wide version is ready for us to join. Speaking about Britain being outside of Horizon during his time as chief scientific adviser, he said: It caused me frustration inside (government), and it caused me pain and frustration outside. It is absolutely clear. A system like Horizon that allowed great collaboration right the way across Europe is now geopolitically important. China is in ascendancy in science and technology. America has obviously been doing great stuff but it has also become a little bit more protectionist. And we have suddenly cut ourselves off from this system. It is damaging to the EU and it is damaging to the UK. While Sir Paul Nurse, director of the Francis Crick Institute, wrote in The Times: Negotiations have been bogged down in accounting details, losing sight of the vision and the prize to be won. "I encourage the Prime Minister to finalise the agreement without further delay and recommend that working scientists be asked to help get this over the line. UK science has been burning like Rome as Nero fiddles, but this is our opportunity to stem further damage and rebuild as a science superpower. And commenting on the possibility of a deal, Professor Sarah Main, executive director of the Campaign for Science and Engineering, said: This is an encouraging development. "If confirmed, this raises the promising prospect of a deal within days, which would be the best of news for UK science. I urge the Prime Minister and president of the European Commission to secure this agreement, enabling researchers to get on with the vital role they play in improving peoples lives and livelihoods. AstraZeneca and GSK - Britain's two biggest pharmaceutical companies - have both told the government to rejoin Horizon, with AstraZeneca saying it would be an important step to ensure the UK is seen as a trusted partner and attractive location for life sciences. Will the UK rejoin Horizon? The UK was excluded from the 81 billion scheme in a tit-for-tat retaliation over post-Brexit trading rules for Northern Ireland in 2020. However, negotiations to rejoin started after Rishi Sunak agreed the Windsor framework in February. The Prime Minister has remained concerned over the price of rejoining the programme, and Downing Street has said he is seeking value for money. In July, sources revealed that a draft text had been put in front of Sunak. The Prime Ministers official spokesman said talks had been constructive but we continue to explore all options including a UK-based option, which is the Pioneer alternative. Overall we want to make sure that any deal whether its the Horizon or the UK alternative Pioneer is the one that produces the best value for UK science and research and also for taxpayers. And the Times has now reported that Sunak is keen to get the deal signed off. He is reportedly concerned that it could become an electoral issue, as Labour has committed to rejoining Horizon. Given the country's leading scientists - including Sir Patrick Vallance and Sir Paul Nurse - are urging the government to rejoin, it would be surprising if Sunak was unable to agree a deal. Dr Elizabeth Mandeville (Photo: Submitted) She was active as a volunteer in many spheres locally including the homeless charity Homelink, the social enterprise Common Cause and renewable energy company Ovesco. She was for many years Church Warden at St. Anne's Church, Western Road. The funeral will be held at St. Anne's Church at 11am on Tuesday August 15th. Born in 1945, Liz decided on a career in social anthropology, gaining a PhD at Sussex University. In 1968 with her first husband Neil Warren she travelled to Uganda where she studied the conditions faced by single mothers. In 1974 she travelled with Neil and two young children to Papua New Guinea where she worked for two years. After returning to the UK, Liz retrained in management information and technology. She gained a Masters degree and worked in Brighton for twenty years, while teaching social studies at the Open University. In 1990 she married biologist Mike Jones. Mike says of her: 'I was very lucky to be associated with Liz for over 40 years, we had a wonderful time together. I learned early in life never to volunteer but Liz never learned that lesson, she did the opposite. It was a perfect balance.' Ouse Valley Energy Services Company (Ovesco) was formed in 2007 by members of the Transition Town Lewes energy group, and Liz was a founder director of the company. In 2011 Ovesco launched the UK's first community-financed solar power station on the roof of Harveys depot in Daveys Lane, for which Liz wrote the prospectus and share offer, and spoke convincingly at the launch at Lewes Town Hall. Chris Rowland, managing director of Ovesco, says: 'Liz was an important member of the board of directors. She was never afraid to ask difficult questions! She was passionate about climate change and I remember her speaking with tears in her eyes about the impact on future generations.' A member of the Labour Party for most of her life, Liz was asked to leave due to her views on voting which the local party disagreed with. She thought people should vote tactically if necessary, saying: 'Voting is instrumental not sacramental.' Among Liz's writing achievements are a novel, 'Telling Tales', a reminiscence, 'New Guinea Diary', and a great many articles for technical journals and brochures. She was an avid supporter of the Lewes Railway Land Trust and the Sussex Wildlife Trust. She is survived by her husband Mike, her daughter Abigail and her two sons Peter and Roderick. Leaders of the West African bloc Ecowas are meeting for an emergency summit in Nigeria on Thursday, after their ultimatum to soldiers who have seized power in Niger was ignored. Meanwhile the junta, which continues to detain the elected president, said it had formed a new government. Two weeks after the coup that toppled President Mohamed Bazoum, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) says it is seeking a diplomatic solution but has not ruled out using force to resolve the crisis. Important decisions are expected from the gathering in Nigeria's capital Abuja, according to a statement from the 15-nation organisation on Tuesday. It comes as Niger's military rulers unveiled a new government. The junta has selected 20 ministers, with generals from the new military governing council heading the defence and interior ministries, coup leader General Abdourahamane Tiani announced on national television on Wednesday night. The cabinet is led by Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, an economist and former finance minister who the junta declared prime minister earlier this week. Ecowas gave the coup leaders until last Sunday to reinstate Bazoum or face potential use of force. But the junta remained defiant, and the ultimatum passed without action. Read more on RFI English Read also: Diplomacy centre stage on eve of West Africa summit on Niger West African powerbroker warns military intervention still an option in Niger Niger coup leaders say country not safe for West African mediators Independence fighter Oh Seong-gyu speaks to Yonhap News Agency during an interview at his home in Tokyo, Feb. 7, 2019. Yonhap The last surviving Korean independence fighter living in Japan will return home early next week, Seoul's veterans ministry said Thursday, just days before Korea marks the anniversary of liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. Oh Seong-gyu will arrive in Korea on Sunday, accompanied by Veterans Minister Park Min-shik, after expressing his wishes to reside in his home country to the ministry following the death of his wife in 2018. Oh will undergo a medical examination after his arrival and take part in a ceremony commemorating the 78th anniversary of Liberation Day on Tuesday. Born in 1923, Oh took part in anti-Japanese movements in Manchuria during the colonial period and enlisted in the Korean Liberation Army based in Anhui, China. He underwent training by the U.S. Office of Strategic Services in 1945 before Korea's liberation with Japan's surrender in World War II. In 1990, Oh received the National Medal of the Order of Merit for National Foundation from the Korean government for his service. With Oh's return, there will be eight surviving registered independence fighters in Korea and one outside the country. During his three-day trip to Japan from Friday, Minister Park will pay his respects at the execution site of Lee Bong-chang, an independence fighter who unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate Japanese Emperor Hirohito in 1932, in Tokyo. (Yonhap) According to Nguyen Thi Hoang Thuy, Commercial Counselor at the Viet Nam Trade Office in Sweden, the EU Green Deal not only exposes Vietnamese firms to challenges but also creates new development opportunities. Therefore, the firms should be aware of changes that the deal will bring about and be ready to adapt so as to maintain their competitiveness in the EU market. As the Vietnam International Sourcing 2023 event held by the Ministry of Industry and Trade is coming near, Thuy spoke to the media about new regulations that the EU sets for products imported into the market and chances for Vietnamese companies to expand cooperation with partners in the Nordic countries in particular and the EU at large. At present, there have been great changes in the consumption pattern of the Nordic region after the COVID-19 pandemic, having both positive and negative impacts on international supply chains. What is the prominent trend? The EU Green Deal presents a roadmap for the EU to boost the efficient use of resources, making a transition to a clean, circular economy in a just and inclusive way. The deal encompasses policies such as the EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy, the Farm to Fork Strategy, the 2030 Biodiversity Strategy, and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. These policies are expected to have impacts on trading activities within the European and Nordic markets, but also between European businesses and other partners. Basically, the EU requires products exported to the market to be sustainable, recyclable, repairable, and energy-efficient. Food products must have sustainable certifications by satisfying common principles and requirements. Changes are undergoing and a new legal framework will be put in place this year. Being one of the EUs important partners, Viet Nam will likely see the deal having effects on some industries, the extent of which depends on each industrys characteristics and specific solutions introduced in the deal. The textile and footwear industries may be largely affected by this Deal because the EU is a major market for Viet Nam's exports for these products. The EU Action Plan for the Circular Economy will require garment and textile products to be produced using environmentally friendly materials and processes, and adhere to sustainable standards and strict eco-labelling rules. Vietnamese businesses in this sector will need to adjust their production processes and invest in new technologies to stay competitive. In the packaging industry, products must be made of environmentally friendly materials that can be fully recycled. This will affect Vietnamese businesses in the field of packaging production as well as businesses that use packaging for export products. Another sector that could be affected by the EU Green Deal is agriculture and fisheries. The Green Deal sets out a more sustainable and environmentally friendly approach to agriculture, which will require Vietnamese businesses to apply sustainable food production and farming practices while investing in new technology and changing manufacturing processes to minimise waste discharge and reduce the use of hazardous chemicals. In short, the EU Green Deal poses challenges for Vietnamese enterprises while also creating new development opportunities. Businesses need to be aware of the changes that the deal will bring about and be ready to adapt to the new situation to remain competitive in the EU market. At the same time, firms should anticipate new trends to create new, more sustainable and environmentally friendly products to get benefits in the long run. The Viet Nam Trade Office in Sweden will lead a Nordic business delegation to participate in the event. What does the Trade Office expect from this event? In mid-September, in HCM City, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will host the Vietnam International Sourcing Expo 2023. It includes a series of events, conferences and exhibitions to connect foreign distributors and importers with domestic producers and exporters. The event aims to effectively support businesses in their efforts to participate more deeply in global production and supply chains and adapt to the trend of deeper international economic integration. According to the plan, the Vietnam Trade Office in Sweden has promoted Vietnam International Sourcing 2023 widely on information channels and actively sought, contacted, worked with, and invited importers and distributors of host countries to participate in the event. The Trade Office plans to organise a sourcing delegation with more than 10 Nordic enterprises to attend this event and visit some localities in Viet Nam. The Trade Office is coordinating with a number of local departments of Industry and Trade to facilitate this activity. In addition, potential purchasing partners such as IKEA and H&M are expected to send their representatives in Asia and in Viet Nam to join the expo. Swedish businesses look forward to meeting and trading with Vietnamese partners who have high-quality products, have obtained international certificates, and operate in some of Viet Nam's key industries such as food, textiles, footwear, sportswear, home appliances and furniture. We hope that through the series of events Nordic businesses will find more sources of goods from Viet Nam and reach agreements as well as get new business ideas that are proposed at the forums, seminars and meetings. It is known that the Nordic business delegation attending this Vietnam International Sourcing event has a representative of Gothenburg Port. This is the largest port in the Nordic region. They do not directly buy goods but are the most important potential partner at this time. Could you give more information about this partner? Gothenburg Port was built in 1620 and is the largest seaport in Sweden where more than 800,000 containers and 30 per cent of Sweden's export goods are transported each year. Vietnamese goods entering the Swedish market are usually imported through intermediaries in other European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium, Poland, and the Netherlands. Therefore, although more and more Vietnamese goods are present in the Swedish market, export turnover has not been recorded commensurately. If the cooperation between seaports and airports is promoted, imports and exports will be shipped directly, without going through intermediary countries, which will help promote two-way trade between Viet Nam and Sweden, as well as the wider Nordic region. For the Trade Office, cooperation with the Gothenburg Port also opens up opportunities to access the port's customers to promote trade. The Gothenburg Port will attend this expo to find reputable suppliers for their customers to increase their port services. They want customers who will have goods transported between Viet Nam and Sweden. This means they support us in trade promotion. In addition to linking customers, building smart ports is also a field that the Gothenburg Port is interested in while looking for opportunities for cooperation with Viet Nam on this occasion. VNS A delegation of about 50 Belgian entrepreneurs is expected to come to Viet Nam to seek partners and attend Vietnam International Sourcing 2023, to be held in HCM City from September 13 to 15, said the Vietnamese Trade Office in Belgium and the EU.The office noted that the entrepreneurs will represent their businesses from the region of Flanders that operate in various sectors, from farm produce, machinery, and construction materials to real estate and logistics services.In particular, some have expressed their wish to be further connected with Vietnamese companies in such industries as confectionery and chocolate production, fruit, insulation film and outdoor product manufacturing via Vietnam International Sourcing 2023. HA NOI The State Securities Commission of Viet Nam (SSC) in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) held a ceremony in Ha Noi on August 8 to launch a manual on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory and reporting. The manual was developed with technical support from the IFC, the Swiss Federal Economic Commission (SECO) and the UK National Standards Agency (BSI) in Vietnam in an attempt to support businesses to make easier GHG emissions inventory and reporting while meeting legal requirements, towards net-zero emissions. According to SSC Vice Chairman Pham Hong Son, the book is useful for businesses in implementing legal regulations on information disclosure about sustainable development. The promotion of green and sustainable finance is a long-term priority of the SSC. The commission has called for active participation of the business community and investors in order to create a sustainable foundation for green growth and sustainable development, he added. Viet Nam has achieved positive results in building a system of legal documents governing sustainable finance, improving standards of corporate governance and information disclosure associated with the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria (a set of standards to measure factors relating to sustainable development and the impact of businesses on the community), capacity building and raising awareness of both regulators and market participants, investors about green financial instruments and sustainable development. Through training programs on GHG management and reporting, participants learned about the international context, causes and mechanisms of climate change, and sources of greenhouse gas emissions. They were also guided on issues and contents to be included in the report, as well as the process and way of reporting greenhouse gases according to ISO 14064-1:2018. ISO 14064-1:2018 specifies principles and requirements at the organisation level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals. It includes requirements for the design, development, management, reporting and verification of an organisation's GHG inventory. VNS HCM CITY Airbus, the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Viet Nam (CCIFV) and local NGO Gaia Nature Conversation (Gaia), have jointly launched the "Community Forest" project in ong Nai Biosphere Reserve. This joint initiative aims to plant 1.25ha of forest, equivalent to 500 trees, to promote ecological awareness among the French business community in Viet Nam, and at the same time contribute to the sustainable goals set by the Vietnamese Government. The Community Forest project focuses on preserving biodiversity and wildlife in Viet Nam. Additionally, it seeks to support local communities living in the buffer zones of ong Nai Biosphere Reserve by regulating water sources and empowering livelihoods through their active participation in tree plantings. It also targets to play a crucial role in saving the extinction of 110 rare and endangered species of fauna and flora listed in the Vietnam Red Data Book, an essential step towards environmental conservation in the region. "The Community Forest project not only allows us to contribute to ecological preservation but also strengthens our ties with the local community and supports the Vietnamese government's sustainability efforts," Airbus Chief Representative for Viet Nam Hoang Tri Mai said. The ong Nai Biosphere Reserve is one of the eleven UNESCO-recognised biosphere reserves in Viet Nam, covering an extensive area of 966,563ha and spanning territories belonging to five provinces - ong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Lam ong, and ak Nong. VNS HA NOI As per an official communication from the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on August 8 (local time), the United States has officially initiated trade for Vietnamese coconuts. The statement from the US Department of Agricultures body outlined that the department has conducted an internal assessment to comprehensively evaluate the Vietnamese husked coconut. This assessment has been aligned with the subsequent stages of the market entry process. The outcome of this evaluation affirms that the Vietnamese husked coconut satisfies the processing criteria established by the US and presents a negligible risk of spreading plant pests. Consequently, instead of undergoing an entirely new and time-consuming regulatory procedure for granting market access to fresh produce, APHIS can utilise existing regulations applicable to processed fruit and vegetable products. This streamlined approach significantly speeds up the authorisation process for importing coconuts from Viet Nam into the United States. A day earlier, APHIS completed updating the online database of agricultural goods import requirements to allow the import of young coconuts from Viet Nam, having a minimum of 75 per cent (3/4) of the coir removed and the outer green shell completely extracted. According to APHIS, Vietnamese producers are eligible to commence the export of husked coconuts to the US immediately. The sole phytosanitary conditions for shipments will be enforced exclusively at US points of entry. At present, APHIS has duly informed the US Customs and Border Protection regarding this update, aiming to prevent any potential shipment delays upon entry into the nation. VNS HA NOI The art programme an Chim Viet (Vietnamese Birds) celebrating the 100th birthday of musician Van Cao will take place at 8pm on August 20, at the Ha Noi Opera House. "The main idea of the programme comes from a famous song that has a special fate Vietnamese Birds. The organising team decided to take this song as the theme to show national unity and harmony," director Pham Hoang Nam said. The programme will feature famous works by musician Van Cao in three genres: love songs, marches and epics. The programme sees the participation of nearly 1,000 people with four major orchestras, including Sun Symphony Orchestra, Viet Nam National Opera and Ballet Orchestra, Military Ceremonial Orchestra, MUCA Orchestra of the Army University of Culture and Arts. More than 300 famous artists will perform such as People's Artist Quang Tho, People's Artist Quoc Hung, Meritorious Artist Thanh Lam, Diva My Linh, Diva Ha Tran, along with hundreds of artists, actors, musicians, and choirs from all genres. Musician o Bao, music director of the programme, said: "Because of the participation of four orchestras, it would be very complicated to perform and broadcast live. To be able to transmit it via television, we have practised and prerecorded it since May." Along with the large number of artists participating in the programme, the stages of Vietnamese Birds are also very special: an open space. Director Pham Hoang Nam added: I choose to set up stages both inside and outside Ha Noi Opera House. Even there are times the main stage will be in the August Revolution Square. We hope the show will bring together not only hundreds of performers but also thousands of spectators. Musician uc Trinh, art director of the programme, said: "We want Vietnamese Birds to be not only a programme to honour the late musician but also to honour Vietnamese music. We will bring all our creativity within 90 minutes for the audience. We hope to leave significant impressions in the hearts of the public." Vietnamese Birds will take place at 8pm on August 20, at the Ha Noi Opera House and will broadcast live on Viet Nam Television. VNS JAKARTA The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), through cooperation, can contribute to peace-building, development promotion, and addressing the current climate crisis, emphasised Speaker of the People's Representative Council (lower house) of Indonesia (DPR) Puan Maharani as part of her closing remarks at the AIPAs 44th General Assembly (AIPA-44) on Wednesday. The official stated that AIPA needs to continue ensuring an inclusive and people-centred ASEAN that always takes actions against hunger, poverty, inequality, generating employment, and provides people with access to quality education and health care services. Additionally, it should collaborate with governments to turn global challenges into opportunities. Puan clarified that ASEAN, with a GDP of US$3.9 trillion and a population of 680 million, needs to become a driving force of the global economy. To achieve this, the bloc needs a deeper economic integration and a larger role in the global supply chain. She expressed her hope that the commitments made at AIPA-44 will be translated into specific actions in each country's parliament, and will inspire everyone to work together to build a safer, more stable, and more prosperous Southeast Asian region and world. At the closing session, the DPR speaker handed over the AIPA presidency gavel and rotating flag to President of the Lao National Assembly Saysomphone Phomvihane. Laos is set to host the AIPA-45 in October 2024. Earlier on the same day, the General Assembly held its second plenary session, focusing on three main agenda items presenting and approving reports from AIPA committees, announcing the timing and location of the AIPA-45, and signing the Joint Communique. VNS A People's Republic of China (PRC) warship, identified by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command as PRC LY 132, crosses the path of U.S. Navy destroyer USS Chung-Hoon as it passes by the Taiwan Strait with the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Montreal on June 3 in an image captured from video. Reuters-Yonhap Retired US Air Force general unravels China's political warfare, urges political leaders of free democracies to look into Beijing's true intentions By Kang Hyun-kyung There are two schools of thought in the United States about how to interpret China's motives behind its massive military buildup. Some senior military officials, such as Adm. Michael Gilday and Air Force Gen. Mike Minihan, claim that China's invasion of Taiwan is imminent and it could occur as early as 2023. Senior officials at the Department of Defense, however, remain doubtful about the claims. In February, Colin Kahl, then undersecretary of defense for policy, said on a podcast interview with Defense News that he did not see anything suggesting that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is imminent in the next couple of years. Gen. Robert Spalding Retired Brigadier Gen. Robert Spalding sides with the senior military officials' hawkish outlook, forecasting Chinese President Xi Jinping to emulate Russian President Vladimir Putin on Taiwan. "China will attack soon," he said in an email interview with The Korea Times on Tuesday. "They are practicing every day, and Xi has said he will not leave the Taiwan question unsettled on his watch." He said there were people in the West who underestimated Putin's ambitions, prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, adding that they ended up being wrong. "People believed that Putin would not invade Ukraine, because it seems crazy from the position of someone who lives in a free country. But powerful dictators have a different way of looking at the world," he said. "The biggest problem we have in the free world is the inability to see from the perspective of our enemies. And be assured that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is our enemy." He called on the leaders of free democracies to try to look into the mind of the Chinese leader to understand his and his country's course of action in the future. Cross-strait relations have drawn keen attention from South Koreans as well, mainly due to its huge potential fallout on the divided country. If China invades Taiwan, the entire region will be affected and countries like South Korea and Japan will find their security at risk. Gen. Spalding, author of the 2021 book, "War Without Rules: China's Playbook for Global Domination," observed that U.S. strategy toward China based on wishful thinking is an impediment prompting the U.S. to remain unprepared for China's political warfare. "When I arrived at the Pentagon as the China adviser to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2014, the instructions were clear: We were not going to do anything in public to antagonize China as their relationship is too significant financially," he wrote in his book. "The narrative was that the two most powerful countries in the world had to cooperate to solve greater challenges in nuclear-armed North Korea and climate change. That stance was built on the absurd idea that China wants to fix either of these issues. (It doesn't)." His observation partly explains the origin of the perception gap in China's motives behind its massive military buildup. Frontline military brass sensed the threat from China is real and imminent, but senior officials at the Pentagon are advised not to address it publicly, hoping the matter would be settled peacefully. Hence, the perception gap. The complexity and confusing nature of China's military strategy, summarized in the book, titled "Unrestricted Warfare," poses another challenge to effective U.S. policy responses, according to Gen. Spalding. Published in 1999, "Unrestricted Warfare," co-authored by two colonels of the People's Liberation Army, Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, has become China's military playbook to help China become the sole superpower in the future after defeating the U.S. In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), center, poses for photos with the new commander of the rocket force, Wang Houbin, top left, and political commissar Xu Xisheng, top right, after promoting them to the rank of general in Beijing on July 31. AP-Yonhap Gen. Spalding said "Unrestricted Warfare" is about the "everywhere war," noting it has already begun. With the term "everywhere war," Gen. Spalding said China and its state-sponsored entities mobilize every possible, even illicit, means if they were to help China achieve its goals. Such illicit means include cyberattacks, industrial espionage to steal technology, bribing and funding politicians to establish policies favorable to China and turning a blind eye to the illegal production of fentanyl, which has been shipped to the United States and led to the drug epidemic there, to name a few. "The U.S. is completely unprepared, because 'Unrestricted Warfare' is about political warfare," he said. "The U.S. is good at conventional warfare, but democracies are very vulnerable to Unrestricted Warfare, because it leverages the openness of free societies against the principles upon which they are founded. Unrestricted Warfare leverages the business and academic community to begin to decrease the traditional advantages enjoyed by democracies for creating economic opportunity." He said China does this by destroying the rules that make the system function in a fair and meritocratic manner. "Slowly the societies devolve into Marxism, and that is what we are seeing today," he said. Gen. Spalding was a former pilot of a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, one of the key U.S. strategic assets. "Being a B-2 pilot was an extreme experience," he said. "From just the pure thrill of flying two aircraft (B-2 pilots fly both the B-2 and T-28 supersonic trainer), and the strategic nature with which the B-2 is used in combat. My most thrilling moments were not always in the cockpit. Sometimes it was being on the ground as a commander waiting for my crews to arrive home safely." B-2 Spirit is one of the bombers the U.S. Air Force is reportedly mulling to deploy regularly in and around the Korean Peninsula to strengthen deterrence against North Korea. The stealth bomber is one of the most lethal U.S. strategic assets that, according to North Korea experts here, "leaves North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in shock and awe." Gen. Spalding concurs with their view, saying the B-2 is a powerful weapon system. "Its power is that is so capable that enemies should fear its use. This fear is at the heart of deterrence," he said. "These are the tools of the nuclear age and it is what stayed the hand of the U.S.S.R for decades. We must use this power wisely to prevent war in the future." During his over 26 years of service in the military and the U.S. government, Gen. Spalding served as the chief China strategist for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. He also served at the White House as the senior director for strategic planning at the National Security Council. Gen. Robert Spalding's 2021 book, "War Without Rules: China's Playbook for Global Domination," was translated into Korean and released for sale in July. Thu Trang HA NOI Students at vocational schools have strong professional knowledge, but are quite weak in foreign languages. The information was revealed at a conference on labour immigration to Europe and opportunities for Vietnamese workers, which was held on Tuesday in Ha Noi by the Viet Nam Association of Vocational Education and Training & Social Work (VAVET&SOW) and their partners. The conference aimed to connect labour supply and demand, providing information for vocational schools to have more bases in adjusting training programmes, towards better meeting the needs of the domestic and international labour markets. Viet Nam wants to send about 110,000 workers abroad this year. The countrys goal is to maintain traditional markets and gradually increase the number of Vietnamese workers in European countries. The latest statistics from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) showed that in the first three months this year, a total of 37,923 Vietnamese workers went abroad, reaching 34.48 per cent of the plan this year and increased by more than 15 times compared with the same period last year. Nguyen Gia Liem, deputy director of the Department of Overseas Labour under the MoLISA, said that in recent years, more than 30 firms sending Vietnamese workers to the European labour market, focusing on Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Russia. Workers in European countries mainly do jobs in industrial production, construction, food processing, textiles and agriculture. Economic and trade relations between Viet Nam and the European Union (EU) had been developing very well, which could create favourable conditions for cooperation in human resources between Viet Nam and European countries, he said. One more advantage is that the European market is viewed as a key one by the Party, State and the leaders of the MoLISA. The Government has promoted the development of this labour market, Liem said. However, bringing workers to the European market met some obstacles. Vietnamese workers in Europe have to compete with people from other countries in the EU, as well as other developing countries. Cultural differences and limited foreign language capacity are barriers in the working process and integration of the employees. Besides, legal documents to recruit and carry out procedures to send workers abroad often take a long time due to different legal regulations. Some countries are quite difficult to approach for a work visa such as Poland and Slovakia. Moreover, the cost of living in European countries is high, so it is difficult to invest in personnel management. Most European countries have cold winters limiting the employment opportunities of Vietnamese workers who aren't climatised to such weather. Agreeing with Liem, Tran Manh Thang, director of the GHW Ha Noi Joint Stock Company, said, There is a fact that most students at vocational schools just like to learn and are good at their majors, but foreign languages are not their strong point. He emphasised that if they wanted to work abroad, they must have good foreign language skills. With the same view, Tran Xuan Ngoc, principal of the Ha Noi College of Electronics and Electro-Refrigeratory Technics (HCEET), said that at present, Germany was a labour market that received special attention from many Vietnamese people. Vietnamese workers here receive a stable high salary and good social benefits. Vietnamese workers often have foreign language certificates, but they still cannot communicate effectively and are dismissed from work or school. Some workers lack the necessary skills and, as a result, they cannot get apprenticeship contracts and live illegally. Vietnamese workers must overcome these challenges. They must prepare their personal competencies to take advantage of job opportunities and career development potential in the German labour market, Ngoc said. Solutions Director Thang said, One way to achieve the desired foreign language level is to find good training centres for students. Principal Ngoc said that Germany has a high demand for quality labour and specialised skills. Developing a labour training model for the German market is an important step, in which language training is key to help workers make the most of opportunities. HCEET established an International Language and Training Centre for vocational students with lecturers from the Viet Nam National University, Ha Noi University and the Goethe Institute. The German learning model focuses on developing the ability to communicate from basic to advanced levels. Students practice listening and speaking, enabling them to confidently use German in everyday communication and in professional presentations and discussions. They also learn basic information about the culture, customs and way of life in Germany. Understanding German culture is very important for students to integrate and work effectively in a multinational environment there, Ngoc said. Deputy director Liem said that to promote labour market in the EU, State management agencies must step up study and negotiate for agreements on labour cooperation with potential recipients of Vietnamese workers. They will review and amend the laws on sending workers abroad in line with the development of the foreign labour market. They will also organise activities to give more information about potential labour markets in Europe to workers. Concerned ministries will perform periodic and irregular inspections to ensure firms comply with regulations, and discipline those that violate the law. Cooperation with Vietnamese diplomatic missions in other countries will be strengthened to protect and resolve problems related to Vietnamese labour. Related authorities will work together to prevent illegal immigration to Europe, and obtain more opportunities for legal workers under safe contracts. Labour migration will be aimed at high-quality workers in high-income markets. The number of trained workers will gradually increase, with at least six months of training. "We will gradually raise the rate of trained workers from 60 per cent to 80 per cent by 2025, towards all worker migrants being properly trained," Liem said. VNS HA NOI The Ha Noi People's Court opened a first-instance trial for Le Thanh Than, Chairman of Muong Thanh Group and General Director of Bemes Company who is accused of "deceiving customers". The trial panel consisted of three individuals: one judge and two lay assessors, with Judge Luu Ngoc Canh, Deputy Chief of the Criminal Court, Ha Noi People's Court, presiding. Two prosecutors from the Ha Noi People's Procuracy were assigned to exercise their prosecution and trial supervision rights during the trial. Along with Than, six other people are also on trial. They are: o Van Hung, 55, former Chairman of Kien Hung People's Committee; Nguyen Duy Uyen, 59, former Vice Chairman of Kien Hung People's Committee; Bui Van Bang, 54, former Vice Chairman of Kien Hung People's Committee; Nguyen Van Nam, 58, former Chief of Construction Inspection, Ha ong District; Vuong ang Quan, born in 1955, former Deputy Chief of Construction Inspection, Ha ong District; Mai Quang Bai, 63, former officer of Construction Inspection, Ha ong District, all indicted by the Ha Noi People's Procuracy for the charge of "negligence of responsibility, causing serious consequences " as stipulated in Article 285, Clause 2 of the Criminal Code. During the trial, hundreds of victims, who were customers that purchased apartments in the CT6 Kien Hung project (Ha ong, Ha Noi), were present to demand their legitimate rights and interests. According to the indictment, Than, 73, who was the Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of Bemes Company, was heavily involved. The Ha Tay People's Committee (now Ha Noi) approved the detailed construction plan of the CT6 Kien Hung project. However, afterward, Than unilaterally changed the land use purpose and conducted serious planning violations without the proper authorised approval. Specifically, with high-rise buildings, Than directed the increase in the construction area, height of the structures, and changed their intended usage. Bemes Company also built additional apartments and an unapproved CT6C tower. In the case of low-rise buildings, Bemes Company expanded the construction land area and the number of low-rise apartments, violating the red line limit. From March 2011, Than instructed subordinates to disseminate deceptive information about the project's legality in order to sell illegally constructed apartments. Than advertised that the project had been approved, the apartment designs complied with construction regulations, and the apartment prices included land usage rights. Many customers, trusting this, signed purchase contracts with Bemes Company. In the project's contracts, Than, in his role as General Director, personally signed with customers and committed to terms to foster their trust in submitting payment for apartments according to the construction progress. Business operations and setting apartment prices in the project were all decided by Than. Specifically, Than sold 488 apartments without recognised land use rights, making illicit gains of more VN480 billion (US$20.2 million). The prosecutorial authorities determined that the violations also involved the negligence of the leadership team, officials of Kien Hung Ward, and the construction inspection of Ha ong District. Specifically, Bemes Company's investment in the CT6 Kien Hung project included numerous severe legal violations in the fields of design, construction, supervision, and acceptance testing, to create apartments in the CT6 Kien Hung project that lacked the legal conditions for issuance of land titles and for residential transactions. This misconduct occurred over an extended period, yet the aforementioned leadership team and officials did not inspect or discover violations to prevent or address them in accordance with the law, causing severe and significant damages to 488 customers. At the investigation agency, the 488 customers who purchased apartments without being granted land titles reported that at the time of signing their purchase contracts, they were unaware that the apartments in the CT6 Kien Hung project were constructed contrary to the approved plan. All customers trusted that Than had built the apartments according to the approved design. During the investigation process, the majority of the affected individuals requested support in obtaining Certificates of Land Use Rights, home ownership rights, and property rights associated with the land. Only six of the affected individuals requested to return their apartments to the Investor and demanded a total refund of over VN7 billion ($295,000). Prior to the court session, many residents of the CT6C Kien Hung condominium submitted petitions to relevant authorities, hoping for a thorough resolution of their rights and interests. VNS PHU YEN The Pacific Partnership has returned to Tuy Hoa City in the south central coastal province of Phu Yen on Wednesday to commence the largest annual multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Pacific. Returning to Viet Nam for the 12th time, the PP enables participants, including US and Vietnamese personnel, to work together to enhance disaster response capabilities and foster new and enduring friendship, according to a media release by the US Embassy in Ha Noi. Addressing the launching ceremony, US Consul General in HCM City Susan Burns said: Were glad to see Viet Nam as the first stop in Pacific Partnership 2023 given Viet Nams strategic importance in the Indo-Pacific. This years Pacific Partnership reflects the spirit of support and cooperation that has animated the US-Viet Nam bilateral partnership over the 28 years since we established diplomatic relations. The Pacific Partnership also highlights the celebration of the 10-year anniversary of the US-Viet Nam Comprehensive Partnership. Our ties are stronger than ever. Our relationship is built on trust and mutual respect; on the neighborly principal of helping each other when needed; and on the US deep commitment to a strong, prosperous, resilient, and independent Viet Nam, she said. This years mission will feature nearly 1500 personnel from the US and partner nations such as Australia, Canada, Chile, Japan, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, and the UK. US Navy Captain Claudine Caluori said in Phu Yen, they will conduct subject matter expert exchanges in the areas of public health and preventive medicine, adult and pediatric medicine, nutritional counseling, mental health activities, basic life support, and first aid lectures. Pacific Partnership 2023 also features personnel from Naval Mobile Construction Battalions, better known as Seabees, and Amphibious Construction Battalions to engage in construction and repair projects. Typical projects include construction of or repair to schools, health clinics, community centers, shelters and freshwater systems, he said. The PP23 will last until August 18 in Phu Yen Province. VNS by Nguyen My Ha The city of Ha Noi embraces a long list of traditional craft villages. From north, south, east and west, craft villages in the city and beyond were born centuries ago to supply to the ancient citadel of the past. During weekends, if you take a walk along Hoan Kiem Lake in central Ha Noi, you can see small stands opposite Ngoc Son Temple selling little figurines made from rice dough in bright colours on bamboo sticks. You will instantly recognise the familiar images of the Little Mermaid, Anna from Frozen, or Spiderman and others. You will also see the heroes of Journey to the West: Tang Sanzhang, the lead Monk, the Handsome Monkey King, and Pigsy, all much loved characters in the Chinese classic. The traditional craft caters to the need of children today, but in the old days it was an age-old tradition to make small offerings to put on altars for rituals. Using sticky rice dyed with natural colours, the craft was once to make offerings to the gods and various deities, ancestors and loved ones, but it has grown into a multi-billion ong industry giving jobs and income to many. Today, it's more popular for both children and adults to prepare for fun. Like colourful clay, it is healthy and safe, smells naturally good, and can also be eaten if desired. If you travel on National Highway 1A south from Ha Noi for 50km, youll arrive in Xuan La Village in Phu Xuyen District. This is the home of the to he craft. Today to he is a safe and creative visual art craft, which anyone can delve into, but many years ago, during the war, it was considered a useless craft, that didn't provide any vital essentials for human existence. Like any traditional craft over hundreds of years old, the craft has gone through tough times during war and famine, with a lack of interest and clients. But the art, which used to depict the traditional stories and legends, has lived on. Today, the craft of making to he has been recognised as an age-old craft of Xuan La Village, handed down from fathers to children. The To he guild of Xuan La has more than 400 households practising the craft, creating jobs for more than 1,500 people in the village. To he is a craft toy for children. The figurines are edible because they are made from the rice dough. Originating in the Red River basin delta, the craft is something that immigrants brought with them when they travelled to the south to search for new opportunities. The toys were made first to be placed as an offering to ancestors and were made into animals such as peacocks, chickens, buffaloes and cows, pigs and fish. Other items were also added to the altars, such as bananas, areca nuts, pork leg, or a sticky rice dish to make a full tray of offerings, which could be taken to a pagoda. In Xuan La, almost everyone can make toys of their own. But only three craftsmen have been recognised as Ha Nois artisans: ang Van Ha, Nguyen Van Au and Nguyen Van Thanh. The artisans life was usually spent at country fairs and festivals. They would leave home and go from one village fair to another, preparing their work materials as they went. The dough is made from cooked sticky rice, mashed together and mixed with natural dyes to make the four traditional colours: red, bright yellow, blue and black. They then mix these colours together to make new ones if desired. The most well-known to he artisan today is Nguyen Van Thanh, 45, whom fellow villagers have voted as the most amazing talent involved in the art form. He made a record by creating a mini model of the Thang Long Citadel entirely from rice dough. He even travelled to China and Thailand to demonstrate his craft to an international audience. Thanh lifted the craft of to he by sending his works to the countrys National Arts Exhibition, organised every 5 years, and was awarded the title of Artisan Emeritus in 2015. In 2022, Nguyen Van Thanh made his name in the honourable list of Peoples Master Artisans. Having chaired the villages To He Guild for more than 10 years, Thanh organised a series of competitions for the best to he artisan. The guild as well as the number of self-taught artisans has grown year-on-year. Master artisan Thanh can make almost anything from the rice dough: from artistic portraits and traditional cakes and buns, to the twelve zodiac animals and traditional figurines from legends as well as cartoons. He has been invited to demonstrate his art at international cultural shows, trade fairs, exhibitions and birthday parties. Since he made it into a form of visual arts, Nguyen Van Thanh has been invited to teach his arts to students in schools and colleges in Ha Noi as well as invited on to many television shows. In Xuan La today, the people still preserve the ancient altar house, worshipping the founding father of the to he craft. The annual village craft day falls on the eighth lunar month, which is October 4 this year. Festivities will be held, and many figurines made in the village during the celebrations. "To he can only last between one and two weeks," Thanh said of the only setback of the art. He and other artisans are trying to find a way to make the figurines last longer. During his tenure chairing the To he Guild of Xuan La, Thanh brought together other artisans to make an ambitious collection of 15 landscapes in Ha Noi. "It took us a week to complete each scene," he said. "And for complex pieces, three to four artisans had to work together for a week." Yet, after only one week, the masterpieces they worked so hard on had to be dismantled. Old village documents depicting the history and tradition of the craft have been well-preserved but are scattered in libraries in the Social Sciences Academy and National Archives Centre. Having thrived over the years, the to he craft still lives on to reflect the soul and story-telling of the people. Fans of this art can easily learn to make a basic entry level to he. If you want to master all the basic figures, it takes about three months to learn. "But a talented learner with great imagination, paying close attention to detail, can craft their first figurines to be sold in the walking district after just a week," Thanh said. VNS Flood in Khounkham district of Khammuane province (Photo: VNA) Vientiane The Lao government and military have continued to search for a Vietnamese driver missing in a landslide incident on a section of National Highway 8 between Khammuane and Bolikhamxay provinces after having rescued 45 Vietnamese citizens trapped in the same area, Lao media reported. Local media quoted head of Khounkham district of Khammuane province Keovilay Xayabouth as saying that the Lao government, especially the military, is speeding up the search for the missing driver. So far, rescuers have saved 45 Vietnamese citizens stuck at the incident and helped 40 vehicles flee from the affected areas, he said. Landslides happened in four locations along the highway on August 4, pushed 110 vehicles, including 95 trucks, 13 pickups, a bus and a motorbike, into the ravine. A total of 25 people, including three women and five children, were stranded at one location, while another 43 were trapped at another, all of whom were brought out safely. Local authorities said that currently the section of National Highway 8 through the mountainous areas of Phou Pha Man and Phou Hai is still temporarily blocked until further notice for repairing. Due to prolonged heavy rains recently, landslides have happed on many roads across Laos, leading to the blockage and damage of many roads. In addition to conducting rescuing activities and assisting affected people affected by floods and landslides, Lao authorities are focusing on repairing the damaged roads. Malaysia eyes wave energy for electricity generation. (Photo: businesstoday.com.my) Kuala Lumpur - When one mentions renewable energy, the mind often jumps to familiar sources like solar energy, hydroelectric dams, and wind power. However, Malaysia is seeking measures to turn wave energy for electricity generation. As the country boasts an extensive coastline pning approximately 4,800 km, it provides an ideal environment for harnessing ocean wave energy. While specific power generation figures may vary depending on factors such as wave characteristics and technology efficiency, estimates suggest that Malaysias coastal areas have the capacity to generate a significant amount of wave energy, potentially fulfilling one to four times the countrys electricity needs. With dedicated research and development, Malaysia has a unique opportunity to tap into this renewable resource and contribute to its energy transition towards a cleaner and more sustainable future. By investing in wave energy technologies and infrastructure, the country can persify its renewable energy portfolio and reduce its carbon footprint to achieve net zero emissions. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed a striking revelation: the theoretical annual energy potential of waves along the coasts of the US reaches an astonishing 2.64 trillion kilowatthours (kWh). This figure is equivalent to about 64 per cent of the total US utility-scale electricity generation in 2021, making it evident that waves possess vast untapped power. Around the world, researchers have already embarked on the journey of exploring wave energy as a viable renewable resource. Notable institutions, such as the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Scotland, have been specifically established for testing ocean wave energy converters. Meanwhile, the PacWave South test site, located near the coast of Oregon, the US, provides researchers with a platform to study wave energy and test innovative technologies. While the current installed wave energy capacity remains limited, with only 2.31MW in 2020 according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), it is crucial not to underestimate the potential of this remarkable resource. If countries around the world can jointly commit and increase support for energy conversion research from ocean waves, it will be a resource to create sustainable and efficient energy. Malaysia expands Internet service in remote areas Malaysia has issued a license to Starlink, the satellite communications service started by Elon Musk, to provide internet services in the country, particularly in remote areas. National energy, minerals planning announced, Illustrative image (Source: VNA) Hanoi The Ministry of Industry and Trade held a conference in Hanoi on August 9 to announce the national plannings in the fields of energy and mining for the 2021-2030 period with a vision to 2050. These include one on the infrastructure for the reserve and supply of petrol, oil and gas products; another on the exploration, extraction, processing and use of minerals; and a master planning on energy for the 2021-2030 period with a vision to 2050. They were all approved by the Prime Minister in July, aiming to expand the development room for energy and mining sectors in line with the countrys development direction of green, circular and low-carbon economy, the Party and States policy as well as the growth trend in the world. The national energy master plannings objectives include ensuring the country's energy security, developing forms of energy in a systematic, suitable and diverse manner, encouraging and creating favourable conditions for all economic sectors to engage in energy development, applying science-technology achievements in energy development, and promoting the efficient use of energy. It underlined the need for the harmonious and smart infrastructure of all energy sectors to the regional development level, while implementing digital transformation in the field of energy, contributing to realising the net-zero emission goal by 2050. Meanwhile, the planning on the infrastructure for the reserve and supply of petrol, oil and gas products aims to develop the infrastructure system for strategic reserve, production reserve, commercial reserve as well as the transport, circulation and distribution of the products to meet economic, technical and environmental standards, ensuring sufficient, safe and uninterrupted reserve and supply of the products for socio-economic development, security and defence. Under the planning, the total national oil and petroleum reserves, including crude oil and products, is expected to rise to 75-80 days of net imports by 2030 and gradually to 90 days after that year. The objectives of the planning on the exploration, extraction, processing and use of minerals is to strictly manage, extract, process, economically and effectively use minerals in association with demands for economic development, environmental protection, adaptation to climate change and achievement in carbon neutral level. It also aims to promote investment and establish harmonious and effective extraction and processing industry with advanced technology and modern equipment in conformity with trends of the world. All of the plannings comprise new mechanisms and policy that are expected to contribute to making breakthrough improvement in energy and mining activities. They also create a sectoral and regional connectivity in the fields, making the domestic infrastructure design systematic to that in the region and the world, ensuring the effective allocation and use of resources for particular regions and localities in line with the capacity of the economy. One of the highlights of the plannings is encouraging the engagement of all economic sectors in energy development towards green and circular economic direction. Vietnam seeks US investment in renewable energy Energy is among potential fields for investment cooperation between Vietnamese and US firms, with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh announcing that Vietnam gives high priority to sustainable energy development to maintain national energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Pham Tan Cong. All systems go for energy security The newly approved Power Development Plan VIII for 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, is designed to improve the countrys energy security and set out a roadmap for developing energy sources towards a green path. However, realising the targets will be a profound challenge for all involved. "The Binh Duong International Wood, Machinery, and Materials ExhibitionBIFA Wood Vietnam 2023saw the participation of more than 100 leading domestic and international manufacturers. The expo is an opportunity to create a vertical chain in the wood industry, supporting the sustainable development of businesses in the future," said Nguyen Quoc Tri, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, on August 9 at the opening of the event. Nguyen Quoc Khanh, chairman of the Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of Ho Chi Minh City (HAWA) said, "Vietnam's wood processing industry has witnessed a new wave of movement, expanding its business scale. Many Vietnamese businesses have adapted their strategies during the slowdown. Large furniture brands are expanding their presence in potential export markets in Middle East countries, including Saudi Arabia and Dubai, to access opportunities to supply furniture for mega projects." However, Vietnam's wood and timber companies are worried about the gloomy outlook of the main import markets, such as the Unitded States and the EU. Meanwhile, the recovery prospects of Vietnam's timber and wood industries are not stable. Exports of wood and timber products decreased by 25.5 per cent in the first seven months of 2023 compared to the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). Vietnam has become the world's fifth-largest exporter of wood and timber products, with the second-largest exporter in Asia trailing behind China. The growth of Vietnam's wood industry is highly dependent on exports, so it is vulnerable to the ups and downs of the global economy. For many years, Vietnam has been a top supplier of wood and timber products to the US and EU markets. However, consumer demand in these markets for wooden furniture products gradually cooled. At the same time, the disruption during th pandemic has prompted the US and EU to diversify their supply chains, leading them to import more from neighbouring countries such as Mexico and Brazil. "The two neighbouring countries, which boast the advantage of short delivery times, have promoted wooden furniture exports to the US market in recent years," said Khanh. "Previously, these two countries were not rivals of Vietnam's wood industry because of the high cost of wood products. However, these two countries are attracting the attention of US importers as they consider the possibility of diversifying supply chains." According to a report by Offshore International, Inc. released in early 2020, Mexico is home to more than 675 furniture factories, including domestic and foreign enterprises, employing over 52,000 employees. Mexico has become the fourth-largest exporter of wooden furniture to the US market, trailing behind China, Vietnam, and Canada. With 95 per cent of Mexico's export value going to the US market, Mexico exported $1.5 billion of furniture to the US in 2020, up 6.7 per cent compared to 2019. Vietnam is aiming to develop timber processing into an important economic sector, developing prestige brands of Vietnamese timber products in both domestic and foreign markets, and striving to put the country into a top position on the global map. Furniture export orders return but requirements higher While the demand for export markets remains low, the timber industry must increase its competitiveness to remain viable. New solutions needed for wood and timber industry The demand for Vietnam's wood and timber products from key markets such as the United States, China, the EU, South Korea, and Japan fell in the first half of the year, with the number of orders down by as much as 30 per cent in some months compared to the same period last year. This has resulted in job cuts and, in some cases, factory closures. The programme has originated under Panasonics global initiative 'Light up the Future' and is also a long-awaited activity for many young Vietnamese fellows from the 'Live Green and Wellness with Gen G; campaign last year. This time, 20 young volunteers joined with Panasonic in its corporate social responsibility activity, aiming to contribute to the local community towards realising the vision of wellness and sustainable development for Vietnam. The activity is unique in the sense that although Panasonic has been implementing a variety of its corporate citizenship activities, ranging from education to the environment, such as the Panasonic sustainable school programme, Panasonic scholarship programme, and tree planting eco relay programme, this is for the first time the Japanese giant has organised a donation trip with participation of young people nationwide. The ceremony was held in the province of Nam Tra My, while other activities took place in the remote corners of Tra Cang and Tra Vinh communes. The programme enabled nearly 100 residents to receive solar lanterns directly. Meanwhile, 100 local students could enjoy many fun and meaningful activities. Panasonic representatives and young volunteers had to cross over 170km of mountainous roads from Danang to Nam Tra My, after flying over from different parts of the country. Marukawa Yoichi, general director of Panasonic Vietnam said, "Panasonic has always put the mission of contributing to society in all our business activities. In Vietnam, we have a strong commitment to further contribute to the wellness of Vietnamese people and the sustainable development of Vietnam in the next 50 years." And one of our global initiatives the project 'Light up the Future' shared the same purpose: we want to contribute to improving the living standard of local people, helping local children to have better conditions for studying, especially during nighttime. "We understand Nam Tra My district of Quang Nam province is a special location with challenges for development due to its geographical conditions, including mountainous terrain, whereas Tra Cang and Tra Vinh are among the most disadvantaged communes with a rate of poverty households are over 60 per cent and lack of access to national grid that makes it very difficult for local people in daily life," Yoichi said. "Therefore, with this programme, we aim not only to support improving local living standards, but also follow the Vietnam governments direction in eliminating poverty, and contribute to realising Panasonic Green Impact commitment as well as our wellness vision through renewable energy initiatives." Panasonic Solar Lantern is an initiative of Panasonic Corporation. The product is a LED lantern introduced in 2013 with a built-in rechargeable battery to store solar energy during the day, enabling it to provide light at night and offer a clean and safe solution as a light source as well as a power source for people living in areas without electricity. The portable lantern can be used in homes and various other locations, including hospitals, schools, shops and outdoors. By 2023, Panasonic will have donated more than 100,000 solar lanterns to off-grid areas in 30 countries in Asia and Africa. Among them, 2,832 units were contributed to communities of five provinces in Vietnam: Dien Bien, Yen Bai, Thanh Hoa, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provinces. Tran Van Thuong, Chairman of Tra Vinh People's Committee said, "This activity of Panasonic meant a lot to a mountainous commune like Tra Cang, where people are still struggling without access to the national electricity grid. The donated solar lanterns, will help to light up the living conditions of ethnic minorities, while bring more opportunities for children to study. Panasonic inspiring society in mission to reach net-zero In Vietnam, with its strength in technology and dedication to contribute more to society, Panasonic has been making concerted efforts to bring a comprehensive and healthy life to local people, while simultaneously contributing to the countrys sustainable development. Panasonic engages in green campaigns Panasonic Vietnam took part in the "Live Green and Wellness with Gen G" campaign and the Gen G Ambassador Initiative Fund award, held in Hanoi on February 25. President Joe Biden speaks about the economy at Arcosa Wind Towers factory in Belen, U.S., Aug. 9. AP-Yonhap Korea said Thursday the latest executive order limiting U.S. investment in some Chinese technology sectors is expected to have only a limited impact on Korean companies. On Wednesday (U.S. time), the White House vowed to restrict investment in "countries of concern" in certain technology sectors that could pose threats to its national security while adding only China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to the list. The areas include "sensitive technologies and products in the semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence sectors," it added. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (R) and Robert Ford, Abbott's Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on August 9 suggested US healthcare giant Abbott expand its investment and upgrade the quality of its pharmaceutical manufacturing plants in Vietnam, thus helping promote the domestic pharmaceutical industry. At a reception in Hanoi for Robert Ford, Abbott's Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, the PM told his guest that Vietnam considers the US a leading partner in its foreign policy, and wishes to enhance the bilateral comprehensive partnership in a more practical and effective manner and on the basis of mutual respect for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and political institutions of each other. The leader used the occasion to thank the US government and businesses, particularly Abbott, for their support to Vietnam in the COVID-19 fight, and appreciated the groups practical and effective contributions to national economic development as well as the Vietnam-US relations. Both sides noted with pleasure the outstanding development of the Vietnam-US ties over the past time, saying the US has become Vietnams biggest importer, while Vietnam has been the US seventh largest trade partner globally and its biggest in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Chinh affirmed that the Vietnamese government always listens to opinions raised by enterprises, including those from the US, and creates optimal conditions for them to expand operations, especially in digital transformation, digital economy, manufacturing and processing, health care, high-tech, and high-quality personnel training. He spoke highly of Abbotts introduction of cutting-edge medical technologies to the Vietnamese market, and asked firms from the US and other countries to further invest in Vietnam, helping the country in the field of nutrition. For his part, Ford lauded Vietnams development achievements, especially in socio-economic recovery post pandemic, as well as the countrys open policies towards enterprises. Vietnam holds potential for the development of clinical research and large-scale pharmaceutical production, he said, stressing that Abbott will continue its long-term investment in the country. Abbott has been operating in Vietnam since 1995, with two pharmaceutical manufacturing plants at present. Abbott leads as Best Place to Work in Vietnam in 2022 Abbott has risen for the first time to lead the list of the top 100 Best Places to Work 2022 in Vietnam, an award to honour the US healthcare companys diverse and innovative working environment. Abbotts technology breakthroughs help shape future diabetes care On World Diabetes day on November 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) organised a global expert discussion forum under the Global Diabetes Compact initiative to galvanise efforts around the world in addressing the global challenges of the disease. Abbott leads healthcare transformation for sustainability Abbott has announced it is committed to upgrading 75 primary health centres to Health and Wellness Centres in India by early 2024 in partnership with Americares India Foundation in a project intended to serve over 2.5 million people from under-resourced communities every year. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the meeting. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh urged speeding up the implementation of key transport projects to create regional connectivity in service of national development, while chairing a working session of the State steering committee for such projects held in Hanoi on August 10. The hybrid meeting was connected to provinces and centrally-run cities which the projects run through. The leader said following the committees sixth meeting on July 13, ministries, agencies and localities have focused on removing roadblocks to the projects, especially in compensation, resettlement and material supply, while accelerating investment and construction. The national network of expressways should be completed before the end of the 13th Party Central Committee in 2026 to create a new development space and boost transport to improve livelihoods for residents, he stressed. The PM asked members of the committee and leaders of ministries, agencies and localities to look into limitations and propose tasks and solutions to accelerate the implementation of the projects, thus ensuring their progress, quality and safety. Localities look to push key projects The governments plan to review the performance of licensed large-scale foreign-invested ventures is hitting a snag, with many localities slow to report and affecting the countrys strategy to attract funding from abroad. PM makes field trips to key projects in Nghe An province Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh made field trips to major projects in the central province of Nghe An on July 24, during which he instructed the settlement of obstacles to them. Hanoi focuses resources on key projects Hanoi has focused on pushing investors and contractors to increase resources and speed up the progress of major projects and works in the city in the first months of this year. Khoi Le, country director for Vietnam at Meta Today, people want to engage with businesses not just face-to-face or over the phone, either via email and online, but also in their favourite messaging apps, with 50 per cent of customers saying that experience is more important to them now compared to a year ago. Additionally, seven out of 10 consumers report feeling closer to businesses they can message. Business messaging brings businesses and people closer together - allowing people to have one-on-one personalised connections with businesses, while helping businesses get the most out of their valuable conversations and drive business performance. Globally, there are more than one billion people connecting with a business account across Metas messaging services every week. And in Vietnam, research conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) & Meta indicated that business messaging has become critical to consumers, with an average of nearly 70 per cent adoption rate. Leveraging business messaging to increase your operational efficiency and drive better results. Unfortunately, not all businesses are well-equipped to meet the rising and ever-changing consumer demands. In recent years, businesses are being put under greater pressure than ever to balance better customer experience with the need for efficiency and measurable return on investment (ROI). More than one-third of businesses say that it is important to know how each dollar they spend turns into profit. Additionally, they are facing industry headwinds with changes in data policies and regulations such as the elimination of third-party cookies, affecting their ability to create personal experiences. A total of 43 per cent of marketers and 55 per cent of media agencies are concerned about the potential elimination of third-party cookies. In this context, business messaging not only helps businesses interact more personally at scale via AI and automation, it is also the answer to effective digital marketing and a less dependent approach from cookies while bringing higher business performance. A study conducted by Forrester Consulting and Meta in December 2022 showed that Business Messaging products have a 61 per cent better impact compared to other communication channels previously used. For example, in terms of sales, the order value from customers is 22.1 per cent higher due to communication between sellers and buyers through business messaging. As a result, more and more businesses are finding new reasons to expand their messaging strategies to not only create better customer journeys and drive loyalty, but to drive business performance. Reducing friction, increasing ROI, and reaching customers at scale via AI. AI has been an integral part of Meta's DNA, and Meta Business Messaging is one of our suite of solutions that utilises AI as a business and creative partner, making it easier for marketers to augment and enhance what they are already doing. Prior to AI automation, messaging via chatbots had to be manually created by typing in answers to commonly asked questions which could be laborious and time-consuming. Now, with the power of AI, Meta Business Messaging is capable of delivering relevant chat, with automated question-and-answer flows that feel natural and could significantly enhance your customer service experience. Additionally, the investments we are making in AI modeling are helping us improve ad formats like Lead Ads and ads that Click to Message. In fact, 40 per cent of our advertisers globally are already using Click to Message ads format, and within Southeast Asia, more than 90 per cent of advertisers in Vietnam and Singapore use Click to Message ads. Meta prioritises simplicity in starting a conversation with the seller. Up to 80-90 per cent of the businesses using Facebook ads in Vietnam are adopting this feature, which means the market response is very remarkable. A Meta research shows that business messaging drives 2.5 times more conversions. One such example is Vua Nem, a leading mattresses and bedding retailer in Vietnam. Vua Nem wanted to attract more people with high purchase intent for its premium mattress products during its year-end sales promotion. They introduced a new campaign of ads that click to Messenger, and set up an automated Messenger experience that offered people a unique promotion code when they messaged the business. The company saw a 54 per cent increase in new messaging connections and three times higher reach from ads that click to Messenger with an automated offer, compared to usual ads that click to Messenger. How businesses can take their messaging strategies to the next level. To further accelerate their business growth, businesses need to focus on driving better ROI while making sure they are meeting consumer demand for richer brand engagement experiences. At Meta, we are not only committed to enable businesses of all sizes with our technologies and provide capabilities for accelerated reach, but also create more personalised brand engagement experiences for consumers. To learn more about how you can build a messaging experience at scale and automate customer service, lead generation and transactions over chat for your business, please visit facebook.com/business/business-messaging. Vietnam keeps tabs on digital advertising The Vietnamese governments new initiative on cross-border advertisement on digital platforms like YouTube, Google, and Facebook is deemed a step up from previous legislation, particularly regarding censorship and tax obligations. Facebook tweaks app with eye on rival TikTok Facebook has split the news feed in two on its app, a signficant change that mimics the experience on its fiercest competitor, hugely-popular TikTok. Foreign tech giants contribute $166 million in taxes in H1 The General Department of Taxation (GDT) in Vietnam has reported that prominent foreign tech companies, including Google, Apple, Facebook, Netflix, TikTok, made substantial tax contributions, amounting to around $166 million during the first half of 2023. This development comes as the tax authority intensifies efforts to streamline tax collection in the rapidly expanding e-commerce sector. On August 4, Wistron Corporation held a meeting of its Board of Directors, announcing the financial results for the first half of 2023. Following the meeting, the company approved a capital injection proposal of $24.5 million in a newly established subsidiary, Wistron Technology (Vietnam) Co., Ltd. The expansion of its manufacturing scale in Vietnam is part of Wistron's plans to enhance the resilience of its supply chain and respond to customer needs. It had previously invested about $300 million into its Vietnamese operations. The Taiwanese company started the establishment of its manufacturing base in Vietnam in 2019. In 2020, its Vietnamese subsidiary, Wistron Infocomm Co., Ltd., received an investment certificate to develop a high-tech electronics product factory in Dong Van III Industrial Zone in northern Vietnam. Earlier it was reported that Wistron is preparing to wind down its operations in India after a successful business stint spanning over fifteen years. Tata Group is close to signing an agreement with Wistron to acquire its factory there. In 2020, Wistron also stopped iPhone assembly in China after selling its manufacturing unit to Luxshare. In the first half of 2023, Wistron recorded a total revenue of $13.2 billion, operating income of $318.2 million, profit before tax of $277.2 million, and profit after tax of $108 million. Apple shores up Vietnam supply chain Apple suppliers in Vietnam, already on the increase since the US-China trade war kicked off, are continuing to bulk up operations here with added funding and heightened relocation efforts. Apple suppliers eye further expansion in Vietnam More Apple suppliers are keen on expanding their manufacturing operation in Vietnam as part of their relocation plan to mitigate supply chain headwinds. WESTPORT, Conn. (AP) A Connecticut man was arrested Wednesday and charged with several federal crimes, including assaulting a law enforcement officer, for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Benjamin Cohen, 21, of Westport, also faces a felony count of civil disorder and several misdemeanor offenses, including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, and engaging in an act of physical violence on Capitol grounds or buildings. He appeared Wednesday in federal court in Connecticut. A person answering the phone at Cohens home in Westport declined to comment before hanging up. According to the Justice Department, Cohen was identified among the crowd of rioters who breached a police line at the Capitol. He was caught on camera making physical contact with the group of officers by pushing and shoving them with his hands as the crowd surges forward, prosecutors said. Cohen is later seen rushing toward the officers again, shoving and striking officers with his hands and standing in the crowd of rioters, where he can be heard shouting, Our House! Later, Cohen is seen entering a tunnel at the Capitol and joining other rioters in what prosecutors describe as a concerted heave-ho effort against the police line, according to court documents. He also was photographed and taped inside an office inside the Capitol and leaving that office through a broken window, prosecutors said. Cohen is among more than 1,100 people charged in the riot, including more than 350 who have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL WORKING ON LAHAINA LAND TRANSACTION MORATORIUM Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said Wednesday that he has instructed state Attorney General Anne Lopez to work toward a moratorium on land transactions in the Lahaina area. Green said he has heard of people he described as not even in real estate reaching out to ask about purchasing land owned by people in the disaster area. My intention from start to finish is to make sure that no one is victimized from a land grab, he said. People are right now traumatized. Please do not approach them with an offer to buy their land. Do not approach their families saying theyll be much better off if they make a deal. Because were not going to allow it. He said hed have more details by Friday and added that hed also like to see a long-term moratorium on land bought by people who are not on Maui. GOVERNOR: DEATH TOLL RISES TO 110 Hawaii's governor on Wednesday added four more people to the list of those killed in a fire that decimated the town of Lahaina on Maui last week. Gov. Josh Green said 110 people are confirmed dead and that 38% of the disaster area has been searched. It makes us heartbroken, Green said at a news conference. He also said about 2,000 homes and businesses remained without electricity in the area and that those people would also be eligible for services if they are suffering without power. WHAT TO KNOW What spurred the fires? Right now, its unclear; authorities say the cause is under investigation What is the status of the fires? The county says the fire in centuries-old Lahaina has been 85% contained, while another blaze known as the Upcountry fire has been around 60% contained How does the loss of life confirmed so far compare with other U.S. fires? For now, it is the countrys deadliest fire in more than 100 years, with officials saying more than 100 people are dead, but the governor says scores of more bodies could be found How are search efforts going? The police chief said Monday that crews using cadaver dogs have scoured at least 30% of the search area, with five bodies identified so far Why did the fire cause so much destruction so quickly? The governor says the flames on Maui were fueled by dry grass and propelled by strong winds from a passing hurricane, and raced as fast as a mile (1.6 kilometers) every minute in one area Did emergency notification services work? Officials failed to activate sirens and instead relied on a series of sometimes confusing social media posts; meanwhile, residents faced power and cellular outages An electric utility is facing criticism and a lawsuit for not shutting off the power amid high wind warnings and as dozens of poles began to topple; in what may have been one of multiple ignition sources, a video shows a cable dangling in a charred patch of grass, surrounded by flames TWO MEXICAN CITIZENS DIED FROM FIRES The Mexican foreign ministry said it has confirmed that two people of Mexican nationality died as a result of the wildfires. Personnel from the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco are on Maui and are in contact with the families of the deceased to provide assistance to them, the foreign ministry said in a statement. No details were immediately available, including whether the victims were tourists or among the many foreign workers in Lahaina. The consulate in San Francisco did not immediately respond to a request for details. FEMA OPENS FIRST DISASTER RECOVERY CENTER The Federal Emergency Management Agency has opened its first disaster recovery center on Maui to help victims of the Lahaina wildfires. The agency is also sending in more dogs to help with search and recovery. Deanne Criswell, the FEMA administrator, on Wednesday called the centers opening an important first step. The centers are temporary places where people can get information about assistance from multiple federal agencies, not just FEMA. They also can get their questions answered and get updates on the status of their aid applications. The number of canine search teams will be increased to more than 40 because of the difficulty of the search and recovery operation. The dogs need to rest frequently because of the terrain and the heat. Criswell answered questions from reporters at the White House after she briefed President Joe Biden in the Oval Office. Biden spoke by telephone with Gov. Josh Green during their meeting, she said. Criswell will accompany Biden to Maui on Monday when he travels there to survey the damage. She said Biden will bring hope. People can apply for assistance by going to disasterassistance.gov or calling 1-800-621-FEMA. MAUI SCHOOLS BEGIN TO REOPEN Most public schools on Hawaiis second-largest island have begun to reopen this week, starting with staff reporting for duty, according to the states department of education. But several schools are still being assessed to make sure they are safe for students and teachers, with crews cleaning debris and testing both air and water quality. Hawaii Department of Education superintendent Keith Hayashi visited three campuses in Lahaina on Monday, which remain closed after sustaining wind damage. Officials will determine reopening dates for those schools once they are confirmed safe. Theres still a lot of work to do, but overall, the campuses and classrooms are in good condition structurally, which is encouraging, Hayashi said in a video update. We know the recovery effort is still in the early stages, and we continue to grieve the many lives lost. If they are ready and able, Lahaina students may enroll in nearby schools so they have access to in-person services like meals, socialization and counseling, Hayashi said. Schools in Central, South and Upcountry Maui and a few off-island schools have already begun enrolling displaced students. The Department says it is also offering both in-person and telehealth counseling for students, family and staff. BIDENS TO VISIT MAUI NEXT WEEK President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Maui next week in the aftermath of the deadliest wildfires in the U.S. in more than a century, the White House announced Wednesday. The Bidens will meet Monday with survivors of the fires, as well as first responders and other government officials. They will see firsthand the impacts of the wildfires and the devastating loss of life and land that has occurred on the island, as well as discuss the next steps in the recovery effort, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Wednesday. Biden and White House officials have signaled for days that a presidential visit was in the works as long as it would not disrupt search and recovery efforts. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green has informed the White House that Bidens visit early next week should be fine. GOVERNOR OPENS MAIN ROAD FOR LIMITED HOURS Gov. Josh Green opened a main road so drivers can travel east to west on Maui during limited hours as of Wednesday. We will have, of course, our National Guard responsible on the side of the road so that no one goes into the impact zone, where teams are still searching for fatalities following last weeks wildfires, Green said on ABCs Good Morning America. What I can tell you is people are holding up, he said, adding, Were just grateful for everyones outpouring of support. And though the workload is extraordinary and our hearts are broken, we will get through it. We just are still kind of in the thick of doing recovery. 2 VICTIMS OF LAHAINA WILDFIRE IDENTIFIED AS THE DEATH TOLL RISES TO 106 Maui County released the names of two people killed in the wildfire that all but incinerated the historic town of Lahaina Tuesday evening, as the death toll rose to 106. A mobile morgue unit arrived Tuesday to help Hawaii officials working painstakingly to identify remains, as teams intensified the search for more dead in neighborhoods reduced to ash. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services deployed a team of coroners, pathologists and technicians along with exam tables, X-ray units and other equipment to identify victims and process remains, said Jonathan Greene, the agencys deputy assistant secretary for response. Its going to be a very, very difficult mission, Greene said. And patience will be incredibly important because of the number of victims. The county said in a statement Lahaina residents Robert Dyckman, 74, and Buddy Jantoc, 79 were among the dead, the first people so named. A further three victims have been identified, the county wrote, and their names will be released once the county has identified their next of kin. GOVERNOR: DEATH TOLL RISES TO AT LEAST 101 The blaze that burned through the town of Lahaina on Maui last week has killed at least 101 people, Hawaiis governor said Tuesday, as recovery efforts continue. We are heartsick that weve had such loss," Gov. Josh Green said during a news conference Tuesday. Green had said earlier Tuesday during an appearance on Hawaii News Now that children are among the victims of the fires. The fire is the deadliest in the U.S. in the past century. It has surpassed the toll of the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California, which left 85 dead. A century earlier, the 1918 Cloquet Fire broke out in drought-stricken northern Minnesota and raced through a number of rural communities, killing hundreds and destroying thousands of homes. LAHAINA FIRE CAUSED ABOUT $3.2 BILLION IN INSURED PROPERTY LOSSES, RISK COMPANY SAYS The Lahaina fire caused about $3.2 billion in insured property losses, calculated Karen Clark & Company, a prominent disaster and risk modeling company. That doesnt count damage to property not insured. The risk firm said more than 2,200 buildings were damaged or destroyed by fire with a total of more than 3,000 buildings damaged by fire or smoke or both. Because so many of the buildings were wood frame and older, the damage rates were higher than other fires, the firm said. HAWAII NATIONAL GUARD ACTIVATES HUNDREDS TO HELP RESPOND TO FIRES The Hawaii National Guard has activated about 258 Army National Guard and Air National Guard personnel to help respond to the fires. Guard members will offer support to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency and local law enforcement agencies and help with command and control efforts, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said Tuesday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is helping with debris removal and temporary power. The Corps has deployed 27 personnel active duty and civilians and 41 contractor personnel. The U.S. Coast Guard has shifted its focus to minimizing maritime environmental impacts but is still ready to help individuals in the water. Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team Honolulu and the Coast Guard National Strike Force have established a safety zone extending one nautical mile seaward from the shoreline. The have also deployed pollution response teams and equipment, including a 100-foot boom at the mouth of Blaina Harbor to contain any potentially hazardous contaminants and material. There are about 140 Coast Guard members aiding the response effort. Singh said she doesnt know how many active-duty troops have responded, but said that active-duty forces will be part of the ongoing effort. CHICAGO (AP) An inmate was beaten to death Tuesday morning inside the hospital wing of Cook County Jail, the sheriffs office said. Jail security responded to a disturbance shortly after 9 a.m. and found two inmates fighting, the sheriffs office said in a statement. Staff immediately separated the men and began performing lifesaving measures on Johnny Hendrix, 29, of Rockford, the statement said, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died from his injuries, the statement and the Cook County Medical Examiners Office said. The sheriffs office is investigating the incident and has requested that the Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force also begin an investigation. There was no immediate word on charges in the case. Hendrix was taken into custody Saturday on three outstanding criminal warrants and a charge of criminal trespass. e outstanding criminal warrants and a charge of criminal trespass. Theres no immediate information on charges in the case. Trent Sutton, director of the Wild Imaginings theater company, switches hats from director to writer in the companys latest production, Gray, which puts a new spin on one of Oscar Wildes most famous stories. Suttons Gray updates Wildes 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, in which the young man of the title sells his soul to remain young and handsome. While Gray remains physically untouched as he damages the lives of those around him, a hidden portrait of him becomes more hideous over time. Sutton, a longtime fan of Wildes writing, got the idea for updating the story while listening to an audiobook of the novel. Hearing the actors speak made him more aware of the underlying tension in the characters as they negotiated relationships with a public and private face. For his play, directed by Jeffrey Vitarius, Sutton swapped the class dimensions of British aristocracy for contemporary academia with power dynamics driven by educational status. Gray (Ethan Trueman) is an undergraduate art student with colleague Basil Hallward (William Priest) an artist working on his master of fine arts degree, with Henry Wotton (Jason Sanchez) the tenured professor who advises them. In between Gray and Hallward is the actress Sibyl Vane (Breshena Crosby). As Grays behavior damages those around him, the painting of him deteriorates, leaving the audience to wrestle with the nature of beauty, desire and identity as well as the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships, Sutton said. Its important for people to see toxicity (in relationships), the author said, adding that hes also fleshed out the character of Vane, who he felt got short shrift in the book. In our version she gets the final word, he said. Overshadowing the book and the production is Wildes own celebrated life, in which his high-flying journey as a brilliant wit and stylish playwright in Victorian London was brought down by a public trial and conviction for homosexual acts, which were criminal offenses at the time. The tension of being gay at a time when homosexuality was prosecuted flavored Wildes writing, Sutton said, and he hopes his retelling in Gray provides a fresh look. I hope the audience leaves with renewed appreciation of Oscar Wilde as a visionary, he said. Given the current anti-trans, anti-drag show sentiment in the Texas Legislature and the states highest offices, Gray may land closer to home for some. Were entering in to a landscape not so different from the one Oscar Wilde was in, Sutton said. The McLennan Community College board on Tuesday signaled its support for a property tax rate that would bring in an extra $3.2 million in revenue for the 2023-24 fiscal year, up nearly 8% from last year. By a 5-1 vote, trustees declared their intent to set the new rate no higher than 12.85 cents per $100 valuation. That rate is more than a penny lower than the current rate of 13.91 cents, but it amounts to a tax hike for the average McLennan County taxpayer given rising property appraisals. The proposed rate is 0.81 of a cent higher than the no-new-revenue tax rate calculated by the state with property values in mind, and it is just shy of the rate that would require voter approval under state law. The countywide MCC districts certified tax base, which includes new and existing taxable property of all kinds, grew 17.2% this year to $28.5 billion. The average taxable home value rose 11.9% this year to $202,222, counting exemptions. With the new tax rate, the owner of such a home would owe MCC $259.87 in the coming fiscal year, up $8.49 or about 3%. The tax rate would help support a proposed budget of $68 million, up from the $61.8 million budget approved a year ago. Stephen Benson, MCC vice president for finance and administration, walked trustees through the proposed budget Tuesday with several funding levels based on differing tax rates. The preferred budget scenario includes a 5% pay hike for faculty and staff for the second consecutive year. It includes additional spending for technology, insurance and the districts contingency fund, which the college used last year to help balance the budget. The college will hold steady on current tuition and fees charged students, Benson said. MCCs in-county tuition rate is $106 per semester hour, with a typical cost of $3,660 a year for tuition and fees, according to MCCs website. The Texas Legislatures approval this year of outcome-driven funding for community colleges will bring in an additional $1.6 million to MCC, President Johnette McKown told trustees. She called that increase a huge win for us. In discussion on the tax rate and budget, trustees supported the salary increases. Board Chair Earl Stinnett Sr. said the increases are needed to keep up with a job market shaped not only by other community colleges, but local school districts and police departments. Taking care of our employees impacts our students directly, he said. Trustees approved the 12.85 cents per $100, generating 7.95% more revenue than last year, but they noted that they could lower that rate before its final approval at their Aug. 29 meeting. Voting for the rate were Stinnett, Ricky Turman, Geneva Watley, Jonathan Hill and Ilda Sabido, with Trustee K. Paul Holt casting the dissenting vote. Holt pushed for a tax rate of 12.45 cents per $100, rather than pursuing the maximum amount possible without voter approval. We have pushed that 8% so many years, Holt said. It was the wrong thing to do then and still is. A public hearing and vote on the tax rate will take place Aug. 29 at MCCs Community Conference Center. A handful of Midway ISD employees will be armed and trained to complement other new state-mandated security measures being implemented this school year, while Waco ISD will contract with licensed officers to meet the requirements in a competitive market for law enforcement employees. The addition of armed personnel to cover every campus will not always be visible, but alert Waco-area students returning to classes will see other changes at their schools. Some will see clear backpacks, new fencing, updated doors, outside-facing windows with a film overlay, and metal detectors at more secondary schools. The requirement for armed personnel at every school, the fencing and window film are part of a school security law that advanced as House Bill 3 in this years legislative session and will take effect Sept. 1. School administrators and boards agree protection of students and employees is essential, but implementing the state law has presented challenges. Waco Independent School District maintains a police force of 14 school resource officers, 13 security guards, three commanders and two dispatchers at the annual cost of $1.6 million in salary and benefits. Putting an armed person on each of the districts 25 campuses would mean hiring another 13 school resource officers for $500,000 more, Waco ISD Police Chief David Williams told Waco ISD trustees at a meeting July 27. Williams said he prefers school resource officers for those positions, but not every candidate is suitable for school work. We have to have that person who wants to work with children, Williams told trustees. Armed personnel options State law allows districts several options for armed personnel on campuses: a school resource officer, usually a police officer or security guard with training to work at schools; a school marshal, who is a school educator or other employee with 80 hours of required training and the ability to act as an armed security guard; and a school guardian, who is a school educator or employee with 16 hours of required training and a role limited to protecting others from an active shooter until law enforcement arrives. Trustees, some expressing uneasiness with the idea of arming a teacher or school staffer, and Superintendent Susan Kincannon supported Williams in his preference for security professionals. During last months board meeting, Kincannon cautioned that statewide demand for law enforcement officers would make that difficult to achieve by the Sept. 1 deadline. In an interview last week, she said the district has opted to fill security vacancies by hiring certified officers as independent contractors, roughly comparable to how schools cover teacher absences through a substitute teacher pool. We will comply with the state law, Kincannon said. While the Waco ISD Police Department has 13 vacancies to fill, other area law enforcement agencies have an abundance of openings and often pay better. The Waco Police Department has 22 openings, with hourly wages from $30.94 for a newly commissioned officer to $53.99 for a newly promoted police sergeant, and extra pay for certain certifications and bilingual ability, spokesperson Cierra Shipley said. Other police and sheriffs departments in the seven largest cities of the 12-county Region 12 Education Service Center report an additional 13 vacancies they are trying to fill. Williams, recently named a regional director for the Texas School District Police Chiefs Association, said the shortage of police officers is not a local but a statewide problem. In fact, state legislators this year removed the age cap for law enforcement officers to broaden the candidate pool. Even with a recent salary increase and signing bonus for a school resource officer, the Waco district finds itself at a disadvantage where money is concerned as city police departments such as Waco can offer some $15,000 more for similar positions, Williams said. Funding gap Much to the chagrin of many school administrators, legislators provided little money to defray school security hiring. A $15,000 per campus allotment and a small increase in the school safety allotment will bring in an additional $377,777 to Waco ISD, making a total of $658,000 in state money for school safety. But much of that money is going to required facility improvements. Kincannon said the new security requirements come at a time when the district is looking at a budget shortfall of about $5 million. Thats the challenge, she said. We were already stretched. Faced with the same high personnel costs and small candidate pool as Waco ISD, Midway ISD will use school guardians, armed teachers or other employees, to meet its requirements, alongside school resource officers already serving the district, for armed personnel at all of its 11 campuses, Superintendent Chris Allen said. Manpower availability was a factor in the decision. Discussions with Hewitt, Woodway and Waco police departments found all three also seeking law enforcement officers to fill their own vacancies, Allen said. He said the district is hiring more guardians than needed to fill the immediate vacancies, but declined to specify how many, in part for security reasons. My answer is between six and 13,000, he quipped. The teachers and school employees hired as guardians have the role added to their job description and would have to pass psychological and drug testing to qualify, but they will not receive additional pay. Guardians would provide their own district-approved weapon. Midway, however would supply frangible ammunition, which shatters on impact, reducing the risk of bystanders being injured or killed by ricochets, Allen said. The state requirement for armed personnel on every school campus comes at the same time the district struggles to fill teacher vacancies due to competition from nearby districts for candidates. That competition is pressuring districts like Midway to raise its starting salary. Waco ISD recently passed a 3% increase for its employees while Connally ISD boosted employee salaries by 5%. Midways status as a property-rich district limits its ability to cover rising operational costs through tax revenue. If the district brings in more revenue than the state determines is necessary, the state recaptures the excess and redistributes it to property-poor districts. As a result, Midway may ask for a voter-approved tax rate election that will allow the district to retain more of its tax revenues in future years, a measure Allen feels is being forced on the district. The districts plan would cut the debt-service portion of its tax rate by 3 cents per $100 property value, then ask voters in November to approve an equal increase to the operations portion of its tax rate, though the ballot would only reflect the increase, not the preceding cut. Funding more security officers plus rising teacher salaries without additional state funding will increase budget pressures on districts for the foreseeable future, he said. We are backed into a corner by ill-conceived and poorly funded legislation, Allen said. I think it will be a struggle going forward. How do we make this plan sustainable? Facility upgrades Other area school districts also spent the summer and the new state funding to beef up their security measures and comply with House Bill 3. Robinson ISD safety coordinator David Wrzesinski said the district plans to add an officer to its police force, but also employs several school marshals at each campus. Robinson spent more than $200,000 this summer to replace some fencing and install protective film to windows and doors, Wrzesinski said. Future security improvements include upgrading interior and exterior security cameras and adapting school clocks so they will display emergency messages that hearing-impaired students might not otherwise receive, he said. China Spring ISD Superintendent Marc Faulkner said the district will tackle $130,000 in door replacements on older campuses in coming weeks, once the new doors arrive. The district also will install window film at all campuses that, like the replacement doors, is funded by the state. At the three-school charter Rapoport Academy Public School, administrators are still evaluating how to comply with House Bill 3s requirements within its deadlines, spokesperson Sarah-Jane Menefee said. The districts strategic plan already called for hiring at least one school resource officer by 2026, she said. At Connally ISD, officials added a licensed security officer to the school resource officers in its school police force, completing coverage of its four campuses with armed security personnel, spokesperson Michael Donaldson said. La Vega ISD Police Chief Kerry Blakemore said his officers already were doing many of the things in the latest state requirements: checking building doors and access, monitoring campus visitors and patrolling district property. The things they suggested were the majority of things we were doing, Blakemore said. We were absolutely in front of everything. This years extra state security funding allowed Waco ISD to replace exterior door locks at 15 schools, add new fencing at five elementary schools and install intruder-resistant window film at all campuses. The district also continued and expanded security improvements that started in the spring at Waco High School, Kincannon said. Metal detectors, including ones using artificial intelligence to locate questionable objects, are at the secondary schools and will be at Waco ISD Stadium this fall. Students at all schools now are required to have clear backpacks. Waco ISD is creating a district safety coordinator position, continuing mental health training for teachers and staff, and implementing social-emotional learning curriculum for students. Kincannon said the metal detectors and clear backpack policy implemented at Waco High after several incidents of weapons discovered on campus have been effective, reducing fights and allowing students to refocus as they adjust to new routines. She said the Waco High members of her student advisory committee reported most perceived a small number of students were behind the earlier disruptions and the changes implemented at spring break had allowed the majority to pull back together. Regional resources Region 12 Education Service Center coordinates and conducts school safety audits, required every three years, for districts in its 12-county coverage area. Heather Wheeler, the centers school safety specialist, said the audits not only include a check of a schools exterior doors, locks and windows, but interior classrooms, bathrooms, cafeterias and playgrounds. Districts with older facilities tend to have more issues with security hardware, but state funding for building security has helped to address the problem, Wheeler said. The center also assists in state-mandated emergency safety plans and participated in a recent reunification training held at Wacos University High last week. The two-day session informed and trained school officials on how to coordinate and manage student-parent pickup after an emergency evacuation of a school. Protecting students and staff from threats outside and inside schools is a multifaceted problem with no single solution, Wheeler said. Its a puzzle we have to put together, she said. The website of terrorless / Screenshot from terrorless By Jung Da-hyun Concerns over a surge in deadly random attacks have made popular a website providing terror alerts and updates on suspect apprehensions, with more than 50,000 visiting the site one day after its launch. The website, named "Terrorless," was launched, Sunday, and it was issuing over 95 alerts on Thursday morning. The website allows individuals to promptly access information about predicted terrorism locations as well as actual incidents like the recent stabbing attacks. The service includes links to media reports containing relevant details, while indicating whether the suspects connected to the cases have been arrested. 01ab, which operates the app, said it launched the service to ease escalating public concerns over random attacks in the wake of stabbings at Sillim Station in Seoul and Seohyeon Station in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province. In addition, the emergence of copycat crime threats were also a reason for the website's launch. On July 21, a man wielding a knife went on a rampage near Sillim Station in southern Seoul killing one and injuring three. A similar incident took place at Seohyeon Station, Aug. 3, leaving one dead and 13 injured. As of Thursday, eight suspects have been arrested on charges of posting murder threats online. A $10.4 million redevelopment project at the Doris Miller Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center is expected to break ground in October, with $550,000 of city funding on the table at Tuesdays city council meeting. The development at 4800 Memorial Drive called Freedoms Path will provide supportive housing for homeless, near-homeless and disabled veterans. Three historical buildings, buildings 19, 20 and 21 on the federal campus, will be leased to the nonprofit Solutions for Veterans that is managing the project and construction. According to data from last year, 27 homeless veterans were identified in McLennan County, but Solutions for Veterans President Craig Taylor said the development will serve a much broader base than just those who are counted as homeless. It will be for veterans who may have gone to jail and are starting fresh, those on the verge of being evicted, those who are leaving traumatic living situations, people leaving treatment from addiction and many others, he said. The project has seen a dramatic price increase since Solutions for Veterans first approached the city, jumping from an estimate of $5.6 million in 2020 to $10.4 million now. Taylor said the eye-watering cost increase is in part a result of higher prices for construction, material and labor across the board. Every developer on the planet right now is dealing with the same problem. Its a laborers market right now, especially in Texas, he said. The three historical buildings, dating back to the 1930s, will also require asbestos abatement and significant lead paint mitigation before any kind of site work can be done, accounting for much of the added expense, he said. Taylor said the VA has a zero-tolerance policy for any lead-based paint, and not only will the buildings surfaces need to be cleaned but also the soil around them will be mitigated for any lead that has leeched into the soil. The labor-intensive process of rehabilitating historical buildings in itself is expensive, Taylor said. In 2021 the Waco City Council backed the project, and Freedoms Path was awarded $454,000 in low-income housing credits from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. Taylor said the state housing department realized the increased costs since 2020 estimates and allowed 2021 awardees to apply for an additional 15% of their award amount, adding an extra $68,100 to the projects state funding. The $550,000 from the city, if approved by the council Tuesday, would come from its allocation of federal HOME-American Rescue Plan funding. Some $2.54 million was granted to Waco by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and HUD and city earlier this year approved an allocation plan for the funds that focuses on development of affordable rental housing and temporary shelters. Craig Taylor has been doing a great job moving this forward with local, state and federal levels of government, which is not always easy, Council Member Josh Borderud said during a budget and audit meeting Tuesday. I think that this serves not only a purpose of housing-insecure veterans here in Waco-McLennan County, and serving their needs, but also rehabbing these historic properties and furthermore demonstrating our commitment to the VAs investment in our community, which should never be taken for granted. The city agreement will list a 15-year affordability period for veterans who earn 0-30% of the area median income, but Taylor emphasized that the facility will be open to serve a wide range of veterans. Taylor said part of the delay in getting the project started was the funding gap, as the VA will not enter into a lease without assurance that the project is funded. He said the VA approval process for the federal campus has to go through Congress, but he is looking to close on a 75-year lease by October. Its a lot of money for very few units, but it solves a lot of problems, he said. The project will create 34 studio-type apartments ranging from 300 to 600 square feet across three unused VA buildings and one new building. Each unit will have its own kitchen, bathroom and living space. The new 9,000-square-foot building will be one story and contain eight residential units for mobility-, vision- and hearing-impaired tenants. It will also have a nearly 3,000-square-foot common area with room for a fitness space, office and meeting rooms, which Taylor said tenants could use to meet with social workers and caseworkers, hang out with other tenants and host events like birthday parties. The asbestos abatement and construction will be handled by Waco-based contractors ARC Abatement and HCS Inc. Commercial General Contractor. Terracon Consultants Inc. out of Dallas will certify that the buildings are clean before HCS moves into them, Taylor said. Were working hand in glove with Waco, he said. This is a Waco project. Mitigation and construction are anticipated to begin in October, with leasing of units beginning in October 2024. Taylor, in his 12th VA campus renovation project, said the Waco campus has some classic architecture he will be proud to save. Not only will the renewal save taxpayers money the VA would spend to maintain and close off the unused buildings, but it will also provide decent and respectable housing for veterans looking to better their life, he said. Additionally, living with other veterans, with others who know what it means to have served, can be a very healing environment for people with PTSD, addictive disorders and physical limitations, Taylor said. Group living can combat isolation, which may keep someone from using drugs, committing suicide or getting into trouble. The veterans housed at Freedoms Path will also be in close proximity to a variety of VA services. This is an extremely important dynamic. They can live at Freedoms Path for the rest of their lives if they want to, Taylor said. Texas legislators stood ready this year to make investments in our state park system, just in time for the 100th anniversary of the creation of the State Parks Board. Lawmakers filed a number of bills this session that would create new funding streams for park land acquisition and conservation. Ultimately, legislation authored by Sen. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, and sponsored by Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston, made it through the process, receiving over 80 percent support from lawmakers in each chamber. This legislation will create the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund, pending voter approval of its attached proposition in the November constitutional amendment election. If passed by voters this November, $1 billion will be appropriated and administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, providing a dedicated funding source for the acquisition, development and maintenance of state parks in Texas. Initially conceived of as a series of waystations to give Texas travelers of the 1920s a place to rest and stay overnight, the states park system was transformed first by the New Deals Civilian Conservation Corps, which created iconic state parks such as Balmorhea in West Texas and Palo Duro Canyon in the Panhandle. From the 1960s through the 1980s, the Legislature funded the further expansion of the parks system, which established another set of iconic additions to the park system like Enchanted Rock in the Hill Country. Between the pandemic boosting public demand for access to state parks and this legislative sessions historic $32.7 billion revenue surplus, 2023 provided both the motive and the means for another transformative investment in the states park system. It doesnt hurt that an investment in state parks more than pays for itself. A study conducted by Texas 2036 and the Center for Public Finance at Rice Universitys Baker Institute of Public Policy concluded that our state parks are rural economic engines. Rural counties with parks, the study found, experience greater employment growth, gross domestic product growth and population growth than rural counties without parks. Furthermore, the report found that investing in public parks holds great potential as every $1 in public money spent on parks can generate between $4 and $12 in economic return. According to a story this spring in The Dallas Morning News, its estimated that between the $1 billion attached to the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund and the private and federal matching dollars that it would attract, the state would be able to acquire another 1.4 million acres eventually pushing the Texas park system past 2 million acres. To safeguard, improve and create new state parks as the states population continues to grow, the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund holds the potential to preserve and expand our natural landscapes for future generations. On Wednesday, August 9th, the Concorde G-BOAD was removed from the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museums dock to undergo a few months of restorations at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The Concorde experience is temporarily closed while Concorde is relocated offsite for necessary maintenance. The experience and exhibit will re-open to the public in Spring 2024. The Concorde was lifted off Pier 86 and onto a barge, which took about two hours to reach the Brooklyn Navy Yard, only about 52 minutes less than the Concordes record-setting flight from New York to London in 1996. The Concorde is a product of Anglo-French cooperation. When the Concorde entered Air France and British Airways transatlantic service in 1976, it was the only operational supersonic passenger transport in the world. With a crew of nine, the Concorde could fly at 1,350 mph (2,150 kph) and at an altitude of 60,000 ft (18,181 m), high enough for its 100 passengers to see the curvature of the earth. The British Airways jet has been at the museum since 2003, and this was the first time it has left the museum for restoration work. This aircraft, serial no. 100-010 (G-BOAD), first flew on August 25, 1976. Concordes crossed the Atlantic Ocean in under three hours, or less than half the time of any other jetliner flying that route, even today. Protests from environmentalists prevented its supersonic use over the United States and limited its airport operations. A crash upon takeoff in July 2000 grounded the fleet until 2001. The Concorde flew VIP passengers until 2003, when both airlines retired their fleets from service. This airplane is on loan from British Airways. The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum is dedicated to the exhibition and interpretation of history, science, and service as related to its home aboard the aircraft carrier Intrepid, a National Historic Landmark. As you explore the Museum you will be able to examine original artifacts, view historic video footage, and explore interactive exhibits. For more information, visit www.intrepidmuseum.org. CEDAR FALLS A first developer has been selected to build in the coveted, nearly 200-acre expansion area of the industrial park south of West Viking Road and east of South Union Road. The City Council was unanimous Monday in approving a development agreement with Ryan Companies, a national commercial real estate firm based in Minneapolis with offices in Iowa. In return for developing there, the firm will receive the nine acres of industrial park land at the southwest corner of Venture Way and Innovation Drive at no cost, and a partial, five-year property tax abatement on the improvements. The future building occupant is unnamed at this time, but in documents the future facility is described as a distribution project and a future industrial warehouse facility, with truck delivery access and employee parking. Construction is anticipated to commence later this year with completion within the next 12-24 months. The development agreement is a milestone in the history of the expansion area that was acquired as farmland back in 2019 with expansion for the sake of generating more revenue for the city in mind. The area is one that received praise publicly from Iowa Economic Development Authority Director Debi Durham as a ready-to-build certified site with all the necessary infrastructure and due diligence completed to avoid any unnecessary surprises for those who decide to call it home. We just got done finishing the roads last year into early this year. CFU (Cedar Falls Utilities) is working on utility extensions right now, so were excited to see a project already wanting to move forward in that part of the industrial park, Economic Development Coordinator Shane Graham told the council The spec building will be a minimum of 40,000 square feet, but closer to 50,000, according to Graham. The company will be required to construct a building with a $4.75 million minimum valuation for the land and project. The land covers two of the 29 of the available lots zoned light industrial in the expansion area. Once construction commences, the council will consider an ordinance implementing the proposed exemption schedule. In other business, the council approved: Appointing Nick Evens, president and CEO of Curql Collective, in a unanimous vote, to the Cedar Falls Utilities board of trustees as the replacement for Leslie Prideaux. Mayor Rob Green recommended Evens, the runner-up in the previous selection process, led by a panel when Prideaux was first recommended nearly two years ago. Sandy Thomas was appointed for the Visitors & Tourism Board, as well. Approving, in a 5-2 vote on second reading, an ordinance setting the annual council pay at $8,500 for next year, 22% higher than the current $6,982. Councilmembers Dave Sires and Susan deBuhr dissented. Setting an Aug. 21 public hearing in response to an inquiry by St. Patrick Catholic Church for a new parking lot on prime real estate at 123 W. Seventh St., requiring a change in code but not garnering the support of the Planning and Zoning Commission. The vote was unanimous. An ordinance, in a unanimous vote on the third and final reading, to amend snow and ice removal requirements. An ordinance, on the first of three readings, establishing temporary long-term daily permits for municipal parking lots, after council previously discussed a revision to the code in response to a downtown business owner and residents car being towed. It passed 6-1, with deBuhr dissenting. An ordinance, on the first of three readings, establishing a four-way stop at the intersection of Center Street and Lone Tree Road after safety concerns were voiced by the North Cedar Neighborhood Association about it being a two-way stop. It passed 5-2, with deBuhr and Daryl Kruse dissenting. An ordinance, in a unanimous vote on third and final reading, of an ordinance rezoning 2.26 acres for Advanced Technical Services at 702 LeClair St. for a 6,900-square-foot expansion to the south of its existing facility. An ordinance, in a 5-2 vote on third and final reading, allowing vinyl siding on new residential buildings with six or fewer dwelling units in residential areas of downtown. Councilmembers Kelly Dunn and Simon Harding opposed. WATERLOO The cities of Cedar Falls and Waterloo havent lost their ranking on an infamous list that plagues the Cedar Valley. The metro area is still the sixth worst place for Black people to live. Financial news website 24/7 Wall St. identified the 20 worst cities for Black Americans by measuring racial socioeconomic gaps in the countrys 383 metro areas. These variables include the gap between white and Black residents in poverty, education, homeownership, income, unemployment, mortality and incarceration. They used sources from the U.S. Census, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Bureau of Justice. The report states that the Cedar Valley has one of the largest unemployment gaps between white and Black residents. While just over 3% of white people are unemployed, Black residents have a rate almost five times that amount at 14.7%. The national unemployment rate is 5.3%. The Black population in Waterloo and Cedar Falls is 12,737 which is 7.5% of the entire population. That equates to about 1,872 unemployed Black residents. Without a job, residents are most likely not receiving any income. The median income for Black residents is $29,150, which is 47.7% of the median income for white residents about $61,111. The report states less than 12% of white residents live in poverty, compared to more than one-third of Black residents. Without substantial income, it is harder to buy a home. Almost three-quarters of white residents own their homes. Less than one-third Black people own their home. The majority of the metro areas Black population lives in Waterloo. A little more than 17% of Waterloos residents are Black, compared to 1.3% of Cedar Falls residents. Waterloo has the highest percentage of Black residents in the state based on the citys total population. Although just over 1% of residents in Cedar Falls are Black, Mayor Rob Green believes the ranking is a problem for both cities. The disparities and challenges that landed the Cedar Valley in this list werent created in just a few years, he said. I am not surprised to see that addressing these endemic challenges will take a decade or more of significant effort. With a higher number of Black residents in Waterloo, many have viewed the ranking as a Waterloo problem, according to Cedar Falls Human Rights Commission Chairperson Sonja Bock. Its our problem, too, and were a part of the problem, she said. Bock said shes shocked at the report but not really. You know its there, she said. But when you really look at the numbers, its discouraging. In 2018, the Cedar Valley was ranked the worst metro area to live in as a Black person. Michael Blackwell an educator, pastor and activist believes the five cities above Waterloo-Cedar Falls have gotten worse, rather than the Cedar Valley getting better. The top five worst metro areas for Black people to live are Peoria, Illinois; Springfield, Illinois; Milwaukee-Waukesha, Wisconsin.; Racine, Wisconsin.; and St. Cloud, Minnesota. Two other Iowa cities are on the top 20 list. Davenport along with Moline and Rock Island, Illinois is number 13 and Des Moines-West Des Moines is number 11. Madelyn Ridgeway, executive director of 24/7 BLAC, which was created in 2020 as a response to the reports, noted that 13 of the 20 cities are in the Midwest. As someone who used to live in the South, she asked herself why the Midwest? I think historically when people think about injustices, the story of Black people, we automatically go to the South because of the (history) of civil rights, Ridgeway said. Im from the South, and I know the perception that people have, but there are no cities in the South on the list. She said Waterloo-Cedar Falls designation is not surprising to her but also said that changing statistics, mindsets and culture takes time. An example she gave was the influx of Bosnian refugees in the community during the 1990s. About 30 years later, she said many of the refugees that are still in the Cedar Valley are now thriving but 30 years takes time. Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart acknowledged Ridgeways organization saying it has helped grow local Black businesses as well as getting more Black people into their own home, rather than renting. Hart is Waterloos first Black mayor and, along with a majority Black council, he is hoping to create a community of opportunity, which he assigned as the citys motto. You have to have an administration that is empathetic and responsive to the needs, he said. You cant solve todays problems with the mindset that has created them. He clarified that it is not just the responsibility of local government but of the entire community to be engaged with the Black community and support them. Some goals the city is working for, or has achieved, Hart said, is lowering the unemployment rate for Black residents, seeing more Black people in leadership roles, addressing transportation barriers, looking at child care shortages, creating more accessible internet and cleaning up housing. Its not an easy lift, he said. But I do think the things were doing today (are) going to support greater long term opportunities. As for the city of Cedar Falls, Green said hes proud of the growth of the Human Rights Commission. He noted theyve spotlighted issues, addressed complaints, and become a force and voice for issues around race which he said the city had lacked. Bock said the citys creation of a racial task equity force was pivotal. That task force released a housing needs assessment that focused on housing inequality, which hadnt been accomplished since 1998. The city also hired a diversity, equity and inclusion specialist. Ridgeway also acknowledged the city of Waterloo has improved by introducing more Black culture into the community like the Summer Soul Classic Parade and the Juneteenth celebration. She also said there are more Black-focused services, such as hairdressers. When Ridgeway previously lived in Muscatine, she would fly back to the South just to get her hair done correctly. Those accolades dont diminish the fact that many Black residents struggle to make money. Income inequality is outrageous in this country and certainly here also, Blackwell said. When the median income for Blacks is (half) of what the median income is for whites, thats a big problem and so we need to address that. And its not something that can take place overnight. He believes that many Black workers in the Cedar Valley are making poverty wages with jobs that do not represent their capabilities or experience. With large companies in the Cedar Valley, such as John Deere and Tyson, Ridgeway argued there should be more Black people in their leadership positions, especially due to Waterloo having the highest concentration of Black people in the state. When you look at the fact that how many of us are in Iowa, how many of us are in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area, there should be more of us that are higher earners, she said. There should be more of us that are in leadership positions. Returning to the point of her southern roots, she said growing up she saw many examples of Black leaders such as mayors, CEOs, doctors and lawyers. We need more examples, Ridgeway said. We need more thriving business owners. We need more leaders. We need more high earning Black professionals. We need more Black people in homes that are helping them build that wealth. When someone doesnt have a job, they cant qualify for a home, she said, which becomes a cycle. Most people in America, Black or white, no matter what their culture is, their largest asset is their home, she continued. When you dont own a home then your overall net worth is lower. You want to start a business, you dont have that capital. You dont have anything that you can even borrow from. You dont have any investments. Green said homeownership is one of the most effective ways for someone to build wealth over time through equity, which is a financial asset and can provide stability. He said due to historical discriminatory housing practices such as redlining and restrictive covenants, many Black Americans were denied access to owning a home which has led to even greater wealth disparities. Redlining, is the practice of mortgage lenders denying financial services to people who live in a certain area. Restrictive covenants prohibit particular groups specifically racial from purchasing or leasing a property. Bock said the structure built decades ago was created to keep places segregated in the future. Its worked extremely well, she said. Green said the Human Rights Commission is preparing a resolution for the Cedar Falls City Council to formally acknowledge and repudiate Cedar Falls history of restrictive covenants. He said the resolution will enable leaders in the community as the city addresses concerns from the housing needs assessment. The housing needs assessment, which was published this year, was a response to a Cedar Falls Racial Equity Task Force request for solutions to a lack of affordable housing. The Courier previously reported that, last fall, the median sale price for a home in Cedar Falls was $225,000 significantly higher than the range of $170,000 to $200,000 in the surrounding communities of Denver, Hudson and Jesup. As for rental units, the median gross rent was $944 in 2020, which is higher than the states median gross rent at $806. Only 20% of occupied rental units had gross rents under $700. This has led to a smaller number of Black people living in Cedar Falls, according to Bock. She said although they may come to the city to work, they cannot afford to live within the city limits. She believes that Waterloo has the upper hand for affordable housing because there is more programming and support, such as Habitat for Humanity, which builds news homes or renovates old houses. The housing needs assessment report stated there are not many rundown properties in Cedar Falls to be demolished or revitalized and that lots in Waterloo are cheaper. Again, its those institutional structures that are helping people get a leg up that will say Please help keep people out, she said. And they have helped. Theres been institutional struggle. Ridgeway stated although the city of Waterloo has had a lot of new housing developments approved, many of them are not affordable housing. She said this results in Black residents not living in newer developments whereas older homes usually have issues and Black homeowners may not have the equity yet to make the repairs or upgrades. Blackwell said, along with affordable housing, there should be more mixed-income housing, as well. The lack of these types of housing results in geographical separation in both cities. This could result in people of lower socioeconomic classes being relegated to one area. Although the 24/7 Wall St. report focuses mostly on housing and income, there are other issues affecting the Black community. Green said in Cedar Falls Community Schools, only four out of 790 school employees were Black, even though more than 5% of students are Black. He said the district is working to increase its diversity. Waterloo Community Schools stated in a 2021 report that 20% of its staff members are people of color. That number was not broken down into different racial groups. With education, children can go into the world with better chances of employment, according to Blackwell. He described it as problematic that money is going from public school funding to private and parochial schools under a new state law. We should fortify our public schools so that people can go to and achieve those kinds of successes so they can market themselves and improve their employment chances as they grow older and mature, he said. Other issues noted included Black Hawk Countys high jail recidivism rate and lack of quality medical care for Black residents. Although a top 10 ranking is discouraging, many believe there is hope on the horizon if the community chooses to act on it. Blackwell thinks the metros designation could help the area secure funding to improve the conditions for Black residents. He said companies in the area could use the 24/7 Wall St. report as justification on grant applications. Ridgeway also believes there are a lot of opportunities because many people are paying attention to the report but she said those people cant forget the Cedar Valley is on the list. This doesnt have to be our story, she said. We can be the community that looks at this problem and says each of us cared enough to do our part and it changed Waterloo-Cedar Falls for the better. We refused to be in that list forever, she continued. Its just not acceptable for us to be on that list forever. Our kids deserve more than that. What do Iowans want? An inside look at what 20 Iowans say about their lives, government About the series This years legislative session was hugely consequential, criticized by some Iowans and praised by others. The laws passed, from tax cuts to school regulations to book bans to restrictions on transgender students, will influence the everyday lives of people across the state for years to come. We wanted to know how these actions and others by the state government affect the lives of people across the state. What they like, what they dont like, where they see our leaders falling short and what they think needs more attention. This story is part of a larger series involving Lee Enterprises newspapers in Council Bluffs, Davenport, Mason City, Muscatine, Sioux City, Waterloo-Cedar Falls and our Des Moines Bureau. The What Do Iowans Want? series attempts to probe the thinking of people across the state about how the government is working for them. The 20 Iowans profiled represent the broad perspectives in our state. Theyre teachers, artists, retirees and athletes. Theyre Republicans, Democrats and independents. Theyre your neighbors and your friends. What Iowans want - Carl Cleveland What Iowans want - Jesse Persons What Iowans want - Fatiya Adam What Iowans Want - Garie Lewis What Iowans want - Everett Hamner What Iowans want - Leslie DuPree What Iowans want - Akeem Carter What Iowans want - Forest Dillavou What Iowans want - Mary Heller What Iowans want - Jamie Oberheu What Iowans want - Jamie Swartley What Iowans want - Alyshea Gow What Iowans want - Jason Squier What Iowans want - Ryan Globe What Iowans want - Deb Weilage What Iowans Want - Laito Zarkpah What Iowans Want - Emma Bade What Iowans Want - Chris Garcia What Iowans want - Kelli Bryant What Iowans want - Alleena Blackwell WATERLOO Corinthian Baptist Church, located at 915 Willow St., will be celebrating the Rev. Troy Starks' first year anniversary on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. The Rev. Lovey Caldwell, pastor of Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church, will be the master of ceremonies for the morning worship, and the Rev. Frantz Whitfield, pastor of Mount Carmel Baptist Church, will bring the message for this celebration. Both churches will render two selections. Russian Defence Ministry report on the progress of the special military operation (9 August 2023) The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation. In Kupyansk direction, assault detachments of the Zapad Group of Forces, using the results of fire defeat of aviation and artillery, continued to conduct offensive operations on a wide front in the areas of responsibility, improving the tactical situation. As a result of professional and well-coordinated actions by Russian units, six attacks and counterattacks by units of 14th, 32nd, 41st and 67th mechanised brigades of the AFU have been repelled close to Novosyolovskoye (Lugansk Peoples Republic) and Mankovka (Kharkov region). In addition, AFU manpower and hardware concentration areas of the 67th Mechanised Brigade and the 103rd Territorial Defence Brigade have been hit close to Sinkovka and Kislovka (Kharkov region). The enemy losses were up to 75 Ukrainian servicemen, two armoured fighting vehicles, three motor vehicles, one Polish-manufactured Krab self-propelled artillery system, and one U.S.-manufactured AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar station. In Donetsk direction, as a result of active action by units of the Yug Group of Forces, Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, artillery, and heavy flamethrower systems, five attacks by AFU units have been repelled near Minkovka, Krasnoye, Avdeevka, and north of Kleshcheevka (Donetsk Peoples Republic). The enemy losses were up to 370 Ukrainian servicemen, two tanks, six armoured fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, two U.S.-manufactured M777 artillery systems, one Polish-manufactured Krab self-propelled artillery unit, and one D-20 howitzer. In Zaporozhye direction, as a result of skilful actions by units of the Russian grouping of troops, three attacks by assault groups of the 46th Airmobile Brigade of the AFU have been repelled close to Rabotino and Uspenovka (Zaporozhye region). The enemy losses were up to 40 Ukrainian servicemen, three armoured fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, and one D-30 howitzer. In Krasny Liman direction, units of the Tsentr Group of Forces, supported by aviation and artillery, successfully repelled two attacks by assault groups of 21st and 42nd mechanised brigades of the AFU close to Terny and Grigorovka (Donetsk Peoples Republic). The enemy losses were up to 80 Ukrainian servicemen, two armoured fighting vehicles, three pickup trucks, and one D-20 howitzer. In South Donetsk direction, units of the Vostok Group of Forces, in cooperation with aviation and artillery, have foiled an attempt by the enemy to conduct combat reconnaissance near Priyutnoye (Zaporozhye region). The actions of one Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group have been suppressed near Urozhaynoye (Donetsk Peoples Republic). The enemy losses were up to 180 Ukrainian servicemen, one tank, three armoured fighting vehicles, two pickup trucks, one Polish-manufactured Krab self-propelled artillery system, two Giatsint-B guns, and one Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer. In Kherson direction, the enemy losses were up to 50 Ukrainian servicemen, two motor vehicles, one U.S.-manufactured M777 artillery system, one Giatsint-B gun, one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, as well as one D-30 howitzer. Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised manpower and military hardware in 132 areas. Air defence facilities have shot down 9 projectiles launched by HIMARS MLRS. In addition, 35 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles have been shot down close to Olshana (Kharkov region), Lisichansk, Kremennaya (Lugansk Peoples Republic), Rovnopol, Nikolskoye and Orlinskoye (Donetsk Peoples Republic), Chumatskoye (Zaporozhye region) and Alyoshki (Kherson region). In total, 458 airplanes, 245 helicopters, 5,600 unmanned aerial vehicles, 428 air defence missile systems, 11,204 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,144 fighting vehicles equipped with MLRS, 5,819 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 12,155 special military motor vehicles have been destroyed during the special military operation. WtR Markets return to normal operation after floodwater recedes in north China's Zhuozhou Xinhua) 17:01, August 10, 2023 A citizen shops at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A citizen shops at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A citizen shops at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A staff member arranges price tags at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) Citizens select fruits at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A customer pays at the checkout counter of a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A staff member arranges commodities at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A staff member arranges commodities at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A staff member packs food for customers at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) Citizens select vegetables at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A staff member sorts out vegetables at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) Citizens select seafood at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) Citizens select eggs at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) Citizens shop at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) Staff members make sushi at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Kim Eun-kyung, the chief of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea's innovation committee, speaks about the party's reform measures at the National Assembly in Seoul, Aug. 10. Yonhap The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK)'s innovation committee announced its final set of reform measures Thursday, including changes to the leadership election rules. Under the recommendation, votes from party delegates would no longer be counted toward selecting the chief and the supreme council members and instead, a greater emphasis would be placed on votes from "members with rights." The new approach would allocate 70 percent of the voting weight to members with rights and 30 percent to public opinion polls. Currently, the DPK's party rules allocate a weight of 40 percent to votes from members with rights, 30 percent from party representatives, 25 percent from public opinion polls and five percent from regular members. Furthermore, the committee recommended the addition of ethics standards to assess incumbent lawmakers to exclude unqualified candidates from party nominations. The recommendation is expected to be discussed and considered for approval later this month. Upon putting forth its concluding proposal, the committee concluded its operations since its formation in late June with the goal of enhancing the party's image amid a slew of scandals. Among its previous recommendations, the committee has proposed that all party lawmakers submit written pledges to give up their immunity from arrest. It also suggested the DPK adopt it as an official policy so that they will not vote down any motion requesting parliamentary consent to arresting DPK lawmakers. (Yonhap) Check out the top national stories from the past week, including a look at the 19 people charged in the Georgia indictment, and the Tuohy fami One of the most bizarre mysteries ever to occur in the county took place in early June 1948. A battered, faded red, semi-trailer had been parked in a gravel stretch near the entrance of Rocky Arbor State Park in Juneau County. According to the caretaker, it had been there for about 10 days. It was not uncommon, at that time, for trucks to pull off busy Highway 12 and 16, unhitch a trailer and leave it until repairs could be made. No license plate was on the trailer and serial numbers had been removed. There was much activity at the park, however, no one seemed concerned about the parked trailer. Nearly two weeks later, Milton Strack of Necedah, was working with Overgaards construction crew in graveling the shoulder of Hwy. 12 and 16 near the entrance of Rocky Arbor. His suspicions were aroused concerning the red trailer, so he climbed up the vehicle, and through a tear in the corner of the top, he saw a body inside. Immediately Capt. Preston McEvoy went to the scene, then notified Sheriff John Collie Jones and district attorney Charles P. Curran of the dead body. Authorities set out to identify the woman, obtained the names of four missing women in the state. One missing Wisconsin woman seemed to fit the description of the body, until a daughter said her mother had false teeth, and the body found did not. The red trailer was moved to Denickes garage in Mauston. A number of truck drivers inspected it, each feeling he might recognize it and who owned it. Finally, a stencil used to paint a shipping address on freight was noticed in a dip in the trailer floor. The stencil bore the name of W. Yates and a Chicago street number. Yates was contacted and said he had put the stencil in the trailer, however the trailer was missing from where he last parked it. Meanwhile, Curran received fingerprint results on the corpse found at the state park. They belonged to Mrs. Mollie Dora Hoffman, 24, a Chicago housewife. She had been a plant worker during the war, and the prints were in a non-criminal file. Her remains were buried in the Mauston Cemetery. The rush was on to locate Mrs. Hoffmans husband, John. A neighbor in Chicago who did babysitting, said Mrs. Hoffman brought the two children to her the evening of May 24. Much later that night, Mr. Hoffman picked up the children. Shortly, police from the United States and Canada, learning Hoffman was a native of Saskatchewan, focused their search on his parents home in Melville. Royal Mounted Police reported Hoffman left the children, Bobby, 5, and Janice, 3, with their grandparents on May 31, and he departed June 7. The Mounties had no authority to arrest Hoffman, however trailed him to Hythe, a village of 200 and kept him under surveillance. Meanwhile, Sheriff Jones and D.A. Curran left Juneau County with a first degree murder warrant and also charges of a theft of a truck trailer against Hoffman. In Edmonton, the two Juneau County officers were issued a warrant to arrest Hoffman by a justice in the Supreme Courtone of the few Canadian judges not on summer vacation. The 1,300-mile train trip took them nearly a week. Hoffman informed them he had planned to head for Fairbanks, Alaska, the next day. While in the Juneau County jail, Hoffman told different versions of how his wife died, She hit her head on a corner cupboard or she fell out of the truck. He refused to take a lie detector test. But, finally, confessed that he beat his wife to death in their Chicago apartment. The case then reverted back to the state of Illinois. When a Chicago undertaker, Joseph Lauer drove up in a hearse to return the exhumed body of Mrs. Hoffman to Illinois, he said he knew her husband, Hes no good, and everybody knew he was mean to his wife. Chance, Hoffman claims, dictated his choice of Rocky Arbor Park as a place to leave his wifes body and the trailer. He said, he stopped there because a trailer tire was going flat. For years, residents say, UFOs have been visiting the Pierce County community of Elmwood. In the 1970s, the village along the Eau Galle River even proposed building a landing strip for them. A ghost is said to haunt a dam near Eau Claire. People have reported seeing the ghostly woman standing behind them when theyre at the dam. A woman was murdered there in the 1970s, and some think its her. Phantom chickens supposedly lurk along a country road near Seymour, in Outagamie County, spooking travelers. The stories are, admittedly, bizarre. On Monday, Chad Lewis, who has been studying Wisconsins oddities for years, will share tales like those and dozens more, chronicled in state newspapers over the years at the Lodi Public Library. The event is scheduled for 6 p.m. at the library, 130 Lodi St. Theyre fascinating stories that feel even more thrilling for being connected to Wisconsin, said Alex LeClair, library director for the last four years. Chad Lewis is endlessly curious and passionate about exploring any topic, no matter how outrageous. To read Wisconsin newspapers over the years, youd have to conclude that things are pretty outrageous out there: There are werewolves, possessed statues, cursed roads. Lewis, 49, of Eau Claire, has been on his own road, discovering Wisconsins weirdness for decades. When he was in high school in Eau Claire he kept hearing about people seeing UFOs in Elmwood and so he started to interview witnesses. People in Wisconsin seem more open to talking about their odd experiences, he said. Perhaps its the Midwest nice, knowing that more people will not consider them crazy. After high school, Lewis studied psychology at UW-Stout and started wondering why some people believe in the paranormal and others do not. He studied human belief systems and human perception. He began presenting his research at symposiums. People would come up to me and say, Help! I think my house is haunted! he said. Theyd say, I saw some weird creature out in the woods. Lewis did his masters thesis on the paranormal. Hes since learned that there are a lot of things that arent normal about Wisconsin. Hes been a full-time researcher and author for the last 20 years. I think Wisconsin stands above the rest when it comes to the unusual, he said. Every place in the world has legends, but in Wisconsin we have such a wide variety of so many weird ones. Weird like sea serpents. A monster named Bozho allegedly swims Lake Mendotas murky waters. Weird like the Hodag, the fantastical Northwoods creature that a newspaper man once said had the head of a frog, the grinning face of a giant elephant, thick short legs set off by huge claws, the back of a dinosaur, and a long tail with spears at the end. Weird like Mary, a former tenant of the historic Old Baraboo Inn who visitors say sometimes greets them as she wanders the halls. Mary is long dead. As more and more things start to look the same across the country the same stores, the same restaurants, the same hotels people are craving some uniqueness, Lewis said. 15 terrifying monsters in literature Terrifying monsters in literature Pennywise Headless Horseman White Walker The Giant Squid Dementors Jabberwock Grendel Count Dracula Cyclops The Kraken Medusa Frankenstein's Monster Balrog Mr. Hyde Wicked Witch of the West The Ethical Life podcast: What are the ethical pitfalls of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas? A milling company has agreed to pay $940,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging multiple violations at a plant that was the scene of a fatal explosion in 2017, state Justice Department officials announced Wednesday. The agency sued Didion Milling Inc. in November 2020 alleging state inspectors discovered 30 violations at the companys Cambria corn mill in 2019, including emissions, record-keeping and reporting violations. Didion spokesperson Scott Rippe didnt immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the settlement. The Justice Department asked the Legislatures finance committee on Wednesday for permission to accept the settlement. Republicans passed a law in 2018 requiring the department to get the committees permission before settling any lawsuit as a way of diminishing Democratic Attorney General Josh Kauls powers. Five Didion employees were killed in a grain dust explosion at the mill in May 2017. Last year, a federal grand jury charged the company with fraud and conspiracy in connection with the explosion, alleging the company failed to keep up with cleanings at the plant and falsified records to make it appear as if the cleanings were completed. The company responded to the charges by insisting the explosion was an accident. The case is set to go to trial in October. Weather Alert .Tropical Storm Hilary will continue to weaken and rapidly move into Southern California and Central Nevada today. Deep tropical moisture out ahead of Hilary will result in steady light to moderate rainfall across western Nevada and portions of eastern California. The heaviest rainfall and associated flash flooding threat will be from Sunday evening through the early Monday morning hours. ...FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE MONDAY NIGHT... * WHAT...Flash flooding caused by excessive rainfall continues to be possible. * WHERE...A portion of western Nevada, including the following area, Greater Reno-Carson City-Minden Area. * WHEN...Through late Monday night. * IMPACTS...Flooding may occur in poor drainage and urban areas. Storm drains and ditches may become clogged with debris. Never drive through a flooded roadway. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS... - 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. && ...Widespread rains and cooler conditions with an increased risk of flooding for parts of western NV and the eastern Sierra through late Monday... * Hurricane Hilary in the eastern Pacific is forecast to make landfall today near the northwestern portion of Baja of California. While this system will rapidly weaken by the time it arrives in Nevada, significant amounts of moisture will bring periods of heavy rainfall to the region this afternoon through Monday. The greatest threat for flooding is across the Basin & Range and the eastern Sierra. However, isolated flooding cannot be ruled out elsewhere across western Nevada and northeast California. Have multiple ways to receive alerts in case flood warnings are issued, and never drive through flooded roadways. * Abundant cloud cover and rainfall will keep afternoon high temperatures 10 to 20 degrees below normal today through Tuesday, with Monday likely being the coolest day. * Stay tuned to the National Hurricane Center by visiting www.hurricanes.gov for the latest on Hilary. The first tribal citizen to serve as director of the National Park Service (NPS), Chuck Sams, 52, is eager to ensure that future generations feel a strong connection to nature and history. As NPS prepares to commemorate the 107th anniversary of its founding on Aug. 25, Sams shares how the outdoors shaped his childhood, what he loves about his job and why he wants to hear your national park story. Were you an outdoorsy kid? Absolutely. Im a Gen X-er 1970s kid whose parents ensured that you stayed outside until the sun went away. And then you got up early in the morning and got your chores done and went right back outside all day. I grew up on the Umatilla Indian Reservation in northeast Oregon [Sams is Cayuse and Walla Walla and is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in northeast Oregon; he also has blood ties to the Cocopah Tribe and Yankton Sioux of Fort Peck] and was very fortunate to have a strong upbringing and land ethic that told me that we were responsible for stewarding the flora and fauna. What better way to do that than being outside all the time, playing in the dirt, playing in the creeks and the rivers all times of the year. Did you have any idea that your love of the outdoors could be channeled into a career? Absolutely not. I grew up originally in what they call the projects on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. I was very fortunate to have two parents who had finished their associates degrees in the 1960s. They were a rare commodity in themselves in that they were two Native Americans who actually had gone to college and finished two-year degrees. They had worked hard to figure out how to get us to a middle-class lifestyle. They wanted to be sure that we grew up on a reservation which turned out to be my fathers reservation so that we would grow up with traditional values that have been with us for thousands of years. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, it seemed as if people were rediscovering the outdoors.Absolutely, and during COVID, my own family [wife Lori Lynn and their four children, ages 23, 22, 19 and 10], we spent a lot of time out on the reservation on the Umatilla River, on the Columbia River, on the Walla Walla River spending time out in nature. We also made travels over to Whitman Mission National Historic Site and down to John Day Fossil Beds in central Oregon, both run by the National Park Service, because we knew those sites were still open and you could get outside and get an education while being able to enjoy recreational opportunities. You can subscribe here to AARP Veteran Report , a free e-newsletter published twice a month. If you have feedback or a story idea then please contact us here . Fifty years after U.S. prisoners of war in Vietnam were released comes a riveting book about the mens suffering and the women with whom they forged happily-ever-after marriages. The POWs paths were not without turbulence. Some marriages crashed and burned while the men suffered hardships and their wives at home confronted anxiety, fear and loneliness. In some cases spouses at home just moved on; others headed to Mexico for quickie divorces. Twenty couples whose marriages endured are featured in Captured by Love: Inspiring True Romance Stories from Vietnam POWs. Stories include those of single men who found love after regaining their freedom and returning to the U.S. as well as married men who reunited with their wives or met other women after coming home. Some of the new spouses were widows of fellow POWs. Author a former POW The lead author, Lee Ellis, includes his own love story and long marriage in the book. The F-4 Phantom fighter-bomber he was flying erupted in the skies over North Vietnam, leading to five-plus years of captivity in camps including the so-called Hanoi Hilton. Captured at age 24 and single, he remained with the Air Force after gaining his freedom and in 1973 retired as a colonel. In North Vietnam, approximately 400 American POWs endured long-term captivity, lasting at least five years. Remarkably, around 60 percent of them are still alive, with an average age of 87. The couples featured in the book share stories of love that have spanned 40 to 65 years, says Ellis, who is 79 years old himself. Means of survival What was key to the mens resilience amid torture, hunger, squalor, solitary confinement and scant medical care? Many were college-educated and rigorously vetted fliers, Ellis says, and crucial to their survival was the tap code they used to secretly communicate with each other by tapping out words based on a matrix of the alphabet. Conditions in the camps eased late in 1969, and the men strove to get healthier and get rid of our shame, guilt, anger and bitterness, Ellis says. Diversions included teaching one another calculus, foreign languages and other subjects, and reciting movies from memory. Humor helped, he says, recalling the profane nickname given North Vietnam leader Ho Chi Minh. Ellis and coauthor Greg Godek wrote the book to memorialize the love stories that Ellis says are so amazing they would defy Hollywoods imagination. Rescue workers search for missing residents in an inundated area of a village in Daegu, Thursday, when heavy rainfall and strong winds from Typhoon Khanun caused flooding, landslides and extensive facility damage across the nation. Yonhap One man dies, another goes missing in Daegu By Ko Dong-hwan Typhoon Khanun, which passed through the Korean Peninsula, Thursday, killed one and left another missing, while bringing heavy rain and strong winds that disrupted sea, air and railway operations. A 67-year-old man was found dead beneath a bridge in Daegu around 1 p.m., according to authorities, while another man in a wheelchair went missing after falling into another flooded stream in the same city at 1:45 p.m. In addition, dozens of people were rescued nationwide after being trapped in flooded roads and rivers, while a woman in her 30s in Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province, was struck by a falling tree and taken to a hospital. In Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, a powerful gust of water pushed a manhole grate through the bottom of a bus that was idling over it. A flooded sewer system apparently increased the underground pressure, causing the metal grate to shoot up. But nobody was injured. Cows are partially submerged in a flooded farm near Daegu, Thursday, as heavy rainfall and strong winds from Typhoon Khanun caused flooding, landslides and extensive facility damage across Korea. Yonhap As of 7 p.m., over 40,000 households nationwide experienced power outages. Electricity supply resumed to most of the homes later. All sea travel routes in the country's southern waters were shut down. Railway services across the country were also impacted, with operations of high speed trains halted over 160 times, other railways over 250 times and subways over 40 times, including four in Busan and the Busan-Gimhae light rail transit. Korea Railroad, the country's state-run railway operator, shut down all train services in the southern coastal regions as well as Taebaek and Gyeongbuk Lines in Gangwon Province and Donghae Line in South Gyeongsang Province. Some 360 flights were canceled at 14 airports nationwide, including over 200 connecting Jeju Island and the mainland, according to the Korea Airports Corp. Trees uprooted by strong winds from Typhoon Khanun block the entrance of a parking lot in Busan, Thursday. Courtesy of Busan Fire and Disaster Department Khanun has forced almost 1,600 kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools nationwide to change their normal class schedules to prevent the typhoon from impacting students. The number of the affected schools accounts for over 47 percent of those that have opened following their summer vacations. Under the emergency plans, the schools either replaced regular classes with online lessons, delayed the starting date of the new semester, shortened school hours or delayed class starting hours. Welcome to an Exciting Lithium Journey Melbourne, Aug 10, 2023 AEST (ABN Newswire) - I am writing to introduce myself and also share with you my vision for your company, Lithium Universe Limited ( ASX:LU7 ). I am extremely excited to be a part of your new company and the new direction. I believe that we can achieve great things together. In this letter, I would like to present an overview of my vision for Lithium Universe Limited and share some of the ideas I have in mind to achieve our goals. The name of your new company, "Lithium Universe Limited," is a cheeky reminder to the lithium industry that we can do it all again. Let me begin by providing some background on my experience and why I was chosen to lead your new Company. I am considered a pioneer in the modern lithium industry, and after a ten-year hiatus, I have returned to spearhead this exciting venture. Over twenty years ago, I was one of the first Australian mining executives to recognize the potential of the emerging lithium-ion battery industry. I led Galaxy Resources Limited (Galaxy) and I built the Mt Cattlin Spodumene Project (137,000 tpa of spodumene product) and the downstream Jiangsu Lithium Carbonate Project (with a capacity of 17,000 tpa). This was the first large-scale vertically integrated, mine-to-battery-grade lithium carbonate, project in the world. During my tenure, I also headed the acquisitions by Galaxy of the James Bay Spodumene Project in Canada and the Sal de Vida Brine Project in Argentina. I left Galaxy in August 2013. In 2014, the Jiangsu Lithium Carbonate plant was sold to Tianqi Lithium Corp for US$260 million, and in 2018, the north portion of the Sal de Vida project was sold to POSCO for US$280 million. At the beginning of my time at Galaxy, the company's market capitalization was less than A$10 million, but it has since grown to a valuation of approximately A$2.5 billion at the merger with Orocobre Ltd to form Allkem Limited in August 2021. Most recently, in May 2023, Allkem merged with Livent in a $15.7 billion deal to form a top 3 lithium producer and superpower in Lithium. In addition to my experience leading Galaxy in its formative stages, my involvement with lithium extends back to the early 1990s when I briefly managed the Greenbushes Lithium Mine and commissioned the first Lithium Carbonate plant for Gwalia Consolidated. I am proud to have contributed to the early development of this industry and to have witnessed its incredible growth in recent years. When I accepted the position of Chairman at Lithium Universe Limited, I had a vision that the Company should seek to prioritize the rapid development and construction of successful lithium projects, rather than solely focusing on lithium exploration, this being a natural step in the evolution of a successful explorer. My belief is that while there are many lithium explorers in the world today, only a handful have the expertise and skills required to effectively develop and construct viable projects. Lithium Universe has a rich pedigree of lithium experience and skill, and our goal should be to establish a lithium processing hub in Quebec, Canada, as quickly as possible. One of the reasons I was drawn back to the lithium industry was the tremendous potential of the Apollo Lithium Project in James Bay, Quebec, in which your company holds an 80% ownership stake. I am intimately familiar with the James Bay region, as noted above. The James Bay region is known for its thick, high-grade spodumene mineralization, as evidenced by the positive results of lithium exploration in the area. Notably, the Apollo Lithium Project covers an impressive 240 square kilometres and boasts 17 pegmatite outcrops visible at the surface. One significant advantage of the James Bay region is that spodumene-bearing pegmatites are often quite conspicuous as outcrops, which makes it easier to identify potential lithium deposits. It is an exciting opportunity for us to explore this promising area and discover new deposits that could contribute to our long-term success. When our partner staked the Apollo tenements in early 2022, the full potential of the project was not realized. However, today we discover that the Apollo Lithium Project is strategically located between two other significant lithium projects, Patriot Battery Metals' (Patriot) Corvette Lithium Project (29km to the northwest) and Winsome Resources' (Winsome) Adina Lithium Project (28km to the east). There have been significant spodumene discoveries by both Patriot Battery Metals and Winsome Resources. As an international benchmark, an intercept of +30m at +1.3% Li2O is considered an excellent result for lithium exploration companies. Patriot reported their best drill result of 156m at 2.12% Li2O at CV5, while Winsome's best drill result was 107m at 1.34% Li2O from 2.3m (AD-22-005). In layman's terms, these are outstanding drill results. This thick and highgrade spodumene mineralisation typically occurs as pegmatite outcrops close to the surface. These neighbouring companies have seen significant increases in market capitalization, with Patriot now valued at over A$1.4 billion and Winsome at over A$300 million. Lithium Universe's market capitalization prior to re-listing is circa $12 million with an EV of approximately $5 million. The Apollo project is located in the same greenstone belt as these two projects, and similar host geology with similar pegmatite occurrences visible in satellite images. This is why I was attracted back to the lithium industry. The other advantage of the area is that the spodumene in the neighbouring discoveries is of coarse crystal size, as reported by Patriot and Winsome in their early test work. This feature is not surprising as the Allkem James Bay deposit in the region also contains coarse-grained spodumene. Coarse spodumene requires less fine crushing to extract the lithium from the waste rock and can be processed using simple dense media separation (DMS). This processing method was used at Mt Cattlin and generally, DMS plants result in lower capital and operating costs. The lithium industry faces a significant hurdle in the form of lengthy project development timelines. From initial resource discovery to the completion of feasibility studies, construction of a lithium concentrator, and eventual product launch, the process can take up to eight (8) years. Unfortunately, even successful projects often encounter issues during execution, resulting in insufficient supply to meet growing demand. Canada boasts abundant spodumene deposits, making it a prime location for lithium production. However, despite being considered a promising investment opportunity, Canada has seen very little lithium production, in stark contrast to similarly invested countries like Argentina. Recent developments indicate a shift in the Canadian government's stance concerning the export of critical lithium spodumene concentrate to other countries, particularly China, for downstream processing of battery-grade lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide. In late 2022, the government ordered Sinomine, a Chinese state-owned company, to divest from Canadian company Power Metals Corp and relinquish its spodumene concentrate off-take contract. The government stated that the decision was made following a comprehensive "multi-step security review" conducted under the Investment Canada Act. This action aligns with the Critical Minerals Strategy and the Investment Canada Act, demonstrating the government's commitment to adding value to the entire supply chain, including downstream processing, rather than solely exporting spodumene concentrate. I believe that this has serious implications for the many lithium junior exploration/mining companies operating in Canada today. The challenges faced by lithium explorers are twofold. It is not enough to simply unearth lithium deposits; a company must possess the expertise and resources to build and operate fully integrated lithium processing and downstream facilities. This includes an intricate understanding of each stage, from extraction and purification to the final production of battery-grade lithium products. I acknowledge the admirable intentions of the Canadian government in promoting local downstream processing of spodumene concentrate. However, there are challenges faced in realising this strategy, the main one being the current lack of independent spodumene converters outside of China. Presently, the majority (95%) of spodumene concentrate produced in Australia is sold to China for conversion. China remains the main destination for Australian spodumene concentrate, serving as a vital component in China's lithium-ion battery supply chain. In 2022, more than 2.3 million tonnes of (or 330 Ktpa LCE equivalent) were exported to China for conversion. While Australia has aspirations to play a part in the conversion process, the two lithium hydroxide plants in Western Australia are still in the commissioning phase. Over the past decade, there have been two vertically integrated lithium projects in Canada-Nemaska Lithium and Canada Lithium-that ultimately failed. Despite significant investments made in Canada comparable to those in Argentina, no noteworthy lithium concentrate production has emerged from Canada. So the situation is that there are no announced independent spodumene converters in Canada, the United States, or Europe. In addition, the few announced potential lithium refineries in the United States and Europe have secured dedicated spodumene feedstock supply contracts resulting in little capacity to take on additional supply. In essence, there are currently no available spodumene converters outside of China, making it vital for Canadian junior lithium explorers to develop vertically integrated solutions. These initiatives by the Canadian Federal Government may inadvertently hinder the growth of the local Canadian lithium industry. While there are many junior lithium explorers in Canada, few possess the necessary experience and skills to successfully develop and construct a fully integrated lithium project, spanning from exploration and mining, concentrating, and finally production of battery-grade lithium carbonate or hydroxide. Each stage of the process requires distinct skill sets and mindsets, including exploration mining, crushing and concentrating, and high-grade chemical expertise. It is challenging to find this extensive skillset embedded within a single company, as demonstrated by the difficulties faced by the two previous fully integrated Canadian lithium companies. I now want to share with you my vision that can promote collaborative growth among lithium junior exploration companies operating in the James Bay area and position Canada as a major supplier of lithium to the global market. In pursuit of this goal, and while we develop our exploration assets, we may also investigate the feasibility of establishing a vertically integrated lithium processing hub (QLPH) in Quebec, Canada. My vision is to assess the feasibility of constructing a multi-purpose independent concentrator (QLPH Concentrator) that may supply a battery-grade lithium carbonate refinery (QLPH Lithium Carbonate Refinery) capable of producing 16,000 tons per annum (tpa). This processing facility (QLPH) should be ideally located along the Trans Taiga Highway in the James Bay district. As mentioned previously, Lithium Universe already owns 80% of the highly prospective Apollo Lithium Project in the James Bay district. The Company intends to conduct comprehensive drilling activities for resource development, and if successful develop a mine at Apollo. The run of mine (ROM) ore potentially generated from Apollo will form part of the spodumene ROM ore mix feeding the QLPH concentrator. In addition, to feed the QLHP Concentrator, Lithium Universe may consider entering into long-term off-take run of mine contracts with regional lithium junior partners, who could supply spodumene ROM ore. Now that I am assuming the role of Chairman and have shared a larger prospective vision for our company, my next step is to engage with the board and shareholders in order to gather valuable feedback and gauge interest in exploring this concurrent and complementary strategy further. We have the opportunity to create a new chapter in the history of lithium exploration and project development in Canada. With your support, and our team's expertise and dedication, we are confident that we can make this vision a reality. Once again, welcome to this exciting lithium journey. Iggy Tan Chairman *To view location images, please visit: https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/D7Y8O2N0 About Lithium Universe Ltd Lithium Universe Ltd (ASX:LU7), headed by industry trail blazer, Iggy Tan, and the Lithium Galaxy team has a proven track record of fast-tracking lithium projects, demonstrated by the successful development of the Mt Cattlin spodumene project for Galaxy Resources Limited. Instead of exploring for the sake of exploration, Lithium Universe's mission is to quickly obtain a resource and construct a spodumene-producing mine in Quebec, Canada. Unlike many other Lithium exploration companies, Lithium Universe possesses the essential expertise and skills to develop and construct profitable projects. Never Give Up Day, August 18: A Beacon of Light that Rescues Lives and Revives Dreams NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES, August 9, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- Union City, New Jersey In a world marked by challenges, uncertainties, and the ebb and flow of life's trials, a radiant beacon of hope emergesNever Give Up Day. On August 18, this poignant day takes center stage, casting a luminous glow that not only celebrates the unyielding spirit of resilience but serves as a guiding light, rescuing lives from despair and reigniting the flames of dormant dreams. In an extraordinary display of solidarity, the Mayors of Linden, Berkeley Township, and Union City have proclaimed August 18 as Never Give Up Day. This historic declaration serves as a testament to the indomitable human spirit and the shared commitment to resilience that defines these vibrant New Jersey communities. Never Give Up Day is a reminder that within each individual, there resides an inexhaustible wellspring of strength, a beacon of light that remains undiminished even in the face of adversity. This day is not just a marker on the calendar; it is a symbol of unwavering determination, a clarion call to rise above challenges, and an invitation to renew our commitment to pursuing the fullest expression of our potential. The significance of Never Give Up Day extends beyond a singular momentit is a collective celebration that unites communities, transcends boundaries, and breathes life into dreams that may have waned. It is a day when we come together, hand in hand, to declare that our spirit cannot be extinguished, and our dreams cannot be diminished. Never Give Up Day is a beacon of light that dispels the shadows of doubt and despair, offering a lifeline to those in need and reigniting the embers of hope. It is a call to actiona call to reflect on our own paths, to draw strength from the journeys of others, and to unite in our shared commitment to embrace challenges as opportunities for growth. The Mayors invite residents of Linden, Berkeley Township, and Union City to mark August 18 as a day of significance and unity. Never Give Up Day is a call to actiona reminder that challenges are opportunities for growth, and that by standing together, communities can create a legacy of resilience and positive change. With a mission to celebrate resilience and the unwavering spirit of perseverance, our online shop brings a curated collection of uplifting products and meaningful messages right to your fingertips. The Never Give Up Day online shop is now live at http://www.nevergiveupdayshop.com For more information about Never Give Up Day, please visit http://www.nevergiveupday.com Alain Horowitz Never Give Up +1 929-388-2146 info@nevergiveupday.com Visit us on social media: Facebook Twitter Instagram Never Give Up Cover Images/ROGER WONG Celebrity The 53-year-old actress, who forged a friendship with Sandra after they starred in 1996 movie 'A Time To Kill', calls the late photographer an 'all round good guy' in a touching message on Instagram. Aug 10, 2023 AceShowbiz - Octavia Spencer's heart is "broken" for Sandra Bullock following the loss of her "soulmate" Bryan Randall. In an Instagram post, the 53-year-old actress, who forged a friendship with Sandra after they starred in 1996 movie "A Time To Kill", has praised Bryan as an "all round good guy" following his death. She wrote on Instagram, "My heart is broken for Sandy and Bryan. Sandy lost her soulmate and the world lost a talented, handsome, all around good guy! My prayers and condolences to their families. RIP Bryan Randall. In heaven, there's a tiny little lady up there who looks an awful lot like me bossing the Angels around. Especially Gabriel. She'll get him to play any song you want to hear. Give her a kiss from me. #soulmates #ALS (sic)" Make-up artist Ashunta Sheriff-Kendricks also told how Sandra spoke "so highly" of Bryan when she was filming 2022 movie "The Lost City (2022)". She commented on Octavia's post, "So sorry to hear this. Sandy spoke of him so highly while we were filming lost city of D. Prayers for her and his family" Octavia's comments come after Sandra's sister, Gesine Bullock-Prado, praised the actress for being "the best of caretakers" for Bryan. The 53-year-old pastry chef wrote on Instagram, "I'm convinced that Bry has found the best fishing spot in heaven and is already casting his lure into rushing rivers teaming with salmon. ALS is a cruel disease but there is some comfort in knowing he had the best of caretakers in my amazing sister and the band of nurses she assembled who helped her look after him in their home. Rest in peace, Bryan. In lieu of flowers, please donate to ALS Association and Massachusetts General Hospital (links in bio)." Bryan's family confirmed this week that the photographer had passed away last weekend at the age of 57 following a three-year battle with ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). In a statement given to PEOPLE, the family said, "It is with great sadness that we share that on August 5, Bryan Randall passed away peacefully after a three-year battle with ALS. Bryan chose early to keep his journey with ALS private and those of us who cared for him did our best to honour his request." You can share this post! Instagram Celebrity While she doesn't detail the alleged domestic violence, Karin opens up about her dysfunctional relationship with the Memphis-born rapper. Aug 10, 2023 AceShowbiz - Key Glock's ex-girlfriend has spoken up against him after their split. In a series of social media posts, Karin Jinsui accused the "Presidential Rolex" rapper of physically assaulting her. "All that boy has to offer is money & [d**k] literally. I can find that [s**t] a million other places. I'm a grown righteous woman & I require more than that that he can't offer," Karin wrote on Instagram Story. "He's the real one that ain't [s**t] & he knows it. He tries to ACT like he so 'Playa' to the public but really he's a hurt [a**] little boy.that desperately needs help." "He put his hands on me Monday because he don't know how to have grown up conversations & I STILL ain't call the cops or inform the hotel. I just left," she continued. "Why he decided to post about the cops & they wasn't even called is funny as hell." While she didn't detail the alleged domestic violence, Karin opened up about her dysfunctional relationship with Key Glock. "This boy was literally BEGGING me to be in my presence for 4 years. I finally allowed it & it was pointless. Never entertain a FAN ladies!" she claimed. "I did my best with tryna understand him but he ain't a ready to be a man & he's not a good person. It works for his rapper image. Not his personal affairs. He'll learn one daybut not with me! Lol." "It's the audacity that he would even call anybody 'not [s**t].' He has no manners. Don't know how to talk to people. Whether it's his friends or strangers. He wakes up with a attitude," she further fumed. "Can't comprehend normal [s**t]. Not a gentleman AT ALL. Like who even wanna be around you fr?" Karin continued ripping her ex by writing, "Then it's the 'fake Godly' lol God be ruffling this boy feathers. He's jealous that I put God before him & on a pedestal & it shows." She added, "Also, I never cheated on him. That ai't [s**t] I do. I just stand up to his [a**]. That's something he ain't used to & can't handle." Karin seemingly referred to Key Glock's tweet that read, "Sending this fake godly a** b***h back to da street." In another post, the emcee penned, "she might look good on IG but I SWEAR dat b***h AINT NONE !!" You can share this post! Instagram Celebrity Despite calling 911 over an alleged instance of domestic violence, the 'Jersey Shore' star is reportedly still engaged to and residing with the 'Jersey Shore: Family Vacation'. Aug 10, 2023 AceShowbiz - Angelina Pivarnick is putting her alleged altercation with Vinny Tortorella behind. Although she had to call 911 over an alleged instance of domestic violence with her fiance, the "Jersey Shore" star has reportedly refused to file charges and remained engaged to him. Offering the confirmation over Angelina and Vinny's dispute was Vinny's attorney, James Leonard Jr. In a released statement, James told Page Six. "I can confirm that Angelina did in fact call the police to her home. After speaking with the officers, Angelina decided not to file charges." "This matter is now closed. Moving forward, Angelina would ask for privacy as it pertains to her personal life," James went on to spill. About the current state of Angelina and Vinny's relationship, the attorney noted, "My client and Ms. Pivarnick are still engaged and are still residing together." James further spilled on Vinny's response to the alleged altercation. He stressed, "Mr. Tortorella denies any act of impropriety that would warrant police involvement and denies any act of domestic violence occurred. No charges have been pressed against my client by Ms. Pivarnick or law enforcement. I ask that his privacy be respected in this regard." Angelina was previously reported to have called authorities over an alleged instance of domestic violence involving Vinny. Page Six uncovered that cops rushed to the engaged couple's house in Freehold, New Jersey following the call. However, the police report, which was obtained by the outlet, revealed that the 37-year-old reality TV star declined to file charges against her fiance after the cops arrived. Still, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request uncovered that a "criminal investigatory record" was made following the incident. On how Angelina and Vinny are doing post-the incident, a source spilled to the outlet, "Angelina and Vinny are still engaged and are still very much in love with one another." The source additionally revealed, "And they are both actively filming 'Jersey Shore' Season 7 that will air in the fall." Less than four months before, Angelina and Vinny got engaged. Vinny popped the question in front of their "Jersey Shore: Family Vacation" co-stars back in April. "I love you so much. A lot of things in life aren't guaranteed, but something that I've learned since I met you is loving you is gonna be guaranteed for the rest of my life," he told Angelina at that time. You can share this post! By Choe Chong-dae Over the past few decades, Korea has undergone a notable transformation from a culturally homogeneous society to a more diverse and multicultural one. This shift is primarily due to the influx of migrant workers and foreign students into Korea. As a result, new mixed populations have emerged, contributing to a transition toward a multicultural society. One remarkable observation by many foreigners visiting Korea is the abundance of magnificent churches and temples. While Korea's religious landscape has evolved to include various faith communities, Buddhism has historically held a dominant position as the primary religious group in Korea since its introduction in the 4th century. However, alongside Buddhism, other major religions have also attracted followers, leading to the diverse and multi-religious landscape of the country. This cultural shift has made Korea a home for a range of religious beliefs, creating an environment where people from diverse backgrounds can freely practice their faith. It highlights the country's journey from a predominantly homogeneous society to one that embraces religious diversity and encourages understanding and coexistence among different religious communities. Religion has undeniably exerted a profound influence on human culture across the course of history. Many religious experts have contributed invaluable insights and logical progressions to humanity's intellectual development. Although various religions diverge in their philosophies, beliefs and rituals, there is a universal understanding that religions aim to provide lasting resolutions to the trials of existence while seeking salvation from inherent transgressions. They promote ideals such as compassion, tolerance, mercy, benevolence, love and harmony, emphasizing morality and peace as pathways to a better existence. However, it is disheartening that incidents and conflicts contradicting the core essence of religion and its teachings have frequently occurred on a global scale, manifesting as devastating wars. Of note is that in Korea, families such as my own beautifully demonstrate harmonious coexistence despite members following different religions. This showcases religion's positive impact in fostering tolerance and respect for diverse beliefs. Additionally, religion in Korea has played a significant role in nurturing Korean philosophy, culture and art throughout history. It has safeguarded the essence of Korean heritage, including the nation's independence against Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945). It has provided fertile ground for the flourishing and evolution of Korean culture, leaving a profound impact on traditions, customs, and way of life. While religion holds the potential to unite and enrich societies, it is important to acknowledge and confront the regrettable instances of conflicts and wars that have arisen in the name of religion across the globe. By drawing lessons from Korea's example of peaceful coexistence, we can aspire to create a world where diverse religions and cultures coexist harmoniously. This endeavor would foster a global community built on compassion, understanding, and mutual respect, allowing for the flourishing of all. Throughout Korea's religious history, there has been an incredible spirit of openness toward other faiths, transcending differences in doctrine. The ideal of harmony, reconciliation and unity beyond religious boundaries has become a defining characteristic of Korean traditional culture. The Korean people display deep spiritual connections and exhibit great passion and emotion when it comes to matters of faith. Currently, characterized by globalization and diverse societies, Korea is known for being a country where people of different races, ethnicities and beliefs coexist harmoniously. Among the various religions present, Buddhism, Christianity and the native religions (Cheondo-gyo, Won Buddhism) of Korea are widely practiced. These religions contribute positively to spiritual and welfare activities, but occasional conflicts and challenges may arise. However, unlike Western societies or the Middle East, Korean society has successfully avoided major religious conflicts or violent disputes. Korea's multicultural society should embrace diverse religions, promoting tolerance and respect. The coexistence of different faiths within families and communities highlights the positive influence of religion. Korea's experience inspires a global vision of harmonious coexistence, fostering compassion, understanding and mutual respect for diverse religions and cultures. Choe Chong-dae (choecd@naver.com) is a guest columnist of The Korea Times. He is president of Dae-kwang International Co., and Director of the Korean-Swedish Association. Instagram Celebrity One of the former managers implores the public that the news of the teen rapper's passing should be taken with 'cautious consideration' as authorities have not received report on her death. Aug 10, 2023 AceShowbiz - Lil Tay's family statement on her death has raised questions among those who personally knew her. After her family announced the viral sensation's passing at age 14, her former managers cast doubt on the statement. Harry Tsang, who claimed he has been in communication with individuals who have an intimate understanding of the family's situation, said he hasn't been able to confirm the legitimacy of the statement. "Given the complexities of the current circumstances, I am at a point where I cannot definitively confirm or dismiss the legitimacy of the statement issued by the family," he told the press in an email statement on Wednesday, August 9. The former manager continued, "This situation calls for cautious consideration and respect for the sensitivities involved. My commitment remains focused on delivering updates that are both reliable and appropriately timed." He further implored the public, "I encourage everyone to rely on reputable and official sources for information. We must exercise patience while awaiting further developments before drawing any conclusions." Another former manager, who asked to remain anonymous, told The U.S. Sun that they were shocked and concerned to learn of the "talented" girl's apparent passing. However, certain details in the statement appeared suspicious. "One thing I would question is who posted that statement and why isn't it signed by anyone from the family," the person said. "Why is it not signed, 'This is Tay's mom,' or 'This is the dad of Lil Tay,' or from an official representative? Why is there no attachment?" "To me, that is a very telltale sign. It doesn't make sense. Even when you have passings, there's a group of people that come together to make the statement, usually the family, and we don't see that here," the former manager further noted. They added, "I send my condolences and I'm shocked by the news. But I'm curious as to who the statement has been released by and [why it hasn't been signed by anyone.] I should be grieving right now but I just have so many questions." Further adding suspicion to the mysterious death of Lil Tay, whose real name is Claire Hope Eileen Qi, authorities have not received report on her passing. The Los Angeles Police Department and county medical examiner said they "had no information on an investigation into the death of anyone named Claire Hope." Meanwhile, the Vancouver Police Department also said they had no record of any investigation into the deaths of Claire or her brother Jason. The teen rapper grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia and moved to Los Angeles with her mother Angela Tian and her brother to build an online following from the age of nine. Lil Tay's family announced the shocking news earlier on Wednesday via her Instagram page. "It is with a heavy heart that we share the devastating news of our beloved Claire's sudden and tragic passing. We have no words to express the unbearable loss and indescribable pain. This outcome was entirely unexpected, and has left us all in shock," the statement read. The statement also revealed that her brother had passed away. "Her brother's passing adds an even more unimaginable depth to our grief," it continued. "During this time of immense sorrow, we kindly ask for privacy as we grieve this overwhelming loss, as the circumstances surrounding Claire and her brother's passing are still under investigation. Claire will forever remain in our hearts, her absence leaving an irreplaceable void that will be felt by all who knew and loved her." You can share this post! Cover Images/Seth Browarnik Music Hours after 60 fans were reportedly injured at his Circus Maximus show in Rome, the 'Utopia' artist is photographed out and about in the Monti neighborhood with a mystery woman. Aug 10, 2023 AceShowbiz - Travis Scott (II) appeared to be unfazed by the chaos taking place at his concert in Rome on Monday, August 7. Hours after 60 fans were reportedly injured at the show, the rapper was photographed out and about with a mystery woman. In a new picture that circulated online, the "SICKO MODE" rhymer was seen enjoying al fresco on pizza and fettuccini at a restaurant in Rome's trendy Monti neighborhood on Tuesday. Travis, who shares two kids with Kylie Jenner, dressed casually in a gray tank top, baring his tattooed arms. The Cactus Jack owner paired the look with black flared, detachable cargo pants, sneakers and expensive diamond jewelry. He was joined by an unidentified busty blonde who mirrored his look. The woman sported a plunging gray crop top and a pair of light-washed denim pants and white shoes. Travis' outing came after his performance at Rome's Circus Maximus brought in a massive crowd of somewhere around 60K fans. The show went chaotic at one point as 60 concertgoers were reportedly injured and required medical attention after the show. Rome's civil protection department stated that many injuries were due to someone releasing pepper spray into the crowd, while one 14-year-old fan was hospitalized attempting to scale a 13ft wall. Italian news site Ansa and New York Times also reported that Travis' Apple Music-sponsored concert at the ancient chariot-racing stadium caused an earthquake-like effect through the city. This wasn't the first time fans were injured at Travis' show. Ten people were killed and hundreds were injured due to a sudden crowd surge at his Astroworld concert back in 2021. While he is currently facing civil lawsuits, the "Utopia" artist, who claimed that he wasn't aware of the severity of the situation, will not be indicted on any criminal charges stemming from the concert. You can share this post! Instagram/Cover Images/POOL/CNP Celebrity A few days after trolling the former president over his third indictment, the 'Please Excuse My Hands' spitter appears to have more opinions on Trump to share with fans. Aug 10, 2023 AceShowbiz - Plies has called Donald Trump a representation of "non accountability." After weighing in on the former president's third indictment, the "Please Excuse My Hands" spitter appeared to have more opinions on Trump that he wanted to share with his fans. On Wednesday, August 9, the 47-year-old spitter made use of Instagram to lambast the former host of "The Apprentice". In a post, he began writing, "I've Figured Out Why People Who Claim To Like Trump Like Him! They Like Him Because He Represents NON ACCOUNTABILITY." "He Lives In A World That He Wants To Do & Say Whatever He Likes W/o Any Consequences," Plies went on to say. "Everything Bad In His Life Is Someone Else's Fault! Most People Feel Dis Way." Along with the post, the "Put It on Ya" spitter, whose real name is Algernod Lanier Washington, penned in the caption, "It Finally Donned On Me!!!! #Plies #IGotMotion." One week prior, Plies deemed Trump "p***y a**" shortly after the latter got indicted for the third time. The rapper uploaded a video of himself mocking the politician's indictment via Instagram on August 2. "You done got indicted for the third time, you done got indicted for the third time," he chanted in the clip. "Trump your p***y a** got indicted for the third time! How the hell you get indicted for the third time? Hey Trump, ain't no muthaf**ka got indicted three times in the history of indictment," the hip-hop artist further stated while laughing and using both of his hands to show "three" hand signs. "Ain't no muthaf**king body got indicted three muthaf**king times three muthaf**king times," Plies reiterated. He then asked, "What you think this is? Muthaf**king spades?" Accompanying the footage, Plies stated in the caption, "How U Get Indicted For The 3rd Time??? Pw*ssy Azz Trump!!!! #Plies." Near the end of it, he added a slew of rolling on the floor laughing emoji. Earlier in August, Trump faced criminal charges due to his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. In a statement via The Associated Press, Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith said, "The attack on our nation's Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy." "It was fueled by lies, lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government: the nation's process of collecting, counting and certifying the results of the presidential election," Jack's statement continued. You can share this post! Instagram Celebrity The 'We Found Love' songstress is said to be resting at home after giving birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl, who is described as her 'perfect spitting image.' Aug 10, 2023 AceShowbiz - Rihanna and A$AP Rocky may have added a new bundle of joy to their family now. The couple, who has been together for three years, has reportedly welcomed their second child together and it's a girl. According to Media Take Out which first reported the news, multiple sources close to the pair have confirmed that the Barbadian beauty gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl. Both the mother and the newborn daughter are reportedly doing well, resting, recovering and bonding in the couple's Los Angeles mansion. While details of the baby's arrival, including the date of birth and where she was born, are not revealed just yet, she is described as "precious" and "beautiful" by one of the friends. The friend further gushed, "She's a perfect spitting image of Rihanna - even down to the light eyes." This isn't the first time the outlet reported that Rihanna and A$AP's second child has been born. Last month, the site claimed that the Grammy winner checked into Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles on July 12 to give birth to her second child. The report further claimed that she was accompanied by her partner and baby daddy at a specially decorated $5,000 a night birthing suite. The outlet additionally said that security was swarming the hospital as they had an entire wing of the maternity ward sectioned off. However, less than two weeks later, Rihanna stepped out in Los Angeles while still sporting her baby bump. She was carrying her firstborn RZA, who appeared to fall asleep, in her arms, when arriving at her go-to restaurant Georgio Baldi in Santa Monica. It should noted though that Rihanna and A$AP kept things under wraps with the birth of their first child. She quietly welcomed her son on May 13, 2022 and took some time before debuting the baby boy. It's not until May of this year that the name of her son was revealed to the public. According to a copy of his certificate of live birth, the boy is named RZA Athelston Mayers, after Wu-Tang Clan's leader RZA. You can share this post! Celebrity When contacted for comment regarding the shocking announcement, Chris Hope would not corroborate the teen rapper's passing amid questions raised by her ex-managers if she's really dead. Aug 10, 2023 AceShowbiz - Lil Tay's dad's reaction to questions about his daughter's passing has only added mystery to her sudden death. Chris Hope has declined to confirm the viral sensation's death though a family statement released earlier said so. When contacted at his Vancouver law office for comment on the reports, Chris told The Post on Wednesday, August 9, "Yeah, you have the right person, but I don't have any comment right now." He continued to dodge questions about the matter as saying, "I'm not able to give you any comment right now. I'm sorry - I can't." When asked whether someone else could confirm his daughter's death, he cryptically responded, "Um, no, not that that I'm aware of." He added, "Sorry, I can't really comment or give you any help - I'm just going to let you go," before hanging up. According to a family statement posted on Lil Tay's Instagram page on Wednesday, the Internet personality passed away at age 14. "It is with a heavy heart that we share the devastating news of our beloved Claire's sudden and tragic passing. We have no words to express the unbearable loss and indescribable pain. This outcome was entirely unexpected, and has left us all in shock," the statement read. The statement also revealed that her brother had passed away. "Her brother's passing adds an even more unimaginable depth to our grief," it continued. "During this time of immense sorrow, we kindly ask for privacy as we grieve this overwhelming loss, as the circumstances surrounding Claire and her brother's passing are still under investigation. Claire will forever remain in our hearts, her absence leaving an irreplaceable void that will be felt by all who knew and loved her." However, authorities have not received report on her passing. The Los Angeles Police Department and county medical examiner said they "had no information on an investigation into the death of anyone named Claire Hope." A spokesperson for the Vancouver Police Department also said, "We haven't gotten any reports of either death here," referencing both Tay and her brother. "As of now, we are not aware and are not investigating." Lil Tay, born Claire Hope Eileen Qi, grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia and moved to Los Angeles with her mother Angela Tian and her brother Jason to build an online following from the age of nine. Also casting doubts on the death announcement, her former manager Harry Tsang has told the press via email, "Given the complexities of the current circumstances, I am at a point where I cannot definitively confirm or dismiss the legitimacy of the statement issued by the family." He reminded, "This situation calls for cautious consideration and respect for the sensitivities involved. Another former manager, who asked to remain anonymous, told The U.S. Sun, "One thing I would question is who posted that statement and why isn't it signed by anyone from the family." They added, "To me, that is a very telltale sign. It doesn't make sense." You can share this post! Cover Images/Seth Browarnik Movie The English-American DJ, who is the executive producer for 'Barbie: The Album', fired back at the comedian for criticizing the movie in a lengthy post shared on Twitter. Aug 10, 2023 AceShowbiz - Mark Ronson has defended "Barbie" from Bill Maher's criticism. The English-American DJ, who is the executive producer for 'Barbie: The Album', fired back at the comedian for calling the flick a "man-hating" film. "We come to this place for magic," the 47-year-old wrote on Twitter as he quote-retweeted Bill's post. "We come to AMC theaters to laugh, to cry, to care... and to furiously google 'mattel board configuration' while others are trying to enjoy a f***king magnificent comedy." Bill's original tweet, meanwhile, read, "OK, 'Barbie': I was hoping it wouldn't be preachy, man-hating, and a #ZombieLie - alas, it was all three. What is a Zombie Lie? Something that never was true, but certain people refuse to stop saying it (tax cuts for the rich increase revenues, e.g.); OR something that USED to be true but no longer is, but certain people pretend it's still true." He added, " 'Barbie' is this kind of #ZombieLie." "Spoiler alert, Barbie fights the Patriarchy. Right up to the Mattel board who created her, consisting of 12 white men! The Patriarchy! Except there's a Mattel board in real life, and it's 7 men and 5 women," the 67-year-old further argued. "OK, not perfect even-steven, but not the way the board IN THE MOVIE - which takes place in 2023 - is portrayed. And not really any longer deserving of the word 'patriarchy.' Yes, there was one, and remnants of it remain - but this movie is so 2000-LATE." After detailing some scenes in "Barbie" that he took issue with, Bill went on to share, "I know, I know, 'How could I know about the patriarchy, I AM a man!' That argument is so old and so silly." He then noted, "Barbie is fun, I enjoyed it - but it IS a #ZombieLie. And people who don't go along with zombie lies did not take some red pill - just staying true to CURRENT reality. Let's live in the year we're living in! Hi Ken!!! #BarbieMovie." Prior to this, Elon Musk and Ben Shapiro made it clear that they were also not a fan of "Barbie". The SpaceX founder spoke up against Greta Gerwig's pink-colored movie while [https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1683373636189581312]responding[u] to a meme poking fun at his decision to change Twitter's blue bird logo to "X". The 52-year-old wrote, "It you take a shot every time Barbie says the word 'patriarchy', you will pass out before the movie ends." Ben, for his part, penned on his own page, "All you need to know about #BarbieTheMovie is that it unironically uses the word 'patriarchy' more than 10 times." The conservative political commentator also posted a video of himself throwing Barbie dolls on a grill and setting them on fire. You can share this post! Cover Images/Julia Nikhinson TV Upon learning that the 'Jersey Shore' star nearly exposed her chest, the host of 'Live With Kelly and Mark' assures her that 'there is nothing wrong with a little slip on morning TV.' Aug 10, 2023 AceShowbiz - Kelly Ripa has offered words of comfort for Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi. The host of "Live With Kelly and Mark" gave an unexpected assurance to the "Jersey Shore" star upon seeing that the latter nearly suffered a wardrobe malfunction during a live show. The 52-year-old host witnessed the moment the 35-year-old reality star came close to exposing her chest while tapping for the Wednesday, August 9 episode of her morning TV program. Instead of being left flustered, she quickly told her guest, "You know, there's nothing wrong with a little slip on morning TV." She added, "It's like visual coffee." Snooki's close call happened when she was making an entrance to the studio of "Live With Kelly and Mark". Wearing a flared brown top with a plunging neckline, she made an excited entrance, and bouncingly gave the show's audience high-fives. At one point, right before she got to Kelly and her co-host, Mark Consuelos, she shouted, "Oh! My boobs!" Once she got to the stage, Snooki then told the two hosts, "I almost had a slip there." All the while, she covered her chest with her hand and her long blonde hair. Still, her honest confession prompted Mark to burst into an awkward laughter. Snooki was not the only one who narrowly avoided a wardrobe malfunction on "Live with Kelly and Mark". In a May 31 episode of the morning TV program, Kelly unveiled that she experienced "a small wardrobe emergency backstage." About how it happened, Kelly recounted to Mark at that time, "It was very exciting. I almost did not walk out here!" Mark responded to Kelly's confession with a joke. He said that he was "wondering how that was going to go." He then shared that he tried to find a way to "stretch" the opening intentionally to give her time to fix the mishap. Fortunately, she was able to handle the bundler and appear on the show just in time. Kelly also dealt with wardrobe issue while wearing the same dress back in April. In the April 18 episode of the show, she and Mark were learning a dance with the "Dancing with the Stars" dancers, Valentin Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson, when her dress ripped "just a little bit." You can share this post! Britannia's legacy in India spans over 106 years, its roots and history firmly rooted in Indian soil. On the 77th anniversary of the countrys Independence, Britannias 1947% More History campaign is an ode to an entire generation of freedom fighters and to the very few living freedom fighters we have amongst us today. In todays times, where deep discounts of 45%, 65% and sales have taken centre stage on key days, Britannia chose to unpack 1947% more history innovatively through technology and bring it alive using its packs as the medium. The stories are delivered through augmented reality on the packs of its more popular brands like Britannia Breads, Good Day, Marie Gold, Milk Bikis and Winkin Cow beverages. The campaign promise is simple. Listen to the stories of a few of Indias last living freedom fighters, directly from them, brought to you on your favourite Britannia packs. Simply click www.Britannia1947more.com and enjoy the incredible experience through Augmented Reality. This campaign captures the essence of Britannia's commitment to Indias collective history, society, and our rich heritage. Through a process of research along with a content partner, Britannia was honoured to tell the stories of 5 nonagenarians from across the country- Shrimati Leela tai, Lt. Asha Sahay, Lt. R Madhavan, Lakshmi Krishnan Agvl. & Shri Gour Hari Das. The campaign film uses Generative AI technology to portray rich visuals of the freedom movement and recreate the younger profiles of the 5 protagonist freedom fighters whose stories have been told by themselves. Talking about the campaign, Amit Doshi, CMO, Britannia Industries Ltd. said, As one of Indias centurion companies, we feel proud of our history that witnessed the birth of Indias freedom and further followed its incredible rise to becoming an economic superpower. As a company with a 106 year old heritage, it is our privilege to bring alive some incredible stories of how our freedom was won, and we decided to use technology to do so through our packs. He added, These inspiring stories of Indias few living freedom fighters, come alive through an AR experience that can be triggered with a range of Britannia products found in every home. History is in our fridge, our kitchen shelves, and now well hear it speak to us. By celebrating these heroes, we unite around the power of resilience, compassion, and courage. This campaign is not just about history; it's about understanding our identity and cherishing the values that define us as a nation. About the campaign Sandipan Deb, Creative at Talented said, When we look back at how far India has come, its hard not to feel a sense of absolute awe and pride. But 77 years after the struggle, its natural to take our freedom for granted. Independence Day has been reduced to a day filled with retail offers. Theres no sentimental value anymore. We wanted to change that - and if theres one brand that has the stature and legacy to do this, it is Britannia. Brut India, Rooted Films and Pixel Party have been amazing collaborators to make this campaign come alive. We hope every time we sit down to drink chai with Marie Gold, or make a sandwich, we think of our country, even if its for a second, and the brave people who selflessly fought for us. Campaign Credits Britannia Industries Chief Marketing Officer - Amit Doshi Head Digital Marketing & PR Dipti Sudhir Brand Manager Pavanshu Aggarwal Digital Manager Prabakaran K PR Manager Vignesh Shankar E-Com Manager Utkrishat Vineet Team Talented Aabhaas Shreshta Aaliya Sheikh Amith Nair Balaji P Binaifer Dulani Diya Manek Devargh Mukherjee Dhruv Shingala Karthik Nambiar PG Aditiya Prashant Gopalakrishnan Radhika Subramanian Samyu Murali Sandipan Deb Tasha Dsilva Tasha Dsilva Varun Khiatani Yash Dugar PH - Rooted films Ronak Chugh Yash Shanghavi Tech - Web Dimension: Achint Bhatnagar Kaushal Verma Kalpit Dwivedi Mihir Mainkar Ram Pratap Singh Sachin Kaushik Vishal Singh Brut India: Streaming company Disney+ will unveil its ad-supported subscription model in some markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) towards the end of this year. In a recent announcement, the company reported a substantial decline of 12.5 million paid Disney+ subscribers in the third quarter of 2023. This marked a substantial decrease, representing the largest membership reduction since April 2020. Responding to this decline, Bob Iger, CEO of Walt Disney Co., laid out a fresh approach for international markets, encompassing increased pricing and the debut of a novel standard tier subscription scheme. Moreover, Iger divulged plans to introduce a standard subscription tier with advertisements in chosen EMEA markets and Canada. At present, a Disney+ subscription in the UAE commands a monthly fee of AED 29.99. However, the company stated that the proposed ad-supported plans will start at 24.1 dirhams (5.99 or $6.58) per month in EMEA and $7.99 per month in Canada. Customers currently subscribed in relevant markets will remain within the premium tier, exempt from advertisements, despite the impending price hike in December. They will have the choice to transition to one of the new more affordable plans. Launching on November 1, the ad-supported, Standard, and Premium packages in designated European markets and Canada will give users access to the comprehensive Disney+ content library, including substantial offerings from Hulu. Iger also revealed the company's intention to clamp down on password sharing, taking a cue from the actions taken by streaming counterpart Netflix this year. He said: "We are actively evaluating strategies to tackle account sharing and exploring optimal solutions for paying subscribers who wish to share accounts with their acquaintances and relatives." Iger additionally conveyed that the company intends to implement approaches to drive revenue generation by 2024. Lodestar UM, a leading media agency and a part of the IPG Mediabrands India network, has secured the prestigious media mandate for Protean eGov Technologies through a competitive multi-agency pitch. Protean (previously NSDL e-Gov) is a pioneer and leader in Digital Public Infrastructure, RegTech and Open Networks. Lodestar UMs mandate for Protean spans the entire media spectrum across mainline, digital, out of home, and special projects. Lodestar UMs expertise in crafting differentiated media strategies played a pivotal role in winning this mandate. Since its inception 28 years ago, Protean has pursued the vision of being a builder of population-scale eGovernance technology that improves ease of doing business, promotes financial & social inclusion and ease of living for its citizens. The company has played a pivotal role in Tax Infrastructure modernisation (PAN Cards, TIN), establishing the Pension Infrastructure, Digital IDs, Data Stack & Account Aggregator, contributing to building new age Open Digital Eco-systems (ODEs) across diverse sectors ranging from digital commerce (ONDC), mobility to healthcare, agriculture, education & skilling. Aditi Mishra, CEO of Lodestar UM, expressed her excitement about this momentous win, saying, "We are thrilled to embark on this new partnership with Protean, a company that has been driving positive change through innovative technology solutions for years. Our team is committed to maximizing their brand presence and communicating their impactful contributions to the Indian society." Suresh Sethi, Managing Director & CEO of Protean eGov Technologies Ltd., shared his thoughts on the collaboration, stating, We are delighted to join hands with Lodestar UM at a time when we are transforming and embarking on a journey to empower the next billion through new technologies. On our mission of Financial & Social Inclusivity, I am sure this partnership will help our message reach the last-mile, inculcate behaviour change and accelerate adoption of new technology as we continue to build the foundational digital infrastructure for India and the world. Gaurav Ramdev, Chief Marketing Officer of Protean eGov Technologies Ltd., added, "Our partnership with Lodestar UM comes at a pivotal moment when we at Protean, are ushering in the new and actively driving digital transformation across various sectors. We look forward to their partnership and experience to build disruptive media strategies that will help us to reach out to a billion and deliver powerful consumer and customer experiences." Laya Menon, EVP & Business Head, Lodestar UM, said, We are delighted and humbled at the opportunity to partner with Protean and its cutting-edge stack of tech solutions. Their significant role in underpinning India's Digital growth story for the last many years is commendable. We eagerly look forward to collaborating closely with Protean and contributing to their continued success in driving positive change through innovative technology solutions. With this new partnership, Lodestar UM's dedicated team is all set to leverage its expertise to bolster Protean eGov Technologies Ltd.'s brand presence and further propel their vision of creating a digitally inclusive India. A media art installation created by SK Telecom's AI technology shows a video of independence activist Yu Gwan-sun, who protested for Korea's independence during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial period, at the Independence Hall of Korea in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, in this photo provided by SK Telecom, Thursday. Courtesy of SK Telecom By Baek Byung-yeul SK Telecom used artificial intelligence (AI) technology to create videos of prominent figures in Korea's independence movement against Japan such as Ahn Jung-geun and Yu Gwan-sun, the company said Thursday. The video media art featuring the historical figures was created with SK Telecom's AI image restoration technology known as SUPERNOVA and will be unveiled to the public on Friday at the Independence Hall of Korea in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. SK Telecom added that it will exhibit a robot to provide historical commentary on the independence movement and an immersive exhibition experience via augmented reality (AR) technology. The mobile carrier plans to develop varied content utilizing its cutting-edge technologies through joint projects with the Independence Hall of Korea. The two sides have been cooperating since May 2020 in order to help visitors better understand the country's independence movement with the latest technologies such as AR and mixed reality (MR). Visitors will be able to view photos, videos and more concerning the historical figures and key independence movement scenes, which have been recreated with AI through a media art installation that is 3.2 meters wide and 4 meters high. An SK Telecom guide robot explains Korea's independence movement against Japanese imperialism at the Independence Hall of Korea in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, Thursday. Courtesy of SK Telecom Adgully has been turning the spotlight on the entrepreneurs who fought against all odds to bring their dreams to fruition in our special series START-UP STARS. We at Adgully wholeheartedly support the Vocal for Local movement and have been featuring numerous local/ homegrown businesses, brands, and Apps in the count. Founded in 2020, EcoSoul Home is on a mission to accelerate the worlds transition to a sustainable lifestyle by creating eco-friendly goods for all from Earths most renewable resources. The eco-friendly goods brand offers a variety of household products including plant-based tableware, bamboo kitchenware and compost bags. All products are certified and fully compostable. In conversation with Adgully, Rahul Singh, Co-founder, EcoSoul Home, talks about the establishment of EcoSoul Homes, the challenges and landmarks in its start-up journey, and much more. What motivated you to establish EcoSoul Home as entrepreneurs? As co-founders and young parents, we strongly believed in the age-old adage that we do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. The journey of EcoSoul Home started with a deep passion for environmental sustainability and a desire to make a positive impact. Our motivation to start EcoSoul Home as entrepreneurs comes from a simple motive. What need gap did you aim to fulfill with EcoSoul Home, and what is your core business proposition? At EcoSoul, our primary aim is to bridge a significant gap that exists in the realm of sustainable living making sustainability Available, Accessible and Affordable for all. And, because our brand offers a wide range of everyday essentials that is 100% planet-safe, we aim to help people live a sustainable life, starting right at their homes. Besides making sustainability truly accessible, we aim to offer what we call Guilt-Free Convenience. Our eco-friendly single-use alternatives not only help people follow sustainability but also enjoy it without having to compromise on their convenience. How did you identify your target audience, and did you conduct a feasibility study before starting the business? While conceptualizing our business model, we collaborated with leading agencies of the world to identify the change in consumer behavior towards sustainability. According to Nielsen, more than 78% of consumers want to go eco-friendly if there are credible and affordable alternatives to single use plastic. We recognized that our mission to make sustainability accessible, affordable, and available was aligned with the needs and preferences of working millennials and GenZ consumers. This includes environmentally conscious consumers, those prioritizing ethical consumption, and those motivated to reduce their ecological footprint. Furthermore, we aimed to cater to individuals who were looking for practical and affordable ways to incorporate sustainability into their daily lives. What were the challenges you faced in your startup journey and how did you overcome them? EcoSoul Homes journey was not without its share of challenges, and our team demonstrated resilience and strategic thinking to overcome them. One of the foremost challenges we encountered was sourcing eco-friendly raw materials and upholding consistent product quality, all while ensuring our prices remained competitive. These challenges were critical to address, as they were directly tied to our core value of making sustainability accessible to a wide audience. To tackle these challenges head-on, we adopted a multi-faceted approach. Our co-founder, Rahul Singh, moved to India to build a robust supply chain in Asia. Recognizing the importance of raw materials in our eco-friendly product line, we proactively forged strategic partnerships with more than 150+ manufacturers in Asia. This strategic move transformed EcoSoul into a burgeoning global green products brand. By collaborating directly with the manufacturers, we not only gained access to high-quality, sustainable raw materials but also contributed to the growth of eco-conscious industries in the region. What clearances and certifications did EcoSoul Home require from various authorities? The journey of EcoSoul Home necessitated a series of global clearances and certifications from diverse international authorities, affirming our unwavering commitment to eco-friendly products and sustainable principles. These certifications not only substantiated our claims but also played a pivotal role in establishing consumer trust and setting our brand apart within the market. All our materials are eco-friendly, fully compostable, and ethically sourced. To add to our credentials all our products are certified by leading global agencies with international certifications like FSC, USDA, FDA, TUV, BPI, ISO, NSF and CPCB etc. How did you address the funding issue common to many startups? Addressing the common funding challenge many startups encounter, we navigated the company's initial 14 months as a bootstrapped enterprise. The journey towards securing our first investor was a distinctive one, characterized by strong investor belief in our product's potential as well as our mission. Co-founders of the company had more than 15+ years each of experience in scaling various companies and products throughout their careers. With strong initial traction across the US and Canadian markets, we attracted many large investors like Accel, SinghCap, Alteria Capital, BoldCap, FounderBank Capital and Wayfund. Overall, we have raised $16 million across Seed and Series A rounds for our global expansion. How has digital technology helped in furthering your business? EcoSoul is a digital-first and data driven brand. EcoSoul has developed and deployed proprietary AI solutions with a mission to become a cutting-edge consumer packaged goods (CPG) company that harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionize the way CPG products are developed, manufactured, marketed, and distributed. With a strong focus on innovation and technology, EcoSoul combines deep industry expertise with advanced AI capabilities to deliver exceptional products and drive sustainable growth in the fast-paced consumer goods market. EcoSoul aims to transform the sustainable products CPG industry by leveraging AIs power to drive innovation, enhance operational efficiency, and deliver exceptional consumer experiences. By leveraging AI algorithms, our solutions enable businesses to make data-driven decisions, respond swiftly to market changes, reduce waste, and create products that meet consumer expectations. Through our sustainable practices, we strive to contribute to a more environmentally responsible CPG industry. What were the key learnings from your journey as entrepreneurs so far? The journey as entrepreneurs has been a profound learning experience, offering insights that have shaped our approach and outlook. My advice to budding entrepreneurs is that while funding is important for scaling, do not build a business that survives on funding. We jokingly say in the company we are in the business of building a company; not in the business of fundraising. For the first 14 months of our journey when we were proving the product-market fit, we did not raise any external funding. I started by leveraging personal savings (even sold my house in New York) and reaching out to friends and family who believed in my vision. Among the key lessons garnered, authenticity and credibility have emerged as paramount in the realm of the eco-friendly market. Establishing trust among consumers by consistently delivering on our promises and maintaining transparency has been crucial to our growth. Another foundational lesson is building a team that shares our vision and values. We realized that a dedicated and passionate team is the cornerstone of success. Collaborating with trusted partners, be they suppliers or retailers, has also proven instrumental in navigating challenges and expanding our reach. This symbiotic network of relationships has propelled our growth and amplified our impact. How do you see the startup ecosystem progressing in 2023? As 2023 unfolds, a clear trend within the startup ecosystem is the escalating emphasis on business model sustainability. This year marks a pivotal shift where businesses and investors are increasingly cognizant of the long-term value added by a product or service. There is now an increasing focus on the profitability of the company and businesses are now adjusting to this new reality. In all it will be harder to raise funds for the companies that are in the early stages of proving their business models but great business models with demonstrated product market fit will not have much impact on their journey. Having the right team to execute will also be a true differentiator for the startups. What message do you have for budding entrepreneurs? My advice to budding entrepreneurs is that Entrepreneurship can be challenging and lonely journey. More than 95% of entrepreneurs fail in the venture. One must be very clear why they are pursuing entrepreneurship. My advice would be to build an entrepreneurial dream beyond financial success. Instead, build something that you are truly passionate about and the world has a clear need for it. Entrepreneurship requires a unique combination of passion, resilience, adaptability, and risk-taking. Building a business from scratch involves numerous hurdles, including securing funding, navigating market uncertainties, and managing day-to-day operations. It demands long hours, dedication, and the ability to handle setbacks and learn from failures. However, despite the challenges, entrepreneurship is also incredibly rewarding. It provides an opportunity to pursue your passion, make a difference, and have a lasting impact. The sense of accomplishment that comes from building something meaningful is unparalleled. While it may be hard, the fulfilment and personal growth it offers make it a worthwhile journey for those who are driven to create change. Federal Department of Home Affairs Bern, 10.08.2023 - President Alain Berset met with Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Thursday, 10 August. Talks focused on Switzerland's engagement in Colombia, peacebuilding and humanitarian aid. Other topics of discussion included cooperation between the two countries at international level, policy on drugs and the situation in Europe and Latin America. The president paid tribute to the progress made in the Colombian peace process and stressed that Switzerland would remain strongly committed to the country. "The last several years have been marked by the pandemic and aggressive attacks against multilateralism. Cooperation between like-minded states is all the more important now. And the world urgently needs hopeful signs like those sent out by the peace processes in Colombia," said President Berset. The bilateral agreement approved by the Federal Council in June for Switzerland to keep a digital backup copy of the archives of the Colombian Truth Commission was signed by the two presidents on Thursday. The last time a Swiss President paid a visit to Colombia was in 2016. Colombia is a priority country for Switzerland in no less than three areas - humanitarian aid, peacebuilding and economic cooperation. During the talks between President Berset and President Petro, both sides emphasised the strong ties between the two countries and the positive developments, including in economic exchanges, where the volume of trade reached around one billion Swiss francs in 2022. A key topic was the cooperation between the two countries at the international level, especially within the UN. Policy on drugs was also discussed with both sides agreeing to step up exchanges on this issue, which were very intensive prior to the pandemic. Switzerland an accompanying state in the peace process In Bogota, Mr Berset met with stakeholders involved in the implementation of the 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the rebel group FARC. Further steps to bring peace to the country were discussed. Along with Germany, Sweden and Spain, Switzerland is one of four states accompanying the peace process between the armed group ELN and the government, which is why the president met with these two negotiating delegations. Also in Bogota, he met members of the Swiss community in Colombia and attended the inauguration of the embassy's renovation. On Tuesday, 8 August, and Wednesday, 9 August, the programme primarily consisted of visits and meetings within the framework of peacebuilding and humanitarian aid in the departments of Valle del Cauca and Antioquia. In Buenaventura (Valle de Cauca), Mr Berset held talks with civil society organisations and local authorities. In Dabeiba (Antioquia), the delegation visited a project that seeks to reintegrate former combatants thereby implementing the peace process. Address for enquiries GS FDHA Communications, +41(0) 58 462 85 79, media@gs-edi.admin.ch Christian Favre, Co-head FDHA Communications, +41 (0)79 897 61 91, christian.favre@gs-edi.admin.ch Publisher Federal Department of Home Affairs http://www.edi.admin.ch Image: PTI Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the violence in Manipur, claiming that their behaviour could lead to similar unrest in other places. An entire state is burning. Imagine what will happen if this spreads to other parts of the country in five or ten years because these people have created this type of atmosphere, he said. The CM referred to Congress leader Rahul Gandhis remarks during the debate Wednesday in Parliament on the no-confidence motion against the government. Gandhi had accused the BJP-led government of harming the country. Gehlot used the term varg sangharsh (class struggle) for the unrest in Manipur. He said if the atmosphere worsens, the Centre, the state governments, the army or the police will not be able to tackle the situation, like they are not able to do anything in Manipur. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event where he distributed smartphones to a group of women under a new scheme. The CM attacked BJP leaders for targeting his government over law and order, claiming that there is more crime in BJP-run states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. He also recalled his recent announcement that people involved in sex crime will not be given state government jobs. He urged people to share their ideas for Vision 2030 for Rajasthan. It is my wish that Rajasthan should be among the top states by 2030 and every step of my government is targeted towards it. On recent action by central agencies in Rajasthan, he said the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department become more active in state where elections are near. If someone has committed a wrongful act, dishonesty or theft, he should be put behind bars and I have no objection to it. But officers from these agencies are instructed by the home minister, he said. Why should we worry, let them come, he said. I have said that I am a bigger faqir (ascetic) than Modi ji. Forty lakh women will benefit from new Indira Gandhi Smartphone Yojana in the first phase, according to the state government. The scheme will empower women, the chief minister said at the event. He said widows and single women receiving pension and families with girl students have been picked for this phase. Note: Join us in congratulating Dr. Hooker and Robert Kennedy, Jr. on their forthcoming book, available NOW from Skyhorse Publishing. The post below is from Children's Health Defense. As ever, Age of Autism does not endorse political candidates for any office. By Dr. Brian Hooker Vax-Unvax: Let the Science Speak Why RFK Jr. and I Wrote This Book The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has never compared the health outcomes of vaccinated children to completely unvaccinated children, and the agency wont give independent researchers access to government data to complete such a study. In Vax-Unvax: Let the Science Speak, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Brian S. Hooker, Ph.D., provide a compendium of more than 70 studies comparing health outcomes of vaccinated versus unvaccinated adults and children. In May 2017, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was invited to meet with Dr. Francis Collins and Dr. Anthony Fauci. Accompanying Kennedy to the meeting were Del Bigtree, Informed Consent Action Network founder, attorney Aaron Siri and Lyn Redwood, R.N., MSN, president emerita of Childrens Health Defense (CHD). Several other U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials in the executive offices of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) accompanied Collins and Fauci. For many years, Kennedy CHD founder and chairman on leave and many others had pointed out that HHS had not completed inert placebo-controlled vaccine safety trials to validate the inoculations given as a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) recommended child and adolescent immunization schedule. This type of comparative trial is the gold standard in evaluating the safety of all types of pharmaceutical products. When Kennedy asked Fauci to produce just one placebo-controlled study regarding the 16 vaccines comprising the vaccination schedule, Fauci made quite a commotion, rifling through a series of Redweld file folders rolled in on a cart from the NIH archives. Finally, in what appeared to be feigned exasperation, Fauci gave up and said he would send the studies in question to the meeting participants. Of course, he never did. Both Kennedy and Bigtree gave the HHS many opportunities to produce placebo-controlled studies evaluating childhood vaccine safety but the agency never produced the studies. Kennedy asked for them directly in a series of emails to Collins finally to be rebuffed in a curt and dismissive letter from Collins, sent in August 2017. So sweeping was the commitment against placebo-controlled trials for vaccine safety that six additional NIH officials signed the letter, which was also sent to Jared Kushner, senior adviser to then-President Donald Trump. The NIH officials seemed proud of their commitment to sweeping vaccine safety issues under the rug. Bigtree also sent a letter to HHS asking for placebo-controlled vaccine safety studies and the biennial reports required by Congress regarding improvements in vaccine safety according to the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. RFK Jr./Hooker NEW book: Vax-Unvax. Order Now! After being similarly rebuffed by the agency, Bigtree submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for the latter information. After suing HHS in Federal Court, in a case represented by Kennedy and Siri, Bigtree finally received the concession on June 27, 2018: The [Department]s searches for records did not locate any records responsive to your request. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Immediate Office of the Secretary (IOS) conducted a thorough search of its document tracking systems. The Department also conducted a comprehensive review of all relevant indexes of HHS Secretarial Correspondence records maintained at Federal Records Centers that remain in the custody of HHS. These searches did not locate records responsive to your request, or indications that records responsive to your request and in the custody of HHS are located at Federal Records Centers. Kennedy didnt stop there, however. In 2019, he reached out to me in an effort to search the scientific and medical literature for any published research study where the health outcomes of vaccinated individuals were compared to those of unvaccinated individuals. For each study identified, we assembled easy-to-understand graphics with key quotes taken directly from the publication. Kennedy wanted the studies to speak for themselves with minimal commentary. He posted the results of this work on his Instagram account in real time. Over a nearly two-year period, we highlighted more than 70 studies, including some that intentionally made the comparison and some in which the comparison was unintentional. After Kennedy was de-platformed from Instagram in 2021, we realized that what we had assembled was an important compendium of information that needed to be shared in book form. An additional 30 studies were found through the COVID-19 era and the book Vax-Unvax: Let the Science Speak will be released Aug. 29 by Skyhorse Publishing. Click here to order your copy today. This book is important for laypersons, practitioners, scientists and others to get an overview of studies where actual unvaccinated cohorts are used as control groups. Most of the studies featured in the book are indexed in PubMed, the NIH National Library of Medicine. These are the studies that the CDC refused to do. The CDC has the ability to compare vaccinated versus unvaccinated children with its private database, the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD). The VSD consists of records from more than 10 million individuals, including 2 million children a portion of whom are unvaccinated. Yet the CDC has never compared the health outcomes of vaccinated children to completely unvaccinated children and the agency wont give independent researchers access to the VSD to complete such a study. That is why Kennedy and I produced this compendium of studies to expose to the public the real science behind the vaccination schedule, including the COVID-19 vaccine. The Defender on occasion posts content related to Childrens Health Defenses nonprofit mission that features Mr. Kennedys views on the issues CHD and The Defender regularly cover. In keeping with Federal Election Commission rules, this content does not represent an endorsement of Mr. Kennedy, who is on leave from CHD and is seeking the Democratic nomination for president of the U.S. Get the Ed Chat newsletter: Enter your email for weekly updates about Alabama schools: The Alabama Board of Education voted unanimously to take control of Sumter County schools during Thursdays board meeting in Montgomery. That means the local Board of Education is no longer in charge of the decisions about personnel, finance or operations. State officials said no jobs will be immediately affected by the takeover, but that they do expect to need to reorganize soon. The vote comes during a chaotic week for the Sumter County school district. On Tuesday, the local board refused to consider any actions proposed by Superintendent Marcy Burroughs. Schools could not move forward with the hiring of teachers and transportation staff and were forced to delay the start of school from Thursday to Monday. State Superintendent Eric Mackey said he will work with Burroughs to make some, but maybe not all, of those hires beginning this afternoon. Ill have the authority to make those hires myself, Mackey said. Mackey said the districts inability to complete a required yearly audit of their finances forced the intervention. The school district also has struggled with declining enrollment, facility conditions and poor student test scores for years. In some schools, zero percent of students are proficient in math, Burroughs told parents Tuesday. Mackeys letter to the Sumter County Board outlining reasons he believes warrant a state takeover is posted at the end of this article. Read more Ed Lab: See your school districts math, science, reading scores. Weve been engaged with them for some time on multiple issues, Mackey said. One of the things that brought this to a head, Mackey said, is they werent able to get and clear an audit from the Department of Public Examiners this year. Mackey said their books were so far behind that he appointed a person several weeks ago to take over their bookkeeping. Without a clear audit, Mackey said, the district is in danger of losing federal Title I funding, which last year was $1.2 million. Mackey told reporters after the meeting that former Perry County Superintendent John Heard is working as the Chief Administrative Officer. He will work directly with Burroughs, Mackey said, and will help oversee day to day decisions. People have been leaving the county and its schools, causing a drop of enrollment. Many county students also have enrolled in the local University Charter School, which opened in 2018. But thats not where all the bleeding has been, Mackey said. Mackey said the district needs to begin planning to reduce the number of personnel that have been hired using COVID relief funding. Many county school systems are in the same position of having to figure out how and who to let go because federal relief funding runs out Sept. 30, 2024. Superintendent Marcy Burroughs speaks to a group of Sumter County parents and community members in Livingston, Alabama, on Aug. 8, 2023. The school system is in danger of a state takeover after years of concerns about performance, record keeping and facilities. Rebecca Griesbach/AL.com After the meeting, board member Tonya Chestnut, who represents Sumter County, told reporters she hopes the intervention will improve support for students. Its always hard to make a decision such as this, she said, but when you look at it from the perspective of whats best for children, it was obvious that at this point, we couldnt just sit back and not consider whats best for children. Board Vice President Tracie West said the boards inability to start school on time likely interrupted many family plans. I would like the record to show that this state board certainly is disappointed that school is not opening on time in Sumter County, West said. The state resolution outlines the sequence of events leading to the intervention. A site visit on June 30 found extreme challenges related to facilities, personnel and finances and on July 13, Mackey sent the school board a letter that notified them of significant deficiencies that warrant consideration of intervention. He gave them three weeks to respond in writing with a plan to resolve problems. Instead, on Aug. 3, the school board simply met and voted to agree to the intervention. They did not submit a plan. Mackey said hes planning a number of visits to Sumter County in the coming weeks and will set up town halls to speak with parents and community members. After the meeting, Mackey told reporters he hopes Sumter County parents welcome the help. Folks in Sumter County need to know that were coming to help, not to be punitive in any way. What we want to do is make sure that children in Sumter County have the opportunities for a great education and that means getting quality teachers in the classroom, supporting those teachers making sure theyre in safe and secure and nice learning environments. And we need to work on all those kinds of things. The death of Lil Tay, a young social media star who went viral for her foulmouthed videos, as well as the death of her older brother, was reported Wednesday on social media by an unnamed family member. She was 14, according to multiple reports. No details were immediately available. The statement said the deaths were under investigation. Subsequently, the father of the rising rapper, Christopher Hope, and the stars former manager, Harry Tsang, said they could not confirm the teens death, according to Insider. The Instagram statement said: It is with a heavy heart that we share the devastating news of our beloved Claires sudden and tragic passing. (Lil Tays real name was Claire Hope.) We have no words to express the unbearable loss and indescribable pain. This outcome was entirely unexpected, and has left us all in shock, the Instagram statement continued. Her brothers passing adds an even more unimaginable depth to our grief. Claires brother was 21-year-old Jason Tian, an aspiring rapper, according to media reports. He was also said to have created the social media character that his sister embodied. Hope told Insider that he could not comment on the Instagram statement announcing Claires death and declined to answer whether his daughter was still alive. Tsang added that he could not definitively confirm or dismiss the legitimacy of the statement issued by the family due to the complexities of the current circumstances. This situation calls for cautious consideration and respect for the sensitivities involved, Tsang told Insider. My commitment remains focused on delivering updates that are both reliable and appropriately timed. The publication previously reported a schism in the family over control of the teenagers career with Tsang and Hopes father on one side and her brother and mother on the other. Lil Tay rose to popularity in 2018 for her Instagram photos and posts where she flaunted designer clothes and luxury cars. In a March 2018 video, Claire claimed that the tub and toilet in her bathroom each cost more than your rent. As of Wednesday, the teenagers two YouTube videos one touring Jake Pauls home, one about her feud with internet star-rapper Danielle Bhad Bhabie Bregoli had amassed more than 4 million views, and her Instagram account boasts more than 3 million followers. In 2018, the social media star gained the attention of YouTube personality Jake Paul, Bregoli, who went viral for her Dr. Phil appearance, and internet personality Woah Vicky. Her videos also caught Snoop Doggs eye. But it seemed he was not a fan, calling out Lil Tays act in 2018. She need to be in school learning how to be a little girl not a dumb a-- grown person, he captioned a video of the internet star. Lil Tay who moved from Canada to Los Angeles with her family told Good Morning Americas Juju Chang in an 2018 interview that no ones forcing me to do this and that her mother Angela Tian was not exploiting her. She continued: This is my decision. Im happy with what Im doing. Despite her internet fame, Lil Tay seemingly did not post more videos or photos on her social media accounts after 2018. Before the announcement of the rappers death, the most recent post on her Instagram account was a tribute to the late musician XXXTentacion. The familys Wednesday statement asked fans and social media followers to give them privacy as we grieve this overwhelming loss. Claire will forever remain in our hearts, her absence leaving an irreplaceable void that will be felt by all who knew and loved her, the statement concluded. (L.A. Times staff writers Christi Carras and Jonah Valdez contributed to this report.) 2023 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission is meeting Thursday to try for a second time to award licenses for companies to work in the states new industry. The meeting started at 10 a.m. in a packed room, and the commission voted to go into executive session, or closed session, about 20 minutes later. The commission will return to resume the open meeting at about 1:30 p.m. William Webster, attorney for the AMCC, said during the closed session the commissioners will receive information about the license applicants and will compile individual lists of nominees in each of the license categories. Webster said the commissioners will not share their lists of nominees during the closed portion of the meeting. He said they will deliberate and vote on the nominees after reopening the meeting to the public at 1:30. There will not be deliberations upstairs after we go into the executive session, Webster said. There will be information sharing relating to the applicants. Each individual commissioner will be given a form that will be kept secret from the others. And during those discussions of the information upstairs, each commissioner will write down their nominations for each individual category. None of those will be shared upstairs. There will not be voting upstairs. One of the criticisms of the first round of license awards was that the commission did not publicly deliberate on the decisions, but just announced the list after coming out of an executive session. Webster said that when the open meeting resumes, the commission will discuss only the applicants that received nominations. Webster said the executive session will also cover three other topics that Alabamas open meetings law allows public boards to discuss in closed sessions. He said two of those would be discussions that involve the general reputation, character, and professional competence of individuals. The third topic is the lawsuits and likely lawsuits involving the commission. Webster cited the specific sections of the open meetings law for those exceptions. It was standing room only when the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission met this morning to award licenses. They moved to a closed meeting and are scheduled return to the open meeting at 1:30 p.m. pic.twitter.com/8vKdTDPf73 Mike Cason (@MikeCasonAL) August 10, 2023 On June 12, the AMCC awarded licenses to 21 companies out of 90 that applied. Four days later, the AMCC put a hold on those awards after announcing it had found potential inconsistencies in how scores to help rank the applicants were tabulated. The licenses were not issued. Since then, seven companies that were not awarded licenses on June 12 have joined in a lawsuit challenging the AMCCs process. One company that was awarded a license joined the case as a defendant. The licenses are for cultivators, processors, transporters, testing labs, and dispensaries, as well as integrated companies that will do several of those jobs. Before going into the executive session Thursday morning, the AMCC elected Rex Vaughn, a farmer from Huntsville, as the chairman. Vaughn had previously been vice chairman and is a vice president for the north area of Alabama with the Alabama Farmers Federation. Vaughn replaces Dr. Steven Stokes, a radiation oncologist from Dothan, who announced last week he would resign as chairman. Lawyers who represent one of the companies that sued the AMCC filed a motion in court on behalf of a plaintiff asking that Stokes be removed from the AMCC because he is a trustee at the University of South Alabama. The law setting up the commission says that public officials cannot serve as commission members. Stokes said he resigned to avoid causing any delays in making medical marijuana products available. Stokes said he had seen his cancer patients benefit from medical marijuana products available in Florida, including relief from the nausea caused by chemotherapy. Vaughn said Stokes leadership has been instrumental for the AMCC. His input and his legacy will be with us for a long time, Vaughn said. The AMCC elected Sam Blakemore, a pharmacist, to replace Vaughn as vice chair. Blakemore also praised Stokes, saying he had led the commission with character and dignity. Before the licensing delay, AMCC officials had said they expected products to be available late this year or early next year. Products can include gummies, tablets, capsules, tinctures, patches, oils, and other forms allowed by the legislation. Patients who receive a medical cannabis card from a doctor will be able to buy the products at licensed dispensaries. The products can be used to treat a wide range of conditions, including chronic pain, weight loss and nausea from cancer, depression, panic disorder, epilepsy, muscle spasms caused by disease or spinal cord injuries, PTSD, and others. Alabama is one of 38 states that have approved medical marijuana, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. A natural gas drilling rig of Senex Energy in Australia / Courtesy of POSCO International By Kim Hyun-bin POSCO International announced, Thursday, that its Australian subsidiary, Senex Energy, has consecutively signed seven long-term gas supply contracts in Australia. Senex Energy recently inked approximately 133 petajoules worth of supply contracts with various companies including AGL, the largest power generation company in Australia, as well as BlueScope, Liberty Steel and Orora. The 133 petajoules of natural gas is equivalent to about 2.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) production, meeting around 25 percent of the annual gas demand in the eastern region of Australia. The supply contracts will span a maximum of 10 years starting in 2025. "We have secured a robust foundation for sustainable revenue generation over the next 10 years, while also expanding our eco-friendly energy transition projects such as green hydrogen," Senex Energy said. In line with the increasing demand for natural gas, POSCO International and its partner Hancock have invested $300 million AUD ($196.3 million) in Senex Energy. The investment will be used for the expansion of large-scale gas-processing facilities. With the completion of the gas-processing facility expansion for the Atlas and Romanos gas projects within Australia last September, Senex Energy's production capacity will expand to 60 petajoules by the end of 2025, triple the current level. POSCO International plans to gradually introduce as much as 400,000 tons of domestically produced natural gas, converted into LNG, into the domestic market. "We are actively expanding our energy territory through ongoing initiatives such as securing distribution agreements for production from the Bunyu field in Indonesia," a POSCO International official said. "We plan to diversify our energy resource development portfolio through balanced development of offshore and onshore gas projects." Birmingham firefighter Jamal Jones has been released from the hospital after he was shot multiple times at Fire Station 9 nearly one month ago, a shooting that also killed another firefighter. Not only is Jones now recovering at home, but he has also been promoted to the rank of sergeant. Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service Chief Cory Moon said Jones was going through the promotional process before the July 12 shooting that critically injured Jones and killed 29-year-old Jordan Melton. Last Friday, Moon went to UAB Hospital to surprise Jones with the news that he had received his promotion. That was a happy and special moment, Moon said. I could not have been more excited for him and his family. He was so excited and happy. He was shocked, Moon said. Its unclear when Jones will be able to return to work. He has a long road ahead of him before thats even considered, Moon said. 12 1 / 12 Birmingham Firefighters Shot July 12, 2023 The shooting happened just before 8:30 a.m. that Wednesday. Birmingham police and Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service were called to the station, at 1228 27th St. North, where the firefighters had reportedly been shot in the chest and legs. At least one caller reported hearing shots and ran to take cover in the bathroom. Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said the shooter entered the fire station through the open bay door, which typically remains open to be accessible to residents who need their blood pressure checked or other help or information. The shooting happened shortly after they started their shift. Both wounded firefighters were taken to UAB Hospital. Melton died five days later and was remembered at his July 26 funeral an ambitious young man with an infectious smile and an unfailing love for those around him. No arrests have been made, and a reward of more than $40,000 remains in place. Obviously, everybody is still heartbroken, Moon said. Thursda. Weve been shaken as a department but were unbroken. Everybody is working through the mental scars that this is going to leave, he said. Everybody has pulled together as a family and looking out for each other. Counseling has been set up for the entire department. Fire Station 9 has been shut down since the shooting. The firefighters assigned to that firehouse are currently working out of Station 8. I didnt want to re-traumatize the personnel by moving them back in too quickly, Moon said. Were trying to do it in a methodical way. Were trying to do some station improvements to make it an easier transition to go back to their home. Theyre ready to back, he said, but we want to make sure its done right so they have a fresh start. Get the Down in Alabama newsletter: Enter your email to subscribe to the daily Down in Alabama newsletter: Show me the money It was no secret when longtime United States Senator Richard Shelby retired that the loss for Alabama would be partly measured in dollar signs. A story from Roll Call via Tribune Media Services has quantified that. Sen. Shelby, with all his seniority and power on the Senate Appropriations Committee, delivered a lot of funding to projects in Alabama. He led the league in earmarks, which is a word thats often used derisively, but if they come from your guy and go to your project, youre sounding like Rod Tidwell on the phone to Jerry Maguire. So what were saying is that Shelby was the Ambassador of Quan. According to Roll Call, with Shelby gone, Alabama took a $352 million hit in earmark spending in the fiscal 2024 appropriations bills. Still, the $304 million left is seventh among states in the Senate bill. Unidentified In July, congressional hearings took place in Washington as lawmakers consider declassifying information about UFOs. It makes one wonder ... how often have Alabamians seen something that they just cant explain? The National UFO Reporting Center keeps a database of UFO reportings. AL.coms William Thornton reports that 1,364 sightings in Alabama have been documented, dating back to the 1930s. Of those, 107 originated in Huntsville and 32 of them occurred this year. Were not close to the top of the list, however. California leads the way with nearly 16,000. Leaky dorms It aint always easy easing back into classes for the semester. As an added distraction, wet conditions have left more than 300 Auburn University students temporarily without the campus housing they expected, reports AL.coms Savannah Treyens-Fernandes. The University has closed Cambridge Hall for the time being and moved 305 students into hotels. Classes dont begin until next week, but students were cleared to move in beginning July 31. The reason given was water intrusion that has occurred with recent heavy rainfall during this summer-storm pattern much of Alabamas been in. Things got worse during repair work -- as they do during any and all repair work Ive ever done -- and more rain and heat and humidity apparently has made a mess of things. By the numbers 72: Arrests in Prichard following a six-day joint investigation by the Mobile County Sheriffs Office and U.S. Marshals. The 72 are facing 156 charges and 90 felonies. More Alabama news Born on this date In 1942, Pro Bowl cornerback Speedy Duncan of Tuscaloosa. Also in 1942, session bassist Norbert Putnam of Florence. The podcast Despite Alabamas record low unemployment rate, Gov. Kay Ivey said Thursday the fact that about 50,000 eligible workers are not even looking for jobs is a problem. The solution? Weve got to work on getting 50,000 folks who arent looking for jobs, get them off their fannies, get them looking for jobs because there are jobs to be had, Ivey said following her address to the Athens-Limestone County Chamber of Commerce. Related: Ivey unveils Success Plus workforce development plan Related: Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey: We must shift our focus to labor force participation Iveys blunt assessment underscores an issue that shes elevated in recent weeks to spotlight the states dwindling workforce while help wanted signs are seemingly everywhere. The governor also raised the issue during her 15-minute luncheon speech to about 200 community and business leaders in Athens. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Alabama has a labor participation rate of 72.1 percent. Only three states rank lower even as the states workforce of about 2.3 million represents a new high mark. Still, ranking near the bottom nationally in labor participation somewhat offsets the fact that Alabama is 7th nationally with a 2.2 percent unemployment rate. The unemployment rate, of course, only includes those looking for jobs. Today, over 2.1 million people are employed in Alabama, Ivey told the chamber audience. Thats the most in state history, yall. We recently announced the unemployment rate in Alabama remains at a record low of 2.2 percent, the lowest in the southeast. Let me say that again. We have hit Alabamas lowest-ever unemployment rate, record-low unemployment and record job growth. Ive actually had reporters ask me how were going to fill all these new jobs. All this good news about low unemployment rate is something we should be proud of. Well, while Alabama has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. We rank at the other end of the scale in labor force participation. Approximately 50,000 Alabamians are not looking for a job. This ranks us near the bottom nationally in labor force participation. Ivey said that while she has been committed to improving the quality of education in the state, she said Thursday that she is equally as committed to removing the barriers that keep Alabamians from seeking jobs. We need more Alabamians working to grow our economy while also raising their standard of living and quality of life. Ivey lauded the workforce training at Calhoun Community College, based just 12 miles south of where she was addressing the chamber audience Thursday in downtown Athens. Another workforce development campus is across U.S. 31 from the college at the Alabama Robotics Technology Park. The governor promoted a goal of adding 500,000 to the states workforce by 2025 during a speech in May in Mobile, including a website to raise awareness to paths to return to the workforce. President Joe Biden restated he never discussed business with Hunter Bidens associates, responding to testimony from one of his sons former partners that he listened in on their calls and dined with them. Biden was asked Wednesday about comments his sons former business partner, Devon Archer, made during an interview with the Republican-led House Oversight Committee. Archer said Biden was repeatedly in the presence of his sons associates, who were seeking connections inside the U.S. government, but the group did not talk about their dealings and Biden did not get involved. Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Biden after an event in New Mexico about testimony where one of your sons former business associates is claiming that you were on speaker phone a lot with them talking business. I never talked business with anybody, Biden said. I knew you would have a lousy question. Asked by Doocy why it was a lousy question, Biden responded, Because its not true, and walked away. In a transcript of closed-door testimony released by the Oversight Committee, Archer testified that Biden, when he was vice president, spent time with his sons business associates. Archer told the committee Hunter would put his father on speaker phone during calls and that Biden dined at Washingtons Cafe Milano restaurant with some of those associates. Hunter Biden made money from foreign companies and individuals while his father was vice president, but theres no proof that Joe Biden influenced or was aware of those dealings. President Biden has repeatedly denied knowledge of or involvement in his sons business dealings and said he is proud of Hunters recovery from addiction. House Republicans have launched investigations into the business dealings of Biden family members, seeking to promote unverified claims that Joe and Hunter Biden engaged in corruption and have pushed Archers testimony as evidence of wrongdoing, even though he did not substantiate the GOPs most explosive allegations. Its clear Joe Biden knew about his sons business dealings and allowed himself to be the brand sold to enrich the Biden family while he was Vice President of the United States, House Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky said in a statement Wednesday. Comer released a memo on the investigations findings, which claimed a new tranche of bank records show Biden family members and their business associates took in at least $20 million from foreign business sources, including Hunter Bidens associates in Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. The top Democrat on the Oversight panel said Archers testimony showed Biden never actually involved himself in his sons dealings and that none of the bank records Comer released showed any payments to Biden. Committee Republicans have once again released information on financial transactions that do not involve the President. Instead, they rehash the same Hunter Biden business dealings that Congressional Republicans identified at least three years ago, said Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland. White House spokesman Ian Sams, in a post on X, the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter, called Bidens response Wednesday 100% accurate. Fox News may try to ask false questions and then gin up the right-wing media disinformation machine, Sams wrote. But facts are facts. ___ 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The two remaining defendants charged with assault in connection with the Alabama Riverfront Park brawl over the weekend turned themselves in to Montgomery police on Wednesday, a department spokeswoman told AL.com. Allen Todd, 23, and Zachery Chase Shipman, 25, are being held in the Montgomery Municipal Jail on one count of misdemeanor third-degree assault charges in connection with the Saturday brawl. The fight involved white occupants of a pontoon boat and Black riverboat passengers who came to the aid of a Black dock worker attacked by the pontoon boat occupants in an incident captured on viral videos, said Maj. Saba Coleman. Darron Hendley, the attorney listed for both Todd and Shipman in court records, could not immediately be reached for comment. A third suspect, 48-year-old Richard Roberts, turned himself in on Tuesday. He is charged with three counts of third-degree assault. Police have also sought Reggie Ray, a 42-year-old Black man described by Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert as the Black man wielding a folding chair and hitting a woman over the head for questioning in connection with the incident. Ray has not been interviewed as of Wednesday night, Coleman said. It was not immediately clear if Ray or an attorney representing him have scheduled a sitdown with police. Anwar Price, a 42-year-old Montgomery man seen attempting to break up the scuffle, said he did not believe race played a role in the fight. A lot of people are trying to promote this as about racism, and I dont really think this was a racism thing, said Price, who is Black. He also shrugged off praise from those who viewed him as a hero. Ive heard people call me that, but I dont feel it, Price said. I just feel as if I was a citizen that was there, and I gave a situation the attention it needed. Albert said there were several events taking place on the riverfront Saturday evening. The Harriott II provides two hours cruises along the river. At the time of Saturday nights incident, there were 227 passengers on board. A 67-year-old man on Monday who called in to The Think Tank with Chris Coleman on V 99.5 in Birmingham said he was onboard the riverboat as part of a class reunion from Robert C. Hatch High School in Uniontown. The man, who did not give his name, said the incident he witnessed made me proud of Black people ... that [white] privilege thing is over with. As the riverboat was preparing to dock, they noticed the private pontoon boat blocking the area, Albert said. The captain used a public address system to try to find the pontoons occupants and was met with obscene gestures and curse words, Albert said. Christa Owen of Clanton was aboard the riverboat with her husband and their daughter for a dinner cruise to celebrate the daughters 12th birthday, according to The Associated Press. Owen said the riverboat captain said on loudspeaker: Black pontoon boat, move your boat, and that passengers also yelled for the boat to move so they could dock. They shrugged their shoulders, Owen said. Co-captain Damien Pickett was taken by a smaller boat driven by a 16-year-old white male - to the dock to try to address the situation. Owen said the tension was obvious and mounting before punches were thrown. Thats when a confrontation ensued between Pickett and some of the pontoon boat occupants as seen on multiple videos posted on social media. Both Pickett and the 16-year-old boy were struck during incident, and are the victims in the assault cases. Owen, a stay-at-home mom, filmed the confrontation as it began on the dock. She said as a mother of many she knows the importance of being able to document how a conflict started. Once the boat was able to dock, she said her family had to figure out how to get off the boat safely with the fighting going on around them. It didnt have to escalate to that, she said. Gov. Kay Ivey sounded off on the brawl Wednesday. It was just absolutely unnecessary and uncalled for, she said, according to The Associated Press. Pickett was treated at a hospital for injuries. No one else has reported being injured. The co-captain was doing his job, Albert said. Police said the 16-year-old boy was struck by Roberts. The boys mother sought and obtained the warrants against Roberts. Albert said the Harriott II captain first called Montgomery police at 7 p.m., calmly reporting a disturbance. Police then received additional calls about 7:15 p.m. and the first police units four officers arrived on the scene at 7:18 p.m., with three more officers arriving soon after. Albert said the 13 people detained for questioning that night were all released pending further investigation. All were advised on how to obtain warrants through municipal court. The chief said MPD consulted with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office and the FBI during the investigation. Albert said investigators consulted with the FBI and state prosecutors but said there was not enough evidence to pursue the matter as a hate crime. The incident also did not meet the criteria for a charge of inciting a riot, he said. Albert said the investigation is ongoing and more charges could be filed. There was no stone unturned, not only that night but since that night, the chief said. This is not indicative of who we are as a city, Albert said. The city of Montgomery is much better than that. There was no need for this event to take the path it did, he said. Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed agreed, describing the situations as being caused by reckless individuals who did not use good judgement and caused an event that was certainly avoidable. Updated Aug. 11, 2023 to correct the spelling of Reggie Rays name. The parents of a baby boy whom they say was decapitated during his delivery in July are suing Georgias Southern Regional Medical Center, the physician, Dr. Tracey St. Julian, and others for negligence and allege that there were attempts to cover up details of the tragic death. The complaint, filed on Wednesday in state court in Clayton County, seeks a jury trial and unspecified damages. The parents are represented by attorneys Cory Lynch and Dr. Roderick E. Edmond. According to the lawsuit and their attorneys, Jessica Ross, 20, a hair stylist, and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr., 21, who works in hospitality, were looking forward to becoming first-time parents to the boy they had already named Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Jr. Both looked forward to doing the things parents do with their children like celebrating birthdays and holiday. Rosss amniotic membrane ruptured at about 10 a.m. on July 9. She went to the emergency department that day and a couple of hours later received a Pitocin drip to help induce labor, according to the lawsuit. Hours later, when she was fully dilated, Ross was instructed to begin pushing, the complaint says The baby did not properly descend due to shoulder dystocia, which is when the babys shoulders are stuck during delivery, and Ross pushed without delivery for about three hours, according to the complaint. Dr. Tracey St. Julian attempted to deliver the baby vaginally using different methods including applying traction to the babys head, according to the complaint. According to the complaint, theres no documentation of a nurse or St. Julian activating any emergency obstetrical protocol in a timely manner after the shoulder dystocia was recognized nor is there a record that anyone recommending an emergency C-section or to get help from other medical professionals. The lawsuit and a release from the attorneys for the parents allege St. Julian negligently applied excessive force on the babys head and neck during the attempted vaginal delivery and, as a result the baby was decapitated. According to the complaint, the babys legs and torso were delivered through the C-section incision without the head. The babys head was then delivered vaginally. When St. Julian spoke with Ross and her family on July 10 about the death of the baby, she allegedly did not tell them that the baby had been decapitated, according to the lawsuit. The complaint contends that Ross and Taylor were discouraged from getting an autopsy and suggested the body be cremated. The couples attorneys said It wasnt until the funeral home informed Ross and Taylor several days later of the extent of their sons condition that they found out he had been decapitated. The baby is dead and the mother went through hell and back and so did the dad, said Edmond. He alleges the physician was not forthright about telling the parents what happened to the baby knowing when they found out they would be emotionally traumatized. Theyre pretty touch and go and they hold it together pretty well when they can, said Lynch. Other times they break down. Even talking to them on a daily basis, you can hear the sadness in their voices and see it in their eyes. In a statement, Southern Regional Medical Center called the loss heartbreaking. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the family and all those impacted by this tragic event. Our prayers also remain with the dedicated team of physicians, nurses and staff at Southern Regional Medical Center who cared for this patient. In a subsequent statement the hospital said it denies the allegations in the Complaint referencing the hospital. Since this matter is in litigation, we are refrained from providing any additional information. Dr. St Julian is not an employee of the hospital. The hospital has taken the appropriate steps in response to this unfortunate situation. It did not specify additional details about what steps were taken. St. Julian could not be reached for comment. The nurses are not yet identified. ------- 2023 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Riley Keough dropped more singular revelations in her Vanity Fair profile than Daisy Jones & the Six dropped singles in the first season of the streaming series. The Emmy-nominated actor, the granddaughter of music legend Elvis Presley, spilled the beans about her baby girl, her struggles with Lyme disease and her grief over the death of her mother Lisa Marie Presley. Perhaps most importantly, she shared where things stand between her and her grandmother Priscilla Presley following Lisa Maries death in January. I have been through a great deal of pain Parts of me have died and Ive felt like my heart has exploded, but I also feel. Im trying to think of how to phrase this ... I have strengthened the qualities that have come about through adversity, Keough told Vanity Fairs Britt Hennemuth about the tragedies her family has endured since her brothers suicide in 2020. The tragedies, however, have been coupled with happy moments, such as the arrival of her first child, her Emmy Awards nod for Daisy Jones and her acclaimed turn in the film War Pony. I think Ive certainly been chosen for some wonderful things and chosen for some horrible things too, she said. I am aware that I have been through a lot of very crazy things, but I dont feel like a victim. I dont feel like poor Riley ... I also dont really feel chosen. The 34-year-old actor spoke frankly, although with some trepidation, about the harried legal battle over Lisa Maries lucrative estate, which included Elvis iconic Graceland home and the familys interest in Elvis Presley Enterprises. Lisa Marie, the sole trustee and longtime steward, had left it to Keough and her siblings before she died unexpectedly of weight-loss surgery complications in January. Priscilla, Elvis ex-wife and Lisa Maries mother, questioned the authenticity and validity of her daughters will in regard to the estate and the ugly back-and-forth played out in the media. However, the parties resolved the legal dispute, reaching a proposed settlement in June that installed Keough as the sole trustee. (The agreement also allows Priscilla to be buried at Graceland and receive a payout of more than $1 million, in addition to $400,000 in legal fees and costs.) When my mom passed, there was a lot of chaos in every aspect of our lives. Everything felt like the carpet had been ripped out and the floor had melted from under us, Keough said. Everyone was in a bit of a panic to understand how we move forward, and it just took a minute to understand the details of the situation, because its complicated. We are a family, but theres also a huge business side of our family. So I think that there was clarity that needed to be had. In fact, she noted that clarity has been had. Things with Grandma will be happy. Theyve never not been happy, she said. Im trying to think of a way to answer it thats not a 20-minute conversation... There was a bit of upheaval, but now everythings going to be how it was. Shes a beautiful woman, and she was a huge part of creating my grandfathers legacy and Graceland. Its very important to her. He was the love of her life. Anything that would suggest otherwise in the press makes me sad because, at the end of the day, all she wants is to love and protect Graceland and the Presley family and the legacy. Thats her whole life. So its a big responsibility she has tried to take on. None of that stuff has really ever been a part of our relationship prior. Shes just been my grandma. She also disputed reports that said Priscilla wouldnt actually be buried in Graceland, saying that she doesnt understand what the drama in the news was about. If she wants to be [buried there], of course. Sharing Graceland with the world was her idea from the start, Keough said. I always had positive and beautiful memories and association with Graceland. Now, a lot of my familys buried there, so its a place of great sadness at this point in my life. The actor also shared random tidbits: that her pals are Zoe Kravitz, Dakota Johnson and Kristen Stewart; that Priscilla went out with late O.J. Simpson lawyer Robert Kardashian; she lived in Kim Kardashians compound before Kardashian and Ye demolished it; and she also lived in both Graceland and Neverland for a time. Touching on another personal matter, Keough shared some details about the birth of her first child, a life event intertwined with her grandfathers legacy, brothers death and mothers funeral. The Runaways and Mad Max: Fury Road star publicly revealed her parental status during Lisa Marie Presleys funeral, dropping the detail about her daughter into a statement that was delivered by her husband, Ben Smith-Petersen. (I hope I can love my daughter the way you loved me, the way you loved my brother and my sisters, she wrote at the time.) Keough told the magazine that she welcomed Tupelo Storm Smith-Petersen via surrogate in August 2022. The baby girls unique name is an homage to the Mississippi town where her famous grandfather was born. And Storm was the middle name of her brother Benjamin, whom she said, in a lot of ways, felt like my twin. Its funny because we picked her name before the [Baz Luhrmanns] Elvis movie, she said. I was like, This is great because its not really a well-known word or name in relation to my family its not like Memphis or something ... Then when the Elvis movie came out, it was like, Tupelo this and Tupelo that. I was like, Oh, no. But its fine. She also spoke candidly about her diagnosis with Lyme disease, an autoimmune disorder that can cause debilitating symptoms. Keough shared that shes struggled with it for years and tries to alleviate the symptoms at a holistic treatment center in Switzerland (where she sat for a portion of the interview.) The illness, she explains, is part of the reason she used a surrogate. I think its a very cool, selfless, and incredible act that these women do to help other people, she said. I can carry children, but it felt like the best choice for what I had going on physically with the autoimmune stuff. 2023 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Two men criminally trespassing near a north Alabama prison Wednesday night are facing contraband and other charges after authorities say they were found with a T-shirt cannon and a duffel bag with two packages. The Alabama Department of Corrections Law Enforcement Services Division and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agencys State Bureau of Investigation arrested Alvin Andrews and Ladarius McDade on Wednesday near Limestone Correctional Facility, the ADOc said Thursday. A suspicious vehicle was reported near Nick Davis Road around 11:22 p.m. Wednesday when the vehicle fled the scene. A pursuit ensued and ended in a nearby neighborhood cul-de-sac, where Andrews and McDade, who was released from Bullock Correctional Facility on Feb. 11, were apprehended. While authorities searched the path of the pursuit, they found a blue duffel bag and a T-shirt cannon. Inside the duffel bag were two cylinder-shaped packages wrapped with black tape, a night-vision monocular and an extra CO2 cartridge, the ADOC said. Both men were taken to the Limestone County Detention Center, where they were booked on charges of promoting prison contraband, trespassing about prisons and attempting to elude, authorities said. The investigation was ongoing as of Thursday and further charges may be added, the ADOC said. A north Alabama police officer was reportedly suspended from his department amid a child abuse investigation. In an order of protection from abuse filed in Etowah County against Mason Clemons of the Boaz Police Department, Clemons is accused of repeatedly hitting a child with a flip-flop, leaving a big bruise, WHNT reported. Boaz Police Chief Michael Abercrombie told the station Clemons remains an officer with the department but is suspended pending further investigation. Danny Williams, owner of Southport Towing in Mobile, will stand trial next April on insurance fraud charges, Mobile County District Court Judge Brandy Hambright ruled Tuesday. Williams was charged with criminal insurance fraud in 2020, one of five towing company owners accused of overcharging insurance companies for towing jobs. The city of Mobile sets rules on what towing companies are allowed to charge under a city ordinance. Williams and many of the other tow truck drivers have maintained their innocence. According to his attorney, Claude Patton, Williams was not willing to pay restitution for the allegedly fraudulent towing charges, which is why he asked for a trial. Assistant District Attorney Clay Rossi, who has led the prosecution of Williams and most of the other towing companies, did not say anything about Hambrights order on Tuesday. In 2019, Williams and the other towing companies were investigated for insurance fraud and removed from the citys towing rotation. Williams case, as well as charges against the owner of Cashers Towing, remain outstanding. Gary Lamar Smith, Jr., the former owner of SOS Towing, argued against paying restitution in March; the charges against Heros Towing and A+ Towing have been dismissed. The factory of Hyundai Elevator's Chinese subsidiary in Shanghai / Courtesy of Hyundai Elevator By Park Jae-hyuk Hyundai Elevator expressed optimism about possible participation in the mega project to build NEOM in Saudi Arabia via the company's Chinese subsidiary, which celebrated its 30th anniversary on Thursday. "It is expected to play a role as an outpost for the projects to build Saudi Arabia's NEOM smart city and Indonesia's new capital," said the elevator firm, which is participating in the government-led team of Korean companies seeking to win orders related to the overseas construction projects. The remarks came after Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun met with NEOM CEO Nadhmi Al-Nasr last month at the Saudi Arabian state-run company's exhibition in Seoul, where Hyundai Elevator showcased its smart city technologies. In her congratulatory message for the 30th anniversary of Hyundai Elevator's subsidiary in Shanghai, Hyun asked employees to dream of further growth by overcoming new challenges at the place where the elevator firm took its first step toward globalization three decades ago. Hyundai Elevator also vowed to increase its share in the Chinese market to 5.9 percent by 2030 from the current 1 percent. "By increasing our sales in the high-end market through product diversification and optimization and by expanding our presence in the remodeling market in the medium to long run, we will win 2.2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) worth of orders, post 2 trillion won in annual sales and become one of the world's top five elevator makers by 2030," Hyundai Elevator CEO Cho Jae-cheon said. Founded in 1993 as a joint venture with a Chinese partner, Shanghai Hyundai Elevator was transformed into a fully owned subsidiary of the Korean firm in 2014. With an annual production capacity of around 25,000 elevators, escalators and moving walkways, the subsidiary has over 600 workers. Its time for a do-over. Like you, I am tired of unkept promises and rampant special interests. Faith in government has never been lower. Patriotism is in short supply. I hear a countdown clock ticking off the remaining days of our grand experiment before it becomes ancient history. Our political process has had the pungent stench of partisanship and self-dealing for too long. From the Chicago political machine to the White House Plumbers, from election shenanigans to measures undertaken in the name of a Covid-19 emergency, most Americans realize our political processes have been corrupted. Marxist policies and progressivism are layered over our old politics, further suppressing two of the most important identities Americans, regardless of political beliefs, have historically had in commona strong sense of national unity, and a belief in the sacredness of the election process. (The death of free and fair elections comes with endless long voting). Cant we all agree that it is in our national interest to count the vote on election day? Who could be against that? (Massive voting by mail could be tied to the undoing of our country.) If they have nothing to hide, then why not fix this unnecessary and divisive fear for millions of us for the sake of national unity? This is the nexus for many conservatives who rightfully dont trust Democrat marionettes, because we know theres a puppet master behind the curtain. But what are we going to do about our conclusions? Nothing? So wheres the deterrence for the next time, by another enemy? Mass murderers and those that deliberately weaken our country must face the consequences. Bidenomics is a sham; who is going to call him out on it? The MSM? As previously discussed, the government no longer exists to serve we, the people, but rather itself. Unfortunately, the fox runs the hen house in D.C. So, as an American Thinker, I present to you a modest proposal: Lets dump the Deep State. Lets gut it and save our Republic. Such dramatic action would signal to all Americans that we have an irreconcilable crisis requiring drastic measures to fix. But how? First, a couple of quick facts should remind us that America isnt quite so familiar anymore, and there are American subversives afoot: About seven million people have died globally from Covid-19, with almost 700 million more sickened. Given the broad debate on the origins of Covid, it grows increasingly clearer that the Wuhan Lab, and the Chinese military with support from our own country, are complicit. The American middle class shrank due to government policies following the takeover of the economy during the pandemic era. This is entirely different than the issue of the disease itself and flies in the face of Bidens claim that Bidenomics triumphnearly half of Americans would have trouble coming up with $500 for an emergency. On an average day, about 140 people die in the U.S. from fentanyl, more than from any other drug in history. Not limited to viral agents, China is also a culprit behind our fentanyl crisis. Precursor chemicals are made in China and sent to Mexican labs to be manufactured into fentanyl. The penalty for manufacturing and distributing most illicit drugs in China is death, while here, you get a clean needle or a shot of Narcan. China exports this killer to America to disrupt and distract our country. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, engaging in meaningless negotiations with China and somehow expecting our enemy to change its ways, is another symptom of our weakness. How many ministerial-level Chinese have ventured here, compared to the wave of high-level officials we have dispatched, hats in hand? Isnt it obvious our strategy is wrong? The Civil War saw only 500,000 dead. But, because it was a virus this time, we seem to treat this differently. Covid-19 was likely weaponized. Whether through accident or intent, it was an attack on our country. Try to prove me wrong. You cant. Why? The Chinese wont cooperate. In a civil trial, you only have to prove that the preponderance of evidence would make a reasonable person believe the assertion was true. I think we have exceeded that bar in the Covid-19 contention. China is responsible, just as President Trump stated. Our governments now almost complete control of our economy has led to the introduction of initiatives impossible without the extraordinary power it granted itself during the still ongoing pandemic emergency that unofficially continues. Unprecedented concepts such as the Green New Deal encompass everything from energy, population control, transfers of wealth, universal government, and even more Wokeness (if you can believe it). Through the coercion of financial institutions, major corporations, and local governments, and the initiation of a selected winners-and-losers economy have reordered our country without anyone voting to do so. Weve seemingly been overthrown in a bloodless revolution. How many truly understand this? Worse, how many care enough to take ownership over the state of the nation? Perhaps the most significant limitation any free country has is the ability to efficiently and reliably share an understanding of whats true and whats not. Our country is confused on a fundamental level as this or that authoritative-sounding person or group uses highly scripted and tested language to influence you to adopt their position. Freedom of speech is under attack in a manner and means few can fully comprehend. We must understand who is behind that speech, particularly when the government is said to be the assailant. The answer is decentralization. Why not move large parts of the government out of Washington, D.C.? We should demand from our federal legislators that entire departments be disbanded, such as the Department of Education, which interferes with how states decide to educate your children. We outgrew Washington, D.C., years ago250 years of the Potomac two-step has mainly delivered a better-paid political class that considers itself superior to the rest of us. Mockingjay anyone? Technology has eliminated the need for centralized government. Although many nominally work in D.C., many are still at home. That is all the proof you need. Time to spread around some of the largesse of working for the U.S. Career Civil Service, where the average employee makes $117,228 a year! Thats more money than the average entrepreneur earns who takes on risk and invests hard work, all without guarantees. Yet, many (not all) federal workers take their jobs as a right. The numbers are overwhelming: 364,000 federal employees work in the District of Columbia. Hundreds of thousands more lawyers, lobbyists, contractors, and others there aim to figure out how to game the system in a clients favor; frequently successfully! Countless minds have attempted to figure out how to undo this abomination, and yet, here we are. But, things can be done to limit federal influence, and that starts with decentralization, just as the Founders envisioned. Restricting the revolving door arrangement between government and the bureaucratic political employment that fosters out-of-control spending and minimizes the value we receive for our money, must happen. Theres nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. Whats your favorite way to save the Republic? God Bless America! Allan J. FeiferPatriot, Author, Businessman, and Thinker. Read more about Allan, his background, and his ideas to create a better tomorrow at www.1plus1equals2.com. Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required. Anyone watching videos of our dying cities, seeing the appalling test scores from our schools, or trying to buy groceries has to come face-to-face with the fact that we no longer live in a wholesome, productive, free country. We are not in Kansas anymore. Were going to have to face up to that fact and act accordingly. It wont be easy. Almost 50 years ago my husband and I took issue with the public education our grade-school-age kids were receiving. They were being exposed to courses that taught kids that parents and clergy were suspect, that euthanasia was an appropriate course of action, that evolution was fact, that the occult would help them discover their true identity, that there was no real, absolute truth. Fifty years ago! We succeeded in removing our children from the offending courses, but we seemed to be nearly alone in our concern. We knuckled down and diligently untaught our kids the nonsense they were being exposed to in the classroom. I even taught in the public schools, grateful for being able to close my classroom door and teach truth. But even then, it became evident that I was making a dangerous compromise. We have, as a nation, done just that. We want all our children to be educated, but we also want freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of political opinion. If we truly have that freedom, we have to admit that there is no middle ground, there is no neutral position when dealing with the important ideas. There is good and there is evil. There is nothing in between. (The Law of the Excluded Middle). If, in 12 years of public schooling, we never mention God, we have succeeded in teaching that God isnt, that He is just a fairy tale, a hobby some of us indulge in, and He has no place in the public square. Knowing that some sort of mores must be included in education, the schools opted for tolerance as its most valued value. This has many advantages: Tolerance is easy -- no thinking is necessary, no risk, no taking sides. Just live and let live, and well all get along. -- it demands nothing of us. Better yet, God doesnt have to show up for that lesson. Its not one of His commandments. Tolerance can be adjusted as needed. We teach tolerance for some actions and none for others -- at the whim of the teacher her union and her political ideologies. Tolerance allows people to redefine words, mess with our language, tangle and confuse things so that no intelligent conversation can happen. Its been a win-win for the far left, for evil. This one-note, substitute morality has cost us dearly. Tolerance has required us to deny God and His rules (rules designed to make living together as flawed human beings possible). It has required us to avoid careful, logical thought. (For instance: If we tolerate a behavior, well get more of it.) It has demanded we avoid the testimony of history and statistics. It has watered down honest academic curricula, filling that space with studies about topics of questionable value, designed to separate people into groups with assigned grievances. Tolerance has required us to be dishonest, to avoid competition, to eschew merit, to hate each other and our homeland. No nation can survive that approach. It has ruined our military. It has all but dissolved our schools. Our medical system is in shambles. Businesses can no longer keep their doors open. The press is mostly just make-believe. Our police can no longer do their jobs. Our families are crumbling. Our children are being mutilated and sold as sex slaves. This must be the stopping place, the place where we put our collective foot down and turn this thing around. If we dont, we deserve everything God will throw at us. It is time we call a spade a spade and stop being fluffy and soft. We are so far down the rabbit hole and our downward momentum is so fast that its hard to sort things out, but it can be done. We can start sorting ideas by the age-old criteria of good vs. evil. Not Republican or Democrat -- that is meaningless. I know wonderful people who still stubbornly wear the Democrat label. I know Republicans so wishy-washy they no longer deserve the term and wouldnt know a republic from an oligarchy. This is much deeper than politics. Were looking at carrying the Ring to Mount Doom, at following Aslan, at being ready to risk it all to turn this around. If we look at history, we see that that often requires losing everything. The signers of our Declaration of Independence did not fare well themselves -- many died, many lost families, many lost property. Are we up for that? Some of our compatriots have already lost their freedom, their fortunes. Will that be in vain? Are we up to declaring in the public square that God is very much watching this nation and disapproving of much that has us in its grip. Sodom and Gomorrah appear to have been real cities on the plains at the north end of what is today the Dead Sea. What caused God to rain fire and brimstone down upon those cities? Sexual perversion -- pervasive sexual perversion. What caused God to order the extermination of the Canaanites? Sexual perversion that included the sacrificing of infants. Hmm Are we willing to call out our fellow citizens and declare that drug use (equated in the Bible with witchcraft) is evil? In my state we just legalized all drugs. The results are alarming. Are we willing to demand that homosexual marriage be done away with? Are we willing to open the Bible and check to see what behavior God wants of us? Or are we so lazy that were content to just make it up as we go? That Isnt working so well for us; are we willing to admit that? Are we willing to catch up on what science (our alternate deity) is discovering about the real God? From microbiology, to organic chemistry, to physics, to astronomy, to archeology -- all the sciences are making astounding discoveries that ought to make us take a serious, corrective look at Darwins pathetic ideas. Are we willing to teach our kids and prepare them to answer their teachers with real science? Are we willing to fight the witchs flying monkeys, to argue in the public square for not only our right to be guided by Gods precepts, but for the necessity of doing so? Are we sufficiently tired of being told what to do by some Ozzy wizard behind a mysterious screen? Are we tired of being told what shots we have to have, what places we can go, what things we can talk about? Are we tired of our elections being rigged, our ability to own a house being abrogated, our travel curtailed by high gas prices? One lesson I recall from my earliest Bible teacher -- A nation gets the leadership it deserves. I remember that every time I watch Biden stumble up the stairs or try to shake hands with invisible dignitaries. I am reminded whenever I hear Kamala stagger through a meaningless sentence or two. Are we adequately humiliated by these two to do something about it? Are we adequately angered by the evidence of Bidens treason to demand justice? I dont know. But I, like every other thinking American, knows that were not in Kansas anymore. Were in the darkest storm weve been in since the Civil War. We must be prayerful, brave, knowledgeable, determined, and righteous. May the demons attacking this nation be damned. Deana Chadwell is an adjunct professor and department head at Pacific Bible College https://pacificbible.edu in southern Oregon. She teaches writing, logic, and literature. She can be contacted at 1window45@gmail.com Image: Public Domain In 1988, the Iranian theocracy committed one of the worst mass murders in history since World War II. The majority of the 30,000 victims were political prisoners affiliated with the main opposition, Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). Among the perpetrators of the crime was the regime's current president, Ebrahim Raisi. Now his government is orchestrating another "trial" for the remaining members of the MEK, which the regime regards as an existential threat. In many ways, Western appeasement has facilitated Raisi's emboldened measures. The state-run Tehran Times reported on July 31 that the regime has announced a trial against "104 people of the fugitive group" and that "these people should name lawyers to defend themselves in court." The move is clearly in response to a series of major political blows the regime has received from the organized opposition in recent months. These developments have surely encouraged support for that opposition throughout the world. They have also helped to fuel calls for Iranian officials to be held accountable for the 1988 massacre. There has been little to push for such accountability over the past 34 years, but not because of a lack of evidence. Six years ago, former U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, Asma Jahangir, informed the UN General Assembly that "overwhelming evidence shows that thousands of persons were summarily killed." Western fecklessness in the face of that evidence has emboldened the regime to expand its suppression to Europe by calling for the MEK's extradition and trial. But 124 former world leaders and 3,600 lawmakers from 40 countries have challenged their governments' longstanding inaction by calling for the prosecution of regime officials for the 1988 massacre. They have also expressed support for the opposition's 10 Point Plan for a democratic future in Iran. These appeals were echoed last month by a resolution that was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives by members Lance Gooden and Steve Cohen, with 36 co-sponsors. It urged connections between the international response to recent and historical crackdowns, calling upon the United Nations Human Rights Council to include the 1988 massacre on the agenda of a commission of inquiry set up last November to investigate killings and mass arrests. For the time being, though, Western governments continue to appease the mullahs. Meanwhile, Tehran is terrified of the MEK influence increasing in spite of massacres, torture, and imprisonment. So the mullahs have turned to the West to curb the MEK's activities. In June, Raisi held a 90-minute phone call with French president Emmanuel Macron, requesting that Paris ban a planned rally in support of the MEK. The French government appeased the mass murdering regime's president, denying the MEK a permit for the rally. However, the MEK disputed the decision in court and won. It held a huge rally on July 1, which was attended by thousands of Iranians and hundreds of distinguished international personalities and parliamentarians from all over the world. Almost simultaneous with the French decision to ban the opposition rally in France, the government of Albania, which is home to the MEK's headquarters near the capital Tirana, apparently caved in to the regime's extortion and terror threats. Hundreds of police raided the MEK's headquarters, confiscating computers and killing an MEK official using unnecessary force and tear gas. Hundreds were seriously injured. The regime celebrated the French and Albanian assaults on the MEK and the democratic coalition of which it is a part, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), touting it as Raisi's "diplomatic triumph." An emboldened Raisi is now calling for the "trial" of MEK members in Iran, hoping to repeat the 1988 massacre. At the same time, MEK supporters are being harassed, arrested, tried in kangaroo courts, and condemned to execution. This is all to create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in the hopes of curtailing the growing popular support for the organization, especially among the youth. On July 1, Resistance Units sent video clips of 10,000 acts of defiance that was aired during the Free Iran World Summit, demonstrating the movement's growing social appeal and prowess at home. The regime's senior leaders have blamed the MEK and its Resistance Units for leading nationwide protests. The most recent rounds of uprisings, which started in September 2022, have rattled the theocracy. The regime is now at its weakest point ever. The most convincing indicator is its desperation to eliminate the MEK as a potent alternative. It was exactly 35 years ago when the regime decided to annihilate the MEK once and for all. It failed. Now, at its weakest point, it is relying on Western appeasement to finish the job. It is trying to avoid its inescapable fate: overthrow. After nearly four decades, it is vulnerable and depleted of its strategic reserves, and its suppressive forces are fatigued. This is not the time for the West to throw the genocidal regime a lifeline. It is time for the West to stop appeasement, hold regime officials accountable, and pursue a policy that aligns with the people's demand for a just, secular, and democratic republic that respects human rights. It can start, as the recent House resolution recommends, by ensuring that expatriate activists, including the residents of Ashraf 3, are duly protected as political refugees. Ken Blackwell is the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Image: Chickenonline via Pixabay, Pixabay License. The sustained government attacks against Donald Trump have implications that extend far beyond his presidential campaign. They present a serious constitutional crisis that has the potential to destroy America. On August 1, the Wall Street Journal revealed that Donald Trumps legal bills are consuming his campaign coffers. The article contained a graph showing the rising legal expenses relative to non-legal expenses for Trumps Save America Political Action Committee. These numbers are troubling. By the end of 2022, Trumps legal expenses had consumed half of the PACs campaign spending. By the first quarter 2023, they had consumed nearly 90% of the spending and, by the second quarter 2023, they had exceeded 90% of total spending. This raises serious questions about election interference. We tend to think of election interference as a fraudulent or nefarious activity directly connected to the election itself, whether by manipulating voting machines, ballot harvesting, paying for votes, registering votes from incompetent or non-existent people, voter intimidation, vote-count manipulation, etc. But in the United States, we overlook the most obvious form of election interference thats common throughout the world and throughout history: political prosecution. Imagine you are the president of the United States, and you want to remain in power (or keep your party in power). Now imagine that you control the Department of Justice, the FBI, and a host of other intelligence agencies. What would stop you from bringing multiple criminal cases against your main political rival? And if you are being investigated by Congress for bribery and other crimes, what would stop you from bringing criminal indictments against those in Congress who pose a threat? Political prosecution is the nuclear weapon of election interference. In the hands of a corrupt politician, anything is possible. In the United States, the only barrier we have had to the use of this powerful weapon is tradition. But now, that tradition of restraint is gone. Image: Donald Trump meme. After over 200 years of abstaining from political prosecution in presidential elections, how did we suddenly come to normalize the practice? The answer is simple: Hatred for Trump. There is likely no other figure in American history (and certainly nobody else in living memory) who has been demonized to such an extent. When people are conditioned to believe someone is evil, a status well beyond bad, then ends-oriented justice becomes acceptable. It becomes acceptable to break with norms. If Hitler is among us, then we must do anything and everything to stop him. The Democrat party dipped its toes in the water in New York City when, on April 4, 2023, Alvin Bragg announced a 34-court felony indictment against Trump for allegedly falsifying business records. The alleged crimes were a compilation of convoluted and rehashed federal campaign finance accusations related to payment for a non-disclosure agreement with Stormy Daniels. Most legal scholars seemed to agree that the claims lacked credibility, but credibility was not the point. The point was instead to erode the norm against blatant political prosecution at the highest level. Can we actually indict a former President of the United States? Surewhy not? On June 8, with precedent now on its side, the federal government jumped into the water with its own indictment, this time for document crimes. Many challenged the case for obvious reasons: the presidents plenary power over document classification; the applicability of the Presidential Records Act; the fact that Trump is the first president to be charged for something all other presidents and lesser politicians have done; Bidens huge unsecured stash of records from his time in Congress despite never obtaining authorization to remove the records; and Hillary Clintons pass for destroying records after having received a subpoena. However, no one gave serious attention to the most important questions: Can the sitting presidents Department of Justice prosecute a former president who is a leading political rival, and if so, under what parameters? Without a greater focus on these foundational questions, political prosecutions are presumed to be legal and appropriate. With the presumption of validity, more political prosecutions are inevitable. Thus, it was no surprise last week when the Department of Justice brought its anticipated January 6 indictment. This indictment accuses the former President of crimes related to his challenge of Joe Bidens 2020 election victory. In short, the indictment accuses Trump of challenging the election result despite allegedly knowing that his challenge was unfounded. Apart from it being a political prosecution, this latest indictment is especially troubling because it shows the federal governments increased willingness to prosecute Trump (and others) for thought crimesfor being disagreeable. For perspective, recall that the governmental apparatus sabotaged Trumps presidency for four years straight. Then, on the eve of an election that many believed was Trumps for the taking, government agencies throughout the country significantly liberalized their voting procedures in the name of COVID, often suspending or violating their own laws. Many states effectively removed important safeguards for voter integrity. Recall that Trump was the apparent winner at the closing of the polls but that Biden became the winner as counting continued behind closed doors into the night. Against this background, it is only natural to question the 2020 election results. The far more troubling aspect of this latest indictment is the free speech implication. If we can no longer speak out about problematic elections (whether founded or not), then we have effectively written the First Amendment out of the Constitution. If this accusation is permitted to stand, then we become a nation in which we are all mere subjects of the government. With these indictments, we have finally crossed the Rubicon. It is notable that, when Julius Caesar cast the die and made that fateful decision to march his legion on Rome, it was because the Senate refused to forego prosecuting him for crimes Caesar purportedly committed during the Gallic Wars (i.e., exceeding Senate authorization). Arguably, this unrestrained political prosecution is what plunged Rome into civil war and ultimately ended the republic. The critical question for Americans today is: What do we do about the problem of unrestrained political prosecution? How do we ensure political prosecution does not cause the fall of this republic? How is it that, despite having such a deep understanding of the Roman Republic, our founders did not include a check against this power in the Constitution? Why did they leave such an obviously destructive force to the whims of decorum? What exactly is the appropriate check against this abuse of power? The obvious answer is that our Founders left it to us to figure out. So, to avoid what could be the greatest of all Constitutional crises, figure it out we must. The following essay is satire, but the Biden administrations push for the creation of an Electric Combat Vehicle and the requirement for handicapped spaces at each charging station (wherever they may be) are real. With the desire of the Biden Administration to push the military into using renewable energy and electric vehicles wherever possible, field testing of the Armys new Electric Combat Vehicle (ECV) began in May of 2024. The first six, each costing $227,000, were built on the chassis of the Ford F-150 Lightning battery-powered pickup truck. They were delivered to Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland for testing. Hard bumps on test tracks ruptured two of the batteries. Within seconds the electrolytic fluid in them erupted into flames that the fire department was unable to extinguish. After that testing, Army Public Affairs issued a glowing press release about how well the four surviving ECVs had performed while not mentioning the two charred hulks that had to be dealt with by Hazmat crews. In July, ECV testing moved to Fort Irwin, California, to see how they performed in intense desert heat. Four new ECVs were added to the fleet. Within hours of being driven off-road in the trackless desert, they began to experience a high rate of tire failures that slowed their travel. Those high temperatures also sharply increased the pressure in the batteries until one battery casing ruptured, and all the test team could do was stand back and watch the unquenchable flames turn it into a charred wreck. Image: Electric trucks in flames at a Ford plant. YouTube screen grab. In compliance with Bidens rules, a pair of million-dollar EV charging stations had been built. It didnt matter that they were 27 miles from the nearest paved road. They were powered by a full acre of solar panels installed on the habitat of the protected desert tortoise. In compliance with the strict Biden rules, the charging stations included asphalt-paved and blue-striped handicap-only parking spaces in front of the chargers. When the test team arrived, they found that the intense heat of the sun had turned the asphalt into a sticky, molten goo. More than that, the charging cables were too short to reach each vehicles charging port without parking in the handicapped slot, so the test director told his team to park there anyway. They shoveled dirt onto the asphalt goo so the drivers could get in and out without getting their shoes or vehicle stuck. Once connected, they discovered that the solar panels couldnt charge both vehicles at the same time in the required 90 minutes. To survive the ambient heat during the recharging period, the test team retreated to the air-conditioning in their petroleum-powered rides. As they put a second pair of vehicles on the chargers, they heard the sound of a Security Police helicopter. It circled before landing nearby, but not for a friendly Hello. The security officers checked the two vehicles being recharged, saw that neither had the proper handicap license tag or handicap marker hanging from the non-existent rearview mirror and proceeded to write the test director a pair of parking violations for unauthorized vehicles in handicapped spaces. The team leader protested that what they were doing was ludicrous, but his words fell on deaf ears. He could pay his fines of $258 each or hope the judge bought his protest. On his day in court, the judge sympathized but said the law was the law, and he wasnt allowed to dismiss the tickets. By the time testing finished at Ft. Irwin, two more ECVs had become charred hulks when their batteries ruptured, apparently from thermal expansion of the electrolytic fluid in them. Both were revealed by flames as they turned into scrap metal. The test team was so far out in the desert that all they could do was move away and watch them burn. Despite these problems, Army Public Affairs issued another glowing press release telling how great the ECVs had performed. In late September, the testing was handed over to the Army and moved to Fort Wainwright, Alaska, for what was supposed to be a month of testing under the harsh conditions of the arriving Arctic winter. Six new EVs were delivered, giving Master Sergeant Eric Wolford and his 26-member team a total of eleven Electric Combat Vehicles to test. During the summer, the Army had spent more than $2 million for a contractor to build a solar charging station with four chargers and nearly five acres of solar panels along with the required asphalt handicap-only parking spaces, even though they were out in the Alaskan wilds some 76 miles from the nearest paved road. After days of preparation, the group started out at first light. Getting to the charging station took them most of the short day, and what they found was troubling. Two of the chargers could not be used because, apparently, a bear had taken a liking to the taste of the charging cable insulation, rendering them unrepairable. That reduced their charging capacity to just two ECVs at a time. While the solar panels gave them enough energy to charge within 90 minutes, they quickly ran out of daylight, so recharging would have to finish in the morning. MSgt. Wolford radioed back that they would remain at the charging stations until all vehicles were charged before continuing to their next objective, a multi-million-dollar second charging station built even farther from civilization. The weather turned ominous and, on Day Four of their wait at the charging station, a major winter storm reduced visibility to near zero. With minimal sunlight, all charging stopped. The storm prevented air evacuation, so the soldiers shifted into survival mode and hunkered down in their shelters. By morning, there were two feet of snow all around them, burying the two acres of solar panels. More was falling with no end in sight. Nothing could be recharged, and the cold, now below zero, quickly reduced what charge was on the replenished ECV batteries to zero. On the second night, the soldiers ran out of the diesel fuel they had brought for their heaters so, to keep from freezing to death, they asked MSgt. Wolford for permission to rupture a couple of the ECV batteries so the flames could be used to keep them warm. With appropriate concern for the welfare of his soldiers, he told them to go ahead. Within minutes the soldiers had exposed the first two batteries. They beat on them with whatever tools they had to try to rupture the casings. Soon the flames pushed back cold and saved their lives. Another day would pass before rescue helicopters could find and evacuate the soldiers. When they arrived, six of the ECVs were charred hulks. MSgt. Wolford submitted his report and, within days, received notice that he was being suspended from duty and notified that he was being charged with four felonies for the willful destruction of government property along with four counts of parking an unauthorized vehicle in a handicapped space. At his court-martial, MSgt. Wolfords defense was that he and his troops were in a desperate situation where their survival was at stake, so they had done what they could just to survive. The judge agreed and dismissed the felony charges. However, the judge was unable to dismiss the parking tickets, and MSgt. Wolford was forced to pay fines totaling more than a thousand dollars. Peropus Consiliario is a pseudonym. A sudden, unexpected, and devastating fire has destroyed the lovely little heritage town of Lahaina on Maui, which for Hawaii, was also a vibrant tourist destination. Thirty-six people at last count were killed and given that this is early in the catastrophe and communications about evacuations were down early, it may rise. The town and all its historic artifacts, its Front Street promenade, named one of the "top ten greatest streets" by the American Planning Association, are gone. Lahaina's giant banyan tree, planted in 1873, and the largest in the U.S., is subject to on-again, off-again reports about whether it survived the inferno. We still don't know. Here in California, pretty much everyone is affected -- with huge numbers of us having family and friends who live in Hawaii and almost everyone having vacationed there. San Francisco's mayor, London Breed, was reportedly vacationing on Maui when this happened. My sister was scheduled to fly into Maui from the Big Island on Friday for a layover on her way to San Diego. Right now, I'm not too hopeful about that happening. It's sad as can be, and natural for people to try to make sense of it because it was such a freak, total disaster. One day all is fine -- and within minutes, it's all gone. But some characters are yawping the stupidest, most unhelpful, knee-jerk explanations on a disaster they cannot possibly know the cause of, glibly blaming it all on global warming -- and conservatives, of course. Some choice examples: The scene in Lahaina, Maui this morning is absolutely devastating. The entire town is being destroyed by an intense wildfire, forcing residents to sheek shelter in the ocean. Make no mistake, climate change is making scenes like this more frequent. pic.twitter.com/dttFnAwEeJ Edgar McGregor (@edgarrmcgregor) August 9, 2023 Evidence? He has none. He just doesn't like what happened, and global warming is a convenient explanation for most everything. I am a resident of Maui, Hawaii. My island is on fire. My city was burned fo the ground thanks to wildfires fueled by winds from Hurricane Dora. Tim Scott and every Republican can go to hell as they continue to deny climate change. Im LIVING the #ClimateCrisis. #MauiFires https://t.co/8ZfNUyT8Kh HawaiiDelilah (@HawaiiDelilah) August 9, 2023 No, it's not "your" island, it's not all on fire, and dollars to donuts, you don't live in Lahaina now since you've got a lot of time to prioritize tweeting and blaming Republicans. I am born-and-raised on Maui, Hawaii. My island is on fire. Our most historic town was set ablaze by wildfires. Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, oil companies, and anyone in power who denies climate change are the arsonists. We are living the #ClimateEmergency. #MauiFires https://t.co/LJNrRAp2gX Kaniela Ing (@KanielaIng) August 9, 2023 Yeah, sure: Republicans did it, even though Hawaii is run by Democrats as a fully deep blue state. And this one takes the top seed spot in this Twitter dunce derby: Some may not be aware but Hawai'i ( Mt Waialeale, Kauai, and Big Bog, Maui) was considered one of the most rainy geographies on the planet, receiving over 430 in of precipitation per yr ~so what's going on due to climate change is devastating and heart breaking #MauiFires https://t.co/iZQsQ51faY m.i.a. in pololu (@miaInPololu) August 10, 2023 Apparently, this supposed Hawaiian expert hasn't looked up the origin of the name "Lahaina" on its Wikipedia page. We'll do it for him: Lele was an ancient name of Lahaina. The Hawaiian language name La haina means "cruel sun", describing the sunny dry climate.[3] Lahaina's historic district averages only 13 inches (330 mm) of rain per year, much of which occurs from December to February. Well. Seems Lahaina since its founding has always been a hot, bone-dry place with average temperature in the 80s year round and a very dry climate. The dry climate, coupled with the dry season, which has led to drought in some parts of Hawaii, coupled with a hurricane 800 miles to Hawaii's south which didn't even touch the island, but sent high winds, and Lahaina itself being made of closely spaced, old, dry wooden structures, is the confluence of factors that led to the sudden conflagration. That's not global warming, that is bad luck, particularly since they know how to deal with hurricanes and volcanos, but rarely get a wildfire event like this. How was the greenie forest management in Hawaii? We know that in California, bad forest management with uncleared brush stuck out like a sore thumb, given that some surrounding states and Mexico with comparable climates, endure no such California-style conflagrations. Given that recent wildfires in Greece and California were known to have been started by arsonists, sometimes greenie arsonists, we can't rule out that the fires were set by arsonists at this point, either. The fire may have been the work of arsonists, downed power lines, bums at a campfire -- the investigators will find out. None of this has anything to do with global warming which is the knee-jerk go-to any time a bad weather event happens, as if bad weather events never happened before lefties got excited about global warming. The press has also started in on blaming climate change and those who oppose handing over absolute power to Democrats supposedly to "fix" the non-existent phenomenon: Sick climate ambulance-chasing NYTimes blames Maui wildfires on 'climate change.' "Experts attribute the surge in wildfires to the prevalence of nonnative grasses, which are especially common on Maui, and are more flammable than indigenous plants. This is coupled with extreme Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) August 10, 2023 Experts say climate change is increasing the likelihood of more extreme weather events like whats playing out on the island of Maui, where at least six people have been killed and a historic tourist town was devastated. https://t.co/9GDQmrhXgO The Hill (@thehill) August 10, 2023 Were these the same 'experts' whose word was infallible as they called for lockdowns to solve the pandemic? Somehow, they don't live up to their billing. The only thing they live up to is being wrong. The disaster is barely ending and the scope of it now is unknown. Is it too much to ask that focus be made on helping the people of Lahaina and other devastated areas of Maui (there were more than one) before pointing fingers and getting hysterical about climate change in order to call for More Government? Not to leftists, who are making asses of themselves as the little town strives to clean up and rebuild. Maybe they should help the victims instead. Image: Twitter screen shot As a colleague noted, there are no property rights in a socialist state. It should come as no surprise that Canada, with its notoriously socialist and interventionist government, is in the midst of a housing crisis. Who woulda thunk it? Last week, Canadian outlets reported that the province of Nova Scotia had agreed to partner with a home-sharing network, Happipad. The platform connects homeowners with rooms to spare, with people looking for short-term affordable housing options. The cost? $1.3 million for two years, for two employees and some waived fees. (Now read that again, because the math doesnt really seem to be mathin.) From The Canadian Press: Housing Minister John Lohr said the partnership is a call to action to those who have extra space in their homes. Lohr said there are 130,000 vacant bedrooms across Nova Scotia that could be used on a short-term basis by students, health-care workers, tradespeople and others seeking a safe, affordable and comfortable place to live. Another outlet noted that refugees tend to be typical users of Happipad; with that in mind, its worth considering data published in recent years that show a majority of settled refugees are male, and statistically speaking, theyre of fighting age. Now on Tuesday, Massachusetts governor Maura Healy declared a state of emergency over the chaos that accompanies, specifically, hordes of foreign-born invadersor undocumented citizens as Healy likes to call them. Healy noted that she would be encouragingcommunities to keep welcoming those families who wish to resettle in all corners of Massachusetts, and iterated that she will also be using all powers granted to the Governor to expedite the use of state resources and enable the immediate procurement of goods and services for the invaders. As the governor said at a press conference via Fox News, This is a national issue that demands a national response. Yes, Maura, it is a national issue because neither the border state Republican governors, nor the federal government, nor the politicians in positions of authority, will honor the rule of law and secure the border. Then. I saw this: The state of Massachusetts is now asking families to host illegals in their homes Hotel owners and landlords are also called upon to host illegals on their properties pic.twitter.com/OmYdLhFiy7 End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 10, 2023 (The woman speaking is the states lieutenant governor Kim Driscoll.) In contrast to the manufactured crisis in Canada, the one in Massachusetts centers around homeless people that are exclusively foreign-born; yet similarly to our northern neighbor, a majority are also males (in 2019, that number was nearly 60%). Oh, and remember this? Count the number of military-aged Chinese men in this video and reply with the number. This video was taken at San Vicente Migrant Camp today at around noon. This is a line of Chinese migrants lining up to catch the next buses to the Costa Rican border. An everyday occurrence. pic.twitter.com/dqh31CMxzj Muckraker.com (@realmuckraker) April 15, 2023 So if were talking sheer numbers (in the millions) and the ability to pick up a weapon, or simply just surveil Canadian or American citizens on behalf of the respective tyrannical governments, you might call these populations the perfect mercenaries-in-waiting. Its like the modern problems require modern solutions meme. The American state cant be guilty of violating the Third Amendment if it simply requests citizens house its soldiersoops I mean refugees or migrantsand plus, its not even time of war right now Or is it? Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required. Ecuador, the little jewel country of the Andes, has seen a very ugly event -- an assassination of a leading presidential candidate eleven days before the election, coming just after he threatened to put cartel drug leaders away. SHOCKING VIDEO: Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was leading in the polls, has just been assassinated two weeks before an election the 59-year-old was expected to win. Journalists were referring to him as "right-wing" candidate!pic.twitter.com/69wFzCK4DK Simon Ateba (@simonateba) August 10, 2023 Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio had received threats for calling out narco gangs and graft. This confirms that our campaign proposal would gravely affect these criminal structures, he had said. Today gunmen shot him dead. https://t.co/vvCwcMWbjN Juan Forero (@WSJForero) August 10, 2023 Woh... Ecuadoran presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio - assassinated today - said he received a threat from a local Sinaloa Cartel boss. "If I go on referring to him and his structure, they will attack me, try to take my life." https://t.co/4RbmZFZWLD Ioan Grillo (@ioangrillo) August 10, 2023 Worse and worse. Heavily armed gang members pose in a video while one reads out a declaration claiming responsibility for the murder of the Ecuadoran presidential candidate. The style is very similar to the cartel videos made in Mexico. https://t.co/l1wqtXgPNU Ioan Grillo (@ioangrillo) August 10, 2023 Some other background: According to the Washington Post, Fernando Villavicencio, who was assassinated, by some accounts was conservative, though not the only conservative in the multi-candidate race. Polls said he was running second in the presidential race on an anti-corruption platform, while a leftist was leading. A former journalist, Villavicencio incurred the wrath of sleazy far left former president Rafael Correa, a close buddy of the late unlamented Hugo Chavez, who's now in exile in his wife's country of Belgium apparently fleeing the long arm of Ecuadorean law for his corruption activities. Correa sued Villavicencio for his exposes of him for libel, but Villavicencio managed to get out of the country before they could jail him. After that, Correa was the one who ended up leaving the country after his term in office expired, and Villavicencio came back to Ecuador run for president. Drugs, migration and corruption are said to be the top issues in the campaign. This observation from another journalist is interesting, too -- apparently the country has gone downhill fast in a timeframe coinciding with Joe Biden's opening of the border to all comers: Not long ago Ecuador was a haven of peace in the Andes. Organised crime has grown there with terrifying speed. Fernando Villavicencio was an anti-corruption campaigner and a democrat. RIP https://t.co/9RF6RpIdc7 Michael Reid (@michaelreid52) August 10, 2023 And the bad guys plaguing Ecuador are probably numerous, but the biggest baddie is the Sinaloa Cartel of Mexico -- the very ones benefitting most from Joe Biden's open borders and all the "crossing fees" they are collecting from the illegal border crossers into the U.S. We know they have wrought havoc onto Mexico, particularly its north, given the shootouts and shutdowns seen in border cities such as Tijuana and many other cities, and they have reportedly taken over at least some of the ports in Mexico and Ecuador, too for the purposes of smuggling drugs and perhaps people. Don't forget that there's this kind of trouble in Colombia to Ecuador's northern border as well: Knowing of the FARC-Ecuador links seen in the recent past, it's a sure thing there is drug cartel activity spillover into Ecuador, from Colombia, too. There have even been reports that the Sinaloa Cartel is wreaking at least some of the havoc in Colombia. So Joe Biden's open borders and all the profit that has delivered to Mexico's drug cartels now shows evidence of not only harming Mexico and the U.S. as drugs and illegal immigrants, including criminals, spill in, it's also wreaking havoc up and down the hemispheric coast. In the states, the drugs, of course, fuel the homeless crisis, while the human smuggling fuels the illegals crisis, and the hellish perfect storm that has come of it all as blue cities fully support homeless and illegal immigrant lifestyles. Now we see entire democratic processes besieged, with more than one country being destabilized by cartels. Ecuador is stubbornly insisting that the show must go on with the August 20 election, and that means it's likely that the leftist in the lead will win, although there could be surprises. In general, more leftists in power mean more drugs, more instability, yet unlike typical San Francisco voters, Latin American voters do change their voting patterns with events. Other than the leftist winning, the other possible scenario is that a strongman-type will get elected instead, following the pattern of Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, who instituted a draconian system of jail-them-all justice which seems to have ended significant crime in that country. The #Villavicencio assassination will supercharge the conversation in #Ecuador about whether Bukelismo should be imported to deal with security issues. The conversation was already prominent, this is now a match to kindling. https://t.co/0z73dATlhA Eric Farnsworth (@ericfarns) August 10, 2023 Mexico has begun to follow that path, militarizing large segments of that country as El Salvador did, even with a leftist at the helm of power. Ecuador, given its history, is perfectly capable of following that example, too. These systems do make the trains run on time, for awhile at least, but history shows they aren't entirely sustainable in the long term in Latin America and could rapidly devolve into military corruption and dictatorship as Venezuela did. Still, they are the only effective thing that's on offer, given the kinds of problems these countries face. The scary thing is that if assassination becomes de rigeur, we are going to see a lot more cave-ins and corruption from the leaders of Latin America who do manage to get elected, compromised men, and bought men, in hock to the cartels, and it could be a lot of them. The assassination in Ecuador has got to be scaring a lot of them and some may want to cut secret deals with cartels, as is the practice in Latin America. As for the U.S. we will get more drugs, more illegals, and more cartel activity moving into the U.S., thanks to Joe Biden's open borders. It's a horrific scenario, and all the unintended consequences of Joe Biden leaving the border doors wide open to bring in more Democrat voters. What a terrible picture this is creating -- illegals and destabilization in their homelands. What's more, Joe Biden has zero plan and zero policy for Latin America, and even the Democrats are complaining, so the U.S. is playing no constructive or influential role whatsoever as these events unfold. Basically, it's coming back to bite us -- and nobody expected it, because nobody in the Biden administration thought this region was important. Image: Twitter screen shot We reside in Ohio and were front and center of the special election for Issue 1 in Ohio on August 8, 2023. This issue was to make amendments to the Ohio Constitution more difficult. Making things more difficult for the government to accomplish anything is a good thing for citizens regardless of the issue. This issue was marketed by both sides of the issue incorrectly and deceptively. The Pro side stated that it was Pro-Gun, Pro-Family, etc. Blatant flag waving. The Con side continuously stated that approval of Issue 1 would reduce our rights, eliminate one person/ one vote and shred the Constitution. The contents of the Issue were clear and concise if one only went to the Secretary of States website and read for themselves. There were many people who voted against Issue 1 (a majority) that are Pro-life, Pro- 2nd Amendment and Pro-family. These voters voted against their own interests and beliefs. The failure of Issue 1 now creates the opportunity to advance abortion parameters to late term, trans-gender rights in our public schools and a variety of other issues. The failure of Issue 1 has now weakened Ohio and began the process of turning our state Blue and on the model of Illinois and California. If Ohio voters had just taken the time to read the simple issue, the outcome would have been drastically different. Instead, the Ohio voter chose to listen to the advertisements and social media posts promising the Apocalypse and now have a State Constitution that is vulnerable to special-interest pressure. The Con side won and won dirty. The moral of this story is for every voter to do their own study regarding proposed laws and bills. It is not difficult and required by all levels of government to disclose prior to an election. Without the basic research, every voter is susceptible to the propaganda, deception and sales pitch of every special interest and will have to bear the consequences of their votes. Uncharacteristically, Ohios Secretary of State Frank LaRose post-election statement said it best: Im grateful that nearly 1.3 million Ohioans stood with us in this fight, but this is only one battle in a long war. Unfortunately, we were dramatically outspent by dark money billionaires from California to New York, and the giant for sale sign still hangs on Ohios constitution. Ohioans will see the devastating impact of this vote soon enough. The radical activists that opposed Issue 1 are already planning amendments to shut parents out of a childs life-altering medical procedure, force job killing wage mandates on small businesses, prevent law abiding citizens from protecting their families and remove critical protections for our first responders. Ive said for months now that theres an assault coming on our constitution, and that hasnt changed. Im just getting started in the fight to protect Ohios values. Ohioans and all other citizens of the United States, study and learn before you vote or dont complain when Ohio is unrecognizable. American on Fire (AOF) is a private citizen who has had enough. americanonfire@gmail.com and www.americanonfire.com . Image: BestBudBrian U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at Arcosa, a wind tower manufacturing facility in Belen, New Mexico, U.S. Aug. 9. Reuters-Yonhap President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday to block and regulate high-tech U.S.-based investments going toward China a move the administration said was targeted but it also reflected an intensifying competition between the world's two biggest powers. The order covers advanced computer chips, micro electronics, quantum information technologies and artificial intelligence. Senior administration officials said that the effort stemmed from national security goals rather than economic interests, and that the categories it covered were intentionally narrow in scope. The order seeks to blunt China's ability to use U.S. investments in its technology companies to upgrade its military while also preserving broader levels of trade that are vital for both nations' economies. The United States and China appear to be increasingly locked in a geopolitical competition with a conflicting set of values. Biden administration officials have insisted that they have no interest in "decoupling" from China, yet the U.S. also has limited the export of advanced computer chips and kept the expanded tariffs set up by President Donald Trump. China has engaged in crackdowns on foreign companies. Biden has suggested that China's economy is struggling and its global ambitions have been tempered as the U.S. has reenergized its alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia and the European Union. The administration consulted with allies and industry in shaping the executive order. "Worry about China, but don't worry about China," Biden told donors at a June fundraising event in California. The officials previewing the order said that China has exploited U.S. investments to support the development of weapons and modernize its military. The new limits were tailored not to disrupt China's economy, but they would complement the export controls on advanced computer chips from last year that led to pushback by Chinese officials. The Treasury Department, which would monitor the investments, will announce a proposed rulemaking with definitions that would conform to the presidential order and go through a public comment process. The goals of the order would be to have investors notify the U.S. government about certain types of transactions with China as well as to place prohibitions on some investments. Officials said the order is focused on areas such as private equity, venture capital and joint partnerships in which the investments could possibly give countries of concern such as China additional knowledge and military capabilities. J. Philip Ludvigson, a lawyer and former Treasury official, said the order was an initial framework that could be expanded over time. The skills and money required to become policy decisionmakers makes them expert only in politics. When politicians call upon experts to support their views, it is assumed both the decisionmakers and experts are selflessly working for the betterment of those impacted. But this assumption does not hold. There is no reason to believe those most anxious to obtain and wield power will make the best decisions. This includes experts working for publicly-funded organizations. You do not rise to the top in these organizations without developing skills similar to those of a politician. Indeed, Nobel Laureate F. A. Hayek argued that elites are not capable of governing optimally even if they are motivated to do so. Open debate is an essential check on this power and leads to better decisions. Why do you think the First Amendment of our Constitution is about free speech? Unfortunately, many factors make this more difficult today than when the Constitution was signed. What has changed? Follow the money. And Accountability. No congressional term limits providing the opportunity for congresspeople, if they werent already, to become millionaires in office, then retiring and working for special-interest groups. Allowing corporate and governmental monopolies and oligopolies. These produce leaders as described earlier. Think social media, news corporations, government funding to states, cities, education, transportation, special interest groups and the list goes on. Allowing billionaires to fund national, state, and local elections. The brokenness in our Justice Department. How many more can you add to the list? To say that our country is in a sad state is an understatement. How can we return to free speech and have meaningful debate? I have no idea. Image: Pixabay One of the things thats great about Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz is that he always plays offense, not defense. His latest idea is a way that the Republican-controlled House can give Trump some immunity, blocking the indictments that the DOJs Jack Smith has brought against him in a clear case of election interference. I love how clever the idea is, but we all know that the House leadership will not act. Oliver Cromwell would have understood. So, heres the idea, which Gaetz outlined during an interview with Charlie Kirk: Im worried that too many of my Republican colleagues in Congress are infected with the same loser mentality that infected Congress in the early days of the Mueller investigation. This isnt complicated. If House Republicans take action, Jack Smith could be the first prosecutor pic.twitter.com/DlRrkn78mK Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) August 8, 2023 Gaetzs starting principle is that Congress does not have to be passive, but if it is passive, it will have frittered away any power it has. As I like to say, winners never quit, and quitters never winand Republicans are quitters. To begin with, Gaetz says that the House should demand that Smith appear before it and give a transcribed interview to the House Judiciary Committee in the next 15 days or face a subpoena and, if he ignores the subpoena, Congress should hold him in criminal contempt. Then, if Merrick Garland refuses to support the contempt referral, Garland will have made himself vulnerable to impeachmentand of course, Smith will be going after Trump when he himself is in criminal contempt of Congress. As Gaetz says, those optics wouldnt be good. The real pointand Gaetz is right about thisis that the optics currently are on the Democrats side. As Gaetz says, if we grant the premise, Charlie, that this is an ongoing legitimate matter, then it just builds into it that it is law enforcement activity and not election interference. Bingo! If you refocus the case as election interference, says Gaetz, Congress suddenly starts to have power that it can put into play. What it should do is summon President Trump to testify before Congress because doing so grants him some immunity: Theres different forms of immunity that take place at the committee level, subcommittee level. In some instances, for full immunity, you have to have more of a super-majority vote. But if you had a super-majority vote of a committee Like Speaker McCarthy could set up a Select Committee tomorrow that could bring Trump in and immunize him, and then we could proceed with the very legitimate investigative work that we're doing of the Bidens and the corrupt DOJ. The problem, of course, is the flaccid House leadership. Gaetz knows this, too, noting that, with everything going on, theres no reason for the House to have closed shop for the summer, yet thats what it did. But getting back to Gaetzs plan, if Trump tells everything he knows, the House can grant him complete immunity as to those topics. And so, for example, if President Trump came in and said, Im here to give you testimony about the witch hunt, the abuse of criminal process that Congress has a legitimate oversight equities to resolve, and if he were to say things to us, we could immunize him for that conduct that he were to discuss. Moreover, any subcommittee could do so, such as the crime subcommittee that Andy Biggs is chairing, which oversees some DOJ activities. The point is that, if Trump becomes a whistleblower about DOJ corruption, spilling the beans about what he knows, the DOJ can no longer persecute him. This is not blanket immunity; its immunity for that subject matter about which Trump would testify. Theres more, and I wont transcribe it all here. Ill just say that, if the above piques your interest, take ten minutes to listen to Gaetzs idea. I like it because, not only will it protect Trump, but it might finally reveal to the American people the true scope of DOJ and FBI corruption, spoken from one who was once the DOJs boss and now is its victim. Having said that, I know it wont happen. Why do I know that? Because our current Congress, subject to a few exceptions, is every bit as corrupt as the Rump Parliament that Oliver Cromwell described in 1653 when he dismissed it. You will enjoy reading the speech he made then and, sadly, find it applicable to the United States Congress in 2023: It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue and defiled by your practice of every vice. Ye are a factious crew and enemies to all good government. Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches and would, like Esau, sell your country for a mess of pottage and, like Judas, betray your God for a few pieces of money. Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth? Ye sordid prostitutes, have you not defiled this sacred place and turned the Lord's temple into a den of thieves by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance. Your country, therefore, calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House and which, by God's help and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do. I command ye, therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place. Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there and lock up the doors. In the name of God, go! I recommend this video, as well, which gives you a sense of Parliaments corruption at the time Cromwell made his speech: Everything old is new again. (As an aside, have you noticed that the claims that Gaetz was running underage women across state borders have vanished? It was all about the headlines, never the facts.) Image: Rep. Matt Gaetz. Twitter screen grab. When news broke that the FBI's Richmond field office targeted Catholic Latin mass enthusiasts as domestic terrorists and attempted to launch a full-scale investigation against them, the FBI was quick to shut the garbage down, suggesting it a rogue operation that wasn't up to their tough standards. Well, maybe not so much. Congressional investigators now say other field offices were involved, suggesting some kind of national operation -- and they weren't anywhere near Richmond, Virginia. According to Fox News: House Republicans say FBI documents they've obtained prove that several field offices contributed to a memo that targeted traditionalist Catholics as "potential terrorists," conflicting with recent sworn testimony from FBI Director Christopher Wray. Republican leadership on the House Judiciary Committee revealed in a letter sent to Wray on Wednesday that said the document they subpoenaed from the agency details how "both FBI Portland and FBI Los Angeles field offices were involved in or contributed to the creation of FBIs assessment of traditional Catholics as potential domestic terrorists." "This new information suggests that the FBIs use of its law enforcement capabilities to intrude on Americans First Amendment rights is more widespread than initially suspected," Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and co-chair Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., wrote in the letter. The information also contradicts Wray's congressional testimony that the FBI's anti-Catholic initiative was "a single product by a single field office." The FBI Richmond internal memo, titled "Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities," was leaked in January and drew instant criticism from Republicans. What a strange development. Doesn't the Portland FBI field office have better things to do than investigate traditionalist Catholics as the world's scariest terrorist threat? Don't they have an antifa investigation or two to pursue, given that not too long ago, antifa burned down a federal courthouse? Nobody punished on that one -- and apparently nobody looking, either. The FBI had Catholics to pursue, and Portland doesn't even have the ethnic composition to be much of a Catholic town with Catholics in it at all. And Los Angeles? Why the wokesterism there? Have these people ever been to a Los Angeles Latin Mass, as I have? It's a schlubby little affair, conducted in a worn-out dusty cathedral, with women in 'modest' dress with lace veils with devoted husbands and multiple kids, advertised only by word of mouth, because the wokesterly Catholic Church hates these things, too. I've been to one, based on the request of new Catholics I sponsored, who wanted to see what such a Mass was like. It would be the last place I'd go hunting for terrorists. It's just bizarre that the Los Angeles and Portland field offices were involved in this hunt for Catholics, too. Anybody punished for this obvious violation of the First Amendment? Not that we have heard of. FBI Director Christopher Wray's office has argued that he spoke truthfully to Congress when he assured that this was solely the doing of the Richmond office and it only covered all those dangerous nests of Catholic terrorists in the Richmond area. Maybe so, but that would be a technicality. The weirdness of Los Angeles and Portland also being involved, even if Wray's office is technically truthful that this was Richmond's doing alone, is odd stuff. Was something in the air that so many offices spontaneously decided that Catholics were the big threat to national security they should be investing FBI resources on? I actually wonder if it was a case of wokester whataboutism, given that real anti-terror resources probably needed to be deployed, in the Los Angeles area at least, against Islamist terrorists. With that the case, could it have been that the bureau was afraid of being accused of DEI violations for targeting Islamists who hate America enough wish it another 9/11, so to appear impartial, they falsely lumped Catholics in with Islamists in their list of broad terror threats, to show that 'everybody does it"? It may be that wokesterism put Catholics in the crosshairs to cover the FBI's DEI keister. What we learn from this is that Congress is less that Wray lied than why these offices were involved at all. They ought to be digging deeper into why such a strange confluence of field offices decided to come together to target such a phony threat to national security that would be sure to lead nowhere other than maybe a false prosecution or two to keep the numbers up, and why the FBI has such tremendous resources that it can get away with this farce -- with no consequences to itself. Screen shot from CNBC video, via YouTube In a recent post by author Sundance posted on The Conservative Treehouse, the frequent contributor highlighted a major issue with conservative[s] described as: A willful blindness within part of the American electorate, a chosen refusal to acknowledge the implications of the unAmerican and unconstititional [sic] actions we are seeing on a daily basis. More than 800 readers commented. The respondents offered a host of reasons behind Sundances willful blindness observation: cognitive dissonance, fear, apathy, ignorance, cowardice, or media propaganda. But as Sundance noted: I cant see it, just doesnt cut it. Its more along the lines of, I see whats happening, but its scary and complicated and confusing, and if I admit that I see it, I will become responsible in a way that I am not if I keep pretending; I cant see it or hear it, or maybe I dont understand it. In his memoir Hitch-22, Christopher Hitchens said: It is easy to see why people want to exert power over others, but what fascinated me was the way in which the victims colluded in the business. There is still a portion of Americans who act as though certain government institutions are sacred cows, or above reproachwe see this often with the military, and federal or state law enforcement. They fly banners of freedom and patriotism with the zeal of bygone revolutionary pamphleteers; yet, their passionate conviction is often superficial. If asked to take a moral or difficult position, these warriors waver, and they would never burn the ships after landing in battle. As Sundance wrote, the war at hand is too scary and complicated for these conservatives. Open opposition against an autocratic system, as the one currently operating in the U.S., is far too risky. U.S. Marine LtCol Stu Scheller was the only active-duty officer who publicly criticized the Afghanistan withdrawal. Because of his willingness to burn his ships (career and retirement) by speaking out against this atrocious political and military decision, he was court-martialed and discharged from the service. Many military members likewise disagreed with the Afghanistan withdrawal; many of them still wear the scars of old battles. The blood stains of sacrifice are still visible, and three rifle volleys over the grave of a fallen brother are still heard; yet, who spoke out? Hushed conversations with their wives as they lay their heads at night was the chosen venue for vocal opposition. Stu is crazy for jeopardizing a comfortable livelihood and career, whispered the old warrior. We follow orders. Our loyalty is to the Corps, boasted another in line to receive his biweekly kings shilling. Courageous in combat, but not in garrison. How many NSA public servants willingly participated in the spying of the American public? How many IRS agents were accessories to Lois Lerners targeted audits against organizations and people, specifically chosen because of their conservative beliefs? How many of the selfless men and women raised their hand in opposition to persecutory actions against those who sough to petition their government for redress and grievances? How many Pentagon officials spoke against another escalation order for a Vietnam-type foreign conflict? The list of those who chose to step out of the bondage line is short. Men from early American history like the signers of the Declaration, and modern patriots like Edward Snowden and Stu Scheller; they were the only ones willing to show the sheep that the emperor had no clothes. Shortly after January 6th, I had a heated discussion about the event with a retired and combat-tested Marine Corps lieutenant colonel. My political position was intractable: the 2020 election was stolen, and Americans had the right to peacefully protest. I told the man this country was founded on an act of treason. Our nation is done if we no longer have fair elections. We are no different than Cuba or Venezuela, I added. He refused to take a stand because as he told me, I need to protect my family and business. Id have to argue though, protecting your family and your business is intricately woven into the protection and stewardship of this great America we love. This nation was born from pledges of life, fortune, and sacred honorits time we return to such an ethos. Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required. Pot, meet Kettle. Are we actually living in the Twilight Zone? Yesterday, the U.S. Embassy in Belarus released a condemnatory statement against the Lukashenka regime because according to our federal government, the countrys 2020 presidential election was fraudulent and since then, state authorities have allegedly waged a persecutory campaign against their own people for peacefully protesting, demanding change, and exercising their freedom of expression. (Now, this is not to affirm or deny the narrative set forth about the sequence of events, merely the U.S. governments response to what they allege to be true.) Here is the opening text: Three years ago, tens of thousands of Belarusians from all walks of life took to the streets to demand change in response to the fraudulent 2020 election. In response to peaceful protests, Belarusian authorities launched a brutal crackdown, with security forces arresting and imprisoning thousands of mothers and fathers, teachers, tradespeople, pensioners and others, many of whom were subjected to torture and ill-treatment. The Lukashenka regime continues its repression, with 1,500 or more people unjustly jailed, mostly for exercising their freedom of expression. YouTube video screen grab. If you removed any reference to Belarus, its people, and its leader, and replaced the language with gee, I dont know, the U.S., supporters of President Trump, and Joe Biden (or Barack Obama, or whoever the man pulling the strings is), you absolutely wouldnt know the difference. Jim Hofts The Gateway Pundit has an entire database dedicated to all things January 6th, in what the outlet recognizes as the American Gulag. The website maintains updates on political prisoners, and has documented some of the most inhumane conditions and abusive treatments of American citizens as they are illegally and unconstitutionally incarceratedall because these deplorables petitioned for redress. Whats ironic is that one of the two leaders actually refers to himself as a dictator and its not the one youd thinkhow could you forget Dark Brandon? In a rare interview with Lukashenko in 2012, he said, I am the last dictator in Europe. Staging by Leni Riefenstahl. pic.twitter.com/IGRFT11jA1 Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) September 2, 2022 The closing paragraph of the release reads: We call on the regime to release and rehabilitate all political prisoners unconditionally; to allow those Belarusians who have fled their country to return home without fear of prosecution or persecution; to end the suppression of civil society, independent media, and all free political discourse; and to allow free and fair elections [emphasis added]. Is this a joke? I think this has to be a joke. (Its like Bob Wiley in What About Bob? when Wiley reaches his psychiatrist and thinks hes being played by a fake hangup.) Theres a scene in the 2001 movie Zoolander, where Jacobim Mugatu (played by Will Ferrell) explodes in disbelief that no one seems to notice that all of male model Derek Zoolanders different looks are actually the same face; Mugatu screams, I feel like Im taking crazy pills! Seems like a fitting analogy. Image: DonkeyHotey, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered. Our insane cancel culture gets crazier by the minute. The latest casualty or threat to democracy is a horse. This is the story: Traveller, the horse which served Confederate General Robert E. Lee, has long been a fixture of campus culture at Washington and Lee University, as the famous steed, known for his courage and stamina, is buried on campus. But Travellers Confederate connections recently led university officials to remove two markers erected in his honor, his gravestone as well as a plaque honoring the beloved companion. The decision prompted anger and concern from some alumni and students. Traveller served Lee both during the Civil War and afterwards, when the ex-general became president of the then-Washington College. Lee was president from 1865 until his death in 1871. Traveller died a few months later. Thank God that it prompted anger and concern. We are talking about a horse! When are the alumni going to stop writing checks? The Civil War ended in 1865. The Civil Rights Act has been the law of the land since 1964. Everyone today has the opportunity to get ahead and succeed, but the college leadership is concerned that a horse is sending the wrong message. As a huge fan of "The Lone Ranger," I am deeply concerned when Silver gets cancelled for promoting a time in history when people called each other Kemosabe and Tonto. I'm sure that someone is offended by that! It's only a matter of time before some college professor writes a racial thesis that Silver was chosen because he was a white stallion. In the meantime, black-on-black crime is a major crisis and inner-city schools are graduating kids who can't read or write at their level. Of course, none of that matters because we cancelled Traveller and we all feel better that we are no longer racist at Washington and Lee. P.S. Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. Image: Public Domain Shoppers enjoy the cooling mist from an illumination art installation at an outdoor shopping mall in the humid weather in Beijing, Aug. 9. AP-Yonhap China is resuming outbound group tourism to destinations including Japan, Korea, Australia, the United States, Germany and Britain, its culture and tourism ministry said on Thursday. The news cheered China's outbound travel operators, which have struggled since 2020 with more than three years of pandemic-induced border closures before China finally dropped COVID-19 curbs late last year. "It's a milestone for the full resumption of the outbound travel, and will also strongly push the resumption of international flights, especially for Japan, Korea, the U.S.," said Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager at Spring Tour, the travel arm of Shanghai-based Spring Group. In the first quarter, Chinese tourism agencies recorded 318,600 outbound trips, with Thailand, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore among the top destinations. Though outbound travel only accounted for 1.58 percent of the overall tourism market in terms of the number of people who travelled, official figures showed. Development of the coming Qualcomm 3nm chip might bring a partnership between three tech giants. While the launch of this chip is still a year away, its development process, which involves design and assembling, will kick off early. To facilitate this process reports claim that Qualcomm will partner with TSMC and Samsung. This is quite intriguing because Qualcomm is currently working with TSMC alone. However, the chip designing and manufacturing firm previously had a business relationship with Samsung, which it severed. But the firms coming 3nm chip might bring its previous and current business partners on board. Advertisement Advertisement While this might seem like a shocking move, its not uncommon in the tech industry for manufacturers to source materials from various providers. There are a few reasons that might warrant Qualcomm working with both TSMC and Samsung for the production of its coming chip. The reasons revolve around a possible improvement in the performance of one partys 3nm fab, as well as saving production costs. Reasons behind the possible involvement of both TSMC and Samsung in the coming Qualcomm 3nm chip A recent analysis on this issue from Ming-Chi Kuo throws light on why double sourcing might be a thing for Qualcomms coming chip. Other reports also point out that Qualcomm is testing new chips with Samsung 3nm GAA technology. These chips have greatly improved in comparison with what was attainable with the Samsung 4nm entries. Since Samsungs 4nm fabrication process didnt meet Qualcomms requirements, the company turned its attention elsewhere. This gave birth to the usage of the TSMC 4nm process for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and 2 processors. But with Samsungs improvement in its 4nm process, Qualcomm might consider working with them again. Additionally, there is the need to cut down on the production cost of 3nm chips. The development cost of chips with the new 3nm process will affect the coming Qualcomm processor. This coming processor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will stick to using the 4nm process. To cut down on the cost of developing the coming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 processor, Qualcomm might need to look out of the box. This will mean sourcing chips from not only TSMC but also Samsung. Despite rumours that the next-gen TSMC N3E 3nm process will be cheaper, Qualcomm might need to further reduce production costs. By doing this, the chip design and manufacturing firm will be able to cope with declining smartphone demands. There is no official statement concerning Qualcomm working with both TSMC and Samsung, but Ming-Chi Kuos analysis might be true. In the coming months, more details on this matter will be made available to the public. Its no secret that Arms announcement to go public this September has garnered widespread attention from other major tech giants. Now, in a recent development, Apple, Samsung, Nvidia, and Intel are reportedly looking towards acquiring stakes in Arm. Why is Arm this important? Although at first glance, it may seem like Arm is just another tech company, the companys role is pivotal as it specializes in licensing chip designs to a range of businesses. This approach not only relieves companies like Apple and Samsung from the burden of chip design but also enables customized solutions such as the M1 chip. Globally, Arms chips power over a staggering 250 billion devices and also constitute over 90% of the smartphone chip market. Advertisement Advertisement When it comes to finances, the company achieved sales of $2.8 billion in fiscal 2022, reflecting an astonishing 70% surge compared to figures from its fiscal year 2016 when the acquisition by SoftBank Group concluded. Arms strategic approach In an effort to stable stock performance upon listing, Arm plans to allocate a few percent each in stakes to select companies like Apple and Samsung. This strategy aims to mitigate potential early trading volatility and pave the way for sustained growth in the companys market value. We have diversified our business by not only developing different products but also by addressing it through different parts of the business model strategy. We knew our business was going to be okay. All of the financial results you are seeing now, which are terrific and the team has done a fantastic job on, really come from work that was done a few years ago, said Arm CEO Rene Haas. However, Arms path will not be without challenges as other companies, including Qualcomm and NXP Semiconductors, embark on their own ventures to develop a competing chip architecture called RISC-V. Additionally, Arm could encounter difficulties within the current economic landscape, where IPO values experienced a significant two-thirds drop in 2022. In a recent development, the Justice Department has fined Elon Musks Twitter, now rebranded as X, a sum of $350k for its refusal to comply with a search warrant related to former President Donald Trumps Twitter account. The legal battle first began in January when special counsel Jack Smith successfully obtained a search warrant for Donald Trumps Twitter handle, @realDonaldTrump. This was a significant development in an ongoing investigation into accusations of Trumps involvement in disruptions during the peaceful transition of power after the 2020 presidential elections, as well as the events leading up to the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Advertisement Advertisement Informing Trump about the investigation Twitter objected to the information mandated by the warrant and took exception to a gag order preventing it from notifying Trump about the search. Twitters argument, articulated on February 1st, was grounded in the First Amendment, highlighting that it should not be compelled to surrender records until the issue of the gag order was resolved. However, the court sided with the governments position, arguing that a public search order could trigger obstructive actions by former President Donald Trump or even lead to an attempt to evade prosecution. On February 2nd, Twitter adopted a more assertive stance by nullifying the nondisclosure order and stating that the order infringed upon its right to communicate with its subscribers. Additionally, Twitter initiated an appeal to contest the lower courts decision. And despite the appeal reaching the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the verdict favoured the government. As a result, Twitter found itself subjected to significant penalties, with daily fines of $50,000 progressively doubling for each day of non-compliance. Finally, Twitter conceded and provided the records, which encompassed draft tweets, direct messages, and information about account access, within three days. However, it is important to note that, following the legal proceedings, the government also allowed the company to inform Trump about the contents of the warrant while withholding the identity of the case agent. The US President, Joe Biden, signed an executive order which restricts investment in specific types of Chinese tech firms. Why? Well, national security is cited, as there are certain risks present. The US President signed an executive order that restricts investment in Chinese tech firms This executive order is aimed at companies that handle sensitive technologies. Companies that handle semiconductors, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence. Advertisement Advertisement This is what it says in the executive order itself: Advancements in sensitive technologies and products in these sectors will accelerate the development of advanced computational capabilities that will enable new applications that pose significant national security risks, such as the development of more sophisticated weapons systems, breaking of cryptographic codes, and other applications that could provide these countries with military advantages. The White House says that this move is narrowly targeted. Its supposed to restrict investments in specific companies, the ones that handle sensitive tech, as previously stated. One thing to note is that this order wont go into effect until next year. When we see China-related restrictions, Huawei does come to mind Now, this is not the first time the US decided to impose such restrictions when China is concerned. Not even close. The best example is probably Huawei, whose business was damaged by the US ban. Huawei is not allowed to use Google services on its phones, and it also doesnt have access to 5G processors at the moment. There were several waves of bans regarding the company, and that has been going on for years. Having said that, the White House also limited the sale of supercomputing technology to Chinese firms. Those are just some examples. It seems like a lot is going on behind the scenes when it comes to the US and China. It remains to be seen what will the future bring. Tech companies are starting to rely heavily on AI, and its development is in full swing. Such tech could increase (national) security concerns. Verizon subscribers on one of the carriers legacy unlimited plans will need to be prepared for a price increase in the near future. According to The Mobile Report (via The Verge), Verizon is looking to increase the price of three of its legacy unlimited plans. Specifically the Go Unlimited, Beyond Unlimited, and Above Unlimited plans. The increase will be fairly minor at $3 more per month. But that isnt really the point. Customers who have been using these plans since they were made available in 2018 have likely held onto them through other changes. As these are legacy plans, Verizon already has new ones. But they could cost more and may not offer the same thing. And now customers are going to have to pay a little extra to keep these older plans. This probably wont bother most. But there will no doubt be a few who wont be happy about the change. Advertisement Advertisement Also worth mentioning is that some people may be on a fixed budget. And may not have accounted for an extra $3 more a month. Which over the course of a year is an addition $36. It doesnt seem like a lot. But it could be to some. Verizon will introduce the price increase for these unlimited plans on August 29 So, when we will these price changes come into play? This month, as it turns out. Verizon has confirmed that the increases are happening on August 29, so theres only a couple more weeks before that happens. If your billing cycle ends before that point, then you should have one more bill coming with the current monthly price. But then going forward, itll reflect the additional $3 per month. Verizon continues to shake things up with its plan offerings and these $3 increases are just the latest effort. Back in May the carrier revealed and launched its new myPlan offerings that were an attempt to simplify things for customers. Its also not the only carrier adding prices onto your bill or sliding in some extra fees here and there. Just last month, T-Mobile announced it would begin charging customers $5 to pay their bill in stores. Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio speaks during a campaign event at a school minutes before he was shot to death outside the same school in Quito, Ecuador, Aug. 9. AP-Yonhap An Ecuadorian presidential candidate known for speaking up against cartels and corruption was shot and killed Wednesday at a political rally in the capital, amid a startling wave of gang-driven violence in the South American country. President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and suggested organized crime was behind his slaying, less than two weeks before the Aug. 20 presidential election. "I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished," Lasso said in a statement. "Organized crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law." Ecuador's attorney general's office said that one suspect died in custody from wounds sustained in a firefight after the killing, and police detained six suspects following raids in Quito. In his final speech before he was killed, Villavicencio promised a roaring crowd that he would root out corruption and lock up the country's "thieves." Prior to the shooting, Villavicencio said he had received multiple death threats, including from affiliates of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, one of a slew of international organized crime groups that now operate in Ecuador. He said his campaign represented a threat to such groups. "Here I am showing my face. I'm not scared of them," Villavicencio said in a statement, naming detained crime boss Jose Adolfo Macias by his alias "Fito." Villavicencio was one of eight candidates, though not the frontrunner. The politician, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement. Supporter Ida Paez said that Villavicencio's campaign had given her hope for that the country could overcome the gangs. At the rally, she said, "We were happy. Fernando even danced. His last words were, if someone messes with the people, he is messing with my family." A woman who was injured during the shooting in which the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed walks with supporters, in Quito, Ecuador, Aug. 9. EPA-Yonhap (ANSA) - ROME, AUG 10 - Italy's Constitutional Court on Thursday set a hearing for September 20 to examine an issue that has led to deadlock in the trial of the allegedly killers of Giulio Regeni. Regeni, a 28-year-old Friuli born Cambridge University doctoral researcher, was tortured to death in Egypt between January 25 and February 3 2016. A Rome judge has asked Italy's Constitutional Court to rule on whether the trial can proceed without the presence of the four Egyptian security agents who have been charged in Italy with his murder and without any proof that they know they are on trial. The Egyptian authorities have not cooperated with Italian efforts to formally notify the suspects that they are on trial, which has prevented proceedings moving forward. (ANSA). Andrew Tate speaks to the Romanian press for the first time in an exclusive interview with Antena 3 CNN. Sursa foto: Antena 3 CNN Sabina Iosub, journalist and Antena 3 CNN TV host, conducted an exclusive interview with the influencer, in which he talked about his case, but also about the answers he has prepared to the accusations against him. Friday, August 11, 2023, starting at 8pm, only on Antena 3 CNN. "Andrew Tate speaks exclusively, for the first time with the media in Romania, with Antena 3 CNN, about his whole case. I went there with the journalist's curiosity to understand first of all what the accusations are and how Andrew Tate responds to these accusations. We, all this time, at Antena 3 CNN and in general, in the Romanian media, have been talking about what the accusations are, how they became a news story for a news channel when the case came out, but I never heard him respond to these accusations. We'll see together how interesting he answers the questions. There are some truly surprising moments in this interview in many ways and just watching this interview you will understand. There are different moods he's in and there are moments where he gets stuck. Andrew Tate has a moment where he gets stuck trying to answer some of my questions. I'm not going to reveal too much. The interview will be exclusive tomorrow night here on Antena 3 CNN in two parts because it's a wide-ranging interview, an interview in which Andrew Tate responds to these accusations that are being made against him. Let's not forget that we're talking about rape, that he formed an organized group, that he exploited and trafficked women. These are direct questions that I am asking him because this case is taking place in Romania, the accusations came here in Romania. There are Romanian men and women involved in this case and I think it is important to look at it from this perspective as well, not just from a global perspective. I think Antena 3 chose CNN because of the balanced way we have treated this case from the beginning. We've presented all sides, we've shown exactly what the developments are, what the investigators are saying, what the Tate brothers' positions are on what they're accused of and frankly I'm glad that Andrew Tate decided to have this dialogue and you'll see that it's not a warm dialogue at all. I didn't go there as a judge, I went there as a journalist who wants to understand this case. We're also going to find out how much money he has, we're going to find out how he makes money, if he has hit any women, if he respects women, if he is a misogynist. There are a lot of questions that Andrew Tate answers to", revealed Sabina Iosub. The names of thousands of people who were adopted as children were published on a Scottish genealogy website. Scotlands People, run by the National Records of Scotland (NRS), removed the information 36 hours after a concerned mother noticed her adopted childs details were published on the website, the BBC reported. The mother said she was concerned the website could grant people access to find the new surnames of adopted children and track them down. The woman told the BBC she searched for her adopted sons first name and the year he was born. To her shock, she noticed he was the first person to appear in the search results, with a reference number revealing he was adopted. She said she also found the details of someone else she knows on the Scotlands People site, and stated she is concerned for adults who do not know they were adopted as children. The NRS is part of the Scottish Government. Before the information was removed, the names of thousands of adopted people from as far back as 1909 were published. The most recent entries were from last year. The Children and Young Peoples Commissioner for Scotland confirmed they were made aware of the issue. Nick Hobbs, acting commissioner, said: On Monday we became aware that records on a National Records of Scotland website included a marker indicating that a child had been adopted. This was of immediate concern for our office as it engages childrens rights to privacy and in some cases to protection from harm. Some children who have been adopted may be subject to a legal order which ensures that information about them is withheld for their own safety. We contacted National Registers of Scotland immediately to raise our concerns on Monday highlighting the rights implications for children identified and the potential risks this posed. Mr Hobbs said he is pleased the NRS made the decision to remove the records, stating the decision mitigates the immediate risk to children. He added: We look forward to NRS confirming that any longer-term solution will respect childrens rights. We urge them to undertake a childrens rights impact assessment to consider and mitigate any further risks in relation to childrens records. A spokesperson for the Information Commissioners Office said: It is important that organisations holding sensitive personal data ensure it is handled in line with data protection law. National Records of Scotland alerted us to the concerns raised and we provided advice on organisations duty to self-assess and conclude if an incident needs to be formally reported to the ICO. We dont appear to have received a formal breach report regarding this at this time. A Scottish Government spokesperson said: We understand people are concerned and that the National Records of Scotland are currently reviewing how they make this information available. All public bodies must ensure they meet UK GDPR obligations when sharing appropriate information. An NRS spokesperson said: We are currently reviewing the way indexed entries from the Adopted Children Register are presented on the ScotlandsPeople website. NRS has a statutory responsibility to make our registers open and searchable. Relevant entries have been removed as a precautionary measure while we review the way we make this information available. British actor Nigel Harman has been named as the latest celebrity taking part in the Strictly Come Dancing 2023 line-up. The 49-year-old, who is known for his role playing Dennis Rickman the late husband of Sharon Watts (Letitia Dean) in BBC soap EastEnders from 2003 until 2005, recently returned to the BBC on soap Casualty playing clinical lead doctor Max Cristie. In 2013, Harman was at the centre of a hard-hitting storyline on hit period drama series Downton Abbey, involving his character valet Alex Green who was seen physically and sexually attacking ladys maid Anna Bates, who was played by Joanne Froggatt and won a Golden Globe award in 2015 for her role. Is there a doctor in the house? There is now. We prescribe @BBCCasualty actor Nigel Harman one series of #Strictly Come Dancing! https://t.co/NnDs3EAdGU pic.twitter.com/7EtlNYqr6t BBC Strictly (@bbcstrictly) August 10, 2023 On joining the Strictly cast this year, Harman told Christine Lampard on ITV chat show Lorraine: As the days have crept up to this moment Ive been going, what have I done? Harman said his Casualty co-star Charles Venn, who appeared on Strictly in 2018, advised him to keep up the cardio and be yourself on the show. Harmans other credits include starring in the West End production of Harry Hills comedy musical I Cant Sing! The X Factor Musical in 2014 in which he played the talent shows judge Simon Cowell. The Strictly line-up so far also includes EastEnders actor Bobby Brazier, former Coronation Street star Ellie Leach and Paralympic champion Jody Cundy, as well as BBC Asian Networks Breakfast Show host Nikita Kanda, actress Amanda Abbington, Bad Education star Layton Williams and broadcaster Angela Rippon. They will be joined on the dancefloor by journalist Krishnan Guru-Murthy, comedian Eddie Kadi, Irish TV presenter Angela Scanlon and former Love Island star Zara McDermott. Presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman will be back to host the show when it returns to screens in the autumn. A retired miner who was freed from prison after killing his seriously ill wife is to have his verdict and sentence appealed against by the attorney general in Cyprus, his legal team have said. British expat David Hunter was released from custody on July 31 after a court sentenced him to two years in jail for the manslaughter of Janice, his spouse of 52 years. The 76-year-old was allowed to walk free within 15 minutes of being sentenced at Paphos District Court due to time already served and good behaviour. Mr Hunter spent 19 months in prison before being found guilty of manslaughter, but cleared of the more serious charge of premeditated murder. On Thursday his legal team said the Cypriot attorney general has now filed an appeal against Mr Hunters sentence and acquittal for murder. It means the pensioner, who had decided to stay in Cyprus to be near his wifes grave, faces a further legal fight. The couples daughter Lesley Cawthorne told the PA news agency she was devastated at the news. In a statement, Ms Cawthorne said the family would again urge compassion for my elderly and frail father. We continue to be so very grateful for all the support we have had, she added. David Hunter with his defence team and Michael Polak, the director of Justice Abroad, outside Paphos District Court in Cyprus after he was released from custody (Victoria Jones/PA) Michael Polak, director of Justice Abroad, said he was very disappointed with the decision, which gets in the way of David getting on with his life. Mr Polak said: He has spent 19 months in prison and faced legal proceedings over that period that would be difficult for anyone, but especially for someone of his age. This is a very sad matter, however, it is difficult to see how the continued pursuit of David assists anyone. We will continue to fight for David before the Appeal Court of Cyprus as we have done throughout the lengthy mission to free David. Mr Hunter told his trial he suffocated Mrs Hunter after she begged him to as she was suffering from a rare form of blood cancer. A three-judge panel accepted the defence case that he had spontaneously acted out of love for his wife after she asked him to help end her life. Good Morning Britain presenter Charlotte Hawkins says she was shaken deeply after watching her friends daughter being attacked by a dog. Hawkins was reportedly walking with her own child and the eight-year-old girl when the animal escaped from a nearby garden and knocked the child down and bit her. Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Hawkins, 48, said she had reassured the child that the barking dogs would not be able to get out before the shocking incident. The experience shook me deeply, she said. We're a nation of dog lovers, but dog attacks are on the rise and 2022 saw record fatalities from such injuries so what's going on? @CharlotteHawkns reports in Dangerous Dogs: What's The Truth? Thursday, on ITV1 at 8:30pm #ITVTonight pic.twitter.com/1Eb3Ghfu1x Tonight (@ITVTonight) August 9, 2023 Its a problem we must tackle. Seeing my friends daughter being attacked by a big dog was shocking and scary. It showed me how quickly something like that can happen. The two big dogs were barking aggressively. I was saying, Dont worry, they wont be able to get out. But one of the dogs did get out. Hawkins said she had felt particularly vulnerable as she was carrying her own child and was unable to step in and help. My friends daughter was knocked to the ground and it was so scary. Its definitely made me more alert to the potential dangers, she told the Mirror. Hawkins was walking with her own child and the eight-year-old girl when the animal escaped from a nearby garden (Ian West/PA) Hawkins will front a new ITV programme Dangerous Dogs: Whats The Truth? to investigate the growing problem of dog attacks. According to ITV, last year saw record numbers of fatalities from injuries sustained during such attacks. Earlier this month Royal Mail said incidents of dog attacks on postal workers had surged to nearly 2,000 reported incidents in 2022. There were 1,916 dog attacks on postal workers logged during the year to March 31 2023, Royal Mail said. Dangerous Dogs: Whats The Truth? is due to air on ITV on Thursday at 8.30pm. One female writer reveals how a relationship came to a bitter end when she found out she was being cheated on and a victim of gaslighting. Here she shares her story. Being cheated on isn't uncommon: At least one in five UK adults has had an affair. (Yahoo UK) Rob* and I met when he was 19, and I was 17. Id just moved from London to a new school in Devon, and was shy and unconfident. Rob worked for his uncles building firm and played in a local rock band with the brother of my new schoolfriend. She took me to their gig. A lot of the girls in the audience had eyes on Rob. He looked like Jim Morrison all sexy and intense on stage. I dont know why he singled me afterwards to chat to, but he did. It turned out he was sweet and funny, and surprisingly awkward. He looked like Jim Morrison all sexy and intense on stage. After each gig from then on, wed talk for hours, about books and music. One night, he drove me home in his cool old Land Rover, and kissed me. I was amazed. I think he liked the fact I was different. I was quiet, and secretly wrote poetry. We fell in love quickly. In photos from those two years together, I look deliriously happy, flushed with laughter, wrapped in his arms. We made bonfires on the beach with friends, and drove in music-blaring convoys to remote pubs. It was so romantic, I felt like we were characters in our own love song. Adjusting to real life My plans after A levels had been to work in a Paris bookshop, then go to university. Instead I started temping in a local office, so I could stay with Rob. Boredom, however, quickly set in. My school friends were at university or travelling. I was stuck in a small town life I didnt want. So, I applied to a nearby university. Rob and I agreed to take turns to visit each weekend. But over the next six months, it felt hard. Rob wasnt interested in connecting with my new university friends. Signs of an affair Then, on a weekend visit home, I noticed a new girl called Sarah* watching me in the pub. Rob always seemed to disappear when she was there, to change her tyre or give her a lift. I began to feel uneasy, and confronted him. He was incensed. He said I was mad for suggesting he liked Sarah. I began to feel uneasy, and confronted him. He was incensed. He said I was mad for suggesting he liked Sarah. Yet on weekend visits, Id see more evidence. We began to argue about my delusional accusations. Eventually, I felt I was going mad, and stopped going to lectures. Then one weekend, I arrived to find Rob had stayed at Sarahs the night before because his car had broken down. On the phone, he said hed have to stay over again tonight, too, as it still wasnt fixed. Finally, the penny dropped. Rob was with Sarah. He was just too scared to destroy the romantic dream wed created together, so he was forcing me to dump him instead. There was nothing more to say. I got in my car, and never went back. A victim of gaslighting Rob was right. I was completely devastated, but less by our break-up, and more by his gaslighting. It felt like a terrible betrayal of our gentle love story. To get over it, I went to Paris. Free from paranoia, I quickly recovered. I transferred to university in London. There, I met and married a gorgeous, kind-hearted man, who has no time for sentimental romance. I was completely devastated, but less by our break-up, and more by his gaslighting. Even today, 25 years into our marriage, with a teenage daughter of our own, he is more likely to write me a shopping list than a love letter. Yet, he makes me feel safe and loved every day with his kindness and thoughtfulness. What would I advise my daughter to do, if she met a Rob? Id tell her that sometimes people accuse a lover of being mad because they cant deal with the hurt their unfaithful actions will cause that person. Or because they are not yet ready to lose control of that person. Id tell her that all we can do, therefore, is trust our own instincts, and get on that train to Paris. If were wrong, theyll follow. If not, weve had a lucky escape. *Name and location has been changed to protect identities. More than 50 MPs, retailers and charities have written to the government urging it to remove the 20% VAT on period pants, the reusable underwear designed to be worn as an alternative to using tampons and sanitary towels. Other period products such as pads, tampons and menstrual cups are exempt from VAT, but consumers currently pay a 20% tax on period pants as they are classified as garments. The letter, signed by 35 MPs and peers, the chief executives of Marks & Spencer and Ocado, the publisher of Hello! magazine and several charities and non-profit organisations, including Breast Cancer Now, the Marine Conservation Society and Forum for the Future, calls on Financial Secretary to the Treasury Victoria Atkins to reclassify the pants as period products in the Chancellors autumn statement later this year. M&S has also launched the new Say Pants to the Tax campaign with the period underwear brand Wuka, promising to pass on 100% of any cost savings to shoppers if it is successful. A five-pack bundle of period pants at M&S costs 35, but would be 28 without VAT, while a pack of three currently 20 would drop to 16. M&S, which said it sells more than 6,000 packs of the pants each week, and Wuka calculated that their customers combined had paid more than 3 million in VAT on period pants. A survey of 268 women aged 18 to 54, conducted last month, found that 23% of respondents cited cost as a reason for not using period pants, with 83% in favour of dropping VAT from the products. Period pants can be washed and worn again for months, which means they can save consumers money and help reduce plastic waste. Wuka estimates that one pair of period pants can save 200 single-use plastic disposables from going to landfill. Victoria McKenzie-Gould, corporate affairs director at M&S, said: The government made a brilliant start by removing VAT from disposable period products but we need them to finish the job and level the playing field so that whatever period product someone chooses to use, it is VAT free. Nearly 25% of women cite cost as a barrier to using period pants. If they were classified as they should be as a period product the government can make this brilliant alternative to disposable products a more cost-effective option for UK consumers. In May, the Treasury said it would analyse whether the removal of the tampon tax has helped lower prices. Responding to a written question from the Labour MP Ruth Cadbury, the government said a tax reduction was able to contribute to the conditions for price reductions and it was looking into whether this important zero rating is being passed on by retailers to women as intended. A notorious British fraudster who was jailed in the UK after conning an ex-girlfriend out of 300,000 has been released from a Spanish prison, a court has heard. Mark Acklom was extradited to Spain two years ago after being freed from a near six-year sentence imposed in England in 2019. But a UK court has now been told that the 50-year-old has been released from jail in Spain after serving a further two years imprisonment. No details were revealed of his current whereabouts, although he does have a wife and two children living in Spain. Mark Acklom is a serial conman who begin committing fraud as a teenager (Avon and Somerset Police/PA) The serial conman had fled Spain in 2016, midway through a three-year fraud sentence, after being given temporary release while he applied for parole. He was already wanted by Avon and Somerset Police for scamming his then-girlfriend, Carolyn Woods, out of her life savings in a romance fraud which began in 2012. The fugitive was later tracked down to Switzerland and extradited back to Britain in 2019, where he was jailed for five years and eight months. Since then, prosecutors have been using the Proceeds of Crime Act (Poca) to try to recover the money stolen from Ms Woods. Over the last four years there have been a series of hearings at Bristol Crown Court under Poca legislation to establish Ackloms criminal benefit and available assets. A four-day hearing to determine his liability was due to be held in November but that date has now been vacated due to the unavailability of the judge and will instead be held next year. The court heard that lawyers representing Acklom have lodged new applications with the court alleging an abuse of process, which will take time for the Crown to respond to. John Hardy KC, prosecuting, told the court he is content for the full hearing to be postponed until 2024. I understand Mr Acklom has been released from his Spanish incarceration and, reading between the lines, we do not anticipate that Mr Acklom will seek to attend the hearing in person but may try to attend remotely, he said. Mark Acklom, aged 18, after pleading guilty at Inner London Crown Court to the theft of his fathers credit card, and obtaining money, property and a mortgage by deception (PA) Judge Martin Picton fixed an administrative hearing for November 10 and said a four-day hearing will begin on April 16 2024. During his relationship with Ms Woods, Acklom posed as a Swiss banker and MI6 agent to destroy her life. He claimed he was friends with celebrities including Nicky Clarke and Chris Evans, had spoken to Hillary Clinton and knew fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, and was involved with secret MI6 missions. In 1991, Acklom, then aged 16, was given a four-year custodial sentence for a 466,000 mortgage fraud after posing as a City stockbroker. He also spent 11,000 after stealing his fathers credit card, swindled a former teacher out of 13,000, and ran up a 34,000 bill with a private charter jet company. An online bookshop has reached its target of raising 3 million in profit for independent booksellers in its fight for them to thrive in the world of ecommerce. Bookshop.org considers itself the ethical book-buying alternative to Amazon, with a mission to financially support local and independent bookshops, and is now setting a new goal, to increase online sales for sellers five times by 2028. The Booksellers Association (BA), which represents both chain and independent bookshops, and Bookshop.org, will conduct an annual survey on the digital footprint of independent bookshops in the UK to track developments in online sales. Nicole Vanderbilt, managing director of Bookshop.org UK, has urged publishers, authors, bookshops and readers to embrace its mission to allow independent bookshops to thrive in an age of ecommerce. She said: Thanks to ethically conscious book-buyers in the UK, we are proud to have reached the milestone of 3 million in incremental profit generated for independent bookshops. It's here the #BookerPrize Longlist has landed. Discover the Booker Dozen, thirteen extraordinary novels, and support independent bookshops across the land. Plus enjoy free shipping on your whole basket with the longlisted titles. https://t.co/O2xYPMljrn pic.twitter.com/FPGyNOHjRD Bookshop.org (@bookshop_org_UK) August 1, 2023 However, we believe the online book market has many more opportunities to offer to independent booksellers in a way, weve only helped them scratch the surface so far. As 60% of books are currently bought online, independent bookshops should aim to see a larger proportion of their books also bought online. We want to help them be competitive in the world of ecommerce, translating their knowledge, passion and creativity to the online world, and freeing them of the logistics of online book order-taking and delivery. She added: We believe that a world where independent bookshops are successful businesses, with a robust online presence, is a better world for everyone. Martin Higgins, UK retail director at Penguin Random House, said: The development of Bookshop.org over the past two and half years in the UK has been remarkable. They have complemented and amplified the growing UK independent bookshop market with an original business model, and have succeeded in ensuring many high street booksellers establish a strong online trading presence. We are looking forward to continuing to work closely with the team at Bookshop.org on their exciting future plans. Police have been carrying out further searches in Gibraltar into the disappearance of a Royal Navy sailor more than 36 years ago. Simon Parkes, from Bristol, was last seen in December 1986 when the ship he was serving on, HMS Illustrious, was docked in the territory. His disappearance has previously been part of investigations by Hampshire police into serial killer Allan Grimson, a former petty officer, who was jailed for life for the murder of two young men and who was serving on board the aircraft carrier at the same time as the 18-year-old. The searches by officers from Hampshire police at the Town Range car park follow previous visits by detectives including digs at the cemetery in the British Overseas Territory. A forces spokesman said: Officers investigating the disappearance of a young sailor more than 30 years ago have carried out a small amount of excavation work at Town Range car park in Gibraltar this week as we followed a potential further line of inquiry. Nine officers from Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary, including detectives and specially trained search officers, carried out the work in Gibraltar from Monday August 7 to Thursday August 10 as we continue to investigate what happened to Simon Parkes. This investigation continues to be a collaborative operation between Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary and Royal Gibraltar Police with support from the Gibraltar Defence Police and the Royal Navy. Royal Navy Rating Parkes, from Bristol, was last seen in December 1986, when the ship he was serving on, HMS Illustrious, was docked in Gibraltar. Flowers left by officers from Hampshire Constabulary at the memorial for missing Royal Navy Rating Simon Parkes (Hampshire Constabulary/PA Wire) The 18-year-old radio operator went on to shore but never made it back on board, and when the ship returned to Portsmouth days later, no-one knew what had happened to him despite a huge manhunt to find him. Since then, investigations into his disappearance have so far failed to find answers for his devastated parents. Detective Chief Inspector Adam Edwards, who is overseeing the investigation, said: Based on new information specialist officers have spent four days in Gibraltar following a potential new line of inquiry. We have excavated a small area at Town Range car park, around and inside of some water tanks, and have assessed the material removed. Disappointingly we have not identified anything that helps to move the investigation into Simons disappearance forward. There is no intention to expand our search area or move to other locations at this time. However it is important to stress that our investigation does remain ongoing. Id like to thank our colleagues at Royal Gibraltar Police for their assistance with this latest operation and the public in Gibraltar for their patience during this activity. We have kept Mr and Mrs Parkes informed of our progress and Id like to thank them again for their support. We know this remains a difficult time for them and we hope our ongoing work will bring them the answers they so desperately want. Following the operational activity our officers visited the memorial site for Simon and laid some flowers to show our support to his family. Grimson was jailed in 2001 at Winchester Crown Court for the murders of naval rating Nicholas Wright, 18, from Leicestershire, and barman Sion Jenkins from Newbury, Berkshire. He has always denied being involved in the disappearance of Mr Parkes. The Police Service of Northern Irelands Chief Constable has said he does not intend to walk away following a significant data breach. Simon Byrne cut short a family holiday to return to Belfast where he faced several hours of questioning by the Northern Ireland Policing Board. He said he was deeply sorry following the industrial scale breach of data that has gone into the public domain, after some details of 10,000 officers and staff were published online for several hours on Tuesday. Details of another breach following the theft of documents and a laptop from a car in Newtownabbey in July emerged on Wednesday. Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable Simon Byrne (left) and Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd during a press conference after an emergency meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board (Liam McBurney/PA) Asked whether he had considered his position as Chief Constable, Mr Byrne said in the short term his priority is the wellbeing of officers and staff. But equally I know its a question that people will be asking, I dont think leadership is about walking away, its facing up to your responsibilities and I think the organisation needs consistency and calm heads at the moment across the team to lead us through what we accept is an unprecedented crisis, he said. Asked if members of the Policing Board mentioned him resigning, Mr Byrne replied: No, they didnt. Speaking after the meeting, Ulster Unionist MLA Mike Nesbitt said the Chief Constables position was not discussed at the meeting of the Policing Board. Im not going to give a kneejerk reaction to it, and my focus is on the security and the safety of the men and women of the police service and of the service team, and I think Simon is genuine about doing all he can to deal with their safety and security, he said. More than 100,000 migrants appear to have crossed the Channel in the last five-and-a-half years since current records began, according to analysis by the PA news agency This is how events have unfolded since the start of the Channel migrant crisis: 2018 December 28: Home Secretary Sajid Javid breaks off his holiday and declares a major incident in the Channel following an upsurge in small boat crossings, with at least 221 migrants attempting the voyage since the start of November. December 31: Mr Javid bows to pressure from Tory MPs and announces two more Border Force cutters are to be stationed in the Channel, having previously warned they would act as a magnet for migrants. Sajid Javid announced a major incident in the Channel (Dominic Lipinski/PA) 2019 January 24: Mr Javid and his French counterpart, Christophe Castaner, announce a joint action plan aimed at halving the number of successful crossings over the summer and reducing it to an infrequent phenomenon by spring 2020. It includes more than 6 million for new security equipment such as CCTV and night goggles, increased beach patrols and intelligence sharing, and a commitment to conduct return operations as quickly as possible. August 9: A 31-year-old Iranian woman, Mitra Mehrad, becomes the first migrant known to have drowned while attempting the crossing after falling from a dinghy. August 23: Prime Minister Boris Johnson warns migrants we will send you back after almost 100 attempt the crossing in the space of 24 hours. December 31: 1,892 migrants are reported to have successfully crossed the Channel in the course of 2019, while 1,235 were intercepted by the French authorities. Migrants picked up in the Channel by the Border Force arrive in Dover (Gareth Fuller/PA) 2020 July 12: Home Secretary Priti Patel and French interior minister Gerald Darmanin announce a new joint intelligence cell to counter the people smuggling gangs as 180 migrants make the crossing the highest number to date on a single day. September 26: The Home Office announces plans to acquire two jet skis to try to stop the migrant boats after a new record 416 migrants make the crossing in one day. October 27: A family of five, including three young children, drown after their boat capsizes in the Channel. November 28: Ms Patel and Mr Darmanin announce a new joint operational plan with more French police patrols and the deployment of cutting-edge surveillance and detection technology. December 31: At least 8,417 people arrived in small boats in the course of 2020, quadruple the number of the previous year. Priti Patel and Rwandan foreign minister Vincent Biruta sign an agreement for asylum seekers to be processed in the east African country (Flora Thompson/PA) 2021 March 24: Ms Patel says she will consider all options to offshore processing of asylum claims to third countries as she sets out plans to overhaul the immigration system. November 11: 1,185 migrants take advantage of the unseasonably mild weather to make the Channel crossing a new record for a single day. November 15: Ms Patel and Mr Darmanin issue a joint statement vowing to prevent 100% of crossings, making the Channel route unviable for migrants. November 24: 27 people, including a pregnant woman and three children, are drowned after their dinghy capsizes in the deadliest incident in the Channel since Mr Javid first declared a major emergency. Ms Patel is disinvited from a meeting of European interior ministers following a diplomatic row between Mr Johnson and President Emmanuel Macron over the response to the tragedy. December 31: The total number of arrivals for the year is 28,526. The first deportation flight to Rwanda is halted just minutes before take-off (Andrew Matthews/PA) 2022 April 14: Mr Johnson announces plan to deport migrants arriving in small boats to Rwanda for their claims to be processed, saying it would act as a very considerable deterrent. June 15: The first deportation flight to Rwanda is cancelled just minutes before take-off following a ruling by a judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. August 23: The Ministry of Defence said 1,295 migrants made the crossing in 27 boats, another new record which remains the highest figure for a single day. August 25: Ms Patel announces an agreement with the Albanian government to curb the numbers of migrants from that country amid concerns they account for 60% of all those arriving in the UK. October 31: New Home Secretary Suella Braverman prompts uproar in the Commons when she describes the numbers of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the Channel as an invasion on our southern coast. November 14: Ms Braverman signs a new agreement with Mr Darmanin allowing British officers to join French beach patrols. November 23: Admitting the Government has failed to control our borders, Ms Braverman tells MPs they are determined to fix the problem, following criticism of overcrowding at the Manston processing centre in Kent. December 14: Four people die while 39 others are rescued after their dinghy capsized in the Channel. December 19: The High Court rules the Governments Rwanda policy is legal but orders the cases of the first eight deportees to be reconsidered. Campaigners later take the case to the Court of Appeal. December 31: 45,755 migrants made the Channel crossing over the course of the year, according to Government figures. 2023 January 4: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announces legislation to tackle the migrant crisis is one of five key priorities for his premiership. March 7: Ms Braverman tells MPs the Illegal Migration Bill will impose a legal duty to remove those arriving in the country illegally, barring them from claiming asylum in the UK. March 18: Visiting the country for the first time as Home Secretary, Ms Braverman doubles down on plans to send migrants to Rwanda despite the ongoing legal battle. March 29: The Government unveils plans to house asylum seekers on disused military bases, ferries and barges in a bid to cut spending on hotels. Home Secretary Suella Braverman visited Rwanda in March (Stefan Rousseau/PA) April 26: The Home Secretary says migrants crossing the Channel have values at odds with British norms and are linked to heightened levels of criminality comments which are condemned by Labour. May 25: Figures show the asylum backlog has hit a new record high with more than three quarters of claims made by people who crossed the Channel since 2018 still awaiting a decision. June 5: Mr Sunak insists his plan to stop Channel crossings is starting to work but plays down suggestions that fewer arrivals were a result of poor weather conditions at the time of year rather than policy decisions. June 18: The number of Channel crossings for the year so far tops 10,000. June 26: Estimates in a Home Office assessment reveal 169,000 could be spent on every asylum seeker forcibly removed to a third country such as Rwanda. June 29: The Home Secretary lashes out at phoney humanitarianism hindering efforts to stop Channel crossings as the Government loses the latest legal battle over its plans to send migrants to Rwanda after a Court of Appeal ruling. July 3: A new record is set for migrant crossings, with 3,824 arrivals in June the highest total for that month since records began in 2018. July 10: MPs learn the Home Office is paying for thousands of empty hotel beds reserved for migrants to avoid overcrowding at processing centres. Meanwhile, immigration minister Robert Jenrick is lambasted from his own backbenches in Parliament after defending the painting over of cartoon murals at a unit for lone child asylum seekers. July 12: The first asylum seekers arrive at former RAF airbase Wethersfield Airfield in Essex as it is brought into use as accommodation. Legal action is brought against the plans. July 13: The Government is given the go-ahead to take the legal battle over its Rwanda deportation policy to the Supreme Court. During a visit to Dover in June Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisted his plan to stop the boats was working (Yui Mok/PA) July 20: Despite condemnation from campaigners, sweeping asylum reforms under the Illegal Migration Bill become law after being given Royal Assent and being made an Act of Parliament. But it is unclear when the new rules will come into force. The number of migrants crossing the Channel tops 14,000 for the year so far. July 21: Officials insist the Bibby Stockholm barge, due to house migrants in Portland off the Dorset coast, is not a floating prison as they give reporters a tour of the facilities. July 27: Ms Braverman buys marquees to sleep 2,000 asylum seekers on disused military sites in a bid to avoid using hotels ahead of an expected surge in Channel crossings. July 28: It emerges plans to move 2,000 migrants into RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire which is subject to a legal challenge have been delayed until October. August 1: Figures show the average number of migrants crossing the Channel per boat in July (52) was the highest on record for any month since records began in 2018. August 2: The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) calls for an urgent meeting with the Home Secretary over safety concerns raised about the Bibby barge. Fire safety concerns were raised about the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge at Portland Port in Dorset, which could house up to 500 asylum seekers (Ben Birchall/PA) August 5: Mr Sunak announces a plan for social media firms including Facebook, TikTok and Twitter to team up with the National Crime Agency to crack down on people smugglers posts encouraging asylum seekers to cross the Channel. August 7: The first group of asylum seekers finally boards the Bibby Stockholm after weeks of setbacks and delays. Meanwhile, official figures confirm more than 50,000 migrants are living in hotels. At the same time, the Government announces fines will rise for employers and landlords who give unauthorised migrants jobs or tenancies. August 8: Justice Secretary Alex Chalk defends the Governments announcement of a task force targeting corrupt immigration lawyers as critics brand it a red herring to distract from the asylum backlog. August 9: The Home Office announces that the UK and Turkey have struck a new deal to disrupt and dismantle people smuggling gangs in a bid to tackle the surge in illegal migration. August 10: Fresh arrivals of people on lifeboats on Thursday appeared to take the number of Channel crossings since 2018 past the 100,000 mark, analysis of Government figures by the PA news agency showed. Reports the same day suggested senior ministers were split over whether the UK should ditch its commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which underpins the countrys duty to help migrants. Two men have been jailed for their part in a daytime robbery and knife attack in central London in which members of the public suffered savage injuries. Tyrone Dean, 24, and Louis Parkinson, 26, wore masks when they tried to snatch mobile phones and flee on bicycles on October 6 but their plans were thwarted when passers-by stepped in and frustrated their attempts at a getaway. Among the injured were four people who tried to help and were punched in the face or slashed with a knife, which at first was carried by Dean who then passed it to Parkinson, Inner London Crown Court heard. Judge Benedict Kelleher told Dean and Parkinson: You acted with appalling violence. The incident caused widespread concern and national media coverage. It was a truly shocking example of mindless violence and utter lawlessness. Dean and Parkinson, who both have lengthy criminal records stretching back to when they were youths, were each sentenced to 12 years in prison. They will have to serve at least two-thirds of their jail sentences, and an extra five years on licence once released. Both men offered their apologies for the stabbings. Prosecutor Sam Barker, who said the pair had embarked on a brazen spree of theft, added: When civic-minded members of the public sought to apprehend them, the defendants caused them savage injuries with a knife in their frantic attempts to escape. Paul Grange was robbed of his telephone in Fitzrovia shortly after 9am, while Nicholas Badger had his stolen on Bishopsgate around 45 minutes later. CCTV footage showed Dean and Parkinson cycled that morning from Fitzrovia to the Regent Street area, passing London landmarks and to streets that were busy with city workers and people going about their business not because they were sightseeing, but because they were looking for people to rob of valuable items, the prosecution said. Police officers attended at the scene at Bishopsgate (James Manning/PA) The court heard that Mr Grange and Alison Sanders were each stabbed in the arm by Dean who also stabbed self-employed courier Vladimiros Konstantinidis twice in the the chest and once in the back, causing his lung to collapse. Another man Henry Charlton-Weedy needed 52 stitches and was also marked for life after being slashed in the face and left with a severe scar running from the top of his cheekbone to his mouth. Ms Sanders, along with William Allison and Mr Konstantinidis, made up a brave group who became involved in a melee during the second incident as they tried to catch the thieves. It was at the moment Parkinson appeared to be being overpowered, that Dean again produced the knife he had used on Mr Grange in the first incident, the court heard. The prosecution said Dean could be seen in footage to be brandishing the knife in his hand when he came running towards the group who were fighting Parkinson. Mr Barker said: The group broke up as the fight became more ferocious, and Mr Dean swung the knife. Mr Allison was knocked to the ground by Mr Parkinson, and Mr Konsantinidis and Mr Parkinson began to grapple. Mr Dean then sought to return to his bicycle, pursued by Alison Sanders. As she single-handedly sought to stop him escaping, Ms Sanders was stabbed by Mr Dean in the arm. Mr Konstantinidis said he had been left in a worse place after the incident as he had had to spend some of his savings which had been earmarked for his wedding when he was forced to take six weeks off work due to his injuries. In his victim impact statement, he said: I cannot believe that this has happened to me and so many lives have been changed over a mobile phone, including the suspects who have changed their futures. Mr Konstantinidis, who said he had had to deal with fear, stress and anxiety, added: This was a frenzied attack with no control or calculation which could have left me blind or worse dead. Ms Sanders needed surgery as the injury she suffered severed a tendon and her radial nerve. In her victim statement, Ms Sanders told the court that her recovery was expected to take two years and that she would only have 80% function in her right hand and that she may never play the piano again. Dean and Parkinson wore masks as they tried to snatch mobile phones and flee on bicycles during the incident last year (James Manning/PA) Ms Sanders said: I will never be the same as I was before the incident and that is due to the defendants. She added: I used to play piano regularly in church. I enjoyed it and it meant a lot to me. Its hard to think I may never be able to play the piano in the way I used to. Dean, of Willow Walk, Haringey, north London, admitted robbery, possession of a knife, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, theft, two counts of wounding, attempting to wound, and possession of cannabis. Parkinson, of Catherall Street, Highbury, north London, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possession of a knife, attempting to wound, wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and possession of cannabis. Home Secretary Suella Braverman has called for those who took part in a suspected TikTok-inspired raid of shops in Londons Oxford Street to be hunted down and jailed. Footage showed police wielding batons in a clash with dozens of young men and wrestling some of them away, while officers on horseback helped to disperse hundreds of people in Europes busiest shopping street on Wednesday. West End stores were forced to close their shutters and lock customers inside during the looting raid, which was reportedly inspired by a social media craze encouraging people to take part in an Oxford Street JD robbery. The Metropolitan Police arrested nine people and issued 34 dispersal orders during the incident. Sharing a video on X of police clashing with youths, Ms Braverman said: We cannot allow the kind of lawlessness seen in some American cities to come to the streets of the UK. The police have my full backing to do whatever necessary to ensure public order. Those responsible must be hunted down & locked up. I expect nothing less from the @metpoliceuk and have requested a full incident report. Police were seen wrestling young men to the ground and pulling them away to be handcuffed (Aaron Chown/PA) A Met spokesman said on Wednesday evening: As of 20.15hrs officers have arrested 34 people with dispersal orders and made nine arrests. Four people were arrested on suspicion of breaching the dispersal order, one person was arrested on suspicion of going equipped to steal, one person arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, and one person was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence. Earlier in the afternoon, officers arrested two people in Essex for conspiracy to commit robbery following online social media posts. TikTok prankster Mizzy claimed on X he had been stopped and searched on Oxford Street for no reason and issued with a dispersal order, insisting in a video he had nothing to do with the raid. I got stopped and searched in Oxford street for no reason, I was literally going cinema with my boys and I end up with a dispersal order and told to leave straight away, which I did. None of that situation in Oxford street has anything to do with me so dont start assuming pic.twitter.com/ZiofYDqfYc Bacari-Bronze OGarro (Mizzy) (@thetikt0kterror) August 9, 2023 Earlier on Wednesday, the force warned there would be a heavy police presence in the area following online speculation about opportunities to commit crime there, while London Mayor Sadiq Khan urged people not to take part and decried the nonsense circulating on TikTok. The Daily Mail reported that there were online posters plugging the event and urging participants to follow a dress code of balaclavas and gloves. The Bunnie Fire near Ramona, California, is seen from the air on 9 August, 2023 (Cal Fire / San Diego County Fire) A fire on the outskirts of San Diego on Wednesday prompted evacuation orders and closed roads. Before noon, a brush fire began near Chuck Wagon Road, outside Ramona, California, in the hills northeast of San Diego. The blaze, dubbed the Bunnie Fire, grew to 184 acres by 7pm local time while exhibiting a "dangerous rate of spread," officials told NBC 7. Evacuation orders were then lifted shortly after 8pm. The San Diego County Sheriffs Department said there were no reports of injuries or structural damage. Crews were fighting the fire on the ground, while aircraft are dropping water and retardant on the blaze from above as it spread across hilly, dry terrain. A temporary staging area for horses and other livestock had been set up by the Ramona Municipal Water District in the arena and parking lot at the Ramona Rodeo Ground. On Wednesday, temperatures reached up to 80 degrees, with winds of about 15 mph, according to the Weather Channel. Aerial photos showed a large plume of grey smoke rising above the fire. Sections of roadway including San Vicente Road and Wildcat Canyon Road were closed to civilian traffic as firefighters battled the blaze. By 2.30pm local time, firefighters had significantly slowed the spread of the fire, officials told NBC San Diego. We have air resources based out of Ramona and Gillespie, so very short flight time for them, Cal Fire captain Michael Cornett said at a news conference on Wednesday. Those are the air tankers and helicopters. We also sent a large ground-resource request in from all over the county, including San Diego city, some from North County, Forest Service and San Diego County Fire Department. More than 4,000 wildfires have burned over 112,000 acres in California this year, causing three firefighter deaths and no civilian casualties, according to Cal Fire data. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) fired back at Donald Trump on Wednesday, calling him a hot mess after the former president took a jab at Christies weight. I mean, look at him. Hes I mean hes such a hot mess. And hes like, talking to me about what I look like take a look at him, Christie said, responding to a question from NewsNation while in New Hampshire. NewsNations parent company is Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill. What I know because Ive known him for 22 years, is I am so in his head. Whats he doing talking about me? Its because now Im in second place in New Hampshire, he added, referring to a recent poll from NH Journal/co-efficient showing Christie and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) both presidential candidates for the 2024 Republican nomination tied for second place. Christie was responding to remarks made by Trump on Tuesday during his New Hampshire rally in which he said, Christie, hes eating right now. He cant be bothered. Sir, please do not call him a fat pig, Trump said, pointing to someone in the crowd. Thats very disrespectful. Dont call him see, Im trying to be nice. Dont call him a fat pig. You cant do it. You cant do that. So now, because youre not allowed to do that, and therefore were not going to do it, OK? We want to be very civil, right? Trump added. The former president defended his handling of the incident in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday. I was extremely respectful of Sloppy Chris Christie today in New Hampshire. During a speech in front of a large crowd of Patriots, somebody shouted out that Chris Christie is a fat pig,' Trump wrote in the post. Rather than acknowledging that, which many speakers would have done, I said, No, No, he is not a fat pig. Im sure Chris would have been very happy with my defense of him! he added. Christie said that Trump was targeting him because he was in second place in polling in New Hampshire, sarcastically adding, Im so excited to be the target. The former New Jersey governor argued other Americans, too, have struggled with their weight and they look at somebody who talks like that and they say thats a child. But he also used the opportunity to pressure the former president to attend the first GOP debate scheduled later this month in Milwaukee. As I said in our social media you want to say something? Two weeks from tonight show up, Christie said. Ill be on the stage. You want to have the conversation? Im happy to have the conversation, but he doesnt want to have the conversation with anybody could punch back, he punches the defenseless. Christies comments come several weeks ahead of the first GOP debate, but Trump has not yet committed to participating despite Fox News executives reportedly persuading him to go to Milwaukee. The former New Jersey governor is among a few of GOP presidential hopefuls who have consistently criticized the former president, though polling in New Hampshire suggests that Christie might be seeing some modest movement. A RealClearPolitics polling average of New Hampshire GOP primary surveys shows Trump in first at 41.7 percent, DeSantis in second at 17.7 percent, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Christie at 6.7 percent in third. Updated: 5:33 p.m. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Last months decision by a court in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on the SECs claims against Ripple Labs has been generally hailed as a victory for the token issuers and exchanges. However, the actual impact of the decision on the future of cryptocurrencies in the U.S. is not so clear. By highlighting the principle that the SECs jurisdiction over digital assets depends on the nature of the offer or sale of such assets rather than the intrinsic qualities of the asset itself, the decision is indeed a positive development for the industry. But other favorable aspects of the decision for Ripple seem ripe for a reversal on appeal. Ironically, that could strengthen the SECs hand going forward. An unusual decision The SECs claims against Ripple hinged on whether Ripples distribution of its cryptocurrency, XRP, was a security for the purposes of the Securities Act. More specifically, the question was whether these transactions satisfied a three-pronged test for an investment-contract security devised by the Supreme Court over seven decades ago in SEC v. W.J. Howey Co. Under the Howey test, transactions involving the (1) investment of money in (2) a common enterprise with (3) an expectation of profit from the efforts of others, are securities. If these transactions were securities, Ripple was required to make certain public disclosures (which it concededly did not make), along with observing other compliance obligations. The court concluded that certain negotiated sales of large blocks of XRP institutional purchasers satisfied the Howey test (sales the court called institutional sales)but that anonymous sales by Ripple on cryptocurrency exchanges (so-called programmatic sales) did not, nor did Ripples transfer or XRP to vendors or employees in exchange for services (termed other distributions). Thus, the SEC prevailed on its claim as to the institutional sales, but not as to other types of distributions of XRP. The SECs related claims against Ripple's founder, former CEO, and current chairman of the board Christian Larson and the former COO and current CEO, Bradley Garlinghouse over Ripples institutional sales will continue to trial. Larson and Garlinghouse deny any wrongdoing. The most striking feature of the decision is that the court applied the expectation element of the expectation of profit from the efforts of others differently to different groups of purchasers. Normally, courts focus their analysis of this prong of the Howey test on whether a person with knowledge of all public information about the role of the people offering an investment (typically called promoters) in the future success of the investment would expect that the promoters ongoing efforts are key to profits. Instead, the court focused on the actual information available to different sets of purchasers. The court reasoned that since the institutional purchasers knew they were buying XRP from Ripple, and were provided marketing materials from Ripple, they would expect the value of the XRP to be affected by Ripples efforts. By contrast, the programmatic buyers assumed relative ignorance of Ripples role in developing, marketing, and distributing XRP led the court to conclude that these buyers would not reasonably expect Ripples activities to affect XRP. As for the other distributions, the court concluded these transfers lacked the necessary investment of money to satisfy the Howey test. The ruling is in contrast to the SECs longstanding position that nearly any benefit to the promoter has value and can be considered an investment of money. What it means for the industry The cryptocurrency industry has long advocated for a more transaction-focused approach to Howey. By distinguishing among groups of XRP purchasers, the Ripple decision delivers one. Animating the industrys goal in this respect is a desire to exclude secondary market transactions from the SECs jurisdiction, among other motivations. The question is existential for many market intermediaries, particularly cryptocurrency exchanges, whose subjection to SEC jurisdiction turns on whether they deal, broker, clear, or operate an exchange for trading securities. Here, the Ripple decision delivers for the industry again. By holding that knowing ones privity with the promoter is key to the expectation of profit from the efforts of others, the court comes close to carving out secondary market transactions per se, and even (as was the case with the programmatic sales) immunizes anonymized direct sales from promoters like Ripple. Similarly, if it stands, the courts formalistic interpretation of the investment-of-money prong of Howey would seem to open the door to more extensive use of digital assets in employee compensation, developer grants, and promotional giveaways (eg. airdrops, a popular if controversial tool for the distribution of crypto tokens). How an appeal could make things worse Before the cryptocurrency industry spends too heavily on champagne, it should remember that the Ripple decision is not a precedential opinion, nor is it necessarily the last word on the case. The SEC has the right to appealand is expected to use it. Beyond its novelty, the courts focus on XRP purchasers specific access to information about Ripple yields a perverse result. The sale of XRP to the most sophisticated investors, who by virtue of the bespoke nature of the transaction were privy to the most information about how Ripples activities may affect the value of XRP, is a security, subject to the investor protections and restrictions mandated by the securities laws. Whereas, the offer and sale of XRP to retail investors, who dealt with Ripple in anonymous transactions through exchanges and otherwise, is not a security and does not require disclosure or offer those same investor protections. Those people who already have the most information are given a right to more, while those people with the least information go without. The courts ruling on the other distributions seems on similarly shaky ground. In addition to running up against precedent that sales of securities need not involve the transfer of tangible items of value, this interpretation appears to open loopholes in Howey for various non-traditional forms of financing. Indeed, it is even difficult to square with the established concept of sweat equity. Should the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reverse either or both of the industryfavorable elements of the Ripple decision, the SEC will be finally armed with precedential case law applying Howey to a cryptocurrencya weapon of no small importance for its fights with the cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Binance over whether the tokens they listed are securities. Longer-term effects and benefits Even if significant pieces of the Ripple decision are reversed on appeal, one aspect of the case is likely to provide lasting benefit to the cryptocurrency industry. The court was almost certainly correct to focus its Howey analysis on the transactions in question, rather than the underlying assets. Courts in the past have occasionally missed this subtle distinctionmost likely because other parts of the definition of the term security in the Securities Act are tied to financial instruments themselves, such as stocks and bonds. But Howey addresses investment contracts, which is why its test focuses on the parties actions and expectations, which are driven by the facts and circumstances surrounding the relevant transactions. Although the courts distinction between groups of purchasers access to information is unlikely to survive appeal as meaningful for Howey test purposes, other purchaser differences might one day be dispositive. Most obviously, courts could draw lines between groups of purchasers over time. As decentralized token projects progress, it is plausible to imagine that the expected effect of the efforts of promoters on profits will change. These efforts might be relevant to profits for an early group of purchasers, but not for a later group after control of the project becomes fully decentralized. Similarly, as such projects mature, the motive for buying a cryptocurrency may change. A reasonable early purchaser might be drawn to financial returns (investment profits) while the primary motive for a later purchaser might be to use the token within a particular network or protocol (consumption). If future courts take account of these distinctions between purchasers, defendants may have the Ripple courts attention to differentiated transactional details to thank. Peter Fox and Peter Scoolidge are partners at Scoolidge, Peters, Russotti & Fox LLP. Damien Scott is an attorney at Scoolidge, Peters, Russotti & Fox LLP. The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune. More must-read commentary published by Fortune: This story was originally featured on Fortune.com More from Fortune: 5 side hustles where you may earn over $20,000 per yearall while working from home Looking to make extra cash? This CD has a 5.15% APY right now Buying a house? Here's how much to save This is how much money you need to earn annually to comfortably buy a $600,000 home MINNEAPOLIS (AP) A formerly well-connected GOP donor convicted of giving teenage girls gifts, alcohol and money in exchange for sex was sentenced Wednesday to 21 years in prison on sex trafficking charges. Anton Tony Lazzaro was found guilty in March by a federal jury of seven counts involving commercial sex acts with five girls ages 15 and 16 in 2020, when Lazzaro was 30. The charges carried mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years with a maximum of life in prison. Prosecutors had requested a 30-year sentence for Lazzaro. They likened Lazzaro to financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was arrested in 2019 on federal charges accusing him of paying underage girls for massages and then abusing them at his homes in Florida and New York. The defense asked for no more than 10 years. Hes a sex trafficker," prosecutor Laura Provinzino said. "One who has shown absolutely no remorse. He has accepted no responsibility for his crimes. U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz came down in the middle and had harsh words for Lazzaro. He said Lazzaro showed sympathy to only two people during the trial to himself and Jeffrey Epstein. And the judge said he was struck by the soulless, almost mechanical nature of how Lazzaro exploited the girls. Its almost as if Mr. Lazzaro set up a sex trafficking assembly line, Schiltz said. One of the victims called Lazzaro a child predator in court Wednesday and said she continues to be impacted by his actions. I still see him in my nightmares, in my panic attacks, in men in their thirties. Putting Tony behind bars will save so many girls," she said. The mother of a different victim addressed Lazzaro directly. The damage you caused my daughter, mentally and emotionally, you didnt just cause that damage to her. You caused it to me and my family and all these victims and all of their families," she said. "You stand up here and you dont even care. Youre justifying your actions. I hope you rot in hell. The Associated Press does not typically name victims of sex crimes. Lazzaro, who has said the charges against him were politically motivated, maintained his innocence, denying that he paid any of the girls explicitly for sex. I take a lot of offense to the government and courts notion that I perjured myself in this trial. ... Grooming behavior is the word you used," he said. "If thats the case, then I suppose anyone who gives someone a gift, whether it be a cheap gift or a million dollars, is grooming their companion for sex. OK? If thats the standard that were going to apply, then I dont know how theres any standard to apply. Defense attorney Daniel Gerdts said afterward that they were looking forward to the appeal. Lazzaro's indictment in 2021 touched off a political firestorm that led to the downfall of Jennifer Carnahan as chair of the Republican Party of Minnesota. His co-defendant, Gisela Castro Medina, who was 19 at the time, formerly led the College Republicans chapter at the University of St. Thomas. She pleaded guilty to two counts last year. She testified against Lazzaro and faces sentencing in September. Prosecutors argued during his trial that Lazzaro enlisted Castro Medina, who he initially paid for sex, to recruit other teenagers preferably minors who were white, small, vulnerable or broken. He often sent cars to take the girls to his luxury penthouse condo at the Hotel Ivy in downtown Minneapolis, they said. Gerdts had argued that the governments salacious prosecution was based on completely unfounded allegations. Lazzaro has denied paying for sex, saying the government targeted him for political reasons and because of his wealth. Carnahan, the widow of U.S. Rep. Jim Hagedorn, of Minnesota, resigned a week after the charges against Lazzaro were unsealed. She denied knowing of any wrongdoing by Lazzaro beforehand and condemned his alleged crimes. But his arrest fueled outrage among party activists. Allegations surfaced that Carnahan created a toxic work environment and abused nondisclosure agreements to silence her critics. Carnahan and Lazzaro became friends when she ran unsuccessfully for a legislative seat in 2016. He backed her bid to become party chair in 2017 and attended her 2018 wedding to Hagedorn. They hosted a podcast together for a few months. Lazzaro also helped run the campaign of Republican Lacy Johnson, who failed to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, of Minnesota, in 2020. Pictures on Lazzaros social media accounts showed him with prominent Republicans, including former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence. He gave more than $270,000 to Republican campaigns and political committees over the years. Several recipients quickly donated those contributions to charity after the charges became public, including U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, of Minnesota, who received $15,600 but suffered no repercussions. Emmer became majority whip in January. The sources of Lazzaros wealth have been murky. Defense filings have called him an up-and-coming real estate owner and entrepreneur. Items seized from him included a 2010 Ferrari and more than $371,000 in cash. The government put his net worth in a bond report at more than $2 million but said its calculations didnt include his extensive but hard-to-trace cryptocurrency holdings. It noted that the search yielded multiple types of foreign currency, plus precious metals worth more than $500,000. ___ Trisha Ahmed is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. Follow Trisha Ahmed on Twitter: @TrishaAhmed15 Ever consider Belgium for a beach getaway? (Getty Images) Extreme weather events, such as the heatwave and wildfires in southern Europe this summer, could see holidaymakers opting for breaks in Belgium and Nordic countries, according to the boss of the UKs second biggest tour operator. Sebastian Ebel, chief executive of holiday giant Tui, predicted that people will choose cooler destinations and travel in shoulder months, reports the Financial Times. There will be changes, said Mr Ebel, adding that there will be a focus on new destinations like the Nordics, Belgium and Holland. He was picking up on a theme first proposed by The Independent in an assessment of the extreme heat in southern Europe, which posited a return to British seaside resorts, nearby overseas nations including Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands, or the Baltic coast of Poland. Mr Ebel predicted that perennial favourites with more moderate climates, such as the Canary Islands, will also see a boost in popularity, while Tui one of the worlds leading tourism groups looks into extending its seasons into spring and autumn. The Tue CEO has already confirmed that his firm will operate holidays in Greece into the middle of November, and described bookings in this period as really strong. A recent report by The Independent explored how the climate crisis will change how people holiday, with one expert warning that, if southern Europe continues to experience soaring 40C+ temperatures, you wont be able to have a traditional beach holiday. However, Mr Ebel believes the traditional summer break will remain popular with the vast majority of travellers. Is that a threat to the business around the Mediterranean? No, it gives us more opportunities for growth, the Tui boss said. The company evacuated 8,000 guests from the Greek island of Rhodes amid wildfires in July though Mr Ebel contends that the situation was not as it was described, reports BBC News. The disruptions cost Tui a reported 25m, with Mr Ebel confirming a small slip in bookings during the crisis, though this has now normalised, he added. The firm stated that 80 per cent of its customers on the island were unaffected by the fires, and that bookings are 5 per cent higher than this time last year, as the industry continues to recover following the pandemic. Tui has reported its first profitable early summer since before Covid-19 struck, with pre-tax earnings in the three months to the end of June of 169.4m, an enormous jump compared to the loss of 27m for the same period in 2022. Republicans on the House Oversight Committee issued another report Wednesday criticizing President Joe Biden and his family for allegedly corrupt international business dealings, but critics including the White House said the report is a political hatchet job that offers no proof that Biden was involved. The committee, led by Chairman James Comer, said in the report that it plans to continue to investigate Biden to find evidence of corruption, even as it acknowledged that it had no evidence that he financially benefited from the myriad foreign business dealings of his son Hunter. During Joe Bidens vice presidency, Hunter Biden sold him as the brand to reap millions from oligarchs in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine, Comer said in a statement accompanying the release of committee report. It appears no real services were provided other than access to the Biden network, including Joe Biden himself. And Hunter Biden seems to have delivered. The 19-page report was titled, Third Bank Records Memorandum from the Oversight Committees Investigationinto the Biden Familys Influence Peddling and Business Schemes." Devon Archer, Hunter Biden's former business partner, passes through the security checkpoint as he arrives on Capitol Hill to give closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee in the Republican-led investigations into President Biden's son, in Washington, Monday, July 31, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) ORG XMIT: DCSA101 Critics said the report, and Comers statement, marked a clear shift in strategy by the committee from one claiming it had the goods implicating Biden in corrupt schemes while he was vice president to one in which it says the lack of any such evidence must mean that he was involved. This stunt from Comer is just more of the same no evidence of wrongdoing by President Biden, no new information to tie him to Hunter Bidens business, and another desperate attempt to keep this bogus investigation alive said Kyle Herrig, executive director of the Congressional Integrity Project. Comers fishing expedition continues to reel in nothing in a desperate attempt to distract from Trump. The White House said the new Comer committee report is part of a continuing effort by Republicans to smear Joe Biden without any evidence or even information suggesting wrongdoing. Today House Republicans on the Oversight Committee released another memo full of years-old news, innuendo, and misdirection but notably missing, yet again, is any connection to President Biden, said Ian Sams, White House spokesperson for Oversight and Investigations. Perhaps that is because as recently as last week the House Republicans own self-proclaimed hero witness who was going to be able to come under oath and tell us exactly what role Joe Biden played testified that President Biden never discussed these business dealings and was not involved. The 19-page memo released by House Oversight Republicans is based on bank records highlighting millions of dollars that Hunter Biden and his business associates received from a wide array of business arrangements overseas while his father was serving as vice president to President Barack Obama. Few of the details appear to be new. But the memo details what it describes as new and damaging information, including payments from Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan that occurred during Bidens vice presidency. The Committee has now identified over $20 million in payments from foreign sources to the Biden family and their business associates, the report said. The report also rehashes prior claims of corrupt dealings related to how Hunter Biden and former business partner Devon Archer allegedly used the business development and policy advisory firm Rosemont Seneca Entities to bring in millions from oligarchs in Europe and Asia. And it mentions other business relationships between Hunter Biden and Archer that it claims were suspicious or corrupt, including payments by a Ukrainian oligarch while they were on the board of directors of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings LLC. More: 5 takeaways from Devon Archer's testimony on Joe and Hunter Biden: 'There was no business conversation' The new report is full of references to Archer, and says his recent congressional testimony supports the Committees findings, which have repeatedly alleged that Joe Biden himself was personally involved in and benefitted from Archers and Hunter Bidens overseas business dealings. But after months of describing him as a smoking gun who would prove deep corruption within what Republicans described as the Biden Crime Family, Archers testimony July 31, if anything, appears to exonerate Joe Biden. For instance, Archer testified that Hunter Biden put his father on the phone with clients before his father was elected president, but that they did not discuss business. He also told lawmakers the vice president was not involved in their financial dealings, despite the contacts, and that he had no knowledge of wrongdoing by Joe Biden. And while Joe Biden at times has said he had no involvement with his son's business dealings at all, Archer testified that he did reach out and call his son -- but only to check up on him, especially when he was grappling with drug addiction and other problems. "But, you know, Hunter spoke to his dad every day, right? And so in certain circumstances, when you're in -- you know, if his dad calls him at dinner and he picks up the phone, then there's a conversation," Archer testified. "And the, you know, the conversation is generally about the weather and, you know, what it's like in Norway or Paris or wherever he may be. But that was -- yeah, that happened." More: 'How's the fishing?' Devon Archer testifies Joe Biden never talked business when put on phone In their new report, the House Oversight Committee didnt mention those kinds of details from Archers testimony. Instead, it said, No one in the Biden Administration or in the (House Democratic) Minority has explained what services, if any, the Bidens and their associates provided in exchange for the over $20 million in foreign payments. The Committee plans to gather additional bank records in the near future and continue following the money trail, it said. The White House on Wednesday jumped on that discrepancy, saying it was further evidence that House GOP members are trying to unfairly accuse Biden of wrongdoing, potentially as part of an effort to try and impeach him. This has been a pattern: time after time, Comer hypes up self-proclaimed bombshell findings about President Biden, and time after time, he fails to provide any actual evidence, White House spokesman Sams said. Todays release is yet another flop. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House GOP claims Biden corruption in new report, critics don't see it After months of quiet negotiations, Iran and the U.S. have reached an agreement that would see five American citizens considered to be unjustly detained released from custody and allowed to leave the country, ABC News has learned. A lawyer representing one of the detainees tells ABC News that four of the five were released from Iran's notorious Evin prison on Thursday and are currently under house arrest in the country. The move sets the stage for what a person familiar with the negotiations described as "a process" that -- if all goes well -- could ultimately see the four freed along with a fifth U.S. national who was already under house arrest and, according to the White House, had previously been held in prison. The detained U.S. citizens include Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz, as well as two others, a man and a woman, who asked that their identity not be made public. A spokesperson for the White House's National Security Council confirmed the Americans' release in a statement. "While this is an encouraging step, these U.S. citizens ... should have never been detained in the first place. We will continue to monitor their condition as closely as possible. Of course, we will not rest until they are all back home in the United States," the spokesperson, Adrienne Watson, said. "Negotiations for their eventual release remain ongoing and are delicate. We will, therefore, have little in the way of details to provide about the state of their house arrest or about our efforts to secure their freedom," Watson said. A source familiar with those talks said the U.S. is not expecting the process to unfold quickly, anticipating that it might be weeks before Tehran approves the detainees' release from house arrest. PHOTO: Emad Sharghi (Neda Sharghi via Twitter) In a separate statement, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, in part, "We continue to monitor these individuals' health and welfare closely. ... We continue to work diligently to bring these individuals home to their loved ones. They must be allowed to depart Iran and reunite with their loved ones as soon as possible." If the Americans are ultimately allowed to leave Iran, the Biden administration is expected to then approve the release of roughly $6 billion worth of Iranian assets held in a restricted account in South Korea due to U.S. sanction laws. A source familiar with working plans said the U.S. would mandate that the money go toward humanitarian causes, although it's not yet clear how the administration would enforce any restrictions. The U.S. and Iran have not had formal diplomatic ties since 1980, and all official communication between the countries is conducted through indirect channels. These negotiations were brokered primarily by Oman and Qatar, with the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Switzerland also providing assistance. A completed deal would mark an uncommon agreement in the long-standing adversarial relationship between Iran the U.S. that has only grown more contentious in recent years. It would also be the first time Tehran has approved a mass release of U.S. detainees since early 2016, when a prisoner swap coincided with the implementation of a landmark nuclear deal. White House spokesperson John Kirby said later Thursday that the U.S. is still working out the details on when the Americans will be out of Iran but called their movement a "good first step" in the process to bring them home. "We need to be careful about getting ahead of our skis on this one. Iran can be fairly unpredictable. This is a good first step, we think, [and] will ultimately lead to their freedom in a matter of weeks," Kirby said on MSNBC. At a press event on Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed his department had been in touch with the group. "The State Department has been in contact with the five Americans, we spoke to them today. I think they're, needless to say, very happy to be out of prison. But we want to make sure that we complete this process and bring them home to their family," Blinken said. He declined to share what he called "the details of this process," saying he didn't want to "jeopardize the release of our fellow citizens." He did however repeat some of the administration's talking points on the funds -- stressing that the U.S. would continue to hold Iran to account. "In any event, in any respect, Iran will not be receiving any sanctions relief, and in any instance where we would engage in such efforts to bring Americans home from Iran, Iran's own funds would be used and transferred to restricted accounts such that the monies can only be used for humanitarian purposes," he said. PHOTO: FILE - Morad Tahbaz detained in Iran. Roxanne Tahbaz, holds a picture of her father Morad Tahbaz, who is jailed in Iran, during a protest outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in London, April 13, 2022. (Stefan Rousseau/AP, FILE) Iranian officials on Thursday said the release of the American detainees from prison was in exchange for money and, they claimed, for Iranian prisoners held in America -- which the U.S. has not confirmed. "As part of a humanitarian cooperation agreement mediated by a third-party government, Iran and the US have agreed to reciprocally release and pardon five prisoners. The transfer of these prisoners to out of prison marks a significant initial step in the implementation of this agreement," Iran's Mission at the United Nations said. Separately, Iran's deputy foreign minister blasted the sanctions against the country that led to the restricted funds in South Korea and said: "Tehran has received the guarantee of Washington's commitments. The release of several Iranians who were illegally detained in America is in this context." At his briefing on Thursday, Blinken declined to say whether the U.S. would exchange Iranian prisoners for the detainees' release. Namazi, Tahbaz, and Shargi were all accused of espionage by Iran -- charges that the U.S. calls baseless. The three have spent years behind bars in Iran's Evin prison, infamous for its human rights abuses and as a symbol of the regime's authoritarian power. Namazi, 51, was detained in 2015 during a business trip to Iran. When his father, Baquer Namazi, journeyed to the country to attempt to see him, Baquer Namazi was jailed, too. The elder Namazi was later released from prison but barred from exiting the country. In October, the government finally allowed the then-85-year-old to leave Iran so he could seek medical care. Officials also granted his son a brief furlough to visit with him. After a little more than a week, the younger Namazi was forced to return to prison. He marked the seventh anniversary of his detention in early 2023 with a seven-day hunger strike intended to urge the Biden administration to do more to free Americans imprisoned in Iran. In a statement shared by a family representative, Namazi's brother, Babak Namazi, said: "While this is a positive change, we will not rest until Siamak and others are back home; we continue to count the days until this can happen. We have suffered tremendously and indescribably for eight horrific years and wish only to be reunited again as a family." PHOTO: An undated handout photo of Siamak Namazi, who has been detained in Iran's Evin Prison, since 2015. (@FreeTheNamazis / Twitter) Tahbaz, 67, an Iranian American conservationist who also holds British citizenship, was arrested in 2018 and soon after sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was granted a brief furlough in March, when Tehran approved the release of two other foreign nationals, but ultimately forced to return to Evin. In a Thursday post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Tahbaz's daughter Tara wrote, "We are encouraged by the development today on the conditions of our father and the other American hostages, but they are not free until they are home safely and reunited with their families." Shargai, 58, was traveling in Iran with his wife in 2018 when he was detained without explanation. Iranian authorities initially confiscated his American passport, inhibiting him from leaving the country, before re-arresting him in 2020 and handing down a 10-year sentence for espionage. Family members of all three prisoners said that the men have had to endure solitary confinement and inhumane treatment and that they feared for their loved ones' safety when a massive fire tore through Evin in October. While the agreement would be a notable achievement for the Biden administration's efforts to bring wrongfully detained Americans home, it does not include any terms related to Iran's nuclear program, which the United Nations' atomic watchdog organization reports has been rapidly expanding in recent months. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump exited a major nuclear agreement with Iran known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. When Biden entered office, his administration promised to broker a "longer and stronger" version of the pact but has so far failed to strike any agreement limiting Iran's nuclear program. Nuclear negotiations and talks aimed at securing the release of detainees have taken place on separate tracks, but their positive results have often aligned during periods when Washington and Tehran have displayed an increased willingness to cooperate. However, there's currently no indication that the latest round of talks will yield any progress on the nuclear front. ABC News' Justin Gomez and Will Gretsky contributed to this report. Iran moves toward freeing 5 American citizens who had been imprisoned, in rare deal originally appeared on abcnews.go.com State prosecutors in Michigan announced criminal charges in July against the 16 Republicans who served as fake electors in 2020, a watershed moment in the still-ongoing federal and state investigations into the 2020 election aftermath. Some of the GOP electors in Michigan were local activists who were recruited to serve as fake electors, all while inaccurately believing there was still a chance that then-President Donald Trump might secure a second consecutive term. Others were well-connected GOP operatives. The group of 16 fake electors includes current and former state GOP officials, a Republican National Committee member, a sitting mayor, a school board member and Trump supporters who were the plaintiffs in a frivolous lawsuit that tried to overturn the 2020 results. They all pleaded not guilty to the felony charges they are facing. After the 2020 election wrapped up, some of these individuals publicly said they didnt realize they were potentially breaking the law by signing the fake certificates. Others are still peddling the lie that the election was stolen. CNN has reached out to the 16 fake electors for comment about the criminal charges. Heres what we know about the 16 fake electors facing state charges. Meshawn Maddock, 55, was previously co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party and is married to a GOP member of the Michigan House of Representatives. CNN previously reported that she publicly bragged about the Trump campaigns involvement in the fake elector scheme. The Maddocks spoke at a pro-Trump event in Washington, DC, one day before the insurrection on January 6, 2021, and Meshawn Maddock was in DC on the day of the attack, though she wasnt at the US Capitol. Regarding the charges, she told CNN, This is part of a national coordinated lawfare to stop Trump. (Michigan Attorney General) Dana Nessel and (Justice Department special counsel) Jack Smith are constructing a banana republic where political opponents are harassed, bankrupted and jailed and voter fraud has now morphed into their prosecutorial fraud. Kathy Berden, 70, is one of the Republican National Committee members representing Michigan. She was previously one of the pro-Trump delegates at the Republican National Convention in summer 2016. Marian Sheridan, 69, is the grassroots vice chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party. She was also one of the plaintiffs in a frivolous lawsuit that tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Michigan. Kent Vanderwood, 69, is the current mayor of Wyoming, Michigan, a small city near Grand Rapids. He was previously a longtime member of the Wyoming City Council and won the mayors race last year. During the 2020 campaign, he was chair of the 2nd District Republican Party, according to local press reports. Stanley Grot, 71, is the Shelby Township clerk, in a suburb of Detroit. He was appointed in 2012. Amy Facchinello, 55, was elected in 2020 as a member of the school board in Grand Blanc, which is a suburb of Flint, Michigan. She was previously vice chairwoman of the Genesee County Republican Party. CNN previously reported that she has repeatedly promoted QAnon-related material on her social media accounts. Mari-Ann Henry, 65, is the treasurer of the 7th Congressional District Republican Committee, an area that includes Michigans capital city of Lansing and several surrounding counties. She was formerly the president of the Greater Oakland Republican Club. Her attorney, George Brown, said in a statement that her actions in 2020 were ceremonial and that the charges are spurious and unsupported by the facts. Michele Lundgren, 73, was the Republican nominee in 2022 for a Detroit-based seat in the Michigan House of Representatives, but lost the heavily Democratic district in a landslide. Regarding the fake electors plot, she told CNN last year, We were called on the phone, asked if wed come and support President Trump and sign something, and we all went to Lansing. We were just told to show up and sign this paper. If we had any information about it being untoward or illegal, we would not have done it. Clifford Frost, 75, is a realtor who unsuccessfully ran for the Macomb County Board of Commissioners last year. He was a GOP poll-watcher in Detroit during the 2020 primary, according to the Detroit Free Press. In the days before charges were filed, he shared pro-Trump conspiracy theories about alleged voter fraud on social media. His attorney Kevin Kijewski told CNN: Mr. Frost is innocent. We intend to show that these charges fail to sufficiently state any violation of Michigan law and we will seek their dismissal as a matter of law. John Haggard, 82, was one of the plaintiffs in a frivolous lawsuit that tried to overturn the 2020 results in Michigan. The lawsuit was dismissed and the lawyers who brought it were sanctioned by a judge. He served as a legitimate Trump elector from Michigan in 2016, when Trump narrowly won the state. Regarding the fake electors plot, he told CNN last year, We signed papers that said we won the election. And the numbers said we didnt. I guess we dont have the right to say we won. Apparently our attorney general doesnt believe in freedom of speech. He is an Army veteran, according to his lawyer. Timothy King, 56, was also one of the plaintiffs in a frivolous lawsuit that tried to overturn the 2020 results in Michigan. The lawsuit was dismissed and the lawyers who brought it were sanctioned by a judge. Rose Rook, 81, is a member of the executive committee of the Van Buren County Republicans, according to its website. Mayra Rodriguez, 64, is a lawyer who is facing potential disciplinary proceedings with the Attorney Discipline Board, stemming from her participation in the fake electors plot, according to the Detroit Free Press. Hank Choate, 72, is a dairy farmer who met with Trump during a White House event about agriculture in April 2017. The event was also attended by then-Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Ken Thompson, 68 was brought in to replace one of the original GOP electors that was recruited to serve before the 2020 election. A Michigan GOP official testified to the House select committee that investigated January 6, 2021, that Thompson replaced an original elector who was uncomfortable with the whole thing and refused to participate. James Renner, 76, was also brought in later in the process to replace one of the original GOP electors. He is from Lansing and is a retired police officer, according to his attorney. This story has been updated with additional information and comment. CORRECTION: This story has been updated with the correct spelling of fake elector Mari-Ann Henrys name and to accurately describe the location of Stanley Grots home township. CNNs Zachary Cohen contributed reporting For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Death cap mushrooms can be deadly. (Getty Images) Three people have died in Australia and another person is sick after accidentally eating what appears to be death cap mushrooms at a family meal. The meal was prepared by Erin Patterson and served to her former parents-in-law, as well as her mother-in-law's sister and husband at her home, CNN reports. Gail Patterson, 70, and her sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, died in the hospital within days of eating the meal; Gail's 70-year-old husband, Don, died a day later. Wilkinson's husband, Ian, a 68-year-old minister, is in critical condition at a hospital. Patterson, who did not get sick from the meal, told reporters that she's "devastated" by what happened. "I loved them. And I can't believe that this has happened and I'm so sorry," she said, per CNN. While Patterson has not publicly shared what she served her guests, experts say the symptoms they experienced are consistent with death cap mushroom poisoning. But what are death cap mushrooms and what symptoms would you experience if you ate them? Experts break it down. What are death cap mushrooms? Death cap mushrooms are a poisonous fungi, according to Britannica. "They are the deadliest mushrooms," Jamie Alan, associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University, tells Yahoo Life. (While death cap mushrooms are considered the deadliest, other poisonous and potentially deadly fungi include Conocybe filaris, which is an "innocent-looking lawn mushroom," webcap and destroying angel mushrooms.) "The mushrooms are the reproductive structure of a fungus that grows underground," Anne Pringle, a mycologist and expert on death cap mushrooms at the University of WisconsinMadison, tells Yahoo Life. "These mushrooms make a lot of different toxins." Those toxins can't be destroyed by cooking, freezing, drying or boiling the mushrooms, she says. The mushrooms are native to Europe, but Pringle says that "they've been introduced to other parts of the world," including California. Your body on death cap mushrooms Eating just a small portion of death cap mushrooms can kill you, Pringle says. "These mushrooms contain a toxin that attacks the liver and kidneys in your body," Alan explains. "Basically, it attacks these organs to stop the normal cellular processes." Once you eat a death cap mushroom, the toxins are absorbed by the stomach and circulated in the kidneys and liver, Pringle explains. "The liver shuts down because it can't make proteins," she says. "Your liver fails." Symptoms can be a little tricky to decipher at first. "It causes general gastrointestinal distress," Pringle says. "That's the rough thing about death cap poisoning." People may feel like "they've eaten a really bad meal which they have," she says. "It's often confusing to people because the symptoms are delayed," Bruce Ruck, managing director of the New Jersey poison center at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, tells Yahoo Life. "You may not see the vomiting, diarrhea or abdominal pain for six hours after you've eaten it. In the meantime, it's actually causing destruction of your liver." But after the initial symptoms, Pringle says, there's a "grace period" where people will feel better for a few hours before relapsing. "That's when people go to the hospital," she says. At that point, it's likely been a while since someone ate the death cap mushrooms, and the fungi may not be viewed as a potential culprit. That makes it harder to get the proper treatment in time, Pringle says. The takeaway This isn't the first time someone has been poisoned by death cap mushrooms. "A lot of poisonings have the same story people eat death cap mushrooms and they don't know what they are," Pringle says. (She notes that many of these poisonings happen as the result of foraging versus buying mushrooms at a store or farmers' market.) "It is very difficult for a non-mushroom expert to properly identify a mushroom," Ruck says. "Many mushrooms look very, very similar. The one you pick this time may be toxic. You should not be foraging for mushrooms on your own." Dr. Russ Kino, an emergency medicine physician and medical director of the Emergency Department at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, Calif., echoes that sentiment. "These things are so deadly, often there's not a lot we can do," he tells Yahoo Life. "My advice is don't eat any mushrooms, ever, at all, that are not bought at a shop. You just can't be sure." If you suspect that you may have eaten death cap mushrooms, Pringle says, it's crucial to go to the ER ASAP. "When you get to the hospital, tell people that you've eaten a wild mushroom," she says. "If you have specimens or leftovers, take them to the hospital with you." "There is an antidote to these mushrooms that has been FDA-approved," Alan says. It's a dye known as indocyanine green (ICG), and it can inhibit the mushroom's toxin, she says. Time is of the essence here, though. "If symptoms progress, you may progress to organ failure, which can result in a transplant or death," Alan says. Not everyone has an Italian grandmother or time to play one and make fresh, homemade sauces for Sunday dinners. For years, people have found a worthy alternative in Rao's pasta sauces, but is that about to change? Earlier this week, Campbell Soup announced that it is acquiring Sovos Brands, which also makes dry pastas, frozen pizzas and other food products, for about $2.7 billion, and fans were immediately worried for their beloved sauce. Campbell's president and CEO, Mark Clouse, offered some hope. Were not touching it! Anyone who thinks were going to touch the sauce, no, Clouse said in an interview with CNBC. Despite those words, it seems that Reddit still has concerns. Why Do People Love Rao's Sauce? Before we get to the fans, let's briefly talk about the sauce. The Rao's legacy traces its roots to Italyimmigrant Charles Rao came to the U.S. from Italy and opened a tavern in New York City at the turn of last century. In 1992, Rao's began selling their famous homemade sauces with tomatoes from Italy in grocery stores. Fans loved that the fresh-and-flavorful sauces, made by Sovos Brands, didn't have water, added sugar, tomato paste or colors like other brands on the market. The fan-favorite sauce is widely availableincluding at stores like Whole Foods, Walmart and Targetand can cost up to $10 a jar. If you're a Costco member, you can usually get it for much less. Related: Costco Is Selling a Massive Grazing Board, and It's Already Flying Off Shelves View the original article to see embedded media. What Are Fans Saying About the Rao's Merger? Let's start with the original poster (OP), who jumped right in. "RIP Raos we loved you while you were good," they in the Costco subreddit. "Once that brand is "value engineered" down to nothingness, and the price doubled, I doubt we'll speak well of it." The post got more than 3,000 upvotes and inspired 766 comments, which speaks to the sauce's large fan base. Some commenters were sad; others were snarky because: the Internet. "Mmm, Mmm, good! 'Youll love it because its your only choice' - Campbells Soup Co.," wrote one Redditor, referencing Campbell's iconic jingle with a side of sarcasm. Others hinted they were about to start panic-buying Rao's pasta like it was toilet paper in 2020. "Noooo," wailed a fan. "I need to stock up." "Thanks for the heads upnow to buy a pallet," wrote another. "How long do the jars last in a basement storage room?" one person asked, to which someone responded, "I think theyre good for at least 12 months, but youre right, they probably already changed the recipe and whats going out isnt the original Raos." Though it needs to be reiterated that Campbell's has committed to keeping the recipe the same, another skeptic speculated any changes would be made as part of a slow rollout. "I don't expect Campbell's to royally mess up the formulas overnight," the person wrote. "It'll be a slow change. Although, once it does change, it'll become the worst investment for Campbell's." One bright soul is more hopeful. "I hope Campbell's and other brands can see that people will spend more to get quality no/low sugar foods," the person said. Others have a far more grim outlook. "I'm glad my father didn't live long enough to witness this tragedy," wrote one commenter. Others went right into fix-it mode and already have game plans in mind. "As a major backup, I'm thrilled I can easily get Mutti products at normal stores and sometimes Costco," a commenter said. "It's cheaper to buy sauce from a bodega that will have been made that day," someone else offered. Others were frankly already over the price tag and seeking other options. "I saw it for 10 USD in my local grocery store for one jar," someone said. "I gasped." "Agree! I always bought other brands because it was so spendy," another replied. The commiseration continued. "For real," agreed a poster. "We stopped buying it a while back due to cost. A good red sauce is easy and cheap to make." Related: Nine Costco Food Court Items You Need to Try At Least Once Homemade Pasta Sauce Options And because Redditors can be both snarky and sympathetic, some of them dropped their favorite pasta sauce recipes right into the comments to soothe any Rao's upset. Would you be willing to give them a shot? Related: Stanley Tucci's Famous Marinara Sauce 3(ish)-Ingredient Pasta Sauce Ingredients 1 tsp. oregano 1 can crushed tomatoes 1 can tomato paste Meat or other veggies (optional) Instructions Toss into a pan. Bring to a simmer. Add meat or other items that you want. Cool and store leftovers. "That's what most bodegas do, just on a larger scale," the Redditor said of their go-to recipe. Profitable Pasta Sauce Ingredients 28 oz. can of whole peeled tomatoes 3 chopped garlic cloves Olive oil 6 torn (not chopped) basil leaves Instructions Puree tomatoes with an immersion blender or food processor. "Better than crushed tomatoes," swears the Redditor. Sautee three chopped garlic cloves in a skillet with desired olive oil for 1-2 minutes. Add the pureed tomatoes and a half-dozen torn (not chopped) basil leaves. Cook, uncovered, over medium-low heat for 15 minutes. "Profit," the Redditor instructs Speaking of profit, some Redditors aren't crying for Rao's, just themselves. "Don't feel bad for Rao's," someone said. "I'm sure they got a nice payday out of it. We, on the other hand..." ...can make a profit off of one of the above sauces? A girl can dream. The lifestyle mogul demonstrated how to make The Bedford dish at home Martha Stewart/TikTok Martha Stewart Demonstrates At-Home Version of The Bedford's Smashed Potatoes Martha Stewart is sharing the secrets to a viral dish from her restaurant. On Thursday, the lifestyle mogul shared a TikTok demonstrating how to recreate a fan-favorite from her Las Vegas restaurant, The Bedford by Martha Stewart. One reason The Bedford in Las Vegas is popular is because we have this smashed potato, the celebrity chef said at the start of the video, showing the method to the dish while talking. She continued to explain that you cut a slit down the middle of the boiled Idaho potato. Then you hold it with a hand towel (Its boiling hot, she said) and smash it on the table," she said while slamming the potato, slit side-down onto the counter. The action-packed instruction is not just for the flair, she explained: That smashing breaks up all the fibers and makes the potato a delightful, fluffy creation. Once revealed, the baked potato does look, well, smashed, but particularly like mashed potatoes inside the crispy skin. Courtesy of The Bedford Martha Stewart at The Bedford To top it off, Stewart added a dollop of creme fraiche and a big scoop of caviar. She also shared a recipe for the smashed potatoes on her website and gave other, more traditional, topping options like butter, sour cream and chives. Stewart's restaurant at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino opened in August 2022. Designed to look like Stewart's farmhouse in New York, the star's first-ever restaurant has a mix of American and French cooking on the menu. On Aug. 3, Stewart turned 82 and celebrated with an at-home Mexican feast. She shared images of the festivities with fans on Instagram, showing the tablescape, menu and special gifts from loved ones. Martha Stewart/Instagram In the caption, Stewart expanded on the food that was served at her birthday celebration. "Carnitas, tamales, enchiladas, guacamole, chips, Camarones ala diabla, pico de Gallo, street corn, etc," were all part of her spread. Staying true to form, she revealed that she baked her own birthday cake with a toasted meringue frosting. "Dessert Martha made," the caption reads. Related: Martha Stewart Celebrates Her 82nd Birthday with a 'Mexican Feast' and 'Martharitas' Of course, Stewart had to cap off her celebration with some cocktails. She shared that she served caipirinha, Brazil's national cocktail made with cachaca, sugar and lime, and "Martharitas." The entrepreneur also shared photos of handmade birthday cards from her granddaughter Jude, 12. One massive card adorned with blue origami butterflies read, "Happy Birthday Martha" and had birthday messages from various people inside. Stewart also shared a photo of a smaller, matching card with green origami butterflies. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Live coverage of the deadly Hawaiian wildfires has moved here . MAUI, Hawaii Frustrations are starting to mount in Hawaii as the state tries to find any survivors of the worst disaster in its history as at least 55 people have died in the fires. On Thursday, Governor Josh Green announced the death toll from a series of brush fires that impacted the state would rise, but officials declined to speculate on how much they expected the number would grow. "The full extent will be in the billions of dollars, without a doubt. We're first focused on lives lost," said Green. "Tragedy that hits one of us, is felt by all of us," County of Maui Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. said. "These past few days, the resolve of our families, businesses and visitors have been tested like never before in our lifetime." During the disaster, access to the 911 system was spotty and cell service and phone lines were down in many areas. Flyovers of Lahaina by the U.S. Civil Air Patrol and Maui Fire Department showed that more than 271 structures have been impacted since the fire broke out Tuesday evening. Widespread damage to the west Maui town, the harbor and surrounding areas is being documented. BEFORE-AND-AFTER SATELLITE IMAGES OF MAUI AFTER DEADLY WIND-DRIVEN BRUSH FIRES The glow of flames was still visible Thursday, as close to 100 Maui firefighters have been on duty around the clock, including 11 from state airport firefighting and rescue personnel. The Maui Fire Department has requested 20 additional firefighters from Honolulu and an incident management team. With a reduction of winds, containment of the fires have increased by firefighters warm there are several hotspots that remain. TOOK EVERYTHING WITH IT: MAUI RESIDENT RECOUNTS ESCAPE FROM RAGING WILDFIRES Its unclear what sparked these fires, but leaders said that conditions have been arid and that winds from passing Hurricane Dora hundreds of miles to the south and a strong ridge of high pressure to the north enhanced the multiple wildfires and caused them to spread quickly. "A very typical August trade wind pattern is expected to develop heading into the weekend, where winds could gust anywhere from 10-20 mph daily," Overton said. "The NWS has dropped the wind and fire alerts for the islands." Gusts of up to 85 mph have grounded firefighting aircraft and have aided in the decimation of some communities on Maui. Block after block in historic Lahaina was burned to the ground. In some cases, people had to jump into the ocean to escape the flames. AERIAL VIDEO SHOWS COMPLETE DEVASTATION ACROSS PARTS OF MAUI AFTER CATASTROPHIC BRUSH FIRES "I was the last one off the dock, and when the firestorm came through the banyan tree and took everything with it, and I just ran out to the beach," said Dustin Johnson, a crew member from Lahaina Harbor. "I just helped everybody I could along the way." Maui Memorial Medical Center said they have been treating burns, smoke inhalation and other fire-related injuries. Among the five admitted for their injuries, two suffered from critical injuries. Hospital officials said they are prepared to activate a surge plan should the demand for medical services spike. On Wednesday afternoon, Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who is acting as governor, joined the U.S. Coast Guard for an aerial damage assessment of the areas affected by the wildfires. "Seeing the devastation of Kihei and Lahaina firsthand was incredibly sobering and heartbreaking," she said. "My heart hurts for the lives lost and the loved ones they leave behind." THIS IS NOT A SAFE PLACE TO BE: RAGING BRUSH FIRES IMPACTING AIR TRAVEL TO SOME HAWAIIAN ISLANDS Passengers try to rest and sleep after canceled and delayed flights while others wait to board flights off the island as thousands of passengers were stranded at the Kahului Airport in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui in Kahului, Hawaii on August 9, 2023. Luke said the state is working tirelessly to ensure the health and safety of every person affected. "While our beloved Lahaina is forever changed, the love and aloha of the community is steadfast," she added. President Joe Biden has ordered all available federal assets on the islands to help with the response. Among the help Thursday was the U.S. Army, which sent two Blackhawk helicopters and one Chinook helicopter to assist with firefighting operations. The U.S. Coast Guard also sent 37 MH-60R Seahawk helicopters to aid with search and rescue. Four shelters have been established on Maui after more than 11,000 people have been evacuated off the island. An estimated 1,500 more people are expected to leave the island Thursday. "Woke up this morning and got on our phones to take pictures of our house, just down to the slab," said Jamie Brown, who had to evacuate from Lahaina. "Nothing but smoke, cinders. Came with the clothes we got on and a dog and two kids." Tourists are being told to stay away from the island as the Department of Transportation works with commercial airlines to evacuate tourists. Some airlines are also helping to ferry people to the main island. "Even though we are hurting, we are still able to move forward, especially when we do it together," Bissen said. "In the days ahead, we will be stronger as a kaiaulu, or community, as we rebuild with resilience and aloha." With hundreds of Caribbean islands to choose from, it can be daunting to decide on a destination in this sun-splashed region. The good news: Its hard to go wrong in a turquoise paradise. But each spot offers something a little different. Here are nine of the best choices for a variety of travel appetites: Dominica: For lush natural beauty Lush volcanic peaks, deep valleys and 365 rivers cover the Eastern Caribbean island of Dominica. The 290-square-mile island is home to a handful of luxury resorts, including Coulibri Ridge, a new eco-resort with just 14 rooms. Pair that luxury lodging with the Nature Islands real draw the great outdoors. A guided hike into the Valley of Desolation leads to the worlds second-largest boiling lake. Inside UNESCO-designated Morne Trois Pitons National Park, waterfall-fed Emerald Pool offers a refreshing swim. And theres world-class diving and snorkeling, plus guided river trips to explore the rich plant and animal life. North and Middle Caicos: For the unspoiled Caribbean Mudjin Harbor Beach in Middle Caicos is a spectacular spot for relaxation. - Shutterstock Connected by ferry to the far more developed Turks and Caicos island of Providenciales, North and Middle Caicos deliver rustic island life devoid of glossy resorts. On Middle Caicos, youll find one of the worlds most showstopping stretches of sand in Mudjin Harbor Beach. Sea cliffs and a dramatic offshore rock formation buffeted by crashing waves make this a mesmerizing spot for soaking up pinch-yourself Caribbean views. Also on Middle Caicos, Bambarra Beach offers an often-deserted sandy shoreline where the surf is calmer for swimming. For visitors who are curious about island history, Wades Green Plantation on North Caicos offers a window into the era of Loyalist plantations in Turks and Caicos during the American Revolutionary War. Calm and quiet is what youll find here. There are a handful of no-frills waterfront bars and restaurants and a few hotels and cottage enclaves. Youll mostly have this paradise to yourself, whether for a day trip or an extended stay. Curacao: For city life Willemstad is known for its Dutch colonial architecture and vibrant atmosphere. - Shutterstock About 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Venezuela, the island of Curacao boasts one of the liveliest urban centers in the Caribbean. Willemstad, Curacaos capital, offers a distinctive Euro-Caribbean experience, where Dutch colonial architecture brings Amsterdam in pastels to this autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Handelskade, a strip of vibrant buildings along St. Anna Bay, fronts the Punda district, where shops and galleries line the picturesque streets. In nearby Pietermaai, trendy restaurants and cafes draw visitors looking for local flavor. In addition to being a UNESCO World Heritage site, Willemstad is home to several interesting museums, a rich street art scene and the Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue the oldest continually running synagogue in the Americas. Saba: For a white-knuckle aviation thrill The short runway in Saba provides a dramatic entry for visitors. - Courtesy Saba Tourist Board This 5-square-mile Caribbean island a special municipality of the Netherlands flies under most tourists radar. Theres not much going on in the way of beaches, and its only accessible by air via the neighboring island of St. Maarten or ferry service between the two islands. Getting there by air is a thrill, as Saba is home to a 1,300-foot (396-meter) runway thats often classified as the worlds shortest commercial runway. That dramatic entry gives way to an island crisscrossed with trails through rugged rainforest and volcanic rocks with the aptly named Mount Scenery as the hiking centerpiece. Diving offshore is another top draw for this still largely undiscovered island. Antigua: For diverse beaches Antigua is known for an incredible array of beaches, including Turners Beach above. - Shutterstock Antigua claims to have 365 beaches one for every day of the year. Surely, thats enough to keep even the most ardent beachgoer endlessly occupied. Dickenson Bay draws sun seekers with white sand and water sports, while Half Moon Bay offers seclusion and pink crystal sand. All that sun makes you hungry, and visitors are in luck. Theres a market in the capital of St. Johns where the islands distinctive Antigua Black pineapple is among the produce for sale. Roadside stalls across the island reflect the islands cultural tapestry with offerings from roti and curries to kebabs. Barbados: For great cuisine and rum Rum, island cuisine and beaches like this: What's not to like in Barbados? - Marnie Hunter/CNN Sugar cane blows in the breeze in central Barbados, a reminder of the islands rich rum culture. Mount Gay Rum dates back to 1703 and history suggests rums story in Barbados goes back even further. Visitors can take tours at a range of distilleries or stop into one of the islands many rum shops to enjoy the spirit alongside locals. Soak it up with Bajan cuisine a blend of African, Indian, Irish, Creole and British flavors. The celebrated national dish of Barbados is flying fish with coucou. Coucou is similar to grits or polenta and prepared with okra. Mustors in Bridgetown is a popular place to sample it. The island also has its share of spectacular fine dining spots, including The Cliff. Go at sunset and ask for a table close to the railing. St. Barts: For over-the-top luxury Eden Rock was renovated and rebuilt after it was damaged by Hurricane Irma in 2017. - Jeanne Le Menn Saint Barthelemy, typically called St. Barts, is heaven for luxury lovers with deep pockets. The restored Rosewood Le Guanahani St. Barth reopened in 2021 showing off stunning scenery interspersed with sunny yellow, turquoise and lavender buildings. The historic Eden Rock resort combines the glamor of its 1950s roots with modern amenities that draw todays celebrities. Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten is behind the resorts cuisine. Luxury resorts Cheval Blanc and Le Toiny are also top draws. Puerto Rico: For music and dance It's not hard to find a party in Puerto Rico. - Shutterstock Bomba, plena, decima, salsa, reggaeton. Theyre all musical styles in Puerto Rico inextricably interwoven with distinctive dance steps. And for pulse-quickening nightlife and a vibrant cocktail culture, this island territory is hard to beat. For salsa, check out Cambio en Clave or try Don Rafael Cepeda school for bomba and plena instruction. Cocktail bars are in ample supply for visitors whod rather sip on something than work up a sweat. La Factoria in San Juan has routinely been named among the worlds 50 best bars. Martinique: For a taste of France in the Caribbean Mount Pelee is a volcano in northern Martinique. - Shutterstock In Martinique a hot spot for French tourists visitors will find a taste of Europe in the Caribbean. La Mandoline in Les Trois-Ilets offers the kind of fine dining fitting a French overseas department. Les Trois-Ilets is also amply stocked with boulangeries and patisseries. Plage Anse dArlet, not far from Les Trois-Ilets, is backed by a picturesque 18th-century church as well as a selection of restaurants and bars. Tropical forest covers the northern part of Martinique. Around the island, rum distilleries steer the visitor back to its Caribbean flavors. Lebawit Lily Girma, Jeanine Barone, Kristin Braswell and Shivani Vora contributed material for this article. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com By Casey Hall, Sophie Yu and Joyce Lee BEIJING (Reuters) -China has lifted pandemic-era restrictions on group tours for more countries, including key markets such as the United States, Japan, South Korea and Australia in a potential boon for their tourism industries. The decision was announced by China's culture and tourism ministry on Thursday, effective immediately. Prior to the pandemic, mainland Chinese tourists spent more than any other country's tourists when abroad, clocking up a combined $255 billion in 2019 with group tours estimated to account for roughly 60% of that. Their absence since the pandemic has led to financial troubles for many tourism-dependent businesses around the globe. Germany and Britain were also among the countries for which restrictions were lifted but Canada, which has had especially politically fraught relations with China of late, was not reinstated. It was China's third list of countries to receive approvals. The first batch approved in January included 20 countries such as Thailand, Russia, Cuba and Argentina. The second batch in March included 40 countries, among them Nepal, France, Portugal and Brazil. China has never explained its staggered approach to approvals but analysts have noted that the countries taking time to gain approval have had more political and/or trade tension with the world's second-largest economy. The move was welcomed by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as well as tourism ministers in South Korea and Australia, who said it would boost their economies. "This is another positive step towards the stabilisation of our relationship with China," said Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell. Just how much outbound Chinese tourism will bounce back for the latest group of countries remains to be seen. Expectations that demand would come roaring back after borders were re-opened have to date been largely unfulfilled. International flights in and out of China have recovered to only 53% of 2019 levels as of July. That is in large part due to staffing issues for many global airlines that have limited the flying of more routes, slow visa issuance for Chinese travellers amid backlogs in many Western countries as well as a sputtering domestic economy that is discouraging many holidaying Chinese from spending big. In response to the news, some Chinese said online that they were less than enthusiastic about international trips. "I don't want to go; I feel domestic travel is pretty good, such as the beautiful scenery in Xinjiang and the Northeast and the food is cheap," said one Weibo user with the handle @Chongshengshilangbushilang. But others were more upbeat. "Despite a cooling overall economy, 40% of (Chinese) people say they will spend more on travel," said Steve Saxon, a partner at McKinsey & Co. "People want to spend the money they've saved during COVID on international travel." Trip.com, China's largest travel agency, noted that the news had led to a spike in searches for destinations including Australia and Japan. Shares in firms in the latest group of countries with large exposure to Chinese travel demand jumped on the news. Gains for South Korean casino operators were particularly striking with Grand Korea Leisure and Paradise surging 21% and 18% respectively. Two sources in South Korea's travel industry told Reuters it was the first time group tours from China would be allowed on a large scale since a 2016 dispute over Seoul's deployment of a U.S. missile defence system. China has never publicly acknowledged limiting group tours to South Korea. (Reporting by Casey Hall in Shanghai, Sophie Yu in Beijing and Joyce Lee in Seoul; Additional reporting by the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Jamie Freed and Edwina Gibbs) Cedar Park officials said Thursday that crews are making significant progress toward containing the fire that destroyed an apartment building on Tuesday and left dozens of tenants homeless. The Texas A&M Forest Service reported that the fire was 85% contained and had covered 37 acres, with no forward movement. Officials said firefighting efforts will continue over the next several days. Residents of the Bexley at Silverado apartments, at 12820 W. Parmer Lane, can return to their homes, except for those who lived in building 10, which was destroyed. Residents of the nearby Whitestone Landing Townhomes, who also were evacuated, are also back at their units, officials said. More: Dozens of residents left homeless after devastating Cedar Park apartment fire They also announced that power has been restored to all the remaining buildings at the Bexley complex. Because of the demand for water for fighting the fire, Cedar Park officials announced a ban on outdoor watering and irrigation through Friday. Along with the total loss of building 10, officials said 12 units on the second floor of building 12 had fire damage, along with two units in building 11. They said some units in buildings 9, 11 and 12 also might have water damage from firefighting efforts. More: Watch video of a Cedar Park apartment complex engulfed by wildfire Officials said East Whitestone Boulevard and West Parmer Lane will be fully open by Thursday afternoon, but that drivers should avoid the immediate area and roads around the Bexley and Whitestone apartments as firefighting operations are ongoing. Fire crews on Tuesday night battle the blaze that destroyed an apartment building in Cedar Park. The Parmer Lane Fire was 80% contained by Thursday afternoon. The American Red Cross is to providing support to the affected residents. Those needing assistance can contact the agency's Austin office at 1-800-733-2767. In addition, the city of Cedar Park is collaborating with the Central Texas Community Foundation to collect, manage and distribute financial donations for those affected by the fire through the Parmer Lane Fire Recovery Fund. To make a donation, visit the Central Texas Community Foundation - Parmer Lane Fire Recovery Fund at ctxcf.networkforgood.com/projects/200531-parmer-lane-fire-recovery-fund. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Cedar Park fire that destroyed Bexley apartment building 85% contained By Marianna Parraga HOUSTON (Reuters) - Cuba has begun using its own tankers to ramp up crude imports from Mexico, which in the second quarter surpassed Russia as a key oil provider to the fuel-thirsty island, according to vessel monitoring data. Following days-long lines to fill drivers' tanks and power blackouts, the communist-run nation saddled with harsh U.S. economic sanctions has broadened its sources of oil imports in a move to ease fuel scarcity, replenish stocks and reduce dependence on its traditional and largest supplier, Venezuela. Washington has also sanctioned Venezuela's oil industry since 2019 over election-fraud claims. Mexico has emerged as a top provider, sending oil on a vessel owned by state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and ships managed by Cuba. It has delivered some 2 million barrels in the last four months, a Reuters tally based on tanker tracking showed. Since July, Cuba-flagged tanker Vilma has completed two trips from Mexico's Pajaritos terminal to Cuba's Cienfuegos and Havana refineries. The ship previously ferried Venezuelan crude and fuel oil to Cuba, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. Cuba-flagged tanker Delsa also delivered Mexican crude from Pajaritos to Cienfuegos in June, and then sailed to Venezuela, where it loaded oil, the data showed. Cuba's foreign ministry, Mexico's foreign ministry and Pemex did not reply to requests for comment. SANCTIONS FREE Vilma and Delsa are among the few Cuban tankers that have not been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Other Cuban ships have in recent years been repaired or inspected at a shipyard in Veracruz, Mexico, including U.S.-blacklisted Esperanza, which is currently there. A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Reuters in April that Washington was "aware that Cuba purchases oil from a variety of countries, both sanctioned and non-sanctioned." Pemex tanker Bicentenario separately has completed at least four trips from Mexico to Cuba this year, according to the data. In total, Mexico has supplied Cuba with about 13,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Olmeca light crude since April, the data showed. The crude is a better fit for Cuba's aging refineries than Venezuela's heavy oil. Venezuela in recent years has struggled to produce enough fuel for domestic needs, reducing what it could export. Its shipments to Cuba this year through July dropped to 55,000 bpd from almost 80,000 bpd in 2020. Mexico and Venezuela were steady crude suppliers to Cuba under the San Jose Pact in the 1990s. While Venezuela expanded exports to the island since agreeing to a bilateral trade pact in 2000, Mexico had only sporadically sent cargoes to Cuba for humanitarian reasons until this year. HELP NEEDED Russia supplied Cuba with some 12,000 bpd of oil, mostly crude, between February and July, according to the Eikon data. Cuba is nearly always in short supply of fuel, but never more so than during the sultry Caribbean summer, when residents crank up air conditioning, drawing down reserves. The Cuban government this year began refurbishing its decrepit oil-fired power plants. Those repairs and larger fuel supplies from Russia and Mexico, have contributed to steadier generation and fewer blackouts this year over last. But refined products used in passenger vehicles, public transportation and in some power generation have been scarce since March, forcing the government to ration at the pump. (Reporting by Marianna Parraga, additional reporting by David Sherwood in Havana and Adriana Barrera in Mexico City; Editing by Marguerita Choy) PRAGUE (AP) The Czech power utility CEZ said on Thursday its net profit in the first half of 2023 reached 22.3 billion Czech crowns ($1 billion), down from 33.6 billion in the same period a year ago. The countrys main electricity producer said it attributed the 34% decline to a windfall tax on profits introduced as prices for energy soared. The Czech state, which has an almost 70% stake in the company, will receive up to 120 billion Czech crowns from CEZ this year in dividends, income taxes and levies on production sales, including a windfall tax, the company said. CEZ chief executive said the results reflect the gradual stabilization on energy markets. Last year, the companys profit soared on an enormous rise in prices caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, higher profit from commodity trading on foreign markets and high operational reliability in its power plants. That resulted in record dividends of 145 Czech crowns per share. PARIS (Reuters) -A holiday home in eastern France that was ravaged by a fire in which 11 people died early on Wednesday did not meet safety standards, a senior official told French media on Thursday. The blaze broke out around 6.30 a.m. (0430 GMT), as the holiday-goers with learning disabilities and accompanying staff were still asleep in the two-storey building in the town of Wintzenheim, about 70 km (50 miles) south of Strasbourg. "The building did not meet safety standards required to welcome the public," deputy prosecutor Nathalie Kielwasser told Le Monde newspaper, adding that, in particular, it had not received the necessary visit by an independent security committee. Investigations were ongoing, Kielwasser said, adding, in an interview with BFM TV, that it was too early to say how the fire started or whether the fact that the holiday home did not meet standards was instrumental in what happened. The holiday home was rented for the summer by two charities that take care of people with learning disabilities, with each group occupying one floor of the house. Twenty-eight people were staying there, and 17 escaped the fire. The owner, who has not made any public comment, was the first person to alert rescue services of the fire, French media including BFM TV have said. (Writing by Ingrid MelanderEditing by Bernadette Baum) By Nate Raymond BOSTON (Reuters) - Harvard University on Wednesday lost a bid for an insurer to cover up to $15 million of the costs of defending itself in a lawsuit that led to the U.S. Supreme Court barring it and other colleges from considering race as an admissions factor. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower-court judge's November ruling concluding that the Ivy League school waited too long to ask a unit of Zurich Insurance Group to cover expenses arising from the lawsuit. That lawsuit, along with a related case against the University of North Carolina, resulted in a landmark Supreme Court ruling in June that effectively ended affirmative action policies long used to raise the number of Black, Hispanic and other underrepresented minority students on American campuses. Both cases were filed by Students for Fair Admissions, a group founded by affirmative action opponent Edward Blum, which alleged that Harvard's race-conscious admissions policies discriminated against Asian American applicants. In the lawsuit against Zurich filed in 2021, Harvard said the costs of defending against that lawsuit and a related government investigation had already exceeded the $25 million limit in a policy issued by its primary insurer, an AIG Inc unit, which had a $2.5 million deductible. Harvard, which was represented by the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr in the affirmative action case, sought to force its secondary insurer, Zurich, to cover the excess costs up to a limit of $15 million. But the insurer refused, saying the policy required Harvard to give notice of a claim no later than Jan. 30, 2016, yet the university waited until May 23, 2017 to do so. U.S. Circuit Judge Bruce Selya, writing for Wednesday's three-judge panel, agreed, saying that under Massachusetts law, "the failure to give notice according to the policy's terms and conditions forfeits any right to coverage." Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Zurich declined to comment. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Lincoln Feast) Officials say it is still difficult to determine the true extent of the damage in Lahaina Raging wildfires fanned by hurricane winds have devastated the historic town of Lahaina on Hawaii's island of Maui. Brian Schatz, a US senator from the state, said on social media that Lahaina is "almost totally burnt to the ground". At least six people were killed in Maui County, officials said on Wednesday. Maui's hospital system has been overwhelmed with burn patients and people suffering from smoke inhalation. "Firefighters are still trying to get the fires under control, and our first responders are in search and rescue mode," Mr Schatz said. There were reports early on Wednesday that some people jumped into the ocean to escape the fast-moving flames. The US Coast Guard said it rescued at least a dozen people from the water. Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr said in a news conference that many homes and business structures were completely destroyed. One resident in the town of some 12,000 people told local media that every boat in the town harbour was burning. "It looks like something out of a movie, a war movie," Chrissy Lovitt told Hawaii News Now. Officials said it is still difficult to determine the true extent of the damage on Maui, and have warned the death toll may rise. Around 2,100 people have been displaced. Some relatives of people living in Lahaina said they are worried about family members who are missing. "I still don't know where my little brother is," Tiare Lawrence told Hawaii News Now. "I don't know where my stepdad is." "Everyone I know in Lahaina, their homes have burned down," Ms Lawrence said. Almost 13,000 people were without power on Maui, according to tracking website PowerOutage.us. Thousands were without cell phone service due to the fires, and 911 services in West Maui were down on Wednesday. Officials said that three large fires remain active and out of control on Maui. Several blazes are also burning on the Big Island, also known as Hawaii island, a neighbouring island to Maui. The fires have reduced homes, businesses and boats on the harbour to rubble The National Weather Service said the flames were fanned by Hurricane Dora, which passed Hawaii at a distance but brought with it gusts of above 60 mph (97km/h), coupled with low humidity levels. President Joe Biden said in a statement that the federal government has sent assistance to Hawaii as it battles the flames and continues with rescue efforts. He added that the Department of Transportation is working to evacuate tourists from Maui. About 4,000 visitors are trying to leave the island, said state transportation official Ed Sniffen. The County of Maui has asked visitors to stay away from Lahaina, as roads into the town are closed except for emergency vehicles. "This is not a safe place to be," said Hawaii's Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke. "Certain parts of Maui, we have shelters that are overrun," Ms Luke added. "We have resources that are being taxed." Lahaina is a historic town on the western tip of Maui. Its center dates back to the 1700s and is on the US National Register of Historic Places. Maui is the second largest island of the Hawaiian archipelago in the northern Central Pacific, located more than 3,200km (2,000 miles) from the US mainland. It is popular with tourists thanks to its beautiful beaches and whale watching in the winter months and attracted 2.9 million visitors last year. The small island has both dry, sunny microclimates and also rainforests with green and humid areas. Hawaii has a dry and a wet season, with drought conditions becoming more common on its islands. Banner saying 'Get in touch' Are you on Maui or in touch with people who are? You can get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk. Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways: If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or comment or you can email us at HaveYourSay@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any submission. Southwest airplane Three lawyers for Southwest Airlines must attend a "religious liberty training" course after a judge ruled the company disregarded his order in a religious discrimination case. The judge sided with a flight attendant in May who said she had been fired for expressing her opposition to abortion. On Tuesday, the judge said the airline "didn't come close" to complying with the ruling at the time. Southwest said it would appeal the latest order. The company's lawyers have been told to attend a course run by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative Christian legal-advocacy group. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, has said the ADF is an "anti-LGBTQ hate group". The airline appealed the original judgement when the flight attendant, Charlene Carter, was awarded $5.1m (3.99m) and also got her job back. She claimed she was fired after she called the trade union president "despicable" for attending the 2017 Women's March in Washington DC. Southwest and the union said Ms Carter wrote offensive posts on Facebook and harassed the union president in direct messages. A jury in Dallas, Texas ultimately found that the airline had violated her right to religious free speech. Southwest was then ordered to tell employees that it "may not discriminate against... flight attendants for their religious practices and beliefs, including - but not limited to - those expressed on social media and those concerning abortion". In his highly critical 29-page order, Judge Starr said the airline "didn't come close to complying" with this. He ordered a new, verbatim, statement to be sent to employees, and in his ruling included the Merriam-Webster dictionary definitions of "may," "does" and "tolerate". The judge, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, said the company behaved as if its policy limiting what staff can say was more important than federal free speech law. It was also ordered to pay the flight attendant's legal costs. SYDNEY (Reuters) - Malaysia has temporarily suspended live cattle and buffalo imports from Australia, the Australian government said, days after Indonesia paused some imports after lumpy skin disease (LSD) was detected in a small number of cattle after arrival. Australia was urgently engaging with its Malaysian counterparts to lift the curbs while confirming the country remained free from the disease, Australia's chief veterinary officer, Mark Schipp, said on Wednesday. "We understand this decision was based on Indonesia's advice that they will not accept cattle from four specific export establishments following detection of LSD in exported Australian cattle after they had arrived and spent time in Indonesia," Schipp said in a statement. Indonesia, the largest market for Australian live cattle exports, last week placed some restrictions even as officials sought to allay fears by conducting rapid diagnostic testing. Schipp said his department was working to finalise the investigation into the health status of the impacted cattle. Australia is free of LSD and cattle exports to Indonesia continue from other facilities. LSD, which causes blisters and reduces milk production, is a highly infectious viral disease affecting cattle and buffalo that is transmitted by insect bites. It poses no risk to humans. Australia did not specify the number of shipments that will be impacted by Malaysia's decision. (Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Matthew Lewis) New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) on Wednesday redoubled his calls for federal assistance to house asylum-seekers, touching a sore spot in his relationship with the White House. In a speech from City Hall, Adams underscored his resolve to be welcoming toward immigrants but said the estimated price tag over the next three years is unsustainable. New Yorkers could be left with a $12 billion bill. So, while New York City will continue to lead, its time for state and federal government to step up, he said. The city has already received about $140 million in federal funding for shelters, more than any other city away from the southwest border. But, like other jurisdictions that attract newly arrived asylum-seekers, New York is struggling to house and feed a population that includes many people who cant legally work in the United States. Adams joined a fast-growing group of Democrats calling on the Biden administration to speed up the process for asylum-seekers to get a work permit; currently many have to wait about six months from the time of their application to start working. They want to work. This is nothing more anti-American than not letting people work, said Adams. Imagine the boost to our nations economy if we were to fill the hundreds of thousands of jobs that need workers right now. Its the right thing to do. And it is smart economics. Because working illegally can undermine an applicants chances, many asylum-seekers avoid working without Department of Homeland Security (DHS) authorization. The demands have created some frustration in the Biden administration because its expanded legal pathways for asylum-seekers already circumvent the legal requirement to wait 180 days to apply for work papers. Asylum-seekers paroled into the United States either through the Biden administrations program for citizens of Cuba, Venezuela, Haiti and Nicaragua or through the CBP One app are not subject to the wait, meaning they are eligible to apply for work papers as soon as they file an asylum application. Those work papers are currently being processed in six weeks for Cuban, Venezuelan, Haitian and Nicaraguan nationals, and in two months for others, according to a DHS official. The complexities of the immigration system could mean a number of the asylum applicants sitting idle might already be eligible to apply for work papers and not know it. But frustration is growing amid a persistent need for workers in the economy and an idle population raring to work and instead living off humanitarian aid. Democrats including Reps. Dan Goldman (N.Y.) and Jesus Chuy Garcia (Ill.) are leading calls for the administration to amp up its use of measures such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS)and to speed up work permits for asylum-seekers. In May, New Yorks congressional Democrats joined to call for work papers for asylum-seekers. Adams gave a shoutout to Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D), who issued a state of emergency Tuesday over dwindling shelter resources and joined calls on the Biden administration to break open the executive toolbox. Healeys state of emergency announcement came in the form of a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. While many Republicans in Congress may be holding up critical reform, the White House can help us now. I agree with Massachusetts Governor Haley. The federal government must take action, said Adams. Adams also recognized a DHS team sent to the city to assess the situation this week. That team is expected to identify areas where New York and the federal government can better collaborate, review their findings with city officials and report their findings to Mayorkas, according to a DHS official. Still, Adams is treading on thin ice with the administration. In May, he was dropped as a surrogate from President Bidens reelection campaign in part over an April press conference where Adams declared the city was being destroyed by the migrant crisis. The White House deferred to DHS for comment on this story. On Wednesday, Adams went out of his way to praise current asylum-seekers and the citys long history as a migrant mecca. For centuries, immigrants have made that impossible journey, that leap of faith searching for freedoms sake, a shot at the American dream. And the asylum-seekers who have arrived in our city since last spring are writing a new chapter in this timeless story, he said. Those comments could stave off some criticism from immigrant advocates whove panned the mayors approach to the issue in the past, but his policy prescriptions are unlikely to sway the Biden administration. Apart from asking for federal dollars for New York shelters and work permits for asylum-seekers, Adams stuck to his proposal for the state and federal governments to lead decompression strategies. We need the federal government to lead a decompression strategy at the border so cities and states across the nation can do their part to shelter asylum-seekers. Because cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and El Paso cannot be left to shoulder a national crisis without the proper aid, he said. In a January op-ed in The Washington Post, Adams defined decompression as a strategy at the border that evaluates asylum claims, establishes a plan for each migrants arrival before entry into the United States and a system to fairly distribute newcomers regionally. The mayors proposal steps on the toes of the administrations core border management strategy, which tightened some asylum requirements while opening new pathways for select migrants to seek asylum in the United States. For the administration, the highly politicized border is a touchy subject. The administration has staunchly defended its policies, both publicly and in court, where last week it won an appeal to keep its asylum policy in place while lawsuits filed against it play out. That win means the administration will continue its carrot-and-stick approach for the time being, an approach federal officials credit with restoring some sense of order despite a flawed immigration system. But Adams said New York is bearing the brunt, waiting for the feds to step in. New Yorkers compassion may be limitless, but our resources are not and our partners at the state and federal levels know this. We continue to face impossible decisions about allocating our resources, and that means a lose-lose for our most vulnerable New Yorkers, as well as those seeking asylum, he said. Updated at 6:18 p.m. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Illustration by Derek Abella for Yahoo News The stabbing death of OShae Sibley, who was voguing outside a gas station in Brooklyn when he was attacked last month, has sparked a renewed concern over the rise of hate-motivated incidents against the LGBTQ community. Sibleys death really marks a dramatic spike in anti-LGBTQ hate and harassment across the country, Tony Morrison, senior director of communications at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), told Yahoo News. According to authorities, a group yelled homophobic slurs at Sibley and told him to stop dancing before he was attacked on July 29. They hated us cause we are gay! Otis Pena, Sibleys friend, posted to Facebook after Sibleys death. Hundreds of people attended Sibleys funeral on Tuesday in his hometown of Philadelphia, where his loved ones described him as a beacon of light for the community. "It's just a tragedy," Jake Kelly, his father, said during the service. A 17-year-old was arrested and charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime in Sibleys death. On Thursday the high school student was indicted on one count of murder in the second degree as a hate crime among other charges, facing decades behind bars. We're getting into a place now where were moving from mean tweets and posts to violent crimes and real-world harm on the community in real-world ways, Morrison said. During Pride Month in June, GLAAD and the Anti-Defamation League tracked more than 145 anti-LGBTQ extremist incidents. In addition, the two organizations released an annual report detailing how the severity of the extremism against members of the LGBTQ community continues to escalate. According to the report, 356 anti-LGBTQ incidents occurred in the U.S between June 2022 and April 2023. This first-of-its-kind report provides a sobering snapshot of the deluge of hatred the LGBTQ+ community faces every single day, sparked in large part by organized extremist activity, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a press release. We hope these stark findings serve as a wake-up call to lawmakers, civil society leaders and community leaders to stand up to this onslaught of hate and support our LGBTQ+ community. Morrison says crimes against the LGBTQ community are not new, but they usually dont lead to criminal charges, and often don't include hate-crime offenses, which tend to carry stiffer penalties. I think that we have to call violent acts for what they are, we have to call out hate for hate, homophobia is homophobia, and a violent act predicated on prejudice is not a point of view. It is an act of hate, Morrison said. Kevin Nadal, distinguished professor of psychology at the City University of New York, says hate crimes are often difficult to classify and charge in the U.S. Oftentimes, this has to be well documented, whether it be previous manifestos or writings, that demonstrates a person has a specific bias towards groups, Nadal said. [Or if] witnesses were able to hear specific language before a crime is committed, it can serve as a justification for something to be deemed a hate crime. In 2021, there were 9,065 reported hate crime incidents nationally, up from 8,210 in 2020, a nearly 12% increase, according to the Department of Justice. While experts say there has been a rise in hate crimes, Nadal says such incidents are tough to track accurately. Its a tricky statistic, he said, because there has been an increase in reported hate crimes in the United States across groups. However, hate crimes are still severely underreported. He added that in many cases survivors of hate crimes are fearful of reporting the crime. Despite the increase of hate crimes in the LGBTQ community, GLAAD research finds that nine out of 10 Americans support LGBTQ equality, acceptance and the fact that LGBTQ people should be able to live their lives without fear of discrimination, Morrison said, adding that acceptance and discrimination are both at an all-time high. So I think that were at a real crossroads in this country, he said. ISTANBUL A Uyghur Muslim rights activist who tried to escape oppression by fleeing his homeland with his family says the tentacles of the Chinese state followed him to Turkey and then Morocco, where today he sits in a solitary jail cell. Idris Hasan recalls how he used to pretend to be a donkey, carrying his children around on his back. But since his incarceration two years ago, the web designer can only blow kisses through the phone screen, a guard always by his side, as his family watch from their small, third-floor Istanbul apartment crammed with books and toys. I have a picture of my family, but I cannot look at it, Hasan, 35, said in one of his thrice-weekly calls to his wife and three children from prison. If I look at this picture, I get very upset and cry, so I put this picture under the blanket and never look at it. China did not respond to questions about why it is pursuing Hasan, who is also known as Yidiresi Aishan, the Chinese version of his name. Chinese authorities have accused Hasan of being a member of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a group the U.S. once classified as a terrorist organization during a period of increased U.S.-Chinese cooperation on counterterrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but which it now says has been defunct for more than a decade. China contends the ETIM remains active. Hasans family and human rights groups say he has merely helped Uyghurs in Turkey by translating and doing graphic design and worked for a diaspora newspaper documenting alleged abuses against his community back in China. Zeynure Obul's husband, Idris Hasan, a Uyghur activist, is imprisoned in Morocco. She lives with their three children in Istanbul, Turkey. (Yusuf Sayman for NBC News) According to Amnesty International, Hasan is at high risk of being extradited to China where he will face a real risk of arbitrary detention and torture. He is a victim of what Western governments and activists describe as a vast, global network of surveillance, intimidation and persecution by the Chinese government, one that stretches far beyond its own heavily repressive borders and onto the soil of friendly and hostile nations alike. One of those countries is Turkey, which for years was seen as a safe haven for Uyghurs fleeing Chinese repression. It shares religious, cultural and linguistic ties with this Turkic ethnic group and hosts its largest diaspora community of 45,000. But according to a new report by Spain-based human rights group Safeguard Defenders and shared exclusively for this article before publication, in recent years Turkey has been losing its reputation as a safe haven for Uyghurs as it closely aligns itself with Beijing economically and politically. Many experts say this shift is motivated by Turkey, currently mired in financial crises, courting a greater influx of Chinese cash. Chinas transnational repression of Uyghurs overseas has created a pervasive climate of fear, said the report by Safeguard Defenders, which is focused on the Uyghur situation and other alleged human rights abuses by China. Those targeted are not just human rights activists and advocates but also ordinary Uyghurs, including students and members of the business community. Police officers walk past the Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, Xinjiang autonomous region, China, on Nov. 8, 2018. (Bloomberg via Getty Images file) Like most Uyghurs, Hasan is originally from Xinjiang, a vast region in western China. According to an array of witness testimony and documentary evidence over the past decade, Chinese authorities are involved in an increasingly brutal crackdown against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Confirmed data is scarce, but estimates by human rights watchdogs and other groups say China sent upward of 1 million people to internment camps, where many are cut off from family and physically and psychologically tortured. Separate investigations by Amnesty International and a tribunal of independent human rights lawyers have detailed evidence of detainees being raped and forcibly sterilized. The U.S., like other Western governments, says this campaign of repression against ethnic minorities amounts to genocide. The United Nations Human Rights Office says China may be guilty of crimes against humanity. China says it has closed the camps, although NBC News British partner, Sky News, found that many of the detainees were still incarcerated in regular prisons, some of which have been significantly expanded, and the region remained under a blanket surveillance and law enforcement regime. China denies all of this, saying it sends Uyghurs to vocational training camps because of terrorist and separatist attacks since the 1990s. According to a 24-point rebuttal published by the Chinese state news agency Xinhua in 2021, ethnic separatists, religious extremists, and violent terrorists in Xinjiang plotted and conducted several thousand violent terrorist acts between 1990 and 1996. CHINA-XINJIANG-MEDIA-RIGHTS-PRESS (Greg Baker / AFP via Getty Images) Xinjiang-related issues are not about human rights, ethnicity or religion, but about fighting violence, terrorism and separatism, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said in an email in response to questions about the treatment of the Uyghur community. Asked about the Turkey-based Chinese diaspora, he dismissed them as a few overseas people who had fabricated lies that were refuted by their relatives and friends. Residents in Xinjiang live a peaceful and happy life, he added. We hope that the parties concerned can respect the facts and truths about Xinjiang, let go of their preconceived prejudices, stop groundless smears and view Xinjiang and China under the principles of truthfulness, objectivity and fairness. For Yalkun Uluyol, pursuing truth, objectivity and fairness leads him to a different conclusion. Yalkun Uluyol, a Uyghur activist and researcher, in Istanbul on July 31, 2023. (Yusuf Sayman for NBC News) Originally from Xinjiang, the social sciences scholar says some 30 members of his family including his father, whom he has not seen since 2018 have at some point been detained by Chinese authorities. That led him to author the report published this week by Safeguard Defenders. Uluyol surveyed 93 members of the diaspora in Turkey, 80% of whom said they have been unable to contact some family members back home since at least 2017. More than one-third said they had been harassed by Chinese police or state agents while in Turkey. Uluyol found a common tactic is for Chinese authorities to threaten Uyghurs in Turkey by using their families back in Xinjiang. Chinas aim, he said, is to stop them engaging in activism, recruit them to spread Chinese propaganda and to spy on other Uyghurs. In one of the stories that I was told, police talked to one Uyghur activist here in Istanbul and told him, Your grandma says hi, Uluyol said. He didnt provide what the police asked him to do so they asked him do you even care about your family? Uluyol said. A Uyghur store in Istanbul's Zeytinburnu neighborhood displays the flags of Turkey, left, and East Turkestan, a region in China that the Uyghur community considers their homeland, on July 31, 2023. (Yusuf Sayman for NBC News) Another person interviewed, Jevlan Shirmemmet, 32, a lawyer from Xinjiang, has been campaigning to find his mother, Suriye Tursun, a bookseller detained since 2018. One day, he said, he received a call from his father, brother and uncle back home whom he believes were under pressure from Chinese police telling him to keep quiet. I said, Where are you? Wheres my mom? he said. His father responded, What are you doing? and You have to stop, Shirmemmet recalled. My answer was: I wont stop until my mom gets released. Hasan, the prisoner in Morocco, also believes his detention has come at the behest of China. He and his family arrived in Istanbul in 2012 but he fled again after less than a decade having been arrested there four times. Turkish authorities have provided little details about why he was detained not responding to detailed requests for comment for this article but his family and human rights groups have no doubt that it was linked to his work in support of Uyghur rights. Jevlan Shirmememmet, a Uyghur rights activist and lawyer, in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 31, 2023. (Yusuf Sayman for NBC News) He tried to get to Western Europe but, not realizing Beijing had issued an Interpol red notice for his arrest, he was detained en route in Morocco. Interpol canceled this in 2021, telling NBC News in a statement this week that it had done so after new and relevant information had come to light, without giving further details about the reason for the initial notice or its withdrawal. Two U.N. bodies have urged Morocco not to deport him back to China, saying he faces possible torture and death. The Moroccan government did not respond to detailed questions about his case. Its unclear whats next for Hasan and thousands of other Uyghurs who have fled China. Turkey in the past welcomed in tens of thousands of Uyghurs, often turning a blind eye when their travel documents were incomplete or forged, said Gareth Jenkins, a veteran Turkey analyst who has lived in Istanbul for 30 years. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with his wife Emine and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing on May 14, 2017. (Mikhail Svetlov / Getty Images file) In 2009, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan went as far as to call Chinas treatment of the Uyghurs a genocide. That began to change in 2016 when Turkey joined Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, an unprecedented global infrastructure project that critics see as Beijings attempt to gain influence abroad and make smaller countries financially dependent on its investment. The embodiment of this new Sino-Turkish era came in 2017 when they signed an extradition treaty that was ratified by China in 2020. While Turkey has not ratified the agreement, the fear of extradition is a constant worry that hangs over Turkeys Uyghurs and puts them in a very precarious situation, said Lisel Hintz, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. Istanbul's Zeytinburnu neighborhood, left and top, is popular with Uyghur immigrants. Zeynure Obul, bottom, plays with her children at the their home in Istanbul. Obul's husband, Idris Hasan, a Uyghur activist, is imprisoned in Morocco. (Yusuf Sayman for NBC News) The Uyghurs began to come under pressure from the Turkish authorities, which became far stricter on passports, residency permit renewals and other documentation, Jenkins said. The human cost of this tightening can be found sprawled across the table of an Istanbul cafe; a few legal but ultimately worthless travel documents are all Gayret Erlibek has to his name. He was detained at Istanbul Airport after leaving Xinjiang via Kazakhstan in June, and still does not know his next move after being allowed to pass through. I thought: This is it, Im going to die, theyre going to deport me to China, he said. There is one clear motive for Turkeys apparent shift, according to Jenkins, Hintz and others: the promise of Chinese cash. There have been plenty of investments so far: Chinas partial construction of the worlds largest suspension bridge, the Canakkale Bridge, its majority ownership of the massive shipping container port at Kumport, and Chinese tech giant Alibaba buying the Turkish e-commerce firm Trendyol. Gayret Erlibek, a Uyghur refugee, in Istanbul, Turkey, on Aug. 1, 2023. (Yusuf Sayman for NBC News) There have been many investments promised, but not all of those have come through, Hintz said. And Turkey would like more. These geopolitical changes have very human consequences for people like Hasan. Moroccos extradition treaty with China ratified in 2017 makes him especially vulnerable and dependent on international appeals to delay his extradition request. While Turkey slowly becomes an uncertain haven for so many like him, Hasans fate now lies with Morocco. From prison, he said that sometimes he cannot catch his breath. I am already two years in this prison, and nobody has said when I will get out, he said. If they send me back to China, it is equal to death, Hasan added. I think my future is darkness; I dont see any light. WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. and its European allies are importing vast amounts of nuclear fuel and compounds from Russia, providing Moscow with hundreds of millions of dollars in badly needed revenue as it wages war on Ukraine. The sales, which are legal and unsanctioned, have raised alarms from nonproliferation experts and elected officials who say the imports are helping to bankroll the development of Moscows nuclear arsenal and are complicating efforts to curtail Russias war-making abilities. The dependence on Russian nuclear products used mostly to fuel civilian reactors leaves the U.S. and its allies open to energy shortages if Russian President Vladimir Putin were to cut off supplies. The challenge is likely to grow more intense as those nations seek to boost production of emissions-free electricity to combat climate change. We have to give money to the people who make weapons? Thats absurd, said Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Washington-based Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. If there isnt a clear rule that prevents nuclear power providers from importing fuel from Russia and its cheaper to get it from there why wouldnt they do it? Russia sold about $1.7 billion in nuclear products to firms in the U.S. and Europe, according to trade data and experts. The purchases occurred as the West has leveled stiff sanctions on Moscow over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, blocking imports of such Russian staples as oil, gas, vodka and caviar. The West has been reluctant to target Russias nuclear exports, however, because they play key roles in keeping reactors humming. Russia supplied the U.S. nuclear industry with about 12% of its uranium last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Europe reported getting about 17% of its uranium in 2022 from Russia. Reliance on nuclear power is expected to grow as nations embrace alternatives to fossil fuels. Nuclear power plants produce no emissions, though experts warn that nuclear energy comes with the risk of reactor meltdowns and the challenge of how to safely store radioactive waste. There are about 60 reactors under construction around the world 300 more are in the planning stages. Many of the 30 countries generating nuclear energy in some 440 plants are importing radioactive materials from Russias state-owned energy corporation Rosatom and its subsidiaries. Rosatom leads the world in uranium enrichment, and is ranked third in uranium production and fuel fabrication, according to its 2022 annual report. Rosatom, which says it is building 33 new reactors in 10 counties, and its subsidiaries, exported around $2.2 billion worth of nuclear energy-related goods and materials last year, according to trade data analyzed by the Royal United Service Institute, a London-based think-tank. The institute said that figure is likely much larger because it is difficult to track such exports. Rosatom's CEO Alexei Likhachyov told the Russian newspaper Izvestia the company's foreign business should total $200 billion over the next decade. That lucrative civilian business provides critical funds for Rosatom's other major responsibility: designing and producing Russia's atomic arsenal, experts say. Ukrainian officials have pleaded with world leaders to sanction Rosatom to cut off one of Moscows last significant funding streams and to punish Putin for launching the invasion. Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy again pressed Western leaders to target Rosatom after Russian forces captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Rosatom is running the partially shutdown plant, and the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned that a radiation leak at the Russian-occupied facility could be a major disaster. Ukraine does not understand why sanctions have not yet been introduced against Rosatom and its leadership, Zelenskyy said in May, when representatives of this company continue to occupy Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and put our general security at risk. Nuclear energy advocates say the U.S. and some European countries would face difficulty in cutting off imports of Russian nuclear products. The U.S. nuclear energy industry, which largely outsources its fuel, produces about 20% of U.S. electricity. The value of Russian nuclear fuel and products sent to the U.S. hit $871 million last year, up from $689 million in 2021 and $610 million in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In terms of weight, U.S. imports of uranium products from Russia nearly doubled from 6.3 tons in 2020 to 12.5 tons in 2022, according to trade data from ImportGenius. The reasons for that reliance goes back decades. The U.S. uranium industry took a beating following a 1993 nonproliferation deal that resulted in the importation of inexpensive weapons-grade uranium from Russia, experts say. The downturn accelerated after a worldwide drop in demand for nuclear fuel following the 2011 meltdown of three reactors at Japans Fukushima Daiichi power plant. American nuclear plants plants purchased 5% of their uranium from domestic suppliers in 2021, the last year for which official U.S. production data are available, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The largest source of uranium for such plants was Kazakhstan, which contributed about 35% of the supply. A close Russian ally, Kazakhstan is the worlds largest producer of uranium. The Biden administration says it is trying to revive uranium mining and the production of nuclear fuel, and lawmakers have introduced legislation to speed up the process. This week, however, President Joe Biden announced the formation of a national monument to preserve land around Grand Canyon National Park that would prevent new uranium mining in the region. It is critical that we stop funding Russias state-owned nuclear monopoly, Rosatom, said Sen. John Barrasso, the Wyoming Republican who introduced legislation earlier this year to fund Americas nuclear fuel supply chain. We also need to give Americas nuclear fuel suppliers market certainty. Europe is in a bind largely because it has 19 Russian-designed reactors in five countries that are fully dependent on Russian nuclear fuel. France also has a long history of relying on Russian-enriched uranium. In a report published in March, Greenpeace, citing the United Nations Comtrade database, showed that French imports of enriched uranium from Russia increased from 110 tons in 2021 to 312 tons in 2022. Europe spent nearly $828 million (almost 750 million) last year on Russian nuclear industry products including fuel elements, nuclear reactors, and machinery according to Eurostat, the EUs statistics office. Some European nations are taking steps to wean themselves off Russian uranium. Early on in the Ukraine conflict, Sweden refused to purchase Russian nuclear fuel. Finland, which relies on Russian power at two out of its five reactors, scrapped a trouble-ridden deal with Rosatom to build a new nuclear power plant. Finnish energy company Fortum also announced an agreement with the U.S. Westinghouse Electric Company to supply fuel for two reactors after its contracts with Rosatom subsidiary Tvel expire over the next seven years. The Czech Republic has sought to wean itself off Russian supplies completely and turned to Westinghouse and the French company Framatome for future shipments of fuel assemblies for its only nuclear power plant, currently supplied by Tvel, with the new supplies expected to begin in 2024. Slovakia and Bulgaria, two other countries that rely on Tvel for nuclear fuel, have also turned to different suppliers. Despite the challenges, experts believe political pressure and questions over Russias ability to cut off supplies will eventually spur much of Europe to abandon Rosatom. Based on apparent prospects (of diversification of fuel supplies), it would be fair to say that Rosatom has lost the European market, said Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair of the Russian environmental group Ecodefense. What remains unclear, Slivyak said, are how Hungary and France will address the issue. France has not expressed a willingness to shut off Russias uranium spigot. Hungary, which maintains close ties to Russia, is fully dependent on Moscow to provide fuel for its four-reactor nuclear power plant. It has plans to expand that plant by two Rosatom reactors a project that is financed by a 10 billion euro line of credit from a Russian bank. Those reactors, experts said, will be fully reliant on Russian nuclear fuel for years, if not decades, to come. ___ Litvinova reported from Tallinn, Estonia. Associated Press writers Courtney Bonnell in London, Jari Tanner in Helsinki and John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report. The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) -South Korea authorities evacuated more than 10,000 people and closed schools in flood-hit areas as tropical storm Khanun swept over the peninsula on Thursday, having pounded southern Japan over the past week. Downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm, Khanun made landfall on the southeast coast, and was heading towards the South Korean capital Seoul. Khanun could also strike North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, and state media there reported that the military and the ruling party had been ordered to prepare flood-mitigation measures and salvage crops. In South Korea, some 350 flights and 410 train routes were cancelled, and more than 10,000 people were moved to safety, the interior ministry said. No casualties were reported. The storm brought up to 60 mm (2.36 inches) of rain per hour in some east coast towns, and maximum wind speeds of 126 kilometres per hour (78 miles per hour) in the southeastern port city of Busan, the weather agency said. Khanun was passing South Korea's central province of North Chungcheong as of 16:30 p.m. (0730 GMT), picking up a little speed as it moved northwards at 31 kph (19 mph) toward the greater Seoul area. "I'm worried that people living in lowlands or make a living by farming and fishing would suffer," said Kim Wi-jeong, a 33-year-old office worker living in the capital. Most schools were shut for the summer vacation, but of those offering summer classes nearly half, about 1,600, either closed or switched to remote learning because of the storm, the education ministry said. Some schools in the eastern coastal province of Gangwon were hit by floods and landslides. The storm compounded the misery for 37,000 youngsters attending the ill-starred World Scout Jamboree. Having endured a heatwave last week, they were moved to safer accommodation on Tuesday as their campsite lay in the path of the storm. The country is still recovering from intense monsoon rain last month, which left more than 40 people dead, including 14 in a flooded tunnel. Lee Hyun-ho, a professor of atmospheric science at Kongju National University, said Khanun was the first storm to pass directly over the Korean peninsula. He said increasing sea surface temperatures had made it more powerful. "The more the temperatures rise, the greater the energy that storms can get. So we will likely see even stronger typhoons in the future," Lee said. Fed by humid air from the storm, heavy rain was still battering parts of western Japan, with some areas getting well over the normal for August in the past week. One town had recorded 985 mm (38.78 inches) as of Thursday morning. Another storm, Typhoon Lan, was approaching near the Ogasawara Islands, about 1,000 km (621 miles) south of Tokyo, late on Wednesday. Though the storm's path was uncertain, the Japan Meteorological Agency said it could affect the Tokyo area by the end of the weekend. The bad weather is striking in the middle of Obon, Japan's main summer holiday, when many people leave big cities to return to their home towns. (Reporting by Elaine Lies in Tokyo and Hyunsu Yim, Hyonhee Shin and Minwoo Park in Seoul; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Ed Davies & Simon Cameron-Moore) Special counsel Jack Smith won a secret demand for former President Trumps Twitter account last winter, and a judge fined the social media company $350,000 for failing to promptly comply with her order, court papers revealed Wednesday. Smiths team of prosecutors convinced U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell to order Twitter, now called X, to turn over details of Trumps then long-suspended account in January and unspecified data tied to the account. Trump lashed out over the news calling the judge-approved warrant a violation of his rights. (Prosecutors) secretly attacked my Twitter account, making it a point not to let me know about this major hit on my civil rights, Trump wrote on his social site. Twitter eventually complied with the judges order and handed over an unknown amount of data. But the social media company stalled, claiming it should be allowed to notify Trump first. Howell rejected that claim and fined Twitter $50,000 a day, with the fine doubled each day. After three days, Twitter paid up. Its not clear what Smith hoped to unearth from Trumps Twitter or if anything more than his public posts were handed over, like unsent draft posts or location data, for example. Trump tweeted regularly during the period between the 2020 election and Jan. 6, 2021, the timeframe he is accused by Smith of hatching a plot to overturn his election loss to President Biden. Some of Trumps tweets played a major role in the alleged plot to overturn the election, a point that Smith claims culminated with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. He urged followers to come to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, promising his rally would be wild. He also used the platform to denounce Vice President Mike Pence even as rioters hunted down Trumps one-time lieutenant for assassination inside the Capitol. After Jan. 6, Trump was barred from Twitter. He was recently reinstated by new owner Elon Musk, although he has not returned to the platform. Prosecutors got the search warrant on Jan. 17, 2023 directing Twitter to produce information on Trumps account. The government also obtained a nondisclosure agreement that had prohibited Twitter from disclosing the search warrant, the filing says, noting that revealing the warrant could seriously jeopardize the ongoing investigation by giving him an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior or notify Trumps allies, the filing says. Twitter objected to the nondisclosure agreement, saying four days after the compliance deadline that it would not produce any of the account information, according to the ruling. The judges wrote that Twitter did not question the validity of the search warrant but argued that the nondisclosure agreement violated the First Amendment and wanted the court to assess the legality of the agreement before it handed any information over. A higher court rejected Twitters claim. The dispute was unsealed by a court on Wednesday. Trump pleaded not guilty last week to historic charges including conspiring to defraud the United States and blocking of Congress certification of Bidens win. The bombshell revelation comes as U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan scheduled a Friday morning hearing to determine how the court will restrict what Trump can publicly say about evidence and witnesses in the historic case. Chutkan is expected to set a trial date for Trump at a separate Aug. 28 hearing. Former President Donald Trump argued in court filings Wednesday that he should not be required to go to a so-called SCIF a sensitive compartmented information facility to discuss with his lawyers the classified evidence in the documents case that special counsel Jack Smith brought against him in Florida. Instead, he is proposing that he be allowed to discuss those materials at a facility at or near his residence that was previously approved for discussing classified information when he was president. Trumps lawyers did not specify which residence, arguing that doing so in a public filing would pose security concerns, and stressed that they arent seeking to physically take the documents to the facility. Prosecutors had raised concerns about a proposal from Trumps lawyers that they be allowed to discuss classified material with the former president at his office at Mar-a-Lago, and possibly Bedminster. Allowing such discussions at a private residence would amount to exceptional treatment. Prosecutors also noted that Mar-a-Lago Trumps Florida resort is where Trumps alleged crimes took place. With his response Wednesday, the Trump team asserted that his residence is a highly protected location guarded by federal agents that previously housed a secure facility approved for not only the discussion, but also the retention, of classified information. Trumps lawyers argued that requiring the former president to travel to the SCIF at the Miami federal courthouse where the classified evidence would be housed just to discuss the materials would create immense practical and logistical hurdles. Both the required security protocol surrounding President Trumps travel and the challenges surrounding the medias and publics intense focus on this prosecution pose an enormous obstacle to our ability to provide counsel to President Trump regarding classified matters, which are, no doubt, essential to this case, Trumps lawyers wrote. Our proposed alternative is both reasonable and appropriate, given the extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances of this case. Trump attorney Todd Blanche, in a separate filing, detailed the logistical challenges of traveling to the Miami courthouse for discussions with his attorneys about classified evidence. It claimed that doing so would would require an overnight stay in the local area by his protective detail, including members of the Secret Service, as well as an overnight stay by President Trump, while also arguing that the courthouse operations would be severely disrupted with the visits, especially if the public learned in advance that Trump was visiting the facility. The protocols for handling classified discovery in the documents case has been a flashpoint between Trumps and Smiths teams, and prosecutors and the former president are also in disagreement over how tight the rules should be for disclosing evidence he receives in Smiths election subversion prosecution. The latest filing says Trump and prosecutors had overcome some of their disagreements in the dispute over the classified documents protective order, but that this sticking point remained. Limiting any discussions with counsel to the government offered SCIFs is an inappropriate, unnecessary, and unworkable restriction, given the unique circumstances of President Trumps access to security namely that he resides and works in a secure location that is protected at all times by members of the United States Secret Service, and that the proposed alternate location previously housed an area approved for not only the discussion, but also the storage and review, of classified information, the filing said. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com FORT PIERCE, Fla. The Mar-a-Lago property manager charged in a new indictment alongside Donald Trump over the handling of classified government documents had to once again delay his arraignment in a Florida court on Thursday after he was unable to secure a local lawyer in time. Carlos De Oliveira, 56, is accused of conspiring with Trump and Walt Nauta, a personal aide for the former president, to thwart federal investigators' efforts to retrieve sensitive files from Trump after he left office. De Oliveira was named a co-conspirator alongside Trump and Nauta in special counsel Jack Smiths updated indictment last month. A Florida attorney, Donnie Murrell, who sat by De Oliveira in the courtroom had not yet filed a notice of appearance in the case. He told Judge Shaniek Mills Maynard, the magistrate who oversaw Thursday's hearing, that he hoped to do so by tomorrow afternoon after ironing out some details. It is close to being handled, he said. Murrell asked to have De Oliveira be arraigned on August 25, when there is already a pre-trial hearing scheduled, but Maynard rejected that request. The judge agreed to waive De Oliveiras appearance at a hearing to enter his plea next Tuesday morning. Carlos De Oliveira, property manager of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, arrives at the Alto Lee Adams Sr. U.S. Courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla., on Aug. 10, 2023. (Eva Maire Uzcategui / AFP - Getty Images) De Oliveira arrived at the courthouse at about 9:45 a.m. ET on Thursday. Nauta arrived separately. According to the indictment, De Oliveira told an employee at Trumps Palm Beach club that the boss wanted video surveillance footage deleted, after federal investigators requested the recordings from the former presidents attorneys. He is also accused of making false statements to the government, saying that he never saw anything when asked about his involvement in moving boxes containing the classified files. Appearing before a judge for the first time last week, De Oliveira was unable to enter his plea because he had not secured a Florida-based attorney. Hours before he was newly set to be arraigned, it was still not known whether he had retained local counsel. Trump pleaded not guilty to the new charges and waived his notice of appearance at the arraignment in a court filing last week. The plea was entered by a lawyer. Nauta pleaded not guilty on the updated charges through his lawyer. Asked if he understood the charges, Trumps aide, speaking softly, said that he did. Thank you, your honor, Nauta responded when the judge wished him a good day. Questions about who is set to represent Trump and his codefendants have drawn close scrutiny since the first charges were announced in June with routine processes drawn out at several junctures. Nautas not guilty plea was twice delayed after he was unable to secure a Florida attorney. Waltine Nauta, personal aide to former President Donald Trump, arrives at the Alto Lee Adams Sr. U.S. Courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla., on Aug. 10, 2023. (Chandan Khanna / AFP - Getty Images) Mark Schnapp, a criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor in Floridas Southern District, said De Oliveira should have a lawyer by the hearing. Candidly, theres no reason he cant find a lawyer, Schnapp said. The former presidents lawyers have also cited the threat of further legal jeopardy to push for a later trial date, and Trump has called for the case to be tried after the 2024 election, since he is currently running for president. The judge in Thursday's hearing could also address questions about the handling of classified information and potential conflicts of interest for lawyers involved in the case. Trumps political fundraising group has also paid attorneys representing his aides and employees. In a court filing this week, the federal judge overseeing the case responded to a request by the government for a hearing over this issue by asking the special counsel about whether prosecutors continue to investigate the former president before a different grand jury. Schnapp said the governments motion, which referenced charges developed by a grand jury in Washington, D.C., opened the door to the judges inquiry and offered a potential opening for the defense to dismiss the obstruction counts. In an extreme situation, this could be the basis for a motion to dismiss the superseding indictment or the new counts, said Schnapp, a former chief of the criminal division at the U.S. attorneys office in Miami. Still, he said the motion was unlikely to succeed. By Olena Harmash KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine announced a "humanitarian corridor" in the Black Sea on Thursday to release cargo ships trapped in its ports since the outbreak of war, a new test of Russia's de facto blockade since Moscow abandoned a deal last month to let Kyiv export grain. At least initially, the corridor would apply to vessels such as container ships that have been stuck in Ukrainian ports since the Feb. 2022 invasion, and were not covered by the deal that opened the ports for grain shipments last year. But it could be a major test of Ukraine's ability to reopen sea lanes at a time when Russia is trying to reimpose its de-facto blockade, having abandoned the grain deal last month. In a statement, the Ukrainian navy said the routes had already been proposed by Ukraine directly to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The routes would "primarily be used for civilian ships which have been in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa, and Pivdenny since the beginning of the full-scale invasion by Russia on February 24, 2022." "Vessels whose owners/captains officially confirm that they are ready to sail in the current conditions will be allowed to pass through the routes," the statement said, adding that risks remained from mines and the military threat from Russia. Oleh Chalyk, a spokesperson for Ukraine's navy, told Reuters: "The corridor will be very transparent, we will put cameras on the ships and there will be a broadcast to show that this is purely a humanitarian mission and has no military purpose." There was no immediate response to requests for comment from Moscow or the United Nations. STUCK IN PORTS Around 60 commercial ships have been stuck in the Ukrainian ports since Russia's invasion, their fates unresolved by the deal that allowed grain exports to resume in July last year. Many of the ships' crews have been evacuated, leaving locally hired Ukrainian staff to help look after the vessels. Since abandoning the grain deal, Russia has said it will treat any ships approaching Ukrainian ports as potential military vessels, and their flag countries as combatants on the Ukrainian side. Kyiv has responded with a similar threat to ships approaching Russian or Russian-held Ukrainian ports. The United Nations has said Russia's decision to quit the deal risks worsening a global food crisis, hurting poor countries worst, by keeping grain from one of the world's biggest exporters off the market. Moscow says it will return to the grain deal only if it receives better terms for its own exports of food and fertiliser. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, co-sponsor of the grain deal alongside the U.N., says he hopes to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to rejoin it at talks this month. "I think it will not be an exaggeration to say that President Erdogan is probably the only man in the world who can convince President Putin to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. A German grain trader told Reuters: "People want more details about the Ukrainian temporary shipping channel announced today as it cannot work unless Russia gives a concrete commitment not to attack the ships." (Reporting by Olena HarmashAdditional reporting by Jonathan Saul, Michelle Nichols, Tom Balmforth and Reuters bureauxWriting by Peter Graff; Editing by Alexandra Hudson) The U.S. government will settle a lawsuit with conservation groups and commit to releasing more endangered red wolves into the wilds of North Carolina, where nearly three dozen of the canine species are believed to still run free. The conservation groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2020 after it stopped releasing captive-bred wolves. Eastern North Carolina is the only place in the world where they roam wild outside of zoos and wildlife refuges. The Southern Environmental Law Center filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Red Wolf Coalition, Defenders of Wildlife and the Animal Welfare Institute. A settlement agreement was reached Wednesday, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court in North Carolina. For 25 years, North Carolina was home to one of the most successful predator reintroductions in the world," Ramona McGee, a Southern Environmental Law Center attorney, said in a statement. This settlement puts us on a path to restoring the red wolf to its rightful place as a celebrated success story. Red wolves once occupied much of the Eastern U.S. but were driven to near extinction by trapping, hunting and habitat loss before they were reintroduced to North Carolina in 1987. Their range is limited to five North Carolina counties. Scientists at zoos and other sites have maintained a captive population of nearly 300 wolves in recent years. After red wolves were reintroduced, the state's wild population grew beyond 100 and remained stable through 2012. Wolf numbers were bolstered by releases of captive-born pups and sterilization of coyotes that competed for space. But those approaches were halted in 2015 amid pressure from conservative politicians and landowners who deemed wolves a nuisance. Red wolves are in an area dominated by farms and private land. At least 96 red wolves died of gunshot wounds over the decades. Some landowners have said that the wolves have made it harder to fight coyotes. A federal judge in 2014 banned night hunting of coyotes in red wolf territory because the canines are easily mixed up. By the time conservation groups filed their 2020 lawsuit, they said there could be as few as seven red wolves living in the wild. The groups argued that federal wildlife officials violated the Endangered Species Act through actions that included halting the release of captive-bred wolves in 2015. The lawsuit prompted a federal judge in 2021 to order the Fish and Wildlife Service to produce a plan to bolster the wild wolves numbers as the lawsuit continued. U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle noted in his order that the conservation groups were likely to succeed, while demonstrating that "extinction is a very real possibility. According to the settlement agreement, the Fish and Wildlife Service will develop and publish red wolf release plans for a period of eight years. The plans will include metrics that can be used to measure performance. The agency wrote that it acknowledges the importance of the Eastern North Carolina red wolf population" and committed to managing in a way that's consistent with the Endangered Species Act. As of June, the Fish and Wildlife Service said there 16 known or collared red wolves living in the wild, while estimating the total wild population to be 32 to 34. There were 278 red wolves in the captive population. Johanna Hamburger, a senior attorney with the Animal Welfare Institute, said in a statement Wednesday that the agreement pulls wild red wolves back from the brink of extinction. When we filed this lawsuit, scientists warned that if the (Fish and Wildlife Service) continued down that path, red wolves could be extinct in the wild by 2024, she said. By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission plans to appeal a recent court decision involving Ripple Labs that was a setback for the agency's efforts to oversee cryptocurrency markets. In a letter on Wednesday, the SEC asked U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan to let a federal appeals court review her July 13 decision, in which she said the sale of Ripple's XRP digital token on public exchanges complied with federal securities laws. The SEC said an appeal could address legal issues on which there was "substantial ground for differences of opinion." It also said the outcome of an appeal had "particular consequence" for its ability to enforce securities laws, and for a "large number" of other lawsuits. The SEC has for years claimed that digital assets such as cryptocurrency are securities, as are stocks and bonds, and that it has power to regulate them. It sued Ripple, Chief Executive Brad Garlinghouse, and co-founder and Chairman Chris Larsen in December 2020, accusing them of illegally raising more than $1.3 billion in an unregistered securities offering by selling XRP. Torres said Ripple did not break the law when the XRP token was sold on public exchanges, because purchasers had no reasonable expectation of profit based on Ripple's efforts. Eighteen days later, however, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff, who sits on the same court, ruled the opposite way in finding that the Terra USD token offered by Terraform Labs qualified as a security when sold on public exchanges. Torres' decision was not a total victory for Ripple, as she found that it violated securities laws by selling XRP to institutional investors. The judge must decide whether to let the SEC appeal her decision, and put the case on hold. Ripple, and lawyers for Ripple, Garlinghouse and Larsen did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Chaired by Gary Gensler, the SEC has brought more than 100 enforcement actions related to cryptocurrency, though many ended in settlements. Gensler has also tried to rein in speculative excesses in the cryptocurrency sector, which he has said undermine investor trust in U.S. capital markets. The Ripple and Terraform cases do not directly affect the SEC lawsuit accusing Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency platform, of operating illegally because it failed to register as an exchange. Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency platform, is also being sued by the SEC. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Chris Prentice and Jody Godoy; Editing by Chris Reese, Lisa Shumaker and Diane Craft) Fans will remember Dodie Brown for the many characters she brought to life on Kansas City stages, in productions such as Mame, The Sound of Music, Steel Magnolias, My Fair Lady and On Golden Pond. But her daughter says Brown would want to be remembered for her joy. Her joy, celebrating life every day, even when she was at the age when there were challenges, daughter Melissa Cooper said Wednesday. She found the joy in every day. Thats how I remember her. She really did live her life well. The grande dame of Kansas City theater died Aug. 1 at home in Kansas City. She died of natural causes, Cooper said. Smashing reviews have poured in of an acting career that spanned more than 50 years on Kansas City stages. A packed house is expected next month at a celebration of her life. Dodie Brown teamed up with Don Knotts for several productions at the New Theatre & Restaurant, including On Golden Pond. Brown became a close friend of Knotts and his family. Kansas native Dolores Dodie Katherine Myers Brown made her name at the citys popular dinner theaters Tiffanys Attic Dinner Playhouse and Waldo Astoria, which combined to become the New Theatre & Restaurant in Overland Park, where she was considered the figurehead. Brown also made notable appearances at the American Heartland Theatre and Missouri (now Kansas City) Repertory Theatre. On her last two outings, Brown went to church and then to see the musical Dreamgirls, currently at New Theatre, said Cooper, who lives in Overland Park. New Theatre audiences watched Don Knotts, Jamie Farr, Morgan Fairchild, Marion Ross, Sally Struthers, Tom Bosley and a playbill of other celebrities perform with Brown. Dodie Brown, left, and Sally Struthers starred as widows who make monthly trips together to their husbands graves in The Club of Hearts at the New Theatre in 2005. Often, she got louder applause than the guest stars from Hollywood. Every star she did shows with, they adored my mother, said Cooper. She impressed them, this local girl from Hutchinson, Kansas, and Kansas City. Browns obituary mentions that she died surrounded by the treasures of a life well-lived, just as she wished. Struthers made a painting for her. And Cooper found a book with a heartwarming inscription from M*A*S*H star Mike Farrell among her mothers things after she died. Knotts, who, like Farrell, starred with her in On Golden Pond at the New Theatre, became a close friend. He once told The Star that Brown could have done very well in New York. But Cooper said her mom told people she chose to be a big fish in a small pond, where she could put family and community first. The people in the audience havent just watched me perform for years, they know me, Brown once said. Its just a lot of good friends. Dodie Brown and Kansas City actor Ron Megee danced together in the New Theatres 2014 production of Shear Madness, starring Richard Karn. Mourning a theater legend Dolores Katherine Myers Brown, known to all as DODIE, left this world as she entered it with a bigger than life presence, delighting audiences from the little girl dancing in front of her adoring grandmother, to the vast number of theater audiences who cheered her hundreds of stage performances, reads a memorial on the New Theatre website. Fans have left hundreds of comments on the New Theatre Facebook page. She was one of a kind. Ill remember her smile. Im a greeter at the theatre. Every time I saw (Dodie) she treated me like a friend. She will most definitely be missed. Loved her in all of the plays we saw her in, over the past 35 years. Everyone loved my mom, said Cooper. She touched a lot of people throughout the world. Brown famously never revealed her age, though many a journalist tried to get it from her. Her high school outed her many years ago as a member of its Class of 1950. But year of birth is typically listed in an obituary, and Cooper decided it was time. At this point I think we can tell the truth, she said. So this is the big reveal in Dodie Browns obituary: She was 90. Dodie Brown shared the New Theatre stage in 2014 with Charles Shaughnessy, best known for The Nanny. In Harvey, she played Mrs. Betty Chumley to his Elwood P. Dowd. All those heart-shaped rocks Fans would not be surprised to know that Brown was just as vivacious and charming off stage as she was when performing. She taught her two daughters that everyone deserves to be treated the same, whether they carry mail, collect trash or walk red carpets. In interviews over the years, friends and directors spoke fondly of Browns generous spirit, demonstrated by her practice of presenting people with heart-shaped rocks. The rocks found her, she didnt find them, she would say. Youd never believe how many have come to me, Brown told The Star in 2005. Sometimes I see them, sometimes friends bring them to me. The first one came to me after my mother died. They tell me everything is going to be all right. She was known for paying forward the gifts she felt had come her way in life. In 1994 she founded the New Theatre Scholarship Guild, a nonprofit that has raised more than $1 million for future theater artists. The guild has awarded 17 scholarships to students attending regional universities, including the University of Kansas, Kansas State University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. One of the best. RIP, Dodie, the KU theater and dance department wrote on the New Theatre Facebook page. We certainly will carry on your star spirit here at the University of Kansas. We thank Dodie for her enthusiasm toward and support for our creative Jayhawks. In that 2005 interview with The Star, Richard Carrothers, co-founder of New Theatre along with Dennis Hennessy, marveled at the mystical, spiritual energy that travels with her in life. It comes from the fact that she is doing what she was born to do. When Browns alma mater, Hutchinson High School, added her to its Wall of Honor, the alumni association quoted Browns grandmother, who once told her: Youve been doing that jumping around ever since you were a little girl. Brown used to stage plays on her grandmothers porch. Destiny found her in high school, where she performed in both drama and music. In 1954 Brown graduated from KU, where she earned a masters degree in music education. Even after she began acting, Brown used her days off to direct the St. Peters and All Angels Episcopal Church Choir. Dodie Brown was married 63 years to Robert Buddy Brown. He died in 2020, also at the age of 90. They had two daughters. She taught music at Old Mission Junior High School in Roeland Park until she married former Navy pilot Robert Buddy Brown. They adopted two daughters and were married for 63 years. He died in 2020 during the pandemic, but not from COVID, said Cooper. As the girls got older, Brown began acting in amateur plays at places like the Barn Players Theater in Prairie Village before her professional career took off. In an interview with The Star several years ago, Cooper called being the child of a working actor a really interesting way to grow up. I used to read lines with her while I rubbed her feet, she loved that, Cooper said. I served hors doeuvres and drinks at the parties, and there would be stars sitting there enjoying dinner just like everyone else. Cooper began to cry when she talked about how she and her sister, Jennifer Brown Harnick, came into their mothers life. Brown chose them. My sister and I were adopted. and I was the lucky one because she saved me, Cooper said. I dont think i would have had anywhere the existence I did. Actress Dodie Brown and her daughter Melissa Cooper of Overland Park. Family first As much as Brown adored her life upon the stage, New Theatre officials wrote, it was her family that stole the biggest part of her heart. One of Dodies greatest joys was welcoming, each summer, all her grandchildren, Katherine, Robert, Reese, Maggie & Dean for Cousin Camp, the theater shared. In a 2003 interview with The Star, Brown herself made those priorities clear. I have a family a husband, two children, three grandchildren, one on the way. Thats my life, she said. There was a really ditzy gal here one time, a kind of flash-in-the-pan, sexy little gal from California. And I remember people interviewing her and shed go, Oh, acting is my life. I thought, Oh, dear. She disappeared. But we all went around going, Oh, acting is my life. A Celebration of Life service will take place at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 25, at New Theatre & Restaurant, 9229 Foster St. in Overland Park. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to The New Theatre Scholarship Guild or the Dodie Brown Musical Legacy Fund at St. Peters and All Angels Episcopal Church in Kansas City. Brown didnt like to wish her fellow actors luck before a performance with the usual break a leg. It felt too negative. So before she went on stage, she told her colleagues, Ding ding! Everyone knew what she meant, her daughter said. The final bow is yours, Ms. Brown, the New Theatre wrote. Ding-Ding. You were the best! The Maui wildfire, which devastated the town of Lahaina, has now become the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history with the death toll rising to 106. On Aug. 15, the County of Maui shared a press release stating that at this time, 106 human remains have been discovered. "We offer our deepest condolences to the families who are beginning to receive notifications about their loved ones, Mayor Richard Bissen said in the release. As a community, we offer our prayers of comfort in this most difficult time. Two victims have been officially identified and their next of kin have been notified by officials as of Aug. 15: Robert Dyckman, 74, of Lahaina, and Buddy Jantoc, 79, of Lahaina. Officials told TODAY Aug. 16 that they expect to identify up to 20 new victims a day. Jeff Hickman, spokesperson for Hawaiis Department of Defense, told TODAY on Monday, Aug. 14, that with so little of the search done, "the fear is the number will get higher." "They want to be meticulous and do it right," Hickman says. "Right now theyre doing cars and soon theyll start to entire buildings." With 1,100 people in shelters and a flood of donated items like water, baby formula and pillows, Hickman told TODAY that the biggest thing people can do now to assist in the recovery is to send monetary donations. (TODAY put together a list of credible relief organizations accepting donations.) At a press conference on Aug. 12, attended by NBC News, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said the damage from the fires was estimated at close to $6 billion making it likely the largest natural disaster in the states history. It's also estimated that 2,207 structures were destroyed or damaged in Lahaina and the majority of buildings impacted were residential, according to damage assessments. Maui police restricted access to West Maui, but Honoapiilani Highway was temporarily open for residents to leave Lahaina. Maui County officials added that Lahaina remains barricaded, warning people to stay out of the area due to "hazards including toxic particles from smoldering areas." Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told NBC affiliate KHNL of Honolulu on Aug. 10 that as residents return to the impacted area, they needed to be mentally prepared. This will bring Hawaii together, but prepare yourself for the emotional turmoil because if I feel it and I have the experience as an emergency guy who saw tragedy in the course of 25 years in the hospital it will be shocking to a lot of other people, he said of the rising death toll. Green later said on Aug. 14 that around 86% of the more than 2,200 structures that were destroyed in the wildfires had been residential. According to the National Weather Service, Hurricane Dora, which has been passing south of the islands of Hawaii, has caused some of the strong winds and "dangerous fire conditions" since Aug. 8. Hawaii has been under an emergency proclamation for the wildfires since Aug. 8. What happened in Lahaina? Many of the people killed in the wildfires were in Lahaina, where the flames overtook the historic town of about 12,000 people on the west coast of Maui. Aerial video showing the scope of the destruction reveals the town has been largely reduced to ash. The town's treasured 150-year-old banyan tree was also burned, the NBC News reports, though it still may survive. When the death toll was 36, the town's mayor said that the city would continue to be in a "search and rescue mode." "We've had many dwellings, businesses, structures that have been burnt many of them to the ground," Maui Mayor Richard T. Bissen said on Aug. 9, adding that thousands are now in shelters. Green said in a statement on Aug. 9 that "hundreds of local families" have been displaced in the "terrible disaster," which was fueled by winds from Hurricane Dora and underlying drought conditions. Thursday morning, Green told local news stations he had been notified that President Joe Biden had approved a national disaster declaration for Hawaii. In an Aug. 10 press conference, Green said it will take years to rebuild and possibly billions of dollars. When you see full extent of the destruction of Lahaina, it will shock you, he said. It does appear like a bomb and fire went off, if I may. And all of those buildings virtually are going to have to be rebuilt. Residents were forced to evacuate More than 11,000 people have already been evacuated from Maui and another 2,000 are expected to leave by Aug. 11, officials said. Local hospitals have been overwhelmed by people with serious burns, and thousands of people are being housed in evacuation centers, NBC News reported. Everyone I know is now homeless, Maui resident Dustin Kaleiopu said on TODAY on Aug. 10. In 36 hours, our town has been burnt to ashes, nothing left. Ed Sniffen, director of the Hawaii Department of Transport, said at a news conference at 8 p.m. local time on Aug. 9 (3 a.m. Thursday ET) that 11,400 people had been flown out so far. He added that 600 others were expected to stay overnight at the airport in order to leave on the next available flights. United Airlines sent empty airplanes for its regularly scheduled flights to Maui to be used as passenger flights to evacuate people to the mainland, the airline said in a statement on Aug. 10. American Airlines said it expects to operate all of the scheduled flights to and from Maui on Aug. 10 and has added an additional flight to help with the evacuation. Also, customers whose travel plans are affected by the wildfires can rebook without fees, cancel or receive a refund. A wildfire burns in Kihei, Hawaii (Ty O'Neil / AP) US Coast Guard rescued 17 people from water The U.S. Coast Guard said during a press conference on Aug. 11 that their crews rescued 17 survivors from the water of Lahaina Harbor the evening of Aug. 8 and into early Aug. 9. Capt. Asa Kirksey, the commander of Coast Guard sector Honolulu, said that there were other people in the water who were helped by other agencies who responded to the urgent broadcast to all mariners "indicating what we thought would be a mass rescue." She said eight good Samaritan vessels also responded to a report of what they initially believed to be as many as 100 people in the water and clinging to the sea wall. She added that it was unclear exactly how many people were rescued from the ocean by other parties. Kirksey said approximately 300 Coast Guard personnel had mobilized and continued searching "in case we received additional reports of persons entering the water." All 17 survivors rescued by the Coast Guard were reported to be in stable condition, Kirksey said. She added that it wasn't clear the age breakdown of the people rescued but a Coast Guard surface swimmer had managed to "save five people including two children from the water." Originally, the Coast Guard had said in a news release that 14 people were rescued on Aug. 8. What caused the fires in Hawaii? The National Weather Service shared the morning of Aug. 9, that Hurricane Dora is to blame for "dangerous fire conditions" and extreme wind gusts. Top wind gust speeds above 80 mph were clocked across Hawaii this week, according to data from the National Weather Service. While well to the south of the Hawaiian Islands, Hurricane Dora is creating strong winds across the Islands which are creating dangerous fire conditions. https://t.co/12ut6VYhbx National Weather Service (@NWS) August 9, 2023 The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning the morning of Aug. 9, warning of impending critical fire conditions. The strong winds, low humidity and high temperatures will likely contribute to "extreme fire behavior." The winds were expected to bring 35 mph gusts as temperatures were likely to climb to 107 degrees, according to the NWS. "Any fires that will develop will likely spread rapidly," the warning advised. The U.S. Drought Monitor also notes that much of Maui was and is in drought conditions. Biden calls Hawaii wildfires devastating and promises help President Joe Biden spoke out on Aug. 10 about the wildfires, remarking that anyone who lost a loved one or had their home damaged or destroyed is going to get help immediately. Biden who spoke at the George E. Wahlen Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah was there to mark the first anniversary of the PACT Act, NBC News reports. He also thanked emergency responders for their brave actions and working around the clock to help. The president also noted that FEMA is coordinating disaster assistance. He said he has directed all available federal assets on the island to assist local emergency response crews to work as quickly as possible to fight these fires and evacuate residents and tourists. In the meantime, our prayers are with the people of Hawaii but not just our prayers, he concluded his comments on the wildfires. Every asset we have will be available in them. And weve seen their homes, their businesses destroyed and some have lost loved ones. And its not over yet. On Aug. 11, Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters the White House is continuing to monitor the situation and helping to coordinate resources. We are coordinating federal resources to swiftly get there to support the work that has to be done both in terms of recovery, but to just support the folks on the ground, she said. It is tragic what has happened there. I have full faith and confidence in the leadership in Hawaii to stay on top of this, but they will have our full support, Harris said. Our prayers are with the families and with the leaders. She added that she would like to tour the damage but doesn't want to distract from the needs of victims and first responders. Are the wildfires in Hawaii still burning? On Aug. 15, Maui County said in a release that the Lahaina fire was 85% contained, the Upcountry/Kula fire was 75% contained and the Pulehu/Kihei fire was 100% contained. A fire that led to sudden evacuations in Kaanapali the night of Aug. 11 was 100% contained within about two hours. This article was originally published on TODAY.com New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday called for the federal government to declare a state of emergency to manage the "crisis" at the border, saying the influx of asylum seekers could end up costing the city billions of dollars in the coming years. Adams said more than 57,000 migrants are under the citys care on an average night and nearly 100,000 asylum seekers have sought shelter there since last year. At a news conference Wednesday, Adams said a federal state of emergency would "allow federal funds to be allocated quickly to help address the urgent challenges we face." New York has spent $1.45 billion during fiscal year 2023 on shelter, food and services for asylum seekers and could eventually spend upwards of $12 billion from fiscal years 2023-25 without policy changes or further support, the mayors office said. The Adams administration is calling on the federal government to provide more reimbursements for costs incurred by the city. Adams' request echoes those of other politicians, mostly Republicans, who have called for President Joe Biden to declare a national emergency. Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter with a similar request in 2021, the same year more than two dozen House Republicans signed a letter asking Biden to declare a national emergency at the southern border. Several Democratic state and local leaders have declared state of emergencies of their own due to rising numbers of migrants. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, while Chicago and New York state issued emergency declarations earlier this year. Adams declared a state of emergency for New York City in October. The number of encounters at the U.S. border declined immediately following the lifting of Covid restrictions known as Title 42 in mid-May, NBC News previously reported. When reached for comment on Adams' request, an official from the Department of Homeland Security pointed to the "more than $140 million in federal funding to New York City, more than any other interior city." DHS this week also sent a team of experts to work with New York officials to identify how the state and federal governments can "improve efficiencies and maximize resources" for the migrant situation, the official said. After a review with city officials, the team will report recommended steps to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. "The administration will continue to collaborate directly with city and state officials to coordinate our efforts and we continue to call on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform," the official said. In his remarks Wednesday, Adams said his administration appreciated the federal government sending a team from the DHS, but "there's more they can do." He also said the city would not "abandon our brothers and sisters seeking the American dream." "We have done more than any city to provide for so many migrants in such a short period of time," Adams said. "We have met a historic crisis with historic compassion, and while we are past our breaking point, we never just slammed the door of opportunity." Pink had a special delivery for her opening concert at Boston's Fenway Park. A devoted fan went into early labor just before the Summer Carnival Tour concert on July 31, walked to the closest hospital to give birth and named her baby after the "Raise Your Glass" singer's family, according to a release from Boston Brigham and Women's Hospital. Angela Mercer was 31 weeks pregnant, far from her due date when she traveled from her home in Albany, New York, to the Boston concert, according to the release posted on the hospital's Facebook page announcing the news. The outing was a girls' trip with Mercer's sister-in-law Amy and mother Barbara. "However, things didnt quite go to plan," the hospital post reads. Mercer started having contractions shortly after arriving for the show and called her doctor, who advised her to get to a hospital. More: Fan throws bag of ashes at Pink during tour concert With all the traffic surrounding Fenway for the concert, Mercer couldn't find a ride to the nearest hospital. So the girls' trip became a walking trek in concert apparel of about a mile to Brigham and Womens Hospital, where Mercer gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Angela Mercer holds her baby boy named after Pink's family. Pink, who has been married to Carey Hart for 17 years, has a new fan named after her family Aycen Hart. "Baby Aycen was born right on his grandma Barbaras birthday," according to the hospital post. "While the family didnt get to enjoy the concert, they say they received the greatest gift of all a healthy baby boy." Mercer shared her thanks to the hospital staff in the post saying she and husband Ace were "so incredibly thankful." Nurse Moira Crowley tells USA TODAY through a hospital statement that the concert-to-hospital delivery "will most certainly be one of the most memorable births throughout my career." "The entire family not only left us with one of the best birth stories but also endless pink sparkles throughout our hallways," Crowley added. "We are all still thinking of them on Labor & Delivery and wish everyone a speedy recovery." USA TODAY has reached out to Pink's media representative for comment. Pink has gone through the life spectrum on her world tour. During a concert in Hyde Park, London, a fan threw a bag seemingly containing their mother's ashes on stage. In the viral video that followed Pink paused the concert to take in the moment. "This is your mom?" Pink can be heard asking in a video as she picked up the bag. "I don't know how I feel about this." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pink fan goes into labor, gives birth after Summer Carnival Tour show Russian President Vladimir Putin is weighing whether to attend his first in-person meeting with Western leaders since his forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, a Kremlin source tells NBC News. Putin still hasnt ruled out appearing in person at the G20 meeting of major economies on Sept. 9-10 in the Indian capital, New Delhi, according to a Kremlin official who did not want to be named because he does not make public statements. The Russian president, facing an election in nine months, would like to relaunch himself on the world stage after a period of relative isolation brought on by the war in Ukraine. Like Chinese President Xi Jinping, he would also be keen to woo countries that arent solidly in the Western camp at an event closely watched in capitals around the world. But, in Putins worldview, its all about the timing. Going would come with big risks for a leader used to stage-managed media appearances at home and summits abroad with friendly countries such as Belarus, China and Central Asian states where he rarely faces challenging questions in public. Its a high stakes decision for the embattled Russian leader. Alexey Maslov, a professor and the director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University, said the G20 event could be aggressive toward him politically. The media at the G20 will be particularly dedicated to critics of Russia and the main question is whether President Putin will be able to present the Russian point of view, Maslov said. If he can receive no guarantees, he will only appear online or will cancel his participation altogether. The Russian leader would almost certainly face awkward questions from journalists, according to Jonathan Eyal, international director of the Royal United Services Institute, a foreign policy think tank in London. Its very difficult to edit it out from the carefully scripted TV coverage in Russia, and it creates a fairly dramatic picture for him to sit in a conference room and be directly confronted with the accusations about his war of aggression in Ukraine, he said. These arent idle worries. In 2014, after Russias annexation of Crimea, Putin was publicly shunned and sidelined during the G20 meeting in Australia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel 10th anniversary in office (DPA via Getty Images file) Putin, who this year faces the added risk of being confronted over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, had already been pulling back from appearing at international events. Amid the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, he participated in G20 meetings via video conference. He did not participate in the 2022 event in Bali, Indonesia, where other leaders condemned Russias invasion of its neighbor. I dont know. I didnt think about it. Well see, Putin said in late July when asked about whether he would travel to New Delhi next month, according to the Russian news agency Tass. In March, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists to expect an announcement once a decision had been made. Next months G20 summit is already set to be the most contentious in years and an important litmus test of many countries true positions on Ukraine. In July a two-day meeting of G20 finance ministers ended without the usual joint communique due to tense differences over Ukraine. The Indian finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said that both Russia and China had objected to a reference to immense human suffering. France has said it will not sign any statement that stops short of condemning Russias invasion of Ukraine, like the one issued at the end of last years G20 summit in Bali did. An added complication for Putin if he travels outside Russias borders is an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court on suspicion of committing war crimes in connection with the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. Putin is already missing the BRICS summit of emerging economies in Johannesburg this month, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, because host nation South Africa would be obliged to arrest him. (South African President Cyril Ramaphosa did say he was reluctant to arrest his Russian counterpart.) South Africa is one of the 123 nations that have ratified the Rome Statute that compels them to carry out ICC warrants. India, like Russia and the United States, is not a member. Aftermath of recent shelling in Donetsk (Alexander Ermochenko / Reuters) Andrei Fedorov, Russias former deputy foreign minister, said there were strong pros and cons to Putins attending next months summit, but a big consideration is how other leaders would treat him. He doesnt want to be in the situation of sitting together with Western leaders who will just accuse him, Fedorov said. And some of the leaders, including President Biden, already decided to ignore President Putin and not take any picture with him. A key element of G20 summits is bilateral meetings with world leaders invitations to these tete-a-tetes may be a deciding factor for Putin. A number of major G20 countries abstained from a United Nations vote in February calling on Russia to leave Ukraine: Saudi Arabia, South Africa, India and Russias longtime ally China. Putin famously greeted Saudi Arabias crown prince with a high five at the G20 conference in 2018, soon after the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. But as far as international diplomacy goes, that was a long time ago. Apart from Mr. Modi, the Indian prime minister who would act as a host, or perhaps Xi Jinping of China, its very difficult to see what other bilateral meetings he is likely to have, Eyal said. Still, that may not be enough to deter Putin. He would like the relations repaired with the West, provided he doesnt have to pay any price for it, Eyal said. CORALVILLE, Iowa Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that he would be open to using drone strikes against Mexican drug cartels if hes elected president. We will absolutely reserve the right if theyre invading our country and killing our people, DeSantis said when a voter asked whether he would be willing to use drones against the cartels. Asked later by NBC News to clarify, DeSantis said: I said I would use whatever force we need to defend the country. Wed be willing to lean in against them, and we reserve the right to defend our country, he added. DeSantis has been leaning hard into immigration as a theme in his presidential campaign, pushing to the right to distinguish himself from former President Donald Trump. In June, DeSantis endorsed the use of deadly force against migrants suspected of trafficking drugs. He reiterated the policy again Thursday as he spoke to a crowd of more than 150 voters in a packed restaurant here. Were authorizing deadly force. They try to break into our country? They will end up stone-cold dead, he said to a rousing round of applause. In a recent interview, DeSantis discussed how he would distinguish between migrants who are smuggling drugs and those who arent. Same way a police officer would know, he said. Same way somebody operating in Iraq would know. You know, these people in Iraq at the time, they all looked the same. You didnt know who had a bomb strapped to them. So those guys have to make judgments. In May, DeSantis authorized 1,100 members of Florida law enforcement agencies and the National Guard to be sent to the southern border. And long before he announced his run for president, he flew migrants from Texas to Marthas Vineyard, Massachusetts a stunt he frequently brags about on the campaign trail. We banned sanctuary cities, we sent support to Texas to help secure the border, and we even helped transport illegal aliens to beautiful Marthas Vineyard, he said Thursday. He has also pledged to end birthright citizenship, a policy under which children who are born in the U.S. automatically become citizens, regardless of whether or not their parents are citizens. A few other Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, have also said they would back military attacks on Mexico. The U.S. military has used drone strikes in Syria as early as this spring, retaliating against a deadly Iranian attack. The military has also used drone strikes in Afghanistan in the past but never in Mexico. Five Americans imprisoned in Iran have been placed under house arrest in the first step of a planned prisoner exchange between Tehran and Washington that will include the release of roughly $6 billion in Iranian government assets blocked under U.S. sanctions, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter. If the proposed agreement goes through, Iran will be allowed to access the funds only to buy food, medicine or other humanitarian purposes, in accordance with existing U.S. sanctions against the country. Under the agreement, which could take weeks to carry out, Qatars central bank will oversee the funds, the sources said. Republican lawmakers harshly criticized then-President Barack Obama when he made a similar agreement in 2015. The new deal has been under negotiation for months, with Qatar and other governments acting as intermediaries. Siamak Namazi and Baquer Namazi (Courtesy Babak Namazi) Several of the detained Americans were taken on Thursday from their cells in Tehran's notorious Evin prison to a location in the capital where they will remain under house arrest until the prisoner exchange occurs. One of the Americans was apparently already under house arrest before Thursday, a lawyer for one of the detainees and the other sources said. In the past, Americans and other foreign inmates due to be freed have been put under house arrest before their transfers abroad. The U.S. government has identified three American citizens held in Iran Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz. Two additional Americans are being held in Iran, but their families have chosen not to identify them publicly, the White House National Security Council said. We have received confirmation that Iran has released from prison five Americans who were unjustly detained and has placed them on house arrest, said National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson. While this is an encouraging step, these U.S. citizens Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Shargi, and two Americans who at this time wish to remain private should have never been detained in the first place. The U.S. will not rest until they are all back home in the United States, she said. Until that time, negotiations for their eventual release remain ongoing and are delicate. We will, therefore, have little in the way of details to provide about the state of their house arrest or about our efforts to secure their freedom, Watson added. An unknown number of permanent U.S. legal residents, or green card holders, are under detention in Iran, including Shahab Dalili, who has been held since 2016. The prisoner exchange appears to involve only U.S. citizens. A source familiar with the negotiations told a group of reporters earlier: Its the start of a process that eventually will see these Americans leave Iran and come home. Jared Genser, pro bono counsel for Namazi, called the move to house arrest an important development, adding: While I hope this will be the first step to their ultimate release, this is at best the beginning of the end and nothing more. But there are simply no guarantees about what happens from here. NBC News first reported on the prisoner exchange negotiations in February. The families of the Americans held in Iran say their loved ones are hostages taken captive on false charges and used as bargaining chips by the government. Human rights groups say Iran has been engaged in hostage-taking for decades, wielding foreign prisoners as leverage over other governments. Iran denies the accusation and says the foreign nationals have been treated in accordance with the countrys laws. Apart from the exchange of prisoners held in both countries, the prisoner swap deal involves the release of roughly $6 billion that has been frozen in South Korean banks by U.S. sanctions. From 2012 to 2019, Washington allowed South Korea and other countries to buy Iranian oil but blocked Tehrans access to proceeds from the sales. The funds could only be used by Iran for permitted humanitarian-related purchases. Irans government has long demanded access to the money in return for the release of Americans imprisoned in Iran. The source familiar with the negotiations told reporters that this was not an account that was ever intended to be frozen for all time for any purpose. It was always meant to be available for non-sanctionable trade. President Joe Biden will likely face a torrent of criticism from Republicans if the funds in South Korea are released. Administration officials are expected to argue that the funds can be used only for humanitarian purposes and that it was the only way to secure the freedom of the detained Americans, several of whom have been held for years with no prospect of an early release. Obama came under fire from Republicans in 2015 when his administration gave Iran access to cash that had been blocked by sanctions, just as Tehran released a group of imprisoned Americans. The movement of the Americans out of prison is only the first step in a protracted process that could last weeks. The funds to be unfrozen in South Korea will have to be converted into different currencies as requested by Iran, a lengthy process due to the provisions of U.S. sanctions. As part of the swap, an unknown number of Iranians detained in the U.S. will be transferred from U.S. custody to Iran. The timing of that step remained unclear. Apart from Qatar, the governments of Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq also played supporting roles as intermediaries in the discussions, the source familiar with the negotiations said. Switzerland, which handles U.S. interests in Iran as Washington has no diplomatic relations with Tehran, will help implement the agreement and the Swiss ambassador is expected to have access to the American detainees during their house arrest. In addition to the prisoner exchange, the two sides have also discussed a possible informal verbal agreement aimed at averting a crisis over Irans nuclear program, NBC News has previously reported. The proposed arrangement would have Iran possibly freeze its uranium enrichment at current levels of 60 percent purity and fully cooperate with inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. In return, the U.S. would not impose new sanctions or possibly not strictly enforce some existing sanctions. The precise outlines of the proposed arrangement remain unclear. U.S. officials have denied there is any interim nuclear agreement but sources with knowledge of the talks say the two sides have been discussing an informal, verbal understanding designed to freeze the status quo and avoid a confrontation. Under U.S. law, any formal agreement would have to be reviewed by Congress. Iran has steadily expanded its uranium enrichment work and has enough fissile material for more than one nuclear weapon if it chose to enrich the material to 90% purity, experts say. If it takes that step, U.S. officials fear Israel might opt to take military action to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Iran has denied it is planning to develop nuclear weapons and says the program is for purely civilian purposes. Biden came into office promising to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers known as the JCPOA that imposed limits on Irans nuclear activities in return for lifting U.S. and international sanctions. Then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the agreement in 2018, reimposed sanctions and introduced additional ones. Negotiations on restoring the 2015 nuclear accord collapsed last year. The three Americans held in Iran that have been publicly identified by the U.S. are Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian American who also holds British citizenship and was arrested in January 2018 and convicted of espionage in 2019. Tahbaz was part of a group of environmental activists carrying out research on Irans endangered cheetah population. Emad Shargi, an Iranian-born businessman who moved to the U.S. as a young man, was arrested in April 2018. He was released on bail and cleared of all charges in December 2019, but Iranian authorities refused to return his passport. Shargi was charged again in 2020 and convicted on espionage charges without a trial. And Siamak Namazi has been held prisoner in Iran for nearly eight years, longer than any of the other current American detainees. A business consultant with degrees from Tufts and Rutgers universities, Namazi was arrested in 2015 and convicted of espionage in a trial that lasted a few hours. His elderly father, Baquer, was arrested in 2016 when he traveled to Iran to visit his son and detained. Baquer Namazi was released in 2022. Siamak Namazi has criticized the U.S. for not doing more to secure his release and that of other Americans held in Iran and appealed to Biden to meet with the families of those detained. In January, he went on a weeklong hunger strike. Namazi was not included in previous prisoner exchanges with Iran dating to 2016. The American captive held longest in Iran is believed to have been Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who disappeared during a business trip on Irans Kish Island in 2007. U.S. officials later admitted that Levinson was there doing contract work for the CIA. In 2011, his family released photos and a video in which Levinson pleaded for help and said he was in poor health. Iranian officials steadfastly denied knowing anything about him. In 2020, the family announced that they had concluded that Levinson had died in captivity, citing information provided to them by U.S. officials. Those who are responsible for what happened to Bob Levinson, including those in the US government who for many years repeatedly left him behind, will ultimately receive justice for what they have done, the family said in a statement. CORRECTION (August 10, 2023, 3:29 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated who the source was on the outlines of the planned prisoner exchange. It was several people with knowledge of the deal, not a lawyer for one of the detainees. Virgin Galactic passengers Jon Goodwin, Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers A rocket plane is due to fly from New Mexico carrying an 80-year-old British former Olympian, an Aberdeen student and her mother into space. Anastatia Mayers and her mother Keisha Schahaff won the tickets to board the Virgin Galactic flight in a competition. Jon Goodwin, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, will become the second person with Parkinson's disease to go to space. The mission will be seen as another test of how viable space tourism is. The launch window for the Virgin Galactic 02 flight opens at 08:30 local time (15:30 BST). It is Virgin Galactic's second commercial flight. The first was in June when the Italian Air Force and scientists conducted experiments in weightless conditions on a 70-minute mission. The Unity rocket plane is carried on the first stage of its journey slung underneath a carrier jet, known as Eve. Unity will then aim to ignite its engine and travel to an altitude of 279,000ft (85km). The advertised price for a place on a Virgin Galactic flight has been as high as $450,000 (350,000). Mr Goodwin, who competed in the 1972 Olympics as a canoeist, paid $250,000 for his ticket in 2005 but had feared his diagnosis would mean he could not take part. He said he wanted to prove that his condition - Parkinson's disease is a condition in which parts of the brain become progressively damaged - did not define him. Around 100 people will watch him travel into space at a party in Stoke-on-Trent organised by Parkinson's UK. Ms Schahaff, from Antigua, was flying to the UK to sort out her daughter's visa when she entered a competition to join the spaceflight. She found out months later that she had won two spaceflight seats in the draw. "Suddenly, who's walking into my yard? Richard Branson. The whole team just swarmed into my house saying 'you're the winner, you're going to space'," she said. Her daughter Anastatia will become the second-youngest person to go to space, and says she hopes to inspire others. "That would be very important to me, both in Scotland and Antigua and anywhere else I have any ties," she says. "My intention is to just break any barriers that we set for ourselves or that the world sets for us." The flight will aim to reach the edge of space, around 53 miles (85km) above Earth, where the passengers will have a few minutes to experience weightlessness. The spaceship does not have the velocity to complete a full orbit of the globe. Jon Goodwin is the first on a list of 800 or so individuals who have bought tickets for a ride on the Unity rocket. Some of them have been waiting over a decade to get their chance, and most will have a long wait still. US multi-millionaire Dennis Tito became the world's first ever space tourist in 2001, paying a reported $20m. Recently, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin beat Virgin Galactic in the race to become the first company to take paying passengers into space. Both companies say their missions further science as well as catering to the very rich, but space tourism has been criticised for its cost and environmental impact. News Daily banner Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox. Virginia formally withdrew from an election information-sharing pact Thursday, becoming the latest state under Republican control to leave the nonpartisan program, which became the subject of conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 presidential election. "Virginias resignation from ERIC is effective August 10," a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Elections confirmed. The Electronic Registration Information Center, known as ERIC, is an information-sharing group designed to help member states spot voters who should be removed from their voter rolls, including those who are dead and those who move to different states. The system also flags potential cases of double-voting a voters casting ballots in more than one state which are then used to investigate potential instances of voter fraud. In a letter notifying the group of Virginias intention to leave the agreement, Susan Beals, the commissioner of Virginia's Elections Department, cited concerns about the pacts "increasing and uncertain" costs, as well as an "inconsistent enforcement" of membership criteria, as factors leading to its withdrawal. "In short, ERICs mandate has expanded beyond that of its initial intent to improve the accuracy of voter rolls," Beals wrote in May. "We will pursue other information arrangements with our neighboring states and look to other opportunities to partner with states in an apolitical fashion." ERIC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Virginia, a swing state, was one of ERIC's founding member states in 2012, and the group's website says its seven founding members "believed using state-of-the-art data matching technology, a robust and safe data sharing program built on widely accepted information security standards, and an unprecedented commitment to cooperation would vastly improve their ability to maintain accurate voter rolls." Virginia is the ninth state to have either withdrawn or announced plans to withdraw from the pact following Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, Texas and West Virginia after some prominent conservatives, including former President Donald Trump, linked the group to unsubstantiated allegations of widespread voter fraud during the 2020 election. All nine states have Republican governors except Louisiana, where the Republican secretary of state oversees elections. The Elections Department spokesperson said the commonwealth is collaborating with other states to create a new program to spot double voters. Asked whether the final pact is expected to include other voting safeguards, the spokesperson said that "we are working with other states on that," without specifying which provisions it would include or when a new program could be announced. "We do not have any additional information as of yet," the official said. Image: Virginia Gov. Youngkin Speaks At Grand Opening Of Amazon HQ2 In Arlington (Drew Angerer / Getty Images file) On Thursday, Democrats accused Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's administration of withdrawing from "a system designed to prevent voter fraud without a replacement." Marcus Simon, the deputy leader of Virginia's House Democrats, said the commonwealth's Republicans are letting election conspiracies dictate policy decisions "even as evidence continues to mount showing the big lie was part of a conspiracy to defraud the United States," which he said makes Virginia's "election less secure." Youngkin's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the letter, Beals said the commonwealth is concerned about the "stewardship" of voter information and accused the pact of sharing data with external organizations "leveraged for political purposes." Shane Hamlin, ERIC's executive director, wrote in an open letter that such allegations are unfounded. "Members retain complete control over their voter rolls and they use the reports we provide in ways that comply with federal and state laws," Hamlin wrote in March, later adding that the organization adheres to "widely accepted security protocols" in handling voter data, which he said is housed in a "managed, secure data center." "We will remain focused on our mission by providing our members with actionable data they can use to keep their voter rolls more accurate, investigate potential illegal activity, and offer voter registration information to those who may need it," he said. A luxury condominium on the affluent stretch of Beach Drive in downtown St. Petersburg thats been home to some of the citys most prominent residents, including former Gov. Charlie Crist, is facing millions of dollars in repairs after engineers discovered a host of major issues. The Bayfront Tower Board of Directors ordered an inspection of the building following the 2021 Champlain Towers South Building collapse in Surfside. That disaster killed 98 people and compelled state lawmakers to overhaul condo safety rules, raising the bar for building inspections and upkeep. The reforms have prompted a painful reckoning at condos across the state where routine maintenance has been neglected for years. As condo associations scramble to bring buildings up to the new standard, many residents will be forced to pay up or move out. The bill, already due at Bayfront Tower, will be steep. Though the building was deemed structurally sound, construction will cost between $30 million and $45 million and owners may be forced to vacate their units and the parking garage while the work is being done, according to engineers. They discovered problems with post tension cables, the metal framing and stucco on the outside of the building, the garage concrete and the roof. Thats according to an FAQ document and a summary of the inspection that the board of directors sent to residents and reviewed by the Tampa Bay Times. Condo owners will pay special assessments to cover it all. The board didnt respond to specific questions about the cost or timeline of repairs. But according to the documents, additional testing will be done on the building and the board will seek out other expert opinions before finalizing a plan. The Tampa Bay Times called more than 100 current and former unit owners in the building over several weeks. All declined to speak publicly. Some said that negative publicity could lower their property values. Others said they feared retribution from their peers in the building. The Times filed a public records request with the city of St. Petersburg to obtain a copy of the inspection. But the city said the board had not yet submitted one. Slider Engineering Group, the firm that performed the inspection, declined to comment and deferred to the board. Bayfront Tower, like hundreds of other high-rise condominiums in the state of Florida, has retained an engineering and construction team to opine on the structural conditions of the condominium building, and to provide recommendations for improvements that will ensure that Bayfront Tower remains one of the most desirable waterfront high-rises in Florida, the board wrote in a statement to the Times. Now, aging condos across the state will face the same scrutiny as Bayfront Tower thanks to Senate Bill 4-D, which the Florida Legislature passed unanimously in a special session last year. Another bill that made slight changes to the law passed in April. Under the new rules: Condos three stories and higher must undergo an initial milestone inspection after 30 years and every 10 years thereafter. This will determine whether the building is structurally sound and if it needs any repairs. Buildings that are already 30 years or older must have milestone inspections completed before Dec. 31, 2024. Condos three stories and higher must perform a study of reserve funds before Dec. 31, 2024, and every 10 years thereafter. This will determine how much condo associations must save to properly maintain the building. Condo associations will be barred from waiving or underfunding reserves. Prior to the collapse of Champlain Towers South, unit owners in that building faced steep special assessments after they had postponed major repairs. The condo association had just over $777,000 in reserves to pay for an estimated $16.2 million in repairs. Moving forward, the structural integrity of a condominium will be reserved, they will be maintained, and they will be kept up to par so that future condominiums never have to worry about another Surfside taking place, said Rep. Danny Perez, R-Miami, following the passage of the bill. Dimitri Karides, a broker associate with Sand Key Realty in Clearwater Beach, said Champlain Towers South was not an anomaly. Many condos across the state have neglected routine maintenance for years to keep costs low for owners. They might only fund 25% of the real work that needs to be done each year, whether its rebar, the pool, the roof, the concrete, he said. Now those buildings are going to have to play catch-up. The cost of living in a safer building will place a burden on some of our owners, said the FAQ document that was sent to Bayfront Tower residents. We are sympathetic to those owners, but this is something we must do. Each owner will need to evaluate their ability to handle the special assessments. Eight Bayfront Tower residents the Times spoke with said they are willing to pay additional fees to keep the building in good shape. Greg Main-Baillie, executive managing director for the Florida Development Services Group at Colliers, oversees construction projects for condos across the state. He said that until the board comes up with a final scope of work, it will be hard to determine an exact price for assessments. Assessments for owners will also vary based on the size of their units. Bayfront Tower residents already paid a special assessment in 2022, according to the FAQ document reviewed by the Times. That fee was levied to cover rising insurance costs, litigation fees from a lawsuit against the building and an operating shortfall caused in part by rising water costs. In 2014, Bayfront Tower began a $10 million renovation project that included updating the exterior and adding a new roof to help it compete with newer, flashier buildings on Beach Drive. Annie Fleeting, the broker and owner of NextHome Beach Time Realty in St. Pete Beach, said most Bayfront Tower residents are wealthy enough to afford these kinds of steep assessments. But those who cant come up with the cash may be forced to sell their units below market value. Theyre going to have to disclose that information to buyers, Fleeting said. Who is going to want to buy that condo at full price when theyre looking at potentially thousands of dollars in special assessments? Completing the required inspections is just a start. Over the next year, Main-Baillie said condo associations will embark on a lengthy and expensive journey that involves securing loans, hiring engineering firms and contractors and completing several rounds of safety testing before renovations can begin. The risks are huge if your construction project is not managed well, he said. He noted that its easy for condo associations to be taken advantage of since the contracts technically give (engineers) a blank check. In the short term, The cost of condo ownership is going to increase dramatically, Karides said. But as condo associations adapt to the new rules and start to better plan for the future, I think its going to lead to more financial stability and safer buildings down the line. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Idram and IDBank summed up the results of the next program of The Power of One Dram initiative. The companies report that 3.480.466 AMD was donated to the Children of Armenia Charitable Foundation for payments made through their platforms during July. The companies also announced the name of next month's beneficiary. During August, 1 AMD will be transferred to SOS Children's Villages Armenian charitable foundation for each client's payment through the Idram&IDBank application, IDBanking.am platform and Idram.am website. The SOS Children's Villages Foundation is a child-oriented organization whose mission is to help children in difficult life situations. The Foundation operates in two areas: alternative care services, as well as family strengthening services for families with minor children in a difficult social situation. The programs implemented by the Foundation are aimed at improving the child protection system in the Republic of Armenia, ensuring the right of the child to live in a family. Spartak Sargsyan, National Director of SOS Children's Villages Armenian Charitable Foundation, notes that their cooperation with Idram and IDBank is extremely important for the foundation's mission. Together we support children, youth and their families who are in a difficult life situation, contributing to the development of communities, says Spartak Sargsyan. According to Tatevik Vardevanyan, Head of Communications unit at IDBank, companies appreciate the support to the charitable foundation, as it is one of the key areas of corporate social responsibility. You can also become a goodwill ambassador by simply making all your payments through Idram&IDBank app, IDBanking.am and Idram.am website without spending any extra AMD. After all, it all starts with one dram ... COMPANIES ARE CONTROLLED BY THE CBA Modi government won the No-Confidence vote as the Opposition staged a walkout in the middle of his speech Prime Minister Narendra Modi replies on the Motion of No-Confidence in the Lok Sabha in the Monsoon session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (PTI) New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered his much-anticipated response on the Manipur violence during the concluding day of the No-Confidence motion on Thursday. He described the strife-torn state as his "jigar ka tukda" (piece of my heart). The Modi government won the No-Confidence vote as the Opposition staged a walkout in the middle of his speech. The outcome was on the expected lines given the brute majority of the BJP-led NDA. The motion was decided on a voice vote. This was the second No-Confidence motion brought by the Opposition against the Modi government. The first was in 2018, which was also won by the Modi government. The Prime Minister's speech also seemed to be aimed at the forthcoming 2024 General Elections as he urged the Opposition to bring another No-Confidence motion in 2028. "The Opposition's ill will brings us good luck," the Prime Minister quipped in his over 130-minute reply in Lok Sabha. Modi claimed that by the end of 2028, "India will rank in one of the top three economies in the world." After the Opposition walked out demanding his statement on Manipur, the Prime Minister delved into the issue in detail. Firing at the empty Opposition benches, Modi claimed that the Opposition was "never serious about Manipur," and that's why "they ran away from the debate today." He claimed that the "Opposition was afraid to discuss Manipur and derailed the debate." The Prime Minister condemned the violence, assault on Manipur's "mothers and sisters," and asserted that "the nation is with Manipur." He blamed the Congress for past violence, insurgency, and neglect of Manipur. The Prime Minister referred to the Union home minister, Amit Shah's speech on Manipur, saying that "Amit bhai had discussed everything in detail, rising above politics." The Prime Minister claimed that the government "will find a way to bring development in Manipur on track." He assured, "peace will be restored in Manipur." Amidst chants of "Modi, Modi" and thumping of desks, the Prime Minister spoke of all the "firsts" that happened in Manipur under the NDA rule, including the airports. Launching his tirade against the Opposition, keeping Congress as his main focus, the Prime Minister said that their main slogan is - "Modi teri kabr khudegi" (A grave is being dug for you, Modi). Taking a jibe at Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi's "mohabbat ka dukan" remark, the Prime Minister claimed that it was actually "loot ka dukan, jhoot ka dukan, ghotala ke dukan, parivarvad ka dukan." "Jhoot ke bazar mein loot ki dukan hai," he said. Responding to Rahul Gandhi likening him to the Hindu demon god "Ravana," Modi hit out - "Lanka was burnt because of Ravana's arrogance." Then came the Modi sting - "arrogance has brought you (Congress) from 400 to 40." Without naming Gandhi or his outfit, the Prime Minister quipped: "they have been repeatedly trying to launch and relaunch a failed product." For Modi, the Opposition house, particularly that of Congress "is like a ruin, which was being plastered." He claimed that "even the Gandhi name was stolen." In an unsparing attack on Gandhi on his references to 'Bharat Mata' and wondered why some people "wished for her death." He said that such remarks "hurt the sentiments of every Indian." He went on, "these are the people (Congress) who divided Maa Bharati into three pieces. When the time came to free Maa Bharati of slavery, they chopped off her limbs." The Prime Minister talked about how the previous regime "trusted Pakistan more whenever a terrorist attack took place but never paid heed to the feelings of the citizens of the country. Modi said Kashmir was burning in the fire of terrorism, but the Congress government did not believe the common man. "They used to trust the Hurriyat, they used to trust the separatists, they used to believe those who carried the Pakistani flag," he said. Speaking of dynasty politics, Modi claimed that Congress leaders were "unhappy" as a "poor man's son has become the Prime Minister." He said that cakes were cut in aircraft but today they were used to transfer vaccines. "They used to get dry-cleaned clothes by air. Earlier Indian Navy ships were used for parties. Today they are used to bring back our people from conflict places," said Modi. He also attacked the Congress for trying to ignore "stalwarts" like B.R. Ambedkar, Ram Manohar Lohia, and Jagjivan Ram. "Opposition has made an unsuccessful attempt to break the confidence of the people in the garb of the No Confidence Motion," said Modi. He also pointed out how the Congress was "disappearing" from all the states across the country. He attacked the Opposition alliance-I.N.D.I.A by claiming that it was a conglomeration of "corrupt and opportunistic" leaders. He reiterated his "ghamandiya" alliance jibe. Mocking the Opposition no-confidence motion, Modi said that he had given them five years to prepare for the motion in 2018, but they did not do their homework properly. He said that Opposition parties had set the pitch, but it was the treasury benches which hit fours and sixes during the debate. "The Opposition is bowling only no-balls in the No-Confidence motion. There are centuries being scored from this side and no-balls being bowled from that side," he said. "...In 2018, I gave them (Opposition) a work - bring No Confidence Motion in 2023 - and they followed my words. But I am sad. In 5 years, they should have done better. But there was no preparation, no innovation, no creativity...I will give you another opportunity for 2028. But I urge them that when they bring the No Confidence Motion in 2028, they come prepared," said Modi. "In a way, Opposition's No-Confidence has always been lucky for us. Today, I can see that you (Opposition) have decided that NDA and BJP will come back in 2024 elections with a grand victory, breaking all previous records, with the blessings of the people," he said. Modi said a simple change of name from UPA to INDIA will not change the fortune of the opposition alliance. He said that in the coming days, the Northeast is going to be a center of development due to movements in the global system in South-East Asia and ASEAN countries. He lamented the tendency of winning elections through reckless assurances and people are being put under tremendous pressure as development projects are being shelved. The Prime Minister said that all the target institutions of the Oppositions criticism like HAL, banks, and LIC invariably shine and called it the Oppositions secret boon. "Whoever they wish bad for, ends up doing well," he said, asking investors to invest in companies which are criticised by the Opposition. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. With the admission of Iran and Byelorussia (next year), the SCO is widely perceived as an anti-West grouping led by China and Russia. The 22nd summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) virtually hosted by India on July 4 has raised many questions on the continued relevance, focus and priorities of the 22-year-old grouping. In a rather unfortunate coincidence, India became the host in 2023 of both the G-20, with a global outreach, and the SCO, a regional body. The agenda and activities hosted by India under the G-20 umbrella received a conscious priority over the activities under the auspices of the SCO, as evident from the absence of any SCO-related mass publicity when the entire country was plastered with the hoardings and posters of the G-20 logo and slogans. The decision to downgrade the SCO summit and hold it virtually was probably taken after the May 4 meeting of the SCO foreign ministers in Goa, which was dominated by the unwarranted remarks of Pakistans foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Indias acerbic response. The real SCO agenda was drowned in the resulting media cacophony. Also, South Block might not have been comfortable with the presence of several prominent adversaries of the United States in New Delhi so soon after the historic meetings of the Prime Minister with President Joe Biden in Washington on June 22-23. In any case, two decades after its establishment, the SCO is facing challenges of relevance, effectiveness and strategic orientation. With the admission of Iran and Byelorussia (next year), the SCO is widely perceived as an anti-West grouping led by China and Russia. The four Central Asian Republics -- particularly Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan -- are not comfortable with this strategic orientation. In his statement at the Delhi summit, the thoughtful Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said that the SCO must remain nonaligned. It is understood that when the 21st SCO summit was held in Samarkand in 2022, Uzbekistan was under considerable pressure from Russia and China to include language critical of the West in the Samarkand Declaration. In a similar vein, the incoming chairman of SCO, Kazakh President Kassym-Jormat Tokayev, said at the Delhi summit: At this stage, the main task of our countries should be to prevent a geopolitical rift between the East and West. A concern shared by India and the Central Asian republics is to resist the attempts to widen the geographic ambit of SCO from Central Asia to Eurasia. There are old cultural, civilizational and historical links between Central Asia and the Indian sub-continent but not with Europe beyond the Ural Mountains. Reflecting this concern, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his presidential address at the Delhi summit said that the SCO (should) focus on Central Asias interests and concerns. The Delhi Declaration emphatically states that Central Asia is the core of SCO. The other reality staring the SCO members in the face is the growing ineffectiveness and marginalisation of the SCO. India did organise 160 meetings, with 14 at the ministerial level, but there is little tangible to show as a concrete outcome. Prime Minister Modi alluded to the doubts about the working of the organisation when he questioned whether the SCO had the ability and capacity to meet the growing economic and strategic challenges. The Uzbek President was more blunt when he said that many SCO decisions remained only on paper, and he suggested an audit of all previous decisions. The incoming chairman, the Kazakh President, was also critical and said: For more than 20 years it has not been possible to implement a single major economic project under the auspices of SCO. In fact, India made a contribution to stem the flow of meaningless words: the Delhi Declaration is 5,000 words shorter than the Samarkand Declaration! A sign of the marginalisation of SCO is that the last reported meeting of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group was held in Dushanbe on July 14, 2021 at foreign ministers level. No SCO member has formally recognised the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, but all have active bilateral contacts with the Taliban regime, and the immediate neighbours also have trade and transit channels. As the future of Afghanistan is of critical importance to the region, it is important for the members to attempt to coordinate their ongoing bilateral exchanges with the Taliban regime in a coherent and harmonised process designed to collectively seek some minimum outcomes such as gender justice. An inert and passive approach leaves the field open to other initiatives. In fact, the Russia-led group Russia Plus Six -- composed of all the immediate neighbours of Afghanistan -- has been much more active. Another sign of the SCOs marginalisation is China has started holding China-SCO summits where all five CARs, including Turkmenistan which is not a member of SCO, participate. The first China-SCO summit was held virtually in January 2022 and the second one in Xian on May 18-19, 2023, where the heads of all five Central Asian republics and President Xi Jinping were present. The Xian documents have 54 agreements and 19 new cooperation mechanisms. China announced financial support and grants to CARs amounting to $3.8 billion. This summit will now be held biennially. India is increasingly seen as an outlier in the SCO. It does not endorse Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, which is enthusiastically supported by all the other members. India was further isolated when it chose not to adopt the SCO Development Strategy for 2030. While no official explanation has been forthcoming about Indias reservations, the main concern for India could be the excessive influence of China over this strategy. India will not be comfortable with a China-designed and China- led strategy for the economic development of the region, that may bring the members in a tight economic embrace of the Dragon! Questions have been raised in the media about the relevance of SCO membership for India. All analysts believe that India should continue to be an active member, with constructive proposals and meaningful participation. The four CARs are our partners in keeping the SCO strategically neutral and nonaligned. Further, the SCO has a major role to play in the regional connectivity projects and India can push routes connecting Central Asia and India via Iran rather than via Afghanistan and Pakistan. Also, the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent is a potentially useful body to co-ordinate anti-terrorism efforts of the member states. The SCO is now at the crossroads. The members have a responsibility to look back, identify its operational weaknesses and refocus the grouping on a limited number of achievable outcomes. Otherwise, it is in danger of being reduced to a mere talking shop. In Guangxi, Rev Park Guangzhe was held in "administrative detention for 15 days. In Wenzhou, the campaign to remove crosses from churches starts up again, and now entails removing plaques with references to Jesus as well. As of 1 September, new rules impose further restrictions on religious activity and bans foreign links. Beijing (AsiaNews) China has intensified its crackdown on the activities of religious groups in recent weeks, from pastoral outreach to religious services. As part of this, crosses have been removed, members of the clergy arrested or held in administrative detention solely for practising their faith, and places of worship have been forced to support the campaign of "sinicisation" in accordance with the ideology of President Xi Jinping. New legislation will soon come into effect with further restrictions. According to new rules taking effect on 1 September, monasteries, temples, mosques, churches, and other religious venues will come under tighter control. Ties with overseas organisations will be banned and religious groups will be required to impart patriotic education to their members. Pastor arrested A Chinese Christian blog has reported the arrest of Rev Park Guangzhe of the Christian New Life Church in Nanning, Guangxi, an autonomous region in southern China, on the border with Vietnam. The clergyman was held for 15 days under an "administrative detention" order, after he was accused of using religion to "disturb the social order". The information comes from a rights advocacy group, which says that the order was issued by the Liangqing branch of the Nanning Public Security Office. Wenzhou, crosses in the crosshairs Meanwhile, authorities in Wenzhou, a prefecture-level city in the southeastern part of Zhejiang province, on the east coast of China, are set to remove crosses from the facades of churches, something they did in the past. On 3 August, a church in Dongqiao was notified that its cross would be removed; church leaders responded by urging the faithful to pray against the removal. A local clergyman told ChinaAid, on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, that a demonic wind" might be rising gain, with the effect of removing crosses". Local officials in Shanxi City, Yongjia County, and Lucheng District ordered the removal of bronze plaques from doors and walls bearing the words "Jesus", "Christ", "Jehovah", and "Emmanuel". Zhejiang is a province with a substantial Christian population and is among the main targets of President Xi Jinpings crackdown on religion and the sinicisation of worship. Between 2014 and 2016, external crosses were removed from more 1,500 churches. Back then, a confidential Chinese government document highlighted the political significance of the anti-cross campaign, part of a wider "ideological struggle" between the communist regime and Christians. The anti-religion campaign eventually spread to other provinces in 2018, including Henan, where multiple crosses were dismantled, Bibles were burnt, and scores of religious symbols and plaques were destroyed, even in peoples homes. Sinicising worship In pursuing its objectives, the Communist Party of China (CPC) is preparing to enact more repressive legislation. According to one of the rules posted on the website of the United Front Department of Work (DLFU), which reports directly to the PC Central Committee, No organisation or individual may use religious activity sites to conduct activities that endanger national security, disrupt social order [or] damage national interests. The guidelines go on to say that managers of religious venues must be thoroughly vetted by Religious Affairs officials, and must "love the motherland and support the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the socialist system." The new rules are part of the ongoing political campaign to "sinicise" religious activity. Religious venues must also submit detailed plans of their activities for pre-approval, and have a duty to "educate religious citizens to love the motherland. They must keep files on staff and members detailing their religious and social activities and any contact with overseas organisations or individuals. The rules ban foreign donations as well as giving teaching assignments to foreign religious groups or institutions without prior authorisation. Speaking to Radio Free Asia (RFA), Chang Chia-lin, a professor at the Institute of Mainland China at Tamkang University in Taiwan, said that the new regulatory framework represents the triumph of politics over spirituality. In his view, in the mainland, politics trumps religion, so that if you break these rules, they can take legal action against you. As a result, religious venues will be forced to obey the government after Sept. 1 . . . either the State Administration of Religious Affairs or the United Front Work Department." RED LANTERNS IS THE ASIANEWS NEWSLETTER DEDICATED TO THE CHINA. TO RECEIVE A WEEKLY UPDATE EVERY THURSDAY, CLICK HERE. by Vladimir Rozanskij Ordinary Uzbeks and businesses complain that they have been forced to pay for a top-down scheme. Some see it as yet another propaganda initiative by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Incapable of overcoming the countrys energy shortages, he is just helping his cronies. Tashkent (AsiaNews) Uzbek authorities have launched a plan to fast-track the installation of solar panels on all public buildings, hospitals, schools, and even private businesses. This has led many businesses to complain that municipal and regional administrators (khokimy) are being heavy-handed, acting without consultations, prior consent, and cost estimates. While panels installed on government buildings are paid with public funds, businesses are being forced to pay out of their own pockets. Grocery stores that refuse to install solar panels have been cut off from the power grid, shutting down their cold storage facilities with inevitable wastage of fresh products and losses that exceed the cost of the solar panels. Solar panel installers sign contracts only with businesses recommended by government administrators, while ordinary citizens are worried that Chinese-made panels will not last long. Barely concealing their bitterness, many observers view this plan as yet another propaganda initiative by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who has been unable to find a solution to the countrys energy shortages, while coming up with new ways to favour "some cronies close to the government", said a local entrepreneur who withheld his name, speaking to Radio Ozodlik. Uzbekistan's current energy initiatives are based on a presidential decree signed last 16 February, On measures to accelerate the introduction of renewable energy sources and energy-saving technologies in 2023. Billions of sums have been spent to carry out the order, with poor results. In some cases, people cannot even plug in their fridge after they were forced to install the faulty solar panel. A businessman in Fergana said he tried to delay the installation as much as, but then the installers showed up without calling ahead. I asked for some time to figure out the costs. They did not listen and cut off the power. The products in the freezer melted and spoiled. This happened three or four more times. In the end, the businessman agreed to the installation; however, his new panel generates 1 kWh of energy at a cost of 15 million sums (around US$ 1,250), which he had to finance with a bank loan at 24 per cent interest. The administration told us they knew a good company to install the panels, but they asked too much and so we found other technicians who did the job quickly. They put a battery that lasts only an hour and a half, and at most can keep a light bulb on. Even the municipal employees are unhappy with the "top-down" initiative, but they cannot oppose government orders. For most people, the state-imposed panels are very inefficient. To fix the equipment and generate enough power would require bigger investments, both in public and private buildings, in order to produce at least 5 kWh needed by a medium-sized business. American-made hybrid inverters cost more than US$ 1,000 each, and each panel costs US0-700, plus other expenses. In the back of the mind of many people, the presidents cronies have bought huge quantities of poor quality panels that they now have to dump in some way. Installers work for the companies that imported the panels, and are not qualified; this has resulted in poorly installed panels that do not last without any possibility for redress. Solar panels were poorly installed even in some kindergartens in Kashkadary. Teachers and school staff were forced to install panels in their own homes provided by the same firm sent by the administration, which openly said: Here we do not need competition. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. If you happen to be in the market for a true classic car and have the means to make your dream come true, you can never go wrong choosing a Porsche from the carmaker's early years. Back in the mid and late 1950s the German brand was just establishing itself as a solid global player. The roots of what the company is today can be traced back to the 356, the carmaker's first production vehicle, and at the same time one of the most valuable classic cars on the market today.It's not difficult to find worth-owning 356s (again, provided you have the means to get your hands on one) but it is a bit tricky to get hold of one that has something truly unique, or at least very rare, about it.The incredibly beautiful 356 we have here does have a few things going for it, and they all may conspire to make the car sell for at least $300,000 when it goes under the hammer next week in Monterey.The first such thing is its rarity. The car is a 356 of the A 1600 Speedster variety. Its body was made by Porsche partner in this field back in the day, Reutter, of which just a little over 1,000 were made that year.The second would be the fact the car wears center lock hub Rudge knock-off wheels. For some reason, collectors like these pieces of hardware, meant to remind of the ones produced by British company Rudge-Whitworth, and this 356 is one of the few known to wear such things.Last but not least, given how 356s were a constant presence at racing events back in its day, the fact this car was first owned by a West Coast racer (Jack Brumby) can do nothing but add to its appeal.At the time of writing the car just surfaced after being part of a private collection for the past three decades. As far as we understand, all of its original parts are there, including the air-cooled 1,600cc flat-4 engine and 4-speed manual transmission.The red over black piece of motoring history has VDO instruments on the dashboard, and is offered with a black soft top and matching tonneau cover.As said, the 1956 Porsche 356A Speedster is going under the hammer next week, and expectations for it are high. In the most optimistic of scenarios, it may end up going for as much as $350,000, making it one of the main attractions of the auction being held in California by Mecum.We'll keep an eye out to see where the hammer falls on this one and will update the story as soon as we learn how much the car went for. Due to significant advancements in electric vehicle development, tech giants are jumping on board the car game. Apple is but one company interested in cashing in on the vast EV market, and theyre relying on tech aficionados and a small part of their fanbase to buy their upcoming car. EV July 15, 2023: We've added a new rendering of the Apple iCar courtesy of the same digital artist.We've known Apple is planning to join the automotive industry with their very own product for a few years now, but building a car from scratch is certainly not easy. On top of that, it has to look somewhat futuristic. It also needs to dwarf the competition in terms of technology gear. Add the comfort, safety, and reliability variables into this equation, and you quickly see why they've been struggling with the so-called iCar It has been reported that the team behind the development of Apple's first vehicle comprises approximately 1,000 employees. Everything is said to add up to around $1 billion a year. Most of the testing takes place at a former racetrack that used to be owned by Chrysler, next to Phoenix, Arizona, which Apple bought two years ago for $125 million. Speaking of the money, the plan is to keep the iCar (name unconfirmed) to under $100,000. As a result, it will likely target the likes of the Mercedes EQS, Tesla Model S, Audi e-tron GT, and BMW i7.Between us, Apple's model may or may not be a sedan. Our bet would be on a crossover, however, as the high-riding shape combined with a battery-electric powertrain and the ability to drive itself in certain scenarios would make it insatiable to the tech crowd. The overall design is said to be finalized sometime this year, and the model is believed to feature side cameras instead of traditional mirrors, a lidar, radars, and additional sensors. The initial plan was to give it Level 5 autonomous driving, but Apple quickly learned that it's impossible to do that with the current tech. Therefore, it will feature pedals and a steering wheel.Since the company had to go back to the drawing board, having realized they couldn't make a Level 5 machine, the targeted launch date is understood to have been pushed back by one year to 2026. Therefore, in the most realistic scenario, we will see it in showrooms for the 2027 model year. However, we wouldn't exactly hold our breath for that, as they could delay it once more, especially since they're allegedly looking for a partner to build theiron an existing platform.So, what's the deal with the pictured Apple iCar? Well, pictured is too big a word, as rendered is what you're looking for. The CGI has tedoradze.giorgi on Instagram behind it, and it's yet another CGI take on the upcoming product, imagining it as a crossover with hidden door handles, a small grille decorated by the Apple logo, thin LED headlights, and large wheels. Do you think Apple can pose a threat to Tesla in the car game, or is the latter company simply so far ahead that they're safe? On May 19, I published an article about companies that armor Tesla vehicles. Clearly, being bullet-proof was not all these battery electric vehicles (BEVs) needed to offer. The added weight significantly reduced their ranges, which is also a safety factor. Performance must also have been affected, but there was no data to confirm that. BMW just provided more evidence through the i7 Protection that BEVs and armored vehicles do not go well together. BEV WLTP kWh Photo: BMW ICE Photo: BMW Being the first factory-armoredwas not very good for the electric sedan. The German carmaker cleverly avoided touching sensitive topics such as range and mass gain, but there are some elements that show the impact of the armor materials.The i7 xDrive60 goes from 0 to 100 kph (62 mph) in 4.7 seconds and has a top speed that is electronically limited to 240 kph (149.1 mph). The i7 Protection takes 9 seconds to reach the same speed from a standstill, and BMW limited its top speed to 160 kph (99.4 mph). In both vehicles, the maximum speed is restricted to preserve the range, which the German automaker only discloses for the i7 xDrive60: from 591 kilometers (367.2 miles) to 625 km (388.4 mi) under thecycle.Weirdly, these numbers do not match the energy consumption BMW discloses for its luxury BEV: 18.4/100 km in the best-case scenario and 19.6 kWh/100 km in the worst. The battery pack has a total capacity of 107.8 kWh, but the usable capacity is 101.7 kWh. Do the calculations with the latter, and the range will go from 518.9 km (322.4 mi) to 552.7 km (343.4 mi). If the total capacity is used, the numbers range from 550 km (341.8 mi) to 585.9 km (364 mi). The battery pack would have to deliver 115 kWh for the numbers to match.The only information related to the range that BMW publicly disclosed is that the i7 Protection needs 30 kWh/100 km. That's 53% more than the worse energy consumption and 63% more than the best figure from the i7 xDrive60. The range for a 101.7-kWh battery pack would be 338 km (210 mi), a massive drop compared to the numbers presented by the electric sedan without armor: 42.8% (591 km) or 45.9% (625 km). If we use the hypothetical 115-kWh battery pack in the calculations, the i7 Protection range grows to 383.3 km (238.2 mi). Despite the improvement, the armor still makes the range nosedive: 35.1% (591 km) or 38.7% (625 km).I asked BMW about the range and the masses of its armored vehicles. The provisional range of the i7 Protection is 380 km (236.1 mi), which almost matches the calculation I made with a 115-kWh battery pack that does not exist. The electric sedan has a curb weight of 4,450 kilograms (9,810.6 pounds). The i7 xDrive60 tips the scale at 2,715 kg (5,985.6 lb). That's 63.9% more than the regular electric sedan. The 7 Series Protection weighs 3,965 kg (8,741.3 lb), while the 760i xDrive which uses the same 4.4-liter V8 presents a mass of 2,345 kg (5,169.8 lb), a 69.1% difference. Although the internal combustion version has a higher weight penalty, it suffers less from it.The 7 Series Protection has a fuel consumption of 15.6 liters/100 km. The gasoline tank that holds 74 liters means it has a range of 474.4 km (294.8 mi). The 760i xDrive needs 11.2 l/100 km, which raises the range to 660.7 km (410.5 mi). The difference is 28.2%. That's part of what allows the 7 Series Protection to offer an optional VPAM 10 protection level the i7 Protection cannot have it. Thearmored car still has at least three crucial advantages compared to its BEV sibling: the higher range, better performance numbers, and the "charging speed."Just think about it: armored cars are made to resist an attack long enough to allow the attacked person to escape. Both the i7 Protection and the 7 Series Protection come with VPAM 9 protection levels and VPAM 10 windows. The VPAM 9 protection level can resist three shots of 7.6251 mm P80 armor-piercing bullets (used by M14 rifles or M60 machine guns), spaced 120 mm (4.7 inches) apart, from a distance of around 10 meters. The VPAM 10 windows can hold 7.62x54 mm R ammunition used by SV-98 sniper rifles under the same conditions. The mere description of what these vehicles have to handle shows how urgent it is to escape as soon as possible and avoid multiple shots in the same area.The faster the armored vehicles can run, the higher the possibility they can get somewhere safe or reach help. The 7 Series Protection goes from 0 to 100 kph in 6.6 seconds and has a top speed of 210 kph (130.5 mph). Several vehicles can run at 160 kph, which is the i7 Protection's limit. If you fear having your car shot, these numbers make the V8 the obvious choice. Why would you choose a heavier and slower vehicle to protect your life? To avoid carbon emissions? In an emergency, would you prefer to spend at least 30 minutes waiting for a vehicle to recover part of its range or 5 minutes to fill up the tank and keep going? Remember: the point of armored cars is to protect their passengers from armed assaults. Doing so without carbon emissions would be nice, but only if it does not affect the main purpose of armored vehicles.For BMW, the good news is that it offers a suitable alternative. Something it can also celebrate is that it will only sell these cars in Europe due to homologation matters. That is a continent in which this level of protection is probably even unnecessary unless we are talking about Ukraine. If BMW were to sell these cars in Mexico, Brazil, or any of the biggest armored car markets, the i7 Protection would not stand a chance even against the friendly fire coming from the 7 Series Protection. BEVs are definitely not meant to get armor, at least not in their current configuration. That's right, folks, the world's fastest, coolest, and most desirable passenger airliner is coming to the buildable and collapsible world of LEGO with a super-authentic detailed replica of Concorde, complete with all the fixings that made it the most fascinating airliner from the 20th century. With dimensions of six inches (15 cm) tall and a width of 17 inches (43 cm) and 2,083 individual pieces, LEGO's tribute to Concorde is nearly as complex as the airplane itself is, at least as far as we civilians are concerned.Everything from Concorde's four Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 afterburning turbojet engines, its complex multi-wheeled landing gear, and robust vertical and horizontal control surfaces are well-represented on this LEGO tribute piece. Even Concorde's iconic "droop snoot," designed to help pilots see the runway on landing, is fully functional and well-represented once the piece is completed. Of course, all this complexity in the LEGO Concorde's design is ultimately the builder's responsibility to make it work correctly. Hence, why LEGO recommends this particular build be reserved for experienced brick builders of at least 18 years or older.Indeed, the level of detail integrated into every brick of the LEGO Concorde's plastic construction gives a fun yet accurate representation of what Concorde was like to operate in its glory years from the mid-1970s until the early 2000s. Heck, even the fully functional landing gear system, complete with a series of gears and levers, looks mighty intimidating for grown adults who haven't shoved two LEGO bricks together for the last couple of decades. But, looking at photographs of the LEGO Concorde when it's all complete and proper combines the thrill of seeing the jet in real life with the child-like whimsical fun that can only come from putting a LEGO set together without stepping on any wayward bricks.But it must be clarified this upcoming Concorde LEGO set does not come cheap. Upon its release for early-access pre-orders on September 4th, three days before the official launch, folks will be expected to fork out $199.99 before taxes and shipping fees to see the set turn up on their front porch. But as a gift for a loved one who's an aviation enthusiast this upcoming Christmas sale, the LEGO Concorde might be the best of the bunch. The most affordable version of the Ford F-150 Lightning has been sold out for the 2023 model year, and the orders have been reserved almost exclusively for fleet customers. Now, Ford has opened the F-150 Lightning Pro order book to retail buyers, but only for a limited time. EV Lightning Pro orders have opened to ALL customers! No reservation needed. Youll want to act quick as this will only be open until August 16th and could close sooner based on demand. $49,995. STEAL! ?????? https://t.co/UuqqhaNcL3 Jace Craft-Miller ??????????????????? (@jacecraftmiller) August 9, 2023 Starting next year @Ford model e dealers will offer upfront transparent pricing on https://t.co/Hldfv84vI0. The Ford Store Morgan Hill is a great example of how dealerships are meeting the increased demand for more EVs. Since 2005, their one-price model has been a big hit with pic.twitter.com/aNUgFvafvT Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) August 10, 2023 Ford sent mixed signals with its electric Ford F-150 Lightning production in 2023. In the spring, Ford tossed the reservation system , allowing everyone to place an order. At the time, the Blue Oval had about 200,000 reservations for the electric pickup truck. The announcement was made in May, soon after the RougeCenter production resumed following a battery fire. This suggested that either interest in the Lightning was down or the production was booming.Of course, Ford bragged about the latter, although the production line upgrades were only completed in August. In June, Ford announced reducing the waiting time for the Lightning to three months thanks to the production catching up with the demand. I'd say it was actually the other way around, with the demand dropping well below the output, and that was before Ford started the factory upgrades to triple the production capacity.This was confirmed in July when Ford cut the F-150 Lightning price by about $8,000 across the board, with the most significant cut ($10,000) reserved for the entry-level Pro variant. As expected, Ford CEO Jim Farley said the improved production capacity and lower battery material costs led to this decision. Remember, the Rouge EV Center production line was still upgrading, and Ford was still losing money with every EV it sold. You get the picture, Lightning doesn't sell as expected, and Ford cuts prices, a classic development. Still, the Lightning Pro, the cheapest variant reserved for fleet buyers, was announced as sold out for the 2023 model year. What gives?During the second-quarter earnings call, Jim Farley announced that the increased capacity will allow Ford to offer the work truck to retail customers, although still "in limited quantities." So it's not sold out, after all. The F-150 Lightning Pro trim has a starting price of $49,995 after the last price cut, and it is a very compelling offering if you can get it at this price. And it turns out you can, for a limited time at least.According to people familiar with the matter, Ford opened the F-150 Lightning Pro orders to retail customers until August 16. More than that, you can almost get it at MSRP, as people soon discovered. Considering that dealers have no problem ripping off customers with "market-adjustment fees," this is another signal that the Lightning, even the "sold-out" Pro trim, is not selling as well as Ford expects.Rumor has it that Jim Farley is unhappy and wants to shake up the system. Ford CEO announced that Ford Model e dealers would offer upfront transparent pricing on ford.com starting next year. This is the closest thing to Tesla's direct-to-consumer, no-haggle sales strategy. Farley also wants Ford employees to drive the company's electric vehicles for one week and see what the electric revolution is all about. Ford CEO is road-tripping an F-150 Lightning from Los Angeles to Las Vegas as an example to its employees. More than twenty cars at the bottom of a lake in Florida. That is what someone found while diving and called the police. The authorities had to fish them out of the water and find out how they ended up down there. How so many cars ended up in the water and how long they stayed there is still a mystery today. A team made up of members of the Special Patrol Bureau, divers, and police officers from the Doral Police Department carried out the odd recovery mission. They had received information about several cars submerged in a lake located in an industrial park in Doral, west of Miami, from a diver.Divers from the rescue team put red markers in the lake for eight more cars and will struggle to take them out. But they believe there might be many more that have spent at least two decades under the water . 20 or 30 are the numbers that they estimate, and they will need several days to complete the extraction. Among them, an Acura Legend Coupe, stolen around 2002, according to the Doral Police Department Chief, Edwin Lopez.A six-generation Cadillac De Ville, which had been stolen in the late 1980s, was also found at the bottom of the lake. And so was a 2022 Nissan Altima, also around two decades ago. Further investigation will be added to the cases that remained open over the years, Doral Mayor Christi Fraga stated.The rescue team used several flotation devices and rope to tie the vehicles under the water and pulled them to the shore with the help of a crane. They came out covered in rust, mud, and algae. For the moment, homicide detectives are unable to link the cars to any of the crimes from the 1990s that happened in the area. But checking the VINs of the models found submerged might help them put two and two together."It will be very interesting to see how many unsolved crimes will now be able to be closed out because of now the recovery of these individual vehicles," said attorney and former FBI agent Stuart Kaplan."It seems that this area was a hot spot when none of this was developed, where cars were driven into the lakes," Doral Mayor added. First, police have to find out where the cars came from, who put them there, and how much time they spent under the water.Authorities are now considering searching for submerged cars in other lakes in the Doral area in Florida as well. But first, they have to pull out all found in the Doral lake.New York Times reports that some of the cars found in the lake could be linked to an international feud taking place in the 1970s and 1980s between Colombian drug cartels and the United States government. Unveiled 55 years ago, The Judge remains one of the icons of the original muscle car era. Enthusiasts all over the globe still dream about driving one, and the lucky few who can afford it are willing to pay outrageous amounts to own one. Here come 'Da Judge Photo: Mecum The Carousel Red muscle car icon that was actually orange Photo: Mecum Powered by one of two potent Ram Air V8s Photo: Mecum It failed to boost GTO sales but was a success nonetheless Photo: Mecum The 1969 Judge today Photo: Mecum Although it was not the first American-built intermediate to borrow a powerful V8 from a full-size model, the 1964 Pontiac GTO is credited with pioneering the muscle car craze.It all started with John DeLorean , Bill Collins, and Russ Gee, who firmly believed that a performance-oriented version of the second-generation, Tempest-based LeMans, combined with a good marketing campaign, would lure younger buyers to Pontiac dealerships.Blatantly ignoring GM's internal policy that limited intermediates to a maximum engine displacement of 330 ci (5.4 liters), the Pontiac team replaced the LeMans' standard 326-ci (5.3 liters) with the big, 389-ci (6.4 liters) from the Grand Prix hardtop coupe, giving birth to the optional GTO package.Pontiac hoped to sell around 5,000 GTOs that year, but ended up exceeding that figure by 27,450 units.The resounding success of the 1964 GTO kickstarted one of the most exciting chapters in American automotive history, prompting all other carmakers to follow suit.In the years that followed, the GTO became Pontiac's high-performance flagship and benefitted from continuous refinement that made it more exciting with every model year.In 1968, all GM intermediates - including the GTO, which became a separate model two years earlier - were completely redesigned . The new semi-fastback styling with its innovative Endura front bumper, devised to absorb impact at low speeds without deforming, combined with a largely-unchanged, mildly-improved engine lineup assured that the GTO continued to be popular as sales went up by around 6,000 units that year.Nevertheless, the GTO was facing increasingly stringent competition, so for the 1968 model year, Pontiac president John DeLorean instructed his team to devise a special edition in order to keep sales from slumping.Initially, a cheaper GTO equipped with a 350 HO and affordable features aimed at Plymouth's hot-selling Road Runner was presented. DeLorean, however, the boss dismissed it and went the other way, demanding the most powerful, eye-catching, premium feature-laden GTO conceivable.The resulting special edition, which he approved for production, was dubbed "The Judge," a name inspired by the catchphrase "Here come 'Da Judge," made famous by the legendary Sammy Davis Jr. in the Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In comedy show.Revealed to the public in December 1968, The Judge was instantly recognizable from the standard GTO.For the better part of the model year, the special edition was only available in Carousel Red (which was actually orange), complemented by distinctive blue and yellow side stripes and "The Judge" logos.Other visual enhancements that came standard on The Judge included a unique rear spoiler that didn't just look good but sligh, a hood-mounted tach, and a set of Rally II wheels wrapped in wider tires.Unlike the normal 1968 GTO, which came with a 350-hp 400-ci (6.6 liters) L78 as standard, The Judge's standard V8 was the 400-ci (6.6 liters) D-port Ram Air L74, complete with the driver-controlled Ram Air system.With a 10.75:1 compression ratio, the engine was rated at 366 hp and was linked to a standard Hurst-shifted three-speed manual. Buyers could also choose an optional Muncie four-speed (M20 wide-ratio and M21 close-ratio were available) or the M40 three-speed Turbo Hydra-Matic auto.But unquestionably, the most important option was the new L67 400 Round-Port Ram Air IV engine. Upgraded with a ton of goodies like four-bolt mains, an aluminum intake manifold with larger ports, higher-flow exhaust manifolds, or limited-travel hydraulic lifters, the V8 delivered only four extra ponies (370 hp) but had a higher power potential if adequately tuned.Though it wasn't the cheap special edition initially proposed, the Judge package could be had by adding just $337 ($2,950 today) to the $3,156 ($27,631 today) base price of the standard GTO.But, if you wanted to add options like the Ram Air IV engine, a four-speed Muncie, the Safe-T-Track limited-slip diff, power-assisted front disc brakes, or power steering, the total price went up to around $4,500 ($35,020), which was about what you had to pay for a HEMI-powered Dodge Charger R/T.Therefore, The Judge wasn't the go-to, no-brainer pick for high-performance enthusiasts. Still, Pontiac managed to sell 6,833 units, which meant the special edition was a success.Unfortunately, it didn't help bolster the overall sales of the GTO by much. Including the Judges, Pontiac sold 72,287 GTOs in 1969, roughly 15,000 less than the previous year.With several alterations, The Judge returned in 1970 and was offered for a few months in 1971, but with sales dropping significantly, it was eventually discontinued.Today, the 1969 Judge is considered one of the greatest models created during the original muscle car era. Therefore, surviving examples are some of the most sought-after American classics out there.According to Hagerty, the average price for one in good condition stands at $170,000, while low-mileage, highly original, Concours-level Judges go for over $250,000.If you want to take a virtual tour of one such example and see it in action on the streets, we recommend watching the YouTube video below by Lou Costabile. After four successful generations and with production since 2000, the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe was officially introduced online by Hyundai Worldwide, as well as directly to media and social media influencers "under the sunset glow in Santa Fe, New Mexico." Yep, obviously, they spared no expense to ensure its popularity remains as high as ever in the United States.Many automakers reinvent their models when hitting a low point or when the nameplate comes back to life after a short (like the 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser) or long hiatus (like the Ford Maverick). But Hyundai is going down the rebranding route just because they want to innovate and make sure their seven-seat Santa Fe has the right tools to fight important US models like the Ford Explorer, all-new Chevy Traverse, Honda Pilot, or the first-ever Toyota Grand Highlander.And they are doing it under the concept 'Open for More,' where the all-new Santa Fe wants to expand everyday experiences by connecting both the city and nature, inside and outside. Because the exterior and interior design has been known since July, there's no reason to dwell there it suffices to say the longer wheelbase now accommodates a seven-seat arrangement, complete with stuff like a Relaxation Seat with Leg Rest, UV-C Sterilization Tray, dual wireless charging system for smartphones, and the Panoramic Curved Display.It is more important to note that Hyundai released some essential facts and figures . For example, the fifth generation will first go on sale at home in South Korea later this month, while North America and Europe will have to wait for a tentative release sometime during the first half of 2024. As far as North America is concerned, there are 11 exterior hues available - Phantom Black, Serenity White Pearl, Curated Silver Metallic, Ecotronic Gray Pearl, Ecotronic Gray Matte, Ultimate Red Metallic, Earthy Brass Metallic Matte, Atlantis Blue Pearl, Hampton Gray, Terracotta Orange, and Rockwood Green Pearl.The cockpit's Panoramic Curved Display includes dual 12.3-inch screens for the digital instrument cluster and infotainment system, and the second plus third rows are both fully foldable and designed to "create a terrace-like space at the rear with the wider tailgate open." Eco-friendly materials are included with the soft-touch surfaces, the glossy exterior black paint uses recycled carbon materials, and the Ecotronic Gray for North American markets revolves around a "natural bamboo charcoal coating method."Aside from the five interior colors - Obsidian Black, Supersonic Gray, Pecan Brown, Forest Green, and Black Ink other vital revelations from the world premiere are focused on the available powertrains. At home in South Korea and across North America, the 2024 Santa Fe will be offered on sale with two engines a Theta III 2.5T GDI mixed with the 8DCT dual-clutch auto packing 281 ps/277 hp and an electrified Gamma III 1.6T GDI HEV (6AT) providing 180 ps/178 hp.In Europe, on the other hand, all 2024 Santa Fe versions will be electrified the regular hybrid option is joined by a 1.6-liter turbo plug-in hybrid offering just 160 ps/158 hp! Other regions will also receive a regular 2.5-liter rocking 194 ps/191 hp mixed with an eight-speed automatic transmission. In addition to the regular Santa Fe, Hyundai also introduced the XRT Concept , a prototype "tailored to cater diverse needs of outdoor enthusiasts" as opposed to Santa Fe's Calligraphy trim which is designed for "premium urban lifestyles." SUV They think that now, just ahead of a significant car event like the Monterey Car Week and its many celebrations, is the ripe time to present their models on the red carpet of online premieres. Cadillac did it in New York with the first-ever all-electric Escalade IQ rocking Ultium technology up to 750 horsepower and a gargantuan $130k starting price for an impressive, estimated range of 450 miles (724 km).Hyundai also took its 2024 Santa Fe to where else but Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the official world premiere of the fifth generation. Radically styled compared to the previous iterations, the boxier Santa Fe returns to the three-row lifestyle and has two powertrains for America, a 2.5T GDI with 277 hp, and a hybridized 1.6T rocking almost 100 ponies less. Plus, they also presented the XRT Concept, a rugged take on the new Santa Fe, which shouldn't be confused with Mitsubishi's prototype that previewed the latest Triton (L200) pickup truck.However, not everyone is ready for the abundance of Monterey Car Week premieres or these two major novelties. Some people are content with ruminating about the ins and outs of the 2024 Toyota Land Cruiser (known as Prado or 250 across certain regions). And that includes folks dwelling across the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. For example, this virtual artist, known as Theottle on social media, has resorted to CGI slicing and dicing the 2024 Land Cruiser on more than one occasion to make it a veritable digital series.He first started the virtual trend with the new yet vintage Land Cruiser First Edition going back to its roots and turning into a digital, three-door convertible soft and hardtopthat could easily pick a fight with the corresponding versions of the Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler. Secondly, the stylish yet rugged Land Cruiser also morphed from a five-door off-road SUV to a four-door commercial pickup truck version that could render both Toyota's overseas Hilux and the acclaimed Tacoma obsolete if it ever happened.Interestingly, this pixel master is not beyond size restrictions, and knowing that Toyota and Suzuki collaborate occasionally, he decided to see if a rebadged Suzuki Jimny dubbed 'Toyota Land Cruiser 25' would attract an audience. Well, given how the front fascia of the Land Cruiser First Edition looks excellent on both the three- and five-door Suzuki Jimny's body, it's not hard to imagine the model returning to North America by way of badge engineering. So, do we give it our CGI hall pass, or is this simple rebadge and front-end restyle a hard no? In a new video on Facebook Oskanian claimed that this statement is one of the main causes of the closure of the Lachin corridor by Azerbaijan that has put Karabakh Armenians on the brink of starvation. Pashinian made a big mistake. Pashinian must admit he made that mistake and correct it. Today he has the opportunity to retract that statement, just based on todays situation. He can clearly say that Ive tried something, but I see that our opponent is abusing it, so I retract that statement, and today I have the right to do that, Oskanian said. The former foreign minister said he believes that the Prague statement made following Pashinians quadrilateral meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, French President Emmanuel Macron and President of the European Council Charles Michel on October 6 last year has become a serious obstacle, because no one can do anything to unblock the corridor. Russia has already openly said it. Citing the Prague statement and Pashinians signature under it that has significantly changed the entire essence of the November 9, [2020 trilateral] statement, Russia says that today it cannot do anything and it says it openly. The West doesnt say it openly, but it says the same in private meetings, Oskanian said. Without giving names Oskanian also claimed that many people abroad are doing serious work, both at the governmental and legislative levels, trying to change the content of the negotiations, but they are facing the same wall. They are told that the government of Armenia has a different approach and that they should rather work with their own [Armenian] government, the former Armenian diplomat said. Believe me, if there is a change in the attitude of the Armenian government today, the attitude of the international community will change dramatically, too, Oskanian said. Oskanian suggested that today it is still possible for Pashinian to go back on his statement without provoking a war, while todays situation, in the former foreign ministers view, only increases the possibility of war. Because Pashinian has made a lot of promises to Azerbaijan, but the signing of the document stalls, he said. I think that it will not be easy for Pashinian to sign such a document, because its content has nothing to do with the interests of the Armenian people. Naturally, this can be dragged out, and this is where the danger lies, and believe me, the mediators will not be able to do anything here, because all the time you promise something to your opponent, which you do not fulfill. Thats why Im just asking, Im begging, that we change the approach, the narrative of todays negotiations as it contains a serious danger, and the possibility for doing that really exists today, Oskanian concluded. Pashinian has repeatedly supported mutual recognition of territorial integrity by Armenia and Azerbaijan as a way to move forward in hammering out a peace agreement between the two South Caucasus nations. In his several public remarks he said that Armenia was ready to recognize Azerbaijans Soviet-era borders if Baku does the same in respect with the Armenian borders that existed during the Soviet times. While this means also recognizing Nagorno-Karabakh within the borders of Azerbaijan, the Pashinian government has insisted that an internationally visible dialogue take place between Baku and Stepanakert on the rights and security of Karabakh Armenians. Earlier, Pashinian and members of his political teams also dismissed Oskanians offer to lead diplomatic efforts on changing the course of the current negotiations with Azerbaijan. In a recent speech in parliament Pashinian, in particular, suggested that all of the steps publically proposed by the former foreign minister to be taken to raise the issue of at least an autonomous status for Nagorno-Karabakh have actually been taken by the current administration. 10 August 2023 08:30 (UTC+04:00) Elnur Enveroglu Read more The issue of the establishment of peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the precise definition of borders, i.e., the completion of delimitation and demarcation works, and most importantly, the complete removal of separatist elements from Garabagh in accordance with the capitulation document signed by Armenia on November 10, 2020, still remains outstanding and is a matter of question. It should be noted that the orderly resolution of this complementary sequence falls on both Armenia, which is considered the objective party, and Russia, which is the mediating party in the negotiations. Because after the declaration of November 10, 2020, Russia deployed peacekeeping units on the territory of Azerbaijan, and since that time, it has been continuing its mission in the region as the most closely involved partner in the processes. In addition, the restoration of peace between the parties was based on five principles put forward by the Azerbaijan, some of which, as mentioned earlier, have not yet been resolved. If we are talking about a peace agreement, first of all, it is necessary to pay attention to the processes taking place in Azerbaijans Garabagh, Khankendi, and parallel to this, in Yerevan. The provocations of Armenia regarding the operation of the Lachin Border Checkpoint, as well as the blocking of the Aghdam-Khankendi road by separatist forces are one of the reasons that are currently seriously slowing down the issue of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Another problem is the changeable manner of the Armenian leadership, i.e., its double standards and its denial of the issues agreed upon in the negotiations every time. Both the West and Russia, which have joined the processes today, clearly see that concrete results related to peace in the region cannot be achieved with the arbitrary behavior of the Prime Minister of Armenia. That is why the Russian Foreign Ministry, while expressing its opinion on the processes, noted that the parties should not rush the peace agreement. The quotation from Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexei Zaitsev can be approached in two ways. The first is Russia's intention to continue its participation in the processes for a long time and thereby gain time and maintain its presence in the region against the backdrop of the ongoing (Russo-Ukraine) war. When paying attention to the views of the state official, it is clear that Russia does not intend to fully play the cards in its hands regarding its full engagement with the processes in the South Caucasus. Because for Russia, the Western factor, which is its only competitor in the region, is still seen as a potential threat. Secondly, by using this phrase, the Russian official is also trying to limit all the possibilities of the West in the region. There is no doubt that Russia clearly views the initiatives of Western forces and the European mission group near the Lachin border. It also understands why the negotiations in Washington and Brussels are so critical for the West. So in the words of the Russian diplomat, There is no need to force the process. It has to go as long as necessary to get high-quality, reliable agreements at the exit. It may be beneficial for someone to speed up the process, to achieve something as soon as possible, but the question is how it will then be carried out, he tried to allude to the West. In conclusion, everyone knows very well that the achievement of lasting peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia is extremely important for both the region and the interested parties. It can be said with certainty that both the West and Russia have the potential to resolve the issue unambiguously with a decisive initiative. However, the current conditions show that both sides are somehow interested in slowing down the processes. Undoubtedly, Azerbaijan is capable of protecting its sovereignty with Armenia on its own either in the format of constructive negotiations or with certain pressures. However, for permanent peace in the region, it is very important for the Armenian side to show understanding and put aside the non-constructive approach. Now is the time to take advantage of real opportunities for economic development in the region. The war has shown once again that losses are insignificant in every way and for both sides - although Azerbaijan still has a strong military potential, given any outcome. Currently, the initiatives for peace are also the steps taken to open the Zangazur corridor. Azerbaijan presented its most optimal proposals to Armenia within the framework of the principles of close neighborhood with all its strength. Armenia should also understand that pursuing a group of separatists for the development of the country does not promise any positive results for the country's future. On the contrary, when Armenia's communication with Garabagh is completely cut off, those proposals will also lose their force. Undoubtedly, in the end, the fate of neighboring Tehran may await Yerevan as well! --- Elnur Enveroglu is AzerNews deputy editor-in-chief, follow him on @ElnurMammadli1 Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 10 August 2023 20:00 (UTC+04:00) Qabil Ashirov Read more Armenia continues to play an ambiguous game. On one hand, the Prime Minister of the country solemnly announces on TV that he recognizes Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, including Garabagh. On the other hand, he plays a number of games to delay signing a document about the recognition of the Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. Besides, the separatists in Garabagh appoint David Ishkhanyan as the new president of the so-called "parliament". Moreover, the President of the Armenian Parliament Alen Simonyan, and the head of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia Catholicos Aram I congratulate Ishkhanyan on the occasion of being the "president of parliament." In fact, such behavior of PM Pashinyan, who leads Armenia, is understandable. It is not worth hoping that the prime minister, who has influence neither with Russia nor the separatists in Garabagh, will have any capability to eliminate the ongoing chaos in Khankend. Georgian political analyst Gela Vasadze, who agrees with these views, expressed similar views in his comment to AZERNEWS. Actually, the separatists in Garabagh still consider themselves an independent state, therefore, for Ishkhanyan, Pashinyans words about recognizing the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan have no gravity. In fact, the current de facto authorities of Garabagh are much more dependent and prone to listen to the opinion of Moscow than to the opinion of Yerevan. Moreover, they use these moments to put pressure on Pashinyan in the domestic policy, Vasadze said. The political expert opined that the congratulations sent by the President of the Armenian Parliament and the religious figure carry formal characteristic. According to Gela, Simonyan's congratulatory message completely contradicts Pashinyan's statement regarding the recognition of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. Azerbaijan knows very well that this statement is not meant for Armenia's foreign policy, but for its internal auditorium. If Simonyan had not made such a statement, Pashinyan's administration would have been pressured by the opposition from within. He also touched on Pashinyans recognition of the Azerbaijan's territorial integrity and underscored that it was no more than empty words. Being aware of this, Azerbaijan takes proper steps. In fact, the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is recognized only in words. And this is well understood in Baku, and therefore Baku takes measures to change the situation. Whether the use of force is appropriate in this case is also up to Baku to decide, but from my point of view, there are much more serious issues, for example, the issue of disarmament of armed formations in Garabagh or issues of cargo logistics and infrastructure support for the Armenian minority in Garabagh through the option as proposed by Azerbaijan, Gela Vasadze said. --- Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @g_Ashirov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 10 August 2023 10:39 (UTC+04:00) A meeting dedicated to the results of the five-year activity of the DOST Agency was held, Azernews reports, citing DOST. Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Protection Anar Aliyev, who spoke at the event, noted that the DOST Agency, established by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated 9 August 2018, provides 159 state social services to citizens from a "single window" through modern, flexible, transparent mechanisms. He stressed that to this day, 1 million 673 thousand people have been served in DOST centres and the level of satisfaction of citizens with the services is 98.2 per cent. "DOST centres, which have won the trust of citizens in a short time, will cover the entire republic thanks to regional centres and branches to be opened in the near future," he added. Next, a video clip reflecting the agency's activities was shown. Then Farid Mammadov, Chairman of the Agency's Board, made an extensive presentation and informed the participants of the event about the work done over 5 years. Farid Mammadov noted that the activities of the DOST Agency are highly appreciated in the international arena. During the past period, the agency was awarded 8 international awards, as well as an ISO certificate in 4 areas from the world-famous certification organisation LRQA (UK). Underlining that the network of DOST centres is expanding, Farid Mammadov said that with the opening of DOST Garabagh Regional Centre in Barda the number of DOST centres has reached 7. Currently, works on the design and construction of centres in Shusha, Sumgayit, Ganja, Guba and other regions are being completed. By the end of 2025, 17 DOST centres and 55 district branches are planned to be handed over to citizens in Azerbaijan for use. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 10 August 2023 10:00 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijans Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov has met with World Bank Country Manager for Azerbaijan Stefanie Stallmeister, Azernews reports. Minister Mikayil Jabbarov hailed the successful cooperation between Azerbaijan and the World Bank as well as projects of technical assistance and financial support implemented by the organization in the country. Describing Azerbaijan-World Bank relations as multifaceted, the minister said that cooperation in private sector diagnostics, innovations, digital development, development of management technologies, and other spheres is of great importance for Azerbaijan in terms of using the best international experience as well as bringing the modern technology and innovations to the country. Stefanie Stallmeister expressed her confidence that the World Bank would continue working closely with the Azerbaijani government in achieving the countrys strategic development goals, also sharing her thoughts on new areas of partnership. The meeting also saw discussions on strengthening cooperation between WB and Azerbaijan, joint projects as well as measures aimed at diversification of the Azerbaijani economy and continuous improvement of the business environment, and promotion of investments. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 10 August 2023 02:41 (UTC+04:00) It is reported that the "humanitarian" caravan, lined up on a serpentine near the border with Azerbaijan, has become even longer. It originally consisted of 19 Spayka trucks. Last week, two trucks of the Grand Candy company with alleged sweets were added to it. And today, on August 9, another truck was attached to the tail of the caravan. Reportedly with pasta from France. France's support for Armenian claims to Azerbaijani lands, which we have seen throughout the years of occupation, obstacles and provocations put up by the French side in order to disrupt peace negotiations and give the Armenians time for revenge - this and much more is known to everyone. Unfortunately, this country, itself mired in problems, day by day losing influence in its "overseas territories", continues to mingle in the affairs of our region, only complicating the processes taking place here. We are waiting soon for trucks with goods from Canada, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Spain, with cargo from the compassionate experts of the UN Human Rights Council, the EU and other organizations. If it goes like this, the caravan will stretch all the way to Yerevan. We will not talk about double standards, the agony of international law, the violation of all norms and rules. But let's pose a problem. I would like it to be solved by those who defend Armenian insinuations with foam at the mouth, criticize Azerbaijan and try to threaten Baku with something. Let's imagine the situation: the war in Ukraine has ended, the Ukrainians have restored their territorial integrity and are trying to solve the remaining problems with the separatists. At this time, a humanitarian caravan is heading to the Donbass, which, of course, is not allowed through and gets stuck at the border. Kyiv will quite rightly ban the passage of the gumconvoy. Attention - the question is: how will Europe, USA, the UN, the ICRC and other organizations act? Option A. France, UN and others will attack Kyiv in unison, demanding that it stop the "blockade" and "genocide". Anti-Ukrainian resolutions will be initiated in international organizations, and tearful videos on social networks will be reposted and retweeted by officials of European structures and deputies of various parliaments. Option B. France, the UN and others will demand that Russia stop provocations and ensure the transport of humanitarian aid in the way indicated by the Ukrainian authorities. In addition, the question of the indispensable and strictest inspection of the transported cargo will be raised. Note: when solving a problem, arguments like "this is different" are not accepted. The situations are exactly the same. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 August 2023 01:00 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijan is the subject of false accusations, says in an article published by the Norwegian influential newspaper Aftenposten. The article was written by Shervin Najafpour, the Chairwoman of the Cultural bridge builder organization (CAN) and Azerbaijani diaspora activist, Azernews reports. Najafpour's article exposes the lies of Armenians about the alleged humanitarian disaster faced by Armenians in Garabagh. The author, based on evidence from social media, debunks groundless claims that Armenians in Garabagh are allegedly under blockade after the establishment of the Lachin state border checkpoint. Najafpour emphasizes that Azerbaijan is willing to meet all the needs of Armenians, offering to use the open road between the district of Aghdam and Khankendi for the transportation of goods. However, the humanitarian crisis and blockade claims by Armenians who did not accept this proposal are pure political manipulation. The article also mentions that Armenian media, as well as some patrons of Armenians, are trying to benefit from these political manipulations and exaggerate Armenian lies. The evidence collected from social media by Najafpour completely exposes the lies that Armenians are living under a blockade and facing a humanitarian disaster. Guivami Rahimli, PhD., Professor at Baku State University, Senior Government Affairs Advisor, bp AGT Region, who also served as president of the Azerbaijan-Norway Friendship Society, commented on the article by Azerbaijani diaspora activist Shervin Najafpour. He said: The Armenian tradition of the fabrication of the historical facts, as well as the exaggeration of biased claims, especially when it comes to their suffering, continues to this day. The Armenian-style fake news quickly finds its way to media outlets drawing the attention of the international community. It is clear that Azerbaijan is falsely accused and the article by Shervin Najafpour serves as an important reminder of this. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 10 August 2023 14:47 (UTC+04:00) Armenia has brought Azerbaijan face to face with the biggest environmental disaster of the 21st century, Armenian-laid mines continue to kill people in Garabagh, well-known Colombian journalist, New York and Washington correspondent of one of the leading TV channels of her country Caracol Television and Canal 1, Paula Vargas, who recently returned from a trip to Azerbaijan, told the US bureau, Azernews reports, citing local media outlets. I wonder why the international institutions, which are active at the slightest incident, talking about human rights, remain silent regarding these crimes? As officials in Azerbaijan told us, after the war, more than 300 civilians became victims of mines, and hundreds were seriously injured. There are also journalists among them. We got acquainted with the process of explosive disposal by specialists in the Aghdam district, one of the most mine-contaminated areas in the region. I watched in horror what was happening. Armenia left such a mark on the district, it seems that this war will continue forever. Thats because the Armenian side refuses to provide Azerbaijan with maps indicating the location of mines, which take many years to clear, she noted. The journalist noted that after visiting Garabagh, she made sure that most of the news about the conflict in the worlds leading media is full of lies: Why dont the media talk about torture and atrocities against the civilian population in Garabagh, about destroyed settlements, cemeteries, historical monuments, destroyed cities? I think that for many of my colleagues the concept of transparency, and objectivity are just words. My American colleagues, who were with me during the trip were also surprised because we shed light on all the issues that interested us. Vargas considered that the information shared by representatives of major media sent to the region from the US is provided by Armenians: If a journalist writes about the allegations of Armenia, they should cover the position of the Azerbaijani side as well. Obviously, there is bias against Azerbaijan in the information war. The world should know about the crimes committed by Armenia in Azerbaijan, and the Armenian side should take responsibility for these crimes. Armenia must stop the dissemination of false information in the media under its control. The journalist stressed that she had witnessed the destruction in Aghdam, Fuzuli, and Shusha. On the way, we saw settlements turned into ruins. I thought that if these lands belonged to Armenia, it would not have devastated these territories. The cruelty of the Armenian side gives reason to say that the Armenians knew from the very first day that they would surrender them to true owners and leave these lands. A well-known journalist said that the picture she faced during her visit to Ganja horrified her: During our visit to Ganja, it became clear to me that Armenia didnt limit itself to territorial claims or military goals. Because there were no military facilities, and the city was far from the war zone. Attacking civilians at night, when people are sleeping, is a war crime. I was horrified by the destroyed houses that were hit by rockets. Babies were among the victims that night. I cant find words to describe the feelings. Vargas also shared her impressions of the ongoing reconstruction in the region: The government of Azerbaijan directed all its efforts to the revival of the region and the return of people to their homeland. During the trip to the Zangilan district, it was nice to see the joy on the faces of people returning to their homes. I hope that during my next visit to Azerbaijan, I will see a new image of Garabagh. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 10 August 2023 12:57 (UTC+04:00) Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan - Head of the Department of Foreign Policy Affairs of the Presidential Administration, Hikmat Hajiyev, responded to the accusations of lawyer Luis Moreno Ocampo, who prepared a biased, anti-Azerbaijani legal report, Azernews informs via Hajiyev's tweet. The tweet reads that Who is a lawyer Luis M.Ocampo author of biased anti-Azerbaijani legal report containing accusations of "genocide"? Citing MediaPart, Hikmet Hajiyev noted that Lawyer Luis M.Ocampo managed companies based in some of the most notorious tax havens of the world while serving as chief prosecutor at ICC. 1. Who is a lawyer Luis M.Ocampo author of biased anti-Azerbaijani legal report containing accusations of "genocide"? "Lawyer Luis M.Ocampo managed companies based in some of the most notorious tax havens of the world while serving as chief prosecutor at ICC" [MediaPart]. pic.twitter.com/54woK7Vg9P Hikmet Hajiyev (@HikmetHajiyev) August 9, 2023 Hikmet Hajiyev also noted that S.Sargisyan, the former Armenian president who participated in the war against Azerbaijan and committed crimes against civilians, received Ocampo in Yerevan. European Investigative Collaborations network reported that Moreno Ocampo had a client, suspected of supporting war criminals in Libya. 2. Armenia's ex-president S.Sargisyan himself, who is warlord and warcriminal, committed Khojaly genocide welcomed Ocampo in Yerevan. European Investigative Collaborations network reported that Moreno Ocampo had a client, suspected of supporting war criminals in Libya. pic.twitter.com/EEMv5ToOHm Hikmet Hajiyev (@HikmetHajiyev) August 9, 2023 Hikmet Hajiyev noted that a person with such murky background deliberately distorts the ICJ decisions and the real situation on the ground with regard to the functioning of Lachin road in his biased report and presents serious factual, legal and substantive errors. Simply "No Comments"! 3. Person with such murky background deliberately distorts the ICJ decisions and the real situation on the ground with regard to the functioning of Lachin road in his biased report and presents serious factual, legal and substantive errors. Simply "No Comments"! #Moneytalks Hikmet Hajiyev (@HikmetHajiyev) August 9, 2023 --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 10 August 2023 15:13 (UTC+04:00) The Western Azerbaijan community condemns the fact that in Armenia a group of criminals calling themselves crusaders held an action in the center of Yerevan demanding that they are given weapons to open the Lachin road by force, and the statements of these persons about a provocation on the border in the direction of Azerbaijan's Lachin, where IDPs have just begun to return, Azernews reports. The Community noted that such actions would not have been repeated in Armenia today if the international community had appropriately responded to the racist demonstrations of the Armenian revanchist opposition held in Yerevan last year under the banner of "Armenia without Turks" with the participation of numerous people. "The Community considers it unacceptable for revanchists to give a religious coloring to the past conflict, and calls on the international community, including the UN, its special rapporteurs, the EU, the EU mission in Armenia, ambassadors of countries that often visit the Lachin border checkpoint, the Council of Europe, international non-governmental organizations to condemn provocative actions, anti-Azerbaijani policy, xenophobia," the statement says. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 10 August 2023 16:49 (UTC+04:00) The "Environmental Protection First" Coalition issued a statement regarding Armenia's transformation of the South Caucasus ecology into a "tragedy of the commons". There are important points in the text of the statement, development of the topic in the directions arising from the raised issues, foreign experts are requested to take comments on this topic: We, as recently established Environmental Protection First Coalition condemn the response statement addressed by the Ministry of Environment of Armenia on the metallurgical plant under construction in Arazdayan (Yeraskh) of Vedibasar (Ararat) region of the Republic of Armenia in the border with Azerbaijan. Establishing this large-scale metallurgical plant blatantly ignores internationally accepted standards and principles, particularly those outlined in the UN Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention). According to Azernews, the Espoo Convention recognizes that environmental issues go beyond national borders and underscores the importance of international dialogue when multiple countries are involved in specific cases. Erecting such a facility along the border without mutual agreement from the Azerbaijani side constitutes a clear breach of the 1991 Espoo Convention, which focuses on evaluating the environmental impact in situations spanning borders. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia have ratified this Convention. Following the guidelines of the Espoo Convention, the environmental assessment report related to the construction should be examined by relevant Azerbaijani institutions, taking into account the perspective of neighboring Azerbaijani residents who live in close proximity to the area, as well as eco-activists. Regarding the construction of such a sizable plant, Armenia has never contacted any institution or any affected population in Azerbaijan on environmental interventions in the transboundary contexts. As the famous ecologist, Garrett Hardin cited that all watercourses are free to pollute, the right to exploit common land should be controlled bylaw and the individuals concerned should achieve mutual restraint by consensus. Otherwise, it will be tragedy of the commons. The response from the Armenian side is a denial of the cooperation, violation of the Espoo Convention, and deviating from the subject matter. Armenia should create a suitable environment to actively engage in dialogue and decision-making processes related to the construction, to conduct technical expertise, monitoring, and evaluation by involving international NGOs and civil society representatives from countries in the region (including NGOs from Azerbaijan and Georgia) to measure the extent of the damage and potential solutions. Referring to Articles 3.1 and 3.7 of the Espoo Convention, as well as Clause 4 of Annex I of the same Convention, the Azerbaijani side has formally requested comprehensive details from Armenia concerning the adverse cross-border impacts stemming from the activities undertaken in the Arazdayan (Yeraskh)region. Providing this information falls under Armenia's international commitments. The unsubstantiated accusations made in Armenia's response regarding Azerbaijan's engagement in firing at Arazdayan (Yeraskh) are entirely incorrect and unacceptable. While we are raising our profound concerns about the ecological catastrophe caused by environmental harm, however Armenia deliberately deviates from the subject by politicizing it. Such provocations cannot serve as a camouflage for environmental offenses. Instead of furnishing official data, Armenian official bodies appear to be attempting to persuade media outlets that the potential repercussions will be minimal. Regrettably, this stance contradicts the requirements of the Espoo Convention. Preliminary observations on our part reveal that environmental monitoring and impact assessment reports issued by mining enterprises operating in Armenia, spanning soil, air quality, surface and groundwater conditions, as well as flora and fauna, are not being made fully accessible to the general public. The 2022 Armenia Country Report from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)highlights that certain mining firms failed to generate environmental monitoring reports for the period of 2020-2021, and the country did not make the environmental assessment findings available to the public. Considering the aforementioned circumstances and the accumulating public discontent arising from the detrimental influence of Armenia's mining sector on Azerbaijan's ecological environment over the years, our coalition anticipates the complete disclosure of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) documents. The full texts of the EIA reports to be made public, as well as the numerous public dissatisfaction that has been growing due to the negative effects of Armenia's mining industry on the ecology of Azerbaijan for years. Armenia should acknowledge the legal obligation it bears in not withholding and disclosing these crucial environmental records. We urge both domestic and foreign companies involved in Armenia's mining industry to promptly publish the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) documents, and the findings on their official webpages to make it publicly accessible. The right to information is an essential element of democracy and the rule of law. Concealing the information is a violation of human rights. Armenia is required to meet its responsibilities by guaranteeing that impacted communities can obtain information about the activities of plants, engage meaningfully in the processes of decision-making, and have ways to address any environmental damage that occurs. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights provide a crucial framework for promoting responsible conduct in business, including the extractive industry. These principles underscore the need for companies to uphold human rights, prevent adverse environmental impacts, and engage with affected communities in a transparent and inclusive manner. We urge all stakeholders involved in metallurgical plant building in Arazdayan (Yeraskh) to align their actions with these principles and integrate them into their operational practice. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 10 August 2023 16:24 (UTC+04:00) Social rehabilitation of children affected by the war in Ukraine continues in Azerbaijan, organised by the Social Services Agency under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection. A group of 30 children was brought to our country on 4 August, accommodated in camps and involved in various rehabilitation programmes, Azernews reports, citing the Ministry. According to the public relations department of the ministry, trips of Ukrainian children to different regions of our country have been organised. Earlier, the children who visited Basgal village of Ismailli district then visited Gabala district. In the village of Laza, they took part in the process of making lavash. It is also planned to organise an excursion of Ukrainian children to Sheki and Shamakhi. The fourteen-day social rehabilitation programme aims to stabilise the children's emotional state and support their integration into society. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 10 August 2023 18:07 (UTC+04:00) Global Firepower, an organization that prepares analytical databases for the armed forces of countries, has published a list of countries with the strongest air forces in the world for 2023, Azernews reports with reference to these organizations, this rating includes the air forces of Azerbaijan and Turkiye. Azerbaijan (148 military aircraft) ranked 57th in the list, while Turkiye (1065 military aircraft) ranked 9th. The air forces of Armenia and Georgia are located at 85 and 84 places, respectively. The United States leads the list with 13,300 military aircraft, followed by Russia with 4,182 military aircraft, and China in third place with 3,166 military aircraft. When determining the list of the strongest air forces in the world, factors such as the number of aircraft, the characteristics of the aircraft used, and the number of pilots and military personnel were taken into account. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Bakersfield, CA (93308) Today Bands of heavy rain showers along with strong wind gusts at times, especially early. Low 69F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph, becoming SE and decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch. Localized flooding is possible.. Tonight Bands of heavy rain showers along with strong wind gusts at times, especially early. Low 69F. Winds WNW at 20 to 30 mph, becoming SE and decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall may reach one inch. Localized flooding is possible. Here are five surgeons and hospitals that are on the forefront of orthopedics in ASCs that Becker's has reported on since July 17: 1. Surgeons at Atlanta-based Resurgens Orthopaedics have collectively completed 500 total joint replacement surgeries using Stryker's Mako robotic system. 2. Coastal Orthopedics, based in Bradenton, Fla., invested in two new surgical robots to assist in total and partial knee replacement procedures at its outpatient surgery center. 3. Rajesh Makim, MD, performed Orthopedic Associates of Port Huron's (Mich.) first knee replacement with Mako SmartRobotics. 4. Columbia (Mo.) Orthopedic Group performed the first-ever outpatient anterior lumbar interbody fusion in a surgery center in mid-Missouri. 5. Peter Ramsey, MD, completed the first artificial intelligence-assisted hip replacement in South Carolina. Rural hospitals are continuing to close maternity wards across the country due to staffing issues and declining births, The Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 10. Between 2016 and 2020, there was an increase of 70 counties that qualified as maternity desserts, or counties without a hospital, a birth center, or clinicians with experience delivering babies, research from the March of Dimes found. Cleveland-based University Hospitals is one recent system that is looking to halt maternity services at its hospital in Ashland, Ohio. Peoria, Ill.-based OSF HealthCare is also looking to end maternity care at some of its locations due to a decline in births. Some state governments have stepped in to block hospitals from closing their maternity wards. The Massachusetts Department of Health determined that UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital Leominster (Ma.) Campus' maternity ward was an essential service, complicating plans for closure. The hospital will now have 15 days to submit a plan for maintaining maternity care in the area. While vendors can share exciting stats, how can you make sure you're getting the best deal possible with vendors? These 22 industry leaders share how they effectively negotiate with vendors. The executives featured in this article are all speaking at the Becker's Health IT, Digital Health + RCM Annual Meeting: The Future of Business and Clinical Technologies which will take place Oct. 3-6, 2023, at the Navy Pier in Chicago. To learn more about this event, click here. If you would like to join as a speaker, contact Randi Haseman at rhaseman@beckershealthcare.com. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who will speak at our conference. The following are answers from our speakers at the event. Question: How can organizations effectively negotiate deals with outside tech and RCM vendors? James Lindgren. Executive director of revenue cycle systems optimization at University of Miami Health: The key is to treat these relationships like any other important relationship in your life. You shouldnt start negotiating the details of your contract until you have established a basic level of trust and shared understanding. After you have determined that there is a strong cultural fit between your two organizations and your objectives are crystal clear (i.e. what problem are you solving?), then you can begin the process of outlining terms and conditions. In these conversations, focus less on the vendors proposed ROI but rather focus on the value to your organization then access that value independently. Lastly, push for terms that align incentives for you and the vendor appropriately such as paying off outcomes and value rather than transactional charges. Jaideep Srivastava. Professor of computer science and engineering at University of Minnesota (Twin Cities, Minn.): Given the current mood of 'pay for performance,' the same principle can be applied to RCM vendors/technologies as well. A vendor should be asked to show, potentially through an A/B test, how much revenue and profit enhancement the new tech or product brings, and pricing should be based on that. The ROI of a new tech should be a key metric to measure success. Vendors who truly stand behind their technology should welcome this approach. Azizi A. Seixas, PhD. Associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, director of The Media and Innovation Lab, associate director for the Center for Translational Sleep and Circadian Sciences and interim chair for the department of informatics and health data science at The University of Miami Miller School of Medicine: To effectively negotiate deals with outside tech and RCM vendors, health organizations should first identify clear objectives and research potential vendors. Creating a request for proposal, or an RFP, can help solicit detailed proposals and provide a basis for negotiations. They should leverage data and performance metrics to demonstrate their value as a client and seek competitive pricing and bundled services. Additionally, addressing data security, compliance and support services is crucial. Engaging legal and procurement experts, seeking references and building strong relationships during negotiations can lead to successful partnerships and optimized healthcare services. Judith Wolfe, MD. Enterprise associate chief experience officer and academic emergency physician of Cleveland Clinic: In the environment of constrained hospital budgets and more stringent requirements for capital expenditures, development partnerships between systems and outside tech vendors are becoming more desirable. Proving concepts for tech adoption at the local or system level can help justify future costs. Relationship building is critical in patient experience, and having a responsive, transparent and positive relationship with vendors is critical for success of any project and is even more important for high-value, complex projects. Ainsley MacLean, MD. Chief medical information officer, associate medical director diagnostic and interventional radiology for Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group of Kaiser Permanente (Oakland, Calif.): It is important that organizations remain open minded and outward facing when it comes to evaluating new technologies and that they leverage long term strategies and economies of scale when negotiating contracts. Ryan Cameron. Vice president of innovation of Childrens Hospital & Medical Center - Omaha (Neb.): For several years I've struggled with the idea that a traditional vendor model or purely transactional business model is innovative. The best path forward for organizations is to start with the goal of building long-term, trusted partnerships that extend well past transacting services with a vendor. Eliminate the word 'vendor' from your vocabulary and seek to create only partnerships. Consider the differences and look for those partners who are the best fit for everyone. Creating a safe space where mutual non-disclosures are in place, honest conversations happen and putting each organization's business goals into focus is a part of the conversation. Do this and it is a game changer. I believe the 'win-win' still exists, if organizations invest more time upfront into productive dialog on everyone's goals. Building strong, trusted relationships is the key to creating value between organizations. Outside technology and RCM companies alike want to do the same; everyone just needs to invest more time upfront in setting mutual goals. Mission statements and visions shouldn't just be marketing mechanisms, these should reflect a long-term plan for everyone. Talk about these important elements that make your teams and organizations unique and uphold these goals as elements everyone can help each other work toward achieving. Of course, having a deep understanding of your requirements before contacting outside tech or RCM companies is also critical. Quite frequently a rushed project becomes a failed or even a disappointing project as a result of urgency driving the timeline. Value creation must be the key driving factor, even if a project takes a bit longer to execute. Planning more time to check and recheck your requirements even before the partnerships are explored helps mitigate any unwanted surprises or scope creep that can pop up along the way. Everyone intuitively will leverage multiple quotes, seek the best contractual terms and search out expert advice or gather references before entering into new business relationships. What sets a value stream apart from a typical business deal is the elusive 'partnership factor' that comes from the relationships where everyone sees a win for their patients, patients' families, employees and the long-term success of the business or organization they represent. When you can create value streams, everyone at the table is more comfortable with creating favorable margins and opportunities for each other. Cost is always important; however, consider all the value a partner can provide and be transparent about the unique value your organization brings to a growing business. Product and service roadmaps, user-testing, creating new and novel features: These are all collaborative areas that should be a part of your partnerships with outside tech and RCM firms. When we collaborate as partners and not just B2B vendors, everyone can win. Steve Eckert. Chief technology officer for Cook Children's Health Care System (Fort Worth, Texas): We look at contract negotiations as partnership discussions. In an arrangement like this, nobody wins or loses a negotiation, but rather both sides understand what is essential to the other and strive to achieve these needs collaboratively. We also look to measure the success of the partnership and agreements made. For instance, service level agreements are imperative to include for mutual benefit. How else do we manage the collaboration to success? Timing can be critical to both parties, but not at the expense of effective collaboration. End-of-the-quarter pushes typically arent met with positive results in our talks. However, if we can negotiate timely in good faith, we are happy to help our partner achieve business goals crucial to their success. Finally, we need our partners to be healthy. Reinvestment requires healthy margins, and we expect our partners to invest in the solutions we acquire. Therefore, negotiating the lowest price isnt always to our benefit. Carol Yarbrough. Business operations manager for Telehealth Resource Center of UCSF Health System (San Francisco): Big question and not easy to respond to other than 'it depends.' The EMR billing and reimbursement components are going to dictate what can be integrated and who foots the bill for the API. Building deliverables into the contracts which affect a payment schedule is probably a good incentive and a best outcome for both parties to the contracts. Chris Carmody. Chief technology officer of UPMC (Pittsburgh): Not every vendor and/or solution is the same when negotiating. However, when engaging with any vendor, it is important to impose the consistency of best practices, contractual language and data protections that your organization demands. If the vendor is unwilling to meet your requirements, then they might not be a great fit. Thats why its also important to create and maintain competition throughout the procurement process. Most importantly, always remember your organization is the customer. Monique Diaz. Chief medical information officer for physician enterprise west of CommonSpirit Health (Chicago): Let the total cost of ownership be your guide. Vendors will often produce cost estimates that don't capture the full investment needed to gain value. When you are direct about needing the actual TCO, you can leverage quotes from competing vendors to home in on a desirable deal. If a vendor holds a large market share, you can negotiate a favorable price by emphasizing the value your organization brings as it can provide important feedback and piloting in what might be a compelling scale and/or setting. Rebecca Kaul, MD. Senior vice president and chief of digital innovation at Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y. ): Negotiation with outside tech varies based on the size and maturity of both the company and product offering. If the product is sufficiently early in its development, then it is likely that the health system will be contributing value to the future roadmap and validation of the product and thus should expect to be compensated accordingly. If the product is well established, then taking an enterprise approach to contracting provides the ability to leverage the technology holistically across the organization while driving down the cost of the investment. Brad Reimer. CIO at Sanford Health (Sioux Falls, S.D.): The most important factor in effectively negotiating with suppliers is to first choose the right supplier. Sanford Health is deliberate in selecting strategic partners who share our values and commitment to transforming the healthcare experience for our patients, people and communities. Suppliers that understand and invest into the mission of healthcare will be in the negotiation process to help provide a win-win. At that point, it becomes more of a value conversation than over-indexing on cost. In addition, having clear goals and knowing what trade-offs you are and arent willing to include in the negotiation provides a solid foundation for productive discussions and positive outcomes. Tarun Kapoor, MD, MBA. Senior vice president, chief digital transformation officer at Virtua Health (Marlton, N.J.): If you want to negotiate a better deal, you should start with an internal question: What problem are we trying to solve? Once you know your answer, you can negotiate more of a transactional deal if the problem set is well-defined and the vendor has a mature solution. However, you can also negotiate more of a partnership if there is mutual problem solving and co-development to be done. Jahmela Pech, DNP, RN. Executive director of quality management at Providence St. Joseph Hospital of Orange: Our organization employs an enterprise-centralized approach when negotiating with outside tech and RCM vendors. These contacts are reviewed, approved and executed in accordance with the procedures of a governance matrix. Careful consideration of evolving regulations related to data privacy and data sovereignty, along with increasing costs, is important in effectively negotiating services. This centralized approach and systematic process allow the enterprise to maximize external deals and build relationships with outside vendors. Chad M. Teven, MD, MBA, FACS. Reconstructive microsurgeon and clinical assistant professor in the surgery department at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Evanston, Ill.): First, a decision regarding whether revenue cycle management will be kept in-house or outsourced ought to be carefully considered. This decision should be made by each healthcare system based on its specific situation and unique needs. If outside expertise is sought, the selected vendor should demonstrate cross-functional input so that the teams in charge of operations and delivery are in concert with what was negotiated. Ideally, IT, clinical leadership, operations, finance, legal and other divisions within both the healthcare organization and vendor are aligned on key issues, thus allowing for a more efficient and effective process that reduces friction and optimizes the relationship between parties. In addition, organizations stand to benefit from identifying whether the proposed solutions and services a vendor can offer will provide value beyond the scope of directly financial. Specifically, while the cost will be a significant consideration during negotiations, particularly in the current healthcare climate, overemphasis on price may stifle effective partnerships if other streams of value that can be provided are overlooked. Tara Nooteboom. Head of consumer digital strategy at UCI Health (Orange, Calif.): The most effective component that health systems can bring to the table for a successful negotiation (and subsequent relationship) is a clear articulation of their 'why' or problem statement related to the solution. This involves a comprehensive understanding of the problem, its associated challenges and constraints. Through articulating these, health systems may be able to a) help vendors understand what it is they really need to get out of a transaction as well as what it might take to get there, b) cultivate clear and honest communication around what can actually be delivered, and c) solve for required value on both sides. Furthermore, by seeking partners rather than point solution vendors, health systems can prioritize establishing lasting relationships based on shared risk, shared incentives and shared goals. Kumar Aditya. Director of information technology at Atlantic Health System (Morristown, N.J.): It is important to do a thorough analysis of the features being offered by our solution partners and be clear with what is existing versus what is on their roadmap because sometimes future solutions are incorporated in the current pricing. Pricing structure should be carefully evaluated: Does a flat price for each year make more sense opposed to incremental pricing year-over-year? Incremental pricing sometimes looks more attractive due to a relatively low start in year one, but they could eventually be costing a lot more in future because the renewal of the contract would start with the last pricing, which could be quite high. Be clear with what is non-negotiable: cloud-only solution in certain cases, duration of contract no longer than three years, etc. This could be non-negotiable for some organizations. Due to the ever-changing cybersecurity landscape and exponential influx of generative AI technology, it may not always be wise to lock ourselves in for several years with a solution especially if they cannot keep up with the pace of evolution. Do a complete review of what features will be live at the organization and what features wont. Sometimes organizations end up overpaying by signing up for 10 modules where in reality they are only using six. Finally, have the KPIs clearly stated prior to contract signing and have the expected ROI agreed upon. If ROI is nowhere close to what was expected after a year, then it is time to hold the solution partners accountable and potentially request credits depending on the specifics. Lisa Griffin. Chief consumer officer at University Hospitals Clinical Network (Cleveland): Once the organization has decided internally that a vendor is warranted, the initial drivers in decision making is to ensure the software can drive operational efficiency and enhance the patient experience. Outlining organizational goals along with operational and return on investment levers as a foundation will help uncover the appropriate vendor to leverage. Lastly, build in time to speak to current clients of the vendor to understand build time, uptime and their overall experience. Daniel J. Durand, MD. Chief clinical officer and chair of radiology at LifeBridge Health (Baltimore): In my previous life as a consultant and in my current role as a health system executive, I utilize the following approach to ensure balanced, ethical and effective negotiations with technology and service vendors. Know before you go: Do a thorough internal strategy session and learn about the space in order to identify the key capability gaps you are looking to fill in advance of surveying the market. Keep an open mind and don't fall in love: Inform your analysis with a broad market survey. Don't just take a consultant's word for it or read the cliff notes in an industry review. Meet with the key vendors and all of their competitors. This makes you smarter, and it lays a foundation for broad-based market connectivity that will serve you well in negotiations. If you find one vendor winning you over in this stage try hard to not 'anchor' on them. Get multiple quotes: Do not just get a quote from the RFP winner or runner up; I like at least three. This not only increases your negotiating power, but it helps you refine your concept of ROI, which leads very naturally to step number four. Put them at risk for your success: Do your best to get 20 to 40 percent of the total contract value at risk pending the delivery of outcomes that tie into key corporate KPIs. Notice I said 'do your best.' These are lofty goals. Begin with the end in mind: Coming back to the first step, keep a running three- to five-year roadmap of what your overall organizational enablement strategy is with the technology or services in question. What were you trying to accomplish to begin with? This will allow you to spot opportunities to consolidate vendors and achieve additional savings by occasionally eliminating services or tech where appropriate. Joe Moscola. Executive vice president at Northwell Health (New Hyde Park, N.Y. ): Negotiating deals with outside tech and RCM vendors is always challenging to any organization, especially to us based on our scale. Here are several strategies we are using when facing those issues: Create an assessment team made up of trusted and influential leaders across the key impacted areas of technology. Leverage the support from consultant(s) who specialize and have expertise in this area. Assess the organizations needs, including the gaps in functionality and the struggles with the current technology (vendor response time, consideration in security and/or regulator, technology needs). Create a business plan and conduct the vendor assessments and evaluations. Start an RFP process with leading vendors in the space. The evaluation would be around the vendor's current and future health and viability as well as our organization needs. Negotiate with vendors by leveraging available choices among cost and service level agreements (performance, security, availability). Share the risks with the vendor and provide incentives for a successful relationship. Ethan Booker, chief medical officer for telehealth at MedStar Health (Columbia, Md.) with Jasmine Bishop, managing director, MedStar Telehealth Innovation Center: We have experienced three key success factors in technology vendor negotiations as telehealth clinical and operational leads at MedStar Health: First, know your own organizations value when going into a vendor negotiation. Health systems provide clinical testbeds that are well-positioned to help explore, refine and even reinvent technology products. In negotiating with a vendor, represent the value of your co-development, data and research capabilities, and work with your business partners to design a true partnership in which your expertise, creativity and brand are appropriately recognized within the final agreement. Second, enter the negotiation process with a strong understanding of your organizations needs. Healthcare vendors have a suite of products, including technology platforms and operational and/or clinical services, that may not all align with your organizations requirements. As a health system, we traditionally deliver the clinical services in our partnerships, so its critical for both parties to be aligned on the goals of the collaboration, not just the available capabilities. Awareness of a vendors current and future product suite and transparent conversations about possible expansion or growth can help systems select the right partner. Finally, remember that people make or break a deal. Working with trustworthy, aligned and mission-driven teams is the cornerstone of a successful partnership. This includes understanding the implementation support your team will receive after the vendor's sales team has completed the negotiation. You should expect a transparent and constructive negotiation process built on realistic expectations, accurate documentation and ongoing support pre- and post-implementation. James Forrester, MS. Vice president of information technology and chief technology officer at University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center: We have seen significant increases in technology vendor costs over the last several years with the transition to SaaS and subscription models. These costs are predominantly based on linear models of volumes such as active customers, ambulatory visits, acquired studies, etc. The new financial reality in healthcare, however, is that volumes no longer translate to net revenue. In short, current vendor cost models are not sustainable for healthcare. It is necessary to negotiate cost escalation clauses into contracts that plateau or taper costs. As healthcare is under pressure to bend the cost curve, our supporting technology companies must also bend the curve. While standardization and consolidation helps drive down technical debt and associated costs, consolidation without planning puts health systems at significant risk of uncontrollable costs. This is especially true with application platforms which offer many benefits but also put health systems in the position of reduced leverage due to single vendor consolidation. Stephen DelRossi, MSA. CFO and interim CEO at Northern Inyo Healthcare District (Bishop, Calif.): To negotiate deals, the following must be accomplished: The organization must understand their needs sounds easy enough, but I can assure you this is a huge misstep that I am now correcting. The organization must do an analysis to determine stated goals can be met and at what price point. The organization must understand exactly what they need again, sounds easy enough but I have seen this error in four out of eight hospitals. Once the organization knows what they need and the price point at which they are willing to negotiate, the rest is pretty easy: if management is comfortable, they can enter into negotiations; if they are not less experienced, they can hire a negotiator. I use a negotiator for payer reimbursement, but require my team to negotiate under my purview. We also negotiate with multiple companies and let them know that their competitors are lower, thus if they want the contract, they have to lower their price. I always have a price point in mind as we have already completed the analysis. Let me give you an example: the state Health Exchange Information services is seeking to add all hospitals in the state of California for data sharing. HEI offered a grant of $30 thousand, which was about half the total cost. I absolutely refused to enroll. After more than a half dozen calls or messages from them, they finally agreed to provide the service at no cost. Have a price point and hold steadfast. Violence against nurses, physicians and hospital staff continues to plague the healthcare industry, and despite multiple calls for action, in a recent poll from Becker's on LinkedIn, 23 percent of respondents said their hospital does not have a plan currently in place to protect workers. An additional 8 percent of the 430 respondents said their hospitals have a plan in development. It is important to note that Becker's does not have detailed insight into the respondents' roles or organizations in LinkedIn polls outside of the information that is publicly available. "[In] my previous place of employment, a [patient] was obviously inappropriate. He was quite aware of what he was doing. The issue was brought up to the [management]. Absolutely nothing [was] done," Cari Johnson, RN, a nurse at Promise Healthcare in Wichita Falls, Texas commented. "Unfortunately it has become more and more common for the public to yell at, harass, abuse and be just ugly to healthcare workers. Not sure what the answer is." This year alone, multiple acts of violence have happened within the walls of healthcare facilities ranging from shootings to acts of physical violence and statistics show they continue to rise. It's why both the American Nurses Association and National Nurses United have backed the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act, which was reintroduced into the U.S. House and Senate on April 18. "Nurses have been punched, kicked, bitten, and choked or threatened with extreme violence. Tragically, some nurses have even lost their lives after being attacked on the job," Deborah Burger, RN, president of National Nurses United, said in an April news release. "This is why we urgently need legislative action to hold our employers accountable, through federal OSHA, for having a prevention plan in place to stop workplace violence before it occurs." When it comes to weaving AI into daily hospital work, executives are rushing the field while their employees hesitate on the sidelines. A few health system leaders have told Becker's they have concerns about unintended harm from artificial intelligence's miscalculations, but many are charging ahead with using generative AI such as ChatGPT. New Orleans-based Ochsner Health plans to soon launch a limited ChatGPT technology that helps clinicians answer emails; Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic is using Google Cloud's generative AI to quickly find patient information in EHRs; and Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC Health streamlines daily tasks with an internal version of ChatGPT. "This surge in AI-enabled solutions harbors immense potential to enhance both operational and clinical efficiencies and improve early disease detection and clinical decision-making," said Richard Mulry, president of New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Holdings, adding that investments in workforce education and cloud infrastructure are vital. As some studies show minor deviations between AI and human results for duties such as taking notes and making decisions, researchers and hospital employees are urging caution. One reason front-line healthcare workers are worried is because they think their bosses will use generative AI as a reason to lay off workforces that are already stretched thin, The Washington Post reported Aug. 10. Melissa Beebe, RN, an oncology nurse at UC Davis Medical Center, told The Wall Street Journal that AI once misdiagnosed a patient for sepsis, but she drew blood which increases patient's costs and can expose them to infections because she faces discipline if she's wrong. Ms. Beebe said she feels "moral distress" when her expertise is pitted against AI. Healthcare workers also argue there's no equal replacement for strong provider-patient relationships and reading body language. Nurses are trained to look beyond vital signs and monitor a patient's countenance and smell unnatural odors, Michelle Mahon, the assistant director of nursing practice at the National Nurses United union, told the Post. "AI can't do that," she said. It's a good question. Cold weather was commonly cited as a contributing factor to previous upturns in COVID-19 infections, inviting curiosity about extreme heat's influence on the current uptick, according to Bloomberg. COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. rose 43 percent in the last week in July from a low in the week ending June 24, according to CDC data. There were 9,056 new COVID-19 hospitalizations for the week ending July 29, marking a 12.5 percent jump from the week prior. New Hampshire, Vermont, Kansas and South Dakota saw the greatest climbs in hospitalizations in that time. Coincidentally, July 2023 marked Earth's hottest month on record, with heat spilling over into August. In the U.S., prolonged heat waves have blanketed large swaths of the country and likely drove people to spend more time indoors, which could give COVID-19 more opportunities to spread. But correlations do not spell causation, and experts are encouraging caution before making the link of air-conditioned gatherings to the recent upward swing of COVID-19 cases. Michael Osterholm, PhD, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, told Bloomberg he has been critical of reasoning that attributes COVID-19 surges to changes in human behavior and there is more to learn about the ecology of viruses. For instance, even when COVID-19 cases increased in the winter, they often declined well before the weather changed enough to allow more outdoor activities. There is also a data vacuum, with little evidence that people are spending much more time indoors now than they were in spring, or evidence that most people ever spend enough time outside to affect the global patterns of respiratory viruses. Access to COVID-19 vaccines has been reduced as the U.S. stopped purchasing them from drugmakers for the public, and protection is waning for those who were immunized months ago whether through vaccination or contracting the virus. The new COVID-19 strain, EG.5, recently became the most prevalent in the U.S., but there's no evidence that it spreads more easily than its predecessors, a CDC spokesperson told Bloomberg. More broadly, it's not clear whether COVID-19 will continue to tick upward every summer. 2023 marks the fourth year it's done so, but it's possible that waning immunity and new variants have created the appearance of a pattern. New York City-based Mount Sinai Hospital is using a series of artificial intelligence-based algorithms to generate a score that predicts patient risk, The Washington Post reported Aug. 10. Clinicians get flagged when a patient's score goes above 0.65. The tool worked to help identify a patient with a kinked chest tube and get his breathing to stabilize. Mount Sinai Hospital President David Reich, MD, told the Post that the hospital had planned to roll out AI for a few years but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the popularity of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, Mount Sinai is mainly focusing on AI-powered algorithms. The health system has raised over $100 million in private philanthropy to build on-site computing capabilities that allow for Mount Sinai programmers to build AI tools in-house. The University of Kansas Health System has been able to cut clinicians' documentation time from five hours to one using AI technology from Abridge, Fox4 News reported Aug. 9. The Abridge technology, which has been piloted by 10 physicians at the Kansas City-based health system, records physicians' conversations with patients and summarizes their treatment plans, reasons for the visit and medical history. The University of Kansas Health System said physicians can spend up to five hours a day charting patient medical visits, but Abridge has been able to cut that down to an hour or less. "We're excited about the technology and the advancements it's providing us," Tony Jenkins, assistant director of IT Initiatives at the health system, told the publication. The University of Kansas Health System is considering rolling out the technology to its entire system as its two-month beta testing comes to an end. St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare hoped to see more nurses go into medical-surgical once the COVID-19 pandemic died down and competitive pay rates for travel assignments in critical care and emergency departments stabilized. That hasn't happened. More than 70 percent of the system's agency dollars are currently being spent on nurses to work in med-surg units, Tommye Austin, PhD, RN, senior vice president and chief nursing executive at the health system, told Becker's. When it comes to the national nursing shortage, many hospitals are feeling the effects hardest in med-surg, the areas that account for most of their beds. Before the pandemic, Cleveland Clinic Marymount Hospital in Garfield Heights, Ohio, would see more than 30 med-surg nurse hires in a single summer. "Now, however, every hospital across the country has openings that need to be filled," the hospital's CNO, Barbara Zinner, DNP, RN, said in an October blog post. Perceptions about med-surg as a specialty don't help. Often, it's considered a "stepping stone rather than a fulfilling career path," Dr. Zinner said. And it's often thought of as more strenuous than other specialties, given med-surg nursing requires a broad range of knowledge to care for patients who may each have very different conditions and needs. So what will it take to attract and retain more med-surg nurses? On-the-job support & flexibility For one, much more additional support so nurses can, as an American Nurses Association leader recently put it, "just be nurses" and practice at the top of their license, spending less time on tasks that aren't direct patient care. A study from 2018 concluded nurses spend about 10 percent of their time on non-nursing tasks that can be delegated a figure that has likely risen with worsening staffing shortages over the past few years. On this front, BJC HealthCare is looking to roll out virtual nursing in med-surg areas systemwide in 2024, based on success it has seen piloting virtual nursing at four of its facilities. Virtual nurses support med-surg nurses by assisting with the admissions process, patient education and discharge, Dr. Austin said. "We've also seen the virtual nurse be used as a mentoring resource because of the number of new grads we have," as new nurses who may be intimated to ask their nurse preceptor questions can call experienced virtual nurses for support, she said. Cleveland Clinic Marymount Hospital has leaned more heavily on patient care nursing assistants to mitigate the nurse shortage in recent years, according to Dr. Zinner. The purpose of the hospital's PCNA support program is two-fold: to better support med-surg nurses and to build a pipeline of future nurses via professional development efforts for PCNAs. BJC Healthcare is also looking into adopting robots and how technology can be implemented to vital sign machines and other medical equipment so that repetitive tasks can eventually be the exception, not the rule, for nurses. "If I'm a registered nurse working in a med-surg unit, I should be able to expect that I don't have to double document vital signs. I don't have to double document IV drips and things of that nature," Dr. Austin said. "I think there are certain things organizations should put in place so that the work environment is a lot easier." BJC HealthCare has also "heard loud and clear" from nursing staff that they want more scheduling flexibility. The system rolled out a flexible scheduling app earlier this year for nurses to pick up as many or as few additional hours as they like. Address the pay gap One area that would be remiss not to mention is compensation. Increasingly, "when you talk to new graduates, their primary objective is get a couple years of experience and then go travel," Dr. Austin said. And understandably so, as the weekly average for travel nurse pay remains nearly 30 percent higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to data from Vivian Health, a national healthcare hiring marketplace. Overall, med-surg nurses tend to earn less than nurses in specialties like intensive care or emergency department, though it's difficult to put hard numbers on the comparison given a range of factors that play a role in salary, such as nurses' level of experience. Still, to retain experienced nurses in med-surg, any considerable gap is worth leaders' attention. "We're trying to work on that pay gap because whereas an ICU nurse is focused on the technical skills of taking care of two critically ill patients, you have to have a broad range of skill sets to be able to take care of six patients at a time," Dr. Austin said. "To me, the skill sets are equivalent, but used differently to take care of different patient populations." Bottom line, hospitals need more med-surg nurses. Getting them and getting them to stay requires a range of efforts to reduce workload burden and ensure the specialty remains just as attractive as others. A life-threatening blood clotting disorder may be caused by the common infection adenovirus, according to researchers at Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC School of Medicine. Stephan Moll, MD, and Jacquelyn Baskin-Miller, MD, led the study published Aug. 10 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The two joined forces with another researcher, Theodore Warkentin, MD, a professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Dr. Warkentin had been leading research along these lines for a number of years, and Dr. Moll reached out to see if he was aware of any link between the virus and changes in blood, according to an Aug. 10 news release. At the time he was not, but proceeded to further test the blood of two different patients who developed the disorder following an adenovirus infection. Further testing was able to determine a connection between the two, but questions still remain about why the virus doesn't seem to cause the disorder in every case of infection. Dr. Moll said in the release that further investigation could answer the questions: "How common is the disorder? What degree of thrombocytopenia raises the threshold to test for anti-PF4 antibodies? And then finally, how do we best treat these patients to optimize the chance that they will survive such a potentially deadly disease?" The number of ongoing drug shortages is nearing an all-time high, causing most U.S. hospitals to inject 5 percent to 20 percent more funds into their pharmacy budgets. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists surveyed more than 1,000 members between late June and mid-July about how drug shortages are affecting their work. Here are six things to know from the results: 1. At the end of the second quarter of 2023, the ASHP reported 309 current shortages. This is the highest number in nearly a decade and close to the all-time high of 320. 2. Most survey participants said they expect their pharmacy budgets are swelling between 5 percent and 20 percent. About 7 in 10 participants said there is a 6 percent to 20 percent increase in their drug budget and up to a 15 percent increase in their labor budget. 3. Thirty-two percent labeled the shortages as "critically impactful," and 63 percent said they are "moderately impactful." Nearly all respondents said they are experiencing drug shortages. 4. About 6 in 10 participants said shortages of chemotherapy medications were critical. Other medication classes listed by critical impact status were corticosteroid and hormonal drugs (28 percent); oral liquids, such as amoxicillin, lidocaine and ibuprofen (22 percent); "crash cart" drugs, or prefilled syringes (18 percent); and cardioplegia solutions (17 percent). 5. The most popular mitigation strategies are using alternative therapies, rationing supply, converting different dosages, and changing order sets or protocols. Forty-two percent of respondents said they delayed or canceled treatments. 6. For operational solutions, respondents said they are buying different concentrations and vial sizes (91 percent), using centralized or consolidated inventory (83 percent), changing products in trays and carts (70 percent) and increasing insourcing (66 percent). Health officials in Minnesota are reportedly tracking a tuberculosis outbreak with seven confirmed cases and a possible eighth across three counties, ABC affiliate KSTP reported Aug. 9. Cases have so far primarily affected the Anywaa community made up of individuals who are immigrants from South Sudan and Ethiopia. TB cases are typically detected before refugees arrive in the U.S., but there can be barriers to receiving testing, the outlet reported. "Most of the problem really is the language and not familiar with the help, like where to get health insurance cards, and also where to get services," Apee Ochudho, the executive director of nonprofit Anywaa Community told KSTP. "We will reach out to all of the members of our community, so that to make sure this does not continue to be a problem." The seven cases are split between Washington and Stearns counties, with three confirmed cases in children. Becker's reached out to the Minnesota Department of Health to confirm these details and recieved the following statement from a spokesperson: "Because all of the cases occurred among people who knew each other and there is a very low risk to the general public. Health professionals routinely see outbreaks like this in homes and communities throughout the U.S. and around the worldLocal public health has been doing direct outreach to the most at-risk folks and to the providers in their area. This approach works and has been effective in the past to prevent the spread of TB in Minnesota." In 2018, Philadelphia-based Rothman Orthopaedic Institute dropped out of Medicare bundled payments for hip and knee replacements, and the practice's experience reflects broader issues in the healthcare landscape. For Rothman, bundled payments helped save Medicare and private insurers more than $100 million in the last five years, according to an Aug. 10 report from The Philadelphia Inquirer. But they bowed out of Medicare bundles after having to pay $6.7 million to the program. "We bottomed out," Rothman President Alex Vaccaro, MD, PhD, told the publication. "It comes to the point where you can't save more money." Ever since Medicare changed its benchmarking method for bundled payments, the number of physicians and hospitals participating fell to 749 in 2022 from 1,707 in 2020. The federal government has been proactive in trying to make the U.S. healthcare system more efficient for decades, and more than 50 experiments have been launched to reduce costs and improve quality. But according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Center, only a few payment models have been successful in saving money for CMS, Rachel Werner, MD, PhD, executive director of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania, told the Inquirer. For Rothman, the practice is still expanding bundles in the private sector since those insurers offer more flexibility, Dr. Vaccaro said in the report. Four spine surgeons discuss the competition between private practices and hospitals in their markets. Ask Spine Surgeons is a weekly series of questions posed to spine surgeons around the country about clinical, business and policy issues affecting spine care. Becker's invites all spine surgeon and specialist responses. Next week's question: What's one thing you would change about the spine surgery industry? Please send responses to Carly Behm at cbehm@beckershealthcare.com by 5 p.m. CDT Wednesday, Aug. 16. Editor's note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length. Question: How is competition between hospitals and private spine practices evolving in your market? Brian Fiani, DO. Mendelson Kornblum Orthopedic & Spine Specialists (West Bloomfield, Mich.): Private practice physicians and hospitals are increasingly forming alliances to work collaboratively instead of competing with each other. This shift in the healthcare industry is driven by several factors. First and foremost, collaboration allows for better coordination of care and improved patient outcomes. By working together, private practice physicians and hospitals can share resources, expertise, and technologies, leading to more comprehensive and effective treatment options for patients. This collaborative approach also promotes a sense of continuity in patient care, as physicians and hospitals work hand in hand to provide seamless and integrated services. Another key benefit of forming alliances is the potential for cost savings. By sharing resources, such as medical equipment and administrative staff, private practice physicians and hospitals can reduce overhead costs and improve efficiency. This, in turn, can lead to more affordable healthcare services for patients. Additionally, through collaboration, physicians and hospitals can leverage their collective bargaining power when negotiating with insurance companies and suppliers, resulting in better reimbursement rates and access to necessary resources. Overall, the trend of private practice physicians and hospitals forming alliances reflects a shift towards a more patient-centered approach in healthcare. By coming together, these entities can combine their strengths and expertise to deliver high-quality and coordinated care to patients. This collaborative model not only benefits patients by providing them with comprehensive and cost-effective care but also strengthens the overall healthcare system as a whole. Brian Gantwerker, MD. The Craniospinal Center of Los Angeles: There are increasing amounts of consolidation in the marketplace. Private practice still exists in several forms. Some are coalescing into "groups of groups" while others I suspect are being backed by large health systems while appearing to be independent. We have several large academic systems in the area, constantly hiring and jostling for patients. There are various niches and opportunities, but with reimbursement cuts and increasing burden of prior authorization hurdles, we might be headed for a house of cards moment. Certainly, we will see continued push for single payer and that will be an interesting moment when we truly see how we will not have learned the lessons of our cousins across the pond who are facing their own crisis despite a single-payer model. Richard Kube II, MD. Prairie Spine & Pain Institute (Peoria, Ill.): The hospital systems are gradually eliminating independent spine surgery in our market. They have effectively acquired more than 95 percent of all primary care and control the referrals from those physicians. I regularly see patients who tell me they had to argue with their primary doctor to be referred to our practice. Thankfully, our brand and reputation have created an environment where we are requested by name. While I do not see anything changing in my practice for quite a long time, I believe the final remaining independent spine providers in our region are selling to one of the local hospital systems. The hospitals are frankly eliminating competition in every manner they can. Christian Zimmerman, MD. St. Alphonsus Medical Group and SAHS Neuroscience Institute (Boise, Idaho): Like other markets nationally, the competition for privatized hospitals versus regional medical centers has devolved into two obvious differences in healthcare delivery: reimbursements and complexity. The former obviates the underinsured and more morbidly challenged patients usually managed in larger facilities where more clinically complex capabilities and willingness is available. The private surgical institutions deviate care of certain patients through physician-choice preferences yet banner-like their practices as community providers. Locally, it is also common knowledge that these facilities lack clinical scrutiny and data collection of acuity-based metrics like larger health systems, making comparisons difficult. The Telegraph titles will be put up for sale after Lloyds took charge (Jonathan Brady/PA) The owner of the News Letter, which is led by Northern Ireland man David Montgomery, has indicated it could be interested in buying the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph if the papers are put up for sale later this year. National World said it "will consider participating in a sale process" if owners Lloyds decide to sell Telegraph Media Group. Lloyds took charge of the titles, and the Spectator magazine, earlier this year after the Barclay family, which at the time owned the publications, were unable to pay their debts to the bank. The bank is widely expected to sell the titles in order to recoup its money, with several potential buyers being linked to the deal already. In a statement to shareholders on Thursday, National World said: "National World notes media speculation that it is a possible participant in the sale process surrounding Telegraph Media Group and its associated titles. "As the company has previously announced, its growth strategy is rooted in actively exploring opportunities to build its business through acquisitions and implementing its new operating model for owned assets." It added: "The board continues to evaluate accretive opportunities to grow the business and will consider participating in a sale process for Telegraph Media Group as and when such a process formally commences. "There can be no certainty that an acquisition will take place nor as to the terms of such an acquisition." National World is a regional publisher which took over JPI Media in 2021, giving it titles including the Belfast-based News Letter, Yorkshire Post, the Scotsman, the Portsmouth News and the Sheffield Star, among others. The group bought Northern Ireland titles the Newry Reporter and Farm Week earlier this year. Separately on Thursday, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said it would ballot its 300 members at National World on a potential strike. The union said it would recommend they vote to strike after National World offered a 4.5% pay rise. "The company's pay award had been repeatedly rejected by more than a dozen NUJ chapels representing hundreds of National World journalists, followed by a vote of no confidence in David Montgomery, executive chairman," the NUJ said. "Despite talks with the publisher, including through Acas negotiations, urging an improved pay package, uplifts to minimum rates and efforts to improve pay disparities, National World has failed to present an enhanced pay award for journalists. "The NUJ has repeatedly raised concerns over redundancies at the publisher after more than 50 journalists had their roles placed at risk. "A separate voluntary redundancy scheme was also opened to all staff, including those outside editorial." Actor Jamie Dornan has revealed how filming in Ireland "is just more craic and described Heart of Stone co-star Gal Gadot as brilliant to work with. Fifty Shades star Dornan was speaking to RTE news to promote the new Netflix thriller which releases on Friday, as he revealed how much he has made a point in his career of working in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and talked about the process of adding a local accent to his character in the movie. The 41-year-old from Co Down has starred in everything from portraying a chilling serial killer in The Fall shot across large parts of Belfast to Anthony Reilly in the romantic drama Wild Mountain Thyme. Now taking on the role of MI6 agent Parker in Heart of Stone, Dornan is getting fully into the thick of the action, with a character who has dark secrets in the film and roots which trace back to Belfast. "I think originally when Greg Rucka wrote the script, Parker was English and I was all up for playing him as English. But then Tom and I had a pretty interesting conversation one day, where he had a pretty strong argument for why Parker could be from the north, and how an aspect of that background might feed some of his behaviour in the script, he told RTE. "It wasn't me going: 'Ah, listen, can I just keep my own accent here?' like I couldn't be bothered. And it was really just for us none of it comes into the story and you don't find out as an audience. "But I just thought it added something to it and, yes, selfishly, obviously it is much easier if I'm not grappling with an accent. Despite a career which has taken him right across the globe, the Holywood man also touched on how much he enjoys working closer to home. "I probably shouldn't say this, but it is just more craic in Ireland, he added. "I like to have fun at work - I think you do your best work when you're relaxed. And there's nothing more relaxing than being around people who understand your humour, understand your accent, and fall in line with your sort of ethos. And for me, obviously, because I'm from there, it only happens on that island. "You know, I'm not saying you can't have a great time filming and picking up different cultures all around the world - that's brilliant. But there's nothing like being surrounded by people that you grew up surrounded by. "It's a big thing, and I've made a point so far in my career of working in Ireland, north and south. I will always seek that out, because it's important to me to tell stories from home, particularly with the North and the complications of that. "There are so many more stories to be told, so I long to continue doing that." Meanwhile, speaking about working with Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot, Dornan said the actress is brilliant. "I've had my eye on it [the movie] a wee bit for a while, and then this presented itself: Greg Rucka (writer/producer), I think, is sort of at the top of his game in this genre, Tom Harper is a director that I've nearly worked with one or two times before, and Gal Gadot was already attached and obviously you know how brilliant she is," he said. "When I read a script, I always try to place myself in the audience to try to gauge how they're going to react, and the impact that the twists and turns are going to have on them. "There are loads of twists and turns in this movie - I think that's what keeps it entertaining and exciting. And there's a lot about Parker that appealed to me: he's not just some sort of two-dimensional spy character, he's multi-layered. "And that plays out in lots of different ways in the story. It was great fun to play those different aspects of him." Heart of Stone is on Netflix from Friday, 11 August. Patrick Kielty pictured with his wife Cat Deeley was announced as the new host of the Late Late Show earlier this year (Damien Eagers/PA) Patrick Kielty has said it feels as if he has been married for more than 30 years after celebrating his tenth wedding anniversary with wife Cat Deeley. The Co Down comedian (52) wed the English model and TV presenter (46) in a private ceremony in Rome in 2012. Speaking about his relationship on the Mid-Point Podcast, the incoming Late Late Show host said: Weve been married for 10 years, but weve probably been married for about 30. If you look at a normal couple when they get up in the morning, and they spend about 45 minutes with each other, he said. "They get their breakfast, somebody leaves for work and somebody else goes somewhere else and then you come back and maybe three or four hours within that evening, if you're lucky, maybe less than that. Read more Patrick Kielty announces his new film is to be shown in NI cinemas You add that up and you see these old people saying, Oh were 50 years married and were blissfully happy, and its been an amazing journey. You go, I think you might have spent five years together, seven, max. So, what was really interesting was for the rest of the world to end up in lockdown and see the stress that put on a load of relationships, and the amount of time youre spending with your partner. Some people could take the pressure and some people couldnt. Kielty will replace Ryan Tubridy and start his new job as the host of the Friday night chat show in September. Patrick Kielty on the Tommy Tiernan Show The TV personality who met his wife on the set of Fame Academy in 2002 said: Marriage is something that you work out, that idea of what attracts you that's not going to keep you together. It's that idea of how you work together whenever the rough and the smooth and all of those things, he said. "So it's a journey and you put those kids into the mix and then suddenly those priorities change. The couple have two children, Milo and James. Their first son was born in January 2016 and the second in June 2018. Having previously lived in Los Angeles for 15 years, the couple relocated and now live in North London. Read more Patrick Kielty was promised business class flights to get to rehearsals as new RTE bombshells emerge The presenter said it had been his wifes decision to move from America to the UK due to her successful career. For a long time I thought I was in a 50/50 partnership, and then you realise youre actually a junior shareholder in a 50/50 partnership, he said. I think with big decisions like that, you kind of have to float stuff and see how thats going to go. What was weird about it was, it was Cat who wanted to do that, it was more her decision because of being a young mum and not having the family around and not having that network of cousins and brothers and all of that. For me, somewhere like London is not home, Londons never really going to be home for me in my head I still live in a little village in Co Down, even though I havent lived there full-time for 30 years. Living in London, my family was always a flight away anyway so that idea of it being a longer flight from LA wasnt as much of a problem for me. I also think because Cat was the one with the successful career out there, she was the one that chose that she wanted to leave that, at that right time. Thats a decision that she made and only she can make, and its your job to support that decision. English rap act The Streets has announced he will be playing a gig at the Telegraph Building in October. The act, which is headed by Mike Skinner, will be releasing an album and feature film alongside touring the UK and Ireland. The tour includes a night in Belfasts Telegraph Building on October 22. The new album will be a first for The Streets in over a decade, as well as Skinners debut feature film of the same name, The Darker The Shadow, The Brighter The Light. The album is scheduled for release on October 20. Poster for The Streets' Ireland tour. Speaking about the upcoming releases and UK tour, Mr Skinner said: "It has been seven long years working on this film and album. Its something Ive always wanted to do and after dipping my toe in with some shorts and music videos, I felt I was ready. I tried to go the traditional route for a bit, but its always served me better to follow my instincts and just get on with it myself, so I've directed it, acted in it, edited, sound mixed, funded, produced it all as well as written it, he added. The album doesnt exist without it. Ultimately its all the fruits of a decade on the DJ circuit, watching people in clubs and back rooms, testing out beats and basslines to see what connected - and putting it all together into The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light Tickets will be on sale from Friday 18 August at 9am from Ticketmaster.ie. Talented girl will miss home, but has eight hours of dancing a day to keep her on her toes A Newtownabbey teenager who discovered a passion for ballet during lockdown has told of her excitement after securing a place at a world-acclaimed dance school. Lilly Burton (16) is the only student from here to be accepted into the Northern Ballet School in Manchester this year after a successful audition for the vocational-level training course. The Belfast Royal Academy pupil began dancing over a decade ago at Whitehouse Ballet School, where her mum Lisa had trained as a child. Lilly also took up jazz and lyrical dance at Ards Dance Company. However, when Covid hit and she was confined to the house, the talented girl began to take ballet more seriously, buying her first pair of pointe shoes just three years ago. Her natural skill was encouraged by her ballet teacher and Lilly was fast-tracked through her grades. After auditioning for Northern Ballet School, she was offered a place on its diploma in professional dance course and is due to begin her full-time training in Manchester next month. Lilly said she was quite nervous about moving away from home, but was delighted to have landed a place at such a prestigious school. Lilly Burton on stage Read more Newtownabbey girls teenage dream to be top ballerina on track She explained that her dream now was to be a principal dancer with a world-class ballet company. I started ballet with Julia Galloway at Whitehouse Ballet School when I was four years of age, but if Im being totally honest, I didnt really like it back then, Lilly said. I got into it more then and thought that maybe one day I could teach ballet as I was helping out with classes, so I went and spoke to my teacher about it. She encouraged me to try other forms of dance, so I joined Ards Dance Company three years ago to train in jazz and lyrical dancing. But then Covid came and we went into lockdown. I couldnt go anywhere or do anything, so to keep me sane, I started doing loads of ballet classes on Zoom. The more lessons Lilly took, the more she realised she loved performing and her passion for ballet intensified. When businesses reopened, she had her first fitting for pointe shoes. Her mind was then made up that she wanted to become a professional dancer. I was 13 when I got my pointe shoes, which is quite old for ballet dancers, Lilly explained. Because I was late to vocational training, I had a lot of work to do to catch up, and within a period of two-and-a-half years, I did four vocational exams, when theres only five to do. There was a lot to keep up with. Last year, Lilly attended Elmhurst Ballet Schools summer school in Birmingham, which cemented her ambition to pursue a career as a ballerina. Teenager Lilly Burton She was advised by her teacher to try for the Northern Ballet School, considered one of the best in the UK, and was over the moon when she passed the audition and was offered a place. All the hard work has paid off and Im looking forward to getting started. Although moving away from home is a bit daunting, Lilly added. Ive told my parents not to come over to Manchester for the first term, just so I can get settled. If I see them, I might feel too homesick. But Ill be sharing accommodation with other girls on my course, and I know this is an amazing opportunity for me, so Im really excited as well as slightly scared. Well be doing eight hours a day of intensive ballet training for three years. The dream, after that is to join a ballet company and work my way up to principal dancer. Lillys mum Lisa said the family was going to really miss her, but that everyone appreciated that she has been offered a huge opportunity. Lilly recently played Belle in the ballet of Beauty and the Beast at the Theatre at the Mill, and I was so incredibly proud when I sat in the audience watching her, Lisa said. My son, Aaron, followed his dream to do mixed martial arts and currently lives in Sweden. Im a big believer in encouraging my children to fulfil their ambitions. Were all going to miss Lilly but shes following her dream and Im so excited for her. A Belfast man who lashed out at a bar worker and a father out for a family meal has been put on probation for 12 months. Christopher Walker must also complete 60 hours community service for the drunken outburst, which involved an apparent taunt about a gun attack on a senior PSNI detective. The 36-year-old, of Kansas Avenue, was convicted of two common assaults and an assault on police. Belfast Magistrates Court heard officers attended Ben Madigans Bar on the Cavehill Road for unrelated reasons on March 16 this year. Another man in the bar informed police that Walker had called him a loyalist b****** and slapped him on the face. District Judge Anne Marshall was told the victim had been there for a meal with his partner and child at the time. Walker also assaulted a member of bar staff who refused to serve him any more alcohol. Prosecutors said he then became verbally abusive towards police, saying he could find out where they lived and enquiring if they checked under their cars. At one point he asked officers how their mate was doing and if he was going to survive. The incident occurred less than a month after Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell was shot and critically wounded in Omagh, Co Tyrone on February 22. Walkers remarks were interpreted as a reference to that attack. Those comments made to police, intoxicated or not, are completely unacceptable, Judge Marshall said. Particularly what I take to be a reference to the recent shooting of a police officer. Defence solicitor Eoghan McKenna told her it was Walkers first involvement with the criminal justice system. Hes deeply apologetic, ashamed and regretful he shouldnt have been in the bar consuming alcohol on the day in question, the lawyer added. Judge Marshall highlighted that Walker was so drunk that he had no memory of the assaults. One of the victims was having a bite to eat with his partner and child when he got slapped to the face by the defendant making a nuisance of himself, she pointed out. Describing Walker as a well-educated man, she imposed probation and community service with the warning: If you fail to do any of this you will come back to court for resentencing. A Co Down woman appeared in court today accused of causing the death of a young motorcyclist by careless driving. Monica McAlister is accused of causing the death of 24-year-old Donaghcloney dad-of-one Matthew Arnold by driving carelessly on the Lurgan Road, Dromore on April 7, 2020. Standing in the dock of Banbridge Magistrates Court, sitting in Newry, the 53-year-old confirmed she was aware of the single charge against her and that she did not object to the Preliminary Enquiry, the legal step necessary to elevate any case to the Crown Court. McAlister is from the Ballykilbeg Road in Downpatrick. Tragically and just three weeks after his baby daughter was born, 24-year-old Mr Arnold died as a result of injuries he sustained when his motorbike was in collision with the Toyota Avensis being driven by McAlister. Following his death, Free Presbyterian Minister Rev Ian Kenny described Mr Arnold as a fine young Christian man. Rev Kenny said: He was a such a pleasant and thoughtful young man. It is true to say that he loved everyone around him and everyone loved him. He said Matthew has left behind a strong Christian testimony as well as many precious memories that his loved ones will cherish in the days ahead. In court today, none of the alleged facts surrounding the charge were opened but a prosecuting lawyer submitted there is a case for McAlister to answer which was conceded by defence counsel Steven Molloy. Freeing McAlister on 500 bail and returning the case to Newry Crown Court, District Judge Eamon King told her to come back to court on September 14 for his arraignment. A 48-year-old man is to stand trial accused of a campaign of rape and sexual violence against his daughter, a judge ordered today. The defendant, who lives in Belfast, cannot be named to protect the alleged teenage victims identity. He appeared at the citys Magistrates Court remotely from custody to have a total of 34 charges against him. The man is accused of three counts of rape and a further five attempted rapes over a three-year period. He also faces 22 counts of sexual assault, three attempted sexual assaults and a charge of causing a child to watch a sexual act. The alleged offences were committed on dates between September 2019 and December 2022. During a preliminary hearing the accused confirmed that he understood the charges but declined to give any evidence or call witnesses at this stage. His solicitor, Pearse MacDermott, did not contest prosecution submissions that he had a case to answer. District Judge Anne Marshall confirmed: There is clearly a prima facie case. Granting the prosecutions application, she told the defendant: You will be returned for trial at Belfast Crown Court. Your solicitor, Mr MacDermott, will let you know the date for that and you are going to be remanded in custody (until then). Judge Marshall also gave authority for two barristers to represent the accused at trial due to the seriousness of the charges against him. The two nationalist parties in Belfast City Council are at loggerheads over which font should be used for the Irish in dual language street signs. The was discord between the SDLP and Sinn Fein after the former made a proposal this week to explore the use of a clo Gaelach font on Irish Street signs, as well as a new bespoke font of Belfast character for the English street signs. The Irish phrase clo Gaelach refers to a form of historic and often highly stylised typefaces which are now rarely used. Current dual language signage in Belfast uses a modern Romanised form of the letters. A proposal submitted by SDLP Councillor Gary McKeown at the People and Communities Committee requested the council explore the use of clo Gaelach, or an appropriate adaptation, for Irish language wording on bilingual street signs in Belfast, bearing in mind that accessibility assessment if required should be judged against the standards for this script format rather than Roman script. Read more Dual language sign featuring Irish rejected by residents in Co Tyrone street The proposal also suggests the council explores the possibilities to use a distinctive font for English language wording on all street signs to create a unique Belfast character which will be readily identifiable as a feature of the city. It states: This could echo, for example, fonts used on traditional black tiled signs, meeting accessibility requirements. The proposal also suggests exploring options around other scripts that may be required for bilingual signage in future, relating to other languages, to avoid any delays in delivering any such signage. Mr McKeown told the committee: What I am trying to do here is take the opportunity during a significant roll-out of a number of bilingual signs over the next while, to explore opportunities to ensure those signs are not just carrying two languages, but that they also reflect the culture and unique aesthetic this city has had around its built heritage and signs, but which has been somewhat lost. People cherish and feel very strongly about the old black signs, so it is about building upon that fondness around the heritage of the city. Sinn Fein councillor Rois-Maire Donnelly said: We wouldnt be supportive of this. As a gaeilgeoir myself, it is not a font that young people in schools would be aware of. For us, the introduction of street signage in dual language would be to make the (Irish) language more accessible and visible for people growing up in the parish. I dont know how beneficial it would be for gaeilgeoirs in the city. Sinn Fein Councillor Tomas ONeill said: Lets keep it plain. Read more Why Irish is holding its own while other languages languish Mr McKeown said: This is not setting anything in stone, and I appreciate the comments by the members I dont necessarily disagree with them and that is why I think it is important to look at options that go around it. If we look at Dublin, which moved away from clo Gaelach it is now seeing a rehabilitation and restoration of signs in Dublin which carry a form of this font. We need to look at options which are unique to this city. SDLP councillor Seamas de Faoite said: The intention in the motion is to reflect the fact that street signage can become an iconic part of the visual representation of a city. We have already seen that in terms of the love that is there for Belfasts traditional black porcelain street signs, which unfortunately and all too often we have seen either being damaged or on some occasions out for sale on ebay. So there is scope here for developing the visual iconography of Belfast. We have seen it in other places where iconic street signage becomes part of the marketable image of a city, whether that is in Dublin or in London or in other places. I see no reason why it shouldnt be the same in Belfast. And this covers the Irish language. Sinn Fein councillor Micheal Donnelly said: There has already been a dual language street sign policy agreed, signs are being rolled out across the city. If we were to agree with this, is that a case of more cost implications for taking them all down and doing them again in this new style? The new system is effective. We dont need to change the system. A proposal by Mr de Faoite, for the council to bring back a paper looking at options surrounding the issues in Mr McKeowns motion, was successfully passed. Police have said the investigation is ongoing. The PSNI is seeking the publics help in locating a man they believe can assist with an ongoing investigation into an incident in Co Antrim last year. An image of David Taylor has been circulated by police as they investigate the incident, which took place in Ballymena in November 2022. Anyone who can help has been asked to call 101, quoting reference 252 13/11/22. Flowers and tributes at the scene in the High Street area of Carrickfergus in Co Antrim after an eight-year-old girl died and another child was taken to hospital after a serious road collision. Credit: PA Flowers and tributes at the scene in the High Street area of Carrickfergus in Co Antrim after an eight-year-old girl died and another child was taken to hospital after a serious road collision. Credit: PA A Co Antrim primary school has said Scarlett Rossborough was an energetic, bubbly little girl with an infectious giggle in a heartbreaking online tribute. Scarlett (8) from the Larne area who was due to celebrate her 9th birthday next month sadly passed away at the scene of a car accident in Carrickfergus yesterday. Scarlett was a pupil at Linn Primary School in Larne, which paid tribute to her in a Facebook post on Thursday afternoon. "Everyone connected with Linn Primary School is devastated to hear about the sudden death of our much loved pupil Scarlett, they said. "She was an energetic, bubbly little girl with an infectious giggle and a sense of fun who brought a breath of fresh air to our school. As a school community we are truly heartbroken and our thoughts and prayers are with her parents, her brother and the extended family circle. Meanwhile, the PSNI has sent its condolences to Scarletts family following the fatal road crash yesterday. A boy, understood to be five years old, has also been taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital for Sick Children in Belfast. His injuries are understood not to be life-threatening after the collision. District Commander for Mid and East Antrim Superintendent Gillian Kearney said: My colleagues and I are profoundly saddened by what occurred in Carrickfergus yesterday morning. It is too soon to fully comprehend exactly what happened, and we understand the significant impact and unimaginable pain this dreadful event will have on the family, the other children involved, the staff and their families, she added. Read more Tributes paid as police name girl (8) who died in Carrickfergus crash Another photo of Scarlett (8). Ms Kearney also said that two dedicated family liaison officers had been assigned to the family to offer specialist help to them during this difficult time. We have appointed two dedicated family liaison officers to offer specialist support to the bereaved family during this incredibly difficult time, and our thoughts are very much with them as they come to terms with the loss of their daughter under such tragic circumstances. Read more Floral tributes left for eight-year-old girl who died in road accident The welfare of all of those involved, including members of the public who provided assistance at the scene, our own officers and our colleagues from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and Helicopter Emergency Medical Service who responded to carry out emergency CPR, remains a top priority and we will be doing everything we can to support them. Flowers and tributes at the scene in the High Street area of Carrickfergus in Co Antrim after an eight-year-old girl died and another child was taken to hospital after a serious road collision. Credit: PA I would also like to pass on my sincere thanks to wider members of the community who remained patient during and after the incident, this never goes unnoticed and was greatly appreciated. Now that a police investigation is under way, we would ask that media respect the privacy of the family at this deeply upsetting time. Police have asked that anyone with information regarding the accident contact them via 101. Mid and East Antrim District Council have set up a dedicated space in Carrickfergus to allow the public to pay tribute to Scarlett. "We recognise that the local community may wish to pay tribute to Scarlett, therefore a dedicated space at Castle Green in the town is available for anyone wishing to leave floral tributes and messages for her family, said a spokesperson. Tributes to Scarlett have continued to pour in online, with a number of local groups and businesses in both the Larne and Carrickfergus areas expressing their condolences. Carrickfergus Official Glasgow Rangers Supporters Club said they had held a minutes silence in memory of the eight-year-old. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to all involved in yesterdays tragic accident in High Street, they said. Thinking of everyone involved, particularly the friends and family of 8-year-old Scarlett Rossborough who sadly lost her life and continuous best wishes for the 5-year-old boy still in the Royal Victoria Hospital. Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable Simon Byrne arrives for an emergency meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board at James House in Belfast, Liam McBurney/PA Wire PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne is appearing before the Policing Board to face questions over a massive data breach that has rocked the police force. On Thursday morning Mr Byrne told the Financial Times that he had no plans to step down over the debacle. But one MP today questioned if his position was sustainable. Sammy Wilson said the buck stops with Mr Byrne. Mr Byrne cut short his family holiday to deal with the crisis caused by Tuesdays accidental release of confidential data on the internet. The data breach, which was released via the PSNI in a Freedom of Information (FoI) response, mistakenly published the names, ranks, locations and other personal data of every serving police officer and civilian employees. When asked by the Financial Times if he would resign, Mr Byrne said No, I am not. However, Mr Wilson, the East Antrim MP, questioned if Mr Byrne could continue. Mr Wilson told Sky News In any organisation the buck stops with the person who heads that organisation. He may not be dealing with the day-to-day operational issues, but nevertheless he is the one who sets the policy and should ensure that policy is carried out. And if its not carried out - and especially in a case like this where thousands of police officers are now worried and thinking, has my information fallen into the wrong hands, is it now possible that they could use that information against me. I think the Chief Constable has to ask himself, 'what role do I play in all of this and is my position sustainable? Mr Wilson said terrorists were still targeting police officers, and PSNI staff had a right to be worried. He said the data breach led to very serious questions. Mr Wilson said that in his time as an Executive Minister in Northern Ireland, Freedom of Information requests landed on his desk to be signed off. He said he hoped Mr Byrne would face very robust questioning at todays meeting. Read more PSNI data breach: Why Freedom of Information Act is a powerful tool Policing Board member Mike Nesbitt said that PSNI officers from a Catholic or nationalist background were most concerned about the force's data breach. The Ulster Unionist Party MLA told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I'm very concerned and, more importantly, I think the police family are very concerned. They're stunned, they're angry, they're even questioning the future." He said he had heard most from officers from a Catholic or nationalist background, some of whom keep their job a secret even from family members. "They're saying 'we're making sacrifices, we knew the risks, but we don't deserve this to have our personal information in the public domain and we don't know where that ends up'." We might not be getting married today, but we will make up for everything we missed out on when I see you again The fiancee of Irish peacekeeper Private Sean Rooney, who was killed on duty in Lebanon last December, has shared a tribute on what would have been their wedding day. On December 14, the 24-year-old, who had been serving with the 121st infantry Battalion on UN duty, was killed in Lebanon and three other men were injured when the vehicle they were travelling with was attacked outside Beirut. Five men have been charged over the attack. Private Sean Rooney Pte Rooney had been engaged to be married. His fiancee, Hollai Nic Conaill Oig from Derry, has now marked what was meant to have been the wedding day for the young couple. Paying tribute to her late fiances memory on social media this week, Ms Nic Conaill Oig shared a picture of a black wedding band and wrote: We might not be getting married today, but we will make up for everything we missed out on when I see you again. Ms Nic Conaill Oig has previously said that Pte Rooney died three years to the day they first met. Other social media users offered words of comfort to Ms Nic Conaill Oig, with one commenter writing: Aw Holly, today is that day? I'm so sorry. Thinking of you. Thoughts are with you as always, Holly, another said. Read more: Irish peacekeeping soldier killed in Lebanon a national hero, funeral hears Pte Rooney was originally from Muirhevnamor in Dundalk, Co Louth, but moved to Newtowncunningham, Co Donegal. After leaving school, he joined the Irish Defence Forces in March 2019 and was a member of the 27th Infantry Battalion at Aiken Barracks. In January, the Irish Defence forces poste a statement on their social media to pay tribute to Pte Rooney one month since his passing. Currently there are nearly 500 Irish police and military personnel serving under the UN flag. Extreme cooling may have ended the first human occupation of Europe, scientists say (Owen Humphreys/PA) An extreme cooling event in Europe caused an extinction of early humans on the continent around 1.1 million years ago, a study suggests. The abrupt climate changes saw ocean surface temperatures off Lisbon dropping below 6C conditions that would have made it hard for archaic humans to survive, according to the researchers. The UCL scientists said their findings, published in the journal Science, challenge the widely held belief that after arriving from South-West sia by about 1.4 million years ago, these humans were able to survive through multiple climate cycles and adapt to increasingly harsh conditions. Senior author Professor Chronis Tzedakis, of UCL Geography in London, said: Our discovery of an extreme glacial cooling event around 1.1 million years ago challenges the idea of continuous early human occupation of Europe. Along with UCL, paleoclimate scientists from the University of Cambridge and CSIC Barcelona analysed the chemical composition of marine micro-organisms and examined the pollen content in a deep-sea sediment core recovered off the coast of Portugal. Cores such as these can show a glimpse of the Earths past geology and climate. Lead author Dr Vasiliki Margari, of UCL Geography, said: To our surprise, we found that this cooling at 1.1 million years ago was comparable to some of the most severe events of recent ice ages. Co-author Professor Nick Ashton of the British Museum said: A cooling of this magnitude would have placed small hunter-gatherer bands under considerable stress, especially since early humans may have lacked adaptations such as sufficient fat insulation and also the means to make fire, effective clothing or shelters. The experts then ran a climate simulation to capture the extreme conditions during this time. Study co-author Professor Axel Timmermann, of the IBS Centre for Climate Physics at Pusan National University in South Korea, said: The results showed that 1.1 million years ago climate around the Mediterranean became too hostile for archaic humans. Combined results suggest that Iberia, and more generally southern Europe, became devoid of human population and remained so for the next 200,000 years. Study co-author Professor Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London said: According to this scenario, Europe may have been recolonised around 900,000 years ago by more resilient humans with evolutionary or behavioural changes that allowed survival in the increasing intensity of glacial conditions. Meanwhile, another study, also published in the journal Science, suggests climate change may have facilitated interbreeding between two groups of ancient human relatives: Denisovans and Neanderthals. Back in 2018, scientists found evidence of a woman, nicknamed Denny, who lived 90,000 years ago and had a Denisovan father and a Neanderthal mother. Simulations paleo-biologists from South Korea and Italy showed Neanderthals and Denisovans had different environmental preferences, with Denisovans more adapted to cold environments, such as boreal forests and tundra, while their Neanderthal cousins preferred temperate forests and grassland. But in warm interglacial periods, when Earths orbit around the Sun was more elliptic and northern hemisphere summer occurred closer to the Sun, simulations suggest their habitats may have begun to overlap geographically. Prof Timmermann, who is also one of the authors on the second study, said: When Neanderthals and Denisovans shared a common habitat, there were more encounters and interactions among the groups, which would have increased the chance of interbreeding. A group of people thought to be migrants are brought into Dover, Kent, onboard the Ramsgate Lifeboat following a small boat incident in the Channel (Gareth Fuller/PA) Several migrants have been rescued from the English Channel as the number of people crossing on small boats in the last five-and-a-half years appeared to reach 100,000. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), which aided the UK Coastguard with the search and rescue operation, said lifeboats from Dover, Ramsgate, Dungeness and Littlestone were called out on Thursday morning. The Home Office confirmed 17 individuals were rescued from the water who had gone overboard and said they were all recovered safely and have been taken ashore for routine health and safety checks. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper thanked the RNLI on Twitter for todays vital rescue operation to save lives, adding: Appalling that criminal smuggler gangs are getting away with profiting from putting lives at risk. The fresh wave of migrants arriving on lifeboats is believed to have pushed the total number of people crossing the English Channel on small boats since 2018 to 100,000. PA news agency analysis of Government figures since current records began on January 1 2018 showed that, as of Tuesday, 99,960 people had arrived in the UK after making the journey. RNLI lifeboats were spotted bringing dozens to shore on Thursday, meaning it is likely the milestone has been reached. A witness said there appeared to be more than 40 people brought ashore on board two lifeboats, which had attended a dinghy out in the Channel. They included women and children, with one woman carrying a small child in her arms. The RNLI said in a statement: This morning all-weather RNLI lifeboats from Dover, Ramsgate and Dungeness, along with Littlestone RNLIs inshore lifeboat, were tasked to an incident in the Channel by HM Coastguard. On arrival at the scene, some casualties were found to be in the water. All casualties are believed to be accounted for and were brought to safety by the RNLIs volunteer crews. The UK Coastguard said: HM Coastguard has been co-ordinating a search and rescue response to an incident involving small boats off Kent, working with Border Force, Kent Police and other partners. A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard the Ramsgate Lifeboat on Thursday (Gareth Fuller/PA) Commenting on the incident, Ms Cooper tweeted: Another awful, dangerous incident in the Channel boat crossings putting lives at risk. Thank you to RNLI for todays vital rescue operation to save lives. Appalling that criminal smuggler gangs are getting away with profiting from putting lives at risk. Data on the number of migrants detected crossing the English Channel in small boats to enter the UK each day is published by the Home Office and Border Force. The figures are published the day after and in its latest update on Thursday, the data showed that on Wednesday zero people were detected. Since the beginning of January 2023 to August 9, figures show 15,071 people crossed the Channel. Tory Party deputy chairman Lee Anderson said he was very angry about the 100,000 figure and that if things dont go to plan, the Government may have to take drastic measures and leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). He told GB News: Im very angry about the number. Again, very angry, as you know, every single day when I see these illegal migrants and lets be clear on what they are. Theyre illegal migrants. Theyre not genuine asylum seekers look, its been very, very difficult for the Government. Ive been banging out about it since I got elected. People boarding the Bibby Stockholm accommodation barge at Portland Port in Dorset (James Manning/PA) On the ECHR, he said he has always been an advocate of leaving, adding: You know, were a team. If things dont work, if things dont go to plan, then weve got to take drastic measures, and I would fully support the Government in doing that. Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: 100,000 is a landmark. Criminals are making fools of us. Billions are being spent on accommodation and our asylum system is overwhelmed. It seems the weather is better able to defend our borders than the Border Force. It is time to change our laws so that the British Government has the final word on who can enter and who can stay in the UK. A Home Office spokesperson said: The unacceptable number of people risking their lives by making these dangerous crossings is placing an unprecedented strain on our asylum system. Our priority is to stop the boats, and our Small Boats Operational Command is working alongside our French partners and other agencies to disrupt the people smugglers. The Government is going even further through our Illegal Migration Act which will mean that people arriving in the UK illegally are detained and promptly removed to their country of origin or a safe third country. There have been a series of Government announcements during what was dubbed small boats week in Westminster, which included a crackdown on immigration lawyers helping migrants exploit the system, and a new partnership with Turkey to disrupt people-smuggling gangs. Meanwhile, asylum seekers were finally moved on to the Bibby Stockholm barge on Monday on the Dorset coast after the plans were beset by delays. On Thursday, it was also announced Bas Javid, currently deputy assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police Service and brother of Tory former home secretary Sajid Javid, will become the director-general of Immigration Enforcement in November. Former first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon was interviewed at an Edinburgh Festival Fringe show (James Manning/PA) Nicola Sturgeon has said she did not know police investigating the SNPs finances were going to search her home until officers knocked on the door. But the former Scottish first minister insisted she had faith that Police Scotlands actions were justified. Describing the day officers turned up at the home she shares with her husband, former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, as not the best day of my life, Ms Sturgeon said she was absolutely certain I have done nothing wrong. Officers from Police Scotland searched the couples home, in the outskirts of Glasgow, in April, with Mr Murrell arrested and questioned by police before being released without charge. Ms Sturgeon was arrested, and also released without charge, in June. She spoke about the really difficult, traumatic experience as she appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Iain Dales All Talk show. The broadcaster asked her if she had quit as first minister and SNP leader earlier this year because she had got wind of developments in the police investigation, which is probing the whereabouts of about 600,000 that was donated to the SNP for independence campaigning. Ms Sturgeon said she was aware of the investigation, known as Operation Branchform, telling the audience: It had been under way for years. I was aware of that. But regarding the developments in that investigation, she insisted: I had no idea what was about to happen. Ms Sturgeon said if she had had any idea about what was going to unfold she would not have been able to function in the period between announcing her departure in February and leaving office at the end of March. Asked when she first realised the search of her home was happening, she said: When it happened. Dale asked her if that was literally the knock on the door? Ms Sturgeon told him: Yes. Im not going to go any further into that, maybe one day I will be able to. Officers from Police Scotland outside the home of Nicola Sturgeon and Peter Murrell, in Uddingston, Glasgow (Robert Perry/PA) She continued: Its obviously been a really difficult, traumatic experience. People live through worse, Im not going to overstate that. My touchstone I guess in all of it, all along, is I am confident in my own position. I am absolutely certain I have done nothing wrong. Therefore I need to and do trust in the process. The police are doing a job and therefore I have to have faith that everything they are doing in the process of that is justified. I am going to continue to have faith in that. The touchstone is the confidence in my own position. She revealed that when her husband was being questioned by police she had gone to her parents, saying: Always go back to your mammy and daddy. She added: I cant even remember everything that was going through my head at that point. It was not the best day of my life, put it that way. However she refused to comment on her husband, only saying: My marriage is not something anybody should worry about. Speaking about the police investigation, Ms Sturgeon stated: This is a serious process and in that process I am not going to speak for anybody other than myself, because I only can speak for myself. Asked if the couple talked about such events while together, Ms Sturgeon said: I think I am choosing when I can to try to talk about happier things. She added that in the past few months she had found depths of resilience I didnt know I had and I thought I had plumbed them over the course of the Covid experience. The former SNP leader also said an indispensable group of friends had helped her through this period. She told the audience: Theres a group of people, my closest friends, that have been utterly indispensable to me in the last few months, I probably wouldnt have the emotional wherewithal to sit here right now but for them. Ms Sturgeon added: Its not an experience I would ever have chosen, obviously, but even out of the toughest things I am finding you learn things about yourself and you learn things about life. American airman Keiran Lee Bogstad is stationed at RAF Croughton, in Northamptonshire (Steve Parsons/PA) A US military serviceman has denied multiple counts of rape at an RAF base and will face trial next year. American airman Keiran Lee Bogstad pleaded not guilty to raping a UK citizen three times between November 2020 and February 2021 at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire. At a hearing at Northampton Crown Court, Bogstad, 22, was told he will face trial at the same court on September 30 2024. Adjourning proceedings, Judge Adrienne Lucking KC said: Im going to release you on bail on the same terms as before. You must attend court on every occasion you are required to do so. If you fail to attend on any of those occasions there will be a warrant issued for your arrest. Telecommunication equipment at RAF Croughton, where Keiran Lee Bogstad is stationed (Steve Parsons/PA) If you fail to attend on the day of your trial the prosecution will apply to go ahead with the trial in your absence. Bogstad, wearing a polo shirt and chinos, spoke only to confirm his identity and enter his pleas and replied Yes maam when the judge asked if he understood what she had said. He was given bail with conditions not to leave the country or contact the complainant, with a previous court hearing having heard that the defendant had already surrendered his passport. His role in the United States Air Force (USAF) was not disclosed in court. Bogstad was represented by James Bloomer, with Peter Ratliff prosecuting. The trial is expected to last six days. Northamptonshire Police previously said it had led the investigation with the full co-operation of the United States Air Force. RAF Croughton, which is currently used by the USAF, was put in the spotlight in 2019 after teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn was killed by American citizen Anne Sacoolas as she drove on the wrong side of the road after leaving the base. The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames (Matthew Thayer/The Maui News via AP) At least 36 people have died as a result of wildfires in the town of Lahaina in Hawaii. Wildfires, whipped up by strong winds from Hurricane Dora, roared overnight forcing adults and children to dive into the ocean for safety. Officials earlier said that 271 structures were damaged or destroyed and dozens of people were injured. On Wednesday, crews were continuing to battle blazes in several places on the island. Authorities urged visitors to stay away. The fires are the latest in a series of problems caused by extreme weather around the world this summer. Experts say climate change is increasing the likelihood of such events. Thomas Smith an associate professor in environmental geography at the London School of Economics and Political Science said wildfires are not unusual in Hawaii, but the weather of the past few weeks created the fuel for a devastating blaze and, once ignited, the high winds created the disaster. He added: The vegetation in the lowland areas of Maui is particularly parched this year, with below-average precipitation in the spring, and hardly any rainfall this summer. Satellite images show an overview of southern Lahaina on Maui, Hawaii, on June 25, 2023, left, and an overview of the same area on Wednesday, August 9 (Maxar Technologies via AP) As winds eased somewhat on Maui, some flights resumed on Wednesday, allowing pilots to view the full scope of the devastation. Aerial video from Lahaina showed dozens of homes and businesses razed, including on Front Street, where tourists once gathered to shop and dine. Smoking heaps of rubble lay piled high next to the waterfront, boats in the harbour were scorched and smoke hovered over the leafless skeletons of charred trees. Its horrifying. Ive flown here 52 years and Ive never seen anything come close to that, said Richard Olsten, a helicopter pilot for a tour company. We had tears in our eyes. State Department of Education superintendent Keith Hayashi said that a team is working on contingency plans and preparing for the possible loss of a school that had been in Lahaina for more than a century. Unofficial aerial photos show the King Kamehameha III Elementary campus on Front Street in Lahaina sustained extensive fire and structural damage, he said. The Department is striving to maintain regular school schedules to provide a sense of normalcy but will keep most Maui schools closed for the remainder of this week, he said. People watch as smoke and flames fill the air from raging wildfires on Front Street in Lahaina (Alan Dickar via AP) The Coast Guard said it rescued 14 people who jumped into the water to escape flames and smoke, including two children. Among those injured were three people with critical burns who were flown to Straub Medical Centres burn unit on the island of Oahu, officials said. At least 20 patients were taken to Maui Memorial Medical Centre, officials said, and a firefighter was taken to hospital in stable condition after inhaling smoke. Richard Bissen Jr, the mayor of Maui County, said at a news conference that he did not have details on how or where on the island the six deaths occurred. He said officials had not yet begun investigating the immediate cause of the fires, but officials did point to the combination of dry conditions, low humidity and high winds. More than 2,100 people spent Tuesday night in evacuation centres. Another 2,000 travellers sheltered at Kahului Airport after many flights were cancelled. Officials were preparing the Hawaii Convention Centre in Honolulu to take in thousands of displaced tourists and locals. President Joe Biden declared a major disaster on Maui on Thursday. He ordered all available federal assets to help with the response and said the Hawaii National Guard had mobilised helicopters to help with fire suppression as well as search-and-rescue efforts. Our prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses, and communities destroyed, Mr Biden said. Former president Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii, said on social media that it is tough to see some of the images coming out of a place that is so special to many. Alan Dickar, who owns a poster gallery and three houses in Lahaina, bemoaned the loss of so much in the town and to him personally. The central two blocks is the economic heart of this island, and I dont know whats left, he said. Every significant thing I owned burned down today. Several thousand Hawaii residents raced to escape homes on Maui as the Lahaina fire swept across the island, killing multiple people and burning parts of a centuries-old town. (Rick Bowmer/AP) Wildfires were also burning on Hawaiis Big Island, mayor Mitch Roth said, although there had been no reports of injuries or destroyed homes there. Mr Roth said firefighters had needed to extinguish some roof fires and there were continuing flareups of one fire near the Mauna Kea Resorts. The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora, which was passing to the south of the island chain, was partly to blame for the strong winds. About 14,500 customers in Maui were without power early on Wednesday. With mobile service and phone lines down in some areas, many people were struggling to check in with friends and family members living near the wildfires. Some were posting messages on social media. Acting governor Sylvia Luke said the flames had wiped out communities and urged travellers to stay away. This is not a safe place to be, she said. Ms Luke issued an emergency proclamation on behalf of governor Josh Green, who was travelling. Mr Greens office said he would cut short his trip and was returning on Wednesday evening. Four migrants, rescued by a passing merchant ship, have told doctors and police that waves swamped their boat. Some 41 others are missing and presumed dead. (Karolina Sobel/Sea-Watch/AP) An Italian prosecutor investigating a capsizing that left 41 migrants feared dead in the Mediterranean Sea denounced Tunisia-based smugglers who launch boats so badly built that they quickly take on water, overturn or break apart. The capsizing this week was the latest in a string of similar tragedies that have killed dozens of people who entrusted their lives to smugglers based on Tunisias shores to reach Italy in hopes of finding a better life. Four migrants who were rescued by a passing merchant ship following the capsizing on August 4 told doctors and police that they survived by clinging to air tubes for hours. A group of survivors from the capsized boat spotted an empty vessel and struggled to reach it, with only four people able to climb aboard. Forty-one people are believed dead after a boat carrying migrants capsized off Tunisia in rough seas, the Italian Red Cross and rescue groups reported (Karolina Sobel/Sea-Watch/AP) Once inside the vessel, the survivors discovered that the iron-hulled, open-topped vessel had no engine. State TV reported that the migrants survived for four days on four bottles of drinking water and half a packet of crackers that they found inside the boat. A Malta-flagged ship rescued them and an Italian Coast Guard vessel took them to Lampedusa, a small Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea. The survivors said 41 other passengers, including three children, all set out from the port of Sfax, Tunisia, on August 3. They said waves as high as four meters (13 feet) swamped the smugglers boats the next day. The others migrants were missing and presumably dead. Chief prosecutor Salvatore Vella, based in Agrigento, Sicily said: Their story is plausible. We know that the smugglers launch these boats of very poor quality with 50 to 70 migrants aboard. Sometimes survivors of such shipwrecks include crewmen engaged by the smugglers who then try to pass themselves off as passengers, but in this case, we can exclude any of the four had such a role, Mr Vella told The Associated Press. The boat the survivors set off in is the type hastily soldered together with pieces of iron by smugglers in Tunisia to keep up with demands by migrants desperate to make the risky journey toward Italys shores, Mr Vella said. The soldering on these boats is done only at some points, not in a solid line (so) water gets in, he added. They are criminals. The fate of who those who might have been on board the empty vessel is not known though its not uncommon for smugglers to tow or transfer people between boats in the Mediterranean. The four migrants are said to have survived for four days with just four bottles of drinking water and half a packet of crackers before they were rescued (Karolina Sobel/Sea-Watch/AP) Often boats are left behind after migrants go aboard a rescue vessel, Mr Vella said. We dont know why there was no engine aboard the boat found by the survivors, but these engines are precious, so its possible someone took it at sea. Pope Francis, who since the start of his papacy has repeatedly denounced the loss of life of migrants at sea, said on Twitter: Let us not remain indifferent to these tragedies. According to an official of the European Unions border agency, Frontex, a fishing boat was recently seen harassing migrants at sea off Tunisias coast, circling around them and asking them for money in exchange for towing them to closer to Lampedusa. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, whose right-wing government includes an anti-migrant party, had enlisted the European Unions help to forge an accord with Tunisia in a bid to stop the migrant boats in exchange for economic and other aid. But the number of migrants reaching Italy so far this year is more than double compared to the same period in 2022, with no sign of slowing. Some 1,000 set foot on Lampedusa in the 24 hours ending Thursday morning alone. On Monday, the charity rescue ship Geo Barents took aboard 49 migrants, including 32 unaccompanied minors, from a smugglers vessel that had been adrift for days, said Doctors Without Borders, which assists on the ship. Imagine them six days adrift without food and only salty seawater to drink, Doctors Without Borders tweeted on Thursday. Survivors told their rescuers one child disappeared in the sea. As of Thursday, nearly 94,800 migrants have arrived by sea this year in Italy, either after being rescued by the Italian Coast Guard, by private charity ships or by making it unaided, according to Interior Ministry figures. On Wednesday, Libyan authorities said at least 27 African migrants have died in the countrys western desert near the border with Tunisia. Later, Tunisia and Libya agreed to take 276 sub-Saharan migrants stranded in the desert near the border post of Ras Jedir to shelters, Tunisian Interior Ministry spokesman Faker Bouzghaya told the AP on Thursday. We took charge of a group that was sheltered by the Tunisian Red Crescent and the Libyan side did the same so that the migrants were evacuated from the zone, he said, adding that Tunisia took in 126 migrants. The number Libya agreed to take was not immediately available. West African heads of state have begun meeting on next steps to take after Nigers military junta defied their deadline to reinstate the deposed president (Sam Mednick/AP) Nigers junta told a top US diplomat that they would kill deposed President Mohamed Bazoum if neighbouring countries attempted any military intervention to restore his rule, two Western officials told The Associated Press. Representatives of the junta told US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland of the threat to Mr Bazoum during her visit to the country this week, a Western military official said. A US official confirmed the account. Mr Bazoum, who was deposed on July 26, says he is being held hostage at his residence. Analysts say ECOWAS might be running out of options as support fades for a military intervention. (Sam Mednick/AP) West African heads of state met in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to discuss next steps after Niger military junta defied their deadline of Sunday to reinstate Mr Bazoum but analysts say the bloc may be running out of options as support fades for a military intervention. Nine of the 11 heads of state expected to attend were present, including the presidents of Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone. The non-ECOWAS leaders of Mauritania and Burundi also participated in the closed-door meeting. The regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc said on Thursday that it had directed the deployment of a standby force to restore democracy in Niger after the coup. ECOWAS commission president Omar Alieu Touray said he could only reaffirm the decisions by the military authorities in the subregion to deploy a standby force of the community. He said financing had been discussed and appropriate measures have been taken. Mr Touray blamed the junta for any hardship caused by the sanctions imposed on Niger and said further actions by the bloc would be taken jointly, not by any single country. It is not one country against another country. The community has instruments to which all members have subscribed to, he said. Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who currently chairs the bloc, said: It is crucial that we prioritise diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach. He said leaders must act with a sense of urgency, though appeared to retreat from the blocs earlier threat to use force. Niger was seen as the last country in the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert that Western nations could partner with to counter jihadi violence linked to al Qaida and the so-called Islamic State group that has killed thousands and displaced millions of people. Omar Touray, president of the ECOWAS Commission, welcomes Burundis President Evariste Ndayishimiye, centre, for the ECOWAS meeting in Nigeria as West African heads of state began meeting to decide next steps after Nigers military junta defied their deadline to reinstate the nations deposed president (Gbemiga Olamikan/AP) The international community is scrambling to find a peaceful solution to the countrys leadership crisis. Oladeinde Ariyo, a security analyst in Nigeria, said: Let me tell you, any coup that has succeeded beyond 24 hours has come to stay. So, as it is, they are speaking from the point of strength and advantage. So, negotiating with them will have to be on their terms. On Wednesday, a Nigerian delegation led by the former Emir of Kano, Khalifa Muhammad Sanusi, met the juntas leader, General Abdourahmane Tchiani. The former emir was one of few people allowed to meet General Tchiani. When Ms Nuland met with the coup leaders earlier this week, she was denied access to both General Tchiani and Mr Bazoum. A separate delegation comprised of ECOWAS, the United Nations and the African Union was barred from coming at all. West Africas regional bloc has failed to stem past coups throughout the region. Niger is the fourth country in the 15-member state bloc to have experienced a coup in the last three years. The bloc has imposed harsh economic and travel sanctions. But Andrew Lebovich, a research fellow with the Clingendael Institute, says as the junta becomes more entrenched, the options for negotiations are becoming limited. He said: Its very difficult to say what might come out of it, but the fact that the initial deadline passed without intervention and that the (junta) has continued to hold a fairly firm line, indicate that they think they can outlast this pressure. A supporter of Nigers ruling junta holds a placard in the colours of the Russian flag reading Long Live Russia, Long Live Niger and Nigeriens at the start of a protest (Sam Mednick/AP) The main parties positions are dangerously far apart, according to the International Crisis Group, a think tank, which said that if dialogue is going to succeed, each side is going to have to make concessions, which theyve so far refused to do. Since seizing power, the junta has cut ties with France and exploited popular grievances toward its former colonial ruler to shore up its support base. It also has asked for help from the Russian mercenary group Wagner, which operates in a handful of African countries and has been accused of committing human rights abuses. Lou Osborn, an investigator with All Eyes on Wagner, a project focusing on the group, said Moscow is using Wagner and other channels of influence to discredit Western nations. Ms Osborn said their tactics include using social media to spread rumours about Wagners upcoming arrival to Niger and employing fake accounts to mobilise demonstrations and spread false narratives. Their objective is not to support the junta or an alternative political approach but to sow discord, create chaos, destabilise, she added. She pointed to a Telegram post on Wednesday by an alleged Wagner operative, Alexander Ivanov, asserting that France had begun the mass removal of children likely to be used for slave labour and sexual exploitation. Neither Russias government nor Wagner responded to requests for comment. Supporters of Nigers ruling junta hold a Russian flag (Sam Mednick/AP) While theres no reason to believe Russia was behind the coup, it will leverage the opportunity to gain a stronger foothold in the region, something Western nations were trying to avoid, Sahel experts say. France and the United States have more than 2,500 military personnel in Niger and along with other European nations have poured hundreds of millions of dollars of military assistance into propping up the countrys forces. Much of that aid has now been suspended. Meanwhile, Nigers approximately 25 million people are feeling the impact of the sanctions. Some neighbourhoods in the capital Niamey have little access to electricity and there are frequent power cuts across the city. The country gets up to 90% of its power from Nigeria, which has cut off some of the supply. Since the coup, Hamidou Albade, 48, said hes been unable to run his shop on the outskirts of Niamey because theres been no electricity. He also works as a taxi driver but lost business there, too, because a lot of of his foreign clients have left the city. Its very difficult, I just sit at home doing nothing, he said. Still, he supports the junta. Were suffering now, but I know the junta will find a solution to get out of the crisis, he said. Ukrainian soldiers fire a self-propelled howitzer towards Russian positions at the front line in Donetsk (AP Photo/Libkos) Russian air defence systems have shot down two drones heading towards Moscow for the second straight day, officials said. The attack disrupted flights at two international airports as Ukraine appeared to step up its assault on Russian soil. One drone was downed in the Kaluga region south-west of Moscow and another near a major Moscow ring road, according to Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin and the Russian Defence Ministry, which blamed the attack on Ukraine. No casualties or damage were immediately reported. Domodedovo airport, south of the city, halted flights for more than two hours and Vnukovo airport, south-west of the city, stopped flights for more than two-and-a-half hours and redirected some incoming aircraft to other airports, according to Russian news agencies. Ukrainian soldiers on the front line in Donetsk (AP Photo/Libkos) It was not clear where the drones were launched, and Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment. Ukraine usually neither confirms nor denies such attacks. Firing drones at Moscow after more than 17 months of war has little apparent military value for Ukraine, but the strategy has served to unsettle Russians and bring home to them the conflicts consequences. Russias Defence Ministry also said it had stopped Ukrainian drone attacks in Moscow-annexed Crimea. It said it shot down two drones near the port city of Sevastopol and electronically jammed nine that crashed into the Black Sea. On Wednesday, Ukrainian media reported social media blogs as saying that a thick plume of smoke billowed over Sevastopol, which is the headquarters of Russias Black Sea Fleet. The governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said the smoke came from a fleet training exercise and urged local residents not to worry. The incidents have come against the backdrop of Ukraines ongoing counter-offensive, which Ukrainian and Western officials have warned will be a long slog against the Kremlins deeply entrenched forces. Ukraine has been promised more weapons and ammunition to help sustain its counter-offensive (AP Photo/Libkos) The Pentagon is to provide Ukraine with another 200 million dollars (156.75 million) in weapons and ammunition to help sustain the counter-offensive, according to US officials. Ukraine has already received more than 43 billion dollars (33.7 billion) from the US since Russia invaded last year. Ukraines presidential office said at least six civilians were killed and 27 were injured between Wednesday and Thursday mornings. In eastern Ukraines Donetsk province, Russia shelled 16 cities and villages, and three people were killed, the office reported. In Zaporizhzhia, three people were killed and nine wounded, including an 11-month-old baby. Meanwhile, 12 people remained missing after an explosion on Wednesday at a factory that makes optical equipment for Russian security forces, Russias state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency officials. The Zagorsk Optical and Mechanical Plant was destroyed (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP) Russias Emergency Ministry said 71 people required medical assistance after the explosion. Russian officials did not offer a suspected cause of the explosion at the Zagorsk plant in the region around Moscow, which added to jitters about potential Ukrainian drone strikes. The fallout from Russias war against Ukraine has brought concerns to neighbouring countries, including the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus this summer after their short-lived mutiny in Russia. Polands defence minister said the country intends to put 10,000 soldiers along its border with Belarus amid fears of a spike in illegal immigration. Polish officials have accused Belarusian authorities of organising illegal border crossings to disrupt and pressure Warsaw, which along with other Nato countries has provided support for Kyivs war effort. Protesters demand the repeal of the Digital Security Act and the release of Khadijatul Kubra, a student from Jagannath University imprisoned under the act, in Dhaka, July 16, 2023. Bangladeshs draft Cyber Security Bill is nearly identical to the Digital Security Act it is meant to replace, with similar repressive provisions and harsh punishments that curb free speech, analysts said Thursday. Human rights activists, analysts and professional bodies such as the Editors Council criticized the proposed bill, saying that enacting a new law without any basic changes to the old one was meaningless. But Law Minister Anisul Huq said the changes made in the bill should address any concerns that people had with the earlier Digital Security Act (DSA). The new bills draft was released to the public late Wednesday. Ninety-five percent of the people from the U.N. Human Rights High Commission to journalists have talked about the necessity of a cyber security law. Their demand was to get some of the sections of the Digital Security Act amended so that the law does not hinder the operation of the news media and block the freedom of providing news, Huq said on Thursday. We firmly believe that we have addressed those through framing the Cyber Security Law; we have allayed their fear. The government would seek public opinion and recommendations from stakeholders on the draft bill during the next 14 days, the minister said. His statements however did not match the contents of the draft bill, a copy of which BenarNews obtained and studied. The proposed Cyber Security Bill-2023 and the DSA both contain almost the same provisions. In fact, the new bill numbers its sections the same as in the DSA. Jyotirmoy Barua, a High Court lawyer who has dealt with many DSA cases, concurred. I think replacement of provisions of DSA with another law that has a new name will not suffice, he told BenarNews. Human rights defenders had been demanding the repeal of DSA, not replacement of the same provisions in a new law. The oppressive character of the [new] law will [again] curb dissenting voices. Barua said the government had pulled a similar sleight of hand when it passed the DSA to replace the Information and Communication Technology Act-2006. They had done the same when they repealed the oppressive section 57 of the ICT Act-2006, spreading the section in four other sections in the DSA, he said. The Editors Council had been demanding that the government scrap at least nine sections of the DSA 8, 21, 25, 28, 31, 32, 43 and 53 to ensure free speech and a free press. The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has been working with the government to reform the DSA, and had raised serious objections about two DSA sections, 21 and 28. Under Section 21, anyone launching or helping launch a propaganda campaign on any digital platform against Bangladeshs 1971 war of independence or its spirit; Mujibur Rahman, the Father of the Nation, who is also Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas father; or the national anthem would face a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. Under the draft of the new bill, Section 21 lists the same offenses but reduces the punishment to a maximum seven years in prison. Section 28 stipulates that anyone intentionally hurting religious sentiment on a digital platform faces five years in jail. Under Section 28 of the proposed Cyber Security Bill-2023 the text of the offense reads the same, but the punishment is only slightly reduced, to two years in prison. The other sections that the Editors Guild wanted scrapped similarly remain in the new draft bill some with reduced jail terms and lower fines. Section 53 of the DSA includes 14 non-bailable digital offenses, while section 53 of the new Cyber Security Bill reduces that number to six. The only real change in the new bill is that defamation will now constitute a civil offense and not a criminal one, said Nur Khan, executive director of the rights body, Ain-O-Salish Kendra. DSA designates defamation as a criminal offense, but the Cyber Security bill treats it as a civil offense. The jail terms have been removed from Section 29. This is progress I would say, he told BenarNews. But, he added, the Cyber Security Bill is like old wine in a new bottle. Workers sort through food at a damaged United Nations World Food Program warehouse in Sittwe, Myanmar, May 17, 2023, in the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha. About 1.6 million people in Rakhine state have not received sufficient humanitarian aid almost three months after one of the worst cyclones to hit Myanmar in a decade, aid workers and local residents told Radio Free Asia. Additionally, the rehabilitation process in the countrys westernmost state could be prolonged because of inadequate support from the military junta and the international community, the aid workers said. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently announced that it has received only U.S. $24.3 million of the estimated U.S. $333 million needed for relief and rehabilitation projects in cyclone-hit areas. Low-lying Rakhine lies along the cyclone-prone Bay of Bengal. There is an enormous gap between the amount needed and the amount provided, a humanitarian organization official told RFA, a news service affiliated with BenarNews. They can only fill the very basic needs for the people. Cyclone Mocha made landfall on May 14 with sustained winds reaching more than 220 kph (137 mph), killing more than 400 people and leaving widespread destruction. Aid workers said that more than 90% of houses and buildings in northern Rakhine were damaged by the storm. In early June, junta officials issued a blanket ban on transportation for aid groups operating in Rakhine. Authorities mandated that all international humanitarian aid, including U.N. assistance, must first be donated through the junta. Maung Saw Win, a resident of Rathedaung township where the cyclone hit hardest told RFA that the people of his township have yet to receive any substantial aid. We havent received anything on the ground. We have seen 20 tractors arrive here. But thats it, he said. We are trying to rehabilitate on a self-help basis. Other residents of cyclone-hit areas said they received some food, shelter and emergency aid materials from the World Food Program, the Red Cross and other international organizations shortly after the cyclone, but those deliveries have stopped. In Bangladesh, the cyclone destroyed more than 2,800 shelters, learning centers, health centers and other infrastructure in Rohingya camps in the sub-districts of Teknaf and Ukhia, according to Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, the nations refugee relief and repatriation commissioner. Teknaf borders Myanmars Rakhine state. Dwellings in nearby St. Martins, an island in the Bay of Bengal isolated from mainland Bangladesh, suffered a similar fate, according to government officials. Members of a rescue team clear fallen trees in Sittwe, Myanmar, after Cyclone Mocha, May 17, 2023. [Sai Aung Main/AFP] Aid from ASEAN The juntas spokesman and attorney general for Rakhine state, Hla Thein, told RFA that the junta has allotted 5 billion kyat ($1.6 million) for Rakhines damaged areas, and plans to allot an additional 7 billion kyat ($2.3 million). We are also negotiating with international aid organizations to provide aid, he said. It is important that the private sector cooperates with the government. Only then can we complete the mission in a short time. State-run news organizations have reported that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Korea and Japan have donated food, shelter, medicine and other materials through the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management. According to RFA records, emergency aid valued at $1.64 million has been donated by ASEAN, 40 tons of food, medicine and other materials has come from India, and food, shelter and other aid material valued at more than $1 million has been sent by China. Additionally, Cambodia donated $300,000, Indonesia has given $500,000 worth of materials, South Korea has sent 500 tons of rice, Japan has sent 20,000 rice bags, Bangladesh has given 120 tons of material and Thailand has sent 20 tons of aid. Hla Thein said aid from ASEAN and the international community is being delivered right after the material arrives in Myanmar. But former lawmaker Aung Thaung Shwe said there is very little being delivered to cyclone victims. Some junta officials have summoned village heads to perfunctorily distribute some rice and paddy seeds, but that hasnt been enough to meet the demands in the villages. The junta doesnt have effective means to make the deliveries, Aung Thaung Shwe said. The junta seized power from a democratically elected government in February 2021 and has been fighting anti-junta Peoples Defense Forces and ethnic armed groups ever since. One Rakhine businessman said it could take up to 15 years to rebuild the communities because of the juntas unreliability. I dont think the rehabilitation efforts will go smoothly and quickly if we relied on the governments missions, Khin Maung Gyi said. We also see that the capacities of international NGOs and other NGOs have been crippled by the various restrictions. A still photograph from Swiss watchmaker Swatchs campaign for its 2023 collection of watches inspired by the rainbow flag a symbol of pride and support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other gender non-conforming and pansexual people. Malaysia on Thursday banned Swatch watches and accessories with LGBTQ references and made possessing them punishable by up to three years in prison, saying that normalizing the gay community may harm the nation. Homosexual acts are considered a crime in Muslim-majority Malaysia, where the LGBTQ+ community has long faced discrimination and where human rights groups have warned of growing intolerance against minorities. The ban comes two days before state assembly elections where Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahims progressive alliance is competing against a resurgent conservative and Malay Muslim-centric coalition amid a rise in racial and religious rhetoric. Possession of banned materials may also carry a fine U.S. $4,375, the Home Ministry said in a post on Facebook, adding that the ban, under the controversial Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984, would take effect on Aug. 10. The Malaysian government is committed to preventing the spread of elements that are harmful or may harm morality, public interest and the country or national interest, by promoting, supporting, and normalizing the LGBTQ+ movement that is not accepted by the general public in Malaysia, the ministrys post said. The ministry also said it was committed to protecting the public through supervision, control and elimination of movements that contradict local socio-culture. The ban applies not only to watches that refer to LGBTQ+ but also their packaging, wrappers, user manuals and other accessories, the Home Ministry said. BenarNews contacted Swatch Malaysia for a comment, but did not immediately hear back. The ministry did not specify which Swatch watches it banned, but in May it seized 172 rainbow-colored watches from the 2023 Pride collection of Swatch from 11 stores in the country, and told five of them to remove those items from their shelves. Swatch says the following about its Pride collection in a press release on its website vibrant designs represent six colors of the Pride flag a symbol of humanity that speaks for all genders and all races. The Pride flag, or the rainbow flag, is a symbol of pride and support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other gender non-conforming and pansexual people. Malaysian Muslims hold signs as they protest against rights for gay people, outside Kuala Lumpur, Nov. 4, 2011. [Samsul Said/Reuters] Two months after its watches were seized from stores, Swatch filed a lawsuit in the Kuala Lumpur High Court against the Malaysian government over the confiscation. The arbitrary seizures, done without prior notice, caused loss and damage to the companys trading reputation, it said. Swatch said most of the watches did not contain the LGBTQ+ letters but were inspired by several colors of the rainbow. It also said the seizure notices did not clearly state on what basis the watches were being confiscated. Rights groups and activists lambasted the governments latest move, saying it was discriminatory and misusing the notion of public safety. A Malaysian gay rights group criticized the governments move Thursday on the Swatch watches, saying it perpetuated discrimination and created divisions in society. The Ministrys assertion that the LGBTQ+ elements in Swatch products are detrimental to morality is not only misguided but also inherently discriminatory, Dhia Rezki Rohaizad, deputy president of Malaysian gay rights group Jejaka, told BenarNews. We firmly believe that every individual, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, has the right to freedom of expression as enshrined in both international human rights law and the Constitution of Malaysia. The minority LGBTQ community, which is already a target in the country, will now become more marginalized, according to Thilaga Sulathireh, co-founder of an NGO called Justice for Sisters. This [ban] creates further misconceptions, stigma and discrimination, she told BenarNews. Further, any form of restriction of rights on those grounds has to be justified in terms of its legality, necessity and proportionality. Symbols and words matter Some said the ban and other actions in recent months by the Anwar administration were an attempt to increase the federal government alliances vote base among the rural, conservative Malay Muslim electorate. Ethnic Malays, who are all Muslim, make up 70% of the population. Many observers were stunned when the hardline Islamic party PAS won the most parliamentary seats in last Novembers general election, amid a general rise in religious fundamentalism and intolerance. Anwar Ibrahim throwing both Swatch and LGBT persons in Malaysia under the bus with this rights abusing, politically expedient ban on rainbow watches from one foreign company, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, wrote on Twitter. Symbols and words matter, LGBT Rights are Human Rights! You should know better! Five of the six Malaysian states going to the polls on Saturday are Malay-majority ones. Three of these are governed by the opposition, which includes PAS and which has been campaigning on Malay ethnocentric rhetoric. Some civil Society groups had hoped Malaysian society would slowly become more open once the progressive Anwar was named prime minister in November, but his administrations actions in recent months have proven otherwise. Josef Benedict, a researcher with CIVICUS, an alliance of civil society organizations dedicated to citizen action, noted that this government is misusing some of the same laws as previous Malay-centric administrations to curb freedoms. Instead of reforming restrictive laws, once again the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) is abused by the Anwar Ibrahim government, this time to ban so-called LGBT watches. How ridiculous can this government get? he said on Twitter. Last month, the government banned a British pop-rock band The 1975 for a same-sex on-stage kiss and shut down the entire three-day music festival because of the bands actions. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., the Philippine military chief, speaks to the media during a press briefing at Western Command in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines, Aug. 10, 2023. UPDATED at 4:10 p.m. EDT on 2023-08-10 The Philippines plans to deploy its own maritime militia to defend its sovereignty amid a raging territorial row with China, the Filipino armed forces chief said Thursday as he visited an island on the frontline of the sea dispute. Reporters who accompanied Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. on his tour of Palawan asked him if the military would deploy maritime militia forces as part of its transition to territorial defense from traditional internal security operations. Yes, its part of our plans, thats part of our reserve force development, the head of the Armed Forces of the Philippines replied. When we say reserve force its not just land-based forces, so we are also trying to develop our reservists who will be able to operate in sea, he said during his visit to the AFPs Western Command in Puerto Princesa, without releasing details about the militias. China and Vietnam, which are among other countries with overlapping claims in the South China Sea, are known to operate fleets of ships and boats crewed by militia members. Brawner said the military had established reserve units for deployment to the West Philippine Sea Manilas name for the South China Sea waters within the countrys 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Its already being implemented. We have established reserve units, but we are going to wait for the platforms or the vessels that actually would be used, Brawner said, emphasizing that the way forward depends on the funds. Brawner said there were plans to deploy ships and aircraft to guard the EEZ and establish the militarys presence in the sea. We want to use our fisher folks as reservists, we are going to teach them how to help us defend our country, he said. Brawner said the military also needed funds to improve its facilities in the West Philippine Sea. In 2020, diplomatic tensions between China and the Philippines escalated with Manilas discovery of large numbers of Chinese militia ships, which appeared to be trawlers, clustering within the waters of the Philippine EEZ. Suspected Chinese maritime militia boats are seen anchored off a disputed shoal in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, Feb. 21, 2023. [National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea handout/AFP] On Thursday, Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos, who leads the Western Command, said more than 400 foreign fishing boats, mostly from China, were intruding into the countrys territory. Carlos said about 190 of these boats were in the vicinity of the Chinese-occupied Mischief Reef, which is about 134 nautical miles from Palawan or more than 600 nautical miles from China. Its more than 400 [fishing boats], based on the last monitoring. Thats foreign vessels incursions in the West Philippine Sea now, Carlos said, referring to the most recent check on Wednesday. This is inside the EEZ maybe 85% of these are Chinese thats my estimate based on my [information], he said. According to Carlos, military leaders suspect that Chinese fishing fleets are in fact Chinese militias. He noted the involvement of two Chinese fishing boats during the harassment of two Philippine Coast Guard and two supply boats near Ayungin Shoal last week. Our suspicion is they are militia vessels taking orders from the [China] Coast Guard. The incident shows that they seem to be working taking orders from the Chinese coast guard, Carlos said. Military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. speaks to troops at the Western Command in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines, Aug. 10, 2023. [Eloisa Lopez/pool/Reuters] Brawner went to Palawan island amid a flurry of defense and diplomatic meetings that followed the incident at Ayungin Shoal. On Wednesday, a spokesman for the countrys task force on the West Philippine Sea said the Philippines and its defense ally, the United States, were in the final stages of an agreement to launch joint patrols this year in the South China Sea to deter encroachment by foreign ships. Apart from China, Vietnam and the Philippines, parts of the South China Sea are claimed by Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan. If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom. For copyright information, check with the distributor of this item, STATS Perform dba Automated Insights. Most infections are mild, but vulnerable people should take extra precautions, and a reformulated vaccine to be released this fall should offer enhanced protection for all who take it. This Story in History is selected from the archives by Jeannie Maschino, The Berkshire Eagle. GREAT BARRINGTON One town official looking to funnel more money toward people who need help paying for housing is proposing to tack on a fee to all real estate deals over $1 million. The 1 percent real estate transfer fee would be split by buyers and sellers. The cut would be taken off all kinds of real estate including single family homes, land and commercial sales, though transfers between family or for use as affordable or workforce housing would be exempt. Select Board Vice Chair Leigh Davis presented her proposal to the board at its meeting Monday as she continues to spearhead affordable housing initiatives along with members of the boards Housing Subcommittee of which she is chair. Davis says the plan is worth it such a small price for such a high reward. The data she pulled from the town Assessors office, she says, bears this out. Had the 1 percent "fee" been in place for the 148 real estate sales last year, Davis notes, it would have generated more than $200,000 for the towns Affordable Housing Trust Fund. Four other municipalities have such a measure and others are working on it. A bill pending in the Legislature would give towns flexibility about how to tailor a fee policy to the community. Whatever the board and voters decide, it wont be quick. The Select Board will hear public comment before taking a vote to pass the measure to voters at the annual town meeting in May, said board Chair Stephen Bannon. Davis said it could take years before the policy takes effect, and the governor will have to sign off on it. But Davis, who works for a nonprofit that creates and manages affordable housing, said the need to fill the towns Affordable Housing Trust Funds coffer is urgent. She cited a housing crisis in which people who cant afford housing costs or even find available apartments or homes, and said it is worth putting the measure in motion to pay for various strategies that would either create new affordable housing or keep elderly people on fixed incomes in their homes. Its also a way, she added, to make sure the town's restaurants and shops can be staffed. The displacement of longtime locals and our workforce continues, Davis said, also pointing to a Washington Post analysis of national real estate data showing that 45 percent of homes bought last year in Great Barrington, Egremont and New Marlborough were paid for with cash. If this isnt a call to action, I dont know what is. Evidence that there is plenty of wealth in these hills is not isolated to these three South County towns, whose all-cash home purchases were at the 45 percent level since around 2017, and down from previous years. More about cash purchases in the Berkshires from The Washington Post In Lee, 57 percent of home sales in 2022 were cash purchases, according to The Posts analysis. In Lenox 62 percent were bought with cash. In Pittsfield and surrounding towns, buyers also paid cash in 38 percent of sales a steady rate since 2017, according to The Post. Real estate and economic experts interviewed for that story said it is the wealthy who were able to buy homes quickly with cash to outgun bidders during the pandemic. And during the post-pandemic cooling period, one expert said, the rich were able to then avoid the high counter-inflationary interest rates by paying cash rather than financing. People fled cities for the south, the suburbs and rural areas like Berkshire County. All of this obliterated much of the available housing inventory in the Berkshires and sent the prices of what was left through the roof amid what were already too few apartments and affordable homes. The housing market has tipped out of balance in what is a "national housing affordability crisis," CNBC reported last month. The news site ranked Massachusetts as the fourth most expensive state in the U.S. to live in. The proposed "fee" which by many definitions is really a tax since it is not payment for a service and is compulsory points back to whether the town should tax the rich or property rich in town. Not everyone thinks so. One resident opposed to the idea wondered why such a fee is limited to real estate when only the rich can afford to shop at many places in town. If the aim here is to get a transfer of wealth from the wealthy in Great Barrington, why not put an extra tax on Guidos [market]? said resident Trevor Forbes, who said he found it ironic that another tax was proposed at a Town Hall known for its Revolutionary War-era uprising over British rule and taxes. Some people are simply house rich from a property purchase made decades ago right after World War II, said resident Michelle Loubert, who said she believes the proposal is divisive. And lo and behold, maybe today, it is worth a million dollars, she said. They may not have a lot of money in the bank. But Fred Clark, who is chair of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, said this fee is another tax, like that paid for a car purchase or for excise taxes that maintain infrastructure. Except that it is worthy, Clark said, and would help the community come to the aid of our neighbors, and would use the real estate market to help balance a lopsided situation. I was a little thing, away up in the hills of New England, where the dark Housatonic winds between Hoosac and Taghkanic to the sea. In a wee wooden schoolhouse, something put it into the boys and girls heads to buy gorgeous visiting-cards ten cents a package and exchange. The exchange was merry, till one girl, a tall newcomer, refused my card refused it peremptorily, with a glance. Then it dawned upon me with a certain suddenness that I was different from the others. Was he ever. A Black kid in a mostly white town. A smart kid in a country that wasnt entirely comfortable with nonwhite precocity. His town, however, knew what to do. With funds provided by local churches, this decidedly different son of Great Barrington was sent off to get an education at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn., then at Berlins Friedrich Wilhelm University. In 1895, he became the first Black student to be awarded a Ph.D. from Harvard. Now hes coming home. On Tuesday, a jury announced the results of a competition for a bronze statue of W.E.B. Du Bois to be placed in the heart of Great Barrington. The winning sculptor is Pennsylvania-based Richard Blake, whose likeness of civil rights activist Rosa Parks sits in the U.S. Capitol building. The Du Bois work should be ready for installation outside Mason Library by the fall of 2024. The honor is long overdue. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, scholar and provocateur, is revered as one of the greatest minds ever to address Americas race problem. He was a co-founder of the NAACP and a data-driven researcher who helped turn sociology into a serious academic discipline. Du Bois also launched the Encyclopedia Africana, a compendium of Black history and culture still being expanded by scholars. He taught at several universities and organized protests against lynchings and other racial mayhem. In 1929, he debated a Ku Klux Klan official in Chicago, wiping the floor with the guy. In 1950, he ran for the U.S. Senate from New York (he lived in Brooklyn then), winning 4 percent of total votes. Mostly, though, Du Bois wrote with great flair, as is obvious from the words quoted at the beginning of this column. Theyre from an 1897 article in The Atlantic explaining to white readers how it felt to be a victim of racism, a topic dear to his heart. Du Bois churned out a library of books and articles, edited a newsstand of periodicals including the NAACPs respected monthly The Crisis. He knew the major thinkers of his day, from German social theorist Max Weber to American novelist Henry James and his psychologist brother William to Sheila Graham, the Ghanian-American playwright he married late in life. Du Bois works include such lively classics as The Soul of Black Folk (1903) and Black Reconstruction in America (1935). Both are reading-list mainstays in college history and Black studies courses. He wrote three autobiographies, of which 1940s Dusk at Dawn doubles as a rigorous sociological treatise. My favorite shot of Duboisian prose is his 1920 essay The Souls of White Folk, a sly sequel to the Black version and a perceptive dissection of white racism. Opening line: High in the tower, where I sit above the loud complaining of the human sea, I know many souls that toss and whirl and pass, but none there are that intrigue me more than the Souls of White Folk. He goes on to demolish the historical notion of European i.e., white cultural and intellectual supremacy. The guy could write. Du Bois stood up not just for Black Americans, but also for women, refugees, workers, oppressed folks everywhere. He often blamed their plight on the excesses of capitalism, suggesting socialism as an antidote. He eventually joined the American Communist Party. Such sins got him investigated by the FBI, stripped of his passport twice and prosecuted for failing to register as a foreign agent. The case was dismissed after Albert Einstein offered to testify on his behalf. DuBois politics also troubled some people in Great Barrington, which for decades declined to memorialize him much as America long resisted his arguments for justice and equality. Times change. The day after Du Bois died in 1963 at age 95 in Ghana while visiting his friend Kwame Nkrumah, that countrys founding president Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his I Have a Dream speech in Washington. A year later, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, enshrining Du Bois dreams of legal equality. Last year an anti-lynching bill, much like the one he drafted in 1911, finally became federal law. America has not, of course, fully resolved its race problem. But the man whose intellect and sheer persistence pushed us toward that goal is finally getting a statue in his hometown. If the sculptors maquette is any guide, the finished product will depict a seated figure, elegant, and surrounded by books. W.E.B. Du Bois, a man of letters who believed in the liberating power of prose, would no doubt be pleased. In the early church Christians used a fish symbol called an Ichthys to identify each others faith in secret circles, because many Christians were persecuted during that time. Ichthys is the ancient Greek word for fish, and it forms the acronym Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior. The Christian fish symbol features the outline of a fish shown with two intersecting arcs. Jesus uses the symbolism of fish when he first calls his disciples to join him. While theyre fishing in a lake, Jesus calls out to them. Mark 1:17 records: Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will send you out to fish for people. The Bible often mentions fish, which were a staple food for people during biblical times. When Jesus miraculously multiplied food to feed thousands of people who were listening to him teach, he turned only a few fish and loaves of bread into enough food to fulfill everyone in the large crowds. The Bible describes those two separate miracles, known collectively as feeding the multitude and separately as feeding the 5,000 and feeding the 4,000, in Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, John 6, Matthew 15, and Mark 8. After Jesus resurrection, John 21:1-14 describes how Jesus appears to his disciples by the shore of the Sea of Galilee and gives them miraculous power to catch an extraordinarily large amount of fish. Then Jesus cooks some of the fish along with some bread and invites the disciples to join him to eat breakfast. Symbol #4: The Candle Candles have served as symbols of hope and spiritual enlightenment since ancient times. In many religions including Christianity light represents Gods presence, which brings hope and the enlightenment of wisdom. The Bible tells us in 1 John 1:5 that God is light, and 1 John 1:5-7 encourages us to walk in the light of relationships with God: This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. Christians adopted the candle as a symbol of Jesus work giving hope and enlightenment to the world. Jesus serves as the ultimate light in our world, and he calls us to join him shining light into the darkness of our fallen world. In John 8:12, Jesus says: I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. During his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus urges us all to shine our God-given lights into the world through good deeds, saying in Matthew 5:14-16: You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. The candle symbol reminds us that God is with us, so we can choose faith rather than fear in any circumstances. As Psalm 27:1 says: The LORD is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid? All four of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) record events from Jesus earthly life and ministry, but Mark, or John Mark as he is called in the book of Acts, omits Jesus ancestry and birth and starts his record with Jesus baptism and ministry, focusing more so on Christs humanity. Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it (Mark 8:34-35). Luke Luke, a medical doctor, a gentile, and the author of both this gospel and the book of Acts, focused largely on Jesus healing ministry in his account of Jesus life, and his two-volume set of Luke and Acts (written for Theophilus) gives us an overview of Christ, the origins of Christianity, and the birth of the Church! Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught (Luke 1:1-4). Related - 8 Important Mini Lessons from Jesus in Luke 12 John John, one of Jesus 12 disciples, and one of the sons of thunder along with his brother, James, wrote his gospel after the other three were written and focused his eyewitness account on supplying supplemental information, perspective and details complementary to the other gospels. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). Related - Why Is John the "Disciple Whom Jesus Loved"? Photo credit: Getty Images/jchizhe Each year, Rhett buckler award is presented to Retina Specialists from around the world for their surgical skills and innovation Dr Raja Rami Reddy P, an accomplished vitreoretina surgeon, the Chief Retina surgeon, and Medical Director at Neoretina Eyecare Institute Hyderabad, was conferred the Rhett Buckler Award for his surgical skill video on diabetic retinal detachments with macular holes at the recently concluded annual meeting of the American Society of Retina specialists, Seattle, USA. Dr. Raja Rami's surgical video titled, Macular holes with proliferative diabetic retinopathy: Fixing two problems with one shot was among the 79 selected entries from all over the world at the Fim Festival at the American Society of Retina Specialists annual meeting July 28-August 1, Seattle, USA. The film shows a series of challenging surgeries where Dr. Reddy, has successfully operated macular holes in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The video was very well received and was adjudged the Rhett Buckler award winner. Dr Raja Rami Reddy studied both his MBBS and MD (Ophthalmology) at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, completing his MD in December 2000. In 2004, he was awarded the coveted Diploma of Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (FRCS - Ophthalmology) of Glasgow, the United Kingdom. After completing his MD, Dr Reddy was appointed Specialist Registrar for the Retina and Vitreous Department of the Dr. R. P. Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences at AIIMS, a post he held until 2003. Since then, he had been a consultant retina and vitreous surgeon at various corporate hospitals in Hyderabad. He is a contributing surgeon to the vitreoretinal surgical video atlas published in 2010. Dr Reddy is a regular presenter of scientific papers and surgical videos at national and international meetings, and has publications in various indexed journals to his credit. 70+ innovations and 60+ R&D projects to be part of Future Pavilion and R&D Pavilion Addressing the Curtain Raiser of India MedTech Expo 2023, scheduled to be held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat from 17th to 19th August 2023, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare and Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India said that India is set to emerge as the global manufacturing hub for medical devices through a holistic development of healthcare, pharmaceuticals and medical devices sectors. The market size of Indian medical devices sector is likely to reach $ 50 billion in coming years from current $ 11 billion. He further emphasised that in order to make healthcare affordable, the government is targeting to increase the share of generic medicines to 50-60 per cent from current level of 14 per cent alongside localisation of medical devices. To unleash the potential of the sector and brain-storm the path ahead, the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India is hosting the pioneering India MedTech Expo with central theme India: The Next MedTech Global Hub Future of Devices, Diagnostics and Digital, which is being organised alongside G20 Health Ministers Conference. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is the industry partner for the Expo. The Expo will have various pavilions, including Future Pavilion, R&D Pavilion, Start-up Pavilion, State Pavilion, Regulators Pavilion and Make in India Showcase. More than 400 exhibitors including 150 plus MSMEs, 150+ Domestic and International Manufacturers, Start-ups, Regulatory agencies, State Governments and Central Departments will participate in it. As many as 7 States - Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are setting up pavilions during the expo. Also, a total of 231 foreign buyers from 50 countries primarily from 5 major regions Africa, ASEAN, CIS, Middle East and Oceania will participate in the international buyer-seller meet. UPS Healthcare supports customers with a team of more than 10,000 healthcare logistics experts spanning more than 200 facilities US-based firm UPS Healthcare has announced the expansion of its UPS Premier service to India, marking another step in ongoing service and technology upgrades to meet the evolving needs of critical time- and temperature-sensitive healthcare shipments. Indian customers will have access to UPS Premier Gold service benefits, including first-in, first-off prioritisation, built-in service recovery features within the UPS global network, and 24/7 control tower monitoring. India continues growing as a leading producer of drugs, vaccines, medical devices and biologics, driving demand for precise, temperature-controlled logistics to get these patient-critical products where needed. In fact, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12% and reach $130 billion by 2030, of which over 60% will be exported. India is also credited with the largest number of US-FDA compliant plants (more than 262 including APIs) outside of the US. These companies need a partner to take their products to international markets, right from clinical trials to commercial scale. UPS Premier Gold is now available in India offering visibility integrated within all UPS tracking systems; Support for critical healthcare packages including tissue samples, biopsies, implantable medical devices for scheduled surgeries, biologics, cell and gene therapies, bodily fluids, non-personalised specialty medications and surgical kits for inventory replenishment. This year, UPS Healthcare will have more than doubled its footprint of dedicated healthcare warehousing space compared to 2020. Safrea (Southern African Freelancers' Association) is proud to announce its newly elected executive committee for the next 12-month term after its recent annual general meeting. "This team of volunteers bring a unique blend of expertise, institutional knowledge and fresh ideas to the table, ready to take Safrea forward," said Hush Naidoo, new chairperson of Safrea. A stronger Safrea in a new era Armed with a wealth of experience and equipped with lessons from the past, our new Exco has made meaningful progress in its short tenure of one month. We are committed to building a stronger Safrea making a significant impact on the future of freelancing in Southern Africa. Hush Naidoo, Safrea chairperson We are focused to best serve our members, increase member benefits, enhance collaboration, support and create structures for Safrea to thrive as an organisation in a new era. We established an Emerging Region, representing Mpumalanga, North West and Eswatini, after the Free State became an independent region last year. Safrea is active in seven regions the others being Gauteng North, Gauteng South, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. Hush shared Safreas vision, recent achievements and future plans. These include a newly launched Code of Ethics and Conduct, an improved constitution, enhanced service delivery and communication, new digital platforms, fundraising and a robust advocacy framework. The team of volunteer experts The following team supports Safrea in realising its highest aspiration of creating Southern Africas freelance community of choice: The Competition Commission's stance on Google's search dominance might give many small companies a unique opportunity, but it has serious consequences for SA's larger brands. Source: 123rf 123rf The Competition Commissions stance on Googles search dominance will afford many small companies a unique opportunity, but it has serious consequences for SAs larger brands If larger brands dont take action, they are at risk to lose any search advantage they have built up over the years. The Competition Commissions Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquirys findings that Googles business model distorts platform competition, and more particularly, the remedial actions it has put forward, should give local brands pause for thought. Among its findings, the Commission stated that Google search is critical and impacts on discoverability and website traffic, saying it had evolved to give more prominence to its own properties rather than organic search. The Competition Commission went on to say this was evidenced by the large and growing spend on Google paid results by platforms, whose budget size gave them an unfair advantage. This news should come as no surprise. Efforts of our Competition Commission are part of a much wider look into the digital industry globally, which has largely avoided in-depth scrutiny. Covid catapulted the importance of all things digital into the public eye and even regulatory agencies, who had previously focused on traditional business models, sat up and took note, explains Calvin Van Rensburg, media and platform consultant at Incubeta. Van Rensburg says while regulators have been focused on the collection and usage of client data, the objectives of both the EU and SA regulators have been to protect users who are dependent on gatekeeper companies for services or products. He adds that the regulators also aim to ensure consumers will have access to more and better services at fair prices, as well as more opportunities to switch providers if they so wish. R180m in advertising credits for small platforms Looking at the remedial action as laid out by the Commission, van Rensburg warns that it is difficult to predict the final user experience at this stage. However, he says its fair to assume that the current real estate afforded to Google Shopping Ads will either be relocated or drastically redesigned to accommodate local businesses. Van Rensburg also thinks the new advertising credits could shake things up. The Commission has said Google should provide R180m in advertising credits for small platforms, in addition to free training to optimise advertising campaigns. Google must also provide R150m in training, product support and other measures for SMMEs and black-owned online companies. What we can say for certain, says van Rensburg, is the impact of the advertising credit and training measures will make a difference. The increase in digital advertising knowledge as a result of training will increase the digital maturity of the South African market. While the timeline of the rollout will play a role, its possible there will be increased competition both at the time of investment, but also after, as an influx of new bidders looking for the same inventory drives prices up. This is of course, assuming the companies who participate will re-invest into the platform after experiencing a boost in business, he says. Big firms could stand to lose out While the Competition Commission might have delivered a win for smaller local businesses, Van Rensburg warns that the larger firms wont be as happy. Unfortunately, the net effect of the Google advertising credit and training move is that it will become more expensive and difficult for brands to reach valuable customers. Larger legacy businesses. who were able to dominate the online platforms by investing heavily, are at risk of losing market share when the new protocols level the playing fields, he says. Looking at how to combat the possible negative effects, van Rensburg says bigger brands can take action to mitigate losses. Local brands should be focusing on building their first-party audience base, integrating offline data to inform online decisions, ensuring user privacy is in place and leveraging automation and machine learning. The goal is to future-proof the business to be as effective and efficient with its media investment as possible, regardless of what the competition may be doing, van Rensburg advises. He goes on to advise that both large and small companies can lean into strategies to optimise their digital presence. This doesn't have to be a zero-sum game. Once Google has confirmed exactly how they plan on implementing the imposed measures, savvy marketers will be able to capitalise. Whether that is a review of the product feed that services a revamped Google shopping carousel or a re-invigorated SEO strategy for more localised organic rankings, a more level playing field should ultimately benefit the consumer which means a growing market for all. From the Mzansiverse to the world! In true South Ahh fashion, Dillan Olliphant and Savanna Premium Cider have a favour to ask of Trevor Noah when he stops over at home for his Comedy Tour between 30 August and 16 September 2023... The Skhaftin Courier Service, powered by Trevor's jet (fingers crossed), aims to deliver some of our special items from home to some of Trevors famous friends?! Why Trevors jet? Because hes one of us, and we really, really think that he will be totally cool with it! Whats a Skhaftin? You may know it as a tupperbakkie, an ice cream tub with anything but ice cream, or sometimes just something special transported by someone for someone else. And because Savivi does the last number things with last number people like MTrevovo, The Skhaftin Courier Service wants to bring the best of South Ahh to the best of the States. Think a goat for the G.O.A.T.? Like Yonce and Jay, or a personalised Rasta painting for the Met, or your cousins mixtape for Drake. It can be anything! Will Trevor or wont he? We dont know. But it never hurts to ask. And in South Ahh, we are never afraid of asking, says Kayla Hendricks, Brand Manager at Savanna Premium Cider. Were so excited to bring Trevor back to South Ahh, but with all those famous friends in the States, would we be South African if we didnt ask him to plug the people? Worth a shot. The Skhaftin Courier Service asks South Africans to share their Skhaftin suggestions and ideas on social media using the hashtag #SavannaSkhaftinCourierService and tagging @SavannaCider. People of South Ahh can also participate in the conversation on air as the brand takes over various radio stations. Participants stand a chance to win tickets to see Trevor Noah perform live in Cape Town, Durban or Johannesburg. Please visit Savanna Cider's social media channels for more information about the Skhaftin Courier Service and Trevor Noah's tour updates. Its going to be a jet-lag from start to finish. Terms and Conditions Apply. Terms and Conditions: Crisp and dry Savanna Premium Cider would like to state that the Skhaftin Courier Service is just for fun and vibes. Khamaan, South Ahhthis is social media after all. While were sure that, as a South African, Trevor wouldnt mind delivering your skhaftins (you wouldnt mind right, Trevor) and were happy to get your suggestions on the timeline, please dont send ACTUAL things. They wont go anywhere. Trevor will NOT be taking your skhaftins back to the US. So, asomblief tog, siyancela, South Ahh, lets respect our national treasure and have fun together. Siyavanna, South Ahh? Savanna Premium Cider, it's dry, but you can drink it. #SiyavannaSA #SavannaSkhaftinCourierService Savanna promotes responsible drinking. Not for persons under 18. For more information, follow Savanna's social media channels or go to www.savanna.co.za. Instagram: @savannacider Facebook: @SavannaCider Twitter: @SavannaCider YouTube: SavannaCider About Savanna "It's dry, but you can drink it." Savanna is a premium, crisp apple cider with a distinctive dry taste. It is one of the largest cider brands in the world and is available in over 60 countries. Since its launch in 1996, Savanna Premium Cider has won consumers' hearts and funny bones with its intelligent, dry and witty sense of humour. On Monday, 7 August, Kagiso on the West Rand came to a standstill when hundreds of people took to the streets in protest over unemployment and illegal mining in the area. Their anger was directed at the Pan African Resources mining company and the Mogale City Local Municipality. Hundreds of residents of Kagiso on the West Rand protested over unemployment and illegal mining at an old mine recently acquired by Pan African Resources. Source: Chris Gilili/GroundUp Protesters blocked roads with burning tyres from 3am. Learners missed school and many people could not go to work. Police used stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters. Gauteng police spokesperson Mavela Masondo confirmed that two arrests were made for public violence, and the suspects appeared in court on Tuesday. In August 2022, Kagiso residents also protested about illegal mining. Activist Beauty Nyandeni said the community was promised jobs. They started operating the mine last year without finishing the consultation process. We were excluded. Thats when it became a problem for us. We are feeling robbed. And the worst part is that the company doesnt want to speak to us They just interdicted us, said Nyandeni. Illegal mining also a concern Community leader Karabo Yumba said illegal mining was also a concern. Mintails just ran away and left the mines unguarded, and this created space for the illegal miners, said Yumba. He said Pan African Resources had bought the Mintails mine and it had engaged with the community late last year, saying it would rehabilitate the land. Yumba said they felt duped by Pan African Resources. They are continuing from where Mintails left off We live across from these mine dumps. When the wind blows, the dust affects our health; people here are sick. We want them to stop operations and come meet with us and hear our demands. My grandfather worked in that mine, my father also worked there. We also want to benefit We want jobs too, and for this community to have a share, said Yumba. More employment to come as project develops But Hethen Hira, the head of investor relations for Pan African Resources, said the company had employed a high percentage of locals and where skills were not available, they sourced workers from elsewhere. There will be more people employed and this will be in stages as the project develops we cannot employ everyone we require upfront. Construction will take place over 12 to 18 months. In that time we will spend around R2.5bn on buying equipment and construction and concurrent rehabilitation The life of the mine is some 20 years after construction, where there will be people employed, said Hira. Hira said the company would mine surface tailings deposits and fill the old mine workings with the waste material. This would prevent illegal mining activity. Pan African will rehabilitate the land and prevent further dust and water pollution. Returning the land to its original state will enable other economic uses, including agriculture and housing, she said. Hira said the mine would also include local small to medium businesses in its procurement plans. Attempts to head off the protest In an attempt to head off the protest, a virtual meeting was held on Sunday between Mogale City Local Municipality, Pan African Resources and community representatives. The municipality issued a statement saying a steering committee would be established to address the issues and find an amicable solution. But on Monday, a statement issued by the joint ward representatives of Mogale City rejected the municipalitys statement as it was not the full reflection of what was agreed, and announced the shutdown would go ahead. They demanded Mogale City Local Municipality and Pan African Resources declare and detail their commitments to the community, as agreed to at the meeting. In a statement last week, Pan African Resources said it finalised the acquisition of the Mintails Project from the liquidator of Mintails Mining SA in September 2022. This followed a long period where the project area had been abandoned, and the plant and equipment from previous operators vandalised and stolen, resulting in significant crime, job losses and damage to the economy and environment. Communities were left in distress and pollution at unprecedented levels, stated the company. 'Extensive community consultations' It said there had been extensive community consultations during various stages of the project as prescribed by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) as part of the permitting process. It said it had received immense support from who we feel are the legitimate stakeholders in the community. But a sod-turning ceremony on 25 July was disrupted by people who claimed they were not consulted, not offered employment opportunities, and that local businesses were excluded. The company said it had noted that the very same ward councillors and certain community members that were present in our community engagements were at the forefront of the protests and engaged with media claiming they were not consulted. The company said the community members and councillors were being mobilised by individuals in the background who arrived with high-end vehicles with personalised number plates, which they said was the equivalent of a construction mafia. The company then identified these individuals and sought a court interdict. Protesting and disrupting activities to demand jobs and contracts up front and without following due process will not be entertained. All contracts and employment opportunities will be transparent and awarded on basis of merit, the statement said. The company attached a lengthy list of consultations it said it had held with the community. Original article published on GroundUp. Women make great entrepreneurs for a number of reasons. Industries like insurance view women as having relatively lower risk exposures than their male counterparts - a factor that allows them to generally make more calculated and informed decisions. A study found that women entrepreneurs are incredibly resourceful when it comes to starting their own businesses, despite the adversity they often face. Furthermore, because of their role as primary caregivers, women are also known to have a longer-term view on life, making them more prone to sustainable business growth and less prone to making impulsive business decisions. Arguably, one of the greatest advantages that women bring to the entrepreneurial circle is their ability to be empathetic leaders. Fortunately, although gender discrimination has mired the historical progress of women in the world of business, there is evidence that the tide is turning. The most recent Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report found that women entrepreneurs were close to parity with men in three of the countries making up the Middle East and Africa region: Egypt, Oman and South Africa. At 45%, the percentage of women entrepreneurs in South Africa, who have demonstrated high levels of innovation, is currently above the global average. The report also found that women in the Middle East and Africa are more active than men across several important sectors, namely government, health, education and social services as well as manufacturing. As one of the most promising markets on the continent, South Africa continues to lead the way in terms of women representation in the entrepreneurship sector. In celebration of the phenomenal work of these courageous businesswomen and the important strides they are making towards building a more equitable society, Id like to put the spotlight on three exceptional local entrepreneurs: Sarah Collins The Wonderbag was developed in 2008 as a solution to the South African energy crisis, allowing families to cook meals without the use of power. Essentially, the Wonderbag is a non-electric slow cooker that uses heat-retention technology to continue cooking food once the pan or pot has been removed from the stove, fire or gas source. It is an old, underutilised community invention that dates back many years. Time Magazine voted Wonderbag as one of the worlds Top 50 Genius Companies a testament to Sarahs achievements in making an impact on millions of households in our country. Ntsiki Biyela As the countrys first black, women winemaker, Ntsiki Biyela has succeeded in adding her craft to the mix of thriving brands that have put South Africa on the world stage, as a leading wine-making destination. Biyela grew up in a rural village in KwaZulu-Natal and spent a year working as a domestic worker before being awarded a scholarship to study winemaking at Stellenbosch University. Today she is the director of Aslina Wines, a pioneering business that produces premium wines which are distributed worldwide. She has won several acclaimed industry awards, including the Michelangelo Wine and Spirits award, Sakura Awards (Japan), and the 2021 Wine Harvest Commemorative Event Diversity and Transformation award. Palesa Mokubung Breaking into the fashion industry is no small feat, but entrepreneur Palesa Mokubung was up to the task. She is the founder of Mantsho, a local fashion design label that has become synonymous with bold, striking colour and flamboyant silhouettes. Mokubung was the first designer on the continent to collaborate with major brand, H&M. She was also the winner of the 2019 Best Dressed award, presented by GQ magazine, as well as the 2019 Haig Club Clubman Disruptor award. Mokubung is highly regarded within the industry as a trend setter and a leader in the design and production of local fashion. To date, her deigns have been worn by prominent public figures such as Lira, Simphiwe Dana and Thandiswa Mazwai. State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada Postal Code The Puck Fair tradition of suspending a goat in a cage above the town of Killorglin, Co Kerry should be abanonded, according to Animal Rights Group, Animals Behind Closed Doors. Ireland's oldest festival returns on Thursday and runs until Saturday. Advertisement Following longstanding opposition from animal rights activists and widespread debate last summer, the organisers have agreed to display King Puck for just two hours this year, rather than the full three-days. Gerry Boland, founder of Animals Behind Closed Doors, is welcoming the decision, but thinks the tradition should be dropped altogether: "It would be petty and mean-minded of me to suggest that this wasn't progress. It was a massive move by the Committee, they have obviously reflected on it, and the issue took over the festival last year. "They have obviously gauged the public mood and realised it was not just a bunch of animal rights advocates causing a fuss." Advertisement Mr Boland said however they should not be putting the goat up there in the first place. At last year's festival the goat was removed from the 50ft structure as the temperature began to rise. A spokesperson at the time said the goat was resting in the shade. He is checked several times a day and this morning the vet decided it was too hot for him. "The goat is likely to be put back up once it cools, however, that decision will not be taken until later today." A former nurse has brought a High Court action aimed at halting an inquiry being conducted by the Nursing and Midwifery Board's Fitness to Practise Committee into disputed allegations that he failed to provide adequate care to a patient. The action has been brought by Joshua Thomas, who claims the board has delayed for over four years the progression of an inquiry into an allegation which arose when he was employed as a night nurse at a nursing home in September 2018. Advertisement He claims the probe should be halted because of the lengthy delay in advancing the inquiry, which he says is inexcusable and prejudicial. Mr Thomas denies the allegation that he failed to assess, neglected, respond properly, record the patient's vital signs, cared for the patient in accurate or timely manner, or promptly had the patient transferred to a hospital after that person's condition deteriorated. Advertisement In a sworn statement to the court, Mr Thomas, from Dowdstown, Maynooth Co Kildare, says that due to the accusation against him, he is no longer able to work as a nurse and is currently employed in the IT sector. He claims the allegation against him has forced him out of the nursing profession. Advertisement Mr Thomas claimed that the board decided in 2019 to commence a formal probe into the allegation against him. A year later, he was informed that a hearing would take place before a Fitness to Practise Committee, as soon as practicable. Earlier this year, he was informed that the hearing would proceed in mid-September. His lawyers sought an explanation as to why nothing had happened regarding the inquiry for several years. He claims the response his lawyers received from the board did not properly address the issue of the four-year delay. He claims the delay is inordinate and inexcusable. Advertisement It is also a breach of fair procedures, and he claims that the board has failed to comply with its obligations to have the inquiry held within a reasonable period of time. He also claims that he has been prejudiced in his ability to defend his good name by the delay, as several key witnesses are no longer i the country and may not return for the proposed hearing. Judicial review As a result, he has brought judicial review proceedings against the chief executive of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland. Represented by John Kennedy SC and Rory Kennedy Bl, Mr Thomas seeks various orders and declarations from the court. These include an order quashing the decision to hold the inquiry. Advertisement He also seeks declarations that the respondent erred in law and acted outside his powers in his determination that the inquiry should proceed. He further seeks declarations that the continuation of the inquiry amounts to a breach of his constitutional rights and rights under the European Convention of Human Rights. The matter came before Mr Justice Garrett Simons during Thursday's vacation sitting of the High Court. The judge, on an ex-parte basis, granted Mr Thomas permission to bring his challenge against the respondent. The court also placed a stay on the inquiry from proceedings pending the outcome of the proceedings. The respondent, the judge added, could come to court and seek to have the stay lifted or varied once they give Mr Thomas 14 days advance notice. The matter will return before the High Court in November. A direct appeal has been made to Britain's King Charles to refuse Royal Assent for a controversial Bill to deal with the Troubles in Northern Ireland. There has been widespread opposition to the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill which would give immunity from prosecution for Troubles-related offences to people who co-operated with a new information retrieval body. Advertisement It would also prevent future civil cases and inquests into Troubles offences. Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has said the Bill is not the perfect solution but added he does not believe there is a perfect solution to the challenge of dealing with the past. Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris defended the Bill(Liam McBurney/PA) Advertisement He said he believes the Bill will help some people find the answers they require, adding it is a genuine attempt to find a solution. Advertisement The Bill is expected to gain Royal Assent this autumn despite being opposed by all major Stormont parties, the Irish Government and victims campaign groups. Raymond McCord, whose son Raymond Junior was murdered by Loyalist paramilitaries in 1997, is among scores of people who lost loved ones in the Troubles who are campaigning for answers and justice. No-one has ever been brought to justice for Raymond Juniors murder. Advertisement He has written to Charles urging him to stand with the victims or go down in history as the King who wore a blindfold instead of looking for justice. In his letter seen by the PA news agency, Mr McCord writes: I dont believe you are a stupid man or go around with blinkers, as a blind man can see that this nonsense from Heaton-Harris and the Prime Minister with his MPs that this Bill will give victims answers and bring reconciliation by giving murderers/war criminals an amnesty is a complete travesty. Im asking that you as King refuse to sign Royal Assent to this Bill if its passed in Parliament. Your duty is to your citizens from all faiths and colour. Mr McCord concluded his letter with the challenge: Stand with the victims or go down in history as the King who wore a blindfold instead of looking for justice. Advertisement Advertisement Charles has been urged to refuse Royal Assent (Finnbarr Webster/PA) In a statement, Mr McCord said he has also asked for a meeting with the King. King Charles like me and many others is a father and grandfather. I believe that making him part of the campaign to stop this illegal Bill is proper and balanced as he plays the final part of making an illegal Bill legal. Nothing in law states he must give it Royal Assent, he said. Advertisement He will have the opportunity if the Bill is passed to show where his loyalties are. Hopefully for victims and truth and justice he will agree to meet with me and possibly another victim so that it is a cross-community meeting and approach. All I and thousands of other victims are asking for is truth and justice and we must look at every way legally possible to achieve it. This is not a constitutional issue, its a moral and legal issue. Is King Charles a king for the people or a king for the Conservatives? An MEP has called for a specific-use payment to be gifted to young people as part of Budget 2024, aimed at promoting culture and the arts. Colm Markey, MEP for Midlands North-West, said a Culture and Media card worth 200 should be given to young people as they turn 18, "unlocking a world of cultural experiences and media consumption". Advertisement Mr Markey said: "After having just attended the fabulous Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann in Mullingar recently and seeing the exceptional talent and rich cultural heritage on offer there, I think we as a country can do more to support our indigenous arts and culture sector from a young age. "I firmly believe that investing in the cultural growth of Ireland's young citizens is an investment in the nation's future prosperity and identity." "By providing this special gift to young adults as they come of age, Ireland can cultivate a generation that deeply values its cultural heritage and embraces diverse artistic expressions," he added. Advertisement The initiative is also supported by the National Youth Council of Ireland. Advertisement Mr Markey said the card could be issued and accessed via an app, allowing recipients to spend the funds at dedicated selling points, including bookshops, theatres, museums, galleries, and small music venues. He added the initiative could also have the added effect of "injecting vital support into Ireland's cultural industries". Describing the card as a "catalyst for self-expression and innovation", Mr Markey added: "By nurturing the demand for cultural experiences, it creates opportunities for artists, performers, cultural institutions, and media producers, strengthening the country's creative economy." The president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association Pat McCormack has said that any support for a farming political party would not be anti-Green, it would be anti-Government. Mr McCormack was responding to new research from the Irish Farmers Journal which showed that three out of four farmers would support a new farmers political party if it were to emerge. Advertisement When asked if there was an anti-Government agenda, why not just vote for Sinn Fein, Mr McCormack told Newstalk Breakfast that there was concern among farmers about Sinn Feins policies. The main issue was that there was not an anti-Green agenda among farmers. I believe farmers and agriculture is on a pathway to meeting its emission targets of 25 per cent reduction. But there is a degree of frustration out there amongst families and rural dwellers about the anti-rural agenda because it is an anti-rural agenda. Advertisement Mr McCormack said that the aviation sector was a significant contributor to emissions, but there was not the same level of finger pointing as there was against farming. Farmers were not having conversations among themselves about a new political party. A general election was still 12 months to 18 months away and farm families were discussing who they would vote for. The current generation of farmers were concerned about their future. Traditionally Fianna Fail or Fine Gael TDs would have represented rural families, he said, but farmers now were not happy with either of the political parties. There had been very little interaction with farmers other than from Independent TDs. A wildfire that swept through the resort town of Lahaina on Hawaii's Maui island has killed at least 36 people, authorities said, while leaving smoldering ruins in its wake and forcing thousands to flee the onetime capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Video footage showed neighbourhoods and businesses razed and vehicles burned to a crisp across the western side of the US island as the wildfires cut off most roads out of Lahaina. The town is one of Maui's prime attractions, drawing 2 million tourists to the island each year, or about 80 per cent of its visitors. Advertisement Maui resident Dustin Kaleiopu said his family, now relocated to the other side of the island, had only had minutes to evacuate and lost two generational family homes to the flames. "There are still so many people that we are unable get in touch with, and that still remains true for many families here," Kaleiopu said in an interview on NBC News' "Today" program. "Everyone I know is now homeless." Advertisement Hawaii Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke said late on Wednesday that officials were still assessing the damage. "It will be a long road to recovery," she said. Advertisement The cause of the Maui wildfires had yet to be determined, but the National Weather Service said a mix of dry vegetation, strong winds, and low humidity fuelled the fast-moving conflagration. Wildfires occur every year in Hawaii, according to Thomas Smith, an environmental geography professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, but this year's fires are burning faster and bigger than usual. He blamed the low rainfall, higher temperatures and nearby storm systems, which whipped up winds. Firefighters were battling three separate blazes on the island, officials said late on Wednesday night, without providing further details. Fires also destroyed parts of Kula, a residential area in the inland Upcountry region, and Kihei in South Maui. Advertisement Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said in a Facebook video message post that "the resolve of our families, businesses and visitors have been tested like never before in our lifetime, with lives lost and properties decimated," but vowed that Maui would "move forward". Such scenes of devastation have become all too familiar elsewhere in the world. Wildfires, often caused by record-setting heat this summer, forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in Greece, Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe. In western Canada, a series of unusually severe fires sent clouds of smoke over vast swaths of the US, polluting the air. Advertisement Human-caused climate change, driven by fossil fuel use, is increasing the frequency and intensity of such extreme weather events, scientists say, having long warned that countries must slash emissions to prevent climate catastrophe. The Maui blazes began on Tuesday night as powerful winds from Hurricane Dora, hundreds of miles to the southwest, fanned the flames. By Thursday, the strong winds had largely abated. Advertisement Beyond the human casualties, the fire burned cultural treasures such as Lahaina's historic 60-foot-tall banyan tree, which marked the spot where Hawaiian King Kamehameha III's 19th-century palace stood, according to local reports. Some 271 structures were damaged or destroyed, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported, citing official reports from flyovers conducted by the US Civil Air Patrol and the Maui Fire Department. As of early Thursday, the tracking site Poweroutage.us reported about 11,000 homes and businesses were without power on Maui, which has a year-round population of 165,000. The wildfires spread quickly through populated areas of Lahaina, a city of about 13,000 people. Advertisement Julius Limbaga, 38, woke up from a nap on Tuesday when he smelled smoke in his Lahaina apartment, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. "The fire was so fast and in just a blink of an eye it was everywhere," Limbaga said. He told the newspaper that he doused himself with water and ran to the Lahaina harbor, his rubber slippers melting as he ran. The Coast Guard rescued him from the harbor waters and took him to be treated for burns on his feet and legs. A Lahaina resident who had lost his home but stayed in town to help saw bodies floating by the seawall in the harbor, Hawaii News Now (HNN) reported. The US Coast Guard asked boaters to look for anyone still in the waters off Lahaina where people jumped in to avoid the flames. More than 2,100 people were being housed at the county's four emergency shelters, the news site said. At least 20 people suffered serious burns, and several were airlifted to Oahu for medical treatment. More than 11,000 travelers were evacuated from Maui, Ed Sniffen of the Hawaii Department of Transportation said late on Wednesday. Though at least 16 roads were closed, the airport was operating fully, he said earlier in the day. A mass bus evacuation to the Kahului Airport for visitors in West Maui was to resume at 8.30am on Thursday, officials said. -Reuters Nigers junta told a top US diplomat that they would kill deposed President Mohamed Bazoum if neighbouring countries attempted any military intervention to restore his rule, two Western officials told The Associated Press. Representatives of the junta told US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland of the threat to Mr Bazoum during her visit to the country this week, a Western military official said. Advertisement A US official confirmed the account. Mr Bazoum, who was deposed on July 26, says he is being held hostage at his residence. Analysts say ECOWAS might be running out of options as support fades for a military intervention. (Sam Mednick/AP) Advertisement West African heads of state met in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to discuss next steps after Niger military junta defied their deadline of Sunday to reinstate Mr Bazoum but analysts say the bloc may be running out of options as support fades for a military intervention. Advertisement Nine of the 11 heads of state expected to attend were present, including the presidents of Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone. The non-ECOWAS leaders of Mauritania and Burundi also participated in the closed-door meeting. The regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc said on Thursday that it had directed the deployment of a standby force to restore democracy in Niger after the coup. ECOWAS commission president Omar Alieu Touray said he could only reaffirm the decisions by the military authorities in the subregion to deploy a standby force of the community. Advertisement He said financing had been discussed and appropriate measures have been taken. Mr Touray blamed the junta for any hardship caused by the sanctions imposed on Niger and said further actions by the bloc would be taken jointly, not by any single country. It is not one country against another country. The community has instruments to which all members have subscribed to, he said. Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who currently chairs the bloc, said: It is crucial that we prioritise diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach. Advertisement He said leaders must act with a sense of urgency, though appeared to retreat from the blocs earlier threat to use force. Advertisement Niger was seen as the last country in the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert that Western nations could partner with to counter jihadi violence linked to al Qaida and the so-called Islamic State group that has killed thousands and displaced millions of people. Omar Touray, president of the ECOWAS Commission, welcomes Burundis President Evariste Ndayishimiye, centre, for the ECOWAS meeting in Nigeria as West African heads of state began meeting to decide next steps after Nigers military junta defied their deadline to reinstate the nations deposed president (Gbemiga Olamikan/AP) Advertisement The international community is scrambling to find a peaceful solution to the countrys leadership crisis. Oladeinde Ariyo, a security analyst in Nigeria, said: Let me tell you, any coup that has succeeded beyond 24 hours has come to stay. So, as it is, they are speaking from the point of strength and advantage. So, negotiating with them will have to be on their terms. On Wednesday, a Nigerian delegation led by the former Emir of Kano, Khalifa Muhammad Sanusi, met the juntas leader, General Abdourahmane Tchiani. The former emir was one of few people allowed to meet General Tchiani. When Ms Nuland met with the coup leaders earlier this week, she was denied access to both General Tchiani and Mr Bazoum. A separate delegation comprised of ECOWAS, the United Nations and the African Union was barred from coming at all. Advertisement West Africas regional bloc has failed to stem past coups throughout the region. Niger is the fourth country in the 15-member state bloc to have experienced a coup in the last three years. The bloc has imposed harsh economic and travel sanctions. But Andrew Lebovich, a research fellow with the Clingendael Institute, says as the junta becomes more entrenched, the options for negotiations are becoming limited. He said: Its very difficult to say what might come out of it, but the fact that the initial deadline passed without intervention and that the (junta) has continued to hold a fairly firm line, indicate that they think they can outlast this pressure. A supporter of Nigers ruling junta holds a placard in the colours of the Russian flag reading Long Live Russia, Long Live Niger and Nigeriens at the start of a protest (Sam Mednick/AP) The main parties positions are dangerously far apart, according to the International Crisis Group, a think tank, which said that if dialogue is going to succeed, each side is going to have to make concessions, which theyve so far refused to do. Since seizing power, the junta has cut ties with France and exploited popular grievances toward its former colonial ruler to shore up its support base. Advertisement It also has asked for help from the Russian mercenary group Wagner, which operates in a handful of African countries and has been accused of committing human rights abuses. Lou Osborn, an investigator with All Eyes on Wagner, a project focusing on the group, said Moscow is using Wagner and other channels of influence to discredit Western nations. Ms Osborn said their tactics include using social media to spread rumours about Wagners upcoming arrival to Niger and employing fake accounts to mobilise demonstrations and spread false narratives. Their objective is not to support the junta or an alternative political approach but to sow discord, create chaos, destabilise, she added. She pointed to a Telegram post on Wednesday by an alleged Wagner operative, Alexander Ivanov, asserting that France had begun the mass removal of children likely to be used for slave labour and sexual exploitation. Neither Russias government nor Wagner responded to requests for comment. Supporters of Nigers ruling junta hold a Russian flag (Sam Mednick/AP) While theres no reason to believe Russia was behind the coup, it will leverage the opportunity to gain a stronger foothold in the region, something Western nations were trying to avoid, Sahel experts say. Advertisement France and the United States have more than 2,500 military personnel in Niger and along with other European nations have poured hundreds of millions of dollars of military assistance into propping up the countrys forces. Much of that aid has now been suspended. Meanwhile, Nigers approximately 25 million people are feeling the impact of the sanctions. Some neighbourhoods in the capital Niamey have little access to electricity and there are frequent power cuts across the city. The country gets up to 90% of its power from Nigeria, which has cut off some of the supply. Since the coup, Hamidou Albade, 48, said hes been unable to run his shop on the outskirts of Niamey because theres been no electricity. He also works as a taxi driver but lost business there, too, because a lot of of his foreign clients have left the city. Its very difficult, I just sit at home doing nothing, he said. Still, he supports the junta. Were suffering now, but I know the junta will find a solution to get out of the crisis, he said. Areas of south-east Norway were evacuated and residents braced for more landslides and flooding as rivers swollen by days of heavy rain carried large amounts of water through the mountainous landscape on Thursday. People living near waterways were moved to safety, taking their belongings from their homes and moving their cars to higher ground, while helicopters were on standby to help move people out of remote areas. Advertisement The Begna river, which runs through the town of Honefossen, had burst its banks and because of fear of landslides, the municipality announced an evacuation. A dam partially burst following days of heavy rain resulting in communities downstream to be evacuated. (Cornelius Poppe/NTB Scanpix/AP) The Red Cross and the civil defence sent around 200 people to a nearby hotel by bus. Advertisement one Velo, a local resident, wrote online: Darn, this is bad. I dont think everyone understands how much water we are talking about. The peak is far from being reached. More is to come when the locks are opened. Advertisement Authorities did not provide a nationwide count of evacuees, but according to Norwegian broadcaster NRK, the figure was up to at least 4,000. The initial damage estimate was at 1 billion kroner (roughly 76 million), according to the Norwegian Natural Perils Pool, an insurance regulator. We expect far more damage reports in the future, spokeswoman Stine Neverdal said, stressing the figures were preliminary. Advertisement Although the rain has mostly stopped, authorities say the flooding is expected to continue until at least Friday. Major roads and train lines are likely to be closed for days. The catastrophic flooding, among the worst in the Scandinavian country in recent years, was triggered by days of heavy summer rain. Although the rain has mostly stopped, authorities say the flooding is expected to continue until at least Friday (Cornelius Poppe/NTB Scanpix/AP) Advertisement In 2020, 10 people were killed in a landslide in Ask, a village north of Oslo, in one of the worst landslides in Norways modern history. A landslide in the central part of the country in 1893 killed 116 people. On Wednesday, a dam partially burst after Norways largest river spilled over and broke through the structure. Downstream communities had been evacuated and no casualties were reported. Police said the situation at the dam was being continuously assessed but, as of Thursday, it no longer deemed critical. There had been fears that a train bridge over the Lagen River would collapse because of the large volume of water, but railway officials said that it was stable. All traffic across the bridge was halted earlier in the week. Advertisement Advertisement For the first time in 35 years, the popular Peer Gynt open-air festival will end two days early because of the flooding, its chief executive, May Brit Stove, announced. Parts of a camping area are completely flooded with water after the Dokka River has overflowed its banks (Stian Lysberg Solum/NTB Scanpix/AP) The nine-day event features dance, concerts, art exhibitions and more and is held in a picturesque valley near Lillehammer, which hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics. The festival has been held since 1989. Storm Hans battered northern Europe starting on Monday, causing damage and disruptions in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Ferries were cancelled, flights were delayed, roads and streets were flooded, people were injured by falling branches and thousands remained without electricity. Southeastern Norway was particularly badly affected. Norways acting police chief Hakon Skulstad said the situation is serious and constantly developing. On Thursday, the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate raised its warning for floods and landslides from orange to red for parts of southern Norway. The initial damage estimate currently stands at around one billion kroner (Cornelius Poppe/NTB Scanpix/AP) Norways King Harald and Queen Sonja are to visit some of the affected areas on Friday while Crown Prince Haakon, who is heir to the throne, will pay a visit on Saturday. In neighbouring Sweden, parts of the harbour in the second-largest city, Gothenburg, remained flooded. Roads and train lines in the area were closed due to the water. The Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute issued orange warnings the second-highest level because of a risk of flooding in parts of the country along the border with Norway. Ukrainian authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation Thursday of nearly 12,000 civilians from 37 towns and villages in the eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian forces reportedly are making a concerted effort to punch through the front line. The local military administration in Kharkivs Kupiansk district said residents must comply with the evacuation order or sign a document saying they would stay at their own risk. Advertisement Hanna Maliar, Ukraines deputy defence minister, had said the previous day that the intensity of combat and enemy shelling is high in the area. The city of Kupiansk and the territories around it were under Russian occupation until September 2022 (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP) The city of Kupiansk and the territories around it were under Russian occupation until September 2022, when Ukrainian forces conducted a rapid offensive operation that dislodged the Kremlins forces from nearly the entire Kharkiv region. Advertisement The re-taking of those areas strengthened Ukraines arguments that its troops could deliver more stinging defeats to Russia with additional armament deliveries, which its Western allies duly provided. Advertisement But as Ukraine has pursued a slow-moving counteroffensive in recent weeks, Russian forces have struck back in some areas. Ms Maliar said Russia has formed an offensive group and is attempting to move forward in the area in an effort to advance on the Ukrainian-held city of Kupiansk, which is an important rail junction. It was not possible to independently verify either sides claims. Advertisement Ukrainian soldiers on the front line in Donetsk (Libkos/AP) Earlier Thursday, Russian air defence systems shot down two drones heading toward Moscow for a second straight day, officials said. The attack disrupted flights at two international airports as Ukraine appeared to step up its assault on Russian soil. Advertisement One drone was downed in the Kaluga region south-west of Moscow and another near a major Moscow ring road, according to Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin and the Russian Defence Ministry, which blamed the attack on Ukraine. No casualties or damage were immediately reported. Domodedovo airport, south of the city, halted flights for more than two hours and Vnukovo airport, south-west of the city, stopped flights for more than two-and-a-half hours and redirected some incoming aircraft to other airports, according to Russian news agencies. Advertisement Ukraine has been promised more weapons and ammunition to help sustain its counter-offensive (Libkos/AP) It was not clear where the drones were launched, and Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment. Ukraine usually neither confirms nor denies such attacks. Advertisement Firing drones at Moscow after more than 17 months of war has little apparent military value for Ukraine, but the strategy has served to unsettle Russians and bring home to them the conflicts consequences. Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said: This cannot but please us because people in Moscow thought they were safe. Now, the war affects each and every Russian. We now see that something happens in Moscow on a regular basis, he added. Russias Defence Ministry also said it had stopped Ukrainian drone attacks in Moscow-annexed Crimea. It said it shot down two drones near the port city of Sevastopol and electronically jammed nine that crashed into the Black Sea. As Ukraine has pursued a slow-moving counteroffensive in recent weeks, Russian forces have struck back (Libkos/AP) On Wednesday, Ukrainian media reported social media blogs as saying that a thick plume of smoke billowed over Sevastopol, which is the headquarters of Russias Black Sea Fleet. The governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said the smoke came from a fleet training exercise and urged local residents not to worry. The incidents have come against the backdrop of Ukraines ongoing counter-offensive, which Ukrainian and Western officials have warned will be a long slog against the Kremlins deeply entrenched forces. The Pentagon is to provide Ukraine with another 200 million dollars (156.75 million) in weapons and ammunition to help sustain the counter-offensive, according to US officials. Advertisement Ukraine has already received more than 43 billion dollars (33.7 billion) from the US since Russia invaded last year. Ukraines presidential office said at least six civilians were killed and 27 were injured between Wednesday and Thursday mornings. The Zagorsk Optical and Mechanical Plant was destroyed (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP) In eastern Ukraines Donetsk province, Russia shelled 16 cities and villages, and three people were killed, the office reported. In Zaporizhzhia, three people were killed and nine wounded, including an 11-month-old baby. Meanwhile, 12 people remained missing after an explosion on Wednesday at a factory that makes optical equipment for Russian security forces, Russias state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency officials. Russias Emergency Ministry said 71 people required medical assistance after the explosion. Russian officials did not offer a suspected cause of the explosion at the Zagorsk plant in the region around Moscow, which added to jitters about potential Ukrainian drone strikes. The fallout from Russias war against Ukraine has brought concerns to neighbouring countries, including the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus this summer after their short-lived mutiny in Russia. Polands defence minister said the country intends to put 10,000 soldiers along its border with Belarus amid fears of a spike in illegal immigration. Polish officials have accused Belarusian authorities of organising illegal border crossings to disrupt and pressure Warsaw, which along with other Nato countries has provided support for Kyivs war effort. The assassination of Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio less than two weeks before the election has sent shockwaves through the South American country, leading some rivals to suspend campaigning and bringing the issue of rising violence to the foreground. Villavicencio, a vocal critic of corruption and organized crime, was killed on Wednesday during an evening campaign event in northern Quito. Advertisement A suspect in the crime later died of injuries sustained in a shoot-out and six others have so far been arrested, the attorney general's office said. Nine people, including a candidate for the legislature and two police officers, were injured, it added. President Guillermo Lasso said the crime was clearly an attempt to sabotage the election, but that voting would go ahead as planned on August 20th, albeit amid a national state of emergency, with the military mobilized to guarantee security. Advertisement Lasso also declared three days of mourning. Violence in Ecuador has surged in recent years, especially in cities along drug-trafficking routes like Guayaquil and Esmeraldas where citizens say they live in fear. Several Latin American countries have seen similar issues since the coronavirus pandemic. Advertisement Villavicencio's party Movimiento Construye on Thursday rejected what it said was "political use" of his death and called for a speedy investigation in a statement posted on X, the social media site previously known as Twitter. The party condemned an unverified video circulating on social media purportedly from a gang called Los Lobos, or The Wolves, claiming responsibility for Villavicencio's killing, alleging he had received millions of dollars from them for his campaign and threatening fellow candidate Jan Topic. Neither the police nor the attorney general's office responded to requests for comment about the authenticity or origin of the video, which features more than a dozen black-clad and masked men waving high-powered rifles. Movimiento Construye said: "Those who sit to negotiate with mafiosos, those who give them microphones, those who generate fear campaigns with trick videos in the name of criminal organizations and who take the name of Fernando Villavicencio in vain with lies are responsible for the crime." Advertisement Advertisement Los Lobos have thousands of members, according to some reports, and are active in the country's violent prison system. Former President Rafael Correa, who was heavily criticized in office by Villavicencio, then a journalist, re-posted the video overnight, but said in a post on Thursday morning that it was fake, without providing more information. Villavicencio had been sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over statements made against the former president, but he fled to Indigenous territory within Ecuador and later was given asylum in Peru, before returning after Correa left office. "Ecuador has become a failed state," Correa, who now lives in Belgium, said on X on Wednesday. "Hopefully those who try to sow more hate with this new tragedy will understand that will only continue to destroy us." Candidate Luisa Gonzalez, who is running for Correa's party and leading with 29.3% support, expressed horror at the killing, but did not suspend her campaign. Advertisement Indigenous candidate Yaku Perez and law-and-order hopeful Topic both suspended their campaigns, while businessman Otto Sonnenholzner begged the government to take action. Perez said on Thursday morning he had spoken by phone with Sonnenholzner and three minor candidates and left messages for Gonzalez and Topic. He hoped to hold a meeting with candidates and the Catholic Church to discuss a "national security agreement," Perez said, without providing further details. Villavicencio's party had said on Wednesday that discussions had been held recently about whether to suspend campaigning due to political violence, including the July murder of the mayor of Manta. Villavicencio opposed the suspension, it said, saying it would be an act of cowardice. Advertisement He had on Tuesday made a report to the attorney general's office about an oil business, but no further details of his report were made public. There were 3,500 violent deaths in Ecuador in the first half of the year, according to police figures, with nearly half occurring in the largest city, Guayaquil. Lasso, who called the elections early amid an impeachment bid against him, has been criticized for failing to tamp down violence, despite using emergency powers to authorize soldiers to patrol the streets and use their weapons against criminals. His government blames bloodshed on the streets and in prisons on criminal infighting to control drug trafficking routes used by Mexican cartels, the Albanian mafia and others. Beyond security, employment and migration are major issues in the presidential contest. Villavicencio, a married father, had 7.5 per cent support in polls, placing him fifth out of eight candidates. Countries lined up to condemn his assassination and call for a full investigation. Federal Transport Minister Catherine King needs to cut the obfuscation and give domestic airlines, tourism operators and the public a plausible explanation as to why it wont allow Qatar Airways to increase flights to Australia. Qatars push for more flights has the backing of the tourism sector, and according to industry sources, it was also supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Austrade, various airport owners and all state governments. Qatar Airways push for more flights to Australia has been rebuffed. Credit: Alamy Customers are having to swallow prices 50 per cent higher than pre-COVID for international airfares. And what inflation-fighting government would take a position that promotes prices remaining higher for longer? Needless to say, Virgin supports Qatar given their code-share agreement, and Virgin would carry many of Qatars passengers on its domestic network. Fresh from a day hobnobbing with the nations political elite at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, the last inconvenience Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce would have wanted was a delayed early morning flight out of the nations chilly capital the next day. Credit: John Shakespeare Yet, thats precisely what Joyce got when he was forced to wait for his plane to take off from Canberra Airport on Thursday. Our CBD spies tell us Joyce arrived at the airport in time for his 7.40 flight; however, the aircraft did not take off until 9.11am. Just as well he touched down in Sydney shortly after 10am, several hours before air traffic controllers closed two of three runways at the citys airport due to strong winds. As pop duo Holy Holy, Timothy Carroll and Oscar Dawson are one of the countrys most popular live music acts. But off stage, away from the lights and crowds, they are increasingly shaping the sound of other Australian artists. In fact, the idea of Holy Holy working as a song factory for other artists has evolved as theyve travelled around the country, touring, playing festivals and collaborated with other musicians, Caroll says. Holy Holys Tim Carroll (left) and Oscar Dawson are spreading their creative wings. Credit: Michelle Grace Hunder And thats a lot to do with Oscars skill and talent of building beats and rhythms. As a songwriter and producer, Dawson counts Amy Shark, Alex Lahey, Gordi and Didirri among the musicians for whom hes crafted songs, while the annual music festival Carroll runs in Tasmania was headlined this year by Sampa The Great and Confidence Man. The communications watchdog has found that comments made during a broadcast of KIIS Kyle & Jackie O program about the monkeypox virus last year breached decency rules. On Thursday, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said comments made by one of the shows co-hosts, Kyle Sandilands, during a segment in which he and his co-host, Jacqueline Ellen Last (Jackie O), discussed the outbreak of the virus in Australia were offensive to gay men and not in line with the Commercial Radio Code of Practice. The Kyle and Jackie O program has been found in breach of radio decency rules. Credit: ARN The ACMA found that the overall sentiment of the segment stereotyped gay men as irresponsible in regard to their sexual health, this made them the prime carriers of a virus that presented a danger to the community and, as a result, they were not deserving of sympathy or compassion, the authority said. The segment in question was broadcast on August 23 last year. In it, Sandilands described the virus as the big gay disease, adding that its only the gays getting it. He then asked a gay listener who had called into the show if he was fearful of getting it because of his sexuality. Advertisement Eating outComing soon Ukrainian eatery to bring chicken Kyiv, green borscht and dumplings of every variety to Broadway The next restaurant in the Plate it Forward family, Kyiv Social, is set to open in September, supporting Ukrainians in Sydney displaced by the war. Scott Bolles August 10, 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 When Kyiv Social opens in Sydney next month, itll have a strong claim to the title of the Australian restaurant with the most accredited team. There are lawyers, a doctor and a former economist from the central bank in Ukraine, founder Shaun Christie-David says of the posse of personnel wholl work in or consult for the Broadway restaurant. The seeds for Kyiv Social were planted when the restaurateur was approached with the idea of creating a business for Ukrainians displaced by the war. Shaun Christie-David of Plate it Forward. Supplied A lot of them are really struggling here, says Christie-David. Language barriers and non-transferable qualifications have left many Ukrainians frustrated and searching for ways to deploy their skills. Advertisement And if there was ever a time Sydneysiders might be open to trying Ukrainian food, its now. Itll run as a restaurant, but well offer weekly free lunches for newly arrived Ukrainians, and were working right now on partnerships in Ukraine to supply meals there. But it isnt just doctors and lawyers looking to get involved experienced restaurant managers and chefs are among the 4500 Ukrainians Settlement Services International estimates have touched down in Australia since the war began. The site in its Two Wolves days. James Alcock Nadia Mohylna is one of them. She fled with her seven-year-old son from Horishni Plavni, a city of 50,000 in central Ukraine, landing in Australia with a two-year temporary humanitarian visa and a CV rich in hospitality management, which shell put to use as Kyiv Socials new restaurant consultant. Itll be very special to share our traditions and food with Australian people, Mohylna says. Diners can expect a green borscht soup made with sorrel, and dumplings lots of them, filled with everything from mushrooms to cherries. Advertisement Having people like Nadia involved helps with the other aim of Kyiv Social, [which is] training people, Christie-David says. The Sydney restaurateur has plenty of experience in the area as founder of Plate it Forward, which supports refugees and asylum seekers at Colombo Social in Enmore and Kabul Social in Wynyard, and others in need at Coyoacan Social in Eveleigh. Neil Perry's chicken Kiev with garlic butter Kyiv Social will be a Plate it Forward restaurant, but in consultation with the Ukrainian community. Weve also been working with the Ukrainian ambassador on it, he adds. The restaurant will open in the former home of The Two Wolves at Broadway, next to The Lansdowne Hotel. Were in the middle of a huge renovation, well hopefully open the doors in the first half of September. Will Ukraines most famous dish feature on the opening menu? Itll 100 per cent have chicken Kyiv, Christie-David says. Advertisement The ABC has walked back claims that the Four Corners documentary crew that filmed a climate protest attempt outside Woodside chief executive Meg ONeills Perth home had no prior knowledge of it. Despite the admission, ABC managing director David Anderson said the programs story on anti-protest laws would continue being developed. ABC managing director David Anderson. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen In the days after the August 1 protest the ABC publicly defended the crew in response to media queries. They had no knowledge of what action was going to occur there, a spokesperson said at the time. But in a lengthy statement released today, Anderson said a review of the crews conduct before and during the protest found the initial statement was incorrect. The review does indicate the team did have some awareness of what was planned, Anderson said. To that extent, the element of the previous statement issued by the ABC concerning knowledge of what specific actions might occur prior to the event did not reflect all relevant information subsequently available and was incorrect. Anderson said the ABC would further investigate how this inaccuracy made it into its public responses. Four Disrupt Burrup Hub activists were arrested and are facing charges over an alleged plot to lock 19-year-old activist Matilda Lane-Rose to the front gate of ONeills home. The protest was an escalation of a chain of protests by the group against Woodsides Scarborough gas project and its threat to ancient Aboriginal rock art located near the proposed project. ONeill told a business breakfast last week the incident had left her shaken, fearful and distressed. Her body was partially buried, covered with dirt. Clothing and bedding tightly wrapped around her. For more than a decade, her body lay hidden, someone concealing her in the dark confines behind a concrete wall in the basement of a Brisbane unit complex. No one noticed she was gone. The area in which Tanya Lee Glovers body was found, behind a Besser block wall. Credit: Nine News The crime was discovered in December 2022, by a cleaner in the lower level of the Alderley social housing complex. A mother and baby were found dead at a home in central Queensland hours before the womans husband was charged with two counts of murder. The man was taken into custody after walking into a Brisbane police station on Thursday, telling police the 30-year-old woman and her 11-week-old daughter were dead at the property hundreds of kilometres away in Rockhampton. Officers discovered the bodies in a quite confronting scene at the property. Police suspect Tayla and baby Murphy Margaret Cox died on Tuesday and the man, Matthew Cox, flew from Rockhampton to Brisbane that evening, Detective Superintendent Darrin Shadlow said. When strange men intimidate Zipporah on the 86 tram, the RMIT Bundoora student turns to an improvised form of self-defence. Twice, as men have repeatedly hassled or touched her in daylight she has tried to put them off by calling her boyfriend, saying she is speaking to someone important. Student Aiia Maasarwe was killed metres from a Bundoora tram stop in 2019. I am keeping a constant state of vigilance, every time, said Zipporah, who does not want her surname to be published. Now, she sits near the driver. Thats where she was when she spoke to The Age on Thursday. Australia and the United States are being urged to turbocharge the AUKUS pact by jointly producing long-range missiles and using Australia as a testing ground for hypersonic weapons as Anthony Albanese prepares to make his first prime ministerial visit to the US capital. Albanese will be feted at a rare state dinner in Washington, DC, in late October at the invitation of US President Joe Biden, just days before he has been tipped to make an as-yet-unconfirmed visit to Beijing. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will meet US President Joe Biden in Washington, DC, in October. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen/AP Republican congressman Mike Gallagher, considered a rising star of American politics, used a speech in Canberra on Thursday night to say the AUKUS pact had the potential to bring this region from the brink of war if the three member nations expanded their ambitions and put their nations on a preventative war footing. Gallagher, the chair of the US House of Representatives select committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said wargaming exercises conducted for Congress had found the American military would run out of munitions after just six days if a war broke out with China over Taiwan. Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has warned there is a serious risk of war breaking out in the Indo-Pacific and that avoiding a catastrophic conflict in Australias region will require skilful judgment by todays political leaders. Rudd, who delivered the landmark 2008 apology to the stolen generations, also urged Australians to resist fearmongering about the consequences of establishing an Indigenous Voice to parliament in a sweeping speech at the unveiling of his official prime ministerial portrait. Kevin Rudd during the unveiling of his official portrait by Ralph Heimans (left), at Parliament House in Canberra. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen The playful and pensive painting by renowned artist Ralph Heimans, who also painted the late Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III when he was Prince of Wales, shows the nations current ambassador to the United States working at his Sunshine Coast home, surrounded by books and his collection of Chinese crockery. Unusually for such a formal commission, the portrait also features Rudds cat Louie. Washington: Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to additional charges related to his handling of classified documents, this time over accusations that he sought to delete security footage in a bid to thwart federal investigators. The charges also accuse two Trump employees of conspiring with the former Republican president to delete the footage at his Mar-a-Lago resort, which the government believed would show how boxes of sensitive White House files were moved or hidden before they could be searched. Donald Trump looks on before the LIV Golf Invitational at his golf course in Bedminster, NJ, on Thursday. Credit: Getty Images Trump chose not to appear in court in Florida, authorising his lawyer to issue the not-guilty plea on his behalf. His co-defendants, Walt Nauta and Carlos Oliveira, appeared in person the former pleading not guilty, while the latter will have to wait until next week to be arraigned because he did not have a local lawyer. The charges form part of a superseding indictment filed by Special Counsel Jack Smith a fortnight ago, six weeks after Trump was arraigned in Miami on 37 charges relating to the same case. Latest News Can physical advertising still generate leads for brokers? Broker shares his marketing wins Prospa recognised as a great place to work It also got its 2023 certification as a Great Place to Work in Australia and New Zealand Comparative data reveals that mortgage brokers boast a distinct advantage over industry giants like Commonwealth Bank when it comes to customer churn. The data underscores the pivotal role mortgage brokers play in developing relationships with clients. While CBA may have boasted record a net profit of $10.18 billion after tax in its FY23 results on Wednesday, a closer look at the numbers show that the major bank may have a leaky bucket when it comes to churn, according to Adam Grocke (pictured above), CEO and founder of fintech Sherlok. CBAs numbers show that Australias biggest bank wrote $149 billion worth of new loans in the financial year, a positive result in any banks book, especially with home loan arrears remaining low at 0.47% (90-plus days). However, CBA has only grown its book by $28 billion. That suggests that there is a significant leakage point, Grocke said. For all the new business they get they are losing a significant amount due to churn. CBA churn is approximately 20.7% or around 18% if I exclude amortisation. This is what we refer to as a leaky bucket. All that effort and cost to acquire new customers only to lose them out the back door. In comparison, Grocke says mortgage broker churn is around 17% meaning that brokers would lose $17,000 per year in trail income for every $100,000 in revenue generated through their trail book. The total average cost for brokers is about $37,000 and $40,000 per year through the current churn that exists, Grocke said. However, Grocke said he expected this number to increase to 20% over the next 12 months due to the fixed rate cliff, moving rate cycle, and the refinancing process becoming more digital. More customers will look to the direct digital channels if brokers are not proactive in retaining clients. How banks and brokers can get sticky clients The main aim for banks and brokers, said Grocke was to develop sticky clients who would be unlikely to leave. However, both parties have different strategies for achieving this. Commonwealth Banks relationship is built on brand, technology, and multiple products whereas brokers rely on their personal relationships to make clients stick, Grocke said. The other strategy for brokers is to keep proactive, as reviewing and repricing your clients loans keeps them on a competitive rate. When you do that, you take out the financial benefit of that client leaving to another lender, which is the number one thing that significantly reduces churn for both brokers and direct, Grocke said. Brokers can also use technology to help achieve this strategy. Sherlok uses artificial intelligence to predict churn so the broker can know which client is going to leave first in their book. Not every client is going to leave in the next month but there might be 5% that might. If you can talk to that 5%, you are maximising effort and the return on time for protecting those clients who might leave, said Grocke. We then reprice those clients with their current bank to get them a cheaper rate and weve automated this process for mortgage brokers. Thats simply keeping that customer on a competitive rate, which reduces the loyalty tax that clients suffer from. On top of that, the technology also runs comparisons and generates a refinance enticement for the brokers automatically, which creates a refinancing lead if that client is thinking about refinancing to another lender. The average broker in Australia after using Sherlok for five years will have an extra $130,000 worth of trail income, said Grocke. I always say to brokers, if you had that extra trail income, imagine what could you do with your business. How can banks reduce churn? As the mortgage industry continues to evolve, client retention is not merely a business metric but a fundamental philosophy that could achieve success for both brokers and lenders. Grocke said that trust and transparency were key to stopping churn across the industry. Mortgage brokers need to ensure that they build their customer relationships based on trust and retain that over time, he said. For the customer, they need to know youve got their back. They need to know youre thinking about their home loan, expenses and the rising rates, and you are doing it proactively without that customer reaching out to you. Grocke said the same went for CBA 40% of its loans were introduced by brokers. I look at Commonwealth Bank and see a huge opportunity for them in not being seen by the customer as just a major bank and its products but leading the charge and looking at a retention strategy that includes the broker. Done side by side in partnership with the broker, Grocke said. Grocke said he saw channel conflict across all lenders time and time again which reduced trust with brokers and increased churn. The discharge process is extremely difficult, and brokers look to refinance that client and in the eleventh hour, the lender will come in with a retention cashback offer for the customer and match the rate, Grocke said. Brokers and lenders need to work together. The brokers are trying their hardest, but the lenders need to pay the respect and trust back to the brokers to deploy the best possible retention strategy in the market. This is good for the broker, good for the lender and most importantly good for the customer. Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) has signed an agreement with the Tamil Nadu government to set up a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturing unit in Thiruporur, Chengalpet district, for Rs 515 crore. The company will make daily-use products at the unit, said the state government. The announcement comes after GCPLs board on August 7 cleared a capital expenditure plan of Rs 900 crore to set up manufacturing units in Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh. Bringing this facility to Tamil Nadu is a part of our renewed efforts to boost FMCG manufacturing in the state. After all, we are one of the largest consumers of retail products across categories and verticals, said T R B Rajaa, Tamil Nadus minister for industries, investment promotion and commerce. We are particularly thrilled to be working with Nisaba Godrej, executive chairperson of GCPL, who has laid out an admirable DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) mandate for the facility - at least 50 per cent of the employees will be women, and at least 5 per cent from LGBTQI communities and people with disabilities, Rajaa added. Tamil Nadu on July 31 signed an agreement with Taiwans Foxconn, the worlds largest electronics manufacturer, to build a mobile component manufacturing facility in Kancheepuram district at a proposed investment of Rs 1,600 crore. The facility will likely employ 6,000 people. Foxconn is in talks with Tamil Nadu on the electric vehicle segment too, as part of its strategy to come up with an EV manufacturing unit in India this year. Tata Power reported a 29 per cent increase in its profit for the first quarter of financial year 2023-2024 (Q1FY24), marking the 15th consecutive quarter of profit for the company. The consolidated profit for Q1FY24 stood at Rs 1,141 crore, as compared to Rs 884 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last financial year. The company's consolidated revenue for Q1FY24 was Rs 15,003 crore, reflecting a minimal increase of 2 per cent. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) showed an increase of 43 per cent during Q1FY24, compared to the corresponding period in the previous financial year. Tata Power highlighted that all its verticals exhibited growth, translating into robust financial figures. "Despite the weather in Q1 and low growth in electricity demand, the company has shown growth in its profit. The increase in our Ebitda demonstrates that all the businesses of the company are performing well," said Praveer Sinha, CEO and managing director, Tata Power. He noted that during the last quarter, the company added 3 Gw of renewable energy projects under construction, and the company is nearing 8 Gw of renewable energy capacity. "Tata Power is well-positioned to develop round-the-clock renewable power solutions. We are making significant progress in developing solutions around battery storage, pumped hydro projects, and other hybrid solutions. This will support the RE100 agenda of large enterprises and also contribute towards clean energy solutions for our commercial and industrial consumers," Sinha stated. Sinha also mentioned that the planned capital expenditure of Rs 12,000 crore for the current financial year would support their transition to green energy and exploration of growth opportunities in the transmission and distribution business. Also Read WB Governor sends sealed envelope to SEC Sinha over failure to meet him Tata Power Renewable Energy arm to set up 966 MW project for Tata Steel Tata Power Renewable Energy signs pacts with MSEDCL for two solar projects Tata Power Renewable Energy commissions 110-MW solar power project KSEB Jayant Sinha to introduce Competition (Amendment) Bill 2023 on Friday Simpl launches AI-enabled Checkout Suite to eliminate CoD by 2028 Share of L&T's slow-moving projects in order book at multi-year low Tata Digital's FY23 loss at Rs 1,370.99 cr, up from Rs 1,122.88 cr in FY22 Brand TVS known for supporting stakeholders, says TVS SCS's R Dinesh Electric 2-wheeler firms suffer over Rs 9,000 cr loss after subsidies stop Tata Power recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Maharashtra to develop 2.8 Gw of Pumped Hydro Storage Projects in Pune and Raigad Districts. Regarding the Mundra power plant, which under the Section 11 mandate of the Centre is running at full capacity, Sinha said the electricity regulator has allowed them a "cost-reflective tariff" that is pass-through. He elaborated, "Whatever the fuel and operational cost of the power plant is pass-through. Mundra's losses are very marginal." The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved changes to GST laws to levy a 28 per cent tax on the full face value of bets in online gaming, casinos and horse race clubs, sources said. The amendments to the Central GST (CGST) and Integrated GST (IGST) acts, which were approved by the GST Council last week, are likely to be introduced in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, which will end on August 11. The GST Council in its 51st meeting on August 2 recommended amendments to the Schedule III of the CGST Act, 2017, to provide clarity on the taxation of supplies in casinos, horse racing and online gaming. The Council also recommended inserting a provision in the IGST Act, 2017, to impose GST liability on online money gaming provided by offshore entities. Such entities would be required to get GST registration in India. The amendments will also provide for blocking access to online gaming platforms located overseas in case of failure to comply with registration and tax payment provisions. The amended provisions in the GST laws -- which would specifically define online gaming, online money gaming, virtual digital assets used to pay for online games and suppliers in case of online gaming -- will be effective from October 1. Also Read Kalaari to Tiger Global: Investors urge govt to reconsider 28% gaming tax Gaming startups form two regulatory bodies; to hold talks with govt GST Council okays 28% tax on online gaming, casinos and horse racing Members only: Business clubs raise the bar for elite networking, unwinding 28% GST on online gaming, casinos, horse racing: What it means for players NHAI, Railways on track to achieve 60% of capital expenditure target in H1 Domestic electronic manufacturing up Rs 8 trn, semicon import at Rs 1 trn T-bills demand softer than previous week on caution ahead of MPC outcome Incentives for private bus operators to take EV route in the works Doing a second job? You may be under I-T department's lens for moonlighting Sources said the Union Cabinet in its meeting on Wednesday has cleared the amendments to CGST and IGST laws. The Council, the highest decision-making body of the new indirect tax regime that comprises the Union finance minister and representatives of all states, on August 2 decided that 28 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be levied at the face value of entry-level bets placed in gaming platforms and casinos. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, after the Council meeting, had said that the CGST and IGST amendments are expected to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament. States will pass amendments to the State GST law in their respective assemblies. The online gaming industry and some horse racing clubs are currently paying GST at the rate of 18 per cent on platform fees/commission ranging from 5 to 20 per cent of the full face value, while some horse race clubs are paying 28 per cent on the full face value. They are disputing the 28 per cent levy on actionable claims in the form of betting and gambling before various legal fora. Casinos too are currently paying 28 per cent GST on Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR). Levying 28 per cent GST on the full face face value of entry-level bets would result in increased GST revenues. The government on Thursday introduced a Bill in the Rajya Sabha that seeks to replace the Chief Justice of India with a Union Cabinet minister in the panel for selection of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners. The Opposition protested the introduction of the Bill, accusing the government of attempting to erode the Election Commission of Indias (ECIs) independence and diluting a Supreme Court Constitution Bench order. In March, a five-judge constitution Bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the selection panel should comprise the prime minister, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the Chief Justice of India (CJI) till Parliament frames a law on the appointment of the chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners (ECs). Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal moved the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill has proposed a three-member committee comprising the PM, the leader of the Opposition, and a Cabinet minister that the prime minister would nominate. Before the SCs March order, the President of India appointed the election commissioners on the government's advice. A vacancy will arise in the ECI early next year when Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey demits office on February 14 on attaining the age of 65 years. In the coming months, the EC will announce the Assembly polls to five states Telangana, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan by early October. It would likely announce the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls by the first half of March. Advocate Prashant Bhushan said, in his view, the Bill, moved by the government to negate the Constitution Benchs judgment, seeks to control the appointment of the ECs and will be unconstitutional since the SC has emphasised that the appointment of the ECs should be independent of government control. Bhushan said it was likely to be struck down since it would violate the basic structure of the constitution. Also Read As both houses pass IIM (Amendment) Bill, here's a look at major changes Election commissioners to be appointed by PM, opposition leader, CJI: SC CEC, ECs to be appointed by Prez on advice of PM, Opposition leader, CJI Panel of PM, CJI and Opposition leaders to pick poll commissioners: SC SC censures Bar association for obstructing lawyers as volunteers RBI to prescribe framework to reset floating interest rate loans RBI likely to seek comfort around Rs 1 trillion surplus liquidity GBA: India reaching out to non-G-20 members before September summit Rural volumes grow for second straight quarter in 2023, shows NIQ data No-confidence motion: India in unique position of optimism, says FM Congress General Secretary (organization) K C Venugopal called it a blatant attempt at making the Election Commission a total puppet in the hands of the prime minister. He termed it an unconstitutional, arbitrary, and unfair Bill, which his party will oppose. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said the proposed committee will be under the control of the PM. It will influence the impartiality of elections as the appointment committee will have two BJP and one Congress members and obviously the selected election commissioner will be loyal to the BJP, Kejriwal posted on X (formerly Twitter). CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said the Bill came on the heels of the government negating a Supreme Court verdict on the powers of the Delhi government. The Modi government has now diluted another Constitution Bench judgment, he said. As many as 33 rice mills in Maharashtra's Gondia district have been blacklisted for next three years as the rice supplied by them has been found to be inferior quality and not fit for human consumption, officials said. Gondia Collector Chinmay Gotmare issued an order to this effect on August 4. According to an official of the Food Corporation of India, during an inspection by an FCI team, the rice from these mills supplied to Beed, Nandurbar, Latur and other districts last year under the public distribution system (PDS) was found to be of inferior quality. The team subsequently submitted its report to the Gondia collector. Gomtare said these mills have been asked to provide good quality rice in the next six weeks, or else legal action would be initiated against them. Also Read Forest official bumped up surveillance in Gondia amid movement of elephant World Sleep Day 2023: 70% Indians are bothered by their partner's snoring World Sleep Day 2023: History, importance, everything else you need to know Premier League: Arsenal breaks record, signs Rice for 105 million pounds Premier League: Arsenal breaks record, signs Rice for 105 million pounds Data Protection Bill: Experts warn of risks in verifying IDs for apps Police arrests 3 LeT terrorist associates in J-K's Budgam district ASI survey continues at Gyanvapi Mosque on Day 7, both sides cooperating Asiatic lions have steadily grown in numbers over last few years: PM Modi Torch rally in Imphal Valley demands special session of Manipur assembly India is celebrating its 76th Independence Day this year. In 1947, India got Independence from the British regime. Since then, India never forgot to celebrate this day and remember those bravehearts who sacrificed their lives in the Indian freedom struggle. The two most important dates in the history of India's freedoms are the 26th of January and the 15th of August. The Indian National Congress, the political party that led the Independence struggle, demanded complete Independence on January 26, and we celebrate this day as Republic Day, while the 15th of August is the day of Independence. On this day in 1947, India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, hoisted the national flag at the Red Fort in Delhi and marked it as an official declaration of national independence. The journey of Independence was not easy, we lost numerous freedom fighters in the process, such as Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, and many others. While Mahatma Gandhi's non-violence played the most critical role to free India from colonial rule. Independence Day: Celebration 15th August is a national holiday, and the country celebrates this day by doing several activities. The National Flag is hoisted in schools, government offices, and public places. The day begins with the Prime Minister's speech from Red Fort, where he talks about the nation's progress and goals. Also Read Supermoon 2023: How does this blue supermoon impact zodiac signs? Banks to remain shut for 14 days in August 2023, check full list here 77th I-Day to be celebrated by saluting soil and worshipping heroes: UP CM Delhi Police conducts rally on 76th Raising Day, stresses women's security Section 144 imposed around Red Fort, Rajghat ahead of 77th Independence Day State govt has no plans for caste census in UP, says CM Yogi Adityanath Manipur tribal students stage rally to observe 100 days of ethnic clashes Opposition's no-confidence motion has been lucky for us, says PM Modi 269 inter-state power transmission projects completed since 2014: Govt MP election: Former 'Bandit King' Malkhan Singh quits BJP, joins Congress Is it India's 76th or 77th Independence Day? The debate erupts from whether we should count Independence Day as August 15, 1947, when India got Independence or a year later when it celebrated its first anniversary. Hence, if we count from independence day then it is our 77th Independence Day, and if we count from a year later then it is our 76th Independence Day. Independence Day: Best Wishes messages People send Independence Day messages to their families, friends, and loved ones. Hence here are some messages that you can share with your relatives: Italy's Ambassador to India Vincenzo De Luca on Thursday said the two countries will soon sign a bilateral pact in the defence sector to ramp up their military ties and maintained Rome was working hard to contribute to the Make in India programme. In a move to enhance navy-to-navy cooperation between the two countries, Italian Navy's warship ITS Morosini is on a port visit to Mumbai from August 10-13. Italian Navy officials will also meet the top brass of the Mumbai-headquartered Western Naval Command during this period. We are working very hard to contribute to the programme of self-reliance, Make in India, Luca said at a press conference here. He stated that there are some specific technologies where Italy can add value to the Make in India programme, namely torpedo, helicopter, radar, electronic warfare and shipyard. Make in India is the Centre's flagship programme that aspires to facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skill development and build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure. We will very soon sign a bilateral MoU in the defence sector, added the Italian envoy. He said an MoU (memorandum of understanding) in the defence sector already exists between the two sides, but it will be renewed which will further industrial collaboration after the two countries elevated their ties to strategic partnership earlier this year. ITS Morosini, which is in Mumbai, had earlier visited Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea and Bangladesh. It will head to Oman after India. In the framework of the current Italian Navy's five-month naval diplomacy campaign throughout the Indo-Pacific area, this visit aims at demonstrating Italy's commitment towards the region and at strengthening bilateral cooperation and mutual understanding between navies and showing the excellence of Italian naval and defence industry, the Italian embassy said in a statement. Commissioned in October 2022, ITS Morosini is one of the latest warships in the Italian Navy fleet and it can reach the speed of 32 knots and has a very powerful propulsion system. The ship, which can accommodate two helicopters, also has a naval cockpit which is one of its kind, said the statement. The second day of the debate on the no confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government saw heavy chaos from the Opposition. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's speech, which was much-anticipated since his Lok Sabha membership was reinstated on Monday, happened today. He launched a series of intense attacks on the BJP-led government over the Manipur issue and also brought the Adani row into play. Later, Union Minister and BJP leader Smriti Irani counterattacked Rahul Gandhi during the no-confidence motion discussion. Here's a quick recap of what happened in the Parliament today: Rahul Gandhi's attack on PM Modi Congress MP Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech during the no-confidence motion debate in Lok Sabha on Wednesday and accused the prime minister of "(expunged) Bharat Mata [Mother India] in Manipur." Also Read Manipur is sensitive matter, politics on it is shameful, says Amit Shah BJP's politics set Manipur on fire, says Rahul Gandhi: Top quotes LIVE: Shah appeals to Meitei, Kuki communities to engage in dialogue As Manipur reels from violence, home minister Shah to visit the state today No confidence motion in Parliament today: Here's all you should know From Manipur to Kashmir: Key highlights of Amit Shah's speech in Parliament Rahul Gandhi put across voice of India in Lok Sabha: Cong Prez Kharge BJP takes your land and gives it to Adani: Rahul Gandhi at Banswara rally Mizoram polls 2023: Former footballer Lapekhlua to contest on ZPM ticket Telangana elections: Rs 1 lakh assistance scheme for minorities from Aug 16 In his first speech of about 30 minutes Gandhi said, "India is a voice, a voice of the heart. You have killed that voice in Manipur. You have (expunged) Bharat Mata in Manipur. You are (expunged). My mother is sitting here. The other mother, Bharat Mata, you (expunged) her in Manipur. That is why the Prime Minister does not visit Manipur. You are not protectors of Bharat Mata, you are her (expunged)." "The Prime Minister has not gone to Manipur because he doesn't consider it a part of India. You [BJP] have divided Manipur," Gandhi said, amid loud protests from the Opposition. Manipur has been in the grip of ethnic violence since May 3. Over 150 people have died and tens of thousands have been displaced. Smriti Irani counters Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha Union Minister Smriti Irani took a swipe at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for his remarks that Manipur has been broken into two parts. "Manipur is not divided, it is an integral part of India," Irani said. Intensifying her attack on Congress-led Opposition and Rahul Gandhi, Irani said, "Entire country has seen Congress leaders clapping, thumping desks when Rahul Gandhi spoke of the murder of India. You aren't INDIA because India isn't corrupt, India believes in merit, not dynasty," she added. Irani also told the Lok Sabha that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh repeatedly said the government is ready to debate on the Manipur issue. "The opposition ran away from it, we did not...," she added. Meanwhile, women MPs of the BJP also lodged a formal complaint with Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla against Rahul Gandhi allegedly blowing a 'flying kiss' in the lower house. They accused the Congress MP of "insulting women MPs" and demanded strict action against him. A letter signed by union minister Shobha Karandlaje and other women MPs read that Gandhi "behaved in an indecent manner" and "inappropriate gestures towards Smriti Irani while she was addressing the House". "The member has not only insulted the dignity of women members in the House, but it has also brought disrepute and lowered the dignity of this august House," the letter read. Amit Shah's appeals to Opposition 'not to politicise' Manipur issue Speaking on the unrest in Manipur, Home Minister Amit Shah said that while the events which took place in the northeastern state are "shameful," what is more shameful is the politics being played over the issue. "I agree with the Opposition that there has been unprecedented violence in Manipur. Nobody can stand for that. The events have shamed humanity. But what's more shameful than the events in Manipur is the politics around them," he said, adding that the BJP had brought peace to the northeast. The Home Minister further appealed to both Meitei and Kuki communities to engage in dialogue and said that violence was not a solution to their problems. "I assure you that we will bring peace to the state. Politics should not be done on this issue," he said. Farooq Abdullah in Lok Sabha Jammu and Kashmir National Conference MP Farooq Abdullah, while speaking in Lok Sabha during a debate on the no confidence motion, attacked the BJP-led government and PM Modi. "How many Kashmiri Pandits have you brought back? Don't say we are not part of India. Don't say we are Pakistanis," Abdullah said, adding that the Prime Minister doesn't represent only one colour, he represents India. Reacting to Abdullah, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said, "To say that this government did not do anything for Kashmiri Pandit Hindus is wrong and misleading the House." Lok Sabha pays tribute to victims of Hiroshima, Nagasaki Lok Sabha MPs on Wednesday observed a minute's silence as a tribute to the freedom fighters, commemorating the 1942 Quit India Movement. They also paid tribute to the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan on the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombings. Nagasaki Day, observed annually on August 9, marks the 78th anniversary. It was the day when the Japanese city of Nagasaki was devastated by an atomic bomb during World War II. This day serves as a reminder of the immense destructive power of nuclear weapons and the need for lasting peace. In 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has sought an explanation from the Pakistan government for not imposing a tax on big shops measuring 1,000 square feet, ARY News reported. ARY News is a Pakistani news channel. Pakistan's Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman confirmed that the IMF sought an explanation for not imposing a tax on big shops. A session of the Senate's Standing Committee on Finance was held under the chair of Senator Salim Mandviwalla on Thursday. During the session, it was learnt that the national exchequer suffered USD 847 million loss due to imports of 31,542 banned items. The Senate body sought a report from the FBR in a month. The FBR officials, however, rejected the imports of banned items which caused a massive financial loss to the exchequer. The FBR officials in a briefing said that 28,321 items were not banned and their imports were carried out through open accounts. They added that an investigation is underway into the imports of 3,351 banned items which caused a USD 6 million loss. Also Read Pakistan proud of its contribution to UN peacekeeping: Minister Hina Khar Travel to India proved productive for Pakistan: Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari Govt to set up task force for land governance in North-Eastern states Pak PM Sharif, Hina Khar's discussion on US-China tussle leaked: Report India invited to join regional group on Afghanistan: Russian FM Lavrov Pakistan Senate passes resolution urging ECP to hold timely elections China sends ships and fighter jets toward Taiwan in new show of force Disney rises over 6% as cost cuts, Hollywood strikes save $3 billion Surging rice prices make things difficult for billions in Asia and Africa Ecuadorean presidential candidate Villavicencio shot dead in Quito at event They detailed that the banned items included auto spare parts, imported shoes and other commodities. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) told the Senate's standing committee that LCs are not being stopped as per the commitment with the IMF. The central bank's officials said that all kinds of LCs are being opened after June 2023, as per ARY News. The Senate body sought a report after clearing the complaints regarding the restrictions on LCs for imported vehicles. The Pakistan government earlier in August fulfilled an important condition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The National Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Authority Bill 2023 was passed by the National Assembly. It was moved by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar. Pakistan President Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on Wednesday at outgoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's advice, marking an end to the current government's tenure and paving the way for next general elections. The notification for the dissolution of the assembly was issued by the Aiwan-i-Sadr, which said the National Assembly was dissolved under Article 58 of the Constitution. Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif on Wednesday wrote to President Alvi and sought dissolution of the National Assembly three days before the end of its five-year constitutional term. President Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly at midnight on Wednesday at outgoing Prime Minister Sharif's advice, the Dawn newspaper reported. With the dissolution of the lower house, the current government's tenure will also end prematurely. Later, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Murtaza Javed Abbasi said in a statement that the elected government has completed its five-year term, and his ministry had forwarded the summary for the dissolution of the assembly to the prime minister under Article 58 of the Constitution. Also Read Pak PM to formally tender advice to Prez Alvi to dissolve National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif asks Nawaz to return Pakistan, become PM for fourth time Shehbaz govt to table Pak SC bill in joint session of parliament today Pak President Alvi returns to Parl Bill curtailing chief justice's powers Pakistan President Alvi holds hours-long meeting with PTI chief Imran Khan Apple Inc can keep App Store rules for now as top court spurns Epic Games Musk's X fined $350,000 in secret Justice Dept Fight over Trump records Uncovered! A plot laid out for Donald Trump to overturn Biden's win World Bank halts new lending to Uganda over enactment of anti-LGBTQ law Warning sign for global economy, China's CPI tips into deflation in July Earlier on Thursday, the prime minister also chaired the final meeting of the federal cabinet in Islamabad. In his farewell address at the National Assembly on Wednesday, Sharif said: Tonight, with the permission of the House, I will send the advice for the dissolution of the National Assembly to the president. The Pakistan Senate on Wednesday passed a resolution urging the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take measures for holding general elections across the country within the specified time given under Article 224 of the Constitution, Dawn reported. Dawn is a Pakistani English-language newspaper. The resolution presented by JI Senator Mushtaq Ahmad also asked all the state institutions to assist the ECP in holding the polls in every possible manner. Ministers recently stated that there was a possibility of a delay in holding the next general elections due to constitutional requirements. Pakistan Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah earlier this week said 2023 was not an election year while Defence Minister Khawaja Asif stated polls were "due in November". The resolution passed in the Senate on Wednesday highlighted that the top court had ruled that holding elections under Article 224 of the Constitution - after the National Assembly completed its term or was dissolved - was a "divine" responsibility which could not be disobeyed, as per Dawn. It stated that a person or institution only had the jurisdiction given to them under the law or Constitution and a caretaker government was only appointed to hold elections and take decisions pertaining to day-to-day affairs. Also Read As both houses pass IIM (Amendment) Bill, here's a look at major changes Ex-Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi arrested in Islamabad Imran Khan likely to be tried in military court: Pak's defence minister Imran Khan to be presented at Police Lines Headquarters in H11 in Islamabad PDM to decide venue for protest against SC's facilitation to Imran Khan China sends ships and fighter jets toward Taiwan in new show of force Disney rises over 6% as cost cuts, Hollywood strikes save $3 billion Surging rice prices make things difficult for billions in Asia and Africa Ecuadorean presidential candidate Villavicencio shot dead in Quito at event Biden issues order restricting US investments in Chinese technology The resolution said: "Therefore, this House demands the ECP to ensure holding polls within the stipulated period of time given under Article 224 of the Constitution and take all necessary measures in this regard." "The House also demands state institutions to provide all the possible assistance to the ECP for conducting elections on time, fulfilling its constitutional responsibility," it added. The firm announced its new brand, Apeiro Design. Celebrating our 50th Anniversary as a leading consultancy in theatre/performance environments, architectural lighting and audio-video technology, our new brand emphasizes the values of the firm and the exceptional range of work for which the firm is known. Apeiro, from the Ancient Greek, means infinite or boundless. The firms strength has always been in the deep talent, experience, design ability and dedication of our staff, said CEO Steve Friedlander. Apeiro Design acknowledges the teams ability to successfully and elegantly solve the most demanding design challenges. Executive Vice President Patty Glasow, who leads the lighting design practice, added, Our new brand celebrates boundless creativity, and reflects a mindset that has always been central to our company culture. We are well positioned for our next 50 years. Legacy The firm was founded in 1972 by S. Leonard Auerbach. His extraordinary legacy laid the groundwork for the team that now directs the firm who, working with Len, built it into a globally recognized theatre, audio-video and architectural lighting design consultancy with an extensive portfolio of award-winning projects. In 2002, Auerbach + Associates was renamed Auerbach Pollock Friedlander and Auerbach Glasow, in recognition of the growth of the practice and the opening of a New York office. The firm now has offices in New York, San Francisco and Minneapolis, as well as locations in San Antonio, TX and Pittsburgh, PA, and continues to expand its geographic footprint and ability to take on an even wider range of project types. New Horizons As Apeiro Design looks to the next 50 years, the firms owners, Glasow, Friedlander, Tom Neville, Robert Hill and Brad Kisicki, lead a core team of design consultants focused on innovative and achievable solutions for an ever-expanding roster of clients whose programmatic and design aspirations demand a holistic and enlightened approach. We are thrilled to establish Apeiro Design as our new brand and to expand our efforts, building on our well-established foundation, said Tom Neville, the firms President. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810709621/en/ August 9, 2023 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced that Canada is imposing sanctions against 9 individuals and 7 entities under the Special Economic Measures Act. These sanctions are part of the Special Economic Measures (Belarus) Regulations and are being imposed in response to the ongoing gross and systematic violations of human rights occurring in Belarus. They also target persons who are complicit in Russias ongoing violations of Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, in part through Belarus and with Belarusian support. It has been 3 years since the fraudulent August 9, 2020 Belarusian presidential election, which followed a campaign marred by systematic voter repression, including state-sponsored violence against protestors, activists and journalists. Since then, the grave injustices carried out by the Belarusian government against its own people have not stopped. Those sanctioned consist of government officials, judges, and associates of the regime, including the head of Belarusian state television, Ivan Mikhailovich Eismant. Todays announcement also targets the Ministry of Defence of Belarus, the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, as well as military manufacturing and technology companies. Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms the Belarusian regimes support of Vladimir Putins unprovoked and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine, which has killed and injured thousands, displaced millions, disrupted the global economy and exacerbated global problems such as food and energy security. We call on Lukashenko to immediately withdraw his support for Russias war of aggression against Ukraine. Todays sanctions are being carried out in parallel with similar actions by likeminded partners and allies, including the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Canada will continue to work with its partners, to ensure that the voices of the people of Belarus are heard and to pursue accountability for those responsible for undermining democracy, supressing media freedom, committing human rights violations, and supporting Putins brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. With the Meri Mati Mera Desh program, the 75th anniversary Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations will come to a close. During the most recent episode of his Mann Ki Baat broadcast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an announcement regarding Meri Mati Mera Desh, a program to honor the valiant freedom fighters and brave women who took part in the freedom movement. About Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav's main goal is to instill a sense of patriotism among all citizens. Each department creates a unique program that aids in giving the nation a patriotic hue. It is beneficial to celebrate and remember India's 75 years of independence as well as the illustrious history of the liberation movement, its participants, and its accomplishments. The festival contains a series of activities that reflect the encouragement of freedom fighters, reflecting the need to understand history deeply, and the country will gain fresh strength for future development. The nation will also recall all the major moments in the history of the liberation movement. On March 12, 2021, Ahmedabad, Gujarat's capital and largest city, hosted the official opening of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. On the same day, the PM signaled the beginning of a 21-day Dandi March from Sabarmati Ashram. In the cities that served as significant hubs of the struggle for liberation, this festival was first held. Jallianwala Bagh in Punjab, Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar Island, etc. are a few of the well-known centers. The Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav will conclude with a celebration on the following Independence Day, which falls on August 15, 2023. Meri Mati Mera Desh program Apruva Chandra, the information and broadcasting secretary, gave a press conference in New Delhi and announced that the program would begin on August 9 and run through the 30th. He stated that more than two lakh activities had been held nationwide as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, which began in Gujarat in 2021. According to Culture Secretary Govind Mohan, the program includes raising the flag and singing the national anthem while dedicating Shilaphalakam, the Panch Pran Pledge, Vasudha Vandan, and honoring the martyrs. According to him, the Amrit Kalash Yatra will bring soil in urns from every region of the nation, including villages, blocks, towns, and cities, to New Delhi. In the national capital of Delhi, an Amrit Vatika will be constructed using dirt and vegetation from all sections of the nation, giving the spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat a fresh boost. The Main event will take place at New Delhi's Kartavya Path at the end of this month, according to the Culture Secretary. He stated that as part of the campaign, numerous programs will be held in villages, gram panchayats, blocks, and local urban bodies. According to Mr. Mohan, the Har Ghar Tiranga Abhiyan will be observed from August 13 to August 15 with the same fervor and passion as the previous year. According to Meeta Rajivlochan, secretary of youth affairs, a portal called merimaatimeradesh.gov.in has also been developed to ensure widespread involvement in this campaign. She stated that the website yuva.gov.in contains details on numerous initiatives relating to the Meri Mati Mera Desh campaign. According to Prasar Bharati CEO Gaurav Dwivedi, Doordarshan and Akashvani will cover the nationwide Meri Maati Mera Desh program. Independence Day 2023: Remembering the Unsung Freedom Fighters of the Indian Independence Movement Numerous valiant souls who battled for the freedom of their country were involved in India's struggle for independence from British colonial rule. There are numerous unacknowledged luminaries who played significant roles in the movement but may not have earned as much attention as the movement's more well-known and acclaimed freedom warriors. Certainly, there were many unsung heroes who contributed significantly to India's struggle for freedom from British colonial rule. While some prominent figures like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Subhas Chandra Bose are well-known, there are several lesser-known individuals who played vital roles in the fight for independence. Here are a few lesser-known and unsung Indian Freedom Fighters whose accomplishments are more than deserving of appreciation. Here is a list of a few lesser-known Indian freedom fighters: 1. Alluri Sitarama Raju (4 July 1897- 7 May 1924): He was a tribal leader from Andhra Pradesh who led the Rampa Rebellion against the British in the early 20th century. He fought for the rights of tribal communities and became a symbol of resistance against colonial oppression. 2. Rani Gaidinliu (26 January 1915- 17 February 1993): Hailing from the Naga tribe, she was a freedom fighter from Northeast India. She led a revolt against the British in Manipur and Nagaland and advocated for the rights of the Naga people. 3. Birsa Munda (15 November 1875- 9 June 1900): A tribal leader from Jharkhand, he led the Munda Rebellion against the British and the exploitation of the tribal population. He aimed to establish a Munda Raj and fought for land and religious rights. 4. Matangini Hazra (19 October 1870- 29 September 1942): Known as "Gandhi Buri" or "Old Lady Gandhi," she was a Gandhian activist who participated in the Non-Cooperation Movement and Quit India Movement. She was killed during a protest march in Tamluk, West Bengal. 5. Baba Ram Singh (3 February 1816 - 1885): He was a Sikh leader who played a significant role in the anti-British movement in Punjab. He formed a group called the "Kuka Movement" to challenge British authority and promote Sikh identity. 6. Udham Singh (26 December 1899- 31 July 1940): He is known for avenging the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by assassinating Michael O'Dwyer, the former Lieutenant Governor of Punjab. His act was a testament to the deep-rooted anger against British atrocities. 7. Kanaklata Barua (22 December 1924- 20 September 1942): A freedom fighter from Assam, she was part of the Quit India Movement and led a procession against the British. She lost her life when the police opened fire on the procession. 8. Tantia Tope (16 February 1814- 18 April 1859): A key leader in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, he played a pivotal role in coordinating and leading various uprisings against the British forces. 9. Chittagong Armoury Raiders (18 April 1930): A group of young revolutionaries from Chittagong (now in Bangladesh), conducted a daring raid on the Chittagong Armoury in 1930 to acquire weapons and instigate an uprising against the British. 10. Hakim Ajmal Khan (11 February 1868- 29 December 1927): Apart from being a prominent Unani physician, he was actively involved in the Non-Cooperation Movement and the Khilafat Movement. He founded the Jamia Millia Islamia University, which later became a hub of nationalist activities. These are just a few examples of the many unsung heroes who contributed to India's struggle for independence. Their sacrifices and efforts, often overlooked, were instrumental in shaping the course of history. 11. Chandrashekhar Azad (23 July 1906 - 27 February 1931): A fearless revolutionary who operated under the alias "Azad," he was a key figure in the Kakori Conspiracy and other acts of defiance against British rule. 12. Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi (30 December 1887- 8 February 1971): He was a freedom fighter, politician, and writer who played a significant role in Gujarat's struggle for independence, as well as post-independence nation-building efforts. 13. Surya Sen (22 March 1894- 12 January 1934): Also known as "Masterda," Sen led the Chittagong Armoury Raid in 1930, an armed uprising against British rule. He inspired a group of young revolutionaries to challenge British authority. 14. Kittur Rani Chennamma (23 October 1778- 21 February 1829): A brave queen from Karnataka, Chennamma led an armed rebellion against the British East India Company in the 19th century. Her fight against British oppression has made her a symbol of resistance. 15. Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi (26 October 1890 - 25 March 1931): A journalist and social reformer, Vidyarthi was an active participant in the Non-Cooperation Movement and the Civil Disobedience Movement. He used his writing to inspire and mobilize people against British rule. These above-mentioned freedom fighters are just a few examples of the many unsung heroes who made immense sacrifices and contributions to India's fight for independence. Their dedication and courage are a testament to the spirit of the entire freedom movement. Mitsubishi has named its new compact crossover the Xforce. Rolling out for the Indonesian market first, but confirmed for the Philippines as... Chilean cement demand sees 15% drop in June ICR Newsroom By 10 August 2023 Cement demand in Chile (excluding imports) decreased by 14.6 per cent YoY to 254,120t in June 2023 from 297,514t in June 2022, reports the Chilean construction chamber, CChC. In the first half of 2023 demand fell by 8.8 per cent to 1,798,638t from 1,972,730t in the 1H22. Published under Argos reports a 26% EBITDA growth in 1H23 10 August 2023 Argos (Group Argos) had a solid operating period in the 1H23 recording an EBITDA of US$278m, an increase of 26 per cent and a sales rise of eight per cent or US$1.5bn. During the accounting period, Argos shipped 7.9Mt of cement, a contraction of 2.7 per cent when compared with the 1H22 and 3.5Mm3 of concrete, down 6.5 per cent on the 1H23. This was caused mainly by the higher number of rainy days in the USA, the slowdown in house building in Colombia and by the difficult social and political situation in Haiti. USA Despite the heavy rains that occurred in the southern part of the United States and operational issues at the Newberry plant in Florida, productivity and pricing improvements allowed Argos to achieve a record EBITDA for the first half in this region, which reached US$158m and increased 41 per cent compared to the same period in 2022. Similarly, sales reached US$860m, 14 per cent higher than the previous year. Based on this, cement shipments remained steady and concrete shipments decreased by 7.8 per cent. Colombia In Colombia EBITDA achieved was US$72m, an increase of seven per cent compared to the same months of 2022, and the revenues totalled US$318m, four per cent less than the first half of the previous year. With respect to Colombian cement volumes, there was a slight decrease of 5.6 per cent during the period. On the other hand, concrete volumes decreased by 5.5 per cent. This decrease was mainly due to a lower market dynamic and the strategy of prioritising profitability in all of its business lines. On the other hand, cement exports increased by 13.5 per cent thanks to shipments to the US. Caribbean and central America Meanwhile, the company's efforts to capitalise on the opportunities in the Caribbean and central America allowed it to achieve an Ebitda in this region of US$63m an increase of 2.8 per cent over the same period of the previous year, and revenues of US$286m, an increase of 3.7 per cent compared to the 1H22. Cement shipments decreased by 3.8 per cent while concrete shipments increased by 7.5 per cent compared to the first six months of last year. These results were supported, to a large extent, by a satisfactory recovery in volumes in Panama and a strong dynamic in the Dominican Republic, where the company started a project to expand its cement production capacity by approximately 25 per cent. Argos also recently reached an agreement to evaluate viable structures that would enable the supply of aggregates to the Caribbean basin from Costa Rica. USB analysis of Argos' 2Q23 Analysts USB comments that Argos reported positive 2Q23. Net revenue came at COP$3332bn/ US$825.1m (UBSe COP$3,417bn), EBITDA reached COP$662bn (versus UBSe COP$560bn) and net income reached COP$101bn (UBSe COP$43bn). The company delivered volumes below last year's, with cement down five per cent and 10 per cent down for ready-mix LfL. Furthermore volmes in the US were down five per cent YoY on cement and ready-mix declined by 12.5 per cent. Published under Another confidential, reliable source passed on a recent severe potential problem that should be addressed immediately by local authorities with an application for another state or federal free money grant. On a recent Saturday afternoon in June 2023, our informant was approached by two young maidens travelling on the soon to be Re-imaged Broad Street in Choo Choo City with strained looks of distress on their faces. It appeared to the local Good Samaritan that they were desperately looking for the rare venue that did not prohibit them from using the facilities without making a culinary purchase. (Do I need to explain further?) The two obvious non-residents were wearing t-shirts that said My Grandparents Laid in the Mud at Woodstock and I Climbed a Pole at Haight-Ashbury As they approached one of the few surviving original office buildings in Choo Choo City their looks of frustration begin to accelerate into pure panic. A rare survivor of the now frowned upon Southern Gentleman tradition sensing their dilemma and ignoring the potential for being called a dirty old man inquired if he could direct them to a safe haven for relief. His polite inquiry was answered by one of the ladies (obviously hes old fashioned) in a very nice but non-Southern voice, Pops weve got to go! Ignoring the potential for criminal prosecution on the warning sign at the entrance to the stately office building that there were No Public Restrooms the local senior citizen gallantly assisted them in traversing the corridors to the separate binary areas of relief on the historical premises. Thus was born the idea of additional benefits to our developing tourist base to distinguish Choo Choo City from the high ranked national communities such as San Francisco, New York City, and Memphis. A tactfully decorated port-o-let on each street corner provided by local, state, and federal grants could set another high standard that our community leaders have sat (or stood up) to lead the nation as No. 1 (or 2). Local conscientious public entities such as the 2400-2500 non-profits (plus Erlanger) and/or 256 foundations can always be counted on to lend their support. (Port-o-lets advertising slogans on the structures may also have great potential for lawyer and real estate solicitors but we will save those for another article.) * * * You can reach Jerry Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com A person shot on Goodson Avenue in Red Bank Thursday morning was transported to the hospital by private vehicle. Red Bank Police responded to 107 Goodson Ave. at approximately 1 a.m. Thursday regarding reports of shots fired. When police arrived, they discovered that a person had shot and had already left the scene to go to the hospital by private vehicle. Initial investigation indicated that a suspect forced entry and shots were fired between the suspect and victim. The suspect fled the scene. The victim's medical condition is unknown at this time. Red Bank Detectives are investigating. "This appears to be a targeted isolated incident and there is no threat to the public, officials said. "The Red Bank Police Department would like to thank the Chattanooga Police Department and Hamilton County Sheriff's Department for their assistance." The Conasauga Mental Health Court program has been selected by the Georgia Council of Accountability Court Judges as a Model Court. As such, the CMHC will be called upon to serve as a resource to other accountability courts in need of assistance throughout the state of Georgia.Superior Court Judge Scott Minter, who founded and presides over CMHC, said, Our Mental Health Court team is so honored to be recognized and entrusted with the status of Model Court. CMHC Coordinator Angie Anderson and our entire team have worked hard to build CMHC into an exemplary program so that we may better serve our participants.While that alone is reward enough, it is gratifying that others have noticed our efforts. We look forward to sharing what we have learned with other Mental Health Courts across the state of Georgia.Officials said, "CMHC serves a population of participants whose involvement with the criminal justice system is driven by severe and persistent mental illness. CMHC works with them by providing mental health counseling, access to medication, addiction counseling, housing and transportation assistance and employment assistance, among other things. CMHC also holds participants accountable by utilizing random drug screens, weekly court appearances and regular curfew checks."CMHC operates on grant funding from the State of Georgia, with a match funded by the Murray County government. Whitfield County contributes by providing treatment facility space and IT support for the program. For other needs that are not funded by the state or the counties, CMHC relies on assistance from community partners and individual donations to its 501(c)(3) with the Community Foundation of Northwest Georgia. For further information about CMHC, contact Ms. Anderson via email at aanderson@whitfieldcountyga.com. A 19-year-old was shot early Wednesday morning at the Amazon Fulfillment Center near the VW plant. The victim, Javontae Moon, was taken to the hospital in critical condition with life-threatening wounds. By Monday afternoon, Chattanooga Police had made an arrest in the case. Dante Jones, 20, of White Tail Deer Drive in Ooltewah, was taken into custody and charged with attempted first-degree murder and possession of a firearm during a felony. Jones is charged with approaching the victim and shooting him in the head at close range. Police found a pool of blood in front of the business and a single 45 caliber shell casing. Surveillance video showed Jones waiting outside of the business, then shooting Moon as he walked outside. Police said hospital personnel said the injury to the victim was severe and he was not likely to recover. During the course of the investigation, Jones emerged as a suspect and he was taken in for questioning. He said he and the victim had been in an ongoing dispute for the past two weeks. Jones said he had gotten into an argument with Moon in the parking lot of Amazon that morning and Moon had threatened him. He said he went inside and clocked out, then called a ride share to be taken to his home. Jones said he got his gun and returned to Amazon. He said he waited about an hour and a half until Moon emerged from the building, then he shot him in the head. The Amazon site is temporarily closed. When operations resume, the company will provide grief counseling on site to support employees as they return to work. For additional information from Amazon, email Amazon-pr@amazon.com. Chattanooga Police responded to the person shot call at 4:33 a.m. at 7200 Discovery Dr. Clay Huffaker, a teacher at Chattanooga Christian School, has been named the 2023 Tennessee History Teacher of the Year, an award presented annually by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, an organization dedicated to K12 American history education."Inaugurated in 2004 and now celebrating its 20th anniversary, the History Teacher of the Year award highlights the crucial importance of history education by honoring exceptional American history teachers from elementary school through high school," officials said.The award honors one K12 teacher from each state, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense schools, and U.S.Territories.In addition to a $1,000 honorarium, the state winner receives a core archive of American history books and Gilder Lehrman educational materials and recognition at a local ceremony in their honor, and becomes one of 53 finalists for the 2023 National History Teacher of the Year Award.Mr. Huffaker received his bachelor of arts from Samford University in 2010, an MEd in secondary education from University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2014, and completed an MA in church history through the University of Nottingham (UK) in 2018. He has been teaching at Chattanooga Christian School since 2011 and teaches eighth grade U.S. history, and a civil rights seminar for 12th graders. He heavily emphasizes local history throughout the year in his curriculum,and often includes trips around the city. Mr. Huffaker additionally leads the middle school outdoor education programming, and an annual trip for the eighth graders in the spring each yearto Washington DC, and the surrounding area.At CCS, one of our goals is that students would understand the contexts that shape individuals, communities, cultures and nations, said Niki Ellis, academic dean at Chattanooga Christian School. Mr. Huffaker lives out this posture before students. They watch him, and they see how he constantly pursues studies and opportunities todeepen his own understanding of history. They go to his class, and they are invited to head out and explore their own hometown of Chattanooga. Mr. Huffaker doesnt just teach history, he transforms eighth graders into local historians. Society of Work has been providing coworking and office space, creating connections and supporting businesses in Chattanooga, for a decade. To mark this occasion, Society of Work invites the Chattanooga community to join in 10th-anniversary celebrations with 10 events throughout August and September. Since its founding in 2013, Society of Work has provided entrepreneurs, small businesses, nonprofits and remote professionals with a creative workspace to grow their business and build strong connections. What started on the 13th Floor of the First TN Bank building has now grown to two locations in downtown and northshore Chattanooga. Located at The Edney Innovation Center and Somer Station, Society of Work office space includes over 90 private offices, four open coworking areas, seven conference rooms, mail services, kitchenette spaces, and other shared amenities. Access to these spaces allows members to grow their business within a professional environment without the risk of long term leases or huge upfront costs. Society of Work Community Managers focus on hospitality allowing for members to spend their time focused on their work without distraction. Lauren Karnes, community manager, said, We pride ourselves on providing everything our members need to stay focused and have a productive work day. Without the worry of stocking supplies or addressing building maintenance issues, people can do what they do best. We take care of the rest. As 10th-anniversary celebrations take place throughout August and September, it will conclude with a Birthday Bash on Sept. 22 from 6-9 p.m. at the Northshore location at 110 Somerville. Learn more about the 10 events here. In todays technology-driven age, home surveillance systems have become integral to many households, offering enhanced security and peace of mind. But for potential homebuyers, this can bring an unexpected twist to the home shopping experience. While touring homes, cameras could capture homebuyers reactions, comments, and discussions, and home sellers can face legal risks that could lead to civil and criminal liability. So how can realtors help clients on both ends of a real estate transaction stay compliant? With the ever-growing use of property surveillance, keep these best practices listed in the National Association of Realtors Window to the Law in mind: Address a sellers use of surveillance devices in the listing agreement by requiring sellers to disclose any devices, warning them of the legal risks associated with audio and video surveillance, and requiring indemnification for any unlawful surveillance by the seller. Recommend sellers provide notice of property surveillance, even when notice isnt required. Disclose any known property surveillance to other participants in the MLS; while Greater Chattanooga Realtor's MLS does not currently require disclosure upon submission of a listing, other MLSs might. So, sellers, talk with your agent. And realtors, talk with your managing broker about any office policies or best practices in this regard. Remind sellers of their fair housing obligations. Video surveillance can reveal a lot about prospective buyers. If you suspect a seller is using video footage to violate the law, document your concerns in writing, and depending on the circumstances, consider removing yourself from the transaction. Inform buyers of the potential for surveillance devices during showings and any known devices in writing. Counsel buyers to assume they are always being recorded and avoid discussing their interest while at the property. Advise buyers against taking pictures during a showing and to avoid posting photos online unless they have the seller's permission to do so. While some states like Tennessee and Georgia have exceptions for property owners, in most states it would be inappropriate for an absent homeowner to press record and capture a conversation between a buyer and their agent without either their express consent or their implied consent through, for example, the posting of a conspicuous notice of the recording. Practicing these tips is key to not only helping your clients navigate these issues, but to protecting you from legal liability. Being mindful of home surveillance ensures a more guarded approach, protecting your privacy and your leverage in purchasing. Whether youre hoping to lease, purchase, or sell, utilizing the expertise of a realtor is the best way to protect yourself and your investment. Realtors work for their clients and communities every day. Thats Who We R. Here's what a body language expert is saying about the Duke of Sussex's demeanor and how he acted a during trip to Tokyo without the duchess. Its been a rough few months for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. After their Manhattan car chase story was questioned, Spotify did not renew its multi-million deal with the pair. Then, one of the streaming platforms executives labeled the Sussexes as f****** grifters and alluded to an embarrassing story about trying to help the duke come up with a podcast idea. In addition, a tourism agency reported that Harrys memoir Spare has become one of the most discarded books of all time after finding more than 100 copies thrown in trash cans or left behind at resorts since its release. And thats not all, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex cannot escape rumors that their marriage is in trouble. Now, a body language expert is analyzing the princes demeanor during his solo trip to Japan amid all the pressures and drama hes been facing. Prince Harry waving as he arrives at the Rolls Building at High Court in London | Karwai Tang/WireImage Expert says Prince Harry didnt appear nervous on solo trip, put on relaxed display Darren Stanton is a body language and behavioral expert with a degree in psychology. He previously worked as a police officer and used his expertise to uncover the truth when interviewing hundreds of suspects. He later moved into media and TV as a consultant and has been dubbed the Human Lie Detector. Stanton has also analyzed the body language of members of the royal family over the years and discussed Prince Harrys visit to a sports summit in Tokyo on Aug. 9. The expert noticed that the duke didnt seem nervous during an event as he put on a relaxed and content display. Speaking on behalf of Betfair Casino, Stanton explained: As he arrived in Japan, Harrys body posture appeared very relaxed and he clearly felt at ease in public. He was dressed laid back and its as if he could be any normal guy. This proves that Harry feels just as comfortable dressed in a polo shirt as he would in a suit. His shoulders were down, and his posture was upright, which tells us he was feeling content in himself and wasnt holding anything back. He also wasnt closing anyone off and he didnt look nervous or tense in the slightest, as we saw him attending the event on his own. The duke was having fun without any pressure or drama Nacho Figueras and Prince Harry play polo during the Sentebale ISPS Handa Polo Cup 2022 | Chris Jackson/Getty Images for Sentebale If Prince Harry was thinking about any of the drama or pressures back home, he didnt show it. As Stanton observed, the duke appeared to really be enjoying himself and having fun during this solo trip. We later saw Harry being joined by ISPS Handas founder Haruhisa Handa, ex-New Zealand rugby player Dan Carter and Nacho Figueras on stage at the summit. Harry was seen smiling and laughing, which proves that he felt absolute joy at that moment in time, Stanton said, adding, His mouth was open and his eyes were fully wide, and that is the epitome of genuine happiness. He was having fun and felt at ease without pressure or drama. He was really enjoying being in that environment. Showbiz Cheat Sheet acknowledges conditions and cultures can impact body language and is sensitive to all backgrounds. A body language expert says from footage from Prince Harry's visit to Tokyo, Japan, the royal looks as if he's 'inherited' a trait of Princess Diana's. Prince Harrys on the road again. Not promoting his record-breaking Spare memoir or his forthcoming Invictus Games documentary. Rather, hes in Asia for a conference and charity polo event. Like most, if not all of his recent appearances, the Duke of Sussexs body language has been analyzed. Ahead, what a body language expert had to say about Harrys demeanor and how he behaved similarly to his late mother, Princess Diana. Harry arrived in Tokyo on August 8 for a sports summit ahead of a charity polo match Prince Harry | Carl Court/Getty Images The Duke of Sussex touched down in Tokyo, Japan, on Aug. 8, 2023, for the International Sports Promotion Societys Sports Values Summit-Special Edition. Focusing on highlighting the importance of sports and raising awareness, Harry attended the ISPS Sports Summit alongside his friend, Ignacio Nacho Figueras, where the two participated in a discussion on the power of sports in relation to community and philanthropy. Harrys trip doesnt end there. He and Figueras are also set to play in the 2023 Sentebale ISPS Handa Polo Cup in Singapore on Aug. 12. Organized by Harrys Sentebale charity, the Polo Cup dates back to 2010. This time around Harry will be representing the Royal Salute Sentebale Team at the Singapore Polo Club. Meanwhile, Figueras will go head-to-head with Harry as the captain of the Singapore Polo Club Team. Harrys body language in Tokyo hinted he can flip from happy to deeply sad like Diana According to body language expert Judi James, Harrys appearance offered glimpses of similarities to Diana. Watching a clip of Harry walking through the airport, she described his body language as particularly poignant to the Mirror. The reason: Because it suggests Harry has now inherited his mother Dianas trait of fluctuating and contrasting facial expressions and emotions. Dianas smiles could, and did, melt as we watched them, the expert continued. And Harrys smiles here appear to do the same. No expression seems able to fix on his face here and he goes from looking relaxed and cheerful to anxious and haunted within a heartbeat. Harry gave off upbeat grins walking with friend Nacho Figueras in Tokyo One person who had an impact on Harrys body language and demeanor, per James, was his friend and fellow polo player, Ignacio Nacho Figueras. According to the expert, Harry seemed to feed off his close long-term friend Nacho Figueras for his smiles here as he looks at his happiest when the pair chat as they walk along. Figueras, who appeared in Netflixs Harry & Meghan docuseries, has also been known to be at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club alongside the 38-year-old duke. However, in this instance, he seemed to lift Harrys spirits as a catalysis for upbeat grins from the father of two. Another element contributing to Harrys smiles were, per James, the adulation of his Japanese fans. Harrys reaction to fans at the sports summit suggested a love of celebrity-style attention James continued, saying Harrys demeanor as crowds gathered for his arrival in Tokyo looked as if he enjoyed himself. His grin and his verbal and visual connection with the fans suggests he loves the celebrity-style attention and approval, she said. And he even calls out good to see you again to a member of the press. Coupled with a jaunty walk, Hary appeared glad to be there. At least, for a moment. Shortly after James noticed the smiles drop quickly as he bites his lower lip in a gesture of what looks like anxiety, before sucking his lips in to suggest the same. The same could be said for Harrys eyes. His eye expression melts, too. His crinkled eye-smile appears genuine, but then suddenly it has vanished to be replaced by a more wary, haunted look, James concluded. Showbiz Cheat Sheet acknowledges conditions and cultures can impact body language and is sensitive to all backgrounds. From cell phone batteries to electric cars - lithium-ion batteries have long been part of our everyday lives. Even the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded in 2019 for the invention of such batteries. However, describing the processes in lithium-ion batteries with technical precision is difficult. As the research team for electrochemistry at TU Wien has now shown, the material properties can change drastically during the charging process. With the help of numerous experiments, the team succeeded in developing a practical mathematical description of these changes. This makes it possible to calculate how the battery voltage changes as a function of the state of charge. It is now even possible to derive information about the internal state of the electrode material from the electrical behavior of the battery. The charging process changes the material Crucial to the construction of a lithium-ion battery are electrode materials that contain mobile lithium ions. Initially, each of these ions sits in its intended place in one of the two electrodes, and the battery is fully discharged. Then, when an electrical voltage is applied, the positively charged lithium ions begin to move toward the other electrode, leaving vacancies in the crystal. The smaller the number of remaining lithium ions becomes, the higher the voltages you have to apply to get the last ions out of the crystal until, ideally, all the lithium ions are removed - at which point the battery is fully charged. "You can use different lithium-containing materials for this," says Andreas Bumberger, the first author of the current publication, who is working on his dissertation in Prof. Jurgen Fleig's team at the Institute of Chemical Technologies and Analytics at TU Wien. People often try to describe the movement of lithium ions in such materials using a single parameter - the diffusion coefficient. But the TU Vienna team was able to show that this is not enough. "After all, the material changes quite fundamentally during charging," explains Andreas Bumberger. "We start with a crystal that contains a lot of lithium, and at the end we have a crystal that is almost lithium-free. The material properties change accordingly." So you have to understand the charging process as a dynamic material change. A happy medium One way to do this would be to calculate the course of the battery voltage at the atomic level using quantum physics formulas - for example, density functional theory. In practice, however, this is only of limited help if one wants to better understand battery materials. Such calculations are very time-consuming, and it is also difficult to establish a simple relationship between the voltage and the various material defects in this way. The research team at the Vienna University of Technology therefore tried a middle way: they developed a model that, on the one hand, does not merely describe the materials with one parameter, but takes into account the continuous transformation of the material during the charging process, but which, on the other hand, is simpler and more descriptive than a quantum physical description of the material at the atomic level. A look into the material, without a microscope at all "As we show in our current paper, our model fits quite excellently with the data we obtained from impedance spectroscopic measurements," says Andreas Bumberger. "We analyze how the electrical behavior of the battery changes as its state of charge changes. And from the measured data, we can use our model to gain valuable information about the atomic processes during charging." Two unrelated fatal crashes reported FOUR LAKES An Interstate 90 crash Monday evening, Aug. 7, has left an Idaho woman dead. Suzanne M. Twete, 77, of Post Falls, Idaho, was killed in the 5:30 p.m. crash near Milepost 268 south of Four Lakes. According to the Washington State Patrol, Twete was a passenger in a 2021 Toyota Rav4 being driven by Tamra Callaway, 53, of Lake Stevens. Callaway was injured in the crash; her condition was not reported. Callaways vehicle was westbound in the passing lane of the highway when it veered into the median, the patrol reported. The driver overcorrected and the Toyota crossed the westbound lanes and overturned on the shoulder. Neither drugs nor alcohol was a factor in the crash, the patrol reported. The cause of the crash was wheels left roadway, the patrol reported. The vehicle was towed from the crash scene by North Inland Towing. The crash was one of two fatal incidents on rural Eastern Washington highways Monday. In an unrelated crash at 12:42 p.m. on state Highway 17, about 3 miles north of Mesa, a five-vehicle crash left one person dead. Jesus Camacho-Augustine, 21, of Othello, was killed in that crash, the Washington State Patrol reported. The cause remains under investigation. Veterans, military family members and advocates call for Senate Republicans to change their votes on a bill designed to help millions of veterans exposed to toxic substances during their military service, on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, Aug. 1, 2022. Hundreds of thousands of veterans have received additional benefits in the past year after President Joe Biden signed legislation expanding coverage for conditions connected to burn pits that were used to destroy trash and potentially toxic materials. A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. Zhao Xiaoyu, vice-president of Asian Development Bank (ADB) stressed monetary cooperation at a recent Kunming financial summit. As China steps up efforts at international financial integration, Tianjin will be a significant player in the process, Cui Jindu, vice-mayor of Tianjin, told a recent financial summit in Kunming. Delegates to a recent Kunming financial summit agreed that Asia should reduce its dependence on dominant currencies during trade settlements. When this woman was in fifth grade, she was enrolled in the free lunch program for students whose families couldnt afford school lunches. As part of the program, students had the amazing opportunity to choose a summer camp to go to for one week. Since she has always loved animals, she chose to attend a horse camp called Circle R Ranch, located in Minnesota. During their stay, the kids were given one horse that they would be riding and caring for. Three or four days into the camp, a girl that she had developed a friendship with had a really sad day. Her horse had gotten something lodged in its hoof, and she was told she would have to be assigned a different horse, she explained. Of course, for an elementary school girl, this was devastating news, so she had been sobbing all day and was worried about her horse. She got really attached to it and didnt want to be assigned a new one. Throughout the day, she tried to console her heartbroken friend, to no avail. Her friend ended up going to bed early because she was so emotionally exhausted. At the camp, there were roughly 12 to 18 sets of bunk beds in the rooms, and the beds were almost all taken. She took a top bunk, and her friend was in a bottom bunk directly across from her. At 10 p.m., it was lights out, and most of the girls seemed to fall asleep within an hour. However, she has always struggled with sleep, so she was the only one still awake. Sign up for Chip Chicks newsletter and get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Ohio went to the polls on Tuesday to vote on whether to make it harder to amend the state constitution by ballot, just months before a significant abortion measure goes before voters. But the measure failed. The headlines around the referendum, called Issue 1, framed it as another hot-button issue splitting Americans into the same factionsDemocrats versus Republicans, abortion opponents versus abortion rights advocates. For some Christians, Issue 1 wasnt so black and white. Many supported it, believing the higher threshold would hurt the chances of the upcoming abortion amendment. Some opposed it, and others struggled to reconcile their views against abortion with their concerns over how it would affect other rights in the state. Issue 1 would have raised the passing threshold for constitutional amendments to a 60 percent supermajority, up from the current 50 percent plus one vote needed to do so. It also would have required signatures from all 88 counties in the state, instead of the current 44 needed, to initiate a ballot petition. The subtext of the referendum, however, was abortion. In November, voters in Ohio will be considering a constitutional amendment that aims to enshrine the right to abortion in the statea measure that already has been adopted by several states and is supported by 58 percent of Ohio voters, according to a July poll by Suffolk University and USA Today. Opponents of Issue 1 saw it as an effort to hamstring that amendment before it came to a vote, as well as a threat to voting rights in the state. But on Tuesday this week, about three million voters in Ohio participated in the referendum, and a majority (57%) said no to Issue 1, setting up a showdown in November over abortion rights in the state. Aaron Baer, president of the Center for Christian Virtue, an Ohio-based advocacy organization, supported Issue 1. He pinned responsibility on outside groupswho want to jam their political agenda into our state constitutionfor influencing the referendums result. Though, according to Ballotpedia, more than 80 percent of contributions to campaigns both for and against Issue 1 came from out-of-state donors, and pro-life groups spent millions of dollars in ad campaigns. Baer sees Ohio as the vanguard for other states where similar measures on abortion are being considered. On Tuesday, for example, abortion rights advocates filed a ballot measure in Arizona to make it a constitutional right. If they can win here, its going to be tough to beat them in these other places, because Ohio is generally a pretty pro-life state and its a pretty conservative state, he said. He also worries the constitutional amendment on abortion will obliterate parental rights in Ohio. Critics argue the amendments language does not specify age, making abortion available to underage teenagers without parental consent. They also worry that the vague language could make abortion available through a full-term pregnancy. Others, like Mel Oliver and his wife, who attend a nondenominational church in Columbus, tried to separate Issue 1 from the conversation on abortion. We do consider ourselves pro-life, and we do not intend to vote in approval of the amendment vote in November. However, what are the ongoing longer-term ramifications of changing the way we ratify our constitution in the state of Ohio? he said. Oliver says he voted in a split-second decision in favor of Issue 1 because it would have brought Ohios constitutional rules in line with federal guidelines for the US Constitution, as well as with rules from other states. But Ohio is not alone: According to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, at least 17 states have citizen-initiated amendments, with several requiring a simple majority to pass. Two former Republican governors of Ohio, Bob Taft and John Kasich, opposed Issue 1 on grounds that it would change voting rights in the state, which have remained the same for over a century. The American Policy Roundtable, an Ohio-based non-profit anchored in Judeo-Christian principles, also opposed Issue 1 while at the same time declaring its opposition to the constitutional amendment on abortion. Rob Walgate, the vice president of the APC, says there were other Christians who opposed Issue 1. Many didnt come out and [they didnt] scream out loud from the rooftops. They were voting against the measurethey just did it quietly, because they felt like they were being unfairly lectured about their position when it comes to the life issue, he said. According to Walgate, there were plenty of reasons to oppose Issue 1. He noted that since Ohio ratified ballot-based constitutional amendments in 1912, measures have come from citizens and been added to the constitution only 19 out of 71 times. Issue 1 also would have empowered elected officials while stripping citizens from a measure meant to help keep them in check. And the fact that it was done last-minute in Augustone of the last possible hours to get on the ballotsquite frankly infuriated a lot of folks. Some Christians worried that Issue 1 could have hurt efforts to pass future amendments on pro-life issues such as capital punishment, gun control, and minimum wage. Walgate argued that instead of pushing Issue 1, Republicans should have been focused on the constitutional amendment on abortion, which he says has some of the most heinous language that has been seen on the issue of abortion. Mark Caleb Smith, a political scientist at Cedarville University, told Baptist Press that the referendums result may also indicate that Republicans are not as unified on abortion as it is often assumed. The Republican Party is more fractured on the issue of abortion than most people would think, Smith said. He added, I do think you have some Republicans [who] voted against Issue 1 because of its potential impact on abortion in November. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the issue of abortion to the states, Republicans have failed to form a cohesive policy on abortion. In several states, Republican-led governments have sought stringent anti-abortion measures that some blame for backlash in elections that the party has lost or performed poorly in. Last year in Ohio, Republican lawmakers ushered a heartbeat billoriginally passed in 2019that banned abortions after six weeks. The measure is believed to have cut abortions by more than half in the state, before a judge from Hamilton County put the bill on hold. This week, the states Supreme Court set a hearing date for September 27 for oral arguments on the case, less than two months from when Ohioans will decide whether to make abortion a constitutional right. Fmr. Mexican congressman fined for calling trans-identified politician a man who describes himself as a woman A Mexican civil society leader and former congressman faces a fine of more than $1,000 for referring to a trans-identified lawmaker as a man who describes himself as a woman as a court of last resort upholds his conviction for committing gender-based political violence. The nonprofit legal organization ADF International announced in a statement Thursday that Rodrigo Ivan Cortes, the leader of the advocacy group Frente Nacional Por La Familia, will have to pay a fine of 19,244 Mexican pesos, equivalent to $1,134.58, after the Superior Chamber of the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judicial Power upheld a lower court ruling convicting him of gender-based political violence for calling trans-identified Mexican Congressional representative Salma Luevano a man who describes himself as a woman. The Superior Chamber constitutes the court of last resort for Cortes, making him unable to appeal the decision. In addition to convicting him of gender-based political violence, the lower court convicted the former lawmaker of digital violence, symbolic violence, psychological violence and sexual violence for his social media expression. The decision handed down by the Superior Chamber on Wednesday goes beyond upholding the lower court ruling and orders Cortes to publish the court ruling and an apology drafted by the court on Twitter and Facebook daily for 30 days. Additionally, Cortes has to take a course on gender-based political violence and register on the National Registry of Persons Sanctioned in Political Matters against Women, even though he did not commit any acts against a woman. This judgment is gravely disappointingthe suppression of speech and expression points to the demolition of democracy in Mexico, Cortes lamented in a reaction to Wednesdays decision. I am committed to seeking justice and securing mine and every Mexican citizens right to freedom of speech. No laws should be used to silence or punish individuals for sharing their convictions, especially on issues of great importance. Peacefully expressing the truth of biological reality can never be a crime. ADF International legal counsel Kristina Hjelkrem, whose organization represents Cortes, also condemned the Superior Chambers ruling: Disagreement is not discrimination, and peaceful dissent should never be penalized as violence. It is deeply disturbing that Cortes, who exercised his right to peaceably share his views on a matter of significant current debate, has been convicted as a violent offender when it is his opponents who are perpetuating unrest within Mexicos political institutions. Free speech is greatly threatened in Mexico at this time, and it has hit a crisis point with courts imposing severe censorship sanctions for the peaceful expression of views as evidenced by this egregious case, she added. More and more, we are seeing the Mexican government violate its citizens fundamental and constitutional right to freedom of speech. Cortes spoke out, peacefully, in support of self-evident truth, and for that, he has been convicted as a violent offender and subjected to onerous punishments. The lower court ruling, handed down in June, lays out the nine social media postings that led to Cortes conviction, including one where the leader of the pro-family organization characterizes Luevano as a man who describes himself as a woman and expresses concern about the lawmakers initiative to modify the General Law of Religious Associations to classify biblical teachings against the ideology of gender confusion as hate speech. While Cortes has exhausted his options in Mexicos legal system, he plans to take his case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights with assistance from ADF International. Cortes contends that the real purpose of this conviction is to silence me from saying what every concerned citizen needs to hearthat these actions and proposed laws are driving forward a radical agenda in Mexico, which poses a very serious threat to the wellbeing of our society, especially our children. I remain committed to the peaceful expression of truth, the defense of our fundamental freedoms, and the protection of our children, he vowed. Further, I reject violence on all grounds. One need only watch the videos of unrest in our Congress to see clearly that it is not me and my organization that is bringing chaos and disorder into Mexicos political institutions. Catholic couple sue Massachusetts for blocking foster application over religious beliefs A devout Catholic couple has sued Massachusetts officials for allegedly refusing to let the family foster a child because of their religious objection to homosexuality and gender ideology. Michael and Catherine Burke filed a suit on Tuesday in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts in response to their application to become foster parents reportedly being denied due to their religious beliefs. Defendants named in the complaint include Kate Walsh, secretary of the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Service; Linda Spears, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families; Laurie Sullivan, area director of the Western Regional Office of the MDCF, and other MDCF officials. According to the lawsuit, the Burkes were denied the right to foster a child because they would not be affirming to a child who identified as LGBTQIA. DCF regulation and policyand the Massachusetts Foster Parent Bill of Rightsall prohibit religious discrimination against potential foster parents, stated the complaint. DCFs religious discrimination means that any Massachusetts family with similar religious beliefs on human sexuality will be banned from ever fostering or adopting children through Massachusetts child welfare system. The rule would extend to many Muslims, Jews, Protestant Christians, and other groups who have similar religious teachings. The Burkes are being represented by Becket Law, a law firm that has successfully argued religious liberty cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. It takes the heroic effort of parents like Mike and Kitty to provide vulnerable children with loving homes through foster care, said Lori Windham, vice president and senior counsel at Becket, in a statement shared with The Christian Post. Massachusetts actions leave the Burkes, and families of other faiths, out in the cold. How can they explain this to children waiting for a home? The Christian Post reached out to the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Service and the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families. However, neither responded by press time. In June 2021, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, that the Pennsylvania city could not lawfully quit working with Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for refusing on religious grounds to place children with same-sex couples. Government fails to act neutrally when it proceeds in a manner intolerant of religious beliefs or restricts practices because of their religious nature, wrote Chief Justice John Roberts for the court opinion. The refusal of Philadelphia to contract with CSS for the provision of foster care services unless it agrees to certify same-sex couples as foster parents cannot survive strict scrutiny, and violates the First Amendment. Michael Youssef holding worldwide evangelistic events to combat fading Gospel understanding (pt. 2) Read part 1 of Pastor Micahel Youssef's interview with The Christian Post here As he holds evangelistic events around the world with the goal of bringing 1 million people to Christ by 2025, Pastor Michael Youssef is issuing a wake-up call to a Church he fears is becoming inoculated to the Gospel. In an interview with The Christian Post, the 74-year-old pastor of The Church of The Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia, revealed that at an evangelistic event in Macon, Georgia, earlier this year, 195 people responded to the invitation to follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior including some lifelong church attendees. A 71-year-old elder in his church came forward and he said, I never knew that I needed to be born again,'" Youssef shared. "A 64-year-old deacon in another church came forward and said the same thing after I explained why nobody is going to see the Kingdom of God without being born again. They said, Weve been going to church all our lives and never knew this. Stories like this abound in many ways. Its this kind of pervasive inoculation to the Gospel, coupled with the growing number of young people leaving the Church, that has compelled Youssef to hold evangelistic events as an initiative of his ministry Leading the Way. The ministry now broadcasts Christs message of hope to people on six continents and in 28 languages. Its inoculation to the Gospel, he said. I read a recent statistic that said 60 percent of churchgoers believe there are more ways to God than just Jesus. Now, I read the statistics, I have a Ph.D. in the subject, and I've done statistics and research in the sociology department. So, I'm very familiar with it theoretically, but now I'm experiencing it firsthand, where people literally have been in church and they come to these events thinking that they're going to bring their unsaved friends, but they themselves come to Christ because they realize that they are into churchianity, but not the Christian faith. Youssef and his ministry partner with local churches to hold evangelistic events. Drawing from a training program designed by Rod Barnett, who has extensive experience with the Billy Graham organization, Youssef ensures that every individual who comes forward is paired with a counselor. The objective, he said, is to ensure that those new to the faith are incorporated into local church communities. In Georgia, 90% of those who embraced the Gospel are now active in churches. It was amazing; 400 churches that had never talked to each other, blacks and whites, became united in this effort, he said. They did not know each other before the event and after the event, they were walking around the Colosseum holding hands and praying. When Gods Holy Spirit transforms a life, we see so many other benefits that come out of it. Over the next several months, Youssef will be holding similar events in Ireland and in Cairo, Egypt with plans for more events next year. Though the message of the Gospel remains the same, the pastor said his messages are tailored to each individual audience. Born in Egypt, having lived in Lebanon, and spending significant years in Australia and the U.S., Youssef has a keen awareness of the adaptability required for cross-cultural communication, even within the Church. In the United States, I preached to a predominantly very intelligent, biblically informed congregation. And therefore, I preach an in-depth Bible expository, I go deep into the text, he said. In the West, its not just preaching the Word of God, but applying it to an affluent culture where everything is easy, where there's no suffering, there's no persecution. Persecution is coming, but at least it's not here yet. Therefore, the challenge and the application are very different when I'm speaking to a group of people who may be really feeling the pressure of being killed literally for turning to Christ. Youssef lamented the lack of sound doctrine in both mainline and Evangelical churches today. He noted that before the "woke movement" began infiltrating churches, mainline denominations in the '60s and '70s began moving away from traditional Bible preaching toward moralism. He highlighted a long-standing movement, referencing the National Council of Churches, where churches have embraced social justice teachings over the Gospel for over a century. Injustice, inequality that is going to be solved when we get to Heaven, he said. But meanwhile, we as faithful believers are called to take care of the poor, to minister to the needy, to visit the widows and orphans, and all of the things that the Bible said we do. We must do them as a result of the preaching of the Gospel, not in the place of the preaching of the Gospel. Youssef expresses concern over modern Evangelicals questioning foundational beliefs and emphasizes the necessity for pastors to stay true to the biblical text as churches face the challenge of staying grounded in traditional teachings while addressing modern concerns. The Evangelicals who have preached the Gospel, who have called people to repentance, and now saying, Well, we don't really know. We're not really sure, he said. There's only one way to Jesus, and that is why it's vitally important for pastors to preach the text, to preach the Word and not use it as a springboard to jump into their little hobbyhorse, Youssef continued. Let the text speak for itself. Tell them how the original hearers understood it, why it was spoken that way, and then bring it to application to the modern day. That has been lacking in churches for a long time. I want people to come to Christ, absolutely, but come to the right, real Christ, the Christ of the Bible, he said. And then, once you come to Him, feed on the Word of God, because that is our nourishment. Spend time daily in the Word of God, because biblical illiteracy is the greatest problem in the Church in America. That is really my biggest burden for us. Pennsylvania man arrested for making ethnic threats against Baptist church A Pennsylvania man has been arrested after he made ethnically threatening comments against a local congregation whose members are primarily Eastern European. Paul ONeill has been charged with making threats against the Slavic Baptist Church of Etters, according to Newberry Township Police, which is part of a years-long pattern of behavior on his part. ONeill allegedly made shooting gestures toward children and others at the churchs Vacation Bible School and left a derogatory Google review of the church. If this isnt the most parasitic church on Earth, Id like to know what is, and feel sorry for its neighbors, the review reads, as quoted in a report by the Harrisburg-based ABC 27 News on Wednesday. No taxes, contribute NOTHING to the community, pretend to be Christians, while discriminating against anyone not both Slavic & Baptists! and ruin the local ecosystem. Farce! Do us all a favor, kill each other in a brutal [Russian-Ukrainian] war and leave the planet better. ONeill faces felony charges of ethnic intimidation and stalking, and misdemeanor counts of terroristic threats with the intent to terrorize another, as well as harassment. At present, ONeill is in York County Prison after he had his bail set at $50,000. A preliminary hearing for ONeill is scheduled for Aug. 23, according to ABC 27. ONeill has a history of harassing the church that goes back a few years. In 2019, for example, he was arrested after trespassing on the church's property, reportedly looking for his cat. Later that year, ONeill reportedly pointed a flare gun at church member Alex Kolesink while he was trying to flee from ONeill in a truck, according to the York Daily Record. Located near Harrisburg, Slavic Baptist has set up a relief fund to help refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Gifts towards this relief fund will help establish safe shelters for refugees, provide food, water, and emergency supplies, and offer comfort and hope to the people of Ukraine during their time of great need, stated the church. Philippians 2:4 tells us to look not only to [our] own interests, but also to the interests of others. Lets join together to serve the nation of Ukraine." Faith-based global security ministry helped free kidnapped American nurse, daughter in Haiti Concilium Inc., a faith-based global security company headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, worked with the U.S. State Department and other American law enforcement officials to secure the release of New Hampshire nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter, both of whom were kidnapped from the campus of Christian education ministry, El Roi Haiti, on July 27 near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the ministry said. Throughout this ordeal, God demonstrated His loving kindness through both private and public sector partners and resources who helped us navigate this crisis. Concilium Inc., a faith-based global security ministry, provided crisis consultants whose critical guidance and support led us each step through the recovery process, El Roi Haiti said in a statement Thursday. God also sent us key U.S. law enforcement and State Department representatives who worked tirelessly behind the scenes in support of Alix and her family. Through these partners and resources, the Lord proved Himself to be holy, faithful, present, just, merciful, all-knowing, loving, good, and glorious. The ministry said Alix Dorsainvil, who is married to El Roi Haiti founder and Liberty University graduate Sandro Dorsainvil, was released by Haitian gangsters on Tuesday healthy and unharmed. We could not be more thankful for the safety of our dear sister, friend, and staff member. Alix is a remarkably resilient woman whose walk with God guides her deep love for her family and her passionate commitment to the Haitian people, El Roi Haiti said. The ministry also noted that Haitians show how much they value the work of El Roi Haiti through their protest of the gang members prior to the Christian mother and daughters release. On the day she was abducted, witnesses told The Associated Press that Alix Dorsainvil was busy caring for patients in a small brick clinic when armed men ambushed the site where she was working and took her captive. Members of the community said the gunmen demanded a $1 million ransom. It was still unclear Thursday if any ransom was paid. Sandros and Alixs impact in the community was reflected in the peoples response to Alixs kidnapping as thousands of Haitians united their voices and risked their lives to march for the release of Alix and her child as well as other Haitian captives. To the many people and communities in Haiti that expressed support for Alix and her daughter during this time, we want to say thank you for the courage youve shown in the midst of your own challenges, the ministry said. Sandro and Alix believe that the hope of Haiti rests in Jesus work in the rising generation. The El Roi Haiti ministry was born out of Sandros desire to bring the transforming love of Jesus to his community by meeting spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of Haitis youth, their statement added, The Bible tells us if we are to boast, we should boast in the Lord (2 Corinthians 10:17). We at El Roi Haiti are delighted to boast of how good our God is as He clearly demonstrated His love, grace, and mercy through so many who stood faithful and firm, championing the plight of Alix and her child until the Lord delivered them both to freedom. Former pastor accused of stealing $1.4M worth of products from Home Depot A former Florida pastor has been charged with orchestrating the theft of $1.4 million worth of merchandise from Home Depot and then selling the stolen goods on eBay as the states top law enforcement official highlights his apparent violation of one of the Ten Commandments declaring thou shall not steal. As explained in a statement published Monday by the office of Floridas Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody, Pinellas County-based pastor Robert Dell was charged with leading a multimillion-dollar theft ring following an investigation from the Florida Organized Retail Crime Exchange taskforce and other state law enforcement agencies. According to Moody, This pastor clearly skipped over the commandmentthou shall not steal. Our FORCE taskforce shut down his criminal operation stealing millions of [dollars] worth of merchandise from Home Depot stores across the state to resell the items on eBay, she added. We will not tolerate organized retail theft in Florida and my office will continue to combat these criminal organizations. The Florida Attorney Generals Office identified Dell as a pastor of The Rock Church and the founder of a halfway house serving those recovering from drug addiction in St. Petersburg. The investigation, a collaboration between the FORCE taskforce, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement, revealed that Dell worked with four accomplices to shoplift Milwaukee, Dewalt and other branded products from Home Depot stores. Stores targeted by Dell and his co-conspirators are located in Citrus, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk and Sarasota Counties. Two of his accomplices, Daniel Mace and Jessica Wild, stole the majority of the merchandise and, on average, victimized stores five to six times a day. As part of the scheme, they would deliver the stolen goods to Dells house. The pastor would then sell them on eBay using the store name Anointed Liquidator. According to the investigation, Dell demanded the crimes under threat of abuse and used the positions of being a pastor and founder of a [halfway] house to manipulate other vulnerable people to participate in the criminal scheme, Moodys office noted. Home Depot suspects Dell operated this scheme for more than 10 years, resulting in the loss of more than $5 million. Dells wife, Jaclyn, and mother, Karen, have also been charged in connection with the criminal operation, specifically for assisting in the collection, shipment and payment of the stolen goods. Jaclyn Dell faces a conspiracy charge under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, while Karen Dell is charged with dealing in stolen property. As for former pastor Dell, he faces charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering and dealing in stolen property as an organizer. The Florida Office of Statewide Prosecution, which has a nearly 100% conviction rate for organized retail theft cases, will represent the state as legal proceedings against the defendants move forward. Records from the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office show that the Dells were all arrested on Aug. 1. Dell, 56, had his bond set at $750,000 for the three charges stemming from the criminal operation involving Home Depot. Additionally, Dell faces two drug-related charges, including possession of cocaine. Karen Dell, 72, was released on $20,000 bond Tuesday, while Jaclyn Dell, 39, remains in custody on $150,000 bond. After news of the charges against Dell broke, the Rock Church released a statement clarifying his employment status with their faith community: Robert Dell is not the pastor of the Rock Church. He wasnt the founding pastor either. He was the pastor when it was named the Rock Community Church and Transformation Center, and hasnt been a pastor for the last 2 years. Family mourns after apparent suicide of Texas Pastor Phillip Loveday Family of the-late Texas Pastor Phillip Loveday, who was found dead by police from an apparent suicide Tuesday, are now grappling with grief after the tragic end to their six-day search for him. Loveday, who went missing on Aug. 2 after leaving home for his secular job at Kinder Morgan, was senior pastor at Faith Christian Center in Freer. A Facebook page started by the church to help find him called Finding Phillip Loveday had been posting hope-inducing updates to some 11,000 followers. Even on Sunday, the church posted a photo on its official Facebook page showing members praying that their pastor would be found. Two days later, local police announced that the 47-year-old pastor had been found dead. As you have all seen and heard, law enforcement has found Phillip. His family and friends are heartbroken by this news, the church said in a post on Wednesday. Please be courteous to the family as they mourn. We appreciate all the prayers, help, and suggestions. The outpouring of love and support of the community has been incredible. Please continue to pray for his family and friends. A GoFundMe campaign created to help support Lovedays family through the ordeal has raised more than $8,850 of a $15,000 target on Thursday morning. While the Corpus Christi Police Department has yet to officially confirm Lovedays death as a suicide, authorities told 3 News that the pastor died of a gunshot wound and they have ruled out foul play. Loveday, who was a father of five and a grandfather of one, was found dead inside a Kinder Morgan truck by officers from the Kleberg County Sheriffs Office at approximately 2:55 p.m. Tuesday off county road 2444 in Nueces County. A body was located inside of the vehicle. At this time we are waiting on the findings from the medical examiners office to complete their investigation. This is still an active investigation, Corpus Christi Police Department said in a statement. As Lovedays family mourns in private, hundreds of condolence messages have been left on the Finding Phillip Loveday page from both strangers and members of the church community. My mom invited me to church, but you were the reason I stayed, Ema Lee Massey said of Loveday in response to his death. It's because of you that I am saved. Pastor Phil, you will always be a huge part of my walk with God. Thank you so much for all you've taught me. Lovedays death comes as recent research from Barna shows how pastors have suffered significant declines over the last seven years in key measures of well-being such as physical, mental, emotional, and overall health, particularly when it comes to having true friends. Citing data collected for their Resilient Pastor research from 2015 to 2022, the Evangelical polling organization showed pastors suffered significant declines in all areas of well-being when asked to rank how they felt as excellent, good, average, below average, poor or dont know. The share of pastors who reported their mental and emotional health as below average increased from 3% in 2015 to 10% in 2022. The share that reported their mental and emotional health was excellent also fell from 39% in 2015 to just 11% in 2022. In a 2019 message at The Chosen Vessel Cathedral in Fort Worth, Texas, at the installation service of Bishop Marvin Sapp as the churchs senior pastor, leader of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia, Jamal Bryant hinted at the mental and emotional toll of church leadership. What is amazing is that people who don't understand the gravity of your assignment, become distracted by the trappings of success, and think that's what should make you happy. And they don't know I would rather give all of that away if I could exchange it for something substantive and something meaningful. So you got people jealous of you. For stuff you don't even want to have, Bryant said. They have no idea I would rather release it over to you than to be stuck with this affliction that I call [my] employment. It is amazing that you get to a place where you begin to do inventory on your own abilities, your capacity, and your journey still do not meet you at a place of fulfillment, he continued. Sunday School never equipped us that you can be anointed and depressed. They never told us you can have the Holy Ghost and be unhappy. Y'all not saying anything. They never told you that you can know your vocation but still have a void. So you keep trying to tread along acting as if everything is all right but on the inside, you know that there is a disconnect, he added. You can pray for other people, but you no longer have [the] strength to pray for yourself. You can give other people counsel, wisdom and advice, and they don't know that [you're] right on the ledge yourself trying to talk yourself out of a nervous breakdown. Resilient Pastor faculty member Sharon Hodde Miller, who participated in The Summer Sabbatical webinar hosted by Barna Group noted that pastors who take time to rest and replenish themselves tend to fare better on measures of well-being. Sabbaticals are not about vacation, Miller said, but about counter-formation and all the ways that our culture is malforming us in a way that undermines the image of God and Christ in us. Practicing Sabbath, taking sabbaticals, is one way that we push back against that malformation. Michael Youssef on equipping next generation as deconstruction, 'woke' theology permeates Church NASHVILLE As deconstruction, liberal theology and woke doctrine continue to invade the church, Michael Youssef, pastor of the Church of the Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia, is on a mission to instill truth in the next generation of Christian leaders. The Apostle Paul tells us were going to see young people fall by the wayside, but dont give up on the Gospel, dont compromise on the truth, the 73-year-old Egyptian-American pastor told The Christian Post at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in March. Were seeing deconstruction, pastors watering down the Gospel, and other things going on. I realized this is a time for me, at the age of 73, to leave a legacy to the younger generation of pastors. And it's not really my legacy; it's the Word of God, its the Apostle Paul's legacy. But I needed to expand it, give illustrations and stories from my own personal life, to urge the next generation leaders to never give up, don't compromise, don't turn your back on the cross and Christ. It was out of this urgency that Youssef, who has authored over 40 books and whose programs are broadcast in 26 languages worldwide, penned his latest book, Never Give Up: Holding Fast to Biblical Truth in Times of Danger and Despair. In it, Youssef draws lessons from the life and teachings of the Apostle Paul to encourage readers to stand firm for the Gospel. He also tells stories from his own life to highlight the importance of having conviction and resilience in challenging times. The televangelist, who spent the first 18 years of his life through the '50s and '60s living in Egypt before escaping to the United States, reflected on the numerous public leaders who have deconstructed in recent years. He said that a common theme among those who deconstruct is many of them were never taught the Gospel in its entirety; either they were presented with an overly-legalistic interpretation of Scripture or a watered-down version. As I look at some of the backgrounds, many of them grew up in very legalistic homes and churches, where they grew up with the list of the do's and the don'ts and never really understood the grace of God and what it means to be overwhelmed with His grace, he said. Conversely, he said hes concerned about professing Christian parents who, in efforts to seem loving, compromise on biblical truth and avoid biblical morality. They think, If I just soften the message a bit, be sensitive on the topic of homosexuality, and give the impression that its OK instead of speaking the truth in love, he said. And this is a very delicate formula. Many people kind of go one way or the other. As many churches are capitulating to woke theology in an effort to seem inclusive and seeker-friendly, Youssef stressed the need for pastors to draw distinct lines between biblical and unbiblical behavior. If a person is deliberate in turning their back on Christ, he or she should not be in ministry, he said. We can continue to love them, we continue to reach out to them, we'll continue to care for them because that's the call of God in our lives is to love everybody and to love sinners. We were loved by God while we yet sinners. But, he continued, if a person says, I don't believe that Jesus is Lord, then you really need to get out of the ministry. If someone says, I'm living in sin, any sin, and I'm not ready to repent, Well, you cant join the church. You cant be a member. You are welcome to come in every Sunday, but you cannot be a member. The pastor acknowledged that it can be difficult to discern when a pastor is a false teacher who promotes a watered-down theology versus a biblically-sound one who holds to the ancient truths found in the Scriptures. He encouraged churchgoers to ask, Do they lift up Jesus and the cross of Christ as the only hope for salvation, eternal life, and calling men to repent and women to repent of their sins and turn to the Lord? Or do they simply preach affirmations? Affirmation is not going to save souls. It's not going to save people. They're not going to be convicted of their sins and repent and turn to the Lord, he stressed. Sin is not to be winked at. If, when I preach, sin is minimized, the cross is trivialized, people are not going to understand the enormity of sin, that they desperately need the cross of Christ. The message of the Gospel that people are desperately sinful and must repent to receive eternal life is one desperately needed today, yet is getting smothered as pastors seek to become accepted and the secular world seeks to silence the truth. Were seeing these lobbying groups trying to manipulate Christians, and say, Well, if you're really loving, you must love me with my sin, and you'll even love my sin. And if you don't, then you're not really a loving person, he contended. That's manipulation. We're not going to fall for it. Serving as a pastor or a church leader is a serious calling, and not one to be taken lightly, Youssef emphasized. The pastor shared that in his own life, he was called into the ministry kicking and screaming, but felt undeniably called by God. We have faced horrendous times, all kinds of turbulent times, he said. Every time I am in difficult times, I say to the Lord, This was not my idea. I did not want to start a church; you dragged me into Him. Therefore, its Your church, You take care of it. And, God will take care of the problem. He added, Having a call of God and being absolutely convinced of that call is a must; otherwise, don't do it. If you just think, Well, it's a good thing to do. I like to help people I like to teach, or whatever other reasons, do not enter the ministry. You have to be called of God. Though its easy to succumb to hand-wringing in light of the issues swirling in culture, Youssef offered the reminder that the Church has endured trials for thousands of years, yet God always remains faithful. Still, he said, conviction is needed and service is required on the part of the Church. The reason I wrote this book is that you realize this is not new to us; this has been going on in the Church for 2,000 years. And the disciples of Christ faced far worse than what we're facing. Yet, they never gave up, never surrendered, he said. Though he receives criticism for his biblical views on many issues, Youssef said he takes comfort in the promises found in John 16:33: I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. I once heard a persecuted Indonesian pastor say, If Christ is not worth dying for then he's not worth living for,'" he said. "So take it all the way to the bottom: What can they do to me? Kill me? Great. I go to Heaven. Thats the mentality people need to have instead of saying, Oh no, look whats happening. We just need the body of Christ to need to be more discerning, and that's really the key. Parental rights groups oppose New Jersey 'equity' policy that removes terms 'male and female' Parental advocacy groups have threatened lawsuits following a recent equity policy adopted by the New Jersey Education Board that replaces language referring to students as male and female with gender-neutral or trans terms. During last Wednesday's state board meeting, parental rights advocates protested the board's decision to add trans language to the code. Members of various parental rights groups, including Protect Your Children and Team PYC, showed up to express disagreement with the changes, and more than 850 people sent comments to the state board. In comments provided on the proposed policy, some parents expressed concern that the changes to the equity policy would confuse children, erase gender, strip parental rights, and silence religious liberty. Opponents of these changes also voiced fears that the deletion of gender will prove harmful to female students, with others calling it irresponsible to teach children that they can change their sex. Following the adoption of the policy, several members of parental rights groups threatened lawsuits, with some arguing that the proposed level of change could only occur through the state legislative process. The board is required to approve its equity code every seven years, with the recent policy passing by a 6-5 vote on Wednesday. The new policy had several language changes, such as replacing the words minority, female and male with all" when discussing students. According to New Jersey Spotlight News, the board had until Aug. 29 to approve the changes before the current code expired. New Jersey Democratic Gov. Chris Murphys office stated that the equity code has contained policies centered around trans-identifying students since 2003, Spotlight News reports. The board members that voted in favor of the readoption include: Arcelio Aponte, Elaine Bobrove, Fatimah Burnam-Watkins, Nedd Johnson, Sylvia Sylvia-Cioffi and President Kathy Goldenberg. Board members Mary Beth Berry, Jack Fornaro, Mary Elizabeth Gazi, Joseph Ricca and Vice President Andrew Mulvihill voted against it. The New Jersey Education Board did not respond to The Christian Posts request for comment. The issue of parental rights in New Jersey previously made headlines in June when New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin filed lawsuits against three school districts for having policies that required schools to inform parents if their child expressed a desire to socially transition or identify as the opposite sex. As The Christian Post previously reported, Platkin filed complaints against the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District, the Marlboro Township Public Schools and the Middletown Township Public Schools in the Superior Court of New Jersey. Platkins office contended that the policies violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, warning that they would "result in significant and irreversible harm to students if not enjoined." According to the state, these policies defy the guidelines developed by the New Jersey Department of Education, which declare that "there is no affirmative duty for any school district personnel to notify a student's parent or guardian of the student's gender identity or expression." Trial begins for pro-life activists facing 11 years in prison for abortion clinic blockade WASHINGTON Jury selection began Wednesday in the trial of several pro-life activists facing federal charges in connection with a 2020 blockade of an abortion clinic in the nation's capital as supporters urge Congress to repeal the FACE Act under which the defendants are facing up to 11 years in prison. The first group of defendants on trial for the charge of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act are Lauren Handy, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, William Goodman and Herb Geraghty. Other activists facing federal felony charges for participating in the same blockade on Oct. 22, 2020, are Joan Andrews Bell, Jonathan Darnel, Paulette Harlow, Jean Marshall and Jay Smith. Handy is the director of activism and mutual aid for the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), the pro-life group that recovered the remains of five babies in addition to boxes containing 110 human remains from the same abortion clinic at the center of this trial. Before court proceedings began, PAAU held a press conference Wednesday outside the Elijah Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse in Washington, D.C., repeating the groups calls for the FACE Act to be repealed in addition to urging pro-lifers to stand in solidarity with those on trial. PAAU members and supporters, including a representative for Concerned Women for America, attended the press conference. Extreme acts of violence must be met with bold acts of love, Handy said during the conference. And thats why I can stand here today with my head held high and without shame. Because there is no shame in loving your neighbor as yourself. PAAU founder Terrisa Bukovinac argued during a press conference outside the courthouse that enforcement of the FACE Act has been unequal since its enactment in 1994. While the act is not limited to abortion facilities, as its also intended to protect pregnancy resource centers, Bukovinac asserted that the Biden administration has used it to harass and intimidate pro-lifers. She also cited the wave of violence committed against pro-life pregnancy centers and churches by radical abortion activists following the publication of a leaked draft decision in the U.S. Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization. Bukovinac believes pro-lifers can better protect pregnancy centers and churches at the community level. The progressive pro-life leader contended that the FACE Act cannot be reformed. Instead, it must be repealed. In addition to being used to protect the bottom line of an industry that kills humans, Bukovinac reiterated that the act has been used to target pro-lifers. In an interview with The Christian Post, Bukovinac stressed that the trial is a huge moment for pro-lifers, viewing it as an opportunity to reignite the rescue movement, a form of protest that became less popular among pro-lifers following the enactment of the FACE Act. Rescue is a pro-life tactic that involves entering abortion facilities to pass out roses with pregnancy help information attached to abortion-minded patients. PAAU has engaged in multiple rescues at abortion facilities throughout the country, and many of the groups members have been arrested for it several times. Unless we can bring back rescue, we're not going to be able to end abortion in all 50 states, not in any kind of timely manner, Bukovinac told CP. And our best hope for ending abortion in all 50 states is to open the floodgates for rescue. While the pro-life activist said she doesn't expect justice from the court within the coming weeks, she indicated that there will be more opportunities to challenge the FACE Act during the appeal process to challenge the law. Acknowledging that rescue is a controversial tactic, even among some pro-lifers, Bukovinac asserted that this form of protest is critical to bring about change. Pro-lifers opposed to rescue have argued that preborn lives can be saved through legal means, such as lawfully handing out pregnancy help information on the sidewalk outside abortion clinics. Other pro-lifers argue that those engaging in rescue motivate pro-choice lawmakers to enact buffer zone laws that prevent advocates from standing near abortion clinics. There has never been a social justice movement that has come and won through nonviolent means that didn't require people to physically use their bodies to go create a barrier between the oppressors and the oppressed, the PAAU founder asserted, referencing the philosophy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. While she supports rescue as a tactic, the activist clarified that she still encourages pro-lifers to engage in legal activities like sidewalk counseling. Bukovinac also noted that some pro-lifers might be afraid to risk arrest by participating in rescues for various reasons, but she urged people to find ways to move past their fears. The PAAU leader urged everyone to consider supporting rescue in ways that dont involve risking arrest, such as standing in solidarity with the activists who have been incarcerated for rescue. Regarding the trial and its eventual outcome, Bukovinac believes the case will put a spotlight on what she described as the injustice of the FACE Act. Herb Geraghty, the executive director of the nonpartisan pro-life organization Rehumanize International, expressed appreciation during the conference to those who have supported the indicted activists. However, the pro-life atheist stated that he and his co-defendant Handy are not the victims before referencing the names that PAAU gave to the five babies: Holly, Harriet, Christopher X, Angel and Phoenix. The victims are all of the thousands of unnamed little boys and girls that have been murdered by Cesare Santangelo, Geraghty said, referring to the abortionist at the Washington Surgi-Clinic. We will not stop fighting; we will not stop rescuing, and we will not stop working for justice. Kristen Turner, the former executive director of Pro-Life San Francisco and PAAUs director of community organizing, also referenced rescue in her speech. The pro-life advocate insisted that rescue is a legacy that will live on forever. We are the unborn, and we rescue us, she said. In an interview with CP, Turner called the trial a turning point for whether the rescue movement is brought back to life, adding that the proceedings are the biggest case since Roe. She also called for the trial to be a unifying moment for pro-lifers. Like Bukovinac, the PAAU activist acknowledged some pro-lifers fear that rescue will lead to more buffer zone laws, but she argued that pro-choice lawmakers would enact those restrictions anyway. They will crush us if we do not go out there and rescue and put our principles in alignment with our actions and treat abortion like murder, Turner said. This is the way forward. As a result of the trial, the former executive director of Pro-Life San Francisco anticipates that there will be more calls to repeal the FACE Act. If the act is indeed repealed, Turner does not fear pregnancy centers will be left vulnerable, stating that local laws already protect facilities from vandalism and harassment. I want [pro-lifers] to remember that this is not out of their reach, Turner said about the ongoing trial and the defendants. These people are not some great heroes off in a faraway land whose actions are unachievable. You not only can rescue, but you have a responsibility to rescue. And whether or not you know what that looks like, it's your duty. Prior to the jury selection process, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a warning to one of the defense attorneys after learning that supporters of the indicted individuals were distributing fliers outside of the courthouse. The fliers repeated PAAUs previous claims that the Washington Surgi-Clinic and Santangelo have engaged in illegal activities. After a pool of 100 prospective jurors assembled in the courtroom, Kollar-Kotelly instructed them not to accept any fliers passed out to them inside or outside of the courtroom in the future. She also told them not to discuss the details of the case with anyone, nor should they research it online or post about it on social media. The judge went through a series of questions the prospective jurors would be asked, including their political or religious beliefs about abortion and their involvement with any organizations that advocate for or against abortion. Kollar-Kotelly also stated that the case is not about whether abortion is right or wrong and if its justified or unjustified. She informed the potential jurors that the trials purpose is to determine if the laws that allow clinics to operate without any physical obstruction were broken. As WUSA-9 reported Monday, Kollar-Kotelly previously rejected Handy and Idonis claims that they were acting in defense of other human beings by blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic, with the judge stating a defendant may not don a vigilantes hood. The judge also previously rejected requests to dismiss the case in light of the Dobbs ruling, which overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 case that legalized abortion nationwide, and she barred Handy from showing images of the remains she obtained from the abortion clinic. Following Bukovinac and Handys recovery of the babies' remains from the Washington Surgi-Clinic, PAAU has repeatedly called for an autopsy of the five babies to determine if they were aborted in a manner that violated federal law. The babies remains are being held at the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, where PAAU held a vigil for them the night before the trial. Kollar-Kotelly said the length of the trial for Handy and her fellow activists is hard to determine but indicated that it could last as long as three weeks. A trial brief for the case explains that several of the defendants reportedly used chairs to block the clinic's entrance, tying themselves together with chains and ropes, resulting in a nurse injuring herself while attempting to stop them. The brief states that the "conspirators' purposeful choice to invade the clinic and inflict trauma, physical and emotional, on its patients and staff, is one for which they must be held accountable. The government's evidence will prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." Voddie Baucham identifies 3 'red flags' churches are capitulating to modern, Neo-Marxist ideology (pt. 1) Read part 2 of Voddie Baucham's interview with The Christian Post here Prominent pastor and author Voddie Baucham has identified three signs a church is abandoning Scriptural truths for modern, Neo-Marxist ideology in a culture where truth is under attack and Christianity is increasingly marginalized. In an interview with The Christian Post, the 54-year-old dean of theology at African Christian University in Zambia highlighted several concerning trends in modern churches that he fears are eroding the foundations of Christianity, beginning with a de-emphasis of the Bible, where there is a lack of commitment to systematically teach and exposit the Scriptures. There's not a commitment to a systematic exposition of the Bible, and what we hear from the pulpit is rooted and grounded in more psychology and philosophy than text and theology, Baucham said. The second red flag involves the church's alignment with post-Christian culture. Baucham noted that some leaders preach messages that resonate with the values and agendas of the secular world, including issues related to LGBTQ+ concerns. You begin to hear things in the church, from the pulpit, from the leadership that resonate with this post-Christian culture, for example, the LGBTQ-plus, whatever agendas, he said. Finally, he said apologizing for essential Christian doctrines is another red flag indicating a departure from true, biblical Christianity. Were apologizing for the creation myth. We're apologizing for the Gospel. We're apologizing for the Reformation. We're apologizing for Christian morality, these sorts of things. These are some signs that things have gone very wrong, he said. A May 2021 survey from Evangelical pollster George Barna found that just 6% of Americans have a "biblical worldview. Similarly, survey data compiled in January 2020 showed that only 2% of millennials hold a biblical worldview, even though 61% identify as Christian. Baucham, who is gearing up for a revised release of his 2004 book The Ever-Loving Truth: Can Faith Survive in a Post-Christian Culture?explained that for many decades, the Western Church has assumed and then forgotten the essence of the Gospel, leading to a foundation built on shifting sand rather than the solid rock of Christ. The ramifications of that, he lamented, are becoming increasingly visible in todays post-Christian America. For a long time, because of the assumptions of the culture, one of the things that we did was we assumed the Gospel, Baucham said. The message of the Gospel is an offensive message in a lost and dying world. But we assumed the Gospel. Then, after we assumed the Gospel, we forgot the Gospel and we left the Gospel behind. And we begin to build churches and really, I use that term loosely because, in many instances, they aren't churches and gather people based on commonalities that were not Gospel-centered. We gathered people because we liked the same kind of music or we were in the same social class. We had those things as our foundation instead of having the Gospel as our foundation. Baucham, who previously served as pastor of Grace Family Baptist Church in Texas, stressed that the Gospel message is considered offensive to the world. And, in an attempt to avoid offense, many churches have neglected its transformative power. He warned that such churches, lacking a Gospel-centered foundation, are ill-prepared for the challenges of the post-Christian era. In this post-Christian era, where we're all being sort of painted with the same brush, people who have not relied on the Gospel to build solid foundations are seeing their sheep scattered. They're really not legitimate sheep in the first place, and they also don't really know how to respond, because the response in many instances has been, No, no, no, no, we're not like them. And them, of course, are conservative, Bible-believing Evangelicals, those people who have always been vilified by the culture at large. But thats not working anymore, he said, because its not enough to just not hold firmly to the truths of the Gospel and to not hold firmly to those things that the culture finds offensive. Any identification now with Christianity, which is seen as the sort of ultimate hegemonic boogeyman in modern, Neo Marxist culture, is offensive. So, a lot of people are caught off guard because of compromises that they made a long time ago that looked like they were paying off. Baucham issued an urgent call for a bold return to the core of Christianity: the unadulterated Gospel. He emphasized the need for churches to stand firm on biblical truths without compromise, even in the face of cultural pressure and vilification. We need to prepare ourselves for the opposition, not only the opposition coming, but for the opposition that's already here, he said. We need to know what we believe and why we believe it. We need to be prepared to give an answer to those who ask us for the reason for the hope that is in us. We need to be prepared to speak to this post-Christian culture. Finally, we need to be prepared to accept the consequences of doing so, which are unpleasant. The Ever-Loving Truth: Can Faith Survive in a Post-Christian Culture? will be released on Sept. 16. Wildfire victims find hope in Christ during record-setting 2020; millions of acres burned Dan and Rochelle Kelly thought they would only be gone from their Boulder Creek, California, home for a day when they received the reverse 911 call on Aug. 18 advising them to evacuate because of an approaching wildfire. Living in the mountain town that serves as the gateway to the Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County, the Kellys have for years had an emergency evacuation plan for the summers, with bags ready to go and a list of the most important items in their home they dont want to lose if their home were to go up in flames. They grabbed family photo albums, ancestry documents, irreplaceable paintings, their dog, the tops of their wedding cakes and a gold teapot Rochelles great grandparents received for their 50th wedding anniversary. They filled up Dans truck and Rochelles car as best as they could before hitting the road to avoid getting stuck in evacuation traffic like they had heard about in other fires. My advice to people that are evacuating is when you are taking stuff, you need to imagine that your house is going to burn to the ground, Rochelle, a retired school administrator, told The Christian Post. We took things that were really important but left some things that were really special but not irreplaceable. We really thought wed be gone for a day and come back and move back in with our stuff. But what happened is the Kellys suffered a similar fate that hundreds of families across Santa Cruz County and thousands of others across the Pacific Northwest have suffered this year as a record wildfire season has seen thousands of fires engulf millions of acres across California, Oregon and Washington in recent months. Their home, as well as one of their neighbors' homes, burned to the ground with very little left to be salvaged. In California alone, over 4 million acres have burned and 8,819 structures have been destroyed during the 2020 wildfire season as of Oct. 7, according to the state's Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. In Oregon, over 1 million acres have been burned by nearly 2,000 different fires, nearly double the 10-year average of 557,811 acres. In Washington, hundreds of thousands of acres burned in 2020, according to the Washington Department of Natural Resources. Tom OBrien, a retired firefighter who served 32 years in Rancho Cucamonga and who is now leading a relief effort for the evangelical humanitarian aid organization Samaritans Purse in Santa Cruz County, told CP that the CZU Lightning Complex fires in the area began on Aug. 16 when there was dry lightning that came through in the form of a large electrical storm. By the time fires in Santa Cruz County stopped burning, OBrien said that about 930 homes were destroyed along with an additional 1,000 other structures, including outbuildings, garages and sheds. Everything had been preheated, there was warm weather that preceded it. It just started igniting everything. Mountains were going up in just little spot fires, he said. What they began to call these fires as they began to merge and join together, they called them complex fires, meaning a whole series of small fires joining together to create one big fire. As fire burns going uphill, it begins to preheat as it goes. It draws in air along the sides of it so it can use that air and has plenty of fuel in the dry sticks and brush. It has plenty of heat as it goes up that hill. It continues to just feed itself on this dry tinder, grass and trees as it runs up. It creates its own wind as it draws in everything nearby and these large plumes of smoke tower up into the air. These dry leaves and embers, some very, very long distances, miles in some cases. At the time, OBrien said there were as many as 88 to 90 other wildfires ongoing caused by dry lightning across the three states. This year, it is not very good at all. It is a horrible year and we really havent even gotten the wind-driven fires yet, he said. Everybody needs to be on their knees praying to God to assist the firemen and give relief in the form of rain. Amid the tragedy and through the power of Christ, however, some have been able to find a sense of hope that had previously been lacking in their lives while others believe God sent them a sign that He has different plans for their lives. God does so many amazing things even through the devastation, Kristin Koning, a Samaritans Purse program manager overseeing efforts in Oregon, said. On any disaster, we see that. Certainly, this one is not an exception. We are seeing God open opportunities not only for people to come and accept Him for the first time but just for believers to be encouraged. Leaving their home behind Leaving their home behind, the Kellys went to stay for a week with friends in the town of Pleasanton, before going on to stay for a week at a friends beach rental home in Santa Cruz and then back up to their friends place in Pleasanton for another week. For the last four weeks, they have stayed at a hotel in Santa Cruz. The day after they left their home, the Kellys were informed by their 37-year-old son, who lived in the area but had not evacuated because his home was not in immediate danger, that their home, which was their sons childhood home, had burned down. He got on his dirtbike he knew all the mountains and trails and he came to the house as the fire was going away from the house, Rochelle said. He was riding through the fire lines and stuff. He was able to see that it had burned to the ground as well as all the outbuildings. He took pictures for us. Otherwise, like so many people, we would not have known the fate of our house for a month. That would have been just horribly anxiety-ridden. Many evacuees have been forced to wait for weeks to find out the fate of their homes because they have had to wait for authorities to tell them when it's safe to return to the area. As for the Kellys 20-acre property in Boulder Creek, different fires were coming from two directions that converged in the mountains, heading toward Boulder Creek and other small towns in the San Lorenzo Valley. The Kellys were able to return to their property after about four weeks on Sept. 13. When they returned, they said they were overwhelmed by the amount of work they would have to do just to sift through the ash to see if there was anything in the home that could be salvaged. Picking up the pieces As they left their burned-down property on the first day of their return, Dan said he and his wife encountered a husband-and-wife couple in a pick-up truck who stopped them to ask, Did you folks lose your house? Those people turned out to be OBrien and his wife. The OBriens arrived in Santa Cruz County on Sept. 10 to assess the area to see how Samaritan's Purse, a North Carolina-based organization run by Franklin Graham that helps victims of disasters all over the world, can help. The Kellys recalled the couple offering to send a team of volunteers to help them sift through the ash to find any valuables that survived the fire. They were just going up and down, just checking peoples houses, seeing what they can do. They gave us some information and a flyer and all that, Dan said. That was it. Just a few days later, a team of 10 or more Samaritans Purse volunteers arrived at their property. When we met them at the driveway there and they told us what they were about and what they could do for us, we were so relieved because we had just been at the site of our burned-out house and it was so overwhelming to us to have to get in there and sift through all that debris to look for anything that might have survived, Rochelle recalled. It was very difficult to even walk in the debris because it was a tangled mess of glass and nails [and screws]. When they told us what they did, we said, Thank God! We didnt think we would be able to do it ourselves. OBrien said that the team had to wait a few days for things to cool down before they could go to work. The charity had to get approval from the appropriate government agencies as well. We tied in with some other volunteer organizations working in this area and had a pastors conference and within just a few days after that, we got ourselves up and working to assist these homeowners in their time of need, he said. Samaritan's Purses efforts in Santa Cruz, which consists of three different teams of about 10 or more volunteers, are being headquartered at Felton Bible Church, just north of the town of Santa Cruz. Out-of-town volunteers who travel to Santa Cruz to help residents in need and plan to stay for three days or more are given a place to sleep at Mount Hermon, a Christian camp near Felton. OBrien said some volunteers have traveled from as far as Oklahoma and Ohio to aid those in Santa Cruz. Samaritans Purse has taken dozens of work orders in Santa Cruz County since Sept. 14. Each order is a little bit different," the retired firefighter said. "Some folks are looking for maybe a dozen items or so. Other owners just want one or two items. The timeline, we try to be very flexible to give it our best effort to try to salvage those items that are important to that homeowner. Volunteers from Samaritan's Purse wearing Tyvek suits, goggles, gloves and N-95 masks worked on the Kellys property for over two days. On the first day, Dan said, about 10 volunteers showed up. In the following two days, he said anywhere between 10 to 14 volunteers showed up to work on his home. Dan was there for most of the time that the volunteers were there. It was pretty neat because they would be sifting through and all of sudden they would find something, he explained. They didnt even want me in the rubble. They had the personal equipment on. They had everything there. They just wanted me to sit down. I brought in a pop-up tent, a table and some water to wash things off and some rags and stuff like that. As they would find it, they would bring it over to me. Jesus unscathed According to Rochelle, there wasnt much that survived the fire except for a few notable items. One thing that survived the fire was an American flag hanging from a flagpole on their side deck that was discovered by the fire department. Dan, a former scuba diving instructor-turned-business owner from Long Island, New York, said the fire department folded the flag military-style and placed it inside his damaged Mercedes-Benz convertible for him to find. Another thing that survived the fire was a porcelain figurine of Jesus Christ that Dans mother gave as a gift to Rochelle. They are sifting through an area that we had asked them to sift through. When they brought me things, they were usually in pieces, he explained. Then all of a sudden, everybody was just so excited. It was a white porcelain bust of Jesus about 6 inches tall. It survived through everything with no cracks, no dirt on it, nothing. It just survived. The figurine was originally located in an upstairs bedroom, meaning that in addition to exposure to heat and fire, it also fell from the upper floor down to the bottom. It is perfectly clean and perfectly whole, Rochelle explained. It was totally amazing, Everything else that was glass or porcelain was in bits and pieces but not Jesus. Then they found baby Jesus with Mary and one of the oxen from my moms nativity set that we put out every year. Its pretty cool. Also four of [my moms] little porcelain angels that we would set out every year next to the nativity, those came out. They need to be cleared up but four of them came out whole. The Kellys, who are active members of an Episcopalian church, said they believe God might've been trying to speak to them through the survival of the Jesus figurine. Dan said they believe it was God saying that He has different plans for us. The message was so clear, Rochelle agreed. We have the bust of Jesus, wherever we go. He is sitting right here on our nightstand in our hotel room right now. It is definitely a message of hope. 1 2 3 Next Barbie: Pink, feminist nightmare for girls around the world Well, I did it. I went to see Barbie. I didnt want to go. Yet, I felt a strong sense that I needed to go. After working with girls for over 40 years, I know very well the targeted messaging that has been crippling their ability to be all that God has called them to be. With the incredible investment and marketing that has gone around this star-studded movie, I sensed that all was not pink and innocent. I sensed there was a message that the writers, producers, and directors desperately wanted to deliver to todays moms and daughters and that compelled me to see the movie for myself. To say that I wasted two hours of my life is an understatement. However, if those two hours could be redeemed by sharing my learnings with others, it will be an investment well worth my time. The biggest lesson of all is to warn everyone: Avoid this movie at all costs and do not bring your Barbie-loving daughters! This movie is a horrible misuse of an iconic childrens brand that has been with us as long as I have been living. Sure, there are some pretty production designs, beautiful costumes, and slight humor, but they are all eclipsed by the overt messages of the importance of separating the sexes, usurping and maintaining power over one another, seeking meaning through secularism, and the longing to be the Creator rather than the created. This may seem like I am angry. Well, I am. But moreso, I am sad. Sad that Mattel and the movie creators had an opportunity to empower girls to be all that they were created to be, but they hugely missed the mark. Instead, the main message seems to be that the only way to empower women is to belittle men and that the Creator should not hold a place of relevance for todays women. The film is rife with sexuality some overt, others innuendos, including: Kens saying that they will beach you off Someone in the real world wanting to see Kens nude blob pushing under those jeans The president of Barbie Land calls the Kens M******rs while a Mattel logo covers her mouth and bleeps out the word Ken proclaims since he and Barbie are boyfriend and girlfriend, he should spend the night And the final statement of the film when Robbie reaches the reception area as she becomes a real woman in the real world, she proudly declares, Im here to see my gynecologist I am sure there were plenty of times moms wished they had not brought their 5- to 9-year-old girls (typical age of the girls who play with Barbie) to this movie. Sexuality aside, the pandering of philosophies that promote falsehoods is abhorrent. The films promotors have intentionally marketed to young girls a movie whose themes are dark, confusing, and hopeless that are reflective of the mental health crisis in which our nations girls are already immersed. How does this film help todays condition or todays girls? It doesnt. The consistent message above all is male buffoonery and the dangers of patriarchy. From the first moment we meet Ken, he is toppled by a wave that catapults him into many somersaults before landing on shore only to be treated by Barbie. His character, of course, lacks depth and intelligence, unlike his female counterpart. In his attempt to find meaning due to Barbies continual rebuffs, Ken forces his way to journey with Barbie to the real world. After rollerblading with Barbie as she endures construction workmen catcalling and police officers making lewd comments, he decides to explore the real world himself. He is attracted to the visages of machismo he finds all around him. He even goes to the library to check out books like Origins of Patriarchy and Why Men Ruling the World Made it Better. After becoming empowered in the real world, Ken comes back to Barbie Land to change its identity to a Kendom, a place where women leave their past successful power roles to massage mens feet, serve as brides and wives, and serve men beer. The film states that the Barbies have no defenses against patriarchy, leaving little hope to todays women as it is impossible to be a woman in the modern age, as articulately sermonized by America Ferraras character. The young teen in the movie, Sasha, who Barbie believes may have caused her feelings of depression and thoughts of death, represents Gen Z in a stereotypical fashion: angry, dark, and impassioned. When meeting Barbie, she attacks her for representing sexualized capitalism that has set feminism back 50 years and then she proceeds to call her a fascist. This character is hardly an example of the hope-filled teens that I am blessed to work with day after day. A true example of a wolf in sheeps clothing, Barbie falls dangerously short of offering any hope for todays women despite its pastel imagery, beautiful movie stars, and a heroine that is a beloved, iconic doll known for generations. I pray that any righteous anger towards this movie will motivate us to provide girls a venue in which they can be empowered by Truth and the beauty of Gods creation. Who was the first female evangelist in the New Testament? The role of women in church leadership today is a hot topic. How do conservative evangelical churches make sense of the tensions and differences of opinion on what the Bible has to say about women in ministry? I have written extensively on this issue in this CP article. The question I want to answer in this article today is, Who was the first woman evangelist in the Bible? I have a hint for you, she was famous for saying, Come meet a man who told me everything I ever did? Can you imagine using this slogan? This woman knew and understood after encountering Jesus that life transformation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ occurs at the point of full disclosure. Let that sink in for a while. Jesus met her in her shame and invited her out of her sin to go tell everyone else what He had done for her. And guess what? She did. And look at the result in John 4:39: Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, He told me everything I ever did! The woman at the well went from being a woman who was ashamed of her life to a woman who was proud of the life she had found in Jesus. Now isnt that what it means to be an evangelist? Why did Jesus do this? Why did Jesus pick a woman to be the first evangelist to her city? I wont pretend to know all the reasons why God does what He does, when He does it, and how He does it, but I do observe here, He did it. He chose a woman to be the first evangelist to her town to bring the whole town into a real relationship with Himself. And not only any woman but a woman with a sorted past, a past that was still in her present when he met her. If you were starting a church, a movement, or shaking the world upside down with the Gospel, who would you pick? I remember when we came to Colorado Springs, Colo., to start Vanguard Church with the Southern Baptist Convention in 1996. We found a location and we moved into an apartment and we began to pray, Lord, send People! How would I meet people who do not have a real relationship with Jesus Christ? I prayed, Lord, Send People! The doorbell rang. There stood a person at my door who I thought said, Hello, my name is Leo, I am here to fix your leaky pipes. It didnt dawn on me that he was Gods answer to my prayer, at least not at that time. A few minutes later, Leo came out of the bathroom and said, All done, I have fixed your leaky pipes. Then out of nowhere, Leo says to me, Why did you come to Colorado Springs? The light went off. I said, We came here to start a church, would you like to be a part of it? He said, Yes, can I invite my girlfriend to join us? I said, Yes. As soon as he left, my wife came out of the other side of our apartment and said, Who was that? I said, Leo, he and his girlfriend are going to become a part of our church plant. My wife, Tosha, said to me, Kelly, that was a woman. I didnt believe my wife, but it turned out she was right, again. Leo turned out to be a woman. Leo was not her name. She had said, My name is Lil, short for Lillian. I was so embarrassed. Lillian was a lesbian who had just invited herself along with her girlfriend, Jennifer. I panicked! I grew up on a dairy farm in Kentucky. I knew more about dairy cows than I did about lesbian lovers. What was I going to do? Was I going to uninvite them? I didnt approve of lesbians. I had never had a lesbian in my home, certainly not a professing lesbian couple. This couldnt be Gods will for this new church plant, could it? What do I do? What do I say? How do I back out of this? I honestly dont know why I didnt back out of it. Less than nine months later Lillian stood on a stage in Fort Worth, Texas, in May of 1997 at the Southern Baptist Convention and shared in front of 30,000 plus Southern Baptists that she gave her life to Jesus Christ right before Adrian Rogers preached. Jesus has gone and done it again. He used a woman to be the first evangelist of our little Southern Baptist church plant in Colorado Springs in 1997. The same thing Jesus did with the woman at the well, He did with Lillian in our Vanguard Church plant. Now let me say, whether the Southern Baptist Convention is willing to acknowledge the role of a woman or not, many women all over the world who have met Jesus have risen and taken the Gospel to anyone who will listen. The SBC was founded in 1845 in Augusta, Georgia because it refused to see slavery as a sin. I pray the SBC doesnt get this one wrong this time! Its not your gender or the color of your skin that determines your calling, it is God! Jesus has commissioned you, woman. Go! 13 Eritrean Christians released from prison in response to letter campaign (CP) Thirteen Eritrean Christians have been released from prison after being falsely imprisoned for 10 years, according to The Voice of the Martyrs Christian ministry, which said the prisoners included seven women and six men who were released as part of a campaign it initiated. The Christians were released about two weeks ago after VOM called on Christians to pray for the release of two Eritrean church leaders and provided information to help Christians contact the Eritrean Embassy on behalf of imprisoned Christians, the ministry said in a statement shared with The Christian Post. After the ministry launched the campaign on July 22, more than 10,000 people responded, and just six days later, VOM received word from its ministry partners in Eritrea about the release of the 13 believers. "We thank the Lord for the freedom of these brothers and sisters who have been released from prison in Eritrea. We thank Him for intervening on behalf of these 13," said Todd Nettleton, VOM's spokesperson. Nettleton, who met with and interviewed Christians in Eritrea in 2004, expressed gratitude for the 10,000 people who responded to the ministry's email and encouraged believers to continue praying. "Don't stop praying," he said. "There are still more than 300 Christians in Eritrean prisons. Don't stop being a voice for them to the Eritrean Embassy." The imprisoned pastors who were the focus of the letter writing campaign, Pastor Haile Nayzgi and Kiflu Gebremeskel, have also not been released, VOM clarified. Eritrea is classified as a "restricted nation" due to the government's ongoing persecution of Christians, according to the ministry's 2023 Global Prayer Guide. All churches outside the Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran denominations were ordered to close by the government in 2002. Last October, Bishop Fikremariam Hagos, the first bishop of the Catholic Eparchy of Segheneity, Fr. Abraham Habtom Gebremariam from the Capuchin Society in Teseney town, and Fr. Mihretab Stefanos of St. Michael's Church in Segheneity were arrested, possibly because the Catholic leaders had called for justice and reconciliation in Eritrea. Eritrea's persecuted Christians often disappear without a trace, and prison conditions are among the harshest in the world. Inmates are kept in shipping containers, and believers are often tortured. Eritrea's President Isaias Afewerki, a member of the Eritrean Orthodox Church in Asmara, belongs to one of the only three Christian denominations allowed to function in the country. Afewerki, 75, the leader of the ruling People's Front for Democracy and Justice Party, has a reputation for being a ruthless autocrat. His policy of restrictions is driven more by fear that religion will mobilize people as a political force than religion itself. The global watchdog organization Open Doors USA previously reported that there are possibly more than 1,000 Christians imprisoned in Eritrea, with none formally charged. The Christian Post Pope Francis calls for AI ethics free from violence and discrimination Pope Francis wants the next World Day of Peace to focus on the impact, opportunities and dangers of artificial intelligence as the technology develops and influences a growing number of fields, from information to warfare. "Pope Francis calls for an open dialogue on the meaning of these new technologies, endowed with disruptive possibilities and ambivalent effects," read a statement from the Vatican on Tuesday. "He emphasizes the need to be vigilant and to work so that a logic of violence and discrimination does not take root in the production and use of such devices, at the expense of the most fragile and excluded: injustice and inequalities fuel conflicts and antagonisms," the statement continued. Created in 1967 by Pope Paul VI, the World Day of Peace is an annual Catholic celebration centered on the theme of peace and observed on Jan. 1, the same day as the Catholic Solemnity of Mary. Popes usually deliver a speech on this occasion, which centers on the themes of peace and reconciliation. The Vatican announced that next year's theme will be "Artificial Intelligence and Peace," at a time when AI is increasingly mainstream and has already begun to revolutionize warfare. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has elevated concerns over the possible use of autonomous weapons systems, commonly referred to as killer robots, as well as cyberwarfare utilizing AI technology. The Vatican statement addressed the "urgent need to orient the concept and use of artificial intelligence in a responsible way" that focuses on protecting people and the environment. It also called for greater study and legislation of AI, as legal frameworks worldwide lag behind technological advancements in this field. "The protection of the dignity of the person, and concern for a fraternity effectively open to the entire human family, are indispensable conditions for technological development to help contribute to the promotion of justice and peace in the world," the statement read. The Pontifical Academy for Life, a Vatican think tank focused on addressing the entire scope of human life and society, has issued numerous reflections and organized conferences on the topic of AI. On Jan. 10, representatives from the Catholic, Jewish and Islamic faith gathered in Rome to sign a petition asking for the implementation of ethical guidelines for artificial intelligence, in an event promoted by the Pontifical Academy. Religion News Service What is the Labour party really saying on sex and gender? Anneliese Dodds, the chair of the Labour party, put in writing in an article in the Guardian what Labour's position will be on sex and transgender policies from now on. Sections of the press are cheering this on as Labour finally ditching Keir Starmer's previous plans to promote self-identification. Is this true? Pretending to be the balanced middle way The first thing that Anneliese Dodds does in her article is to position Labour as different from both the Conservatives and the SNP. She attacks Conservative MP Lee Anderson for saying the Conservatives should fight the next general election with "a mix of culture wars and trans debate". Her argument is that both women and transgender people are among the most vulnerable in society, and therefore this is inappropriate. Regarding the SNP, she says its support for gender self-identification "seemed to be more about picking a fight with Westminster than bringing about meaningful change". This suggests she is really in favour of self-identification. Of course, on that basis her only reason for bashing the SNP is that it was supposedly primarily motivated to oppose Westminster. However, in the same breath, she says "the safeguards that were proposed to protect women and girls from predators who might abuse the system were simply not up to scratch." This consideration is an afterthought, with self-identification by gender foregrounded. It seems she has not yet learnt anything from the SNP fiasco. Keeping the paperwork in place Only after this does Dodds go on to discuss the central question: that of the demedicalisation of gender dysphoria. Again, she positions Labour as different from the SNP, clearly eyeing Scottish Westminster seats. She says Labour "will not make the same mistakes." "The requirement to obtain a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria remains an important part of accessing a gender recognition certificate." In other words, the purpose of a medical diagnosis is primarily to get that official piece of paper that allows you to lie about your sex and change your birth certificate. Keeping NHS 'support services' going According to Dodds, the Gender Recognition Certificate enables helping "trans people into the NHS for support services". Such services would all be geared towards facilitating transition rather than questioning it. It is rather telling that Dodds is completely silent on the major need for healthcare services for people who regret gender reassignment. What are Labour's sources about transgender healthcare? According to Dodds, "nearly a quarter of trans people don't know how to access transition-related healthcare". The big question here is, what source is there for this statistical claim? She doesn't provide a hyperlink to any such source. In any case, any statistical claims about transgender issues now need to reckon with the fact that the 2021 Census count of people's gender identity was a complete farce. This means that who counts as a trans person is unclear. Finally, Dodds proudly concurs with the fact that gender dysphoria is "no longer classified and stigmatised as a psychiatric disorder". The obvious problem here is this: what is the justification for diagnosing it at all on the NHS, and then for offering physical procedures as adequate treatment? Diagnosis by only one doctor required The main proposal by Labour for changing the official procedures for gender recognition is to reduce the number of doctors required to make a diagnosis of gender dysphoria to one. "The current process also requires a panel of anonymous doctors to decide something of momentous significance, based on reams of intrusive medical paperwork and evidence of any surgery. This is demeaning for trans people and meaningless in practice. A diagnosis provided by one doctor, with a registrar instead of a panel, should be enough." Dodds sentimentalises the process, on the one hand complaining that the panel of doctors is anonymous. On the other she complains this is based on "reams of intrusive medical paperwork and evidence of any surgery". In other words, the doctors authorising the process should not be anonymous, whereas transgender people have a greater right to privacy. Why is this happening? Leaving aside the general election, the big question is why reduce the number of doctors involved in making a diagnosis to one. Is it possible that increasing numbers of doctors do not want to be involved in facilitating people's sex-change fantasies because they are turning against the entire process? Public opinion has been turning against the falsification of birth certificates of transgender people. Many doctors are bound to agree. Indeed GPs were always unhappy about transsexual procedures on the NHS. This is why the NHS in England had to set up a special system for prescription of cross-sex hormones, paying GPs extra money to do this. Dissident therapist raises the alarm Therapist James Esses warns that Dodds' words are empty words. If people only need to see one doctor, this could open the door to greater use of private gender clinics, which never receive public scrutiny. "In reality this may allow applicants to go to one of the many private gender clinics in the UK and pay a few hundred quid to get a diagnosis, possibly after just a single conversation with a doctor. After they receive a certificate, they could potentially then be allowed to enter a number of women-only spaces. This undermines safeguarding." It will require bravery for any politician to address these risks. Wishing the problems away by tinkering with the paperwork It is very significant that Dodds is silent in her article on the need to define sex biologically in statute law. This is despite her promise that Labour will uphold the Equality Act 2010. One suspects that this is due to former Stonewall CEO Nancy Kelley recently meeting with Keir Starmer and Anneliese Dodds. It is impossible to shake off the view that Labour is wishing away the problems by tinkering with paperwork. How different are Labour and the Conservatives? The Conservatives did the right thing in stopping gender self-identification. However it is important to be clear here that the problems have not completely gone away. Under Liz Truss the cost of applying for a GRC was slashed to 5, thus making it as easy as possible for people to apply for one. Getting rid of the doctors' panel by replacing it with a single doctor is going in the same direction. Also, the Conservatives have recently gone silent on defining sex in statute law, and Labour are saying nothing about it. Will either or both speak up before the general election? I think Kemi Badenoch was right in telling the BBC that Labour's current position amounts to a 'copy and paste' of the government's position. Unfortunately for her this is not entirely flattering to the Conservatives. So far, both parties are playing a similar game sidestepping the key issues and hoping that by making the right noises, they can appear balanced and win the next general election. Responsibility to live based on truth and reality don't get a look in either way. Dr Carys Moseley is a policy researcher for Christian Concern. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form Politburo member and one of the top leaders of CPI (Maoist) Pramod Mishra has been arrested. Dozens of cases are registered against him in Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. He has played an important role in the expansion of Maoist organisation in many states including Delhi, Punjab and Haryana. He had taken shelter at some hideout in Gaya district along the Jharkhand-Bihar border. Till a few months ago, he was active in Jharkhand's Saranda area. The police of Bihar's Gaya district caught him along with one of his associates, Anil Yadav. However, his arrest has not been officially confirmed yet. Pramod Mishra is counted as the mastermind and chief strategist in the Maoist organisation at the country level. He remained in jail for years and went underground after being released in 2017 due to lack of evidence. Pramod Mishra's name also appeared in the United States Department's Country Reports on Terrorism 2006. He is originally a resident of Kasma village under Rafiganj police station in Aurangabad district of Bihar. He is known in the organisation by names like Sohan Da, Shukla Ji, Kanhaiya, Jagan Bharat Ji, Noor Baba, Bibi Ji, Agni and Baan Bihari. Pramod Mishra was earlier arrested by Jharkhand Police's STF on March 14, 2009 from Vinod Nagar in Dhanbad. After being released from jail in 2017 due to lack of evidence, he once again became active in Naxalite activities. Two years ago, four members of a family were hanged by Maoists in Gaya on charges of being informers. It is said that he had ordered them to be hanged. The NIA and the police had been trying to arrest him for the past several months. On May 3, the NIA raided his ancestral residence and relatives' house. To serve the 3,500 customers using its cloud services, Turkcell recently made significant investments in four massive, high-performance data centers facilities that enable the telecommunications and IT services leader to provide a robust portfolio to complement its significant Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Platform-as-a-Service, and Software-as-a-Service solutions. Now Turkeys largest cloud services and data center provider is working to bring enterprises throughout the country a new level of data protection and peace of mind. We recently caught up with Gurkan Arpaci, General Manager at Turkcell Digital Business Services Company, to learn what prompted the company to achieve the VMware Sovereign Cloud distinction. We also took the opportunity to see where he believes the demand for data sovereignty lies today and how he sees the market for sovereign cloud services evolving. Our cutting-edge data centers and prominence as a telecommunications provider reflects our commitment to continually improve our infrastructure and enhance our service offerings in order to always address the evolving needs of our customers, says Arpaci. They rely on us for advanced technology solutions, superior service and a secure environment. Those demands increasingly call for sovereign cloud services. SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe Arpaci also stresses that the VMware Sovereign Cloud Framework provides a comprehensive set of requirements and guidelines that ensure that the most stringent security and sovereignty requirements are achieved and maintained. Its assurance he believes is particularly crucial in todays digital landscape, where data breaches and unauthorized access pose significant risks. The VMware Sovereign Cloud distinction assures customers and prospective customers not only that their data is protected in a secure environment that is underpinned by Turkcells adherence to industry-leading standards, but also that we have the expertise and experience delivering VMware-based solutions, he adds. For our customers, this distinction holds immense importance. Arpaci also points out that although the companys sovereign cloud offerings are increasingly relied on by a large cross section of enterprises across industries, they are required by customers within government and financial services. Not surprisingly, organizations in both sectors have very demanding data protection needs. Government organizations often deal with classified information that must remain confidential and be available at all times so that agencies can perform important duties efficiently and securely, says Arpaci. Similarly, financial institutions handle vast amounts of sensitive financial data, including customer information, transactions, and other confidential records all of which must be securely stored, processed, and managed. In both cases sovereign approaches to cloud are absolutely crucial. Turkcell Cloud also addresses the many aspects of sovereignty required to ensure that the integrity of each customers information is maintained at all times. This begins with an approach that differentiates between where data resides and whether it is fully sovereign. Data residency is really just one consideration, says Arpaci. It refers to the physical location where data is stored, while data sovereignty also refers to the control and jurisdiction over that data. In both cases there can be no exception at any time. That includes preventing any exposure to such data when working with the development and maintenance personnel of technology providers. He notes that this is also important because of other factors prompting organizations to embrace sovereign clouds. These include organizations overarching demands for greater security in light of geopolitical trends and increased risks for cyberattacks, the need for national control and independence, and the need to comply with regulations in Turkey. Some of these regulations include Turkeys Personal Data Protection Law, the data protection requirements mandated by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, those required by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, and the compliance requirements of the countrys Undersecretariat of Treasury. In all cases, Turkcells sovereign cloud allows enterprises to easily address these guidelines for the processing, storage, and transfer of data. Not surprisingly, Arpaci believes the demand for sovereign cloud will only increase. A survey conducted in the EMEA region revealed that 63% of organizations have concerns about storing data in the wrong cloud, he says. That is a legitimate and important concern. Failing to comply with regulations can result in legal consequences, damage to an organizations reputation, and the loss of customer trust. In contrast, our customers have the peace of mind of knowing that their data is always in Turkey, under Turkish jurisdiction, and safeguarded by Turkish citizens who receive extensive training in Turkcells security-first culture. Learn more about Turkcell Cloud and its partnership with VMware here. (File Photo) Over a dozen social media groups on platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram, with substantial followings from the Mewat region spanning Haryana and Rajasthan, have links in Pakistan, police said on Thursday. The police said that these groups played a role in inciting crowds to take aggressive action in support of their community during the Nuh violence. Following the incident, these platforms were inundated with messages of celebration. Nuh SP Narendra Bijarnia mentioned, "The recovery of clash videos from these accounts aided in suspect identification." Investigators faced a significant challenge in tracking Telegram groups, as most of them left no digital traces or records. Dealing with Telegram groups has proven to be challenging for investigators, as a significant portion of them have managed to remain untraceable, leaving behind minimal digital traces or records, said officials. National security agencies are actively monitoring these accounts, sources said. Primeste notificari pe email Nota bene: Adresele email cu extensia .ru nu sunt acceptate. Contractare si Achizitie Bunuri Anunturi de Angajare Granturi - Finantari Burse de studiu Stagii Profesionale Oportunitati de voluntariat Toate Articolele Blondel Cluff has resigned as chair of the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF) after two and a half years. Earlier this week, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) announced that the culture secretary had appointed Paul Sweeney as interim chair of the charity without competition. DCMS told Civil Society that Lucy Fraser recently accepted the resignation of Blondel Cluff from her role as NLCFs chair, adding that the process for recruiting a permanent chair will be announced in due course. Cluff was appointed in February 2021 on a contract running to February 2025. Neither DCMS nor NLCF could confirm why she resigned early. Interim chair DCMS said that Sweeney was appointed for 12 months from 1 August 2023 or until a substantive chair is appointed, whichever is sooner. Sweeney previously worked in the voluntary, community and public sectors in Northern Ireland. He was director of the Northern Ireland Voluntary Trust for seven years before initially joining the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) on secondment in 1994. There, he held several positions such as deputy permanent secretary in the Department for Regional Development and deputy permanent secretary in the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. Since his retirement from the NICS in 2017, he has been a trustee at several not-for-profit organisations, including NLCFs Northern Ireland funding committee. Exceptional appointment without competition DCMS said Sweeneys appointment was made under the Governance Code as an exceptional appointment without competition, following consultation with the commissioner for public appointments. The Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared; this is defined as holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Paul Sweeney has not declared any significant political activity, it said. A DCMS spokesperson said: The secretary of state recently accepted the resignation of Blondel Cluff from her role as chair of the National Lottery Community Fund. Paul Sweeney has been appointed by the secretary of state as interim chair. The process for recruiting a permanent chair will be announced in due course. Review into NLCFs recruitment process Last year, commissioner for public appointments William Shawcross carried out a review of NLCFs recruitment process after leaked emails suggested that the Conservative Party Headquarters had sought to encourage more donors to apply for roles. According to the emails, seen by the Times, officials wanted Mohamed Amersi, a millionaire who had donated 525,000 to the Conservative Party since 2018, to be considered for the role of chair. Amersi reached the final round of the recruitment process before Cluff, an academic and lawyer married to Algy Cluff, who was editor of the Spectator when Boris Johnson wrote for the paper, was appointed. In his report , Shawcross concluded that NLCFs appointment process was made according to the published criteria for the role and met the requirements of the codes principles of fairness and merit. As is their right under the code, ministers provided input into which candidates were shortlisted for interview. The commissioner is satisfied the [advisory assessment panel] had no objection to this and the process which determined which candidates were shortlisted for interview and appointment was in line with the code, he wrote. He added that the competition did not meet the codes ambition on timeliness. sign up to receive the free Civil Society daily news bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector, A whistleblowing charity is considering amending its complaints procedure so that anonymity is offered to all complainants, after its chief executive was accused of mishandling a concern raised about one of the trustees. Jamie Klingler, co-founder of womens safety group Reclaim these Streets, raised a concern with whistleblowing charity Parrhesia after learning that journalist Martin Bright sat on its board. In January, the Press Gazette reported that Brights friend and fellow journalist Nick Cohen had left the Observer on health grounds, after being investigated for allegations made against him by former female colleagues, which he had described as vile and untrue. That month, Bright wrote on social media that Cohen was an old friend and that his trial by social media has been horrible to watch. The New York Times published further details about the sexual misconduct allegations against Cohen in May. Klingler raised her concern with Parrhesia this month over Brights role as a trustee, which she said was a potential conflict of interest for the charity and that his tweet could put women off from reporting to it. This week, Byline Times reported that Parrhesias CEO Ian Foxley gave Klinglers name to Bright, and encouraged her to speak directly with him. Klingler said her expectation had been that the charity would instead look into how trustees publicly tweet. She told Civil Society that the charity did not understand the complaint and felt dismissed, which was why she went to Byline Times. Foxley told Civil Society that an internal investigation has been conducted following Klinglers complaint of how her concern was handled and a report forwarded to all the trustees for their consideration. He said the charity has now proposed to amend its complaints procedure to ensure that anonymity is offered to all complainants. Klingler told Civil Society it was baffling that any complaint to a whistleblowing organisation was not already anonymous. She said: Whistleblowing charity ratifies policy to make complaints confidential sounds like a headline on the Onion. Klingler described the last few days as bruising and said the board should think about training. Asked about his social media post, Bright told Byline Times: I have only ever felt sadness about this awful situation. At no point have I downplayed the seriousness of the allegations. sign up to receive the free Civil Society daily news bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector, Do journalists need to change the way we write about Elon Musk? Casey Newton, who writes the Platformer newsletter, is among those who think that we do. Musks behavior as the owner and (until recently) CEO of X, the company formerly known as Twitter, may have started out mesmerizing, like a multicar pileup on the freeway, but at some point, his penchant for making statements and promises that are not only untrue, but will likely never become true, raises questions about how we should cover him. To take just one recent example cited by Newton, Musk bragged about a proposed martial-arts fight with Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Meta. Musk promised that the fight would be livestreamed on X, with the proceeds going to charity; he also hinted that the fight might take place at the Colosseum, in Rome. Behind the scenes, however, Musk reportedly ignored attempts to book a time for the fight, then said he needed more time, and might need surgery. A grudge match between Zuckerberg and Musk is the kind of thing that gets played for laughs, but other examples of the growing gap between Musks statements and the truth have been more serious. Despite Musks claim that he is a free-speech maximalist, earlier this month X launched a lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a research group that investigated hate speech on the platform and found that it has been increasing. X alleges that the researchers violated the platforms terms of service in a scare campaign to drive away advertisers. The suit also claims that the center engaged in a series of unlawful acts designed to improperly gain access to protected X Corp. data, as well as breach of contract, violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, intentional interference with contractual relations, and inducing breach of contract. (In turn, Imran Ahmed, the centers CEO, accused Musk of a brazen attempt to silence honest criticism and independent research.) To take another example, Musk said in February that X would start sharing ad revenue with creators on the platform. This promise generated some favorable coverage from business and technology journalists. As Newton notes, however, after sending a small number of creators a single payment last month, X announced that too many creators had applied and that it had thus decided to delay the rollout of the plan indefinitely. Then, over the weekend, after a NASCAR driver was suspended for liking a post that made fun of the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, Musk promised to pay the legal bills of anyone whose employer has unfairly treated them as a consequence of their activity on X. But many observers are skeptical that this will ever happen. Given that Musk wont even pay his own vendors, Newton wrote, it strains credulity that he would file unlimited lawsuits to defend ordinary users from attack. (And Musk, reportedly, has also fired a number of employees for criticizing him.) Xs zero tolerance policy on material containing child sexual abuse, last updated in 2020, says that viewing, sharing, or linking to child sexual exploitation material contributes to the re-victimization of the depicted children and constitutes one of the platforms most serious violations. The policy says that the consequence for violation in the majority of cases is immediate and permanent suspension. And yet the account of Dom Lucrea far-right conspiracy theorist whose real name is Dominick McGeewas reinstated by Musk in July, less than a day after Lucre was suspended for sharing a screenshot from a child sex abuse video. (Lucre claims he did this to raise awareness about child sexual abuse.) Soon afterward, Lucre received money from X as part of the platforms new ad-revenue-sharing program. In April, Musk told the BBC that most advertisers had returned to the platform, and that he expected the company would be cash-flow positive by June. Last month, however, he admitted that Xs cash flow was still negative, a result of advertising revenue dropping by more than 50 percent over the previous year, as well as a heavy debt load, much of it assumed when Musk acquired the company. Musk has also won praise for his investment in SpaceX, and in particular its Starlink service, which provides internet access via a web of satellites; there has been a lot of favorable coverage, for example, of Starlinks offer to help provide internet access for Ukraine during that countrys war with Russia. There has been comparatively little coverage of how Musks control of Starlinks satellites can be capricious (although a recent New York Times story noted that his influence over satellite internet technology is now raising global alarms). When he acquired X, Musk said he wanted to create a politically neutral platform. But in December, Charlie Warzel, of The Atlantic, argued that, judging by Musks actions since he bought the company, it is fair to characterize him instead as a far-right activist and his purchase of the company as an explicitly political act, aimed at advancing the rights culture war against progressivism. Warzel said that Twitter has been transformed into a platform that offers a haven to far-right influencers and advances the interests, prejudices, and conspiracy theories of the right wing. In addition to cozying up to right-wing broadcaster Tucker Carlson and the Daily Wire, Warzel notes, Musk has reinstated many banned right-wing accounts and has emboldened trolls, white-nationalist accounts, and January 6 defendants. Sign up for CJR 's daily email Newton noted this week that ever since Musk posted in 2018 about having funding secured to take his electric-car company, Tesla, private (which never happened), its been obvious that journalists should apply a healthy discount rate to everything Musk says. And yet a significant number of stories about Musks claims are still lacking in skepticism. In part, Newton argues, this is because journalists tend to assume that CEOs of public companies are not lying all the time. Newton also points out that stories about Musks various promises and pronouncements are dead-simple and cheap to producea description of an embedded tweet, followed by 300 or so words of context. And because people read these stories in huge numbers, publishers devote a lot of space to them. Newtons analysis carries clear echoes of how hard many journalists found it to cover Donald Trump after he burst onto the political scene in 2015, in part because they assumed that, while candidates might stretch the truth about some things, they wouldnt lie about everything all the time. Jay Rosen, a journalism professor at New York University, has described this dynamic as crashing the system; Trump, he wrote, upends the assumptions required for the traditional forms of campaign journalism even to make sense. In an essay about Trump coverage in 2018, Kyle Pope, CJRs editor and publisher, wrote that he had hoped, after the election, that journalists would not let Trump, and his acolytes, control the conversation. Instead, Pope wrote, journalists should decide what mattered. But in the months following the inauguration, Pope noted that Trump has done his thing, taunting and lying and promising lawsuits, [and] we, unfortunately, have failed to hold up our end of the bargain. As with Trump, one of the reasons behind a lot of the credulous coverage of Musk and X is the fact that it draws readers and therefore clicks and revenue. As difficult as it is to survive financially in the current media environment, however, we should ask ourselves whether it is really worth pandering to an individual whose statements are routinely detached from reality or made solely for the purposes of getting attention. Granted, Musks ownership of Xor even SpaceX and Teslamay not be as serious a social and political challenge as Trumps presidency. But that doesnt mean we should feel sanguine about enabling him. SpaceX can blast people into space. And X (then Twitter) helped blast Trump to the White House. Other notable stories: ICYMI: Tim Burkes lawyer on the seizure of his devices and what it means for journalism Mathew Ingram is CJRs chief digital writer. Previously, he was a senior writer with Fortune magazine. He has written about the intersection between media and technology since the earliest days of the commercial internet. His writing has been published in the Washington Post and the Financial Times as well as by Reuters and Bloomberg. BUSAN, South Korea (AP) Rains and winds were growing in southern South Korea Wednesday as a tropical storm drew closer to the Korean Peninsula, where it was forecast to slam into major urban areas. Dozens of flights and ferry services were grounded and tens of thousands of fishing vessels evacuated to ports as government officials raised concerns about potentially huge damages from flooding, landslides and tidal waves triggered by the typhoon-strength winds. The storm, named Khanun, was gaining strength as it moved slowly towards the country, South Korea`s weather agency said, with southern and eastern areas increasingly feeling its force. Khanun is expected to reach the southern resort island of Jeju hours later and then make landfall near the mainland port of Tongyeong Thursday morning. The agency says Khanun could have a punishing impact as it will likely slice through the center of the country over several hours, with the storms eye brushing the capital city of Seoul, while packing winds blowing at 90 to 154 kph (56 to 97 mph). The storm is expected to dump 10 to 40 centimeters (4 to 16 inches) of rain in southern and central regions and as much as 60 centimeters (24 inches) in the countrys mountainous eastern regions through Friday. It will be weaker as it blows into North Korea early in the day. The Korean Meteorological Administration measured Khanuns maximum winds at 133 kph (82 mph) as of 7:10 p.m. Wednesday (10:10 a.m. GMT), as it passed through waters 250 kilometers (155 miles) southeast of Jeju while moving northward at a speed of 14 kph (8.6mph). Winds were growing stronger in the countrys southern regions as of 7 p.m., blowing at a maximum 96 kph (60 mph) in waters off Tongyeong and 95 kph (59 mph) in the southwestern mainland port of Yeosu while pouring 14 centimeters (5.5 inches) of rain in some areas of Jeju. Winds were also picking up in Busan, a major port city on the mainlands southwest, where pedestrians struggled to hold onto their umbrellas. At the citys beaches, workers were deflating and tying swimming tubes to trees and setting up sandbags and flood shields in front of buildings. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has called for officials to be aggressive with disaster prevention measures and evacuations while stressing the perils posed by the storm, which comes just weeks after central and southern regions were pounded by torrential rain that triggered flashfloods and landslides that killed at least 47 people. In an emergency meeting on Wednesday, Yoon expressed concern that Khanun could inflict huge damage because it was expected to move slowly through the country while sustaining much of its strength for hours. He called for officials to fully mobilize all available resources to minimize injuries and deaths. Japan measured Khanun as a severe tropical storm with sustained winds of 108 kph (67 mph) and higher gusts. Warnings for stormy conditions, potential flooding and other risks were issued for the southwestern part of Japans southern island of Kyushu and nearby areas. In Kyushus Kagoshima prefecture, 12,000 homes were out of power on Wednesday while more than 1,800 people have taken shelters at nearby community centers, hotels, and other facilities. Seven people were hurt, two seriously, after falling or being hit by flying objects. Regional train operations were halted, as were flights and ferry services connecting the prefecture with other Japanese cities. Up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) of rainfall is expected in Kyushu and the nearby island of Shikoku through Thursday evening, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, which warned residents against mudslides, flooding and high winds. As a stronger typhoon last week, Khanun lashed Okinawa and other Japanese islands, causing injuries and damage. The Korea Airport Corporation said at least 144 flights going in and out of Jeju were canceled as of 11 a.m. as Khanun approached. Ferry services connecting the island with mainland ports were also cancelled while authorities shut down at least 39 roads, 26 riverside parking lots and 613 hiking trails nationwide as part of broader preventive measures. Lee Hak-beom, an official from Korea Coast Guard, said all but 200 of the countrys 64,000 registered fishing vessels have evacuated to ports as of Wednesday morning. Khanun has forced South Korea to evacuate the World Scout Jamboree that had been taking place at a coastal campsite in the southwestern county of Buan. Some 37, 000 scouts had to be relocated Tuesday. While South Korean organizers say the Jamboree will continue in the form of cultural events and activities, all outdoor activities will be banned from Thursday until the storm passes. A K-Pop concert is planned for Seoul on Friday to go with the closing ceremony, but Lee Sang-min, South Koreas Minister of the Interior and Safety, admitted that the storm could complicate preparations. If the typhoon still has an influence by then and the conditions arent ideal to support the proceeding of a concert, then we will have to consider cancelling foremost, Lee said during a briefing. North Korean state media said Wednesday that officials were employing measures to protect factories from possible storm damage, including preparing sandbags, examining pumping systems and setting up emergency plans to evacuate important machinery and workers in case of flooding. Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea. AP writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to the report. Top photo: High waves crash a shore as the tropical storm named Khanun approaches to the Korean Peninsular, on Jeju Island, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. Dozens of flights and ferry services were grounded in South Korea on Wednesday ahead of the tropical storm that has dumped heavy rain on Japans southwestern islands for more than a week. (Park Ji-ho/Yonhap via AP) Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Lloyds of London underwriters are leading insurers in raising rates and cutting the amount of cover they offer for risks involving Taiwan as concerns grow over possible military action by China, industry sources with knowledge of the matter say. Insurers are on heightened alert after Russias invasion of Ukraine last year, which took market players by surprise and left jets stuck in Russia and ships marooned in Ukraine. As a result, insurers have generally excluded Russia and Ukraine from policies, or increased rates. Similar action by insurers over Taiwan the worlds largest advanced semiconductor chip maker would make it more difficult and expensive to do business there, industry sources say. Taiwan plays a crucial role in the global economy a Chinese invasion of Taiwan that halted chip production could potentially wipe out up to $1 trillion per year from the global economy in the first few years, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines estimated in May. Availability of cover for Taiwan has got tighter, Crispin Hodges, head of trade and political risk with insurer Canopius, told Reuters. Lloyds insurers have become more focused on how much risk they are exposed to from ships in ports in a conflict zone, Hodges added. Insurers that cover war risks for aircraft are raising rates and reducing the amount of cover for issues such as confiscation, one Lloyds market source said, who declined to be named due to business confidentiality. Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, has repeatedly complained of Chinese military activity near it over the past three years, as Beijing steps up pressure to try to force the island to accept its sovereignty. From a political risk standpoint, its a constant challenge and there is an underlying murmur of concern thats there on a daily basis, Canopius Hodges said. Taiwans democratically-elected government says only the islands people can decide its future. Scenarios The Lloyds of London insurance market, which has around 100 syndicate members, asked members in January to identify potential exposure to so-called realistic disaster scenarios related to conflict in Taiwan in insurance classes including marine, aviation and political risk, in documents seen by Reuters. The scenarios were drawn up by insurance broker CHC Global, according to the documents. A CHC spokesperson confirmed the scenarios report, but declined to comment further. The scenarios ranged from a Chinese naval quarantine of the country, to China seizing outlying Taiwanese islands and, in the most extreme scenario, a Chinese attempt to take Taiwan by force. This could result in some aircraft and ships at Taiwanese airports and ports being damaged or destroyed, and the imposition of wide-ranging, economically-damaging Western sanctions against China. The scenarios could play out in the next 10 years, CHC said. Since receiving initial responses from members in April, Lloyds, which has some regulatory powers, has asked for a further review, the first Lloyds market source and two others said, all declining to be named. It is not unusual for Lloyds to ask for more information as initial responses can trigger further queries, a separate industry source told Reuters anonymously, citing business confidentiality. After Lloyds collates the markets overall exposure to a realistic disaster scenario in both insurance and reinsurance, it can ask individual syndicates to pare their business or put more capital behind it, this industry source said. Lloyds regularly asks market participants to model for plausible, but hypothetical scenarios to assess their potential impact on our market, a Lloyds spokesperson said. This is an important part of protecting our customers against the kind of external shocks seen in recent years and ensuring our market is ready to respond in a range of scenarios. In the documents, Lloyds said it neither endorsed the scenarios presented nor took a view on their likelihood. Chinas embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Exclusions Some insurers are already imposing exclusions on Taiwan in political risk or political violence policies, three additional industry sources told Reuters. Such policies are usually sold as an add-on to property insurance, and cover property damage and business interruption losses for issues including terrorism, sabotage and war. Broader political risk insurance can also cover confiscation of assets. Political risk and credit capacity for both China and Taiwan has been restricted since Q3 last year, and insurers are generally seeking to reduce aggregate (total) exposure where possible, said Nick Robson, global chairman, credit specialties with broker Marsh. Two of the additional industry sources and three others said the restrictions were also feeding into the marine market for Taiwan, and one of them added that one U.S. insurer was introducing exclusions for ships sailing to Taiwanese waters. Shih Chiung-hwa, director general of the Insurance Bureau of Taiwans Financial Supervisory Commission, told Reuters she was not aware of the Lloyds review of Taiwanese insurance cover, but noted the market had been tightening coverage more broadly over the last two to three years, mainly in response to climate change and geopolitical risks, such as those posed by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Its difficult to say we can mitigate against this with any one action, as there are several players in the reinsurance market, not just Lloyds. But Taiwan insurance companies will evaluate how to negotiate both with Lloyds and their customers to ensure any measures taken are appropriate. A separate official with Taiwans financial regulator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that conditions for reinsurance contracts get negotiated every year, and will likely take place this year in October. Taiwans financial regulator will not interfere with the commercial mechanism for reinsurance contracts, the official said. Major Lloyds insurer Hiscox has run its own scenario simulations on Taiwan, prior to the Lloyds exercise, and identified risks in the region for marine and energy insurance, Hiscox CEO Aki Hussain told Reuters. Weve been tightening up the wording to ensure that the policies reflect the underlying risk that we want to insure and there arent any unintended risks being taken on. McClenny Moseley & Associates, the embattled law firm that filed thousands of hurricane-damage lawsuits in Louisiana, raised a total of $40 million from private investors, one of its founding partners said during a court hearing on Tuesday. Zachary Moseley provided that information under direct questioning from US District Judge James D. Cain Jr., according to insurance defense attorney Matthew Monson, who attended the hearing in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Cain asked specifically about how much money MMA had obtained from the Equal Access to Justice Fund. Moseley replied, we raised $40 million in total, another person who attended the hearing, who asked to remain anonymous, said. Monson, who was one of the first attorneys to call attention to MMAs misrepresentations to insurers, said it was his impression after hearing the exchange that Moseley meant all of the $40 million came from the Equal Access to Justice Fund. The revelation raises new questions about the role of litigation funding in the justice system. While third-party investment in lawsuits is a widely accepted practice, Monson said it could be inappropriate for investor money to be used to improperly solicit clients. Nobody can use runners, he said. He added that he is not accusing the investors of any wrongdoing because he doesnt know how MMA spent the money. The law firms actions, however, have been condemned by Cain and other US District Court judges. Cain called Tuesdays hearing to hear from MMA attorneys whom the court suspended from practicing law in the Western Louisiana district after discovering that the firm had lied to insurers about who it represented and filed lawsuits on behalf of a restoration contractor, sometimes without telling the property owners that it was suing their insurers purportedly on their behalf. Cain also inquired about the status of funds held in client trust accounts. Monson said Cain asked Moseley directly about the Equal Access to Justice Fund. The judge did not explain why he was interested in the fund and made no comment after Moseley told him how much money had been raised. The Claims Journal previously reported that MMA paid $13.9 million to an internet marketing firm called Velawcity to sign up clients with hurricane-damage claims. The law firm paid $3,000 to $3,500 for each prescreened client lead. Cain did not ask, and Moseley did not say, how the Equal Access to Justice Fund money was used. Securities and Exchange Commission filings show that it is a hedge fund based in West Palm Beach, Florida managed by B.E. Blank & Co. The company said in a statement filed last December that it has raised $213.1 million from 15 investors since its formation in March 2018. B.E. Blanks website says the company believes in conscious capitalism to generate sustainable returns. Our capital can help create a world where attorneys utilize their talents as accelerating forces for bettering society, the website says. B.E. Blank partner and senior investment team member Benjamin E. Blank did not return a telephone message and email by the Claims Journal on Wednesday. Cains questions about the hedge fund took up only a small portion of Tuesdays hearing. The judge spent most of the day dealing with orders that suspended six MMA attorneys from practicing law in the Western Louisiana district. Three of the attorneys asked the judge to lift suspensions that were imposed for terms ranging from six months to a year. Three of MMAs former Louisiana attorneys Claude F. Reynaud, Cameron S. Snowden and Grant P. Gardiner appeared in court on Tuesday. Each of them said they were unaware that MMA filed suits on behalf of homeowners it did not represent. They said they did not participate in the law firms marketing efforts. Cain said that he will take the lawyers comments under advisement but took no other action on the suspensions Tuesday. The judge did, however, conduct some housekeeping in order to safeguard MMA client trust accounts. Cain ordered Moseley to transfer any money being held for clients in Louisiana to a trust account in Louisiana registered with the Louisiana State Bar and the Office of Disciplinary Counsel. He also directed Moseley to provide detailed information about MMAs accounts with Veritex Community Ban and Oakwood Community Bank and deliver to his office any undeposited checks from insurers for hurricane claim settlements. Scales Corporation Limited (NZX: SCL ) today announced it had finalised an agreement to expand its Global Proteins division through the subscription for a 50% shareholding in a newly established petfood ingredient processing operation, Esro Petfood BV. This joint venture will be based in Europe alongside Esro Food Group (Esro). Esro is a key player in Europes animal by-product processing, with factories in The Netherlands, Belgium and Spain. Esro has the ambition to diversify its activities from solely edible products to include petfood ingredients. Esro is owned by the Netherlands based Rooijackers family, the Fayman family (who Scales invested alongside last year in their Australian business) and Rabobank Investment, the investment franchise of Rabobank. Scales is providing lending facilities for a combined 15 million to fund capital expenditure for two petfood ingredient processing plants in Europe. This investment will be funded initially from Scales existing cash reserves. Scales and Esro have appointed Leon Coolen to be CEO of the joint venture. Mr Coolen has extensive experience in leading global food and petfood ingredients businesses. Scales will also have two directors on the board of the joint venture. Managing Director Andy Borland says We are very pleased to be partnering with Esro to expand our Global Proteins division into the European market. We are also very pleased to be expanding our relationship with the Fayman family and developing new relationships with the Rooijackers family and Rabobank Investment, both of whom have strong networks in Europe. We look forward to continuing to explore and uncover new market opportunities using our complementary knowledge and expertise. Esro is an established and respected business with a long history of processing and selling edible by-products. We are excited to be able to combine Esros existing processing and procurement strength with Scales specialist knowledge of the petfood industry to be able to offer our petfood customers a truly global solution for their ingredient procurement requirements. Esro Petfood BV will be headquartered in The Netherlands. Its first plant will be based in Belgium, where an existing processing facility that was previously used by Esro for edible by-product processing, is being converted to a dedicated petfood ingredient plant. Construction of the new plant is underway and we expect the site to be operational in the last quarter of 2023. The joint venture is also considering options for a second site, but a final decision on this is unlikely prior to 2024. These new European petfood ingredient plants complement the existing petfood ingredients businesses Scales and our shareholding partners operate in the USA, NZ and Australia. Esro CEO Joris Rooijackers said we are delighted to have a strong partner like Scales, who has extensive experience and a strong reputation in the petfood market. Now that we have joined forces, we are convinced that this business can make a strong contribution to our operating result in the future. Mike Petersen, Chair of Scales Corporation said this investment continues to demonstrate our commitment to Global Proteins, both in terms of expanding our geographical reach as well as the range of products that we are able to supply. This investment is unlikely to have any impact on earnings until the plant has completed the necessary approvals and is operating seamlessly at full capacity. Accordingly, the Board does not anticipate a positive impact on earnings until part way through the 2024 financial year. Contact Andy Borland, Managing Director, Scales Corporation Limited, Mob: 021 975 999, email: andy.borland@scalescorporation.co.nz About Scales Corporation Scales Corporation is a diversified agribusiness group. It currently comprises three operating divisions: Global Proteins, Horticulture and Logistics. The companys diverse spread of activities gives Scales broad exposure to the agribusiness sector. Scales Corporation was founded in 1897 as a shipping business by George Herbert Scales. Today it has operations across New Zealand, Australia and the United States. Find out more at www.scalescorporation.co.nz. Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. 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Related News: AOF - Governance Changes - New Chair and two new directors BIF acquires shares in Scentian Bio Comvita achieve B Corp certification MOV - Change in results announcement date to 30 August 2023 August 18th Morning Report August 17th Morning Report Rakon 2023 Annual Meeting Speeches and Presentation SEK - Details of Presentation and Q&A of Interim Results AIA - June 2023 Monthly traffic Update_July 2023 Preview Fletcher Building reports FY23 result, final dividend of 16 BATH, Ohio Hale Farm & Village will host the states largest Civil War reenactment this weekend, Saturday, Aug. 12 and Sunday, Aug. 13. The event, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, chronicles the first battle of Petersburg, Virginia, which took place in 1864. This battle was an unsuccessful Confederate effort due to the Unions earthworks, according to the event website. The event also offers reenactor camps and historic sites that bring to life the experiences and stories of people from Northeast Ohio and the surrounding region during the 1860s. Voices From the Past, a living history program series, will offer first-person interpretations of the lives of both free and enslaved people. Additional event highlights include: Archival highlights that share real stories of local soldiers Artillery demonstrations Foot-soldier drills Fife and drum performances Visits from reenactors as historical figures President Lincoln, Sarah Lucy Bagby and Dr. Mary Walker Sewing circle and textile skills demonstrations Civil War recipes and period food prep & preservation Period toys and games Shopping View the full event schedule here. Hale Farm & Villages Cafe 1810 will be open for lunch, snacks and bar from noon to 4 p.m. each day. Admission is $15 for adults and $8 for children. Hale Farm & Village is located at 2686 Oak Hill Rd. Bath, Ohio 44210 (for GPS use Peninsula, Ohio 44264). Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.coms Rubber City Update, an email newsletter delivered at 5:30 a.m. Wednesdays. SOLON, Ohio -- A 16-year Solon police officer suffered a serious leg injury when a drunk driver struck a parked car and pushed it into a parked Amazon delivery truck. The officer was standing between the two vehicles at the time. The incident began at about 9:30 p.m. Aug. 4 when Solon police were notified of a road rage incident believed to have begun on Interstate 271 southbound in Mayfield Heights. The driver of the Amazon delivery truck -- a Shaker Heights man, 38 -- was involved in the road rage incident with the driver of a silver Nissan Maxima. Solon police were informed that the vehicles were heading into Solon. An SPD officer spotted the Maxima on Cochran Road, near Hall Street, and conducted a traffic stop. The Amazon truck continued into Glenwillow, where police there conducted a stop and sent the trucks driver back to the spot where the Maxima driver had been stopped. The Amazon driver returned and stopped his truck in the northbound lane of Cochran Road while the SPD officer spoke with the Maxima driver in the southbound lane. Meanwhile, the Amazon driver was joined by his supervisor, a Cortland woman, 37, who parked her Nissan Sentra behind the Amazon truck. Officer Jim Koretsky, 42, walked across the street and stood between the truck and the Sentra while speaking with the supervisor, who also stood. At this point, another man crashed his BMW X-3 into the rear of the Sentra, pushing the vehicle into the back of the truck, with the officer standing in between. The Amazon supervisor was struck by the BMW on the arm, but declined transport to a hospital. The BMW driver was found to be a 53-year-old Cleveland Heights man, who admitted to drinking wine prior to the crash. The man, who was not injured, had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes. He was found to have a blood-alcohol content of .184, above the state minimum for drunk driving of .08. The officer was transported to the hospital. He is expected to fully recover, but will require surgery. The Amazon truck driver was not struck, nor were the parties in the Maxima. Police charged the drunk driver with aggravated vehicular assault, a third-degree felony, as well as OVI, having a prohibited BAC and failure to maintain an assured clear distance ahead. The BMW and Sentra were towed from the scene. Any information gathered pertaining to the road rage incident will be forwarded to the police agencies in the communities where the incident took place. Read more from the Chagrin Solon Sun. UPDATE: Mackenzie Shirilla was convicted of murder on Aug. 14, 2023. CLEVELAND, Ohio Whether a Strongsville woman is guilty of killing her boyfriend and a friend in a car crash when she was 17 rests in the hands of a judge. Mackenzie Shirilla, now 19, was driving her Toyota Camry 100 mph in a business park last July when she jumped the curb, careened off of a sign and smashed into a brick warehouse. The crash killed her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and Davion Flanagan, who were passengers in the car. Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim Troup said in closing arguments Thursday that there was only one explanation for Shirillas actions that morning: that she wanted to murder Russo to culminate a monthslong relationship that had soured in the weeks before the crash. Davion was just cargo, Troup said. Whatever she had in for Dominic, [Flanagan] was just along with his friend and got sucked into a toxic relationship and just got in the wrong seat that night. Shirillas attorney, Jim McDonnell, said prosecutors did not put forth enough evidence to prove the crash was anything more than a tragic result of kids being kids. He asked Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy Margaret Russo to find Shirilla guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide for driving recklessly but to acquit her of murder charges. We are really never going to know what happened in that car, McDonnell said, much less prove with evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that ... present in the mind of Mackenzie was a specific intent to cause the death of her boyfriend and their friend. The comments came at the end of Shirillas trial in which she faces four counts of murder, felonious assault and aggravated vehicular homicide tied to the July 31, 2022, crash. She is also charged with drug possession and possession of criminal tools after emergency workers at the scene found a small bag of psychedelic mushrooms and a scale in her jacket pocket. She did not testify. Shirilla, who was prosecuted as an adult, has been jailed since her November arrest on a $500,000 bond. The judge, who heard the case without a jury, said she will announce her verdict Monday. The crash happened about 5:30 a.m. at a manufacturing plant in Strongsvilles Progress Drive Business Park off Pearl Road. Prosecutors said one of their strongest pieces of evidence was a brief video from a city-owned security camera showing Shirilla using her turn signal and slowly turning her car from Pearl Road onto Alameda Drive slowly and using her blinker. Its as if she was winding up when she drove from Pearl onto Progress, Troup said. Troup also said that crash investigators examined the cars computer system, and it showed the pedal was pushed to the floor in the four seconds before the crash, and the brake was never pushed. He said during close arguments that there was no reason for Shirilla to be driving in the business park at 5:30 a.m. to begin with. Prosecutors also sought to use statements that Shirilla made while she was recovering in the hospital, expressing grief over Russos death, against her. Doctors at MetroHealth noted that she expressed feelings of grief, guilt and shame and, when a detective showed up and said he was investigating her criminally, she replied by asking if he could take her license away for 10 years, Allison Cupach, another assistant county prosecutor on the case, said. That shows intent and consciousness of guilt, Cupach said. McDonnell argued that after four days of testimony, there were still multiple explanations for what occurred in the car, a sign that prosecutors failed to prove their case that Shirilla deliberately killed Russo and Flanagan. He said it would not be out of the ordinary for drivers who are at fault in a fatal accident to feel terrible. Shes not saying she committed aggravated murder, McDonnell said. Friends who were at the house that Shirilla, Russo and Flanagan went to the night before the crash said the couple did not argue and seemed happy. The owner of a health foods store and Shirillas great aunt each testified on her behalf Thursday that the couple seemed happy and were making plans for the future in the months before the crash. McDonnell also said it was possible that Shirilla may have passed out. Her mother, Natalie Shirilla, testified Thursday that her daughter had been diagnosed in 2017 with a disorder that results in her passing out from time to time if her sodium levels are too low. Mackenzie Shirilla told medical personnel and Russos mother, Christine Agnello Russo, after the crash that she blacked out and didnt remember what happened. McDonnell also pointed out that a report by a Strongsville police detective, Zaki Hazou, included a file of 136 photos from social media accounts that Hazou titled reckless driving. The cars computer system data also showed that, about five seconds before the crash, the steering wheel jerked right and then jerked left. McDonnell said it was possible that Shirilla had been driving recklessly and then tried to avoid the crash at the last minute when she came upon the Progress Drive intersection. McDonnell also dismissed evidence of arguments between Shirilla and Russo in the weeks before the crash. In one instance, a 42-year-old man with a criminal record who lived with Russo and his parents claimed he overheard Shirilla threaten to crash the car while he was on the phone with Russo. McDonnell said the mans story didnt add up. He also questioned the relevancy of a video that Russo recorded of the two arguing several weeks before the crash. The video showed Shirilla threatening to key Russos car. I cant even fathom how somebody threatening to key a car then equates to evidence that theyre going to kill them, McDonnell said. WASHINGTON, D. C. Suspicious after receiving similarly worded responses from nine separate colleges and universities to his July inquiry about their affirmative action policies, U.S. Sen. JD Vance on Thursday asked the Federal Trade Commission to examine collusion between them. In a letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan, Vance said he was surprised that none of the institutions responded to his questions in good faith, instead sending generalized and dismissive statements, that he found to be uncannily similar, both in substance and structure. The Cincinnati Republican sent his initial inquiry to the presidents of all eight Ivy League colleges and universities, as well as Ohios Oberlin and Kenyon colleges. He said nearly all the response letters arrived on the same day, with each school using more or less identical phrasing in promising to comply with this years U.S. Supreme Court decision rejecting affirmative action in college admissions. It is hard to believe that the schools responding to my letter could achieve such remarkable parallels in the absence of coordination or collusion, Vance wrote. Observing that many top universities, including several recipients of his July letter, are already embroiled in antitrust litigation over their financial aid and admissions policies, Vance suggested suggested FTC study collusive behavior by colleges and universities, particularly as it relates to new admissions policies after the court ruling. This case and others appear to demonstrate that coordination among these institutions is rampant, Vance wrote. Coordinating the response to a Senators letter is one thing, but coordinating admissions policies in the wake of the Harvard College decision is quite another. Schools that maintain regular communication and profess shared interests, including an interest in maintaining a racially diverse student body, may be tempted to jointly adopt new and experimental policies, such as preferences for low-income students, assured in the knowledge that their competitors will not do otherwise, he continued. Sabrina Eaton writes about the federal government and politics in Washington, D.C., for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. . CLEVELAND, Ohio State attorneys are suing a Northeast Ohio construction company and accusing it of fleecing customers by performing shoddy or incomplete work. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yosts office filed the case against Diamond Ridge Construction Services LLC., which operates out of Columbia Station, in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on Tuesday. COLUMBUS, Ohio For FirstEnergy customers around Northeast Ohio, justice is served via email in increments between $10 and $20. On July 31, payments began flowing to some 2 million customers after FirstEnergy and Energy Harbor agreed to jointly pay $49 million to settle a class action lawsuit. Plaintiffs had sued the company days after federal prosecutors accused ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and four conspirators in connection with a bribery scheme bankrolled by FirstEnergy. The class plaintiffs alleged they overpaid on their bills to fund a $60 million racketeering scheme deployed to pass House Bill 6, which was worth about $1.3 billion to the company. Since then, Householder has been sentenced to 20 years in prison; lobbyist Matt Borges was sentenced to five years; two other men who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with investigators await sentencing; a fifth died by suicide; and FirstEnergy as a corporate entity has admitted to bribing both Householder and Sam Randazzo, a top state utility regulator at the time. Randazzo has not been charged with a crime, nor have any corporate officials from FirstEnergy. READ: Who paid the bribes? Plot hole grows after Householder conviction, as FirstEnergy execs remain unscathed The vast majority of the settlements range between $10 and $20 for residential customers, according to plaintiffs counsel Dennis Murray Jr. For commercial users, the settlement is all over the place, he said. Two readers have reached out to Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer after receiving word of settlement values for less than $8. Another sent a screenshot of his settlement for $1. The attorneys who brought the case earned $13.3 million, court documents state. U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus Jr. limited hourly rates for the attorneys at $600 for the calculation of attorney fees. Murray said $49 million is no negligible sum for FirstEnergy to pay. He said trial winnings would have been limited at about $110 million in what he called a very high risk case. He said no one would go through the trouble of a lawsuit to win $16 the average payment for class members, per court documents so these kinds of class action cases are a means to deter companies from pilfering from customers on the margins. Sure, most individual distributions are not large, but if these cases are not filed, companies will just steal/bribe/cheat $20 at a time and will not be deterred from doing it again, he said. Customers are receiving emails about their awards from the email account of rewards@reward.tremendous.com which a class action FAQ notes is not spam but the domain name of an administrator. Of the money, $37.5 million came from FirstEnergy. The other $11.5 million comes from Energy Harbor, the former FirstEnergy subsidiary that operated two Ohio nuclear plants that were to be bailed out by the legislation. Though HB6 passed in 2019, prosecutors filed their cases before the bailout took effect, and subsequent litigation blocked the ratepayer money from flowing to the company. Several FirstEnergy executives not limited to CEO Charles Chuck Jones, the companys top lobbyist Mike Dowling, or chairman of its former subsidiary FirstEnergy Solutions John Kiani were repeatedly implicated by witnesses and other evidence at Householders trial as key instigators of the bribe. However, none have been criminally charged. The company has faced some accountability measures. It entered a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. In doing so, it admitted to bribing both Householder and Randazzo. It also agreed to pay a $230 million penalty and forfeit $6.4 million from an account involved in the scheme. FirstEnergy also entered into a $3.9 settlement with federal regulators and paid $180 million to settle a derivative lawsuit from shareholders. FirstEnergy still faces lawsuits from investors, a criminal investigation and ongoing civil lawsuit from the state attorney general, and a probe from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Jones and Dowling alleged in April that they face a looming potential indictment, though no such thing has materialized. After Householders trial, an attorney for Jones proclaimed his innocence. Jake Zuckerman covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. In a surprising turn of events, Primate Elijah Ayodele, the leader of Nigerias INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, has issued a strong warning to the United States, urging them to refrain from invading Niger Republic. Ayodeles caution came with a spiritual perspective, stating that such an invasion would be seen as fighting against the divine will and might even escalate into a third world war. The religious leader expressed his concerns during a recent gathering at his church, emphasizing that any military aggression against Niger would be considered a satanic and terrorist act that could incur the wrath of God. Ayodeles message was clear: Dont invade Niger. Invasion of the country will cause more trouble to the peace of the world. It wont be an easy thing. Its too early to fight in Niger; dont start a third world war. INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church leader Primate Elijah Ayodele Niger Military Government Leader Signs Decree to Form New Transitional Government Meanwhile, on the political front, Nigers junta leader, General Abdourahmane Tchiani, has taken significant steps to establish a new transitional government following the recent coup. In a decree issued today, Gen. Tchiani announced the formation of a 21-member transitional cabinet of ministers. The new government lineup features a blend of military and civilian figures, reflecting an attempt to restore stability and balance in the administration. At the helm of this transitional government is Interim Prime Minister Lamine Zeine Ali Mahamane, who is also slated to assume the role of Minister of Economy and Finance. Notably, the former Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Salifou Mody, has been appointed as the Minister of National Defence, further cementing his position as Gen. Tchianis deputy. The juntas actions havent stopped at the formation of the new government. A series of sweeping changes have taken place, including the appointment of new military chiefs and the removal of senior government officials who were associated with the previous administration led by President Bazoum. Tensions and Transitions in Niger As tensions continue to simmer both domestically and internationally over the recent coup in Niger, Primate Elijah Ayodeles spiritual warning adds a unique layer to the evolving situation. The global community now watches closely as the new transitional government takes the reins, with hopes for stability and a peaceful return to democratic governance in Niger. As the nation navigates these turbulent waters, the influence of both spiritual and political leaders will undoubtedly play a crucial role in shaping its future. Gabon is seeking to replace $450 million in higher-priced debt with lower-priced borrowing and use the savings for conservation, reported Reuters. The country is the first in Africa to attempt a so-called debt-for-nature swap. Gabon is home to one-third of the endangered leatherback turtles on Earth. The African countrys move follows Ecuadors record-setting $1 billion-plus debt-for-nature swap in May. The South American countrys existing $1.6 billion bonds were bought up by Credit Suisse at a fraction of their face-value price. New bonds were then issued at approximately the price Credit Suisse paid, saving Ecuador over $1 billion in debt-service payments over 17 years. The countrys government, meanwhile, pledged to spend about $18 million annually on conservation in the Galapagos Islands. Galapagos Islands [Photo: brookebeyond.com] The swaps by Gabon and Ecuador, however, demonstrate the continued power of capital markets over governments of the Global South. In contrast, some activists have called for outright debt cancellation. by Saurav Sarkar from the Globetrotter News Service In a surprising turn of events, Mali has taken the decision to indefinitely suspend the issuance of visas to French citizens at its embassy in Paris. This move comes as a reciprocal action following Frances recent decision to classify Mali as a red zone due to supposed strong regional tensions. The Malian foreign ministry issued a statement addressing the situation, expressing its surprise at Frances decision and clarifying its own stance. The statement from Malis foreign ministry explained that the decision was made in response to Frances unexpected classification of Mali as a red zone, citing unspecified strong regional tensions. Mali expressed its disappointment over this characterization and deemed it unfair. In response to this, Mali has suspended the issuance of visas to French nationals, mirroring the action taken by France itself. File photo of Malis capital city Bamako France had recently suspended the issuance of visas to Malian citizens and closed its visa center located at the embassy in Bamako, the capital of Mali. The move was seen as a result of the deteriorating diplomatic relations between the two countries. These recent reciprocal actions have added fuel to the already tense situation, casting a shadow over the historically cordial relations between Mali and France. The suspension of visa services has raised concerns among citizens, travelers, and businesses in both countries. Many individuals and organizations rely on visa services for various purposes, including tourism, business, education, and family visits. The unexpected disruption has left many in a state of uncertainty and has generated speculation about the future trajectory of diplomatic relations between the two nations. As both Mali and France grapple with the consequences of these tit-for-tat actions, international observers and stakeholders are closely monitoring the situation. The hope remains that diplomatic channels will be reinvigorated to address the concerns that have led to this recent escalation. It is clear that both nations have much to gain from resolving their differences and restoring their historically cooperative relations. In a world where international cooperation is crucial for addressing global challenges, the suspension of visa services and the strained relations between Mali and France serve as a reminder of the delicate nature of diplomatic interactions and the need for open dialogue to overcome differences and foster mutual understanding. In a fiery session at the Lok Sabha today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted the Congress party, accusing it of being responsible for the partition of India and also asserting that the Indira Gandhi-led government had ceded the Katchatheevu Island to Sri Lanka in 1974. The prime ministers comments came during his response to a debate on a no-confidence motion, where he launched a scathing attack on the Congress, blaming the party for the historic partition of the nation. Modis statements took a surprising turn as he connected the partition issue to the controversial transfer of the Katchatheevu Island to Sri Lanka. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi [Photographer: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images] The Katchatheevu Island, located between the Indian state of Rameswaram and Sri Lanka, was traditionally used by fishermen from both countries. However, in 1974, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi accepted the island as Sri Lankan territory under the Indo-Sri Lankan Maritime Agreement. Katchatheevu is an island between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. Somebody gave it to another country. It happened under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister Modi asserted during the debate. He also alluded to the emotional aspect of the decision by questioning, Wasnt that part of Maa Bharati there? This appeared to be a direct response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhis remarks made during the previous days debate. The prime minister further mentioned that he receives consistent requests from the DMK government in Tamil Nadu to reclaim Katchatheevu for India. The islands transfer remains a contentious issue, with various political and regional groups advocating for its return to Indias control. Modis remarks sparked a heated debate in the Lok Sabha, with Congress members strongly countering his assertions. The Congress party has yet to officially respond to the prime ministers accusations. The prime ministers speech not only intensified the ongoing political debate but also rekindled discussions about historical decisions made during Indira Gandhis tenure. The assertion that the Katchatheevu Islands transfer was orchestrated by the Congress-led government adds a new layer of complexity to Indias political discourse. As the Lok Sabha session continues, reactions from various political factions and regional leaders are expected to dominate the headlines in the coming days. US President Joe Biden speaks on how "Bidenomics" is helping clean energy and manufacturing, at Arcosa Wind Towers in Belen, New Mexico, on August 9, 2023. The Biden administration's executive order restricting U.S. private equity and venture capital investments in Chinese technology finally landed on Wednesday. For U.S. tech investors who'd already grown wary of the budding cross-Pacific rivalry, the ruling is the clearest signal yet that the world's second-biggest economy is off limits. Biden is specifically targeting investments in technologies like semiconductors, quantum computing and artificial intelligence on concern that China's advancements in those areas run counter to U.S. national security interests. The new measure is expected to go into effect next year. U.S. investors have been steadily retreating from China due to a combination of a weakening economy and the fraught geopolitical environment. Combined U.S. private equity and venture investments in China fell to an eight-year low in 2022 in terms of capital deployed, a trend that continued into the first half of this year, according to PitchBook data. "We've had conversations with with our own clients who have said, 'Yeah, look, we've really been pulling back on on our presence in China for a little while,'" said Elena McGovern, co-head of the national security practice at private equity advisory firm Capstone, in an interview. "This is the first time that the U.S. government is imposing restrictions on how U.S. capital flows out of the country, how U.S. investors are making investment decisions. So that is a new era." Political pressure has been bipartisan. Last month, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent letters to four U.S. venture firms, expressing "serious concern" about their investments in Chinese tech startups. And in July, legendary VC firm Sequoia Capital said it would split its international business into three parts, with Neil Shen helming its powerful Sequoia China unit. At this point, any technology that can be used to enhanced China's military strength or surveillance capabilities is of notable concern to the White House. "U.S. money should not be used to finance Beijing's military development," said Eric Reiner, managing partner at Vine Ventures, which backs early-stage companies in the U.S., Israel and Latin America. "A lot of these firms that have been investing in China and setting up offices there are really playing with fire." While AI, computer processors, and quantum computing are areas of stated concern, many investors and experts say they have to move forward with the expectation that the ban will widen, essentially making any deal in Chinese technology too risky to pursue. "It's likely to deter investments in those sectors, even beyond what is explicitly prohibited," said, Adam Hickey, a former deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's national security division who's now a partner at law firm Mayer Brown. "Most investors want to avoid being seen as acting against U.S. national security interests." Steve Sarracino, the founder of Activant Capital, said "I don't know anyone that's doing early-stage China investing from from the U.S." The only exception, he said, were "hedge funds, who really are in the business of calculating geopolitical risks." Activant has offices in the U.S., Germany and South Africa. The U.S. government's ongoing hostility towards China carries its own risks. For one, there's a ton of investment money in and around China that can fill the vacuum and potentially generate huge returns. There's also the challenge of dealing with existing investments. For example, major U.S. venture firms have invested in ByteDance, the parent of mobile video app TikTok, which has faced the threat of a potential ban in the U.S. or a forced sale to keep operating. Investors want to maximize their returns, which could be huge should ByteDance go public. US President Joe Biden speaks on how "Bidenomics" is helping clean energy and manufacturing, at Arcosa Wind Towers in Belen, New Mexico, on August 9, 2023. WASHINGTON The White House unveiled a nearly $40 billion supplemental funding request on Thursday to provide additional aid to Ukraine and respond to natural disasters, including wildland firefighter pay and border management. The White House is seeking $12 billion for ongoing disaster relief, $60 million to cover pay increases for firefighters and $3.9 billion to address border and migration issues. The request came as federal agencies, led by FEMA, mobilized to respond to deadly wildfires in Hawaii that already claimed three dozen lives. President Joe Biden said FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell would be on Maui by Friday, but he warned the danger is "not over yet." Biden's request also seeks over $24 billion in additional funding for Ukraine's slow-moving defense against Russia's illegal invasion. In the nearly 18 months since Russian troops poured over Ukrainian borders, the U.S. has unleashed a war chest worth more than $43 billion to bolster Kyiv's arsenal. (LtoR) German and a Chinese flag are seen flying in the wind from the Chancellery, as the dome of the Reichstag building, which houses the German lower house of Parliament, can be seen in the background, in Berlin on June 19, 2023, during a visit of China's Premier to Germany. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP) (Photo by JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images) China is going after licences to boost its access to German technology as investment regulation makes company acquisitions in the sector increasingly difficult, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing a study. The study conducted by the IW economic institute, analysing Bundesbank data on behalf of the newspaper, found German licence revenues from China more than tripled in 2022 compared to 2014. Compared with 2020, the increase was about half. "There is a clear early indication that Chinese companies are looking for a new way to get access to German technology," said Juergen Matthes, head of IW's global and regional markets research unit. Tech licences are one way for China to try to get in "through the back door", he told Reuters. With the German economy still smarting from a breakdown in ties with Russia, Berlin launched an overhaul of its China policy, calling for a "de-risking" approach that seeks to avoid over-reliance, while acknowledging the country's importance as a key market for many companies. A view of the Stuart The Minion balloon during the 2022 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 24, 2022 in New York City. This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our new, international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here . U.S. futures up after Wednesday losses Futures pegged to the major U.S. stock benchmark indexes inched higher after the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 191 points, or 0.54%, at the close of trade on Wednesday, while the S&P 500 shaved off 0.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite shed 1.17%. Markets are waiting for Thursday's July consumer price index report, which will likely show that the pace of price increases is easing, but not enough to get the Federal Reserve to retreat on its inflation fight. No tech investment ban, but notify please President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday. From next year, outbound U.S. investors will be required to notify the Treasury Department of new U.S. investment and expertise that supports Chinese development of sensitive technologies. They include technologies like semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum computing and certain artificial intelligence capabilities. Biden's order appears similar to a toned-down version of the initial Outbound Investment Transparency Act the Senate recently introduced. Pricier Disney+ Disney shares rose in after hours trading after the company pledged to raise the price on its ad-free streaming tier in October and said it would crack down on password sharing. At its earnings release, Disney reported subscriber losses continued over the last three months, declining 7.4% decline from the previous quarter a larger loss than Wall Street expected. This contributed to a net loss of $460 million for the most recent quarter from a net income of $1.41 billion from a year ago. Drought woes The number of vessels waiting to cross the Panama Canal has reached 154. Slots for carriers to book passage are being reduced in an effort to manage congestion caused by ongoing drought conditions that have roiled the major shipping gateway since Spring. The current wait time to cross the canal is now around 21 days. [PRO] Trading the CPI numbers As investors wait for the latest inflation report and weigh the Federal Reserve's forward path, JPMorgan's trading desk laid out five potential scenarios tied to how Wall Street might respond, judging by the month-over-month increase. by Sahibzada Muhammad Usman The political landscape of Pakistan has been in turmoil recently, primarily due to the claims and revelations surrounding Imran Khans conspiracy narrative involving a diplomatic cipher. Over the last year, Imran Khan, former Prime Minister and PTI chief, has been insistent on a conspiracy involving this cipher, which he claimed was a testament to foreign involvement against him. However, recent events, spearheaded by The Intercepts story on the matter, have painted a contrasting picture, challenging the validity of Khans claims. The Intercept, a reputable news outlet known for its investigative journalism, published details about the cipher in question. Interestingly, while the publication did shed light on the ciphers content, it outright denied possessing an actual copy of the document. Furthermore, no sources came forth to authenticate the veracity of the cipher, leading many to speculate about the authenticity of the entire narrative. Imran Khan when he was in his residence in Lahore, Pakistan.[ Photo: Saad Sarfraz Sheikh for NPR] Despite the absence of a verified copy, lets assume, for arguments sake, that this was the cipher that Imran Khan had lost and which he claimed was handed over to American authorities. Such an admission would be severely damaging to Khan and his party, PTI, as it would debunk the narrative of an American conspiracy. Instead, it would portray the situation as a result of strong diplomatic dialogue, which isnt unprecedented. Therefore, the narrative that Khan and his party had been promoting for a year becomes questionable at best. Further inconsistencies arise when you delve deeper into the narratives presented by various stakeholders. The newspaper (The Intercept) itself, while emphasizing their efforts to verify the document they obtained, admitted to being unsuccessful in confirming its legitimacy. This by itself is a glaring issue, raising concerns about the authenticity of the information being disseminated. If the publication making claims cannot validate the content, its credibility is inherently shaky. Moreover, comments attributed to Donald Lowe in the cipher, as cited by The Intercept, suggest that it was Lowes idea to encourage confidence against Khan, rather than it being a direct threat from the American government. This correlates with the statements from the National Security announcement and subsequent press conferences, where it was iterated that no foreign threats were received and no conspiracy was orchestrated against Khan. The stance of the U.S. State Department has also been clear. Mathew Miller, the State Department spokesperson, on more than one occasion, has clarified that the U.S. neither intervenes in domestic political matters of other nations nor supports any specific political party. These statements, in light of the Federal Investigation Agencys (FIA) inquiry into the cypher-gate scandal, further challenge Khans conspiracy narrative. While Khans narrative revolved around international conspiracies, confessions from within his camp suggest a different tale. Azam Khan, Khans ex-principal secretary, was reported to have said that Khan was keen on using the original cipher to manipulate a narrative against both the establishment and the opposition. This revelation counters Khans portrayal of an international conspiracy, as Azams statement suggests Khans intention to divert attention from foreign involvement in an opposition-led no-confidence motion against him. The crux of the issue here isnt just about the legitimacy of a document. It concerns the national reputation of Pakistan, the trustworthiness of its leaders, and the strategic ties it holds with international players. Spreading unverified information, especially ones that implicate foreign powers, isnt merely an internal political game; it has ramifications on an international scale. Ultimately, while the recent revelations do not absolve or implicate any party entirely, they shed light on a twisted political narrative that seems more convoluted than initially assumed. Imran Khans claims, particularly in light of the contradicting statements and evidence, appear to be on shaky ground. With national dignity and reputation at stake, its imperative for the truth to be unearthed, and if necessary, for those responsible to be held accountable. Dr. Sahibzada Muhammad Usman earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pisa, Italy. He is an Assistant Professor and MS Cluster Head in Department of Strategic Studies at Air University, Islamabad, Pakistan. The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street in Lahaina, Hawaii, Aug. 8, 2023. Matthew Thayer/ | The Maui News | AP Hawaii emergency management records show no indication that warning sirens sounded before people ran for their lives from wildfires on Maui that killed at least 55 people and wiped out a historic town. Instead, officials sent alerts to mobile phones, televisions and radio stations but widespread power and cellular outages may have limited their reach. Hawaii boasts what the state describes as the largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world, with about 400 sirens positioned across the island chain to alert people to various natural disasters and other threats. But many of the survivors said in interviews Thursday that they didn't hear any sirens or receive a warning that gave them enough time to prepare, only realizing they were in danger when they saw flames or heard explosions nearby. The wildfires are the state's deadliest natural disaster since a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people. Gov. Josh Green warned the death toll will likely rise as search and rescue operations continue. Thomas Leonard, a 70-year-old retired mailman from centuries-old Lahaina, didn't know about the fire until he smelled smoke. Power and cell phone service had both gone out earlier that day, leaving the town with no real-time information about the danger. He tried to leave in his Jeep, but had to abandon the vehicle and run to the shore when cars nearby began exploding. He hid behind a seawall for hours, the wind blowing hot ash and cinders over him. Firefighters eventually arrived and escorted Leonard and other survivors through the flames to safety. Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, at least three wildfires erupted on Maui this week, racing through parched brush covering the island. Maxar satellite imagery showing total destruction of the Banyan Court area after the Lahaina Wildfire. Please use: Satellite image (c) 2023 Maxar Technologies. Maxar | Getty Images The most serious one left Lahaina a grid of gray, ashen rubble, wedged between the blue ocean and lush green slopes. Skeletal remains of buildings bowed under roofs that pancaked in the blaze. Palm trees were torched, boats in the harbor were scorched and the stench of burning lingered. "Without a doubt, it feels like a bomb was dropped on Lahaina," Gov. Green said after walking the ruins of the town Thursday morning with Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. Firefighters managed to build perimeters around most of the Lahaina fire and another near the resort-filled area of Kihei, but they were still not fully contained Thursday afternoon. Hawaii Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Adam Weintraub told The Associated Press that the department's records don't show that Maui's warning sirens were triggered on Tuesday, when the Lahaina fire began. Instead, the county used emergency alerts sent to mobile phones, televisions and radio stations, Weintraub said. It's not clear if those alerts were sent before outages cut off most communication to Lahaina. Across the island, in fact, 911, landline and cellular service have failed at times. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards An infographic titled "Wildfires in US state of Hawaii leave at least 36 dead" is created in Ankara, Turkiye on August 10, 2023. Three separate fires spurred by 60mph gusting winds from Hurricane Dora in the Pacific Ocean. Getty Images Maui Fire Department Chief Brad Ventura said the fire moved so quickly from brush to neighborhoods that it was impossible to get messages to the emergency management agencies responsible for alerts. "What we experienced was such a fast-moving fire through the ... initial neighborhood that caught fire they were basically self-evacuating with fairly little notice," Ventura said. The blaze is the deadliest U.S. wildfire since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, which killed at least 85 people and laid waste to the town of Paradise. Lahaina's wildfire risk was well known. Maui County's hazard mitigation plan, last updated in 2020, identified Lahaina and other West Maui communities as having frequent wildfires and a large number of buildings at risk of wildfire damage. The report also noted that West Maui had the island's second-highest rate of households without a vehicle and the highest rate of non-English speakers. Passengers wait for delayed and canceled flights off the island as thousands of passengers were stranded at the Kahului Airport (OGG) in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui in Kahului, Hawaii on August 9, 2023. Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images "This may limit the population's ability to receive, understand and take expedient action during hazard events," the plan noted. Maui's firefighting efforts may also have been hampered by a small staff, said Bobby Lee, the president of the Hawaii Firefighters Association. There are a maximum of 65 firefighters working at any given time in Maui County, and they are responsible for fighting fires on three islands Maui, Molokai and Lanai he said. Those crews have about 13 fire engines and two ladder trucks, but the department does not have any off-road vehicles, he said. That means fire crews can't attack brush fires thoroughly before they reach roads or populated areas. High winds caused by Hurricane Dora made this week's task especially difficult. "You're basically dealing with trying to fight a blowtorch," Lee said. Mandatory evacuation orders were in place for Lahaina residents, Bissen noted, while tourists in hotels were told to shelter in place so that emergency vehicles could get into the area. Smoke billows from flames near Lahaina as wildfires driven by high winds destroy a large part of the historic town of Lahaina, in Kahului, Hawaii, U.S. August 9, 2023. Dustin Johnson | Via Reuters The mayor said that downed power poles added to the chaos as people attempted to flee Lahaina, by cutting off two important roads out of town, including one to the airport. That left only one narrow, winding highway. Marlon Vasquez, a 31-year-old cook from Guatemala who came to the U.S. in January 2022, said that when he heard fire alarms, it was already too late to flee in his car. "I opened the door, and the fire was almost on top of us," he said from an evacuation center at a gymnasium. "We ran and ran. We ran almost the whole night and into the next day, because the fire didn't stop." Vasquez and his brother Eduardo escaped via roads that were clogged with vehicles. The smoke was so toxic that he vomited. He said he's not sure his roommates and neighbors made it to safety. A charred boat lies in the scorched waterfront after wildfires fanned by the winds of a distant hurricane devastated Maui's city of Lahaina, Hawaii, U.S. August 9, 2023. Mason Jarvi | Via Reuters U.S. Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott speaks at the "Roast and Ride" event hosted by U.S. Senator Joni Ernst while campaigning in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. June 3, 2023. Republican Sen. Tim Scott huddled with over 50 donors at the Hamptons home of Wall Street veteran and former Trump administration official Frank Dunlevy on Wednesday night, according to people familiar with the matter. The fundraising event for Scott's presidential campaign, which was first reported on by CNBC last month, was held in the backyard of Dunlevy's East Hampton property. Dunlevy, a vice chair of investment banking at TD Cowen, was not listed on the invite. In fact, when CNBC reached out to Dunlevy before the party this week, he tried to dispute whether the fundraiser was at his house. But invitees later confirmed the location was Dunlevy's house, and one attendee noted he mingled with guests. Dunlevy did not return multiple follow up calls and emails from CNBC. Dunlevy lent his backyard to the official listed hosts of the Scott event, another person explained. The property features a massive swimming pool behind the house and a wrap around driveway, just a five minute walk from the picturesque East Hampton beaches. Individual tickets cost from $1,000 to $5,000, according to the invitation. Couples tickets were $10,000. Also attending the party was Gary Cohn, who served as director of the National Economic Council in 2017-18. Cohn was listed as a co-host on the invitation. Rice trader displays variety of rice samples at a wholesale store, in Guwahati, Assam, India on August 2, 2023. Rice prices surged to their highest in almost 12 years on the back of India's rice export ban and adverse weather conditions that could impact production, said the United Nations' food agency. The Food and Agriculture Organization All Rice Price Index for July rose by 2.8% to 129.7 points. The figure is up 19.7% compared to a year ago, and the highest nominal value since September 2011, data from FAO showed. The sharpest increases in price came from Thailand. "Concerns over the potential impacts of El Nino on production in some suppliers provided further underpinning to prices, as did rain-induced interruptions and quality variability in Vietnam's ongoing summer-autumn harvest," the report stated. El Nino is a climate phenomenon marked by extreme temperatures and weather conditions that could interrupt lives and livelihoods. India, the world's leading rice exporter, banned exports of non-basmati white rice on Jul. 20, as the government seeks to keep a cap on soaring food prices at home, and ensure there are enough supplies domestically "at reasonable prices." Mark Cuban vividly remembers the moment he realized he was nearly broke. He was 27 years old, trying his hand at entrepreneurship for the first time with a software company called MicroSolutions, when he plugged his PIN into an ATM and got a rude awakening, he said on a recent episode of TikToker Bobbi Althoff's "The Really Good Podcast." His company only had $2,000 left in the bank. The culprit: His secretary, who had been stealing from him by using white-out and a typewriter to forge company checks, he said. The secretary took about $82,000, effectively wiping out MicroSolutions' account balance, Cuban confirmed to CNBC Make It. That meant Cuban's own money was nearly gone, too. He bootstrapped MicroSolutions almost entirely, only accepting external funding in the form of a $500 advance from a former customer, the New York Times reported in 2017. "It was f---ed up, but [it was] the best thing that ever happened to us because it made us get our s--- together," Cuban told Barstool Sports' "Pardon My Take" podcast in 2020, adding that all he could do was try to remain calm and get back to work: "You have to hustle the most when you think it's the darkest." It didn't take long for Cuban to recover the cash, and then some. His day-to-day work wasn't always glamorous, he wrote in a 2004 blog post: He spent hours delving into software and Cisco router manuals, and "sitting in my house testing and comparing new technologies." The hustle coupled with the fact that he was selling software around the time home computers became popular paid off when Cuban sold MicroSolutions to CompuServe for $6 million in 1990. He was 32 years old. Cuban then helped co-found AudioNet, which became Broadcast.com and was acquired by Yahoo for $5.7 billion in 1999, making Cuban a billionaire at age 40. He currently has an estimated net worth of $5.1 billion, according to Forbes. Even if Cuban lost that fortune overnight, he has "no doubt" he could become a "multimillionaire again," he told NPR's "How I Build This" podcast in 2016. That's because his ability to sell made him rich in the first place, he added. "I would get a job as a bartender at night, and a sales job during the day, and I would start working," Cuban said. Excelling at sales can play a "significant" role in building financial success, historian and sociologist Rainer Zitelmann wrote in his 2018 book, "The Wealth Elite: A Groundbreaking Study of the Psychology of the Super Rich." About 15% of CEOs from the top 100 Fortune 500 companies started their careers in sales, according to a 2017 Heidrick and Struggles survey. It's the third-most common background among U.S. chief executives, tied with operations and behind finance and engineering. "Once you learn how to sell, you can always start a business, [because] you're an entrepreneur at heart," Cuban told The School of Hard Knocks last year. Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank," which features Mark Cuban as a panelist. DON'T MISS: Want to be smarter and more successful with your money, work & life? Sign up for our new newsletter! Get CNBC's free Warren Buffett Guide to Investing, which distills the billionaire's No. 1 best piece of advice for regular investors, do's and don'ts, and three key investing principles into a clear and simple guidebook. In this article TSLA Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT CNBC Executive Editor Jay Yarow's Tesla Model X that was "totaled" in the U.S. late last year. Jay Yarow / CNBC A Tesla Model X totaled in the U.S. late last year suddenly came back online and started sending notifications to the phone of its former owner, CNBC Executive Editor Jay Yarow, months later. The car or its computer was suddenly online in a southern region of war-torn Ukraine, he found by opening up his Tesla app and using a geolocation feature. The new owners in Ukraine were tapping into his still-connected Spotify app to listen to Drake radio playlists, he also discovered. When Yarow posted about this to the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, his post went viral, and followers wanted to know why this was happening and whether it was a security risk. According to the CTO of automotive security firm Canis Labs, Ken Tindell, there can indeed be a security risk with totaled cars that are restored. He explained in an email to CNBC, "The credentials to internet services are clearly left in the vehicle electronics and then can be used by whoever gets hold of the electronics." He added, "In general it's possible to get data out of working electronics it's merely a question of how much effort that takes." This is far from a Tesla-specific issue, he said. Cars, like laptops, smartphones, and even refrigerators and TVs, are now internet-connected devices that can store personal data. "I think it needs to be more widely understood by dealers and owners that there is this issue of private data within the vehicle," Tindell said. Overseas demand for totaled Teslas How did the vehicle end up in Ukraine? CNBC found that after the car was totaled, online auction site Copart listed it for sale, according to website listings. The company, which currently has more than 1,600 Tesla vehicles listed for sale, is connected to salvage yards across the U.S., including one in New Jersey where the car ended up. Copart specializes in damaged or totaled vehicles that have what's called a "salvage title," issued when an insurance company declares it a total loss, warning future buyers that there was a significant problem. Copart sells more than 2 million vehicles a year, with operations in 11 countries, according to the company's website. Such vehicles cannot legally drive on U.S. roadways, but some countries aren't as stringent. "Cars go to the repair shop or junk yard then find their way to a second market and then are suddenly being shipped overseas," said Mike Dunne, a former General Motors international executive who now serves as CEO of auto consulting firm ZoZoGo. The inside of CNBC Executive Editor Jay Yarow's Tesla Model X that was "totaled" in the U.S. late last year. Jay Yarow / CNBC The practice has been going on for decades and accelerated with the rise of digital auctions, according to Steven Lang, an auctioneer and founder of used car marketplace 48 Hours And A Used Car. "Starting in the Y2K era, the digital auction site took over. So now you can have someone in Ukraine bidding on it. And then someone else from Norway bidding on it and you haven't even touched an American border or an American bidder," said Lang, who has been in the vehicle auction business for more than 24 years. "Virtually all of the vehicles that are totaled will end up at a salvage auction," he said. One online auction website that specializes in such sales estimated the winning bid for the vehicle would be between $27,400 and $29,400. A final sale price was not immediately known. Neither the salvage yard nor Copart immediately responded for comment about the vehicle and who bought it. What owners can do after the fact Earlier this year, Ben Van Leeuwen had a problem. The latest Van Leeuwen scoop shop in Washington, D.C., had recently opened for business. But due to unexpectedly high demand, it had run out of ice cream halfway through the weekend. Ben, who as CEO had long since left the responsibilities of making deliveries behind, was surprised to find himself on a text chain about the new store. "It's 11 p.m. on a Saturday night and nobody can deliver that ice cream," Ben tells CNBC Make It. "And I was like 'Okay, I'll do it.'" Which is how the 39-year-old found himself pulling up to the Van Leeuwen factory in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, eight hours later to load a refrigerated truck full of hundreds of tubs of his famous ice cream before making the five hour drive to D.C. "The plan was to drop off all of this ice cream and drive straight back to New York, because the next day is Monday and I have to work," he says. But he arrived to find 100 people already waiting in line and decided to help hand out ice cream for an hour to alleviate the crush. "I ended up scooping till midnight because it was so busy," he says. "It was so fun." Days like that are few and far between for Ben, who since founding Van Leeuwen in 2008 has grown it into a nationwide brand. Van Leeuwen has nearly 50 scoop shops in seven states across the country, and its pints are sold at nearly 10,000 grocery stores including Walmart and Whole Foods. Here's how Van Leeuwen went from a lone ice cream truck in SoHo to a multimillion-dollar business capable of bringing in upwards of $300,000 a day from its scoop shops alone. An introduction to ice cream Ben Van Leeuwen earned money in college by driving a Good Humor ice cream truck. Van Leeuwen Ice Cream As a rising college sophomore in need of spending money, Ben came across a newspaper ad offering $500 per week to sell ice cream. Soon, he was behind the wheel of a Good Humor truck slinging Chipwiches, SpongeBob SquarePants ice cream bars and other frozen novelties. Though he didn't know it at the time, his experience with Good Humor would play a direct role in shaping the tastes that would later come to define Van Leeuwen. "That allowed me to save enough money to not go back to college and [instead] travel the world for nine months, which was a super formative experience," he says. His gap year travels took him to Southeast Asia as well as all over Europe. His time in Spain, Italy and France was particularly significant in changing his thinking around what food could be. I was really excited by these places where good food was just a normal thing. Ben Van Leeuwen "As an American kid who hadn't really left the country, I was really excited by these places where good food was just a normal thing," he says. Once he was back in school, these ideas bounced around Ben's head without an outlet until one day in 2008 when he came across a Mister Softee ice cream truck a staple in New York City. "That's when subconsciously and consciously everything clicked," he tells Make It. "I was like 'Huh, I'm really into good food, but I want that food to be normal and accessible.'" "New York City was a city then and remains a city now where people respond to and are excited by people who try to do things in the best way possible," he continues. "So I said 'Let's reinvent the ice cream truck.'" Getting Van Leeuwen off the ground Ben knew that he wanted to start an ice cream company. But he had one big problem: he had never made ice cream before. The then 24-year-old retreated to the kitchen of the apartment that he shared with his brother Pete and close friend Laura O'Neill and began a journey of self-education. He followed a recipe from Michelin star chef Thomas Keller's "Bouchon" to make vanilla ice cream. He found the process easy to follow, and modeled what would become the Van Leeuwen signature style after the simple, high quality recipe. With a recipe in hand, Ben, Laura and Pete set about creating a business plan. They determined that they would need $250,000 to get their business off the ground. The quarter million would allow them to buy and renovate a truck, find a factory and create a website. From left: Ben Van Leeuwen, Pete Van Leeuwen and Laura O'Neill. Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Despite their best efforts, they were only able to raise a total of $60,000 from 15 friends and family members. Still, it was enough to buy a pair of used Post Office trucks off of eBay and give them a second life as retrofitted ice cream trucks. They also set aside funds to hire an artist to design the aesthetic that would come to define Van Leeuwen's brand. But even though it had a slick look, Van Leeuwen was very much a ramshackle operation when it launched in 2008. Starting the business with only $60,000 forced the founders to do "almost everything." Because they didn't have the funds to build their own ice cream making facility, they had to outsource their production to a small factory in upstate New York. This required them to travel to the factory for each production run to help grind ingredients like nutmeg and cinnamon. This ice cream would then be delivered to a freezer in the Bronx, at which point Ben would load it into the back of his Subaru Impreza, crank the AC and rush it to the trucks a process he says "completely destroyed" his car's suspension. "For the first 10 years there was no corporate team," Ben says. "We were the bookkeepers. We were the CFOs, the CMOs, the retail directors. We were also helping build the stores and repair trucks." Sweet, sweet success Ben Van Leeuwen selling ice cream in 2008. Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Van Leeuwen Ice Cream was a hit from day one. When Ben, Laura and Pete pulled up to the corner of Greene and Prince in SoHo, customers immediately started lining up at the hand-painted truck. The crowd caught the attention of a representative from a local Whole Foods, who approached the truck and asked the owners if they did wholesale. Though he had only just started selling scoops hours earlier, Ben said yes. "We said 'We'll do anything that brings in revenue, so yes, we do wholesale,'" Ben says. "And three months later we were on the shelves in Whole Foods." Within three hours of opening [our first] shop, we said, 'We are never building another ice cream truck.' Ben Van Leeuwen By the end of that first summer, Van Leeuwen had three trucks operating in New York City. Fans couldn't get enough of flavors like Honeycomb and Sicilian Pistachio, and by 2010 Van Leeuwen hit $1 million in revenue. The same year, Van Leewen opened its first brick-and-mortar outpost in Greenpoint. It was a decision that would change the trajectory of its business. "Literally within three hours of opening that shop, we said 'We are never building another ice cream truck,'" Ben says. "Shops are so much easier. They generate more revenue. The water is on 99.99% of the time. There's always power and, most importantly, it's always in the same place." Eggs, cream and branding In 2012, Van Leeuwen was able to bring production to Brooklyn, and in 2017 it embarked on a major aesthetic rebrand which would create the eye-catching look of its colorful pints and help increase sales by a reported 50%. The money that Van Leeuwen brought in went towards expanding operations and sourcing ingredients from around the world for its artisanal flavors. One thing the brand has never spent money on? Advertising. "The marketing for the first 10 years was simply serving our product and hoping that word of mouth would build brand awareness," Ben says. These days, Van Leeuwen is known for more than its high-end artisanal flavors. It has made waves on social media for limited edition ice creams made in collaboration with brands like Kraft Mac & Cheese and Hidden Valley Ranch. These flavors help bring more people to the brand, with the idea being that they will then try some of Van Leeuwen's less adventurous offerings. Van Leeuwen Ice Cream CEO and co-founder Ben Van Leeuwen at a Williamsburg, Brooklyn scoop shop. Lauren Shamo and Tasia Jensen | CNBC make It Ukraine's navy on Thursday announced "temporary corridors for trading vessels" to and from Ukrainian ports, while warning of the continued risk of attack from Russia. Speaking to Reuters, navy spokesperson Oleh Chalyk said cameras would be placed on ships to broadcast footage showing the corridor "is purely a humanitarian mission and has no military purpose." According to the navy's statement, the routes will primarily be used to allow commercial vessels to exit Ukrainian ports. Some ships have been trapped since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia has yet to officially comment on the announcement. Russia in July suspended the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which had facilitated a humanitarian corridor for the export of Ukrainian agricultural goods through the war. The latest must-have amenity in luxury New York City apartment buildings: a designated coworking space for remote workers. Apartment developers are building out private offices, conference rooms and even podcasting booths to capitalize on a lingering work-from-home trend. Even as workplaces reopen, 59% of employees are still working from home three or more days a week, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. More than a third of workers with jobs that can be done remotely are still working from home full time, the survey found. "Coworking spaces were not a primary focus prior to the pandemic, but the pandemic shifts everything," said Matthew Villetto, executive vice president of Douglas Elliman Development Marketing. Tenants are increasingly looking for a "third space" where they can work away from both home and the office but are still close by. And what's closer than an elevator ride away. "A coworking space was actually the top of my list when I was touring," said Lauren Wells, a fashion designer and a resident at 420 Kent in Williamsburg. "When I need to meet with a customer for work, I can just bring up some of my work create a little space up there." At buildings such as The Reserve, a new luxury development project in East Harlem; 450 Washington, a Tribeca condominium; and One Wall Street, the city's largest-ever office-to-residential condominium in the Financial District, developers are adding phone booths, printing services, ergonomic chairs, audiovisual equipment, high-speed internet and full-size kitchens. Rent at each of the luxury rental buildings can run up to $7,950 per month for a one-bedroom apartment, while a studio for sale can cost nearly $1 million. Despite a mixed fiscal third-quarter report, Wall Street analysts are positive on Disney going forward. The company beat on adjusted earnings, with its parks division standing out as a bright spot. The media giant's issues, however, were evident in Disney's direct-to-consumer segment, which saw Disney+ subscriptions fall 7.6% to 146.1 million throughout the quarter . A StreetAccount poll had forecast 151.1 million subscriptions. For their part, many analysts covering the stock still see strong gains ahead for the company. Morgan Stanley's Benjamin Swinburne maintained an overweight rating with a $105 per share price target, or 20% upside from Wednesday's close. The analyst highlighted growth at the company's parks and resorts sector, which will drive both earnings and free cash flow in the future, he said. DIS YTD mountain Disney climbed 1.5% in premarket trading Thursday. "This is a real investment positive as Disney takes meaningful but challenging steps towards improving the earnings power of its Media assets," Swinburne said. JPMorgan's Philip Cusick similarly reiterated an overweight rating with a $125 per share price target on Disney, which implied upside of 43%. Despite a tumultuous media market, the analyst said Disney should be able to navigate headwinds such as lower ad sales successfully due to its mixed portfolio of assets. "While we are cautious on the media landscape overall due to streaming losses, linear sub declines and advertising headwinds, Disney is our favorite name among the group due to the company's strong asset mix and what we expect to be a rapid decline in streaming losses in the next year," Cusick said. Goldman Sachs' Brett Feldman, meanwhile, has a buy rating on Disney stock with a price target of $128 per share, or 46% upside from Wednesday's close. The analyst said the company showed forward progress on "management's lengthy to-do list," including turning a profit within Disney+ as well as finding an adequate partner for ESPN. Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich reiterated a buy rating with a $135 per share price target and noted confidence in CEO Bob Iger's ability to lead the company through several key transitions including the launch of ESPN Bet. "Given the latest guidance as well as cost-cutting initiatives, we believe consensus forecasts will likely be biased to the upside," Ehrlich said. "Additional progress toward achieving the company's broader strategic goals could drive multiple expansion back toward their historical premium levels." Citi's Jason Bazinet reiterated a buy rating on Disney stock accompanied by a $125 per share price target. However, the analyst highlighted risks to its base case, noting that the "effects of the COVID-19 pandemic could ultimately disrupt Disney's DPEP and legacy linear media segments (within DMED) for a longer period of time than we currently expect." CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report. For most of 2023, the stocks of our six mega-caps have traveled in a pack and in one direction up. But over the last month, the group has broken up and gone in different directions, with some continuing their upward climb and others plateauing or losing ground. That gives us the opportunity to evaluate our next moves in these core holdings. When making trade decisions for the Charitable Portfolio Trust, we like to use the S & P 500 Short Range Oscillator , a trusted indicator that indicates when the overall stock market is oversold or overbought. An oversold reading indicates the market has fallen sharply and could be due for a rebound. An overbought reading means the market has risen sharply and could be headed for a pullback. As of Thursday's close, the Oscillator was in neither an oversold nor an overbought condition. In a similar light, research firm Bespoke Investment Group recently did a screen on several mega-cap tech stocks including Club names Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Nvidia (NVDA), Meta Platforms , (META), Alphabet (GOOGL) and Amazon (AMZN) to determine which are oversold or overbought. Examining overbought or oversold stock levels could be helpful signals for investors looking to add or reduce exposure in a position. When evaluating these names, Bespoke reviewed the standard deviations above or below each stock's 50-day moving average. If a stock is one or more standard deviation above its 50-day moving average, it's classified as overbought. If it's more than one standard deviation below its 50-day moving average, it's oversold. Two or more standard deviations away from the 50-day moving average is classified as an "extreme" overbought or oversold reading. A neutral reading means the stock is trading pretty in line with the 50-day moving average and there isn't much that stands out about its recent performance at least on a technical basis; business fundamentals and valuations are not taken into account. Doing this exercise shows investors whether stocks over a shorter period are extended relative to their normal range, said Paul Hickey, co-founder of Bespoke. "It doesn't necessarily mean if they're overbought or oversold that there has to be a pullback or rally," he added. "It just highlights the stock has had an extreme move." Overbought and oversold readings may change depending on daily price action. Here are the recent trading ranges changes for our Big Tech names, along with our takes on the moves. Apple: Oversold AAPL 1M mountain AAPL stock month-to-date performance Apple's plunge below its 50-day moving average was on Friday, Aug. 4, when it closed at $181.99, a roughly 8% drop over a 5-day period on the back of a better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter earnings print. During the June quarter, Apple's product sales were short of expectations, which could have also contributed to the stock's decline. Apple's fiscal third quarter was enough for us to reaffirm our 'own it, don't trade it' philosophy on the stock and raise our price target to $205 per share from $185. While shares of AAPL are not cheap relative to the market and its historical levels, it does offer steady, high-quality earnings streams. Moreover, we see a catalyst in its upcoming mixed-reality headset called Vision Pro. An oversold indicator combined with the company's strong fundamentals and positive outlook could be viewed as a buying opportunity. We have a 1 rating on the stock. Microsoft: Neutral MSFT 1M mountain MSFT stock month-to-date performance Microsoft is flat but tipping toward oversold, according to Bespoke. The stock sunk below its 50-day moving average on Wednesday, Aug. 2, just days after the company's strong fiscal fourth-quarter report on July 25. The company's revenues beat across the board, but the stock fell 3.7% in after-hours trading as investors worried over higher capital expenditures to fund AI investments. With the stock up 34% this year, investors may have also been selling off to secure some profits. We're committed to holding Microsoft for the long term, given it will benefit from secular growth from demand for its AI products. This should translate to a higher stock price this year, which is why we increased our price target on MSFT stock to $400 from $320. We last purchased shares of MSFT on July 31 and maintain a 1 rating on the name. Nvidia: Neutral NVDA 1M mountain NVDA stock month-to-date performance. Nvidia shares have been a bit volatile, falling 4% over the last trading week likely due to profit-taking. But the stock remains in line with its 50-day moving average. As our other "own it, don't trade it" stock, we keep this chipmaker that is leading the artificial intelligence gold rush. Jim Cramer says there's a lot more room left to run in the stock too as large tech firms like Alphabet and Microsoft double down on AI investments to power the ecosystem using Nvidia's data center chips, which power generative AI and large language models. Nvidia's short-term setup is a bit tougher , Jim said, given the stock's outperformance in 2023, it could be due for a pullback, citing work from Larry Williams, a market historian and veteran technical analyst. "I do not think you should start to buy Nvidia right here. I think it's going to go lower," Jim added. The chipmaker is set to report earnings on Aug. 23, when we'll be looking to see if management beats the superb forward guidance it delivered for the fiscal first quarter and signals for continued momentum in its Data Center business. In line with this view that a better buying opportunity may well reveal itself in the near term, we maintain a 2 rating on the stock. Meta Platforms: Overbought META 1M mountain META stock month-to-date performance. Bespoke's technical view showed Meta stock entered overbought territory after the Facebook and Instagram parent delivered a strong earnings beat and guidance during its second quarter on July 26. Shares jumped roughly 7% in after-hours trading, to nearly $319 a piece. Investors were excited to see the tech firm's savvy use of A.I. increase ad impressions displayed on an app, boost user engagement and increase more user time spent on apps, which ultimately led to accelerated revenue growth for the quarter. Out of all the Magnificent Seven technology stocks, Meta has been one of the best performers this year. Shares of the company have soared a staggering 153% to its current $305. Meta's move higher is justified given it's been able to strike the perfect balance between monetizing its products while reining in costs. Taken altogether, we think there's more upside in the stock, which is why we continue to hold the stock and also raised our price target to $350 a share, up from $250. We maintain a 2 rating on the stock, indicating that we would be more interested in adding exposure on a pullback. Alphabet: Extreme overbought GOOGL 1M mountain GOOGL stock month-to-date performance. Alphabet delivered a very strong second quarter on July 25 that sent GOOGL stock soaring 6% in after-hours trading pushing it into extreme overbought territory. The stock has been trending higher since on strong revenue growth in its core search business, a resilient advertising market, lower-than-expected capital expenditures and management's ability to expand operating margins. We think shares can go higher over time since management has finally gotten cost growth below revenue growth. We bumped up our price target to $140 a share from $125 following the release. However, in line with Bespoke's technical view, our fundamental view keeps us at a 2 rating on the stock. Amazon: Extreme overbought AMZN 1M mountain AMZN stock month-to-date performance. Bespoke highlights that shares of Amazon are in extreme overbought levels in the short term which means that it could be ready for a pullback. The reason: The stock jumped 9% off of better-than-expected second-quarter earnings on Aug. 3. Investors were encouraged to see growth at the company's cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services, finally start to stabilize after several quarters of slower growth. The segment delivered revenue growth at roughly 12%, which was 2 percentage points ahead of Wall Street expectations. In addition, there was continued growth at its advertising unit and further cost rationalization in its strong retail business. We think these positive developments justify the stock gains. Shares of AMZN may be overbought in the near term based on the 50-day moving average, so a technician may not find it all that attractive. However, we maintain a 1 rating because the fundamentals are finally improving. We're only five trading days past the earnings report, meaning that about 90% of the data (45 out of the last 50 trading days) used in calculating the 50-day moving average came before earnings were released. For that reason we think AMZN can go higher, which is why we increased our price target on AMZN to $160. Shares of AMZN are up 64% this year. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long AAPL, MSFT, NVDA, META, GOOGL, AMZN. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. The logos of Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft displayed on a mobile phone with an EU flag shown in the background. Justin Tallis | AFP via Getty Images by Stephen Bryen Victoria Nuland came to Niger and demanded to see the former President, currently under house arrest in the Presidential Palace. She was turned down and met with a few of the coup leaders in Niamey, Nigers capital. She threatened the US would stop providing aid to the country and demanded that the coup leaders restore the former president, Mohamed Bazoum, to power. She left empty handed, but with the threat of military action, looming, either coming from the ECOWAS countries or from US and French troops in Niger, or even both. The US trained most of the leaders of the Niger coup and maintains a force of around 1,500 troops in the country. While Niger has asked France to remove its 1,100 soldiers, France has not complied. US troops have not been ordered out of the country, although that remains a possibility if the situation deteriorates further. U.S. Victoria Nuland in Niger; Request to Meet Detained President Bazoum Denied by Junta Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world. Its main assets are uranium mines primarily owned by French companies. Recently Niger also is producing modest amounts of oil, around 14,000 barrels of oil a day, all of which is domestically consumed. Seventy percent of Nigers electricity is supplied by Nigeria. Nigeria has halted the supply of electricity since the coup, according to news reports. Nigers main uranium mine, SOMAIR (Societe des Mines de lAir), gets its electrical power from a local coal burning generator facility. Niger accounts for around 5% of world uranium production (in the form of Yellowcake). But France is much more dependent with 20% of its uranium coming from Niger, its number two supplier. The top supplier is Kazakhstan. Uzbekistan is the number three supplier, just below Niger. If Nigers production is halted for any significant period of time, pressure will grow on other suppliers and uranium prices will likely increase. At present the French company Orano, which is the majority owner of SOMAIR, says that the SOMAIR is operating. Prices have ticked up a little, but not dramatically. At the present time Nigers airspace is closed. Roadways are blocked and the import of foods, medicines and other supplies from outside the country also are blocked. There is increasing concern that any sustained supplies halt could trigger a humanitarian crisis. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has threatened military intervention, but not all of the 15 members of ECOWAS favor military action. The most germane threats to Niger come from the US and French contingents in the country and the potential for either or both to be reinforced. Officially the US military presence is based 127 E (or Echo) of the US Code, which authorizes the US military Special Operations to be used to combat terrorism. It does not authorize US forces to play any role whatsoever in the internal governance of a host country. The US contingent in Niger falls under the authority of the US African Command (AFRICOM). This poses a major problem for Washington, since it would have to declare a national security contingency. There is no conceivable national security contingency one can think of, and US troops are not threatened. Anthony Blinken and Victoria Nuland both have stated that one of their main concerns is the possibility of Russias Wagner forces moving into Niger. So far as is known, there are no Wagner forces in Niger at present, but Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagners Co-Founder, who was recently active at the Russian Africa conference in St. Petersburg, celebrated the coup detat in Niger and, at least indirectly, has offered Wagner services to Niger. Wagner currently has operations in Mali, Sudan, Central African Republic and Libya. Mali is a member of ECOWAS. Nigers army is one of the poorest equipped in Africa. Its Air Force has only two jets (2 Russian-made Su-25s) and a handful of helicopters. The army relies heavily on Toyota trucks with guns mounted on them, although it has some armored personnel carriers. There are jihadist groups operating in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso in a tri-border region known as Liptako Gourma. Liptako-Gourma is the area adjacent to the River Niger bend between the cities of Gao (Mali) and Niamey (Niger), which includes the regions of Gao in Mali, Sahel in Burkina Faso, and Tillabery in Niger. Some jihadist groups are linked to al-Qaeda, others to ISIS, others still independent operators. There are also ethnic groups, also strict Islamists, that have threatened Niger in the recent past. One group is the Fulani or Fula people. They are generally speaking nomadic people and cattle herders, often conflicting with settled farmers fighting over grazing areas. In Niger they represent 3.6 million people. The other ethnic group that has staged at least two insurrections in recent years are the Tuareg. The Tuaregs are Berber people, also nomadic. The population of Tuaregs is about 2.6 million. In the past few days an important Tuareg leader, who was rehabilitated by the previous two Niger governments, Rhissa Ag Boula, has come out strongly against the coup and has been demanding the restoration of the democratically elected government. Whether Ag Boula can mobilize the Tuaregs isnt yet known, but if he can it could pose significant internal problems for the military junta. Boula heads the Council of Resistance for the Republic and supports ECOWAS military intervention. While the US supports democratically elected governments and their leaders, it would be difficult to justify armed intervention unless a real threat to US national security exists. US intervention would also seriously damage US credibility in Africa and elsewhere in the world as it would be seen as just another colonialist operation against a poor nation. If it was carried out in partnership with France, it would even be worse. Washington will have to make a decision: to line up with Blinken and Nuland, both interventionists, or act more sensibly and let Africans sort this out for themselves. Stephen Bryen is a former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense and is a leading expert in security strategy and technology. Bryen writes for Asia Times, American Thinker, Epoch Times, Newsweek, Washington Times, the Jewish Policy Center and others. Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during the Second Summit Economic And Humanitarian Forum Russia Africa on July 27, 2023 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. 17 African leaders are participating in the Russia-African Summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin is weighing whether to attend his first in-person meeting with Western leaders since his forces invaded Ukraine in 2022, a Kremlin source tells NBC News. Putin still hasn't ruled out appearing in person at the G20 meeting of major economies on Sept. 9-10 in the Indian capital, New Delhi, according to a Kremlin official who did not want to be named because he does not make public statements. The Russian president, facing an election in nine months, would like to relaunch himself on the world stage after a period of relative isolation brought on by the war in Ukraine. Like Chinese President Xi Jinping, he would also be keen to woo countries that aren't solidly in the Western camp at an event closely watched in capitals around the world. But, in Putin's worldview, it's all about the timing. Going would come with big risks for a leader used to stage-managed media appearances at home and summits abroad with friendly countries such as Belarus, China and Central Asian states where he rarely faces challenging questions in public. It's a high stakes decision for the embattled Russian leader. Alexey Maslov, a professor and the director of the Institute of Asian and African Studies at Moscow State University, said the G20 event could be "aggressive toward him politically." "The media at the G20 will be particularly dedicated to critics of Russia and the main question is whether President Putin will be able to present the Russian point of view," Maslov said. "If he can receive no guarantees, he will only appear online or will cancel his participation altogether." The Russian leader would almost certainly face awkward questions from journalists, according to Jonathan Eyal, international director of the Royal United Services Institute, a foreign policy think tank in London. "It's very difficult to edit it out from the carefully scripted TV coverage in Russia, and it creates a fairly dramatic picture for him to sit in a conference room and be directly confronted with the accusations about his war of aggression in Ukraine," he said. These aren't idle worries. In 2014, after Russia's annexation of Crimea, Putin was publicly shunned and sidelined during the G20 meeting in Australia. Putin, who this year faces the added risk of being confronted over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, had already been pulling back from appearing at international events. Amid the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, he participated in G20 meetings via video conference. He did not participate in the 2022 event in Bali, Indonesia, where other leaders condemned Russia's invasion of its neighbor. "I don't know. I didn't think about it. We'll see," Putin said in late July when asked about whether he would travel to New Delhi next month, according to the Russian news agency Tass. In March, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists to expect an announcement once a decision had been made. Next month's G20 summit is already set to be the most contentious in years and an important litmus test of many countries' true positions on Ukraine. In July a two-day meeting of G20 finance ministers ended without the usual joint communique due to tense differences over Ukraine. The Indian finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said that both Russia and China had objected to a reference to "'immense human suffering." France has said it will not sign any statement that stops short of condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine, like the one issued at the end of last year's G20 summit in Bali did. An added complication for Putin if he travels outside Russia's borders is an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court on suspicion of committing war crimes in connection with the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. Putin is already missing the BRICS summit of emerging economies in Johannesburg this month, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, because host nation South Africa would be obliged to arrest him. (South African President Cyril Ramaphosa did say he was reluctant to arrest his Russian counterpart.) South Africa is one of the 123 nations that have ratified the Rome Statute that compels them to carry out ICC warrants. India, like Russia and the United States, is not a member. Andrei Fedorov, Russia's former deputy foreign minister, said there were strong pros and cons to Putin's attending next month's summit, but a big consideration is how other leaders would treat him. "He doesn't want to be in the situation of sitting together with Western leaders who will just accuse him," Fedorov said. "And some of the leaders, including President Biden, already decided to ignore President Putin and not take any picture with him." A key element of G20 summits is bilateral meetings with world leaders invitations to these tete-a-tetes may be a deciding factor for Putin. A number of major G20 countries abstained from a United Nations vote in February calling on Russia to leave Ukraine: Saudi Arabia, South Africa, India and Russia's longtime ally China. Putin famously greeted Saudi Arabia's crown prince with a high five at the G20 conference in 2018, soon after the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. But as far as international diplomacy goes, that was a long time ago. "Apart from Mr. Modi, the Indian prime minister who would act as a host, or perhaps Xi Jinping of China, it's very difficult to see what other bilateral meetings he is likely to have," Eyal said. Still, that may not be enough to deter Putin. "He would like the relations repaired with the West, provided he doesn't have to pay any price for it," Eyal said. In this article TGT FL Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT This is part two of a three-part series on organized retail crime. The stories will examine the claims retailers make about how theft is impacting their business and the actions companies and policymakers are taking in response to the issue. Read the first story here and stay tuned for part three. Plastic bags hang on a self-checkout kiosk at a Target store in Chicago. Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images Retailers who blame organized theft for lower profits could be overstating crime's impact to cover up internal flaws or self-inflicted problems, CNBC has learned. During recent earnings calls, major companies have blamed disappointing bottom lines or shrinking margins in part on roving bands of organized gangs that ransack their shelves. The issue could come up again as a string of major retailers start to report second-quarter results next week. But behind closed doors, retailers are facing other issues they can better control, including theft by their own employees, that are contributing to losses, according to two sources who advise major retailers. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they're not authorized to speak publicly about clients. Many retailers have invested in technology to better understand what leads to shrink, or the gap between the inventory a company has and what it sells. Some companies have since identified theft from employees as a major contributor to losses, even as they blame external theft in public, said one of the sources. Losses from self-checkout theft have also become a major issue, the people said. While some retailers may be seeing higher rates of shrink because of poor hiring practices and self-checkout machines, others such as Target and Foot Locker could be using retail crime as a crutch to obscure internal challenges, experts told CNBC. "Shrink has been going up but sometimes it's very difficult to unpack how much is down to theft and how much is down to internal retailer issues and stumbles," Neil Saunders, a retail analyst and the managing director of GlobalData, told CNBC. "It is a problem, we know that, it does take money off margins, we know that, but there's too much opacity in the way in which it's reported and it is being partly used as an excuse for generally bad performance," Saunders said. Theft as an inside job and the curse of self checkout In the age before shoppers found deodorant and candy bars locked up in drugstores across America, employee theft largely drove shrink, said Patrick Tormey, an adjunct professor at the Lehman College School of Business, who spent more than 40 years in the retail industry. The trend may not have changed much, despite what companies say in public, according to experts. "The theme that comes back the most right now is internal theft they're realizing that a lot of [losses] come from there," said one of the sources who advises retailers. "If there's an occurrence of external theft they would steal let's say 10 bucks worth of merchandise, but if it's internal theft, it'd be 40 bucks." watch now There is no conclusive data to indicate that employees do steal more goods than outsiders, but retailers have gotten better at identifying internal theft, the person said. Retail workers have access to entire cases of merchandise in backrooms and it's "relatively easy" to take large quantities of goods without anyone noticing, one of the sources said. The theft can also go undetected for a long period of time because it's not as noticeable as a shoplifter who is in public view, the person said. Internal theft also happens at warehouses and in aisles where online orders are prepared, one of the people said. In some cases, a worker may know the person receiving the goods and may add extra merchandise into a shipment, one of the people said. "It's a little bit like organized crime in some way, but not like mafia-style, just a few people [working together]," said the person. Sonia Lapinsky, a partner and managing director with AlixPartners' retail practice, told CNBC that retailers have struggled to properly staff stores over the last few years. They can't always find the right workers, and some have also felt pressure to lower staffing levels to control costs, she said. "Folks are notoriously working multiple jobs these days and just feeling the pressure and having to pick up jobs everywhere," said Lapinsky. "If this is not something that they're necessarily loyal to, or see as a long-term place, then there's probably more risk of theft as well." David Johnston, the vice president of asset protection and retail operations at the National Retail Federation, said employee theft has long been the largest contributor to shrink and staff have at times been involved in organized theft rings. However, he thinks internal theft is now "second place" to external theft. Retailers have another self-made problem that can lead to more stolen goods. Self-checkout machines also increase the risk of theft, and they have become a major source of losses, the two company advisors told CNBC. The machines come with increased costs. In some stores with high rates of theft, losses are outweighing the investments companies made in them, the people said. "You create a problem where there wasn't one," one of the people said. Shrink references reach a 'fever pitch' Retailers started to blame organized theft for lower profits as the industry's performance started to suffer. Janine Stichter, a retail analyst and managing director at BTIG, has been covering the retail industry since 2008. She didn't really hear companies talk about shrink in their earnings calls until about a year and a half ago right around the time the economy started to soften, she said. "It's really kind of hit a fever pitch," said Stichter. Home Depot , Best Buy and Walgreens were some of the first retailers to start speaking out about theft. Now a range of companies are saying it has reduced their margins, some for the first time in recent years. "I think there is a bit of bandwagoning at the moment," said Saunders from GlobalData. "I think one of the things that happens is somebody mentions it and it then becomes a bit of a buzzword and then everyone pays attention to it and it suddenly starts getting called out." A Walgreens aisle with locked and unlocked areas Gabrielle Fonrouge | CNBC In May, Target rattled investors when it said it was on pace to lose $1 billion this year from inventory losses driven by stolen goods. Two days later, Foot Locker said "theft-related shrink" contributed to a 4 percentage point drop in its gross margin. "This has been a multiyear dynamic in the industry. We are not immune to it. It's increasing. You've heard Target talk about it and others. And so, it's having an increased impact on Foot Locker," CEO Mary Dillon said on a call with analysts. "We've seen a significant increase of theft from stores and usually through this lens of an organized retail crime type of action." The reference came as Foot Locker reported dismal results for the quarter. It was the first time it called out shrink cutting into its profits in more than 14 years, according to records accessible on FactSet. The retailer said its merchandise margins fell 2.5 percentage points because of "higher promotions" and the rise in theft-related shrink. Three analysts who cover Foot Locker told CNBC the vast majority of that drop likely came from promotions. At the time, the company was grappling with high inventory levels and soft sales, forcing it to rely on discounts to drive revenue. Foot Locker did not return repeated inquiries from CNBC about how much of its margin hit came from promotions and how much of it was due to shrink. Foot Locker Inc. signage is displayed in the window of a store in New York, U.S. Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images Siemens missed profit forecasts in its latest quarter, the German engineering company reported on Thursday, noting weakening demand in several markets including China. The trains-to-factory-automation manufacturer said China, long a driver for global manufacturing and its third largest market, had seen only a tepid recovery after its zero-Covid shutdown last year. Siemens said it was now seeing a "normalisation of demand" after customers pre-bought last year to avoid shortages. Orders increased by 10% during the three months to the end of June, down from the 13% increase in the previous three months. "The normalization of the market [is] a little bit faster than expected," CEO Roland Busch told CNBC's Arabile Gumede Thursday, but added that it is not something the company is worried about. "China is the second largest economy in the world and it is going to pick up. It can take another quarter, maybe two, but this market will pick up," Busch said. "This will come, therefore I'm not concerned at all." For the three months to the end of June, Siemens' industrial profit - covering its mobility, smart infrastructure and factory automation businesses - fell 4% to 2.75 billion euros ($3.02 billion), missing the 2.90 billion euro expected by analysts in a company-compiled consensus. The company's shares were down 3.6% in premarket activity. Siemens kept its group-level outlook for the year to September-end but lowered expectations for its digital industries business which supplies factories with controllers. The division, seen by analysts as the jewel in Siemens's crown, now expects comparable revenue growth of 13% to 15%, lower than its previous outlook of 17% to 20%. Every so often, a hot new investor on the rise is crowned "the next Warren Buffett" by the financial media, followed swiftly by disappointing performance that proves they're no "Oracle of Omaha." Sam Bankman-Fried, now facing criminal charges, is an extreme case. But even beyond the disgraced founder of of the FTX crypto exchange, others have suffered the curse of being lauded as The Next Buffett. Pershing Square's Bill Ackman, former Sear's CEO Eddie Lampert, Social Capital's Chamath Palihapitiya were all called "the next Warren Buffett" at one stage or another of their careers, but none of their track records comes close to matching the 92-year-old investing legend. By now, investors can stop looking. "The next Warren Buffett" remains Warren Buffett alone. Sui generis Since taking control of Berkshire Hathaway in 1965, Buffett has proven himself sui generis one of a kind, unique, in a class by himself. What makes Buffett so hard to duplicate? His $800 billion Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate claims to have doubled the average annual return of the S&P 500 since Buffett led an investment group that first acquired a majority of Berkshire back in the LBJ years. Today, Berkshire owns an incredible array of diverse businesses, ranging from its crown jewel GEICO insurance to BNSF Railway, from almost 6% of Apple to 100% of Dairy Queen, with lots more besides. Its balance sheet is unmatched, swelling with about $150 billion in cash. That makes Buffett, famously a student of Columbia University's legendary value investing professor Ben Graham, the most venerated investor of his, or succeeding, generations. "Berkshire's economic moat is more than just a sum of its parts," said Greggory Warren, Berkshire analyst at Morningstar. That is because of Buffett's success at "melding the firm's financial strength and underwriting ability with his own investment acumen," he said. Record high In the midst of the Go-Go stock market of the 1960s, Buffett used an investment partnership he ran to buy what was then a struggling New England textile company. Today, Berkshire is unrecognizable from what it once was, and more successful than ever. The stock hit an all-time high just this week after Berkshire posted a record operating profit of more than $10 billion in the three months ended in June, boosted by a rebound in insurance operations. The numbers speak for themselves. Berkshire shares have generated a 19.8% annualized gain from 1965 through 2022, doubling the 9.9% return of the S&P 500. Cumulatively, the stock has gone up 3,787,464% since Buffett took over. Here are Thursday's biggest calls on Wall Street: Morgan Stanley reiterates Nvidia as overweight Morgan Stanley said investors should continue to buy the dip in shares of Nvidia despite reports of AI chips supply constraints. "NVIDIA is selling off sharply because of guidance from a key OEM customer (SMCI, not covered) for systems revenues to decline slightly in the September quarter. While it is generally clearly understood by investors that this is a function of supply, not demand - specifically supply of NVIDIA GPUs - we are hearing general consternation about some of the complex dynamics of triangulating very strong supply chain to q/q growth." TD Cowen reiterates Home Depot as outperform TD said the stock is best-in-class heading into earnings next week. " HD: Best-In-Class Operator With Attractive Offensive & Defensive Characteristics." Deutsche Bank names Walmart and Ulta as top picks Deutsche said it sees upside to estimates for Walmart due to GLP-1 obesity drugs. The firm also said Ulta is well positioned into earnings later this month. "Our top picks are WMT and ULTA: 1) WMT = continued sales momentum fueled by grocery share gains and upside from GLP-1 with ability to drive better margins starting in 2H, and 2) ULTA = large share price correction and likely cleaner set-up into results with upside to SSS vs. consensus and FY outlook." Citi downgrades Petrobras to neutral from buy Citi downgraded the Brazilian petroleum company mainly due to political risks. " PBR may continue to follow international prices but with a strategy that differs from that of the past, with a poor PPI correlation." Oppenheimer names Freshpet a top idea Oppenheimer added the stock as a top pick and said it likes the company's management. "Based on our work, we are re-adding FRPT to top pick status and raising our price target to $100. We are now increasingly confident in management's ability to deliver on both top and bottom-line targets following more robust volume trends lately, coupled with significant progress on driving profit improvements." Read more about this call here. Wedbush upgrades Roblox to outperform from neutral Wedbush upgraded the stock after its earnings report, noting it's compelling. "On balance, however, Roblox may have the most compelling growth trajectory among the video game names in our coverage universe after taking into account its user base size, its new products, and the potential to revisit its approach to profits." Read more about this call here. Morgan Stanley upgrades Kornit Digital to overweight from equal weight Morgan Stanley said investors should buy the dip on shares of the digital printing company. " Kornit's stock fell 21% today, after reporting a relatively in-line quarter but guiding down 2H revenue about 7% below Consensus expectations." Bank of America reiterates Disney as buy Bank of America said it's standing by its buy rating on the stock after Wednesday's earnings and that its valuation is attractive. "Near term catalysts include: (1) additional updates on the strategic outlook (including potentially rationalizing the asset base) for DIS with a positive message likely at the Analyst event in September and (2) upside to initial cost saving plan." Read more about this call here. Jefferies upgrades Global Payments to buy from hold Jefferies said the payments company "renewed scarcity value." "With few stories/set-ups improving coming out of 2Q, we believe GPN has a renewed scarcity value with estimates in a safer place and a depressed multiple that makes for an asymmetric risk/reward." Truist downgrades Penn to hold from buy Truist said more time is needed to digest the company's deal with ESPN. " PENN reported an in-line Q2, though the ESPN announcement was the focus. With the stock outperforming today, we're opportunistically downgrading to Hold as we think the market will take time to digest this new deal." Read more about this call here. Goldman Sachs reiterates Palo Alto Networks as buy Goldman said it sees an improved setup heading into Palo Alto earnings next week. "We believe the set up for the stock is improving into the Aug 18 EPS and Analyst Day Event." DA Davidson upgrades GoodRx Holdings to buy from neutral DA upgraded the prescription drug company after its earnings report and says it has "increased confidence in the company's ability to achieve revised numbers." " GoodRx reported a fine 2Q, then provided mixed guidance as management evolves the business and works through short-term headwinds in the process of putting the company on firmer footing." Bank of America reiterates Nio as buy Bank of America raised its price target on the electric vehicle company to $15.40 per share from $13 and said it sees solid delivery momentum continuing after the company's July deliveries report. " NIO reported July deliveries of 20.5k units, up 104% YoY/ 91% MoM [month over month]." Bank of America reiterates Tesla as neutral Bank of America said it's standing by its neutral rating on the stock as cutting prices is keeping margins under pressure. " TSLA benefited from volume growth, but price cuts pressured margins to levels that resemble traditional OEM [original equipment manufacturers margins." Former US president and 2024 Republican Presidential hopeful Donald Trump arrives to speak at the Republican Party of Iowa's 2023 Lincoln Dinner at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 28, 2023. Former President Donald Trump said he would not sign the loyalty pledge that is a requirement for participating in the upcoming first Republican presidential primary debate. Trump has already met the other criteria, including minimum donor and polling thresholds, to participate in the debate set for Aug. 23 in Milwaukee. But Trump, the clear front-runner for the Republican nomination, said Wednesday night that he would not sign a candidate pledge agreeing to support the eventual party nominee, no matter who it is. "I wouldn't sign the pledge. Why would I sign a pledge if there are people on there that I wouldn't have?" Trump asked in an interview on Newsmax. "So they want you to sign a pledge, but I can name three or four people that I wouldn't support for President. So right there there's a problem," Trump said. The former president has repeatedly signaled he plans to skip the debates, contending that there was no point in exposing himself to a barrage of attacks from his rivals who are far behind him in the polls. This photo illustration shows an image of former President Donald Trump next to a phone screen that is displaying the Truth Social app, in Washington, DC, on February 21, 2022. The social media company owned by former President Donald Trump in March tipped off the FBI about threats made by a Utah man who was fatally shot Wednesday by FBI agents as they attempted to arrest him for threatening to kill President Joe Biden, NBC News reported. Truth Social notified the FBI after Craig Deleeuw Robertson posted a threat to kill Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr., according to a senior law enforcement official who spoke to NBC. Bragg is prosecuting Trump for allegedly falsifying business records related to a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Robertson, 75, was armed when FBI agents confronted him at his home in Provo on Wednesday morning and pointed his weapon at agents and did not respond to their commands before they fatally shot him, a senior official told NBC. Agents were there to arrest him on a federal criminal complaint accusing him of making death threats against Biden, Bragg and FBI agents. Robertson was killed hours before Biden arrived in Utah for a visit. Martha Stewart was famously accused of insider trading in the early 2000s, but she didn't face criminal insider trading charges. Instead, Stewart was found guilty and went to prison for obstruction of justice, conspiracy and making false statements. This prosecutorial choice may have been due to how the law is written. "It is incredibly difficult to prove an insider trading case," said Daniel Taylor, a forensic accounting professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "Congress has never actually defined what insider trading was and explicitly outlawed it." "Insider trading is judge-made law," said John Reed Stark, former head of the Office of Internet Enforcement at the Securities Exchange Commission. "There's no definition of insider trading." The SEC adopted an amendment to a rule that will "enhance investor protections against insider trading." The Department of Justice prosecuted the first insider trading case exclusively based on the rule in March 2023. The burden of proof for a criminal case requires proving intent. "It is incredibly difficult [to prove intent] without some smoking gun of epic proportions, like an email that says, 'hey, we're going to manipulate this stock this week, let's all get the gang together,'" said Stark. Sometimes intent is even unclear to the person engaging in the market abuse. "One of the biggest reasons people go to trial or do not agree with their plea agreement with the United States government is because they'll say, 'I did not have bad intentions. I didn't mean to do this. I was swept into this,'" said Justin Paperny, co-founder and director of White Collar Advice. Paperny pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud in 2007. After serving time in federal prison, he now guides those accused of white-collar crimes through the investigation. "The biggest thing that our team hears every single day: 'I've been indicted for a white-collar crime. Why? I did not have bad intentions.' The government cares about the result. What did your action lead to? Victims' losses and pain. Too many defendants are unable to reconcile and understand that." Despite the high burden of proof prosecutors must meet to get a conviction, Paperny says the criminal justice system leans in the government's favor. Many defendants feel pressure to plead guilty out of fear of getting a harsher sentence if they lose at trial, he said. "In my experience, it has not been hard for the Department of Justice to prove cases," Paperny added. "I would argue the DOJ is not going to bring a case unless they know they can win. ... Even when it's dubious or they're unsure and they bring a case, as we know, the lion's share of defendants plead guilty." Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) clarified on Thursday that all reclamation projects in Manila Bay are suspended, contrary to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.s earlier statement that one was allowed to push through. Actually po upon clarification with the president, and as you will see in the suspension (order), all are under review, Environment Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said in a Palace briefing. According to the DENR chief, there are roughly 22 projects being evaluated. Asked to confirm if the suspension is already in effect following reports that some reclamation activities were still ongoing as of Wednesday, Loyzaga said, As soon as the president speaks, I think that will be in effect. On Monday, Marcos announced that all reclamation projects have been suspended, except one which has finished review. Loyzaga clarified, however, that the suspension order was issued only after the president made such a statement. She said while the DENR has indeed begun assessing the projects, it doesnt have the authority to suspend them. Loyzaga also noted that some companies have yet to be formally notified of the directive. "The 22 projects will be written to," she said. "Some of them have already been written to, on the part of DENR, in terms of the compliance review. So, regardless of whether suspended sila or hindi, gagawin namin ang review for compliance [So, regardless of whether the projects were suspended or not, we will conduct the review for compliance]. It is not yet clear when the suspension will be lifted. We have to take our time, really beginning with those (projects) that are ongoing because they are in fact already impacting the areas. And then we will graduate to those that [have], in fact, still not yet begun, Loyzaga explained. The Environment secretary also said that while she cannot speak for the president as to why he decided to halt the operations, Marcos has been aware of the economic, environmental, social impacts of the reclamation. Concerns have been raised by some groups over the projects' potential adverse effects on the environment. Lawmakers have also flagged possible national security implications, in light of the United States embassys report that the projects have ties to a Chinese firm which helped Beijing construct and militarize artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea. The embassy also said the company supposedly engages in fraudulent business practices." Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) A lawmaker on Thursday questioned the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) about the huge amount of confidential and intelligence funds of some government agencies under the proposed 5.768 trillion national budget for 2024. Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel asked Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman how such funds can help the economy. "Para bang pinapayagan ng DBM ang ganitong kalakaran sa iba't-ibang mga ahensya. Ang question ko po, ano ang naitutulong confidential at intelligence funds sa ekonomiya?" the solon asked during the start of budget deliberations at the House of Representatives. [Translation: It seemed that the DBM allows this scheme in different agencies. My question is, how can confidential and intelligence funds help the economy?] Of the 10.14 billion allotted across agencies, 5.27 billion is earmarked for intelligence expenses, while 4.86 billion is for confidential expenses. Per agency, 4.5 billion in confidential and intelligence funds will be allocated for the Office of the President. The Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, both spearheaded by Vice President Sara Duterte, have allocations reaching 500 million and 150 million, respectively. Meanwhile, the Department of National Defense has 1.7 billion in confidential and intelligence funds under the proposed budget. However, the DBM chief did not completely answer Manuel's query. "Mayroon pong existing guidelines and definition on confidential and intelligence funds. Under the GAA, intelligence funds if used as, shall be released, and disbursed for intelligence activities only," Pangandaman tried to explain. [Translation: There are existing guidelines and definition on confidential and intelligence funds. Under the GAA, intelligence funds if used as, shall be released, and disbursed for intelligence activities only.] "Confidential funds are authorized in this act and shall be released and disbursed only upon approval of department secretary, and can be used to, related to surveillance activities in civilian government agencies that are intended to support the mandate or operations of the agency," she added. The Kabataan Party-list representative also asked why the Office of the President needs to have intelligence funds. Pangandaman briefly responded: "For Office of the President, mayroon po silang (they have) PSG, Presidential Security Group." Just before finishing his period of interpellation, Manuel noted that he did not get a clear answer from the DBM. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) Environment Secretary Ma. Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga on Thursday maintained she is "not easily scared" after Senator Cynthia Villar said the Cabinet official supposedly expressed fear that people behind the reclamation projects in Manila Bay are influential. "I don't know many of you, but you can ask the people who do know me. I'm not easily scared," Loyzaga told reporters during a Palace briefing. In a Senate hearing the day before, Villar said Loyzaga shared that she has fears regarding reclamation activities in Manila Bay, which some are opposing due to their possible social, economic, and national security implications. "The problem is, I talked to Secretary Loyzaga about this. Eh medyo takot siya kasi 'yung mga magre-reclaim, mga influential sa Pilipinas...Sabi ko 'wag kang matakot. Kung mali, mali. Kung tama, tama," Villar said during an inquiry on the flooding situation in Metro Manila and nearby provinces. [Translation: The problem is, I talked to Secretary Loyzaga about this. She's somewhat scared, because those behind the reclamation are influential in the Philippines...I told her not to be afraid. If it's wrong, it's wrong. If it's right, it's right.] Loyzaga did not answer the question on who these powerful figures Villar was pertaining to. She only said she considers the senator's statement as one merely made out of "concern." "And I'm very grateful for our interaction, 'no? Senator Cynthia and I have been really conversing very deeply on this issue of reclamation and environmental impacts," the secretary said. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the suspension of reclamation projects in Manila Bay, as the Department of Environment looks into their possible adverse impact and firms' compliance with environmental laws. Loyzaga said if violations are found, companies behind the reclamation will be given time to implement corrective measures. If they do not comply, their environmental compliance certificate may be suspended, she added. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is tapping the private sector in the fight against malnutrition. The agency is finalizing a partnership with the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) for data collection and analytics, as well as spreading awareness on proper nutrition. "Ang engagement natin sa Management Association of the Philippines ay tulungan tayo sa baseline data. Alam naman natin laging hirap ang gobyerno at lahat tayo sa data," DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said at the MAP general membership meeting on Thursday. [Translation: Our engagement with the Management Association of the Philippines is to help us with the baseline data. We know that the government and all of us are always struggling with data.] While they have yet to officially sign a deal, Gatchalian said his department has already begun working with the private organization on the nutrition education aspect, as well as the pilot run of the food stamp program. "That's our role basically to lend management expertise in the whole system of food stamps, and not only that, but also the PMNP or the Philippine Multisectoral Nutrition Program" MAP President Benedicta Du-Baladbad said. Earlier this year, MAP launched its Campaign Against Malnutrition and Child Stunting. The group has the participating companies contribute in the form of direct and indirect services, funding, data analytics and management. "We already have 70 organizations that are in the fold. They are classified into depending on what they are doing. And we have now a complete array of organizations that can lend a hand to all these poverty programs and child stunting," Baladbad said. Baladbad added that among MAP's goals are addressing malnutrition and child stunting as the group believes these pervasive problems will affect the future to the labor force. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) House Deputy Majority Leader Erwin Tulfo on Thursday warned about possible security threat after crew members of Chinese vessels docked in Manila Bay were seen being transported to areas around the bay. Citing information from House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Tulfo told CNN Philippines' The Source his team conducted a surveillance around the Manila Bay area. I have videos na yung Manila Bay right now parang nakaparada 'yung Chinese militia vessels Ito ngayon naging concern ni Speaker Romualdez na napakarami raw barko diyan ng China and then hes been receiving reports that the crews of these vessels they come down at night to party in Pasay, Roxas Boulevard, and MOA (Mall of Asia), Tulfo said. [Translation: I have videos showing Chinese militia vessels docked in Manila Bay now. This is now the concern of Speaker Romualdez because they are so many and then hes been receiving reports that the crews of these vessels they come down at night to party in Pasay, Roxas Boulevard, and MOA.] And I said Sir baka hindi po. What if members ito ng Peoples Liberation Army or intelligence community ng China getting information right now sa Metro Manila then nalalagay sa alanganin ang ating national security o baka na-compromise na, he added. [Translation: And I said Sir maybe no. What if they are members of the Peoples Liberation Army or intelligence community of China getting information in Metro Manila then that threatens our national security or maybe it was already compromised.] Tulfo along with other congressmen from ACT-CIS Party-list filed House Resolution no. 1171 calling for an inquiry to look into the security implications and other possible impacts of the presence of all foreign ships in Manila Bay. Based on the surveillance his team conducted, Tulfo said up to 60 Chinese vessels are in Manila Bay. He noted these are involved in dredging and reclamation activities in the area and have been there for several months already. Lawmakers earlier expressed concerns over the Manila Bay reclamation project involving Chinese Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC), which is also linked to the building of artificial islands in the South China Sea. Assuming that each ship has 20 personnel, it means there are over 1,000 Chinese crew who are possibly freely going to Philippine land. They use smaller boats of Filipinos for a fee so they can be transported, Tulfo said. While the Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Immigration are pointing fingers at each other on who should really monitor these vessels, the latter has said that the Chinese crew cannot disembark because they do not have working visas, he added. He also said the resolution will be assigned to the appropriate House committee on Monday for the conduct of hearings. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) With the Marcos administration intending to fund around half of its infrastructure flagship projects with official development assistance (ODA), Gabriela Women's Party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas raised concerns that this "reliance on loans" may result in an additional 3 trillion in debt by 2024. During budget deliberations at the House of Representatives on Thursday, Brosas questioned the sources of funding for the 194 infrastructure flagship projects approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board worth about 9 trillion. NEDA Sec. Arsenio Balisacan answered that the projects would be funded through private-public partnerships (PPPs), government appropriations, and the ODA or loans contracted by the Philippines with other foreign governments, and are administered to sustain the social and economic welfare of the country. Balisacan specified that the ODA will cover 82 projects, while 47 will be funded by PPPs. READ: Marcos govt's PPP strategy for infrastructure 'a step forward' think tank "Kung 42% ay popondohan ng utang [If 47% will be funded by loans], is this why the Marcos administration is planning to incur an additional 3 billion debt in 2024?" Brosas asked. "This reliance on loans will result in an additional 3 trillion debt in 2024, bringing the total outstanding debt to 15.8 trillion by the end of the year, she added. Balisacan argued that the infrastructure projects would boost economic growth, creating more jobs and improving the lives of Filipinos, and therefore lower the country's debt. "The intention here in getting these projects is to expand the size of our economic pie even as we incur debt. That debt is going to fall in relation to the size of economy," the NEDA chief maintained. "With a projected debt per capita of around 138,764 for each Filipino by 2024, it is evident that the proposed budget will burden the Filipino people with more debt, Brosas said. The lawmaker also pointed out the substantial difference in the proposed budgets for infrastructure and social protection programs 1.4 trillion and 204.6 billion, respectively. "This raises questions about the direction we are heading towards a 'Bagong Pilipinas' or a 'Budol Pilipinas' where the focus is on accumulating more debt rather than prioritizing the needs of the people," Brosas emphasized. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) The mother of the 17-year-old boy mistakenly killed by police in Navotas on Aug. 2 will be repatriated from Qatar, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) announced on Thursday. DMW officer-in-charge and Undersecretary Bernard Olalia said Rodaliza Baltazar is now with the agency's migrant workers office in Doha, waiting for her flight back home. Olalia added that the DMW and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration will jointly provide 100,000 financial assistance and will shoulder funeral and burial expenses of her child. Navotas Mayor John Rey Tiangco also vowed on Thursday to provide assistance to the bereaved family. "We at the city government extend our sincerest condolences to the family of the victim and vow to give them the assistance they need," Tiangco said. "We owe it to the victim and his family to give them the speedy justice they deserve," he added. Jemboy Baltazar was shot and killed by cops while he and his friend were cleaning the boat that they use for work. Police admitted after the incident that they mistakenly identified Baltazar as a murder suspect. On Wednesday, Navotas City police chief Col. Allan Umipig said six police personnel involved in the fatal shooting are now facing homicide complaints. READ: 6 Navotas cops relieved from post, face homicide complaints for fatal shooting of minor He added that police officers tagged in the killing have been relieved from their posts and are currently detained at the Navotas City Police Station. Philippine National Police Internal Affairs Service Inspector General Alfegar Triambulo on Tuesday said he has directed the District Internal Affairs Service in the Northern Police District to investigate Baltazars death. The identities of the six officers involved have yet to be disclosed. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) Government officials and employees should be given the opportunity to correct errors and omissions made in their statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), the Supreme Court said in a recently released document. "Based on the determination that a SALN had not been submitted on time, is incomplete, or is not in proper form the head of office has five days to perform the ministerial duty to inform the official or employee concerned and direct them to take the necessary corrective action," the high court said. It said the official then has a non-extendable 30-day period to make the corrections upon receiving the order. If after the period the official or employee does not comply with the order, disciplinary action will be taken. The high court cited the case of Jessie Javier Carlos, a tax specialist with the Department of Finance, who was found guilty of grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty in 2014 and dismissed for allegedly failing to disclose properties, business interests, and vehicles, as well as his liabilities in the SALN. "In his defense, Carlos alleged that he completed his SALNs in good faith and that he should have been given an opportunity to correct his alleged omissions or mistakes," the document said. On the charges, Carlos said he complied with the disclosure requirement of RA 6713 and RA 3019, adding that the alleged omissions were not directly related to his obligations. Carlos' petition to reverse the decision was granted in part although he was found guilty of dishonesty. In Carlos' petition, the Supreme Court said he could not be held liable for the omissions and errors in his SALN because of "the government's failure to comply with the review and compliance procedure in Section 10 of Republic Act No. 6713." The law said heads of office are required to determine if SALNs are complete. The SC decision said this "institutes a mechanism for review and an opportunity to rectify errors, specifically with respect to: (1) failure to submit on time; (2) incomplete SALNs; and formally defective SALNs." It was Carlos who was behind the attack at the Resorts World Manila in 2017. He was killed by authorities after a shooting spree at the gaming area of the luxury hotel and casino in Pasay City. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) A Philippine Coast Guard official called out what he described as "unpatriotic actions" by those who make excuses for the aggressive behavior from China. "If you are a Filipino, whether in government or private sector, regardless of your politics, defending and making excuses for China's aggressive behavior should deem you unpatriotic, and a traitor to the Philippines and to our people. Given current developments in the West Philippine Sea, it is important to show loyalty to country," said PCG spokesperson for WPS Commodore Jay Tarriela in a tweet on Thursday Over the weekend, the Chinese Coast Guard used water cannons on Philippine vessels on a mission to resupply troops on board the BRP Sierra Madre stationed in Ayungin Shoal. The incident drew strong reactions from government officials, including President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who said the vessel will remain where it is. And should an agreement exist seeking to remove the Sierra Madre from its location, the president said it was now rescinded. According to a statement by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Manila made a commitment to remove the vessel, but has yet to act on it. Beijing also accused the Philippines of wanting to permanently occupy Ayungin Shoal. RELATED: AFP chief: China's use of water cannon on PH boats 'short of declaring war' In his tweet, Tarriela said Filipinos' right to free speech should not be misused. "It should not be misused as a means to justify unpatriotic actions by acting as China's mouthpiece," he said. "All Filipinos should unite in calling out China's aggressive and unlawful actions in the West Philippine Sea. Together, we should stand united in protecting our nation's interests and pursuing a peaceful resolution to the issues." Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) House Deputy Majority Leader Erwin Tulfo said the government is looking into possible solutions as prices of onions increase again, even reaching as high as 200 per kilogram. Speaking to CNN Philippines' The Source on Thursday, Tulfo said senior House officials on Wednesday met with Speaker Martin Romualdez, who expressed concern over the rising cost of onions. The House leader warned traders and hoarders to release their supply, otherwise authorities will be instructed to raid their storages, Tulfo said. If it proves ineffective, importation will be implemented upon the approval of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., he added. "Ngayon, wala na sa kamay ng farmers, ng onion growers 'yung products nila, naibenta na nila, so this is the right time to import from overseas ng mga onion dahil mas mura doon and the government or the importers can sell it to 90 per kilo, so malaking kabawasan, 'yun ang sinasabi ng gobyerno," Tulfo said. [Translation: The products of farmers and onion growers are no longer in their hands since they've already sold it, so this is the right time to import onions since it's cheaper and the government or the importers can sell it at 90 per kilogram, which is a big relief, that is what the government is saying.] The government early this year approved the importation of 21,060 metric tons of onions as prices of the produce soared even reached 800 per kilogram. This time, Tulfo said lawmakers believe that hoarders and traders are taking advantage of the situation when Congress is dealing with other issues, like those involving the West Philippine Sea and the New Bilibid Prison, to increase the prices of onions. Tulfo said the importation of onions should push traders and hoarders to release their supply, or else these will be wasted. "Sige pag hindi nyo inilabas 'yan mabubulok 'yang stocks ninyo, babahain namin ang market ng mga imported na sibuyas then babagsak yung presyo," he explained. [Translation: If you do not release your supply, your stocks will rot, we will flood the markets with imported onions then the price will fall.] According to the Department of Agriculture's price monitoring on Aug. 9 across Metro Manila markets, local red onion costs as much as 190 per kilogram, which slightly decreased from last week's 200, and local white onion costs as much as 170 per kilogram from 180 a week ago. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) The Ukrainian government said countries like the Philippines should be "genuinely interested" in their victory against the Russian invasion since this would send a strong message against aggressors, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told CNN Philippines on Tuesday. "When Ukraine wins, the message will be simple. It doesn't matter how big you are or how strong you are, the world that stands against aggression will always be stronger," Kuleba said in a one-on-one interview. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister said while the rule of law must prevail, there is also a need to strengthen military capabilities to defend one's territory. "Build your army and defend the rule of law. There is no better choice for any country in the world. The rule of law could not defend you if you don't have an army that will be fighting for you and vice versa," Kuleba said. Over 500 days since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, the foreign minister warned that instability will remain if the war lasts any longer. "The world will continue to suffer from instability, and more maligned actors across the globe will be tempted to follow Russians footprints and challenge [the] borders of their neighbors," Kuleba added. Ukrainian FM: War leaves traces Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced since the war, and the Ukrainian minister said it's difficult to put a number on how many have been affected by the invasion. "War leaves traces and scars on the souls and bodies of all Ukrainians," Kuleba said. "I cannot imagine any single family in Ukraine that will not be affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine one way or another. Some were traumatized by the war, some lost a member of the family, some were injured and some were traumatized by missile attacks," the foreign minister added. Kuleba said there are two tracks when it comes to the rebuilding process. "Fast recovery is what we have to rebuild here, and now to make hospital work, to give people a roof over their heads and to fix energy, infrastructure destroyed by Russian missiles," he said. "Long-term recovery will be possible if [there are] those willing to invest money in Ukraine. But that happens when there [are] sufficient security guarantees on the ground and that these facilities will not be destroyed again by Russia," Kuleba added. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 10) Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba hopes more countries will show support for Ukraine's peace formula, which not only aims to end the Russian invasion, but also to become a basis in ending other potential military conflicts in other parts of the world. In an exclusive interview with CNN Philippines on Tuesday, the foreign minister said Ukraine will welcome support for the peace plan from ASEAN countries like the Philippines. "We will welcome Philippines' engagement with peace formula," Kuleba said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously said the 10-point formula is so far the only diplomatic way to achieve peace following Russia's aggression. Dozens of countries took part in a conference hosted by Saudi Arabia on Aug. 4 aiming to gather support for the Ukrainian peace initiative and demand that Russia withdraw its troops from Ukraine. "We welcome different engagement with ASEAN countries, especially with the peace formula with Ukraine. We are ready to enter as many doors as ASEAN countries will be willing to us," Kuleba added. Ukrainian FM: We need to do more to stop Russian aggression The top Ukrainian diplomat also said many countries have expressed their support in various forms from United Nations General Assembly resolutions, to providing arms and imposing economic sanctions. "When we win the war, I will publicly and openly say to every country in the world thank you for your help. It's enough to win but until then its not enough and we have to do more and this is the logic of a country fighting for existence and territorial integrity," Kuleba said. "Unfortunately, as of now we don't see any indicators that Russia is seeking peace and this missile attack is another evidence of that because you don't behave like this when you seek peace," he added. Over 500 days since the war broke out in Ukraine, Kuleba said they continue to make progress in taking back their territory. But the scars from the war will be forever etched in their memories. "Every day our soldiers move forward, sometimes one, two kilometers per day, it can be 500 meters the other day. But we keep moving forward," Kuleba said. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said since the invasion, over 8 million people fled Ukraine and 5.3 million have been displaced. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 9) The country has no plans yet to deploy more Philippine ships in Ayungin Shoal due to a shortage of vessels, according to Armed Forces (AFP) Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner Jr. "Well, right now we don't have any plans of adding more ships that we're going to moor at the Ayungin Shoal," Brawner told CNN Philippines' Politics As Usual on Wednesday. "Not a good plan because definitely we will need all of our ships to be able to sail our seas and we don't have enough ships," he added. Over the weekend, the Chinese Coast Guard used water cannons on Philippine vessels on a mission to resupply troops on board the BRP Sierra Madre. The World War II-era ship was intentionally grounded in Ayungin Shoal in 1999 to serve as the country's military outpost in the West Philippine Sea. READ: Sending supplies to BRP Sierra Madre within PH rights, cannot be meddled with READ: Marcos: Rescind deal with China to remove BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin Shoal if it exists WATCH: Sir, As the parliamentary elections approach, it is crucial for us as responsible citizens to reect on the signicance of our votes and the potential impact they hold for our nations future. I wrote to highlight an issue that demands our attention; the need for voters to make informed decisions rather than succumbing to the allure of immediate benets such as food parcels. While it is commendable that certain individuals and organisations provide food parcels to those in need, it is disheartening to witness the manipulation of such acts for personal or political gain. The distribution of food parcels, particularly during election campaigns, has become an unfortunate tool used to exploit the vulnerability of citizens and inuence their voting choices. It is essential for voters to understand that accepting food parcels in exchange for their votes compromises the integrity of our democratic process. Power The practice undermines the principles of fair representation and the power of individual choice. By accepting these parcels, voters inadvertently surrender their right to select candidates based on merit vision and the ability to address the nations challenges effectively. As citizens, we hold the responsibility to elect ocials who will work diligently to improve our communities, address pressing issues and foster inclusive growth. Therefore, it is imperative that we remain vigilant and cautious, ensuring that our votes are not swayed by temporary benets that may lead to long-term consequences. Awareness To combat this issue, we must encourage open dialogue and awareness among our fellow citizens. Community leaders, civil society organisations and the media play a vital role in educating the public about the importance of informed voting. Additionally, political candidates should be held accountable for their actions, and their motives should be scrutinised to ensure they genuinely prioritize the welfare of the nation over personal or partisan interests. Furthermore, it is the duty of election authorities and law enforcement agencies to closely monitor campaign activities and take appropriate action against those who exploit vulnerable individuals through the distribution of food parcels or any other form of bribery. Safeguard Strict enforcement of electoral laws and regulations is essential to safeguard the democratic process and promote fair and transparent elections. In conclusion, it is our collective responsibility to safeguard the integrity of our electoral system and ensure that our votes are not inuenced by short-term gains. Let us encourage our fellow citizens to be critical thinkers, to scrutinise candidates platforms, and to cast their votes based on a comprehensive understanding of the issues at hand. By doing so, we can help shape a future where our parliamentary representatives are elected based on their competence, dedication and commitment to serving the nations best interests. While concerns around the existential threat to the human race due to possible generative AI advancements have been grabbing headlines of late, theres a much more current and arguably real concern discrimination. Although major players in the AI market have affirmed their commitment to diversity and inclusion in their workplace, with women and people of color still finding themselves underrepresented in the technology industry, theres a fear that the training received by AI models will be inherently biased. Its a concern shared by both industry professionals and political bodies alike. In June of this year, European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager argued that AI-fueled discrimination poses a greater risk to society than the prospect of human extinction. Elsewhere, the UKs Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has expressed concern that current proposals regarding the regulation of AI in the country are inadequate to protect human rights, noting that while responsible and ethical use of AI can bring many benefits, we recognize that with increased use of AI comes an increased risk of existing discrimination being exacerbated by algorithmic biases. Helen Kelisky, the managing director of Google Cloud UK and Ireland, believes that attracting and retaining a diverse workforce is the key to addressing this challenge, arguing that having teams made up of talent from different backgrounds and with different perspectives is vital to the training of these systems to safeguard models from problems such as replicating social biases. Computerworld talked to Kelisky about the importance of having diverse AI teams. The following are the excerpts from the interview. Why is it so important for AI companies to ensure they have a diverse workforce particularly when it comes to their technical teams? Google Helen Kelisky. As optimistic as I am about the potential of AI, we have to recognize that it must be developed responsibly. If AI technologies are to be truly successful, they cannot leave certain groups behind or perpetuate any existing biases. However, an AI system can only be as good as the data it is trained on, and with humans controlling the data and criteria behind every AI-enhanced solution, more diverse human input means better results. Outputs of any AI system are limited to the demographic makeup of its creators, and therefore subject to the unintentional biases that this team might have. If an AI tool is only able to recognize one accent, tone, or language, the number of people able to benefit from that tool significantly reduces. For example, if a technical team is made up of predominantly white men, facial recognition systems could be inadvertently trained to recognize this demographic more easily than anyone else. What are the consequences of not having diverse teams? Strong representation means stronger products. AI algorithms and data sets have the power to reflect and reinforce unfair biases related to characteristics including race, ethnicity, gender, ability, and more. Unfortunately, were already seeing this reinforcement happen in the real world, with some image recognition software identifying photographs of Asian people as blinking, and one study reporting that Black people encounter almost twice as many errors as white people when using Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) technologies in the US. An AI tool not able to recognize the face, accent, or language of demographic groups that may have traditionally faced discrimination only serves to add to that discrimination. It can heighten barriers to diversity, equity, and inclusivity across the countless areas where AI should be implemented as a force for good like recruitment, healthcare provision, and security. Are AI vendors taking this into consideration when building their teams? At Google Cloud, this drive for diversity applies to our approach to AI development and as part of our AI principles, we seek to avoid creating or reinforcing unfair bias. One way we are delivering on this is via the AI Principles Ethics Fellowship, through which we trained a diverse set of employees from across 17 global offices in responsible AI. Additionally, we created an updated version of the program tailored to managers and leaders, embedding Googles AI principles across 10 product areas, including Cloud. We also have a number of career development and promotion programs in place and achieved our racial equity commitment goal of increasing leadership representation of Black, Latino, and Native American Googlers by 30%. We are also proud to have the highest-ever representation of women in tech, non-tech, and leadership roles globally. Discrimination is obviously a complex issue. How can AI vendors work to mitigate it? Are diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives the solution? Mitigating discrimination is a cause that impacts every level of an organization, but it starts with the hiring process and prioritizing ways to actively tackle unconscious bias in the recruitment process to attract diverse talent. Its easy to hire in your own image, but theres nothing more dangerous than a homogenous leadership team or indeed a homogenous AI development team. Of course, the work doesnt stop at the point of entry. Fighting against discrimination is an ongoing battle, and must be a focus for all employees, all of the time. At Google, we ensure our managers are educated and knowledgeable about diversity so they can better support every member of their teams. Whilst increased education and representation cant guarantee the complete removal of discrimination, its a good place to start. The skills gap in the technology sector is continuing to grow. Is enough being done to encourage diverse candidates to enter the industry? An underlying factor contributing to the skills gap is the lack of access under-represented groups have to careers in tech. According to the Alan Turing Institute, only 22% of data and AI professionals in the UK are women. With more people using AI every day, plugging the skills gap and diversifying new talent is a vitally important issue that the industry needs to do more to solve. The sector can also improve the talent pipeline through better collaboration. In May 2022, we launched Project Katalyst in collaboration with our partner Generation, which reached out to underrepresented groups in the UK who wanted to gain experience and improve technical skills. As part of the project, we train cohorts of talented young people and are then able to offer them job opportunities through our partners and customers. For some years now, research has shown that the more diverse a workforce, a leadership team, or a company board is, the better the decision making leading to increased financial performance. The same applies to the AI models. The more diverse the input the more relevant the output. Apple notched another victory in its ongoing campaign to protect App Store profits after a US Supreme Court justice denied an attempt by Epic to force the iPhone maker to change payment practices. As widely reported, Justice Elena Kagan denied Epics attempt to reverse a prior court decision to delay implementation of an injunction against Apples decision to force developers to only use its own payment systems for apps. Kagans decision means Apple can continue to run its App Store business as it already does, pending an appeal of that earlier case. A short history of the Epic case Epic in 2020 filed an antitrust suit against Apple, who it accused of being a monopolist because it insists consumers only acquire apps via the App Store, charging up to 30% commission on each sale. While the truth is that the vast majority of developers pay just a 15% commission, that 30% number resonated and became unfairly known as an Apple tax." The judge in that lawsuit, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers didnt agree with nine out of 10 of the antitrust claims but did find Apple to be in breach of California's Unfair Competition Law by insisting developers only use its own payment methods. She rejected Apples argument that opening up payments could expose customers to fraud and other scams and declared that the company should permit developers to link to external payment services. That decision was put on hold, and Epic objected to that hold. That latter objection has now been declined by the Supreme Court, which means the Apple doesnt need to offer alternative payment services until the appeal is heard. That appeal isnt cut and dried, of course. Apple has until the end of the year to file it, but in the event the Supreme Court refuses to hear the case, the original ruling comes into effect. Winners and losers In basic terms, what's at stake is the opportunity for developers to take payments from consumers directly using services other than Apples. While this might help developers make more money from the sale, the actual cost of setting up and securing payment services means most will use existing alternative payment systems, all of which also charge fees. Apple, in its turn, seems to have prevailed in its arguments that the platform it offers developers on which to do business is its own, which means it is entitled to charge something and will charge some form of fee. In the Netherlands, where local regulations require it to permit developers of dating apps to support external payment systems, Apple is demanding 27% of sales, no matter which payment system is used. In its latest court filing, the company argued that a stay be put on opening up payments, because: "Apple will be required to change its business model to comply with the injunction before judicial review has been completed. The undisputed evidence establishes that the injunction will limit Apple's ability to protect users from fraud, scams, malware, spyware, and objectionable content." Deepwater Asset Management co-founder, Gene Munster offered the following observation. Calling this a Big day in Cupertino, he explained the decision means Apple will be able to maintain App Store revenue at the current levels, and could also reduce the chance it will be forced to make changes to App Store policy in future. What I think I continue to believe much of this matter is a storm in a teacup. Apple does not charge the majority of developers more than 15%, in exchange for which they gain access to a highly secure market of 1.4 billion users on the highly engaged platform Apple built from scratch. There are other smartphone platforms, so arguments that Apple is in some way a monopolist are also flawed. The biggest beneficiaries of the challenge to Apples system wont be consumers or smaller developers, but larger entities capable of running their own payment services. It is highly unlikely competition in App Store payments will help consumers stay safe or gain access to lower prices. The bigger developers will just keep more of the cash while consumers are exposed to potential fraud and Apple will be forced to raise the cost of doing business on its platforms in other ways. However, what the litigation has accomplished is to force Apple to improve the offer it makes to developers, including lowered commissions for small developers, better customer connections, wider price choices and improved developer support. Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolics bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe. MBABANE We do not see the need for a public apology as we have not broken any law. The above statement was made by proscribed entity, the Swaziland Youth Congress (SWAYOCO) Secretary General (SG) Mthobisi Ntshangase. His statement comes after the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Themba Masuku, called upon the political formation to make a public apology to the nation on Monday afternoon, following the participation of children during its celebration on Saturday. Principles Masuku said this was because the use of children in such activities was seen as contrary to the fundamental principles and rights of the Best interest of the Child, stipulated by the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child and the Childrens Protection and Welfare Act (CPWA), 2012. Ntshangase said if the DPM strongly felt that the law had been broken, he should officially write to the organisation and cite the law that was contravened. He said after receiving the complaint, they would also engage their legal team, should they find that the law was indeed contravened. For now, we still stand that there was no law that was broken considering what transpired during the day. He said both the CPWA and the Constitution were not broken in any way, including other legislation globally. Ntshangase said for now, they considered what the DPM said as accusations made towards the organisation, which were baseless. Membership According to Ntshangase, their membership included children from 14 years upwards. However, he stated that when it came to attendance of their activities, anyone was allowed, regardless of age, as long as they would not in any way be exposed to danger. He said the celebration was similar to any other activity, including community meetings, which were attended by anyone. Meanwhile, the DPM stated that they did not care whether or not the organisation issued an apology but were of the view that they had abused children. Masuku said as leaders, they should be aware of what the legislation said about abuse of children, in particular for their own gain. Matter handled by cops - DPM MBABANE The Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Themba Masuku, says the matter of the political formation, which allegedly abused children for its own gain, is being handled by the police. Masuku said as a guardian and custodian of the law, he felt the law was broken but did not have the power to arrest, hence the matter had been handed over to the police. As the custodian of the legislation, we alert the law enforcement, stated the DPM. When questioned if his office had tried to contact the childrens guardians, Masuku said it was part of the investigations as the parents had full responsibility and they should have been worried the moment they realised that their children were associated with the organisation. Fittingly, the question of which episode of South Park should be scrubbed from existence echoes the age-old debate of Giant Douche vs. Turd Sandwich. South Park has been on the air for 26 years, 26 seasons and 325 episodes. Seeing as the financial evaluation of the entire South Park library reportedly eclipsed $1 billion, theres obviously a lot of gold in that massive trove of TV. However, with such a high volume of output, theres bound to be a few duds episodes that either missed the mark or had unintentional consequences that changed the way hordes of South Park fans engage with their topical themes. The South Park subreddit posed an interesting question yesterday, with user arnethyst asking, You have the power to erase one South Park episode from existence. Which one, & why? The only parameters for the picks being that the episodes Pip, Jakovasaurs and Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus are off the table as the three are pretty much universally considered to be the weakest entries; Trey Parker once said of the formermost, Everyone, including us, hates Pip. Anyway, here are the South Park superfans choices for episodes to face existential erasure Stanley's Cup Bog2ElectricBoogaloo Play Advertisement The one where Mr. Garrison complains to his dad that he did not molest him as a kid so at the end his dad obliges. kilsta Play Advertisement def the one where ms garrison goes to the lesbian bar. the getting Mexicans to do the work for everyone is a fine joke, but the episode itself is just super boring. its a parody of 300, but in that season there was already a lot of parodys and this one falls flat. wont be missed if it was gone Say_Syce Play Advertisement Advertisement I didnt find White People Renovating Houses to be a particularly great episode, so Id probably give that one the axe. Ma02rc Play Advertisement Lice capades is the only right answer THegReatONE_XCIX Play Advertisement Advertisement The first time I watched Human CentIPad I got nauseous and couldn't finish. However, CUTTLEFISH AND ASPARAGUS somehow comes up in my life weekly. So Ill say Britneys New Look, which also grossed me out. kunderthunt Play Advertisement Probably been said but human centIpad RangerSevere1522 Play Advertisement Advertisement A Million Little Fibers numerous Play Advertisement Ziplining was preeety weak. Shaka brah! herberstank Play Advertisement Advertisement Given Trumps and (Trumpalikes) recent strategy for running for office, the reputation of politicians as people who are careful with every word has been pretty much decimated. At one point, they were famous for their tiptoeing, nothing answers, but now you can pretty much call someone a fat pig and get away with it. Sure, the center-middle-left of Twitter will clutch their pearls and call it shameful, but there is an incredible amount of pudding and the proof within it on display at this point. Back in the day, though, there was a good reason for all the hemming and hawing from the podium: a single slip-up could have dire consequences for the totality of your political goals. A lifetime of public service could go slithering down the drain like one big, honorable turd if you said one thing on mic that made you sound like an idiot. It didnt matter if it was a mistake probably half of Americans would make, you were supposed to be the smart guy around here! Here are five politicians who tanked their chances in the fewest words possible Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox. Advertisement 5 Dan Quayle Misspells Potato Public Domain Potatoe, Potatoeoe, what s the difference? George W. Bush was able to ride out a reputation for generally poor grammar and a less-than ideal grasp of the English language all the way to the White House. That must have stung especially for one of the men running against him early in the 2000 election, Dan Quayle. Quayle had been Vice President under Dubyas father, George H.W. Bush, until Bill Clinton was elected in 1992, and had similarly been tagged as a dull Crayon, but without the last name recognition to appease voters. The peak moment that hed never be able to escape came at an appearance at a New Jersey middle school. He was put in charge of a mock spelling bee, a run-of-the-mill hand-shaking and baby-kissing type photo-op that was about to go horribly wrong. When one of the children correctly spelled potato, which, if any of you are curious, is spelled potato, Quayle stepped in to suggest that it should have been potatoe. Not how you shake a rep for being smooth-brained. He blamed an inaccurate note card given to him by the school, but cmon, man. If youre not confident in your own ability to spell potato, you dont get nukes. 4 Gerald Fords Soviet Union Slipup Public Domain Probably didn t help that he looks like his mission is to crush the X-Men. When it comes to possible presidents, people generally prefer them to be current on world news. When that world news includes potential wartime adversaries, even more so. If someone asks in a debate what your stance on North Korea is, the worst possible answer is something along the lines of why, what are they doing over there? So when presidential candidate Gerald Ford displayed either a brain fart or a genuine confusion about what countries the Soviet Union was in control of, it made it pretty hard to recover. Even worse, it was during a televised debate, an instance in which its pretty hard to argue that you werent ready for the question. Whatd you do, leave the pack of note cards labeled Soviet Stuff on the Metro? Ford was debating future president Jimmy Carter when he said, There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, which prompted even the moderator to go, Im sorry, what? Its the political equivalent of an own goal, and a sign to Carter that he was home free. 3 George Allen Calls Someone A Macaca Public Domain It s like someone put Republican Governor into an A.I. art bot. This one might sound particularly weird, given that its a bit of racial insensitivity that tanked a senators career. Nowadays, thats basically their platform. Is it weird to say that a Republican candidate being overtly racist was ahead of his time? Kind of, but here we are. Shoulda held out for 2016, big fella! The politician in question was George Allen, a Virginia governor who has fallen so far from grace that Google now suggests on googling him, Did you mean third-string Bengals cornerback Allan George? The moment of his downfall came when he chose to acknowledge a volunteer for his opponents campaign, who just so unluckily happened to be taping him at the time. He started with This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, which, while certainly not friendly, is a perfectly acceptable way to pick someone out of a crowd. He then added a bit of politically devastating clarification on the Indian-American man he was indicating, calling him Macaca, or whatever his name is. He doubled down with, Lets give a welcome to Macaca here. Welcome to America. Generally dont want to follow up a made-up racist name with something neo-Nazis say after they do a hate crime in movies. He was not re-elected. 2 The Howard Dean Scream Edward Kimmel Howard Dean (not screaming) Maybe one of the most-cited gaffes in recent history to show just how precipitous a candidates public speaking engagements could be is Howard Deans famous scream. The earlier entries on this list needed at least a genuine idea that was stupid or offensive to pour sugar in their political gas tank. It turned out all Dean needed was unbridled enthusiasm and a single extremely unlucky voice crack. While at a 2004 rally, Dean attempted to punctuate the end of his speech with what I assume was meant to be a powerful war cry. Unfortunately for him, his vocal cords declined to acquiesce, and what came out, additionally isolated by the microphone, was the uneven squeal of a pre-teen karate student practicing a straight punch. From that moment on, I assume the DNC required vocal exercises, a tin of Fishermans Friend and a volume cap for all potential candidates. Advertisement Advertisement Johnny Hardwick, the comedian, writer and producer best known for his performance as Dale Gribble on King of the Hill, was found dead in his Texas home Tuesday, as confirmed by TMZ. Law enforcement visited Hardwicks home after being called for a welfare check, finding the actor and writer unresponsive. Hardwick was pronounced dead at the scene, and, at this time, no foul play is suspected, though no cause of death has yet been reported. An Austin, Texas native, Hardwick joined the King of the Hill writing staff when co-creator Greg Daniels saw him performing stand-up comedy. Hardwick would soon lend his talents to the voice cast, where his portrayal of Dale would become a fan favorite and one of the most memorable performances in all of animated comedy. Play Hardwick played the conspiracy-crazed exterminator, bounty hunter and chain smoker in 258 of the total 259 episodes of King of the Hill, uttering the most iconic and immortalized lines in the shows entire run along the way. Hardwick is the second main cast member of King of the Hill to pass away after Brittany Murphy, the voice of the ditzy but well-meaning Luanne Platter, died at just 32 in 2009. Hardwicks passing potentially puts the long-awaited King of the Hill revival season in jeopardy no statement has yet been made by the shows co-creators Daniels and Mike Judge or Hulu regarding Hardwicks passing. In the language of the Producer People, Wubba lubba dub-dub means, Thanks for nearly tanking the show, Justin. Rick and Morty Season Seven is supposedly slated to premiere before the end of the year, no small feat for a show thats seen the same two strikes as the rest of Hollywood as well as the unceremonious and much-publicized exit of its biggest star. Back in January, news broke that Justin Roiland, co-creator of Rick and Morty and voice actor of Rick and Morty, faced domestic violence charges stemming from an alleged incident almost three years prior. Though the charges would be dismissed months later due to the prosecutors assessment that a conviction could not be reached with the evidence available, the scandal opened the floodgates for unrelated stories of Roilands alleged bad behavior both behind the scenes of his various projects and in his horribly uncomfortable online interactions with underaged fans. The producers of Rick and Morty quickly cut ties with Roiland, and the deterioration of his relationship with Dan Harmon and others at the Adult Swim series painted the flood of allegations as the final straw after years of transgressions. Before the start of the SAG strike, executive producer Steve Levy claimed that they were nearly finished finding a perfect soundalike to take over Roilands voice roles, and, in a recent interview with Los Angeles Times, Levy explained how well his team responded to having a rug pulled from underneath us. Play Advertisement The only people we could lean on were each other, Levy said of the immediate aftermath of Roilands controversy that left the show with a glaring hole in the cast list. It would have been very easy to just say, Im done and I dont want to do anything with this show anymore. But our crew said, No, were not going to let one person drag down all of our hard work. If the early reports of Roilands behavior behind the scenes of Rick and Morty are to be believed, then, in many ways, the caustic co-creator who hasnt served as a writer on the series since its third season had been dragging down the rest of the crew for quite some time. This show is created by this team this family of incredibly hardworking people, and we are going to push through and show the world that we arent going to miss a beat, Levy explained. Advertisement The work that were doing across the board has only gotten better, Levy continued. When the new season comes out, well focus on how amazing it all turned out. We hope the fans will realize that this is the same old show, maybe even better! Considering fans hopefully wont have to imagine the new voice of Rick and Morty asking a teenager, Why are you such jailbait? in Season Seven, wed say the new version of the show is already a massive improvement. 2 dead in clashes between Hezbollah, Christian town residents in Lebanon Beirut, Aug 10 (UNI) A truck belonging to Lebanon-based armed group Hezbollah overturned Wednesday evening in Kahale in Mount Lebanon, resulting in deadly clashes between Hezbollah members and residents of the Christian town. The residents surrounded the overturned truck and cut off the road to prevent the army from removing it before verifying its content, prompting Hezbollah members to open fire, killing a resident and wounding another, local TV channels reported, adding that a Hezbollah member was also killed in the clashes. Hezbollah said in a statement that after its truck, which was driving from Bekaa to Beirut, overturned near Kahale, several armed militiamen gathered at the site and attacked its members by throwing stones and then shooting, leading to the death of one of its members. Black Hat USA 2023 served as launchpad for a host of cybersecurity products and services, with many notable vendors as well as up-and-coming startups showcasing their innovations at the annual conference, held this week in Las Vegas. The CSO team has put together a list highlighting the most significant debuts at the show -- which, along with the RSA Conference, is one the premier global cybersecurity events. This summary of top security technology illustrates the diversity of security products at the show, including generative-AI based cybersecurity tools, extended detection and response (XDR) software, threat hunting and Security Operations Center (SOC) automation, application security products, and vulnerability management programs. CrowdStrike: Counter Adversary Operations Identity Threat Hunting is the first new service to be released under a new Crowdstrike program called Counter Adversary Operations, which brings together products and services that aim to not only identify threats but also to disrupt adversaries and attacks. The program includes CrowdStrike's Falcon Intelligence, Falcon Overwatch managed threat hunting teams and Falcon's most recent telemetry to detect and inhibit adversary activities. Identity Threat Hunting is immediately available as part Falcon OverWatch Elite. The feature will allow security teams to identify and remediate compromised credentials, track lateral movement, and outpace adversaries with always-on, 24/7 coverage. The service is available to new and existing CrowdStrike Falcon Overwatch Elite customers for no added cost and was scheduled to be demonstrated in booth #1620 at Black Hat. Skyhawk Security: Shift-left CDR Skyhawks new patent-pending cloud threat detection and response (CDR) capability is powered with generative AI (ChatGPT and GPT API) and machine learning to shift the threat detection process to the left, or the perimeter, of the network. This involves Skyhawk's CDR use of generative AI to make a contextual analysis of the infrastructure and determine potential paths hackers could take to them. This predictive information will enable security teams to identify serious threats much earlier in the attack cycle and prioritize incidents, reducing the noise created by false alarms in existing systems, according to the company. Skyhawk demonstrated the shift left CDR technology in booth #SC503 at Black Hat with plans to make it available in the third quarter. Product pricing will be based on the size of the cloud infrastructure and number of cloud assets enrolled. The feature is meant to be used with Skyhawks threat detection and response platform, which includes cloud security posture management (CSPM) and cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM). Cado: New timeline view Cado's Timeline is a unified view of multiple data sources across cloud-provider logs, disk, and memory to support viewing cross-cloud evidence items during incidence response within the companys namesake incident response platform. The new revamped feature is aimed at making Timeline more intuitive to navigate as it moves from card view to tabular view. The update also allows for faceted and saved searches. Cado has also added new capabilities to its open-source volatile artifact collection (VARC) tool for faster and more efficient incident investigation. The new features were showcased at Black Hat USA, booth #SC120. Cycode: Extended ASPM, IDE plugin Cycode, an application security posture management (ASPM) system, has expanded its hard-coded secrets detection capabilities to encompass support for Confluence, AWS S3 buckets, and Azure environments, as well as a new IDE plugin for integration with VS Code. The plugin helps developers detect as well as remediate hard-coded secrets from within one system. Additionally, a new Cycode-Azure collaboration allows Cycode Cimon -- a free CI monitoring solution designed to secure CI/CD pipelines -- to operate with Azure DevOps pipelines to enable SLSA (Supply Chain Levels for Software Artifacts) attestation generation. All new capabilities will be available immediately after Cycode's showcases them from booth #1875 at the event. Cycode did not immediately disclose pricing for the new capabilities. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has disclosed a second data breach affecting the personal data of serving officers in as many days after it revealed the theft of documents including a spreadsheet containing the names of more than 200 serving police officers and staff from a "private vehicle" in the Newtownabbey area in Northern Ireland. The incident took place on July 6, 2023, with a police-issue laptop and radio stolen alongside the documents. The latest data breach emerged just one day after the PSNI disclosed an accidental leak of the personal details of police officers and civilian personnel. "We have contacted the officers and staff concerned to make them aware of the incident and an initial notification has been made to the office of the Information Commissioner regarding the data breach," read a PSNI statement published on August 9. "This is an issue we take extremely seriously and as our investigation continues, we will keep the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Information Commissioner's Office updated." Chair of the Police Federation calls for "credible explanations" following data breaches Liam Kelly, chair of the Police Federation (PFNI), has called for credible explanations from the service following confirmation of the second data breach. "This confirmation by the service makes matters worse. Clearly, urgent answers are required. How did this happen? What steps were put in place to advise and safeguard so many colleagues?" The major security breach was bad enough, but this heaps additional pressure on the PSNI to produce credible explanations around data security protocols and the impact on officer safety, he added. "Speed is of the essence. This cannot be dragged out as officers of all ranks throughout the service are seeking reassurance and an effective action plan containing all necessary measures to counter the damage and minimise risk." Kelly said he has been inundated with calls from worried officers. "The Police Federation has had in-depth discussions already with the PSNI senior command and they fully accept and recognise the gravity of this situation and the depth of officer anger and concern." Google Cloud has announced the launch of Chronicle CyberShield to help government agencies integrate threat intelligence, detection, and response to tackle cyber threats. The solution enables governments to raise threat and situational awareness, build cybersecurity skills and capabilities, and facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration to increase security at a national level, Google Cloud said. Governments typically face a diverse set of cybersecurity challenges and threats. They collect and store huge amounts of data, including information about individual citizens that can be sold on the dark web. There is also a risk that national security and military data can be used by terrorist organizations, and even governments with mature cybersecurity postures are a prime target of advanced persistent threat actors who constantly evolve their techniques. The number of attacks targeting the government sector increased by 95% worldwide in the second half of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, according to a report by AI-based cybersecurity company CloudSek. Chronicle CyberShield establishes a modern government SOC A primary component of Chronicle CyberShield is establishing a modern government security operations center (SOC), comprising a network of interconnected SOCs to scale and aggregate security threats, Google Cloud said in a press release. Chronicle CyberShield enables governments to leverage cyber threat intelligence from Google and Mandiant, now part of Google Cloud, to build a scalable and centralized threat intelligence and analysis capability, according to the firm. This is integrated operationally into the government SOC to identify suspicious indicators and enrich the context for known vulnerabilities. The solution also allows governments to build a coordinated monitoring capability with Chronicle SIEM to simplify threat detection, investigation, and hunting with the intelligence, speed, and scale of Google. By implementing Chronicle across a network of SOCs, attack patterns and correlated threat activity across multiple entities are available for investigation and analysis. Automated playbooks address root causes, reduce impact of threats/attacks Once threats are identified in Chronicle SIEM, automated playbooks can be developed in Chronicle SOAR to address root causes and reduce the impact of threats and cyberattacks, Google Cloud said. Integration with third party solutions enables Chronicle SOAR to enrich data with threat intelligence and additional context to get faster insights. Analysts in the government SOC can focus on resolving cases faster and reducing dwell time by uncovering threats faster and containing them more rapidly. When major cyberattacks take place, governments need additional support to augment their in-house capabilities to respond to the full lifecycle of any incident. With Chronicle CyberShield, governments can agree on pre-established terms and conditions for incident management and response support from Mandiant, Google Cloud stated. Additionally, Chronicle CyberShield includes continuous red teaming and penetration testing services delivered by Mandiant to test security controls and protect critical assets by identifying and mitigating security gaps and vulnerabilities. New Delhi, Aug 10 (UNI) The Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed the Pharmacy (Amendment) Bill, which seeks to amend the Pharmacy Act, 1948. The Bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha. The Bill provides for a special provision relating to persons registered or qualified under Jammu and Kashmir Pharmacy Act, 2011. It states that any person whose name has been entered in the register of pharmacists maintained under the Jammu and Kashmir Pharmacy Act, 2011 or possesses qualification (medical assistant/pharmacists) shall be deemed to have been entered in the register of pharmacists under Pharmacy Act, 1948. The bill was passed within minutes as members from opposition parties continued to raise slogans. Many members stormed into the well as stalemate over discussion on Manipur issue continued. Even as disruptions continued, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023. The bill seeks to regulate the appointment, conditions of service and term of office of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (ECs). Earlier during the day, TMC Rajya Sabha member Saket Gokhale said that the Bill seeks to replace the Chief Justice of India in the selection committee to appoint the Chief Election Commissioner and two ECs with 'a Union Minister'. He said the Supreme Court (SC) in its judgment earlier had clearly noted that the committee should comprise of the Chief Justice of India, the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition. "In the Bill, the Modi Govt has replaced CJI with 'a Union Minister'. Basically, now, Modi & 1 Minister will appoint the entire Election Commission," he wrote on Twitter. Amid total chaos, Union Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw introduced the Post Office Bill 2023 which seeks to consolidate and amend the law related to post offices in India. When Rajya Sabha reconvened at 2 PM today after being adjourned in the forenoon due to sloganeering causing disruption, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar tried to bring an agreement over discussing Manipur issue but failed. As disruptions continued, he adjourned the House for the day. UNI NK KK UN official calls for early end to conflict in Sudan United Nations, Aug 10 (UNI) UN Assistant Secretary-General for Africa Martha Pobee on Wednesday stressed the need for a negotiated solution to end the military conflict in Sudan as soon as possible. "There is no other alternative. Calls by some to continue the war in order to achieve a military victory will only contribute to destroying the country," Pobee told the Security Council in a briefing. "The longer this war continues, the greater the risk of fragmentation, and foreign interference and erosion of sovereignty, and the loss of Sudan's future, particularly its youth," she said. "Now is the time to end this senseless war and return to negotiations." Next week A-level results will be published in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There are going to be lots of disappointed students and parents. For one thing, there'll be fewer top grades because marks will be brought down from those awarded during the pandemic, when allowance was made for disruption to schooling. Some pupils will discover that they haven't achieved the grades for which they had hoped, and so will find themselves unable to go to their first-choice universities. Another factor will contribute to their looming disappointment, one of which many people are unaware. Because more and more places at our best universities are being filled by foreign students, there will be fewer opportunities for home-grown students at these institutions. And it is likely that the main victims of this development will be the children of middle-class families. Most universities want to attract more disadvantaged students, and such people will probably be prioritised. Some pupils will discover that they haven't achieved the grades for which they had hoped, and so will find themselves unable to go to their first-choice universities (file image of graduating students) No wonder Clare Marchant, head of the university admission service UCAS, yesterday urged students to have a 'Plan B' ready because of fears of intense pressure on places. The growing proportion of foreign students at our top universities is one of the unspoken scandals of our time. If British students have the appropriate academic qualifications, they shouldn't suffer discrimination in their own country. Aren't these universities British, and don't they owe a duty to people born here? Most of them were built up with the aid of public money, and continue to be partly subsidised by the taxpayer. Universities, however, have dispensed with most of the idealism that once animated them, and have turned into flinty-hearted, commercially driven organisations, whose most senior administrators pocket salaries of many hundreds of thousands of pounds. A student in England Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have differing arrangements pays annual tuition fees of up to 9,250, a figure that has been frozen by the Government since 2017. Foreign students can be charged up to 40,000 a year for the same tuition. English universities in particular have been filling their coffers by attracting more international students. Last year, a quarter of places at Russell Group universities (24 of the top institutions in the UK) went to foreign students. The dataHE consultancy reckons this is an increase from an average of 16 per cent between 2012 and 2017. The growing proportion of foreign students at our top universities is one of the unspoken scandals of our time (file image of students at a graduation ceremony) Almost unbelievably, at two prestigious establishments University College London and the London School of Economics international students make up more than half of undergraduate admissions. According to an analysis by The Times, at some Russell Group universities the number of foreign students has grown at more than four times the rate of domestic students since 2015. The course most in demand by foreign students is business and management. Engineering, computing and medical subjects are also much sought-after. Home-grown applicants may find it especially difficult to get on these courses. Isn't this appalling? Naturally, I have nothing whatsoever against international students, but I believe it is the duty of British universities to put the education of British students in front of equivalently qualified foreign ones. This they are patently not doing. A person educated in this country is likely to remain here, and contribute to our society over a lifetime. By contrast, foreign students will probably return to their own countries as soon as their courses are finished. Some people argue that students educated here will retain happy memories of their (expensive) education, and that throwing open our universities to foreigners will extend our 'soft power' and burnish our influence in the world. What a shallow argument. At best it is almost entirely speculative, at worst downright implausible. Is a Chinese undergraduate who studies mechanical engineering here, before returning to work for the Chinese state, going to retain a soft spot in his heart for Britain? It doesn't seem very likely. It is likely that the main victims of this development will be the children of middle-class families (file image of students sitting an exam) And I repeat my point that institutions that have been nurtured and sustained over the decades and centuries by British charity and British taxpayers owe their first duty to people who are citizens of this country. Of course they should accept foreign students, but not to the detriment of qualified British ones. How on earth has this been allowed to happen? The universities would argue that because tuition fees have been frozen in England since 2017, they have no alternative but to chase after foreign students and their money. Perhaps they believe that the growing influx of undergraduates from abroad will somehow shock the Government into sanctioning an increase in fees. If so, they are almost certainly mistaken. Robert Halfon, the higher education minister, recently said there are no plans to raise tuition fees, and that there is 'no way' he would advocate increasing them during a cost of living crisis. The Tories won't do so this side of an election. Nor should universities depend on Labour obliging them, if elected. The party not long ago abandoned its plan to ditch tuition fees. With public finances so tight, it won't raise fees appreciably in the foreseeable future. The universities are going to have to find a way of living within their means, and doing so without scouring the globe for further injections of cash. In fact, the Government should apply a quota for foreign students that is below present high rates. I sometimes wonder, examining the decline of so many public services, from the police to the NHS to the judicial system, whether the Tories have entirely given up governing this country. English universities in particular have been filling their coffers by attracting more international students (file image of students receiving exam results) They should be focused on ensuring that young people with good academic qualifications have access to courses at our best universities, and not be pushed out by foreign students whose pockets are stuffed with money. Curbing the number of foreign students would also help get soaring legal immigration under control. Net migration in 2022 was a record 606,000, with ballooning student numbers playing a large part. Some universities rely on huge quantities of undergraduates from abroad to get by. For example, at Liverpool, which is a member of the Russell Group, nearly a fifth come from one country, China. On master's courses, half of all full-time postgraduate students are Chinese. This can't be right. The sad truth is that too many of our universities are no longer driven by a sense of public duty. They have become more money-orientated than educational establishments should ever be and students are the victims. During the pandemic many were denied the education they had signed up for, and paid for in full. Now over 140,000 students have launched a class action for compensation. I hope they succeed. The universities could find themselves with a legal liability amounting to hundreds of millions of pounds. They absolutely must not be allowed to pay it by dipping mercenary fingers into a familiar pot labelled 'foreign students'. Poor students! This summer many of them even have had to put up with examination papers being unmarked and degrees withheld, though this is more the fault of irresponsible striking lecturers than of university administrators. As with so much in Britain, the Government simply looks on limply, neglectful of its responsibilities to British citizens. Higher education is too important a matter to be left entirely to the universities. As 2018 drew to a close, just over 200 migrants boarded dinghies and crossed from northern France to Britain. The then home secretary, Sajid Javid, recognised widespread public concern at this breach of our island nation's border controls. A few days after Christmas, he cancelled his festive holiday and returned immediately to London, where he proclaimed a 'major incident'. But the numbers which triggered that dramatic-sounding declaration have since paled into insignificance. The following year, 2019, witnessed 1,843 arrivals by small boat, followed by 8,466 in the next 12 months, 28,526 in 2021 and then, last year, 45,755. As 2018 drew to a close, just over 200 migrants boarded dinghies and crossed from northern France to Britain The then home secretary, Sajid Javid, recognised widespread public concern at this breach of our island nation's border controls More than 15,000 have followed the same route so far in 2023, bringing the five-year total to more than 100,000. So what has driven this massive influx and pushed immigration yet again to the top of the political agenda? Some of the reasons reflect global events and their consequences: instability in areas such as the Middle East, intolerable cruelty during the last years of Islamic State's bloody reign, the return of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and natural disasters such as February's Syria-Turkey earthquake. Others are more local, such as constantly improving security on the French side of the Channel, which made it more difficult for illegal migrants to hide on UK-bound vehicles or trains. The first real spike in migrant Channel crossings coincided with the Covid pandemic in 2020. So what has driven this massive influx and pushed immigration yet again to the top of the political agenda? Scores of men, women and children have drowned in the Channel because of organised crime's immoral trade Road freight levels fell dramatically amid unprecedented closure of international borders meaning migrants had fewer and fewer options to break into lorries heading for Britain. As a result, more of them switched from clandestine routes to the overt method of crossing by dinghy. Organised crime gangs have long played a role in people-smuggling but, always ready to make money out of misery, they spotted an opportunity. Human trafficking across the Channel quickly became a multimillion-pound industry. The gangs began promoting alluring lies to potential clients on social media and even started commissioning the manufacture of their own substandard inflatables, regardless of the risk to life. Scores of men, women and children have drowned in the Channel because of organised crime's immoral trade. In a further trend, the gangs started actively recruiting new customers in countries such as Albania. To the despair of their own government, the number of Albanian nationals coming across the Channel soared 14-fold in just a year. A comprehensive solution to the small boats problem has already eluded ministers for years. In 2020, then home secretary Priti Patel unwisely declared the illegal journeys would be 'virtually eliminated' by early 2021. A series of new immigration laws have yet to bear fruit and the agreement with Rwanda designed to deter crossings in the first place remains in legal limbo. As Channel numbers rise inexorably beyond the 100,000 milestone, the only solace for Rishi Sunak's Government is that this year's arrivals tally is not quite as high as last year's so far. Their World Jamboree in South Korea may have been a washout or should I say a burnout? what with all those casualties carted off to hospital with heatstroke, the revolting lavatories, the shortages of food and water, the mountains of rubbish and the approaching typhoon. But at least those tens of thousands of young scouts will have something to talk about for the rest of their lives. What a contrast to those whose trips abroad pass without a hitch. Their holidays may be pleasant enough while they last. But once they're over, they're over, with nothing further to offer but fast-fading memories. Indeed, nobody wants to hear about balmy evenings spent sipping rose by the pool, meals enjoyed in charming wayside bistros or fabulous views across the bay from comfortable bedrooms. Still less does any friend or neighbour want to see the photographs of Mrs U reading at sunset on the terrace by the lake, the children splashing around happily and safely in the sea or the family enjoying ice creams in front of the Colosseum, the Parthenon or the Eiffel Tower. At best, such holiday snaps provoke envy and resentment; at worst, sheer, numbing boredom. But a holiday from hell, now, that's quite a different matter. It sticks in the mind for years afterwards, providing a fund of stories with which to regale the company whenever conversation flags at the pub or the dinner table. A general view of tents at the World Scout Jamboree as scouts prepare to leave the event on Tuesday in Buan, South Korea Attendees of the World Scout Jamboree arrive from a scout camping site at a Hyundai Motor Group facility in Yongin, South Korea, Tuesday In that respect, if no other, I suppose I must count myself lucky, since disasters great and small seem to lie in wait for my family almost every time we leave Britain's shores. It's true that our plane has never been hijacked, and we've never been caught up in a cholera epidemic or a civil war, unless you count my idyllic childhood holidays on the banks of Strangford Lough in God's Own Province, Northern Ireland. Nor can I claim we were involved in anything as dramatic as, say, the crash-landing on the River Hudson of U.S. Airways Flight 1549, back in 2009. This was the real-life incident celebrated in the movie Sully, in which Tom Hanks played the hero pilot who saved everyone aboard. My goodness, what a tale those survivors have to tell. But as I look back on almost seven decades of holidays, I see lesser calamities galore, while my deteriorating memory draws a veil over those trips that passed pleasantly and without incident. The catalogue starts with my very first venture abroad, sometime in the 1950s, when my parents took the family to Spain. The memory that stands out and it must be one of my very earliest, since I can't have been more than about four is of being lifted by my mother from a fishing boat to the quayside after a pleasure-trip off the coast of our resort. She lost her footing and dropped me into the water, several feet below, in the narrow gap between the quay and the side of the boat. Tourists visit to the archeological site of Pompeii, near Naples, southern Italy (file image) I swear that to this day, I can still remember my terror as I fell, unable to swim in those days, and can hear my mother's screams for help as my blind father stood helplessly on the deck. It was only thanks to the Spanish boatman, who dived in to rescue me and pumped the water from my chest, that I'm here to tell the story, some 65 years on. But then members of my family often seem to end up in hospital when we head for sunnier climes. I think of the time during our eldest son's very early childhood when we took him on holiday to a friend's fabulous villa in Tuscany. One evening he was sitting on the arm of a sofa, laughing at a funny book he was reading. So uproariously was he laughing, indeed, that he lost his balance and fell awkwardly on to the stone floor, some three feet below, sustaining a nasty fracture to his arm. We've all heard people claim they split their sides over a funny book. But to this day, our eldest is the only person I've encountered who can truthfully boast that he once broke his arm laughing. I'll never forget, by the way, the patients in the waiting room at the Tuscan hospital where I took him to have his arm put in plaster. They were mostly local ladies of a certain age every one of whom cooed and clucked maternally at the wailing blond child in my arms, insisting that we should go right to the front of the queue to see a doctor. A view of the ancient ruins of Pompeii, Italy, where Tom Utley's toddler fell bottom first into a 1st century wine jar I remember thinking then, and nothing has changed my mind since, that this would never have happened in Britain, where people seem much less sentimental about very young children particularly when they're wailing their heads off in public places. Puppies and kittens often set Britons cooing, but human strangers' young, hardly ever. Then a few summers later, we found ourselves in a hospital again this time in Normandy, where our second son developed a mystery illness, complaining of headaches and nausea and saying he was unable to move his leg without excruciating pain. The doctors at the hospital in Bayeux were baffled as they watched him limp up and down the surgery, in apparent agony. It was only when they told him, in broken English, that he'd have to stay overnight in hospital for tests, that he suddenly started walking normally, without the slightest difficulty or so much as a twinge of pain. Miraculously, his headaches and nausea had disappeared too. At this, the doctor in charge reverted to French, presumably thinking I wouldn't understand. He turned to his colleague and said: 'These bloody English children! They watch too much television!' I could only blush and agree. Mind you, I myself was to end up in hospital during another holiday when we had four young children in tow. It was the very last day of a nightmare fortnight in the South of France, and I couldn't find the car keys for the journey home. Thinking I might have left them on the shelf high above the fireplace in our rented farmhouse, I jumped as high as I could to have a look. I hadn't noticed that I was standing slap beneath a chandelier with a brass spike hanging down from the middle of it, like an inverted German helmet from World War I. As I jumped, this pierced my skull, sending a veritable fountain of blood spurting upwards. While my wife called an ambulance, I rushed upstairs to the bathroom, trying and failing to find something to staunch the flow. Before long, the house that she'd just meticulously cleaned for the next lot of guests was looking like the set of a Quentin Tarantino movie, a sea of slippery red. Old town of Pienza is pictured in Tuscany in Italy near to where Tom Utley's son fell awkwardly on to a stone floor sustaining a nasty fracture to his arm I don't remember anything much after that, between the arrival of a tiny ambulance, with a curved roof of corrugated metal, and waking up in hospital with a few surgical staples in my head and reason once again to be grateful to a health service on the continent. There's no room here to recount the many other disasters that have befallen us on holiday. Enough just to mention the terrifying 20 minutes my wife and I spent hunting for a lost toddler on a cross-channel ferry, when we were increasingly convinced that he'd drowned (he hadn't). Then there was another's disappearance, aged three, bottom first into a 1st century wine jar at Pompeii, from which we thought we'd never be able to extract him without smashing it. It had survived the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, and all the succeeding centuries, but for a dreadful few minutes it looked as if it wouldn't outlast a visit from the Utley young. But I'm sure many readers can tell of holiday nightmares of their own, quite as grim as any I've experienced. Like those scouts in South Korea, we can all comfort ourselves with the thought that at least we have something more interesting to relate than a blissful break during which nothing went wrong. As for me, I've reached an age at which I've had my fill of disasters. Is it too much to hope that the next time Mrs U drags me abroad, I'll come home with precisely nothing of interest to report? 93-year-old Clint Eastwood had a 'very emotional' reaction to the passing of his ex-mistress Roxanne Tunis - and is now 'thinking more about his mortality' and 'cherishing' every moment he has left. Clint and Roxanne's daughter, Kimber Eastwood, confirmed that her mother - a stuntwoman who became embroiled in a 14-year affair with the acclaimed director after they met on set of Rawhide in the early '60s - had died at age 93 on Tuesday 'after a brief illness.' Now, a source told DailyMail.com that the 'love' that the actor had for Roxanne was 'unlike any other love of his life' and that losing her completely 'gutted him' - and even forced him to re-evaluate his own life. '[Roxanne's death] was very emotional and more emotional than he ever expected,' they explained. Clint Eastwood, 93, had a 'very emotional' reaction to the passing of his ex-mistress Roxanne Tunis - and is now 'thinking more about his mortality' and cherishing' every moment he has left Roxanne (seen) was a stuntwoman who became embroiled in a 14-year affair with the acclaimed director after they met on set of Rawhide in the early '60s Clint and Roxanne's daughter, Kimber Eastwood, confirmed that her mother had died at age 93 on Tuesday 'after a brief illness.' Roxanne is seen with Kimber 'Her loss not only gutted him but also made him think more about his mortality, which he never does.' While the insider said that Clint knows he's 'had a long and wonderful life,' they revealed that her death has sparked 'new feelings' in him that he 'isn't used to.' Now, a source told DailyMail.com that the 'love' that the actor (seen in Rawhide) had for Roxanne was 'unlike any other love of his life' and that losing her completely 'gutted him' 'Clint loves living life. He loves being around, but when Roxanne passed, he started feeling things he wasn't used to,' they continued. 'Clint is a storyteller, and that is how he lives his life. With Roxanne's passing, it really taught Clint many things he never thought were possible. 'It really seems to have provided a story for his life that he never thought was possible. 'He is now cherishing moments a lot more since her passing. He now knows some things in life can happen that he can't change but he can certainly learn from them.' The source added that Clint also 'feels really bad for his daughter,' who is one of eight kids that the Gran Torino star fathered over the years. A representative for Clint did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Clint and Roxanne started their whirlwind romance while he was still married to his first wife, Maggie Johnson. 'Clint loves living life. When Roxanne (seen) passed, he started feeling things he wasn't used to. He is now cherishing moments a lot more since her passing,' the source said The insider added that Clint also 'feels really bad for his daughter,' who is one of eight kids that the Gran Torino star fathered over the years. Clint is seen with Kimber in 2018 Clint and Roxanne started their whirlwind romance while he was still married to his first wife, Maggie Johnson (seen together in 1960) and it reportedly went on for 14 years 'On the set, they were very open about the fact they were lovers,' an insider previously told RadarOnline of the romance. He and Maggie ultimately split in 1979, after welcoming two kids of their own together - a son, named Kyle, in 1968, and a daughter, named Alison, in 1972. Clint is seen with Kyle, Alison, and his other son Scott in 2018 'After Clint would finish a scene, he'd amble over to Roxanne and stroll around the set with his arm affectionately around her. She was usually in his dressing room trailer.' The affair reportedly went on for 14 years, and together, they welcomed their daughter, Kimber, in 1964. After it ended, it's been said that Roxanne continued to 'worship' Clint up until her death this week. The source told RadarOnline that the stuntwoman, actress, and dancer 'was one of Clint's true loves,' and that the exes 'maintained a healthy relationship ... until the end.' 'Roxanne worshipped the ground he walked on. She didn't give a damn about the fact that Clint was a star,' they said. 'She was never impressed with all the money and fame. All she ever wanted was to have and to hold Clint Eastwood the man.' He was then linked to his The Outlaw Josey Wales costar Sondra Locke (seen together in 1982), who later sued him for 'severe emotional and physical distress' and 'mental and physical harm' He also had two children with a flight attendant named Jacelyn Reeves - a son, named Scott, in 1986, and a daughter, named Kathryn, in 1988. Jacelyn is seen with Scott in 2016 Famous ladies man Clint has been involved in multiple cheating scandals and on-set love affairs over the years. He and Maggie ultimately split in 1979, after welcoming two kids of their own together - a son, named Kyle, in 1968, and a daughter, named Alison, in 1972. He was then linked to his The Outlaw Josey Wales costar Sondra Locke, who later sued him for 'severe emotional and physical distress' and 'mental and physical harm.' The lawsuit was settled out of court. He also had two children with a flight attendant named Jacelyn Reeves - a son, named Scott, in 1986, and a daughter, named Kathryn, in 1988. It was around that time that Clint discovered he had another daughter, named Laurie, whom he had welcomed in the '50s with a Seattle-based woman who has not been identified. She was put up for adoption without his knowledge, but approached the movie star in the late '80s after she set out on a quest to find her biological parents and discovered that he was her dad. He discovered he had another daughter, named Laurie, in the '80s, whom he welcomed years earlier but was secretly put up for adoption. She's seen (circled) with Clint's other kids in 2018 In the '90s, the Hollywood legend dated actress Frances Fisher, and together, they welcomed a daughter named Francesca, in 1993. Clint is seen with Francesca and Frances in 2017 He was married to Dina Ruiz (left) from 1996 to 2013, and she welcomed their daughter, Morgan, in 1996. Now, he's dating a restaurant hostess named Christina Sandera (right) In the '90s, the Hollywood legend dated actress Frances Fisher, and together, they welcomed a daughter named Francesca, in 1993. He then left her for a TV reporter named Dina Ruiz, who he wed in 1996. She gave birth to another daughter, named Morgan, that year. That relationship ended in divorce too, when Clint struck up a romance with the ex-wife of one of Dina's closest friends. Most recently, it's been said that he's dating a restaurant hostess named Christina Sandera, who is 33 years his junior. The two reportedly met when she was hired to work at the hotel he owns and resides at in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. They confirmed their romance when they walked the red carpet at the Oscars arm-in-arm in 2015, but have kept many details of their relationship out of the public eye since then, so it's unclear if they're still together. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Netflix movie could be a huge hit for the platform, an expert has said. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex bought the rights to the romantic novel Meet Me At The Lake by Carley Fortune, which experts estimate could have cost them up to 3million. New York Times bestselling author Fortune's second novel is a romance about two long-lost lovers, Will and Fern, whose paths cross by chance a decade after first meeting and sparks fly between the pair. The book has just the right formula to bring in millions for Netflix, film expert and founder of Movie Metropolis Adam Brannon told FEMAIL. 'There is potential for Meet Me at the Lake to be one of Netflix's most popular films, joining the likes of Red Notice, The Adam Project, Purple Hearts and Extraction. 'Romance films, especially those based on novels generally perform very well on the streaming service, becoming sleeper hits in which they silently rack up millions of viewing hours over longer periods of time when compared to all-out blockbusters'. While Netflix don't release official viewing figures, they previously revealed that Red Notice had 364,020,000 viewing figures in its first 28 days of release - meaning around 182million households watched it. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Netflix movie could be a huge hit for the platform, an expert has said An insider previously said that the Sussexes, were interested in the novel due to the themes it explores. But it may also be a savvy move for the pair, as romantic films do very well for the streaming service. Its plot sees the two main characters grapple with grief, complicated family situations and an unexpected love story - all of which may resonate with the Sussexes and their own love story. It isn't unlike Purple Hearts - which is one of Netflix's most successful films ever. Released last year, the film is believed to have been streamed more than Oscar-nominated Scorsese flick The Irishman, starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci. It isn't unlike Purple Hearts (pictured) - which is one of Netflix's most successful films ever Despite a relatively unknown cast, the film was the third most streamed of 2022. It tells the story of an aspiring musician agrees to a marriage of convenience with a soon-to-deploy Marine, but a tragedy soon turns their fake relationship all too real. And like Meet Me At The Lake, it is based on the novel of the same name by Tess Wakefield. Speaking to FEMAIL, Adam added: 'Reviews of the novel have been widely positive and it also spent two weeks in the New York Times top 10 list which is a positive sign. 'Plus, publications have been building up hype since sharing the news that Harry and Meghan have bought the film rights with their new production company Archewell Productions. 'It's likely to be a top movie for the streaming service, potentially as a curiosity watch more than anything else. 'The same is true whenever a "celebrity" jumps into film-making. Of course, results can be mixed, with Madonna being a prime example of a celeb who has been lambasted for her efforts in front of and behind the camera. Carley Fortune's second novel Meet Me At The Lake has captivated the Sussexes 'This is the couple's third Netflix project following the incredibly successful Harry & Meghan documentary, and a docuseries entitled Heart of Invictus which hasn't been premiered yet. 'However, this will be their first foray into film-making, a notoriously different beast altogether. 'Making a film is no easy feat, and there will be a lot of eyes on the process from both fans of the famous couple and their critics, checking everything from budgets to casting choices, who will be tackling the score, and much more. 'In the UK, it's likely that the controversy surrounding the famous pair could hamper viewing hours here. 'Brits, especially those of an older generation, are notoriously protective of the monarchy and given the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, sentiment towards both Harry and Meghan is sour. 'To get the best view of this, all you need to do is look at comments on articles of this news in the US vs the UK - they're remarkably different. Harry and Meghan clearly have pulling power for Netflix too. Part one of their bombshell documentary released last year, debuted with 81.55 million hours viewed. Netflix reportedly paid 88 million ($100million) for Harry and Meghan's bombshell docuseries as part of a multi-year deal with the streaming giant The first episode, which told the story of how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex met and began dating, was watched by an average of 4.5 million people in the UK in the seven days after it hit screens on December 8. It dwarfed the 2.8 million people who tuned in to watch the first episode of The Crown's new series, released on November 9, by more than a million and a half views. In September 2020, the couple announced a partnership with Netflix to work on a number of projects including documentaries, docuseries, feature films, scripted shows and children's programming in collaboration with their company Archewell Productions. In an official statement released at the time, they said: 'Our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope. As new parents, making inspirational family programming is also important to us.' They added Netflix's 'unprecedented reach will help [them] share impactful content that unlocks action'. In July 2021, the duchess announced her first project with Netflix, an animated series called Pearl, in which she would take on the roles of creator and executive producer. However in the following May, Pearl was dropped by the streaming platform as part of a wave of cutbacks prompted by their drop in subscribers. READ MORE: Dog keeps her owner awake with laps around the bedroom at 1AM Most dog owners will be familiar with that time of day when their pet starts running crazed laps aound the house, fondly known as 'zoomies'. Now a veterinarian has revealed on TikTok that there's a scientific name behind the frenzied, hyper behaviour displayed by dogs when excited. Katrina Warren - an Australian TV veterinarian who co-hosts several popular television programs on the Seven Network - posted a video on her TikTok account to educate dog owners about the root of their pooch's bizarre behaviour. The vet - also known as @drkatrinawarren on the social app - is also a 9Honey pet expert and regular guest expert on the Today Show in Australia, often posting training and behaviour tips for her 47,000 followers on the app. Explaining zoomies, she revealed: 'It's Fenetic Random Activity Periods (FRAPs). And they are just that - short explosions of energy.' The 15-second video - captioned 'Familiar?' - amassed over 20,000 views and more than 400 likes, sparking many responses from owners who spoke about their own dogs' uncontrollable tendencies to 'zoom.' Katrina Warren, a TV vetenarian, speaks over a video on TikTok of a dog running laps through a hallway, asking: 'Did you know there's a scientific name for dog's zoomies?' Katrina, speaking over a video of a dog running laps through a hallway, said: 'Did you know there's a scientific name for dog's zoomies? 'Really common in puppies and younger dogs - often called "the crazies" and I'm sure many of you know why.' Some dog-owners confirmed in the comments that FRAPs are indeed ever-present in their own pooches, and some were surprised to learn of the scientific term. One person said: 'Oh wow, I did not know there was an official name for them!' Confirming their own cases of FRAPs in their household, one user said: 'I just sit still and don't move when my German shorthair pointer gets them hahaha.' Another wrote, 'My poodle is 15 this year & she still does zoomies,' while a fellow owner agreed, saying, 'My 14 year old gets zoomies. He thinks he is still a puppy.' Two commenters shared their own phrases for their dogs' bonkers behaviour, with one writing, 'I call it psycho puppy freak out,' while the other said, 'Mine always does it after he poops so now we call em poop zooms.' The vet explained that Fenetic Random Activity Periods (FRAPs) - or, better known as 'the crazies' and 'zoomies' - are really common in puppies and younger dogs Some dog-owners confirmed in the comments under the video that FRAPs are indeed ever-present in their own pooches, and some were surprised to learn of the scientific term Jose Arce, president-elect of the American Veterinary Medical Association, told Live Science that the bursts of energy are, 'natural and seen in many domesticated and wild animal species.' He continued: 'FRAPs may appear random, but a few triggers are common for dogs. When an owner lets a dog out of its crate, the pup may zoom around to let out energy it built up throughout the day.' The expert also explained that an owner coming home from work or errands can trigger their dog to run around as a way to exercise after napping for a while. Another frequent time that FRAPs may occur, according to Arce, is some time after bathing - to possibly release nervous or excitable energy from the activity. Zoomies aren't particularly dangerous for dogs. The general advice with FRAPs if they occur is to remove hazardous objects out of sight when at home and to be vigilant while out on a walk Arce has assured that zoomies themselves aren't particularly dangerous for dogs - with serious injuries unlikely to occur. The general advice with FRAPs is to remove hazardous objects out of sight when at home and to be vigilant while out on a walk - keeping firm control of the leash so the dog doesn't sprint away if the zoomies occur. It is also advised to consider letting the pet get out any excessive energy before an unpredictable activity such as sightseeing or a walk at a cliff. A barrister has sparked fierce debate after urging all pregnant women not to give their children their father's surnames. Dr Charlotte Proudman, 33, from London, went viral on Twitter this week with her message to expectant mothers. She wrote: 'A message to pregnant women please give the baby your surname. 'You carried a baby for 9 months, gave birth, and will be responsible for that child for the rest of your life.' Rather than blindly following tradition, the barrister - who hit headlines in 2015 when she called out a LinkedIn user for his 'sexist' message - urged women to consider giving their children their family name. Pictured: Dr Charlotte Proudman, 33, from London, went viral on Twitter this week with her message to pregnant women She ended the post by writing: 'When youre registering the baby ask yourself: why is the fathers surname more important than yours?' Since Charlotte published the tweet last night, her post has been seen by over 1.4m users - and people were divided in the responses. One replied: 'Counter-argument: why is the baby's maternal grandfather's surname more important than the baby's father's?' Hitting back at Charlotte's suggestion, another added: 'I think its my choice what surname I give, rather than feeling some obligation for my maiden surname. Meanwhile, a third said: 'The point is to make the father feel responsible for the child.' Following on from this, a fourth agreed: 'Fathers are also responsible for their children for the rest of their lives.' However, others could appreciate the point Charlotte was making - and responded with messages of support. Picking flaws in another user's 'counter-argument', one supporter said: 'Ah yes, because the mother's surname isn't actually hers, it's her father's - but the father's surname is his. Since Dr Charlotte Proudman published the tweet last night, her post has been seen by over 1.4m users The tweet sparked fierce debate in the responses - with some claiming that the family surname makes a man 'feel responsible' for his child 'Everyone inherits their surname.' Another said: 'Just because she inherited it from a man, doesn't mean it's not hers. 'It's been her name for her entire life!' Speaking from experience, a third added: 'I did this! If my babies dad and I get married well reassess, but I figured I was more likely to take them abroad alone, and his surname shouldnt be the default. 'Even my 2 year old understands that he has my surname but one day might have daddys and it doesnt bother him.' Others furiously responded to this tweet: 'One replied: 'Counter-argument: why is the baby's maternal grandfather's surname more important than the baby's father's?' 'Mine have both,' a fourth said. 'And Im quite okay with them choosing to use either or both. Or if they want to choose a completely new one Im also fine with that. As long as they know its up to them and they dont have to just do what anyone else wants or expect.' In 2015, Dr Proudman went viral when she accused a married lawyer of sexism after he complimented her on her LinkedIn photo. The barrister insisted she was right to embarrass Alexander Carter-Silk, the married solicitor, who praised her stunning picture. She called the father-of-two a 'sexist' because he told her: 'You definitely win the prize for the best LinkedIn picture I have ever seen'. She told the Evening Standard: 'Professionals are using LinkedIn as if it were Tinder. There are websites designed for professionals to date. There is no need to use LinkedIn'. She asked the interviewer what he was 'most interested in learning' about her She recently revealed on TikTok how she 'did something new' for a job interview Liz Miller, from Boston, was undeterred after losing her job amid the tech layoffs A woman has branded herself a 'genius' after revealing the one question that she claimed resulted in 'the best interview of my life.' Liz Miller, who goes by The Tech Sales Gal on TikTok, was undeterred after losing her job in the wave of tech layoffs earlier this year - and, within two weeks, had landed 11 interviews with eight companies, according to one of her posts. The Boston-based tech salesperson declared she had a stroke of 'genius' at the top of one meeting in responding to the boilerplate-interview prompt of 'tell me about yourself.' Usually, Liz explained, she'd go through each company on her resume 'one by one' - but this time, she decided to mix it up and asked her interviewer what he'd be '"most interested in learning about me."' Liz Miller, who goes by The Tech Sales Gal on TikTok, shared a 'genius' strategy she'd tried out in a job interview: asking her interviewer what he'd be '"most interested in learning about me"' She was undeterred after losing her job the wave of tech layoffs earlier this year - and, within two weeks, had landed 11 interviews with eight companies, according to one of her posts The approach proved effective, with her interviewer admitting that he was especially keen on hearing about her 'experience selling tools in the software development space' 'I normally start with an introduction,' she explained. 'And I'm like, "Hi, I'm Liz, I'm born and raised in Southern California, I moved to Boston seven years ago, broke into tech sales five years ago." 'And then I kind of one by one go through each company on my resume. And because I've job hopped a lot, I feel like it opens the door for conversations I don't want to have. 'So I did something new today. And I said, "I am happy to share anything about myself during this interview. I do want to know though, what you're most interested in learning about me,"' - reasoning that 'it really varies from person to person and company to company.' Continuing to recount the exchange, she added that she said: 'And since we only have 30 minutes, I want to make sure I'm telling you what's most important to you.' The approach proved effective, with her interviewer admitting that he was especially keen on hearing about her 'experience selling tools in the software development space.' Liz then went on to steer the conversation toward the most relevant points of her professional background. 'And then I never talked about the ugly points in my career or was even questioned about them because we were having such a rich conversation about what he wanted to talk about,' she gushed of her newfound strategy. She concluded: 'I candidly think I'm a f***ing genius. I'm a f***ing genius.' Commenters - including self-described recruiters, a hiring manager and even a job-seeker - heaped praise on the idea Viewers piled into the comments section to heap praise onto the idea. 'Not gonna lie my jaw dropped. That is a great way to put that. I would hire you immediately,' offered one impressed commenter. 'That response also low key highlighted your sales skills - like you said, exactly how you'd talk to a prospect before a demo!' someone else observed. 'Love this! Interviews should be more like conversations anyway, we're interviewing them too,' applauded someone else. 'You are a genius and I hope they hire you!' cheered someone else. One even professed to have already put the advice into practice, writing, 'I did this today!!!! The interviewer was so appreciative that I was concerned about getting to what she wanted to truly know. THANK YOU.' Liz even got praise directly from multiple self-described recruiters and a hiring manager, with one writing: 'Love this. Also as a recruiter, I'd rather frame my interviews this way so we spend time chatting about what actually matters vs a history lesson.' Another one echoed, 'As a recruiter, I love that. It implies you're actually engaged, and not robotic. I would much rather it be an open convo. Good idea!' And, as a third chimed in, 'Talking through every job is boring as a hiring manager. I want to hear about what people are excited about for the role. Great approach.' If you have an event you'd like to list on the site, submit it now! Submit A popular TikTok star known as Yeet Baby has checked himself into a mental hospital after becoming 'sick to his core' over the controversial new movie Sound of Freedom. Chris Rooney, 35, from Fredericksburg, Virginia, earned viral fame back in 2020, after he started sharing adorable videos of himself attempting to teach his now-four-year-old niece, Marleigh, and now-two-year-old nephew, Jack, how to pour a drink under the username TheYeetBaby. Clips of the youngsters accidentally spilling various liquids as a stressed out Chris watched on left millions around the globe in shambles, and turned the three of them into internet sensations. Last week, many of the social media star's avid fans were left worried for Chris' wellbeing after his family reported him missing - and now, they have revealed that he is receiving treatment at a mental facility. Chris Rooney, 35, from Virginia, earned viral fame in 2020, after he started sharing videos of himself attempting to teach his niece, Marleigh, and nephew, Jack, how to pour a drink Last week, many of the star's avid fans were left worried for Chris' wellbeing after his family reported him missing - and now, they revealed he is receiving treatment at a mental facility In a post shared to Instagram on Wednesday, an unidentified family member explained that 'all of Chris' emotions came to a head' after he went to see the flick Sound of Freedom (seen) In a post shared to his Instagram account on Wednesday, an unidentified family member explained that 'the last six months' had been 'difficult' for Chris and that 'all of his emotions came to a head' after he went to see the flick Sound of Freedom. The faith-based thriller, which came out on July 4 and stars Jim Caviezel and Mira Sorvino, tells the harrowing true story of a former government agent named Tim Ballard, who quit his job to embark on a dangerous mission to rescue a group of kids who are being held captive by child traffickers in Columbia. 'Prior to his disappearance, he had seen the movie Sound of Freedom, and like many others, he was sick to his core over it,' the post on Chris' account read. 'Prior to his disappearance, he had seen the movie Sound of Freedom, and like many others, he was sick to his core over it,' the post read. 'He was not in his right mind' 'This prompted him to post links to raise money for the cause of ending child sex trafficking. 'To many of you, this may have seemed odd, but he genuinely wanted and still wants to help this cause. 'Unfortunately, it was posted at a time that he was also visibly not in his right mind and not acting like the Chris we know and love.' On August 3, TMZ reported that Chris' family had filed a missing person's report after they failed to get in contact with him. News of his disappearance quickly spread across social media, but hours later, a messaged shared to his Instagram Stories read, 'He has been found safe. He is safe. Thank you for your prayers.' The thriller tells the harrowing true story of a former government agent named Tim Ballard (seen), who rescued a group of kids who are being held captive by child traffickers On August 3, TMZ reported that Chris' family had filed a missing person's report after they failed to get in contact with him. Hours later, his family confirmed that he had 'been found safe' 'We were afraid for his life,' the post shared on Wednesday continued. 'After several hours, we got word that he had checked himself into a mental health facility' 'We, as his family and friends, were afraid for his life,' the post shared on Wednesday continued. 'After several hours of not knowing if he was alive or dead, we got word that he had checked himself into a mental health facility.' They concluded by sharing a message written by Chris for his followers Chris' family added that while they're 'sure' his fans 'still have a lot of questions,' they will let the TikTok star 'answer them once he is healthy and ready to share his experiences.' 'He is currently being treated at a mental health facility,' they wrote. 'Your thoughts and prayers have been so appreciated by him and his family during this time.' They concluded by sharing a message written by Chris for his followers, which read, 'The amount of love and prayers I have received not just now but over the years has truly brought me out of some very low times. 'Unfortunately, there was nothing anyone could do to help me. It is something that I have to work on and am going to make it my life's mission to not only get myself healthy but also others. 'If there is one thing I have learned during this time, it's that there are a lot of hurting people in this world and I am going to do everything I can to help them.' He wrote: 'There was nothing anyone could do to help me. It's something that I have to work on and am going to make it my life's mission to not only get myself healthy but also [help] others' In a now-deleted video shared to TikTok last month, Chris revealed that he and his wife, Emily Rooney (seen with him, his niece, and his nephew in an old video), had separated He also responded to a comment that someone had left in which they speculated that is marriage had ended due to alcoholism. He wrote: 'Comments like this, they trigger me' In the weeks leading up to Chris' disappearance, he shared a slew of out-of-the-ordinary posts. In a now-deleted video shared to TikTok, he revealed that he and his wife, Emily Rooney, had separated. He also responded to a comment that someone had left in which they speculated that is marriage had ended due to alcoholism. 'Comments like this, they trigger me. They make me an angry person,' he wrote. Right before he went missing, he posted a slew of links to fundraisers to help fund the Sound of Freedom. The crowdfunded movie has been at the center of controversy since it premiered last month. It was produced by Utah-based distribution company Angel Studios, which rose from the ashes of VidAngel - a streaming service that allowed users to filter out objectionable content out of movies (like violence, nudity, or profanity) and streamed those films online for customers. VidAngel was sued multiple times, eventually filing for bankruptcy - before it came under new ownership in 2021 and was turned into Angel Studios. On top of the backlash surrounding its production company, critics of the movie have also accused it of 'warping the truth about child exploitation and catering to QAnon conspiracy theorists,' per the Washington Post. Right before he went missing, he posted a slew of links to fundraisers to help fund the Sound of Freedom The crowdfunded movie has been at the center of controversy since it premiered last month, with some pointing out that it has been promoted heavily on QAnon message boards Back in 2020, Vice World News posted an explosive report about the man who inspired the film, Tim, and his organization, Operation Underground Railroad. The outlet claimed to have found a 'a pattern of image-burnishing and mythology-building, a series of exaggerations that are, in the aggregate, quite misleading' and a major 'divide between the groups actual practices and some of its claimed successes.' The Davis County Attorneys Office in Utah also spent over two years looking into OUR over allegations of 'communications fraud, witness tampering and retaliation against a witness, victim or informant,' Deseret.com reported. However, no charges were ever brought against the organization. The Post also pointed out that the movie has been promoted heavily on QAnon message boards, since Tim, as well as the actor who played him in the flick, have both 'expressed support for some of QAnon's wildest claims.' Tim once accused furniture company Wayfair of 'selling children' in a video shared to his Twitter in 2020 - a popular theory pushed by QAnon supporters. As for Jim, who has revealed that Tim specifically requested that he play him in the movie because he was blown away by his performances The Count of Monte Cristo and the biblical drama The Passion of the Christ, he has spoken at QAnon conventions in the past. A vet has issued an urgent warning to dog owners over a plant that commonly grows in green spaces around the UK. The seeds of the plants in particular can cause canines to develop a killer infection if consumed or inhaled, according to experts. Foxtail plants - scientific name Alopecurus - are a part of the grass family and can cause serious problems if dogs come into contact with them. The encounter can result in death if the seeds manage to get caught up through the ears, paws and skin. Head veterinarian Sean McCormack told The Sun that dog owners should be especially vigilant during the summer months where the plant can be easily spotted. Foxtail plants - scientific name Alopecurus - are a part of the grass family and grow in green spaces across the UK, but pose a serious risk to dogs if ingested or touched Foxtail plants can grow up to a metre high, with hairy tips shaped like the tail of a fox that sprout spikey clusters of seeds. Owners are being urged to keep their eyes peeled because the plants can grow in common walking areas and green spaces, such as meadows, paths and bogs. The deadly weeds can even extend as far as growing on roadsides and bordering hedges. Sean, describing foxtail's effect on dogs, said: 'Its spiky hairs that sit at the top of stems are actually incredibly sharp and it can pierce or scratch their skin or become embedded in their paws.' The vet explained that if the seeds get lodged between a dog's claws, toes or between their paw pad and skin, it can result in intense pain. Some breeds with drooping ears or longer, thicker coats are more likely to be at risk due to their fur essentially serving as a Velcro strip. If the seeds are consumed, a deadly infection can quickly occur. Some of the main symptoms that dog owners should be aware of are: painful lumps, swelling in paws and lethargic attacks. A lack of appetite can also be experienced by some dogs because the ingested foxtail could be causing pain in their organs. Vets are recommending owners to avoid walking through long, grassy areas during outings with their pets, and to always keep an eye out for the toxic plant. If your dog happens to come into contact with foxtail or its seeds, it is advised - as with removing ticks - to use tweezers and remove any remnants of the plant stuck in their fur. If an infection occurs, it is important to take your pooch to the local vet immediately to be assessed and further treated. Another of nature's creations has also proven - in the first ever confirmed case of its kind - to be lethal for dogs who come into close contact with it. A dog died in less than 45 minutes in July after being poisoned by blue-green algae in a Worcestershire lake. Jan Egginton lost her beloved two-year-old flat-coated retriever, Cove, at the side of Wimbleball Lake in Exmoor, after coming into contact with the lethal substance. An Ohio woman has revealed her incredible recovery from a horror gas station blast - with pictures showing her miraculous transformation exactly four years after she suffered severe burns to her whole body. Abigail Alexander was just 18 when she and a British friend were caught up in a huge explosion while riding a motorcycle together in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The young women, who were teaching in the country at the time, were almost killed when a fuel station burst into flames as they made their way to work. A tanker truck carrying 440 gallons of petrol had ignited while delivering the fuel to a storage tank, injuring 13 people, including Abbey and 22-year-old Zoe Eleftheriou from Medway, Kent. Shocking pictures show Abbey's severe burns and bandages covering her entire body in the aftermath of the explosion in August 2019. Now 22, Abbey is barely recognisable, and has spoken to MailOnline about the traumatizing experience and her long road to recovery, saying: 'I didn't only manage to survive, I thrived'. Shocking pictures show her severe burns and bandages covering her entire body in the aftermath of the explosion in August 2019 Abbey now: While she sometimes still experiences pain as her nerves work to reconnect, she said 'it's not that often anymore' and her body is now visibly largely healed The huge inferno Abbey and Zoe were burned in on August 14th, 2019, was caught on dramatic dashcam footage. Abbey said the pair were 'instantly burned' in the fireball. 'I stopped dropped and rolled and then I was ran over by a car. 'My coworker was able to get me up and help me walk to work where we knew we'd be able to receive help.' The British and American teachers were the only foreigners injured in the blast, which also seriously wounded 11 locals. Both women's families faced huge medical bills and they had to receive treatment before being able to return home. Abbey says 40 per cent of her body was covered in third degree burns, a prognosis which could be fatal if not treated properly. 'My recovery was definitely not an easy one. Lots of scary uncertain days,' she said. The first clinic she went to put her in ice water, which she says she has since learned worsens burns This picture shows Abbey shortly before she was intubated following the horrific explosion Abbey said this was taken when her family saw her for the first time after she was intubated Unfortunately, her early recovery in Cambodia did not go as smoothly as might be hoped. The first clinic she went to put her in ice water, which she says she has since learned worsens burns. She also claimed medics drilled an IV into her bone without any pain medication. Her injuries were so severe she had to be intubated, she said. 'I spent a long few weeks on the ventilator, I even managed to pull out my breathing tube at one point. 'I struggled with hallucinations and 'false memories' and it took a long time for me to be able to decipher what was real and what was not.' She said getting home from the southeast Asian country was a trial in itself. 'Getting a medivac plane that could handle flying 23 hours was a challenge in itself but the state department did an amazing job at getting that accomplished.' She went on to be treated by a team of doctors at the Denver UC health burn unit, who she credited with helping her incredible physical recovery. While she sometimes still experiences pain as her nerves work to reconnect, Abbey said 'it's not that often anymore' and her body is now visibly largely healed. Abbey is now bravely using her recovery experience to inspire and help other burns survivors Her mental recovery was another story, Abbey said. 'I've struggled with my self esteem a lot since the accident happened. 'I went from being an 18 year old girl who thought she was invincible, to being covered in burns, head shaved, and unable to even go to the bathroom by myself. 'But thankfully, due to my family and friends continuous support I slowly regained my confidence.' 'And turned into the 'burnt bad b***h' I am today.' Four years on, Abbey lives a normal happy life, drinking with friends and enjoying the outdoors. Four years on, Abbey lives a normal happy life, drinking with friends and enjoying the outdoors Originally from Miamisburg, Ohio, she has since moved to Glendive Montana. 'It's a very small community that I love being apart of. If I'm not bartending at The Oasis bar, I'm usually spending time with my significant other Austin and our crazy amount of pets we have. 'There's so many times in my healing journey where I thought I wouldn't make it and I just wanted to give up but I'm so thankful I didn't.' Abbey paid tribute to her family for their continuous support, and her boyfriend Austin, 'for always helping me through my dark days'. She is now bravely using her recovery experience to inspire and help other burns survivors. 'I am now active in the burn survivor community where I try and encourage others with my story,' Abbey said, adding: 'I try to constantly live every day like it could be my last.' Princesses Maria Chiara and Maria Carolina of Bourbon two Sicilies have been snapped looking glamorous while indulging in a spot of shopping in Saint Tropez. The Italian heiress sisters were born to Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro - who holds a claim to the now defunct throne of the former House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies - and Princess Camilla, Duchess of Castro. Their appearance comes amid rumours that younger sister Chiara, 18, is dating Prince Christian, heir to the throne of Denmark. Speculation was sparked after Christian, 17, was snapped enjoying a day out with friends at the Monaco Grand Prix in May, and was seen standing close together with Roman-born Chiara in a group photo taken at the event. His parents Crown Princess Mary, 54, and Crown Price Frederik, 55, are family friends with the parents of Carolina, 19, and Chiara. Maria Carolina and Maria Chiara looked stylish as they stepped out in glamorous St Tropez, on the French Riviera The sisters appeared to be enjoying their stroll through the town, which is known for being a glamorous destination The Italian sisters have already spent some time in St Tropez this Summer (where Chiara was snapped enjoying an ice cream with Christian), and seem keen to make the most of Summer in the glitzy French Riviera town. Stepping out today, the siblings looked typically chic, in casual but carefully curated outfits. Older sister Carolina opted for a sporty co-ord outfit, matching a cropped pink t-shirt with matching leggings. She finished the ensemble with a pair of nude wedge sandals with a straw heel, and coordinating miniature straw holdall bag. Her long blonde locks were pulled into a high ponytail, and held in place with a hair tie decorated with fabric flowers, and she appeared fresh faced. Meanwhile, Chiara donned a minidress with a halter neck style top, and a waist cinched in with a belt made of matching fabric. The short dress was made from a white cotton fabric boasting a multi-coloured floral print. Like her sister, she also wore a pair of wedge heels, which both looked chic, and appeared more practical for navigating the cobbled streets than heels. Prince Christian of Denmark, who is the son of Crown Prince Frederik, is rumoured to be dating Chiara BUSTLING: The siblings appeared to be enjoying their stroll through the vibrant and bustling French town The glamorous Italian sisters are known for combining their glitzy jetset lifestyles with their charity work St Tropez is just one of the luxury destinations the sisters enjoy visiting, with them regularly splitting time between Monaco, Paris and St Tropez as well as Italy Carolina and Chiara are actively involved with charity work, and have also built their personal profiles by sharing snaps from their lives on social media Her long blonde bob was neatly styled to fall straight past her jaw, and she finished off the look with a bright yellow bag casually slung over one shoulder. The House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies is a cadet branch of the Spanish Royal Family which descends from the Capetian Dynasty and ruled over Southern Italy and Sicily during the 18th and 19th centuries. While the family has no official remit, they spend their time doing charity work and promoting the interest of Southern Italy. And the two sisters are also actively involved with charity work and rub shoulders with the most elite socialites of Europe, speaking fluently in English, French and Italian. In recent years, they have been building a large fanbase by sharing snaps of their luxurious lives on Instagram, and clips of themselves on TikTok, dancing, showing off their style, and having fun in various glamorous locations. Furious Brits have been blasting American parents for naming their children after UK cities and counties. The outrage was sparked when an unnamed Reddit user, from England, took to the discussion forum to urge people to put a stop to the seemingly popular trend. He cited the example that his friend's cousin's girlfriend is called Lecesta - based on the city of Leicester - before hitting out at both the incorrect spelling and pronunciation. Other social media users were quick to brand the naming debacle as 'fatally embarrassing' - but what do you think? Furious Brits have been blasting American parents for naming their children after UK cities and counties (stock image) Poll What do YOU think about the naming trend? Love Loathe What do YOU think about the naming trend? Love 584 votes Loathe 6002 votes Now share your opinion The post, which was uploaded earlier today, was titled: 'Stop naming children after British cities and counties!' It began: 'I'm from England. My American friend's cousin's girlfriend is called Lecesta. 'I thought it could be a cultural thing but it isn't. 'Apparently, her mother got together with her father at a party in Leicester in England and therefore named their child Lecesta. 'And what's even worse, the mother pronounces the word Leicester as Lie - Sess - Tur. It's actually Less - Tuh. 'And since Lecesta's mother pronounces Leicester this way, her daughter's name is pronounced Lee - Sess - Tur.' It concluded: 'Can we stop naming children after British places? AND THEN SPELLING THEM INCORRECTLY.' And other social media users were quick to flood the comments with their own thoughts on the matter. He cited the example that his friend's cousin's girlfriend is called Lecesta - based on the city of Leicester (pictured) - before hitting out at both the incorrect spelling and pronunciation Other social media users were quick to brand the naming debacle as 'fatally embarrassing' One wrote: 'The name is cringe, and the mispronunciation is fatally embarrassing.' Another furiously added: 'You realize all of American naming history is copying Britain and their version of English is just incorrect but with the excuse of calling it American English.' Someone else commented: 'Hard yikes on that pronunciation.' And a fourth sarcastically wrote: 'There is no end to the amazing things that Americans do with our language and culture.' Advertisement A homeowner couldn't believe his luck after finding out his humble Australian exposed brick house could soon be featured in a new Netflix mini-series inspired by the hit western drama Yellowstone. The single-storey property located in West Lakes, 30 minutes north-west of Adelaide, captured the attention of the streaming giant shortly after it was put up for sale last week. Harris real estate agent Hayley Staltari told FEMAIL she received a call from the Netflix team on Friday a few hours after listing the property. They expressed interest in leasing the home for six or seven days in October. They would pay as much as $1,700 per day to film in the home for that period and it would to go to the new owner before they moved in. 'It was a complete shock - I called the seller immediately and said, "You're not going to believe this",' she recalled. The mini series is expected to be partially filmed in Adelaide from October to November after a stint in the Northern Territory. Ms Staltari said the exposed brown brick, single-storey layout and overall style of the home is what sparked the interest from Netflix as they were looking for a location to suit the 'western' style of the show. A homeowner couldn't believe his luck after finding out his humble Australian house with exposed brick and timber floorboards could soon be featured in a new Netflix mini-series The single-storey property located in West Lakes, 30 minutes north-west of Adelaide, captured the attention of the streaming giant shortly after it was put up for sale last week Harris real estate agent Hayley Staltari told FEMAIL she received a call from the Netflix team on Friday a few hours after listing the property. They expressed interest in leasing the home for six or seven days in October With an asking price of $1.1million, the three-bedroom home at 13 Liberman Court sits on 846sqm and is the biggest block in the street. It's located in a quiet area within Delfin Island and is in walking distance to a nearby lake. The beach is also nearby. It's also adjacent to two of West Lakes most expensive homes ever sold - with one selling for $3million and the other for $4.45million. The unique opportunity will not only showcase the gorgeous area but prospective buyers will have the chance to receive extra cash prior to moving in - while also being apart of cinematic history. Ms Staltari believes this is a 'good thing' to market the property further and gain interest from other buyers. 'They'll film in the Northern Territory for three weeks before making their way to Adelaide. It's very exciting,' she said. The seller - who wishes to remain anonymous - told FEMAIL he was 'shocked' after receiving the news from Ms Staltari. 'I never expected this at all but am thrilled. It's pretty freaky and amazing how much interest it's had,' he said. The father-of-two and his family lived in the home for 13 years before deciding to sell. The unique opportunity with Netflix will not only showcase the gorgeous area but prospective buyers will have the chance to receive extra cash prior to moving in - while also being apart of cinematic history Ms Staltari believes this is a 'good thing' to market the property further and gain interest from other buyers. 'They'll film in the Northern Territory for three weeks before making their way to Adelaide. It's very exciting,' she said READ MORE: A Barbie dreamhouse in Sydney: Inside the stunning pink home in Rose Bay with sparkling water views, lush gardens and decor inspired by old Hollywood Young couple who achieved the 'Australian dream' of owning a home by age 30 reveal why they decided to sell and go travelling for four years - as they're back to renting again Ioana from Canada had to switch up her vocabulary after moving to Australia A Canadian woman who has been living in Australia for seven years had revealed which words she had to stop using when she moved Down Under. Ioana Dragnef, from the Gold Coast, had to phase out her North American vocabulary to make way for Australian words and phrases. The expat had to stop saying things like 'bell pepper', 'candy' and 'garbage' and instead start using 'capsicum', 'lollies' and 'rubbish'. 'I hated this word even when I was living in North America, what the heck is a candy bar?' she said before correcting herself to the Aussie phrase 'choccies'. Ioana swapped saying trash and garbage for rubbish bin and rubbish. Scroll down for video Canadian expat Ioana Dragnef (left) who has been living in Australia for seven years has shared the American words she's stopped using and the Aussie phrases she's adopted instead The words Canadian expat Ioana had to stop using after moving to Australia and what she says now North American: Bell pepper Candy Trash or garbage Candy bar French fries Sandwich Chocolate milk Australian: Capsicum Lolly or lollies Rubbish or rubbish bin Choccies Chips or chippies Sanga Choccy milk Source: TikTok/Ioanaonthecoast Advertisement 'What the hell is Candy? Lolly or lollies,' she said. 'Stop this immediately,' she referring to the US word 'French fries'. 'They're chips. Chippies, mate.' Ioana also traded the words bell pepper, sandwich and chocolate milk for capsicum, sanga and choccy milk respectively. The expat shared her newfound vocabulary in an online video leaving Aussie viewers in stitches. 'You're one of us now, there is no turning back,' one viewer said and another agreed: 'Okay, you're invited to the barbecue'. 'Also an American here for six years. Very relatable, also pram or nappy, even creche,' one mum said. 'It's called candy bar in America because American 'chocolate' doesn't have enough chocolate to actually be called chocolate,' someone claimed. Some wondered if Ioana had made some other Australian changes. 'Do you say the H in herb now?' someone asked and another wanted to know: 'Do you say taps now instead of faucet?' 'Not sunglasses, instead sunnies,' added another. Ioana has built up a large following online for sharing her observations about Australian culture as an expat. Ioana has built up a large following online for sharing her observations about Australian culture as an expat Previously she made thousands laugh with her roast of Australian winter fashion. Ioana dressed as what she thinks Aussies from all over the country wear in the chilly months. She mocked 'rich Sydney mums', people from Perth and Brisbane who rug up when temperatures dip below 24C and those from Canberra and Victoria who still wear shorts despite frosty conditions. Ioana, who's now living on the Gold Coast, poked fun at Tasmanians who don't wear a jacket in winter and Queenslanders who still don shorts and thongs despite complaining about cold weather. Australians loved Ioana's impressions deeming them 'accurate' and were left in stitches at her takes. She mocked 'rich Sydney mums' and those from Canberra and Victoria who still wear shorts despite frosty conditions In a TikTok clip, the Canadian dressed as a 'rich Sydney mum' who she said wears a puffer jacket with branded athleisure, is 'needlessly aggressive' and 'ready for brunch'. Next she showed the 'Perth/Brisbane special' and bundled up for temperatures below 24 degrees. For the 'Melbourne commuter' Ioana dressed in skinny pants, laced boots, a scarf, long cardigan and over-ear headphones. 'Is this outfit black enough?' she wrote. The 'nah I'm fine mate' person from Canberra or Victoria 'stubbornly' wears shorts, slides and a light jumper in winter. The 'I don't need a jacket, I'm from Tasmania' person, Ioana thought donned a 'fisherman sweater' and occasionally a Kathmandu jacket. Finally, Ioana put on the 'official Queensland uniform' wearing a puffer jacket, shorts and thongs. She joked people in the get-up usually complain it's 'not warm, hey?'. Ioana's clip amassed more than 563,700 views and left Australians impressed by her 'on-point' impersonations. 'Yup it dropped to 24 degrees in Perth the other day and I was ready to put the heating on,' one viewer said. 'Love it. My teenagers here in Melbourne have just done the winter upgrade from one hoodie to two hoodies (each),' a mum added. For the 'Melbourne commuter' Ioana dressed in skinny pants, laced boots, a scarf, long cardigan and over-ear headphones 'A puffer is essential in Tassie. Sometimes with shorts. It's a Tassie tuxedo,' another wrote. South Australians and people from the Northern Territory had a gripe for not being included but Ioana admitted she has never visited. 'I was gonna do a full bikini for NT but no one needs to see that!' she joked. They were quick to inform the expat what winter dressing looked like where they lived. 'I've seen thongs, shorts and singlet but WITH A SCARF in Darwin on a rare sub 24 day,' laughed one woman. 'Flannel for the morning/evening over the singlet. tied around waist during the day. jeans or shorts and thongs,' another added. An Adelaide local said: '10 years ago everyone discovered puffer jackets and now they've taken over the city'. The Pacific Man o War jellyfish have a painful sting and arrive in swarms An Australian man has sparked panic across the country after encountering two monster Bluebottle jellyfish on the country's east coast - and he's not the first one to report it. Tudor, from Sunshine Coast in Queensland, was walking his dogs along Marcus beach when he spotted two enormous Pacific Man o' War jellyfish in the sand. Tudor shared an image of the jellyfish in comparison with an Aussie $5 note to highlight its size and jokingly described it as a 'harbinger of death'. 'He's bigger than a fiver, with an arsenal of stingers,' he said. Bluebottles are commonly found on eastern Australian beaches during the summer months, and in Western Australia during autumn and winter. An Australian man has sparked panic across the country after encountering two monster Bluebottle jellyfish on the country's east coast - and he's not the first one to report it Bluebottles usually float in open oceans waters but are swept on to the beach during north-east winds Their tentacles are usually between two to 15 cm long but can grow up to 10 metres long, and are used as their main defence as they carry venom to attack. Blue bottles usually float in open oceans waters but are swept on to the beach during north-east winds. Up to 40,000 stings are reported across the country each year, the bulk of which are focused on the east coast. Bluebottle jellyfish stings can cause intense pain, whip-like lines and sores in the areas of skin that have been in contact with the jellyfish tentacles. According to Healthline, the pain usually decreases or stops after two hours but you may have joint aches, a rash, or redness in the area that was stung. Bluebottles are commonly found on eastern Australian beaches during the summer months, and in Western Australia during autumn and winter Many shared their own recent experiences of jellyfish sightings and stings - many of whom reported them being bigger than usual. 'I saw a big-a** Bluebottle at Bokarina on the weekend, too,' a woman said. 'Almost the size of my palm! When I popped it with my heel, it spat at my other leg and gave me a sting, the bast*rd.' 'Saw a large one in Warana recently,' another shared. 'I can't believe there are jellyfish and warm currents already - it's the middle of winter!' Speaking to Yahoo after similar sightings in July, Griffith University's Marine Ecologist, Professor Kylie Pitt, said larger bluebottles aren't anything to worry about and aren't part of a new trend. 'In a population you're going to have big ones and some small ones and these are just on the bigger end,' she said. She challenged herself to use 10 dating apps in 10 weeks Single woman has been using LinkedIn to find dates A single woman has shared the reasons why she has turned to business networking site LinkedIn to find her soulmate. Candice, who lives in Singapore, is challenging herself to hit one dating app every week for 10 weeks on her quest to find an 'A-grade' partner and is documenting her journey online. The 37-year-old has already tried Bumble, Hinge and Tinder to no avail so is now turning her attention to LinkedIn as she can filter by education level, profession and country. Candice got the idea to use the professional social media platform to find a date after a friend wanted to set her up with a 'very attractive' man via LinkedIn. She said she spent the week 'crawling' the site to find potential partners and hinted that she had found a date. Scroll down for video Single woman Candice (pictured) is trying business networking site LinkedIn to look for dates in her quest to find her sole-mate 'I'm looking for A-grade men and Linkedin has A-grade filters! It's all part of my effort to try 10 apps in 10 weeks and make dating in Singapore a little more fun!' Candice captioned a TikTok video. She said can filter firstly by education adding she particularly keen on men who have an MBA and secondly by industry as she's looking for people work as a doctor, lawyer or 'finance bro' and thirdly by country. 'Unfortunately I'm unable to filter by height but at least there are very good photos that I can kind of do some height analysis on,' she added as her ideal partner is 180cm or over. Candice was inspired to try LinkedIn as a way to meet men by a friend. 'My whole initiative to try 10 different dating apps in 10 weeks is now moving into the real world because my friend messaged me and said, 'Hey, I saw your videos, how about I set you up with this guy?',' she explained. Candice got the idea to use the professional social media platform to find a date after a friend wanted to set her up with a 'very attractive' man and sent her his LinkedIn profile 'She sent me his LinkedIn profile and he looks very attractive so, yes Sophie, do your thing.' It's not clear from Candice's videos if she did manage to set up a date with someone she met on LinkedIn but she is talking to a few men. She has also started 'matchmaking' by setting up the people she's met on dates with her friends. The singleton's clips have racked up more than 1million views sparked chatter in the comments with some thinking the approach was 'smart' and 'genius' whereas others had their hesitations. 'The thing is, on LinkedIn they only have one perfectly-edited head shot. I need a full posture picture for my evaluation,' one woman pointed out. 'I checked my then-boyfriend's LinkedIn page after we met through Tinder. We are married now,' another said. 'How do you know if they are married or not?' a third asked. 'Great idea, I should've tried it from long time ago,' a fourth added. Many were curious bout how to strike up a romantic conversation with someone on LinkedIn. 'But how do you take it from there though. Like how do you get in touch and move it to dating?' someone asked. 'But do you talk to them? What is your method?' a second also wondered. 'Try to use their info on LinkedIn to find other social media. If you find their Instagram just start following and liking their stories, making small talk,' one user suggested. A woman has been slammed for 'showboating' her glamorous life being married to a Dubai millionaire and urging her fans not to date 'broke' men. Sofia Kralow is living her dream lifestyle full of designer bags, private jets, and expensive holidays. She is best known for sharing her 'millionaire wife' life on social media and providing her followers with an insight into her lavish everyday activities. Sofia recently came under fire after asking her fans to 'raise their standards' - with many calling her 'backwards' and 'shallow'. 'Your daily reminder to never date broke men,' she said alongside clips of stacks of cash, an Yves Saint Laurent bag, and a new Lamborghini. Sofia Kralow is living her dream lifestyle in Dubai full of designer bags, private jets, and expensive holidays A woman has been slammed for 'showboating' her glamorous life being married to a Dubai millionaire and dissuading her fans from dating 'broke' men Various other snippets from her accounts show her regularly travelling by helicopter, buying high-end clothes and accessories, and dining at Michelin star restaurants. But the millionaire doesn't see the problem with her dating advice. 'Where is the connection between never dating a broke man and being dependent on a rich man or any man?' Sofia asked in a follow up clip. 'If you're dating a rich man, you can also be rich by yourself.' Sofia also revealed she was in a very happy relationship with her husband, and that the duo were 'always holding hands' and 'travelling around the world' together. 'People make assumptions about us based on their perspective of the world, but we're very happy,' she said. Sofia recently came under fire after asking her fans to 'raise their standards' - with many calling her 'backwards' and 'shallow' Many still criticised her way of thinking and judged her for the 'wrong' values. 'So were going back 100 years to being dependent on a mans salary again? Great message,' a snarky woman wrote. 'Relationships are not all about money - being with someone whos not rich but is working hard to achieve their goals doesnt mean you are lowering your standards,' another said. 'Women like you are so shallow, always only thinking about material objects,' a man said. 'Your daily reminder to never date broke men,' she said alongside clips of stacks of cash, an Yves Saint Laurent bag, and a new Lamborghini But others were on Sofia's side, and claimed that she wasn't wrong about her advice. 'My experience in dating broke men has been problems - because their struggle and issues will be yours,' a woman said. 'Don't do it.' 'I'm tired of working, I wouldn't mind a man who can provide for me,' a second wrote. 'I dated a broke man and he cheated on me - no one is loyal, might as well go for the money,' another shared. The US Department of Defense will partner with a small lab to test some of America's most common drugs in a bid to clamp down on dangerous chemicals finding their way into the US supply. A recent increase in reliance on Chinese and Indian manufacturers to produce common medications has coincided with a rise in drugs containing cancer-causing substances. And the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - the federal agency whose job it is to protect Americans from harmful chemicals - has been slow to react. Now, the DoD and small Connecticut-based lab Valisure will enter into a multi-year cooperative research and development agreement, under which Valisure will independently test dozens of drugs for harmful chemicals and substances. The lab, which has been far ahead of the FDA in identifying carcinogens in common products like hand sanitizers, dry shampoos, sunscreens, and medications, will test and quality score samples of drugs to provide a risk assessment for medications. Valisure, a Connecticut-based lab, has identified toxic chemicals and carcinogens in common products like hand sanitizers, dry shampoos, sunscreens, and medications. The toxins were only detected in certain batches of the above products. Some companies recalled their products and have since reformulated them to remove the harmful substances from the ingredients list It will also rate manufacturers' quality to help the DoD identify and weed out potentially harmful products. The partnership, announced by the lab and DoD on Tuesday, hopes to complement FDA efforts to regulate and test medications, generating meaningful and actionable transparency when it comes to drug quality. The government will not pay Valisure as part of the collaboration. Throughout its research, the lab has revealed contaminants in goods produced by major manufacturers, including Procter & Gamble Co., Johnson & Johnson, and CVS Health Corp., leading to massive recalls of pharmaceutical and personal hygiene products. Valisure said it has grown increasingly difficult to regulate Americas drugs and their ingredients because most production has been moved to India and China, where there is limited oversight. Politicians have recently expressed their dissatisfaction over the FDA's inadequate inspection of drug manufacturing in India and China. 'Given that approximately 32 percent of generic drugs and 45 percent of active pharmaceutical ingredients are from these two countries, we are worried that the United States is overly reliant on sourcing from foreign manufacturers with a demonstrated pattern of repeatedly violating FDA safety regulations', a letter to the FDA from the House Energy and Commerce Committee said. Some of the chemicals Valisure has found in products it's tested since 2018 include nitrosamine, benzene and N-Nitrosodimethylamine, or NDMA all of which can cause cancer. Nitrosamine is considered to be a strong carcinogen that may produce cancer in various organs and tissues, including lung, brain, liver, kidney, bladder, stomach, and esophagus. Benzene is a carcinogen that may be harmful to reproductive organs and can lead to altered gene expression. NDMA is an organic chemical shown to cause tumors of the liver, respiratory tract, kidneys, and blood vessels in animal studies. Certain batches of common medications and products Valisure tested that contained these cancer-causing substances included: Zantac, the popular heartburn and acid reflux drug, contained high levels of N-Nitrosodimethylamine, or NDMA. Ranitidine, the generic drug version of Zantac found in dozens of medications, also contained NDMA. Zantac, the popular heartburn and acid reflux drug, contained high levels of the carcinogen N-Nitrosodimethylamine, or NDMA, which can cause tumors of the liver, respiratory tract, kidneys, and blood vessels One type of Neutrogena's sunscreen was found to contain benzene, a chemical that can be harmful to reproductive organs Accuretic, a blood pressure drug manufactured by Pfizer, contained nitrosamine. Chantax, a popular anti-smoking drug manufactured by Pfizer, was also found to contain high levels of nitrosamine. Certain brands of the popular beauty product dry shampoo, which is used by millions, were found to contain benzene. Additionally, certain brands of popular sunscreens were also found to contain benzene. Lastly, certain brands of hand sanitizer, which saw use skyrocket during the Covid-19 pandemic, were found to contain benzene. The lab's findings have led to companies and the FDA issuing voluntary recalls of consumer and pharmaceutical products that are used by tens of millions of Americans. Following the recalls, some companies have reformulated their products to remove the carcinogens from the ingredients list. While the new partnership is progress, it only applies to medications, leaving consumers at risk when it comes to cosmetics and certain personal hygiene products, which the FDA has no legal authority at all to regulate or approve before they go to market. The FDA has quality standards for safety and effectiveness when it comes to drugs and certain products available to Americans. However, a backlog caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, combined with limited oversight and authority, means harmful products could still be making their way onto store shelves and into peoples homes. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the agency scaled back personnel and operations, which postponed hundreds of drug company inspections. The backlog also delayed new drug approvals and led to shortages of existing medications. For drugs and medical products produced domestically, the FDA inspects the operations process at a manufacturing facility and ensures the manufacturer is following agency rules. The FDA also conducts inspections when a company receives a complaint or is believed to not be following standard practice. Chantax, a popular anti-smoking drug manufactured by Pfizer, was found to contain high levels of nitrosamine, a chemical considered to be a strong carcinogen that may cause cancer in various organs and tissues Several brands of dry shampoo were also found to contain the carcinogen benzene In about 20 percent of cases, the agency will review applications before a drug goes to market to determine whether it is in compliance with standards and the data submitted is accurate and complete. However, medications and products from outside the US drug supply chain are not subject to the same assurances of safety and efficacy. The FDA reviews shipments of imported drugs to determine if they are admissible and will deny entry if a drug appears to be adulterated or low quality, misbranded, containing false or misleading information, lacks FDA-required information, does not follow FDA label rules and has not been registered or listed with the agency. Additionally, the FDA will block entry to drugs that have not been proven to be safe and effective. Before admittance to the US, the regulatory agency will examine and analyze samples of imported drugs to ensure they comply with Americas standards. For cosmetics and some personal hygiene products, the FDA has no legal authority to approve products before going to market. However, there are some laws that partially govern these products, including prohibiting marketing of misbranded products and allowing the FDA to pursue enforcement against products that are not in compliance. Additionally, the laws require a manufacturer or distributor to certify the products are safe, but the FDA does not have a list of required tests that would demonstrate safety. The FDA told DailyMail.com that protecting Americans is its highest priority. 'Protecting patients is the highest priority of the FDA and Americans can be confident in the quality of the products the FDA approves. 'The FDA continues to work to build a safe, secure and agile drug supply chain so that American patients have the medications they need medications that have been carefully reviewed by the FDA for safety, effectiveness and quality. The agency added: 'Should healthcare systems choose to implement additional testing, it is imperative that such testing use validated methods conducted by validated labs, rather than risking invalid results'. While Covid rates are rising slightly, they remain at historic lows An epidemiologist said that Americans should still mask up inside, potentially even inside their own homes, amid the latest Covid-19 surge. Dr Katelyn Jetelina, epidemiologist at the University of Texas, told PBS News Hour last week that Americans should still 'be wearing masks in crowded areas, especially during a surge.' She also appeared to endorse wearing masks in your own home 'if you want to reduce household transmission.' 'Certainly at home, [masks work] if you want to reduce household transmission,' she said. She also advised that if you test positive, 'please wear a mask if you leave isolation at five days.' Her comments come amid a small uptick in the virus- with hospitalizations rising 12 percent in the past week, believed to be due to a new, more infectious variant dubbed 'Eris,' which is still considered mild. However, the rise is from a small base, and the rate is still a fraction of that from this time last year. While hospitalizations from Covid are rising, Covid rates remain at historic lows. Recent deaths have also remained static and are at their lowest levels since Covid emerged, at around 500 per week The above graph shows Covid deaths recorded in the US per 100,000 people. These have not started to rise and remain at record lows The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed 8,000 patients were admitted to hospitals across the country the week July 22, up 12 percent from the previous week. This was the first week-on-week rise since December. Dr Katelyn Jetelina, epidemiologist at the University of Texas, told PBS News Hour last week that Americans should still 'be wearing masks in crowded areas, especially during a surge' Many current cases have ben attributed to the new highly-infectious variant 'Eris,' which has quickly become dominant in America. Experts believe it now accounts for one in five US infection. The World Health Organization has classified Eris, formally known as EG.5, as a 'variant of interest.' However, the CDC has a slightly different classification system, and it has designated Eris a variant 'under monitoring' and not one of 'interest' or 'concern.' Experts have said that EG.5 is one of the quickest growing variants across the world, which could be due to a 'slightly beneficial mutation' which means it is spreading fastest than its relatives. It has also been detected in China, South Korea, Japan and Canada, among other countries. In the first week of July, 7.5 percent of Covid cases were due to EG.5. Now, 17.3 percent of cases are. 'Collectively, available evidence does not suggest that EG.5 has additional public health risks relative to the other currently circulating Omicron descendent lineages,' the WHO said in a risk evaluation. A more comprehensive evaluation of the risk posed by EG.5 was needed, it added. Despite the increase in Covid cases, rates remain at all-time lows. For comparison, at the peak of the US pandemic in January 2022, hospitalizations were as high as 150,674. This time last year, they were just over 44,000. Recent deaths have also remained static and are at their lowest levels since Covid emerged, at around 500 per week. Dr Jetelina's mask recommendations come amid a swatch of recent evidence suggesting that Covid restrictions like mask-wearing have hampered growth and development in children. A CDC report published earlier this year found that from 2019 to 2021, the amount of kids ages three to 17 diagnosed with any developmental disability increased from 7.4 percent to 8.5 percent. That's a 17 percent increase. And boys were twice as likely to have one than girls, with one in 10 being diagnosed. Boys also had higher rates of intellectual disability than girls, with 2.3 percent diagnosed compared to 1.4 percent. Additionally, a paper published last January in the journal JAMA that looked at 225 children born in 2020 revealed babies were less likely to be crawling and smiling at themselves in a mirror within six months. It also showed they had reduced social and problem solving skills. 'I understand the mind-set for, man, thank goodness that's done,' Dr Jetelina said. 'But we do the public a disservice by rolling over, saying, let's move on, because the truth is, the virus doesn't care. COVID is obviously still here.' 'It's going to be with us. It's going to cause disruptions. And it's going to cause a lot of people to lose their lives.' Woman, breast feeding and vagina all used to be standard terms used within the medical community. But they are just a selection of words that have been replaced by some woke NHS trusts, private hospitals and charities as part of an inclusivity push. In the latest incident, radiology patients at Cromwell Hospital in London were asked to fill in a form that asks 'patients of childbearing potential' if they are pregnant. Despite sparking backlash from woman's rights campaigners, the Bupa-run hospital insists it is 'proud' to be inclusive and it is 'important our patients feel safe', adding all materials 'comply with industry standards'. Here's some other examples of the woke language sweeping the land of healthcare. Woman, breast feeding and vagina all used to be standard terms used within the medical community. But they are just a selection of words that have been replaced by some woke NHS trusts, private hospitals and charities as part of an inclusivity push The term chestfeeding is used throughout the page with the term 'breast' omitted. Breastmilk likewise has been replaced with 'milk from the chest' Breastfeeding - chestfeeding The NHS website's page on chestfeeding, under the LGBT+ section, is targeted at trans and non-binary patients who have given birth. It makes no mention of breasts and refers to breast reduction operations as 'top surgery'. The page has been criticised as 'ideological' and accused of 'normalising' a potentially dangerous chest-binding technique. And an April 2022 report from the LGBT Foundation said 'traditional' terminology around breastfeeding 'may induce dysphoria or discomfort for trans and non-binary parents', who may prefer the term chestfeeding to breastfeeding. The Government-funded report urged the NHS to use inclusive language and not 'guess the language someone might use to describe themselves based on how they look or sound, or who they are in a relationship with'. READ MORE: NHS managers are told not to offer sympathy to female colleagues worried about sharing toilets with biological men in woke handbook Advertisement Breast milk - human milk Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust began referring to breastmilk as 'human milk' in official guidance in February 2021. In a web page, it unveiled 'gender inclusive' phrases it wanted its staff to use. These included terms like 'human milk' rather than 'breast milk' to avoid offending transgender people. At the time, the Trust which has since merged to become University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust said using 'gender inclusive' phrases was part of a drive to stamp out 'mainstream transphobia'. The move was welcomed by inclusivity campaigners at the time, with the group TransActual tweeted: 'This is fantastic, well done. Let's hope many more trusts follow suit. Everybody deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.' The guidance, titled Gender Inclusive Language in Perinatal Services, has since been taken down. Expectant mothers - pregnant people An NHS Trust sparked a row by calling expectant mothers 'pregnant people'. NHS East of England tweeted a quote in May 2021 from one of their antenatal and newborn screening coordinators which said: 'Our job is to implement all the screening programs for pregnant people and their newborn babies.' The post from triggered a debate at the time, with one person writing on social media: 'Pregnant women. Fixed it for you.' Another tweeted: 'Women! Pregnant women. Stop this nonsense.' In the document it asks 'patients of childbearing potential' for the date their last menstrual period started Cromwell Hospital (pictured) has come under fire after referring to women as 'patients of childbearing potential' Father - parent, co-parent or second biological parent In its February 2021 guidance, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust called for the term 'father' to be replaced. It suggested using 'parent', 'co-parent' or 'second biological parent', depending on the circumstances. However, it said the language changes do not always apply when talking with patients one-on-one, as wording should then 'reflect the gender identity of the individual'. Maternity service - perinatal service Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust became the first in the country to formally implement a 'gender inclusive' overhaul in February 2021. Under the move, its maternity services department was renamed as 'perinatal services'. Perinatal care is a broad term for the treatment a woman receives both while she is pregnant and for the 12 months after she gives birth. Here are some examples of the woke language changes that have engulfed NHS communications. Some of these examples have been taken from national NHS communications while others are used by individual hospitals Mother - birthing people or birthing parent An NHS Trust used the term 'birthing people' instead of 'mothers'. NHS Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust said it was seeking 'birthing people' to provide feedback on its perinatal services in a social media post last August. But the Trust, which specialises in mental health treatment, was accused of leaving biological females out of the conversation by its failure to use the terms 'women' or 'mothers' in its communications. Some members of the public called it 'dehumanising' and 'dangerous nonsense'. Similar language trickled through to midwifery degrees over the last year. At the University of Bradford, an internal document detailing the course specifications for midwives who trained in 2022/23 refers to 'childbearing people' four times and 'birthing people' eight times. In contrast, the word 'women' is mentioned just three times in the 11-page document, while 'mother' is not mentioned at all. At Cumbria University, all references to mothers on the course description for students who started in 2022/23 were replaced with 'birthing parents'. The midwifery course pages at Kingston and Cardiff universities also talk about 'birthing people' and 'pregnant people' respectively, although they do also mention 'women'. Vagina - bonus hole A charity suggested the vagina could be referred to as 'the bonus hole' to avoid upsetting non-binary or trans men. Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust featured the term on a page for health professionals who are treating patients suffering from the disease. The trust insisted it was not suggesting the term should be used by all women but added it was important to reach trans men and non-binary people. But female rights campaigners last month rounded on the alternative glossary, branding it both 'misogynistic' and 'utterly dehumanising'. NHS Digital has now partially amended the webpage to include the word 'women' once at the end Vaginal birth - frontal birth or lower birth The term 'vaginal birth' was labelled gender-loaded by the LGBT Foundation in an April 2022 report. The document, based on a survey of 121 trans Brits on their experience of pregnancy, recommended that healthcare staff use 'frontal' or 'lower birth' instead. The charity also said some trans and non-binary people would benefit from having a private space in hospitals to give birth, so that they are not made uncomfortable by seeing women. It detailed the experience of one trans person, who said: 'I didn't have to go to a ward full of women after giving birth, I was actually provided with a private room for me and baby which was very helpful and accommodating for me and my gender identity.' Woman - patient of childbearing age, anyone who has a cervix, period or ovaries, people who know they are pregnant In another example of wokery, NHS advice pages about women's health were found to have quietly scrubbed the word 'women' in recent years. An early version of the NHS menopause page described it as being 'when a woman stops having periods and is no longer able to get pregnant naturally'. But this was changed in May last year to: 'Menopause is when your periods stop due to lower hormone levels.' However, in the new update the term 'women' features again. The advice now states that the menopause 'usually affects women between the ages of 45 and 55'. Another web page on ovarian cancer used to state it was 'one of the most common types of cancer for women'. But it was updated in February 2022 to state 'women, trans men, non-binary people and intersex people with ovaries' can be affected. The health service has also removed references to 'women' from its pages about miscarriages. Its site swapped 'women who know they're pregnant' with 'people who know they are pregnant'. And the NHS cervical screening page currently reads that smear tests which check for cervical cancer are offered to 'women and people with a cervix'. In a case this week, Cromwell Hospital in London, which is not part of the NHS, was criticised for asking 'patients of a childbearing potential' if they could be pregnant rather than stating 'women'. A Canadian woman who spent weeks in and out of the emergency department was found to be suffering from lead poisoning caused by toxic herbal remedies. The Ontario native, 39, was taking supplements rooted in Ayurvedic medicine, an ancient field of holistic healing that focuses on restoring balance in the body and mind. However, health officials have revealed that some medicines contain lead, arsenic, and mercury, which damage the nervous system, increase risk of several cancers, and endanger expectant mothers and their babies. The unnamed woman went through a barrage of diagnostic tests to determine the cause of her six-week bout of severe abdominal pain, constipation, nausea, and vomiting. Health Canada, the country's public health authority, identified the clinic that the patient visited as Kerela Ayurvedic & Natural Herbal Consultation clinic in Ontario Supplements the patient was taking were meant to treat her infertility, but actually drove her blood lead levels up 11 times higher than the maximum safe level Doctors ultimately found her blood lead level was 55 micrograms per deciliter (g/dL), roughly 11 times higher than what is deemed the safest maximum concentration. She had been taking the supplements for more than a year to treat her infertility, a fact she did not disclose to her clinicians until later, which delayed an accurate diagnosis. Lead is sometimes used in traditional Ayurvedic supplements for infertility because of its association with a traditional concept that refers to the use of substances that promote overall health and vitality. Details of the Ontario patient's case did not say explicitly whether lead and other metals were added by mistake during some part of the manufacturing process or on purpose, though the Ayurvedic concepts that support its use suggests it was an intentional addition. Depending on the level of lead exposure, the toxic heavy metal can lead to a wide range of health effects, such as behavioral changes, anemia, seizures, and infertility, which may often mistakenly be diagnosed as other illnesses. In addition to infertility, the patient had a history of thyroid dysfunction, which caused her thyroid gland to not release enough of the hormones crucial to maintaining metabolism, energy production, and overall growth. Upon visiting the hospital a third time, she was admitted so doctors could explore if the patient had gastrointestinal bleeding and anemia a condition that leads to too few red blood cells. Diagnostic tests showed her blood cells were smaller and paler than usual and dotted with dark blue and purple granules, indicating a condition known as basophilic stippling. Levels of minerals and hormones in her body were normal, as were tests of her urine, blood, intestines, and ovaries, though her bones were storing a lot of iron. Her pain levels improved after blood transfusions, which is likely what led doctors to diagnose her as anemic. Two weeks after leaving the hospital, her abdominal pain had improved but she was still fatigued, struggled to breathe, had headaches, and ringing in her ears, forcing doctors to re-evaluate their initial diagnosis. They tested her urine again, this time for indications of porphyria, a group of rare genetic disorders that affect the body's ability to produce heme, a crucial component of hemoglobin that carries oxygen in the blood. They found that she had elevated levels of two substances that are precursors to porphyria, signaling that her body's ability to produce heme was insufficient. It wasn't until a follow-up appointment an entire month after her hospitalization that the patient admitted she had been taking Ayurvedic supplements for about a year to help her get pregnant and had only stopped taking them after leaving the hospital the third time. After she stopped, she noticed an improvement in her stomach pain but then resumed taking them, only to see the symptoms return. The doctors behind the case study said: When the diagnosis of lead toxicity was made, the clinicians contacted Public Health Ontario, a provincial public health agency that provides scientific and technical support to the Ontario government and health care system'. Public Health Ontario tested 17 different types of pills and two incense samples provided by the patient. Of these, 11 of the pills contained lead levels far higher than what a test is able to detect. One pill contained 129,000 g/g of lead, about 26,000 times higher than the maximum level recommended by Canadian health authorities, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Meanwhile, four additional pills contained a range of 7,900 to 33,000 g/g of mercury, a toxic substance that can have adverse effects on the nervous system and organs. While it is not clear whether the supplements the woman was taking were illegal, Canada's health and safety regulations require an extensive pre-market approval process that screens for contaminants like lead, arsenic, and mercury, suggesting these supplements flew under the radar Ayurveda, a 5,000-year-old healing tradition based in India, seeks to balance the body and mind using herbal remedies and holistic, often spiritually-based methods Doctors said: A joint investigation of the Ayurvedic clinic confirmed the practitioners noncompliance with the Natural Health Products Regulations and resulted in the seizure of hundreds of pills. Health Canada independently tested 15 types of pills seized at the practitioners clinic and found high levels of arsenic, mercury or lead in 14 of the samples. Three pills also contained prescription medications including diclofenac, dexamethasone, progesterone, norgestrel and cetirizine'. The agency recommended that doctors who treat patients presenting with similar symptoms and blood test results strongly consider lead poisoning as a possible culprit, though the fact that lead toxicity is fairly uncommon means patients often have to see a range of medical professionals until a diagnosis can be made. The supplements the woman was taking were proprietary brands, meaning they were unique to the clinic. But many like them have been found to contain higher-than-acceptable levels of lead, mercury, and arsenic, often because the heavy metals are considered to maintain some healing properties in the Ayurvedic tradition. In fact, an estimated 20 percent of Ayurvedic pills sold on the internet from US- and India-based manufacturers contained all three of those heavy metals. While it is not clear whether the pills sold at the Kerela Ayurvedic & Natural Herbal Consultation clinic in Ontario were illegal, Canadas health authorities typically have a stringent pre-market approval process that first requires supplements to maintain a certain designation for homeopathic remedies, followed by a thorough assessment of the products safety, quality, and efficacy. The process for getting supplements on the market is considerably less rigorous in the US, where the Food and Drug Administration does not conduct any pre-market investigation. This means the agency only acts, such as to remove a problematic product from shelves, after a problem such as lead toxicity arises. The lenient regulatory policies in the US have helped the supplement industry grow its value to a staggering $37.2 billion, though some estimates pin the value closer to $55 billion. And many reputable authorities have disputed their usefulness. Dr Tim Spector, a British epidemiologist and genetics expert at Kings College London believes supplements make 'total mugs' of those who buy them when we should be spending it on real food. He said last year: 'These supplements are driven by the same companies... they're going to be the new future giant food companies. 'Their budgets are massive. They're not these artisan little people in the back of a shed in Somerset making a superb organic supplement. 'They're all made in massive factories in China and you have no control [over] what it is and 99 percent of them have been shown not to work at all. Experts blamed access to guns and increased rates of depression for the rise A CDC report revealed that suicides in the US are at an all-time high More Americans took their own lives in the last year than ever before, according to national data. Figures published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that 49,500 adults in the US committed suicide in 2022, driven by access to guns and increased rates of depression. The data suggests that suicides are now more common in the US than at any time since World War II. It's a rise from 48,200 in 2021, which adds up to one death every 11 minutes. Suicide is now the eleventh-leading cause of death in the US, compared to 2020 when it was the twelfth-leading cause. Its also the second-leading cause of death among people aged 10 through 34. Figures published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) revealed that 49,500 adults in the US committed suicide in 2022, driven by access to guns and increased rates of depression Suicides in adults ages 25 to 44 grew about percent. The new data indicates that suicide became the second leading cause of death in that age group in 2022, up from number four n 2021 The US has long been under fire for its growing number of gun deaths, which experts believe could contribute to the amount of suicides. A 2022 study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that in 2020, the US had a record number of 45,222 firearm deaths, and gun-related suicides rose by one percent. Additionally, data from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) Global Burden of Disease Report found that the US had nearly four times the gun-related suicides in 2019 of the second-highest country, India. Jill Harkavy-Friedman, senior vice president of research at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said: 'I dont know if you can talk about suicide without talking about firearms.' The suicide rate fell slightly in 2019 and dropped again in 2020, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some experts tied that to a phenomenon seen in the early stages of wars and natural disasters, when people pull together and support each other. But in 2021, suicides rose four percent. Last year, according to the new data, the number jumped by more than 1,000, to 49,449 about a three percent increase over the year before. The provisional data comes from US death certificates and is considered almost complete, but it may change slightly as death information is reviewed in the months ahead. The largest increases were seen in older adults. Deaths rose nearly seven percent in people ages 45 to 64, and more than eight percent in people 65 and older. White men, in particular, have very high rates, the CDC said. Many middle-aged and elderly people experience problems like losing a job or losing a spouse, and its important to reduce stigma and other obstacles to them getting assistance, said Dr. Debra Houry, the CDCs chief medical officer. Suicides in adults ages 25 to 44 grew about one percent. The new data indicates that suicide became the second leading cause of death in that age group in 2022, up from number four n 2021. Despite the grim statistics, some say there is reason for optimism. A national crisis line launched a year ago, meaning anyone in the U.S. can dial 988 to reach mental health specialists. The CDC is expanding a suicide program to fund more prevention work in different communities. And theres growing awareness of the issue and that its OK to ask for help, health officials say. There was a more than eight percent drop in suicides in people ages 10 to 24 in 2022. That may be due to increased attention to youth mental health issues and a push for schools and others to focus on the problem, CDC officials said. FAYNE by Ann-Marie MacDonald (Tramp 15.99, 736pp) At over 700 pages, the Canadian novelist and playwright MacDonalds 19th-century-set fourth novel is nothing if not a commitment. At its heart is 12-year-old Charlotte Bell, heir to the estate of Fayne on the border of Scotland and England. But just as the land is disputed, and just as the spectacular moorland alternates between firm ground and treacherous bog, so her identity is fluid born intersex, she is as much boy as girl. Budding scientist Charlottes voice is an effervescent delight, carrying the often-comic opening section. However, the novel risks losing momentum by subsequently re-winding to unfold the painful history of her parents marriage, with her American heiress mothers fate taking a turn for the Gothic. Yet somehow the drama is sustained to the end aided by a nice touch of the fantastical in what finally turns out to be a zeitgeisty paean to boundary-defying love, friendship and the beauty of this endangered planet. I confess to a lump in my throat. THE BOOK OF FIRE by Christy Lefteri (Manilla 16.99, 400pp) Lefteri, the author of the best-selling The Beekeeper Of Aleppo, was brought up in London as the child of Cypriot refugees. Here, she returns to the Greek islands, setting her scene in a village in the middle of a thyme-scented forest. Only the forest has recently been reduced to blackened ashes in a wanton act of arson that killed numerous people and left many including music teacher Irinis family bearing scars. Everyone knows whos to blame: a greedy property developer intent on clearing land for his luxury hotel. And when Irini finds the culprit dying of apparent suicide, she guiltily delays seeking help, with the result shes soon under police investigation. While the suspense is wrapped up rather summarily, this is nonetheless a compelling, at times anguished, at-a-sitting exploration of trauma, complicity, justice and how to live in our rapacious, heating age. STRANGERS AT THE PORT by Lauren Aimee Curtis (W&N 16.99, 224pp) Curtis recently made Grantas once-a-decade Best Of Young British Novelists list, but Im afraid I finished this short triptych none the wiser. Its inspired by two unrelated late 19th-century events on the Aeolian Islands of Sicily the detention of prisoners on one island, and the arrival of a devastating pest on another. Its not long before the superstitious islanders suspect the prisoners involvement in the decimation of the harvest. Observing events is ten-year-old Giulia, whose widowed mother is conducting an affair with the islands sinister all-powerful shipmaster. But were soon snatched from this intriguing set-up and presented instead with the account of a depressive archduke, who recalls his visit to the island, then that of Giulias older sister as the family leave their home for good. More substantial themes of truth, emigration, persecution and memory are as fleeting as sea mist and its only the uncanny atmosphere that really sticks. Unfortunately, its part of the job we do at This is Money that means our stories often focus on bad customer service. By the time readers come to us for help, theyve usually exhausted their patience in trying to get a company or organisation to sort their problem. From our in-depth investigations such as Tanya Jefferies and Steve Webbs work on state pension problems to our individual reporters stories, and our consumer champions, Tony Hetherington, Sally Hamilton and Helen Crane, fighting readers corners is a key part of what This is Money and our sister newspaper publications do. But as well as holding companies to account, we also try to give praise where its due to the extent that Helens Crane on Case column has a regular slot for this. In that spirit, I thought Id share some good customer service that I was on the receiving end of this week. Especially, as I had steeled myself for battle on the issue but instead ended up having it resolved quickly and fairly. Last minute: After our overnight stay was cancelled by the host at short notice and we had to pay more for somewhere else, I had to complain to Booking Last weekend, I travelled back from holiday on the south-west Atlantic coast of France with my wife and two daughters, taking a couple of days to road trip our way home. On Saturday, we planned to dodge the changeover day traffic madness by spending a day at the beach and later go just a few hours from where wed been staying in Les Landes a region of endless sandy beaches, laidback towns and good surf that I highly recommend - to a town called St Jean dAngely. One of the great benefits of the internet for travellers is the ease of finding places to stay a bit off the beaten track nowadays and Im a fan of using Booking.com to do that, as it offers self-catering properties to rent for the night as well as hotels. Back in the last week of June, I booked a charming looking small two-bedroom house in the French town for Saturday night for 84 pretty good value for a family of four, especially as with a whole property you can also avoid the cost of a meal out. But late last week, I had a message from the property owner, telling me that the bed in the second bedroom was broken and while it would hopefully be fixed in time, they wanted to let me know and offer me the chance to cancel and find somewhere else. I replied to say I didnt want to do that at short notice, as it was difficult and expensive to find somewhere else. We agreed that we would still come stay and use the sofa bed instead if need be. I sent another few messages to check up on things and expected to arrive as planned, but then at 2am on Saturday morning the owner messaged and told me I could not stay, and they were cancelling. I checked on Booking and it was not showing it as cancelled for me. So, I replied and said that we needed to stay and were happy with the sofa bed, as we had no other accommodation at such short notice - just hours before we were due to arrive. The property owner claimed they could not host us, as they had made a claim on insurance (presumably for lost income due to the damaged bed) and refused to let us stay. We had no choice but to find alternative accommodation, which we luckily did nearby via Booking, but that set us back 171 - 87 more than our original cost and we hadnt even had that initial reservation money back. As you can imagine, I was determined to get both my money back and the extra difference in price for our nights stay, which seemed fair. However, I mentally prepared myself for one of those painful, protracted customer service battles to do so to the extent that I told Helen on Tuesday morning that I may have a Crane on the Case for her. But heres the thing: I contacted Booking via its customer service chat on Tuesday at 1.51pm outlining the situation and at 2.46pm I got a message back. This apologised for the host not honouring our reservation, gave a full refund to my card free of charge and said it would be putting the 87 difference into my Booking wallet, which could be either used on future reservations or withdrawn to my bank account. This was a speedy and simple resolution that meant I wasnt left out of pocket and while I know from the odd story past that this isnt always the case, I take my hat off to Booking for its great customer service in this situation. Bravo. Gallic charm: Our expected night in the town of St Jean d'Angely didn't happen PS After my last holiday at Easter, I wrote about how some overseas cash machines now seem to be charging us hefty flat fees for getting money out even if you have a card offering fee-free overseas withdrawals. This has happened in both Austria and France with my Starling bank card which offers no-fee overseas spending and cash. Readers replied to say they had noticed this happening to them too. Some digging revealed that its just some overseas banks doing this and cashing in on a post-Brexit loophole to sting Britons. Last time it happened to me in France was with Credit Agricole, but the good news is that I found at least one French bank that doesnt do this: I got money out fee-free at Societe General and got 100 for 85.93 with no fees. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless. Power move: Volex, headed by Nat Rothschild (pictured), will supply connectors to Teslas US charging points The industrial manufacturer headed by Nat Rothschild, the prominent financier, has been picked as Teslas electric car charging partner in the US. Volex, which employs 8,000 people in 22 countries, will supply connectors to Teslas electric vehicle (EV) charging points as they are rolled out in the US. Volex said it was stocked and ready to immediately supply it. Analysts at Peel Hunt said: This confirms Volexs strong position in the global EV charging market. They added that Volex shares are undervalued, despite the fact that under Rothschilds stewardship shares in Volex have jumped more than threefold. Rothschild recently told the Mail that ministers must provide a strong blueprint on how to roll out the EV charging infrastructure that Britain craves. Shares in Volex fell 1.1 per cent, or 3.5p, to 310.5p on Londons junior AIM market. Difficulties: Watches of Switzerland saw summer sales dip despite healthy demand across the United States Watches of Switzerland Group has seen summer sales drop modestly despite continued healthy demand in the US. The luxury goods brand's sales fell by 1 per cent at constant currency levels to 382million for the 13 weeks ending 30 July, in line with forecasts. Purchases of both watches and jewellery products declined from bumper prior-year comparators, with the latter also affected by weaker consumer sentiment and a shift to full-price trade in the US. New store launches and higher sales volumes boosted US revenues by 10 per cent to 163million, but revenues sank by 8 per cent across the larger UK and European market. The FTSE 250 company blamed its result in the latter region on changes in the timing of product deliveries to the UK, which had benefited the business during the previous quarter. Watches of Switzerland's latest trading update marks a reversal from the last fiscal year when it achieved another record annual performance on the back of higher average selling prices and new showroom openings. It has upheld its annual guidance for revenues to increase to between 1.65billion and 1.7billion as the firm anticipates returning to 'more normalised growth rates in the balance of the financial year'. Yet the group is ploughing ahead with a significant expansion plan, which includes opening 20 mono-brand boutique outlets this year. Demand for luxury watches is also outpacing supply, while waiting lists are getting longer, even as selling prices continue rising. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: 'A market where demand is outstripping supply is never a bad one to be in and whether time is running out on the company's strong run, for now, it is ticking along very nicely indeed.' The global luxury goods industry has defied the slowdown affecting the broader retail sector, partly due to demand rebounding in Asia following the loosening of Covid-related restrictions. However, retailers in Britain have complained that the abolition of VAT-free shopping two years ago has substantially impacted trade, because tourists are instead choosing to travel to other prominent European shopping destinations. Brian Duffy, chief executive of Watches of Switzerland, has called on the 'tourist tax' to be abolished, recently telling the Daily Mail that there was 'absolutely no question' it was hurting retailers and the UK economy. Watches of Switzerland Group shares were 2.1 per cent, or 14.5p, higher at 695p on late Thursday morning but have dropped by approximately 17 per cent so far this year. Bryan Kohberger's lawyers have filed legal documents stating that the 28-year-old has an alibi for the night of the Idaho murders, November 13, 2022. Kohberger, 28, who is facing four counts of first degree murder, claims he 'was out driving alone' when Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle were stabbed to death. However, at this time, he hasn't provided any evidence or witnesses to back that up. 'It's not a real alibi defense,' Former federal prosecutor and the president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, Neama Rahmani tells DailyMail.com. 'It's more, sort of, cross examining the government's witnesses and arguing by inference that because [Kohberger's] phone wasn't there, Kohnberger wasn't there, either.' According to law enforcement, Bryan Kohberger's phone went off the grid at 2:44am in Pullman, Washington and remained off or on airplane mode until after the time of the slayings when it appeared again in Idaho, south of Moscow. The notion that Kohberger was out driving around in the wee hours of the night, something his lawyers say he 'has long had a habit of' doing, could potentially be used in court to explain alleged CCTV footage of his car driving near the crime scene around the time of the murders. Kohberger asserts that he can't definitively say where he drove that night and doesn't have anyone to corroborate his alibi but claims he wasn't at the victims' residence, 1122 King Road. 'At this time there is not a specific witness to say precisely where Mr. Kohberger was at each moment of the hours between late night November 12, 2022 and early morning November 13, 2022,' his lawyer wrote in court documents. Kohberger will be back in court on August 18 for a pre-trial hearing on several motions, including one from the defense to vacate his current indictment. A two-year anniversary will be held there this month Activists at a campsite swarming with mounds of rubbish, rancid food, abandoned dirty bedding and broken furniture are set to charge $180 for attendees at a weekend event. Indigenous protest group Wangan and Jagalingou - Standing Our Ground (WJSOG) will mark their two-year occupation of land next to the Carmichael coal mine, about 460km west of Mackay in north Queensland in the Galilee Basin. The group strongly oppose the site run by the Adani Group, which changed its name of operations in Australia in 2020 to Bravus Mining & Resources, and have called for the company to stop mining on Aboriginal land. The Waddananggu Bularu or Two Year Celebration will run from Friday August 25 to Sunday August 27 with tickets for the weekend festival varying according to attendees' employment status. 'Waged' ticket holders will have to cough up $180, however those between jobs can opt for a 'pay what you can' option. Bravus Mining and Resources shared photos of an activist camp (above) set up next to the Carmichael mine The camp (above) was created by Indigenous protest group Wangan and Jagalingou - Standing Our Ground Pictured is a map created by Bravus Mining and Resources which shows where the camp is in relation to the mine pit The photos of the campsite (above) come just two weeks ahead of the WJSOG's Waddananggu Bularu - Two Year Celebration Photos posted by Bravus Mining & Resources show the campsite in disarray. It is expected WJSOG will be joined by activists from other organisations, like Mackay Conservation Group and Frontline Action on Coal. The face of WJSOG is proud Indigenous activist and rapper Coedie McAvoy. Mr McAvoy is a regular at the camp and is at times its sole occupant. He is currently facing two charges of assault at Emerald Magistrates Court after allegedly attacking an Indigenous environmental ranger and a Bravus security guard. A Bravus Mining and Resources spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the company is calling for activists, including Mr McAvoy, to clean the mess they've made on its mining lease site. 'The anti-coal activists should do the right thing and clean up their disgraceful mess, then leave our mining lease entirely,' the spokesperson said. 'Instead, groups are spending their time on social media inviting other activists to come to our mine site in a few weeks' time to celebrate the two-year anniversary of the camp, it's outrageous. 'Mr McAvoy stands shoulder-to-shoulder with these climate activists who help fund and organise this protest camp. 'The anti-fossil fuel movement regularly use photos and videos of the camp, McAvoy, and his associates in their international public relations campaigns to harm the Australian coal export industry - but deliberately keep the piles of rubbish out of the frame.' Photos of the activist campsite (above) show piles of rubbish, rancid food, abandoned dirty bedding and broken furniture The activist campsite (above) was established in August 2021 and will be used to host the upcoming two-year anniversary celebration Wangan and Jagalingou - Standing Our Ground is planning to charge attendees of its anniversary celebration $180 to stay at the campsite (above) Employees from the mine, including Indigenous workers hired to preserve the cultural heritage of the land, have repeatedly clashed with protesters. Footage shared by Bravus shows activists screaming slurs at female employees, helicopters dropping off large supplies of alcohol to the camp and cars being driven dangerously around the mine site. WJSOG has shared photos and videos of volunteers preparing the campsite for the upcoming two-year anniversary. It described the event as an opportunity to 'learn about the power and significance of reoccupying land to protect culture'. 'In August 2021, we set up a stone Bora ring and ceremonial ground opposite Adanis mine and have been continuously re-occupying our land since then, asserting our human rights as Wangan and Jagalingou people to practice culture and live on our homelands,' the event description reads. 'Despite Adanis attempts to remove and antagonise us, we have continued our cultural ceremony unhindered. 'We have made history - our rights to practice our culture on a mining lease have now been recognised under the Queensland Human Rights Act. 'Join us for a very special three-day celebration at Waddananggu to mark two years of strength, determination and Wangan and Jagalingou resilience.' Bravus Mining and Resources has denied to accusations it is mistreating cultural land (pictured, a haul truck at Carmichael mine) On the campsite is a 'stone Bora ring and ceremonial ground' (above) created by Wangan and Jagalingou - Standing Our Ground The face of WJSOG is proud Indigenous activist and rapper Coedie McAvoy (pictured right), he is, at times, the sole occupant of the camp Employees from the mine have faced several clashes with protesters (pictured, a road block protest in 2020) There are four ticket options for those hoping to go to the Waddananggu Bularu - Two Year Celebration. Concession tickets are available for $80 while tickets for employed attendees are priced at $180 each. Tickets for children aged 12 and under are $50 and those wanted to come along but are unable to afford a full-priced tickets are encouraged to 'pay what you can'. All meals for the weekend are provided but attendees have been instructed to bring their own camping equipment for accommodation. The event is set to feature live performances from special guests - including a music act from Mr McAvoy himself, workshops and traditional ceremonies. Bravus Mining and Resources responded to accusations it is mistreating cultural land with the results from a poll with local Indigenous people. Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners voted 294 to one in favour of an Indigenous Land Use Agreement for the mine. Elders said the mine would provide an opportunity for jobs and training in the industry. There are four ticket options for those hoping to go to the Waddananggu Bularu - Two Year Celebration at the campsite (above) - including a $180 ticket for employed attendees The campsite is shown in disarray The campsite (above) is directly across from the Carmichael mine pit and sits on land under Bravus' mining lease A Bravus Mining and Resources spokesperson said the company is calling for activists, including Mr McAvoy, to clean the mess they've made on its mining lease site (above) 'Cultural heritage works at Carmichael are managed according to the legally binding agreements in place between Bravus Mining and Resources and the Wangan and Jagalingou people,' a spokesperson from Bravus said. 'The Elders who make up the Cultural Heritage Committee are the First Nations authority on cultural heritage matters at the Carmichael mine. 'They both approve cultural heritage clearance works and appoint one or more of the 70 Traditional Owners who perform and monitor these activities.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted Wangan and Jagalingou - Standing Our Ground for comment. Marketing executive Tiffany Gomas has told DailyMail.com that her life has been 'blown up,' since her extraordinary rant last month landed her off an American Airlines flight and in the news. Seen in these exclusive pictures for the first time since footage of the passenger accusing a 'motherf***er' at the back of the plane of being 'not real,' went viral, Gomas said: 'My life has been blown up. It's frightening. Things go viral and everything changes.' The July 2 incident sparked safety concerns when Gomas, her Goyard bag under her arm, barreled to the front of the plane and told fellow passengers she was disembarking because the aircraft wasn't safe. The video showed a visibly shaken Gomas telling passengers: 'I'm getting the f*** off and there's a reason. I'm telling you right now that motherf***er back there is not real and you can sit on this plane, and you can die with them or not. I'm not going to.' Speaking from her $1.6million Dallas, Texas home this week, Tiffany Gomas finally broke her silence on her viral 'meltdown' on an American Airlines flight last month The 36-year-old revealed her life has 'blown up' since her now-viral meltdown on an American Airlines flight and is now consulting a lawyer Gomas also claimed that much of what has been circulating in the media or online is 'inaccurate' but declined to elaborate Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com from her home in Dallas, a recalcitrant Gomas said: 'No one knows anyone else's story, and no one should judge. No one knows what it's like.' Dressed in a fitted white tank and black leggings, her long hair slicked back in a bun, the 38-year-old owner of Uppercut Marketing which promises its clients, 'We make you look really really good,' stood at the door of her $1.6million property and said she was consulting a lawyer. She claimed: 'They're staking out my house. They're staking out my neighbors. They're going through my mail.' And she stated: 'So much of what's out there is inaccurate,' but when asked for specifics she declined to comment further. Passengers on Flight 1009 from Dallas Fort Worth to Orlando that day were forced to deplane after a 'distraught' Gomas suggested the plane was not safe, forcing staff to rescreen the aircraft. Tiffany Gomas's meltdown was caught on video last month when she frantically demanded to get off a plane, claiming someone in the back of the aircraft was 'not real' Passengers turned their head as she seemed to point to the back of the plane while speaking about a guy who 'was not real' Gomas's meltdown was apparently sparked by an argument with a relative with whom she was traveling and whom she accused of stealing her airpods. 'The female then started claiming the aircraft was not safe and did not want the aircraft to leave due to her believing it would not make it to its destination,' the police report states. The marketing executive, who is based in Dallas, was issued a warning for Criminal Trespass, but she was neither charged nor taken into custody 'Due to the statements the flight attendants felt the aircraft needed to be rescreened. [The airline manager] explained that the passenger was denied boarding and they wanted her escorted to the public side.' She marched off the plane but by the time TSA officers arrived to escort her back the public side of the airport the visibly upset woman was trying to get back on. Passengers on the plane were eventually forced to deplane and be screened through security again as a precaution. Dallas Fort Worth Department of Safety police officers tried to speak with a 'distraught' Gomas but she refused to cooperate. She was eventually escorted back to the non-secure side of the airport but, despite her earlier hysteria, made repeated attempts to come back through TSA screening and into the boarding area. Gomas, who was clutching a $1,900 Goyard tote bag in the clip, heads up her own marketing firm and lives in a $1.6million luxury four-bedroom property complete with a swimming pool Police later found Gomas sitting on the curb outside the airport waiting for an Uber. They issued her with a warning for Criminal Trespass, but she was neither charged nor taken into custody. The marketing executive, who was seen clutching a $1,900 Goyard tote bag in the clip, was deemed a 'rising star' in 2017, when she served as Vice President of Client Services at Elevate Brand Marketing. She now heads up her own marketing firm, UpperCut Marketing, which boasts big name clients such as Xbox, Microsoft and others, but has since locked down its public profiles. Gomas resides in a $1.6million luxury four-bedroom property complete with a swimming pool. She bought the home in the affluent neighborhood in January 2022 for $572,530, before renovating the entire space. Artist Jamie Reid who is behind the Sex Pistols' signature logo and album covers has died at the age of 76. The designer, who died on Tuesday, helped curate the aesthetic of the punk rock era with his approach of using letters cut from newspaper headlines in the style of a ransom note. Among his most notable work is the artwork for the British punk band's classic 1977 song God Save The Queen which featured a young Elizabeth II with the record title plastered across her eyes and mouth. His gallerist, John Marchant, said: 'We sadly announce the passing of Jamie MacGregor Reid January 16 1947 August 8 2023; artist, iconoclast, anarchist, punk, hippie, rebel and romantic. 'Jamie leaves behind a beloved daughter, Rowan; a granddaughter, Rose; and an enormous legacy. Universal Majesty, Verity, Love, Infinite.' Jamie Reid, who has died at the age of 76 - he leaves behind a daughter and granddaughter The Sex Pistols single God Save the Queen was designed by Jamie Reid Artworks titled Liberty (Black) and Liberty (Blue) by English artist Jamie Reid Jamie Reid's 'God Save the Queen', a machine print trial proof, displayed in London on October 12, 2022, as part of the Stolper-Wilson Collection of Sex Pistols memorabilia Reid was born in Croydon, London, in 1947, and attended Wimbledon Art School at the age of 16. He then went on to study at Croydon Art College where he was involved in a student protest in 1968 alongside artist and impresario, Malcolm McLaren, who became the Sex Pistols' manager. After leaving the college, he co-founded the political magazine Suburban Press where he developed his style of cut-up graphics and slogans. In late 1975, McLaren asked him to work with the Sex Pistols and he went on to design a great deal of their artwork. His most known pieces include the cover of their 1977 album Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, which featured a yellow background with the first half of the album in block capital lettering and the band name in the ransom note style. On Twitter, former Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock wrote: 'So sad to hear the news of Jamie Read's passing away. 'He was an immense talent, a great guy and will be missed. A privilege to have known him.' The Sex Pistols aboard the Queen Elizabeth on the River Thames on June 7, 1977 during their Silver Jubilee Boat Trip. The group in the centre of the shot are L-R Johnny Rotten (John Lydon), film maker Julien Temple (back to camera), artist Jamie Reid, film maker Doug Smith and cameraman John Metcalfe Gallery assistants put up a work from British artist, Jamie Reid, 'God Save the Queen', a promotional poster, owned by Sid Vicious, at a preview in London on October 12, 2022 So sad to hear the news of Jamie Reads passing away. He was an immense talent, a great guy and will be missed. A privilege to have known him. pic.twitter.com/78g300oHVT Glen Matlock (@GlenMatlock) August 9, 2023 Reid also designed the artwork for some of the group's most popular singles including Anarchy In The UK, Pretty Vacant and Holidays In The Sun. The artist also created album covers for bands such as the Afro Celt Sound System and engaged visually with socio-political groups including Occupy, Extinction Rebellion and the Free Pussy Riot movement. His art is held in major galleries such as Tate Britain, New York's Museum of Modern Art and Houston's Museum of Fine Art, according to the Guardian. As well as his collages, he also produced hundreds of abstract paintings. And in 1987 he published a book of his work in collaboration with punk historian Jon Savage, which was called Up They Rise: The Incomplete Works of Jamie Reid. 'I first met Jamie in late 1978,' Savage said. 'I remember walking upstairs in a house, and there were these trunks full of Sex Pistols artwork. 'The combined impact of that made an indelible impression it was like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 'This was something very important that needed to be preserved.' Savage described Reid's style as having complex ideas but in a simple format. He said Reid's graphics came from a 'deep place'. Explaining his own ethos in 2015, Reid said: 'Our culture is geared towards enslavement for people to perform pre-ordained functions, particularly in the workplace. I've always tried to encourage people to think about that and to do something about it.' Donald Trump maintains his clear lead for the Republican nomination in the early state of Iowa, according to a new poll for DailyMail.com, but Ron DeSantis has lost nine points as Tim Scott gains momentum. The results spell more trouble for the Florida governor who this week rebooted his campaign yet again. And they come as national attention switches to Iowa for the next week, when candidates will attend the state fair. Polls in the state, which is the first to pick its nominee are closely watched as they can make or break a candidate. A survey of likely Republican caucus-goers shows that Trump has the support of 43 percent, up two points since April. DeSantis's stuttering campaign has seen him drop from 26 percent to 17. J.L. Partners surveyed 600 likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa from August 1 to 7. The results carry a margin of error of +/- four percent The contest for the Republican nomination was meant to be a race between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. But a poll for the Trump campaign suggests the former president is way ahead Most of that decline seems to be down to the rocketing fortunes of well-funded Scott. In April (before he entered the race) he was polling at one percent. Now he is on 11 percent. The poll was conducted from August 1 to 7, in the immediate aftermath of Trump's third criminal indictment this year. 'Trump's indictments have only helped him entrench his position in Iowa,' said James Johnson, co-founder of Republican polling firm J.L. Partners, which conducted the research. 'In April he had a 15-point lead amongst likely caucus-goers in the Hawkeye State; that now stands at a 26-point advantage. 'Though voters continue to have a positive view of the man himself, support for DeSantis is falling fast and now only six points separate him and Tim Scott for second place. 'Alongside Trump's ascendancy, the story of this poll is "Scottmentum:" Scott has jumped from one percent in April to 11 percent now.' Iowa polls are a crucial barometer of the race. The state is the first to choose its preferred nominee, so the results can make or break a campaign. That is good news so far for Scott, the senator from South Carolina. He already had a reputation as an impressive fundraiser with a compelling story about a rough childhood. Despite the decline of DeSantis, in a head-to-head match-up the Florida governor remains the best placed to give Trump a run for the Republican nomination Sen. Tim Scott unveiled his plans for tackling the border crisis last week. His campaign has gone from strength to strength and he has risen to third place in the polls His stock has only risen since entering the race with a positive message. He is scoring high favorability ratings and has moved into third place in a string of early state polls even before his backers prepare to spend $40 million in a fall advertising blitz. 'Tim Scott is the one candidate in this race with real movement and momentum. It is clear his positive message, anchored in conservatism is resonating with Iowa caucus-goers,' said his campaign communications director Nathan Brand. In contrast, DeSantis this week overhauled the senior leadership of his campaign amid disappointing poll results and dwindling cash reserves. His status as a rising star of the party and his landslide win to secure a second term as Florida governor last year seem a long time ago. But there is some good news for him among the Republican voters of Iowa. He fares best in head-to-head match-ups with Trump, suggesting he is still best placed to beat the former president to the nomination. He trails Trump by 17 points in a two-horse race, while Scott loses by 20 points. Trump was back in court last week to plead not guilty to charges related to his effort to stay in power after the 2020 election. So far his legal woes have not helped DeSantis Polling data from three states show that Donald Trump has a far bigger lead among women in a head-to-head contest with Ron DeSantis than he does among men Bryan Griffin, DeSantis campaign press secretary, said: 'This primary is a two-man race between Governor DeSantis and a man running in 2024 on the things he promised to do in 2016 and failed to do. 'Governor DeSantis is the only candidate in the race who can beat Joe Biden and implement the agenda we need to reverse this country's decline and revive its future.' So far Trump's legal woes have not helped DeSantis win support among Republicans. The former president was back in court last week to plead not guilty to four charges related to his effort to stay in power after the 2020 election. The latest federal case accuses Trump of three conspiracies: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against peoples rights. It follows a case in New York related to a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. And in June Trump was charged in federal court with illegally possessing classified documents after leaving the White House and concealing them from the government. A majority of Republican voters in Iowa believe the pursuit of former President Donald Trump by the FBI and the Department of Justice smacks of Nazi rule in 1930s Germany, according to a new poll for DailyMail.com. Some 57 percent of respondents said they agreed with the statement: 'The lawlessness of the persecutions of President Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s.' It comes after months of attacks on the FBI and the Department of Justice by Trump and his allies, who say he is the victim of an attempt to end his presidential campaign. He was indicted for the third time last week, on four charges related to his efforts to hold on to power after the 2020 election. He denied all the allegations and his campaign issued a blistering response, drawing on the darkest days of 20th century history. A majority of Iowa Republicans said they agreed with the Trump campaign statement: 'The lawlessness of these persecutions of President Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other ... dictatorial regimes' Donald Trump has repeatedly railed against 'deranged' Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is pursuing the former president in two major federal criminal cases 'The lawlessness of these persecutions of President Trump and his supporters is reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the former Soviet Union, and other authoritarian, dictatorial regimes,' it said on the Truth Social platform. The comparison was quickly condemned as offensive and inaccurate by Jewish groups. But the poll conducted by J.L. Partners in the immediate aftermath of the indictment shows how the parallel resonates with Republicans in Iowa, who will have a crucial say in selecting the party's 2024 nomination. It is the first state to pick its preferred candidate next year, and the currents of public opinion will be watched closely until then. The survey of 600 likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa was conducted from August 1 to 7. The results carry a margin of error of +/- four percent. Only 28 percent disagreed with the comparison, driven largely by supporters of Tim Scott, the only black Republican senator. Half of his supporters said they did not agree with the Trump campaign statement. However, some 73 percent of Trump's own supporters said they agreed with the statement. James Johnson, co-founder of Republican polling firm J.L. Partners, said: 'We have seen Republicans say Trump is being pursued unfairly, and people agree that the series of indictments are a "witch hunt." 'This poll shows that goes even further: Republicans also think the Department of Justice is acting in the same way that the Nazis did in the 1930s. Adolf Hitler took power with his Nazi Party in Germany in 1933. He crushed dissent and built a genocidal war machine, starting World War Two and killing six million Jews. He is seen here inspecting an honor guard in Berlin 'However shocking that may sound, this is another statistic in a long line of others that demonstrates the loyalty of many of Trump's voters and how the indictments have only emboldened their support rather than undermined it. 'But though caucus and primary voters might think it, Trump will ultimately need to win the public at large.' He added that those voters especially independents are much more likely to see each indictment as confirming their worst fears. The latest federal case accuses Trump of three conspiracies: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against peoples rights. It follows a case in New York related to a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. The Trump campaign blasted the latest indictment, saying the 'lawlessness' of the persecution of the former president was 'reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s' and other dictatorships Trump was in court again last week but it doesn't seem to have affected his standing with Republicans in Iowa, who still want him to be their nominee And in June Trump was charged in federal court with illegally possessing classified documents after leaving the White House and concealing them from the government. He has denied all wrongdoing. Anti-Defamation League chief executive Jonathan Greenblatt denounced the Nazi comparison. 'Comparing this indictment to Nazi Germany in the 1930s is factually incorrect, completely inappropriate and flat out offensive. As we have said time and again, such comparisons have no place in politics and are shameful,' he posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. And the American Jewish Committee offered Trump a suggestion. J.L. Partners surveyed 600 likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa from August 1 to 7. The results carry a margin of error of +/- four percent Critics blasted the Trump campaign for an 'offensive' comparison with Nazism 'Heres some advice. Please sit with a Holocaust survivor and let them share their story,' it said. 'Just listen. Then show them the respect they deserve and honor the memory of the six million Jews slaughtered by the Nazis by never making a comparison like this again.' Attention in the Republican nomination race shifts to Iowa for the next 10 days, when candidates will shake hands, eat corn dogs and record podcasts at the state fair. The state is the first to select its preferred nominee, giving it an outsize voice in the race. A good performance here can make a campaign, while a bad result can end a candidate's run overnight. The DailyMail.com poll shows Trump retains a tight grip on the race. He is in clear first place with 43 percent support in the state (up from 41 percent in April, when the poll was last conducted.) But Ron DeSantis has lost nine points, putting him on 17 percent. The results spell more trouble for the Florida governor who this week rebooted his campaign yet again. Meanwhile Sen. Tim Scott has surged to 11 percent. More than three-quarters of Republicans in Iowa want Congress to immediately start the impeachment of President Joe Biden over links to his son Hunter's shady foreign business deals, an exclusive poll for DailyMail.com has found. The survey conducted by J.L. Partners found that 77 percent of GOP supporters who are likely to attend January's highly-anticipated Iowa state caucuses want the president investigated over his family finances. The growing calls for Biden to be impeached follow damning testimony from Hunter's business partner Devon Archer and the release of bank records showing the Biden family and associates got $20million from business interests in Russia, China and Kazakhstan. The poll did show, however, that Republicans in Iowa are wary that impeachment could be a distraction leading into the 2024 presidential election, and dealing with issues such as the economy should be the priority. A new DailyMail.com survey with J.L. Partners found more than three-fourths of Iowa Republican caucus-goers want Congress to immediately start impeachment against President Joe Biden and those who plan to support Donald Trump in January's caucus are the most passionate about imminent impeachment Still more than two-thirds of Iowa caucus-goers say they want Congress to 'focus on other issues' this year like the economy, abortion and how to handle student loan debt rather than hone-in on impeaching President Biden over his involvement in his son Hunter's business DailyMail.com is publishing the poll results as Republican presidential candidates head to Iowa for the State Fair. Iowa is vital for their White House aspirations as the state will host the first major contest of the 2024 primary with their caucuses for Republican voters on January 15. The poll results leave House Speaker Kevin McCarthy with a dilemma: Does he side with Trump allies in an assault on the president or does he listen to the Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell who urges caution? The rank and file in Iowa make clear where they stand. In our poll of 600 Republicans, only 14 percent said they were opposed to impeachment proceedings. Among Trump supporters, the proportion of those who want an immediate start rockets to 95 percent. That drops to 79 percent among supporters of Ron DeSantis and 74 percent with backers of Tim Scott. 'Speaker McCarthy is already feeling the pressure from his members to impeach President Biden now the voters who will crown the winner of the first caucus of 2024 want to see Biden impeached too,' said James Johnson, co-founder of J.L. Partners. 'The signs are that voters will reward those who hit Biden hard and push for his impeachment though candidates should be careful not to suggest impeachment would be at the expense of all other issues.' The poll was conducted from August 1 to 7 and the results carry a margin of error of +/- four percent. They show that while Republicans in Iowa are itching for impeachment proceedings to start, they also say it should not come at the expense of other important issues. Only 32 percent said it should be the priority for Republicans in the year ahead. Some 64 percent said they should focus on other issues first. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (left) is under pressure from hardliners to launch impeach proceedings. At the same time Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has urged caution The results will give a strong indication of who has enough support to contend for a spot on the ticket - and try to close the gap with frontrunner Trump.. Powerful GOP lawmakers, like those leading the Oversight and Judiciary Committees, claim that Hunter used his father's influence to enrich the Biden family and that the president was, at least partially, involved in the scheme. The issue exploded into public view on Wednesday. President Biden was forced to confront the allegations against him and his son when he was confronted by Fox News' Peter Doocy at a New Mexico windfarm. Biden insisted that he 'never' talked business with Hunter. Instead of speaking about the issue, Biden pivoted to insult. 'I knew you'd have a lousy question,' he said. 'Why is that a lousy question?' Doocy asked, to which Biden clapped back with: 'Because it's not true. All of this puts House Speaker McCarthy in a precarious position as he faces pressure from pro-Trump rank-and-file members to impeach while centrists are more cautious. Fox News' Peter Doocy confornted Biden at a New Mexico windfarm on Wednesday, asking what he knew of his son Hunter's business dealings J.L. Partners surveyed 600 likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa from August 1 to 7. The results carry a margin of error of +/- four percent Sen. McConnell weighed in this week, telling the New York Times: 'Impeachment ought to be rare. This is not good for the country.' Some die-hard Trumpers want revenge for the two House impeachments against the former president, others want to hold Biden accountable for what they believe is involvement in his son's business deals. Meanwhile, centrists and vulnerable Republicans aren't sold on impeachment. There is even in-fighting among MAGA sweetheart Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Col.) as they argue over their competing bills to launch an impeachment inquiry against the president. The poll also gives an update on the overall state of the race among likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa. It suggests that Trump's third indictment last week is not denting supporters' enthusiasm. Trump is leading the pack by 26 points on 43 percent support. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis comes in second with 17 percent and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) in third with 11 percent in Iowa. It means DeSantis has lost nine points since the poll was last conducted in April, and spells more bad news after he this week rebooted his campaign, yet again. The 37-year-old mother-of-five found dead on a Maryland hiking trail over the weekend appeared to be beaten to death and left naked by her killer, DailyMail.com has learned. Rachel Morin's lifeless body was discovered in a drain in a tunnel on the scenic Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, Maryland after being reported missing on Saturday evening. Local man Michael Gabriszeski had joined the search for the missing mom along with his stepdaughter Cecilia - who was friends with Morin - and her friend Evan, when he claims he came across her remains on Sunday. In an interview with DailyMail.com, Gabriszeski, a Native American tracker, said the pair had decided to check two drainage tunnels on the trail in Hartford County after noticing 'disturbances' on the ground close to the track where the fitness buff had taken a walk that night. Michael Gabriszeski, along with his stepdaughter and her friend, had joined the search for missing mom Rachel Morin, 37, on the Ma & Pa trail in Bel Air, Maryland when the trio came across her remains on Sunday, he claims Police have declined to comment on how Morin died or the type of injuries she sustained, but according to Gabriszeski, the 37-year-old was fully naked and appeared to have suffered 'brutal head trauma' Grabiszeski said he felt compelled to check out the drainage tunnels on the trail after noticing 'disturbances' on the ground near the track where Morin had gone on a walk 'Cecilia was the first person to see the body,' he claimed. 'She was hyperventilating really, really bad. And then the police told her to sit down. 'When she sat down, she realized she was sitting in a big pool of blood.' Morin was last seen on Saturday at around 6pm leaving her house to take a hike on the Ma and Pa Trail 'She was laying on her back, fully naked, and she had brutal head trauma...it looked like her head had been smashed in with a rock. 'There was a 15 to 20-foot blood trail. So, it looked like she had been beaten and dragged into that position.' 'It looked like (the killer) was trying to erase her identity,' the 48-year-old added. 'The right side of her face was gone.' A separate source close the family had earlier told DailyMail.com that the young mother had suffered serious head trauma. 'The injuries were so horrific that there won't be an open casket (at her funeral),' the source said. The witness described seeing 'a 15 to 20-foot blood trail' near Morin's body and said it seemed like her 'head had been smashed in with a rock' No suspects have been arrested in Morin's murder as of yet but a homicide investigation is ongoing Locals were seen participating in a community walk along the Ma and Pa Trail, Bel Air, on Tuesday amid the investigation A spokeswoman for Harford County's Sheriff's Office declined to comment on the nature of how Morin was killed. Meanwhile, police have reached out to obtain any footage from people who were on the trail over the weekend. Harford County Sheriff's Office wrote in a statement yesterday: 'Detectives are asking your your help. 'If you were on the Ma & Pa Trail on Saturday, or near the trail or trail heads and took photos or video, we are asking if you would please share them with investigators. 'There could be something helpful in one of your photos that might bring us one one more piece of the puzzle. 'As of this morning, we have already received nearly 90 tips from concerned community members in reference to the murder of Rachel Morin. 'Thank you for all the support you have given.' It was formally confirmed on Monday that the body found was Rachel. Officials at Harford County's Sheriff's Office in Bel Air, some 45 miles north of Baltimore, said they are still without any leads on possible suspects. Morin's new boyfriend who has a criminal past took to social media on Sunday to insist he had nothing to do with her killing Rachel Morin and Richard Tobin started dating a 'few weeks ago'. She was found murdered on a hiking trail on Sunday. The pair are shown during a previous hike together Local police declined to comment on how Morin died or the type of injuries she sustained. Her family say she did not 'go willingly' and that her death was 'not accidental'. It comes after her new boyfriend took to social media on Sunday to insist he had nothing to do with her killing despite his criminal past. The pair had only made their relationship official on social media four days earlier. He said: 'I love Rachel. I would never do anything to her, let the family and I grieve. Yes, I have a past but I also have 15 months clean and have changed as a person. Please.' Tobin has been arrested 14 times since 2014 on a variety of charges including drug dealing, assault, disorderly conduct and refusing arrest. His lengthy rap sheet includes two arrests for criminal second degree assault, violating restraining orders, drug possession, and malicious destruction of property. Tobin also has a number of traffic offenses, a fugitive from justice offense, resisting arrest, and disorderly intoxication and conduct marks on his record, documents show. One man has been arrested as of Wednesday and investigations are underway Warren also said she heard someone threaten to use a gun during the fight Witness Crystal Warren told police she heard a white man on the boat say 'f**k that n*****' about the black deckhand at the Alabama riverfront brawl A woman at the Alabama riverfront brawl says she heard a white attacker say 'f**k that n*****' before launching into a brawl with the black deckhand at the center of the shocking altercation. Crystal Warren told cops that she saw the entire interaction and has revealed she heard one of the white aggressors threatening to go and get a gun, according to legal documents obtained by TMZ. Warren, a riverboat employee, said the racial slur and threat were yelled by one man who saw deckhand Damien Pickett moving the boats blocking the dock in Montgomery. The woman also said she noticed that Pickett asked the men to move their boat which prompted middle finger and cursing responses from the white men. Additionally, Warren said her son Daniel was featured in one of the videos as he tried to pull off the attackers and suffered bruised ribs after being punched in the chest. The man accused of punching 16-year-old Daniel, Richard Roberts, 48, has been arrested and charged with assault and cops say the investigation is still underway. A woman at the Alabama riverfront brawl says she heard a white attacker say 'F**k that n*****' to the black deckhand at the center of the shocking incident The man accused of punching 16-year-old Daniel, Richard Roberts (pictured) has been arrested and charged with assault and cops say the investigation is still underway Warren told officers that the unidentified culprit who used the racial slur dropped the n-word after the deckhand moved smaller boats. Pickett was forced to move several of the water vehicles that were parked at the marina in a space designated for the docking of the riverboat. In total, Warren said she was forced to wait 17 minutes on the riverboat until another commercial watercraft came and retrieved them from the boat. They were eventually dropped off at the dock which is where the brawl took place. At one point, Warren said one of the white men involved in the fight threatened to run and retrieve a gun as the incident was progressing. Video of the incident shows one man punching Daniel in the chest as he attempted to break up the pack of men attacking Pickett while others watched on. Daniel was ultimately taken to the hospital for his injuries. Roberts is one of three who have been charged with assault in the incident; Allen Todd, 23, and Zachary Shipman, 25, have also been charged. At this time, its unclear who allegedly used the n-word and threatened to get a gun. The shocking brawl was caught on video from several angles and posted across social media Police chief Darryl Albert said on Tuesday that 13 people were detained at the scene The fight started after Damien Pickett, the black deckhand, moved boats parked in the spot on the dock reserved specifically for the river cruise In a new interview with The Daily Beast, river cruise captain Jim Kittrell said the white men must have attacked Pickett because of his race. 'The white guys that attacked my deckhandand he was a senior deckhand first mateI can't think of any other reason they attacked him other than it being racially motivated,' Kittrell said. 'All he did was move their boat up three feet. It makes no sense to have six people try to beat the snot out of you just because you moved their boat up a few feet,' he said. 'In my opinion, the attack on Damien was racially motivated,' Kittrell explained, before adding that the rest of the fight 'was not black and white.' The captain added that his crew would have stood up for Pickett, who is reportedly over 40 and a diabetic with hypertension, against anyone. Kittrell - and police - say it all started when a private boat owner and his family took the designated docking space for the Harriott, a tourist vessel that takes passengers up and down the Alabama river. Police chief Darryl Albert said on Tuesday that 13 people were detained at the scene. Jim Kittrell, the captain of the Harriott II, has claimed the attack on Montgomery's Riverfront Park was racially motivated Three suspects - all white men - have been charged for assault: Richard Roberts, 48, Alan Todd, 23, and Zachary Shipman, 25 (far left) While three people have been charged in this incident, only Roberts has been taken into custody. Todd and Shipman have been instructed to turn themselves in. Police have also asked to speak with Reggie Gray, the black man who was seen throwing a folding chair. He has not been charged. One video of the brawl showed the moment a black man smacked a white boater with a chair during the chaotic and now-infamous fight. The brawl at Montgomery's Riverfront Park has gone viral, with social media sharing images from different angles of the violent altercation on Saturday. The incident also sparked memes and hilarious videos that set social media alight over the weekend with recreations and other jokes. One of the most viewed was a hilarious take on the melee in the style of a comic fight, where the main players were satirized as characters. While some made light of the apparent racial divides in the skirmish, others opted to recreate the brawl - with one group visiting the site themselves to catch a glimpse of the chair used in the fight. Living in halls is a rite of passage for university students across the country. But one in five freshmen will eschew student digs to live at home during term time, a report suggests. An additional 14 per cent of students say they are undecided about whether they will live in student digs, the Cosmo (Covid Social Mobility and Opportunities) study reveals. The study has been tracking the lives of a cohort of thousands of young people in England who took A-level exams and equivalent qualifications this summer. In total, 11,523 students in Year 13 were surveyed between October 2022 and April 2023 as part of the research. (Stock Photo) One in five freshers will eschew digs to live at home in term time, a report suggests Among those who plan to live at home, only 19 per cent said the main reason was because their preferred university was near their home, according to the study by the UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies, and the Sutton Trust. Nearly a fifth (18 per cent) said the main reason was because they could not afford to live away from home, while 46 per cent said they wanted to be near their families. The study suggests that young people who plan to live at home are disproportionately more likely to be those from families facing financial challenges amid the rising cost of living. Researchers have called on the Government to reintroduce maintenance grants for disadvantaged young people who want to study at university. They added that 'improved financial support' for students' living costs is needed due to the rising cost of living. Jake Anders, associate professor and deputy director of the UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, said: 'For some planning on going to university, living at home will be the right choice for them, for a whole host of reasons. But it should be exactly that a choice not something they feel they must do because of the financial challenges of living away from home during term time. 'Student support has not kept up with the rising cost of living, this should be urgently addressed so we do not close down opportunities, especially to those who are already likely to have fewer first place.' A Universities UK (UUK) spokesman said: 'No student should have to make a decision about their future due to financial pressures including whether to study away from home. 'While the entry rate gap between the least and most advantaged students narrowed to a record low last year, universities are aware that there is a long way still to go.' A Department for Education spokesman said: 'Our student finance system ensures that the highest levels of support are targeted at students from the lowest income families.' An Australian university has been accused of taking political correctness to a new extreme by banning staff and students from disagreeing with Indigenous people. The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) claims Central Queensland University has introduced a protocol that states 'direct verbal confrontation' and 'expressing disagreement' with Aboriginal people should be avoided to 'preserve consensus'. The conservative think tank's Free Speech on Campus Report 2023 claims 'vague and broad policies' at many Australian universities are undermining free speech in a push to avoid 'hurt feelings'. Other directives noted by the IPA's report as attacking free speech include the University of Wollongong's inclusive language guideline, which instructs students to avoid using terms like 'man', 'ladies' and 'wife'. And Bond University is apparently discouraging the use of 'sarcasm' because it could be interpreted as 'bullying'. Central Queensland University (campus pictured) has been accused of banning staff and students from disagreeing with Indigenous people The IPA's claim on arguing with Indigenous Australians refers to Central Queensland University's 'Engaging and Communicating with Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and First Nations People Protocol'. The document doesn't actually recommend a ban on disagreeing with Aboriginal people, but rather points out they themselves may shy away from disagreement to avoid rocking the boat, especially if talking to someone in a position of authority. The paragraph reads: 'Direct verbal confrontation is unsettling for most people, and expressing disagreement may be avoided, to preserve consensus for many Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander or First Nations people. It is important to recognise and work with this.' The IPA published a similar report in 2019 claiming there is a 'free speech crisis' at Australian universities. While the Central Queensland Uni hasn't banned staff and students from voicing differing opinions to those of First Nations people, it is pursuing a number of affirmative-action policies under its Reconciliation Action Plan. These include 'installing dual language signage and Country names at all campuses, at main entries to buildings, facades, foyers, entranceways and in named rooms'. The document also specifically says the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait job positions should be increased. At least one additional Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander staff member should be appointed to a 'senior leadership position' in the university, according the document. The number of contracts with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suppliers should be 'increased by a minimum of two annually'. And staff are 'encouraged' to participate in at least one external event to 'recognise and celebrate' National Reconciliation Week. According to the Australian Research Council, more than 60 per cent of Australian universities had implemented 'reconciliation action plans'. But it noted only half of these had been developed in conjunction with Indigenous people. Jyoti Madhusoodanan in Nature: In August 2021, Amol Akhade, an oncologist at Nair Medical Hospital in Mumbai, India, received an e-mail from the Swiss drug manufacturer Roche recommending the use of a drug named atezolizumab to treat a specific kind of breast cancer. Akhade was surprised. That month, Roche had withdrawn the drug for this purpose in the United States (although it is still approved to treat other kinds of cancer). For the type of breast cancer in question known as triple-negative because it lacks three key protein markers atezolizumab was made available in 2019 through the US Food and Drug Administrations (FDAs) Accelerated Approval Program. Accelerated approval is a fast-track process designed to place desperately needed drugs in the hands of patients quicker than is possible with conventional drug approval. But a follow-up study found that atezolizumab made little difference to tumour growth, and that people who received it were less likely to survive up to two years after treatment than were those not taking it1. When the FDA received these data in 2021, it indicated that accelerated approval was no longer appropriate, and Roche withdrew the drug for this form of breast cancer. The same thing happened with the European Medicines Agency (EMA), based in Amsterdam, but not everywhere else. In India, for example, where the drug was still approved for triple-negative breast cancer, Roche continued to promote the treatment until at least September, a fact that Akhade says he found quite shocking. More here. The tents could be erected at the migrant processing centre in RAF Wethersfield Tents bought by the Home Secretary to house migrants could be put up on a RAF site in Essex despite warnings it could bring about legal challenges. The marquees, which can accommodate up to 2,000 asylum seekers, have been bought by Suella Braverman in recent weeks to cope with the thousands of asylum seekers crossing the English Channel. The Government has announced it attempt to house the migrants on disused military sites, with RAF Wethersfield picked out as one of these despite protests from people living nearby. Local organisations had originally been told there were no plans to erect tents on the former RAF base, but depending on the circumstances this could change, the i reports. The details of what these circumstances might be have not been revealed, although it comes as the number to cross from France to Britain in small boats this year nears 15,000. Marquees at a migrant holding facility at Manston Airfield, near Ramsgate in Kent, in October last year It is reported that RAF Wethersfield (pictured) could have tents erected on it to house asylum seekers The publication reports that insiders in Essex have called on 'some certainty' to be given about whether the tents will be used at RAF Wethersfield. There have been concerns about public health near the site, after a small number of positive results for tuberculosis were detected. The Times, which first reported the tent purchases, cited government sources saying a similar proposal was rejected last year because of warnings it would trigger legal challenges based on the inhumane treatment of asylum seekers. Between 1,000 and 2,000 beds for asylum seekers will initially be in the marquees by the end of August, government sources told the paper. They will reportedly be housed there for several weeks and then moved out before the weather gets colder in the winter for health and safety reasons. Among the other disused military sites under consideration to house migrants is RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, which was formerly the home of the legendary Dambusters. However, plans to place asylum seekers there and at RAF Wethersfield have been delayed by court challenges from two councils and a local man disputing whether the Government can lawfully put the migrants on the former air bases. Last year tents were put up at a short-term holding facility in Manston Airfield, near Ramsgate, Kent, after an surge in Channel crossings. In recent days the first migrants have been transferred onto the Bibby Stockholm, a barge which has been hired to house them while their applications are dealt with by the Home Office. The tents, which can house up to 2,000 migrants, were purchased by Suella Braverman (pictured) in recent weeks Residents have protested against plans to turn RAF Wethersfield (pictured) into a site housing asylum seekers In recent days migrants have started being transferred onto the Bibby Stockholm barge (bottom left) in Portland Port, Dorset The vessel, which is docked at Portland Port, in Dorset, can hold up to 500 migrants has been comandeered in an effort to lower the Government's 6million-a-day hotel bill that comes from finding accommodation for asylum seekers. A total of 15 migrants were moved onto the barge on Tuesday, but 20 others had their transfers cancelled at the last minute due to legal challenges from lawyers acting on behalf of Care4Calais. READ MORE HERE: Aerial photos show dozens of outboard motors and inflatable dinghies laid out in Dover after being used by asylum seekers to enter UK Advertisement The charity's CEO Steve Smith has since revealed that some of the asylum seekers it supported didn't board the vessel due to 'mental health concerns', some of which arose from being 'traumatised by seeing their friends drown at sea'. The legal firm behind the last-minute legal challenges is understood to be London-based Duncan Lewis, which played a key role in challenging the Government's Rwanda asylum scheme. However, it is understood that those who refuse to be transferred will be given 24 hours to change their minds before the Home Office considers withdrawing their free, full-board accommodation. In that event, they would be declared homeless and responsibility for their housing would pass to their local authority. A Home Office spokesperson said: 'Delivering accommodation on surplus military sites will end the use of expensive hotels to house those arriving in small boats. We continue to work closely with local authorities to address the local communities' concerns. 'We are working hard to deliver these sites as quickly as possible.' A Government spokesman added: 'We have been clear that the use of hotels to house asylum seekers is unacceptable there are currently more than 51,000 asylum seekers in hotels costing the UK taxpayer 6m a day. 'We continue to work across Government and with local authorities to look at a range of accommodation options. 'Accommodation offered to asylum seekers, on a no choice basis, meets our legal and contractual requirements.' Qantas has again come under fire over the difficulty of using its system for getting credit for flights cancelled due to pandemic lockdowns. Gold Coast businesswoman Sam Cardone had more than $6,000 charged to her credit card when trying to use her Qantas Pass to book family flights to Fiji. She said that included an extra $1,000 for the same tickets she bought in the first place but which had increased dramatically in the time it took to fix the issue. After weeks of trying to resolve the situation, the mum of three said she was 'fed up' with Qantas' 'dirty little tricks'. It all came about because Ms Cardone had credit built up due to flights that went unused during Covid which was about to run out. Gold Coast businesswoman Sam Cardone (pictured) had more than $6,000 charged to her credit card when trying to use her Qantas Pass to book family flights to Fiji After buying the tickets, she discovered she'd been charged the full amount of the return fares, more than $6,000, and had not got the credit she was owed. When she contacted the airline about this, she was told she'd need to cancel the flights and rebook to get the credit, but at a higher price as the fares had gone up in the meantime. 'I was told that the ticket prices were made on the day, and that Qantas had the right to change the prices,' she told Yahoo News. The national carrier at first told her they saw 'no attempts to use the pass' in the system, then later admitted she had tried to use the Qantas Pass credit system but claimed it wasn't able to be processed, Ms Cardone said. Poll Have you had trouble using the Qantas Pass credit system? Yes, it's very complicated No, it worked for me Have you had trouble using the Qantas Pass credit system? Yes, it's very complicated 72 votes No, it worked for me 7 votes Now share your opinion She thought someone was due to call her back, but when no one did, she called them again. It was a few days later, and to her astonishment and fury, the ticket prices had gone up again. She was told the only way to fix the booking and get the credit she was owed was to cancel everything and book again for a third time. Ms Cardone then decided to use Qantas' live chat Messenger service, but she said that made things even worse over the course of another two weeks. 'Every few days they'd send me an email saying the issue had been resolved and I was able to use up my credit. But forced me to pay more and more in order to do so. 'At the end of the day, I was forced to pay an extra $1,000 for the same tickets I bought in the first place,' she said. In screenshots save by Ms Cardone, she was outraged by the prices of $300 more per child and $400 more per adult. The mum said all the hours she spent on the phone and Messenger with Qantas was a waste of her time, especially as she kept being told the fare price had gone up. Though she was finally able to use her Qantas Pass credit, Ms Cardone said it cost her an extra $1,000 because the initial mistake took so long to fix. 'Glitches happen. But a month later to still be fighting about it, but to charge me the price difference from then to now ... it's a bit rich,' she said. A Qantas spokesperson said the airline is looking into what happened with Ms Cardone's booking. Ms Cardone then decided to use Qantas' live chat Messenger service (pictured), but she said that made things even worse over the course of another two weeks Qantas (air crew pictured) has again come under fire over the difficulty of using its system for getting credit for flights cancelled due to pandemic lockdowns 'We understand this would have been a frustrating experience. We are reaching out to the customer so we can look into this further.' It is common throughout the airline industry for flight prices to rise closer to a departure date. As the deadline for using the Qantas Pass credits looms, they are being used for millions of dollars' towards flights each week. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Cardone for further comment. Knocked to ground by car which didn't stop A teen struck by a car in a horror collision on his way to school remains in hospital as his distraught mum issued a desperate plea for the driver to come forward. Joshua Cooper, 13, will undergo major surgery on Thursday after he was hit by a blue Ford Falcon sedan which ran a red light and failed to stop in St Albans in Melbourne's north-west. The teen had the green light to cross busy Main Road West at a pedestrian crossing shortly after 8.30am on Wednesday. CCTV captured the horrifying moment Joshua was struck and knocked to the ground by the oncoming car, which didn't stop. A harrowing photo shows the seriously injured teen lying in a hospital bed hooked up to machines and his left leg in a cast. His distraught mother Isobella has demanded the driver turn themselves in and shared a powerful message telling them to 'face the consequences'. Joshua Cooper is in a serious but stable condition in Sunshine Hospital after a hit and run Isobella fought back tears as she gave an update on Joshua's condition. 'It's very traumatic, it's hit him very hard,' Ms Cooper told Sunrise on Thursday. 'He's been very worried and very stressed. But he's doing well under all the circumstances.' Joshua was on his way to school at the time of the hit-and-run. 'He was going across the road - the light was green,' his mum added. 'Traffic was congested on the first side but he got over halfway and the car hit him. 'They swerved. They know they hit him and just drove away and left him.' Joshua's mum Isobella (pictured) urged the driver to come forward and face the consequences Ms Cooper urged the driver to come forward. 'I know they ran a red light and they might have been scared, but they just left my son on the ground and I really want them to turn themselves in,' she said. 'They need to face the consequences because my son has to face the consequences. 'He's having a big surgery today and from that surgery, we can then see how he will go and how this will impact his life, or if he can make a great recovery. 'We just hope for the best.' Police also issued a public appeal for the driver to come forward as investigations continue. Anyone who witnessed the collision, has dashcam footage, CCTV or more information should call Crime Stoppers. Elon Musk has accused the ABC of 'censorship' after the public broadcaster announced it was shutting down all but a handful of its Twitter accounts. The ABC will now operate just four accounts on the social media platform: ABC News, ABC Sport, ABC Chinese and ABC Australia. The national broadcaster's managing director David Anderson released a statement on Wednesday blaming 'toxic interactions' on Twitter, now known as X, for the move. But billionaire entrepreneur Musk, who acquired X in October last year, took aim at the ABC over the decision. 'Well of course they prefer censorship-friendly social media,' he wrote. 'The Australian public does not.' Elon Musk has accused the ABC of 'preferring censorship' after the public broadcaster announced it would be abandoning all but a handful of its Twitter accounts The move comes after a number of ABC stars have left Twitter, or X, after being targeted with abuse. Leigh Sales and Lisa Millar have both deleted their accounts in recent years, while radio presenter Patricia Karvelas has turned off her direct messages. Explaining the decision to cut back its presence on X, the ABC said the majority of its social media audience was on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Musk lashed out at the ABC after it announced it would be removing all but four accounts on X READ MORE: ABC deletes Twitter accounts as managing director David Anderson reveals why Insiders, News Breakfast and ABC Politics profiles have been shut down David Anderson released a statement on Wednesday explaining why the News Breakfast, Insiders and ABC Politics accounts have been archived in recent months. Advertisement 'We also found that closing individual program accounts helps limit the exposure of team members to the toxic interactions that unfortunately are becoming more prevalent on X,' a statement read. 'Concerningly, X has reduced its trust and safety teams. Additionally, it is introducing charges which make the platform increasingly costly to use.' The ABC had closed the X accounts of Insiders, News Breakfast and ABC Politics in February 'and the results of that have been positive', the statement read. While still posting to its main @abcnews X account, the ABC's media team will aim to grow the broadcaster's TikTok audience, a move forecast to be most beneficial for growth. The X cull follows Mr Anderson sitting before a Senate estimates hearing where he gave evidence against the social platform's safety for users in May. Twitter, as it was known at the time, had become a 'cesspool' according to Mr Anderson, who said that he had to refer several incidents of trolling onto police. He cited a review of whether the organisation was doing enough to support its employees, saying he was worried about their public-facing staff. Stan Grant stepped down as host of the ABC's Q+A program after receiving racial abuse following coverage of the Coronation 'We're coming to a precipice here, particularly in the discussion around how we can protect our people,' he told the committee. Abuse peaked during the ABC's coverage of the coronation of King Charles, which led to star Stan Grant stepped away from his position as host of their Q+A program. During related broadcasts, Mr Grant, a First Nations man, pointed out that the crown represents the invasion and theft of Aboriginal land. The segment sparked about 1,800 complaints from the public, the Senate committee inquiry hearing was told. Hundreds of the complaints were racist in nature, Mr Anderson said, while others noted that the coronation discussion was worthwhile but poorly timed. 'Some of it was in good faith, quite a lot of it was not in good faith,' he said. 'I think the time for dignified silence is over, I think for our people we need to be certainly more public supportive of them as well as what we do internally.' The BBC faces fresh bias allegations after presenter Nick Robinson wrongly claimed the Conservative Party deputy chairman had suggested asylum seekers should 'F-off home'. Mr Robinson was interviewing the immigration minister on Wednesday's edition of the Today programme when he raised recent comments made by Lee Anderson. Mr Anderson had earlier reacted to complaints about the use of the new barge to accommodate asylum seekers by saying: 'If they don't like barges they should f*** off back to France'. But when the Today programme host raised the remarks with Robert Jenrick, he claimed Mr Anderson had said these people should 'F-off home'. Tory MPs were critical of the host's comments yesterday, with one saying Robinson sounded like he was 'talking for the metropolitan elites', while another said the BBC should not 'misquote people' or else it creates a sense of 'bias'. Nick Robinson (pictured) was interviewing the immigration minister on Wednesday's edition of the Today programme when he raised recent comments made by Lee Anderson About an hour after the interview, the Today programme host clarified his earlier comments by admitting he had 'misquoted' the Tory party deputy chairman, this time giving the correct wording used in the interview that Mr Anderson, 56, had given to the Daily Express. On the programme Mr Robinson, 59, asked Mr Jenrick, 41: 'How carefully was the deputy chairman of the Conservative Party choosing his language when he suggested that asylum seekers, and I quote, should 'F-off home' except I'm cleaning up that quote by saying 'Foff'. Mr Jenrick said 'we all choose our own language' and that Anderson had been expressing the 'deep frustration' of a large part of the British public at the current situation. Mr Robinson added: 'Well, he was expressing a prejudice, wasn't he? He was expressing a view that people who are trying to come here, who may well have a genuine claim, may well indeed be refugees, should, to quote, 'Foff home'. Conservative MP, Peter Bone, said: 'Lee Anderson spoke for the vast majority of my constituents and I agree with him entirely, that if illegal migrants come across in small boats to this country and don't want to be put on a barge well don't come across in the first place. 'That's the point. Nobody's forcing them to come here. And many people I speak to actually think all illegal migrants that come across should be given a nice cup of tea and put on a ferry back to France. 'He is speaking for the nation, Nick Robinson, sounds to be talking for the metropolitan elites and it wouldn't be the first time that the BBC and the Today programme are out of touch with reality.' Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party Lee Anderson speaking during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons on July 19, 2023 Tory MP, Bill Cash, said: 'The BBC has an obligation to be accurate, they must therefore do the research properly, they must not misquote people and then create a clear evidence of bias.' Mr Robinson in 2021 had sparked anger from Tories after he told then Prime Minister Boris Johnson to 'stop talking' during an interview on the show. Then last year he came under fire from Conservative MPs over the way he had covered Johnson's apology to MPs for the Downing Street lockdown party, where he was accused of making a series of barbed comments. Anderson, the Tory MP for Ashfield since 2019, became deputy chair of the party in February. Adopted children were put at 'significant risk of harm' after thousands of records were released online, it was claimed last night. National Records of Scotland (NRS) removed the details of adoptions from a genealogy website after an adoptive parent made a complaint. The Scotland's People website carried records of adoptions dating back more than a century. A review is now being carried out into ways records from the Adopted Children's Register can be viewed. Scotland's acting Children and Young People's Commissioner Nick Hobbs has also raised 'serious concerns' over whether the information could breach children's rights to privacy. Adopted children were put at 'significant risk of harm' after thousands of records were released online, it was claimed last night (stock image) He said: 'There's a significant risk of harm for some children potentially, by people being able to link their current name with their birth name.' The entries were removed by NRS 'as a precaution' after a complaint from a mother who was concerned that her adopted son could be endangered after she found his details online. The mother, who has not been identified, told the BBC that she was able to find her adopted child's birth and a reference to him being on the adoption register by carrying out a simple search on the website. She said: 'It's every adoptive parent's worst nightmare that their child's adoptive name, which has been carefully shielded through the court process, could be made public. 'There's also a massive concern for adults who don't know they've been adopted.' Records previously available on the site included the names of people who had been adopted between 1909 and 2022. A spokesperson for National Records of Scotland said: 'We are currently reviewing the way indexed entries from the Adopted Children Register are presented on the ScotlandsPeople website. 'NRS has a statutory responsibility to make our registers open and searchable. 'Relevant entries have been removed as a precautionary measure while we review the way we make this information available.' A female Seattle cop has written a brutal exit letter upon retiring, where she blamed the police chief's 'failed leadership' for allowing criminals to take over the city. Lieutenant Jessica Taylor, who served in the Seattle Police Department for 23 years, handed in her notice - but instead of filling out a mandatory exit survey, she decided to write a long letter addressed to the police chief. In her own savage words, she told Chief Adrian Diaz why she made decision to retire in an 'unfiltered, raw, and unapologetic' 15-page rant. Taylor did not mince her words - and attacked nearly every facet of law enforcement within the city, slamming them for completely failing the general public. The scathing letter began: 'This will be a brutally long letter, but after 23+ years, I have a few things to say. Lieutenant Jessica Taylor, who served in the Seattle Police Department for 23 years, handed in her notice - but instead of filling out a mandatory exit survey, she decided to write a long-winded letter addressed to the police chief Taylor also took a jab at the Seattle City Council - calling the institution 'absurd,' before describing the Mayor as 'spineless,' and bashing 'the leniency of the prosecutor's office.' But her main address was to the Police Chief - Adrian Diaz (pictured) 'Each page is initialed so no one can do the typical SPD "I don't know what happened. It just automatically deleted" routine.' Taylor said the 'toxic' police department turned out to be 'nothing more than a circus, with boisterous clowns running amok.' She called her time in the department 'soul-draining,' in the letter first reported by the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. Taylor also took a jab at the Seattle City Council - calling the institution 'absurd,' before describing the Mayor as 'spineless,' and bashing 'the leniency of the prosecutor's office.' On top of that, she knocked the Police Chief's 'failed leadership' that 'accelerated this city's downhill slide straight to rock bottom.' She told Diaz: 'You willingly became a puppet, a spineless "yes man," perfectly willing to throw the entire department under the bus to achieve your coveted spot as chief, complete with a fancy corner office. 'Your approach reeks of a desperate hunger for control rather than genuine understanding and respect for the autonomy of our officers. 'Your controlling, bullying, and gaslighting tendencies have wreaked havoc on this department, driving away talented and dedicated officers.' She added: 'You are a vindictive, power-hungry individual, and I wouldn't trust you as far as I could throw you. 'You offered me an opportunity for an honest exit interview, and here it is. I will always stand up for what's right and what I believe in ..even if I am standing alone.' Lieutenant Jessica Taylor did not mince her words in her 15-page exit letter She said about Adrian Diaz: 'Your controlling, bullying, and gaslighting tendencies have wreaked havoc on this department, driving away talented and dedicated officers' Turning her attention to Seattle, she said the city is 'a playground for anarchists and criminals' who have overrun the city - and those in charge 'seem utterly unconcerned with the devastating consequences of their actions.' Seattle, in Taylor's words, has become the laughingstock of the whole world. She added: 'People are getting hurt and killed in this city, left and right. 'I bet most of the citizens of Seattle would love to be able to walk outside at night or mosey into downtown Seattle and not be afraid. 'But they can't, and that's your fault. You've failed them. You've failed us.' Calling for an investigation, Taylor said: 'I hope, with every fiber of my being, that an outside agency investigates you thoroughly. 'Your character is truly questionable at best, and the citizens of this once-great city deserve to know the truthall of it.' Speaking to Jason Rantz Show on KTTH, the former lieutenant said: 'I wanted to go out with the truth. Taylor (left) is pictured during her 23-year tenure at the department 'The officers on the street are the backbone of this department. 'And theyll do everything that they can and fight tooth and nail to make sure that the public is taken care of She ended the letter with: 'Did you seriously badge your way into the Taylor Swift concert and go to the front where people paid $1000s to be there? 'And don't you dare say it was work-related because you haven't done police work in years..... if ever. 'If so, please review SPD Manual Section 5.001 (12) & 5.020 and report yourself to OPA immediately.' A Seattle Police Department spokesperson responded: 'While we dont address personnel issues, the Seattle Police Department is working alongside our city partners to restore the department to over 1,400 officers. 'We want our officers to feel valued and respected for their hard work every single day. We are committed to highlighting that work on a routine basis.' In Seattle, homeless people have been pictured slumped over in the streets and openly shooting up drugs, after the city's officials chose not to make public drug use illegal. One man can be seen here openly using a hypodermic needle as he lays on the sidewalk Another person is seen here completely spaced out as citizens go about their regular day In one, a man can be seen using a hypodermic needle to inject drugs into his hand while propped outside a liquor store. Others show people spaced out and hunched over on the sidewalks, with paraphernalia strewn around them. Earlier last month, the Seattle City Council voted not to pass legislation that would have allowed the City Attorney's Office to prosecute public drug use cases. The move would have brought Seattle into compliance with the state's new drug possession law, which makes the crime a gross misdemeanor. The council bill failed to pass in a 5-4 vote with councilmembers Alex Pedersen, Sara Nelson, Debora Juarez and Dan Strauss voting in favor of the bill. Councilmembers Lisa Herbold, Kshama Sawant, Teresa Mosqueda, Andrew Lewis and Tammy Morales voted in opposition to the bill. A third of Rishi Sunak's cabinet could push to quit the European Convention on Human Rights at the next general election if the Rwanda plan is blocked. At least eight ministers, along with other senior Tories, are in favour of the move if the courts continue to prevent migrant deportation flights taking off, a source told The Telegraph. A host of conservative MPs have long called for Britain to leave the international agreement if it cannot renegotiate its relationship. The convention established the European Court of Human Rights, which played a key role in stopping asylum seekers being flown to Rwanda last year. 'Opinion in the parliamentary party has hardened considerably, as evidenced by the relative ease of passing the Illegal Migration Act. That is reflected in the Cabinet,' the source said. A third of Rishi Sunak's cabinet could push to quit the European Convention on Human Rights at the next general election if the Rwanda plan is blocked 'The question is actually who would care enough to oppose given the situation, and it's hard to think who that would be,' they added. Another Cabinet minister, who is said to be a close ally of Mr Sunak, told the Telegraph: 'The Government isn't ruling it out. 'We've spent a very long time as a party trying to find a place that we can live with the ECHR, and we still want to but ultimately, if you get to a point between deliverability and not, then I don't think you can totally rule it out.' Robert Jenrick told Times Radio yesterday: 'You can see from the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary and myself, our total commitment to this challenge. 'That's why we're working on every possible front. That's why we have produced the most comprehensive plan of any European country to tackle this issue. 'And we'll do whatever is necessary ultimately to defend our borders and to bring order to our asylum system.' Pressed directly on whether that could include leaving the ECHR, immigration minister Mr Jenrick said: 'We will do whatever is required, take whatever necessary action is needed.' Home Secretary Suella Braverman has previously expressed her personal view that the UK should leave the convention. Robert Jenrick (pictured) told Times Radio yesterday that he, the Prime Minister and the Home Secretaryare committed to the challenge of the Rwanda plan Mr Jenrick also warned asylum seekers that they cannot expect a selection of accommodation options after some launched challenges to avoid being placed on board the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland Port, Dorset. He said: 'The way the asylum support system operates is that if someone claims to be destitute that is they have no way of supporting themselves there's a legal obligation to step in and provide them with accommodation and basic needs. 'But we do that on a no-choice basis, not an 'a la carte menu' where you can choose which hotel or which location. 'If you decline the accommodation that's provided, then we will consider removing your asylum support. 'We are not making anybody destitute. They would be choosing to do so because they would not accept the perfectly decent accommodation.' He faces 50 counts of drugging and raping women around the world - including in his New York-Presbyterian Queens hospital A former patient of a New York City doctor charged with drugging and raping numerous women has revealed she has been left 'too scared' to visit a hospital again. The woman, 19, told ABC7 through a translator, that Zhi Alan Cheng, 33, injected her with a drug that caused her to fall unconscious in the pediatric unit of New York-Presbyterian Queens hospital in 2021. 'I don't remember anything else until I woke up,' she said. 'I had terrible pain in my body and my legs. Everywhere.' Police say during their investigation they found Cheng filmed himself carrying out some of the attacks, with the unidentified victim who bravely spoke out among the women he allegedly filmed. Her attorney, Nicholas Liakas, said the hospital has no record of what drug she was given, adding that the symptoms she awoke with were 'very indicative' of the assaults Cheng is charged with. Cheng appeared in court in Queens on Tuesday charged with 50 criminal counts, with his alleged crimes uncovered by an ex-girlfriend who found herself among the depraved videos in December. Zhi Alan Cheng, 33, is accused of drugging and raping women at NewYork-Presbyterian Queens, where he worked, as well as at his home The disgraced doctor's former patient said despite the agonizing pain she woke up to, she wasn't certain she was raped until she saw Cheng's arrest on the news. 'I'm too scared to go to the doctors now,' she added. 'I don't want to go. I hope God doesn't make me sick again.' Cheng, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, is accused of sexually abusing three women in his Queens home and three patients - including the 19-year-old, who had gone to his hospital the day before she was scheduled to have her gall bladder removed. After the alleged attack, she and her mother say they informed hospital officials, who took the allegation seriously by checking surveillance camera footage and key card access. Despite staging a line-up in the hospital that reportedly saw her identify Cheng, Laikas said the hospital's investigation ground to a halt, and he planned to file a lawsuit against the hospital over his client's ordeal. The 19-year-old is among six women who were filmed by Cheng, prosecutors said, however authorities fear the number could continue to rise as investigations continue. Cheng was originally charged with rape in December 2022 after a former girlfriend accused him of using a K-N95 mask filled with cotton balls soaked in liquid to knock her out, rape and film her. His home was raided following the alleged attack, where investigators found a trove of drugs including fentanyl, ketamine, LSD and several anesthetics typically used in surgeries. Cops also found devices with dozens of other recordings at his home, with his alleged crimes believed to date back to 2021. Following the arrest, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz called on other potential victims to contact her office if they believe they too may have been targeted by Cheng. 'The recovered evidence compiled paints the picture of a sexual predator of the absolute worst kind, a serial rapist, someone willing to not only violate his sacred professional oath and patients' trust, but every standard of human decency, as well,' she said. 'We will present the facts to a jury and achieve justice for the victims of the horrific assaults captured on video.' The victim's attorney, Nicholas Liakas, said the symptoms she awoke with were 'very indicative' of the assaults Cheng is charged with New York-Presbyterian Queens hospital condemned Cheng's alleged crimes as 'heinous, despicable, and a fundamental betrayal of our mission and our patients' trust' Cheng allegedly targeted a number of women while they were under his care in the Queens hospital, including a 37-year-old patient he is accused of filming himself groping in 2021 as she lay unconscious. A short time later, prosecutors said, he raped a woman whom he met on a dating app, and also filmed the attack. In the video, a small brown bottle was visible on his bed, according to the authorities, who said they had recovered a similar bottle from his apartment that contained a powerful anesthetic. Cheng faces 50 criminal counts after he was indicted by a grand jury. He is charged with 10 counts of predatory sexual assault, three counts of rape in the first degree, seven counts of sexual abuse in the first degree, four counts of assault in the second degree, and three counts of criminal sexual act in the first degree. The doctor is also charged with 11 counts of unlawful surveillance in the second degree, eight counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree and four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. He also faced further charges after his December 2022 arrest. Queens District Attorney Melissa Katz urged more women to come forward if they believe they may have been victimized by Cheng In a statement following the harrowing charges this week, New York-Presbyterian said: 'The crimes committed by this individual are heinous, despicable, and a fundamental betrayal of our mission and our patients' trust. 'We are appalled and deeply saddened by what these victims and their families have endured.' The hospital said Cheng was fired six months ago, after New York-Presbyterian learned of the criminal rape indictment. 'In December 2022, as soon as the District Attorney made us aware of allegations of sexual abuse against this individual, he was immediately placed off duty, banned from hospital property, and terminated,' the hospital said. 'We have been fully cooperating with the Queens District Attorney's office, the NYPD, and the NYS Department of Health.' Cheng's attorney, Jeffrey Einhorn, said on Monday it was 'too early' to comment on the case. Cheng pleaded not guilty, and is being held without bail on Rikers Island in protective custody following extensive media coverage. The judge also ordered that Cheng be placed on suicide watch after prosecutors requested extra protection which his attorney didnt object to. The teenager behind the wheel in a horror car crash that killed five of his young mates has pleaded guilty to five counts of aggravated dangerous driving occasioning death, as the father of one of the victims shared a tragic message. Tyrell Edwards, 19, was driving a Nissan Navara ute at high speed at Buxton, near Picton in southwest Sydney, when the out-of-control vehicle ploughed into two trees on September 6 last year. Five Picton High School students - three girls and two boys aged between 14 and 16 - died when the P-plate driver crashed on East Parade. Edwards escaped the smash with non-life threatening injuries. The 19-year-old fronted Picton Local Court on Thursday where he pleaded guilty to the major charges, while five lesser charges were withdrawn. His family and friends held up umbrellas in an effort to conceal the teenager's face and then crowded into the courtroom to witness the moment Edwards told the judge: 'Guilty your honour.' As Edwards was escorted to a waiting police van, the father of 14-year-old victim Lily Van De Putte shared a heartbreaking message outside the court. 'I wake up every morning thinking about her and go to sleep thinking about her. It's going to be in my mind every day,' he said. 'It's something we will never get over.' Mr Van De Putte called for traffic laws to be tougher and for parents to speak to their children about safety behind the wheel. Tyrell Edwards, 19, was driving a silver Nissan Navara ute at high speed when it ploughed into two trees on September 6 last year, killing five Picton High School students Edwards' family and friends held up umbrellas in an effort to conceal the teenager's face Families of the victims are seen leaving Picton Local Court after Edwards plead guilty One supporter clutched a photo of victim Lilly Van De Putte outside court on Thursday 'The aggravated dangerous driving was particularly egregious in that it was dangerous driving repeated over a period of time ultimately leading to the loss of control of the vehicle,' Magistrate David Degnan said on Thursday. He described the event as a 'tragic incident', acknowledging the pain of family members in court. 'I'm cognisant of the fact there are many members of the victims' families and friends here at court. And I acknowledge the loss that they have suffered.' After the guilty pleas, Edwards' solicitor Karen Watson unsuccessfully opposed an application by prosecutors to revoke her client's bail and send him into custody. Ms Watson argued Edwards needed to remain out of jail to undergo psychiatric treatment for PTSD and major depressive disorder arising from the crash. Mr Degnan found that this did not amount to special or exceptional circumstances which could allow Edwards to stay out on bail given that he would definitely face a custodial prison sentence. The courtroom was then closed and family members of the victims asked to leave before Edwards himself was escorted to a waiting police vehicle. The case will return to Campbelltown District Court on August 24 for sentencing. A video recorded an hour before the crash allegedly showed Edwards driving dangerously while hitting speeds of 105km/h in a 60km/h zone. Another wore a t-short bearing the name of 16-year-old crash victim Antonio Desisto Edwards was taken into custody outside Picton Local Court after pleading guilty to five counts of dangerous driving occasioning death on Thursday The 19-year-old fronted Picton Local Court on Thursday where he pleaded guilty to a string of charges over the crash that rocked the Picton community The footage obtained by police allegedly shows Edwards swerving aggressively while holding his phone with one hand. All five crash victims - Lily Van De Putte and Gabby McLennan, both 14, Summer Williams and Tyrese Bechard, both 15, and Antonio Desisto, 16, were pronounced dead at the scene. According to police, Edwards told witnesses: 'I f***ed up, I'm going to jail'. After his arrest, the 19-year-old was ordered to comply with strict bail conditions, including daily visits to a police station 45km away from his home. Edwards was only allowed outside if accompanied by his parents and could only leave his house to attend the police station, court or a doctors appointment. He was forbidden from getting behind the wheel of a motorised vehicle. Edwards is alleged to have lost control of the Nissan Navara ute (pictured) and hit a tree All five teen victims - Lily Van De Putte and Gabby McLennan, both 14, Summer Williams and Tyrese Bechard, both 15, and Antonio Desisto, 16, crash were pronounced dead at the scene Antonio Desisto, 16, was among the five teenagers killed in the crash In May, his bail conditions were softened to help the parents of the teen driver who were looking after six other children and his mother, Renee Edwards, had recently got a part-time job as a carer. Magistrate David Degnan noted Edwards had complied with strict requirements including being 'virtually under house arrest' since he was granted bail by the NSW Supreme Court in October last year. 'I am satisfied after this lengthy period of time that it is reasonable to reduce the obligation to report daily to three days a week,' he told Picton Local Court. Other bail conditions remain in place, preventing the teen from driving a motor vehicle, drinking alcohol, taking illegal drugs or going within 500 metres of any port or airport. A $100,000 bond has also been paid by his father Henry Edwards to be forfeited if his son does not appear in court. The teenager has no criminal history, but has accumulated two speeding offences and had his provisional licence suspended in 2022 before the crash. Edwards was charged with five counts of dangerous driving occasioning death over the crash. Pictured above are two victims Tyrese Bechard and Summer Williams, both 15 A young Georgia mom has accused a doctor of decapitating her baby during delivery and then propping his head onto his body to conceal what they'd done. Jessica Ross, 20, and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr., are suing Dr. Tracey St. Julian and Southern Regional Medical Center, a hospital in Riverdale, Georgia, where Ross went on July 9 to have her son, Treveon Isaiah Taylor Jr. The baby boy's shoulders got stuck during a vaginal delivery which began 8.40pm, according to the suit. Dr St. Julian is accused of delaying a C-section procedure and failing to seek help quickly. Instead, she applied 'ridiculously excessive force' on the baby's head and neck to try to deliver it while Ross was still awake, claims attorney and physician Roderick Edmond. The baby's body and legs were delivered by C-section three-and-a-half hours later at 12.11am, and his head was delivered vaginally. When Ross and Taylor demanded to see and hold their child, they claim the baby was tightly wrapped in a blanket with his head 'propped on top of his body' to make it appear like it was still attached. They ultimately found out about the decapitation from the funeral home, they claim. Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr. (pictured), attended a news conference in Atlanta Wednesday announcing their lawsuit against Dr. Tracey St. Julian and Southern Regional Medical Center, claiming their baby boy was decapitated during his birth The lawsuit claims that Dr. St. Julian did not tell Ross and her family about the decapitation when she spoke to them at approximately 5 a.m. on July 10. The grieving couple has accused the hospital of trying to cover up what happened by discouraging them from getting an autopsy and encouraging them to have their son cremated. 'They were so excited about the birth of their first child,' said attorney Cory Lynch. 'Unfortunately, their dreams and hopes turned into a nightmare that was covered up by Southern Regional Medical Center.' The suit is asking for Ross and Taylor to be compensated for the suffering and death of their baby boy and the 'tremendous mental and physical anguish and trauma' experienced by Ross. Edmond claims that by the time Ross was taken in for a C-section, a fetal monitor had stopped registering a heartbeat. The couple had asked for a C-section earlier, when they believe the baby could still have survived, but were denied, Edmond said. Along with Dr. St. Julian and Premier Women's OB/GYN, LLC - a health care group St. Julian is a member of - several nurses at the hospital are also accused of gross negligence in the couple's suit, as the couple claims they did not follow proper procedures once they knew the baby's shoulders had become stuck. Calls to St. Julian's office went unanswered, and an email message was not immediately returned. Southern Regional said in statements it could not discuss treatment for particular patients due to privacy laws, but it denies the allegations against it. Its 'heartfelt thoughts and prayers' were with Ross and Taylor and their care providers, it said. 'Our commitment is to provide compassionate, quality care to every single patient, and this loss is heartbreaking,' the hospital said. It later added that St. Julian was not an employee of the hospital, and it had 'taken the appropriate steps in response to this unfortunate situation.' Dr Tracey St. Julian (pictured) is accused of delaying a C-section procedure and failing to seek help quickly. Instead, she applied 'ridiculously excessive force' on the baby's head and neck to try to deliver it while Ross was still awake Attorney Roderick Edmond, from left, joined by Treveon Isaiah Taylor, Sr., Jessica Ross and attorney Cory Lynch, speaks during a news conference Their attorneys announced the lawsuit against Dr. Tracey St. Julian and Southern Regional Medical Center, a hospital in Riverdale, Georgia, where Ross went on July 9 to have her son. Riverdale is about 13 miles south of Atlanta 'They were so excited about the birth of their first child,' said attorney Cory Lynch. 'Unfortunately, their dreams and hopes turned into a nightmare that was covered up by Southern Regional Medical Center' A spokeswoman, Kimberly Golden-Benner, said the hospital could not elaborate. Premier Women's OB/GYN has two locations and offers circumcisions, infertility treatment and other services in addition to low- and high-risk obstetric care, according to its website. St. Julan is a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist who has been practicing in the Atlanta area since January 2005, the website says. He said the case highlighted the higher rates of infant and maternal mortality for black women. Ross and Taylor, 21, did not speak at Wednesday's news conference. The suit alleges gross negligence, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress. It seeks unspecified punitive damages. The death cap mushroom suspected of being the ingredient that tragically killed three Victorians is one of the most poisonous food sources in the world with horrifying effects on the human body when eaten. A source familiar with the incident told Guardian Australia that the infamous lunch behind the suspected poisoning included a beef Wellington pie as its main course. The lunchtime dish left three people dead and one man fighting for his life. Deathcap mushrooms are one of the most deadly foods in the world after three people in Victoria died from suspected mushroom poisoning after it was revealed the dish that fatally killed the victims was a beef Wellington pie Common recipes for beef wellington pie often call for mushrooms to be included in the meal, with some suggesting chestnut or wild varieties. The toxin in the death cap mushroom causes nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea after it's consumed - but the damage to the human body can be far worse. Dubbed the silent killer, the toxin in the mushroom known as a-Amanitin also damages the liver and kidneys. The chemical make-up of the fungi will cause these organs to fail, leading to the person's death. Most people who consume the mushrooms - known as Amonita phalloides - die within six to 10 days. The wild mushrooms contain a dangerous toxin that can cause kidney and liver failure as well as more immediate symptoms including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea Michael Robertson, an Independent Forensic Consulting director who has spent years analysing poisonous substances, told ABC News the harmful effects of the mushroom on the human body are not felt instantly. 'It's a little bit like paracetamol in that sense. You can take an overdose of paracetamol and you might get a little bit sick for a day, and then you recover,' Dr Robertson said. He said the toxin from the wild mushroom slowly begins to stop the liver from working. 'But what's happening in the body is you're getting liver toxicity, and that's when people die,' he said. The deadly substance in the mushroom prevents a vital chemical in the liver known as RNA polymerase II, which decodes our DNA, from blocking the drug. The strength of the deadly toxin overpowers the protein produced by the liver, causing severe illness. The time it takes before people start becoming sick from having eaten the mushrooms can vary. Experts say the mushrooms are silent killers as people who have eaten them won't feel sick until some before the toxin in the mushroom, which is found in the cap, ring, and gills, takes over the person's body and can lead to death According to NSW Health, people can report feeling unwell anywhere between half-an-hour to several hours. It may also take several days before people report being unwell and present to hospitals for emergency care. The deadly toxin in the mushroom is found in the vegetable's cap and gills. The substance is also found in the ring at tip of the mushroom's stalk. There are no known cures to treat people who have eaten wild mushrooms. Kidney and liver treatments are required if the person becomes severely ill. Cooking the vegetable will not remove the dangerous toxin from the vegetable. People have been urged to buy mushrooms that are sold at supermarkets. In 2012, two people died in Canberra after eating death cap mushrooms at a New Years Eve dinner party. One of the architects of the Uluru Statement from the Heart has revealed the real reason the 26-page document contains calls for reparations to be paid to Indigenous Australians. Speaking on ABC's 7.30 show, Pat Anderson, who was co-chair of the Referendum Council, said the Uluru statement was written when participants were 'angry' at then prime minister Tony Abbott for slashing $500million from Indigenous funding. Ms Anderson started by disputing how long the Statement is, saying 'the Uluru Statement from the Heart is a one-pager, it's 439 words'. She said the following 25 pages were called Our Story, meaning it was the Indigenous participants' view of history. 'We recorded everything that people said ... 'People were distressed, because we went out not long after Tony Abbott when he was prime minister took about half a billion dollars from Aboriginal programs.' Pat Anderson was interviewed by Sarah Ferguson on the 7:30 Report Tony Abbott is pictured at the Garma Festival in Gove, Arnhem Land on Saturday, August 10, 2013. As prime minister, Mr Abbott slashed funding to Indigenous projects Ms Anderson said a lot of services relied on by Indigenous Australians disappeared 'overnight' due to the huge budget cut. 'People were angry, upset, distressed,' she said. Controversy over what the Uluru Statement from the Heart does or does not say has exploded in the past week after Sky News host Peta Credlin accused Anthony Albanese of misleading voters by not talking about the 'full' 26 pages. Credlin said Mr Albanese had been 'lying' about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament being a purely advisory body, saying in fact it a first step towards a treaty with Indigenous Australians. 'The proposed Indigenous Voice, to be voted on later this year, is not yet doomed; but it deserves to be, because its advocates have failed to be straight with the Australian people,' Credlin wrote in the Daily Telegraph. 'As is now abundantly clear, the coming referendum is not about recognition; it's an attempt to undo the last 240 years since settlement, and to retrofit Australia as a country that still belongs primarily to Aboriginal people, and we should just be grateful they let us live here.' On Tuesday, Mr Albanese slammed the claim as a 'QAnon' style conspiracy theory. The Prime Minister has regularly said the Uluru Statement from the Heart fits on one A4 page, so there is no fine print detail. But the full 26-page document, obtained under Freedom of Information, includes detailed context about how the Statement came to exist. Within the extra 25 pages are calls for reparations, 'rent' to be paid to Indigenous Australians, and a reconsideration of land rights - but such words were not included in the A4 statement Mr Albanese presents. Opponents of the Voice have used the existence of the longer Statement to stoke fears reparations will soon be on the agenda if the Voice to Parliament gets approved at the upcoming referendum. Those advocating for a Yes vote in the referendum say this is at least part of what has led to a collapse in support for the Voice in four recent polls, all of which point to a substantial defeat. Ms Anderson said that in the final Uluru Statement, all of the 'words and sentiments' were expressed by 'somebody at some stage during that whole process'. 'The history of this country is bloody, it's bitter and it's full of pain and anger and distress.' Pat Anderson (pictured), one of the architects of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, has weighed in on revelations the 26-page document contains calls for reparations to be paid to Indigenous Australians She said if the Voice referendum passes, 'it'll make a huge difference to the relationship (between the government and Indigenous Australians) and how the country in fact operates. 'It will be better for everybody and it would be a much more equal kind of democracy.' The Coalition parties, which oppose the Voice, have attacked Mr Albanese over his promise after becoming Prime Minister to enact the Uluru Statement 'in full', using the prospect of a treaty and reparations to undermine his arguments. On Tuesday Opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, said the the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) told her office that the full Uluru Statement was 26 pages. But an NIAA spokeswoman disputed that, saying 'is a one-page document, confirmed by the authors Noel Pearson, Pat Anderson AO and Professor Dr Megan Davis'. Dr Davis has slammed what she called the No campaign's 'smear job'. 'The Uluru Statement from the Heart is one page,' she wrote in The Australian. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) slammed claims about the Uluru Statement from the Heart as a 'QAnon' style conspiracy theory 'It's very simple. The unceasing attempts from the No campaign to take draft documents from conference rooms seven years ago and transcriptions of butchers paper seven years ago to manufacture a controversy over the Uluru Statement is farcical. It reeks of desperation.' But Credlin said Dr Davis' view contradicted what she had 'said repeatedly for years in official speeches, documents and in her many media appearances'. In her 2018 Parkes Oration, for example, Dr Davis said the Uluru Statement 'isn't just the first one-page statement - it's actually a very lengthy document of about 18 to 20 pages, and a very powerful part of this document reflects what happened in the dialogues'. Credlin wrote that 'It's because this part - after page one - is so full of anger, entitlement and the demand to atone for the past 240 years of Australian history that the PM now wants to pretend that it doesn't exist or has no status.' Gunmen in Ecuador shot dead presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio as he was leaving a rally on Wednesday night, with less than two weeks to go until a bitterly contested election. Footage shared on social media showed Villavicencio, 59, being escorted out of the rally venue at 6:20pm local time and into a waiting car. He was climbing into the back seat when gunfire rang out. The windows did not appear to be bulletproof. One suspect was shot dead in crossfire with security services, the country's attorney general said, adding that nine people were injured - among them a female candidate for the National Assembly and two police officers. Last week Villavicencio, a former journalist known for tackling corruption, said he and his team had been threatened by the leader of a gang linked to drug trafficking. In May, announcing his candidacy, he declared that he intended to 'take on and defeat the mafias which have coopted the state and have society on its knees.' He was behind at least two other candidates, but had been gaining support in recent days, and was seen as the toughest candidate on organized crime. General Manuel Iniguez, a deputy commander of the Ecuadoran national police, said a police officer was also injured in the attack, which happened outside a college in the north of Quito. The hit men launched a grenade toward Villavicencio's group, but it did not explode. He was taken to a nearby clinic and pronounced dead in hospital. Shocking video showed the moment he arrived, slumped in a wheelchair and pushed by men in army fatigues. They tried to lift him out the wheelchair and up the steps but were unable to do so, and wheeled him up the ramp as a medical employee rushed out. The country's President, Guillermo Lasso, confirmed the assassination of Villavicencio and suggested organized crime was behind his slaying. He later declared a state of emergency in response to the killing. Fernando Villavicencio, 59, is seen moments before gunmen ambushed him on leaving a rally and shot him in the head The former journalist is seen speaking at the rally on Wednesday evening shortly before his murder Villavicencio said last week that he and his team had been threatened by a drug trafficking gang. He is pictured at the rally on Wednesday Villavicencio, a right-wing former member of Ecuador's National Assembly before it was dissolved in May, had been polling at 7.5 percent. Galo Valencia, the uncle of Villavicencio, confirmed that the politician was shot in the head. 'We were a few meters outside the college gates, and as we were leaving there was a barrage of 40 bullets,' he told El Comercio. 'Some people were injured, some of them maybe seriously, and Fernando unfortunately was shot in the head. 'The medical team have just confirmed that he has died. It's an indescribable pain for the family.' Police found a suspicious device outside the college, and carried out a controlled explosion. One woman appeared to be seriously injured in the shooting, and was carried back inside People are seen taking cover as gunshots were fired following a political rally in Quito on Wednesday People ran for cover on Wednesday evening as the shots were fired Terrified rally attendees rushed back into the college as gunshots rang out A view of a controlled explosion of an explosive device left outside the rally site Ecuador's president on Wednesday evening tweeted a photo of their emergency meeting Lasso, who was at the premier of the film Sound of Freedom when he learnt of Villavicencio's killing and was hurried out, said the murder will not go unpunished. 'For his memory and his fight, I assure you that this crime will not remain unpunished,' tweeted Lasso. 'Organized crime have gone very far, but all the weight of the law will fall on them.' Lasso's office later tweeted a photo of his top security officials at an urgent meeting. 'Now: the president Guillermo Lasso, the Security Cabinet, the authorities of justice and the electoral system meet in the Palace of Carondelet. 'The assassination of the candidate for the presidency, Fernando Villavicencio, and the decisions that will be made in the next few hours are being discussed.' His killing follows that of the mayor of the port city of Manta, Agustin Intriago, in July. In February, the mayoral candidate for the city of Puerto Lopez, Omar Menendez, was murdered. Villavicencio, from the Andean province of Chimborazo, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement. Emergency service workers and police are seen on Wednesday outside the hospital where Villavicencio was taken The union leader, journalist and politician was pronounced dead in hospital Police are seen outside the hospital in the north of Quito Villavicencio, pictured on Tuesday, was a former union member at the state oil company who became a journalist exposing corruption in the industry The father of five was known as a thorn in the side of corrupt companies and politicians He was a former union member at state oil company Petroecuador and later a journalist who denounced alleged millions in oil contract losses. Villavicencio was one of the most critical voices against corruption, especially during the government of former president Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over statements made against the former president. He fled to Indigenous territory within Ecuador and later was given asylum in Peru. As a legislator, Villavicencio was criticized by opposition politicians for obstructing an impeachment process this year against Lasso, which led the latter to call the early elections. Lasso, who was at risk of being impeached when he dissolved the National Assembly and called the elections, said at the end of May that he would not run for re-election. The legislature had been considering Lasso's impeachment over allegations he had ignored warnings of embezzlement relating to a contract with state-owned oil transportation company Flota Petrolera Ecuatoriana (FLOPEC). Lasso, a conservative former banker, was elected in 2021 on a business-friendly platform and clashed from the start with the left-leaning majority coalition in the 137-member National Assembly. He has also failed to control surging violence. For decades, Ecuador was one of Latin America's least violent countries. Now it has the region's fourth-highest homicide rate, with the level higher even than Mexico. A poisonous lunch held by the estranged wife of a popular church member had been held in an effort to try and negotiate a reconciliation with him. Sources have told Daily Mail Australia that Erin Patterson, 48, invited her estranged ex-husband Simon Patterson to their former family home for lunch with his parents Gail and Don Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, and her pastor husband Ian on Saturday, July 29 as part of a church mediation. The revelation that Ms Patterson wanted to get back together with her estranged husband, who pulled out of the lunch at the last minute, comes amid reports the deadly dish she served up was a beef wellington pie. Police continue to investigate Ms Patterson after Simon's parents and Ms Wilkinson died from eating the deadly lunch at her Leongatha home, in Victoria's Gippsland region, on July 29. Mr Wilkinson - a Korumburra Baptist Church pastor - continues to cling to life in hospital. Erin Patterson speaks to waiting media outside her home on Thursday Simon Patterson was supposed to join his parents for the lunch that killed them Gail and Don Patterson died after eating the mushrooms. Erin was previously married to their son, Simon Those that died were all deeply involved with Korumburra Baptist Church (pictured) A source close to Simon, who remains in hiding days after the tragedy, told Daily Mail Australia his mate had no interest in getting back together with the mother of his two children. 'They went to her house for a mediation to talk to the family. Simon was supposed to go there for lunch but he pulled out in the last minute otherwise he would be in that death bed too,' the friend said on Thursday. 'The people who died, Gail, Don and the Wilkinsons, were talking to them because they're heavily ingrained with the church and they wanted to make sure she was right to resume a relationship with Simon ... she was basically petitioning to get back with him and the family didn't think that was a good move.' The friend claimed Ms Patterson was desperate to get back together with her estranged husband. 'She wanted to get back with Simon and the family didn't want Simon to get back with her,' he said. 'They basically didn't think she was good enough for him in their eyes. 'This wasn't just a lunch, it was an intervention with the pastor as mediator. That's why this lunch happened.' Daily Mail Australia can reveal Ms Patterson is a wealthy real estate owner, who invested wisely after inheriting money she received from the death of her parents in 2019. The above family tree shows the connections between the Pattersons and Wilkinsons embroiled in the unusual poisoning tragedy in Leongatha Simon Patterson lived with his parents while recovering from a serious stomach problem Her estranged husband continues to live in a Korumburra home listed as being owned by his ex-wife. 'She's got like four or five properties and pays for them all with cash. She doesn't work. She just buys the houses with cash. She doesn't have a mortgage. She's cashed up. She's not stupid,' one source said. Simon's friend maintained his mate had not suspected his ex-wife had poisoned him after he fell ill from a mystery stomach complaint after the couple split. It was revealed on Tuesday that Simon spent 21 days in intensive care after collapsing at his home in May 2022. Several of Simon's friends have told Daily Mail Australia he never once accused his ex-wife of foul play. On Thursday, Ms Patterson lashed out at a waiting media pack, who she accused of making her a prisoner in her own home. 'I've got tonnes of friends who want to help (me) but I've told them to stay away while all the vultures are here because they don't want to be in the papers either,' she said. 'So I can't get help from my friends who all want to come and help me but they'll all be subjected to the crap so do I have to move out of my own home?' Ms Patterson said she was travelling to Melbourne to speak with her lawyers. Ian Wilkinson and Heather Wilkinson (both pictured) became severely ill after they ate wild mushrooms. Mrs Wilkinson died on Friday while her husband remains in a critical condition in hospital Mourners continue to leave tributes outside the Korumburra Baptist Church for those that died This notice was placed outside Korumburra Baptist Church Police returned to a nearby rubbish tip to search for CCTV footage She has denied any wrongdoing and no charges are expected to be laid at this stage of the investigation. Daily Mail Australia does not suggest Ms Patterson was responsible for Simon's illness or the three deaths. Police say the symptoms experienced by the victims were consistent with consuming death cap mushrooms, which can cause kidney and liver failure. Sole survivor Ian Wilkinson remained in a critical condition on Wednesday night awaiting a liver transplant. Hours earlier police returned to a rubbish tip in Koonwarra to request CCTV footage after a dehydrator was found discarded at the site. It was previously revealed detectives are investigating was whether a food dehydrator was used to prepare the meal and then disposed of a day after the lunch. Police are believed to be carrying out forensic testing on the appliance. A charity campaign for the family of a 'devoted husband' and 'committed father' killed in a helicopter crash has raised $12,000 in just one day. Captain Danniel 'Diesel' Lyon was on board the MRH-90 Taipan when it crashed during exercises off the Whitsunday coast on July 28. A widespread search was quickly scrambled to find Captain Lyon and his three crewmen; tragically, they were declared dead just days later and no bodies have been recovered. In the wake of the father-of-two's sudden death, a GoFundMe campaign was set up on Wednesday to support Captain Lyon's young family. Organiser Caitlin Ancell said the family's 'profound loss' could not be described in the words, and called on the community to support them. A GoFundMe campaign was set up on Wednesday to support Captain Danniel Lyon's (pictured) family as so far raised more than $12,000 'Danniel was a devoted husband to his loving wife and a committed father to his two young children aged five and one,' Ms Ancell said. 'He was a best friend to many in various global communities, whom all loved him so dearly. Their lives are now forever changed. 'We ask for help to support Dan's wife and children as they navigate life without him over the coming days, months, and years. 'The family are eternally grateful for all the kind wishes, thoughts and prayers they have received (and) help in keeping Dan's memory alive.' The crash during exercise under Talisman Sabre drew national attention as military, police, and civilian agencies scrambled to find the crew. Emergency services battled heavy winds, powerful swells, and deep operating depths off the popular tourist hotspot on the Queensland coast. Captain Danniel 'Diesel' Lyon was onboard a MRH-90 Taipan (pictured) when it crashed during exercises off the Whitsunday coast on July 28 Emergency services battled heavy winds, powerful swells, and deep operating depths off the popular tourist hotspot on the Queensland coast to try and find the men on the helicopter After almost two weeks of searching, the Department of Defence announced on Wednesday it had recovered the helicopter's black box. In a statement, Defence revealed a navy dive crew had been able to recover the flight recorder which was handed to the Queensland Coroner. The ADF previously announced it had found - but not identified - human remains at the crash site via remotely-operated underwater vehicles. The news comes as families of the four men begin to grieve the loss of fathers, husbands, and sons, as Defence moved into a recovery phase. Born in Dubbo, Captain Lyon joined the Australian Army in 2010 and was deployed during operations on White Island in 2019. A statement from Captain Lyon's family described him as a 'decorated pilot and highly respected troop commander within Army Aviation'. The four men killed in the helicopter crash, clockwise from top left: Captain Danniel Lyon, Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Corporal Alex Naggs and Warrant Officer Class 2 Joseph Laycock 'Danniel's smile could brighten even the darkest days,' the family said. 'His light shone so brightly, we cannot imagine a world without it.' Lieutenant Maxwell Nugent, Warrant Officer Joseph Phillip Laycock, and Corporal Alexander Naggs were also killed in the crash. The three men were described in statements from grieving loved ones as 'loving', 'generous', and an 'inspiration to their family'. Only hours after the campaign for Captain Lyon's family launched it had already raised more than $12,000. More than 100 people donated to the campaign in amounts as high as $500, with more than $2000 donated on Thursday morning. A Jewish organisation has filed a complaint against the ABC accusing the national broadcaster of bias over its coverage of the Israel and Palestine conflict. The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) made the complaint on Monday over a story about a 27-year-old Palestinian gunman who shot dead a Tel Aviv city patrol inspector before he was killed on Saturday. 'Palestinian man killed in Tel Aviv shooting that leaves another critically wounded,' the ABC headline read. The AJA accused the ABC of misleading the public by omitting the context of the incident being a terrorist attack. It marks the latest example of the ABC coming under fire for its reporting on world events after the national broadcaster sparked outrage over its coverage of King Charles III's Coronation earlier this year. A Jewish organisation has filed a complaint against the ABC accusing the national broadcaster of bias over its coverage of the Israel and Palestine conflict The Australian Jewish Association (AJA) made the complaint on Monday over a story about a 27-year-old Palestinian gunman who shot dead a Tel Aviv city patrol inspector before he was killed on Saturday News agency Reuters had reported on the same story in Tel Aviv with the headline: 'Palestinian attack leaves one Israeli dead in Tel Aviv, shooter killed'. The ABC now shows the story with the headline: 'Tel Aviv shooting leaves one man critically injured and one dead'. The AJA have previously filed complaints with the ABC over their coverage of the conflict, which have been upheld by the ABC ombudsman's office. AJA director of public affairs Robert Gregory told Daily Mail Australia the agency is 'frustrated at how often the ABC makes errors when reporting significant international news stories, particularly on the Middle East'. 'In this case, ABC twisted coverage of a Palestinian Islamic terrorist attack against Israelis to make it seem like the terrorist was the victim,' he said. AJA president Dr David Adler said the ABC has an 'extraordinarily long and disgraceful record of anti-Israel bias'. 'The ABC will go out of their way to omit the terrorism aspect of the story,' he said. The AJA previously made a complaint against the ABC for a story published on May 27, titled: 'Three Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, ministry says'. The story included the term 'freedom fighter', which was amended alongside the headline after the complaint was filed by the AJA. 'We have had several complaints against ABC upheld recently, but it's not our job to fix their mistakes,' Mr Gregory said. 'The repeated errors of this nature are systemic, and we are beginning to think they may be intentionally malicious. 'Australian taxpayers fund ABC and they deserve better.' An ABC spokesman said: 'The ABC Ombudsman's Office has six content complaints on hand and is investigating the concerns raised.' The Australian Jewish Agency claims the national broadcaster published a headline with errors on Sunday showed an 'anti-Israel bias' (stock image) The broadcaster's coverage was hosted by The Drum's Julia Baird and Jeremy Fernandez with a discussion panel consisting of former Q&A host Stan Grant, co-chair of the Australian Republic Movement Craig Foster, Liberal MP and monarchist Julian Leeser, and Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman Teela Reid The public broadcaster had previously been chastised by the public for their coverage of the Coronation of King Charles III in May. The broadcaster's coverage was hosted by The Drum's Julia Baird and Jeremy Fernandez with a discussion panel consisting of former Q&A host Stan Grant, co-chair of the Australian Republic Movement Craig Foster, Liberal MP and monarchist Julian Leeser, and Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman Teela Reid. The two-hour program focused heavily on the impact colonisation has had on Indigenous Australians and people of colour, taking aim at the monarchy. 'There is no Indigenous foundation, no Indigenous heritage to Australia, Australia sought to erase the Indigenous heritage,' Grant said during the program. While some viewers praised the national broadcaster's approach, others decided to change channels altogether. 'Ok I'm about to change channels away from ABC. Who can tell me the best coverage of the actual coronation?' one viewer tweeted. 'I had to turn off the boring ABC coverage of the coronation,' another said, comparing it to a 'history lecture'. An Aboriginal man has tried to stop a pair of police officers from entering Indigenous land by using his car to block off a public road. Bruce Muckadda Shillingsworth, a proud Muruwari and Budjiti man, filmed himself arguing with the officers in outback NSW in a video posted to social media. The confrontation occurred after police were responded to reports of illegal squatting at Ledknapper Nature Reserve at Enngonia in the state's north-west near the Queensland border. 'We've got the police here,' Mr Shillingsworth tells the camera. 'What's happening is they're going out onto Muruwari country, they're thinking that they've got authority. I'm going to ask them right here right now about whether they've got jurisdiction,' . One of the officers quickly interjects, telling him: 'You're blocking a public road'. Bruce Makudda Shillingsworth, a proud Muruwari and Budjiti man, filmed himself confronting the officers in a video posted to Twitter (pictured) 'You're blocking a roadway, move your vehicle,' the other officer adds. 'This is a roadway in New South Wales.' 'This is Muruwari land,' Mr Shillingsworth repeats before telling the officers they're not allowed to enter traditional Aboriginal land. 'There's things that are going on and I know why yous are going out there,' he says. 'My name is Bruce Junior Shillingsworth, and I'm a Muruwari man.' 'I'm a police officer,' one of the cops responds. 'I am giving you a direction to move your car. If you fail to comply with that direction, you may be committing an offence.' Mr Shillingsworth then claims he is a 'law enforcement officer'. Bruce Shillingsworth (right) is a First Nations activist, artist and Aboriginal Childrens Advocate (ACA) while Bruce Shillingsworth Junior describes himself as a 'public figure' on social media 'You're committing an offence because that land from here onwards is Muruwari land and you should know that,' he tells the officer. 'Are you saying we're not on it yet?' the cop replies before the video cuts off. A NSW Police Force spokeswoman said Mr Shillingsworth had been charged with obstructing traffic and disobeying directions over the incident, which occurred in March last year. The 31-year-old was found guilty of both offences and fined $400 after a hearing in September at Bourke Local Court. Muruwari land stretches over 16,000sqm from Barringun on the Queensland/NSW border to Mulga Downs and Weela in south Queensland. It includes Enngonia on the Warrego River, Brenda and Weilmoringle on the Culgoa River, and as far south as Milroy and Collerina in NSW. The move divided some on social media who were quick to draw comparisons to Bud Light's disastrous March Madness marketing campaign Disney has partnered with TikTok influencer Seann Altman to promote clothing for girls in a move that immediately drew comparisons to Bud Light's disastrous partnership with Dylan Mulvaney. Altmann, who identifies as gender fluid but uses he/him pronouns, donned a red dress as he demonstrated to fans of Minnie Mouse how they can look like the iconic children's character, in a TikTok promotion for Disney Style. 'I look just like Minnie Mouse!' he said after layering white lacy gloves, red lipstick and a bow. 'Now I'm fashionable, bold and fun.' Altmann's clip divided some on social media who were quick to compare it to Mulvaney's collaboration with the beer giant, which sparked a boycott that wiped more than $27 billion off the brand's market value. The move also came not long before Walt Disney reported a rare but large loss in its second quarter filings on Wednesday, as the woke brand lost a staggering $460 million while visits to Disney World slowed. Gender fluid influencer Seann Altman demonstrated how to dress up like Minnie Mouse The social media star opted for a pair of white lacy gloves to help him mimic the iconic children's character Altman felt the Minnie Mouse-themed dress and yellow shoes helped 'seal the deal' After completing his look, Altman said he was now 'fashionable, bold and fun' The promotion for Disney Style, which advertises clothing and accessories from the Disney range, saw Altman begin by saying he would 'look at the most iconic friend group' and delve into the Mickey Mouse family. Altman has over 700,000 followers on TikTok He said he opted to dress up like Minnie Mouse because the character was 'the most like me,' adding that he even had 'the perfect dress to start the look.' After donning the red dress that was 'just like Minnie', the social media star paired it with a large white lacy necklace 'just to give it a little more flair.' He then added a large white petticoat, white lacy gloves, a belt and a watch, before saying it was time to be 'as bold as Minnie' and applying red lipstick. Altman continued building the costume with black tights and yellow shoes, and completed the look with a big red bow - which he felt was 'the biggest fashion statement.' 'I literally look like Minnie Mouse,' he said with a twirl. 'And I fit in perfectly with Mickey and his friends. 'The bow, with the dress and the shoes really seal the deal, now I'm fashionable, bold and fun just like Minnie Mouse.' The move from Disney to push the promotion sparked some backlash online, with some questioning whether Altman was the correct choice to market children's costumes while others felt the brand was caving to woke pressure. Conservative commentator and journalist Cassandra MacDonald slated the company for having 'clearly learned nothing from the Bud Light fiasco.' She repeatedly referred to Altman as 'transgender' though that is inaccurate. '(Disney) has has partnered with transgender TikTok influencer Seann Altman, a biological male who identifies as "gender fluid", to promote a line of girls apparel,' she added. 'In the video, Altman does a tutorial on dressing like Minnie Mouse. 'The transgender influencer has 717,000 followers on the platform and frequently makes videos where he is dressed up as a young girl, including a recent one where he is skipping around in fairy wings.' 'Can't imagine why Disney stock is crashing,' said one critic, as another said: 'Disgusting... I'm done with Disney forever.' Another said: 'You know what to do folks - boycott Disney if you haven't already', referencing the public boycott following Mulvaney's Bud Light partnership. 'For Disney, this is pouring oil ahead of themselves on the slide they're already riding,' said one viewer, after MacDonald also noted how the company recently cast its first ever transgender actor to join the Star Wars franchise. The criticisms come at a vulnerable time for the iconic brand, which reported a shocking $460 million loss in its second-quarter filings on Wednesday. Amid its bitter feud with Florida Governor and 2024 presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis, Disney saw visits to Disney World slow while the number of subscribers to its streaming platform fell 7.4 percent. Altman's appearance on the promo video was met with backlash, with some viewers questioning if he was the correct choice to market children's costumes Disney's partnership comes months after Bud Light collaborated with Dylan Mulvaney to celebrate her '365 days of girlhood' Anheuser-Busch lost a whopping $395million in US sales and over $27 billion in market capital after they partnered with the transgender influencer in April The transgender TikTok star shrugged off criticism for her disastrous marketing campaign Disney Style's marketing team will be hoping their partnership with Altman is more successful than their counterparts at Bud Light had earlier in the year. It was the most popular beer in America for over two decades, but in April the brand released a promotion featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, sparking a huge boycott. She was gifted a specialized can to celebrate 365 days of 'being a girl' - the phrase she used to describe her transition from male to female. Anheuser-Busch InBev, the brand's parent company, lost a staggering $390 million in US sales in the wake of the crisis. The world's largest brewer that sales to US retailers had plunged 14 percent, adding that it had been 'underperforming the industry.' In a statement, the company put the declining sales down to the backlash they faced for partnering with Mulvaney. Louisiana's Democratic Governor has ordered the state pardon's board to consider clemency for 56 and the 57 death row inmates just weeks before his term ends. John Bel Edwards has urged the overwhelmingly Republican legislature to clear the state's death row. Now 56 criminals could see their death penalties reduced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The inmates in question include child rapists including one who raped and killed a four-year-old, murderers of civilians and police officers and at least one member of a domestic terror group. Edwards is a Democrat, but is pro-gun and in June 2022 signed a bill where doctors who performed abortions face 10 years in prison. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has ordered a clemency review after 56 of the 57 inmates on death row in the state filed applications at the same time, just months before his term ends The state's parole board deemed all applications as non-viable after an advisory opinion issued by State Attorney General Jeff Landy, a Republican who is considered the front-runner to replace the term-limited Edwards in November's election. In Edwards' letter to the board - all of whom were appointed by him - he appealed to them as both a pro-life governor and someone worried about whether justice had occurred in each case. 'Beyond moral justifications, there are a number of reasons, whether based in law or science, that support the need for mercy while considering these applications,' he wrote. 'Over the last 20 years in Louisiana, there have been six exonerations and more than 50 reversals of sentences in capital cases.' Republican Jeff Landry, a Trump-endorsed conservative and death penalty advocate who wants to take the term-limited Edwards' job this fall, says that each of the death sentences has been more than justified. 'The governor is out there right now trying to circumvent a constitutional pardon and parole system,' Landry told NOLA.com. 'Every one of those people on death row has had a jury of their peers convict them not once but twice.' Landry rejected the idea of clemency on the basis that none of them applied within a year of the sentencing, though Edwards believes he's wrong. 'The rule simply does not state that the application can only be filed within that first year,' Edwards wrote. The state's parole board deemed all applications as non-viable after an advisory opinion issued by State Attorney General Jeff Landy, a Republican who is considered the front-runner to replace the term-limited Edwards in November's election Kevin Daigle, 61, was convicted in 2015 for shooting State Trooper Steven Vincent, who had pulled him over to help Daigle after his car had gotten stuck in a ditch. He was later charged with the separate murder of his roommate The controversy goes beyond simple party lines, with Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III, a Democrat, siding with Landry and arguing Edwards is disrespectful to the victims. 'Because of the governor's request today, deep wounds have been re-opened yet again for victims who thought this issue was decided,' Moore said in a statement. 'When will this emotional roller coaster for these victims end?' Loren Lampert, the Republican Executive Director of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association, said that the applications should have to wait in line behind the 440 they currently face. 'Each surviving victim and family member of the victims of these horrible crimes collectively constitute dozens of reasons why these cases should receive the most scrutiny, the most effort and the most time,' Lampert wrote. Edwards, a devout Catholic, has received the support of the Archbishop of New Orleans, the Innocence Project and the Louisiana Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty. Only two clemency requests have been granted by Louisiana governors since the state instated the death penalty in the 1970s, according to The Advocate, which first reported on Tuesday's filings. Currently, 60 people sit on Louisianas death row, the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections told The Associated Press in late May. Louisiana has held 28 executions since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Nathaniel Code, 57, was convicted and sentenced to death for four of at least eight murders he was suspected of, including a child. He has maintained innocence, though some of his own family members have called for his execution Daniel Blank (pictured right in 1997), 61, is known as the River Parishes Serial Killer after he was convicted of five murders of elderly people, including beating and stabbing a 72-year-old woman to death. Attorneys unsuccessfully argued before the state supreme court he was coerced into confession But the last lethal injection was in January 2010 when the state executed Gerald Bordelon - a convicted sex offender who confessed to strangling his 12-year-old stepdaughter and waived an appeal. Currently there are no execution dates set, according to the department of corrections. However, other states are proceeding with capital punishment. Twenty-seven states have the death penalty, and last year 18 inmates were executed, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center. In addition, a handful of states are seeking to reinstate other execution methods - such as firing squads - as an alternative to lethal injections, after pharmaceutical companies barred the use of their drugs. Death penalty opponents in Louisiana argue the punishment should be eliminated due to the cost of executions, religious beliefs and racial disparities. A disproportionate three-quarters of Louisiana death row prisoners are people of color, according to the Capital Appeals Project. Critics also note that Louisiana has had frequent exonerations. Between 2010 and 2020, 22 inmates sentenced to death had their sentences reduced or were exonerated, according to the corrections department. Those who opposed the failed bill to ban the death penalty, advocated for justice for the families of victims who believe it is the appropriate punishment for certain crimes. A young man is clinging to life with severe head injuries after a fall in a shopping centre carpark in Sydney's south-west overnight. Emergency services rushed to the scene at Bankstown Central shortly before 10pm on Wednesday night after reports the teen had been found injured. It's understood the teen was running in the carpark when he fell, suffering critical injuries to the head and face. A young man is fighting for life in hospital after he suffered critical head and facial injuries. Pictured are paramedics at the scene Photos from the scene show the teen lying on a stretcher surrounded by paramedics and other emergency responders performing first aid. He was placed in an induced coma and rushed to Liverpool Hospital in a critical condition. He remains in a coma on Thursday as police launched an investigation. 'Police have commenced inquiries into the circumstances surrounding how the man came to be injured,' a spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia. 'An 18-year-old man is assisting police with inquiries.' The shopping centre is a busy complex with more than 300 stores. Anyone who was in the area at the time of the incident or has any information is urged to call Crime Stoppers. A woman has been rushed to hospital after being hit by a car near a busy highway. The accident happened on the corner of Ridley and Judd Roads in Elizabeth South, Adelaide at around 8pm on Wednesday. Paramedics rushed her to hospital with life-threatening injuries. Philip Highway was closed between Ridley and Judd Roads and traffic could not enter the highway to or from in the area for several hours while police attended the scene. A woman has been rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries after being struck by a car at around 8pm on Wednesday Allegedly seen near the property before fire A woman is behind bars as her son continues to fight for life in hospital almost a fortnight after he suffered horrific burns to 80 per cent to his body in a house fire on the Gold Coast. Emergency services were called to an address in Coomera on the northern end of the Gold Coast after a unit exploded into flames on July 31. A man, 37, who lived at the home escaped suffering from severe burns and managed to run 300 metres to the nearest police station where he collapsed. He suffered significant injuries and remains in a Brisbane hospital in an induced coma. Following extensive investigations into the blaze, Queensland detectives announced on Thursday that a woman, 60, had been arrested and charged. Mary-Anne Klok was charged with arson, grievous bodily harm, and endangering property. A woman, 60, has been charged with arson, grievous bodily harm, and endangering property in relation to a Coomera unit fire last month The Woodend woman from Ipswich did not appear in person or apply for bail when her case was briefly mentioned in Southport Magistrates Court on Thursday. Police will allege Klok was seen near the property before it was engulfed in flames, forcing her son to flee for his life, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported. Her defence lawyer Corey Cook told the court that he was seeking a full brief of evidence on all of the charges. Klok was remanded in custody and will remain behind bars until her case is next mentioned in court on September 28. The unit was destroyed in the blaze, despite desperate attempts from neighbours and firefighters to save the home. Neighbours tried to save the Coomera home engulfed in flames until firefighters arrived A woman aged in her 40s who also lived at the property was taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation and suspected back injuries. A firefighter who reportedly fell through the roof when the unit collapsed also required treatment in hospital. Investigations into the blaze continue. Anyone with information is urged to call Policelink or Crime Stoppers. Paul Virgona's family will likely never have an answer for why the grocer was murdered in cold blood on a Melbourne freeway nearly four years ago. But they do have some closure, with his Mongols bikie killers ordered to serve decades behind bars for a crime only explained as a case of mistaken identity. Aaron Ong was jailed for 35 years on Thursday by Victorian Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale, while Josh Rider was sentenced to 30 years. They had staked out Mr Virgona's Croyden home for hours before following him as he left to pick up the day's fruit and vegetable orders for his business at 2am on November 9, 2019. On Eastlink, their stolen Mercedes pulled alongside Mr Virgona's van and 11 shots were fired by the passenger from a semi-automatic handgun. Two bikies who murdered innocent grocer Paul Virgona will spend decades in jail. Mr Virgona's wife Antonietta sobbed outside court as she revealed the pain her family has endured Paul Virgona died after 11 shots were fired by into his van from a semi-automatic handgun It's not clear which of the men was the shooter and who was driving. At least seven shots struck Mr Virgona, whose van then spun out of control. He was found dead by police behind the wheel, his phone illuminated in his lap. Mr Virgona's wife Antonietta sobbed outside court as she revealed the pain her family had endured. 'Paul was an amazing person - he was a loyal, hardworking man who, in all this, was innocent and didn't deserve it,' she said. 'We will miss Paul every day of our lives. He was just everything. 'We are relieved of the outcome and that its behind us now.' Mr Virgona's family packed the court's public gallery for the hearing, seated just along from a dozen supporters of Ong and Rider. There was nothing to explain why he had been targeted and killed. He had no criminal or Mongols bikie associations, unlike Ong and Rider. Ong's barrister conceded the shooting occurred in the context of motorcycle club activity but was 'almost certainly a case of mistaken identity'. Rider, now 33, joined the Mongols at 19 or 20 and told a psychologist he was considering leaving the club but hey had supported him and his partner while he was in prison, and there would be a price for leaving. A friend who cautioned him against joining said he wasn't surprised by the murder charge. Ong, 37, was a Mongols associate since 2015 and became patched two years later. Josh Rider, left, was sentenced to 30 years in prison while his accomplice Aaron Ong, right, was jailed for 35 years He has not disavowed the club and rather than downplay his association, Ong and his barrister had talked up his love of motorcycles, Justice Beale said. 'Your association with the Mongols has been disastrous,' he said. 'You would do well to settle, once and for all, any association you have with the Mongols or its members.' Mr Virgona's children Luca and Giulia, were in court for the sentence. They were just 17 and 14 when their father died. 'He was a very devoted father, husband, everything,' Mrs Virgona said. 'He was just everything.' Rider, who pleaded guilty to murder days before a joint trial with Ong was due to begin, was ordered to serve at least 21 years. Ong, who was convicted at trial, must serve at least 25 years and six months before he is eligible for parole. A schizophrenic inmate who plucked his own eyeballs out of his head after suffering untreated delusions in solitary confinement has won two settlements worth a total $2.5million. Ryan Partridge, 37, who was in jail for a minor assault on another homeless person, was left permanently blind during his psychosis self-harm. But he has now won his legal battle against Boulder County Jail in Colorado. The hefty settlement was for two issues - the deliberate 'indifference to his serious psychiatric needs,' and for the excessive use of force by jail staff. Footage from inside the prison showed staff using force against Partridge, who was nude, when he was an inmate and going through a mental crisis. Ryan Partridge, 37, who was in jail for a minor assault with another homeless person, was left permanently blind during his psychosis self-harm. But he has now won his legal battle against Boulder County Jail in Colorado While in the throes of psychosis, Partridge also tried to kill himself by climbing to the top railing on a second-floor tier at the jail and jumping. He plummeted head first on to the ground, smashing his head on a metal table and the cement floor, reports Law and Crime. This resulted in Partridge breaking his vertebra. The ordeal happened six weeks before he gauged his eyeballs out. A month later, he tried the same jumping stunt again - but guards talked him down. While he was in jail in 2016, Partridge also tried to self harm, including banging his head into his toilet - leaving him bloodied with seven broken teeth. Partridge's lawyer said that officials ignored a judge's emergency order to get him psychiatric treatment. The inmate, deep in his crisis, believed that the CIA were telling him to rip his eyes out of their sockets. Footage from inside the prison showed staff using force against Partridge, who was nude, when he was an inmate and going through a mental crisis. Part of the settlement was for the excessive force used by staff against him The Sheriffs Office said that they did not think their staff were at fault, but 'hope that the settlement will provide some closure for Mr. Partridge' In 2017, Partridge told CBS: 'I don't like solitary. I don't think this would have happened had I not been in solitary. I remember them asking if I wanted medication. I didn't know what for, and I didn't trust anyone.' Following the winning settlement, Partridge's lawyer David Lane said in a statement: 'He was refusing his meds and in a psychotic state. Ryan Partridge plucked his own eyeballs from his head. 'It is hoped that this settlement sends a message to the Boulder Sheriff and law enforcement everywhere that when they ignore the serious psychiatric needs of inmates, it will cost them millions of dollars.' The lawsuit stated: 'Throughout all of 2016, Mr. Partridge was in and out of the Boulder County Jail, each time presenting with unmistakable signs of severe mental illness and periodically being taken from the jail to go to the state mental hospital or an affiliated treatment center in attempts to restore him to legal competency to face the minor criminal charges pending against him. 'The jail was well aware that Mr. Partridge suffered from schizophrenia. 'If any of the defendants had initiated appropriate medical intervention on behalf of Mr. Partridge, he would not be blind today, would not have broken seven teeth, or jumped from the second tier smashing his head into the metal table and cement floor of the jail and breaking his back.' The Sheriffs Office said that it did not think their staff were at fault, but 'hope that the settlement will provide some closure for Mr. Partridge.' US President Joe Biden will host Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the White House. The White House said the pair would discuss strengthening collaboration on critical issues 'to ensure the alliance is well equipped to respond to ever-evolving regional and global challenges' during the official visit on October 25. Mr Albanese will be in the US between October 23 and 26 for his first official trip to Washington since taking office. 'Australia and the United States have a longstanding relationship, based on deep friendship and trust and a shared commitment to peace, the rule of law and the values of democracy,' he said. 'My visit is an important opportunity to discuss our ambitious climate and clean energy transition, and shared goal of a strong, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific.' The White House says Joe Biden and Anthony Albanese will discuss strengthening collaboration The White House said the visit would 'underscore the deep and enduring alliance between the United States and Australia and the two nations' shared commitment to supporting an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific'. The president was set to visit Australia for the Quad leaders' summit earlier this year before domestic debt ceiling negotiations with Congress forced him to cancel his trip. Mr Albanese travelled to the US to announce how Australia would acquire nuclear-propelled submarines under the trilateral AUKUS agreement alongside Mr Biden and UK prime minister Rishi Sunak in March. The White House is also set to host Pacific island leaders towards the end of the year as Washington moves to strengthen its standing in the region. Homeowners have been warned about a common mistake after a property is sold when a seller discovered her house had been robbed. Steph, a homeowner in Melbourne who recently sold her property, was shocked to find the house had been raided by thieves as she prepared it for the new owners. The woman discovered the brazen act after she went back to get a tool from the shed to dismantle furniture in the house before the new owners moved in. Melbourne homeowner Steph has warned homeowners to take down 'sold' signs as soon as possible once their property goes under the hammer, after thieves broke into her home All the tools from the shed were stolen and after Steph informed police about the crime, she was told the 'sold' poster in front of the house may have caused the robbery. The woman posted a video to TikTok on Tuesday, which showed a picture of the shed that had been broken into by the thieves. Two rectangular glass panels were removed before the robbers made their way in through the shed's window. The woman posted a video to TikTok which showed a picture of the shed that was robbed, with thieves making off with all the tools after Steph went to the shed to get a tool Steph explained how the sign can lead thieves to easily break into homes in a bid to ransack properties that have gone under the hammer. 'This is just a quick warning to homeowners out there,' she said. 'Unfortunately a sold sign can be a beacon to thieves.' Steph urged homeowners who have managed to sell their homes to remove the 'sold' sign. 'As soon as you sell the property, make sure that sign is taken down as soon as possible by the real estate agent,' she said. 'I was robbed only days after that sticker [sold] was put up on the sign.' It's believed burglars broke into the home on July 8 after it was sold and took all the tools. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Victoria Police for comment. Steph said she wished she had been told earlier about removing the 'sold' sign after she fell victim to a robbery when thieves broke into the home's shed Benlor Real Estate in Werribee in Melbourne's south-west who managed the sale were also contacted for comment. Houses with 'sold' and 'lease' signs are common targets for thieves as they can falsely indicate no one owns or lives in the property. In the video, Steph also suggested people park a car in the property's driveway to show the home is currently occupied. TikTok users were quick to comment on her post. 'Always take down the real estate sign yourself immediately!' one wrote. 'That's why you have to get insurance on the house the second you sign the paperwork,' another commented. 'We were told once the bank approves the loan, we need insurance.' Fears are growing for a 16-year-old who has been missing for nearly a week. Lexi Peterson vanished from her home in Banjup in Perth's south at about 9pm last Friday evening. She was then seen at the Aubin Grove Train Station early on Saturday morning, and was sighted at the Albany bus station on Sunday at about 4pm. Lexi was carrying several bags at the time she was last seen and was wearing a grey hoodie, dark jacket, dark-coloured pants and an orange beanie. Lexi Peterson vanished from her home in Banjup in Perth's south at about 9pm last Friday evening. She was then seen at the Aubin Grove Train Station early on Saturday morning, and was sighted at the Albany bus station (pictured) on Sunday at about 4pm Police and Lexi's family are holding grave concerns for her welfare 'Police and family have urgent concerns for Lexi's welfare,' WA Police said in a statement. Police said the teenager may also be using a long blonde wig or a black curly wig and her nails are painted black. She has been described as being 170cm tall, with a slim build and has blonde hair. Desperate loved ones have shared posts to social media urging the community to look out for Lexi. Police said the teenager may also be using a long blonde wig or a black curly wig and her nails are painted black Acting Senior Sergeant officer-in-charge Dave Loverock said Lexi is believed to be in Albany and has 'some medical issues' 'Lexi is very much loved by all her family, they're desperately concerned for Lexi and would love her to come home,' one loved one wrote. 'I'm asking, if you know, or if you have seen Lexi Peterson or you know of her friends, please contact the Police.' Lexi does not have her phone or any identification on her. Acting Senior Sergeant officer-in-charge Dave Loverock said Lexi is believed to be in Albany and has 'some medical issues'. 'We understand she has left her phone and other electronic devices at home but that is not to say she has got her hands on a phone from someone else,' he said. 'If anyone does come across her, we urge that they tell police and don't approach her.' Police urge anyone who sights Lexi, or who has information relating to her whereabouts, to contact police immediately on 131 444. Wildfires on Maui have killed 36 people, mayor reveals, in 'unprecedented' disaster for the town of Lahaina Advertisement Survivors of the Maui wildfire who jumped into the ocean to escape the flames that swallowed the town of Lahaina have told of their terror as hundreds of their neighbors, friends and colleagues remain missing. The fires began in Hawaii on Tuesday and spread quickly, particularly on Maui where the flames jumped roads and torched homes at lightning pace. The flames were fanned by high winds from Hurricane Dora and exacerbated by low humidity and dry conditions caused by drought. Thousands fled, driving and running through war-like clouds of smoke and fire to safety. Today, President Biden has declared a 'major disaster' in the state of Hawaii. He spoke with Governor Josh Green this morning and promised full federal help in coping with the damage. As firefighters continue to battle the flames, residents who survived are now left trying to find their missing loved ones. Locals are circulating a Google spreadsheet to locate their relatives and friends, while others rush to shelters to feed the displaced and offer help. 'We just had the worst disaster I've ever seen. All Lahaina is burnt to a crisp. It's like an apocalypse,' said one stunned resident on Wednesday. Two of the men who were filmed jumping into the harbor in Lahaina said they leaped into the water after the heat became unbearable. They were among 50 people rescued from the waves by the Coast Guard. Two of the men who were filmed jumping into the harbor in Lahaina said they leaped into the water after the heat became unbearable. They were among 50 people rescued from the waves by the Coast Guard A wildfire burns in Kihei, Hawaii late Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. Thousands of residents raced to escape homes on Maui as blazes swept across the island, destroying parts of a centuries-old town in one of the deadliest US wildfires in recent years The men, wo declined to give their names while being interview by KHON, said they felt like they were 'in hell'. 'I saw a couple people just running, I heard screams out of hell explosions. It felt like we were in hell, it really was. It was just indescribable,' one of the men said. They had been working on Prison Street in central Lahaina when the fire took over. 'You couldnt really see anything, sometimes it was just blacked out by the smoke, but you could still see the flames,' said the other. The pair ran from where they were working to a home nearby to shelter, but the heat became insufferable after 30 minutes. 'It was starting to burn our skin. We called the police and they said to jump into the water,' they explained. Once in the water, one of the men said he began to feel tired. 'When I was swimming, you know I'm 59 and used to be a lifeguard, but the way everything was going, I was feeling weak. I thought, "I don't want to go out this way." They were rescued from rocks by the Coast Guard shortly afterwards. Locals have set up a document for relatives to list the last place their loved ones were seen, though authorities are yet to set up any official way or reporting anyone missing. Maui resident Dustin Kaleiopu said that he was searching for his extended family, with 'so many people' still missing. After hearing reports her home was destroyed along with her pets, Steff Baku-Kirkman reacts after wildfires driven by high winds were believed to have destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina Lahaina has nearly been wiped off the map after 271 buildings were burned to the ground during intense wildfires The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street Locals are now sharing a Google document with the names of loved ones who are yet to be found Speaking to CNN he added: 'So many people have gone missing. I will say that that is an unspoken fact that the death toll is way higher than 36. 'And we just hope that it is not confirmed to be, like I said, too much higher than that number. But there was a mass casualty event that happened this week. 'I wasn't home when the fire started. I was staying at my brother's house like a mile or two away from home, and I live with my dad and my grandpa,' he said. 'My dad called me and said, 'Hey, I heard there is a fire, I can't get in touch with your grandpa. Go and check on him.'' 'My brother ends up joining us, and we fall asleep because there was nothing else to do. Everything was closed no electricity.' Maui resident Dustin Kaleiopu said that he was searching for his extended family, with 'so many people' still missing Officials are nervously awaiting a presidential declaration of emergency - as the state estimates it will be facing billions of dollars of structural damage Drought and high winds from Hurricane Dora have fanned fires across Hawaii An aerial view of destroyed buildings as the wildfire burns in the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii Entire communities have been razed by the fires, with aerial footage showing piles of ash and rubble 'We had to wait until everything was on fire because we had no ability to know really how much of it was really going on.' Kaleiopu's father drove by his brother less than an hour later, after catching sight of him in the traffic evacuating the tiny town. 'When my dad realized that it was my brother, he completely lost it,' Kaleiopu said. 'Because he had assumed that everybody had died in the fire just by how drastic things had been when he got there after being at work all day.' Hundreds of people are still missing on the island, with concerned relatives posting on social media in a bid to locate them. Family members have been urged to contact the Red Cross as well as local hospitals in a bid to locate their relatives, after communication lines have been severed due to the level of destruction by the fire. State officials are working with hotels and airlines to try to evacuate thousands of tourists to another island. The Hawaii Department of Transportation confirmed that Maui's Kahului Airport is open, with thousands stranded there trying to escape the island. As fires closed in all the way up to the shoreline, frantic locals jumped into the water in the harbor to escape the flames on Tuesday night. Twelve people were rescued from the waves by boats. Governor Josh Green, who had been traveling with his family, today as distraught residents of Lahaina woke up to photos and videos of their homes entirely destroyed. Another escaped with his wife, children and dog and slept in a Whole Foods parking lot before waking to the news that their home had been destroyed. 'We got to this side of the island midnight last night, with my wife and dog, we slept in a parking lot at Whole Foods. We woke up and got on our phones to pictures of our house down to slab. Nothing but smoke and cinders. We have the clothes we got on, a dog and two kids. And here we are,' he told NBC News. One local told reporters on Wednesday: 'We've still got dead bodies floating on the seawall. They've been sitting there since last night. We've been pulling people out since last night, trying to save peoples' lives.' Authorities, who had earlier put the death toll at six, are struggling to find shelter for huge numbers of locals and tourists who fled the inferno, while firefighters are making little headway in battling the flames. Some 11,000 people flew out of Maui yesterday and another 1,500 are expected to leave today if they can. The wildfires, which have been whipped up by strong winds from Hurricane Dora passing far to the south, took the island of Maui by surprise, leaving behind burned-out cars and smoking piles of rubble where historic buildings stood. Hawaii Army National Guard CH47 Chinook helicopters perform aerial water bucket drops on the island of Maui to assist with fight of wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, August 9, 2023 Hawaii Army National Guard CH47 Chinook helicopters perform aerial water bucket drops on the island of Maui to assist with fight of wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, August 9, 2023 Flames roared throughout the night, forcing adults and children to dive into the ocean to escape the fire. The blaze began early on Tuesday, threatening homes, businesses and more than 35,000 people on the island of Maui, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said. Thousands of tourists at the popular holiday destination are stuck on the island and seeking temporary shelter after being ordered to evacuate. President Joe Biden has now ordered 'all available federal assets' to battle the wildfires and sent in Black Hawks to help douse the flames. Democratic Senator for Hawaii, Brian Schatz, warned Lahaina has been 'almost totally burned to the ground' while a local resident described the town as 'like a warzone'. Another witness said it was a scene of 'utter devastation... It is far from hyperbole to say that Lahaina has been wiped off the map'. Officials are nervously awaiting a presidential declaration of emergency, which they hope will be made in the coming 'hours or days' as the state estimates it is facing billions of dollars of damage. People gather while waiting for flights at the Kahului Airport Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Hawaii. Several thousand Hawaii residents raced to escape homes on Maui as the Lahaina fire swept across the island People gather at the Kahului Airport while waiting for flights Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023 TOPSHOT - Passengers try to sleep on the floor of the airport terminal while waiting for delayed and canceled flights off the island as thousands of passengers were stranded at the Kahului Airport (OGG) in the aftermath of wildfires People wait on the side of the road to return to west Maui after wildfires driven by high winds were believed to have destroyed a large part of the historic town of Lahaina Mason Jarvi reacts after evacuating from west Maui after wildfires driven by high winds were believed to have destroyed a large part of the historic town of Lahaina At a press conference, Lt Governor Sylvia Luke said she had flown over Lahaina, a town of 12,000 people, to see the damage with her own eyes. '[It] was just so shocking and devastating... The whole town was devastated, the whole town was decimated,' she said. A longtime Maui resident who filmed the scenes of devastation in Lahaina said he would not share some footage as it was too graphic. Emerson Timmins told local news outlet KHON2 News: 'There were cars abandoned on the road, I assume those people couldn't get out in time. 'They probably headed to the ocean, the ones that could make it, and people leaving their homes. 'If a young person could barely get out of there with their family, then the elderly are trapped, those that are handicapped. 'It's terrifying to think about all those families losing their loved ones and their homes.' Firefighters were still struggling to contain three of the biggest fires raging on the island by midnight on Wednesday - fueling fears that many will wake up on Thursday with their homes scorched to cinders. Meanwhile, Hawaii Governor Josh Green warned that there is not enough shelter 'for long-term living' to aid those several hundreds of residents who have lost homes in the wildfires. Currently, around 2,000 tourists are in shelters near the island's airport. The entirety of West Maui remains without power, and has no landline or cellphone service due to the wildfires. Smoke can be seen rising over acres of scorched earth from a plane in Lahaina, Hawaii Passengers try to rest after flights were cancelled or delayed as they escape the island of Maui Thousands of tourists were stranded at the Kahului Airport, with many flights cancelled or delayed Democratic Senator for Hawaii, Brian Schatz, revealed that Lahaina has been 'almost totally burnt to the ground' as firefighters seem to make little headway Authorities are struggling to shelter the hundreds of locals and tourists who have been displaced - while President Biden issued federal aid and sent Black Hawks to help douse the flames fuelled by intense winds near Hawaii Local Steff Baku-Kirkman hears reports that her home has been destroyed and her pets killed in the town of Lahaina Aerial footage of the devastating effects of the wildfires over the island. Smoke is seen billowing into the sky Slide me Aerial views of the Lahaina Heritage Museum and the yacht harbor before and after show the extent of the devastation An aerial view shows smoke rising above as a wildfire burns in Lahaina Sylvia Luke said: 'Lahaina town was just so shocking and devastating... The whole town was devastated, the whole town was decimated' The flames burned all the way to the shoreline in areas of Maui Slide me Two images show the extent of the destruction of vegetation and buildings in Maui A mass bus evacuation at Sheraton Maui Resort in Kaanapali late on Wednesday took tourist to Kahului Airport where travellers have been desperately trying to board departing flights. Shelters remain open at War Memorial Gymnasium in Wailuku, Maui High School in Kahului and Hannibal Tavares Community Center in Pukalani, the state said early on Thursday morning. Governor Josh Green told CNN: 'What we're trying to do right now is to make sure that anyone who doesn't need to be in Maui for anything but essential travel does not go to Maui. 'I'm making a call right now to all the people of Hawaii: If you have an ADU on your property, if you have a rental that's not occupied right now, we will be promoting a program quite quickly to put people back into shelter. 'We already struggle with homelessness and a severe shortage of housing in our state, so this of course exacerbates that problem.' The harbor has been severely impacted - and there is widespread damage to the West Maui town, according to federal forces. Stunning beaches and resorts have been left blackened by the flames in parts of Maui A man sits in a chair amid the total destruction of the island. Joe Biden called for Federal aid to reach Hawaii on Wednesday evening Four helicopters have been deployed for water drops in Lahaina, while two Chinooks, along with four Windward Aviation helicopters and Black Hawks have been called in. Three helicopters from the US Coast Guard and US Navy were conducting search and rescue along the West Maui coastline late on Thursday night. Maui Memorial Medical Center announced it had treated seven patients, two of which are in critical condition, for fire-related injuries. Some are being treated for burns and smoke inhalation. An additional seven patients have been transferred to Oahu for specialty services. Wade Ebersole, Chief Operations Officer of the hospital said: 'Our caregivers care deeply about this community's health and well-being and are working to ensure that all of our patients' needs are being met. 'Our hearts and support are with our community and first responders during this challenging time.' Satellite images, taken before and after the fires erupted, showed the devastation to the landscape and infrastructure. While tourists usually flock to Lahaina for its white sandy beaches and stunning resorts, for residents it is a town rich with heritage and filled with historical sites. Smoke billows over fields and neighborhoods by the shoreline in Maui Observers look over the destruction caused by the fires from a helicopter over Maui Locals are fearing that the historic banyan tree in Lahaina, which has stood outside the town's courthouse for 150 years, may have fallen victim to the flames. Thought to be the oldest living banyan in Maui, the beautiful tree holds a special meaning for Hawaiians. 'Only time will tell if it survives the injuries sustained in the fires, but it feels like a small beacon of hope in this disaster,' said one person on social media. Video appears to show the famous tree amongst the charred devastation, but still standing strong. 'Only time will tell if it survives the injuries sustained in the fires, but it feels like a small beacon of hope in this disaster,' said one person sharing the footage online. Pictures revealed that the Lahaina Heritage Museum has been incinerated to the point that its roof has collapsed, according to CNN. Locals are fearing that the historic banyan tree in Lahaina, which has stood outside the town's courthouse for 150 years, may have fallen victim to the flames The Baldwin Home Museum - where the physician who saved Maui from an epidemic of smallpox lived in the 19th century - has reportedly been destroyed. The Wo Hing Temple Museum, which was a social and spiritual meeting point for Hawaii's Chinese immigrant community, has also been burned down in the travesty. On Wednesday afternoon, Joe Biden called for Federal aid to reach Hawaii on Wednesday evening, and said the U.S. Coast Guard, Navy Third Fleets and U.S Marines are supporting response and rescue efforts. The complete devastation in idyllic Hawaii's historic town has been laid bare after massive wildfires ripped through the tourist hotspot and burned everything in its path to cinders The Maui wildfires have claimed 36 lives and left 20 people gravely injured in an 'unprecedented' disaster for Lahaina Wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui caused some people to jump into the ocean on Tuesday to escape the flames and smoke There are currently 11,209 households without electricity in Maui Mayor Richard Bissen Jr confirmed the devastating fatalities: 'I'm sad to report that just before coming on this, it was confirmed we've had 6 fatalities. We are still in a search and rescue mode. 'We've had many dwellings businesses, structures that have been burned, many of them to the ground. 'As a result of three fires that have occurred that are continuing here on our island we have had 13 evacuations from different neighborhoods and towns, we've had 16 road closures, we've opened five shelters.' Power remains out for 11,209 Hawaiians, and the fires are ongoing. James Kunane Tokioka, the state's business, economic development and tourism director, said: 'Local people have lost everything. 'They've lost their house, they've lost their animals and it's devastating.' The National Weather Service has warned that more destruction is on the way. Initiating a red flag warning, it said on Wednesday afternoon: 'Very dry fuels combined with strong and gusty easterly winds and low humidities will produce critical fire weather conditions through the afternoon hours.' The town of Lahaina is all but destroyed. Devastating videos showed desperate residents jumping into the harbor to avoid the flames last night Power remains out for thousands of Hawaiians, and the fires are ongoing Smoke billows near Lahaina as wildfires driven by high winds destroy a large part of the historic town of Lahaina US President Joe Biden said in a statement: 'Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones in the wildfires in Maui, and our prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses, and communities destroyed. 'We are grateful to the brave firefighters and first responders who continue to run toward danger, putting themselves in harm's way to save lives. 'I have ordered all available Federal assets on the Islands to help with response. The Hawaiian National Guard has mobilized Chinook Helicopters to help with fire suppression and search and rescue on the Island of Maui. 'The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy Third Fleets are supporting response and rescue efforts. The U.S. Marines are providing Black Hawk Helicopters to fight the fires on the Big Island. 'The Department of Transportation is working with commercial airlines to evacuate tourists from Maui, and the Department of the Interior and the United States Department of Agriculture stand ready to support post fire recovery efforts. 'I urge all residents to continue to follow evacuation orders, listen to the instructions of first responders and officials, and stay alert.' Victoria Wayne-Bowley was born and raised in the historic town of Lahaina. This morning the Hawaiian native woke up to non-stop phone calls from frantic friends and extended family claiming their homes had either burned down or were under threat from the devastating fires that have ravaged Maui. 'Everyone is sleep deprived not knowing where their loved ones are. I never would have imagined this type of catastrophe. It's the most devastating disaster in the history of Maui,' Wayne Bowley told DailyMail.com. 'The whole Lahaina is a complete wasteland. There were people whose only choice was to jump into the ocean, while the coastguard raced to help them. It looks like Hiroshima. 'Literally people were driving to dinner last night like everything was safe and in just a short period of time within 24 hours this happened,' said Wayne-Bowley who lived in Lahaina for 25 years before moving to New Jersey, but still travels to Maui on a regular basis for work. Wayne-Bowley and her family run a popular clothing company throughout the island called Maui Clothing Company with some 70 employees. As of this afternoon, cell phone usage was dodgy or no longer viable because of the fires. Her father Edward Wayne founded the business in 1982 which has grown to 14 stores. Three of which are under immediate threat. 'We still can't get in touch with our employees. No one is reachable in the Lahaina area,' Wayne-Bowley explained. 'I've been communicating through email, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. 'I am 99% sure that our original store on Front Street in Lahaina burned down today. My parents opened it in 1982, the year I was born. Back them it was called Lobster & Roses, but the name was changed to the Maui Clothing Company. 'Our other two stores, Maui WaterWear and Cruise Maui Boutique, are located in another shopping area called Whalers Village in Kaanapali which is also under threat.' The town of Lahaina is all but destroyed. Devastating videos showed desperate residents jumping into the harbor to avoid the flames last night Both locations are Lahaina's most popular tourist destinations for shopping. 'It's really sad to see this scale of devastation. We have family and friends that started restaurants and stores decades ago, only to be destroyed. There are historical landmarks that have been burned down.' 'We don't know all the details, but these are nostalgic places that people have gone to for the past 50 years that are no longer there.' 'I feel sad. It's devastating. It's tragic and it's heartbreaking. You feel like everyone is your family on the island and everyone treats each other like family.' Longtime friend and well known dermatologist in Lahaina, Dr. George Martin narrowly escaped the deadly fire which came within just 1/4 mile away from his ranch with one hundred animals. 'Our close friend Dr. Martin has close to one hundred animals, horses, chickens, ponies. He had to evacuate them all last and fortunately people from other parts of the island offered to help. That's what people are like here. Everyone is helping and posting messages online saying they have land and to bring your animals.' A disheartened local shared a heartbreaking Instagram post saying, 'My brother says there are bodies on the ground in Lahaina.' Devastating aerial video shows the extent of the damage in Lahaina, where thousands of locals fled in the dead of the night to escape being trapped. Claire Kent, who was among those who took to the water in boats, said she had lost 'everything'. Joe Biden called for Federal aid to reach Hawaii on Wednesday evening, and said the U.S. Coast Guard, Navy Third Fleets and U.S Marines are supporting response and rescue efforts Plumes of smoke are seen rising above a building in Maui The worst of the fires are on Maui, where Oprah and Steven Tyler are among celebrities with homes. The fire in Lahaina has been the most destructive, torching homes and businesses 'I am out of Lahaina, safe with a few friends in Waiehu. My home is gone, my town is gone, my job is gone. We lost everything. 'This is the scariest thing I have ever experienced. So incredibly devastated.' Multiple burn patients were today flown out of Maui to Honolulu to be cared for as the 'apocalyptic' blazes rage on. The fires, fanned by strong winds from Hurricane Dora, have burned structures, forced evacuations and caused power outages in several communities. The worst of the fires is on Maui. One is torching parts of northern Wailea - where tourist hotels like the Four Seasons and Hilton scatter the beach - and another has destroyed the town of Lahaina. A worker at the Four Seasons Wailea told DailyMail.com that the resort has not been affected aside from 'some air quality issues'. The $990-a-night hotel is where the first season of The White Lotus was filmed. The fires, fanned by strong winds from Hurricane Dora, have burned structures, forced evacuations and caused power outages in several communities A Lahaina resident whose home was burned down but stayed in the town to help told Hawaii News Now: 'We're gonna do our best to get past this and it's gonna be tough... It's going to take years to fix. This is not even the worst of it.' 'This is an unprecedented disaster as an indirect result of Hurricane Dora passing just south of our island. It is truly devastating and my heart goes out to the residents of Maui and all those impacted,' Lt. Governor Sylvie Luke said Wednesday morning. One fire in Kula, central Maui, is raging near to where Oprah recently purchased hundreds of acres of land. 'This is so unprecedented. An emergency in the night is terrifying... right now it is all-hands-on-deck and we are anxious for daybreak,' Maui County spokesperson Mahina Martin said in the early hours of Wednesday morning. 'We are already in communication with other hospital systems about relieving the burden the reality is that we need to fly people out of Maui to give them burn support because Maui hospital cannot do extensive burn treatment. 'In addition to dealing with disaster, we're dealing with major transportation issues as well,' she told CNN on Wednesday. '911 is down. Cell service is down. Phone service is down. That's been part of the problem. The Maui County has not been able to communicate with residents on the west side, the Lahaina side. The Front Street in Lahaina was all but razed on Tuesday night as the fires raged on 'What we are trying to do is deploy individuals to go into areas with satellite phone service. 'We have only been in contact with perhaps one hotel because the one hotel, the people in charge of that hotel have satellite phones. That's the only way you can make connection. 'It's impeding communication. It's impeding efforts to evacuate residents and we are very concerned about that,' she said. Fire chiefs yesterday warned residents to evacuate their homes before it is too late. 'The fire can be a mile or more from your house, but in a minute or two, it can be at your house. Burning airborne materials can light fires a great distance away from the main body of fire,' Maui County Fire Assistant Chief Jeff Giesea said. Fire crews on Maui were battling multiple blazes concentrated in two areas: the popular tourist destination of West Maui and an inland, mountainous region. Footage shot from a yacht in Lahaina Mooring Field in Maui shows the sky bruising as huge plumes of smoke rise from the fires. Video also shows fires raging through a residential area in Maui surrounded by grassland with black smoke billowing into the sky. New footage shows the dramatic moment that FBI agents confronted a Utah man who threatened to kill Joe Biden on his visit to the state, throwing what appeared to be a smoke bomb before he was shot dead. Craig Deleeuw Robertson, 75, was killed by the FBI on his doorstep in Provo - an hour from Salt Lake City. Video shared on social media showed neighbors peering out from behind curtains and fearfully watching the dawn raid. The FBI attempted to serve arrest and search warrants at Robertson's house at 6:15am, but were met with resistance. Sources told AP that Robertson, who had a large arsenal in his home, was armed when they arrived. Agents in protective clothing can be seen advancing on his door, and heard yelling at him. One of the agents flung what appeared to be a smoke bomb, which can be seen exploding to the left of the image, by the front door Robertson is seen lying on the sidewalk in front of his house after Wednesday's shooting Robertson had a custom woodworking business but did not renew his license after it expired last year, according to state records Biden is pictured arriving at Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City, Utah on Wednesday One then flings what seems to be a smoke bomb, which explodes near the front door. The actual shooting is unclear, but photos from the scene show Robertson lying on his back, dead on the sidewalk in front of his house. 'The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously,' the agency said in a statement. 'In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBI's Inspection Division. 'As this is an ongoing matter, we have no further details to provide.' The FBI began investigating Robertson in April, and the Secret Service was informed in June. For months, Robertson had posted daily threats on what is believed to be his Facebook page, revealing his obsession with the president and fantasies about hurting him. One post reads: 'There is only one creature in this universe I hate more than Joe Biden. It's Lucifer, Biden's brother!' While conducting surveillance on Robertson's home on March 19, a special agent attempted to speak with Robertson about his posts, according to Fox13. Robertson replied: 'I said it was a dream!' He told the agent to come back with a warrant. Robertson, who had a custom woodworking business, worked for 45 years as a structural steel and welding inspector before retiring and starting his own company. His posts grew increasingly violent and threatening, and singled out Kamala Harris, Californian governor Gavin Newsom and Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg in addition to Biden. Robertson, 75, was gunned down on his doorstep by agents in Provo - an hour from Salt Lake City - after they were alerted to his posts about the president Robertson had several photos of himself posing with weapons and wearing tactical gear on social media Craig Robertson in another photo posting with his weapons wearing a bulletproof vest, a ski mask and a helmet The threats involved plans to take physical action and the FBI deemed them 'credible' Robertson shared numerous pictures online of the heavy duty weapons he had stacked in a huge gun cache in his house, including sniper rifles and AR-15-style guns In March, Robertson threatened to kill Bragg, who is overseeing the criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump. 'I'll be waiting in the courthouse parking garage with my suppressed Smith &Wesson M&P 9mm to smoke a radical fool prosecutor that should never have been elected,' he posted at the time. 'BYE, BYE, TO ANOTHER CORRUPT B______!!!' The majority of his social media posts revolved around the president or his son Hunter - and many included violent and highly specific physical threats. 'In my dream I see Joe Biden's body in a dark corner of a DC parking garage with his head severed and lying in a huge puddle of blood. Hoorah,' he wrote. As Biden's planned visit to Utah drew closer, Robertson increased his specific threats. Messages posted on what is believed to be his Facebook page on Tuesday included bloodthirsty content about how he'd brutally murder the commander in chief The page, which posted pro-Trump comments, also had more death threats against Biden's brother, Kamala Harris as well as Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg On Monday, Robertson allegedly wrote: 'I hear Biden is coming to Utah. Digging out my hold Ghillie suit and cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle.' 'Welcome Baffoon in Chief!,' he concluded the post, which was written in bold black letters on a pink and purple swirly background. He then wrote: 'Hey FBI, you still monitoring my social media? Checking so I can be sure to have a loaded gun handy in case you drop by again.' On Tuesday his Facebook posts included bloodthirsty content about how he'd brutally murder the commander in chief. He also shared numerous pictures of the heavy duty weapons he had stacked in a huge gun cache in his house, including sniper rifles and AR-15-style guns. Court documents show Robertson threatened to 'inflict bodily harm' on Biden during his visit to Utah Special agents attempted to serve arrest and search warrants at a residence in Provo when they shot and killed Craig Deleeuw Robertson at around 6:15 am Law enforcement investigate the scene of a shooting involving the FBI Wednesday in Provo, Utah Robertson, who was accused of making threats against President Joe Biden, was shot and killed by FBI agents hours before the president was expected to land in the state Wednesday A Provo police officer walks away as FBI officials and other law enforcement officers stand outside the home of Craig Robertson who was shot and killed by the FBI in a raid on his home The investigation began in April and the US Secret Services became aware of it in June President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at Arcosa, a wind tower manufacturing facility, in Belen, New Mexico, on Wednesday morning Later that day, an arrest warrant was unsealed ahead of Biden's arrival on Wednesday in the state. Court documents show Robertson, who is a self-described 'MAGA TRUMPER,' threatened to 'inflict bodily harm' on Biden during his visit to Utah. He was charged with interstate threats; threats against the president; and influencing, and impeding and retaliating against federal law enforcement officers by threat. The FBI raided his home in the early hours of Wednesday morning, just hours before Biden was due in the city for a series of speeches and visits. An FBI official said the raid was in connection with an investigation into threats against Biden and other political figures in previous weeks. The threats involved plans to take physical action and the FBI deemed them 'credible.' analysis Reports that the coup was triggered by rivalries and personal interests offer room for political manoeuvre and constructive dialogue. The military coup on 26 July that deposed Niger's elected president Mohamed Bazoum is not the country's first. It follows a failed attempt after Bazoum's 2021 election and is the fifth overthrow since Niger's 1960 independence. Under coup leader General Abdourrahmane Tchiani, the Conseil national pour la sauvegarde de la patrie (CNSP) has assumed power, while Bazoum, who refused to resign, is still being held by the CNSP. On 29 July, the African Union (AU) issued a 15-day ultimatum to the CNSP to 'restore constitutional authority.' The next day, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) adopted severe economic and financial sanctions against Niger. It called for the immediate release and reinstatement of Bazoum and gave the CNSP a week to meet its demands, failing which further measures would be taken, including the possible use of force. ECOWAS' swift and tough response is commensurate with its zero-tolerance policy on unconstitutional changes of government. Following the recent double coups in Mali and Burkina Faso, and one in Guinea, the overthrow of Niger's elected government marks the sixth coup in West Africa since 2020. Failure to curtail this latest military takeover may irretrievably damage ECOWAS' ability to uphold its policy and guide member states towards political stability. ECOWAS' swift and tough response is commensurate with its zero-tolerance policy on coups Niger's coup differs from those in Burkina Faso and Mali, which could also explain ECOWAS' reaction. The coup leaders linked their actions to 'the continued deterioration of the security situation, and poor economic and social governance.' However, security in Niger has been better managed than in the country's central Sahel neighbours. ECOWAS's ultimatum expired on 6 August without making progress, and the CNSP hasn't responded favourably to the regional body's diplomatic overtures. When a high-level West African delegation travelled to Niamey on 2 August, Tchiani refused to receive them. On 7 August, the CNSP indefinitely postponed the visit of a tripartite AU-United Nations-ECOWAS delegation to Niamey, citing safety concerns arising from the widespread anger at economic sanctions. The CNSP has, meanwhile, consolidated its position within the armed forces and expanded its popular support in urban areas, mostly due to economic sanctions and the threat of external military action. Anti-French sentiment has also driven demonstrations of support for the army. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Senate has called on President Bola Tinubu and ECOWAS heads of state to strengthen diplomatic efforts and lower expectations of Nigeria's role in a potential military operation. Algeria, an AU heavyweight, condemned the coup but opposed using force, considering the threat this would pose for Niger's northern neighbour. Chad also expressed its support for a diplomatic solution. Military intervention could split the defence and security forces, who didn't all initially support the coup ECOWAS will reconvene on 10 August to decide on the next steps. As it weighs its options, the focus of any actions must be on restoring a stable and governable Niger, capable of tackling violent extremism and other insecurity. Military intervention in Niger would be a high-risk endeavour. It could further split the defence and security forces, who didn't all initially support the coup. The worst-case scenario of a clash between military units was narrowly averted after extensive consultations that led to the 27 July communique from the army general staff endorsing the military takeover. Equally important is Niger's ability to govern following a military intervention. The army should be subordinate to a civilian government, but Bazoum's relationship with parts of the military, and his broader ability to govern, may be questioned if he is reinstated using outside military measures. In Niger and West Africa broadly, the perception that leaders are beholden to external forces is deeply ingrained in public sentiment and undermines government authority. And, as occurred in The Gambia, an 'in and out' military operation appears unrealistic. Even if military action were to succeed, ECOWAS would need to maintain troops in Niger to ensure Bazoum's safety and his government's viability. This would fuel perceptions that the government is under external tutelage, and intensify popular hostility towards foreign military forces on Nigerien soil. With the possibility of sustained civilian resistance, the humanitarian consequences, including more refugees and migrant flows, must be factored in. Even if military action were to succeed, ECOWAS would need to maintain troops in Niger Meanwhile, Niger's situation unfolds in a new regional and global political context. There is a growing fault line within ECOWAS, with a de facto coalition of transitional governments comprising Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali. All three rejected ECOWAS measures regarding Niger, with Burkina Faso and Mali warning that any armed action against Niger would be considered a declaration of war against them. Military operations would therefore not have the support that characterised previous ECOWAS interventions, notably in The Gambia. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines West Africa Arms and Armies By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. Crucially, this dynamic is underpinned by a shift in these countries' strategic alliances towards Russia, amid renewed global great power competition. Niger's situation has strong geopolitical resonances, with the CNSP terminating the country's military agreements with France and allegedly seeking Russian group Wagner's support. Any regional action must avoid playing into these tensions that polarise and destabilise the Sahel and West Africa. Achieving a stable and governable Niger requires a diplomatic approach that restores constitutional order through dialogue with the CNSP. Reports increasingly suggest the 26 July coup was triggered by political rivalries and personal interests. This may offer room for political manoeuvre and entry points for constructive dialogue. Djiby Sow, Senior Researcher, ISS Regional Office for West Africa, the Sahel Basin and Lake Chad The review into Ipswich Hospital was delivered this week Doctors have been reminded not to use mobile phone torches to carry out exams on pregnant women after the traumatic experience of a woman who suffered a miscarriage. The state government ordered a full internal review of the Ipswich Hospital in Queensland after Nikkole Southwell lost her child at 12 weeks in April this year. The Fernvale woman claimed paramedics placed her fetus into a biohazard bag on the way to Ipswich Hospital and when she arrived she had to sit in her own blood holding the bag with sheets around her waist in the hospital waiting room. Ms Southwell also claims she was treated on a cubicle with curtains covered in another patient's blood and that staff used her partner's phone torch to examine her before she was discharged. 'I lost my baby and my dignity was taken,' she told The Courier Mail. She said in her vulnerable state she was left holding her baby for 'all to see'. Nikkole Southwell (pictured) lost her child in April and claimed paramedics put the fetus in a biohazard bag which she sat clutching in the Ipswich hospital waiting room Ms Southwell claims staff at Ipswich Hospital (pictured) didn't provide her with adequate follow-up care, saying she lost her baby and her dignity during the experience The review into Ms Southwell's treatment at Ipswich Hospital ordered by Health Minister Shannon Fentiman was delivered this week. The review recommends a further full review of the model of care used for miscarriage be carried out at Ipswich Hospital. It also specifically instructs staff to not use mobile phones to examine patients. Staff are also reminded to check and change all ED curtains if necessary and a review of Queensland Ambulance handover protocols is to be conducted to ensure all items with a patient, including biohazards bags, be made known to doctors. 'I would like a lot of these to not only be recommendations for WMH (West Moreton Health) but all public hospitals throughout Queensland,' Ms Southwell said on Wednesday. '(My partner and I) live with some mental health effects that have come from the situation and circumstances but we are doing well and with each new day we are learning to overcome these.' The Health Minister previously said it was a 'heartbreaking situation'. 'I want to extend my deepest sympathies to Ms Southwell and her family,' she said. 'Women's health is one of my top priorities and I want to ensure that women right across Queensland have access to appropriate and compassionate care.' Her case echoes that of Breanna Tottle, 26, also from southeast Queensland, who bled for 13 weeks after she miscarried with her second child at the end of September. Breanna Tottle, 26, from southeast Queensland, bled for almost the entire summer after she miscarried with her second child at the end of September She claims hospital staff did not scan her uterus on multiple visits and it wasn't until she went to a private obstetrician that she received proper care. The obstetrician was shocked to hear Ms Tottle had been bleeding for 13 weeks straight and was now anaemic due to the amount of blood she had lost. She spent $4,000 on C&D surgery which stopped the bleeding the following day. Following her ordeal, Ms Tottle said she was contacted by a customer liaison officer after she left a review for the hospital. She was asked to attend a meeting with the hospital's executive directors, who said her experience would be used as a training exercise for staff. Paedophile has eight months added to jail sentence despite pleading guilty A paedophile who assaulted several boys will only spend another eight months in jail after pleading guilty to two more counts of indecent assault. Facing the NSW District Court, Brien William Peckover, 72, had his jail sentence extended by just eight months from March to November 10, 2024. He assaulted the teenage boy while a volunteer at the now-defunct government-run Daruk Training School, located in Penrith, between 1982 and 1984. Convicted paedophile, Brien William Peckover (right), will only spend another eight months in prison despite pleading guilty to two charges of assaulting a teenage boy from 1982 and 1984 Facing the NSW District Court (pictured) on Thursday, Judge Nicole Noman said she was 'doubtful' Peckover had cured himself of his attraction to children Peckover had been imprisoned for at least six years in 2020 for sexually abusing three boys in his care at the home for 'uncontrollable' boys in the 1970s and 1980s 'Those other victims were also exploited based on their placement in the boys' home,' Judge Nicole Noman said during Peckover's sentencing. The court heard Peckover was an admitted paedophile, and that he claimed to have cured himself of his 'mostly untreatable' psychosexual disorder that makes him attracted to children. Judge Norman told the court she was 'doubtful' of Peckover's claim during sentencing. Peckover was charged in February 2018 after admitting a number of sexual assaults while speaking to an undercover police officer pretending to be one of the boys he abused. Peckover was already jailed for at least six years in 2020 for sexually abusing three others under his care in the 1970s and 1980s while volunteering at the now-defunct Government run Daruk Training School (pictured) The indecent assaults he was sentenced for on Thursday were brought against him in 2021, after the boy's name was found in Peckover's diary. Peckover has been assaulted and injured twice in custody, is old, away from family, and served time during the onerous conditions of the Covid pandemic. The judge made a finding of special circumstances when calculating Peckover's aggregate sentence of two years and nine months with a non-parole period of one year and 10 months. It was backdated to Peckover's arrest, when he was already in prison. The Daruk Training School was a government-run training school for juvenile offenders. Many councils have done the same, however Another local council is under fire for earmarking funds to promote the Yes campaign as the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum draws near. Melbourne's Merri-Bek City Council has put aside $22,000 in order to host forums, provide grants and display promotional material in support of the Voice. Merri-Bek City council recently voted to support the proposition but Councillor Oscar Yildiz, one of two people to reject the proposal, thinks it's a 'disgrace'. 'The whole thing is a waste of money,' Cr Yildiz said during an appearance on 3AW's Mornings with Neil Mitchell on Thursday. This is the latest council to set aside ratepayer's funds after Randwick Council, in Sydney, allocated $28,900 for the Yes campaign, which was dwarfed by the City of Sydney, which plans to spend more than $500,000. Councillor Oscar Yildiz appeared on Mornings with Neil Mitchell to slam his local council's plan to spend $22,000 on the Yes campaign Cr Yildiz said the whole thing is a 'disgrace' and a waste of ratepayers money, the majority of which are more concerned with whether their bins are collected on time Cr Yildiz broke down the entire sum to Mr Mitchell, specifying that the wording of the action was specifically to support the favoured vote. 'Eight thousand we are basically wasting on community forums and conversations,' he said. 'Ten thousand on quick response type grants, programs for community groups and organisations. And then six thousand on printed materials. 'The wording of the actual report is to promote a Yes campaign.' The council had an agenda which was not right to push on its members, some of whom might not support the vote, he said. Cr Yildiz described the push for a Yes vote as 'disgraceful behaviour' and an 'abuse' of power by those at the top. 'I've seen members of parliament, councillors and indigenous leaders come along to our citizenship ceremonies and promote the Yes vote,' he said. 'Councillors are basically using council as a platform to push their own agenda on to residents and even new Australians.' Instead of focusing on the referendum, Mr Yildiz insisted that his constituents were more concerned with whether or not their bins were collected on time. 'Our residents didn't vote for us to fight on social issues they care about their bins being collected on time and basic services,' he said. 'Let's not indulge ourselves on social issues, we need to focus on traditional council services.' This is the latest example of local governments getting involved in the issue, which has always proven contentious. In June, Labor councillor Linda Scott said she supported backing the Yes campaign because it represents 'the views of our community' in the city of Sydney. Other councillors were quick to object to the use of funds, echoing Cr Yildiz's claims that it was improper to push one side of the debate. Randwick Liberal councillor Christie Hamilton said it was 'detrimental for us to push one particular side'. Shadow Indigenous Australians minister Jacinta Price also took the time to slam the City of Sydney's 'inner city elites' who were wasting money on 'propaganda'. Merri-Bek is the latest council to set aside ratepayer's funds after Randwick Council, in Sydney, allocated $28,900 for the Yes campaign, which was dwarfed by the City of Sydney, which plans to spend more than $500,000 Melbourne's Merri-Bek City Council (pictured: Mayor Angelica Panopoulos) has put aside $22,000 in order to host forums, provide grants and display promotional material for the Voice In June, Labor councillor Linda Scott (pictured) pledged half a million dollars for the Yes campaign because it represents 'the views of our community' in the city of Sydney It was revealed in May, City of Sydney's half-million package to support the Voice would include $260,000 for a communications and engagement campaign, $160,000 for banners and up to $90,000 to support community events. Ms Price, who is firmly opposed to the Voice, said Sydney City Council's funding pledge was 'inexcusable' during a cost of living crisis. 'This is just another example of inner city elites wasting time and money to make themselves feel good with no regard or for the real problems facing Indigenous people in rural and remote Australia,' she said. Liberal councillor Shauna Jarrett also said the council's support would mean parties from 'other sides of the campaign' would not be able to use council facilities. 'In its current forum, this memorandum would only enable a campaign for one side of the voice and directly fund only one group from within the community,' Cr Jarrett. Despite these protests, cities keep pledging money in support of the Voice across Australia. In March, City of Melbourne councillors backed the Yes campaign, with Lord Mayor Sally Capp boasting it was the first capital city council to do so. The Melbourne vote was unanimous, but there has been huge dissent in other councils and waves of anger from ratepayers who want the money spent elsewhere. Fremantle in Western Australia is also planning to spend $35,500 endorsing it. The victims of infamous Sydney conwoman Melissa Caddick have received the first repayment of their stolen money. Accountancy firm Jones Partners have shared a total of $3million to Caddick's 55 victims after recovering the funds by selling off the fraudster's assets. The majority of the interim distribution came from the sale of Caddick's beloved Dover Heights home which sold for $9.8million last spring. Caddick disappeared from her Dover Heights home in November 2020 after scamming her investors - mostly family and friends - of more than $23million. A coronial inquest in May found Caddick died after her decomposing foot washed up on a beach on the NSW South Coast in February, 2021. But the date, cause or location of her death remains a mystery. The first repayment to victims of Melissa Caddick (pictured with her husband, Anthony Koletti) has been made The 55 victims were given a share of $3million recovered by selling Caddick's assets (pictured, one of Caddick's seized necklaces) 'In many Ponzi schemes, it is not unusual for investors to receive no return, so we are pleased to be able to make this distribution and anticipate further significant distributions in the future,' Jones Partners principal Bruce Gleeson said. Another of Caddick's prized properties, a penthouse in Edgecliff, is set to go on sale this spring. Caddick purchased the three-bedroom apartment for $2.55million in 2016 and convinced her parents to pay $1million for a third of the ownership. But instead of using the cash to pay off the mortgage, she splashed it all on her luxury lifestyle of fast cars, fancy holidays and designer clothes. Her parents were recently paid $950,000 to vacate the property following a bitter court battle with their daughter's victims. Double Bay's Richardson & Wrench will head the Edgecliff sale with the real estate campaign set to start in September. Caddick disappeared from her Dover Heights, east Sydney, home in November 2020 after scamming more than $23million from her friends and family. A coronial inquest in May found Caddick died but couldn't determine the date, cause or location of her death. The majority of the interim distribution came from the sale of Caddick's beloved Dover Heights home (above) which sold for $9.8million last spring A coronial inquest in May found Caddick (above) died but couldn't determine the date, cause or location of her death Her victims believed she was investing the funds but instead she blew the money on designer clothes, jewellery, overseas trips, multi-million dollar properties and cars. Jones Partners have been tasked with unravelling the scam to determine how much is owed to Caddick's victims. More than $10million of the stolen money has been recovered from selling Caddick's assets - including cars worth $361,000 and artwork and jewellery worth a collective $884,000. A dam in southern Norway partially burst on Wednesday following days of heavy rain that triggered landslides and flooding in the mountainous region and forced downstream communities to evacuate, officials said. Flooding in Norway and neighbouring Sweden has carried away sheds, small houses and mobile homes, with officials warning that more is yet to come. The extreme weather in Scandinavia has been in stark contrast to that seen in southern Europe, with the likes of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Croatia all being ravaged by wildfires in recent days and weeks. In Spain and Portugal, locals and holidaymakers are bracing for record temperatures with forecasters predicting highs of up to 44C in parts of the Iberian Peninsula as the region boils under its third heatwave of the summer. The country's weather service has warned that the average temperature nationwide could hit a 70-year high, with almost the whole country under red weather alerts. Flooding in Norway and neighbouring Sweden has carried away sheds, small houses and mobile homes, with officials warning that more is likely to come. Pictured: A cabin is seen being swept down a river towards a bridge in this footage from Norway The cabin is seen being crushed as it is swept under a bridge in Hemsedal, Norway SPAIN: A woman fans herself to cool off in Seville on August 7 as Spain swelters under its third heatwave of the year, with temperatures expected to hit the mid-40s PORTUGAL: Tourists rest in the daytime heat in Terreiro do Paco square in the Baixa district of Lisbon, Portugal, as the country faces high temperatures FRANCE: Beachgoers on Plages du Prophete beach in Marseille cool off The Norwegian dam at the Braskereidfoss hydroelectric power plant, on the Glama, Norway's longest and most voluminous river, burst on Wednesday after days of rain. Authorities initially considered blowing up part of the dam, the idea being to prevent communities downstream from being inundated by using a limited, controlled blast to release pressure on the dam. But that proposal was scrapped after water later broke through the structure, police spokesman Fredrik Thomson told reporters. 'The damage from a possible explosion of the concrete plant would be so great that it would serve no purpose,' Thompson said. Now officials are hopeful that they will see a gradual, even leveling of the water, Thompson said. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stre warned that flooding would continue to be a threat as excess water flows downstream. 'This is by no means over,' he said. 'It could be the highest water level in 50 years or more.' The dam's generators stopped working early Wednesday after a power grid failure, plant operator Hafslund Eco said in a statement. An automatic system that should have opened the floodgates to release water failed. Rapidly rising water then spilled over the dam and into the power station itself, which caused major damage, officials said. Huge volumes of water were pouring over the western parts of the dam, Thomson said. The water ripped apart a two-lane road and fences that ran across the top of the dam, with pictures from the scene showing water flooding through. Per Storm-Mathisen, a spokesman for the power station operator, told the Norwegian news agency NTB that the water diversion seemed to be 'going well.' At least 1,000 people live in communities close to the river in the area, and authorities said that all were evacuated before the dam began to fail. Footage has shown wooden cabins floating down overflowing rivers, with one clip showing a mobile home crashing into a bridge on Norway's Hemsilar river. People were seen standing on the bridge as they watched caravans being swept away, crashing into the bridge and being crushed under the weight. A dam in southern Norway partially burst on Wednesday following days of heavy rain that triggered landslides and flooding in the mountainous region Water flows after the dam burst at the Braskereidfoss Power plant, Norway with water flowing into the Glama river after floodgates did not open properly, on August 9 The dam at Braskereidfoss, Norway burst on Wednesday, flooding the region downstream Water is seen flooding through the dam in Norway on Wednesday Flood water at the Dokka camping after the Dokka River overflowed its banks in Dokka, Norway Flood water flows after the Dokka River overflowed its banks in Dokka In other developments Wednesday, a Norwegian woman in her 70s died after falling into a stream the day before. She managed to crawl up onto the bank, but because of the floods, it took rescue teams several hours to bring her to a hospital, police said. More than 600 people were evacuated in a region north of Oslo, and police in southern Norway reported that the situation there was 'unclear and chaotic.' All main roads between Oslo and Trondheim, Norway's third-largest city, were closed, according to the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. 'We are in a crisis situation of national dimensions,' Innlandet County Mayor Aud Hove said. 'People are isolated in several local communities, and the emergency services risk not being able to reach people who need help.' The weather system known as Storm Hans has battered parts of Scandinavia and the Baltics for several days, causing rivers to overflow, damaging roads and knocking down branches that injured people. Scientists have not done the intricate data analysis needed to see how much, if any, human-caused climate change played a role in the flooding. But they have long warned that, as the world warms, extreme storms will produce larger amounts of rain in bigger bursts. One major reason is that the warmer the air is, the more water it can hold. Also, many scientists say changes in the jet stream - the atmospheric currents that propel weather systems - often lead to storms stalling over places and dumping more rain. Those changes could be connected to climate change. Two hydrologists said the conflict between old dams and heavier amounts of rain is becoming a more frequent problem. University of Virginia hydrologist Venkat Lakshmi said his research shows that older dams are unprepared to handle rainfall that comes in heavier, harder-to-manage bursts. Many of those dams were designed to withstand floods that were supposed to happen only once a century, but those events are now happening much more often, he said. 'This type of conflict between climate and our hydrological infrastructure, such as dams, is going to become more common,' said UCLA hydrologist Park Williams. 'As rainfall intensifies, reservoirs and dams 'will be increasingly out of tune with the changing climate.' Meanwhile, the flooding in southern Norway and central Sweden carried away sheds, small houses and mobile homes. Norwegian meteorologists predicted that up to 1.2 inches of additional rain could fall by Wednesday evening, saying 'the quantities are not extreme, but given the conditions in the area, the consequences may be.' A house floats past the Braskreidfoss Power Plant after a lock was destroyed, in Braskreidfoss, Norway, August 9 This photo taken on August 9 shows caravans partially surrounded by water, after a camping site in Dokka was completely flooded after the Dokka River overflowed its banks A caravan is shown in deep water after the Dokka River overflowed its banks, August 9 In neighbouring Sweden's second-largest city, Goteborg, large parts of the harbor were under water. Weather agencies for both countries issued urgent warnings. Erik Hojgard-Olsen, a meteorologist with the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, told the Aftonbladet newspaper that the weather was unusual for this time of year. 'It is exceptional to have such a low pressure (system) as Hans, which has brought so much rain for several days in a row,' he said. 'Especially for being a summer month, it has lasted a long time.' The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate said record high flood levels were recorded in several places in the Drammensvassdraget, a drainage basin west of Oslo, the capital. Erik Holmqvist, a senior engineer at the agency, said four lakes. including the Randsfjorden, the fourth-largest in Norway, were particularly vulnerable to flooding. 'We have to go all the way back to 1910 to get the same forecasts for the Randsfjorden,' Holmqvist told the VG newspaper. The Scandinavian countries were not the only European nations to be hit by floods. On Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Slovenia and promised EU help to the small member state which was ravaged by recent floods that killed at least six people and caused extensive damage. Slovenian officials have described last week's floods as the worst natural disaster in the country's 32-year history. Two-thirds of the Alpine state's territory was affected and the damage could reach billions of euros, according to officials. Torrential rains caused rivers to overflow, flooding houses and fields, damaging bridges and roads, cutting off entire villages and leaving thousands without electricity and running water. Von der Leyen said after meeting with Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob that they discussed a package of 'three components' designed to provide immediate financial aid but also mid and long-term support for reconstruction. 'I am here today to let Slovenia and the Slovenian people know that Europe stands by your side,' said von der Leyen, who visited a hard-hit village in northern Slovenia, by the border with Austria, to get a first-hand view of the devastation. Von der Leyen said 100 million euros this year from the EU's Solidarity Fund and 300 million euros in 2024 will be made accessible to Slovenia. Additionally, it can draw from other funds or reprogram existing ones, she added. SLOVENIA: This handout helicopter view released by Ljubljana Police Office on August 8, 2023, shows the Savinjska valley flooded due to heavy rains Floods in the small EU nation have killed six people and caused vast amounts of damage Floodwaters are seen in the Savinjska valley of Slovenia on August 8 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (left) visited Slovenia and promised EU help to the small member state which was ravaged by recent floods that killed at least six people and caused extensive damage A resident looks at the damage to his backyard that was flooded by the Meza River on August 9, 2023 in Mezica, Slovenia In a stark contrast to the extreme weather in northern Europe, temperatures soared across Spain and Portugal on Wednesday as the two countries boil under their third heatwave of the summer. As huge forest fires raged across southern Portugal for the fifth successive day, Spain's weather service warned that the average temperature across the country could hit a seven-decade record. 'This will probably be the hottest five August days in 73 years,' said AEMET, the state meteorological agency, with almost the whole country under red weather alerts. The highest temperatures occurred in Andalusia, according to data from AEMET shortly before 7 pm (1700 GMT). In Roda de Andalucia, the mercury hit 44.6 degrees Celsius (112.3 Fahrenheit), and at the Granada airport where the temperature reached 44.1 Celsius. 'The average temperature' in Spain this Wednesday 'will probably be a record since 1950', Aemet added. Winds and extreme heat are also driving fires that have devastated 37,000 acres of trees in neighbouring Portugal over the past few days. The biggest blazes are in the southern Odemira region, where more than 1,500 people have been evacuated with the fires reaching the Algarve, a hugely popular tourist destination. But firefighters tackling the wildfires said they were bringing them under control Wednesday, with a fall in temperatures and greater humidity at the coast helping stem the spread as hot air moves east. Experts say the recurring heatwaves, which have been getting longer and more intense, are a consequence of climate change. The Iberian Peninsula is bearing the brunt of climate change in Europe, with droughts and wildfires becoming more and more common. Spanish firefighters used up to a dozen water bombers to slow the spread of the flames around Valencia de Alcantara in Extremadura close to the border with Portugal. 'We evacuated our clients to a hotel in Alcantara,' said Joaquin Dieguez, the owner of a holiday cottage. 'But we are really worried because we have an enormous forest here with century-old oak trees. It's awful.' The most dangerous fire burning Friday, in Valencia de Alcantara in the southwest, was 'stabilised', the regional government reported. First estimations suggest that 350 hectares of trees have gone up in smoke. The blaze comes after 573 hectares were destroyed in wildfires in Portbou in Catalonia in the northeast, with 450 acres of trees lost by another fire near Bonares in Andalusia in the south. SPAIN: A dog takes dip in a fountain to cool off in the midst of a heat wave in Madrid on August 9, as temperatures are expected to hit 44 degrees Centigrade in Spain and Portugal People cool off on a beach in Barcelona, Spain, August 9 A man cools himself in the fluvial zone of the Minho river during a heatwave in Ourense, northern Spain on August 9 South Korean tourists shield themselves from the strong sun with umbrellas, under a sky which is hazy due to suspended sand particles from the Sahara desert, a weather phenomenon known locally as 'Calima', during Spain's third heatwave of the summer, in Ronda, August 9 A woman uses a hand fan as protection from the sun during a heatwave in Ourense, northern Spain on August 9 Several countries in Europe have suffered wildfires in recent days and weeks. A bushfire near the Croatian coastal town of Sibenik quickly spread on July 13, fuelled by strong southerly winds. Another fire started on July 25 near the popular tourist city Dubrovnik. The situation was rapidly brought under control. In Cyprus, a forest fire erupted on August 6 in the north of the city of Limassol and quickly spread through the semi-mountainous region, prompting the precautionary evacuation of three communities. By morning the fires had largely been contained, but interchanging winds caused intermittent flare-ups. Small-scale blazes have been recorded across France, including regions like Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, Grand Est, Bouches-Du-Rhone and Corsica island. Mid-April the French geological service BRGM said that very low groundwater levels have put France on course for a worse summer drought than last year, mainly in the southern part of the country. Swiss police on July 17 issued evacuation orders for several mountain villages due to the spread of a fire on the forested flank of a mountain in Bitsch in the Valais canton near the Italian border. More than 200 people were forced to evacuate. It could take days or weeks to fully put out the fire, which spread to 100 hectares of forest, a firelighter said. A woman drinks water in the fluvial zone of the Minho river during a heatwave in Ourense, northern Spain on August 9 Tourists protect themselves from the sun with hats and umbrellas as they visit Toledo in the midst of a heat wave on August 9, People wait under a shade at bus stop during a heatwave in Ourense, northern Spain, August 9 A man cools himself with water during a heatwave in Ourense, northern Spain on August 9 A man cools himself in a park during a heatwave in Ourense, northern Spain on August 9 Switzerland also experienced a tornado last month, which ripped roofs off buildings and knocked over a construction crane. In Greece, fires burning since mid-July on the island of Rhodes forced the evacuation of some 20,000 as an inferno reached coastal resorts on the island's southeast. A wildfire also forced evacuations from the island of Corfu in the night of July 25-26. In the capital city of Athens, a wildfire declared on July 17 spread through forests, about 30 km (18 miles) north. The fire front extended for more than 8 km (5 miles), officials said. Firefighters were able to control other fires in the southeast and west of Athens, but those areas were still at risk. Italy's health ministry on July 18 issued red weather alerts for 20 of the country's 27 main cities, with expectations of the number rising to 23 by July 19. The worker at Italian air force's weather service, Carlo Spanu, said that the country could see temperatures exceeding 47 degrees Celsius. Rome registered a new record high temperature of 41.8 Celsius, the weather service of the local Lazio region reported. Fires across Russia's vast forest wilderness have lead to emergency declarations in seven regions, according to Russia's forestry service. PORTUGAL: An aircraft drops water on a fire burning in the Gale de Cima area in the municipality of Aljezur, in the south of the country, August 9 Columns of smoke rise from wildfire in Odeceixe, south of Portugal, on August 8 Personnel of the Protection and Relief Intervention Group (GIPS) specialised in combating forest fires, arrive to battle a wildfire in Reguengo, south of Portugal, on August 8 Firefighters work to put out the flames in the municipality of Odemira, Portugal, August 7 The worst-hit areas are the vast Yakutia region, with 111 fires covering 1,800 sq km, followed by the Khabarovsk, Amur and Krasnoyarsk regions. Wildfires have also been scorching Siberian forests for a little over a month, fueled by intense heat and lightning storms. Authorities in the Russian Far East declared a state of emergency on July 3. In Urals region's Shaidurikha village, near Yekaterinburg, wildfires spread on July 12 and caused significant damage. One woman died, two people were hospitalised with burns and 41 houses were burned down. Wildfires also started burning in Turkey's southeastern Hatay and Mersin provinces, as well as Canakkale province in the northwest since July 16. A family lunch hosted by an estranged Australian wife that ended with three of her relatives fatally poisoned may have been part of an effort to win back her husband, it emerged today. Erin Patterson, 48, who lives in a small town in rural Victoria, is said to have invited her former partner Simon Patterson to her home for the meal with his parents Gail and Tom Patterson, 70, along with Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson and husband Ian, 68. Simon pulled out at the last minute, but Gail, Tom and Heath were dead in a week and Ian remains critical in hospital. Ms Patterson was interviewed by police, who said the victims' symptoms were consistent with eating death caps - the most poisonous mushrooms in the world. The deeply unusual case has gripped Australia, baffled police and left a closely-knit community desperately seeking answers. And in the latest tragic twist to the story, sources have told Daily Mail Australia that Ms Patterson had invited Simon to their former family home as part of a church mediation involving Ian, a Baptist pastor. It comes amid reports the deadly dish was a beef wellington. It is not clear when Ms Patterson split with Simon but police said the separation was 'amicable'. They have two children who were at the lunch but ate different meals to the adults and did not experience any illness. They've reportedly been taken into care. Erin Patterson speaks to waiting media outside her home in rural Victoria on Thursday Simon Patterson was supposed to join his parents for the lunch that killed them Gail and Don Patterson died after eating the mushrooms. Erin was previously married to their son, Simon A source close to Simon, who remains in hiding days after the tragedy on July 29 in the town of Leongatha, told Daily Mail Australia that his friend had no interest in getting back together with the mother of his two children. 'They went to her house for a mediation to talk to the family. Simon was supposed to go there for lunch but he pulled out in the last minute otherwise he would be in that death bed too,' the friend said on Thursday. 'The people who died, Gail, Don and the Wilkinsons, were talking to them because they're heavily ingrained with the church and they wanted to make sure she was right to resume a relationship with Simon ... she was basically petitioning to get back with him and the family didn't think that was a good move.' The friend claimed Ms Patterson was desperate to get back together with her estranged husband. 'She wanted to get back with Simon and the family didn't want Simon to get back with her,' he said. 'They basically didn't think she was good enough for him in their eyes. 'This wasn't just a lunch, it was an intervention with the pastor as mediator. That's why this lunch happened.' Simon Patterson lived with his parents while recovering from a serious stomach problem Those that died were all deeply involved with Korumburra Baptist Church (pictured) Daily Mail Australia can reveal Ms Patterson is a wealthy real estate owner, who invested wisely after inheriting money she received from the death of her parents in 2019. Her estranged husband continues to live in a home in the town of Korumburra that is listed as being owned by his ex-wife. 'She's got like four or five properties and pays for them all with cash. She doesn't work. She just buys the houses with cash. She doesn't have a mortgage. She's cashed up. She's not stupid,' one source said. It emerged yesterday that Simon spent 21 days in intensive care after collapsing at his home in May 2022. However, several of Simon's friends have told Daily Mail Australia he never once accused his ex-wife of foul play. On Thursday, Ms Patterson lashed out at a waiting media pack, who she accused of making her a prisoner in her own home. 'I've got tonnes of friends who want to help (me) but I've told them to stay away while all the vultures are here because they don't want to be in the papers either,' she said. 'So I can't get help from my friends who all want to come and help me but they'll all be subjected to the crap so do I have to move out of my own home?' Ian Wilkinson and Heather Wilkinson (both pictured) became severely ill after they ate wild mushrooms. Mrs Wilkinson died on Friday while her husband remains in a critical condition in hospital Mourners continue to leave tributes outside the Korumburra Baptist Church for those that died Ms Patterson said she was travelling to Melbourne to speak with her lawyers. She has denied any wrongdoing and no charges are expected to be laid at this stage of the investigation. There is no suggestion Ms Patterson was responsible for Simon's illness or the three deaths. Police say the symptoms experienced by the victims were consistent with consuming death cap mushrooms, which can cause kidney and liver failure. Sole survivor Ian Wilkinson remained in a critical condition on Wednesday night awaiting a liver transplant. Hours earlier police returned to a rubbish tip in Koonwarra to request CCTV footage after a dehydrator was found discarded at the site. This notice was placed outside Korumburra Baptist Church Police returned to a nearby rubbish tip to search for CCTV footage It was previously revealed detectives are investigating whether a food dehydrator was used to prepare the meal and then disposed of a day after the lunch. Police are believed to be carrying out forensic testing on the appliance. MUSHROOM POISONING: A TIMELINE OF EVENTS Saturday, July 29 Don and Gail Patterson and Heather and Ian Wilkinson (a pastor) gather at Erin Patterson's home in Leongatha, north-east of Melbourne, for lunch. Sunday, July 30 All four lunch guests present to hospital feeling ill. It is initially thought they have gastro. As their condition deteriorates, they are transferred to hospitals in Melbourne. Friday, August 4 Gail and Heather die in hospital. Saturday, August 5 Don dies in hospital. Police search Erin Patterson's home in Leongatha and seize a number of items. Sunday, August 6 Police are seen returning to Erin's home to question her. She is heard wailing loudly from inside the house before the four officers leave. Monday, August 7 Victoria Police Detective Inspector for the Homicide Squad, Dean Thomas, confirms Erin is being treated as a person of interest in the case. However, he says the investigation is still in its early stages and it is yet to be determined if the deaths are suspicious. A short time later, Erin breaks her silence and speaks to reporters outside the home. She says she is devastated and 'loves' the four relatives who came to her home. She denies any wrongdoing but does not answer questions where the mushrooms came from, who picked them or what meal she made for her guests. Tuesday, August 8 In a bizarre twist, Simon Patterson was revealed to have suffered from a mysterious Stomach illness in June, 2022. He fell into a coma and was in ICU for 21 days. His case is yet to be explained by doctors. Forensic testing is underway to find any traces of death cap mushroom on a food dehydrator that was discovered at a rubbish tip. Police believe it was used during preparation of the meal. Wednesday, August 9 Daily Mail Australia reveals that Simon Patterson was expected to attend the lunch, but pulled out at the last minute Detectives have described the deaths as 'unexplained'. Homicide squad investigator Dean Thomas said: 'It could be very innocent, but we just don't know.' Husband, 31, has been charged with two counts of murder Their bodies were discovered by QLD police on Thursday A mum and her newborn daughter have been found dead and her husband has been charged with murder. Tayla Cox, 30, and her baby Murphy Margaret, 11 weeks, were discovered at a Park Avenue home in Rockhampton at 10.52am on Thursday during a welfare check. Initial investigations indicate the pair died on Tuesday afternoon. Tayla's husband Matthew Cox, 31, has been charged with two counts of domestic violence murder. Cox had flown out of Rockhampton to Brisbane on Tuesday and reportedly stayed at an apartment. The bodies of Tayla Cox (right), 30, and her baby (centre) were discovered by police on Thursday. Ms Cox's husband, Matthew (left), has been charged with murder The couple were living in Victoria before they moved back to Rockhampton after purchasing their home in November 2022. The move came as Cox secured a job at a local radio station He then handed himself in at Fortitude Valley Police Station on Thursday morning and allegedly reported the deaths of his wife and daughter to officers. A welfare check was then conducted at the Park Avenue home and the bodies were discovered. Police said there was no previous history of domestic violence between the couple. Matthew Cox's parents Denis Cox and Linda Lind said: 'We have lost a beautiful daughter-in-law Tayla but also our much loved granddaughter Murphy. 'At this stage we have very few other details and are in an absolute state of shock.' A welfare check was conducted at the Park Avenue home and the bodies were discovered Officers said there was a large amount of blood at the unsettling scene Ms Cox, maiden name Black, grew up in Rockhampton and went to St Ursula's College Yeppoon, reports The Courier Mail. She was a repair co-ordinator for a construction company in the Rockhampton suburb of Berserker. She and her husband were living in Victoria for some time during their relationship. They moved back to Rockhampton after purchasing their Park Avenue home in November 2022. The move came as Cox secured a job at a local radio station. A crime scene was established shortly after police arrived at the property. A crime scene was established shortly after Queensland police arrived at the property on Thursday morning Officers said there was a large amount of blood at the unsettling scene. 'This a very difficult and confronting scene for police and emergency services and we will be working hard to determine exactly what has occurred,' Queensland police said. Investigations are ongoing. A second crime scene was also established at the Fortitude Valley apartment complex Cox reportedly stayed at. Cox will appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday. They came from far and wide united in their grief. Dozens of relatives of a father who died in a horror house fire fighting to save his five sons paid tribute to the victims with a powerful Haka. Their chants and cries filled the air of the sleepy cul-de-sac fringed with trees where just a week ago such a tragedy would have been unimaginable. Wayne Godinet, 34, died along with his four-year-old twins Kyza and Koa, his three-year-old son Nicky, and his stepsons Zack, 11, and Harry, 10 in an inferno at their home on Russell Island on Sunday morning. He returned to the burning building in a bid to rescue the children but perished inside when the second storey collapsed. Distraught relatives revealed the 'hero' dad died with his arms around the boys doing everything he could be shield them from the flames. The boys' mother, Samantha Stephenson, 28, and her step-sister Connie Campbell, 20, fled to safety and miraculously survived. The cause of the blaze remains a mystery but police earlier in the day removed two charred gas cylinders from the rubble which will now be examined by fire investigators. Dozens of relatives of a father who perished in a house fire with his five sons on Russell Island have paid tribute to them in a special ceremony on Thursday afternoon (pictured) Relatives performed a Haka ceremony at the site of the fire to honour the victims' memory Roses and gerberas were left against a charred piece of masonry at the site of the tragedy Mr Godinet and his sons were remembered by around 100 family members who travelled to the island off Queensland's south coast from across Australia and New Zealand on Thursday afternoon. They gathered at the end of the quiet gravel track cul-de-sac shortly after 2pm, with many touching foreheads in a traditional Maori greeting. Parents held their children close, while others linked arms. Then the afternoon silence on the sleepy island was suddenly filled with the lamenting cries from a woman believed to be Mr Godinet's mother. Dressed in all in black and wearing dark shades, she led the mourners down under the police tape. There they were faced with a scene of utter destruction. A burnt-out jeep sat next to the gnarled and twisted corrugated iron roof of the Queenslander property which had been razed to the ground. Father Wayne Godinet, 34, and his five sons (pictured) perished after they were trapped in a deadly fire on Queensland's Russell Island A woman, believed to be Mr Godinet's mother, sprinkles water on the site while his father Jacob Cope watches on in tears Staff at the island's rural fire crew stood behind the group as some family members then performed the powerful Haka to honour Mr Godinet and his sons' memories. One relative placed a comforting arm over the shoulder of Mr Godinet's father, Jacob Cope, who was dressed in a Dayboro Cowboys rugby league jersey. The grandfather wept as a woman believed to be Mr Godinet's mother sprinkled water around the site. Samantha Stephenson, who lost all her children in the fire, was not in attendance. Neighbours recalled seeing Ms Stephenson running outside screaming 'my children, my children' as her partner raced back into the inferno to rescue the five boys sleeping upstairs. A heartbroken Ms Stephenson previously urged every parent to 'check your smoke alarms and hold your babies'. One of her sisters later attended the site to lay three roses and three gerberas against a charred piece of masonry in memory of the victims. Moments before the grief-stricken relatives arrived, officers packed away two charred gas cylinders that had been involved in the fire in the back of a police car. Mourners touched foreheads in a traditional Maori greeting (pictured) Earlier in the day, detectives from Bayside CIB on the mainland combed through the ash and gathered various items which they took away in an evidence box. One detective picked up what appeared to be a smashed plate and the fragment of a glass candle holder or vase. The tragedy has rocked the small island community of around 3,500 people. David Woodley, 62, who moved to Russell Island to retire 18 months ago said the last week had been 'absolutely devastating'. 'You can see the sad faces and sense the angst and anxiety and depression,' he told Daily Mail Australia. Mourners hugged one another after the ceremony The blaze was so intense firefighters were only able to pick through the remains of the house in the late afternoon on Sunday after battling it from 6:18am Police officers packed away two charred gas cylinders that had been involved in the fire on Thursday afternoon 'Everyone is in total shock.' Mr Woodley dropped a bouquet of flowers off at the local police station to thank them for their work. On Monday, police said they would not rule out foul play. The fire was so fierce it affected three properties: razing one to the ground, gutting another and damaging a third. Daily Mail Australia spoke to one neighbour who lives behind the property who had provided footage of the fire to police. The children's mother, Samantha Stephenson, 28 (right with Mr Godinet), and her half-sister, were released from hospital after they escaped the blaze Their investigations at the scene are now over and the police tape has been removed. But police say it could still be weeks before they can establish the cause of the fire - if at all. It comes as police revealed autopsies have been carried out on the six victims of the tragedy. The new owners of 'Britain's wonkiest pub' which was destroyed in a fire had also bought and allegedly gutted another traditional pub, it was claimed today. The blaze caused major damage to the Crooked House pub in Himley, Staffordshire, when it broke out at the weekend just days after the 18th-century inn was sold to a private firm. Diggers then demolished the historic pub on Monday 'without council permission'. As police confirmed the fire is now being treated as arson, pictures emerged of the former nail technician behind the purchase of the Crooked House, which took place last month. Carly Taylor, 34, from Lutterworth, Leicestershire, controls letting and real estate firm ATE Farms Ltd, which bought the pub from brewery Marston's. ATE Farms is registered to the same address as Himley Environmental, which runs a 37-acre quarry and landfill site next to the pub. Her husband Adam Taylor, 44, a plant hire boss and a shareholder and former director at Himley Environmental, also owns the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn, a pub in the Warwickshire village of Willey around five miles away from their home. Mr Taylor bought the pub in 2020 and is said to have ripped out the interior, before council planners issued a 'stop notice' to prevent any further works. It is now closed. Slide me Adam Taylor, 44, is a plant hire boss who also owns the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn, a pub in the Warwickshire village of Willey. It is pictured now (left) and before its closure (right) The interior of the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in Willey, Warwickshire, pictured yesterday The Sarah Mansfield Country Inn pub has been undergoing a conversion led by Adam Taylor Adam Taylor bought the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in Willey, Warwickshire, in 2020 A side view of the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in Willey which is currently closed The disused car park of the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in Willey, pictured yesterday A sign warning of CCTV camera surveillance at the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in Willey He subsequently submitted a planning application to convert the first floor of the pub to six letting bedrooms, while restoring the ground floor to a pub and building two houses in the rear car park. Britain's 'wonkiest pub' where coins rolled UP the bar before being destroyed by fire: How Staffordshire venue The Crooked House sunk 4ft into ground due to mine subsidence A wonky historic 18th-century pub that burned down last week was famed the world over for its baffling appearance and optical illusions that saw coins and marbles appear to roll up the bar. The Crooked House in Himley, Staffordshire, attracted tourists from across the world and was a popular wedding venue. Prior to its destruction, the venue was often described as Britain's wonkiest pub, sitting 4ft lower on one side than the other. The Crooked House pub, pictured in 1907 It was first built as a farmhouse in 1765, but gradually sank into the ground on one side due to subsidence from mining works carried out in the 1800s. It was converted into a pub in around 1830 and was first known as The Siden House 'siden' being Black Country dialect for 'crooked'. It was later renamed the Glynne Arms after Sir Stephen Glynne, a brother-in-law of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, who owned the land on which the tavern stood. While the Glynne Arms name remained above the door into the 1970s, the pub had acquired a more affectionate nickname among locals by then - the 'Crooked House', which was later adopted as the formal moniker. Inside, drinkers might have been convinced they had one too many before they had even sipped their first pint because while the floors and fixtures such as the bars and seats were level, the ceilings, walls and windows were not. A picture postcard from the early 1900s shows marbles appearing to roll up the bar A mind-boggling optical illusion known as a 'gravity hill' meant that coins and marbles appear to roll uphill when placed on slightly downhill surfaces that were sitting at a less jaunty angle than the rest of the pub. Picture postcards of the era a popular way for visitors to show families back home where they were visiting in the years before photography was commonplace made much of the pub's quirks. Many are captioned 'The Crooked House', while one even features a table of well-dressed country gentlemen marvelling at a marble appearing to roll up their table. The pub had been threatened with closure in the 1940s after it was deemed unsafe. By this time, one side of the building had sunk a full 4ft into the ground, despite the owners installing buttresses to stop it from slipping any further. Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries then purchased the building, reinforcing the supports with girders, and it remained open until earlier this year when the same brewer now known as Marston's announced that it was closing it as part of a cost-cutting regime. The brewing giant said it was selling off 61 locations to 'maximise returns from our core estate'. The Crooked House went on the market in January with a guide price of 675,000 and was sold last month to ATE Farms Limited, a company controlled by Carly Taylor, 34. Advertisement Rugby Borough Council had approved a request by villagers to protect the Sarah Mansfield as 'an asset of community value' in March 2021, but an appeal then overturned the decision. One local resident told MailOnline that the 'ruthless' businessman bought the Sarah Mansfield with 'the intention of gutting in and turning it into rental accommodation'. The woman, who declined to be named for fear of recrimination, said: 'The new owner did just that, he bought it and in two to three days he got his team of workers in, the skips were in place, and they gutted it. 'They ripped out everything to the outrage and upset from local people - the plaster, the plumbing, the electrics, it is a shell. 'He sought planning permission to create rental rooms and claimed he would keep part of the premises as a pub but we don't think that was ever his intention. 'He wanted to cash in with rentals, and build two new houses in the car park. 'All the villagers objected, there are only around 20 of us, but the pub was the heart of our village, it was thriving and attracted outside visitors too, and he ripped that out.' A fellow villager added: 'We know Mr Taylor by reputation and when we heard it was his new Crooked House pub bulldozed, it was a weird feeling of deja vu. 'He comes into communities and wrecks them, with no regard to local people, and for his own profit and gain. 'The guy is absolutely minted from all his business deals, he has a crew of people running around for him 24/7 who no doubt he rewards well, but how much more money does he really need to make? 'We heard he struck lucky by selling off landfill sites he owned in the West Midlands for the HS2 scheme, and he got a small fortune from the Government venture. 'He has become a force to be reckoned with, people are scared of him and the authorities seem to bow to him. It is outrageous that one man and his wife can yield so much power. 'What he is doing to local communities, ripping down well-known pubs for development and his greed, is outrageous and the authorities should put a stop to it. 'He does whatever he wants to do and seems to get away with it. We've heard he's worth a shed load of money. He drives around in a Bentley with personalised plates.' Drinkers at The Barn pub - two miles away from the Sarah Mansfield - where Mr Taylor was a regular until he was barred, told MailOnline the 'super rich' self-styled entrepreneur charmed everyone he met, with one adding: 'He was always as nice as pie if you treated him properly. 'Even if he doesn't know you, if you give him the time of day, he'll buy you a drink or two and seems a really nice guy. He's been lucky in a lot of places with business. 'He'd often drink in his local pub. His wife would drive him here in the Bentley, leave him for a while, and then pick him up. She would never come in with him.' They added that he would never leave a tab and 'paid everything upfront in cash'. A regular at the pub said: 'He has been barred from this place. 'He would always turn up with an entourage of people, with an "I'm better than you" attitude. 'He once told the boss that he needed to have "Belvoir Vodka or I won't come back". He was that arrogant. The boss informed him: "We don't stock that so don't come back. You're barred!"' The Times reported today that Harborough District Council in Leicestershire last month approved the Taylors' application to build 21 holiday homes at their farm despite objections over local traffic concerns. The Taylors have not yet commented on any matters since the fire broke out at the weekend. The intercom went unanswered at the couple's gated home yesterday. But a Staffordshire Police spokesman said officers had 'spoken to, and continue to engage with' the owners of the Crooked House. He added that the force's joint investigation with Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service had so far been unable to determine the cause of the blaze. Former nail technician Carly Taylor, 34, of Lutterworth, Leicestershire, controls letting and real estate firm ATE Farms Ltd, which bought the Crooked House pub from brewery Marston's Pictures have emerged of Carly Taylor, who was behind the purchase of the Crooked House Locals inspect the rubble of the Crooked House pub in Himley, Staffordshire, on Tuesday The Crooked House, which was dubbed 'Britain's wonkiest pub', is pictured before the fire Tom Catton, who ran the 18th-century Crooked House with his wife Laura between 2006 and 2008, drinks a can of beer amid the rubble as a final farewell to the building on Tuesday A police spokesman said: 'Speculation is extremely unhelpful and could hinder our investigation.' A source told the Mail that the purchase of the Crooked House was 'all about access' and followed disagreements between Himley Environmental and Marston's over an access road which they shared. Himley Environmental's director Richard Longley could not be reached for comment last night. Pictures on social media show Mrs Taylor driving a Bentley, flying first class and posing outside the seven-star Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. A relative said she used to run her own beauty business in Lutterworth, but had since become used to 'living the high life'. The family member added: 'She seems to go here there and everywhere, judging by Facebook.' The relative had no idea Mrs Taylor was now connected to the Crooked House, adding: 'I've driven past the pub before but I've never been inside.' A second person who knows Mrs Taylor said she 'loved shopping for designer handbags' and had 'dozens of them'. Situated in a former mining area, the 260-year-old pub was surrounded by quarries which caused subsistence in the 1800s resulting in the pub becoming lopsided. The business had closed last month to repair damage after a break-in. Villagers climb in the ruins of the Crooked House pub in Himley, Staffordshire, on Tuesday People inspect the rubble of the Crooked House pub in Himley, Staffordshire, on Tuesday Police say the cause of the blaze has not yet been determined but is being treated as arson The Crooked House pub yesterday after its demolition on Monday Staffordshire Police are reviewing 'all of the available evidence' into the cause of the fire A spokesman for Marston's, which put the pub up for sale in January, said the sale was completed on July 27. Mr Taylor's son from his first marriage, Ethan, said he was unable to contact Mrs Taylor but stressed that her firm had purchased the pub, rather than her buying it in a personal capacity. The Crooked House was reduced to rubble on Monday despite South Staffordshire Council stating that it had permitted only the top floor to be demolished for safety reasons. The council said on Tuesday that it was exploring whether the total demolition constituted a breach of the law and stated that it had not agreed to 'the demolition of the whole structure', nor deemed it necessary. The incident has sparked anger in the community with West Midlands mayor Andy Street saying 'questions need answering'. In a letter to South Staffordshire council leader Roger Lees, Mr Street demanded the pub is 'rebuilt brick by brick'. Dudley North MP Marco Longhi yesterday questioned why police did not intervene in the demolition, given that the investigation into the blaze at the site is ongoing. In a letter to Chief Constable Chris Noble of Staffordshire Police, Mr Longhi questioned whether police were notified of the demolition, which took place on Monday. Mr Longhi said: 'If the police are investigating the fire incident, then why would the site be demolished whilst the police are conducting their enquiries, which may possibly require a forensic examination to gather evidence?' The pub started life as a farmhouse in 1765 before becoming a public house in about 1830. The Crooked House was demolished on Monday just hours after it was devastated by a fire The remains of The Crooked House pub are pictured on Tuesday after the demolition Staffordshire Police said on Monday that investigations into the cause of the fire are ongoing Aerial shots after the fire showed just how badly the 18th-century pub in Himley was damaged Locals had started a petition calling for the pub to be saved after a sale was announced It was formerly known as The Siden House - meaning crooked in the Black Country dialect - and was reputedly haunted by a 'serving wench' named Polly, according to a local pub guide. Some 30 firefighters were needed to tackle the blaze at the pub on Saturday evening and it was demolished two days later. Police said last night: 'This fire has shocked and upset so many given the, albeit not listed, cultural importance and heritage of the building. 'This is not lost on us and a robust investigation using all available information and forensic opportunities is being carried out.' A joint investigation is being carried out by the police and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service. A blaze at Black Country pub the Crooked House engulfed the building over the weekend Police arrived at the scene of the pub at 10.45pm on Saturday after the blaze Police are liaising with fire investigators, who have confirmed the cause of the fire cannot currently be determined, but the force said they are following up on a number of lines of inquiry. A specialist fire investigator has examined the scene to try and determine the cause of the fire. The fire service also revisited the grounds yesterday with a specialist accelerant detection dog to investigate further. Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Chisholm, head of specialist crime at Staffordshire Police, said: 'We understand the significance of this much-loved building, and the upset and anger felt by many, so want to reassure you we're doing all we can to understand more about what happened and who was responsible. The crooked nature of the pub attracted punters from around the world for decades Inside, its windows and walls all appeared crooked due to a bizarre effect through subsidence 'There is lots of misinformation circulating within communities and online, and this is unhelpful. 'We're trying to provide accurate and timely updates, but as I am sure you can appreciate there is a lot of work and liaison with a number of partners which needs to be completed, and this takes time. 'There are also certain things that police and fire do not have the powers to deal with, the decision around partial demolition of the building, for example, when the scene was handed back to the owner. 'We are working hard with our fire colleagues to understand the cause of the fire and are in contact with the landowner, we will keep you updated with any further significant developments.' Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Staffordshire Police via 101 quoting incident 761 of August 5. People can also call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or use the Live Chat on the Staffordshire Police website A mother who killed her three daughters had not returned to 'baseline mental health' after she lost her first baby, a court heard. Lauren Anne Dickason, 42, is charged with murdering her two-year-old twins Maya and Karla and their six-year-old sister Liane in September 2021 at their house in Timaru on New Zealand's South Island. She has admitted killing the girls but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and has been standing trial in Christchurch's High Court since July 17. Clinical psychologist Dr Ghazi Metoui, who conducted extended interviews with Ms Dickason, told the court on Thursday that Ms Dickason's depression had compounded over a number of years. Lauren Dickason (pictured centre) and her husband Graham hold two-year-old twins Maya and Karla as they pose with their other their six-year-old daughter Liane Lauren Anne Dickason (pictured left) is on trial for murder after smothering the couple's three young girls 'Everything (for Ms Dickason) was black and awful... game over,' Dr Metoui testified under cross examination from the Crown prosecutor Andrew McRae, according to the New Zealand Herald. The Dickason family, which also included father Graham, had only just migrated from South Africa to New Zealand. While that caused Ms Dickason a great deal of stress her struggle to have children through IVF was a deeper underlying issue, Dr Metoui told the court. 'My opinion is that her problems with depression in the 11-year period leading up to her alleged offending were very much embroiled in her fertility problems,' he said. 'Losing her first child at 18 weeks gestation, antenatal anxiety and then postnatal depression that remained chronic - clinically referred to as the intermittent symptom pattern. 'She always had vulnerabilities in her earlier life since adolescence in her early 20s, and these in themselves are risk factors for developing postpartum depression. 'The fact is that declines in her mental health all occurred after 2010 from the time of trying to conceive to eventually having children.' Ms Dickason's mental health never fully recovered from the devastation of her first failed IVF pregnancy and she also suffered post-natal depression after having her daughters, the court heard. Lauren Anne Dickason (pictured with husband Graham) has admitted killing her three girls but pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and has been standing trial in Christchurch's High Court since July 17 'Her major depressive disorder - severe type - at the time of the alleged offending was an extension and part of her chronic postnatal depression since 2015 after having Liane and re-emerging in 2019 after having Karla and Maya and episodically thereafter,' Dr Metoui said. 'I consider that the balance of Mrs Dickason's mind at the time was disturbed by this specific disorder consequent upon childbirth ... she meets the medical and legal threshold for infanticide.' Dr Metoui did not agree with the Crown's assertion that Karla's temper tantrum just moments before the girls were smothered to death had caused Ms Dickason to act out of anger. 'That is a step too far... she was not angry at Karla per se,' Dr Metoui said. 'I think she was perhaps angry but really upset at her crumbling family, posed as an explanation. 'I think Karla behaving in that way was proof to her that her family was suffering, that her family was miserable.' While the killings were 'brutal, callous, determined and deliberate', Dr Metoui told the court that, in his opinion, Ms Dickason cannot be held criminally responsible. 'I do not consider that Ms Dickason's mental state at the time of the alleged offending precluded her from understanding the nature and quality of the acts,' he said. During the trial five experts have appeared with two supporting the Crown's case for murder and three saying Ms Dickason was driven to her actions by insanity 'To the contrary, I consider that she was purposeful and deliberate throughout her offending and acted with full conscious awareness of her actions and with great determination to pursue her aims, the killing of her three young children. 'However, such was the severity of her depressive illness and associated distorted thinking at that time ... that ultimately, she thought she and her three children were better off dead. 'It is my opinion that she did not know that the alleged acts were morally wrong to the commonly accepted standard of right and wrong ... she has a defence of insanity.' Mr McRae suggested Ms Dickason's story had changed over time and adopted 'altruistic motives' suggested by clinicians treating her, but Dr Metoui rejected that. 'Never did I find did she backpedal, start ducking and diving, become clustered, inconsistent - she was just very straight up about it,' Dr Metoui said. Mr McRae said Dr Metoui 'needed to be careful with the information' Ms Dickason gave him. 'This is where you and I are not seeing eye-to-eye at the moment,' the psychologist replied . 'We know that memories are not complete... She was co-operating, she was doing her best - but even then, there were omissions in what she told me.' Dr Metoui continued to rebut Mr McRae's suggestions Ms Dickason killed her children out of malice. 'She was a really unwell woman,' he said. 'When she's psychiatrically unwell, it's crushing to her mental health... I would say she wasn't functioning, she was not caring for herself... she was clinically anorexic, she was socially withdrawing from just about everybody.' The Crown has alleged Ms Dickason murdered the children in a 'calculated' way because she was frustrated, angry and resentful of them. After the Dickason children were fatally smothered they were placed in their beds and 'tucked in' Previously Mr McRae alleged Ms Dickason was 'resentful of how the children stood in the way of her relationship with her husband' and killed them 'methodically and purposefully, perhaps even clinically'. On Friday the Crown and the Defence will make their closing arguments to the jury, who will begin deliberations on Monday after Justice Cameron Mander sums up and issues directions. Ms Dickason smothered the girls while Graham was out at a work dinner. He returned to find the dead girls tucked into their beds with faces covered while his wife was unconscious after she had tried to take her own life. Graham gave evidence during the trial from his home in Pretoria, where he has returned with the remains of the girls. Out of the five experts who have testified, two supported the Crown's case of murder while three have stated Ms Dickason was driven to her actions by being mentally unwell. For confidential 24-hour support in Australia call Lifeline on 13 11 14. analysis Debating Ideas aims to reflect the values and editorial ethos of the African Arguments book series, publishing engaged, often radical, scholarship, original and activist writing from within the African continent and beyond. It offers debates and engagements, contexts and controversies, and reviews and responses flowing from the African Arguments books. As the countdown to the general elections and the end of the extended transitional period in South Sudan approaches, opinions are sharply divided between those in favour and against holding elections. South Sudan's elections are scheduled to begin in December 2024 and end with the announcement of results. The last general elections in South Sudan were held in 2010 just before the conclusion of the transitional period as outlined in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. During the last elections, President Salva Kiir Mayardit, the current President, and members of the legislative assemblies and state governors were elected in both Sudan and Southern Sudan. The later was part of the former but enjoyed autonomous at that time. Initially general elections were supposed be held after the country's independence, no later than 2015. However, due to the outbreak of civil war in 2013, the elections were cancelled. Despite the signing of Agreement on Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS) in Addis Abba peace in 2015, which extended the transitional period by three years, the agreement's implementation faltered, leading to the resumption of conflict in 2016, less than a year after the agreement was signed. Subsequently, a revitalized peace agreement signed in 2018 stipulated that the general elections be held before the end of the transitional period. However, due to challenges, the parties agreed to extend the transitional period for an additional two years with the general election results expected in February 2025. The question of whether to hold elections on the prescribed time remains a contentious issue among the political parties that signed the 2018 peace agreement, civil society organizations, and the international community. With only 18 months left until the end of the extended transitional period, this controversy remains unresolved. The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) has already nominated President Salva Kiir Mayardit as its presidential candidate. The party initiated its election campaign in Greater Bahr el-Ghazal on 3rdJuly 2023 through a public rally celebrating the nomination. Similar campaigns are set to take place in Greater Equatoria, particularly in the city of Juba as announced by Governor Louis Lobong Lajor of Eastern Equatoria State. Not all political groups in South Sudan welcomed this development. The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) under the leadership of Riek Machar Teny rejects this approach to a democratic transition, asserting that electoral campaigns are premature. Instead, the group called for prioritizing the completion of the Revitalized Peace Agreement's provisions, particularly those related to the training and integration of forces into unified military and security organs. They also highlighted the primacy of the formulation of the state permanent constitution and the establishment of the General Elections Commission to supervise elections as well as the creation of the Political Parties Council, and the Constitutional Court, if the elections were to lead to a fair outcome. The international community holds a different stance. They resist the idea of holding elections before fully implementing the terms of the extended revitalization agreement while opposing any further extensions of the transitional period. Some international envoys view the SPLM's call for early elections and comprehensive electoral campaigns as a preemptive step unnecessary at this stage. They emphasize that the parties should focus on fulfilling the provisions of the August 2022 roadmap. However, the agreement faces numerous challenges, particularly concerning financing which in turns undermines the international community's call for swift implementation without providing sufficient financial support. The current tension and disagreement over the implementation of the roadmap leading to the general elections on the prescribed dates could potentially lead to a return to war, further fostering instability in the region. The opposing directions taken by the two main poles, SPLM and SPLM-IO, underscore the urgent need for dialogue to avoid the collapse of the peace agreement and a return to conflict. Intellectuals, analysts, and some elders advocate for meaningful and constructive dialogue to safeguard peace and stability in the country. For instance, General John Mourwell Majak's letter to the leadership called for dialogue and the continued collaboration of the current coalitions and alliances created by the Revitalized Peace Agreement in the interest of a peaceful South Sudan. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines South Sudan Governance By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. The controversy surrounding the timing of general elections in South Sudan combined with the incomplete implementation of the Revitalised Peace Agreement poses significant challenges to the country's democratic transition. Meaningful dialogue and cooperation among all stakeholders are essential to navigate this critical period and safeguard the nation's future. Dhieu Mathok Diing Wol holds a PhD in Peace and Development, University of Juba, South Sudan. Twitch star Kai Cenat has finally broken his silence a week after he was arrested for allegedly inciting a riot in New York's Union Square. The 21-year-old streamer took to Twitch to express his frustration with the way fans conducted themselves at the real-world meet up that took place last Friday. '[I am] beyond disappointed in anybody who became disruptive that day, bro. 100%, that s*** is not cool.' He told his 6.5 million followers on the livestreaming platform that he never intended for things in Union Square to get out of hand. 'I want people to know that none of that was my intention, you feel what Im saying? Kai Cenat, 21, (pictured) was one of around 65 who were arrested on Friday during the riot He's set to appear before a judge in just over a week after he was charged with inciting a riot 'I had good intentions for this whole thing and none of that was my intention, bro. Not only that but I dont condone any of the things that went on that day. None of that was cool. 'When we do things like this, it not only needs to be safe, but it needs to be fun,' he added. Officials said that at least seven people were left injured following the chaotic scenes last week. Cenat was among at least 65 people who were arrested by the New York Police Department after thousands of his followers swarmed to the bustling plaza last Friday. The event quickly turned sour after thousands of his fans poured into Union Square Around 65 people were arrested after the giveaway event turned violent At least seven people were injured following the out-of-control event in Union Square His fans were seen climbing on cars and throwing missiles at New York cops last Friday Cenat planned a live giveaway in the historic park, where he would be sharing expensive technology including PlayStation 5s Cops said they were expecting a crowd of 300 fans, but ended up having to deal with 6,000 of his followers His fans were also seen sprawling in all directions from the historic Union Square neighborhood Cenat, who grew up in the Bronx but now lives in Atlanta, said he wanted to run the event to give back to the place he came from His fans were seen darting in and out of traffic, climbing onto the roofs and hoods of cars, and toppling trash cans An estimated 6,000 social media fans took to the historic neighborhood after the streamer promised to give away PlayStation 5s, computers, microphones and video monitors at the event. Quickly, chaos erupted, and his fans were seen darting in and out of traffic, climbing onto the roofs and hoods of cars, and toppling trash cans. Many were seen throwing missiles at cops, while several set firecrackers off and sent local residents running. The massive crowd eventually spilled onto Broadway, Park Avenue and other neighboring streets to the north, south, west and east. Several people in the crowd ended up setting firecrackers off and sent local residents running The social media star was released from police custody the day after the riot Watch live as NYPD executives provide an update to today's incident in Union Square Park. https://t.co/J8fJfr3we1 NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) August 5, 2023 New York cops said they were expecting a crowd of just 300 people. 'This young man, this influencer, I believe he saw that day how much influence he really has,' said Jeffrey Maddrey, the polices chief of department, in an interview with Fox. Cenat, who grew up in the Bronx but now lives in Atlanta, said he wanted to run the event to give back to the place he came from. The social media star was released from police custody the day after the riot and is scheduled to appear in court on August 18. Prince William has been crowned America's favourite public figure, a new poll revealed today, as Harry and Meghan's attacks failed to damage his reputation in the US. The Prince of Wales, 41, even ranks above former US President Donald Trump and his successor Joe Biden with experts saying the British royal's charity work and staying out of politics means his popularity goes 'beyond borders'. In the past year Harry, in his Spare memoir and a Netflix documentary, accused William of physically attacking him. He also claimed there were repeated rows over his marriage to Meghan Markle, who the heir to the British throne allegedly branded 'rude and difficult'. But polling giant Gallup has asked US voters what they thought of 15 big names on the world stage - and William came top. Harry was not in the poll, but according to polling commissioned for Newsweek in March, after Spare's release in January, Harry's popularity had dropped 48 points in the US since December and Meghan's was down 40 points. Gallup today acknowledged the 'surprise' of an English royal, Prince William, beating the 'nation's own democratically elected and appointed leaders'. He polled well with both Republicans and Democrats And despite Harry and Meghan's transatlantic potshots since Megxit, King Charles also polled positively, just below Jill Biden, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. It came as 38-year-old Prince Harry jetted on an Asian tour with old friend Nacho Figueras. He touched down in Japan on Tuesday and told crowds he would 'happily live here if you'd have me'. Prince William of Wales and Catherine Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton. William is hugely popular in the US, a new poll revealed Harry, who is in Asia playing polo, has attacked his brother repeatedly since he left Britain There were tensions with Harry and the Prince and Princess of Wales over his marriage to Meghan, he said Lydia Saad, Gallup's director of US social research, said William's approval ratings reflected how he is 'out of the partisan fray' in the UK - and not involved in US politics in any way. She said: 'The much higher ratings he receives from older Americans and women may tie back to their affection for his mother and feelings of empathy towards him over her death.' Gallup has said their poll could be the latest sign of how deeply polarised American society has become, especially because Americans waged a war of independence nearly 250 years ago to escape the 'tyranny of the British crown.' 'The US may need to look beyond its borders to find public figures that a majority of Americans feel good about,' said the statement. At home, it's difficult to find somebody who 'Republicans and Democrats can agree on,' it added. Gallup asked more than 1,000 adults nationwide whether they had favourable or unfavourable views of the 15 public figures they pre-chose. The difference between those two percentage scores revealed their favourability rating. 59 per cent of respondents described Prince William favourably, and 22 percent unfavourably. That put the prince 37 percentage points above negative territory. ranked him far ahead of every American politician in the survey, which was conducted last month. Donald Trump, Joe Biden, his Vice President Kamala Harris and former Vice President Mike Pence are all in negative territory by 14 points or more. The only Americans who pass the favourability test are First Lady Jill Biden and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. And only public figure to come close to Prince William was Ukraine's embattled President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Prince William came top by scoring well among Republicans as well as Democrats Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) is more popular in the US than the country's own leader, Joe Biden Zelenskyy is lionised at home and in western democracies for his defiance in the face of Russia's brutal invasion of his country. Russian President Vladimir Putin. The former KGB agent has a negative score of 85 points, thanks partly to Moscow's illegal annexation of Ukrainian land and brutal military campaign there. Putin's favorability has sunk 13 points since 2018, and he's 'universally disliked' by both Republicans and Democrats, Gallup says. But even the Ukrainian leader's popularity is skewed by partisan politics. Three quarters of Democrats have a favorable view of Zelenskyy, compared to just over half of Republicans. 'Republicans' ambivalence toward Zelenskyy mirrors their views on the Russia-Ukraine war,' researchers said. About half of GOP voters are 'wanting to see the conflict end quickly and the other half supporting Zelenskyy's goal of fighting for complete victory.' Prince William, and his father King Charles III, are characters on whom Republicans and Democrats agree. Workers at Gatwick Airport have announced a fresh raft of strikes, including August Bank Holiday weekend, prompting fresh fears for more summer holiday chaos. This is not the first time that Unite has urged members to settle pay disputes - the trade union planned and cancelled walkouts for earlier this month, but have just announced more planned strike action. Holidaymakers are due to be affected on various occasions this August, with 230 Unite members belonging to Red Handling and Wilson James set to walk out. Red Handling is a ground handling company - they will walk out from August 18 to August 21, and then again on August 25 until August 28 - wreaking havoc on the last bank holiday until Christmas. Passenger assistance workers from Wilson James has its Unite members striking from August 18-20 and then again from August 22-24. Unite Union said the industrial action will cause 'severe disruption' for those hoping to take a later summer break (file image) Why Gatwick staff are striking Unite, one of the UK's largest trade unions, explained that both Red Handling and Wilson James had failed to offer staff appropriate pay. Red Handling workers are in charge of ground handling for various European airlines such as Norse Atlantic, Norwegian and TAP Air Portugal, as well as Saudi Airlines and US giant Delta. Unite believes that a whopping 45,000 passengers flying during the busy August period could be affected as 216 flights are expected to be disrupted or delayed - only from the first four days of Red Handling's walkout. Unite regional officer Dominic Rothwell said: 'The strike action is set to cause severe disruption throughout Gatwick Airport, but this dispute is totally of the employers' own making, they have been given every opportunity to make our members a fair pay offer but have failed to do so. He went on to say: 'The companies need to stop prevaricating and make an offer which meets our members' expectations'. Unite Union said the industrial action will cause 'severe disruption' for those hoping to take a later summer break (file image) Cancelled strike action While Red Handling and Wilson James workers have resorted to striking, other disgruntled airport staff have abandoned their strike action after accepting a new pay offer. Those employed in similar roles at Gatwick Ground Services (GGS) and DHL Ground Handling, among other aviation employers are satisfied with new pay offers and therefore no longer choosing to cause disruption this summer. Unite members from GGS accepted an improved pay offer of a huge 10.3% increase, according to the trade union. The union's general secretary, Sharon Graham, said in a statement: 'This is a significant pay increase for workers at GGS. 'From the outset our members have been rock-solid in their determination to secure a fair pay increase, which has resulted in a just settlement. 'The pay campaign at Gatwick Airport is a great example of how Unite's unwavering commitment to jobs, pay and conditions for our members is delivering substantial financial benefits for workers'. The strikes have prompted fears for yet more summer holiday chaos (file image) Gatwick Airport response A London Gatwick spokesperson said: 'We are aware of the recent ballot results and encourage staff at Wilson James, Red Handling and their union to reach a resolution. 'We will support Wilson James, who hold the contract for providing assistance to passengers, in their contingency planning. 'We will also support the airlines affected, who hold the contracts with Red Handling, with their contingency plans to ensure that as many flights as possible operate as scheduled. MailOnline spoke to a Gatwick representative who added: 'Airlines hold the contracts with ground handling companies at the airport. 'Given this in an industrial matter, it would not be appropriate for London Gatwick to comment further on this issue - please speak to individual airlines for more details. 'To be clear the ground handlers are employed through a third-party contract between the ground handling companies and airlines'. Gatwick Express Fortunately, the Gatwick Express train service will not be impacted by airport strikes. However, passengers should take care to check for updates on their services - National Rail strikes set to take place will cause disruption on the airport's rail passenger service. This will result in fewer services - but they will still run. And tube drivers on the London Underground have voted to continue industrial action - for the next six months in ongoing pay disputes. Travellers this August will face huge disruption thanks to ASLEF's members vote in conjunction with ground handling and passenger assistance workers. A dictator's daughter who moonlighted as a pop star and diplomat before being jailed for corruption has had her luxury empire of UK properties - including two Belgravia flats and a mansion in Surrey - taken by the Serious Fraud Office. Ex-billionaire Gulnara Karimova, whose father Islam Karimov was the former president of Uzbekistan, allegedly used UK companies to buy a swathe of swanky homes and a jet with funds obtained through bribery and corruption. British investigators say the shamed socialite received hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes from telecommunications firms between 2004 and 2012 in return for helping them gain access to the market in Uzbekistan. Karimova - who once enjoyed dining with former US President Bill Clinton - is currently locked behind bars in Uzbekistan serving a 13-year jail sentence for fraud and money laundering. On Tuesday, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) took control of three of her luxury homes worth 20million after linking them to the proceeds of corruption in Uzbekistan in a move prosecutors hailed a victory in the UK's war to 'root out dirty money'. Ex-billionaire Gulnara Karimova, whose father Islam Karimov was the former president of Uzbekistan's has had her three luxury UK homes worth 20million seized by the authorities Karimova (pictured, left) with former US President Bill Clinton at an AIDS charity fundraising dinner in Antibes, France in 2009 Karimova (pictured) saw herself as a catwalk model, pop star, socialite, fashion designer, political scientist and foreign diplomat The Uzbek Supreme Court granted permission for the SFO to personally serve Karimova and her jailed lover, Rusam Madumarov, with a Civil Recovery claim issued by the High Court in London, reports the i. The writs were served on both Karimova and Madumarov, on December 22, 2020. Luxury properties linked to Karimova have also been seized by authorities in France. Among the properties now seized included Karimova's 18.4million Surrey mansion, Gorse Hill Manor, her 3.68million flat in Market Mews, Belgravia, and her 1.11million home Chesham Place, Belgravia. Speaking of the investigation, SFO director Lisa Osofsky, said: 'We unpicked a complex financial trail, involving multiple off-shore accounts and companies, to take control of these properties. This ruling is a step forward in our case and in our ongoing efforts to root out dirty money from the UK.' Uzbekistan's Justice Ministry says it has already obtained assets worth more than $130m (102m) from luxury properties linked to Karimova. It said authorities in Switzerland, the US, France, Russia, as well as other nations have returned some of Karimova's assets, which it says were 'earned through criminal activities.' Harvard-educated Karimova - a judo black belt who at the height of her nepotistic power was the wealthiest woman oligarch in the former Soviet Union as well as a pop star, catwalk model, socialite, fashion designer, foreign diplomat, heir apparent, and, in her own words, an 'exotic Uzbekistan beauty'. Once the most powerful woman in central Asia, and with friends among the British royal family and across the West, Karimova had previously seen herself as an heir or kingmaker, yet she was also mired in corruption scandals. Former British ambassador Craig Murray even went as far as describing her as a beautiful but deadly James Bond villainess Among the properties now seized included Karimova's 18.4million Surrey mansion, Gorse Hill Manor, her 3.68million flat in Market Mew (which is pictured) Karimova's 1.11million home Chesham Place, Belgravia (pictured) was also seized by the SFO following its lengthy investigation Former British ambassador Craig Murray even went as far as describing her as a beautiful but deadly James Bond villainess. 'Gulnara Karimova is one hell of a package. Richer than Paris Hilton, undeniably smarter and arguably sexier - and I've met both,' he said. 'Harvard MBA, owner of scores of businesses, martial arts black belt, fluent in four languages, professional jewellery designer, poet and performer of a number one hit pop single.' 'Her muscle-bound boyfriend walks respectfully behind her, head bowed. If you look very closely, you can make out that she is not 21 but 35.' At one point, Karimova was tipped to succeed her father, who ruled Uzbekistan as from 1989 until his death in 2016. She appeared in pop videos under the stage name 'Googoosha', ran a jewellery company and served as ambassador to Spain. But then in 2014 she vanished from public view. It later emerged she'd been detained on corruption charges while her father was still in power - with outlandish claims in 2016 reporting she had been fatally poisoned while under house arrest. In 2010 Der Spiegel magazine claimed Karimova's personal wealth was an estimated 457million She was later sentenced in December 2017 but was sent to jail for breaching the terms of her house arrest. She has been locked away ever since. Prosecutors would later accuse of being part of a criminal gang that controlled assets of more than $1bn (760m) in 12 countries, including the UK, Russia and United Arab Emirates. 'The Karimova case is one of the largest bribery and corruption cases of all time,' Tom Mayne, one of the researchers on the Freedom For Eurasia which published a report into her corrupt activities. The study, entitled 'Who Enabled the Uzbek Princess?', found Karimova bought several properties worth an estimated 50million including three flats in Belgravia, a house in Mayfair and an 18million Surrey manor house, with its own private boating lake. Two of the Belgravia flats were sold in 2013 before Karimova was detained. In 2017, the house in Mayfair, the Surrey mansion and a third flat in Belgravia were frozen by the SFO. Once the most powerful woman in central Asia, and with friends among the British royal family and across the West, Karimova had previously seen herself as an heir or kingmaker Her father Islam Karimov (pictured, right with Putin in 1999) ruled Uzbekistan with an iron fist from independence in 1991 until his death earlier this year Karimova's boyfriend, Madumarov, and others alleged to be associates of hers were listed in official documents as the 'beneficial owners' - a legal term for the person who ultimately is in control - of companies based in the UK, Gibraltar and the British Virgin Islands. But the report says they were just proxies for Karimova, who used the firms to launder hundreds of millions of dollars. Accountancy services for two UK companies linked to Karimova - Panally Ltd and Odenton Management Ltd - were provided by SH Landes LLP, a firm formerly located on New Oxford Street in London. In late July 2010, SH Landes sought to register or acquire another company. The aim was to purchase a private jet for around $40m (33m), with Madumarov named as the beneficial owner. In fact, according to the report, Karimova was really behind the purchase. Despite her illustrious titles, Karimova was deeply unpopular among ordinary Uzbek people and was even banned from her father's funeral. A diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks revealed they saw her as 'a greedy, power-hungry individual who uses her father to crush business people or anyone else who stands in her way'. Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine has been arrested in Florida on charges of 'failing to appear', new prison records have revealed. The rap star, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, booked into a Palm Beach County jail on Wednesday night and was released from custody three hours after being taken in, the Sun reported. The rapper, 27, has so far stayed quiet about the arrest. His last social media post, an Instagram story, simply promoted a line of vapes. The arrest comes four months after he was beaten up in the men's locker room in an LA Fitness gym in south Florida. The rapper was sent to hospital to treat severe injuries, including gashes, bruises and swelling on his jaw, ribs and back. He was sent to prison for just two years after he was charged with racketeering, firearm possession, armed robbery and attempted murder Tekashi 6ix9ine (pictured) has so far stayed quiet about the arrest. His last social media post, an Instagram story, simply promoted a line of vapes Shortly after the brutal attack, the group of men who claimed to have beaten him up boasted about the attack on social media. In videos circulating online, they called him a 'rat' who wouldn't be tolerated in their 'hood.' While kicking and punching him, one could be heard yelling to another: 'Take a picture, take a picture - I am going to be famous now.' It is not currently known what exactly prompted the Florida attack, but Hernandez has rarely been short of enemies. The disgraced rapper was beaten up in a gym in south Florida earlier this year A group of men that claimed to have beaten up him bragged about the attack online shortly after it took place His popularity dropped in 2018, after he was labelled a snitch for testifying to prosecutors as part of a deal to lessen his own time in prison. He faced an eyewatering minimum of 47 years in prison, and could've gone down for life, after he was charged with several crimes, including racketeering, firearm possession, armed robbery and attempted murder. But prosecutors cut him a deal, which caught the ire of the whole rap world, and he ended up serving just two years behind bars. MailOnline has contacted Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office for comment, and is working to contact Hernandez's representatives. A British doctor shot and killed in South Africa while on a family holiday has been identified as one of the UK's top orthopaedic surgeons. Kar Hao Teoh, 40, was killed after taking a wrong turning as he drove from Cape Town airport with his wife two-year-old son last week. Mr Teoh, who was born in Singapore but had British nationality, was one of five who have died in violence during the strike which has been going on for a week. Mr Teoh, who worked for the NHS and also privately, was had been awarded a number of international fellowships for his work as a trauma and orthopaedic consultant. He lived in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, with his family and was based at the NHS Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow. Violent strikes have broken out across the city after police officers began impounding illegal vehicles last week. Mr Kar Teoh, 40, was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire The surgeon was a leading specialist, shot dead after taking a wrong turn in South Africa The death comes amid violence across Cape Town in response to police impounding illegal vehicles. Pictured: A resident of Masiphumelele use a board as a shield during clashes Two years ago, Mr Teoh won the Presidential Prize at the European Foot and Ankle Society conference in Lyon for his research into the treatment of ankle fractures. He also worked privately for MSK Doctors, and close friend Professor Paul Lee paid tribute to him with a moving tribute online. Professor Lee said: 'It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of our esteemed colleague and dear friend, Mr Kar Teoh, a respected Trauma and Orthopaedic consultant who left us too soon on August 3, 2023. 'Mr Teoh was more than a triple board certified specialist in Trauma and Foot & Ankle surgery. 'He was a guiding light in our professional community, a devoted friend, and a cornerstone of many significant projects. 'Kar's commitment to medical excellence was recognised in several prestigious international travelling Fellowships (BOA, BOFAS, AO, SICOT, EFORT, IBRA), and he was an ardent proponent of research, and undergraduate and postgraduate education. 'Yet, his professional accolades only paint part of the picture. For those of us privileged to call him a friend and colleague, Kar was a trustworthy and steadfast presence. 'He was instrumental in the establishment and success of WelshBone in 2007, MSK Doctors in 2017, and the MSK Regen conference in 2023. 'In each of these initiatives, Kar offered his unwavering support and played a critical role in their success. 'The loss of Mr. Kar Teoh leaves a void in our hearts and our community. 'His professional dedication was unparalleled, but it was his personal warmth, his commitment to friendship, and his unwavering support that we will remember most fondly. 'Our deepest condolences extend to his family and loved ones during this difficult time.' Professor Lee added an email address had also been created for people to share memories saying it was important for 'future generations' and 'for Hugo, Kar's 2-year-old son, ensuring he grows up with a vivid picture of the incredible person his father was.' A Just Giving page set up in memory of Mr Teoh with a target of 50,000 has already raised more than 25,000. His cousin Sancy Low, wrote on Facebook: 'He had a great sense of humour and would have wanted things to be light and fuss-free.' A police spokesperson confirmed the British doctor had died after entering into a violent scene amid ongoing taxi strikes: 'From the airport he apparently took a wrong turn off and headed towards Nyanga. 'In Ntlangano Crescent a number of suspects approached his vehicle, shot and killed him. No arrests yet.' Since last week, furious campaigners connected to the influential private taxi industry have launched stones at cars and buses and and set some alight. It came after a new municipal law gave local authorities power to impound vehicles for driving without a licence or registration plates, and not wearing a seatbelt. The taxis' national union has said its members aren't instigating the violence and others are using the strike as an excuse to launch their own protests. Tourists bosses fear the angry confrontations are putting off holidaymakers to the country. The South African national taxi council called for action after it failed to reach an agreement with local government over a new law that they say affects their business. A Foreign Office official in London said they were supporting the family of a British man who had died in south Africa and advised Britons to be on alert. A protester blocks the streets with stones and rubble during an ongoing strike by taxi operators against traffic authorities A law enforcement officer fires rubber bullets during their clashes with protesters in Masiphumelele amidst an ongoing strike by taxi operators Nyanga is one of the most dangerous places in South Africa, where 74 people are murdered every day. Western Cape province, which includes Cape Town, has taken a tough stance on the unregulated minibus taxi industry known for bad driving and dangerous vehicles. Millions of workers and school children have been forced to stay at home. Deliveries of food have been interrupted. Geordin Hill-Lewis, Cape Town's mayor, said he would stand firm against the sector. 'In Cape Town, violence will never be tolerated as a negotiating tactic. We reiterate our call on SANTACO [the taxi union] to return peacefully to the negotiation table,' he said. High street retailer Wilko is reportedly heading for insolvency within hours after hopes of a rescue deal started to fade. It's understood that the board will appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as administrator later today after talks with rescuers to save the family-owned chain stalled. Some 12,000 jobs across 400 stores are at risk - making Wilko, owned by the Wilkinson family since it was established as a single hardware store in 1930, one of the biggest retail casualties in years. One source told Sky News that administration today is 'inevitable' unless a new rescue plan suddenly emerges. The news is another blow for Britain's beleaguered shopping districts, which have already seen sweeping closures caused by the pandemic and resulting cost-of-living crisis, with high-street favourites Iceland, Argos and Boots shutting scores of stores. The troubled retailer, which has now suspended home deliveries, filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators last Thursday, putting it on the brink of collapse. This provided the group with 10 working days to find a buyer for all or part of the business as it sought to avoid going bust. High street retailer Wilko (pictured) is reportedly heading for insolvency within hours after hopes of a rescue deal started to fade It's understood that the board will appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as administrator later today. (File image) The homeware and stationery chain has since told online customers it is unable to deliver any orders, instead instructing shoppers to use its click and collect service or look for items in its stores. The rise and fall of Wilko: From tiny family-run hardware store to High Street stalwart, Britain's best-loved chain could finally close for good Advertisement Gordon Brothers, which rescued the Laura Ashley brand in 2020, was among those who held discussions over Wilko's future. The investors were considering a partnership with other financial investors to provide about 20 million of equity, while it would have provided around 50million in debt financing, a source told Sky. But insiders had conceded at the time that there was a 'relatively low' chance a deal could be completed. Wilko's notice at the High Court last week came after it received indicative offers to help recapitalise, but none could provide enough liquidity in the time needed. The privately-owned chain had been hunting for a buyer in recent months but came up short against a deadline for emergency cash at the end of this month. Specialist turnaround investors Alteri and Opcapita had also been looking at potential offers - some of which would have kept Wilko out of administration. But again, hopes of a rescue deal had been deemed as unlikely. After talks started to stall, it's understood PwC will run a further sale process in administration - or trigger a liquidation of the iconic high street chain. Last year, Wilko agreed a deal to borrow 40million from restructuring specialist Hilco, which owns Homebase, after posting significant losses. The company agreed to amend the terms of a credit facility to bolster the availability of financing to Wilko. Last Friday, Wilko posted a message on social media thanking customers for their support Last Thursday, Wilko said it had 'no choice' but to file for the potential insolvency but would continue a possible rescue takeover. READ MORE: Full list of Wilko stores at risk of closing down as High Street retailer on brink of administration - check if your town is affected Advertisement Announcing the insolvency preparations, chief executive Mark Jackson said: 'While we can confirm we've had a significant level of interest, including indicative offers that we believe would meet all our financial criteria to recapitalise the business, at present we don't today have an offer that provides the necessary liquidity in the time we have available, given the mounting cash pressures we're faced with. 'Unfortunately, with this in mind, today we're having to take the difficult decision to file a notice of intention. 'We'll continue to progress discussions with interested parties with the aim of completing a transaction which preserves the business and will encourage those interested parties we're in discussions with to move as fast as possible. 'We continue to believe that our robust turnaround plan, with significant re-stabilisation cost savings in progress, will deliver a profitable Wilko and maximise the significant opportunities that we know exist.' Wilko is being advised by PwC, while property agency CBRE had been brought on board to negotiate with landlords. On Friday, Wilko then posted a message on social media thanking customers for their support, saying: 'Thanks for all the love! We're humbled by the amount of love you've sent our way after the news this week. Wilko, known then as Wilkinson's, started as a single hardware store 151 Charnwood Street in Leicester in 1930 JK Wilkinson (pictured) opened the first shop with his fiance Mary Cooper. Reportedly, the pair got married at 8am on October 22, 1934 at St Peter's Church in Highfields - and were back at the shop by 11am Pictured: Customers queuing up to buy budget-friendly goods at Wilkinson, believed to be in the 90s 'Right now, we're still here and we're doing everything in our power to stay that way. Please pop down to your local store today... we'd LOVE to see you!' Fears have been raised that the collapse of Wilko would signal the largest retailer to go to the wall since newsagents chain McColl's last year. The High Street has also haemorrhaged household names such as Debenhams, Topshop owner Arcadia group and Mothercare owing to the shift to online shopping and side effects of pandemic lockdowns. Official figures last month showed insolvencies in England and Wales surged to their highest level for 14 years in the second quarter of 2023 as firms were hit by tighter consumer budgets and rising borrowing costs. Wilko, known then as Wilkinson's, started as a single hardware store 151 Charnwood Street in Leicester 90 years ago. The shop - known as 'Old Charney' was opened by JK Wilkinson and then Mary Cooper, who were engaged to be married at the time. Reportedly, the pair got married at 8am on October 22, 1934 at St Peter's Church in Highfields - and were back at the shop by 11am, such was their commitment. Since the couple opened the first shop, the business has remained in the Wilkinson family. Wilko stepped into the high street gap left by the collapse of Woolworths in 2008, but it's sales have fallen below competitors Poundland, Home Bargains and The Range. Last month it was revealed that struggles for the company had become so severe they were considering selling it. This would mean the high street giant would fall out of the family's hands for the first time in nearly a century. Wilko declined to comment on Sky's reports. Iconic film posters from the Carry On comedy film series have sold for more than 12,000 at auction. The brash banners from the bawdy British 60s classics are known for their seaside postcard-style humour and smuttiness. Leading the way for auctioneers was the risque poster for the 1963 caper Carry On Cabby which surprised auctioneers despite being a little bit grubby and sold for three times its estimate. The 30 by 40 inch poster depicts a yellow Glamcab being pushed by a female cab drivers and features caricatures of stars Kenneth Connor, Hattie Jacques, Charles Hawtrey and Esma Cannon in the cab with Sid James thumbing a lift. It trounced its original 700-1,000 estimate and sold for 2,210 at Ewbank's vintage posters auction on Friday, August 4. The Carry On Cabby poster for the film released in 1963 was described as being in 'generally excellent condition' and trounced its original 700-1,000 estimate and sold for 2,210 Carry On Spying eclipsed its 500-800 estimate to sell for 1,690 at Ewbank's vintage posters auction on Friday It was described as being in 'generally excellent condition' but has 'some light browning, pen title on reverse.' In total, 44 Carry On posters went under the hammer and sold for 12,600. Also among the highlights was the poster from Carry On Spying, which eclipsed its 500-800 estimate to sell for 1,690. The poster features a pistol-toting, Fez-wearing Kenneth Williams surrounded by a scantily clad Barbara Windsor, Bernard Cribbins and Charles Hawtrey. Carry On Cowboy's poster, featuring Sid James firing a revolver, clipping Hawtrey's feather headdress, with chorus girl Angela Douglas watching, sold for 1,105. Other sales included a smaller Carry On Cabby poster which was bought for 1,040, a Carry On Jack one sold for 975, Carry On At Your Convenience for 234, and a Carry On Dick for 208. Ewbank's partner and auctioneer Alastair McCrea said: 'It's an irony that while the Carry On films often relied on saucy postcard humour, they are viewed as coming from a simpler, more innocent age, these days, and that creates a great deal of nostalgia. 'With all the other qualities the designs share, this is a section of the vintage poster market that has been holding up very well indeed.'' Carry On Cowboy's poster, featuring Sid James firing a revolver, clipping Hawtrey's feather headdress, with chorus girl Angela Douglas watching, sold for 1,105 The Carry On franchise is now criticised for being sexist but remains loved by some for their slapstick humour The Carry On film posters were designed by Tom Chantrell, this is believed to contribute to their value and high sales at auction The Carry On films were credited with launching the career of the late Dame Barbara Windsor, and cementing Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims, and Leslie Phillips. In total, 31 films, four Christmas specials and a television series were produced between 1958 and 1992. They are now criticised for being sexist but remain loved by some for their slapstick humour. The last Carry On movie to hit the big screen was Carry On Columbus in 1992, which was labelled the 'worst British film ever made' by a poll of industry experts in 2004. A Ewbank's spokesperson said: 'The Carry On brand of slapstick comedy with groanworthy puns may seem dated these days. Film posters from the Carry On comedy film series have sold for more than 12,000 at auction The Carry On movies were credited with launching the career of the late Dame Barbara Windsor, and cementing Kenneth Williams, Joan Sims, and Leslie Phillips 'But as Ewbank's Vintage Posters auction showed, a huge appetite remains for posters associated with the franchise. 'More than 40 appeared here, with many going well over estimates to provide a premium-inclusive total of more than 12,600 for this section of the sale. 'The fact that Tom Chantrell, arguably the most celebrated of 20th century British film poster artists, designed the series would have helped. 'Top prices came for some of the most iconic films in the Carry On stable, as long as the accompanying artwork was lively, colourful and included at least one of the best-loved actors among the cast.' The Met Police chief has urged the Government to reform the misconduct process so chief constables can sack 'rogue' officers. Sir Mark Rowley said their hands are tied and the final decision is down to lawyers. He wants the strongest 'doubling down in standards' in the past 50 years in order to give bosses the power to get rid of rotten officers. Britain's most senior policeman has been consistently vocal for his wish to be able to purge Scotland Yard of its 'toxic minority' of 'corrupt' officers. But Sir Mark says the final say on sackings is made by lawyers known as legally qualified chairs (LQCs). He is now calling on the Government to reform the police misconduct process so those at the top can have the final say and kick out those who are causing 'untold damage to public trust'. Writing in The Times, he said: 'My own frustrations are shared by police chiefs across the country. 'We are accountable for our forces and we should be able to decide who is fit to serve in them. 'No one running a business would accept that they had to carry on employing people who had breached their standards.' Sir Mark Rowley has complained about the current rules in place are stopping chief constables from getting rid of rotten coppers The current system is too slow, he cannot appeal against 'unduly lenient decisions' and more than 200 officers are currently suspended with full pay, Sir Mark complained. He added: 'I have been consistent in calling on the Government to reform police misconduct processes, so that police chiefs can be more decisive in dismissing rogue officers and restoring public confidence.' Sir Mark said while their introduction was with the right intention, it has made the process slower, more biased and softer on standards, writing: 'Hearings chaired by senior Met officers before LQCs were 38 per cent more likely to result in dismissal, but now hearings are more than twice as likely to dismiss black or ethnic-minority officers.' Racial justice groups wrote to Sir Mark at the end of July, urging him to 'deliver a more comprehensive plan of action'. A review by Baroness Casey released in March this year recommended a major overhaul to the Met Police service, including getting rid of officers and staff who should not be serving, renaming the force, splitting up the Met and tougher vetting of new staff and officers. Sir Mark said in July: 'I haven't shirked away from anything that Baroness Casey has said. 'I completely accept her diagnosis and that's why we're on a big reform plan.' In that month, the Met announced plans to overhaul the force with a 366million two-year scheme, dubbed A New Met for London. The plan includes a recruitment campaign which Sir Mark says is encouraging diversity through advertisements that showcase ordinary frontline officers. Sir Mark aired his frustration about the current rules hampering him from cleaning up the Met in December just a few months after he took over the reins of Britain's largest police force. The Met has been hit by a raft of scandals in the last few years, including the murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens Speaking to the Home Affairs select committee, he said: 'I've got tens of thousands of great people and hundreds of people who shouldn't be with me. 'We have police officers who have gained serious criminal convictions whilst being police officers that we can't sack. We're having to put restrictions on them to reduce the damage they can do as leaders or in terms of serving the public. 'The final word for removing a police officer doesn't sit with me. It sits with independent tribunals who I'd say don't have the same interest in the quality of policing in London as I do.' Sir Mark said Home Secretary Suella Braverman was 'open' to the idea of giving him the power to fire officers himself. He told MPs: 'You are holding me to account vigorously for the quality of policing in London, which is reasonable. 'But it seems unfair that you do that and I don't have these leaders and I have officers I can't remove.' David Carrick was sentenced in February to a minimum of 30 years in prison for 24 counts of rape against 12 women while serving as a Met officer Sir Mark's predecessor Dame Cressida Dick was forced to resign after a raft of scandals, including the revelation of racist, misogynist and homophobic messages that were shared by officers at Charing Cross police station. Other disturbing cases involving officers included the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens, sex monster rapist David Carrick, the strip search of Team GB sprinter Bianca Williams and the sacking of two officers for sharing pictures of the bodies of murder victims Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry. In July, the MailOnline exclusively revealed more than 200 officers could be sacked following a major overhaul of the police disciplinary system. Government sources estimate some 2,000 police officers who are still in the ranks despite being accused of crimes including sexual assault and corruption could be sacked under the measures. These aerial images have been captured on March 16, 2023 in Nsanje by the Malawi Red Cross drone. analysis Sensitive campaigners are finding that belief in Napolo, a legendary multi-headed monster, is no barrier to environmental understanding and action. In March earlier this year, Mary Phiri, 40, was at her home in Chilobwe, southern Malawi, when she heard a peculiar rumbling sound in the distance. It got louder until, moments later, an avalanche of mud and rocks hurtled down the nearby Soche Mountain, sweeping away everything in its path. The surrounding area was soon hit by flash floods that washed away homes, bridges, and infrastructure. A nationwide blackout followed as over 200,000 hectares of cropland were ruined just days before they were about to be harvested. For meteorologists, these impacts came as a shock but not a surprise. Weeks earlier in early-February, they had watched as a disturbance in the ocean near Australia developed into a full-blown cyclone as it crossed the Indian Ocean towards Africa. Due to climate change, storm systems have become more intense and prolonged. This tempest exemplified this pattern, affecting millions of people across Madagascar and Mozambique, and leaving thousands dead or missing, mostly in Malawi. By the time it finally dissipated in mid-March, it had become the longest-lasting and highest-energy-producing cyclone ever recorded. The world knew the cause of the catastrophe as Cyclone Freddy, a name synonymous with the unpredictability and injustice of the man-made climate crisis. In southern Malawi, Phiri and others similarly scrambled to make sense of the devastating events. However, to explain the inexplicable, they looked not to new science but to old legends. For them, only one name came to mind: Napolo. According to local myth, Napolo is a giant many-headed snake that lives in a deep sacred pool under the mountains in southern Malawi. When it emerges from its hiding place and moves, devastation ensues. Its movement causes huge floods and landslides as the sound of drumming echoes across the region. "This was not a natural occurrence," Phiri told African Arguments earlier this year while standing on remains of what had been her two-bedroom home. "Nobody can dispute that it was Napolo." The story of Napolo can be traced back to a flash flood in 1946. Ever since, several disasters and cyclones have been blamed on the snake's migratory patterns. In many communities, deeply embedded tradition beliefs have remained strong, even amid growing awareness of climate change and the damaging effects of human behaviour. "The scientific explanation of flash floods is enlightening and intellectually liberating but, in terms of charisma, it cannot beat the image of a fiery and smoky serpent roaring down the mountain slopes to the accompaniment of the loudest drums, flutes, and whistles," says Ken Lipenga, a writer and politician. For some, the predominance of traditional beliefs might seem like a barrier to sensitising people about climate change and the growing risks from natural hazards. However, several Malawian artists and environmentalists have recognised the opportunity of using the well-known story of Napolo to spread important messages. Sosten Chiotha is the Regional Director of the Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) in Southern and Eastern Africa. His organisation has been engaging with local perspectives on climate change since 2008. He says that certain traditional beliefs are directly harmful, citing the example of elderly women being blamed for causing dry spells. "If the explanations are detrimental, we should dismiss them," he says. "We need to completely dispel the ones that are harmful with alternative scientific explanations." However, his work has also found that some myths have great potential to help widen understanding. By using familiar legends, campaigners can meet communities where they are and ensure their messages resonate with existing beliefs and practices. "The legend of Napolo is harmless since you can tell the people how they can prepare for it by planting trees and staying away from risk areas," says Chiotha. A number of Malawian artists and musicians have been doing just this as they try to share messages about climate change in ways that work with - rather than against - traditional ways of relating to nature. Elias Gaveta of Conservation Arts Malawi, for instance, runs a Folklore Project together with local chiefs to educate younger generations. The elders share knowledge about the past and how things have changed from their traditional viewpoints, which Gaveta and his colleagues then complement with scientific explanations. "What we're doing is just adding in science and climate change messages," he says. "Cyclones are natural and Napolo was a cyclone. The only difference now is that the impact and frequency of those cyclones has been enhanced with human activities and that we do not have adequate green infrastructure to protect our home and farms." By engaging with communities in this way, Gaveta has also learned more about local legends in ways that have helped him shape messages about the environment and sustainable practices. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Climate Entertainment Africa By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. "There is an interesting side to Napolo," he says. "Some people told us the snake would come out when it's angry or provoked, so we advise them not to cut down trees or encroach the mountains to avoid angering those spirits." Evans Chimwala, 30, takes a similar approach using music. Also known as Evans Muzik, the local rapper recently released a song called "Napolo" narrating the story of a victim of Cyclone Freddy. Chimwala says he made the song to console people affected by cyclone, and that he used Napolo to help it resonate with listeners. "Water burst from the mountain. Rocks were mixed with mud. Houses fell like they were built of cotton," he sings on the track. Chimwala similarly suggests that the legend can be a help - not a hindrance - to spreading understanding of climate change and man-made environmental damage. In fact, he suggests that this may have long been the underlying message of the myth. "My take is that our ancestors understood that Napolo occurred whenever people had wronged nature including cutting down trees. We should believe the legend," he advises. Charles Pensulo is a Malawian freelance journalist. The Crooked House - dubbed 'Britain's wonkiest pub' - was left as a pile of rubble after being engulfed in flames on August 6. Hours after firefighters and Staffordshire police left the destroyed boozer, diggers made their way to knock down what was left of the historic drinking hole. Residents have been left heartbroken by the demise of the Black Country pub, going as far as to set up a Facebook group of around 12,500 to rebuild it. Now the blaze which engulfed the historic pub is being treated as arson, according to Staffordshire police. Here MailOnline takes a closer look at the new owners of the pub and the mystery behind its sudden demolition. The Crooked House - dubbed 'Britain's wonkiest pub' - was left as a pile of rubble after being engulfed in flames on August 6 Carly and Adam Taylor are the owners of The Crooked House Pub, having completed their purchase just weeks ago Who is Carly Taylor, owner of the Crooked House Pub? Carly Taylor was born in November 1988 and is the current owner of the Crooked House Pub. According to a relative, Ms Taylor has become accustomed to 'living the high life' since her days as a hairdresser and nail technician. The relative said about the former beauty business owner: 'I think she thinks she is better than everyone else since she married into money. She seems to go here there and everywhere, judging by Facebook.' Ms Taylor's social media posts display her lavish lifestyle, with pictures of her flying first class, posing outside the seven-star Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai and driving luxurious cars. Another person who knows the Crooked House owner said she 'loved shopping for designer handbags' and had 'dozens of them'. The glamourous business woman is the director of a private company called ATE Farms LTD. The private firm bought The Crooked House Pub from pub retailer Marston's in July. According to previous publican of the Black Country pub, Lee Goodchild, the sale had been completed around Wednesday July 14. Carly holds the position of director in several companies, The Guardian reports. The pub's new owner is jet-setter Carly Taylor who purchased the pub from brewery Marston's last month before it was burnt down and demolished A relative said Mrs Taylor, 34, a former hairdresser and nail technician used to run her own beauty business in Lutterworth but has since got used to 'living the high life'. Pictures on social media show her driving a Bentley, flying first class and posing outside the seven-star Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai Who is her husband Adam Taylor? Adam Taylor, 44, is a former director and currently a shareholder of Himley Environmental LTD. He also owns the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn, a pub in the Warwickshire village of Willey around five miles away from their home. He bought the pub in 2020 and ripped out the interior, before council planners issued a 'stop notice' to prevent any further works. It is now closed. A local resident told MailOnline that the 'ruthless businessman' bought the pub with 'the intention of gutting it and turning it into rental accommodation.' Another said he is 'absolutely minted from all his business deals' and has a 'crew of people running around for him 24/7'. They said he drives around in a Bentley with personalised number plates. Meanwhile, drinkers at The Barn pub - two miles away from the Sarah Mansfield - said he was a 'super rich' self-styled entrepreneur who could 'charm' anyone he met. One said: 'He was always as nice as pie if you treated him properly. 'Even if he doesn't know you, if you give him the time of day, he'll buy you a drink or two and seems a really nice guy. He's been lucky in a lot of places with business.' The married couple live in a gated community in Leicestershire, between Lutterworth and Hinckley. When was The Crooked House on fire? Only a few weeks after the sale in July, an inferno erupted in the West Midlands pub on August 5, 2023. West Midlands Fire Service and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue arrived shortly after the disaster began at around 10pm that same night. They needed a high-volume pump and several jets to extinguish the flames. The blaze decimated the roof, but there are no reported injuries or casualties and no one was believed to present in the property. Allegedly, according to locals, the path leading up to the pub was blocked by 'mounds of dirt', when the six crews from both Staffordshire and West Midlands Fire Service reached the tavern. While fireman fought against the inferno, the following roads were closed: Himley Road Between High Arcal Road and the junction Between Brookbank Road and Summit Place Ash Smith, a local who said he witnessed the inferno and made the call to emergency services explained to The Express and Star, how he was tending to his horses when he saw 'smoke coming from the area'. On closer inspection he saw The Crooked House was ablaze. Shortly after midnight, he said to the publication: 'Six fire engines are there and they are pumping water all the way down the lane with hoses and pumping water from the local stream.' Only a few weeks after the sale in July, an inferno erupted in the West Midlands pub on August 5, 2023 When was the pub demolished? Diggers destroyed the historic pub at 2pm on Monday, August 7 'without council permission' - two days after the fire. Footage emerged on social media of the building being demolished by a mechanical digger. South Staffordshire Council stated that it had only permitted for the top floor to be demolished for 'safety reasons'. Leader of the council, Roger Lees, said: 'At no point did the council agree the demolition of the whole structure nor was this deemed necessary. 'This council finds the manner in which the situation was managed following the fire completely unacceptable and contrary to instructions provided by our officers. 'As such, we are currently investigating potential breaches of both the Town and Country Planning Act and the Buildings Act.' All that remained after the demolition was a large heap of rubble. Bricks and furniture left after the demolition of the popular pub in the West Midlands Video shows diggers moved in to knock down what was left of the historic Black Country pub within hours of Staffordshire police and firefighters leaving the site. How has the community reacted? The incident has sparked anger in the local community, with West Midlands mayor Andy Street saying 'questions need answering'. The fire and demolition has upset many in the West Midlands, due to its cultural importance and heritage dating back to 1765. In a letter to South Staffordshire council leader Roger Lees, Mr Street demanded the pub is 'rebuilt brick by brick'. As video of the demolition circulated on Facebook, many of the pub's regular punters were left devastated by the sight. One person wrote: 'No way?!!! They have demolished the place THAT quickly?!!! Really???' Another added: 'Standing since the 18th century, been through war, mining, subsidence...the walls were still standing and a hope of saving something of a landmark, even if just the signage but these disgraceful individuals couldn't even honour that.' Even when the pub announced it was closing at the end of July locals were left devastated. Derrick McConell, 65, from Dudley, has drank in the pub for more than 20 years. The crooked nature of the pub attracted punters for decades, with walls, doorways and windows all appearing slanted He said: 'It's a sad day, it's a brilliant pub and there's no place like it elsewhere. 'We feared nobody would take it on due to the cost of the upkeep but you'd think somebody would want to save a piece of history. 'Its a sign of the times unfortunately - you hear of local pubs closing all the time and it appears not even a unique place like this can survive in the current climate. 'It sounds cheesy but this place was like a second home, all the regulars are lovely people and became like family to me. I am devastated.' Sun-starved Brits are snapping up last-minute foreign holidays in record numbers in a desperate attempt to dodge the UK's dreary weather. Bookings made in July for trips abroad this month more than quadrupled, according to Advantage Travel Partnership - which represents a fifth of the nation's travel agents. It comes after summer plans for millions of Britons were washed out after the UK experienced its wettest July since 2009, with an average of 140.1mm rain last month, the sixth highest total for the month since records began in 1836. The damp conditions continued this month when Storm Antoni pummeled the UK, bringing 43mm of rainfall - half of what is normally seen in the whole of August - last weekend, prompting a fresh surge in holiday bookings. According to British Airways Holidays, there was a 22 per cent year-on-year increase in last-minute bookings over the past 30 days. Have you booked a last-minute holiday to escape the dismal UK weather? Email tom.cotterill@mailonline.co.uk Sun-starved Brits are snapping up last-minute foreign holidays in record numbers in a desperate attempt to dodge the UK's dreary weather (pictured are holidaymakers at Weymouth in July) Summer plans for millions of Brits were washed out after the UK experienced its wettest July since 2009 (pictured are holidaymakers braving the rain in Manchester with their suitcases) Bookings in July for trips abroad this month more than quadrupled, according to Advantage Travel Partnership (pictured: British holidaymakers enjoying the beach in Benidorm, Spain last month) Britons have been snapping up last-minute holidays in a bid to find some summer sun Among those desperate to escape the soggy British summer was hairdresser Kate Lodge, who said she will 'pay whatever' for a trip abroad with her son. 'I don't want to book time off for my holiday and for it to be raining all week. I'm wearing winter clothes and it's August. I don't mind what it takes, I'll be getting on the plane,' the mother from Eastbourne, East Sussex, told the BBC. Indie Fox from Sheffield was also one of the holidaymakers scrambling to get away from the dismal UK weather. She snapped up a last-minute trip to Cyprus. She tweeted: 'Finally booked a holiday for a bit of sun this year. Cyprus in 9 days' time!' Brendan Cox was jetting off today on his holiday today. He tweeted: 'Last-minute holiday planning. Off to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan tomorrow! Anyone been? Any recommendations?' Robert New, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, was looking to escape the dank British weather and enjoy a trip to Berlin, Germany. He told MailOnline: 'I'm jetting off to Berlin with @LewisGos92 to get some 30-degree summer night city goodness and where nobody knows us.' This woman woman protects herself from the heavy rain in Speke, Liverpool, in July And this couple in Belfast were using an umbrella to shelter from a heavy downpour on July 31 While in Benidorm, it was a completely different tale, as holidaymakers were able relax at the beach in blissful sunshine Becky Rose Carver from London said: 'Booked Dubrovnik for a last-minute holiday. Any recommendations welcome.' Other British tourists have been revelling in the heat, enjoying sunbathing on beaches across Benidorm in Spain and Albufeira in Portugal while others sought relief from the searing sunshine by having drinks at nearby bars. While Sandra Ubege tweeted: 'I've been on holiday in Spain since Sunday and it's absolutely lovely.' Meanwhile, others have been sharing their disappointment after deciding to have a 'staycation' in the UK. Sharing a picture of a dismal and wet Cromer, on the Norfolk coast, a man tweeted: 'This is the last time I ever book a summer holiday in the UK!! Excitedly turn up on the first day to the beach in my swim shorts and it looks like this. What the hell am I gonna do for a week here?' Barclays said transactions with travel agents in July were up by 11 per cent, compared with 3.4 per cent in the previous month. Nicolas Bresch, the UK managing director of Club Med, said Brits were desperate to escape the dismal weather. Britons have been taking to Twitter to share their summer holiday experiences - with many booking last-minute trips abroad to escape the dank weather 'With July the wettest in over a decade, it is no wonder Brits have been thinking about a last-minute escape to warmer climates,' he told The Times. 'For the last week of July we saw sales increase by 146 per cent for departures in August and September when compared with the same week in 2022.' Mr Bresch added the majority of bookings were made on weekdays 'perhaps as people sought to kickstart their week or weekend with something to look forward to', which went against the usual trend of people booking at the weekends, especially in the peak January window. Meanwhile, industry chiefs claimed that Britons had been largely undeterred by wildfires which have ravaged the likes of the Greek island of Rhodes and Portugal. Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive of the Advantage Travel Partnership, the UK's largest group of independent travel agents, said people were fed up with Britain's washout summer. 'It's been a bumper few weeks for travel,' she said. 'Last week saw an 8 per cent increase in bookings versus the week before, with almost a fifth for travel this month,' she added. 'People have clearly had enough of this spell of chilly wet weather in the UK and are still desperate to get a break in the sunshine. Spain has dominated sales in the last few weeks but Turkey, Greece and Italy are also all selling well.' Have you booked a last-minute holiday to escape the dismal UK weather? Email tom.cotterill@mailonline.co.uk Kim met to discuss 'the issue of making full war preparations' on Wednesday North Korean despot Kim Jong Un has replaced his top military general and called for expanded preparations for the possibility of war, state media has reported. Pak Su Il, North Korea's Chief of the General Staff, was 'dismissed' after about seven months in the role, Korean Central News Agency reported without elaborating. He will be replaced by General Ri Yong Gil, a previous army chief of staff. It is unclear whether he will continue in his role as defence minister. Meeting with the Central Military Commission today, Kim also called for expanded military production, the testing of new equipment and 'actual war drills'. KCNA said conversations with the Commission this week were to talk through the 'issue of making full war preparations' to ensure 'perfect military readiness for war'. Photos of today's meeting published by state media showed Kim apparently pointing to spots around Seoul, South Korea's largest city, where 51 million people live. The change in gears comes as the United States and South Korea prepare for a large-scale combined military exercise. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to point to a map (blurred at source) of the Korean Peninsula during talks about war readiness, in Pyongyang, North Korea, August 9, 2023 Kim (seated at the head of the table) meets with the Central Military Commission on 9 August State media said Thursday's meeting with the ruling party's Central Military Commission was to discuss advancing his military's war-readiness. The meeting also sought to establish offensive countermeasure plans to deter adversaries, which state media said were getting more blatant in their 'reckless military confrontation' with North Korea. Condemning recent western drills as invasion rehearsals, Kim has stepped up demonstrations, test-firing more than 100 missiles since the start of last year. The escalation has driven tensions on the Korean Peninsula to the highest point in years. Experts say Kim's nuclear push is aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power so he can eventually negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength. After talks of boosting North Korean frontline units and stepping up war drills to incorporate new strategies and weapons, Kim signed an order to implement unspecified 'important military measures,' Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said. He stressed that the military must acquire 'more powerful strike means' to bolster his nuclear deterrent and make speedier deployments of those weapons to combat units. He called for the country's munitions industry to step up mass production of various weapons and systems, and for the military to actively conduct 'actual war drills' to digest those systems and enhance its war-fighting capabilities, KCNA said. Since he began his rule in late 2011, Kim has shown a tendency to swiftly replace senior government and military officials if he was unhappy with their performances or needed to hold them responsible for broader policy failures, which the North never pins on its supreme leader. The decision to sack Pak eight months into the job possibly indicates that Kim was dissatisfied about his ability to craft military strategies and went back to a more trusted hand in Ri, who had a lengthy previous stint as chief of general staff, said Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior analyst at South Korea's Sejong Institute. Thursday's meeting saw the replacement of the country's top military general, KCNA said Russia's Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu attends a reception for the Russian military delegation hosted by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as part of the 70th anniversary celebration of the Korean War armistice in Pyongyang, North Korea, July 27, 2023 Kim recently invited Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and a Chinese ruling party officials to share center stage at a giant military parade in Pyongyang where he rolled out his most powerful missiles designed to target South Korea and the United States. Shoigu's presence at the July 27 parade came after Kim took him on a tour of a domestic arms exhibition, which demonstrated North Korea's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine and added to suspicions the North was willing to supply arms to Russia. During Thursday's meeting, North Korean officials also agreed to hold another military parade to mark the 75th anniversary of its government's founding. The Sept. 9 parade would be the country's third event in 2023 alone. Analysts say the North has never staged military parades more than twice in the same year. Lincoln's Inn is facing accusations of abandoning its Christian tradition after it ended the practice of saying grace before meals. The decision to remove the 'explicitly Christian' wording was made in order to appear 'more inclusive'. It follows a statement by the Law Society vowing to reevaluate its 'purpose, relevance and diversity' for the modern age, The Telegraph reports. Anne Sharp, under treasurer at Lincoln's Inn, said it was common practice among many religions to have a moment of reflection before group meals. Hosts will instead 'give thanks' at meal times. She said: 'This is not political correctness gone mad, and it is not being driven by younger members. Other members didnt feel comfortable so we are trying to be a little more thoughtful. Lincoln's Inn is facing accusations of abandoning its Christian tradition after it ended the practice of saying grace before meals (Pictured: Great Hall of Lincoln's Inn) Lincoln's Inn is the largest of the four Inns of Court in London - the professional associations to which all barristers in England and Wales must belong 'Giving thanks' instead of 'saying grace' - what's the difference? Lincoln's Inn has decided to dispense with saying grace before meals, and instead give thanks. The traditional Christian blessing goes: 'Lord God, Heavenly Father, bless us and these Thy gifts which we receive from Thy bountiful goodness, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.' In its place will be: 'In this moment of silence, let us give thanks for all that we are about to receive and for the company of this Honourable Society.' Advertisement 'The language traditionally used was explicitly Christian, but we have changed it to a non-Christian "thanks" because of our diverse range of members with a different range of beliefs.' Lincoln's Inn is the largest of the four Inns of Court in London - the professional associations to which all barristers in England and Wales must belong. The others being Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. It has judged the saying of grace to be an anachronism. The Christian grace will now only be used at Sunday lunch following a chapel service. The Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Vos, Master of the Rolls and treasurer of the Inn for 2023, said it is a 'priority' to 'continue to enhance the relevance' of the inn, and that this included correcting 'outdated stereotypes'. Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), has blasted the Inn and accused it of betraying its roots. The CLC pointed out that a chapel has been at the centre of Lincoln's Inn since its founding centuries ago and that it was inherently a Christian organisation. Mrs Williams said: 'Saying grace before meals in the Inn is part of that rich and living tradition. It is no little thing to stop saying grace. It demonstrated what the Inn cares about.' She added that 'abandoning' the Christian faith 'does not bode well' for the future of Lincolns Inn. The move follows a series of measures adopted by the Law Society to get rid of antiquated phrases, such as 'masters of the bench' from its guidance. The phrase has been replaced with the more inclusive 'members of the bench' or 'benchers'. Last month, the Law Society implemented a new code outlining standards of behaviour for all of its members. A spokesman said: 'While completely uncontroversial, this reflects our desire to be a welcoming and inclusive organisation for all our members.' A 26-year-old man was hospitalised after part of his finger was discovered on a car windscreen. NSW Police were called to an apartment on Ventura Avenue in Narwee, south Sydney, at about 3.30am on Wednesday following report's a man's finger was amputated. However, police allege the man fled using the apartment balcony while officers were talking to a resident. A crime scene was established at the Narwee apartment but the man was unable to be found. NSW Police were called to an apartment on Ventura Avenue (above) in Narwee at about 3.30am on Wednesday following report's a man's finger was amputated Police received another call at 7.30am after part of a human finger was found on the windscreen of a parked car in Riverwood Police received another call at 7.30am after part of a human finger was found on the windscreen of a parked car in Riverwood, a little over a kilometre west of the first property. Officers reportedly found blood on the door of a nearby unit and forced entry at about 11am. Inside they discovered the 26-year-old man who was missing a finger. The man was hospitalised and has been discharged to be interviewed by police. It is unknown who amputated the man's finger or why. A Finnish man faces up to two years in prison after storing 26.5lbs (12kg) of dynamite in his friend's cars for 'a joke'. The friend failed to see the funny side of the dangerous prank, and instead informed police who briefly detained the man, who has not been named. The 'prankster' was released but admitted placing the explosives in the two cars on August 3. Tony Rauma, detective chief inspector with the Ostrobothnia Police, told Finnish broadcaster YLE: 'According to his own words, he had done it as a joke.' Police have ruled out any possible terrorist intent, but the suspect now faces up to two years in prison. A police car patrolling the Market Square in Turku, Finland, 19 August 2017. A man was detained in western Finland after storing explosives in a friend's cars 'as a joke' A bomb squad evacuated homes nearby and police recovered 26lb of dynamite from two cars Mr Rauma said the men knew each other and live in a small village in the Pedersore area of Ostrobothnia, western Finland. He said that a police bomb squad had to evacuate nearby buildings due to the large quantity of explosives, and that both the dynamite and detonators were recovered. The prankster said he did not intend to detonate the explosives, and it is not yet known where he obtained the devices. But Mr Rauma said the suspect has access to a deserted house 'where the dynamite may have come from'. Gunmen in Ecuador shot dead presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio as he was leaving a rally on Wednesday night, with less than two weeks to go until a bitterly contested election. Footage shared on social media showed Villavicencio, 59, being escorted out of the rally venue at 6:20pm local time and into a waiting car. He was climbing into the back seat when gunfire rang out. The windows did not appear to be bulletproof. One suspect was shot dead in crossfire with security services, the country's attorney general said, adding that nine people were injured - among them a female candidate for the National Assembly and two police officers. But who killed Fernando Villavicencio? How does his murder impact the Ecuadorian presidential election? Read on below for the key takeaways from the murder of Ecuador's presidential candidate. Fernando Villavicencio, 59, is seen moments before gunmen ambushed him on leaving a rally and shot him in the head (pictured right) Who killed Fernando Villavicencio? Villavicencio's assassin - whose identity remains unknown - allegedly died following a confrontation with security agents, Ecuador's Prosecutor's Office said. Last week, Villavicencio, a former journalist known for tackling corruption, said he and his team had been threatened by the leader of a gang linked to drug trafficking. In May, announcing his candidacy, he declared that he intended to 'take on and defeat the mafias which have coopted the state and have society on its knees.' He was behind at least two other candidates, but had been gaining support in recent days, and was seen as the toughest candidate on organised crime. Why was Fernando Villavicencio assassinated? Following Villavicencio's assassination, the country's President, Guillermo Lasso, suggested organised crime was behind his slaying, before declaring a state of emergency in response to the killing. Prior to his killing, Villavicencio had received intimidating messages from Alias Fito, a currently-jailed member of the gang known as Los Choneros - which refers to an inhabitant of the Ecuadorian district of Chone Canton. Los Choneros is a drug gang born in the 1990s, which now works for Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel. Los Choneros clashes with three other Ecuadorian criminal groups Los Lobos, Tiguerones and Chone Killers, who work for the rival Mexican organisation, Jalisco New Generation Cartel. 'If I keep mentioning the name of Fito and mentioning Los Choneros, they are going to break me,' he warned, according to El Pais. 'Here I am showing my face, I'm not afraid of them', he added. How does Fernando Villavicencio's death impact the elections in Ecuador? Villavicencio was a former member of Ecuador's National Assembly before it was dissolved in May, and had been polling at 7.5 per cent, that saw him hover between fourth and fifth place. Villavicencio said last week that he and his team had been threatened by a drug trafficking gang. He is pictured at a rally on Wednesday August 9 2023 Three months ago, outgoing president Lasso called snap elections to avoid a possible impeachment trial. In terms of his policies, Villavicencio had promised strong action on crime as well as a zero tolerance stance against corruption. The current leader of the polls is Luisa Gonzalez, who has been endorsed by former president Rafael Correa. The vote could see a leftist government return to Ecuador. Following Villavicencio's death, some rival candidates announced that they were suspending their campaign, plunging the country into political uncertainty amid a tragic occurrence ahead of the elections on Sunday August 20 2023. She urged employees to record what they're doing at work Suzie Cheikho's bosses tracked how much she was typing A work from home employee who was sacked after keystroke tracking technology found she was 'not typing enough' has warned Aussie workers to record what they're doing during office hours. Suzie Cheikho, 38, was fired from her role as a communications disclosure consultant at Insurance Australia Group (IAG), where she had worked for 18 years. Her sacking sparked debate over workers' rights and the use of tracking software this week after the Fair Work Commission rejected her unfair dismissal claim. Now the Sydneysider, who is getting by thanks to government handouts and fears she may never find another job again, has issued a dire warning to workers. 'Whatever you're working on, track it. As much as it may seem tedious, you need to make notes,' Ms Cheikho said during an interview with A Current Affair on Thursday. 'Diarise what you're doing every day. That five, ten minutes, may save your job.' Suzie Cheikho (pictured), 38, has issued a dire warning to workers after she was unceremoniously fired by Insurance Australia Group (IAG) after her boss tracked her computer keystrokes Former digital forensic police officer Michael Heikkilae revealed type of software bosses use to monitor their employees' is the same technology police use to track criminals. 'I think it's quite invasive. It gives people with access to this sort of software a lot of power,' he said. 'Through software like this we can essentially see everything the user is seeing, everything from websites, to keystrokes, how much time they're active and even a live view of their screen.' Poll Is it fair for bosses to monitor staff with keystroke technology? Yes - if they are working from home No - it's an invasion of privacy Is it fair for bosses to monitor staff with keystroke technology? Yes - if they are working from home 2867 votes No - it's an invasion of privacy 626 votes Now share your opinion He added that employers don't need a worker's permission to access their computer. Ahmed Khanji, who is the head of cyber security firm Gridware and has extensive knowledge of tracking software, is against the idea of using the technology to check on his employees. 'Absolutely not. I think the cons outweigh any potential benefit,' he said. 'I think it would build a lot of mistrust in the workplace.' Ms Cheikho told Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday she fears she may never find another job after being unceremoniously fired by IAG for 'not typing enough'. 'It's embarrassing that this story has gone viral - nobody is going to hire me,' she said. 'In 18 years of work there I only ever got one warning.' Ms Cheikho, who is now living off Centrelink, told Daily Mail Australia she fears she may never find another job after being unceremoniously fired by IAG for 'not typing enough' According to Fair Work Commission findings, Ms Cheikho received a formal warning in November 2022 about her work output and was put on a performance improvement plan. After missing numerous deadlines and meetings, Ms Cheikho was absent and uncontactable, and had failed to lodge a product disclosure statement that resulted in the regulator fining IAG, the findings said. Her work then subjected her to a detailed review of her cyber activity, which looked at how many times Ms Cheikho pressed buttons on her keyboard on 49 working days from October to December. On the days she did log on, she had 'very low keystroke activity'. She recorded zero strokes over 117 hours in October, 143 hours in November, and 60 hours in December. She averaged 54 strokes per hour over the duration of her surveillance, which showed 'she was not presenting for work and performing work as required'. But Ms Cheikho told the commission she was 'confused and shocked' at the data, and questioned its accuracy. She added she at times used other devices than her laptop to log in when she had 'system issues'. 'Sometimes the workload is a bit slow, but I have never not worked,' she told her managers, according to the FWC findings. 'I mean, I may go to the shops from time to time, but that is not for the entire day. I need to take some time to consider this and I will put forward a response'. The former IAG employee (pictured) had her unfair dismissal application dismissed by the Fair Work Commission after it was found she had been sacked for a 'valid reason of misconduct' Ms Cheikho's LinkedIn profile photo has the tag 'Opentowork' following her sacking from IAG According to the findings, Cheikho also attended a performance meeting with her manager via Teams with the word 'F***' written across her hand. FWC Deputy President Thomas Roberts ruled the evidence showed Cheikho 'was not working as she was required to do during her designated working hours' while monitored. The applicant was dismissed for a valid reason of misconduct, Roberts wrote. 'I have little doubt that the factors underlying the applicant's disconnection from work were serious and real,' he said. The situation was 'regrettable' given Ms Cheikho's 'long period of satisfactory service,' Roberts added. Drivers have been left scratching their heads after new speed signs were tampered with ahead of the 20mph zones rollout in Wales. Speed signs are currently being altered in line with the 20mph default speed limit being introduced on residential roads and busy pedestrian streets. The new signs have an identical 30mph peel-off layer on top which can be removed once the new 20mph default speed limits are launched on September 17. But to the confusion of drivers in Gwynedd, some of these signs have already been peeled off. This has left certain roads with conflicting speed signs on either side - with one sign showing the soon-to-be-introduced speed limit of 20mph and another adjacent sign shows the current 30mph limit. Speed signs in Pwllheli, Gwynedd, have been tampered with ahead of the 20mph rollout in September, meaning some roads have conflicting speed limits The new signs have an identical 30mph peel-off layer on top which will be quickly removed once the new 20mph speed limits are launched - but some have already been peeled off Last month, Rishi Sunak ordered ministers to review the proliferation of low traffic neighbourhoods and the blanket imposition of 20 mile-an-hour zones. Cyngor Gwynedd Council's highways team is looking into the matter and will ensure the correct speed limit is shown, a spokesman told the Daily Post. How will the 20mph speed limit work in Wales? The 20mph speed limit in Wales will come into force on all restricted roads if voted for in Parliament. It's a plan that is projected to have cost 32million. Restricted roads are defined as those that have lampposts placed not more than 200 yards apart. This normally includes areas where there is lots of pedestrian activity and residential housing. Local authorities can make exceptions on certain roads, but the limit will be in place outside schools. If drivers are caught going over 20mph, there is currently a minimum penalty for speeding is 100 fine. Three points can also be added to your licence. Advertisement Pwllheli and its neighbouring village Llannor are among the areas hit by the 20mph vandals in addition to several roads in Flintshire. Facebook users had a field day at the time, with some tongue-in-cheek suggestions over what the conflicting signs meant. One driver suggested: 'Take your pick?' A few people took the signs literally, one man said: '30 on the left side and 20 on the right side? Good game of chicken!' Others got mathematical, coming up with: '30 + 20 = 50.' Some people are not pleased about the move to 20mph, with one petition gaining more than 20,000 signatures. The Welsh Government has said the policy aims to 'save lives and reduce the risk and severity of injuries from collisions between vehicles and vulnerable road users'. It also hopes more people will be encouraged to 'make more sustainable travel choices' which also come with physical and mental health benefits. This week cars have been spotted with red ribbons tied to their bonnets - in protest of the new speed limit. The red ribbons are related to the UK's Locomotive Act 1865, also known as the Red Flag Act. The Act required any self-propelled road vehicle to be preceded by a person walking at least 60 yards ahead, carrying a red flag. It also brought in the world's first speed limits, which was 4mph in rural areas, 2mph in towns and meant you'd receive a 10 fine for speeding. The legislation was approved by the Senedd in July 2022. Angry drivers in Wales are tying red ribbons to the bonnet of their cars in an act of protest against the controversial new speed limits An Austrian supermarket was evacuated after the store manager reportedly spotted a banana-loving spider capable of causing permanent erections in men. The Penny shop in Krems an der Donau, 45 miles west of Vienna, remains closed since Tuesday over fears of the four-inch black and red spider. Emergency services were called and warn the spider, still at large, may have been a highly venomous Brazilian Wandering Spider, known to reach Europe by hiding in bunches of bananas. The creature is one of the planet's most venomous spiders, and bites can be fatal after causing hypothermia, blurred vision, convulsions and, in some cases, erections. The spider's venom is even being studied for use in erectile dysfunction treatments after it was found that a bite from one of the spiders can give male victims a painful four-hour erection. An exterminator has been called and the banana crates in the store have been sealed, but reports say the shop will likely remain closed until next week. Banana crates had to be sealed amid fears of the four-inch spider A Brazilian Wandering Spider, one of the planet's most venomous arachnid A spokesman for the Rewe retail group said that 'comprehensive cleaning and disinfection measures' are now under way to prepare the store for reopening. But authorities added that: 'Despite an extensive search, no spiders have been found to date.' The size and colouring of the 'unidentifiable' spider led authorities to believe it was a Brazilian Wandering Spider, capable of emitting a deadly neurotoxin. Some 4,000 people are bitten by the arachnid each year, with 0.5 per cent of bites leading to death. Much has been done to develop an effective anti-venom, reducing the likelihood of death. But just one bite from the spider can also cause severe cramping and tachycardia, or an increased heart rate. The Brazilian Wandering spider appears in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's most venomous arachnid. Its scientific name - Phoneutria - is Greek for murderess. They are known as the wandering spider because they do not build webs, but instead walk the jungle floor at night looking for prey. In urban areas, they often take refuge in houses and cars, where they are easily disturbed by humans. In 2021, taxi driver Joe Stein found one of the spiders among a bunch of bananas purchased from a Sainsbury's in West Wickham, Bromley. He opened the bag to find a two-inch 'dark mass' hanging from the fruit and was terrified to see it twitch. Mr Stein, from Beckenham, Kent, said: 'I sort of had to refocus my eyes so I could see his big bony, hairy legs. It was a bit shocking! 'Obviously I was shocked, my girlfriend was a bit shocked, finding out it was a venomous spider if alive. 'Luckily I think it was dead, but it was enough to make us both jump and feel on edge. The Penny Supermarket in Krems, 45 miles west of Wiener, was shut on Tuesday over the scare A Brazilian Wandering spider, pictured, found in a bunch of bananas in Bromley, UK, back in 2021 In 2015, a British family were left fearing one of the spiders had disappeared in their house after noticing a suspicious white spider cocoon on a bunch of bananas. Michaela Egan from Rainham, Essex posted an image on her Facebook page and friends suggested it could be a Brazilian Wandering spider. The mother-of-two immediately put it in a sealed bag and returned it to the Rainham Tesco where staff offered her a full refund before sending the banana off to be tested. The full-time mother said that she could have easily handed the banana to her daughter for her packed lunch. Various localities in China have been exploring region-specific approaches to push urban village renovations to better meet people's demands for a better life and improve public services. Shanghai, the country's financial hub, rolled out a three-year roadmap last month. The plan laid out 30 renovation projects in villages and in old residential communities covering an area of at least 4 million square meters. The projects, which will occur from 2023 to 2025, are expected to benefit some 13,000 households. Data from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development showed that as many as 679 such projects are being planned in urban villages, involving about 107,000 households. Zhuanqiao township is one area of Shanghai that is successfully undergoing urban renewal. The township in Shanghai's Minhang district used to be an urban village, where over 7,000 migrant workers lived. Since renovation projects began there in 2015, tremendous changes have taken place. Besides the customary tearing down of hazardous buildings and the development of new residential communities that all urban villages are undertaking, an ecological park is also being constructed in Zhuanqiao. Xie Wei, deputy head of the township, said that the park, scheduled to be completed by 2026, will seamlessly blend Zhuanqiao's historic architecture and cultural facilities and contribute to the township's economy, which will be driven by sightseeing, homestays and leisure activities that will enable more people to work close to their homes. "Residents have been living here for generations. Retaining old buildings can serve as an important way to feed their sense of nostalgia," Xie said, adding that the construction of roads, schools and other infrastructure will greatly raise their living standards. To meet the pressing need for capital, the city has put in place urban renewal funds jointly financed by property developers and insurance companies to support the renovations. Moreover, Shanghai has been attracting investments from the private sector through multiple channels, including construction contractors and commercial banks. By the end of 2022, the city's 62 approved urban village renovation projects had attracted private investments amounting to more than 550 billion yuan ($76.5 billion). Guangzhou, the provincial capital of East China's Guangdong province, has also been exploring urban village renovation projects that best suit its local conditions. Compared with other super-large and mega cities across the country, Guangzhou has seen more villages mushroom in its urban areas rather than in the outskirts. Among 1,000 administrative villages in Guangzhou, 272 have been deemed urban villages, according to Tang Yixing, chief engineer at the Guangzhou Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau. Urban villages in the provincial capital cover 743 square kilometers, accounting for one-tenth of the city total area. They are home to more than 1.1 million permanent residents as well as over one-third of the city's total migrant population, Tang added. As urban village renovations involve a variety of stakeholders, including local governments, real estate developers and urban village landowners and residents, the city issued a draft version of the Regulations on Rebuilding Villages in Guangzhou in mid-July to solicit public opinion. The regulations will become the first to focus on urban village renewal in the city. Shenzhen, the southern Guangdong metropolis known as China's Silicon Valley, has been working to align its plans for the renovation of its urban villages with government-subsidized rental housing to address the difficulties that new urban residents and young people have with finding affordable accommodations. Shenzhen plans to upgrade 49,000 units of government-subsidized housing in urban villages throughout this year, with rents remaining basically unchanged, according to the Shenzhen Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Bureau. In the long run, it is expected that government-subsidized housing will accommodate 5 million people by 2035, accounting for about 26 percent of the city's permanent residents, the bureau said. Xu Hongcai, deputy director of the economic policy committee of the China Association of Policy Science, said renovations of urban villages is a complex and long-term task. Localities should share their experiences with other regions so that they can avoid making costly errors and succeed in their efforts. analysis It is perhaps only natural, as hip-hop celebrates its 50th anniversary, that people look to the genre's future. But for some rappers, the future has always been part of the story. Ever since August 1973, hip-hop artists have turned to Afrofuturism - a mix of science fiction, politics and liberating fantasy - to inform their lyrics and their look. As a professor of African diaspora religious philosophies and a fan of hip-hop, I've long been interested in intersections between Afrofuturism and hip-hop. I have found that hip-hop artists from the 1970s onward have employed Afrofuturism as a means to help Black Americans overcome isolation and racism. They do so by taking listeners on journeys in and beyond the here and now, from an often imagined past to an imaginative future. And through that journey comes greater self-clarity, self-empowerment and self-determination. Black diaspora ancestors Author and lecturer Mark Dery is credited with coining the term "Afrofuturism" in his 1994 essay "Black to the Future." In it, he describes the concept as "speculative fiction that treats African-American themes and addresses African-American concerns in the context of twentieth century technoculture." More broadly, he adds, Afrofuturism uses tech-filled imagery to envision a better future. Academics have since further explored the meaning of Afrofuturism. In her 2013 book "Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture," independent scholar Ytasha Womack describes the cultural phenomenon as "an intersection of imagination, technology, the future, and liberation." Although the term appeared in the 1990s, Afrofuturism has been applied retroactively to describe Black writers, artists and musicians. In the United States, Afrofuturism was shepherded by generations of Black visionaries from the time of institutional slavery to the Civil Rights era. In fact, it predates hip-hop's beginnings in 1973, and it developed independently from hip-hop throughout the years. Octavia Butler, for example - the "mother of Afrofuturism" - decided that it was necessary to write her lived experience into science fiction, which was dominated by white male authors. From the 1970s to 2000s, she combined African mythology with social activism to conjure images of alternate Black worlds. But perhaps more important in terms of its influence on hip-hop is the music of those associated with Afrofuturism, especially George Clinton, leader of the funk band Parliament-Funkadelic. Clinton blended sonic sounds, wore ornate Pan-African clothing and incorporated spaceship stagecraft called "The Mothership." Hip-hop artists often include snippets of Clinton's music, such as on rapper and producer Dr. Dre's album "The Chronic." Aliens and alienation Hip-hop artists influenced by Afrofuturism have long been aware that American society made many Black, Indigenous and other people of color feel different - less than human, or even like aliens - and expressed this through their art. And like socially conscious hip-hop, Afrofuturism has always had a political element. Commentator Taylor Crumpton explains, "Afrofuturism has been woven into social movements that worked against white supremacy to move toward a future where radicalism is viewed, not as something to be fought, but a societal good." Numerous Black hip-hop songs that portray strange settings, space travel or life on other planets reinforce Afrofuturism's emphasis on difference and otherness. Take, for example, Public Enemy's "Fear of a Black Planet," Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force's "Planet Rock" or Ras G's "Brotha From Anotha Planet." Similar to experimentalist jazz bandleader Sun Ra, who claims aliens selected him to preach cosmic enlightenment on Earth, the Atlanta-based duo Outkast - whose very name suggests alienation - refer to themselves as "ATliens". Such hip-hop artists offer mesmerizing messages, sounds and beats that seem to come from another world. They help listeners see life as an outsider. In so doing, the artists reclaim the alien moniker as an act of resistance. Higher levels of consciousness Afrofuturism aims to elevate human consciousness. Like Sun Ra's jazz fusion ensemble "Akestra," which deliberately designed music to help people see themselves and the world differently, Afrofuturism seeks to decolonize human minds. Cultural critic Greg Tate describes how Afrofuturism entered mainstream public awareness in 2018 with the release of the Marvel movie "Black Panther." The film depicts an African kingdom whose advanced technology leads to a better world. Kendrick Lamar, winner of the best rap album at the 2023 Grammys, recorded five of 14 songs on the Afrofuturist "Black Panther" movie soundtrack. One of them was "All the Stars." Journalist Taylor Hosking noted that in the music video for the song, "Lamar is on a voyage to (and through) Africa that starts in an ark-like vessel with a sea of hands waving below. The hands might call to mind the bodies of those who drowned during the Middle Passage, as well as a crowd of fans at a concert." Indeed, Lamar fuses African Americans' desire to know what Africa was like prior to colonization to a futuristic pilgrimage that reimagines what it would be like to return to one's ancestral roots. The journey home may be different for everyone, but knowing the past can enhance one's understanding of the present and outlook on the future. Take nothing for granted In "Africa As an Alien Future," academic Ruth Mayer observes how Afrofuturism's collapsing of past, present and future results in "strange sights - alien, aquatic, artificial - which force us not only to reconsider the past, but most of all the present we like to take for granted." Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Africa Entertainment By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre's dystopic video for "California Love," for example, which was set in California in 2095 and includes a cameo appearance by George Clinton himself, evokes vivid images of turf war battles in a post-apocalyptic, climate change-ridden, desert wasteland with sparse water. Afrofuturists challenge societal assumptions about Black Americans' role in their country's history, both then and in the future. This is a reason why I teach in my "Hip-Hop and Religion" class Tupac's "Thugz Mansion." In the song, Tupac not only reaffirms a core tenet of Afrofuturism - Black people will in fact survive and thrive in the future - he also visualizes a realm for them where peace is pervasive: Dear mama don't cry, your baby boy's doing good / Tell the homies I'm in heaven and they ain't got hoods / Seen a show with Marvin Gaye last night, it had me shook / Drinking peppermint Schnapps, with Jackie Wilson, and Sam Cooke / Then some lady named Billie Holiday / Sang sitting there kicking it with Malcolm, 'til the day came / All in all, Afrofuturism counsels marginalized peoples to reassess past wounds and present injustices, while reassuring them that there are possible futures where they can feel they belong. Roy Whitaker, Associate Professor of Africana Philosophy of Religions and American Religious Diversity, San Diego State University A Tory MP has quizzed the Bank of England about an employee and Labour parliamentary candidate who posed as a zombie during a Greeenpeace protest. Danny Kruger has urged Andrew Bailey, the Bank's Governor, to probe Alistair Strathern's involvement with the environmental campaign group. Mr Strathern, who is set to stand for Labour in a by-election in Mid Bedfordshire, works as 'climate lead for insurance' at Threadneedle Street. The 33-year-old was recently unmasked as an eco-activist who posed as a zombie during a Greenpeace protest outside the Home Office in November last year. Mr Kruger has now sent a series of questions about Mr Strathern in a letter to Mr Bailey, including whether he was allowed to leave work in the middle of the day to join the stunt. The row over Mr Strathern's links to Greenpeace comes after a group of eco-activists scaled the roof of Rishi Sunak's Yorkshire mansion and unfurled Greenpeace banners. The demonstrators were arrested following their widely-condemned action at the Prime Minister's private family home. Labour candidate Alistair Strathern was recently unmasked as an eco-activist who posed as a zombie during a Greenpeace protest outside the Home Office in November last year Mr Strathern, who is also a Bank of England employee, is pictured smiling alongside Sir Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner last month Tory MP Danny Kruger has urged Andrew Bailey, the Bank of England's Governor, to probe Mr Strathern's involvement with the environmental campaign group Mr Kruger (right) has sent a series of questions about Mr Strathern in a letter to Mr Bailey (left) Tory Cabinet minister Grant Shapps this week accused Sir Keir Starmer of 'plotting to put eco-fanatics in Parliament' as he urged the Labour leader to 'stand up for Britain' and ditch Mr Strathern as a parliamentary candidate. In his letter to Mr Bailey, Devizes MP Mr Kruger - a former Downing Street aide to Boris Johnson - claimed Mr Stathern 'may have committed a breach of the Bank of England's guidance on impartiality' by joining the November 2022 stunt. He pointed to how a photograph issued by Greenpeace from their protest outside the Home Office was taken at 10.30am on a Tuesday. Mr Kruger asked: 'Can you confirm Mr Strathern received permission to leave work in the middle of the day to perform this protest attacking the Government? 'Can you confirm what the Bank of Englands policy is on employees taking leave to perform stunts in the middle of the working day?' Mr Kruger highlighted how the Bank's code of conduct 'sets out that employees must support the Bank in its work to ensure it remains respected as an apolitical body and avoid any suggestion that the Bank's decisions are inappropriately influenced'. He claimed Mr Strathern had 'failed in his duty to avoid any suggestion that the Bank is being inappropriately influenced'. He also urged Mr Bailey to 'investigate this case fully and provide me with an assessment of Mr Stratherns actions and whether his conduct breaches Bank of England guidelines'. 'Given these concerns, questions should be asked about whether Mr Strathern has made all the appropriate declarations set out in the Bank of Englands code of conduct in relation to his selection as the Labour candidate in the Mid Bedfordshire by-election?,' he added. 'For example, can you rule out he was not meeting senior members of the opposition or far-left protest groups during his working day at the Bank of England?' Mr Strathern's profile on LinkedIn states he has been employed by the Bank of England since September last year, while he has also been a Labour councillor in Waltham Forest since 2014. He previously worked in banking and studied PPE at Oxford, where hw was co-chair of the university's Labour Club. Mr Strathern is Labour's candidate to contest the Mid Bedfordshire seat set for a by-election once ex-Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries stops being an MP Mr Strathern is Labour's candidate to contest the Mid Bedfordshire seat set for a by-election once ex-Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries stops being an MP. His partner Megan Corton-Scott is a political campaigner for Greenpeace. A Labour insider branded Mr Kruger's letter about Mr Strathern 'desperate stuff'. Last Thursday, a group of demonstrators scaled Mr Sunak's Grade II-listed constituency manor house to protest against the PM's plans to grant more than 100 new licences for oil and gas extraction in the North Sea. The activists draped an oil-black fabric from the roof, staying there from about 8am to 1.15pm, when they were arrested and later bailed amid an ongoing investigation by North Yorkshire Police. Both the Bank of England and Mr Strathern have been contacted by MailOnline for comment. A Labour Party spokesman did not comment. A British Army corporal who 'pinned' a female colleague down on her bed by her wrists and 'nibbled' her ear while rubbing himself against her has been kicked out of the military. 'Very drunk' Corporal James Larty attacked the woman in her own room wearing just his boxer shorts after boozy celebrations for the anniversary of the Battle of Cambrai. The 26 year old, of the Royal Tank Regiment, had been out celebrating the historic victory which saw the first use of mass tank formations break the deadlock of trench warfare in France in November 1917 by breaching the Hindenburg line. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that as a result of her ordeal she suffered 'sleep paralysis' episodes at night during which she woke thinking Cpl Larty was attacking her again. After a trial Cpl Larty was found guilty of sexual assault. Corporal James Larty (in mask) outside Bulford Military Court Now, at Bulford Military Court, Wiltshire, he has been dismissed from the Army and ordered to pay his victim 1,200 in compensation. Outlining the case to Cpl Larty, Assistant Judge Advocate General Jane England said: 'In November 2022, your unit was involved in Cambrai celebrations where unit personnel were out drinking. 'The complainant was drinking lightly and following an altercation she decided to go back to her room and you went with her. 'She accepted your presence and you shared a shot of sambuca. 'At some point you got into her bed uninvited in just your boxer shorts and wanted her to join you.' The court heard Cpl Larty was 'persistent' in his efforts to get the female soldier to join him, ignored her requests for him to leave and carried on drinking. 'She was on the phone to her friend as she didn't know how to get you out but you weren't to be deterred,' the judge said. The court heard 'very drunk' Cpl Larty pulled the young woman onto the bed before 'pinning' her by her wrists and kissing her neck, 'nibbling' her ear and saying he 'wanted her' as he rubbed his groin against her. When she was able to grab her phone, Cpl Larty left but returned, told her she 'better not say anything about it' and denied anything sexual had happened. View of Bulford Military Court, where Cpl Larty was found guilty of sexual assault In a victim personal statement read to the court, the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had felt 'unsafe' and 'scared' in her own room during the incident. 'After he left the room I broke down,' she said. 'When I tried to explain it to my sisters I started crying again.' On the long-term impact the assault has had on her, she said: 'I would go to sleep but wake every hour or half hour. 'I would get sleep paralysis of Cpl Larty's body. 'He would be at the end of the bed and start to get on top of me and then choke me out. 'This went on for for around two weeks.' In mitigation, Ellie Fargin told the court that as the assault happened via 'pinning' the woman, it was at the 'lower end' of a scale of force used as his victim suffered no physical injuries. Addressing Cpl Larty, Judge England said it was a 'serious sexual assault'. 'It was in her room and you refused to leave despite her making it clear she wanted you to go,' she said. 'You used some force by pinning her down so she couldn't escape. 'You went back to her room denying you had done anything wrong. 'The MoD (Ministry of Defence) has zero tolerance to sexual offences and such behaviour shows a complete lack of respect towards colleagues.' Sentencing him, she said: 'You sexually assaulted a fellow soldier in her room and we have no doubt it is serious enough to warrant dismissal and is appropriate in your case.' Cpl Larty was handed a nine months sentence suspended for 24 months. He was ordered to complete 30 rehabilitation days as well as 270 hours of unpaid work within a year. An Australian journalist languishing in a Chinese gulag has written a heartwrenching letter about how she pretends her family is hugging her back home when she wraps herself in jail-issue bedding. Cheng Lei, 48, also revealed that she only gets 10 full hours of sunlight a year, uses 'daggy Aussie humour' to keep her spirits up and secretly mouths Australian place names to remind herself of 'freedom'. Despite the constant efforts of Australian officials to get the mother-of-two released, Ms Cheng has been locked up in a Beijing cell for almost three years under the authoritarian state's draconian security laws. Ms Cheng, who worked as CNBC's China correspondent, is accused of illegally supplying state secrets overseas, but the charge is widely considered to be part of the one party state's grim policy of using 'hostage diplomacy' to leverage democratic nations like Australia that are deemed hostile. The accused spy's letter was passed to an Australian consular official in Beijing and given to her partner, Nick Coyle, who sent it to Australian media outlets. 'I miss the sun. In my cell, the sunlight shines through the window but I can stand in it for only 10 hours a year,' the message reads. Australian journalist Cheng Lei has been languishing in Chinese detention for almost three years on vague security related charges 'Every year the bedding is taken into the sun for two hours to air, when it came back last time, I wrapped myself in the doona and pretended I was being hugged by my family under the sun. 'I can't believe I used to avoid the sun when I was living back in Australia, although knowing Melbourne weather, it will probably rain for the first two weeks after I return.' Ms Cheng said another thing she desperately misses is Aussie humour. The letter begins with the line: 'G'day Aussies, excuse the daggy slang from someone in need of 'ockerism'.' 'Growing up Chinese Australian, I had two identities that would often fight for the upper hand depending on the context and the company, but in humour, the Aussie humour wins hands down every time,' she said. 'Even though we speak different languages and eat different meals, we laugh the same and have an eye for the absurd.' However, Ms Cheng said what she most missed were her 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son, who are living with her parents in Melbourne. Ms Cheng's partner Nick Coyle (pictured left with Ms Cheng) said her jail term had been very hard on her children What is 'hostage diplomacy' and why do China use it? 'Hostage diplomacy' occurs when a state deploys its criminal justice system to detain a foreigner and then uses the prisoner for leverage in the pursuit of foreign policy objectives. This form of coercion occupies an ill-defined middle ground between legitimate arrests and prosecutions on one side, and illicit kidnapping on the other. The early stages of hostage diplomacy resemble lawful detention: The state arrests a foreigner for suspected criminal wrongdoing, often espionage. The accused is detained and formally charged. However, the pretense soon falls away. Hostage diplomacy ends with the state negotiating for the prisoner's release through a series of diplomatic or economic concessions. Along the way, the accused transitions from prisoner to bargaining chip. Source: Texas National Security Review Advertisement Ms Cheng, who migrated to Australia from China at the age of 10, called message was a 'love letter to the 25 million people and 7 million square kilometres of land, land abundant in nature, beauty and space'. 'It is not the same in here, I haven't seen a tree in three years,' she said. 'I miss the Australian people, the closing hours of food market stalls, with butchers calling out the end of day prices and Sunday flea markets, immigrant family run takeaway shops. 'I secretly mouth the names of the places I've visited and driven through.' After occupying a high profile position as an anchor on China's English-speaking CGTN news channel, Ms Cheng was suddenly detained in Shanghai by the Chinese Ministry of State Security on 14 August, 2020 The unexpected and largely unexplained arrest came at a time of deteriorating relations between Beijing and the then Morrison government. The bitter feud erupted when Australia called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the Covid pandemic. Being were furious about the call for transparency and slapped Australia with about $20billion worth of trade sanctions while Chinese diplomats publicly decried Canberra. A 'verdict' on Ms Cheng's case has been promised eight times but was last month delayed until at least October. Ms Cheng has been denied visits from Australian consular officials since July 27. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she would continue to fight for Ms Cheng's release. 'Ms Cheng's message to the public makes clear her deep love for our country. All Australians want to see her reunited with her children,' Senator Wong said. 'Australia has consistently advocated for Ms Cheng and asked that basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment to be met for Ms Cheng, in accordance with international norms. Ms Lei said she had not seen a tree for three years and has only had 10 hours of full sunlight in her cell a year 'Our thoughts are with Ms Cheng and her loved ones, including her two children.' Ms Cheng's partner Nick Coyle, 43, said it would be everyone's best interests, especially Ms Cheng's children, if she was released immediately 'Lei hasn't been able to be with her daughter going into high school and her son will go into high school next year, these are such important and formative years, not only is Lei missing out but her children are missing out on her,' he said. 'Three years is a landmark and the motivation behind the message is to give her a voice about how she feels about her county and her children.' Mr Coyle lives in Port Moresby and is not the not father of Ms Cheng's two children. The Armed Forces should consider allowing older personnel to serve for longer in a bid to combat a recruitment crisis, a defence minister has suggested. Andrew Murrison admitted he was 'not happy' with either recruitment or retention of staff in the military as he called for a more 'flexible' approach to its workforce. He also said Armed Forces chiefs should be 'casting the net more widely' to hire more neurodiverse people as warfare changes with an increasing focus on cyber capabilities. Ministry of Defence data showed 5,420 more people left than joined the regular Armed Forces in the year to April. Recruitment to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines was down 22.1 per cent compared to the previous year, while recruitment to the Army was down 14.6 per cent year-on-year, and the RAF down 16.6 per cent. It was recently reported how the Royal Navy had held an emergency board meeting to discuss staffing problems. Defence minister Andrew Murrison admitted he was 'not happy' with either recruitment or retention of staff in the military as he called for a more 'flexible' approach to its workforce Ministry of Defence data showed 5,420 more people left than joined the regular Armed Forces in the year to April Could it be the return of Dad's Army? Mr Murrison said military chiefs should consider allowing older personnel to serve for longer in a bid to combat a recruitment crisis In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Murrison acknowledged the Armed Forces faced a 'catalogue' of gaps in recruitment, including engineers, chefs and psychiatrists. He said the situation was not 'disastrous', but added: 'I'm not happy with recruitment and I'm not happy with retention.' Mr Murrison outlined how existing service personnel could be allowed to serve for longer to tackle the issue. 'As the workforce ages, as we compete for available talent, I think we have to look at hard cut offs for service personnel,' he said. He noted how it was 'quite difficult to serve beyond the age of 55 unless you're very, very senior' and anyone in the Armed Forces over the age of 60 is an 'exception'. The defence minister added there was 'no philosophical barrier as to why we couldn't look at extending the age of retirement'. Mr Murrison also spoke of 'casting the net more widely' as the military moves towards becoming a more skills-based organisation amid the rise of cyber warfare. He said he wanted to explore recruiting more staff with autism, Asperger's and ADHD, who may 'have skills and attributes which other people do not have'. The number of people crossing the English Channel on small boats in the last five-and-a-half years could have passed 100,000 following fresh arrivals of migrants on lifeboats on Thursday. Analysis of Government figures since current records began on January 1 2018 showed that, as of Tuesday, 99,960 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey. RNLI lifeboats were spotted bringing dozens to shore on Thursday, meaning it is likely the milestone has been reached. An eyewitness said there appeared to be more than 40 people brought ashore on board two lifeboats, which had attended a dinghy out in the Channel. They included women and children, with one woman carrying a small child in her arms. A migrant dinghy containing dozens of migrants giving the thumbs up on a chaotic day for border officials A RNLI lifeboat brings in a group of migrants into Dover Port that were found crossing the English Channel in an inflatable dinghy today Migrants wave to the cameras they approach British shores The RNLI had a busy morning escorting boat loads of migrants to the shore Monthly small boat crossings over the period running from January 2018 to August 2023 Data on the number of migrants detected crossing the English Channel in small boats to enter the UK each day is published by the Home Office and Border Force. The figures are published the day after and in its latest update on Thursday, the data shows that on Wednesday, zero people were detected. What are the numbers? How many have made the crossing per boat? The average number of people on each boat was seven in 2018, 11 in 2019 and 13 in 2020. This number leapt to 41 people in 2022 So far in 2023 the average is running at 46 per boat Who has arrived? There is a varied mix of nationalities arriving on the shores. Provisional data for January to July 2023 suggests the number of Albanians arriving has dropped back to just 3% of arrivals, Afghans remain at 20%. People of Turkish (10%) and Indian nationality (7%) are almost level with Iranians (11%) and Iraqis (9%). What age and sex are those who are arriving? Males accounted for 88% of small boat arrivals in the first three months of 2023. 13% of all arrivals in January to March this year were males under the age of 18. 32% were males aged 18-24. How many have applied for asylum? According to Home Office data, a total of 90% of migrants claimed asylum or were recorded as dependent on an application in the year to March. Small boat arrivals accounted for 44% of the total number of people who claimed asylum in the same period. Advertisement Since the beginning of January 2023 to August 9, figures show 15,071 people crossed the Channel. Tory Party deputy chairman Lee Anderson said he is 'very angry' about the 100,000 figure and that 'if things don't go to plan', the Government may have to take 'drastic measures' and leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). He told GB News: 'I'm very angry about the number. Again, very angry, as you know, every single day when I see these illegal migrants and let's be clear on what they are. 'They're illegal migrants. They're not genuine asylum seekers ... look, it's been very, very difficult for the Government. I've been banging out about it since I got elected.' On the ECHR, he said he has always been 'an advocate of leaving', adding: 'You know, we're a team. If things don't work, if things don't go to plan, then we've got to take drastic measures, and I would fully support the Government in doing that.' It comes just weeks after sweeping asylum reforms became law and while the Government fends off legal challenges in the courts over its Rwanda deal and decisions to house migrants on former military sites in Essex and Lincolnshire. Meanwhile, asylum seekers were finally moved onto the Bibby Stockholm barge this week on the Dorset coast after the plans were beset by delays. The much-criticised Illegal Migration Act, central to the Prime Minister's pledge to 'stop the boats' crossing the Channel, will prevent people from claiming asylum in the UK if they arrive through unauthorised means. Officials are still working on when the legislation will come into force, and it is anticipated elements of the new laws may be implemented in stages over the coming months. A series of Home Office announcements were also made this week, such as a crackdown on immigration lawyers helping migrants 'exploit' the system, and a new partnership with Turkey to disrupt people-smuggling gangs. An eyewitness said there appeared to be more than 40 people brought ashore on board two lifeboats, which had attended a dinghy out in the Channel The migrants were pictured packed into a small dinghy approaching the famous white cliffs of Dover The Illegal Migration Act will prevent people from claiming unauthorised asylum in the country Moreover, talk of leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is once again dividing the Conservative Party, after immigration minister Robert Jenrick hinted on Wednesday that the Government could pull out of the agreement. Newspaper reports suggest that at least eight Cabinet ministers are among the senior Tories prepared to put leaving the ECHR at the heart of the Conservatives' next election campaign if deportation flights are blocked by the courts. The Daily Telegraph reported that up to a third of the Cabinet will join other Conservative MPs in backing the move, in a bid to tackle small boats crossing. The RNLI confirmed today all migrants who had been found in the sea had been rescued safely in the incident. A spokesman said: 'This morning (Thursday 10 August) all-weather RNLI lifeboats from Dover, Ramsgate and Dungeness, along with Littlestone RNLI's inshore lifeboat, were tasked to an incident in the Channel by HM Coastguard. 'On arrival at the scene, some casualties were found to be in the water. All casualties are believed to be accounted for and were brought to safety by the RNLI's volunteer crews.' At least 36 people have been killed in the Hawaii wildfires with the death roll expected to rise. Maui firefighters are desperately hunting for survivors in the scorched remains of a historic town, which one resident says has nearly been 'wiped off the map'. All of the victims were in Lahaina, the 'decimated' town where some 271 buildings have been destroyed by the blaze which has ravaged 800 hectares of land, fanned by powerful winds. But what exactly caused the blazes in Hawaii? Has there been an update from local authorities since the evacuation? Read on below for everything you need to know about the wildfires raging in Hawaii. READ MORE: Maui fire live updates - follow along for all of the latest coverage At least 36 people have been killed in the Hawaii wildfires with the death roll expected to rise. Maui firefighters are desperately hunting for survivors in the scorched remains of a historic town What caused the Maui wildfires in Hawaii? The blazes appear to have started in vegetation, before spreading into populated areas as wind gusts of over 60mph were recorded on the island. A large part of Hawaii was under a red flag warning for fire risk when the inferno broke out, however the exact trigger for the blaze is still unknown. 'We don't know what actually ignited the fires, but we were made aware in advance by the National Weather Service that we were in a red flag situation so that's dry conditions for a long time, so the fuel, the trees and everything, was dry,' Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, commander general of the Hawaii Army National Guard, said. Low humidity and high winds also 'set the conditions for the wildfires,' he said. The wildfires, which have been whipped up by strong winds from Hurricane Dora passing far to the south, took the island of Maui by surprise, leaving behind burned-out cars and smoking piles of rubble where historic buildings stood. Flames roared throughout the night, forcing adults and children to dive into the ocean to escape the fire. The blaze began early on Tuesday August 8, threatening homes, businesses and more than 35,000 people on the island of Maui, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said. Thousands of tourists at the popular holiday destination are stuck on the island and seeking temporary shelter after being ordered to evacuate. Satellite images, taken before and after the fires erupted, showed the devastation to the landscape and infrastructure. While tourists usually flock to Lahaina for its white sandy beaches and stunning resorts, for residents it is a town rich with heritage and filled with historical sites. The National Weather Service has warned that more destruction is on the way. The blaze began early on Tuesday August 8, threatening homes, businesses and more than 35,000 people on the island of Maui, the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency said Initiating a red flag warning, it said on Wednesday afternoon: 'Very dry fuels combined with strong and gusty easterly winds and low humidities will produce critical fire weather conditions through the afternoon hours.' US President Joe Biden said in a statement: 'Jill and I send our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones in the wildfires in Maui, and our prayers are with those who have seen their homes, businesses, and communities destroyed. 'We are grateful to the brave firefighters and first responders who continue to run toward danger, putting themselves in harm's way to save lives.' Some 85% of wildfires in the US are caused by humans, according to the National Park Service. This may be form a range of sources including unattended campfires, discarded cigarettes or acts of arson. Lightning and even volcanic activity are listed as two natural causes of wildfires while strong winds can spark power lines that go on to ignite brush. Fleetwood Mac frontman Mick Fleetwood has said he is 'devastated' after the wildfires raging in Hawaii burned his restaurant to the ground. The British musician opened Fleetwood's on Front Street in 2012, and said that his main priority is 'the safety of our dear staff and team members' in Maui. Authorities confirmed that at least 36 people have been killed in the wildfires, with locals fearing that the death toll will continue to rise and warning that it is a 'mass casualty event'. Fleetwood has lived at a property in Napili Bay, just ten miles from the razed restaurant, for 'several decades' adding that he is 'heartbroken' and 'committed to supporting the community'. Aerial images show that the restaurant - famous for its beef wellington - has been completely destroyed by the wildfires blazing across Maui for two days In a statement, he said: 'This is a devastating moment for Maui, and many are suffering unimaginable loss. 'On behalf of myself and my family, I share my heartfelt thoughts and prayers for the people of Maui. 'We are committed to supporting the community and those affected by this disaster in the days and months and years to come.' Images show the destruction of the restaurant caused by the wildfires blazing across Maui for two days Horrifying footage shot from a plane landing in Maui shows the extent of the fires which continue to ravage the small island President Biden has also declared a major disaster in Maui County and ordered federal aid to help state and local recovery efforts. It comes as a heartbroken Maui man has described fleeing the devastating blaze with his grandfather - saying that his family has 'lost everything' as relatives are still missing. Dustin Kaleiopu said that there is 'nothing left to go back to', as multiple members of his family remain missing on the island. Kaleiopu said that he fled his home with his grandfather, 82, and his father 'lost it' after driving past his brother while trying to flee - having assumed all his relatives were dead. Speaking to CNN he said: 'This is unprecedented. My home, my hometown, there is nothing left. Nothing to go back to. My family is thinking to leave the island completely. 'We have nothing but the clothes on our back right now. Everything we had is gone and our house was completely engulfed. There is nothing left. 'So many people have gone missing. I will say that that is an unspoken fact that the death toll is way higher than 36. People on the ground are saying there are at least 100 dead, there are bodies everywhere. 'And we just hope that it is not confirmed to be, like I said, too much higher than that number. But there was a mass casualty event that happened this week. 'I wasn't home when the fire started. I was staying at my brother's house like a mile or two away from home, and I live with my dad and my grandpa. The British musician opened Fleetwood's on Front Street in 2012, and said that his main priority is 'the safety of our dear staff and team members' in Maui Aerial images show the utter devastation of Lahaina after wildfires burned through the small town Maui resident Dustin Kaleiopu said that he was searching for his extended family, with 'so many people' still missing The fires have devastated the tiny island, leaving hundreds of residents and tourists missing. Pictured: Victoria-Eugene and Eric Recolizado with their son Justin who are missing The Hawaii Department of Transportation confirmed that Maui's Kahului Airport is open, with thousands stranded there trying to escape the island State officials are working with hotels and airlines to try to evacuate thousands of tourists to another island 'My dad called me and said, 'Hey, I heard there is a fire, I can't get in touch with your grandpa. Go and check on him.'' 'My brother ends up joining us, and we fall asleep because there was nothing else to do. Everything was closed no electricity. 'We had to wait until everything was on fire because we had no ability to know really how much of it was really going on.' Kaleiopu's father drove by his brother less than an hour later, after catching sight of him in the traffic evacuating the tiny town. 'When my dad realized that it was my brother, he completely lost it. They had a moment on the side of the highway,' Kaleiopu said. 'Because he had assumed that everybody had died in the fire just by how drastic things had been when he got there after being at work all day.' Hundreds of people are still missing on the island, with concerned relatives posting on social media in a bid to locate them. Family members have been urged to contact the Red Cross as well as local hospitals in a bid to locate their relatives, after communication lines have been severed due to the level of destruction by the fire. Maui firefighters and emergency services are overwhelmed with the scale of the blaze in the historic town of Lahaina where 800 hectares of land and 271 buildings have been 'decimated'. Hundreds of residents are still missing after the fire, which swept through the small town after starting on August 8 President Joe Biden has declared a major emergency in Hawaii, allowing residents and businesses access to federal funding Airports in Maui are still 'operating efficiently', with officials confirming that Oahu and Kauai are still open for business despite the evacuation efforts Blake and Linda Matsui are amongst those who have vanished, with their families putting out a desperate plea to help track them down Bill Seidl, 74, (left) is also missing in the wildfires, with his daughter reaching out to the Red Cross to try to locate him The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street It has left hundreds of people missing, with relatives desperately searching for any sign that they might have been rescued or found shelter after fleeing. Horrifying footage shot from a plane landing in Maui shows the extent of the fires which continue to ravage the small island. Locals have set up a document for relatives to list the last place their loved ones were seen, though authorities are yet to set up any official way or reporting anyone missing. State officials are working with hotels and airlines to try to evacuate thousands of tourists to another island. The Hawaii Department of Transportation confirmed that Maui's Kahului Airport is open, with thousands stranded there trying to escape the island. Ed Sniffen, director of the Hawaii State Department of Transportation, confirmed that nonessential inbound travel to Maui is strongly discouraged. He estimated that around 2,000 people stayed overnight in the airport, with a further 4,000 visitors trying to leave the island from the west side. Airports in Maui are still 'operating efficiently', with officials confirming that Oahu and Kauai are still open for business despite the evacuation efforts. Airports in Maui are still 'operating efficiently', with officials confirming that Oahu and Kauai are still open for business despite the evacuation efforts To help people get out of Maui as quickly as possible Hawaiian Airlines says it's added flights and is offering low $19 fares main cabin fares An American Airlines spokeswoman said the carrier plans to operate all of the scheduled flights to and from Kahului Airport in Maui on Thursday People wait on the side of the road to return to west Maui after wildfires driven by high winds were believed to have destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina The Hawaii Tourism Authority worked with the American Red Cross to set up the assistance center, with shuttle buses taking the stranded from Honolulu's airport every 20 minutes Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines all are offering travel waivers for travel to Maui allowing passengers to change plans without penalty. An American Airlines spokeswoman said the carrier plans to operate all of the scheduled flights to and from Kahului Airport in Maui on Thursday. A spokeswoman said the carrier has 'added an additional flight and upgraded an aircraft today to ensure customers evacuating OGG are able to do so.' The Hawaii Tourism Authority said in a statement that West Maui is the area that travelers need to avoid, adding: 'Visitors with travel plans to stay in other parts of Maui and the Kohala Coast of Hawaii Island in the coming weeks are encouraged to contact their hotels for updated information and how their travel plans may be affected.' Officials were left scrambling to evacuate the thousands of visitors to the island, and are preparing to move those unable to return to their homes to the Hawaii Convention Center, along with displaced Maui residents. The Hawaii Tourism Authority worked with the American Red Cross to set up the assistance center, with shuttle buses taking the stranded from Honolulu's airport every 20 minutes. To help people get out of Maui as quickly as possible Hawaiian Airlines says it's added flights and is offering low $19 fares main cabin fares. 'We're doing what we can to provide resources to take care of our employees, and we're doing what we can to take care of our guests,' said Hawaiian Air CEO Peter Ingram. Dramatic footage has captured the moment a Target shoplifter was nabbed by cops after he stole a TV, only to return to steal a second one moments later. Seth Berman, 34, was caught stealing from a Target in Atlanta, Georgia, on Monday. Police say they believe he had been under the influence of drugs at the time. Store workers flagged down a police officer after Berman brazenly returned following the first theft. The cop waited outside with security and approached the male as he exited the store with the second 65 inch LG TV. Bodycam footage shows the cop sprinting after Berman with his taser drawn and tackling him in the parking lot. Berman was charged with felony shoplifting and felony obstruction and is currently in Grady Memorial Hospital for medical treatment. Berman had been attempting to steal a second TV when he was caught In the footage, the officer can be seen standing outside the Target store and approaching Berman as he attempted to leave with a large television. With his taser already out, Berman then turned and fled back into the store, before going back on himself and out the other exit. Still clutching his taser, the officer managed to pin Berman to the ground after dramatically lunging at the man in the parking lot. Berman began fighting back, shouting: 'I didn't do s**t. Please stop man, I don't wanna f***ing go to jail.' Dash cam footage taken from the arresting officer's car shows the two tussling on the ground outside the store. After two minutes, backup arrived on the scene to assist the officer with the arrest. The video then cut back to the body cam footage, and Berman can be heard shouting: 'Please stop man, I need to go to a hospital,' before he screams in pain. The arresting officer, Jean Jonasaint, is said to have sustained only minor injuries during the altercation. In the police report, medical staff at Grady Memorial Hospital advised police that Berman had an elevated heart rate from possibly ingesting drugs. Officers also noted in the report that Berman was sweating profusely and suffered abrasions to his arms from being on the concrete. In a receipt given to police by Target, Berman is said to have tried to steal two LG 65-inch televisions along with other items. In total, the items came to $1,288.90 and police say Berman will be transported to Dekalb County Jail following his release from hospital. The arresting officer is said to have sustained only minor injuries during the altercation Berman was charged with felony shoplifting and felony obstruction following the incident In a statement, the City of Atlanta Police Department said: 'On August 7, 2023, at around 5:30 PM, an Atlanta Police Officer was heading to a call when he was flagged down outside the Caroline Street Target, by Target security. 'The security guard advised a suspect had stolen one television from the store and returned moments later to take another. 'The officer waited outside with the security guard and approached the male as he was leaving with the second TV. 'Upon seeing the officer, the suspect ran. The officer gave chase and caught the male just outside the store. Berman fought back with the arresting officer for several minutes until backup arrived 'The suspect fought with the officer for several minutes until backup arrived and he was taken into custody. 'The officer and suspect sustained minor scrapes during the altercation. 'This is a great example of how quickly things can change for our officers and how important it is our officers are prepared for anything they might face during their shift. 'The officer's training kicked in and he remained calm and in control, despite the suspect's repeated attempts to overpower him during the fight.' A Michigan woman was arrested for performing a sex act on her dog Max after her ex-boyfriend found disturbing footage of the incident on home surveillance cameras and handed it to the police. Brittany McClure, 30, was charged this week with sodomy and animal abuse for the alleged assault of the pet, according to Fox 2 Detroit. She performed oral sex on the dog and tried to get him to reciprocate the act, detectives said. McClure was lying on a mattress on the living room floor and was heard calling the pet a 'good boy'. Her ex-boyfriend reported her to the police after the cameras in their home caught her performing the sex act with Max. Michigan woman Brittany McClure, 30, was arrested for performing a sex act on her dog Max after her ex-boyfriend found disturbing footage on security cameras and handed it to police She was charged this week with sodomy and animal abuse for the alleged assault of Max (pictured), according to Fox 2 Detroit The Taylor Police Department said he turned in the sickening video, and after looking through all six minutes investigators said her actions were 'plain as day'. Charges were secured against McClure for sodomy and animal abuse and Max was listed as a victim in the report. 'In that video, it shows defendant Brittany McClure lying on the living room floor on a mattress with a blanket. She opens the blanket and calls the dog over,' Detective Philip Collop said in court on Wednesday. He added: 'She is heard saying "good boy".' Another police officer at the Taylor Police Department was left shocked by the incident and sad he has never seen anything like this in more than two decades on the job. '[It was] plain as day: his ex-girlfriend performing fellatio on their dog named Max and her attempts to get Max to reciprocate,' Lieutenant Frank Canning said. He added that McClure admitted to performing the sex acts on the dog and believed she had a fetish. 'Kind of an interest in fetish stuff that was seen on the internet,' Lieutenant Canning said. She performed oral sex on the dog and tried to get him to reciprocate the act, detectives said. McClure was lying on a mattress in the living room and was heard calling the pet a 'good boy' Lieutenant Frank Canning was left shocked by the incident and has never seen anything like this in more than two decades on the job The Taylor Police Department said McClure's ex-boyfriend turned the sickening video in and investigators looked through all six minutes and her actions were 'plain as day' 'I don't know that any justification could justify these acts. She did own up to performing these acts on Max. 'Thankfully the video was captured, I would hate for this to become a regular thing for Max.' The dog was not hurt in the incident and he was returned the care of McClure's ex-boyfriend. McClure was ordered not to have any contact with animals and the judge set a bond at $100,000. Officers said she claimed this was the only time she performed sex acts with an animal. She faces up to 15 years in prison if found guilty of sodomy and up to four years if found guilty of animal abuse. A 26-year-old accused of raping and abusing hundreds of children used techniques learned studying psychology to manipulate his victims, police have said. A search of the suspect's flat in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil, uncovered more than 1,700 sickening files on his devices, including 350 allegedly showing him raping children. Footage obtained from the Parana Police shows officers searching the suspect's flat with a sniffer dog. A spokesperson said they had taken the accused student into custody, 'suspected of committing sexual abuses against more than 300 children and some adolescents.' Jose Barreto, Chief of the Cybercrime Combat Unit with the Civil Police of Parana, explained: 'The man had books on understanding children's verbal behaviour. 'With his psychologist's knowledge, he would have found it easy to entice children to engage in lewd acts.' Police arrest a 26-year-old student in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil, on Wednesday, Aug 9, 2023 Police investigate the room of a 26-year-old student in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil, undated A statement from the police said: 'The individual's crimes include child rape, virtual child rape, the production, storage, and sharing of child pornography, and enticing children to engage in lewd acts. 'During the operation, a search and seizure warrant was executed, leading to the discovery of child pornography files. 'The man was also caught in the act and charged with producing and storing materials related to child sexual exploitation.' More than 350 of the files uncovered, they say, were 'produced by the man while he was committing acts of child rape'. The statement continued: 'In addition to the actual rapes, the man engaged in virtual child rapes. 'For this purpose, he maintained multiple fake profiles on the internet, which he used to lure children. 'Through video calls, he coerced the victims into performing sexual acts alone and with objects. 'Everything was recorded, including showing the abuser's face and reactions.' Mr Barreto added that the man would lure children through virtual games. He said: 'He would offer virtual coins, prizes, and gifts to children in exchange for sending photos or engaging in sexual acts. 'The moment a child performs any sexual act or appears naked, it already constitutes a crime.' Barreto also said that the suspect had created a 'fake female profile to gain the trust of children'. The police said that some of the files dated back as far as 2016. The police said that their investigation was conducted 'through cyber investigation techniques and using advanced technology.' Police investigate the room of a 26-year-old student in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil, undated Delegate Luciana Novaes, Chief of the Specialised Police Division of the Civil Police, said that the arrest is just the first step and that their investigations are ongoing. She said: 'The arrest was the first step. Now, with the continuation of the investigations, it's important to identify the children who are victims, as all of them need to be treated. 'It's possible that the man might have violated the same child multiple times; once he managed to captivate the child, he felt secure, so he will likely repeat the behaviour.' analysis Many African tax authorities have weak capacity to raise revenue. From 1990 to 2020, sub-Saharan African countries on average collected only about 12%-15% of GDP as taxes, a much lower share than the 33.5% in OECD economies. For countries that have limited information about taxpayers, constrained resources and informal economies, it can be difficult to collect revenue. What's more, African tax administrations tend to rely on manual filing and payment of taxes. In-person interactions between taxpayers and tax officials are common, creating opportunities for collusion when paying taxes. African taxpayers also experience higher compliance costs than similar regions when navigating opaque tax systems. Kenya has faced many of these challenges. To streamline processes and make them more transparent, the country has in the last decade begun to digitise public services like tax collection. Digitisation also aims to enhance taxpayer identification and monitoring capacity, and lower the costs of compliance for taxpayers. In the latest policy reforms, the country plans to introduce digital identity documents for all Kenyans by February 2024. A digital ID system, e-ID, uses digital technology across the entire ID lifecycle: capturing, validating, storing and transferring data. In Kenya, each citizen will receive a unique personal identifier. It will be crucial throughout a child's journey in school. From the age of 18, the identifier will become an official national identity number for access to the full range of public services. At the same time, Kenya is on course to eliminate cash transactions for all government services. These services include business registration, passport services, and land and property services in 2023. Combining mandatory electronic tax payment and e-IDs could greatly improve revenue collection and efficiency, and cut taxpayers' compliance costs. Electronic filing of taxes has been mandatory since 2016 to collect taxes on employment, business and rental incomes. The system supports a wide range of tasks, from registrations to refunds. Taxpayers can still pay taxes using cash, however, by visiting authorised banks or Kenya Revenue Authority service centres. Universal e-payment of taxes is expected to change all that. We have between us years of research in governance, public finance and taxation conducted in African countries. Our view is that a number of challenges and constraints need to be considered to unlock the benefits of a fully digitised tax administration, not just in Kenya but elsewhere. Technology and taxation Technology can strengthen tax administration in at least three ways: 1. Identifying the tax base: using third-party information, technology can create comprehensive databases of taxable subjects, making it easier to determine what tax is payable. Kenya's digital ID would improve the way government databases work together and the revenue collector's "view" of taxpayers. 2. Enforcing compliance: technology can automatically check what a taxpayer reports against other data sources. Efficient e-filing platforms can automatically identify missed or late declarations. The unique identifiers provided by an ID scheme make this work. 3. Facilitating compliance: tax e-filing and e-payment can help reduce compliance costs. They improve record-keeping and eliminate travel, queuing and capricious manual practices from tax officials. And the biographic information in the digital ID database helps with tax registration. But evidence suggests that important preconditions must be met for IT-based tax reforms to succeed. In the case of Kenya, accessibility and taxpayer costs should be policy priorities when mandating e-payment. A recent study on tax e-filing, for instance, revealed that not everyone had access to devices necessary for e-filing, and there were language barriers. These practical challenges typically pushed taxpayers to use intermediaries: they went back to a manual, in-person experience. These shortcomings increase the risk of errors, misuse of personal data and bribery. Less tech-savvy taxpayers might be vulnerable. As filing levels are already poor, e-payment solutions should make it easier, not harder, to comply. Lessons from other countries E-services help improve filing accuracy and timeliness, but one lesson from our research is that this does not always translate into higher tax revenue. Positive impacts can be short-lived, as adoption of digital merchant payments in Rwanda indicates. Here, taxpayers quickly reverted to pre-adoption compliance levels. Similarly, in Ethiopia, the adoption of point-of-sale electronic tax devices increased revenues, but gains were offset by taxpayers inflating other, less verifiable margins. Making digital systems compulsory, as in Rwanda and Eswatini, does not necessarily lead to people using them. Digital divides emerge between adopters and non-adopters. The less equipped, more marginalised and less tech-savvy taxpayers fail to take up the tools. Our research also shows that digital ID schemes must meet several conditions for tax administrations to benefit meaningfully. Digital IDs must be universally adopted. Identification data should be accurate and up to date. Strong cooperation across government entities is necessary to allow data sharing, as we've seen in our ongoing work in Uganda and Ghana. Which way for Kenya? The government and tax administration must be cautious about digital IDs. Poor-quality and outdated data from e-ID could be damaging to the Kenya Revenue Authority's functions. The institutions involved should promote a culture of information updating in the population. They should encourage citizens to share valid information with the government. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Kenya Business ICT By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. It's vital to establish a robust data protection framework and digital trust, especially after the failure of the country's National Integrated Identity Management System. Citizens need clarity on data usage and how the new project differs from the previous one if they are to trust the digital ID system. Similarly, the government and revenue authority must support citizens to move towards fully digitised tax payments. They can do this by creating systems that are simple and secure, and by providing assistance and training. The development of e-government must happen along with a framework for data protection and cyber-security response infrastructure. Besides threatening citizens' data privacy and security, system failures - like the one that recently disrupted access to multiple services on the e-Citizen portal - have extremely serious repercussions on citizens' trust in government and technology. Nimmo Elmi (PhD) contributed to some of the research on which this article is based. Celeste Scarpini, Researcher, Institute of Development Studies Fabrizio Santoro, Postdoctoral Fellow, International Centre for Tax and Development, Institute of Development Studies Politicians have been urged to tone down hardline rhetoric over the Bibby Stockholm barge amid a heated row over immigration policy. Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson and former Labour shadow home secretary Diane Abbott have been urged to dial it down after highly charged interventions in recent days. Ashfield MP Mr Anderson provoked criticism - and support from No10 - when he said migrants unhappy to be housed on the vessel in Portland Harbour in Dorset could 'f*** off back to France.' And last night Ms Abbott deleted a tweet in which she linked his comments and Tory immigration policy with a migrant disaster in the Mediterranean, saying the 41 who drowned 'have indeed f***ed off to the bottom of the sea'. Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael MP said: 'I think we need to restore good old fashioned decency and respect in our politics. 'That is what the British people expect of politicians, and I hope the language we have seen over the past week is not seen again. Tory deputy chairman and former Labour shadow home secretary Diane Abbott were among those urged to chill out after highly charged interventions in recent days. Ashfield MP Mr Anderson provoked criticism - and support from No10 - when he said migrants unhappy to be housed on the vessel in Portland Harbour in Dorset could 'f*** off back to France.' Former Labour Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott has been slammed for saying migrants who drowned off Italy have 'indeed f***** off... to the bottom of the sea' Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael MP said: 'I think we need to restore good old fashioned decency and respect in our politics. Downing Street on Tuesday backed the Tory deputy chairman after his blunt message to migrants boarding the barge, which can hold 500 people. He delivered his blast after 20 people declined to get on the vessel, with lawyers claiming some who had a 'severe fear of water' after traumatic experiences. Despite outrage at the comments, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk supported Mr Anderson's 'salty' indignation as 'well placed'. And No10 refused to back away from Mr Chalk's defence of his Conservative colleague, with a spokeswoman saying: 'Alex Chalk was speaking for the Government.' Mr Carmichael today branded Mr Chalk's defence as 'toe-curling'. Ms Abbott' deleted her online message last night after Tory criticism. The independent MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington tweeted 'These migrants have indeed f***** off. To the bottom of the sea,' as she shared a news story about the disaster in the Mediterranean. She had previously described Mr Anderson's comments as 'a new low even for the Tories'. Forty-one people are believed to have died after a boat carrying migrants capsized off Tunisia in rough seas. The metal boat carrying 45 people left Sfax, Tunisia on August 3, but the vessel was overturned by a huge wave hours into the journey. Survivors were taken to the island of Lampedusa on Wednesday after a rescue operation. Tory former minister Brendan Clarke-Smith tweeted: 'And to think that Sir Keir Starmer campaigned for this person to be made our Home Secretary. 'We all know that you can't take Labour seriously on immigration or national security, but what a shame they also seek to exploit tragedies like this to push their warped agenda.' A Conservative spokesman told the PA news agency Ms Abbott's tweet was 'wrong'. 'The fact that she deleted it suggests she agrees with us,' they added. Ms Abbott had the Labour whip suspended in April for suggesting Jewish, Irish and traveller people are not subject to racism 'all their lives' in a letter to the Observer newspaper. The lawyers for Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger have put forward testimony by a genealogist that casts doubt on the reliability of genetic genealogy, which investigators used to arrest him. Detectives relied on genetic genealogy to build their case against the 28-year-old, as they used the method to build a a DNA profile from the DNA left on a knife sheath at the scene - and then matched that profile to Kohberger's dad before his arrest. While prosecutors claim they matched DNA from the sheath directly to Kohberger after he was arrested, they first used genetic genealogy, and his defense has so far focused on scrutinizing the process used by investigators to collect evidence and build the DNA profile, arguing it could have been flawed or unconstitutional. In their latest attempt to request the data and methods used by investigators to match the DNA evidence to Kohberger, the defense team filed an affidavit on Wednesday by Dr Leah Larkin, an expert on the subject from California. In her affidavit, seen by DailyMail.com, Larkin argues DNA profiles built by at-home test companies such as 23andMe and AncestryDNA are not constructed the same way as those by specialized laboratories, and are not as reliable. The lawyers for Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger have put forward testimony by a genealogist that casts doubt on the reliability of genetic genealogy The defense team has filed an affidavit by Dr Leah Larkin, an expert on the subject from California (L-R) Housemates Dylan Mortensen, Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (on Kaylee's shoulders) Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle and Bethany Funke 'A poor quality kit might have too few matches or it just might have phantom matches that are not real measures of relationship,' the document reads. Larkin notes that sites such as AncestryDNA, 23ndme and MyHeritage prohibit forensic/investigative genetic genealogy in their databases, but there isn't really a way to enforce it. 'In the absence of effective oversight, forensic genetic genealogists are on an 'honor system' to obey the Terms of Services and the Department of Justice Interim Policy on forensic genetic genealogy.' Larkin explains that the science used by these sites is not perfect, and 'any given centimorgan amount can represent more than one possible relationship.' She notes one example that has nearly 20 possible relationship lines listed for a match - and says that's considered a close match. Larkin points out that unlike DNA tests that find an individual, which are standard forensic STR tests, genetic genealogy testing identifies possible relatives. She then goes on to note cases she's allegedly aware of where genetic genealogy has been wrong, as well as cases where the databases were used improperly by authorities. The FBI tracked down Kohberger by tracing his distant relatives through genetic genealogy databases - and then secretly collected a sample of his father's DNA to confirm his identity. Police say DNA found on a knife sheath left at the Idaho murders scene is a 'statistical match' to a cheek swab taken from the suspect after his arrest. A sample of DNA left on the sheath is 'at least 5.37 octillion times more likely to be seen if (the) Defendant is the source than if an unrelated individual randomly selected from the general population is the source,' prosecutors said in the filing. Kohberger had no prior criminal record which means his DNA was not in any law enforcement database. Genetic genealogy is an increasingly popular and useful method of investigation where law enforcement trace suspects' relatives on ancestry websites. When DNA is found at the scene of the crime that does not belong to victims, the first thing police do is run it through their own database to check if it matches the DNA of any previous offenders. A Ka-Bar knife similar to the one thought to have been used in the murders The former criminology student last month chose to 'stand silent' at his arraignment and not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf This process is referred to as a short tandem repeat (STR) comparison and tests the sample against 20 DNA markers - enough to identify the person if their own DNA is already in the system, or, in some cases, if the DNA of an immediate relative is in the system (eg a parent or a sibling). If both strike out, investigators have to look to genetic genealogy to perform a wider search for more distant relatives. Unlike police DNA databases, those of commercial genealogy companies can search for up to 1million DNA markers (using single-nucleotide polymorphisms, not STRs), creating a much wider pool of relatives to sift through. While there are many commercial ancestry websites, only two allow law enforcement to search their databases openly - GEDMatch and Family Tree DNA. Once a suspect is nailed down, genealogical investigators turn their findings over to police. Undercover or covert teams then follow the suspect and surreptitiously obtain a sample from them in order to compare it to the sample found at the crime scene, that was used in the DNA tracing. Kohberger is accused of stabbing to death students Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022. Detectives found a Ka-Bar knife sheath on the bed with the bodies of Mogen and Goncalves. The sheath was partially under Mogen's body and the comforter on the bed, according to court documents filed on June 16. Investigators later closely matched the DNA on the sheath to DNA found in trash taken from Kohberger's parents' home in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested in December 2022. The bodies of the students were found at a rental home across the street from the University of Idaho campus. The slayings shocked the rural Idaho community and neighboring Pullman, Washington, where Kohberger was a graduate student studying criminology at Washington State University. Kohberger is being held at Latah County Jail in Moscow, Idaho, on first degree murder and burglary charges. His trial is set to begin on October 2. He has pled not guilty and faces the death penalty. It's exclusive to the UK to celebrate 25 years since Starbucks opened here Described as 'quintessentially British' it combines clotted cream and fudge Coffee fans are 'in love' with Starbucks' brand new drink that was released today, exclusive to the UK. The Clotted Cream Fudge Cold Brew, has been described by the chain as 'quintessentially British' as it combines two British flavours - clotted cream and fudge. Combined with Starbucks smooth Cold Brew, the drink is a modern version of the UKs favourite 'oh-so-British ritual,' afternoon tea. The unique beverage has been released to celebrate 25 years since Starbucks opened it's first UK store in 1998, on Londons Kings Road in Chelsea. It has has since grown to more than 1,100 stores across the nation. The Clotted Cream Fudge Cold Brew, has been described by the chain as 'quintessentially British' as it combines two British flavours - cream tea and fudge. Coffee fans are over the moon as Starbucks has released a brand new drink today, exclusive to the UK You can get your hands on the Clotted Cream Fudge Cold Brew at any UK store from today (August 10). Coffee lovers have taken to social media to share their excitement- it won't be available anywhere else in the world. However, there's no need to rush - the drink is here to stay as it's been permanently added to the menu. One Twitter user wrote 'starbucks UK releasing a clotted cream cold brew three days before I leave is being gods favourite.' Another added 'the starbucks clotted cream fudge cold brewim in love' while someone else wrote 'Clotted cream fudge cold brew sounds so goooodddd.' One fan who already got her hands on the new drink, commented 'Just tried this and it's lovely!' The drink is handcrafted with Starbucks signature Cold Brew, where coffee grounds are slow steeped in cool water for 20 hours to create a mellow coffee with a rich flavour. The brew is a specially designed mix of Latin American and African coffee grounds that 'guarantee chocolatey flavours with notes of citrus.' Coffee lovers have taken to social media to share their excitement- it won't be available anywhere else in the world You can get your hands on the Clotted Cream Fudge Cold Brew at any UK store from today (August 10) Prepared in small batches, the Cold Brew is combined with vanilla flavour syrup and poured over ice, topped with a sweet cream foam infused with Clotted Cream Fudge flavouring and then finished with a Clotted Cream Fudge topping. Previous cold brew flavours that proved popular with fans in the UK include the autumn staple Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew and the festive menu Toffee Nut Cream Cold Brew. If you don't fancy going into store for the drink, it's available by going through the Drive Thru, or you can order it straight to your door via Starbucks Delivers via Deliveroo, Just Eats and Uber Eats. There's also good news for Starbucks Rewards members - from Thursday 10th - Wednesday 16th August, members get an added bonus if they go for the new British drink. Green members will get Double Stars on purchases of any size of Clotted Cream Fudge Cold Brew. Gold members will get Triple Stars on purchases of any size of Clotted Cream Fudge Cold Brew. Prepared in small batches, the Cold Brew is combined with vanilla flavour syrup and poured over ice, topped with a sweet cream foam infused with Clotted Cream Fudge flavouring and then finished with a Clotted Cream Fudge topping Alex Rayner, General Manager at Starbucks UK, said: 'As Starbucks celebrates 25 years of coffee contributions in the UK, from establishing Pumpkin Spice as an autumn icon, to being the first major coffeehouse to introduce Cold Brew to the UK high street in 2015, we are so excited to continue our coffee craft legacy by welcoming a new, permanent addition to our menus, exclusively available to the UK high street for the first time. 'Clotted Cream Fudge Cold Brew is a little bit special - developed with quintessentially British flavours in mind, its an homage to the people we have been proud to connect with over the years - and we cant wait for you to try it as we look forward to the next 25 years together.' The policeman brother of Tory ex-Cabinet minister Sajid Javid is being handed a top immigration role at the Home Office. Bas Javid, currently deputy assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, has been appointed director-general of immigration enforcement in Whitehall. He vowed to 'protect the integrity' of Britain's immigration system in his new role, which he is due to start in November. Home Secretary Suella Braverman said his 'wealth of law enforcement' would boost efforts to clampdown on abuse. Bas follows his brother Sajid, who served as home secretary between 2018 and 2019, in joining the Home Office. They are among five high-flying Javid brothers who were born to their Pakistani bus driver father before going on to top careers in politics, business, property and the police. Bas Javid, currently deputy assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police, has been appointed director-general of immigration enforcement in Whitehall Bas follows his politician brother Sajid, who served as home secretary between 2018 and 2019, in joining the Home Office Bas and Sajid are among five high-flying Javid brothers who were born to their Pakistani bus driver father before going on to top careers in politics, business, property and the police Bas will be tasked with the operational response to immigration offending while collaborating closely with other law enforcement agencies, including the police and Border Force. He has previously held key positions at Avon and Somerset Police and West Midlands Police. 'Protecting the integrity of the UK's immigration system is vital, so it is an honour to be appointed to this important role,' Mr Javid said. 'I am excited to begin leading a group of dedicated, hard-working and talented public servants to ensure we uphold our rules and laws.' According to the Home Office, immigration enforcement visits are at their highest since 2019 and are up by almost 50 per cent on last year. Mrs Braverman said: 'Immigration abuse is a scourge on our society and I will leave no stone unturned in clamping down on this illegality. 'Bas brings a wealth of law enforcement experience and will further ramp up our efforts to tackle immigration offending, as the British people would expect.' Home Office permanent secretary Sir Matthew Rycroft, the department's most senior official, also welcomed the appointment. He said he looked forward to welcoming Mr Javid to the Home Office and working alongside him to 'tackle illegal migration, which is the top priority for the department'. The Home Office stressed Mr Javid's appointment was overseen by the Civil Service Commission, which regulates senior civil service recruitment and 'followed a rigorous, fair and open competition'. Atif Javid (left) is a property investor and developer in Bristol, while Khalid Javid is a financial advisor Tariq Javid, a supermarket chain boss, was found dead in a hotel room in July 2018 Sajid is currently MP for Bromsgrove but is planning to quit the House of Commons at the next general election. He served in a range of ministerial roles in David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson's governments. This included his spell as Mrs May's home secretary, as well as Chancellor and then health secretary under Mr Johnson. The Javid brothers also include a top property investor, a supermarket chain boss, and a financial adviser. Tragedy struck in 2018 when the eldest Javid sibling, Tariq, took his own life. Sajid recently spoke of how he still wonders if 'there's anything I could have done' to save his brother's life. The Javid brothers' parents moved to Britain from the Punjab in the 1960s to Rochdale, Lancashire, before moving to Bristol where they lived in a two-bedroom flat. Sajid shared a room with his parents along with one of his other brothers. He has previously spoken of being a six-year-old interpreter for his Pakistani mother, who did not speak English for many years after arriving in Britain. He also described how, during his childhood, he had to change his walking route to school to avoid the 'bad kids' who supported the National Front. Bas's current role as deputy assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard involves high-level responsibilities, including overseeing specific operational areas, contributing to strategic decision-making, and holding a critical position in the force's chain of command. Republicans in Iowa overwhelmingly believe that the party's 2024 candidates should commit to supporting the eventual nominee, putting them on a collision course with frontrunner Donald Trump. In an interview on Wednesday night, the former president said he would refuse to sign any pledge to back the eventual Republican candidate. The promise is one of the requirements for 2024 hopefuls to join the first presidential debate later this month. And a DailyMail.com poll found that 65 percent of likely Iowa caucus-goers agreed that candidates should commit to backing the eventual winner of the nomination process. Only 15 percent sided with Trump's position in the survey of 600 Republicans in the state. Candidates are required to sign a pledge to support the eventual 2024 Republican nominee if they want to take part in the party's presidential debates Even 77 percent of his own supporters believe he should sign up. James Johnson, of J.L. Partners which conducted the poll, said it showed that Republicans were looking beyond the nomination race. 'There's a general expectation among the Republican electorate that the final candidate should be backed by the others in the race,' he said. 'That likely stems from a real desire to beat Joe Biden and to take the Democrats. 'That does rather temper the idea that the Republican Party has just become the party of Trump and suggests that beating a Democrat is still important.' Trump has not yet said whether he plans to join the debate in Milwaukee on August 23. As the clear frontrunner, he has more to lose than other candidates, who know that a strong performance could help them leapfrog up the rankings. In an interview with Newsmax, the former president said he would announce his plan for debate night next week. But he made clear he would not go along with the Republican National Committee's demand that all debaters sign up to endorse the eventual nominee. 'So they want you to sign a pledge, but I can name three or four people that I wouldn't support for president,' he said. 'So right there, there's a problem.' Donald Trump appeared on Newsmax on Wednesday evening. He said he could not sign a pledge to support the eventual Republican nominee for the 2024 election So far biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was the first candidate to sign the pledge The focus of the Republican nomination race shifts to Iowa this week with the state fair. Supporters of Ron DeSantis joined its kick-off parade on Wednesday Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy became the first candidate to sign up on Tuesday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis followed a day later. Other candidates have expressed concern about the idea. Former Rep. Will Hurd has said he cannot sign it because of concerns about Trump, while former New Jersey Chris Christie has questioned its value. In the meantime, eight candidates say they have met polling and fundraising criteria to join the debate. Trump has repeatedly said he was not scared of his rivals, but believed there was limited upside to appearing. 'Its not a question of guts. It's a question of intelligence,' he said. The focus of the race shifts to Iowa this week, as candidates flock to the state fair. Iowa Republicans are the first to pick their preferred candidate at their February caucus J.L. Partners surveyed 600 likely Republican caucus-goers in Iowa from August 1 to 7. The results carry a margin of error of +/- four percent Despite the decline of DeSantis, in a head-to-head match-up the Florida governor remains the best placed to give Trump a run for the Republican nomination The state is the first to select its preferred nominee, giving it an outsize voice in the race. A good performance here can make a campaign, while a bad result can end a candidate's run overnight. Trump will be there at the weekend and his main rival Ron DeSantis was embarking on a bus tour of the state on Thursday. The DailyMail.com poll shows Trump retains a tight grip on the race. He is in clear first place with 43 percent support in the state (up from 41 percent in April, when the poll was last conducted.) But Ron DeSantis has lost nine points, putting him on 17 percent. The results spell more trouble for the Florida governor who this week rebooted his campaign yet again. Meanwhile Sen. Tim Scott has surged to 11 percent. Ecuadorian presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, was forced to cancel an in-person interview with a Colombian cable television news network a week before he was assassinated. Villavicencio, 59, had been scheduled to meet with NTN24 program director Ruth Del Salto on August 1 in Guayaquil, Ecuador, the network revealed Wednesday, just hours after he was gunned down after leaving a campaign event at a school in the capital, Quito. Nine people, including a candidate for the National assembly and two police officers, were wounded, Ecuador's Attorney General's Office said in a statement. At least seven people were arrested, including one gunman who was shot by cops and then died in an ambulance that was rushing him to a local medical facility. NTN24 said Villavicencio opted to hold a virtual interview with Del Salto. Ecuadorian presidential candidate was assassinated moments after walking out of a campaign event at a school gym in Quito, Ecuador, on Wednesday Villavicencio appeared on a virtual interview with Colombian television news network NTN24 on August 1 after he was advised to cancel the in-person sit down with Ruth Del Salto, the channel's program director The right-wing politician and former journalist said that the threats came down from the Sinaloa Cartel, the notorious Mexican criminal organization founded by the jailed drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, and one of its main associates in Ecuador, Jose 'Fito' Macias, the jailed boss of Los Choneros gang. Villavicencio, a married father of five, said the menaces were the byproduct of a campaign pledge to tear down criminal organizations who were linked to political figures. 'What these threats that come from the Sinaloa Cartel do is demonstrate is that our government program is a program that precisely aims to break and dismantle these criminal drug trafficking structures in collusion with political actors, and this is perhaps the most important thing,' he said. As one of the eight candidates running for president, Villavicencio stressed that Ecuador could no longer fear criminal organizations. 'They pretend to have a country on its knees as they already did in Colombia, as they did and are doing in Mexico,' he said. 'A brave president has to arm himself with the courage of his people and tell the criminals, these gangs of hitmen, drug traffickers and members of criminal structures that they are not going to win.' Villavicencio said last week that he and his team had been threatened by a drug trafficking gang. He is pictured at the rally on Wednesday One woman appeared to be seriously injured in the shooting, and was carried back inside Villavicencio, a candidate of the Build Ecuador Movement, added that results of the August 20 elections which will take place on its scheduled date, according to a government statement Thursday would show that 'either the homeland triumphs or the mafias triumph.' 'Here I am showing my face. I'm not scared of them,' he said in a statement before his death, naming Macias by his alias 'Fito.' Villavicencio was a former member of Ecuador's National Assembly before it was dissolved in May and was polling at 7.5 percent. His campaign advisor, Patricio Zuquilanda, told The Associated Press that he had received at least three death threats prior to the attack and that reports were filed with authorities. One arrest was made. Jose 'El Fito' Macias is one of the leaders of the Ecuador-based gang Los Choneros, a gang linked to the Sinaloa Cartel Ecuador's president on Wednesday evening tweeted a photo of their emergency meeting People are seen taking cover as gunshots were fired following a political rally in Quito on Wednesday The father of five was known as a thorn in the side of corrupt companies and politicians Zuquilanda issued a plea to international authorities, calling on them to take a stand against the wave of violence and drug trafficking in the South American nation. 'The Ecuadorian people are crying and Ecuador is mortally wounded,' he said. 'Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society.' Villavicencio was one of the most critical voices against corruption, especially during the government of former president Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over statements made against the former president. He fled to Indigenous territory within Ecuador and later was given asylum in Peru. As a legislator, Villavicencio was criticized by opposition politicians for obstructing an impeachment process this year against President Guillermo Lasso, which led the latter to call the early elections. Lasso, who was at risk of being impeached when he dissolved the National Assembly and called the elections, said at the end of May that he would not run for re-election. The legislature had been considering Lasso's impeachment over allegations he had ignored warnings of embezzlement relating to a contract with state-owned oil transportation company Flota Petrolera Ecuatoriana (FLOPEC). Lasso, who was at the premier of the film Sound of Freedom when he learnt of Villavicencio's killing and was hurried out, said the murder will not go unpunished. 'For his memory and his fight, I assure you that this crime will not remain unpunished,' tweeted Lasso. The businessman and his glamourous wife who bought 'Britain's wonkiest pub' which was later destroyed by a fire has today been pictured for the first time. Adam Taylor and his wife Carly owned the Crooked House in Himley, Staffordshire when a major blaze broke out over the weekend - just days after the 18th-century inn was sold to them. Diggers then demolished the historic boozer on Monday 'without council permission'. As police confirmed the fire is now being treated as arson, it today emerged the couple had previously bought and allegedly gutted another traditional pub. Former nail technician Mrs Taylor, 34, from Lutterworth, Leicestershire, controls letting and real estate firm ATE Farms Ltd, which bought the pub from brewery Marston's. ATE Farms is registered to the same address as Himley Environmental, which runs a 37-acre quarry and landfill site next to the pub. Her 44-year-old husband, a plant hire boss and a shareholder and former director at Himley Environmental, also owns the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn, a pub in the Warwickshire village of Willey around five miles away from their home. Mr Taylor bought the pub in 2020 and is said to have ripped out the interior, before council planners issued a 'stop notice' to prevent any further works. It is now closed. Adam Taylor and his wife Carly owned the Crooked House in Himley, Staffordshire when a major blaze broke out over the weekend (the couple are pictured together) Adam Taylor, 44, plant hire boss and a shareholder and former director at Himley Environmental, also owns the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn, Slide me Adam Taylor, 44, is a plant hire boss who also owns the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn, a pub in the Warwickshire village of Willey. It is pictured now (left) and before its closure (right) The interior of the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in Willey, Warwickshire, pictured yesterday The Sarah Mansfield Country Inn pub has been undergoing a conversion led by Adam Taylor Adam Taylor bought the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in Willey, Warwickshire, in 2020 A side view of the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in Willey which is currently closed The disused car park of the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in Willey, pictured yesterday A sign warning of CCTV camera surveillance at the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in Willey He subsequently submitted a planning application to convert the first floor of the pub to six letting bedrooms, while restoring the ground floor to a pub and building two houses in the rear car park. Britain's 'wonkiest pub' where coins rolled UP the bar before being destroyed by fire: How Staffordshire venue The Crooked House sunk 4ft into ground due to mine subsidence A wonky historic 18th-century pub that burned down last week was famed the world over for its baffling appearance and optical illusions that saw coins and marbles appear to roll up the bar. The Crooked House in Himley, Staffordshire, attracted tourists from across the world and was a popular wedding venue. Prior to its destruction, the venue was often described as Britain's wonkiest pub, sitting 4ft lower on one side than the other. The Crooked House pub, pictured in 1907 It was first built as a farmhouse in 1765, but gradually sank into the ground on one side due to subsidence from mining works carried out in the 1800s. It was converted into a pub in around 1830 and was first known as The Siden House 'siden' being Black Country dialect for 'crooked'. It was later renamed the Glynne Arms after Sir Stephen Glynne, a brother-in-law of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, who owned the land on which the tavern stood. While the Glynne Arms name remained above the door into the 1970s, the pub had acquired a more affectionate nickname among locals by then - the 'Crooked House', which was later adopted as the formal moniker. Inside, drinkers might have been convinced they had one too many before they had even sipped their first pint because while the floors and fixtures such as the bars and seats were level, the ceilings, walls and windows were not. A picture postcard from the early 1900s shows marbles appearing to roll up the bar A mind-boggling optical illusion known as a 'gravity hill' meant that coins and marbles appear to roll uphill when placed on slightly downhill surfaces that were sitting at a less jaunty angle than the rest of the pub. Picture postcards of the era a popular way for visitors to show families back home where they were visiting in the years before photography was commonplace made much of the pub's quirks. Many are captioned 'The Crooked House', while one even features a table of well-dressed country gentlemen marvelling at a marble appearing to roll up their table. The pub had been threatened with closure in the 1940s after it was deemed unsafe. By this time, one side of the building had sunk a full 4ft into the ground, despite the owners installing buttresses to stop it from slipping any further. Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries then purchased the building, reinforcing the supports with girders, and it remained open until earlier this year when the same brewer now known as Marston's announced that it was closing it as part of a cost-cutting regime. The brewing giant said it was selling off 61 locations to 'maximise returns from our core estate'. The Crooked House went on the market in January with a guide price of 675,000 and was sold last month to ATE Farms Limited, a company controlled by Carly Taylor, 34. Advertisement Rugby Borough Council had approved a request by villagers to protect the Sarah Mansfield as 'an asset of community value' in March 2021, but an appeal then overturned the decision. One local resident told MailOnline that the 'ruthless' businessman bought the Sarah Mansfield with 'the intention of gutting in and turning it into rental accommodation'. The woman, who declined to be named for fear of recrimination, said: 'The new owner did just that, he bought it and in two to three days he got his team of workers in, the skips were in place, and they gutted it. 'They ripped out everything to the outrage and upset from local people - the plaster, the plumbing, the electrics, it is a shell. 'He sought planning permission to create rental rooms and claimed he would keep part of the premises as a pub but we don't think that was ever his intention. 'He wanted to cash in with rentals, and build two new houses in the car park. 'All the villagers objected, there are only around 20 of us, but the pub was the heart of our village, it was thriving and attracted outside visitors too, and he ripped that out.' A fellow villager added: 'We know Mr Taylor by reputation and when we heard it was his new Crooked House pub bulldozed, it was a weird feeling of deja vu. 'He comes into communities and wrecks them, with no regard to local people, and for his own profit and gain. 'The guy is absolutely minted from all his business deals, he has a crew of people running around for him 24/7 who no doubt he rewards well, but how much more money does he really need to make? 'We heard he struck lucky by selling off landfill sites he owned in the West Midlands for the HS2 scheme, and he got a small fortune from the Government venture. 'He has become a force to be reckoned with, people are scared of him and the authorities seem to bow to him. It is outrageous that one man and his wife can yield so much power. 'What he is doing to local communities, ripping down well-known pubs for development and his greed, is outrageous and the authorities should put a stop to it. 'He does whatever he wants to do and seems to get away with it. We've heard he's worth a shed load of money. He drives around in a Bentley with personalised plates.' Drinkers at The Barn pub - two miles away from the Sarah Mansfield - where Mr Taylor was a regular until he was barred, told MailOnline the 'super rich' self-styled entrepreneur charmed everyone he met, with one adding: 'He was always as nice as pie if you treated him properly. 'Even if he doesn't know you, if you give him the time of day, he'll buy you a drink or two and seems a really nice guy. He's been lucky in a lot of places with business. 'He'd often drink in his local pub. His wife would drive him here in the Bentley, leave him for a while, and then pick him up. She would never come in with him.' They added that he would never leave a tab and 'paid everything upfront in cash'. A regular at the pub said: 'He has been barred from this place. 'He would always turn up with an entourage of people, with an "I'm better than you" attitude. 'He once told the boss that he needed to have "Belvoir Vodka or I won't come back". He was that arrogant. The boss informed him: "We don't stock that so don't come back. You're barred!"' The Times reported today that Harborough District Council in Leicestershire last month approved the Taylors' application to build 21 holiday homes at their farm despite objections over local traffic concerns. The Taylors have not yet commented on any matters since the fire broke out at the weekend. The intercom went unanswered at the couple's gated home yesterday. But a Staffordshire Police spokesman said officers had 'spoken to, and continue to engage with' the owners of the Crooked House. He added that the force's joint investigation with Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service had so far been unable to determine the cause of the blaze. Former nail technician Carly Taylor, 34, of Lutterworth, Leicestershire, controls letting and real estate firm ATE Farms Ltd, which bought the Crooked House pub from brewery Marston's Pictures have emerged of Carly Taylor, who was behind the purchase of the Crooked House Locals inspect the rubble of the Crooked House pub in Himley, Staffordshire, on Tuesday The Crooked House, which was dubbed 'Britain's wonkiest pub', is pictured before the fire Tom Catton, who ran the 18th-century Crooked House with his wife Laura between 2006 and 2008, drinks a can of beer amid the rubble as a final farewell to the building on Tuesday A police spokesman said: 'Speculation is extremely unhelpful and could hinder our investigation.' A source told the Mail that the purchase of the Crooked House was 'all about access' and followed disagreements between Himley Environmental and Marston's over an access road which they shared. Himley Environmental's director Richard Longley could not be reached for comment last night. Pictures on social media show Mrs Taylor driving a Bentley, flying first class and posing outside the seven-star Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. A relative said she used to run her own beauty business in Lutterworth, but had since become used to 'living the high life'. The family member added: 'She seems to go here there and everywhere, judging by Facebook.' The relative had no idea Mrs Taylor was now connected to the Crooked House, adding: 'I've driven past the pub before but I've never been inside.' A second person who knows Mrs Taylor said she 'loved shopping for designer handbags' and had 'dozens of them'. Situated in a former mining area, the 260-year-old pub was surrounded by quarries which caused subsistence in the 1800s resulting in the pub becoming lopsided. The business had closed last month to repair damage after a break-in. Villagers climb in the ruins of the Crooked House pub in Himley, Staffordshire, on Tuesday People inspect the rubble of the Crooked House pub in Himley, Staffordshire, on Tuesday Police say the cause of the blaze has not yet been determined but is being treated as arson The Crooked House pub yesterday after its demolition on Monday Staffordshire Police are reviewing 'all of the available evidence' into the cause of the fire A spokesman for Marston's, which put the pub up for sale in January, said the sale was completed on July 27. Mr Taylor's son from his first marriage, Ethan, said he was unable to contact Mrs Taylor but stressed that her firm had purchased the pub, rather than her buying it in a personal capacity. The Crooked House was reduced to rubble on Monday despite South Staffordshire Council stating that it had permitted only the top floor to be demolished for safety reasons. The council said on Tuesday that it was exploring whether the total demolition constituted a breach of the law and stated that it had not agreed to 'the demolition of the whole structure', nor deemed it necessary. The incident has sparked anger in the community with West Midlands mayor Andy Street saying 'questions need answering'. In a letter to South Staffordshire council leader Roger Lees, Mr Street demanded the pub is 'rebuilt brick by brick'. Dudley North MP Marco Longhi yesterday questioned why police did not intervene in the demolition, given that the investigation into the blaze at the site is ongoing. In a letter to Chief Constable Chris Noble of Staffordshire Police, Mr Longhi questioned whether police were notified of the demolition, which took place on Monday. Mr Longhi said: 'If the police are investigating the fire incident, then why would the site be demolished whilst the police are conducting their enquiries, which may possibly require a forensic examination to gather evidence?' The pub started life as a farmhouse in 1765 before becoming a public house in about 1830. The Crooked House was demolished on Monday just hours after it was devastated by a fire The remains of The Crooked House pub are pictured on Tuesday after the demolition Staffordshire Police said on Monday that investigations into the cause of the fire are ongoing Aerial shots after the fire showed just how badly the 18th-century pub in Himley was damaged Locals had started a petition calling for the pub to be saved after a sale was announced It was formerly known as The Siden House - meaning crooked in the Black Country dialect - and was reputedly haunted by a 'serving wench' named Polly, according to a local pub guide. Some 30 firefighters were needed to tackle the blaze at the pub on Saturday evening and it was demolished two days later. Police said last night: 'This fire has shocked and upset so many given the, albeit not listed, cultural importance and heritage of the building. 'This is not lost on us and a robust investigation using all available information and forensic opportunities is being carried out.' A joint investigation is being carried out by the police and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service. A blaze at Black Country pub the Crooked House engulfed the building over the weekend Police arrived at the scene of the pub at 10.45pm on Saturday after the blaze Police are liaising with fire investigators, who have confirmed the cause of the fire cannot currently be determined, but the force said they are following up on a number of lines of inquiry. A specialist fire investigator has examined the scene to try and determine the cause of the fire. The fire service also revisited the grounds yesterday with a specialist accelerant detection dog to investigate further. Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Chisholm, head of specialist crime at Staffordshire Police, said: 'We understand the significance of this much-loved building, and the upset and anger felt by many, so want to reassure you we're doing all we can to understand more about what happened and who was responsible. The crooked nature of the pub attracted punters from around the world for decades Inside, its windows and walls all appeared crooked due to a bizarre effect through subsidence 'There is lots of misinformation circulating within communities and online, and this is unhelpful. 'We're trying to provide accurate and timely updates, but as I am sure you can appreciate there is a lot of work and liaison with a number of partners which needs to be completed, and this takes time. 'There are also certain things that police and fire do not have the powers to deal with, the decision around partial demolition of the building, for example, when the scene was handed back to the owner. 'We are working hard with our fire colleagues to understand the cause of the fire and are in contact with the landowner, we will keep you updated with any further significant developments.' Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Staffordshire Police via 101 quoting incident 761 of August 5. People can also call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or use the Live Chat on the Staffordshire Police website A US military serviceman has denied three counts of rape at an RAF base and will face trial next year. American airman Keiran Lee Bogstad, 22, pleaded not guilty to raping a UK citizen three times between November 2020 and February 2021 at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire. At a hearing at Northampton Crown Court, Bogstad was told he will face trial at the same court on September 30, 2024. Adjourning proceedings, Judge Adrienne Lucking KC said: 'I'm going to release you on bail on the same terms as before. 'You must attend court on every occasion you are required to do so. US military serviceman, Keiran Lee Bogstad, 22, has denied three counts of rape at an RAF base and will face trial next year American airman Keiran Lee Bogstad, 22, pleaded not guilty to raping a UK citizen three times between November 2020 and February 2021 at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire 'If you fail to attend on any of those occasions there will be a warrant issued for your arrest. 'If you fail to attend on the day of your trial the prosecution will apply to go ahead with the trial in your absence.' Bogstad, wearing a polo shirt and chinos, spoke only to confirm his identity and enter his pleas and replied 'Yes ma'am' when the judge asked if he understood what she had said. He was given bail with conditions not to leave the country or contact the complainant, with a previous court hearing having heard that the defendant had already surrendered his passport. His role in the United States Air Force (USAF) was not disclosed in court. Bogstad will face trial at Northampton Crown Court in September next year Bogstad is accused of three counts of rape at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire between November 2020 and February 2021 Bogstad was represented by James Bloomer, with Peter Ratliff prosecuting. The trial is scheduled to take place in September next year and is expected to last six days. Northamptonshire Police previously said it had led the investigation with the 'full co-operation' of the United States Air Force. RAF Croughton, which is currently used by the USAF, was put in the spotlight in 2019 after teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn was killed by American citizen Anne Sacoolas as she drove on the wrong side of the road after leaving the base. A Vancouver woman who went to hospital seeking help for suicidal thoughts has revealed how staff suggested euthanasia the latest sign that the Canada's assisted dying program is out of control. Kathrin Mentler, 37, who suffers from chronic depression, told The Globe and Mail she went to Vancouver General Hospital in June for help with debilitating feelings of hopelessness and suicidality. Instead of being offered support, the clinician told her psychiatrists were in short supply in British Colombia's 'broken' health system. Instead, she says, she was asked: 'Have you considered MAiD?' Medical Assistance in Dying, or MAiD, has been available in Canada since 2016. It's reserved for adults with a serious and incurable illness or disability. Mental illnesses have been added to the criteria, but that change won't take effect until 2024. 'How can this be standard procedure for suicide crisis intervention?' asked Kathrin Mentler, 37 Vancouver General Hospital says it followed the correct procedures and apologized for any distress caused Supporters of the program say it helps the sick alleviate their suffering. Critics say it lacks safeguards and prompts doctors to suggest the procedure to those who might not otherwise consider it. Mentler, a first-year counselling student, says her treatment at the hospital is a sign that the system has gone wrong. Poll Should doctor-assisted suicide be available where you live? Yes No Not sure Should doctor-assisted suicide be available where you live? Yes 4990 votes No 4055 votes Not sure 715 votes Now share your opinion 'I very specifically went there that day because I didn't want to get into a situation where I would think about taking an overdose of medication,' Mentler told the news outlet. 'The more I think about it, I think it brings up more and more ethical and moral questions around it.' Vancouver Coastal Health, which operates the hospital, confirmed that the discussion took place but said the topic of MAiD was raised to assess Mentler's risk of suicidality not to suggest that she receive a lethal injection. Canada has seen steady growth in how many people who end their lives with MAiD. In British Colombia, the numbers jump 24 percent from 2,030 cases in 2021 to 2,515 cases last year. The eligibility rules were set to expand in March to allow MAiD for those with mental illness as the only reason, but the federal government sought a one-year pause to allow for further study. Mentler originally attended the hospital's Access and Assessment Centre, which treats mental health problems and substance abuse, in the hope of seeing a psychiatrist, and was prepared to stay overnight if necessary. She filled out an intake form, and was taken to a smaller room where she shared her mental health history and her overwhelming feelings of depression with a clinician. 'She was like, 'I can call the on-call psychiatrist, but there are no beds; there's no availability,' ' Mentler said. Some 2,515 people received Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) in BC last year, Ministry of Health figures show 'She said to me: 'The system is broken.' Then, the clinician asked: 'Have you ever considered MAID?' Mentler said she was bewildered by the question and had never considered assisted dying before, even though she had in the past tried to overdose on drugs. The clinician said overdosing at home could lead to brain damage and other harms, whereas a state-administered MAiD death of benzodiazepines and other sedatives was more 'comfortable.' Mentler says the encounter left her feeling uncomfortable and emotional, and she posted about it on social media. 'Gauging suicide [risk] should not include offering options to die, which is what it felt like,' she said. 'How can this be standard procedure for suicide crisis intervention?' She has since received help from another clinic. Vancouver Coastal Health spokesman Jeremy Deutsch says the hospital followed protocols. 'During patient assessments of this nature, difficult questions are often asked by clinicians to determine the appropriate care and risk to the patient,' Deutsch told the newspaper. 'Staff are to explore all available care options for the patient, and a clinical evaluation with a client who presents with suicidality may include questions about whether they have considered MAiD.' He added: 'We understand this conversation could be upsetting for some, and share our deepest apologies for any distress caused by this incident.' Duncan's daughters Christie and Alicia Duncan say doctors should have treated their mum's mental health and pain problems rather than greenlighting her for an assisted suicide Police last year launched an investigation into the euthanasia death of Donna Duncan, 61, a nurse and mom British Columbia saw 24 percent more people getting assisted suicides last year what campaigners call an 'alarming' sign of unraveling safeguards on euthanasia in the Canadian province. Some 2,515 people received MAiD in the West Coast region, more than the 2,030 who did so in 2021, BC Ministry of Health figures show. Mentler's case is not the first to make headlines in the province. Last year, police in Abbotsford launched an investigation into the MAiD death of Donna Duncan, and claims by her daughters that the 61-year-old should not have been approved because of her mental health troubles. Duncan's daughters Alicia and Christie requested the probe, saying their mom was suffering from depression linked to a concussion sustained in a car crash when she applied for MAiD. Doctors should have focused on treating her pain and mental health problems rather than greenlight her euthanasia request, they said. The procedure was carried out in October 2021. The police investigation concluded without any arrests. The Duncan family tragedy echoes the case of Alan Nichols, a 61-year-old BC man with a history of depression who was greenlighted for euthanasia on the basis of a single health condition: hearing loss. Nichols submitted a request to be euthanized, and he was killed by lethal injection in 2019, despite concerns raised by his family and a nurse practitioner. His brother, Gary, says he was 'basically put to death.' Many Canadians support euthanasia and the campaign group, Dying With Dignity, says procedures are 'driven by compassion, an end to suffering and discrimination and desire for personal autonomy.' Canada is set to record some 13,500 state-sanctioned suicides in 2022, a 34 percent rise on the previous year Gary Nichols (right), with his brother, Alan, on the eve of his euthanization in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada, in July 2019 The number of MAiD deaths in Canada has risen steadily by about a third each year from the previous year An opinion poll released in May showed how widespread support for MAiD had become more than a quarter of voters said the poor and homeless should be allowed to end their lives with MAiD. Canada is on track to record some 13,500 state-sanctioned suicides in 2022, a 34 percent rise on the previous year, according to a monitoring group's analysis of official data. Canada's road to allowing euthanasia began in 2015, when its top court declared that outlawing assisted suicide deprived people of their dignity and autonomy. It gave national leaders a year to draft legislation. The resulting 2016 law legalized both euthanasia and assisted suicide for people aged 18 and over, provided they met certain conditions: They had to have a serious, advanced condition, disease, or disability that was causing suffering and their death was looming. The law was later amended to allow people who are not terminally ill to choose death, significantly broadening the number of eligible people. Critics say that change removed a key safeguard aimed at protecting people with potentially decades of life left. Today, any adult with a serious illness, disease, or disability can seek help in dying. Euthanasia is legal in seven countries Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand and Spain plus several states in Australia. It's only available to children in the Netherlands and Belgium. Other jurisdictions, including a growing number of US states, allow doctor-assisted suicide in which patients take the drug themselves, typically crushing up and drinking a lethal dose of pills prescribed by a physician. In Canada, both options are referred to as MAiD, though more than 99.9 percent of such procedures are carried out by a doctor. The number of MAiD deaths in Canada has risen steadily by about a third each year from the previous year. Rep. James Comer said Thursday his committee will subpoena members of the Biden family to testify about their business dealings - and he expects the matter to devolve into a messy legal dispute. 'This was always gonna end with the Bidens coming in front of the committee. We are going to subpoena the family,' Comer, R-Ky., said on Fox Business Thursday morning. 'We know that this is going to end up in court when we subpoena the Bidens,' he added. Speaker Kevin McCarthy has floated the idea of launching an impeachment inquiry to give greater weight to congressional subpoena power of the Biden investigations. 'This is a complicated case, and we're being obstructed every step of the way by the Department of Justice, by the FBI, by the Secret Service, by the IRS, and by the Biden family attorneys,' Comer said. 'This was always gonna end with the Bidens coming in front of the committee. We are going to subpoena the family,' Comer, R-Ky., said on Fox Business Thursday morning 'We know that this is going to end up in court when we subpoena the Bidens,' he added Earlier this week McCarthy demanded Biden hand over his bank records to prove he did not directly benefit financially from Hunter trading on his name. On Wednesday Biden insisted he 'never talked business' with Hunter or his associates after Devon Archer told the Oversight Committee Joe had been present on speakerphone or in-person while Hunter was meeting business partners around 20 times. His response came hours after Republicans released new bank statements detailing payments from Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan to the Biden family and associates. Archer did not claim to have ever heard Joe Biden discussing business but said Hunter would use his father as a flex - and hearing the voice of the vice president on speed dial was enough to sell the 'brand' to foreign executives. 'I can definitively say at particular dinners or meetings, he knew there were business associates,' Archer told Fox News' Tucker Carlson last week in an interview following his testimony. 'I don't know if it was an orchestrated call-in or not. It certainly was powerful, though, because, you know, if you're sitting with a foreign businessperson and you hear the vice president's voice, that's prize enough,' Archer went on. 'Sometimes it was the call was coming in and the speaker would go on,' Archer said, detailing the conversations. 'You understand D.C. right? So the power to have that access in that conversation - it's not in a scheduled conference call and that's a part of your family. That's like the pinnacle of power in D.C.' He had told the committee of the conversations: 'If his dad calls him at dinner and he picks up the phone, then there's a conversation. And the, you know, the conversation is generally about the weather and, you know, what it's like in Norway or Paris or wherever he may be.' Comer claims to have found records detailing over $20 million in payments to the Biden family and their partners from foreign business leaders around the time Joe was vice president. Weeks ago Hunter Biden's plea deal for tax and gun crimes blew up when a judge informed him he would not be shielded from future charges, specifically mentionin a violation of FARA, or failing to register as a foreign agent. Aweil, South Sudan 'If the government and NGOs can live up to their promises, then I would at least be able to start planning for the future.' Nearly 200,000 South Sudanese have fled the conflict in neighbouring Sudan and headed back home over the past four months. But what do these journeys entail and what is life like for returnees in a country not short of its own problems? To find out answers, The New Humanitarian asked South Sudanese reporters Okech Francis and Joseph Ngor Deng to follow one returnee for several weeks, tracking them from their arrival back in South Sudan to the moment they reached their home village. Francis and Deng got in touch with Abul Mathiang Ngong, who is in her thirties and moved from South Sudan to Sudan when she was a toddler. She went to live in Khartoum and married a Sudanese businessman, with whom she had eight children. Ngong's story underscores the challenges South Sudanese returnees - who are among nearly one million people that have left Sudan since conflict erupted on 15 April - face in accessing humanitarian and social services. The new arrivals have gone back to a country with extremely high levels of need: Three quarters of the South Sudanese population require aid this year - the result of climate shocks and violent conflicts that have persisted despite a 2018 peace deal. Stil, Ngong's account also contains positives: It shows how communities are supporting returnees despite their own challenges. And it shows how families have been able to reunite after years or even decades spent apart. "The hospitality we found here was not what many people expected," Ngong told Francis and Deng. "We had been hearing of an internal war in South Sudan, but I have met people that have become my friends." For more on the challenges facing South Sudanese returnees, read our recent in-depth article. And for more on the failure of the government, relief agencies, and aid donors to help the new arrivals, check out this recent opinion piece. The following text is based on four interviews conducted between June and August in a refugee transit centre and in Ngong's home village. The text has been edited for length and clarity. Part 1: Arrival 'I was told I am South Sudanese and must go to my home' When fighting broke out in Khartoum, I travelled to my husband's home in the Sudanese town of El Obeid. We prepared for the worst. My husband was a shopkeeper and I kept imagining that we would be an easy target for attacks and robberies. In early May, my husband decided that my children and I should leave Sudan. I packed a few belongings and we moved towards Darfur, which is across the border from my home state in South Sudan. The roads were very frightening and almost everybody was on the run. I kept praying for our safety. My children and I would sometimes sleep in the open and were very prone to attacks. I walked on foot to El Deien, a town in Darfur. From there, I travelled to the South Sudan border. On 17 May, I finally arrived at Wedwiel refugee transit centre in South Sudan's Northern Bahr el Ghazal state, which is where I am from. My children were registered as refugees in Wedwiel but I was not. Despite being married to a Sudanese, I was told I am South Sudanese and must go to my home village. I was so frustrated. Is it not true that in this country, if you are married to a Sudanese, you do not become part of the Sudanese, I asked. But the management of the centre said we can only register your children and not you. My children were provided with rice, beans, and maize flour in Wedwiel, and they were given a plastic sheet which they shared with me. But it wasn't enough. I had to go to the bush with other women to collect edible wild leaves to supplement the food. Since I could not be registered as a refugee, I was not given any assistance. I survived thanks to other refugees who shared the little they had with me. I was not even given a sheet for sleeping on. I found some cardboard and used that instead. If it is possible to hold the government and other organisations to account for the way they distribute food to those who came from Sudan, I hope this information will be used as evidence of the inequality. Part 2: Back home 'I was welcomed and honoured' Because I did not receive assistance at the Wedwiel centre, I had to plan to go to my home village. But I could not leave my children alone in Wedwiel. How can a child be left on their own without the guidance of their mother? It was not an option. I decided to contact relatives in my village, which is called Bakou Malow. It was a difficult decision because my eight children are all Sudanese and I did not know how they would be accepted by the community. I finally arrived in Bakou Malow on 4 July, and I was given a small hut at the home of my uncle. Given the size of our hut, most of our time during the days has been spent sitting under the shade of a tree. I was welcomed and honoured by relatives who slaughtered a goat. I enjoyed the hospitality. It was very nice to reunite with family members who I had not physically met before. It felt very good being given respect. Their young ones even call me Aunty Abul. But getting food has been difficult. Even after registering as returnees, there was nobody following us to see what our needs are. I am struggling so much to get food to feed my family. If any of us falls sick, it is going to be very difficult to get treatment. I am in the home of my family but I cannot figure out how to restart my life. I am thinking of planting crops but I still need to ask my kinfolks to provide me with some land to farm on. If the government and NGOs can live up to their promises and provide us with assistance to restart our lives, then I would at least be able to start planning for the future. If I had money, something like 100,000 South Sudan pounds (around $100), then I could go to the market and set up a stall selling tea. If I was given even more money, then I could start a restaurant. I am also feeling uneasy because my children are seen as Sudanese. I know my people will not want to do anything bad to them, but there is always that feeling that you do not fully belong here. I have not managed to make contact with my husband, and I am praying that nothing bad has happened to him. There was an opportunity to use a phone service here, but I missed the chance. Part 3: Struggling to settle 'I still don't have sustainable work' I have enjoyed listening and hearing traditional things from the elders. I enjoyed the introduction people have been doing for me. They have told me stories of my family and my ancestral lineage. They were new to me and it gave me a sense of belonging. The hospitality we found here was not what many people expected. We had been hearing about an internal war in South Sudan - one that predated the war in Sudan - but I have met people that have become my friends. The first choice many people had when the fighting erupted in Khartoum was to cross to Chad or Egypt. People believed these countries would be safer than South Sudan. But since we arrived, we have not experienced war here. I still don't have sustainable work, so I often go out and collect firewood in the forest. I then take the firewood to the local market in order to get money to buy soap and sugar for my children. I sometimes go to farms for casual work. I go and weed crops and get paid by the owners. But the farms are very far, a distance of five hours by foot, and I can't leave my children at home on their own every day. Because things are proving tough, I decided to let my first born child, who is 17, go back to Wedwiel to live with cousins from his father's side of the family. The little food organisations give my son is what we eat, but I still have to go to the bush and collect wild fruits and leaves to cook as broth. I came here with three plastic sheets given to my children in Wedwiel, which we are using to sleep. But the nights are difficult: We sleep in the cold, and there are too many mosquitoes here. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines South Sudan Refugees By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. None of my children have fallen sick since we arrived, but if it does happen it is going to be very difficult to treat them because there are no health facilities nearby. Access to health services is not easy here. Life was much easier in Khartoum. I was working as a community drug distributor, and at a road construction company. My children were very healthy because they used to eat food with protein, but here we struggle to get any type of food. Part 4: Returning to Wedwiel 'I just hope the war ends' I have returned to Wedwiel with all of my children. I had earlier sent back my son to collect food aid, and when I went to visit him recently I found that he was living in a nice shelter. A free school for the refugees has also been established in Wedwiel, and children are being taught in both Arabic and English. So I wanted to bring my children back so that they can be going to school. My children were also not comfortable living in the village. They felt discriminated against as Arabs, and my youngest ones used to cry. Access to food and health services was also very difficult. Still, I have been told to leave Wedwiel once again as I am not seen as a refugee. I have so many plans - to open a restaurant or a market stall selling groundnuts and biscuits - but they are dying in my heart. Life is very difficult, and I just hope the war ends in Sudan so that I can go back with my children to their home. We did not decide to come here on our own - the war forced us to. This report was funded by the H2H Network's H2H Fund, which is supported by UK aid. Edited by Philip Kleinfeld. Okech Francis, Freelance journalist covering South Sudan Joseph Ngor Deng, Journalist based in Aweil, South Sudan The British pensioner freed from jail for killing his terminally ill wife could still face life behind bars in Cyprus after prosecutors appealed his sentence. David Hunter, 76, was finally released last week after 19 months in prison when judges acquitted him of premeditated murder and convicted him of the lesser charge of manslaughter. It saw him finally able to visit the grave of his beloved late wife Janice, 74, who he suffocated to end her suffering from blood cancer at the home they retired to in a village outside Paphos. But now he will be hauled back before the Court of Appeal after the countrys Attorney General wrote to challenge both the verdict and his sentence. If successful it could see his acquittal for murder overturned and a mandatory life sentence imposed. Even if that fails, his two-year sentence for manslaughter - which saw him freed due to time served - could also be extended. David Hunter, 76, from Northumberland, sits down with the Daily Mail on August 2, 2023 for an exclusive interview after he was released from prison in Cyprus He visits the grave of his late wife Janice to lay flowers for the first time since he was released from prison, on August 1, 2023 Mr Hunter was left destitute by the marathon court case and his family is now desperately trying to find money to fight the appeal. His daughter, Lesley Cawthorne, who led the campaign to free him, said: The family is devastated by the decision and would again urge compassion for my elderly and frail father. We continue to be so very grateful for all the support we have had. Mr Hunters lawyers also hit out at the decision to appeal the verdict which came ten days after sentencing - the final day Cypriot law allows you to submit a challenge. Michael Polak of Justice Abroad said: We are obviously very disappointed with the Attorney Generals decision to appeal today which gets in the way of David getting on with his life. He has spent 19 months in prison and faced legal proceedings over that period that would be difficult for anyone, but especially for someone of his age. This is a very sad matter; however it is difficult to see how the continued pursuit of David assists anyone. Retired miner David Hunter is pictured with his wife, Janice Hunter David Hunter leaving Paphos District Court in Cyprus after he was released from custody David pictured with Janice on their wedding day in 1969 after courting for about three years The Hunters, pictured with their daughter Lesley, sold their home in Ashington in 2001 to live permanently in Paphos He was sentenced to two years but judges ruled that, after 19 months in prison, he had served enough time We will continue to fight for David before the Appeal Court of Cyprus as we have done throughout the lengthy mission to free David. David would like to thank everyone from Cyprus, the United Kingdom, and around the world who have shown such strong support during his trial and since his release. The defence team will now make written submissions before a hearing at a later date in the capital, Nicosia. Mr Hunters trial was the first euthanasia case ever heard on the Mediterranean island and sparked fierce debate in the Greek Orthodox country. The Cypriot parliament is expected to debate the taboo topic next month with the British pensioners case likely to feature prominently. It has stirred up the Orthodox Church which would fiercely oppose any moves to bring in any pro-euthanasia legislation. There are fears such pressure could have affected the Attorney Generals decision to bring about the appeal. To make a donation to Lesley Cawthornes fundraiser to cover Davids legal bills visit: crowdjustice.com/case/helpbring-david-home/ He added that he was confident the cops had found the right man but didn't rule out the possibility that there may have been other 'predators' on Long Island Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said Heuermann was engaging in 'activities that he shouldn't be engaging in' up until his arrest Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann continued his 'disturbing activity' up until his arrest, a top Long Island cop has revealed. Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told Newsday on Wednesday: 'He's somebody that was still engaging in activity that was disturbing, be it his internet searches, be it engaging in other activities that he shouldn't be engaging in. 'That's something I was very, very passionate about, regarding "we need to see what his lifestyle is."' Heuermann, 59, is accused of killing Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27, whose bodies were discovered on a stretch of the Long Island beach in December 2010. He is the prime suspect in a fourth murder. Harrison said he was confident that Heuermann was the culprit but didn't rule out the possibility that there could be other 'predators' in the neighborhood. The bodies of up to two dozen people have been discovered at Gilgo Beach since 1996. Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison (pictured last month outside the alleged killer's home on Long Island) told Newsday on Wednesday: 'He's somebody that was still engaging in activity that was disturbing, be it his internet searches, be it engaging in other activities that he shouldn't be engaging in' Rex Heuermann, 59, is accused of killing Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27, whose bodies were discovered near Gilgo Beach in 2010 Harrison had previously referred to Heuermann as a 'demon that walks among us, a predator that ruined families' and expressed his confidence in the case on Wednesday. He said: 'I'm very confident that Mr. Heuermann's our subject. Because of my confidence, I'm gonna call him what I wanna call him somebody that ruined families, somebody who's a predator, somebody who shattered lives. 'And not just one, several, and there may be more. I didn't say that there is, but there may be more. If the family members have a problem with me calling him a demon, then I'll apologize.' In the wide ranging interview, Harrison also said he formulated a task force to crack the long unsolved killings. When asked if Long Islanders should be worried that a serial killer responsible for some or all of the killing is still at large, Harrison said: 'I wish I could give you an answer. 'I can't tell you at this time. Is Rex Heuermann going to be held accountable for the other bodies on Ocean Parkway? Time will tell.' The bodies of the women had been bound with belts or red tape and wrapped in burlap, which had DNA that matched samples taken from a discarded pizza box retrieved from Heuermann's Manhattan office. Taken during cops' secret surveillance of Heuermann this past year, DNA is set to be a key factor in the case, due to the time between the murders and the architect's arrest. Heuermann was linked to one of the killings through mitochondrial DNA profile from a pizza crust and a used napkin that he discarded from his Midtown office. Heuermann was linked to one of the killings through mitochondrial DNA profile from a pizza crust and a used napkin that he discarded from his Midtown Manhattan office Aired by Judge Timothy Mazzei Wednesday, the ruling serves as a win for prosecutors who had fought for the motion - based on the belief the DNA found on the discarded meal will yield more evidence. The jurist and Heuermann are seen in sketch from a hearing this past week A judge ruled earlier this week that Heuermann will have to submit a cheek swab for analysis. Judge Timothy Mazzei issued the ruling on Wednesday, which is a win for prosecutors who had fought for the motion - based on the belief the DNA found on the pizza will yield more material evidence. The judge also revealed that one of Heuermann's attorneys will be present during the swab process - after fighting to avoid such an analysis due to a supposed lack of evidence their client committed the crimes he's accused of. That said, prosecutors on Tuesday revealed some of the evidence that's been mounted against the suspected killer - which includes some 2,500 pages of documents, crime scene photographs, autopsy reports and hundreds of hours of video footage taken at Heuermann's home and office. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to first-degree and second-degree murders. He was arrested on July 13 and remains in jail ahead of his trial A forensic photographer is seen bending over the tray of objects excavated from the back yard of Heuermann's house in Massapequa Park. Prosecutors say 'nothing of note' was discovered in the back yard, but on Tuesday said they have a trove of evidence against the suspect For more than a week following his July 14 arrest, investigators had been conducting an exhaustive search of the house That trove was laid bare in a brief preliminary hearing where prosecutors turned over four hard drives holding the evidence to the Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice and Heuermann's attorney, Michael Brown, following weeks of uncertainty as to how strong their case is. The judge scheduled the next pre-trial conference hearing for September 27, at which point the results from the swab will be in. Danielle Coysh, who is representing Heuermann, had argued the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office is a 'far cry' from the legal benchmark needed to force the architect to give in the swab, but was shot down Tuesday with Mazzei's order. It remains unclear which of victims the DNA was uncovered - a fact prosecutors will wait to reveal until the results of the swab are in. Brown, meanwhile, recently maintained that his client still says he is innocent - and is ready to fight the charges against him in court. He remains incarcerated without bail in a single cell at Suffolk County Correctional Facility - somewhere his kids and now ex-wife have so far refused to visit. Both adults, the offspring of the suspected serial killer, Victoria Heuermann and step-son Christopher Sheridan, are aged 26 and 33, respectively. Victoria Heuermann, 26, and step-brother, Christopher Sheridan, 33, said they are 'not foreclosing on' seeing their father in his Suffolk County incarceration, but will also not rush into making a decision In a statement from the siblings' attorney also aired Wednesday, they refused to rule out ever speaking to him again - but also said they would not rush into making a decision. The pair also refused to discuss the allegations against Heuermann, and declined to offer their opinions on his alleged crimes. Their mother, 59-year-old Asa Ellerup, has also yet to visit her former spouse, whom she divorced days after his arrest to 'protect herself' from any future lawsuits, her lawyer told DailyMail.com this week. That revelation - offering insight into the state of the family weeks after it was shattered by the headline-grabbing case - comes a little more than a week after the were seen returning to the ransacked Massapequa Park residence they had lived in with Heurmann since 1994. The homecoming happened nearly two weeks after Heuermann was apprehended as a result of an in-depth probe enacted by federal investigators, and was somewhat marred by the mass of media seen at the site scrutinizing the family. Ellerup and her two children looked solemn as they arrived back at the torn-up property at 10.30am on July 27 - after it was searched by feds - with Suffolk County cops accompanying the clan back into the home before leaving about an hour later. Christopher, born from Ellerup's previous marriage, became emotional as he sat on a bench outside the property with his mother, who appeared similarly overwhelmed. The 59-year-old filed for divorce less than a week after her ex was detained - and while yet to physically visit her husband of more than 20 years, she told DailyMail.com that they have spoken over the phone. A 'major excavation' took place at Heuermann's Massapequa Park home. Pictured are State Police investigators gathering evidence at the scene Asa Ellerup and her two children looked solemn as they arrived back at the torn-up property at 10.30am on July 27 - after it was searched by feds - with Suffolk County cops accompanying the clan back into the home before leaving about an hour later Heuermann is being held at Suffolk County Correctional Facility away from other inmates, with a cell complete with a TV. Cops said the suspect has vowed to be 'compliant' as he awaits trial. Almost a month into his incarceration, he has yet to receive a visitor - family included Speaking to DailyMail.com Wednesday from the family's home, she told DailyMail.com she doesn't 'want to walk down the street' anymore due to the mass of attention her and her children have been exposed to since moving back in. 'The neighbors want the house gone,' she said. 'They want it bulldozed.' She became emotional discussing how she's tried to cope with the intense media scrutiny and neighborhood gossip. 'Look I don't want to walk down the street. I heard what people said about us. I heard it,' Ellerup, who had been married to her ex for more than 27 years before their split, she said as she began to cry. 'I heard the other people on the neighborhood. They want the house bulldozed,' she added, revealing how her neighbors were now put off by their proximity to a site where the suspect is believed to have committed unspeakable atrocities. 'Do you understand?' she asked over the phone, growing increasingly distraught. 'Please I can't talk anymore.' The suspect's house sits directly north of Gilgo Beach across the South Oyster Bay Her husband, meanwhile, stands accused of murdering at least three women - Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello -but detectives probing the case are wary there are more bodies that may be linked to him. The main suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007, he has had no visitors at the Suffolk Country Correctional Facility where he's been imprisoned since his arrest - other than his lawyer. Officials at the facility have since said the alleged serial killer is 'very comfortable' in his cell, where he has a TV and is kept from other inmates - despite being on simultaneous suicide watch. His ex's lawyer, Bob Macedonio told DailyMail.com that Ellerup had been at home at the time of her husband's arrest outside his office in Midtown Manhattan, and that authorities simultaneously swooped in to search the residence. State police remove evidence from Rex Heuermann's home in Massapequa Park, NY, in the afternoon on Monday morning, July 17, 2023 The home of Rex Heuermann is shown on Saturday, July 17, 2023, in Massapequa Park, NY Ellerup - whose hair was found at one of the crime scenes but it not believed to be an accomplice - attended Farmingdale High School and married briefly in her 20s, divorcing in the early 1990s. It remains unclear if she had a professional life outside the home. Her daughter Victoria, meanwhile, worked with at her father's Big Apple firm as a receptionist. The New York Times reported son Christopher has special needs. With Heuermann's incarceration set to give away to an eventual trial, the family has been largely forced to remain within their home, rarely venturing out since being allowed back in after the FBI's and local authorities' extensive, 12-day search. Police have kept mum on what's been found at the family home, but described the search as 'fruitful' in terms of evidence. What is known is that police recovered more than 250 guns from the residence, and also discovered a walk-in vault in the basement. That said, cops' investigation into the killings is still ongoing, after linking ten sets of human remains found in Wantagh on April 15, 2011, to Heuermann. Police believe the victims were killed by the same person. Hawaii's wildfires razed an historic town and killed dozens of people after a hurricane hundreds of miles from the islands combined with dry conditions to spread the flames at an 'unprecedented' rate. At least 36 people are dead, many are injured and hundreds are feared missing as infernos continue to burn on the paradise island of Kaui. The historic town of Lahaina has been totally destroyed. Wildfires began to spread rapidly on Tuesday and were quickly whipped out of control by gusts of up to 80mph caused by Hurricane Dora. The Category 4 hurricane was passing about 500 miles south of Hawaii. Low humidity and prolonged hot temperatures turned swathes of grassland on Kaui into a 'tinderbox' that allowed the flames to spread incredibly quickly. Those combined factors also made the fires impossible to bring under control. Hawaii's 'unprecedented' wildfires razed a historic town and killed dozens of people after a hurricane hundreds of miles from the islands combined with dry conditions An aerial view of destroyed buildings as the wildfire burns in the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii, on August 9, 2023. The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street on on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023 Lahaina Town Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. said the situation is 'unprecedented'. Thousands of people have been evacuated from the town, where nearly 300 buildings are confirmed destroyed, and the death toll is likely to rise. Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia's faculty of forestry, said conditions have led to 'unpredictable or unforeseen combinations that we're seeing right now and that are fueling this extreme fire weather. 'What these... catastrophic wildfire disasters are revealing is that nowhere is immune to the issue,' said Copes-Gerbitz. Major differences in air pressure drove unusually strong trade winds that fanned the destructive flames, according to meteorologists. Trade winds are a normal feature of Hawaii's climate. They're caused when air moves from the high-pressure system pressure north of Hawaii known as the North Pacific High to the area of low pressure at the equator, to the south of the state. Hawaii Army National Guard CH47 Chinook helicopters perform aerial water bucket drops on the island of Maui to assist with fight of wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, August 9, 2023 A man sits in a chair amid the total destruction of the island. Joe Biden called for Federal aid to reach Hawaii on Wednesday evening Smoke billows near Lahaina as wildfires driven by high winds destroy a large part of the historic town of Lahaina Lahaina has nearly been wiped off the map after 271 buildings were burned to the ground during intense wildfires But Hurricane Dora, which passed south of the islands this week, is exacerbating the low-pressure system and increasing the difference in air pressure to create 'unusually strong trade winds', said Genki Kino, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Honolulu. Hawaii's state climatologist, Pao-Shin Chu, said he was caught off guard by the impact Dora had from roughly 500 miles (800 kilometers) away. 'Hurricane Dora is very far away from Hawaii, but you still have this fire occurrence here. So this is something we didn't expect to see,' he said. Strong winds, combined with low humidity and an abundance of dry vegetation that burns easily, can increase the danger of wildfire, even on a tropical island like Maui. 'If you have all of those conditions at the same time, it's often what the National Weather Service calls "red flag conditions",' said Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University. People gather while waiting for flights at the Kahului Airport Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Hawaii. Several thousand Hawaii residents raced to escape homes on Maui as the Lahaina fire swept across the island People gather at the Kahului Airport while waiting for flights Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023 Passengers try to sleep on the floor of the airport terminal while waiting for delayed and canceled flights off the island as thousands of passengers were stranded at the Kahului Airport (OGG) in the aftermath of wildfires She said that hotter temperature brought by climate change are also 'increasing vegetation dryness', which contribute to wildfires. Fleishman added: 'There's an increasing trend in the intensity of hurricanes worldwide, in part because warm air holds more water.' Clay Trauernicht, a fire scientist at the University of Hawaii, said the wet season can spur plants like Guinea grass, a nonnative, invasive species found across parts of Maui, to grow as quickly as 6 inches (15 centimeters) a day and reach up to 10 feet (3 meters) tall. When it dries out, it creates a tinderbox that's ripe for wildfire, said Trauernicht, adding: 'These grasslands accumulate fuels very rapidly. 'In hotter conditions and drier conditions, with variable rainfall, it's only going to exacerbate the problem.' As the residents of Maui awake to another day of destruction caused by a devastating wildfire that has so far claimed 36 lives and left hundreds homeless, many are wondering where the island's richest landowners are - and what they're prepared to do to help. Oprah, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, Clint Eastwood and Steven Tyler are among big names with homes on Maui but none have commented yet on how they intend to help those in need. Bezos' fiancee Lauren Sanchez posted on Instagram that the fires were 'breaking her heart', but he is yet to offer a statement. With a net worth of $162billion, he is the third richest man in the world. Bezos owns a $78million property on Maui's southwest shore. Maui's part-time residents include Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos, Steven Tyler, Owen Wilson and more. Larry Ellison owns almost the entire island of Lanai, which sits near to the town of Lahaina. Fleetwood Mac's Mick has encouraged fundraising efforts and is himself suffering the loss of his restaurant. There has been silence from the others as thousands of locals try to put the pieces of their lives and homes back together A source close to the couple tells DailyMail.com they are 'devastated' by the disaster. 'They have been on the phone with locals and local officials since yesterday. They will be making donations to help the community,' they said. Oprah, worth $2.5billion, owns nearly 2,000 acres of land on Maui and has been living there part-time for 15 years. It's unclear if any of her land was damaged. She bought up the most recent parcel - 860 acres - in March this year for $6.6million. Aerosmith's Steven Tyler also has a home on the island, as does Owen Wilson and Clint Eastwood. Oprah spends much of her time on Maui with best friend Gayle King. The pair are shown during a recent hike in Hawaii In addition to an 11-bedroom ranch (shown), Oprah also owns nearly 2,000 acres of land in total on Maui Larry Ellison owns 98 percent of the nearby Lanai Island. The Oracle billionaire is yet to offer a public statement on the catastrophe. Mark Zuckerberg, who owns a huge home on the island of Kauai, is yet to speak about the disaster. Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac saw his Lahaina restaurant - Fleetwood's on Front Street - burned to the ground. In a statement on social media, Mick said: 'Maui and the Lahaina community have been my home for several decades. 'This is a devastating moment for Maui, and many are suffering unimaginable loss. 'Fleetwoods on Front Street has been lost and while we are heartbroken, our main priority is the safety of our dear staff and team members. Bezos' home with Sanchez is in the exclusive La Perouse Bay. He paid a whopping $78million for the property which sits on 14 acres Bezos with his fiancee Lauren Sanchez four days ago in Taormina, Sicily. A source close to the couple tells DailyMail.com they are 'devastated' and have been on the phone with 'locals and local officials' to determine the best way to help 'On behalf of myself and my family, I share my heartfelt thoughts and prayers for the people of Maui. 'We are committed to supporting the community and those affected by this disaster in the days and months and years to come.' Barack Obama, who grew up in Honolulu and has a home on the Big Island, also released a statement last night with a link to the a local community fundraising effort. 'Its tough to see some of the images coming out of Hawaii a place thats so special to so many of us. 'Michelle and I are thinking of everyone who has lost a loved one, or whose life has been turned upside down. If youd like to help, you can do so here,' he said. After hearing reports her home was destroyed along with her pets, Steff Baku-Kirkman reacts after wildfires driven by high winds were believed to have destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina Lahaina has nearly been 'wiped off the map' after 271 buildings were burned to the ground during intense wildfires An aerial view shows destroyed homes and buildings that burned to the ground around the harbor and Front Street in the historic Lahaina Town in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii, on August 10, 2023 A wildfire burns in Kihei, south Maui, late Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. Thousands of residents raced to escape homes as blazes swept across the island in one of the deadliest US wildfires in recent years Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac saw his Lahaina restaurant - Fleetwood's on Front Street - torched to the ground Jason Momoa, who is from Honolulu, also appealed for help for the island's residents. 'We are devastated and heartbroken for our friends and 'ohana on Maui who been impacted by the recent wildfires.' Momoa has repeatedly shared links to the fundraising efforts. Bette Midler, who also has a home in Hawaii, tweeted about the ongoing disaster effort. And Pierce Brosnan and his wife Keely Shaye Brosnan, who have a home on Kauai, have called for support. 'My sincere and heartfelt prayers for Maui, the Hawaiian community, residents, families and animals affected by these unprecedented wildfires,' Keely posted on Instagram. 'If you are able, please consider making a donation to the Hawaii/Maui Community Foundation to help those in need.' The American Red Cross is in Hawaii to assist with the recovery that officials say will take 'years'. According to Deadline, celebrity chef Jose Andres - who regularly lends his help in natural disasters - is working on a plan to bring food to many of Maui's locals. The death toll from the fires has now risen to 36, with hundreds still missing and hundreds left homeless. New York's top federal prosecutor has vowed to shutter two 'illegal' supervised drug consumption sites in Manhattan - despite the centers reversing 1,000 overdoses since it opened in 2021. Damian Williams, the US attorney for the southern district of New York, said the sites - located in Harlem and Washington Heights - are 'currently operating in violation of federal, state and local laws.' 'The opioid epidemic is a law enforcement crisis and a public health crisis,' Williams told The New York Times in a statement on Monday. 'But I am an enforcer, not a policymaker.' He pointed out that these centers allow people with substance abuse disorders to use illicit drugs, and that is it is illegal and called it 'unacceptable.' Many activists are protesting the draconian move as America continues to battle a growing opioid crisis. But Williams warned: 'My office is prepared to exercise all options including enforcement if this situation does not change in short order'. Damian Williams, the US attorney for the southern district of New York, claims supervised drug consumption sites - located in Harlem and Washington Heights - are 'currently operating in violation of federal, state and local laws' Activist Alexis Pleus, founder of Truth Pharm, pictured during a demonstration in 2021 in White Plains was joined by advocacy groups and survivors working in response to overdose crisis Many supporters of these sites were baffled, including photographer and activist Nan Goldin (pictured) who called the move 'crazy,' and said, 'we know what works and we can't do it' Non-profit group OnPoint NYC launched the two overdose prevention centers, also known as supervised consumption centers, 'as a way to help improve the health and safety of marginalized people who use drugs or engage in sex work,' its website states. The centers are considered illegal because the fentanyl, crack and other drugs consumed there are controlled substances under a federal law known as the 'crack house statute'. This bars individuals from maintaining property where controlled substances are consumed, the Times reported. But many supporters of these sites are baffled by the push to shut them down, including photographer and activist Nan Goldin, who called it 'crazy.' Goldin, has been instrumental in holding opioid manufacturers responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans. She said, in part, 'we know what works and we can't do it.' She told the Guardian, 'I don't understand why America doesn't want to keep its people alive when it's obvious this is what works.' During a protest in lower Manhattan, Goldin stood alongside mothers who lost children to opioid overdoses. Their aim, she said in part, is to destigmatize addictive drug use, including supervised consumption sites, so those in need can get the help they need. 'The base problem is stigmatization, and yet the authorities still talking about the way to address the opioid crisis is to shut down safe injection sites and increase policing.' Activist Alexis Pleus started the Binghamton-based nonprofit TruthPharm to raise awareness and advocate for policy change to reduce the harm caused by substance use after her 28-year-old son died from a heroin overdose in 2014. Pleus told the Guardian that Williams' comments 'were reflective of the stigma around drug use and that fact that our country has chosen to criminalize addiction'. 'This is an extension of our government continuously wanting to support the drug war. But that fact is the government is failing to keep our children alive,' Pleus added. 'Overdose fatalities keep going up and up', and consumption sites 'are a tool to keep them alive and they're denying it. The government is derelict in its responsibilities.' Williams' warning follows drug policies enacted under the Trump administration. In 2019, the Trump justice department took legal action against a similar site opening in Philadelphia. Those who oppose overdose treatment centers claim they increase the number of dealing 'spots', drug use and criminality in those areas. Pictured: OnPoint NYC Washington Heights location which has been in operation since 2021 Pictured: OnPoint NYC, East Harlem location, supervised drug consumption site, has reversed 1,000 overdoses since the organization opened its door two years ago A man holds a zip lock bag full filled with needles, gauze and other paraphernalia An interior photo of one of the OnPointNYC locations located in upper Manhattan Sam Rivera, the director at OnPoint NYC told the news outlet, the Biden administration funds a study into the center's two operations as a potential tool to help combat the overdose crisis. He added that OnPoint NYC is 'proud' to work with city, state and national officials to save lives. 'Our successful partnership with the New York police department highlights the effectiveness of responding to this crisis with love and care, rather than enforcement,' he said. McMurray sued the city and its fire department on behalf of Jones soon after He says he's faced a slew of harassment after black firefighter Jerrod Jones claimed he attended a racist party mocking Juneteenth at his home last year For Nicholas Nicosia the final straw came in the form of a note. Sent to his dental practice in Rochester, New York, it threatened his sons' and his wife's lives and said that, for him, 'suicide would be the right thing to do.' It arrived on July 3, 2023, the day he buried his mother. By then Nicosia had been a hate figure for close to a year. Publicly branded a bigot and a racist for 'hosting a racist Juneteenth spoof party,' at his New York state home last year, the dentist has been harassed, threatened and roundly 'canceled.' Because according to Nicosia he never threw any such party and is entirely innocent of the crimes of which he has been convicted in the court of public opinion. Today, Nicosia has filed a lawsuit in New York's Supreme Court suing attorney Nathan McMurray and county politician Rachel Barnhart for defamation and stating that he and his family are victims of a vicious 'hate crime hoaxginned up by Defendants [who are] immune to the truth.' And now he's had enough. Rochester-based dentist Nicholas Nicosia filed a defamation lawsuit on Tuesday claiming he and his family were victims of a vicious hate crime hoax Nicosia, his wife Mary (pictured) and family were publicly branded bigots and racist for allegedly 'hosting a racist Juneteenth spoof party' at his New York state home last year, but now claims he never threw any such an event Nicosia was accused of hosting a 'racist' party where fried chicken was allegedly served beneath large banners mocking Juneteenth. He submitted evidence photos showing the alleged offensive poster Now, speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com Nicosia says: 'Do I expect a lot of apologies? No. Will I get my life back? No. But I think this is a story that needs to be told. 'I remained silent, and it made no difference, I was canceled just the same and brought up again and again. 'My wife is afraid to put the trash out. My sons had to shut down all their social media. I've been removed from every local organization I volunteered for or was on the board of. 'Our house was staked out. My practice bombarded with letters and phone calls, my staff intimidated and threatened. There's something every month and when I got that note, the day of my mother's funeral, it was just the final straw. 'This has to stop. This relentless smear campaign, this mob mentality, and cancel culture that has nothing to do with the facts.' The facts, according to Nicosia, 63, are as simple as they are perplexing. On July 7 last year, his wife, Mary, organized a small party for a handful of her friends and their partners at the family home in Rochester, New York. According to Nicosia, his wife's political views are conservative while he is a registered democrat who 'flip flops' between that and independent and once contributed $1,000 to black congressional candidate La'Ron Singletary who ran as a Republican. Regardless, Nicosia said: 'It wasn't a themed party but playful fun, there were elements a bit like a Saturday Night Live skit perhaps. 'There were pictures of local woke politicians, but nothing remotely sexual [as was later alleged] and certainly nothing mocking Juneteenth or in any way racist. The party held in July!' Fire Captain Jeffrey Krywy (left) took firefighters Jerrod Jones who is black and others as guests to the East Avenue mansion for a party, which was perceived as offensive Nathan McMurray, an attorney at the firm, Advocates for Justice, sued on Jones's behalf last year. Nicosia's lawsuit also names county politician Rachel Barnhart as a defendant, claiming the two were seeking to make political and professional capital on the back of 'race hoaxes' Photos included in his lawsuit show the scene of the supposedly racist event held at Nicosia's home in Rochester It was not an affair that would have appealed to all tastes, Nicosia concedes, but this was a small patio gathering never intended for broader consumption. According to his lawsuit, one partygoer invited a friend whom Nicosia did not know Fire Captain Jeff Krywy. Captain Krywy brought his on-duty fire crew of four firefighters, among them Jerrod Jones who is black. Today Nicosia recalls nothing untoward about the day. He said: 'The fire crew stayed about forty minutes to an hour. We welcomed them, offered them something to eat and drink, thanked them for their service. 'Fireman Jones seemed relaxed and at ease to me, he was petting our family dog and she doesn't get along with just anybody.' And that might have been that had it not been for a lawsuit filed the following month on Jones's behalf by Nathan McMurray against the City and the Fire Department. In it, McMurray complained that Jones had been 'forced' to attend the July 7 party which he depicted as a racist event at which fried chicken was served beneath large banners mocking Juneteenth, images sexualizing Rachel Barnhart abounded and the heads of local 'woke' politicians were displayed on 'spikes.' When contacted by DailyMail.com McMurray said about the lawsuit: 'My first reaction is to laugh if this wasn't so painfully desperate on their part. 'They're going to have to prove all this in a court of law,' he added. 'They've brought themselves into the eye of the storm and we're happy to have them there for the purpose of my client.' McMurray's lawsuit last year depicted the party as a racist event at which images sexualizing local politician Rachel Barnhart abounded and the heads of local 'woke' politicians were displayed on 'spikes' But images reveal the images in question were taken from Barnhart's own press conference in which she posed before a graffiti scrawl stating, 'F**k the Pigs' as a backdrop of a cornhole game Neither Barnhart nor Jones immediately responded to requests for comment. According to Nicosia's lawsuit no such sexualized images or pictures on 'spikes' existed and guests were served a variety of food including two buckets of KFC, pizza, pasta salad, macaroni and cheese, fruit salad and assorted deserts and cupcakes. The first Nicosia heard of the allegations against him was August 3 when McMurray gave a press conference. Nicosia recalled: 'It happened about one o'clock and my staff were on lunch. They got alerts on their phones and they were like, 'Doctor you're on the news.' 'That's how I found out. I was caught totally off guard. What they were describing wasn't in any way what happened and my world just turned upside down.' Nicosia was about to feel the full force of so-called 'cancel culture.' He said, 'Suddenly you're just hit by this absolute public onslaught. The allegations were so toxic and so hard to push back on. They had plenty of time to create the narrative and we had no chance against the organization, the scope and the speed that this all hit. 'You feel utterly helpless.' Overnight, Nicosia said, the practice founded by his father in 1956, which had served the community for 67 years was 'decimated.' At a conservative estimate he says his business has plummeted by more than a third. Nicosia said the 'smear campaign' has since resulted in death threats and harassment towards his wife and family The party took place at an mansion on East Avenue, Rochester He said: 'I think before the notice of claim was even over, we started getting harassing phone calls at the office. And there were hundreds of them, so many that we had to try to screen every single call. 'Some were threatening, most were harassing, some were just hang ups, others just kept the phone lines busy so real patients couldn't get through.' Members of staff left because they were afraid, he said. Some patients left because they believed the allegations. Some took up Nicosia's offer to meet with them all individually and stayed as a result. Others still told Nicosia they would never believe such things against him. He recalled: 'I phoned an attorney friend and said, 'What do I do?' He said, 'You need PR.' But nobody would touch it. 'Before all this my practice was worth over a million dollars if I were to sell it. Today it's worthless, my name is worthless. 'I'm very aware that if I wasn't self-employed, I wouldn't be employed at all.' What pains Nicosia every bit as much as his lost business is his lost charitable roles. Before the scandal he was, he said, an enthusiastic volunteer locally and board member of various organizations including Highland Hospital where his late father received hospice care. He said: 'It mattered a great deal to me to give back to the community we've been serving for so many years. But in less than 24 hours it was all wiped away. 'Rachel Barnhart even went online and said that I was, 'easy to cancel.' No-one should be 'easy to cancel' especially not your own constituent.' According to Nicosia he and his wife are mere collateral damage to McMurray and Barnhart who are, he alleges, both seeking to make political and professional capital on the back of 'race hoaxes.' Nicosia said his wife's political views are conservative while he is a registered democrat who 'flip flops' between that and independent and once endorsed black congressional candidate La'Ron Singletary who ran as a Republican His lawsuit alleges: 'McMurray has developed a practice of bringing frivolous lawsuits over hate crime hoaxes on behalf of clients in addition to other meritless lawsuits. The claims McMurray brings are frequently dismissed when the supposed racial discrimination he alleges proves baseless.' But by then, the damage has already been done. They way Nicosia sees it, 'It's some kind of blood sport. It's got nothing to do with principles or racism.' For Nicosia the year has, he said, 'definitely taken a toll.' But he's not prepared to give up. He said, 'I'm very grateful for the patients and staff who have remained loyal. I realize that my list of friends and patients is a lot smaller these days, but they've never been more important. 'I'm in it for the long haul. Cancel culture is about them doing anything to keep the facts and the truth out of the picture. Well, it's time for the truth to come out. 'And the truth is we don't deserve what has been a social and professional death sentence when we didn't do what we stand accused of.' They thought he was involved in a hit-and-run but the real driver was nearby Cops in Wisconsin were filmed punching the man as he was wrongly arrested The shocking moment four Wisconsin cops violently restrained an innocent black man holding a baby in a restaurant has been caught on camera. An internal investigation has been launched after the Illinois man was pulled away from dining in Kenosha with his family at Applebees, knocked to the ground and repeatedly struck in the head on July 20. Cops wrongly suspected the man of being involved in a hit and run on Highway 50 and Green Bay Road, Kenosha, earlier that night. The suspect in that incident was actually hiding in the Applebee's bathroom while the violence unfolded outside. Witnesses said two black males and a black female had fled on foot toward the restaurant, according to officers. A baby was filmed screaming while an innocent black man was restrained at a Wisconsin Applebee's restaurant after being mistaken for a hit-and-run suspect An arrow points to the office who led the vicious beating of a man wrongly suspected of a hit-and-run Footage shows the man on the ground being repeatedly punched in the head as he was restrained He had been sitting holding his baby before he was pulled onto the ground They claim a witness told them the female was carrying a child. When they entered the premises, police say an Applebee's staff member told them 'suspicious people' were dining who had a baby with them. The group of four officers approached the man who holding the baby in his arms. 'I'm not doing s---! Let me the f--- go!' the man was heard yelling as the uniformed men were seen trying to strip away the infant. Once they were successful, officers threw the man onto his stomach yelling at him to 'put his hands behind his back' while hitting him several times. Of the incident, police said: 'The male was being detained as the crash was being investigated. 'The male attempted to leave against officers orders and was restrained. He resisted and the incident that was caught on camera unfolded from there.' Cops confirmed that the man they restrained was not the person responsible for the hit-and-run but is instead facing a slew of charges, including disorderly conduct, resisting, and obstructing an officer. The individuals responsible for the hit-and-run were later located inside the Applebee's bathroom. In the video, he is heard telling police to let him go The man appears dazed as he sits up following the incident Local community members are now lashing out over the man's charges. Tanya McLean, executive director of Leaders of Kenosha - a non-profit with a focus on approaches to justice, told Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the outcome is 'ridiculous'. 'It just doesn't seem that anyone was a voice of reason that had a uniform on,' she said. 'We don't want to stand here and have these conversations about people being harmed when they're simply having a meal with their family.' The officers' use of force is expected to be reviewed by the Kenosha Police Department. The department has made national news several times in recent years over what many have deemed unjustifiable uses of force against its own citizens. It was police in this city that previously shot black man Jacob Blake in the back during a domestic dispute. Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey shot Blake seven times on August 23 2020 as he was about to get into an SUV. His three children were in the back seat of the vehicle when he was shot. The gunshot wounds paralyzed Blake from the waist down, and he suffered damage to his stomach, kidney and liver. Protests erupted after a cellphone video showed Blake walking around the front of his car with Sheskey following and opening fire after he opened the door. But investigators said the video was incomplete and failed to show that Blake was armed with a knife and had resisted arrest, arguing that it would have been hard to prove Sheskey was not acting in self defense. The shooting sparked rallies that went on for several nights. Some turned violent, with some protesters burning businesses and members of self-styled militias answering a call on social media to travel to the city. Among them was 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse who on August 25, shot three men, killing two. He was acquitted at his trial just over a year later after testifying he had acted in self-defense. His family says that his medical care will cost $1million in the first year and they are committed to do what is needed to help him Asa, 8, was shot on the way to his grandparent's home in Oaklnd on July 14 More than $1million has been raised for an eight-year-old child shot along an Oakland highway last month - after the stray bullet left him permanently paralyzed from the neck down. 'His body is forever changed. At this point, he is experiencing complete paralysis below the neck,' his family wrote in a heartbreaking GoFundMe. The shooting happened on July 14 on Interstate 580 in Oakland. The child was riding in a car after having just been picked up from camp and on the way with his family to dinner and his grandparents' home. Two other cars started to shoot at each other and the innocent child was struck by a bullet. 'We are profoundly relieved that our boy is alive and very much himself, and we are also starting to understand the vast implications of his new reality,' the family noted. 'Moving forward, Asa will require a mechanical respirator to live, tube feeds for nutrition, and 24-hour, around-the-clock nursing care.' Scroll down for video: More than $1million has been raised for eight-year-old Asa, who was struck by a stray bullet along an Oakland highway last month - leaving him permanently paralyzed from the neck down The tragedy just happened to occur as the family drove down a stretch I-580 in Oakland where gunmen in two other cars had been shooting at each other. As of Thursday, nearly a month removed from the July shooting, cops have yet to make an arrest Police have not made any arrests in the case, according to KTVU. The suspects in the other cars fled after the 6:30pm shooting. Investigators have not said what their dispute was over. In little more than a week, a GoFundMe for Asa - the family asked not to be identified by their last name - donors have sent $1million. The family estimates that his care will cost that much in just the first year. The stray bullet and bone fragments pierced the spinal column of his neck. That left the family wondering if he would even live. Asa must have 24-hour nursing care, continuous physical and occupational therapy along with secondary surgeries. He will also travel to specialists in Baltimore. The family said the home renovations and equipment, such as bedroom and bathroom mortifications and generators to keep his ventilators running will cost $150,000. Transportation costs, such as a power wheelchair, will cost $45,000. His rehab will cost another $55,000. 'Were fiercely committed to doing everything we can to help Asa thrive which includes supporting his return to home life, school, and being the energetic, creative, and high-spirited 8-year-old he is,' the GoFundMe read. The campaign has twice surpassed its goal, first $250,000, then $500,000 and now has surpassed $1million. There have been six donations of at least $10,000, with the top one of $17,000, according to the page. In little more than a week, a GoFundMe for Asa donors have sent $1million. There have been six donations of at least $10,000, with the top one of $17,000, according to the page The stray bullet and bone fragments pierced the spinal column of his neck. That left the family wondering if he would even live 'We hope you never know pain like this. At the same time, we hope that you may know (as we now do) the exquisite gift of childrens resilience,' the family said 'Never in a million years could we have predicted how Asas life and all of our lives - would change so quickly, and completely. We are grieving, grateful and angry,' the family noted. The family also took time to thank the community for its support, including those who cooked meals for them or prayed for them. The support has helped them deal with the tragedy. 'We hope you never know pain like this. At the same time, we hope that you may know (as we now do) the exquisite gift of childrens resilience,' the page read. The family asked for people to join causes such as Mom Demand Action and Youth Alive in Oakland to help support efforts to end gun violence. 'Once weve wrapped our minds around our new lives with Asa,' the family said, 'we'll be ready to join you all in the fight to stop this from happening to any other child, ever again.' Nicola Sturgeon today defiantly said she had 'no regrets' about a controversial Scots transgender rights law she introduced before quitting power. The former First Minister said she would vote for the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill 'tomorrow' if it came back to Holyrood, in an interview at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The law, which makes it easier for transgender people to change their legal gender from as young as 16, was vetoed by Rishi Sunak after being passed by the Scottish Government. Her remarks came after a leading SNP sceptic of the law, MP Joanna Cherry, said intolerance in the party was 'is a thing of the past' under its new leadership. Her views on gender reform legislation clashed with those of Ms Sturgeon and the party's ex-Westminster leader, Ian Blackford. In a wide-ranging discussion for Iain Dale's All Talk show, Ms Sturgeon also suggested that the Tory government's refusal to grant a new independence referendum was a sign of how 'terrified' it was of losing. And she insisted that she did not quit in February because she knew she was likely to be arrested in Police Scotland's investigation into missing SNP money - something that happened in April. The former First Minister said she would vote for the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill 'tomorrow' if it came back to Holyrood, in an interview at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. A leading SNP sceptic of the law, MP Joanna Cherry, said intolerance in the party was 'is a thing of the past' under its new leadership, in a snipe at her former boss In an unprecedented move, the Prime Minister in January prevented the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill from becoming law, using devolved powers agreed under Labour in 1998. He moved to prevent the Holyrood legislation from receiving royal assent after warnings it would cause UK-wide legislative chaos. The SNP has threatened to try to overturn the block at the High Court, despite being told it will fail. Ms Sturgeon today said: 'I don't have any regrets about the way I handled it ... (I) would vote for it again tomorrow... 'I'm a feminist, I have been a feminist all my life, I will be a feminist till the day I die. Women's rights matter to me more than most other things. 'But I also think that what is probably the most stigmatised, vulnerable, discriminated against group in society deserves a better crack of the whip in terms of just being themselves. I don't think these things are irreconcilable. 'If I have got a regret it is that I didn't manage to reconcile them a bit more.' Ms Sturgeon was also quizzed about her arrest in June, which followed that of her husband, Peter Murrell, in April - with police also searching their family home. She said she did not know police were going to search her home until officers knocked on the door, but she had 'faith' that Police Scotland's actions were 'justified'. Describing it as 'not the best day of my life', Ms Sturgeon said she was 'absolutely certain I have done nothing wrong'. Officers from Police Scotland searched the couple's home, in the outskirts of Glasgow, with Mr Murrell arrested and questioned by police before being released without charge. Mr Dale asked her if she had quit as first minister and SNP leader earlier this year because she had 'got wind' of developments in the police investigation, which is probing the whereabouts of about 600,000 that was donated to the SNP for independence campaigning. Ms Sturgeon said she was aware of the investigation, known as Operation Branchform, telling the audience: 'It had been under way for years. I was aware of that.' But regarding the developments in that investigation, she insisted: 'I had no idea what was about to happen.' Ms Sturgeon said if she had had 'any idea about what was going to unfold' she would 'not have been able to function' in the period between announcing her departure in February and leaving office at the end of March. Asked when she first realised the search of her home was happening, she said: 'When it happened.' Dale asked her if that was 'literally the knock on the door?' Ms Sturgeon told him: 'Yes. I'm not going to go any further into that, maybe one day I will be able to.' She continued: 'It's obviously been a really difficult, traumatic experience. People live through worse, I'm not going to overstate that. 'My touchstone I guess in all of it, all along, is I am confident in my own position. I am absolutely certain I have done nothing wrong. 'Therefore I need to and do trust in the process. 'The police are doing a job and therefore I have to have faith that everything they are doing in the process of that is justified. 'I am going to continue to have faith in that. 'The touchstone is the confidence in my own position.' A witness has described the scene of terror after discovering a British doctor shot dead in his car while on a family holiday in South Africa, leaving his horrified wife and young child cowering and covered in blood. Kar Hao Teoh, 40, was shot from close range after taking a wrong turn into the rioting town of Nyanga as he drove from Cape Town airport with his wife and two-year-old son last week. Mr Teoh, who was born in Singapore but had British nationality, was one of five who died in violence during a taxi drivers' strike, which spiralled out of control after local authorities began impounding rioters' cars. Community worker Dumisani Qwebe told The Sun how he stumbled upon the horror to discover Mr Teoh lying inside his hire car, a bullet lodged in his skull. 'The doors were wide open so I could see inside. Both the windscreen and driver's window were shattered by gunshots and the driver was slumped over on to the front passenger seat. 'Multiple shots had been fired and it looked like one had hit him in the head.' He went on to claim he saw Mr Teoh's family cowering nearby, frozen by the trauma of seeing him gunned down in front of them. Mr Kar Teoh, 40, was a consultant orthopaedic surgeon in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire The surgeon was a leading specialist, shot dead after taking a wrong turn in South Africa A burned-out car remains in the street in Nyanga - the town where Mr Teoh was killed Mr Qwebe said: 'I could see they were all very traumatised. 'They were still shaking and the police were trying to calm them down. They didn't look injured but there were spots of blood on their clothes.' The victim, who lived in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, and was based at the NHS Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, was awarded a number of international fellowships for his work as a trauma and orthopaedic consultant. Two years ago, Mr Teoh won the Presidential Prize at the European Foot and Ankle Society conference in Lyon for his research into the treatment of ankle fractures. He also worked privately for MSK Doctors, and close friend and colleague Professor Paul Lee shared a moving tribute online. Professor Lee said: 'It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of our esteemed colleague and dear friend, Mr Kar Teoh, a respected trauma and orthopaedic consultant who left us too soon on August 3, 2023. 'Mr Teoh was more than a triple board certified specialist in trauma and foot and ankle surgery. He was a guiding light in our professional community, a devoted friend, and a cornerstone of many significant projects. 'Kar's commitment to medical excellence was recognised in several prestigious international travelling Fellowships (BOA, BOFAS, AO, SICOT, EFORT, IBRA), and he was an ardent proponent of research, and undergraduate and postgraduate education. Police and City of Cape Town law enforcement officials stand around a burnt-out vehicle in Nyanga Police officers are stationed in Nyanga on August 10 to quell violence caused by a week-long minibus taxi strike which has left five dead 'Yet, his professional accolades only paint part of the picture. For those of us privileged to call him a friend and colleague, Kar was a trustworthy and steadfast presence. 'He was instrumental in the establishment and success of WelshBone in 2007, MSK Doctors in 2017, and the MSK Regen conference in 2023. 'In each of these initiatives, Kar offered his unwavering support and played a critical role in their success. The loss of Mr Kar Teoh leaves a void in our hearts and our community. 'His professional dedication was unparalleled, but it was his personal warmth, his commitment to friendship, and his unwavering support that we will remember most fondly. 'Our deepest condolences extend to his family and loved ones during this difficult time.' Professor Lee added an email address had also been created for people to share memories, saying it was important for 'future generations' and 'for Kar's two-year-old son, ensuring he grows up with a vivid picture of the incredible person his father was'. A Just Giving page set up in memory of Mr Teoh with a target of 50,000 has already raised more than 25,000. His cousin Sancy Low, wrote on Facebook: 'He had a great sense of humour and would have wanted things to be light and fuss-free.' A police spokesman confirmed the British doctor had died after entering into a violent scene amid ongoing taxi strikes. 'From the airport he apparently took a wrong turn-off and headed towards Nyanga. 'In Ntlangano Crescent a number of suspects approached his vehicle, shot and killed him. No arrests yet.' The death comes amid violence across Cape Town in response to police impounding illegal vehicles during a taxi drivers' strike. Pictured: A resident of Masiphumelele using a board as a shield during clashes A protester blocks the streets with stones and rubble during an ongoing strike by taxi operators against traffic authorities A law enforcement officer fires rubber bullets during clashes with protesters in Masiphumelele amid an ongoing strike by taxi operators Since last week, furious campaigners connected to the influential private taxi industry in South Africa have launched stones at cars and buses and and set some alight. It came after a new municipal law gave local authorities power to impound vehicles for driving without a licence or registration plates, and not wearing a seatbelt. The national taxi union has said its members aren't instigating the violence and others are using the strike as an excuse to launch their own protests, while tourists bosses fear the angry confrontations are discouraging holidaymakers from visiting the country. The South African national taxi council called for action after it failed to reach an agreement with local government over the law. A Foreign Office official in London confirmed they were supporting the family of a British man who had died in South Africa and advised Britons to be alert in the country. Nyanga is one of the most dangerous places in South Africa, with 74 people murdered there every day. Western Cape province, which includes Cape Town, has taken a tough stance on the unregulated minibus taxi industry known for bad driving and dangerous vehicles. Millions of workers and schoolchildren have been forced to stay at home. Deliveries of food have been interrupted. Geordin Hill-Lewis, Cape Town's mayor, said he would stand firm against the sector. 'In Cape Town, violence will never be tolerated as a negotiating tactic. We reiterate our call on SANTACO [the taxi union] to return peacefully to the negotiation table,' he said. Mutare, Zimbabwe Land reform program resettled hundreds on protected lands, where lions, elephants and other animals pose a constant threat to livestock and crops. On a farm in Chiredzi district, around 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of Mutare, Innocent Jazi has lost count of how much of his livestock has been killed by lions in the past decade or so. "At some point I lost almost 16 cattle and 26 goats in one day," he says. "They are attacked any time, so we now have to watch our animals day and night, all year round." His neighbor, Amos Hlangwa, has gotten used to wildlife eating his crops. "If you plant 10 hectares, you will harvest a quarter or less, not because of poor rainfall or crop management, but because of wildlife conflicts," says Hlangwa. "A visit even by one elephant per night will destroy hectares of crops." Jazi and Hlangwa were allocated a few dozen hectares each here in the early 2000s under Zimbabwe's Fast-Track Land Reform Program. But their properties are inside the Save Valley Conservancy (SVC), a 750,000-hectare private game reserve in Zimbabwe's southeastern lowveld that shelters diverse wildlife, including Africa's "Big Five" -- leopard, lion, rhinoceros, elephant and buffalo. Officials hoped the FTLRP, as the program is usually called, would pick up the sluggish pace of previous agrarian reform programs aimed at redressing the inequitable land distribution of colonial times -- under which 6,100 families of white European descent owned 15 million hectares of prime land in the country's productive regions, while more than 800,000 indigenous families occupied the other 16.4 million hectares of less fertile land. SVC was formed in 1991 from a consortium of 18 properties, mostly large, white-owned cattle farms. Many of Zimbabwe's private conservancies and game reserves were formed through similar consolidations in the 1980s and 1990s, as wildlife was seen as more profitable than beef, especially in drier regions. With so much land owned by European descendants converted into private game reserves, it was expected that settlers would claim protected areas under the Fast-Track Land Reform Program. These resettlements had a profound impact on wildlife conservation and human and wildlife coexistence. The hundreds of Zimbabweans living inside these reserves illustrate the challenges the country still faces to strike a balance between land distribution, food security and conserving its rich biodiversity. Sharing the landAround 27% of Zimbabwe's land is made up of protected areas, among them national parks, sanctuaries and private game reserves, many of them teeming with wildlife. In the early 2000s, with the launch of the FTLRP, settlers occupied nearly 80% of the areas of some reserves, such as Chiredzi River Conservancy and Bubiana Conservancy. While the Zimbabwe Parks & Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks), the government agency responsible for wildlife conservation, says these settlers have mostly been removed, it admits many were regularized in reserves such as the Save Valley Conservancy. In SVC, about a third of the original perimeter was either completely or partially resettled by subsistence farmers. Over 6,000 people and almost 20,000 farming and domestic animals were thought to occupy this resettlement area by 2011. "Yes, we knew there were dangerous wild animals in the conservancy, but we trusted that the government knew what it was doing," says Jazi. In 2022, a staggering 69% of Zimbabwe's households reported having been "severely shocked" by conflicts with wildlife, according to the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee. The public database on wildlife incidents recorded 71 human deaths in 2021 and 66 in 2022. The situation worried lawmakers enough that in November they established a relief fund to compensate those involved in wildlife conflicts. Zimbabwe hasn't had such a fund since 1990, when a program created in 1989 was rapidly extinguished for being too expensive. The fund became a glimmer of hope for Jazi, Hlangwa and a neighbor, Richard Chitumwa, who have lodged a complaint with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, Climate and Rural Development. Chitumwa laments the lack of recourse for people who have lost property due to conflicts with fauna. "We have people who are serving sentences in prison for killing animals while defending their livestock and crops because the law says we have to report before killing," he says. "How can you report and wait for reaction while your entire herd is killed before your eyes?" The perimeter fence separating resettled areas from the rest of SVC is either badly damaged or nonexistent, says Roger Whittall, owner of Humani and Roger Whittall Safaris. Whittall's safari business, founded in 1977, is among 11 that have a license to operate in SVC. Settlers pulled down the fences when they moved into the area in the early 2000s, Whittall says. Putting up new ones would cost about 8,000 United States dollars per kilometer. "Sixty percent of our gross income goes to ZimParks, so we can't do the fencing development as well," he says. Although international funding is available, he adds, the uncertainties around the land issues are a major hindrance. "You might wake up no longer owning the land," he says. Whittall says the government needs to better demarcate the land by use. "There are lots of settlers inside SVC. There needs to be clear boundaries of wildlife areas and settlement. You can't have settlers and wildlife inside the same area. If well demarcated, and fences put up, all activities can be nicely done without interference from each other," he says. Tinashe Farawo, head of corporate communications for ZimParks, wrote in an email that fences are viable if they "are properly planned and aligned to protect both humans and their property and wildlife" but didn't clarify who should bear responsibility for the costs. While the agency has no plans to revise the status of the current protected areas of the country, Farawo says the establishment of buffer zones between protected areas should be encouraged, and communities should respect the buffer zones. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Wildlife Zimbabwe Food and Agriculture By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. SVC did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Mike Hitschmann, who has worked with wildlife management in Zimbabwe for over 30 years, says it was a mistake to resettle families for subsistence farming in the Save Valley Conservancy, as the land isn't suitable for agriculture. "It was the wrong move," he says. "They do not have irrigation and rely on rainwater. ... With wildlife sharing same space, it is difficult to protect crops, and if you keep livestock, there are risks of clashes with predators." Relocating people is a difficult decision, he adds. "You are dealing with people and their livelihoods. ... [There needs to be] a plan as to where and if they are going to live better than they are at the moment," he says. Tourism and wildlife are one of the big generators of income for the country. "If we keep encroaching into areas set aside for wildlife, we are destroying a big asset to everyone," says Hitschmann. Jazi says that he and fellow farmers are not in conflict with wildlife conservancy itself. "Tourism and farming are equally important for us, and we do want to coexist," he says. "All we need is a solution." Meanwhile, Jazi will be coping with his sleepless nights. "We have to constantly check on the animals' safety," he says. "This is our daily life." Evidence Chenjerai is a Global Press Journal reporter based in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Joanna Cherry railed against cancel culture yesterday as she appeared at her Edinburgh Festival event surrounded by security guards. Attendees were forced through airport-style security, with bag searches and metal detectors, whilst guards flanked her during her In Conversation with... event. The SNP MP said she was shocked by the lack of protesters at the controversial talk, after declaring The Stand comedy club had tried cancelling her. The Fringe show only went ahead after Ms Cherry threatened to sue the club, whose staff were reportedly refusing to work the event in protest at her gender critical views. But just two protesters bothered turning up outside the venue, and no one spoke out against the nationalist politician when offered the chance to do so during the show. Ms Cherry used the event to decry the cancel culture that stifles debate, and warned that the problem needed to be solved before Scotland could ever consider becoming independent. The disappointed but not surprised politician also accused her critics of running scared after audience members were given the chance to challenge her views on gender - but no one spoke up. SNP MP Joanna Cherry appeared at her Edinburgh Festival event surrounded by security guards. The Fringe show only went ahead after Ms Cherry threatened to sue the club Just two protesters bothered turning up outside the venue, and no one spoke out against the nationalist politician when offered the chance to do so during the show Attendees were forced through airport-style security, with bag searches and metal detectors whilst guards flanked her during her In Conversation with... event She also criticised The Stand, who hastily reinstated the show after her legal threat, warning that if debate about issues such as gender recognition reform (GRR), the country was done for. She said: One of the reasons why I have pushed back so hard against the no debate culture in the debate over womens rights and trans rights and the potential clashes is that I felt that if that no debate culture was to affect other areas of our political discourse, our country would be done for. [The Stand] pandered to people who wrongly want to paint lesbians and feminists like me as bigots and transphobes. So they created a problem which they then had to set up massive security against. During the talk, the SNP MP told the audience that she was a victim of homophobic abuse from within the SNP over her opposition to The Scottish Governments planned gender reforms. The SNP/Green government at Holyrood wanted to make it easier for people to legally change gender by lowering the age limit and remove medical involvement to allow people to self-declare their gender. Explaining her stance afterwards, Ms Cherry said: My objection is not to equal right for trans people, my objection is to giving any man the right to self identify as a woman with minimal safeguards. The Edinburgh South West MP revealed she was concerned for her safety ahead of the event, and was surprised no one wanted to challenge her. She said: Very rarely will anyone whos on the other side of the argument to me actually come and debate and address the issues. They just want to scream bigot and transphobe or no debate and shut the debate down. Ms Cherry continued: If a woman like me, who is quite a powerful women with a platform, fears for her safety because of speaking out about these issues, how much more threatening it is for a working class woman or a woman whos vulnerable for some reason? I think its a disgrace in modern Scotland that lesbians and feminists like myself are not able to speak in public without security measures put in place. That needs to be addressed by the leaders of all political parties because somethings gone very wrong with our public discourse in Scotland. Members of the public arrive to see Ms Cherry during her show In Conversation With... at the Grand Hall, New Town Theatre, during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Ms Cherry used the event to decry the cancel culture that stifles debate, and warned that the problem needed to be solved I want to see it put right and I want to see it put right before the nation moves on to be an independent nation. It comes following Nicola Sturgeon's interview at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where she declared she had no regrets about the controversial Gender Recognition Reform Bill. The former Scottish First Minister defiantly said she would vote for the transgender rights law 'tomorrow' if it came back to Holyrood. The law, which makes it easier for transgender people to change their legal gender from as young as 16, was vetoed by Rishi Sunak after being passed by the Scottish Government. In a wide-ranging discussion for Iain Dale's All Talk show, Ms Sturgeon said: 'I don't have any regrets about the way I handled it ... (I) would vote for it again tomorrow... 'I'm a feminist, I have been a feminist all my life, I will be a feminist till the day I die. Women's rights matter to me more than most other things.' In an attempt to rejuvenate the investigation, he had officers double the amount of money given for information to $50,000 Harrison said in an interview that he quickly had a task force appointed to help tackle the long unsolved case Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison has said that Long Island police had just one detective on the Gilgo Beach investigation when he took charge Police in long Island had assigned just one homicide detective to look into the Gilgo Beach killings investigation, it has been revealed. Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told Newsday that when he first took office in 2021 the detective working the case was juggling other assignments. After taking charge, Harrison quickly formed a team to look into the unsolved murders. Harrison told Newsday: 'The one of the things I quickly learned, [is] that they had one investigator assigned to the case and he was still catching other cases. 'Just knowing what I know, and knowing from my time in the city, I knew that wasn't going to get the job done.' Harrison said in an interview that he quickly had a task force appointed to help tackle the long unsolved case Rex Heuermann, 59, is accused of killing Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27, whose bodies were discovered near Gilgo Beach in 2010 Harrison continued: 'We had to take people out of the catching orders, and pretty much dedicate them to solely investigating this homicide. 'That is long overdue of being closed out or identifying the subject. It was a nice eye opener for me regarding the landscape of who was investigating it.' Harrison told Suffolk County Detective Lieutenant Kevin Beyrer that he wanted a sergeant, two detectives dedicated to the case which 'got the ball rolling'. The commissioner also explained: 'There were a lot of different avenues we tackled regarding trying to rejuvenate this case. 'I even took a look at the crime stoppers tip award, it was at $25,000. I said we had to double it. We got to raise it to $50,000. 'Any little help can assist us going in the right direction, putting the task force together, coming up with innovative ideas allowed us to put us in the position we are in today.' The shift in tactic saw officers arrest and charge suspect Rex Heuermann in connection with the murders in July. Heuermann, 59, was taken into custody after plain clothes NYPD officers apprehended him on a crowded Midtown Manhattan street. Now incarcerated in a Suffolk County jail cell since, he stands accused of killing Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27, whose bodies were discovered on the stretch of Long Island beach in December 2010. The bodies of the women had been bound with belts or red tape and wrapped in burlap, which boasted DNA that matched samples taken from a discarded pizza. Suffolk county police commissioner Rodney Harrison speaks to the media outside Heuermann's home last month Quickly, the plain clothes police officers who tracking his movements confront him Taken during cops' secret surveillance of Heuermann this past year, DNA is set to be a key factor in the case, due to the time between the murders and the architect's arrest. He is also the prime suspect of a fourth murder, but has yet to be charged. Heuermann was linked to one of the killings through mitochondrial DNA profile from a pizza crust and a used napkin that he discarded from his Midtown Manhattan office. A judge ruled earlier this week that Heuermann will have to submit a cheek swab for analysis due to the discarded crust. Judge Timothy Mazzei issued the ruling on Wednesday, which is a win for prosecutors who had fought for the motion - based on the belief the DNA found on the pizza crust and an accompanying napkin will yield more material evidence. The judge also revealed that one of Heuermann's attorneys will be present during the swab process - after fighting relentlessly to avoid such an analysis due to a supposed lack of evidence their client committed the crimes he's accused of. Heuermann was linked to one of the killings through mitochondrial DNA profile from a pizza crust and a used napkin that he discarded from his Midtown Manhattan office Aired by Judge Timothy Mazzei Wednesday, the ruling serves as a win for prosecutors who had fought for the motion - based on the belief the DNA found on the discarded pizza will yield more evidence. The jurist and Heuermann are seen in sketch from a hearing this past week Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to first-degree and second-degree murders. He was arrested on July 13 and remains in jail ahead of his trial A forensic photographer is seen bending over the tray of objects excavated from the back yard of Heuermann's house in Massapequa Park. Prosecutors say 'nothing of note' was discovered in the back yard, but on Tuesday said they have a trove of evidence against the suspect Rex Heuermann's home in Massapequa Park that was tore apart by investigators That said, prosecutors on Tuesday revealed some of the evidence that's been mounted against the suspected killer - which includes some 2,500 pages of documents, crime scene photographs, autopsy reports and hundreds of hours of video footage taken at Heuermann's home and office. That trove was laid bare in a brief preliminary hearing where prosecutors turned over four hard drives holding the evidence to the Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice and Heuermann's attorney, Michael Brown, following weeks of uncertainty as to how strong their case is. The judge scheduled the next pre-trial conference hearing for September 27, at which point the results from the swab will be in. Danielle Coysh, who is representing Heuermann, had argued the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office is a 'far cry' from the legal benchmark needed to force the architect to give in the swab, but was shot down Tuesday with Mazzei's order. It remains unclear which of victims the DNA was uncovered - a fact prosecutors will wait to reveal until the results of the swab are in. Brown, meanwhile, recently maintained that his client still says he is innocent - and is ready to fight the charges against him in court. He remains incarcerated without bail in a single sell at Suffolk County Correctional Facility - somewhere his kids and now ex-wife have so refused to visit. Both adults, the offspring of the suspected serial killer, Victoria Heuermann and step-stop Christopher Sheridan, are aged 26 and 33, respectively. Victoria Heuermann, 26, and step-brother, Christopher Sheridan, 33, said they are 'not foreclosing on' seeing their father in his Suffolk County incarceration, but will also not rush into making a decision In a statement from the siblings' attorney also aired Wednesday, they refused to rule out ever speaking to him again - but also said they would not rush into making a decision. The pair also refused to discuss the allegations against Heuermann, and declined to offer their opinions on his alleged crimes. Their mother, 59-year-old Asa Ellerup, has also yet to visit her former spouse, whom she divorced days after his arrest to 'protect herself' from any future lawsuits, her lawyer told DailyMail.com this week. That revelation - offering insight into the state of the family weeks after it was shattered by the headline-grabbing case - comes a little more than a week after the were seen returning to the ransacked Massapequa Park residence they had lived in with Heurmann since 1994. The homecoming happened nearly two weeks after Heuermann was apprehended as a result of an in-depth probe enacted by federal investigators, and was somewhat marred by the mass of media seen at the site scrutinizing the family. Ellerup and her two children looked solemn as they arrived back at the torn-up property at 10.30am on July 27 - after it was searched by feds - with Suffolk County cops accompanying the clan back into the home before leaving about an hour later. A 'major excavation' took place at Heuermann's Massapequa Park home. Pictured are State Police investigators gathering evidence at the scene Asa Ellerup and her two children looked solemn as they arrived back at the torn-up property at 10.30am on July 27 - after it was searched by feds - with Suffolk County cops accompanying the clan back into the home before leaving about an hour later Heuermann is being held at Suffolk County Correctional Facility away from other inmates, with a cell complete with a TV. Cops said the suspect has vowed to be 'compliant' as he awaits trial. Almost a month into his incarceration, he has yet to receive a visitor - family included Speaking to DailyMail.com Wednesday from the family's home, she told DailyMail.com she doesn't 'want to walk down the street' anymore due to the mass of attention her and her children have been exposed to since moving back in. 'The neighbors want the house gone,' she said. 'They want it bulldozed.' She became emotional discussing how she's tried to cope with the intense media scrutiny and neighborhood gossip. The suspect's house sits directly north of Gilgo Beach across the South Oyster Bay Her husband, meanwhile, stands accused of murdering at least three women - Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello -but detectives probing the case are wary there are more bodies that may be linked to him. The main suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007, he has had no visitors at the Suffolk Country Correctional Facility where he's been imprisoned since his arrest - other than his lawyer. Officials at the facility have since said the alleged serial killer is 'very comfortable' in his cell, where he has a TV and is kept from other inmates - despite being on simultaneous suicide watch. His ex's lawyer, Bob Macedonio told DailyMail.com that Ellerup had been at home at the time of her husband's arrest outside his office in Midtown Manhattan, and that authorities simultaneously swooped in to search the residence. State police remove evidence from Rex Heuermann's home in Massapequa Park, NY, in the afternoon on Monday morning, July 17, 2023 With Heuermann's incarceration set to give away to an eventual trial, the family has been largely forced to remain within their home, rarely venturing out since being allowed back in after the FBI's and local authorities' extensive, 12-day search. Police have kept mum on what's been found at the family home, but described the search as 'fruitful' in terms of evidence. What is known is that police recovered more than 250 guns from the residence, and also discovered a walk-in vault in the basement. That said, cops' investigation into the killings is still ongoing, after linking ten sets of human remains found in Wantagh on April 15, 2011, to Heuermann. Police believe the victims were killed by the same person. The young woman, who leaves behind a four-year-old daughter, announced in June that she was pregnant The 23-year-old was known on social media as Nicol Rescata - she had recovered from drug addiction and used her experience to motivate other addicts An influencer who turned her life around after falling into drug addiction was murdered in Ecuador. Nicol Montenegro, 23, was found shot dead near a warehouse in Yaguachi, a town in the Pacific coast province of Guayas on Saturday. The young woman was found lying face down and was shot several times in the head, according to Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo. Warehouse workers told authorities that they were sleeping inside when they heard multiple shots fired around 3:30 am. The workers found Montenegro's lifeless body next to a rice grinding machine, about 1,600 feet from the building Saturday afternoon. Nicol Montenegro, mother to a four-year-old girl, was found shot dead in Guayas, Ecuador, on Saturday. The 23-year-old used her recovery from addiction to drugs by becoming a social media influencer motivating young people to steer away from narcotics Nicol Montenegro was known on social media networks as Nicol Rescata for her work with drug addicts The suspects left a bottle with gasoline and a box of matches near the body, according to authorities. It's believed that workers prevented the suspects from setting Montenegro's body on fire after they turned the lights on. Police had not reported any arrests as of Thursday afternoon. Montenegro became a social media darling after recovering from her battle with drug addiction several years ago. Nicol Rescata pictured on her way to a drug addiction treatment center several years ago Montenegro, who leaves behind a four-year-old daughter, revealed in June that she was pregnant Nicol Montenegro develop a following on her social media networks for posting videos of her visits and motivational talks with young people recovering from addiction to drugs She later used her own experiences to steer away young people from falling into the same path. She developed a strong following on YouTube and TikTok, where she had more than 80,000 followers, posting videos of her visits and motivational talks with recovering addicts. Montenegro was a mother to a four-year-old girl and took to Facebook in June to reveal she was pregnant. Her family identified her body at a local morgue and transported it to the province of Los Rios, south of the country's capital, Quito, and held a funeral service Sunday in her hometown of Babahoyo. Ecuadorian artist Jeyder Rescata, who also recovered from drug addiction, lamented Montenegro's death. 'They don't know how this news affected me,' he wrote on Instagram. 'You had changed so much for the better, my girl, what happened.' A senior official for the United Nations claims British Airways 'ruined' her 50th birthday after losing her luggage which contained 12,000 worth of designer clothes that she planned to wear for the occasion. Zeina Iyamah travelled from New York to Geneva via Heathrow on the airline to mark a week-long celebration which had been organised by her husband David, 67 a senior official in the US government. But after arriving in Switzerland on August 6, the day of her birthday, there was no sign of Ms Iyamah's luggage, which contained a 2,000 red dress by designer Jason Wu and a 1,000 pair of high heels that she intended to wear for a dinner that evening in an exclusive restaurant on the shore of Lake Geneva. Her luggage also contained thousands of pounds worth of other designer clothes that she planned to wear during their week-long stay. Ms Iyamah ended up having her birthday dinner at the Auberge de Saviese restaurant in Geneva wearing a pair of jeans, white tee shirt and yellow hoodie that she had worn from New York. The couple's dinner bill came to around 500 while she estimates the overall cost of her week-long birthday trip is around 10,000. Ms Iyamah ended up having her birthday dinner at the Auberge de Saviese restaurant in Geneva wearing a pair of jeans, white tee shirt and yellow hoodie that she had worn from New York Ms Iyamah's luggage also contained thousands of pounds worth of other designer clothes that she planned to wear during their week-long stay Ms Iyamah cried: 'I bought the dress especially for the dinner as red is my favourite colour. But I ended up having my special birthday dinner in my travelling clothes, which didn't make me feel very special at all. The food was great, but I didn't feel so wonderful. I was so disappointed that I didn't even want any pictures of me being taken. 'I was really looking forward to the occasion because 50 is such a landmark birthday and it cost us a lot of money to be in Switzerland. But British Airways ruined it for me. I was heartbroken when my luggage never arrived in Geneva because in addition to my special clothes for my birthday dinner, I had lots of other expensive clothes.' She added: 'I have quite a lot of designer clothing which I enjoy wearing. My luggage was worth quite a lot, not just in terms of money but also what it meant to me because I like the finer things in life.' Ms Iyamah revealed that after persistently complaining to British Airways about her missing luggage, it was eventually tracked down to London City Airport. She received it three days after arriving in Geneva. She moaned: 'British Airways weren't being helpful at all and initially told me that they had looked all over Heathrow for my luggage but couldn't find it. It was me who suggested that they should search London City Airport. If it hadn't been for me insisting on this, I still wouldn't have my luggage.' Her luggage contained a 2,000 red dress by designer Jason Wu and a 1,000 pair of high heels that she intended to wear for a dinner that evening in an exclusive restaurant on the shore of Lake Geneva Her nightmare birthday got off to a bad start the moment she landed in Heathrow for her connecting flight to Geneva. Ms Iyamah was initially told that it had been cancelled and that she had been re-booked on a flight leaving from London City Airport the next day. She said: 'I kicked up a big fuss because if I'd have got that flight then I would have completely missed my birthday dinner. They eventually put me on a flight to Geneva from Heathrow on the same day. I arrived but sadly, my luggage didn't because it was accidentally sent to London City Airport.' Ms Iyamah lives and works in New York while her husband is based in Washington DC. She said: 'We love going to special destinations to celebrate our birthdays or other big occasions, such as New Year. It's very important to us because we get to spend quality time together and see the world.' She revealed that in recent years they have visited a number of locations for 'destination celebrations' such as: Paris, Abu Dhabi, Hawaii, Marrakesh, Tunisia and other countries around the world. Ms Iyamah said: 'We are very experienced travellers, but my luggage has never been lost before. My trip to Geneva for my birthday was very important to me and David but I feel angry that all I'll remember it for is not being able to wear my special dress because of BA's inefficiency.' Ms Iyamah lives and works in New York while her husband is based in Washington DC After landing in Geneva, she was informed by the airline that she could buy clothing and any other items she needed until her luggage was found. Ms Iyamah estimates that she spent close to 1500 and is determined to ensure that BA reimburse her. She revealed that she still has not had an opportunity to wear the designer red dress she bought for her special birthday dinner. She added: 'I can't wait for an opportunity to wear it but now is not the right time because all we've been doing in Geneva is lots of walking and sightseeing. I'm sure we'll be going abroad again soon, and we'll go to a special place so that I can put on my lovely dress.' The couple are due to return to the US this weekend. A BA spokesman told MailOnline: 'We apologise to our customer for the delay in returning their baggage. 'Our teams worked hard to reunite the customer with their baggage as quickly as possible.' Taylor served in the dept. for 23 years and accused Diaz of failed leadership, manipulation, and fostering a toxic environment Veteran Lieutenant Jessica Taylor resigned and unleashed a scathing critique of the department's leadership under Chief Diaz in a raw and candid exit letter A veteran Seattle police officer resigned and unleashed a scathing critique of the department's leadership under Chief Diaz in a raw and candid exit letter. Lieutenant Jessica Taylor, who served in the Seattle Police Department for 23 years, accused Diaz of failed leadership, manipulation, and fostering a toxic environment. The letter, addressed to the Chief, offered a detailed expose of Taylor's experience in the department, highlighting alleged corruption, favoritism, and rampant deceit. In one instance, Taylor claimed two officers were stalked, terrorized and had their homes destroyed 'simply for being cops' - while Chief Diaz failed to interfere. 'And maybe, just maybe, next time two of your employees are stalked, terrorized, and have their home destroyed simply for being SPD officers, a simple phone call from the 'chief' would be a basic display of decency,' she wrote. Lieutenant Jessica Taylor, who served in the Seattle Police Department for 23 years, handed in her notice - but instead of filling out a mandatory exit survey, she decided to write a long-winded letter addressed to the police chief She said about Adrian Diaz: 'Your controlling, bullying, and gaslighting tendencies have wreaked havoc on this department, driving away talented and dedicated officers' Lieutenant Jessica Taylor did not mince her words in her 15-page exit letter 'You had two employees with severe PTSD and were forced to move entirely out of the area. Not a peep from the 'Chief .'EPIC FAIL,' she continued. 'I'm also going to go out on a limb and say that you didn't warn other officers to watch their backs because of what happened to us.' Throughout the unhinged 15-page letter, Taylor provided a grim portrayal of the state of the department, likening it to a 'circus' with 'boisterous clowns running amok.' The scathing letter began: 'This will be a brutally long letter, but after 23+ years, I have a few things to say.' She attributed her decision to retire to the deteriorating condition of the department and the alleged mishandling of various situations under Chief Diaz's leadership. She called her time in the department 'soul-draining,' in the letter first reported by the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. Taylor doesn't hold back as she criticizes not only Chief Diaz but also the Seattle City Council, the Mayor, and the prosecutor's office. She accused these leaders of exacerbating the city's downward spiral into chaos, pointing to what she sees as a lack of leadership and effective governance. Taylor also took a jab at the Seattle City Council - calling the institution 'absurd,' before describing the Mayor as 'spineless,' and bashing 'the leniency of the prosecutor's office.' She also highlighted the challenges posed by the 'absurd' policies of the City Council and expresses concerns over rampant crime. 'Your approach reeks of a desperate hunger for control rather than genuine understanding and respect for the autonomy of our officers.' On top of that, she knocked the Police Chief's 'failed leadership' that 'accelerated this city's downhill slide straight to rock bottom.' 'Your controlling, bullying, and gaslighting tendencies have wreaked havoc on this department, driving away talented and dedicated officers.' Taylor also took a jab at the Seattle City Council - calling the institution 'absurd,' before describing the Mayor as 'spineless,' and bashing 'the leniency of the prosecutor's office.' But her main address was to the Police Chief - Adrian Diaz (pictured) The letter goes on to discuss Taylor's frustration with the handling of the COVID-19 vaccination mandate within the department. She accused Diaz of coercion and manipulation, claiming that officers were guilt-tripped into compliance, even as she emphasizes her support for vaccines. Taylor alleged that the chief's approach to the vaccine mandate undermined trust and created a culture of fear within the department. Taylor also accused Diaz of being a 'spineless yes man' and of prioritizing political games over the welfare of the officers. She told Diaz: 'You willingly became a puppet, a spineless 'yes man,' perfectly willing to throw the entire department under the bus to achieve your coveted spot as chief, complete with a fancy corner office. She criticizes him for his handling of personnel, including a perceived lack of support for officers facing personal and medical challenges. Taylor (left) is pictured during her 23-year tenure at the department Taylor claims she was 'left in an 'unavailable' black hole for two years' due to a medical condition, describing it as 'unprofessional and despicable.' In a bid to hold Diaz accountable, Taylor suggested the need for an independent agency to investigate his actions and the department's alleged corruption. She called for a 'thorough house cleaning' to address the issues plaguing the Seattle Police Department and restore its integrity. She said the city is 'a playground for anarchists and criminals' who have overrun the city - and those in charge 'seem utterly unconcerned with the devastating consequences of their actions.' Seattle, in Taylor's words, has become the laughingstock of the whole world. She added: 'People are getting hurt and killed in this city, left and right. 'I bet most of the citizens of Seattle would love to be able to walk outside at night or mosey into downtown Seattle and not be afraid. 'But they can't, and that's your fault. You've failed them. You've failed us.' Calling for an investigation, Taylor said: 'I hope, with every fiber of my being, that an outside agency investigates you thoroughly. 'Your character is truly questionable at best, and the citizens of this once-great city deserve to know the truthall of it.' Speaking to Jason Rantz Show on KTTH, the former lieutenant said: 'I wanted to go out with the truth. Taylor concluded the letter by asserting her commitment to speaking out against failed leadership that she feels has compromised the department's values. 'Put a fork in me; I'm done,' Taylor concludes. Before signing her name, she warns Diaz that any action taken against her due to this letter will be seen as 'apparent retaliation and harassment.' 'You are a vindictive, power-hungry individual,' she continued, 'and I wouldn't trust you as far as I could throw you.' One man can be seen here openly using a hypodermic needle as he lays on the sidewalk She cites her willingness to stand alone for what she believes is right, vowing to continue advocating for change even in retirement. 'You offered me an opportunity for an honest exit interview, and here it is. I will always stand up for what's right and what I believe in ... even if I am standing alone,' she wrote before signing her name as 'RETIRED LT' Jessica Taylor. She finished off the letter with one last bizaare accusation - alleging that Diaz used his badge to make his way to the front row of the Taylor Swift concert. 'BTW - Did you seriously badge your way into the Taylor Swift concert and go to the front where people paid $1000s to be there?' she asked in the letter. 'And don't you dare say it was work-related because you haven't done police work in years ... if ever. If so, please review SPD Manual Section 5.001 (12) & 5.020 and report yourself to OPA immediately.' A Seattle Police Department spokesperson responded: 'While we don't address personnel issues, the Seattle Police Department is working alongside our city partners to restore the department to over 1,400 officers. 'We want our officers to feel valued and respected for their hard work every single day. We are committed to highlighting that work on a routine basis.' In Seattle, homeless people have been pictured slumped over in the streets and openly shooting up drugs, after the city's officials chose not to make public drug use illegal. A coroner ruled cause of his October 2022 death was aspergillus pneumonia Luke Brooks' family believe his death was caused by mould in their Oldham home The death of a 'healthy' 27-year-old from pneumonia was not caused by the state of the mould-riddled home his family rented from a private landlord, a coroner has ruled. The family of Luke Brooks, 27, believe the mould and damp in their three-bedroom home in Oldham caused his death in October 2022. But on Thursday senior coroner Joanne Kearsley told an inquest at Rochdale Coroner's Court that 'neither the disrepairs nor any damp caused or contributed to Luke's death'. Ms Kearsley accepted that Mr Brooks's death was caused by aspergillus pneumonia and that aspergillus is a type of mould. But she told the inquest: 'It is not possible to determine the source of the aspergillus.' The death of 'healthy' 27-year-old Luke Brooks was not caused by the state of the mould-riddled home he lived in, a coroner has ruled Luke began to suffer regular colds after moving into the property in Oldham, Greater Manchester. Pictured: Patches of mould in the house where Luke lived Mr Brooks's mother, Patricia, told the inquest earlier this week that there were multiple problems with the house, including rainwater coming in through the roof and mould in a number of rooms, including the bathroom and her son's bedroom. The inquest also heard that Mr Brooks spent most of his time in the bedroom he shared with his friend, Chris Haycock, and three dogs. Witnesses said the room was in a state of 'squalor', rarely cleaned, and contained dirty crockery and food. A pathologist told the hearing that Mr Brooks died from acute respiratory distress syndrome which was caused by aspergillus pneumonia. But fungus expert Professor Malcolm Richardson said the black mould visible in a number of locations in the Huxley Street property, including Mr Brooks's bedroom, was a different type - penicillium, which is not a pathogen. The professor, a consultant clinical scientist in medical mycology, said he carried out tests at the house in April 2023, six months after Mr Brooks's death, and found 'very, very little' evidence of aspergillus in the house, with just one spore found in the bedroom. He told the court that aspergillus is commonly found in the air but thrives on rotting food and dust. Ms Kearsley is the coroner who ruled last year that two-year-old Awaab Ishak died in Rochdale from a respiratory condition caused by mould at his home. Luke Brooks' sister, Sarah Brooks (centre), along with her parents, James (left) and Patricia Brooks (right), read a statement outside Rochdale Coroners Court today Luke Brooks (pictured) died after moving into a mould-infested property in Oldham with his mother In her formal conclusion in relation to Mr Brooks, she said: 'While the property within which Luke resided was in need of some repairs, neither the disrepairs nor any damp caused or contributed to Luke's death. 'Luke predominately resided in his bedroom which was in an unsanitary condition. He also smoked roll-up cigarettes and used cannabis. 'Due to these factors, it is not possible to determine the source of the aspergillus.' The coroner told Mr Brooks's family, who were present in court: 'I do appreciate you had some genuine concerns about the property and my findings do not take away from that things did need to be done to the house. 'What I have had to separate is whether they did or did not play a part in Luke's death.' She said the family was 'quite right to raise these concerns - I absolutely understand that'. 'I hope you understand why I have reached the conclusions I have come to,' she said. Ms Kearsley said Mr Brooks's reaction to aspergillus pneumonia was 'extreme' given his age and with no history of any serious medical problems. A friend of Luke's told the inquest his room was 'freezing' and had black mould on the walls and ceiling A photograph used in evidence at the court showing the conditions of the house where Luke lived Luke's mother said the property was 'always cold and damp' when they moved in in 2014. Pictured: Mould growing on the window sills of the property Pictured: A photograph entered into evidence appearing to show mould growing on a wall inside the house Speaking outside court, Mr Brooks's sister, Sarah, said: 'The place we lived in wasn't good to live in. 'It didn't feel like a real home, no matter how hard we tried. 'For three years there was no proper heating, and it was so cold that you could see your breath when you talked. 'Even though the coroner didn't find direct proof that the house caused Luke's death, we want to talk about the problems we faced.' Ms Brooks said the family 'felt ignored' by environmental health officers and described how her mother told Oldham Council that the family needed to be housed somewhere else before someone died. She said: 'Things need to change. 'Many people live in houses with mould but they're scared to say anything because they worry their landlord will kick them out. Tenants should feel safe speaking up about their living conditions.' Ms Brooks, who was flanked by her mother, Patricia, and father, James, said: 'Our Luke was really something special. Pictured: Luke's mother Patricia (left), father James (right) and friend Chris Haycock (centre) leave Rochdale Coroner's Court on Monday 'He had so many talents like drawing, cooking, singing and playing the piano. 'He didn't always realise how amazing he was, but he was also really smart. We loved him a lot.' Luke's mother said he was 'fit and healthy' when they first moved into the property. But he began suffering from regular colds, and she begged the local council to find them somewhere else to live 'before somebody died, she told the inquest previously. Mr Brooks' symptoms began with a rash and a chest infection and he phoned 111, where an advisor recommended he visit A&E. After a series of calls, he said that he would visit his GP on Monday. According to his mother, his condition seemed to improve, but on October 22 he unexpectedly suffered a seizure, and although an ambulance was called he was pronounced dead at the scene. BBC archive footage has provided a glimpse back in time of Britain's 'wonkiest pub' after a reporter visited the historic 18th century boozer in 1961. A presenter for the Tonight Show visited The Crooked House in Himley, near Dudley in the West Midlands, which is famed for being the place where coins seemingly rolled uphill along the bar before it was gutted by a fire on Saturday night. After arriving at the pub and exploring its exterior with some bewilderment, he ventures inside to speak to the pub landlord to find out 'what's the matter with it?'. The reporter then goes on to ask one of the locals 'do you feel giddy?', to which he admits he did when he first came to the pub, but soon got over the mind boggling layout a week later. The BBC shared the footage earlier this week shortly after police revealed that The Crooked House pub fire was being treated as arson. In 1961, Tonight took a tentative step inside the Glynne Arms in Himley (later known as The Crooked House) for a look around "the most cockeyed pub in England" and to ask which end was up and which end was down. pic.twitter.com/62QuBcUHtr BBC Archive (@BBCArchive) August 9, 2023 BBC archive footage has provided a glimpse back in time of Britain's 'wonkiest pub' after a reporter visited the historic 18th century boozer in 1961 The pub had attracted visitors from all over the world who marvelled at its extraordinary appearance, caused by mining subsidence, before it was destroyed by fire on August 5 A Staffordshire Police spokesman said: 'This fire has shocked and upset so many given the, albeit not listed, cultural importance and heritage of the building. 'This is not lost on us and a robust investigation using all available information and forensic opportunities is being carried out.' He said officers had 'spoken to, and continue to engage, with the owners', adding that its joint investigation with Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service had so far been unable to determine the cause of the fire. Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Chisholm, Head of Specialist Crime, said: 'We understand the significance of this much-loved building and the upset and anger felt by many so want to reassure you we're doing all we can to understand more about what happened, and who was responsible. 'There is lots of misinformation circulating within communities and online and this is unhelpful. 'There are also certain things that police and fire do not have the powers to deal with, the decision around partial demolition of the building for example, when the scene was handed back to the owner. 'We are working hard with our fire colleagues to understand the cause of the fire and are in contact with the landowner, we will keep you updated with any further significant developments.' Situated in a former mining area in the Black Country, the 260-year-old pub was surrounded by quarries which caused subsistence in the 1800s resulting in the pub becoming lopsided. The fire over the weekend was followed by diggers moving in and knocking down what was left on Monday, hours after Staffordshire police and firefighters left the site. The council said on Tuesday that it was exploring whether the total demolition constituted a breach of the law and stated that it had not agreed to 'the demolition of the whole structure', nor deemed it necessary following an inspection. West Midlands Mayor Andy Street has said 'questions need answering' over the fire. In a letter to South Staffordshire council leader Roger Lees, Mr Street demanded the pub is 'rebuilt brick by brick'. Meanwhile, Staffordshire Police have said that their investigation continues and that it is looking at 'all of the available evidence' into the cause of the blaze, which has not yet been established. A fire on the evening of Saturday August 5 completely gutted the taproom, which attracted guests from across the world. Locals claim a path to the building had been blocked off before fire engines arrived It was first built as a farmhouse and later converted into a public house in around 1830. Pub giant Marston's had completed a sale of the property last month as part of a cost-cutting exercise that saw it put 60 other venues on the market Fire crews assessing the remains of The Crooked House on Sunday. Police are appealing for information on the fire and are believed to be treating it as 'suspicious' The mind-bending taproom was first built as a farmhouse in 1765, but gradually sank into the ground on one side due to subsidence from mining works carried out in the 1800s. It was converted into a pub in around 1830 and was first known as The Siden House 'siden' being Black Country dialect for 'crooked'. It was later renamed the Glynne Arms after Sir Stephen Glynne, a brother-in-law of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, who owned the land on which the tavern stood. While the Glynne Arms name remained above the door into the 1970s, the pub had acquired a more affectionate nickname among locals by then: The Crooked House, which was later adopted as the formal moniker. Inside, drinkers might have been convinced they had one too many before they'd even sipped their first pint because while the floors and fixtures such as the bars and seats were level, the ceilings, walls and windows were not. A mind-boggling optical illusion known as a 'gravity hill' meant that coins and marbles appear to roll uphill when placed on slightly downhill surfaces that were sitting at a less jaunty angle than the rest of the pub. Picture postcards of the era a popular way for visitors to show families back home where they were visiting in the years before photography was commonplace made much of the pub's quirks. Many are captioned 'The Crooked House', while one even features a table of well-dressed country gentlemen marvelling at a marble appearing to roll up their table. In an interview with regional broadcaster ATV in 1974, operators the Love family described the pub as a place where people 'go in drunk and come out sober'. Landlord Arthur Love said: '[This place is full of] all sorts of tricks. [People come from] China, Russia, Japan, Canada, America, all over the world. 'They come to see the bottle run up the table.' Mr Love's wife said: 'I used to get violent headaches, but of course we've got used to the building now. 'It all went [sunk] in the one go and there isn't a crack to be seen. 'You come in drunk and you go out sober. [Our regulars] are very few but they are good customers. We get quite a few strangers in quite a lot. 'You've got to see it to believe. You tell people things are straight and they still don't believe it.' The Crooked House pub in Himley, near Dudley in the West Midlands, operated as one of Britain's more unconventional watering holes for nearly 200 years. This photo from 1907 shows how popular it was even back then Picture postcards from the early 1900s made much of the pub's awkward appearance both inside and out. The card on the left shows two gentlemen appearing to stand at an angle inside, while that on the right is captioned: 'Doorway, 'Crooked House', Himley' Another postcard of the era shows a table of gentlemen at the Crooked House making the most of the topsy-turvy setting. The caption reads: 'The Crooked House: Watching the Marble roll up the table' Punters enjoyed The Crooked House's original character for almost two centuries. A photograph from 1926 (left) shows two gentlemen standing at a seemingly jaunty angle in the doorway of the pub a tradition that continued with punters in the modern era (right) The Loves revealed that the pub was an interior decorator's nightmare because tradespeople couldn't figure out if they were hanging the wallpaper straight. Mrs Love added: 'The first one who came here and did it said he couldn't hang the damn stuff on straight had to pull it all off.' The boozer had been threatened with closure in the 1940s after it was deemed unsafe. By this time, one side of the building had sunk a full four feet into the ground, despite the owners installing buttresses to stop it from slipping any further. Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries then purchased the building, reinforcing the supports with girders, and it remained open until earlier this year when the same brewer now known as Marston's announced that it was closing it as part of a cost-cutting regime. The brewing giant said it was selling off 61 locations to 'maximise returns from our core estate'. The Crooked House went on the market in January with a guide price of 675,000 and sold last month to a private buyer for an undisclosed sum. Staff later said the pub was 'unlikely to open its doors again'. Any hope of bringing the pub back into use went up in smoke on Saturday night after fire crews were called to Himley amid reports that The Crooked House was alight. Locals have claimed that the lane up to the pub off of Himley Road had been blocked when fire engines arrived, hampering their ability to tackle the blaze and save the building. Lee Goodchild, who had taken over the pub last year, has shared his exasperation at the decision to sell following an expensive makeover at Marston's' expense earlier this year. He said of the sale: 'I feel very much let down by Marston's, and I'm sure the local community also feel devastated. 'They've sold off one of the oldest pubs around. It's massively known in the area and worldwide in fact, but it's their pub to sell, and it was an expensive place to run - but obviously, does the unique heritage of the site outweigh the cost? 'It's disappointing that the place has gone up in flames. It's a shame, especially given the time and money that has gone into it. The roof has been replaced at Marston's' cost, and the kitchen too, but it all seems a little bit worthless now.' Bombshell new bank records reveal that Russian billionaire Yelena Baturina gave millions to Biden-connected shell companies after dining with Hunter and then-Vice President Joe, and was notably not on a list of sanctioned Kremlin allies after the invasion of Ukraine. In the spring of 2014, Baturina joined Joe Biden, Hunter Biden and a handful of his business partners - including Devon Archer and Kazakh oligarchs Kenes Rakishev and Karim Massimov - for dinner at Cafe Milano in Washington, D.C. Archer confirmed that Joe was present long enough to eat dinner with the group. Around the time of the dinner, $3.5 million was wired from Baturina - the wife of a former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov who had links to Vladimir Putin and the Russian Mafia. She wired the money into Rosemont Seneca Thornton, a shell company belonging to Hunter and Archer, on February 14, 2014. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Biden administration placed sanctions on a handful of Russian oligarchs, but Baturina was 'notably' not on the list according to the report put out Tuesday by House Oversight Committee Republicans. Former Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and his wife, businesswoman and billionaire Yelena Baturina Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov and Kenes Rakishev pictured at Cafe Milano in 2014 New detailed bank records released by House Oversight Committee Republicans Tuesday show $20 million in payments to the Biden family and their partners from foreign actors in places like Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan during Joe's time as vice president. The new evidence backs up Archer's bombshell testimony to the committee last week that Hunter was raking in large amounts of cash from foreign deals, and how his father Joe was present in-person during dinner meetings and sat in on at least 20 phone calls with foreign associates. The records suggest Hunter and Archer used shell companies to 'hide' millions in payments from overseas companies and oligarchs - though none directly link payments to Joe Biden. The bank records involving Baturina shows a transfer of $3.5 million on February 14, 2014 and a transfer of $2.7 million to Rosemont Seneca Bohai on March 11, 2014. Then, on March 25, 2014 there were two separate transfers - one for $2.2 million and another for $200,000, to another Rosemont Seneca Bohai account. Archer and Hunter used Rosemont Seneca Bohai to receive other personal foreign payments like those from Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Republicans on the committee claim Hunter Biden then transferred the money to another Rosemont Seneca Bohai account that he and Archer had access to. Baturina's husband - former Mayor Yuri Luzhkov - was called 'a bright and courageous politician' by Putin following his death in 2019. Luzhkov is also credited with running a 'pyramid' of corruption out of Russia's capital city, which enriched himself and his wife. The bank records also detail $1 million yearly payments to Hunter and Archer for their positions on Burisma's board of directors - or $83,333 monthly. Democrats are pushing back on the Republicans' new release, saying there is no evidence that Joe received any of the money. 'Committee Republicans have once again released information on financial transactions that do not involve the President. Instead, they rehash the same Hunter Biden business dealings that Congressional Republicans identified at least three years ago,' said top Oversight Democrat Jamie Raskin, D-Md. When Biden sanctioned a slew of Russian oligarchs after the nation's invasion of Ukraine, he left Baturina off the list. Another receipt shows how a Kazakhstani oil oligarch Kenes Rakishev used his Singaporean company - Novatus Holdings - to wire Rosemont Seneca Bohai $142,300. According to Archer, Hunter first bought a Fisker electric car but then switched to a Porsche using the $142,000 he received for setting up a dinner with his father Joe, the bank records show. In 2018, Hunter took photos of himself driving his Porsche at 172mph in Las Vegas and smoking crack behind the wheel in a residential area. During his testimony before the committee, Archer said he did not know the purpose of the wire. But according to email correspondence, Rakishev had wanted Secretary of State John Kerry to visit Kazakhstan. There was a second dinner at Cafe Milano in 2015, where Rakishev, then-Vice President Biden, Hunter and Archer were present, in addition to Kazakhstan's now-convicted former prime minister and close friend of Rakishev - Karim Massimov. The records show Baturina wired $3.5 million to Rosemont Seneca Thornton, a shell company belonging to Hunter and Archer, in February 2014. Three-quarters of a million dollars was then transferred directly to Archer, and the rest was used to fund a new company, Rosemont Seneca Bohai Baturina then wired $3.5 million to Rosemont Seneca Thornton, a shell company belonging to Hunter and Archer, in February 2014 Hunter's Porsche he purchased after receiving the wire from the Kazakh oligarch. He photographed himself driving a Porsche 172mph and smoking crack behind the wheel The president's son photographed himself smoking crack while driving through a residential area to the airport in June 2018 For 2014 and 2015, Hunter Biden and Devon Archer received approximately $3.32 million, the memo shows. The Oversight Committee has subpoenaed bank records from six different banks and received thousands of records but has not 'yet' subpoenaed bank records for the Biden family. On Tuesday House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called on President Biden to 'give us his bank statements' as Republicans have threatened to launch an impeachment inquiry. At first, aides said the president had 'no knowledge' of his son's overseas deals, but have recently tweaked the narrative to say Joe was 'never in business' with his son. 'It appears no real services were provided other than access to the Biden network, including Joe Biden himself. And Hunter Biden seems to have delivered,' Comer said in a statement Wednesday. 'It's clear Joe Biden knew about his son's business dealings and allowed himself to be 'the brand' sold to enrich the Biden family while he was Vice President of the United States.' Archer testified last week that the Biden 'brand' acted as protection for Ukrainian oil company Burisma. 'I think Burisma would have gone out of business if it didn't have the brand attached to it,' Archer told the committee. The owners of Britain's wonkiest pub reportedly hired the digger used to demolish the beloved pub a week before the fire that burnt it down. Adam Taylor and his wife Carly owned the Crooked House in Himley, Staffordshire when a major blaze broke out over the weekend - just days after the 18th-century inn was sold to them. Diggers then demolished the historic boozer on Monday 'without council permission'. Police confirmed the fire is now being treated as arson and today it emerged the couple had previously bought and allegedly gutted another traditional pub. Former nail technician Mrs Taylor, 34, from Lutterworth, Leicestershire, controls letting and real estate firm ATE Farms Ltd, which bought the pub from brewery Marston's. ATE Farms is registered to the same address as Himley Environmental, which runs a 37-acre quarry and landfill site next to the pub. Her 44-year-old husband, a plant hire boss and a shareholder and former director at Himley Environmental, also owns the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn, a pub in the Warwickshire village of Willey around five miles away from their home. The Crooked House, which was dubbed 'Britain's wonkiest pub', is pictured before the fire Footage of Britain's Wonkiest Pub being razed to the ground at speed has sparked fury among locals But barely 36 hours after it went up in flames, footage emerged on social media of what remained of the building being demolished by a mechanical digger - and by Monday afternoon it was completely flattened Adam Taylor and his wife Carly owned the Crooked House in Himley, Staffordshire when a major blaze broke out over the weekend (the couple are pictured together) Police arrived at the scene of the pub at 10.45pm on Saturday after the blaze started A fire ripped through the Crooked House pub in Himley, West Midlands, much to the horror of punters Staffordshire Police said on Monday that investigations into the cause of the fire are ongoing The Crooked House was demolished on Monday just hours after it was devastated by a fire Locals inspect the rubble of the Crooked House pub in Himley, Staffordshire, on Tuesday The community at large have been left shocked and saddened at the demise of the Crooked House pub Mr Taylor bought the pub in 2020 and is said to have ripped out the interior, before council planners issued a 'stop notice' to prevent any further works. It is now closed. Mrs Taylor's company AT Contracting rented a large digger from Lyndon Thomas plant hire 'several days' before the Crooked House mysteriously burnt down, The Telegraph reported. The National Federation of Demolition Contractors (NFDC) told MailOnline the levelling of the pub was such shoddy work it shouldn't even be referred to as a demolition. It said: 'No respectable demolition contractor would carry out works in the manner seen in the pictures. 'The burnt remnants of this distinctive and treasured building have simply been levelled, with no regard for the safety of local people or those employed to bring it down. 'This seems to be an unplanned, poorly executed process with blatant disregard to regulation and public sentiment, resulting in the willful destruction of an iconic structure which may well have stood the test of reconstruction. 'Neither does there appear to be any consideration for the environment as no effort appears to have been made to salvage and reuse the materials that have been left from this much-loved and treasured building.' Mr Thomas, who hired the digger to the pub's owners, told The Telegraph that AT Contracting were an 'existing customer' with 'all the necessary insurances and paperwork'. He added: 'I can't be held responsible for what he [the customer] does.' Adam Taylor, 44, plant hire boss and a shareholder and former director at Himley Environmental, also owns the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn, Slide me Adam Taylor, 44, is a plant hire boss who also owns the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn, a pub in the Warwickshire village of Willey. It is pictured now (left) and before its closure (right) The interior of the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in Willey, Warwickshire, pictured yesterday The Sarah Mansfield Country Inn pub has been undergoing a conversion led by Adam Taylor Adam Taylor bought the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in Willey, Warwickshire, in 2020 A side view of the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in Willey which is currently closed The disused car park of the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in Willey, pictured yesterday A sign warning of CCTV camera surveillance at the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn in Willey He subsequently submitted a planning application to convert the first floor of the pub to six letting bedrooms, while restoring the ground floor to a pub and building two houses in the rear car park. Britain's 'wonkiest pub' where coins rolled UP the bar before being destroyed by fire: How Staffordshire venue The Crooked House sunk 4ft into ground due to mine subsidence A wonky historic 18th-century pub that burned down last week was famed the world over for its baffling appearance and optical illusions that saw coins and marbles appear to roll up the bar. The Crooked House in Himley, Staffordshire, attracted tourists from across the world and was a popular wedding venue. Prior to its destruction, the venue was often described as Britain's wonkiest pub, sitting 4ft lower on one side than the other. The Crooked House pub, pictured in 1907 It was first built as a farmhouse in 1765, but gradually sank into the ground on one side due to subsidence from mining works carried out in the 1800s. It was converted into a pub in around 1830 and was first known as The Siden House 'siden' being Black Country dialect for 'crooked'. It was later renamed the Glynne Arms after Sir Stephen Glynne, a brother-in-law of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone, who owned the land on which the tavern stood. While the Glynne Arms name remained above the door into the 1970s, the pub had acquired a more affectionate nickname among locals by then - the 'Crooked House', which was later adopted as the formal moniker. Inside, drinkers might have been convinced they had one too many before they had even sipped their first pint because while the floors and fixtures such as the bars and seats were level, the ceilings, walls and windows were not. A picture postcard from the early 1900s shows marbles appearing to roll up the bar A mind-boggling optical illusion known as a 'gravity hill' meant that coins and marbles appear to roll uphill when placed on slightly downhill surfaces that were sitting at a less jaunty angle than the rest of the pub. Picture postcards of the era a popular way for visitors to show families back home where they were visiting in the years before photography was commonplace made much of the pub's quirks. Many are captioned 'The Crooked House', while one even features a table of well-dressed country gentlemen marvelling at a marble appearing to roll up their table. The pub had been threatened with closure in the 1940s after it was deemed unsafe. By this time, one side of the building had sunk a full 4ft into the ground, despite the owners installing buttresses to stop it from slipping any further. Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries then purchased the building, reinforcing the supports with girders, and it remained open until earlier this year when the same brewer now known as Marston's announced that it was closing it as part of a cost-cutting regime. The brewing giant said it was selling off 61 locations to 'maximise returns from our core estate'. The Crooked House went on the market in January with a guide price of 675,000 and was sold last month to ATE Farms Limited, a company controlled by Carly Taylor, 34. Advertisement Rugby Borough Council had approved a request by villagers to protect the Sarah Mansfield as 'an asset of community value' in March 2021, but an appeal then overturned the decision. One local resident told MailOnline that the 'ruthless' businessman bought the Sarah Mansfield with 'the intention of gutting in and turning it into rental accommodation'. The woman, who declined to be named, said: 'The new owner did just that, he bought it and in two to three days he got his team of workers in, the skips were in place, and they gutted it. 'They ripped out everything to the outrage and upset from local people - the plaster, the plumbing, the electrics, it is a shell. 'He sought planning permission to create rental rooms and claimed he would keep part of the premises as a pub. 'All the villagers objected, there are only around 20 of us, but the pub was the heart of our village, it was thriving and attracted outside visitors too, and he ripped that out.' A fellow villager added: 'We know Mr Taylor by reputation and when we heard it was his new Crooked House pub bulldozed, it was a weird feeling of deja vu. 'The guy is absolutely minted from all his business deals, he has a crew of people running around for him 24/7 who no doubt he rewards well, but how much more money does he really need to make? 'We heard he struck lucky by selling off landfill sites he owned in the West Midlands for the HS2 scheme, and he got a small fortune from the Government venture. 'He has become a force to be reckoned with and the authorities seem to bow to him. It is outrageous that one man and his wife can yield so much power. 'What he is doing to local communities, ripping down well-known pubs for development and his greed, is outrageous and the authorities should put a stop to it. 'We've heard he's worth a shed load of money. He drives around in a Bentley with personalised plates.' Drinkers at The Barn pub - two miles away from the Sarah Mansfield - where Mr Taylor was a regular, told MailOnline the 'super rich' self-styled entrepreneur charmed everyone he met, with one adding: 'He was always as nice as pie if you treated him properly. 'Even if he doesn't know you, if you give him the time of day, he'll buy you a drink or two and seems a really nice guy. He's been lucky in a lot of places with business. 'He'd often drink in his local pub. His wife would drive him here in the Bentley, leave him for a while, and then pick him up. She would never come in with him.' They added that he would never leave a tab and 'paid everything upfront in cash'. A regular at the pub said: 'He would always turn up with an entourage of people, with an ''I'm better than you'' attitude.' The Times reported today that Harborough District Council in Leicestershire last month approved the Taylors' application to build 21 holiday homes at their farm despite objections over local traffic concerns. The Taylors have not yet commented on any matters since the fire broke out at the weekend. The intercom went unanswered at the couple's gated home yesterday. But a Staffordshire Police spokesman said officers had 'spoken to, and continue to engage with' the owners of the Crooked House. He added that the force's joint investigation with Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service had so far been unable to determine the cause of the blaze. Former nail technician Carly Taylor, 34, of Lutterworth, Leicestershire, controls letting and real estate firm ATE Farms Ltd, which bought the Crooked House pub from brewery Marston's Pictures have emerged of Carly Taylor, who was behind the purchase of the Crooked House Tom Catton, who ran the 18th-century Crooked House with his wife Laura between 2006 and 2008, drinks a can of beer amid the rubble as a final farewell to the building on Tuesday A police spokesman said: 'Speculation is extremely unhelpful and could hinder our investigation.' A source told the Mail that the purchase of the Crooked House was 'all about access' and followed disagreements between Himley Environmental and Marston's over an access road which they shared. Himley Environmental's director Richard Longley could not be reached for comment last night. Pictures on social media show Mrs Taylor driving a Bentley, flying first class and posing outside the seven-star Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. A relative said she used to run her own beauty business in Lutterworth, but had since become used to 'living the high life'. The family member added: 'She seems to go here there and everywhere, judging by Facebook.' The relative had no idea Mrs Taylor was now connected to the Crooked House, adding: 'I've driven past the pub before but I've never been inside.' A second person who knows Mrs Taylor said she 'loved shopping for designer handbags' and had 'dozens of them'. Situated in a former mining area, the 260-year-old pub was surrounded by quarries which caused subsistence in the 1800s resulting in the pub becoming lopsided. The business had closed last month to repair damage after a break-in. Villagers climb in the ruins of the Crooked House pub in Himley, Staffordshire, on Tuesday People inspect the rubble of the Crooked House pub in Himley, Staffordshire, on Tuesday Police say the cause of the blaze has not yet been determined but is being treated as arson The Crooked House pub yesterday after its demolition on Monday Staffordshire Police are reviewing 'all of the available evidence' into the cause of the fire A spokesman for Marston's, which put the pub up for sale in January, said the sale was completed on July 27. Mr Taylor's son from his first marriage, Ethan, said he was unable to contact Mrs Taylor but stressed that her firm had purchased the pub, rather than her buying it in a personal capacity. The Crooked House was reduced to rubble on Monday despite South Staffordshire Council stating that it had permitted only the top floor to be demolished for safety reasons. The council said on Tuesday that it was exploring whether the total demolition constituted a breach of the law and stated that it had not agreed to 'the demolition of the whole structure', nor deemed it necessary. The incident has sparked anger in the community with West Midlands mayor Andy Street saying 'questions need answering'. In a letter to South Staffordshire council leader Roger Lees, Mr Street demanded the pub is 'rebuilt brick by brick'. Dudley North MP Marco Longhi yesterday questioned why police did not intervene in the demolition, given that the investigation into the blaze at the site is ongoing. In a letter to Chief Constable Chris Noble of Staffordshire Police, Mr Longhi questioned whether police were notified of the demolition, which took place on Monday. Mr Longhi said: 'If the police are investigating the fire incident, then why would the site be demolished whilst the police are conducting their enquiries, which may possibly require a forensic examination to gather evidence?' The pub started life as a farmhouse in 1765 before becoming a public house in about 1830. The remains of The Crooked House pub are pictured on Tuesday after the demolition Aerial shots after the fire showed just how badly the 18th-century pub in Himley was damaged Locals had started a petition calling for the pub to be saved after a sale was announced It was formerly known as The Siden House - meaning crooked in the Black Country dialect - and was reputedly haunted by a 'serving wench' named Polly, according to a local pub guide. Some 30 firefighters were needed to tackle the blaze at the pub on Saturday evening and it was demolished two days later. Police said last night: 'This fire has shocked and upset so many given the, albeit not listed, cultural importance and heritage of the building. 'This is not lost on us and a robust investigation using all available information and forensic opportunities is being carried out.' A joint investigation is being carried out by the police and Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service. A blaze at Black Country pub the Crooked House engulfed the building over the weekend Police are liaising with fire investigators, who have confirmed the cause of the fire cannot currently be determined, but the force said they are following up on a number of lines of inquiry. A specialist fire investigator has examined the scene to try and determine the cause of the fire. The fire service also revisited the grounds yesterday with a specialist accelerant detection dog to investigate further. Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Chisholm, head of specialist crime at Staffordshire Police, said: 'We understand the significance of this much-loved building, and the upset and anger felt by many, so want to reassure you we're doing all we can to understand more about what happened and who was responsible. The crooked nature of the pub attracted punters from around the world for decades Inside, its windows and walls all appeared crooked due to a bizarre effect through subsidence 'There is lots of misinformation circulating within communities and online, and this is unhelpful. 'We're trying to provide accurate and timely updates, but as I am sure you can appreciate there is a lot of work and liaison with a number of partners which needs to be completed, and this takes time. 'There are also certain things that police and fire do not have the powers to deal with, the decision around partial demolition of the building, for example, when the scene was handed back to the owner. 'We are working hard with our fire colleagues to understand the cause of the fire and are in contact with the landowner, we will keep you updated with any further significant developments.' Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Staffordshire Police via 101 quoting incident 761 of August 5. People can also call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or use the Live Chat on the Staffordshire Police website A police force has defended its use of the 'how it started v how it's going' meme to tell people on social media that they caught criminals who filmed themselves flashing stolen cash and bank cards. It comes after Lancashire Police faced backlash on Twitter for their post, which showed two photos of one of 14 men who had recently been convicted, using the popular 'how it started' meme. One person on social media wrote: 'Might be an unpopular opinion, but I feel like the police fundamentally shouldn't be posting memes like this regardless of what they've done.' Another said: 'This sort of mocking, joking tweets is disgraceful. It condescends to and insults the victims of crime, is unseemly celebratory, and acts like policing is all one big jolly jape.' According to Sky News, Lancashire Police defended themselves in a statement which read: 'The reaction to this post has been overwhelmingly positive both online - with more than 71k likes - and in the local community who were directly affected by this criminal activity. A police force has defended its use of the 'how it started v how it's going' meme (pictured) to tell people on social media that they caught criminals filming themselves flashing stolen cash and bank cards The meme mocked Samuel Walmsley, 20, (pictured) who was pictured in the side-by-side on Twitter Walmsley (pictured), Noah Mulligan, 21, Jordan Whittam, 20 and Kevin Docherty, 27, shamelessly recorded the vehicle theft and burglaries they committed, broadcasting it all over Snapchat 'We will continue to engage with people in this way to let them know about the work we are doing to tackle serious and organised crime and to keep our communities safe.' The force's meme mocked Samuel Walmsley, 20, pictured in the side-by-side on Twitter. The right, a picture of the criminal bragging on his social media with a big wad of cash, read: 'How it started.' On the left was a not so happy Walmsley, standing for his mugshot with the accompanying text: 'How it's going.' Walmsley, Noah Mulligan, 21, Jordan Whittam, 20 and Kevin Docherty, 27, shamelessly recorded the vehicle theft and burglaries they committed, broadcasting it all over Snapchat. Lancashire police jibbed how the criminals did not make it 'too difficult' to solve the crime. In the series of videos, the four can be seen openly showing off the goods they stole in a series of burglaries in Clitheroe, whilst riding in a stolen van. The force faced backlash on Twitter for their post, which showed two images of one of 14 men who had recently been convicted, using the popular 'how it started' meme Mulligan, Whittam, Walmsley and Docherty were among 14 men jailed for nearly 50 years for their roles in crime conspiracies in Great Harwood, such as drug importation rings and burglary and vehicle theft rings One video filmed by Whittam, shows fellow criminal Kevin Docherty, 27 spreading a wad of stolen cash, grinning from ear to year. The police force said Whittam also recorded footage of Docherty changing the number plate on the stolen van from the same burglary. Walmsley also took footage of their crimes. In one of his videos one criminal can be heard bragging, calling it a 'good night's work'. The shameless gang even went as far to mock a post made into the Clitheroe Community Facebook page, which caught them red handed. One beamed: 'That's me in the boot.' Lancashire police quipped in response to the less than covert gang: 'But something tells us they aren't laughing now.' They added: 'These defendants thought it appropriate to capture their criminal activities on film and brazenly mock hard-working members of society. 'We're here to send a message to anyone intent on this type of criminality - this will not be tolerated in Lancashire.' MailOnline has contacted Lancashire Police for comment. Peer educator Stephen Bikoko has armed 385 youth with in-depth knowledge of sexual and reproductive health, as well as prevention and response to gender-based violence, harmful practices and HIV, empowering them to make informed decisions and lead healthier lives. Mother-of-two Melania Zambiliti, 21, wanted something more for herself and her family. Living with her in-laws and working as an ad hoc cleaner at a local restaurant where she was given some food, she struggled to make ends meet. When an opportunity presented itself, she welcomed this. The ambitious and determined young woman joined the Upendo group, where she learned economic activities that put her future back on track. As a result, she is able to support her family financially and cater for their basic needs. Through sheer hard work, she managed to save enough money to build her own home, a significant accomplishment that has brought her immense pride and joy. Her transformation from struggling mother to successful provider is a source of inspiration for her community. "After joining the group, I have cultivated sunflower farms and successfully built this house," she said. But this is not the only area where she has been empowered. "The group has helped me understand reproductive health. Now, I can plan how many children to have and when to have them," she said. By taking charge of her own fertility with the use of modern contraceptives, she can choose when and how many children to have, while ensuring she is able to provide financially for them. Equipping young people with skills Upendo was started by peer educator Stephen Bikoko, a young man who is passionate about equipping youth in his community with knowledge and skills that empower them. His commitment to a positive impact on his community stems from training he received on sexual reproductive health, gender-based violence and harmful practices, and entrepreneurship. This was provided by Kiota Women's Health and Development (KIWOHEDE), supported by the Swiss Embassy and UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, through the Safeguarding Young People programme. Armed with these new skills, Mr. Bikoko reached out to youth in Kakonko District to empower them. "Since I acquired knowledge on gender-based violence, I succeeded in providing various [training sessions] in the community," he said. His engaging approach and passion captivated the attention of young people, especially those in informal groups such as motorcycle drivers known as Bodaboda. He soon earned their trust, and became their advocate and mentor. He encouraged them to benefit from loans provided by the local council to youth, women and people with disabilities. Another of Mr. Bikoko's notable accomplishments was the establishment of the Upendo group, for enthusiastic young people who want to improve their lives through education and entrepreneurial activities. Together, they have engaged in various economic pursuits, including poultry farming, goat keeping and general farming. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Tanzania Children By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. Through their joint endeavours, the young members have not only acquired an income but also developed a strong sense of unity and purpose. Among them is Melania Zambiliti. Championing sexual and reproductive rights Mr. Bikoko's efforts have not been limited to Upendo group. In his community, he also promotes sexual and reproductive health education, addresses gender-based violence and harmful practices, and champions the importance of HIV awareness. His articulate interaction with young people has caught the attention and support of community leaders, prompting them to allocate resources towards these crucial issues. Mr. Bikoko's peer education activities have had a profound impact on young people in Kakonko District. By arming 385 of them with in-depth knowledge of sexual and reproductive health, as well as prevention and response to gender-based violence, harmful practices and HIV, he has empowered them to make informed decisions and live healthier lives. Of these, 167 were high school students, 97 bodaboda (motorcycle drivers), 52 from dispensaries, 54 from local markets, and 15 farmers. The Upendo group has flourished, helping its members to discover their potential and contribute actively to their community's growth and prosperity. As for Mr. Bikoko, he is proud that he has made a lasting difference in the lives of the young people he serves. The Safeguard Young People programme is being implemented in mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, with a focus on regions with poor adolescent sexual and reproductive health indicators, including teenage pregnancy, HIV, child marriage and gender inequality. The programme is co-funded by UNFPA and the Embassy of Switzerland in Tanzania. Fox News' parent company is in the midst of a stunning financial resurgence following a rough start to 2023 - after the network's firing of longtime fixture Tucker Carlson and a $788million suit settled days earlier. On April 17, the day before it reached its landmark settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, Fox Corp's stock was trading at $33.99 - a sum that by mid-May had sunk to $30.53. Carlson - whose career at the station spanned a sterling 14 years - left his show on April 23, with little reason given at the time as to why the company let their most-watched anchor go. Some pundits predicted the demise of the network cutting one of its biggest stars, but it appears at least Wall Street is back to believing in Fox. The stock, once believed to be of the blue-chip variety, has since rebounded dramatically, and as of Wednesday afternoon stands at $34.38 - up roughly 1 percent from its price before the monetary woes began. Fox News' parent company is in the midst of a financial resurgence following a rough start to 2023 - after the networks firing of Tucker Carlson and a $788million suit settled days earlier On April 17, the day before it reached its landmark settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, Fox Corp's stock was trading at $33.99 - a sum that by mid-May had sunk to $30.53. as of Wednesday stands at $34.38 - up roughly 1 percent from its price before the woes began Former Fox New exec Ken LaCorte, who left the network in 2016 after longtime ally Robert Ailes's own ouster over sexual harassment allegations, was one of many to comment Thursday on the comeback from the stations' stock. Like Carlson, LaCorte served the network for 20 twenty years, holding several senior management positions in the process. Now the owner of several competing websites including Conservative Edition News, Liberal Edition News and LaCorte News, he used the opportunity to slam Carlson's firing this past spring as a 'debacle.' 'Less than 4 months after the debacle of firing Tucker Carlson and the Dominion $788m settlement, Fox stock is now trading higher than it was beforehand,' the 58-year-old wrote - sharing a graph showing the stock's recent volatility and recovery. Many assumed the 54-year-old's ouster dealt with claims he and other network hosts spread lies about Dominion machines during the 2020 election - claims Rupert Murdoch's news station had vowed to fight before ultimately throwing in the towel. Its parent company has since struggled to fill the financial hole the preeminent host left, reporting a $50 million loss last quarter and seeing a stark drop in share price throughout the remainder of April and all of May. Carlson - whose career at the station spanned a sterling 14 years - left his show on April 23, with little reason given at the time as to why the company let their most-watched anchor go Former Fox New exec Ken LaCorte, who left the network in 2016 after longtime ally Robert Ailes's own ouster over sexual harassment allegations, was one of many to comment Thursday on the stock's comeback In 2021 Dominion sued Fox claiming the anchor and other network hosts knowingly spread lies about its machines during the 2020 election, in an alleged bid to help Trump get reelected. The lawsuit came at the height of Carlson's success - and specifically singled out statements made on air by the TV talker and other such as Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro, and Maria Bartiromo. During discovery for the case, multiple text messages sent by Carlson to colleagues over the course of the 2020 election were made public, embarrassing the network to no end. Sent to colleagues such as Laura Ingraham, they revealed how Carlson secretly despised Trump behind the scenes - despite his repeated praising the then-president, whose win helped further propel his success, in public. One sent on November 5 of that year - days after Joe Biden was declared victorious - seemed to show Carlson realizing a Trump loss could spell trouble for the network, given how heavily he had leaned on the politician over the past several years. 'He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong,' Carlson wrote about Trump in one of many startling text messages obtained by the voting firm - which claimed in court that the correspondence served as proof he knowingly spreading false information. On November 17, Carlson griped about attorney and frequent Fox guest Sidney Powell for pushing the voter fraud conspiracy - despite seemingly agreeing with the theory himself several times on the air. Many assumed the 54-year-old's ouster dealt with claims he and other network hosts spread lies about Dominion machines during the 2020 election - claims brass Rupert Murdoch's news station had vowed to fight before ultimately throwing in the towel 'Sidney Powell is lying. F***ing bitch,' he wrote. A day later, in a message to Ingraham, Carlson elaborated, 'Sidney Powell is lying by the way. I caught her. It's insane.' Then, after the insurrection on January 6, Carlson took aim at the ex-president himself, saying he could not wait for him to be out of office - and more importantly, out of news headlines 'We are very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights,' Carlson wrote in one message. 'I truly can't wait.' He added: 'I hate him passionately.' The messages, attorneys hired by the Toronto based voting firm said, served as proof that Carlson and others knowingly spread false information that their machines played a part in Biden's win. After a jury was selected, and after Fox had promised a high-powered, bitter court battle, the network inexplicably backed down, agreeing to fork over the largest civil settlement in history. The move puzzled many who thought Fox would never have backed down from a fight when it came to their lucrative golden boy. That said, Carlson - who is technically still under contract at Fox despite his firing - is looking to set up his own media company potentially using the site formerly known as Twitter as its platform. Following the launch of the weekly web show on the website, Fox threatened to sue Carlson for violating terms in his $20million-a-year contract that prevented him from taking work at competing networks. In a statement to Axios at the time, Carlson's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, accused brass at his client's ex-employer of engaging in hypocrisy by silencing Carlson, citing how the company claims to 'defend its very existence on freedom of speech grounds.' Despite the legal threat, Carlson is reportedly planning a more formal weekly web venture with Neil Patel, a former policy adviser to Dick Cheney, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal last month. The pair, who met as roommates at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, want to adopt longer versions of the free videos the social media platform offers - after Carlson's first episode on Elon Musk's X received more than 81million views within 24 hours. Carlson's team met with Twitter representatives in recent weeks to discuss their plans and the demand for more content from the conservative, the Journal reported, as other commentators, including other former Fox News hosts Megyn Kelly and Bill O'Reilly, have increasingly sought a subscriber-funded long-form business model. Carlson, meanwhile, has continued to post videos to the platform almost religiouslhly since his departure in April, but remains under a multi-year contract. His contract runs until January 2025 - after the election - and Fox wants to keep paying him, which would prevent him from starting a competing show. Diners at an Italian restaurant were shocked after waiters charged them 2 for an empty plate so their daughter could try the pasta. Italians mocked the restaurant for the unusual charge and even the regional governor condemned it - amid a row in the country over extra hidden prices. Ida Germano, the owner of the Osteria del Cavolo in Finale Ligure, told The Times the charge was valid because more plates to clean meant more work to do. She clarified that the cost of supplying and washing extra plates so the mother could let her daughter taste the pasta would be 'more work'. In another prices scandal, a couple who asked for an extra teaspoon so they could share a dessert were charged 1.50. Diners at an Italian restaurant were shocked after waiters charged them 2 for an empty plate so their daughter could try the pasta. Pictured: The restaurant's receipt Ida Germano (pictured), the owner of the Osteria del Cavolo in Finale Ligure, said the charge was valid because more plates to clean meant more work to do She clarified that the cost of supplying and washing extra plates so the mother could let her daughter taste the pasta would be 'more work'. Pictured: The Osteria del Cavolo in Finale Ligure They were billed for the pleasure of using two teaspoons to eat the crema catalana they had at the pizzeria near Alba, in northern Piemonte. It came as a posh bar at Italy's exclusive Lake Como has sparked outrage after it was revealed it charges customers an extra 2 just to cut their sandwiches in half. One disgruntled customer shared a photograph of a receipt online as proof of the baffling charge. The printout from June 18 clearly shows that Bar Pace had charged them 2 (1.70) for the privilege of cutting their fancy sarnie in two. Listed as 'diviso da meta' it translates into English as 'divided in half'. The total pushed the already pricy 7.50 (6.46) 'toast vegetariano e patatine' - or veggie toast and crisps - up to 9.50. The printout clearly shows that Bar Pace had charged them 2 (1.70) for the privilege of cutting their fancy sarnie in two. Listed as 'diviso da meta' (the fourth item on the bill) it translates into English as 'divided in half' The owner of the bar (pictured), who has not been named, hit back in Italian media, saying that 'additional requests have a cost' Lake Como is known as one of the most exclusive destinations in the world, with Hollywood star George Clooney owning a mansion overlooking the shore. The owner of the bar, who has not been named, hit back in Italian media, saying that 'additional requests have a cost'. They explained: 'If a customer asks me to make two portions of toast, I have to use two saucers, two napkins and go to the table using two hands. 'It is true that the customer is always right, but it is equally true that additional requests have a cost.' The customer, also unnamed, was reportedly at the bar in Gera Lario, a small town located on the northern shore of Lake Como, with his partner. They ordered a fizzy drink, the sandwich to share, a water and a coffee, for a total cost of 15.70 (13.52). The TripAdvisor user said: 'This has never happened to me in any of the places I have visited in the world.' Since international travel returned to normality at the end of the global pandemic, several disgruntled holidaymakers have taken to the internet to express their shock at being presented with exorbitant bills in bars and restaurants in a number of European holiday destinations. Several customers have slammed a cafe near Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome for being a 'tourist trap,' with one customer saying they were charged 53 for 'two triangular toast bread sandwiches and a ham and mozzarella ciabatta'. In June, one tourist took to Reddit to express their shock after being left with a bill of 360.80 (310) for a a light lunch on Greece's island of Mykonos, at a beach-side restaurant called Eclipse. The customer explained that their family had been looking for a good spot to sit and enjoy the sun when a waiter at beach-side restaurant Eclipse told them they could 'use their cabanas or loungers provided we bought two drinks'. The customer said they had asked for the prices and a menu, but that the waiter cleverly avoided their questions, telling them it was 'cheap'. The two parents ordered a beer and mojito each but were also pressured into ordering milkshakes for their children. In June, one tourist took to Reddit to express their shock after being left with a bill of 360.80 (310) for a a light lunch on Greece's island of Mykonos , at a beach-side restaurant called Eclipse (pictured) They also had a Greek salad and Calamari. To the customer's shock, they said they were then handed a bill costing their four drinks at 78 (67) and the calamari at 75 (65). Being pestered for payment, they eventually gave the waiter their card. But to even further dismay, the customer said they were charged even more. 'When the bill came back I was appalled as the Calamari was 148 (127), the milkshakes which we never wanted but were forced to order for our kids were 38 (33) each and the salad and bread which we were told were free were 28 (24) and 14.50 (12) respectively,' they said. After telling the staff of his shock and anger at the payment, they said the staff started 'grouping up and getting mad'. They said the cashier then tore off the top part of the receipt containing the transaction details and the restaurant's name and address. British tourists have also complained about a separate establishment on the Greek island, DK Oyster. One pair of honeymooners in May said they were charged 25 per oyster, while another couple said they paid almost 700 for drinks, appetisers and a salad. At the same bar, an American couple were slapped with an eye-watering $860 bill for two mojitos, four crab legs and a Greek salad. Thirteen people were injured and several were hospitalized after a New York City bus collided with a semi-truck on the Upper West Side Thursday morning. Authorities say the two vehicles collided at around 11.20am at the intersection of West 82nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Videos posted online showed multiple ambulances at the scene, and damage to the front side of the bus including a partially-shattered windshield. It was taken out of service in the aftermath, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said. A Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus collided with a semi-truck Thursday morning Several ambulances were seen at the intersection of West 82nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue, as multiple people were brought to two local hospitals Among those injured were the bus driver, officials said, but none of the injuries are considered life-threatening. It remains unclear what caused the crash. The New York Police Department is on the hunt for a 6ft3, 250lb prisoner, who made a daring escape from a Manhattan hospital. Yenchun Chen, 44, was in Department of Corrections custody inside of Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center, located at 281 First Avenue, when he broke free around 4:30pm on Wednesday. The hulking prisoner had been at the hospital since Friday after experiencing cardiac issues. Chen was supposedly taking a shower when he made a run for it by tying bedsheets together and rappelling out a fifth floor window. When correction officers went to check on him they found the bathroom window open and saw Chen was gone. An NYPD spokesperson confirmed to DailyMail.com that the 'prisoner did escape the hospital via a fifth floor window to the street and fled in a yellow taxi southbound on 2nd avenue.' Mugshot: Yenchun Chen, 44, was arrested on July 31 for criminal possession of a controlled substance. He was awaiting his court date that was set for later in the month, a report said Chen was last seen dressed in a white shirt and tan khakis. He still had his hospital bracelets on during his daring escape Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical center on First Avenue is the site where Chen escaped from on Wednesday Police described Chen as having a medium complexion, standing 6ft. 3 inches tall, and weighing approximately 250 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair. He also has tattoos on his left arm and left hand. He was dressed in a white shirt, tan khakis and still had his hospital bracelets on when he broke out of the medical facility. One of the nurses told WABC 7 that she was 'shocked' when she heard a prisoner escaped through a window.' It is unclear what prison Chen was being held at. Chen, was arrested on July 31 for criminal possession of a controlled substance. He was awaiting his court date that was set for later in the month, a report said. Anyone with information with regards to the whereabouts of this individual is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. It had been earlier reported that Chen had been captured but NYPD confirmed to DailyMail.com that he was still on the lamb. The oldest house in Maui has been burnt to the ground after wildfires devastated the town of Lahaina The oldest house in Maui has been razed to the ground by deadly wildfires that are currently ravaging the islands of Hawaii. The blaze ran riot through the historic town of Lahaina decimating the popular tourist attraction that dates back to the 1700s. One of the buildings that was destroyed was the The Baldwin Home, which was originally in 1834 and was the oldest house still standing on the island. County officials said that 271 structures had been impacted and destroyed as a result of the fires. At least 36 people have been killed in the fires that have raged across 2,000 acres of Maui. Hundreds remain missing. The coastal town of Lahaina was once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom and a sacred site for the island nation's kings and queens. Aerial footage captured the devastation to Maui's historic waterfront buildings following the inferno, including the charred remains of the Baldwin Building and the trees that surrounded it The Baldwin Home's rooftop can be glimpsed through the dense foliage in this satellite image The Baldwin Home, pictured here, was the oldest home on the island and has now been destroyed Taking to Twitter, Senator Brian Schatz said: 'Lahaina Town on Maui is almost totally burnt to the ground. 'Firefighters are still trying to get the fires under control, and our first responders are in search and rescue mode.' The Baldwin Home was originally built by Reverend Ephraim Spaulding between 1834-35 in what was referred as a 'missionary compound'. After falling ill in 1836, Spaulding travelled to Massachusetts and a medical missionary, Reverend Dwight Baldwin and his family who had been living in a grass hut moved into the home. The Baldwins lived on Lahaina until 1868 in the home and frequently opened their doors to weary travelers, ship captains, members of the royal court and visiting consuls. In 1853, a smallpox epidemic hit the islands and by this point Baldwin was a physician. He managed to quarantine residents of Lahaina and began vaccinating as many people as he could, before travelling round the other islands to do the same. Missionary Reverend Dwight Baldwin, pictured here, moved in to the famous property on Front Street in 1835 Slide me Before and after pictures taken of the area show the devastation caused by the wildfires An aerial view shows destroyed homes and buildings that burned to the ground around the harbor and Front Street in the historic Lahaina Town Reverend Baldwin and his wife then moved to O'ahu to retire near their daughter Charlotte. After the roof of the historic building caught fire, the building was completely burnt to the ground. Theo Morrison, the executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, told the New York Times: 'We had no preparation, no warning, nothing. 'This is the most destructive thing that has happened in this town's entire history.' Aerial video showed dozens of homes and businesses in Lahaina flattened, including Front Street, where the Baldwin Home once was. Smoking heaps of rubble lay piled high next to the waterfront, boats in the harbor were scorched, and gray smoke hovered over the skeletons of charred trees. While the exact source of the fires remains unknown, they began on Tuesday fueled by strong winds from the passing Hurricane Dora. Horrifying footage shot from a plane landing in Maui shows the extent of the fires which continue to ravage the small island Low humidity and a prolonged drought season which dried trees also contributed to the disaster, according to officials. As fires closed in all the way up to the shoreline, frantic locals jumped into the water in the harbor to escape the flames on Tuesday night. Twelve people were rescued from the waves by boats. Distraught residents of Lahaina woke up on Thursday to photos and videos of their homes entirely destroyed. 'We just had the worst disaster I've ever seen. All Lahaina is burnt to a crisp. It's like an apocalypse,' said one resident. Another escaped with his wife, children and dog and slept in a Whole Foods parking lot before waking to the news that their home had been destroyed. President Joe Biden has declared a major emergency in Hawaii, allowing residents and businesses access to federal funding. It has left hundreds of people missing, with relatives desperately searching for any sign that they might have been rescued or found shelter after fleeing. Locals have set up a document for relatives to list the last place their loved ones were seen, though authorities are yet to set up any official way or reporting anyone missing. People gather while waiting for flights at the Kahului Airport Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Kahului, Hawaii State officials are working with hotels and airlines to try to evacuate thousands of tourists to another island. The Hawaii Department of Transportation confirmed that Maui's Kahului Airport is open, with thousands stranded there trying to escape the island. Ed Sniffen, director of the Hawaii State Department of Transportation, confirmed that nonessential inbound travel to Maui is strongly discouraged. He estimated that around 2,000 people stayed overnight in the airport, with a further 4,000 visitors trying to leave the island from the west side. The Hawaii Tourism Authority said in a statement that West Maui is the area that travelers need to avoid, adding: 'Visitors with travel plans to stay in other parts of Maui and the Kohala Coast of Hawaii Island in the coming weeks are encouraged to contact their hotels for updated information and how their travel plans may be affected.' State officials are working with hotels and airlines to try to evacuate thousands of tourists to another island Officials were left scrambling to evacuate the thousands of visitors to the island, and are preparing to move those unable to return to their homes to the Hawaii Convention Center, along with displaced Maui residents. The Hawaii Tourism Authority worked with the American Red Cross to set up the assistance center, with shuttle buses taking the stranded from Honolulu's airport every 20 minutes. To help people get out of Maui as quickly as possible Hawaiian Airlines says it's added flights and is offering low $19 fares main cabin fares. 'We're doing what we can to provide resources to take care of our employees, and we're doing what we can to take care of our guests,' said Hawaiian Air CEO Peter Ingram. Half of Americans in a new survey said they have tried marijuana recreationally, stoking fears that America's rapid legalization of pot is driving up use, especially among young people. Polling firm Gallup said the 50 percent of Americans who have tried weed marked a 2 percentage point increase from the last time they canvassed the nation at the start of 2022. The survey of 1,105 adults showed that the share of regular users has ticked up to 17 percent. That's more than double the number in 2013. 'As marijuana has become more available to Americans and legal in an increasing number of states, their reports of use and experimentation have increased too,' Gallup said in a statement. America crosses the half-way mark: 50 percent of the population has sampled pot A customer buy recreational pot at a dispensary on the first day of legal sales in Leicester, Massachusetts, in 2018 'Now, half of the country has tried it, while the other half say they never have.' The survey heightens concerns that the legalization of cannabis across 23 US states and Washington DC is driving up consumption, especially among teens and young adults who are prone to its negative effects. Advocates say pot has health and social benefits, but critics say widespread use leads to higher rates of mental health problems, substance abuse and even more stoned drivers causing car crashes. Poll Do YOU think the federal government should lift its ban on cannabis? Yes No Do YOU think the federal government should lift its ban on cannabis? Yes 316 votes No 185 votes Now share your opinion As the polling was released, child and adolescent psychiatrist Bobby Smyth warned on social media that legalization had led to rising rates of drug dependence and emergency room visits for young and old alike. That's 'why doctors, eg American Medical Association, oppose cannabis legalization,' said Smyth. The US government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's says pot use can disproportionately impact young people, with negative effects on their brain development and mental health. Gallup researchers found that pot use is highest among adults aged 18 to 34. Nearly a third of them use cannabis regularly, compared to just 9 percent of those aged 55 and older. There was also a political divide. Fully 57 percent of Democratic respondents said they had tried marijuana, compared to 52 percent of independents and 39 percent of Republicans. Minnesota became the 23rd state to legalize recreational marijuana with a law, passed earlier this year, that came into effect on August 1. Legalization across growing swathes of America comes as scientists increasingly sound alarms about the drug. Experts from Stanford University revealed in February that cannabis users are up to a third more likely to suffer a heart attack than others. Researchers backed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in May warned that pot may be driving a 30 percent surge in schizophrenia cases among young men. Young, Democratic-voting men are at the vanguard of America's cannabis culture Joshua Jimenez died by suicide in December 2021 at the age of 22. Josh had been using marijuana since age 14 and was hospitalized three times for psychosis linked to weed The above shows cannabis use across American states. Twenty-one states and DC have legalized it for recreational use in addition to medicinal use, while nearly all now allow it to be used for medicinal purposes. That same month, relatives of three people who abused cannabis told DailyMail.com about how their lives had been turned upside down by pot. Sonia Jimenez, from Houston, Texas, lost her son Josh, 22, to suicide in December 2021, which she believes was caused by chronic cannabis use. Josh started smoking and vaping the drug in 9th grade and soon formed a habit that resulted in three bouts of hospital stays for psychosis. After he began using weed, Josh's grades started slipping. He also became extremely paranoid, saying that his friends had been trying to kill him, adding that he was seeing 'some really scary stuff like dark, almost like demonic beings,' according to his sister. At one point, he fell asleep behind the wheel, going about 100 miles per hour, and was in a severe car crash. Another time, he fell asleep after smoking or lighting a candle, according to his sister, which caused a massive fire. Josh's sister Alex said he had borrowed money from family members before running away in the night to California. When he ran out of cash, Josh's family paid for a bus to bring him back to Texas. But he never made it home. Josh got off the bus in Pecos, Texas, and jumped in front of a train. His family blame the extremely potent strains of cannabis Josh was smoking. THC, particularly in high doses, has been associated with the development of different psychiatric disorders from depression to schizophrenia and psychosis. Special Counsel Jack Smith has proposed a 'speedy trial' for Donald Trump one that would start at the beginning of the new year and likely run through the Iowa caucuses. Timing is everything on the rapidly filling judicial calendar as courts juggle myriad charges against the former president in various jurisdictions. On the federal charges related to Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 elections, Smith has built a compact indictment for speed and is now telling a federal judge prosecutors could hand over evidence within days and start selecting a jury before Christmas. Special counsel Jack Smith is requesting Trump's trial on January 6 related charges begin January 2, with a filing that said a trial might take six weeks 'A January 2, 2024, trial date represents an appropriately speedy trial in the public interest and in the interests of justice, while affording the defendant time to prepare his defense and raise pre-trial legal issues with the Court,' he wrote in a Thursday filing with U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan. The proposed schedule would give Trump's defense lawyers two months following the indictment to file motions, and five months to review discovery materials that prosecutors are obliged to share, Smith wrote. In a footnote, he referenced Trump lawyer John Lauro's media tour arguing that it showed he is already ready for a quick pace. 'It appears that defense counsel is already planning which motions the defendant will file,' he wrote, quoting Lauro's appearance on CBS 'Face the Nation.' Trump's team during his initial arraignment last week was already characterizing the massive amount of evidence, and seeking a slower time frame. Both sides are jousting over the 'Speedy Trial Act,' which sets the clock ticking on when a trial must commence, generally 70 days after an indictment is unsealed. Trump's lawyers are due in court in D.C. on Friday Smith's filing came as Republican presidential candidates including North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum appeared at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. Trump (seen on a poster) is expected to visit That comes amid the backdrop of the 2024 presidential elections, where the first GOP debate is just two weeks away, and the Iowa Caucuses are set for January 15. Smith says the trial itself should take about four to six weeks, which would have a verdict in before Super Tuesday in March. U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan could put the case on a fast track, even as a Trump-appointed judge has the power to set the schedule in the complex classified documents case Smith argues that the Speedy Trial Act isn't just to protect the rights of the defendant, but that 'the right to a timely trial is vested in the public, not just in the defendant.' He says it reduces defendants' 'opportunity to commit crimes while on pretrial release and preventing extended pretrial delay from impairing the deterrent effect of punishment.' A U.S. magistrate judge released Trump on bond following his arraignment. Judge Chutkan has the ability to keep Trump's January 6 case, where he is charged with obstructing an official proceeding, conspiring to obstruct the electoral count, conspiring to defraud the government, and a conspiracy to violate civil rights linked to the ballot. In Florida, meanwhile, where a Trump lawyer entered another not guilty plea on his behalf Thursday, Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon has the power to set a more deliberate schedule in the complex classified documents case. The girl, identified as Mila, was moved away from her family to ensure her safety An 11-year-old girl has been denied an abortion in Peru after she was raped by her stepfather. The young girl, given the pseudonym Mila to protect her identity, found out last month that she was 13 weeks pregnant after being abused by her father. The primary school child from Iquitos, the capital of the region of Loreto in the Amazon Rainforest, was found to have been continually assaulted by her stepfather since the age of six. Peruvian authorities detained the stepfather but he was shortly released after a court denied a request for preventative detention. Mila was moved to a shelter by Loreto authorities and moved away from her family to ensure her safety. Her three siblings, including a four-month-old baby, were also sent to the same shelter. The young girl, identified by the pseudonym Mila to protect her identity, found out last month that she was 13 weeks pregnant after being abused by her father (file image) Mila's mother, who also retains her anonymity, has since said she was also abused by the stepfather and was not able to help her daughter because he had threatened to kill her. 'I was afraid because he threatened me, he shut the door on me. When I wanted to go out, he told me: ''If you tell the neighbors, I'm going to kill you, and I'm going to run off'',' Mila's mother told Peru's Epicentro TV. 'When I talk about him, I am afraid. I have nightmares.' The mother said the regional authority, the Loreto Special Protection Unit (UPE), did not provide any information about how Mila could access a safe abortion despite making a request for the termination of the pregnancy, El Pais reported. Peru's Center for the Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights (PROMSEX) took on the case. At this point, the mother said UPE referred Mila to Loreto's regional hospital so that the board of directors could decide whether the child could access an abortion. But the hospital board decided that Mila had to continue with the pregnancy, claiming the 11-year-old had told them she did not want to terminate the pregnancy. They also said rape cases did not come under legislation concerning therapeutic abortions - a medical abortion conducted because it endangers the mother's life. Despite the board's claims, the United Nations Population Fund identifies children under the age of 15 as being three times more likely to die from pregnancy related issues. PROMSEX urged authorities to look at the case again, leading the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations to agree that a new medical board will reexamine the case. Mila was moved to a shelter by Loreto authorities and moved away from her family to ensue her safety (file image) 'I want it taken out of her womb. I do want to see my daughter, but I don't want to see that baby because it has hurt my daughter,' the mother told the Peru broadcaster. A joint statement signed by a number of international organisations - including Peru's office for the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees (UNHCR) and UN Women - expressed severe concern for the child and called upon Peru's government to take action. 'We urge you to reconsider the decision to deny her access to therapeutic abortion and guarantee Mila, and all pregnant girls and teenage victims of sexual violence, this right - with safe and age-appropriate procedures - and within 22 weeks of gestation, as established by medical protocol,' the statement read. 'We remind you that forced maternity resulting from rape is not voluntary, and threatens integral health.' It comes after a 13-year-old indigenous girl identified as Camila was also denied an abortion after being raped by a family member. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in June ruled that the Peruvian government had violated the rights of Camila and had not provided her with the necessary information on how she could access a safe abortion. The UN ruling urged Peru to decriminalise abortion in all cases of child pregnancy and provide protection for victims to ensure they did not have to undergo the trauma again. This is the moment a British man was allegedly led to his death by a 19-year-old 'honey trap' in a suspected murder plot in Turkey. The body of Murat Arpapay, who was working as a translator in Istanbul after spending his childhood in Britain, was found in the ventilation shaft of a rented flat in the city by locals on July 27. Experts believe the 57-year-old, who was sent money by his family in England, was killed by lethal injection after being tied to a chair, Turkish police say. Local media reports Mr Arpapay had made friends in the Sirinevler area of the city online, before meeting them face-to-face and falling for one of them, a teen named as Muhterem Percikli. CCTV footage has been released showing Mr Arpapay, whose Facebook page suggests studied at Newcastle College, arriving at an apartment building with the woman he believed to be his new lover. Murat Arpapay, 57, worked as a translator, moved abroad and made apparent new friends who he met online from Sirinevler in Istanbul It is believed that Murat Arpapay was tied to a chair and killed with a lethal injection having met the teen, named as Muhterem Percikli after he moved to Turkey from England Percikli has since been arrested by police, while four other people who are believed to have been involved in the plot to kill him and steal his money have been named, CNN Turk reports. Police say after Mr Arpapay and Percikli entered the rental flat, three other people went in - Serpil Demir, Dogan Sariyildiz and Fatih Erginoglu. A fifth suspect was later identified as Ersen Basak. According to local media, the suspects told officers that Mr Arpapay had lived in England for many years, and had been funded by family. It is thought Mr Arpapay had been in touch with Basak on social media before they met face-to-face ahead of his move to Turkey. It is alleged that Basak then devised a plan to steal money from the victim's home, and sought the help of Percikli and her friend Demir. The pair visited a cafe owned by Basak to meet Mr Arpapay, which then led to an alleged relationship between Percikli and Mr Arpapay. On the day of his murder, July 26, Mr Arpapay and Percikli went to his rental flat in Sirinevler where he was beaten and knocked unconscious after being handcuffed by the group, according to CCN Turk. The publication claims he was then killed by having a chemical substance injected into his body, before the gang threw his body down a ventilation shaft, where it was discovered the next morning. Following the autopsy report, police launched an investigation and discovered CCTV footage showing Mr Arpapay had arrived at the apartment building with his alleged partner Percikli In the meantime, it's believed the group went to Mr Arpapay's house in the Bahcelievler area of Istanbul and stole money he had inside. Local media reports police launched a murder investigation after an autopsy found he had been tied up at the wrists and injected with something in the neck. Percikli and Demir were arrested by police after they were identified on the CCTV footage, with Basak fleeing to Georgia, and Sariyildiz and Fatih Erginoglu travelling to Cyprus. Percikli and Demir remain in custody, while police are preparing to file a 'Red Bulletin' application asking for the arrests of Basak, Sariyildiz and Erginoglu, reports CCN Turk. Six suspects linked to the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio have been identified as Colombian nationals, the government revealed Thursday. The government added that the six men, who are in custody, are members of criminal organizations, but did not specify which ones they belong to. The apprehensions took place following the murder of Villavicencio as he walked out of a campaign event in the northern province of Quito on Wednesday night, less than two weeks before the elections. The suspects, Andres Mosquera; Camilo Reyes; Jose Lopez; Adey Garcia; Jules Castano; and Jhon Rodriguez, were arrested following the raid of homes in Quito town of Conocoto and several other cities, the government revealed during a press conference Thursday. Garcia had been arrested on drug trafficking and murder charges in November 2018, Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported. Ecuadorian authorities have six suspects in custody linked to Wednesday's assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. A seventh suspect was wounded in a shootout with police and died while he was in an ambulance rushing him to a hospital Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed after leaving a campaign event at a school in Quito on Wednesday. His party, the Better Ecuador Movement, announced Thursday that a decision on his replacement will be made this week. The elections remain scheduled for August 20 A Colombian gunman was arrested at the scene following a shooting with police and died in an ambulance while he was being rushed to a hospital. The individual's name has not been released, although the government did say that he was arrested on weapons charges in July. 'The national police now have the first arrests of the alleged material authors of this abominable event and will employ all of their operative and investigative capacity to discover the motive of this crime and its intellectual authors,' Interior Minister Juan Zapata told reporters. Zapata said that two of the suspects were spotted at the scene of the murder, where nine people, including three police officers were wounded. Authorities confiscated a rifle, machine gun, four pistols, three grenades, ammunition, two motorcycles and a car that had been reported stolen. President Guillermo Lasso said that Villavicencio's murder was an attempt to sabotage the elections, which remain scheduled for August 20. He also declared three days of mourning. Andrea Gonzalez (center), vice-presidential running mate of the late Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, attends a press conference Thursday Relatives of late Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio arrive at the morgue of the National Forensic Science Service in Quito, Ecuador, on Thursday The killing of the right-wing candidate comes after he revealed in an interview with Colombian television news network NTN24 that the Sinaloa Cartel, the Mexican criminal organization co-founded by Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, along with the group's top ally, Jose 'Fito' Macias, were behind some of the death threats that have been issued against him. 'What these threats that come from the Sinaloa Cartel do is demonstrate is that our government program is a program that precisely aims to break and dismantle these criminal drug trafficking structures in collusion with political actors, and this is perhaps the most important thing,' Villavicencio said during a virtual interview after he had cancelled an in-person sit down with the network's program director Ruth Del Salto. As one of the eight candidates running for president, Villavicencio stressed that Ecuador was not going to fear criminal organizations. 'They pretend to have a country on its knees as they already did in Colombia, as they did and are doing in Mexico,' he said. 'A brave president has to arm himself with the courage of his people and tell the criminals, these gangs of hitmen, drug traffickers and members of criminal structures that they are not going to win.' Villavicencio, who was running under the Build Ecuador Movement, was a former member of Ecuador's National Assembly before it was dissolved in May and was polling at 7.5 percent. He was one of the most critical voices against corruption, especially during the government of former president Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over statements made against the former president. He fled to Indigenous territory within Ecuador and later was given asylum in Peru. Supports of slain Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio display a sign reading, 'They Killed Our President. Cowards,' outside the cemetery in Quito on Thursday. Villavicencio was laid to rest a day after he was assassinated following a campaign event People are seen taking cover as gunshots were fired following a campaign rally in Quito, Ecuador, on Wednesday However, Villavicencio was criticized by the opposition for obstructing an impeachment process this year against President Guillermo Lasso, which led the latter to call the early elections. Lasso, who was at risk of being impeached when he dissolved the National Assembly and called the elections, said at the end of May that he would not run for re-election. The Build Ecuador Movement party on Thursday rejected what it said was 'political use' of Villavicencio's murder and called for a speedy investigation in a statement posted on X, the social media site previously known as Twitter. Candidate Luisa Gonzalez, who is running for Correa's party and leading with 29.3% support, expressed horror at the killing, but did not suspend her campaign. Indigenous candidate Yaku Perez and law-and-order hopeful Topic both suspended their campaigns, while businessman Otto Sonnenholzner begged the government to take action. Perez said on Thursday he had spoken with Sonnenholzner and three minor candidates and left messages for Gonzalez and Topic. He hoped to hold a meeting with the candidates and the Catholic Church to discuss a 'national security agreement,' Perez said, without providing further details. The Build Ecuador Movement had discussions Wednesday about possibly suspend campaigning due to recent political violence, including the July murder of the mayor of Manta, Agustin Intriago. Villavicencio was against it because he saw it as an act of cowardice. His vice-presidential running mate, Andrea Gonzalez, attended a press conference wearing a bulletproof vest and heavily guarded cops, and announced that the party would be announcing a replacement in the coming days. 'We are deeply saddened by the loss of our brave president and friend Fernando. In these moments of pain we ask for the unity and peace of citizenship,' Gonzalez said. 'That those of us who still believe in Fernando's promise, respect and share only the information that comes from official sources.' The party can choose another candidate, the electoral court said, but ballots have already been printed and distributed and Villavicencio's name and photo appear on them. After the workshop, 10 journalists would be supported with story grants to pursue climate change deep dives across the country, the organisers said. As part of its efforts to improve the quality of conversations around climate change and environmental issues across West Africa, the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) is set to engage 20 mainstream journalists in a 2-day capacity-building workshop focused on climate change and environmental reporting. The workshop aims to enhance media practitioners' skills and knowledge in effectively reporting on environmental and climate change issues and holding the government accountable for its sustainable and green climate commitments. Speaking about the workshop, the project manager, Felicia Dairo, said the workshop is part of CJID's efforts to ensure the media is adequately informed about climate change-related issues across the region. She said: "There is a general dearth of knowledge on climate change-related issues across the region, and most times, environmental reporting is misconstrued for climate change reporting. Despite Africa being the most vulnerable to climate change, studies show that the media in Africa pay little attention to climate change reporting. "The series of capacity building for journalists by CJID is a conscious effort in ensuring we bridge the knowledge and capacity deficit of climate change reporting across West Africa and a way of changing the narrative of low climate change reportage". Also, in his comments, Nicholas Adeniyi, the project coordinator, said effective policies and sustained socio-political commitments are necessary to mitigate the impacts of climate change towards a sustainable future. He noted that the media is crucial in communicating these needs and galvanising actions. Mr Adeniyi disclosed that the workshop will feature a combination of training, experience sharing and hands-on practical sessions to ensure participants are equipped with the best practices in climate change journalism. The 2-day workshop will take place on Wednesday and Thursday in Abuja. After the workshop, 10 journalists would be supported with story grants to pursue climate change deep dives across the country, the organisers said. Disney CEO Bob Iger has said he is 'personally committed' to finding a solution to end the SAG-AFTRA and writer's guild strikes crippling Hollywood. It comes after the renowned business leader called the striking actors and writers' demands 'not realistic' while at a billionaire's retreat last month. However, the mogul appeared to take a more diplomatic approach during an earning's call on Wednesday telling investors: 'Nothing is more important to this company than its relationships with the creative community. 'That includes actors, writers, animators, directors and producers,' Iger, who left Disney in 2020 only to return two years later, said. 'I have deep respect and appreciation for all those who are vital to the extraordinary creative engine that drives this company and our industry. Disney CEO Bob Iger has said he is 'personally committed' to finding a solution to end the SAG-AFTRA and writer's guild strikes crippling Hollywood The dispute centers around wages, use of AI and residuals from streaming services such as Disney+ 'And it is my fervent hope that we quickly find solutions to the issues that have kept us apart these past few months. 'And I am personally committed to working to achieve this result' he added. The ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike began on July 14 and is the first time that actors initiated a labor dispute in America since 1980 and the first time that both actors and writers went on strike at the same time since 1960. The ongoing SAG-AFTRA Strike, now in its twenty-sixth day of protests, have seen many well-known actors showing solidarity on the picket lines including Richard Gere, Jason Sudeikis, Susan Sarandon, Vanessa Hudgens, Mandy Moore, Logan Lerman, America Ferrera, and Josh Gad. The dispute centers around wages, use of AI and residuals from streaming services such as Disney+. Disney boss Iger revealed the company's streaming platforms, including Disney+, Hulu, ESPN had incurred a $512 million loss in the second quarter. Iger also said he expects the total spending on Disney+ to be reduced this year due to the impact of strikes. 'We currently expect fiscal 2023 content spend to come in at approximately $27 billion, which is lower than we previously guided due to lower spend on produced content, in part due to the writers and actors strikes,' Iger stated. Actress Mandy Moore is seen on the picket lines outside of Disney Studios studios in Burbank SAG/AFTRA Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree Ireland, Sean Penn and Emile Hirsch seen on the picket lines outside of Disney Studios studios in Burbank this month Iger has recently extended his contract until 2026 and has hinted that he will re-retire at that point, once a proper successor has been found and named. 'I believe Disney's long-term future is incredibly bright, but there is more to accomplish before this transformative work is complete,' Iger said in a statement last month. 'Because I want to ensure Disney is strongly positioned when my successor takes the helm, I have agreed to the Board's request to remain CEO for an additional two years,' Iger continued. It's possible the company is looking for stability in making the decision to keep Iger around as their battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continues. Iger's predecessor, Bob Chapek, was widely disliked by fans and the disdain only grew after the company became embroiled in the fight with DeSantis. Chapek spoke out against DeSantis 'Don't Say Gay' bill on behalf of the company after employees shared their outrage over the company's initial silence. The fight led to full-fledged legal battle with both Disney and DeSantis filing lawsuits against each other over the company's Reedy Creek Improvement District. The district gives the company the power to control zoning, operate its own police and fire departments, and more in Florida. Iger has done little in the way of remedying the situation with the presidential-hopeful but said he would be open to sitting down to talk with DeSantis. 'I do not view this as a going-to-mattresses situation for us. If the governor of Florida wants to meet with me to discuss all of this, of course, I would be glad to do that,' Iger told Time Magazine in April. Mexico has shuttered nearly two dozen pharmacies along its Caribbean coast - after a US report warned drug stores in the country were selling fake opioids passed off as prescriptions to tourists. The string of closures in Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum came after a four-day inspection raid by feds on stores - during which 55 businesses were targeted, and nearly half were found to have irregular sales. In March, the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning about illegal sales of pills like Oxycodone, Percocet and Adderall, passed off as prescriptions but often made of unsanctioned substances such as fentanyl. Days earlier, a research report from the University of California in Los Angeles found drug stores across the most renowned destinations in the world were offering foreigners pills billed as the prescriptions - without any of the proper documentation from doctors. The Mexico Navy announced the bust Tuesday, revealing the stores that were shut down not only offered the pills exclusively to tourists, but that the stores systematically advertised such pills and even offered home delivery services. Mexico has shuttered 23 pharmacies along its Caribbean coast - after a US report warned drug stores in the country were selling fake opioids passed off as prescriptions to tourists It comes months after the US State Department issued a travel warning about illegal sales of pills passed off as prescriptions, that are instead made of unsanctioned substances such as fentanyl - which has killed more than 325,000 people across the US since 2014 Fentanyl - approximately 100 times more potent than morphine - is responsible for about 100,000 deaths each year in the US, not including deaths overseas. Over the past eight years, the opioid has been funneled into the country in increasing amounts at the southern border - with some 8,400 kilograms of the overdose-inducing drug seized in 2022. During the time, a believed 325,000 people died in the US have died from overdoses involving synthetic opioids like the ones sold by the raided Mexican stores, which experts say are almost always made of fentanyl. Aside from being far more powerful than others on the black market, the drug is mass produced by Mexican cartels, who make it from precursor chemical smuggled in from China, and then press it into pills designed to look like other medications. The practice is illegal, and has been on the radar of federal authorities for the better part of a year, statements from the State Department and other US groups have revealed. Announcing the covert operation Tuesday, the Navy said it found outdated medications and some for which there was no record of the supplier, as well as blank or unsigned prescription forms. The fruits of the bust show how the practice of shilling the pills overseas is now widespread - something officials have warned about since the start of the year. UCLA released a report found that 68 percent of the 40 Mexican pharmacies visited in four northern Mexico cities sold Adderall and Oxycodone The Mexico Navy announced the bust Tuesday, revealing the stores that were shut down not only offered the pills exclusively to tourists, but that the stores systematically advertised such pills and even offered home delivery services In February, UCLA announced researchers had found that 68 percent of the 40 Mexican pharmacies visited in four northern Mexico cities sold Oxycodone, Xanax or Adderall. Some 27 percent of those stores, the school said, were selling fake pills The Mexican Navy did not confirm that any fentanyl-laced pills had been found in the recent raid, but said medications had been seized to test whether they contained fentanyl In February, UCLA announced researchers had found that 68 percent of the 40 Mexican pharmacies visited in four northern Mexico cities sold Oxycodone, Xanax or Adderall. Some 27 percent of those stores, the school said, were selling fake pills. UCLA said the study, published in January, found that 'brick and mortar pharmacies in Northern Mexican tourist towns are selling counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine. 'These pills are sold mainly to US tourists, and are often passed off as controlled substances such as Oxycodone, Percocet, and Adderall.' 'These counterfeit pills represent a serious overdose risk to buyers who think they are getting a known quantity of a weaker drug,' Chelsea Shover, assistant professor-in-residence of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine, said in February. In March, the State Department issued it travel warning - ominously stating that counterfeit pills being sold at pharmacies in Mexico 'may contain deadly doses of fentanyl.' The Mexican Navy did not confirm that any fentanyl-laced pills had been found in the recent raid, but said medications had been seized to test whether they contained fentanyl. Those results have yet to be released. It is not exactly the fastest method of travel. A Concorde plane was seen aboard a barge floating down the Hudson River on route to its latest destination. The plane once the fastest commercial jet in the world was moved from its display at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, in New York City, to undergo a three-month-long restoration. The restoration process will see its paint stripped back to the bare metal, before being sanded and re-coated with original colours and markings. Concorde has spent the last 15 years on display at the museum, a former aircraft carrier anchored at Pier 86 in the Hudson River. Transportation methods were limited Concorde's 84ft wingspan meant it was too wide to fit through tunnels along the route to the restoration site, the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The two hour trip to the yard is around two thirds of the record time set by Concorde flying from New York to London, 3,450 miles away. Concorde set the record in 1996. British Airways took the plane out of service in 2003 as ticket prices reached around 9,500 in today's money. The British Airways Concorde from the Intrepid Museum temporarily removed as it heads to the GMD Shipyard at Brooklyn Navy Yard for restoration with the Statue of Liberty in the background The British Airways Concorde sails under the Brooklyn Bridge as it is moved down the Hudson River to the Brooklyn Navy Yard for restoration The supersonic jet sails down the Hudson River on a barge and passing by The Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge in New York, Wednesday Workers use a large crane to lift a British Airways Concorde at the GMD Shipyard at Brooklyn Navy Yard on Wednesday The Concord said under the Brooklyn Bridge in New York as it makes its way down the Hudson River People watch on as the British Airways Concorde from the Intrepid Museum sails down the Hudson River on a barge The British Airways Concorde from the Intrepid Museum sits in dock at the GMD Shipyard at Brooklyn Navy Yard Two people watch on as the supersonic jet sails down the Hudson River on a barge and passing by The Statue of Liberty and Brooklyn Bridge in New York The Concorde supersonic jet that has been parked along Manhattan's west side since retiring from commercial air travel took a slow boat to Brooklyn on Wednesday Workers use a large crane to lift a British Airways Concorde at the GMD Shipyard at Brooklyn Navy Yard on Wednesday A crane lifts the British Airways Concorde off the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum onto a barge, Wednesday The Concorde supersonic jet that has been parked along Manhattan's west side since retiring from commercial air travel took a slow boat to Brooklyn on Wednesday for a facelift that will take several months The Concorde is pictured arriving at Brooklyn Navy Yard on Wednesday A crane lifts the British Airways Concorde off the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum onto a barge, Wednesday Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the hot seat for stonewalling House Republicans seeking documents that may provide answers on the administration's disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal nearly two years later. A letter obtained by DailyMail.com from House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul to Blinken states that the department's 'anemic' response to his July 18 subpoena for documents is 'unacceptable.' 'The Department's anemic subpoena response suggests that it is either deliberately obstructing the Committee's oversight, or that its document retention, location, and production procedures are astoundingly deficient,' writes McCaul. 'Neither is acceptable.' Republicans have ramped up oversight of the Biden administration's hasty exit from Afghanistan in recent weeks coinciding with the two-year mark of the withdrawal, during which 13 American service members and at least 170 Afghans were killed. McCaul says the documents are necessary to 'prevent the catastrophic mistakes of the withdrawal from happening again.' The family members of the 13 U.S. troops killed are still demanding answers as not a single Biden administration official has taken the blame for the horrors that unfolded during the withdrawal. The Biden administration failed to plan properly and didn't foresee the rapid collapse of Kabul during the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal, a damning State Department report has concluded. 'I want justice. I want accountability,' Kelly Barnett, Gold Star mother of Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover said earlier this week during a public hearing. Christy Shamblin, the mother-in-law of Marine Sgt. Nicole Gee, said that the Biden administration's labeling of the withdrawal as a 'success' is like a 'knife in the heart.' 'Calling it a success is an ultimate disrespect for the very people who deserve every ounce of respect we can give them.' Darin Hoover, the father of Sgt. Hoover, called out President Biden and his military leaders including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, and demanded they resign 'immediately.' 'Do what our son did. Be a grown a** man and admit your mistakes, so that this never ever ever ever happens again. 'You all need to resign immediately,' he added. 'The Department's anemic subpoena response suggests that it is either deliberately obstructing the Committee's oversight, or that its document retention, location, and production procedures are astoundingly deficient,' writes McCaul in the letter sent Thursday. 'Neither is acceptable.' McCaul is also demanding that two top State Department officials 'responsible' for producing the documents sit for transcribed interviews no later than Aug. 21. 'You have a legal obligation to produce the subpoenaed documents in a timely manner without further delay, and I intend to hold the Department accountable,' continued McCaul. Last month, the committee postponed holding Blinken in contempt of Congress after he agreed to allow committee leadership to view a classified dissenting cable that U.S. State Department employees sent prior to the Taliban's takeover of Kabul on July 13, 2021. The cable warned about a 'deteriorating' security situation' and urged the immediate evacuation of allies, a warning that the Biden administration did not heed, say Republicans. It would have marked the first time in U.S. history that a secretary of state would be held in contempt of Congress. McCaul's letter states that this path is not completely off the table quite yet. 'The AAR (after-action review) files are necessary to inform the Committees consideration of potential legislation aimed at helping prevent the catastrophic mistakes of the withdrawal from happening again, including potential provisions of authorizing legislation for the Department,' the letter states. The recent evacuation of Americans from Sudan shows the 'grave urgency' of reforms, McCaul continues. 'The paucity of documents produced to date by the Department is unreasonable and unacceptable.' The committee is requesting that Naz Durakoglu, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Legislative Affairs and Richard Visek in the Office of the Legal Adviser sit for transcribed interviews this month 'without further delay.' The State Department released a scathing 87-page report on Afghanistan withdrawal failures in early July, immediately before the long July Fourth holiday weekend. The Americans killed in the blast were: (left to right, starting with top row) Cpl. Daegan W. Page - Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo - Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover - Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza - Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum - Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui - Cpl. Hunter Lopez - Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz - Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss - Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez - Navy Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak - Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola - Sgt. Nicole L. Gee 'The decisions of both President Trump and President Biden to end the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan had serious consequences for the viability of the Afghan government and its security,' the report says. 'Those decisions are beyond the scope of this review, but the (review) team found that during both administrations there was insufficient senior-level consideration of worst-case scenarios and how quickly those might follow.' It also outlined several strategic failures as the Taliban overran cities - saying there wasn't enough consideration given to 'worst-case scenarios.' As a result, thousands of allies who helped the U.S. in the war were left behind, and there was chaos at Hamid Karzai International Airport as men, women and children tried desperately to flee. Even though planning for the evacuation of Kabul began 'some time' beforehand, the State Department was 'hindered by the fact that it was unclear who in the Department had the lead.' Prince William is set to take over command of Harry's old Army unit after a reshuffle of the Royal Family's military appointments by King Charles. His Majesty has decided to appoint his eldest son as Colonel-in-Chief of The Army Air Corps, in which the Duke of Sussex served as an Apache helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, while also granting the Princess of Wales three new roles. Among those given to Kate is Commodore-in-Chief of the Fleet Air Arm - a title previously held by Prince Andrew before it was stripped from him and returned to the Queen as he faced a civil sexual assault trial that he later paid millions to settle. Another of the Duke of York's former titles, Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Irish Regiment has been given to Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh by King Charles, meaning he has regained none of his former appointments in the reshuffle. It comes as the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's death approaches, with King Charles expected to mark the occasion 'quietly and privately' at Balmoral, while William and Kate will reportedly lead the tributes to the late monarch. The Prince and Princess of Wales have both been given three new military appointments each by King Charles. Pictured: William and Kate on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for the RAF centenary William is taking over as Colonel-in-Chief of The Army Air Corps, which would give him command over Harry's former unit, 662 Squadron. Pictured: Prince Harry at the Founder's Day Parade at Royal Hospital Chelsea in 2019 Announcing the changes, the Ministry of Defence said William, who qualified as an RAF search and rescue pilot, was now Colonel-in-Chief of The Army Air Corps. It means he will represent the Army's airborne wing, including his brother's former unit - 662 Squadron - with one royal commentator claiming Harry himself could have been in line for the role previously. Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, told the Mirror it was 'quite feasible' that if he hadn't quit life as a working royal - something that saw him stripped of his honorary military appointments - he might have been given the title. He said: 'Had Harry still been around he might well have had more appointments going his way.' William has also become the Royal Honorary Air Commodore at RAF Valley in Wales - he previously spent three years at the base on Anglesey, taking part in 156 search and rescue missions and saving 149 people. The Prince belonged to the RAF's 202 Squadron with colleagues regarding him as an outstanding pilot and as 'one of the family'. Though search and rescue operations were privatised in 2016, RAF Valley remains a training facility for fast jet pilots and crews. He has also added Colonel-in-Chief of The Mercian Regiment to his growing list of military commitments. Two of Prince Andrew's former military appointments have been given to the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Edinburgh. Pictured: The Duke of York on the balcony for Trooping the Colour in June 2018 William has also become the Royal Honorary Air Commodore at RAF Valley in Wales - he previously spent three years at the base on Anglesey, taking part in 156 search and rescue missions and saving 149 people. Pictured: The then-Duke of Cambridge at RAF Valley in Anglesey in 2012 The latest appointments list, released by Buckingham Palace, also recognises the Princess of Wales's RAF connections. In addition to Commordore-in-Chief of the Fleet Air Arm, Kate has adopted the position of Royal Honorary Air Commodore at RAF Coningsby, a title previously held by her husband, who had performed the role at the Lincolnshire base for 15 years from 2008. READ MORE HERE: The Wales squadron, reporting for duty! Prince Louis delights crowds with his signature wave Advertisement The Princess has family connections to the RAF as her paternal grandfather served as a fighter pilot during the Second World War and flew with the late Duke of Edinburgh in the 1960s. Captain Peter Middleton - who was the Duke's co-pilot on flights across South America during a royal tour - died at the age of 90 just days before the Prince and Princess announced their engagement in 2010. Previously unseen images of the Princess's grandfather with the Duke emerged in 2019. Kate has also become Colonel-in-Chief of the Queen's Dragoon Guards, known as the Welsh Cavalry, a duty that was carried out by her father-in-law Charles when he was the Prince of Wales. The QDG, Wales's cavalry regiment, was embroiled in controversy last month when a married senior officer allegedly indulged in sexual relations with two female guests at the regiment's summer ball. Major Duncan Wiggins is now facing dismissal from the British Army. Meanwhile, King Charles has decided to take on eight of his late mothers roles himself, including sponsor of the Royal Navy's warship HMS Queen Elizabeth. He is now Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, The Royal Tank Regiment and The Royal Regiment of Scotland; Captain General of both The Royal Artillery and The Honourable Artillery Company; Royal Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Marham and Air Commodore-in-Chief of RAF Regiment. The Queen also has a new appointment, with Camilla becoming patron of The Royal Army Chaplains' Department, a position held by the late Queen. The Duke of Edinburgh has followed in his father Prince Philip's footsteps to become Colonel-in-Chief of The Queen's Royal Hussars, which was left vacant when the duke died in 2021. One royal commentator has claimed Prince Harry could have been in line for the role of Colonel-in-Chief of The Army Air Corps before quitting as a working royal. Pictured: Harry in his apache helicopter in Afghanistan in 2012 The Princess of Wales has also adopted the position of Royal Honorary Air Commodore at RAF Coningsby. Pictured: Kate speaking to Cadets at RAF Fairford in July Edward is also succeeding his brother Charles as Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Dragoon Guards. His wife Sophie has taken on the King's post of Royal Colonel of The Queen's Own Yeomanry in addition to the position of Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Irish Regiment. The Princess Royal has been appointed Deputy Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Regiment of Scotland by the King in recognition of her strong links to the country. The late Queen's cousin, the Duke of Gloucester, becomes Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, and the Duchess of Gloucester is Colonel-in-Chief of the Adjutant General's Corps, which were both held by Elizabeth II. The late Queen, who died a year ago next month, held more than 50 ranks and appointments in the UK and Commonwealth Armed Service. Buckingham Palace said: 'Following His Majesty's accession, the King is pleased to announce further military appointments for working members of the royal family. 'The new appointments will continue to reflect the close relationship between the armed forces and the royal family in His Majesty's reign.' Britain enjoyed a brief glimpse of summer today as temperatures in parts of the UK neared 29C, but forecasters warned we should brace for more rain. The brief 24-hour window of warmth will come to an end tomorrow as showers and cooler temperatures become the order of the day. Greg Dewhurst, a Met Office forecaster said the hottest spots were Gogerddan in Wales, at 28.3C, Bramham in West Yorkshire at 28C and Cambridge at 27.7C. Office workers in the City of London enjoyed 27C. Mr Dewhurst said: 'A ridge of high pressure over central and south eastern England had brought sunny weather, but low pressure slowly moving in its wake would bring rain today. The beach is busy as holidaymakers flock to Durdle Door in Dorset to enjoy the scorching hot sunshine Splashing time: Youngsters at Camber Sands in East Sussex 'The low pressure will introduce fresher air and an increasing risk of showers as we move through into the weekend. Not everywhere will see rain, there will be some dry areas. 'It won't be like last weekend when we had Storm Antoni and the previous weekend when Storm Poly brought wet and windy weather.' Unusually for the summer, which has three weeks left to run, Thursday was predicted to be verging on uncomfortably warm - with temperatures edging up to 17C and 18C in parts of the country. Mr Dewhurst said that it was easy to forget that June had been the UK's hottest on record - and that many of us have short memories. 'July was so wet, it's easy to forget that June was on the hot side, although 33C was the maximum temperature. Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge added that the low 20C temperatures this weekend will be 'short-lived unfortunately, but a brief taste of summer'. The Met Office issued a yellow rain warning for parts of Northern Ireland yesterday evening, which they say could lead to some localised disruption. The warning was in place from 8pm until the early hours of this morning, impacting central and eastern parts of Northern Ireland. Hot wheels: Rollerbladers in Richmond Park, south west London on Thursday morning While the UK's summer has been a drab affair lately, extreme weather has been seen in Northern and southern Europe. A dam in southern Norway partially burst on Wednesday following days of heavy rain that triggered landslides and flooding in the mountainous region and forced downstream communities to evacuate, officials said. Flooding in Norway and neighbouring Sweden has carried away sheds, small houses and mobile homes, with officials warning that more is yet to come. The extreme weather in Scandinavia has been in stark contrast to that seen in southern Europe, with the likes of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece and Croatia all being ravaged by wildfires in recent days and weeks. But a hearing dismissed all the allegations saying were due to 'clash of cultures' Byrne was accused of bullying staff as the former leader of Cheshire Police Simon Byrne's tenure as chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland has not been without controversy. He took up the role in May 2019 after previously serving as the leader of Cheshire Police from 2014 to 2017, where he was accused of bullying and humiliating staff. A misconduct hearing was told he had a reputation for being like Darth Vader and treated junior officers and staff like 'roadkill', with one officer recalling him 'frothing at the mouth' in fury. Mr Byrne was also said to have handed pictures of Dad's Army characters to officers after he became angry when flooding made him late for work. But a panel dismissed all the allegations saying the case, which cost 350,000 in public funds, should never have been brought as it was 'essentially a clash of cultures, personalities and attitudes', with many of the allegations exaggerated. Simon Byrne's (pictured today) tenure as chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland has not been without controversy The Chief Constable is pictured at a press conference in Belfast on Thursday Mr Byrne said he felt he had lost his vocation after 35 years of public service including senior roles at Greater Manchester Police and the Metropolitan Police. But he later landed the top policing job in Northern Ireland. Within months, he ran into trouble in September 2019 for suggesting the children of paramilitaries could be taken into care, warning dissident republicans: 'You carry on doing this and we will have your house, if you keep going we will have your car, we will have your kids, we will have your benefits and we will put you in jail.' Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly called the remarks 'unacceptable' and said it had caused 'deep worry'. In December 2019, Mr Byrne was forced to apologise again after tweeting a photo of himself with officers holding rifles outside a Police Service of Northern Ireland station on Christmas Day. The following year he shelved a plan to 'tinker' with the force's badge on uniforms following political opposition. Perez's lawyer told one outlet they reached out to Disneyland to potentially settle out of court and that Disney did not respond to their inquiries The grandfather was bit in the stomach and is seeking restitution for physical wounds, pain, suffering, and emotional distress Paul Perez, 81, was injured by a Disneyland security dog while visiting the theme park with his wife and grandkids in May 2022, attorneys claim An elderly Nevada resident is suing Disneyland after he was bitten in the stomach by a security dog while entering the park at Anaheim in May 2022. Paul Perez, 81, was visiting the Southern California attraction with his wife, daughter, and grandkids when the dog jumped up on him at the front gates. The lawsuit filed in Orange County alleges a Disneyland dog handler caused the dog to bump into Perez which in turn made the dog retaliate against him. 'He's just this older guy on the way to Disneyland with his family to enjoy the day,' Perez's attorney Ian Pancer told the Orange County Register. Perez and his attorney are seeking a civil trial and restitution for his wound, pain, suffering, emotional distress and other medical costs. Paul Perez, 81, was bit by a security dog while entering Disneyland in Anaheim, California on May 10, 2022 with his grandkids, wife, and daughter Perez and his attorney are seeking a civil trial and restitution from Disney Parks and Resorts for his wound, pain, suffering, emotional distress and other medical costs According to the lawsuit filed in an Orange County court, the Las Vegas resident, the brutal attack took place on May 10, 2022. The company uses security K9 patrol units to monitor the entrances to the park as part of the screening process to ensure guests' safety. During the incident, a Disneyland dog handler caused a dog to 'abruptly step directly in front and very close' to Perez who bumped into the animal. After Perez and the animal bumped into each other, the 'dog then attacked the plaintiff, biting him in the stomach,' court documents allege. The elderly man was badly injured by the bite and needed to be taken to the hospital by his daughter who was with him at the time. Perez's wife and his two grandchildren continued into the park after the incident. After being treated for the bite with antibiotics, he was released from the hospital, but the trauma of the situation continued. 'You can imagine it's pretty traumatic for the guy to have been attacked by a dog,' Pancer told the Orange County Register during an interview. A Disneyland security dog stationed outside the theme park's entrance. It is unclear which security dog bit Perez 'He's just this older guy on the way to Disneyland with his family to enjoy the day,' Perez's attorney Ian Pancer (pictured) told the Orange County Register Pancer and Perez filed a lawsuit on August 1 and have accused Disney's theme park division of negligence in the case. The pair are looking for damages to be 'determined by proof at trial' and say that they had tried to avoid litigation entirely. 'One of the frustrating things is that we indicated to Disneyland that we have an interest in resolving the case and they didn't extend an offer,' Pancer said. 'They haven't offered him a penny,' the lawyer continued. DailyMail.com reached out to Disneyland officials who could not be reached for comment by the time of publication. The latest lawsuit comes just weeks after Disney settled with passholders who sued the company after alleging they had been deceived by the pass' marketing. 'One of the frustrating things is that we indicated to Disneyland that we have an interest in resolving the case and they didn't extend an offer,' Pancer said of Disneyland The Dream Key pass cost Jenale Nielsen of Santa Clara County, California $1,399 and was advertised as having no blackout dates at the time of purchase. In reality, when Nielsen tried to book a reservation for November 2021, she found that 17 days were completely unavailable, including every weekend date. She later filed a lawsuit after she and other Magic Key holders found single-day ticket purchasers were favored over them. At the time of purchase, the Dream Key pass was the most expensive pass option. Nielsen and her attorneys argued that the language advertising 'no blackout dates' made the Santa Clara County woman believe she could visit the park whenever. It was only after she began doing more research that she noticed the unfair treatment of passholders compared to single-day tourists. 'As a frequent Disneyland visitor, Ms. Nielsen thought it was unlikely that all tickets and/or reservations for both Disneyland and California Adventure had already been sold for 17 of the 30 calendar days in November 2021,' the lawsuit said. When she went to buy a single-day ticket for the same days in November, she found reservations available for both Disney California Adventure and Disneyland. 'The problem was that Disney had decided to block out reservations so that they were only available to new purchases and not available to Dream Key pass holders,' court documents said. Police officers have been warned that they could be sacked for questioning a colleagues' gender. Guidance issued by Surrey and Sussex Police tells officers it is verbal harassment to ask 'invasive questions about an individual's gender identity'. And that failure to comply 'may be a disciplinary offence' and potentially lead in some cases to dismissal if a complaint is made and upheld, the policy warns. It is yet another example of woke police forces abandoning their duty to tackle crime in favour of diversity, critics say. Ex-officer Harry Miller, who founded the campaign group Fair Cop after being probed by police over a poem he posted on Twitter, said the forces were ignoring the 'hard graft' of catching criminals. Guidance issued by Surrey and Sussex Police tells officers it is verbal harassment to ask 'invasive questions about an individual's gender identity' (Stock Image) He said: 'The police policy writers spend an inordinate amount of time down the rainbow rabbit hole of gender identity because it makes them feel important and progressive. 'It is much easier than the hard graft of catching criminals.' The 'Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy' sets out the forces' commitment to meet the requirements of the public sector equality duty. It tells thousands of officers, staff, special constables and volunteers they expect their support in taking 'a zero-tolerance approach' to discrimination. And that harassment can comprise a 'single incident and the individual does not have to make it clear that the behaviour is unwanted before it can amount to harassment'. Examples of verbal harassment include 'asking invasive questions about an individual's gender identity,' the policy says. It reads: 'Discrimination takes many forms and can have a detrimental effect on individuals. 'Surrey Police and Sussex Police expects the support of every individual to take a zero-tolerance approach, to challenge and report any incident of discrimination that they become aware of. 'Failure to comply with this policy may be a disciplinary offence, and unlawful discrimination may constitute a criminal offence and it is therefore expected that every member of Surrey Police and Sussex Police understands the contents of this policy and their obligations under the law.' The equality advice, introduced by the forces in 2019, does not state that such incidents would 'necessarily' be a disciplinary offence leading to dismissal, the forces said (Stock Image) The equality advice, introduced by the forces in 2019, does not state that such incidents would 'necessarily' be a disciplinary offence leading to dismissal, the forces said. It comes after a report last year warned that British policing has 'lost its way' as members of the public fear officers are 'more interested in being woke than solving crimes'. David Spencer, a former Metropolitan Police detective chief inspector said officers should stop taking actions including 'taking the knee' and wearing partisan political badges or symbols, that could be seen as 'woke'. The report, by the Policy Exchange think-tank, also urged the government to make a series drastic of reforms that include a 'return to basics' and 'focus on fighting crime'. Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union said the policy shows why it is a 'little wonder' that forces are facing a 'recruiting crisis'. He said: 'This policy seems designed to entrap employees of Surrey and Sussex Police. 'If they're not allowed to ask what gender their colleagues identify as, how can they be expected to call them by their preferred gender pronouns? 'If they ask they'll get into trouble, but if they misgender their trans colleagues they'll also get into trouble. 'It seems they're expected to guess, but woe betide the poor officer who guesses wrong. It's little wonder the police are facing a recruiting crisis.' Sussex Police also faced criticism in 2021 for changing warrant card numbers to be gender neutral. Bosses abandoned male and female identification for new officers after the force's LGBTQ+ network complained the system was outdated. A Sussex Police spokesman said: 'Our policy is in line with thousands of other organisations across the country and meets our lawful obligations under the Equality Act, which includes gender as a protected characteristic. 'Sussex Police expects all colleagues to have a zero tolerance approach towards bullying, harassment, discrimination or discriminatory behaviour, but the policy does not state that any such occurrence would necessarily be a disciplinary offence potentially leading to dismissal.' A Surrey Police spokesman added: 'Our policy is in line with thousands of other organisations across the country and meets our lawful obligations under the Equality Act, which includes gender identity as a protected characteristic, among eight other protected characteristics. 'Surrey Police expects all colleagues to have a zero tolerance approach towards bullying, harassment, discrimination or discriminatory behaviour, but the policy does not state that any such occurrence would necessarily be a disciplinary offence potentially leading to dismissal.' Employees at a decrepit government office India have taken to wearing helmets while at work to avoid slabs of the ceiling crashing onto their heads. Male employees at the 'Development Office' of Jagtial district, in Telangana, have been sitting at their desks with crash helmets on. K. Narasimhamurthy, revenue divisional officer said: 'The job of that department is to develop the district by giving the internet to villagers and creating infrastructure.' The dilapidated state of the office indicates why they are taking no chances. The walls look as though they have not been painted for decades and plaster is peeling off the walls and ceiling. In some areas it has come off completely, exposing the bricks. A few months ago, a fellow worker narrowly escaped brain injury when a chunk of the ceiling fell on him. Local reports say the staff have been demanding relocation to a safer building. Employees at a decrepit government office India, have taken to wearing helmets while at work to avoid slabs of the ceiling crashing onto their heads Employees run the risk of brain injury every time they visit the office to get their work done. Heavy monsoon rains have added damp and seepage to the unsightly mess. Bats have also settled in the ceiling. In June, the Telangana state government ran very lengthy commercials on television extolling its achievements in bringing about progress. The visuals were of gleaming offices and ultra-modern factories. The voiceover of one commercial said: 'The government has delivered a century of development in less than a decade.' Employees run the risk of brain injury every time they visit the office to get their work done The images came as no surprise to Indians. Even in the capital of New Delhi, government offices are insanitary and ramshackle. The Foreigners' Registration Office, which all foreigners who live in India have to visit to extend their visas, is a riot of electrical cables bunched together and hanging dangerously low, broken tiles. Stained walls seem not to have been painted for years and huge piles of dust-filled files almost touch the ceiling, while broken desks are held together with packing tape and there is an overpowering stench of urine from the toilets. Telangana official K. Laxminarayana, the head of rural development, told the Daily Mail: 'The workers in the Development Office will be moved soon to another building.' analysis Nairobi 'There was a feeling that we were going to die, that we had no chance to survive.' The sound of explosions and gunfire had rocked our neighbourhood for weeks, confining us inside and sending children scurrying under their beds. Then the inevitable happened: A shell ripped through the lightweight iron-sheet roof of my family home. My eight-year-old nephew Muhanad was sitting on his mother's lap when the shell landed in our living room, barely making a sound. It sliced through his head and opened up a large wound that came painfully close to killing him. Stories like this are commonplace in Nyala, the largest city in Sudan's Darfur region and the place I am from. Like much of Darfur, it has been destroyed by the war that broke out in April between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. I am a journalist and human rights defender who has spent years documenting conflict in Darfur. But nothing prepared me for what it feels like to see my city looted, to see my relatives and friends killed, to see my neighbours lose their jobs and slowly starve. I have learnt that the impact of war is not just about death and destruction. It is about the damage it does to your sense of agency: the way it makes you feel powerless; the way it makes you feel like there is nothing that you can do to make things better. When my nephew was hit, we took him to a local hospital only to find that all of the doctors had fled and that they didn't even have a bed for him to lie on. We sat for hours with a bandage trying to stem the blood. We felt totally helpless. Later in the day, we went to one of the few private hospitals that was still open, but they charged us thousands of dollars for surgery. We managed to raise the funds but other families that walked in with dying relatives did not. Last month, I left Darfur because there were risks to me staying put given my work, but the sense of powerlessness has only gotten worse. Every time I receive a message or a missed call from my family, I worry something may have happened. Still, my powerlessness is balanced by pride: pride in the local initiatives that have sprung up in my town to support those affected by the war, and pride in the knowledge that though Nyala has been destroyed, we will build it back again. I personally will never give up the fight for justice in Darfur. I will not stop documenting crimes and calling for an end to impunity. I will always seek to bring attention to what is happening in my region. The next generation deserves nothing less. A deceased uncle, a slain neighbour I was born in 1985, just a few years before our autocratic former president, Omar al-Bashir, took charge in a military coup. He went on to hold power for three decades and terrorised Darfuris in the process. I was at secondary school in 2003 when war broke out in Darfur. Rebels from mostly non-Arab groups rebelled against al-Bashir's government, citing marginalisation. Al-Bashir responded by arming Darfuri Arab militias known as Janjaweed. Those militias displaced millions of Darfur's non-Arab groups and then took over their land. They later morphed into the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - the paramilitary group that is now battling the army elites that spawned them. The current war broke out in Khartoum, but quickly spread to Darfur. In some areas, the RSF and allied Arab militias have launched attacks against non-Arabs - continuing what was started 20 years ago - though in cities like Nyala they are mainly fighting the army. The first few weeks of the conflict in Nyala were the hardest. Burying relatives became one the main daily activities for people. You would hear artillery being fired by the army. Then you would get the news that somebody you knew had been cut into pieces. On day one of the conflict, we lost a neighbour called Adam Musa. He was sitting on a chair 200 metres away from us when a stray shell struck his back. On day two, we lost one of our uncles - a local RSF commander called Issak. I had my own brush with death in the second week of the war. I had travelled to the centre of Nyala to buy insulin for a diabetic neighbour. I arrived at a pharmacy safely, but on the way back, at around 11am, I was detained by a group of soldiers. They accused me of being an RSF leader because of my skin colour and my Arab tribal origins. "You Arabs, you militias," they cursed, as they tied my hands behind my back, pushed me to the ground, and fired three live rounds close to my head. Eventually, a commander showed up, accepted the validity of my press card, and apologised for what had happened. He told me this wasn't the official behaviour of the army, but I avoided areas with soldiers from that point onwards. Motorcycle militias and illicit markets In these first few weeks, I would often find adults breaking down and crying at random moments. In my house, there was a feeling that we were going to die, that we had no chance to survive. And if the fear of being struck by a shell or caught in crossfire wasn't enough, we soon began contending with another horror: RSF-aligned Arab militias in civilian clothes that scoot around on motorbikes, looting everything of value. The presence of the militias echoes scenes from the 2003 Darfur conflict. Back then, Janjaweed fighters would raid villages on horseback, plundering livestock and household goods. The difference now is that the militias are targeting big cities. The impact on Nyala has been devastating: The militias and RSF fighters have looted government ministries, and they have pillaged hospitals, markets, people's shops and houses, and the offices of international aid agencies. The dormitories of a school set up for orphans in Nyala were destroyed, as was a professional training centre that taught hard skills to a new generation of youth in the region. A major medicine store that contained supplies used by people across Darfur was also looted. And a printer in the ministry of education building that created books for primary and secondary students across the region was taken too. Some civilians began arming themselves to protect against the looting, though others sadly participated in the plunder. After the militias took items of value, civilians would pick apart the rest: furniture, tables, books, even the roofs of buildings. Soon the stolen goods started appearing in illicit markets in RSF-controlled areas where weapons and drugs were also on sale. People called them "Colombia markets" because of the connection to illegal substances. Food shortages, and the toll on women and girls The militia presence forced merchants to withdraw their stock from shops and markets and store them in their padlocked homes. As a result, it has become harder and harder to find food in town, and the price of what is available has soared. Food from Khartoum - our main source of supplies - has dried up as the fighting there has intensified. Traders are bringing in goods from neighbouring South Sudan and Libya, but bad roads and insecurity impact their efforts. Members of my family have often been eating just a single meal per day - usually lunch. We have depended on the generosity of my brothers who have been sending us money from their base in Saudi Arabia. Getting medicine has also become a challenge as prices soar. A doctor friend in Nyala told me last week that a young girl had her hands amputated because her family were unable to buy fresh bandages to keep her wounds clean. The humanitarian situation is even worse for those living in the massive displacement camps on the outskirts of Nyala. These camps house victims of the early 2000s conflict. They are the unseen face of the current humanitarian crisis. Many of the displaced are dependent on international humanitarian aid - which has been suspended in Darfur - and on daily work in Nyala, either at the market or in the houses and shops of townspeople. Women and girls have been especially impacted by the conflict. According to my sources, some are being kept in warehouses and hotels by RSF and militia fighters who are sexually abusing them. I believe there may be several hundred cases. The spirit of the Sudanese As a journalist in a situation like this, receiving reams of information over WhatsApp, the most constructive thing I can do is use social media to raise awareness of what we are facing. Others have been focusing their efforts on helping those in need. In my area, groups of people have been distributing soup, while neighbourhood-based activist groups set up civilian checkpoints to restrict the movement of the motorcycle gangs. Local residents have also been supporting people uprooted within Nyala. They have received no help from international aid agencies, whose response efforts are focused on those fleeing Khartoum, more than 1,000 kilometres away. Nyala's displaced fled the most dangerous parts of the city and are currently sheltering in the dormitories of a local university and in schools. Every day, locals bring them supplies of water and food. Community leaders at one of the camps set up in the early 2000s have, meanwhile, led a local initiative to track down looted medicine and return it to one of the main hospitals in Nyala. It is humbling to see people with high levels of need do such a thing. A ceasefire committee was also set up at the beginning of the conflict to coordinate the efforts of community leaders and authorities that have sought to mediate between local army and RSF units and beg them to stop the war. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Sudan Conflict By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. Similar committees have been set up in other parts of Darfur, underscoring the determination of residents to resist a conflict between two parties that very few civilians support. At first, the ceasefire committee succeeded in Nyala, brokering a pause to the conflict around Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. But after Eid passed, the war continued. Peace requires justice Right now, it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The RSF has control over almost all of Nyala, and much of the rest of Darfur, though the army is still entrenched in a few bases and clashes are frequent. Some people seem to think that the RSF's leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo 'Hemedti', will build back Darfur and make it more developed. I tell them that a militia that destroys libraries, schools, and hospitals is not going to bring democracy. What we need most urgently is humanitarian assistance. International aid groups say Darfur is too insecure to operate in, but I have followed wars in other countries like Ukraine where they work in even tougher circumstances. Why can't they do that here? International actors also need to recognise that peace requires justice. This crisis won't end with military men having talks and signing pieces of paper. Ending the gunfire won't bring our relatives back. We need reparations and an end to impunity. Finally, we need to keep using our voices as Darfurians. The men with guns are speaking louder than us right now, but we have the power to speak up too, to let the world know what is really happening. I often feel like I am part of an unlucky generation in Darfur. For 37 years, I have witnessed people dying and perpetrators enjoying their lives. Not for the first time, I have had to leave the region for safety abroad. But we cannot allow this to be the case for the next generation of Darfurians, let alone this one. That is why I will spend the rest of my days fighting for justice and peace. I will never give up. Edited by Philip Kleinfeld. This report was funded by the H2H Network's H2H Fund, which is supported by UK aid. Ahmed Gouja, Journalist and rights monitor based in Nyala, Darfur The Biden administration asked Congress on Thursday for an additional $21 billion in funding for Ukraine, teeing off a bitter showdown with the GOP-controlled House. The total $40 billion request includes $13 billion in emergency defense aid and wildfire pay and an additional $8 billion for humanitarian support of Ukraine, as well as $12 billion for disaster relief after a season of heat and storms, as well as $4 billion for the border and to combat fentanyl to attract Republicans to the deal. The breakdown of the $13 billion defense request includes $9.5 billion for equipment and replenishment of Pentagon stocks and $3.6 billion for continued military, intelligence and other defense support. A view shows a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine August 10, 2023 A handout photo made available by the National Police of Ukraine shows the aftermath of a rocket strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, 10 August 2023, amid the Russian invasion The short-term funding request is for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has already swatted away the idea of supplemental aid, saying he would insist on adhering to the $886 billion defense cap agreed to in the debt limit deal. 'We just worked on an agreement,' McCarthy told reporters previously, referring to the debt ceiling deal. 'Working [on] a supplemental right now is only blowing up the agreement. That's all about spending more money. So, no, I do not support a supplemental.' But President Biden has said the U.S. will support Ukraine in its fight against Russia 'for as long as it takes.' Privately, administration officials have warned Ukrainian officials that there is a limit to the patience of a narrowly divided Congress - and American public - for the costs of a war with no clear end. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement there was strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate. Ukrainian soldiers are seen inside a M109 self-propelled howitzer on the frontline in the Zaporizhzhya region, the site of the heaviest battles with the Russian troops, Ukraine, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023 A destroyed dam and water power plant are seen on the Oskil River as the Russian-Ukrainian war continues in Oskil village of Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine on August 10, 2023 A beached boat is seen on the Oskil River as the Russian-Ukrainian war continues in Oskil village of Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine on August 10, 2023 "The latest request from the Biden administration shows Americas continued commitment to helping Americans here at home and our friends abroad," he said. "We hope to join with our Republican colleagues this fall to avert an unnecessary government shutdown and fund this critical emergency supplemental request. "For people who might be concerned the costs are getting too high, wed ask them what the costs - not just in treasure but in blood, perhaps even American blood - could be if Putin subjugates Ukraine," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said this week. Support among the American public for providing Ukraine weaponry and direct economic assistance has waned with time. A recent CNN poll found that a majority of Americans do not believe the U.S. should be giving any more aid to Ukraine. Overall 55 percent say Congress should not authorize more funding for Ukraine while 45 percent say Congress should. A mother has ended up in hospital after she was allegedly horrifically beaten by a stranger wielding a hammer, wooden stake and a knife. Fiona had visited a petrol station in Rockingham in Perth's southwest early on Saturday morning to buy a drink when she was suddenly confronted by James Plester, 29. Plester allegedly repeatedly beat Fiona with a hammer before attacking her with a wooden stake. He was arrested and charged with unlawful wounding while Fiona was rushed to hospital with a broken arm among several other injuries. She is covered in bruises and has stitches holding her forehead together. 'I turned around to him and he just looked [at me], he just said to me ''do you want to get hammered?'',' Fiona told Nine News. 'I was on the ground. I just kept on pleading with him, telling him I had kids and that I couldn't die.' Fiona has been left recovering in hospital with serious injuries after she was allegedly beaten by a stranger at a Perth petrol station Fiona's right arm is covered in a nasty bruise and she will now have a large scar across her forehead. Staples have also been placed on the top of her head. She alleges Plester then stabbed her in the chest with a wooden stake, before noticing he also had a knife. A terrified service station worker called the police but kept the doors locked, despite Fiona begging to be let in. She managed to flee her alleged attacker and hide in nearby bushes until police arrived. Plester spent the night behind bars while Fiona remains in hospital, terrified to now be on her own. 'I just want people to be a bit more vigilant and not go out on their own. Always have someone with you,' she said, breaking down in tears. 514 children went to Eton, Millfield and Rishi Sunak's own Winchester College Just under 13.8million was allocated to send children to top private schools The Foreign Office billed the taxpayer nearly 14million to send diplomats' children to some of the UK's most prestigious schools last year. Figures show just under 13.8million was allocated to send 514 children to top private schools such as Eton, Millfield and Winchester College, the alma mater of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The bill represents a near-31 per cent increase on the 10.5million outlay the previous year to subsidise schooling as part of a perk for senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials. The figures were released by Foreign Office minister David Rutley in answer to a question by Labour frontbencher Emily Thornberry. He said it was a 'long-standing practice that the legacy FCO provides clearly defined and limited financial support to staff to help maintain the continuity of their children's education'. The Foreign Office billed the taxpayer nearly 14million to send diplomats' children to some of the UK's most prestigious schools last year. Pictured: Eton College in Windsor The figures were released by Foreign Office minister David Rutley (pictured) in answer to a question by Labour frontbencher Emily Thornberry It means the taxpayer forked out an average of around 26,800 for each subsidised school place in the last year, up around 35 per cent from the 19,850 average contribution per place for the 531 children of diplomats in the UK a year earlier. The biggest total annual bill, according to data going back to 2009, was for nearly 15.5million in 2012. The figures also show just over 24.1million was spent on educating more than 1,188 children of UK diplomats overseas. This was up from 21.4million the previous year. Domestically, the department's figures show more money was spent on fees for Sevenoaks School in Kent (721,965) than anywhere else. Oundle School in Northamptonshire came next (487,449), followed by Eton College (246,720). Charterhouse in Surrey received 171,760, while Winchester College was handed 143,232. John O'Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance said: 'Hard-pressed taxpayers will not take kindly to these figures. 'While diplomats often have to move at a moment's notice, the scale of these subsidies is difficult to justify, particularly during a cost of living crisis. Figures show just under 13.8million was allocated to send 514 children to top private schools such as Eton, Millfield and Winchester College (pictured) 'Diplomats should expect to send their children to one of our brilliant state schools, like everybody else does, or pay private school fees themselves.' A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesman said: 'Our staff are often asked to move frequently during their career, sometimes at very short notice, which is why it has been the policy of successive governments to support eligible families so that their children's education is disrupted as little as possible. 'There are clear caps on compensation offered to staff. The increase in our spending reflects the inclusion of legacy DFID [Department for International Development] staff and legacy FCO staff in a single FCDO figure from this year and a rise in boarding school fees.' It comes as some of the most prestigious private schools in the country are to charge parents more than 50,000 a year for the first time. A handful of schools including Cheltenham Ladies College, Concord College in Shropshire, and Harrow School in north west London have all moved above the threshold. It means their boarding fees are well in excess of 16,500 per pupil, per term, for the upcoming school year Eton, whose alumni include former Prime Minister David Cameron and Prince William, will charge boarders up to 49,998 per year. Matthew Cox, 31, charged with two counts of murder Their bodies were discovered by Qld police on Thursday A man will appear in court on Friday accused of killing his wife and newborn baby girl. Matthew Cox, 31, has spent the night in a Brisbane police cell charged with two counts of domestic violence murder. The bodies of his wife Tayla Cox, 30 and their newborn daughter Murphy Margaret, 11 weeks, were discovered by police 635km away in their Rockhampton home on Thursday morning during a welfare check. Police said there was no previous history of domestic violence between the couple as Cox's heartbroken parents broke their silence about the tragedy. 'We have lost a beautiful daughter-in-law Tayla, but also our much-loved granddaughter Murphy,' Denis Cox and Linda Lind said. 'At this stage, we have very few other details and are in an absolute state of shock.' 'We ask that the media respect our privacy while we grieve and try and process what has occurred.' Initial investigations indicate Tayla and her baby girl died on Tuesday afternoon and were found with lacerations on their bodies. Tayla Cox (right), 30, and her baby girl Murphy (centre) were found dead in their Rockhampton home on Thursday. Her husband, Matthew (left), has been charged with their murders Proud grandmother Linda (right) recently shared a photo posing with her son Matthew Cox (left) and his baby girl Murphy Police discovered the two bodies in the Rockhampton home while conducting a welfare check Police allege Cox flew to Brisbane that day and reportedly stayed at an apartment before handing himself into Fortitude Valley Police two days later to report the deaths of his wife and daughter. Cox will appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday. A crime scene remains set up at the Park Avenue home where the bodies of Ms Cox and her baby girl were found. 'A second crime scene was also established at an apartment complex on Constance Street, Fortitude Valley where the man is understood to have been staying,' a Queensland Police statement read. 'A vehicle has also been seized at the Rockhampton airport and taken away for forensic examination.' Matthew and Tayla Cox (pictured during her pregnancy) were living in Victoria before they moved back to Rockhampton after purchasing their home in November 2022. Matthew Cox (left) had been with Tayla since December 2015, according to his Facebook Officers said there was a large amount of blood at the unsettling scene Ms Cox, maiden name Black, grew up in Rockhampton and went to St Ursula's College Yeppoon, reported The Courier Mail. She was a repair coordinator for a construction company in the Rockhampton suburb of Berserker. She was on maternity leave at the time of her death. 'Always be kind,' her Facebook bio states. She and Cox lived in Victoria for some time during their relationship and had been together for almost eight years, according to his Facebook. They moved back to Rockhampton after purchasing their three bedroom Park Avenue home in November 2022. The move came as Cox secured a job at a local radio station as his wife took to Facebook to celebrate the purchase of their new home. 'New chapter, can't wait to make so many amazing memories with our beautiful little family,' Tayla wrote In February, she shared a happy snap of her husband cradling her baby bump while enjoying a break on Great Keppel Island. 'We can't wait to meet you,' she wrote. Matthew Cox (left) will appear in a Brisbane court on Friday over the deaths of his wife (right) and their baby. Pictured are the couple in happier times A crime scene was established shortly after Queensland police arrived at the Rockhampton property on Thursday morning A crime scene was established shortly after police arrived at the Park Avenue home on Thursday morning. 'I will say that it was quite a confronting scene two deceased people to start with, a deceased infant child is always confronting,' Detective Superintendent Darrin Shadlow told reporters. 'There was a large amount of blood.' 'They (investigators) will be on scene for some time examining the scene and our investigations will be ongoing.' The tragedy has shocked neighbours. 'I feel sick to my stomach. They're one of your generic, lovely families,' one woman said. If you or someone you know needs support, call 1800 Respect (1800 737 732) or Lifeline on 131 114. His family also revealed that Robertson was largely 'homebound' and said that he would never hurt someone over politics The family of Craig Robertson, who was killed by FBI agents on his doorstep after making violent threats against President Joe Biden on Facebook, called his death in 'senseless' in a heartbreaking new statement. In the statement, Robertson is referred to as a churchgoing father and brother who made children's toys as a hobby using his woodworking skills. 'The Craig Robertson we knew was a kind and generous person who was always willing to assist another in need, even when advanced age, limited mobility and other physical challenges made it more difficult and painful for him to do so,' the release read in part. Robertson, 75, was killed by the FBI on his doorstep in Provo - an hour from Salt Lake City - on Wednesday. His family called his social media activities 'intemperate' but said that he would never 'commit any act of violence against another human being over a political or philosophical disagreement.' That sentiment was echoed by neighbor Andrew Maunder who told The Salt Lake Tribune that Robertson 'definitely had his political views, which he was very public about on Facebook. But I think deep down, he was just a cranky old guy who was harmless.' Robertson had a custom woodworking business but did not renew his license after it expired last year, according to state records Craig Robertson in another photo posting with his weapons wearing a bulletproof vest, a ski mask and a helmet Another neighbor, Connor Bunch, said that their neighborhood was shocked by the tragedy and called Robertson as 'teddy bear' in an interview with the New York Post. 'I don't think he was even given a chance to even see a warrant when they went in and raided house,' Bunch added. 'As an elderly- and largely homebound-man, there was very little he could do but exercise his First Amendment right to free speech and voice his protest in what has become the public square of our age the internet and social media,' his family also said in their statement. Speaking about his patriotism, Robertson's family said that he 'loved this country with all his heart.' The family concluded by saying that they 'hold no personal animosity' towards the agents involved in the raid and asked for privacy as they grieve. Robertson had one previous criminal conviction, pleading no contest to disorderly conduct and paying a $100 fine in 2007. Video shared on social media showed neighbors peering out from behind curtains and fearfully watching the dawn raid. The FBI attempted to serve arrest and search warrants at Robertson's house at 6:15am, but were met with resistance. Sources told AP that Robertson, who had a large arsenal in his home, was armed when they arrived. Agents in protective clothing can be seen advancing on his door, and heard yelling at him. One of the agents flung what appeared to be a smoke bomb, which can be seen exploding to the left of the image, by the front door Robertson is seen lying on the sidewalk in front of his house after Wednesday's shooting Robertson, 75, was gunned down on his doorstep by agents in Provo - an hour from Salt Lake City - after they were alerted to his posts about the president Biden is pictured arriving at Wright Air National Guard Base in Salt Lake City, Utah on Wednesday One then flings what seems to be a smoke bomb, which explodes near the front door. The actual shooting is unclear, but photos from the scene show Robertson lying on his back, dead on the sidewalk in front of his house. 'The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously,' the agency said in a statement. 'In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBI's Inspection Division. 'As this is an ongoing matter, we have no further details to provide.' The FBI began investigating Robertson in April, and the Secret Service was informed in June. For months, Robertson had posted daily threats on what is believed to be his Facebook page, revealing his obsession with the president and fantasies about hurting him. One post reads: 'There is only one creature in this universe I hate more than Joe Biden. It's Lucifer, Biden's brother!' While conducting surveillance on Robertson's home on March 19, a special agent attempted to speak with Robertson about his posts, according to Fox13. Robertson replied: 'I said it was a dream!' He told the agent to come back with a warrant. Robertson, who had a custom woodworking business, worked for 45 years as a structural steel and welding inspector before retiring and starting his own company. His posts grew increasingly violent and threatening, and singled out Kamala Harris, Californian governor Gavin Newsom and Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg in addition to Biden. Robertson had several photos of himself posing with weapons and wearing tactical gear on social media The threats involved plans to take physical action and the FBI deemed them 'credible' Robertson shared numerous pictures online of the heavy duty weapons he had stacked in a huge gun cache in his house, including sniper rifles and AR-15-style guns In March, Robertson threatened to kill Bragg, who is overseeing the criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump. 'I'll be waiting in the courthouse parking garage with my suppressed Smith &Wesson M&P 9mm to smoke a radical fool prosecutor that should never have been elected,' he posted at the time. 'BYE, BYE, TO ANOTHER CORRUPT B______!!!' The majority of his social media posts revolved around the president or his son Hunter - and many included violent and highly specific physical threats. 'In my dream I see Joe Biden's body in a dark corner of a DC parking garage with his head severed and lying in a huge puddle of blood. Hoorah,' he wrote. As Biden's planned visit to Utah drew closer, Robertson increased his specific threats. Messages posted on what is believed to be his Facebook page on Tuesday included bloodthirsty content about how he'd brutally murder the commander in chief The page, which posted pro-Trump comments, also had more death threats against Biden's brother, Kamala Harris as well as Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg On Monday, Robertson allegedly wrote: 'I hear Biden is coming to Utah. Digging out my hold Ghillie suit and cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle.' 'Welcome Baffoon in Chief!,' he concluded the post, which was written in bold black letters on a pink and purple swirly background. He then wrote: 'Hey FBI, you still monitoring my social media? Checking so I can be sure to have a loaded gun handy in case you drop by again.' On Tuesday his Facebook posts included bloodthirsty content about how he'd brutally murder the commander in chief. He also shared numerous pictures of the heavy duty weapons he had stacked in a huge gun cache in his house, including sniper rifles and AR-15-style guns. Court documents show Robertson threatened to 'inflict bodily harm' on Biden during his visit to Utah Special agents attempted to serve arrest and search warrants at a residence in Provo when they shot and killed Craig Deleeuw Robertson at around 6:15 am Law enforcement investigate the scene of a shooting involving the FBI Wednesday in Provo, Utah Robertson, who was accused of making threats against President Joe Biden, was shot and killed by FBI agents hours before the president was expected to land in the state Wednesday A Provo police officer walks away as FBI officials and other law enforcement officers stand outside the home of Craig Robertson who was shot and killed by the FBI in a raid on his home The investigation began in April and the US Secret Services became aware of it in June President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at Arcosa, a wind tower manufacturing facility, in Belen, New Mexico, on Wednesday morning Craig Robertson's family statement in full 'We, the family of Craig Deeluew Robertson, are shocked and devastated by the senseless and tragic killing of our beloved father and brother, and we fervently mourn the loss of a good and decent man. The Craig Robertson we knew was a kind and generous person who was always willing to assist another in need, even when advanced age, limited mobility, and other physical challenges made it more difficult and painful for him to do so. He often used his expert woodworking skills to craft beautiful and creative items for others, including toys such as sleighs, rocking horses, and bubble gum dispensers for the children of friends and neighbors at Christmas time. He was active in his local church congregation and loved the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart. He was a devoted dog lover all his life, and he lavished his animals with love and affection. He was a lover of history and an avid reader of every kind of book. In his younger years, he was a sportsman and hunter. He was a firearm enthusiast, collector and gunsmith, who staunchly supported the constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms for the purposes of providing food and protection for his family and home. As a safety inspector in the steel industry, he worked diligently and conscientiously to safeguard the lives and well-being of untold thousands who would use, and benefit from, the numerous industrial and public works projects he was responsible for during the course of a decades-long career. Craig loved this country with all his heart. He saw it as a God-inspired and God-blessed land of liberty. He was understandably frustrated and distraught by the present and on-going erosions to our constitutionally protected freedoms and the rights of free citizens wrought by what he, and many others in this nation, observed to be a corrupt and overreaching government. As an elderlyand largely homeboundman, there was very little he could do but exercise his First Amendment right to free speech and voice his protest in what has become the public square of our agethe internet and social media. Though his statements were intemperate at times, he has never, and would never, commit any act of violence against another human being over a political or philosophical disagreement. As our family processes the grief and pain of our loss, we would have it be known that we hold no personal animosity towards those individuals who took part in the ill-fated events of the morning of August 9, 2023, which resulted in Craigs death. We ask that the media and public respect our family members' privacy and give us the time and space needed to come to terms with the sad tragedy of these events.' Advertisement Later that day, an arrest warrant was unsealed ahead of Biden's arrival on Wednesday in the state. Court documents show Robertson, who is a self-described 'MAGA TRUMPER,' threatened to 'inflict bodily harm' on Biden during his visit to Utah. He was charged with interstate threats; threats against the president; and influencing, and impeding and retaliating against federal law enforcement officers by threat. The FBI raided his home in the early hours of Wednesday morning, just hours before Biden was due in the city for a series of speeches and visits. An FBI official said the raid was in connection with an investigation into threats against Biden and other political figures in previous weeks. The threats involved plans to take physical action and the FBI deemed them 'credible.' The Mayor of London has backed calls for Scotland Yard's commissioner to be given the power to sack police officers who are unfit to serve. Sir Mark Rowley, who leads Britain's biggest police force, called on ministers to urgently push through legislation that would give chiefs dismissal powers instead of independent lawyers - who he referred to as 'fundamentally soft.' Sadiq Khan described his comments as an 'important intervention,' adding: 'A vital part of police reform is making it easier to root out and sack corrupt officers. 'There's no excuse for further delay from ministers.' The mayor said he had submitted draft legislation to the Government in spring that would mean officers convicted of a serious criminal offence could be automatically dismissed. London Mayor Sadiq Khan (pictured) backed calls to give Scotland Yard's commissioner the power to fire police officers who are unfit to serve 'Government inaction is making it harder for police chiefs to do their job,' he added. Sir Mark took charge last September and vowed to purge the Met of rogue officers following a series of scandals, including the murder of Sarah Everard by firearms officer Wayne Couzens, and parliamentary protection officer David Carrick being unmasked as one of Britain's worst rapists. The commissioner has repeatedly said he is hamstrung when trying to sack officers unfit to serve, however, as the final say on gross misconduct cases falls to legally qualified chairs. Sir Mark told the Times: 'I've got a big mission to sort out here and I'm in a hurry to get on with it, and it's frustrating when that's held up by others, such as getting this legislation right. Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley (pictured) has repeatedly said he is hamstrung when trying to sack officers who are unfit to serve as cases are decided by qualified chairs 'This is slowing us down and we're building up big backlogs of cases. 'This is a national issue, meaning that there will be hundreds of officers who would have been sacked by officer-chaired panels but are still serving across the country.' A Home Office spokesman said: 'Officers who fall seriously short of the standards expected have no place in our police, and we must ensure they can be dismissed as swiftly as possible. 'That is why we launched our dismissals review, which we will publish shortly.' Lawyers acting for deadly mushroom chef Erin Patterson have been forced to camp outside her home to hand deliver her legal instructions after she went missing on Thursday. Ms Patterson told a waiting media pack just before 10am that she was en route to visit her lawyers in Melbourne. But a representative of that law firm was seen waiting outside her Leongatha home about 5pm to hand deliver a letter from the firm. Erin Patterson speaks to waiting media outside her home on Thursday Lawyers acting for deadly mushroom chef Erin Patterson have been forced to camp outside her home A representative of the law firm was seen waiting outside Ms Patterson's Leongatha home about 5pm to hand deliver a letter from the firm. Simon Patterson was supposed to join his parents for the lunch that killed them The man told Daily Mail Australia it was the only way Ms Patterson could be contacted after homicide squad detectives confiscated her phone and computer devices. It comes as police were seen doing a drive-by of Ms Patterson's home just before sunset. It is understood lawyers acting for Ms Patterson are concerned for her wellbeing amid the media firestorm outside her rural property. The legal representative would not answer questions about the contents of the letter or whether charges against Ms Patterson were imminent. But he did concede it was unusual to have to hand deliver instructions to a client in this manner. Ms Patterson had still not returned to her home just before dark on Thursday, forcing the representative to leave without delivering his letter. Sources have told Daily Mail Australia that Erin, 48, invited her estranged ex-husband Simon Patterson to their former family home for lunch with his parents Gail and Don Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, and her pastor husband Ian on Saturday, July 29 as part of a church mediation. The revelation that Ms Patterson wanted to get back together with her estranged husband, who pulled out of the lunch at the last minute, comes amid reports the deadly dish she served up was a beef wellington. Police continue to investigate Ms Patterson after Simon's parents and Ms Wilkinson died from eating the deadly lunch at her Leongatha home, in Victoria's Gippsland region, on July 29. Mr Wilkinson - a Korumburra Baptist Church pastor - continues to cling to life in hospital. Gail and Don Patterson died after eating the mushrooms. Erin was previously married to their son, Simon Those that died were all deeply involved with Korumburra Baptist Church (pictured) A source close to Simon, who remains in hiding days after the tragedy, told Daily Mail Australia his mate had no interest in getting back together with the mother of his two children. 'They went to her house for a mediation to talk to the family. Simon was supposed to go there for lunch but he pulled out in the last minute otherwise he would be in that death bed too,' the friend said on Thursday. 'The people who died, Gail, Don and the Wilkinsons, were talking to them because they're heavily ingrained with the church and they wanted to make sure she was right to resume a relationship with Simon ... she was basically petitioning to get back with him and the family didn't think that was a good move.' The friend claimed Ms Patterson was desperate to get back together with her estranged husband. 'She wanted to get back with Simon and the family didn't want Simon to get back with her,' he said. 'They basically didn't think she was good enough for him in their eyes. 'This wasn't just a lunch, it was an intervention with the pastor as mediator. That's why this lunch happened.' The above family tree shows the connections between the Pattersons and Wilkinsons embroiled in the unusual poisoning tragedy in Leongatha Simon Patterson lived with his parents while recovering from a serious stomach problem Simon's friend maintained his mate had not suspected his ex-wife had poisoned him after he fell ill from a mystery stomach complaint after the couple split. It was revealed on Tuesday that Simon spent 21 days in intensive care after collapsing at his home in May 2022. Several of Simon's friends have told Daily Mail Australia he never once accused his ex-wife of foul play. Daily Mail Australia understands Ms Patterson's owns several properties, investing wisely after inheriting money she received from the death of her parents in 2019. Property records obtained by Daily Mail Australia reveal Simon and Erin both registered themselves as the single owners of two different houses in February 2021 - 15 months before he fell ill with a mystery stomach illness. On Thursday, Ms Patterson lashed out at a waiting media pack, who she accused of making her a prisoner in her own home. 'I've got tonnes of friends who want to help (me) but I've told them to stay away while all the vultures are here because they don't want to be in the papers either,' she said. 'So I can't get help from my friends who all want to come and help me but they'll all be subjected to the crap so do I have to move out of my own home?' Ms Patterson said she was travelling to Melbourne to speak with her lawyers. Ian Wilkinson and Heather Wilkinson (both pictured) became severely ill after they ate wild mushrooms. Mrs Wilkinson died on Friday while her husband remains in a critical condition in hospital Mourners continue to leave tributes outside the Korumburra Baptist Church for those that died This notice was placed outside Korumburra Baptist Church Police returned to a nearby rubbish tip to search for CCTV footage She has denied any wrongdoing. Daily Mail Australia does not suggest Ms Patterson was responsible for Simon's illness or the three deaths. Police say the symptoms experienced by the victims were consistent with consuming death cap mushrooms, which can cause kidney and liver failure. Sole survivor Ian Wilkinson remained in a critical condition on Wednesday night awaiting a liver transplant. Hours earlier police returned to a rubbish tip in Koonwarra to request CCTV footage after a dehydrator was found discarded at the site. It was previously revealed detectives are investigating was whether a food dehydrator was used to prepare the meal and then disposed of a day after the lunch. Police are believed to be carrying out forensic testing on the appliance. A striking Grade II listed London home that forms the end section of a former chapel is up for grabs 2.95million. The unusual property boasts stained glass windows throughout the main living areas and high vaulted ceilings. The entrance is via an impressive stone arched doorway, which sits below five double-height stained glass windows. The North West London property for sale or 2.95m forms the end section of this converted chapel The unusual property boasts double-height stained glass windows overlooking the dining area The hallway has a staircase leading to the three floors, with bedrooms on the ground and second floor. The main living areas expand across the first floor, including a dining room at the front of the property. The ornate stained glass windows and part of the vaulted ceiling overlook the dining table. Main living areas expand across the first floor, including a dining room at the front of the property The top floor contains the main bedroom suite that occupies the full curve of the property's vaulted ceiling There are plenty of original features, including the large stone archway in this room Double doors from the dining room lead into the main living area, which has herringbone wooden flooring and more stained glass windows. The large kitchen also shares this space, with a centre island that includes a breakfast bar. The expansive kitchen has green base and wall units, and more decorative arched windows. The top floor contains the main bedroom suite that occupies the full curve of the property's vaulted ceiling. The expansive kitchen has green base and wall units, and more decorative arched windows Double doors from the dining room lead into the main living area, which has herringbone wooden flooring An ornate double wooden bedstead occupies the centre of the main bedroom suite The main bedroom suite includes an ensuite bathroom with a decorative roll top bath There is a view of the stained glass windows from the top of the staircase on the second floor There is a wall of glass that separates the main bedroom suite from the rest of the property The property is being sold by Petermans estate agents, which describes it as 'distinctive' and 'sure to impress'. It also points out that it is a 'triplex apartment' with a lease that has 983 years remaining on it. The leasehold property has a substantial service charge of 11,000 a year and ground rent of 250. The average price of a property sold in this part of North West London during the past 12 months is 914,451. It compares to an average of 319,894 for Britain as a whole, according to property website Zoopla. At 310 million years old, it's unlikely to crawl out of your plughole. But this fossilised spider still manages to look creepy after being described in a scientific paper as being the oldest of its kind ever found in Germany. It is called arthrolycosa wolterbeeki - named after Tim Wolterbeek, who unearthed the ancient bug in the Piesberg quarry near Osnabruck in Lower Saxony - and has now donated the fossil to Berlin's Natural History Museum. A study published in The Paleontological Journal by the museum's Dr Jason Dunlop revealed: 'This spider probably had a body length of about a centimetre and a leg span of about 4cm. It is preserved well enough to show details of the silk-producing spinnerets and even hairs and claws on the legs.' The ancient creepy crawly is described in a recent scientific paper as the oldest spider found in Germany. The study has been published in the international journal Palaontologische Zeitschrift by Dr. Jason Dunlop from the Museum fur Naturkunde Berlin. It is called arthrolycosa wolterbeeki named after Tim Wolterbeek, who unearthed the ancient bug in the Piesberg quarry near Osnabruck in Lower Saxony and has now donated the fossil to Berlin's Natural History Museum The spider find comes from the Piesberg quarry near Osnabruck in Lower Saxony The spider find comes from the Piesberg quarry near Osnabruck in Lower Saxony. A release explains: 'This spider is between 310 and 315 million years old and was named after its discoverer, Tim Wolterbeek, who kindly donated the fossil to the Berlin Museum for study. 'This spider probably had a body length of about a centimetre and a leg span of about 4 cm. It is preserved well enough to show details of the silk-producing spinnerets and even hairs and claws on the legs.' Spiders are one of nature's great success stories, with more than 51,000 species described worldwide so far and about a thousand of them living in Germany. This is the first Palaeozoic spider from Germany, the next oldest coming from the Mesozoic (Jurassic). Although spiders are widespread and abundant today, more than 300million years ago they do not appear to have been especially common. The present study notes that modern mesothele spiders spend most of their lives in a burrow surrounded by silk threads which act as 'tripwires'. The release adds: 'If fossils like Arthrolycosa wolterbeeki had a similar lifestyle they may only occasionally have ventured out and would rarely have fallen into water where they could be preserved as fossils. 'At the same time the major evolutionary radiation of spiders into the modern groups probably only started later in the Mesozoic, perhaps alongside radiations of insects, when spiders started building different types of webs to catch increasing number of flying insects from the air.' Spiders of this age are still extremely rare, the release adds. Only twelve Carboniferous species worldwide can be confidently identified as spiders, with previous examples from France, the Czech Republic, Poland and the USA. Sir Richard Branson's firm Virgin Galactic will finally send its first paying passenger to space today, bringing a nearly two-decade-long wait to an end. The 'Galactic 02' mission will send a crew of six into orbit including three tourists aboard the VSS Unity spaceplane when it blasts off from New Mexico later. The tourists are retired British Olympian Jon Goodwin, 80, who paid $250,000 (191,000) for his ticket to space back in 2005. There's also Antiguan mother and daughter duo Keisha Schahaff, 46, and Anastatia Mayers, 18, who won free tickets for the once-in-a-lifetime commercial trip. They join three crew members on the spaceplane, which will reach over 50 miles (80.5 km) above sea level for passengers to enjoy incredible views of Earth. 'Galactic 02', to blast off from New Mexico on Thursday, will carry a crew of six people into orbit, including three 'space tourists' From left, Anastatia Mayers, Jon Goodwin, and Keisha Schahaff. Virgin Galactic's second commercial spaceflight, 'Galactic 02', will fly them plus three crew to space READ MORE Former Olympian set to be oldest Brit to travel to space VSS Unity passenger Jon Goodwin (pictured), 80, has been living with Parkinson's disease Advertisement Virgin Galactic, which was founded by Branson back in 2004, confirmed the launch window for the flight will open at 9am local time (4pm BST). The official livestream of the mission will be live on the company's website and YouTube channel. 'The future of space travel has arrived,' the company says on its website. 'Livestream countdown will begin just before the spaceship release.' Today's historic Galactic 02 mission will have six people on board, including three Virgin Galactic employees Commander Frederick Sturckow, Pilot Kelly Latimer, and Astronaut instructor Beth Moses. One of the three tourists is retired British Olympian Jon Goodwin, the first Olympian to travel to space, having competed in the 1972 Munich Games as a slalom canoeist. Goodwin who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2014 receives his trip 18 years after reportedly spending $250,000 (194,500) to secure his seat. Since his diagnosis he has been dedicated to raising awareness for Parkinson's and the importance of research into finding a cure and hopes that taking part in this mission will help shine a spotlight on the condition. The other two tourists making up the team are mother-daughter duo from Antigua, Keisha Schahaff and Anastasia Mayers. Keisha Schahaff with her daughter Anastatia Mayers. They are set to board VSS Unity for a 90-minute trip into space on August 10. Keisha has said she is 'not nervous at all' about the trip on Virgin Galactic's first space tourism flight. At 18, she will be the second youngest person to travel to space, following Oliver Daemen, who flew aboard a Blue Origin rocket at 18 in July 2021 Virgin Galactic, which was founded by Sir Richard Branson back in 2004, confirmed the launch window for the flight will open at 9am local time (4pm BST). Pictured, Branson speaks at a news conference after flying with a crew in Virgin Galactic's passenger rocket plane VSS Unity to the edge of space, July 11, 2021 How it works: This graphic shows how VSS Unity will take its passengers to the edge of space. Virgin Galactic has adopted a revolutionary system that enables VSS Unity to act like both a winged vehicle or a capsule depending on which is more useful at different stages of re-entry READ MORE: Mother who will travel into SPACE with 18-year-old daughter reveals how they're preparing for the 'dream' voyage Keisha Schahaff, 46, and her 18-year-old daughter Anastasia Mayers, will be the first mother and daughter ever to make a trip to space after winning two coveted places Advertisement Mother Keisha, who said she is 'not nervous at all' about the trip, won a sweepstakes with Omaze, a US for-profit fundraising company, for the once-in-a-lifetime commercial trip. Daughter Anastasia is studying philosophy and physics at Aberdeen University and wants to become an astrobiologist. At 18, she will be the second youngest person to travel to space, following Oliver Daemen, who flew aboard a Blue Origin rocket at 18 in July 2021. Galactic 02 is an early milestone in a burgeoning industry called 'space tourism', where members of the public have the opportunity to go into orbit just for pleasure of the experience. However, each ticket costs thousands reportedly up to $450,000 (352,000) a ticket and the experience is at the moment limited to the very rich (or, in the case of Keisha and her daughter, lucky). Several of Virgin Galactic's ticket holders have been waiting nearly 20 years for their trip, including Goodwin, who hails from Newcastle. The octogenarian told BBC Breakfast last month it feels 'completely surreal' to finally be on the verge of the voyage he booked in 2005. He said he is 'extremely excited' for what will be the 'icing on the cake' after a life of doing 'exciting things'. 'I always believed it would happen, a lot of people didn't,' he said. Virgin Galactic's launch method is different from SpaceX and Blue Origin, which perform classic vertical rocket launches much like NASA. Virgin Galactic uses a carrier aircraft called White Knight Two with two pilots who take off from a runway and then gain high altitude. Pictured, White Knight Two carrying the rocket-powered crewed spaceplane VSS Unity in February 2020 The spaceship has 17 windows, providing 'an incredible view of planet Earth' for passengers as they float by for a few precious minutes READ MORE: Virgin Galactic performs its first commercial space flight Galactic 01 carried astronauts from the Italian Air Force and the Italian National Research Council Advertisement When at just under 10 miles high (50,000 feet), White Knight Two releases its rocket-powered crewed spaceplane VSS Unity, which ignites its rocket motor and soars even higher. VSS Unity is able to reach the boundary of space as defined by the US Air Force and NASA by going over 50 miles (80.5 km) above sea level. However, it is unable to go above the Karman line, the space boundary of 62.1 miles (100km), as defined by international record-keeping body the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI). The plane shuts off once it reaches its highest point, providing passengers with silence, weightlessness and an aerial view of Earth. Once the rocket motor shuts down, passengers can unbuckle their seatbelts and enjoy the weightless feeling of zero gravity. The spaceship has 17 windows, providing 'an incredible view of planet Earth' for passengers as they float by for a few precious minutes. Once VSS Unity has re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, it glides back to the runway it took off from, giving passengers 'a smooth and comfortable end to their thrilling ride', the company says. The spaceplane called VSS Unity (pictured) is released from a carrier aircraft when they're around 10 miles from the Earth's surface Once released, VSS Unity (which is carrying the passengers) ignites its rocket motor and soars even higher (pictured) Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, is hoping to finally get the nascent space tourism industry off the ground Galactic 02 follows Galactic 01, which successfully reached orbit at the end of June. Virgin Galactic has referred to Galactic 01 as the firm's first 'commercial flight', but it was a research mission and there were no paying customers aboard. Galactic 01 carried astronauts from the Italian Air Force and the Italian National Research Council plus Virgin Galactic crew 52.9 miles above Earth. Richard Branson himself made the same trip along with five crewmates in July 2021 which the founder called an 'experience of a lifetime'. The flamboyant billionaire, who was 70 at the time, became the second oldest person to travel to space after 77-year-old John Glenn in 1998. Virgin Galactic plans monthly flights to space after the Galactic 02 launch to ensure paying customers get their reward as soon as possible. The firm is yet to reveal who will fly on Galactic 03 or when exactly it will happen, as a lot depends on the success of today's launch. analysis Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia The primary commodity price boom early this century has often been attributed to a commodity 'super-cycle', i.e., a price upsurge greater than what might be expected in 'normal' booms. This was largely due to some minerals as most agricultural commodity price increases were more modest. This minerals boom improved many developing country growth records, not least in Africa. With growing pressures to act urgently in response to accelerating global warming, mitigation efforts have been stepped up, promising energy transitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These require major shifts from fossil fuel combustion to renewable energy and complementary (e.g., transport) technologies. This energy transition requires more of specific minerals like lithium, copper and cobalt. This increased demand for minerals offers resource-rich economies more opportunities for greater domestic resource mobilization for development. The Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) and the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) report, The Future of Resource Taxation: 10 policy ideas to mobilize mining revenues, reviews major problems faced by African and other governments trying to greatly increase revenue from mining. Great expectations, little taxation Colonial and neo-colonial mining arrangements have rarely delivered the revenue needed by post-colonial governments. Weak governance, overly generous tax incentives, poor fiscal policies, bad contracts, as well as tax avoidance and evasion have all eroded mineral revenues for developing countries. Resource-rich countries have been rethinking how to benefit more from mining in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, worsening developing country debt crises, and increasingly uncertain government revenues and expenditures. Mining royalties and taxation have remained largely unchanged for decades, while corporate income tax is hard to collect, vulnerable to profit shifting and often minimized with the aid of tax professionals and corrupt officials. Improving taxation Taxing transnational corporations has long posed major challenges. Poor laws and enforcement as well as limited funding and staff mean most developing countries are poorly equipped to apply complex international tax norms, such as the 'arm's-length principle' and 'double taxation treaties'. Developing nations are especially vulnerable to tax base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). International Monetary Fund staff estimate African countries have lost annual mining revenue up to $730 million annually due to BEPS. Many developing countries identified 'transfer pricing' as the greatest challenge to taxing mining. The problem has been made worse by mining tax regimes and investment agreements favouring investors, especially from abroad. Such agreements often contain fiscal incentives making mining revenue collection difficult. Worse, many governments believe generous tax incentives are necessary to attract mining investment. But these typically undermine effective tax administration, causing significant revenue losses. Also, policy conditionalities typically 'lock in' poorly designed fiscal conditions and mining contracts, often required or recommended by the IMF or World Bank. These tend to benefit investors, potentially resulting in costly disputes for host governments. Generating substantial government revenue from artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is difficult. As ASM induces more local spending, rather than extraction or export taxes, indirect taxes and wealth taxes are probably better for such incomes. Governments of resource-rich developing countries require finance and reliable personnel for successful implementation, to ensure accountability and curb corruption. Sufficient financial and technical assistance can greatly improve mining revenue collection, ensuring companies pay all royalties and taxes due. Effective implementation needs to be well supported by international agreements and organizations, development partners, and civil society. Tax incentives undermining government policy objectives and legal systems should be avoided. Taxing better not easy More access to information and expertise can greatly improve mining tax administration. Information, particularly from other jurisdictions, is critical for tax administrations to better collect taxes due. Sadly, progress has been painfully slow in many developing countries. Instruments designed to improve information exchange include bilateral investment and tax treaties, tax information exchange agreements, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, and the ATAF Multilateral Agreement on Assistance in Tax Matters. Mining revenue collection needs to be able to verify the quantity and quality of mineral reserves and extracts. Key challenges include enhancing tax audit capacity and getting up-to-date knowledge of mining, including implications of changes in mining techniques. Better inter-agency cooperation is often necessary for better regulation and to avoid an incoherent, fragmented approach. Many mining revenue BEPS problems are due to capacity constraints, e.g., whether governments can effectively verify the costs of goods and services and mineral prices. Many transactions also require tax auditors to have detailed knowledge of the mining value chain. Many aspects of mining operations allow inflating actual costs to evade taxes. Valuing intangibles, such as intellectual property, is also difficult. Many countries also lack regulations to tax the sale of offshore indirect mining assets, often losing much revenue as a consequence. Too little too late? Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Mining Africa By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. Mineral-rich developing countries hope for more 'resource rents' from mining to significantly enhance government revenue. They hope mining taxation will collect much more revenue, subject to other policy goals. However, in most cases, mining has failed to deliver the expected revenues. Inappropriate laws and investment agreements, overly generous tax incentives, as well as tax evasion and avoidance have contributed to this failure. Some authorities lack the expertise, information and means to more effectively tax mining. Corruption and poor revenue management also remain challenges. Thankfully, mining revenue collection has improved, albeit modestly. Many countries are improving their mining tax regulations and strengthening their tax audit capacity. Better international cooperation can address many problems, including information asymmetries. All countries implementing the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) are now required to disclose mining, oil, and gas contracts. This can significantly improve transparency. Although welcome, such improvements are still far from enough to meet the considerable domestic revenue mobilization needs of developing countries soon enough to adequately accelerate sustainable development after dismal progress for almost a decade. IPS UN Bureau Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau Virgin Galactic's first commercial space flight took off from New Mexico today and successfully carried three passengers to the edge of the cosmos. The companys rocket-powered space plane, VSS Unity, carried three customers - a mother and daughter from Antigua who won their seats in a fundraising drawing and an 80-year-old former British Olympian who paid $250,000 for his seat in 2005. The historic flight took off from at Virgin Galactics spaceport in New Mexico at 10.30am ET, where the passengers boarded VSS Unity as it sat attached beneath the wing of a massive twin-fuselage mothership called VMS Eve. The takeoff was like any other airplane takeoff, with the mothership speeding down a runway before ascending to more than 40,000 feet. At that point, VMS Eve released the spaceship, which fired its rocket engine and continued its ascent to more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) above Earths surface. As the crew reached the edge of space, one crew member gave a cool thumbs up to the camera before everyone unbuckled their seatbelts and floated around in zero gravity. The team then huddled around the ship's windows in awe and took in our planet's views for a few minutes before re-entry into the atmosphere. All in, the mission lasted an hour. One crew member gave the thumbs up after the carrier plane released the ship, which continued its ascent to over 50 miles above Earth. Anastatia Mayers takes in the incredible views in space. She soared 50 miles above Earth's surface with her mother Pictured is the moment the spaceplane and mothership separated during the spaceflight The flight was historic for several reasons. Keisha Schahaff, 46 and her daughter Anastatia Mayers, 18, were the first Antiguans to go to space. Former canoeist Jon Goodwin is the first Olympian to become an astronaut and only the second person in history with Parkinson's to go to space. For Virgin Galactic, this is the first time a commercial crew of passengers who were not trained had left the Earth's atmosphere - an ambition of the Richard Branson-founded company's that has been decades in the making. Schahaff and her daughter won their seats in a drawing that raised $1.7 million in grants for Space for Humanity, a nonprofit aimed at expanding access to space. After learning Richard Branson gifted her a seat, she called Mayers on the phone: 'Now that you're 18, you are going to space.' 'It is a childhood dream come true,' Schahaff told reporters upon landind. 'I've been to space and back with my daughter. And if anyone is wondering, the Earth is round.' Schahaff is a health and wellness coach specializing in helping women achieve balance through healthy eating, energy work, and a variety of empowering wellness practices, according to her website. Mayers, the second youngest person to travel to space, is one of Schahaff's two daughters. She is in her second year at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, studying Philosophy and Physics to become an astrobiologist. But Goodwin, from Newcastle in northern England, secured his seat as the companys first paying customer 18 years ago. Goodwin's son David told DailyMail.com on the runway this morning that his father's spaceflight has been a long time coming. And when asked how his father is the first Olympian and second oldest and individual with Parkinson's, David said: 'My father likes to tick a lot of boxes.' Goodwin is a retired slalom canoeist, has been a regular and leading competitor in the Ferrari Hillclimb Championship since 1992, winning in 2000 and 2008, and has more Class wins than any other competitor - as of the end of the 2020 season. He is married to Pauline, who also competed in the Olympic games in 1972 and 1976. She was in New Mexico cheering her husband, son David, grandson and daughter-in-law Lily. When Goodwin stepped out of the spaceplane and back on the ground, Pauline ran over to hug him. The crew of the VSS Unity gave the thumbs up after the carrier plane released the ship, which continued its ascent to over 50 miles above Earth The crew strapped inside the spaceplane as they traveled to space The former Olympian also spent his life as a daredevil, winning races in the Arctic Circle and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Goodwin was diagnosed with Parkinsons in 2014 and has since been dedicated to raising awareness for the disease and the importance of research into finding a cure - and hopes that taking part in this mission will help shine a spotlight on the condition. Virgin Galactic has already booked a backlog of 800 customers vying for their chance to go to space, which was made possible by the company's inaugural mission in June. Tickets were sold for $250,000 but have since increased to $450,000. The crew took off from the hangar in sleek Rang Rover vehicles and headed to the launch pad less than one mile away to where Unity and Eve, the mothership, had been waiting. The spaceplane took the crew 50 miles above Earth's surface. Pictured is the moment the rocket ignited its thrusters to separate from the mothership Virgin Galactic's first space tourists hugged their friends and family during the 'hero walk' before traveling to the Spaceport launch pad for their epic trip to the final frontier Schahaff won two seats in a sweepstakes and chose her daughter to join her. The mission marked the first time a mother-daughter duo flew into space together Goodwin is a former Olympic canoeist who competed in the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972 DailyMail.com witnessed Eve and Unity pilot down the runway at 10:30 am ET, taking off into the blue sky over New Mexico. Once the planes reached the target altitude, Unity ignited its thrusters that left trails of white smoke behind as it climbed mile-by-mile until it disappeared from view. At the apex of the flight, the spaceplane 'feathered' its wings open and hovered above our planet's atmosphere, allowing the crew to experience weightlessness and incredible views of the final frontier for a few minutes. Unity was specifically designed to reach the boundary of space as defined by the US Air Force and NASA by going over 50 miles above sea level. The spaceplane features 17 windows that provide passengers with an incredible view of planet Earth as they float by for a few precious minutes. Once VSS Unity re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, it glided back to the runway it took off from, allowing passengers to greet their families again. When the new astronauts returned to Earth, all three raved about the incredible moment in space. 'I have no words. The only thought I had the entire time was wow,' Mayers told reporters. The mission, 'dubbed Galactic 02,' is another milestone for spaceflight, allowing civilians to experience what was once only a dream for them. The crew has become very close since they started training for the spaceflight. Meyers checked in with Goodwin during the hero walk to make sure he was ok and ready to go Goodwin's family attended the spaceflight. From right, wife Pauline, son David, grandson, son Paul and daughter-in-law Lily watch toward the tarmac of Spaceport America Branson was not present at the launch but was in Antigua with Schahaff and Mayers' family to celebrate the launch. Goodwin, from Great Britain, is an adventurer and the first Olympian to travel to space, having competed in the 1972 Munich Games The space tourists were all smiles during their hero walk where they hugged friends and family before heading to the spaceplane Three Virgin Galactic employees also took flight Thursday: Commander Frederick Sturckow, Pilot Kelly Latimer and Astronaut Instructor Beth Moses. Galactic 02 follows Galactic 01, which successfully reached orbit at the end of June. Virgin Galactic has referred to Galactic 01 as the firm's first 'commercial flight,' but it was a research mission, and no paying customers were aboard. Galactic 01 carried astronauts from the Italian Air Force, the Italian National Research Council, and the Virgin Galactic crew 52.9 miles above Earth. Branson himself made the same trip along with five crewmates in July 2021 which the founder called an 'experience of a lifetime.' The billionaire, who was 70 then, became the second oldest person to travel to space after 77-year-old John Glenn in 1998. Virgin Galactic plans monthly flights to space after the Galactic 02 launch to ensure paying customers get their reward as soon as possible. The firm is yet to reveal who will fly on Galactic 03 or when exactly it will happen, as a lot depends on the success of today's launch. Jon Goodwin, 80, was one of three tourists aboard the flight from New Mexico Former British Olympian Jon Goodwin has become the first paying customer to fly to space aboard a flight chartered by Sir Richard Branson's firm Virgin Galactic. Goodwin, 80 who has been living with Parkinson's disease for almost a decade and spent $250,000 for a ticket said farewells to his family before boarding the firm's 'spaceplane' in New Mexico. Goodwin was joined by Antiguan mother and daughter duo Keisha Schahaff, 46, and Anastatia Mayers, 18, who won free tickets for the once-in-a-lifetime commercial trip. The three were pictured together prior to liftoff from the company's Spaceport America launch facility at around 8:30am local time (3:30pm BST). They enjoyed spectacular views of Earth aboard the 60-foot-long spaceplane before returning to New Mexico around an hour later. The family of space tourist Jon Goodwin, an 80-year-old British adventurer and former Olympian, from right, wife Pauline, son David, grandson, son Paul and daughter-in-law Lily watch toward the tarmac of Spaceport America, New Mexico Jon Goodwin is pictured with mother and daughter Keisha Schahaff (right) and Anastatia Mayers (left) before boarding their Virgin Galactic flight at Spaceport America READ MORE Former Olympian set to be oldest Brit to travel to space VSS Unity passenger Jon Goodwin (pictured), 80, has been living with Parkinson's disease Advertisement Goodwin's wife Pauline told the BBC at the launch site that she felt emotional and proud of her husband of 50 years. His 11-year-old grandson also said he was very proud of him, describing the experience as 'wow'. Branson tweeted to say he was in Antigua watching the launch with Keisha's mother (and Anastatia's grandmother) Florence. The six people on board included three Virgin Galactic employees Commander Frederick Sturckow, Pilot Kelly Latimer, and Astronaut instructor Beth Moses. Goodwin, the only one of the three tourists to pay for his seat, competed in the 1972 Munich Games as a slalom canoeist. He also won gold in the Arctic Canoe Race in 1985 and has climbed up Mount Kilimanjaro. Goodwin who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2014 made his trip to space 18 years after reportedly spending $250,000 (194,500) to secure his seat. Since his diagnosis he has been dedicated to raising awareness for Parkinson's and the importance of research into finding a cure and hopes that taking part in this mission will help shine a spotlight on the condition. The other two tourists making up the team were mother-daughter duo from Antigua, Keisha Schahaff and Anastasia Mayers, an 18-year-old student at Aberdeen University. Goodwin is a former Olympic canoeist who competed in the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972 Goodwin, from Newcastle, also won gold in the Arctic Canoe Race in 1985. He is pictured left Space tourist Jon Goodwin, an 80-year-old British Olympian, waves to the crowd before boarding today Branson posted a photo to Twitter hugging Keisha's mother (and Anastatia's grandmother) Florence READ MORE: Mother who will travel into SPACE with 18-year-old daughter reveals how they're preparing for the 'dream' voyage Keisha Schahaff, 46, and her 18-year-old daughter Anastasia Mayers, will be the first mother and daughter ever to make a trip to space after winning two coveted places Advertisement Mother Keisha, who said she was 'not nervous at all' about the trip, won a sweepstakes with Omaze, a US for-profit fundraising company, for the once-in-a-lifetime commercial trip. Daughter Anastasia is studying philosophy and physics at Aberdeen University and wants to become an astrobiologist. At 18, she has become the second youngest person to travel to space, following Oliver Daemen, who flew aboard a Blue Origin rocket at 18 in July 2021. Galactic 02 is an early milestone in a burgeoning industry called 'space tourism', where members of the public have the opportunity to go into orbit just for pleasure of the experience. However, each ticket costs thousands reportedly up to $450,000 (352,000) a ticket and the experience is at the moment limited to the very rich (or, in the case of Keisha and her daughter, lucky). Several of Virgin Galactic's ticket holders have been waiting nearly 20 years for their trip, including Goodwin, who hails from Newcastle. MailOnline witnessed the departure of the 'spaceplane' carrying the team of six at around 8:30am local time (3:30pm BST) from Spaceport America in New Mexico. But it was more like a commercial plane lifting off from a runway than a 'classic' vertical rocket launch that you might expect from NASA or SpaceX. Virgin Galactic uses a carrier aircraft called White Knight Two with two pilots who take off from a runway and then gain high altitude. VSS Unity was deployed from its parent vehicle at around 9:20am local time (4:20pm BST), going around around 1,000 mph shortly after release The tourists soon after undid their seatbelts and were able to enjoy weightlessness as they stared at the vastness of space through the windows Pictured, Anastasia Mayers stares dumfounded out the window. At 18, she becomes the second youngest person to travel to space The mother and daughter won their tickets, while Jon Goodwin, paid $250,000 (191,000) for his ticket to space back in 2005 Keisha Schahaff with her daughter Anastatia Mayers. They are set to board VSS Unity for a 90-minute trip into space on August 10. Keisha has said she was 'not nervous at all' about the trip on Virgin Galactic's first space tourism flight At 18, she will be the second youngest person to travel to space, following Oliver Daemen, who flew aboard a Blue Origin rocket at 18 in July 2021 READ MORE: Virgin Galactic performs its first commercial space flight Galactic 01 carried astronauts from the Italian Air Force and the Italian National Research Council Advertisement When at just under 10 miles high (50,000 feet), White Knight Two releases its rocket-powered crewed spaceplane VSS Unity, which ignites its rocket motor and soars even higher. VSS Unity is able to reach the boundary of space as defined by the US Air Force and NASA by going over 50 miles (80.5 km) above sea level. However, it is unable to go above the Karman line, the space boundary of 62.1 miles (100km), as defined by international record-keeping body the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI). The plane shuts off once it reaches its highest point, providing passengers with silence, weightlessness and an aerial view of Earth. Once the rocket motor shuts down, passengers can unbuckle their seatbelts and enjoy the weightless feeling of zero gravity. The spaceship has 17 windows, providing 'an incredible view of planet Earth' for passengers as they float by for a few precious minutes. Once VSS Unity has re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, it glides back to the runway it took off from, giving passengers 'a smooth and comfortable end to their thrilling ride', the company says. VSS Unity was deployed from its parent vehicle at around 9:20am local time (4:20pm BST), going around around 1,000 mph shortly after release. The tourists soon after undid their seatbelts and were able to enjoy weightlessness as they stared at the vastness of space through the windows. Branson speaks at a news conference after flying with a crew in Virgin Galactic's passenger rocket plane VSS Unity to the edge of space, July 11, 2021 Pictured, White Knight Two carrying the rocket-powered crewed spaceplane VSS Unity in February 2020 How it works: This graphic shows how VSS Unity takes passengers to the edge of space. Virgin Galactic has adopted a revolutionary system that enables VSS Unity to act like both a winged vehicle or a capsule depending on which is more useful at different stages of re-entry The spaceplane called VSS Unity (pictured) is released from a carrier aircraft when they're around 10 miles from the Earth's surface Once released, VSS Unity (which is carrying the passengers) ignites its rocket motor and soars even higher (pictured) Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, is hoping to finally get the nascent space tourism industry off the ground Galactic 02 follows Galactic 01, which successfully reached orbit at the end of June. Virgin Galactic has referred to Galactic 01 as the firm's first 'commercial flight', but it was a research mission and there were no paying customers aboard. Galactic 01 carried astronauts from the Italian Air Force and the Italian National Research Council plus Virgin Galactic crew 52.9 miles above Earth. Richard Branson himself made the same trip along with five crewmates in July 2021 which the founder called an 'experience of a lifetime'. The flamboyant billionaire, who was 70 at the time, became the second oldest person to travel to space after 77-year-old John Glenn in 1998. Virgin Galactic plans monthly flights to space after the Galactic 02 launch to ensure paying customers get their reward as soon as possible. The firm is yet to reveal who will fly on Galactic 03 or when exactly it will happen, as a lot depends on the success of today's launch. The first mother-daughter duo to go to space have told DailyMail.com that they feel more grounded and connected to Earth after venturing to the final frontier. Keisha Schahaff, 46 and her daughter Anastatia Mayers, 18, from Antigua, made the comments hours after being part of Virgin Galactic's first space tourist flight. 'This experience has grounded me. Awoken me,' Mayers said when asked what was next for the crew after the incredible mission. 'I feel more connected to Earth and motivated to explore and be even more adventurous. For me, in the future, it will just be adventure and searching for the most incredible experiences.' Schahaff and her daughter won their seats on the rocket-powered space plane, which would normally cost $450,000 per person, in a fundraising drawing. 'Obviously, nothing will top this,' Mayers concluded after the flight. Though the teenager, who is now the second youngest person ever to go to space, revealed how she had 'second thoughts' about whether she wanted to do it last night. Keisha Schahaff (right), 46 and her daughter Anastatia Mayers (left), 18, said they feel more grounded and motivated in life after flying to space The mother and daughter were also joined by Jon Goodwin, 80, who is now the first Olympian and the second person with Parkinson's in space. It was a long time coming for Goodwin, who paid $250,000 for his seat back in 2005. Mayers is in her second year at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, studying Philosophy and Physics to become an astrobiologist. She told reporters about her feelings of uncertainty about the spaceflight Wednesday evening. 'Last night, second thoughts, but then I woke up and felt like I was ready,' said Mayers. Schaffaf also felt motivated after the spaceflight. 'I am going to make a strong impact to motivate younger ones,' she said reponding to DailyMail.com's question. 'This experience has given me this beautiful feeling that if I can do this, I can do anything. I am going to take the next step and see what comes.' Goodwin also spoke to reporters after the historic mission, sharing how his Parkinson's has not stopped him from living his life. He was diagnosed in 2014. The pair was joined by former Jon Goodwin, 80, who is now the first Olympian and the second person with Parkinson's in space. The first mother-daughter duo in space told DailyMail.com they feel more connected to the Earth after the mission 'The nicest thing for me was the acceptance by Virgin Galactic because when I signed up in September 2005, I did not have Parkinson's. 'Nine years ago, I thought that was the end of me going to space. They have done various health checks and everything else over the years, which never stopped me from doing what I wanted. 'I am hoping I instill in people around the world, as well as people with Parkinson's, that it doesn't stop you from doing things if you have some illness that has inflicted you.' Schahaff and her daughter won their seats in a drawing that raised $1.7 million in grants for Space for Humanity, a nonprofit aimed at expanding access to space. After learning Richard Branson gifted her a seat, she called Mayers on the phone: 'Now that you're 18, you are going to space.' 'It is a childhood dream come true,' Schahaff told reporters upon landing. 'I've been to space and back with my daughter. And if anyone is wondering, the Earth is round.' The crew took off from Spaceport America in New Mexico after saying goodbye to friends and family in the crowd Schahaff is a health and wellness coach specializing in helping women achieve balance through healthy eating, energy work, and a variety of empowering wellness practices, according to her website. The flight was historic for several reasons. Schahaff and her daughter were the first Antiguans to go to space. For Virgin Galactic, this is the first time a commercial crew of passengers who were not trained had left the Earth's atmosphere - an ambition of the Richard Branson-founded company that has been decades in the making. And Goodwin, a former canoeist, became only the second person in history with Parkinson's to go to space. Goodwin, from Newcastle in northern England, secured his seat as the companys first paying customer 18 years ago. Goodwin's son David told DailyMail.com on the runway this morning that his father's spaceflight has been a long time coming. And when asked how his father is the first Olympian and second oldest and individual with Parkinson's, David said: 'My father likes to tick a lot of boxes.' Goodwin is a retired slalom canoeist, has been a regular and leading competitor in the Ferrari Hillclimb Championship since 1992, winning in 2000 and 2008, and has more Class wins than any other competitor - as of the end of the 2020 season. He is married to Pauline, who also competed in the Olympic games in 1972 and 1976. She was in New Mexico cheering her husband, son David, grandson and daughter-in-law Lily. Pictured is the moment the spaceplane and mothership separated during the spaceflight Anastatia Mayers takes in the incredible views of space. She soared 50 miles above Earth's surface with her mother Goodman's wife Pauline ran straight to her husband after he put two feet back on the ground The flight was historic for several reasons. Schahaff and her daughter were the first Antiguans to go to space The crew took off from Spaceport America in New Mexico at 8:30am MT, strapped inside Virgin Galactic's spaceplane, Unity, which was attached to the underbelly of the mothership, Eve. The planes soared to more than 44,000 feet above Earth's surface, allowing Unity to separate by igniting its thrusters. Unity took off, climbing to 50 miles above the surface and hovered in place to let the passengers experience zero gravity and see the incredible views of our planet. Goodwin, from Newcastle, England, described being a passenger on Virgin Galactic's first space tourism flight as 'completely surreal' and 'very moving.' READ MORE: Former British Olympian's 'proud' family including his 11-year-old grandson cheer him on Jon Goodwin's family stood by watching him make the historic Virgin Galactic spaceflight. Advertisement 'It was far more dramatic than I imagined it would be. It was the pure acceleration - Mach 3 in eight-and-a-half seconds - (that) was completely surreal, and the re-entry was a lot more dramatic than I imagined. 'In fact, I would've said it was out of control if I didn't know anything different. But it was a completely surreal experience. 'The most impressive thing was looking at Earth from space - the pure clarity was very moving. Without a doubt, the most exciting day in my life.' Goodwin added the flight 'exceeded [his] wildest dreams' and hoped it would inspire others with Parkinson's to do things out of the ordinary. Schahaff won a place on the flight alongside her daughter. The pair became the first astronauts from the Caribbean and were part of the first flight dominated by women. 'I'm still up there, I'm not here yet, and it's just amazing that you can land so smoothly on the runway coming back from space, Schahaff said: 'It was so comfortable, it was really the best ride ever, and I would love to do this again.' She said that sand from her home country of Antigua and Barbuda, the nation's flag and her favorite shell were among the possessions she took with her on the Virgin Galactic flight. Mayers took a ring given to her by her boyfriend and pictures of loved ones. Goodwin reached in his pocket, pulling out jewelry from his wife Pauline, a former Olympian. Pauline was at Spaceport Thursday to cheer on her husband, her son, grandson and daughter-in-law. Virgin Galactic's first private customer flight had been delayed for years, but Thursday's mission means Richard Branson's company can now start offering monthly rides, joining Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Elon Musk's SpaceX in the space tourism business. A learner driver who lives in London has revealed how she ended up booking a driving test 260 miles away in Bodmin, Cornwall because of the huge backlog in the capital. The learner said that shed been trying to get a London test date for weeks, but every time she tried to book one on the DVSA [Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency] site, on around 15 occasions, there were often thousands of people in front of her in the queue. Fed up with the time-consuming and deeply frustrating process, she opted to book a test in Bodmin and visit relatives in Exeter during the trip south - driving test tourism, it would seem. Speaking anonymously to MailOnline, she said: I've been trying since mid-July to get a London test date - anywhere in London - logging on to the test site when it opens at 6am in the morning. One of the days when I logged on at 6am there were more than 7,000 people ahead of me in the queue. Another day there were more than 5,000 people ahead of me. Driving-test tourism: A learner driver fed up with the test backlog in London has decided to combine taking a test in Bodmin 260 miles away with visiting relatives in Exeter The learner driver sent this screenshot to MailOnline to show how the queue for tests in London runs to thousands of people Ideally, I would like to pass my test before mid-November when I am going travelling. Over the past few weeks I haven't been able to get a test anywhere in London before the end of the year. I booked a test in Bodmin for October 19 because it was the closest test centre to relatives who live in Exeter, and I can use their car - with insurance - for the exam. There was no other availability in Devon or Cornwall before the end of the year when it was booked. The learner said that shes looking to stay in an Airbnb in Bodmin before her test so that she can practise driving around the local roads, an added expense on top of the cost of insurance and the 62 test fee. The learner has tried using an app called Testi to secure a test date in London, but to no avail. She said: This basically scours the DVSA booking site and lets me see if any of the four test centres nearest to me - Tottenham, Wood Green, Wanstead and Chingford - have any availability. It is pretty useless though with the current situation. I've been refreshing the app repeatedly and the only time it showed me a free slot for a test was for January 2024. She added: 'The situation puts so much pressure on people taking tests as if they fail, they're looking at waiting half a year for another test slot. One reason for the backlog is that hundreds of thousands of tests were cancelled during the Covid lockdown. Before 2020 the average wait time for a test was just six weeks. The learner driver said: 'I booked a test in Bodmin [above] for October 19 because it was the closest test centre to relatives who live in Exeter, and I can use their car -with insurance - for the exam' The DVSA said that waiting times are also being exacerbated by an increase in demand, sustained industrial action on civil service pay and peoples concerns about not being able to book a test, which has led to a change in customers behaviour. DVSA Chief Executive Loveday Ryder said: 'We are taking all the measures we can to reduce driving test waiting times, including recruiting almost 500 new driving examiners and creating more than one million new tests since 2021, and we strongly urge learners only to book their driving test when they are ready to Pass.' Camilla Benitz, AA Driving School Managing Director, said: 'Its unacceptable that the driving test backlog is still tarnishing so many peoples financial and employment prospects. 'We have heard many cases from the "Covid generation" of young people who were forced to make do with disruption to their education, and are now finding their employment prospects have shifted because the lack of driving tests meant they had to put lessons on hold. 'The DVSAs own survey data reflects that the most common reason learners are taking an extended break from lessons is because of problems getting a test. 'There simply are not enough examiners and test slots to meet demand and only a concerted effort from government will make a real difference with this issue. Hiring and retaining driving test examiners, increased visibility of test waiting times and availability, and definitive measures to block bots and reselling practices are only a few ways the backlog might be cleared.' Made In Chelsea have hired a 'Queer Expert' to oversee a TV first a gay throuple storyline. Channel 4 bosses consulted the specialist to ensure sensitivities surrounding the groundbreaking plot were met in a bid to nullify any potential Ofcom complaints from viewers. The show's stars Joel Mignott, 27, Robbie Mullett, 23, and newcomer Geronimo Mortl, 22, decided to bring their three-way relationship to the real-life drama and the new series filmed in Corsica will screen an intimate kissing scene involving the trio. In a reality TV first, the upcoming season, which begins on Sunday, will explore the dynamic of a three-way relationship, with model Joel saying Channel 4 have done their utmost to ensure the personal storyline is portrayed in the best possible light. Joel told MailOnline: 'I am not apprehensive about Ofcom complaints because Channel 4 have done everything they can to help us through this process. Made In Chelsea have hired a 'Queer Expert' to oversee a TV first, a gay throuple storyline Channel 4 bosses consulted the specialist to ensure sensitivities surrounding the groundbreaking plot were met in a bid to nullify any potential Ofcom complaints from viewers The show's stars Joel Mignott, Robbie Mullett and newcomer Geronimo Mortl decided to bring their three-way relationship to the real-life drama 'We even had a queer specialist who was consulting us on any emotional struggles we were going through while filming the series and afterwards. 'The channel has endeavoured to really be on our side in this storyline. If other people have negative complaints, then I don't care because Channel 4 have worked with us tirelessly to portray this story in the best possible light. 'Being a gay person, you are more prepared for trolling because you are in the minority. I don't read the comments... my mum does. But Robbie and I are in this together, so we have got each other's backs.' The new E4 series sees the cast of glamorous reality stars take to Corsica in France, where they lived together for six weeks in several villas. Joel and Robbie, who are in a committed relationship, met single model Geronimo and they established a romantic connection. During one scene, Joel and Robbie kiss each other and then Geronimo as the couple explored their sexual boundaries with the cameras rolling. Joel explained that their attraction begun as friendship, but their 'sweet' bond grew into sexual chemistry, which they decided to act on. He said: 'It was a friendship at first. We took it slow, there was never any pressure to do anything. We would ask, "are you okay with this?" Geronimo, who says he loves men and women in equal measure, joined the series of Made In Chelsea filmed in Corsica and became a 'blessing in disguise' for couple Joel and Robbie Joel says not only did he receive support from his fellow cast mates, but some future offers too, including from Olivia Bentley, who's previously dated men and women Joel and Robbie are in a committed relationship but formed a romantic connection with Geronimo, which is explored during the E4 show this series 'It was very slow, very sweet, very communicative. There were moments where we would stop and chat. It wasn't just about the sex but what it all meant to us. 'Robbie loved flirting with somebody and having someone around us that was interested in us and getting to know somebody new in a safe space.' Made In Chelsea became the first reality series to screen a same-sex wedding after Ollie Locke and husband Gareth got married in 2020. Ollie also discovered his sexuality on the show, later coming out as gay, and the couple are now expecting twins together, after documenting their emotional journey with surrogacy. Following Ollie and Gareth's departure from Made In Chelsea, Joel hopes the throuple storyline will give the gay community an example of a relationship with a different dynamic. He said: 'It is groundbreaking. I don't recall ever seeing anything like this as a young gay kid growing up. 'To be a part of something that could educate people and be a point of reference for young gay boys then I am so proud to be a part of that. 'There's a narrative that is pushed in society that is all about monogamy, but monogamy doesn't work for everybody and that's why marriages break up. There's a lot of shame around anything other than that... we hope to change that perception.' Made In Chelsea became the first reality series to screen a same-sex wedding after Ollie Locke and husband Gareth got married in 2020 Willow Day, Inga Valentine, and Olivia Bentley posed at the Made In Chelsea Corsica launch on Wednesday, showing off their tans in cowboy boots Joel says his summer of love with Robbie has only strengthened their relationship. He admits having no fears over the storyline airing because he enjoys challenging social norms, explaining: 'My number one reservation is always protecting my relationship. I love being in a relationship. 'I am happy to share this story because it is something that I didn't witness growing up and it challenges the social norms and as a gay person that's what I'm all about. It's about being a rebel in society.' And Joel says not only did he receive support from his fellow cast mates, but some future offers too, including from Olivia Bentley, who's previously dated men and women. He joked: 'Even Olivia Bentley wanted in!' Kyle Sandilands has been diagnosed with a surprising dermatological health condition after discovering two suspicious lumps on his face. The 52-year-old revealed his health battle on The Kyle And Jackie O Show on Thursday, telling his co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson that he'd recently noticed an unusual scab on his nose and ear. 'I noticed these little growths and being a very handsome man, it bothered me, you know? Some sort of growth,' he said. 'So I went to the dermatologist lady yesterday, who is lovely. I said, 'Are these cancers?' And she said, 'No'' Mortified, Kyle added: 'I don't even want to say what they're called. It's humiliating. Geriatric warts!' Kyle Sandilands, 52, revealed on Thursday's radio show that he'd been diagnosed with geriatric warts - also known as seborrhoeic keratosis - after discovering two suspicious lumps on his face Geriatric warts, also known as seborrhoeic keratosis, is a non-cancerous spot that appears on the skin of older adults. The condition is also referred to as basal cell papilloma, senile wart, brown wart, wisdom wart, or barnacle. 'Oh, yuck!' Jackie screamed, as Kyle added: 'I said [to the dermatologist], 'Bitch, what?' No, I didn't. I said, 'Excuse me? Never say those words''. 'I noticed these little growths and being a very handsome man, it bothered me, you know? Some sort of growth,' he said, showing his co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson the bumps on his nose and hear Seborrhoeic keratosis have a waxy, scaly, slightly elevated appearance, and can be removed by applying liquid nitrogen to the area. Kyle has never been afraid to discuss his ongoing health battles on-air. Earlier this month, the shock jock stunned listeners by revealing he was undergoing several tests on his blood and bone marrow. 'Oh, yuck!' Jackie screamed, as Kyle added: 'I said [to the dermatologist], 'Bitch, what?' No, I didn't. I said, 'Excuse me? Never say those words''. Pictured left is Kyle, and right is Jackie O 'I have been doing blood tests and the numbers are on the way up. If it gets up to 16 then I have leukemia,' he told KIIS FM celebrity doctor Sam 'Dr KIIS' Hay. What is seborrhoeic keratosis? A seborrheic keratosis is a common noncancerous (benign) skin growth. People tend to get more of them as they get older. Seborrheic keratoses are usually brown, black or light tan. The growths (lesions) look waxy or scaly and slightly raised. They appear gradually, usually on the face, neck, chest or back. Seborrheic keratoses are very common on the back. They appear as waxy light tan, brown or black growths that look as if they were dripped onto the skin by a candle. Some can grow large, more than 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) across. Seborrheic keratoses are harmless and not contagious. They don't need treatment, but you may decide to have them removed if they become irritated by clothing or you don't like how they look. Source: Mayo Clinic Advertisement 'The doctor said he needs to check my bone marrow. Am I knocking on heaven's door, am I going to die?' a worried Kyle asked Hay. Fortunately, Hay was able to reassure Kyle he would be OK, but warned the radio king he needed to start making lifestyle changes. 'Keep healthy. It is recommended everyone is active throughout the week and we could develop a good training program for you with cardio exercises,' Hay told him. However, Kyle was having none of it and said walking and other forms of exercise were not for him. 'All these doctors are the same, with same concerning voice. Jesus Christ,' he said. Kyle then asked if illicit drug usage could cause the medical conditions, and was told it was unlikely. 'Can using marijuana give you leukemia? Asking for a friend of a friend who smokes weed constantly,' he asked. Kyle has battled with his health for years thanks to his weight and drug-taking past. In 2020 he admitted in an interview with 60 Minutes that his blood pressure was 'sky-high', and that he could die 'at any time, day or night. 'This is a silent killer. Blood pressure is shocking. So not looking too good now,' he said. 'It's better now than it has been, three weeks ago I had the blood pressure machine on and the blood pressure was good, for the first time in probably fifteen years.' Kyle has never been afraid to discuss his ongoing health battles on-air. Earlier this month, the shock jock stunned listeners by revealing he was undergoing several tests on his blood and bone marrow In October 2019, he told The Daily Telegraph he was eating healthier, and had stopped drinking excessive amounts of alcohol and taking drugs. 'Now, if I did one line [of cocaine], I'd be dead in five seconds,' he said. Back in 2017, Sandilands was warned by a psychic that he was 'going to die of a heart attack' the following year. Bachelor in Paradise stars Noah Erb and Abigail Heringer got engaged this week. The reality TV stars shared the happy news on their Instagram accounts on Wednesday. The proposal took place at sunset on Tuesday by the beach in La Jolla, San Diego. The 28-year-old Erb got down on one knee and presented Heringer with a ring from Keyzar Jewelry while on the deck of a home. The cost was surprisingly affordable: the gem retails for $15,500. It was a stunning four carat oval-shaped lab-grown diamond engagement ring with a pave set band and hidden halo. Lab-grown diamonds are sometimes referred to as man-made or created diamonds as they are produced in a laboratory. The rock: Bachelor in Paradise stars Noah Erb and Abigail Heringer got engaged this week with a ring from Keyzar Jewelry. It's cost was affordable: it retails for $15,500. It was a stunning four carat oval-shaped lab-grown diamond engagement ring with a pave set band and hidden halo. Lab-grown diamonds are sometimes referred to as man-made or created diamonds So much love: The 28-year-old Erb got down on one knee and presented Heringer Lab-grown diamonds are physically identical to mined diamonds. The only difference between the two is point of origin. They share an identical growing process to mined diamonds. They form first as carbon atoms under high temperature and immense pressure, then bond together to grow a crystalline lattice structure. Once fully formed, they are cut and polished to reveal maximum brilliance. Like mined diamonds, lab-grown diamonds come in a variety of color and clarity grades. The 14k white gold Pave Kamellie ring Erb designed using Keyzars custom jewelry tool, retails for $15,500. Keyzars custom jewelry tool allows shoppers to create the engagement ring theyve forever imagined. An extensive digital catalogue of engagement ring settings and stone shape and quality are available to explore in 360 degree views and try on virtually. Stone options range from conflict-free Natural and Lab Created Diamonds to Moissanite alternatives, accommodating all budgets. Each ring build takes 10-15 business days to finalize. And the ring comes with a free appraisal and a lifetime guarantee. Heringer shared in a caption: 'Ive loved you three summers now, honey, and I want em all.' She wore a white off-the-shoulder crop top with white lined slacks and he had on casual clothing as they hugged and kissed after she accepted his proposal. The photo shoot was by Hannah Brooke. Set to wed: The proposal took place at sunset on Tuesday by the beach in La Jolla, San Diego They met on Bachelor in Paradise season seven, which premiered in August 2021. Erb was on season 16 of The Bachelorette, while Heringer was on season 25 of The Bachelor. Noah spoke with People about the proposal. 'It was stunning and exactly what she was hoping for!' he tells PEOPLE. 'Our friends Hannah Sinclair and Emma Burke (photographer and videographer) helped us capture the moment which was so special!' The proposal was actually 'moved a month ahead.' That is because Heringer had decided to schedule their move back to Oklahoma sooner than initially planned. 'I called her parents a couple days before to fill them in on my plans,' Erb shared with the site 'Thomas [Jacobs] helped me with the arrangements and get everything set up. The proposal was perfect and everything I wanted to incorporate to make it special and ours.' Heringer - who is deaf with a cochlear implant - did not suspect anything. Kissy: Heringer shared in a caption: 'Ive loved you three summers now, honey, and I want em all.' She wore a white off-the-shoulder crop top with white lined slacks and he had on casual clothing as they hugged and kissed after she accepted his proposal On screen: They met on Bachelor in Paradise season seven, which premiered in August 2021. Erb was on season 16 of The Bachelorette, while Heringer was on season 25 of The Bachelor Fun in Sin City: Here the lovebirds are seen in March at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas 'She thought I was playing pickleball with Thomas and was inviting her and Becca [Kufrin] to join us for a sunset at his friends house,' he told the site. 'She had no clue the engagement was happening until we walked up the stairs to the rooftop and saw the roses and candles overlooking the ocean.' He added, 'Once she saw the roses while walking up the stairs she got emotional. She was crying right when she saw the roses and both of us were emotional during my speech while watching the sunset.' He then said: 'It could not have worked out better than it did and couldn't be more grateful for Keyzar and my friends that helped put it together.' Erb works as a travel nurse. Heringer is a client financial manager. Aussie comedian Denise Scott has revealed she's battling a 'particularly aggressive' form of breast cancer. The media personality and former star of The Project, 68, spoke about her shock health diagnosis to The Australian Women's Weekly. Denise was diagnosed with breast cancer six months ago while working on the Mother and Son reboot but bravely carried on shooting the project. Denise has been undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy in a bid to beat the horrible disease and has nine months of treatment left. 'I do console myself that at least I've lived a full life that I'm happy with,' Denise told the publication. Aussie comedian Denise Scott has revealed she's battling a 'particularly aggressive' form of breast cancer. The media personality and former star of The Project, 68, spoke about her shock health diagnosis to The Australian Women's Weekly She added: 'But I don't want to go yet. There are things I want to do.' Denise said she's leaning on husband John Lane for support and added: 'The prognosis has continued to be good, and there's a lot of hope.' Back in 2018, Denise revealed that she tells her beau to 'f**k off' when he calls her 'hot' while speaking to Andrew Denton's Interview. Denise was diagnosed with breast cancer six months ago while working on the Mother and Son reboot but bravely carried on shooting the project. Denise has been undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy in a bid to beat the horrible disease At the time, she admitted that she hadn't felt sexy in 25 years 'I have aged in a way, I'm not happy. I've got skin stuff, weight issues. I haven't felt sexy in a long time. That's a disappointment,' she added of her hang-ups. The Studio 10 panelist said that her partner John thinks she's perfect the way she is. 'I do console myself that at least I've lived a full life that I'm happy with,' Denise told the publication. 'But I don't want to go yet. There are things I want to do,' she added Denise said she's leaning on husband John Lane for support and added: 'The prognosis has continued to be good, and there's a lot of hope.' Pictured with John in 2020 'John, Mr Happy Pants, thinks I look fantastic. He's always saying "Oh you look hot". I go f**k off John", I don't,' Denise said. Denise met John when they performed together as clowns on a theatre production in Albury, New South Wales. The veteran actress previously revealed to The Sydney Morning Herald that she wanted kids with John, just four weeks after meeting. 'We decided we wanted kids together. I'd been told I couldn't conceive, but Dad's sudden death made it urgent to find out. I got pregnant straight away,' she explained. Denise's father Russ died from a sudden heart attack when she was just 28 years old. Amelia Hamlin wowed in a bikini as she took to social media on Wednesday to share more outtakes from her family vacation. The 22-year-old supermodel looked stunning in a tiny red bikini as she posed in the sultry clip. She filmed herself standing on a deck outside with a black Prada cowboy hat worn over her long, jet black locks. The runway regular also sported a pair of sporty black sunglasses. The star, who is the daughter of actress and reality TV personality Lisa Rinna, also uploaded a video of herself throwing a dart at a tree in the woods. New content: Amelia Hamlin wowed in a bikini as she took to social media on Wednesday to share more outtakes from her family vacation Cute: The 22-year-old supermodel looked stunning in a tiny red bikini as she posed in the sultry clip Amelia and her older sister Delilah Belle Hamlin are currently enjoying a vacation on a lake in Canada. Delilah, 25, brought along boyfriend Henry Eikenberry, who she made her first red carpet appearance with in June. For her part, Amelia has not been romantically linked to anyone since dating Scott Disick throughout 2021. As a budding fashion model, Amelia has appeared on runways in New York, London, and Paris. She most recently appeared in a high fashion campaign for Miu Miu, and she shared various images from the ad with her 1.5 million Instagram followers. She is currently signed to The Lions Management, Ford Models, and Linden Staub Talent Agency. In January she took to social media with a heartfelt post as she reflected on her 'first ever couture show.' The on-the-rise supermodel gushed about walking in the Jean Paul Gaultier show as she shared BTS photos. Fun: The star, who is the daughter of actress and reality TV personality Lisa Rinna , also uploaded a video of herself throwing a dart at a tree in the woods Triumphant: Amelia did a celebratory cheer after landing her throw The socialite wrote in a heartfelt caption, 'I cannot believe I walked this show .. truly I feel so blessed.' Amelia shared video footage from her moments on the catwalk and began her caption, 'Merci X 100000 i cannot believe my first ever couture show was with you @h.a.. Ive been a fan of yours since I can remember.' Expressing gratitude for the chance to work with the brand's designer Haider Ackermann, she wrote, 'You leave me speechless. Haider, thank you.' Hamlin posed backstage in a black corset in two photos uploaded in the carousel of outtakes. In one, she used her hands to cover her modesty as she stood in a dressing room full of models and clothes. The Los Angeles native looked striking with her raven locks pulled back into a bun and her face highlighted with trendy makeup. Her lengthy caption went on to say, 'Jean Paul Gaultier was one of the first designers to catch my eye at a very young age. 'I cannot believe I walked this show .. truly I feel so blessed. THANK YOU FOR TRUSTING ME. THIS IS HUGE. ILOVE ALL OF U.' Family time: Amelia's older sister Delilah also shared content from the summer getaway Smokin': The blonde beauty posed in a low-cut blue and yellow Loleia Swim bikini top Finally, Amelia gave a shoutout to movement director and creative consultant Pat Boguslawski. 'You are everything. Thank you for bringing us back 2 the 90s,' she wrote for her followers to see. The message was wrapped as she raved, 'I'm so lucky. I love you all. Thank you. FREEDOM & LIBERTY.' She also shared a snap to her Stories, showing the amount of pressure it took to lace another white corset in the back. 'I love you I love you,' the beauty wrote on the photo. Netflix has released a final trailer for its highly-anticipated action-thriller Heart of Stone, just two days before it arrives on the streaming service August 11. The 38-year-old Israeli actress plays international spy Rachel Stone, who is tasked by a mysterious peacekeeping organization known as The Charter. She's tasked with stopping a mysterious weapon known only as The Heart from getting into the wrong hands. The trailer begins with Stone telling Jack of Hearts (Matthias Schweighofer) that, 'this might be kind of intense,' as she takes off running. He tells her, 'Chance of success just 32%,' as she jumps over a railing and slides down a snowy hill, telling him, 'It's because you have no imagination!' Trailer: Netflix has released a final trailer for its highly-anticipated action-thriller Heart of Stone, just two days before it arrives on the streaming service August 11 Peacekeeping: The 38-year-old Israeli actress plays international spy Rachel Stone, who is tasked by a mysterious peacekeeping organization known as The Charter Jack: The trailer begins with Stone telling Jack of Hearts (Matthias Schweighofer) that, 'this might be kind of intense,' as she takes off running She continues sliding down the hill, grabbing a parachute along the way and putting it on before falling over the edge, deploying the chute for a safe landing. Meanwhile, we get a brief glimpse at Jamie Dornan's Parker, as we're told The Charter has, 'the most highly-trained agents working to keep peace in a turbulent world. The trailer offers the briefest of glimpses at the mysterious Heart, which another man says, 'gives The Charter it's power,' adding, 'If you own it, you own the world.' A tech exclaims, 'We've been breached,' while Keya Dhawan (Alia Bhatt) says, 'And now you answer to me.' 'I'm coming for you,' Stone says, presumably to Keya, as she's seen braking hard on a motorcycle and jumping up into a large truck as Jack of Hearts cheers her on. Another shot shows a sharp-dressed Parker and Stone briefly interacting while Stone is told during a chase, 'Three vehicles, lots of guns.' Stone sarcastically remarks, 'Yeah, I can tell by the bullets,' as she navigates the vehicle through the deadly chase. She's seen telling Nomad (Sophie Okenedo) that, 'Everything's under control,' as we see more action-packed shots. Chute: She continues sliding down the hill, grabbing a parachute along the way and putting it on before falling over the edge, deploying the chute for a safe landing Parker: Meanwhile, we get a brief glimpse at Jamie Dornan's Parker, as we're told The Charter has, 'the most highly-trained agents working to keep peace in a turbulent world Heart: The trailer offers the briefest of glimpses at the mysterious Heart, which another man says, 'gives The Charter it's power,' adding, 'If you own it, you own the world' Nomad: She's seen telling Nomad (Sophie Okenedo) that, 'Everything's under control,' as we see more action-packed shots Nomad tells Rachel, 'Good. Keep it that way,' as we see Rachel crashing a motorcycle into another car. 'This hardly seems fair,' she says, before taking out a number of other enemies, while we see a blimp of some sort go up in flames. Rachel is on top of the bridge as it starts to go up in flames, as she runs off of it and leaps towards a rope dangling from a helicopter as the trailer comes to an end. Heart of Stone, directed by Tom Harper (The Aeronauts) from a script by Greg Rucka (The Old Guard) and Allison Schroeder (Hidden Figures), also stars Archie Madekwe and Jing Lusi. analysis Nairobi It promised to be the most defining, groundbreaking, and transformative protocol on African women's rights. Specific in its approach, broad in its reach, and unique in its all-encompassing nature, covering issues such as HIV/Aids, widow inheritance and property disinheritance in a most unprecedented manner. To halt and reverse the systemic and persistent gender inequality and discriminatory practices against women in Africa, the African Union Assembly adopted the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa 2003 in Maputo, Mozambique. The Maputo Protocol was designed in line with the realities of the plight of women on the continent. Providing tailor-made solutions to lift women from beneath the crushing weight of a cultural system that disadvantages women from birth. Twenty years on, it is time to take stock. "The 20th Anniversary of the Maputo Protocol is a historical advocacy moment for women's rights advocates. It offers an opportunity to demand from African Governments real and tangible change for women and girls in their countries," Faiza Mohamed, Africa Regional Director of Equality Now, tells IPS. "By acceding to the Maputo Protocol, lifting reservations, fully domesticating, and implementing the Protocol, and ensuring their compliance with accountability processes. Beyond this, it signifies the generational changes over two decades and points to the need to reflect on future generations and to future-proof the Maputo Protocol and the SOAWR Coalition." The Solidarity for African Women's Rights (SOAWR) is a coalition of over 80 civil society organizations, a pan-African women's movement that pushes for accelerated ratification of the protocol in non-ratifying states while holding governments accountable to deliver for women in line with the Protocol. Mohamed stresses that the SOAWR Coalition is a remarkable testament to the power of women's organized movements and their capacity to influence transformative policy agendas, leaving a lasting impact. "Through its persistent efforts, SOAWR has successfully kept the protocol on the agenda of AU member states, leading to significant influence as 44 out of 55 African states have ratified or acceded to the Maputo Protocol. This achievement has turned the Protocol into a potent public education tool for women's rights, both at the national and grassroots levels," she explains. "Notably, there has been substantial progress in the advancement of national jurisprudence on women's rights, as well as in the empowerment of women themselves. Thanks to the coalition's effective public sensitization campaigns, formerly taboo subjects like sexual and reproductive health rights, female genital mutilation, and polygamy have become open and advanced topics in various countries." The coalition has demonstrated how much women and like-minded partners can achieve working in solidarity. Additionally, each organization continues to push the women's agenda forward - pushing and pulling in the same direction, to realize the dream of a society where women are fully represented in every corner of the spaces they call home. "The Maputo Protocol comes out of the African feminist fire, and we need to keep it burning. That it is one of the most progressive legal instruments that came out of Africa. That it represents our diversity and our strength because we are not a monolith. It also represents the power of collective action and also the dream of the Africa we want," says Nigerian-born Becky Williams, a young woman who now lives in Uganda and works for Akina Mama wa Africa. Equality Now is currently advocating for adopting the Multi-Sectoral Approach in implementing the Maputo Protocol. The Multi-Sectoral Approach (MSA) provides a framework for convening different sectors within governments and actors outside of government in a joint effort to implement women's rights as provided for in the Protocol. Mohamed emphasizes that if recognized and embraced by governments and civil societies, the Maputo Protocol can be a powerful tool for change as it offers women a tool for transforming the unequal power relations between men and women that lie at the heart of gender inequality and women's oppression. To coincide with the Maputo Protocol's 20th anniversary, SOAWR, Make Every Woman Count (MEWC), and Equality Now released a report titled, "Twenty years of the Maputo Protocol: Where are we now?" Providing a detailed account of progress made thus far, successes, challenges and recommendations. Regarding rights related to marriage and child marriage, the report finds that several countries have adopted constitutional reforms related to the prohibition of forced marriage. For example, the constitution of Burundi guarantees marriage equality. The constitutions of Guinea, Malawi, Uganda, and Zimbabwe set the legal age of marriage at 18 years. AU Member States have enacted legislation on rights related to marriage. On economic and social welfare rights, half of the African states maintain constitutional provisions guaranteeing equal remuneration for work of equal value or the right to fair or just pay. More than half of African states have laws mandating equal remuneration for work of equal value. Regarding health and reproductive rights, almost all African states maintain constitutional provisions related to health and/or health care, and many enshrine the principle of non-discrimination based on health. Notably, six countries, including Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, enshrine rights related to reproductive health care, such as access to family planning education or reproductive/maternity care. While women's rights have come a long way, the report stresses that there is a long way to go and makes specific key recommendations, such as the need to address the right to abortion and treat each case as espoused in the Protocol. It also suggests that the Maputo Protocol should be used to protect women and girls' reproductive health rights and advocates that Member states remove laws that fail to protect reproductive health rights. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Women Africa By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. It advocates for the passing of family laws to protect women's rights before, during, and after marriage and establish special courts to deal with complex marriage issues. In addition, it suggests that Governments implement regional and international treaties such as the Maputo Protocol and educate women and girls on these. It would like to see programmes that allow young women to return to school after giving birth promoted and demands that early marriage be criminalized, and customary law is adapted so that it no longer defines what happens to women in marriage. It asks governments to provide universal health services and insurance access, especially for pregnant, vulnerable, and/or specially protected women. It requires member states to improve infrastructure, training, and equipment for health services in rural areas. Equally important, the protocol includes the empowerment of women and girls to realize their sexual and reproductive health rights through awareness campaigns delivered in communities and schools and wishes to see menstrual hygiene management incorporated into national legal frameworks through awareness-raising activities from more actors, especially parliamentarians. IPS UN Bureau Report Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau Andy Cohen is mourning the loss of his 'inspiring' friend George Kolasa who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 56 after a battle with glioblastoma. Glioblastoma (GBM) is a malignant brain tumor that spreads rapidly, destroying healthy brain tissue. There is no cure for the aggressive brain cancer and those diagnosed have an average life expectancy of 12 to 18 months. Kolasa learned of his condition in February 2022 after doctors discovered a 'brain tumor the size of a grapefruit.' It was then surgically removed and determined to be malignant. 'George Kolasa passed away today after an inspiring battle with glioblastoma,' Cohen, 55, wrote. 'Inspiring may seem like an odd word choice, but George was so at peace with himself and what was to be - dare I say he found whatever joy he could out of something decidedly UNjoyful.' The Bravo EP included a portrait of Kolasa as well as a photo of himself posing beside his late friend. Andy Cohen is mourning the loss of his 'inspiring' friend George Kolasa who passed away on Wednesday at the age of 56 after a battle with glioblastoma He continued: 'But that was who George was. The love he shared with his husband Justin lifted up all who knew them.' Cohen called attention to Kolasa's Cycle For Survival fundraiser that aims to support those fighting rare cancers. It has a $1,000,000 goal with over $500,000 already raised. 'He wanted his legacy to be his contribution to helping fight rare cancers, so I'm putting the link to his fund raising drive in my bio,' he wrote. 'Life is so precious. I feel like George was randomly picked out of line and showed us all what it's like to live within courage and light. 'He set a beautiful example. George was a Deadhead so I like to think he might be tickled that he died the same day as Jerry Garcia. I'm hoping Jerry is up there singing him a special welcome song. 'All my love to Justin, and to George's whole family. I'll see you on the flip side, brother,' Cohen concluded. Kolasa was highly-successful in the luxury fashion world and held executives roles at brands like Giorgio Armani and Tommy Hilfiger, as per CFDA. He was an expert in marketing and public relations with three decades of experience in the industry. Earlier this year, Kolasa spoke to CFDA about his glioblastoma battle, which included radiation, chemotherapy, infusions, and, more recently, a monthly vaccine trial in Germany. 'George Kolasa passed away today after an inspiring battle with glioblastoma,' Cohen, 55, wrote. 'Inspiring may seem like an odd word choice, but George was so at peace with himself and what was to be - dare I say he found whatever joy he could out of something decidedly UNjoyful'; seen in July Kolasa (pictured in June 2022) learned of his condition in February 2022 after doctors discovered a 'brain tumor the size of a grapefruit.' It was then surgically removed and determined to be malignant Kolasa recalled experiencing a decline in his health in February 2022 and how his friend rushed him to the ER, where his scans revealed a brain tumor; seen in June Fundraising: Cohen called attention to Kolasa's Cycle For Survial fundraiser that aims to support those fighting rare cancers. It has a $1,000,000 goal with over $500,000 already raised; seen in May Kolasa recalled experiencing a decline in his health in February 2022 and how his friend rushed him to the ER, where his scans revealed a brain tumor. 'This was 2/22/22, and within 48 hours [his husband] Justin found the best neurosurgeons in NYC to remove what they could of the tumors and on 2/25/22, I was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Multiforme, incurable brain cancer. This was now my life and would be my calling to help others,' he explained. Although life as he knew it was forever changed, Kolasa wanted his family and friends to know 'I am OK with whatever Gods plan is for me. 'By taking my Instagram community on my treatment journey through radiation, chemotherapy, MRIs, countless appointments at Memorial Sloan Kettering with the incredible oncology doctors and teams it all becomes more real and human and I hope less scary for others suffering and their family and friends.' He received an outpouring of 'love and support' from his friends and colleagues in the fashion industry and they've come together to support his fundraising efforts. 'The fashion community shows up. Day after day for me. And helps me help others with every resource they have,' Kolasa said. Two Doors Down co-creator Simon Carlyle has died at the age of 48. The comedy writer's passing was confirmed by the BBC, who said they were 'deeply saddened' by the news. Simon wrote Two Doors Down with pal Gregor Sharp as a one-off special in 2013, before it was commissioned for a full series. A seventh series of the Scottish comedy wrapped filming at the end of July, and the show is set to move to BBC One when it hits screens later this year. Jon Petrie, director of comedy commissioning at the BBC, said: 'We are deeply saddened by the news of the death of our friend and colleague Simon Carlyle. Tragedy: Two Doors Down co-creator Simon Carlyle has died at the age of 48 Acclaimed: The comedy writer wrote Two Doors Down with pal Gregor Sharp as a one-off special in 2013, before it was commissioned for a full series 'Simon was a wonderful comedy talent who, amongst many other credits, co-created and wrote the multi-award-winning series Two Doors Down. 'His warm comic voice shone through these characters, garnering huge audience affection, and firmly establishing it as a long-lasting sitcom favourite. Our sympathies are with his family and friends at this difficult time.' Louise Thornton, head of commissioning at BBC Scotland, said: 'All of us at BBC Scotland are deeply saddened to hear this news. 'Simon was a major writing talent, loved for his work on Two Doors Down and many other series. Our thoughts are with Simon's family and friends, and the cast and crew on Two Doors Down.' The sitcom's production team also said: 'We are deeply saddened by this terrible news. Simon was a brilliant, funny, mercurial and magnificent human being. 'He had a microscopic fascination with what makes funny things funnier and we were so lucky to have known him. 'He was at the centre of all the work we made together and his loss will be felt profoundly by all of us. We send love and support to his family and friends.' In a 2018 interview with The Scottish Sun, Simon shared the stuggles he faced trying to kickstart his career as a comedy writer, even working as a passenger greeter at Glasgow Airport. More on the way: A seventh series of the Scottish comedy wrapped filming at the end of July , and the show is set to move to BBC One when it hits screens later this year He said: 'You basically dont make any money from writing for the first 20 years. I have school friends who became plumbers and earn great cash with a big house and car and it makes you wonder why you keep trying to write.' Two Doors Down earned record-high ratings for its Christmas Special last year, with 2.8million viewing the special across 30 days on all screens. The show focuses on the middle-class neighbourhood of Latimer Crescent in Glasgow, and couple Eric and Beth Baird, played by Alex Norton and Arabella Weir. The pair desperaely try to avoid one drama after another from their loved ones and neighbours who love nothing more than stopping by without warning. With his time on Yellowstone coming to an end with the final season in the works, Cole Hauser is branching off and starting a new coffee company, inspired by the cowboys on his hit Paramount Networks series. Hauser, 48, who plays Rip Wheeler on Yellowstone, took to Instagram on Wednesday to announce his Free Rein Coffee company. The actor shared shots of him in a cowboy hat holding a branded Free Rein Coffee mug, along with another shot of him on a horse and an image of the coffee packaging for a dark roast flavor dubbed, 'American Dirt.' 'I've grown up around cowboys my whole life. And I can tell you, there's nobody on Earth who works harder,' Hauser began in the caption on his Instagram post. 'I'm proud to announce that I've decided to start a coffee company inspired by these men and women who wake up before the dawn. Not because its easy, but because its hard,' the actor added. Cole's coffee: With his time on Yellowstone coming to an end with the final season in the works , Cole Hauser is branching off and starting a new coffee company, inspired by the cowboys on his hit Paramount Networks series Rip: Hauser, 48, who plays Rip Wheeler on Yellowstone, took to Instagram on Wednesday to announce his Free Rein Coffee company American Dirt: The actor shared shots of him in a cowboy hat holding a branded Free Rein Coffee mug, along with another shot of him on a horse and an image of the coffee packaging for a dark roast flavor dubbed, 'American Dirt' 'Free Rein is for anyone who gets up and works like a cowboy, gets up and chases a dream, or gets up and just feels like having a damn good cup of coffee,' he continued. 'So get up and get after it. Dreams dont work unless you do,' Hauser concluded, while adding more details in a comment. 'Hey all, The merchandise and Coffee will be available this fall! Looking forward to yall tasting it,' Hauser said. He also directed fans to the brand's website - FreeReinCoffee.com, where fans can enter their email to sign up for more updates about the brand. The actor made headlines back in May for his work with Special Operations Warrior Foundation, 'a charity that provides scholarships to children whose parents have died in the military.' 'I'm a big fan of second chances. You know, for kids when they lose a family member, it's a huge loss for them,' Hauser told CBS News in May. 'Maybe it's just my way of serving. You know, this country, the soldiers, their families,' the actor added. Hauser started working with the organization 20 years ago and in that time more than 1,100 scholarships have been distributed. Works like a cowboy: 'Free Rein is for anyone who gets up and works like a cowboy, gets up and chases a dream, or gets up and just feels like having a damn good cup of coffee,' he continued Available: 'Hey all, The merchandise and Coffee will be available this fall! Looking forward to yall tasting it,' Hauser said Headlines: The actor made headlines back in May for his work with Special Operations Warrior Foundation, 'a charity that provides scholarships to children whose parents have died in the military' Scholarship: Hauser started working with the organization 20 years ago and in that time more than 1,100 scholarships have been distributed He made private visits to Walter Reed Medical Center as well, building personal relationships with gravely injured service members. Hauser described forming a friendship with a triple amputee. 'I walked in and I [said], "God, you look like a rat's ass," but it got him to smile, you know? 'And then we would start talking and it was just, you know, it broke the ice,' Hauser shared. Stassi Schroeder displayed her elegant maternity style as she stepped out in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The 35-year-old expectant mom who is awaiting the birth of her second child with husband Beau Clark wore a cream-colored waffle dress that cropped just above her knees. The fashion-forward media personality topped the frock with a light blue button-up shirt, securing the top buttons and leaving the bottom open. Stassi, who hails from Louisiana, rolled up the sleeves of the top as she gently cradled her burgeoning belly. Schroeder stepped out to pick up a beverage and food at a local grocery store. Looking good: Stassi Schroeder displayed her elegant maternity style as she stepped out in Los Angeles on Wednesday Outfit: The 35-year-old expectant mom who is awaiting the birth of her second child with husband Beau Clark wore a cream-colored waffle dress that cropped just above her knees Stassi's look was complemented by a pair of glossy black, oval-shaped sunglasses. The podcaster pulled her blonde locks back for the outing and stepped out in silvery rhinestone-covered ballet flats. She exited an Albertsons food store with a bottle of A&W root beer and what looked like a wrapped sandwich that she placed inside her brown leather basket-style handbag. The snack run comes after the former Bravo TV star celebrated her pregnancy with a beautiful baby shower on Monday. For the special occasion, Schroeder dressed in a long ivory dress and matching linen blazer. She looked typically stunning with her hair worn loose, styled in a center part and soft curls that fell over her chest. Sharing outtakes from the event with her 3.1 million Instagram followers, Stassi wrote in a caption, 'A little baby sprinkle. Basically an excuse to have a fancy dinner with my friends.' Stassi displayed a beautiful pregnancy glow in a full face of makeup that she finished with a glossy pink lip. Cheers: Here she was seen holding a pink drink as she stood by the dinner table Her longtime pals: There was a bit of a Vanderpump Rules reunion Growing family: Stassi and husband Beau Clark announced they're expecting their second child this past March Stassi's former Vanderpump Rules costars Lala Kent and Katie Maloney were two of the guests that attended the soiree. Kent, 32, showed off her slender figure in a white, long-sleeved bodysuit and a pleated black mini skirt. She completed her look with a pair of black Prada loafers. For her part, Maloney, 36, wore a white top, a cropped black jacket and a black mini skirt. The dinner was hosted at West Hollywood's celebrity loved Olivetta restaurant. Stassi and husband Beau announced they're expecting their second child this past March. Hours after his concert, disgraced Astroworld Festival founder Travis Scott dined al fresco on pizza and fettuccini with a mystery woman while at a restaurant in Rome's trendy Monti neighborhood on Tuesday. The 32-year-old Texan's busty blonde companion coordinated with him in a cropped grey tank, blue cargo jeans, and sneakers. Travis (born Jacques Webster) has two children - daughter Stormi Webster, 5; and son Aire Webster, 18 months - from his on/off five-year romance with The Kardashians producer-star Kylie Jenner, which ended in January. Scott was also joined in Italy's Eternal City by a large bodyguard rocking a frizzy ponytail and Crocs clogs as he guarded the auto-tune rapper. The Cactus Jack owner bared his tattooed sleeves in a grey tank top emblazoned with the word 'HARD' along with black flared, detachable cargo pants, sneakers, and expensive diamond jewelry. Hours after his concert, disgraced Astroworld Festival founder Travis Scott (M) dined al fresco on pizza and fettuccini with a mystery woman (R) while at a restaurant in Rome's trendy Monti neighborhood on Tuesday Twinning! The 32-year-old Texan's busty blonde companion coordinated with him in a cropped grey tank, blue cargo jeans, and sneakers Travis later posted a tourist snapshot of himself posing in front of the Colosseum, ancient amphitheater built in 80 AD not far from Rione Monti. Scott - who boasts 82.2M social media followers - captioned his Instagram slideshow featuring a red Mercedes-Benz G-wagon: 'When in Rome.' And on Wednesday, La Flame Instastoried videos from his Mediterranean cruise aboard a fancy yacht. On Monday, 60 of the 60K people attending Travis' Apple Music-sponsored concert at the ancient chariot-racing stadium Circus Maximus 'required medical attention' and the show caused an earthquake-like effect through the city - according to Italian news site Ansa and New York Times. Rome's civil protection department stated that many injuries were due to someone releasing pepper spray into the crowd, and one 14-year-old fan was hospitalized attempting to scale a 13ft wall. Scott surprised the audience by bringing out disgraced anti-Semitic rap star Kanye 'Ye' West, who performed Praise God and Can't Tell Me Nothing with him. 'Only one human being on this motherf***ing planet that has ever walked side by side with me through anything and every motherf***ing thing,' the Delresto star said onstage. 'There is no Utopia without Kanye West. There is no Travis Scott without Kanye West. There is no Rome without Kanye West. Make some noise for Ye!' Babymama: Travis (born Jacques Webster) has two children - daughter Stormi Webster, 5; and son Aire Webster, 18 months - from his on/off five-year romance with The Kardashians producer-star Kylie Jenner, which ended in January Hired help: Scott was also joined in Italy's Eternal City by a large bodyguard rocking a frizzy ponytail and Crocs clogs as he guarded the auto-tune rapper Glued to his iPhone: The Cactus Jack owner bared his tattooed sleeves in a grey tank top emblazoned with the word 'HARD' Casually clad: He also wore black flared, detachable cargo pants, sneakers, and expensive diamond jewelry 'Roma dome': Travis later posted a tourist snapshot of himself posing in front of the Colosseum, ancient amphitheater built in 80 AD not far from Rione Monti Scott - who boasts 82.2M social media followers - captioned his Instagram slideshow featuring a red Mercedes-Benz G-wagon: 'When in Rome' Champagne wishes and caviar dreams! And on Wednesday, La Flame Instastoried videos from his Mediterranean cruise aboard a fancy yacht Ruckus: On Monday, 60 of the 60K people attending Travis' Apple Music-sponsored concert at the ancient chariot-racing stadium Circus Maximus 'required medical attention' and the show caused an earthquake-like effect through the city Violence: Rome's civil protection department stated that many injuries were due to someone releasing pepper spray into the crowd, and one 14-year-old fan was hospitalized attempting to scale a 13ft wall 'There is no Utopia without Kanye West': Scott surprised the audience by bringing out disgraced anti-Semitic rap star Kanye 'Ye' West (L), who performed Praise God and Can't Tell Me Nothing with him In support of his fourth studio album: The Delresto star's 24-date Utopia Tour Presents Circus Maximus officially kicks off September 25 at the United Center in Chicago Travis' 24-date Utopia Tour Presents Circus Maximus - in support of his fourth studio album - officially kicks off September 25 at the United Center in Chicago. It marks Scott's first tour since the 2021 Astroworld tragedy claimed the lives of 10 people by 'compression asphyxia' - Madison Dubiski, 23; John Hilgert, 14; Bharti Shahani, 22; Axel Acosta, 21; Brianna Rodriguez, 16; Mirza Baig, 27; Franco Patino, 21; Jacob Jurinek, 21; Rodolfo Angel Pena, 23; and Ezra Blount, 9. 4,900 attendees were injured and 25 were hospitalized after the negligent 'mass casualty' event at NRG Park in Houston, but a Texas grand jury declined to indict the eight-time Grammy nominee and and five others on criminal charges after a 19-month investigation. On August 3, Rolling Stone reported that Travis settled a lawsuit with the family of John Hilgert, and he previously settled lawsuits with the families of Axel Acosta and Brianna Rodriguez back in October. Scott was previously arrested for disorderly conduct in 2015 for encouraging fans to jump the barricades at Lollapalooza, and in 2017 for inciting a riot at an Arkansas show. It marks Travis' first tour since the 2021 Astroworld tragedy claimed the lives of 10 people by 'compression asphyxia': Madison Dubiski, 23; John Hilgert, 14; Bharti Shahani, 22; Axel Acosta, 21; Brianna Rodriguez, 16; Mirza Baig, 27; Franco Patino, 21; Jacob Jurinek, 21; Rodolfo Angel Pena, 23; and Ezra Blount, 9 4,900 attendees were injured and 25 were hospitalized after the negligent 'mass casualty' event at NRG Park in Houston, but a Texas grand jury declined to indict Scott and and five others on criminal charges after a 19-month investigation Hayley Vernon has revealed her pregnancy scare, two months after filming a porn video with former Married At First Sight co-star Seb Guilhaus. The OnlyFans star, 36, made the shock confession on Thursday via Instagram, telling fans she'd been struggling with pregnancy symptoms over the past week. 'The last few days have been terrible. Vomiting, nauseous, dizzy spells, no appetite, the smell of food was making me ill, pregnancy tests,' she wrote next to a video of herself walking down the footpath. 'Today has been the first day I've felt vaguely like myself,' she explained, before confirming she isn't pregnant. 'A huge thank you to every woman that whispered, "You're not pregnant are you?" for absolutely petrifying me,' she added sarcastically, before clarifying that she was really suffering from 'a stomach virus from hell.' Hayley Vernon, 36, (right) revealed her secret pregnancy scare in an Instagram post on Thursday - two months after filming a porn video with former Married At First Sight co-star Seb Guilhaus, 35 (left) Hayley's negative pregnancy test came eight weeks after she and Seb filmed an X-rated OnlyFans video in early June. The pornographic clip showed the pair pretending to celebrate their 'anniversary' with a passionate romp in the sheets. Their collaboration has since been mocked, with viewers branding a promo clip from the scene as 'cringeworthy' and 'awkward'. 'The last few days have been terrible. Vomiting, nauseous, dizzy spells, no appetite, the smell of food was making me ill, pregnancy tests,' she wrote next to a video of herself walking down the footpath However Seb's future as an upcoming porn star was thrown into question last month when he was arrested on drug charges. Seb was arrested by Serious and Organised Crime Branch detectives at his property in Croydon, Adelaide, where officers allegedly seized almost a 1kg of methamphetamine, with a street value worth at least $90,000. He appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court the same day, charged with one count of trafficking in a commercial quantity of methamphetamine. 'A huge thank you to every woman that whispered, 'You're not pregnant are you?' for absolutely petrifying me,' she added sarcastically, before clarifying that she was really suffering from 'a stomach virus from hell' Seb was released from the Adelaide Remand Centre on home detention bail last week, with magistrate Simon Smart ordering Guilhaus wear an electronic monitoring device. He is also banned from consuming illicit substances, and must present for random drug testing. Seb is yet to enter pleas to charges of trafficking in a commercial quantity of a controlled drug. Hayley's negative pregnancy test came eight weeks after she and Seb filmed an X-rated OnlyFans video in early June. The pair are pictured in the video However Seb's future as an upcoming porn star was thrown into question last month when he was arrested on drug charges Hayley defended Seb via an Instagram post, revealing she was with him just two hours before before the police raid on his Adelaide home. Hayley said she had no idea her 'great friend' had been arrested until her inbox was 'slammed' with messages saying he'd been arrested. 'FFs he was drinking non-alcoholic mocktails at Japanese with me two hours before his arrest,' she said, with a crying emoji, in a post to her 72,000 followers on Instagram. 'My heart hurts for him. What I will say tho (sic) is over the past few months Seb and I had become great friends.' 'I knew Seb was struggling with his mental health, gravitating to me to help and guide him - I just wish I had known what was (allegedly) going on so I could [have] helped him.' She disabled her Instagram comments earlier this week amid the hubbub Jennifer Aniston appears to be keeping a low profile after she was inadvertently involved in an anti-Semitism controversy swirling around Jamie Foxx. The 54-year-old actress was pictured in Los Angeles leaving a Pilates session Wednesday, after she disabled her Instagram comments earlier this week after an account under her name hit the like button on a controversial post from Foxx that has allusions to anti-Semitism. Aniston - who immediately clarified her stance on the post, as did Foxx - donned an all-black ensemble of a ballcap with a tank top and leggings for the physical endeavor. Aniston, who played Rachel Green on the NBC series Friends, wore gold framed sunglasses and olive green sandals as she stepped out while toting a carboard box on the summer day in the City of Angels. The perennial A-lister, who also wore a knee bracelet, appeared to be deep in thought the the wake of the social media scandal. Moving forward: Jennifer Aniston, 54, appears to be keeping a low profile after she was inadvertently involved in an anti-Semitism controversy swirling around Jamie Foxx, 55 The brouhaha began Saturday when the Any Given Sunday actor, 55, posted an angry message which read, 'They killed this dude called Jesus... what do you think they'll do to you???!' followed by the hashtags #fakefriends and #fakelove. An account with Aniston's name appeared to 'like' the remarks, which were subsequently labeled anti-Semitic by a number of observers. 'Actor Jamie Foxx posts horrifically antisemitic message to his 16.7 million followers,' wrote the A Wide Frame account, which spotted the offensive post. For centuries, Jews have been blamed for the death of Jesus, and the alleged deicide has been used as an excuse for oppression and violence against them. The Morning Show star, 54, who was caught up in the controversy, quickly denounced it and denied any connection to it in her Instagram Stories, saying, 'This really makes me sick.' The Emmy-winning actress immediately denied having any interaction with the controversial post from Foxx. 'I did not "like" this post on purpose or by accident,' said Aniston, whose name is listed on dozens of fan accounts on social media. The Break-Up star emphasized she harbors no hostility toward the Jewish people and opposes racism in the strongest sense, On the move: The actress was pictured in Los Angeles leaving a Pilates session Wednesday Moving forward: Aniston donned an all-black ensemble of a ballcap with a tank top and leggings for the physical endeavor Silence: Aniston disabled her Instagram comments earlier this week after an account under her name hit the like button on a controversial post from Foxx that has allusions to anti-Semitism Casual: Aniston wore gold framed sunglasses and olive green sandals as she stepped out while toting a carboard box on the summer day in the City of Angels 'And more importantly, I want to be clear to my friends and anyone hurt by this showing up in their feeds I do NOT support any form of antisemitism,' she said. 'And I truly don't tolerate HATE of any kind. Period.' On Saturday morning, Foxx, who has been recovering from a hospitalization and health scare, tried to rectify the situation writing his own explanation of his now-deleted post. 'I want to apologize to the Jewish community and to everyone who was offended by my post,' the Django Unchained star said. 'I now know my words of choice have caused offense and I'm sorry.' The Ray actor said that his intent was to sound off on a personal grievance, and had nothing to do with Jewish people. 'That was never my intent 'To clarify, I was betrayed by a fake friend and that's what I meant with "they" not anything more,' he said. 'I only have love in my heart for everyone. I love and support the Jewish community. 'My deepest apologies to anyone who was offended. Nothing but love always, Jamie Foxx.' Jamie's pal Adam Weitsman quickly came to his defense writing, 'I know you personally, Im Jewish and know you are the last person that would EVER act Anti Semetic.' 'Your kind and thoughtful to everyone. I would vouch for you always.' Clearing up: Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Aniston are trying to clear up some contentious misunderstandings on social media after both were linked to alleged antisemitic remarks that he shared Denounced: Jennifer quickly denounced any sort of antisemitism or hate (Pictured in New York In September 2022) Controversy: The controversy began when the Jewish group A Wider Frame labeled Jamie's now-deleted post antisemitic and someone named Jennifer Aniston 'liked' it. The Morning Show actress denied any connection and denounced antisemitism Apology: Jamie, who has been recovering from a health scare, apologized for his choice of words and clarified the meaning of the previous post, explaining he was calling out a 'fake friend' and not the Jewish community Vouch: Jamie's friend Adam Weitsman quickly came to his defense writing 'I would vouch for you always...' The Texas-born entertainer has been dealing with health problems in recent months, after he was sidelined by an April 11 health setback while working in Atlanta. In the wake of the April incident, his daughter Corinne said on Instagram 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. Hollywood star Rebel Wilson has reached out to fans after experiencing a nasty on set accident while filming an action movie in the U.S. last week. The 43-year-old Australian born actress took to Instagram on Thursday to thank followers for their best wishes and gave an up date on her recovery. Rebel appeared cheerful in the short clip, in which she showed off the wound on her nose which was caused after she was struck by the butt of a gun. The blonde was shooting her final scenes in the film Bride Hard in Savannah, Georgia, when the accident occurred, which left the popular star with three stitches. Rebel appeared in her video message with her long hair tied back and wearing a blue denim shirt, which she left un-buttoned at the neck. Hollywood star Rebel Wilson, 43, has reached out to fans after experiencing a nasty on set accident while filming an action movie in the U.S. last week Pictured: Rebel took to Instagram on Thursday to thank followers for their best wishes and gave an up date on her recovery After thanking fans for their well wishes Rebel said her recovery was going well. 'I've actually been healing quite amazing,' Rebel said, showing the small red scar on her nose before continuing: 'The stitches have dissolved out from my on set accident last week. 'I was shooting an independent movie in Savannah Georgia and in the middle of the night i had to shoot my last scene in the movie. 'So I had done all these kick ass fight sequences and in the last one I got hit in the face with a butt of a gun. So it was a complete accident and it was such a shock. 'But luckily I'm healing very well and i wanted to say thank you to everyones well wishes. Rebel appeared cheerful in the short clip, in which she showed off the wound on her nose which was caused after she was struck by the butt of a gun (pictured) Rebel and fiancee, Ramona Agruma pictured in June in Los Angeles The Bridesmaids star signed off by reassuring fans she would be 'totally, totally fine', hopefully before adding: 'It was really fun to do an action movie but it can be a bit dangerous at times - but i'm all good so thanks everybody.' Rebel's latest appearance will re-assure fans after the star posted a selfie of her face wounds to her Instragram from her hospital bed last week. Looking haggard and stressed, Rebel appeared to be sporting two blacks eyes from the stunt gone wrong, while her nose was swollen and her wounds bloody. It comes after Rebel opened up about the possibility of adding another child to her family. Rebel posted this selfie to her social media just hours after her accident last week The performer shares her daughter with her fiancee, Ramona Agruma, whom she initially met in 2021. The pair eventually began dating, and they made their red carpet debut in March of last year. Wilson subsequently revealed that she had welcomed Royce via surrogate in November. The actress shocked many when she announced her engagement via Instagram this past February. Heather fought back tears as Terry explained he could have died if it were not for Heather intervening and getting him to go to the hospital Terry Dubrow burst into tears while crediting his wife Heather Dubrow with saving his life after he suffered stroke symptoms while they recently were out to dinner. The 64-year-old plastic surgeon during a remote appearance on Wednesday's episode of Watch What Happens Live After Show with Andy Cohen recounted his health scare while Heather, 54, was a guest on the Bravo talk show. Terry tearfully said he wouldn't be alive if Heather hadn't insisted that he go to the emergency room. 'I can tell you that I had symptoms of a stroke due to an anatomical defect in my heart and I'm going to try to say this without crying, but the only reason I'm standing here today and not six feet under is because of my best friend and my beloved wife's insistence that I go to the emergency room and get checked out,' Terry said. Terry then put his hands over his face as he started to cry. Tears flowing: Terry Dubrow burst into tears while crediting his wife Heather Dubrow with saving his life after he suffered stroke symptoms while they recently were out to dinner 'She saved my life so that's just the way it goes,' Terry said. 'What can I say, I love my wife.' Heather also was about to start crying. 'Do not do this to me right now,' Heather said. Andy, 55, said that the interesting thing about the story was that Terry was out to dinner with Heather when he started having stroke symptoms. 'He had a bad episode,' Heather said. 'And you were a doctor, you're very confident, you understand things that a lot of us don't know about the human body, but you really fought back for an hour and refused to go to the hospital and kept saying to her ''I'm fine, I'm fine'',' Andy said. 'So tell me the lesson here because you did wind up going.' 'So I did go and I did have a hole in my heart the same way a lot of those young celebrities had like Emilia Clarke and Hailey Bieber. And the lesson here is if you or someone is having trouble speaking, is having a bad headache, has partial paralysis, even if it lasts only a minute like it did with me, you until you rule out otherwise are having a stroke and you only have a few hours to get to the hospital and dissolve that clot. Otherwise you can can have a major stroke and sixty percent of people die,' Terry said. 'So that woman in that chair despite me telling her to stop embarrassing me in front of the TMZ bus that's driving by, persisted followed me in an Uber and called my best friends, who are doctors, and they convinced me to go to the hospital,' Terry said. 'And she literally saved my life. And by the way had she not listened to me I would have gone on a plane to come out to see you Andy and I would have had more blood clots from that plane flight and I definitely would have not survived.' Getting emotional: 'Do not do this to me right now,' Heather said as she started to get emotional Heart defect: 'I can tell you that I had symptoms of a stroke due to an anatomical defect in my heart and I'm going to try to say this without crying, but the only reason I'm standing here today and not six feet under is because of my best friend and my beloved wife's insistence that I go to the emergency room and get checked out,' Terry said Lesson learned: 'And you were a doctor, you're very confident, you understand things that a lot of us don't know about the human body, but you really fought back for an hour and refused to go to the hospital and kept saying to her ''I'm fine, I'm fine'',' Andy said. 'So tell me the lesson here because you did wind up going' Close call: 'And she literally saved my life. And by the way had she not listened to me I would have gone on a plane to come out to see you Andy and I would have had more blood clots from that plane flight and I definitely would have not survived,' Terry said 'That's amazing,' Andy said. 'I'm so glad you went to the hospital.' Andy then told Terry and Heather that their love for each other was inspiring and also plugged Terry's show Botched. 'The moment I knew he was okay was when we were in the ER and it was the premiere of Botched and he made them put it on. Oh the narcissism is back we're good,' Heather quipped. Heather also shared details from The Real Housewives of Orange County about whether she thought the other women were using her as the scapegoat regarding talking about Shannon Beador's relationship with John Janssen. 'Some people talk about things off camera and some people talk about things on camera and bring them on the show to create a storyline that the whole world is talking about, which is worse,' Heather said. One fan asked Heather after previously being in trouble for discussing Shannon's past relationship, why did she talk about John. Heather said she actually tried to avoid talking about Shannon's ex David, but it backfired. Andy asked Heather about her reconciling with designer Jeff Lewis, 53. Heather said she recently ran into him and appreciated many things that he said to her. 'I liked speaking with him and I'll leave it there,' Heather said. During a fun game, Heather admitted it was true that she was once confronted by Disney management who said that her performance when she played the character Miss Lily was too sexy. Too sexy: During a fun game, Heather admitted it was true that she was once confronted by Disney management who said that her performance when she played the character Miss Lily was too sexy Cute smile: Heather flashed her cute smile while arriving at the WWHL studio in New York City in a little black dress TV star: The television star has acting credits dating back to the mid-1990s Heather and Terry dated for two years before saying 'I do' in 1999. The couple welcomed twins Maximillia and Nicholas, who have entered college. They also share Katarina, 15, and Collete, 11. Their daughter, Max, came out as bisexual, and last year during an episode of Real Housewives, Katarina came out as a lesbian. Heather joined the cast of The Real Housewives Of Orange County starting in season seven in 2012 and stayed on the show until 2016. After a five-year hiatus, the star returned to the series in 2021 for season 16 and came back for its 17th season. Zendaya is keeping the memory of her Euphoria co-star Angus Cloud alive after his sudden death at age 25 last week. On Wednesday, the Emmy Award-winner, 26, shared a photo of a mural that's been painted in Angus' honor in his hometown of Oakland, California. Friends close to the late actor painted the memorial and it was the site of a candlelight vigil on Friday, August 4. It features an image of Angus smiling as well as various tributes to the star that show the positive impact that he continues to have on his community. Zendaya also posted a photo of a street sign that had 'No Love Fades' written on it in white spray paint. It's unclear if this art piece is in relation to Angus. Zendaya is keeping the memory of her Euphoria co-star Angus Cloud alive after his sudden death at age 25 earlier this month; seen together in March 2022 Immortalized: On Wednesday, the Emmy Award-winner, 26, shared a photo of a mural that's been painted in Angus' honor in his hometown of Oakland, California 'No Love Fades': Zendaya also posted a photo of a street sign that had 'No Love Fades' written on it in white spray paint. It's unclear if this art piece is in relation to Angus It's also unclear if Zendaya visited the mural in-person or if she re-posted photos taken by others. Angus died at the age of 25 on Monday, July 31 at his family home in Oakland, California - after he struggled with the loss of his father, his family told TMZ. His mother, who called 911, reported it as a 'possible overdose.' Zendaya broke her silence on Angus' untimely death as she penned an emotional tribute to Instagram on Tuesday, August 1. 'Words are not enough to describe the infinite beauty that is Angus (Conor). I'm so grateful I got the chance to know him in this life, to call him a brother, to see his warm kind eyes and bright smile, or hear his infectious cackle of a laugh (I'm smiling now just thinking of it),' the actress wrote. 'I know people use this expression often when talking about folks they love... "they could light up any room they entered" but boy let me tell you. He was the best at it. I'd like to remember him that way. For all of the boundless light, love and joy he always managed to give us. I'll cherish every moment,' she added. She concluded: 'My heart is with his mother and family at this time and please be kind and patient as grief looks different for everyone.' Their co-star Sydney Sweeney posted her tribute soon after Zendaya posted hers, calling him an 'open soul' with 'the kindest heart' and 'you filled every room with laughter.' 'This is the hardest thing I've ever had to post, and I'm struggling to find all the words. You will be missed more than you know, but I'm so blessed to have known you in this lifetime, and I'm sure everyone who has ever met you feels the same. This heartache is real and I wish we couldn't had one more hug and 711 run. All my love is with you,' Sydney, 25, wrote on her Instagram. Zendaya added black hearts beneath Sydney's post. Angus, born Conor Angus Cloud (named after his father Conor Cloud), played the character Fezco on Euphoria from 2019 until 2022. Zendaya plays Ruby 'Rue' Bennett on the show, with Sydney playing Cassie Howard. Angus' family announced his death via TMZ, revealing he died in his family's home in Oakland on Monday. Tragic: Angus died at the age of 25 on Monday, July 31 at his family home in Oakland, California - after he struggled with the loss of his father, his family told TMZ; seen in March 2022 Emotional: Zendaya broke her silence on Angus' untimely death as she penned an emotional tribute to Instagram on Tuesday, August 1 Co-stars and pals: 'Words are not enough to describe the infinite beauty that is Angus (Conor). I'm so grateful I got the chance to know him in this life, to call him a brother, to see his warm kind eyes and bright smile, or hear his infectious cackle of a laugh (I'm smiling now just thinking of it),' she wrote in her Instagram caption shared Tuesday afternoon; seen June 4, 2019 He had been battling 'severe suicidal thoughts' after his burying his father in Ireland the week prior. The actor was staying with his family as he tried to cope with his grief, the outlet said. His mom called 911 at around 11:30 am on Monday, July 31 reporting a 'possible overdose,' with Oakland PD and the Fire Department responding. She had reported he had no pulse, with the actor pronounced dead at the scene when responders arrived. Angus's family confirmed his death in a statement that same day. 'It is with the heaviest heart that we had to say goodbye to an incredible human today. As an artist, a friend, a brother and a on, Angus was special to all of us in so many ways,' his family told the outlet. 'Last week he buried his father and intensely struggled with this loss. The only comfort we have is knowing Angus is now reunited with his dad, who was his best friend,' the statement continued. 'Angus was open about his battle with mental health and we hope that his passing can be a reminder to others that they are not alone and should not fight this on their own in silence. 'We hope the world remembers him for his humor, laughter and love for everyone. We ask for privacy at this time as we are still processing this devastating loss,' the statement concluded. Conor Hickey passed away on May 18 at age 65 following a 'brief fight with cancer', a social media post reshared by his mother Lisa detailed. Sharing photos of his memorial service in another post, Lisa wrote: 'He would have been so honored that so many young people came to express how much they appreciated their support from him. 'My fella lived large and loud! His cancer moved quickly which was devastating to all who loved him, but there is comfort in the fact that his pain wasn't prolonged.' Conor passed away in his native Ireland. An obituary written by members of a rugby club with which he was associated said he died 'after a short illness'. Lisa and Conor were both university professors. They were originally from Ireland, but they relocated to California in the 80s. The couple shared three children, their eldest Angus, followed by twin daughters Molly and Fiona Hickey. Angus had paid tribute to his late father on Instagram in one of his final social media posts. One of his final Instagram posts came on July 14, in which he shared a touching image of his smiling father in a red hoodie and red sweats, stating in the caption, 'miss u breh.' Tributes quickly flooded in for the actor from Euphoria producers, castmates and fellow actors. 'He was immensely talented and a beloved part of the HBO and Euphoria family. 'We extend our deepest condolences to his friends and family during this difficult time.' Angus was one of the breakout stars of Euphoria, appearing in both series of the Sam Levinson-directed drama alongside Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney and Jacob Elordi. Happier times: 'I know people use this expression often when talking about folks they love... "they could light up any room they entered" but boy let me tell you. He was the best at it. I'd like to remember him that way. For all of the boundless light, love and joy he always managed to give us. I'll cherish every moment,' she added In character: Angus, born Conor Angus Cloud (named after his father Conor Cloud), played the character Fezco on Euphoria from 2019 until 2022. Zendaya plays Ruby 'Rue' Bennett on the show His dad: One of his final Instagram posts came on July 14, in which he shared a touching image of his late father smiling, stating in the caption, 'miss u breh' Grief: The actor was staying with his family as he tried to cope with the grief of losing his father, the outlet said; seen in September 2022 He was most often in scenes alongside his partner in crime Ashtray, played by Javon Walton. Sharing a picture of the pair on Instagram, Javon wrote: 'Rest easy brother' and later 'forever family.' Meanwhile, Kathrine Narducci, who played Angus's on-screen grandmother Marie O'Neill in Euphoria, described him as a 'gentle beautiful soul' who 'exited too soon' on Twitter. Storm Reid, who plays Zendaya's on-screen younger sister Gia Bennett, shared a clip of Angus laughing on the show to her Instagram Story, captioning it: 'The tears just won't stop.' Euphoria director Sam said: 'There was no-one quite like Angus. He was too special, too talented and way too young to leave us so soon. 'He also struggled, like many of us, with addiction and depression. I hope he knew how many hearts he touched. 'I loved him. I always will. Rest in peace and God Bless his family.' Rapper Drake, a producer of Euphoria, shared a photo of Angus from March of 2022 at the Revolve Social Club in LA, writing, 'Good soul,' and adding a tearful emoji and a dove. Mr Kaura noted that about 18,000 Zamfara indigents were allowed to register for WAEC and NECO this year. Zamfara State Government has explained the reasons the N1.6 billion debt owed to the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) cannot be paid immediately. WAEC had on Monday announced that the government of eight states in Nigeria have unpaid debts from registration fees of candidates they willingly sponsored to take part in its examination over some years. The Head of Nigeria's Office of WAEC, Patrick Areghan, while addressing a briefing to announce the release of the results of the 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates, disclosed that candidates from eight states owing the examination body will not be able to access their results until the states pay up. Though Mr Areghan did not reveal the identities of all the indebted states, he noted that "Zamfara and Niger states are the highest debtors." Zamfara confirms indebtedness In a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Public Affairs to Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State, Mustapha Kaura, confirmed that the state is owing WAEC about N1.6 billion. Mr Kaura said t the debt has accumulated over time from the immediate past administration of former Governor Bello Matawalle and that of his predecessor, Abdulazeez Yari. He said: "WAEC has continued to grant credit to some very credit-worthy and reliable states who pay the registration fee of their candidates. "Unfortunately, some states have been owing large sums of money for years now and have simply refused to pay after the needed services had been rendered by WAEC, thus denying us the needed funds to carry out our activities." Why delayed payment Mr Kaura said the government is committed to paying the debt either in full or instalmentally but that the governor is waiting to get approval once his cabinet is formed. The governor's spokesperson said: "The N1.6bn is beyond the approval of the governor unilaterally. He has to seek approval from the state executive council. "The WAEC debt will be a front-line issue to be presented before the cabinet and payment will be made so that the results of students will be released to pursue higher education." Alleged maladministration Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Kaura said the state's huge debt to WAEC is a result of "the maladministration of the past administration." He said the previous administrations failed to pay fees for indigents of Zamfara. However, Mr Kaura said his principal, Mr Lawal, had intervened and that about 18,000 Zamfara indigents were allowed to register for WAEC and NECO this year. "I am happy to inform you that the present administration of Dauda Lawal has strictly intervened and persuaded NECO and WAEC. This year 2023, the management of WAEC and NECO allowed the Zamafara indigent students to sit the 2023 WAEC and NECO examinations," he said. WASSCE 2023 Apart from the states owing, the examination body also noted that out of a total of 1,613,733 candidates that sat the examination, the results of 262,803 candidates are being withheld "due to reports of cases of examination malpractice." Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Debt Nigeria Education By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. This is as Mr Areghan announced an improvement in pass rate by candidates as a total of 1,361,608 candidates, representing 84.38 per cent, obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects with or without English Language or Mathematics. Also, 1,287,920 candidates, representing 79.81 per cent of the total candidates, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects including English Language and Mathematics. Mr Areghan said out of the candidates that sat the examination in Nigeria, only the results of 1,476,565 candidates, representing 91.5 per cent have been fully processed and released while 137,168 candidates, representing 8.5 per cent have a few of their subjects still being processed. He explained that the delay is due to some "shortcomings, nonchalant, lethargy, incomplete CASS upload, disobedience of rubrics, etc associated with the schools and candidates concerned." Radio shock jock Kyle Sandilands breached decency rules when he made offensive comments about gay men and the mpox virus, Australia's communications regulator has found. In a segment of the Kyle and Jackie O program broadcast in August 2022, the controversial Sydney media personality 'stereotyped gay men as irresponsible in regard to their sexual health', the Australian Communications and Media Authority ruled. It said Sandilands painted them as prime carriers of a virus that presented a danger to the community and, as a result, not deserving of sympathy or compassion. The 2022 outbreak of the virus formerly known as monkeypox, which caused more than 140 confirmed cases, was declared a communicable disease incident of national significance by the chief medical officer. In a statement released on Thursday alongside the findings of an investigation into the incident, ACMA chair Nerida O'Loughlin said the comments were derisive and insulting and breached standards of decency expected by the public. 'Although there was a basis at the time for a public discussion about mpox that involved reference to gay sexuality, the segment went beyond any acceptable standards by conveying that gay men were irresponsible, were a risk to the community and did not deserve any sympathy even when presenting for medical assistance,' she said. 'Broadcasters have a responsibility to maintain appropriate levels of decency and in this case the comments by Mr Sandilands were overly disparaging and insulting.' In the segment, Sandilands described the virus as 'the big gay disease' and told a newsreader there was no need for her partner to get a vaccine against mpox as 'we're not letting any gays near him'. In a submission to the investigation, broadcaster KIIS 106.5 argued the segment was intended to bring about awareness to the community of the public health risk of mpox, but conceded it contained 'some unfavourable descriptions of those susceptible to the virus, being homosexual males'. The broadcast pre-dated the findings in a separate ACMA investigation into the Kyle & Jackie O program that discussed the Tokyo Paralympics and was also found to have breached the Commercial Radio Code of Practice decency provisions. Following that investigation, as part of a court-enforceable undertaking accepted by the ACMA, the licensee agreed to deliver sensitivity training to the program hosts, producers, censors and other relevant staff. The licensee must report back to the ACMA on its progress every six months for two years, with the next report due on 17 September 2023. The licensee will incorporate the findings from this most recent investigation into that training and reporting regime. Jeremy Renner's return to health continues more than eight months after he nearly died in a New Year's Day snow plow accident that left him with more than 35 broken bones. The Marvel star, 52, posted a series of images Wednesday on Instagram Stories as he spent quality time with his daughter Ava, 10, in Lake Tahoe. The Modesto, California-born actor was seen in a selfie with the caption: 'A beautiful day Bestows incredible Blessings together.' The Academy Award-nominated star was seen wearing a long-sleeved mint green shirt with a light beige cowboy hat and khaki bottoms. He shared a shot of a scenic Lake Tahoe landscape marked by the lake, rocks and rows of trees. He captioned the image, 'Thank you Lake Tahoe for the best morning Coffee Scenery.' The latest: Jeremy Renner's return to health continues more than eight months after the Marvel star, 52, nearly died in a New Year's Day snow plow accident. Pictured Wednesday in an Instagram Stories post Scenic: He shared a shot of a Lake Tahoe landscape marked by the lake, rocks and trees Renner shared an image of his 10-year-old daughter Ava posing on a rock in the clear lake, which he captioned, 'Last Summer adventure.' The Mayor Of Kingstown actor also shared a picture of a classic car he owns - a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro - that he said he planned to gift his daughter if she maintains solid marks in school for the next six years. Lake Tahoe was also the same location where the Hawkeye star suffered a near-fatal snow plow accident earlier this year on January 1. After being run over by a snow plow while assisting his nephew, the actor received a multitude of injuries, including 35 broken ribs and a collapsed lung. However, Renner continues a positive recovery and has kept his fans and followers updated throughout the journey through social media. During an interview with Diane Sawyer in April, The Town actor sat down to also open up about the incident. Although he admitted that he was 'triggered by the accident,' Jeremy explained, 'I shift the narrative of being victimized, of making a mistake or anything else.' He added that he refused 'to be haunted by that memory that way.' End of season: Renner shared an image of his 10-year-old daughter Ava posing on a rock in the clear lake, which he captioned, 'Last Summer adventure' Vroom! The Mayor Of Kingstown actor also shared a picture of a classic car he owns - a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro - that he said he planned to gift his daughter if she maintains solid marks in school for the next six years While Lake Tahoe was the location of such a harrowing accident, the Hollywood star still labels the area as his 'home.' Shortly after the incident occurred, he also uploaded a photo of a Tahoe cabin surrounded by snow and penned, 'Missing my happy place...' Renner continues to make milestones and made his first red carpet appearance since the snow plow accident in April for the premiere of Rennervations in Los Angeles. The Disney+ series, 'Follows Jeremy Renner in his journey as he travels the world helping communities by "reimagining unique purpose-built vehicles,"' according to an IMDB synopsis. While still recovering in the hospital, Jeremy's other Paramount+ series titled, Mayor Of Kingstown, premiered its second season on January 15. The hit thriller additionally cast celebrities such as Dianne Wiest and Hugh Dillion, with Renner teasing earlier this week that a third season also might be in the works. He is also slated to possibly appear in the upcoming Marvel film, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which is set to hit theaters later in 2025. In the meantime, Jeremy, who joined daughter Ava, 10, at the annual Spring Sing at UCLA in April, also added lobbyist to his list of accomplishments and met with Nevada legislators in Carson City, Nevada, on Monday. Journey to recovery: Renner continues to make milestones and made his first red carpet appearance since the snow plow accident in April for the premiere of Rennervations in Los Angeles Close to his heart: Shortly after the incident occurred, he also uploaded a photo of a Tahoe cabin surrounded by snow and penned, 'Missing my happy place...' The star, who has a home outside of Reno, was invited to attend the legislative as a guest of State Senator Roberta Lange, who lauded the Oscar nominee for his good works in the area, according to 8 News Now. 'As a resident of the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, he is well known in the local community in Reno with the actor paying visits to homeless centers on Thanksgiving, helping children choose toys in the local stores,' the lawmaker said. 'Additionally, Renners new show, Rennervations, featured Renos Big Brothers Big Sisters as he helped build a mobile recreation center for the children of the community.' 'He is northern Nevadas own super hero and we are proud to have him visit us on the Senate floor. Please make Mr. Renner feel welcome,' she concluded. The senator has been working on a bill to provide $190 million in tax credits over the next 20 years to bring more movie and TV production to the state. The bill would fund two sites being built in southern Nevada, and the Hawkeye star met with Sen. Lange and other lawmakers to encourage them to include a third site in northern Nevada as well. However, the legislative session ended June 5 and Senator Lange told him it was too late to add another site to the bill, but an amendment might be added to fund a study to look into the economic impact building a third studio in the northern part of the state, according to the Associated Press. Positive updates: Renner continues a positive recovery and has kept his fans and followers updated throughout the journey through social media Accomplishment: In the meantime, Jeremy also added lobbyist to his list of accomplishments and met with Nevada legislators in Carson City, Nevada, on Monday Grateful: In an Instagram post that captured moments from his visit, the actor wrote, 'What a pleasure and honor to witness and be welcomed into policy, bills, and legislation to hopefully better represent this beautiful state and its hard working citizens. #thankyou' Jeremy shared a photo from standing with lawmakers and staff on his Instagram page writing, 'This is me staying quiet, listening, observing local government that represent all of Nevada.' 'What a pleasure and honor to witness and be welcomed into policy, bills, and legislation to hopefully better represent this beautiful state and its hard working citizens. #thankyou.' The Hurt Locker star tagged Sony Pictures and fellow actor Mark Wahlberg in the post. Sony is building a $1 billion facility in the Las Vegas area and the Patriot's Day star has said he wants to rev up the production industry in his new home state. Just after the late Angus Cloud's co-star Zendaya shared a mural tribute to him in their hometown of Oakland, another tribute to the actor has been revealed. The streaming service Max has added a brief tribute to the 25-year-old actor, who was found dead in his family's home in Oakland on July 31, just a week after burying his father in Ireland, who passed at 65 in May from mesothelioma. The first episodes of Euphoria Season 1 and Season 2 now feature brief tributes to the late actor, featuring a smiling photo of the actor and reading, 'In Memory of Angus Cloud 1998-2023.' HBO released a statement mourning the loss of Cloud last week, which read, 'We are incredibly saddened to learn of the passing of Angus Cloud. 'He was immensely talented and a beloved part of the HBO and Euphoria family. We extend our deepest condolences to his friends and family during this difficult time,' the statement concluded. Mural: Just after the late Angus Cloud's co-star Zendaya shared a mural tribute to him in their hometown of Oakland, another tribute to the actor has been revealed Max: The streaming service Max has added a brief tribute to the 25-year-old actor, who was found dead in his family's home in Oakland on July 31, just a week after burying his father in Ireland, who passed at 65 in May from mesothelioma Episode tribute: The first episodes of Euphoria Season 1 and Season 2 now feature brief tributes to the late actor, featuring a smiling photo of the actor and reading, 'In Memory of Angus Cloud 1998-2023' Oakland police and fire departments responded to a 911 call made by Cloud's mother Lisa Cloud Mclaughlin, who reported a 'possible overdose' around 11:30am on July 31, TMZ reported. She also said Cloud did not have a pulse, with the actor pronounced dead on the scene when responders arrived. Lisa, who was born and raised in Ireland, emigrated to the US along with Cloud's father, Conor Hickey. The pair shared three children together, of which Angus is the eldest, followed by the actor's sisters Molly and Fiona. Conor passed away in his native Ireland on May 18, with the initial report stating he passed after a 'short illness,' that was later revealed to be mesothelioma, a form of cancer that is often caused by exposure to asbestos. Cloud reportedly took the death very hard, and while the initial reports claimed the actor was battling 'suicidal thoughts' after his father's death, his mother Lisa disputed those claims. 'I also want you to know that although my son was in deep grief about his father's untimely death from mesothelioma, his last day was a joyful one,' she said in a Facebook post. 'I don't know if or what he may have put in his body... I only know that he put his head on the desk where he was working on art projects, fell asleep and didn't wake up,' Lisa added 'We may find out that he overdosed accidentally and tragically, but it's abundantly clear that he did not intend to check out of this world,' she said, adding he had planned on helping family members through college as well. Responded: Oakland police and fire departments responded to a 911 call made by Cloud's mother Lisa Cloud Mclaughlin, who reported a 'possible overdose' around 11:30am on July 31, TMZ reported. No pulse: She also said Cloud did not have a pulse, with the actor pronounced dead on the scene when responders arrived Classmates: Cloud attended the School of Production Design at Oakland School for the Arts, where Zendaya was one of his classmates, but his acting career was kickstarted when he was discovered while working as a waiter at a Brooklyn restaurant by Euphoria casting director Jennifer Venditti 'Social media posts have suggested his death was intentional. I want you to know that is not the case. To honor his memory, please make random acts of kindness part of your daily life,' she stated. Cloud attended the School of Production Design at Oakland School for the Arts, where Zendaya was one of his classmates, but his acting career was kickstarted when he was discovered while working as a waiter at a Brooklyn restaurant by Euphoria casting director Jennifer Venditti. She cast him as drug dealer Fezco, who, despite his illicit profession, serves as a moral compass for many on the show. He also appeared in the 2021 film North Hollywood, and he had Your Lucky Day and Freaky Tales with Pedro Pascal in post-production. Perth influencer Gracie Piscopo has gone 'Instagram official' with her new boyfriend Daniel Cassin, two months after her ex-boyfriend Andre Rebelo pled not guilty to murdering his own mother. New Zealander Daniel, 28, debuted Gracie, 27, on his Instagram feed on Tuesday while celebrating his birthday, finally confirming romance rumours which have been swirling for months. The photo showed Daniel pulling mother-of-one Gracie in for a cuddle as the pair toasted to his big day with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne. It comes following months of speculation after fans noticed some telling details they were together in their recent Instagram posts. The pair first sparked intrigue in May when Daniel shared an image from a Greek restaurant Viamas, featuring what looked to be Gracie's back, with her bag slung over her shoulder. Perth influencer Gracie Piscopo, 27, (left) has gone 'Instagram official' with her new boyfriend Daniel Cassin, 28, (right) - two months after her ex-boyfriend Andre Rebelo pled not guilty to murdering his own mother Daniel debuted Gracie on his Instagram feed on Tuesday while celebrating his birthday with a bottle of champaigne, finally confirming romance rumours that have been swirling since May He cryptically captioned the picture: 'Another bland and boring season coming to an end' followed by the wink emoji. Around the same time he shared an image of a candlelit dinner on his 'close friends' Instagram story - which appears to have been held inside Gracie's home. On June 20, Gracie shared a photo of herself celebrating her 27th birthday - with a man's hand around her waist. Daniel shared a post in May while out to lunch with a woman fans believed to be Gracie, with her designer handbag appearing to give her identity away Around the same time he shared an image of a candlelit dinner on his 'close friends' Instagram story - which appears to have been held inside Gracie's home Fans immediately began speculating the hand belonged to Daniel, with one commenting: 'That waist hug,' while another added, 'Look, the hand!' Last month, Daniel shared an photo of himself relaxing in a luxurious hotel suite with a woman, believed to be Gracie. Gracie's spokesperson had previously denied that the influencer was dating Daniel. On June 24, Daniel shared this photo of himself posing in the bathroom of a hotel with a woman who appeared to be Gracie On June 20, Gracie meanwhile shared a photo of herself celebrating her 27th birthday - with a man's hand around her waist It comes after Gracie's ex-boyfriend Andre Rebelo, 27, languishes in jail on murder charges. Andre, a crypto trader, was last year charged with murder after his mother Colleen Rebelo, 58, was found dead at her Bicton, Perth home on May 25, 2020. In June, Andre pleaded not guilty to murder, after spending the past six months behind bars following his arrest. Gracie's spokesperson had previously denied that the influencer was dating Daniel He had previously been charged with five counts of forging a document with intent to defraud. Rebelo is accused of forging medical records relating to his mother, including information requests, a death certificate and her final will. Her death was originally declared not suspicious with no obvious signs of injury, but the fraud investigation led to the more serious charge two years later. The influencer's boyfriend Andre Rebelo (right) was charged in November over the death of his mum Colleen, 58, in Perth in May, 2020 Gracie said she was in a 'complete state of shock and utter disbelief' when Andre's charges came to light. He has noticeably disappeared from her Instagram and Gracie has not been seen at his court appearances. Gracie shares four-year-old son Romeo with Andre. The latest season of Below Deck Down Under was rocked by a shocking sexual misconduct scandal this week that saw two cast members sacked from the popular reality series. And while the ship's bosun Luke Jones has taken all the heat from viewers, there was another crew member on board who also crossed boundaries. Laura Bileskalne, who was fired shortly after Luke, sparked outrage after climbing into crewmate Adam Kodra's bunkbed and trying to massage him. Adam had already told Laura multiple times that he wasn't interested in pursuing anything with her beyond a friendship, but the stubborn stewardess wouldn't take no for an answer and kept pursuing him. 'I'm not interested in Laura in the slightest,' Adam told producers. 'I've told her a million times, like I just wanna be friends, but it's just not getting the point across so I don't know what to do.' Below Deck Down Under star Laura Bileskalne was fired from the show alongside Luke Jones following a sexual misconduct scandal on this week's episode of the popular series Laura sparked outrage after climbing into crewmate Adam Kodra's bunkbed and trying to massage him after he'd told her that he wasn't interested in her romantically He added, 'It's a little awkward because we work together. She needs to stop that s**t.' After a night of drinking, Laura followed Adam into his cabin, despite the fact that he'd already rebuffed her advances and made it clear that she couldn't sleep in his bed. 'We need to close the door,' she pleaded while holding a tube of moisturiser in her hand. Once he climbed into the top bunk and tried to go to sleep, Laura started pawing at him before squeezing moisturiser on his back in an attempt to massage him. She then climbed up into the bunk, at which point producers intervened and ordered her to get down. 'Laura, I got a message from producers telling you to come down,' the cameraman informed her. Laura followed Adam into his cabin and crawled in the bunk to try and massage him, forcing a camerman to intervene 'Laura, I got a message from producers telling you to come down,' the cameraman informed her She then kept rubbing Adam's back, before a producer burst in and told her to 'step down' and go back to her own cabin. Laura crawled down, but not before leaning in to give an uninterested Adam a kiss on the cheek. This all happened shortly after Luke had been removed from Margot Sisson's cabin by producers after he crawled into bed with her, completely naked, while she was half-asleep after a heavy night of drinking. The following day, both Luke and Laura were sacked by Captain Jason Chambers. Laura had repeatedly thrown herself at Adam and he'd rebuffed her advances every time 'I'm not interested in Laura in the slightest,' Adam (pictured) told producers. 'I've told her a million times, like I just wanna be friends, but it's just not getting the point across so I don't know what to do' Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the Below Deck franchise has been embroiled in a sexual misconduct scandal. Last year, Below Deck Sailing Yacht caused firestorm on social media after a controversial sexual encounter between two cast members. Stewardess Ashley Marti had sex with the yacht's First Officer Gary King while he was highly intoxicated, which many viewers deemed 'inappropriate'. Things kicked off after the entire crew went out for a boozy dinner during their night off. Luke Jones was fired a few hours before Laura after he climbed into castmate Margot Sisson's bed while completely naked Producers rushed in to remove Luke from Margot's bed, as the stewardess was passed out after a heavy night of drinking Luke jumped out the bed naked and slammed the door on the crew When they returned to the yacht, Ashley and Gary decided to strip down and get into the jacuzzi together. They quickly started flirting, with Ashley giving Gary a foot massage as Chef Engineer Colin Macrae and 2nd stewardess Gabriela Barragan watched from a distance. 'Ashley is f***ing desperate for Gary,' commented Colin, while Gabby added: 'It's a game for her. She said that with her own mouth to me.' Things then escalated, with the pair sharing a kiss before Ashley started straddling Gary in the hot tub. Below Deck Sailing Yacht sparked outrage last year over an 'inappropriate' sexual encounter between stewardess Ashley Marti and Gary King (pictured together) The pair shocked their co-stars by getting steamy in a jacuzzi after a drunken night out, before heading downstairs for what was supposed to be a 'massage' Chief Engineer Colin Macrae (right) observed Ashley's pursuit of Gary as he watched the pair from the sidelines They then headed downstairs into a guest cabin, with Gary saying: 'Well, you said you were going to massage me. That's what I came down here for.' 'I am massaging you,' Ashley responded. 'I'm just so sorry I took my shirt off ... I want you to f**k me.' Slurring his words, Gary responded: 'Oh yeah? Go on then. Go on then.' Although the pair weren't on camera, the mics in the cabin picked up everything they said while a stationary camera filmed the closed door from the outside. The pair went to a guest cabin for a massage, but Ashley soon made her intentions for something more extremely clear Although the pair weren't on camera, the mics in the cabin picked up everything they said while a stationary camera filmed the closed door from the outside 'I thought I was getting a friendly massage,' Gary said, before Ashley giggled: 'You're f***ing inside of me right now. We're way past that.' At this point, Gary expressed that he wanted the encounter to end. 'Okay. Get it out,' he slurred. 'Okay we're not having sex, we're not having sex.' 'It's already in!' Ashley replied, as a drunken Gary continued to protest, 'no, no.' Once Gary realised that their pair were engaged in intercourse, he asked Ashley to end the encounter 'Okay. Get it out,' he slurred. 'Okay we're not having sex, we're not having sex' The next scene showed a shirtless Gary stumbling out of the cabin to head back to his own bunk, which he shares with Colin and chef Marcos Spaziani. 'I was getting a massage, and then I turned around, and she's stark as,' he told the boys. 'I couldn't help myself either,' he continued. 'I'm like, "I thought I came down here for a massage!" 'She's like, "You're half naked." I'm like, "I've got my pants on."' The next scene showed a shirtless Gary stumbling out of the cabin to head back to his own bunk, which he shares with Colin and chef Marcos Spaziani The next morning, Ashley came into Gary's bunk and he admitted that he couldn't recall what happened between them the previous night Speaking to producers about the situation, Ashley said: 'I went down to give him a back massage. That was the intention. And other things might have happened, but I don't want to get into the details of it all.' The next morning, Ashley came into Gary's bunk and he admitted that he couldn't recall what happened between them the previous night. 'I don't even remember getting back to the boat last night,' he moaned, clearly hungover. 'I came straight back to bed when I got back to the boat,' he said, as Ashley burst out laughing. 'You don't remember when she took you downstairs?' asked Marcos. 'Let's try not be that drunk because I want to be able to remember it and enjoy it,' Gary told Ashley the next day Gary told producers that he couldn't remember having sex with Ashley Speaking to producers, who asked him directly if he 'had sex with Ashley,' a confused Gary responded: 'I remember her giving me a massage and I thought we fell asleep.' A few hours later, Gary pulled Ashley aside to discuss the incident properly. 'I think if this is gonna happen again, let's try not be that drunk because I want to be able to remember it and enjoy it,' he said. Gary later discussed the events of the night with Chief Stewardess Daisy Kelliher Gary explained to Daisy that Ashley had told him she performed oral sex on him Later that day, the crew spent their day off at a nearby private pool, where Ashley admitted to Gary that she had performed oral sex on him. Speaking to producers, she then said: 'I don't understand how you can have no recollection whatsoever. Normally, everybody's just f***ing obsessed with me!' Gary then discussed the events of the night with Chief Stewardess Daisy Kelliher. Gary said that he was too intoxicated to remember having sex with Ashley He went on to share that he had drank too much, going as far as to call himself 'paralytically f***ed' 'She said today that she gave me a blowjob,' he explained. 'And then we f***ed and I didn't remember because we were too drunk. 'I was white girl wasted last night. That's not nice. That's not attractive at all. Who would want to have sex with me on a normal basis, let alone when I'm paralytically f***ed?' The incident sparked outrage on social media, with many viewers feeling like there was a double standard due around gender. Ashley discussed her night with Gary with some of her other cast members by the pool 'I don't understand how you can have no recollection whatsoever,' Ashley told producers 'If the situation was reversed with Ashley and Gary the internet would be screaming for justice,' tweeted one viewer. 'Imagine if Ashley said "we're not having sex, I came for a massage..." and Gary told her "oh well, it's already in." We'd be calling for his head,' said another. 'Im so annoyed and disgusted by Ashleys behavior. She is completely inappropriate with Gary,' fumed another. The same day her infamous microphone was auctioned off, Grammy winner Cardi B took to X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) to show off her natural waist-length locks seven years after beginning her 'healthy hair growth journey.' 'My hair has grown sooo much!' the Bronx-born 30-year-old - who boasts 276.1M social media followers - wrote on Tuesday. 'Let me know if y'all want a video [about] my homemade hair oil handmade by me!' Last year, Cardi (whose full name is Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar Cephus) told her fans that one of her tricks was boiling onions and using the 'odorless' water to wash her raven mane for extra shine. The Baby Shark's Big Movie actress tweeted snaps of herself as a child, teenager, and in her early 20s to prove how difficult it used to be for her to grow her hair despite being of mixed (half-Dominican, half-Trinidadian) heritage. Mermaid! Grammy winner Cardi B took to X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) to show off her natural waist-length locks seven years after beginning her 'healthy hair growth journey' The Bronx-born 30-year-old wrote: 'My hair has grown sooo much! Let me know if y'all want a video [about] my homemade hair oil handmade by me!' 'Everyone wants to blame my hair growing on genetics but where was the genetics when I was in school?' Cardi asked Wednesday. 'The facts are you need hair products and good care that works for you to maintain it and keep it healthy. Sometimes it's not even just about growth it's about keeping it healthy and the growth comes.' In 2021, the former stripper stressed that 'being mixed don't mean your hair is always long and curly' and claimed society 'tried to make us believe our hair won't grow this long' but 'it's not true.' 'A lot of hair products we used back then [weren't] good for our hair but that's all we had to choose from. Also we couldn't afford to get to the salon regularly, if at all,' Cardi mused. 'Now everybody is getting better options, making affordable good products, learning from natural hair YouTube and TikTok about how to care for our hair better. I want women of color with tighter curl patterns to know that you don't have "bad hair." There's no such thing as bad hair and "good" hair dont mean a certain texture. All hair is good.' The Cardi Tries producer-star also frequently dons colorful wigs and hairpieces coiffed by her hairstylist Mia (aka Tokyo Stylez) for shoots and concerts rather than damaging her own natural hair. Cardi's post came the same day Scott Fisher - the owner of the microphone she hurled into the crowd at Drai's Nightclub in Las Vegas on July 29 - scored $99,900 for two charities (Wounded Warrior Project and Friendship Circle Las Vegas) from the eBay auction. Last Thursday, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department cleared the Point Me 2 rapper on charges of battery against the fan who was accidentally struck by the microphone after it ricocheted away from the real water-splashing culprit - according to TMZ. 'Its been giving a shine to my hair': Last year, Cardi (whose full name is Belcalis Marlenis Almanzar Cephus) told her fans that one of her tricks was boiling onions and using the 'odorless' water to wash her raven mane 'This is me': The Baby Shark's Big Movie actress tweeted snaps of herself as a child, teenager, and in her early 20s to prove how difficult it used to be for her to grow her hair despite being of mixed (half-Dominican, half-Trinidadian) heritage Cardi wrote Wednesday: 'Everyone wants to blame my hair growing on genetics but where was the genetics when I was in school? The facts are you need hair products and good care that works for you to maintain it and keep it healthy. Sometimes it's not even just about growth it's about keeping it healthy and the growth comes' 'BTS': The former stripper also frequently dons colorful wigs and hairpieces coiffed by her hairstylist Mia aka Tokyo Stylez (L, pictured in July) for shoots and concerts rather than damaging her own natural hair Sold! Cardi's post came the same day Scott Fisher - the owner of the microphone she hurled into the crowd at Drai's Nightclub in Las Vegas on July 29 - scored $99,900 for two charities (Wounded Warrior Project and Friendship Circle Las Vegas) from the eBay auction Legal win: Last Thursday, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department cleared the Cardi Tries producer-star on charges of battery against the fan who was accidentally struck by the microphone after it ricocheted away from the real water-splashing culprit 'Jamie Lee Curtis is a real one': On Monday, Cardi's husband of five years - three-time Grammy nominee Offset (R) - appeared on Good Morning America where he revealed how he convinced Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis to play a TV reporter in his Jealousy music video The 31-year-old father-of-five marveled: 'So, how that happened is I DM'd Jamie Lee Curtis on Instagram and said, "Yo, I got an idea. I would love to work with you." She wrote me back so quickly. She was like, "Yeah, I got you, but you need to follow me." That's how I knew she was cool' 'Me and her got great energy': Offset (born Kiari Cephus) enlisted his famous wife for the track and subsequent music video, which dropped on July 27 The Migos alum gushed of the collaboration: 'We don't really put a lot of records out because we're very hard on each other about the records.' Party time! On September 4, Cardi and Offset will celebrate the second birthday of their son Wave Set Cephus (L, pictured July 10), and they're also parents of five-year-old daughter Kulture Kiari Cephus (R) And on Monday, Cardi's husband of five years - three-time Grammy nominee Offset - appeared on Good Morning America where he revealed how he convinced Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis to play a TV reporter in his Jealousy music video. 'Jamie Lee Curtis is a real one,' the 31-year-old father-of-five marveled. 'So, how that happened is I DM'd Jamie Lee Curtis on Instagram and said, "Yo, I got an idea. I would love to work with you." She wrote me back so quickly. She was like, "Yeah, I got you, but you need to follow me." That's how I knew she was cool.' Offset (born Kiari Cephus) enlisted his famous wife for the track and subsequent music video, which dropped on July 27. 'Me and her got great energy,' the Migos alum gushed of the collaboration. 'We don't really put a lot of records out because we're very hard on each other about the records.' On September 4, Cardi and Offset will celebrate the second birthday of their son Wave Set Cephus, and they're also parents of five-year-old daughter Kulture Kiari Cephus The Atlanta native has three older children - son Jordan Cephus, 13; son Kody Cephus, 8; and daughter Kalea Marie Cephus, 8 - with three different babymamas Oriel Jamie, Justine Watson, and Shya L'amour. Offset gushed: 'For my girls, I'm a softy. For the boys, I'm a disciplinarian because I know, like, "Boy, it's gonna be tough for you, no matter if you got money."' The hip-hop power couple - whose first date was at the 2017 Super Bowl - are still going strong despite separating from December 5, 2018 to January 31, 2019 amid cheating allegations. Sunrise star Natalie Barr was forced to think out of the box when she whipped up some delicious chicken skewers for her family dinner on Wednesday night. The breakfast host, 55, was trying out influential social media chef Jon Watts' Thai style chicken skewers recipe and posted a cooking tutorial-style video to her Instagram page. While things started out smoothly, she got stuck when she ran out of peanut sauce. The quick-thinking TV star decided to use some hazelnut butter instead, before adding Thai red curry paste. Natalie then threw in two tablespoons of soy sauce along with coconut milk. Natalie marinated the skewers and threaded them before realising she cut them too big, and also used breast instead of thigh meat like the recipe required. 'I've cut them too big. They said to make it bite-size,' she explained. 'I used chicken breast instead of thigh, I so think I made them too big.' Natalie turned the skewers a couple of times with barbecue tongs before declaring that the dish was smelling delicious. Sunrise star Natalie Barr was forced to think out of the box when she whipped up some delicious chicken skewers for her family dinner on Wednesday night While things started out smoothly, she got stuck when she ran out of peanut sauce. The quick-thinking TV star decided to use some hazelnut butter instead, before adding Thai red curry paste Jon Watt's Thai Style Chicken Satay Ingredients: 150 g Smooth peanut butter 100 g Thai red curry paste 2 tbsp Soy sauce 400 ml Coconut milk 500 g Chicken thigh fillets 10 g Parsley chopped Instructions: In a large bowl add the peanut butter, Thai red curry paste, soy sauce, and 50ml of the coconut milk. Beat until smooth. Transfer two thirds of it into a saucepan, add the remaining coconut milk and mix well. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces, then add it into the bowl of the remaining marinade and mix until its completely coated. Thread the marinated chicken onto 4 skewers. Heat some oil in a large pan, cook the chicken over a medium heat until they are golden brown all over and cooked through. Heat up the sauce, taste for seasoning, then add the chopped parsley and stir well. Plate up the chicken skewers with rice, then pour over the satay sauce. Advertisement Despite a few hiccups along the way, Natalie looked pleased with the results. It comes after the TV star revealed the shocking state of her oven in June during another cooking tutorial. As she opened up the oven to show how things were cooking, viewers got a 'great shot' of the horrendous mess at the bottom of the oven. Large clumps of burnt food and drips of brown oil sat in a drip tray beneath three racks. During the clip, the breakfast television co-host also revealed her very naughty sausage roll hack. She said she uses fresh sausage mince in the savoury pastries but rather than get her hands dirty, she puts her local butcher to work. 'The butcher took the mince out of the sausages and gave me a kilo and I just put in a couple of spices, salt and pepper and white bread,' she said. 'Add a bit of sauce and then roll it in pastry and bob's your uncle.' She then took viewers through the preparation steps including coating the pastries with egg whites and pricking each with a fork before she put them into the oven. The Western Australia native added the final stage was to initially cook the sausage rolls 'a little underdone' to ensure they were ready to be reheated later on. 'Then they will be perfect,' she cheerfully told her followers. Nat has gained a huge following since she began anchoring Sunrise in 2021, and in addition to food hacks she often shares her wardrobe and makeup secrets with fans. Natalie has gained a huge following since she began anchoring Sunrise in 2021, and in addition to food hacks she often shares her wardrobe and makeup secrets with fans Rob Lowe shocked many fans when he left NBC's hit series The West Wing after four seasons, at the height of its popularity, and now the actor is opening up about why he made that decision. Lowe, 59, played White House deputy communications director Sam Seaborn, and he was considered the lead of the show when it first debuted in 1999. However, the show's immense popularity ultimately lead to the network tinkering with the show extensively, leading to major changes to Seaborn's character. That ultimately lead to Lowe leaving the show after the fourth season, with series creator Aaron Sorkin and director/executive producer Thomas Schlamme leaving shortly thereafter, with the show running three more seasons until 2007. Lowe appeared on Stitcher's Podcrushed podcast last week, where he said that leaving the show was, 'the best thing I ever did' and comparing his time on the show to a, 'super unhealthy relationship.' Rob talks: Rob Lowe shocked many fans when he left NBC's hit series The West Wing after four seasons, at the height of its popularity, and now the actor is opening up about why he made that decision Rob as Sam: Lowe, 59, played White House deputy communications director Sam Seaborn, and he was considered the lead of the show when it first debuted in 1999 'I felt very undervalued. It happens in any workplace. You can be in an environment where people sandbag you, wanna see you fail, dont appreciate you whatever it is,' Lowe admitted. 'Whenever I share my stories, people are like, "I will never share my own stories again" because they would make your hair stand on end,' Lowe teased. The actor released a memoir entitled Stories I Only Tell My Friends, where he did share some tales from his time on The West Wing... though he admitted there were plenty he left out. 'I purposely didnt share half of the other ones because it would make the people involved look so bad that I didnt want to do it to them,' he said. 'I did not have a good experience and tried to make it work and tried to make it work and tried to make it work,' Lowe explained. He revealed the final straw wasn't a specific incident, though rather it had to do with his sons Matthew, 29, and John Owen, 27. 'What happened was my kids were getting to a certain age where I could see them having first girlfriends or friends and being in a relationship that was abusive and taking it,' Lowe said, comparing being on The West Wing to dating the 'popular girl at school.' 'Everybody likes her, shes beautiful, it must be great all the things that people would say about making The West Wing to me,' Lowe said. Undervalued: 'I felt very undervalued. It happens in any workplace. You can be in an environment where people sandbag you, wanna see you fail, dont appreciate you whatever it is,' Lowe admitted Stories: 'Whenever I share my stories, people are like, "I will never share my own stories again" because they would make your hair stand on end,' Lowe teased Stories: The actor released a memoir entitled Stories I Only Tell My Friends, where he did share some tales from his time on The West Wing... though he admitted there were plenty he left out Popular: 'What happened was my kids were getting to a certain age where I could see them having first girlfriends or friends and being in a relationship that was abusive and taking it,' Lowe said, comparing being on The West Wing to dating the 'popular girl at school' '"Its so popular, its so amazing, it must be amazing," but I know what its like and if I couldnt walk away from it then how could I empower my kids to walk away from it?' Lowe explained. 'I walked away from the most popular girl at school, but I also knew that it was a super unhealthy relationship and it was the best thing I ever did,' he said, adding he has, 'zero regrets' about his decision. Lowe added, 'What people forget is the minute I left, [creator] Aaron Sorkin left and then it wasnt The West Wing anymore.' 'It was ER in the White House, which is perfectly fine, but Im not interested in that,' he said, likely referring to John Wells taking over as showrunner for Sorkin, after spending a decade on ER. Sasha Pieterse says she gained 30 pounds in around a year as a teenager while dealing with PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome). 'When I turned, it was probably around 15-16, I started noticing a difference in just my metabolism in general,' the 27-year-old star said Wednesday on the podcast The Squeeze hosted by Taylor Lautner and his wife Taylor Dome. The Johannesburg, South Africa-born actress said that the weight gain commenced when she was 17. 'At 17, I gained 70 pounds in the year, for no reason,' said Pieterse, best known for playing Alison DiLaurentis on Pretty Little Liars and Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists. She said that at the time, 'There was no explanation for it.' The latest: Sasha Pieterse, 27, says she gained 30 pounds in around a year as a teenager while dealing with PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) The actress delved into medical detail about how she sought out answers from 'over 15 gynecologists' about her physical condition. 'I never had a regular period ever,' she said, 'and I was just always told by gynecologists that I was just young - like, "Don't worry, it'll regulate."' Pieterse said on the podcast that she was misled by some of her physicians into believing that the weight gain was the direct result of her actions. 'It was very, very confusing,' Pieterse said. 'It was the most frustrating experience and disheartening.' The Honor List actress said that 'things were actually getting worse rather than better' despite her trying everything in her power to combat the issue. 'No matter what I did, no matter how well I behave, no matter how great I treated my body,' she said. Help finally came in the form of an endocrinologist who was able to properly diagnose the cause of her illness as PCOS, a condition she was not aware of at first. 'I was like, "What's that?"' Pieterse said. 'I'd never heard of PCOS before. And it's a disease, it's not curable, it can be dormant.' Pieterse is best known for playing Alison DiLaurentis on Pretty Little Liars and Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists Pieterse said on the podcast that she was misled by some of her physicians into believing that the weight gain was the direct result of her actions, adding, 'It was very, very confusing' Help finally came in the form of an endocrinologist who was able to properly diagnose the cause of her illness as PCOS, a condition Pieterse was not aware of at first The actress, who is mother to son Hendrix, four, with spouse Hudson Sheaffer, 33, said she 'had a lot of those outward symptoms that everyone could see' Pieterse said that 'the most frustrating part about' her situation was that it was 'fairly easy to diagnose.' She added, 'It's a hormone imbalance. It's a hormone disease, and it's so easy to see because your testosterone or your estrogen will be really high, you'll have really low vitamin D levels, you'll be deficient in a lot of things.' She said that symptoms can drastically vary from person to person, including weight gain, growth of hair, ovarian cysts or gastrointestinal problems. The actress, who is mother to son Hendrix, two, with spouse Hudson Sheaffer, 33, said she 'had a lot of those outward symptoms that everyone could see.' Just a day after supporting her BFF Taylor Swift at her penultimate Los Angeles concert, Selena Gomez offered a rather busty selfie for her fans. The 31-year-old actress took to Instagram on Wednesday evening, showing off a tank top selfie with her 427 million followers. Gomez had her auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail, while sporting a baby blue tank top showing off her busty figure. Her Instagram story post came just under a day after she took her 10-year-old half-sister Gracie to her BFF Taylor Swift's fifth Los Angeles performance at SoFi Stadium. The actress also took to her Instagram story sharing a snap of the several beaded bracelets she traded with, Gomez adding, 'Thank you to the fans that traded with me.' Selena's selfie: Just a day after supporting her BFF Taylor Swift at her penultimate Los Angeles concert, Selena Gomez offered a rather busty selfie for her fans Selena and Grace: Her Instagram story post came just under a day after she took her 10-year-old half-sister Gracie to her BFF Taylor Swift's fifth Los Angeles performance at SoFi Stadium She also shared a black-and-white selfie showing off her concert attire - a backwards black trucker's cap with a black hoodie featuring several images of Swift. 'Another one..' the photo was captioned, referring to Gomez attending the Eras Tour stop in Arlington, Texas at AT&T Stadium four months earlier. Gomez later uploaded a clip that showed Taylor performing the track titled, Lover, from her album of the same name. The video began with a shot of the stage but then quickly panned over to show the actress hugging her sister, Gracie. The former Disney channel star held a smile on her face as she sang along to the lyrics of the track while also gently swaying back and forth. Selena also took time to pause for a memorable photo with a few of her close pals that also attended the concert. Selena had shared a post at the time to commemorate the night, and penned in the caption, 'Thank you bestie for having me and my sissy transport into your mystical, euphoric, and special world. Proud to know you! love you forever and always.' Taylor and Gomez first crossed paths in 2008 when they were each dating a Jonas brother: Swift briefly dated Joe Jonas while Selena dated Nick that same year. During a past interview with KISS FM UK, the actress opened up about developing a friendship with Taylor after meeting in 2008. Close pals: Selena also took time to pause for a memorable photo with a few of her close pals that also attended the concert First: Taylor and Gomez first crossed paths in 2008 when they were each dating a Jonas brother: Swift briefly dated Joe Jonas while Selena dated Nick that same year Opening up: During a past interview with KISS FM UK , the actress opened up about developing a friendship with Taylor after meeting in 2008 Amazing: 'It was amazing, because [Taylor] was the girl with the big curly hair and all the bracelets and the cowboy boots. And I was definitely up-and-coming and we just clicked,' she expressed. 'It was the best thing we got out of those relationships' 'It was amazing, because [Taylor] was the girl with the big curly hair and all the bracelets and the cowboy boots. And I was definitely up-and-coming and we just clicked,' she expressed. 'It was the best thing we got out of those relationships.' In 2014, the actress reflected on her long-lasting friendship with the Cruel Summer songstress while talking to E! News. 'When your life changes ... you become thrust into this really strange whirlwind where what your life is is different from what other people think your life is,' the star expressed to the outlet. 'And your life is commented on and your life is written about and fictionalized and all that. Both of us have kind of stuck it out and hung in there through all the different changes weve gone through.' The NLC alleged that Mr Gbajabiamila refused to hold a negotiation meeting with them, a development that makes demands of the NLC to be delayed. The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC ) has said the negotiation committee of the federal government deliberating on how to cushion the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy is not capable of looking into the demands of Nigerian workers. The federal government committee negotiating with the organised labour on how to mitigate the hardship of removal of fuel subsidy is led by Mr Tinubu's Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila. The organised labour said Mr Gbajabiamila refused to hold a negotiation meeting with them, a development that makes demands of the NLC to be delayed. The National President of NLC, Joe Ajaero, made this known when he met with the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and other principal officers of the Senate at the National Assembly on Tuesday. Festus Osifo of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) was also at the meeting. The meeting is coming six days after members of the NLC occupied the complex of the National Assembly to protest against the hardship inflicted on Nigerians as a result of the removal of petroleum subsidy. They demanded that the federal government reverse the removal of petroleum subsidy for them to have a meaningful life. Ali Ndume, the chief whip of the Senate, who addressed the protesting workers pleaded for a seven-day ultimatum for the Senate to intervene in their demands. At the meeting with the leadership of the Senate, the NLC National president stressed that demands of Nigerian workers are getting delayed because the chief of staff to the president refuses to create time for the labour leaders to deliberate on the demands. "Part of our challenge is the issue of the committee put in place. The committee seems not to be capable. As labour, we are done with negotiation and engagement with the government from the time of Ikaite, as SGF, kingibe, Pius Ayim and Boss Mustapha. "At no time had the chief of staff to the president who is very busy called to negotiate or lead negotiations. And that has delayed the issues, even since after our protest, another meeting has not reconvened. Although, the president promised that he will restructure the mechanism of engagement with the government to help things to be treated fast," Mr Ajaero said. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Nigeria Governance Labour By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. The labour leader also complained that the committee set up by Mr Tinubu to deliberate on the increase of minimum wage is yet to sit and commence its meetings. "We had agreed on a wage award, and up till this moment the committee on wage award is yet to sit, "he said. Palliatives Mr Ajaero urged the leadership of the Senate to supervise and encourage the federal government to distribute the N8,000 palliative to the right beneficiaries. He also urged the government to create another data for distribution of the palliative to beneficiaries to capture more vulnerable households. "Nothing is yet to happen on the issue of $800 million projected to be borrowed, we have not perfected the list of the people who will benefit from it. "We should not follow the record that was used in 2019 because we've our doubts on that record. And no indices have been put forward to dictate those that are termed poor." The senate president while responding, appreciated the leadership of the organised labour for engaging the Senate. Mr Akpabio promised that the Senate will intervene and that the demands of Nigerian workers will be met by the federal government. Ines de Ramon kept it casual yet stylish on Wednesday while out and about in Los Angeles without boyfriend Brad Pitt. The 32-year-old jewelry designer wore a thin white sweater along with blue jeans while running errands. Ines completed her casual look with black shoes and accessorized with black sunglasses and a golden pendant necklace. She had her dark hair parted down the middle and straight down around her shoulders. Ines also carried a black purse and a beverage. Casual style: Ines de Ramon looked effortlessly stylish on Wednesday while out and about in Los Angeles without boyfriend Brad Pitt Brad, 59, and Ines were first linked together last November and they were later spotted celebrating his birthday in December and also spent New Years Eve together. Ines and ex-husband Paul Wesley, 41, separated in September 2022 after getting married in 2019. Paul portrays James T. Kirk on the Paramount+ series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and previously starred as Stefan Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries from 2009 to 2017. He filed for divorce from Ines in February citing 'irreconcilable differences'. Paul after splitting from Ines was romantically linked with model Natalie Kuckenburg, 23. He was previously married to TV actress Torrey DeVitto, 39. Brad spent time this summer in Europe where he was filming a Formula One movie until production was put on hold due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. He was previously linked to Emily Ratajkowski and Nicole Poturalski in the years since his split from Angelina Jolie, 48, in 2016. Brad and Angelina are parents to six children. They have sons Maddox, 21, and Pax, 19, twins Knox and Vivienne, 15, as well as daughters Shiloh, 17, and Zahara, 18. Running errands: The 32-year-old jewelry designer wore a thin white sweater along with blue jeans while running errands Going strong: Brad Pitt, 59, and Ines, shown in March in New York, were first linked together last November and they were later spotted celebrating his birthday in December and also spent New Years Eve together Hollywood star: Brad, shown in January in Paris, was previously linked to Emily Ratajkowski and Nicole Poturalski in the years since his split from Angelina Jolie, 48, in 2016 Racing movie: The actor spent time this summer in Europe where he was filming a Formula One movie, shown in July in England, until production was put on hold due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike Angelina filed for divorce in 2016 after an incident on a plane trip from France to California. A court in April 2019 declared Angelina and Brad legally single. Brad was previously married to actress Jennifer Aniston, 54, from 2000 until 2005. Angelina was previously married to actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton before marrying Brad. British bombshell Rosie Huntington-Whiteley carried her 18-month-old daughter Isabella 'Bella' James Statham after stopping by Go Greek Yogurt in Beverly Hills with a group of friends on Wednesday. The 36-year-old CAA Fashion model - whose style has changed since motherhood - was wearing a white long-sleeve maxi-dress with white-and-blue Adidas sneakers for the family outing. Missing from Rosie's side was her fiance of seven years Jason Statham, whom she originally met at a party in London circa early 2009. 'In my twenties, I was drawn to a lot more print, there were lots of florals, frills and lace my style was much more bohemian in a way. I wore a lot of short shorts, a lot of hats and a lot of cowboy boots,' Huntington-Whiteley told Harper's Bazaar UK in June. 'The other day, I got a load of my clothing shipped from my storage unit in LA Jason came into my dressing room, and he was so surprised, he couldn't believe that I used to dress like that. There was so much color, so many sequins. I've kept a lot of it because I thought maybe one day Bella might like it really, but I wouldn't wear that stuff now.' Precious cargo! British bombshell Rosie Huntington-Whiteley carried her 18-month-old daughter Isabella 'Bella' James Statham after stopping by Go Greek Yogurt in Beverly Hills with a group of friends on Wednesday 'I've kept a lot of clothes because I thought maybe one day Bella might like it': The 36-year-old CAA Fashion model - whose style has changed since motherhood - was wearing a white long-sleeve maxi-dress with white-and-blue Adidas sneakers for the family outing The Rose Inc. founder said that after she welcomed her first child - six-year-old son Jack Oscar Statham - she started gravitating towards nineties minimalism. 'I really do not have a ton of clothes. I invest in pieces that I wear again and again, year after year, and I avoid anything too seasonal,' Rosie noted. 'I don't have time to faff in the morning getting dressed and deciding what to wear I used to spend ages doing that before I had kids, and it was definitely very fun now, I just think, "What is going to make me look halfway decent in 10 minutes?"' Back in 2018, Huntington-Whiteley said she and the 56-year-old Englishman were just waiting for their son Jack to get older before planning their long-delayed wedding. 'We definitely talk about it. We're looking forward to that time. It's also not a huge priority for us. We're so happy,' the Marks & Spencer collaborator told Extra. 'I think it will be fun to do it when the baby's grown up a bit and he can be involved in the wedding.' Career-wise, Rosie - who started modeling at age 15 -launched her company Rose Inc. in 2017 as a beauty publication before branching out into selling skincare and cosmetics in 2021. Meanwhile, Jason executive produced and reprised his role as veteran diver Jonas Taylor in Ben Wheatley's $139M-budget dismally-reviewed shark sequel Meg 2: The Trench, which has amassed $152.8M globally since hitting UK/US theaters last Friday. Statham will next executive produce and reprise his role as The Expendables' knife expert Lee Christmas in Scott Waugh's $100M-budget four-quel Expend4bles, which hits UK/US theaters September 22. The two-hour and 44-minute action flick also stars Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson, Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Jacob Scipio, Levy Tran, and Andy Garcia. Still going strong! Missing from Rosie's side was her fiance of seven years Jason Statham (L, pictured July 23), whom she originally met at a party in London circa early 2009 'I just think, "What is going to make me look halfway decent in 10 minutes?"' Huntington-Whiteley said that after she welcomed her first child - six-year-old son Jack Oscar Statham (pictured July 23) - she started gravitating towards nineties minimalism 'It's not a huge priority for us': Back in 2018, the Rose Inc. founder said she and the 56-year-old Englishman were just waiting for their son Jack to get older before planning their long-delayed wedding (pictured May 21) 'A quick touch-up between takes!' Career-wise, Rosie - who started modeling at age 15 -launched her company Rose Inc. in 2017 as a beauty publication before branching out into selling skincare and cosmetics in 2021 (pictured Wednesday) Witness Number 3 was released last year on Channel 5, but has had a renaissance after its recent Netflix debut. But TV fans who have sat down to watch the drama on the streaming giant are warning fellow would-be viewers against watching it alone . The UK crime show is about single mother Jodie - played by Nina Toussaint-White - having her life thrown into turmoil after seeing a killer and his victim moments before the murder. One user reacted to the show on Twitter by saying: 'If youre watching witness number 3 on Netflix do NOT watch it alone like I have.' Another asked: 'Has anyone watched Witness Number 3 on Netflix? Im just starting ep2 & its freaking me.' Do not watch alone: Netflix viewers have warned fans against watching the platform's new series, Witness Number 3, on their own Lead: Nina Toussaint-White stars in the show, as a single mother whose life is put in danger after a chance sighting of a killer and his victim together just before the crime That being said, many of them and others did so while urging people to watch the four-part series if they can. After Nina goes to the police, it becomes apparent that dark forces are at play, aiming to ensure her silence in a plot that has viewers 'hooked' across the four 45-minute episodes. It leaves you wondering how far you would go to do the right thing. One viewer recommended it saying: 'If youre into crime & in need of something to watch, Witness Number 3 on Netflix is ace. 'Ive watched half of it tonight and terrified to watch the next tomorrow.' In a similar vein, someone posted in the early hours of the morning that it 'wasn't the best idea' to say up watching the crime drama. But many were unambiguous in their recommendations, describing Diarmuid Goggins' series as 'soooo good' and 'well worth a watch' with a 'great ending.' Witness Number 3 -first released in July 2022 - also features Sue Johnstone and Ruaridh Mollica. Turmoil: Nina's character, Jodie, finds her life under threat by people trying to ensure her silence after she goes to the police Radio star Ray Hadley commemorated his 150th consecutive radio survey win in Sydney on Thursday with a host of his A-List media friends. Ray looked dashing on the day in a navy blue suit paired with a white shirt. The 2GB presenter decided to forego a tie at the event, which was held at Luke Mangan's Glass Brasserie at the Hilton. The media veteran, 68, looked to be in good spirits as he greeted colleague Ben Fordham and ARLC chairman Peter Vlandys. They were joined by legendary racecaller Johnny Tapp, journalists Peter Overton and Ken Sutcliffe. Radio star Ray Hadley commemorated his 150th consecutive radio survey win in Sydney on Thursday with a host of his A-List media friends. Pictured Ray looked dashing on the day in a navy blue suit paired with a white shirt. The 2GB presenter decided to forego a tie at the event, which was held at Luke Mangan's Glass Brasserie at the Hilton. Pictured: Johnny Tapp (centre) and Ben Fordham (right) Also in attendance was Ray's beautiful wife Sophie, who looked picture perfect in a stunning floral ensemble paired with a stylish pink handbag. The radio titan told Daily Mail Australia at the event he has a lot of faith in the work ethic of younger generations, following his monumental win. 'Tony Abbott once said we have leaners and lifters, but I think we have more lifters than leaners, and I think the young generation in the main are a generation of lifters,' he said. 'We're in safe hands in regards to that. Most of the young people I count are hard workers and productive people.' Hadley, whose contract runs until the end of 2026, went on to reveal what his future holds. 'Peace and quiet!' he joked. 'I don't want to go on longer than I should or [have] someone tapping me on the shoulder when I'm 74 saying, "Mate, you've had your time". 'I've got other interests. I've got a fantastic wife, five grandchildren, and one on the way 'I'd like to play a more active role in their lives, which I could do if I'm not working.' Also in attendance was Ray's beautiful wife Sophie, who looked picture perfect in a stunning floral ensemble paired with a stylish pink handbag. Both pictured Ray was also joined by Peter Overton (far left) and Ken Sutcliffe (right) Back in May, Hadley secured a $10 million contract with Sydney's 2GB and Brisbane's 4BC after signing with the stations until 2026. Hadley revealed the news of his contract extension following speculation about the veteran broadcaster's future. 'After sitting down with Tom Malone [Nine Radio's managing director] over an extended period, and then gaining the support of my wife Sophie, I decided to accept an offer to extend my current deal,' Hadley said. 'I'm looking forward to the next three years as much as I've enjoyed the past 22 years at 2GB.' 'I'm also excited to be back at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 my 7th Olympics and again, I'll be the lead commentator at the swimming and track and field (for Nine Radio). The broadcaster was famously offered a job on radio while working as a cab driver after giving the news director a ride in the 1980s. Since then, he's become one of the nation's most trusted media personalities, and has gone on to win 150 consecutive morning radio surveys on Sydney's 2GB. 'People quite often denigrate cab drivers. I am referred to as an ex-cabbie as if it's some sort of an embarrassment. But there is no mistaking if I hadn't driven that cab on that Tuesday night, I wouldn't be talking to you right now,' Hadley told Media Week. With the second season drawing to a close, the ninth episode of And Just Like That... saw some major developments for the ladies of New York. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) makes a huge decision about her relationship with Aidan after an apartment crisis. And as Carrie's new relationship reaches a major milestone, another fresh romance heats up between two core characters. Elsewhere, Lisa has some big news for husband Herbert, dropping the bombshell at a major moment in his new political career. As for the other New Yorkers, Nya has taken the plunge with Tinder and Anthony is beginning to get cold feet with his own hot hookup - Giuseppe. Milestones: With the second season drawing to a close, the ninth episode of And Just Like That... saw some major developments for the ladies of New York Uh oh: It's revealed at the beginning of the episode that Aidan and Carrie are being kicked out of Che's apartment for violating the building's guest policy The episode opens with Carrie and Aidan reunited in New York at Che's apartment after another week apart. It's revealed that Carrie's trip to her beau's Virginia farm at the close of last week's episode saw her meet Aidan's three sons, but she's still worried about the impression she made on the teenagers. 'The boys say hey, wanna know when you're coming back,' Aidan tells her. 'Even Wyatt, because he was not buying what I was selling,' asks Carrie. 'He's 14 plus he's a little tricky. He's only known you for a week, don't take it personally.' Their catch-up is interrupted though when a note is pushed under the door telling the couple they have violated the guest limit policy for the building. 'Now we have nowhere to live!' Carrie exclaims before once again trying to get Aidan to agree to set foot in her apartment, only to be met with a firm 'nope.' Meanwhile, Seema is seen showing her new client Ravi around some luxury rentals, with the viewing ending swiftly as she confronts the 'cut-rate Spielberg' for his disinterest in her listings. 'What exactly is your problem? Three weeks of showing you the best' she fumes. Heating up: revealed that Carrie's trip to her beau's Virginia farm at the close of last week's episode saw her meet Aidan's three sons, but she's still worried about the impression she made Evicted: 'Now we have nowhere to live!' Carrie exclaims before once again trying to get Aidan to agree to set foot in her apartment, only to be met with a firm 'nope' 'Here's the plot twist, if I had taken the best three weeks ago I wouldn't have had these wonderful afternoons with you,' Ravi responds. 'That's very romantic I thought you only made action movies?' teases Seema. 'Oh you want action?' he flirts back before the couple have a very racy hook up at the apartment. Over in Brooklyn Miranda is trying to find out what son Brady's next steps are as he continues to work at dad Steve's bar. The concerned mom tells him: 'You need to figure out your path,' only for Brady to point out: 'You didn't figure out your path until you were 56.' Later, Miranda enlists Charlotte to get her daughter Lily to motivate him, as she exclaims: 'My only child is making French fries for a living.' Over at Lisa and Herbert's, Lisa is feeling overworked helping with Herbert's campaign and working on her new film. 'You can't burn the candles at both ends, we're old now,' Herbert tells her as she heads to bed early. New friend: Che is also getting some action. They are recognised at the animal shelter, enjoying a flirt as new pal Toby asks about their plans to get back into comedy Raunchy: Nya is enjoying a steamy Tinder hook up while roommate Miranda tries to sleep Nya meanwhile has plenty of energy, enjoying a steamy Tinder hook up while roommate Miranda tries to sleep. Che is also getting some action. They are recognised at the animal shelter, enjoying a flirt as new pal Toby asks about their plans to get back into comedy. Che also agrees to rehouse lost kittens that Toby has bought in, and brings one back to Carrie's apartment. 'I can't have a kitty without a home, I already have an Aidan without a home,' Carrie insists, prompting Che to ask 'what the hell happened in here?' 'A lot of stuff happened in here, he just got really hurt,' a despondent Carrie tells them. Seema brings Ravi for dinner with Carrie and Aidan, with the director proving to be a big hit. She tells Carrie in the bathroom though that 'he's so wrong for me.' Carrie insists 'he can't stop looking at you'. 'New topic,' Carrie says, 'I had an epiphany I'm ready to sell my apartment and move on but it has to be something truly, truly special. Worth giving up my jewel box for.' New home? Later, Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte tour a potential new apartment. 'It's extravagant I know but I figured there's me and Aidan and Aidan has three kids' Questions: As Charlotte and Miranda question if she is sure about selling her beloved apartment, Carrie muses: 'It hit me the other day why am I holding onto it?' Later, Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte tour a potential new apartment at Gramercy Park. 'It's extravagant I know but I figured there's me, there's Aidan and there's me and Aidan and Aidan has three kids. Plus I just have a lot of clothes,' she gushes. As Charlotte and Miranda question if she is sure about selling her beloved apartment, Carrie muses: 'It hit me the other day why am I holding onto it? For what? The man I love won't set foot in there, it's time.' While at the viewing, Carrie gets a phone call from Aidan's ex wife Kathy who wants to meet up after they got on well during Carrie's trip to Virginia. Miranda meanwhile heads back to Steve and Brady's after Nya's sex-capades force her out of home to get a shower, only to run into a half-dressed Lily in the hallway. She breaks the news that Lily and Brady are hooking up to a shocked Charlotte, who declares: 'they're like cousins!' Later, talking to Harry Charlotte questions 'what it means? Was it a one-time thing? Are they a couple now? And if they are, we all know that someone's gonna get hurt.' 'When they do break up it's gonna make things awkward between me and Miranda! No matter how you slice it, this doesn't end well. Unless they get married! They would have the most beautiful red-headed, Chinese-Jewish babies.' Caught in the act: Miranda meanwhile heads back to Steve and Brady's after Nya's sex-capades force her out of home to get a shower, only to run into a half-dressed Lily Awkward: She breaks the news that Lily and Brady are hooking up to a shocked Charlotte, who declares: 'they're like cousins!' Shock: Later, talking to Harry Charlotte questions 'what it means? Was it a one-time thing? Are they a couple now? And if they are, we all know that someone's gonna get hurt.' Doubts: Anthony tells Carrie he is ending it with Giuseppe as he suspects he's after a Green Card Smitten? At Herbert's party, held at Charlotte's apartment, Brady comes with Miranda so he can meet up with Lily Surprise! Lisa meanwhile is late for Herbert's speech at the party prompting a furious argument right before he takes the stage, only for her to break the news that she is pregnant At Herbert's party later, held at Charlotte's apartment, Brady comes with Miranda so he can meet up with Lily. Miranda and Charlotte spy on them, only for Charlotte to decide to leave them to it, telling Miranda: 'I had a lot of sex that my mother didn't know about and everything turned out alright, so no, I don't wanna know.' Across the party, Anthony tells Carrie he is ending it with Giuseppe as he suspects he's after a Green Card. He confronts him, telling him: 'Why else would a breathtaking young man like you be chasing after someone like me?' The hunky poet assures him he has dual citizenship and the two end up together in the bathroom. Just as she's about to take the next step with Aidan, Carrie appears to backtrack on her comment last week about Big being 'a big mistake' as she tells Charlotte's boss Mark about her 'wonderful marriage to a wonderful man which ended far too soon.' Lisa meanwhile is late for Herbert's speech at the party prompting a furious argument right before he takes the stage, only for her to break the news that she is pregnant. And there's another shock pregnancy, as after another Tinder hookup, Nya is scrolling Instagram and sees, to her despair, that her ex Andre is expecting a baby with his new girlfriend. At the end of the episode Carrie meets up with Aidan's ex wife Kathy who reveals her reason for wanting to meet is to ask her not to write about her sons. 'You will be spending more time with them, and they will give you a lot of material,' she tells her. Warning: At the end of the episode Carrie meets up with Aidan's ex wife Kathy who reveals her reason for wanting to meet is to ask her not to write about her sons Carrie promises not to use the boys as material, and also tells Kathy about her new, bigger apartment and how there will be room for them there. 'I know your history with Aidan and you can't hurt him again because it's not just Aidan now, it's my boys,' Kathy cautions. Later, Carrie reveals the new apartment to Aidan, telling him: 'There's plenty of room for you and three other Virginians you might want to bring up sometime.' She brings up Kathy's warning, telling him: 'She tells me I can never hurt you again, what do you think about that?' 'I think that this is now, different time, different place. I mean are you going to hurt me? Of course. And I'll hurt you and we'll mix it up and get pissy and work it out,' he declares. New home: Later, Carrie reveals the new apartment to Aidan, telling him: 'There's plenty of room for you and three other Virginians you might want to bring up sometime' Happily ever after: 'I know I want to be with you, and I want everything that goes with that,' Carrie tells him as she lets go of their past 'Because life is short and we deserve to be happy. That's what I think.' 'I know I want to be with you, and I want everything that goes with that,', Carrie agrees. The closing scene sees Carrie returning to her old apartment and greeting her neighbor who asks her 'can you imagine anyone ever wanting to leave this place?' The question prompts Carrie to call Seema and tell her she will take the new apartment, with the voiceover declaring: 'And just like that I went up the stairs of my old apartment without looking back.' January 2021: The beginning of the end Gruffudd filed for divorce in March 2021, shortly after Evans claimed on social media that her husband of 14 years was walking out on her and their two daughters. October 2021: Ioan goes public with his new love After Evans' explosive announcement about her split all seemed to quieten down until October 2021 when she took to Twitter to claim to her 29,000 followers that her estranged husband had been cheating on her for three years with a much younger woman. Evans implied that her ex had gaslighted her for years, betraying her and their two daughters (but did not offer any evidence to support her accusation). February 2022: Ioan files for a restraining order against Alice After months of pointed tweets and social media posts made by Evans, Gruffudd responded by filing for a restraining order, submitting 113 pages of unhinged texts and emails that had not previously been made public. In his court filing, Gruffudd claimed he told Evans that he wanted out of the marriage in August 2020 and that since then, she had harassed him with hundreds of unanswered text messages, abusive emails and social media posts - many of which he included in the filing. He claimed she verbally threatened to tell the media he had abused her 'do what Amber Heard did to Johnny Depp'. Inside the most bitter divorce in Hollywood: A look back at Alice Evans and Ioan Gruffudd's shock slanging match (pictured in 2004) June 2022: Alice begs fans for money to pay for a divorce lawyer As their divorce proceedings entered its 15th month, Evans claimed to be 'completely out of money for food and bills.' She claimed she would receive no financial support from Gruffudd and that she was struggling to pay her legal fees and would be unable to 'feed or clothe' their daughters with her dwindling funds. July 2022: Ioan asks for joint custody of daughters After Evans filed for sole custody of their daughters, Gruffudd filed for custody and visitation rights to see his children, claiming in the filing that Evans had been purposely trying to cut communication between himself and the children. He also petitioned that the girls attend in-person therapy and reunification therapy via zoom with him pending court-ordered mediation about custody. In the filing, Gruffudd reiterated allegations that Evans had been verbally abusing during their 14-year marriage, and 'undermin[ing him] in front of the girls throughout their lives.' August 2022: Ioan gets a three-year restraining order against Alice Having previously been awarded a temporary restraining order against his estranged wife, Gruffudd successfully obtained a three-year restraining order against Evans in August 2022. Harsher restrictions were put in place by a US judge, including a ruling preventing Alice from leaking private text messages from their children. In the court documents, Gruffudd claimed Evans continued to cause him issues and wanted additional provisions added to the existing restraining order. He also requested Evans not post his text messages or any other communications to the parties children, or the childrens text messages or any other communications to Ioan, on any social media account. Gruffudd also asked for the judge to order Evans not to contact his employer or make disparaging statements about him to his employers. October 2021: Ioan went public with his new love Bianca Wallace, posting a picture with the Australian actress who is 21 years younger than Alice September 2022: Ioan and Alice's child custody battle hits a wall Two months after Gruffudd filed for joint custody of his two daughters and asked for custody and visitation rights, the exes failed to settle their differences in family court, despite the help of a mediator. Court documents showed the exes meeting was set for 31 August and that mediation had taken place but that 'no agreement' had been reached. The document went on to confirm that that both Gruffudd and Evans had completed the mandatory Our Children First program. The Superior Court of Los Angeles states of the program that: 'Parents are required by law to attend a mediation orientation/parent education program and a mediation session prior to appearing at an Order to Show Cause or Trial regarding the custody and/or visitation of their children.' November 2022: Alice is reported to police over claims of 'child abuse' and drug use Amid her ongoing custody battle, Evans claimed that someone called social services and the police on her with concerns over child abuse and drug and drink use. The actress took to Twitter to allege that someone had sent authorities to her property who then found 'absolutely no signs of abuse' and 'no drugs or drink'. July 2022: Ioan asked for joint custody of their daughters Ella, 13 and Elsie, nine, claiming Alice had been trying to cut communication between himself and the children (pictured in 2018 February 2023: Child custody agreement is stalled again after Alice is charged with 'violating restraining order' Evans appeared in court in February 2023 to answer two charges of violating a restraining order that was put in place by her estranged husband. The warring former couple were scheduled to appear later that month at a custody hearing but Evans asked for a postponement. Her attorney, Marie LaMolinara, argued that testimony Alice gives at the custody hearing could be used against her in her later criminal trial, which would violate her right, under the 5th Amendment, not to incriminate herself. March 2023: Charges against Alice are dropped Prosecutors in Los Angeles dropped charges against Evans who had been accused of defying a restraining order the Welsh actor has against her. Evans had pleaded not guilty to two counts of violating the order and at a hearing at LA's Airport Courthouse, Commissioner James Cooper dismissed the charges after prosecutors told the court they were 'unable to proceed.' At a follow-up hearing, Evans' attorney, public defender, Daniel Stefanic, filed a motion asking for a ruling that would declare her 'factually innocent' of the charges. August 2022: Ioan successfully obtained a three-year restraining order against Alice that banned her from mentioning him or his girlfriend on social media (Ioan and Bianca pictured May 2022) May 2023: Alice moves out of $2million family home as ex Ioan is 'too poor' to pay for it Evans and her children moved out of her family home and into a rented abode with their two daughters after Gruffudd pleaded with a court to allow the home to be sold, saying he didn't have the money to keep up with mortgage payments for his family following their split in 2021. The Fantastic Four star told a court in a document filed last year that neither he nor Evans could afford the $6,750 a month in mortgage payments, insurance and property tax. He said he'd had just one paid job in the past year and was so poor he was relying on handouts from his young girlfriend. May 2023: Ella, 13, applies for a restraining order against dad Ioan and his girlfriend Bianca The teenage daughter of Evans and Gruffudd asked for a restraining order against her famous father and his girlfriend in documents filed on May 31 at the Los Angeles Superior Court. In the documents, Ella stated that she is 'afraid' of her father and accuses him of 'threatening to call the police on her anytime she misbehaves' during their visitations. Ella filed for a domestic violence restraining order against her father following what she said was an ugly incident at their home, during which she claims Bianca 'slammed a door on her head'. In her filing against her father, Ella requested that he be made to keep at least 100 yards away from her and not contact her for five years and asks that Gruffudd be ordered to undergo a '52-week batterer intervention program'. The program, which involves weekly classes, is intended - the document states - to 'stop abuse, teach accountability, abuse effects, and gender roles'. Ella requested that the restraining order also cover her nine-year-old sister Elsie, noting that she 'lives with her sister and is afraid that [Ioan] will abuse and/or continue to allow abuse to happen to my sister too'. She also asked that her father be made to pay 'for some or all of her lawyer's fees and costs' and requests that her phone account and that of her sister Elsie's be transferred to their mother, alleging that Gruffudd has 'threatened to cancel my sister's phone account and my phone account'. Along with her domestic restraining order filing, Ella included a declaration as evidence to support her case, in which she shared her recollection of a bitter spat that she claims took place while she and her nine-year-old sister Elsie were visiting their father's home on May 26. Ella admitted that she was 'so mad' at her father to find that Wallace was at his apartment when she arrived that she began throwing food on his bed, on the floor, and on him, before she attempted to flee the apartment - which, she says, is when the actress 'slammed a door on her head', leaving her with 'a small bump' and a 'bruise on her arm'. May 2023: The teenage daughter of Alice and Ioan asked for a restraining order against her famous father and his girlfriend in documents filed on May 31 (Alice and Ella pictured) June 2023: Ioan accuses Alice of abusing him via fake Twitter accounts In court documents seen by MailOnline, Gruffudd claimed his estranged wife screamed at him outside his Los Angeles home and called him a 'f***ing abuser' and 'abusive c***' in front of their 13-year-old daughter. Gruffudd also claimed Evans repeatedly broken a three-year restraining order he took out against her which has resulted in criminal charges - and flashed him while wearing no underwear when their children were being dropped off. The bombshell papers also contained claims from Gruffudd that: Evans has made 'thousands of false, threatening and harassing posts' about him; Evans claims to be home-schooling Ella, but has 'provided no information'; Evans has interfered with the girls' therapy and they are missing appointments; and Ella poured rolled oats from a bag over his head, which left him 'in shock'. July 2023: Ioan and Alice are declared legally divorced In a court order handed down in LA Superior Court, Judge Josh Freeman Stinn finally granted Gruffudd's request for divorce amid the couple's ongoing custody battle. The Welsh actor had filed for bifurcation and termination of marital status in May which would allow him and Evans to be declared legally divorced even as they continue settlement negotiations in their split. A minute order obtained by DailyMail.com show the judge approved the request on July 3, ruling: 'The Court finds irreconcilable differences have arisen in the marriage and grants judgment for the dissolution of marriage as to status only, effective today.' July 2023: Ioan's daughter loses bid for domestic violence restraining order against him Two months after Ella filed documents a judge at the Los Angeles Superior Court dismissed an application by Ella for a domestic violence restraining order. Gruffudd was present in court, along with Ms Evans for the hearing, as well as the lawyer appointed as the minor's counsel last month. The judge ruled: 'The minor's request for a domestic violence restraining order against the petitioner is hereby dismissed without prejudice.' The decision came three weeks after the teenager's bid to get a civil protection order against Gruffudd's actress girlfriend Bianca Wallace, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, was also denied. Ioan said: Friends of the Liar star said he was 'very relieved' at the outcome. They also claimed that the situation is a 'nightmare' but they are 'happy to see some progress'. Hollywood star Richard Gere joined the SAG-AFTRA strike event in NYC on Thursday. The Hollywood star, 73, dressed casually as he showed his support at the Warner Bros Building picket line. Richard held a large sign which read: 'Writers Guild of America East Stands With SAG-AFTRA'. He opted for a relaxed light grey T-shirt, denim jeans and comfortable trainers for the outing. The Pretty Woman star wore dark shades to shield his eyes from the sun and carried a navy jacket in his hands. Taking a stand: Hollywood star Richard Gere joined the SAG-AFTRA strike event in NYC on Thursday Big name: The Hollywood star, 73, dressed casually as he showed his support at the Warner Bros Building picket line The ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike began on July 14 and is the latest of the ongoing labor disputes in Hollywood. The WGA strike, which saw writers crossing the picket line, has been going on since early May. It is the first time that actors initiated a labor dispute in America since 1980 and the first time that both actors and writers went on strike at the same time since 1960. The ongoing SAG-AFTRA Strike, which enters its twenty-sixth day of protests, have seen many well-known actors showing solidarity with striking actors by doing one (or several) of the following actions: issuing statements of support of the strikes; joining picket lines in LA, New York City; and donating/handing out water bottles and/or food to the picketers. Among the well-known names who took part in the picket lines in either Los Angeles or New York City include Jason Sudeikis, Susan Sarandon, Vanessa Hudgens, Mandy Moore, Logan Lerman, America Ferrera, and Josh Gad, to name a few. The U.K. actors union Equity held rallies in London and Manchester on July 21 in support of SAG-AFTRA Strike. Among the well-known names who attend the Equity Rally in London include Brian Cox, Jim Carter, Hayley Atwell, David Oyelowo, and Oscar-nominated actress Imelda Staunton, to name a few. Support: Richard held a large sign which read: 'Writers Guild of America East Stands With SAG-AFTRA' Outfit: The Pretty Woman star wore dark shades to shield his eyes from the sun and carried a navy jacket in his hands SAG-AFTRA said in a statement: 'We are living in a historic hour, as we fight to achieve a seminal contract, the likes of which we havent seen in over 60 years. 'It was 1960 when we last went on strike alongside the WGA and achieved pension and health plans and residuals. Our futures depend on not accepting anything less transformative in this negotiation. 'With the advent of subscription and advertising-supported streaming video on demand and AI, once again we must stand strong in solidarity and demand an equitable contract that reflects the value of our work in those new business models and protects our members from digital exploitation. 'Our strike can become the catalyst for a historic culture change in all industries, whereby making money and doing the right thing on behalf of workers are no longer mutually exclusive of each other but go hand in hand, redefining the meaning of success!' Jamie Laing showcased off a new look as he shaved his head for an edgy new photoshoot for Arcadia Magazine. The former Made In Chelsea star, 34, cut a cool figure as he displayed his shaven-headed look in striking black and white images for the publication. Jamie looked on fine form for the shoot, showing off his hunky shirtless frame as he removed his platinum locks before modelling a sharp checked suit. Speaking to the magazine, the TV personality admitted that he feels more 'confident' after becoming a married man, following his wedding to Sophie Habboo earlier this year. He shared: 'I was very nervous about saying that things were successful because I felt bad saying it. Wow: Jamie Laing showcased off a new look as he shaved his head for an edgy new photoshoot for Arcadia Magazine Looking good: The former Made In Chelsea star, 34, cut a cool figure as he displayed his shaven-headed look in striking black and white images for the publication 'Maybe now because Im married, Im more confident that actually what weve built for ourselves is quite good.' Jamie and Sophie tied the knot in a small and intimate ceremony in London on April 14, before having a second wedding in Spain. The largescale second ceremony, which took place on May 20 at Las Sirenas in Sotogrande, saw Jamie and Sophie celebrate their marriage with all their loved ones. The couple were joined by a whole host of their celebrity pals including the likes of Sam Thompson and Zara McDermott, Spencer Matthews and Millie Mackintosh. Meanwhile, Jamie opened up on the success of his confectionary brand Candy Kittens, which he started 11 years ago. He said: 'We started with 3000, that was it and built it from there. We can proudly say we are one of the fastest growing confectionary companies in the whole of Europe, which is amazing.' Last week, the star was joined by his new wife and put on a very cosy display as they stepped out at the Candy Kittens summer party in London. Jamie was seen grinning as he threw his arms around his wife Sophie at his sweet company's star-studded party, which was held at bar Carrubo at London Bridge. Going, going, gone! Jamie looked on fine form for the shoot, showing off his hunky shirtless frame as he removed his platinum locks Dressed up: The TV star cut a sharp figure as he modelled a smart checked suit Ta-dah! Jamie struck a sultry pose as he rocked his shaven-headed lock He cut a suave figure in a black T-shirt and navy trousers, which he styled with a grey bomber jacket and patent black boots. Jamie shared a hug with his Made In Chelsea co-star and wife Sophie, who looked effortlessly chic in a black and white gingham mini dress. The appearance comes after Sophie admitted she has been piling on the pressure to new husband Jamie to have children soon. The reality star revealed she is ready to start a family and joked that she wants to have 20 kids so has been asking her new partner 'when can we get started?'. Speaking to OK! magazine, she said: 'All of Jamie's friends have babies so they're all like, "So when are you starting?" I'm like to Jamie, "So when are we starting?" Feeling good: Speaking to the magazine, the TV personality admitted that he feels more 'confident' after becoming a married man, following his wedding to Sophie Habboo earlier this year Confidence: 'Maybe now because Im married, Im more confident that actually what weve built for ourselves is quite good' Celebrations: Jamie and Sophie tied the knot in a small and intimate ceremony in London on April 14, before having a second wedding in Spain Jamie replied: 'If we can be honest about it, Sophie is like "Right, we should get going". I think having a family would be the most amazing thing in the world. 'I saw someone say that the best thing that's ever happened in his life is being called a dad. Hopefully Sophie will give me a baby.' The loved-up couple, who started dating in 2019, are currently looking to move to family-friendly Barnes in south-west London and buy their first home together. Sophie gushed that she is 'super excited for the next chapter'. Lingerie-clad Hailey Bieber joined the likes if Naomi Campbell and Adut Akech for a very sexy All Stars Victoria's Secret Icon campaign. But a host of other A-listers also took part in the shoot which was released in the UK on Thursday. The likes of Gisele Bundchen and Emily Ratajkowski also took part after appearing in the US version of the campaign the day before. Hailey looked incredible in her sexy black underwear which came with a matching suspender belt and thigh-high stockings which would no doubt delight her husband Justin Bieber. Naomi also looked incredible wearing a similar black style as she posed with Adut who modelled a bold bright pink version while posing with her hands on her hips. Lingerie-clad: Hailey Bieber joined Naomi Campbell and Adut Akech for a very sexy All Stars Victoria's Secret Icon campaign - and you'll never guess what other A-listers took part Hips don't lie: Adut Akech and Naomi Campbell looked incredible as they posed in their underwear And Emily Ratajkowski slipped into an intricate thong which had side straps, worn with a matching bra and a kimono. The beautiful ladies were in good company as the likes of Paloma Elsesser, Sui He, Adriana Lima, and Candice Swanepoel also posed up a storm. The Icon collection is all about celebrating the shape of a woman and centres around the Push-Up Demi bra. Lensed by acclaimed photographer Mikael Jansson and styled by Camilla Nickerson, the campaign features silhouetted imagery that captures the power of each woman in the cast. Select talent included in the campaign will also be featured in The Tour, the brands reimagined fashion show that will center on emerging global creatives, premiering this fall. Janie Schaffer, Chief Design Officer at Victorias Secret said: 'We are so excited to be launching The Icon by Victorias Secret collection. The collection was made to enhance ones natural shape while staying true to the supportive and seamless look that we love. 'Its an exciting, elevated collection to add to your wardrobe, while reinforcing that we are all icons.' The collection includes the Icon by Victorias Secret Push-Up Demi Bra which features a first of its kind lifting and shaping technology that is customized to enhance the wearers natural shape. The collection is available to shop now at Victoriassecret.co.uk and all Victorias Secret stores nationwide. Racy lady: Emily Ratajkowski slipped into an intricate thong which had side straps, worn with a matching bra and a kimono Pink power: Adut looked incredible in the pink two-piece Incredible: Paloma Elsesser wowed in a black corset and looked naturally flawless Sultry: Adriana Lima was also part of the campaign and looked incredible in a black negligee Shirley Ballas showcased her daring side once again on Thursday as she embarked on an impressive wing walk to raise money for suicide prevention charity CALM in honour of her late brother David. The Strictly Come Dancing judge, 62, gave a thumbs up and flashed a beaming smile as she set off in the sky while strapped onto the top of a yellow single engine plane at Headcorn Airfield in Ashford, Kent. Shirley and her family was left devastated when her brother David, from Wallasey, Merseyside, died aged 44 in 2003 after suffering from depression. And the dancer was sure to make her late sibling proud as she soared 700ft into the air as part of her skyathon in order to help Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) aid those struggling with life and stop more being lost to suicide. Shirley, who is also taking on a skydive as part of her skyathon, looked on fine form as she sat on top of the plane for her wing walk. Wow: Shirley Ballas showcased her daring side on Thursday as she embarked on a wing walk to raise money for suicide prevention charity CALM in honour of her late brother David Cool: The Strictly Come Dancing judge, 62, gave a thumbs up and flashed a beaming smile as she set off in the sky while strapped onto the top of a yellow single engine plane at Headcorn Airfield in Ashford, Kent She was dressed ready for action in a CALM T-shirt, white shirt and black leggings, finished off with a pair of trainers. The Queen of Latin donned a pair of goggles and swept her brunette locks in a ponytail as she set off. It comes days after Shirley wowed as she rode the world's fastest zip line in North Wales in part one of her epic challenge. She donned a helmet and safety equipment for the stunt despite previously revealing she was 'terrified of heights'. The journey saw the ballroom dancer, who also recently lost a friend to suicide, fly 13,000ft over the Penrhyn Quarry reaching speeds of up to 100MPH. She said of her feat: 'I am absolutely terrified of heights, but having lost my brother to suicide and a close friend very recently, I want to use my platform for positive change and raise awareness of the live saving services CALM offers to those struggling'. 'Im not just doing it for me, Im doing it for everyone who has lost someone to suicide and anyone who is currently suffering that may need support'. Before adding: 'Please join me on my challenge and donate whatever you can. It all makes a huge difference'. Loss: Shirley and her family was left devastated when her brother David, from Wallasey, Merseyside, died aged 44 in 2003 after suffering from depression Look at her go! And the dancer was sure to make her late sibling proud as she soared 700ft into the air as part of her skyathon What a woman: Shirley's challenge is taken order to help Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) aid those struggling with life and stop more being lost to suicide Good for you: Shirley, who is also taking on a skydive as part of her skyathon, looked on fine form as she sat on top of the plane for her wing walk Ready to go: She was dressed ready for action in a CALM T-shirt, white shirt and black leggings, finished off with a pair of trainers High flyer: The Queen of Latin donned a pair of goggles and swept her brunette locks in a ponytail as she set off Easy does it: Shirley was given a helping hand as she clambered on top of the plane Safety first: A safety expert ensured she was securely strapped into her harness Fantastic! The star looked incredible as she flew up into the sky on the sunny August day The charitys helpline staff receive 25% more calls during the summer months and speak to someone who is struggling every 59 seconds. Every day 18 people in the UK tragically take their own lives. CALM exists to change this - by offering life-saving support, creating culture changing campaigns, and bringing people together across the country to reject living miserably. Last year Shirley fought back tears as she discussed her late brother's tragic suicide, with the star saying how he was 'everything to me'. Almost 20 years from his death she became emotional during an interview on This Morning as she reflected on the warning signs of her sibling's internal struggle. She was seen wiping away tears as she touched on David's photo being among many which features in an exhibition CALM at London's Southbank, which shows the smiling faces of 50 people shortly before they took their own lives. Impressive: It comes days after Shirley wowed as she rode the world's fastest zip line in North Wales in part one of her epic challenge Scary stuff: Shirley donned a helmet and safety equipment for the stunt despite previously revealing she was 'terrified of heights' Speaking to hosts Phillip Schofield, Shirley said: 'Seeing my brother there in display in Southbank brought everything back, if I knew now what I knew then I couldve helped. 'Everybody loved him. He was a big brother. He was like a father. He was everything to me. 'We talked every day at four o'clock. He was really the last person that I would ever think would take his own life.' Since her brother's death, Shirley has become an ardent campaigner for mental health awareness, even setting up charity The Ballas Foundation with her son Mark. Tragic: David, from Wallasey, Merseyside, took his own life aged 44 in 2003 after suffering from depression, leaving Shirley and her family heartbroken (pictured last year) Zoom! Shirley said: 'I am absolutely terrified of heights, but having lost my brother to suicide and a close friend very recently, I want to use my platform for positive change and raise awareness of the live saving services CALM offers to those struggling' Shirley was said to have felt 'overwhelming grief' when her brother David took his own life in 2003. Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) stands united against suicide with everyone in the UK. The campaign is led through vital, life-saving support, impactful conversations and collective action. If youre struggling, talk to CALM on 0800 58 58 58 (UK) or through our webchat. Our trained support workers are available from 5 pm to midnight every day to provide practical support and advice, whatever youre going through. To find out more about CALM , our services or for support or advice visit www.thecalmzone.net. Lamido Sanusi, the spiritual leader (Khalifah) of the Tijaniyah Islamic movement in Nigeria and former Governor of the Nigerian Central Bank, met in Niamey with the leader of the junta, General Abdourahamane Tchiani. The NSCIA, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, also stated its opposition to using force to dislodge the putschists who ousted President Mohamed Bazoum from office last month. The Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) has stated its opposition to the sanctions imposed on Niger by ECOWAS following the coup in the country. "...it is well known that such kinds of economic sanctions are counter-productive and eventually end in futility," the NSCIA stated in a statement by its Deputy Secretary-General, Salisu Shehu. The NSCIA, led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Abubakar, also stated its opposition to using force to dislodge the putschists who ousted President Mohamed Bazoum from office last month. PREMIUM TIMES reported how ECOWAS imposed sanctions on Niger following the coup. The sanctions include the closure of air and land borders, freezing Niger's accounts in ECOWAS central banks, and so on. In its statement, NSCIA acknowledged that the coup leaders were defiant in their stance but called for dialogue in dealing with them. The NSCIA is the most influential Islamic organisation in Nigeria where millions of Muslims consider the Sultan as their leader. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Sultan was appointed as a member of a three-person team to negotiate with the coup leaders. The team was, however, humiliated by the putschists. Details later... The death of 14-year-old influencer and rapper Lil Tay has been shrouded in even more mystery after a social media star claiming to be one of her 'closest friends' seemingly confirmed her passing - despite the teen's own father admitting that he does not know if his own daughter is alive. The news of Lil Tay's 'sudden and tragic' passing was first revealed on Wednesday when someone posted a statement on the influencer's verified Instagram account. However, the teenager's former manager questioned the 'legitimacy' of the post - which did not reveal a cause of death - and cops in both Vancouver, Lil Tay's place of birth, and Los Angeles, where she had been living with her mother, told DailyMail.com they had no record of her death. But now, popular Instagrammer Dynasty Jenkins has posted a tribute to Lil Tay - whose real name is Claire Hope - and claimed: 'I lost one of my closest friends.' Dynasty shared two photos of them together on what appeared to be a rooftop, but it's unclear when the pictures were actually taken. Sad story: Popular Instagrammer Dynasty Jenkins has posted a tribute to her friend Lil Tay following her 'death' Paying tribute: Dynasty, 26, seemingly confirmed the death of the 14-year-old social media star in her post Social star: It was reported on August 9 that Lil Tay had died and her death was 'under investigation' In the snaps, Lil Tay was dressed in a colorful printed jacket and pale blue denim shorts as Dynasty placed her arm around her and posed for the camera. Many people were quick to comment on the post and pointed out that Lil Tay did not look happy as she failed to smile for the photos. 'You can see here shes clearly not happy,' one person claimed, while another said: 'she look so sad bruh.' READ MORE: Growing mystery surrounding Lil Tay's death Advertisement Others were keen to send their condolences to Dynasty as someone wrote: 'I'm sorry for your loss,' and another commented: 'Im so sorry, my heart is with you.' Dynasty also posted a video of them, recorded on the same day, which showed them dancing alongside each other and she captioned it with a broken heart emoji. When approached by DailyMail.com, Lil Tay's father Christopher Hope declined to comment when asked about the death of his daughter, stating that he is unable to confirm or deny reports until he has verified them himself. Local authorities in Vancouver, where he lives, and Los Angeles, where Lil Tay had been living with her mother, had no record of any investigation into the deaths of Claire or her brother Jason when contacted by DailyMail.com. An officer with the LAPD noted that the lack of records relating to Lil Tay and her brother suggest that 'they are not, in fact, dead or that [their deaths] did not occur in LA'. 'We have no information on either of these two individuals Claire Hope or Jason Tian being killed or dying in Los Angeles,' he stated. 'If the LA county medical examiners has nothing on either of them either, that would lead me to believe they are not, in fact, dead, or that it did not occur in LA.' Lil Tay's former manager Harry Tsang added further confusion when he released a cryptic statement about the news, refusing to 'confirm' that the rapper had in fact died. Just a teen: Lil Tay found fame on the internet posting videos of herself flashing cash and cursing Shocking statement: The news of her passing was announced by someone in a post shared on Lil Tay's Instagram account Sad news: The statement also revealed that Lil Tay's 21-year-old brother, Jason Tian, had also died Big interview: Lil Tay pictured during an appearance on Good Morning America alongside her mother Angela Tian in 2018 In an email to DailyMail.com, Tsang said that he had 'been in communication with individuals who have an intimate understanding of the family's situation' but that he was still unable to 'definitively confirm or dismiss' the news that Lil Tay and her brother had passed. 'Given the complexities of the current circumstances, I am at a point where I cannot definitively confirm or dismiss the legitimacy of the statement issued by the family,' he said. 'This situation calls for cautious consideration and respect for the sensitivities involved.' The full statement posted on Lil Ta's Instagram account began: 'It is with a heavy heart that we share the devastating news of our beloved Claire's sudden and tragic passing. 'We have no words to express the unbearable loss and indescribable pain. 'This outcome was entirely unexpected, and has left us all in shock. Her brother's passing adds an even more unimaginable depth to our grief.' The statement went on to reveal that both Tay and her brother Jason's deaths are 'still under investigation.' 'During this time of immense sorrow, we kindly ask for privacy as we grieve this overwhelming loss, as the circumstances surrounding Claire and her brother's passing are still under investigation,' it continued. Staying silent: Lil Tay's father, Christopher Hope, (pictured together previously) declined to comment when contacted by DailyMail.com 'Claire will forever remain in our hearts, her absence leaving an irreplaceable void that will be felt by all who knew and loved her.' After hearing the news on Wednesday, many people pointed out that the bio on Lil Tay's Instagram page read: 'Help me,' but it's unsure when it was changed. Lil Tay's brother Jason had previously set up a GoFundMe page in a bid to raise $19,000 for her after levelling allegations of physical and mental abuse against her father and his wife, Hanee. Attempting to explain Lil Tay's absence online, Jason, who is not Hope's son, wrote: 'My sister Tay has been silent on social media for the past three years because her absentee father (Chris Hope) served my mother a court order demanding control over Tay's money, career, and custody, and as a result it was court ordered that my sister had to return to Vancouver, Canada. 'He also requested through a court order to prevent her from speaking out about the truth.' Jason then claimed that Hope had 'stolen millions of dollars' from the rising star for his own benefit. Hollyoaks' executive producer has left the soap after nearly three years in charge. Lucy Allan took over the Channel 4 show at the start of 2021 after her predecessor Bryan Kirkwood stood down at the end of 2020. It comes as The Sun claims the show is in difficulty amid plunging ratings which has led to a complete change at the top. They report that series producer Philip Dodds and script and storyline executive Josie Day have also left the soap. A source said: 'The set is in chaos. Cast and crew were clearly unhappy with the way things are going. Morale never been this low.' Change at the top: Hollyoaks' executive producer has left the soap after nearly three years in charge Boss: Lucy Allan (pictured) took over the Channel 4 show at the start of 2021 after her predecessor Bryan Kirkwood stood down at the end of 2020 'Ratings have plunged, storylines aren't working and things were just toxic on set so Lime Pictures had to do something.' Channel 4 and Lime Pictures have been contacted by MailOnline for comment. Upon leaving Lucy told Broadcast Now: 'I have loved my time as executive producer on Hollyoaks. 'It's one of the most exciting jobs in Soapland but after two and half years at the helm it's time to pass on the baton.' Managing directors of Lime Pictures, Kate Little and Claire Poyser, added: 'We would like to thank Lucy for everything she has done for Hollyoaks. 'She led the programme through Covid and its aftermath, forging a ground-breaking partnership with the BBC and Eurovision and delivering unforgettable, critically acclaimed storylines such as Misbah's Rape and The Long Walk Home. 'We will miss her but wish her all the very best in her next adventure.' Oh dear: It comes as The Sun claims the show is in difficulty amid plunging ratings which has led to a complete change at the top Role: Lucy has been behind some hard-hitting storylines over the past two years since taking the reins of the Channel 4 soap Success: These include The Long Walk Home episode, which aired last year and Misbah Maalik's rape storyline, which won a number of British Soap Awards Important: Eric Foster's incel plot was another key storyline which saw the Angus Castle-Doughty actor terrorize women in the area Lucy has been behind some hard-hitting storylines over the past two years since taking the reins of the Channel 4 soap. These include The Long Walk Home episode, which aired last year and Misbah Maalik's rape storyline, which won a number of British Soap Awards. Eric Foster's incel plot was another key storyline which saw the Angus Castle-Doughty actor terrorize women in the area. A number of huge narrative changes took place under Lucy's leadership, including Tony and Diane Hutchinson taking over The Dog In The Pond, as well as the introduction of popular characters such as the incomparable Ethan Williams and Norma Crow. Kris Jenner and Corey Gamble certainly know how to enjoy life in the lap of luxury. The 67-year-old momager and her 42-year-old beau looked to be having a wonderful time aboard a yacht off the coast of Portofino, Italy on Thursday after being seen shopping at Dolce & Gabbana. Kris was fashionable in a black and red patterned kaftan while enjoying a beverage on the deck of the luxury cruiser. She added even more fashionable flare in the form of a black large wide-brimmed fedora along with matching designer sunglasses. Her signature pixie cut was tucked under the stylish headwear as she wore natural, complementary make-up. Making a splash: Kris Jenner and Corey Gamble certainly know how to enjoy life in the lap of luxury Just the two of us: The 67-year-old momager and her 42-year-old beau looked to be having a wonderful time aboard a yacht off the coast of Portofino, Italy on Thursday Vibes: They were joined by a few others aboard the luxury cruiser Kris also donned dangling gold hoop earrings as she relaxed on the ship. Corey kept it simple in a bright yellow bucket hat with T-Shirt and black board shorts. At one point it seemed like the hunk was trying to get the energy up as he playfully raised his arms while standing on the deck. Portofino is a fishing village on the Italian Riviera coastline, southeast of Genoa city. Kris and Corey have been together ever since 2014. The long-term couple initially jetted off to Italy to celebrate the engagement of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. After partying with the lovebirds in a yacht off the Amalfi coast, the Kris Jenner... and All Things Kardashian author and her boyfriend continued their trip alone together with a romantic dinner in Portofino. The Kylie Cosmetics co-founder looked eager to enjoy her dreamy vacation with her beau as they arrived at the luxurious Dolce & Gabbana retreat. Chill: Kris was fashionable in a black and red patterned kaftan while enjoying a beverage on the deck Sweet: The couple were seen having a chat Relaxed: She added even more fashionable flare in the form of a black large wide-brimmed fedora along with matching designer sunglasses Chill: Her signature pixie cut was tucked under the stylish headwear as she wore natural, complementary make-up Bling: Kris also donned dangling gold hoop earrings as she relaxed on the ship Hanging out: Corey kept it simple in a bright yellow bucket hat with T-Shirt and black board shorts In good spirits: At one point it seemed like the hunk was trying to get the energy up as he playfully raised his arms while standing on the deck Bonded: The two enjoyed a conversation with quite a bit of space between them Picturesque: Portofino is a fishing village on the Italian Riviera coastline, southeast of Genoa city While the glamorous, globe-trotting pair have yet to share snaps of their villa retreat, Corey did declare his love for his girlfriend of more than a decade via a birthday post last November on his Instagram. 'Happy birthday to the best mom I've ever met, you're the definition of that title. You're a force of love! I love you so much my lady...' the Glitter Ain't Gold star wrote. He added, 'I've told you so much today in real life that I guess there's no need to write a paragraph here,' throwing in several red heart emojis and tagging his long-time love. The couple actually met in Ibiza, Spain back in 2014, when Kim Kardashian's ex-husband Kanye, was throwing a party for fashion designer Riccardo Tisci, according to Cosmopolitan. Thanks! This comes days after Kris thanked Jeff Bezos and his fiancee Lauren Sanchez for having them on their yacht Kris's Atlanta-born boyfriend has appeared on multiple episodes of Keeping Up With The Kardashians and The Kardashians ever since the pair started dating. While the couple have frequently sparked engagement rumors (Kris even posted a pic in Portofino on her Instagram back in May 2022 with a large gold band on her finger) the talent manager has never actually confirmed whether or not she tied the knot with Corey. Justin Bieber's reportedly former tour manager is 25-years younger than his reality television star beau, having celebrated his 42nd birthday last November. Corey frequently shares posts of himself with the KKW x Kris co-collaborator, declaring his love for the Kardashian momager. Jenna Dewan channeled her inner Barbie as she headed out to breakfast in New York City on Thursday. The Rookie star, who displayed her bikini body only a few days ago, showcased her toned tummy in an all pink yoga outfit. The 42-year-old looked chic but comfortable in the pastel bra top and high waist boot cut bottoms and white sneakers. She covered up in a matching oversized jacket with The Giving Movement written on the back. The company focuses on sustainability. The website indicates the clothing is made from 80-percent recycled polyester and 20-percent recycled spandex. Pink: Jenna Dewan channeled her inner Barbie as she headed out to breakfast in New York Thursday The brand donates $4 from each item sold to charity. The organization said that small amount is enough to provide a child in need with a week's worth of food, shelter and water at community centers in India. Jenna styled her dark locks in loose waves and wore natural looking makeup with a soft rose gold lip. According to her Instagram Stories, the Superman and Lois actress was in New York to participate in an event for Neostrata. Jenna is an ambassador for the skincare brand. In a post on the company's social media page, the model explained that she turned to the products for help with melasma. It's a condition that causes discoloration on the face, usually due to hormone changes in the body during pregnancy or when using hormonal birth control, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. The wrist brace the Let's Get Physical star has been sporting lately was out of sight as she made her stroll through the Big Apple. Jenna demonstrated how she hurt her arm in a workout video on social media. Yoga: The Rookie star 42, showcased her toned tummy in an all pink yoga outfit. The 42-year-old looked chic but comfortable in the pastel bra top and high waist boot cut bottoms and white sneakers Jacket: She covered up in a matching oversized jacket with The Giving Movement written on the back Sustainable: The company focuses on sustainability. The website indicates the clothing is made from 80-percent recycled polyester and 20-percent recycled spandex 'For everyone wondering how I earned my newest accessory,' she wrote next to a clip showing her doing high box jumps.' The slightly blurred video shows how her pinky finger ended up bent back near her wrist. She also shared a closeup photo of the painful injury and a snap of her x-ray. In an interview with US Weekly, the Take the Lead star downplayed it as a 'dumb accident.' 'It was just a true accident, but I did think to myself, "How funny that Ive danced and thrown my body around for my entire life, but this is how I break a bone?" So, thats life for you. 'I initially thought that I broke a nail,' she told the outlet on Tuesday. 'I was like, "Oh, I think I broke my nail." And then I looked down and was like, "Hmm, my nails still there. OK, I heard a crack." It was not till the very end when I went, "Uh-oh."' Ambassador: According to her Instagram Stories, the Superman and Lois actress was in New York to participate in an event for Neostrata. Jenna is an ambassador for the skincare brand Brace: The wrist brace the Let's Get Physical star has been sporting lately was out of sight as she made her stroll through the Big Apple. She hurt herself doing box jumps during her workout Injury: In an interview with US Weekly , the Take the Lead star downplayed the injury as a 'dumb accident,' explaining, 'It was just a true accident, but I did think to myself, "How funny that Ive danced and thrown my body around for my entire life, but this is how I break a bone?" Show and tell: Jenna revealed she is under doctor's orders to wear the the brace for four weeks. For her son Callum, three, it made a great news item for show and tell. She said the tyke, 'went and told all [of his teachers], My mommy has a boo-boo on her hand Jenna revealed she is under doctor's orders to wear the the brace for four weeks. For her son Callum, three, whom she shares with fiance Steve Kazee, it made a great news item for show and tell. She said the tyke, 'went and told all [of his teachers], My mommy has a boo-boo on her hand. Jenna is also mom to daughter Everly, 10, from her marriage to Channing Tatum. The Teen Choice Award winner said she earned a lot of cred with at home when Steve and her daughter learned she did 10 more jumps before going for treatment. The injury didn't keep her from collecting an abundance of bracelets from fellow Swifties when she attended the Taylor Swift concert in Los Angeles over the weekend. King of the Hill star Johnny Hardwick has died aged 59. The talented voice actor - who played Hank Hill's conspiracy theorist next door neighbor Dale Gribble on the iconic animated series in 258 episodes from 1997-2010 - was found dead at his home in Texas on Tuesday after police were called for a welfare check and found his body. Hardwick was pronounced dead at the scene with no foul play suspected - the cause of death is currently unknown, reports TMZ. Hardwick also served as a staff writer, story editor, and producer for the show, scoring four Prime Time Emmy nominations. In 1999 he won an Emmy Award for his work as a producer on King of the Hill. RIP: King of the Hill star Johnny Hardwick has died aged 59 Iconic: The talented voice actor played conspiracy theorist and Hank Hill's next door neighbor Dale Gribble (left) on the iconic animated series in 258 episodes from 1997-2010 Hardwick was a native of Austin, Texas and attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock, graduating with a BS degree in journalism. He then worked as a bartender for a decade in blues bars in Dallas and Austin, before beginning his stand-up comedy career in 1990. He became the first stand-up comedian to appear on the Jon Stewart Show. In 1995, an appearance at the Montreal Comedy Festival led to a chance meeting with NBC president Brandon Tartikoff who offered him a sitcom. However NBC was uninterested in Hardwick's pitch for a Green Acres and Get A Life-inspired show. Hardwick signed with the Strauss-McGarr agency and began a successful stand-up career performing all over the USA. After a gig at the Laugh Factory in LA, in which he performed a skit about his father, he was approached by television writer and producer Greg Daniels and Beavis and Butt-Head's Mike Judge who were creating King of the Hill. Intrigued by Hardwick's Texan humor, they offered him a writing job on the series, which saw Hardwick move to Silver Lake from Austin. Hardwick ended up with the role of Gribble after Daniel Stern turned down the opportunity. In recent years the star created a YouTube channel which saw him perform song parodies and monologues in the style of Gribble, while wearing his famous shades and orange cap. Cast: Hardwick (back row right) is seen with the show cast in 2005 as they marked the show' 200th episode Fans have finally been given a glimpse of the upcoming new thriller Finestkind. A first-look of the film, starring Tommy Lee Jones, 76, Jenna Ortega, 20, Ben Foster, 42, and Toby Wallace, 28, dropped Thursday. The haunting image captured all the actors appearing solemn as they stood beside a rusty ladder. The crime thriller's storyline centers on a pair of brothers from different backgrounds who are brought together and have to work out a deal with an organized crime syndicate, with a young woman caught in the center of the issues. On Thursday, the Toronto International Film Festival announced the film would be having it's world premiere at their upcoming 2023 festival. Haunting: Fans have been given a glimpse of the upcoming new thriller Finestkind The festival is scheduled to occur September 7-17, 2023. Currently, writers and actors are taking to the picket lines as part of the on-going SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. Under the rules of the SAG-AFTRA strike, actors are not allowed to promote any of their projects. The first look comes over a year after Jones was seen filming an intense shooting scene for the film back in May 2022, well before the strike began. The actor sported a beard while clad in a plaid sage green shirt and denim blue jeans with a brown belt buckle while filming the scene inside of a donut shop in Brockton, Massachusetts. In the sequence, Jones was seen holding a bag while aiming a pistol at a person. Finestkind, which is written and directed by Brian Helgeland, also stars Clayne Crawford, Tim Daly and Lolita Davidovich. The film was initially slated to star Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal and Ansel Elgort in 2018, but production delays led to casting changes. According to a report from The Standard-Times in May 2022, production took place at the time in nearby locales such as Fairhaven and New Bedford. Lights, camera, action: Jones, 76, was seen working on an intense shooting scene for the movie Finestkind inside of a donut shop in Brockton, Massachusetts back in May 2022 The Oscar-winning actor was seen at a Washington, D.C. screening of his movie Ad Astra in 2019 Producer Gary Foster told the outlet of the Academy Award-winning actor: 'He's a nice guy, he's fun,' and 'very nice to work with on this.' The San Saba, Texas-born star 'was smiling and very happy to see' a number of locals who praised him on his work, which includes films such as The Fugitive, Men in Black and Batman Forever. In recent years, the actor has been seen in films such as Ad Astra, The Comeback Trail, Wander and the forthcoming drama called The Burial. The View hosts Alyssa Farah Griffin and Ana Navarro have taken full advantage of their lengthy four-week summer break by high-tailing it out of New York to enjoy luxury vacations. Alyssa has given fans a glimpse at her luxurious Bahamas vacation as the show takes a four-week summer break from TV screens. Alyssa, 34, and her husband Justin Griffin, are currently soaking up the sun on Harbour Island and appeared to be having a wonderful time as they posed for a few holiday snaps. In the first photo, the former White House employee cozied up to her beau and looked radiant in a royal blue dress that featured a plunging neckline and cut-out detailing at the sides. Alyssa accessorized her look with dark sunglasses and a few bangles as she smiled for the camera alongside Justin, also 34, who wore stone-colored linen trousers and a navy blue shirt. The couple posed with their arms around one another and were stood in front of a white bench, with a sandy beach and the beautiful blue ocean in the background. What a view: Alyssa Farah Griffin is currently on vacation with her husband Justin in the Bahamas Vacation mode: The 34-year-old looked lovely in a plunging blue dress and wore her hair down in loose waves Group shot: Justin (left) and Alyssa were joined by two friends as they soaked up the sun at the beach Cheers: Alyssa posted this photo of Justin enjoying a cocktail with a male friend For the second image, Alyssa removed her sunglasses and grinned beside a sign that read: 'Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History.' She captioned the post using emojis, including one of a palm tree and the Bahamian flag. Alyssa's 40.1k followers were quick to like and comment on the post as one person said: 'Nice couple, enjoy your holiday!!' and another wrote: 'Have fun! You look amazing.' 'Hope you are having a great vacation,' a third commented, while a fourth fan told her: 'Pretty lady, beautiful couple.' Someone else added: 'Aww Alyssa ! You look gorgeous. have fun!' and a different person wrote: 'Love you on The View! Youre smart, you come prepared, youre POLITE!' Others wished Justin an early 'happy birthday' as he'll turn 35 on August 15, and Alyssa revealed they had been joined by some friends in the exotic location. The View host re-shared an Instagram Stories post that was uploaded by her pal Ellen May. She also shared a snap of Justin and a male friend sitting side-by-side at a restaurant as they sipped on cocktails. Jetting off: Ana Navarro shared a snap of her and her husband Al Cardenas sitting first class on a plane Close bond: Ana confirmed that she visited her co-host Joy Behar in East Hampton this week Firm friends: Ana admitted that she missed Joy after just two days of not seeing her on The View Meanwhile, Alyssa's colleague Ana Navarro revealed that she was also jetting off somewhere as she took full advantage of the summer break. Ana, 51, posted a selfie as she sat back in her first class seat, with her husband Al Cardenas to her right. Al, 75, appeared to be watching something and looked deep in thought with his headphones on, while Ana was dressed in a gray zip up sweater and smiled for the camera. She captioned the post: 'And were off! I know @chacha_cardenas is sleeping in her little bed, and in very good hands with the loving woman who works at our house, but damn leaving that dog is traumatic. 'I dont know how any of you with babies ever leave the house,' she added, referring to her pet pooch. While many of her followers sympathized with her about being separated from her dog, one person was more interested in Ana's comment about having a woman who 'works' in her house. 'You have someone that works in your house?' they commented, to which Ana replied: 'No. I have two people. Resentful, much?' Others loved her clap back as one person told her: 'Love that answer,' and another said: 'I just love you !! Thats all!' Back on air: The View will return to television screens on Tuesday, 5 September Before jetting off on holiday with her husband of four years, Ana took a trip to East Hampton to visit co-host Joy Behar. She uploaded a couple of sweet selfies of them together, including one where she kissed her cheek. Ana captioned the post: 'Its only been two days since @theviewabc Season 26 ended, and we missed @joyvbehar already. @chacha_cardenas and I stopped by and paid her and @berniebehar a visit. And the day went on from there. Aperol Spritz were on the menu. Two and counting 'Joy & I will see you all when Season 27 begins. Until then, "take a little time to enjoy the view",' she added. It's believed The View will return to television screens the day after Labor Day, which means viewers will have to wait until Tuesday, 5 September. Riley Keough recalled a scary incident on a movie set. The Daisy Jones & The Six star opened up about how eating a granola bar could have endangered the life of her co-star Andrew Garfield while on the set of their film Under The Silver Lake. The actress, 34, who recently talked former step-dad Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch, was taking a walk down memory lane with Vanity Fair, when a photo of herself and Garfield came up. 'I have a memory on this set where it was actually very stressful,' she began. 'I was in the makeup trailer and I was eating, like, a granola bar or something, and I was about to shoot a scene where I have to kiss Andrew,' she explained. Shut down: Riley Keough, 34, says a granola bar she ate on the set of one of her films resulted in the entire set being shut down (pictured in Paris in July) 'The makeup lady was like, "Are there peanuts in that?" And I was like, "I think. I dont know."' 'And then she like, ran away.' Riley was stymied by the action, but the stylist quickly returned with a producer, who alerted her to the potentially fatal situation. 'The producer came in and was like, "Riley, Andrew's very allergic to peanuts and we have to shut the set down. They shouldn't have been at craft [services, the on-set catering], and I don't know why they're on set."' 'I was kind of like, "Oh, f**k, thats crazy,"' the shocked star said. 'But also, like, thank God that this woman caught it, cause I had no idea.' Under The Silver Lake is a dark comedy that follows an aimless young man in Los Angeles who stumbles upon various conspiracies while investigating the disappearance of his neighbor, played by Riley. The actress said, except for the scare, she enjoyed working on the film not only because of the cast and crew, but because of its location. Allergy: 'I was in the makeup trailer and I was eating, like, a granola bar or something, and I was about to shoot a scene where I have to kiss Andrew (Garfield),' on Under the Silver Lake she told Vanity Fair. The actor has a severe allergy to nuts, including peanuts Parenthood: Riley and husband Ben Smith-Peterson revealed the name of their one-year-old daughter, Tupelo Storm. Tupelo was the birthplace of her grandfather, Elvis Presley, and Storm was the middle name of Riley's late brother Benjamin, who passed away in 2020 (Pictured in Los Angeles in March) 'This was a very cool movie to film because it was in Los Angeles, and Ive only ever been able to film three things in Los Angeles, which is where I live.' The Terminal List actress recently revealed the name of her one-year-old daughter, whom she shares with husband Ben Smith-Peterson. The couple welcomed the little one via surrogate last August, but kept her arrival under wraps until she was mentioned in a letter Ben read for Riley at her mother Lisa Marie Presley's funeral last January. Directing: Riley made her directorial debut for War Pony. She and Gina Gammell co-helmed the project about two young Oglala Lakota men growing up on the Pine Ridge Reservation which won the Camera d'Or at Cannes in 2022 (Pictured in Los Angeles in May) The girl's name is Tupelo Storm. Tupelo was the birthplace of her grandfather, Elvis Presley, and Storm was the middle name of Riley's late brother Benjamin, who passed away in 2020. Riley stepped behind the camera to make her directorial debut for War Pony. She and fellow director Gina Gammell co-helmed the project about two young Oglala Lakota men growing up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. The film debuted at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival and won the Camera d'Or. War Pony opened in select theaters July 28 and can be watched at home via purchase or rental on various streaming platforms. Tarek El Moussa and his wife Heather Rae El Moussa had a smile on their faces as they got to work on season two of their HGTV series The Flipping El Moussas. The couple were spotted filming outside a home in Cerritos, California on Wednesday. Heather, 35, gave one colleague a fist bump as she stood outside on the curb with her grinning husband looking on. The El Moussas managed to appear happy despite being embroiled in controversy over their plans to build an apartment building in North Hollywood which would push out numerous tenants already living on site in rent-controlled bungalows. The residents have been threatened with eviction notices, but are resisting pressure to relocate. What controversy? Tarek El Moussa and his wife Heather Rae El Moussa had a smile on their face as they got to work on season two of their HGTV series The Flipping El Moussas following controversy over a North Hollywood apartment they plan on building The couple managed to conceal any concerns over the dispute as they filmed the latest installment of their HGTV series together. Heather, who also stars on the hit Netflix show Selling Sunset, looked in great spirits as she arrived onto the set in stylish ripped jeans, a blue tank top, and sneakers. She carried a tote bag over one arm, a bottled beverage, and massive white Stanley cup water bottle. Her husband wore his usual hat, sunglasses, fitted black shirt, trousers and checkered sneakers. It comes after the furious residents at the center of the controversy spoke with DailyMail.com, revealing they do not plan on moving from their North Hollywood rent-controlled homes without a fight. In a project hailed as his 'biggest ever flip', real estate tycoon Tarek will be replacing their forest-green ramshackle bungalows on Hartsook Street, Los Angeles, with a towering white 138-unit apartment block boasting a rooftop pool. The tenants - including two disabled residents, an expectant couple, and a 78-year-old woman who has lived there for decades - have told DailyMail.com 'we're not going anywhere' until they are 'treated fairly' and offered more than a 'pittance'. Their homes in the Arts District appeared in the background of El Moussa's jubilant promo video as he announced plans to replace them the new apartment complex. Set to make a profit of $26 million, the project involves El Moussa's investment firm TEM Capital, along with his wife Heather Rae's company HEM Capital and two separate firms - Pyramid Development Group and WJK Development Co. Summer style: Heather, who also stars on the hit Netflix show Selling Sunset, looked in great spirits as she arrived onto the set in stylish ripped jeans, a blue tank top, and sneakers It's all good! The Selling Sunset star shared a fist bump with a colleague as her grinning husband watched on It affects five tenants from three households who have already been through substantial trauma after their former 'crazy psychotic slumlord arsonist landlord' Arthur Aslanian tried to burn down vacant bungalows on the same plot as they slept. They said '90%' of their neighbors left amid Aslanian's 'reign of terror', which saw him convicted in federal court of hiring someone to burn down the buildings - as well as a separate murder-for-hire plot. The residents told DailyMail.com they feel that El Moussa is now 'finishing' Aslanian's attempt to tear down their homes and clear the way for an 'ugly' white block which will make more money for landowners. Ranging in age from 32 to 78, the united tenants who have stayed put amid horrific circumstances say they won't be turfed out easily and are determined to oppose the development, named NoHo 138. The youngest - Clare Letmon, a project manager for environmental non-profit VerdeXchange - moved to the neighborhood from Florida in January 2019 with her film director husband Jonpaul Rodriguez, 35, hoping to start a family there. Now five months pregnant with her first child, Letmon is among the Hartsook five facing Ellis Act eviction notices giving them 120 days to vacate, along with an offer of $12,000 compensation per household. Reality TV stars the El Moussas told investors in a presentation that they could sell NoHo 138 for $26 million more than it costs to acquire property and build the development, according to residents and the Los Angeles Times. 'We found this place and it was a dream,' Letmon told the Mail. El Moussa described his vision for the new block (pictured) as a 'super modern' 'incredible building', adding: 'This is Hollywood man, this is where everybody wants to live' In a project hailed as his 'biggest ever flip', the 41-year-old real estate tycoon will be replacing their forest-green bungalows (pictured) on Hartsook Street, Los Angeles, with a towering white 138-unit apartment block boasting a rooftop pool 'It's a 1925 bungalow court - we can walk to the train to go to work, walk to the grocery store. 'But over the course of the pandemic when we were all here getting to know our neighbors really well, that was when the campaign of terror really began by (Aslanian). 'When on day one of his federal trial we got served with these Ellis Act eviction notices, it was a slap in the face. 'We had just heard in the courtroom about how this man literally paid someone to set our house on fire while we were asleep inside, and they're just moving forward with the project. 'In our view, this team is just picking up where Arthur left off - finishing the job.' Letmon added that although the new developers had 'nothing to do' with Aslanian's violence, they will 'profit immensely from everything he did, very illegally, to vacate these homes and put them in the condition that Tarek is seen on camera promoting'. She said the homes were in 'pristine condition' and 'fully occupied' when she first moved in, and the ramshackle state many are now in is due to Aslanian's attempts to burn and tear them down. The residents have not been offered a place in El Moussa's proposed new building, though Letmon said they 'don't want to be jam-packed into these tiny units' anyway. Referring to Aslanian, she said: 'This guy is a monster, we don't want to move into his building.' 'As expectant parents, we want a place with a dishwasher and a washer and dryer - not constant threats from a crazy psychotic slumlord arsonist landlord. 'Tenants are demanding housing security and honest security.' The reality TV stars documents their glamorous lifestyle on social media, regularly posting pictures of their frequent holidays, house flips, and his gym routines on Instagram and Twitter Letmon said she hoped the El Moussa's, who cost HGTV property show The Flipping El Moussas, would be more sympathetic to her situation as new parents themselves as of February this year. 'I would hope, that since Tarek and Heather like to use their status as new parents in their public persona, that they would understand why receiving an eviction notice on day one of your criminal landlord's murder-for-hire trial after you've seen this guy sneaking around the property filming promos,' she said. In an Instagram post defending his project, El Moussa said 'I'm not evicting anyone', adding: 'Notices to the current tenants were served by the current owner, not by me or the partners of NoHo 138'. Letmon disputed this, saying: 'Tarek maybe didn't serve the papers himself, but he's engaged in a process where that's the outcome.' 'He's telling investors in these promo videos 'oh we bought this property', they're making themselves out to be the owners, but when it comes to who's serving the eviction owners 'oh we're not the owners"', she said. 'If this is the case, then why don't they ask the current owner to drop the eviction notices, and we will negotiate in good faith without an eviction notice over our heads?' Letmon said the $12,000 dollar compensation is the 'legal-required minimum'. 'It's not an offer, it's an insult,' she said. El Moussa, who is best known for co-hosting HGTV's Flip or Flop alongside his ex-wife Christina Hall, introduced his venture in an Instagram video he filmed while strolling through the NoHo Arts District wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket. 'I'm right here in North Hollywood California,' a beaming El-Moussa told his 1.3 million followers. 'I was just checking out the newest project for TEM Capital, and, man, I'm just so excited about this thing. 'You know, I've been flipping houses a long time, and this project is hands-down the biggest flip I've ever done. 'So I just walked the lot, and we're going to be building 138 units in the heart of North Hollywood. El Moussa married 35-year-old reality TV star Heather Rae in October 2021 and they welcomed their son, Tristan, in February this year The couple also welcomed their first child together in February this year, as announced in an adorable joint Instagram post shared with their combined 4.4 million followers. Letmon said she hoped they would be more sympathetic to her situation as new parents themselves 'It's super cool, super modern. On the rooftop, there's going to be a pool, cabana, chairs. 'I mean, just an incredible location and an incredible building. And this is Hollywood man, this is where everybody wants to live.' The tenants have been treated 'respectfully and lawfully' and will be offered compensation, according to the developers involved. 'The goal is to work closely and respectfully with the current tenants by providing proper move-out compensation and constructing a safe and pristine new apartment complex that will also include 14 low-income units,' TEM Capital said. In a statement on their website, they added that representatives had visited the residents on March 2. 'An open line of communication was established with the tenants attorney and both sides agreed to handle the move out agreement to ensure the smoothest route possible,' TEM said. 'The entire process has been and will continue to be handled justly through the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) and a legal relocation advisor in order to make 100% sure the relocation is performed according to the law, and that the existing tenants are treated respectfully and lawfully. 'Proper monetary compensation will be offered to interested tenants who would prefer to leave early.' Divorce looks good on blonde beauty Christine Baumgartner. The estranged wife of Hollywood movie star Kevin Costner was seen smiling while in a summer outfit carrying a structured Prada purse as she left a CVS drugstore in Montecito, California on Wednesday. This is the first time Baumgartner has been seen since she moved into her new $35,000 a month rental in Santa Barbara, California after splitting from the Yellowstone star. The 49-year-old displayed her tanned and toned midriff in a colorful, silky crop top as she added loose-fitting white slacks with pockets. Instead of fancy footwear, Christine opted for simple white sandals that flashed her pretty pedicure. The California resident added trendy brown-tinted aviator style sunglasses as she pulled her blonde hair back in a messy ponytail. Happy single lady: Divorce looks good on blonde beauty Christine Baumgartner New attitude: The estranged wife of Hollywood movie star Kevin Costner was seen smiling while in a summer outfit carrying a structured black Prada purse as she left a CVS drugstore in Montecito, California on Wednesday She also wore a large dark jewel ring on her middle finger in place of the wedding ring she ditched back in May after filing for divorce. Christine arrived in a black Range Rover. Meanwhile, her ex Kevin was seen this week taking in a Taylor Swift concert at the Sofi stadium in Los Angeles. He had some of his older children with him as he was seen dressed casually in a VIP box. Her new home looks comfortable. DailyMail.com obtained images of the dwelling earlier this week. The home has four bedrooms and four bathrooms and includes amenities such as a swimming pool, fire pit and BBQ area. The luxury home is surrounded by green shrubbery in the upscale California community. Following her July 28 move from the main home, an insider revealed to People that the mother-of-three had been staying 'at a smaller house' on the property that had been used for staffers. Happy in her own digs: This is the first time Baumgartner has been seen since she moved into her new $35,000 a month rental in Santa Barbara, California after splitting from the Yellowstone star Can't hide that smile: The 49-year-old displayed her tanned and toned midriff in a colorful, silky crop top as she added loose-fitting white slacks with pockets Ugly divorce: The couple tied the knot after four years of dating in September 2004. Baumgartner filed for divorce in May after 18 years of marriage; seen together in 2008 The insider said that Baumgartner had been 'staying in the area to not disrupt' her her and Costner's three children - Cayden 16, Hayes, 14, and Grace, 13 - who 'will be back at school in the fall with their friends' in the coming months. Baumgartner, a handbag designer, has been 'trying to keep everything as normal as possible' amid the tumultuous time for the family, the source told the outlet. Baumgartner, who filed for divorce from the Yellowstone star in May, has complained of struggling to find an appropriate rental abode in the area. Since proceedings began, the divorce has been far from amicable, from Costner claiming that his ex refused to leave the mansion despite giving her $1.45 million for a new residence; to Christine alleging the actor was trying to make her and their children 'homeless.' Baumgartner had insisted in court docs that she had no plans to 'strip' their mansion in Santa Barbara of items before leaving the grounds. Costner - who was spotted with the pair's three kids July 28 in Aspen, Colorado - and Baumgartner have been locked in a very contentious split over the past few months. No kitten heels for her: Instead of fancy footwear, Christine opted for simple white sandals that flashed her pretty pedicure I did it my way: The California resident added trendy brown-tinted aviator style sunglasses. The looker pulled her blonde hair back in a messy ponytail The drama goes back weeks when Costner asked her to exit the home, then the focus had been on what she planned to take with her when she left. Last month, sources told DailyMail.com that Baumgartner fears the performer is 'out for revenge' against her after she filed for divorce, and will have police escort her out of their Santa Barbara home. 'He wants to humiliate her,' a close friend of Christine said. 'This isn't about the house, it's about making Christine's life a living hell for actually going through with the divorce. 'Christine said she wouldn't be surprised if Kevin had her escorted off the property by police,' the friend says. 'It was Christine who wanted to make this transition as peaceful as possible for the sake of the children. 'Kevin has done the complete opposite. He's not thinking about the kids, about how traumatizing this is.' Last month, Baumgartner was court-ordered to vacate the former couple's $145M lavish California mansion Baumgartner shared in new legal documents that she will be showing photos in a PDF to Kevin's attorneys of what she plans to remove from the mansion, according to a report from ET. And that means there should be no 'emergency hearing' over what belongings will be taken out. Christine said a hearing was 'uncalled for.' Also in the filing, it was revealed that Baumgartner rented an 'off-site' storage unit to house some silverware, some pots and pans, a Peloton bike, family heirlooms, clothing and personal items from friends. There was also a 'mother/daughter horse picture' she wanted to keep. And it was added that Costner would 'not be harmed' by Baumgartner during the removal of her items. Last month, a judge ruled she must confer with Kevin before taking any property from the estate. She has been barred from taking art, furniture, furnishings or appliances with her, without his explicit consent. It was also stated that she will be barred from removing any property, apart from her clothing, toiletries, handbags and jewelry from the mansion. The Let Him Go actor was on the hook to help his estranged wife relocate per their prenuptial agreement, but it was a relatively paltry sum for their lifestyle. Over: Baumgartner filed for divorce from the Hollywood star in May, after 18 years of marriage; The pair seen in 2022 Parents of four: The former couple share three children: sons Cayden, 16; and Hayes, 14; along with their younger daughter Grace, 13 Costner would have paid her a reported $1.5million 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. Costner has deposited $1.5 million in Baumgartner's bank account to get her to move out of his mansion, and he said he had given her $200,000 earlier in their marriage in line with their prenuptial agreement. However, Baumgartner hasn't touched the money, as she says doing so would rob her of her ability to contest the prenup's validity. The former couple initially tied the knot in 2004, with Christine filing for divorce on May 1 after 18 years of marriage. She noted that their date of separation was on April 11, and cited the reason for the split was due to 'irreconcilable differences.' The divorce filing had left Kevin 'blindsided' and the star actually had plans to file for divorce first, sources told The Sun last month in June. He had assumed that the two were going to split amicably and follow steps in their prenuptial agreement. There has been a protracted dispute between local authorities and the federal government over whom to conduct statutory marriages in Nigeria. The Court of Appeal in Lagos has overturned a judgement granting exclusive rights to local governments to conduct statutory marriages in Nigeria. The appellate court said both local governments and the Federal Marriage Registries can hold marriages and issue certificates to couples. Four local governments - Eti-Osa (Lagos State), Gor (Edo State), Owerri Municipal (Imo State) and Port-Harcourt (Rivers State) - had sued the Minister of Interior and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, seeking to have the exclusive right to administer marriages. The plaintiffs sued the federal government at the Federal High Court in Lagos. Delivering judgement on the suit at the trial court in December 2021, the judge, Daniel Osiagor, restrained the Minister of Interior who operates the Federal Marriage Registries "from further contracting marriages under the Marriage Act ... Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004." Dissatisfied with Mr Osiagor's decision, the Attorney General and the Interior Minister filed their separate appeals on the matter. The AGF, represented by Tijjani Gazali, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), urged the Court of Appeal to hold that the trial court was wrong to have conferred exclusive rights to the local governments to conduct marriages and issue certificates to couples. Judgement In a copy of the judgement delivered on 2 August but seen by PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, Lagos, led by Olukayode Bada, held that neither the local councils nor the federal government have the exclusive right to conduct statutory marriages. In the lead decision, Abubakar Umar, citing a 2002 judgement of the Federal High Court on a similar dispute, said, "It is my considered view that the pronouncement of the court ... in 2002 ... does not confer either" the local governments or the Interior Minister "with the exclusive rights to conduct, celebrate or contract marriages." Mr Umar added that "any allusion to exclusive rights to conduct marriages" by the parties "is not only inconsistent with the decision of" the Federal High Court in 2002 "but at variance with the extant provision of the Marriage Act and the subsidiary legislations..." The appellate court agreed with the trial court that the "celebration and contraction of marriages in local government councils are valid." "The lower court was in manifest error when it granted an injunction restraining the 5th respondent (Interior Minister) from further contracting, celebrating, issuing marriage certificates or registering marriages within local government areas," the Appeal Court said. Mr Umar cautioned against arrogating to themselves the "exclusive powers to conduct, celebrate and register statutory marriages." The appellate court further refused the local governments' request to order the Interior Minister to return all marriage fees received from couples since 2002. The Justice noted that the suit instituted by the local governments did not constitute an abuse of the court process as earlier argued by the AGF in his briefs. Background There has been a protracted dispute between local authorities and the federal government over whom to conduct statutory marriages in Nigeria. The issue got to a head when embassies in Nigeria refused to recognise marriage certificates issued by local government councils, citing credibility issues. In granting visas to married couples, embassies and foreign organisations only recognise marriage certificates issued by the Federal Marriage Registries in Abuja, Lagos and other major cities in Nigeria. As a result, the four local councils in Lagos, Edo, Imo and Rivers States, lodged the suit at the Federal High Court in Lagos, praying it confer exclusive jurisdiction on them to conduct marriages. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Nigeria Legal Affairs By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. In an originating summons filed on 12 April 2019, the plaintiffs through their lawyer, Michael Roger, urged the court to grant an "order of perpetual injunction restraining" the Interior Minister or his agents "from further contracting marriages under the Marriage Act...of the Federation of Nigeria." They also sought an "order restraining" the Interior Minister or his agents "from further celebrating marriages under the Marriage Act of the Federation... within the plaintiffs' local government councils." "An order of court directing the 1st defendant to return all marriage certificates issued within the respective plaintiffs' local government councils since 2002. "An order directing the 1st defendant to return all fees paid by couples since 2002 to the plaintiffs' marriage Registries for re-issuance. "An order of court sealing all the Federal Marriage Registries established by the 1st defendant in the applicants' local governments in Nigeria." The exes - who are both seeking custody of the girls - were officially granted a divorce last month , ending a drama-filled celebrity marriage that lasted 14 years In docs obtained by DailyMail.com, the Welsh actor claimed he has only spent 27 days with daughters Ella and Elsie this year due to Evans's 'alienation' of the girls Ioan Gruffudd and Alice Evans's custody battle resumed in a LA court on Thursday to thrash out the actress's demands for spousal and child support Warring Hollywood exes, Ioan Gruffudd and Alice Evans took their long-running battles to a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday, this time fighting over his claim that she has kept him from seeing his two young daughters for most of the past year. The two - who are both seeking custody of the girls - were officially granted a divorce last month, ending a drama-filled celebrity marriage that lasted 14 years. But it didn't end their bitter and acrimonious disputes that began after their separation two years ago when Fantastic Four star Gruffudd, 49, took up with his current girlfriend Bianca Wallace - who, at 31, is 24 years younger than Evans. On Thursday, their attorneys were at LA Superior court to thrash out Evans's demands for spousal and child support - and Gruffudd's plea to the judge to grant him more time with their daughters, Ella, 13, and Elsie, nine. Attorneys for Ioan Gruffudd and Alice Evans were back in court Thursday as the former couple continue to fight for custody of their two daughters, Ella, 13, and Elsie, 9, (pictured in April) amid their messy divorce Gruffudd who has been dating girlfriend Bianca Wallace (pictured in February) since his separation from Evans in 2021, is also requesting more time with his daughters, claiming his ex has kept him from seeing them for most of the past year The feuding exes were declared legally divorced in July - two years after the actor filed for divorce after 14 years of marriage Judge Josh Freeman Stinn banned the press from the hearing because it involved discussions about visitation and custody of minor children. But while whatever was discussed or decide about custody of the girls remains secret, Gruffudd claimed in public court documents that he had only been allowed to spend seven per cent of the past year with his daughters while his ex has had the other 93 per cent of their time. 'Due to (Evans' ) alienation of the children, (Gruffudd) has only spent approximately 27 days with their children in the past year,' his attorneys said in legal papers. 'Gruffudd is hopeful for increased time share and custody arrangements.' The judge continued the financial issues of child and spousal support to another hearing on February 7 next year. In one of the former couple's latest skirmishes, the Welsh actor accused Evans of setting up fake Twitter accounts to brand him and Wallace 'child abusers' after daughter Ella tried to get a temporary restraining order against her father and Wallace. Gruffudd - who met Evans when they co-starred in the 2000 Disney movie, 101 Dalmatians - filed for divorce in March 2021, shortly after the blonde-haired actress claimed on social media that her husband of 14 years was walking out on her and their two daughters. In docs obtained by DailyMail.com, Gruffudd claimed his ex has had custody of their daughters '93 per cent of their time' Gruffudd claimed in court papers that he has only spent approximately 27 days with Ella and Elsie this year due to Evans's 'alienation of the children' The actress shared a slew of snaps with her two girls on Instagram as they celebrated her 55th birthday last week She tweeted at the time: 'Sad news. My beloved husband/soulmate of 20 years, Ioan Gruffudd, has announced he is to leave his family, starting next week. 'Me and our young daughters girls are very confused and sad. We haven't been given a reason except that he 'no longer loves me.' I'm so sorry.' Their split would only grow nastier from there, as Evan made headlines with a slew of public statements and accusations against her estranged husband. After months of barbed tweets and social media posts made by Evans, Gruffudd responded by filing for a restraining order, submitting 113 pages of unhinged texts and emails that had not previously been made public. In his court filing, Gruffudd claimed he told Evans that he wanted out of the marriage in August 2020 and that since then, she had harassed him with hundreds of unanswered text messages, abusive emails and social media posts many of which he included in the filing. Having previously been awarded a temporary restraining order against his estranged wife, Gruffudd successfully obtained a three-year restraining order against her in August 2022. Harsher restrictions were put in place by a US judge, including a ruling preventing Alice from leaking private text messages from their children. The Welsh actor first filed for custody and visitation rights to see his children in December 2022. He is pictured with his estranged wife and their daughters in 2018 Gruffudd and Evans announced that their marriage was over in January 2021 and he went public with his new romance with Wallace that October Evans appeared in court in February 2023 to answer two charges of violating a restraining order that was put in place by her estranged husband. The charges were later dropped. Three months later, in documents filed at LA Superior Court, the pair's teenage daughter asked for a restraining order against her famous father and his girlfriend. In the documents, Ella stated that she is 'afraid' of her father and accuses him of 'threatening to call the police on her anytime she misbehaves' during their visitations. Ella filed for a domestic violence restraining order against her Gruffudd following what she said was an ugly incident at their home, during which she claims Bianca 'slammed a door on her head'. In June, Judge Freeman Stinn turned down her restraining order application and appointed a minors' counsel a lawyer appointed by the court to represent the best interests of Ella and her younger. Weeks before, Gruffudd had filed court documents that accused Evans of setting up fake Twitter accounts to brand him and Wallace 'child abusers'. He also claimed that Evans screamed at him outside his Los Angeles home and called him a 'f***ing abuser' and 'abusive c***' in front of Ella. The Grand Old Opera House Hotel (Traverse Theatre) Verdict: Scotland's prima donna strikes again Rating: J.M. Coetzee's Life And Times of Michael K (Assembly Hall, The Mound) Verdict: South African epic Rating: The Edinburgh Festival is the spiritual home of kooky genius. And there are few people in theatre today who are kookier or more touched by genius than Isobel McArthur, the hottest thing in Scottish theatre, and possibly the UK. She's best known for her batty Jane Austen adaptation Pride And Prejudice* (*Sort Of), which ran all-too briefly in the West End two years ago. And her latest joyously theatrical, utterly surreal, musical farce proves she's no flash in the pan. The opera house of the title is a baroque behemoth converted into a Premier Inn-style hotel. Here, new bellboy Aaron (Ali Watt) arrives for staff training and becomes besotted by opera-buff chambermaid Amy (Karen Fishwick), who he never quite meets. Much to the chagrin of sleepless guests, the hotel is haunted by the ghosts of former divas, and they're still rattling the rafters. None of this makes much sense on paper, but on stage it has its own delirious logic, in a world where inflatable sex toys are discovered under duvets and toreadors from Bizet's Carmen burst from an en-suite shower room. Indeed, the scenario grows into a full-scale libretto, reminiscent of the love-tangles in Mozart's operas, as Aaron and Amy converge. In truth, the show does sometimes creak. But I found myself pitifully grateful for McArthur's theatrical ambition and generosity of spirit The show also teems with a galaxy of characters including the stressed Welsh manager (Christina Modestou); Glaswegian cleaner Morag (Ann Louise Ross), always on the lookout for a crafty smoke; Colombian medical student Yolanda (Betty Valencia), reduced to vacuuming bedrooms; and a saucy sex kitten (played by the aptly named Laura Lovemore). It turns out they can all sing, and well enough for Aaron to make us tingle with his version of Una Furtiva Lagrima from Donizetti's L'Elisir D'Amore. Ana Ines Jabares-Pita's staging for Gareth Nicholls's production is no less extravagantly theatrical, with a hotel corridor folding away to reveal a bedroom beyond. In truth, the show does sometimes creak. But I found myself pitifully grateful for McArthur's theatrical ambition and generosity of spirit, in a world that's become more concerned with chastising audiences than enchanting them. There are similar levels of artistic ambition in the much more serious stage adaptation of J.M. Coetzee's 1983 Booker Prize-winning novel Life And Times Of Michael K. South Africa's renowned Baxter Theatre Company has teamed up with the Handspring Puppet Company (best known for War Horse) to create a world of equal but darker magic. The story is of the titular young black South African, born into poverty with a cleft lip. Labouring under the restrictions of apartheid, Michael improvises a cart to transport his ailing mother to her childhood farm 250 miles away. The brilliance of the show is the way the puppets are operated to intensify the story into a kind of modern legend. Serenaded by plangent cello and jaunty jazz piano, this is an engrossing spectacle of unusual emotional force. There are similar levels of artistic ambition in the much more serious stage adaptation of J.M. Coetzee's 1983 Booker Prize-winning novel Life And Times Of Michael K In Edinburgh, the old jokers are the best You may think there's a struggling young comic on every street corner of Edinburgh's Royal Mile, but there are plenty of established stars, too. One is the always bankable Jon Culshaw, with his show Imposter Syndrome (Gilded Ballroom Teviot, 4*), reminiscing about life in 1970s Lancashire, with the monocled astronomer Patrick Moore and the rubber-lipped Les Dawson on telly. Taking a nostalgia trip through his Spitting Image years, when he impersonated PMs from John Major to Tony Blair, Culshaw (pictured) moves on to Gordon Brown and Bojo, before detouring through Merseyside for a tribute to Paul O'Grady. Best of all, though, are the songs, including an Arctic Monkeys spoof exposing Alex Turner as the new George Formby. Frank Skinner has always been Mr Nonchalant from West Brom. And age has not changed him. Now 66, and back at the Fringe 32 years after winning the Perrier Award, he's totally in his comfort zone with 30 Years Of Dirt (Gordon Aikman Theatre, 3*). In a baggy suit, Skinner shuffles about as if recovering from a hip op. He grins at the floor, glances up to check the audience is still there, and quizzes us on names, jobs and hair loss (cue 'fringe' gags). He claims to be unable to remove the blue jokes (which haunt him like the living dead in zombie films). But the older he gets, the creepier they become. Still, if you go to one of his shows not knowing that's what's in store, it is, as he says, like being a vegan in a butcher's shop. The always bankable Jon Culshaw stars in his show Imposter Syndrome (Gilded Ballroom Teviot, 4*), reminiscing about life in 1970s Lancashire Frank Skinner has always been Mr Nonchalant from West Brom. And age has not changed him Kiwi comic Deb Filler has fewer but better gags in Kravitz, Cohen, Bernstein And Me (Drawing Room, Assembly Rooms 4*). We start with a half-hour of early-years red-herrings recalling doing Judy Garland impersonations, and a father who rued Sinatra not singing in Yiddish. But then come the tales of meeting Leonard Bernstein in Auckland, charming Leonard Cohen with dirty Jewish jokes while driving executive cars in New York, and causing Lenny Kravitz to split his leather trousers. The show could do with being structured more strictly around her songs. But it's a sweet tale of a life lived in the wings. On trial: the head versus the heart The Effect (National Theatre, Lyttelton) Verdict: Art of a heart Rating: Love is a drug. Or is it? It's the big question posed by Lucy (Succession) Prebble's 2012 play, rebooted for today and a top black cast. Hackney chancer, Tristan (Paapa Essiedu), and Connie (Taylor Russell), a Canadian psychology student, have volunteered as guinea-pigs in a clinical trial for anti-depressants. They're under the supervision of psychiatrists Lorna (Michele Austin, likeable, anxious) and Toby (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, oozing entitlement), sitting at either end of a traverse stage, with the youngsters in brightly lit boxes like lab rats. A buzzing soundscape contributes to the distancing effect in Jamie Lloyd's superbly performed, flash, stylised, propless production. We have to imagine the urine samples Tris jokes about, the walls that divide him from Connie, the heart monitors they remove when, feverishly in love, they escape to the asylum next door. A trembling Tris thinks he's having a heart attack. Is it genuine passion or the high dose of happy pills? A few years ago Essiedu played a brooding Hamlet. In a reference to Shakespeare's meditation on depression, Toby pulls a brain ('Nowadays we think our soul is in there') out of a bucket and rationally explains its workings. Later, in Lorna's distressed hands, a brain slithers, a fathomless emotional landmine. Tris and Connie's love-affair is balanced by the relationship between cocky Toby and Lorna, a depressive who refuses to medicate as she doesn't want to 'numb herself from reality'. Toby refers to her depression as 'an episode'. Lorna calls it 'me'. 'I don't have enough skin,' she says. Prebble peels layers of skin from a fascinating issue; a more intimate production could have exposed more nerves. GEORGINA BROWN Paapa Essiedu (Tristan) and Taylor Russell (Connie) in The Effect at the National Theatre Who says Shakespeare's not funny?! Why this Winter Tale in the woods is perfect summer fare... The Winter's Tale (Theatre In The Forest, Suffolk) Verdict: Perfect for a midsummer's night Rating: We could be in Shakespeare's Arden. On a dreamy midsummer's night, we wander across a meadow to assemble in a grove of sweet chestnut and silver birch trees for The Winter's Tale, the rain magically holding off for this open-air production in the timeless setting of Sutton Hoo, the burial ground in Suffolk of an Anglo-Saxon king. The play is notorious for shifting, not always comfortably, between tragedy and comedy. The Rose Chain Theatre Company of Ipswich (in its summer guise as the Theatre In The Forest) ensures it's the comedy that conquers. There is some public debate at present on whether or not Shakespeare is ever funny. This production gives an emphatic answer: yes. An exuberant, energetic young cast plays it for pantomime laughs, ad-libbing and slap-sticking and interacting with a vocal audience (kids, young and old) happy to join in. But they switch seamlessly into the serious and the sad, faithful to the text in conveying the jealousy and hatred that are central to the plot. There are just eight actors but they fill the impromptu woodland stage, doubling and even trebling up to play all the parts. With minimal scenery (but lots of props, including some ingenious puppets) it is as if a troupe of travelling players has breezed in to entertain us, flitting on and off, changing costumes and characters. Ted Newborn, Jack Spencer, Ailis Duff, Emily Jane Kerr, Vincent Moisy in The Winter's Tale I loved their versatility. Vincent Moisy excels as an angry Leontes, then excels again as a dancing sheep! The virtuous Hermione (Emily Jane Kerr) is also the rogue Autolycus, Paulina (Ailis Duff) also the shepherd. My only lament is that they lost the solemnity of Shakespeare's ending, with its profound themes of remorse, redemption and resurrection opting instead for a cheery sing-along of 'You always hurt the one you love'. Then again, since that perfectly sums up what the play is all about, perhaps this was a fitting finale. If imaginative directing helps to make complex but rewarding plays like this accessible and understandable, what's to complain about? For more information visit redrosechain.com TONY RENNELL Kanye West looked unusually jubilant on Thursday night as he took a walk through Florence, Italy, with his 'wife' Bianca Censori. The couple, whose January nuptials were not legally binding, were pictured slurping up some gelato while exploring the city. It was a seemingly rare upbeat moment for the 46-year-old rapper and aspiring presidential candidate, as he and Bianca could be seen sharing wide grins while catching up. She was once again dressed in another striking and racy ensemble, which this time featured a sheer white crop top that left little to the imagination. Her fashion-forward top featured medium-length sleeves, and she wore her brunette pixie cut which she bleached blond earlier this year under a white cap made of a similar material. In high spirits: Kanye West, 46, looked unusually jubilant on Thursday night as he took a walk through Florence, Italy, with his 'wife' Bianca Censori Loving it: The couple, whose January nuptials were not legally binding, were pictured slurping up some gelato and sport ear-to-ear grins while exploring the city The Melbourne-raised architect who worked for West's company Yeezy before starting a relationship with him showcased her toned midriff and curves thanks to the skimpy design, and she complemented her top with a baggy white skirt that reached down to the ground. West was dressed in his now standard baggy black clothing, which included a jacket with a hood that he pulled up over his shaved head. The Monster rapper also sported a clean-shaven face after previously displaying a bushy beard in recent months. He also had on baggy dark pants, and he enlivened the look somewhat with a gold chain around his neck. Surprisingly, the hitmaker decided to skip shoes or socks for the outing, and instead braved the streets of Florence in his bare feet, something he has been seen doing in recent days. The unguarded outing was a far cry from the couple's usual trips in public, where they are often seen looking stone faced. Something Kanye said appeared to have tickled Bianca's funny bone, as she could be seen bursting into laughter while walking next to him. They also stopped at one point and stood against a brick wall to point out some sight in the distance. Woman in white: Bianca rocked a sheer white crop top that left little to the imagination. She wore it without a bra On point: The Melbourne-raised architect showcased her toned midriff and curves thanks to the skimpy design, and she complemented her top with a baggy white skirt Back in black: West was dressed in his now standard baggy black clothing, which included a jacket with a hood that he pulled up over his shaved head Time for a change: The Monster rapper also sported a clean-shaven face after previously displaying a bushy beard in recent months Although Bianca and Kanye appeared to be having a great time in Florence, the Italian locals haven't been enjoying their honeymoon-like trip as much. On social media, several users have complained about Bianca's 'disrespectful' outfits, which are widely believed to be styled primarily by her 'husband.' She has developed a habit of going out in skimpy tops which often reveal her bra-free breasts under the sheer material. Earlier this week, a source told Us Weekly that the Flashing Lights rapper and his bride were in the midst of a 'honeymoon phase,' adding that they 'are always all over each other and showing affection.' They are having a blast traveling right now and Kanye has been very inspired. He says hes designing, writing music and being inspired. He may be particularly keen to try to revive his floundering career after he suffered immense financial setbacks and the loss of lucrative fashion and footwear contracts due to antisemitic statements he made. After a widely derided Yeezy show in which the musician-turned-designer put his models in 'White Lives Matter' shirts, he is hoping to shake up fashion culture with his latest designs. 'Bianca has been helping Kanye with some designs, and they both think their fashions are going to be culture shifting,' the source continued. Risky: Surprisingly, the hitmaker decided to skip shoes or socks for the outing, and instead braved the streets of Florence in his bare feet, something he has been seen doing in recent days Honeymoon phase: The unguarded outing was a far cry from the couple's usual trips in public, where they are often seen looking stone faced Not fans: Kanye and Bianca seemed to enjoy their time in Florence, but several Italians complained about them on social media, particularly in regards to Bianca's 'disrespectful' attire Putting the pieces back together: Kanye is reportedly plotting a career comeback after he lost major deals and enormous sums of money due to antisemitic statements he made It's unclear if the rapper is working on variations of the casual styles and earth tones he has long favored for his Yeezy clothing, or if he envisions a more drastic break with his previous designs. 'Kanye feels hes on the precipice of a big comeback,' the source claimed. However, his public difficulties over offensive statements and bizarre behavior in recent years may complicate his efforts to be welcomed back into the fashion work. On a practical level, the loss of major deals with Gap and Adidas may also hamper his ability to produce new clothing. Kaitlyn Bristowe was spotted without her engagement ring once again in Los Angeles on Thursday. The Canadian reality TV personality, 38, showed off her toned legs in a pair of teal biker shorts and an oversized sweatshirt as she made her way through the airport with a suitcase in tow. The recently-single star who is best known for being a contestant on the 19th season of The Bachelor and the lead on the 11th season of The Bachelorette was all smiles after announcing on Sunday that she has called it quits with her fiance, Jason Tartick. Earlier this week, the Bachelor franchise alums had revealed they were 'beyond heartbroken' to end their two-year engagement after spending four years together. As she headed on a trip almost a week later, she sported a comfortable and cozy sweatshirt with a pastel blue and green color-blocking design. Casual yet chic: Kaitlyn Bristowe was spotted without her engagement ring once again in Los Angeles on Thursday. The Canadian reality TV personality, 38, showed off her toned legs in a pair of teal biker shorts and an oversized sweatshirt as she made her way through the airport with a suitcase in tow She also donned a pair of mid-length biker shorts with a white vertical stripe on each leg. For shoes, she opted for a pair of white crew socks with black varsity stripes and all-white sneakers. She also was seen carrying a black shoulder flap purse as she looked at her phone in one hand and pushed her chic carry-on luggage in the other. Bristowe looked effortlessly chic with her brunette tresses thrown up in a high ponytail at the crown of her head. She also rocked a minimal makeup look that highlighted her radiant skin and featured a mauve pink lip. The star looked perfectly sun-kissed with subtle bronzer and peachy-pink blush swept across her cheekbones. For jewelry, she accessorized with a gold necklace with a dainty pendant as well as various statement rings. The noticeable one she was not seen wearing was the sparkling diamond from her now-defunct betrothal to Tartick. Jet-setter: She also was seen carrying a black shoulder flap purse as she looked at her phone in one hand and pushed her chic carry-on luggage in the other Glowing: Bristowe looked effortlessly chic with her brunette tresses thrown up in a high ponytail at the crown of her head. She also rocked a minimal makeup look that highlighted her radiant skin and featured a mauve pink lip The end: She shared a note about the end of her engagement on social media Over the weekend, she and her now-ex, 34, announced the amicable end to their two-year engagement. The pair had previously met as the reality TV personality made an appearance on her Off the Vine podcast in 2018. During their relationship, the former couple had not welcomed any children together but do share several pets. In their statement, they wrote that they will share custody of their dogs Ramen and Pinot who 'will continue to be cared for together as brothers' amid their 'life-altering decision'. She faced backlash after debuting her rap career earlier this year. Now Alabama Barker's mother Shanna Moakler has stepped in to support her daughter, 17. Speaking with Page Six, Shanna, 48, gushed about her daughter's 'amazing' rap career and described how her music career was a 'natural progression' after being raised by her father, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. 'I think her rap career is amazing. My kids were raised on a tour bus from the time they were born,' Shanna told the outlet. 'Every creed, every race is going to love hip-hop and rap thats not gonna change,' she said. 'So for me it is a very natural progression for [Alabama], because shes been in the studio with her father with the greatest musicians in the world.' 'I think her rap career is amazing': Alabama Barker's mother Shanna Moakler has stepped in to support her daughter 'I think her father both understands the nature of the industry [and] that genre of music. I think theres a real love for it, and I think theres a deep respect for it as well. I know that they would never do anything without that respect,' she continued. 'They literally traveled the world numerous times over with some of the biggest musicians, rap artists and hip-hop artists in the world, and [for Alabamas] generation right now the highest genre of music is hip-hop and rap,' she said. Shanna also praised her daughter for having the kind of 'confidence' not many teens her age possess. In May, Alabama defended her rapping skills after she was lambasted for her vocal stylings. She took to social media to argue her point. 'I'm tired of people saying I don't know anything about rap music, I wasn't raised around rap music, I wasn't anything,' she said, according to People. 'So, let's take a little field day into my life because you guys know it so well,' added the star whose mother is Playboy model Shanna and whose stepmother is Kourtney Kardashian. The model then shared images with rap stars such as Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, and A$AP Ferg. I count: Alabama defended her rapping skills after being lambasted for her vocal stylings in mid May Good stance: She took to social media to argue her point. 'I'm tired of people saying I don't know anything about rap music, I wasn't raised around rap music, I wasn't anything,' she said, according to People 'Since I could walk, I was in the music industry,' she said. 'I was watching my dad perform in punk bands, rock bands, in rap concerts, everything. So, for the people that say, "Oh, she doesn't know anything about rap music."' The star, who later deleted the clip, said, 'She didn't grow up around rap music. Why is she doing this? Why is she doing that? I've been influenced by rap my entire upbringing and punk rock.' She then noted that she knows she is privileged. 'I'm beyond grateful for that and blessed. It's not okay for people to make fun of or disrespect any culture at all,' she added. Listen up: 'So, let's take a little field day into my life because you guys know it so well,' added the star whose mother is Playboy model Shanna Moakler and whose stepmother is Kourtney Kardashian. The model then shared images with rap stars such as Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, and A$AP Ferg 'So, if me being a rapper bugs you, then you can just keep moving and stop commenting.' In mid May she came under fire from social media users after sharing a new TikTok video of herself rapping along to her new single. She was raised in Calabasas, California. She could be seen mouthing along to lyrics such as 'We ain't together, when I'm wit' him he know I'm the realest / I ain't no opposition, all these b***hes in their feelings' in the clip. She appeared with a full face of makeup and showcased a vibrant orange wig, which featured a blonde streak. Fans were quick to note that the aspiring musician's vocals and accent appeared to have changed when she began to rap. One bemused viewer commented on Twitter: 'I don't understand how white girls be rich and decide to do this? the way I would be at a pool spending money somewhere like what.' New sound: Alabama in a TikTok video in which she raps along to her new single in mid May Daddy-daughter bond: The 17-year-old (seen with her father in 2018) faced accusations of 'blackfishing' after posting the rap video Her stepmother is reality TV star Kourtney Kardashian who runs POOSH Mommy: Her mother is Playboy model Shanna Moakler Barker has an older brother, Landon, who is 19. And she's also younger sister to Atiana De La Hoya, 24, who her mom Shanna shares with ex Oscar De La Hoya. The young woman boasts 1.9 million followers on Instagram and 3.9 million fans on TikTok. In March 2021 Alabama showed off her makeup prowess as she applied foundation to her dad's face using KVD Beauty's Good Apple Skin-Perfecting Foundation Balm. Katie Holmes opted for comfort as she enjoyed a leisurely stroll after hitting the gym in New York City on Wednesday. While braving the rain on her way home, the 44-year-old actress looked relaxed as she strutted down the sidewalk in a pair of white sneakers with black stripes on the sides. For her sweat session, the Dawson's Creek alum sported a light grey t-shirt with a yellow, pink and blue lighting bolt on it, cozy sweatpants and a pair of black tote bag. She completed her casual ensemble with a pair of oversized black shades over her striking hazel eyes. The Ohio native, who is known for her laid-back street style, wore minimal makeup and styled in sleek brown hair in a low ponytail. Cozy: Katie Holmes opted for comfort as she enjoyed a leisurely stroll after hitting the gym in New York City on Wednesday It is unclear if the mother-of-one is dating anyone, after denying romance rumors with talent agent Jeremy Barber in June. At the time, Holmes' rep told Page Six that she and Barber have a strictly professional as he is a Partner in the Motion Picture Literary and Talent Departments (UTA). In December, Holmes and production company, Lafayette Pictures, signed with his talent agency, which also represents Johnny Depp, Harrison Ford and Charlize Theron. Earlier this year, Holmes wrapped her time performing in the off-Broadway show, The Wanderers. Gym time: While braving the rain on her way home, the 44-year-old actress looked relaxed as she strutted down the sidewalk in a pair of white sneakers with black stripes on the sides Cool girl: For her sweat session, the Dawson's Creek alum sported a light grey t-shirt with a yellow, pink and blue lighting bolt on it, cozy sweatpants and a pair of black tote bag The versatile performer portrayed a movie star, who contacts a married novelist, and their interaction later puts the man's marriage to the test. The stage production marked her third time sharing her talents on the stage. She made her Broadway debut in 2008 in a revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons, and returned in 2012 in Dead Accounts. Katie's latest film, Rare Objects, which she directed, co-wrote and acted in, hit theaters on April 14. She starred alongside Julia Mayorga, who played a young woman trying to put aside her traumatic past when she goes to work in an antique store. Last year, she and her ex-boyfriend Bobby Wooten III split after nearly a year of dating. Walking home: She completed her casual ensemble with a pair of oversized black shades over her striking hazel eyes Casual: The Ohio native, who is known for her laid-back street style, wore minimal makeup and styled in sleek brown hair in a low ponytail 'They just didn't work out together for the long run,' a source shared with Us Weekly, at the time. The actress and self-taught musician, 33, made their red carpet debut in May, 2022. The couple were first linked when they were spotted kissing and holding hands in New York City, in April, 2022. The following month they appeared together at The Silver Ball, The Moth's 25th Anniversary Gala. Past love: Last year, she and her ex-boyfriend Bobby Wooten III split after nearly a year of dating (seen together in September, 2022) They were together a total of eight months and during that time didn't shy away from public displays of affection while out and about. Then over the summer the couple traveled to The Hamptons where Katie was Bobby's plus one at a friend's wedding and met his family. 'Katie spent time with Bobby's family, who really liked her,' a source told Us about the event. The person added that the movie star 'was very unassuming and kind to everyone.' It was also reported that, 'Whenever they would go without seeing each other, they would kiss and be very happy to be together again.' High-profile romances: Katie was previously linked to NYC chef Emilio Vitolo Jr. following her years-long romance with Academy Award winning actor Jamie Foxx; seen in 2023 Holmes and Wooten were introduced to each other through mutual friends. The two had a lot in common, with both hailing from the Midwest and having performed on Broadway. Bobby was in American Utopia, while Katie made her Broadway debut in the 2008 revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons and acted in Dead Accounts in 2012. Katie was previously linked to NYC chef Emilio Vitolo Jr. following her years-long romance with Academy Award winning actor Jamie Foxx. She was famously married to actor Tom Cruise from 2006 until their finalized divorce in 2012. The former couple share 17-year-old daughter Suri. Sky has pulled out of broadcasting the Oscars ceremony after 20 years, it is understood. According to a report the network has backed away from keeping the rights to the event as viewing figures tumble. A report by industry publication Deadline suggests that the rightsholder Disney is near to doing a deal with a new UK broadcaster. UK audience figures for the Oscars have been falling, with a reported 35,000 watching this year's event live on Sky Cinema compared to nearly 60,000 in 2022. Broadcasters are facing a tough economic climate and many are looking at how to make savings. Sky has pulled out of broadcasting the Oscars after taking over the rights to broadcast the ceremony from the BBC in 2004 UK audiences watching the Oscars on Sky Cinema fell from nearly 60,000 in 2022 to 35,000 earlier this year Sky took over the rights from the BBC in 2004. Coverage usually ran between around 11pm and 5am. Coverage of the ceremony is shown in the US on ABC and this year was hosted by chat show star and comedian Jimmy Kimmel. The event created headlines for the wrong reasons in 2022 after Will Smith famously went up on stage and slapped Chris Rock. This year's ceremony saw Everything, Everywhere All At Once win the award for Best Picture. More than 57million Americans tuned in to watch Titanic win 11 Oscars during the 70th Academy Awards in 1998, the highest number of viewers in history. But in 2021 just over 10million watched and the lack of interest has been mirrored both in Britain and across the world. Institutional & Family Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL Free Report) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 78,304 shares of the financial services providers stock after acquiring an additional 965 shares during the quarter. Institutional & Family Asset Management LLCs holdings in Aflac were worth $5,052,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Personal CFO Solutions LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aflac during the 1st quarter worth about $206,000. MGO One Seven LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 28.8% in the 1st quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 4,341 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 971 shares during the last quarter. Equitable Trust Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 11,275 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 6,320 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 652 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Aflac by 46.6% in the 1st quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 130,233 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $8,403,000 after purchasing an additional 41,408 shares during the last quarter. 66.56% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Aflac alerts: Insider Buying and Selling In other Aflac news, insider Virgil Raynard Miller sold 2,626 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.08, for a total transaction of $202,412.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $168,111.48. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Aflac news, Director Joseph L. Moskowitz sold 13,471 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.27, for a total transaction of $906,194.17. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,854,633.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Virgil Raynard Miller sold 2,626 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.08, for a total value of $202,412.08. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $168,111.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,715 shares of company stock worth $2,013,523 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.90% of the companys stock. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several analysts have recently weighed in on AFL shares. 58.com reissued a reiterates rating on shares of Aflac in a report on Friday, June 9th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Aflac from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Aflac in a research note on Tuesday, April 25th. They set an equal weight rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. 888 reaffirmed a reiterates rating on shares of Aflac in a research note on Friday, June 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Aflac from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $75.40. View Our Latest Report on AFL Aflac Price Performance Shares of AFL traded down $1.39 on Wednesday, reaching $75.67. The stock had a trading volume of 2,974,198 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,490,154. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.95 billion, a PE ratio of 10.12, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 0.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $70.51 and a 200 day moving average of $68.19. Aflac Incorporated has a twelve month low of $56.03 and a twelve month high of $78.43. Aflac Dividend Announcement The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 23rd will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 22nd. Aflacs dividend payout ratio is currently 22.46%. Aflac Company Profile (Free Report) Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. It operates in two segments, Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care, work leave, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Aflac Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Aflac and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Bradley & Co. Private Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,890 shares of the transportation companys stock, valued at approximately $66,000. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DAL. MGO One Seven LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 1st quarter valued at about $243,000. Allie Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 1st quarter valued at about $250,000. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Delta Air Lines by 10.3% in the 1st quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 15,194 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $531,000 after acquiring an additional 1,418 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Delta Air Lines by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 12,470 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $435,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the period. Finally, Cannell & Co. purchased a new position in Delta Air Lines in the 1st quarter worth about $39,341,000. Institutional investors own 68.35% of the companys stock. Get Delta Air Lines alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research analysts have commented on DAL shares. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $67.00 in a report on Sunday, July 16th. 22nd Century Group reiterated a maintains rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Wednesday, June 28th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Delta Air Lines from $50.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Delta Air Lines from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, July 14th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Delta Air Lines from $45.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 28th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Delta Air Lines currently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average target price of $56.88. Insider Activity In other news, EVP Peter W. Carter sold 17,944 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $807,480.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,192 shares of the companys stock, valued at $7,478,640. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Michael P. Huerta sold 3,350 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.43, for a total value of $162,240.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,465 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,330,129.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Peter W. Carter sold 17,944 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $807,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,192 shares of the companys stock, valued at $7,478,640. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 35,863 shares of company stock valued at $1,564,470. 0.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Delta Air Lines Stock Performance Delta Air Lines stock traded down $0.76 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $45.03. 6,030,090 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,729,859. The firm has a market cap of $28.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.70, a PEG ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $44.62 and a 200 day moving average of $38.94. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 12 month low of $27.20 and a 12 month high of $49.81. Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 13th. The transportation company reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $15.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $14.44 billion. Delta Air Lines had a return on equity of 59.56% and a net margin of 5.36%. The companys revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year. Delta Air Lines Cuts Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 17th were given a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 14th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. Delta Air Liness dividend payout ratio is 8.62%. 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. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding DAL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Delta Air Lines Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Delta Air Lines and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Brown Advisory Inc. cut its holdings in Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI Free Report) (TSE:CNR) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 667,409 shares of the transportation companys stock after selling 10,360 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. owned 0.10% of Canadian National Railway worth $78,734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewEdge Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Canadian National Railway in the 1st quarter worth $352,000. Spreng Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,833 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $216,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 264,702 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $31,191,000 after purchasing an additional 699 shares during the last quarter. Mitchell Capital Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Mitchell Capital Management Co. now owns 9,756 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $1,151,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its holdings in shares of Canadian National Railway by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 419,915 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $49,537,000 after purchasing an additional 6,219 shares during the last quarter. 64.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Canadian National Railway alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In CNI has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from C$177.00 to C$175.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $125.00 to $122.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Canadian National Railway from $115.00 to $127.00 in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Canadian National Railway from $115.00 to $125.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 25th. Finally, Argus lowered shares of Canadian National Railway from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $145.71. Canadian National Railway Stock Performance NYSE:CNI traded up $0.80 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $117.86. 740,081 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,137,381. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50-day moving average of $117.74 and a 200 day moving average of $118.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. Canadian National Railway has a 1-year low of $103.79 and a 1-year high of $129.89. Canadian National Railway Increases Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.5996 per share. This is a boost from Canadian National Railways previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 7th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.03%. Canadian National Railways payout ratio is presently 40.92%. About Canadian National Railway (Free Report) Canadian National Railway Company, together with its subsidiaries, engages in rail and related transportation business. The company offers rail services, which include equipment, custom brokage services, transloading and distribution, business development and real estate, and private car storage services; and intermodal services including temperature controlled cargo, port partnership, transloading and distribution, logistic parks, customs brokerage, trucking, and moving grains in containers. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CNI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI Free Report) (TSE:CNR). Receive News & Ratings for Canadian National Railway Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Canadian National Railway and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Breastfeeding provides essential nutrients to newborns and infants, which translate to proper growth and development from childhood to adulthood. There are many benefits to breastfeeding for both infants and mothers. The United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF, has said infants who are not breastfed are fourteen times more likely to die before their first birthday than those who are exclusively breastfed. It explained that breast milk remains the first vaccine for every child and advocated that mothers, especially those that are working must be encouraged to exclusively breastfeed their children for six months. UNICEF Chief of Bauchi Field Office, Dr. Tushar Rane, spoke Tuesday, at a media dialogue in Azare, Bauchi, for journalists from Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba, Adamawa and Plateau states. According to him, "Breastmilk is the mainstay for safeguarding infants against life-threatening infections, it supports optimal brain development in children, especially in the first 1,000 days and it ultimately lowers healthcare costs. "Workplaces challenges to breastfeeding are one of the primary factors responsible for early cessation of breastfeeding. For working mothers, juggling between tasks and breastfeeding may be nearly often impossible. "The government and employers must provide the needed assistance for mothers and caregivers including those in the informal sector or on temporary contracts to conveniently breastfeed or support breastfeeding. "Policies that encourage breastfeeding, such as paid maternity leave for six months, as well as paid paternity leave, flexible return-to-work options, regular lactation breaks during working hours and adequate facilities that enable mothers to continue exclusive breastfeeding for six months must be promoted." Chairman, Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed, who also spoke, confirmed that the government is also at the verge of enacting a law that would give nursing mothers ample time to exclusively breastfeed their infants. He said the state is planning to take a cue from Lagos and Kaduna which had prescribed and regularised six months maternity leave for working class mothers to ensure their infants are adequately taken care of. Barings LLC lessened its position in shares of Credicorp Ltd. (NYSE:BAP Free Report) by 31.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,193 shares of the banks stock after selling 4,150 shares during the quarter. Barings LLCs holdings in Credicorp were worth $1,217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BAP. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Credicorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,340,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Credicorp by 20.0% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,040 shares of the banks stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers purchased a new stake in Credicorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $234,000. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS purchased a new stake in Credicorp in the first quarter valued at approximately $468,000. Finally, Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in Credicorp by 40.2% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 4,084 shares of the banks stock valued at $702,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.48% of the companys stock. Get Credicorp alerts: Credicorp Stock Up 1.0 % Shares of BAP stock traded up $1.63 on Wednesday, reaching $158.06. 182,550 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 359,840. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $149.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $138.48. The company has a market capitalization of $12.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.36, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.97. Credicorp Ltd. has a twelve month low of $118.33 and a twelve month high of $159.11. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank raised Credicorp from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating in a research report on Friday, July 7th. TheStreet raised Credicorp from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 10th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Credicorp in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $153.00. Check Out Our Latest Report on BAP About Credicorp (Free Report) Credicorp Ltd. provides various financial, insurance, and health services and products primarily in Peru and internationally. Its Universal Banking segment includes granting various credits and financial instruments to individuals and legal entities; and various deposits and checking accounts. The Insurance and Pensions segment includes the issuance of insurance policies to cover losses in commercial property, transport, marine vessels, automobiles, life, health, and pensions; management services for private pension funds. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BAP? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Credicorp Ltd. (NYSE:BAP Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Credicorp Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Credicorp and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Curtis Advisory Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Lockheed Martin Co. (NYSE:LMT Free Report) by 4.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,300 shares of the aerospace companys stock after selling 60 shares during the period. Curtis Advisory Group LLCs holdings in Lockheed Martin were worth $615,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LMT. Lee Financial Co grew its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 367.6% during the first quarter. Lee Financial Co now owns 477 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Lockheed Martin by 240.0% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 4,124 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $1,821,000 after purchasing an additional 2,911 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 56.8% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 23,153 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $9,995,000 after purchasing an additional 8,389 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Lockheed Martin by 18.4% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 28,807 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $12,716,000 after purchasing an additional 4,472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 20.4% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 107,366 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $47,391,000 after purchasing an additional 18,201 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 75.28% of the companys stock. Get Lockheed Martin alerts: Insider Activity In other news, Director John Donovan acquired 548 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $457.07 per share, with a total value of $250,474.36. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,378 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,543,982.46. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the companys stock. Analysts Set New Price Targets LMT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an equal weight rating and issued a $532.00 target price on shares of Lockheed Martin in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Lockheed Martin from $500.00 to $475.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Credit Suisse Group boosted their target price on shares of Lockheed Martin from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Lockheed Martin from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $579.00 to $555.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $499.43. View Our Latest Analysis on Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Price Performance LMT traded up $3.34 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $452.81. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,211,584 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,240,202. The stock has a market cap of $114.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.65. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $456.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $465.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. Lockheed Martin Co. has a 12 month low of $381.55 and a 12 month high of $508.10. Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 18th. The aerospace company reported $6.73 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $6.45 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $16.69 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.92 billion. Lockheed Martin had a net margin of 10.48% and a return on equity of 71.67%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $6.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Lockheed Martin Co. will post 27.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Lockheed Martin Dividend Announcement The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be issued a $3.00 dividend. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 31st. Lockheed Martins dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.88%. About Lockheed Martin (Free Report) Lockheed Martin Corporation, a security and aerospace company, engages in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration, and sustainment of technology systems, products, and services worldwide. It operates through four segments: Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control, Rotary and Mission Systems, and Space. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LMT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Lockheed Martin Co. (NYSE:LMT Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Lockheed Martin Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Lockheed Martin and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. JMP Securities restated their market outperform rating on shares of EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR Free Report) in a report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. JMP Securities currently has a $54.00 target price on the real estate investment trusts stock. EPR has been the subject of a number of other reports. SpectralCast restated a maintains rating on shares of EPR Properties in a research report on Friday, June 30th. StockNews.com lowered EPR Properties from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, July 18th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on EPR Properties from $45.00 to $48.00 in a report on Thursday, June 15th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on EPR Properties from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Friday, June 30th. Finally, Raymond James lowered EPR Properties from a strong-buy rating to an outperform rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, July 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, EPR Properties currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $50.94. Get EPR Properties alerts: Get Our Latest Stock Report on EPR Properties EPR Properties Stock Down 0.9 % EPR Properties Announces Dividend NYSE EPR traded down $0.37 during trading on Monday, reaching $42.67. 516,856 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 558,528. EPR Properties has a fifty-two week low of $33.92 and a fifty-two week high of $55.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 23.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a current ratio of 8.35, a quick ratio of 8.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $45.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.09. The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 31st will be given a $0.275 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 28th. EPR Propertiess dividend payout ratio is currently 176.47%. Institutional Trading of EPR Properties Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in EPR Properties in the 4th quarter valued at $30,670,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in EPR Properties by 489.9% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 827,848 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $31,226,000 after buying an additional 687,512 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in EPR Properties by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,114,285 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $226,203,000 after buying an additional 523,061 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in EPR Properties by 903.2% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 556,189 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $2,044,000 after buying an additional 500,745 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in EPR Properties by 74.3% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 914,070 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $34,479,000 after buying an additional 389,770 shares in the last quarter. 77.81% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. About EPR Properties (Get Free Report) EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) is the leading diversified experiential net lease real estate investment trust (REIT), specializing in select enduring experiential properties in the real estate industry. We focus on real estate venues that create value by facilitating out of home leisure and recreation experiences where consumers choose to spend their discretionary time and money. Read More Receive News & Ratings for EPR Properties Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for EPR Properties and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. First Business Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Rio Tinto Group (NYSE:RIO Free Report) by 5.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,969 shares of the mining companys stock after acquiring an additional 974 shares during the period. First Business Financial Services Inc.s holdings in Rio Tinto Group were worth $1,370,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RIO. Cowa LLC bought a new position in Rio Tinto Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC bought a new position in Rio Tinto Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. CNB Bank bought a new position in Rio Tinto Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Rio Tinto Group by 297.2% in the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 433 shares of the mining companys stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the period. Finally, First Manhattan Co. increased its position in Rio Tinto Group by 555.4% in the 4th quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 426 shares of the mining companys stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 361 shares during the period. 10.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Rio Tinto Group alerts: Rio Tinto Group Price Performance RIO stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $63.69. The company had a trading volume of 1,919,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,166,979. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $65.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $67.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.99 and a quick ratio of 1.37. Rio Tinto Group has a fifty-two week low of $50.92 and a fifty-two week high of $80.51. Rio Tinto Group Increases Dividend Wall Street Analyst Weigh In The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 11th will be given a $1.77 dividend. This is an increase from Rio Tinto Groups previous semi-annual dividend of $1.10. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 10th. This represents a yield of 6%. Several research analysts have commented on RIO shares. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Rio Tinto Group in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised Rio Tinto Group from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report on Friday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Rio Tinto Group from an underweight rating to a neutral rating in a report on Monday, May 15th. Liberum Capital raised Rio Tinto Group from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, July 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Rio Tinto Group from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Monday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $72.00. Read Our Latest Stock Report on Rio Tinto Group Rio Tinto Group Company Profile (Free Report) Rio Tinto Group engages in exploring, mining, and processing mineral resources worldwide. The company operates through Iron Ore, Aluminium, Copper, and Minerals Segments. It offers aluminum, copper, iron ore, diamonds, gold, borates, titanium dioxide, salt, silver, molybdenum, and lithium. The company also owns and operates open pit and underground mines, refineries, smelters, and concentrator facilities, as well as power stations, research, and service facilities. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Rio Tinto Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Rio Tinto Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Barings LLC lessened its position in iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF (NYSEARCA:EWH Free Report) by 33.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 278,634 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 141,392 shares during the period. Barings LLC owned approximately 0.73% of iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF worth $5,726,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of EWH. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF by 31.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,105,805 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $44,243,000 after buying an additional 504,129 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,683,139 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $35,363,000 after buying an additional 354,320 shares during the period. OLD Mission Capital LLC increased its stake in iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF by 647.0% during the 4th quarter. OLD Mission Capital LLC now owns 1,426,106 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $29,962,000 after buying an additional 1,235,189 shares during the period. UBS Group AG increased its stake in iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF by 38.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 821,295 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $18,537,000 after buying an additional 229,537 shares during the period. Finally, Millburn Ridgefield Corp increased its stake in iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. Millburn Ridgefield Corp now owns 817,610 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $16,802,000 after buying an additional 107,108 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.49% of the companys stock. Get iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF alerts: iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF Stock Down 0.1 % iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF stock traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $18.83. 7,710,581 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,689,222. The firm has a market cap of $642.67 million, a P/E ratio of 14.91 and a beta of 0.57. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $19.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.28. iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF has a 1-year low of $16.04 and a 1-year high of $22.65. About iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF iShares MSCI Hong Kong Index Fund, formerly Shares MSCI Hong Kong ETF, (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 Hong Kong market, as measured by the MSCI Hong Kong Index (the Index). Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding EWH? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF (NYSEARCA:EWH Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in shares of Masco Co. (NYSE:MAS Free Report) by 17.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 32,700 shares of the construction companys stock after acquiring an additional 4,800 shares during the quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.s holdings in Masco were worth $1,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Masco by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 47,616 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $2,222,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in Masco by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 6,369 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Masco by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 37,141 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $1,847,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Masco by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC now owns 4,703 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $219,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Achmea Investment Management B.V. boosted its stake in Masco by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 45,871 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $2,280,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. 91.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Masco alerts: Masco Stock Performance NYSE:MAS traded down $0.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $59.33. The stock had a trading volume of 906,121 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,877,333. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.52. Masco Co. has a 52 week low of $42.33 and a 52 week high of $63.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 420.86. Masco Dividend Announcement Masco ( NYSE:MAS Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The construction company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $2.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.08 billion. Masco had a net margin of 9.73% and a negative return on equity of 403.37%. Mascos quarterly revenue was down 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Masco Co. will post 3.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 11th will be given a dividend of $0.285 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 10th. This represents a $1.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Mascos dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.20%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of research analysts have commented on MAS shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Masco from $60.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Masco from $59.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Masco from $56.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Masco from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 13th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Masco from $66.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Masco has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $62.58. Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Masco Insiders Place Their Bets In other Masco news, VP Renee Straber sold 41,200 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.13, for a total transaction of $2,518,556.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 31,995 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,955,854.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Keith J. Allman sold 188,040 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.77, for a total transaction of $11,239,150.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 200,305 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,972,229.85. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Renee Straber sold 41,200 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.13, for a total transaction of $2,518,556.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 31,995 shares in the company, valued at $1,955,854.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 239,240 shares of company stock worth $14,307,207. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. About Masco (Free Report) Masco Corporation designs, manufactures, and distributes home improvement and building products in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company's Plumbing Products segment offers faucets, showerheads, handheld showers, valves, bath hardware and accessories, bathing units, shower bases and enclosures, sinks, toilets, acrylic tubs, shower trays, spas, exercise pools, and fitness systems; brass, copper, and composite plumbing system components; connected water products; thermoplastic solutions, extruded plastic profiles, specialized fabrications, and PEX tubing products; and other non-decorative plumbing products. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MAS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Masco Co. (NYSE:MAS Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Masco Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Masco and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. New York Life Investment Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Lockheed Martin Co. (NYSE:LMT Free Report) by 5.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 38,077 shares of the aerospace companys stock after selling 1,992 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLCs holdings in Lockheed Martin were worth $18,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LMT. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Lockheed Martin during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Okabena Investment Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lockheed Martin in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Lockheed Martin during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. bought a new position in Lockheed Martin during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, NewSquare Capital LLC bought a new position in Lockheed Martin during the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.28% of the companys stock. Get Lockheed Martin alerts: Insider Transactions at Lockheed Martin In related news, Director John Donovan acquired 548 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $457.07 per share, with a total value of $250,474.36. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,378 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,543,982.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.17% of the companys stock. Analyst Ratings Changes LMT has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $579.00 to $555.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Lockheed Martin from $478.00 to $496.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an equal weight rating and set a $532.00 target price on shares of Lockheed Martin in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group lifted their target price on Lockheed Martin from $510.00 to $550.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $499.43. Read Our Latest Report on Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Price Performance NYSE LMT traded up $3.34 on Wednesday, hitting $452.81. The stock had a trading volume of 1,162,821 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,240,202. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $456.70 and a 200-day moving average of $465.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 1.36. Lockheed Martin Co. has a 52-week low of $381.55 and a 52-week high of $508.10. The company has a market capitalization of $114.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.65. Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 18th. The aerospace company reported $6.73 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.45 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $16.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $15.92 billion. Lockheed Martin had a return on equity of 71.67% and a net margin of 10.48%. The firms revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.32 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Lockheed Martin Co. will post 27.08 EPS for the current year. Lockheed Martin Announces Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be paid a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 31st. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. Lockheed Martins dividend payout ratio is presently 43.88%. About Lockheed Martin (Free Report) Lockheed Martin Corporation, a security and aerospace company, engages in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration, and sustainment of technology systems, products, and services worldwide. It operates through four segments: Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control, Rotary and Mission Systems, and Space. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LMT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Lockheed Martin Co. (NYSE:LMT Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Lockheed Martin Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Lockheed Martin and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. TELUS International (Cda) (NYSE:TIXT Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by analysts at Canaccord Genuity Group from $21.00 to $19.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a buy rating on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Groups target price suggests a potential upside of 110.88% from the stocks current price. Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. William Blair reiterated an outperform rating on shares of TELUS International (Cda) in a research note on Friday, July 14th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of TELUS International (Cda) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and reduced their target price for the company from $21.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Monday. Bank of America lowered their price target on TELUS International (Cda) from $26.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Sunday, July 16th. TD Securities decreased their price objective on TELUS International (Cda) from $30.00 to $18.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on TELUS International (Cda) from $15.00 to $11.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 25th. Eight investment 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 company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $19.33. Get TELUS International (Cda) alerts: Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on TELUS International (Cda) TELUS International (Cda) Stock Up 0.3 % Institutional Investors Weigh In On TELUS International (Cda) Shares of TIXT traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $9.01. 375,329 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 203,578. TELUS International has a 52 week low of $8.74 and a 52 week high of $31.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.27. The firms 50 day moving average is $13.31 and its 200-day moving average is $17.86. The company has a market cap of $658.45 million, a PE ratio of 24.27, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.57. Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of TELUS International (Cda) in the 1st quarter valued at about $46,000. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC acquired a new position in TELUS International (Cda) in the third quarter valued at approximately $101,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in TELUS International (Cda) in the second quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in TELUS International (Cda) by 18.8% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 4,781 shares of the companys stock worth $96,000 after acquiring an additional 755 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC bought a new stake in shares of TELUS International (Cda) during the 1st quarter valued at $101,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.30% of the companys stock. About TELUS International (Cda) (Get Free Report) TELUS International (Cda) Inc design, builds, and delivers digital solutions for customer experience (CX) in Europe, North America, the Asia-Pacific, and the Central America. The company provides digital experience solutions, such as AI and bots, omnichannel CX, enterprise mobility solutions, cloud contact center, big data analytics, platform transformation, and UX/UI design; and customer experience solutions, including work anywhere/work from home, contact center outsourcing, technical support, sales growth and customer retention, healthcare/patient experience, and debt collection. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for TELUS International (Cda) Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for TELUS International (Cda) and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Terreno Realty Co. (NYSE:TRNO Free Report) by 1.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 262,861 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock after purchasing an additional 4,525 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.32% of Terreno Realty worth $16,980,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Terreno Realty by 6.8% during the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 3,948 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Terreno Realty by 55.4% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 39,255 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $2,907,000 after acquiring an additional 13,997 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Terreno Realty by 17.2% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 137,608 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $10,190,000 after acquiring an additional 20,239 shares during the last quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its holdings in shares of Terreno Realty by 6.0% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 63,883 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $4,907,000 after acquiring an additional 3,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Terreno Realty by 1.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,336,796 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $98,993,000 after acquiring an additional 22,692 shares during the last quarter. 99.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Terreno Realty alerts: Insider Buying and Selling In related news, President Michael A. Coke sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.60, for a total transaction of $596,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 395,988 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $23,600,884.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth TRNO has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on Terreno Realty in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. They issued a neutral rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Terreno Realty in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. They set a neutral rating and a $63.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Terreno Realty from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $66.29. Get Our Latest Report on Terreno Realty Terreno Realty Price Performance NYSE TRNO traded up $0.07 on Wednesday, hitting $59.39. 482,116 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 557,893. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Terreno Realty Co. has a 1-year low of $50.36 and a 1-year high of $67.03. The company has a market cap of $4.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.49. Terreno Realty Increases Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 13th. Investors of record on Friday, September 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. This is a boost from Terreno Realtys previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 28th. Terreno Realtys dividend payout ratio is presently 86.96%. Terreno Realty Profile (Free Report) Terreno Realty Corporation (Terreno, and together with its subsidiaries, the Company) acquires, owns and operates industrial real estate in six major coastal U.S. markets: Los Angeles, Northern New Jersey/New York City, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Miami, and Washington, DC We invest in several types of industrial real estate, including warehouse/distribution (approximately 79.5% of our total annualized base rent as of December 31, 2021), flex (including light industrial and research and development, or R&D) (approximately 4.8%), transshipment (approximately 6.4%) and improved land (approximately 9.3%). See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TRNO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Terreno Realty Co. (NYSE:TRNO Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Terreno Realty Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Terreno Realty and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Adams Natural Resources Fund, Inc. (NYSE:PEO Free Report) by 62.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 247,280 shares of the financial services providers stock after purchasing an additional 94,998 shares during the quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC owned about 0.98% of Adams Natural Resources Fund worth $5,084,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Adams Natural Resources Fund by 308.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 175,456 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $3,672,000 after acquiring an additional 132,544 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Adams Natural Resources Fund by 5.7% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 13,504 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $283,000 after acquiring an additional 724 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Adams Natural Resources Fund during the first quarter worth $422,000. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Adams Natural Resources Fund by 19.7% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 80,284 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,681,000 after acquiring an additional 13,239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV bought a new stake in shares of Adams Natural Resources Fund during the first quarter worth $1,228,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 30.73% of the companys stock. Get Adams Natural Resources Fund alerts: Adams Natural Resources Fund Trading Up 1.7 % NYSE PEO traded up $0.38 on Wednesday, reaching $23.09. The company had a trading volume of 102,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 68,294. The stocks 50 day moving average is $21.03 and its 200-day moving average is $20.94. Adams Natural Resources Fund, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.58 and a 52 week high of $24.50. Adams Natural Resources Fund Announces Dividend Adams Natural Resources Fund Company Profile The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 18th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 17th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. (Free Report) Adams Natural Resources Fund, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm invests in the public equity markets across the globe. The firm manages closed-end equity fund focused on the energy and material sectors. It invests in stocks of companies of all market capitalizations operating in the energy and natural resources sector including oil companies, exploration and production, utilities, services, and basic materials sectors. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Adams Natural Resources Fund Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Adams Natural Resources Fund and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. This is not the first time Mr Akpabio would be stirring controversy on the floor of the senate. The President of the Nigerian senate, Godswill Akpabio, has made a gaffe during plenary when he mistakenly revealed that money has been sent to senators to 'enjoy' their recess. A video clip showing Mr Akpabio making the blunder has gone viral on social media. The clip surfaced on Wednesday. The incident reportedly happened on Monday after the senators concluded the screening and confirmation of President Bola Tinubu's ministerial nominees. The senators later adjourned plenary to 26 September. The gaffe Mr Akpabio, who forgot that the proceeding was being streamed live, began to address his colleagues before adjournment motion was moved at the end of the Senate's ministerial screening. "In order to enable all of us to enjoy our holidays, a token has been sent to our various accounts by the Clerk of the National Assembly," he said. The senate president was immediately informed by his colleagues that he was speaking on live television. Upon realising the seriousness of his remarks, he quickly announced its withdrawal. "I withdraw that statement," he said. "In order to allow you to enjoy your holiday, the senate president has sent prayers to your mailboxes to assist you to go on a safe journey and return," Mr Akpabio rephrased the comment, apparently to correct what was considered an embarrassment. The amount that was sent to the senators remains unknown. However, the salaries and allowances of National Assembly members are often shrouded in secrecy. The 'holiday' allowance Mr Akpabio said was paid to lawmakers is unknown to the law. The remuneration package approved for lawmakers by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMARC) has no 'holiday' allowance or token provision. But the lawmakers are entitled to recess allowance under the law, which is 10 per cent of the annual basic salary of each legislator, and is paid once a year. Mr Akpabio may have, in his comment, referred to that 'recess allowance' as "holiday allowance". Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines Nigeria Governance By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. However, Nigerian lawmakers are infamous for drawing illegal allowances from public funds and padding annual budgets to enrich themselves illegally. The latest development comes amid nationwide economic hardship caused by the removal of fuel subsidy. Last week, the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress and other affiliate unions, held a nationwide protest against the removal of fuel subsidy and the attendant economic hardship in Nigeria. Not the first time This is not the first time Mr Akpabio would be stirring controversy on the floor of the senate. There was outrage, last month, when the senate president was filmed on live TV making light of the "Let The Poor Breathe," phrase which is often used by Nigerians to criticise the current hardship in the country. Wrapmanager Inc. lowered its holdings in iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (NYSEARCA:IJR Free Report) by 24.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,058 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 1,315 shares during the period. Wrapmanager Inc.s holdings in iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF were worth $392,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of IJR. NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 194,853 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $18,842,000 after buying an additional 2,149 shares in the last quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC raised its stake in iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF by 2.4% during the first quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC now owns 24,605 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $2,379,000 after acquiring an additional 566 shares in the last quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF by 6.3% in the first quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 168,117 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $16,257,000 after acquiring an additional 10,029 shares during the last quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF by 261.1% during the first quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 92,119 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $8,908,000 after buying an additional 66,608 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF by 7.4% in the 1st quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 106,039 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $10,254,000 after acquiring an additional 7,281 shares during the last quarter. Get iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF alerts: iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF Stock Performance Shares of NYSEARCA:IJR traded down $0.73 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $102.52. 3,571,285 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,012,823. iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF has a twelve month low of $86.40 and a twelve month high of $108.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.11 and a beta of 1.15. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $100.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.43. About iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF, formerly iShares S&P SmallCap 600 Index Fund, seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Standard & Poors SmallCap 600 Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of publicly traded securities in the small-capitalization sector of the United States equity market. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IJR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (NYSEARCA:IJR Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (NYSE:DB Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of Hold from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $13.00. Several equities research analysts recently commented on DB shares. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Societe Generale cut shares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Monday, July 10th. Citigroup upgraded Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered shares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 12th. Get Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft alerts: Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on DB Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Price Performance Hedge Funds Weigh In On Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft DB stock opened at $10.82 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $22.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.57, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $10.67 and a 200-day moving average of $11.05. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft has a 12-month low of $7.24 and a 12-month high of $13.57. Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new stake in Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Spire Wealth Management grew its position in Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft by 66.7% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 2,500 shares of the banks stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC acquired a new position in shares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft during the first quarter worth approximately $29,000. CWM LLC increased its position in Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft by 150.0% in the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,750 shares of the banks stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 2,250 shares during the period. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft by 55.7% during the 1st quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,585 shares of the banks stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 1,997 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 23.92% of the companys stock. About Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft (Get Free Report Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, operates as a stock corporation, engages in the provision of corporate and investment banking, and asset management products and services to private clients, corporate entities, and institutional clients worldwide. Its Corporate Bank segment provides cash management, trade finance and lending, trust and agency, foreign exchange, and securities services, as well as risk management solutions. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Bain Capital Specialty Finance (NYSE:BCSF Get Free Report) had its price target raised by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $12.00 to $15.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Citigroups target price suggests a potential downside of 1.90% from the stocks current price. A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on BCSF. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Bain Capital Specialty Finance from $13.25 to $13.75 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday. TheStreet upgraded shares of Bain Capital Specialty Finance from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a report on Monday, June 26th. Get Bain Capital Specialty Finance alerts: Read Our Latest Stock Report on Bain Capital Specialty Finance Bain Capital Specialty Finance Stock Performance Shares of BCSF stock remained flat at $15.29 on Thursday. 243,078 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 174,987. Bain Capital Specialty Finance has a 1 year low of $11.06 and a 1 year high of $15.85. The companys fifty day moving average price is $13.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Bain Capital Specialty Finance (NYSE:BCSF Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $74.74 million during the quarter. Bain Capital Specialty Finance had a net margin of 40.07% and a return on equity of 10.19%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bain Capital Specialty Finance will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bain Capital Specialty Finance during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in Bain Capital Specialty Finance by 949.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,613 shares of the companys stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 2,364 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Bain Capital Specialty Finance in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Bain Capital Specialty Finance during the second quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bain Capital Specialty Finance during the first quarter worth approximately $122,000. Bain Capital Specialty Finance Company Profile (Get Free Report) Bain Capital Specialty Finance, Inc is business development company specializing in direct loans to middle-market companies. The fund seeks to invest in senior investments with a first or second lien on collateral, senior first lien, stretch senior, senior second lien, unitranche, mezzanine debt, junior securities, other junior investments, and secondary purchases of assets or portfolios that primarily consist of middle-market corporate debt. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Bain Capital Specialty Finance Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bain Capital Specialty Finance and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. China Eastern Airlines Co. Limited (OTCMKTS:CHEAF Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,429,900 shares, an increase of 186.0% from the July 15th total of 500,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1,191.6 days. China Eastern Airlines Price Performance OTCMKTS:CHEAF remained flat at $0.34 during trading hours on Thursday. The companys 50 day moving average is $0.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $0.51. China Eastern Airlines has a one year low of $0.34 and a one year high of $0.74. Get China Eastern Airlines alerts: China Eastern Airlines Company Profile (Get Free Report) See Also China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited, together with its subsidiaries, operates in the civil aviation industry in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and internationally. The company offers passenger, cargo, mail delivery, ground, tour operations, air catering, and other miscellaneous services. Receive News & Ratings for China Eastern Airlines Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for China Eastern Airlines and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. TC Energy (TSE:TRP Get Free Report) (NYSE:TRP) had its price objective cut by research analysts at Credit Suisse Group from C$55.00 to C$54.00 in a report released on Thursday, FlyOnTheWall reports. Credit Suisse Groups price objective would indicate a potential upside of 10.70% from the stocks current price. A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. CIBC lowered shares of TC Energy from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and reduced their target price for the stock from C$62.00 to C$60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of TC Energy from C$60.00 to C$63.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 25th. TD Securities lowered shares of TC Energy from a buy rating to a hold rating and cut their price objective for the company from C$62.00 to C$50.00 in a report on Friday, July 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of TC Energy from C$62.00 to C$61.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of TC Energy from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and lowered their target price for the company from C$60.00 to C$55.00 in a research note on Friday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, TC Energy presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of C$56.75. Get TC Energy alerts: Read Our Latest Report on TRP TC Energy Trading Down 0.3 % TC Energy Company Profile Shares of TSE:TRP traded down C$0.13 during trading on Thursday, reaching C$48.78. The companys stock had a trading volume of 4,026,764 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,112,064. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 180.84. TC Energy has a 12 month low of C$43.70 and a 12 month high of C$66.54. The stock has a market capitalization of C$48.78 billion, a PE ratio of 31.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.86. The firms 50 day simple moving average is C$51.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is C$53.92. (Get Free Report) TC Energy Corporation operates as an energy infrastructure company in North America. It operates through five segments: Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines; U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines; Mexico Natural Gas Pipelines; Liquids Pipelines; and Power and Energy Solutions. The company builds and operates a network of 93,700 kilometers of natural gas pipelines, which transports natural gas from supply basins to local distribution companies, power generation plants, industrial facilities, interconnecting pipelines, LNG export terminals, and other businesses. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for TC Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for TC Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. GAM Holding AG boosted its holdings in Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP Free Report) by 1.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 115,632 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 1,237 shares during the quarter. GAM Holding AG owned about 0.05% of Molson Coors Beverage worth $5,976,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Molson Coors Beverage by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,329,879 shares of the companys stock worth $1,138,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,235,013 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Molson Coors Beverage by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,727,747 shares of the companys stock valued at $465,887,000 after acquiring an additional 143,757 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Molson Coors Beverage by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,721,084 shares of the companys stock valued at $252,011,000 after acquiring an additional 49,044 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Molson Coors Beverage by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,820,518 shares of the companys stock valued at $196,475,000 after buying an additional 12,889 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Molson Coors Beverage by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,216,836 shares of the companys stock valued at $171,722,000 after buying an additional 312,326 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.73% of the companys stock. Get Molson Coors Beverage alerts: Insider Activity at Molson Coors Beverage In other Molson Coors Beverage news, insider Geoffrey E. Molson sold 1,840 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total transaction of $111,540.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 25,904 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,570,300.48. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Molson Coors Beverage Price Performance Molson Coors Beverage Dividend Announcement Shares of NYSE:TAP traded down $0.29 on Thursday, reaching $64.32. 1,274,145 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,042,629. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Molson Coors Beverage has a 1-year low of $46.69 and a 1-year high of $70.90. The firm has a market cap of $13.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 403.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50-day moving average of $66.72 and a 200-day moving average of $59.49. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.41 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 31st. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Molson Coors Beverages dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 1,025.00%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several brokerages have recently commented on TAP. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Molson Coors Beverage from $67.00 to $70.00 in a report on Monday, June 26th. 58.com reaffirmed a maintains rating on shares of Molson Coors Beverage in a research note on Monday, June 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Molson Coors Beverage from $72.00 to $69.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Molson Coors Beverage from $70.00 to $73.00 in a report on Thursday, June 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Molson Coors Beverage from $47.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $61.88. Check Out Our Latest Report on TAP 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. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Molson Coors Beverage Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Molson Coors Beverage and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. GAM Holding AG lowered its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW Free Report) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,478 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 5,188 shares during the quarter. GAM Holding AGs holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $7,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SCHW. Beacon Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Charles Schwab during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Your Advocates Ltd. LLP purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 54.8% during the 1st quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 565 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC purchased a new stake in Charles Schwab during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Rocky Mountain Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Charles Schwab by 704.2% during the 1st quarter. Rocky Mountain Advisers LLC now owns 571 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.77% of the companys stock. Get Charles Schwab alerts: Insider Activity at Charles Schwab In other Charles Schwab news, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 77,640 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.76, for a total value of $4,018,646.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 59,771,278 shares in the company, valued at $3,093,761,349.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 77,640 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.76, for a total transaction of $4,018,646.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 59,771,278 shares in the company, valued at $3,093,761,349.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 72,047 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.66, for a total value of $4,802,653.02. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 59,748,538 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,982,837,543.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 225,447 shares of company stock worth $13,866,915. 6.60% of the stock is owned by insiders. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of analysts recently issued reports on SCHW shares. Raymond James raised Charles Schwab from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $63.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, May 15th. Bank of America raised their price target on Charles Schwab from $46.00 to $53.00 in a report on Thursday, June 15th. UBS Group raised their price target on Charles Schwab from $67.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Monday, July 24th. JMP Securities increased their price objective on Charles Schwab from $73.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Charles Schwab from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $72.09. Get Our Latest Research Report on SCHW Charles Schwab Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:SCHW traded down $0.75 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $64.54. 7,169,633 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,067,275. The company has a market cap of $114.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.38. The Charles Schwab Co. has a one year low of $45.00 and a one year high of $86.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $59.18 and a 200 day moving average of $60.91. Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.61 billion. Charles Schwab had a return on equity of 27.81% and a net margin of 33.15%. The companys quarterly revenue was down 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year. Charles Schwab Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 25th. Investors of record on Friday, August 11th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 10th. Charles Schwabs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.15%. Charles Schwab Profile (Free Report) The Charles Schwab Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a savings and loan holding company that provides wealth management, securities brokerage, banking, asset management, custody, and financial advisory services. The company operates in two segments, Investor Services and Advisor Services. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Charles Schwab Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Charles Schwab and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE:GNRC Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of Hold from the twenty-two ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $143.48. A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GNRC. CL King assumed coverage on Generac in a research report on Monday, July 24th. They issued a buy rating and a $178.00 price objective on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on shares of Generac from $175.00 to $140.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Piper Sandler upped their price target on Generac from $155.00 to $160.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 18th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Generac from $145.00 to $130.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Generac from $130.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 17th. Get Generac alerts: View Our Latest Stock Report on Generac Insider Activity Hedge Funds Weigh In On Generac In related news, CEO Aaron Jagdfeld sold 5,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.15, for a total transaction of $745,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 612,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,382,713.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link . In other news, CEO Aaron Jagdfeld sold 5,000 shares of Generac stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.15, for a total transaction of $745,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 612,690 shares in the company, valued at approximately $91,382,713.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website . Also, EVP Rajendra Kumar Kanuru sold 250 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.15, for a total transaction of $37,287.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,618 shares in the company, valued at $2,478,574.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 10,250 shares of company stock worth $1,323,638. Company insiders own 2.80% of the companys stock. Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GNRC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Generac by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,770,488 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $2,012,595,000 after acquiring an additional 130,854 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Generac by 41.1% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,549,551 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $275,377,000 after purchasing an additional 743,267 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Generac by 9.9% during the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,188,472 shares of the technology companys stock worth $326,367,000 after purchasing an additional 197,545 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in shares of Generac by 92,616.6% in the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 2,041,619 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $304,467,000 after buying an additional 2,039,417 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC raised its holdings in Generac by 22.2% in the 1st quarter. Champlain Investment Partners LLC now owns 1,904,799 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $205,737,000 after buying an additional 345,785 shares during the last quarter. 85.93% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Generac Stock Performance Shares of GNRC stock opened at $106.75 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.29, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.24. Generac has a fifty-two week low of $86.29 and a fifty-two week high of $281.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 2.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $132.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $120.20. Generac (NYSE:GNRC Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The technology company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.16 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $1,000.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $979.51 million. Generac had a return on equity of 14.23% and a net margin of 4.64%. Generacs revenue was down 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.99 EPS. Analysts expect that Generac will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current year. Generac Company Profile (Get Free Report Generac Holdings Inc designs, manufactures, and sells power generation equipment, energy storage systems, energy management devices and solutions, and other power products for the residential, light commercial, and industrial markets worldwide. The company offers residential automatic standby generators, automatic transfer switch, air-cooled engine residential standby generators, and liquid-cooled engine generators; residential storage solution consists of a system of batteries, an inverter, photovoltaic optimizers, power electronic controls, and other components; Mobile Link, a remote monitoring system for home standby generators; smart home solutions, such as smart thermostats and a suite of home monitoring products; smart water heater controllers; residential clean energy solutions; and portable and inverter generators; outdoor power equipment, including trimmers, field and brush mowers, log splitters, stump grinders, chipper shredders, lawn and leaf vacuums, and pressure washers and water pumps; and battery-powered turf care products. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Generac Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Generac and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Hosking Partners LLP lessened its position in shares of Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL Free Report) by 26.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 664,788 shares of the transportation companys stock after selling 236,236 shares during the quarter. Hosking Partners LLP owned approximately 0.10% of Delta Air Lines worth $23,214,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DAL. Pacifica Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 117.6% in the first quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 740 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 1,136.7% in the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 742 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 682 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC raised its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 900 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.35% of the companys stock. Get Delta Air Lines alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research analysts recently weighed in on DAL shares. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $65.00 to $67.00 in a report on Sunday, July 16th. 22nd Century Group restated a maintains rating on shares of Delta Air Lines in a report on Wednesday, June 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $47.00 to $58.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 28th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $45.00 to $54.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 28th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a c rating to a b rating in a report on Thursday, July 13th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $56.88. Insider Activity at Delta Air Lines In other Delta Air Lines news, Director Michael P. Huerta sold 3,350 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.43, for a total transaction of $162,240.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 27,465 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,330,129.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Peter W. Carter sold 7,056 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $317,520.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 184,136 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,286,120. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael P. Huerta sold 3,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.43, for a total transaction of $162,240.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,465 shares in the company, valued at $1,330,129.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 35,863 shares of company stock valued at $1,564,470. Insiders own 0.89% of the companys stock. Delta Air Lines Price Performance Shares of NYSE:DAL traded down $0.17 on Thursday, reaching $44.86. 6,922,208 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,704,874. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.20 and a 1-year high of $49.81. The firm has a market cap of $28.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50-day moving average of $44.62 and a 200-day moving average of $38.94. Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 13th. The transportation company reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.40 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $15.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $14.44 billion. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.36% and a return on equity of 59.56%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Delta Air Lines Cuts Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 7th. Investors of record on Monday, July 17th were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 14th. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Delta Air Liness payout ratio is 8.62%. Delta Air Lines 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. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding DAL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Delta Air Lines Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Delta Air Lines and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. decreased its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK Free Report) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 515,122 shares of the companys stock after selling 14,798 shares during the period. Merck & Co., Inc. accounts for approximately 0.7% of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $54,744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MRK. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 48,339,275 shares of the companys stock valued at $5,354,384,000 after purchasing an additional 238,356 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 41,850,081 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,643,267,000 after purchasing an additional 4,000,816 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 103,159.7% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 39,327,490 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,363,385,000 after purchasing an additional 39,289,404 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,079,662 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,468,037,000 after purchasing an additional 1,077,042 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 72.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 26,314,030 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,919,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,051,945 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.60% of the companys stock. Get Merck & Co. Inc. alerts: Merck & Co., Inc. Price Performance Shares of NYSE MRK traded down $0.31 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $106.10. The company had a trading volume of 6,341,432 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,864,062. The stock has a market capitalization of $269.22 billion, a PE ratio of 86.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.17 and a beta of 0.33. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $109.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $110.14. Merck & Co., Inc. has a twelve month low of $84.52 and a twelve month high of $119.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement Merck & Co., Inc. ( NYSE:MRK Get Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The company reported ($2.06) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.18) by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $15.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.44 billion. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 15.66% and a net margin of 5.34%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 3.04 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 6th. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a $0.73 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Merck & Co., Inc.s dividend payout ratio is presently 239.34%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their target price for the company from $105.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. HSBC started coverage on Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Friday, July 14th. They issued a hold rating and a $123.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $109.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Merck & Co., Inc. from $116.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Merck & Co., Inc. from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Merck & Co., Inc. currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $124.74. Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on MRK Insider Buying and Selling In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, EVP Steven Mizell sold 4,500 shares of Merck & Co., Inc. stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.49, for a total transaction of $474,705.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 27,185 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,867,745.65. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the companys stock. Merck & Co., Inc. Company Profile (Free Report) Merck & Co, Inc operates as a healthcare company worldwide. It operates through two segments, Pharmaceutical and Animal Health. The Pharmaceutical segment offers human health pharmaceutical products in the areas of oncology, hospital acute care, immunology, neuroscience, virology, cardiovascular, and diabetes, as well as vaccine products, such as preventive pediatric, adolescent, and adult vaccines. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Merck & Co. Inc. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Merck & Co. Inc. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Lawyers for convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester and his accomplice, Nandipha Magudumana, told the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court on Tuesday that they have been inhumanely treated while in custody. Bester and Magudumana appeared in court along with seven other accused who face a total of 16 charges relating to Bester's escape from Mangaung Correctional Centre on 3 May 2022. The couple sat together in court, chatting with each other before the court hearing began. Attorney Kabelo Matee, representing Bester, told the court that his client was handcuffed for 23 hours a day while being kept in a cell at Kgosi Mampuru prison. He said Bester instructed him to make an application to the High Court regarding the "inhumane conditions". Magistrate Estelle de Lange said the best she could do would be to remind the relevant authorities that an inmate may not be detained in a locked cell with handcuffs on. Machini Motlaung, representing Magudumana, said the way in which she was transported to court on Tuesday "had all the ingredients of indignity and it was inhumane". Motlaung said she was handcuffed when she was transported on Tuesday, whereas she had not been handcuffed previously when taken to court. He said this was unsafe as she was not able to steady herself when the vehicle braked or took corners. Prosecutor Sello Mathloko said he was not aware of the transport issue but said he would raise the issue with senior management at the South African Police Service. Matee gave the court a list of items that had allegedly been taken from Bester when he was arrested in Tanzania in April. He claimed these items were collectively worth R40.14-million, belonged to Bester and were still missing. The list of items provided to the court included: iPhone 14 Pro Max, worth R36,000 Samsung S32, worth R23,000 Samsung Z4, worth R40,000 Ipad 16, worth R18,000 Macbook Air 16, worth R12,500 Macbook Pro 16, worth R34,000 Burberry Card Holder, R15,500 Bravery sunglasses, R11,500 Tom Ford sunglasses, R9,500 Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines South Africa Legal Affairs By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. HP Laptop, R41,000 Louis Vuitton laptop bag, R51,000 Marriage ring, R350,000 2 x Apex 2 watches, each worth R2.5-million 2 x FM watches, each worth R2.5-million 2 x Rolex Oyster watches, each worth R2.6-million PP watch, R1.9-million Cash, South African Rands, R295,000 Cash, Tanzanian shillings, 7.2-million (R54,668) Cash, Zambian Kwacha, 1.4-million (R1,400-million) Cash, Euros, 500,000 (R10.3-million) Cash, Swiss Francs, 150,000 (R3.2-million) The case was postponed to 11 October for further police investigations. Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS Get Free Report) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $25.86 and last traded at $26.02, with a volume of 14904 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $26.63. Specifically, Director Andrew D. Lipman sold 2,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.12, for a total value of $64,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 60,625 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,947,275. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Nu Skin Enterprises news, Director Andrew D. Lipman sold 2,000 shares of Nu Skin Enterprises stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.12, for a total value of $64,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 60,625 shares in the company, valued at $1,947,275. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Emma S. Battle sold 1,272 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.15, for a total transaction of $33,262.80. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 7,619 shares of the companys stock, valued at $199,236.85. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 7,272 shares of company stock worth $224,043. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the companys stock. Get Nu Skin Enterprises alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of analysts have recently weighed in on NUS shares. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Nu Skin Enterprises in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating for the company. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Nu Skin Enterprises from $38.00 to $29.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Nu Skin Enterprises from $43.00 to $35.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $36.00. Nu Skin Enterprises Stock Performance The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a PE ratio of 17.91 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $31.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.95. Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE:NUS Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 1st. The company reported $0.54 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $500.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $512.35 million. Nu Skin Enterprises had a net margin of 3.43% and a return on equity of 12.88%. Research analysts expect that Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. will post 2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year. Nu Skin Enterprises Announces Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 24th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.14%. Nu Skin Enterprisess payout ratio is currently 110.64%. Institutional Trading of Nu Skin Enterprises A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NUS. State Street Corp raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,912,086 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 30,340 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Nu Skin Enterprises by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,668,167 shares of the companys stock worth $144,196,000 after purchasing an additional 132,198 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Nu Skin Enterprises by 2.2% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,670,996 shares of the companys stock worth $127,887,000 after purchasing an additional 58,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Nu Skin Enterprises by 0.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,109,202 shares of the companys stock valued at $70,025,000 after purchasing an additional 14,193 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.06% of the companys stock. About Nu Skin Enterprises (Get 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. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Nu Skin Enterprises Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Nu Skin Enterprises and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. IFP President Velenkosini Hlabisa has firmly denied rumours suggesting the passing of the party's founder, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Addressing a media briefing in Durban, Hlabisa categorically stated that such claims were baseless and inhumane. Hlabisa said that the prince is indeed in the hospital but is actively recovering. He assured the nation that updates on Buthelezi's health would be regularly shared as developments occurred during his stay in hospital. The rumours gained momentum after reports emerged on Friday alleging that Buthelezi was in critical condition and on life support due to pneumonia, possibly developed within the intensive care unit. Last month, Buthelezi was readmitted to the hospital following a back pain management procedure. Hlabisa took the opportunity to quell any internal party dissent by asserting the unity of the IFP. He dismissed claims that he was facing a vote of no confidence within the party. As the nation and the family anticipate Buthelezi's 95th birthday on 27 August, leaders from various political parties have extended their well wishes for his speedy recovery. Liezl van der Merwe, Buthelezi's spokesperson,emphasised the family's request for well-wishers to refrain from visiting him in the hospital. This measure aligns with the doctors' advice to ensure his peaceful and efficient recovery. "In support of his doctors' instructions, it has been the call of the family that well-wishers refrain from visiting the hospital so that Prince Buthelezi might enjoy the rest necessary for recuperation. "Our expectation is that those who love and care for uMntwana waKwaPhindangene will respect this directive by the doctors and support the family in facilitating his speedy recovery so that he can return home to KwaPhindangene," Van der Merwe affirmed. DOVER - England - Why not tow illegal Channel migrant boats back to France from where they came from? Solving the problem in own fell swoop. The problem of 100,000 illegal Channel migrant boats coming to the UK could be solved by utilising a very simple solution. When the boats are detected coming over, or have landed in UK territory, the boats full of illegal migrants are towed back to French territory, where it will be up to the French Navy to deal with them. By utilising this solution, the ruthless people traffickers, who are making huge profits out of the misery of these people, would be stopped. All that needs to be done is that these illegal Channel migrant boats be towed back to France. You cannot get a simpler and decisively clinical way of dealing with this terrible problem. If the Rishi Sunak government had any guts or balls, they would implement this solution immediately. Furthermore, the 100,000 illegal migrants who are now already in the UK should be put in ferries and taken back to Calais. That is another, even simpler solution to the problem. No doubt the French authorities who ferry the migrants across the Channel daily would not like this solution, but fuck them, and fuck the ECHR. Hundreds of candidates staged a protest at the TSPSC board in Nampally of Hyderabad demanding the postponement of Group 2 exams (Twitter) Hyderabad: Hundreds of candidates staged a protest at the TSPSC board in Nampally of Hyderabad demanding the postponement of Group 2 exams on Thursday. The protest caused a traffic jam following which, Hyderabad police stepped in to clear the road for the commuters using the road. The candidates want the exam dates rescheduled as the dates are clashing with the Gurukula Board exams, conducted by the Telangana Residential Educational Institutions Recruitment Board (TREIRB). Tension gripped Nampally as anxious students demanded an immediate decision by the TSPSC board. BJP MP Bandi Sanjay HYDERABAD: Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Karimnagar Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Thursday launched a vociferous attack on the BRS, and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao calling the party Brashtachar Rakshas Samithi, and declaring "just as an anthill is taken over by a venomous snake, one family has taken over Telangana state". Attacking the BRS chief, Sanjay Kumar called the Chief Minister "Qasim Chandrashekar Rizvi", who, he said "destroyed Telangana. This BRS leader has just one job, raat bhar peeta, din bhar sota, kisise bhi nahin milta, yeh hai desh ka neta (Drink all night, sleep all day, not meeting anyonethis is our countrys leader)". Sanjay Kumar, taking part in the discussion on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi government in the Lok Sabha, said, "Leaders of parties who have lost confidence of the people have introduced the no-confidence motion. The fact is they have no clarity on why they introduced the motion. Yeh Congy, Bengal didi, Delhi crazy, Bihar JD, aur Telangana KD, cannot do anything to the Modi government. Under Modis leadership and the NDA government, India is emerging as a powerful nation." Sanjay Kumar said the wealth of Chandrashekar Raos family multiplied manifold from the time he came to power. His sons wealth increased by 400 times, his wifes wealth rose by 1,800 per cent. The real surprise is that the average income of a farmer in Telangana state is Rs 1,12,836 but KCRs agriculture income is Rs 1 crore, that of KTRs farming income is Rs 59,85,000. These are several thousand times more than what an average farmer makes. Farmers in Telangana state are losing heavily." "And Rahul Gandhi has no clue what he does, one time he winks, another time it is a hug, yet again he throws a flying kiss. He has turned into Ghazni. It is laughable that other parties have joined the Congress in which Rahul Gandhi is a leader," he said. Sanjay Kumar who said the BRS, Congress and the MIM were together in Parliament and supported the no-confidence motion, act as if they are at loggerheads in Telangana state. "The Congress is finished in Telangana state, they did not win deposits in Dubbak, Huzurabad, and Munugode, has been driven out of GHMC. There is no Congress either in the galli, or in Delhi. A vote for the Congress is a vote for the BRS. The Congress, BRS, and the MIM are triplets, they are the same. Any development in Telangana state is only possible with a double engine sarkar," he said. Taking on the BRS floor leader in the Lok Sabha Nama Nageswara Rao, Sanjay said, "If Rao can prove that farmers in Telangana state are getting 24 hours of free power, I will resign from the Lok Sabha. If I can prove that the BRS claim is wrong, will the BRS MPs quit?" The BJP MP said the Centre has provided more than Rs 5 lakh crore to Telangana state, and another Rs 9.60 lakh crore as loans. The state government stole funds given by Centre for buildings for toilets for women in Telangana state. They looted money from Mission Bhagiratha designed for Rs 4,000 crore by inflating it to Rs 40,000 crore. Free ration supplied by the Centre was sold by BRS leaders, he said. Vantage Financial Partners Ltd. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ Free Report) by 1.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,755 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Johnson & Johnson accounts for approximately 1.4% of Vantage Financial Partners Ltd. Inc.s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Vantage Financial Partners Ltd. Inc.s holdings in Johnson & Johnson were worth $2,442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.9% in the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 748,842 shares of the companys stock worth $116,071,000 after purchasing an additional 6,836 shares during the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its stake in Johnson & Johnson by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 1,105,147 shares of the companys stock valued at $195,247,000 after acquiring an additional 17,440 shares during the period. Wisconsin Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Johnson & Johnson by 0.8% in the first quarter. Wisconsin Capital Management LLC now owns 15,723 shares of the companys stock worth $2,437,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the period. Boyar Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Johnson & Johnson by 1.1% during the first quarter. Boyar Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,191 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,975,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Finally, Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Johnson & Johnson by 31.8% in the first quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 161,743 shares of the companys stock valued at $25,052,000 after purchasing an additional 39,032 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.57% of the companys stock. Get Johnson & Johnson alerts: Johnson & Johnson Price Performance Shares of JNJ opened at $173.15 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $163.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $161.02. The stock has a market cap of $450.01 billion, a PE ratio of 35.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.54. Johnson & Johnson has a 1-year low of $150.11 and a 1-year high of $181.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 1.12 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Johnson & Johnson Announces Dividend Johnson & Johnson ( NYSE:JNJ Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The company reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.62 by $0.18. Johnson & Johnson had a return on equity of 36.72% and a net margin of 13.35%. The company had revenue of $25.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $24.63 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.59 earnings per share. The firms revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Johnson & Johnson will post 10.75 EPS for the current year. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 28th will be given a dividend of $1.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 25th. This represents a $4.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Johnson & Johnsons dividend payout ratio is presently 96.36%. Insider Activity at Johnson & Johnson In other Johnson & Johnson news, EVP Kathryn E. Wengel sold 12,465 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $1,994,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,934 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $10,549,440. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Kathryn E. Wengel sold 12,465 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.00, for a total value of $1,994,400.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 65,934 shares in the company, valued at $10,549,440. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Peter Fasolo sold 20,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.32, for a total value of $3,406,400.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 102,696 shares of the companys stock, valued at $17,491,182.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,163 shares of company stock worth $7,928,856. Corporate insiders own 0.20% of the companys stock. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a strong-buy rating on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on Johnson & Johnson from $171.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, July 24th. Atlantic Securities raised their price target on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Johnson & Johnson from $165.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an equal weight rating and set a $187.00 price objective on shares of Johnson & Johnson in a research note on Friday, July 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $171.80. View Our Latest Stock Report on JNJ Johnson & Johnson Profile (Free Report) Johnson & Johnson, together with its subsidiaries, researches, develops, manufactures, and sells various products in the healthcare field worldwide. The company's Consumer Health segment provides skin health/beauty products under the AVEENO, CLEAN & CLEAR, DR. CI:LABO, NEUTROGENA, and OGX brands; baby care products under the JOHNSON'S and AVEENO Baby brands; oral care products under the LISTERINE brand; TYLENOL acetaminophen products; SUDAFED cold, flu, and allergy products; BENADRYL and ZYRTEC allergy products; MOTRIN IB ibuprofen products; NICORETTE smoking cessation products; and PEPCID acid reflux products. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding JNJ? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Johnson & Johnson Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Johnson & Johnson and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL (OTCMKTS:ELPVY Get Free Report) and NRG Energy (NYSE:NRG Get Free Report) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation. Profitability This table compares Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL and NRG Energys net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Get Companhia Paranaense de Energia - COPEL alerts: Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL 18.43% 16.92% 7.73% NRG Energy -5.90% 17.12% 2.28% Institutional and Insider Ownership 98.3% of NRG Energy shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of NRG Energy shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth. Analyst Ratings Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL 0 0 0 0 N/A NRG Energy 1 2 1 0 2.00 This is a summary of recent ratings for Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL and NRG Energy, as provided by MarketBeat.com. NRG Energy has a consensus price target of $42.67, indicating a potential upside of 14.63%. Given NRG Energys higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe NRG Energy is more favorable than Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL. Dividends Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL pays an annual dividend of $0.01 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. NRG Energy pays an annual dividend of $1.51 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. NRG Energy pays out -19.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NRG Energy has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. NRG Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth. Valuation & Earnings This table compares Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL and NRG Energys gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation. Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL $3.95 billion 0.90 $504.25 million N/A N/A NRG Energy $31.37 billion 0.27 $1.22 billion ($7.93) -4.69 NRG Energy has higher revenue and earnings than Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL. Risk & Volatility Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NRG Energy has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Summary NRG Energy beats Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks. About Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL (Get Free Report) Companhia Paranaense de Energia COPEL engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity to industrial, residential, commercial, rural, and other customers primarily in the State of ParanA, Brazil. As of December 31, 2019, the company operated 19 hydroelectric plants, 25 wind plants, and one thermoelectric plant with a total installed capacity of 5,742.0 megawatts; and owned and operated 3,389 kilometers of transmission lines and 199,952.6 kilometers of distribution lines. It holds concessions to distribute electricity in 399 municipalities in the State of ParanA and in the municipality of Porto UniAo in the State of Santa Catarina. The company also provides telecommunication services to corporate clients, including supermarkets, universities, banks, internet service providers, and television networks, as well as to retail clients; and broadband internet access to public elementary and middle schools. In addition, it supplies piped gas to 47,238 customers, including thermoelectric plants, cogeneration plants, gas stations, other businesses, and residences through a gas distribution network covering 833 kilometers in the State of ParanA. Companhia Paranaense de Energia A- COPEL was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Curitiba, Brazil. About NRG Energy (Get Free Report) NRG Energy, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated power company in the United States. It operates through Texas, East, and West segments. The company is involved in producing and selling electricity and related products and services to approximately residential, commercial, industrial, and wholesale customers. It generates electricity using natural gas, coal, oil, solar, nuclear, and battery storage. The company also provides system power, distributed generation, renewable products, backup generation, storage and distributed solar, demand response, and energy efficiency and advisory services, as well as carbon management and specialty services. In addition, it trades in electric power, natural gas, and related commodities; environmental products; weather products; and financial products, including forwards, futures, options, and swaps. Further, the company procures fuels; and sells energy, services, and products and services under the NRG, Reliant, Direct Energy, Green Mountain Energy, Stream, and XOOM Energy. NRG Energy, Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Receive News & Ratings for Companhia Paranaense de Energia - COPEL Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Companhia Paranaense de Energia - COPEL and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Protalix BioTherapeutics (NYSEAMERICAN:PLX Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a hold rating to a buy rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday. Separately, TheStreet raised Protalix BioTherapeutics from a d- rating to a c- rating in a research report on Monday. Get Protalix BioTherapeutics alerts: Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Protalix BioTherapeutics Protalix BioTherapeutics Stock Performance PLX opened at $1.83 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $119.72 million, a P/E ratio of -6.10 and a beta of 1.35. The businesss 50-day moving average is $2.05. Protalix BioTherapeutics has a 52-week low of $1.00 and a 52-week high of $3.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.04, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.76. Protalix BioTherapeutics (NYSEAMERICAN:PLX Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 7th. The company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.25. The company had revenue of $35.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.22 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.15) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Protalix BioTherapeutics will post 0.12 earnings per share for the current year. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Protalix BioTherapeutics Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Protalix BioTherapeutics by 561.5% in the 2nd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 13,230 shares of the companys stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 11,230 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC grew its position in Protalix BioTherapeutics by 89.6% during the 2nd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 28,816 shares of the companys stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 13,617 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC grew its position in Protalix BioTherapeutics by 17.5% during the 4th quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 92,219 shares of the companys stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 13,743 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Protalix BioTherapeutics by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 116,143 shares of the companys stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 14,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lido Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Protalix BioTherapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 4.48% of the companys stock. Protalix BioTherapeutics Company Profile (Get Free Report) Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development, production, and commercialization of recombinant therapeutic proteins based on its proprietary ProCellEx plant cell-based protein expression system in the United States, Australia, Canada, Israel, Brazil, Russia, Turkey, and internationally. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Protalix BioTherapeutics Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Protalix BioTherapeutics and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Burnt buses are removed from the N2 and Borcherds Quarry intersection. A taxi strike in Cape Town began on Thursday August 3, 2023. The Nolungile Clinic in Site C, a vital lifeline for the Khayelitsha community, was burnt to the ground as the unrest born out of last week's taxi strike continues to spread. It is one of 37 health centres across the province that have been closed, as thousands of the city's nurses find themselves unable to report for work. The clinic was set ablaze late on Monday night in what was more than just an act of vandalism. Equipment, including computers, was stolen, exacerbating the loss. "This is not about the strike anymore, it is more than that. We have lost our files, and there's no way that we are going to be assisted at other clinics; they have more people already," said a resident who used the services of the clinic. Angry locals are pointing fingers at their own community, mourning the senseless act that has left them without crucial medical services. "I am angry. How can you destroy a clinic? Where will we go when the taxi strike ends? I hope SAPS can arrest everyone who looted the clinic," said the resident, who preferred to remain anonymous. Meanwhile, Western Cape Health Department COO Dr Saadiq Kariem said just 40% of nurses reported for duty in many hospitals across the province. "Yesterday we were forced to close a number of clinics, especially because of the volatility of the situation. We continued the closures today," he told Newzroom Afrika. "We closed clinics in 37 areas right across the province, including the metro and the rurals. "Obviously now people would not be able to access those services and there has been a significant impact in hospitals as well." He said big hospitals had to downscale their services and cancel urgent elective surgeries scheduled in at least eight hospitals. Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines South Africa Health By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. "At Tygerberg Hospital, for instance, the number was over 300 nurses who could not get to work," he told Newzroom Afrika. As a week-long taxi strike brought the region to a halt, it also fanned the flames of unrest. Vehicles and buses set ablaze were just a prelude to the chaos that unfolded on Monday. Cape Town communities united in plundering malls, taking off with clothes, electronics, and household appliances. Abulele Dyasi, Western Cape Health spokesperson, confirmed that Nolungile Clinic in Khayelitsha was set alight around midnight. "Unfortunately, some of our buildings and equipment in the Khayelitsha Eastern Substructure were vandalised. We regret that a number of our patients are suffering the consequences of the current taxi strike as they cannot reach our facilities, cannot collect their medication, and face long waiting times due to reduced staff numbers," said Dyasi. She said staff are operating under extreme pressure and they have severe staff shortages. Law enforcement and security personnel are assisting them with safeguarding the Nolungile clinic. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR Free Report) Stock analysts at Zacks Research increased their Q2 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of RenaissanceRe in a research note issued on Tuesday, August 8th. Zacks Research analyst K. Dey now forecasts that the insurance provider will earn $7.50 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $7.16. The consensus estimate for RenaissanceRes current full-year earnings is $24.82 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for RenaissanceRes FY2024 earnings at $23.02 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $35.00 EPS. Get RenaissanceRe alerts: RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The insurance provider reported $8.79 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $7.58 by $1.21. RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 5.60% and a return on equity of 14.22%. The business had revenue of $2.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $5.51 EPS. The companys quarterly revenue was up 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on RenaissanceRe in a report on Tuesday, June 20th. They set an equal weight rating and a $222.00 price target on the stock. TheStreet cut RenaissanceRe from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a report on Thursday, June 8th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on RenaissanceRe in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised RenaissanceRe from a hold rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the company from $234.00 to $238.00 in a report on Thursday, May 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised RenaissanceRe from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their price target for the company from $198.00 to $216.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $221.40. Get Our Latest Stock Report on RNR RenaissanceRe Price Performance Shares of RenaissanceRe stock opened at $189.01 on Wednesday. RenaissanceRe has a one year low of $128.00 and a one year high of $223.80. The stocks fifty day moving average is $191.31 and its 200 day moving average is $199.54. The stock has a market cap of $9.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.63 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 1.41. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RNR. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in RenaissanceRe by 8.1% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 14,404 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $2,283,000 after acquiring an additional 1,083 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 7.1% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 15,536 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $2,461,000 after buying an additional 1,025 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 5.6% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 16,119 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $2,555,000 after buying an additional 861 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 5.1% during the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 24,034 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $3,914,000 after buying an additional 1,163 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of RenaissanceRe by 2.3% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 679,383 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $107,689,000 after buying an additional 15,215 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.15% of the companys stock. Insider Activity In related news, CEO Kevin Odonnell purchased 13,020 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 26th. The stock was bought at an average price of $192.00 per share, for a total transaction of $2,499,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 296,025 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,836,800. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 2.10% of the companys stock. RenaissanceRe Dividend Announcement The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be given a dividend of $0.38 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. RenaissanceRes payout ratio is 19.00%. About RenaissanceRe (Get Free Report) RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance and insurance products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Property, and Casualty and Specialty segments. The Property segment writes property catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance and excess of loss reinsurance to insure insurance and reinsurance companies against natural and man-made catastrophes, including hurricanes, earthquakes, typhoons, and tsunamis, as well as winter storms, freezes, floods, fires, windstorms, tornadoes, explosions, and acts of terrorism; and other property class of products, such as proportional reinsurance, property per risk, property reinsurance, binding facilities, and regional U.S. See Also Receive News & Ratings for RenaissanceRe Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for RenaissanceRe and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE:TNP Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report issued on Thursday. Separately, TheStreet raised Tsakos Energy Navigation from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research note on Thursday, April 27th. Get Tsakos Energy Navigation alerts: Read Our Latest Analysis on Tsakos Energy Navigation Tsakos Energy Navigation Trading Up 2.5 % NYSE TNP opened at $22.02 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $649.72 million, a PE ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.32, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. Tsakos Energy Navigation has a 52 week low of $13.30 and a 52 week high of $24.78. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $18.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $18.78. Tsakos Energy Navigation (NYSE:TNP Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 30th. The shipping company reported $2.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.79 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $261.21 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $209.20 million. Tsakos Energy Navigation had a net margin of 38.61% and a return on equity of 30.73%. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.12) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Tsakos Energy Navigation will post 9.27 EPS for the current fiscal year. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Tsakos Energy Navigation Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Navellier & Associates Inc. raised its position in shares of Tsakos Energy Navigation by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 26,913 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 762 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Tsakos Energy Navigation in the second quarter valued at about $1,539,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Tsakos Energy Navigation in the first quarter valued at approximately $407,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Tsakos Energy Navigation by 124.7% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 157,090 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $3,052,000 after buying an additional 87,175 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a new position in Tsakos Energy Navigation during the 1st quarter valued at $324,000. 23.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Tsakos Energy Navigation Company Profile (Get Free Report) Tsakos Energy Navigation Limited provides seaborne crude oil and petroleum product transportation services worldwide. The company offers marine transportation services for national, major, and other independent oil companies and refiners under long, medium, and short-term charters. It also operates a fleet of double-hull vessels, comprising of conventional tankers, LNG carriers, and suezmax DP2 shuttle tankers. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Tsakos Energy Navigation Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Tsakos Energy Navigation and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. Burnt buses are removed from the N2 and Borcherds Quarry intersection. A taxi strike in Cape Town began on Thursday August 3, 2023. Santaco's taxi strike, which for the past week has gripped the Western Cape, is set to continue for at least two more days. The national taxi council says it won't bring an end to the strikes until the City of Cape Town stops impounding taxis. Commuters across the province were hopeful that talks on Wednesday between Santaco and the National Minister of Transport, Lydia Sindisiwe Chikunga, would bring an end to the strike. Instead, Santaco released a statement on Wednesday evening revealing their intention to apply for an urgent interdict. In the meeting, Santaco representatives were informed by Minister Chikunga that discussions were ongoing with the Western Cape Government, facilitated by Premier Alan Winde's office. Ryno Saaiers, the General Secretary of Santaco, expressed his frustration at the lack of resolution and announced the organisation's decision to seek legal action. "Our aim is to secure the release of all impounded vehicles and prevent any further impoundment by the City of Cape Town and the Department of Mobility until all matters have been resolved," stated Saaiers. He said they will lodge the application within 48 hours, and until this process is completed, their taxis will not be operational. "We apologise for any inconvenience caused to ourcommuters and the public, and we will provide updates on any developments," he added. The extended strike has left many commuters and residents in dire circumstances. Nwabisa Malotana, a 38-year-old woman, expressed her concerns about potential unemployment once the strike ends. She highlighted the challenges faced when attempting to use alternative public transportation. "I have respect for Santaco, but their current actions are unfair, we are confined to our homes, unable to go to work due to attacks when trying to use other modes of public transport, like buses." Close Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox Top Headlines South Africa Transport By submitting above, you agree to our privacy policy. Success! Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the process, please follow the instructions in the email we just sent you. Error! Error! There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later. Another community member, who has remained anonymous, shared their anxiety over the uncertain future. They revealed that their boss had already found a replacement and instructed them not to return to work once the strike ended, exacerbating their financial worries. "I am stressed because I don't know how I will pay my rent, I don't have enough food, and to make matters worse, my boss told me not to bother coming back to work when the strike ends," said the resident. Ricardo Mckenzie, the Western Cape MEC of Mobility, expressed deep concern for the impact of the ongoing strike on commuters and students trying to reach their workplaces and schools. He called upon Santaco to attend a meeting scheduled by the mayor, hoping to find viable solutions and bring an end to the taxi strike. "The well-being of our commuters is of utmost importance, we urge Santaco to join the scheduled meeting tomorrow so that we can collaborate and find effective solutions,"urged Mckenzie. World's largest cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, scheduled to set sail By Aniket Gupta Following the COVID pandemic, luxury liners went temporarily taken out of service. Now they are back. With a bang. Or should we say, with a big splash? Cruise bookings have surged, and a Finnish shipyard is now in the final stages of completing what is set to become the largest cruise ship in the world. The luxurious ship from Royal Caribbean, named Icon of the Seas, is approaching its final stages of construction at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku on the south-western coast of Finland. The shipbuilding company is fully owned by German shipbuilder Meyer Werft GmbH. The Icon of the Seas is expected to be delivered in late 2023, and its inaugural journey is scheduled for January 2024. Tim Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku, says the ship is the largest cruise ship in the world. The massive ship features lively waterparks, over 20 decks, and the capacity to accommodate nearly 10,000 people. Many have been attracted by the clever design and careful planning that promise an extraordinary cruise, and have eagerly purchased tickets. Others have referred to the massive construction as a monstrosity, given what they say will be its significant negative environmental impact. The shipping industry was severely impacted by the pandemic, casting doubt on its potential for recovery. According to the Cruise Lines International Association, passenger volume is anticipated to exceed pre-pandemic levels, projecting a total of 31.5 million passengers for the year 2023. Weighing a gross tonnage of 250,800, which is five times larger than the ill-fated Titanic, the Icon of the Seas is poised to claim the distinction of being the world's largest cruise ship, surpassing Royal Caribbeans existing flagship, the Wonder of the Seas. Although the trend towards constructing massive ships is not expected to stop, it is likely to slow down. For financial reasons rather than engineering limitations. Mega-sized ships are said help lower per-passenger costs. But they require huge investments, and involve advanced technologies, which come at a significant price. Larger vessels also bring challenges like port congestion. Furthermore, as cruise companies aim to increase passenger capacity, they simultaneously lower the crew-to-passenger ratio, which can present difficulties in unforeseen circumstances. A single large ship yields greater energy efficiency compared to multiple smaller ships. Also, modern vessels have begun using liquefied natural gas (LNG), as the Icon of the Seas is doing. But environmentalists remain skeptical. LNG does exhibit lower emissions compared to conventional maritime fuels, yet concerns have been raised by organizations like Transport & Environment (T&E) regarding the possibility of methane leaks. Methane is an essential constituent of LNG. It is also a potent greenhouse gas that has the potential to inflict more severe climate repercussions than carbon dioxide. The T&E website says that while cruise ships account for a small proportion of the global shipping fleet, they have a disproportionate impact on air quality, habitats and the climate. Why? Its because cruise ships require more fuel as a result of the energy demand of their onboard hotels and leisure facilities. These ships travel close to the coastline; so huge volumes of fuel are burned in close proximity to coastal populations. The T&E website says, The technology is available to clean up cruise ships, but an industry that provides luxury trips is unwilling to deploy it. A man charged with murdering another man in south west Donegal has been remanded in custody with a book of evidence expected be served next month. Alan Vial appeared at Letterkenny District Court on Thursday afternoon via video link from Castlerea Prison. The 38-year-old has been charged with the murder of Robert Wilkin, whose body was found floating in waters off Sliabh Liag on July 3. Vials solicitor Mr Patsy Gallagher said his client consented to the matter being adjourned to September 4. Vial spoke only to respond yes I am when asked if this was the case. Vial returned to his cell and will consult with his legal team next week. Judge Deirdre Gearty confirmed the order adjourning the matter until September 4, when a book of evidence can be served on the accused, who will again appear via video link. Vial, of Drumanoo Head, Killybegs, has been charged that on the 25th of June,2023 at a place unknown within the State, he did murder one Robert Wilkin (also known as Robin Wilkin). The charge is Contrary to Common Law and as provided for by Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1964. He was arrested at an address in Letterkenny last month and questioned by detectives before being charged. Vial made no reply when charged and there was no application for bail. Vial had been previously arrested along with a woman in her 20s on June 26 on suspicion of a serious assault. It followed information received by Gardai which led to a large-scale search off the popular tourist destination at Sliabh Liag. Following an extensive search involving Gardai, the Irish Coastguard including Rescue 118 and the Donegal Mountain Rescue Team, the body of Mr Wilkin recovered in water off the cliffs on July 3. The body was taken to Letterkenny University Hospital where a full post mortem was carried out by the State Pathologist's Office. The findings of that post mortem have not been released for Garda operational reasons. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. The days of abusive boyfriends and spouses being released hours after being arrested are over. Starting this month, President Cyril Ramaphosa has issued an instruction that no police bail should be granted for domestic violence cases. "We have responded to the call for tougher bail conditions for perpetrators. In fact, we now want to move to a stage where, when you touch a woman and you are arrested, no bail for you. And when you kill a woman, life sentence for you. "Because there is no justifiable reason for us as men to believe that we own women," said Ramaphosa. Addressing the Women's Day celebration at the Union Buildings in Tshwane, the president said the court should issue protection orders before releasing the alleged abuser. "Effective from this month, no police bail must be granted to persons charged with rape. "Even if it was in a domestic relationship, such bail applications must be formally applied for in court. "If the accused was in a domestic relationship with the alleged victim, the court has to issue a protection order against them before releasing them on bail." People implicated in gang rape or serial rapists would face life imprisonment along with perpetrators of date rape, marital rape, child rape and incest. Ramaphosa also announced a process where victims of abuse could apply for protection orders online. "The violence perpetrated by men against women and girls is an assault on our common humanity. Women do not feel safe in their homes, on the street, in places of work and study and worship," Ramaphosa said on Wednesday. Police Minister Bheki Cele said 10,512 people opened rape cases at South Africa police stations between January and March 2023. At least 4,768 of the incidents took place at the homes of the victims or the homes of the perpetrators. The Irish Kennel Clubs Canine Good Citizen test comes to Dundalk this Saturday from 10am-3pm at the field behind the old Carrolls Factory on the Dublin Road with the public invited to come and watch. Official IKC judges will assess participants in the Puppy, Bronze, SIlver and Gold Canine Good Citizen tests. These tests are designed to celebrate owners who have excellent control over their dogs in public space, both on and off the lead. The Irish Kennel Club operates the test procedure to help educate dog owners and people thinking about buying a dog, and also to ensure that dogs are a respected part of the community. The scheme operates through clubs and training classes, who must gain approval from the Irish Kennel Club to hold a Good Citizen Test. This test assesses and officially recognise animals that are happy, loyal and well-behaved. The test, constructed to mirror everyday events, ensures that dogs can carry out common tasks. These include: Walking on a lead in a controlled manner in the presence of distractions (including a jogger or another handler and dog walking past). Behaving calmly while you talk to another dog handler. Lying down and staying on command. Allowing you to groom the dog, and examine its coat, teeth, ears and feet. Returning on command and co-operating with an owner attaching the lead. This is a simple pass or fail system, with no grades or places awarded. The test is carried out by an independent qualified examiner, and all dogs (both pedigree and non-pedigree) are eligible to take it. Louth nursing home residents will participate in a special national music performance to mark Nursing Homes Week 2023. The Music Speaks broadcast, to take place Monday 21st August, will encompass performances from over 100 nursing home residents from over 30 nursing homes. Featuring from Co Louth will be a group of residents from Sunhill Nursing Home, Termonfeckin, who will perform Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que sera, sera). Also, to feature will be solo performances from Sunhill residents Elizabeth Woods, singing Pal of Cradle Days, and Patrick Lennon, singing Mona Lisa. Nursing homes in Co Louth and across the country will be hosting music-themed celebrations Monday 21st to Sunday 27th August to mark Nursing Homes Week 2023. The Music Speaks performance will be broadcast to over 400 nursing homes with 25,000 residents across the country and available for the broader public to watch via NHI.ie. It features renditions of classics such as Danny Boy, Molly Malone, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, Cant Help Falling in Love, You Are My Sunshine, Que Sera, Sera, intertwined with performances by residents of different instruments, including piano, accordion, bodhran. The Music Speaks performance is a highlight of the broader online Music Speaks festival which will mark the national celebration of nursing home care. The Music Speaks festival will include performances from Mobile Music Machine with Niamh Kavanagh, Sive, Ross Scanlon performs John McCormack, John Spillane. Further, performances from the Irish Traditional Music Archive will be opened up to nursing home residents and an online discussion will be hosted discussing the impact of music on nursing home residents. Tadhg Daly, Nursing Homes Ireland CEO states: We are thrilled to have brought together a very special performance of nursing home residents to mark Nursing Homes Week 2023 and our Music Speaks festival. Nursing homes are home to truly very special people, who are tremendous characters and have a rich legacy in song and music. "Our Music Speaks performance encompasses one resident who is 100 years of age playing accordion, a 98-year-old delivering an excellent piano solo, a 95-year old singing Boys from the County Armagh. Residents love to sing and perform and the Music Speaks extravaganza honours the talents of the very special people in our society who are nursing home residents. Music fulfils an absolutely integral role in nursing home care, providing comfort to residents, stimulating memories, bringing them together, and it gives great joy and happiness. The festival we have created is truly unique, bringing residents together for a very special range of performances and events over the course of a week. "It will feature outstanding performers who supported nursing home residents during Covid19, a trip down memory lane for residents via the Irish Traditional Music Archive, and a discussion on the impact of music in our nursing homes. We wish residents and staff a very happy Nursing Homes Week 2023. Visit NHI.ie for further information. Hong Kong: US investment restrictions opposed The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government today criticised the US for a series of measures unreasonably targeting Hong Kong that undermine and cause damage to normal trade and investment activities. The Hong Kong SAR Government expressed its strong objection and disapproval of the US measure restricting investment in China. The US was Mainland China's largest trading partner and the third largest trading partner of Hong Kong in 2002, with trade value amounting to US$759.4 billion and US$64.1 billion respectively. Mainland China and Hong Kong are respectively the third and 29th largest trading partners of the US. As at end-2021, the US ranked sixth for inward direct investment into Hong Kong with an investment stock of US$45.6 billion. The US also ranked ninth for outward direct investment from Hong Kong with an investment stock of US$17.8 billion. The statement noted that these figures demonstrate the close economic interaction between Hong Kong and the US as well as the vast business interests of US businesses in Hong Kong. The unreasonable and restrictive measure on investment seriously violates the principles of market economy and fair competition, undermines international economic and trade order and jeopardises the economic and business interests of US businesses and the US. It also creates further uncertainties for global economic recovery and growth. The US should withdraw the unreasonable measure concerned, the statement added. The Hong Kong SAR Government is closely monitoring the developments and will resolutely safeguard Hong Kong's rights and interests. This story has been published on: 2023-08-10. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Nawa, named after the Filipino word for wish, emerges as an unknown treasure in the heart of Calatagan, functioning as a cultural epicenter that honors the Philippine culture. The sanctuary gracefully combines herbalism, real health regimens, and prehistoric Filipino gastronomy, offering a diverse approach to wellness. By supporting herbalism, humanitys first known form of healing, the resort, a proud endeavor of the Araw Hospitality Group, underlines its dedication to time-tested wellness. Nawa serves as a gateway to natures therapeutic secrets by utilizing the plentiful local Filipino plants. The Herbal Apothecary is an essential aspect of the retreat, offering traditional herbal therapies such as smudging, a unique way of space purification through energy cleansing. Visitors are also encouraged to take part in the transforming Madre Kakau and Hape rites, which are reminiscent of Amazonian shamanic healing rituals. Nawas dedication to promoting health extends to a variety of wellness experiences. Accommodations include spacious, airy villas and teepee huts perched on mountain ridges, evoking a beautiful island vibe. The wellness facility offers a variety of facilities, including a full-service spa, meditation studio, sauna, and steam room, all of which promote indulgence and tranquility. Furthermore, the wellness studio offers a variety of activities such as yoga, mat Pilates, personal training, and circuit training, all of which are proven approaches for reviving latent energy, improving flexibility, and increasing movement and breath consciousness. When it comes to gastronomic feasts, Nawa intertwines wellness with soul-nourishing food. Dining at Nawa transcends the ordinary, offering Paleo-inspired Filipino meals that resonate with the Philippines rich culinary customs by utilizing locally procured ingredients that merge outdoor elements indoors through earthen tones, natural finishing materials, and artisan-crafted ceramic ware. Every aspect of Nawas mission to forge a harmonious healing community anchored in Filipino culture and traditions shines through its offerings. By crafting a space that promotes the conservation of mental, physical, and spiritual well-being, Nawa welcomes guests to initiate a wellness journey that forms an integral part of their existence. As visitors saunter through lush canopies and bask in the serene mountain ambiance, they are invited to rekindle their relationship with nature and their inner selves, leaving Nawa with rejuvenated vigor and a profound appreciation for the unique touch, hospitality, and care embodied in Filipino culture. Find them on social media @nawawellness. A WEST Cork man forked out 15k to fund a flight for dogs he had rescued after leaving his former home of Hong Kong. David Roche from Kealties and his wife Mary Jean Gaje had been on a mission to save as many dogs as possible in the area where they lived. The couple also managed to have a number of illegal breeders shut down during their time in the country. Veteran strategist David said that while many animals find themselves abandoned due to emigration, he was not about to do the same to his own rescue pets. The West Cork local was relieved to be reunited with the animals recently after a long and stressful journey. It comes at a time when many rescue shelters in Hong Kong are full to capacity and struggling to cope. Mongrels Aoife, Amore, Principessa and Tiffany are settling in well to their new home after overcoming considerable adversity in Hong Kong. The fantastic four travelled from Hong Kong to Frankfurt before finally touching down at Dublin Airport. David spoke about the arduous journey they endured to be with their beloved owners. They flew from Frankfurt to Dublin and from Dublin to Cork. Since there was no plane to Dublin on a Sunday, they had to stay two days in Frankfurt where they have a very nice place for transit animals. Its a kind of nursery for animals. They were loaded onto the plane to Dublin before being met by the partner of the Hong Kong shipper. The dogs arrived in Cork on Monday (July 18) and, despite being shook, they were all fine. David acknowledged the sacrifices they make for their dogs. It wasnt all about the cost of the dogs travelling, which of course was huge because were not rich people at all. To move all our stuff was just as much again. There wasnt any discussion about whether we would take them. The only discussion was about what route they would take. The option of flying to London was also available but in this instance you have to go through immigration for animals and later Irish immigration for animals. This means there is double the paperwork. In the end we stuck to the EU. They had to fly to Dublin because the Department of Agriculture doesnt allow the importation of a dog through Cork. If you want to take a cow into Ireland, you can fly into cork. The same can be said for a racehorse, but not a cat or dog. Mr Roche opened up about some of their harrowing stories. David Roche and his wife Mary Jean with four of their dogs, Tiffany, Aoife, Principessa and Amore which arrived in West Cork from Hong Kong. Picture: Denis Minihane. We rescued Principessa off the side of a mountain after she broke her hip, he explained. She could have been hit by a car and crawled up there or she could have fallen off a cliff. Its not something well ever know for sure. Amore, who is around 11, was rescued from a breeder. She was the weakest out of 11 so we took her and the others were rehomed. The biggest worry about rescue dogs is that if you rehome them they could be re-dumped. Thats why we took the weakest one. Aoife had been living in a rescue shelter before we adopted her. She didnt get on with the other dogs and often found herself being attacked by them. Aoife was very unhappy so we knew we had to take her with us. Tiffany is also part of their many success stories. She was found on a mountain after a three-month effort to locate her. The mongrel had endured serious injuries after being hit by a car. Tiffanys owner had been unwilling to take her back or cover veterinary bills. David and his wife not only adopted her, they also paid for her veterinary bills that included the amputation of one of her legs. Despite her trauma, she is happier than ever after adapting to life on three legs. Animal cruelty continues to be a disturbing reality in Hong Kong. Dogs and cats are for life. If they find themselves in a difficult situation its not their fault. Unfortunately, there are so many people leaving the country who are dumping the dogs which means the rescues are full. David and Mary Jeans animals are no strangers to travel. We flew 14 rescue dogs to Cork many years ago so it wasnt something we were unfamiliar with. I knew how well the dogs are treated in the transit facility so this helped a lot. We did try to take the poodle with us but it was too big for the plane. These types of dogs are so dependent on you that removing them feels like cruelty. He recalled the moment they were all reunited. We were so worried while waiting to see them again that neither of us got a wink of sleep. Eventually, we got the call to say they were on their way home. They almost lost their minds when they saw us. Two Cork secondary school principals have highlighted a shortage of teachers in the sector, and called for greater incentives to be offered to teaching graduates to attract more people to work in the area. Recent research from the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland (ASTI) showed that three quarters of schools did not receive a single application for an advertised teaching post in the 2022/23 school year, and that 81% of schools had to employ at least one unqualified teacher. Colm O Corcora, principal of Colaiste an Chroi Naofa in Carrignavar, revealed his school currently has no chemistry teacher. I have a problem filling a chemistry teaching vacancy," he said. "I put up an advertisement and not one person has responded. I am ringing around every principal wondering if they know of any chemistry teacher that has recently retired. I am also on to the head of the science teaching department at UCC to see if he has any students he can loan me. If I dont get a chemistry teacher it will mean that I wont be offering chemistry for our fifth-year students," Mr O Corcora added. "I have set aside chemistry for a bunch of students who want to do it, but I will have to take it off the table if I dont get a new teacher. "God knows what I will do with the sixth-year students. "I have a couple of feelers out. I am not panicking yet." The Cork principal explained that teaching posts in areas such as chemistry, French, physics, home economics and career guidance are "very tough to fill". Graduates are being hoovered up by industry, which is then paying for their Masters and PhDs," he said. "If you are science graduate and go the teaching route, you must spend the bones of 11,000 on a teacher training course. We are coming to a stage where you need to give graduates some financial gain or an allowance to attract people in to teach specific subjects. Most people want to be teachers for a reason, and they are not driven by money," he added. "In subjects that there is a real difficulty in finding suitable candidates there needs to be some financial incentive - possibly some kind of allowance for the first year or paying people to do the Professional Master of Education (PME) as there is a big cost involved in that." Calls To Reduce PME Time Aaron Wolfe, principal of Colaiste Eamann Ris, suggested reducing the length of time required to complete the PME. Different schools will have a different experience," he explained. "Finding maths teachers is a huge problem. Finding home economics teachers can also be tough. The government need to look at how to make teaching more attractive. One of the big ways to do that is shrink that PME back to one year instead of two years." Mr Wolfe said schools in rural areas can find it more difficult to fill vacancies than those in the city. We are near the university, and we havent had any problems. "What you would find is Dublin and rural schools would probably be very badly hit. "I have had no problem in filling our vacancies for the next academic year. I had 25 teaching vacancies and I filled them all. You dont have plenty of applicants and I was lucky I went early with my advertisement. Local authority tenants on Noonans Road, St Finbarrs Road, Fort Street and Dean Street have received letters informing them that members of Cork City Councils housing directorate intend to visit their homes in the coming weeks. Tenants are advised in the letters, which are dated Wednesday 9 August, that members of the housing team will be calling to every resident in the coming weeks to discuss any concerns you may have regarding your accommodation. The letters come after The Echo highlighted appalling living conditions in the 60-year-old flat complexes, with council tenants living in crumbling structures which are prone to leaks, damp, black mould and rodent infestation. Following that coverage, in which tenants complained of being abandoned and ignored by Cork City Council over years and in some cases decades, the city council chief executive Ann Doherty visited two of the four flat complexes two weeks ago. During that visit, Ms Doherty, who has been chief executive since 2014, expressed her shock at the living conditions in the Noonans Road and St Finbarrs Road flats. Speaking to tenants, Ms Doherty said that it as her intention to return to the councils housing maintenance unit to address outstanding issues. She said that some of the things she had seen and heard from tenants made her believe a couple of arses need kicking, a phrase she subsequently insisted to The Echo related to substandard work carried out by a sub-contractor whom she declined to name. Leaked Report Last week, The Echo published details from a leaked Cork City Council internal, draft, report on the Noonans Road and St Finbarrs Road flats. That report, dating from December 2022, found major structural defects in the Noonans Road and St Finbarrs Road flats, and recommended the complete demolition of the buildings. Responding to a query from The Echo, Cork City Council insisted that, despite the structural defects highlighted in the report, the buildings were not unsafe. The unpublished report estimated that it would cost 12 million to refurbish the flats at Noonans Road, St Finbarrs Road, Dean Street and Fort Street before the cost of rehousing tenants and storing their possessions was taken into account, but the council report stressed, in bold, block capitals: It is NOT the recommendation of this report to carry out these repairs ... The recommendation of this report is to knock all external walls to ground level and re-build entire structure. Responding to the news that tenants are to be consulted by members of Cork City Councils housing directorate on the future of their homes, Thomas Gould, Sinn Fein TD for Cork North Central, said it was a positive step for residents but that progress should not have needed so much publicity and campaigning. Mr Gould also questioned why no action had been taken on Noonans Road and the surrounding areas since Decembers unpublished report. People deserve to live in safe, secure homes. Cork City Council have had at least eight months to progress these issues, it is now long past time that progress was made, he said. A report has sat on the desk of the Chief Executive for those eight months with no clear progress. "It has taken a huge campaign by residents, and the publication of the findings of that report, to see any real progress. New Report A spokesperson for Cork City Council said the contents of the December 2022 draft report would inform the report on the future of the Noonans Road, St Finbarrs Road, Fort Street and Dean Street flats due, as stated by the chief executive to tenants, in September of this year. Mr Gould, whose constituency includes the southside area including the flat complexes, said clarity was now needed from Cork City Council. Do similar reports exist into Bakers Road, Clashduv Road, Cattlemarket Avenue or other areas in the city? Without publishing all reports, the residents in these flats can only assume that there are similar findings for their flat complexes, Mr Gould said. Mr Goulds Sinn Fein colleague, Cllr Fiona Kerins, added that she had been working with the residents of Noonans Road and surrounding areas for a number of years. It has been clear from the outset that there were serious issues with their homes but council have buried their head in the sand on the issue, she said. These flats had a shelf life of 50 years. "Cork City Council knew that and should have been planning for it but instead they have ignored the problems. The council must work with residents over the coming weeks so a full plan can be brought forward for complete regeneration of these homes, Cllr Kerins said. A 61-year-old handyman charged with the murder earlier this year of Cork born Bishop of Los Angeles, David OConnell, is set to appear before a preliminary court hearing today where the District Attorney will lay out the evidence in the case. Carlos Medina of Torrance in LA County previously pleaded not guilty to one felony count of murder. He was arraigned at Foltz Criminal Justice Centre in downtown LA on February 22nd last. A trial date is expected to be set today. If convicted, Mr Medina faces 35 years to life in prison. He was arrested on February 20th, two days after the murder, at his home in Los Angeles. Bishop O'Connell (69) was found dead on February 18 by a church deacon who went to his home in Hacienda Heights, about thirty kilometres east of downtown LA, after he failed to turn up for a meeting. He had been shot dead. "Bishop Dave, as he was affectionately known, was much admired for his peace making efforts during the 1992 riots in LA. The riots followed the acquittal of four white policemen on all but one charge connected with the severe beating of African American Rodney King. The late Bishop was also an advocate for immigrants. In newspaper interviews he stated that it was his mission to work with the disadvantaged poor in the wealthiest region of the US. Following his death three days of remembrance occurred in Los Angeles which culminated in a funeral mass attended by nearly 5,000 people at the Cathedral of the Our Lady of the Angels. His remains were interred in a crypt in the Cathedral. An exhibit honouring the life and legacy of Bishop O'Connell was later opened at the Cathedral. Pope Francis appointed David OConnell Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angles in June of 2015. His violent death caused shock waves with Los Angeles Archbishop, Jose H Gomez, describing him as a person who showed compassion to the poor, to the homeless, immigrants and to all those living on societys margins. In the wake of the murder Pope Francis sent a message of condolence to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He said the ministry of Bishop OConnell was marked by his profound concern for the marginalised. He asked all those who honoured the memory of Bishop OConnell to reject the ways of violence and to overcome good with evil. A special mass of remembrance was held in his honour at the Sacred Heart Church in Glounthaune in Co Cork on March 25th. Bishop OConnell studied for the priesthood at the former All Hallows College in Dublin before he was ordained to serve in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1979. Bishop O' Connell is survived by his brother Kieran, his sister in law Paula and his nieces and nephews. He was a frequent visitor to Ireland and his family also travelled Stateside on numerous occasions. The Lord of the Dance has revealed that Cork is the home of his creativity as he returns for a series of Cork shows. Irish Dance legend, Michael Flatley, has highlighted spaghetti bolognese in a Cork city restaurant, morning swims in the Blackwater River, and confessions with a Fermoy parish priest as just some of the things that draw him to the Rebel County as he prepared to kick off a special anniversary performance. Michael Flatleys Lord of the Dance celebrates 25 years with seven shows at Cork Opera House this month. Joining the cast was a very special guest. Upon spotting a video of her dancing online, 10-year-old Kerry dancer, Holly Fealey, was invited by Flatley himself to perform her award-winning freestyle Irish dance routine as part of the show. Holly Fealey (10) from Brosna Co Kerry, pictured with Michael Flatley at the opening night of 'The Lord of The Dance' at Cork Opera House. Picture: Michael O'Sullivan /OSM PHOTO The Leeside performances are something of a homecoming for Flatley, with the world-renowned dancer and choreographer, saying ahead of last nights performance: I love Cork. I love being here in the Opera House. Its been way too long since we performed in Cork. We are over the moon to be here again. We have loads of Cork people in the cast. In fact, one of our fiddle players, Aisling, is from Cork. Unfortunately, she suffered an injury so she isnt in the line-up tonight. She is heartbroken not to be performing on home soil but shell be here watching tonight. As well as the Cork fiddler, another important Cork figure watched the opening night performance alongside a packed audience. There is a whole slew of people coming in to see the show tonight, including my local priest in Fermoy, Fr Boyle. He is going to be coming down from Fermoy. We have to keep Fr Boyle on side because of those confessions, Flatley joked. The former Riverdance choreographer told The Echo that his property in North Cork is where he feels most at home. We try to get to Fermoy as much as we can. We live mostly in Monaco, I run my businesses from there. I spend a lot of time there because Monaco is perfectly suited for work. There is a huge difference between Cork and Monaco definitely, but I am in love with living here in Cork and especially in Fermoy. Castlehyde, to me, is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. In the early morning, I love to actually go for a swim in the Blackwater. Then I walk up and down along to river. Thats where I create. Everything slows down and it allows for the energy to flow much easier. Yes, Cork is my muse, I just love it. A special homecoming event has been organised for tomorrow to honour distinguished Cork native, Denis Mulcahy, who has received many accolades for his work promoting the cause of peace in Northern Ireland. Mr Mulcahy is a founding member of Project Children, established in 1975 to give children from all communities in Northern Ireland a summer reprieve in the US, away from the intrinsic, sectarian violence of The Troubles. Originally from Rockchapel, Mr Mulcahy emigrated to the US in 1962 and is a retired and highly-decorated NYPD Bomb Squad Officer. Project Children, Cork City Council, and the County Cork BP & P Association, will host a special screening of the award-winning documentary, How to Defuse a Bomb: The Project Children Story, to celebrate his homecoming. The Lord Mayor of Cork Kieran McCarthy, said it is particularly apposite that Cork will welcome Mr Mulcahy in this 25th year after the Good Friday Agreement. Deniss work over many years constitutes a distinct Corkonian contribution to peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland. In particular, the city is very proud of Denis being nominated twice for a Nobel Peace Prize. The screening will be preceded by a special reception in Cork City Hall hosted by the Lord Mayor, in which the contributions of Mr Mulcahy and founder of the Hope Foundation, Maureen Forrest, will be recognised. GARDAI in conjunction with Interpol have arrested and charged 33 people for money laundering as part of Operation Jackal, working alongside law enforcement agencies in 21 countries around the world. The arrests for charging were conducted by GNECB and local Gardai in counties including Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Limerick, Kerry, Laois, Longford, Cork. It comes as Interpol said it was closing ranks on West African organised crime after recently seizing more than 2 million. Gardai said as part of the operation there were: Three premises searched in Dublin, Wicklow and Longford; Nine people arrested and detained under organised crime legislation; Four people arrested and detained for money laundering offences; 33 people arrested and charged for money laundering; One person arrested and charged with gangland offences and money laundering; Nine incidents of stolen money recovered from foreign bank accounts; And over 400,000 of stolen money recovered for Irish companies. Led by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB), the period of action began in the first months of 2023 and culminated in intensified activity during April and May 2023. The searches and detentions were co-ordinated by the GNECB and included assistance from local garda units across the country. In addition, GNECB said it continued to work with financial institutions to put new systems in place for the reporting of money laundering and money mules. Positive examples of cases where money was recovered from Business Email Compromise (BEC) fraud in Ireland include: Case 1: Complaint by company that over 98,000 was stolen in a BEC fraud and transferred to a bank account in Portugal working with the financial institution, the payment was cancelled and all the money was recovered. Case 2: Over 149,000 stolen in a BEC from a victim buying an apartment in Spain. Money was laundered through an account Spain. Working with the financial institution GNECB was able to recover nearly 76,000 laundered through a secondary account in Spain. Case 3: Over 95,000 stolen in a BEC in the USA in early April 2023 and laundered through an account in Ireland. Working with the financial institution, GNECB was able to freeze and recover over 91,000. In seven cases involving Irish companies, with over 475,000 cash stolen, over 400,000 was recovered by the GNECB. Speaking about the results of the operation, assistant commissioner Kelly said: "Operation JACKAL continues to demonstrate our commitment to work internationally, engaging with Law Enforcement partners, such as Interpol, in disrupting the activities of Transnational Organised Crime Groups." SOME 720 notices to terminate were issued to tenants in Cork in the second quarter of this year, with a Cork housing charity describing the situation as "frightening". Nationally, 5,735 eviction notices were issued to tenants after the no-fault eviction ban was lifted by the Government at the end of May, new figures from the Residential Tenancies Board show. The number of notices represents an increase of almost 1,000 on the previous quarter. Homelessness numbers have also continued to rise since the no fault eviction ban was lifted with a record 12,600 people in emergency accommodation nationwide at the end of June. Speaking to The Echo, Linda McKernan, assistant manager of Thresholds Southern Regional Services Office, said: We are seeing a huge number of notices coming in. We are dealing with people of all ages - it is right across the age spectrum. We are seeing a lot of older people who have now found themselves in this situation having rented all their lives and they now face with a notice of termination. "The stress levels are absolutely huge, and they are left wondering where they go from here," she added. "We are dealing with a lot of young people, single people, and people with large families. It is really frightening." Ms McKernan said officials were anticipating an increase in the number of notices to terminate after the no-fault eviction ban was lifted, describing the numbers seen as an onslaught. We were anticipating those numbers - we couldnt predict the percentage breakdown but we knew there was going to be a huge rise in the number of notices of termination being served on tenants," she explained. "The difficulty is that we have such an onslaught of notices of termination. It is just checking if people are on the social housing list and confirming then with the council. We are engaging with people around the Tenant In-Situ Scheme and that does seem to be working quite well," she added. "There does seem to be a high uptake on it and when the council are engaging, it seems to be going through quickly." Ms McKernan explained that some people are facing eviction notices after falling behind on rent and she described the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) as "too low". "We are referring them to the local authorities," she said. "The local authorities have a finite number of accommodation availability, and where do you go from there?" Solutions Ms McKernan said several solutions need to be implemented by the relevant authorities to reduce the numbers of notices and the number of homeless people nationally. There needs to be less emphasis on private rentals and there needs to be an increase in social housing stock," she explained. "We need to look at the bigger picture, looking at legislation around no-fault evictions so that tenants dont find themselves in this situation because a landlord decides to sell. This is the fall out now and the main issue. The head of housing at Cork City Council has written to city councillors to assure them that the city council executives top priority is resolving issues related to local authority housing at Noonans Road and the surrounding area. Niall O Donnabhain, director services at the city councils housing directorate, wrote to council members of the Cork City Council South-Central ward local area committee (LAC) on Tuesday, telling them the council very aware of the sensitivities in this case as Noonans Road and adjacent units are occupied and are peoples homes. Mr O Donnabhains letter comes as local authority tenants on Noonans Road, St Finbarrs Road, Fort Street and Dean Street have received letters telling them members of the housing directorate intend to visit their homes in the coming weeks to discuss any concerns you may have regarding your accommodation. The Echo has, over the past month, highlighted shocking living conditions in the 60-year-old flat complexes, and council tenants have spoken about living in dilapidated and dangerous buildings which are prone to leaks, damp, black mould and rodent infestation. William O'Brien, chairman of the Residents Association pictured with one of the walls affected by dampness in one of the houses along Noonan Road. Picture: Howard Crowdy Those council tenants complained of feeling abandoned and ignored by Cork City Council over years and sometimes decades, and following our coverage, the city council chief executive Ann Doherty visited two of the four flat complexes two weeks ago. During her visit to Noonans Road and St Finbarrs Road, Ms Doherty, who has been chief executive for nine years, said she was shocked at the living conditions endured by council tenants. Last week, The Echo published details from a leaked Cork City Council internal, draft, report on the Noonans Road and St Finbarrs Road flats. That report, dating from December 2022, found major structural defects in the Noonans Road and St Finbarrs Road flats, and recommended the complete demolition of the buildings. The draft report found: structural cracks in each of the apartment blocks, the connections anchoring the roofs to the masonry walls were described as insufficient; the connections between internal and external walls were insufficient; and a lack of mortar was found in the masonry of approximately half of the buildings. A tenant pointing out the mould and water damage from leaks in the bathroom in a flat at Noonan (Noonan's) Road, Cork, to Cllr Mick Finn (right) and William O'Brien. In his letter this week to Cork City South-Central LAC members, Mr O Donnabhain states that by way of background to current matters being discussed in the media, the council had engaged consultants to assess the buildings for a possible retrofit of the flats under the Department of Housings 2021 Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme (EERP). Mr O Donnabhain goes on to say that structural issues were identified with the buildings that would need resolution to facilitate an extensive retrofit programme. Saying that a draft internal report was prepared for internal discussion which summarised key findings and issues and outlined a possible preferred redevelopment option, Mr O Donnabhain says: As a follow-on to receipt of this report, it was determined that, while structural issues exist that would impact on the implementation of any retrofit programme, the buildings at Noonans Road, St Finbarrs Road, Fort Street and Dean Street are not unsafe. It is understood that the unpublished December 2022 report will inform a further report on the future of the flat complexes, a report which Ms Doherty told tenants two weeks ago would be published in September. According to Mr O Donnabhain: This report is currently being prepared and a comprehensive overview will be presented on opportunities and next steps to councillors and residents in the autumn. He further states: The concerns and issues of the tenants and homeowners in these complexes is our primary concern, adding that staff will visit each home and speak with each tenant. Staff will speak with and listen to residents and put in place a realistic and appropriate course of action to attend to repairs and works and determine peoples longer term housing preferences. At all times, staff will make it clear that any large-scale redevelopment will be subject to extensive consultation and engagement and government funding approval and will understandably take time to bring to fruition. Cllr Paudie Dineen seen with some of the exposed supports on one of the buildings along Noonan Road. Picture: Howard Crowdy Mr O Donnabhains letter concludes that matters at Noonans Road and the surrounding residential complexes are being given top priority by the city council, led by the housing directorate, with the full support of the chief executive, and the assistant chief executive. An opportunity exists now for all stakeholders involved to collaborate to ensure the best outcome possible for residents and the city. "This approach is essential in live and complex accommodation interventions. We will work together over the coming months to fully resolve this issue, Mr O Donnabhain states. 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. A vulcanoctopus (a small benthic octopus endemic to hydrothermal vents) is seen near muscles and tubeworms near Tica Vent on the East Pacific Rise 2,500 meters deep. Experiments testing the theory of species dispersal through cracks in the Earth's crust were performed in this area. ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute Scientists have discovered a new ecosystem beneath hydrothermal vents inside cavities of a well-explored undersea volcano. The volcano is located on the East Pacific Rise off the coast of Central America. An international team of scientists from Slovenia, Costa Rica, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States, led by Dr. Monika Bright, an ecologist at the University of Vienna, took a month-long expedition on board Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI)s Falkor (too) research vessel, a press release from SOI said. The research team used the ocean institutes underwater remotely operated vehicle SuBastian to turn over chunks of volcanic crust to find cave systems housing snails, worms and chemosynthetic bacteria thriving in water that was 75 degrees Fahrenheit. For the past 46 years, scientists have studied microbial life living in the subsurface, but had never searched for marine animals underneath the warm volcanic vents. The deeper you go, the warmer it goes, the less oxygen there is, the more toxic chemicals are in it, Bright said, as The New York Times reported. Its very shallow, but its still below the Earths crust. The team found evidence that tubeworms a foundational animal of hydrothermal vents and other vent animals travel through vent fluid beneath the seafloor to colonize new habitats, the press release said. Not many tubeworm offspring were found in water above the vents, which led the researchers to think they might travel under the surface to create new populations. Our understanding of animal life at deep-sea hydrothermal vents has greatly expanded with this discovery, Bright said in the press release. Two dynamic vent habitats exist. Vent animals above and below the surface thrive together in unison, depending on vent fluid from below and oxygen in the seawater from above. Hydrothermal vents flow like underwater hot springs through cracks made by tectonic activity. Ecosystems follow new hydrothermal vents, colonizing them within a few years. Scientists dont yet know how the larvae discover new vent fields. The team used the underwater robot to confirm that animals move through vent fluids. They did this by gluing mesh boxes on top of cracks in the crust. After several days, the boxes and crust were removed to reveal animals living underneath in hydrothermal cavities. On land we have long known of animals living in cavities underground, and in the ocean of animals living in sand and mud, but for the first time, scientists have looked for animals beneath hydrothermal vents, said Dr. Jyotika Virmani, executive director of SOI, in the press release. This truly remarkable discovery of a new ecosystem, hidden beneath another ecosystem, provides fresh evidence that life exists in incredible places. Schmidt Ocean Institute is proud to have provided a platform for Dr. Bright and her team to gather new insights into these systems that may be vulnerable to deep-sea mining. Los Angeles-based artist Max Hooper Schneider accompanied the research team on the expedition. Hooper Schneider made sculptures that were filmed on the vent systems, and will incorporate the artistic research into future exhibits. Lightless ecosystems of the deep ocean are imperative to understanding the extremophilic dawns of planet earth, Hooper Schneider said in the press release. Wendy Schmidt, president and co-founder of SOI, said the expeditions discoveries show how important it is to explore the oceans depths to understand what life exists there. The discovery of new creatures, landscapes, and now, an entirely new ecosystem underscores just how much we have yet to discover about our Ocean and how important it is to protect what we dont yet know or understand, Schmidt said in the press release. An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 students from India go abroad to pursue medicine every year. It is a known fact that getting into medical college is tough and even more so in India. More than eight lakh students appear for the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) every year, in competition for just over one lakh seats. Given the high demand and ruthless competition for medical education in India, many aspirants have thus set their sights set overseas to study medicine. Here are some of the best countries for Indian students to pursue MBBS: USA Already a popular overseas education destination among Indian students, the USA is also renowned for its medical education and research. The country boasts top-class medical education pedagogy and state-of-the-art technology and equipment to complement it. To top it off, medical programmes in the USA are seen as the world standard, and carry a lot of global recognition. The countrys campuses are enriched by a lively, academic-oriented and multicultural environment, which would greatly benefit Indian students. Top colleges: - Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Harvard Medical School - Johns Hopkins University - Stanford University - Columbia University Admission and course details - Medical education in the USA lasts for 11 years. - To be eligible for MBBS, students need first to do a pre-medical course, that is, a four-year Bachelor of Science degree with a pre-med track. Good marks intermediate marks, the required SAT or ACT score, and strong Statements of Purpose (SoPs) are important for undergraduate admission. - In the third or fourth year of their undergrad, they need to clear the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT). Students with a score of 510 and above have better chances of admission. - While pursuing MBBS, students must appear for the United States Medical Licencing Exam (USMLE), which takes place in three stages. Upon completing MBBS and clearing the USMLE, the students can pursue three-five years of residency. Philippines The Philippines have emerged as one of the most popular destinations for medical education among Indian students. The country offers US-based medical education, with the perfect blend of theory and practical knowledge. Medical degrees in The Philippines are also recognised internationally, by organisations like the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Federation for Medical Education (WFME), the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research (FAIMER), and even Indias National Medical Commission (NMC). To top it off, the cost of studying MBBS in The Philippines is much more affordable than in the USA, UK, or China making it even more attractive for Indian students. Also, Indian medical graduates from The Philippines have a high pass percentage in the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE). Top Colleges: - University of Perpetual Help - AMA School of Medicine - Our Lady of Fatima University - Emilio Aguinaldo College of Medicine - Lyceum Northwestern University Admission and course details: - Medical education in The Philippines lasts for six years, with one year in the course focusing on medical rotation. - To get into an MBBS programme in the country, English language proficiency tests like IELTS or TOEFL are not required. - Indian general category candidates need to score 50% above in their 10+2, and 40% if they are from the SC/ST/OBC categories. They should also be 17 years on December 31 in the admission year. In addition, the candidates should also clear the NEET exam. - The MBBS in The Philippines is a combination of a Bachelor of Surgery (BS), which is taught for the first 16 months of the course, and a Doctor of Medicine (MD), which is taught for the next four years. - As mentioned earlier, one year in the course entirely focuses on clinical rotations. Georgia Located between Europe and Asia, Georgia boasts a world-famous research infrastructure and good quality education, as evident by the countrys high literacy rate. Offering the best of European education, the country is famous for medical education, especially among Indian students. Medical degrees in Georgia are recognised by the World Health Organization and the Medical Council of India and are even compliant with the National Medical Commission (NMC) guidelines. They are also comparatively affordable for international students. In addition, students in the course get a hands-on, practical education from the first semester onwards. In addition, the country has well-connected public transportation and low crime rates, making it safe for foreign students. Top colleges: - Tbilisi Medical Academy - Georgian National University - Caucasus's International University - David Tvildiani Medical University - East European University Admission and course details: An MBBS degree in Georgia lasts up to six years, with five years of study and one year of internship. Similar to the Philippines, Indian general category candidates need to score 50% above in their 10+2 from a recognised board, and 40% if they are from the SC/ST/OBC categories, to be eligible to study in Georgia. They should also be a minimum of 17 years on December 31 in the admission year. In addition, the candidates should also clear the NEET exam, as not doing so would render them ineligible. Some universities in the country also ask for an English proficiency qualification like IELTS or TOEFL, but it is not common. Bangladesh Closer to home, Bangladesh is one of the best countries for Indian medical aspirants. Thousands of students from India go to Bangladesh every year to pursue MBBS, primarily because of their budget-friendly, WHO and NMC-recognised MBBS programmes, technologically advanced infrastructure, highly qualified teachers, practical-oriented pedagogy, global affiliations and comfortable living experiences. Top medical colleges in the country also have up to 20% reservations for Indian students, which incentivises them to pursue MBBS from Bangladesh. Moreover, the pass percentage of FMGE from Bangladesh is slightly higher than in the Philippines. Top colleges: - The University of Dhaka - Rajshahi University - Shahjalal University of Science and Technology - University of Chittagong - Gono Bishwabidyalay Admission and course details - The MBBS course in Bangladesh is six years long, including one year of internship. - Aspirants to Bangladeshs medical programmes must have scored an overall GPA of 7.0 in their Intermediate examination from a recognised board, along with a GPA of 4.0 in Biology. The candidate must be 17 years old by December 31 of the year of admission and must have cleared the NEET exam. Germany A lot has already been said about Germanys education system and its near-zero tuition fees. What a lot of students do not realise is that Germany has more benefits than low education costs and cheap travel especially if they want to study medicine. Medical institutes in Germany are among the top in the world and renowned for their education standards, state-of-the-art equipment, and vibrant campus atmosphere. The universities are recognised by WHO, UN, and NMC. Moreover, a German education opens up prospects not only in Germany but also across the European Union. A German MBBS degree is valid across the EU, and graduates can work across EU countries without restrictions. Top colleges: - Heidelberg University - Free University of Berlin - RWTH Aachen University - University of Hamburg - Technical University of Munich Admission and course details: - In Germany, the duration of the MBBS course is six years. This includes two years of pre-medical studies, three years of clinical studies, and one year of practical placement. - To be eligible for the MBBS course, candidates need to complete their 10+2 from a recognised board, with an overall percentage of 50% and above and have English as a compulsory subject. In addition, students are also expected to clear the NEET exam and produce an Eligibility Certificate from the NMC. - For courses taught in English, IELTS or TOEFL scores are mandatory. Proof of German Language Proficiency can also act as a bonus. Kyrgyzstan With some of the most affordable MBBS programmes in the world, Kyrgyzstan is slowly gaining traction among medical aspirants from India. The simple admission processes, world-class amenities, state-of-the-art infrastructure, healthy mix of education and co-curricular activities, and affordable living costs bring thousands of Indian students to the medical universities of Kyrgyzstan every year. Moreover, the countrys MBBS programmes are recognised around the world by organisations like NMC, FAIMER, and others. Top colleges: - Asian Medical Institute - Osh State University - Kyrgyz State Medical Academy - International School of Medicine - Naryn State University Admission and course details - The MBBS course in Kyrgyzstan is six years long. The first five years comprise theoretical and practical medical education, and the final year is dedicated to clinical training in the countrys hospitals. - Candidates need to have completed their 10+2 from a recognised board, with a minimum overall percentage of 50%. They must also have passed the NEET-UG examination, and be 17 years old by December 31 in the year of their admission. Since English is not widely spoken in Kyrgyzstan, IELTS or TOEFL marks are not required. US Swine Health Information Centre highlights challenges for Vietnam's ASF vaccines The US Swine Health Information Centre (SHIC) has highlighted the challenges for Vietnam's African swine fever (ASF) vaccines, the world's first commercially endorsed vaccines against ASF, which includes lack of a DIVA (differentiating infected from vaccinated animals), and the absence of an effective molecular surveillance system, Farm Journal's Pork reported. These vaccines, known as NAVET-ASFVAC by Navetco Central Veterinary Medicine Company and AVAC ASF LIVE by AVAC Vietnam Joint Stock Company, have earned official recognition from Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. According to sources confirmed by Vietnam's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, these vaccines are slated for purchase by Vietnamese farmers rather than being supplied by the government. The approximate cost per dose is set at around US$1.50. As highlighted in SHIC's monthly newsletter, the two vaccines exhibit distinct guidelines for administration based on piglet age and the duration of immunity. Both NAVETCO and AVAC JSC Vietnam, the companies behind the vaccines, collaborated with specialised agencies and other partners in meticulous testing before obtaining this pivotal approval. Phan Quang Minh, Deputy Director of Vietnam's Department of Animal Health, emphasised the encouraging outcomes of pilot vaccination, where 600,000 doses of ASF vaccine from NAVETCO and AVAC JSC Vietnam showcased positive results on a smaller scale. Despite this momentous stride, SHIC underscores that several formidable challenges persist in the road ahead for successful vaccine implementation. One significant hurdle revolves around the absence of a (DIVA) feature in both vaccines. This absence complicates the distinction between vaccinated animals and those afflicted by the virus, thereby posing a potential obstacle to effective disease management. Furthermore, the lack of a robust molecular surveillance system for tracking the circulation of both wild and vaccine-based ASF variants within the swine population constitutes a notable challenge. Effective surveillance is paramount for comprehending the virus's dynamics and the vaccines' efficacy. SHIC pointed out the pressing need for a sustainable strategy to document and assess the vaccines' real-world effectiveness. This entails the establishment of resilient reporting mechanisms that can collate precise data regarding the vaccine's status and outbreak incidents, ultimately facilitating a comprehensive evaluation of its impact on the target swine population. - Farm Journal's Pork Vietnam's Dabaco witnesses strong growth in Q2 2023 Vietnam's Dabaco (DBC) has achieved significant growth in its business performance, including revenue and profits, in the second quarter of 2023. The company recently announced its business results for the second quarter and first six months of 2023. The results revealed that two key factors include the selling price of pigs and feed input prices that held back Dabaco's profit last year have now been reversed. The price of live hogs recovered strongly in the second quarter, especially in May-June, an important basis for Dabaco to witness potentially better revenue and profit. Furthermore, the trend in hog prices was expected to continue to stay positive in the second half. Meanwhile, the price of animal feed had dropped dramatically. In the last six months of 2023, it expected that a downward trend in the prices of input materials, such as corn, soybean and wheat, could happen in the global commodity market. The falling prices of animal feed helps Dabaco reduce livestock costs, thereby increasing gross profit margin. Also, based on announcements from from animal feed producers and traders in Vietnam, from July 10, prices of all kinds of animal feed were expected to decrease from 100/kg to 400/kg (US$0.02). This would be the third price reduction in 2023. Dabaco previously sets its profit goal for 2023 at 569 billion (US$23.9 million). However, a first quarter loss of 320 billion has put much pressure on the remaining quarters of 2023. In the second quarter, Dabaco's profit surged to 326 billion (US$13.7 million). However, with this result, in the first six months of 2023, Dabaco only achieved 6 billion (US$252,000) profit out of the total 569 billion assigned by the General Meeting of Shareholders. Still, it had recently imported 630 pigs from France to supplement its herd of breeding pigs. - Nguoi Quan Sat Live pig prices fall again in Tay Ninh, Vietnam, following increase Vietnam's live pig prices have dropped significantly yet again in the provincial city of Tay Ninh following a period during which live pig prices increased by over 60,000/kg (US$2.52). According to some traders in Tay Ninh, in the period from mid-July to the first days of August, live hog prices continuously decreased due to supply from large farms and meat imported from Thailand. They also pointed out that demand for pork products decreased sharply due to economic difficulties and consumers cutting back on spending. Additionally, demand for pork consumption in industrial zones and 'collective kitchens' has decreased as companies reduce their workforce. As the year-end approaches, pork demand could increase, but pork prices might not follow suit, as large farms are gradually increasing their numbers. For over two years, feed prices have consistently increased, causing livestock farmers to face difficulties when the selling prices for various livestock plunged significantly. Quoc, an owner of a pig farm in Tan Chau district, said that raising a pig from birth to slaughter will cost about nine bags of mixed feed. Previously, the cost was about 2.9-3.2 million, including all expenses. The total cost of each pig at the time of slaughter is now about 3.8 million (US$159.60). However, with the currently high price of animal feed, the cost of each pig when released from the barn is actually more than 5.5 million/head (US$231), excluding wages and utility costs. According to some animal feed distributors in Tay Ninh, in the past two years, animal feed prices have increased 13 times, with each increasing from 200-350/kg (US$0.01-0.02). - Tay Ninh Online Philippines' farmers seek increased funding to safeguard livestock industries As the Philippines' Congress gears up to scrutinise the country's proposed 2024 budget allocations for agriculture, voices from the poultry and livestock sectors are echoing a call for heightened financial support to shield their industries from the escalating impact of extreme weather events, BusinessWorld reported. Agriculture has been allotted PHP 181.4 billion (~US$3.2 billion; PHP 10 = US$0.18) in the 2024 national budget proposal, marking a 4.5% increase from the previous year's budget. But industry stakeholders are emphasising the need for a more diversified approach, shifting away from a disproportionate focus on rice-centric funding. Elias Jose M Inciong, president of the United Broiler Raisers Association (UBRA), underscored the importance of channelling resources toward common service facilities for poultry and livestock. He also advocated for investments in critical infrastructure, such as storage facilities for yellow corn, an essential element of animal feed. Inciong said there is potential in exploring alternative carbohydrate sources beyond rice and delving into the utilisation of other grains and vegetables. Echoing this sentiment, Gregorio A San Diego, Jr, chairman of UBRA, said that it is important to bolster support for often overlooked crops like corn, tapioca, and tomatoes, recognizsng their significance in achieving agricultural diversity and resilience. The proposed budget allocations for key agricultural programmes in the Philippines indicate a PHP 30.87 billion allocation for the National Rice Programme, PHP 5.28 billion (~US$93 million) for corn, and PHP 1.94 billion (~US$34.5 million) for high-value crops under the 2024 National Expenditure Programme. Additionally, the budget earmarks PHP 10 billion (~US$177 million) for the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund, sourced from import tariffs as mandated by the Rice Tariffication Law. Considerable funding is allocated to enhance agricultural infrastructure, with PHP 17.27 billion (~US$307 million) dedicated to farm-to-market roads and PHP 31.18 billion (~US$554 million) for irrigation projects. But industry leaders said that safeguarding agricultural land, especially irrigated land, remains a paramount concern. Recognising the growing prominence of extreme weather patterns, Jayson H Cainglet, the executive director for Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura, highlighted the pressing need for an allocation targeting crop and livestock insurance, indemnity, and emergency funds. This financial buffer would help counterbalance the escalating farm losses triggered by the new normal of severe weather conditions. Raul Q. Montemayor, national manager of the Federation of Free Farmers, said that programme effectiveness should take precedence over budget utilisation. Montemayor stressed the importance of assessing the impact and outcomes of agricultural programmes in achieving their targets rather than relying solely on budget disbursement rates as the criterion for funding decisions. - BusinessWorld The following article discusses spoilers for Hegemony and Star Trek more generally. 1. Bloody hell. Ive repeatedly said that Strange New Worlds exudes a special sort of confidence this season. The cast and crew are working as a seamless whole, knowing that the conviction at which you sell is just as important as the quality of whats being sold. The team has raised their floor and ceiling in equal measure, and even the worst episode was bad because of what it said, not because of how it said it. Hegemony, is a finale that, aided by the early commission of season three, acts as one part victory lap and one part set up for what follows. 2. The powers that be at Paramount didnt signal ahead of time that this episode would end on a cliffhanger. In fact, Henry Alonso Myers screenplay is a brilliant feint, suggesting the episode will wrap up on a satisfactory, if brisk, ending before the rug pull in its final moment. Youd be forgiven for not noticing the different transporter energy when the survivors were beamed away on your first watch. Myers script and Maja Vrvilos direction is permeated with a low-level feeling of dread that suits the needs of both the Alien-esque horror and the raised-stakes of a finale. 3. Strange New Worlds has been smarter about setting up and paying off its threads than you might expect. Among the Lotus Eaters saw Ortegas feeling sidelined after getting bumped from an away team which forced her to accept her role as the ships pilot. Here, she finally gets her wish to go on a mission, but her initial enthusiasm is sapped when she realizes shes more or less out of her depth. Her scene with Dr. M'Benga, where she admits shes leaving the role of action hero to the captain, underscores this. The fact shes one of the crewmembers taken by the Gorn at the end adds a darker weight to her finally getting her wish granted. Michael Gibson/Paramount+ 4. Montgomery Scotts voice-only cameo in last seasons finale was a neat hat-tip to fans with a basic fluency for Star Trek. I guess it was just too tempting not to follow up on that this time, with Martin Quinn as the young engineer. Its gratifying to see an actual, Paisley-born Scot playing the role, and an amusing fact that hes the second actor after Simon Pegg who has paid their dues playing roles in various British comedy shows. If Quinn hangs around, I cant wait for Trek completionists to watch Limmys Show and Derry Girls to watch his early work, much like when I watched Brent Spiner on Cheers and Night Court. 5. I dont want to harp on about the limitations a prequel imposes, because we all know the score now. It may bend the edges of Treks established narrative but Strange New Worlds can never escape its eventual destination. Young Kirk, Young Spock, Young Uhura, Young Chapel, Young Scotty and Young Dr. MBenga will all be here, around and alive, to turn into their 1966 counterparts. You cant put any of those characters in jeopardy, or base your episode around asking that question, because we already know who is safe. Thats why the emotional beats of Spocks dramatic rescue of Chapel worked perfectly, but asking the question of her survival did not. The show was smart enough to only leave the issue lingering for the first act before we saw Chapel working to stay alive. (Notice she also gets to do an EVA in a proper spacesuit after her emergency leap in The Broken Circle.) But I can only speak as a fan so maybe it worked better for those mainstream viewers who have made Strange New Worlds one of the biggest shows on streaming TV. Michael Gibson/Paramount+ 6. Back in the 60s, Pike and Kirk were the same character with the serial numbers filed off, both drawn from the same template of rugged mid 60s masculinity. Two-fisted thinking men of action as comfortable on the back of a horse as they were quoting poetry or discussing naval history. This lack of distinction wasnt really an issue back then, or even now, until Strange New Worlds made the conscious decision to let Kirk lurk on the periphery of Pikes narrative. It meant the production team needed to retrofit Pike as different from his successor, helped by Anson Mounts gravitas and easy charm. And the first season finale made it clear that Pikes reluctance to shoot first and ask questions later was his tragic flaw. One that Kirk didnt have, which made him a better leader to take the Enterprise on its next set of missions. But Anson Mounts paternity leave and reduced shooting schedule meant there wasnt time to examine the fallout from A Quality of Mercy in any detail. After all, he now knows his desire to find a peaceful solution single-handedly started a war that wiped out the Federation. He also knows he has to remain true to his principles or else he could pollute the timeline and not be in the right place to save future Spocks life. The fact hes unable to make a decision in the cliffhanger is entirely congruent with the journey Pike has been on, but its clear the steps leading to this moment would have been explored far more had Mount been available. Hegemony, then, is the shows first real chance to look at how Pike has tried to grow into Kirks mold, despite how ill-fitting he finds it. In his first talk with Admiral April, he advocates a policy of shooting first, but not long after hes thinking about trying to find a peaceful solution. Its those two competing urges that paralyze Pike in the finale, knowing there are lives on the line whatever he does. But, again, you have to praise the production team for trusting the audience will keep up with what happened in the previous season. 7. Its not great that Strange New Worlds can only do so much to put clear water between Pike and Kirk. You cant make Pike look too old-fashioned or useless without alienating him from the audience, especially given his forthcoming ultimate sacrifice. But go too far the other way and you make Pike a dove in comparison with the more hawkish Kirk which, to me, feels like the wrong message to be sending. Michael Gibson/Paramount+ 8. Its hard to know how long Strange New Worlds will run for, or what the plans are for its future. You could easily argue it never needs to end so much as just swap out characters until youve rebuilt the 1966 ensemble. Every generation of Paramount executives harbors a desire to get a do-over on Kirk and Spock in the hope their name recognition alone will carry a series. But Im curious if thats something people would actually want? Im not sure I do, but then my dream would be an original series set in Treks present with no legacy characters at all. And I know thats something of a minority opinion compared to all those folks who want yet another run on the nostalgia treadmill set in the safety of Treks past. (If nothing else, at least Strange New Worlds has kept its fan service to a minimum and tried, as best as it can, to set out on its own path.) 9. At the end of my season one finale review, I wrote Whisper it, friends, but Strange New Worlds might actually be good? That was a fair line at the time, since the show took a while before clicking into a high gear. Since then, however, more or less every episode has improved upon the last to produce a second season with barely any weak notes. We dont need to whisper anything now, Strange New Worlds is the best live-action Trek of the streaming era. The Morning After: Which Samsung foldable should you buy? And be warned: Disney+ will soon crack down on account sharing. Samsungs newest foldables, the Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5 , have been put through their paces by Engadgets team of skilled reviewers. If youre wondering which of these two you should lay your cash down for, then weve got all the information you need. Cherlynn Low tested the Z Flip 5 , which she calls the best flip-foldable thanks to its newest innovation. The latest Flip has a 3.4-inch external display not the roomiest of screens, but one big enough for you to check your notifications and run key apps like Maps and WhatsApp. And as much as the design isnt dramatically different, its new hinge lets the device fold shut without a gap. If theres a downside, its that the battery life isnt great, and the settings menus are a bit fiddly fairly small objections if you want an excuse to jump into the foldable world. Sam Rutherfords time with the Z Fold 5 was slightly testier despite an improved hinge that lets the phone fold flat. And thats really the only really new feature on Samsungs most expensive handset. Sure, the screen is brighter, the battery is hardier and theres plenty of grunt under the hood, but these are table stakes for an ultra-flagship. Sam compared it to the S23 Ultra, which costs $600 less and has, at the very least, far superior photography so if youre not already sold on foldables, theres not enough here to woo you over. And, once youve read both reviews and made your decision, head over to this link to see a sweet deal thatll save you some cash. Dan Cooper You can get these reports delivered daily, direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! The biggest stories you might have missed The best tablets for 2023 Slack's latest redesign has a dedicated DM tab and a Discord-style Activity view Epic loses bid to make Apple change its App Store payment rules PlayStation 5 is doing better than even Sony expected 8BitDos latest Retro Receiver brings modern controller support to PS1 and PS2 Baldurs Gate 3 credits are missing a bunch of outsourced workers Patreon creators can now publish subscriber-only podcasts on Spotify The White House's AI Cyber Challenge aims to crowdsource national security solutions Wall Street banks fined $549 million for not backing up messaging app histories Indie favorite Papers, Please has sold 5 million copies Netflixs successful crackdown has inspired everyone else. CEO Bob Iger has announced the ad-free version of Disney+ will cost $13.99 a month from October 12. Its the second price increase on the streaming service in the last year, with the price bumped to $10.99 back in December. The price increase goes hand in hand with an announcement the House of Mouse will soon start cracking down on password sharing. Sigh. Continue Reading. Its equipped with GMs Ultium batteries. Cadillac Cadillacs first all-electric Escalade, the IQ, makes its debut in 2025 with the base model priced at $130,000. Equipped with GMs Ultium batteries, its makers promise a 450-mile range and support for 800-volt DC fast charging. Measuring 19 feet long, eight feet wide and standing more than six feet off the ground, its slightly longer than the long-wheelbase Escalade. All in all, its perfect for the eco-warrior who wants to feel good about driving to the bodega in an APC. Continue Reading. This insight from Duh magazine. Lyft CEO David Risher says the rideshare company is planning to do away with surge pricing . In an earnings call, the executive said Lyft now has such a good supply of drivers, the idea of tempting more to come work when prices rise is moot. That increase has apparently seen the number of surge pricing incidents fall by 35 percent, which Lyft is painting as a big win. Continue Reading. The company took too long to hand over data. Twitter has been fined $350,000 after failing to comply with an order from special counsel Jack Smith. Officials wanted access to Donald Trumps account, but Twitter fought the order, saying it had a duty to notify the account holder of the warrants existence. After going to court, a judge found in favor of the government, holding the platform in contempt after its refusal to comply until after a court-mandated deadline had passed. Continue Reading. This includes semiconductors, quantum computing and AI. President Biden signed an executive order to limit American investment in several sectors of Chinas technology industry . Its intended to address security concerns posed by cross-border flows of sensitive technologies, including semiconductors, quantum computing and AI. The White House said these technologies, if developed in a certain way, could pose a national security threat down the line. It added the rules are narrow enough to only target tech that could have security implications, rather than a blanket ban on everything under those umbrellas. New York City Mayor Eric Adams calls on the federal government to do more to assist asylum seekers after they enter the United States. "Murder Across the Ocean" is available in paperback or e-book. Murder Across the Ocean, an award-winning murder mystery by author Charlene Wexler, has been re-released by a new publisher, Speaking Volumes. In Murder Across the Ocean, seventy-something American Lori Brill thought she'd have a pleasant vacation in London visiting her granddaughter, Cate. Lori's trip started out even better than she could have imagined when she ran into Josh, her old high-school boyfriendresulting in an unexpected night of passion in a London hotel room. Lori was all smiles as she stepped out of the shower the next morninguntil she saw his bloody corpse lying in the bed where they had made love only a few short hours before. The case becomes more complicated when it is discovered that international ladies' man and real estate mogul Josh has swindled millions of dollars from hundreds of peoplea fact that broadens the case beyond the Scotland Yard team led by Inspector Geoffrey Holmes and brings in American FBI agent Jordan Gould. So who killed Josh? Was it British mobsters, led by the evil Roland McKeifer, who kidnap Lori in an attempt to find Josh's hidden millions? Was it Baron Braun, who summons Lori to Germany to tell her a 70-year-old secret? Was it someone whose money had been stolen or heart had been broken by Josh? Or was it someone else? Readers will find out in Murder Across the Ocean, which is available in both paperback and e-book formats from Speaking Volumes, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. Murder Across the Ocean won an Apex Award of Excellence from Communications Concepts. It is part of Speaking Volumes' "Laughter and Tears" series of Charlene Wexler's books. "I'm thrilled that Speaking Volumes has decided to publish Murder Across the Ocean," Wexler said. "Speaking Volumes is a great publisher and I know readers will enjoy the book." For more information, go to Charlene Wexler's website at www.charlenewexler.com/main/, or Speaking Volumes' website at https://speakingvolumes.mybigcommerce.com/murder-across-the-ocean-by-charlene-wexler-print/ Thursday, August 10, 2023 All Media Houses are invited to witness and cover the historic celebration of Democracy at the U.S. State Department on August 11, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. Washington, DC....August 10, 2023 "Sierra Leoneans for Democracy" a group of Sierra Leoneans residing in the United States of America want the people of America, and other Democratic Institutions in the United States to take cognizance of the democratic strides undertaken by the people of SierraLeone, deliberately aimed at instituting democratic values in all sectors since the Civil War ended. Sierra Leone lost over 50,000 people during the eleven years Civil War, and about 5,000 people were lost to the Ebola scourge. In the ashes of despair, a flicker of hope emerged in the leadership of His Excellency Rtd Brigadier Julius Maada Bio who has instituted remarkable reforms in the last five years. President Bio's administration has made gains in Human Capital Development (Free Quality Education) where he deliberately allocated 22% of the national budget. Those enrolled for public exams increased by 79% in five years, topping the list of girls completing primary and secondary education in West Africa. His radical inclusion of pregnant girls in the school system is a novelty. In Sierra Leone, three million children are now benefitting from free tuition, free core textbooks, and learning materials. As a result, Sierra Leone's Minister of Education was Awarded as the best Minister in the world. President Bio also improved Sierra Leone's Millenium Challenge Corporation scorecard from 46% to 90% in five years, reduced maternal mortality by 60% in five years, and rural electrification expanded significantly. Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Act was passed with a minimum of 30% female representation guaranteed. In his drive to assert freedom of expression in the country, President Bio expunged the Seditious Libel Law from the 1965 Public Order Act, which otherwise appeared draconian to media practice, and free speech. President Bio also removed the death penalty from the constitution of Sierra Leone. The June 24, 2023 multi-tier elections have been the most peaceful in all five post-conflict elections, and Sierra Leone is the third most peaceful nation in Africa, and 47 th most peaceful in the world according to the Global Peace Index. In these 2023 elections, the President and his SLPP party won the elections with 56.1%. His main challenger Dr. Samura Kamara got 46%. The opposition candidate Dr. Samura Kamara refused to accept defeat in the elections. His Political Party APC party resorted to violence, instructing his party's newly elected Members of Parliament not to participate in the governance of Sierra Leone. Sierra Leoneans are aware that the incumbent President won the elections democratically after a very rigorous campaign mounted by President Bio after delivering on the promise he made to the people in the 2018 elections that brought the President to power. He campaigned in the 2023 elections on the Five Game Changers Food Security, Human Capital with a strong focus on skills development, including digital skills, and the Youth Employment Scheme with the promise of 500,000 jobs in five years. Section 54 of the Public Elections Act 2022 makes provision for challenging the validity of Presidential elections by filing a petition to the Sierra Leone Supreme Court within 7 days of the declaration of results. The main challenger Dr. Samura Kamara chose not to go to court, which implies that they do not have any evidence of illegality. The Electoral Commission Sierra Leone (ECSL) is the only institution mandated by the laws of Sierra Leone to validate election results. And it is mandated to accredit Election Observers, both local and international to observe the conduct of elections. Most election observers like ECOWAS, and other Civil Society Organizations accredited to observe the June 24 th elections have given a clean bid of victory to the incumbent President, while the European Union Observer Team, Carter Center, National Democratic Institute, and NEW (National Elections Watch) a local observer team, were critical with the pattern of tallying election results in Sierra Leone. National Democratic Institute - USA has acknowledged that the incumbent President Rtd Brigadier Julius Maada Bio was in the lead, but that the tallying system was faulty, and has asked for a disaggregated result based on polling station by polling station. Based on the above information, 'Sierra Leoneans for Democracy' are determined to come out in their numbers on August 11 th to educate the American populace and other institutions that they (Sierra Leoneans for Democracy in the United States) stand with the principles of sovereignty, capitalizing on the fact that the June 24 th, 2023 elections were conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner, and that the people of Sierra Leone peacefully participated in the elections to choose their leaders. The June 24, 2023 elections should not threaten the existence of peace in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leoneans want Carter Center and NDI to listen to the other side of the story, which they think is the truth, instead of a lobbyist hired by ill-minded politicians from the opposition to blackmail the country. Sierra Leone has come a long way, and the only necessary path for the people and the country is to choose peace over political disturbance. At the State Department, 'Sierra Leoneans for Democracy' will present a document (Fact Sheet) explaining the issues surrounding the conduct of the June 24 th , 2023 elections, and the recalcitrant nature of the main opposition APC party in the country. The Group will present a chronology of violent events perpetrated by the opposition APC, with video evidence inciting violence in the country, and their reliability on the international community to change the narrative of the election results in Sierra Leone in their favor. The opposition APC did not mount a rigorous campaign as the SLPP during the elections, and most people thought it was because they did not a positive message for the electorates. All electoral laws were followed and exercised or, otherwise ratified by the Parliament of Sierra Leone. "Sierra Leoneans for Democracy" are imploring that the United States and other Western Governments must rise above the intrigues of the opposition All Peoples Congress party in Sierra Leone and stand by the duly re-elected President to consolidate the gains made and accelerate transformation. At the inauguration of the 6 th Parliament on the 6 th of August, 2023, President Retired Brigadier Julius Maada Bio announced the setting up of an Electoral Reform Commission to be headed by Vice President, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh for reforms in the Elections Commission of Sierra Leone, encouraging the opposition to work together with the government in the interest of peace and development. All Media Houses are invited to witness and cover the historic celebration of Democracy at the US State Department on the 11 th of August 2023 at 10 AM by Sierra Leoneans from across the United States. For more info Contact; Mr. Pel Koroma 240 645 8380 or Mr. Ibrahim Fofanah 614 596 6323. UPDATE, AUG. 18: The Bruce Fire crossed Stony Creek and has burned across the face of Stony Hill and is now established in the head of the Tin Creek. According to the Forest Service, the Bruce Fire is estimated to have grown 1,500 acres since Aug. 16. Defensive firing operations were conducted to improve point protection between the Bruce Fire and the Stony Communications Site. These firing operations reduced the available fuels between the active fire edge and communication site, reducing the speed of fire growth as it approaches the site. Notable growth has been seen on the southeastern flanks of the Sullivan Fire and the Bruce Fire. UPDATE, AUG. 17: Fires burning in the Tin Soldier Complex have burned a total estimated 3,361 acres. Containment on the fires remains at 0%. Hot and dry weather in the fire areas is expected to increase fire behavior across the complex. The Bruce and Sullivan fires were active on Wednesday, with the most notable growth on the southeastern flanks of the fires. An update from the Flathead Interagency Type 3 Team says the Sullivan Fire, formerly the Kah Mountain and Sullivan Fires, moved toward the head of the Soldier Creek Drainage. The Bruce Fire crossed Stony Creek near the mouth of the creek and has burned across the face of Stony Hill and has also established in the head of Tin Creek to the north. Thursdays actions include ongoing structure protection efforts for the commercial guest ranches, Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound, Heinrude residential community, and other infrastructure in the area. Crews will continue daily testing and pre-treatment with the sprinkler systems and water pumps for identified values at risk and conducting additional firing operations as necessary. UPDATE, AUG. 16: The Kah Mountain and Sullivan fires have merged, and will now be known as the Sullivan Fire. As of Wednesday morning, the Tin Soldier Complex is estimated to be 2,880 acres large and is 0% contained. Fire behavior is expected to increase across the complex in the coming days as hot and dry weather is projected. Wednesdays actions will include ongoing structure protection efforts for the commercial guest ranches, Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound, Heinrude residential community, and other infrastructure in the area. Crews will continue fuels reduction, slash removal, structure prep, and daily testing of the sprinkler systems and water pumps for all values at risk. Mechanical equipment finished the fuel break to the north, south and west side of FS Road #895 adjacent to the Heinrude community. Structure protection for Spotted Bear Lookout is complete. UPDATE, AUG. 13: An infrared flight found the total acreage of the fires burning in the Tin Soldier Complex to have grown 62 acres over the last few days. Acres burned as of the morning of Sunday, Aug. 13: Bruce Fire 1,002 acres at 0% containment Kah Mtn Fire 451 acres at 0% containment Sullivan Fire 1,241 acres at 0% containment A warming and drying trend is expected to begin Monday, with Wednesday being likely to bring critical fire weather conditions. Sundays actions will include ongoing structure protection efforts for the Spotted Bear Ranch, Diamond R Ranch, Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound, and the Heinrude residential community. Mechanical equipment finished the fuel break to the north and south of the Heinrude community and is continuing to establish a fuel break on the west side of FS Road #895. A crew is working to complete wrapping the Spotted Bear Lookout Sunday. UPDATE, AUG. 12: As of Saturday morning, the fires burning in the Tin Soldier Complex are estimated at 2,632 acres in size and are 0% contained. Acres burned: Bruce Fire 993 acres at 0% containment Kah Mtn Fire 430 acres at 0% containment Sullivan Fire 1,209 acres at 0% containment Ongoing structure protection efforts are planned for the Spotted Bear Ranch, Diamond R Ranch, Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound, and the Heinrude residential community Saturday. The Flathead Interagency Type 3 Team says mechanical equipment will finish the fuel break to the south, continue establishing the fuel break to the north and start establishing a fuel break on the west side of the FS Road #895 in the area around the community. Additionally, fire personnel have finished laying in hose line and sprinklers around structures within the Heinrude community. A crew will resume work to wrap the Spotted Bear Lookout. UPDATE, AUG. 11: Structure protection efforts against fires burning in the Tin Soldier Complex will continue Friday. Fire personnel have finished laying in hose line and sprinklers around structures within the Heinrude community, according to an update from the Flathead Interagency Type 3 Team. A crew will resume work to wrap the Spotted Bear Lookout. The following restrictions and closures are in place: Stage 2 fire restrictions are in effect as of August 5th. An area closure is in effect for the Hungry Horse Reservoir, the front country of the Spotted Bear district as well the Gorge Creek drainage within the Bob Marshall Wilderness area, including Feather, Inspiration, Gorge, Canyon Trickle, and Stadium Creeks. A Temporary Flight Restriction is in place for air space over the Tin Soldier Complex to provide a safe environment for firefighting aircraft operating in the area. This includes the Spotted Bear and Meadow Creek Airstrips. UPDATE, AUG. 10: No containment has been made on the Tin Soldier Complex. An update from the Flathead Interagency Type 3 Team says planned actions for Thursday include ongoing structure protection efforts for the Spotted Bear Ranch, Diamond R Ranch, Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound, and the Heinrude residential community. Mechanical equipment continues to establish a fuel break to the south and re-establish fuel breaks to the north end in the area around the community. Additionally, fire personnel continue to lay hose line and sprinklers around structures within the Heinrude community. A crew will resume work to wrap the Spotted Bear Lookout. UPDATE, AUG. 9: Work continues to manage the Bruce, Kah and Sullivan fires with point source protection to protect nearby structures. Additional personnel from the Spotted Bear District are on loan and assisting with fire related operations, according to the Flathead Interagency Type 3 Team. Priority will be given for initial attack if any other fires on the Spotted Bear District are detected. Fire personnel continue structure protection efforts for the Spotted Bear Ranch, Diamond R Ranch and the Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound. Structure protection efforts for the Heinrude residential community began yesterday and will continue into today. Mechanical equipment was utilized to start establishing a fuel break to the south and reestablishing fuel breaks the north ending the area around the community. Additionally, fire personnel began laying hose line and sprinklers around structures within the Heinrude community. Those efforts will continue into Wednesday. A crew will be flown to Spotted Bear Lookout today to start wrapping the lookout. UPDATE, AUG. 8: The Tin Soldier Compex is sitting at 2,631 acres burned with 0% containment. Right now, Hungry Horse Reservoir will be closed as well as all National Forest System lands in the area of FS Road #38 and FS Road #895. Fire activity Monday was minimal between the 3 fires. An IR flight detected an increase of 51 acres of growth across all three fires with Kah Mountain and Sullivan being the most active. Current Acres burned as of the morning of Tuesday, August 8: Bruce Fire 993 acres at 0% containment Kah Mtn Fire 407 acres at 0% containment Sullivan Fire 1,208 acres at 0% containment Con Kelly Fire 0.25 acres Out. The Bruce, Kah and Sullivan fires are being managed with point source protection to protect values at risk. Values at risk include Stony Communications Site, hydro-electric plant, Heinrude residential community, commercial guest ranches and the Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound. Todays plan of action is fire personnel are continuing structure protection efforts for the Spotted Bear Ranch, Diamond R Ranch and the Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound. Fire personnel have developed a structure plan for the Heinrude residential community; the plan for today will focus on reducing fuels with mechanical equipment on the south end and reestablishing fuel breaks on the north end in the area around the community UPDATE, AUG. 7: An evacuation has been issued by the Flathead County Sheriff for Heinrude community. And to provide for public and firefighter safety, the East Side South Fork Road #38 is closed to public travel and the West Side South Fork Road #895 is closed to public travel near the 15 mile just past the Lid Creek Campground. The Tin Soldier fire is sitting at 2,580 acres and is currently 0% contained. Current Acres burned as of the morning of Monday, August 7 th . Bruce Fire 989 acres at 0% containment Kah Mtn Fire 407 acres at 0% containment Sullivan Fire 1,184 acres at 0% containment Con Kelly Fire 0.25 acres Out. Fire activity Sunday was moderated between the 3 fires and an IR flight was done last night and found an increase of 212 acres with growth on all three fires. Kah Mountain and Sullivan have been the most active out of the three. While the lower temperatures and higher relative humidity's have lessened fire activity for the time being, potential for fire activity is still high. The cooler weather we have been receiving is allowing firefighters to install additional structure protection around the values at place. There is a potential for increased fire activity in the future as temperatures and winds increase. The Bruce, Kah and Sullivan fires are being managed with point source protection to protect values at risk; values at risk include Stony Communications Site, hydro-electric plant, Heinrude residential community, commercial guest ranches and the Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound. Fire personnel have conducted initial assessments and preparations for structure protection in the above identified areas. UPDATE, AUG. 6: Fire activity between the three fires part of the Tin Soldier Complex was low Saturday. Updated acreage on the fire perimeters is expected to be updated later in the day on Sunday. According to the Flathead National Forest, the Bruce, Kah and Sullivan fires are being managed with point source protection to protect values at risk. Fire personnel are continuing structure protection efforts for the Spotted Bear Ranch, Diamond R Ranch and the Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound. A safety zone has been established on the Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound. Crews will continue installing hose line and sprinkler systems around the Spotted Bear Ranch, Diamond R Ranch and the Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound. Fire personnel are developing a structure plan for the Heinrude residential community. The Heinrude community is still under evacuation. The following restrictions and closures are in place: Stage2 fire restrictions are in effect as of August 5th. A road restriction is in effect for the East and West Side South Fork Roads. An area closure is in effect for the front country of the Spotted Bear district as well the Gorge Creek drainage within the Bob Marshall Wilderness area, including Feather, Inspiration, Gorge, Canyon Trickle, and Stadium Creeks. A Temporary Flight Restriction is in place for air space over the Tin Soldier Complex to provide a safe environment for firefighting aircraft operating in the area.This includes the Spotted Bear and Meadow Creek Airstrips! Remember that temporary flight restrictions also apply to UAS or drones. If you fly, we cant! UPDATE, AUG. 5: The three fires still burning in the Tin Soldier Complex include the Bruce Frie, the Kah Mtn Fire and Sullivan Fire. There was no updated acreage provided as there was no infrared flight over the fires Friday night. As of Saturday morning, the Heinrude community is still under evacuation by the Flathead County Sheriffs Office. Stage 2 fire restrictions went into effect Saturday, restricting campfires, smoking and more across parts of western Montana. A road restriction is in place for the East and West Side South Fork Roads, and an area closure is in effect for the front country of the Spotted Bear district as well as the Gorge Creek drainage with the Bob Marshall Wilderness area, including Feather, Inspiration, Gorge, Canyon Trickle and Stadium Creeks. According to the Flathead Interagency Type 3 Team, the following actions are planned for Saturday: A masticator and heavy equipment task force are utilized to establish a fuel break around the Wilderness Lodgeand the hydro-electric facility. A hoseline has been laid along the established fuel break and sprinklers have been set up around the Wilderness Lodge.Exposed wood on the hydro-electric facility was wrapped and sprinklers were installed along Addition Bridge. Fire personnel have started structure protection efforts for the Spotted Bear Ranch, Diamond R Ranch and the Spotted Bear Ranger Station compounds that will continue into today. A safety zone is being established on the Spotted Bear Ranger Station compounds that should be completed today. Crews will continue to work on improving previous fuel breaks and installing hose line and sprinkler systems around the Spotted Bear Ranch, Diamond R Ranch and the Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound. UPDATE, AUG. 4: Fires in the Tin Soldier complex have grown to a total of 2,368 acres. As of Friday morning, the following is the current acres burned by each fire: Bruce Fire 977 acres at 0% containment Kah Mtn Fire 304 acres at 0% containment Sullivan Fire 1,087acres at 0% containment Con Kelly Fire 0.25 acres Out Fire growth Thursday was reportedly moderate between the three active fires. The call was made that the Con Kelly Fire is out as of Thursday morning. The Stony Communications Site, hydro-electric plant, Heinrude residential community, commercial guest ranches and the Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound are still at risk from the other fires. According to the Flathead Interagency Type 3 Team, the following are planned actions against the fires Friday: A masticator and heavy equipment task force are utilized to establish a fuel break around the Wilderness Lodge and the hydro-electric facility. A hoseline has been laid along the established fuel break and sprinklers have been set up around the Wilderness Lodge. Exposed wood on the hydro-electric facility was wrapped yesterday and sprinklers were installed along Addition Bridge. Fire personnel have started initial structure protection efforts for the Spotted Bear Ranch, Diamond R Ranch and the Spotted Bear Ranger Station compounds that will continue into today. A safety zone is being established on the Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound. Crews continue to work on improving previous fuel breaks around the Spotted Bear Ranch, Diamond R Ranch and the Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound. Additional planned activities for today will include installing hose line and sprinkler systems at these facilities. UPDATE, AUG. 3: Due to the Tin Soldier Complex of fires, the West Side South Fork Road #895 will be closed to public travel at the 42 mile mark and the East Side South Fork Road #38 will be closed to public travel at the 37.5 mile mark. Four fires burning around 2,061 acres make up the Tin Soldier Complex, which is burning on the Spotted Bear Ranger District of the Flathead National Forests. As of Thursday morning, the following is the current acres burned by each fire: Bruce Fire 889 acres at 0% containment Kah Mtn Fire 257 acres at 0% containment Sullivan Fire 914 acres at 0% containment Con Kelly Fire 0.25 acres Contained and controlled The Bruce, Kah and Sullivan fires are being managed with point source protection to protect values at risk, which includes the Stony Communications Site, hydro-electric plant, Heinrude residential community, commercial guest ranches and the Spotted Bear Ranger Station compound. The Heinrude Community has been issued an evacuation by the Flathead County Sheriffs Office. Stage 1 fire restrictions are in effect, with Stage 2 restrictions taking effect Aug. 5. A road restriction is in effect for the East andWest Side South Fork Roads. A closure is effective for the front country of the Spotted Bear district. Temporary Flight Restrictions are in place for air space over the Tin Soldier Complex to provide a safe environment for firefighting aircraft operating in the area. People are being reminded that temporary flight restrictions also apply to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or drones. The following is a Facebook post by the Flathead National Forest: There have now been 17 fires reported since the dry lightning storm between July 29 and July 30. The Kah Mountain and Bruce fires on the Spotted Bear Ranger District are being combined with two smaller starts into the Tin Soldier Complex. A Type 3 Incident Management Team will take command of the Tin Soldier Complex, cumulatively estimated at 80-100 acres. Spotted Bear Ranger District has seven reported fires at this time. Alcove and Stadium Creek Fires are in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. The 0.5-acre Elam Fire is along the West Side Road on the Hungry Horse Reservoir and firefighters have constructed containment lines around the perimeter. The Hungry Horse-Glacier View Ranger District has nine reported fires, one of which is in controlled and two are now contained, including the 0.10-acre fire near Lion Lake reported this morning July 31. - The Logan Fire is contained and is approximately 0.10 acre, located in timber with an active timber sale to the south. Aerial resources delivered buckets of water this morning, slowing the fire spread in support of the firefighters who successfully constructed containment line around the fire. - The Doris Point Fire is estimated at 0.5 acre and is burning on 80-90% slope in thick timber and vegetation with prevalent large-diameter dead trees. Fire personnel were able to approach the fire on Sunday but the risk to firefighter safety is very high due to the fires location. Fire personnel are working to evaluate opportunities and suppression plans that prioritize safety and probability of success. - The Ridge Fire is estimated at 20-30 acres, actively backing down towards Embry drainage in mature timber with high quantities of both dead and down trees and standing dead snags. This is a full suppression fire and fire personnel are assessing control features, utilizing old logging roads. Heavy equipment has been ordered to support firefighting efforts. - The Abbot Fire is a single tree snag burning less than half a mile from the Ridge Fire and has been incorporated into the Ridge Fire response strategy. - The Emery Fire is estimated at 0.10 south of the ridge fire and is successfully controlled. Stage 1 Fire Restrictions are in place and there are currently no fire-related area or road closures on the Flathead National Forest. PHILADELPHIA During a visit to a Lancaster County dairy farm, EPA Mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Adam Ortiz and U.S. Senator Bob Casey joined Pennsylvania environmental leaders, Chesapeake Bay partners and local farmers to announce $14.3 million in grants directed to Pennsylvania through EPAs Chesapeake Bay Program. Using funding provided by the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Most Effective Basins program will receive $23 million this year, a $15 million increase from its $8 million annual allocation. In a concerted effort to deliver these dollars to areas that will have the greatest impact on downstream water quality, 60% of this years funding will go directly to Pennsylvania to connect farmers with the financial resources they need to implement conservation practices that benefit farms, local streams and the Chesapeake Bay. The Most Effective Basins grant program provides funds to states in river basins throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed with excess nitrogen loads. The funds are used to install best practices such as forest buffers, manure storage and fencing to reduce agricultural runoff from entering nearby streams. During the event, officials also highlighted new means to deliver funds to grantees more efficiently. EPA is working with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to direct at least $3 million of the Most Effective Basins program funding to a block grant that will deliver conservation funding to farmers more quickly. An additional $4 million will go to the state Department of Agriculture and State Conservation Commission to support the work of the Conservation Districts. More information on the Chesapeake Bay Programs water quality goals can be found online at epa.gov/chesapeake-bay-tmdl/chesapeake-bay-tmdl-fact-sheet. HARRISBURG, Pa. Several conservationists were recognized during the awards luncheon at the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts annual conference July 19. The 2023 Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts honorees are as follows: Legislator Leadership Award, presented to legislators recognized for their outstanding efforts to further the activities and accomplishments of the states conservation districts or Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts on a statewide basis. Senator Scott Martin was nominated by the Lancaster County Conservation District. As Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Martin is a strong advocate for conservation efforts across the state. Senator Martin worked to enact the legislation that created the new statewide Agricultural Conservation Assistance Program which represents a $154 million investment to help improve water quality and soil health. Senator Martin was also instrumental in providing additional funding to conservation districts for their operational needs through the state budget process. Presidents Award, selected by the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts executive board president, this award is given, at the discretion of the president, to an individual, organization, or agency in recognition of their outstanding efforts that have resulted in furthering the accomplishments of the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts. This year, President Kelly Stagen selected Tarara Peffer and Piper Sherburne to receive the award. Peffer, the environment and ecology curriculum advisor at the PA Department of Education, was recognized for being a champion of science, especially as the association navigated the changes to the science curriculum standards for Pennsylvania. She has also been a great support person to conservation districts statewide for innovative information and resources, many of which have been highlighted through the associations education and outreach committee. Sherburne is the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts southeast region director and chair of the Berks County Conservation District board. Sherburne is being recognized for her tireless and valiant efforts to eradicate the spotted lanternfly in Pennsylvania. She is known locally, statewide and nationally for her knowledge and input regarding this invasive pest. She is a formidable voice to stop invasives across the commonwealth. Ann Rudd Saxman Conservation District Director Excellence Award, given to a conservation district director or associate director for their outstanding volunteer efforts, which have furthered the activities and accomplishments of conservation districts on a statewide basis. Thomas Boldin served on the Centre County Conservation District Board continuously since at least 1971. He entered farming at an early age, having grown up on a dairy farm and later making the transition to owning his own farm. In his 50+ years of service to the district, Boldin has served as chairman, vice chairman and has also served on various committees. In the early days, Boldin even assisted with the daily operations of the district in the absence of a manager. Conservation District Employee Excellence Award, given to a conservation district employee for their outstanding efforts that have furthered the activities and accomplishments of conservation districts on a statewide basis. Michele Long (Pike County) has been with the district for 20 years serving in multiple roles. She is a state leader, respected and listened to by her fellow managers and employees throughout the state. She currently serves as chair for the northeast region managers meetings and statewide breakfasts and helps lead the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts managers meetings that take place virtually every month. She is always ready to offer support and assistance to other managers, both old and new, and took a lead role in working with other managers to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Conservation District Trash Champion. Conservation districts were challenged to compete to see who could collect the most trash during the months of April and May. The Washington County Conservation District collected 15.6 tons of trash and 746 tires. The Washington County Conservation District has won this award three years in a row. Conservation District Employee Service Recognition Awards, recognize conservation district employees for their years of dedication to conserving Pennsylvanias natural resources. Those receiving the 30 Years of Service award include Russell Ryan, the resource conservation supervisor of Adams County, and Bill Zavislak, the Chesapeake Bay engineering assistant of Lackawanna County. Those receiving the 35 Years of Service award include Tim Matechak, a retired erosion and sedimentation technician for Lackawanna County, and James Pillsbury, a hydraulic engineer for Westmoreland County. Those receiving the 45 Years of Service award include Barry Travelpiece, a retired engineer for Columbia County. For more information about the work of the states 66 conservation districts, visit pacd.org. You can also follow Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts on Facebook at facebook.com/PAConservation. UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Monitoring dairy calves with precision technologies based on the internet of things, or IoT, leads to the earlier diagnosis of calf-killing bovine respiratory disease, according to a new study. The novel approach a result of crosscutting collaboration by a team of researchers from Penn State, the University of Kentucky and the University of Vermont will offer dairy producers an opportunity to improve the economies of their farms, according to researchers. This is not your grandfathers dairy farming strategy, notes lead researcher Melissa Cantor, assistant professor of precision dairy science at Penn States College of Agricultural Sciences. Cantor noted that new technology is becoming increasingly affordable, offering farmers opportunities to detect animal health problems soon enough to intervene, saving the calves and the investment they represent. Data collectors IoT refers to embedded devices equipped with sensors, processing and communication abilities, software, and other technologies to connect and exchange data with other devices over the internet. In this study, Cantor explained, IoT technologies such as wearable sensors and automatic feeders were used to closely watch and analyze the condition of calves. Such IoT devices generate a huge amount of data by closely monitoring the cows behavior. To make such data easier to interpret, and provide clues to calf health problems, the researchers adopted machine learning a branch of artificial intelligence that learns the hidden patterns in the data to discriminate between sick and healthy calves, given the input from the IoT devices. We put leg bands on the calves, which record activity behavior data in dairy cattle, such as the number of steps and lying time, Cantor said. And we used automatic feeders, which dispense milk and grain and record feeding behaviors, such as the number of visits and liters of consumed milk. Information from those sources signaled when a calfs condition was on the verge of deteriorating. Bovine respiratory disease is an infection of the respiratory tract that is the leading reason for antimicrobial use in dairy calves and represents 22% of calf mortalities. The costs and effects of the ailment can severely damage a farms economy since raising dairy calves is one of the largest economic investments. Study results In the study, data was collected from 159 dairy calves using precision livestock technologies and by researchers who performed daily physical health exams on the calves at the University of Kentucky. Researchers recorded both automatic data-collection results and manual data-collection results and compared the two. In findings recently published in IEEE Access, a peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the researchers reported that the proposed approach is able to identify calves that developed bovine respiratory disease sooner. Numerically, the system achieved an accuracy of 88% for labeling sick and healthy calves. Seventy percent of sick calves were predicted four days prior to diagnosis, and 80% of calves that developed a chronic case of the disease were detected within the first five days of sickness. We were really surprised to find out that the relationship with the behavioral changes in those animals was very different than animals that got better with one treatment, she said. And nobody had ever looked at that before. We came up with the concept that if these animals actually behave differently, then theres probably a chance that IoT technologies empowered with machine learning inference techniques could actually identify them sooner before anybody can with the naked eye. That offers producers options. Contributing to the research were Enrico Casella, Department of Animal and Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Melissa Cantor, Department of Animal Science, Penn State University; Megan Woodrum Setser, Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Kentucky; Simone Silvestri, Department of Computer Science, University of Kentucky; and Joao Costa, Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Vermont. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Science Foundation. BROWNSVILLE, Pa. Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding and Secretary of Aging Jason Kavulich visited the market at Dudas Farm in Brownsville, Fayette County, a participating partner in Pennsylvanias Farmers Market Nutrition Program, on Aug. 4. The program provides Pennsylvanias low-income seniors and families with vouchers to purchase fresh, local fruit and vegetables at farmers markets and farm stands statewide. For the many older Pennsylvanians living on fixed incomes, eating healthy shouldnt be an unaffordable luxury. With the ending of the extra SNAP benefit payments along with the high costs of food and other necessities, these farmers market vouchers help support older Pennsylvanians by providing them with access to fresh foods, and highlight the important link between local farmers and the communities they feed with the fruits of their labor, said Secretary of Aging Jason Kavulich. I encourage older adults to contact their local Area Agency on Aging to learn their eligibility for the vouchers or for any other assistance they may need to obtain them. From June through September each year, the WIC and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Programs provide low-income seniors and eligible participants in the WIC program with vouchers they can redeem through the end of November for Pennsylvania-grown fruit, vegetables and fresh-cut herbs from approved farm markets and farm stands across the state. Vouchers are distributed to participants through WIC clinics and for seniors through Area Agencies on Aging and county aging services partners. The value of vouchers redeemed through the FMNP program and dollars directly supporting Pennsylvania farmers who participate in the program is more than $3.5 million annually, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Earlier this year, the Shapiro administration announced a performance-based increase in funding for the Farmers Market Nutrition Programs, allowing the department to increase the total dollar amount from $24 to $50 for vouchers offered to eligible seniors and from $24 to $30 for eligible women and children. Those seeking to redeem vouchers or support farms that accept them can search for participating farm markets on the free PA FMNP Market Locator App. Pennsylvania farmers interested in participating in the Farmers Market Nutrition Program and being part of the solution to food insecurity in the community are encouraged to apply. Currently, there are more than 1,000 approved farmers across the state. Learn more about Pennsylvanias work to increase food security in Pennsylvania at agriculture.pa.gov/foodsecurity. Highly pathogenic bird flu has been confirmed in a small commercial flock of chickens in the Highlands. The Scottish government said the flock, consisting of 100 birds, tested positive for H5N1 at a farm near Lochcarron on Wednesday (9 August). A 3km Protection Zone and a 10km Surveillance Zone has been declared. This means movement restrictions within the zone for example, poultry, carcasses, eggs, used poultry litter and manure to prevent any further spread of disease. The Scottish government said vigilance by bird keepers was 'important', and any suspicion of disease must be 'immediately reported' to the local APHA Field Services office. Since late 2021, the UK and Europe has been experiencing one of the worst avian influenza outbreaks on record, with tens of millions of poultry culled. Earlier this year, four poultry workers in England contracted avian influenza after they came into contact with infected birds. Despite this, the government recently lifted the Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) for poultry and captive birds, introduced to help stop the spread of bird flu, as the risk of the disease was reduced to 'low'. New regulations are set to be laid before parliament which aim to stamp out rogue milk purchasing businesses from abusing their position and exploiting farmers. The Fair Dealing Obligations Regulations, announced in June, aim to promote fair business between milk producers and purchasers. The legislation seeks to bolster the good practice many milk purchasing businesses have developed and acted upon since the introduction of the Voluntary Dairy Code in 2012. The regulations are set to be laid before parliament following the summer recess and are expected to come into force within 24 months. The Farmers' Union of Wales (FUW) welcomed the development, as it would help stamp out "underhanded business decisions and contractual loopholes". However, the union said it may do little to improve financial stability within a volatile dairy industry where the price paid for milk was heavily influenced by both domestic and global markets. Brian Walters, FUW's Milk and Dairy Produce Committee Chair said: "This Statutory Instrument that will go some way in protecting dairy farmers from unfair practices. "Apprehensions remain on the scope of the regulations and how effective they will truly be in providing farmers with a fair price for their milk in light of rapidly changing and challenging markets." However, he said it was evident that further work was needed to improve the working relationship and promote the fair trading of milk along the entire dairy supply chain. Mr Walters said: Farmers need to understand their obligation to seek legal advice prior to accepting any milk purchase agreement and their rights to negotiate various details of the agreement, and to not accept the status quo of a given contract without thorough consideration." NFU dairy board chair Michael Oakes said the new regulations marked a significant step forward in the governments efforts to increase fairness and transparency in the dairy supply chain. "For a long time, unfair milk contracts have held British dairy businesses back, and these changes will give dairy farmers much needed business security and confidence, as well as helping to share risk along the dairy supply chain." The Northern Irish government says it aims to pay Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) entitlements in the first week of September 2023. The Department of Agriculture (DAERA) is working to release BPS payments to farmers across Northern Ireland in a matter of weeks. Responding, the Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) said it welcomed the news, as cash flow was 'extremely tight'. Farmers have faced significant financial pressure this summer with the added complexity of the weather and the wettest July on record. The UFU said this made BPS payments "more important than ever". The union's president David Brown said: "This news will be well received by our members and will provide a much-needed lift, mentally and financially. Now we urge DAERA to do all they can to ensure that the majority of farm businesses get paid during the first week of September as planned. "The BPS will be critical in helping to sustain farm businesses as they continue to produce high-quality food for consumers. Elsewhere in the UK, farmers in England saw BPS advance payments - 50% of the total amount - issued on 1 August. The remaining balance is expected to roll out from December, the Rural Payment Agency (RPA) recently confirmed. Donald Trump had to have briefing notes dumbed-down when he was US president. Donald Trump had to have his security briefings dumbed-down The controversial politician often brags of his "stable genius" but Miles Taylor - who served as chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security during his presidency - says he had to simplify national security reports so Trump could grasp what was going on. Taylor told podcast host Brett Meiselas: "This fifty-page memo that we would normally give to any other president about what his options are is something Trump literally can't read. The man doesn't read. We've gotta boil this down into a one-pager in his voice. "And so I had to write this incandescently stupid memo called something like, 'Afghanistan, How to Put America First and Win.' And then bullet by bullet, I summed up this highly classified memo into Trump's sort of bombastic language because it was the only way he was gonna understand." He continued: "I mean, I literally said in there, 'You know, if we leave Afghanistan too fast, the terrorists will call us losers. But if we wanna be seen as winners, we need to make sure the Afghan forces have the strength to push back against these criminals.' "I mean, it was that dumb and that's how you had to talk to him." Angelina Pivarnick called the police on her fiance over an alleged domestic violence incident. Angelina Pivarnick decided against pressing charges The 37-year-old reality star reported Vinny Tortorella to cops following the alleged incident at their home in New Jersey - but Angelina ultimately decided against pressing charges. James Leonard Jr, her attorney, told the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column: "I can confirm that Angelina did in fact call the police to her home. After speaking with the officers, Angelina decided not to file charges. "This matter is now closed. Moving forward, Angelina would ask for privacy as it pertains to her personal life." Vinny's attorney has also confirmed that the couple's relationship status hasn't changed. He said: "My client and Ms. Pivarnick are still engaged and are still residing together. "Mr. Tortorella denies any act of impropriety that would warrant police involvement and denies any act of domestic violence occurred. No charges have been pressed against my client by Ms. Pivarnick or law enforcement." Angelina and Vinny got engaged earlier this year, and the memorable moment was captured by the 'Jersey Shore' cameras. Vinny - who dropped to his knee to propose - told Angelina at the time: "I love you so much. A lot of things in life aren't guaranteed, but something that I've learned since I met you is loving you is gonna be guaranteed for the rest of my life. "If there's anything beyond life, I want us to love each other, do everything - good, bad, little, big - I'll always have your back [and] I know you'll have my back. "I want to grow old with you, I want to experience everything with you. I wouldn't want to experience it with anyone else - together, as one." Vinny then revealed an engagement ring and added: "My best friend, I love you so much and I just wanted to give you something. I love you, Ang, and I hope that you'll marry me." Martin Scorsese has hailed Robbie Robertson as a music giant. Martin Scorsese has hailed Robbie Robertson as a music giant The Goodfellas filmmaker, 80, spoke out about his devastation at the loss of The Band guitarist after his death aged 80 was announced on Wednesday by Robbies long-term manager. Scorsese who documented the final concert of The Band in his iconic The Last Waltz rockumentary, which is widely hailed as the best music documentary ever made, before going on to work with him on the soundtracks for his biggest movies said in a statement: Robbie Robertson was one of my closest friends, a constant in my life and my work. I could always go to him as a confidante. A collaborator. An advisor. I tried to be the same for him. Long before we ever met, his music played a central role in my life me and millions and millions of other people all over this world. The Bands music, and Robbies own later solo music, seemed to come from the deepest place at the heart of this continent, its traditions and tragedies and joys. It goes without saying that he was a giant, that his effect on the art form was profound and lasting. Theres never enough time with anyone you love. And I loved Robbie. Scorsese produced another documentary on The Band called Once Were Brothers in 2019. Among the directors films scored by Robbie were Raging Bull, Casino, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Irishman and The Color of Money. He was working on music when he died for the filmmakers upcoming film Killers of the Flower Moon starring Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, scheduled for release later this year. Robbies manager of 34 years Jared Levine announced his death by saying in a statement: Robbie was surrounded by his family at the time of his death, including his wife, Janet, his ex-wife, Dominique, her partner Nicholas, and his children Alexandra, Sebastian, Delphine and Delphines partner Kenny. He is also survived by his grandchildren Angelica, Donovan, Dominic, Gabriel and Seraphina. Instead of flowers, the guitarists family asked fans to make any donations they wished to the Six Nations of the Grand River to support a new Woodland Cultural Center. Sydney Sweeney has always wanted to be a young mum. Sydney Sweeney has always wanted to be a young mum The Euphoria actress, 25, who has been linked with her restauranteur fiance Jonathan Davino since 2018, said she has always dreamed of having children as early as possible in her life to have a balanced career and family life. She told Variety in her Power of Young Hollywood cover interview, conducted before the actors strike that is currently crippling Hollywood: I always wanted to be a young mom. I love acting, I love the business, I love producing, I love all of it. But whats the point if I'm not getting to share it with a family? But she added: The time will come, and Ill have four kids. And they will come with me everywhere and be my best friends. Sydney also said she would want to find a really healthy balance between her career and family life. She also admitted she was left feeling beat up by rumours she was having a fling with her Anyone but You co-star Glen Powell while engaged to Jonathan. The actress has put on a united front with her husband-to-be by stepping out in public with him after the rumours started to swirl she was having an affair with Top Gun: Maverick actor Glen. She told Variety about the chatter: Sometimes I feel beat up by it. Its hard to sit back and watch, and not be able to stand up for yourself. But Sydney insisted it hasnt impacted her friendship with Glen, 34, adding: Glen and I dont really care. We have so much fun together, and we respect each other so much; hes such a hard worker, and Im a hard worker. We talk all the time, like, Thats really funny. Sydney and Glen sparked romance rumours in March when they showed off their chemistry while shooting Anyone but You in Australia while both in serious relationships at the time. Glens now-ex girlfriend Gigi Paris, 31, unfollowed him and the actress on Instagram in April before posting the cryptic message: Know your worth and onto the next. A source told Page Six Glen and Gigi broke up amicably in April after three years of dating. Sydney and Jonathan have been engaged from at least March 2022 and in May they were spotted walking in New York on a date night. The same month she was seen wearing her engagement ring for the first time in nearly a year as she and Jonathan were in Cannes, France. The freedom of the road is heightened when you travel by yourself. Here are five fabulous solo travellers to inspire you More and more women are exploring solo travel today, and the travellers who journey alone speak of finding themselves as much as discovering the places they explore. Solo travel is about so much more than just the destination or even the journey; it is about discovering your own hidden strength, your innate independence. It will allow you to feel empowered and it will help you to grow immensely. Yes, there is comfort in travelling with others but there is also immense satisfaction in discovering what you can do on your own. Still, taking the first step to going it alone can take some doing. Our greatest inspiration is the women who have done it before us, and who enthuse about how amazing the freedom beyond boundaries that solo travel signifies can be. Here, five enthusiastic solo travellers tell us about their journeys. The important thing to remember is that they all started at some point, and never looked back. And you can too! Bangladesh will receive duty-free export facilities for 92 per cent of tariff line products, including readymade garments (RMG), in the UK market after graduating from the least developed country (LDC) status in 2026, according to Mohammad Abdur Rahim Khan, additional secretary (export) in the Bangladesh commerce ministry. Khan led his countrys delegation at a recent meeting in Dhaka of the joint working group formed for the expansion of UK-Bangladesh bilateral trade and investment. Bangladesh will receive duty-free export facilities for 92 per cent of tariff line products, including garments, in the United Kingdom market after graduating from the least developed country (LCD) status in 2026. At a recent bilateral meeting, however, Dhaka pushed for continuing GSP benefits for six years instead of three following the graduation. The United Kingdom will continue offering Bangladesh different facilities under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) for three years as a transition period after LDC graduation. However, Dhaka proposed at the meeting that the United Kingdom continue the GSP benefits for six years following LDC graduation. The UK delegation replied that it will discuss the matter on their side, according to a report in a Bangladesh news outlet. Bangladesh's merchandise exports to the UKthe third largest export destination of the countrypeaked at $5.3 billion in fiscal 2022-23, up from $4.8 billion in the previous fiscal, and double the figure from a decade ago when it stood at $2.7 billion, according to commerce ministry data. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS) Vithura Thankachan Accident Update: Two months after the shocking demise of Malayalam actor Kollam Sudhi, the South Indian film industry witnessed another shock as Malayalam actor-producer Vithura Thankachan suffered injuries in a car accident today (August 10). DETAILS ABOUT VITHURA THANKACHAN CAR ACCIDENT Vithura Thankachan, also known for appearing in Flowers TV's Star Magic, met with an accident today near Vithura. According to the ongoing reports, the Mimic actor's car crashed into the back of a JCB when he was on his way back after presenting the program. He sustained chest and neck injuries in the accident and was admitted to a private hospital. WHO IS VITHURA THANKACHAN? Vithura Thankachan is a renowned Indian film producer primarily active in the Malayalam film industry. He is also recognized as a singer, lyricist, and composer. Residing in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, he pursued his education at GHSS VITARA during his formative years. As per the information available on the internet, he later pursued higher studies at Kerala University, successfully graduating in 1990. His notable contributions encompass films like Golden Jubily (2011) and Kadha Thudarunnu (2010). The film Golden Jubily, directed by Sathyan Anthikkad, featured Jayaram and Mamta Mohandas in pivotal roles. Thankachan's interest in mimicry and singing manifested from an early age, ultimately securing him a significant place in the realm of Mollywood. A pivotal juncture in his career arrived when Mazhavil Manorama hosted a comedy festival, propelling him to new heights of popularity among television audiences. His presence on Flowers TV's comedic show Star Magic further captured viewers' attention, cementing his prominence. Here's hoping him to get well soon. Keep watching this space for more updates related to his health. Jailer Public Review: Superstar Rajinikanth's Jailer, directed by director Nelson Dilipkumar, has released successfully in theaters today morning and has made fans celebrate with joy. Diwai For Rajinikanth Fans Fans are already celebrating like Diwali in theaters as the early morning screenings have started abroad and in other states. Produced by Sun Pictures and directed by Nelson, Jailer stars Rajinikanth, Shiva Rajkumar, Mohanlal, Tamannaah, Jackie Shroff, Vasanth Ravi, Ramya Krishnan, Yogi Babu, Vinayak, VTV Ganesh, Sunil, Redin Kingsley, Rithu and many others. On Twitter, Director Seenu Ramasamy said, "It is the inspiring writings of the brave who believe in themselves that give the art world great success. I know Director Mr. Nelson Dilipkumar as such a man. Congratulations on the success of his Jailer movie." As the superstar's film Jailer is releasing worldwide today, Rajinikanth's fans and friends in Canada have danced to the Kaavaalaa song and the video is going viral on social media. Jailer film started at 6 am as a special screening in many states of India. A fan who watched the FDFS posted on his facebook page, "Undisputed Charismatic SUPERSTAR of Indian Cinema Arrives in his Style " Another fan said, "A typical slow paced Nelson's film with some high moments. Rajini - Ani chemistry. Work of an Interval " Hence Proved 'Thalaivar Nirandharam' Rajinikanth's Petta movie director Karthik Subbaraj, who is a die hard Thalaivar fan posted on his social media page, "Jailer Day.. Team Jigarthanda Double X wishes for a Sirapaana Tharamaana Blockbuster Success.. Nelson Dilpkumar, Sun Pictures, Anirudh & whole cast n crew." He also used hashtags Jailer FDFS and Thalaivar Nirandharam. "Super 1st half & Block buster 2nd half.. Overall Blockbuster Movie.. Anirudh bgm Vere level.. hukum hukum song.. Massive collection's loading.." says another Rajini fan after watching the film. Whereas many others are questioning him in the comment section that where did he watched the entire film within one hour of its release. By quickly surfacing accurate answers and insights from complex knowledge base documents, Agent Copilot significantly improves sales and service agent KPIs, with Got It AI's unique platform featuring anti-hallucination guardrails around a proprietary or open source LLM PALO ALTO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 9, 2023 / Gartner's Cool Vendor in 2022 for Conversational AI, Got It AI unveiled Agent Copilot, an innovative conversational AI solution to transform customer service and sales operations with guard-railed generative AI. Designed to empower agents with quick and accurate answers from complex knowledge sources such as insurance plans, financial products or manufacturer catalogs, Agent Copilot is poised to significantly enhance customer interactions and response times. Agent Copilot uses TruthChecker AI, a feature designed to catch and avoid inaccuracies in responses generated by Large Language Models (LLMs). ELMAR Architecture Diagram for Enterprise Large language Model ARchitecture Businesses can customize their Agent Copilot by choosing from a selection of LLMs including ChatGPT, GPT-4, LLaMA2, MosaicML, and FLAN-UL2. The choice of LLM can even be based on the business's specific knowledge base and the measured performance of the LLM against the documents in it. Agent Copilot can be configured with a variety of data sources including PDFs, web pages, documents, and presentations, enabling support of full multi-turn dialogs against the compiled knowledge base. Finally, for organizations with data privacy concerns, enterprise specific fine-tuned LLMs can be installed on-premises. Below are hallucination rates for an identical set of questions for the same set of documents for one of Got It AI's customers. OpenAI GPT-4, > 175 B, 8.39% OpenAI ChatGPT-3.5 Turbo, 175B or less, 13.99% Google Flan-UL2, 20B, 14.08% MosaicML, 30B, 30.07% Meta LLaMA-2, 13B, 36.76% Meta LLaMA-2, 70B, 25.45% Got It AI LLM, Less than 1B, 8.45% "Providing accurate information to the agent is crucial in customer service and sales operations. The risks associated with incorrect information are simply too high," said Peter Relan, Chairman of Got It AI. "With Agent Copilot, we offer businesses the opportunity to choose the most suitable LLM for their needs, including Got It AI's LLM, which matches GPT-4's in accuracy for the Agent Copilot task, ensuring the highest level of accuracy and efficiency in their customer interactions. Furthermore, with an additional guard rail called Got It AI's TruthChecker, hallucination rates of the base model can be decreased by 50% to 90% in responding to information Agent Copilot retrieves from a knowledge base. For our own LLM and OpenAI's LLMs, that level of fact checking leads to near human level accuracy." Agent Copilot is based on Got It AI's recommended future proof architecture, Enterprise Large language Model Architecture (or ELMAR), and is currently being piloted through an open beta program with several enterprises for Agent Assist use cases. It will become available in September 2023 for general availability with the following features: Knowledge Base connectors to custom data sources and documents (structured and semi-structured) including PDFs, Slide decks and Web pages to custom data sources and documents (structured and semi-structured) including Choice of LLMs: FLAN UL-2, LLaMA2, MosaicML, ChatGPT, GPT-4 TruthChecker AI fine tuned for detecting hallucinations in multi-turn responses in multi-turn responses Product UI or Microservice API for customer specific UIs for customer specific UIs Fluid conversational dialog with hallucination detection, mitigation & disambiguation & Active learning, caching & fine tuning to achieve highest accuracy to achieve highest accuracy On-prem deployment with Open Source LLMs Integration into other Agent, CX and CRM solutions Interested enterprises and partners should contact Got It AI at https://www.got-it.ai for further information. Contact Information: David Chu david@got-it.ai 408-221-2176 Peter Brooks peterjbrooks@msn.com 415-425-4225 Related Images ELMAR Architecture Diagram for Enterprise Large language Model ARchitecture Baseline hallucination rates SOURCE: Got It AI View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773400/Boost-CX-Sales-with-Got-It-AIs-Agent-Copilot--with-AI-Models-Including-LLaMA-2-MosaicML-Flan-UL2-and-ChatGPT-with-Hallucination-Guard-railed-Agent-Assist VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Calibre Mining Corp. (TSX: CXB; OTCQX: CXBMF) ("Calibre" or the "Company") announces financial and operating results for the three ("Q2 2023') and six months ("YTD 2023") ended June 30, 2023. Consolidated financial statements and management discussion and analysis can be found at www.sedarplus.ca (http://www.sedarplus.ca) and the Company's website, www.calibremining.com (http://www.calibremining.com). All figures are expressed in U.S. dollars. Q2 2023 Highlights Record gold sales of 69,009 ounces with $139.3 million total revenue, at an average realized gold price 1 of $1,974/oz; of $1,974/oz; Consolidated Total Cash Costs ("TCC") 1 of $977, and All-In Sustaining Costs ("AISC") 1 of $1,178 per ounce; of $977, and All-In Sustaining Costs ("AISC") of $1,178 per ounce; Record adjusted net income 2 of $33.6 million; $0.07 per basic share, a 133% increase over Q2 2022; of $33.6 million; $0.07 per basic share, a 133% increase over Q2 2022; Free cash flow of $15.9 million reflecting strong operating results 3 ; ; Cash on hand of $77.0 million, a 32% increase over Q1 2023; Delivered a fourth new open pit mine with ore deliveries from the Eastern Borosi mine to the Libertad mill (https://www.calibremining.com/news/calibre-commences-ore-deliveries-from-its-eastern-5496/); Initial drilling yielded high-grade results from the past producing Talavera deposit within the Limon Mine Complex, reaffirming the Company's overall resource expansion and discovery potential (https://www.calibremining.com/news/calibre-reports-high-grade-drill-results-from-its-5449/); Positive Higher-grade Near Surface Drilling at the Pan Gold Mine, Nevada (https://www.calibremining.com/news/calibre-reports-positive-higher-grade-near-surface-5702/); and 2022 Sustainability Report (https://www.calibremining.com/news/calibre-announces-the-publication-of-its-2022-sust-5510/) illustrates a focused commitment to responsible mining business practices. Year-to-Date ("YTD") 2023 Highlights Record consolidated gold sales of 134,779 ounces grossing $266.2 million in total revenue, at an average realized gold price 1 of $1,933/oz; of $1,933/oz; Consolidated TCC 1 of $1,068/oz; Nicaragua $1,009/oz & Nevada $1,386/oz; of $1,068/oz; Nicaragua $1,009/oz & Nevada $1,386/oz; Consolidated AISC 1 of $1,239/oz; Nicaragua $1,156/oz & Nevada $1,427/oz; of $1,239/oz; Nicaragua $1,156/oz & Nevada $1,427/oz; Adjusted net income 2 of $49.8 million, or $0.11 per share; and of $49.8 million, or $0.11 per share; and Consolidated Mineral Reserves have increased (https://www.calibremining.com/news/calibre-increases-nicaraguan-mineral-reserve-grade-4957/) 370% since acquisition in 2019, to 1,346,000 ounces gold. Darren Hall, President and Chief Executive Officer of Calibre, stated: "I am pleased to announce another exceptional quarter in which we delivered a third consecutive production record resulting in our strongest quarterly net income to date. Our consolidated Total Cash Cost and All-in Sustaining Costs being lower than budget position the Company to deliver full year production and cost guidance and generate strong free cash flow. As we continue to strengthen our balance sheet, we remain fiscally responsible by self-funding all exploration and organic growth from operating cash flow while increasing our cash position. Calibre continues to present a compelling investment opportunity with a diversified asset base within the Americas, high-grade, high margin gold production, extensive growth and expansion prospects and strong cash generation. During the quarter our investment into exploration continued to yield fruitful returns. In Nevada, new shallow, high grade gold mineralization has been identified in proximity to the south pit which is expected to positively impact grades as early as next year. In Nicaragua, we continue to intersect high-grade mineralization along the VTEM Gold Corridor at Limon with continued anticipated conversion to year end Resources and Reserves. We remain focused on sustainable mining practices and responsible resource management which has contributed to our success thus far and we will continue to prioritize environmental stewardship and community engagement." CONSOLIDATED RESULT SUMMARY: Q2 2023 and YTD 2023 Consolidated Financial Results $'000 (except per share and per ounce amounts) Q2 2023 Q2 2022 YTD 2023 YTD 2022 Revenue $ 139,310 $ 112,752 $ 266,223 $ 213,604 Cost of sales, including depreciation and amortization $ (85,769 ) $ (84,499 ) $ (180,429 ) $ (153,816 ) Mine operating income $ 53,541 $ 28,253 $ 85,794 $ 59,788 Net income $ 33,203 $ 15,428 $ 49,612 $ 27,129 Net income per share (basic) $ 0.07 $ 0.03 $ 0.11 $ 0.06 Net income per share (fully diluted) $ 0.07 $ 0.03 $ 0.10 $ 0.06 Adjusted net income2 $ 33,633 $ 15,475 $ 49,831 $ 31,916 Adjusted net income per share (basic) $ 0.07 $ 0.03 $ 0.11 $ 0.07 Cash provided by operating activities $ 59,803 $ 43,237 $ 86,550 $ 61,492 Capital investment in mine development and PPE $ 35,719 $ 23,372 $ 56,759 $ 37,473 Capital investment in exploration $ 8,181 $ 14,419 $ 13,743 $ 26,945 Gold ounces produced 68,776 59,723 134,526 111,621 Gold ounces sold 69,009 59,783 134,779 112,270 Average realized gold price1($/oz) $ 1,974 $ 1,861 $ 1,933 $ 1,878 Total Cash Costs ($/oz)1 $ 977 $ 1,174 $ 1,068 $ 1,121 AISC ($/oz)1 $ 1,178 $ 1,284 $ 1,239 $ 1,244 Operating Results NICARAGUA Q2 2023 Q2 2022 YTD 2023 YTD 2022 Ore mined (t) 613,536 359,099 1,096,797 711,367 Ore milled (t) 515,478 356,417 998,567 757,631 Grade (g/t Au) 4.06 4.28 3.85 4.03 Recovery (%) 92.4 90.7 92.7 90.3 Gold produced (ounces) 58,392 48,810 113,389 91,707 Gold sold (ounces) 58,588 48,848 113,583 91,766 NEVADA Q2 2023 Q2 2022 YTD 2023 YTD 2022 Ore mined (t) 1,096,313 1,137,595 2,384,906 2,111,900 Ore placed on leach pad (t) 1,072,046 1,113,702 2,375,878 2,120,242 Grade (g/t Au) 0.39 0.34 0.38 0.41 Gold produced (ounces) 10,384 10,913 21,137 19,914 Gold sold (ounces) 10,420 10,935 21,195 20,504 Gold production in Nicaragua increased 20% in Q2 2023 vs Q2 2022 driven by higher tonnes mined and milled. CONSOLIDATED Q2 and YTD 2023 FINANCIAL REVIEW TCC(1) and AISC(1) for Q2 2023 were $977 per ounce and $1,178 per ounce respectively, placing the Company in a strong position to deliver full year cost guidance. The lower quarter over quarter cash costs per ounce were achieved through an increase in open pit ore tonnes, underground mining optimization improvements with associated increases in tonnes mined and higher head grades, and a reduction in diesel prices. The on-going mining improvements have resulted in an increase of ore stockpiles and in-circuit inventories. TCC(1) and AISC(1) for YTD 2023 were $1,068 per ounce and $1,239 per ounce, respectively, as compared to $1,121 and $1,244 per ounce in the comparable 2022 period. The YTD 2023 amounts are within guidance. Expenses and Net Income For the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, corporate G&A was $2.7 million and $5.4 million compared to $3.2 million and $6.3 million for the same periods in 2022. Corporate administration was lower due to a reduced use of consultants. Share based compensation for Q2 2023 and YTD 2023 was $0.1 million and $1.7 million. The increase in expense over the prior year relates to the vesting of options and RSUs granted in prior years, higher share price, and associated revaluation of cash settled RSUs and PSUs. Total finance expense for Q2 2023 and YTD 2023 was $1.0 million and $1.9 million, respectively, compared to $0.5 million and $1.0 million from the same periods in 2022. Current and deferred income tax expense was $16.2 million during Q2 2023 and $26.2 million YTD, compared to the same periods in 2022 of $10.5 million and $18.6 million. Q2 2023 saw an increase in current and deferred tax expense when compared to Q2 2022, from higher pre-tax income partially offset by a lower overall tax rate. As a result of the above, net income per share in Q2 2023 was $0.07 for both basic and diluted. 2023 GUIDANCE CONSOLIDATED 2023 GUIDANCE NICARAGUA 2023 GUIDANCE NEVADA 2023 GUIDANCE Gold Production/Sales (ounces) 250,000 - 275,000 210,000 - 230,000 40,000 - 45,000 Total Cash Costs ($/ounce)1 $1,000 - $1,100 $950 - $1,050 $1,300 - $1,400 AISC ($/ounce)1 $1,175 - $1,275 $1,100 - $1,200 $1,350 - $1,450 Growth Capital ($ million) $55 - $65 Exploration Capital ($ million) $25 - $30 The Company achieved record performance in Q2 on multiple fronts. Operationally, Calibre produced 68,776 ounces, at costs below budget placing the Company in a strong position to meet its full year production and cost guidance. Given current gold prices, Calibre is poised to generate strong free cash flow and continue to grow cash after investments in growth, development, and exploration. Calibre continues to invest in its exploration programs, advancing a 100,000+ metre drilling program which includes resource delineation, infill, and geotechnical drilling, as well as discovery drilling to test numerous satellite targets around Limon, Libertad, Eastern Borosi and Nevada. Q2 and YTD 2023 FINANCIAL RESULTS CONFERENCE CALL DETAILS Second quarter and YTD 2023 financial results will be released after market close on Wednesday, August 9, 2023, and management will be hosting a conference call on Thursday, August 10 to discuss the results and outlook in more detail. Date: Thursday, August 10, 2023 Time: 10:00 a.m. (EDT) Webcast Link: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/foapjc5f (https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/foapjc5f) Instructions for obtaining conference call dial-in numbers: All parties must register at the link below to participate in the Calibre Mining, Q2 conference call. Register by clicking https://register.vevent.com/register/BI90d77f8cec114018bd6e9e389a376de5 (https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fregister.vevent.com%2Fregister%2FBI90d77f8cec114018bd6e9e389a376de5&data=05%7C01%7Cjreid%40calibremining.com%7Ca87976246ad54076983808db2199b543%7Ca1a3e47a7cb24f6ca1cd26ceaecf2db7%7C0%7C0%7C638140716288513424%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ieZZiXQOfvipSlH1tSDf3ApHwG01RW7cQPYjZOpcIXc%3D&reserved=0) and completing the online registration form. Once registered you will receive the dial-in numbers and PIN number for input at the time of the call. The live webcast and registration link can be accessed here (https://www.calibremining.com/investors/events/) and at www.calibremining.com (http://www.calibremining.com) under the Events and Media section under the Investors tab. The live audio webcast will be archived and made available for replay at www.calibremining.com (http://www.calibremining.com). Presentation slides that will accompany the conference call will be made available in the Investors section of the Calibre website under Presentations, prior to the conference call. Qualified Person Darren Hall, MAusIMM President and Chief Executive Officer of Calibre Mining Corp. is a "qualified person" as set out under NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "Darren Hall" Darren Hall President and Chief Executive Officer For further information, please contact: Ryan King Senior Vice President, Corporate Development & IR T: 604.628.1010 E: calibre@calibremining.com (mailto:calibre@calibremining.com) W: www.calibremining.com (http://www.calibremining.com) About Calibre Mining Corp. Calibre is a Canadian-listed, Americas focused, growing mid-tier gold producer with a strong pipeline of development and exploration opportunities across Nevada and Washington in the USA, and Nicaragua. Calibre is focused on delivering sustainable value for shareholders, local communities and all stakeholders through responsible operations and a disciplined approach to growth. With a strong balance sheet, no debt, a proven management team, strong operating cash flow, accretive development projects and district-scale exploration opportunities Calibre will unlock significant value. Notes: (1) NON-IFRS FINANCIAL MEASURES The Company believes that investors use certain non-IFRS measures as indicators to assess gold mining companies, specifically Total Cash Costs per Ounce and All-In Sustaining Costs per Ounce. In the gold mining industry, these are common performance measures but do not have any standardized meaning. The Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company's performance and ability to generate cash flow. Accordingly, it is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Total Cash Costs per Ounce of Gold : Total cash costs include mine site operating costs such as mining, processing, and local administrative costs (including stock-based compensation related to mine operations), royalties, production taxes, mine standby costs and current inventory write downs, if any. Production costs are exclusive of depreciation and depletion, reclamation, capital, and exploration costs. Total cash costs per gold ounce are net of by-product silver sales and are divided by gold ounces sold to arrive at a per ounce figure. All-In Sustaining Costs per Ounce of Gold : A performance measure that reflects all of the expenditures that are required to produce an ounce of gold from current operations. While there is no standardized meaning of the measure across the industry, the Company's definition is derived from the AISC definition as set out by the World Gold Council in its guidance dated June 27, 2013 and November 16, 2018. The World Gold Council is a non-regulatory, non-profit organization established in 1987 whose members include global senior mining companies. The Company believes that this measure will be useful to external users in assessing operating performance and the ability to generate free cash flow from current operations. The Company defines AISC as the sum of total cash costs (per above), sustaining capital (capital required to maintain current operations at existing levels), capital lease repayments, corporate general and administrative expenses, exploration expenditures designed to increase resource confidence at producing mines, amortization of asset retirement costs and rehabilitation accretion related to current operations. AISC excludes capital expenditures for significant improvements at existing operations deemed to be expansionary in nature, exploration and evaluation related to resource growth, rehabilitation accretion and amortization not related to current operations, financing costs, debt repayments, and taxes. Total all-in sustaining costs are divided by gold ounces sold to arrive at a per ounce figure. Average Realized Price per Ounce Sold Average realized price per ounce sold is a common performance measure that does not have any standardized meaning. The most directly comparable measure prepared in accordance with IFRS is revenue from gold sales. (2) ADJUSTED NET INCOME Adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share - basic exclude a number of temporary or one-time items described in the following table, which provides a reconciliation of adjusted net income to the consolidated financial statements: (in thousands - except per share amounts) Q2 2023 Q2 2022 YTD 2023 YTD 2022 Net income $ 33,203 $ 15,428 $ 49,612 $ 27,129 Addbacks (net of tax impacts): Other corporate expenses 430 47 512 4,787 Nevada inventory write down - - (616 ) - Mineral property write-off - - 323 - Adjusted net income $ 33,633 $ 15,475 $ 49,831 $ 31,916 Weighted average number of shares outstanding 454,978 448,735 453,005 439,893 Adjusted net income (loss) per share - basic $ 0.07 $ 0.03 $ 0.11 $ 0.07 (3) FREE CASH FLOW Free cash flow is calculated by subtracting expenditures on mineral properties, plant and equipment from net cash provided by operating activities. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements in this news release 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 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. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to: the Company's expectations toward higher grades mined and processed going forward; statements relating to the Company's 2023 priority resource expansion opportunities; the Company's metal price and cut-off grade assumption. Forward-looking statements necessarily involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond Calibre's control. For a listing of risk factors applicable to the Company, please refer to Calibre's annual information form ("AIF") for the year ended December 31, 2022, and its management discussion and analysis ("MD&A") for the year ended December 31, 2022, all available on the Company's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect Calibre's forward-looking statements such as potential sanctions implemented as a result of the United States Executive Order 13851 dated October 24, 2022. Calibre's forward-looking statements are based on the applicable assumptions and factors management considers reasonable as of the date hereof, based on the information available to management at such time. Such assumptions include but are not limited to: the Company being able to mine and process higher grades and keep production costs relatively flat going forward; there not being an increase in production costs as a result of any supply chain issues or ongoing COVID-19 restrictions; there being no adverse drop in metal price or cut-off grade at the Company's Nevada properties. Calibre does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions should change other than as required by applicable securities laws. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. PERTH, Australia, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Global mining and energy sectors media group Aspermont (AXS: AXP, FRA: 00W, TDG: 00W) has unveiled plans for complementary conferences for mid-September in Perth, Australia, which will set both the operations and investment agendas for the mining industry. The Future of Mining event series has updated its focus and will carry a solutions-first agenda leaning heavily toward the requirements for sustainable best practice and operational efficiency. The two-day event will run over September 18-19, 2023 at Pan Pacific Perth, to inform the decision making of operators who are dealing with the pressure to deliver more minerals for the energy transition, while at the same time making step-change improvements to ESG performance, largely through new technology applications. It will also showcase panels on key issues, including one on the importance of attracting Gen Z to the industry. "The Future of Mining will help people learn, challenge and debate with the region's pioneering innovators to address new solutions and forge bullet-proof strategies that meet and exceed operational goals," Aspermont Managing Director Alex Kent said. "Attendees will get to exchange experiences with peers, decision-makers, solution providers, mining industry executives and other stakeholders," he said. "They'll learn about new products, swap knowledge and come away confident they have a good understanding of what's around the corner. "At a time when there is so much changing in what is being mined, how it is being mined, and how we run companies to be more resource-friendly and respectful of the planet, that's priceless." The event also won the support of The Hon. Bill Johnston MLA, Minister for Mines and Petroleum, Western Australia Government who said: "Mining has a long and proud history in Western Australia. The State's miners continue that tradition by applying innovative and technological solutions to ensure the safe and efficient extraction of our metals and minerals. There is no secret that battery and critical minerals will play an important part in the global clean energy transition and I welcome the opportunity to discuss Western Australia's important role in this." Aspermont has assembled a rich roster of experts to speak. They include: Andrew Whibley, Vice President: Technology and Innovation, Gold Fields, one of the world's largest unhedged gold producers Dino Otranto, Chief Operating Officer at Fortescue, a leader in iron ore production that is currently transitioning into a green energy and metals company The Hon. Bill Johnston MLA, Minister for Mines and Petroleum, Western Australia Government, a leader in cutting red tape in the mining sector and in revolutionising WA's energy production Michelle Ash, VP Growth, BHP, currently driving the development of a copper province in South Australia Elizabeth 'Libby' Mettam, Leader, WA Liberal Party, Parliament of Western Australia and a noted pioneer in driving ethical behaviour in mining operations Dennis Brunings, a Principal Project Safety expert who identifies and controls risks for Anglo American, the UK-headquartered multinational miner that is the world's largest platinum producer Tony Ottaviano, MD & CEO, Liontown Resources The Future of Mining will be accompanied by a partner event, the inaugural MiningNews Select (MNS) conference over the same date and location. The finance event brings together numerous 'under-the-radar' resources companies in Western Australia, one of the great mining centres. It is intended as a meeting point for investors keen to spend time with entrepreneurs at emerging companies and calibrate their chances of leveraging the next 'bull run' in the sector. MNS will also launch an awards event highlighting leading CEOs, explorers, deals and emerging leaders. Keynote speakers include: Liam Twigger, Deputy Chairman and Executive Director, Argonaut John Forwood, Chief Investment Officer, Lowell Resources Funds Management Peter Albert, CEO & Managing Director, 29Metals Nicholas Boyd-Mathews, Executive Director & Chief Investment Officer, Eden Asset Management Frank van Rooyen, Senior Director, Resources & WA, Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Sophie Webb, Director & Principal ESG Consultant, Executive ESG "We've launched this event because, while an area such as the technology sector has ample opportunities for networking, mining needs a new forum for start-ups and scale-ups that require funding, and for investors keen to get a foothold in the resources-equity space before the wider market identifies the undeniable opportunity presented by mining right now." Aspermont Managing Director Alex Kent said. As Future of Mining and MiningNews Select conferences continue over the next two days, delegates can look forward to more learning sessions across dedicated tracks - namely, Digitalization, Technology, ESG and Net Zero. Future of Mining and MiningNews Select conferences runs for two days at Pan Pacific Perth. Opening times for delegates are 18 September (Mon): 7.30 am - 5.30 pm and 19 September (Tue): 7.30 am - 4.00 pm. Delegates may register their attendance to the conference at www.future-of-mining.com/perth and www.miningnewsselect.net/mnsperth About Aspermont: Aspermont is a global media group that is the established leader in the delivery of paid content and conferences across all areas of the mining and energy industries. With leading publishing brands such as Mining Journal, Mining News, Mining Magazine and Australia's Mining Monthly, and the successful Events including Future of Mining Series, Mining Journal Select and more, Aspermont is at the forefront of the industry developments and is a well-recognised and respected brand. Aspermont is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and quoted on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. It is also quoted on Tradegate and other regional German exchanges. The company has offices in the UK, Australia, Brazil, USA, Canada, Singapore and the Philippines. Find out more: https://www.future-of-mining.com/perth/en/page/home Media contact: Bilal Azmat, Head of Marketing, Aspermont bilal.azmat@aspermont.com +44 208 187 2308 View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/aspermont-dual-focus-conference-agenda-to-interrogate-the-future-of-mining-301895869.html Linked to the accounts of 17 banks in Vietnam to check the funds in real-time. Enables efficient and transparent fund management by controlling account-specific verification authority, automated preparation of vault cash reports, and connection to ERP systems. Set for release in Vietnam and then in Japan, China, the UK, and Cambodia this year with the aim of expanding to Thailand and Indonesia in 2024. Webcash Global (CEO Lee Sil-kwon) announced the launch of WeMBA, a global B2B fintech fund management solution, in Vietnam. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230809640145/en/ WeMBA, which has been launched by Webcash Global in Vietnam, allows efficient and transparent fund management (Source: Webcash Group) WeMBA is a solution that has tailored "Branch," a fund management system for mid-sized and large companies in Korea developed by Webcash, to the Vietnamese market. It enables real-time verification of the fund status by linking with accounts of 17 banks in Vietnam and improves the efficiency and transparency of fund management through account authority management by user or department. WeMBA lifts the burden of financial management in business sites in Vietnam. It automatically generates reports on vault cash with one click and sends them to the CEOs and CFOs. Customers can automate tasks through quick and easy reporting and keep track of their finances regardless of time and place. WeMBA also supports smooth interoperation with customers' internal systems (ERP). The solution provides account transaction details and balances retrieved from financial institutions in the form of an Excel file so that they can be easily entered into the ERP system, thereby shortening the working time of responsible staff and reducing errors. Currently, the number of banks in Vietnam linked with WeMBA is 17, which will increase to 25 by December 2023. Webcash aims to link WeMBA with all banks in Vietnam by 2024. Lee Sil-kwon, CEO of Webcash Global, said, "The launch of 'WeMBA' in Vietnam is expected to strengthen the competitiveness of local companies through work process innovation and cost reduction based on automation. Webcash will continue to thoroughly analyze the needs of overseas companies and enhance its customer-oriented services." Following the launch in Vietnam, Webcash Global is set to roll out WeMBA in Japan, England, China, and Cambodia where Webcash Group's local corporations have been established by the second half of 2023, and make a foray into the Thai and Indonesian markets in 2024. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230809640145/en/ Contacts: [English, Vietnamese] Oanh +84-28-7300-1660 oanh.le@webcashgenuwin.com [Korean] Eunji Kim +84-28-7300-1661 ej.kim@webcashgenuwin.com KARIYA, JAPAN, Aug 10, 2023 - (JCN Newswire) - DENSO Corporation today announced that it will establish a new office in Minato-ku, Tokyo in May 2024 in order to offer new value to customers and enhance co-creation with partners.DENSO has been engaging in sales activities for customers in the Greater Tokyo Area, as well as developing technology such as advanced driver assistance, exploring new businesses, and promoting external affairs and public relations activities across various locations within the Greater Tokyo Area.DESNO will integrate sales, engineering, business, and corporate division to support operation into a new office as a home base for face-to-face communication with customers, partners, and government agencies in the Greater Tokyo Area, and will create synergies by enhancing collaboration across divisions to quickly meet the diversifying needs of customers and offer new value.Profile of the new office:1. Location: 8-14F, 3-1, Shimbashi 4-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo2. Establishment: May 2024 (gradual relocation)3. Employees: About 1,000(Expected at the time of establishment, including group companies)4. Functions:- Sales/services- Development of advanced technologies mainly related to safety and security- Business and product planning in new business domains- Corporate division (external affairs, public relations, human resources, and general administrations etc)DENSO has conducted R&D to field operational tests using actual vehicles through an integrated process at Global R&D Tokyo, Haneda in Ota-ku, Tokyo. DENSO will keep accelerating advanced technology research and social demonstrations through further collaboration with universities, research institutes, and government agencies by relocating research departments in the Greater Tokyo Area such as artificial intelligence and cyber-physical systems.DENSO will use the new office and Global R&D Tokyo, Haneda as a foundation to support its business activities in the Greater Tokyo Area to contribute to the further development of a mobility-centered society.Source: DensoCopyright 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. Lochem, 10 August 2023 ForFarmers 2023 first-half results Results highlight importance of revised strategy and cost savings Commenting on the 2023 first-half results ForFarmers CEO Pieter Wolleswinkel said: "The sharp decline in the result in the first six months of 2023 underlines the importance of the revised strategy, which is decisively being implemented during this transitional year. Price competition increased amid volatile market conditions, putting further pressure on our volumes and thus also on our gross profit. The answer to this challenge lies in implementing the strategy, in which local responsibility with commercial flexibility and a differentiated approach is key. The reorganisation that this requires is being implemented this year. The outcome is a given: fewer management positions and short lines to the customer. Feed quality is paramount in our offering to customers. We use our knowledge of nutrition and are enforcing cost saving programmes to offer competitive selling prices in our local markets. This approach must lead to improved volume and thus gross profit development. We are convinced that in our markets we can contribute to a strong agricultural chain in which sustainability and returns go hand in hand. We are making progress in ESG; we are increasingly working with farmers and chain partners to further reduce our carbon footprint by, for example, using more residual flows and by providing specific advice. Geographically, choices have been made.We expect to finalise the announced sale of the activities in Belgium by the end of the third quarter. An associated impairment charge has already been included in these results. The choices we have made in the Germany/Poland cluster are encouraging, as evidenced by the results, as is our choice for a differentiated approach to the ruminant sector in the United Kingdom. This underpins our confidence that the second half-year will be better than the first half-year, barring unforeseen circumstances. With our strategy and committed employees, we can make a constructive contribution to a sound, sustainable future for our sector and our stakeholders. The recently announced acquisition of Piast in Poland, which expands our position in this growth market, is an example to this end." Consolidated key figures For the six months ended 30 June In millions of euro (unless indicated otherwise) 2023 2022 Total change in % Note Total volume (incl. co-products & others; x 1.000 tonnes) 4,310 4,526 -4.8% Relatively smaller decline in co-products & other than in compound feed volumes Of which compound feed (x 1.000 tonnes) 2,995 3,187 -6.0% Decline in swine sector (price competition); decline in broilers (welfare concepts in NL and avian flu in UK, but growth in PL); increase in ruminant sector (success in UK) Revenue 1,606.5 1,597.3 0.6% Due to the use of differentiation Gross profit 234.8 257.3 -8.7% Due to price competition resulting in lower volumes, price volatility in raw materials and fertilizer (mainly in NL/BE) Operating expenses (241.3) (238.3) 1.3% Wage indexation higher than effect decline FTEs, lower production costs (drop in volume and lower energy prices), release from the provision for bad debts Underlying operating expenses (226.7) (233.4) -2.9% Excl. incidental losses such as impairment of Belgian activities and restructuring costs (factory closures, reorganisation) EBITDA 20.4 42.3 -51.8% Including 6.1 million in incidental losses (see note 12, pages 21, 22) Underlying (1) EBITDA 26.5 43.1 -38.5% Decline in gross profit greater than reduction in underlying business expenses EBIT (6.0) 19.1 -131.4% Including 14.6 million in incidental losses, of which 10.5 million for transition year (see note 12) Underlying EBIT 8.6 24.1 -64.3% Relatively smaller decline in co-products & other than in compound feed volumes Profit attributable to shareholders of the Company (14.4) 11.1 -229.7% Underlying profit 4.4 17.1 -74.3% Net cash from operating activities 20.9 (8.8) 337.5% Underlying EBITDA / Gross profit 11.3% 16.8% -32.7% ROACE (2) on underlying EBIT 4.8% 8.5% ROACE (2) on underlying EBITDA 12.2% 16.2% Underlying earnings per share (x 1) 0.05 0.19 -73.7% (1) Underlying means excluding non-recurring items (see note 12 of the interim report regarding the Alternative Performance Measures (APMs)) (2) ROACE is defined as underlying EBITDA/EBIT divided by 12-month average capital employed General note: percentages are presented based on rounded amounts in millions of euros. This may result in slight differences when numbers are added. Read the full press release on our websiteor download the pdf at the bottom of this post. Note to the editor / For additional information: Caroline Vogelzang, Director Investor Relations T: 0031 573 288 194 M: 0031 6 10 94 91 61 E: caroline.vogelzang@forfarmers.eu About ForFarmers N.V. ForFarmers N.V. is an international organisation that provides complete and innovative feed solutions to the livestock farming industry. With its 'For the Future of Farming' mission, ForFarmers underpins its commitment both to the continuity of farming and to further increasing the sustainability of the agricultural sector. ForFarmers is a prominent player in Europe with annual sales of approximately 9 million tons of animal feed and is active in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom. ForFarmers has around 2,500 employees. In 2022, the turnover amounted to approximately 3.3 billion. ForFarmers N.V. is listed on Euronext Amsterdam. ForFarmers N.V., P.O. Box 91, 7240 AB Lochem, T: +31, www.forfarmersgroup.eu FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release contains forward-looking statements, including those relating to ForFarmers legal obligations in terms of capital and liquidity positions in certain specified scenarios. In addition, forward-looking statements, without limitation, may include such phrases as "intends to", "expects", "takes into account", "is aimed at", 'plans to", "estimated" and words with a similar meaning. These statements pertain to or may affect matters in the future, such as ForFarmers future financial results, business plans and current strategies. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, which may mean that there could be material differences between actual results and performance and expected future results or performances that are implicitly or explicitly included in the forward-looking statements. Factors that may result in variations on the current expectations or may contribute to the same include but are not limited to: developments in legislation, technology, jurisprudence and regulations, share price fluctuations, legal procedures, investigations by regulatory bodies, the competitive landscape and general economic conditions. These and other factors, risks and uncertainties that may affect any forward-looking statements or the actual results of ForFarmers, are discussed in the last published annual report. The forward-looking statements in this press release are only statements as of the date of this document and ForFarmers accepts no obligation or responsibility with respect to any changes made to the forward-looking statements contained in this document, regardless of whether these pertain to new information, future events or otherwise, unless ForFarmers is legally obliged to do so. Attachment - - - Only available in English - - - This is a joint press release by RoodMicrotec N.V. ("RoodMicrotec" and, together with its subsidiaries, the "RoodMicrotec Group") and Microtest S.p.A. ("Microtest"), an entity incorporated under Italian law, controlled by Seven Holding 3 S.a r.l., a wholly owned subsidiary of the private equity fund Xenon (as defined below), pursuant to the provisions of Section 4Paragraph 3 and Section 5Paragraphs4 and 5 of the Dutch Decree on Public Takeover Bids (Besluit openbare biedingen Wft, the "Decree") in connection with the announcedrecommended public offer by Microtest for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the capital of RoodMicrotec (the "Offer"). This press release does not constitute an offer, or any solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities. Any offer will be made only by means of anoffer memorandum(the "Offer Memorandum")approved by the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (Autoriteit Financiele Markten) (the "AFM"). This press release is not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, in or into, directly or indirectly, the United States, Canada and Japan or in any other jurisdiction in which such release, publication or distribution would be unlawful. ADDITIONAL ROODMICROTEC WARRANT HOLDERGIVES IRREVOCABLE COMMITMENT TO SELL AND ASSIGN ITS WARRANTS UNDER THE OFFERBY MICROTEST ANNOUNCED ON 13 JUNE 2023 Highlights Microtest has reached agreement with one additional holder of warrants issued by RoodMicrotec (the " Warrants ") in relation to its irrevocable commitment to sell and assign its Warrants to Microtest, meaning that all Warrant holders have now signed irrevocable undertakings with respect to their Warrants ") in relation to its irrevocable commitment to sell and assign its Warrants to Microtest, meaning that all Warrant holders have now signed irrevocable undertakings with respect to their Warrants This Warrant holder holds 300,000 Warrants, representing approximately 0.4% of the outstanding Shares on a fully diluted basis In total, 30.9% of the Shares are now committed under the Offer on a fully diluted basis Vicopisano, Italy / Deventer, the Netherlands, 10 August 2023 Reference is made to the joint press releases by Microtest and RoodMicrotec dated 13 June 2023, 6 July 2023 and 31 July 2023 in respect of the announced recommended all-cash public offer envisaged to be made by Microtest at an offer price of EUR 0.35 in cash per share (the "Offer Price") in the capital of RoodMicrotec (the "Shares" and each a "Share"). As set out in the press releases by Microtest and RoodMicrotec dated 13 June 2023 and 31 July 2023, several of RoodMicrotec's substantial shareholders and Warrant holders have previously undertaken to (i) support the Offer and tender their Shares or, (ii) subject to the Offer being declared unconditional, either (a) sell and assign the Warrants held by them to Microtest or (b) exercise their Warrants and tender the Shares to be issued pursuant to the exercise of the Warrants under the Offer. Today, Microtest and RoodMicrotec jointly announce the entering into of an irrevocable undertaking with one additional RoodMicrotec Warrant holder. As of the date of this press release, all Warrant holders have entered into irrevocable undertakings in relation to their Warrants. Pursuant to the irrevocable undertaking entered into by this Warrant holder, it will sell and assign its Warrants to Microtest for an amount in cash equal to (i) the number of Warrants acquired by the Offeror multiplied by (ii) the Offer Price minus EUR 0.15 per Warrant. As per today, the relevant Warrant holder holds 300,000 Warrants, representing approximately 0.4% of the outstanding Shares on a Fully Diluted Basis. The irrevocable undertaking contains certain customary undertakings and conditions, which are equal to the undertakings and conditions previously agreed with Warrant holders that have signed irrevocable undertakings prior to the initial announcement of the Offer on 13 June 2023, as described in the press release by Microtest and RoodMicrotec published on that same day. In accordance with the applicable public offer rules, any information shared with the relevant Warrant holder about the Offer shall, if not published prior to the Offer Memorandum being made generally available, be included in the Offer Memorandum in respect of the Offer (if and when issued). At the date of this press release Microtest on the one hand and the Warrant holder on the other hand, do not hold shares in each other's capital. Together with the irrevocable undertakings already referred to in the press releases by Microtest and RoodMicrotec dated 13 June 2023 and 31 July 2023, all irrevocable undertakings that have now been obtained by Microtest represent in total approximately 30.9% of the Shares as per closing of the Offer (on a fully diluted basis, assuming all Warrants are exercised immediately prior to closing of the Offer). This includes the total number of 7,485,000 Warrants issued by RoodMicrotec, representing approximately 9.1% of the outstanding Shares on a fully diluted basis. Settlement Agent Attn: Corporate Broking (HQ7212) ABN AMRO Bank N.V. Gustav Mahlerlaan 10 1082 PP Amsterdam The Netherlands For more information: Huijskens Sassen Communications Clemens Sassen +31 6 46 11 11 89 clemens@hscomms.nl Advisors On behalf of Microtest, Rothschild & Co is acting as sole financial advisor and Linklaters LLP is acting as legal counsel. AXECO Corporate Finance B.V. is acting as RoodMicrotec's sole financial advisor and Bird & Bird (Netherlands) LLP is acting as RoodMicrotec's legal counsel. About RoodMicrotec With more than 50 years of experience in the semiconductor and electronics industry, RoodMicrotec is a leading independent company for semiconductor supply and quality services. RoodMicrotec is a highly valued partner for many companies worldwide and offers specifically tailored turnkey solutions for each single customer's requirements. The turnkey services include project management, wafer test, assembly, final test, qualification, failure analysis, and logistics. All services provided by RoodMicrotec meet the high quality standards of the automotive, industrial, healthcare, and high reliability aerospace sectors. RoodMicrotec is headquartered in Deventer, Netherlands, with operational units in Nordlingen and Stuttgart, Germany. For more information, please visit https://www.roodmicrotec.com. About Microtest Microtest is a well-reputed player both in designing and manufacturing automated test equipment and in providing testing services. It is an entity incorporated under Italian law, controlled by Seven Holding 3 S.a r.l., a wholly owned subsidiary of the private equity fund Xenon Private Equity VII SCA SICAV RAIF ("Xenon"), a leading mid-cap private equity fund with 33+ years of experience and 175+ investments. The current CEOs, Mr. Giuseppe Amelio and Mr. Moreno Lupi, have been leading Microtest since its foundation in 1999 in Altopascio (Lucca). Over time, Microtest has become a technological partner of some of the world's leading microchip manufacturers, skilled in developing innovative solutions, thanks to a solid engineering team and good production flexibility. In 2004, Microtest started designing and producing Automatic Test Equipment (the systems used in the semiconductor industry for electronic components and wafter testing) for several applications such as avionics and cars' electronic modules, radar and wireless communications for defence and medical devices. A few years later, Microtest broadened its scope by also offering "test house" services, furthermore enhanced with a direct presence in the Far East following the opening of a subsidiary in Malaysia in 2018. In April 2022, Xenon Private Equity acquired a majority stake in Microtest, spurring its international expansion strategy. Microtest reached more than 30 million in revenues in 2022, with an Ebitda margin above 38%. Microtest commercial network and customer service are spread over the US, Europe, and Asia. In 2023 Microtest acquired Test Inspire, a highly innovative Dutch company focused on Automatic Testing Equipment. For more information, please visit https://www.microtest.net. Disclaimer This is a joint press release by RoodMicrotec and Microtest pursuant to the provisions of Section 4 Paragraphs 1 and 3, Section 5 Paragraph 1 and Section 7 Paragraph 4 of the Decree and contains inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information in this press release is not intendedto be complete. This press release is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer, or any solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities. The distribution of this press release may, in some countries, be restricted by law or regulation. Accordingly, persons who come into possession of this document should inform themselves of and observe these restrictions. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, RoodMicrotec, Microtestand Xenon disclaim any responsibility or liability for the violation of any such restrictions by any person. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of that jurisdiction. Neither RoodMicrotec,Microtest nor Xenon, nor any of their respective advisors, assumes any responsibility for any violation of any of these restrictions. Any RoodMicrotec shareholder who is in any doubt as to his or her position should consult an appropriate professional advisor without delay. This announcement is not to be published or distributed in or to the United States, Canada or Japan. The information in the press release is not intended to be complete. This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer or an invitation to acquire or dispose of any securities or investment advice or an inducement to enter into investment activity. This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or acquire the securities of RoodMicrotec in any jurisdiction. Forward Looking Statements Certain statements in this press release may be considered "forward-looking statements," such as statements relating to the impact of this Offer on RoodMicrotec andMicrotest and the targeted timeline for the Offer. Forward-looking statements include those preceded by, followed by or that include the words "anticipated,""expected" or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. Although RoodMicrotec,Microtestand Xenon believe that the assumptions upon which their respective financial information and their respective forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, they can give no assurance that these forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience or from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, receipt of regulatory approvals without unexpected delays or conditions, Microtest's ability to successfully operate RoodMicrotec without disruption to its other business activities, Microtest's ability to achieve the anticipated results from the acquisition of RoodMicrotec, the effects of competition, economic conditions in the global markets in which RoodMicrotec operates, and other factors that can be found in RoodMicrotec's, Microtest'sand/or Xenon's press releases and public filings. Neither RoodMicrotec,Microtest nor Xenon, nor any of their respective advisors, accepts any responsibility for any financial information contained in this press release relating to the business, results of operations or financial condition of the other or their respective groups. Each of RoodMicrotec, Microtestand Xenon expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. Anhang LONDON, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- MikeWorldWide, one of the world's leading independent integrated public relations agencies, has partnered with Mental Health First Aid England for an exciting pro bono project. MikeWorldWide's purpose division will sit at the helm of this venture with research, content, and creative teams across both the UK and US offices to bring the campaign to life. MHFA England is a social enterprise with a clear purpose: to improve the mental health of the nation. It's training, consultancy, and campaigning is paving the way for positive mental health in the workplace and beyond. MHFA England is the national authority in mental health first aid. Through its expert guidance and training, it gives people the skills to spot the signs of poor mental health, the confidence to start a conversation, and the knowledge to signpost to support. Alizia Walker, Deputy Managing Director from MikeWorldWide said, "It's a privilege to be able to support the tremendous work Mental Health First Aid England is doing for communities across the country. As the organisation looks to deepen its impact in 2024, we are delighted to be able to help strengthen its brand positioning and elevate its USP within the market. We look forward to seeing our collaborative efforts come to fruition." Simon Blake, CEO from MFHA England said, "We are thrilled to have MikeWorldWide on board for this project. Beyond their creative talent and unrivalled PR expertise, it is clear how deeply committed the team is to promoting positive mental health in the workplace. Our common vision will make this a perfect partnership." MikeWorldWide launched its pro bono PR programme in 2020 and has since invested more than half a million dollars globally in pro bono public relations services for purpose-led initiatives and underrepresented small businesses. About MikeWorldWide MikeWorldWide is a leading independent, integrated public relations agency serving global clients across the US & Europe. It employs more than 225 communications experts that live at the intersection of consumer brand marketing, technology and corporate reputation. The award-winning firm applies its expertise and culture of caring through research, strategy, creativity, empathy, and insight for clients to maximize the potential of every marketing channel. It delivers breakthrough communications for the global enterprises, corporate leaders and innovative brands who are driving the creative economy. Open positions at MWW can be found here. To learn more about MikeWorldWide, visit mww.com. About Mental Health First Aid England Mental Health First Aid England CIC is a social enterprise. Established in 2009, MHFA England's vision is improve the mental health of the nation by creating societal change so we can all talk freely about mental health and offer and seek support when we need it. This will be achieved by its mission to train at least 1:10 of the adult population in mental health knowledge, awareness, and skills. MHFA England offers a number of face-to-face, online, and digital training options to increase mental health knowledge, awareness, and skills, including the internationally licensed product, Mental Health First Aid. MHFA is the mental health equivalent of physical first aid training and provides people with the skills and confidence to recognise the signs and symptoms of common mental health issues, start a conversation, and effectively guide a person towards the right support, be that self-help or professional services. For more information about MHFA England and its courses can be found at mhfaengland.org or by emailing info@mhfaengland.org View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/mikeworldwide-expands-pro-bono-public-relations-programme-with-mental-health-first-aid-england-partnership-301897445.html EUROCASTLE INVESTMENT LIMITED Contact: Oak Fund Services (Guernsey) Limited Company Administrator Attn: Hannah Crocker Tel: +44 1481 723450 Eurocastle Releases First Half2023Financial Results Guernsey, 10 August 2023 - Eurocastle Investment Limitedhas released its interim management statement for the quarter ended 30 June 2023. A DJUSTED NET ASSET VALUE ("NAV") 1 of 10.2 million, or 10.25 per share2, down 0.09 per share vs. Q1 2023 mainly due to minor valuation adjustments to its liquidating real estate fund investments. Q1 2023 Q2 Cash Movement Q2 FV Movement Q2 2023 NAV 'm p.s. 'm p.s. 'm p.s. 'm p.s. Real Estate Funds 0.64 0.64 (0.5) (0.5) (0.06) (0.06) 0.08 0.08 Net Corporate Cash3 16.71 16.79 0.5 0.5 (0.15) (0.21) 17.06 17.08 Legacy German Tax Asset 4.82 4.84 - - - (0.01) 4.82 4.83 IFRS NAV 22.17 22.27 - - (0.21) (0.28) 21.96 21.99 Additional Reserves4 (11.88) (11.93) - - 0.15 0.19 (11.73) (11.74) Adjusted NAV 10.29 10.34 - - (0.06) (0.09) 10.23 10.25 Ordinary shares outstanding 995,555 998,555 As at 30 June 2023, the Company's remaining assets comprise: 17.1 million, or 17.08 per share, of net corporate cash3 which is primarily available to commence seeking new investments under the New Investment Strategy. Residual interests in two legacy Italian Real Estate Fund Investments with an NAV of 0.08 million, or 0.08 per share, where the underlying apartments are now all sold with both funds currently in liquidation. BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS Real Estate Funds - In April, Eurocastle received 0.5 million, or 0.50 per share, mainly representing its share of the proceeds from the sale of the last remaining apartment units. The remaining NAV for these investments of 0.1 million, or 0.08 per share, reflects cash currently reserved in the funds that is expected to be released once the fund manager resolves certain potential liabilities and liquidates each fund. In April, Eurocastle received 0.5 million, or 0.50 per share, mainly representing its share of the proceeds from the sale of the last remaining apartment units. The remaining NAV for these investments of 0.1 million, or 0.08 per share, reflects cash currently reserved in the funds that is expected to be released once the fund manager resolves certain potential liabilities and liquidates each fund. New Investment Strategy - The Company has established its initial investment structure and is in advanced discussions to acquire its first real estate asset in Greece. Working with a local partner, the Manager has identified a pipeline of investment opportunities in Greece arising from judicial auctions and consensual sales through which it can potentially acquire real estate assets that are currently collateral to defaulted claims or owned by banks or investors as a consequence of a repossession process. The Company has established its initial investment structure and is in advanced discussions to acquire its first real estate asset in Greece. Working with a local partner, the Manager has identified a pipeline of investment opportunities in Greece arising from judicial auctions and consensual sales through which it can potentially acquire real estate assets that are currently collateral to defaulted claims or owned by banks or investors as a consequence of a repossession process. Additional Reserves - The Company reduced these reserves from 12.1 million to 11.7 million, or 11.74 per share, during the first half of the year with the reduction of 0.4 million reflecting reserves being utilised in line with anticipated costs. As at 30 June 2023, of the total Additional Reserves of 11.7 million, 6.5 million related to the legacy German tax matter with the balance of approximately 5.2 million in place to allow for future costs and potential liabilities while the Company pursues in parallel the New Investment Strategy. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS TO 30 JUNE 2023 The Legacy German Tax Matter In July, the Company received revised tax assessments in relation to the legacy German tax matter which resulted in a total reimbursement to the Company of 1.1 million of the 4.8 million of additional tax paid by Eurocastle in 2022 and 2023. This follows an appeal by the Company against the additional tax assessed in relation to a property subsidiary for the period 2008 to 2012. The revised tax assessments represent a full reversal of the additional tax for 2008 as well as a part of the amount for 2009. The Company is awaiting receipt of the final report from the appeals office on the full period and until such time is unable to assess the impact of these findings on the total amount reserved for this matter. The Company intends to appeal any remaining tax liability assessed on this matter through the German court system. Income Statement for the Six and Three Months ended 30 June 2023 (unaudited) Income Statement Income Statement H1 2023 Q2 2023 Thousands Thousands Portfolio Returns Italian NPLs & Other Loans realised gain 2 - Real Estate Funds unrealised fair value movement (49) (64) Fair value movement on Italian investments (47) (64) Other income 2 - Interest income 210 119 Total income 165 55 Operating Expenses Manager base and incentive fees 52 22 Remaining operating expenses 526 246 Other operating expenses 578 268 Total expenses 578 268 (Loss) for the period (413) (213) per share (0.41) (0.21) Balance Sheet and Adjusted NAV Reconciliation as at 30 June 2023 Italian Investments Thousands Corporate Thousands Total Thousands Assets Other assets - 55 55 Legacy German tax asset - 4,818 4,818 Investments - Real Estate Funds 81 - 81 Cash, cash equivalents and treasury investments: Cash and cash equivalents - 13,157 13,157 Treasury Investments - 4,211 4,211 Total assets 81 22,241 22,322 Liabilities Trade and other payables - 338 338 Manager base and incentive fees - 22 22 Total liabilities - 360 360 IFRS Net Asset Value 81 21,881 21,962 Liquidation cash reserve - (5,246) (5,246) Legacy German tax cash reserve - (1,665) (1,665) Legacy German tax asset reserve - (4,818) (4,818) Adjusted NAV 81 10,152 10,233 Adjusted NAV ( per Share) 0.08 10.17 10.25 NOTICE: This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of the Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION For investment portfolio information, please refer to the Company's most recent Financial Report, which is available on the Company's website). Terms not otherwise defined in this announcement shall have the meaning given to them in the Circular. ABOUT EUROCASTLE Eurocastle Investment Limited. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS This release contains statements that constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements may relate to, among other things, future commitments to sell real estate and achievement of disposal targets, availability of investment and divestment opportunities, timing or certainty of completion of acquisitions and disposals, the operating performance of our investments and financing needs. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "potential", "intend", "expect", "endeavour", "seek", "anticipate", "estimate", "overestimate", "underestimate", "believe", "could", "project", "predict", "project", "continue", "plan", "forecast" or other similar words or expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions, discuss future expectations, describe future plans and strategies, contain projections of results of operations or of financial condition or state other forward-looking information. The Company's ability to predict results or the actual effect of future plans or strategies is limited. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, its actual results and performance may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results or stated expectations including the risks regarding Eurocastle's ability to declare dividends or achieve its targets regarding asset disposals or asset performance. 1 In light of the Realisation Plan announced in 2019, the Adjusted NAV as at 30 June 2023 reflects additional reserves for future costs and potential liabilities, which have not been accounted for under the IFRS NAV. No commitments for these future costs and potential liabilities existed as at 30 June 2023. 2 Per share calculations for Eurocastle throughout this document are based on 998,555 shares, unless otherwise stated. 3 Reflects corporate cash and treasury investments net of accrued liabilities and other assets where treasury investments mainly comprise notice accounts and short term Italian Government Bonds. 4 Reserves that were put in place when the Company realised the majority of its investment assets in 2019 in order for the Company to continue in operation and fund its future costs and potential liabilities. These reserves are not accounted for under IFRS. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 10, 2023("Arbor" or the "Company") (TSXV: ABR, FWB: 432) is encouraged by Albemarle Corp.'s (NYSE: ALB) recent investment of $109 million in the St. James Lithium Camp. As the world's leading lithium producer, Albemarle's significant commitment serves as a powerful endorsement of the region's potential to emerge as a key source of lithium for the global Electric Vehicle (EV) Industry. Albemarle's strategic investment into the St. James Lithium Camp demonstrates a high level of confidence in the vast lithium resources present in the region. This sizable injection of capital affirms the camp's ability to play a significant role in fulfilling the ever-increasing demand for lithium, a critical component in the production of batteries for electric vehicles. Mark Ferguson, President and CEO of Arbor , commented, "We are encouraged by Albemarle's substantial investment in the St. James Lithium Camp, which further validates our belief in the camp's potential. The St. James region is swiftly gaining recognition as a prominent lithium district, and Albemarle's commitment underscores the importance of the lithium resources in the area." Ferguson further added, " Arbor 's Jarnet Lithium project is situated within the St. James Lithium Camp, and we share Albemarle's conviction in the substantial opportunity that this region presents. The recent investment only bolsters our determination to unlock the full potential of the project." About Arbor Metals Corp. Arbor Metals Corp. is a mining exploration company focused on developing high-value, geographically significant mineral projects worldwide. Arbor is paving the way for advanced mineral exploration as it oversees world-class mining projects. The Company is confident that combining quality projects with proven strategies and a dedicated team will yield exceptional outcomes. The Jarnet lithium project , located in the James Bay region of Quebec, comprises 47 map-designated claims, covering an area of approximately 3,759 hectares. The Jarnet project is contiguous to the Corvette-FCI property, where diamond drilling has confirmed significant lithium mineralization representing one of the highest-profile lithium exploration projects in the sector. For further information, contact Mark Ferguson, Chief Executive Officer, at info@arbormetals.com , or 403.852.4869, or visit the Company's website at www.arbormetalscorp.com . On behalf of the Board, Arbor Metals Corp. Mark Ferguson, Chief Executive Officer Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When or if used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target", "plan", "forecast", "may", "schedule" and similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to the development of the Jarnet Lithium Project, and other factors or information. 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 and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. MRKT360 INC https://mrkt360.com Alex Zertuche alexz@mrkt360.com For E.S.T Office Hours, Call 1 416-477-0587 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1ac9c34f-6084-4782-a8ec-1c2f30b35a1a FCC validates SES Phase II Certification, affirming SES's completion of all C-band transition activities ahead of December 2023 deadline to secure $3 billion accelerated relocation payment SES announces today the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has validated the certification of SES's Phase II accelerated C-band clearing and relocation activities. With this milestone, and following the successful completion of its Phase I activities in 2021, SES has fulfilled its commitment to the FCC's programme to clear a portion of the C-band to allow the rapid rollout of 5G services across the United States. With the help of trusted partners across the U.S., SES has completed all of its Phase II C-band clearing and relocation requirements and all transition activities put forth in its Transition Plan. Phase II activities included: Launching five new satellites to continue enabling the broadcast delivery of digital television to nearly 120 million TV homes, as well as providing critical data services, in the upper 200 MHz of the C-band (4000-4200 MHz). Repacking all of its C-band downlink services in the continental United States (CONUS) into the upper 200 MHz of the C-band and relocating all associated Incumbent Earth Stations throughout CONUS into the upper 200 MHz of the C-band. Making all necessary equipment changes to associated Incumbent Earth Stations in CONUS to allow the operators of such Incumbent Earth Stations to receive substantially the same service during and after the transition as they were able to receive before the transition, including providing passband filters to block signals from the 3700-4000 MHz band to all associated Incumbent Earth Stations in CONUS. Modifying telemetry, tracking, and control (TT&C) operations to receive telemetry above the 4000 MHz band and completing gateway consolidation to its Brewster and Hawley facilities. In accordance with the FCC Report and Order issued on 3 March 2020, SES has satisfied the Phase II relocation requirements in advance of the 5 December 2023 deadline and is now eligible to receive the accelerated relocation payment of $2.99 billion (before tax of 18-19%). SES expects this payment to be made in Q4 2023. SES received the FCC validation of its Phase Iaccelerated C-band-clearing activities in 2021 and secured the first accelerated relocation payment of $1 billion in the subsequent year. "We are incredibly proud to meet the FCC's ambitious Phase II deadline ahead of schedule, and it speaks to the remarkable work and caliber of the SES team, our trusted partners, and our network of vendors over the last five years." said Ruy Pinto, CEO at SES. "Beyond executing a major strategic project that enables the FCC to usher in the next generation of 5G connectivity and innovation in the United States, I am pleased to say we have placed our customers' interests first and carefully transitioned our customers to ensure they will be able to continue delivering uninterrupted C-band broadcast and radio services to millions of American homes." Follow us on: Twitter Facebook YouTube LinkedIn Instagram Read our Blogs Visit the Media Gallery > About SES SES has a bold vision to deliver amazing experiences everywhere on earth by distributing the highest quality video content and providing seamless connectivity around the world. As the leader in global content connectivity solutions, SES operates the world's only multi-orbit constellation of satellites with the unique combination of global coverage and high performance, including the commercially-proven, low-latency Medium Earth Orbit O3b system. By leveraging a vast and intelligent, cloud-enabled network, SES is able to deliver high-quality connectivity solutions anywhere on land, at sea or in the air, and is a trusted partner to the world's leading telecommunications companies, mobile network operators, governments, connectivity and cloud service providers, broadcasters, video platform operators and content owners. SES's video network carries ~8,000 channels and has an unparalleled reach of 369 million households, delivering managed media services for both linear and non-linear content. The company is listed on Paris and Luxembourg stock exchanges (Ticker: SESG). Further information is available at: www.ses.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230809454253/en/ Contacts: For further information please contact: Suzanne Ong External Communications Tel. +352 710 725 500 suzanne.ong@ses.com Marula Mining Plc - Assay Results for Bagamoyo Graphite Project PR Newswire LONDON, United Kingdom, August 10 Marula Mining PLC ("Marula' or the "Company") 10 August 2023 Assay Results for Bagamoyo Graphite Project Marula Mining (AQSE: MARU) an African focused mining and development company, is pleased to report that assay results on the samples taken from the Bagamoyo Graphite Project in Tanzania ("Bagamoyo Project" or "Bagamoyo") as part of the Geofields Tanzania Limited ("Geofields") Phase 1 Exploration Program have now been received. The assay results have confirmed the high-grade nature of the graphite mineralisation at Bagamoyo and in particular at the Mihuga Prospect where results of up to 19.71% Total Graphite Content ("TGC") were recorded on the previously identified E-W trending graphite mineralised envelop that extends for approx 500 metres ("m") in strike length and 50m in width at surface and is interpreted to extend for two kilometres in strike length and 200m in width over six of the granted mining licenses. Highlights: Fourteen grab samples were taken from surface exposures and trenches at the Bagamoyo Graphite Project in Tanzania by Geofields and delivered to SGS Laboratories in Tanzania for assay as part of the Phase 1 Program of exploration Nine of the samples were obtained from the Mihuga Prospect and five from the Saadan South Prospect Average grade of all of the samples was 9.99% TGC, with the highest reported sample grade being 19.71% TGC and the lowest being 4.14% TGC Average grade of the samples taken from at the Mihuga Prospect was 11.97% and high-grade samples included 19.71%, 19.33%, 15.65%, 10.92% and 9.13% Medium to coarse graphite flakes were reported by Geofields in being identifiable in four of the samples from Mihuga Prospect which assayed 11.86%, 15.65%, 19.33% and 19.71% The high-grade assays and coarse flakes at the Mihuga Prospect demonstrate the potential that exists in that prospect Average grade of all the samples taken from the Sadden South Prospect were lower grade than that at the Mihuga Prospect and averaged 6.43% TGC and included 5.75%, 4.30%, 10.37%, 4.14% and 7.60% Geofields have confirmed that the quality assurance and quality control protocols implemented in the sampling program at the Bagamoyo Project are consistent with the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves (JORC Code 2012) The Company is now working with Geofields on finalising plans for the Phase II Program of exploration activities which will include magnetics, induced polarization, electromagnetic, soil geochemistry and drilling in order to delineate a maiden JORC Code 2021 compliant resource upon which mine planning and feasibility study work will commence Planning has also commenced with Marula's partner at the Bagamoyo Graphite Project, Kusini Gateway Industrial Park Limited ("KGIP") to determine the key areas of focus for the Phase II Program which will focus on a select area of the 22 granted mining licenses that currently make up the Bagamoyo Project area, ahead of the planned commencement of this work in H2 2023 Jason Brewer, Marula Mining PLC CEO said: "We are pleased with the assay results from the work done by Geofields across the granted graphite mining licenses in Tanzania. These assay results confirm the high-grade nature of the graphite deposits, especially highlighted by certain coarse - medium - graphite flakes reported at the Mihuga Prospect. "With grades at the Mihuga Prospect as high as 19.71% TGC and an average grade of 11.97% TGC reported from the 9 samples taken across the 500m long and 50m wide EW-trending graphite zone, which sits within a 2.0km long and 200m wide target zone, we have something that compares well with other graphite exploration and development companies in Africa. "Across both the Mihuga and Sadaan South Prospects, the average sample grade was 9.99% TGC, which compares extremely well to resource grades and mined grades around the world of other projects. "As a result of these findings, we are advancing our subsequent operational phases in order to develop Bagamoyo, with a key focus on the Mihuga Prospect. "I look forward to this next phase of work and in providing further updates on the continued progress of our high-grade graphite exploration at Bagamoyo." Background The Company entered into a Commercial Agreement in April 2023, with Tanzanian mining company KGIP, under which Marula secured a 73% commercial interest in 22 primary mining licenses that extend over an area of approx. 180 hectares in the Bagamoyo District in the Pwanai Region of Tanzania. The Licenses are close to existing graphite mining and exploration activities and provided the opportunity for Marula to secure a major strategic position in Tanzania's growing graphite exploration and mining sector. Tanzania contains nearly 20% of the world's graphite reserves with 17 million tonnes, ranking 6th in the world. In April 2023, a successful Phase 1 Program of exploration activities was completed by Geofields which included sampling, mapping, and trenching across 18 of the 22 granted mining licenses, with samples collected and sent for analyses at SGS Laboratories in Tanzania. The Phase 1 Program of exploration activities identified two major graphite trends at the Mihuga and Saadan South Graphite Prospects. Large graphite flakes were observed in all high-grade graphite zones and within the graphitic schist with gneiss units identified on these prospects. Twenty grab samples were taken as part of the Phase 1 Program from surface exposures and trenches at the Bagamoyo Graphite Project. 15 of these samples came from a 500m long and 50m wide EW-trending graphite zone in the Mihuga Prospect, containing up to 19.71% TGC within a weathered graphitic schist in the contact between quartzite rocks and marble rocks. This 500m long and 50m wide EW-trending graphite zone sits within a larger 2.0km long and 200m wide target zone that is under soil cover. Three of these samples came from a 150m long and 50m wide NE trending graphite zone in the Saadan South prospect, containing up to 10.37% TGC in weathered graphitic schist and two of the samples came from another 75m long and 20m wide NNE-trending graphite zone in the same prospect, containing up to 5.75% TGC in a graphitic schist zone in contact with marble rocks. The results from the mapping and these sample assays from the Phase I Program of exploration activities at the Bagamoyo Graphite Project and Geofields recommendations for the next Phase 2 Program of activities are now being reviewed by the Company's technical management team, ahead of the planned commencement of this work in H2 2023. The Directors of Marula are responsible for the contents of this announcement. This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of UK Market Abuse Regulation. About Marula Mining Marula Mining (AQSE: MARU) is an African focused battery metals investment and exploration company and has interests in several high value mine projects in Africa; Blesberg Lithium and Tantalum Mine in South Africa, Nkombwa Hill Project in Zambia and Kinusi Copper mine, Bagamoyo Graphite Project and Nyorinyori Graphite Project in Tanzania. As we advance operations at these battery metals focused projects, Marula will continue to build and expand its interests in other high-quality projects in Africa. Marula's strategy is to identify and invest in advanced and high-value mining projects throughout East, Central and Southern Africa that the Directors believe would deliver returns for its shareholders. The Board and management team aims to establish Marula as a socially and environmentally responsible, sustainable, and profitable producer of critical metals and commodities that are of increasingly strategic importance to modern technologies and the global economy. Marula's shares are traded on the AQUIS Stock Exchange (AQSE), Marula is exploring opportunities to admit its shares to trading on AIM, the market operated by the London Stock Exchange Group plc, Kenya's Nairobi Securities Exchange and South Africa's Johannesburg Stock Exchange. For enquiries contact: Marula Mining PLC Jason Brewer, Chief Executive Officer Faith Kinyanjui Mumbi Investor Relations Email: jason@marulamining.com Email: info@marulamining.com AQSE Corporate Adviser Cairn Financial Advisers LLP, Liam Murray / Ludovico Lazzaretti +44 (0)20 7213 0880 Broker Peterhouse Capital Limited, Charles Goodfellow / Duncan Vasey +44 (0)20 7469 0930 Financial PR and IR BlytheRay Tim Blythe / Megan Ray / Said Izagaren +44 (0)20 7138 3204 Caution Certain statements in this announcement, are, or may be deemed to be, forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are identi?ed by their use of terms and phrases such as 'believe', 'could', "should" 'envisage', 'estimate', 'intend', 'may', 'plan', 'potentially', "expect", 'will' or the negative of those, variations or comparable expressions, including references to assumptions. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on the Directors' current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof), competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Such forward looking statements re?ect the Directors' current beliefs and assumptions and are based on information currently available to the Directors. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / ZincX Resources Corp. ("ZincX Resources" or the "Company") (TSX Venture Exchange:ZNX)(US:ZNCXF)(FRA:M9R ) is pleased to announce that the Company's Kechika North Project has been optioned to an arm's-length third party (the "Optionee") based in British Columbia. The Optionee has been provided an option to acquire 100% ownership of 103 contiguous mineral claims that make up the Kechika North Project; the northern extension of the Company's contiguous, district-scale land holdings that cover 140 kilometers northward from the Company's flagship Akie Property. The deal grants the Optionee an option to acquire an undivided 100% legal and beneficial right, title and interest in and to the Kechika North Project for a cash payment of $3 million dollars; to be made within two (2) years from the effective date of the agreement. The Kechika North Project represents a contiguous group of claims that covers part of the Kechika Trough and is comprised of 6 properties identified by past historical exploration; named from south to north: Kwad, Weiss, Bear/Spa, Driftpile South, Saint and Thro. CEO Peeyush Varshney stated, "We are pleased to announce this arrangement. The properties that make up the Kechika North Project have not had modern follow-up ground exploration and have seen little to no work over the past 35 years. Importantly and strategically, this option agreement provides ZincX with potential significant non-dilutive funding." The Company's flagship Akie Project is host to the large 43-101 compliant Cardiac Creek deposit and remains, along with the southern Kechika Properties, the primary corporate focus. In addition to the Akie Project, the Company's southern Kechika Properties include the 100% owned highly prospective Mt. Alcock Property which consists of 21 claims covering 9,173 hectares and is located approximately 40 kilometres to the northwest of the Akie property and 20 kilometres from Teck Resources/Korea Zinc's Cirque property. The Mt. Alcock property remains a high-priority and is host to a prominent, highly visible barite kill zone that has been subject to historical drilling. The limited and extremely shallow drilling by previous operators intersected mineralisation with significant grade such as 9.30% combined Zn+Pb and 1.20 oz/t Ag over a downhole thickness of 8.8 metres in drill hole AK-89-3 including 14.20% combined Zn+Pb and 1.60 oz/t Ag over 3.6 metres (2) hosted in Gunsteel formation shale. Facies models derived by the Company from close examination of the Cardiac Creek deposit can be applied to the Mt. Alcock prospect and greatly assist in vectoring future targeted drilling at depth and down dip of prospective lithology. Zinc has now been designated as a Critical Mineral in both Canada and the United States. Similar to copper or lithium, Zinc will be crucial for the ever demanding and increasing green economy (Solar, Wind, Battery Storage applications). The recognition of Zinc as a Critical Mineral has led to significant investments in the Canadian zinc junior space. Fireweed Metals Macmillan Pass project has attracted significant investment from the Lundin Family ($25 million) and Osisko Metal's Pine Point project recently received a large investment from Appian Capital ($100 million). These projects, along with the Akie Project are all at the Preliminary Economic Assessment stage of development. As such, the Company's flagship Akie Project, specifically the Cardiac Creek Zn-Pb-Ag deposit, has been the target of increased market interest. ZincX Resources Corp. (TSX V: ZNX, US: ZNCXF, FRA: M9R) is a Canadian exploration and development company creating value in the critical metals space - with a focus on zinc. Zinc is a versatile and essential material for the energy transition to a lower-carbon economy. It is already one of the most used metals in the world behind iron, aluminum and copper but also has applications in energy storage. It also plays a vital role in enabling other clean energy technologies like solar and wind. ZincX Resources is well-positioned to take advantage of the worldwide looming shortfall in zinc production with the development of its Cardiac Creek (Akie property) deposit - which can help Canada meet its need for the critical mineral zinc and the global push towards decarbonization to combat climate change. The Akie Zn-Pb-Ag Project The 100% owned Akie property is situated within the Kechika Trough, the southernmost area of the regionally extensive Paleozoic Selwyn Basin and one of the most prolific sedimentary basins in the world for the occurrence of SEDEX zinc-lead-silver and stratiform barite deposits. Drilling on the Akie property by ZincX Resources since 2005 has identified a significant body of baritic-zinc-lead SEDEX mineralization known as the Cardiac Creek deposit. The deposit is hosted by siliceous, carbonaceous, fine-grained clastic rocks of the Middle to Late Devonian Gunsteel Formation. The Company updated the estimate of mineral resources at Cardiac Creek in 2018, as follows: 5% Zinc Cut-Off Grade Contained Metal: Category Tonnes (million) Zn (%) Pb (%) Ag (g/t) Zn (B lbs) Pb (B lbs) Ag (M oz) Indicated 22.7 8.32 1.61 14.1 4.162 0.804 10.3 Inferred 7.5 7.04 1.24 12.0 1.169 0.205 2.9 The Company announced robust positive results from the 2018 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA). The PEA envisages a conventional underground mine and concentrator operation with an average production rate of 4,000 tonnes per day. The mine will have an 18-year life with potential to extend the life-of-mine (LOM) through resource expansion at depth. Key parameters for the PEA are as follows: Parameter Base Case1 Tonnes Mined 25.8 Mt Mined Head Grades 7.6% Zn; 1.5% Pb; 13.08 g/t Ag Tonnes Milled 19.7 Mt Milled Head Grades (after DMS2 upgrade) 10.0% Zn; 1.9% Pb; 17.17 g/t Ag Total Payable Metal (LOM) $3,960M3 Initial CAPEX $302.3M including $45.7M contingency LOM Total CAPEX $617.9M including $58.5M contingency All-in Total OPEX $102.4 per tonne milled Pre-Tax NPV7% $649M Pre-Tax IRR 35% Pre-Tax Payback 2.6 years After-Tax NPV7% $401M After-Tax IRR 27% After-Tax Payback 3.2 years The base case used metal prices are calculated from the 3 year trailing average coupled with two year forward projection of the average price; and are: US$1.21/lb for zinc, US$1.00/lb for lead and US$16.95 for silver. A CDN$/US$ exchange rate of 0.77 was used. The NPV discount rate is 7%. 2. DMS = dense media separation. 3. All dollar amounts expressed in Canadian dollars. The PEA is considered preliminary in nature and includes mineral resources, including inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves have not yet demonstrated economic viability. Due to the uncertainty that may be attached to mineral resources, it cannot be assumed that all or any part of a mineral resource will be upgraded to mineral reserves. Therefore, there is no certainty that the results concluded in the PEA will be realized. Kechika Regional Project In addition to the Akie Project, the Company maintains 100% ownership of large contiguous block of the southern Kechika Trough, including the advanced Mt. Alcock prospect. The Kechika Regional Project also includes the Pie, Yuen and Cirque East properties which the Company maintains a significant 49% interest with partners Teck Resources Limited (TSX: TECK.B) and Korea Zinc Co. Ltd holding 51%. These properties collectively extend northwest from the Akie property for approximately 85 kilometers covering the highly prospective Gunsteel Formation shale; the main host rock for known SEDEX zinc-lead-silver deposits in the Kechika Trough of northeastern British Columbia. These projects are located approximately 260 kilometres north northwest of the town of Mackenzie, British Columbia, Canada. Zinc (Zn) Zinc is one of many critical metals facilitating the transition to a low-carbon and greener future and is used in renewable energy storage systems and through the protection of steel to improve its durability and service life in solar and wind turbine applications. The primary uses of zinc are the galvanization of steel protecting against corrosion due to weather conditions, the production of brass and bronze, and in die-casting to produce a wide range of metal products. In agriculture, zinc can also increase crop yields and crop quality and is an essential nutrient in human development and disease prevention. Ken MacDonald P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for the Company, is the designated Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the technical information contained in this release. Mike Makarenko P.Eng, JDS Energy and Mining, is the designated Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the PEA technical information contained in this release. (1) Carne, R.C., 1980; Report on Diamond Drilling on the Bear and SI Claim Group, British Columbia Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources, Assessment Report 8626, 51p (2) Murrell M. and Roberts W., 1990. 1989 Exploration Program on the Mt. Alcock Property in the Kwadacha Recreational Area, Northern British Columbia, Ministry of Energy and Mines, Assessment Report 19829, 111p. The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS ZINCX RESOURCES CORP. "PEEYUSH VARSHNEY" PEEYUSH VARSHNEY, LL.B CEO & CHAIRMAN Contact: Investor Relations Phone (604) 684-2181 info@zincxresources.com SOURCE: ZincX Resources Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773482/ZincX-Provides-Option-on-Kechika-North-Project DUBAI, UAE, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Gupshup.io, the leading global Conversational Engagement Platform today announced its collaboration with FiLLi Cafe, the renowned cafe chain in the UAE, to bring an unparalleled customer experience for its users on WhatsApp. FiLLi Cafe, celebrated for its iconic FiLLi Zafran tea and delectable offerings, will now be accessible through a dedicated WhatsApp bot, allowing tea aficionados across the UAE to explore the enticing menu, discover exclusive offers, and connect with the brand effortlessly. With a simple click or text, UAE tea enthusiasts can now indulge in the flavorsome world of FiLLi Cafe directly through WhatsApp. By simply visiting https://wa.me/971521231991?text=Filli+Cafe or sending a message to +971 52 123 1991, UAE's tea lovers can effortlessly access the WhatsApp bot. This platform not only serves as a channel to explore the latest offers but also ensures that patrons are always in the loop with the brand's updates. "We are incredibly excited to introduce this new chapter in FiLLi Cafe's journey. At FiLLi Cafe, our focus has always been on not just serving tea, but on creating memories and moments for our customers. As we look to the future, we're excited to continue pushing the boundaries of convenience and engagement," said Rafih FiLLi, CEO and Founder of FiLLi Cafe. Gupshup's WhatsApp bot integration has made ordering from FiLLi Cafe more convenient than ever. Users can easily place online orders by getting redirected to the FiLLi Cafe website, ensuring a hassle-free experience from menu selection to finalizing their cravings. This innovative approach exemplifies FiLLi Cafe's commitment to enhancing customer convenience and satisfaction. Engagement is at the heart of FiLLi Cafe's customer-centric approach, and the WhatsApp bot takes this engagement to new heights. The integration allows patrons to connect with FiLLi Cafe's vibrant social media presence and become part of a community of tea enthusiasts. "Gupshup's mission has always been to enable businesses to engage with their customers in innovative and meaningful ways, and this partnership is a testament to that commitment. As technology continues to shape the way businesses interact with their audience, we believe this partnership exemplifies the future of customer engagement. We are excited to work with FiLLi cafe to bring their delightful offerings and immersive experiences on the WhatsApp platform," said Beerud Sheth, CEO and Co-founder of Gupshup.io. Going ahead, FiLLi cafe plans to bring seamless ordering on WhatsApp for its tea-lovers in UAE, setting the stage for a truly revolutionary tea-ordering experience for its patrons. Gupshup's expertise in building Conversational Commerce journeys for several of its clients in India and abroad will support FiLLi Cafe in this journey. About Gupshup.io Gupshup is the leading conversational engagement platform for marketing, commerce, and support automation. Gupshup's automation solutions enable 45,000+ brands across India, Latin America, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and the United States to deliver better customer experience, and increased revenue while saving costs. Citibank, AkzoNobel, Khan Academy, Unilever, MPL, Netflix, Flipkart, and Ola are a few of its leading clients. With a single messaging API for 30+ channels across voice, text, and chat, the conversational engagement platform powers over 10 billion messages per month. Valued at $1.4 bn, the company has marquee investors such as Tiger Global, Fidelity Management and Research Co. LLC, and others on its cap table. For more details, please visit: www.gupshup.io . Media Contact: Vandana Vandana.v@gupshup.io Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2182479/Gupshup_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/gupshupio-introduces-filli-cafe-uaes-beloved-cafe-chain-to-whatsapp-elevates-customer-experience-301896866.html LONDON, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Genmed, a provider of vendor neutral managed services to the NHS, today announces the appointment of Jolene Rayner as chief executive officer. A seasoned professional, Jolene most recently served as chief operations officer within the company having joined Genmed in 2013 as an area manager focused on pathology-related business. Here she quickly made her mark and was quickly promoted to various other senior roles. Working in close partnership with NHS Trusts, Jolene has been instrumental in bringing to market new managed services involving clinical disciplines such as pathology, renal, surgery and endoscopy. This has seen Genmed's revenues increase from just over 5 million a decade ago when she joined to over 100 million today. Genmed supports Trusts throughout the whole procurement cycle. It provides financing, run bids, selects suppliers, works to rationalise and reduce the pricing of products, manages inventory and removes the administrative overhead of invoice processing. Ultimately Genmed speeds up the purchasing process and takes on non-clinical work to enhance clinical productivity. The benefits of its model are substantial at a time of major cost pressures in the health service. Genmed saved the NHS around 20 million last year through Cost Improvement Programme benefits, efficiency gains and VAT recovery. Its managed services are HMRC compliant meaning that Trusts can reclaim the 20% VAT back to reinvest in front line services and the treatment of patients. Today, Genmed supports over 40 NHS Trusts and Health Boards throughout the UK managing hundreds of contracts. Commenting on her appointment, Jolene says, "As CEO, I'll be working to grow our business and make Genmed a great place to work, however, the NHS and patients are at the very heart of everything we do. A key focus will be continuing to innovate and expand the range of services offered to align and further support our health system so it's an exciting time for me to be taking on this role." Robin Modak, Genmed's founder and chairman, says, "Jolene has tremendous vision, is a great communicator and understands the company and our services inside and out having worked at all levels and areas in the business. She's a true leader and exactly the right person to lead the company to its next stage of development." Click here for a picture of Jolene Rayner. For more information, visit www.genmed.eu Media contact Tom Herbst 07768 145571 tom@tomherbstpr.co.uk View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/genmed-appoints-jolene-rayner-as-chief-executive-officer-301897060.html Under the theme "Wings of Connection" Beijing, China--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - SAUDIA, the national flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, has launched its first direct flight to Beijing, China, in collaboration with the Air Connectivity Program (ACP). This milestone falls in line with Saudi Aviation Strategy, which recognizes the importance of air connectivity in targeting key markets, such as China, and accommodating increasing demand from international tourists seeking to discover the treasures of Saudi Arabia. The inaugural SAUDIA flight from Jeddah to Beijing, (SV 0886), took off on the morning of August 4, 2023, from King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah to Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX). A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in the presence of His Excellency Engr. Ibrahim Al-Omar, Director General of SAUDIA Group, His Excellency Mr. Chen Weiqing, the Chinese Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Ayman Abu Abah, CEO of JEDCO, and executives from ACP at the boarding gate. Chocolates and a special boarding pass celebrating this historic day were distributed to the departing guests. The aircraft was welcomed at PKX with a water salute, where guests were greeted with flowers and giveaways. A second ceremony was held on the departure of the first flight from Beijing to Saudi Arabia, (SV 0887) in attendance of His Excellency Engr. Ibrahim Al-Omar, His Excellency Mr. Abdulrahman Alharbi, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to China, Mr. Ali Rajab, CEO of ACP, and Mr. Kong Yue, the Vice President of Beijing Daxing International Airport. Figure 1 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9108/176761_saudia1en.jpg An event was held at The Four Seasons Hotel, Beijing, where distinguished guests from both countries came together to celebrate this milestone. The theme of the event was "Wings of Connection", focusing on the opportunities and benefits brought by the direct flight service, while highlighting the ecosystem's role in fostering connections across trade and business, tourism, education, and culture. Under the patronage of His Excellency, Abdulrahman Ahmad Al-Harbi, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to China, and in attendance of His Excellency Engr. Ibrahim Al-Omar, Mr. Ali Rajab, and Mr. Kong Yue along with representatives from governmental entities, travel agencies, and media, this event commemorated the impact of the ecosystem's concerted efforts in strengthening the bilateral ties between Saudi Arabia and China. Figure 2 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9108/176761_saudia2en1.jpg His Excellency Engr. Ibrahim Al-Omar, Director General of SAUDIA Group, said, "We are proud to expand our operations and offer new destinations to our guests. China is a very important route for SAUDIA, and the introduction of the new direct flights to and from Beijing not only boosts tourism but also strengthens the overall economic and cultural ties between the two nations. It facilitates increased travel, trade, and people-to-people exchanges, fostering stronger bilateral relations. "Tourism is a pillar of Saudi Vision 2030, and China is ranked among the top global sources of tourists. This new route will be another large step forward towards Saudi Arabia's ambitious economic diversification agenda and it can achieve much growth with more Chinese vacationers coming to the Kingdom. "We are also very grateful for the continuous support provided by the Air Connectivity Program, which enables us to continue to grow as we work towards achieving our objective to bring the world to Saudi Arabia," He added. Ali Rajab, ACP's CEO, said, "This new route is the outcome of our collective efforts to further connect Saudi Arabia and China, strengthening an avenue for mutual growth. By working closely with our partners in the Saudi ecosystem, we have ensured that every traveler embarking on this journey will experience the seamless blend of hospitality, heritage, and innovation Saudi Arabia offers. We are excited to witness the transformative impact this flight will have on both nations and the lasting connections it will create." Alhasan Aldabbagh, President of APAC Markets at Saudi Tourism Authority, stated, "This is an iconic achievement that underscores our dedication to China - one of our vital source markets. Fueled by an ambitious tourism plan, which is underpinned by the Vision 2030 strategic framework, Saudia's historic 'Wings of Connection' expansion into Beijing will help us welcome over 4 million Chinese visitors to Saudi by 2030. Today, Saudi is expanding at a breakneck pace, with our vibrant tourism sector offering the most significant developments in the world. We eagerly await the arrival of Chinese travelers to the authentic home of Arabia, where they will embark on an exploration of Saudi's ancient culture, unique heritage, and unrivalled natural offerings." Figure 3 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9108/176761_saudia3en.jpg SAUDIA will operate four weekly flights between the Kingdom and Beijing, and will further utilize the airline's extensive fleet, catering to guests with a range of convenient check-in methods, high-quality onboard services, and a comfortable flight experience that underlines the flag carrier's commitment to excellence. About Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA) Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA) is the national flag carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Established in 1945, the company has grown to become one of the Middle East's largest airlines. SAUDIA has invested significantly in upgrading its aircraft and currently operates one of the youngest fleet. The airline serves an extensive global route network covering around 100 destinations across four continents, including all 28 domestic airports in Saudi Arabia. A member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO), SAUDIA has also been a member airline in SkyTeam, the second largest alliance, since 2012. The airline is ranked as a Global Five-Star Major Airline by the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) and has been awarded Diamond status by APEX Health Safety powered by SimpliFlying in recognition of its comprehensive approach to safety during the pandemic. Most recently, SAUDIA was named the Middle East's Fastest Growing Airline in 2022 by Brand Finance and the World's Most Improved Airline in 2021 by Skytrax, the second time it has received this prestigious accolade. For more information on Saudi Arabian Airlines, please visit www.saudia.com Media Center Saudi Arabian Airlines Headquarters Jeddah 21231, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Email: mediacenter@saudia.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176761 CHATHAM, ONTARIO and TEL-AVIV, ISRAEL, Aug. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Atlas Global Brands Inc. ("Atlas Global" or the "Company") (CSE: ATL), a cannabis company with expertise across the value chain, announces today that, as anticipated, due to the complexity of accounting for the Company's tri-partite and multijurisdictional business combination completed on December 30, 2022 and subsequent acquisitions, it did not file its audited annual consolidated financial statements and related management's discussion and analysis and certifications for the financial year ended March 31, 2023 (collectively, the "Required Annual Filings") by July 31, 2023 as required by National Policy 51-102 - Continuous Disclosure Obligations. As a result, effective August 8, 2023, the Ontario Securities Commission (the "OSC"), as the principal regulator, has issued a failure-to-file cease trade order ("FFCTO"). The FFCTO will be revoked automatically upon the Company making the Required Annual Filings. The Company continues to work diligently to complete the Required Annual Filings as soon as possible. The FFCTO prohibits the trading by any person of any securities of the Company in each jurisdiction in Canada in which the Company is a reporting issuer and in which Multilateral Instrument 11-103 - Failure-to-File Cease Trade Orders in Multiple Jurisdictions applies, for as long as the FFCTO remains in effect. Despite the FFCTO, a beneficial security holder of the Company who is not, and was not as at August 8, 2023 an insider or control person of the Company, may sell securities of the Company acquired before August 8, 2023 if both of the following apply: (a) the sale is made through a "foreign organized regulated market", as defined in section 1.1 of the Universal Market Integrity Rules of the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization and (b) the sale is made through an investment dealer registered in a jurisdiction of Canada in accordance with applicable securities legislation. The FFCTO does not otherwise affect the Company's business operations and the Company continues to focus on executing its business plan to leverage its EU-GMP certifications to increase its share of high margin jurisdictions. As more particularly set out in the news release filed on July 14, 2023, the Company previously applied for a management cease trade order ("MCTO") pursuant to National Policy 12-203 - Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203") of the Canadian Securities Administrators in respect of its Required Annual Filings; and (ii) its interim financial report and related management's discussion and analysis and certifications for the interim period ended June 30, 2023, due August 29, 2023 (collectively, the "Required Interim Filings"). The OSC however did not view the Company as meeting all the eligibility criteria for the MCTO set out in NP 12-203, in particular, the requirement for an "active, liquid market" for its common shares within the meaning of NP 12-203. The Company is also working diligently to complete its Required Interim Filings by August 29, 2023, failing which a separate, but similar, FFCTO will likely be issued by the OSC. About Atlas Global Brands Atlas Global is a global cannabis company operating in Canada and Israel with expertise across the cannabis value chain, including cultivation, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution. Atlas Global currently distributes to seven countries: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Israel, Norway, and the United Kingdom. In addition to a differentiated product mix, Atlas Global operates two licensed cannabis facilities: (1) an EU-GMP facility in Chatham, ON, and (2) a GACP and IMC-GAP facility in Stratford, ON. Atlas Global also has a majority interest in three medical pharmacies in Israel and entered into binding agreements to acquire a majority interest in a trading house and six additional medical cannabis pharmacies in Israel. Learn more by visiting: www.atlasglobalbrands.com. Contacts Bernie Yeung Chief Executive Officer 1-844-415-6961 invest@atlasglobalbrands.com Alyssa Barry Media and Investor Relations 1-833-947-5227 alyssa@irlabs.ca Forward-Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking and based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions concerning 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 state 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. Forward-looking information in this news release is based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including assumptions that or regarding, without limitation: the timing to complete the Required Annual Filings;. The forward-looking information reflects management's current expectations based on information currently available and is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking information, including unforeseen delays or events that could delay the filing of the Required Annual Filings and Required Interim Filings within the anticipated timeline; the capacity of management may not be sufficient to complete the Required Filings within the anticipated timeline; and the Company may not be able to remedy the specified default and have a cease trade order revoked in a timely manner or at all. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. New risk factors emerge from time to time. It is impossible for the Company's management to predict all risk factors, nor can the Company assess the impact of all factors on the Company's business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ from those contained in any forward-looking information. The forward-looking statements set forth herein concerning the Company reflect management's expectations as of 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 forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as defined in the CSE policies) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Vilnius, Lithuania--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - EasyStaff, an international payment and task management solution for companies and contractors, now offers an Employer of Record service to assist companies in expanding their operations internationally. Benefits of Partnering with an Employer of Record For IT companies competing on a global scale, a labor contract may not always be an option. When companies want to hire employees in another country, they typically have to establish a local entity. This process can be time-consuming and involves ongoing payroll and HR administrative tasks. However, with EasyStaff's Employer of Record product, the company can hire employees who work for them just like any other team member without the hassle of establishing a local entity. A new service from EasyStaff will help companies to hire or relocate their staff officially in the EU or Montenegro wherever the customer is located. These practices may prove advantageous for companies relocating employees in Europe or for European companies seeking to cut costs by hiring outsourced staff within the EU. EasyStaff will act as Employer of Record and provide all necessary accruals, such as social security, pension, taxes, and obtain residence permits for citizens outside the EU. With the help of EasyStaff, companies can reduce their payroll costs and other taxes by working with remote staff from all over the world. EOR service providers cater to multiple organizations, which enables them to utilize technology and expertise on a larger scale. This allows for efficient and consistent payment operations that take less time and resources that an in-house HR team. From a legal standpoint, EasyStaff hires employees as their Employer of Record for its clients. Under a B2B service contract, the companies pay EasyStaff a fee of at least 190 per employee. Cost Reduction and Guaranteed Compliance with Local Laws EasyStaff acts as the company's service provider and facilitates payments to freelancers. Given that EasyStaff is also a payment platform for remote workers, companies have an opportunity to interact with offshore workers. EasyStaff bridges the gap between its client and offshore labor. Business relationship with professionals offshore is possible through a service agreement. The purpose of offshore labor is to assist companies in finding skilled professionals who can provide high-quality work while reducing financial burden. In essence, the key benefits of offshore labor are the elimination of payroll and HR expenses, as well as overall lower costs thanks to low cost of living in offshore locations. For example, In Europe, employers in certain areas might have to pay up to 75% for every 1,000 EUR of net salary. Signing a service agreement with an employee through a freelance management platform helps companies save on payroll costs, administrative work, and legal and tax consulting. Although a company and its employees may be located in the same country, the potential for profitability can still be significantly higher. The process is straightforward and completely legal. Companies sign a B2B service agreement with EasyStaff, which then signs a contract with the desired specialist, no matter where they are located. The specialist is then paid by EasyStaff. In doing so, the company is not responsible for the income taxes that specialists may have to pay in their home country. EasyStaff charges either a flat fee of 39 EUR per payment or a 4%+ commission. This means that saving on taxes is made simple and hassle-free. "Entrepreneurs strive to optimize expenses in today's ever-changing market conditions by exploring new income sources, reducing costs, and reorganizing teamwork. To optimize labor costs and get through HR fast, many startup owners build international teams of specialists from countries with lower living costs and lower average salaries. Although reaching out to specialists itself is easy, legal and financial uncertainties may later turn into legal prosecutions, both at home and overseas. The point is, to stay successful, a company needs to stay legal. To keep a performing remote team, despite problematic and demanding tax and labor cost environments, one of the best ways is to go offshore and use special services, like ours," explains Evgeniy Fyodorov, a co-founder of EasyStaff. "Businesses desire to expand and hire employees globally avoiding the red tape. Utilizing an Employer of Record (EOR) partner, already established as a legal entity, ensures compliance with local laws. This approach protects against tax and local law compliance issues, thus enabling businesses to focus on success and profit," adds Vitalii Mikhailov, a founder of EasyStaff. For media inquiries, please contact: Name: Arina Kozlova Company Name: EasyStaff UAB Phone Number: +370 661 10 153 Email Address: hi@easystaff.io To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://easystaff.io/blog To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176456 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Q Battery Metals Corp ("Q Battery" or the "Company) is very pleased to announce that it has closed its previously announced share purchase agreement with 1412814 BC Ltd. ("814BC") and its shareholders (the "Vendors") to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding common shares of 1412814 BC Ltd. in exchange for 5,800,000 common shares of the Company (see press release dated August 1, 2023). 814BC owns mineral claims in the Pontax River area of the James Bay region of Quebec. The transaction is subject to the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange. The transaction as proposed does not constitute a fundamental change or result in a change of control of the Company, within the meaning of the policies of the CSE. One of the Vendors is related to the Chief Financial Officer of the Company. As a result, the Company had an independent geologist review the property and an independent committee of the board approve the valuation. The claims cover 5,376 hectares in 101 contiguous claims located within the "Lithium Triangle". The property is surrounded by other signi?cant lithium plays including: Patriot Battery Metals Pontax project, Brunswick Exploration, Stria Lithium properties, and the Li-FT Power Ltd. large land package including the Moyenne Project. The newly acquired Q Battery Metals property is strategically positioned in an exceptionally active and promising area for lithium exploration. The reader is cautioned that potential lithium resources that exist on properties outside of the Pontax Lithium Project claims are not direct indicators of lithium mineralization on the Pontax Lithium Project. The Q Battery Metals Pontax Property is an exploration stage project that has potential for hosting LCT pegmatites and associated lithium mineralization. The property's vicinity to fertile peraluminous granite bodies, as well as being close to other known lithium deposits in the region provides strong incentive for lithium exploration. The granitic bodies and host lithologies are underexplored and need to be prospected for pegmatite bodies. Q Battery Metals geologic team is in the process of compiling all available data for the Pontax Project in preparation for a Phase I exploration program. An initial geologic mapping and prospecting site reconnaissance is scheduled to be completed this summer. Q Battery Metals is also exploring their La Corne South lithium project located north of Val d'Or, and their Pegalith lithium project located north of Gatineau, Quebec. The Pontax, La Corne, and Pegalith projects each have a variety of exploration targets, with the La Corne South currently being the project of immediate interest to Q Battery Metals for lithium potential. Rock samples taken from the La Corne South are currently at the laboratory for analysis (see Q Battery news release dated June 20, 2023), and the geologic team is preparing to return for continued targeted sampling in August. Q Battery exploration programs in Quebec are supervised by Dr. Mathieu Piche, OGQ, who is also a Company director. Perry Grunenberg, PGeo, a qualified person as that term is defined under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release. Location Map of Q Battery Metals- Pontax Lithium Project in James Bay, Quebec Location Map of Q Battery Metals-Pontax Lithium Project in James Bay, Quebec Cautionary Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements based on assumptions as of that date. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. The Company 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 the Company's control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to exploration and development; the ability of the Company to obtain additional financing; the Company's limited operating history; the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations; fluctuations in the prices of commodities; operating hazards and risks; competition and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in the Company's Prospectus dated September 8, 2017 available on www.sedar.com. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions, and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions, and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information. On behalf of the Board of Directors Richard Penn CEO (778) 384-8923 SOURCE: Q Battery Metals Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773555/Q-Battery-Metals-Corp-Closes-Pontax-Lithium-Project-Acquisition-James-Bay-Region-Quebec Luxury, sophistication and philanthropy combine harmoniously at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance BERLIN, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blacklane, the premium global chauffeur service, is set to make its mark at the upcoming private Maybach Luncheon. This exclusive event, hosted by Mercedes-Maybach, is organized around the topic of innovation, mentoring, and a discussion about modern technology. This established luncheon and the values stem from the deep history of Wilhelm Maybach who himself was mentored by Gottlieb Daimler, which allowed him to launch a successful career and change the world of mobility. We are reminded to this day of their legacy through amazing cars which bear their names. This incredible story aligns with Blacklane's core values of 'breaking new ground' as a disruptor in the premium mobility industry, along with the core value of 'care' for others and the planet. The private Maybach Lunch will take place at the revered Mercedes-Benz Star Lounge, within the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance event in California, where luminaries from across industries will convene. Jens Wohltorf, CEO of Blacklane, affirmed, "At Blacklane, our essence lies in providing genuine care to our guests, chauffeurs, employees and the world we live in. This event resonates deeply with our commitment to creating meaningful impact while embracing premium quality. We believe in a future where quality and social responsibility go hand in hand." Blacklane is proud to be a Bronze Contributor to the Maybach Foundation's initiatives. That underscores its dedication to fostering enriching conversations and innovative approaches to giving back. At the Maybach event, distinguished guests, including luminaries from the industry, will engage in insightful dialogues, forging connections that transcend traditional boundaries. The Maybach Luncheon stands as a testament to Blacklane's dedication to responsible premium experiences. "Our pursuit of excellence goes beyond exceptional transportation services; it encompasses a responsibility to the environment and the communities we serve," emphasized Jens Wohltorf. "We strive to redefine the notion of premium travel, infusing it with a sense of purpose." The CEO Jens Wohltorf and the CFO Ebony Morczinek will represent Blacklane at the event. About Blacklane: Blacklane's global chauffeur service brings peace of mind to travelers moving through a fast-paced world. The crew's dedication to safety, reliability, and smart technology places Blacklane at the forefront of a new era of stress-free travel. Since 2017, the company has been carbon-neutral, combining a five-star guest experience with care for the planet. Download a press kit here (https://www.blacklane.com/en/press/presskit/). Upgrade your travels on Blacklane's mobile apps (http://app.adjust.com/duzo31?label=boilerplate) or website (http://www.blacklane.com/en/?utm_source=press-release&utm_campaign=new-cto). For further information, please visit: Mercedes-Maybach: https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/vehicles/mercedes-maybach/ The Maybach Foundation: https://maybach.org Blacklane: https://www.blacklane.com/en For Blacklane global media inquiries, please contact: Blacklane Gmbh Radmila Palova press@blacklane.com (mailto:press@blacklane.com) +49 157 80 67 4435 TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Jaguar Mining Inc. ("Jaguar" or the "Company") (TSX:JAG)(OTCQX:JAGGF) today announced financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023. All figures are in US Dollars, unless otherwise expressed. Second Quarter Highlights Operating cash flow was $10 million, compared to $9.4 million in the second quarter of 2022, mainly due to an increase of 6% in the average realized gold price 1 , combined with an 8% decrease in operating costs, and lower cash income taxes paid of $1.9 million, compared to $2.4 million in the second quarter of 2022. This was partially offset by a 17% decrease in ounces of gold sold from 20,482 ounces the second quarter of 2022 to 16,917 ounces in the second quarter of 2023. , combined with an 8% decrease in operating costs, and lower cash income taxes paid of $1.9 million, compared to $2.4 million in the second quarter of 2022. This was partially offset by a 17% decrease in ounces of gold sold from 20,482 ounces the second quarter of 2022 to 16,917 ounces in the second quarter of 2023. Free cash flow of $2.4 million and was based on operating cash flow plus asset retirement obligation expenditures, less capital expenditures, compared to $5.5 million in Free Cash Flow in the second quarter of 2022. Free cash flow was $141 per ounce of gold sold compared to $270 per ounce of gold sold in the second quarter of 2022. Total capital expenditures were 4% or $0.43 million higher in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2022 with sustaining capital expenditures $3.7 million higher offset by non-sustaining capital expenditures which were $3.3 million lower. Sustaining capital expenditures of $8.3 million in the quarter consisted of $5.5 million in primary development, $2.2 million in equipment, $0.5 million in brownfield exploration, and $0.1 million of other sustaining capital. Revenue decreased 12% to $33.2 million compared with $37.9 million in the second quarter of 2022, mainly due to a decrease in ounces produced, which resulted in lower ounces of gold sold of 16,917 ounces as compared to 20,482 ounces in the second quarter of 2022, partially offset by an increase in the average realized gold price of $1,962 per ounce compared to $1,852 per ounce in the second quarter of 2022. Gold production decreased 24% to 16,750 ounces compared to 22,028 ounces in the second quarter of 2022, due to a 15% decrease in the average head grade, combined with an 11% decrease in tonnes of ore processed. Operating costs decreased 8% to $19.5 million compared to $21.1 million in the second quarter of 2022. The decrease in operating costs was predominantly the result of decrease in tonnes mined compared to second quarter of 2022. Cash operating costs increased 12% to $1,150 compared to $1,029 per ounce of gold sold in the second quarter of 2022 due to a 17% decrease in ounces of gold sold compared to the second quarter of 2022. All-in sustaining costs increased to $1,781 compared to $1,366 per ounce of gold sold in the second quarter of 2022 due to the cash cost increase as explained above, combined with higher sustaining capital expenditures the result of a 20% increase in primary development plus exploration development in the quarter of 1,955 metres compared to 1,627 metres in the second quarter of 2022. Net loss of $1.1 million, compared to Net Income of $9.5 million in the second quarter of 2022. Major variances included a $4.7 million decrease in revenue, a $5.6 million increase in foreign exchange expenses, an increase of $1.3 million in income tax expense, offset by $1.6 million decrease in operating costs. _________________________________ 1 This is a Non-GAAP financial performance measure with no standard definition under IFRS. For more details, refer to the Non-GAAP Performance Measures section of the MD&A. Cash Position and Working Capital1 As of June 30, 2023, the Company had a cash and cash equivalents position of $23.9 million, compared to $25.2 million on December 31, 2022. As of June 30, 2023, working capital was $17.5 million, compared to $19.5 million on December 31, 2022, which includes $3 million in short term loans from Brazilian banks. Vern Baker, President and CEO of Jaguar Mining stated: "The Company faced another difficult quarter as both mines encountered issues with dynamic orebodies leading to lower grades and tonnes than was expected in the areas we mined. At the Pilar mine, both tonnes and grade were impacted by rapid geometry changes in the main orebody. The Pilar mining team has adapted plans to flatter dips, narrower ore widths, and extended strike lengths. At the Turmalina mine, the team has increased sampling and drilling to improve the grade mined. Development rates continued to be strong at both mines during the quarter as we are working to position the mines with an increasing number of headings to drive production up. We have also implemented cost reduction measures which have begun to take effect reducing our operating costs. These initiatives will continue in the second half of the year. While the strengthening Brazilian Real impacted our costs and income during the quarter, we continue to have a strong balance sheet and are well positioned to execute our improvement plans. Finally, I am very excited to announce the appointment of Alfred Colas as Chief Financial Officer of Jaguar Mining. His background and extensive experience in mining and project development makes him a good fit for our Company. We know Alfred will be a great contributor to unlocking the value of our gold assets". Corporate Updates On August 1, 2023, the Company announced it had entered into a share purchase agreement to purchase and assume from a subsidiary of IAMGOLD Corporation, the Pitangui Project and the remaining interest in the Acurui Project, two gold mineral exploration projects located in Brazil which are close in proximity to the Company's MTL Complex and Paciencia Complex. Following completion of the Transaction, the Company will hold a 100% ownership in the Pitangui Project and the Acurui Project. The Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Alfred Colas as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Colas is a seasoned finance executive with over 20 years of experience with publicly listed mining and forestry companies and five years of experience in private-equity real estate. Mr. Colas spent over 13 years in progressively senior finance roles with Barrick Gold Corp, culminating in his 2007 assignment as finance manager at the Veladero Mine in Argentina, where he was a seminal part of the team that successfully turned around the operation. From 2010-2013, he was controller of Rainy River Resources, following which he was VP and CFO of FNI Mining. In 2015, Mr. Colas joined Potenia Solar as CFO and, after its sale, he continued as CFO of a family office focusing on senior-care investments. Later, Mr. Colas served as CFO of dual-listed silver producer, Excellon Resources, and most recently, he was CFO of GreenFirst Forest Products. Mr. Colas holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto, and he obtained his CA/CPA designation in 1995, having started his career in 1992 as an auditor with Price Waterhouse. _________________________________ 1 This is a Non-GAAP financial performance measure with no standard definition under IFRS. For more details, refer to the Non-GAAP Performance Measures section of the MD&A. Second Quarter 2023 Results Non-GAAP performance The Company has included the following Non-GAAP performance measures in this document: cash operating costs per ounce of gold sold, all-in sustaining costs per ounce of gold sold, average realized gold price (per ounce of gold sold), sustaining capital expenditures, non-sustaining capital expenditures, adjusted operating cash flow, free cash flow, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), adjusted EBITDA and working capital. These Non-GAAP performance measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and, therefore, may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company's performance. Accordingly, they are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. More specifically, Management believes that these figures are a useful indicator to investors and management of a mine's performance as they provide: (i) a measure of the mine's cash margin per ounce, by comparison of the cash operating costs per ounce to the price of gold; (ii) the trend in costs as the mine matures; and (iii) an internal benchmark of performance to allow for comparison against other mines. The definitions of these performance measures and reconciliation of the Non-GAAP measures to reported IFRS measures are outlined below. Reconciliation of sustaining capital and non-sustaining capital expenditures1 Reconciliation of Free Cash Flow1 Reconciliation of Cash Operating Costs, All-In Sustaining Costs and All-In Costs per Ounce Sold1 Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA1 Working Capital1 Qualified Person Scientific and technical information contained in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Jonathan Victor Hill, BSc (Hons) (Economic Geology - UCT), FAUSIMM, Vice President Geology and Exploration, who is also an employee of Jaguar Mining Inc., and is a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). The Iron Quadrangle The Iron Quadrangle has been an area of mineral exploration dating back to the 16th century. The discovery in 1699-1701 of gold contaminated with iron and platinum-group metals in the southeastern corner of the Iron Quadrangle gave rise to the name of the town Ouro Preto (Black Gold). The Iron Quadrangle contains world-class multi-million-ounce gold deposits such as Morro Velho, Cuiaba, and Sao Bento. Jaguar holds the third largest gold land position in the Iron Quadrangle with just over 25,000 hectares. About Jaguar Mining Inc. Jaguar Mining Inc. is a Canadian-listed junior gold mining, development, and exploration company operating in Brazil with three gold mining complexes and a large land package with significant upside exploration potential from mineral claims. The Company's principal operating assets are located in the Iron Quadrangle, a prolific greenstone belt in the state of Minas Gerais and include the Turmalina Gold Mine Complex and Caete Mining Complex (Pilar and Roca Grande Mines, and Caete Plant). The Company also owns the Paciencia Gold Mine Complex, which has been on care and maintenance since 2012. The Roca Grande Mine has been on temporary care and maintenance since April 2019. Additional information is available on the Company's website at www.jaguarmining.com. For further information please contact: Vernon Baker Chief Executive Officer Jaguar Mining Inc. vernon.baker@jaguarmining.com 416-847-1854 Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's expectations and plans relating to the future. All of the forward-looking information made in this news release is qualified by the cautionary statements below and those made in our other filings with the securities regulators in Canada. Forward-looking information contained in forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "are expected," "is forecast," "is targeted," "approximately," "plans," "anticipates," "projects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "believe" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "would," "might," or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, may be considered to be or include forward-looking information. This news release contains forward-looking information regarding, among other things, expected sales, production statistics, ore grades, tonnes milled, recovery rates, cash operating costs, definition/delineation drilling, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, costs and timing of the development of projects and new deposits, success of exploration, development and mining activities, currency fluctuations, capital requirements, project studies, mine life extensions, restarting suspended or disrupted operations, continuous improvement initiatives, and resolution of pending litigation. The Company has made numerous assumptions with respect to forward-looking information contained herein, including, among other things, assumptions about the estimated timeline for the development of its mineral properties; the supply and demand for, and the level and volatility of the price of, gold; the accuracy of reserve and resource estimates and the assumptions on which the reserve and resource estimates are based; the receipt of necessary permits; market competition; ongoing relations with employees and impacted communities; political and legal developments in any jurisdiction in which the Company operates being consistent with its current expectations including, without limitation, the impact of any potential power rationing, tailings facility regulation, exploration and mine operating licenses and permits being obtained and renewed and/or there being adverse amendments to mining or other laws in Brazil and any changes to general business and economic conditions. Forward-looking information involves a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including among others: the risk of Jaguar not meeting the forecast plans regarding its operations and financial performance; uncertainties with respect to the price of gold, labour disruptions, mechanical failures, increase in costs, environmental compliance and change in environmental legislation and regulation, weather delays and increased costs or production delays due to natural disasters, power disruptions, procurement and delivery of parts and supplies to the operations; uncertainties inherent to capital markets in general (including the sometimes volatile valuation of securities and an uncertain ability to raise new capital) and other risks inherent to the gold exploration, development and production industry, which, if incorrect, may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company and described herein. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of gold exploration, development, mining and production, including environmental hazards, tailings dam failures, industrial accidents and workplace safety problems, unusual or unexpected geological formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding, chemical spills, procurement fraud and gold bullion thefts and losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance, or the inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks). Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forward-looking information made in this news release, see the Company's most recent Annual Information Form and Management's Discussion and Analysis, as well as other public disclosure documents that can be accessed under the issuer profile of "Jaguar Mining Inc." on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information set forth herein reflects the Company's reasonable expectations as at the date of this news release and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Non-IFRS Measures This news release provides certain financial measures that do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. Readers are cautioned to review the below stated footnotes where the Company expands on its use of non-IFRS measures. Cash operating costs and cash operating cost per ounce are non-IFRS measures. In the gold mining industry, cash operating costs and cash operating costs per ounce are common performance measures but do not have any standardized meaning. Cash operating costs are derived from amounts included in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) and include mine-site operating costs such as mining, processing and administration, as well as royalty expenses, but exclude depreciation, depletion, share-based payment expenses, and reclamation costs. Cash operating costs per ounce are based on ounces produced and are calculated by dividing cash operating costs by commercial gold ounces produced; US$ cash operating costs per ounce produced are derived from the cash operating costs per ounce produced translated using the average Brazilian Central Bank R$/US$ exchange rate. The Company discloses cash operating costs and cash operating costs per ounce, as it believes those measures provide valuable assistance to investors and analysts in evaluating the Company's operational performance and ability to generate cash flow. The most directly comparable measure prepared in accordance with IFRS is total production costs. A reconciliation of cash operating costs per ounce to total production costs for the most recent reporting period, the quarter ended June 30. 2023, is set out in the Company's second quarter 2023 Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. All-in sustaining cost is a non-IFRS measure. This measure is intended to assist readers in evaluating the total costs of producing gold from current operations. While there is no standardized meaning across the industry for this measure, except for non-cash items the Company's definition conforms to the all-in sustaining cost definition as set out by the World Gold Council in its guidance note dated June 27, 2013. The Company defines all-in sustaining cost as the sum of production costs, sustaining capital (capital required to maintain current operations at existing levels), corporate general and administrative expenses, and in-mine exploration expenses. All-in sustaining cost excludes growth capital, reclamation cost accretion related to current operations, interest and other financing costs, and taxes. A reconciliation of all-in sustaining cost to total production costs for the most recent reporting period, the quarter ended June 30. 2023, is set out in the Company's second quarter 2023 MD&A filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. SOURCE: Jaguar Mining Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773548/Jaguar-Mining-Reports-Second-Quarter-2023-Results-and-Provides-Corporate-Update Hundreds of learning and development and talent professionals reconvene in San Diego for popular industry conference following three years in a virtual setting SAN DIEGO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Chief Learning Officer's annual flagship event, the Chief Learning Officer (CLO) Symposium, will return to its original in-person format for 2023. This year's edition is titled "All Eyes on the Future: Building a Culture of Lifelong Learning," and will be held Oct. 16-18 in San Diego. 2023 CLO Symposium 2023 CLO Symposium Developed and driven by the editors of Chief Learning Officer, the CLO Symposium provides an opportunity for executives, practitioners and professionals in learning and development and talent management to gather and learn from one another. Each day of the three-day symposium features a keynote presentation from an esteemed learning leader and a litany of other speakers, workshops, certifications courses and networking events. Through these events, CLO will explore how learning and development leaders are building and promoting learning environments within their organizations, the challenges they face in doing so and how these efforts are supporting individuals in their career journeys and impacting business outcomes. Prior to day one of the Symposium, CLO will host its pre-conference Accelerator on Oct. 14 and 15, a two-day, in-person, comprehensive and experiential development program focused on the most important topics and latest CLO research and best-practice findings for high-level learning executives. The LearningElite Gala will take place on the evening of Oct. 15, honoring the best organizations for learning and development, followed by the Learning in Progress Awards Ceremony on the evening of Oct. 16, recognizing learning leaders who demonstrate excellence in the design and delivery of employee development programs. "We at Chief Learning Officer could not be more excited to be returning to our original in-person format this fall in San Diego," said Ashley St. John, editor-in-chief and chief content officer for CLO. "For over 18 years, the Symposium has brought stakeholders from every corner of the industry together to share their unique challenges and perspectives, pursue professional growth and celebrate with one another. We are thrilled and thankful to be graced with fantastic speakers, and we can't wait to reconnect with our peers and community." All information regarding registration, accommodations, rates and the symposium agenda is available on the 2023 CLO Symposium website. ### About Chief Learning Officer Chief Learning Officer is dedicated to serving as a platform and vehicle for C-suite and senior-level learning and development professionals to connect and advance in the profession and their personal careers. We are by CLOs, for CLOs. Contact Information Taylar Ramsey-Thompson Contract Marketing & Events taylar@taylarthompsonevents.com SOURCE: Chief Learning Officer View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773526/Chief-Learning-Officer-Symposium-Returns-in-Person-October-2023 TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Predictmedix AI Inc. (CSE:PMED)(OTCQB:PMEDF)(FRA:3QP) (the "Company" or "Predictmedix") today provided an update on its Safe Entry Stations as it relates to the healthcare vertical in which the company is rapidly commercializing into. Safe Entry was featured in an independent newspaper article in India focused on the company's Safe Entry solution as a triage solution for the healthcare industry. The featured article highlighted that BPS Women's Medical College, a major government hospital in India which screens over 2000 patients per day, is utilizing the Safe Entry to screen patients for 15 vitals in 17 seconds resulting in several positive outcomes for hospital systems. For more information, please visit https://www.bhaskar.com/local/haryana/sonipat/gohana/news/now-in-17-seconds-in-bps-college-hospital-complete-examination-of-patients-bodies-will-be-done-131626313.html A Revolution in Workflow Efficiency The conventional workflow of spending roughly 20 minutes per patient for physical vital sign monitoring, coupled with instrument costs, maintenance, and manual data entry, is being replaced by Predictmedix AI's Safe Entry Stations. Safe Entry streamlines the entire Triage's process, completing it within a mere 17-20 seconds. This remarkable advancement eliminates the need for labor-intensive manual screenings, significantly reducing waiting times and resource allocation challenges. Financial Benefits of Utilizing Safe Entry Stations In an article published earlier this year in Forbes, Healthcare May Be the Ultimate Proving Ground For Artificial Intelligence, illustrates how the integration of technology like Predictmedix AI's Safe Entry Stations in hospital settings could help healthcare organizations achieve 10% savings in healthcare operational expenditures (OpEx).1 The article underscores multiple key findings that emphasize the substantial financial benefits of utilizing technology like Predictmedix AI's Safe Entry Stations: Labor Cost Reduction: By automating the initial screening process, Predictmedix AI's Safe Entry Stations significantly reduce the need for manual symptom screenings and temperature checks by healthcare staff. This automation empowers hospitals to reassign personnel to more critical tasks, leading to a substantial reduction in labor costs. Efficient Patient Flow: Hospitals that have embraced Predictmedix AI's Safe Entry Stations reported a streamlined patient entry process, resulting in faster patient throughput and reduced waiting times. This improved efficiency not only elevates patient satisfaction but also allows hospitals to cater to a higher patient volume, translating into increased revenue. Preventive Measures: The proactive identification of individuals with potential symptoms or risks using Safe Entry Stations effectively prevents the spread of contagious illnesses within the hospital environment. This proactive approach significantly lowers the likelihood of outbreaks, thereby reducing the associated costs of treating infected patients and implementing containment measures. Resource Allocation Optimization: Safe Entry Stations accurately identifies symptomatic individuals at the point of entry, enabling hospitals to allocate resources more judiciously. This includes optimizing the utilization of isolation rooms, minimizing unnecessary testing, and aligning staff assignments based on real-time patient needs. Legal and Liability Mitigation: Early identification of symptomatic individuals through Safe Entry Stations assists hospitals in mitigating potential legal liabilities linked to patient exposure to contagious illnesses. This proactive approach contributes to reduced legal costs and mitigates potential damage to the hospital's reputation. Improved Infection Control: Predictmedix AI's Safe Entry Stations play a pivotal role in upholding a hygienic environment by preventing symptomatic individuals from entering the facility. This directly impacts the reduction of healthcare-associated infections, subsequently lowering treatment costs and operational expenses. Enhanced Patient Outcomes: The timely identification of symptomatic individuals through Safe Entry Stations results in early intervention and improved patient outcomes. Hospitals benefit from shorter patient stays, fewer complications, and reduced resource utilization, contributing to OpEx savings. "In the realm of healthcare innovation, Predictmedix AI's Safe Entry Stations showcase the effective merging of technology and healthcare.Driven by our dedication to advancing patient care and operational efficiency, we are shaping a new paradigm in healthcare practices. By automating screening processes and optimizing resource utilization, our Safe Entry Stations offer not only tangible cost savings but also the assurance of enhanced patient safety and well-being. The evolution of Safe Entry holds promise for both our company and shareholders, as we continue to shape valuable contributions within the healthcare sector and drive positive change," commented Dr. Rahul Kushwah, COO of Predictmedix AI. 1 https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2023/02/22/healthcare-may-be-the-ultimate-proving-ground-for-artificial-intelligence/'sh=76acf6aa2b55 About Predictmedix AI Inc. Predictmedix AI Inc. (CSE:PMED)(OTCQB:PMEDF)(FRA:3QP) is an emerging provider of rapid health screening and remote patient care solutions globally. The Company's Safe Entry Stations - powered by a proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) - use multispectral cameras to analyze physiological data patterns and predict a variety of health issues including infectious diseases such as COVID-19, impairment by drugs or alcohol, fatigue, or various mental illnesses. Predictmedix AI's proprietary remote patient care platform empowers medical professionals with a suite of AI-powered tools to improve patient health outcomes. To learn more, please visit our website at www.Predictmedix.com or follow us on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn. Public Relations Contact For further media information or to set up an interview, please contact: Nelson Hudes Hudes Communications International (905) 660 9155 Nelson@hudescommunications.com Dr. Rahul Kushwah (647) 889 6916 Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information: This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results of the Company. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be correct. We assume no responsibility to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. The Company's securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or applicable state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or "U.S. Persons", as such term is defined in Regulations under the U.S. Securities Act, absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in the United States or any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any Page 4 of 4 future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein, such as, but not limited to dependence on obtaining regulatory approvals; the ability to obtain intellectual property rights related to its technology; limited operating history; general business, economic, competitive, political, regulatory and social uncertainties, and in particular, uncertainties related to COVID-19; risks related to factors beyond the control of the Company, including risks related to COVID-19; risks related to the Company's shares, including price volatility due to events that may or may not be within such party's control; reliance on management; and the emergency of additional competitors in the industry. All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except required by law. Disclaimer: "The Company is not making any express or implied claims that its product has the ability to diagnose, eliminate, cure or contain the COVID-19 (or SARS-2 Coronavirus) at this time. THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED NOR DOES IT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. SOURCE: Predictmedix AI Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773552/Enhancing-Healthcare-Economics-Predictmedix-AIs-Safe-Entry-Stations-Revolutionize-Safety-and-Efficiency Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Tembo Gold Corp. (TSXV: TEM) ("Tembo", or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Licences Purchase Agreement dated August 9th, 2023 (the "Agreement") with Lake Victoria Gold Ltd. ("LVG"), a private Australian company, pursuant to which the Company will acquire (the "Acquisition"), indirectly through its wholly-owned subsidiary Tembo Gold Tanzania Limited, LVG's Imwelo Gold Project (the "Project") in Tanzania. Tembo has also entered into a binding letter of intent dated August 8th, 2023 for a C$11,520,000 financing with Taifa Mining and Civils Limited ("Taifa"), a prominent Tanzanian mining contracting firm. The Project The Project is a gold project located in northern Tanzania immediately to the west of Geita Gold Mine of Anglogold Ashanti. The Project is held by LVG's Tanzanian subsidiary, Tanzoz Mineral Limited. An updated pre-feasibility study ("PFS") was completed in 2021 by Measured Group Pty Ltd of Australia, incorporating mine design, mine planning, scheduling, reserve estimation and costing. The Project is held under a Tanzanian mining licence ML538/2015 and includes a primary mining licence PML2637, over which LVG has a right to acquire through a purchase agreement. The ML is 3.85km2 and the PML is 8.5021ha. The Project is subject to a 2% royalty to a previous owner. The ML is fully permitted for mine construction and production to commence. The Project resource comprises seven mineralized locations that have been drilled and includes 42,000oz Au measured mineral resources at 3.15g/t, 95,700oz Au indicated mineral resources at 1.95g/t and 153,900oz inferred mineral resources at 1.53g/t for a total 291,600oz Au (the "Historical Resource Estimate"). Further information on the Historical Resource Estimate can be found below. The gold occurs as typical quartz vein shear hosted gold deposits suitable for open pit mining. The Project ML provides 'bluesky' potential. Drilling to date has only been down to 80m below surface. A number of areas were not drilled as they were not accessible at the time, and extensions to the known mineralisation remain untested, both along strike and certainly downdip. The Company anticipates it may define a current mineral resource on the Project and, eventually, mineral reserves that will allow expansion of production and extension of the mine life; however, there is no assurance that further exploration will result in the definition of current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The Historical Resource Estimate is derived from a report entitled "Geology and Resource Estimate Report - Imwelo Project, Tanzania, Lake Victoria Gold Limited" dated May 31, 2017 (the "Report") prepared by Measured Group Pty Ltd. The Historical Resource Estimate presented in the Report was carried out in accordance with the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves" (2012 Edition) prepared by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Australian Institute of Geoscientists and Minerals Council of Australia. The Report includes the following Historical Resource Estimate: Historical Mineral Resource Estimate Classification Cutoff Grade Au g /tonne Tonnes Gold Grade g/tonne Ounce Gold Measured 0.50g/t 414,000 3.15 42,000 Indicated 0.50g/t 1,530,300 1.95 95,700 Inferred 0.50g/t 2,781,500 1.56 153,900 (Source: MEASURED GROUP PTY LTD (MG) Geology and Resource Estimate Report - Imwelo Project, Tanzania, Lake Victoria Gold Limited, May 2017) The above noted Historical Resource Estimate dated 31 May 2017 is the last historical mineral resource estimate on the Project and no more recent data is available to the Company. The Historical Resource Estimate is based on a detailed review completed by LVG and Measured Group Pty Ltd. of local conditions. It has incorporated LVG's view of long-term metal prices, foreign exchange and cost assumptions, plus mining and metallurgy performance to select cut-off grades and physical mining parameters. The cut-off grade is based on a gold price of US$1,500 and an 88% metallurgical recovery is assumed in the calculation of the cut-off grade. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the Historical Resource Estimate as current mineral resources, and the Company is not treating the Historical Resource Estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The Company believes that the Historical Resource Estimate is relevant to an appraisal of the merits of the Project and forms a reliable basis upon which to develop future exploration programs. The Company will need to conduct further exploration, and there is no guarantee that the results obtained will reflect the historical estimate. In order to verify the Historical Resource Estimate to a current mineral resource estimate, the Company will need to retain a qualified person to verify historical drilling and assaying methods and validate historical results, add any drilling and assaying or other pertinent geological information generated since the last estimation, and complete an updated resource estimate and a new technical report. Significant data compilation, drilling, sampling and data verification may be required by a qualified person before the Historical Resource Estimate can be classified as a current resource. There can be no assurance that any of the historical mineral resources, in whole or in part, will ever become economically viable. In addition, mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. Even if classified as a current mineral resource, there is no certainty as to whether further exploration will result in any inferred mineral resources being upgraded to an indicated or measured mineral resource category. "Lake Victoria Gold is excited for the opportunity to become part of the Tembo family. The merging of the technical and country knowledge and experience of our respective teams will provide a strong foundation for the development and progress of the Tanzanian Gold Projects," said Seth Dickinson, Managing Director, Lake Victoria Gold. Terms of the Acquisition Under the Agreement, Tembo will acquire the Project for consideration of C$5,500,000, consisting of approximately 23.6 million common shares of Tembo at a deemed value of C$0.22 per share, plus approximately USD$221,000 cash. LVG will be required to hold the Tembo shares received as consideration for the Acquisition in escrow in accordance with the share release conditions outlined below: 1/3 of shares released from escrow upon Commercial Production (as defined in the Agreement) being achieved on the Project; 1/3 of shares (1/2 of remaining shares) released 6 months after Commercial Production; and 1/3 of shares (all remaining shares) released 12 months after Commercial Production. If Commercial Production is not achieved within 3 years of closing, the escrow shares will be released to LVG. During the escrow period, Tembo (or its nominee) will retain voting rights over the escrowed shares. Conditions to closing of the Acquisition include: satisfactory completion of due diligence by Tembo, acting reasonably; Tembo obtaining all necessary shareholder approvals to complete the Acquisition; Tembo and LVG obtaining all required regulatory approvals, including in respect of the Fair Competition Act ( Tanzania ) and the TSX Venture Exchange (" TSXV ") to proceed with the Acquisition; completion of the initial tranche of the Financings (see below); completion of a technical report on the Project and acceptance of the report by the TSXV; and other customary conditions precedent for a transaction of this nature. Following the completion of the Acquisition, a nominee of LVG will be added to Tembo's Board of Directors and Seth Dickinson will be offered the role of Chief Operating Officer of Tembo. Closing of the Acquisition is expected to be completed by December, 2023. The Acquisition constitutes a "Fundamental Acquisition" under the policies of the TSXV, and is subject to TSXV acceptance. All Tembo shares issued pursuant to the Acquisition will be subject to a 4 month hold period from the date of issuance under applicable Canadian securities laws. The Acquisition is an arm's length transaction and no finder's fees are payable. Financings In conjunction with the Acquisition, Tembo has entered into a binding letter of intent ("LOI") with Taifa for a financing commitment of C$11,520,000 (48,000,000 shares) (the "Financings"). Taifa, owned by Tanzanian tycoon Rostam Aziz, was founded in 1987 as a civils and earth-moving operation in Mbeya, Tanzania. It has since grown into the largest locally-owned civils and mining contracting business in Tanzania with prominent companies such as Petra, De Beers, Barrick, and AngloGold Ashanti as partners. The agreement with Taifa reinforces Taifa's growing influence in Tanzania's mining sector and provides Tembo with a local partner with extensive mining expertise. Under the terms of the LOI, Taifa's investment will take place in three stages, as follows: Prior to completion of the Acquisition, Taifa (or related persons) will initially subscribe for 16 million shares of Tembo at C$0.22 per share for gross proceeds of C$3,520,000. On closing of this initial investment, Tembo will enter into a mining services contract with Taifa outlining conditions upon which Taifa will provide mining services work for the Project. Such services will be provided on industry competitive terms. Taifa will obtain the right to nominate one member to the Tembo Board of Directors. Upon completion of final engineering and closing of Acquisition, Taifa will have 20 days to complete a second private placement of 16 million units (" Units ") at a price of C$0.24 per Unit (subject to TSXV pricing rules) for gross proceeds of C$3,840,000. Each Unit will consist of one common share of Tembo and one warrant (" Warrant ") exercisable to purchase one additional common share of Tembo for 2 years at a price of C$0.26 per share. On closing of this investment, Tembo will enter into an additional mining services contract with Taifa pursuant to which Taifa will provide mining services for Tembo's Tembo project . Such services will be provided on industry competitive terms. On the date that is six months after Tembo breaks ground on the Project, Taifa will have 20 days to exercise the Warrants which will result in the issuance of an additional 16,000,000 shares of Tembo for gross proceeds to Tembo of C$4,160,000. On closing of this investment, Tembo will enter into a third mining services contract with Taifa outlining conditions upon which Taifa will provide mining services for the Tembo projects including all future projects. Such services will be provided on industry competitive terms. "The acquisition of Lake Victoria Gold and the partnership with Taifa Mining strategically positions and transforms Tembo into a vehicle for growth and consolidation in Tanzania. We are excited to see Tembo evolve from a company with one exploration asset to a company with multiple paths of shareholder value creation. We look forward to working with Seth Dickinson from LVG and the Taifa team as we identify and evaluate other accretive opportunities in the country," said David Scott, President & CEO of Tembo. Tembo intends to use the proceeds from the initial Financing for the Acquisition and development of the Project. Tembo reserves the right to complete additional financings either before or after completion of the Acquisition or the Financings. Terms of any additional financings will be disclosed by press release. All securities of Tembo issued pursuant to the Financings will be subject to a 4 month hold period from the date of issuance under applicable Canadian securities laws. The terms of all financings are subject to TSXV acceptance. The Financings will be arm's length transactions. Capital Structure Upon completion of the Acquisition and the Financings, it is expected that Taifa will own approximately 27.1% of Tembo's outstanding shares on a partially diluted basis, and LVG or its shareholders will own approximately 13.3%. Qualified Person David Scott, Pr. Sci. Nat., is the Qualified Person responsible for the technical content of this news release. David Scott, Pr. Sci. Nat., has prepared, supervised and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release. About Tembo Tembo Gold is a Canadian public company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V") under the symbol TEM. The Company has a 100% interest in the Tembo Gold Project which has over forty thousand meters of drilling and is located adjacent to Barrick's 20Moz Bulyanhulu Mine in Tanzania's prolific Lake Victoria Goldfield. In April 2022 Tembo completed a transaction with Barrick, whereby Tembo sold six of its non-core licenses to Barrick for $6mm USD, and Barrick is committed to spending $9mm USD over the first four years. Additionally, Tembo will receive contingent payments of up-to $45mm USD on the first five million ounces discovered by Barrick. The company has assembled a highly experienced team with a track record of developing, financing, and operating mining projects in Africa. Tembo is focused on the discovery and development of world-class gold projects in Africa as well as seeking additional opportunities that can bring value to the company and shareholders. On Behalf of the Board of Directors of Tembo, David Scott President & CEO Phone: +255 767 366 146 Email: dscott@tembogold.com For more information please contact: Simon Benstead Director & CFO Phone: 604-685-9316 Email: sbenstead@tembogold.com Marc Cernovitch Director Phone: +1 604-685-9316 Email: mcernovitch@tembogold.com NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation, including: future exploration plans with respect to the Project, defining current mineral resource and mineral reserves on the Project, the terms of the Acquisition and the Financings, entering into mining services contracts with Taifa, the anticipated share structure of Tembo following the Acquisition and Financings, the use of proceeds for the Financings, the closing of the Acquisition and the Financings, including the satisfaction of the closing conditions thereunder and the expected timing thereof, and receipt of all regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSXV for the Acquisition and Financings and the Tanzania Fair Competition Commission for the Acquisition and the Company's intention to provide further updates in respect of the Acquisition and the Financings. All statements in this news release 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 necessarily involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond Tembo's control, including risks associated with or related to: the completion of the Acquisition, the Financings and related transactions, including receipt of all regulatory approvals and third-party consents, the volatility of metal prices and Tembo's common shares; changes in tax laws; the dangers inherent in exploration, development and mining activities; the uncertainty of reserve and resource estimates; not achieving development or production, cost or other estimates; actual exploration or development plans and costs differing materially from the Company's estimates; the ability to obtain and maintain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for mining activities; environmental regulations or hazards and compliance with complex regulations associated with mining activities; climate change and climate change regulations; fluctuations in exchange rates; the availability of financing; financing and debt activities; operations in foreign and developing countries and the compliance with foreign laws, including those associated with operations in Tanzania and including risks related to changes in foreign laws and changing policies related to mining and local ownership requirements or resource nationalization generally, including in response to the COVID-19 outbreak; remote operations and the availability of adequate infrastructure; fluctuations in price and availability of energy and other inputs necessary for mining operations; shortages or cost increases in necessary equipment, supplies and labour; regulatory, political and country risks, including local instability or acts of terrorism and the effects thereof; the reliance upon contractors, third parties and joint venture partners; challenges to title or surface rights; the dependence on key personnel and the ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the risk of an uninsurable or uninsured loss; adverse climate and weather conditions; litigation risk; competition with other mining companies; community support for Tembo's operations, including risks related to strikes and the halting of such operations from time to time; conflicts with small scale miners; failures of information systems or information security threats; the ability to maintain adequate internal controls over financial reporting as required by law; compliance with anti-corruption laws, and sanctions or other similar measures; social media and Tembo's reputation; and other risks disclosed in the Company's public filings. Tembo's forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management and reflect their current expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date hereof. Tembo does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions should change other than as required by applicable law. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what benefits or liabilities Tembo will derive therefrom. For the reasons set forth above, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176737 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. With positive operating cash flow for Q2 and YTD, and four consecutive quarters of record revenue, Reklaim is well-positioned for a profitable 2023. New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Reklaim, (TSXV: MYID) (OTC Pink: MYIDF) ("Reklaim"), the destination for consumers to access and reclaim their data, announces the filing of its Q2 2023 financial results. Reklaim Highlights for Q2-2023 The Company reported $255,667 in positive comprehensive income for Q2-2023. The Company experienced its first million-dollar quarter, with Q2-2023 revenue growing to $1,043,427, a 62% increase over the same period last year. The Company has now achieved four consecutive quarters of record revenue growth. Achieved positive operating cash flow for Q2 and YTD through improved efficiency and operating margins. The Company improved its gross margin by 9% from Q1 2023 to Q2 2023, moving from 71% to 80%. Achieved recurring revenue of 93% in Q2-2023 and 92% for the six months ending June 30, 2023, up from 85% to 87% for the same periods last year. Platform revenue, which represents 71% of total income, grew by 61% in Q2-2023 and 81% for the six months ending June 30, 2023, compared to the same periods last year. Reduced operating expenses by 49% in Q2-2023 and 55% for the six months ending June 30, 2023, compared to last year's reporting periods. The Company's new revenue vertical, 'Deals,' generated $215,718 and $263,673 for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023. Deal revenue grew 350% from Q1 2023 to Q2 2023, or $167,762. "We have been clear in our signal to the market that our core focus was profitability and are pleased to see this manifest in Q2 on top of our fourth straight quarter of record revenue," said Reklaim CEO and Founder Neil Sweeney. "With positive cash flow this past quarter, continued expense reduction and margin improvement, investors should feel confident in our continued path towards a profitable 2023." "Since January of 2023, we have seen a palatable uptick in demand for privacy-compliant data due to the state of California beginning its enforcement period of its privacy legislation; CPRA. Additionally, twelve states have either passed or signed new comprehensive privacy laws in 2023, with an additional four states currently in committee. The trend toward privacy-compliant data continues to accelerate, and Reklaim is well-positioned to take advantage of this massive opportunity. Full financial results, reported in CAD dollars, and Management's Discussion and Analysis are posted to SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and on the Company's investor relations website: investors.reklaimyours.com. Q2-2023 Earnings Call Reklaim will hold a conference call on Tuesday, August 15th, 2023, at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time (1:00 p.m. Pacific time) to discuss its financial results for the second quarter of 2023. Neil Sweeney, CEO and Founder, will host the conference call, followed by a question and answer period. Date: Tuesday, August 15th, 2023 Time: 4:00 p.m. Eastern time (1:00 p.m. Pacific time) Zoom Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwvc-CvrzMuGNx6Hp6GDrZWP2mdWHqUYU6e Please log in to the call 10 minutes before the start time. If you have any difficulty connecting with the conference call, email contact investorrelations@reklaimyours.com The conference call will be broadcast live and available for replay on investors.reklaimyours.com Additional information The Company is also pleased to announce that it has previously closed on a non-brokered private placement financing raising $90,000 through the issuance of 1,500,000 units ("Units") at $0.06 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one common share and one common share purchase warrant ("Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one common share in the Company's capital at an exercise price of $0.10 for 36 months from the date of issuance. In the event that the volume-weighted average trading price of the common shares of the Company on the TSXV is more than $0.15 for a period of 20 consecutive trading days, the Company will have the right to accelerate the expiry date to 30 days following the date of notice thereof. Under Canadian securities law, all securities issued under this private placement financing are subject to a restricted resale period until September 25, 2021. The Company has paid no cash commissions or finder's fees concerning this private placement financing. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the private placement financing for general corporate purposes. About Reklaim Offering compliant, zero-party data to Fortune 500 brands, platforms, and data companies, Reklaim allows consumers to visit the application, confirm their identity, and unveil data collected and sold for years without the consumer's explicit consent. Reklaim enables consumers to take back control of this data by setting up a Reklaim account through which, should they choose to, they can be compensated for their data. To view more information about Reklaim, visit https://investors.reklaimyours.com. For further information, please contact Ira Levy, CFO, 1-855-908-DATA E: investorrelations@reklaimyours.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release contains projections and forward-looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties regarding future events. Such forward-looking information can include statements based on current expectations involving several risks and uncertainties without limitation and are not guarantees of the Company's future performance. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. These statements are based upon the current expectations and beliefs of management and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to; the market for privacy may not continue to grow, recent privacy regulations may not have the anticipated effect; and the risks and uncertainties discussed in our most recent annual and quarterly reports filed with the Canadian securities regulators and available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, which risks and uncertainties are incorporated herein by reference. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend and undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect, in particular, new information or future events. The reader is cautioned that assumptions in preparing forward-looking information may prove incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted due to numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. As a result, the Company cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will materialize, and the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Although considered reasonable by management during preparation, such information may prove incorrect, and results may differ materially from anticipated. This cautionary statement expressly qualifies forward-looking statements contained in this news release. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. The Company will only update or revise any included forward-looking statements as expressly required by Canadian securities law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176659 NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 9, 2023 / Pampa Metals Corp. ("Pampa Metals" or the "Company") (CSE:PM)(FSE:FIRA)(OTCQB:PMMCF) has today announced its intention to consolidate its issued and outstanding common shares on a 1-for-2.5 basis (the "Consolidation") and to reduce the exercise price of its November 2025 $0.19 and March 2026 $0.21 warrants to $0.095 and $.105 respectively (the "Warrant Exercise Price Reduction"), on a post consolidation basis. See Share Consolidation and Warrant Exercise Price Reduction below for more information. Non-Brokered Private Placement Concurrently, the Company intends to launch a non-brokered private placement offering (the "Offering") of up to 10,000,000 post-consolidation units ("Units") at a price of $0.05 per Unit for gross proceeds of up to $500,000. Each Unit will consist of one fully paid common share and one common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant shall entitle the holder to acquire an additional common share at a price of $0.075 for a period of 3 years. In connection with the Offering, the Company may pay finder's fees of up to 7% in cash and 7% in finder's warrants. The finder's warrants will be on the same terms as those issued under the Offering. The closing of the Offering may occur in one or more tranches with the final tranche expected to occur on or before September 10, 2023, and is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals. Use Of Proceeds Following recent drilling of the Buenavista Target in June 2023, Pampa Metals is seeking to further evaluate the Block 4 project via a joint venture partnership and will shift its focus to the acquisition, exploration, and development of a more advanced stage copper project(s) with significant scale potential. Proceeds from the Offering will be primarily used to assess, and potentially acquire, advanced stage copper project(s) in The Americas, where the application of the Company's technical and commercial expertise in exploration, resource delineation and feasibility studies can be applied to creating value for shareholders. High quality copper projects in other jurisdictions which meet our criteria will be assessed on an opportunistic basis. Specifically, the Company is seeking to acquire a project with the following characteristics: Historic ore grade interval(s); Opportunity to quickly establish a meaningful initial Mineral Resource Estimate; Conceptual copper production profile of +30-50,000 tpa; and Conceptual capex of A small number of projects with the potential to meet the above criteria are in the early stages of review. Share Consolidation Pampa Metals has 72,793,275 common shares issued and outstanding. On completion of the Consolidation the Company will have 29,117,310 common shares issued and outstanding. The number of post-consolidated common shares to be received by shareholders will be rounded up to the nearest whole number for fractions of 0.5 or greater or rounded down to the nearest whole number for fractions of less than 0.5. A letter of transmittal with respect to the Consolidation will be mailed to registered holders of common shares with instructions on how to exchange existing share certificate(s) for new share certificate(s). The letter of transmittal will also be available on the Company's profile on SEDAR. Pursuant to the provisions of the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) and the Articles of the Company, the Consolidation was approved by way of resolutions passed by the board of directors of the Company. The Company will apply to the CSE for approval of the Consolidation. The Company's common shares will commence trading on a post-consolidated basis on a date to be determined in consultation with the CSE, which date will be announced in a subsequent news release. The Company's name and trading symbols will remain unchanged. Warrant Exercise Price Reduction In connection with its November 2022 and March 2023 private placements, the Company issued a total of 4,444,444 $0.19 warrants with a November 2025 expiry and 18,855,109 $0.21 warrants with a March 2026 expiry respectively. Pursuant to the provisions of the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) and the Articles of the Company, the board of directors has resolved to reduce the exercise price of both classes of warrants to $0.095 and $0.105 respectively, on a post-consolidated basis. The Company will apply to the CSE for approval of the Warrant Exercise Price Reduction. ABOUT PAMPA METALS Pampa Metals is listed on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE: PM), Frankfurt (FSE: FIRA) and OTC (OTCQB: PMMCF) exchanges and wholly owns a portfolio of projects highly prospective for copper, molybdenum and gold along proven and highly productive mineral belts in Chile, the world's largest copper producer. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Joseph van den Elsen | President & CEO INVESTORS CONTACT Joseph van den Elsen | President & CEO joseph@pampametals.com Neither the CSE nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that Pampa Metals expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will" or "may" occur. These statements are subject to various risks. Although Pampa Metals believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guaranteeing of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. SOURCE: Pampa Metals Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773432/Pampa-Metals-Announces-Share-Consolidation-Reduction-in-Warrant-Exercise-Price-and-Non-Brokered-Private-Placement Preliminary Economic Assessment On-Schedule; Robust Mineral Resource Independently Confirmed Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Goldshore Resources Inc. (TSXV: GSHR) (OTCQB: GSHRF) (FSE: 8X00) ("Goldshore" or the "Company"), is pleased to share a corporate update in regards to its ongoing activities. Highlights: The Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") on the Moss Gold Project is progressing well and is on schedule for release mid Q4 2023. The PEA is being managed by an independent multidisciplinary team at Ausenco Engineering Canada Inc. ("Ausenco"). Base Metallurgical Laboratories Ltd. ("BaseMet") has completed a gold deportment study with positive results and additional heap leach metallurgical test work is in progress at Kappes, Cassaday and Associates ("KCA") to maximize potential gold recoveries. Independent review of the May 5, 2023 Mineral Resource Estimate for the Moss Gold Project recently completed by SRK Consulting (Canada) Ltd. ("SRK") confirms that the resource meets the CIM guidelines for the reporting of inferred mineral resources. Independent review of project permitting paths by CSL Environmental & Geotechnical Ltd. ("CSL") confirms that the permitting process is on-track for development with significant studies already completed and no major information or timeline hurdles expected. Goldshore continues to take a proactive approach to community engagement, with regular information sharing meetings with host indigenous communities and benefiting greatly from feedback on all aspects of the PEA process. The Company has been approved to receive an Ontario Junior Exploration Program grant of $200,000. An additional >8,000 ha of new mineral claims have been staked 15-25 km north of the Moss Gold Project. President and CEO Brett Richards stated: "In the wake of this market turbulence, we continue to pursue our goals of establishing the economic viability of the Moss Gold Project; as well as increasing our footprint in the region in a responsible manner. We continue to see great potential for the Moss Gold Project to grow well beyond the scope of the PEA we are currently conducting, but appreciate we need to establish the Project as an economically viable resource in its existing size, grade, and metallurgy. Initial indications are extremely encouraging, and we are looking forward to releasing the complete economic results in mid Q4 2023." PEA Update Ausenco has completed Phase One of the ongoing PEA for the Moss Gold Project. Phase One was an initial high-level review of various mining and milling rates and different plant processes that is conducted to select the optimal configuration for the detailed PEA (Phase Two). While not definitive in and of itself, Phase One indicated that the most effective method to process mineralized material from the Moss Gold Project is conventional cyanide leaching with stockpiling of low-grade material for processing at the end of mine life. The Phase One results also indicated that an alternate (though more complex) flotation-leach process with heap-leaching of low-grade material provided similar returns, but size and scope of this approach needs to be studied in the future for project scoping on a larger resource (in both geological domains). During Phase Two, further test work will be conducted to better define the cost and recovery profile entailed by the alternative of heap-leaching low-grade material. To this end, the Company will soon commence column leach testing of mineralization with KCA, who are recognized leaders in heap leach technology. Alternate processing options highlight the flexibility of the Moss Gold Project, and future test work may unlock potential opportunity for upside on creating a different size scoped project in the future, with different recovery methods. Mineral Deportment Study Sixteen samples were submitted to BaseMet in Kamloops, BC, for gold deportment studies that evaluated the gold associations, gold particle size distribution, degree of gold liberation and gold mineralogy. The samples are composites from shear and intrusion domains, plus combined composites, from the Main, Central and QES Zones (the "Moss Pit"), Moss Southwest Zone and East Coldstream. Within the Moss Pit, combined samples were prepared for the three zones as well as an overall pit composite. In general, observed gold grains in all samples are ultrafine, predominantly in -20 m size fraction. This is at the very bottom end where centrifugal gold concentrators operate, hence the low recoveries observed in the E-GRG test. The strong association with pyrite in several samples shows why flotation was successful and, with regrind, leach extractions improved significantly. The bulk mineralogy shows high amounts of quartz and plagioclase in all samples which corelate to the high competency and hardness seen in the comminution results. Mineral Resource Audit Following the inclusion of external comments within the technical report drafted by CSA Global; Goldshore retained SRK to conduct an independent review of the mineral resource estimate and its reliability. Dr. Gilles Arseneau, Principal Consultant at SRK, conducted an independent review of the May 2023 mineral resource estimate reported by CSA. He also completed an in-depth review of the drill data and wireframes used for this estimate. Dr. Arseneau concluded that, "the mineral resource reported by CSA Global effective May 5, 2023, meets the criteria under CIM guidelines for reporting inferred mineral resources." Although Dr. Arseneau noted concerns with the historical drilling data, they were fewer than those noted by CSA, and he also noted that with further analysis it may be possible to reclassify part of the Mineral Resource as indicated mineral resources under CIM guidelines. Goldshore has concluded that the mineral resource estimate is suitable for the purpose of advancing the current PEA. Independent Outlook for Permitting CSL are Goldshore's independent environmental site auditors as well as project managers for current baseline studies. CSL have considerable experience in this field through their work on the permitting for Impala's Lac des Iles mine, north of Thunder Bay. This positions them perfectly to manage the Section 20 environmental studies for the PEA. As part of this, CSL produced an independent position paper on the steps required to permit the Moss Gold Project. CSL has used the rigour around site layout and engineering to identify additional baseline studies that will need to be undertaken and completed as part of the permitting and approvals process. This includes future engagement with indigenous communities on site layout as well as long lead time permits (federal and provincial). Key permits that Goldshore will be seeking include: Federally, an Impact Assessment and a Fisheries Habitat Compensation Plan, and various approvals, authorizations and licenses; and Provincially, a Closure Plan, various Environmental Compliance Approvals and several standard work permits. All of these permits have been factored into internal planning timelines. Chris Perusse, P.Geo., President and Senior Geoscientist with CSL, noted, "there are no major informational or timeline hurdles to permitting the Moss Gold Project and a relatively straightforward path with Goldshore well on track with studies completed to date. There is no major lake remediation process, rather a diversion of the Wawiag River, which broadens into the very shallow Snodgrass Lake, around the proposed mine site." Goldshore is taking a proactive approach to consultation with our host indigenous communities through regular meetings to share information and benefit from feedback on all aspects of the PEA process. Hillcrest Project As part of the Company's strategy for an exploration and development pipeline, Goldshore has acquired 390 cell claims covering 8,261 hectares in the Quetico Subprovince, 15-25km kilometres north of Moss. This has been named the Hillcrest Project. The Hillcrest Project represents a blue-sky approach to gold exploration. Fault systems cutting the area appear to be deep-seated structures, "plumbing" the mantle, that were active in the same timeframe as the "Timiskaming-type" deformation zones which have a known, close association with gold mineralization within the Shebandowan Belt (specifically, the high-grade Delta-1 and Tower gold deposits, held by Delta Resources and Thunder Gold, respectively). The interpreted tectonic regime predicts a relatively high density of subvertical second-order deformation zones which acted as fluid conduits. Lake sediment geochemistry is anomalous in gold and other pathfinder elements, which highlights the unrecognized prospectivity of the area. The Hillcrest Project is also prospective for critical minerals - specifically, Alaska-type Ni-Cu-PGEAu and lithium pegmatites - as suggested by pre-staking prospecting conducted by Goldshore's geologists. The current focus remains on the Moss Gold Project and fieldwork is not planned on the Hillcrest Project until 2024-25. Hillcrest Project To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8051/176639_9a4119a1545f3be1_002full.jpg Ontario Junior Exploration Program Funding The Company applied for a $200,000 grant under Ontario's Junior Exploration Program (OJEP), which was approved on July 13, 2023. Goldshore has been using these funds to conduct geological mapping and geochemical sampling that is focused on potential copper-cobalt targets within the Moss Gold Project. The Company has received approval for the full $200,000 grant under OJEP which consists of a 50% rebate on $400,000 of grassroots focused exploration expenses incurred in 2023. The Company mobilized field crews in May which have been actively exploring the northern tenement of the project targeting favourable geological horizons and alteration envelopes associated with VMS mineralization as identified at the Vanguard and North Coldstream deposits. The program will progressively move south exploring regional targets around the Moss deposit and Hamlin prospect identified through the earlier completed airborne geophysics survey including many unexplained EM anomalies. The Company looks forward to continuing its partnership with the Ontario government through OJEP and will be monitoring the program for additional opportunities for funding. President and CEO Brett Richards stated: "I would like send a note of thanks to the Minister of Mines, for the creation of the Ontario Junior Exploration Program funding, and for our acceptance to receive the generous grant to continue our field work." Pete Flindell, VP Exploration for Goldshore, said, "Goldshore remains active with field mapping and geochemical sampling programs to prioritize scout drilling targets for when the drill rigs return later this year. At the same time, we are pursuing studies to determine the economic value of the Moss Gold Project. Initial results are highly encouraging, exceeding all of the Company's economic metrics given to Ausenco as the framework for scoping the project." Qualified Persons Peter Flindell, P.Geo., MAusIMM, MAIG, Vice President - Exploration of the Company is a "Qualified Person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. He has reviewed and verified the scientific and technical information contained in this news release. Dr Gilles Arseneau, P. Geo. is an associate with SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. SRK Consulting is an independent, global network of consulting practices in over 45 countries on six continents. Its experienced engineers and scientists work with clients in multi-disciplinary teams to deliver integrated, sustainable solutions across a range of sectors - mining, water, environment, infrastructure, and energy. He has reviewed and verified the information regarding the Mineral Resource audit on the Moss Gold Project disclosed in this news release. Robert Raponi, P.Eng is a Senior Mining Engineer Specialist with Ausenco Engineering Canada Inc. He has reviewed and verified the information regarding the metallurgical and processing results on the Moss Gold project disclosed in the news release. Chris Perusse, P.Geo, is President and Senior Geoscientist with CSL Environmental and Geotechnical Ltd. He has reviewed and verified the information regarding the independent outlook on permitting on the Moss Gold project disclosed in the news release. About Goldshore Goldshore is an emerging junior gold development company, and owns 100% of the Moss Gold Project located in Ontario. Wesdome is currently a large shareholder of Goldshore, and the Company is supported by an industry-leading management group, board of directors and advisory board. Goldshore is well positioned to advance the Moss Gold Project through the next stages of exploration and development. About Ausenco Ausenco is a global diversified engineering, construction and project management company providing consulting, project delivery and asset management solutions to the resources, energy and infrastructure sectors. Ausenco's experience in gold projects ranges from conceptual, pre-feasibility and feasibility studies for new project developments to project execution with EPCM and EPC delivery. Ausenco is currently engaged on a number of global projects with similar characteristics and opportunities to the Moss Gold Project. 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. For More Information - Please Contact: Brett A. Richards President, Chief Executive Officer and Director Goldshore Resources Inc. P. +1 604 288 4416 M. +1 905 449 1500 E. brichards@goldshoreresources.com W. www.goldshoreresources.com Facebook: GoldShoreRes | Twitter: GoldShoreRes | LinkedIn: goldshoreres Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "could" or "should" occur. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others, statements relating to expectations regarding the exploration and development of the Moss Gold Project and the Hillcrest Project, the release of an updated mineral resource estimate and preliminary economic assessment, and other statements that are not historical facts. 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 and risks include, among others: the Company may require additional financing from time to time in order to continue its operations which may not be available when needed or on acceptable terms and conditions acceptable; compliance with extensive government regulation; domestic and foreign laws and regulations could adversely affect the Company's business and results of operations; the stock markets have experienced volatility that often has been unrelated to the performance of companies and these fluctuations may adversely affect the price of the Company's securities, regardless of its operating performance; and the impact of COVID-19. 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. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176639 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Ridgeline Minerals Corp. (TSXV: RDG) (OTCQB: RDGMF) (FSE: 0GC0) ("Ridgeline" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Nevada Gold Mines LLC ("NGM" or "Nevada Gold Mines"), a joint venture between Barrick Gold and Newmont Corp., has mobilized a drill rig to the Swift Gold Project ("Swift") located in the Cortez District of the Battle Mountain - Eureka mine trend (Figure 1). Ridgeline entered into an exploration earn-in agreement with NGM on September 22, 2021 (see press release HERE) where NGM can incur a minimum of US$ 20 million (of which US$ 5 million has been spent to-date) in qualifying work expenditures over an initial five-year term to earn an initial 60% interest in Swift, and will have further options to increase its interest to a total 75% interest. Details of the proposed drill program are highlighted below. Drill Program Highlights Drill hole SW23-005 will target the intersection of proposed low-angle structures and favourable lower plate carbonate host rocks of the Wenban and Roberts Mountains Formations. Drill hole will provide key litho-structural information between historical drill intercepts in hole MCK-99-5A (18.3 meters ("m") grading 0.64 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold ("Au")) and 2022 NGM drill intercepts in SW22-002 (41.9 m grading 0.26 g/t Au) and SW22-003 (48.8 m grading 0.45 g/t Au), (see Figure 2 and February 16, 2023 press release HERE) Drill hole SW22-004 will be extended from a starting depth of 1,104 m where the hole was previously halted by NGM in January 2023 due to severe winter weather conditions. Drilling returned up to 3.0 m grading 2.27 g/t Au in Upper Plate rocks prior to intersecting Lower Plate host rocks at 1,065 m (Figure 2). Hole will be extended through prospective host rocks to an anticipated depth of 1,500+ meters. Chad Peters, Ridgeline's President, CEO & Director commented, "To date, we are very encouraged by the exploration results at Swift with early results highlighting the potential to discover a large Carlin-Type gold system. The Nevada Gold Mines team has done an exceptional job generating a property-wide geologic model and SW23-005 will target a highly prospective structural corridor bounded by mineralized gold intercepts on both sides. We look forward to updating our shareholders as results are received." Figure 1: Plan view map showing the location of the Swift exploration earn-in agreement with Nevada Gold Mines. Modified from Barrick Investor Day presentation (November 18, 2022 Presentation HERE) To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7298/176708_79cf3f51c4ab1966_002full.jpg Figure 2: Ridgeline's conceptual long section A-A' interpreted from drilling to-date highlights past exploration results and proposed 2023 drill holes To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7298/176708_79cf3f51c4ab1966_003full.jpg Swift Project Swift is located on the Cortez District of the historic Battle Mountain - Eureka Trend approximately 30 kilometers ("km") south of the town of Battle Mountain, in Lander County, Nevada. The district-scale 75 km property is on trend to the Pipeline, Cortez Hills, and Goldrush deposits (View our Swift VRIFY Presentation), which comprise the multi-million ounce Cortez Complex owned by Nevada Gold Mines (a joint venture between Barrick Gold and Newmont Corp.). Ridgeline entered into an exploration earn-in agreement with NGM on September 22, 2021, where NGM can incur a minimum US$20 million (of which US$ 5 million has been spent to-date) in qualifying work expenditures over an initial five-year term to earn an initial 60% interest in the Swift gold project. NGM will have further options to increase its interest to a total 75% interest (subject to additional expenditures and commitments). QAQC Procedures Samples are submitted to ALS Minerals, Elko Nevada, which is a certified and accredited laboratory, independent of Nevada Gold Mines. Samples are prepared using industry-standard prep methods and analysed using Au-AA23 (Au; 30 g fire assay) and ME-MS61 (48 element Suite; 0.25 g 4-acid digestion/ICP-MS) methods. ALS also undertakes its own internal coarse and pulp duplicate analysis to ensure proper sample preparation and equipment calibration. Nevada Gold Mines QAQC program includes regular insertion of CRM standards, duplicates, and blanks into the sample stream with a stringent review of all results completed internally by Nevada Gold Mines technical personnel. Technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Michael T. Harp, CPG. the Company's Vice President, Exploration, who is Ridgeline's Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 and responsible for technical matters of this release. About Ridgeline Minerals Corp. Ridgeline is a discovery focused gold-silver explorer with a proven management team and a 192 km exploration portfolio across six projects in Nevada and Idaho, USA. More information about Ridgeline can be found at www.RidgelineMinerals.com. On behalf of the Board "Chad Peters" President & CEO Further Information: Chad Peters, P.Geo. President & CEO Ridgeline Minerals Corp. (775) 304-9773 | info@ridgelineminerals.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. Cautionary Note regarding Forward-Looking Statements Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "Forward-Looking Information") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-Looking Information includes, but is not limited to, the anticipated benefits of the Earn-In Agreement and the transaction contemplated thereby. The words "potential", "anticipate", "meaningful", "discovery", "forecast", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "plan", "historical", "historic" and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify Forward-Looking Information. Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Information. In preparing the Forward-Looking Information in this news release, Ridgeline has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions that TSX Venture Exchange approval will be granted in a timely manner subject only to standard conditions; the current objectives concerning the Project can be achieved and that its other corporate activities will proceed as expected; that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner; and that all requisite information will be available in a timely manner. Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Ridgeline to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Information. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to dependence on key personnel; risks related to unforeseen delays; risks related to historical data that has not been verified by the Company; as well as those factors discussed in Ridgeline's public disclosure record. Although Ridgeline has attempted to identify important factors that could affect Ridgeline and may cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in Forward-Looking Information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that Forward-Looking Information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on Forward-Looking Information. Except as required by law, Ridgeline does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to Forward-Looking Information contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176708 POMPANO BEACH, Fla., Aug. 10, 2023reviewing the effectiveness of the Freedom Peripheral Nerve Stimulator (PNS) System at the posterior tibial nerve for treating chronic foot pain related to peripheral neuropathy. The results showed that the Freedom PNS System successfully reduced pain scores and improved patient satisfaction. Patients also reported a considerable improvement in mobility and quality of life. According to a study from the National Institute of Health (NIH), new cases of chronic pain occur more often among U.S. adults than new cases of several other common conditions, including diabetes, depression, and high blood pressure. Among people with chronic pain, almost two-thirds still suffer from it a year later.1 This highlights the need for solutions that offer long-term chronic pain relief without the side effects of opioids. This retrospective study consisted of 15 patients who received treatment with the Freedom PNS system at the posterior tibial nerve, and outcomes were measured at 12 months compared to pre-implant. The results showed that patients had a 65% reduction in pain scores with the Verbal Rating Scale (VRS), and median satisfaction with the patient global impression of change (PGIC) at >12 months was 7 ("a great deal better" as reported by the authors). The results demonstrate that Freedom PNS is an effective treatment option for treating chronic pain symptoms related to peripheral neuropathy of the foot. "The design of this study was to see if I could treat patients suffering from debilitating pain, with not only a viable treatment option, but also one that provided them an alternative to medication-based treatment options," said lead author Dr. Ryan Pollina, Pain Management Physician at Great Lake Physiatrists in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. "The study showcased that real world clinical results proved that there are alternatives to treat patients that effectively reduced their pain scores significantly, but most importantly, improved their mobility and quality of life." "Our focus is always on getting patients back to living their lives free from chronic pain," said Chris Valois, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, Curonix. "The results of this study further corroborate that Freedom PNS allows patients to live life again, to sleep and walk with significantly reduced pain without relying solely on medication for pain relief. This is a must have solution for physicians looking to incorporate peripheral nerve stimulation with positive results into their practices." References: Nahin RL, Feinberg T, Kapos FP, Terman GW. Estimated Rates of Incident and Persistent Chronic Pain Among US Adults, 2019-2020. JAMA Netw Open. 2023. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.13563 (https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjamanetwork.com%2Fjournals%2Fjamanetworkopen%2Ffullarticle%2F2804995&data=05%7C01%7Cjess.hiller%40nih.gov%7C95d47e5aef264f3e1fda08db561f1c15%7C14b77578977342d58507251ca2dc2b06%7C0%7C0%7C638198463827755473%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=HzRMxMhG9m8WYRKqZMTalzxqpQnqUA%2Bac7%2BOG%2FsvM5g%3D&reserved=0) About Curonix Curonix LLC is a medical technology company dedicated to developing and commercializing innovative therapies intended to free patients from chronic pain and improve their quality of life. The Freedom PNS and SCS Systems uses high-frequency electromagnetic coupling (HF-EMC) technology to power the implanted neurostimulator(s). Each neurostimulator comprises an electrode array with 4 or 8 contacts, and the electrode array is connected to a separate implanted receiver. An external rechargeable transmitter supplies the energy and data to the implanted neurostimulator through the skin. The device uses pulsed electric current to create an electrical field that acts on nerves to inhibit the transmission of pain signals to the brain. Contact: Ashley Brown Director, Marketing Communications Ashley.brown@curonix.com 512-791-4743 HANGZHOU, CHINA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / On August 8, 2023 "Picturesque Zhejiang" Storytelling Contest for Foreigners was officially launched and will collect excellent contest entries from around the world. The contest was started with the purpose of deepening China's cultural exchanges and cooperation with other countries, helping to extend the regional content of picturesque Zhejiang and promoting the deep integration of culture, tourism, industry, education and business. 2023 "Picturesque Zhejiang" Storytelling Contest for Foreigners The contest is under the guidance of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and the Zhejiang Education Department; it is hosted by the Tourism College of Zhejiang, with assistance from the Zhejiang-Hong Kong Vocational Education Alliance. From this contest, people around the world can feel the buzz of Zhejiang, experience culture of Zhejiang and share the achievements of Zhejiang together. At present, the organizing committee is collecting short video entries from international friends who love Zhejiang culture and are willing to tell their stories about Zhejiang. Each video should last around 3 minutes and show the subject in a positive light; they can be made in any language and in any style. The videos shall fully depict "Picturesque Zhejiang" in the eyes of international friends and show a new picture of cultural development and integration in Zhejiang. Videos can be submitted from August through October; there will be an award ceremony in November for winners. Experts in relevant fields as well as cultural celebrities will be invited as the judges. They will select 8 single awards, such as "Most Creative Video", "Most Eloquent Video" and "Best Writing", 10 "Outstanding Work" awards and several "Best Organizing" and "Best Instruction" awards based on the theme, creativity, international communication capabilities, etc. After the award ceremony, the organizing committee will provide prize winners with the experience of "foreigners' visiting Zhejiang" so that they can deeply feel the picturesque natural scenery in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, be immersed in the Zhejiang culture and witness the folk wisdom and traditional craftsmanship. This will deeply integrate culture and tourism and help to improve the province brand itself as "Picturesque and Dynamic Zhejiang". Organizers will take the contest as an opportunity to create a network of diverse international resources and to establish a community of international friends who can tell "Zhejiang Stories". By participating in a cultural salon, a local experiences activity, internet celebrity gatherings, and other activities, members can increase collaboration at home and abroad, improve international exchanges and mutual learning, and share resources from superior platforms at home and abroad. Contact: Dannie Zheng Piczjstory@163.com SOURCE: Tourism College of Zhejiang China View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773313/CORRECTION-FROM-SOURCE-2023-Picturesque-Zhejiang-Storytelling-Contest-for-Foreigners-Launched-for-Worldwide-Entries Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Pegmatite One Lithium and Gold Corp. (CSE: PGA) (formerly Madi Minerals Ltd.) ("Pegmatite One" or the "Company") is pleased to announce compelling results from the overlimit analysis of samples collected during the ongoing exploration program at the Frazer Lake Mound Property in northwestern Ontario, Canada. Preliminary laboratory tests reporting lithium concentrations exceeding 10,000 parts per million (PPM), or 1%, prompted Pegmatite One to embark on a comprehensive overlimit analysis. This subsequent examination unveiled even higher lithium concentrations, confirming the exceptional nature of the lithium mineralization within the Frazer Lake Mound Property. The Company's dedication to meticulous exploration has yielded remarkable findings, with the recent overlimit analysis of selected samples showcasing significant lithium concentrations well above the initial 1% limit, with samples returning up to 3.37% Li or 7.25% Li2O. This outcome underscores the substantial potential of the Frazer Lake region as a valuable source of lithium. SAMPLE Li % Li2O % Li PPM K043138 3.19 6.86 31,900 K043374 3.26 7.01 32,600 K043379 3.26 7.01 32,600 K043380 2.98 6.41 29,800 K043381 2.95 6.35 29,500 K043382 3.37 7.25 33,700 Table 1. - Overlimit Results, 2.153 Li2O % conversion factor Kelly Abbott, CEO of Pegmatite One, expressed his enthusiasm for these groundbreaking results, stating, "The outcome of the overlimit analysis is a testament to the exceptional quality of the lithium mineralization we have discovered. These results underscore the strategic significance of our ongoing exploration efforts and reinforce our confidence in the immense potential of Frazer Lake as a lithium-rich region." The successful overlimit analysis strengthens Pegmatite One's commitment to advancing its exploration strategy at the Frazer Lake Mound Property. The significant lithium concentrations reported in the overlimit analysis represent a pivotal milestone in Pegmatite One's journey towards establishing the Frazer Lake Mound Property as a potential source of high-grade lithium. In response to these compelling findings, the Company has extended its exploration program within the Frazer Lake region. This decision reflects the remarkable potential of the property's lithium mineralization, driving an intensified effort to uncover their full scope and value. The Company will continue to share updates as it progresses in its exploration endeavours. Additionally, the Company would like to announce that the non-brokered private placement announced on June 28, 2023 is cancelled effective the date hereof as the Company reconsiders its potential sources of financing due to the favorable results of these analyses as first announced by the Company on August 2, 2023. Technical information in this news release has been approved by Ryan Versloot, P.Geo., a 'Qualified Person' as defined under Canadian National Instrument 43-101. Quality Assurance / Quality Control The grab samples were collected by personnel from Planet X Exploration Services Ltd. All samples were bagged, sealed and stored inside a storage locker until delivery to an independent laboratory, ALS Laboratories in Thunder Bay, Ontario (ISO/IEC 17025:2017). The initial batch of samples was analyzed by four acid digestion with ICP-MS finish (ME-MS61) and the overlimits were finished by ICP-AES (Li-OG63). One standard (OREAS 750) and one blank were submitted with the shipment to supplement the lab's internal controls. About Pegmatite One Lithium and Gold Corp. Pegmatite One is a publicly traded company exploring for lithium and gold. The company is committed to responsible mining practices and operates two mineral exploration properties in Northwestern Ontario and a third mineral exploration property on Vancouver Island. The Morrison River property consists of 222 claims and 335 cell claim units in the Morrison River area, Muskrat Dam Lake, Northwestern Ontario. The Morrison River property is Pegmatite One's flagship lithium asset; the company sees its potential lithium production to be part of the world's continued shift toward electric vehicles and green technologies. The Georgina property, a gold prospect located in the Nanaimo mining division, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, consists of one mineral claim covering an area of 2,069 hectares. On Behalf of the Board of Directors, Pegmatite One Lithium and Gold Corp. "Kelly Abbott" Email: Kelly.abbott1117@gmail.com The Canadian Securities Exchange and its Regulation Services Provider do not take responsibility for the accuracy of the content of this news release. Forward-Looking Information and Cautionary Statements Forward-Looking Information and Cautionary Statements Certain information in this news release constitutes forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Any statements that are contained in this news release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often identified by terms such as "may", "should", "anticipate", "expect", "potential", "believe", "intend" or the negative of these terms and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements relating to: the Morrison River property's potential in lithium production; the Georgina property's potential in gold production; the Company's commitment to conducting exploration at its Frazer Lake Mount Property; the significant lithium concentrations reported in the overlimit analysis representing as a pivotal milestone towards establishing the Frazer Mound Property as a potential source of high-grade lithium; the Company's commitment to provide updates on its exploration endeavors; the Company's commitment to responsible mining practices of its Morrison River property and Georgina property; and the world's shift towards electric vehicles and green technologies. Forward-looking information in this press release are based on certain assumptions and expected future events, namely: the Company's ability to manage and meet the timing and costs of future activities on the Company's Properties; the Company's ability to maintain its mineral tenures and concessions in good standing; the Company's ability to manage the economic conditions or financial markets; the Company's ability to manage the inherent hazards associates with mineral exploration and mining operations; future prices of metals; changes in general economic conditions; the potential for new discoveries; the ability of the Company to obtain the necessary permits and consents required to explore, drill and develop the its projects located on its Properties, and if obtained, to obtain such permits and consents in a timely fashion relative to the Company's plans and business objectives for such projects; the general ability of the Company to monetize its mineral resources; and changes in environmental and other laws or regulations that could have an impact on the Company's operations, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, dependence on key management personnel and general competition in the mining industry; the Company's ability to realize its Morrison River property's potential in lithium production and the Georgina property potential in gold production; the Company ability to carry out its commitment to conducting exploration at its Frazer Lake Mount Property; the significant lithium concentrations reported in the overlimit analysis will be a pivotal milestone towards establishing the Frazer Mound Property as a potential source of high-grade lithium; the Company's ability to carry out its commitment to provide updates on its exploration endeavors; the Company's ability to carry out its commitment to responsible mining practices of its Morrison River property and Georgina property; and the world's shift towards electric vehicles and green technologies will occur as anticipated by the Company. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: the Company's inability to manage and meet the timing and costs of future activities on the Company's properties; the Company's inability to maintain its mineral tenures and concessions in good standing; the Company's inability to manage the economic conditions or financial markets; the Company's inability to manage the inherent hazards associates with mineral exploration and mining operations; adverse changes to future prices of metals; adverse changes in general economic conditions; the lack of new discoveries; the inability of the Company to obtain the necessary permits and consents required to explore, drill and develop the its projects located on its properties, and if obtained, its inability to obtain such permits and consents in a timely fashion relative to the Company's plans and business objectives for such projects; the inability of the Company to monetize its mineral resources; adverse changes in environmental and other laws or regulations that will have an impact on the Company's operations, the Company's inability to maintain compliance with environmental laws and regulations, the adverse effects resulting from its dependence on key management personnel and adverse changes due to the general competition in the mining industry; the Company's inability to realize its Morrison River property's potential in lithium production and the Georgina property potential in gold production; the Company inability to carry out its commitment to conducting exploration at its Frazer Lake Mount Property; the significant lithium concentrations reported in the overlimit analysis will not be a pivotal milestone towards establishing the Frazer Mound Property as a potential source of high-grade lithium; the Company's inability to carry out its commitment to provide updates on its exploration endeavors; the Company's inability to carry out its commitment to responsible mining practices of its Morrison River property and Georgina property; and the world's shift towards electric vehicles and green technologies will not occur as anticipated by the Company. 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 Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176747 MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - The United States has announced a set of tough sanctions on individuals, entities and government officials who are Operating as funding sources for Belarus' Alyaksandr Lukashenka regime and its domestic repression and facilitating Russia's war against Ukraine. The U.S. Department of the Treasury said its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating eight individuals and five entities. The targets include the Department of Financial Investigations of the State Control Committee of Belarus and four members of its board of directors; three family members of U.S.-designated Aliaksey Ivanavich Aleksin; three entities controlled by the Government of Belarus: Open Joint Stock Company Belavia Belarusian Airlines (Belavia), Open Joint Stock Company Minsk Civil Aviation Plant 407, Joint Stock Company Byelorussian Steel Works Management Company (BSW); and Bel-Kap-Steel LLC. The Treasury said it is identifying one aircraft owned by Belavia as blocked property. Additionally, the State Department is imposing visa restrictions on 101 Lukashenka regime officials and their affiliates 'for undermining or harming democratic institutions in Belarus'. They include several judges responsible for issuing politically-motivated sentences against Belarusians for exercising their fundamental freedoms. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said U.S. is imposing sanctions and visa restrictions to hold the Lukashenka Regime accountable for its crackdown on the Belarusian protest movement demanding fundamental freedoms. He called for the immediate release of all 1,500 political prisoners held by the Lukashenka regime, including Ales Bialiatski, Viktar Babaryka, Maria Kalesnikava, Ihar Losik, and Siarhei Tsikhanouski. Blinken announced the latest round of U.S. sanctions on the third anniversary of the presidential election in Belarus. Washington alleges that Lukashenka was re-elected in a fraudulent presidential election in August 2020. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Top 3 Energie-Dividendenaktien Im neuen Energieboom von kontinuierlichen Ertragen profitieren. Wir zeigen hier, von welche drei Aktien Sie profitieren konnen. Hier klicken Nashville, TN, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Accruent, a leading provider of workplace and asset management solutions, hosted its highly anticipated annual Synergy partner conference, an event that brings together industry leaders and partners to celebrate innovation, success, and collaboration. The partner conference, held on August 9th, was also an opportunity to recognize and honor exceptional partners that have demonstrated outstanding achievements during the prior year. This year's conference was unique in that it was combined with Accruent's annual customer conference - Insights Nashville 2023 - on August 7th and 8th. Insights 2023 Nashville hosted more than 500 professionals from a broad range of industries with the opportunity to gain product knowledge, share best practices and network with their peers. During the Synergy conference, three prestigious awards recognizing the performance of Accruent's top Channel Partners in the Americas for 2022 were presented. The Partner of the Year Award is awarded to an Accruent partner that demonstrates consistent success, remarkable growth, and an unwavering commitment to exceeding customer expectations. The award went to Illinois-based Hagerman & Company, a long-time partner that has significantly contributed to the mutual success of both Accruent and its customers. The Customer Success Award is presented to a partner demonstrating a customer-centric approach that enables their clients to extract the utmost benefits of Accruent's comprehensive suite of solutions. The Kinsmen Group received the award largely due to their unique Kinsmen Methodology. This approach helps the company provide analysis, guidance, and honest opinions and recommendations to allow customers to get the most out of Accruent's products. Finally, the Most Innovative Partner Award is given to a partner that demonstrates an unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries and inspiring progress in the industry. The award went to MC Global for its continuous pursuit of innovative solutions, groundbreaking ideas, and role in driving exceptional business outcomes. "We are grateful for all our partners' pivotal contribution in bringing our vision of unifying the built environment to fruition," said Pete Mansel, Chief Sales Officer, Accruent. "They are a key part of our strategic plan and will continue to enhance the value of our intelligent solutions for customers across the globe. We are proud to have this year's winners as part of our partner ecosystem and look forward to our continued success together." ABOUT ACCRUENT Accruent) Accruent is the world's leading provider of software for unifying the built environment, with solutions spanning workplace management, asset management, and physical and digital applications. Accruent continues to set new expectations for how organizations use data to transform the way they manage their facilities and assets. With headquarters in Austin, TX, and Hoofddorp, Netherlands, Accruent serves 5,000 customers in a wide range of industries in more than 150 countries worldwide. For more information, go to www.accruent.com. Attachment PORTLAND, ME / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Sherpa and MyHealthMath, two leading insurance decision-support companies, are excited to announce their merger in the form of a powerful new entity, HYKE. This merger combines Sherpa's international Life and P&C insurance engagement platform with MyHealthMath's deep experience in the U.S. health benefits market, creating a groundbreaking global company with expertise in the full lifecycle of consumer insurance purchasing decisions. Choosing insurance is costly and complicated: medical insurance prices are climbing; there's a dizzying array of other employer-sponsored insurance benefits; and consumers make, on average, five personal insurance purchasing decisions during a year. With HYKE, for the first time, they now have a tool that builds a holistic picture of all of their insurance needs, from medical to voluntary to personal lines of coverage, and provides year-round guidance. HYKE creates a personalized Protection Score-a first-of-its-kind capability that informs individuals how much protection they need based on their unique situation, demographics, and protection gaps. At an enterprise level, the Score dashboard helps employers and consultants provide targeted benefits packages that address individual needs and maximize cost savings. "We have had a fantastic strategic partnership with MyHealthMath since the beginning of 2022, and our combined platform has already been live in the U.S. market since last fall. The strong positive reaction from employers, brokers, insurance carriers and benefit administration platforms made a full merger an obvious move," said Chris Kaye, former CEO of Sherpa and now CEO of HYKE. He goes on to say, "Whether in the U.S. or with our clients in Asia and the U.K., our shared vision is simple: we want to help people protect what matters most." Bob Watterson, former CEO of MyHealthMath and now CFO of HYKE, expressed similar enthusiasm, stating, "Between MyHealthMath's seven-plus years as a premier U.S. medical decision-support solution, and Sherpa's global capabilities and proprietary Score-based technology, HYKE brings formidable experience to the market. Together, we are positioned to scale rapidly with a product that leads the way in clarity, cohesiveness, and personal support." The merger between Sherpa and MyHealthMath was completed on June 1, 2023. Sherpa was advised by Stonybrook Capital, a specialist insurance advisory firm in New York and London. Over the coming months, the teams will continue to merge technologies, refine offerings, and further optimize the user experience. HYKE plans to unveil an enhanced enterprise platform in the near future, bringing a new era of benefits optimization and cost management to individuals and employers. About HYKE HYKE is a global insurance decision-support company that provides consumers with help facing complex choices across medical, life and P&C insurance. Leveraging a proprietary Protection Score, HYKE offers a comprehensive suite of personalized solutions that empower individuals and employers to make informed decisions and reduce costs. The core objective of HYKE is to help people better understand their coverage choices and give them the confidence to choose the insurance that best suits their needs. www.letshyke.com Contact Information: Caitlin Forbes-Stephens VP, Marketing and Strategic Partnerships caitlin.forbes@letshyke.com 207-415-5455 SOURCE: HYKE View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773487/Sherpa-and-MyHealthMath-Merge-to-Form-HYKE-a-Global-Insurance-Decision-Support-Powerhouse VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Lincoln Gold Mining Inc. ("Lincoln") (TSXV:LMG) and Eros Resources Corp. ("Eros") (TSXV: ERC) are pleased to announce that the companies have signed a non-binding Letter of Intent ("LOI") to begin negotiations for Lincoln to acquire the Bell Mountain project from Eros. As a result of the proposed transaction, Eros will acquire shares in Lincoln. Management of both companies believe that this collaboration will unlock new growth opportunities for both companies, as the leadership team at Eros transforms into a holding company and this strategic move will further enhance Lincoln's position in the mining sector. The Bell Mountain project is located in Churchill County, Nevada approximately 3 hours drive from Reno. Bell Mountain has excellent access and is in a mining friendly county. Details of the purchase arrangement are being negotiated at present and should be finalized shortly. Lincoln is very familiar with the project as it was part of Lincoln's group of projects several years ago, until it was optioned and sold to Eros. The Bell Mountain project is made up of 174 unpatented lode claims and is under the jurisdictions of the Bureau of Land Management and the State of Nevada. The property is 100% controlled by Eros and has a gold and silver resource. The Bell Mountain project has all major permits in place to advance it through construction and into operations. Lincoln believes that the two projects, the Bell Mountain and the Pine Grove combined will make for an attractive mining operation for a number of reasons. Lincoln's Pine Grove project, located in Lyon County, Nevada, is only a two-hour drive from the Bell Mountain project. The properties are close enough in distance so that one team of management, engineering, environmental, cultural, and administrative personnel could operate both properties and one recovery plant could handle both projects. Both projects are advanced-stage gold exploration projects with established resources and both projects have significant exploration potential. All these factors will help reduce overall capital and operating costs and will make for an exciting operating plan. Detailed plans for starting operations are being worked on. With the excellent exploration potential at both operations, Lincoln believes that there is a chance to increase the gold/silver resources at both properties leading to increased gold production and mine life. This enhanced mine life provides investors with reduced risk, as there will be an opportunity to utilize capital infrastructure over a longer time frame. The strategic utilization of capital infrastructure not only minimizes financial risk but also strengthens the operational resilience of the combined project. The extended operational horizon aligns with both companies' commitment to responsible and sustainable mining practices, while capitalizing on favorable market conditions. The allocation of funds for this venture has been meticulously considered. Lincoln will be responsible for arranging the capital required to bring Bell Mountain into production. As negotiations progress between Lincoln and Eros, both companies will work diligently to reach an agreement that serves the best interests of all stakeholders. The proposed transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. About Lincoln Lincoln Gold Mining Inc. is an advanced-stage gold mine exploration and development company holding a 100% interest in the Pine Grove Gold Project, in the Walker Lane structural zone of western Nevada. The Company has prepared a preliminary economic assessment of the Pine Grove Gold Project pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Lincoln is working with the U.S. Forest Service to secure the permits necessary to develop the Pine Grove Gold Project into a low-cost heap leach operation with a high-grade gravity circuit. Lincoln holds its interests in the US projects through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Lincoln Resource Group Corp. and Lincoln Gold US Corporation, both Nevada corporations. About Eros Eros Resources Corp. is a Canadian public company listed on the Toronto Venture Exchange. The Company's business objective is the identification, acquisition, and exploration of advanced-stage projects with a North American focus. In addition, the Company plans to make strategic investments with a global focus on a diverse commodity base. Eros management's expertise supports this strategy. For further information, please contact: Lincoln Gold Mining Inc. Paul Saxton President and Chief Executive Officer Phone: 604-961-5252 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward Looking Statements This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Lincoln and Eros business. Such statements are based on the current expectations and views of future events of Lincoln and Eros's management. In some cases the forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release may not occur and could differ materially due to known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting Lincoln and Eros, including risks regarding the resource industry, economic factors and the equity markets generally and many other factors beyond the control of Lincoln and Eros. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements and information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statement or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Lincoln and Eros undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. SOURCE: Lincoln Gold Mining Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773546/Lincoln-Gold-and-Eros-Resources-Announce-Signing-of-a-Non-Binding-LOI NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / U.S. Bank Photo: The 60-unit development is named after Harriet (Hattie) Redmond, an African American suffragist and civil rights leader who lived and worked in Oregon in the late 1800s. Originally published on U.S. Bank company blog The Hattie Redmond apartments, a 60-unit development that provides housing for low income, disabled people in Portland, Oregon, opened its doors on a recent rainy spring day and immediately said hello to more two dozen new residents. This development - aptly named after Harriet (Hattie) Redmond, an African-American suffragist and civil rights leader who lived and worked in Oregon in the late 1800s - is now humming along, thanks in large part to a $9.6 million Low-Income Housing Tax Credit investment and $8.3 million loan from U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance , a subsidiary of U.S. Bank. "This project is located in Portland's Albina District - a place that's both historically significant and long recognized as an active hub for Portland's Black and African-American community," said Ann T. Melone, senior vice president and business development officer for Affordable Housing. "We're honored to support this model initiative, which addresses Portland's houselessness challenge in a comprehensive and sensitive way." It's an innovative project backed by a big idea. Along with the financing from U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance, this $25+ million project was the brainchild of Portland's housing authority, Home Forward , and the Urban League of Portland . A 2018 Metro Housing Bond, provided via the Portland Housing Bureau , and funding from Oregon Housing and Community Services , also helped bring the building to life. Hattie Redmond units are all permanent supportive housing (PSH), available for people who are exiting homelessness. The PSH model is considered to be a best practice and a proven strategy that can help stabilize individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. Here, referrals come from Coordinated Access, a system created in 2018 in Multnomah County to streamline and provide equitable access to shelter and housing interventions on behalf of low-income and disabled individuals. One of the goals of the development is to reconnect Black individuals to the neighborhood and to each other; supportive services in the building are provided by Urban League staff. "Hattie Redmond Apartments is a model for how the City of Portland can make progress in housing people more quickly and with thoughtful community engagement," said Ivory N. Mathews, CEO of Home Forward. "This building will provide safe shelter to 60 formerly homeless people in need of culturally specific supportive services. From the location to services offered to building amenities, Urban League of Portland thought of everything. This gives us hope that many more people who have been homeless can- and will-thrive with the right support." At four stories and 34,000 square feet, Hattie Redmond is on the Yellow MAX line. On the ground floor, residents share a community room/kitchen, conference room and laundry facilities. Individual studios have full kitchens and baths in addition to living space. Floors are hardwood, with cabinetry to match. The building also features original donated artwork from six Black and brown artists adding cheer throughout, including a portrait of Hattie Redmond. "For decades, I've watched our members be priced out and pushed out of neighborhoods that were once stable and welcoming of Black Portlanders," said Urban League of Portland President & CEO Nkenge Harmon Johnson. "We also know that more Black developers and property owners are a necessary part of the solution. For those reasons, the Urban League chose to be co-developers of the Hattie Redmond Building as well as provide wrap-around services for residents." Over the last three-plus decades, U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance has partnered on 95 affordable housing projects, investing more than $492 million in equity and more than $611 million in lending to create or rehab 9,000+ affordable housing units in the Portland area. Nationwide, U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance provides tax credit investments and syndications, lending and other financial solutions to help create?affordable housing, spur economic activity in underserved communities, restore?historic buildings, develop?renewable sources of energy and strengthen Community Development Financial Institutions. View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from U.S. Bank on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: U.S. Bank Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/us-bank Email: info@3blmedia.com SOURCE: U.S. Bank View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773586/Hattie-Redmond-Apartments-Welcomes-Some-of-Portlands-Most-Vulnerable-Residents HELSINGBORG, Sweden, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Acorai, a start-up medical device manufacturer from Sweden, today announces that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Device Designation for Acorai's Heart Monitor, a device for the non-invasive estimation of diastolic pulmonary artery pressure (dPAP), systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP), and mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) in patients with Stage C Heart Failure who have been referred for hemodynamic monitoring. Acorai is developing a first-of-its-kind, non-invasive intracardiac pressure monitoring (IPCM) device with a unique, patented hardware technology and proprietary machine learning system. The device is intended as a companion test for qualified healthcare professionals (HCPs). It is designed to be used alongside standard-of-care assessment in a hospital or clinical setting to identify hemodynamic congestion and support personalized treatment of HF. The Breakthrough Device application was supported by preliminary data of 281 patients from their 400-patient Swedish pilot study, which demonstrated a strong correlation to the invasive gold-standard measurements of pulmonary pressure. The full analysis of this study is currently being prepared for publication. Acorai has ethics approval in 5 countries, including the U.S., to conduct a larger 1200-patient study to ensure the device is generalizable across a global heart failure population. [NCT05835024] Subscribe here for updates about this trial's progress and other Acorai news. "A massive inflection point in our device development journey" Acorai's CEO and Co-Founder Filip Peters said, "We could not be more delighted with the decision from the FDA, and it constitutes a huge milestone for us as a company. Congratulations to the entire Acorai team who have worked hard to enable this." Kasper Bourdette, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder added that "receiving breakthrough designation is a massive inflection point in our device development journey, and we are thrilled for the decision. This provides further signaling that we are on the right path and motivation for the [Acorai] team to take the device to approval in the coming few months." Jakob Gelberg, Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder, commented, "From ideation to assembling such a talented group of individuals in our team, we are convinced that we have what it takes to bring our device to the patients who need it the most. Regular reviews by the FDA in this development stage are crucial to ensuring we can meet the challenges ahead". Acorai was founded in 2019 and has an experienced and diverse team across hardware, software, clinical, finance, and machine learning from 11 different nationalities. Matthew Mace, Chief Scientific Officer (previously at Abbott), noted, "We have an extremely capable team at Acorai; from my time with CardioMEMS at Abbott to Filip's machine learning experience from the finance sector, to our clinical and regulatory team's extensive class II and Class III device experience. The secret to our continued success is that we can remotely leverage the best talent from all over the globe, united in one common goal. All credit in achieving this designation goes to the hard work of the entire team working round the clock to realize our company's vision to define The New Standard in Heart Failure Management." Implications of the Breakthrough Device Designation: Receiving the Breakthrough Device Designation accelerates the development and review process, underscoring the potential of Acorai to address unmet medical needs in heart failure management. The designation is a testament to Acorai's commitment to driving innovation in patient care. "Andrew J. Sauer, MD, Acorai's Chief Clinical Advisor, stressed that "Intracardiac pressure monitoring (ICPM) is a proven way to manage heart failure patients, but existing non-invasive methods are unsuitable for routine clinical use. If continually proven in larger studies, Acorai's non-invasive device could drastically improve access to hemodynamic monitoring in a hospital or clinic without waiting for an invasive procedure. It would be expected that with accuracies similar to invasive alternatives, system-wide use would almost certainly lead to resource savings while simultaneously improving outcomes for patients with heart failure." To get in touch with the team or learn about collaboration or investment opportunities, e-mail: hello@acorai.com About Acorai Acorai is developing a scalable medical device for non-invasive intracardiac pressure monitoring to improve heart failure management for more than 64 million patients worldwide. The Acorai system uses the patented SAVE Sensor System and proprietary machine learning models, which have clinically demonstrated accuracies equal to the invasive gold standards. Acorai is backed by Bayer, KHP Ventures, Life Science Invest, and Golden Angel Investors, with a seasoned medical device team and corporate advisory board with experiences from GE Healthcare, Occlutech, Abbott & AstraZeneca, and clinical partnerships with world-leading hospitals. Visit https://acorai.com/ to learn more about Acorai's potential to become the new standard in heart failure management and a leader in non-invasive patient care. Brief Summary: The Acorai Intracardiac Monitoring System is not cleared for use by the FDA for clinical use in the U.S. and is an investigational device. Granting a Breakthrough Device Designation does not constitute clearance by the FDA or a guarantee that the device will be approved. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2183401/Acorai_AB_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/acorai-receives-breakthrough-device-designation-for-their-non-invasive-intracardiac-pressure-monitor-301897938.html NASHVILLE, TN / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / ASSEMBLY Magazine is thrilled to return to the Music City Center in Nashville, TN for The ASSEMBLY Show SOUTH on Wednesday May 1 and Thursday, May 2, 2024, with a full day of conference sessions taking place on Tuesday, April 30. The trade show and conference are focused on connecting buyers and end users of assembly equipment, products and technology with the most cutting-edge, top-of-the-line tools to streamline assembly processes to improve the bottom line. During the event participants will connect face-to-face with like-minded peers, learn from business thought leaders, and uncover emerging trends that will provide endless resources on how to solve current challenges and improve business. Free registration is now open at www.assemblymag.com/the-assembly-show-south/registration-fees. "This is a booming time for manufacturing and the U.S. South is right in the heart of the action. According to ASSEMBLY's most recent annual capital spending survey, the South is projected to account for 31 percent of total spending this year, marking the fifth straight year this region has accounted for at least 30 percent of capital spending in the U.S.," said Bill DeYoe, Publisher, ASSEMBLY Magazine, producers of the event. "Joining us in 2024, is The QUALITY Show SOUTH giving attendees the opportunity to source products from vendors on both show floors and participate in exceptional educational programming and dynamic networking functions." The Exhibit Hall, shared with the Quality Show South, will feature 200+ leading vendors with working machinery and live demonstrations for attendees to interact with, including Gold Sponsor Promess; Silver Sponsors Atlas Copco, Desoutter Industrial Tools and Rexroth a Bosch Company; and Bronze Sponsors Schmidt Technology, Ujigami by Tutelar Technologies, and Weiss North America. In addition, over a dozen exhibitors will demonstrate their company's expertise related to the latest technological advances in assembly in Learning Theaters in the Exhibit Hall. Subject matter experts will share their knowledge on automation, robotic precision, Industry 4.0, supply chain, scalability, industrial automation, and collaborative robot technology, to name a few. On Tuesday, April 30th there will be a day of pre-conference workshops followed by the Welcome Reception for all event participants to meet and greet one another before the exhibit hall opens and the event officially kicks off on Wednesday morning. It's a great opportunity to pick up badges early and enjoy casual face-to-face conversations while enjoying southern snacks and drinks. On Wednesday, May 1st the Networking Reception will be collocated with The Quality Show South from 4:30 - 6:00 pm. The ASSEMBLY Show South taking place on May 1-2, 2024 at the Music City Center in Nashville, TN and The ASSEMBLY Show taking place on October 24-26, 2023 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL are sponsored by ASSEMBLY (www.assemblymag.com) the leading brand covering the processes, technologies, and strategies for assembling discrete parts into finished products. ASSEMBLY offers an integrated portfolio of products including the industry's leading trade show. The trade show and conference are produced by BNP Media, one of the country's leading business-to-business media companies serving industry professionals across 60+ industries through magazines, custom media, e-newsletters, webinars, events, and market research. For more information, visit www.bnpmedia.com. # # # For Further Information, Contact: Amy Riemer, Media Relations Representative 978-502-4895 (cell) amy@riemercommunications.com SOURCE: Assembly Show South View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773497/Registration-Now-Open-for-The-2nd-Annual-Assembly-Show-South-Taking-Place-May-1-2-2024-in-Nashville-TN Content Guru, one of the world's largest vendors of cloud contact center and customer experience (CX) technology, today announced that it has been placed in the Challengers quadrant of the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) 1 The 2023 Magic Quadrant looked at different vendors' strengths and acknowledged them. Based on every vendor's vision and execution, Gartner placed them into four different quadrants. Content Guru's storm platform is a specialized CCaaS platform and supports customers that require 100% system uptime, including emergency service providers. Sean Taylor, Content Guru CEO commented: "This marks Content Guru's fourth successive year in this Magic Quadrant. With this recognition, we are also pleased to maintain our position as Europe's leading CCaaS vendor and are the only European-headquartered company to be recognized in the report. The cloud contact center marketplace continues to grow strongly and is becoming a core component of next-generation, customer experience. The rapid adoption of generative AI over the past year to provide a range of intelligent automated services has made this an even more exciting market to be part of." "In addition to our work providing AI-driven services we have continued to see strong sales of our Customer Data Platform, increased adoption of 'digital customer' services through connection to Internet of Things devices such as telecare and the increased innovative use of digital channels such as video to enrich interactions between customers and enterprises and public sector organizations." 1[Gartner Magic Quadrant for Contact Center as a Service, Drew Kraus, Steve Blood, Pri Rathnayake 8 August 2023.] Gartner Objectivity Disclaimer GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark, and MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. About Content Guru Content Guru helps organizations achieve outstanding customer experience. Its cloud-based solution, storm, ensures that customers' requests and issues are quickly and accurately resolved simply put, engagement made easy. storm cloud services are used by over 1000 large-enterprise and public-sector organizations in over 50 countries, and trusted for mission-critical applications by major organizations, such as AXA, the NHS, Rakuten and US Government. For more information, visit: https://www.contentguru.com/ or follow @CGCHIRP on Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810361040/en/ Contacts: Jacob Greenwood PR Manager JDG@contentguru.com (+44) 01344 852 350 Identify process events quickly with conditional formatting options for context analytics Adjust the global timeframe on all dashboards to align process events with specific results for faster reporting across different views and assets Visualize event and batch process data from Aspentech APRM to improve product quality HOUSTON, TX and HASSELT, BELGIUM, and DARMSTADT, GERMANY / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / TrendMiner, a Software AG company, is offering greater flexibility in dashboarding and reporting features for even more insights on operational events as part of its overall user improvements in the latest 2023.R2 release. With the newest version of the advanced industrial analytics software, operational experts can format tables of operational events in ContextHub to immediately see when the established parameters are outside predefined limits. This enhancement to TrendMiner's monitoring and alerting capabilities helps engineers quickly identify anomalies that could interfere with production or lead to costly downtime. Furthermore, engineers now have greater control over reporting timeframes and can access and analyze data from more places. These changes are designed to help users have a greater overview of operations and provide better, global access to data. They build on two improvements made earlier this year in TrendMiner's 2023.R1 release: The inclusion of a digital process twin manager and direct access to major cloud data sources. "Our latest enhancements to ContextHub and DashHub represent a significant step forward in making data analytics more intuitive, responsive, and interconnected. These updates reflect our relentless pursuit to provide the most comprehensive, user-friendly data analytics toolset on the market. We are excited to see how these features will enable our customers to drive greater efficiency and make more informed decisions in their daily operations," said Julian Pereira, TrendMiner's Director of Products. Identify Outliers from Events Quickly Each column in ContextHub now can be formatted individually or made dependent on another column value. Engineers can change the color of a cell in table view that allows them to quickly identify the type of event that is occurring. Multiple rules can be set on a specified column in the grid and can be reordered by dragging and dropping with the topmost rule bearing the highest priority. For example, background colors could be set to match binary conditions-such as being on or off specification-or change based on the severity of an event. Connect to More Data Sources With TrendMiner 2023.R2, users can access data from new data sources. The latest release includes the integration of batch process data from Aspen Production Record Manager. APRM provides fast query and trending of structured data for better reporting, analysis, and visualization across multiple sites. In combination with time series-data from Aspentech's IP21 data source, this out-of-the-box connector helps operational experts discover the origin of production losses in greater detail. Manufacturers use this information to optimize overall performance and improve quality. Also, the new Generic Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) provider can transfer data through any source that supports a connection via a JDBC driver. The new JDBC connector allows engineers to define their own SQL-queries to retrieve both time-series and asset data, which makes it easier to bring data streams together for greater insights. Further Information For details about all the new capabilities and improvements in the TrendMiner 2023.R2 release, please visit www.trendminer.com. Users of the TrendMiner software will get more information via other communication channels. For an interactive demonstration of TrendMiner's functionality and to learn how analytics-empowered process and asset experts can help accelerate operational performance, click here. About TrendMiner TrendMiner, of Software AG, delivers advanced analytics software to optimize process performance in chemical, petrochemical, oil & gas, pharmaceutical, food & beverage, metals & mining, water & wastewater, and other process manufacturing industries. TrendMiner unlocks the full potential of IIoT data infrastructure, regardless of vendor, and taps into the available human intelligence for making data-driven decisions. We offer standard integrations with a wide range of data sources, such as OSIsoft PI, Yokogawa Exaquantum, AspenTech IP.21, Honeywell PHD, GE Proficy Historian, Wonderware InSQL, Cumulocity, Aveva Data Hub, AWS S3, AWS IoT SiteWise, Amazon Timestream, Microsoft Azure Data Lake, Azure Data Explorer, TSI, and SAP's S/4 HANA, and DMC. TrendMiner empowers everyone in manufacturing operations across multiple locations with powerful yet intuitive capabilities to iteratively generate and validate real-time context-aware time-series insights individually and as a team. Search, diagnostic, and predictive capabilities help speed up root cause analysis, define optimal processes, and configure early warnings to monitor production 24/7. TrendMiner helps operators make data-driven decisions to improve production quality, meet business objectives, and increase profitability. Media Contact Matt Saxton TrendMiner Editor +1 408-490-5345 matthew_saxton@softwareag.com Valerie Harding Ripple Effect Communications +1 617-536-8887 Valerie@RippleEffectPR.com SOURCE: TrendMiner View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773518/Get-Faster-and-Deeper-Insights-on-Operational-Events-With-Software-AGs-TrendMiner-2023R2 Originally published by Forbes NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / A future world in which nine billion people live well, within planetary boundaries, requires a set of systemic changes in production, distribution, and consumption. Only then can the current system move from fossil fuels into an electricity model based on renewable energies. "Such a systemic change does not happen without serious investments and long-term partnerships," said Ramon Zumarraga, Director of Purchasing Services, Iberdrola, the third largest electricity company in the world by market capitalization, and the world leader in renewable energy. During an interview at SAP Sapphire Barcelona, Zumarraga explained how Iberdrola's sustainable business model for renewable energy maximizes the use of technology in business areas that add value, either by improving processes and the productivity of its assets, or by achieving greater efficiency in its activities. The company's inventive approach is boundless. Among Zumarraga's favorites are agro-solar initiatives that use land for solar power generation and agricultural purposes. "Whether using solar parks for beehives or cattle grazing, we try not to occupy the land for a single purpose," he said. Continue reading here Wind Farm Parque de Wikinger IBERDROLA View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from SAP on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: SAP Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/sap Email: info@3blmedia.com SOURCE: SAP View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773598/Iberdrola-and-Vestas-Join-Forces-in-the-Energy-Transition The growth of the global digital twins in automotive market is driven by increase in demand for efficient product design and development, need for efficient performance monitoring, cost reduction due to virtual testing PORTLAND, Ore., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Digital Twins in Automotive Market by Type (System Digital Twin, Product Digital Twin, Process Digital Twin), by Application (Predictive Maintenance, Business Optimization, Product Design & Development, Others), by Technology (Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Simulation Tools, Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2023-2032". According to the report, the global digital twins in automotive industry generated $2.17 billion in 2022, and is anticipated to generate $34.58 billion by 2032, witnessing a CAGR of 32.6% from 2023 to 2032. Download Sample Pages - https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/108092 The digital twin technology combines artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), metaverse, machine learning, cloud computing, and virtual & augmented reality (VR/AR) to create digital models of real-world devices, systems, or processes. By providing seamless virtual interactions, this technology has transformed how automotive industry today interact with their consumers, design, build, operate, and develop their vehicles throughout their lifecycle. Prime determinants of growth Factors such as increase in demand for efficient product design and development, need for efficient performance monitoring, and cost reduction due to virtual testing boost the growth of the digital twins in automotive market. However, integrating digital twin technology into existing systems, and vulnerability of digital twins to cyber-attacks are anticipated to hinder market growth. On the other hand, utilization of emulation software and digital twin technology, sustainable practices and environmental impact provide a remarkable growth opportunity for the market players operating in the market. Report Coverage & Details: Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 2023-2032 Base Year 2022 Market Size in 2022 $2.17 billion Market Size in 2032 $34.57 billion CAGR 32.6 % No. of Pages in Report 285 Segments covered Type, Application, Technology, and Region. Drivers Increase in demand for efficient product design and development Need for efficient performance monitoring Cost reduction due to virtual testing Opportunities Utilization of emulation software and digital twin technology Sustainable practices and environmental impact Restraints Integrating digital twin technology into existing systems Vulnerability of digital twins to cyber attacks COVID-19 Pandemic Impact The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the implementation and adoption of digital twin technology in the automotive market. This is attributed to the fact that the pandemic led to disruptions in the global supply chains. Automotive companies faced challenges in conducting R&D activities during the pandemic. The disruptions caused by the pandemic acted as a catalyst for digital transformation in the automotive industry. The System Digital Twin segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period Based on type, the system digital twin segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for nearly three-fifths of the global digital twins in automotive market revenue and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. Also, the same segment is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 33.2% from 2023 to 2032 and is likely to dominate the market during the forecast period. This is owning to the need for improved system performance, reliability, and safety. The ability to simulate and optimize system behavior contributes to shorter development times and lower development costs. Procure Complete Research Report Now - https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/digital-twins-in-automotive-market/purchase-options The Product Design and Development segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period Based on application, the product design and development segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for around two-fifths of the global digital twins in automotive market revenue, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period, as designers may utilize digital twins to get real-time data on product performance, which allow them to optimize design and development processes. However, the business optimization segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 33.5% from 2023 to 2032, as business optimization digital twins are utilized to optimize supply chain management, logistics, resource allocation, and operational processes within the automotive industry. The focus on cost reduction, enhanced efficiency, and sustainability drives the growth of this segment. The Simulation tools segment to maintain its lead position during the forecast period Based on technology, the simulation tools segment accounted for the largest share in 2022, contributing to around two-fifths of the global digital twins in automotive market revenue, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period, as automakers strive to develop and validate innovative technologies for modelling and simulating automotive complex systems. However, the artificial intelligence (AI) segment is expected to portray the largest CAGR of 35.9% from 2023 to 2032 and is projected to maintain its lead position during the forecast period. This is owing to many software and automotive companies increased utilization of AI in digital twin. North America to maintain its dominance by 2032 Based on region, North America held the highest market share in terms of revenue in 2022, accounting for around one-third of the global digital twins in automotive market revenue, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period, as North American companies collaborated with robot automation companies to provide advanced automotive manufacturing process. However, the Asia-Pacific segment is expected to portray the largest CAGR of 33.6% from 2023 to 2032 and is projected to maintain its lead position during the forecast period, as digital twins are adopted to improve manufacturing efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance quality control in automotive industry. Leading Market Players: - Altair Engineering Inc. ANSYS, Inc. Bosch Rexroth AG General Electric Company IBM Corporation PTC Inc. Rockwell Automation, Inc. SAP SE Schneider Electric SE. Siemens Interested to Procure the Data? Inquire Here Before Making Decision to Purchase - https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/108092 The report provides a detailed analysis of these key players of the global digital twins in automotive market. These players have adopted different strategies such as partnership, agreement, acquisition, expansion and others to increase their market share and maintain dominant shares in different regions. The report is valuable in highlighting business performance, operating segments, product portfolio, and strategic moves of market players to showcase the competitive scenario. Similar Reports We Have on Automotive Industry: Automotive Digital Transformation Market Research Report 2023-2035 Automotive Artificial Intelligence Market Research Report 2023-2035 U.S. Digital Twins in Automotive Market Research Report 2023-2035 South Korea Digital Twins in Automotive Market Research Report 2023-2035 Japan Digital Twins in Automotive Market Research Report 2023-2035 About Us 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. Contact: David Correa 1209 Orange Street, Corporation Trust Center, Wilmington, New Castle, Delaware 19801 USA. USA/Canada (Toll Free): +1-800-792-5285 UK: +44-845-528-1300 Hong Kong: +852-301-84916 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1-800-792-5285 help@alliedmarketresearch.com Web: www.alliedmarketresearch.com Allied Market Research Blog: https://blog.alliedmarketresearch.com Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636519/Allied_Market_Research_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/digital-twins-in-automotive-market-to-reach-34-58-billion-globally-by-2032-at-32-6-cagr-allied-market-research-301897790.html LAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Breezer Ventures Inc.(OTC:BRZV) ("Breezer""), a trailblazer in the luxury lifestyle branding market is aiming to revolutionize the liquor industry, and is thrilled to announce the launch of its exclusive corporate website at www.MagnumFinestSpirits.com This sophisticated website has been meticulously designed to showcase its heritage, products, community and expertise, while also upholding the most stringent disclosure standards, providing investors with easy access to the Company's filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission ("SEC"), up-to-the-minute stock quote and price data, and its vibrant social media channels. Magnum 1770 is not just a flagship brand - it's Breezer's most illustrious endeavor, bridging centuries-old distilling traditions with cutting-edge Bag-in-Box [BiB] technology. This innovative packaging and branding is poised to change the perception of premium lifestyle brands, making a significant leap from age-old bottling methodologies to a sustainable, eco-friendly, and cost-effective solution. What sets Magnum 1770 apart is its avant-garde design - vibrant, colorful boxes coupled with an iconic gold logo, epitomizing luxury in every nuance. Expressing his excitement, Breezer's CEO, Freddy Figueroa, stated: "Breezer Ventures isn't just a corporate entity; it's a vision. A vision fueled by the Tiller family's unparalleled distilling heritage, documented back to 1731, and fully deployed for the 21st century. . Their age-old family recipes, combined with Magnum 1770's modern approach, are the cornerstones of our brand. We're on a mission to elevate Magnum 1770, pushing boundaries and transcending the traditional realm of boxed lifestyle products." In a strategic move to maximize Magnum 1770's market reach, Breezer has harnessed the prowess of the Tiller family, leveraging their vast production capacities and expansive distribution channels. This collaboration aims to thrust Magnum 1770 into the spotlight, capturing the hearts of a broader audience and consolidating Breezer's status as a forerunner of innovation in the opulent lifestyle sector. "Our journey in the dynamic luxury lifestyle market has just begun, and the path we're charting looks immensely promising," Figueroa added. "With Magnum 1770, we're not merely presenting a beverage; it's a luxury experience - a testament to our unwavering commitment to quality and innovation, and doing so while making eco conscious decisions about how we operate. The future holds exciting potential, and with the support of our stakeholders, we are set to seize it." For a comprehensive insight into Breezer, its pioneering ventures, and the myriad of investment opportunities on offer, stakeholders are urged to delve into the Company's public filings on the SEC website, explore www.MagnumFinestSpirits.com , and tap into other trusted information repositories like www.OTCMARKETS.com. About Breezer Ventures Inc. / Magnum Finest Spirits Inc. Magnum is a distilled spirits and marketing company offering products with a centuries long history of outstanding quality. What separates Magnum from industry peers is their functionally innovative and environmentally conscious Bag in a Box (BiB) packaging" and distinctive billboard style labeling. Never to be associated with Discount or Bulk, top shelf Magnum 1770 branded products include an exceptional Bourbon, premium Vodka, an esteemed Gin, as well as trending Flavored Spirits. Magnum 1770 "300 YEARS OF FAMILY DISTILLING FINE SPIRITS, LEGALLY since 2015" The company plans to expand on it's relationships with the big box wine and liquor stores, warehouse liquor emporiums, traditional liquor stores, VIP and trending restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. Magnum has offices in Las Vegas NV, and Murrieta, CA . Precautionary and Forward-Looking Statements This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements"describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may," "future," "plan" or "planned," "will" or "should," "expected," "anticipates," "draft," "eventually" or "projected." You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude or risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in the Company's disclosures or filings with OTC Markets, Inc. You are further cautioned that stocks of smaller companies are inherently volatile and risky and that no investor should buy this stock unless they can afford the loss of their entire investment. Contact: 310-770-8168 MagnumFinestSpirits.com info@magnumfinestspirits.com SOURCE: Breezer Ventures, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773608/Breezer-Launches-Corporate-Website-for-Prestige-Lifestyle-Brand-Magnum-1770 SAN MATEO, Calif., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BrightEdge, the global platform leader in organic search, content, and digital automation, today announced the appointment of Krish Kumar as CEO of BrightEdge. Founder Jim Yu will take on a more active role in accelerating innovation in the Generative AI market as Executive Chairman. "I am thrilled about this appointment and what this means for BrightEdge." said Jim Yu. "Krish is an accomplished executive who possesses a profound grasp of technology coupled with a customer-centric perspective. During Krish's five-year tenure as our COO, he has played a transformative role in broadening our range of offerings and enhancing customer experiences." "We are only at the beginning of our mission to rapidly transform the SEO industry," Yu remarks. "As an AI-first company, our platform today gives marketers an AI competitive edge and provides vital practical business intelligence and insights. Now we are accelerating. this." As marketers embrace advanced Generative AI at scale, organizations are in a 'technology land grab' mode as they seek competitive differentiation and market share. In the past year, BrightEdge has seen a threefold increase in customer adoption of real-time, automated and AI powered technologies such as BrightEdge Insights, Instant, SearchIQ, and Autopilot. With Krish Kumar at the helm, BrightEdge is ramping up further investments in data infrastructure to expand the scope of AI-driven search experiences. "BrightEdge's transition into an AI-first company marks a significant milestone in our evolution," said Krish Kumar. "Autopilot's zero-touch technology has been helping marketers automate time-consuming tasks such as dynamic content creation, internal linking, and website error detection and fixes since 2019. Across 1500 customers in every type of industry we have seen, on average, a 65% uplift in performance." BrightEdge now has over 57 Fortune 100 brands utilizing Autopilot and machine learning modules to automate their workflows. "We see the future utilization of data science and Natural Language Processing combined with new Large Language Model (LLM) applications such as ChatGPT as key to accelerating this opportunity further. We will be empowering our customers to harness this potential like never before," Kumar comments. BrightEdge currently has over 120+ engineers specializing in SEO modules, data science, and Generative Search. The company plans to double its R&D investment through BrightEdge Labs in the next year, providing customers with early access to important innovations. About BrightEdge BrightEdge stands as the largest all-in-one enterprise SEO platform, serving 70% of the Fortune 100 companies and nine out of the top ten international digital agencies. As the global leader in enterprise organic search, content, and digital automation, it empowers marketers to transform online content into business results, such as traffic, conversions, and revenue. It is powered by a sophisticated deep-learning engine and contains the industry's most extensive data set. This includes analyzing over 30 billion keywords and search, social, content, and rich media data points. Its all-in-one platform provides vital market insights and business intelligence based on secure, compliant, and robust sets of first-party, real-time, and historical data. The company maintains a global presence with offices worldwide, with its main headquarters in the California Bay Area. Website: www.brightedge.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/brightedge LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brightedge Facebook: www.facebook.com/seoplatform For media enquires contact: abetts@brightedge.com Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2182397/Krish_Kumar_Appointed_CEO_of_BrightEdge.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2182398/BE_logo_blue_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/brightedge-appoints-krish-kumar-as-ceo-301897852.html NORWALK, Conn., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LBB Specialties (LBBS), a leader in specialty chemicals and ingredients distribution in North America, announced Courtney Flood has been promoted to Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. In this expanded role, Flood will report to CEO Hank DeWolf and be responsible for collaborating with vertical leadership on commercial strategy and corporate marketing. Additionally, Flood will lead the company's principal partnership efforts and establish new processes and standards for principal management across the organization. "Courtney has been instrumental in the realignment of our commercial organization into industry verticals while onboarding our legacy division acquisitions to join the LBB Specialties platform under one centralized brand," said Hank DeWolf, President and CEO of LBB Specialties. "In this expanded role, she will ensure broad customer reach by end-market, building a platform for exclusive principal representation and strategic partnerships with minimal overlapping chemistries." As Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, Flood will also help shape future initiatives in digitization and sustainability, crucial to delivering outstanding service as a technical solutions provider for customers. Flood joined LBB Specialties in 2020 as Director, Life Sciences Marketing and was promoted to Vice President, Marketing in 2021. Prior to joining LBB Specialties, Flood held account management roles at Croda and Brenntag Specialties. Flood holds a B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the Honors Program at New York University's Tandon School of Engineering. She has been a Trustee of The Chemists' Club since 2012. LBB Specialties is a leader in North American specialty chemicals and ingredients. It is a diversified supplier serving end-markets including care, food & nutrition, industrial specialties, and life sciences. LBB Specialties generates approximately $500 million in revenue annually and employs more than 110 commercial team members. www.LBBSpecialties.com Media Contact: Ahmed Hanafy media@lbbspecialties.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1887398/LBB_Specialties_LLC_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/lbb-specialties-courtney-flood-promoted-to-vice-president-of-marketing-and-business-development-301897920.html WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - During the spring 2023 semester, U.S. college students reported experiencing high levels of worry and stress, acording to a recent poll by Gallup. 76 percent of U.S. college students reported experiencing enjoyment during much of the prior day. However, majorities also said they felt stress (66 percent) and worry (51 percent). In addition, 39 percent said they endured loneliness and 36 percent said they felt sadness the previous day. These results are based on a Gallup web survey conducted between March 13 and 30 among 2,430 students pursuing their bachelor's degree at a four-year U.S. institution. Female undergraduates, who represent the majority of currently enrolled U.S. college students, are more likely than their male peers to report experiencing negative daily emotions. Among all emotions evaluated, the greatest differences between male and female students are in the areas of worry and stress. Approximately three-quarters of female students report experiencing stress a lot of the prior day, compared with 56 percent of male students. Likewise, 56 percent of female students report experiencing worry the prior day, compared with 40 percent of their male peers. Feelings of sadness are also much higher among female college students, and female students are less likely than male students to report experiencing enjoyment, the poll found. Gallup research indicates Americans' assessments of their mental health reached an all-time low in the winter of 2022. Unfortunately, high levels of negative daily emotions among college students are consistent with results from the Lumina Foundation-Gallup State of Higher Education 2022 study, which found emotional stress was a major reason currently enrolled students considered stopping out in the fall of 2022. Feelings of stress, worry, loneliness and sadness have challenged higher education institutions in the years since the Covid-19 pandemic began, and they are likely to continue into the fall of 2023, Gallup says. Copyright(c) 2023 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Top 3 Energie-Dividendenaktien Im neuen Energieboom von kontinuierlichen Ertragen profitieren. Wir zeigen hier, von welche drei Aktien Sie profitieren konnen. Hier klicken DES MOINES, IA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Principal Foundation, a global nonprofit committed to helping people and communities build financially secure futures, is launching Money Chronicles: A Story Initiative that is using the power of storytelling to help destigmatize and encourage conversations about money and personal finances. The initiative is kicking off with a national short story contest that invites people to share imaginative and meaningful short stories that reflect lived experiences with money. The contest is hosted in collaboration with The Center for Fiction, a national literary nonprofit, and Short Edition, a global publishing house. Stories can be submitted online until August 31, 2023, 11:59 pm PDT at http://principal-foundation.short-edition.com. The initiative will also make the finalist stories accessible to the public by installing Short Story Dispensers in libraries, bookstores and cafes in New York, N.Y., Los Angeles, Calif., Seattle, Wash., Charlotte, N.C., and Iowa City, Iowa. Visitors simply press a button on the dispenser to print a short story to enjoy. "People develop narratives around money and personal finance based on familial experience and those narratives tend to impact their relationship to money and inform their financial decisions throughout their lives," said Jo Christine Miles, director, Principal Foundation and Community Relations, Principal. "This contest is a way to inspire people, through the universal, human art of storytelling, to reimagine their narrative, resolve any struggles and, ultimately feel more comfortable having more robust financial conversations that advance their financial goals." Conversations about money are typically driven by people's perceptions of their own personal finances and experiences growing up. A new survey of 3,000 Millennial and Gen Z Americans conducted by YouGov and commissioned by Principal Foundation, reveals that like social media, conversations about money are usually only showing one aspect of personal finance, avoiding more comprehensive and candid conversations. Millennials and Gen Z are most comfortable sharing information related to salary or income. Less is being shared about topics, such as savings, debt, and investments. 72% will talk about salary/income. 60% will talk about savings or debt. 54% will talk about mortgage or rent. 49% will talk about investments. Millennials and Gen Z have underlying fears of being judged about their money habits. More than 40% fear being judged for their habits or earning level. Nearly one-third do not want it to create social tension with friends or family. 30% do not want to seem materialistic or like they are bragging. Financial habits witnessed growing up can lead to anxiety and control issues around money later in life. More than half of Millennials and Gen Z continue with the same financial habits they witnessed growing up. 40% agree that the financial situation they grew up in has led to issues controlling their spending. 52% agree the financial situation they grew up in led to worries about having enough money even when they are financially stable. Millennials and Gen Z underutilize financial products such as retirement accounts, investment accounts, and protection products due to disinterest or reasons other than lack of funds. Only 33% report having retirement savings or life insurance. 38% report not having retirement savings due to disinterest or reasons other than lack of funds. 50% report not having investment accounts due to disinterest or reasons other than lack of funds. Women are more likely to share financial information with their partners than men. 73% of women will share information about salary or income compared to 65% of men. 60% of women will share information about debt compared to 54% of men. 57% of women will share information about mortgage or rent compared to 47% of men. By reading stories presenting diverse financial situations, views and approaches to personal finance, this story initiative is designed to encourage people to reconsider their own situations and habits, engage in more candid conversations with those they trust, and develop more robust plans to attain the financial security they seek. Entering the contest is free, and 30 finalists will be selected by an esteemed panel of literary authors and experts including Mahogany L. Browne, Ava Chin, Novella Ford, Sidik Fofana, Xochitl Gonzalez, Alvin Hall, Erika L. Sanchez, Ashley Woodfolk, and Judy Zuckerman. Finalists will receive $250 and have their stories distributed through Principal Foundation's network of story dispensers, which can be found at New York Public Library in New York, N.Y.; Sip & Sonder in Los Angeles, Calif.; Charlotte Mecklenburg Library in Charlotte, N.C.; and renowned independent bookstores in Seattle and Iowa City, the only UNESCO Cities of Literature in the United States, Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, Wash. and Prairie Lights in Iowa City, Iowa. Stories from the finalists will also be considered for publication in Short Edition's global network of more than 300 story dispensers located in airports, public transportation hubs, retail centers, and other locations around the world. Terms and conditions apply. Adults ages 18 and older are encouraged to submit original fiction or creative nonfiction stories through the contest website now through August 31, 2023, 11:59 pm PDT. Finalists will be announced in October. For more information about Money Chronicles: A Story Initiative Supported by Principal Foundation and details on how to enter, please visit http://principal-foundation.short-edition.com. About Principal Foundation Principal Financial Group Foundation, Inc. ("Principal Foundation") is a duly recognized 501(c)(3) entity focused on providing philanthropic support to programs that build financial security in the communities where Principal Financial Group, Inc. ("Principal") operates. While Principal Foundation receives funding from Principal, Principal Foundation is a distinct, independent, charitable entity. Principal Foundation does not practice any form of investment advisory services and is not authorized to do so. Established in 1987, Principal Foundation works with organizations that are helping to shape and support the journey to financial security by ensuring access to essential needs, fostering social and cultural connections, and promoting financial inclusion. Principal Foundation funds a growing network of more than 140 charitable organizations in 25 countries and territories. 3044907-082023 About Short Edition Short Edition is an international publishing house specializing in short fiction and creative non-fiction. With a vision to make literature accessible to all, Short Edition places a wide range of short stories - spanning fiction, poetry, comic strips, and children's stories - directly into the hands of readers worldwide. The company is renowned for creating the innovative Short Story Dispenser, a simple yet impactful way to connect with readers, delivering printed stories at the touch of a button. Having proudly dispensed over 7 million short stories across five continents, authored by more than 10,000 independent writers, Short Edition continues to redefine the reading experience. To learn more, visit https://short-edition.com. About The Center for Fiction The Center for Fiction is a literary nonprofit that brings diverse communities together to develop and share a passion for fiction. Founded in 1821 as the Mercantile Library of New York in Manhattan, the organization is now based in the heart of the Brooklyn cultural district, with a 18,000-square-foot facility that offers New Yorkers an immersive cultural experience centered on reading and writing. Throughout the year, The Center for Fiction provides a vast array of public programming, reading groups, and writing workshops. The First Novel Prize and Emerging Writer Fellowships help build literary careers, and KidsRead/KidsWrite programs inspire an early love of reading and writing in public school students with author-led events. In recent years, the organization's programming has expanded to include storytelling in all its forms, integrating music, theater, dance, film, television, and the visual arts into its exploration of the best of fiction throughout history and today. Media Contact: Taylor Madigan, taylor.madigan@ruderfinn.com View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Principal Financial Group on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: Principal Financial Group Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/principal-financial-group Email: info@3blmedia.com SOURCE: Principal Financial Group View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773623/PrincipalR-Foundation-Launches-National-Short-Story-Contest-as-Part-of-New-Initiative-to-Destigmatize-Conversations-About-Money The news that Microsoft will once again be the Premier Sponsor of the 2023 PASS Data Community Summit is a welcome sign, given the increasing shift to the cloud, Redgate Software announced today. The Summit which will be held in person, in Seattle, Washington from November 14 to 17 will feature a huge program of 170 technical sessions from community experts, industry engineers and industry leaders. While the sessions will be delivered across five tracks including Analytics, Architecture and Database Management, a common thread runs through them: the interest in how the knowledge to be gained can be applied in the cloud as well as on-premises. The move to the cloud is already well-documented, with Flexera's 2023 State of the Cloud Report showing that organizations are embracing multi-cloud environments, and more than half of their workloads and data are in the public cloud. While managing cloud spend and security are their top cloud challenges, the third is the lack of resources and expertise. This is where the partnership with Microsoft is so valuable for the Summit, with attendees able to learn directly from Microsoft experts, Principal Architects and Product Managers. For example, the Summit pre-conference sessions include how to develop with Azure SQL Database locally and in the cloud, and hands-on labs showing attendees how to migrate from SQL Server to Azure SQL. Additional Microsoft sessions during the Summit will give attendees further opportunities to widen their cloud knowledge, with Microsoft speakers talking about topics like high-availability/disaster recovery on SQL Server on Azure VMs, Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL, cloud-based big data processing, hybrid data with Azure Arc, and the latest updates in Azure SQL and Microsoft Fabric. Summit attendees with questions can also find Microsoft experts on hand at the Microsoft booth. As Grant Fritchey, Redgate Advocate and a Microsoft Data Platform MVP since 2009, comments: "The experience and skills that data professionals require is now wider and deeper than it's ever been. Organizations looking to get more value from their data are exploring different database types and platforms, and you've got to have a broad knowledge of everything from performance tuning to Power BI, and SQL Server on-premises to Azure Database for PostgreSQL. The presence of Microsoft at the Summit will give attendees the opportunity to learn and ask about the latest thinking in SQL Server and Azure." "Our mission is to help organizations drive a culture where every employee can make better decisions based on data," said Shireesh Thota, Vice President, Azure Databases at Microsoft, who will be giving the opening keynote at the event. "As premier sponsor of the PASS Data Community Summit, we're eager to support data professionals in growing their in-demand cloud skills by sharing the latest in modernization approaches and best practices for taking advantage of the whole data estate whether the data is in Azure SQL Database, Azure Cosmos DB, Microsoft Fabric, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Azure Database for MySQL, or someplace else." The full catalog of sessions for the PASS Data Community Summit is now available and tickets are available for the event in Seattle, WA, from November 14 17. For further details, please visit www.passdatacommunitysummit.com. About Redgate Software Redgate makes ingeniously simple software used by over 800,000 IT professionals around the world and is the leading Database DevOps solutions provider. Redgate's philosophy is to design highly usable, reliable tools which elegantly solve the problems developers and DBAs face every day and help teams get the most value out of any database, on a growing number of platforms, anywhere. As well as streamlining database development and preventing the database being a bottleneck, this helps organizations introduce data protection by design and by default. As a result, more than 200,000 companies use Redgate tools, including 91% of those in the Fortune 100. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810302018/en/ Contacts: Meghana Shendrikar Allison+Partners for Redgate Software Redgate@allisonpr.com Scientists working on Fermilab's Muon g-2 experiment released the world's most precise measurement yet of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, bringing particle physics closer to the ultimate showdown between theory and experiment that may uncover new particles or forces. Batavia, IL, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Physicists now have a brand-new measurement of a property of the muon called the anomalous magnetic moment that improves the precision of their previous result by a factor of 2. An international collaboration of scientists working on the Muon g-2 experiment at the U.S. Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory announcedthe much-anticipated updated measurement on Aug. 10. This new value bolsters the first resultthey announced in April 2021 and sets up a showdown between theory and experiment over 20 years in the making. "We're really probing new territory. We're determining the muon magnetic moment at a better precision than it has ever been seen before," said Brendan Casey, a senior scientist at Fermilab who has worked on the Muon g-2 experiment since 2008. Physicists describe how the universe works at its most fundamental level with a theory known as the Standard Model. By making predictions based on the Standard Model and comparing them to experimental results, physicists can discern whether the theory is complete - or if there is physics beyond the Standard Model. Muons are fundamental particles that are similar to electrons but about 200 times as massive. Like electrons, muons have a tiny internal magnet that, in the presence of a magnetic field, precesses or wobbles like the axis of a spinning top. The precession speed in a given magnetic field depends on the muon magnetic moment, typically represented by the letter g; at the simplest level, theory predicts that g should equal 2. The difference of g from 2 - or g minus 2 - can be attributed to the muon's interactions with particles in a quantum foam that surrounds it. These particles blink in and out of existence and, like subatomic "dance partners," grab the muon's "hand" and change the way the muon interacts with the magnetic field. The Standard Model incorporates all known "dance partner" particles and predicts how the quantum foam changes g. But there might be more. Physicists are excited about the possible existence of as-yet-undiscovered particles that contribute to the value of g-2 - and would open the window to exploring new physics. The new experimental result, based on the first three years of data, announced by the Muon g-2 collaboration is: g-2 = 0.00233184110 +/- 0.00000000043 (stat.) +/- 0.00000000019 (syst.) The measurement of g-2 corresponds to a precision of 0.20 parts per million. The Muon g-2 collaboration describes the result in a paper that they submittedtoday to Physical Review Letters. With this measurement, the collaboration has already reached their goal of decreasing one particular type of uncertainty: uncertainty caused by experimental imperfections, known as systematic uncertainties. "This measurement is an incredible experimental achievement," said Peter Winter, co-spokesperson for the Muon g-2 collaboration. "Getting the systematic uncertainty down to this level is a big deal and is something we didn't expect to achieve so soon." While the total systematic uncertainty has already surpassed the design goal, the larger aspect of uncertainty - statistical uncertainty - is driven by the amount of data analyzed. The result announced today adds an additional two years of data to their first result. The Fermilab experiment will reach its ultimate statistical uncertainty once scientists incorporate all six years of data in their analysis, which the collaboration aims to complete in the next couple of years. To make the measurement, the Muon g-2 collaboration repeatedly sent a beam of muons into a 50-foot-diameter superconducting magnetic storage ring, where they circulated about 1,000 times at nearly the speed of light. Detectors lining the ring allowed scientists to determine how rapidly the muons were precessing. Physicists must also precisely measure the strength of the magnetic field to then determine the value of g-2. The Fermilab experiment reused a storage ring originally built for the predecessor Muon g-2 experiment at DOE's Brookhaven National Laboratory that concluded in 2001. In 2013, the collaboration transportedthe storage ring 3,200 miles from Long Island, New York, to Batavia, Illinois. Over the next four years, the collaboration assembled the experiment with improved techniques, instrumentation and simulations. The main goal of the Fermilab experiment is to reduce the uncertainty of g-2 by a factor of four compared to the Brookhaven result. "Our new measurement is very exciting because it takes us well beyond Brookhaven's sensitivity," said Graziano Venanzoni, professor at the University of Liverpool affiliated with the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Pisa, and co-spokesperson of the Muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab. In addition to the larger data set, this latest g-2 measurement is enhanced by updates to the Fermilab experiment itself. "We improved a lot of things between our first year of taking data and our second and third year," said Casey, who recently finished his term as co-spokesperson with Venanzoni. "We were constantly making the experiment better." The experiment was "really firing on all cylinders" for the final three years of data-taking, which came to an end on July 9, 2023. That's when the collaboration shut off the muon beam, concluding the experiment after six years of data collection. They reached the goal of collecting a data set that is more than 21 times the size of Brookhaven's data set. Physicists can calculate the effects of the known Standard Model "dance partners" on muon g-2 to incredible precision. The calculations consider the electromagnetic, weak nuclear and strong nuclear forces, including photons, electrons, quarks, gluons, neutrinos, W and Z bosons, and the Higgs boson. If the Standard Model is correct, this ultra-precise prediction should match the experimental measurement. Calculating the Standard Model prediction for muon g-2 is very challenging. In 2020, the Muon g-2 Theory Initiative announcedthe best Standard Model prediction for muon g-2available at that time. But a new experimental measurement of the data that feeds into the prediction and a new calculation based on a different theoretical approach - lattice gauge theory - are in tension with the 2020 calculation. Scientists of the Muon g-2 Theory Initiative aim to have a new, improved predictionavailable in the next couple of years that considers both theoretical approaches. The Muon g-2 collaborationcomprises close to 200 scientists from 33institutions in seven countries and includes nearly 40 students so far who have received their doctorates based on their work on the experiment. Collaborators will now spend the next couple of years analyzing the final three years of data. "We expect another factor of two in precision when we finish," said Venanzoni. The collaboration anticipates releasing their final, most precise measurement of the muon magnetic moment in 2025 - setting up the ultimate showdown between Standard Model theory and experiment. Until then, physicists have a new and improved measurement of muon g-2 that is a significant step toward its final physics goal. The Muon g-2 experiment is supported by the Department of Energy (US); National Science Foundation (US); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italy); Science and Technology Facilities Council (UK); Royal Society (UK); European Union's Horizon 2020; National Natural Science Foundation of China; MSIP, NRF and IBS-R017-D1 (Republic of Korea); and German Research Foundation (DFG). Fermilab is America's premier national laboratory for particle physics research. A U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, Fermilab is located near Chicago, Illinois, and operated under contract by the Fermi Research Alliance LLC. Visit Fermilab's website at https://www.fnal.gov and follow us on Twitter @Fermilab. The DOE Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://science.energy.gov. Attachments LONDON, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TRIP continues to break new ground for the CBD industry by becoming the first brand in the category to be awarded with the esteemed title of Great Taste Producer by the Guild of Fine Food. All of TRIP drinks have won Great Taste awards and TRIP has now won in three individual years, leading to the Great Taste producer accolade. Great Taste judges celebrated the "deliciously refreshing" botanical blends, which has been a key driver of TRIP's mainstream adoption across the country. TRIP was founded with a mission to destigmatise the conversation around mental health and help millions of people findtheircalm with delicious, game-changing, authentically functional drinks. The brand has been recognised as the "Soft Drink of the Year" by The Grocer after becoming the fastest growing soft drink in the UK (Nielsen IQ). TRIP has been a viral sensation, drawing in millions of fans with over 50m impressions on tiktok and instagram in January alone, attracting the most organic search traffic of any CBD Drinks brand globally (source: SEMRUSH). For TRIP to be recognised against soft drinks, cocktails and alcohol alternatives is an exciting milestone in the movement the brand has created to allow people to reach for CBD to destress and unwind, whenever and wherever they need it most. TRIP boasts unique flavours with floral, herbal and citrus notes. Each flavour is packed with calming adaptogens such as ginseng, lemon balm, turmeric and chamomile. Combined with premium CBD TRIP has created an effective, functional drink that has fostered mass adoption and leading repeat rates; 94% of TRIP buyers said they would recommend it to a friend (2022 TRIP consumer survey). In the UK TRIP has 88% market share of CBD drinks (Source: Nielsen IQ) and is now the world's #1 CBD drink with twice the sales of the #2 brand from the USA (Nielsen IQ). But why the sudden demand? Studies show that people are increasingly giving up drinking, and since most alcohol alternatives generally don't have the same calming effect, only TRIP can help people relax in a similar way, unwinding without the threat of a hangover hours later. In particular, Gen Z have made the big switch. In fact, among Generation Z - the most likely age group to be teetotal - 1 in 2 have now tried a CBD drink (Source: KAM Media and Drinkaware). The other reason people are turning to TRIP is a renewed focus on mental wellbeing among the chaos of everyday life. Millions already find calm through the functionality of CBD drinks but to give extra support to the community at the most stressful time of the year (Source: WIRED). Find out more at drink-trip.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/in-a-first-for-the-cbd-industry-trip-officially-becomes-a-great-taste-producer-awarded-by-the-uks-largest-and-most-trusted-food-and-drink-awards-301898150.html NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Crown Holdings, Inc. May 22nd was the United Nations (UN) International Day for Biological Diversity, also known as "biodiversity." But what is biodiversity? Biodiversity is commonly defined as the biological diversity of species including plants (flora), animals (fauna) and ecosystems. Why is biodiversity important? The latest WWF Living Planet Report (2022)1 highlights that global wildlife populations have plummeted by 69% on average since 1970-threatening the livelihood of our environments and diverse species--and confirms that biodiversity is at risk. What is causing this crisis? The 5 key drivers for biodiversity loss (UN, 2019)2, and some examples, include: Changes in land and sea use - deforestation and peatland drainage-especially to enable mono-crop agriculture Natural resource use and exploitation of organisms - over-fishing, unethical mining, unsustainable extraction of water Climate change - increases in extreme weather events leading to habitat destruction Pollution - marine plastic pollution and nitrogen run-off, especially from chemically fertilized agriculture Invasive species - introduced through global supply chains and human activity -- overtaking native species Does this impact our industry? Why is it critical for Crown to protect biodiversity? i) Nature is a part of our supply chain, regardless of whether we directly use natural resources. Businesses, and ultimately our way of life, are dependent on healthy ecosystems. A healthy, diverse ecosystem maintains soil and soil health to grow the food we need to eat; preserves water quality for us to safely drink; and filters and improves the quality of the air we need to breathe. Crown makes packaging from aluminum and steel, mined from the abundant resources of bauxite and iron ore, to protect our customers' beverages, food, and other products-products that ultimately come from plants and water. Without nature-provided resources, also known as "eco-systems services," businesses including ours cannot continue to function effectively. ii) A lack of biodiversity has significant monetary impacts - for example, the loss of insect and animal species diversity is not just a loss for their ecosystem, but a much larger domino effect. In fact, the loss of pollinator species alone will specifically threaten global crops with an annual market value of up to $577bn.3 iii) Biodiversity and nature is recognized as a powerful force to reduce CO2 equivalent emissions - it is estimated that by working with nature, emissions can be reduced by up to 11.7 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year by 20304, over 40% of what is needed to limit global warming. How is Crown taking action for biodiversity? a) Understanding any potential impacts on biodiversity: Crown has been mapping biodiversity in the vicinity of our plants using IBAT - Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool5 - starting with the aluminum beverage manufacturing facilities. We are also creating Biodiversity Risk Assessment, Mitigation, Management, and Action plans that have been audited to meet the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) Biodiversity criteria for the ASI Performance Standard. b) Raising awareness about biodiversity: Crown is offering training in our manufacturing sites (starting in Asia Pacific and the Americas) that supports employees to plant native trees and share information about biodiversity online. Raising awareness and fostering conversation around this topic is critical to improving engagement - as the existence of International Biodiversity Day demonstrates. c) Partnering with local organizations in the vicinity of our plants: To meet water replenishment targets as part of Twentyby30 sustainability program, including Goal #9, we are teaming up with other parties on appropriate habitat preservation and creation. This support for local communities in turn supports biodiversity. It is important we step up in these ways as almost 75% of the land-based environment and about 66% of marine environment has been significantly altered by human actions, but on average these trends have been much less severe or avoided in areas held or managed by indigenous peoples and local Indigenous peoples6 act as stewards for over 40% of intact ecosystems and protected areas, despite only representing 6% of the global population. Indigenous peoples managed lands have equal or higher levels of biodiversity in Brazil, Canada.7 Therefore, ensuring local partnerships are engaged with local and indigenous communities is critical to sustaining a biodiverse future that will help mitigate climate change, as well as support our businesses and human life. For example, Crown's ongoing water replenishment project in Brazil supports 3 years of work, through engaging with local farmers and communities, which will result in the protection of 100 hectares of forest in the Jundiai Mirim Watershed, for each year of the project. It will also replenish almost half of the water consumed in our manufacturing plant in Cabreuva by the project completion date, and will offset 1,310 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year.8 The biodiversity crisis is not unsolvable, but it needs attention now. Businesses have a role to play in long-term solutions. Crown is just at the start of an important journey to address biodiversity, alongside our ambitious and continuing Twentyby30 strategy to ultimately minimize our environmental footprint. 1https://wwflpr.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/lpr_2022_full_report_1.pdf 2https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/ 3IPBES, 2015 - Given that pollinator-dependent crops rely on animal pollination to varying degrees, it is estimated that 5-8 per cent of current global crop production, with an annual market value of $235 billion-$577 billion (in 2015, United States dollars1) worldwide, is directly attributable to animal pollination 4https://www.unep.org/explore-topics/climate-action/facts-about-climate-emergency 5https://www.ibat-alliance.org/ 6Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Media Release 2019 - Media Release: Nature's Dangerous Decline 'Unprecedented'; Species Extinction Rates 'Accelerating' | IPBES secretariat 7Vertebrate biodiversity on indigenous-managed lands in Australia, Brazil, and Canada equals that in protected areas - ScienceDirect 8Page 42, Crown_2021-Sustainability-Report.pdf (crowncork.com) View original content here Our Crown TCP team in Nong Khae, Thailand plants trees for its National Tree Day 2022, promoting new greenery growth and a healthier local ecosystem-elements that aid biodiversity View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Crown Holdings, Inc. on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: Crown Holdings, Inc. Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/crown-holdings-inc Email: info@3blmedia.com SOURCE: Crown Holdings, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773659/Crown-Holdings-International-Day-for-Biodiversity Originally published in Enbridge's 2022 Sustainability Report NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Enbridge's natural gas distribution business provides natural gas to more than 15 million people in Ontario and Quebec, through 3.9 million residential, commercial, institutional and industrial meter connections. We engage with municipalities, businesses, individual consumers and consumer advocacy groups on a range of related issues, including affordability and emissions reduction. Only about 1% of the emissions associated with our gas utility come from our operations, while the other 99% are created when customers use the natural gas we provide. For more than 25 years, our demand-side management (DSM) programs have been helping consumers adopt strategies to use less energy, save money and minimize environmental impact. In addition to helping consumers use less energy through equipment upgrades, behavior changes and other strategies, we continue to explore and scale solutions that enable us to provide consumers with lower-emission energy sources. Pairing lower-carbon fuels with existing infrastructure. We're working on blending fuels like hydrogen and renewable natural gas with conventional natural gas in the existing delivery infrastructure. For example, in January 2022, we announced with our partner Cummins that the first hydrogen blending initiative in North America was operational and serving the southern Ontario city of Markham. This network can deliver blended gas-clean hydrogen injected into the existing natural gas distribution network-to about 3,600 customers. By delivering these blended fuels directly to customers' homes, we help to reduce emissions without the need for major changes (such as furnace replacement) at the household level. The success of this project will enable us to validate and pursue larger-scale hydrogen-blending activities in other parts of our distribution system. Smart hybrid heating solutions for savings and efficiency. Advanced controls for home heating and cooling appliances also hold promise for boosting energy efficiency. These controls respond to changes in ambient temperature and on the energy grid, adjusting the energy sources they draw on for heating and cooling. In 2022, we launched a pilot project in four Ontario communities to help homeowners reduce energy costs and environmental impact by using smart controls and air-source heat pumps in combination with conventional natural gas heating appliances to maintain thermal comfort with less energy. Strategies and incentives for reducing energy use. We offer a range of ways for households and businesses to boost energy efficiency using equipment upgrades, behavior changes and home adaptations-from simple fixes like improving seals around windows and doors to insulating basements and attics. In 2022, we were proud to become the delivery agent for the federal government's Greener Homes Grant. This role enables us to extend the practices that have proved highly effective for our customers in Ontario for more than two decades. Read more View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Enbridge on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: Enbridge Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/enbridge Email: info@3blmedia.com SOURCE: Enbridge View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773675/Helping-Consumers-Reduce-Energy-Usage-and-Managing-Scope-3-Emissions Toronto, Ontario and New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Micromem Technologies Inc. (CSE: MRM) (OTCQB: MMTIF) ("Micromem") ("the Company") is pleased to provide a current update on our ongoing discussions with Chevron regarding the automated tracer technology which the Company continues to pursue. Chevron and the Company initially conducted beta testing of this technology in field tests in Lost Hill California in 2019-2020. These tests were the basis for Micromem's later discussions and negotiations with our Romanian clients as has been previously disclosed. Micromem's Chief Financial Officer recently met with Chevron's team leader for Chevron's Tracer Lab in their Houston offices to provide an update on our Romanian project. Chevron is supportive of Micromem's initiatives in Romania and is prepared to collaborate with Micromem as the Romanian project continues. Working with our Romanian clients and our engineering subcontractor, Entanglement Technologies, Micromem is developing a well mounted real time data gathering device with comprehensive analytics. We believe that the ongoing collaboration with Chevron will enhance and accelerate this development and, ultimately will provide the opportunity for deployment with other energy companies in North America and in Europe. About Micromem. Micromem Technologies Inc. and its subsidiaries, a publicly traded (OTCQB: MMTIF) (CSE: MRM), company analyzes specific industry sectors to create intelligent game-changing applications that address unmet market needs. By leveraging its expertise and experience with sophisticated sensor applications, the Company successfully powers the development and implementation of innovative solutions for oil & gas, utilities, automotive, healthcare, government, information technology, manufacturing and other industries. Visit www.micromeminc.com. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. In particular, factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include: our inability to obtain additional financing on acceptable terms; risk that our products and services will not gain widespread market acceptance; continued consumer adoption of digital technology; inability to compete with others who provide comparable products; the failure of our technology; the infringement of our technology with proprietary rights of third parties; inability to respond to consumer and technological demands; inability to replace significant customers; seasonal nature of our business; and other risks detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and are not guarantees of future performance. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. When used in this document, the words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "project," "plan," "should," "intend," "may," "will," "would," "potential," and similar expressions may be used to identify forward-looking statements. The CSE or any other securities regulatory authority has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release that has been prepared by management. ### Listing: NASD OTC-QB - Symbol: MMTIF CSE - Symbol: MRM Shares issued 506,686,137 SEC File No: 0-26005 Investor Contact: info@micromeminc.com; Tel. 416-364-2023 Subscribe to receive News Releases by Email on our website's home page. www.micromeminc.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176779 Gross Profit Margins Continue to Improve; 25.6% Realized in the Quarter Core Business Adjusted EBITDA of $5.6 million Net Working Capital reduction of $2.3 million in the Quarter (Spark Power reports in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified) OAKVILLE, ON / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Spark Power Group Inc. (TSX:SPG), parent company of Spark Power ("Spark Power" or the "Company"), has announced its financial results for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2023. All amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified. "We are building positive momentum as we come out of our second quarter and we are starting to realize early wins from the rollout of our new go-to-market plan, particularly in the US market. We will continue to execute on the key strategic initiatives in support of our Let's Grow Better strategy, and we will prioritize sales channel expansion and the next phase of our Project Darwin rollout for Canada," said Richard Jackson, President & CEO of Spark Power. "We have added key leadership talent to support the maturing of the Company, and we are seeing the efforts of our teams in operations, sales, and overall management come to life through the ongoing expansion of our US business in Technical and Renewable Services - with significant customer acquisitions in both segments," added Jackson. "With our intentional shift to higher margin service work, we are seeing steady improvement in gross margin realizations over the last several quarters, despite challenging prior year revenue comparatives tied to large projects," said Richard Perri, Executive Vice President & CFO of Spark Power. "We also generated positive free cash flow in the quarter as a result of lower net working capital and our focus on speed to cash. We have aggressive plans to continue decreasing net working capital through the second half of the year through targeted reductions in days sales outstanding for both accounts receivable and contract assets," added Perri. Financial Highlights - Q2 2023 Revenue from continuing operations was $66.2 million in Q2 2023, as compared to $70.6 million in Q2 2022, representing a decrease of 6.3% year-over-year. The year-over-year change was anticipated as it reflects the ramp-up of our go-to-market strategy to pursue smaller ticket, higher margin service work and prior period comparatives include large project work in the Technical Services and Renewables segments. Gross Profit Margins from continuing operations, excluding depreciation and amortization, were 25.6% in Q2 2023, as compared to 26.0% in Q2 2022 and 25.1% in Q1 2023. The decrease from prior year is tied to a shift in the Renewables mix, while the sequential improvements over the prior two quarters reflects the ramp up of our go to market strategy. Selling, General and Administration (S,G&A) expenses from continuing operations, excluding depreciation and amortization, were $11.4 million, down $0.6 million, or 5.0% from Q2 2022, demonstrating the benefits of the actions executed in 2022 to scale the business for growth. Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations was $5.6 million or 8.5% of revenue in Q2 2023, excluding foreign exchange losses of $0.4 million in the quarter. This compares to Adjusted EBITDA of $6.5 million or 9.2% of revenue in Q2 2022. The year-over-year change reflects lower volumes due to large projects in the prior year, partially offset by lower S,G&A costs. Cash flow from continuing operations was $5.0 million in the quarter, compared to cash used by operations of $4.2 million in Q2 2022 tied to a reduction in net working capital of $8.3 million as compared to Q2 2022. Business Highlights - Q2 2023 In the second quarter, Spark Power continued the build out of its go-to-market plan to support the Let's Grow Better strategy, with an acute focus on driving sustainable growth, to create long-term value for shareholders as a fully integrated platform company. strategy, with an acute focus on driving sustainable growth, to create long-term value for shareholders as a fully integrated platform company. Focus on continued integration of the Company to complete its enterprise-wide technology and business process integration initiative, Project Darwin. The new system is expected to provide an improved customer experience, operational efficiencies in both the field and back office and the creation of a scalable platform to support future growth. The final integration of the Canadian business is planned to be completed over the next six months. The Company invested in key leadership talent to support the maturing of the Company. New Canadian leadership and sales team in place to drive volume in the business and focus on key areas within the go-to-market strategy. Significant progress made on the Company's training and development initiatives. Awarded a further $2.5 million grant tied directly to the funding of training and skills development of Spark's skilled trades team. Customer wins in the Renewables space and US Technical Services. Large utility scale O&M agreements have been awarded in key markets including Texas, Arizona, California, particularly in solar and battery storage. Transactional service projects on a T&M basis with major utilities in Florida. Significant T&M projects in various southern states with further expansion into new states in the Technical Services segment. Quarterly Conference Call Management is hosting an investor conference call and webcast on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss its financial results in greater detail. To join by telephone dial: +1-888-506-0062 (toll-free in North America) or +1-973-528-0011 (local and international), with conference ID: 48670 and entry code: 455150. To listen to a live webcast of the call, please visit the investor relations section of Spark Power's website at https://sparkpowercorp.com/about-us/investor-relations/. An archived replay of the webcast will be available following the conclusion of the call. Please dial in or log on 10 minutes prior to the start time to provide sufficient time to register for the event. Spark Power's Second-Quarter 2023 Interim Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements are available on Spark Power's website www.sparkpowercorp.com and will be filed on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca. About Spark Power Spark Power is the leading independent provider of end-to-end electrical services and operations and maintenance services to the industrial, utility, and renewable asset markets in North America. We work to earn the right to be our customers' Trusted Partner in Power. Our highly skilled and dedicated people, located in the communities we serve, combined with our knowledge of the power industry, technology expertise, and commitment to safety, ensures we deliver the right solutions that keep our customers' operations up and running today and better equipped for tomorrow. Learn more at www.sparkpowercorp.com. Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain forward-looking statements (within the meaning of applicable securities laws), which reflect Spark Power's current expectations regarding future events. Forward-looking statements are identified by words such as "believe", "anticipate", "project", "expect", "intend", "plan", "will", "may", "estimate" and other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this press release include statements regarding the Company's opportunities for future growth, acquisitions and expansions, future liquidity, pro forma annualized costs, the calculation of charges, and other statements that are not historical fact, and without limitation, include statements by Messrs. Jackson and Perri regarding execution on Spark Power's growth strategy, earnings growth, SG&A efficiency realizations, the stabilizing global economy, the support of third parties, and the successful implementation Spark Power's technology platform. The forward-looking statements in this news release are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. Several factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others: the ability of the Company to implement its planned efficiency measures; currency fluctuations; disruptions or changes in the credit or security markets; results of operations; and general developments, market and industry conditions. Readers, therefore, should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Further, these forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, except as expressly required by applicable law, neither Spark Power Group Inc. nor Spark Power Corp. assumes any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Non-IFRS Measures The Company prepares and releases unaudited consolidated interim financial statements and audited consolidated annual financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS. In this and other earnings releases and investor conference calls, as a complement to results provided in accordance with IFRS, the Company also discloses and discusses certain financial measures not recognized under IFRS and that do not have standard meanings prescribed by IFRS. These include "EBITDA", "Adjusted EBITDA", "Pro-forma Adjusted EBITDA", "EBITDA Margin", "Adjusted EBITDA Margin", "Pro-forma Adjusted EBITDA Margin", "Pro-forma Revenue", "Pro-forma Annualized Selling, General and Administration Costs", "Adjusted Working Capital", and "Adjusted Net and Comprehensive Income (Loss)". These non-IFRS measures are used to provide investors with supplemental measures of Spark Power's operating performance and highlight trends in Spark Power's business that may not otherwise be apparent when relying solely on IFRS measures. Spark also believes that providing such information to securities analysts, investors and other interested parties who frequently use non-IFRS measures in the evaluation of issuers will allow them to better compare Spark Power's performance against others in its industry. Management also uses non-IFRS measures in order to facilitate operating performance comparisons from period to period, to prepare annual operating budgets and forecasts and to determine components of management compensation. For a reconciliation of these non-IFRS measures, see the Company's management's discussion and analysis for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023. The non-IFRS measures should not be construed as alternatives to results prepared in accordance with IFRS. Selected Consolidated Financial Information: Reconciliation of net loss to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA: The following table is a summary of Spark Power's results for the periods indicated: Investor and Regulatory Inquiries: Richard Perri, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer investor@sparkpowercorp.com +1 (905) 829-3336 Media Inquiries: Lauren D'Andrea, Manager of Corporate Communications & Brand media@sparkpowercorp.com +1 (416) 902-4393 SOURCE: Spark Power Group Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773680/Spark-Power-Builds-Momentum-With-Solid-Second-Quarter-Performance Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Austin Gold Corp. (NYSE American: AUST) ("Austin" or the "Company") announces the following change in officers effective immediately: Darcy Higgs has resigned as Corporate Secretary of the Company and will take the role of Vice President, Business Development; and Donna Moroney has been appointed Corporate Secretary. Donna Moroney is President of Wiklow Corporate Services Inc., a Vancouver company that provides corporate secretarial services and other services to public companies. She has over 30 years of extensive experience in regulatory and corporate compliance in both Canada and the United States, and as a senior officer for various public companies, and has instructed and provided training in regulatory compliance. About Austin Gold Corp. Austin Gold is a gold exploration company focused on gold targets and making district-scale gold discoveries in the southwestern United States. Austin Gold has three projects in Nevada. The Kelly Creek Project is located on the Battle Mountain-Eureka (Cortez) gold trend in Humboldt County, the Lone Mountain Project is on the Independence-Jerritt Canyon gold trend in Elko County, and the Miller Project is on the Carlin gold trend in Elko County. Collectively, these Nevada properties comprise approximately 76.2 km2 of unpatented and patented mining claims and mineral tenure. In Oregon, the Stockade Mountain Project consists of approximately 21.5 km2 of unpatented mining claims situated in a geological environment that appears the same as the nearby Grassy Mountain Deposit that is being permitted for underground mining. For further information, please contact: Darcy A. Higgs, Vice President, Business Development 604-644-6580 darcy.higgs@austin.gold Website: www.austin.gold Safe Harbor / Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws that is intended to be covered by the safe harbors created by those laws. "Forward-looking information" includes statements that use forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "potential" or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. Such forward-looking information includes, without limitation, the Company's expectations, strategies and plans for the Company's projects, including the Company's planned expenditures and exploration activities. Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the date the statements are made. Furthermore, such forward-looking information involves a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual plans, intentions, activities, results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future plans, intentions, activities, results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. The Company cautions that there can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking information contained in this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176826 Deepset.ai, a Berlin, Germany-based developer of a platform for building enterprise apps powered by large language models, raised $30m in funding. The round was led by Balderton Capital, with participation from GV and Harpoon Ventures, System.One, and Lunar. The company, which has raised a total of $45.6m so far, intends to use the capital to expand operations, its development efforts, and business reach. Led by co-founder and CEO Milos Rusic, Deepset.ai provides an LLM platform deepset Cloud, a model-agnostic developer platform for AI teams looking to build customized, flexible systems powered by the latest language models. A SOC 2-certified platform that lets its users retain full ownership of their data, deepset Cloud allows organizations to unlock the value of LLMs, get to market faster, and thereby gain a competitive advantage. With Haystack, its core technology, developers can choose from a wide selection of components required in a modern NLP project: proprietary and open source LLMs, vector databases, file converters, text embedding models, and much more. These components are plugged into pipelines or agents to build anything from a Google-like search engine on company documents, to conversational AI, to information discovery systems. The platform allows different product team stakeholders to work in a unified environment with fast prototyping, frequent feedback cycles, and easy customization. FinSMEs 10/08/2023 In recent years, the landscape of financial transactions has undergone a remarkable transformation with the emergence of digital banking. The advancement in technology has revolutionized how we manage and conduct payments, propelling the traditional banking methods into the modern era. Today, we delve into the promising world of digital banking trends, exploring its myriad benefits and how it has become the future of payments. Understanding digital banking Digital banking, also known as online banking, refers to the virtual platform that allows customers to perform various financial activities without visiting physical bank branches. It provides a seamless, convenient, and secure way to manage finances, conduct transactions, and access banking services from the comfort of ones home or on the go. Over the past decade, digital banking has experienced an explosive growth, attracting millions of users worldwide. The primary driving force behind this surge in popularity lies in the convenience it offers. From transferring funds between accounts to paying bills and applying for loans, every aspect of banking is now at the tip of our fingers. The rapid advancement of smartphones and the increasing availability of high-speed internet have played a significant role in fostering the adoption of digital banking services. The rise of mobile banking applications has made it even more accessible, as users can now access their accounts and conduct transactions through user-friendly apps. Benefits of digital banking Convenience: One of the most apparent advantages of digital banking is the unparalleled convenience it provides. You no longer have to endure long queues at the bank; instead, you can effortlessly manage your finances anytime, anywhere. One of the most apparent advantages of digital banking is the unparalleled convenience it provides. You no longer have to endure long queues at the bank; instead, you can effortlessly manage your finances anytime, anywhere. 24/7 access: Digital banking transcends time zones and operating hours. It grants users unrestricted access to their accounts round the clock, enabling them to carry out transactions at their convenience. Digital banking transcends time zones and operating hours. It grants users unrestricted access to their accounts round the clock, enabling them to carry out transactions at their convenience. Cost-effectiveness: For both customers and banks, digital banking proves to be cost-effective. It reduces the need for maintaining extensive physical branches, leading to lower operational expenses. For both customers and banks, digital banking proves to be cost-effective. It reduces the need for maintaining extensive physical branches, leading to lower operational expenses. Enhanced security: Modern digital banking systems incorporate robust security measures to safeguard users sensitive information. Encryption, multi-factor authentication, and biometric verification are just a few of the layers of protection. Modern digital banking systems incorporate robust security measures to safeguard users sensitive information. Encryption, multi-factor authentication, and biometric verification are just a few of the layers of protection. Real-time alerts: Digital banking keeps users informed with real-time alerts, ensuring that they are up-to-date with their account activities, including deposits, withdrawals, and purchases. Digital banking keeps users informed with real-time alerts, ensuring that they are up-to-date with their account activities, including deposits, withdrawals, and purchases. Financial management tools: Many digital banking platforms offer insightful financial management tools, empowering users to track their spending, set budgets, and achieve financial goals. Many digital banking platforms offer insightful financial management tools, empowering users to track their spending, set budgets, and achieve financial goals. Quick and efficient transactions: Electronic fund transfers and digital payment methods facilitate speedy and efficient transactions, saving time and effort for customers and businesses alike. The future of payments As technology continues to advance, the future of payments lies firmly in the realm of digital banking. With its constant evolution and integration of innovative features, digital banking is set to redefine the way we interact with money. The rise of mobile wallets Mobile wallets have emerged as a game-changer. Fueled by mobile commerce, mobile wallets are expected to become the most popular online payment method, accounting for over a third of all payments worldwide. In the U.S., it is predicted that mobile wallets will soon overtake physical cards as the preferred online payment option. The convenience, security, and ease of use associated with mobile wallets have driven their rapid adoption. As this trend continues, there is a possibility that digital wallets could make credit cards fully digital within the next decade, transforming the way we manage our finances and make purchases. The cashless society The ongoing shift towards a cashless society is transforming the payment landscape globally. In 2020, cash accounted for only one-fifth of all in-store payments, lagging far behind credit cards and mobile wallets. The momentum towards a cashless society is expected to accelerate in the coming years, with cash usage projected to drop below 13% of payments worldwide. Several countries, including Australia, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, are on track to have minimal cash in circulation by the end of the decade, limiting its usage mainly to person-to-person payments and tipping. While the world might not be entirely cashless by 2030, the widespread adoption of digital payment solutions will undoubtedly redefine the future of transactions. Buy now, pay later (BNPL) The buy now, pay later (BNPL) phenomenon has revolutionized the way consumers budget and manage their finances while shopping online. The use of BNPL services is set to double by 2024, with an estimated $306.8 billion worth of E-commerce purchases made through BNPL platforms. The appeal of BNPL lies in its simplicity and flexibility, allowing consumers to pay for their purchases directly at the point of sale, avoiding the burden of immediate upfront payments. As this trend gains momentum, we can expect BNPL services to expand into various verticals, driven by strong customer loyalty and brand equity. The shift from bank card to bank account Regulatory changes and the adoption of open banking have fueled a significant transformation in digital wallets. With a growing number of users directly funding their digital wallets from bank accounts, this shift is already evident in countries like Thailand, Finland, Vietnam, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Norway. The trend is expected to extend further, with a majority of users in the U.K., U.S., and Australia funding their digital wallets directly from bank accounts. Physical debit and credit cards, which currently fund most digital wallets globally, will gradually take a back seat as account-to-account based wallets gain popularity in the West. This transformation represents a leap towards greater financial integration and convenience. Challenges and the road ahead While digital banking future is promising, it is not without its challenges. Security concerns, cyber threats, and ensuring digital inclusivity for all sections of society are issues that demand careful attention. Financial institutions need to continuously invest in state-of-the-art security measures to safeguard user data and transactions from malicious actors. Moreover, bridging the digital divide by ensuring accessibility to digital banking services for those with limited technological exposure is essential. The transformative power of digital banking: embracing the future of payments Digital banking, with its unparalleled convenience, security, and efficiency, has emerged as the future of payments, transforming the financial sector globally. Its widespread adoption is a testament to the transformative power of technology in the financial sector. However, as we embrace this digital revolution, it is crucial to remain vigilant about cybersecurity and foster an inclusive environment that allows everyone to benefit from the advantages of digital banking. Financial services consulting plays a vital role in advancing this transformation. With the right financial services consultancy, the transition towards a more connected, efficient, and accessible financial world happens at an accelerated pace. Monetizr, an Atlanta, GA-based advertising experience platform provider, raised $4m in funding. The round was led by Change Ventures, with participation from Techstars and Ludus Ventures, with participation from angel investors Ari Paparo, CEO at Marketecture Media and former executive at Google and Beeswax, and Jared Schrieber, Founder of InfoScout/Numerator. The company will use the funds to build out its sales teams in North America, with new hires in Atlanta, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia, and enhance technical and product development efforts, making key hires in the development hubs in London, Riga, and Helsinki. Founded in 2016 in Riga, Latvia, and led by CEO Andris Merkulovs, and COO Martins Bratuskins, Monetizr is a mobile games advertising platform that works at the intersection of gamers, publishers, and brands, finding innovative and sensitive ways to deliver immersive brand experiences that drive engagement at scale. It allows brand managers to buy scalable and cost-effective ads across its data-driven consumer engagement platform while helping publishers monetize their games by defining a new class of in-game ad assets. Monetizr offers brands repeated and varied storytelling opportunities throughout a single gameplay and does so via game-enriching experiences rather than background decorations. On the backend, the same SDK delivers anonymous consumer behavioral data that is critical in the wake of new Apple privacy rules that will soon eliminate the use of cookies and eliminate advertisers access to consumers in-app data. The company is already working with major CPG brands like Procter & Gamble and top game developers like Voodoo. FinSMEs 10/08/2023 Pistachio (formerly known as CYBR), an Oslo, Norway based cyber security company, raised 3.25M in funding. The round was led by Signals Venture Capital, with participation from Norwegian pension fund MP Pensjon and existing investors. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate growth into new European and North American markets. Led by Mohammed Awais, co-founder and CEO, Pistachio provides a platform that uses artificial intelligence to assess each employees security strengths and weaknesses through various simulated cyber attacks. Once an employee profile has been created, the platform sets up a completely individualized security training program. The simulated attacks will then continue and only slow down once the individuals training is at a satisfactory level, helping companies ensure their entire workforce is capable of handling new threats when they arise. The company already has an MRR of 60,000 and has over 100 customers in 8 European countries. To date, Pistachio has raised 5.4M and has 26 employees. FinSMEs 07/08/2023 Rootly, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of an incident management platform, raised $12M in Series A funding. The round, which brought the total amount raised to date to $15.2M, was led by Renegade Partners with participation from Google Gradient Ventures (Googles AI-focused venture fund) and XYZ Ventures. The company intends to use the funds to expand product development, increase its global engineering presence, and invest in sales and marketing. Led by CEO JJ Tang, Rootly offers an enterprise-grade incident management platform featuring 50+ integrations to automate manual admin work such as paging responders, incident creation, tracking action items and metrics, stakeholder communication, and generating retrospectives. The AI-powered platform learns over time, helping companies understand the root cause of incidents so they can be prevented in the future. Rootly is already in use by enterprises including Canva, NVIDIA and Tripadvisor. FinSMEs 10/08/2023 ToxStrategies, a Philadelphia, PA-based multidisciplinary scientific consulting firm, acquired Modality Solutions, a company that provides biopharmaceutical cold chain for controlled-temperature medical therapies. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. The acquisition brings together two consulting firms within the life sciences industry, creating diversification across the customer base. Founded in 2011 by Gary Hutchinson and Dan Littlefield, Modality optimizes the biopharmaceutical cold chain for novel, fragile, and controlled-temperature medical therapies and provides expert counsel on the complex filing requirements for these advanced drug products. In addition, Modality specializes in shipping validation testing using next generation, multi-modal simulation technologies. Pharmaceutical and biotech clients use its solutions for the development of cold chain operations, as therapies have become more sensitive to changes in temperature. Mr. Hutchison and Mr. Littlefield will continue to lead Modality as a Division of ToxStrategies. Led by Laurie Couture Haws, President, ToxStrategies is a multidisciplinary scientific consulting firm specializing in toxicology, epidemiology, exposure sciences, industrial hygiene and safety, and regulatory compliance. They develop solutions to address the complex scientific, technical, and regulatory challenges confronting their clients, applying sound science and novel approaches tailored to meet the specific needs of any of them, whether a rapid response or a comprehensive analysis is required. ToxStrategies is a portfolio company of Renovus Capital Partners. FinSMEs 10/08/2023 Trove, a Brisbane, CA-based company which specializes in branded resale and trade-in for brands and retailers, raised $30M in Series E funding. The round, which brought the total amount to $150M, was led by Wellington Management and ArcTern Ventures, with participation from Mitsui Fudosans CVC Fund, G2 Venture Partners, Prelude Ventures and other existing investors. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the expansion with new brands and verticals, and to further the growth of Trove Recommerce Powered facilities. Led by CEO Gayle Tait, Trove is a market leader in branded resale and trade-in for brands and retailers such as Canada Goose, lululemon, Patagonia, REI, Levis, Arcteryx, Allbirds, and more. Through its proprietary Recommerce Operating System, the company aims to accelerate the shift toward more sustainable business models, foundational for circularity. Over the last decade, the company has equipped brands with technology and operations to create and scale branded resale programs by enabling customer trade-in of items, single-SKU identification and condition grading, site build and maintenance, and customer data collection, analytics and reporting. In the last year, Trove published a Brand Resale Index, measuring the industrys progress in the $100 billion global resale market. Additionally, its Recommerce Operating System has been integrated with brands and multi-brand partners, most recently with Carhartt, Canada Goose, and Brooks. FinSMEs 10/08/2023 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Thursday said 87 per cent of its highest-denomination banknote has been withdrawn so far, potentially adding to a liquidity surplus. Overall there is a surplus in liquidity due to the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 bank notes. Till now 87 per cent of all Rs 2,000 notes are back, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das. #WATCH | RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das says Overall there is a surplus in liquidity due to the withdrawal of Rs 2000 bank notes. Till now 87% of all Rs 2000 notes are back pic.twitter.com/5tknFTy1XN ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2023 Addressing the media on Thursday after monetary policy committee (MPC) meet, Das said the withdrawal of Rs 2,000 note is a temporary measure. He further said there will be adequate liquidity in the system once the withdrawal is completed. On 19 May this year, the RBI had decided to withdraw Rs 2,000 denomination banknotes from circulation and said all the notes must be exchanged before 30 September, 2023. The RBI had said the Rs 2,000 notes had been introduced in November 2016 to meet currency requirements following the withdrawal of legal tender of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes at that time. With that objective having been met once adequate stock of notes of other denominations were made available, printing of Rs 2,000 notes was stopped in 2018-19, RBI had said. With the RBI having observed that the Rs 2,000 notes were not widely used for transactions, the central bank decided to withdraw the bills from circulation. With inputs from agencies Cast: Faria Abdullah, M Nasser, Sudev Nair, Makrand Deshpande, Deepak Sampat, Indraneel Bhattacharya Director: Nila Madhab Panda Language: Hindi Nila Madhab Pandas The Jengaburu Curse has been described as Indias first cli-fi series. Google must be tired of answering what it means. It says- A genre of fiction that deals with the impacts of climate change and global warming. Currently streaming on SonyLIV, the series talks about a man who has gone missing under mysterious circumstances and his daughter travels from London to Odisha to unravel the mystery surrounding his disappearance. This sub plot is now done but definitely not dusted. Of course, theres going to be a lot more than what meets the eye, and in this case, the nature. Cinematographer Paulo Perez captures multiple long shots of the village the protagonists hail from, mainly to establish the genre of the series. And because the genre is thriller, there are those perpetual close-up shots intended to make viewers squirm with discomfort. The story is about Professor Das, and ask people about him around him, he would seem a vigilante, someone against mining that leads to the destruction of the beast called nature. This could be, as stated above, one major reason why there are repetitive long shots of different locales in the show. The camerawork is speaking on behalf of its protagonist, the hero who cannot be seen, only understood. There are two stories rolled into one. One talks about a daughters quest to find her father, the other is about vigilantism and how greed turns into a curse. The show has sprawling camerawork and stunning visuals, and it dares to put its messaging out without reeking of pretentiousness. But the overdose of one sub plot weighs it down. Its now up to the viewers to take their pick, either they can be dazzled by the ingenious treatment of one part of the narrative and embrace the show for half of its inventiveness, or dismiss the other part ultimately dissing the show altogether. That would be the shows real curse. Time to wait and watch! The Jengaburu Curse is now streaming on SonyLIV Qatar Airways has reportedly been operating near-empty passenger jets between Melbourne and Adelaide to skirt restrictions on its number of flights to major airports in Australia. These ghost flights sometimes even have no passengers, as per The Guardian report. With this, Qatars airline has exploited a loophole that has allowed it to fly extra jets to Australia, the report added. What are ghost flights? Why is Qatar flying almost empty flights to Australia? Lets take a closer look. What are ghost flights? Ghost flights is a term used to describe aircraft operating with less than 10 per cent passenger capacity to fulfil an obligation. As per The Hindu, a 1993 EU regulation mandates European airlines to fly empty or near-empty jets to retain their take-off and landing slots. However, ghost flights have come under scrutiny globally as the aviation sectors large amount of carbon emissions contribute to the climate crisis. Qatars ghost flights in Australia Qatar Airways is presently allowed to run 28 flights a week into Australias four major airports Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Thus, it operates return flights, one per day, from the Qatari capital Doha to these four cities. As per Simple Flying, there is no restriction on the number of flights operated by the Qatar government-owned airline to smaller airports, such as Adelaide, under the current bilateral agreement. Last November, Qatar Airways launched its Doha Melbourne Adelaide Melbourne Doha (QR988/989) service, Simple Flying reported. According to The Guardian, the Qatari airline started a daily non-stop flight between Doha and Melbourne last November, but with Adelaide registered as its destination and departure port in Australia. This means the destination of the flight from Doha was Adelaide, with a stoppage in Melbourne. However, the airline is not allowed to sell tickets to domestic passengers on the route between Melbourne and Adelaide. So, these flights only have international passengers who booked tickets from Doha, reported The Guardian. As per the British newspaper, Qatars QR988 reaches Melbourne from Doha at 11.30 pm every night, with most of the passengers disembarking. But those who booked the ticket to Adelaide have to undertake a six-hour layover at Tullamarine airports international terminal. This layover is a result of Adelaide airports curfew from 11 pm to 6 am. QR989 departs from the Adelaide airport at 11.40 am each day and lands in Melbourne within two hours. Passengers travelling from Melbourne have a shorter layover before the non-stop flight takes off for Doha, reported The Guardian. As per the UK newspaper, the QR988 leg from Melbourne to Adelaide with the overnight layover has passengers in single digits and sometimes even no flyers. Notably, Qatar Airways also runs a direct flight daily between Doha and Adelaide, which continues onto Auckland, noted Simple Flying. Qatar has used the same loophole before to run a second daily service between Doha and Sydney by continuing services to Canberra. Qatar denied additional flights The Australian government recently rejected Qatar airlines request to operate additional 21 flights into major airports, citing national interest considerations. Some say this decision has mostly benefitted Australian airline Qantas. Monash University professor Greg Bamber, who is also the co-author of the airline industry book Up in the Air, told Daily Mail Australia, I think its outrageous that the government has stopped them (Qatar) doing it, given that we have astronomically high, price-gouging airfares internationally, from Qantas. According to Australian Financial Review (AFR), banning Qatar Airways from adding more flights can cost Australia more than $500 million a year in tourism revenue. Industry sources also backed Qatar as some expressed ire at the airline for flying near-empty planes from Adelaide to Melbourne. It just shows the governments rules are not fit for purpose if Qatar is exploiting a loophole to bring tourists here, a source told AFR. Speaking to The Guardian, an aviation industry source said, The whole purpose is to get to Melbourne I mean they werent even selling tickets [to Adelaide] for the first few weeks. They (Qatar Airways) were taking the piss out of the industry and the (Australian aviation) laws. ALSO READ: Peeing, pooping, smoking on planes: Meet the worst flyers of 2023 so far Australian govt defends decision Addressing Parliament on Wednesday (9 August), Australias transport minister Catherine King said Qatars request was turned down to protect the national interest. The government has determined that agreeing to the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority request for additional services is not in our national interest, and we will always consider the need to ensure that there are long-term, well-paid, secure jobs by Australians in the aviation sector when we are making these decisions, AFR quoted her as saying. However, in her opinion piece for Sydney Morning Herald, business columnist Elizabeth Knight argued that allowing additional Qatar flights into Australia would have created more jobs. Allowing Qatar to provide more services is a no-brainer given that economists, such Tony Webber, have estimated doing so would have generated an additional half-a-billion dollars in tourism revenue and thousands of jobs, she wrote. Australian Airports Authority chief executive James Goodwin told AFR that operating more flights would boost tourism. More flights into Australia will simply mean more jobs in the tourism and aviation sector. That is something we should all be striving for, Goodwin said. With inputs from agencies Hackers beware. They may have to face Maya, the homemade Operating System (OS), if they decide to hack into the computer systems of Indias Ministry of Defence. The news, first reported by The Hindu, comes amidst the rising tide of Chinese cyber and malware attacks targeting defence establishments and critical infrastructure nationwide. The Hindu in its report stated that officials will deploy the indigenously-built software on computers in the South Block by 15 August. We take a closer look at what is Maya and how it will protect Indian computers from hacking attempts. What is Maya OS? Currently, the computers being used by Indias defence ministry are all working on the Windows system. However, in an attempt to protect its systems, the Ministry of Defence floated the idea of its own operating system and the idea of Maya OS was born in 2021. Maya has been worked on by a team of experts from various government agencies, including the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), and the National Informatics Centre (NIC). In addition, the help of private Indian software companies and academic institutions was also sought. According to a CNBCTV18 report, sources said that the OS was developed in six months. Officials have been quoted as saying that Maya OS is rooted in the open-source Ubuntu platform. For the unaware, Ubuntu is a free, open-source operating system based on Linux and allows anyone to use and modify it. People who worked in the development of Maya OS have said that Maya OS harnesses the power of free and publicly available software while offering a user interface and functionalities reminiscent of the familiar Windows OS. Moreover, it is safer as it inherits the renowned security of the Ubuntu platform. Maya OS also comes with an added feature of Chakravyuh, an end-point anti-malware and antivirus software that creates a virtual layer between the user and the internet, blocking any malicious attempts to access or compromise the data. This makes this OS safer and more foolproof against hackers. Officials told CNBCTV18 that the OS was easy to use and had a familiar interface, allowing for officials within the ministry to transfer seamlessly, with least amount of issues. It also supports various applications and software that are commonly used by the ministry, such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, AutoCAD, etc. Additionally, it offers features such as cloud storage, encryption, digital signature, biometric authentication, etc. that would enhance its security and functionality. The OS Maya is being installed on the computers of the defence ministry only and not on the rest of the Services. But it added that the Services will soon adopt the operating system as the Navy has already cleared it and currently it is being evaluated by the Army and the Air Force. Why the name Maya? Officials explained that Maya in Hindi means illusion. They say that this means that hackers will be faced with maya or illusion when they try to hack into defence ministry computer systems. Moreover, Chakravyuh, the antivirus software in the OS, is also in reference to the multi-layered defensive formation that was used in the epic Mahabharat. Why the switch to Maya OS? The switch to Maya OS comes at a time when incidents of cybercrime and cyber warfare are only rising. In fact, India witnessed 13.91 lakh cyber security incidents in 2022, according to official data revealed in Parliament. Minister of State for Electronics and Information and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar had then stated that these incidents only included information reported to and tracked by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In). There have been several incidents of cyber attacks in India, one of the major instances being reported in November last year. The Central Depository Services Limited (CSDL) had detected malwares in a few of its internal machines. AIIMS, one of the most important critical health infrastructures also came under cyber attacks. The first was reported in January, with the second detected in June. According to media reports ransomware had affected outpatient and inpatient digital hospital services, including smart lab, billing, report generation, appointment schedule. In January, the parent company of a private defence ministry contractor manufacturing explosives, Solar Industries Limited India, was also the target of a ransomware attack. A Hindustan Times report stated that a listing on the dark web by a group that calls itself Black Cat (Alphv) claimed to have stolen two terabytes of data. Reacting to the incident, analyst Mandeep Bajwa had told the daily that the attack could pose a major threat to national security. When it comes to the security of defence contractors, the ministry and other agencies, such as the Intelligence Bureau are involved, Bajwa said. This lead to a compromise of sensitive data such as blueprints, value or quantum of orders, and technology, which may fall into the wrong hands. And, according to defence ministry officials, many of these attacks come from China. In fact, late Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat had warned that the cyber threat posed by the Dragon is significant. In an April 2021 speech, he had said: China is capable of launching cyber attacks on us that can disrupt a large amount of our systems. US-based cybersecurity firm, Recorded Future, also said in the past, that Indias power sector has been on the radar of Chinese hackers. The most known example was the attack on the power grid in Mumbai in 2020. The chaos was allegedly caused by a new coalition of Chinese hackers dubbed Red Echo. Moreover, India and Chinas ties have remained frosty since 2020 over the military standoff at the Line of Actual Control. Also read: How 15,000 Indians were conned out of Rs 712 crore in cyber fraud It is in light of this situation that Indias defence ministry is migrating to the new OS. Also, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology launched the Indian Web Browser Development Challenge, a programme to support indigenously built web browsers that will compete with the likes of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge etc. The primary objective is to create a homegrown web browser for global use, equipped with an integrated Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) India root certificate. Arvind Kumar, the Controller of Certifying Authorities, in a Firstpost report was quoted as saying, As the worlds fastest-growing economy, India should shift away from international browsers and reduce reliance on foreign technologies. The proposed browser will adhere to international standards and contribute to safeguarding personal data. With inputs from agencies Work on the much-awaited Mumbai-Goa Expressway is expected to finish next month. The NH-66 is expected to reduce travel time between the two cities by six hours. According to News18, Public Work Departments minister named Ravindra Chavan said the work on the project would finish before Ganeshotsav in September. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde tweeted, The PW is trying to take urgent measures regarding the work of Mumbai-Goa National Highway. The detailed project report work for the Mumbai-Sindhudurg route is in its final stage. The 18-hour journey through the Samruddhi Highway has come down to 8 to 10 hours. This is proving useful in terms of expanding industry opportunities for farmers and travelers. The government has prioritized the expansion of various such communication facilities, and the communication facilities will be expanded in this manner in Konkan too. But what do we know about the NH-66? Lets take a closer look: Work to widen the Mumbai-Goa highway to four lines has been going on for more than a decade. According to News9, work on the 471-kilometer project kicked off way back in 2011. The expressway will begin at Panvel and wind through Mangaon, Pen, Poladpur, Mahad, Chiplun, Khed, Lanja, Ratnagiri, Sangameshwar, Sawantwadi, Kudal, Kankavli, Rajapur, Panaji, Canacona and Margao. It currently takes ten hours to travel between Mumbai and Goa. The expressway is expected to reduce that time by around six hours. Authorities say the project is aimed at providing commuters a safer route and boosting tourism, as per News9. However, according to Times Now, cracks have already begun appearing at some places from Panvel to Pen Taluka section. Though the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has filled in the gaps with concrete, some have expressed safety conscerns. Activist Rajeev Mishra told News18 the concrete slab layers, sans steel, will be unable to bear the load of vehicles. This will create potholes in the future, Mishra added. Chavan in 2022 said more than 1,500 people lost their lives in road accidents on Mumbai-Goa highway between 2012 and 2022/ Chavan gave a written reply during a discussion through a calling attention notice by Shiv Sena MLA Sunil Prabhu. From 2012 to 2022, a total of 6,692 accidents took place on the Mumbai-Goa highway and 1,512 people lost their lives, the minister said. Union minister Nitin Gadkari in March said the ongoing work on the national highway will be completed by December. Gadkari said the highway would give a huge boost to development in Maharashtras Konkan region. The Mumbai-Goa highway touches 66 tourism spots in Konkan. It will give development a big boost. It will also ensure quick transportation of fruits and other produce the region is famous for, he said. He blamed the contractors, who were given two stretches of the highway for construction in 2011, for the delay. However, all matters are resolved now and the highway, which also connects Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and Dighi port, will help in the progress of the country, Gadkari said. He added that several works in the coastal Konkan region were held up due to issues like land acquisition, permissions, contractor problems. With inputs from agencies It was a blockbuster of a day in Lok Sabha yesterday (9 August). The no-confidence motion brought against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of the ongoing violence in Manipur saw Congress newly-reinstated Rahul Gandhi as well as BJPs ministers Smriti Irani and Amit Shah speaking on Tuesday. After some confusion of whether he would or not initiate the proceedings in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Congress Rahul Gandhi tore into the Narendra Modi government over its handling of the violence in Manipur, alleging the politics of the BJP has murdered Bharat Mata in the state. Also read: Flying kiss, hug, wink: Rahul Gandhi and his many Parliament controversies Hours after he delivered his speech, which focused on the nafrat vs mohabbat (hatred vs love) line of attack, parts of it were expunged from the House on the orders of the Chair. But what does it mean to expunge a part of a speech? What are the rules around it? And what did Rahul say that has now been expunged? What does it mean to expunge remarks and what are the rules? When an MPs speech, either in part or whole is expunged, it means the removal from the records of Parliament. Under Article 105 (2) of the Constitution, no Member of Parliament shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said in Parliament or any committee thereof. However, MPs dont enjoy the full freedom to say whatever they want inside the House. They are expected to use parliamentary language during parliamentary debates. When they dont, the rules empower the Speaker to remove such language from the records. Rule 380 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha gives the Lok Sabha Speaker the power to order expunction of words that, in his/her opinion, are defamatory or indecent or unparliamentary or undignified. The Speaker can also order expunction of remarks, which are defamatory or insinuatory in nature or levels allegation against a high dignitary or authority or organisation. Additionally, Rule 381 states that the portion of the proceedings of the House so expunged shall be marked by asterisks and an explanatory footnote shall be inserted in the proceedings as follows: Expunged as ordered by the Chair. But what qualifies as unparliamentary language? Over the years, several words in English and other languages have been deemed unparliamentary by presiding officers Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman and are kept out of Parliament records. In fact, the Lok Sabha Secretariat has published a tome of Unparliamentary Expressions that contains words that are considered rude or offensive. However, it also contains content that would appear to be fairly harmless and innocuous. Today words like jumlajeevi, Baal buddhi, COVID spreader and Snoopgate and even commonly used words like ashamed, abused, betrayed, corrupt, drama, hypocrisy and incompetent were considered unparliamentary in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Also read: Why netas cant say nikamma in Parliament? Is this government rule new? And there have been several remarks expunged over the years. For instance, even Prime Minister Narendra Modis remarks on BK Hariprasad, the UPA candidate for the post of deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, in August 2018 were expunged from the records. How is the decision to expunge remarks taken? The head of the reporting section makes a report of the unparliamentary language that he/she believes will hurt the decorum or dignity of the House and sends it to the Speaker or the Presiding Officer citing relevant rules and precedence with a recommendation to expunge them. The Speaker or Chairman then has the power under Rule 380 to expunge the word or usage. Once the Speaker expunges the word or usage, it comes back to the reporting section which removes the word from the records and mentions in the proceedings as expunged as ordered by the chair. The expunged portions cease to exist in the records of Parliament and cannot be reported by media houses, although they may have been heard during the live telecast of the proceedings. Interestingly, sometimes the presiding officer can ask for a replacement of the expunged word to be added in the records. However, in the age of social media, implementing expunction orders has become challenging. Furthermore, live-streaming of parliamentary proceedings means that expunged remarks can be seen and heard by viewers before they are officially expunged, potentially causing damage or offence. Why were parts of Rahuls speech expunged? Returning to Parliament after been disqualified owing to his conviction in the 2019 Modi surname defamation case, Rahul Gandhi held nothing back in his 37-minute long speech on the no-confidence motion. He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of (expunged word) Mother India in violence-hit Manipur. In Manipur, they (BJP) have harmed (expunged word) Hindustan. Their politics has harmed Hindustan in Manipur, he alleged. He added that the prime minister does not consider Manipur a part of India. The prime minister cannot go to Manipur because he has harmed Hindustan there You are not the protectors of Bharat Mata. LIVE: Address to the Parliament | No Confidence Motion https://t.co/1FBUqftwJ9 Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 9, 2023 Aap (expunged) ho, aap desh bhakt nahin ho Aap desh premi nahin ho, aap (expunged) ho, aapne desh ki (expunged) Manipur mein ki hai (You are you are not patriots, you do not love the country, you are you have the country in Manipur), said Rahul, triggering an uproar in the BJP benches. Despite protests from the BJP, Gandhi continued, You are not the saviours of Bharat Mata. You are the (expunged) of Bharat Mata I am talking about the (expunged) of my mother. I am talking with respect. You have (expunged) my mother. One mother (pointing to Sonia Gandhi who was seated in the front row) of mine is sitting here, and you have (expunged) the other in Manipur every day, till you stop violence, you are (expunged) my mother. I went to Manipur some days ago. Your (expunged) has not gone so far I used the word Manipur but the reality is there is no Manipur left. Manipur you have divided, broken Manipur in two parts, he said. Rahul Gandhi also went on to say that it is the Army that can bring peace to Manipur but the government is not deploying it. In his combative speech, Rahul also accused the government of spreading communal hate everywhere. You are sprinkling kerosene everywhere. You sprinkled kerosene in Manipur and then added fire to it. You are now trying the same thing in Haryana. You are attempting to burn the country everywhere. You are (expunged word) Bharat Mata throughout the country, he said, referring to recent communal clashes in Gurugram and Nuh. At one point of his speech, Rahul also accused the prime minister of listening to only two people Amit Shah and Gautam Adani just as Ravan listened only to Meghnad and Kumbhakaran. Showing an old poster of Modi and Adani together, he said, Modi doesnt listen to Indias voice but theirs (Adani group). The poster caused further infuriation amid the Treasury benches, with them pointing out that it was not allowed by the rules. Notably, this isnt the only time that parts of Rahul Gandhis speech have been expunged. Earlier in February too, portions of his speech in Lok Sabha were expunged. His speech at the time had linked PM Modi to businessman Gautam Adani. At that time, Rahul had responded by writing on the now rebranded social media site X, in Hindi, Prime Minister, you cannot eliminate the voice of democracy. The people of India are asking you questions, give us answers. With inputs from agencies Over 40 MLAs have written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling for total disarmament in the violence-hit state of Manipur to foster an environment of peace and security. The MLAs, most of whom are ethnic Meiteis, also demanded the withdrawal of the Suspension of Operations (SoO) Agreement with Kuki militant groups, implementation of NRC in the state and strengthening of the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs). They also demanded a separate administration by Kuki groups. For the immediate establishment of security, simple deployment of forces is inadequate. Although it is imperative to halt the violence in the peripheral areas, complete disarmament is the key to achieving this goal. The entire state requires complete disarmament to foster an environment of peace and security, said the memorandum that was submitted to PM Modi on Wednesday. The confiscation of all weapons belonging to insurgent groups and illegal armed foreign forces and those snatched from the state machinery needs to be carried out. In this regard, the central security forces need to adopt a more proactive approach to ensure lasting peace in the region, it added. There have been numerous instances of farmers going out to work their fields only to be fired upon by militants, the memorandum added. In many cases, these firing incidents have occurred in the presence of Central Security Forces which have failed to react appropriately, or react at all, it claimed, demanding that Assam Rifles (9, 22 and 37) need to be transferred from their present location of deployment and trustworthy Central forces along with state security can replace them to neutralise and sanitise all threats to peace, security and stability. The MLAs also sought the implementation of the National Register of Citizen (NRC) in Manipur. The issue must be addressed politically in order to resolve this crisis of conflict. There are many options that can be explored. On one hand, to reassure the indigenous people of Manipur, the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) can be implemented in Manipur, sooner rather than later. Biometric registrations of immigrants have started, it should be expanded and strengthened, said the memorandum. With inputs from PTI Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a Congressman, was expelled from the Lok Sabha on Thursday for deliberate and repeated misconduct; the Privileges Committee has been notified of the situation. The motion to suspend Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Lok Sabhas leader for the Congress, was made by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi. This House having taken the serious note of the gross, deliberate and repeated misconduct of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in utter disregard to the House and authority of Chair resolves that the matter of his misconduct be referred to Committee of Privileges of the House for the further investigation and report to the House and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury be suspended from the service of the House till the Committee submits its report, he said. The House approved the measure by voice voting. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhurys comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi were expunged from the proceedings. Members of the BJP have severely disapproved of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhurys comments. Invoking a point of order, Pralhad Joshi pressed the Congressman for an apology. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha stated that Virendra Awasthi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhurys behaviour during the debate on the lost motion of no-confidence was not in keeping with the decorum of the House. Virendra Awasthi apologised for his behaviour and stated that he could not stand for insults to the prime minister. (With agency inputs) Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his speech in Parliament on Thursday, the final day of deliberation regarding the no-confidence motion. During his speech, PM Modi tore into the Opposition and said, What kind of discussion have you done on this motion. I am seeing on social media ki Aapke darbari bhi bahut dukhi hai. Fielding Vipaksh ne organise kari lekin chauke-chakke yahi se lage #WATCH | PM Narendra Modi says, What kind of discussion have you done on this motion. I am seeing on social media ki Aapke darbari bhi bahut dukhi hai. Fielding Vipaksh ne organise kari lekin chauke-chakke yahi se lage pic.twitter.com/oReL6p2dTh ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2023 Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated, Vipaksh ke logon ko ek secret vardaan mila hua hai ki jiska bhi yeh log bura chahenge uska bhala hi hoga. One such example is standing before you. 20 saal ho gaye kya kuch nahi hua par bhala hi hota gaya.. #WATCH | PM Narendra Modi says, Vipaksh ke logon ko ek secret vardaan mila hua hai ki jiska bhi yeh log bura chahenge uska bhala hi hoga. One such example is standing before you. 20 saal ho gaye kya kuch nahi hua par bhala hi hota gaya.. pic.twitter.com/uT8vjtHvSC ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2023 Launching his attack at the Opposition, PM Modi said, Through their conduct, a few Opposition parties have proven that for them Party is above Nation. I think you dont care about the hunger of the poor but the hunger for power is on your mind. PM Narendra Modi says, Through their conduct, a few Opposition parties have proven that for them Party is above Nation. I think you dont care about the hunger of the poor but the hunger for power is on your mind. pic.twitter.com/bQ4mIiVfNe ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2023 He also said, God is very kind and speaks through some mediumI believe that its the blessing of God that opposition has brought this motion. I had said during the no-confidence motion in 2018 that it was not a floor test for us but a floor test for them and as a result they lost in the elections Our focus should be on the development of the countryIt is the need of the hour. Our youth have the power to make dreams come trueWeve given corruption-free govt, aspirations and opportunities to the youth of the country, he added. With inputs from agencies Fijis computer engineer, Syed Fazal, arrived in UPs Meerut with the intention of marrying his girlfriend whom he had met online. However, the situation took a distressing turn as the family of the girl responded with hostility, resulting in an alleged assault on Fazal, followed by his apprehension by the police on molestation charges. The police are currently examining his documents, including his passport and visa. They are trying to ascertain the details of his journey to Meerut and the nature of his interactions with the girl. Hailing from Fiji, Syed Fazal connected with a girl from Rasulpur Dholdi in Meerut through social media. Their initial interaction consisted of chatting, which eventually turned into a romantic relationship, according to reports. Their affection for one another led them to decide on marriage. Following this decision, the woman discussed the matter with her family, who initially agreed to the union. Encouraged by this development, Fazal began making preparations for the wedding ceremony. On Wednesday, Fazal made his way to the girls residence. However, upon meeting him, the familys reaction was quite different from what was anticipated. They expressed their disapproval of the marriage proposal and insisted that he leave. Despite facing resistance, Fazal persistently sought an opportunity to communicate with the girl. He requested a chance to speak with her before matters escalated. Unfortunately, this request resulted in a violent altercation with the family, accusing him of molestation. Subsequently, cops were called in, and Fazal was taken into custody. In his statement to the police, Syed Fazal revealed that he works as a software engineer at a Moradabad-based company. He claimed that his relationship with the girl had been built over an extended period of online conversations, during which they discussed marriage plans. The girl had indicated that her family had consented to the marriage, prompting Fazal to make arrangements for the ceremony. He told police that he had separated from his wife a few months prior. Seeking to remarry, he had sought the assistance of colleagues at his workplace. Another employee at the company facilitated his connection with the girls family, he said. The police have confirmed that Syed Fazal, originally from Fiji, is now under custody. They are currently in the process of gathering information about his background and verifying his documents. Simultaneously, they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the proposed marriage. Subsequent actions will be determined based on the outcomes of the ongoing investigation, as confirmed by CO Sardhana. India is all set to celebrate its 77th Independence Day on 15 August 2023. The day marks the subcontinents sacrifice and bloodshed in gaining independence from the British Raj 76 years ago. As the country reeled under the heavy baggage of independence and the subsequent partition, its citizens suffered from extreme poverty and a lack of resources. Under the distinguished leadership of its leaders, the country not only became self-sufficient in food grains but also became a large producer of crops. The era saw the rise of several moments like the revolt in Siliguris Naxalbari, Chipko movement in the Garhwal region and JP Narayans agitation of 1974. Furthermore, the country achieved a distinguished honour when sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar won his first Grammy. India got its Shahenshah in Amitabh Bachchan. In addition, moments like the Bangladesh Liberation War were a roadblock but it didnt affect Indias aim to make its mark globally. The Green Revolution started (1967) The Green Revolution led to rapid increases in wheat and rice yields in India. It was made possible by the use of combined varieties of seeds along with the expanded use of fertilisers and other chemical inputs. It had a dramatic impact on incomes and food supplies in India in the 1960s after reeling from food scarcity for years. The resultant efforts not only made India self-sufficient in food grains, but also placed it among the largest producers of some key crops in the world. Emergence of the Naxalbari movement (1967) The Naxal movement was marked in India by an armed peasant revolt led by communists against local landlords and state authorities. This revolt occurred in Siliguris Naxalbari, a small village on the West Bengal-Nepal border. Following in line with the trend, the next decade witnessed the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) make use of violence and control to recruit a strange coalition of educated intellectuals and landless peasants in its ranks. Eventually, in 2004, the merger of two major extreme left insurgent outfits birthed the Communist Party of India (Maoist) with its presence in many southern and central states. Ravi Shankar wins a Grammy (1968) Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar won his first Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance for West Meets East. One of the worlds greatest musicians, he was popularly known in the West as a friend of The Beatles. Bangladesh was born (1971) The Bangladesh Liberation War, also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence began in the 1970s as tensions between different communities flared. Amidst the uproar, the elections saw the victory of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, an iconic leader, popularly known as the Founding Father of Bangladesh. However, the reigning government refused to honour the verdict, leading to protests and demands for a separate nation. The nine-month-long war finally made Bangladesh a democratic nation. Basic structure doctrine (1973) In the landmark 1973 case of Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala, the Supreme Court released its basic structure doctrine. As per the judgement, the legislature could make no amendments or changes that violated the basic structure of Indian Constitution. The Chipko movement began in India (1973) The Chipko Movement was the result of a grassroots level effort by a group of women led by Gaura Devi in a remote village called Reni in Garhwal, high up in the Himalayas during the early 1970s. It was an attempt to end alienation from their forests. The protest triggered people to take part in the non-violent, environment-centred, largely women-led popular movement that fought against the destruction of forests for commercial gain, making it a huge success. As Sunderlal Bahuguna, the renowned Gandhian activist puts it, ecology is the permanent economy. The angry young man emerges (1973) Amitabh Bachchans starrer Zanjeer (1973) marked the emergence of an angry young man in Indian cinema. The screenwriter duo Salim-Javed made an excellent use of Bachchans character Vijay Khanna, a cop, to comment on the state of the society. This was the first of many hits for Bachchan, who rules the Bollywood industry even today. Amul is born (1973) The formation of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) Ltd. in 1973 led to unprecedented dairy sector success. With Anand Milk Union Limited (Amul) as the federations brand, the country witnessed a white revolution leading to a rise in milk availability along with improved incomes for dairy farmers. India turns nuclear: Pokhran 1 (1974) In 1974, under Indira Gandhis Prime Ministership, the country authorised a peaceful nuclear explosion in Pokhran, a village in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. The action led to a global reaction, with India even facing sanctions for the same. However, it proved Indias nuclear abilities. Jayprakash Narayan launches agitation (1974) Jayprakash Narayan, popularly known as JP, led the agitation against the Congress government in 1974. The struggle gained immense popularity and witnessed huge participation. The government ordered the police to repress the movement. This would further lead to the Emergency being imposed in India in 1975 for the duration of almost two years. It would also lead to the formation of the first non-Congress government in the centre. On August 15, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver his tenth consecutive speech, two Made in India ALH Dhruv choppers will be utilised for the first time to scatter petals during the main Independence Day event at the Red Fort. Beginning in 2021, when Russian-made Mi-17 V5s were introduced, petals were thrown onto the location of the main Independence Day celebration near the Red Fort. This year, two ALH Dhruv choppers would be used for the showering petals after the Prime Minister hoists the flag at the Red Fort, defence officials told the media. The HAL helicopters are a notable accomplishment of the defence public sector organisation, which was praised by the prime minister in his response to the motion of no confidence on Thursday. The choppers in the Amrut formation, which have received enthusiastic applause and cheers from the audience in the previous two events, will scatter the petals. After the participants, which will include 1800 special guests, are showered with petals, the prime minister will honour them with a speech. Nearly 1,800 special guests drawn from various walks of life from all over the country will be part of Independence Day celebrations in the Capital, defence ministry spokesperson A Bharat Bhushan Babu tweeted. (With agency inputs) Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday tore into the Opposition, saying that those who brought the no-confidence motion dont have confidence in them. Amid his speech, Congress MPs tried to heckle him down, shouting, Do saal mein badal gaye (you turned coat in two years). Scindia very sharply retorted with, Tumne mujhe badla (You forced me to change) mera muh mat khulwao (dont force me to spill the beans). Jyotiraditya Scindia was in the Congress for a long time and was considered a close associate of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. He quit the party and joined the BJP in 2020 following differences with its leadership, especially in his home state Madhya Pradesh, leading to the fall of the Kamal Nath-led government. Speaking against the No-Confidence Motion, Scindia took a jibe at Congress and said, The clouds that thunder but dont rain. They are trying to build their launchpad by misusing the Manipur incident. What is happening in Manipur is highly condemnable, no Indian citizen can support this, it is condemnable for allAll the issues in the northeast started with the Congress partys politics of appeasement when they started the practice of bringing in foreign infiltrators in the northeast, giving them citizenship, shelter and identity, for their own advantage, he added. #WATCH | Union Minister and BJP MP Jyotiraditya Scindia says, They are trying to build their launchpad by misusing the Manipur incident. What is happening in Manipur is highly condemnable, no Indian citizen can support this, it is condemnable for allAll the issues in the pic.twitter.com/p6Ak3fcydk ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2023 He also said, They (Congress) say they will open a shop of love in the market of hatred. Their shop is of corruption, lies, appeasement, and arrogance. They only change the name of the shop but the product remains the same. #WATCH | Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia says, They (Congress) say they will open a shop of love in the market of hatred. Their shop is of corruption, lies, appeasement, and arrogance. They only change the name of the shop but the product remains the same. pic.twitter.com/IiVvCwo0xc ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2023 Yesterday Rahul Gandhi said that for PM Manipur is not part of India. I want to tell you that the PM has connected the Northeast with the world The ideology of seeing India divided is yours, not ours, he added. With inputs from agencies In a startling incident, a journalist from Maharashtra fell victim to a vicious attack allegedly orchestrated by Shiv Sena MLA Kishor Patils associates cum goons. The incident transpired as Sandeep Mahajan courageously pursued the case of an eight-year-old girls harrowing rape and murder. His efforts to seek justice by confronting MLA Kishor Patil and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde were met with aggression, revealing a concerning turn of events. It came to light after a distressing video of the assault surfaced on social media, Thursday in which Mahajan can be seen intercepted by the goons when he was on his scooter. As many as 4-5 men dragged him down and repeatedly kicked and punched him while he pleaded for mercy. Journalist Sandeep Mahajan was badly assaulted by Shinde factions Shiv Sena MLA Kishor Patils workers cum goons cos Mahajan raised 8 yrs old girl rape & murder case & asked questions to MLA Patil & CM Eknath Shinde & demanded justice. Earlier same MLA abused him over the phone. pic.twitter.com/0QahochcFt Sudhir Suryawanshi (@ss_suryawanshi) August 10, 2023 The opposition swiftly denounced the brutality inflicted by the goons of Shiv Sena MLA Kishor Patil, calling for the immediate lodging of a First Information Report (FIR) against both the MLA and his associates. Urgent demands were made for the arrests of those responsible, who were perceived as a threat not only to Mahajan but also to his family. NCP MLA Rohit Pawar voiced his distress over the incident, highlighting the alarming absence of law and order in Maharashtra. The media serves as the fourth pillar of democracy, yet it is disgracefully attacked in broad daylight for the simple act of fulfilling its duty, Pawar emphasized. He demanded swift action against the culprits. Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, representing the faction led by Uddhav Thackeray, condemned the brazen actions of the group involved, labeling them as a traitor gang for their outrageous behavior. Sandeep Mahajan, who operates the local newspaper Dyay and runs a YouTube channel in Pachora, Jalgaon district of Maharashtra, had reported on the distressing incident of an eight-year-old girl who fell victim to rape and a gruesome murder, perpetrated by her 19-year-old neighbor. Local law enforcement and MLA Kishor Patil allegedly attempted to suppress the case. Undeterred by the adversity he faced, Sandeep Mahajan continued his pursuit of truth, diligently reporting on the horrific incident through his newspaper and YouTube channel. This dedication drew the ire of Shiv Sena MLA Kishor Patil, who reportedly subjected Mahajan to a barrage of abusive language over the phone in response to his reports. When questioned about his actions, the Shiv Sena MLA vehemently defended his behavior, claiming innocence and asserting his readiness to persist without any qualms. Despite the threats and backlash, Sandeep Mahajan pressed on, seeking justice for the young victim and her family. His determination, however, placed him directly in danger. Shiv Sena MLA Kishor Patils associates confronted Mahajan in broad daylight as he made his way to the office. The assault, carried out publicly, exposed the dangerous depths of the situation. Subsequently, when Mahajan attempted to file a police report, he was met with refusal, as the police declined to initiate action against Shiv Sena MLA Kishor Patil and his associates. The recent killing of terrorist Muneser Hussain by security forces in Jammu and Kashmir betrays desperate attempts by Pakistan to revive terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. Two organisations Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) are on the forefront of these anti-India activities planned by Pakistans deep state. Hussain was a veteran and he was sent to Jammu and Kashmir to get some more cadres for the HM which along with many other terrorist organisations has been reeling under a crackdown by the Indian security establishment. The killed terrorist Hussain was a resident of Bagyladra Poonch. He was the Division Commander of Hizbul Mujahideen(HM). He was sent with the agenda of reviving HM in Rajouri Poonch / South of Pir-Panjal (SPPR) and carrying out terror attacks in this region. Hussains entry into Jammu and Kashmir should not be seen as an isolated incident. This is part of a larger plan to revive terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir again through restructuring of HM to bring it back from hibernation. Restructuring of HM A crucial meeting of HM was held at Khanna in Islamabad on July 20 this year. Those who were present at this meeting included representatives of All Party Hurriyat Conference(APHC) Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jamat-Ul- Mujahideen among others. There are indications that Syed Salahuddin, chairman of the Pakistan-based United Jehad Council and the current HM chief has been sidelined and his deputy and rival, Mohammad Amir Khan, has been directed by the Pakistani deep state to revive HM. Action Plan to revive terrorism in Kashmir The issues which were discussed at the meeting clearly indicate that Pakistan is in no mood to check terrorism. Rather its deep state is making every possible effort to disturb peace and rapid development in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir that has become the hallmark of this UT post abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. The top terror commanders and radical Islamists discussed a detailed action plan in this meeting. This action plan focuses on reviving agitational politics and separatist activities in Kashmir Valley and Poonch district. The Hurriyat Conference is expected to play a major role in this. A recruitment drive in South and Central Kashmir to provide fresh cadres for the fledgling terrorist outfits was also discussed. One of the key reasons for focusing on South Kashmir is that in the delimitation exercise joining Anantnag with Poonch-Rajouri districts to form a parliament constituency would help in deradicalisation and check terror activities. This has not gone down well with Pak deep state. Hence attempts are being made to specifically revive terrorism in South Kashmir. It was also planned in this meeting that to embarrass the Indian government non-locals, minorities, and workers of nationalist organisations would be targeted by the terrorists. Revival of Lashkar-e-Taiba Prior to the HMs restructuring, attempts have been made to revive another anti-India terrorist organisation LeT. After the Modi government came to power, its relentless campaign against Pakistan-exported terrorism had resulted in shutting down of unofficial centres of LeT in Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah. The establishment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia(KSA) had played an important role in this regard. It had cracked down on LeTs parent organisation Jamat-ud-Dawahs fund-raising campaign that the latter carried out with the help of Wahabi clerics in Saudi territory. In 2015 LeTs chief organiser Rana Iftikhar had to leave Jeddah in a hurry after he learnt that the Saudi police was about to arrest him. For nearly seven years the LeT, and the HM were unwelcome in Saudi. That had severely affected the fund collection efforts of these main terrorist groups of Pakistan. Due to the Saudi crackdown, Kashmiri leaders affiliated with the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI)and based in Pakistan rarely visited Saudi Arabia over the last few years.In fact, JeI leaders in Pak like Maulana Nowsheri and other hard liners who had made Saudi their second home because of being fluent in Arabic, couldnt travel to Saudi for fund raising for quite sometime . Similarly, LeT leaders like Amir Hamza and Zaffar (main fund raisers for the JuD) were unable to go to Saudi since 2015. However, this situation seemed to have changed as after a long gap, a top operative of LeT visited Saudi Arabia in October 2022. The LeT terrorist who visited there was Muzamil Butt, son of LeT Commander Zaki Ur Rehman Lakhvi. This visit could be an indication of change in the ground level situation in Saudi Arabia in favour of the LeT. This is an alarming signal for India also as LeT is known to have carried out several terrorist attacks in India. Conclusion Even as outgoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was pleading for India-Pakistan talks a few days ago, the Pakistani deep state was making a desperate attempt to revive terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. This doublespeak and the Pakistan deep states anti-India activities indicate that Islamabad hasnt learnt from its past mistakes. Also, the international community has to realise that Pakistans fundamental character is flawed and its deep state which actually runs the country continues to promote terrorism and terrorist groups. There should be strict international sanctions on Pakistan and it shouldnt be granted any financial support by international financial institutions. The money that Pakistan receives from these institutions in the garb of managing the economic crisis is being spent on strengthening terrorism networks. The world can ignore this at its own peril. The writer is an author and columnist and has written several books. He tweets @ArunAnandLive. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. Amid the increasingly fraught Hindu-Muslim relations, illustrated by the latest communal flare-up in Haryana, a good story of Hindu-Muslim solidarity on the international stage has gone unnoticed. In an unprecedented move, India joined hands with the Muslim world at the UN to protest the alarming rise in religious phobias in the West with a surge in attacks on places of Hindu worship, including defacement and destruction of temples and idols, especially in America. The Oppenheimer film which controversially has a sex scene featuring a line from the Bhagavad Gita has reinforced the perception that it is an open season on Hinduism. India has long demanded that the UN recognise Hinduphobia but in vain. Frustrated by the UNs dilly-dallying, it has decided to do what it should have probably done long ago: Form a broader front with other victims of Western religious prejudice. So, when in the wake of a string of incidents of desecration of the Quran in Sweden and Denmark Pakistan brought in a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) condemning the alarming rise in public acts of religious hatred, India threw its considerable diplomatic weight behind it facilitating its adoption. Indias crucial support represented a rare display of Hindu-Muslim/ India-Pakistan solidarity against Western doctrine of absolute free speech. Which has led to an egregious disregard for religious and cultural sensitivities of non-Western traditions and is fuelling culture wars. Notably, all the 28 countries which voted in favour of the resolution were from outside the Western bloc and included China, South Africa, Vietnam, Ukraine, and of course the Muslim world represented by 19 members of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC). Predictably, big Western powers America, Britain, France, Germany and Belgium all voted against it but for a change ended up on the losing side. Some commentators, while welcoming a united front on the issue, have noted that during the debate some Muslim and non-Muslim countries appeared more interested in pushing their own priorities ignoring the original spirit of the motion. Pakistan, for example, spent all its energy on highlighting the rise in Islamophobia across the West. Not a word on Indian concerns about attacks on Hindus and Sikhs. Pakistans Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, speaking through a video link, condemned the desecration of Quran as incitement to religious hatred, discrimination and attempts to provoke violence. Indias statement also tended to focus on growing Hinduphobia , though unlike Pakistan it did make the point that followers of other religions were also victims of instances of intolerance(and) prejudice. Urging the international community to recognise the instances of intolerance, prejudice, phobia, and violence against followers of all religions and work together to eliminate them, it said: In various regions of the world, we have witnessed defacement and destruction of temples and idols, glorification of desecration of idols, violation of gurudwara premises, massacre of Sikh pilgrims and numerous other acts of religious intolerance. In the quibbling over who said what, it is important not to miss woods for the trees namely the broader aim of calling out the arbitrary Western notion of free speech which has made all manners of hate-mongering legit in the name of the right to free speech. As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk pointed out, any form of hate directed against any faith or its followers was offensive, irresponsible and wrong. Making a distinction between free speech and hate speech, he called for a sensible balance to be struck between the two. Free speech is as indispensable as hate speech is indefensible, he said. His message to Western liberal champions of the right to absolute freedom was: Our vigour to protect free speech must not lose sight of the imperative to reject hate speech. Currently, the balance is disproportionately tilted in favour of Western free speech orthodoxy. It is this orthodoxy which allows manners of provocative actions in the name of the right to free speech that is now being challenged. No doubt, well hear the same free speech argument in relation to the Oppehneimer controversy. Actually, its a case of invented speech! Creative imagination gone wild. Because there is no evidence that Oppenheimer actually recited the verse in the circumstances he is shown to have done in the film. Documents from his archive accessed by the London Review of Books, the first words he is supposed to have uttered after the successful A-bomb test was NOT -I am become Death, destroyer of worlds but rather more prosaic: Well, it worked. Clearly, the scene was intended to titillate without any regard that reciting a holy text in a raunchy sex scene might hurt Hindu sentiments. The Western doctrine of free speech trumps everything else and includes the right to insult. There are no red lines and the boundary between civilised free expression and rudeness and hate has all but disappeared. This despite the fact that most countries have anti-hate speech laws, and often pretty strict ones as in Britain, but they are reluctant to use them. There is also an element of double standards with rules applied selectively. So, while Hindu, Muslim and even Christian sentiments are happily trod on, slightest criticism of Israel, let alone Jewish people, is promptly dubbed anti-semitic. Having said that, however, there is also a need to take a good hard look at our own tendency and by our, I mean all communities (Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Dalits) to cry foul at the drop of the hat. We can go on complaining about Western liberal bias et al, the big elephant in the room is our own out-of-control culture of hurt sentiments which threatens to close all avenues of creative imagination and dissent. It has become commonplace for someone somewhere demanding a ban on a film or a book for offending their feelings. And, successive governments have fed this frenzy by appeasing anti-free speech warriors. It started with hyper-Muslim sensitivities, most memorably with the ban Salman Rushdies Satanic Verses which Muslims declared blasphemous even without reading it. The canker has since spread to other communities to the extent that even a joking reference to a certain colour or dress is considered offensive. Questions have been raised over the governments active intervention in the Oppenheimer row with the Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakurs demanding an explanation from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on how it passed such a scene; and the Information Commissioner Uday Mahurkar shooting off a letter to Nolan calling his film a disturbing attack on Hinduism. Worse, of course, was the Muslim worlds reaction to stray Islamophobic attacks with Swedish and Danish embassies in several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Yemen vandalised by rampaging protesters. Their diplomats were harassed. Iran refused to send its new ambassador to Sweden, and Qatars biggest market, Souq Al Baladi, removed Swedish products in protest. Not to be left behind, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation lost no time in suspending the status of Swedens special envoy accusing the Swedish authorities of licensing the repeated abuse of the sanctity of the Holy Quran and Islamic symbols. It was a cringingly disproportionate response to some random madcap acts reinforcing the perception of Muslim intolerance. Ultimately, the best way to fight other peoples phobias is to rid ourselves (whether Hindus or Muslims) of our own phobias about others reflected in our gleeful references to racist West, communal Hindus, fundamentalist Muslims. Let the charity begin at home. Any takers? The writer is an independent columnist and the author of Unmasking Indian Secularism: Why We Need A New Hindu-Muslim Deal. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. With the Maldivian Supreme Court (SC) upholding the Election Commissions (EC) rejection of the candidature of the jailed ex-president Abdulla Yameen of the Opposition PPM-PNC combine, President Ibrahim Ibu Solih faces seven contenders in his re-election bid, slated for September. The list includes PPM-PNC replacement and Male Mayor, Dr Mohamed Muizzu with Yameens reluctant support, and parliamentarian Ilays Labeeb of The Democrats, a party founded by Parliament Speaker Mohamed Anni Nasheed after he lost the hotly-contested presidential preliminary election of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to the incumbent. Others in the list include two of Solihs erstwhile allies, Gasim Ibrahim of the Jumhooree Party (JP) and Faris Maumoon of the MRM, who is contesting as an Independent, even after the civil court had stayed the ECs decision to de-register the party for not maintaining the mandated minimum of 3,000 voters. The newest Maldivian National Party (MNP) is represented by founder, Col Mohamed Nazim (retd), an erstwhile defence minister under the Yameen presidency (2013-18). Of the two other Independents, Umar Naseer is an estranged Home Minister of Yameen and had contested the maiden multi-party presidential poll of 2008.Former junior minister Hassan Zameels ticket will be remembered for the first woman running-mate Mariyam Aleem, his wife. The Democrats had originally named Deputy Speaker Eva Abdualla, a cousin of Nasheed, as Ilays veepee choice, but she was replaced by a male candidate, later on. Two-phase poll Maldives has a two-phase presidential election with the top two from the first round facing off in the run-off, if no one obtains the mandated 50 per cent minimum. For the record, of the three presidential polls under the 2008 Constitution, only in the last, 2018, there was a first-round result after all anti-Yameen parties and interest groups jointly backed the MDPs Solih in a straight contest. Both Nasheed (2008) and Yameen (2013) had won their five-year term in the second round. This time round, the EC has slated the two rounds for 9 and 30 September, and President Solih has reiterated his confidence that he would make it in the first round. So have some of the other candidates. Solih however has an advantage, both as an incumbent and also as the first candidate to launch his nation-wide campaign, where residents of far-flung islanders expect the candidates to make at least one appearance before polling day. Because he started early, the incumbent may be able to honour the voter-expectation while others may have to rely even more on the television and social media. But this election is not about greater expectations, both fulfilled and unfulfilled. Such a construct puts the incumbent in focus, an election centred on the traditional incumbency factor, for and against. Until his exit, Yameen was the central piece of this election, as the rest of the polity (including the incumbent up to a point) were reading the signals emanating from his prison-room, to strategise for the next day, next week, up to the very day the nominations closed on 7 August. This has made the campaign, both easy and difficult for Solih. Pro-democracy constituency Maldives is a young democracy, and democratic values influence individual choice for presidency as developmental agenda and governance issues (pertaining to corruption, nepotism, etc). Swing voters continue to constitute a substantial part of the electorate and have sealed the three previous elections. According to EC records, 42 per cent of the voters have not signed up for any political party. Independent assessments, together with non-serious members of political parties who otherwise value democratic principles, this figure could cross the half-way mark. With Yameen not in the fray now, these constituents would naturally be evaluating the democratic credentials and governance issues pertaining to the current leadership. Overnight and possibly unintended, the election has become Solih-centric. Nasheed and his Democrats especially can be expected to try and exploit the situation, they having projected the Solih leadership as either corrupt or shading the corrupt, starting with the controversial ventilator-import scam during Covid pandemic in 2020 and forcing the resignation of then Health Minister Abdulla Ameen. Whether Nasheed could make other scam-claims stick either to the Government or the Solih leadership is a million-dollar question. At the same time, voters, especially of pro-democracy mind-set, are still not happy with Nasheeds persistent effort at upsetting the apple-cart for the President of his own choice, and bringing a bad name to the MDP and the Government through much of the past five years. This section needs to feel confident or pressured about the future course that the nation might take, for them to venture out to cast their vote in the first place. Dissecting the swing-voter mind-set further, their priorities shift from election to election, and from issue to issue, and at times, leader to leader. There is no other reason why and how Yameen could have won in 2013, that too against Nasheed, who was still considered the most charismatic and popular leader in the country. That myth was blown only in the MDP primaries earlier this year. Then as since, the MDP-sympathetic voters had seen Yameen as less of a democrat, just as his half-brother Gayoom used to be through the previous decade, when the younger sibling was a senior minister. Development galore Yameen is still considered a development man, so has Team Solih projected him to be one. There is a subtle difference. Apart from funding sources, respectively China in the case of Yameen and mostly India for Solih, there were conceptual differences too. Yameen was the first one to develop huge physical infrastructure like the Sinamale sea-bridge, connecting capital Male with airport-island Hulhule. Not stopping with the nations single-largest project, the $ 500 million Thialamale sea-bridge, which when completed would help in further industrialisation of the nation would also facilitate de-congestion of Male. The city of Male is still the most congested South Asian capital, with population-density and land-costs competing with each other, more than the previous year. It is here that Solihs strategized distribution of housing plots and completed flats, respectively in Male city and suburban Hulhumale reclamation island in the months and weeks leading up to the presidential poll assumes importance. It is here that the Muizzu ticket could make a difference. Many voters, cutting across party ideologies and identities, still see him as the architect of housing and infrastructure revolution first under the short-lived Waheed presidency (2012-13), followed by a full term under the equally innovative and enterprising President Yameen. He was already a well-known engineering professional before entering politics, and holds bachelors and masters degrees in structural engineering from the University of London, and a PhD in civil engineering from the University of Leeds. Yet, Muizzu is also seen as more than a religious conservative though not an extremist. There is a religion-centric constituency, whose sentiments could be whipped up, more by events and developments outside the country, especially West Asia but not stopping there. As Male mayor over the past years, Muizzu put up electrified sign-boards with Koranic verses across the city, and followed it up with full-scale illumination for this years nine-day Bakrid holiday, last month reportedly unprecedented in the Islamic world. Local Salafi and other fundamentalist leaders lost no time in hailing him as our man after the PNC senate elected him Yameens alternate candidate, that too after defying the latters suggestion to continue boycotting the poll. Unlike conservative Islamic support, this one can cut both ways, especially with urban moderates and first-generation voters who may otherwise be desirous of change may shun the Yameen camp for this one reason. Subtle and the abrasive If there is one election of the kind where presidential aspirants have committed multiple gaffes, and possibly not just in the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago, it is this. From the peoples perception it has reached the dangerous proportion of their leaders obsession with personal power with no reference or relation to politics and policies. The question is who takes the cake, especially among Solih, Yameen and Nasheed, though not necessarily in that order. Taking the Solih-Nasheed combo first for obvious reasons, it was ones subtleties against the others raw and regal approach, bordering on abrasiveness. That the former won as Solih cleared all the policy and political hurdles placed on his path by a more vocal Nasheed apart, the former has also sent out the kind of street-smartness and political cunning that the common man has all along associated only with Yameen, and at times his estranged half-brother Gayoom when he was President. It is thus that while Nasheed made himself uncomfortable with Solihs allies from 2018 by openly seeking their marginalisation, the latter stood by them through and through, only for them to see him as a more dangerous enemy than any other in the country to have. This is after minister after minister from ally after ally two of the three from the 2018 past, to be precise disowned their parties, to retain their ministerial and other positions, which were given to them only at the behest of the party. It had begun with Vice-President Faisal Naseem, a JP nominee, who had hoped to be retained as Solihs running-mate after parting company with one-time boss, Gasim Ibrahim. By choosing fellow MDP member, Aslam as his running-mate, the President has done what Nasheed had all along wanted, but in a way he could defend and even justify himself for keeping the coalition that elected him intact until the very end of the term for which he was elected. Team Solih members are also not tired of pointing out that barring the religion-centric Adhaalath Party (AP), the two old allies left the coalition only because of their leaders presidential ambitions. They pooh-pooh the erstwhile allies allegations that Solih had violated the coalition code on many occasions, in policy-making, political decisions and personnel choices. Gaffe crown Yet, the crown for the gaffes should go to none other than Yameen, which has since painted him as more selfish than most others. All through his months in prison after the criminal court had sentenced him to a 11-year jail-term in a second money-laundering case after the Supreme Court had acquitted him in the first of three with one more still in the trial stage Yameen had sought of made his loyalists and even adversaries believe that he had a magic potion that would qualify him to contest the presidential poll. That it was not to become clear only when four mutually-antagonistic EC members (with one vacancy) threw out his nomination papers first, followed by an equally unanimous decision by all seven judges of the Supreme Court, upholding the EC ruling. It did not end there, though as Team Yameen spoke about a Plan B to name an alternate PPM candidate and a Plan-C to elect a PNC candidate for a worst case scenario all of it hours before and after the SC had thrown out his petition. Earlier, the SC registry itself threw out two of PPMs petitions, seeking to restore Yameens rights, possibly for absence of locus standi. It is anybodys guess why Yameens legal defence did not seek to stay the conviction pending the appeal hearing in the High Court. Nor is it known why as the prospective presidential candidate of the nations second largest party a fact that they lost no occasion to stress Yameen did not move the Supreme Court, seeking a different Bench or an order after two of the three High Court judges hearing his case successively went on family leave, closer to the EC opening the presidential nominations. Now, his defence team has been told that the High Court would recommence the case this week itself. The technical question thus remains what if the HC acquits him in the second case, now that the trial in the third case is taking its time, even otherwise. But Yameens real problem was with his sticking to the boycott call in his absence. Clearly under-estimating the forces that were at work within his coalition, Yameen first asked the PNC to select a reserve candidate, if that is the term, and insisted on the party doing so after they had played the ball back to him. This time round, the PNC not only decided to field a candidate but also chose Muizzu through an open contest involving another senior leader. Yameen had been clearly out-witted as he had seemingly known that the sand under his feet had shifted. Together, the two parties rebuffed his insistence for a boycott. Later, they patched up, Yameen endorsed Muizzu, and the leaderships of the two parties too have done so. But the damage had been done. One, Yameen got himself painted as the selfish man that critics had claimed him to be. His half-hearted endorsement of Muizzu has confused his voters, who to the man are all his personal loyalists, too. There is also the pro-Yameen constituency that has problems voting for a candidate endorsed by religious extremists. Common candidate Candidates other than Solih have yet to launch their campaign. Even JPs Gasim Ibrahim and MNPs Nazim had made only a half-hearted attempt in the early rounds, as they were in constant confabulations between themselves, and also other non-MDP, anti-Solih parties wanting to form one or another coalition, if not field a common candidate. Possibly hoping that Yameen would be able to contest, the PPM-PNC combine had all along claimed that if there was to be a common candidate, it had to be theirs. The fact that every other party had fielded its own nominee means that they did not accept even Yameen as a common candidate. The question of their pitching for Muizzu or any other from among those in the fray does not arise. Yet, Nasheed, in an early campaign speech, has urged Yameens PPM not to create a situation in which his party men are forced to vote for the MDP (meaning Solih) in the second round. Among his causes for concerns should be the PPM-PNCs off-again-on-again India Out campaign, after one of which The Democrats declared that it would then be difficult for the party to negotiate a coalition with the Yameen camp. It is another matter that neither India, nor India Out seemed to have been among the causes for the two camps coming together. For, there is the real danger of The Democrats losing more votes to the MDP parent if identified with the Yameen camp. It would then be similar to the way Gayoom lost all his traditional votes to estranged half-brother Yameen, in 2018 after he had joined hands with the MDP rival from the previous decade and more, for Solih to take on the incumbent of the time. The writer is a Chennai-based policy analyst & political commentator. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. On 26 July, 2023, the democratically elected president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, was removed by the presidential guard. This led to the formation of the National Council for Safeguarding the Homeland (CNSP), composed of senior officials from various security forces. Within the next day, initial pro-democracy protests subsided, while new demonstrations in support of the coup surfaced. The Nigerien armed forces aligned with the CNSP, signalling their reluctance to engage with the presidential guard and risk plunging Niger into a civil war. Comprehending Nigers intricacies is a challenging endeavour. Situated in the Sahel region, the country ranks among Africas most impoverished nations, despite possessing valuable resources like uranium, coal, and gold within its vast territory. Similar to numerous African states, Niger holds memberships in both the African Union and two regional economic communities: ECOWAS for West Africa and the now-defunct CENSAD for the Sahel. Niger, Chad, Mali, and Burkina Faso are currently under the governance of coup leaders, with Mali experiencing coups in both 2020 and 2021, followed by Guinea and then Burkina Faso and Chad in 2022. These nations, except for Chad, have been suspended from the African Union (AU). Surprisingly, Chads former prime minister holds the position of Chair of the AU Commission. Meanwhile, Libya to the north remains unsettled, and Algeria, which shares a significant border with Niger, is opposed to intervening. This situation necessitates cautious collaboration between Nigeria and Niger. In India, Niger was primarily recognised for its flag, reminiscent of the Indian tricolour but distinguished by a saffron circle replacing the Ashok Chakra. Despite this visual association, Indias interaction with Niger is limited. An embassy in Niger represents India, albeit currently without an ambassador. India notably constructed the Mahatma Gandhi International Convention Centre, hosting the African Union summit in this distant nation. Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, conducted a visit to Niger in January 2020, during which Niger held a seat on the UN Security Council. Although traditionally influenced by France, Nigers relationship with this influence has become a potential element of the prevailing challenges. Breaking down the intricacies, Niger holds significance in the anti-terrorism struggle. US and France each maintain 1,000-1,500 troops in the nation, alongside drone bases. These deployments were established in cooperation with Niger and were particularly embraced following coups in Mali and Burkina Faso, which hindered their operational capacities in those regions. The European Union (EU) maintains a modest contingent of around 100 troops, joined by similarly sized groups from Italy, Germany, and other nations. These units have closely collaborated with the juntas leadership. However, the junta leaders are currently declining meetings with representatives from various organisations including the African Union (AU), EU, United Nations (UN), and ECOWAS. The sole envoy they have engaged with thus far is acting US Deputy Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland. This connection is established through a discreet channel facilitated by the US Special Forces units, with whom the junta leaders have cooperated. The central concern revolves around whether this juntas actions will weaken the counterterrorism efforts. As of now, there is limited evidence indicating any Russian influence supporting the junta or the involvement of the Wagner group. Notably, the coup in Niger coincided with the Russia-Africa summit held in St Petersburg. While concerns persist that Russia, directly or through Wagner, might aim to enhance its influence in Niger at the expense of the US and France, there is no conclusive proof of Russian-backed involvement in the coup. In terms of the regional context, both the AU and ECOWAS encounter obstacles in their efforts. Notably, there have been 10 coup attempts in Africa within the past three years. Interestingly, countries suspended by the AU appear to continue functioning without significant consequences. The more recent coup in Sudan arises from internal rivalries. Similarly, evidence suggests the presence of internal rivalries in Niger. The civilian president, who was democratically elected, attempted to curtail defence expenditures, particularly targeting the role and power of the presidential guarda deeply entrenched interest. Regrettably, a compromise could not be reached. Consequently, the presidential guard orchestrated the coup, with the primary institutionalised army refraining from direct involvement. Strikingly, the main army has not contested the coup and is seeking to cooperate with the new authorities. This mirrors the current approach being pursued by US as well. ECOWAS issued strong statements, but the involvement of certain members who share a similar situation with Niger, especially Burkina Faso and Mali, complicates unanimous decision-making. Since decolonisation, France has exerted considerable control, both in terms of finances and security, over numerous West African nations. Many Africans believe that the French role in Africa requires reevaluation, as it is perceived to have outlived its usefulness and is met with resentment. The prevalence of repeated coups in several French West African countries, coupled with instances of Russian influence, underscores the lack of appreciation for the French role, thereby fuelling emerging sentiments of resentment. This sentiment is intertwined with new waves of nationalism, which emphasise the value of democracy while opposing Frances guidance and interference. Despite being a remote nation, Nigers significance is underestimated. It deserves greater attention and comprehension, rather than being solely viewed through the lens of significant power rivalries. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha has challenged BJP to prove that he forged the signatures of four members of parliament. In a press conference held on Thursday, Chadha said, I challenge the BJP leaders to bring the paper on which forged signatures were done. #WATCH | I challenge the BJP leaders to bring the paper on which forged signatures were done, says AAP MP Raghav Chadha on the allegation of MPs claiming that their names were mentioned on the proposal moved by AAP MP Raghav Chadha to send the Delhi NCT Amendment Bill to the pic.twitter.com/GJUoO6IISI ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2023 I request the media to show the truth. A small section of the media was running propaganda against me and I will have to file a complaint against them, he added. #WATCH | I request the media to show the truth. A small section of the media was running propaganda against me and I will have to file a complaint against them. I will also have to file a complaint in Court and Privileges Committee against those MPs who claimed that the pic.twitter.com/7KHwCvyTbf ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2023 Earlier this week, Raghav Chadha was accused of forging the signatures of four MPs, who said that he had proposed their names to send the Delhi NCT Amendment Bill to the Select Committee panel without their consent. Refuting the claims of forgery, Chadha said that as per the rule book, any member of parliament can propose the name for the formation of any committee. The rule book says that any MP can propose the name for the formation of any committee and neither the signature nor the written consent of the person whose name is proposed is required. But a lie was spread that forged signatures were done, the AAP leader said. #WATCH | On the allegation of MPs claiming that their names were mentioned on the proposal moved by AAP MP Raghav Chadha to send the Delhi NCT Amendment Bill to the Select Committee without their consent, AAP MP Raghav Chadha says The rule book says that any MP can propose the pic.twitter.com/19cUZjHAv4 ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2023 Rajya Sabha sends breach of privilege complaint Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar referred the complaints lodged against Chadha to the privileges committee to examine and investigate the matter. A Rajya Sabha bulletin said the chairman had received complaints from MPs Sasmit Patra, S Phangnon Konyak, M Thambidurai and Narhari Amin, who alleged breach of privilege by Chadha for inter-alia including their names without their consent, in violation of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, in a motion on August 7. On consideration of the facts, the Honble Chairman, Rajya Sabha has referred the matter under Rule 203 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) to the Committee of Privileges for examination, investigation and report, the RS bulletin said. Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis reply on no-confidence motion debate in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said today is an important in the Parliament, especially for the Opposition. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will speak for over an hour. The Opposition should be ready for it, West Bengal BJP MP Sukanta Majumdar. PM Modi will reply to a debate on the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition against the government on Thursday. He is expected to address at 4 pm. The motion was moved by the Opposition alliance - Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or I.N.D.I.A over the Manipur violence. After PM Modi's reply to the no-confidence motion, voting will take place in the House. The BJP is expected to sail through the no-trust vote as it enjoys a commanding majority in the Lok Sabha. The BJP alone has 303 MPs, well beyond the majority mark of 272. The Opposition bloc has 143 members. There are 70 MPs who do not belong to either of the two alliances. On Wednesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused the Congress of politicising the Manipur violence and said the BJP was always ready for discussion on the issue. Shah also said that violence in the northeastern state was coming down and urged the Opposition "not to put fuel to the fire". With inputs from agencies Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Thursday invoked how late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was humiliated in the state Aseembly in 1989. Jayalalithas saree was pulled in Tamil Nadu Assembly DMK heckled laughed and made fun of her, Sitharaman said during the debate on no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha against the Narendra Modi government. Hitting back at Kanimozhi and reminding DMK of how it watched the late AIADMK Chief humiliated in the Assembly, Sitharaman said, That day Jayalalithaa took an oath that she wont return to the house until she becomes Chief Minister. She became CM two years later and returned to the Tamil Nadu Assembly. DMK watched as Jayalalithaas saree was pulled. Today, DMK has the temerity to talk about Draupadi and preach on womens security. DMK MLAs were silent spectators to the humiliation that Jayalalithaa was subjected to in the assembly, Sitharaman said. #WATCH | FM says, I agree that women suffering anywhere Manipur, Delhi, Rajasthan will have to be taken seriously. No politics played. But I want to remind this entire House of one incident which happened on 25th March 1989 in Tamil Nadu Assembly. Then she hadnt become CM pic.twitter.com/DRUTV4qeIg ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2023 Meanwhile, Congress, NCP and DMK MPs staged a walk-out from the Lok Sabha as Sitharaman spoke on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha. The no-confidence motion was moved by the Opposition alliance - I.N.D.I.A. - against the central government. Today is the last day of three-day debate and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address the House. The last two days of the debate on the no-confidence motion witnessed a fierce battle between the ruling and the Opposition coalitions over the Manipur violence and other raging issues . With inputs from agencies Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday tore into the Congress-led Opposition with his fact-based responses as he spoke in the Lok Sabha, replying to the no-confidence motion moved against his government. Jinke bahi khaate khud ke bigde hue hainwo hamse hisab liye phirte hai Those whose own account books are out of order are holding us accountable, PM Modi attacked the Congress led Opposition. Intensifying his attack on the Opposition, the Prime Minister said, Some trying to tarnish our image on global stage, but world knows the truth and wont be misled. We restored Indias old glory on global stage. But some people want to defame the country. The world now knows India, said the Prime Minister. PM Modi said, Today data is known as second oil. A serious discussion was needed. But politics was priority for you. Several bills were related ton poor, backwards, Dalits. But opposition had no interest in it. The opposition betrayed the people. The Opposition moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government on July 26 which was accepted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. This is the second time Modi is facing a no-confidence motion. This is a developing story. Refresh for more update. Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the Congress-led Opposition in the Lok Sabha as he was replying to the no-confidence motion moved against his government on 26 July. During the debate, PM Modi said that the Opposition leaders have received secret vardan (blessings). Mera pakka vishwaas ho Gaya hai ki vipaksh ke logon ko ek secret vardaan Mila hua haiye ki ye log jiska bura chahenge uska bhala ho hoga (I have full belief that the Opposition leaders have a secret vardan (blessing) is that whenever they wish bad upon someone, that individual always benefits). PM Modi said he is an example of how whoever is abused by the Opposition, ends up succeeding. "One such example is standing before you. 20 saal ho gaye kya kuch nahi hua par bhala hi hota gaya (20 years, what all was not done to me, but only good happened to me)," the PM said. PM Modi then gave three other examples to prove his point. 1- Banking sector PM Modi said the Opposition tried to question India's banking sector, but their profits have doubled since then. "They said banking sector will be crushed, it will be ruined, nation will be in doldrums. They got experts from abroad to spread their negative narrative. When they wished ill for our banks, our public sector banks flourished," he said. 2- HAL recorded highest ever revenue The Prime Minister said when the Opposition tried to decry HAL, it recorded its highest ever revenue. #WATCH | Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) recorded its highest-ever revenue. Despite their (opposition's) allegations, HAL has emerged as the pride of the country. They said many things about LIC that the money of the poor will sink but today LIC is getting stronger. 'Share pic.twitter.com/dH2eOoGuk9 ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2023 "They ruined HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited). They tried to incite the workers and spread negativity. But now HAL is flourishing. It has recorded its highest ever revenue. HAL has now become the pride of country," he said. 3- LIC got stronger The Opposition said many things about LIC that the money of the poor will sink, but today the insurance corporation is getting stronger. 'Opposition favourite slogan: Modi teri kabr khudegi' Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, For the past three days, the Opposition leaders abused me. They are now feeling relieved after abusing me. For them, the best slogan is 'Modi, teri kabr khudegi'." He further said, "Congress does not have neeti, niyat, vision, understanding of global economy and Indias capability." With inputs from agencies Prime Minister Narendra Modi, replying to the Oppositions no-trust motion in Lok Sabha, said that the floor test is not for BJP but for I.N.D.I.A alliance. The trust of the people of the country shown in our government again and again I am here to show my gratitude to the crores of the people of the country, PM Modi said. #WATCH | PM Narendra Modi says, God is very kind and speaks through some mediumI believe that its the blessing of God that opposition has brought this motion. I had said during the no-confidence motion in 2018 that it was not a floor test for us but a floor test for them pic.twitter.com/GHysTGoUP6 ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2023 He added, Aur apne Tay kar liya hai NDA aur BJP 24 ke chunav me saare record tod kar wapis ayegi (You have decided that NDA and BJP will break all the record and come to power in 2024). The prime minister also thanked the citizen of India for showing faith in BJP government. I am here to thank the people who have expressed faith in our government. God is kind. I thank God that it suggested opposition to bring no-confidence motion, he said. #WATCH | PM Narendra Modi says, God is very kind and speaks through some mediumI believe that its the blessing of God that opposition has brought this motion. I had said during the no-confidence motion in 2018 that it was not a floor test for us but a floor test for them pic.twitter.com/GHysTGoUP6 ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2023 Slamming Congress-led Opposition, PM Modi said, Desh se pehle dal hai Gareeb ki bhookh nahi satta ko bhook apke sar par sawar hai. Apko Desh ke yuva ke bhavishya ki chinta nahi hai, apne rajnaitik bhavishya ki chinta hai (For Opposition, party comes before the country. They are hungry for power. They are not concerned about the future of the youth of the country. They are just concerned abut their future and stability in politics). #WATCH | In a way, Oppositions No Confidence has always been lucky for us. Today, I can see that you (Opposition) have decided that NDA and BJP will come back in 2024 elections with a grand victory, breaking all previous records, with the blessings of the people, says PM Modi pic.twitter.com/QG0efZptuw ANI (@ANI) August 10, 2023 Jinke bahi khaate khud ke bigde hue hainwo hamse hisab liye phirte hai (Those whose own accounts are out of order are holding us accountable), Modi said while ciriticising the Opposition. Asking why the Opposition does not come prepared to the Parliament, PM Modi said, Taiyar ho kar kyun nahi aate. Maine apko 5 saal diye phir bhi.. (Why dont you come prepared? (I have already given you 5 years.) Referring to the no-trust motion moved against the government by the Opposition, the prime minister said, Desh ki janta baar baar vishwas jataya hai Desh ke koti koti nagarikon ka aabhar vyakt karne ke liye upasthit hua hun. Bhagwan bahut dayalu hai. Bhagwan ki jo marzi hoti hai wo kisi na kisi madhyam se apni ichha ko purti karta hai. Main ise bhagwan ka ashirwad Manta hun ki ishwar ne vipaksh konsujhaya aur wo ye prastav le kar aaye (People of the country have persistently expressed their trust in us. I am present in the House today to express gratitude to crores of people of the country. God is very kind.) Before PM Modi, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia spoke about Manipur in the Lok Sabha where he said that despite the Prime Minister giving a statement outside the parliament, the Opposition repeatedly insisted he give a statement in the House. The PM gave a sensitive statement on Manipur outside the Parliament but they (opposition) insisted that (PM) gives a statement in the House. The Home Minister said time and again that we are ready for a discussion on any given date and time. However, they did not let the House function for 17 days, he said. VIDEO | The PM gave a sensitive statement on Manipur outside the Parliament but they (opposition) insisted that (PM) gives a statement in the House. The Home minister said time and again that we are ready for a discussion on any given date and time. However, they did not let the pic.twitter.com/zCF7JcTIs4 Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 10, 2023 The Opposition moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government on 26 July which was accepted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. This is the second time PM Modi is facing a no-confidence motion. This is a developing story. Refresh for more updates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a point-by-point jibe at the Opposition-led Congress while he was replying to the no trust motion moved against the NDA government. Slamming the Opposition for moving the no-trust vote against his government for the second time, PM Modi said, 2028 mein jab aap vishwas prastav le kar ayenge, tab desh already teesre biggest economy hoga (I know India will be the third-largest economy. The nation believes that when youll bring a no-confidence motion in 2028, India will be in top 3. PM Modi further said that Opposition should ask how he will make India's economy third largest in world; "if Congress thinks this will happen on its own then it has no vision." "In 1991, the country was about to go bankrupt, but after 2014, India is among the top five economies Congress think it happened on its own but I want to tell them that it happened through hard work, reform, dedication, and immense planning," the Prime Minister said. Slamming the Opposition, the Prime Minister said India has been among top five economies since 2014. Most of Chinas biggest tech and internet companies are scampering to get their hands on high-powered Nvidia chips, a crucial component for creating AI and ML systems. As per a report by the Financial Times, Chinese companies are spending a massive $5 billion on these chips because theyre worried that the US might make it harder for them to buy these chips in the future. China desperate for the latest AI chips Baidu, ByteDance, Tencent, and Alibaba have placed orders totalling $1 billion to buy around 100,000 A800 processors from Nvidia. These chips are expected to be delivered this year. Additionally, these Chinese companies have also bought another $4 billion worth of graphics processing units from Nvidia, which will be delivered in 2024. The A800 chips are a bit weaker compared to Nvidias most advanced A100 chips, which are used in data centres. This is because of rules set by the US government last year, which restrict what Chinese tech companies can buy. Due to these restrictions, Chinese companies can only buy A800 chips, which have slower data transfer rates than the A100. As interest in AI has grown over the past year, Nvidias chips have become highly sought after by major tech companies across the world. The new gold rush Chinese internet companies are rushing to collect as many A800 chips as they can because theyre afraid that the US might impose even more rules on them. Theyre also worried about a shortage of these chips because so many companies want them. One employee from Baidu mentioned, We cant train large language models without these Nvidia chips. The companies are working on creating their own AI models, inspired by the success of ChatGPT, which is a chatbot developed by OpenAI. Investing immensely in computing power ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, has many teams working on different AI projects. Theyve even tested a feature for TikTok that uses AI to generate content. Two employees with inside knowledge told Financial Times that ByteDance has already gathered over 10,000 Nvidia GPUs and ordered almost 70,000 A800 chips for next year, worth about $700 million. Similarly, Alibaba plans to use these chips to power their large language model, which will be used across their products like online shopping and mapping tools. Meanwhile, Baidu is working on their own project similar to ChatGPT, called Ernie Bot. Nvidia has stated that internet companies often invest a lot of money in data centre components, placing orders many months in advance. In April, Tencent Cloud introduced a new group of servers that people can rent. These servers use a special kind of Nvidia chip called the H800 GPU. This chip is based on Nvidias latest H100 model, but its modified for use in China. Its really good for tasks like training big language models, self-driving cars, and scientific calculations. Alibaba Cloud has also gotten lots of H800 chips from Nvidia. Many customers have already contacted Alibaba to get cloud services that use these chips. They want to use these chips to create services similar to ChatGPT in China. ByteDance, on the other hand, has been using both A800 and A100 Nvidia chips for its cloud computing devices. Theyve saved up a lot of these chips. They even launched a platform in June where companies can try out different services that use large language models. Earlier this year, most big Chinese internet companies had very few of these chips for training large language models. But as demand increased, the price of these chips went up by more than 50 per cent, according to one Nvidia distributor. President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that will stop certain new investments from the US in Chinas sensitive technology sectors, such as computer chips. The order will also require the US government to be notified about investments in other tech areas. The order allows the US Treasury Secretary to limit or prevent US investments in Chinese companies in three areassemiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and certain types of artificial intelligence systems. The goal is to prevent American investments and expertise from aiding Chinas military advancements and potentially harming US national security. US goes for the jugular The order will affect areas like private equity, joint ventures, venture capital, and new investments. The Chinese government expressed strong dissatisfaction with the USs decision and opposes the introduction of investment restrictions. They hope that the US will respect market laws, fair competition, and avoid hindering global economic cooperation. This order particularly targets investments in Chinese firms working on software for designing computer chips and the tools used to manufacture them. These fields are currently dominated by the US, Japan, and the Netherlands. The regulation will impact future investments, not existing ones, and the Treasury may also request information about past transactions. The move has the potential to increase tensions between the two largest economies in the world. While US officials emphasize that the goal is to address national security risks, they also clarify that its not intended to fully separate the two countries closely connected economies. China, CCP left fuming, warn of lasting impact on global supply chains China has strongly criticized President Joe Bidens newly signed executive order that restricts US investment in technology, but for now, it has not announced any immediate retaliatory actions. Both the Chinese commerce and foreign affairs ministries issued strong statements in response to the executive order, which targets countries of concern based on national security considerations. China expressed its dissatisfaction and opposition to the US for introducing investment restrictions, describing it as economic coercion and technological bullying. The Chinese Commerce Ministry called on the US to respect the principles of fair competition and the market economy, and urged the US not to hinder global trade artificially or create obstacles that could impede the global economic recovery. Eswar Prasad, a professor in international trade at Cornell University, stated that the message from the US is clear. The US wants to use the pretext of national security to limit technology transfers and investments related to technology to China. This move is seen not only from a national security perspective but also as an effort to protect commercial interests. China has not announced any specific countermeasures in response to the executive order. Tough time for China President Bidens executive order comes at a challenging time for Chinas economy, as recent economic data highlights a slowdown in growth. Consumer prices in China dropped for the first time in two years in July, and producer prices have been declining for ten consecutive months on a year-on-year basis. Prasad points out that while it might not have been planned this way by the US Treasury or the Biden administration, the timing of the executive order is unfortunate for China. The country is facing falling confidence, slowing growth, and the risk of a downward spiral characterized by deflation, low growth, and lack of confidence reinforcing each other. This situation could have significant implications for Chinas growth trajectory, especially since the country is aiming to transition into high-tech and higher value-added industries. While China is eager to reduce reliance on foreign capital, foreign technology remains crucial for its aspirations. Without access to foreign technology, it could be challenging for China to make the leap toward becoming a high-tech leader. Chinas leaders have been changing their approach toward private and foreign investors as part of their efforts to boost economic growth. However, domestic innovation efforts have faced challenges. The countrys economic recovery after the pandemic is expected to be complex and challenging. In essence, the timing of the executive order and Chinas economic situation could create further headwinds for the countrys growth plans and ambitions in the technology sector. According to newly released court documents, the special counsel tasked with investigating Donald Trumps efforts to overturn the 2020 election initially faced difficulties but ultimately managed to gain access to the former Presidents X account. These documents made public on Wednesday, reveal that Elon Musks X was slow in providing the desired information about Trumps actions before January 6 due to its objection to not being allowed to inform Trump about the investigation. As a consequence, a judge held X in contempt and imposed a fine of $350,000. X wanted to alert Trump Reports from outlets including Politico indicate that redacted court papers from the DC Court of Appeals describe how special counsel Jack Smith executed a search warrant against X in January of this year. The specifics of what information was obtained remain unclear, but it is conceivable that certain details from Trumps account contributed to his second federal indictment in the current year, related to his attempts to reverse the election outcome. He was recently charged with multiple criminal counts, including conspiracy to defraud the US government. To avoid alerting Trump or his associates, X was prohibited from disclosing any details about the warrant. However, initial attempts to serve the warrant were unsuccessful as the company was unresponsive. After approximately a week and after contacting a lawyer at X, the company objected to releasing the information citing First Amendment concerns. The court opinion highlights that X didnt fully comply until three days after a court-ordered deadline. Musk and X fought the warrant hard While the company did provide some records, it hesitated to furnish all the information requested by the special counsel. X cited a nondisclosure order as the reason for its initial reluctance, which led to a legal battle lasting two months and culminating in the company being fined $350,000 for the delay. X appealed the decision by US District Court Judge Beryl Howell to enforce the warrant. The appeals court panel upheld Judge Howells decision, with Judge Florence explaining that not enforcing the nondisclosure order would have compromised the investigations security and integrity, as the main purpose of the order was to prevent the former President from learning about the existence of the warrant. The opinion also states that suggestions akin to Xs proposal of informing the former Presidents legal team or representatives about the warrant, with an expectation of maintaining its confidentiality, were deemed impractical. In a heart-touching account shared on TikTok in UK, a young man narrated the remarkable love story of his grandmother and her high school sweetheart. Noah Russi, who goes by the username @liveforlines on the platform, recently unveiled a video compilation celebrating his grandmother and her present spouse, who also happened to be her very first boyfriend. The TikTok video begins with Russi aboard a train and the words POV: embarking to visit my Nan, who relocated across the world to reunite with her first high school boyfriend. The video transitions into a sequence of snapshots, supplemented by text overlays, recounting how fate brought the couple back together after decades of separation. Russi explains that despite both partners having raised six children individually through prior marriages, they tragically lost their respective spouses to cancer. Reconnecting in their 70s, they decided to unite in matrimony, a union that has now thrived for a decade as they both enter their 80s. The locations of this transcontinental love story remain undisclosed by Russi. However, hints within the TikTok hint at the possibility of Canada and the UK being the involved nations. Scenes from London Underground and Russis base in Vancouver subtly suggest this cross-border connection. Since its upload on 3rd August, the video has garnered over 700,000 views and amassed over 1,000 comments, each brimming with affection for this heartwarming tale. Officials on Wednesday said that at least six people have been killed in a wildfire that has razed a Hawaiian town, with desperate residents jumping into the ocean in a bid to escape the fast-moving flames. At least a dozen individuals were saved from the water by US Coast Guard officials as rescue services struggled to cope with a catastrophe that seemed to strike virtually out of nowhere. Footage from earlier today showing the utter Devastation in the City of Lahaina on the Hawaiian Island of Maui due to Wildfires spread quickly by Heavy Winds from Hurricane Dora to the South; the Governor of Hawaii, Josh Green has stated that at least 6 People were Killed just in pic.twitter.com/7JioGRtoRs OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) August 10, 2023 Im sad to report that just before coming on this, it was confirmed weve had six fatalities, AFP quoted Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen as saying at a press conference. We are still in a search and rescue mode and so I dont know what will happen to that number. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said in a statement on Wednesday evening that he has ordered all available Federal assets to help combat wildfires that have devastated parts of the Hawaiian island of Maui. In his statement, the president offered condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones and expressed gratitude toward the brave firefighters and first responders who continue to run toward danger. Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke issued an emergency proclamation and told CNN the hospital system on the island of Maui was overburdened with burn patients, people suffering from inhalation. 911 is down. Cell service is down. Phone service is down, she said. Lahaina, a tourist town of 12,000 on the northwestern tip of Maui, lay in ruins, said Governor Josh Green. Much of Lahaina on Maui has been destroyed and hundreds of local families have been displaced, said Green. Video posted on social media showed blazes tearing through the heart of the beachfront town and sending up huge plumes of black smoke. VIDEO: Smoke from Hawaii wildfires engulfs road in Maui County. A clip released by the County of Maui shows smoke from the wildfires in Hawaii engulfing a road. The fires whipped up by hurricane winds triggered evacuations in parts of Hawaii on Wednesday with the Coast Guard pic.twitter.com/FGfRzhvsGO AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 10, 2023 People are jumping into the water to avoid the fire, US Army Major General Kenneth Hara, the state adjutant general, told Hawaii News Now. The Coast Guard said it had successfully rescued 12 individuals from the waters off Lahaina and it was sending other vessels to Maui. Hara said the strong winds had prevented helicopters from being used to carry out rescues or fight the fires. Lahaina resident Claire Kent said she had seen her neighborhood burned less than an hour after she fled. The flames had moved all the way down to the end of the neighborhood, she told CNN. We were pulling out onto the highway, you look back and theres cars with flames on both sides of the road, people stuck in traffic trying to get out, Kent said, describing the dangerous scene as something out of a horror movie. I know for a fact people didnt get out, she said, adding that homeless people and people without access to vehicles seemed to have been trapped in the town. Water on fire Kent described how power and cell phone coverage had been knocked out Tuesday, and she had been unaware of any approaching danger until a sudden shift of wind sparked panic. It was all just word of mouth, like people running down the street saying you need to get out. There were guys riding around on bicycles, just screaming at people to leave. For those who managed to flee, there was worry over missing family. I still dont know where my little brother is, Tiare Lawrence told Hawaii News Now. I dont know where my stepdad is. Everyone I know in Lahaina, their homes have burned down, Lawrence said. Chrissy Lovitt told the outlet every boat in Lahaina Harbor had burned. It looks like something out of a movie, a war movie, Lovitt said. The water was on fire from the fuel in the water. Surf school manager Elizabeth Smith said she was safe in upcountry Kula, but was concerned for staff and their families in Lahaina. We do know that one couple was able to evacuate, but we dont know about the others, she told AFP by telephone. Theres still very limited communication with people from Lahaina. Winds up to 80 mph Luke, the lieutenant governor, said the fires were caused by dry conditions and the powerful winds from Hurricane Dora, which is hundreds of miles south of the islands and is not expected to make landfall. She said the fires have burned hundreds of acres and were being fanned by winds up to 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour. Almost 13,000 people were without power on Maui, according to tracking website poweroutage.us. President Joe Biden said he was mobilizing all resources to help. I have ordered all available Federal assets on the Islands to help with response, Biden said. The Hawaiian National Guard has mobilized Chinook Helicopters to help with fire suppression and search and rescue on the Island of Maui. The US Coast Guard and Navy Third Fleets are supporting response and rescue efforts. Chinas foreign ministry on Thursday said that Beijing has lodged solemn representations with the United States over its new measures to restrict investment in Chinese technology. China is strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposes the United States insistence on introducing restrictions on investment in China, and has lodged solemn representations with the United States, AFP quoted an unnamed foreign ministry spokesman as saying in a statement published online. Expressing serious concern, Beijing said the move severely disrupts the security of global industrial and supply chains and it reserves the right to take measures. President Joe Bidens executive order seriously deviates from the market economy and fair competition principles the US has always promoted, and affects companies normal operation decisions, damages the international trade order, and severely disrupts the security of global industrial and supply chains, added the spokesperson. #UPDATE Beijing expresses serious concern about new US policy to restrict investment in Chinese technology and reserves the right to take measures. An unnamed Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said President Joe Bidens executive order seriously deviates from the market pic.twitter.com/kqLuZCQ7qL AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 10, 2023 President Joe Biden on Wednesday moved to restrict US investment in Chinese technology during a multi-state tour of the Southwest to tout his push to revive American manufacturing after decades of decline. The executive order directs the Treasury Department to restrict certain US investments in China in sensitive high-tech sectors including semiconductors, quantum computing and artificial intelligence (AI). The restrictions, which are expected to take effect next year, come as Bidens administration looks to bolster its position vis-a-vis China on a multitude of fronts: military, economic and technological. They also come as the 80-year-old Democrat revs up his pitch for reelection in 2024, turning his attention to jobs and the economy, key bread-and-butter issues in the campaign for the White House. As the executive order was made public, Biden was speaking in New Mexico about his governments success in boosting manufacturing jobs in the renewable energy sector an appeal to voters to embrace his brand of Bidenomics. Our plan is working, he said in the city of Belen to mark the groundbreaking of a factory manufacturing wind turbine towers for the Arcosa group and the creation of 250 new jobs. With inputs from agencies Shakespeares plays are being excluded from the syllabus of several schools in Florida due to concerns about violating a contentious new law that prohibits books containing sexual content. In the approaching academic year, the Hillsborough County public schools will only assign portions of Shakespeares works to students, as stated by district officials in their communication with the Tampa Bay Times on Wednesday. While the officials clarified that the adjustment in teaching guides is a response to revised state teaching standards and a new set of state exams encompassing a wide range of literary works and writing styles, Tanya Arja, the districts spokesperson, acknowledged that the decision was also influenced by the recently enacted law known as Floridas Parental Rights in Education Law. Critically dubbed as the Dont Say Gay law by its opponents, this regulation came into effect last month. It mandates schools to withhold access to reading materials that are alleged to contain explicit content or depictions of sexual acts, pending the resolution of any objections from parents or the state authorities. Expressing his viewpoint to the Times on Tuesday, Joseph Cool, an educator at Gaither High, remarked, I believe the rest of the country and indeed, the world must be finding our situation amusing. He highlighted the absurdity of removing Shakespeares works entirely due to concerns that the relationship portrayed in Romeo and Juliet might be perceived as exploiting minors. Given the ambiguity surrounding the definition of objectionable content, educational institutions have taken a preemptive approach by removing certain books from their libraries. Trained media specialists are scrutinizing these contents to identify any elements that might potentially clash with the law. When a book is flagged by these specialists, a panel at the district level is mandated to assess it and make the final verdict on its presence within the library. Furthermore, parents have the option to register complaints about any book on the school districts official website. Such complaints necessitate the district to withdraw the specified title within a five-day period, keeping it off the library shelves until a comprehensive review is conducted. Recent investigation by local CBS affiliate WJAX unveiled that Duval County had already taken down 19 titles from its library shelves ahead of the upcoming 2023-2024 school year. Similarly, St. Johns County removed 31 books, while Clay County eliminated a staggering 115 titles from its collection. Ecuadoran presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, known for speaking up against corruption, was shot and killed Wednesday at a political rally in the capital, an attack that comes amid a wave of startling violence in the South American country. BREAKING: Ecuadorian Presidential Candidate Fernando Villavicencio has reportedly been assassinated at a campaign rally. ***The following video is the suspect who was captured at the rally*** According to reports, Villavicencio was shot three times in the head and a grenade was pic.twitter.com/Eux659jzYw Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 10, 2023 President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and suggested organized crime was behind his slaying. Villavicencio was one of eight candidates in the Aug. 20 presidential vote, though not the frontrunner. I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished, Lasso said in a statement. Organized crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law. The killing comes as Ecuador is rattled by rising violent killings and drug trafficking. Videos on social media appear to show the candidate walking out of the event surrounded by guards. The video then shows Villavicencio entering a white truck followed by gunfire. JUST IN: Second video emerges from outside rally event at the moment Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated. pic.twitter.com/c98bAoPdnz Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) August 10, 2023 The politician, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement. Patricio Zuquilanda, Villavicencios campaign adviser, told the Associated Press the candidate had received death threats before the shooting, which he had reported to authorities. He called on international authorities to take action against the violence, attributing it to rising violence and drug trafficking. The Ecuadorian people are crying and Ecuador is mortally wounded, he said. Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society. Other candidates echoed Zuquilanda in their demands for action, with former vice president Otto Sonnenholzner saying in a news conference, We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears and we do not deserve to live line this. We demand that you do something. Villavicencio was one of the most critical voices against corruption, especially during the government of former President Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017. He filed many judicial complaints against high ranking members of the Correa government, including against the ex-president himself. Early accounts show that several others were injured in the attack, though authorities did not confirm how many. He was married and is survived by five children. Phone companies are being urged to take action against thefts, following police data revealing that a mobile phone was stolen every six minutes in London last year. The Metropolitan Police disclosed that 90,864 phones, averaging almost 250 per day, were stolen in 2022. Mobile UK, representing UK networks, indicated that measures were already in place to combat theft, while Apple and Samsung were approached for comments, reported BBC. Mayor Sadiq Khan and Met chief Sir Mark Rowley penned an open letter, emphasising the need for software designers to develop solutions to make this crime less rewarding. They urged mobile providers to collaborate with City Hall and police, as new figures indicated that mobile phone-related crime is driving the increase in robberies and thefts, with 38 pre cent of personal robberies last year involving phone theft. Statistics also revealed that nearly 70 per cent of all thefts in London in the past year were linked to mobile phones. Previously, car manufacturers worked with the police to significantly decrease thefts of car radios and sat navs by integrating them into vehicle dashboards. Police data showed that young people were disproportionately involved in robberies, both as victims and perpetrators, particularly those aged 14-20. Mobile UK welcomed the opportunity to collaborate with the Met, the mayors office, device manufacturers, and the wider industry to further reduce this crime. With inputs from agencies State media KCNA said on Thursday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had changed the militarys top general and demanded increased war preparations, a rise in weapon manufacturing, and an expansion of military exercises. The Central Military Commission meeting, which addressed plans for measures to defeat North Koreas opponents, which it did not name, is where Kim made the remarks, according to the article. Chief of the General Staff Pak Su Il, the highest ranking general in the nation, was reportedly dismissed, according to KCNA. About seven months had passed since he assumed his position. General Ri Yong Gil, who had previously been the nations defence minister and supreme commander of its conventional forces, took over for Pak. Ri has also held the position of army chief of staff in the past. His firing and subsequent absence from official events when he was replaced in 2016 generated rumours of his execution in South Korea. A few months later, when he was appointed to another prominent position, he returned. The report made no specific mention of Kims aim for increasing weapons production capacity. He advocated for the production of more artillery, missile engines, and other weaponry during a visit to a weapons factory last week. Kim may be seen pointing at Seoul and its surrounding regions on a map in pictures issued by KCNA. The United States has charged North Korea with supplying weapons, including artillery rounds, rockets, and missiles, to Russia for its conflict in Ukraine. Both North Korea and Russia have refuted the assertions. According to the source, Kim also urged the military to practise using the nations most modern weaponry and equipment to maintain its troops prepared for battle. On September 9, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Day of the Foundation of the Republic, North Korea is planning a military parade. Paramilitary organisations are used by North Korea to reinforce its armed forces. Between August 21 and August 24, the US and South Korea will conduct military exercises, which the North views as a threat to its security. (With agency inputs) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has dismissed his top general and called for stepping up war preparations in an offensive way, including boosting weapons production and conducting more drills, state media reported Thursday. The developments came at a meeting of the Central Military Commission on Wednesday, the Korean Central News Agency reported, just days after Kim inspected several major arms factories. The military gathering comes as Seoul and Washington prepare for major joint drills later this month, which the North views as rehearsals for invasion and has repeatedly warned could trigger overwhelming action in response. At the meeting, Kim dismissed chief of the general staff Pak Su Il, replacing him with Vice Marshal Ri Yong Gil, KCNA said without giving further details. KCNA said the agenda of Wednesdays meeting was the issue of making full war preparations including securing more powerful strike means to ensure perfect military readiness for a war. Kim called for all the munitions industrial establishments to push ahead with the mass-production of various weapons and equipment, the report said. He also called for actively conducting actual war drills to efficiently operate (the) newly deployed latest weapons and equipment, it added. Kim reached an important conclusion on further stepping up the war preparations of the KPA in an offensive way, KCNA reported. The meeting also discussed preparations for a massive parade to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of North Korea on 9 September. Last month, Pyongyang held a major military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, with analysts describing the event as the largest, most overt North Korean display of nuclear-capable systems. North Korea also held a large defence expo to coincide with the parade, with Kim giving the visiting Russian defence minister a tour of of the countrys newest and most advanced weaponry, including ballistic missiles and spy drones. Vivek Ramaswamy, the Indian-American lawmaker who is set to contest against former President Donald Trump in the 2024 elections, has called China the biggest threat that the US faces and said that he would go for total de-coupling with Beijing if he comes to power. He said that he would aim to completely re-enter the trade in the Pacific and enter trade relationships with countries like India, Japan, and South Korea. In an interview with Fox News, Ramaswamy said, Xi Jinping is the dictator and China is the top threat that the United States faces. I think I am the clearest candidate in declaring a clear path in declaring economic independence from China. That would be the first step in our policy. He further said that he would go for a total de-coupling with China and ban most US companies from doing business in Beijing.I would go for total de-coupling. I would ban most US companies from doing business with China, unless and until the CCP reforms its behaviourI think there would be short-term consequences, but I think we can make sacrifices if we know what we are sacrificing for. I also think that when you are most willing to make a sacrifice, you actually do not have to make one at all, Ramaswamy said. He added, I think if we are willing to enter the trade relationships with Japan, South Korea, Philippines, even India, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil, that makes it much more tractable, than we make it out to be. I think thats achievable. Speaking on the Chinese spy balloon that flew over the US territory and was shot down by the American military in February this year he said that the US would have been immediately shot down if it had been from Russia. If that would have been a Russian spy balloon, flying over the country, we would have shot it down immediately and put up sanctions. The reason we did not do it with Chinese spy balloons, is that we are afraid of our economic dependence on China. So, I have a clear plan. I would re-enter our trade relationship, elsewhere in the Pacific, and that would put me in a position to lead our declaration of independence from China, he said. Ramaswamy also sounded an alarm over the growing Russia-China ties calling it the single-largest military threat and said that the US needs to deter this alliance. Barely months ahead of crucial elections in Pakistan, a report, almost over a year old, has emerged, indicating that the United States advised the Pakistani government to remove Imran Khan as Prime Minister over his neutrality on the Russias invasion of Ukraine. The report has been published by a US-based news outlet The Intercept that cited a classified Pakistani government document. What did the report mentions? The document obtained by The Intercept revealed that Donald Lu, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in the US, voiced criticism against Pakistans neutral position on Russia-Ukraine war. The meeting between the Pakistani ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed Khan and two US State Department officials, including Donald Lu has attracted controversies, speculations and intense scrutiny in Pakistan over past one and a half year as Imran Khan and his military and civilian opponents struggled for power. The report further mentions that the political tussle intensified on 5 August when Khan received a three-year prison sentence on corruption allegations. However, Khans advocates have rejected the accusations as baseless. Additionally, the courts ruling prevents Khan from participating in anticipated elections in Pakistan later this year. The document showed that Lu had hinted at a no-confidence vote to rectify the situation during the meeting with the then Pakistani ambassador to the US. As per the document, Lu said, People here and in Europe are quite concerned about why Pakistan is taking such an aggressively neutral position (on Ukraine), if such a position is even possible. It does not seem such a neutral stand to us. He then went on to say that if the Prime Minister was replaced, all would be forgiven in Washington, according to The Intercepts report. I think if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington because the Russia visit is being looked at as a decision by the Prime Minister, Lu said, reported The Intercept, quoting the leaked document. According to The Intercept, the document revealed that the conversation concluded with the Pakistani ambassador expressing his wish that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine would not negatively impact Pakistans rapport with the United States. I would argue that it has already created a dent in the relationship from our perspective, Lu said. Let us wait for a few days to see whether the political situation changes, which would mean that we would not have a big disagreement about this issue and the dent would go away very quickly, the US State Department official said. In response to the accusations against the US for its alleged role in Imran Khans ouster, Mathew Miller, the State Department spokesperson, said that the allegations were false. We had expressed concern about the visit of then-PM Khan to Moscow on the day of Russias invasion of Ukraine and have communicated that opposition both publicly and privately, he said. After an accidental reveal, Samsung has officially confirmed that it is starting registrations for the Android 14-based One UI 6 beta update starting with the Galaxy S23 series. It also revealed that the One UI 6 will offer a more user-friendly experience, enhancements to Samsung apps, new features, such as a more streamlined design and wider options for personalization. User-Friendly Design Several UI elements have been tweaked to create a more modern look and feel, such as the impactful new default font and the new emojis in the Samsung Keyboard. The Quick Panel has been revamped with a new layout that makes it effortless for users to access the features they use most. It is easier than ever to adjust screen visibility on the go, with brightness control bar available by default in the compact Quick Panel. The new instant access option to the full Quick panel now provides faster access to settings with a single downward swipe in the upper right corner of the screen. More Personalization options Set different lock screens according to specific Modes and Routines, such as a calming photo of a forest in Sleep mode. A new custom camera widget lets users pre-select a camera mode and a photo-saving location like portrait mode and a folder just for headshots, respectively. The company said that it will gather feedback from the users, and incorporate it in the final version for the best experience possible for the users. How to join One UI 6 Beta Program? The One UI 6 Beta Program is available for Samsung Galaxy S23 series owners in the United States, Germany and South Korea, with releases in other regions planned soon. You can register for the beta program via the Samsung Members app. We can expect the beta roll out for Galaxy Note series and A series phones soon. Regarding the new One UI update, Janghyun Yoon, Executive Vice President and Head of the Software Office, Mobile eXperience (MX) Business at Samsung Electronics, said: Our mission with One UI is to reflect the unique preferences of our users in every aspect of their mobile experience. Every iteration of One UI responds to the needs of our user community, and we look forward to user feedback on One UI 6 as we create a richer, more intuitive experience for all. kacylee at 10-08-2023 12:40 PM (1 week ago) (f) Kate Henshaw, the veteran Nollywood actress, has slammed Nigerian senators. Kate Henshaw, the veteran Nollywood actress, has slammed Nigerian senators. She claimed that the only prayers going into the mailboxes of poor Nigerians are more taxes and burdens. Henshaw was reacting to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabios assurance to colleagues during Wednesdays plenary session that prayers had been sent to them as they embark on a recess. In order to enable all of us to enjoy our holidays, a token has been sent to our various accounts by the Clerk of the National Assembly, Akpabio told colleagues. The Senate President later withdrew the statement rephrasing the supposed disbursement as prayers sent to their mailboxes. Godswill Akpabio is out here sending money to his fellow senators to 'enjoy' as the hardship level keeps skyrocketing in Nigeria. You can't write the script for what is unfolding in this country. Such a disgrace. Terrifying J Niger Junta pic.twitter.com/dJDKXPW03P Everything Everything (@Iamsamdan) August 9, 2023 Many expressed displeasure over the remark, especially on social media, claiming the lawmakers were insensitive to poor Nigerians. Kate Henshaw lamented that the lawmakers dont care about poor Nigerians. She wrote, The only prayers going into the mail of Nigerians is more taxes, more burdens, more grin & bear it, more we dont give a f@#k. Happy holidays to the ones meant to serve & bring succour to their constituents. Nothing do una jare. Whats the worst that can happen? Morning She claimed that the only prayers going into the mailboxes of poor Nigerians are more taxes and burdens.Henshaw was reacting to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabios assurance to colleagues during Wednesdays plenary session that prayers had been sent to them as they embark on a recess.Akpabio told colleagues.The Senate President later withdrew the statement rephrasing the supposed disbursement as prayers sent to their mailboxes.Many expressed displeasure over the remark, especially on social media, claiming the lawmakers were insensitive to poor Nigerians.Kate Henshaw lamented that the lawmakers dont care about poor Nigerians.She wrote, Post Reply I have been reporting for several years now and I am very interested in visual news reportage with strong inclusion of photos and video multimedia. Posted: at 10-08-2023 12:40 PM (1 week ago) | Addicted Hero Google Enhances Gmail Mobile App with Automatic Email Translation: Heres How to Use It News oi -Kabir Jain In a stride towards enhancing user experience and breaking down language barriers, Google is rolling out a feature that brings seamless email translation to its Gmail mobile application for Android and iOS. In a recent blog post, Google shared its excitement about the launch of the integrated translation feature for Gmail mobile. For years, Gmail's web version has been a go-to tool for translating emails into over 100 languages. Now, Google is making it even easier by seamlessly integrating translation capabilities within the mobile app. How It Works The newly introduced translation feature in Gmail functions by automatically detecting the email's language. If the email's language differs from the user's preference, a notification banner will appear atop the email, offering a translation. Users can select their desired translation language by tapping the 'Translate' option in the upper-right three-dot overflow menu of the email. This action opens the translation settings, enabling users to choose their desired output language. User-Friendly Customization One of the highlights of this feature is the flexibility it offers to users. For example, if an email arrives in a language different from the user's chosen language, such as receiving an email in French when the user's preference is English, they can tap on "Translate to English" to reveal the translated content. However, Google takes it a step further. Users have the autonomy to dismiss the notification if they choose not to translate the email, or they can opt to permanently exclude translations for emails in specific languages. Versatility and Beyond The translation feature boasts compatibility with an impressive array of languages, totaling up to a hundred. And this is just the beginning. Google has expressed its commitment to continuously expanding the range of supported languages, demonstrating its dedication to facilitating global communication. Rollout Timeline Android users can expect to experience this feature within the next two weeks, as Google plans to roll it out in stages. Meanwhile, iOS users won't have to wait much longer, as the feature is slated to make its debut on August 21st. Source Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Disney+ Takes Action Against Password-Sharing, Hikes Streaming Prices News oi -Kabir Jain In a significant move reminiscent of Netflix's actions, Disney+ is gearing up to address the issue of password-sharing starting in 2024. During a recent earnings call, Disney's CEO, Bob Iger, revealed the company's plans to curb this practice, which has been causing substantial financial losses. The move comes as part of Disney's broader efforts to optimize its streaming service's revenue model. Disney+ Takes a Stand Against Password-Sharing Iger emphasized that Disney+ is actively exploring various approaches to tackle the problem of password-sharing. He expressed the company's commitment to finding optimal solutions for subscribers who want to share their accounts with friends and family. The strategy includes updates to subscriber agreements, the introduction of additional terms, and refining sharing policies. These changes are expected to be unveiled later this year, with a comprehensive rollout planned for 2024. Learning from Netflix's Lead The decision to combat password-sharing follows in the footsteps of Netflix, which implemented similar measures earlier in the year. Netflix's move proved successful, contributing to increased revenue and surpassing expectations for new subscriptions. Disney+ aims to replicate this success while enhancing its own subscription revenue and overall business model. Subscription Prices on the Rise Beyond the focus on password-sharing, Disney also announced its plans to adjust subscription prices. Effective from October 12, Disney+ Premium subscription costs will rise from $10.99 to $13.00 per month, while Hulu's price will increase from $14.99 to $17.99 per month. This adjustment marks the second price change for Disney+ in less than a year. Disney's Streaming Commitment Iger reaffirmed Disney's commitment to streaming, considering it a crucial element of the company's future growth. He described the streaming business as relatively "young" and emphasized its significance as a foundational pillar for Disney's continued success. Financial Performance Highlights Disney's Q3 revenue witnessed a 4% increase to $22.33 billion compared to the previous year. While slightly falling short of Wall Street's estimates, this growth showcases Disney's resilience amidst challenging market conditions. Earnings per share reached $1.03, excluding specific items, surpassing the projected 95 cents per share. During the quarter, the company faced $2.65 billion in impairment and restructuring charges. These charges accounted for expenses linked to content removal from streaming services, termination of licensing agreements, and $210 million allocated to severance payments for laid-off employees. Source Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Galaxy Z Flip5 Survives 400,000 Folds; Surpasses Samsung's Official Claims News lekhaka -Subhrojit Mallick YouTube channel Mrkeybrd embarked on a mission, calling it the Great Folding Test Vol. II, several days ago. It was a multi-day livestream, where he tested out folding the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 and the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra. The folding phone that stood the rigorous challenge was the Galaxy Z Flip5, which managed to survive 401,156 folds. Despite some issues during the journey, it was the last phone standing. Galaxy Z Flip5 Beats Razr 40 Ultra in Fold Test Samsung officially advertises only 200,000 folds, which the company verifies using machines. To put things in perspective, the company explains that 200,000 folds is 100 folds a day for 5 years. However, the Youtuber explains that human beings and robots really cannot be compared, as robots neatly fold the phone in the same angle, same force and with precision while humans can never achieve the same neat folding technique every time. Hence, this feat becomes remarkable, as it's several folds higher than what the company advertises. There were a few challenges during the journey. Around the halfway point, at 223,000 folds, the hinge started struggling to hold at partial angles. Nonetheless, the phone continued to function smoothly until reaching the 400,000 mark. Moto Razr 40 Ultra Fails Much Earlier In comparison to the Galaxy Z Flip5, the Moto Razr 40 Ultra failed much earlier - it died at just 126,266 cycles. It also suffered more snags along the way. Problems began arising at approximately the 44,000 fold mark. This is a good point to note, considering that Motorola states the Razr hinge is designed for 400,000 folds. This figure is actually double the figure that Samsung claims, even though it's the Samsung that actually managed to achieve it. The YouTuber explains further why this may be happening, and highlights that humans tend to "break things faster. He added how to avoid this from happening. Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Report: OnePlus Introduces Lifetime Screen Warranty in India due to Green Line Display Problems News oi -Kabir Jain In a win for OnePlus users, to address the persistent issue of green lines appearing on OnePlus' smartphone displays, the Chinese manufacturer has introduced a groundbreaking screen warranty program in India. This initiative comes as a direct response to the widespread frustration expressed by OnePlus users who encountered the vexing problem following the OxygenOS 13 stable update. The warranty guarantees lifetime free screen replacements for affected devices, provided they meet specific criteria. Let's delve deeper into this remarkable development. The Green Line Display Problem Over the past few months, a growing number of OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 9 series smartphone users across India have taken to various online platforms, including Reddit, Twitter, and OnePlus community forums, to vent their frustration about the appearance of green lines on their OLED screens. This issue emerged after they installed the OxygenOS 13.1 update. Even attempts to restart the devices or revert to the previous software version failed to mitigate the problem. According to a report from Android Authority, OnePlus released an official statement acknowledging the inconvenience faced by its users due to the green line display issue. The company expressed its deep regret over the situation and demonstrated a steadfast commitment to resolving it. According to the report, the statement from OnePlus reads, "We are fully aware of the inconvenience that this issue has caused to our affected users, and we deeply regret it. In line with our steadfast commitment, we urge users to visit their nearest OnePlus service center for a thorough assessment of their devices. We will facilitate free screen replacements for all devices impacted by this situation. Additionally, for select OnePlus 8 and 9 Series models, we are also providing a voucher that grants users a significant percentage of their device's value, allowing them to upgrade to a new OnePlus device. Given the present circumstances, we are now introducing a lifetime screen warranty for all affected devices. We appreciate your understanding and support." The Scope of the Warranty It's important to note that this new warranty program is specifically designed for OnePlus devices purchased in India. Users who encounter the green line display issue on models including OnePlus 8, OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus 8T, OnePlus 9, and OnePlus 9R are eligible to benefit from this initiative. Discounts for Upgrades In addition to the screen warranty, OnePlus is also extending attractive discounts (via Telegram user @docnok63) to users seeking to upgrade their smartphones. At exclusive OnePlus Service Centers in India, notifications have been spotted, indicating that owners of affected devices, such as OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus 8T, OnePlus 9, and OnePlus 9R, will receive a discount voucher. This voucher can be applied toward the purchase of a new OnePlus smartphone, provided the transaction is conducted through online channels. OnePlus is offering lifetime warranties & free display repairs on phones getting green/pink lines Applicable for OnePlus 8, 9, 10 & 11 series phones In case your older phone cannot be repaired, they will offer 4500 extra discount if you opt for new OnePlus 10R Yogesh Brar (@heyitsyogesh) August 10, 2023 Lastly, renowned tipster Yogesh Brar shared on X that in cases where a device cannot be repaired, the company will provide an extra discount of Rs. 4,500 for upgrading to the OnePlus 10R. Via Best Mobiles in India US Supreme Court Rejects Epic Games' Bid for App Store Changes in Apple Dispute Tech Biz oi -Kabir Jain The legal feud between Epic Games, the company behind the renowned video game "Fortnite," and tech giant Apple has taken an intriguing turn as the U.S. Supreme Court declined to enforce a federal judge's ruling that could have compelled Apple to alter its payment policies within the lucrative App Store. Epic's Setback in the Courtroom Arena In a recent blow to Epic Games, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the implementation of a federal judge's ruling that would have required Apple to modify its payment practices in the App Store. This legal tussle revolves around allegations of Apple's monopolistic behavior in obligating users to exclusively download apps from its App Store and conduct in-app purchases solely through Apple's payment system, which comes with a commission of up to 30%. Justice Elena Kagan Takes the Stand Justice Elena Kagan, known for her liberal stance, represented the Supreme Court's decision to deny Epic's appeal. Acting on behalf of the Court, Kagan upheld the ruling made by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals situated in San Francisco. This decision effectively postponed the enforcement of an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, giving Apple room to seek an appeal at the Supreme Court. Epic's Perspective Epic Games expressed its dissatisfaction with the 9th Circuit's approach to suspending cases, labeling it "excessively lenient." The Legal Backstory Epic Games initiated an antitrust lawsuit against Apple in 2020, alleging that the tech giant was unfairly monopolizing the market. They contended that Apple's practices of directing users to solely use the App Store for app downloads and in-app purchases stifled competition and innovation. Their core argument centered on Apple's commission structure, which they deemed exorbitant and anti-competitive. In 2021, Judge Rogers dismissed Epic's antitrust claims but found Apple guilty of violating California's unfair competition law. The judge ruled that Apple's prohibition of developers from offering alternative payment methods within their apps hindered fair competition. Epic argued that allowing these alternatives would provide users with cost-saving options due to the lower commissions associated with them. The Injunction and Its Impact The injunction issued by Judge Rogers mandated that Apple allow app developers to incorporate links and buttons within their apps, directing users to alternative payment options for digital content. This ruling aimed to create a level playing field, enabling developers to offer users more economical choices. In response, Apple approached the 9th Circuit to halt the injunction's enforcement temporarily. The company contended that the injunction's scope was erroneously broad and needed refinement. They argued that it would force them to alter their entire business model prematurely, potentially compromising user security and protection against malicious content. Source Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. 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Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Two US Navy Sailors, Alleged Spies, Ruled Flight Risks in Pretrial Hearing By Adrianna Zhang, Zhang Mulin August 09, 2023 Two Navy sailors who allegedly spied for China appeared in separate federal courts in California on Tuesday for pretrial detention hearings, days after being arrested and accused of providing sensitive government information to intelligence officials from the People's Republic of China (PRC). In separate cases announced together on August 3, the Department of Justice said Petty Officer 2nd class Jinchao "Patrick" Wei, 22, was charged with espionage and Petty Officer Wenheng "Thomas" Zhao, 26, was charged with transmitting information to a PRC intelligence officer. It remains unclear whether they were in touch with the same Chinese intelligence officer. The suspects, who were born in China, are naturalized U.S. citizens. According to court papers, the sailors allegedly received cash in return for providing China with information about the technologies they used at work and about upcoming Navy operations, including international military exercises and radar placements. According to ABC News, Zhao was denied bail during his detention hearing Tuesday morning in Los Angeles. The judge said he considered Zhao a flight risk and danger to the community while ordering him detained. Zhao's attorney, Richard Goldman, told the court there are indications that Zhao believed he was dealing with an investment operative, not an agent of China. Hours later in San Diego, Wei was also denied bail after the judge ruled he was a flight risk and danger to the community, according to ABC News. Wei's defense attorney, Jason Conforti, had argued that Wei is not a danger to the community and "doesn't have the access to information anymore." Both men had initial appearances on Aug. 3, during which they both pleaded not guilty to their charges, according to ABC News. Wei is next due in court on Aug. 21, while Zhao's next court date has been scheduled for Sept. 26. Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., told VOA Mandarin in an emailed statement, "I am not aware of the details of the case. In recent years, the US government and media have frequently hyped up cases of 'espionage' related to China. China firmly opposes groundless slander and smear of China by the US side." Assistant U.S. Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the National Security Division of the Justice Department said in an August 3 release that the two sailors "stand accused of violating the commitments they made to protect the United States and betraying the public trust, to the benefit of the PRC government." In the same release, FBI Assistant Director Suzanne Turner said, "The PRC compromised enlisted personnel to secure sensitive military information that could seriously jeopardize U.S. national security." Wei was arrested on August 2 on espionage charges as he arrived for work at Naval Base San Diego, homeport to the Pacific Fleet Surface Navy, with 56 U.S. Navy ships and two auxiliary vessels. He was indicted for conspiracy to send national defense information to a PRC intelligence officer. The indictment alleges that Wei was a machinist's mate on the U.S.S. Essex stationed at Naval Base San Diego and held a U.S. security clearance with access to sensitive national defense information about the ship's weapons, propulsion and desalination systems. According to the indictment, Wei was approached by a PRC intelligence officer in February 2022 when he was in the process of getting his U.S. citizenship. During the course of the conspiracy, he allegedly sold information about the U.S.S. Essex and other Navy ships, especially photos, videos and documents concerning U.S. Navy ships and their systems to a PRC handler. His handler allegedly congratulated him once he obtained citizenship. Wei is alleged to have provided the handler with technical and mechanical manuals for the Essex and similar ships. If convicted, Wei could be sentenced to life in federal prison. He graduated from Delavan-Darien High School in Delavan, Wisconsin, in 2019, receiving a student achiever award during his senior year, according to an online yearbook photo found by local news. No one answered calls to the school. Zhao worked at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, California, and held a U.S. security clearance. The base is home to the Pacific Seabees, the West Coast E-2/D Hawkeyes, the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division and other divisions, according to its website. According to a 13-page grand jury indictment filed in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California, Zhao allegedly transmitted to a PRC officer sensitive, nonpublic U.S. military information, photographs and videos, including operational plans for a large-scale U.S. military exercise in the Indo-Pacific Region and electrical diagrams and blueprints for a radar system stationed on a U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan. In exchange, he allegedly received $14,866 from his handler from August 2021 through at least May 2023. According to Zhao's LinkedIn profile, his mother tongue is Chinese, and his work experience in the U.S. began in January 2016 as a travel agent. He joined the U.S. Navy in April 2017 and started school at American Military University in 2020. He later became an instructor in the U.S. Naval Architecture Division in 2023. VOA reached out to the American Military University but did not receive a reply by the time of publication. Zhao's family lives in in Monterey Park, California. The property is divided with a front house and a rear house. A "BEWARE OF DOG" sign hung on the fence when a VOA Mandarin reporter visited on Aug. 3, and trees covered the surrounding walls. When the VOA reporter arrived at the door, a woman came outside and told the reporter not to take photos. "I won't answer any of your questions. Please leave immediately," she said. Several neighbors told VOA Mandarin they rarely saw the family coming and going. Rocky Zhang, a Monterey Park resident, told VOA that the allegations show how China spies on U.S. military intelligence. "America is a free country, people from all over the world can come here, and some people will abuse the freedom to steal intelligence," he said. "I came from mainland China, and now I am a citizen of the United States. This is my country." Zhang added he didn't want the U.S. to face political or military threats from China. He also said incidents like the spying allegations against Zhao and Wei significantly affect people of Chinese descent in the U.S. Over time, other people would think that all Chinese are like the two alleged spies, he said, so they treat Chinese and even other Asians differently from any other American. "In fact, most Chinese are good people with a clear mind and would not do such a thing," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Porter, USNS William McLean Perform Vertical Launch System Re-Arm Demonstration US Navy 08 August 2023 From Bill Mesta, USN Military Sealift Command NORFOLK, Va -- The crews of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) and Military Sealift Command's (MSC) dry cargo ammunition ship USNS William McLean (T-AKE 12) performed a MK 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) re-arm, pier-side, at Naval Station Norfolk, Aug. 3. The Navy conducted the demonstration to provide proof of concept that a dry cargo ammunition ship can reload the weapons system pier-side and while the ship is at sea, with a goal of expanding the capability of VLS reloading in expeditionary environments. "The Navy has been considering alternative vessels to move ordnance into a theater without an on-shore infrastructure to support," according to Jerit Vanauker, of MSC's Taluga Group. "One of the situations considered was the ability to re-arm VLS for Navy combatant ships in a contested environment, and so we considered the idea to use an MSC dry cargo ammunition ship." In addition to the crews of Porter and William McLean, U.S. 2nd Fleet, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command's (NECC) Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group (NAVELSG), the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) and NSWC Picatinny supported the VLS re-arming. NECC's expeditionary reload team from NAVELSG are expertly trained in ordnance transfer and handling and can operate in remote, complex, and austere environments to ensure naval forces remain forward and mobile. "MSC's role in developing and executing VLS is vital," Vanauker stated. "We will bring the ordnance, and platform to deliver ordnance, in support of VLS re-arming of our combatant ships, so they can get back in the fight without traveling long distances to be resupplied." During the demonstration, Porter pulled into the naval station and moored 'skin-to-skin' along-side William McLean, which was moored to the pier. The ships' crews installed marine bumpers between the vessels to prevent damage to the ships during the VLS re-arm. Once the ships were safely moored, the VLS team aboard William McLean prepared two simulated ordnance packages for delivery. "The VLS handling team prepared and reviewed the necessary procedures, ordnance handling equipment (OHE) and tools to conduct the VLS re-arm," said Vanauker. "All procedures were reviewed, OHE and tools were inspected and a safety brief was conducted." "Once inspection was complete, the canister was loaded into the tilt-fixture and vertical strong-back, secured and then attached to the crane hook," he continued. "The tilt-fixture and vertical strong-back allows the canister to be tilted into a vertical position with assistance from the ship's crane." Using the Mclean's crane, two simulated missiles were lifted from the ship's flight deck and swung over to Porter's forward weapons cells. Porter's VLS team received the simulated ordnance and stowed the missiles aboard in the ship's MK 41 Vertical Launch System. "The crane operator, with assistance from the Signalman, swung the simulated ordnance over to Porter, placing it over the open module cell hatch, and lowered into alignment with the available cell," Vanauker continued. "In all, performing a VLS re-arm is a very simple evolution which requires patience and focus." The crane for the VLS re-arm demonstration was operated by Boatswain's Mate Justin Bradley, one of William McLean's Civil Service Mariners (CIVMARs). "This was the first VLS re-arm to take place aboard William McLean," according to Capt. John Stulz, USNS William McLean's Master. "Our CIVMARs secured the USS Porter alongside, operated the crane and provided support on deck for this evolution. Cargo and ordnance operations are a part of daily life for MSC ships." "The crew of the William McLean performed with precision and professionalism during this movement, just like our counterparts do every day around the globe," Stulz added. The VLS re-arm demonstration was conducted as part of U.S. Fleet Forces' Large Scale Exercise 2023 (LSE). "Expeditionary logistics allow the Navy to quickly return to maintaining maritime dominance," said Rear Adm. Brad Andros, Commander, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command. "Operating in support of Military Sealift Command during Large Scale Exercise 2023 provides our expeditionary reload teams the opportunity to train to different platforms so that they can continue to sustain capacity and increase the persistent combat power of naval forces." LSE 2023 provided a venue to test and refine current and new technologies and platforms to reinforce our current position as a supreme maritime force and provide feedback used to inform future innovation. LSE 2023 includes six Navy and Marine Corps component commands and seven U.S. numbered Fleets, including U.S. Fleet Cyber Command/U.S. 10th Fleet, operating seamlessly across 22 time zones. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address July 2023 Month in Review: The Defeat ISIS Mission in Iraq and Syria U.S. Central Command Aug. 9, 2023 USCENTCOM Aug 9, 2023 Release Number 20230809-01 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TAMPA, Fla. -- During the month of July 2023, U.S. Central Command, along with coalition and other partners, conducted a total of 31 D-ISIS operations, resulting in 5 ISIS operatives killed and 30 detained. "Thanks to the efforts of our Coalition-supported partners, we have seen a dramatic reduction in ISIS activity and effectiveness across our area of operations." said Maj. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, CJTF-OIR Commanding General. "We remain committed to advising, assisting, and enabling our partners in the lead toward an enduring defeat of ISIS." The following is a breakdown of D-ISIS operations for July 2023 by country: In Iraq In Syria 20 partnered operations 11 partnered operations 0 U.S.-only operations 0 U.S.-only operations 2 ISIS operatives killed 3 ISIS operatives killed 24 ISIS operatives detained 6 ISIS operatives detained "Our partnership with the Iraqi Security Force and Syrian Democratic Forces is crucial to addressing challenges posed by ISIS within the region," said Gen. Michael "Erik" Kurilla, CENTCOM commander. "Our partners remain aggressively engaged to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS." -30- NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Niger's military accuses France of violating air space, destablizing country Iran Press TV Wednesday, 09 August 2023 6:24 PM Niger's junta has accused France of violating its airspace in a bid to destabilize the West African country. A French military aircraft "deliberately cut off all contact with air traffic control on entering our air space," from 6:39-11:15 am (0539-1015 GMT) on Wednesday, Niger's junta said in a televised address. Niger's military also held France responsible for having "unilaterally freed captured terrorists," a term used for extremists who have been conducting a violent eight-year-old insurgency. According to a statement issued on Wednesday, the now- ruling National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), said the extremists allegedly planned an attack on "military positions in the tri-border area," a hot spot region where the frontiers of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali converge. France's reaction The French government has refuted the charges. A French government source told AFP that the flight in question had been "authorized by and coordinated with" Niger's armed forces. However, Niger's army has claimed that France had allowed a military plane to take off Wednesday from neighboring Chad, which then crossed into Niger, defying a ban imposed on Sunday. Refuting Niamey's claim that Paris has released extremists in the West African country, the French government said that "no terrorist has been freed by French forces." France has deployed around 1,500 troops in Niger which had been envisioned as the base to suppress anti-French sentiments in the region. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Niger's new govt. snubs talks offer by African blocs after military threat as US keeps troops there Iran Press TV Wednesday, 09 August 2023 8:52 AM Niger's new military government has rebuffed latest talks offer by Western-backed African Union (AU) and ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) following the expiration of their initial military action threat against the nation as the US military insists on keeping its forces in Niger amid fear of a potential intervention. The AU on Tuesday planned to dispatch a joint mission to Niger, along with representatives of the United Nations and ECOWAS aimed at restoring the country's ousted West-sponsored President Mohamed Bazoum, but the nation's new leader denied permission for the visit and closed Niger's airspace resisting US-led pressure to negotiate "reversing" the coup. Leaders of ECOWAS and AU, meanwhile, are reportedly preparing for a summit on Thursday to discuss the "possibility of military intervention" with Niger's coup leaders, who defied a Sunday deadline to reinstate overthrown Bazoum - a staunch Western ally - or face military action, AFP and other major Western news agencies reported Tuesday. However, the bloc - led by Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu - has been cited as emphasizing that diplomacy remains the "best way forward" to resolve the Niger crisis despite its earlier threat of military action against Niamey. ECOWAS had given officers who seized power in Niamey on July 26 a seven-day ultimatum to reinstate Bazoum or face the potential use of force, but the coup leaders defied the warning. Tinubu and other West African leaders "would prefer a resolution that was obtained through diplomatic means, through peaceful means, rather than any other," his spokesman Chief Ajuri Ngelale declared as quoted in an Al Jazeera report. "That will be a position that is maintained going forward, pending any other resolution that may or may not result from the ECOWAS extraordinary summit holding on Thursday," Ngelale further noted. The Nigerian president "has been unequivocal in his position that diplomacy is the best way forward," he added, and "is representing the consensus position of the ECOWAS heads of state." The Nigerian presidential spokesman, however, underlined that "military intervention has not, and will not be taken off of the table." This is while Niger's new military leaders have already snubbed meetings with a top US diplomat that secretly visited the nation this week as well as another ECOWAS delegation that also attempted to negotiate with them. US Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland flew to Niamey on Monday but was denied permission to meet with coup leader Abdourahamane Tchiani or with Bazoum, who remains in custody. She reportedly warned Niger's new leaders against seeking Russian military help and also hinted US military action if Bazoum is not restored to power. In contrast, Tchiani met on Monday with a joint delegation from Mali and Burkina Faso, neighboring countries where the military has also seized power from civilian governments. The two military administrations have pledged support for the coup in Niger. "We will not accept military intervention in Niger. Our survival depends on it," Abdoulaye Maiga, a spokesman for Mali's military government, said in an appearance on Niger state television. US-led Western allies fear that Niger could follow the lead of Mali, which expelled French troops and UN peacekeepers and invited Russian forces into the impoverished nation after a military government took control in 2021. Niger is the world's seventh largest producer of uranium, the most widely used fuel for nuclear energy, adding to its strategic importance. The West African bloc has imposed sanctions on Niger, and its Western allies have suspended aid to the country as well in efforts to pressure coup leaders to return the former president to power. Pentagon keeping US forces in Niger despite being snubbed The development comes amid insistence by the US Defense Department that American troops will remain in Niger as a show of "commitment" to the country and the region. "We're going to continue to engage from a military standpoint," said Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh during a Tuesday briefing. "I think the fact that our force posture has not changed sends a message that we're committed to the region, we're committed to Niger." The country has been a partner in the U.S. efforts against terror groups in the region -- including the location of an American drone base -- but was thrown into turmoil last month when its military rose up and deposed the first democratically elected and seated president in decades, leaving the future uncertain. "We are hopeful that there will be a diplomatic resolution to this attempted coup that took place in Niger," Singh claimed, clearly suggesting persisting US military efforts to intervene in Niger's crisis and return Bazoum back to power. Singh further insisted that Washington does not want to "abandon Nigeriens that we've partnered with that we've trained with over many years," before claiming that "Niger is, of course, an important ally within the region when it comes to counterterrorism and other operations." Moreover, Singh also stressed that the US military presence in the country is heavily contingent on American citizens and service members being safe from harm. "If their lives are at risk, of course, we're going to make that change and, of course, we will address that," she then noted, without elaborating on how the US military intends to address such risks. Wagner chief taunts US over Nuland's Niger remarks Meanwhile, the leader of Russia's Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin ridiculed Washington on Tuesday after Nuland's remarks against the military contractor during her secret visit to Niger in an attempt to pressure the country's new leaders to reverse the coup and return the ousted president to power. "The US is trying to keep the Wagner group out of Niger," Prigozhin said in a message posted on Telegram social media platform as reported by Russian media outlets. "'Heavy artillery' is being brought in for this. Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland is in a country that defeated colonialism under Russian flags." "I got the sense in my meetings today that the people who have taken this action here understand very well the risks to their sovereignty when Wagner is invited in," Nuland warned Niger's coup leaders after being denied a meeting with them. Prigozhin directly referenced Nuland's quote about the "risks to their sovereignty" in relation to Wagner and praised his fighters. "The US has recognized a government that it did not recognize yesterday just to avoid meeting the Wagner PMC [Private Military Company] in the country," he further stated mockingly. Reacting to Prigozhin's scornful remarks, a US State Department was cited by the US-based Newsweek magazine as claiming: "We've seen the Kremlin-backed Wagner transnational criminal group exploit and amplify instability around the world, including in Africa." "We have no indication to date the Wagner Group instigated the actions of these members of the Nigerien Presidential guard," he admitted, insisting, however, that "Yevgeny Prigozhin has publicly lauded this move and other attempted overthrows." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Philippines, US to launch joint South China Sea patrols this year: official Discussions on joint patrols in advanced stage as tensions with China mount. By Jason Gutierrez for BenarNews 2023.08.09 -- The Philippines and the United States are set to launch joint patrols in the South China Sea this year amid heightened tensions in the region stoked by China's increasing aggressiveness, a senior official in Manila said Wednesday. Joint patrols have been on the table since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assumed power last year, reversing his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte's pivot to Beijing, during which China became more emboldened in pressing its territorial claims. China asserts sovereignty over most of the South China Sea and has for years militarized artificial islands while deploying coast guard boats, navy ships and a state-backed maritime militia around disputed areas. "The discussions on joint patrols are in their advanced stages," Jonathan Malaya, a spokesman for a Philippine task force on the South China Sea, told BenarNews. "That's going to be within this year." He declined to give further details, citing the sensitivity of the matter. There was no immediate response from the U.S. embassy to a request to comment. Tensions have soared between the two neighbors after the Chinese Coast Guard backed by its maritime militia on Saturday used a water cannon to drive away a Filipino boat carrying supplies to troops stationed on the BRP Sierra Madre, near Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal). The rusty World War II-era naval ship was deliberately run aground by Manila in 1999 to serve as a military outpost in the South China Sea. Beijing has in recent days reiterated calls for Manila to tow away the boat and live up to its "promises" to remove it. Malaya, who spoke earlier at a forum held by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, denied such a pledge had ever been made. "I can categorically say to the public and to everyone that no administration promised to remove BRP Sierra Madre, which symbolizes our sovereign rights and jurisdiction over Ayungin Shoal," he said during the event. "If China is talking about a legally enforceable agreement then we challenge them: produce that written document." On Monday in response to a question about a U.S. State Department statement, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson challenged Washington's support of Manila. "The State Department's statement, in disregard of the facts, attacked China's legitimate and lawful actions at sea aimed at safeguarding its rights and enforcing the law. The statement also voiced support for the Philippines' unlawful, provocative behavior," the spokesperson said. "For some time, the U.S. has been inciting and supporting the Philippines attempts to overhaul and reinforce its military vessel that was deliberately grounded on Ren'ai Jiao," the spokesman said, using the Chinese name for the shoal. "The U.S. has been brazenly bolstering the Philippines as it infringes upon China's sovereignty, but those moves will not succeed." The spokesperson also called on the U.S. to "respect China's territorial sovereignty, maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea." Blockade 'outrageous' Saturday's incident, which lasted more than an hour, was the latest in a growing number of perceived aggressive actions by China in the South China Sea, an important maritime trade route subject to overlapping territorial claims from China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Taiwan. China's blockade of the Philippine resupply mission was "outrageous," said security analyst Raymond Powell, from the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation in Stanford University. Speaking at the same forum, he said joint patrols would emphasize to China "the tightness of Philippine-U.S. alliance." "Having these PH-U.S. joint patrols increases the Philippines' leverage when China is deciding what to do," Powell said. Manila had this week stepped up the message it would not idly stand by while its supply boats are harassed, he said. On Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III condemned the "dangerous maneuvers" by China in a telephone call with his Filipino counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro Jr., according to a readout provided by Austin's office. This was the second time Austin and Teodoro have spoken since the latter assumed the defense portfolio in June. Manila on Monday summoned Beijing's envoy and issued a terse note verbale, sparking a war of words between the two countries. The Chinese Embassy shot back that the shoal - which it calls Ren'ai Jiao - was part of its maritime domain, a position that remains "consistent and firm." The embassy said it had made "temporary special arrangements" to allow the Philippines to bring supplies and food to its troops on the grounded vessel. "But for some time, the Philippine side has been taking unilateral actions once again, and seeking to overhaul and reinforce the military vessel in order to permanently occupy Ren'ai Jiao," the embassy said in a statement on Tuesday. China has repeatedly communicated to the Philippines through diplomatic channels it would not allow it to send construction materials to the Sierra Madre, the embassy said. Malaya reiterated the Philippine position that the reckless blocking and water cannon operation by the Chinese Coast Guard placed Filipino lives at risk. "We are doing the resupply mission for the benefit of the Filipino troops there and we demand from China to stop this blockade, to stop this coercive, offensive and unlawful blockade of Philippine resupply missions to Ayungin," he said. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online 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 August not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Cambodia's Hun Sen denies that cabinet reshuffle is meant to consolidate power Political rivals claim new National Assembly president appointment was selected for her loyalty to Hun family. By RFA Khmer 2023.08.09 -- Cambodia's leader Hun Sen Wednesday stressed that an upcoming Cabinet reshuffle has nothing to do with infighting among the leaders of his ruling Cambodian People's Party, or CPP. Hun Sen, who has led the country since 1985, is preparing to step down from his role as prime minister, passing the baton of leadership to his son, Hun Manet, who will assume the position later this month. A call-in show produced by RFA's Khmer Service this week discussed potential power struggles between Hun Sen's family and other party leaders, including Minister of Interior Sar Kheng. Two guests speakers on the show pointed out that several high ranking CPP members have yet to declare support for Hun Manet. Hun Sen said in a voice message posted on Telegram that it wasn't necessary to respond to the comments about the lack of announced support from Minister of Defense Tea Banh and CPP vice president Men Sam An. He implied that the transfer of power to the new government later this month would be smooth. "RFA should not be too stupid, too timid and too provocative," said Hun Sen. Regarding the appointment of Khuon Sodary as president of the National Assembly, he said that it had been planned in late 2021 as part of the CPP's strategy to promote women into prominent positions. Khuon Sodary is currently the Assembly's second vice president. "If you are so stupid, you should seek clarity rather than concluding that everything is an internal dispute of the CPP," Hun Sen said, addressing Radio Free Asia. "I request RFA as well as other foreign [media outlets] broadcasting in Khmer to always remember that the CPP has no habit of fighting one another for a power grab in the same [way] that you have, and that will lead to [your] eventual collapse due to your own internal disputes." Finland-based political commentator Kim Sok, who left Cambodia after he was imprisoned for his criticism of Hun Sen's government, told RFA on Wednesday that Hun Sen chose Khuon Sodary over Sar Kheng because he wields a greater amount of power within the CPP, while she does not and is therefore less of a political threat. "By choosing Ms. Khuon Sodary, it also does not mean that he really wants her for this post. He wants to choose only the people who are closest with him," Kim Sok said. "[She] does not have enough power to be an obstacle to him [and she] is like the right hand woman to Hun Sen's wife." Sam Rainsy, the self-exiled president of the dissolved former main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, said that Hun Sen does not trust Sar Kheng and considers him a threat. "The position of National Assembly president is so sensitive," said Sam Rainsy. "If [Hun Sen] were to give the post of National Assembly president to Sar Kheng, [Sar Kheng] would have the ability to allow a vote to dissolve the newly elected government and to remove Hun Manet from power." Um Sam An, former CNRP lawmaker, told RFA that Hun Sen is trying to essentially neuter the power of both Sar Kheng and Tea Banh by appointing them to be supreme advisers to Cambodia's king. "[Hun Sen] meanwhile, will consolidate more power for Hun Manet," he said. "The father will be the head of the senate, holding the legislative branch in check, while the son, as prime minister, will hold the executive branch. He called the arrangement an obvious violation of the separation of powers and the system of checks and balances, as stated in Cambodia's constitution. "There is no country in the world that would uphold a system of having a son as the prime minister and the father as the head of state," said Um Sam An. "Not even in any of the communist countries or in North Korea." Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Edited by Eugene Whong. 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 August not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Vietnam says there are no Montagnards in its Central Highlands After UN inquiries on religious persecution, Hanoi denies that the ethnic group exists. By RFA Vietnamese 2023.08.09 -- Almost one year after the Vietnamese government received a United Nations communication regarding rights violations toward an ethnic minority group from the Central Highlands, Hanoi issued a letter of reply saying the ethnic group does not exist. On Sept. 6, 2022, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and three Special Rapporteurs sent the communique to the Vietnamese government, which discussed the authorities' suppression on Y Cung Nie, Y Thinh Nie and Y Don Nie, who belong to the Montagnard indigenous community. The Montagnards are a broad grouping of 30 different Central Highlands tribes who have clashed, sometimes violently, with the Vietnamese government over a variety of issues, including land rights and religious freedom. The three men named in the communication had sent documents requesting authorities to provide them with guidance on how their religious minority groups could register for collective religious practice in compliance with the law. Instead of providing responses, local police in late May 2022 arrested the three people, one after another, to interrogate them. They were arrested for additional questioning on June 2, 2022, and threatened with heavy fines or possible imprisonment if they persisted in meeting religious groups not approved by the government, the communication said. Y Thinh Nie was told by police officers that the request for guidance was unlawful because the Montagnard Christians had been reporting violations of religious freedom to the international community through reactionary organizations, it said. Additionally, the three were arrested and fined for ceremonies they conducted on the UN General Assembly-designated International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief on Aug. 22, 2021, the communication alleged. 'Not recognized' In its letter of reply, the Vietnamese government said "there are no indigenous people, nor do there exist the so-called 'indigenous Montagnard'" in the community of 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam. "In Vietnam, no one is arbitrarily detained or punished for exercising legitimate freedoms, including freedom of belief and religion," said the letter. According to the Vietnamese government, Y Cung Nie, Y Thinh Nie, Y Don Nie are individuals with complicated activities related to the FULRO organization. The United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races, or FULRO, founded in the 1950s, was a resistance army that fought on the side of United States and South Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War before officially disbanding in the 1990s. Vietnam's government describes the group as taking advantage of ethnic and religious issues to threaten national security, incite riots, secession, and self-rule. "In the process of living in the locality, the above three individuals have often taken advantage of themselves as ethnic minority people to provide false information, fabricate false accusations against the government and local police force of religious and ethnic oppression; contacted organizations abroad that lack goodwill towards Vietnam to propagate false information, slandered Vietnam of human rights violations, and created inaccurate information about the human rights situation in Vietnam," the letter said. Hanoi also said that these three individuals were fined for breaking the law, not related to the fact that they submitted applications to the government asking for guidance on registration of religious activities and "International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief." Aga, a Central Highlands pastor who fled Vietnam to seek political asylum in the U.S. and is now a permanent resident, told RFA that local authorities in Dak Lak and other provinces in the Central Highlands often try to find ways to force independent Protestant groups to join religious organizations recognized by the state. Those who refuse are harassed and threatened to be imprisoned by the police, he said. Recalcitrant response The Vietnamese government's response was typical dismissal of rights violation allegations, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of New York-based Human Rights Watch, told RFA. "There are serious, ongoing violations of freedom of religion and belief in Vietnam's Central Highlands, but the government is in total denial mode, rejecting allegations of rights violations and then restricting access for the international community to those areas to deny independent observers the opportunity to investigate," he said. According to Robertson, clear evidence of the religious persecution in the Central Highlands and several other places in Vietnam is how the government went overboard to surveille, harass, interrogate and arrest Montagnard groups for simply daring to celebrate the "International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief" He said that the Vietnamese government always claims that things are done in accordance with Vietnamese law. However, the reality is Vietnam's laws on religious affairs fall far short of international human rights standards, and "the security forces treat many Montagnard communities as potential national security threats and enemies." Vietnam is included in the list of countries having no freedom of religion according to the U.S. State Department's 2022 annual human rights report. In late November 2022, Secretary of State Antony Blinken placed Vietnam on the United States' Special Watch List for violating or tolerating serious violations of religious freedom. Over the past few years, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has repeatedly requested the Biden Administration to include Vietnam in the Country of Particular Concern list for its systematic violations of religious freedom. Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Eugene Whong. 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 August not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kosovar PM Welcomes European, U.S. Warning Against 'Belgrade-Centered' Policy By RFE/RL's Balkan Service August 09, 2023 Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti said in Pristina on August 9 that he welcomed a letter this week from dozens of European and U.S. legislators to the top EU, U.S., and U.K. envoys urging the international community to avoid a "Belgrade-centered policy for the Balkans." Kurti, who rose to power three years ago vowing greater reciprocity in the former Serbian province's relations with the nationalist government in Belgrade, told a government session that the foreign lawmakers' initiative "strengthens our commitment to the full de-escalation of the situation in the four municipalities in the north of Kosovo, commitment to democracy, legality, and constitutionality." Tensions between majority Albanians in Kosovo and local Serbs supported by Belgrade erupted into ethnic violence that injured dozens of NATO peacekeepers in northern Kosovo in late May, after municipal elections a month earlier that were boycotted by ethnic Serbs. The United States and European Union each criticized Pristina's lack of coordination when it tried to forcibly install ethnic Albanian mayors in Serb-majority areas in late May. Weeks later, Serbian authorities detained three Kosovar police officers near their mutual border under unclear circumstances and held them for days. The role of Serbian agitators in the violence and tough rhetoric from Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic helped fuel criticism among international observers that the West was bending too much to accommodate Belgrade in the long-running spat. More than a decade of EU-mediated talks have failed to normalize relations between Serbia and Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008 and is recognized by more than 100 countries but not Serbia, Russia, nor a handful of EU member states. Fifty-six legislators from Britain, the United States, and a number of EU and non-EU states recently called on Washington, Brussels, and London to "change our approach to Kosovo and Serbia," according to one of the signatories, Alicia Kearns, Conservative chairwoman of the British Parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee. They addressed their call to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly. It pointed to signs of "a rapidly deteriorating situation which not only threatens the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, but regional peace itself." It urged Pristina to better coordinate with KFOR but also bemoaned a "lack of pressure on Serbia" after its detention of the Kosovar police officers. "We are asking for balance and proportionality to return in dealing with Kosovo and Serbia," the letter said. It acknowledged the recent imposition of sanctions by Washington of Aleksandar Vulin, a longtime nationalist Vucic ally who runs Serbia's Security and Information Agency (BIA). "The current approach is not working," it warned. Signatories of the letter, which was made public on August 7, include 10 chairpersons of parliamentary foreign-affairs committees, including U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (Democrat-New Jersey). Borrell confirmed receipt of the letter but said through a spokesman that he would not comment on its contents. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/kosovo-western-letter- belgrade-centered/32540811.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Karabakh Leader Appeals To International Community Over Azerbaijani Blockade By RFE/RL's Armenian Service August 09, 2023 YEREVAN -- The ethnic Armenian leader of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Arayik Harutiunian, has issued an urgent appeal to the international community, asking for immediate action to lift a de facto blockade imposed by Azerbaijan and prevent what he called "the genocide of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh." Both Armenia and separatist authorities in the enclave have said that Azerbaijan has blockaded Nagorno-Karabakh since December, resulting in shortages of food, medicine, and energy. Yerevan and international aid groups have warned that a dire humanitarian situation has been unfolding in the breakaway Azerbaijani region with convoys of food and medicine blocked. "With this urgent address I am signaling that right now the people of the Republic of Artsakh" -- ethnic Armenians' name for Nagorno-Karabakh -- "are being subjected to genocide and face a real threat of destruction and deprivation of their homeland," Harutiunian said in a video address published late on August 8. He said a humanitarian crisis had been created by what he described as a 240-day blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, charging that "in a situation like this manifestation of inaction or indifference is nothing but acquiescence in the crime of genocide." Tensions escalated after Azerbaijan last month completely suspended traffic through the checkpoint pending an investigation after it said "various types of contraband" had been discovered in the Red Cross vehicles coming from Armenia. Access was previously blocked amid a series of protests and accusations emerging from Baku. Azerbaijan says it can only allow supplies to reach Nagorno-Karabakh over a road from Agdam, a town controlled by Azerbaijan in the east of the region. Ethnic Armenian authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh reject that offer, saying Azerbaijan's blockade is a violation of the Moscow-brokered 2020 cease-fire agreement that placed the 5-kilometer-wide strip of land under the control of Russian peacekeepers. A delegation led by staff members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on August 8 visited the site in Armenia's southern Syunik Province where a 19-truck convoy of humanitarian aid has been stranded for two weeks. "The international community must take effective personal and collective steps in order not to allow Azerbaijan to fill the history of mankind with another page of mass famine and genocide," said Harutiunian, the heavily ethnic Armenian region's de facto president. He said Stepanakert called on Armenia to "immediately submit to the UN Security Council for discussion the humanitarian disaster that has emerged as a result of Azerbaijan's blockade of the Lachin Corridor and the illegal blockade" of Nagorno-Karabakh, and he urged Yerevan to be careful in its public statements and assessments of the situation. He urged UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "to show moral and political responsibility and leadership, involving the entire UN system" on the issue. Baku routinely brushes aside accusations of ethnic cleansing against Karabakh Armenians. In 2020, Azerbaijan regained control of territories held by ethnic Armenian forces outside the borders of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as a chunk of the former autonomous oblast itself. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly warned the local population to integrate into Azerbaijan or leave. The United States and the European Union have urged Azerbaijan to allow humanitarian supplies to reach Nagorno-Karabakh via the Lachin Corridor. A group of UN experts issued a statement on August 7, expressing alarm over the ongoing blockade of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan, which they said had led to a dire humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh. "By lifting the blockade, the [Azerbaijani] authorities can alleviate the suffering of thousands of people in Nagorno-Karabakh and allow for the unimpeded flow of humanitarian assistance to the civilian population," the experts said. "It is essential to ensure the safety, dignity, and well-being of all individuals during this critical time." They also called on Russian peacekeeping forces deployed in the region to protect the corridor under the terms of the cease-fire agreement. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry criticized the UN experts for what it described as their biased statement that it claimed had been influenced by "Armenia's manipulations." Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/armenia-karabakh- blockade-aid-azerbaijan/32540274.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ms. Edem Wosornu, Director, Operations and Advocacy Division, on Behalf of Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mr. Martin Griffiths - Briefing to the Security Council on the Humanitarian Situation in Sudan UNOCHA - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Madame President, Thank you for this opportunity to brief the Council on the humanitarian situation in Sudan. Since we last briefed the Council on 23 June, Sudan's descent into a full- blown humanitarian catastrophe has only deepened. During these six weeks alone, more than 1.4 million people have fled their homes. I visited Sudan two weeks ago. I was deeply alarmed by the level of suffering I saw, and the stories I heard. Women and girls I spoke to shared accounts of being forced to flee far from their homes. They moved from place to place seeking a safety in a constantly shifting security environment. Many live in fear of the fighting catching up with them. They told me stories of sexual violence, harassment, and physical assaults. Of husbands disappearing never to be seen again. Of education interrupted, careers ruined, and livelihoods lost. Teachers and nurses who had fled their home with salaries not paid. Everyone had a story of parents, children, colleagues and friends who had perished in this devastating conflict, with fears of more to come as the conflicting parties push on regardless of the consequences. Madame President, From the lack of coverage of Sudan in the global media, one cannot imagine what is happening in the country. 14 million children in Sudan need humanitarian support. Nearly four months into this conflict, millions of people remain trapped in a humanitarian calamity that continues to grow. More than 4 million people have now fled from their homes - 3.2 million people displaced internally, and close to 900,000 people who have crossed the border into Chad, Egypt, South Sudan and other countries. The alarming accounts of sexual violence that I heard from people who have fled to Port Sudan are just a fraction of those being repeated at a sickening scale from conflict hotspots across the country. People are finding it more and more difficult to access urgent medical assistance, with 80 percent of hospitals across the country not functioning 14 million children in Sudan - half of all children in the country - need humanitarian support. More than 20 million people - over 40 per cent of the population - are facing high levels of acute food insecurity. The conflict is disrupting livelihoods and physical access to markets. It is also fueling steep increases in the price of commodities. The banking system has been heavily disrupted, as have public and civil institutions. This is leading to severe disruption of public services and less and less money circulating within the economy. Electricity blackouts are extensive. Education services are interrupted, which once performed perfectly It is the story of a country and its people being driven to the point of collapse. Madame President, The situation is particularly alarming in areas where the conflict is most intense - notably in Khartoum, as well as Darfur and Kordofan regions. Reports of ethnic-based violence in West Darfur are extremely alarming, with numerous civilians killed or wounded. The intense fighting and difficult operating environment are constraining our ability to deliver urgent humanitarian assistance, which is only deepening the suffering of people there. Madame President, Nevertheless, since we last briefed you, humanitarian organizations - civil societies, UN and NGOs - have spared no efforts to restore the flow of humanitarian supplies, particularly to the Darfur States where access was most limited. We have seen some but limited progress. On 3 August, following intensive negotiations with the parties, a convoy of 10 trucks was able to deliver 500 metric tons of improved seeds to 70,000 families in Ed Daein in East Darfur - the first convoy we have been able to facilitate to Darfur from eastern Sudan - just in time for the planting season, vital for food security in the coming months. Darfur states have some of the highest levels of food insecurity in Sudan. Additional trucks are en route to North and South Darfur to respond to health, nutrition and food security needs, and we expect the parties to live up to their commitments and allow these trucks to reach their destinations. Last week also saw the first delivery of food assistance into West Darfur from Chad. Additional assistance is expected to follow in the coming weeks. As the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and the Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths has said "Cross-border access into the Darfur region represents a key milestone, as the UN seeks to access all hard-to-reach areas in Sudan and provide critical humanitarian assistance to people in need, wherever they are." We continue to depend on the generosity and the understanding of Sudanese authorities and Sudan's neighbours to facilitate these critical efforts to reach those most need. Meanwhile, assistance is also being provided in Adre (in Chad) to support the more than 350,000 people who have fled across the border, as well as the Chadian communities generously hosting them. Madame President, distinguished Members of the Council, Nationwide, since this conflict started, more than 2.9 million people have received some form of minimum humanitarian assistance, including cash or in-kind food assistance, health services, or access to basic water services. But unfortunately, this represents only a fraction of the 18 million people we are trying to reach. However, we need unhindered and unfettered humanitarian access to the people who need us the most. In Khartoum, where access to those in need remains enormously challenging, some assistance is being provided with the dwindling resources that are still available locally. But we have not been able to guarantee passage for a humanitarian convoy to the capital to replenish these supplies since late June. Humanitarian organizations are ready and willing to do everything it takes to provide the assistance that the people of Sudan so desperately need. But they cannot do so without the regular facilitation of access by the parties, and the easing of bureaucratic and administrative impediments. International humanitarian law is clear: All parties to the conflict must facilitate the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need. So far, the limited deliveries of assistance we have been able to make have only been possible through intensive negotiations with the parties. Many of these movements were supported through the Jeddah process. These negotiations are becoming increasingly complex. It is urgent that we re-establish a forum for direct and regular contact on humanitarian issues with the parties at a senior level, to negotiate access and protect the space for humanitarian operations in Sudan. We need the strong support of Member States to facilitate this. Madame President, We can only provide assistance at speed and at scale if we have the relevant permits to move within the country and the visas to enter the country. While we have received some visas, we ask Sudanese authorities to continue to ease procedures and to expedite approvals. Madame President, Even with improved access, we will not be able to prevent sliding further into humanitarian catastrophe without the required resources. It is therefore deeply concerning that the $2.6 billion Humanitarian Response Plan for this year is still only 25 per cent funded. I am grateful for the generosity of Member States and donors for contributions so far. We need more funding. I am issuing a plea to all Member States to come forward and help us fund the plan as soon as possible. Madame President, distinguished Members of the Council, During my recent visit to Sudan, one message that I heard most clearly is that the People of Sudan want and need peace. In this regards, the ongoing political mediation efforts aimed at achieving a resolution to this conflict is critical. These efforts must continue unabated if the people of Sudan are to have any chance of living in enduring peace and security. But until then, we demand that all parties respect international humanitarian law and minimize human suffering. The parties to the conflict in Sudan must ensure the safe passage of civilians fleeing violence in Khartoum, Darfur and other areas of active hostilities. We also urge the international community to support the humanitarian effort on which so many people in Sudan increasingly depend. I thank you. 9 August 2023 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN Urges Negotiated Solution for Sudan Conflict By Margaret Besheer August 09, 2023 A senior United Nations official for Africa called Wednesday for a negotiated solution to the conflict in Sudan, saying there is no alternative. "Calls by some to continue the war in order to achieve a military victory will only contribute to destroying the country," U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Africa, Martha Pobee, told the U.N. Security Council. "The longer this war continues, the greater the risk of fragmentation, and foreign interference, and erosion of sovereignty, and the loss of Sudan's future, particularly its youth." Pobee expressed particular concern about the ethnic nature of fighting in the Darfur region, especially West Darfur, which has seen brutal ethnically-based violence. "This is deeply worrying and could quickly engulf the country in a prolonged ethnic conflict with regional spillover," she warned. Darfur saw wide-scale ethnic violence and crimes against humanity in the early 2000s. The International Criminal Court opened an investigation into the situation in 2005 and charged then-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with genocide. He remains beyond the court's custody despite having been ousted from power in a military coup in April 2019. Pobee said Khartoum State remains the epicenter of the current conflict, with fighting concentrated around key Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) installations, including its headquarters. Other areas of concern include the Kordofan and Blue Nile States. Staggering humanitarian needs The United Nations says 24 million people in Sudan are in need of humanitarian assistance. It aims to reach about 18 million. So far, aid agencies have provided some form of humanitarian help to nearly 3 million people since fighting broke out between rival military factions in mid-April. "Humanitarian organizations are ready and willing to do everything it takes to provide the assistance that the people of Sudan so desperately need," said Edem Wosornu, director of the Operations and Advocacy Division in the U.N. Office of Humanitarian Affairs. "But they cannot do so without the regular facilitation of access by the parties, and the easing of bureaucratic and administrative impediments." She said the limited aid deliveries are the product of intensive and complex negotiations with the parties. A serious lack of funding could also compromise assistance efforts. Of the $2.6 billion the U.N. has appealed to donors for, only about $680 million has been received. Wosornu traveled to Sudan two weeks ago. "Everyone had a story of parents, children, colleagues and friends who had perished in this devastating conflict, with fears of more to come as the conflicting parties push on regardless of the consequences," she said. She called for better aid access, noting that the U.N. has been unable to guarantee safe passage for a humanitarian convoy to Khartoum to replenish supplies since late June. The first delivery of food aid to West Darfur was only last week; it entered through Chad. Wosornu also appealed to the parties to allow safe passage for fleeing civilians. The United Nations says many people trapped by the violence have been unable and in some cases actively prevented from seeking safety elsewhere, exposing them to abuse, theft and harassment. Diplomatic drama Originally, the Security Council expected to be briefed by the head of the U.N. mission in Sudan, Volker Perthes. But in late May, the Sudanese government declared him persona non grata while he was outside the country. Sudan's ambassador told reporters it was because of statements Perthes made on news channel Al Jazeera about the government's inability to maintain the country's unity and its having lost trust with regional countries. Perthes continues to lead the mission, known as UNITAMS, but he has been based elsewhere in the region. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters that Khartoum threatened to end the U.N. mission in Sudan if Perthes participated in Wednesday's meeting. "And that was really outrageous, and I did make that point in the Council," she said. "No country should be able to bully a briefer into silence, let alone the United Nations." Sudan's ambassador disputed the accusation, saying his government did not bully anyone. "When you continuously say that this state has told you they lost confidence in a specific person and he cannot be an honest broker for mediation in Sudan, where all possible success and elements of it were available, but the end was full war again," Ambassador Al-Harith Mohamed said while explaining his government's rationale. Mohamed added that Sudan is still positively engaging with the U.N. and is glad it is staying in the country. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Roadside Explosion Kills at Least Six in Somalia By Harun Maruf August 09, 2023 At least six people were killed and 12 others were injured when a roadside explosion hit a minibus in southern Somalia on Wednesday morning, the local governor says. Mohamed Ibrahim Barre, the governor of the Lower Shabelle region, told VOA Somali that the minibus was travelling between Marka and Qoryoley towns. All the victims were civilians, including women and children, Barre said. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but Barre blamed the al-Shabab militant group. Al-Shabab frequently carries out attacks against Somali government and African Union forces in the region. Roadside explosions are some of al-Shabab's deadliest weapons in the country. Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Somalia Kiki Gbeho told the U.N. Security Council earlier this year that al-Shabaab continues to pose a serious threat to peace and security in Somalia. "The year 2022 was the deadliest for civilians since 2017, with 60 percent increase in civilian casualties as compared to 2021," she said in her statement during a briefing about Somalia. Between January 2020 to 31 December 2021, the U.N. recorded 109 improvised explosive device attacks by al-Shabab that resulted in 865 civilian casualties (309 killed and 556 injured) according to the report. The IED attacks include using vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED), suicide attacks using both vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (SVBIED) and person-borne improvised explosive devices (PBIED), and victim-operated improvised explosive devices (VOIED), the report said. Mukhtar Mohamed Atosh contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Niger Junta Defies ECOWAS and International Community Pressure By Mariama Diallo August 09, 2023 It's been three days since coup leaders in Niger ignored a deadline by the West African regional bloc ECOWAS to return Niger to civilian rule or face serious repercussions, including the possible use of force. On Tuesday, the coup leaders refused entry to a joint delegation from African countries and the United Nations ahead of yet another meeting by ECOWAS on Thursday to decide what to do next. Meanwhile tensions are high as many in Niger disagree with the idea of a West African military intervention. Bibata Niandou Barry, a lawyer based in Niger's capital, Niamey, was a Cabinet minister under former President Mamadou Tandja, who led the country from 1999 until 2010, when he was toppled in a coup. Barry told VOA she is against any kind of military intervention. Since Sunday, ECOWAS has imposed more sanctions, which Barry said will suffocate the country. She said the people will follow the person who is seen as giving them "some oxygen to breathe." She called the sanctions illegal and illegitimate and said they were not working toward solving the problems. She also said that the sanctions are related to big turnouts in Niamey in support of the junta. Supporters of ousted President Mohamed Bazoum have also come out to demand his reinstatement as president. On Wednesday, former rebel leader and politician Rhissa Ag Boula launched a pro-Bazoum movement, the Council of Resistance for the Republic, opposing the junta. Sean McFate, a professor at Syracuse University and the National Defense University in Washington, said he doesn't think ECOWAS' ultimatum poses a serious threat to Niger. "Niger is looking toward Russia and the Wagner Group the way that Mali has, Sudan has and to some extent Burkina Faso has and the CAR [Central African Republic] have," McFate said. "ECOWAS is mostly a hollow organization. It has some diplomatic uses, but as a military organization, it's lacking." The crisis in Niger is the latest in a region of Africa familiar with military takeovers of democratically elected civilian governments. Some analysts express concern that more political instability is on the horizon, particularly if paramilitary forces such as the Russian-based Wagner Group indicate their readiness to support coups. The U.S. Treasury Department has accused the Wagner Group of mass executions and physical abuse in the Central African Republic and Mali. In the case of CAR, some analysts have told VOA that Wagner plays a vital role in the country's security, especially a few years ago when it helped oust armed rebels who opposed CAR President Faustin Archange-Touadera. The Sahel, a vast area of northern Africa just below the Sahara desert, has seen coups recently in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea. And more military takeovers may be coming, McFate said. "The Wagner Group's business model is to coup-proof coup makers, and they've been doing this for several years now," he said. "I think their success at doing this has a lot of four-star generals around sub-Saharan Africa thinking that maybe they can approach [Wagner leader Yevgeny] Prigozhin and ask them for a similar deal that Mali got and others have gotten, too. "So, I think we actually are going to see more coups. If Africa wanted to stop this, it would be very difficult. You'd have to go after the Wagner Group, and that would mean to some extent going after Russia." Russia recently hosted African leaders in the second Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg to strengthen cooperation in peace, security and development with the African nations. There are no indications the Wagner Group was involved in the coup in Niger, according to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who also said the group might take advantage and exploit the current situation. Niger has been a key ally to the West in the fight against militant groups such as Islamic State and al-Qaida in the Sahel region. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Former Niger Rebel Leader Launches Group to Oppose Junta By VOA News August 09, 2023 Two Nigerian envoys traveled to the Niger capital for talks Wednesday as a former rebel leader and Niger politician launched a movement opposing the military junta that seized power two weeks ago the first sign of organized resistance to army rule in the West African country. In a statement released Wednesday, Rhissa Ag Boula said his group, the Council of the Resistance for the Republic (CRR), will aim to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, who has been in detention at his residence since members of the presidential guard took power on July 26. Boula is a former minister of tourism and a leader in two Tuareg ethnic insurgencies in Niger, one in the 1990s, the other from 2007-09. Meanwhile, Bazoum's party said Wednesday that the president and his family are running out of food and have been living without electricity and running water for a week. An adviser told The Associated Press that the family has only rice and canned goods left to eat. Leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are scheduled to hold a summit Thursday in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, to discuss the Niger crisis. Until Wednesday, Niger's military junta had rejected diplomatic overtures. But they allowed two envoys sent by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu into the country, despite its closed borders: Lamido Muhammad Sanusi and Abdullsalami Abubarkar, both prominent traditional leaders. Sanusi met with General Abdourahamane Tchiani, the coup leader, while Abukarkar met with other representatives at the airport. "We'll continue to do our best to bring the two parties together to improve understanding. This is the time for public diplomacy," Sanusi told reporters upon his return to Abuja. A day earlier, Niger's military junta had rejected a proposed diplomatic mission from West African states, the African Union and the United Nations. The junta leaders said a "climate of threatened aggression" made it impossible to hold talks on ending the constitutional crisis in Niger. Late on Tuesday, ECOWAS said in a statement that it would "continue to deploy all measures in order to restore constitutional order in Niger." The 15-member bloc, along with Western allies of Niger, have placed a series of financial sanctions against the country since the coup. The financial sanctions could lead to a default on Niger's debt repayments, Reuters reported. ECOWAS has threatened to use force to reinstate Bazoum but a deadline on Sunday for Niger's military to stand down passed without any military intervention. The U.S. Embassy, meanwhile, has warned Americans to avoid the presidential palace and downtown parts of the capital, Niamey, warning of an increased security presence to monitor demonstrations. The embassy said Wednesday it is aware of reports that cash and some goods are becoming scarce. A U.S. State Department spokesperson on Tuesday said the United States still has hope for reversing Niger's coup but was "realistic." "We do still have hope, but we are also very realistic," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters. "We do have hope that the situation will be reversed, but at the same time, we are making clear, including in direct conversations with junta leaders themselves, what the consequences are for failing to return to constitutional order." Late Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that had spoken to Bazoum "to express our continued efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the current constitutional crisis." "The United States reiterates our call for the immediate release of him and his family," Blinken wrote on his official page. Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President Biden Signs Executive Order on Addressing United States Investments In Certain National Security Technologies And Products In Countries Of Concern August 09, 2023 The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to keeping America safe and defending America's national security by protecting technologies that are critical to the next generation of military innovation. Today, President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order on Addressing United States Investments In Certain National Security Technologies And Products In Countries Of Concernthat authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to regulate certain U.S. investments into countries of concern in entities engaged in activities involving sensitive technologies critical to national security in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence. In an Annex to the E.O., the President identified the People's Republic of China (PRC), including the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong and the Special Administrative Region of Macau, as a country of concern. The Department of the Treasury simultaneously released an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM), with proposed definitions to elaborate the scope of the program, which will be subject to public notice and comment, before it goes into effect. Cross-border investment flows have long contributed to U.S. economic vitality. We are committed to taking narrowly targeted actions to protect our national security while maintaining our longstanding commitment to open investment. This program will seek to prevent foreign countries of concern from exploiting U.S. investment in this narrow set of technologies that are critical to support their development of military, intelligence, surveillance, and cyber-enabled capabilities that risk U.S. national security. The program complements the United States' existing export control and inbound screening tools with a "small yard, high fence" approach to address the national security threat posed by countries of concern advancing such sensitive technologies. Specifically, it will prohibit certain investments in entities that engage in specific activities related to these technology areas that pose the most acute national security risks, and require notification for other sensitive investments. President Biden signed this Executive Order following extensive and thorough consultations with hundreds of stakeholders, industry members, and foreign allies and partners. Those engagements will continue as part of the notice-and-comment period to solicit additional public feedback to make any needed adjustments before the rule goes into effect. Read the Executive Order here. Read Treasury's fact sheet on the program here. Read Treasury's press release on the ANPRM here. ### NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russo-Ukraine War - 09 August 2023 - Day 532 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 31 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 4 August 2023, the Russian merchant tanker (MT) Sig was attacked and disabled near the Kerch Strait, apparently by an Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV). This came a day after a similar attack on the Olenegorsky Gornyak landing ship, and two days after an apparently foiled attack on Russian patrol boats while they were likely escorting the Russian merchant vessel (MV) Sparta IV. Although civilian-flagged, MT Sig and MV Sparta IV have long been contracted to ship fuel and military supplies between Russia and Syria. Since 28 February 2022, Russian military ships have not been able to pass through the Bosphorus, leaving Russian military forces in Syria and the Mediterranean heavily dependent upon Sig, Sparta IV, and a handful of other civilian vessels. The attacks show that USV operations are increasingly a major component of modern naval warfare and can be turned against the weakest links of Russia's sea supply lanes. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that during the day, Russian forces launched 2 rocket and 28 air strikes, fired 35 rocket salvo fire systems at the positions of Ukrainian troops and populated areas. As a result of the Russian terrorist attacks, unfortunately, there are dead and wounded among the civilian population, residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure have been destroyed. The threat of missile and air strikes remains high across Ukraine. 22x combat clashes took place throughout the day. Volyn' and Polissya axes: no significant changes detected. Sivershchyna and Slobozhanshchyna axes: Russian forces shelled with mortars and artillery more than 30x settlements, in particular, Khrinivka, Huta-Studenetska, Buchki, Hremyach of the Chernihiv Oblast; Novovasylivka, Baranivka, Atyns'ke, Stepne, Volodymyrivka in the Sumy Oblast and Uda, Sosnivka, Hraniv, Staritsa, Vovchans'k and Nesterne in the Kharkiv Oblast. Kup'yans'k axis: UAF repelled attacks by Russian troops in the north of Sinkivka and north-east of Ivanivka, Kharkiv Oblast. More than 10x settlements, including Figolivka, Zapadne, Petropavlivka, Podoli, and Berestov in the Kharkiv Oblast, were shelled by Russian artillery and mortars. Lyman axis: Russian forces carried out airstrikes at Bilogorivka, Luhansk Oblast, Spirny and Vesely, Donetsk Oblast. Nevs'ke, Bilogorivka of the Luhansk Oblast and Tors'ke, Spirne, Rozdolivka of the Donetsk Oblast were shelled by artillery. Bakhmut axis: Ukrainian soldiers are firmly on the defensive, reppelling Russian attacks on the outskirts of Klishchiivka and northeast of Druzhba, Donetsk Oblast. Russian forces launched an air strike at Klishchiivka area. More than 10x settlements, including Malynivka, Orihovo-Vasylivka, Bohdanivka, Chasiv Yar, Predtechine and Diliivka of the Donetsk Oblast, were shelled by artillery. Avdiivka axis: under heavy fire from the Russian forces' aircraft and artillery, Ukrainian Defense Forces repelled Russian assaults in the vicinities of Avdiivka and southeast of Severny, Donetsk Oblast. Russian forces launched an airstrike at Avdiivka of the Donetsk Oblast. Avdiivka, Karlivka, Pervomais'ke, Nevel's'ke of the Donetsk Oblast were shelled by artillery. Mar'inka axis:the UAF continue to hold back the advance of Russian troops in the vicinities of Mar'inka of the Donetsk Oblast. Russian forces launched an airstrike at Krasnohorivka Oblast of the Donetsk Oblast. Krasnohorivka, Georgiivka, Paraskoviivka and Novomykhailivka of the Donetsk Oblast were shelled by artillery. Shakhtars'k axis: the Russian forces made unsuccessful attempts to restore lost position at Staromayorske of the Donetsk Oblast. They carried out airstrikes at Blagodatne, Staromayors'ke of the Donetsk Oblast. Vugledar, Odradne, Velika Novosilka, Blagodatne, Staromayors'ke of the Donetsk Oblast were shelled by artillery. Zaporizhzhia axis: Russian forces carried out unsuccessful offensive opertaions in the south of Novodanilivka, Zaporizhia Oblast. More than 15x settlements, including Novodarivka, Olgivske, Hulyaipole, Novoandriivka, Pyatikhatky, Kam'ians'ke of the Zaporizhia Oblast, and Nikopol' of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, were shelled by artillery. Kherson axis: Russian forces carried out airstrikes at Odradokamyanka, Lviv, and Komyshan of the Kherson Oblast. More than 20x settlements, including Zolota Balka, Respublikanets, Odradokamyanka, Novotyaginka, Antonivka, and Veletens'ke of the Kherson Oblast, Kherson, Kutsurub, Ochakiv, Mykolaiv Oblast were shelled by artillery. Defense Forces of Ukraine continue offensive operations on the Melitopol' and Berdyans'k axes, and are equipping captured positions, open fire with artillery on identified Russian targets, and carry out counter-battery measures. Ukrainian Air Force conducted 10x strikes on manpower, weapons, and military equipment concentrations, 1x on an anti-air defense system, and 1x on logistics hub. Ukrainian missile and artillery units hit 3x control points, 5x artillery units at firing positions, a manpower, weapons and military equipment concentration, a radio-electronic warfare station and another important object. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that in Kupyansk direction, assault detachments of the Zapad Group of Forces, using the results of fire defeat of aviation and artillery, continued to conduct offensive operations on a wide front in the areas of responsibility, improving the tactical situation. As a result of professional and well-coordinated actions by Russian units, six attacks and counterattacks by units of 14th, 32nd, 41st and 67th mechanised brigades of the AFU have been repelled close to Novosyolovskoye (Lugansk People's Republic) and Mankovka (Kharkov region). In addition, AFU manpower and hardware concentration areas of the 67th Mechanised Brigade and the 103rd Territorial Defence Brigade have been hit close to Sinkovka and Kislovka (Kharkov region). The enemy losses were up to 75 Ukrainian servicemen, two armoured fighting vehicles, three motor vehicles, one Polish-manufactured Krab self-propelled artillery system, and one U.S.-manufactured AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radar station. In Donetsk direction, as a result of active action by units of the Yug Group of Forces, Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, artillery, and heavy flamethrower systems, five attacks by AFU units have been repelled near Minkovka, Krasnoye, Avdeevka, and north of Kleshcheevka (Donetsk People's Republic). The enemy losses were up to 370 Ukrainian servicemen, two tanks, six armoured fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, two U.S.-manufactured M777 artillery systems, one Polish-manufactured Krab self-propelled artillery unit, and one D-20 howitzer. In Zaporozhye direction, as a result of skilful actions by units of the Russian grouping of troops, three attacks by assault groups of the 46th Airmobile Brigade of the AFU have been repelled close to Rabotino and Uspenovka (Zaporozhye region). The enemy losses were up to 40 Ukrainian servicemen, three armoured fighting vehicles, four motor vehicles, one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, and one D-30 howitzer. In Krasny Liman direction, units of the Tsentr Group of Forces, supported by aviation and artillery, successfully repelled two attacks by assault groups of 21st and 42nd mechanised brigades of the AFU close to Terny and Grigorovka (Donetsk People's Republic). The enemy losses were up to 80 Ukrainian servicemen, two armoured fighting vehicles, three pickup trucks, and one D-20 howitzer. In South Donetsk direction, units of the Vostok Group of Forces, in cooperation with aviation and artillery, have foiled an attempt by the enemy to conduct combat reconnaissance near Priyutnoye (Zaporozhye region). The actions of one Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group have been suppressed near Urozhaynoye (Donetsk People's Republic). The enemy losses were up to 180 Ukrainian servicemen, one tank, three armoured fighting vehicles, two pickup trucks, one Polish-manufactured Krab self-propelled artillery system, two Giatsint-B guns, and one Akatsiya self-propelled howitzer. In Kherson direction, the enemy losses were up to 50 Ukrainian servicemen, two motor vehicles, one U.S.-manufactured M777 artillery system, one Giatsint-B gun, one Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, as well as one D-30 howitzer. Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have neutralised manpower and military hardware in 132 areas. Air defence facilities have shot down 9 projectiles launched by HIMARS MLRS. In addition, 35 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles have been shot down close to Olshana (Kharkov region), Lisichansk, Kremennaya (Lugansk People's Republic), Rovnopol, Nikolskoye and Orlinskoye (Donetsk People's Republic), Chumatskoye (Zaporozhye region) and Alyoshki (Kherson region). In total, 458 airplanes, 245 helicopters, 5,600 unmanned aerial vehicles, 428 air defence missile systems, 11,204 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,144 fighting vehicles equipped with MLRS, 5,819 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 12,155 special military motor vehicles have been destroyed during the special military operation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Canada imposes additional sanctions on third anniversary of Belarus's fraudulent presidential elections Global Affairs Canada News release August 9, 2023 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada The Honourable MAlanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced that Canada is imposing sanctions against 9 individuals and 7 entities under the Special Economic Measures Act. These sanctions are part of theA Special Economic Measures (Belarus) RegulationsA and are being imposed in response to the ongoing gross and systematic violations of human rights occurring in Belarus. They also target persons who are complicit in Russia's ongoing violations of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, in part through Belarus and with Belarusian support. It has been 3 years since the fraudulent August 9, 2020 Belarusian presidential election, which followed a campaign marred by systematic voter repression, including state-sponsored violence against protestors, activists and journalists. Since then, the grave injustices carried out by the Belarusian government against its own people have not stopped. Those sanctioned consist of government officials, judges, and associates of the regime, including the head of Belarusian state television, Ivan Mikhailovich Eismant. Today's announcement also targets the Ministry of Defence of Belarus, the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, as well as military manufacturing and technology companies. Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms the Belarusian regime's support of Vladimir Putin's unprovoked and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine, which has killed and injured thousands, displaced millions, disrupted the global economy and exacerbated global problems such as food and energy security. We call on Lukashenko to immediately withdraw his support for Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Today's sanctions are being carried out in parallel with similar actions by likeminded partners and allies, including the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Canada will continue to work with its partners, to ensure that the voices of the people of Belarus are heard and to pursue accountability for those responsible for undermining democracy, supressing media freedom, committing human rights violations, and supporting Putin's brutal war of aggression against Ukraine. Quotes "Canada stands with the Belarusian people in their fight to live peaceably and without fear of persecution in an open and democratic society. There can be no impunity for human rights abusers, and the Belarusian regime's support for the Russian leadership's brazen acts will not go unpunished. We will continue to work with our allies to collectively respond to these egregious and destabilizing acts." - MAlanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs Quick facts Since 2014, Canada has imposed sanctions on more than 2,600 individuals and entities in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova that are complicit in the violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Many of these sanctions have been undertaken in coordination with Canada's allies and partners. To date, Canada has announced 13 rounds of sanctions under the Special Economic Measures Act (Belarus) targeting a total of 190 individuals and 71 entities. To date, Canada has announced over $3 million to support civil society organizations who are working to advance democracy in Belarus, with a focus on women and independent media. Since January 2022, Canada has committed more than $8.9 billion to financial, military, humanitarian, development and immigration assistance for Ukraine. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Expands Sanctions Targeting Belarusian State Entities On Anniversary Of 'Fraudulent' Election By RFE/RL's Belarus Service August 09, 2023 The United States issued new sanctions against several Belarusian entities and individuals on August 9, the third anniversary of the 2020 presidential election that kept authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka in power. The U.S. Treasury Department said the new sanctions target entities involved in the regime's "continued civil society repression," its complicity in the Russia's unjustified war in Ukraine, and the "enrichment" of Lukashenka. The sanctions imposed by the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) target eight individuals, including the general-director of Belarusian Steel Works and members of the family that the department said controls significant portions of the tobacco products and transportation sectors in Belarus. They also hit three state-owned entities, including airline Belavia, and a Canadair regional jet used by high-ranking officials and members of Lukashenka's family, the Treasury Department said in a news release. The news release refers to the August 9, 2020, election as "fraudulent" and says the sanctions highlight "the unified view that Belarus's prolonged subjugation of its people and its continued support of Russia's war against Ukraine remain a global concern." Brian Nelson, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the sanctions are meant to disrupt the state-owned enterprises and key government officials that the regime relies on "to generate substantial revenue to support its fiercely undemocratic and repressive policies." In addition to Belavia, the companies targeted include state-owned enterprises Minsk Civil Aviation Plant 407 and Belarusian Steel Works (BSW). All three have been previously designated by the OFAC. Minsk Civil Aviation Plant 407 is one of the biggest aircraft component manufacturer and repair facilities in Belarus and has been highlighted by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a key facility for Belarusian production to meet Russia's civil and military aircraft demand, the Treasury Department said. The OFAC also targeted Belarusian businessman Alyaksey Aleksin, who it said is a close confidant of Lukashenka and known as one of Lukashenka's "wallets," receiving preferential treatment from the government in exchange for providing funds to Lukashenka and other members of his inner circle. Shortly before his designation, Aleksin transferred ownership in several key businesses to his sons, Dzmitry Aleksin and Vital Aleksin, and his wife, Ina Aleksina, all of whom were designated for sanctions on August 9. The new sanctions also apply to the Department of Financial Investigations (DFR) and its top directors for what the Treasury Department said was its oppression of independent media and civil society actors. The sanctions freeze all property and interests in property in U.S. jurisdiction owned by the designated persons and entities. The OFAC's regulations also generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons that involve any property of the people designated. The State Department on August 9 also took action to impose visa restrictions on 101 regime officials and their affiliates for their involvement in undermining or suppressing democratic institutions in Belarus. The list includes several judges responsible for issuing what the State Department said were unjust and excessive politically motivated sentences against Belarusians for exercising their fundamental freedoms, including posting their grievances about the regime on social media. "The United States continues to stand with the brave people of Belarus as they seek a country grounded in the rule of law, respect for human rights, and an accountable, democratically elected government," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in the State Department's news release. Blinken also reiterated U.S. calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all 1,500 political prisoners held by the Lukashenka regime, including Ales Byalyatski, Viktar Babaryka, Maryya Kalesnikava, Ihar Losik, and Syarhey Tsikhanouski. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-united-states- sanctions-lukashenka/32541276.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Belarusian Opposition Says 'Truth On Our Side' On Third Anniversary Of Disputed Presidential Poll By RFE/RL's Belarus Service August 09, 2023 On August 9, the third anniversary of the presidential election in Belarus that was followed by unprecedented protests against authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka and a mass crackdown on dissent, the leader of the exiled opposition, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, vowed that "the truth is on our side." In a video statement on YouTube, Tsikhanouskaya said the day of August 9, 2020, could have marked "the beginning of a new Belarus," where "there would never be political prisoners and persecution for dissent." Tsikhanouskaya was the main opposition candidate allowed to take part in the 2020 presidential poll, which handed Lukashenka a sixth term as president. The opposition and the West have refused to recognize the results and called for a new, independently monitored vote. Following the election, mass protests broke out against alleged fraud, and the demonstrations were met by a brutal crackdown from the Lukashenka government. Fearing for the safety of her family, Tsikhanouskaya left Belarus and currently lives in Lithuania. "In 2020, we understood that we were challenging the system that existed for decades, the regime that put authorities above people. But no matter what, we stepped forward. Because we were confident that the truth was on our side," Tsikhanouskaya said, adding that three years after the election, Lukashenka's regime still "tried to deprive Belarusians of hope, their loved ones, freedom, motherland, and independence." "However, no matter of how big the pain was, I have always believed in us, Belarusians. Because we remained unbreakable. To violence and repression, we responded by supporting political prisoners and their families. To the attempts to flatten down our history and language, we responded by switching to Belarusian language and publishing books," Tsikhanouskaya said. She also mentioned Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and Lukashenka's being Russian President Vladimir Putin's ally by saying, "to the efforts to deprive our country of its sovereignty, we responded by guerilla actions and bravery on the battlefields in Ukraine." Ukrainian media reports have said a large group of Belarusian opposition volunteers, known as Kastus Kalinouski Regiment, has been fighting along Ukrainian forces against occupying Russian troops since the first days of the invasion. "Every new challenge makes it harder for us to stay firm. But this is entirely up to us to choose between losing everything we have done in three years, getting disappointed in ourselves and our nation, or preserve all important landmarks, remember all those whom we lost on this path and keep moving forward," Tsikhanouskaya stated. Organizers of the Anna Lindh Prize in Sweden said on August 9 that Tsikhanouskaya was awarded the prestigious human rights prize named after the late Swedish foreign minister, who was slain in 2003. The prize will be officially awarded to Tsikhanouskaya on September 11 in a ceremony in Stockholm marking the 20th anniversary of Lindh's death. With reporting by AFP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/belarus-election- anniversary-tsikhanouskaya/32540767.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Imposing Sanctions and Visa Restrictions to Hold the Lukashenka Regime to Account on the Third Anniversary of the Fraudulent Presidential Election in Belarus US Department of State Press Statement Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State August 9, 2023 Today marks three years since the fraudulent presidential election in Belarus and the Alyaksandr Lukashenka regime's crackdown on the Belarusian people's demands for freedom. The United States continues to stand with the brave people of Belarus as they seek a country grounded in the rule of law, respect for human rights, and an accountable, democratically-elected government. Today, the United States is sanctioning eight individuals and five entities for enabling Lukashenka's domestic repression and facilitating Russia's war against Ukraine. Additionally, we are imposing visa restrictions on 101 regime officials and their affiliates for undermining or harming democratic institutions in Belarus, including several judges responsible for issuing politically-motivated sentences against Belarusians for exercising their fundamental freedoms. We reiterate our call for the immediate and unconditional release of all 1,500 political prisoners held by the Lukashenka regime, including Ales Bialiatski, Viktar Babaryka, Maria Kalesnikava, Ihar Losik, and Siarhei Tsikhanouski. Since 2020, the Lukashenka regime has repressed Belarusian citizens, arrested peaceful protesters and community leaders, cracked down on opposition groups and civil society organizations, and subjected those detained to sham trials, all to maintain Lukashenka's illegitimately acquired authority. The United States will continue to support the people of Belarus in their pursuit of a democratic future in free Belarus where human rights are respected. The Department of the Treasury is designating the "Department of Financial Investigations of the State Control Committee of Belarus" and four members of its board of directors; three family members of U.S.-designated Aliaksey Ivanavich Aleksin; three entities owned or controlled by the Government of Belarus: Open Joint Stock Company Belavia Belarusian Airlines (Belavia), Open Joint Stock Company Minsk Civil Aviation Plant 407, Joint Stock Company Byelorussian Steel Works Management Company (BSW); one entity, Bel-Kap-Steel LLC, for being owned or controlled by BSW; and is identifying one aircraft owned by Belavia as blocked property. Treasury is taking these actions pursuant toA Executive Order 14038A A "Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Belarus." For more information about these designations, see Treasury'sA press releaseA . NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Third anniversary of the fraudulent presidential election in Belarus: Minister for Europe statement Minister for Europe Leo Docherty calls for the immediate and unconditional release of political prisoners in Belarus. 9 August 2023 On the anniversary of the start of a brutal crackdown against peaceful protestors in Belarus following the flawed 2020 presidential election, Minister for Europe Leo Docherty said: Three years ago, the Belarusian regime unleashed violence on peaceful protesters, civil society groups, journalists and political opponents for seeking to pursue their desire for freedom and democracy. Alexander Lukashenko continues a repressive campaign against his own people, aimed at depriving ordinary Belarusian citizens from exercising their fundamental democratic rights. His regime's support for Putin's illegal war in Ukraine further demonstrates its complete disregard for international norms. The UK Government has already introduced sanctions targeting those responsible for the suppression of human rights in Belarus and will continue to work alongside our international partners to hold Lukashenko's regime to account for its appalling actions. The close to 1,500 political prisoners who remain detained in Belarus today must be released immediately and unconditionally. We stand in solidarity with the Belarusian people. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Ministry Spokesperson's Remarks on the Visit to Xinjiang by Members of the Diplomatic Corps in China Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China 2023-08-09 17:06 Q: A delegation of foreign diplomats posted in China visited Xinjiang a few days agoathe first of its kind this year. Could you share some details with us? A: From July 31 to August 4, at the foreign ministry's invitation, a delegation of 40 ambassadors and other senior diplomats from the foreign missions of 25 countries in China, including those of Pakistan, Malaysia, Iran, Egypt, Guinea, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Dominica and Nicaragua, visited Xinjiang. Heads of the CPC committee and the government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region met with the delegation. The delegation traveled to Kashgar, Aksu and Urumqi, where they visited a renovated old town, a mosque, an Islamic institute, a museum, a smart agricultural machinery company, a rural revitalization project and a counter-terrorism and de-radicalization exhibition. They also had conversations with the local clergy and people of minority ethnic groups to know more about the facts regarding the thriving economy, freedom of religious belief, protection and promotion of historic and cultural heritage and so on, and why counter-terrorism and de-radicalization is legitimate, justified and necessary for Xinjiang and what has been achieved in this regard. The delegation shared their views about the tour saying that Xinjiang has beautiful landscape, a warm and hospitable people and remarkable economic dynamism, and that each stop of the visit had been impressive. They saw a stable Xinjiang, where people can live safely thanks to the government's efforts. They saw an economically fast-growing Xinjiang, which has become a frontier of China's opening-up. They saw a happy Xinjiang, where people's lives have improved significantly. They saw a culturally diverse and thriving Xinjiang, where the traditional culture of minority ethnic groups are well protected and passed on from one generation to another. They saw no "forced labor" in Xinjiang. Local agriculture already uses the most advanced machinery, whereby cotton-picking efficiency has been greatly increased. The delegation noted that the real Xinjiang is completely different from the stories concocted by some Western media and expressed hope for deeper exchanges and cooperation with the region. The first-hand experience of the foreign diplomats again shows that truth will always prevail. The international community will not be deceived by the smears and false accusations of "genocide" and "forced labor" that came from a handful of Western countries led by the US. China sincerely welcomes friends from all countries to come to Xinjiang more to see for themselves its beauty, harmony and progress. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Ministry Spokesperson's Remarks on Wang Yi's Upcoming Visit to Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China 2023-08-09 15:24 Q: Can you share China's thoughts on Wang Yi's visit to Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia? How does China view its relations with the three countries? A: This year marks the 10th anniversary of the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind and the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping. Southeast Asian countries have been at the forefront of advancing the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and they are our important partners for Belt and Road cooperation. China's relations with Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia have maintained a sound momentum of growth. China and Singapore have established an all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership. China and Malaysia have reached common understandings on jointly building a community with a shared future. China and Cambodia are working to usher in a new era of building a high-quality, high-level and high-standard China-Cambodia community with a shared future. China hopes the visit will bolster strategic communication with the three Southeast Asian countries, put the new characterization of the China-Singapore relations into action, achieve solid progress in building a community with a shared future both with Malaysia and with Cambodia, deepen high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and bring the bilateral relations to new heights. China stands ready to work with the three countries to implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, boost economic recovery, safeguard peace and tranquility, deepen exchanges and mutual learning and make even greater contribution to peace, stability and development of the region and beyond. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Biden issues order regulating investment in China The executive order will ban some American investments in China's microchip, A.I. and quantum technology sectors. By Alex Willemyns for RFA 2023.08.09 -- U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday issued an executive order regulating American investments in China's microchip, quantum computing and artificial intelligence industries. The order will limit China's access to technologies "critical to the next generation of military innovation," according to Biden administration officials who spoke on the condition they not be identified. It comes ahead of a planned visit to Beijing later this month by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who has vowed to protect U.S. national security interests while still promoting trade with China, and amid an embryonic thaw in ties between Beijing and Washington. Biden's order creates a mechanism for the Commerce Department to ban certain investments in China aaacross the "narrow subset of three advanced technology areas that have a national security nexus," one official said, stressing it would create a "small yard with high fences." "This program will complement our existing export control and inbound investment screening," the official said, and only target technologies key to military modernization. "It's important to recognize this as a national security action, not an economic one." However, the official otherwise provided few details, and said that for certain investments in the three sectors, U.S. businesses would only be forced to notify the authorities of their planned investments. The new regulations will also likely not take force until sometime next year, they said, and the Commerce Department would use that time as a "rulemaking" period to confer with impacted U.S. businesses. No criminal penalties Another senior administration official said discussing criminal penalties for investments in China would be "jumping the gun" at this stage. The Commerce Department would instead likely just be given the powers to "unwind" any incorrectly made investments in China. "The goal here really is to make sure that we provide industry with clarity so that they recognize what is permissible, which is a great deal of investment, and what isn't permissible, which is going to be a narrower scope of investment," the official said. There would also be "experts who will be able to give guidance to industry as they're thinking through this" to help ensure that banned investments are not made in China in the first place. Parts of the order may later be codified into law under the bipartisan 2023 Outbound Investment Transparency Act, the official added, which has already been added to this year's defense spending bill. That legislation has been led by Senate Finance Committee members Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, and Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, and would require U.S. businesses to notify the Commerce Department within 14 days of any investments made in sensitive technologies in China, Russia, North Korea or Iran. The latest order follows similar efforts by the Biden administration to cut off China's military from access to high-end U.S. microchips, and a White House-backed bipartisan push to allow the executive branch to ban some foreign technology, like TikTok, from the United States. Raimondo, the commerce secretary, has said she plans to visit Beijing this month, and has vowed to focus on "selling coffee and beauty aids to China" while staying "eyes wide open" about security threats. Beijing has previously called such policies part of a "Cold War mentality" or "protectionist" policies meant to harm China's economy. Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington, said that the Chinese government was "very disappointed" that the Biden administration went ahead with the latest executive order despite Beijing voicing its concerns privately and publicly. "China opposes the U.S.' overuse of national security to politicize and weaponize trade, scientific and technological issues and deliberately making obstacles to normal economic and trade exchanges and technological cooperation," Liu told Radio Free Asia. "The U.S. side has repeatedly expressed its non-intention to 'decouple' with China, but what it actually did is repeatedly 'decoupling and severing supply chains' from China," he said. Updated to include comments from the Chinese embassy. 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 August not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China In Eurasia Briefing: The Wider Strategy Behind China's Ukraine Diplomacy By Reid Standish August 09, 2023 The Wider Strategy Behind China's Ukraine Diplomacy China joined international diplomatic talks in Saudi Arabia on August 6 for a two-day summit with officials from 40 countries designed to find a framework for peace in Ukraine. But does it signal a new tack for Beijing? Finding Perspective: China sent its special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, who offered support for the summit and called for another round of talks through the format that includes countries from the West and across the Global South. The summit -- which also included representatives from the European Union, India, and the United States -- excluded Russia and centered upon putting momentum behind a 10-point peace formula developed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Several observers saw China's presence as a sign that it was willing to play a more constructive role in pushing for peace talks, but there's plenty of signals that show Beijing is playing its own game here. China unveiled its own 12-point peace document in February and Alexander Gabuev, the director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, was skeptical that Beijing was changing its stance on the war, arguing that while the economic and reputational costs for standing by Russia are rising, the longer term strategic calculations of keeping Russia by its side remain the same for China. This was reaffirmed when Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on August 8 and assured him that China hadn't wavered on its partnership with Moscow. Why It Matters: China is hoping that it can use its diplomatic track record and openness to dialogue on Ukraine to cement its status as the Global South's superpower and showcase its leadership credentials in the process. Mark Leonard, the director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in a recent article for Politico that think tankers and policymakers in China are focused on appearing constructive around ending the war while at the same time ensuring that Moscow will continue to stand by Beijing in rewriting the Western-led world order. The focal point for establishing this new non-Western order are the so-called "nonaligned" countries across Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere in the Global South -- many of the same ones that were in Saudi Arabia over the weekend. Beijing has invested tens of billions of dollars over the last decade in boosting its global image and it has so far yielded mixed results, according to a series of new polls. A recent Pew Research poll found that two-thirds of respondents from the 24 countries surveyed viewed China unfavorably, while only 28 percent held a favorable opinion. Anti-China sentiment has also reached new highs in Argentina, India, and Brazil, according to the poll. But there are important divisions here. The majority of the countries surveyed were Western, with African countries like Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa showing much more favorable views of China in comparison. While souring public opinion in the West and countries like India marks its own type of foreign policy failure for China, the story is different in Africa and the Middle East. Public opinion polls by Afrobaromter and Arab Barometer, show that majorities in Africa and the Middle East tend to view China favorably -- although, the Afrobarometer data found that both China and the United States were slipping in recent years as competition between them accelerates. These global divisions and the larger battle for hearts and minds have now carried over to the diplomatic stage around Ukraine. Expert Corner: Georgia Gets Closer To China Readers asked: "Georgia signed a strategic partnership agreement with China on July 27. How major of a step towards China is this for the Georgian government?" To find out more, I asked Emil Avdaliani, a China expert and professor at Tbilisi's European University: "This is yet another sign that Georgia is pursuing a multivector foreign policy. Focus on the West will remain in place, but ties with other powers will be developed further. Whether this would bring meaningful results will depend on the war in Ukraine and especially the elections in Georgia slated for 2024. "The agreement between Tbilisi and Beijing could also be regarded as a bargaining chip for Tbilisi's rather complicated relations with the West. The calculus could be that amid Brussels' upcoming decision on whether to grant Georgia an EU candidate status, Tbilisi might be raising the stakes by advancing its ties with big Eurasian actors like China. "I think the Georgian public slightly overreacted to the agreement between China and Georgia when it was announced. It's unclear what the document would bring in practical terms. For China, Georgia is a rather small market and the only real value the country holds for Beijing is its geographic location and the growing realization to advance the Middle Corridor trade route. Moreover, China could also be eyeing greater engagement with the Black Sea region, where major geopolitical competition is unfolding between Russia and the West." Do you have a question about China's growing footprint in Eurasia? Send it to me at StandishR@rferl.org or reply directly to this e-mail and I'll get it answered by leading experts and policymakers. Three More Stories From Eurasia 1. A Belt And Road Summit This October After a three-year hiatus due to strict COVID restrictions, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is planning to host a high-profile summit for his signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) -- although there are early signs that it won't receive the top billing Beijing is hoping for. What It Means: The most prominent guest to RSVP for this October's Belt and Road Forum -- the first such gathering since 2019 -- is Russian President Vladimir Putin, something The Wall Street Journal reports is causing European leaders to want to keep their distance. The BRI -- China's mammoth overseas infrastructure push that gained steam in the mid-2010s -- has been the subject of some belt tightening in recent years and seen its reputation fall amid stalling projects, governments struggling to repay loans, and allegations of corruption and overspending. High-level European leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz currently have no plans to attend the forum in Beijing -- which will be the third BRI summit since the inaugural one in 2017 -- and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said she plans to pull her country out of the BRI altogether. Other countries like the Czech Republic and Greece, both of which signed up for the initiative and were among some of Europe's more enthusiastic participants, currently do not plan to send senior officials for the BRI forum. The BRI has been at the center of Beijing's efforts to boost international development and expand its global influence and the guest list for this year's upcoming gathering will be an important litmus test for the strength of China's economic diplomacy under Xi. No confirmed date has been set for the summit, but Chinese officials are reportedly eying mid-October. 2. Kyrgyzstan Turns To China For Hydropower Help Kyrgyzstan, which is in the midst of a yearslong energy crisis, announced that it signed a memorandum of understanding and an investment agreement with a consortium of Chinese companies on July 27 to build a new hydropower plant that could help with the growing energy shortages, my colleague Toktosun Shambetov from RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported. What You Need To Know: Few details were revealed about the newly inked project, which will consist of a cascade of multiple hydropower plants (HPPs) in succession near Kazarman in the country's Jalalabad Province. But according to an announcement by the Kyrgyz cabinet of ministers, it's tentatively estimated to cost between $2.4 billion-$3 billion, making it one of the country's most ambitious hydropower ventures. Akylbek Japarov, the chairman of the Kyrgyz cabinet of ministers, said the project was a game changer that wouldn't only help erase the Central Asian country's energy deficit, but also turn it into an energy exporter. That would be a welcome achievement for the government, which announced a three-year energy emergency on August 1 due to widespread electricity shortages. There are still concerns over whether the project will come to fruition, with multiple experts telling Toktosun that the government's poor record in actually delivering large-scale infrastructure is spotty at best, with many projects grappling with corruption, delays, or being abandoned altogether. 3. How Serbia Become Blanketed In Chinese-Made Surveillance Cameras A quiet expansion of Chinese-made surveillance cameras has spread across Serbia in the last five years, with some towns and villages having one camera for every 100 inhabitants. My colleague Natalija Jovanovic from RFE/RL's Balkan Service traveled across the country and investigated the shadowy company behind the spread of the technology. Read her report here. The Details: Belgrade's expansion of Huawei surveillance cameras -- many of which have facial-recognition capabilities -- was the center of an RFE/RL investigation last year, but the countrywide growth has received little attention inside and outside the country. Natalija's monthslong investigation found that the spread has taken place with little public consultation or disclosed information from the authorities. The report also found that 42 local governments surveyed have awarded their contracts exclusively to Macchina Security, a shadowy Serbian company increasingly active on the security goods and services market that has been winning tenders and importing Chinese-made surveillance technology into the country in recent years. Check out Natalija's investigation here. Across The Supercontinent Homebody: According to a Bloomberg News analysis, Xi, who made an average of 14 overseas trips per year from 2013 to 2019, has only spent two days outside China this year and has not supplemented the foreign trips with video calls. Instead, Xi is making foreign dignitaries come to him and has met with representatives from 36 countries so far in 2023. Willkommen: TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker based in Taiwan, has agreed to build a 10 billion-euro ($10.9 billion) plant in Dresden, Germany, in partnership with Infineon Technologies AG, NXP Semiconductors NV, and Robert Bosch GmbH. 5 billion euros ($5.49 billion) will come from the German government as subsidies to support construction of the factory. Seaside Power Politics: The Chinese Communist Party has begun its annual summer retreat in Beidaihe. The gathering is usually a chance for party members to gather and speak candidly about issues concerning its leadership and comes amid growing tensions over the economy and the unexplained disappearance of Qin Gang, who was China's foreign minister. Steel Partners: A delegation of lawmakers from the ruling Serbian Progressive Party traveled to China in late July, where they reaffirmed their support for the Chinese Communist Party's political model and held talks over the status of Kosovo, my colleague Nevena Bogdanovic from RFE/RL's Balkan Service reports. CPEC Turns 10: Late July marked the 10th anniversary of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Beijing's flagship project within the BRI. CPEC has had no shortage of controversy and setbacks in those years, while still forging ahead with investment and deeper ties. The Lowy Institute published a scorecard for CPEC that concludes that it may have been unrealistic from its inception. Take a look here. One Thing To Watch With China's economy performing below expectations, Chinese authorities are putting pressure on prominent local economists to avoid discussing negative trends, such as deflation. Multiple local brokerage analysts and researchers at leading universities as well as state-run think tanks have told Western media that they have been instructed by regulators, their employers and even domestic media to avoid speaking negatively about topics ranging from fears of capital flight to softening prices. Market analysts say the growing self-censorship among economic-research professionals will have deepening knock-on effects and attach further questions to how reliable local Chinese data is for investors. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/china-wider-strategy- ukraine-peace/32540525.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Press release on Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov's consultations in Tehran 8 August 2023 17:03 1566-08-08-2023 On August 7-8, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov held consultations in Tehran with the deputy foreign ministers of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Bagheri Kani, Reza Najafi and Mehdi Safari. The focus of the discussion was on the prospects of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or the Iran nuclear deal. The diplomats confirmed their shared striving to continue working to preserve and restore full-scale implementation of these vital agreements that were approved by UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and have no reasonable alternative. Russia and Iran hold the same view on the challenges that the international community faced in implementing the said resolution due to the policy of "maximum pressure" on Tehran pursued by the US and its associates. The diplomats dismissed as unacceptable any Western attempts to impose new arrangements or approaches to resolving JCPOA-related problems in an effort to undermine Russia and Iran's legitimate and mutually beneficial cooperation in various areas. During the consultations, the diplomats compared in detail their positions on a number of other current international issues, including the NPT review process, the state of affairs in the OPCW, security issues and measures to prevent an arms race in space. They will continue to steadily enhance coordination on this and other issues. Sergey Ryabkov also took part in the conference "Iran and BRICS: Prospects for partnership and cooperation" that was organised by the Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) of Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran submits documents to IAEA on two disputed sites IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 9, 2023 Tehran, IRNA -- The Islamic Republic has submitted documents to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding the two remaining sites where the agency had alleged traces of enriched uranium were found, Iran's nuclear chief has announced. Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said on Wednesday that Iran is ready to provide further clarification should these documents not be accepted by the UN nuclear watchdog. He pointed out that cooperation between Iran and the agency is "sustained" and based on a joint statement issued with IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi, as well as principles of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and safeguards agreements. Grossi visited Tehran in March for high-level talks with Iranian officials, including with President Ebrahim Raisi, in an effort to resolve some of the outstanding issues. In a joint statement after the visit, the two sides agreed that interactions will continue in a spirit of collaboration and in full conformity with a comprehensive Safeguards Agreement. The IAEA informed Iran back in May it was closing the case of traces of nuclear material allegedly discovered at a site in Marivan, Fars Province, the first to be addressed under the March work plan and following explanations provided by Tehran. The other two sites are located in Varamin and Turquzabad, both on the outskirts of Tehran. 4353**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Treasury secretary tasked with war on Iran: IRGC deputy chief IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 9, 2023 Mashhad, IRNA -- The deputy chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says the American official responsible for the war against Iran is the Treasury secretary rather than the defense secretary. "Contrary to what is believed, the key person in the United States of America responsible for the war with Iran is not the secretary of war, but the secretary of the Treasury, which shows the nature of the current economic war with Iran," Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi said on Wednesday. In recent years, the US has targeted Iran's economy with harsh economic sanctions. Under the name "maximum pressure" policy, Washington imposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic after unilaterally leaving the Iran nuclear agreement in 2018. The US also tried to bring Iran's oil exports to zero under the so-called maximum pressure campaign, but the attempt failed miserably. Fadavi also said US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently confessed that in fact, everything the US has done against Iran in the past 44 years has proved to be an abject failure. "The most evil currents in the world have been enemies of Iran since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution," the top general said. 4354**9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran to build petrochemical complex in oil-rich Khuzestan IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 9, 2023 Ahvaz, IRNA -- Iran will soon begin construction of a new chemical and petrochemical complex in Omidiyeh City, Khuzestan Province, according to a top official. Hamid-Reza Fallah, director general of the Industry, Mining, and Trade department of Khuzestan, told IRNA's correspondent on Wednesday that the license to construct the company has been issued and the construction of the big project will begin soon with the presence of the First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber. He explained that an agreement was signed between the Industry, Mining and Trade Department and the Khuzestan Governorate during the second provincial visit of President Ebrahim Raisi to the province, which led to the issuance of the license to establish Avat Oraman of Omidiyeh Company. Fallah further said an investment of $1.5 million has been earmarked for the construction of the company, adding, "This company will be built in the form of downstream chains of petrochemical industries, and it will create 15,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region." With 22 petrochemical companies, Khuzestan is considered as one of the hubs of the industry in Iran. 4354**7129 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran develops technology to manufacture supersonic cruise missiles: Report Iran Press TV Wednesday, 09 August 2023 11:01 AM Military experts and technicians at the Iranian Defense Ministry have reportedly developed the technology to domestically design and manufacture a sophisticated cruise missile capable of traveling at high supersonic speeds. The homegrown missile has been introduced as a new generation of Iranian cruise missiles and is currently in the testing stage, Tehran-based Tasnim News Agency reported Wednesday. The report added that the missile will open a new chapter in Iran's defense technologies, as it is extremely difficult to intercept a cruise missile flying at supersonic speeds. Until now, Iranian cruise missiles relied on a rocket-assisted takeoff (RATO) engine in order to be launched and a homegrown turbojet engine, dubbed Tolou' (Sunrise), for the second stage. The employment of ramjet engines in naval cruise missiles and the development of supersonic cruise missiles are of paramount importance, as they will greatly enhance Iran's response power in case of any military confrontation and prevent the invading forces from taking timely retaliatory measures. A ramjet, or athodyd, is a variant of an air-breathing jet engine that does not include a rotary compressor; rather, it uses the forward motion of the engine to take in air for combustion that produces jet thrust. Dena destroyer to be equipped with vertical launch missiles Meanwhile, the domestically-manufactured Mowj class Dena destroyer is going to be furnished with state-of-the-art vertically-launched missiles in the near future. Given the long-haul missions of destroyers, the impossibility of shore support in many cases and the variety of aerial threats, including fighter jets, drones and missiles, it is absolutely necessary to equip military vessels with air defense systems enjoying pinpoint accuracy, Tasnim said. Iranian military experts and engineers have in recent years made remarkable breakthroughs in manufacturing a broad range of indigenous equipment, making the armed forces self-sufficient. Officials have also repeatedly asserted that the country will not hesitate to strengthen its military capabilities, including its missile power, which are entirely meant for defense, and that Iran's defense capabilities will be never subject to negotiations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israeli military says war readiness harmed by protesting reservists Iran Press TV Wednesday, 09 August 2023 6:58 PM The Israeli military says its readiness has been hampered by thousands of reservists who are vowing to refuse to report for volunteer duty in protest against controversial judicial overhaul spearheaded by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Thousands of Israeli soldiers have threatened to stop showing up for volunteer reserve duty as a protesting move against Tel Aviv's much-condemned judicial overhaul, harming the army's readiness, said Daniel Hagari, the spokesman for the Israeli military, on Tuesday. "You asked about readiness", the Israeli military "is ready for war, but there is limited harm in some areas," he said, adding that pilot instructors were a particular source of concern. "People who leave everything, once a week, and go to train the young pilots. A significant number are deciding not to come," Hagari further said. In recent months, Israel, where military service is compulsory, has been swept by weekly mass protests against Netanyahu's plan to drastically curtail the power of the judiciary. Protesting reservists, who are particularly from the air force, say they will not cancel protests even if war breaks out between regional foes. Hagari added that his colleagues were holding one-on-one meetings with protesting reservists. "They all have different red lines and look at things differently, but they're very emotional about this." He warned that "it's a turbulent period in "Israel", and that "it's impacting" the Israeli military. Public outrage against the regime's policies has grown since last month, when the Knesset passed the first bill of the judicial overhaul plan after opposition lawmakers left the session. The bill scrapped the "reasonableness" law, through which the Supreme Court can overturn decisions made by Israeli cabinet such as ministerial appointments. The remaining parts of the overhaul package will be discussed after the Knesset returns from summer recess in October. Netanyahu, who is fighting corruption charges in court, has said he would be willing to negotiate with the opposition, though previous mediation efforts, including by the regime's president, have failed. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Ministry Spokesperson's Remarks onaJapan's Push to Dump Nuclear-Contaminated Water into the Sea Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China 2023-08-09 16:08 Q: According to Japanese media, Japan is considering beginning the ocean discharge of the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water between late August and early September. What's China's comment? It is learned that the Japanese government hopes to explain to China the safety of the ocean discharge plan before starting the disposal. What's the Foreign Ministry's comment? Have the two sides had communication on explaining the safety of the ocean discharge? A: China has been and remains opposed to Japan's headstrong push to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea and leave the entire world at risk of nuclear contamination. The Japanese government needs to comprehensively address the concerns of the international community, live up to its moral responsibilities and obligations under international law and stop pushing for the ocean discharge. Japan needs to find a truly responsible, safe and effective way to deal with the Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water and subject itself to rigorous international oversight so as to avert irrevocable damage to the global marine environment and human health. China's position is objective, fair and based on facts and reasonafor both people's health and a safe global marine environment. We have been communicating our concerns to Japan on the basis of the science and facts and have engaged Japan bilaterally and multilaterally to repeatedly state the views and concerns from China's professional agencies. In addition, based on science and technology and international nuclear safety good practices, China and Russia presented three joint lists of technical questions to Japan to demand clarifications regarding its ocean discharge plan. The safe disposal of the nuclear-contaminated water depends on a serious and responsible attitude and a science-based and comprehensive assessmentanot publicity campaigns. Regrettably, over the past two years and more, Japan has given little heed to the legitimate concerns and opposition from various quarters and refused to discuss other disposal methods that might be safer, while insisting on initiating the ocean discharge this summer. If Japan has any sincerity about alleviating the concerns of its neighbors, it should immediately stop pushing for the discharge, communicate with other parties without taking the decision in advance and fully discuss all potential options for disposing of the water safely. Otherwise, an "explanation" will just be meaningless. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Three months after cyclone, Myanmar's Rakhine state still seeing little aid 'We are trying to rehabilitate on a self-help basis,' says one resident. By RFA Burmese 2023.08.09 -- About 1.6 million people in Rakhine state still haven't received sufficient humanitarian aid almost three months after one of the worst cyclones to hit Myanmar in a decade, aid workers and local residents told Radio Free Asia. Additionally, the rehabilitation process in the country's westernmost state could be prolonged due to inadequate support from the military junta and the international community, the aid workers said. The U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently announced that it has received only USD$24.3 million out of the estimated USD$333 million needed for relief and rehabilitation projects in cyclone-hit areas. Low-lying Rakhine lies along the cyclone-prone Bay of Bengal. "There is an enormous gap between the amount needed and the amount provided," a humanitarian organization official told Radio Free Asia. "They can only fill the very basic needs for the people." Cyclone Mocha made landfall on May 14 with sustained winds reaching over 220 kilometers per hour (137 mph), killing more than 400 people and leaving widespread destruction. Aid workers said that more than 90% of houses and buildings in northern Rakhine were damaged by the storm. In early June, junta officials issued a blanket ban on transportation for aid groups operating in Rakhine. Authorities mandated that all international humanitarian aid, including U.N. assistance, must first be donated through the junta. Maung Saw Win, a resident of Rathedaung township - where the cyclone hit hardest - told RFA that the people of his township have yet to receive any substantial aid. "We haven't received anything on the ground. We have seen 20 tractors arrive here. But that's it," he said. "We are trying to rehabilitate on a self-help basis." Other residents of cyclone-hit areas said they received some food, shelters and emergency aid materials from the World Food Program, the Red Cross and other international organizations right after the cyclone, but those deliveries have stopped. Aid from ASEAN The junta's spokesman and attorney general for Rakhine state, Hla Thein, told RFA that the junta has allotted 5 billions kyat ($USD 1.6 million) for Rakhine's damaged areas, and plans to allot an additional 7 billion kyat ($USD 2.3 million). "We are also negotiating with international aid organizations to provide aid," he said. "It is important that the private sector cooperates with the government. Only then, we can complete the mission in a short time." State-run newspapers have reported that ASEAN, China, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Korea and Japan have donated food, shelter, medicine and other materials through the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management. According to RFA records, emergency aid worth USD$1.64 million has been donated by ASEAN, 40 tons of food, medicine and other materials has come from India, and food, shelter and other aid material worth over USD$1 million has been sent by China. Additionally, Cambodia has donated USD$300,000, Indonesia has given USD$500,000 worth of materials, South Korea has sent 500 tons of rice, Japan has sent 20,000 rice bags, Bangladesh has given 120 tons of material, and Thailand has sent 20 tons of aid. Hla Thein said they are delivering aid from ASEAN and the international community right after the material arrives in Myanmar. But former lawmaker Aung Thaung Shwe said there is very little being delivered to cyclone victims. Some junta officials have summoned village heads to perfunctorily distribute some rice and paddy seeds, but that hasn't been enough to meet the demands in the villages, he said. The junta doesn't have "effective means" to make the deliveries, Aung Thaung Shwe said. The junta seized power from a democratically elected government in February 2021 and has been fighting anti-junta People's Defense Forces and ethnic armed groups ever since. One Rakhine businessman said it could take up to 15 years to rebuild the communities because of the junta's unreliability. "I don't think the rehabilitation efforts will go smoothly and quickly if we relied on the government's missions," Khin Maung Gyi said. "We also see that the capacities of international NGOs and other NGOs have been crippled by the various restrictions." Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Edited by Matt Reed Copyright 1998-2023, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. For any commercial use of RFA content please send an email to: mahajanr@rfa.org. RFA content August not be used in a manner which would give the appearance of any endorsement of any product or support of any issue or political position. Please read the full text of our Terms of Use. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Niger Coup Puts West In Tough Spot As Wagner Eyes More Africa Opportunities By Todd Prince August 09, 2023 After a series of coups swept across Africa's impoverished Sahel states over the past three years, leading to a larger Russian military presence, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in March made a historic trip to Niger, Washington's key ally in the region. "Niger is really an extraordinary model at a time of great challenge - a model of resilience, a model of democracy, a model of cooperation," Blinken, the first U.S. top diplomat to visit Niger, said at the time. "It's one that we deeply value and deeply respect." Now, less than five months later, U.S.-Niger relations are on the verge of collapse after military officials on July 26 ousted the president and seized power. The coup - if it succeeds - also threatens to deepen regional instability, weaken regional security, and possibly open the door to greater Russian influence in the Sahel and beyond, experts warn. 'An Alarming Trend' Before the coup, Niger's image in the West had been improving, thanks in part to a peaceful, democratic transfer of power in 2021 - the country's first since independence more than seven decades ago. Blinken's trip was designed to affirm U.S. support for Niger and its president, Mohamed Bazoum, who has aligned key priorities with the West. The United States has invested about $500 million over the past decade to train and equip the Nigerien military to combat militant organizations affiliated with Al-Qaeda and ISIS that have been terrorizing the Sahel. The United States, which has 1,100 troops on the ground, also built a large-scale drone base in the north of the country used to surveil the armed groups' cross-border movements and to gather intelligence. But a wave of coups across the Sahel now threatens to jeopardize this cooperation and progress. Three of Niger's neighbors, including Mali, Burkina Faso, and Chad, have all succumbed to coups since 2020, as have nearby Sudan and Guinea. Other countries in the region, including Senegal, have recently experienced major political turmoil. "This is an alarming trend," Sean McFate, an adjunct professor at Syracuse University and an Africa expert, told RFE/RL. "The more coups happen, the more success they enjoy, the more temptation there will be for future juntas around Africa." McFate added that the trend has opened the door for increasing Russia's influence. This time, the United States and its partners, including the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), have taken a firm stand against the Nigerien junta in the hopes of forcing it to reinstate the democratically elected Bazoum. Washington has halted some aid to Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, while 11 members of the West African community have imposed tough financial sanctions and cut deliveries of electricity. ECOWAS has also threatened to invade Niger. What Wagner Offers By contrast, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kremlin-connected entrepreneur and founder of the notorious Wagner mercenary group, which is active in Africa, has offered support to the Nigerien coup leaders, although experts question whether his group can do much in the short term. "The junta needs support and recognition if they're not going to step down," Daniel Eizenga, a research fellow at the Washington-based Africa Center for Strategic Studies, told RFE/RL. "And that's what Wagner potentially offers them - a big complication to anything that looks like a military intervention [by ECOWAS] to push them out." Wagner has up to 1,000 troops each in Mali and Libya as well as nearby Sudan, Eizenga said. It also has forces in the Central African Republic. But with clouds over Wagner's future following its failed rebellion in Russia in June and its current commitments in Africa, it is unclear how many men it could muster to support the coup leaders in Niger, Eizenga said. "What Wagner would be able to mobilize in the short term, I think, is the paramount question here," he said. "But it doesn't take a lot of boots on the ground on the part of Wagner to create a very complicated international geopolitical situation that might deter ECOWAS from intervening as it's threatened to do." Sebastian Elischer, a political science professor at the University of Florida and a sub-Saharan Africa specialist, said Wagner doesn't appear to have much heavy equipment in Africa to help Niger confront ECOWAS. He described Wagner assets in Africa as "basically Kalashnikovs and Toyotas" and said troops deployed to neighboring Mali are mainly military trainers, not combatants. Both Elischer and Eizenga also questioned how Niger would pay Wagner in light of the aid cuts and sanctions. Niger had expected to receive $2.2 billion in foreign aid, loans, and grants this year, an amount equivalent to 40 percent of its budget. "I don't really see [Wagner involvement] playing out in Niger in the short term," Elischer said. He explained that Russia doesn't have the historical economic and diplomatic ties with Niger that it does with Mali and other countries where Wagner is active to help facilitate cooperation. He called Wagner posturing as an alternative partner to Niger "largely a performance for the media and especially for the African audience." Russia has been pushing to make inroads into Africa since 2014, when the United States and Europe began to isolate Moscow following its forcible seizure of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, experts said. Russian President Vladimir Putin last month held a summit with African leaders and delegations in St. Petersburg, his second since 2019. Russia's interests in Africa include weapon sales, UN votes, and access to natural resources, Elischer said. It also seeks to project itself as a viable player in the Global South "and to make the West worry about it," he added. "I think that is more so than anything else, certainly in the Sahel," he said. A Toxic Cocktail The Sahel, a vast semiarid region that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, is wedged between the Sahara Desert to the north and tropical savannas to the south. It crosses through parts of Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Sudan. The region has seen an explosion of militant violence over the past decade amid a toxic cocktail of entrenched poverty, weak governments with little legitimacy, disruptive climate change, and other problems, experts say. The Sahel is fertile ground for Russian engagement because the governments are fragile and the public widely shares anti-French and anti-Western sentiments, McFate said. France left a brutal colonial legacy in the Sahel that is still felt today. In Mali, Wagner replaced French forces after their expulsion by a junta. "Russia is exploiting anti-French attitudes across the Sahel so that they can supplant France politically, hegemonically throughout the region," McFate said. "Russia wants everybody looking toward Moscow and not toward Washington or Paris." The Washington Post, citing leaked U.S. intelligence, reported in April that Washington possessed information indicating Wagner was seeking to create a "unified 'confederation' of African states" that would include Burkina Faso, Chad, Eritrea, Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Sudan. Wagner was planning the overthrow of the regime in Chad as part of that larger goal, the newspaper said. The United States has said it does not believe Wagner was behind the coup in Niger. Experts say it was triggered by Bazoum's decision to replace military officials appointed by his predecessor. That said, Niger has twice been the target of Russian disinformation campaigns, according to an April 2022 report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Networks connected to Wagner reportedly sought in recent years to trigger rumors of a coup in Niger, the center said. Eizenga said Niger's security situation is likely to deteriorate if Wagner moves in, pointing to the explosion of violence in Mali and Burkina Faso following their coups and the departure of French forces. U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland told reporters on August 7 following a meeting with members of the junta that they "understand very well the risks to their sovereignty when Wagner is invited in." Eizenga said if the United States and ECOWAS can coerce the junta in Niger to give up power, it could have positive reverberations in the Sahel. The coup leaders in Mali and Burkina Faso have repeatedly delayed promises to ECOWAS to hand back power to civilian control in an attempt to entrench themselves, he said. If ECOWAS can show that it is not "toothless," then the leaders of Mali and Burkina Faso "may not skip the next deadline," he concluded. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/niger-coup-wagner -mercenaries-russia-africa-west/32541190.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Introductory speech of Russian Defence Minister at Defence Ministry Board session 09.08.2023 "On today's Board session we will address issues of establishing Leningrad and Moscow military districts, as well as strengthening the grouping of forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on our western boarders. The 'collective West' is waging an indirect war against Russia by providing unprecedented support to the puppet regime in Kiev. Since February last year, Ukraine has received hundreds of tanks, more than four thousand armoured fighting vehicles and armoured motor vehicles, over one thousand one hundred field artillery pieces, as well as dozens of modern multiple-launch rocket systems and anti-aircraft missile systems of Western manufacture. The total amount of assistance from NATO, the European Union and their partners exceeded 160 billion dollars. At the same time, the United States is steadily raising the stakes, seeking from its allies deliveries of increasingly long-range and deadly weapons. In May, British long-range Storm Shadow air-launched guided missiles were transferred to Ukraine. Given the growing shortage of ammunition for Western-manufactured artillery systems in the AFU, Washington has committed a war crime by including cluster munitions, which are prohibited by international convention, in the aid package. In addition, NATO countries are actively considering the transfer of F-16 tactical fighter jets to Kiev. The West's willingness to invest a significant portion of available resources in Ukraine in order to turn the situation on the battlefield in its favour creates serious risks of further escalation of the conflict. Threats to the military security of the Russian Federation have multiplied in the western and north-western strategic directions. A serious destabilising factor is the accession of Finland and, in the long term, Sweden to NATO. After Helsinki joined the alliance, Russia's land border with the NATO countries almost doubled. Additional NATO military contingents and strike weapons are likely to be deployed on Finnish territory, capable of striking critical facilities in northwestern Russia at considerable depth. Existing risks are related to the militarisation of Poland, which has become the main instrument of the United States' anti-Russian policy. Warsaw has announced its intention to build, as the Polish claim, 'the most powerful army on the continent'. In this regard, large-scale purchases of weapons from the United States of America, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Korea, including tanks, artillery systems, air defence and missile defence systems and combat aircraft, have been initiated. In addition, there are plans to establish, on a regular basis, a so-called Polish-Ukrainian formation, ostensibly to ensure the security of western Ukraine, but in fact for the subsequent occupation of that territory. Taking into account the armed forces of the Eastern European countries, about three hundred and sixty thousand military personnel, eight thousand armoured vehicles, six thousand artillery systems and mortars, six hundred and fifty aircraft and helicopters are deployed in the immediate vicinity of the borders of the Union State. The number of formations of extra-regional states of the North Atlantic alliance has increased 2.5 times since last February and exceeded 30 thousand people. These threats to Russia's military security require a timely and adequate response. We will discuss the necessary measures to neutralise them at the meeting and take appropriate decisions". Department for Media Affairs and Information NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syria's Assad says will not meet Erdogan, insists on Turkish troops withdrawal Iran Press TV Wednesday, 09 August 2023 7:07 PM Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has once again ruled out the possibility of a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, insisting on the withdrawal of Turkey's occupation forces from his country. In an exclusive interview with Sky News Arabic on Wednesday, Assad adamantly dismissed rumors of an upcoming meeting with Erdogan despite earlier meetings between Turkish and Syrian defense and foreign ministers under Russian and Iranian mediation to restore strained ties. "Erdogan's goal in meeting me is to legitimize the presence of the Turkish occupation in Syria, so the meeting cannot take place under Erdogan's conditions," Assad said, adding, "Why should I and Erdogan meet? To have soft drinks?" Asked about Erdogan's claims that Turkey's withdrawal from Syria will not take place as long as there is "terrorism" threatening Turkey, Assad replied, "The truth is, terrorism in Syria is a Turkish industry. Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham are different names for one side, all of which are Turkish. They are funded until this moment by Turkey, so what kind of terrorism is he talking about?" The Syrian leader underlined that Ankara must put forward a timetable for the withdrawal of Turkish troops from his country for normalization of ties. Last month, Erdogan said Ankara had not closed the door on peace negotiations with Damascus and that he was "open" to a meeting with his Syrian counterpart. Turkey severed its relations with Syria in March 2012, a year after the Arab country found itself in the grip of deadly violence waged by foreign-backed militants. Now, after over a decade, the two neighboring countries are taking steps toward reconciliation. In the meantime, Turkey deployed forces in Syria in October 2019 in violation of the Arab country's territorial integrity. Ankara-backed militants were deployed to northeastern Syria after Turkish military forces launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion in a declared attempt to push militants of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) away from border areas. Ankara views the US-backed YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984. The Kurdish-led administration in northeastern Syria says the Turkish offensive has killed hundreds of civilians, including dozens of children, since it started. Turkey has also played a major role in supporting terrorists in Syria ever since major foreign-backed insurgency overtook the country more than ten years ago. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syria and UN Agree on Bab al-Hawa Crossing to Opposition Areas By Margaret Besheer August 09, 2023 The United Nations said late Tuesday that it had reached agreement with the Syrian government on the use of a border crossing from Turkey into northwest Syria. "The secretary-general welcomes the understanding reached yesterday by the United Nations and the Government of Syria on the continued use for the next six months of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing to deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance to millions of people in need in north-west Syria," U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said in a statement. For the last nine years, the use of Bab al-Hawa was authorized under a U.N. Security Council resolution, eliminating the need for Syrian government permission. In July, however, Russia, which has sought to gradually shutter the U.N. cross-border aid operation, vetoed a nine-month renewal of Bab al-Hawa, which would have gotten aid agencies and residents through the worst winter months. Damascus later offered to let the U.N. use Bab al-Hawa, but with conditions that humanitarian groups said would have violated their principles of neutrality and impartiality. The U.N. has been working with the leadership to resolve those obstacles but had not resumed using the crossing while negotiations were continuing. Haq said the agreement allows the U.N. and its partners to "lawfully" continue providing cross-border humanitarian assistance "at the necessary scale and in a principled manner that allows engagement with all parties for the purposes of seeking humanitarian access and that safeguards the U.N.'s operational independence." The U.N. moves about 85% of aid to northwest Syria through Bab al-Hawa, making it vital to its aid operation. However, the six-month extension means Damascus could cut off access in February at the height of inter. Haq also said Damascus has given its consent to cross conflict front lines from within Syria at Sarmada and Saraqib for the delivery of assistance for the next six months. While the government wants more cross line aid delivery, it has been slow to give the consents necessary to expand it. Earlier Tuesday Haq told reporters that the government had extended its permission for the U.N. to use two other crossing points from Turkey into opposition-held areas of northwest Syria for an additional three months. He said the U.N. received a letter on August 6 from Damascus notifying it of the decision to renew the Bab al-Salam and Al Ra'ee border crossings until November 13. All three crossings were originally authorized by the U.N. Security Council, overriding any need for the government of President Bashar al-Assad to give its permission. But since 2021, Russia has thrown its support behind the Assad government, which wants to internally control aid distribution, and gradually sought to permanently shut down the council-authorized operation. The U.N. and aid organizations have repeatedly called for border crossing extensions of at least one year. "A six-month agreement raises critical challenges for hiring and retaining staff, procuring supplies and delivering services that require much longer than a 6 month guarantee to implement," said Elias Abu Ata, regional spokesman for the International Rescue Committee. "The extension of an agreement for two additional crossings, initially opened to support the earthquake response for three months, offers little more security." More than 4 million Syrians live in areas outside the government's control and the U.N. says it reaches 2.7 million of them monthly with life-saving aid via Bab al-Hawa. The U.N. says distribution of aid across internal front lines cannot adequately substitute for the volume of supplies it brings in via the cross-border operation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taiwan to carry out a precision missile drill Aug. 15-17 ROC Central News Agency 08/09/2023 05:19 PM Taipei, Aug. 9 (CNA) Taiwan's Air Force and Navy will jointly conduct their annual live-fire exercise using air-to-air and anti-ship missiles in waters off Taiwan's southeastern coast for three days from Aug. 15, according to a military source. Dubbed as a "precision missile drill," the three-day missile live-fire testing on Aug. 15-17 is a major military exercise organized alternately by the Air Force and the Navy every year to assess combat readiness, a military source said. The drill will see Air Force fighters -- Mirage-2000-5s and domestically made Indigenous Defense Fighters -- fire MBDA MICA missiles and F-16Vs to test the firing ability of the AIM-120 medium-range air-to-air missiles, the source said. In the exercise, the Navy will fire Taiwan-made Hsiung Feng anti-ship missiles at four decommissioned vessels, including two Ching Chiang-class patrol vessels and two rescue and salvage ships, the military source said. Taiwan's military concluded its five-day annual Han Kuang live-fire drills testing the Taiwanese military's ability to fend off a Chinese invasion late last month. (By Matt Yu and Shih Hsiu-chuan) Enditem/kb NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Ministry Spokesperson's Remarks on Japanese Politician Taro Aso's Visit to Taiwan and His Irresponsible Comments Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China 2023-08-09 17:28 Q: It was reported that Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party and former Prime Minister of Japan Taro Aso has visited Taiwan, where he met with Tsai Ing-wen, William Lai and others and delivered a speech saying that there should be no war in the region, including the Taiwan Strait, and calling for a posture of strong deterrence and "a readiness to fight". What is your comment? A: Despite China's strong opposition, certain Japanese politician visited China's Taiwan region and made irresponsible remarks that sought to hype up cross-Strait tensions, stoke antagonism and confrontation, and blatantly interfere in China's internal affairs. This seriously violates the one-China principle and the spirit of the four political documents between China and Japan and tramples on the basic norms governing international relations. China has made serious dAmarches to Japan and strongly condemns this. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory and the Taiwan question is entirely China's internal affair that brooks no external interference. For half a century, Japan exercised colonial rule over Taiwan, brutally suppressed its people's resistance and committed atrocious crimes. As a country responsible for the historical crimes it committed against China, Japan needs to all the more draw lessons from history and act prudently. The Japanese politician, however, kept raising the possibility of "a war" whilst in Taiwanaan obvious attempt to stir up trouble in the Taiwan Strait and push the people in the Taiwan region over the edge of an abyss. Today's China is no longer what it was when the Qing government signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895. What makes this Japanese politician think he is in a position or has the confidence to make such unwarranted remarks on Taiwan?a I want to stress that the complete reunification of the motherland is the common aspiration of all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation and an unstoppable historical trend. No one shall underestimate the strong resolve, will and capability of the Chinese people to defend the nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity. We seriously urge Japan to deeply reflect on its history of aggression, abide by the one-China principle and its commitments regarding the Taiwan question, and stop meddling in China's internal affair and lending support to the "Taiwan independence" separatist forces in any form. We also have a clear message for the Taiwan authorities: "Taiwan independence" has no future, soliciting Japan's support and selling Taiwan away will only harm the people in Taiwan, and any attempt to collude with external forces in seeking independence and provocations will only fail.a NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia shoots down Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow, other cities Iran Press TV Wednesday, 09 August 2023 10:39 AM Russia has repelled Ukraine's drones in its latest attack, targeting Moscow and other cities. Russia's air defense system shot down two combat drones heading for the capital, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said Tuesday. In a statement on his Telegram channel, Sobyanin said that one of the drones was destroyed in the vicinity of the Minskoye Highway and the other in the Domodedovo area. He noted that there were no injuries due to falling drone debris and that the authorities were working at the scene. Russian authorities reported that Ukraine carried out attacks on Moscow with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) on July 24, 28 and 30 and Aug. 1 and 6 and there were no dead or injured. The number of drone missile and drone strikes against Russia has dramatically increased in past weeks as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently hinted at a change in Kiev's failed tactics. Ukraine launched a hyped counteroffensive in early June after multiple postponements. Till now, the counteroffensive against Russia has been to no avail. The Kremlin's Spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said that Kiev's counteroffensive, which was launched on June 4, has been unsuccessful on all fronts as Russia continues its special military operation in Ukraine. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova pointed out that Zelensky is compromising the United States by launching drone attacks against civilian targets, trying to blackmail the White House, and its allies, into sending Kiev more money, weapons and munitions despite the Nazi regimes failure to succeed in its stated military objectives. In this regard, a US senator revealed why he is against sending any aid to Ukraine, expressing his strong doubt regarding the Kiev regime's chances in its counteroffensive against Russia's military. Kiev "can't win" against Russia, despite the vast military aid being pumped to fight the West's proxy war against Moscow there, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), speaking on The Ingraham Angle on Monday. The senior Republican senator explained to US media, "Yes, we're not getting the point in Washington, DC aAt the end of the day, it's a junior high team playing a college team. They can't win." What Washington is doing is "trying to get everybody's eye off the real problem," which is "the Biden administration and the Democrats. They're a total disaster," according to the Republican senator. Meantime, Russian forces thwarted six Ukrainian attempted attacks in the Svatovo and Krasny Liman directions, with the enemy losing some 60 soldiers, Alexander Savchuk, the chief press correspondent at Russia's Center Group of Forces told Russian media. "Units of the Center Group of Forces, supported by artillery fire and air strikes, have thwarted and repulsed six attempted attacks by assault groups of the 21st and 42nd Mechanized Brigades and the 68th Jaeger Brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces during the active defense on the occupied lines. The enemy's losses amounted to about 60 soldiers," head of the press center told Sputnik. Savchuk added that an infantry fighting vehicle, an armored vehicle and two pickup trucks have been destroyed. The forces have also hit two Ukrainian strongholds, a command and observation post and two temporary military personnel hubs. Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine On February 24, 2022, aiming to liberate the Donbas region where the People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev's forces. In the meantime, the collective West continues to flood Kiev with weapons while slapping economic sanctions on Moscow. In related news, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on phone with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. The two leaders discussed preparations for the upcoming BRICS summit, as well as bilateral cooperation. In the meantime, senior officials from over 40 countries gathered in Jeddah this week to discuss about possible ways as to how to end Ukraine's war. However, Russia says without Moscow's participation in the two-day meeting hosted by Saudi Arabia the gathering lacks legitimacy. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Two Dead In Russian Attack On Residential Area Of Zaporizhzhya By Current Time, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service August 09, 2023 A Russian attack on a residential area of the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhya killed two people and injured seven, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on August 9 as the Ukrainian military's counteroffensive operations continued along the front line. Klymenko said there had been a report about a third death in the strike on Zaporizhzhya but the person was resuscitated with the help of police paramedics and doctors on the spot, he said on Telegram. He said firefighters extinguished a fire that the strike caused in a utility building. The Interior Ministry reported that a church and a supermarket were destroyed as a result of the rocket strike. "The rescue operation is ongoing. All victims will be provided with the necessary assistance. And this war crime of Russia will certainly receive its verdict," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram. The city lies about 50 kilometers northeast of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant, which has been occupied by Russian forces since early in the war. Shelling near the plant has repeatedly raised fears of a nuclear accident. The General Staff of the Ukrainian military earlier cited more than 30 frontline clashes amid the 2-month-old counteroffensive. It said enemy air strikes had hit more than 15 settlements in the area around Zaporizhzhya. Russian shelling also battered 10 settlements and the city of Kherson. The General Staff claimed Ukrainian defenses in the eastern Donetsk region were "firmly holding" in the area of Bakhmut and had repelled attacks, but that Russian shelling had "affected" more than 15 settlements there. The Ukrainian military also claimed "successful combat operations" had "increased significantly" the losses among Russian units, particularly around the Svativskiy and Kreminskiy areas of Luhansk. The chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk regional council, in central Ukraine, Serhiy Lysak, said that an 18-year-old man was killed and three others injured by Russian shelling of the city of Nikopol overnight. RFE/RL cannot confirm accounts by either side in areas of the heaviest fighting. Russian officials, meanwhile, claimed to have safely defeated an overnight attack by unmanned drones in the Moscow region that they blamed on Kyiv. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Russia's Defense Ministry said early on August 9 that air-defense forces had shot down two drones. "There was an attempt to fly over the city by two combat drones," Sobyanin said via Telegram early on August 9. "Both shot down by air defense. One in the Domodedovo area, the second in the Minsk highway area." He said emergency responders were at the scenes. Later, the Russian Defense Ministry said forces had "thwarted" what it called "an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack by unmanned vehicles," adding "there were no casualties or damage." Kyiv, which has avoided confirming possible attacks on Russian territory since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began 17 months ago, did not initially respond to the accusation. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-offensive- russia-drones/32540307.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address One Killed, Dozens Injured After Powerful Blast Hits Optical Plant Outside Moscow By RFE/RL's Russian Service, Current Time August 09, 2023 Local officials in Russia say an explosion at an optical plant in the city of Sergiyev Posad, about 70 kilometers outside Moscow, killed one person and injured at least 43 people on August 9. Five of the injured are in intensive care with serious burns or head injuries, according to the city administration's Telegram account. Some of the 43 people admitted to a regional hospital have shrapnel injuries, it said. Officials at the city's central hospital said that a woman had succumbed to wounds sustained in the blast. Independent Telegram channel Baza shared images of a tall cloud of smoke and identified the site as the Zagorsk Optical and Mechanical Plant, which produces night-vision and other optical devices for the military. Russian officials later confirmed the location. Russian news agency TASS has quoted the emergency services as rejecting assertions on social media that the cause of the blast was a drone attack. That speculation has been fueled by months of remote attacks in Russia that Moscow blames on Kyiv along with Russian reports it "thwarted" two fresh drone attacks near Moscow overnight. TASS said the blast happened where pyrotechnics were being kept and destroyed a 1,600-square-meter warehouse. An unexplained fire damaged the same Zagorsk plant in June 2022. Russian officials have on multiple occasions dismissed credible reports of attacks damaging military or other targets inside Russia since President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. They have described such attacks as a "red line" in the ongoing war, which marks a dramatic escalation of a conflict that began with a covert invasion of Crimea in 2014. Ukrainian officials have generally avoided publicly confirming any role in suspected drone or other operations that strike across the countries' internationally recognized border. With reporting by Reuters, Baza, and TASS Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-blast-factory- sergiyev-posad/32540529.html Copyright (c) 2023. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Latest in Ukraine: Russia Says It Shot Down Two Ukrainian Drones Aimed at Moscow By VOA News August 09, 2023 Latest Developments: Dozens of secondhand German-made Leopard 1 tanks that once belonged to Belgium have been bought by another European country for Ukrainian forces fighting Russia's invasion, the arms trader who did the deal said. Dozens of ships are backed up around critical Danube arteries close to Ukraine's river gateways days after Russian drone attacks on the country's ports, shipping data show. The river and its mouth are Ukraine's last remaining waterborne grain export route. Britain slapped new sanctions on 25 companies and individuals to "close the net" on Russian President Vladimir Putin's access to foreign military equipment. Those targeted include people and businesses in Turkey, Dubai, Slovakia and Switzerland that the Foreign Office said are "supporting the illegal war in Ukraine." Russian authorities say its air defenses shot down two Ukrainian drones aimed at Moscow Wednesday. Moscow Mayor Sergie Sobyanin said one of the aerial drones was shot down in the Domodedovo region south of the capital, which is home to one of Moscow's busiest international airports, while the other was downed near the Minsk highway west of the city. Sobyanin said there were no injuries or damages from the incident, which the Russian defense ministry described as an attempted "terrorist attack." Moscow has been the target of suspected Ukrainian drone attacks since May, when a drone was destroyed over the Kremlin. Moscow has also blamed Kyiv for a series of naval drone attacks on Russian civilian and military targets in the Black Sea. Ukraine usually neither confirms nor denies such attacks. Wednesday's suspected attacks come two days after at least nine people were killed in two back-to-back Russian missile attacks on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that 82 people were wounded, including two children. Pokrovsk is in the Donetsk region, which has been the scene of some of the most intense fighting since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022. Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of Donetsk, says the two missiles struck about 40 minutes apart, destroying residential buildings, restaurants, shops and administrative buildings and a hotel popular with foreign journalists, aid workers and the military. Two people were killed in Russian missile strikes in Kruhliakivka village in Kupiansk district, according to Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential administration. Germany offers extended military support for Poland Germany has offered to extend the deployment of its Patriot missile defense systems in Poland, likely until the end of the year, the Defense Ministry said in a statement released Tuesday. Berlin sent three Patriot units to eastern Poland in January after a deadly blast struck a Polish village in late 2022. The strike is believed to have been from a stray Ukrainian air defense missile. Originally, the deployment of the U.S.-made systems was to be for a maximum of six months. But the Defense Ministry said it had offered Poland to keep the systems "over the summer, probably until the end of the year." However, starting in 2024, the systems would be an "important contribution" to a NATO rapid response force, the ministry said, adding there would be no extension beyond 2023 for Poland. Poland initially pushed back against Germany's offer of the Patriot units, instead calling on Berlin to send the weaponry to Ukraine. Germany, which has been a major contributor of weapons to Kyiv, later sent a Patriot system to Ukraine as well. Some information for this article came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address BEIJING, Aug. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global Gum Rosin Market size was valued at USD 1.4 Billion in 2022 and is projected to attain USD 2.3 Billion by 2032 mounting at a CAGR of 5.2% from 2023 to 2032. The Global Gum Rosin Market is poised for consistent growth in the upcoming years, driven by the widespread utilization of gum rosin across various industries such as adhesives, printing inks, rubber softeners, and paper sizing agents. This comprehensive article delves into the dynamics of the gum rosin market, exploring its growth trajectory, key drivers, potential challenges, regional trends, and the leading players shaping the industry landscape. With gum rosin finding extensive applications in diverse sectors, especially in the adhesives industry, the market is set for positive expansion, catering to the demand for sustainable and natural ingredients. Gum Rosin Market Key Highlights and Statistics: Anticipating a promising CAGR of 5.2% during 2023-2032, the Gum Rosin Market is projected to achieve a substantial value of USD 2.3 billion by 2032 expanding from the current value of USD 1.4 billion in 2022. In 2022, Asia Pacific took the lead with a growth share exceeding 6% CAGR between 2023 and 2032. Additionally, the water wide (WW) grade segment has a share of USD 690 million in 2022. Notably, the development of rosin derivatives and hydrogenated rosins are emerging trends that are gaining traction in the market. Request For Free Sample Report @ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/request-sample/3314 Gum Rosin Market Report Coverage: Market Gum Rosin Market Gum Rosin Market Size 2022 USD 1.4 Billion Gum Rosin Market Forecast 2032 USD 2.3 Billion Gum Rosin Market CAGR During 2023 - 2032 5.2% Gum Rosin Market Analysis Period 2020 - 2032 Gum Rosin Market Base Year 2022 Gum Rosin Market Forecast Data 2023 - 2032 Segments Covered By Grade, By Application, And By Geography Gum Rosin Market Regional Scope North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa Key Companies Profiled DRT (Derives Resiniques et Terpeniques), Forestar Chemical Co., Ltd., Guangdong KOMO Co., Ltd., Indonesia Pinus, Ingevity Corporation, IRE, ISEGAUR, Kraton Corporation, Pinova Holdings, Inc., Resinall Corporation, Shanghai Lomon Corporation, and Wuzhou Sun Shine Forestry & Chemicals Co., Ltd. Report Coverage Market Trends, Drivers, Restraints, Competitive Analysis, Player Profiling, Regulation Analysis Gum Rosin Market Outlook and Opportunities: The market outlook for gum rosin is positive, driven by the increasing demand for natural adhesives and binders, especially from the packaging and paper industries. Gum rosin is favored over petroleum-based ingredients due to the growing consumer preference for natural products. The expansion of the chewing gum production industry also contributes to the market growth. However, concerns related to the sustainability of tapping pine trees for gum rosin extraction may present challenges to the market's growth. Tapping pine trees can damage the trees and lead to the spread of diseases. Additionally, the harvesting of gum rosin can have a negative impact on the environment, as it can lead to deforestation and the loss of biodiversity. To address these concerns, companies are working to develop sustainable methods of harvesting gum rosin. For example, some companies are using new technologies to tap pine trees without damaging them. Additionally, some companies are working to plant new pine trees to replace those that are harvested. These efforts are helping to ensure that the gum rosin market can continue to grow in a sustainable way. Gum Rosin Market Major Growth Drivers: Wide-ranging Applications: Gum rosin finds extensive use in adhesives, printing inks, and chewing gums, making it a versatile ingredient in various industries. Consumer Preference for Natural Ingredients: The rising inclination of consumers towards natural ingredients fuels the demand for gum rosin in applications like adhesives. Growth of Packaging Industry: The packaging industry's growth, along with the rise in e-commerce shipments, boosts the demand for gum rosin as a natural adhesive. Advancements in Extraction and Purification: Ongoing advancements in the extraction and purification processes enhance the quality and usability of gum rosin. Increased Usage in Soaps, Rubber, and Websites: Gum rosin's hydrophobic properties drive its adoption in products like soaps, rubber softeners, and even websites. Gum Rosin Market Key Challenges: Sustainability Concerns: Sustainable sourcing of gum rosin presents concerns related to the environmental impact of tapping pine trees for resin extraction. Supply Fluctuations: Climate factors affecting pine growth can lead to supply fluctuations, impacting gum rosin availability. Oil Price Volatility: The volatility in crude oil prices can influence rosin costs, affecting the market dynamics. Competition from Tall Oil Rosin: Gum rosin faces competition from cheaper alternatives like tall oil rosin, which may impact market demand. Tack Retention and Aging Resistance Limitations: Gum rosin's limitations in terms of tack retention and aging resistance pose challenges in certain applications. Check the detailed table of contents of the report @ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/table-of-content/gum-rosin-market Gum Rosin Market Segmentation: Based on the Grades Window Glass (WG) Grade Water Wide (WW) Grade X K Others Based on the Applications Paper Sizing Printing Inks Adhesives & Sealants Soaps & Reagents Coating & Paints Other Gum Rosin Market Regional Insights: In 2022, Asia Pacific dominated the gum rosin market, with China and Indonesia leading in production. China accounted for the largest share of the global market, while Indonesia accounted for a significant share as well. The remaining was shared by Europe, North America, and other regions. The gum rosin market is expected to continue to grow in the coming years, driven by increasing demand from the construction, automotive, and paper industries. Buy this premium research report https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/buy-now/0/3314 Gum Rosin Market Leading Companies: Key players making substantial contributions to the Gum Rosin Market include Wuzhou Pine Chemicals, Forestar Chemical Co. Ltd., PT. Naval Overseas, Wuzhou Sun Shine Forestry & Chemicals Co. Ltd., Punjab Rosin and Chemicals Works, Deqing Yinlong Industrial Co. Ltd., and Changhua Rosin (China) International Trading Co. Ltd. Browse More Research Topic on Chemicals Industries Related Reports: The Global Titanium Nitride (TiN) Coating Market Size accounted for USD 5.1 Billion in 2022 and is projected to achieve a market size of USD 10.5 Billion by 2032 growing at a CAGR of 7.7% from 2023 to 2032. The Global Urban Farming Market Size accounted for USD 202.9 Million in 2022 and is projected to achieve a market size of USD 261.1 Million by 2032 growing at a CAGR of 2.7% from 2023 to 2032. The Global Thermochromic Pigments Market Size accounted for USD 495.1 Million in 2022 and is estimated to achieve a market size of USD 857.2 Million by 2032 growing at a CAGR of 5.7% from 2023 to 2032. Browse Our Official Website Press release: https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/press-releases/gum-rosin-market About Acumen Research and Consulting: Acumen Research and Consulting is a global provider of market intelligence and consulting services to information technology, investment, telecommunication, manufacturing, and consumer technology markets. ARC helps investment communities, IT professionals, and business executives to make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and develop firm growth strategies to sustain market competition. With the team size of 100+ Analysts and collective industry experience of more than 200 years, Acumen Research and Consulting assures to deliver a combination of industry knowledge along with global and country level expertise. For Latest Update Follow Us on Twitter , Instagram and LinkedIn Contact Us: Mr. Richard Johnson Acumen Research and Consulting USA: +13474743864 India: +918983225533 E-mail: sales@acumenresearchandconsulting.com 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 LAW CALGARY, Alberta, Aug. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- High Arctic Energy Services Inc. (TSX: HWO) "High Arctic" or the "Corporation announces today that Daniel Bordessa has tendered his resignation as a director effective immediately. Mr. Bordessa has been a director of the Corporation since April 2011. Mr. Bordessa sits on the Boards Audit, QHSE, Remuneration and Executive Committees. The Board will replace Mr. Bordessa on these committees from among the four remaining directors. Mr. Bordessa is a partner of Cyrus Capital Partners, L.P. (Cyrus). Cyrus is the investment manager to certain funds who are the sole shareholders of FBC Holdings Sarl (FBC). FBC owned 21,916,634 common share or 45.0% of the issued and outstanding common shares of High Arctic as of July 20, 2023. The Corporation has been informed by Cyrus that they continue to support High Arctic and its Board of Directors in their efforts to maximize value for all shareholders through the contemplated reorganization. Michael Binnion, High Arctics Chairman stated: On behalf of the board I would like to thank Dan for his dedication and commitment to High Arctic over the past twelve years. Dan has played an important role in the evolution of High Arctic and we wish him all the best. His departure provides the rest of the board the opportunity to independently contemplate imminent key decisions, in the interest of all shareholders. About High Arctic High Arctic is an energy services provider. High Arctic is a market leader in Papua New Guinea providing drilling and specialized well completion services and supplies rental equipment including rig matting, camps, material handling and drilling support equipment. In western Canada, High Arctic provides pressure control equipment on a rental basis to exploration and production companies. For further information, please contact: Mike Maguire Chief Executive Officer 1.587.318.3826 1.800.668.7143 High Arctic Energy Services Inc. Suite 2350, 3305th Avenue SW Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 0L4 website: www.haes.ca Email: info@haes.ca CALGARY, Alberta, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Traction Uranium Corp. (CSE: TRAC) (OTC: TRCTF) (FRA: Z1K) (the Company or Traction) is pleased to announce, further to its press release dated May 17, 2023, that Aurora Geosciences Ltd. (Aurora) has completed a Technical Report in respect of the Key Lake South Property (KLS Property) pursuant to National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) . Drilling The 2023 program was comprised solely of an 1,838 m diamond drilling program in 12 holes, covering numerous widely spaced targets in the northeastern area of the property. At each hole, a down-hole gamma ray survey was performed to test for gamma radiation, including readings through overburden, to test for glacially transported or other surficial radioactive material. Summary of the Technical Report The majority of anomalous thorium (Th) intercepts are associated with rare earth elements (REEs), locally returning strongly anomalous values. Many of these intercepts are pegmatite-hosted, although amphibolite and structurally-hosted intercepts also occur. The northwestern property area, including hole KLS23-007, is the most favourable area for Uranium and REE mineralization. The area around KLS23-007 is along trend of the structural feature underlying the Key Lake deposits to the northeast, extending to anomalous Th-REE mineralization drilled in 2008 to the SW. Hole KLS23-008, collared southwest of KLS-007, pierced the contact of Upper Wollaston Group orthogneiss with underlying Lower Wollaston Group metapelites. A short interval of anomalous Thorium-REE values occurs directly below the contact. Anomalous Th-REE values from the 2008 drilling are hosted by pegmatites within metapelites. Uranium, Th-REE mineralization may provide an alternate exploration target at Key Lake South. Recommendations of the Technical Report Phase 1 surface soil geochemical program is recommended to test for overburden-hosted mineralization identified from down-hole gamma ray probe testing of KLS23-007. The objective will include testing its lateral surface extent up-ice from the drill collar. This program should be combined with further geological mapping in areas of bedrock or rubblecrop exposure. About the Property The KLS Property is located approximately 6 kilometers to the southwest of the Key Lake uranium mill and in close vicinity to modern uranium mining facilities and all-weather highway transportation in northern Saskatchewan. Geologically, it sits at the southeastern edge of the Proterozoic Athabasca Basin. Recent discoveries of the Triple R and Arrow deposits have demonstrated further potential for high-grade uranium prospects along the edge of the basin. Geological Setting The Key Lake property is located along the south-east margin of the Athabasca Basin within the Hearne province of the Canadian Shield. In the Key Lake area, Hearne province basement rocks include the Wollaston domain, comprised of the lower and upper Wollaston groups. The lower Wollaston group, which underlies the Key Lake mine, comprises mainly metasedimentary gneisses (metapelites), whereas the upper Wollaston group comprises mainly metamorphosed granitic orthogneiss, pegmatites and lesser basaltic rocks (amphibolite). The basement rocks are overlain by younger Athabasca Basin rocks, comprising a sequence of sandstone up to 1,500 m thick. The southern margin of the basin occurs between the Key Lake mine and the Key Lake South property. The Key Lake mine is located along the district-scale Key Lake fault, which extends southwest onto, and extending throughout, the KLS property. Faults such as this may have provided the structural preparation for subsequent fluid movement, leading to basement-hosted uranium deposition. At the Key Lake South property the Key Lake fault separates metasedimentary rocks to the northwest from metagranitic rocks to the southeast. In the Key Lake South area, the prospective deposit setting is Basement-hosted Uranium, as there are no overlying Athabasca Group sandstones. Basement-hosted uranium deposits in the Athabasca area include the Rabbit Lake, Eagle Point, Millenium, and P-Patch deposits, the latter occurring 6 km east of the Key Lake mine. In this setting, mineralization occurs along zones of structural preparation, such as brittle fault zones, associated with hematization, bleaching, strongly developed epidote and chlorite alteration and local silicification. About Traction Uranium Corp. Traction Uranium Corp. is in the business of mineral exploration and the development of uranium discovery prospects in Canada, including its three uranium projects in the world-renowned Athabasca Region. We invite you to find out more about our exploration-stage activities across Canadas Western region at www.tractionuranium.com . Qualified Person The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Ken Wheatley, M.Sc., P. Geo., who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, and a consultant of the Company. On Behalf of The Board of Directors Lester Esteban Chief Executive Officer +1 (604) 561 2687 info@tractionuranium.com Forward-Looking Statements This news release includes forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. The Company provides forward-looking statements for the purpose of conveying information about current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. By its nature, this information is subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections, or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct, and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved. These risks and uncertainties include those risks identified and reported in the Companys public filings under the Companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by law. The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the information contained herein. Dublin, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Smart Pills Market by Application (Capsule Endoscopy, Drug Delivery, Patient Monitoring), Target Area (Esophagus, Small Intestine, Large Intestine, Stomach), End User (Hospitals, Diagnostic Centers), Region - Global Forecast to 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. According to the report, the global smart pills market is projected to reach USD 1.1 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 11.8% during the forecast period from USD 0.6 billion in 2023. Market Dynamics: The smart pills market is witnessing significant growth due to several key factors. The rise in demand for non-invasive diagnostic monitoring devices, coupled with technological advancements in capsule endoscopy, has been driving market expansion. Additionally, notable developments in capsule endoscopy technology have contributed to market growth. The need for advanced drug delivery systems and the requirement for a rapid drug development process present promising opportunities for market players. However, the market growth may be somewhat restricted due to the technological limitations of smart pills in certain conditions. Premium Insights: The report highlights several premium insights driving the growth of the smart pills market. The vital sign monitoring segment is expected to experience the highest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during the forecast period. This growth is attributed to the increasing demand for precise and accurate measurement of inner body temperature and the need for seamless integration with digital health systems in conventional vital sign monitoring devices. As healthcare systems focus on interoperability and comprehensive patient records, the adoption of smart pills is projected to increase due to their advanced connectivity and compatibility with digital health systems. Case Study Analysis: The report showcases a case study analysis of the target area segmentation. The large intestine target area accounted for the second-largest share of the market in 2022. This growth is attributed to the rising cases of colorectal cancer and the demand for effective screening, diagnosis, and monitoring of inflammatory bowel diseases and other gastrointestinal disorders. Smart pills are being increasingly adopted in the large intestine as they can access areas of the colon that may be challenging to visualize with traditional methods. Companies Mentioned: The key players in the smart pills market include RF Co., Ltd (Japan), etectrx(US), Olympus Corporation (Japan), BodyCap (France), Chongqing Jinshan Science Technology (Group) Co., Ltd (China), Check-Cap Ltd. (Israel), CapsoVision, Inc. (US), ANX Robotica Corp. (US), Medtronic plc (US), IntroMedic (South Korea), Shenzen Jifu Medical Technology Co., Ltd (China), and Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. (US). SEO Optimisation: To optimize search engine visibility, this press release includes relevant keywords such as "Smart Pills Market," "Global Smart Pills Market," "Smart Pills Market Forecast," "Vital Sign Monitoring," "Large Intestine Target Area," "Diagnostic Centers," "European Smart Pills Market," and "Key Players in Smart Pills Market." Research Coverage: The report analyzes the smart pills market and estimates its size and future growth potential based on application, target area, and end user segments. It also provides a product portfolio matrix of various smart pills products available in the market. Furthermore, the report includes a competitive analysis of key players in the market, along with their company profiles, service offerings, and key market strategies. Market: Dynamics Drivers Rising Demand for Noninvasive Diagnostic Monitoring Devices Technological Advancements in Capsule Endoscopy Increasing Incidence of Colon Cancer Restraints High Costs Technical Limitations Associated with the Accuracy of Smart Pills Opportunities Growing Demand for Advanced Drug Delivery Systems Rising Need for Rapid Drug Delivery Development Challenges Patient Privacy Concerns Industry Trends Advancements in Sensor Technology Integration with Wearable Devices Technology Analysis Self-Powered Ingestible Smart Pill Adaptive Frame Rate Technology IMAG (Ingestible Microdevices for Anatomic Mapping of Gastrointestinal Tract) The smart pills market is poised for substantial growth, driven by advancements in technology and increasing demand for non-invasive diagnostics. With a focus on providing precise and accurate healthcare solutions, the market is witnessing significant opportunities for innovative drug delivery systems and rapid development processes. Diagnostic centers, hospitals, and other end users are embracing smart pills to enhance diagnostic capabilities and patient experiences. Europe stands as a significant market, attributing its growth to an aging population and the rising utilization of capsule endoscopy for gastrointestinal bleeding. Leading companies are actively contributing to market expansion, leveraging advanced technologies and seamless integration. Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 150 Forecast Period 2023 - 2028 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $0.6 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2028 $1.1 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 11.8% Regions Covered Global For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/q4f7yw 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 CALGARY, Alberta, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sylogist Ltd. (TSX: SYZ) ("Sylogist" or the "Company"), a leading public sector SaaS company, today announced its Q2 financial results for the three months ending June 30, 2023. Q2 2023 Financial Highlights Record revenue of $16.7 million, up 21% Y/Y Recurring revenue up 8%; SaaS revenues up 9% Y/Y Gross margin at 61% Adjusted EBITDA of $4.3 million or 26% Adjusted EBITDA margin Bookings of $6.1 million Backlog of $28.9 million The strong results we delivered in Q2 are further evidence of the successful transformation of our business over the last two years, commented Bill Wood, CEO of Sylogist. For investors, the strategic investments weve made and our focus on customer satisfaction, combined with the execution of our go-to-market strategy, drove another strong quarter. To that end, we expect demand for our SylogistMission, SylogistEd and SylogistGov platforms to continue throughout the second half of the year. Sylogists Board of Directors approved a dividend of $0.01 per share for shareholders of record on August 31 (ex-dividend August 30, 2023) to be paid on September 13, 2023. Such dividend is treated as an eligible dividend under the Income Tax Act (Canada). The Company will host a conference call at 10:30 AM Eastern Time on August 10, 2023. Bill Wood, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Sujeet Kini, Chief Financial Officer, will present the Company's financial results, discuss performance as well as outlook for the remainder of 2023 and beyond. Interested parties are invited to join the call at 1-800-806-5484 (Canada/USA Toll Free) or 416-340-2217. The participant passcode is 9270740#. A question-and-answer session will follow, and a replay will be archived in the investor section of the Companys website. About Sylogist Sylogist provides mission-critical SaaS solutions to over 2,000 public sector customers globally across the government, non-profit, and education verticals. The Company's stock is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol SYZ. Information about Sylogist, inclusive of full financial statements together with Managements Discussion and Analysis, can be found at www.sylogist.com . Forward-looking Statements Certain statements in this news release may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws and regulations. These statements typically use words such as expect, believe, estimate, project, anticipate, plan, may, should, could and would, or the negative of these terms, variations thereof or similar terminology. Forward-looking information in this news release includes statements made, if any, with respect to Sylogists confidence in future quarters or future fiscal years. By their very nature, forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific in nature. It is therefore possible that the beliefs and plans and other forward-looking expectations expressed herein will not be achieved or will prove inaccurate. Although Sylogist believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it provides no assurance that these expectations will prove to have been correct. 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, including its inability to attract key employees or enlist customer support, its inability to develop innovative technology, its inability to find opportunities to deploy free cash flow, impacts of public health crises (including the COVID-19 pandemic), and economic turmoil. Additional information regarding some of these risks, uncertainties and other factors may be found in the Companys Annual Information Form for the fiscal period ended December 31, 2022, and in the Managements Discussion and Analysis for the quarters ended March 31, 2023, and June 30, 2023, and other documents available on the Companys profile at www.sedarplus.ca. Material assumptions and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include Sylogists ability to attract and retain employees and customers and to realize on its investments, the ability to expand technology partner and customer relationships and the acceleration of organic and inorganic growth. Although Sylogist believes that the material assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur. Sylogist disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. Certain information set out herein may be considered as financial outlook within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The purpose of this financial outlook is to provide readers with disclosure regarding Sylogists reasonable expectations as to the anticipated results of its proposed business activities for the periods indicated. Readers are cautioned that the financial outlook may not be appropriate for other purposes. Non-IFRS Financial Measures This news release makes reference to certain non-IFRS measures. These measures are not recognized measures under IFRS, do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. These measures are provided as additional information to complement measures under IFRS by providing further understanding of the Companys expected results of operations from managements perspective. Accordingly, such measures should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for analysis of the Companys financial information reported under IFRS. Backlog, Bookings, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin and Constant Currency revenue growth are non-IFRS financial measures. Backlog refers to the value of contracted revenue that is not yet recognized and includes unrecognized contracted revenues, from SaaS subscription contracts and maintenance and support contracts as well as project services revenues that have not been recognized or have not been invoiced to date but will be in future periods. Bookings are the total value of customer contracts, entered into during the reporting period, that are new, committed and incremental to our existing contracts and are inclusive of new, committed and incremental project services engagements. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as: profit for the period before stock-based compensation expense, share-based payments, foreign exchange gains or losses, interest expense, bargain purchase price on acquisitions, income taxes, acquisition-related costs, change in purchase consideration fair value, and depreciation and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA Margin refers to Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue. Constant Currency revenue growth is defined as the growth in revenue exclusive of the impact of foreign exchange rate changes. Backlog, Bookings, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA Margin, and Constant Currency revenue growth are provided to investors as alternative methods for assessing the Companys operating results in a manner that is focused on the Companys ongoing operations and to provide a more consistent basis for comparison between periods. These measures should not be construed as alternatives to profit or cash flow from operating activities determined in accordance with IFRS as an indicator of the Companys performance. For further information regarding non-IFRS measures used by the Company, please refer to the Managements Discussion and Analysis of the Company, copies of which are available on Sylogist's SEDAR profile at www.sedarplus.ca. For further information contact: Sujeet Kini, Chief Financial Officer Sylogist Ltd. (403) 266-4808 ir@sylogist.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ba45b092-d839-4639-aa81-65e18006c36b VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- COLLECTIVE METALS INC. (CSE: COMT | OTC: CLLMF | FSE: TO1 ) (the Company or Collective) is pleased to discuss geophysical results acquired by a previous operator and implications for its Princeton Project in southwest British Columbia (the Flagship Project or the Project). The exploration targets for the Project are multiple Alkalic Cu-Au porphyry associated with Triassic age diorite intrusions similar to that being currently mined at Copper Mountain, located approximately 10 km east which represents the deposit model for the Project. Our exploration model resembles the model used at Kodiak Coppers MPD property, located approximately 30 km to the north-northeast. Documented mineralized occurrences are present within, and adjacent to, our Project, supported by a wealth of information acquired by previous operators, the BC Geological Survey Branch and Geoscience BC (see News Release dated July 5, 2023). Kodiak Copper has demonstrated the benefit and cost effectiveness of 3D IP surveys in identifying and delineating new subsurface targets associated with their project. A 3D IP survey was completed by the previous operator on the Trojan Condor Corrido in our current Project area, a comparatively small area in the central portion of the property underlying several showings and the Trojan (092HSE267) and NEV MINFILE (092HSE112) occurrences. Chris Huggins, Chief Executive Officer of Collective, commented, The results of the Geophysical data provide great insights and allows Collective to compare the Princeton Projects geophysics to Kodiaks and Copper Mountains. The Company will use this data along with our other programs to develop high priority targets for drilling. The eastern portion of the survey is concealed by Princeton Group cover, which hinders identification of geophysical anomalies. Despite that, several anomalies were identified (Fig. 1). These results indicate that additional potential targets of interest are present below the Princeton Group cover sequence underlying the east side of the survey area. The most significant features of interest from this limited survey are the highly prominent Bolas and Condor anomalies (Fig. 1 and 2) underlying the west side of the survey area. The very strong Condor geophysical anomaly extends from surface to a depth of at least 500m (the interpreted limit of reliable signal penetration with depth) and is associated with surface mineralization. The adjacent Bolas anomaly increases in intensity with depth, associated with surface mineralization. The three nodes evident at shallow depth (i.e., 50 m; Fig. 1) progressively merge with depth into a strong geophysical anomaly similar to the Condor. The interpretation of the previous operator was that the 3D IP geophysical anomalies represent an increased proportion of sulphides related to spatially associated diorite intrusions. A large number of subsurface geophysical anomalies are present, ranging from weak through moderate to the very strong Bolad and Condor anomalies. Furthermore, our interpretation indicates strong potential for identification of sulphide mineralization, including copper sulphides, as documented by surface soil and rock geochemical results. Ultimately, the presence of multiple mineralized showings, as documented by the previous operator and MINFILE occurrences, is interpreted to indicate potential for multiple, mineralized porphyries associated with the large, spatially associated, high intensity magnetic anomaly (see News Release dated May 10, 2023). In summary, the Princeton Project is interpreted to host a sub-surface, potentially mineralized intrusive complex similar to that exposed at Copper Mountain (see News Release dated August 1, 2023). Figure 1 Inverted Chargeability data at a depth of 50 m in the Trojan Condor Corridor. Surface showings identified by the previous operator are indicated. A circular magnetic feature is outlined by the white dashed line. The dark pink features evident on the underlying geology map are Triassic age diorite intrusions mapped at surface, spatially associated with the 3D IP geophysical anomalies, hosted by Nicola Group host rocks (green). These rocks were subsequently overlain by the Princeton Group (yellow), which cover the rocks of interest underlying the east side of the survey area. Figure 2 An angled perspective of the inverted 3D IP results, viewed from depth below the survey area upward toward the northeast. The high priority Bolas and Condor anomalies are clearly evident, as are several of the moderate, comparatively smaller anomalies (Note: more weak to moderate anomalies were identified, obscured in this perspective view by the vertical edges defining the west-southwest and east-southeast limits of the survey area). The Companys Flagship Project is easily accessible by road and is located immediately west of Highway 3 south of Princeton, BC, in a well-established mining district with excellent infrastructure, a local workforce and support services. The Project hosts potential for identification of one (or more) copper gold alkalic porphyry occurrences similar in age and deposit type to the Copper Mountain Mine. The Project is also approximately 10 km west of Copper Mountain Mining Corporations currently producing Copper Mountain Mine, which hosts a Proven and Probable Mineral Reserve of 702 Mt of 0.24% Copper.1 Qualified Person This news release has been reviewed and approved by Rick Walker, P. Geo., who is acting as the Companys Qualified Person for the Princeton Property project, in accordance with regulations under NI 43-101. The information disclosed is not necessarily indicative of mineralization on the Princeton Project. References 1 Copper Mountain Mine Life of Mine Plan and 65Kt/D Expansion Study Update NI 43-101 Report, Richard Klue, VP Technical Services, CMMC; Patrick Redmond, VP Exploration and Geoscience, CMMC; Luis Alberto Chang, VP Mining, CMMC; Berge Simonian, Director of Metallurgy, CMMC; Amaru Humala, Director of Mechanical Engineering, CMMC Scott Weston, VP Business Development and Strategy, Ausenco; August 1, 2022. About Collective Metals: Collective Metals Inc. (CSE: COMT | OTC: CLLMF | FSE: TO1 ) is a resource exploration company specializing in precious metals exploration in North America. The Companys flagship property is the Princeton Project, located in south-central British Columbia, Canada, approximately 10 km west of the currently producing Copper Mountain Mine. The Princeton Project consists of 29 mineral tenures totaling approximately 28,560 ha (70,570 acres) in a well-documented and prolific copper-gold porphyry belt and is easily accessible by road, located immediately west of Highway 3. The Companys Landings Lake Lithium Project is located in northwestern Ontario where numerous lithium deposits have been delineated to host significant reserves of Li 2 O. The Landings Lake Lithium Project is located 53 km east of Ear Falls, Ontario and covers 3,146 hectares. The Whitemud Project, with several identified pegmatite outcrops, neighbours the Landings Lake Project and consists of 381 single cell mining claims totaling 7,775 hectares. Social Media ON BEHALF OF COLLECTIVE METALS INC. Christopher Huggins Chief Executive Officer T: 604-968-4844 E: chris@collectivemetalsinc.com Forward Looking Information Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements, including with respect to future plans, and other matters. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such information can generally be identified by the use of forwarding-looking wording such as "may", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "intend", "believe" and "continue" or the negative thereof or similar variations. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of any forward-looking information may prove to be incorrect. Events or circumstances may cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted, as a result of numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including but not limited to, business, economic and capital market conditions, the ability to manage operating expenses, and dependence on key personnel. Forward looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements respecting: interpretation of the geology and potential work on the Project. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, anticipated costs, and the ability to achieve goals. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, the continued availability of capital and financing, litigation, failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations, loss of key employees and consultants, and general economic, market or business conditions. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed this press release and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Photos accompanying this announcement are available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fb57d081-5d59-4575-906f-9f8ea3fe82a0 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6afcebd9-adb3-43a5-8051-d816ea69c32e New York, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Mobile Learning Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2023 - 2028)" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484310/?utm_source=GNW The Mobile Learning Market size is expected to grow from USD 60.97 billion in 2023 to USD 184.42 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 24.78% during the forecast period (2023-2028). The rapid adoption of electronic devices in educational institutions, increasing investment in information technology, and growing adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) culture are some of the major factors driving the growth of the mobile learning market. Key Highlights The recent advancements in digital learning solutions owing to the higher penetration of mobile devices have empowered learners with access to material, irrespective of their location, by erasing boundaries and introducing interactive means through which the overall learning experience has been enhanced. Moreover, the information is being presented in a more effective way by using numerous types of digital media, which helps in better understanding and retention of concepts. According to a recent HP India report, 63% of respondents in the country believed that digital learning is much more effective in fuelling their childrens creative thinking, and 57% of the respondents believed that experiential learning could enable better comprehension. Additionally, owing to this reason, parents are willing to spend on learning apps for their childs education, which is expected to drive the market. Schools and training centers are also moving from their traditional blackboard approach to integrating smart technology into learning environments. At the university level, institutions are adopting innovative methods, such as smart learning, to provide alternative pathways and opportunities for students to develop relevant and valuable skills in line with industry requirements. A survey conducted by Project Tomorrow (a non-profit organization) worldwide on digital learning with a sample size of more than 4 lakh stakeholders revealed that digital learning led to an increase in student engagement, enabled teachers to introduce new forms of learning styles, and reduced the overall time taken by students to digest information. Additionally, according to Prometheans recent study, the majority of teachers believe that educational technology accelerates learning in their classrooms (82%). With the proliferation of mobile devices, such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets, the BYOD trend is increasingly growing in schools, transforming the way students learn and how, where, and when they consume educational information. The recent outbreak of COVID-19 impacted multiple industries across the world, and the education industry is not an exception. The pandemic had huge economic consequences, and it also had a significant impact on global education. According to the figures released by UNESCO, around 1.3 billion learners across the globe were not able to attend their schools as of Mar 2020. Multiple schools, colleges, and universities were closed across the world in order to slow down the virus spread. Mobile Learning Market Trends Corporate Segment Would Experience Significant Growth and Drive the Market Mobile learning is a rapidly growing area for training and development departments in organizations of all industries. Most corporate companies adopt technology-aided learning, which enables learners to create, store, and deliver innovative ideas at the workplace. According to the study, organizations that rely on mobile learning solutions saw a 16% boost in productivity and improvements in the creativity and loyalty of their employees. A survey conducted by IBM India among CIOs, CMOs, CTOs, and other decision-makers across various verticals indicated that about 57% of enterprises are planning to invest in BYOD and mobile technology. In comparison, 67.4% expressed personal interest in owning this technology, which reflects the growth of mobile learning in the corporate segment. In order to reduce the training cost, most corporate organizations have reduced the hiring of trainers and started adopting mobile learning solutions such as Massively Organized Open Courses (MOOCs), which are offered by private content providers such as Coursera, Udacity, Khan Academy, etc. at a lower expense. Additionally, many corporate organizations are trying to implement mobile learning solutions to offer training that can be taken on the go and within the users workflow. The flexibility of the training resides on the users hand, and they can learn at their own pace and convenience and ultimately gain expertise in an effective manner. Asia Pacific is Expected to Experience Significant Growth Asia Pacific countries are expected to contribute significantly to the growth of the mobile learning market. The adoption of mobile learning solutions is explicitly deployed in this region to determine the power of innovative learning methodologies; the intrinsic strength and rapid economic growth are aiding this region in becoming one of the fastest-growing education markets internationally. Moreover, rapid internet growth in multiple countries owing to the availability of bandwidth, cost-effective data plans, and increased awareness has also led to the digital adoption of various sectors, including education, and is thereby driving the market. For instance, Except for Lakshadweep, all Indian households in all states and union territories were included in the ICUBE 2021 report titled "Internet in India."According to the estimate, due to an increase in rural internet users, Indias population of active internet users will reach 900 million by 2025. An increasing number of western companies are looking for qualified graduates in China to meet the growing demand for skilled employees. Recent studies show that although there is a significant focus on academics, there is a considerable shortfall of qualified personnel in the country. To tackle this issue, China started a Smart Education China initiative, which aims at increasing the qualification of graduates in China in the medium term to meet the growing demand for qualified personnel. Furthermore, the growth of the massive open online courses (MOOC) in the region is anticipated to boost the growth of the market studied. For instance, in August 2019, about 270 million people took massive open online courses (MOOC) in China, according to the Ministry of Education. About 80 million were college students out of the total users. The region is anticipated to witness increasing demand in the market studied due to the COVID-19-related lockdowns. In February 2020, the Japanese Government announced the lockdown of schools, which resulted in several offers for free online education materials. Even before the coronavirus epidemic, Japans online education market was expected to grow by 50% to JPY 310 billion (USD 3 billion) between FY 2019 and FY 2023, according to Nomura, in part as a result of a campaign by the Abe government to make tablet computers available to all students by 2023. Mobile Learning Industry Overview The mobile learning market is competitive and is dominated by a few major players like Upside Learning, NetDimensions Limited, SAP AG, Promethean World Ltd, and Skillsoft. These major players with a prominent share of the market are focusing on expanding their customer base across foreign countries. These companies are leveraging strategic collaborative initiatives to increase their market share and increase their profitability. However, with technological advancements and product innovations, mid-size to smaller companies are increasing their market presence by securing new contracts and by tapping new markets. In June 2022, Global education technology business Promethean at ISTELive 22, where educators and education professionals have gathered for more than 40 years to participate in hands-on learning, share best practices, and hear from the sharpest minds in education and beyond. Promethean will participate in the hybrid conference from June 26 to June 29, 2022, with exciting announcements, speakers, sessions, giveaways, and events. Speaking sessions and panel discussions will cover a wide range of topics, including how to maximize the potential of ActivPanel and ClassFlow, how to adapt ActivInspire to teachers needs, how to improve lesson plans, and much more. In May 2020, Skillsoft partnered with Data Society to deliver its Data Science Bootcamp on its intelligent learning experience platform, Percipio. Instructors from Data Society, who conducted more than 3,000 hours of training in 2019 with customers including NASA, Discover, and the U.S. Department of State, will lead the Bootcamp. It will be available at no cost to all interested learners. The Data Wrangling with Python Bootcamp enables attendees to interact with the instructor and receive high-quality, personalized instruction while collaborating with others in a virtual classroom setting. Additional Benefits: The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format 3 months of analyst support Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484310/?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. __________________________ MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Microbix Biosystems Inc. (TSX: MBX, OTCQX: MBXBF, Microbix), a life sciences innovator, manufacturer, and exporter, reports results for its third quarter and YTD fiscal 2023 ended June 30, 2023 (Q3 and YTD), a period in which strong revenues were realized along with a fully-funded partnering of its drug asset Kinlytic urokinase (Kinlytic). Management Discussion Q3 posted revenues of $5.5 million, with continued strength in sales of test ingredients (Antigens) and test-controls (QAPs) totaling $4.0 million, but none of sample collection media (DxTM). Revenues in Q3 benefited from the recognition of over $1.3 million of Kinlytic license fees, however this was more than offset by a write-down of aging DxTM inventory and other expense increases totaling $2.2 million. Such expenses resulted in an off-trend net loss of $0.8 million for Q3. Microbix remains well-capitalized and continues to build its customer relationships and systems with the goal of reaching annual sales of $100 million within several years. For the three months ending June 30, 2023 (Q3) Q3 revenue was $5,530,152, an increase of 10% from Q3 2022 revenues of $5,011,025. Antigen sales of $2,608,521 grew 14% versus Q3 2022 ($2,283,621), while QAPs sales were $1,456,905 (2022 - $1,305,896). In turn, revenue from DxTM was zero in Q3 (2022 - $1,326,410) and royalties were $116,226 (2022 - $95,099). In Q3, there were also Kinlytic-related revenues of $1,348,500 recognized from a licensing and funding agreement (Agreement) that was announced on May 16, 2023. Agreement-related licensing revenue largely offset the lack of Ontario-driven deliveries of DxTM in Q3 compared to the prior year. Q3 gross margin was 42%, down from 55% in Q3 2022. This decline was due to a write-down of aging DxTM inventory of close to $1.0 million and a product-mix related increase to cost-of-goods-sold (COGS) of $0.6 million relative to Q3 2022. Beyond COGS, operating expenses (OpEx) in Q3 increased by 46% relative to Q3 2022. OpEx increases were in large part due to increased investment in IT infrastructure to support our continuing growth objectives software start-up costs relating to our ERP and eQMS implementations. Such IT systems start-up costs were heaviest in Q3, as Microbix drove toward a Q4 2023 go-live for its new ERP system. Along with prior-year foreign exchange gains that were replaced by losses, such costs totaled $0.3 million in Q3, to which were added $0.4 million of consulting fees and expenses relating to the Kinlytic Agreement. Finance expenses were lower than the prior year due to repayment of debentures and long-term debt during fiscal 2022 and higher returns from short-term investment of cash balances. Overall, Q3 sales led to an operating and net loss of $769,108 versus a Q3 2022 operating and net income of $638,502. Cash provided by operating activities remained strong at $2,131,358 in Q3 compared to cash provided by operating activities of $2,709,545 in Q3 2022, with the relative reduction coming from a greater deployment of cash into working capital account balances during the quarter. Nine Months Ending June 30, 2023 (YTD) YTD revenue was $12,250,547, with a 17% decrease from YTD 2022 due to a lack of DxTM sales. Included were Antigen sales of $6,615,040, up 17% from last year ($5,658,007). QAPs revenues of $3,892,090 were largely flat from YTD 2022 ($3,773,429), due in large-part to delays in the test finalization and launch timelines of customers intending to include Microbix QAPs in their kits of test consumables. YTD Kinlytic revenues were $1,350,517 compared to zero in YTD 2022, which is due to the announced Agreement. In turn, YTD revenue from DxTM was zero (2022 - $ 5,004,359) due to agents of the Province of Ontario unexpectedly returning to imported product for all domestic needs. Finally, YTD royalties were $392,898 (2022 - $ 311,394). In summary, the lower YTD sales result was driven by the lack of any deliveries of DxTM for the Province of Ontario. YTD gross margin was 49%, down from 62% in YTD 2022, due to the lack of DxTM sales, the material writedown of DxTM inventory in Q3 and the effects of a greater proportion of antigen sales that have lower margins than QAPs or DxTM. In addition, we continue to see double-digit materials price increases across our supply chain, which take time to pass-through in product pricing to Microbix customers. Operating expenses in YTD increased by 18% relative to YTD 2022, due to increased investment in IT infrastructure, unfavourable foreign exchange impact vs. 2022 and the recognition of Kinlytic Agreement costs. This was partly offset by lower finance expenses due to repayment of debentures and long-term debt during fiscal 2022 and short-term investment of cash balances. Overall, weaker YTD sales led to an operating loss and net loss of $2,036,756 versus a YTD 2022 operating income and net income of $2,252,769. Cash provided by operating activities YTD was $361,635, compared to cash provided by operating activities of $3,318,763 in YTD 2022, with much of the change coming from the change in operating income and the repurchase of shares through our Normal-Course Issuer Bid, which used $0.9M YTD. At the end of Q3, Microbixs current ratio (current assets divided by current liabilities) was 4.39 and its debt-to-equity ratio (total debt over shareholders equity) was 0.51. FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS Three months ended Nine months ended For the three months and nine months ended June 30, 2023 June 30, 2022 June 30, 2023 June 30, 2022 Total Revenue $ 5,530,152 $ 5,011,025 $ 12,250,547 $ 14,747,189 Gross Margin 2,342,885 2,766,146 6,056,140 9,104,303 SG&A Expenses 2,478,382 1,569,790 6,320,005 4,882,447 R&D Expense 531,121 387,400 1,482,004 1,354,758 Financial Expenses 102,490 170,454 290,887 614,329 Operating Income (Loss) for the period (769,108 ) 638,502 (2,036,756 ) 2,252,769 Net Income (Loss) and Comprehensive Income (Loss) for the period (769,108 ) 638,502 (2,036,756 ) 2,252,769 Cash Provided (Used) by Operating Activities 2,131,358 2,709,545 361,635 3,318,763 As at June 30, 2023 September 30, 2022 Cash 13,409,156 13,488,075 Accounts receivable 3,347,154 3,057,797 Total current assets 23,499,042 22,408,372 Total assets 34,295,095 33,145,196 Total current liabilities 5,351,089 2,650,521 Total liabilities 11,651,812 8,206,541 Total shareholders' equity 22,643,283 24,938,655 Current ratio 4.39 8.45 Debt to equity ratio 0.51 0.33 Corporate Outlook Microbix continues working to grow revenues across its business lines, and to improve gross margins to drive bottom-line results. Management remains committed to a profitable growth model, a goal that should be aided by the Agreement to advance Kinlytic to a successful re-launch into the U.S. market. Microbix continues working to grow revenues across its business lines, and to improve gross margins to drive bottom-line results. Management remains committed to a profitable growth model, a goal that should be aided by the Agreement to advance Kinlytic to a successful re-launch into the U.S. market. Adelaide Capital will host a live webinar with management on Monday, August 14 at 11am ET. Please register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xUe4T25HQgmOOFDp6B8Icg. It will also be live streamed to YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Jpt_DWjF1qSCzfKlpLMWw. A replay of the webinar will also be made available on Adelaide Capitals YouTube channel. About Microbix Biosystems Inc. Microbix Biosystems Inc. creates proprietary biological products for human health, with over 100 skilled employees and annualized sales targeting C$ 2.0 million per month. It makes a wide range of critical ingredients and devices for the global diagnostics industry, notably antigens for immunoassays and its laboratory quality assessment products (QAPs) that support clinical lab proficiency testing, enable assay development and validation, or help ensure the quality of clinical diagnostic workflows. Its antigens drive the antibody tests of approximately 100 diagnostics makers, while QAPs are sold to clinical lab accreditation organizations, diagnostics companies, and clinical labs. Microbix QAPs are now available in over 30 countries, supported by a network of 10 international distributors. Microbix is ISO 9001 & 13485 accredited, U.S. FDA registered, Australian TGA registered, Health Canada establishment licensed, and provides CE marked products. Microbix also applies its biologics expertise and infrastructure to develop other proprietary products and technologies, most notably viral transport medium (DxTM) to stabilize patient samples for lab-based molecular diagnostic testing and Kinlytic urokinase, a thrombolytic drug used to treat blood clots. Microbix is traded on the TSX and OTCQX, and headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Forward-Looking Information This news release includes forward-looking information, as such term is defined in applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, discussion of financial results or the outlook for the business, risks associated with its financial results and stability, its current or future products, development projects such as those referenced herein, sales to foreign jurisdictions, engineering and construction, production (including control over costs, quality, quantity and timeliness of delivery), foreign currency and exchange rates, maintaining adequate working capital and raising further capital on acceptable terms or at all, and other similar statements concerning anticipated future events, conditions or results that are not historical facts. These statements reflect managements current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward looking information is inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Companys control. Accordingly, actual future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. All statements are made as of the date of this news release and represent the Companys judgement as of the date of this new release, and the Company is under no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking information. Please visit www.microbix.com or www.sedarplus.ca for recent Microbix news and filings. For further information, please contact Microbix at: Cameron Groome, CEO (905) 361-8910 Jim Currie, CFO (905) 361-8910 Deborah Honig, Investor Relations Adelaide Capital Markets (647) 203-8793 ir@microbix.com Copyright 2023 Microbix Biosystems Inc. Microbix, DxTM, Kinlytic, and QAPs are trademarks of Microbix Biosystems Inc. New York, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Integration Platform-as-a-Service Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2023 - 2028)" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484266/?utm_source=GNW The Integration Platform-as-a-Service Market size is expected to grow from USD 9.60 billion in 2023 to USD 43.42 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 35.23% during the forecast period (2023-2028). The rapidly increasing requirement for advanced systems in order to improve the overall process of development, management, and deployment of enterprise applications across the globe has been driving the market. Moreover, the recent advancements in the field of big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things within organizational processes have also driven the expansion of iPaaS solutions. Key Highlights The key significant players in the market landscape have put continuous efforts in order to enhance their platforms by the inclusion of API management, data hubs, b2b integration, and workflow automation, among others which is believed to be the next-generation integration technologies. Currently, the iPaaS vendors are aiming to position themselves in the enterprise application architecture. Moreover, with the increasing considerations of crucial elements such as data-centric and IoT-focused integrations, real-time synchronization, and mobility, there is increased incorporation of cloud-based integration. Enterprises today are increasingly using CRM systems in order to integrate their customer service systems. However, there is still a gap in integrating these CRM systems with the ERP and BI/Analytics. The IPaaS solutions enable enterprises with a 360-degree view of their customers, help in gaining access to sensitive information as well as automate their business processes. In November 2022, Qlik launched a cloud-based new data integration platform service that primarily brings together data from disparate sources in real time. Qlik Cloud Data Integration is mainly an enterprise integration platform as a service designed for use by data engineers who prepare and cultivate their organizations data, especially for data-informed decision-making. The new integration platform as a service joins data cataloging and preparation capabilities in one place, allowing organizations to ready their data in real-time for analysis. The platform also consists of a set of services that mainly form a data fabric, which is the unification of those services to connect data sources to allow an organization to build a wholly new unified view of its data. However, the high involvement of investment initially in terms of deploying IPaaS solutions could restrain the overall markets growth throughout the forecast period. The coronavirus pandemic affected the cloud industry, and hence multiple providers responded to this sudden surge in demand and rose interest in cloud infrastructure. Companies from multiple industries have now realized the benefits of cloud computing beyond the immediate need which was generated by the COVID-19 pandemic situation. Hence, they are well-indulged in bringing out a broad spectrum of cloud-based solutions and services. Integration Platform-as-a-Service Market Trends Retail & E-commerce to Witness Significant Growth The rapid rise of e-commerce that is dealing in B2B and B2C platforms has demanded businesses to handle multiple areas such as online selling, placing orders, and inventory management, among others. The IPaaS solutions can provide a seamless e-commerce integration solution primarily to merge the back-end processes, ERP systems, and the website. Moreover, these integration tools also enable the free flow of data across front-end and back-end systems while significantly reducing IT outlays. Moreover, these innovative integration tools have also enabled retailers to navigate their online marketplace to be linked up with their ERP solutions to their mobile and web sales portals without the usage of traditional legacy integration tools. For e-commerce organizations, an increasing need to improve their internal data conduits, or even if it is being established for the first time, IPaaS technology can prove to be an immensely powerful asset. The E-commerce industry in this time of the coronavirus outbreak has been scaling upwards, primarily owing to the fact that millions of individuals across the globe have been adopting platforms such as Amazon to procure groceries, daily essentials, and medical supplies. This upward trend is expected to continue further, thereby driving the market during the forecast period. In November 2022, Wipro Limited, a technology services and consulting company, declared new retail solutions especially built on the Microsoft Cloud and Cloud for Retail, and a whole new Retail Innovation Experience in Mountain View, California. This virtual, physical, and hybrid Experience would deepen collaboration between Wipro and Microsoft to further augment the delivery of new solutions that would allow retailers to grow and expand their business and build stronger customer relationships. As per US Census Bureau, From July to September 2022, the total U.S. retail e-commerce sales amounted to around 266 billion U.S. dollars, marking a three-percent increase as compared to the previous quarter. This increase in the total U.S. retail e-commerce sales will drive the markets overall growth rate significantly. Hence, it is expected to face a broad spectrum of growth opportunities throughout the forecast period. North America is Expected to Witness Significant Growth The North American region is expected to have significant growth during the forecast period, primarily owing to the presence of multiple industry players, coupled with the rapid adoption of cloud-based services among various organizations in the region. Multiple factors, such as the increased need for advanced integration services and the increased shift of workloads to the cloud environment, are also expected to drive the demand for IPaaS solutions. Moreover, according to Ciscos latest Visual Networking Index report, smart homes are expected to be one of the key drivers of IoT connectivity growth during the next few years. The company expects that around 50% of the total 28.5 billion device connections anticipated by 2022 will be IoT/machine-to-machine (M2M). According to the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), healthcare spending in the United States is also projected to increase by 5.5% annually from 2017 through 2026. If the spending increases at this rate, by 2026, the healthcare spending is projected to reach USD 5.7 trillion, which indicates stronger competition among the healthcare providers, and this creates the need to embrace new technologies in order to sustain. The rapid growth in cloud computing and big data analytics are also driving the demand for IPaaS solutions in the region. Moreover, the declining prices of servers have also increased the adoption of cloud computing businesses across the North American region, which is expected to fuel the demand for IPaas solutions over the forecast period. In December 2022 - Impartner, headquartered in the United States, a channel management platform and partner relationship management (PRM) provider, partnered with iPaaS providers such as Syncari, Tray.io, and others to facilitate connections in a companys ecosystem and eliminate inaccurate partner data. While Impartner has been a longstanding integrated partner with Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Salesforce, the new integrations bridge the gap between a companys additional direct sales systems and Impartner PRM. Integration Platform-as-a-Service Industry Overview The Integration Platform-as-a-Service Market is highly competitive owing to the presence of multiple small and large vendors in the market operating in domestic and international markets. The market appears to be moderately concentrated, with the major players adopting strategies like product innovation and mergers and acquisitions in order to increase their solutions portfolio and expand their geographic reach. Some of the major players in the market are Dell Boomi, Inc., Informatica Corporation, and Mulesoft, among others. In August 2022, Cloud Inventory, a provider of mobile-first inventory solutions, and Boomi, an intelligent connectivity and automation leader, announced an expanded partnership to provide faster, easier integration for customers. The partnership mainly empowers companies using any ERP platform to connect applications, data, people, and devices quickly. This enables optimizing key processes, including accounting, order management, inventory, and procurement. In July 2022, TIBCO Software Inc., a provider of enterprise data, announced significant enhancements to TIBCO Cloud Integration, its industry-recognized iPaaS offering, powered by TIBCO Cloud. This expands the overall potential for integrating data, applications, and devices across various hybrid environments, helping customers grapple with a volatile business world to enhance business outcomes. TIBCO Cloud Integration also delivers remarkably faster automation of all the business processes and integration of digital assets across the enterprise. By speeding up and simplifying app development, businesses can respond to market trends faster, building a competitive advantage for customers. Additional Benefits: The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format 3 months of analyst support Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484266/?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. __________________________ HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The New Brunswick governments recent spending restraint could allow for a much-needed tax relief equivalent to $3,604 less per tax filer, finds a new study published by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank. In recent years New Brunswicks provincial government has begun to make substantial progress in addressing its fiscal challenges, and this hard work could pay off for taxpayers as it creates the fiscal room necessary for much-needed tax relief, said Ben Eisen, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and co-author of New Brunswicks Divergent Finances: A Possible Opportunity for Tax Reduction. The study finds that New Brunswick in recent years has exercised greater restraint with respect to spending growth than Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, contributing to positive fiscal outcomes such as budget surpluses and a declining debt-to-GDP ratio from 38.9 per cent in 2017/18 to 25.1 per cent in 2022/23. As a result, New Brunswick is now positioned to introduce meaningful tax relief, which if current government revenue and spending growth continues, could reach over $3,600 per taxpayer by 2032/33 without jeopardizing the provinces balanced budget. By continuing to exercise restraint in spending and paying down debt, the New Brunswick government is in a position to reduce the tax burden and improve the provinces tax competitiveness without going into deficit, said Alex Whalen, associate director of Atlantic Canada Prosperity at the Fraser Institute. MEDIA CONTACT: Alex Whalen, Associate Director, Atlantic Canada Prosperity Fraser Institute Ben Eisen, Senior Fellow Fraser Institute To arrange media interviews or for more information, please contact: Drue MacPherson, 604-688-0221 ext. 721, drue.macpherson@fraserinstitute.org Follow the Fraser Institute on Twitter and Facebook The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal and ties to a global network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on their well-being. To protect the Institutes independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Deep-South Resources Inc. ("Deep-South" or the Company") (TSX-V: DSM) announces that it has appointed the MSA Group (MSA) of South Africa to produce an updated National Instrument (NI) 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate for the Companys 100%-owned advanced Haib copper project located in the south of Namibia. The mandate of MSA was interrupted when the Ministry of Mines refused to approve the renewal of the Haib Copper license. The Mineral Resource Estimate and subsequent technical report will follow the completion of the drilling program that was stopped in June 2021. There are still 5,200 meters of drilling to be completed. Pierre Leveille, President & CEO of Deep-South stated that: "We are pleased to have re-engaged MSA; their vast experience will help to enhance an already robust project and unlock further value while reducing risk for our shareholders. With the backdrop of a strong copper price, we are highly optimistic for the coming years that Haib will garner additional interest from investors and other interested parties. MSA has already started to review the historical drilling data in order to specify the additional drilling needed to produce the Mineral Resource estimate. The mandate of MSA includes site visits to verify data collection, quality assurance and controls, develop a structural geological model in collaboration with Deep-Souths geological team, assess the presence of domains and model these domains in three dimensions, complete a geostatistical study for each domain and issue an updated NI 43-101 Mineral Resource estimate. About MSA The MSA Group is a leading provider of exploration, geology, mineral resource and reserve estimation, mining and environmental consulting services to the mining industry. Established in 1983, MSA has serviced its international client base in more than 40 countries. MSA is the leading provider of mineral exploration services on the African continent. You can visit their web site at: http://msagroupservices.com About Deep-South Resources Inc. Deep-South Resources is a mineral exploration and development company. Deep-Souths growth strategy is to focus on the exploration and development of quality assets in significant mineralized trends and in proximity to infrastructure in stable countries. The Company holds the Haib Copper Project in Namibia and holds an interest in three exploration licenses in the Copperbelt in Zambia. In using and assessing environmentally friendly technologies in the development of its copper projects, Deep-South embraces the green revolution. 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. More information is available by contacting Pierre Leveille, President & CEO at +1-819-340-0140 or at: info@deepsouthresources.com New York, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Asia Pacific Fruits And Vegetables Juice Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2023 - 2028)" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484247/?utm_source=GNW The Asia Pacific Fruits and Vegetables Juice Market size is expected to grow from USD 26.98 billion in 2023 to USD 32.82 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 4% during the forecast period (2023-2028). In the Asia-Pacific region, the growth in the fruit and vegetable juice market is driven by heightened demand for healthy food from an increasingly health-conscious consumer base. To meet this consumer requirement, key players are focusing on introducing different varieties and flavors, along with innovative packaging and product development. In addition, the advancing retail sector in the region has increased the accessibility of consumers to a wide range of products being introduced in the market, which is supplementing the growth rate. However, supermarkets and hypermarkets lead the contributing share among other sales channels in the region. Additionally, shifting consumer tastes for products with less or no sugar is pushing beverage makers to develop new products according to the consumers demands. Since customers are actively striving to avoid consuming sugary drinks to minimize the negative consequences of excessive sugar intake, these firms are developing a variety of unique items to meet the accelerating demand for such products. For example, in 2021, Dole Sunshine India introduced natural pineapple juice. The product was claimed to be all-natural with no added sugar or artificial preservatives. APAC Fruits & Vegetables Juice Market Trends Growing Demand for Organic Beverages Consumers are opting for products that do not have chemical ingredients, leading to a rising demand for natural and organic foods and beverages. This change in the consumers preference will lead to high demand for organic juices. Owing to increasing preference for organic food products, retail chains are increasingly offering organic products such as organic dairy products, organic drinks, organic juices, organic cereals, organic meat, and others that are expected to grow in the near future. As a result, consumers today are increasingly aware of the rampant usage of synthetic ingredients in packaged juices and have been dissuaded from using such products. This, in turn, is propelling the demand for natural and organic juices market across the region. According to the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, the consumption value of organic beverages in India reached USD 92 million this year. Compared to the prior year, when the consumption value was USD 81 million, this reflects an increase in organic beverages across the nation. Organic juice demand has been gradually increasing in households as a convenient and nutritious option. Consumers are turning away from sweetened beverages and are actively seeking beverages that have the natural goodness of fruits and are free from chemicals. In addition, an increased inclination of consumers toward low-calorie and high-fiber beverages, such as organic fruit juices, vegetable juice, and blends, is anticipated to augment the growth of the market studied. China Holds the Largest Market Share China is emerging as the world leader in terms of agricultural produce. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the production volume of fruits has been increasing in the country over the past decade. In 2021, the nations production of fruits amounted to approximately 299.7 million metric tons. This factor enables the manufacturers to access comparatively cheaper raw materials and offer their products at competitive prices, which is one of the factors thriving the associated processed food market, majorly the fruit and vegetable juice market. Furthermore, the high purchasing power of the Chinese population, aided by surplus domestic production, has contributed to increased juice consumption within the country. Additionally, with the innovation of new products, the fruit and vegetable juice market can be estimated as a flourishing industry in China. The country has been a dominant contributor in the global market since the last few years, and a leading exporter of juice, mainly to the markets of the United States, Russian Federation, and Japan, leading to a decent revenue share from respective countries. APAC Fruits & Vegetables Juice Industry Overview In the Asia-Pacific fruits and vegetables juice market, consumers prefer innovation in fruit and vegetable juices, an example of which is the natural ingredient products. The major players are focusing on introducing new products in the market studied to cater to the interests of the consumers. Additionally, the players have been expanding their distribution network to penetrate the market across the region. Some of the major players in the market studied are PepsiCo Inc., The Coca-Cola Company, Del Monte Foods Inc., Dabur India Ltd, and ITC Limited, among others. Moreover, brands are differentiating their products in terms of design, quality, and pack designs that are eco-friendly and have trendy designs to gain a competitive advantage. Additional Benefits: The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format 3 months of analyst support Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484247/?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. __________________________ Batavia, IL, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Physicists now have a brand-new measurement of a property of the muon called the anomalous magnetic moment that improves the precision of their previous result by a factor of 2. An international collaboration of scientists working on the Muon g-2 experiment at the U.S. Department of Energys Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory announced the much-anticipated updated measurement on Aug. 10. This new value bolsters the first result they announced in April 2021 and sets up a showdown between theory and experiment over 20 years in the making. Were really probing new territory. Were determining the muon magnetic moment at a better precision than it has ever been seen before, said Brendan Casey, a senior scientist at Fermilab who has worked on the Muon g-2 experiment since 2008. Physicists describe how the universe works at its most fundamental level with a theory known as the Standard Model. By making predictions based on the Standard Model and comparing them to experimental results, physicists can discern whether the theory is complete or if there is physics beyond the Standard Model. Muons are fundamental particles that are similar to electrons but about 200 times as massive. Like electrons, muons have a tiny internal magnet that, in the presence of a magnetic field, precesses or wobbles like the axis of a spinning top. The precession speed in a given magnetic field depends on the muon magnetic moment, typically represented by the letter g; at the simplest level, theory predicts that g should equal 2. The difference of g from 2 or g minus 2 can be attributed to the muons interactions with particles in a quantum foam that surrounds it. These particles blink in and out of existence and, like subatomic dance partners, grab the muons hand and change the way the muon interacts with the magnetic field. The Standard Model incorporates all known dance partner particles and predicts how the quantum foam changes g. But there might be more. Physicists are excited about the possible existence of as-yet-undiscovered particles that contribute to the value of g-2 and would open the window to exploring new physics. The new experimental result, based on the first three years of data, announced by the Muon g-2 collaboration is: g-2 = 0.00233184110 +/- 0.00000000043 (stat.) +/- 0.00000000019 (syst.) The measurement of g-2 corresponds to a precision of 0.20 parts per million. The Muon g-2 collaboration describes the result in a paper that they submitted today to Physical Review Letters. With this measurement, the collaboration has already reached their goal of decreasing one particular type of uncertainty: uncertainty caused by experimental imperfections, known as systematic uncertainties. This measurement is an incredible experimental achievement, said Peter Winter, co-spokesperson for the Muon g-2 collaboration. Getting the systematic uncertainty down to this level is a big deal and is something we didnt expect to achieve so soon. While the total systematic uncertainty has already surpassed the design goal, the larger aspect of uncertainty statistical uncertainty is driven by the amount of data analyzed. The result announced today adds an additional two years of data to their first result. The Fermilab experiment will reach its ultimate statistical uncertainty once scientists incorporate all six years of data in their analysis, which the collaboration aims to complete in the next couple of years. To make the measurement, the Muon g-2 collaboration repeatedly sent a beam of muons into a 50-foot-diameter superconducting magnetic storage ring, where they circulated about 1,000 times at nearly the speed of light. Detectors lining the ring allowed scientists to determine how rapidly the muons were precessing. Physicists must also precisely measure the strength of the magnetic field to then determine the value of g-2. The Fermilab experiment reused a storage ring originally built for the predecessor Muon g-2 experiment at DOEs Brookhaven National Laboratory that concluded in 2001. In 2013, the collaboration transported the storage ring 3,200 miles from Long Island, New York, to Batavia, Illinois. Over the next four years, the collaboration assembled the experiment with improved techniques, instrumentation and simulations. The main goal of the Fermilab experiment is to reduce the uncertainty of g-2 by a factor of four compared to the Brookhaven result. Our new measurement is very exciting because it takes us well beyond Brookhavens sensitivity, said Graziano Venanzoni, professor at the University of Liverpool affiliated with the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Pisa, and co-spokesperson of the Muon g-2 experiment at Fermilab. In addition to the larger data set, this latest g-2 measurement is enhanced by updates to the Fermilab experiment itself. We improved a lot of things between our first year of taking data and our second and third year, said Casey, who recently finished his term as co-spokesperson with Venanzoni. We were constantly making the experiment better. The experiment was really firing on all cylinders for the final three years of data-taking, which came to an end on July 9, 2023. Thats when the collaboration shut off the muon beam, concluding the experiment after six years of data collection. They reached the goal of collecting a data set that is more than 21 times the size of Brookhavens data set. Physicists can calculate the effects of the known Standard Model dance partners on muon g-2 to incredible precision. The calculations consider the electromagnetic, weak nuclear and strong nuclear forces, including photons, electrons, quarks, gluons, neutrinos, W and Z bosons, and the Higgs boson. If the Standard Model is correct, this ultra-precise prediction should match the experimental measurement. Calculating the Standard Model prediction for muon g-2 is very challenging. In 2020, the Muon g-2 Theory Initiative announced the best Standard Model prediction for muon g-2 available at that time. But a new experimental measurement of the data that feeds into the prediction and a new calculation based on a different theoretical approach lattice gauge theory are in tension with the 2020 calculation. Scientists of the Muon g-2 Theory Initiative aim to have a new, improved prediction available in the next couple of years that considers both theoretical approaches. The Muon g-2 collaboration comprises close to 200 scientists from 33institutions in seven countries and includes nearly 40 students so far who have received their doctorates based on their work on the experiment. Collaborators will now spend the next couple of years analyzing the final three years of data. We expect another factor of two in precision when we finish, said Venanzoni. The collaboration anticipates releasing their final, most precise measurement of the muon magnetic moment in 2025 setting up the ultimate showdown between Standard Model theory and experiment. Until then, physicists have a new and improved measurement of muon g-2 that is a significant step toward its final physics goal. The Muon g-2 experiment is supported by the Department of Energy (US); National Science Foundation (US); Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italy); Science and Technology Facilities Council (UK); Royal Society (UK); European Unions Horizon 2020; National Natural Science Foundation of China; MSIP, NRF and IBS-R017-D1 (Republic of Korea); and German Research Foundation (DFG). Fermilab is Americas premier national laboratory for particle physics research. A U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science laboratory, Fermilab is located near Chicago, Illinois, and operated under contract by the Fermi Research Alliance LLC. Visit Fermilabs website at https://www.fnal.gov and follow us on Twitter @Fermilab. The DOE Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://science.energy.gov. Attachments Washington, DC, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The United States Mint (Mint) will begin shipping the fourth coin in the 2023 American Women Quarters (AWQ) Program on August 14th. The Mint facilities at Philadelphia and Denver manufacture these circulating quarters honoring Jovita Idar. Jovita Idar was a Mexican-American journalist, activist, teacher, and suffragist. She made it her mission to pursue civil rights for Mexican Americans and believed education was the foundation for a better future. Idar wrote many news articles in various publications, speaking out about racism and supporting the revolution in Mexico. Throughout her life, Idar remained on the front lines of change and advocated fiercely for the rights of women and Mexican Americans. The fourth coin of the 2023 American Women Quarters Program honors the life and legacy of Jovita Idar, said Mint Director Ventris C. Gibson. She devoted her life to fighting against separatist ideologies and sought to create a better future for Mexican Americans. Her legacy continues to encourage and empower future generations. United States Mint Medallic Artist John P. McGraw designed and sculpted the Jovita Idar quarter reverse design. It was a great honor designing and sculpting the Jovita Idar quarter, said McGraw. After talking with her family members, I was immediately inspired by her life. Curiosity and education were the driving force in my design, much like Jovita Idars life work. I imagine the text, which makes up her body in the design, will inspire curiosity and teach the viewer how amazing Jovita Idar was. The reverse (tails) depicts Jovita Idar with her hands clasped. Within her body are inscriptions representing some of her greatest accomplishments and the newspapers for which she wrote. The inscriptions are MEXICAN AMERICAN RIGHTS, TEACHER, JOVITA IDAR, NURSE, EVOLUCION, ASTREA, EL HERALDO CRISTIANO, LA CRUZ BLANCA, JOURNALIST, LA CRONICA, EL PROGRESO, LA LIGA FEMENIL MEXICANISTA, QUARTER DOLLAR, E PLURIBUS UNUM, and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The obverse (heads) depicts a portrait of George Washington originally composed and sculpted by Laura Gardin Fraser to mark George Washingtons 200th birthday. Though her work was a recommended design for the 1932 quarter, then-Treasury Secretary Mellon ultimately selected the familiar John Flanagan design. Of Fraser, Director Gibson said, I am proud that the new obverse design of George Washington is by one of the most prolific women sculptors of the early 20th century. Laura Gardin Frasers work is lauded in both numismatic and artistic circles. Ninety years after she intended for it to do so, her obverse design has fittingly taken its place on the quarter. Obverse inscriptions are LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST, and 2023. The design is common to all quarters issued in the series. Each 2023 AWQ honoree is a powerful, inspiring example of the breadth, depth, and range of accomplishments, and the experiences demonstrated by these extraordinary women speak to the contributions women have always made in the history of our country. Coins featuring additional honorees will continue to ship in 2023 through 2025. View images of the Jovita Idar quarter here. In addition to Jovita Idar, the AWQ honorees for 2023 are: Bessie Coleman pilot, advocate, and pioneer who flew to great heights as the first African American and first Native American woman licensed pilot, as well as the first African American to earn an international pilots license. pilot, advocate, and pioneer who flew to great heights as the first African American and first Native American woman licensed pilot, as well as the first African American to earn an international pilots license. Edith Kanakaole Edith Kekuhikuhipuuone o na alii o Kohala Kanakaole was an indigenous Hawaiian composer, chanter, kumu hula, and a venerated cultural icon. Her efforts and work preserved the history, culture heritage, and way of life of an entire people. Edith Kekuhikuhipuuone o na alii o Kohala Kanakaole was an indigenous Hawaiian composer, chanter, kumu hula, and a venerated cultural icon. Her efforts and work preserved the history, culture heritage, and way of life of an entire people. Eleanor Roosevelt Leader, reformer, first lady, and author. As chairperson of the Human Rights Commission where she oversaw the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and as the first chair of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, she advocated diligently for the civil liberties and needs of the poor, minorities, and the disadvantaged. Leader, reformer, first lady, and author. As chairperson of the Human Rights Commission where she oversaw the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and as the first chair of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, she advocated diligently for the civil liberties and needs of the poor, minorities, and the disadvantaged. Maria Tallchief Americas first prima ballerina, who broke barriers as a Native American ballet dancer, exhibiting strength and resilience both on and off the stage. Authorized by Public Law 116-330, the American Women Quarters Program features coins with reverse (tails) designs emblematic of the accomplishments and contributions of American women. Beginning in 2022 and continuing through 2025, the Mint is issuing five quarters in each of these years. The ethnically, racially, and geographically diverse group of individuals honored through this program reflects a wide range of accomplishments and fields, including suffrage, civil rights, abolition, government, humanities, science, space, and the arts. Please consult with your local banks regarding the availability of AWQ Program quarters honoring Jovita Idar in the latter part of August or early September. Numismatic Products This groundbreaking coin program is an excellent way to remind future generations what can be accomplished with vision, determination, and a desire to improve opportunities for all. Subscribe to the program today to ensure fulfillment of your favorite product through 2025. About the United States Mint Congress created the United States Mint in 1792, and the Mint became part of the Department of the Treasury in 1873. As the Nations sole manufacturer of legal tender coinage, the Mint is responsible for producing circulating coinage for the Nation to conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint also produces numismatic products, including proof, uncirculated, and commemorative coins; Congressional Gold Medals; silver and bronze medals; and silver and gold bullion coins. Its numismatic programs are self-sustaining and operate at no cost to taxpayers. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Visit https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/american-women-quarters for information about the American Women Quarters Program. Visit https://www.usmint.gov/about for information about the United States Mint. Visit and subscribe to the United States Mints YouTube channel to view videos about the United States Mint. Visit https://catalog.usmint.gov/email-signup to subscribe to United States Mint electronic product notifications, news releases, public statements, and our monthly educational newsletter, Lessons That Make Cents . . Sign up for RSS Feeds from the United States Mint and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. # # # United States Mint Connecting America through Coins Attachment New York, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Stair Lift Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2023 - 2028)" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484233/?utm_source=GNW The Stair Lift Market size is expected to grow from USD 1.03 billion in 2023 to USD 1.30 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 4.73% during the forecast period (2023-2028). The factors such as the aging population, accompanied by challenges such as mobility, and safety, have been driving the stairlift markets growth in the past few years. Key Highlights According to the report published by World population prospects in 2022, The global population share of people aged 65 years or above is projected to increase from 10% in 2022 to 16% in 2050, which means people aged 65 years or over worldwide are projected to be twice more than the number of children under age five and about the same as the number of children under age 12 by 2050. So, this age group is more likely to have issues with mobility and would require assistance. Also, the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2022, an estimated 1.3 billion people about 16% of the global population currently experience significant disability. Around 75 million people rely on a wheelchair for their daily commute. These instances limit the disabled populations access to services such as healthcare centers, work, and educational institutions while increasing their dependency. Further, one of the primary drivers for the demand for stairlifts by elderly and disabled people living in healthcare facilities remains their inability to move safely, as professional caregivers cannot be expected to be available around the clock. Furthermore, added cost expense in hiring caregivers is beyond the financial reach of many seniors. This instance drives the growth of the market in non-residential sectors. Vendors in the market are leveraging technological advancements to help the disabled and aged population lead self-reliant lives. There has been an increase in the launch of modern aids like stairlift with integrated wheelchair support and curved stairlift that works into any custom stairway structure, among others. A few players in the market have also reported profit gains for the same. Moreover, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the end-user are likely be unable to spend many upfront costs on stairlifts. Global vendors such as the Handicare group are taking several measures to adapt to the situation by making necessary adjustments such as substantial cost reduction and decreased production capacity. Stair Lift Market Trends Residential facilities is expected to s Segment to Hold Major Market Share The residential segment is expected to maintain a significant market share, majorly owing to the preeminence of the elderly population towards products that would allow them to remain self-sustaining in their houses. Also, the flexibility of stairlifts installed on almost any staircase elevates the markets growth. There is considerable demand for the seated stairlift within the residential segment major due to its cost-effectiveness as compared to stand stairlift counterpart and end-users growing musculoskeletal problems such as Osteoarthritis, Knee Problems, among others. For instance, according to the World Health Organization, approximately 1.71 billion people have musculoskeletal conditions worldwide, around 21% of the global population. Therefore it is thereby leveraging the growth of the market. Moreover, the WHO categorizes Osteoarthritis as one of the ten most disabling chronic diseases in developed countries. It is a degenerative joint disease associated with aging that affects joints, including knees, hips, fingers, and low spine continually stressed throughout the years. It estimates that worldwide, 9.6% of men and 18% of women over 60 years suffer from symptomatic Osteoarthritis, with 80% of the patients having limitations in movement and 25% unable to perform daily life activities. Further CDC suggests that the aging of the US population and the prevalence of doctor-diagnosed arthritis is predicted to rise in the forthcoming years. It is also estimated that by 2040, over 78.4 million adults aged 18 years and older will be diagnosed with arthritis, and 34.6 million adults will report activity limitations. A similar trend is expected to be followed by other developed nations worldwide. As with the recent outbreak of global pandemic COVID 19 and government bodies demanding people for self-isolation at their residence with particular emphasis on the elderly population due to critically of the virus on the aging population. Also, with medical facilities running out of infrastructure to accommodate the victims of the virus further elevates the demand for home accessibility solutions such as stairlift. Furthermore, Vendors in the market, such as Merits Heal, and Harmar post covid situation, are encountering demand for esthetically engaging design stairlifts that fit in end-users decor. However, the lack of funding through Medicare and insurance policies is expected to hinder the markets growth. Europe to Hold Major Market Share The European region holds a considerable market share owing to factors such as the increase in the populations average age, government bodies concern towards the issues faced by the elderly, and the impaired mobility population. Additionally, the region also has the presence of organizations such as EPSA that ensure the products meet the users requirements and regulations. In 2022, the French Government announced its plan for the "Ma Prime Adapt"government scheme, where "Ma Prime Adapt"strives to make it easier for older people or those with disabilities to renovate their homes to maintain their freedom and avoid falls by installing a stair lift or widening a doorframe to allow wheelchair access. In July 2022, with an investment of over GBP 6 million (~USD 7.23 million), Platinum Stairlifts began operating from its new West Yorkshire manufacturing facility. Foundry Park is a purpose-built 58,000 sq ft building located in the district on Dalton Lane, which has the potential to double manufacturing output. The company currently supplies over 10,000 stairlifts a year to a network of partners across the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia. But the launch of the new site will pave the way for greater expansion. Stair Lift Industry Overview The Stair Lift market is moderately fragmented, with major vendors including ThyssenKrupp Elevator Technology, Handicare Group, and Stannah Lifts Holdings Ltd. The vendors are enhancing the product line by leveraging strategic collaborative initiatives and acquisitions as a competitive advantage to expand their customer base further and gain market share. March 2022 - Mobility Stairlifts announced the launch of stairlift removal services across the UK. According to the company, the expert technicians of the organization can remove stairlifts by brands such as Stannah, Thyssen Krupp, Acorn, and Brooks, provided they are under five years old. In addition, the company stated that the experienced technicians arrive at the site to remove straight and curved stairlifts and take less than 60 minutes to minimize the inconvenience to the residents through this service. Additional Benefits: The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format 3 months of analyst support Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484233/?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. __________________________ Washington, DC, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WASHINGTON, D.C. The Association of Womens Business Centers (AWBC) hosted its annual 2023 Leadership Conference, where over 300 Womens Business Center leaders from all 50 states gathered to discuss womens entrepreneurship and advance a pro-women business ownership policy agenda. The conference featured Small Business Administrator (SBA) Isabella Guzman, the Under Secretary of Commerce for the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Don Cravins, and Export-Import Bank of the United States (EX-IM) Chair Reta Jo Lewis. The event aligned with a U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship hearing on womens entrepreneurship, where four women small business owners testified about the critical role of the Womens Business Center (WBC) network. Following the hearing, AWBC took to Capitol Hill to meet with key policymakers and advocate for reauthorization and increased funding of the WBC program. Celebrating the successful conference, historic hearing, and Cabinet-level Administration participation, AWBC CEO, Corinne Goble, released the following statement: Our annual convening remains one of the most critical gatherings of women business leaders in the country. We are honored that so many in the Biden-Harris Administration joined to ensure this program the only program in the entire federal government dedicated to women entrepreneurs gets the recognition and opportunity to grow that it deserves. I am personally grateful to Chair Cardin and Ranking Member Ernst for simultaneously holding an impressive hearing that made two clear conclusions: the success of this program and women-owned businesses are inextricably linked and that this program can and must be improved to serve all women. We are committed to that vision and realizing it in a bipartisan way. This conference follows the introduction of S.2184 , the Womens Business Center Improvement Act of 2023, and the SBAs announcement of two funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) to expand the Womens Business Center (WBC) program, one supporting 15 new WBCs affiliated with Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and the other supporting two regionally-determined WBCs in the District of Columbia (DC) and Oregon, with the application deadline of Aug 24, 2023. With over 35 years of effectively serving hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs, the WBC program is overdue for reauthorization. Despite operating under an antiquated and restrictive statute, WBCs have shown a robust impact in supporting women business owners across the country. In the past three years alone, WBCs served more than 170,000 entrepreneurs, leveraged more than $750 billion in capital, and provided training and counseling for entrepreneurs in need. Modernization of the program in statute will ensure sustainable support to the anticipated 160 centers by the end of the year in their work providing capital, counseling, training, networking, workshops, technical assistance, and mentoring to women entrepreneurs across the nation. ### About the Association of Womens Business Centers (AWBC) The AWBC (www.awbc.org) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization in its 25th year supporting the national network of Womens Business Centers (WBCs) with programming and advocacy. The WBC program, a public-private partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration, is in its 35th year of operation and spans 145 WBCs throughout the United States leveraging WBC grants. These centers have proven successful in providing business training, counseling, mentoring, and access to capital to women entrepreneurs. The WBC Program is the central pillar for womens entrepreneurial development dating back to landmark legislation, H.R. 5050 passed in 1988. Traditional territories of the Massachusett and Pawtucket People / Boston, Massachusetts, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today Lightstar Renewables, a community solar developer and long-term owner and operator of community solar farms in the US, is announcing a new partnership with Arcadia, a climate technology company that unlocks global energy data to provide customer acquisition and management services, to help connect underserved communities to the next generation of clean solar energy. Arcadia is a tech company that helps address the climate crisis by unlocking access to data and clean energy sources. This includes connecting over 200,000 homes to community solar farms and making it easier for more people to connect using just their zip code and electric utility details. Lightstars greenfield portfolio sits at over 1GW across 12 states and is growing month by month with our second portfolio in construction and a further 150MW of projects hitting the construction phase across 2024. It is important to have a partnership with Arcadia to support Lightstars mission to provide more renewable, clean energy to local communities, and help transition the grid to more equitable sources of energy, said Paul Wheeler, Founder and CEO of Lightstar. Community solar increases access to the benefits of solar energy generation, enabling everyone to enjoy the benefits of clean energy, and we're excited to partner with Arcadia to accelerate the growth of community solar across the US Arcadias technology will help light a path for everyday consumers and small businesses to connect with Lightstars innovative community solar developments and build the next generation of energy. The partnership will enhance Lightstars approach to solar projects to ensure it benefits more land owners, farmers, and local communities and expand the reach of community solar. The partnership will play an integral role in Lightstars overall strategy to help ensure communities receive access to equitable and reliable solar energy quickly and securely while supporting the full lifecycle of every project and ensuring long-term success. As the largest subscription provider in the community solar market, Arcadias expansive customer base and management services will provide Lightstar with access to unparalleled national reach, in addition to enhanced customer service and engagement, said Kiran Bhatraju, CEO & Co-Founder of Arcadia. Were excited to partner with Lightstar to empower more people and businesses to join our mission to fight the climate crisis and work toward achieving a zero-carbon future. "Our work has been centered around creating solutions for communities, residents, and businesses to access renewable electricity, especially for those who cannot access rooftop solar, said Corey Stein, Lightstars Chief Financial Officer. The community solar model allows us to build a solar project, and deliver the benefits of cost savings and renewable electricity to nearby residents, who virtually subscribe to use the electricity produced by the project. Arcadia will act as a key piece of this puzzle, to help us identify and serve low to moderate income renters, residents in multi-unit buildings, and businesses that don't own their roofs - or anyone who wants to participate in the renewable energy transition by subscribing to a community solar project. We are excited to work with Arcadia in delivering electricity to participants who can see both cost savings and an advance in renewable energy in their community." About Lightstar Renewables Lightstar Renewables is a greenfield community solar developer and long-term owner and operator of community solar farms across the US. Currently Lightstar is active in 12 states with a pipeline of over 1000 Megawatts (MWs) and growing. Founded by a seasoned team of solar developers, our mission is to build solar for the land and community. We are the leading greenfield developer in the industry in community solar development that integrates local ecology and agriculture with every project. Stewarding the land and the communities and providing cheaper clean energy access to all is key to the success of the clean energy transition. About Arcadia Arcadia is a climate technology company enabling a zero-carbon economy. By unlocking high-fidelity, global energy data for the first time, the Arc platform combines easy-to-use data and APIs under one roof to allow any company to act on its environmental impact and build the next generation of energy products and climate tech solutions. Arc democratizes access to data from thousands of utility providers in 52 countries, covering more than 95% of US residential and commercial utility accounts. Founded in 2014 on the belief that everyone deserves access to clean energy, Arcadia also manages the nations largest community solar portfolio, helping to tackle energy injustice while spurring economic growth with more than 1.6 GW of solar under management. Join us in our mission and find out how you or your business can help achieve the vision of a 100% zero-carbon future at www.arcadia.com. Washington, DC, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The United States Mint (Mint) 2023 American Women Quarters Rolls and Bags honoring Jovita Idar will be available for purchase on August 15 at noon EDT. The Jovita Idar quarter is the ninth coin in the American Women Quarters Program, a four-year series that celebrates the accomplishments and contributions made by women who have shaped our Nations history and helped pave the way for generations that followed. The rolls and bags product options include: Priced at $45.00, a bag of 100 circulating quality quarters minted in Philadelphia (product code 23WBG). Priced at $45.00, a bag of 100 circulating quality quarters minted in Denver (product code 23WBH). Priced at $40.00, a two-roll set containing a total of 80 circulating quality quarters minted in Philadelphia and Denver (product code 23WRG). Priced at $60.00, a three-roll set containing a total of 120 circulating quality quarters minted in Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco (product code 23WRH). Orders for the 100-coin bags are limited to 10 per household, while orders for the two-roll and three-roll sets are limited to three per household. Sign up to receive Remind Me alerts by visiting the official product listing page. The American Women Quarters Rolls and Bags are also available for purchase through the Mints Subscription Program. Subscriptions work like a magazine subscription. After you sign up, you will receive the next product released in the series and continue to receive products until you end your subscription. Visit our subscriptions page to learn more. Because of overwhelming demand, much of the production of the three-roll sets is accounted for through subscription. A limited quantity will be available for purchase on August 15 at noon EDT. The reverse (tails) of this coin features a depiction of Jovita Idar with her hands clasped. Within her body are inscriptions representing some of her greatest accomplishments and the newspapers for which she wrote. The inscriptions are MEXICAN AMERICAN RIGHTS, TEACHER, JOVITA IDAR, NURSE, EVOLUCION, ASTREA, EL HERALDO CRISTIANO, LA CRUZ BLANCA, JOURNALIST, LA CRONICA, EL PROGRESO, and LA LIGA FEMENIL MEXICANISTA, as well as QUARTER DOLLAR, E PLURIBUS UNUM, and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. United States Mint Medallic Artist John P. McGraw designed and sculpted the image. Each coin in this series features a common obverse (heads) design depicting a portrait of George Washington. This design was originally composed and sculpted by Laura Gardin Fraser as a candidate entry for the 1932 quarter, which honored the bicentennial of George Washingtons birth. The inscriptions are LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST, and 2023. From 2022 through 2025, the Mint is issuing five new quarter dollar reverse designs each year. The American Women Quarters Program is authorized by the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 (Public Law 116-330). Inspire women everywhere. Shop the American Women Quarters Program today and start collecting this historic series honoring extraordinary women whose achievements, triumphs, and legacies reflect the strength and resilience of our Nation. The groundbreaking American Women Quarters Program is an excellent way to remind future generations what can be accomplished with vision, determination, and a desire to improve opportunities for all. Subscribe to the program today to ensure fulfillment of your favorite product through 2025. About the United States Mint Congress created the United States Mint in 1792, and the Mint became part of the Department of the Treasury in 1873. As the Nations sole manufacturer of legal tender coinage, the Mint is responsible for producing circulating coinage for the Nation to conduct its trade and commerce. The Mint also produces numismatic products, including proof, uncirculated, and commemorative coins; Congressional Gold Medals; silver and bronze medals; and silver and gold bullion coins. Its numismatic programs are self-sustaining and operate at no cost to taxpayers. Note: To ensure that all members of the public have fair and equal access to United States Mint products, the United States Mint will not accept and will not honor orders placed prior to the official on-sale date of August 15, 2023, at noon EDT. Please use the United States Mint catalog site at https://catalog.usmint.gov/ as your primary source of the most current information on product and service status or call 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468). ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Visit https://www.usmint.gov/news/image-library/american-women-quarters-program#idar for product images. Visit https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/american-women-quarters for additional information about the American Women Quarters Program. Visit https://www.usmint.gov/about for information about the United States Mint. Visit https://catalog.usmint.gov/email-signup to subscribe to United States Mint electronic product notifications, news releases, public statements, and our monthly educational newsletter, Lessons That Make Cents . . Sign up for RSS Feeds from the United States Mint and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. # # # United States Mint Connecting America through Coins Attachment VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Almadex Minerals Ltd. ("Almadex" or the "Company") (TSX-V: DEX) is pleased to announce that, further to its news release of July 11th 2023 describing the identification of new targets, it has acquired by staking a 100% interest in the New Hope porphyry copper exploration project in Arizona, USA (see attached location map). The 950 hectare New Hope project covers a roughly 3.5 by 1.5 kilometre area of intense hydrothermal alteration developed in volcanic rocks and crosscutting intrusive dykes. The observed hydrothermal alteration is characteristic of the upper levels of a porphyry system. Almadex has completed a surface alteration and geologic mapping program. Remnants of an advanced argillic altered lithocap with Na-alunite, pyrophyllite and dickite along with a phyllic alteration signature including high crystallinity muscovite at surface have been mapped with a Terraspec mineral spectrometer. Complete results from this work are being compiled presently as additional analyses are being carried out. Almadex looks forward to reporting on these and its exploration plans for the New Hope project moving forward. Subsequent to identifying the New Hope target, Almadex research identified reports describing some of the past work in the area from the 1950s to the 1970s. These summary reports mention shallow drilling, some geophysics and a description of two diamond drill holes with uncertain collar locations. One of these was a deep hole believed to have been drilled adjacent to the argillic alteration zone. Drill logs for this hole obtained by Almadex describe propylitic epidote-chlorite alteration and weak copper mineralisation, consistent with the periphery environment of a porphyry copper system. J. Duane Poliquin, Chairman of Almadex commented, New Hope is an exciting new addition to our portfolio. It is the result of first principals based conceptual exploration. We hope to make more additions to our project portfolio in 2023. This portfolio of mineral projects is the result of years of effort and invested intellectual capital. Our CAD$18 Million cash position as of Q1 2023 gives us the luxury of advancing these projects in the manner best suited for shareholders. We have a track record of discoveries, and we feel the varied and exciting projects in our portfolio have the potential to add to that record. Qualified Persons Morgan J. Poliquin, PhD, PEng, the President and CEO of Almadex and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"), has reviewed, and approved the scientific and technical contents of this news release. About Almadex Almadex Minerals Ltd. is an exploration company that holds a large mineral portfolio consisting of projects and NSR royalties in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. This portfolio is the direct result of many years of prospecting and deal-making by Almadex's management team. The Company owns a number of portable diamond drill rigs, enabling it to conduct cost effective first pass exploration drilling in house. On behalf of the Board of Directors, J. Duane Poliquin J. Duane Poliquin, Chairman Almadex Minerals Ltd. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release includes forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within it, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, among other things, the ongoing receipt of results from the New Hope property and the plans to release details of future exploration programs at New Hope, the addition of more projects to the portfolio during 2023, and the likelihood of future discoveries. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, permitting, continued availability of capital and financing, equipment availability, relationships with third-party clientele and their willingness or ability to continue to use the Companys drills for exploration, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, other than as required pursuant to applicable securities laws. Contact Information: Almadex Minerals Ltd. Tel. 604.689.7644 Email: info@almadexminerals.com http://www.almadexminerals.com/ An image accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0dd4a223-3c96-4c21-8c18-ec80a65f9a70 New York, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Almond Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2023 - 2028)" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484207/?utm_source=GNW The Almond Market size is expected to grow from USD 9.59 billion in 2023 to USD 12.57 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 5.55% during the forecast period (2023-2028). Key Highlights Aligning with an escalating consumer need for transparency, plant-forward innovation, holistic and individualized nutrition, and delicious sensory experiences, almonds continue to have undeniable consumer appeal as food and beverage trends evolve. The high presence of minerals and nutrients makes almonds a more versatile and healthy ingredient added to different types of food applications, providing rich nutritional value to consumers. However, the high cost of production, resulting in the commoditys expensive nature, has hindered consumption during the economic uncertainty in different developing countries. Further, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United States is the primary producer of almonds, followed by Spain, Iran, and Australia. The favorable climate with fertile soil and abundant sunshine and the required equipment to be used during growth, harvesting, processing, and packaging in North America favor the enhanced production of almonds. Thus, with increasing demand owing to the health benefits and increased health awareness, the market is anticipated to grow during the forecast period. Almond Market Trends Growing Inclination Towards Healthy Snacking Tree nuts, especially almonds, consumed two or more times per week were linked to a 13% lower risk of total cardiovascular disease and a 15% lower risk of coronary heart disease, according to primary epidemiological research by health professionals who examined general nut intake. The preference for healthy and nutritious snack foods is expected to help maintain steady growth in developed markets such as China and the United States, as evident from the increased imports and eventual consumption. The changing consumer lifestyle, rapid urbanization, and high disposable income increase the demand for on-the-go healthy convenience foods, fueling the ready-to-eat food markets growth. Rapid urbanization and rising disposable income encourage changes in food consumption habits and a greater willingness to spend on such foods.These factors further boost the food expenditure of the final consumer. Moreover, manufacturers are launching innovative and health-oriented products consisting of almonds, either as a whole or as an ingredient, thus expanding their business in the global healthy snack segment. These products are gaining popularity among vegans and highly health-conscious consumers. For instance, in March 2021, PepsiCo introduced Hilo Life, a low-carb snack brand in North America, using defatted almond flour as a base ingredient. According to the company, this new product has less fat and more protein than traditional almond flour. North America is Leading the Market in Terms of Production Due to more production, consumption, and exports, North America has the largest share of the worlds almond market.The United States continues to capture the largest market share for almonds. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization, almond production in 2020 will account for 4,140,043.0 metric tons, a 35.1% increase over previous years.However, the average number of nuts set per tree has declined by 12 percent in 2021-2022, more than compensating for an increase in bearing acres of 4 percent and resulting in an anticipated 11 percent decline in U.S. production to 1.2 million tons, according to the United States Department of Agriculture report. Even though the harvest began with good pollination conditions, warm temperatures led to a shorter bloom time than in previous years. Additionally, there are claims that some areas experienced a freeze in the final week of February, which left some acres unharvested due to an inadequate nut set, resulting in a decline in production. Also, the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database says that Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates will import more than half of the almonds from the United States in 2021. Almonds are mostly grown in the United States, but Australia, Spain, and Vietnam also send almonds to the US market to meet the growing demand there. Due to their health benefits, almond-based snacks are becoming more and more popular in the area. The rising demand for highly nutritious foods and the concerns of a significant population with a high rate of obesity have been some of the main reasons behind the markets growth over the past few years. The favorable climate in North America with fertile soil and abundant sunshine and the required equipment to be used during growth, harvesting, processing, and packaging favor the enhanced production of almonds. Additional Benefits: The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format 3 months of analyst support Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484207/?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. __________________________ NEW YORK, Aug. 11, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, continues to investigate potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA) resulting from allegations that Comerica may have issued materially misleading business information to the investing public. SO WHAT: If you purchased Comerica 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=16714 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 29, 2023, citing a review of internal documents, American Banker reported that Comerica Bank officials privately acknowledged significant compliance failures in their operation of a Treasury Department program that provides federal benefits on prepaid cards to millions of unbanked Americans[.] American Banker stated that [a] Comerica executive said the Dallas bank faced a serious contract violation for allowing fraud disputes and data on Direct Express and cardholders to be handled out of a vendors office in Lahore, Pakistan[.] On this news, Comericas stock fell $1.40 per share, or 3.59%, to close at $37.59 per share on May 30, 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 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 Washington, DC, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kimberly Mata-Rubio, a grieved mother who lost her 10-year-old daughter in last years mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX, recently announced her candidacy for Mayor. Her decision to run is a stark example of the reality of what women feel compelled to do when it's clear that no one else will be their voice. The launch of Mata-Rubios campaign is a timely signal to how critically important it is that womens lived experiences be heard, uplifted, and reflected in policy making. Women remain grossly underrepresented in the rooms where decisions are being made. Our lack of parity continues to plague womens leadership across all sectors, but especially in politics, and certainly in Texas. Women hold just 30% of seats in the Texas State Legislature and comprise only 26% of the 1,616 mayors and officials who perform mayoral functions in the U.S. While the lack of parity in government is not a new problem, what is alarming is that the current strategies in place to address this crisis are not working. According to the United Nations, the world is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030. We must move outside of board rooms and court rooms and into the places and spaces where women are already leading. While Mata-Rubios announcement made major headlines, from the Uvalde Leader-News to TIME , She Should Run research shows there are still 24 million American women who are primed for elected leadership but are not currently considering the possibility. The research confirms that women do not come to politics to fix a lack of representation in government. Like many of us, women are motivated by the issues impacting their daily lives, from gun violence to the economy and everything in between. At She Should Run, we celebrate women like Mata-Rubio because it speaks to what we already knewthere is an entire country full of women with diversity of thought and perspective ready to take action on the causes they care about. And, because we also believe her example offers hope and encouragement to millions of American women who dont yet see a path to public office or the impact they can have on their community. If we want to see a different future where our democracy reflects the people it serves, we need to invest in the women who are in the daily struggle. They deserveand our country deservesenergy for and commitment to the millions of women like Mata-Rubio who dont yet realize they are exactly what their country needs. Its time to rethink traditional political recruitment and prioritize finding and uplifting the women already leading on the issues that are top of mind for the majority of Americans. Encourage a woman to consider public leadership, support her when she goes for it or, better yet, consider it yourself. While we all wish Kimberly Mata-Rubio didn't experience the unimaginable loss of her child, we applaud her willingness to bring her leadership and determination to policy making tables. If women belong in the rooms where decisions are made, we have to work together to get them in office. New York, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Process Instrumentation Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2023 - 2028)" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484191/?utm_source=GNW The Process Instrumentation Market size is expected to grow from USD 17.86 billion in 2023 to USD 21.05 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 3.35% during the forecast period (2023-2028). The market is driven by technological innovations and increasing demands for process control systems. Moreover, cost efficiency, reduction in engineering time, asset utilization, and energy efficiency are some of the major factors driving the growth of the process instrumentation market. Key Highlights Process instrumentation equipment is needed in a wide range of end-use industries. The use of process instrumentation equipment offers a host of benefits, including improvement in the quality of the product, emission reduction, reduction in human errors, and cost-savings. Significant parameters like recording, positioning, measuring, and controlling fuel the markets growth as they are essential for the smooth functioning of a manufacturing unit and are top priorities for process instruments for achieving significant levels of absolute reliability, accuracy, and precision. A long-term contract is a significant gain for process instrumentation solution suppliers because it ensures a steady stream of money. As a result, it is a critical technique for top companies to secure contracts, particularly from governments. Siemens, for example, revealed in September 2022 that it had been selected to modernize the distributing control network and enhanced metering network for Alexandria Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), a part of the state-owned Egyptian Electrical Holding Company. The manufacturing business has seen an increase in data points created due to the widespread use of connected equipment and sensors and the enablement of M2M communication. According to Zebras newest industrial vision research, intelligent asset tracking systems centered on IoT and RFID are predicted to outperform conventional spreadsheet-based approaches by 2022. The recent surge in the adoption of automation in the manufacturing sector has contributed to market growth. This is due to a greater industrialist understanding of the several advantages of automation in respect of speed to market, investment outlay, and output quality. However, high initial and maintenance investment cost is expected to hamper the market growth over the forecast period. The COVID-19 pandemic boosted the demand for industrial automation due to labor shortages. Post Covid-19, companies are increasingly adopting intelligent robotics and technology across the production processes. Robotics are seen as critical instruments for increasing production. The majority of robotic acceptance has happened in the industrial sector, wherein machines do numerous manual jobs more effectively and reliably than humans. Process Instrumentation Market Trends Water and Wastewater Treatment is Expected to Witness the Highest Growth Process instrumentations are used to monitor various parameters in process plants, such as flow, pressure, temperature, pH, conductivity, level, turbidity, speed, force, humidity, and other factors in water & wastewater treatment. SCADA systems are widely employed in monitoring and regulating water and waste treatment processes. These enable operators to monitor the consumption, flows, and contents of water tanks, canals, reservoirs, and others. Furthermore, these give data on the condition of the water being handled. SCADA technologies are frequently utilized to manage stormwater draining infrastructure and regulate wastewater purification plants. The current challenges of water availability and sustainability are primarily attributed to an enormous increase in demand. However, as per U.S. EPA in May 2022, Household leaks waste around 900 billion gallons of water per year in the United States. That is equivalent to roughly 11 million households annual water use. This necessitates the adoption of process instrumentation, such as flow control valves, fueling market growth. Moreover, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has accelerated investment in the nations aging water infrastructure. For instance, in November 2022, the U.S. The EPA approved a USD 52 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) grant to the City of Pflugerville, Texas, to support the Water Treatment Plant Modernization Project. With the WIFIA loan, the EPA is assisting the facility in increasing the amount of drinking water it can process while also keeping the water healthier to consume with modern treatment and filter equipment, which in turn is expected to propel the growth of the process instrumentation market in the industry. Increasing government initiatives in wastewater treatment are expected to contribute to segment growth over the coming years. For instance, in October 2022 New York Governor launched a USD 55 million wastewater upgrade initiative at Buffalos Bird Island Wastewater Processing Facility. Asia Pacific to Emerge as the Fastest Growing Market Asia Pacific is expected to have the fastest growth over the forecast due to rapidly increasing industrial activities, rising cost pressure and production rate, and favorable government policies in developing nations such as China and India in this region. The regions expanding industrial sector and increased oil & gas usage are propelling the industry ahead. For instance, China intends to increase its massive gas pipeline networks to 163,000 kilometers by 2025, requiring a USD 1.9 trillion investment. Increasing end-use developments in the region are expected to create lucrative opportunities for market participants to improve their footprints. In January 2022, Adani Total Gas Ltd (ATGL), a collaborative partnership among the Adani Group and TotalEnergies, secured licenses to develop its City Gas Distribution (CGD) infrastructure to 14 additional geographical regions with an INR 20,000-crore (~USD 200 Billion) investment. The rising consumption of oil & gas will necessitate the establishment of new production facilities, boosting the requirement for process instrumentation. According to the IEA, daily oil output is expected to exceed 15 million barrels by 2040. Further, according to the IBEF, natural gas usage is expected to surpass 143.08 million tons by 2040. Thus, increasing demand for oil & gas is expected to contribute to regional market growth. The active role of governments in educating the masses regarding the benefits of technology and rising funds being diverted towards adopting technologically advanced machinery in industries has been of prime importance for market growth in the region. In the next few years, the market will be driven by the thriving growth of key end-use industries such as metal and mining, chemical, food and beverages, oil & gas, and others. Process Instrumentation Industry Overview The process instrumentation market is moderately fragmented, with the presence of both global and regional players such as Honeywell International Inc., Siemens AG, Omron Corporation, ABB Limited, and Emerson Electric Co., among others. These key players are adopting various strategies such as new product launches, expansions, agreements, joint ventures, partnerships, acquisitions, and others to increase their footprints in the market. In November 2022, Equilibar launched a dedicated Single Use Technology Branch to address the pharmaceutical industrys ever-changing fluid management requirements. The SDO valves are Equilibars first single-usage fluid control device, which precisely regulates back pressures and flow. "The SDO is the unique wetted per-use valve in the pharmaceutical production area,"claims the company. In September 2022, OleumTech, a leading developer of industrial technology and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, added a Smart Differential Pressure (DP) Transmitter to its rapidly expanding H Series range of hardwired processes instrumentation. The innovative DP Transmitter provides the superior performance, dependability, and precision required by industrial industries such as petrochemical, upstream oil and gas, electricity, chemical, and wastewater. In July 2022, Emerson introduced the TESCOM Anderson Greenwood Instrumentation H2 Valve Range for hydrogen operations with pressures up to 15,000 psi (103.4 MPa). The innovative technology reliably separates process pressures in high-pressure gas operations, including hydrogen filling facilities and tube trailers, lowering fugitive pollutants and increasing safety. Additional Benefits: The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format 3 months of analyst support Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484191/?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. __________________________ RADNOR, Pa., Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP (www.ktmc.com) informs investors that a securities class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey against Bausch Health Companies Inc. (Bausch) (NYSE: BHC). The action charges Bausch with violations of the federal securities laws, including omissions and fraudulent misrepresentations relating to the companys business, operations, and prospects. As a result of Bauschs materially misleading statements and omissions to the public, Bauschs investors have suffered significant losses. CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR BAUSCH LOSSES. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IN YOUR BROWSER: https://www.ktmc.com/new-cases/bausch-health-companies-inc?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=bhc&mktm=r TO VIEW OUR VIDEO, PLEASE CLICK HERE LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 25, 2023 CLASS PERIOD: AUGUST 6, 2020 THROUGH MAY 3, 2023 CONTACT AN ATTORNEY TO DISCUSS YOUR RIGHTS: Jonathan Naji, Esq. at (484) 270-1453 or via email at info@ktmc.com Kessler Topaz is one of the worlds foremost advocates in protecting the public against corporate fraud and other wrongdoing. Our securities fraud litigators are regularly recognized as leaders in the field individually and our firm is both feared and respected among the defense bar and the insurance bar. We are proud to have recovered billions of dollars for our clients and the classes of shareholders we represent. BAUSCHS ALLEGED MISCONDUCT Bausch is a pharmaceutical company known for its majority ownership of Bausch + Lomb Corporation (B+L). In 2016, Bausch was forced to replace its senior management and attempt to rebuild its reputation after it was revealed that it had engaged in one of the most egregious cases of securities fraud in U.S. history. Among other things, Bausch was forced to restate its financial statements, enter into a settlement with the SEC, and settle a class action with investors for a payment of more than $1.1 billion. The class action lawsuit, however, did not resolve all of Bauschs investors claims as a number of Opt-Out Plaintiffs, consisting of numerous institutional and professional investors, proceeded with their claims after the settlement. According to the complaint, the potential damages at issue from the Opt-Out Plaintiffs equals approximately $4.2 billion. The Class Period begins on August 6, 2020, when Bausch announced a plan to spinoff B+L as a separate company in order to reduce Bauschs debt. When the spinoff was announced, Bausch knew they faced substantial risk from the Opt-Out Plaintiffs. Bausch also knew that spinning-off B+L would leave Bausch with significant debt and the loss of the cashflow B+L had historically generated. On May 5, 2022, B+L effected the spinoff and began trading as an independent company under the ticker BLCO on the NYSE. Throughout the Class Period, Defendants repeatedly described the B+L spinoff as an attempt to reduce Bauschs debt and said the spinoff was in the best interest of Bausch shareholders. The spinoff was actually an attempt to shield valuable assets from the Opt-Out Plaintiffs that ultimately operated to the detriment of ordinary Bausch shareholders. On May 4, 2023, Bausch released its first quarter 2023 financial results, revealing negative earnings, indicating further delay of its B+L spinoff share distribution, which had been originally scheduled for May 2022. Analysts claimed that the probability of a distribution was now less than 50% and unlikely to occur in the near term. Following this news, Bauschs stock price fell $1.51, or 25.3%, to close at $5.89 per share on May 4, 2023. WHAT CAN I DO? Bausch investors may, no later than September 25, 2023, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff for the class, through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP or other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP encourages Bausch investors who have suffered significant losses to contact the firm directly to acquire more information. The class action complaint against Bausch, Kelk v. Bausch Health Companies, et al., Case No. 23-cv-03996, is filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey before the Honorable Zahid Nisar Quraishi. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE CASE WHO CAN BE A LEAD PLAINTIFF? A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff is usually the investor or small group of investors who have the largest financial interest and who are also adequate and typical of the proposed class of investors. The lead plaintiff selects counsel to represent the lead plaintiff and the class and these attorneys, if approved by the court, are lead or class counsel. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. ABOUT KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLP Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP prosecutes class actions in state and federal courts throughout the country and around the world. The firm has developed a global reputation for excellence and has recovered billions of dollars for victims of fraud and other corporate misconduct. All of our work is driven by a common goal: to protect investors, consumers, employees and others from fraud, abuse, misconduct and negligence by businesses and fiduciaries. The complaint in this action was not filed by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP. For more information about Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP please visit www.ktmc.com. CONTACT: Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP Jonathan Naji, Esq. 280 King of Prussia Road Radnor, PA 19087 (484) 270-1453 info@ktmc.com Rancho Santa Fe, CA, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With just over a month to go until the global event, Helen Woodward Animal Center, in partnership with Blue Buffalo, is deep into preparation to unite with animal-lovers worldwide for the 11th Annual Remember Me Thursday. Observed each year on the fourth Thursday in September, the campaign has garnered an esteemed group of celebrities who join with animal welfare organizations and other animal-proponents to become an unstoppable, integrated online voice advocating for orphan pets. This year, actors and humanitarians Andie MacDowell and daughter Rainey Qualley have taken the lead as the 2023 Spokes-Team. Helen Woodward Animal Center is honored to have their voices at the helm of this years campaign. Helen Woodward Animal Center encourages the world to join with these philanthropic celebrities and to be a part of this very special day, Thursday, September 28th, 2023. Andie MacDowell is a renowned actress who received critical acclaim for her role in Sex, Lies and Videotape. She has appeared in several notable films, including Groundhog Day, St. Elmos Fire, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Magic Mike XXL. In addition to being a Loreal spokesperson, she recently starred in the Hallmark Channel drama series Cedar Cove and starred in the action film Granite Mountain. Off-screen, Andie enjoys time with her family, horses, many pets including rescue dog Ava, and is a supporter of many charitable causes. Regarding her love of animals, MacDowell stated, Weve always had some kind of pet. We had cats or dogs, and the love that my children received from them I understood deep to my core. I also loved watching my children return that love, understanding and the responsibility of having a pet. Rainey Qualley is an American Actress and music artist. She releases and writes music under the name Rainsford. She is a lifelong lover of animals and is very active in the community in Los Angeles, volunteering to help foster kittens and helping get the word out about different animals that need to be adopted. She currently has 3 cats named Jesus, Myrtle and Wizard, 1 dog she adopted from Helen Woodward Animal Center named Arlo and 5 backyard chickens. I lived in Montana as a young child where we had horses, cows, chickens, pigs, bunnies, dogs and plenty of cats, which Ive always had a particularly soft spot for, explained Qualley. Loving animals as much as I do, Ive been vegetarian for 17 years now. It brings me so much joy to take care of animals. Helen Woodward Animal Center representatives met both celebrities at the Hollywood Beauty Awards last March. The Center was there as the beneficiary of the prestigious event and brought orphan puppies as Red Carpet CorresPAWndents. Qualley immediately fell in love with a furry Center orphan Schnauzer-blend and has since adopted the dog she named Arlo. While there, both Qualley and MacDowell took time to discuss their devotion to rescue and animal welfare and a friendship was born. Last Friday, Qualley visited Helen Woodward Animal Center to record a PSA for the upcoming campaign and to tour the facility. Both MacDowell and Qualley will champion social media posts to encourage their many followers to echo their posts of support for animal adoption on Remember Me Thursday. This day was started to be a voice for the voiceless, explained Helen Woodward Animal Center President and CEO and Remember Me Thursday creator Mike Arms. If we can get the whole world talking about rescue on this one day each year, we can create quite a noise. When we have the support of incredible celebrities like Andie MacDowell and Rainey Qualley, we can grow that voice even louder and send it even further. There is no way to accurately express the gratitude we have to these incredible individuals whose celebrity power is truly saving lives. Now in its 11th year, RMT has been supported by 190 countries with hundreds of thousands of individuals and more than 1,000 separate animal welfare organizations around the globe holding candle-lighting ceremonies of their own, spreading the message on social media, or lighting a virtual candle. The enormous swell of celebrity support has resulted in the topic trending each year on both Facebook and Twitter, garnering more than 2 billion social media impressions since its start. For more information on Remember Me Thursday and a full list of participating celebrities and animal welfare organizations, go to www.remembermethursday.org. For more information on the US west coast candle-lighting events contact PR Manager Jessica Gercke at (858) 756-4117 x 335 or jessicag@animalcenter.org. # # # About Helen Woodward Animal Center Helen Woodward Animal Center is a private, non-profit organization where people help animals and animals help people. Founded in 1972 in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., the Center provides services for more than 90,000 people and more than 10,000 animals annually through adoptions, educational and therapeutic programs both onsite and throughout the community. Helen Woodward Animal Center is also the creator of the International Home 4 the Holidays pet adoption drive, the International Remember Me Thursday campaign and The Business of Saving Lives Workshops, teaching the business of saving lives to animal welfare leaders from around the world. For more information, go to: www.animalcenter.org. About Remember Me Thursday Animal lovers and organizations across the globe unite on the fourth Thursday in September to light a candle in remembrance of the millions of orphan pets who lost their lives without the benefit of a loving home and to shine a light via social media on the millions of orphan pets still waiting for their forever homes. The Remember Me Thursday global awareness campaign is championed by Mike Arms, President of Helen Woodward Animal Center, and creator of both the International Pet Adoptathon and successful Home 4 The Holidays program which, in partnership with national animal organizations, has placed over 20 million pets in homes since 1999. For more information, please visit www.remembermethursday.org or via hashtags #RememberMeThursday and #ShineALight on social media. Attachments TORONTO, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wallbridge Mining Company Limited (TSX:WM, OTCQX:WLBMF) (Wallbridge or the Company) today announced the filing of a National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) technical report (the Technical Report) in support of its previously announced preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its Fenelon Gold project (Fenelon), located on the Companys Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend land package in Northern Abitibi, Quebec. The Technical Report was prepared in accordance with Canadian Securities Administrators NI 43- 101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and Form 43-101F1 and is available for review on SEDAR+ (sedarplus.ca) and the Company's website (wallbridgemining.com). About Wallbridge Wallbridge is focused on creating value through the exploration and sustainable development of gold projects along the Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend while respecting the environment and communities where it operates. Wallbridges flagship project, Fenelon, is located on the highly prospective Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend Property in Quebecs Northern Abitibi region. An updated mineral resource estimate completed in January 2023 yielded significantly improved grades and additional ounces at the 100%-owned Fenelon and Martiniere projects, incorporating a combined 3.05 million ounces of indicated gold resources and 2.35 million ounces of inferred gold resources. Fenelon and Martiniere are located within an 830 km2 exploration land package controlled by Wallbridge. In addition, Wallbridge believes that the extensive land package is extremely prospective for the discovery of additional gold deposits. Wallbridge has reported a positive PEA on its 100%-owned Fenelon project with an estimated average annual gold production of 212,000 ounces over 12.3 years. Wallbridge also holds a 19.9% interest in the common shares of Archer Exploration Corp. as a result of the sale of the Companys portfolio of nickel assets in Ontario and Quebec in November of 2022. Wallbridge will continue to focus on its core Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend Property while enabling shareholders to participate in the potential economic upside in Archer. For further information please visit the Companys website at www.wallbridgemining.com or contact: Wallbridge Mining Company Limited Marz Kord, P. Eng., M. Sc., MBA President & CEO Tel: (705) 6829297 ext. 251 Email: mkord@wallbridgemining.com Victoria Vargas, B.Sc. (Hon.) Economics, MBA Capital Markets Advisor Email: vvargas@wallbridgemining.com Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking statements or information (collectively, FLI) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. FLI is based on expectations, estimates, projections, and interpretations as at the date of this press release. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are FLI that involve various risks, assumptions, estimates and uncertainties. Generally, FLI can be identified by the use of statements that include words such as seeks, believes, anticipates, plans, continues, budget, scheduled, estimates, expects, forecasts, intends, projects, predicts, proposes, "potential", targets and variations of such words and phrases, or by statements that certain actions, events or results may, will, could, would, should or might, be taken, occur or be achieved. FLI herein may include, but is not limited to, statements regarding the results of the PEA, statements regarding the potential future performance of Archer common shares; future drill results; the Companys ability to convert inferred resources into measured and indicated resources; environmental matters; stakeholder engagement and relationships; parameters and methods used to estimate mineral resource estimates (the MRE) at the Fenelon and Martiniere properties (collectively the Deposits); the prospects, if any, of the Deposits; future drilling at the Deposits; and the significance of historic exploration activities and results. FLI is not, and cannot be, a guarantee of future results or events. FLI is designed to help you understand managements current views of its near- and longer-term prospects, and it may not be appropriate for other purposes. FLI by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such FLI. Although the FLI contained in this press release is based upon what management believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders and prospective purchasers of securities of the Company that actual results will be consistent with such FLI, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and neither the Company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any such FLI. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake, and assumes no obligation, to update or revise any such FLI contained herein to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by law. Unless otherwise noted, this press release has been prepared based on information available as of the date of this press release. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on the FLI or information contained herein Assumptions upon which FLI is based, without limitation, include the results of exploration activities, the Companys financial position and general economic conditions; the ability of exploration activities to accurately predict mineralization; the accuracy of geological modelling; the ability of the Company to complete further exploration activities; potential changes in project parameters or economic assessments; the legitimacy of title and property interests; the accuracy of key assumptions, parameters or methods used to estimate the MREs and in the PEA; the ability of the Company to obtain required approvals; geological, mining and exploration technical problems; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the evolution of the global economic climate; metal prices; foreign exchange rates; environmental expectations; community and nongovernmental actions; any impacts of COVID-19; and, the Companys ability to secure required funding. Risks and uncertainties about Wallbridge's business are more fully discussed in the disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada, which are available at www.sedarplus.ca. Furthermore, should one or more of the risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in FLI. Cautionary Note to United States Investors Wallbridge prepares its disclosure in accordance with the requirements of securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Terms relating to mineral resources in this press release are defined in accordance with NI 43-101 under the guidelines set out in CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum Council on May 19, 2014, as amended ("CIM Standards"). The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") has adopted amendments effective February 25, 2019 (the "SEC Modernization Rules") to its disclosure rules to modernize the mineral property disclosure requirements for issuers whose securities are registered with the SEC under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934. As a result of the adoption of the SEC Modernization Rules, the SEC will now recognize estimates of "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" and "inferred mineral resources", which are defined in substantially similar terms to the corresponding CIM Standards. In addition, the SEC has amended its definitions of "proven mineral reserves" and "probable mineral reserves" to be substantially similar to the corresponding CIM Standards. U.S. investors are cautioned that while the foregoing terms are "substantially similar" to corresponding definitions under the CIM Standards, there are differences in the definitions under the SEC Modernization Rules and the CIM Standards. Accordingly, there is no assurance any mineral resources that Wallbridge Mining may report as "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" and "inferred mineral resources" under NI 43-101 would be the same had Wallbridge Mining prepared the resource estimates under the standards adopted under the SEC Modernization Rules. In accordance with Canadian securities laws, estimates of "inferred mineral resources" cannot form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies, except in limited circumstances were permitted under NI 43-101. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES TORONTO, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Consolidated Lithium Metals Inc. (TSXV: CLM | OTCQB: JORFF | FRA: Z36) (CLM or the Company) is pleased to announce that it has closed its third and final tranche of a previously announced non-brokered private placement financing of common shares of the Company issued on a flow-through basis (each, a Flow-Through Share) at a price of $0.08 per Flow-Through Share (the Offering) for proceeds of $1,000,000 (the Final Tranche). In total, an aggregate of 21,250,000 Flow-Through Shares were issued by the Company pursuant to the Offering for proceeds of $1.7 million. For more information about the Offering and the first tranche and second tranche closings (the Prior Tranches), please see the Companys press releases dated May 24, 2023, June 12, 2023, and June 26, 2023, and July 20, 2023, which are available under the Companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Pursuant to the Final Tranche, CLM issued 12,500,000 Flow-Through Shares at a price of $0.08 per share, each of which are subject to a statutory four month hold period, which expires on December 11, 2023. Completion of the Offering (including the Prior Tranches) is subject to receipt of final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV). In connection with the Final Tranche, CLM paid finders fees of $80,000 in cash and issued 1,000,000 non-transferable finders warrants (Finders Warrants) to Roche Securities Limited in accordance with TSXV policies. Each Finders Warrant entitles the holder thereof to acquire one common share of the Company at a price of $0.08 at any time prior to August 10, 2025. The Company intends to use the proceeds of the Offering to fund exploration expenses on its Baillarge lithium mining property. The Company may also use proceeds to fund exploration expenses at its other lithium mining properties located in close proximity to the North American Lithium mine, including its Preissac La Corne and Vallee projects. Option Grant The Company also announces that it has granted 500,000 stock options to a director of the Company pursuant to the Companys omnibus incentive plan. The stock options vest in equal quarterly installments over two years and may be exercised at a price of $0.08 per option for a period of five years from the date of grant. This grant of options is subject to the approval of the TSXV. About Consolidated Lithium Metals Inc. Consolidated Lithium Metals Inc. (TSXV: CLM | OTCQB: JORFF | FRA: Z36) (formerly known as Jourdan Resources Inc.) is a Canadian junior mining exploration with projects in Quebec. The Companys properties are in Quebec, Canada, primarily in the spodumene-bearing pegmatites of the La Corne Batholith, around North American Lithiums Quebec lithium mine. For more information: Rene Bharti, Chief Executive Officer and President Email | info@consolidatedlithium.com Phone | (416) 861-5800 Website |www.consolidatedlithium.com Cautionary Statements This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the Prior Tranches, the Final Tranche, and the Offering, including the Companys intended use of proceeds, receipt of final approval of the TSXV, and other matters related thereto. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of CLM to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: receipt of necessary approvals; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; future mineral prices and market demand; accidents, labour disputes and shortages and other risks of the mining industry. Although CLM has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. CLM does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. 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. 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. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thunderbird Minerals Corp. (TSXV: BIRD) (Thunderbird or the Company) is pleased to announce that the Company has signed a mineral lease and option agreement dated July 24, 2023 with Bull Mountain Resources, LLC (BMR), for the Apache property, California (the Apache Project), whereby Thunderbird has been granted the exploration and development rights for the Apache Project for a minimum of 50 years as long as preproduction payments are maintained and then for an indefinite period of time thereafter as long as mining operations are continued. California ranks as one of the premier gold districts, with historic production of approximately 140 million ounces of gold from lode and placer sources (Knopf 1929; Clark 1992, Bohlke 1999, Walker 2001). The Apache Project is located in the mineral-rich Mojave Desert region of Southern California (Figure 1). The southern California desert is host to multiple active mines, including: Equinox Golds Castle Mountain and Mesquite mines, Rio Tintos Boron Mine complex, and Golden Queen Minings Soledad Mountain Project. In addition, Apollo Gold and Silver owns the Calico silver-barite project, which hosts one of the largest undeveloped silver deposits in the western US (Figure 2). Kern County, where the Apache Project is located, has a long history of supporting responsible resource development. The Apache Project consists of 152 unpatented lode mining claims (approximately 1,200 hectares) surrounded by numerous historic and active small placer gold mining pits and digs. The Apache property shows no evidence of historic drilling and overlies only a few hardrock prospect pits, shafts, and tunnels. Mineralization within the Apache property is primarily hosted in Paleozoic calcareous sediments and meta-sediments within a structural corridor that has strong similarities to other districts in the Sierra Foothills Metamorphic (California) and Walker Lane (Nevada) mineral belts. The claims overlay a 3.0 km x 1.2 km alteration footprint with significant quartz-sericite-pyrite (QSP), silicification and argillization of the meta-sediments and intrusive host rocks. Rock chip sampling revealed widespread gold (Au) and copper (Cu) anomalies with grades up to 7.46 g/t Au and 4.34% Cu (see Figure 3, 4 and 5). Sulfide minerals, however, have typically been leached from surface exposures. This target is interpreted to be the high-level exposure of an extensive Cu-Au porphyry system further defined by geophysical magnetic and electro-magnetic (EM) anomalies consistent with porphyry systems. Additionally, there are several outlying target zones also marked by magnetic, gravity and EM anomalies with similar characteristics to other oxide-gold and Cu-Au porphyry systems in the region. John Newell, President and CEO of Thunderbird, states: The management of Thunderbird Minerals is thrilled to have the opportunity to advance the year-round Apache Project in Kern County, California. The Apache Project was discovered by Mr. Perry Durning and Mr. Bud Hillemeyer, the principals of BMR, both having a wealth of experience in mineral exploration. They are excellent grassroots explorationists renowned for mineral discoveries, and mine and project development. The geological team at Thunderbird looks forward to the prospect of adding another potential deposit to the pairs impressive list of discoveries. About Bull Mountain Resources Bull Mountain Resources, whose principals are Perry Durning, Frank (Bud) Hillemeyer, and Nick Hillemeyer, was formed in 2020. Durning and Hillemeyer, who originally operated under La Cuesta International, Inc. (LCI), received the PDAC Thayer Lindsley International Mineral Discoveries Award in 2010 jointly, in recognition of their outstanding record of grassroots discoveries in Mexico. The coveted Thayer Lindsley International Mineral Discoveries Award is presented annually by the PDAC in memory of Thayer Lindsley, one of the Canadas greatest mine-finders. Additionally, Perry Durning and Frank Hillemeyer discovered the Los Gatos silver-base-metal deposit after receiving the Thayer Lindsley Award. In total, Durning and Hillemeyer have discovered over 820 million ounces of silver, 14.3 million ounces of gold and nearly 9 billion pounds of copper, lead, and zinc (Total past production and all resource categories for deposits attributed to their discoveries). Apache Project Highlights The Apache Project is located at the intersection of major northwest and northeast trending fault systems that have likely concentrated magmatic activity in the area. These structures typically act as conduits for mineralized fluids. The property has strong potential to host economic low- and high-sulphidation gold systems and Cu-Au porphyry systems. Two targets have been delineated on the property to date. The Apache target is a high-level porphyry target with multiple intrusive stocks with a strong gold-copper association. The Garlock target is an exposed porphyry copper stock with significant skarn alteration within host meta-sedimentary rocks. Over 500 rock chip samples have been collected on the property to help define specific target areas. Anomalous gold and copper assays in the Apache target vicinity occur within a 3.0 x 1.2 km area with grades up to 7.46 g/t Au and 4.63% Cu (Figure 3). Anomalous gold and copper assays in the Garlock target area extend over a 1.2 x 0.75 km area with grades up to 4.63 g/t Au and 7.82% Cu (Figures 6 and 7). Multiple drainages were tested by stream silt sampling. Of 45 drainages sampled, 28 returned values of 20 ppb Au or higher, and 8 returned values greater than 100 ppb Au with a high of 1,085 ppb Au (1.085 g/t Au). Not all anomalies have been followed-up by ground-based exploration. No verified historical drilling has been recorded; therefore, geochemical and geophysical anomalies remain untested. Transaction Details Under the terms of the mineral lease and option agreement, Thunderbird has the rights to the Apache Project for exploration and mining for a minimum of 50 years provided it continues to make the following preproduction payments: US$28,000 upon signing of the agreement (the Effective Date). US$10,000 6-months after the Effective Date; US$10,000 12-months after the Effective Date; US$15,000 18-months after the Effective Date; US$15,000 24-months after the Effective Date; US$20,000 30-months after the Effective Date and every 6 months thereafter. Thunderbird is also obligated to fulfill the following minimum work commitments (comprised of exploration, development or mining expenditures) on the Apache Project as follows: $50,000 in Year 1; $50,000 in Year 2; $50,000 in Year 3; $100,000 in Year 4 and every year thereafter. On achievement of production on the Apache Project, a production royalty of 2% of net smelter returns is payable on claims owned by BMR and newly located claims by Thunderbird within the area of interest. Also, 0.5% of net smelter returns is payable on third party claims and claims acquired from third parties within the area of influence, provided that a minimum production royalty of US$20,000 is payable quarterly. On payment to BMR of US$10,000,000 in any combination of pre-production payments, production royalties and minimum royalties, the production royalty on claims owned by BMR reduces to 1%, and on third-party claims and claims acquired from third parties within the area of influence, the royalty reduces to 0.25%. Figure 1: Location of the Apache Project with regard to regional geology. Sierra Nevada Metamorphic Belt rocks, which underlie the project area, were intruded by the younger Sierra Nevada Batholith. Figure is modified after Irwin, 1999. Figure 2: The Apache Project location is within the mineral-rich Mojave Desert region of Southern California. Figure 3: Several exposure levels of the porphyry system are interpreted across the ~3 km trend of alteration and mineralization at the Apache Target. Figure 4: Photo of the NW zone of elevated Cu-Au values in close proximity to mapped altered dikes. Figure 5: Photo of the southeast zone of elevated Au values that are potentially outlining a higher-level exposure of a porphyry system. Figure 6: The Garlock target overlies a USGS mapped granodiorite porphyry that is closely associated with significant copper and gold mineralization. Figure 7: Rock sample examples from the Garlock Target. Note: unidirectional solidification textures (UST). About Thunderbird Minerals Corp. Thunderbird is a junior grassroots explorer focused on the discovery of new precious metal and copper projects through systematic exploration of metal-endowed terranes located in Tier-one mining jurisdictions in North America. Thunderbirds focus is on development of its portfolio of projects to the mineral resource stage. Thunderbirds projects include its flagship Bullseye property in the Wels District of the Yukon Territory. Thunderbirds other properties include the Eagle Mountain gold property in the Cassiar Gold District in northern British Columbia, the Argo copper and gold property near Quesnel B.C., and the Apache copper and gold property in Kern County, California. Thunderbird continues to look for attractive properties throughout North America to add to its early-stage project pipeline. More information can be found at the Companys website at www.thunderbirdminerals.ca ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD John Newell, President and Chief Executive Officer Carl Schulze, P. Geo., Consulting Geologist with Aurora Geosciences Ltd, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 for Thunderbirds exploration projects and has reviewed and approved the technical information in this release. For new information about the Company's programs, please visit Thunderbird's website at www.thunderbirdminerals.ca or contact John Newell by telephone (604) 568-8807 or by email at info@thunderbirdminerals.ca or john.newell@thunderbirdminerals.ca. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information Certain information contained in this news release constitutes forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively, forward-looking information). Without limiting the foregoing, such forward-looking information includes statements regarding the process and completion of the Offering, the use of proceeds of the Offering and any statements regarding the Companys business plans, expectations and objectives. In this news release, words such as may, would, could, will, likely, believe, expect, anticipate, intend, plan, estimate and similar words and the negative form thereof are used to identify forward-looking information. Forward-looking information should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether, or the times at or by which, such future performance will be achieved. Forward-looking information is based on information available at the time and/or the Company managements good faith belief with respect to future events and is subject to known or unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other unpredictable factors, many of which are beyond the Companys control. The forward-looking information set forth herein reflects the Companys expectations as at the date of this news release and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/71ab71c1-fc62-4f28-8b62-e67c33820978 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/35dedc27-66e4-4578-aa50-e39f4481068c https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/3bb3dcf5-a73b-4b26-89b8-2daa2808e6c1 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e6b39f99-fe65-4b21-a0f5-38a793592125 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a6b48ab7-6ee0-4c6e-a3b6-0bd6553805b7 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/77d42e7e-9cd8-4865-8370-66c86dcee587 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1702af0f-1d39-46de-989d-b346d4e86dba TOKYO, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Global LED Neon Lights Market size was valued at USD 1.3 Billion in 2022 and is projected to attain USD 2.5 Billion by 2032 mounting at a CAGR of 6.6% from 2023 to 2032. The LED Neon Lights Market is illuminated by the growing demand for sustainable and visually captivating lighting solutions in commercial spaces. As the market expands, manufacturers should focus on product differentiation to meet the diverse needs of businesses. LED neon lights not only illuminate physical spaces but also symbolize a shift towards sustainable and creative lighting solutions, transforming commercial environments into vibrant and energy-efficient oases of light. The path ahead is bright, filled with opportunities to innovate and cater to the ever-evolving demands of the commercial lighting sector. As businesses prioritize both aesthetics and sustainability, LED neon lights are becoming the go-to choice for illuminating various spaces. LED Neon Lights Market Key Highlights and Notable Figures: The LED Neon Lights Market is estimated to achieve an impressive valuation of USD 2.5 billion by the year 2032 expanding from USD 1.3 billion in 2022, reflecting a robust Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) 6.6% during the period from 2023 to 2032. In 2022, Asia Pacific established its dominance, contributing to USD 420 million of the market's revenue. Among applications, the commercial segment outshone others, capturing a significant share exceeding 71%. The emergence of smart connected LED neon lights stands out as a prominent trend in the market. Request For Free Sample Report @ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/request-sample/3311 LED Neon Lights Market Report Coverage: Market LED Neon Lights Market LED Neon Lights Market Size 2022 USD 1.3 Billion LED Neon Lights Market Forecast 2032 USD 2.5 Billion LED Neon Lights Market CAGR During 2023 - 2032 6.6% LED Neon Lights Market Analysis Period 2020 - 2032 LED Neon Lights Market Base Year 2022 LED Neon Lights Market Forecast Data 2023 - 2032 Segments Covered By Type, By Application, And By Geography LED Neon Lights Market Regional Scope North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa Key Companies Profiled A1deSIGNS, Beyond LED Technology, Elemental LED, Elstar LED, Honest Exhibition Limited, INCISEON, LED Neon Flex, Lightstec, Nova Flex LED, SGi Lighting, and Solid Apollo LED. Report Coverage Market Trends, Drivers, Restraints, Competitive Analysis, Player Profiling, Regulation Analysis LED Neon Lights Market Outlook and Growth Prospects: The future of the LED neon light market looks bright due to the many advantages that LED neon lights offer. These advantages include design flexibility, energy efficiency, and prolonged operational life. With growing adoption in architectural lighting, retail signage, and decorative elements, these lights are brightening up various commercial spaces such as restaurants, hotels, and offices. However, upfront costs continue to cast a shadow on their widespread adoption. LED neon lights are costlier compared to traditional ones, but they offer a number of advantages that make them a worthwhile investment. LED neon lights are more energy-efficient, so they can save businesses money on their energy bills. They are also more durable and have a longer lifespan than traditional ones, so businesses will not have to replace them as often. Additionally, LED neon lights are more versatile than traditional ones, so they can be used in a wider variety of applications. Despite the advantages of LED neon lights, upfront costs continue to be a barrier to their widespread adoption. LED neon lights are costlier than the traditional ones, so businesses may be hesitant to invest in them. However, long-term savings that LED neon lights offer can offset initial investment. LED Neon Lights Market Major Growth Drivers: Energy Efficiency and Low Maintenance: LED neon lights are recognized for their energy-efficient nature and minimal maintenance requirements, making them a cost-effective lighting solution in the long run. Customizable Lighting Designs: The ability to create customized lighting designs and patterns adds a unique touch to commercial spaces, enhancing their visual appeal. Rising Demand for Signage and Decorative Lighting: The demand for captivating signage and decorative lighting is rising across commercial spaces, further driving the adoption of LED neon lights. Government Incentives: Favorable government policies and incentive programs encouraging energy-efficient lighting solutions contribute to market growth. Advancements in Lighting Technologies: The continuous advancements in RGB and digital lighting technologies are expanding the possibilities for the LED neon lights, encouraging their adoption. LED Neon Lights Market Key Challenges: Higher Installation Costs: The initial investment required for the LED neon lights is comparatively higher than that for traditional lighting solutions, which can deter some potential buyers. Limited Luminance: While LED neon lights offer numerous benefits, their luminance may be limited compared to alternatives like incandescent or HID lamps. Thermal Management Requirements: High-power variants of LED neon lights may require effective thermal management solutions to prevent overheating. Brightness-Lifespan Trade-offs: Balancing brightness and operational lifespan can be a challenge for manufacturers, impacting the overall performance of the lights. Price Volatility of Components: The price volatility of components such as LED drivers can pose challenges for manufacturers in terms of cost predictability. Check the detailed table of contents of the report @ https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/table-of-content/led-neon-lights-market LED Neon Lights Market Segmentation: Based on the Type PVC Silicone Other Based on the Applications Commercial Household LED Neon Lights Market Regional Insights: Currently, the Asia Pacific region shines as the leader in the LED neon lights market. However, North America and Europe also contribute significantly to the market's growth due to their mature lighting industries.The Asia Pacific region is currently the leader in the LED neon lights market, followed by North America and Europe. This is due to a number of factors, including the region's large population, rapid economic growth, and increasing demand for energy-efficient lighting. The mature lighting industries in North America and Europe also contribute significantly to the market's growth. These regions have a long history of using lighting for commercial and residential purposes, and they are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to improve their lighting systems. LED neon lights offer a number of advantages over the traditional neon lights, including lower energy consumption, longer lifespan, and greater durability. As a result, they are becoming increasingly popular in these regions. Buy this premium research report https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/buy-now/0/3311 Leading Companies in the LED Neon Lights Market Market leaders driving innovation and growth in the industry include LED Neon Flex, KLUS, LIGMAN Lighting Co. Ltd, SGi Lighting Inc., Elemental LED Inc., Lightstec LLC, Elumo Corp., Lightstribe Corporation, LEDCONN Industrial Co. Ltd., and LED Solutions. Browse More Research Topic on Semiconductors Industries Related Reports: The Global LED Molecular Display Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 13.5% from 2020 to 2027 and expected to reach the market value of around USD 7,658.5 Million by 2027. The Global LED Lighting Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 13.5% from 2020 to 2027 and expected to reach the market value of around USD 98.6 Billion by 2027. The Global Quantum Dot Market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of around 23.0% during the forecast period 2020 to 2027 and to reach around USD 14.9 Billion by 2027. Browse Our Official Website Press release: https://www.acumenresearchandconsulting.com/press-releases/led-neon-lights-market About Acumen Research and Consulting: Acumen Research and Consulting is a global provider of market intelligence and consulting services to information technology, investment, telecommunication, manufacturing, and consumer technology markets. ARC helps investment communities, IT professionals, and business executives to make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and develop firm growth strategies to sustain market competition. With the team size of 100+ Analysts and collective industry experience of more than 200 years, Acumen Research and Consulting assures to deliver a combination of industry knowledge along with global and country level expertise. For Latest Update Follow Us on Twitter , Instagram and LinkedIn Contact Us: Mr. Richard Johnson Acumen Research and Consulting USA: +13474743864 India: +918983225533 E-mail: sales@acumenresearchandconsulting.com VANCOUVER, Aug. 09, 2023 - Orezone Gold Corp. (TSX: ORE, OTCQX: ORZCF) ("Orezone" or "Company") reported its operational and financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023. The consolidated financial statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis are available at www.orezone.com and on the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The Company will host a conference call and webcast on August 10, 2023 commencing at 8:00am PDT to discuss the Company's second quarter results. Additional details are provided at the end of this press release. Patrick Downey, President and CEO, commented "The Bombore mine delivered another solid quarter of gold production which allowed the Company to reduce its debt by a further $19.1 million while maintaining a healthy cash balance. During the quarter, the operations team successfully completed several mill maintenance tasks including a full mill re-line with a new liner design that will increase liner life going forward. Processed head grades were lower than modelled in the first half of 2023 as we encountered a greater intensity of historical artisanal depletion in certain near-surface higher-grade ore zones mined. As a result, we now forecast that 2023 gold production will trend towards the low-end of our guidance range with a modest increase in AISC guidance. With our value enhancing initiatives, we are advancing fieldwork to connect to Burkina Faso's national grid and remain on track to receive grid power before year-end. Once completed, this will significantly reduce our cost for power which is currently being generated using on-site diesel gensets rented from a third party. In addition, our Phase II hard rock expansion feasibility study and LOM plan update is nearing completion with release of study results planned for the end of September." SECOND QUARTER 2023 HIGHLIGHTS Operational Produced 35,482 gold oz Sold 33,608 gold oz at an average realized price of $1,970 per oz AISC of $1,109 per gold oz sold Zero lost-time injuries with 1,037,000 personnel hours worked Financial Revenue of $66.4 million Earnings from mine operations of $27.5 million Net income and net income per share (basic) attributable to Orezone shareholders of $11.4 million and $0.03, respectively Adjusted earnings and adjusted earnings per share (basic) attributable to Orezone shareholders of $11.2 million and $0.03, respectively Cash flow from operations before changes in non-cash working capital of $25.2 million ($20.2 million after changes in non-cash working capital) Free cash flow of $8.0 million Principal repayment of $19.1 million under the Coris Bank senior debt facility Cash of $32.3 million at June 30, 2023 Non-IFRS measures. See "Non-IFRS Measures" section below for additional details. PRODUCTION AND FINANCIAL SUMMARY (All mine site figures are on a 100% basis) Q2-2023 Q1-2023 H1-2023 Operating Performance Gold production oz 35,482 41,301 76,783 Gold sales oz 33,608 43,139 76,747 Average realized gold price $/oz 1,970 1,892 1,926 Cash costs per gold ounce sold $/oz 924 799 854 All-in sustaining costs ("AISC") per gold ounce sold $/oz 1,109 926 1,006 Financial Performance Revenue $000s 66,396 81,712 148,108 Earnings from mine operations $000s 27,490 39,670 67,160 Net income attributable to shareholders of Orezone $000s 11,380 22,560 33,940 Net income per common share attributable to shareholders of Orezone: Basic $ 0.03 0.07 0.10 Diluted $ 0.03 0.06 0.09 Adjusted EBITDA $000s 31,526 42,645 74,171 Adjusted earnings attributable to shareholders of Orezone $000s 11,236 24,574 35,810 Adjusted earnings per share attributable to shareholders of Orezone $ 0.03 0.07 0.10 Cash and Cash Flow Data Operating cash flow before changes in working capital $000s 25,228 41,137 66,365 Operating cash flow $000s 20,155 38,926 59,081 Free cash flow $000s 8,016 31,498 39,514 Cash, end of period $000s 32,309 45,172 32,309 Cash costs, AISC, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted earnings, Adjusted earnings per share, and Free cash flow are non-IFRS measures. See "Non-IFRS Measures" section below for additional information. The Company poured first gold on September 10, 2022 and declared commercial production on December 1, 2022 at its Bombore mine. As a result, comparative figures for the corresponding quarter and year-to-date period in the prior year have not been presented as they are not meaningful as the Bombore mine was under construction during this period. Operating and financial performance in the current quarter have been compared against Q1-2023 to highlight quarter-over-quarter movements in performance. 2023 Guidance Update The Company previously issued 2023 gold production guidance of between 140,000 to 155,000 oz with AISC per gold ounce sold in the range of $1,010 to $1,110. The Company is now forecasting 2023 gold production at the bottom end of its guidance range. Greater-than-anticipated artisanal depletion has been encountered in certain high-grade zones mined to the end of H1-2023 which has resulted in lower-than-modelled ore grades being delivered to the process plant. Significant artisanal workings were encountered in H1-2023 but evidence of artisanal activity has diminished as the Company mines towards lower pit benches. As a result, the Company expects historical artisanal activity to have less influence on the modelled mined grades in H2-2023. In addition, the mining contractor is currently approximately 10% behind plan in terms of material movement which has delayed access to areas of higher-grade ore. A second mining contractor, currently on-site assisting with the expansion of the tailings storage facility, has been hired on a temporary basis to improve mining volumes and to catch-up to plan by the end of 2023. As planned, the Company has processed its last remaining stockpiles of higher-grade ore accumulated during construction in June 2023, and therefore, gold production in H2-2023 is expected to decline from production levels realized in H1-2023, offsetting the benefits of greater mining volumes and expected lower artisanal depletion. AISC per ounce sold for 2023 is now revised upwards to $1,100 - $1,180, up from the previous guidance range of $1,010 - $1,110. The cost increase is driven mainly by the lower forecasted gold production and head grades. Other contributing factors include persistently high local diesel prices which affect both mining costs and on-site power generation, a stronger XOF currency, and additional government royalties from a higher-than-budgeted realized gold price. BOMBORE GOLD MINE (100% BASIS) - OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS Q2-2023 Q1-2023 H1-2023 Safety Lost-time injuries frequency rate (LTIFR) per 1M hours 0.00 0.00 0.00 Personnel-hours worked 000s hours 1,037 928 1,965 Mining Physicals Ore tonnes mined tonnes 1,927,753 2,205,056 4,132,809 Waste tonnes mined tonnes 3,152,264 2,382,135 5,534,399 Total tonnes mined tonnes 5,080,017 4,587,191 9,667,208 Strip ratio waste:ore 1.64 1.08 1.34 Processing Physicals Ore tonnes milled tonnes 1,400,160 1,445,693 2,845,853 Head grade milled Au g/t 0.87 0.96 0.92 Recovery rate % 91.1 92.2 91.7 Gold produced oz 35,482 41,301 76,783 Unit Cash Cost Mining cost per tonne $/tonne 2.86 2.91 2.89 Mining cost per ore tonne processed $/tonne 6.46 6.51 6.49 Processing cost $/tonne 10.72 9.21 9.95 Site general and admin ("G&A") cost $/tonne 3.73 3.23 3.47 Cash cost per ore tonne processed $/tonne 20.91 18.95 19.91 Cash Costs and AISC Details Mining cost (net of stockpile movements) $000s 9,050 9,417 18,467 Processing cost $000s 15,006 13,322 28,328 Site G&A cost $000s 5,217 4,667 9,883 Refining and transport cost $000s 164 148 312 Government royalty cost $000s 3,930 4,912 8,842 Gold inventory movements $000s (2,299) 2,019 (280) Cash costson a sales basis $000s 31,068 34,485 65,552 Sustaining capital $000s 4,308 3,530 7,838 Sustaining leases $000s - 187 187 Corporate G&A cost $000s 1,883 1,731 3,614 All-In Sustaining Costson a sales basis $000s 37,259 39,933 77,192 Gold sold oz 33,608 43,139 76,747 Cash costs per gold ounce sold $/oz 924 799 854 All-In Sustaining Costs per gold ounce sold $/oz 1,109 926 1,006 Non-IFRS measure. See "Non-IFRS Measures" section for additional details. Bombore Production Results Gold production in Q2-2023 was 35,482 oz, a decrease of 14% from the 41,301 oz produced in Q1-2023. The drop in gold production is attributable to decreases in head grades of 9%, plant throughput of 3%, and plant recoveries of 2% as compared to the prior quarter. Head grades were lower in Q2 due to mine sequencing, greater prevalence of historical artisanal activity in areas mined, and the mill feed prioritization of better grade ore stockpiles in Q1. Plant throughput declined marginally from Q1 which exceeded nameplate by approximately 13%. Lower plant availability in Q2 was the result of routine maintenance for the installation of newly designed mill liners in April 2023 and the replacement of worn shafts in the front-end mineral sizer in late May 2023. All major planned maintenance is now complete for 2023 with plant throughput expected to trend upwards again towards record levels. As mining deepens in certain pits, the quantity of transition ore is starting to increase. The presence of transition ore results in slightly lower metallurgical recovery and the generation of additional ball mill scats that must be recirculated through the circuit to achieve the required grind size fraction. Consequently, plant recoveries were slightly lower in Q2 as compared to Q1. To improve the treatment efficiency of scats and to crush hard oversize transition material, the Company has acquired a used mobile crushing system (a jaw crusher and a cone crusher) in good condition to pre-treat transition ore ahead of the ROM dump pocket and to crush scats prior to recirculation. The system is currently in transit from overseas and is scheduled to be placed into operations by the end of October 2023. This system will also provide additional process plant operational flexibility once the future Phase II Hard Rock plant expansion is in operation. Bombore Operating Costs AISC per gold ounce sold in Q2-2023 was $1,109, an increase of 20% from the AISC per gold ounce sold of $926 in Q1-2023. The increase in AISC was mainly driven by a combination of lower head grades, plant throughput, and recovery as explained above, higher unit operating costs, and timing of sustaining capital. Cash cost per ore tonne processed increased by 10% from $18.95 per tonne in Q1 to $20.91 per tonne in Q2 due primarily to lower plant throughput and higher processing costs for maintenance from the mill re-line and sizer shaft change-outs, and greater consumption of lime, grinding media, and power to treat a larger percentage of transition ore and scats. Site G&A also increased modestly from the planned spending increase on site security improvements including additional reinforcements of highly-trained guards and a greater frequency of patrols on and around the mining permit. Bombore Growth Capital Projects Grid Power Connection The project to connect Bombore to Burkina Faso's national grid continues to advance and remains on schedule for completion before the end of the 2023 year. All long lead equipment orders are in fabrication with certain deliveries already received at site. The main installation contractors have mobilized and fieldwork has commenced for the switching station, the main on-site substation, and the transmission line towers. SONABEL, Burkina Faso's state-owned electricity company, has approved the required drawings and designs for the powerline and substations while land compensation under the direction of SONABEL and ground clearing for the transmission line corridor are essentially complete. Pouring of concrete foundations for the 56 transmission towers are on-going with the first shipment of transmission towers and stringing gear expected to arrive in August 2023. The Company is reviewing opportunities to accelerate or to mitigate risks to schedule. The Company has also initiated discussions to formalize a power purchase agreement with SONABEL following the memorandum of understanding signed between the parties earlier in the year. Resettlement Action Plan ("RAP") Phases II and III RAP Phases II and III involve the construction of four new resettlement villages (MV3, MV2, BV2, and BV1). The Company has sequenced MV3 as the first village to construct in order to gain access to mining areas that are currently contemplated in the 2024 mine plan. MV3 is the largest of the resettlement villages and requires the erection of over 1,200 private homes and public structures. RAP construction is currently behind schedule as the construction start for the MV3 village was delayed for two months as communities conducted sacred ceremonies for the new resettlement grounds. The Company has engaged several local contractors to complete homes on distinct lots within the MV3 site. To improve the pace of construction, the Company has commenced the award of work to additional contractors along with the recruitment of a small owner's team to assist with procurement of building material and site construction activities. RAP compensation for displaced households began in late Q2-2023 and has continued into Q3-2023. 2023 Feasibility Study ("2023 FS") Update for the Phase II Expansion The 2019 feasibility study ("2019 FS") contemplated the construction of a 2.2M tonnes per annum ("tpa") hard rock facility which would commence production in the third year of oxide operations. Based on the mineral reserves outlined in the 2019 FS, the overall plant capacity was to remain at a nominal 5.2Mtpa, comprising of 3.0Mtpa of oxides and 2.2Mtpa of hard rock, resulting in an average gold production profile of 134K oz per year for the first ten years of commercial operations. Subsequent to the 2019 FS, over 150,000 m of drilling has been completed leading to the discovery of the near surface P17NE deposit and extensions of other known higher grade hard rock zones within the main Bombore deposit. Results of drilling undertaken in 2022 are expected to successfully convert Inferred resources of higher grade hard rock material into the Measured and Indicated categories. The Company expects the new hard rock expansion will be sized as a 4.4Mtpa standalone circuit to operate independently and in parallel to the existing 5.7Mtpa oxide circuit, a notable increase to the 5.2Mtpa combined circuit in the 2019 FS. The Company has chosen to expand the circuit size to 10.1Mtpa as it believes recent drilling successes have demonstrated that the Bombore mine is capable of supporting a larger annual operation. The Bombore deposit remains open to further extensions and potential new discoveries from future drilling. Metallurgical test work is complete and confirms more rapid leach kinetics than those contemplated in the 2019 FS, leading to a significant reduction in required leach time from the 42 hours shown in the 2019 FS to the estimated 24 hours to be used in plant design for the 2023 FS. Flowsheet development is also complete and will follow the same design (e.g. carbon-in-leach and elution circuits) of the current operations where feasible to standardize equipment and processes. Firm quotes have been received for the SAG mill, which is on the critical path, and budgetary quotes for all other major equipment are in hand and under evaluation and will form the basis for the expansion capital estimate. Modelling of the new mineral resource estimate has concluded with modelling of the new mineral reserve estimate well-advanced. The Company remains on track to release the study results by the end of Q3-2023. The Company has held early discussions with its senior lender, Coris Bank, about their participation in this future Phase II Expansion. Coris Bank has indicated they are supportive of this expansion and the Company intends to launch more formal discussions with Coris Bank as it draws closer to completing the 2023 FS when information about the new expansion economics and capital requirements are better known. NON-IFRS MEASURES The Company has included certain terms or performance measures commonly used in the mining industry that is not defined under IFRS, including "cash costs", "AISC", "EBITDA", "adjusted EBITDA", "adjusted earnings", "adjusted earnings per share", and "free cash flow". Non-IFRS measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore, they may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The Company uses such measures to provide additional information and they should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. For a complete description of how the Company calculates such measures and reconciliation of certain measures to IFRS terms, refer to "Non-IFRS Measures" in the Management's Discussion and Analysis for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 which is incorporated by reference herein. CONFERENCE CALL AND WEBCAST Orezone will host a conference call and audio webcast to discuss second quarter 2023 results on Thursday, August 10, 2023 at 8:00am PDT (11:00am EDT). Webcast Date: Thursday, August 10 Time: 8:00 am Pacific Time (11:00 am Eastern time) Please register for the webcast here: Orezone Q2-2023 Conference Call and Webcast Conference Call Toll-free in U.S. and Canada: 1-800-715-9871 International callers: +646-307-1963 Event ID: 1179590 QUALIFIED PERSONS The scientific and technical information in this news release was reviewed and approved by Dr. Pascal Marquis, Geo., Senior Vice President of Exploration, Mr. Rob Henderson, P. Eng, Vice President of Technical Services, and Mr. Patrick Downey, P.Eng. President and CEO, all of whom are Qualified Persons as defined under NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. About Orezone Gold Corporation Orezone Gold Corp. (TSX: ORE OTCQX: ORZCF) is a Canadian mining company operating the open pit Bombore Gold Mine in Burkina Faso. Orezone is focusing on mining and processing the Phase I near surface free-dig oxides at a planned annual throughput of 5.7 million tonnes. The Company believes that Bombore has a significant underlying sulphide resource to support a substantially larger Phase II expansion. The Company has recently completed a resource definition drill program, and plans to issue an updated mineral resource, reserve and life of mine plan, as part of this Phase II expansion. It is expected that the pending study will be completed in Q3-2023 to be followed by a production decision. Orezone is led by an experienced team focused on social responsibility and sustainability with a proven track record in project construction and operations, financings, capital markets and M&A. The technical report for the 2019 Feasibility Study on the Bombore Project entitled NI 43-101 Technical Report (Amended) Feasibility Study of the Bombore Gold Project is available on SEDAR+ under the Company's profile at www.sedarplus.ca. Patrick Downey President and Chief Executive Officer Vanessa Pickering Manager, Investor Relations Tel: 1 778 945 8977 / Toll Free: 1 888 673 0663 info@orezone.com / www.orezone.com For further information please contact Orezone at +1 (778) 945-8977 or visit the Company's website at www.orezone.com. The Toronto Stock Exchange neither approves nor disapproves the information contained in this news release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain information that constitutes "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian Securities laws and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable U.S. securities laws (together, "forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "potential", "possible" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may", "will", "could", or "should" occur. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Bombore Growth Capital Projects and the 2023 Feasibility Study Update for the Phase II Expansion. All forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, terrorist or other violent attacks, the failure of parties to contracts to honour contractual commitments, unexpected changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; unexpected failure or inadequacy of infrastructure, the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, accidents and equipment breakdowns, political risk, unanticipated changes in key management personnel, the spread of diseases, epidemics and pandemics diseases, market or business conditions, the failure of exploration programs, including drilling programs, to deliver anticipated results and the failure of ongoing and uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, and other factors described in the Company's most recent annual information form and management's discussion and analysis filed on SEDAR+ on www.sedarplus.ca. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the applicable assumptions and factors management considers reasonable as of the date hereof, based on the information available to management at such time. These assumptions and factors include, but are not limited to, assumptions and factors related to the Company's 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 Company's ability to meet or achieve estimates, projections and forecasts; the availability and cost of inputs; the price and market for outputs, including gold; foreign exchange rates; taxation levels; the timely receipt of necessary approvals or permits; the ability to meet current and future obligations; the ability to obtain timely financing on reasonable terms when required; the current and future social, economic and political conditions; and other assumptions and factors generally associated with the mining industry. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Subject to applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release. TORONTO, August 10, 2023 - Jaguar Mining Inc. ("Jaguar" or the "Company") (TSX:JAG)(OTCQX:JAGGF) today announced financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023. All figures are in US Dollars, unless otherwise expressed. Second Quarter Highlights Operating cash flow was $10 million, compared to $9.4 million in the second quarter of 2022, mainly due to an increase of 6% in the average realized gold price 1 , combined with an 8% decrease in operating costs, and lower cash income taxes paid of $1.9 million, compared to $2.4 million in the second quarter of 2022. This was partially offset by a 17% decrease in ounces of gold sold from 20,482 ounces the second quarter of 2022 to 16,917 ounces in the second quarter of 2023. , combined with an 8% decrease in operating costs, and lower cash income taxes paid of $1.9 million, compared to $2.4 million in the second quarter of 2022. This was partially offset by a 17% decrease in ounces of gold sold from 20,482 ounces the second quarter of 2022 to 16,917 ounces in the second quarter of 2023. Free cash flow of $2.4 million and was based on operating cash flow plus asset retirement obligation expenditures, less capital expenditures, compared to $5.5 million in Free Cash Flow in the second quarter of 2022. Free cash flow was $141 per ounce of gold sold compared to $270 per ounce of gold sold in the second quarter of 2022. Total capital expenditures were 4% or $0.43 million higher in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2022 with sustaining capital expenditures $3.7 million higher offset by non-sustaining capital expenditures which were $3.3 million lower. Sustaining capital expenditures of $8.3 million in the quarter consisted of $5.5 million in primary development, $2.2 million in equipment, $0.5 million in brownfield exploration, and $0.1 million of other sustaining capital. Revenue decreased 12% to $33.2 million compared with $37.9 million in the second quarter of 2022, mainly due to a decrease in ounces produced, which resulted in lower ounces of gold sold of 16,917 ounces as compared to 20,482 ounces in the second quarter of 2022, partially offset by an increase in the average realized gold price of $1,962 per ounce compared to $1,852 per ounce in the second quarter of 2022. Gold production decreased 24% to 16,750 ounces compared to 22,028 ounces in the second quarter of 2022, due to a 15% decrease in the average head grade, combined with an 11% decrease in tonnes of ore processed. Operating costs decreased 8% to $19.5 million compared to $21.1 million in the second quarter of 2022. The decrease in operating costs was predominantly the result of decrease in tonnes mined compared to second quarter of 2022. Cash operating costs increased 12% to $1,150 compared to $1,029 per ounce of gold sold in the second quarter of 2022 due to a 17% decrease in ounces of gold sold compared to the second quarter of 2022. All-in sustaining costs increased to $1,781 compared to $1,366 per ounce of gold sold in the second quarter of 2022 due to the cash cost increase as explained above, combined with higher sustaining capital expenditures the result of a 20% increase in primary development plus exploration development in the quarter of 1,955 metres compared to 1,627 metres in the second quarter of 2022. Net loss of $1.1 million, compared to Net Income of $9.5 million in the second quarter of 2022. Major variances included a $4.7 million decrease in revenue, a $5.6 million increase in foreign exchange expenses, an increase of $1.3 million in income tax expense, offset by $1.6 million decrease in operating costs. _________________________________ 1 This is a Non-GAAP financial performance measure with no standard definition under IFRS. For more details, refer to the Non-GAAP Performance Measures section of the MD&A. Cash Position and Working Capital1 As of June 30, 2023, the Company had a cash and cash equivalents position of $23.9 million, compared to $25.2 million on December 31, 2022. As of June 30, 2023, working capital was $17.5 million, compared to $19.5 million on December 31, 2022, which includes $3 million in short term loans from Brazilian banks. Vern Baker, President and CEO of Jaguar Mining stated: "The Company faced another difficult quarter as both mines encountered issues with dynamic orebodies leading to lower grades and tonnes than was expected in the areas we mined. At the Pilar mine, both tonnes and grade were impacted by rapid geometry changes in the main orebody. The Pilar mining team has adapted plans to flatter dips, narrower ore widths, and extended strike lengths. At the Turmalina mine, the team has increased sampling and drilling to improve the grade mined. Development rates continued to be strong at both mines during the quarter as we are working to position the mines with an increasing number of headings to drive production up. We have also implemented cost reduction measures which have begun to take effect reducing our operating costs. These initiatives will continue in the second half of the year. While the strengthening Brazilian Real impacted our costs and income during the quarter, we continue to have a strong balance sheet and are well positioned to execute our improvement plans. Finally, I am very excited to announce the appointment of Alfred Colas as Chief Financial Officer of Jaguar Mining. His background and extensive experience in mining and project development makes him a good fit for our Company. We know Alfred will be a great contributor to unlocking the value of our gold assets". Corporate Updates On August 1, 2023, the Company announced it had entered into a share purchase agreement to purchase and assume from a subsidiary of IAMGOLD Corporation, the Pitangui Project and the remaining interest in the Acurui Project, two gold mineral exploration projects located in Brazil which are close in proximity to the Company's MTL Complex and Paciencia Complex. Following completion of the Transaction, the Company will hold a 100% ownership in the Pitangui Project and the Acurui Project. The Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Alfred Colas as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Colas is a seasoned finance executive with over 20 years of experience with publicly listed mining and forestry companies and five years of experience in private-equity real estate. Mr. Colas spent over 13 years in progressively senior finance roles with Barrick Gold Corp., culminating in his 2007 assignment as finance manager at the Veladero Mine in Argentina, where he was a seminal part of the team that successfully turned around the operation. From 2010-2013, he was controller of Rainy River Resources, following which he was VP and CFO of FNI Mining. In 2015, Mr. Colas joined Potenia Solar as CFO and, after its sale, he continued as CFO of a family office focusing on senior-care investments. Later, Mr. Colas served as CFO of dual-listed silver producer, Excellon Resources, and most recently, he was CFO of GreenFirst Forest Products. Mr. Colas holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto, and he obtained his CA/CPA designation in 1995, having started his career in 1992 as an auditor with Price Waterhouse. _________________________________ 1 This is a Non-GAAP financial performance measure with no standard definition under IFRS. For more details, refer to the Non-GAAP Performance Measures section of the MD&A. Second Quarter 2023 Results Non-GAAP performance The Company has included the following Non-GAAP performance measures in this document: cash operating costs per ounce of gold sold, all-in sustaining costs per ounce of gold sold, average realized gold price (per ounce of gold sold), sustaining capital expenditures, non-sustaining capital expenditures, adjusted operating cash flow, free cash flow, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), adjusted EBITDA and working capital. These Non-GAAP performance measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and, therefore, may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company's performance. Accordingly, they are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. More specifically, Management believes that these figures are a useful indicator to investors and management of a mine's performance as they provide: (i) a measure of the mine's cash margin per ounce, by comparison of the cash operating costs per ounce to the price of gold; (ii) the trend in costs as the mine matures; and (iii) an internal benchmark of performance to allow for comparison against other mines. The definitions of these performance measures and reconciliation of the Non-GAAP measures to reported IFRS measures are outlined below. Reconciliation of sustaining capital and non-sustaining capital expenditures1 Reconciliation of Free Cash Flow1 Reconciliation of Cash Operating Costs, All-In Sustaining Costs and All-In Costs per Ounce Sold1 Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA1 Working Capital1 Qualified Person Scientific and technical information contained in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Jonathan Victor Hill, BSc (Hons) (Economic Geology - UCT), FAUSIMM, Vice President Geology and Exploration, who is also an employee of Jaguar Mining Inc., and is a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). The Iron Quadrangle The Iron Quadrangle has been an area of mineral exploration dating back to the 16th century. The discovery in 1699-1701 of gold contaminated with iron and platinum-group metals in the southeastern corner of the Iron Quadrangle gave rise to the name of the town Ouro Preto (Black Gold). The Iron Quadrangle contains world-class multi-million-ounce gold deposits such as Morro Velho, Cuiaba, and Sao Bento. Jaguar holds the third largest gold land position in the Iron Quadrangle with just over 25,000 hectares. About Jaguar Mining Inc. Jaguar Mining Inc. is a Canadian-listed junior gold mining, development, and exploration company operating in Brazil with three gold mining complexes and a large land package with significant upside exploration potential from mineral claims. The Company's principal operating assets are located in the Iron Quadrangle, a prolific greenstone belt in the state of Minas Gerais and include the Turmalina Gold Mine Complex and Caete Mining Complex (Pilar and Roca Grande Mines, and Caete Plant). The Company also owns the Paciencia Gold Mine Complex, which has been on care and maintenance since 2012. The Roca Grande Mine has been on temporary care and maintenance since April 2019. Additional information is available on the Company's website at www.jaguarmining.com. For further information please contact: Vernon Baker Chief Executive Officer Jaguar Mining Inc. vernon.baker@jaguarmining.com 416-847-1854 Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's expectations and plans relating to the future. All of the forward-looking information made in this news release is qualified by the cautionary statements below and those made in our other filings with the securities regulators in Canada. Forward-looking information contained in forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "are expected," "is forecast," "is targeted," "approximately," "plans," "anticipates," "projects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "believe" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "would," "might," or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, may be considered to be or include forward-looking information. This news release contains forward-looking information regarding, among other things, expected sales, production statistics, ore grades, tonnes milled, recovery rates, cash operating costs, definition/delineation drilling, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, costs and timing of the development of projects and new deposits, success of exploration, development and mining activities, currency fluctuations, capital requirements, project studies, mine life extensions, restarting suspended or disrupted operations, continuous improvement initiatives, and resolution of pending litigation. The Company has made numerous assumptions with respect to forward-looking information contained herein, including, among other things, assumptions about the estimated timeline for the development of its mineral properties; the supply and demand for, and the level and volatility of the price of, gold; the accuracy of reserve and resource estimates and the assumptions on which the reserve and resource estimates are based; the receipt of necessary permits; market competition; ongoing relations with employees and impacted communities; political and legal developments in any jurisdiction in which the Company operates being consistent with its current expectations including, without limitation, the impact of any potential power rationing, tailings facility regulation, exploration and mine operating licenses and permits being obtained and renewed and/or there being adverse amendments to mining or other laws in Brazil and any changes to general business and economic conditions. Forward-looking information involves a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including among others: the risk of Jaguar not meeting the forecast plans regarding its operations and financial performance; uncertainties with respect to the price of gold, labour disruptions, mechanical failures, increase in costs, environmental compliance and change in environmental legislation and regulation, weather delays and increased costs or production delays due to natural disasters, power disruptions, procurement and delivery of parts and supplies to the operations; uncertainties inherent to capital markets in general (including the sometimes volatile valuation of securities and an uncertain ability to raise new capital) and other risks inherent to the gold exploration, development and production industry, which, if incorrect, may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company and described herein. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of gold exploration, development, mining and production, including environmental hazards, tailings dam failures, industrial accidents and workplace safety problems, unusual or unexpected geological formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding, chemical spills, procurement fraud and gold bullion thefts and losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance, or the inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks). Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forward-looking information made in this news release, see the Company's most recent Annual Information Form and Management's Discussion and Analysis, as well as other public disclosure documents that can be accessed under the issuer profile of "Jaguar Mining Inc." on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information set forth herein reflects the Company's reasonable expectations as at the date of this news release and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Non-IFRS Measures This news release provides certain financial measures that do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. Readers are cautioned to review the below stated footnotes where the Company expands on its use of non-IFRS measures. Cash operating costs and cash operating cost per ounce are non-IFRS measures. In the gold mining industry, cash operating costs and cash operating costs per ounce are common performance measures but do not have any standardized meaning. Cash operating costs are derived from amounts included in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss) and include mine-site operating costs such as mining, processing and administration, as well as royalty expenses, but exclude depreciation, depletion, share-based payment expenses, and reclamation costs. Cash operating costs per ounce are based on ounces produced and are calculated by dividing cash operating costs by commercial gold ounces produced; US$ cash operating costs per ounce produced are derived from the cash operating costs per ounce produced translated using the average Brazilian Central Bank R$/US$ exchange rate. The Company discloses cash operating costs and cash operating costs per ounce, as it believes those measures provide valuable assistance to investors and analysts in evaluating the Company's operational performance and ability to generate cash flow. The most directly comparable measure prepared in accordance with IFRS is total production costs. A reconciliation of cash operating costs per ounce to total production costs for the most recent reporting period, the quarter ended June 30. 2023, is set out in the Company's second quarter 2023 Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. All-in sustaining cost is a non-IFRS measure. This measure is intended to assist readers in evaluating the total costs of producing gold from current operations. While there is no standardized meaning across the industry for this measure, except for non-cash items the Company's definition conforms to the all-in sustaining cost definition as set out by the World Gold Council in its guidance note dated June 27, 2013. The Company defines all-in sustaining cost as the sum of production costs, sustaining capital (capital required to maintain current operations at existing levels), corporate general and administrative expenses, and in-mine exploration expenses. All-in sustaining cost excludes growth capital, reclamation cost accretion related to current operations, interest and other financing costs, and taxes. A reconciliation of all-in sustaining cost to total production costs for the most recent reporting period, the quarter ended June 30. 2023, is set out in the Company's second quarter 2023 MD&A filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. SOURCE: Jaguar Mining Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/773548/Jaguar-Mining-Reports-Second-Quarter-2023-Results-and-Provides-Corporate-Update August 10 - Renforth Resources Inc. (CSE:RFR) (OTC:RFHRF) (FSE:9RR) ("Renforth" or the "Company") would like to inform shareholders of the acquisition of the mineralized Copper Prince Project, located near Iron Bridge, Ontario. About Copper Prince The Copper Prince property consists of fifteen claims which cover part of a known copper bearing vein system, the Copper Prince system, with limited historic production and a less well documented vein/disseminated copper system, the North Summit system. Mineralization at the historic Copper Prince prospect and at North Summit is hosted by steeply-dipping white quartz veins, with a width of roughly 1m to 5m and traceable over considerable distance. The veins host chalcopyrite, pyrite and specular hematite. Historic work on the known copper bearing vein system (partially covered by Renforth claims) at Copper Prince began in the 1920s when trenching, drilling and limited underground development was completed by the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada (Cominco). Historically recorded assays from the Renforth portion of Copper Prince includes several copper assays which exceed 1%, from drilling by Cominco, along with low grade gold and silver values. The historic information is not to be relied upon as there is no core available for verification and assay technology and standards have changed. Renforth treats this information as confirming the property is mineralized and references it to fully inform shareholders. The adit, and much, but not all, of the trenching and drilling, is a short distance beyond Renforth's claims, with little information available regarding the work on either Renforth's property or adjacent to it. Anecdotal comments suggest that there was limited production in the 1960s or 1970s from the adjacent adit. Limited drilling was completed in 2012 by Lakeland Resources both within the Renforth property and adjacent to it, confirming some of the historic drill results. Only one map of the Cominco work is available, dating from 1947, after the work was undertaken but it showing several drillholes and trenches on the Renforth claims. The North Summit copper occurrence, to the north of the vein system, was explored, trenched and drill-tested in the 1960s by North Summit Explorations Ltd (later Summit Diversified Ltd). Several good quality maps are available of geophysical surveys completed by North Summit, but their geologic exploration is poorly recorded and poorly located, and there are no maps accompanying the work reports. It is believed that the North Summit occurrence is likely to lie within the northeastern part of the Copper Prince property. Renforth has acquired 100% of the rights to the staked claims, with no underlying encumbrances, by way of assignment with no purchase cost paid. Webinar Renforth Resources will be presenting at 1:45pm EST Thursday August 10th, attendance is free via the following registration link https://goto.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1603283&tp_key=7656c5070a&sti=rfhrf. Technical disclosure in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Brian H. Newton P Geo, a "qualified person" pursuant to NI 43-101. For further information please contact: Renforth Resources Inc. Nicole Brewster President and Chief Executive Officer C:416-818-1393 E: nicole@renforthresources.com #Unit 1B - 955 Brock Road, Pickering ON L1W 2X9 Follow Renforth on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram! About Renforth Renforth is a secure multi-commodity area play with the dominant brownfield land position south of the world class Cadillac-Larder Lake Fault ("CLLF") in the prolific Cadillac and Malartic mining camps of Quebec's Abitibi. Offering exposure to gold, zinc, nickel, copper, cobalt and more, including lithium, Renforth's land position encompasses several areas of interest. In the more than 300 square kilometres Renforth holds, there are both resources and mineralized ground undergoing exploration to extend zones and define the amount of metal in structures. Renforth's position is unique in that the ground is road accessible, has hydro power in place and is in an established and secure mining jurisdiction which regularly ranks as Top 10 (as determined by the Fraser Institute) in the world. The CLLF, which extends from west of Kirkland Lake in Ontario to east of Val d'Or in Quebec is a regional first order fault which hosts numerous mines along its extent, including one of Canada's most lucrative gold mines, the know historic O'Brien Mine which formed the Cadillac Mining Camp, and Renforth's Parbec gold deposit near Malartic. Now, immediately north of Renforth's landholdings is one of the few instances of the CLLF being mined on its north side with North America's deepest single stage shaft, the Penna shaft, at Agnico Eagle's LaRonde Mine. Renforth holds the dominant land position in the Cadillac Camp south of the fault, and a good portion of the land position in the Malartic camp as well, contiguous to one of the few mines operating on the south side of the Cadillac Break, the Canadian Malartic Mine. Renforth's landholdings in the area host gold and silver as well as a host of future facing, or battery, metals such as nickel, copper, zinc, cobalt, and lithium. No securities regulatory authority has approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. Forward Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements and information under applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward looking. Forward-looking statements are frequently identified by such words as 'may', 'will', 'plan', 'expect', 'believe', 'anticipate', 'estimate', 'intend' and similar words referring to future events and results. Such statements and information are based on the current opinions and expectations of management. All forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of assumptions, risks, and uncertainties, including the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, fluctuating commodity prices, the risks of obtaining necessary approvals, licenses and permits and the availability of financing, as described in more detail in the Company's securities filings available at www.sedar.com. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements and the reader is cautioned against placing undue reliance thereon. Forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is provided, and the Company assumes no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law. Copyright (c) 2023 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. Rebranding to Silver North Resources Ltd. Haldane and Tim Silver Properties are lead projects 1 for 5 share consolidation to tighten share structure Vancouver, August 10, 2023 - Alianza Minerals Ltd. ("Alianza") (TSXV:ANZ) (OTC:TARSF) announces that effective August 14, 2023, the Company is changing its corporate identity and rebranding as "Silver North Resources Ltd." and will start trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "SNAG" "Rebranding as Silver North Resources Ltd. is a strategic move to focus on silver and align with evolving needs of the global economy, particularly the accelerating demand for silver and its pivotal role in sustainable technologies," explained Jason Weber, President and CEO. "The name Silver North Resources encapsulates our focus on two high grade silver projects in Haldane and Tim, both located in known silver-producing camps, helping Silver North be better recognized and valued as a leading junior silver explorer." The road-accessible Haldane is a high grade silver project in the Keno Hill Silver District, approximately 22 km from Hecla Mining's Keno Hill silver mine. Recent exploration at Haldane led to the discovery of a new high grade silver target at the West Fault, where intersections including 8.72m averaging 311 g/t Ag, 0.89% Pb and 1.13% Zn; 3.14m averaging 1351 g/t Ag, 2.43% Pb and 2.91% Zn, and 4.27m averaging 363 g/t Ag, 1.73% Pb and 2.80% Zn have defined a silver-bearing vein system 3-8 metres wide over a 100 by 90 metre area with eight holes to date. In all, over 12 km of cumulative vein strike potential exists, with only 28 surface drillholes to date testing portions of this potential. This includes one hole at the Bighorn target which has identified a new target area 3 km from previously known mineralization. The Tim silver project lies 19 km north of Coeur Mining's Silvertip silver-lead-zinc mine, in the same rocks that host mineralization at the Silvertip Mine. Prior exploration at Tim has identified silver-bearing oxide mineralization 4 to 30 metres wide in trenches on surface over 1,700 metres of strike length. Trench sampling results include 365 g/t silver and 7.5% lead over a 3.7 metre chip sample of oxidized material. Tim is road accessible, located off the access road to the Silvertip Mine. The Tim property is optioned to Coeur Mining, who can earn an 80% interest by funding $3.55 million in exploration expenditures, by making cumulative cash payments of $575,000 and completing a feasibility study by the 8th anniversary. A five year mining land use permit to conduct trenching and drilling is in place for the Tim project. The Company also holds copper and gold projects in Nevada and Colorado that will be divested or optioned out, allowing management to focus its efforts on its silver portfolio. The Company also announces that pursuant to directors' resolutions dated July 25, 2023, and following the receipt of all necessary approvals, effective August 14, 2023, the Company will be consolidating its common shares on the basis of one (1) new post-consolidation common share for every five (5) pre-consolidation common shares (the "Consolidation"). Effective at the opening of the market on August 14, 2023, the common shares of the Company will commence trading on a post-Consolidation basis under the new ticker symbol "SNAG" (CUSIP: 828061101; ISIN: CA8280611010). There are currently 158,950,655 common shares outstanding, and following the completion of the Consolidation, the Company will have approximately 31,877,994 shares outstanding. No fractional shares will be issued in connection with the Consolidation. Each fractional share following the Consolidation that is less than one-half of a share will be cancelled and each fractional share that is at least one-half of a share will be rounded up to the nearest whole share. No cash consideration will be paid in respect of fractional shares. All options and warrants outstanding will reflect the change in accordance with the Consolidation. Registered holders of common shares will receive a letter of transmittal from Computershare Trust Company of Canada with instructions on how to exchange existing share certificates for new post-Consolidation share certificates. Alianza is rebranding to focus on its silver portfolio of projects. Previously, the Company employed a discovery-focused business model of joint venture funding and self-funded projects to maximize opportunity for exploration success. The Company's primary assets going forward will remain its 100% owned Haldane silver project and the Tim silver project (under option to Coeur Mining, Inc.), Alianza also holds gold and base metal projects in Yukon Territory, Colorado and Nevada, including one optioned to Volt Lithium (formerly Allied Copper) within an alliance with Cloudbreak Discovery PLC. The Company is actively seeking partners on its other projects. Alianza also holds certain royalties on projects in North and South America. Alianza is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "ANZ" and trades on the OTCQB market in the US under the symbol "TARSF". Mr. Jason Weber, P.Geo., President and CEO of Alianza Minerals Ltd. is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Weber supervised the preparation of the technical information contained in this release. For further information, contact: Jason Weber, President and CEO Sandrine Lam, Shareholder Communications Tel: (604) 807-7217 Fax: (888) 889-4874 To learn more visit: www.alianzaminerals.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlianzaMinerals LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/alianza-minerals-ltd 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. STATEMENTS IN THIS NEWS RELEASE, OTHER THAN PURELY HISTORICAL INFORMATION, INCLUDING STATEMENTS RELATING TO THE COMPANY'S FUTURE PLANS AND OBJECTIVES OR EXPECTED RESULTS, MAY INCLUDE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS ARE BASED ON NUMEROUS ASSUMPTIONS AND ARE SUBJECT TO ALL OF THE RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES INHERENT IN RESOURCE EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT. AS A RESULT, ACTUAL RESULTS MAY VARY MATERIALLY FROM THOSE DESCRIBED IN THE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS. Copyright (c) 2023 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. Trigon Metals Inc. (TSX-V: TM; OTCQB: PNTZF) ("Trigon" or the "Company") announces the full restart of milling and processing at the Kombat Mine. The Company has succeeded in restarting copper concentrate production at the Kombat mine in Namibia, placing the project on track to meet commercial production targets by the end of September. On the evening of August 3, 2023, the Company achieved the major milestone of turning on the mill's crushing facility and starting the flotation circuit. The plant has been running in three-hour bursts as the Trigon team fine-tunes the equipment and sets up for a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week operation. Concentrate levels are building in the thickeners with first concentrate production pending. Trigon President and Chief Executive Officer, Jed Richardson, commented: "I would like to thank our staff, contractors, suppliers, local partners, and the Namibian government for their concerted efforts in getting Kombat back into production. This milestone for both our Company and the Kombat community pushes us forward as a cash-flowing operation. We look forward to the continued growth of our operations at Kombat as Trigon offers yet more value to our dedicated shareholders." Local Director, Trigon Namibia, Jeremy Hangula, commented: "We commend the team at Trigon Namibia for their outstanding efforts at achieving the milestone of bringing these deposits into production. Support from our local shareholders and stakeholders has proven to be invaluable and has contributed greatly to the hundreds of jobs created, and currently adding value to the Kombat community." Qualified Person The technical information presented in this press release has been reviewed and approved for disclosure by Fanie Muller, P.Eng, VP Operations of Trigon, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Virtual Non-Deal Roadshows Hosted by Renmark Financial Trigon will be participating in a live Virtual Non-Deal Roadshow session on Tuesday, August 15, 2023. Trigon welcomes stakeholders, investors, and other individual followers to register and attend this live event. Jed Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Aidan Sullivan, Vice-President, Investor Relations will walk viewers through the latest investor presentation followed by a live Q&A. Investors interested in participating in this event will need to register using the link below. As a reminder, registration for the live event may be limited but access to the replay after the event will be on the Trigon website. REGISTER HERE: Tuesday, August 15, 2023 at 12:00 PM ET: https://www.renmarkfinancial.com/live-registration/renmark-virtual-non-deal-roadshow-tsx-v-tm-otcqb-pntzf-2023-08-15-120000 Please access this link using the latest version of Google Chrome to ensure smooth connectivity. Trigon Metals Inc. Trigon is a publicly traded Canadian exploration and development company with its core business focused on copper and silver holdings in mine-friendly African jurisdictions. Currently, the company has operations in Namibia and Morocco. In Namibia, the Company holds an 80% interest in five mining licences in the Otavi Mountainlands, an area of Namibia widely recognized for its high-grade copper deposits, where the Company is focused on exploration and re-development of the previously producing Kombat Mine. In Morocco, the Company is the holder of the Silver Hill and Addana projects, highly prospective copper and silver exploration projects. Cautionary Notes This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements include statements regarding the Kombat Mine, the reopening of the Kombat Mine, the Company's ability to restart operations, the economic viability of the Kombat Mine, the Company's ability to mine underground and the related timelines, the infrastructure required for Trigon's operations and the Company's future plans and objectives. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statements or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws. 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. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810562694/en/ Contact For further information, contact: Jed Richardson +1 647 276 6002 jed.richardson@trigonmetals.com Website: www.trigonmetals.com Calgary, August 10, 2023 - Crestview Exploration Inc. (CSE:CRS), (Frankfurt:CE7) ("Crestview" or the "Company") announces today a first tranche of a non-brokered private placement financing in the aggregate amount of $104,240 with issuance of 1,303,000 units at a price of $0.08 per unit. Each unit consists of one common share of the Company and one share purchase warrant of the Company (the "Offering"). Each warrant is exercisable into one common share of the Company at a price of $0.16 per common share for a term of two-years from the date of issuance. The Company intends to use the proceeds of this Offering for its Nevada properties claim renewal, permitting, and general corporate purposes. The Company will pay $4,300 in cash and issue 54,000 warrants as compensation to qualified finders as part of this Offering. Each warrant is exercisable at a price of $0.16 per common share for a term of two-years from the date of issuance. The securities issued under the Offering will have a hold period expiring four months and one day from the date of issuance pursuant to applicable Canadian securities laws. Closing of the Offering remains subject to regulatory approvals, including approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange. The securities offered in the Offering 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 U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, United States persons absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy securities in the United States, nor in any other jurisdiction.On Behalf of the Board of Directors, "Chris Wensley" Chief Executive Officer and Director About Crestview Exploration Inc: Crestview Exploration is an experienced exploration company focused on the exploration and development of its portfolio of gold and silver properties located in prolific mining districts of Nevada. The Rock Creek gold project is Crestview's flagship asset, with 74 unpatented lode mining claims wholly owned and controlled by CRS. The Rock Creek property was acquired in 2017, and the company went public in 2019. Emboldened by the results coming out of Rock Creek, Crestview strategically expanded on the land position with the acquisition of the nearby Divide Mine prospect in April 2020, and the acquisition of the Falcon silver-gold prospect in September 2022. Between the three properties, all targeting similar mineralization and likely the same hydrothermal system, Crestview now holds 260 total claims in close proximity of one another. These three gold prospects, along with the nearby Castile prospect, are situated in a region with proven "world class" gold deposits (including Midas, Jerritt Canyon, Betze-Post, Meikle, and Gold Quarry), where the potential of finding large, high-grade gold-silver deposits is favourable. The Cimarron project is located in the San Antonio Mountains of Nye County, Nevada, and is comprised of 31 unpatented lode mining claims, including control of 6 historically producing claims associated with the historic San Antonio mine. The property is located in the prolific Walker-Lane trend, approximately 44 kms south of the "world class" Round Mountain deposit. For further information please contact: Chris Wensley, Chief Executive Officer Tel: 1-778-887-3900 Email : Chris@crestviewexploration.com Forward Looking Information This news release includes certain information that may be deemed "forward-looking information" under applicable securities laws. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that may address the Offering, acquisitions of a property and/or future work thereon, mineral resource and reserve potential, exploration activities and events or developments, if applicable, that the Company expects is forward-looking information. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such 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 statements. There are certain factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking information. These include the results of the Company's due diligence investigations, market prices, exploration successes, continued availability of capital financing, and general economic, market or business conditions, and those additionally described in the Company's filings with the Canadian securities authorities. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For more information on the Company, investors are encouraged to review the Company's public filings at www.sedar.com. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward- looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER HAS REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE Copyright (c) 2023 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. Uber, an app that allows smartphone users to find vehicles for hire, has been insanely popular, disputing the traditional taxi model. Meanwhile, the rental-car industry is being disrupted by several innovations, such as Zipcar, the car-sharing service; AutoSlash.com, which monitors car-rental prices; and FlightCar.com, which allows individuals who are travelling to rent their cars out while they are away.Government needs disruptive innovation just as much as the taxi industry does, but the dynamic that is reshaping the taxi business -- entrepreneurs looking to make money by creating new service models -- isn't a natural fit for government. Can governments innovate and do so mindfully? They can, and what many are finding is that the key to success is creating a culture ofpreneurship -- the act of behaving like an entrepreneur within a large organization in a process of assertive risk-taking.We're beginning to see public intrapreneurship, such as in the local-government innovation labs that are springing up all over the place. Boston's Office of New Urban Mechanics , for example, pilots experiments that have the potential to improve the quality of city services, such as the Citizens Connect apps that provide residents with tools to upload photos or use texting to report local problems. Internationally, platforms such as MindLab engage citizens and business on community issues.I recently spoke at a conference in Santiago, Chile, with an intriguing theme: "Public Innovation: Much Ado About Nothing?" That note of skepticism is understandable. But innovation in the public sectorattainable. What's needed is to keep in mind a few key precepts: Design a process to foster intrapreneurship: Without a clearly defined process embedded within the work practices of employees, the chances of engaging the entire organization in innovation are minimal. A process needs to be in place to move ideas from conception to experimentation and, finally, to implementation. Organizations of all types and sizes have been doing this to varying degrees. The city of Chicago, for example, set up a $20 million loan fund for city departments to compete against each other to come up with innovative ideas. Hold program-design "charrettes" to engage employees to innovate under constraints. A charrette -- a term borrowed from architecture -- is, in essence, an intense brainstorming session. Design charrettes, which can include an element of playfulness, are useful exercises not only for visioning but also for thinking through policy, legal and economic challenges. In 2012, the Philadelphia Water Department, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and several community organizations partnered for an urban-design charrette focused on developing a conceptual master plan. Create challenges and competitions that seek to achieve bold goals. The New York City Department of Education created a "Gap App Challenge" to develop apps and games that enhance math teaching, learning and engagement in middle schools. Winners shared $50,000 in cash and $54,000 in Amazon Web Service credits. Bring in citizens and community organizations and co-create value. CityCamp is a platform that allows local governments, community organizations and citizens to collaborate and innovate; Oakland, Calif., for example, has a CityCamp to address quality-of-life issues around the problem of illegal dumping. In Britain, Demsoc works with the National Health Service to engage with citizens on decisions about the future of that nation's health-care system.Unlike taxi operators or car rental agencies, governments have an opportunity to disrupt themselves to dramatically improve the way they do business and serve the public. This requires strong, proactive efforts to empower public employees and engage citizens to create and share innovations. That's what intrapreneurship is all about. Rumors of Binotto to Alpine not a surprise Rumours suggesting former Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto is set to return to Formula 1 as Alpine's new team principal appear to be true. Mattia Binotto, Hungarian GP 2019 RV Press That is the claim of French media sources including L'Auto Journal, as well as the respected Italian journalist Leo Turrini. L'Auto Journal said Italian Binotto, replaced at Ferrari this year by Frederic Vasseur, has received an offer from majority Alpine co-owner Renault's CEO Luca de Meo. 53-year-old Binotto was even spotted at the Belgian GP recently and he then stayed on-site for the subsequent Pirelli tyre test. In France, they're saying Binotto has already reached an agreement with Alpine, Turrini wrote in his Quotidiano Nazionale column. "I'm writing about it because it does not surprise me. There is no doubt that he is smart. Bank of Ghana on why it made GH60 billion loss in 2022 Graphic.com.gh Business News Aug - 10 - 2023 , 05:28 The Bank of Ghana has responded to the Minority in Parliament's reaction to the bank's financial statements for 2023. Below is a copy of the statement STATEMENT ON BANK OF GHANAS 2022 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Bank of Ghana released its full-year 2022 audited financial statements on 28th July 2023. The financial statements reported a total loss of GH60 billion, which has since become a matter of unfortunate politicisation. It is noteworthy that GH53.1 billion of those losses were a direct result of the Governments domestic debt restructuring exercise (phase 1 and II). It is important to put the Bank of Ghanas 2022 financial results in proper context with a clear statement of the problem that Ghana faced and the chronology of events in Ghana since 2019. There was a clear mismatch between revenue inflows and expenditure financed in 2020 by exceptional support from the IMF and World Bank resources, and in addition to financing from the Bank of Ghana through the issuance of the GH10 billion Covid-19 bond. As a result, sovereign spreads on Ghana bonds widened, signalling investor dissatisfaction with the stance of fiscal policy. The Budget for 2022, which was read in 2021, failed to address fiscal concerns as the Budget was even more expansionary by about 23% with a raft of revenue measures to raise financing. As a result, the Credit Rating Agencies further downgraded Ghanas sovereign debt rating, which blocked Ghanas access to international capital market borrowing. This triggered a liquidity crisis, spilling over into a balance of payments crisis. External and domestic payments needed to be made, the domestic auction was failing, and the Bank of Ghana had to step in to arrest a major economic and social crisis. In 2 months, the Bank of Ghana lost US$500 million in reserves and built significant overdraft with the government as a result of the auction failures. It became clear that Ghana was on a path that was unsustainable, and the Government had to approach the IMF for support in July 2022. The IMF process included putting into place a credible programme of reform, which included restructuring of the total government debt to sustainable levels. Until Staff Level Agreement with the IMF was reached in December 2022, the Bank of Ghana had to continue to provide the necessary support to keep the economy running. In line with the provisions of the Bank of Ghana Act, (Act 612), as amended, the Bank informed the Minister of the developments in its finances. The Minister reported this to Parliament as part of his briefing to Parliament on the IMF programme and the Domestic Debt Exchange. A major plank of the corrective action required for the IMF programme was the Domestic Debt Exchange, where the stock of Government of Ghana debt was to be halved from 105% of GDP to 55% of GDP by 2028. The holders of Government debt had their debt instruments exchanged for new ones with lower interest payments and longer terms. Despite the losses inflicted on households and banks, the threshold of 55% of GDP was not met. The Bank of Ghana was used to close the gap to enable Ghana meet the debt threshold that qualified Ghana for the IMF programme (Bank of Ghana therefore, acted as a loss absorber). This means the Bank of Ghana had to absorb a 50% haircut on its non- marketable holdings of Government debt instruments. This singular act led to significant impairment losses of GH32.3 billion to the Banks accounts. Impairments of marketable instruments also accounted for another GH16.1 billion, bringing the total impairments of Government holdings to GH48.4 billion. As experienced by central banks globally, price and exchange rate movements led to a loss of GH5.2 billion whiles impairments of Cocobod loans amounted to GH4.7 billion. This is the reason the Bank of Ghana reported a loss of GH60 billion in 2022. Central banks are not commercial banks. This financial outcome has very little implication for the operations of the Bank of Ghana as supported by evidence from other central banks. Technically, Central Banks cannot be insolvent or bankrupt. Bank of Ghana assures key stakeholders and the general public that we are committed to the highest standards of prudent management, governance, and transparent accounting and audit practices. GCB Bank, Cambridge University partner on conference - Ghana's political economy discussed Daily Graphic Business News Aug - 10 - 2023 , 07:38 The country's first indigenous bank, GCB Bank PLC, has sponsored an authors' conference on the country's political economy. Organised in collaboration with the Kings College and the Faculty of History of the University of Cambridge, the two-day conference was characterised by presentations by Ghanaian scholars from the universities in Ghana, as well as in the United Kingdom (UK), supported by presentations from resources from other universities. The sponsorship, which is part of the Thought Leadership programmes of GCB's Platinum anniversary celebrations, was on the theme 'Political Economy of Ghana in the Long Twentieth Century, 1891-2010', and aimed at comprehensively examining Ghana's political economy. The historical era under review at the conference spans the commencement of regular cocoa exports in 1891 and the beginning of petroleum exports in 2010. A former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ernest Aryeetey, who was the keynote speaker, was joined by several scholars specialising in development studies, economics, economic history, history and political science for the two-day event. Professor Gareth Austin and Dr Kofi Adjepong-Boateng from the University of Cambridge, who were key to the organisation of the conference, also presented papers on the Dynamics of Cocoa Cultivation in Ghana, 1891-2010 and Foundational Debates on Central Banking in the Gold Coast, respectively. Other scholars who presented papers included Cyrelene Amoah-Boampong, Nana Yaw Sapong, Emmanuel Abbey, Emmanuel Adu-Danso, (all from the University of Ghana), Professor Akua Opokua Britwum (University of Cape Coast). Other speakers from universities in the United States (US), South Africa, the UK, Sweden and Germany also participated, including Ravi Kanbur (Cornell) and Paul Nugent (Edinburgh). They presented papers on topics such as the unevenness of the distribution of benefits of economic growth, the evolving share of female ownership in different economic sectors, the apparent paradox of economic growth in Ghana with only very limited structural change, while the role that small-scale gold mining had played in Ghana was established. A statement from GCB Bank said the conference proceedings would be revised for publication and form part of GCB's 70th Anniversary celebrations heritage contributions to the development of banking in Ghana. "The published book will be a significant source of information and knowledge for scholars, researchers, academics, policymakers and policy analysts in Ghana and other parts of the world," the statement added. Thus, the conference outcomes would serve as a foundation upon which Ghana's economy could accelerate and pave the way for further progress, it said. Why sponsorship Speaking to the sponsorship, the Chairman of GCB Bank Board of Directors, Jude Arthur, stated that, "the bank had been part of Ghana's history and economic development since its inception in May 1953. "As part of our 70th anniversary celebrations and our general efforts to share information on the banks impact and contribution going forward, GCB Bank has been exploring collaboration opportunities with reputable institutions for Thought Leadership Programmes which will help shape the conversations and actions relating to our economy," he explained. Through the collaboration with the University of Cambridge, Mr Arthur said: "We aim to leverage the university's expertise, reach and resources, as well as the banks role as a key player in Ghanas financial history, and our contributions and plans for the future to highlight the relevant commitments which Ghana needs in order to register a significant improvement in its development". The GCB Bank board chairman added that the collaboration would be sustained and built upon beyond the 70th anniversary celebrations to continue to improve on the bank's contribution to the general development of the country. Imperial General Assurance is fastest growing insurance company Business Desk Report Business News Aug - 10 - 2023 , 04:27 Imperial General Assurance has been adjudged the Fastest Growing Insurance Company of the Year at the 2023 Ghana Insurance Awards. Presenting the award at a colourful ceremony in Accra over the weekend, the governing Board of the awards scheme organised by XO-DUS Communications commended Imperial for their sterling performance during the year under review. The annual awards bring together industry players, banks and other intermediaries to network and celebrate excellence across the insurance industry. The recognition was based on Imperial Generals strong financial performance, unparalleled digital innovation and transformation, rapid growth and reach, claims payment culture and promoting insurance penetration agenda as evidenced in its numerous initiatives. The companys gross written premium grew by 56 per cent from 2020 to 2021 and further increased by 55 per cent from 2021 to 2022. In the first quarter of 2023, Imperial General also registered a huge jump in its first-quarter gross written premium with a growth of 180 per cent compared to the companys first-quarter growth in 2022 in a year-on-year quarterly performance. The trend of growth of Imperial General Assurance in terms of Gross Written Premium over the period has been impressive. The Company is expanding its reach by way of branch openings and Agency outlets across the country to serve the increasing needs of its customers across the country. Commenting on the awards on the sidelines of the ceremony, Head of Corporate Affairs, Eric Paakow Selby, said: I am highly elated that Imperial General has been recognised by the governing Board of the Awards scheme in the insurance industry. These awards are a great acknowledgement of the Companys track record of excellence and its contribution to Ghanas economic growth. We place these awards in high regard, and they will serve as a constant reminder to us to continue creating value for all our stakeholders and positively impact our nation. Mr Selby further applauded the companys leadership, staff and customers for their contributions towards positioning Imperial General Assurance as a go-to insurer in the Country. We started a journey to deliver real value to the insuring public and this we will continue to do to meet the changing expectations of our current and potential customers, he asserted. Imperial General Assurance, led by its Managing Director Mr Robert Wugah, under the direction of the Board of Directors, embarked on an ambitious strategic drive over the last year, which has seen the company invest heavily in key areas of its operations including Human Resources, IT infrastructure and Brand Enhancement. The citation also noted in part that despite the general challenges in the Ghanaian economy during the year under review, the company demonstrated strong growth in key financial metrics across its various business segments. Daily Graphic Editorials Scholarship for more local students right decision Daily Graphic Editorials Aug - 10 - 2023 , 08:34 On August 1, 2023, the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) paid GH25.3 million of the annual fees on behalf of 4,279 students of various universities and colleges in the country. The awardees enrolled in undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate programmes in those institutions. This time, more scholarships were awarded to applicants studying in local universities and colleges, a major shift from previous years when GETFund scholarships went in favour of Ghanaian students studying abroad. The number of successful applicants this year, according the GETFund, is 63 per cent higher than the 2,704 recipients for last year. The Daily Graphic learnt that some 300 qualified applicants are yet to take advantage of the scholarship and wish to urge them not to waste the opportunity availed to them as more than 17,000 applicants may be awaiting their turn. The beneficiaries must justify the investments made in them by studying hard and obtaining the needed grades to remain on the scholarship scheme. They need to know that their continuous sponsorship by GETFund is directly linked to their academic performance and the fund will not hesitate to withdraw the scholarship of those who fail to attain the required grades. Moreover, GETFund reserves the right to withdraw their scholarship in the event that they are beneficiaries of other scholarship scheme(s) or based on misconduct and also deferment of programme without prior written approval from the Administrator of the GETFund. The Daily Graphic commends the management of GETFund for veering away from awarding scholarships to Ghanaian students to pursue university courses abroad at an exorbitant cost, when those students could have taken the same courses locally. The cost of sponsoring one student to pursue a programme in a foreign university is equivalent to training over 22 medical doctors locally. For the 2022/2023 academic year for instance, the average cost of training a first-year medical student locally, even as a fee paying student is about GH12,000 annually, while same students, pursuing Medicine in any UK university will pay not less than 19,000 annually. In addition to this 19,000, the government pays warm clothing allowance, books allowance, a monthly stipend, among others, and so, annually, a student pursuing a programme in a foreign university requires not less than 23,000. It is a fact that formerly, while a local student was denied GH20,000 to pursue a programme in a local university, his counterpart seeking scholarship to pursue an almost similar programme in a university in the UK was granted a 13,000 tuition fee as well as some reasonable amount of pounds sterling to cover warm clothing and books allowances, a monthly stipend and others annually for two years. Unfortunately, most of those students end up refusing to return home after they had been trained with the taxpayers money, thereby denying the country their expertise, the reason for which they were sent out there. It is not uncommon to hear now and then students on government scholarship outside the country complaining of not receiving funds from the government as they should. Last year, when the Russia-Ukraine war erupted, Ghana had to evacuate its students studying there and most of them are continuing their programmes in Ghana. That means that whatever they are being taught in those foreign universities is similar to or the same as what is done locally. The Daily Graphic cannot understand how management of the fund did not see the waste that went on when such amounts could have been used to train so many professionals instead of one individual. Ghanaians cannot fathom why such decisions were taken and nobody, including our representatives in Parliament, ever raised any red flags. So, if the management and board of GETFund find it prudent to rather invest in our universities by sponsoring students to pursue programmes locally, we cannot but applaud this decision. Indeed, that is the way to go and there should be no turning back. This decision by GETFund is not only saving the national purse, it is also a way to sustain the local universities so that they are not starved of funds. For us to attain the much-touted Ghana Beyond Aid objective, strengthening our educational institutions to produce the needed human capital is non-negotiable and the step GETFund has taken is in the right direction. Auditions for Miss Health Ghana on Sept. 9 Kofi Duah Showbiz News Aug - 10 - 2023 , 12:24 Auditions for the 5th edition of Miss Health Ghana aimed at empowering young health professionals to spearhead the agenda of safeguarding lives and promoting health living with various initiatives by crowned queens is on September 9. Speaking at the launch of this years edition at Carbon AV Office, Dworzulu, Miss Gladys Akyere Rockson, Chief Executive Officer of Lamrock Agency, organisers of the pageant said this years edition takes place on September 9 at the Accra City Hotel with the main event on November 25 at the same hotel. 20 talented ladies will be chosen by the organisers and groomed for three months after which one lady will be chosen as Miss Health Ghana after series of tasks. Miss Gladys Akyere said this year theme is; focusing on reproductive health and with that her outfit intends to give 10,000 menstrual cup to people When we give one cup to a girl we are saving her 1,200 for buying a pad for 5 years. One Menstrual cup is 100 Ghana but because it reusable we can recycle it for 5 years She stated that the prices for the winner is enormous as she gets to travel to Dubai and other places and getting an official car for official duties. She appealed to corporate bodies to support the project. You need money to run this kind of projects and I will really want Ministry of Health to collaborate with us to run it she said Talking about the challenges with Miss Health Ghana, Miss Gladys Akyere said it is disappointment from the queens due to their work schedules and money to run the project I am still a politician Fred Nuamah Gifty Owusu-Amoah Showbiz News Aug - 10 - 2023 , 09:08 ENTREPRENEUR and Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Movie Awards Fred Nuamah has disclosed his strong desire to pursue his political ambitions despite withdrawing from the pending National Democratic Congress (NDC)s Ayawaso West-Wuogon parliamentary primaries. He explained to Graphic Showbiz in an interview on Tuesday, August 8, that his decision to pull out of the race which has his close friend, actor John Dumelo, as his strongest contender is only a temporary withdrawal from frontline political activities. Mr Nuamah mentioned that he was ready to serve his party in various capacities and was certain the future would take care of itself concerning the decision he has taken. While my decision to pull back from the Ayawaso West-Wuogon NDC parliamentary primaries might indicate a temporary break from my political ambitions, it doesn't necessarily mean that I have given up on politics. No! I will serve my party and Ghanaians in several ways and at different levels. The future will take care of itself," he stated. The latest news of quitting the race must have come as a surprise to many, particularly when Mr Nuamah was super enthusiastic in his pursuit of the Ayawaso West-Wuogon Parliamentary seat when he announced his intentions to contest in February this year. His announcement didnt only make headlines but ruffled some feathers, including that of his good friend, Mr Dumelo, who contested the seat on the ticket of the NDC in the last general elections and was still nursing the interest of going again. A later announcement by Mr Dumelo in March raised concerns for one of them, especially when they are very good friends, to step down and support the other in the race. Interestingly, the onus sort of fell on Mr Nuamah to step down since Mr Dumelo previously contested the seat and had better prospects with a united front. However, Mr Nuamah, who was adamant initially, came out to say he had the blessings of Mr Dumelo to contest the Ayawaso West-Wuogon seat on the ticket of the NDC, following the latters decision to vie for a seat in another constituency. In a sharp rebuttal, Mr Dumelo denied knowledge of Mr Nuamahs claims and revealed that they were no longer friends, contrary to the perceived strong bond that Mr Nuamah had previously created in interviews during the heated moments. However, speaking about the new development, Mr Nuamah told Graphic Showbiz that contrary to the widely held perception, his announcement to contest Mr Dumelo for the parliamentary seat in the primaries did not have a negative impact on their bromance. I believe that whatever happened has rather strengthened the bond we share. As Im speaking to you now, I have already gotten in touch with my brother and I have extended my endorsement and support for his candidacy. We are working together to ensure a united and strong front for NDC's success in the constituency. I will support John Dumelo's campaign by rallying my supporters at all levels of the party in the constituency to support him, he stated. The NDC suspended the vetting of Mr Dumelo and Mr Nuamah for the constituency's election in April. However, it seems the road is now clear, with Mr Nuamah out of the race. I sold akara with mum hoping rich men would give me money Don Jazzy Gifty Owusu-Amoah Showbiz News Aug - 10 - 2023 , 12:35 Nigerian producer and music executive, Don Jazzy born Michael Collins Ajereh, has revealed that he sold akara with his mom hoping that rich men will pull up and dole out cash to him. Don Jazzy said this while appearing as a guest on the latest episode of the Zero Conditions podcast. He said: I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember sitting down with my mum frying Akara (bean cakes) there, sitting on the bench there in Ajegunle, and any big man that passed by with their Peugeot 504 or Mercedes 230 or whatever would come to buy Akara. The Mavin boss reflected on his humble beginnings growing up in Ajegunle and explained that his experience of poverty helped shape his growth as a man. He continued: I also remember the thought in my head: I wish this man would just look at me and say, Young boy, just take this, I know that you need it. Recommended article: Josh2Funny rocks Americas Got Talent judges WHO tracking new EG.5 coronavirus variant International News Aug - 09 - 2023 , 21:11 The World Health Organisation is currently tracking several coronavirus variants, including the EG.5 variant that is spreading in the US and UK, Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday. The risk remains of a more dangerous variant emerging that could cause a sudden increase in cases and deaths, Tedros said, adding that the agency is publishing a risk evaluation report on it today. WHO on Wednesday also issued a set of standing recommendations for COVID, in which it urged countries to continue reporting COVID data, particularly mortality data, morbidity data, and to continue to offer vaccination. COVID-19 hospital admissions have inched upward in the United States since early July in a small-scale echo of the three previous summers. With an updated vaccine still months away, this summer bump in new hospitalizations might be concerning, but the number of patients is far lower than before. For the week ending July 29, COVID-19 hospital admissions were at 9,056. That's an increase of about 12% from the previous week. But it's a far cry from past peaks, like the 44,000 weekly hospital admissions in early January, the nearly 45,000 in late July 2022, or the 150,000 admissions during the omicron surge of January 2022. It is ticking up a little bit, but its not something that we need to raise any alarm bells over, said Dr. David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Its likely that infections are rising too, but the data is scant. Federal authorities ended the public health emergency in May, so the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and many states no longer track the number of positive test results. Since early June, about 500 to 600 people have died each week. The number of deaths appears to be stable this summer, although past increases in deaths have lagged behind hospitalizations. World Bank halts new loans to Uganda over anti-LGBTQ law International News Aug - 10 - 2023 , 06:31 The World Bank has announced it will halt new loans to Uganda over the countrys controversial anti-LGBTQ law. The Washington, DC-based lender said on Tuesday it would pause project financing pending a review of measures it introduced to protect sexual and gender minorities from discrimination and exclusion in its projects. Ugandas Anti-Homosexuality Act fundamentally contradicts the World Bank Groups values, the lender said in a statement. We believe our vision to eradicate poverty on a livable planet can only succeed if it includes everyone irrespective of race, gender, or sexuality. This law undermines those efforts. Inclusion and non-discrimination sit at the heart of our work around the world. The lender will also increase third-party monitoring and grievance redress mechanisms allowing us to take corrective action as necessary, it said. The World Bank Group said in May that the law was not consistent with the lenders values and that it was highly concerned about its adoption. World Bank President Ajay Banga, who took office in June, faced pressure to respond to the legislation, with 170 civic groups urging specific, concrete and timely actions, including suspending future lending. Human rights organisations have widely condemned the anti-LGBTQ law, which imposes capital punishment for aggravated homosexuality, an offence that includes transmitting HIV through gay sex, and 20 years in prison for promoting homosexuality. In June, the US imposed travel restrictions on Ugandan officials in response to the legislation, which was signed by President Ugandan Yoweri Museveni. Museveni, who has referred to homosexuality as a psychological disorder, has rejected international criticism of the legislation, which he has defended as necessary to stop the LGBTQ community from trying to recruit people. In its statement on Tuesday, the World Bank said it remained committed to providing assistance to Uganda despite its pause on financing. The World Bank Group has a longstanding and productive relationship with Uganda; and we remain committed to helping all Ugandans without exception escape poverty, access vital services, and improve their lives, the lender said. Mfantsiman Girls 2003 donate to Psychiatric Hospital Diana Mensah Education Aug - 10 - 2023 , 08:37 The 2003 Year Group of the Mfantsiman Old Girls Association (MOGA) has donated assorted items worth GH20,000 to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital to support the upkeep of the patients and ease pressure on the facility. The items, mainly food items and toiletries, included grains, sugar, bags of rice, cooking oil, bottles of drinking water, soft drinks and biscuits. Others were sanitisers, gloves, cotton, sanitary pads, adult diapers, toilet rolls, tissues, towels, washing powder, cleaning detergents, disinfectants, deodorants, body cream among others. The donation was funded by the Old Girls with the kind support of Bel Aqua Ghana, Arla Foods Ltd. Ghana, Denk Pharma Ghana and Philips Pharmaceuticals Ghana Limited. The donation was to bring together all members of the year group to celebrate their 20th anniversary since they completed their second cycle education and commemorate the 25th anniversary of MOGA. After presenting the items to management of the hospital, the members of the year group visited the Childrens Ward and the Female Geriatric Ward of the facility to interact with some of the patients on admission and handed over some of the items to them. Ceremony The organiser for the 20th Anniversary Planning Committee, Dr Nana Konadu Addo, said the donation was to support the operations of the hospital as we are committed to contributing significantly to the development of society. Apart from the donation, she said, the year group was organising a fundraising dinner to solicit funds to execute projects in their alma mater ahead of the school's 2023 Speech and Prize-giving Day celebration. Apart from the contributions of the 2003 year group, she commended some sponsors and individuals who supported the initiative of donating to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital. We are aware of some of the hardship these facilities face to cater for the inmates and the trauma and uneasiness the patients go through, so this is to support the hospital to encourage them to take good care of these vulnerable people in their care, she stressed. Appreciation A Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Francisca Ntow, thanked members of the year group for the gesture, adding that these consumables have come in handy and would help adequately cater and care for the inmates. She, however, noted that the hospital was in dire need of food items to feed and sustain the patients in the facility. Also she said other logistics such as LEDs and light bulbs were needed and entreated the public to emulate the example of the 2003 Year Group of MOGA. Abugiss flats under lock and key - Teachers commute from Accra, Koforidua to school Haruna Yussif Wunpini Aug - 10 - 2023 , 14:00 A fully completed residential building for teachers of Aburi Girls Senior High School (SHS) has been abandoned for the past four years, following the contractors refusal to hand over the project. While some staff of the school continue to bear the brunt of the closure, the contractor insists that he needs to be paid additional money to enable him to complete the work. In an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday, the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) Secretariat, the financier of the project stated categorically that it did not owe the contractor. Officials of the secretariat showed the Daily Graphic a schedule confirming the full payment and explained that consistent with every contract, the financier holds a retention against defects which would be paid to the contractor after the defect liability period had lapsed. Sources at the Secretariat urged the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), which awarded and supervised the contract, to go for the keys to the building since full payment had been made. Further checks with the Headmistress of the school, Cynthia Anim, for further clarification on the issue were unsuccessful as she declined to comment. Contractor The Managing Director (MD) of the Asumadu Construction Works Limited, who declined to give his name (but checks revealed he is George Asumadu) told the Daily Graphic on telephone that it was not possible to hand over the building to be used by the teachers because it was not fully completed. He said he executed the project with a loan from the bank and that he had used the money the government paid the company to service the loan. The MD of Asumadu Construction said he was, therefore, left with nothing to fully complete the works on the building. Mr Asumadu appealed to GETFund to release extra money for the completion of the building. Abandoned structure Building develops cracks for not being used When the Daily Graphic visited the school last Tuesday, it discovered that the 16-unit facility had developed cracks, while the roofing leaked badly anytime it rained heavily. In addition, the surroundings were weedy, making it a habitat for lizards and snakes. However, the Assemblyman for Aburi West Electoral Area in the Akuapem South Municipality in the Eastern Region, Daniel Asiama, made a passionate appeal to the government to intervene and assist the affected teachers who commute from Accra to Aburi as a result of the deadlock. Mr Asiama was on his knees when he told the Daily Graphic that teachers living outside the school premises often contacted him to help secure them accommodation in Aburi town. I'm on my knees to plead with the government to come to the aid of the school to compel the contractor to immediately hand over the edifice to the school", he said. Mr Asiama said it was unfortunate to see teachers struggle to secure accommodation at Aburi to enable them to stay within the school to teach and supervise students. Financial drain One of the teachers, Seth Frimpong, who lives in a rented accommodation outside the school, said it had been extremely difficult for those of them staying outside the school - especially in Accra and Koforidua - to make a return journey after classes. He said the government had done its part by providing the staff with accommodation, so the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, should as a matter of urgency, ask the contractor to hand over the building to the school. That, Mr Frimpong explained, would lessen their burden. Mr Frimpong, who has been teaching in the school for the past 10 years, disclosed that he had for some time now paid GH300 per month for a chamber and a hall accommodation in Aburi but currently pays GH850 a month for a two-bedroom and a hall apartment. Mr Frimpong said the current situation was impacting negatively on teaching and learning, particularly during final year examination (WASSCE) periods where teachers, irrespective of where they stayed, would have to be in the school daily to supervise the students. The 16-unit GETFund project was awarded on contract in 2016. Continue to pray for country's leadership - 2nd Deputy Speaker to religious leaders Shirley Asiedu-Addo Aug - 10 - 2023 , 08:16 The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Andrew Asiama Amoako, has called on the country's religious leaders to pray for the nation's leaders to be truthful and sincere to the call to lead the country. "Pray for our leaders to be truthful and sincere to our call so that we can actually serve the people of God," he stated. He said the leadership of the country needed spiritual guidance to help them make decisions that would lead the country into prosperity. 30 years celebration Mr Amoako was speaking at a mock parliament and debate programme organised at the University of Cape Coast last Wednesday as part of activities to mark the 30th anniversary of the Parliament in the Fourth Republic and Ghanas return to democracy. The event and engagements were to educate the populace, especially the youth, on their heritage and ignite a sense of commitment for the country's democracy. The forum was attended by religious and traditional leaders, civil society groups, worker unions representatives, security agencies and students. Provide spiritual direction Mr Amoako, who is also the Member of Parliament for Fomena, called on the religious leaders not to stop praying for the leadership, but to support leadership with spiritual guidance and advice. "Don't leave us alone. Guide us with your spiritual direction. It's very, very important," he stressed. Mr Amoako stated that with hard work from both leadership and citizens, prosperity for all would be achieved. The Second Deputy Speaker noted that the country's current stability did not make the country immune to political upheavals and must be protected by all. "The Ghanaian people must not be allowed to lose faith and trust in our democracy, he stated, emphasising that it was important to continue to reassure all, especially the youth, of the dividends of the democratic dispensation and to urge them to continue to support the democracy. On sustaining the nation's democracy, he said all Ghanaians must be encouraged to value the country's democracy and work to jealously protect the democratic dispensation. He congratulated the shapers of the Fourth Republican Constitution which, he noted, was useful for building a better and peaceful Ghana. He said the recent adventurism of security forces in the governance of some countries in the sub region must be a signal to all that Ghanas current achievements did not mean it had been completely insulated from military interference in the political governance of the country. He further stressed the need for the youth to be made to understand why the nation's forebears chose democracy as a path to development. Commendation The Second Deputy Speaker commended the students and participants for exhibiting excellent and intelligent debating skills and discourses, saying it gave the leadership hope that the country had great people who would be ready to take up the leadership mantle in future. Other speakers Other speakers, including the Members of Parliament for Cape Coast North and South, Kwamena Mintah Nyarku and Kweku Ricketts Hagan, thanked Ghanaians for sustaining the country's democracy and appealed that it should not be taken for granted. The MP for Awutu Senya West, Gizelle Tetteh-Agbotui, called for more women's participation in politics. Central Regional Minister The Central Regional Minister, Justina Marigold Assan, commended Parliament for the many bills passed and others repealed and for its inspirational leadership to the nation over the 30 years. Debate After the mock parliament session, three tertiary institutions engaged in a debate on the topic: Smart phones and artificial intelligence has made students and lecturers lazy. The University of Cape Coast, which spoke against the motion, won the debate with 205 points, followed by Takoradi Technical University, which had 169 points and Cape Coast Technical University placing third with 135 points. GH60 billion loss: We took half of debt haircut - Bank of Ghana Samuel Doe Ablordeppey Aug - 10 - 2023 , 06:33 The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has explained that GH53.1 billion out of the GH60 billion losses it posted in its 2022 financial results were a direct result of the governments domestic debt restructuring exercise, both the first and second phases. A statement from the BoG made available to the Daily Graphic yesterday said domestic debt exchange (DDE), which was a major plank of the corrective action required for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, did not achieve the required target. The target was for the stock of government debt to be halved from 105 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 55 per cent of GDP by 2028. Despite the losses inflicted on households and banks, the threshold of 55 per cent of GDP was not met. The Bank of Ghana was used to close the gap to enable Ghana to meet the debt threshold that qualified Ghana for the IMF programme. The Bank of Ghana, therefore, acted as a loss absorber, the statement added. That meant the BoG had to absorb a 50 per cent haircut on its non-marketable holdings of government debt instruments, it added. This singular act led to significant impairment losses of GH32.3 billion to the banks accounts. Impairments of marketable instruments also accounted for another GH16.1 billion, bringing the total impairments of government holdings to GH48.4 billion. This was after many events had resulted in sovereign spreads on Ghana bonds widening, signalling investor dissatisfaction with the stance of fiscal policy, the statement said. Coupled with below target performance of projected revenue to support expenditure, the credit rating agencies further downgraded Ghanas sovereign debt rating, which blocked the countrys access to international capital market borrowing, the statement noted. Context Contextualising the GH60 billion loss in its financial results for last year, the BoG said the losses emanated from challenges the country had faced since 2019. The statement further said there was a clear mismatch between revenue inflows and expenditure financed in 2020 by exceptional support from the IMF and the World Bank resources. In addition, the expenditure was also financed from the BoG through the issuance of the GH10 billion COVID-19 bond. As a result, sovereign spreads on Ghana bonds widened, signalling investor dissatisfaction with the stance of fiscal policy, the statement said. Budget fiscal gaps The BoG further explained that last years budget, which was read in 2021, failed to address fiscal concerns. The budget was even more expansionary by about 23 per cent with a raft of revenue measures to raise financing, it added. The result was the downgrades, which blocked the countrys access to international capital market borrowing, the statement noted. This triggered a liquidity crisis, spilling over into a balance of payments crisis. External and domestic payments needed to be made, the domestic auction was failing, and the Bank of Ghana had to step in to arrest a major economic and social crisis, the bank explained. Losses In two months, the BoG said it lost $500 million in reserves and built significant overdraft with the government as a result of the auction failures. It became clear that Ghana was on a path that was unsustainable, and the government had to approach the IMF for support in July 2022. The IMF process included putting into place a credible programme of reform, which included restructuring of the total government debt to sustainable levels. Until Staff Level Agreement with the IMF was reached in December 2022, the Bank of Ghana had to continue to provide the necessary support to keep the economy running, the central bank stated. In line with the provisions of the Bank of Ghana Act (Act 612), as amended, the central bank informed the Minister of Finance of the developments in its finances. The Minister, subsequently, reported that to Parliament as part of his briefing on the IMF programme and the DDE. Major plank The statement said a major plank of the corrective action required for the IMF programme was the DDE. The holders of government debt had their debt instruments exchanged for new ones with lower interest payments and longer terms. Despite the losses inflicted on households and banks, the threshold of 55 per cent of GDP was not met, it said, adding that eventually the BoG was used to close the gap to enable Ghana to meet the debt threshold to qualify Ghana for the IMF programme. Cocoa The central bank said price and exchange rate movements experienced globally led to a loss of GH5.2 billion, while impairments of COCOBOD loans amounted to GH4.7 billion, adding to the reason the BoG reported a loss of GH60 billion for last year. The statement explained that central banks were not commercial banks and as such the financial outcome had very little implication for its operations as supported by evidence from other central banks, stressing that technically, central banks cannot be insolvent or bankrupt. The BoG assured key stakeholders and the public that it was committed to the highest standards of prudent management, governance, and transparent accounting and audit practices. VIDEO: Mixed reactions meet Cylinder Re-Circulation Model implementation Beatrice Laryea & Ernestina Mensah Aug - 10 - 2023 , 12:18 There have been mixed reactions among consumers of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) concerning the implementation of the Cylinder Re-circulation Model (CRM) being championed by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) under the supervision of the Ministry of Energy, which is scheduled to take off in September 2023. The Vice President of the LPG Marketers Association, Gabriel Kumi has said that plans to implement the CRM in September is too early adding there is too much confusion surrounding the roll out of the policy and has therefore called for more education. Graphic Online sampled views of some consumers at some gas filling stations in Accra on their awareness of the policy. Knowledge on CRM policy Despite welcoming the policy, many respondents said they had never heard of it while some said they were privy to the information courtesy radio and television. Most of them were of the view that majority of Ghanaians were clueless about the policy. Aside from the lack of knowledge which they said could lead to misunderstandings, some said they will prefer to their personal cylinders than picking up cylinders circulating in different homes I dont have any knowledge about it but I think its a good thing that cylinder is going to be re-circulated. The public should be educated on it too, said Edem Tamakloe, a pastor at Gods General Assembly. I havent heard of anything like that but I think its very good. I didnt know about it so I think the public should also be educated on it. Gas is very good and essential so they should implement the policy, said Portia Awuah Bafffour, a factory hand. This is what a Taxi Driver, Theophilus Boateng had to say: I havent heard anything about it and for me I dont know if it is good or not because it would favour some people and wont favour others. I also think September is too early for that so they should postpone it to next year. Public Education Response on more public education was 50/50. Some respondents mentioned that more public education was crucial since majority of Ghanaians were still in the dark concerning the policy and its implementation. They said the stipulated date for the roll-out was woefully inappropriate calling for more time and education. However, others were of the view that September would be a perfect time to roll-out the project since the cylinder manufacturing companies and gas bottling facilities have declared their readiness for the project. Yes! Ive heard of it on the radio and I think September would be okay. Its better to educate the public on it while the project is ongoing so that they would understand it better, said Sylvanus Mensah Laryea, a Driver. Today is the first time of me hearing this, but I think its a good idea. Public education should be done because Im sure there are other people who do not know about it too like I didnt, said Vic Kabutey, a Seamstress. Benefits As mentioned earlier, majority of LPG consumers welcomed the policy. They said it would be beneficial for Ghanaians to get access to gas without owning a cylinder considering the high price of cylinders in recent time. Some also added that the policy would free them from having to repair faulty cylinders every now and then since the NPA would be solely responsible for maintenance. Its a good idea and its also convenient since itll make it easier for me and others to use gas but I think public education on it would also help because itll make the public aware of it, said Peter Amowui, A Software Programmer. A teacher, Khalifa Ahmed thinks the idea is perfect saying: The idea they are bringing into the system is very good. Its going to help us a lot because this cylinder if it gets rusted it is sometimes difficult to use. So, most of the times when we come here, they are even advising us to be careful. You people just educated me about it but I think this idea is going to help us a lot and September is okay, in my opinion. Background In October, 2017, the Ministry of Energy mandated the NPA to constitute an implementation committee to plan, oversee and ensure the smooth and successful implementation of the National LPG Promotion Policy. The committee commenced its work on November 17, 2017 and as part of its terms of reference, it embarked on working visits to some countries operating the CRM in order to understand the supply chain dynamics, regulatory framework and challenges associated with the implementation of the CRM so as to develop the best implementation strategy for the model. The CRM policy is to ensure that at least 50 per cent of Ghanaians have access to safe, clean and environmentally friendly LPG by 2030. It is also meant to improve access to LPG, improve safety in the distribution of LPG and to increase adoption of LPG. Additionally, it is a policy shift to stop the unnecessary loss of lives and properties as well as gas filling stations, mostly due to human error. Philanthropist builds Transit Lodge for Ghana Armed Forces Joshua Bediako Koomson Aug - 10 - 2023 , 06:45 A twenty-unit transit accommodation has been donated to the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) to support its peacekeeping operations. The facility, provided by the Chief Executive Officer of Paragon Company Limited, Kwasi Amoo Serebour, is to complement the B.K. Akafia Transit Lodge, also known as the UN Village, which is mainly for Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) of the GAF. Named after the Chief of Army Staff of the GAF, Major General Thomas Oppong-Peprah, in recognition of his contribution to the military, the facility was inaugurated at the Burma Camp yesterday. It brings to two the number of transit facilities for outstation personnel during rotations for peace support operations and other essential duties for the GAF. Pledge honoured At the handover and inauguration ceremony, Mr Serebour recounted that during the inauguration of the B.K. Akafia Transit Lodge by Major General Oppong-Peprah in 2021, he was impressed when he learnt of the vision of B.K. Akafia. As a result, he said he pledged to provide the military with an additional facility to complement the lodge for free. And here we are today, witnessing the inauguration of this facility. I have built this edifice for the GAF and hope that God will grant us good health and long life so that we can continue to do more for the force, he said. The Paragon Company Limited CEO said the facility would help to enhance the well-being of the military whose peacekeeping exploits had helped to place the country on the globe. Major General Oppong-Peprah expressed his gratitude to Mr Serebour for the gesture. He narrated that during his time as Director of Army Peace Keeping Operations, he saw at first hand the inconvenient accommodation for personnel who embarked on peace support operations. Having been in Peacekeeping from 1963, and we didnt have anywhere for officers and soldiers to lay their heads, I decided to make it a priority to address that issue when I was appointed as the Chief of the Army Staff, and that was the first project I launched, Major General Oppong-Peprah recounted. He said as an addition to the project, the plan was also to construct garages within the area to keep all UN equipment. That, he said, would ensure that everything meant for UN peace support operations was kept within the village. We want you all to bear testimony to the fact that this is not the end of the UN Village. Im placing it as a charge to my successors to continue the concept if Im not able to complete it, the Chief of Army Staff stated. Speaker inaugurates Steering Cttee of Catholic Legislators Network Daniel Kenu Aug - 10 - 2023 , 07:09 The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin, has inaugurated a nine-member Leadership Steering Committee of the Ghana Chapter of the International Catholic Legislators Network to strengthen a church-state relationship for development and peace. The committee is chaired by the First Deputy Speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, with the Second Deputy Speaker, Andrew Asiamah Amoako, as his vice. It is to bring together Catholic legislators and other Christian legislators regularly for faith formation, education and fellowship. The main objective of the Network includes the protection of life, protection of marriage and the family, religious leadership and fundamental human rights, biotechnology, education, church-faith relations, and communication of Catholic-social thought and politics. Also, it is to strengthen the relationship between Catholic parliamentary public life, and lay experts for debate and, therefore, be better informed about issues that impact the lives of citizens. Inauguration The Speaker observed that these were challenging times, where faith often found itself in the crosshairs of societal change. "We live in an age where the lines between right and wrong, moral and immoral, ethical and unethical are continually blurred. "Our mission here is clear, but the path is fraught with challenges. It requires courage, wisdom and an unyielding commitment to our faith and values," he said. Mr Bagbin said the fundamental beliefs that guide the country have been shaped by centuries of wisdom and teaching. According to him, the Network, with its roots in the universal principles of love, compassion, justice and integrity, serves as a beacon for those entrusted with the solemn responsibility of governance. "The right to life and human dignity, the protection of the most vulnerable members of society, the preservation of marriage and the family and the promotion of religious freedom these principles are not mere words. "They are the pillars upon which our society stands, the compass by which we navigate the complex waters of modern governance," he said. He assured that the Network will not merely be a forum for discussion but rather a platform for action. Disillusioned The President of the Catholic Bishops Conference, Most Rev. Matthew Gyamfi, for his part, said the events happening all around the continent showed clearly that all was not well and that the peace that residents seek seemed to be eluding them. "The happenings in South Sudan, Niger and the Sahelian region, to mention but few, demonstrate that the people are disillusioned, disappointed, frustrated and have lost faith, trust and confidence in the governance system of their countries, of which Ghana is not an exception," he said. Rev. Gyamfi said the constitutional democracy that the people had confidence in for peace and development seemed to have been dashed. "The legislature is a key institution in our democratic governance and as such needs to be strengthened to give hope to the poor and the vulnerable. "Its policies and roles, especially the oversight responsibility over the executive, enacting good laws for the common good and not for self-interest, must be strengthened to be able to achieve the peace and development that we look for in Ghana," he added. Most Rev. Gyamfi said the bills on the death penalty which were recently passed and the Promotion of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Family Values Bill, 2022, now before parliament, have their bases in the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church. He thanked the Speaker and all Parliamentarians for the good work done on the LGBTQ bill. Stakeholders urge govt to ratify Disability Protocol Elizabeth Konadu-Boakye & Diana Mensah Aug - 10 - 2023 , 10:34 The government has been urged to fast-track processes to ratify the African Disability Protocol (ADP) to ensure that the rights of persons with disability (PWDs) are upheld. The ADP, which is the legal framework on which member states of the AU are expected to formulate disability laws and policies, requires that 15 countries sign, ratify and domesticate the protocol to ensure its implementation across member countries, including Ghana. Stakeholders who were speaking at a meeting on the ADP in Accra yesterday said that although the country had pledged its commitment at the Global Disability Summit in 2022, there was the need to ensure that momentum was not lost, especially as the nation prepared for the polls in 2024. Since the protocol was adopted in 2018, only eight countries, including Nigeria and Togo, have so far ratified or have begun some processes towards ratification. Significance The senior Global Advocacy Advisor of SightSavers International, a charity organisation, Grace Antwi Atsu, said it was important for the country to ratify the protocol because it addressed issues of customs, traditional beliefs, harmful practices and ritual killings, among others. The ADP ensures that no one is truly left behind. It is unique to the continent and takes African practices and concerns into consideration so that the lives of people with disability are improved. It tackles the ingrained issues of disability discrimination so that everyone can access health, education and employment without stigma, she said. Reaffirmation of norms The Programmes Manager of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisation, Peter Anomah-Kordieh, also said that the protocol was not intended to undermine the spirit of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) to which most African states were already members. Rather, he said, the protocol reaffirmed the norms established in the CRPD while addressing issues which were not dealt with by the global disability rights instrument. This means that the two instruments complement each other where a state is party to both of them, the manager said. The President of the International Council for the Education of all Visually Impaired Persons (ICEVI), Dr Peter Obeng-Asamoah, also said that ratifying the protocol would not only benefit people with disability, but also improve the social environment. Let's see it as a protocol that is good at improving our nation. Let's see it as a protocol that would build our nation to become a better place and make us a worthy member of the Community of Nations. Times have changed and we must understand that we need human resources from all quarters whether the person has a disability or not, he said. Dr Obeng-Asamoah, who is also the Executive Director of the Ghana Blind Union, therefore, called on all to join hands to ensure the protocol was ratified. Wa: Popular MC Rashid Anaata accused of defiling 30 children remanded into Police custody GNA Aug - 10 - 2023 , 07:15 The Wa Circuit Court presided over by His Honour Mr Jonathan Avogo, has remanded a suspected serial paedophile into police custody to reappear in court on Monday, August 14. Rashid Anaata, the suspect, was arrested at the weekend and arraigned before the Wa Circuit Court and was subsequently remanded to enable the police to conclude its investigations. Mr Saeed Abdul Shakur, the Principal State Attorney in the Upper West Region, told the media in Wa that the suspect was denied bail, considering the gravity of the crime he was suspected to have committed and the risk of reprisal attack on him by some members of the public. Someone who has left the district before, we cannot be sure he will not escape, considering the gravity of the offences and the punishment that will be meted out if he is convicted. We are talking about a minimum of eight years and a maximum of 25 years in each of the counts, if we succeed with the case he might be going in for a long term, so if the court allows him on bail, we might not get him to try. We also say that it is in his own interest because of the anger, you can gauge the anger in society if such a person is charged loose we might not even get him to try, people might take the law into their own hands, so in order to prevent that situation too, we prayed the court to keep him in custody, the Principal State Attorney explained. Mr Shakur assured the public that the trial would be fast-tracked because of the immense public interest in the matter, and cautioned the public against any attempt to influence the prosecution witnesses in the case and that anyone caught in that would be made to face the full rigours of the law. In May 2023, the suspected paedophile fled Wa after he was accused by some girls of defilement in a viral video on social media. It was alleged that Rashid Anaata, a celebrated Islamic Wedding Master of Ceremony in Wa, defiled about 30 children in Wa. Following the allegations by the girls, Mr Eliasu Baba Yussif, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bahass Foundation in Wa, lodged a formal complaint with the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service on behalf of the alleged victims. Rashid Anaata was first arrested in 2014 for allegedly defiling some children but was left off the hook, which Mr Shakur attributed to the interference of some members of society. Mr Shakur, however, said, This time round we have all plans in place to ensure that nobody goes behind anywhere to touch any of the witnesses, we are going through this trial, and we are doing it expeditiously, the evidence is solid. Scores of members of the public thronged the court premises on Monday morning, August 7, 2023, to catch a glimpse of the suspect in court. Weve lived up to expectation despite challenges Speaker George Folley Aug - 10 - 2023 , 10:41 The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumani Kingsford Bagbin, has said that in spite of the challenges the current parliament was facing, it had been able to navigate through most issues successfully. He said the uniqueness of the House, which had moved from majoritarian to a hung parliament, was facilitating its business. "The journey is not without challenges but we are making progress to consolidate our democracy," the Speaker added. Mr Bagbin, who was addressing a public forum in Takoradi in the Western Region last Tuesday, added that parliament had a crucial role to play in promoting political democracy which included transparency, accountability and good governance, among others. The event formed part of activities to commemorate the 30th anniversary celebration of the Fourth Republican Parliament on the theme: "Thirty years of parliamentary democracy under the fourth republic: The journey so far". The forum was attended by chiefs, politicians, civil society groups and the general public. Progress Mr Bagbin mentioned the private members bill outlawing the death penalty and witches camps, including its stance on LGBTIQA+ as some of the achievements chalked up by the current parliament which he said were some of the dividends of democracy. He acknowledged that although oversight responsibilities of parliament had been weak over the years, the situation had improved. The Speaker also said that the performance of the nations parliament had led to it being adjudged as one of the best in Africa and the world at large. Mr Bagbin, however, mentioned low representation of women, monetisation of politics, barring of chiefs from participating in active politics and the lack of understanding of parliamentary work as some of the challenges the House was grappling with. He, therefore, stressed the need for Members of Parliament to reach out to the people to explain activities of the House to them so that " we can navigate these challenges. Mr Bagbin also entreated MPs to be self-disciplined and also work to win the confidence of their people. Protection of Constitution The Speaker further said that citizens had no other alternatives but to accept democracy and also protect the Constitution by asking questions on issues they did not understand rather than calling for coups detat. He made reference to what was happening in some countries in the West Africa sub region and said coups did not augur well for any country and was happy that Ghanaians have since 1993, continued to embrace political democracy. Support The Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah Bonsu, in a speech read on his behalf by Joseph Cudjoe, NPP MP for Effia, urged citizens to continue to support parliament in the discharge of its duties. For his part, the Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, said the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) would ensure that the government was put on its toes to deliver for the people. Clergyman calls for equitable distribution of national cake Samuel Kyei-Boateng Politics Aug - 10 - 2023 , 06:58 The Akyem Oda Methodist Diocesan Bishop, Rt Rev. Isaac Kwame Boateng, has admonished politicians to eschew discrimination and avoid the distribution of the national cake on political lines. Rather, he said, they should ensure equity in catering for the needs of the various communities. He emphasised that the the winner takes all syndrome by governments in power did not augur well for national unity and a sense of community and social cohesion. Instead, it gave rise to strife and animosity among the people. Rt Rev. Boateng stressed the need for Ghanaians to bury their political, religious and ethnic differences to develop a culture of communal living and refrain from the each one for himself, God for all attitude. Festival The Bishop made the call at the closing ceremony of the ninth national religious tourism festival dubbed METHOFEST 2023 organised by the Methodist Church Ghana at Oda last Sunday. The five-day event was attended by the bishops and representatives from all the 22 Methodist dioceses in the country, as well as some leading members of the church from some other African countries. Also present at the ceremony were the Member of Parliament (MP) for Oda, Alexander Akwasi Acquah; the Municipal Chief Executive for Birim Central, Victoria Adu, and the Krontihene of Akyem Kotoku Traditional Area, Obrempong Gyamfi Saforo Kyereh. Communal living Rt Rev. Boateng urged Ghanaians to go back to the old communal living, where the concern of one person was the concern for all. He enjoined the affluent in society to be compassionate by offering food and clothing for the poor, needy and afflicted in society as Jesus Christ told his disciples. The Krontihene of the Akyem Kotoku Traditional, Obrempong Saforo Kyereh, advised Christians to not regard Ghanaian culture and traditions as heathen but to assist in their development. The Director of the Heritage Directorate of Methodist Church Ghana, Very Rev. Daniel Kojo French, was full of praise for Rt Rev. Boateng, his lieutenants and the St Luke Methodist Church at Oda for efficiently and successfully hosting the festival. EC to announce new date for the District Level Elections Daniel Kenu & Dickson Worlanyo Dotse Politics Aug - 10 - 2023 , 12:00 The Electoral Commission (EC) will announce a new date for the District Level Election, Dr Serebour Quaicoe, Director of Electoral Services, has stated. This has become necessary after the October 3, 2023 date initially set for the election was cancelled. Dr Serebour, however, insisted that the election would be held by December this year when the four-year term of the current assembly members would have elapsed. The commission, he added, would soon meet to affirm a proposed new date which was still under wraps. In addition, the EC would spell out a new time table for the election by next week, he said. While awaiting the new date, the Director of Electoral Services said registration and exhibition of the voter register would go ahead in readiness for the main event. At least 1.5 million eligible Ghanaians who have turned 18 years between 2021 and 2023 are expected to be captured onto the register. The EC has been challenged with its proposed new Constitutional Instrument (CI) to do away with the guarantor system but it has been asked by Parliament to maintain it. The guarantor system, according to the EC, did not produce a credible voter register because it allowed for non-Ghanaians to be rolled onto it. Dr Serebour was contributing to a discussion at a national stakeholders dialogue in Accra yesterday. As Ghanaians await the new date, civil society organisations are pushing for an increase in women and marginalised groups participation in an inclusive democracy. Out of 6,000 assembly members elected at the last election, only 245 women were directly elected. As a sequel to this, the Centre for Democratic Development, Ghana (CDD) is leading the charge to raise public awareness and whip up interest in the local level elections. Apathy The common thread that runs through the various presentations is that local level election has suffered apathy and low voter turnout over the years. The 1988/89 voter year remains the highest turnout of 59.3 per cent. But as years went by, the number kept dwindling, they said. At the last district level election in 2019, the turnout was as low as 33 per cent. The election is expected to take place in all 6,272 electoral areas and 38,622 polling stations nationwide. Section Six of the Local Governance Act, 2016 (Act 936) (as amended by Act 940) provides that District Level Elections shall be held every four years and the interval between it and the parliamentary elections shall be held at least six months apart. Reforms, capacity building The Director for Programmes and Advocacy at CDD-Ghana, Dr Kojo Asante, said that local government elections played a crucial role in promoting citizen participation. He added that there was overwhelming support to elect district officials but opinions differed as to whether it should be on partisan or nonpartisan basis. Ghanas democracy needs a boost and credible reforms around the election of metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDCEs). However, elections without comprehensive reforms will only add to the problems, he stated. r Asante, therefore, called for local governance reforms that would address the inclusivity deficit by involving more women and other marginalised groups so that power, governance and decision making could be more progressively decentralised. NALAG The General Secretary of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), Kokro Amankwah, said as a nation, we have the moral and emotional responsibility to empower women by putting more of them into local government positions. In that respect, he disclosed that the association in collaboration with the GIZ was in the process of training and developing the capacity of 315 women who had shown interest in competing at various district assemblies. Fawaz Aliu provides boreholes to communities in Zabzugu Donald Ato Dapatem Politics Aug - 10 - 2023 , 07:04 A Deputy Chief of Staff at the Office of the President, Fawaz Aliu, has commissioned mechanised boreholes for seven communities in the Zabzugu Constituency in the Northern Region. The construction of the boreholes was in response to appeals made to him by the chiefs and elders in the beneficiary communities to help solve the acute water challenges in those communities. They are Bagmani, Nakpale, Kukoukpanga, Benyinkundo, Kukani, Zabzugu Kalegu and Zabzugu Limanfong. At each of the seven communities, the community leaders commended the Deputy Chief of Staff for coming to their aid and for his continuous support to the communities and individuals. Essence They explained that apart from helping them not to suffer waterborne diseases, the availability of mechanised boreholes would also lessen their burden of walking long distances to fetch water, a situation that affected the education of the young ones and the economic activities of the elders. The visibly excited elders and members of the communities took turns to tell the media how the supportive son of the soil, since assuming duty as the Deputy Chief of Staff, had been helping the communities in various forms. The support, they said, ranged from development projects for various communities and assistance to a lot of individuals for personal development in education, businesses, as well as the bills of others. Some of the members of the community that spoke to the Daily Graphic described Alhaji Aliu as a selfless, humble, respectful and empathetic individual whose continued interest in the development of the constituency and its people was unmatched. Maintenance Alhaji Aliu urged the community members to own the water projects and institute a rigid maintenance protocol to cater to the mechanised boreholes. There is a groundswell of support and pleas from leaders and ordinary members of the community for Alhaji Aliu, who was appointed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo in 2021 as a Deputy Chief of Staff, to contest the Zabzugu Parliamentary seat on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party. Checks in the constituency indicate that Alhaji Aliu enjoys massive support from the chiefs, women and youth in the area due to his numerous interventions in the development of the constituency. Live up to your oversight responsibility - Nana Nketsia urges Parliament George Folley Politics Aug - 10 - 2023 , 06:52 The Paramount Chief of the Essikado Traditional Area in the Western Region, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, has urged Parliament to live up to its oversight responsibility in order to help stamp out corruption in the country. Parliaments oversight function which is one of the cornerstones of democracy is to hold the executive accountable for its actions and to ensure that it implements policies in accordance with the laws and budget passed by Parliament. Nana Nketsia who made the observation at the 30th anniversary forum of Parliament held in Takoradi last Tuesday, said Parliament was the most important arm of government and must be seen to be championing the cause of the Ghanaian population. He said Ghana, the Black Star of Africa, must do everything necessary through Parliament since "rulership is not in the Jubilee House but in Parliament. Oversight responsibility "We are in serious debt as a country because Parliament has failed us. Parliament continues to approve loans despite knowing the severe consequences these loans have on the country ", he said. Nana Nketsia was of the view that if Parliament had exercised its oversight responsibilities prudently the country would not have been in the present predicament. He wondered why Members of Parliament (MPs) sat in Parliament along party lines, and suggested that the system of arrangement must be given a second look. In attendance were the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin; MPs, metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives, chiefs, civil society organisations and members of the general public. Virtues He extolled the virtues of the Speaker of Parliament and added that it was as a result of those virtues that MPs from both sides of the political divide elected him to lead the House. He commended the Speaker for his sterling qualities which had gone a long way in promoting democracy in the country. The paramount chief said the spirit of the Constitution must be maintained since it was the best under the political democratic system. Development Nana Nketsia called for the equitable development of the Western Region as it had contributed immensely to the growth of Ghana. He spoke of the under-development of the region, particularly in the road and railway sectors and urged the government to take steps to remedy the situation. The Western Regional Minister and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP for Takoradi, Kwabena Okyere Darko -Mensah, thanked Parliament for the forum and said it would go a long way to enable the electorate to have much more insight into the work of the House. Rio Tinto and H2 Green Steel, an industrial startup establishing large scale production of green steel, have signed a multi-year supply agreement for high-grade direct reduction iron ore (DRI) pellets from Rio Tintos Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) operations. Rio Tinto will also purchase and on-sell a part of the surplus low carbon hot briquetted iron (HBI) produced by H2 Green Steel during the ramp-up of its steelmaking capacity. IOCs direct reduction pellets will account for a significant part of the iron ore supply to H2 Green Steels flagship plant in Boden, Sweden, which will be one of the worlds first large-scale producers of low carbon iron and steel. The fully integrated, digitalized, and circular plant is expected to start operations in 2025, processing direct reduction pellets into HBI and then making steel through electric arc furnaces using green hydrogen. The Boden site will hold one of the worlds largest electrolysis plants for green hydrogen production. (Earlier post.) The production of steel, a key material for infrastructure and net-zero energy transition, currently contributes around 8% of global carbon emissions. By using green hydrogen in electric arc furnaces instead of coal in traditional steelmaking with a blast furnace, CO 2 emissions can be reduced by up to 95%. This is a significant milestone for our project in Boden. Not only by securing a supply of the high-quality iron ore needed for our green steel production, but also because we have a buyer for a portion of the HBI we initially expect to produce. Rio Tinto is a global leader in the mining industry and we welcome its concrete actions to accelerate the decarbonisation of the steel industry. H2 Green Steel CEO Henrik Henriksson Iron ore pellet deal with Vale. Separately, H2 Green Steel also entered an agreement for the supply of direct reduction iron ore pellets with Vale to its steel plant in northern Sweden. In a multi-year agreement, Vale will supply H2 Green Steel with iron ore pellets as input material for its steel mill in Boden. Vale is a Brazilian mining company and the worlds largest supplier of direct reduction pellets. The pellets will be delivered from Tubarao in Brazil to Boden via the Port of Lulea in Sweden. thyssenkrupp Uhde has been engaged by Ark Energy Corporation Pty Ltd on behalf of the Han-Ho H2 Consortium to deliver a Feasibility Study to support the development of the Han-Ho H2 Hub Project. The project seeks to build a green energy supply chain exporting up to 1.8 million tonnes of green ammonia per annum from Australia to the Republic of Korea (ROK) by 2030. The study will involve a comprehensive techno-economic analysis of the power-to-ammonia value chainfrom power feed characterization to product dispatchusing thyssenkrupp Uhdes proprietary RHAMFS modeling methodology. Based on decades of technical and economic data, dynamic and multivariable modeling can be performed to determine the most practical and cost-economic concept for any power-to-X application, be it greenfield or brownfield. The goal is to evaluate the influence of various factors on the overall cost-effectiveness of the green ammonia plant and explore multiple scenarios to identify optimal plant designs. thyssenkrupp Uhde will also provide technology, engineering services and integration know-how for the green ammonia facility based on thyssenkrupp uhde ammonia synthesis technology. The study will allow the Han-Ho H2 Consortium to advance through the following commercial and regulatory phases of the Project. Ark Energy is an Australian renewable energy company specializing in wind, solar, energy storage and hydrogen. Ark Energy is a subsidiary of Korea Zinc Co. Ltd., the worlds largest zinc producer with a 25-year history in Australia through its Sun Metals zinc refinery in Townsville. Ark Energys mandate is to decarbonize the energy supply of the Korea Zinc group starting with Sun Metals, as part of the groups ambition to produce green zinc by 2030. Ark Energy is at the forefront of development of Australias green hydrogen industry through its SunHQ Hydrogen Hub in Townsville and is leading the Han-Ho H2 Consortium involving three of Koreas largest conglomerate groups including Hanwha Impact, Korea Zinc and SK Gas. "Our best future workforce is the kids in our hallways right now," Craig Barringer, the Sweetwater County School District No. 2 superintendent, said. Wanting to connect students to employers is one of the district's goals, and being chosen for a new collaboration with the governor's office will help make that goal even more attainable. SCSD No. 2 was one of nine school districts throughout Wyoming accepted into the RIDE (Reimagining and Innovating the Delivery of Education) Pilot program, which is part of "Wyoming's Future of Learning" - a collaboration between Governor Mark Gordon, Superintendent Megan Degenfelder, the Wyoming Department of Education, the State Board of Education, and the University of Wyoming College of Education. The program is designed to support student-centered learning, according to a press release from the governor's office. School districts across the state received an email about the program, and 17 districts went through the application process, with the final nine being chosen and announced in July. As one of the districts chosen for the program, SCSD No. 2 will receive a grant for $37,500, as well as support to develop a new program. "What we really are looking forward to is working with the RIDE group to develop this program," Barringer said. "So the funding is minimal, but the structure that they can help us provide will make sure that once that grant goes away that we'll be able to continue this project and have success." The program the district wants to develop will focus on helping Green River High School students, especially seniors, prepare to enter the workforce. "Our goal is to give kids real, meaningful learning opportunities through career and job training," Barringer explained. One of the reasons the district wants to focus on preparing students for their careers is because the number of students who work during high school has gone down in the last two decades. Barringer explained that in 2000, 75% of 12th graders had jobs before they graduated. That number has gone down to 51%. "Half of our kids have never worked for pay, and they're gonna go out into the job market completely unprepared unless we make some changes in getting them ready," Barringer said. Working with the RIDE program will help the district make these changes by developing a new program to help students learn about what to expect when they start working. The goal is to teach students practical things about having a job, from dress codes to scheduling to daily work. While the program won't send kids to work while they're in school, it will teach them about the expectations of work. "We're creating the vision of what a job may look like for them, what a career will look like for them," Barringer explained. While the program is still in the early stages of being developed, and the district will be meeting with RIDE representatives in September to start planning more specifics, Barringer hopes to be able to take students who are interested in specific careers and pair them with local industries and businesses to do things like job shadowing. Part of making this possible will be continuing to work with the Southwest Wyoming Manufacturing Partnership group. The SWMP was one of the main forces that encouraged the district to apply for the RIDE program, and the group will continue to work with the district to connect them to local employers. "We will use them as our community connection as far as starting to build the expectations of what our community expects of this program," Barringer said of SWMP. One of the reasons this is important is it helps toward the goal of developing a local workforce. "Through lots of research we know that the best employees in rural America grew up in those communities," Barringer noted. The superintendent also hopes the district will be able to develop the program over the fall semester and be ready to get going with the first cohort of seniors in January. "We want to try to connect kids with interests they may have for a career beyond school," Barringer said. With thousands of people facing food insecurity every day, theres no reason fresh, quality food should go to waste. Over 119 billion pounds of quality food is discarded in the U.S. each year equating to a shocking 40% of all food in America going to waste. Food Bank of Wyoming is combatting this waste through their Grocery Rescue Program, which connects local pantries and grocery stores so fresh food can go to people, not to the landfill. The single largest amount of material sent to landfills in the U.S. comes from food waste. To reduce this amount and ensure our neighbors receive the nourishing food they need to thrive, in fiscal year 2022 Food Bank of Wyoming worked with retail and agricultural partners to procure and distribute over 4.4 million pounds of food through our Grocery Rescue Program. The idea is simple, high-quality food that would otherwise go to waste is collected from grocery stores that can no longer sell the items and distributed to pantries that provide food to people facing hunger. These groceries include a variety of products, such as meat, fresh produce, bakery items, deli items, dairy, frozen foods, shelf-stable groceries, and non-food items such as hand sanitizer, paper products, etc. By working with local grocery stores and Hunger Relief Partners, Food Bank of Wyoming facilitates the Grocery Rescue program to reach a shared goal of reducing food waste and feeding Wyoming neighbors. Starting at the grocery stores, fresh, yet unbought food nearing the end of its sell by date that is perfectly good is donated to Food Bank of Wyoming, who then distributes it to food pantries (Hunger Relief Partners) around the state. From there, this nutritious food is made available to residents. Take Lander Care and Share for example. As a food pantry, Lander Care and Share works closely with Food Bank of Wyoming to receive and distribute food to their local community especially through the Grocery Rescue Program. In fact, Lander Care and Share receives 4,000 pounds of overstock items including fresh produce, eggs, bread, and fruits and vegetables, every other week from the Walmart in Cheyenne. This food from both Walmart and Safeway (in Lander) amounts to half of what we distribute throughout all of Fremont County, including the Wind River Reservation. Not only does it help cut down our costs, but the Grocery Rescue Program makes it possible to serve our community. Its a very innovative approach to cut food waste and still feed our community. These food items are fresh, wholesome, and enhance our offerings, says Lander Care and Share Executive Director, Stacy Stebner. With over 59,000 people in Wyoming facing hunger, there should be no reason perfectly good food and groceries should be thrown away. If youre a retailer interested in reducing food waste, feeding Wyoming neighbors, and partnering with the Grocery Rescue Program, contact Food Bank of Wyoming at helpdesk@wyomingfoodbank.org. The Grocery Rescue Program relies on donations and grants to ensure logistics are in place to successfully pick-up and deliver this food. If youd like to support Food Bank of Wyoming and the work they do with Hunger Relief Partners around the state, donate today at wyomingfoodbank.org/give/. Your donation makes all the difference to people facing hunger. The government of Guam announced they will be fully self-insuring through arrangements with SelectCare and NetCare for its fiscal year 2024 GovGuam Group Health Plan. Employees of the government of Guam can expect lower premiums than they would have paid with a private insurance carrier with the same general coverage and benefits, according to a news release by the Leon Guerrero-Tenorio administration on Tuesday afternoon. However, this self-insurance model remains to be fully trusted as Dr. Shieh, owner of one of the most prominent clinics on Guam, already announced that they will not be able to accept the governments health plan. This decision does not come lightly. We just dont have time for administrative headaches with GovGuams self-insurance, said Shieh in a couple of posts on his clinics Facebook page. The silver lining for GovGuam self-insurance for our clinic when we opt out is that more patients under StayWell, TakeCare and NetCare will now have more access to the Shieh Clinic. This means new patients other than GovGuam, who were previously unable to get to see us, have a new opportunity to have access now. Shieh also added that they will continue to provide care to the currently established pregnant mothers. We will not be accepting any new patients under the SelectCare GovGuam Self-Insured plan, but we will accept commercial plans under all insurances, added Shieh. We will have new/transfer patient appointments available for NetCare, StayWell and TakeCare patients. You can call us at (671)648-2229. The Leon Guerrero-Tenorio administration assured that many other states and large risk groups have already moved toward adopting similar self-insurance models due to their cost-effectiveness and flexibility. While critics suggest that self-insurance is not workable for our island, the fact is that GovGuam already uses self-insurance to pay for dental and pharmaceutical coverage. In fact, GovGuam has self-insured dental coverage for the last two years through an exclusive contract with a third party administrator, said the administration. The administration clarified that this model ensures that the government retains control over premiums and the claims process. The reality is these local companies serve as brokers for large off-island insurance groups. These local companies sell and administer insurance policies on behalf of these off-island insurance groups, effectively acting as third party administrators for these carriers, said the administration in a news release about the program. Under this self-insurance model, a local third-party administrator will continue to collect premiums from all GovGuam units, and instead of remitting our premiums to off-island carriers, the administrator will remit them to the established GovGuam fund. The governor concluded that this is a product after years of work. We have been working toward this self-insurance model for years, and I am pleased that we are ready to fully take advantage of its benefits, as many other states and groups around the country have, concluded the governor. Through this self-insurance model, our government will save more money on health insurance in the long run while improving the benefits we provide to our employees and their families. The news release indicated that Gov. Leon Guerrero has determined that the Guam Code requires an exclusive administrator for a self-insured plan, and has authorized the following selection for FY24: A bill introduced by Sen. William Parkinson and Sen. Thomas Fisher with the intent to create easier and safer access to abortion already sparked debates across the medical community and the Bureau of Womens Affairs. With a number of removals of anti-choice provisions within the Womens Reproductive Health Information Act of 2012, Dr. Hoa Nguyen pointed out Bill 162-37 struck out the need for doctors to tell the pregnant individual the age of the unborn child. They have to know how far along the pregnancy is. Not knowing that is very dangerous. Parkinson should consult a physician before he starts crossing things out. This is a medical decision, stated Nguyen, co-founder of the American Medical Clinics in Harmon and Mangilao. You cannot provide an abortion when you dont know the gestational age of the fetus. You have to know because thats so important. Three months or three weeks, thats a big difference. Nguyen added that the term never cannot be used in medicine, so complications must still be raised as a possibility. People have the right to have a safety net and proper resources if this is legalized. Make sure that you show you have adequate resources to support this decision, stated Nguyen. If you dont have the resource, you cant pass the law. Thats so dangerous. Nguyen further stressed that Guam is totally different than the states where there are an abundant number of obstetricians compared to the minimal amount on Guam. What happens if there are complications? Whos going to back them up here? It only takes one person to lose their life as a result of complications, said Nguyen. Whos going to go there when the person is bleeding? The doctor on the phone? Whos going to follow up with that? The BWA, on the other hand, have claimed that this bill will help to establish access to the full range of quality reproductive health care on the island. The BWA commends Sen. Parkinson and co-sponsor Sen. Fisher for their introduction of Bill 162. This bill eliminates the in-person counseling currently required when seeking an abortion and permits virtual counseling, as is allowed for other medical procedures, said Jayne Flores, director of BWA. The bill also eliminates many of the requirements of the 2012 law that were clearly meant to discourage someone from having an abortion, such as the requirements to inform the person of estimated fetal characteristics and care options if the person decides to go through with the pregnancy. Flores added that the Leon Guerrero-Tenorio administration and Sens. Parkinson and Fisher all acknowledge that abortion is a deeply personal and complex choice. Abortion must be a safe and legal reproductive option. The Bureau of Womens Affairs is focusing on expanding access to birth control and emergency contraception, and to educating our young people about sexual assault and the behaviors that may preclude sexual assault, added Flores. These actions can reduce the need for abortion; however, again, it must remain a safe and legal option for the people of our island and our region. A public hearing for Bill 162-37 is still pending a decision from the 37th Guam Legislature. At the Guam Board of Education meeting, from left: member Maria Gutierrez, Vice Chair Mary Okada, Chair Mark Mendiola, acting Superintendent Francis Santos and member Ron McNinch discussed the interview process for the new superintendent. Members of the Guam Board of Education during their meeting Dec. 27, 2022, voted to offer the position of Guam Department of Education superintendent to Kenneth Swanson, Ph.D. Haiti - FLASH : Results of 9th AF exams for 2 departments The Ministry of National Education has published the results of the 9th Fundamental Year (AF) 2022/2023 exams for 2 departments, Nippes and North-East. School principals are invited to withdraw their school's prize list from the Departmental Directorate of Education (DDE) concerned. According to the figures provided by the National Bureau of State Examinations (BUNEXE), the success rates (listed in descending order) are: Results by department 9th AF 2022/2023 : North-East : out of 7,504 participants, 6,499 candidates were admitted, i.e. a success rate of 87% (up) the previous year 78.33% Nippes: out of 7,115 participants, 5,129 candidates were admitted, a success rate of 72% (up) the previous year 65.54% "The students of Nippes succeed better in Creole than in French, better in Experimental Sciences than in Mathematics" according to the Ministry which also informs that the results of the other departments will be available shortly and will be communicated gradually. See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40213-haiti-flash-results-of-9th-af-exams-for-the-northeast-laureates.html HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping... The American nurse and her daughter freed Abducted on July 27 the American nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-40136-haiti-insecurity-an-american-and-her-child-kidnapped-near-port-au-prince.html were released by their captors after 14 days of confinement. The conditions of this release are unknown. A bandit lynched Wednesday evening Telius Teluscat alias "Boko" wanted by the police was lynched by members of the population in Liancourt (Dept. Artibnite) who accused him of several murders. Two of his accomplices Duranet Joseph and Dorceus Vitel, who accompanied him were arrested. Date of the funeral of former President Boniface Alexandre The funeral of the former Provisional President of the Republic Me Boniface Alexandre will be sung on Monday August 14 at 8:30 a.m. at the Court of Cassation. The exhibition of the body will take place at 7:00 a.m. The family will receive Friday August 11 from 4:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Karibe Hotel. D-Day Match Haiti vs Canada: After 3 days of intense activities, punctuated by the holding of 3 matches, the Haitian men's U-15 team benefited on Wednesday August 9 from a break that the technical staff decided to use for recovery before facing this Thursday Canada on the lawn of the Felix Sanchez stadium in Santo Domingo Dominican Republic) Several members of the "400 Mawozo" gang arrested: Several members of the "400 Mawozo" gang have been arrested in recent days in Mirebalais. One of the members, Dony Camille, confessed his involvement in the assassination of police inspector Reginald Laleau, in Croix-des-bouquets on July 24, 2022 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37236-haiti-flash-a-police-inspector-executed-inside-a-church.html The weapon stolen from a Dominican soldier by Haitians found Following cooperation between members of the Specialized Land Border Security Corps (CESFRONT) and Haitian authorities. The Haitian authorities recovered the weapon that had been stolen from a member of CESFRONT attacked with knives by 2 Haitians on Sunday, August 9. HL/ HaitiLibre Published on 2023/08/09 | Source Bae Suzy pulled off a knotted hairstyle. Advertisement She posted several pictures on her Instagram and captioned, "London". In the photos, Bae Suzy is posing in various styles with her hair tied up in a knot on top of her head. Her small face and doll-like features draw attention. Meanwhile, Bae Suzy is looking forward to the release of Netflix Original series, "Doona!". It is a romance drama that tells the story of ordinary college student Won-joon meeting Doo-na, who retired after leaving behind her colorful K-pop idol days and is based on a webtoon by Min Song-ah. Login or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news Login Sign Up New Ad-free Subscriber Login Email Password Password Username Subscribe to our daily NewsLetter Your E-mail will only be used to retrieve a lost password or receive our NewsLetter. Stay logged in Lost password Contact Published on 2023/08/09 | Source Seoul City has announced on the 9th that it's producing a web drama that combines episodes that young people can sympathize with in real life and reviews of youth policy participation. Advertisement It is designed to make it easier and more fun for young people to get policy information through the stories of youths who struggle with employment, housing, and finance, something that every youth has been through, solved with the help of youth policies created by the city. Starting with filming this month, it will be released sequentially on the city's official YouTube channel, Youth Happiness Project (www.youtube.com/c/youthseoul) , starting with Youth Day (September 16th). A preview will also be held at the 2023 Seoul Youth Week-Youth Policy Fair held at Seoul Plaza to commemorate Youth Day. The actors were selected through auditions, and actors Son Kang-joon and Kang Joo-yeon, who are actually participants in the youth allowance, were selected as the main actors. "Generation Z has a characteristic of taking an example of peers who 'have habits or lifestyles that one can follow' when they need motivation or solutions", said Kim Chul-hee, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Future Youth Planning Division. By Wesley Britt Izzy Stoneback. Photo submitted. Graduating high school in the midst of a global pandemic, Izzy Stoneback navigated their arrival into adulthood through a haze. Uncertainty ran rampant around the world, and many graduates entering college did not know if they would be taking courses in buildings with historic names or in the kitchen while parents prepared dinner. Given the two options, Stoneback elected to stay at home their freshman year rather than be on campus. Growing up in Wilmington, Stoneback wanted to give the western part of North Carolina a try, enrolling at App State. At the start of their sophomore year, Stoneback finally got to move across the state to Boone to pursue a major in studio art and a concentration in drawing and painting. Stoneback described the art scene in the High Country as a diverse community of modern collegiate artists and well established Appalachian crafters. Theres a really big college-dominated art scene in Watauga, they said. There are a lot of art students that make up a really big community here. They always have First Friday Art Crawl in Downtown Boone. Every first Friday of the month, we have pop-ups where students will usually show their work. Its a great way to look at art and connect with fellow artists. Stoneback continued, We have a little art museum downtown with a couple of different galleries that students often showcase their work at. Outside of Watauga, there is the older, more-established craft community that has more traditional Appalachian craft people that deal with wood-working, pottery, and fibers. The High Country has a very interesting intersection between art and craft. We have two very different connotations in the art community with very different backgrounds and histories. In April, Stoneback contributed a couple of pieces to First Friday Art Crawl, where they joined the local organization OASIS, whose mission is to end sexual and domestic violence in Watauga and Avery Counties. Intimacy by Izzy Stoneback. Cadaverous Womb by Izzy Stoneback. When asked about other opportunities in the area, Stoneback told High Country Press about App States new program with the Penland School of Craft: For a few months, students will go to study at the Penland School of Craft near Spruce Pine, they shared. I did a work study there and got to meet a lot of really cool people. Although I havent had a direct mentor, I kind of had an indirect one through Ila Prouty, who set up and organized the program. Ila studied [at the Penland School of Craft] after she graduated college and was a resident artist there. She spent two or three years there making work. Shes a huge reason why I became a studio art major. I was originally a psych major, and I took a class with her as an extracurricular and fell in love with the course. Like many artists, Stoneback draws inspiration for their art from personal experiences, but they also referenced Dadaism, a 20th century art movement developed in protest to conformity and war. A lot of my work is very angry. And I guess its also therapeutic and cathartic, and I find a lot of inspiration in art history. Im such an art history nerd. Theres this one movement called Dadaism, and its so incredibly weird. It followed WWI and a lot of it is about the body as it relates to the human condition and absurdity. It looks at the human condition through a lens of absurdity. Its art for the sake of making art. Hannah Hoch is one of my favorite artists, and she was a huge Dada artist. She was revolutionary, in a way, as one of the first women artists to trailblaze for women and art. Izzy Stoneback Stoneback finds another creative spark in music and fem-punk culture. Riot grrrl, specifically, is one of Stonebacks favorite styles to play. As a subgenre of punk music, they best described it as angry girl music or women screaming about being a woman. In Boone, Stoneback is a fan of the fem-punk band Babe Haven, which has performed in major cities like Boston and Cleveland. Babe Haven released an album in May of this year called Uppercut, and the heavy beats and gritty lyrics can be described as headbanging. Stonebacks other local influences include App State professor Mark Burns, Kurt Anderson of Spruce Pine (who does pop-art, wood-working, and character cut-outs), and Becca Stickler (A photographer that Stoneback collaborates with for features). When asked about the overall theme for their art, Stoneback became flustered. Laughing, they said, I dont know! I always have a hard time with this question because there are so many things, and theyre all overlapping, so its hard to pinpoint just one. Mostly, the reason I make art is for myself, so I can work through things and try to reframe certain experiences that Ive had. Like I said earlier, its a super cathartic process Other people find it relatable, which is nice. My work is very raw, explicit, and upfront. I think it can be off putting for certain people, but I think thats a little bit of the point The way that people receive it. Theres a reason some people relate to it, and some people dont Recently, Ive been infatuated with combining the human body with words and poetry. Its definitely been a recent focus in my work, and its a way of reclaiming and redefining autonomy. In my pieces, you see a lot of viscerality. That comes from my time in high school. I tried really hard to fit in, and there was a lot of self-suppression. I didnt realize I was queer, and the things Im interested in now I was back then, too, but it just felt like a secret. Now that Im older, I realize I couldve been a little weirdo, and it wouldve been fine! I didnt have the best childhood, and I didnt really have the voice that I needed to. Art has always been a safe space where I could say the things I wanted to without actually verbalizing them. Now that Im older and have more freedom, for lack of a better way to say it, I just dont want to shut up, and I dont have to, and thats really empowering for me. And thats the reason my art is so visceral because Im not going to let myself be silenced. Izzy Stoneback When asked about their precise process for their human body and poetry pieces, Stoneback explained, Most of the time its kind of like word vomit. I keep a little notebook with me, and whenever I have a cool thought Ill write it down. I cut the words out of sticker paper and put it down on the canvas and paint over top of it. Once everything is dry, Ill peel it away and those words show through the underpainting. Teething by Izzy Stoneback. Wasp Bodied by Izzy Stoneback. Stoneback enjoys adding a bit of edge to all of their creations. Recently, they have been taking ceramic classes and liked the idea of flipping the welcoming and soft aspect of pottery on its head, opting to make the least welcoming and least functional bowl ever! They combined the soft aspects of pottery with the jaggedness of their work, appreciating the contradiction that comes with it. Photo submitted. Photo submitted. Boone and its art scene has been amazing for Stoneback. They described it as, the place I feel the safest and most seen. They joked about how, due to renovations in the art buildings at App State, art students have been moved to an old and allegedly haunted dorm, but they reiterated that overall, App State and Boone is a wonderful community. After graduating, they want to move to Chicago or New York to freeze [their] butt off and meet really cool people! After a couple of years of working, they want to go to graduate school and one day become a professor of art. They also want to do outreach work through their pieces, and maybe be in some galleries or museums. To other people who want to pursue art, Stoneback said, Its very easy to compare yourself and your work to others, especially in academic settings because your work is being placed next to peers and fellow artists and critiqued. There will always be people that tell you they dont like what youve created, but that doesnt matter. It is okay, and honestly, best case scenario, make art selfishly like make work for yourself because thats when its most successful. Just dont be a jerk, and do whatever you want. Ive learned that selfishness, to a degree, is not a bad thing at all, especially when it comes to art. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket By Tim Gardner Approval of a lease agreement between the County of Avery and the State of North Carolina of the property where the countys Emergency Communications Tower is located and questions and concerns from citizens regarding military veterans, law enforcement officers, and religious literature being distributed in the countys library highlighted the Avery Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday, August 7. All commissionersChairwoman Martha Hicks, Vice-Chairman Tim Phillips, Dennis Aldridge, Wood Hall (Woodie) Young, Jr., and Robert Burlesonwere present for the meeting. Other top Avery officials attending were: County Manager Phillip Barrier, Jr., Assistant County Manager and Clerk to the Commission Cindy Turbyfill, County Finance Officer Caleb Hogan, and County Attorney Michaelle Poore. By a unanimous (5-0) vote, the commissioners approved the property lease of the Hawshaw Mountain Property on 115 Hawshaw Firetower Road, Newland, between the county (leese) and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Service (lessor) for three (3) years at a price of one dollar ($1.00). The property lease indicates that the county will use the property for its Emergency Communications Tower during the duration of the lease (August 1, 2023 through July 31, 2026). Three concerned citizens who provided their names addressed the commissioners during the public comments segment of the meeting. Hicks told them and all others assembled that the commissioners are to not be expected to comment or take action at the same meeting regarding issues told to them in the public segment session. During the meeting and in previous correspondence with the commissioners, county manager, assistant county manager, county attorney, and Military Veterans Service Officer Tara Gragg Daniels, Greg Jenkins spoke of philosophical differences he has with them concerning how they handle some veterans issues. Theres people in your ranks suffering you dont even know about. Its a shame. But you have no shame, Jenkins said. He added that hes going to build a shelter in Avery County for my brothers in blue (law enforcement officers) and his (military) veteran brothers. Hicks also told High Country Press that the commissioners appreciate Jenkins being concerned with veterans topics and wanting to help Averys military veterans and others, but that one of the continuous top priorities for myself and all our county officials is assisting all our military veterans, law enforcement officers, and citizens. We have done so in every possible way and will continue to do so. The commission chairwoman also noted that she, the other commissioners, the county manager, assistant county manager, and the veterans officer take issue with some of the accusations made by Jenkins against them in person, by phone, and in correspondence that she termed as being not only inaccurate, but personally offensive. Hicks added that Daniels is one of the finest veterans service officers that any government agency has and possesses a special love for all veterans and a great passion for helping them. Larry Woody asked the commissioners about the possibility of him leaving religious materials in the Avery County Morrison Library for anyone who wished to take copies. The commissioners thanked him for his request. But Hicks said to High Country Press that federal regulations that also regulate county and regional government-related agencies like libraries prohibit such items from being distributed in such a manner to the public and that those mandated regulations must be followed by law. She added that if federal law permitted religious items to be distributed in all facilities that items from other organizations that might be potentially offensive to some people could also be distributed in the same facilities. George Greene also asked the commissioners about the countys solid waste department not accepting brush. Hicks told High Country Press that the county has an overload of brush now, which cant be disposed of properly as its wood chipper is tore up. She added that the wood chipper is in the process of being fixed and once it is and the current overload of brush is chipped up and disposed of, then the county will resume accepting brush. In other set meeting agenda topics, the commissioners (also by unanimous 5-0 votes): *Approved the July 2023 Tax Report from Tax Administrator Andrea Turbyfill that $101,015.40 was collected in taxes due the county. Turbyfill noted that a total $4,119,601.25 has been collected by the countys tax department during 2023s first seven months (January, February, March, April, May, June, and July). *Approved financial budget amendments presented by Hogan that included: -The countys Department of Emergency Services (EMS) receiving a grant in the amount of $140,000.00 from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety to purchase a generator and a trailer for the emergency shelter in the event of a disaster. -The countys Department of Emergency Services (EMS) receiving a grant in the amount of $80,000.00 from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety to purchase a generator for the emergency operations center in the event of a disaster. -The county reimbursing the Avery County Schools System in the amount of $354,000.00 for the purchase of and installation of new bleachers in the Avery County High School gymnasium. This expenditure would be paid for using county lottery funds. The bleachers were not installed during the 2022-2023 fiscal year and Hogan noted that the project will be moved into the current 2023-2024 fiscal year after the commissioners approved the amendment. -The countys Sheriffs Office receiving a grant in the amount of $10,228.00 for the detection and mitigation of Covid (coronavirus) in confinement facilities. The grant was awarded in the 2022-2023 fiscal year and the $10,228.00 is the remaining balance to be spent. -The countys Sheriffs Office receiving a reimbursement in the amount of $791.02 from the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners liability and property pool for the purchase of brush guards for its vehicles. The commissioners also made the following service agency appointment by a unanimous (5-0) vote-Paul Harris to the Workforce Development Board of Directors. During the county managers report to the commissioners, Barrier Jr. said that work toward obtaining Broadband Internet access for every residence and business in the county is sill moving forward toward its total completion date of December 21, 2026. More than 200 homes and several businesses in the county already have Broadband Internet and the commissioners have prioritized that every residence and business in the county does during the next three-and-a-half years timeline. The county manager also noted that the Avery County government is set to receive $1,713,552 over an 18-year period as part of the national opioid settlement. On April 24, 2023, Avery County held its first public input meeting to consider the goals and spending plan of the settlement funds. As a result of the first public input meeting the consensus was drawn to follow Option A as laid out in the Memorandum of Agreement Between the State of North Carolina and Local Governments on Proceeds Relating to the Settlement of Opioid Litigation, with the focus for Avery County being on 1) Prevention and 2) Rehabilitation. The following are eligible project areas within Option A include: 1. Collaborative strategic planning 2. Evidence-based addiction treatment 3. Recovery support services 4. Recovery housing support 5. Employment-related services 6. Early intervention 7. Naloxone distribution 8. Post-overdose response team 9. Syringe Service Program 10. Criminal justice diversion programs 11. Addiction treatment for incarcerated persons 12. Reentry programs Applications for funding will be considered by a small seven-member committee made up of subject matter experts selected by the public input attendees and members of the drug crisis roundtable. The committees considerations and recommendations will then be presented to the Board of Commissioners for approval. Approved requests will be funded through June 30, 2024 and each organization must apply annually thereafter for subsequent funding. Avery County anticipates granting awards between $20,000.00 and $50,000.00 per applicant per year. While the county is open to considering grant awards that fall outside of this range, it is the intent of the county to spread out funding awards over the next 18-plus years. This funding strategy will be reviewed annually by the Board of Commissioners and at the public input meeting and drug crisis roundtable meetings. Barrier, Jr. said those who may apply for funding and regulations to which they must comply include: 1. Organizations must have 501(c)(3) status verification through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Evidence of 501(c)(3) status should be provided with the application. 2. Startups will be considered for funding but must submit a budget and a plan of operation. 3. Applicant organizations that have not been in existence for 2 years or that have not obtained or applied for 501(c)(3) status, may apply under the umbrella of another eligible agency that will serve as the applicant and provide fiduciary responsibility. Barrier, Jr. also noted that Avery County Opioid Funding for Fiscal Year 2023 2024 may be used for: 1. A public purpose not otherwise provided by the County or that augments what is offered by the County, and follows the goals set forth in Option A. 2. Strategies that pursue Avery Countys stated goals of addressing 1) Prevention and 2) Rehabilitation, or some combination of both goals. The commissioners also went into closed session, but took no votes or other action after returning to open session. The commissioners will next meet on Monday, August 21 in their Board Room on the top floor of the Countys Administration Building, located at 175 Linville Street in Newland. The meeting will commence at 3:30 p.m. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket We're a family of seven living in Georgia where Andrew's working as a professor at GSU. You can read more about us here The behavior of the four-year-old female manul changed in June when she began spending a lot of time in her nest box. The Korkeasaari Zoo is celebrating the birth of its first manul kitten. At two months old, the kitten is already confidently exploring its surroundings indoors and gradually venturing outside. The manul, also known as the Pallas's cat, hails from Asia and is recognized for its thick fur and stern expression. Upon closer inspection of the box, a single kitten was discovered. The expectation of reproduction was anticipated, as the young manul pair first met in spring and engaged in multiple matings. The two-month-old kitten, a female weighing half a kilogram, received a deworming treatment and an identification microchip during a recent veterinary examination. Efforts are being made to protect the kitten from toxoplasma, a parasite that poses a danger, especially to manul kittens under four months old. "Observing the manul kitten, you can see it following its mother and playing with the food she brings, which is practice for the transition from milk to solid food. Through our cameras, we're tracking how the kitten darts around indoors and even cautiously peeks into the outdoor enclosure," shares animal keeper Jonne Stenroth. The mother manul originates from the Chemnitz Zoo in Germany and moved to Korkeasaari last fall, where she settled into the newly renovated manul enclosure. This spring, she was introduced to a one-year-old male manul from the Budapest Zoo. Manuls are solitary animals, so the male and female share the same enclosure only during mating periods. The male resides in Kissalaakso's back enclosure, away from visitor view. While the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categorizes the manul as a species of "least concern," their numbers in the wild have been declining. These cats inhabit the vast and harsh grasslands and mountain steppes of Central Asia. Manuls are part of European zoos' conservation programs aimed at safeguarding their future. Korkeasaari Zoo contributes to the protection of wild manuls during this year's "Night of the Cats." HT Henriksson on Wednesday told YLE that the racist online comments and private messages by the duo have caused aversion within the Swedish Peoples Party. MINISTER of Education Anna-Maja Henriksson (SFP) says the Swedish Peoples Parliamentary Group will have a serious discussion about whether it can grant its confidence to the ministers at the centre of the racism discussion, Minister of Finance Riikka Purra (PS) and Minister of Economic Affairs Wille Rydman (PS). We want to see genuine actions against racism and remorse from them so that they can win back our trust, she stated in an interview with the public broadcasting company, estimating that the ruling coalition is in the most difficult situation she has seen during her 16 years in politics. Henriksson declined to comment on whether the parliamentary group will stand united in the vote of confidence expected to take place at the start of the autumn term, early next month. The vote of confidence is to be held as the government presents a statement on promoting equality and non-discrimination to parliament. The language of the government statement will be crucial, according to Henriksson. We want Finns Party members to demonstrate in practice that they distance themselves from actions that can be experienced as racist, she underscored to YLE. Purra reproached the Swedish Peoples Party in an interview with YLE on Tuesday, saying she is worried about the fact that some members of the party have announced their intent to bring down the government. The Swedish Peoples Party, she implored, must patch up its internal divisions by itself. Eva Biaudet (SFP) told Helsingin Sanomat at the beginning of the month that she is trying to bring down the ruling coalition and that she will not hesitate to vote against government proposals whenever she feels necessary. Biaudet in June was the only ruling-party member to not support the government against a motion of no confidence. She also did not back the nomination of Jussi Halla-aho, a former chairperson of the Finns Party, as speaker of the parliament. Inciting hatred and disparaging people is extremely dangerous. Theyll result in breaking down our democracy and shattering our future, Biaudet stated in an interview with the monthly supplement of the newspaper. Ive had a serious discussion with Biaudet, Henriksson said to YLE on Wednesday. Also the parliamentary group will discuss this issue. She stressed that individual members do not define the partys position. The Swedish Peoples Party joining the government was backed by 9 out of 10 representatives. I think its strange to demand something that doesnt reflect the views of the party leadership and parliamentary group, she remarked. Aleksi Teivainen HT EIGHTY people signed up to help test the River Thames for pollution at a community meeting organised by the Henley and Marlow River Action Group. Dave Wallace, who co-founded the group, set out his ambition to make this the most tested stretch of river in the UK at the meeting held at the Lockdown Lodge pop-up restaurant near Hambleden Lock on Monday evening. Thanks to the new volunteers, the group now has the capacity to carry out testing at additional sites in the centre of town and at the Willow marina in Wargrave. About 100 people attended the event, which was chaired by James Wallace, chief executive of national campaign group River Action. Other speakers included Laura Reineke, of the Henley Mermaids, Ash Smith and Peter Hammond, of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, Andrew Hodge, an Olympic rowing champion and chief executive of water data specialist Aquascope, and Aggie Hodges, a bathing water development officer from campaign group Thames21. Mr Wallace, 53, a citizen scientist from Henley who carried out testing along the Henley Royal Regatta course in May and June, said he had been massively uneducated about the issue previously. He and his wife Jaqui, 54, and Chloe Jones, 34, uncovered damaging levels of phosphates, nitrates and E coli along the Henley Mile. Mr Wallace described the response to the results as incredible. We had TV companies lining up on the river banks trying to talk to us, he said. It just shows that people are really interested in this. This week, the group started a year-long testing programme at its current sites at Fawley Meadows, which is being funded by environmental charity Earthwatch. Mr Wallace said the more data the group gathered the more pressure was put on Thames Water to take notice. He said: One of the things I think we should aspire to have the most tested stretch of river in the UK. Why dont we just say thats what were going to do? We want to understand what is going on. The more educated we are, the more Thames Water will be forced to actually listen to us as a community. Ms Reineke said that sewage spills were not always reported by Thames Water on its event duration monitoring map. She said: Weve heard recently, in fact this last couple of weeks when it has been raining, that a lot of the reporting on the sewage leaks is broken.. Somebody came up to us today saying that the river was disgusting this morning, so thats not being reported. She asked people to email the Mermaids group with photos of discharges. She also announced that the group is planning to stage educational projects about river health in schools to help raise awareness of the issue. James Wallace said the UK was facing a freshwater emergency and agreed that activism and leadership needed to come from within the community. One of the main things we would hope from tonight is for each of you in your own way to go back to your own community, your own family, your own business, however you integrate with this community, and take an interest. Mr Hodge, whose company uses site sampling, satellite remote sensing and machine learning to provide data sets of water quality, said he wasnt a campaigner. But he added: What I want to do is help provide some data, help provide the information which gives people the tools to go off and make a difference. Thank you to you guys who are going to pick up all the testing kits, get out into the rivers, get out into all your neighbourhood streams and get testing because thats going to make the difference in the long term. Ms Hodges said that other citizen scientists had been testing the water for bacteria in support of an application to obtain a bathing water status site in the town. She said: Its really great to see all these people who are active, caring about the river, coming together. It will be really interesting to see how all this data connects with what were gathering. The group is currently holding a consultation about river users and water quality in Henley and the results will be presented to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. After the meeting, Mr Wallace said he was pleased with how it had gone. It wasnt just words, we got some action, he said. Well have one testing site in the town centre near the outlet pipe in Friday Street, and one at Wargrave as a direct consequence of the meeting. Its brilliant that theres so much interest in the topic and people are keen to get involved. I was really encouraged by the number of people who turned up and there were some really thoughtful questions. What we need to do now is to pick up on the momentum and keep going. (JNS) Recently, seated in a cold Washington, D.C., conference room, I listened as speakers spoke of allies who support Israel and the Jewish people. The word ally is commonly used these days. Everyone wants to be allies of the cause du jour. While I was sitting there, however, the word ally brought me back to history class. Its connotation felt more military than I think any of the speakers intended. The Jewish community and Israel have a special place in the world. There are those who love them and those who hate them. Now antisemitism is on the rise in the United States and around the globe. According to the most recent report by the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitism last year rose 33 percent from the year before. Not only are we seeing an increase in antisemitic incidents, but Israel continues to be demonized from college classrooms to the halls of Congress. Some would argue that the solution to uplifting the Jewish people and Israel is allyship. Respectfully, I disagree. I believe friendships and relational advocacy are the only path forward. Ive worked in the Israel education and advocacy space for over nine years. My journey began while I was in college. I am not a member of the Jewish community, but a Christian friend of it. I intentionally use the word friend because Ive built relationships, cultivated strong partnerships and shown up. That is what friends do: show up in good times and bad, support and stand alongside each other. So why do I choose friendship over allyship? Allyship comes off as a transactional relationship. I do something for you, you do something for me. Its conditional. There are strings attached. Alliances shift based on the political climate or the goals of a movement. The language of allyship is used in many training sessions. Its not wrong, but it isnt strong enough. The things you do for a friend are done out of love, admiration and respect. In contrast, you can say you are an ally and do nothing. Performative allyship, a phrase that is often used in social justice conversations, does happen. In the case of friendship, however, its simpler. You are a friend or youre not. It can be argued that allyship can lead to friendship. Once that is the case, you are now motivated by the relationship youve built. There is a whole community of Christians who are ready to be friends with the Jewish community and Israel with no strings attached. We have shared values from our faiths and identities. We can see our differences yet find the beauty in our similarities. Many of us feel so passionately about this that weve dedicated our lives and careers to the mission. The Hebraic roots of our faith are crucial to who we are as Christians and we want the Jewish people to know they arent alone. In my current role at the Philos Project, I mobilize these Christian friends to show up in solidarity with our Jewish friends and neighbors any time antisemitism or anti-Israel sentiment appears in the United States. This network is called the Philos Action League. With a growing community of members, we have shown up over 200 times for our Jewish friends and neighbors. During those times, weve stood alongside incredible partners in the Jewish community who work on combating antisemitism and supporting Israel. Philos in Greek means friend. Thats what friends do: We show up. Im back in that Washington, D.C., conference room, listening to incredible speakers talk about how the people in this room can support Israel and the Jewish community. When I look around, I dont see 400 alliesI see 400 friends. Jewish and Christian friends with differing political views, who live in different states, who speak various languages, all working together towards the same goal. I see friendship with no strings attached. Hannah Garces is an advocacy associate at the Philos Project where she writes frequently on topics related to Israel and mobilizing Christians to stand up for the Jewish people. (JNS) Tel Aviv University researchers have proposed a new theory for why the bodys tanning process does not occur immediately after exposure to the suns rays, but only after a few hours or even days. The study found that the bodys initial response to sun exposure is to prioritize repairing DNA damage in the skin cells, which inhibits the mechanism responsible for skin pigmentation, commonly known as tanning. The research, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, was led by doctoral student Nadav Elkoshi and Professor Carmit Levy of the Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry at the universitys Faculty of Medicine, and in collaboration with scientists from Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, the University of California and Paris-Saclay University. We have two mechanisms designed to protect the skin from exposure to dangerous UV radiation. The first mechanism repairs the DNA in the skin cells damaged by the radiation, while the second mechanism involves increased production of melanin, which darkens the skin in order to protect it from future exposure to radiation, explained Elkoshi. It turns out that the mechanism that repairs our DNA takes precedence over all other systems in the cell, temporarily inhibiting the pigmentation mechanism. Only after the cells repair the genetic information to the best of their ability do they begin to produce the increased melanin, he added. To test their hypothesis, the researchers activated the DNA repair mechanism in both animal models and human skin tissues. In both, a tan developed even without any exposure to UV radiation, substantiating their findings. The genetic information must be protected from mutations, so this repair mechanism takes precedence inside the cell during exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun, said Levy. The DNA repair mechanism essentially tells all the other mechanisms in the cell, Stop everything, and let me work in peace. One system effectively paralyzes the other, until the DNA correction reaches its peak, which occurs a few hours after the UV exposure. Only then does the pigment production mechanism get to work, she added. The researchers had previously shown that a protein called MITF, which is activated during exposure, is responsible for regulating these two mechanisms. In the current study, they identified another protein, called ATM, which plays a key role in DNA repair and activates one mechanism while disabling the other. This process likely harnesses the pigmentation mechanisms components to maximize the chances of the cell surviving without mutations following radiation exposure, said Levy. The discovery will serve as a foundation for further research that could lead to innovative treatments providing maximum protection of the skin against radiation damage and, in the long run, may contribute to the prevention of skin cancer. This is a story about an orthodox wife and mother, a busy Bubbe, a retired schoolteacher and a full-time dental hygienist, who at a moment in her life, or so it seemed at the time, was Divinely inspired to compose music. At first, the lyrics came, and then the melody, resulting in her first composition titled "Please See." Since this time, she hasn't turned back and has written over 20 songs, with three that have been produced into singles. Michelle Anflick, the daughter of Dr. Michael Fineberg of Temple Israel in Winter Springs, was attending a Torah class given by Rabbi Zecharia Wallerstein, of blessed memory. He was the founder of Yeshiva Ohr Yitzchak, Ateres Naava Seminary for Girls, and Ohr Naava Women's Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y. Anflick's inspirational moment came during one of the rabbi's traveling lectures in Baltimore, Md., focusing on 'gratitude.' She was so moved by the rabbi's lecture that she had an overwhelming desire to create. "I came home from the lecture, grabbed a pen and paper and the words of a poem that would be titled 'Thank You' just flowed onto the page. This was the first real poem I had written since middle school. A melody for these lyrics came along a few days later. I think it was my way of trying to encapsulate the rabbi's message in a way I could share it with others," Anflick said. Rabbi Wallerstein helped teens and young adults navigate through tough and confusing times and helped many illuminate their own path to building a relationship with G-d. In her work, she felt that her music had to speak to those feeling down or to those who were confused or who were struggling. Creativity perceives the world in new ways, it finds hidden patterns and makes connections between seemingly unrelated things and produces new sounds or lyrics or solutions that didn't exist prior. Anflick's inspiration was ignited and her creativity was on overdrive. Many professional musicians started playing instruments in their youth and Anflick was no different. Her great-grandmother left her a piano. She took four years of piano lessons and in a strange twist, she learned to play the drums in high school. She has continued playing music over the years, and her love for music has been, as she would say, "In my Neshama, or deep in my soul." The music writing journey isn't always easy. The first thing a budding songwriter often does is play their music for friends and family. Anflick received positive feedback which motivated her to contact Nossi Gross, a very well-known musician in the Orthodox community in the Baltimore and Greater Washington area. "Nossi expressed that he thought there was something worthwhile in my music and suggested that I make a demo and then send it around," Anflick said. Anflick approached her neighbor, Pinny Schachter, a vocalist in the Jewish Music World. She shared a few songs in very raw form and it was decided that "Please See" was to be the first demo to be created. Once the demo received more positive feedback from friends, family, and many of her dental hygiene patients, Anflick had to find a way to respond to the question posed by almost every listener, "Your song is so beautiful! What are you going to do with it?" After asking advice from those in the field, she learned that the next step was to produce the song in the studio, which is exactly what she did. Since production costs can be pretty steep, $3,000-$5,000 per song, fundraising was the next part of this journey. Frank Storch, Baltimore philanthropist and family friend, gave Anflick her first donation, the shot in the arm that was needed to get production off the ground. "I hired Moshe Siegel of Emes Studio. He and Pinny worked hard on the production of the song. 'Please See' was finally professionally produced and was posted on YouTube and Spotify. The recording did very well, Baruch Hashem," Anflick noted. Roughly 10 months later, Anflick raised enough to fund her second recording titled "You with Me." The vocal was again performed by Schachter in Siegel's studio. It is promoted as an audio/visual journey that aims to provide the listener/viewer with an uplifting and inspirational experience. The third song, "Mission to Live," was released just before Pesach 2022, as the war in Ukraine was in full swing. The song is "Dedicated to the rescue efforts of those who have worked selflessly and tirelessly for the people of Ukraine." The lyrics were written by poet Judy Landman, author of "Seasons of the Rain." Landman asked Anflick to write the music for the song as well as to edit some of the lyrics into song format. The song was produced by Jeremy Englander of Blue Door Studios in Baltimore. Vocals for the song were performed by Uri Meltzer and Yaakov Rosenblum and the video was produced by Yaakov Cotton, all of Baltimore. Between Anflick's full-time job as a dental hygienist, and spending time with her four daughters and four grandchildren, she writes, composes, and produces music. How does a songwriter find the time and get a break into the music industry in today's world? Perhaps it's bashert, perhaps it's a smidge luck and perhaps it's a lot of talent. However, we, as part of the Jewish Community could take note, as she exemplifies what can happen after you're touched by G-d's inspiration. After all, it's something you don't just shrug off. In order to make it, or fulfill one's destiny, you have to sacrifice, work hard, and struggle until you achieve your dream ... or G-d's will. To listen or view Anflick's music, simply go to YouTube and search "Michelle Anflick." She can be reached at 443-929-6016 or email to michelleanflick@gmail.com. (JTA) For decades, armchair analysts scrutinizing the mysteries of the President John F. Kennedy assassination have fixated on who, exactly, opened his future assassins mail while he was under CIA surveillance. As the conspiracy theory went, that person would have understood Lee Harvey Oswalds relationship with the Soviet Union and thus could unlock new information about a possible Communist plot against Kennedy or a U.S. government plot to obscure his true killer. Last month, a new document dump in the ongoing declassification of Kennedy documents revealed the identity of the CIA screener: one Reuben Efron, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army and a Jewish immigrant from Lithuania. The New York Times was the first to report Efrons identity. And that means what, exactly? the newspaper asked in its report. A tantalizing clue to unraveling a complicated conspiracy that the government has sought to cover up for decades? Additional proof that the C.I.A. knew more about Oswald than initially acknowledged? Or a minor detail withheld all this time because of bureaucratic imperatives irrelevant to the question of whether Oswald was the lone gunman on the fateful day? A deep dive into Efrons Jewish identity does not answer those questions. But it does reveal that Efron not only worked as a spy but had a deep knowledge of the spies in Jewish tradition. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has confirmed that Efron spent time living in Israel before dying on Nov. 22, 1993 30 years to the day after Kennedys assassination. While there, he contributed five articles in the 1970s to the Jewish Bible Quarterly, a World Zionist Organization-affiliated publication based in Jerusalem, that channeled his expertise in espionage. Rahab and her premises were under surveillance of a counterintelligence team of the king of Jericho who soon established that the two men visiting Rahab were actually Israelite spies, he writes in one of the essays, referring to a Jericho courtesan who, according to the Book of Joshua, assisted the Israelites in preparing to rout the Canaanites. Efron called Rahab a prototype of a Mata Hari, the World War I-era exotic dancer-turned-spy. In one of the essays, Efron directly addresses the problem of spies incorrectly assessing their surveillance target a critique that has been leveled about his read of Oswald. About the 10 spies who, in the Book of Numbers, returned to the Israelites unsettled by their venture into Canaan, he writes, The militarily inexperienced scouts apparently had been unduly impressed with the prowess of the enemy and, as is frequent among Easterners, exaggerated his capabilities. The essays, three of which appeared in a series called Military Intelligence in the Bible, do little to illuminate either the Kennedy assassination or the inner life of the man who read Oswalds mail. But they do shed light on how he spent his retirement. Efron was born Ruvelis Effronas in Simnas, Lithuania, on April 12, 1911, and attended a Jewish high school there (a Hebrew gymnasium, in his words), followed by Vytautas Magnus University in what is now Kaunas. He practiced law for five years in that city a thriving hub of Lithuanian Jewish life that would become the site of the countrys largest ghetto under the Nazis before emigrating, as his brother had done previously. Efron immigrated to the United States in December 1939, arriving in Miami via Cuba. U.S. immigration documents list his profession as a salesman. According to a family history compiled by a relative, the following fall he enrolled at the Atlanta Law School, a night school that closed in the 1990s. He worked at a clothing store in downtown Atlanta until graduating in 1943. He spoke Russian, Lithuanian, Hebrew, Yiddish and German and enlisted in the Air Force during World War II as an interpreter, according to a death notice published in the Miami Herald. After the war, the death notice said, he played a role in peace negotiations and in talks related to the resettlement of war refugees among them, perhaps, members of his own family, but not his mother, who according to the published genealogy was murdered in the Holocaust. For decades, Efron worked for the U.S. government, playing roles that are only now coming to light as secret government documents are made available to the public. His family history says only: Reuben worked for the Pentagon. In addition to his now-revealed role reading Oswalds mail, Efron pops up in another declassified document dealing with an area of amateur sleuthing that has garnered a following as intense, if not more so, than the Kennedy assassination. In October 1955, Efron was traveling by train in the Soviet Union with U.S. Sen. Richard Russell, a Georgia Democrat, and a senior U.S. army official. The three men reported seeing two circular and unconventional aircraft resembling flying discs or flying saucers taking off almost vertically one minute apart. After sighting, Soviet train men became excited and lowered curtains and refused permission to look out windows, says the 1955 report, declassified in 2004. U.S. observers firmly believe these unconventional aircraft are flying saucer or disc aircraft. In retirement, Efron apparently enjoyed the freedom to opine. Living in Washington, D.C., in 1971, he wrote to the New York Times urging the Nixon administration to reject proposals of a joint U.S.-Soviet force to police Egypt-Israel peace, saying it would communize the whole area. Its not clear if he ever officially immigrated to Israel using its Law of Return, which grants automatic citizenship to Jews who move to the country. But the obituary in the Miami Herald said that Efron commuted between Israel and the United States for many years, during which he studied Israeli law and was admitted to the Israeli bar. The obituary said Efron was inspired by his mothers work in Lithuania with Jews who were immigrating to Palestine. In 1982, Efron lived on Keren Hayesod street in Jerusalem bordering the neighborhood of Rehavia, genealogical records show. Rehavia, now a neighborhood bursting with ostentatious wealth, much of it American, was then a leafy and somewhat decayed enclave of aging yekkes, or German Jews, many of them from the university-educated class that had fled the Nazis, arriving in Palestine in the 1930s. The address would have been a pleasant 10-minute walk from the offices of the Jewish Bible Quarterly. A staffer at the quarterly checked with surviving retired staff who worked during the late 1970s; no one could recall working with Efron. But his contributions to the quarterly are mostly preserved: JTA was able to locate three of the five essays. In them, Efron comes across as an enthusiast of the ancients with a fundamentalists belief in the Bible as relaying an accurate historical narrative. The Bible relates truthfully Davids charismatic personality, physical charm, as well as frailties and ethical shortcomings, Efron writes, reviewing the clandestine means David and Jonathan employed in the Book of Samuel to determine whether Jonathans father, Saul, planned to assassinate David. As befits someone writing for a World Zionist Organization publication, Efron draws parallels between ancient and modern Israel, and finds much to praise in both national expressions. It should be noted that in ancient as well as in recent times the people of Israel adhered to their promises and covenants with their neighbors, he writes in describing Joshuas sticking to his pledge to protect the Gibeonites despite their deception, the spycraft that is the articles focus. Efron deploys accounts of Israels modern spycraft to establish a continuum between biblical times and the 20th century. A recent example of such a secret encounter in Israels international relations is the now well publicized, but at that time very guarded meeting between the former Foreign Minister, Moshe Dayan, with the then Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister, Muhammed Hassan al-Tohami, in September 1977, in Morocco, which laid the groundwork for Egyptian President Sadats historic visit to Jerusalem, he writes in the article about David and Jonathan. Details about Efrons identity and background exercised the community of JFK assassination theorists to a much lesser degree than the fact that a senior CIA official was tracking Oswald and the tantalizing prospect that there was more to learn. The memo shows that high-level CIA officers were interested in the smallest details of Oswalds life 17 months before Kennedy was killed, Jefferson Morley, an author of multiple books about the CIA, and about Kennedy, said on his blog, JFK Facts, after the revelation. If Oswald was the lone gunman, as a substantial minority of Americans believe, the clandestine service had much more access to his personal information than most know. Efron had a wife, Edna, a brother, Irving, and no children. Said the death notice in the Miami Herald: He was a most diligent and modest person. Wilfrid Israel risked his own life to save tens of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. Yad Vashem refuses to recognize and honor him. Yad Vashem refuses to recognize and honor the more than 200 Jews identified so far by the Israeli Committee, Jews who Rescued Jews during the Holocaust. B'nai Brith International recognizes them. Haim Roet, himself a child survivor of the Holocaust because a Jew saved his life from the Nazis, tried for many years to get Yad Vashem to change their policy. Haim, and a few other Jews organized themselves into a committee to seek out, vet, and honor what should have been done and was not. Every year, at the Scroll of Fire in the Jerusalem Forest, under the sponsorship of B'Nai Brith International, Haim Roet's group honors Jews who they vetted during the preceding year, Jews who rescued Jews during the Holocaust. Yad Vashem's mandate is to document the full story of the Holocaust. They have an entire division whose sole job is to investigate, recognize and honor non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust, the Righteous Among the Nations award. Yet, Yad Vashem refuses to document, to remember, to honor Jews who risked their lives because they argue Jews are obligated to risk their lives to save a fellow Jew. The very philosophical underpinnings of the State of Israel is a State where Jews defend and save Jewish life. There is no religious halacha that mandates a Jew must risk their life to save another Jew. During the Holocaust, saving Jews could and did risk instant death by the Nazis. Many Jews did not act but some incredible Jews did. How can Yad Vashem claim to be fully documenting the history of the Holocaust if they adamantly refuse to recognize Jews who saved Jews? Wilfrid Israel was a Jew who chose to save Jews at the risk of his own life. Who was Wilfrid Israel? Wilfrid Berthold Jacob Israel was born July 11, 1899, into a liberal Jewish family of extreme wealth. His mother Amy, granddaughter of the Chief Rabbi of the U.K., Herman Adler, insisted he be born in London. Wilfrid, however, grew up in Berlin, where his father, Berthold, was the owner and manager of N. Israel, the largest department store in Germany..Following WWI, traveling the world collecting Oriental and Indian art, Wilfrid was deeply affected by the economic and social human suffering he encountered. Associating with British Quakers, he joined with them to help. The associations he established with the British Quakers would prove critical to the rescue of Jews and his establishment of the Kindertransport. When the Nazis took control of Germany in 1933, Wilfrid decided to use his fortune to try and get Jews to safety. By 1938, Wilfrid was running the "Hilfsverein," the main German Jewish organization helping Jews get out of Germany. He had already saved thousands of Jews when Kristallnacht occurred. Wilfrid recognized the changed danger and knew the West would not save Jews, but they might save children. Using his contacts with the British Quakers, working round the clock, and using his own funds to build a network of support politically and socially, the British establishment relented and agreed to take 10,000 unaccompanied Jewish children to England. Wilfrid escaped Germany, returning to London in the summer 1939 only after he saw that the last Kindertransport was safely on its way. For the next number of years, British intelligence relied upon Wilfrid for insights and connections into Germany. In 1943, Wilfrid flew to Spain with 1500 lifesaving visas to Palestine for trapped Jews. June 1, 1943, returning over the Bay of Biscay, his plane was shot down by Nazi fighters. His body was never located. Much of Wilfrid's rescue work, his support for Jews, Israel, and humanity were never publicized. Some have surmised because he was afraid his homosexuality would become known. Only very recently has his story come out and the personal price he paid. His friend, Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, described him as "a man of great moral stature, dedicated to the service of others". Albert Einstein, another friend, wrote about Wilfrid after he learned of his death, "Never in my life have I come in contact with a being so noble so strong and as selfless as he was in very truth a living work of art. In these times of massmisfortune, which so few are able to stand up to, one feels the presence of this "chosen one" as a Liberator from despair for mankind." . Wilfrid Israel Wilfrid Israel was a philanthropist, a humanitarian, a socialist, and a strong supporter of Zionist enterprises. He saved more Jews than any single person had during the Holocaust. There is a memorial to him, erected by the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation. It is located in Spain overlooking the Bay of Biscay next to a memorial for Leslie Howard whom Israel met on the flight that was downed by Nazi fighter planes. There is no memorial in Israel to Jews who chose to rescue Jews at the risk of their own lives during the Holocaust. Jerry Klinger is the founding president of the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation, which has placed monuments and plaques across the United States and in other countries detailing the history of Jewish individuals and communities. Rabbi Jeffrey Myers leads survivors and families of the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in a prayer of thanks, at the Jewish Community Center in Pittsburgh, Aug. 2, 2023. PITTSBURGH (JTA) - The overriding feeling in this city now that the gunman convicted of murdering 11 Jews here in 2018 has been sentenced to death is gratitude. Not for the penalty itself, which was the preference of some but not all of the victims' families and which some local Jews openly opposed, and not even for the end of a trial whose long delay protracted communal trauma. Instead, the gratitude is for people - those who made the trial happen, those who supported the victims' family members as they sat through weeks of painful testimony, and those who kept the singular Jewish community thriving even when so much had been lost. Jeffrey Myers, the rabbi of the Tree of Life congregation, which was housed in the synagogue the gunman attacked, opened a press conference at the Jewish community center in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood with a prayer of thanks. Dozens of family members and survivors of the attack joined him as he recited the Shehecheyanu prayer in Hebrew, then translated it for the media. The prayer, he said, thanks God, "who has kept us alive, sustained us and enabled us to reach this stage." There was palpable relief. "The only thing positive about the sentencing of a criminal is that this long slog is over," said Audrey Glickman, who hid in the synagogue on the day of the attack. Myers, who during the trial recalled praying as he waited for the gunman to kill him, thanked the Pittsburgh community, the prosecution, the first responders for what he said was the "embrace" they conferred on the Jewish community since the attack on Oct. 27, 2018. Wednesday, he noted, was Tu B'Av, the Jewish calendar day marking rituals of courtship and love. "I don't believe in coincidences. It was meant to be today," he said of the end of the trial. "Why today? Because today we received an immense embrace from the halls of justice around all of us, to say that our government does not condone antisemitism in the vile form that we witnessed, and that we were embraced by a system that supported and nurtured us and upheld us." Survivors and family members stepped up to the microphone, some with notes, some not, and expressed thanks to law enforcement, to the prosecutors, to others who rushed to their assistance after the attack and who nurtured them in the years since. "I want to take the time to thank all of those people that were part of the jury, the court system, our local community here, the massive support structure and staff and police taking care of us," said Howard Fienberg, whose mother Joyce was one of the 11 murdered. "And I especially want to thank the prosecution team for their steadfast focus on this capital crime as an antisemitic act as a frontal assault on the constitutional freedom of religion, and the freedom to be Jewish and practice Judaism in the United States." In the hall, the JCC maintained its suburban rhythms: Parents picked toddlers up from daycare, and members headed to the gym. Outside the building, one of the most consequential trials in Jewish history barely resonated; the main topic of conversation in a diner nearby was the summer blockbuster "Barbie," showing in the cinema across the street. But inside at the press conference, survivor after survivor, family member after family member, expressed thanks in great detail: to the police, the FBI, prosecutors, the social workers, the restaurants that had fed the stunned and traumatized in the weeks after the killing and throughout the trial. They also emphasized the importance of keeping the victims at the center of the story about what happened in Pittsburgh. In addition to Joyce Fienberg, the people who were killed were Richard Gottfried, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Cecil Rosenthal, David Rosenthal, Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Daniel Stein, Melvin Wax and Irving Younger. It was a showing typical of a Jewish community that had always been tight-knit and became more so in the wake of the attack. Squirrel Hill, in the eastern part of Pittsburgh, has been the center of the city's Jewish life since the turn of the 20th century, when wealthy Jewish families began settling there. While Jewish communities in other cities moved neighborhoods or migrated to the suburbs in the ensuing century, Squirrel Hill remained the home of Pittsburgh's Jews. The neighborhood is home to multiple Jewish day schools, kosher restaurants and a Holocaust museum - as well as about 15,000 Jews from all denominations. Members of the three congregations housed in the synagogue building - Tree of Life, New Light and Dor Hadash - spoke to the press only after clearing it first with a public relations firm the community hired. Volunteers and staffers for the 10.27 Healing Partnership, an organization launched in the wake of the massacre, sat with the survivors and family members in interviews, ready to intervene, they explained to reporters, if a question was too triggering. Howard Fienberg, whose mother was a Tree of Life member, said the three congregations were friendly but not deeply involved with one another before the attack. Now that they had been brought together by tragedy and its aftermath, he found meaning in their closeness. "I didn't understand what Reconstructionism was like," Fienberg said about the Jewish movement with which Dor Hadash is affiliated. "They were those guys down the hall for years." Now he said, he was more inclined to see what brings Jews together, and not what divides them. "There's a reason that they were all in the same space," he said. "And it wasn't just happenstance. They're all Jewish, right?" The comments at the press conference were reflected in countless statements from community members and local organizations that expressed thanks, memorialized the victims and committed to sustaining Jewish community. "As this chapter comes to a close, we reflect on the strength and resilience of Pittsburgh's Jewish community and the entire community," the local Jewish federation said in its statement. "In the wake of the horrors of the worst antisemitic attack in U.S. history, our community neither retreated from participating in Jewish life nor suppressed our Jewishness. Instead, our community embraced our Jewish values - strengthening Jewish life, supporting those in need, and building a safer, more inclusive world." The divisions that do exist simmered beneath the surface on Wednesday. There had been differences among the families and the congregations about whether the death penalty was appropriate; a small contingent of local Jews who cited Jewish laws saying that the death penalty should be rare in the extreme organized. Of the nine families, the family of at least one of the victims, Jerry Rabinowitz, objected to the death penalty; seven other families were in favor of it. Speakers at the press conference who did address the ultimate penalty were in favor of it. "Even if he sits alive on death row for decades, he is separated from others," said Glickman. "Had he been sentenced to life in prison ... he would have been afforded an increasing ability to communicate and play with others and the chance of working his way out of any high-security situation," she added. "This has been a step in the right direction." The New Light congregation said in a statement that it "accepts the jury's decision and believes that, as a society, we need to take a stand that this act requires the ultimate penalty under the law." Notably, its rabbi, Jonathan Perlman, wrote to the U.S. attorney general to say he opposed the death penalty. David Harris, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh law school, said differences about the death penalty persist but have not had an effect on the sense of mutual solidarity. "There's still a lot of really active conversations up to and including today that I'm having with people about, well, 'I think he should get this,' the death penalty or a life sentence," Harris, who has walked members of the community through the trial's legal thicket as a service of the 10.27 Healing Partnership, said in an interview earlier this week. "But even though the community is not of one mind, we don't have one universal opinion, we are united in supporting each other," he said. "We are united in wanting this horrible thing to go right and be over and to say we did our best to support those who have been injured." (JNS) Following a tour on Wednesday of Jewish-owned agricultural sites in Samarias Binyamin region, Israeli Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter applauded farmers role in protecting state lands in Judea and Samaria. We came here to learn up close about the farms, which I view as the best guardians of Israeli state land in Area C, the minister said, referring to one of the administrative zones established under the Oslo Accords in the 1990s. Dichter continued: There are no better guardians than hundreds of sheep, tended by an Israeli shepherd, of course. All the government ministries are aware of the significant advantages of such farms, and they should be encouraged and enlarged in an orderly fashion, as is being done here in Binyamin. In Hebrew, we say shelanu [ours]; it [Area C] is Israeli according to the [Oslo] agreement. Nevertheless, we can see that the Palestinian Authority, led by the prime minister [Mohammed Shtayyeh], is trying to get deeper and deeper into Area C, he warned. Dichter was joined by Agriculture Ministry Director General Oren Lavi, Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz and other Israeli officials. The tour included visits to farms in Geva Binyamin (also known as Adam), Kochav Hashachar and Givat Harel. Dichter and Ganz discussed several strategic issues related to agriculture in Judea and Samaria, including a new program for allocating farmland, plans for a water reservoir at Amichai near Shiloh, and a program to develop rural areas in the Binyamin region. In related news, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu on Wednesday called on the government to extend Israeli sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria. This is our homeland. This is where the Jewish people arose, he stated, calling the 1967 armistice line a fiction. We should advance this as quickly as possible, as smartly as possible, said Eliyahu. In Judea and Samaria, everyone understands that our roots and history are there, and therefore, I think that the entire Green Line is just an abnormality. There is a distorted reality that we need to erase. Earlier on Wednesday, the Sovereignty Movement, which advocates for Israeli control over Judea and Samaria, wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging him to refrain from using the sovereignty issue as a bargaining chip in normalization talks with Saudi Arabia. U.S. President Joe Biden said last week that a normalization agreement between Jerusalem and Riyadh could be coming. Theres a rapprochement maybe under way, Biden told 2024 reelection campaign contributors at an event in Freeport, Maine. However, according to Israel Hayom, Israel would have to offer to put off extending sovereignty for at least four more years, similar to the conditions of the 2020 Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. While an agreement with Saudi Arabia carries immense significance in economic, regional, security and other terms, and perhaps also in the creation of the Middle East coalition against the Iranian threat, the Sovereignty Movement said, it is crucial to ensure that such a political move does not come at the expense of our cherished vision of sovereignty and its application in the heart of the Land of Israel. Using sovereignty for political leverage strips from the Jewish people its soul, inner strength and the justice of its cause. We call upon you and your government: Do not harm sovereignty; apply and implement it! the letter read. (JNS) The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations implored its Security Council to help clamp down on Hezbollahs repeated provocations along the Israeli-Lebanese border. The Middle East is a powder keg on the cusp of being ignited due to Hezbollahs violent escalations, blatant violations of Security Council resolutions and dangerous military advancements, Gilad Erdan wrote late last week to the U.N. council. The Iran-backed, Lebanese terror group Hezbollah controls Southern Lebanon. Security Council resolutions and pronouncements have called for Hezbollah to disarm, and the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, a largely toothless border peacekeeping force, is supposed to be monitoring its actions. Since mid-July, Hezbollah operatives have been documented dismantling surveillance equipment on Israels border security fence after previously attempting to sabotage it. A group of 18, led by a Hezbollah-aligned member of the Lebanese parliament, infiltrated into Israeli territory before Israel Defense Forces warning shots chased them back across the border. Hezbollah operatives also erected two tents south of the so-called Blue Line, a U.N. demarcation line that serves as an unofficial border and runs through several disputed areas. It has dismantled one tent but refuses to take the other one down. It has threatened Israel if Jerusalem takes reactive measures. Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah threatened Israel on Aug. 1, calling it a cancerous growth. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that we are not impressed by Nasrallahs bunker threats. In recent months, Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile towards Israel and allowed Hamas, another internationally designated terror group, to launch more than 30 rockets at Israel from Hezbollah-controlled territory. Erdan cited the latter provocations as a dangerous pattern that is leading the way towards outright conflict and the consequences of such a conflict will be disastrous for the entire region. If the Security Council does not condemn Hezbollahs destabilizing activities and demand that Lebanon takes action against the illegal military buildup within its territoriesor at the very least, allow UNIFIL to be able to fully implement its mandatethe situation on the ground will continue to deteriorate and the consequences will be far-reaching and disastrous, he wrote. The UNIFIL mandate expires at the end of August, but its yearly renewal by the Security Council is virtually assured. Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah of preventing U.N. peacekeepers from carrying out their mandate. Lebanons military tribunal charged five men on June 1 with the December 2022 killing of an Irish UNIFIL peacekeeper, Sean Rooney. All five are linked to Hezbollah. Rooneys UNIFIL convoy came under attack near the town of Al-Aqbiya, a Hezbollah stronghold. Were working on the resolution UNIFIL was established in 1978 to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. After the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, the United Nations expanded the interim forces mandate under Security Council Resolution 1701 to monitor the cessation of hostilities. It now serves as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel along the Blue Line, designated as a line of withdrawal. The two Middle Eastern countries remain technically at war. The resolution also calls for the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon and emphasizes the importance of full control of Lebanon by its government. The mission now has about 10,500 peacekeepers from nearly 50 troop-contributing countries, as per the UNIFIL website. Last years renewal of UNIFILs mandate proved difficult with council members circulating at least five draft resolution texts. JNS sources familiar with the councils work said at the time that the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom demanded that it include language citing Hezbollah activities explicitly. Such language was not adopted. Lana Nusseibeh, the Emirates ambassador to the United Nations, told the council at the time that non-state groups maintaining weapons has demonstrably been a grave threat to Lebanons sovereignty, security and stability, as well as to the region. The United States holds the Security Council presidency this month. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield was asked on Tuesday if the UNIFIL mandate requires updating given recent incidents at the Israeli-Lebanese border. We are working on the resolution right now in the council, and well vote on the resolution, she told reporters. I cant advance exactly what will be included in the resolution, but we hope that it is a resolution that gets consensus across the council, she said. The U.S. will be actively engaged on this, and we are hopeful that the situation along the Israeli-Lebanon border does improve. (JNS) Iran is working to seize control of an extensive network of Syrian military industry facilities, collectively known by their French acronym of CERS, or the Scientific Studies and Research Center in English, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Alma Research and Education Center. The Alma Center is a defense research group that specializes in security challenges faced by Israel in Lebanon and Syria. The report also warned of the possibility of Hezbollah taking possession of chemical substances present as CERS, which are being stored by the Assad regime, and using them to produce chemical weapons for use against Israeli military forces or civilians in a future conflict. Israel Defense Forces Maj. (res.) Tal Beeri, head of research at the Alma Center, told JNS that the prominent takeover of the Syrian defense industries by Iran is expressed through its takeover of CERS. Today, the Syrian CERS Center operates under full Iranian patronage. According to the report, CERS, which employs some 20,000 peopleSyrian researchers, engineers and military officersis spread out across Syria, and produces advanced weapons such as the Fateh 110 surface-to-surface missile. The Fateh 110 is at the heart of the joint Iranian- Syrian and Hezbollah precision-missile project, the report noted. In addition, the CERS Center is responsible for developing and manufacturing chemical, biological and potentially nuclear weapons, it stated. Iran views CERS as a growth engine for its own effort to develop and manufacture weapons on Syrian soil, based on Iranian technology, according to the report. As such, CERS is an opportunity for Iran to bypass the logistics and risks involved in transferring some of its weapons into Syria from Iran by land, air, or seaefforts that are often targeted by Israel. Irans goal in controlling CERS is to develop and manufacture precise missiles and rockets, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles on Syrian soil, particularly using the CERS Institute 4000 at Masyaf, a well-known trouble spot that has been reportedly targeted by Israeli air strikes in previous years. Beeri noted that Institute 4000 has two Iranian coordinators allocated to the site. The presence of a chemical program at CERS raises troubling scenarios, the report continued. Unlike the military nuclear project attempted by the Syrian regime with North Korean assistance, which was thwarted by Israel in 2007, the chemical program was never foiled, despite attempts to derail it, it stated. We assess that the Syrian regime now possesses extensive chemical capabilities. The Syrian regime considers the stockpiles of chemical weapons in its possession and the threat they pose as a guarantee of its survival. At will, this capability may benefit the radical Shiite axis led by Iran in general and Hezbollah in particular, the report cautioned. It added that Hezbollahs use of chemical weapons in the next confrontation with Israel cannot be ruled out. It is conceivable that missiles or rockets armed with chemical weapons (such as Sarin nerve gas) are being stockpiled for use by Hezbollah in one of the CERS centers sites. Chemical substances stored at Masyaf could be transferred to Lebanon if so directed, said the report, adding, We estimate with a high probability that in a situation of war, Israel will attack the chemical weapons stockpiles wherever they are, in Syria and/or Lebanon. The report went on to assess that Hezbollah likely has mortar shells and missiles designed for chemical warheads, which can be armed with the help of CERS. According to IDF Lt. Col. Sarit Zehavi, president and founder of Alma, During the next confrontation, would this type of weapon be used against the Israel Defense Forces or Israeli civilians by Hezbollah? And what would the risk be of another tragedy for Lebanese civilians like the Beirut Port incident? Beeri also noted that on February 27 this year, a Syrian colonel, an engineer named Ibrahim al-Muhammad, was killed in an explosion in his vehicle in a Damascus suburb. He was involved, in the context of the CERS Center activity, in the Syrian military chemical program, said Beeri. Why was he killed? Did the Syria regime eliminate him to cover up further tracks of its chemical program ahead of Syrias return to the Arab League? (JNS) The Palestinian issue will not be an obstacle to normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia, according to Israels Foreign Minister Eli Cohen. Jerusalems top diplomat made the remarks in a wide-ranging interview with Arabic-language online newspaper Elaph, excerpts from which were seen by Ynet. The current Israeli government will take steps to improve the Palestinian economy, Cohen stated, amid reports that one of Riyadhs demands for a U.S.-brokered deal to join the Abraham Accords involves concessions to the Palestinians. A visit to Israel by a Saudi foreign minister would be a day of celebration, Cohen remarked, noting that governments led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had secured diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco as part of the 2020 Abraham Accords. He predicted that the Israeli premier and the Saudi crown prince would make history together. Cohen touched on other subjects in the interview with the London-based media outlet, which is owned by Saudi businessman Othman al- Omeir, including provocations by the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group at the Lebanese border in recent months. He said that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was hiding in his bunker like a mouse, and warned that Israel could dispatch Lebanon to the stone age in a war with the terror group. On the subject of Iran, Cohen called the regime in Tehran a cancer that destroys every country it gets involved in. He added that the people of Iran view Israel as a democracy. (JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is confident his government can achieve some form of normalization with Saudi Arabia in the coming months, Netanyahu said in an interview with Bloomberg Television broadcasted on Monday. I think that we are about to witness a pivot of history, he told Bloombergs Francine Lacqua. First, there is an economic corridor of energy, transport and communications that naturally goes through our geography from Asia through the Arabian Peninsula to Europe. We are going to realize that, vowed the prime minister, adding, Saudi Arabia is one of the exceptional things that tells you why Im very optimistic about Israel. In recent weeks, officials in Jerusalem and Washington have hinted at progress in normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Earlier this month, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said that Israel is closer than it has ever been to a peace deal with the kingdom. However, even without a formal agreement, Jerusalem can still develop an economic corridor with Riyadh, Netanyahu told Bloomberg on Monday. If there is a political will, there will be a political way to achieve normalization and formal peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia. That has enormous economic consequences for the investors and if they have to bet on it right now, Id bet on it, but I cant guarantee it, he said. Persian Gulf sources close to Saudi decision-makers and sources close to Netanyahu have voiced conflicting views regarding the Palestinian linkage. According to the sources in the Gulf, the Saudis are conditioning normalization with progress on the Palestinian front, but the Israeli sources say Riyadh has made no such stipulations. Netanyahu on Monday downplayed claims that the Palestinian issue played a significant role in negotiations. Is that whats being said in corridors? Is that whats being said in discreet negotiations? The answer is a lot less than you think, he said. Asked what concessions Israel would be willing to make to the Palestinians, the prime minister refused to give specific examples. Ill tell you what Im not willing to give. Im not willing to give anything that will endanger Israels security. That I will not do, but I think there is enough room to discuss possibilities, he said. The Palestinians should have all the powers to govern themselves and none of the powers to threaten Israel, which means that in whatever final peace settlement well have with the Palestinians, Id say, Israel has an overriding security power in the entire area, ours and theirs. Otherwise, we collapse, they collapse, said Netanyahu. The Bloomberg interview mostly focused on Netanyahus ongoing efforts to reform Israels judicial system. On July 24, the Knesset voted to remove the reasonableness standard, a legal principle that allowed the Supreme Court to overturn laws based on what judges consider acceptable. Other bills advancing through the Knesset would alter the way judges are appointed, give the Knesset the ability to override certain Supreme Court rulings and change the way legal advisers are appointed to government ministries. On Monday, Netanyahu indicated that his coalition intends to shelve large parts of its judicial reform plans. Weve already done quite a bit, he told Bloomberg. Netanyahu said he plans to move ahead with changing the makeup of the Judicial Selection Committee, which is responsible for appointing judges to the court. [T] hats basically whats left. Because other things, I think, we should not legislate, the prime minister was quoted as saying. The government is still seeking a broad consensus on the issue, added Netanyahu. The street in front of the Tree of Life-Or L'Simcha synagogue is lined with memorials to the 11 murdered on Oct. 27, 2018. (JNS) - A Pittsburgh jury agreed unanimously last Wednesday that Robert Bowers, 50, should be put to death for killing 11 Jewish worshippers at Tree of Life*Or L'Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Oct. 27, 2018. The judge will formally sentence the convicted killer on Aug. 3. "As we collectively process the jury's decision today, what should always be top of mind is the memory of the 11 people murdered in a synagogue while at prayer by a cold-blooded hater of Jews," said the American Jewish Committee. "Ultimately, what is of most significance is not how the shooter will spend the end of his life, but the fact that the U.S. government pursued this case with vigor and demonstrated that such crimes will not be countenanced, excused or minimized," AJC added. The Mallinger and Wedner families stated that "although we will never attain closure from the loss of our beloved Rose Mallinger, we now feel a measure of justice has been served." "This sentence is a testament to our justice system and a message to all that this type of heinous act will not be tolerated," the families added. The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh expressed gratitude to the prosecution for its "meticulous process to seek justice for the victims," and to the jury for "their time and dedication in reaching this sentence." "This trial shows that our justice system can work by giving a voice to the voiceless and by ensuring that we, as a society, can bring the perpetrator of this horrendous attack to account," it stated. "I hope that we can use this decision to start a new chapter that uplifts and protects our city's Jewish community," stated Ed Gainey, the mayor of Pittsburgh. "But above all, I hope today's decision provides a measure of peace for the friends and family of Bernice Simon, Sylvan Simon, Melvin Wax, Daniel Stein, Irving Younger, Rose Mallinger, Jerry Rabinowitz, Joyce Feinberg, Richard Gottfried, Cecil Rosenthal and David Rosenthal," the mayor stated. "May their memories be a blessing today and every day. And may we continue to stand together as one Pittsburgh that's stronger than hate." Erika Strassburger, a Pittsburgh City Council member who represents parts of the Squirrel Hill neighborhood where the shooting took place, said the trial has presented "a test of one's stance on the death penalty for many in our community." "It is easier to say the state has no right to take life in the abstract than it is when the offender has taken the lives of those in your neighborhood, your faith congregation or your family," she added. "We will never be able to reclaim the lives taken that day, but we will honor their memories, continue the long, uneven process of healing and resolve to fight hate in all its forms, wherever it lingers." (JNS) Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, met on Wednesday with representatives of the nonprofit association Mateh Hamaavak Lemaan Hayeladim (The Taskforce for Children), whose goal is to eradicate violence against children in daycare centers and kindergartens. Three representatives of the organization shared personal stories of the abuse their children suffered and how their families have coped with the effects. We are embarking on a long journey to prevent abuse in kindergartens from birth to age 6. The importance of the cameras is that they are living testimony and a deterrent factor, said Netanyahu, who extended her support for efforts to have video equipment installed in classrooms. They will make the traumatic questioning of children, who cannot always express what happened, unnecessary. Children are helpless and are not always capable of expressing themselves verbally, nor are they always believed. It is necessary to have proof and cameras are the first and most essential tool, she added. In violence of this kind, the ramifications of the injury are great. It affects livelihood, the home and the family. In most cases, the overall suffering is neither seen nor treated, Netanyahu, an educational psychologist who works part-time for the Jerusalem Municipality, said. Mateh Hamaavak Lemaan Hayeladim director Alona Daniel thanked Netanyahu for her important support. Amending the cameras law is a very important step in eradicating the phenomenon of violence and we, together with thousands of parents, commend and thank her for assisting us in reaching the goal, said Daniel. (JTA) A school district in South Carolina will return Bernard Malamuds The Fixer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about antisemitism, to shelves nearly a year after it was removed following a parental complaint. The decision made Wednesday by a review committee for the Beaufort County School District concludes another episode in which a Jewish book has gotten caught up in a national book-ban push by conservative parents. The district pulled The Fixer and other books from school libraries last fall, citing safety concerns for school employees. Malamuds novel had been on a long list of nearly 100 books challenged by a parent affiliated with Moms for Liberty, an activist group powering the book-ban movement. Booklooks.org, a ratings site often cited by Moms for Liberty chapters, says The Fixer contains controversial religious and racial commentary; hate involving racism; violence including self harm; and profanity. The committee voted Wednesday to return The Fixer and four other books to school library circulation, according to records of the meeting a district spokesperson shared with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. The school board must sign off on the decision, but the board has so far signed off on all of the committees recommendations. Im relieved the committee found the text was appropriate and hope the board agrees to replace it back on the shelves, Emily Mayer, a Jewish former Beaufort County educator who has been lobbying against the book bans, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. But, she added, I dont believe it shouldve been questioned to begin with, as I cant imagine many students had checked The Fixer out of the library as of late anyway. Allowing students access to texts that give them diverse perspectives of historical events helps us make sure history doesnt repeat itself. One person had spoken up specifically in defense of The Fixer during a school board meeting. I read this book in high school. It was not in my schools curriculum, but in the library, said Elizabeth Robin, a local poet, according to a notes shared with JTA. (The agenda also included new procedures to maintain safety because board meetings have grown raucous.) Robin offered a description of the novel as a thinly veiled critique of the proponents of book bans, which have mostly targeted books with LGBTQ and racial justice themes. The Fixer is not a novel to be banned, but one that opens a window for students into what happens in authoritarian regimes, and what can happen when scapegoats are chosen based upon prejudice rather than evidence, she said. It shows a dark time in history we should not repeat. The Fixer is not the first Jewish book to be removed following a parental challenge in schools, nor was it the first time such a removal was overturned. A school district in Texas quickly reversed a decision to remove an illustrated version of Anne Franks diary following public outcry last year, while a district in Missouri recently voted to keep Art Spiegelmans Holocaust graphic memoir Maus in schools despite concerns that a state law could put educators in legal jeopardy for doing so. But restorations are not always the outcome. That same illustrated edition of Franks diary, along with Maus, a Holocaust novel by Jodi Picoult and a childrens book about Purim featuring LGBTQ parents, have been permanently removed from other districts, in all cases because of concerns from parents or officials that their content was inappropriate for children. The Fixer holds special historical significance in this battle, as the novel was also at the center of a 1982 Supreme Court case on the constitutionality of school library book bans. That case ended without a clear precedent from the court. The novel fictionalizes a 1911 case of a Jewish laborer in Kyiv, Mendel Beilis, who was charged with murdering a Christian boy and using his blood to make matzah a classic example of the blood libel, an antisemitic accusation that Jews murder children and use their blood for religious rituals. Beilis own family has heavily criticized Malamud over the years for his portrayal of Mendel, even alleging that the author plagiarized his diaries. Yet grandson Jay Beilis, who has long campaigned against the book, told JTA, Im not going to celebrate the book being banned. Malamud himself, who won the Pulitzer Prize for The Fixer in 1967, commented on book bans in the lead-up to the 1982 Supreme Court case. I wish those school board members and others who want to ban books would make an effort to understand them before shoveling them off library shelves, he said in 1976, a decade before his death. If they read The Fixer, they might be clamoring to have more students read it. (JNS) A Jewish day school in Memphis, Tenn., went into lockdown for about 45 minutes on Monday afternoon after a man fired several shots nearby. No injuries were reported at the Margolin Hebrew Academy/Feinstone Yeshiva of the South. We have recently learned that the shooter at the Margolin Hebrew Academy was himself Jewish and a former student at the school, stated Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.). I am pleased the academy had effective security and that the police acted quickly to protect students. Earlier in the day, the congressman had denounced the apparent act of violent antisemitism. At about 12:20 p.m., officers received a call that a white man armed with a handgun was at the school, according to Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn (C.J.) Davis. The man reportedly fired his weapon outside the school. No injuries were reported, and the suspect fled prior to officers arrival, according to Davis. An alert went out to officers across the country for a suspect driving a maroon Dodge Ram pickup truck with Calif. tags, Davis said. When officers conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle, the driver exited armed with a handgun. A Memphis officer then fired his weapon, hitting the suspect, who was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, according to Davis. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is investigating, she added. The Orthodox school, which enrolls students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12, sent out a message in the early afternoon advising the community that it was in a developing active shooter situation, according to Fox 13 News. We can confirm that no one has been hurt in any way, and everyone is now safe, thank G-d, it added. Our campus is completely closed. Thank you for your understanding. Reports on social media stated that the suspect, who has yet to be identified publicly, fired between two and four gunshots. Michael Masters, national director and CEO of Secure Community Network, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the network and partners tracked and identified the individual who fired shots at Margolin Hebrew Academy in Memphis. Davis said I am proud of the vigilant and quick response of MPD officers who mitigated a potential mass-shooting situation today. Many thanks to our neighboring jurisdictions for also providing critical information to stop the suspects actions. (JNS) In response to public outrage over the pervasive, systemic, years-long scandal of antisemitism at CUNY, the university formed its inaugural Advisory Council on Jewish Life. At first, Chancellor Matos Rodriguez refused the demands of Jewish faculty and student victims at CUNY to be represented on the council, stating, [T]he advisory council on Jewish life will be comprised of Jewish leaders in New York who are external to the university [emphasis added]. But in late May or early June of 2023, secretly and behind the scenes, Rodriguez reversed himself and appointed Ilya Bratman to the council. Bratman is an adjunct faculty member at CUNY, as well as the executive director of Hillel at Baruch College and several other campuses. Bratman may be the most prominent Hillel director across the university. In some ways, this seemed to be a concession to the Jewish community under siege. Still, several aspects of Bratmans record suggest that the same CUNY administration that had for so long ignored the antisemitism on its campusand which is under constant and considerable pressure by leftist and Islamist extremist stakeholders to deny that anti-Zionism is antisemitismmight not have been bending to Jewish interests at all and indeed might have had a quite different motive for this choice. In 2021, after CUNYs 30,000-member staff union, the Professional Staff Congress-CUNY (PSC-CUNY), adopted a vile anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist BDS resolution, Ilya Bratman formed a group called the CUNY Alliance for Inclusion (CAFI) that purportedly would counter the unions antisemitic and anti-Zionist positions. But Bratmans CAFI group failed, even to put up a good fight. While PSC-CUNY union delegates sponsored rallies under the slogan #zionismOutOfCUNY, CAFI never condemned its BDS activist president, James Davis, who lied to the New York City Council about his support of boycotts against Israel. Neither did CAFI condemn the universitys appointment of former CAIR director and BDS activist Saly Abd Alla to oversee all discrimination, including antisemitism, across CUNYs 25 campuses. Instead, Bratman joined the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York (JCRC-NY) in negotiating a discrimination portal that included Saly Abd Alla as its head and listed the CAIR-endorsed Jerusalem Declaration of Antisemitism on the page. The JDA was created specifically as a counter to the core principle that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. CAIR is viewed by most mainstream Jewish organizations as an antisemitic organization. The FBI has connected CAIR to Hamas, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist group, and the bureau no longer works with CAIR because of its ties to terrorism and its status as an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terror funding case in U.S. history. Even the United Arab Emirates has designated CAIR itself as a terrorist organization. The Bratman-JCRC-approved portal has done nothing to combat antisemitism. It could be argued that it only enables it further. Why so flaccid a response from CAFI? As it turns out, Bratman aligned CAFI with J Street. It sponsored an event with a J Street affiliate, Women Wage Peace. J Street is not known for defending Jews or Israel against antisemitism. Indeed, while proclaiming itself to be pro-Israel, pro-peace, J Street supports some forms of the anti-Israel BDS movement and is seen by much of the Jewish community as spending most of its time blaming Israel for the conflict with the Palestinians and thereby providing Israels foes with ammunition. J Street aims to replace AIPAC as the go-to Jewish policy center for those who seek to press Israel to make concessions for peace. If you were a CUNY administrator looking for Jews who wanted peace with their adversaries on your campus, Jews who would be eager to make concessions, you could do worse than pivot quietly from your all external rule and install Ilya Bratman as the Jewish defender of CUNYs Jews. It was known that Bratman was a close ally of the feckless New York JCRC, which also, shamelessly, made no objection to a CAIR operative and BDS activist becoming the chief diversity officer for all of CUNY. The JCRC has been criticized for working directly with Bratman to negotiate this very portals parameters. Finally, there is this: On May 22, 2021, days after an unprovoked Hamas indiscriminately rained missiles over Israeli cities, killing civilians (including a 5-year-old child), the Scholars of Jewish Studies and Israel Studies issued a vile statement condemning Israels defensive response, calling the Zionist movement a settler colonial paradigm that has brought real benefit to many Jews, but unjust systems of Jewish supremacy, ethnonational segregation, discrimination, and violence against Palestinians. The concept of Jewish supremacy, we might note, was adapted from material published by infamous neo-Nazi David Duke in 2003. While vulgar and hateful language like this from known antisemites in academia is deeply painful to Jewish people, nowhere has the antisemitic vitriol been more pervasive or prevalent in recent years than at CUNY, dubbed by some as Americas most anti-Semitic university. Indeed, the aforementioned statements signatory list is replete with anti-Zionist/anti-Jewish scholars who consistently violate the tenets of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism with bigoted and discriminatory views of Israeli and Zionist Jews everywhere. (According to a Pew poll, eight-in-10 U.S. Jews say caring about Israel is an essential or important part of what being Jewish means to them.) Yet one name on the list of defamers raises puzzling questions: Ilya Bratman. Maybe CUNY administrators discovered his name there and knew theyd found their man. The selection of Bratman to represent CUNYs Jews in the matter of antisemitism and anti-Zionism may be one of the greatest betrayals of the universitys Jewish community, which has been left defenseless by so many, including nearly everyone in CUNYs administration. (JNS) Once again, we are seeing Hezbollah threatening us, encroaching on the demilitarized area and daring us to retaliate. In Southern Lebanon, Hezbollah has positioned thousands of rockets aimed at Israel in direct violation of the stipulations of the pact Israel agreed to after the Second Lebanon War. At the end of the hostilities, Israel was in possession of Southern Lebanon south of the Litani River. Israel retreated to its previous border based on an international agreement, which Hezbollah immediately violated. Notice to the Israel Defense Forces, if God forbid, Israel is forced to respond to another round of Hezbollah aggression, understand clearly that when fighting in Southern Lebanon, you are fighting in biblical Israel, our historic homeland, no different than Judea and Samaria. In a number of places in the Torah, Moses looks into the land and longs to see the Hermon and its waterfalls. As renowned Professor Dr. Yoel Elitzur notes in his classic text, Places in the Parasha, whenever there is a definitive article (the letter hey, meaning the) before a place name in the Torah, it means it is part of the intended land of Israel for the Jewish people. Later, when Joshua and the Jewish people entered the land, all of the tribes met in Shiloh. The tribe of Asher was allocated Southern Lebanon from the Sidon to Mount Lebanon. Numerous ruins from the centuries when the tribe of Asher dwelled in the area are scattered throughout Southern Lebanon. Further, because Muslims kept the place names, we know the approximate whereabouts of the Jewish presence; i.e., the Ashers villages. Elitzur tells a story that when he was a soldier in Southern Lebanon during the First Lebanon War, they ran out of food. Fortunately, they stumbled across some dried fruit, which they quickly consumed. Afterwards, he said he was contemplating what to say for the proper food blessing to thank G-d. The after-blessing is slightly different if the food is from the biblical land of Israel, as opposed to being outside of it; within the biblical land of Israel, we say thank you for her fruits, meaning Israels fruits. Based on his correct understanding of biblical geography, he said the blessing on her fruits. Returning to our current situation, according to INSS (Institute for National Security Studies), July 12 marked the 17th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War; Aug. 14 will mark the anniversary of its end under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. Resolution 1701 called for a ceasefire, prevention of renewed hostilities and the establishment of the area south of the Litani River as an area free of non-governmental arms. As we now know, virtually nothing in Resolution 1701 was honored by the Lebanese, who have been overrun by the Hezbollah terror organization with the UNFILs (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanons) tacit support. Hezbollah is now claiming Israel is somehow occupying land along its northern border that rightfully belongs to Lebanon. The exact opposite is true; Hezbollah is occupying biblical Israel. (Hezbollah is also planning for the total elimination of Jewish presence on any portion of the land of Israel.) As background, the current Lebanese border is simply based on the Sykes-Pico Agreement between the British and French empires established during World War I. No one is advocating that Israel should reconquer Southern Lebanon because of its biblical status. Nevertheless, the IDF would do well to understand the biblical geography in order to strengthen its resolve. The next day our positive energy experienced on the March of the Living quickly dissipated as we arrived at the site where an estimated 800 Jewish children are buried in a mass grave in the Zbylitowska Gora Forest. The gravesite is located deep in the forest on the outskirts of the Polish village of Tarnow, which also once included a sizable Jewish community. The site was only discovered after the war. According to our guide and my own research, these Jewish children, many of whom were outed by their non-Jewish neighbors, were taken from the town in trucks to an isolated area in the forest. Some of the older children tried to escape by jumping off the truck and hiding in the forest. But they were hunted down by the Nazi soldiers and murdered where they stood. The Jewish children, from infancy to age 14, were lined up at the edge of a previously prepared deep ditch, extending several hundred square feet in area, and methodically machine-gun murdered; their young lifeless bodies dumped into the ditch. The mass grave is now surrounded by an Israeli blue fence with informally placed Israeli flags over-looking the site and marked by a modest stone monument engraved in Hebrew describing the horror that occurred here. There was no shortage of tears in our group as we listened to our guides description of the massacre that took place here, and as we said the Kaddish prayer in memory of these young forgotten souls. Our next significant stop was to visit the Lancut Synagogue with its beautiful Baroque architecture. Like all of the other synagogues we visited this synagogue is now a museum and is no longer used as a Jewish house of worship. After an overnight stay in the city of Lublin, we began our day with a walking tour of the Old City of Lublin, the Jewish Ghetto and the Grodzka Gate. Lublin was the home and burial site of the great Jewish scholar, Rabbi Shalom Luria (1510-1573) who was the Av Beit Din (Chief Judge of the Lublin Jewish Court). As was true throughout Europe, the Nazis and their collaborators destroyed a vibrant and cultured Jewish population which had existed in this city for more than a thousand years. After the war and until the 21st Century, the citizens of Lublin did not acknowledge the existence of a past Jewish presence in their city. This was confirmed by a non-Jewish acquaintance of mine who was born and raised in Lublin. He only learned of the existence of a Jewish community in his hometown when he emigrated as a young man to the U.S in the late 1980s. He had never heard any discussion at home, in school or among his young friends of the existence of a Jewish community while he was growing up in Lublin. As Poland awakened to its past and the Jewish impact on its cultural and national character, the citizens of Lublin acknowledged the existence of the long-time Jewish presence (but not their guilt in its disappearance) in their city. One of the results of this awakening is the beautiful black and white murals of Jewish shops and other scenes painted by local artists on the Wall marking the boundary of the Jewish Ghetto, depicting Jewish life in the city prior to the Holocaust. From Lublin we made our way to another concentration/death camp site. This was Majdanek, where we actually saw a series of furnaces in a preserved crematorium, one of which still contained human ashes. After all we had seen in the days before, it was still difficult to realize the reality of what we were witnessing. It is estimated more than 300,000 slave laborers, a majority of them Jews, but including Poles, Russian POWs and other marginal groups, were worked to death, shot or gassed at Majdanek. After a stop at the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva, a famed center of Jewish learning which was the site of a massive Nazi book burning, now reduced to a museum, we finally arrived in Warsaw, the final destination of our Polish pilgrimage. To be continued If you wish to comment or respond you can reach me at melpearlman322@gmail.com. Please do so in a rational, thoughtful, respectful and civil manner. Mel Pearlman holds B.S. & M.S. degrees in physics as well as a J.D. degree and initially came to Florida in 1966 to work on the Gemini and Apollo space programs. He has practiced law in Central Florida since 1972. He has served as president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando; was a charter board member, first vice president and pro-bono legal counsel of the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center of Central Florida, as well as holding many other community leadership positions. (JTA) The Orthodox Jewish community boasts a wide array of creative services providers. And, in keeping with the Jewish religious tradition over millennia, those vendors cannot, in good conscience, buy into elements of progressive social developments. They do not accept, for instance, that it is proper to identify as a different sex from ones biological one, or that a same-sex union is proper. That is why my organization took a particular interest in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, in which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Lorie Smith, a Christian web designer who refused to create wedding announcements for same-sex couples. Ms. Smith feared that Colorados anti-discrimination law might compel her to create webpages celebrating same-sex unions, something that goes against her conscience. The 303 Creative decision seems to be widely misunderstood and misrepresented. Not long after the Supreme Court handed down their decision, a smalltown hair salon owner said she would refuse service to clients who use pronouns different from their biological sex. If a human identifies as anything other than a man/woman, please seek services at a local pet groomer, the hairdresser, Christine Geiger, posted on Facebook. You are not welcome at this salon. Period. There ensued much We told you so, tying the hairdressers policy and comments to the 303 Creative decision. The hairdresser may have been emboldened to offer her boorish words by the Supreme Court decision, but the plain meaning of the decisions wording as confirmed by scholars of the law does not support her refusal of service. Likewise, critics of the decision conjured a host of dire scenarios, like a devout Christian who believes that Jews killed Jesus refusing to sell wedding dresses to brides unless they accept Christianity, or a white supremacist baker who wont sell his cakes and cookies to blacks or Asians. None of these scenarios could conceivably emerge from the Supreme Courts web designer decision or be sustained if they did. The ruling does not sanction bigotry. It protects free speech. We usually think of the First Amendments guarantee of a right of free expression in its simplest sense, that Americans are allowed to express their feelings as they wish without government interference. But included in that Constitutional right is a protection against government coercion of a citizen to express a particular point of view. That compelled speech doctrine dates back to a 1943 Supreme Court decision, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, where the Court ruled that a state cannot force children to stand, salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance if doing so violates their religious consciences. Justice Robert H. Jackson famously asserted, If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. Lorie Smith is not a computer salesperson. Were she one, Colorados anti-discrimination law would legitimately require her to sell a computer to anyone, even someone whose lifestyle violates her sensibilities. Even as a web designer, she had and has no right, under her states law, to refuse service to a same-sex couple that wishes the site to promote their widget company. In fact, a filing in the case stated clearly that she was willing to work with all people regardless of classifications such as race, creed, sexual orientation, and gender. And that she will gladly create custom graphics and websites for clients of any sexual orientation. So what was Ms. Smiths objection? Something simple: If faced with a request to create a website that expressed celebration of same-sex marriages, she feared being compelled by the state to employ her creativity in the service of something that violates her religious conscience. The Supreme Court ruled in line with its predecessor Courts 1943 interpretation of the First Amendment, that no American should have to fear being punished for her unwillingness to express something that violates her conscience. So now, some truly plausible scenarios that could be born of the decision: A web designer, in this case, someone deeply dedicated to LGBTQ causes, is asked to design a webpage for an anti-gay activist, graphically promoting the potential clients point of view. Or a Jewish cake artist is asked by a neo-Nazi group to design a swastika-shaped cake with frosting in the likeness of Adolf Hitler. Thanks to the 303 Creative decisions affirmation of the compelled speech doctrine, the designer and baker will have the right to ask the client to go elsewhere to be serviced. And, now, in a case where a client asks an observant Jew to enlist his or her talents in promoting what halacha (Jewish law) considers objectionable, he or she will be able to politely decline and suggest an alternative service. The politely is vital. Deeply held beliefs might be hurtful to others but living ones values sometimes means making decisions that inadvertently cause pain. Rudeness, though, is never in order. The High Court decision was not about discrimination or about religion, though. And attempts to characterize it as such, or as license to show bias against people because of their race, religion or sexual orientation are disingenuous. In the words of 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. The decision, in other words, was about the Constitutions protection of citizens rights and about freedom. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media. Gurugram, Haryana, India Business Wire India In recent years, the birthing landscape in India has changed considerably and an evident rise in caesarean deliveries can be observed. According to the data collected by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare under the Health Management Information System (HIMS), over 14 per cent of the total births in 2018-19 took place through a C-section in public hospitals. In 2021-22, over 15 per cent of deliveries in public hospitals were Cesarean, while the number rose to almost 38 per cent in private facilities. In view of the above findings, Mylo - a leading full-stack pregnancy and parenting platform, recently conducted an online survey to delve into the recent trends in caesarean section deliveries. While C-sections are often necessary for the health and well-being of both mother and baby, they can leave behind noticeable scars on the abdomen. Stretch marks, scientifically known as striae, are another common concern for individuals who have undergone C-sections. The survey also aims to evaluate the effectiveness of stretch marks cream in reducing the visibility of C-section scars and improving the overall appearance of the skin. The survey sought responses from 1016 women and gathered insights and opinions from those who have recently given birth. According to the survey findings, 81.1 per cent of the survey participants have undergone a C-section delivery. The findings highlight an unprecedented increase in the number of women delivering babies through caesarean section over traditional vaginal births, signaling a fundamental shift in birthing practices. Besides c-section births, these women also share c-section scars and their individual struggles to fade their appearance. According to the survey, over 54 per cent of the women used a stretch marks cream on their c-section scars. Furthermore, most of the participants started using the stretch marks cream within 3-6 months of the surgery. Some of the participants started using the cream as early as 15 days after the operation. 66.4 per cent of the women applied the cream once each day to reduce the appearance of the C-section scars while the remaining applied it twice each day. Commenting on the survey findings, Shaveta Gupta, the Head of Content & Community at Mylo, said, The data collected by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as well as the findings from our survey reveal similar insights- a rise in caesarian births. As an organization that aids women on their conception, pregnancy, and parenting journey, it became imperative for us to understand how mothers in the Mylo community coped with the scars that C-section births often leave behind. It is interesting and endearing to see that over half of the women resorted to stretch marks cream for reducing their post-operative scars. With the insights gathered from this survey, Mylo strengthens its resolve to assist mothers in this evolving childbirth landscape with the right guidance, effective products and unfailing support, she added. 43.1 per cent of the women have noticed an improvement in the appearance of their C-section scars after using the stretch marks cream. The survey further asked the participants what other changes they observed on their skin since using the cream. The participants observed an improved texture and added smoothness to their skin. Besides targeting the scarred skin, the stretch marks cream also soothed the irritation and dryness and diminished the redness and discoloration that often accompanies scars and stretch marks. Furthermore, the survey asked participants to list any additional methods they opted to minimize the appearance of post-operative scars. Coconut oil, olive oil, almond oil, and aloe vera gel were among the most popular home remedies women resorted to for fading their C-section scars besides using the stretch marks cream. And when it comes to the stretch marks cream the participants found the most effective, 54.3 per cent chose Mylos stretch marks cream as their trusted ally for reducing stretch marks and C-section scars. 2023 has seen the explosive return of meme coins. New currencies such as Pepe (PEPE) lead the meme coin revolution. Some more established coins, like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB), are feeling the pressure to keep pace with the upstart newbies. The best meme coins likely to deliver maximum returns in 2023 each have unique characteristics, with many of them providing increased levels of utility compared to past years. As meme coins enjoy a renaissance with growing numbers of investors, making them part of their diverse portfolios, this guide to the best meme coins for excellent returns in 2023 and beyond will help demystify the vast number of meme coins vying for attention. The 8 best cryptos to buy now for maximum returns 1) Shiba Memu (SHMU) 2) Pepe (PEPE) 3) Dogecoin (DOGE) 4) AiDoge (AI) 5) Shiba Inu (SHIB) 6) Floki Inu (FLOKI) 7) Wojak (WOJAK) 8) Milady Meme Coin (LADY) Best meme coins for maximum returns in 2023 Analyzed and Reviewed Crypto experts have scoured the Web3 market to discover the meme coins with the highest potential for maximum returns in 2023 and beyond. The meme coin hype has re-emerged since the turn of the year, with new upstarts joining established favorites. The methodology for this guide looks into several critical components of meme coin demand, such as the popularity of the native meme, coin utility, and the price action of the token. Established tokens with low prices are likely to produce greater returns once they get back on track, while new meme coin tokens have the potential to deliver gains of more than 100x the benchmark for all new meme coins to aim for to be ruled a success. Each quality was analyzed when compiling this list of the best crypto meme coins to buy in 2023 for maximum profits. 1) Shiba Memu (SHMU) A pioneering self-marketing AI-powered meme coin Shiba Memu lies among the future generation of meme coins that, unlike several of its predecessors, deliver users and investors exceptional levels of utility. The platform harnesses cutting-edge AI technology to learn from effective marketing strategies and use the knowledge to market itself online. The automated protocol continues to optimize itself over time, driving ever-more impactful promotion strategies. One of the key AI technologies Shiba Memu uses is Natural Language Processing (NLP), as it scours online platforms for any mention of Shiba Memu and uses sentiment analysis to understand investors feelings towards it. Users can interact with the NLP protocol to suggest platforms, forums, and social media sites to target for SHIBAMEMU tokens in reward. Shiba Memu (SHMU) should attract a significant amount of attention thanks to cutting-edge AI technologies, which provide a level of utility that, while still limited compared to other crypto projects, exceeds that of its competitors. In addition, Shiba Memu is likely to seize on AI-driven trends that could significantly increase the value of SHMU over time. The SHMU token begins the first round of its presale event at $0.011125. Every day during the eight week presale event, the price of SHMU will increase by $0.00025, which means investors will see the value of their investment blossom right from the start. Of course, investors who manage to purchase SHMU tokens early will see the most significant increase, a planned 119.33%! Sitting at the apex of two growth industries, AI and blockchain, means that all eyes are on Shiba Memu and its ground-breaking self-marketing capability. >>> You can find more information, including how to buy SHMU, here <<< 2) Pepe (PEPE) Brand-new meme coin fueling the frenzy in 2023 Pepe (PEPE) is a new cryptocurrency that quickly went viral after its release in Q2 2023. This meme coin bears the name of the famous Pepe the Frog internet meme, the origins of which date back to the early 2000s. Since then, Pepe has become famed across various forums and internet websites. Since launching in the second quarter of 2023, Pepe (PEPE) has skyrocketed to an overall market cap of almost $1 billion, making it one of the standout successes of 2023 so far. All predictions point to Pepe continuing to grow in popularity, with the coin now available on leading crypto exchanges, including Binance and Huobi. The community stands as the epicenter of Pepes route to market, as the platform did not provide tokens to venture capitalists during the launch and gave control to the users. Pepe has been evolving due to its dedicated development team, which worked with an enthusiastic community of supporters. Thus, Pepe became one of the internets most popular memes. 3) Dogecoin (DOGE) The most valuable crypto meme coin on the market today Dogecoin (DOGE) launched its crypto meme coin in 2013 as a lighter response to the serious world of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Based on the popular Japanese Shiba Inu dog meme, Dogecoin inspired a devoted following, including influential figures like Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter. Musk has been at the center of some of Dogecoins more recent successes, prompting a run on DOGE from investors after promoting the coin on Twitter. During his lengthy Twitter takeover, he also suggested that DOGE could become a viable alternative currency. Indeed, the impact of Musks backing of Dogecoin made it reach an unprecedented $50 billion market cap during the 2021 bull market. In an attempt to increase the utility for coin holders, DOGE can now operate as a decentralized means of payment and is also a scalable alternative to the worlds most valuable crypto assets. The decentralized nature of Dogecoin means that no single person or entity can influence the platforms ability to work, leading to full community governance. Price surges attract widespread attention in the meme coin world, and Dogecoin continues to ride the wave of popularity that comes with one of the most compelling meme coin offerings on the market. This makes it one to watch during the long term, with a potential for significant returns in 2023 as the price remains low. 4) AIDoge (AI) AI-generated meme coin AIDoge (AI) is another meme coin embracing the opportunity presented by new AI technology. Unlike other meme coins, which come with ready-made memes, AIDoge users can create custom memes using the platforms excellent AI engine. Users can provide a text description for what they want their meme to look like, and the AI algorithm will create a meme accordingly. This unique approach has driven tremendous interest during the coins presale event. AIDoge looks not only to build utility into its native AI token but to place power back in the hands of token holders. In addition, by enabling users to create their own memes quickly, AIDoge provides a unique value proposition for lovers of meme culture. AIDoge looks ready to become a force among digital currencies, sitting at the crossroads of several growth technologies, such as AI and blockchain. Because meme coins are currently riding a renewed wave of popularity, meme culture itself likely remains a mainstay of online existence for the long term. This is excellent news for AIDoge and its growing legion of followers ready to embrace meme culture with thoroughly crafted memes and the inherently transparent framework of the AIDoge platform. The meme coin sector looks set for a lengthy period of growth, and AIDoge is superbly placed to take full advantage by delivering outstanding returns in 2023. 5) Shiba Inu (SHIB) A market giant with diversifying ecosystem Shiba Inu (SHIB) is still a relative newcomer to the crypto world. It takes its name from a Japanese breed of dog that inspired millions of online memes. It was launched during 2021s bull market to great acclaim, and internet users from the early-2010s who remember the vast number of Much Wow memes were among those to join the clamor for SHIB coins when they were released. Like Dogecoin, SHIB is a decentralized token created to offer a more light-hearted approach to the blockchain than other projects. It quickly established its reputation as an excellent entry-level investment for newbies to Web3 and has continued to develop a utility that sets it apart among other meme coins. For example, Shiba Inus unique approach has included the development of its own blockchain, a fork of Ethereum. This allows developers to use Shiba Inus chain to create custom decentralized applications (dApps), leading to an impressive number of DeFi services for the exclusive use of SHIB token holders. Though SHIB remains a meme coin at heart, with the high-risk volatility attached to meme coins, its growing level of utility provides some insulation against the worst excesses of meme coin price fluctuations. This attracts more users to the platform, makes SHIB one of the top-15 crypto mainstays, and provides the coin with an exciting long-term future. 6) Floki Inu (FLOKI) Educational decentralized meme coin ecosystem Floki Inu (FLOKI) is another crypto meme coin that owes much of its popularity to Elon Musk or, more accurately, his dog, Floki. While this has led to Floki Inu replicating other meme coins to gain support and momentum, Floki Inu is one of a growing number of meme coin providers that recognizes the need for some level of utility to thrive in the long term. The platforms Inuversity is a pioneering blockchain-based education service that allows crypto investors to learn about the ongoing development of the blockchain and Web3 sector. This can reduce knowledge gaps that create uncertainty about the industry, hoping to lead to broader adoption of blockchain services throughout the business. Far from simply being a fleeting meme coin, FLOKI was created to help to educate and grow the use of blockchain. While the branding is deliberately playful, this reflects the appetite among internet users for serious platforms that display a light-hearted touch. The result is much higher levels of engagement compared to less excitingly marketed alternative sites. FLOKI has gained some big-name partnerships in the sporting world, sponsoring Serie A champions Napoli and World Heavyweight Champion boxer Tyson Fury. This big-name backing, along with the growing number of use cases for FLOKI holders, looks set to increase the coins popularity significantly this year and beyond. 7) Wojak (WOJAK) Internet character gets meme coin treatment Wojak (WOJAK) is an increasingly popular meme coin that has gone viral across the internet in recent months after being launched around the same time as PEPE. Taking one of the most trending internet memes of the past few years, WOJACK has been given the meme coin treatment to make the most of this popularity and drive users to Web3. Wojak is based on the slightly depressed-looking bald man, Wojak, who has become a sensation across internet forums in recent years. With countless appearances on forums and social media platforms, the Wojak meme has now gravitated to the blockchain, with users able to speculate based on the cultural value and massive recognition of the meme. While many have dismissed WOJAK as another frivolous internet meme-inspired crypto token that lacks utility, theres no denying that it has built up an impressive support base in a short space of time, leading to the value skyrocketing more than 10x in a short space of time. Whether WOJAK has long-term staying power remains up for debate. However, its community-led status and fully decentralized nature give WOJAK more than a fighting chance of not only sticking around but delivering excellent returns to investors in 2023 as it grows in popularity. 8) Milday Meme Coin (LADY) NFT collection-inspired meme coin The Milady Meme coin is a new coin based on the popular Milady NFT collection, which has become a popular profile picture across social media networks. Many high-profile influencers, including co-founder of Three Arrows Capital, Zhu Su, have used a Milady NFT on their social network profiles, driving enormous interest in the meme. Although not an official affiliate of the Milday NFT collection, the LADY token has embraced this popularity to generate significant online momentum, resulting in 100x returns just days after the coin launched. This has led to some questioning who was behind the launch and whether they had ready capital to inject into the market. The LADY coin is one of the most liquid meme coins currently on the market, making it a genuine means of short-term speculation. As a result, anyone looking to make good profits fast based on a coins recent price action can use coins like LADY to achieve these aims. With the Milday NFT collection continuing to remain popular among a vast number of highly-influential social media personalities, the associated benefits for the LADY meme coin are readily apparent. Thanks to the high liquidity, the high-stakes, high-return nature of the currency make this a hugely compelling option for investors seeking to maximize returns on a meme coin in 2023. Other aspects to consider when investing in cryptocurrency Investing in all asset classes, digital or not, comes with inherently attached risk. However, this risk can be minimized by considering several aspects before investing. These include: Budget Crypto investors often use the barbell strategy. This strategy allocates a higher percentage of wealth to more established digital currencies, such as Bitcoin than to higher-risk new projects, such as meme coins. While meme coins often explode in value in a short period, sometimes reaching 100x returns in extraordinarily short periods, the flip side is that they can fall by 90 to 95% in a matter of days or weeks. It is essential to consider allowing for any loss before investing; all potential investors should only invest what they can afford to lose. Risk tolerance Meme coins rate as high-risk assets within crypto markets. They are inherently volatile due to their characteristics which are often limited to being based on a popular internet meme. Investors should consider buying meme coins when they are low in price rather than during peaks. Some meme coins in this list could generate substantial returns for investors when purchased during market lows. However, this is not guaranteed. Token use case Meme coins are famed for lacking utility, and use-case is often a driver for coin value appreciation. Some meme coin developers are beginning to understand the need for some level of utility, and the projects mentioned above are ticking this box giving long-term coin holders some assurance that the meme coin has some staying power. Investors should consider the level of utility attached to a coin and assess its real-world use case and impact before committing their funds. What is the best meme coin to buy in 2023 for maximum returns? For investors seeking maximum returns, after assessing and reviewing all the meme coins on this list, we consider Shiba Memu (SHMU) the best meme coin to buy in 2023. By delivering cutting-edge AI protocols, the autonomous marketing capability of Shiba Memu is unique and unprecedented. In addition, investors should see a genuine rapid increase in token value because of the innovative presale price structure mentioned in the coin description above. The whole package makes Shiba Memu a terrific option for meme coin fans seeking significant returns in 2023. 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 contents of the article/advertisement and/or views expressed herein. The reader is further advised that Crypto products and NFTs are unregulated and can be highly risky. There may be no regulatory recourse for any loss from such transactions. 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 views, opinions, announcements, declarations, affirmations etc., stated/featured in same. The decision to read hereinafter is purely a matter of choice and shall be construed as an express undertaking/guarantee in favour of Hindustan Times of being absolved from any/ all potential legal action, or enforceable claims. The content may be for information and awareness purposes and does not constitute a financial advice. When facing difficulties in completing Dissertation, engaging with a skilled Dissertation help writer can be beneficial. By seeking help from reputable Dissertation writing help websites, students can find top-rated options offering tailor-made solutions at budget-friendly prices. The article below discusses UKs best Dissertation help websites for students looking for quality help with their Dissertation. 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Whether free or with an extra charge, requesting samples is a helpful way to make an informed choice when seeking Dissertation help online. 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 Surat Special Economic Zone or SUR SEZ witnessed a decline of 65% at Rs.3,173 crore as compared to the corresponding period last year (Rs.9,064 crore) in its gems and jewellery exports for the first four months of the 2023-23 financial year, officials said. (Representative Photo) Of the total exports of Rs.3706.96 crore between April and July this year that includes engineering, pharma, textile, tobacco and other manufacturing units as well, gems and jewellery contributed nearly 85% of the exports, they said. There are close to 100 units in the Surat SEZ. The decline in the exports has been mainly due to the overall decline in the demand for diamonds from US and European countries. In the first three months from April to June, the exports were down by more than 70%, said Virendra Singh, additional director general of Foreign Trade and Development Commissioner for SUR SEZ. Singh also cited the closure of four units of Sagar Diamonds that were raided by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in March this year as one of the reasons behind the decline in exports. Sagar Diamonds is being investigated for its involvement in an alleged money laundering case linked to a Chinese-controlled money lending app that allegedly deceived many people, said an official aware of the matter. The overall gross exports of gems & jewellery for the April-June quarter stood at Rs.60,222.10 crore as compared to Rs.77,499.44 crore in the corresponding period in the year previous, suggesting a decline of 28.08%, according to data available on Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Councils (GJEPC) website. The diamond hub employs close to 800,000 people and is a major contributor to Indias gems and jewellery exports of about Rs.3 lakh crore. The recession in the Surat diamond industry was triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war last year, according to experts. Dinesh Navadiya, a Surat-based diamond baron and former regional chairman of the GJEPC, said the demand for diamonds and jewellery has decreased globally, especially in the US, Hong Kong, and China, in the past year. He explained that many countries, particularly the US and Europe, are avoiding buying things from Russia. This situation is important because nearly one-third of the rough diamonds used in Surat come from Russia. He said that the ED raid involving units in Surat SEZ had severely impacted the exports from the special economic zone. Global challenges impacted diamond demand in Indias key markets like the US and China, while some regions in Europe and South-East Asia performed better, said an industry expert who spoke on condition of anonymity. Indias own challenges included irregular Russian rough diamond supply and difficulties with local diamond cutting due to preferences for localization in countries like Namibia, Botswana, and Angola, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A record number of e-challans for traffic violations are generated from Karnataka between August 1 and August 9, said state additional director general of police (traffic and road safety) Alok Kumar. Around 50 per cent of traffic e challans in the country are generated from Karnataka, according to the data. 50 % of e-challans for traffic violations in India are generated from Karnataka(Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO) Also Read - 50% rebate on traffic fines: Insurance can come handy in clearing fines, says top cop On Thursday, the top cop shared the data on social media and wrote, Traffic Violation related fine collection using E-Challan, Karnataka is far far ahead in the whole country. More than 50% E-Challan generation from Karnataka itself. He also stressed that the state police will refrain from manual receipt generation for traffic violations in future. Very soon whole state is going to be covered by e-challan , discarding the manual receipt system, he added. According to the data, a total of 24,694 e-challans were generated between August 1 and 9 in Karnataka and 111 challans out of them are settled by the violators. Tamil Nadu is in the second place with 7,160 e challans and Maharashtra stood at third place with 4,468 e challans. In the past, the Karnataka government announced the 50 per cent rebate at Bengaluru on traffic fines to encourage people to clear the traffic fines on their vehicles. Lot of people with e challan cases in Bengaluru visited the traffic police stations and the Traffic Management Centre on Infantry Road in the city to clear the fines. Violators also paid pending traffic fines through PayTM and Karnataka One website. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Karnataka cabinet, convened on Thursday, decided to withdraw the cases that had been filed against Congress leaders over alleged violations of Covid protocols during the Mekedatu Padayatra that took place in January 2022. Among the prominent figures facing charges were chief minister Siddaramaiah, who was the leader of the Opposition at the time, along with deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar and others. Karnataka Cabinet withdraws cases of Covid protocol violation against Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar. (ANI) Addressing reporters, law and parliamentary affairs minister HK Patil said that the cabinets resolution entails the withdrawal of nine criminal cases registered across different police stations in the state. These legal actions were solely associated with the Mekedatu agitation and the perceived breaches of COVID-related regulations, including Section 144 and other related provisions, the minister added. Patil elaborated that the decision was taken on a plea submitted by Congress MLA Ashok Pattan, who concurrently holds the position of Chief Whip of the government within the Legislative Assembly. These cases pertain to the instances where the Congress party, under the leadership of state unit president DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah (who was the Leader of the Opposition at that time), and DK Suresh (Bengaluru Rural MP), allegedly violated COVID-19 protocols by organising a party convention and conducting the Mekedatu event in Bengaluru, Patil clarified. These charges were initially prompted by the complaint lodged by Tahsildar Ramanagara. The tahsildar had filed a complaint at the Ijoor police station after the Congress held a meeting in the city before proceeding on a procession towards Bidadi during the yatra. These cases constituted nine other cases filed against the Congress leaders. The police had initially pressed charges against Congress leaders under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Epidemic Diseases Act. The allegations revolved around the purported flouting of Covid guidelines and the disregard for social distancing rules, minister Patil apprised the reporters post the cabinet meeting. The decision came following a Karnataka high court judgment in June that quashed a case of Covid rule violation filed against Congress leaders in connection with the yatra. A single-judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna quashed the case saying there was no prior issuance of a notification by the State government prohibiting such actions during that time. The notification which the State relies upon is the one issued under the Disaster Management Act and not under the Epidemic Diseases Act. Therefore unless notification under Epidemic Diseases Act is issued barring such activities, taking recourse to the Disaster Management Act and bringing it into Epidemic Diseases Act is unavailable, the court said on June 16. The yatra was taken out by the then Opposition party demanding the implementation of the Mekedatu project for the construction of a balancing reservoir near Mekedatu, close to where the Cauvery River enters Tamil Nadu. The neighbouring state opposes the project, which Karnataka maintains is meant to meet the drinking water needs of Bengalurus Urban and surrounding districts. In another decision, The Cabinet granted its endorsement for the compulsory retirement of government officials who were found culpable of corrupt practices by the Lokayukta. The government also reached a decision to terminate the services of the Assistant Commissioner of the Commercial Tax Department, Dr MH Nagesh, following his conviction and subsequent sentencing to a five-year imprisonment term in a corruption case. The cabinet also approved compulsory retirement for Dr Usha Kadaramandalagi of Ramanagara district hospital and Dr ST Nagamani of Indiranagar Hospital. Both were caught red-handed by the anti-corruption watchdog. The Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday decided to withdraw criminal cases relating to violation of COVID-19 guidelines by state Congress and its leaders including, now Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar during the 'Mekedatu padayatra' organised by the party in 2022. The Congress, then in opposition, had organised the padayatra (foot march), demanding implementation of the Mekedatu project, across the Cauvery river, despite COVID restrictions during the time. Karnataka govt withdraws cases against CM Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar Also Read - Mekedatu project: We will not trouble you, be generous, says DK Shivakumar to Tamil Nadu govt "It has been decided to withdraw nine criminal cases booked in various police stations of the state. It is to do with only Mekedatu agitation, violating COVID rules and Section 144 and others," Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said. Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting, he said the decision has been taken based on the application of Congress MLA Ashok Pattan, who is also the government's Chief Whip in the Legislative Assembly. "The cases are related to violation of COVID-19 guidelines by Congress party with its state President D K Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah (then Leader of Opposition), D K Suresh (Bengaluru Rural MP) by organising party convention and holding Mekedatu to Bengaluru, based on the complaint filed by Tahsildar Ramanagara, and nine other cases connected with these offences," he added. The march with the theme Namma Neeru, Namma Hakku (Our water, Our right) that had initially begun at Sangama, the confluence of Cauvery and Arkavathi rivers at Kanakapura in Ramanagara district, on January 9, 2022 was scheduled to conclude at Basavanagudi here on January 19, after spanning a total distance of nearly 139 km. It was however temporarily halted on January 13, with limited options before the party, amid surging COVID-19 cases, government prohibiting movement of people, and the Karnataka High Courts strong observations regarding violation of curbs. Several Congress leaders who had attended the march were also infected by coronavirus. The party resumed the padayatra in February end and it culminated at the National College Ground at Basavanagudi on March 3. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Amritsar rural police have busted a cross-border drug smuggling racket by arresting three persons and recovering 12 kg of heroin from their possession. The Amritsar rural police have busted a cross-border drug smuggling racket by arresting three persons and recovering 12 kg of heroin from their possession. (HT Photo) Those arrested have been identified as Bhindar Singh alias Bhinda of village Daoke, Dilbag Singh alias Manu of village Rajatal and Manipal Singh alias Mani of village Chhina Shabajpur in Amritsar. Apart from seizing heroin, the police teams have also impounded a car in which the accused were travelling. Punjab director general of police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said that following inputs that some drug smugglers have retrieved the heroin consignment dropped via drone and they are going to deliver it in a car, the Amritsar rural police conducted a special police checking near village Beharwal. Yadav said that when the police party signalled the car to stop, the persons sitting in it tried to flee, but the police teams managed to nab them and recovered 12kg of heroin including three packs of 2kg each, which they had tied around their waists with a cloth, while, one pack of 6kg was kept in the vehicle. The DGP said that as per preliminary investigations, the accused persons were in touch with the Pakistan-based drug smugglers and were supplying heroin across the state after importing it from Pakistan. Sharing more details, SSP Amritsar rural Satinder Singh said that the trio are facing several criminal cases. Further investigations are on to identify Pakistan-based smugglers and persons, who were supposed to receive this consignment, he said, while adding that more recovery is expected. He said a case has been registered under Sections 21(C), 25 and 29 of the NDPS Act at Police Station Lopoke. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Congress MLA from Nuh, Aftab Ahmed on Thursday demanded strict action against those village panchayats in Haryana that have allegedly banned entry of Muslim traders into their villages. Congress MLA from Nuh and deputy leader of the Congress in the Haryana Assembly, Aftab Ahmed. (Source: Twitter) Letters purportedly written by some panchayat heads in Mahendergarh, Rewari and Jhajjar districts banning Muslim traders from their villages have surfaced online, amid communal tension in parts of the state. The almost identical letters, supposedly written by some sarpanches in these districts in recent days, cite the violence in Nuh district on July 31, when mobs attacked a Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) procession. It is totally unconstitutional. If any panchayat talks about such things or passes a resolution, they should be booked under strict law, Ahmed, who is the deputy leader of the Congress in the Haryana Assembly, said. He said issuing such letters will further vitiate the atmosphere in the state. The purported letters by sarpaches of some villages said the panchayats have decided not to give permission to the Muslim community and miscreants to conduct any business. It specifies hawkers, cattle traders and those seeking alms. Five people, including two home guards, were killed in Nuh and a cleric died in an attack on a mosque in adjoining Gurugram in the violence after stones were allegedly pelted at the VHP procession. However, when contacted, many sarpanches on Wednesday had denied having issued any such letters making a reference to a particular community. A village head from Mahendergarh had said they only talked about verifying identity credentials of strangers, which was a general exercise having nothing to do with any community. On the recent demolition drive in violence-hit Nuh, Ahmed alleged that many innocent people were targeted. Many structures were demolished and innocent people harassed under the garb of illegal construction. Besides, there is also discontentment among the people over innocent people being rounded up, he said. The high court had ordered a halt to the demolition drive in Nuh and asked if it was an exercise of ethnic cleansing. Ahmed said many innocent people whose structures were brought down during the demolition drive are now living under the open sky. There is no arrangement for them, he added. If we talk of governance, then the Haryana government has blatantly failed in discharging its constitutional duty, the Congress MLA said. He said the situation in Nuh was peaceful now and his party has appealed to people not to fall for rumours and maintain communal harmony. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed a leading e-commerce website to refund 1,619 and pay 10,000 as compensation to a man for non-delivery of an item. E-commerce company told to refund money in Ludhiana. (HT FILE) The commission has ordered the respondent- Flipkart- to make the payment within 30 days of receiving the order. Shameesh Aggarwal, 44, of Deep Nagar in his complaint stated that on November 8, 2020 he had placed an order of five items on the website expecting its delivery to be made on or before November 26, 2020. Four items were received by the complainant and the fifth item, Metro Oxford Shoes for men, was not delivered to him. On the same day, the complainant contacted the opposite party through customer care service and raised a grievance of non-delivery of the said item and received a from Flipkart whereby not only the recent order was cancelled but the complainants right to login to the e-commerce websites account was blocked. The complainant stated that a trail of emails was exchanged between him and the website whereby the complainant repeatedly requested the e-commerce website to refund an amount of 1,619 and to unblock his account, but the other party did not yield. A legal notice was sent to Flipkart on February 23, 2021. On the other hand, the e-commerce website emphasised that they are an electronic platform marketplace mode e-Commerce which acts as an intermediary to facilitate the sale transactions between the independent third-party seller and independent end customers and it cannot be held liable being intermediary. After hearing the complainant and respondent, the forum issued orders on August 8. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A special fast-track court here on Thursday sentenced a 45-year-old man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a minor girl multiple times. The man has been given 20 years RI under section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and five years under section 506 of the IPC. Both sentences will run concurrently. (iStockphoto) The court of additional sessions judge Amarjeet Singh also imposed a fine of 1.05 lakh on the convict, Harjinder Singh alias Bablu of Chomon village of Adampur in Jalandhar. The victim had also tried to end her life after she had missed her exams due to mental stress and harassment. The accused was a tenant of the grandfather of the victim. The man has been given 20 years RI under section 6 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and five years under section 506 of the IPC. Both sentences will run concurrently. Public prosecutor BD Gupta said that the court also ordered that 1 lakh of fine imposed on the man will be given to the victim as compensation. The victim, who was then 17-year-old, had lodged a complaint to police in March 2021 stating that she was a class-11 student and was living with her maternal grandparents in Jalandhar due to her studies, while her parents lived in Ludhiana. The man used to sexually abuse her while she was there. She said that her grandparents tenant Bablu had good relations with her family, and she used to call him mama (uncle). After the lockdown was imposed in March 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak, her parents brought her back to Ludhiana. She said that after she came back to Ludhiana, he started visiting their house regularly and raped her multiple times. The convict came to Ludhiana in August 2020 and forced her to consume a soft drink laced with sedatives. After she lost her consciousness, the man raped her and also recoded lewd videos of her. He again came to their house in September 2020 and raped her at gunpoint. Then again, he came in October 2020 but seeing her parents at home, he went away. The victim added that in November 2020, the accused again came to Ludhiana and took her out on pretext of buying a book. He took her to Patran village of Jalandhar and raped her. She said that when her mother called him to enquire how they got so late in buying the book, the accused lied to her that his scooter developed some technical snag. In February 2021, he raped her again. She said that she had school exams on March 16 and 17, 2021, but due to stress and harassment, she missed the tests and tried to end her life. After being hospitalised for three days, she gained consciousness and revealed everything to her parents. Her parents took her to Daba police station to file a complaint on March 20, 2021. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON An assistant sub-inspector (ASI) deputed at the narcotic wing of the Ludhiana Rural police has been booked on graft charges after his audio recording allegedly seeking bribe from a woman went viral on social networking sites on Thursday. The woman uploaded audio recordings of the ASI on social networking sites a couple of days ago. (HT) In the audio clip, the ASI could be heard saying to the woman that if she gives him 50,000 to him as bribe, no one will arrest her, or her husband and they can sell drugs in the area without any hindrance from the police department. The accused ASI Pahara Singh was transferred to Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshehr) a day ago after the woman had filed a complaint against him for threatening her and seeking a bribe. The ASI is already facing trial in two criminal cases lodged against him in Moga and Baghapurana for drug peddling and implicating a man in a false case. The woman alleged that the ASI had threatened her that if she did not give him 50,000, he would implicate her in a case of smuggling over 1,000 intoxicating pills and she would not be able to avail bail. Binder Kaur of Maijeena village in her complaint said that the ASI was threatening her over phone for the past one week. He had already taken 15,000 from her and demanded 35,000 more. She filed a complaint to Ludhiana Rural senior superintendent of police (SSP) Navneet Singh Bains, who marked an inquiry in the case to deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Satwinder Singh Virk. Meanwhile, the woman uploaded audio recordings of the ASI on social networking sites a couple of days ago. Inspector general of police (IG, Ludhiana Range) Kaustubh Sharma said that after the matter came to his notice, he had transferred the ASI to Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar on Wednesday. After investigation, a case under Prevention of Corruption Act has been lodged against him at City Jagraon police station. He is yet to be arrested. When contacted, the ASI refuted the allegations, saying the woman and her husband were involved in drug peddling and they have levelled allegations against him to pressurise police. He said that he is ready to face any inquiry. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON An 84-year-old Hindu monk was killed while another injured after a wall collapsed in Uttarakhands Rishikesh on Thursday morning, said officials. SDRF rescue a Sadhu trapped under rubble after wall collapse in Rishkesh (HT Photo) Amidst heavy rainfall, a wall collapsed near Chaurasi Kutiya in the Laxman Jhula area of Uttarakhands Rishikesh in the wee hours of Thursday in which two people were buried, said officials. Lalita Negi, media in charge of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) said a wall collapsed, and two Sadhus were trapped under the rubble. Locals were able to rescue one of them by pulling him out, but another remained trapped. SDRF later recovered the body of another Sadhu, Negi said. She said the deceased was originally hailed from Rajasthan. Amidst heavy rainfall and floods, over 46 people have been killed and at least 35 injured since June 15 in various disaster-related incidents and over 1,200 houses have been damaged across the state. Dehradun district has reported 109.6mm of rainfall in the 24 hours (up to 8.30 am Thursday), over 666 % above the normal, according to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). Severe waterlogging in the Dhalwala and Khara areas of Uttarakhands Rishikesh was reported due to heavy rainfall on Wednesday night. The IMD on Thursday issued a red and orange alert for various parts of the hilly state until August 12. The red alert areas include Nainital, Champawat, Udham Singh Nagar, and Pauri districts. While an orange alert has been sounded in Dehradun, Tehri, and Almora. The officials have also cautioned people living along the river beds and other vulnerable areas. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Delhi high court has issued notices to the education department and the Delhi Police asking them to file their responses within two weeks over the action taken in the case of alleged sexual assault on a three-year-old girl last week in Hauz Khas. The court directed the protection of the identities of the girl and her parents. (Shutterstock) Let a status report be filed positively within two weeks from today in respect of action taken in the matter by the Delhi Police as well as by the Education Department, GNCTD [Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi], a bench of chief justice Satish Chandra Sharma and justice Saurabh Banerjee said in its order on Tuesday taking note of a Times of India report. The Times of India reported a cleaner allegedly sexually assaulted the three-year-old girl at a nursery school in South Delhis Hauz Khas. The accused, Arjun Kumar, 33, has been arrested under Indian Penal Codes Sections 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural offences) and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offices Act. The court, which directed the protection of the identities of the girl and her parents, will hear the matter next on September 1. The Delhi high court has directed the Delhi Police to ensure there is no sale of Chinese manjha (glass-coated kite string) in the national capital during the Independence Day period, which is also a kite-flying season. The court was hearing four petitions by family members of those who died or were injured because of Chinese manjhas while riding motorcycles. (ANI Photo) On August 8, justice Prathiba M Singh noted that the Delhi Police has taken several steps to stop the sale of Chinese manjha and even registered 284 cases from February 16 to August 3 to check the problem. Accordingly, it is directed that Delhi Police shall continue to take steps to restrain the sale of Chinese manjha in Delhi even during the forthcoming Independence Day period, which is the kite-flying season, said the court in an order released Thursday. The court was hearing four petitions by family members of those who died or were injured because of Chinese manjhas while riding motorcycles. The petitioners sought action and compensation from the authorities. In its order, the court of justice Singh noted that according to a status report filed by the police, efforts have been made to implement the ban on stock, sale, storage, and manufacture of the prohibited thread in any manner and to take legal action when needed. A meeting was organised with the wholesale dealers of kites and manjha products to apprise them about the complete ban on the kite flying thread made of nylon, plastic, or any other synthetic material popularly known as Chinese manjha. They were directed to share information on those selling the banned product. Police also told the court that a meeting was held with the representatives of online e-commerce platforms on the issue and letters have also been issued to the heads of police of adjoining districts of Delhi like Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Faridabad, Gurugram, Sonipat, and Jhajjar with a request to start special drives against use and sale of Chinese manjha in their areas. The court asked the police to file a fresh status report by the next date of hearing on October 5. It also asked the Delhi Legal Services Authority to examine if the victims of Chinese manjha injuries are entitled to any compensation. HT reported on August 7 that the north and outer Delhi areas recorded the most cases of the sale of the deadly Chinese manjha in Delhi, according to data shared by the Delhi Police. Chinese manjha has proved to be lethal for both humans and birds in the Capital. The Delhi government in January 2017 and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in July that year prohibited the sale, manufacture and supply of glass-coated thread across the city. Last year, at least three people died while 11 sustained injuries due to the string. On July 20, a 7-year-old girl was killed in west Delhis Paschim Vihar when she was sitting with her father on a motorcycle. Suspecting her younger sister of having an affair with her husband, a 30-year-old woman shot at her sibling in northeast Delhis Shastri Park on Wednesday evening, police said, adding that they arrested the suspect on Thursday. The woman was later arrested from her residence in Shastri Park on Thursday morning. (Representational image) Deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Joy Tirkey said that that the victim has been identified as Sumaila Begum while the suspect was identified as Sonu, who goes by a single name. They are both residents of Buland Darwaza area in Shastri Park. According to a senior police officer aware of the incident, a call was received from Jag Pravesh Chandra hospital in the area around 6:30pm regarding the admission of a woman with a gunshot injury. When police reached the spot, they met the victim who told them that she had been shot at by her elder sister Sonu. During interrogation, it was found that Sumaila was allegedly in a relationship with Sonus husband Ashfaq for the last one year. Sonu had asked her sister and Ashfaq to end the relationship but the two didnt listen. Sonu and Sumaila often fought over it, the officer said. On Wednesday evening, Sonu and Sumaila had a heated argument over the issue at the formers residence, police said. Angry at her sister, Sonu brought a country made pistol from inside the house and shot at Sumaila. The bullet hit a wall but the pellets that ricocheted of it struck Sumaila on her cheeks and she started bleeding profusely, the officer said. Sumaila was then taken to Jag Pravesh Chandra hospital by another eldest sister who lives nearby. Based on the information, police registered a case under Section 307 (punishment for attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code and under relevant sections of the Arms Act at Shastri Park police station. Sonu was arrested on Thursday morning from near her residence and further investigation is underway, the officer said, adding that they are investigating who the pistol belongs to. According to an investigator, Sonus husband Ashfaq has several criminal cases registered against him at police stations in the area and was not present at the time of the incident. Sumailas husband Naseem, also identified by just his first name, is a bad character of the area and is currently lodged in jail. Bad character is a term used by police for persons with a criminal record. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON SILIGURI: An adult elephant was killed on Thursday after it was hit by a goods train in the Chapramari Wildlife Sanctuary in north Bengals Jalpaiguri district in the early hours of the day, forest department officials said, adding that the elephant was found to be pregnant. For representational purposes only. (File Photo) The female elephant apparently came out of the Panijhora jungle and tried to enter Chapramari forest when the incident took place. The train, which left the Alipurduar junction station for Siliguri junction, hit the elephant between Nagrakata and Chalsa, a region that serves as a corridor for elephants and other wild animals. The railway track passes through several forests. Though wild animals have been hit by trains in the past, Thursdays incident happened after several years, a forest official, who did not wish to be quoted, said. Five elephants were mowed down by a train near the Jaldhaka bridge in the same area in 2014, he said. Chief conservator of forest, northern circle, Rajendra Jakhar, said: We have initiated an inquiry. If the train driver is found guilty of speeding, we will lodge an FIR against him. The elephant was pregnant and was about to give birth. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has extended the ban on the manufacture and sale of tobacco products, including gutkha and paan masala, in Delhi for a further period of one year, Raj Niwas officials said on Thursday. Delhi LG VK Saxena(ANI) The Lt Governor said tobacco products are now affecting children and youngsters and this menace should be contained for the future generation, they said. READ | Delhi government official seeks ban on tobacco ads in cricket matches He stressed that the notification needs to be enforced strictly and no lackadaisical attitude towards its enforcement in the city will be tolerated. "The Lt Governor, while invoking his powers provided under Article 239 AA (4) of the Constitution of India, has issued these orders banning tobacco products, (Gutkha/Paan Masala) giving utmost importance to the issue of public health and in light of rising number of oral cancer cases in the capital," an official said. Article 239AA pertains to special provisions with respect to Delhi. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, government of India, under the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011, has prohibited and restricted sale of products containing tobacco and nicotine to be used as ingredients in any food products. The Food Safety Department of the Delhi government will issue a notification extending the ban soon, following approval by the LG, the official said. READ | Lancet lauds Indias bid to curb smokeless tobacco, calls it exemplary "This move will prohibit the manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of tobacco (flavoured, scented or mixed with any addictive) and going by the name or form of Gutka, Paan Masala, flavoured/scented tobacco, Kharra or otherwise by whosoever," he said. These banned products include packed or unpacked tobacco products and it will remain enforced for further one year, the official added. In April this year, the Delhi High Court had also affirmed a ban imposed by the food safety commissioner on manufacture, storage and sale of gutka, paan masala, flavoured tobacco and similar products in the national capital, he said. It had also set aside a September 2022 decision of a single judge of the High Court quashing the ban and allowed the appeals filed by the Centre and Delhi government against it and dismissed the objections raised by entities in tobacco business against the prohibition notifications issued earlier from 2015 till 2021, the official said.READ SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath meeting with Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) lawmakers on Wednesday, became a subject of intense scrutiny throughout Thursday. RLD MLAs meet with Yogi sparks buzz, party refutes political motive (Pic fo representation) Perhaps that is why, after denials by party leaders, the RLD chief, apparently to quell the speculations of him joining NDA, himself put up a post on social media that was critical of the BJP government. On Wednesday, eight of the nine RLD lawmakers had met Adityanath, a meeting that led to the buzz of RLD joining NDA gaining ground. That was also because the development came days after Jayant was absent during the Delhi Service Bill in the Parliament, an issue on which the opposition alliance had tried to put up a unity show. On Thursday night, Jayant posted a photo of him attending a meeting convened by the Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to resolve the impasse in the Upper House of the Parliament over the Manipur issue. The photo posted on social media site X, was accompanied by a message critical of the BJP government. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke in Parliament for hours but spared just one minute on Manipur. I dont think the PM wants to be part of the debate on Manipur in Rajya Sabha, he said in his social media post. Jayants reaction came after party lawmakers and leaders tried hard all day to play down the buzz about Jayant succumbing to BJPs overtures. Jayant ji didnt attend the voting in the Parliament on Delhi Service Bill due to a medical emergency. Our meeting with the CM was to remind him of his promises made on the floor of the house regarding farmers, sugar mills and the like. There is nothing more to it, said Chandan Chauhan, an RLD-lawmaker who was part of the delegation that met the chief minister. RLD spokesman Anil Dubey also said the party chief Jayant Chaudhary would be part of the opposition alliance meeting in Mumbai. RLD is part of the opposition alliance. Our party MLAs had met the CM over problems of drought and farmers. The projection that the meeting had political overtones is false and Jayantji would be part of the opposition alliance meeting in Mumbai, Dubey said. However, BJP leaders kept their focus on the meeting. I dont have details but there is no smoke without fire. The BJPs appeal is expanding. Prime Minister Narendra Modis charisma is attracting newer allies and so it wont be any surprise if more allies come on board, BJP lawmaker and vice president Vijay Pathak said. Since RLD has denied joining NDA, let us believe that there is not much truth in the buzz now. But such focus on RLD means it will have more negotiation power during seat sharing talks with the Samajwadi Party, said Irshad Ilmi, a political expert. BJPs allies Nishad Party as well as the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party said they were hopeful that RLD would be on board. The Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, (IIM-L) on Thursday hosted the G20 University Connect session in the light of upcoming meeting of the G20 summit under Indias presidency. The session was organised in collaboration with Research and Innovation System for Developing Countries and the ministry of external affairs (MEA). Participants at the G20 University Connect session at IIM Lucknow on August 10. (Sourced) It was preceded by some college events like G20 Quiz, article writing competition and pottery making. All of them were aimed at engaging the youth in activities surrounding the upcoming summit. The University Connect began with the premiere of the official G20 video announcing the Indian presidency. The purpose was to foster insightful discussions on global economic challenges and opportunities while facilitating a fruitful exchange of knowledge to guide the national youth. Speakers, who graced the event, shared with the students their views on the Indias G20 presidency. Director, IIM Lucknow, Prof Archana Shukla expressed her gratitude for the organisers for providing the institute a chance to host the event. She emphasised the importance of collective efforts amongst all member nations in solving the problems of sustainability, energy, climate, security and peace. A lecture series was also started with an address by Sanjay Bhattacharyya, secretary, MEA, and Indias former ambassador to Switzerland, Turkey and Egypt. He shared the story about the formation of the G20, Indias priorities under its presidency and the role of youth in this global dialogue. He laid down seven priorities of the nation for the 2030 agenda setting, including climate financing, food security, and accelerating the pace of fulfilment of the SDGs among others. Former IPS officer Anand Maheshwari guided the youth as to how they should leverage the G20 discussions to their benefit. Balu Kenchappa, regional director, RBI Lucknow, talked about the role of different countries like the US, Japan, China in the financial development of the world as a whole and how India fit into this gamut of growth. A septuagenarian businessman was shot dead and his wife was seriously injured by three unidentified miscreants during an armed robbery in Brahmapuri area of Meerut district on Thursday, police said. A team has been constituted to nab the robbers, said the Meerut SSP. (For Representation) As per the police, Dhan Kumar Jain, 70, lived with his wife Anju Jain, two sons and grandchildren. On Thursday morning, three motorcycle-borne miscreants wearing helmets entered Jains house for robbery. When Jain resisted the move, the miscreants shot him and his wife Anju Jain, they said. While Jain died, his grievously injured was admitted to a hospital. Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rohit Singh Sajwan said, A team has been constituted to nab the robbers and they will be arrested soon. Circle officer, Brahmapuri area, Suchita Singh said initial investigation suggested that loot was the motive of the criminals and efforts were underway to identify the criminals. After entering the house at around 8am, the robbers locked Jains younger son in a room. They then went to Jains room where he was sitting with his wife. They collected valuables and cash after taking them at gunpoint. One of the criminals shot dead Dhan Kumar Jain after he tried to resist their move and his wife also sustained serious bullet injuries. Hearing gunshots their granddaughter came there but the criminals tied her and locked in a room before escaping. The girl somehow managed to untie herself after criminals escaped and telephoned her father Naveen Jain who had gone to drop her brother in school along with his wife. Jain then informed the police about the incident. Meanwhile, the body of the businessman has been sent for a post-mortem examination. (With Agency Inputs) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Police on Wednesday arrested at least 10 workers of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) for allegedly ransacking a private school at Ulhasnagar in Thane district of the state over the issue of fee hike, an official said. A case is being registered against them at the Hill Line police station, he said. After being alerted, a police team rushed to the school and picked up the miscreants(Representative image) "MNS workers demanding reduction in school fees stormed into the school premises and smashed the window panes and other material in the premises. They also smeared paints on the name board of the school," he said. After being alerted, a police team rushed to the school and picked up the miscreants, who also shouted slogans demanding reduction of school fees, the official said. MNS city unit president Sachin Kadam is among the arrested, senior inspector of Hill Line police station Ranjit Dere said. At least 20 party workers were involved in the vandalism, the police said, adding that further investigation was on. Strap: #MereGharAaketoDekho: Civil societys soft campaign against divisive forces HT Image Mumbai: In order to combat the cacophony of hate and divisiveness that have enveloped civil society, a nationwide campaign -- #MereGharAaketoDekho (Visit My Home, Be My Guest) will be launched on August 15. It was Delhi-based activist Shabnam Hashmis idea to involve citizens in such an initiative. On the designated day, in Mumbai, families from various faiths will open their doors to each other in Cheeta Camp, near Trombay, to share meals and community stories. This modest act, they believe, will go a long way in breaking existing socially constructed barriers. Dolphy DSouza, one of the members of the organizing committee in Mumbai and president of Bombay Catholic Sabah said after the national campaign was announced recently, the idea received much traction and many groups have started signing up to participate. We call this process meeting together, healing together and breaking myths, said DSouza. The Us vs Them narrative has managed to fan misleading myths about communities and religious groups, he added. But with this initiative, an individual belonging to a family has an option to connect with members from other faiths. It is also an opportunity to embrace and understand other sections such as the LGBTQ communities. It may not end up with an elaborate meal, but it could be a visit, a simple chai paani or a hello. Thats the first step -- home to home, said DSouza. On Independence Day, after the first hosting in Cheeta Camp, similar meetings will be held in Govandi, Nagpada, Bhendi Bazar, Mumbra and Thane. The campaign is likely to extend till January 2024. To facilitate this, the Mumbai chapter is creating a database of willing hosts, and has already received encouraging responses. For instance, Sharmeela De Vas, a resident of Turner Road, Bandra, and an activist who works with Mumbai Citizens Forum, that fights against civic issues, has signed up to host a Muslim family from the neighbourhood for tea on August 15 to build bridges. I will speak from the heart to start conversations. I believe in the brotherhood of mankind as a Christian and I am proud to be an Indian first. I have upheld secularism since the time I came to India as an East African refugee in 1972, she said, adding, people should also start hosting household helps. She will visit her Hindu maids house during Ganapati and the Adivasi maids place during Christmas. Another participant, an activist, Mukta Srivastava, has convinced 11 Hindu middle-class families from Thane to host meals for Muslim families from Mumbra. All of them are sensitive, secular and liberal. They have agreed to participate to beat the polarisation in society today. Yasmin Memon, a resident of Lal Matti, Bandra Reclamation, will open her doors for all communities. I plan to begin with hosting a meal for Hindus; we do not have many non-Muslim visitors. My kids are curious about Hindus sporting tilaks. These cultural differences can be understood, when we understand each others histories, she said. Endorsing the apolitical campaign, Brinelle DSouza, an academic and activist from TISS, and a part of the organizing committee, said, Propaganda works because we dont know each other as there is very little engagement between communities. Hence, negative forces are able to influence and strengthen divisiveness. Mumbai is multi-cultural and cosmopolitan, but this fabric has frayed over a period of time and the boundaries have sharpened. Hasina Khan, from the NGO Bebaak Collective, added, the diversity in our country needs to be sustained and we need to break myths that are being created to divide. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ULWE Balaji temple in CRZ 1, greens SOS to Centre, CM With an official report confirming that the Tirupati Balaji temple replica is coming up on an intertidal wetland at Ulwe, a CRZ1 area in Navi Mumbai, environmentalists have appealed to the Centre and the State Government to revoke the permission for the project. We have no objection whatsoever to the temple for which an alternative plot should be allotted, NatConnect Foundation director B N Kumar said. NatConnect had earlier complained to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) when CIDCO allotted 10 acres from a casting yard area of the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) claiming it has been built after burying a mangrove zone and an intertidal wetland. Ideally, the wetland should have been restored but CIDCO allotted it to the temple project, Kumar said. MOEFCC had directed the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) to examine the complaint and report. MCZMA, however, gave the CRZ permission in a hurriedly convened meeting on May 23 the report of which is yet to be uploaded on the Authoritys website say greens. CM Eknath Shinde, who had earlier cancelled the Bhoomi puja for the temple in August last year, performed it in June this year following the CRZ nod. Now, thanks to the inspection as directed by the Centre, the Mangrove Cell has confirmed the greens fears The inspection team compared the spot with satellite maps prepared by the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application centres (MRSAC), Navi Mumbai Mangrove Cell Round Officer Bapu Gadade said in his report. He confirmed that the temple plot was earlier a wetland on which landfill was done. Gadade told HT, We found that creek water would be present in the area and there were fishing ponds here earlier that were used by the locals. Debris from the highway work being carried out nearby was later dumped here for landfilling.\ He added, The primary work of Balaji temple is being carried out on this landfilled land. There is also a kuchcha road from the plot which leads to mangroves area, at a distance of 40 to 45 metres. Informed Gadade, We have submitted our report. It is not for us to take any action as the area belongs to CIDCO. It is for them to take any action. Greens say this yet another case of clear cut violation of the Bombay High Court order to transfer all mangroves to the forest department for conservation. Nandakumar Pawar, head of Sagarshakti, said, The local fishing community which has been using the area to enter the creek was prevented by the L&T casting yard for the past four to five years. The community was hopeful of getting back the facility now that the casting yard work is over, but shockingly the same plot was allotted for the Balaji temple. He stated, CIDCO cannot claim that it is a CRZ1 area by pushing the high tide line into the creek. This latest development clearly demonstrates CIDCOs lack of respect for the environment as the planning agency has allotted mangrove and wetland areas for other projects as well. It is really unfortunate and sad that the government owned agency is blatantly violating all environment norms, Pawar added. CIDCO did not respond on the issue. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Two weeks after the Bombay high court ordered the Maharashtra police to set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the alleged fake encounter killing of Joginder Singh Rana, the Tulinj police on Thursday booked two policemen attached to the local crime branch in Nalasopara. Nalasopara fake encounter: Two policemen booked on murder charge The duo, identified as head constable Mangesh Chavan and police naik Manoj Sakpal, has been charged under section 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Joginders brother, Surendra, has claimed in his petition before the HC that though there were videos and photographs of the incident to prove that the 2018 encounter in Nalasopara was fake, the police refused to register an FIR based on his complaint and instead filed an accidental death report. Advocate Datta Mane, representing the petitioner, sought a probe either by the Central Bureau of Investigation or a high court-monitored investigation. The superintendent of police, Palghar, however, claimed that the two policemens actions were in retaliation to Joginder attacking them. Joginder, according to the police, was wanted in several cases. In his affidavit, the SP said on the day of the incident, the policemen had finished their work and were headed home when they spotted Joginder and one of his associates. On seeing them, he started to run and later took out a knife and slashed at Chavan, who was following him, on his arm, the affidavit said. In retaliation, the SP said, Chavan shot Joginder below his waist but as he again stabbed him in his stomach, the policeman fired another bullet after which he fell on the ground. Sakpal, who was also attacked by Joginder, took the victim to the government hospital at Tulinj in an autorickshaw where he was declared dead on arrival while the two policemen were admitted to the facility, the affidavit added. A division bench of justice Revati Mohite-Dere and justice Gauri Godse on July 25 ordered the Maharashtra police to form an SIT to probe the alleged fake encounter. However, in his statement to the police, which was part of the FIR registered on Thursday, Joginders brother claimed that the knife was planted by the two policemen at the scene and that the charge under section 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC against Joginder was false. Surendra claimed that the two policemen had intercepted his brother while proceeding on their two-wheeler and demanded money from him. When Joginder said he did not have any money, the policemen chased him for around 300 meters and Chavan fired the first bullet on his leg and second on his chest. The entire incident, he said, was captured on CCTV cameras in the area and on mobile phones of some people who witnessed the incident. Surendra alleged that the local police were trying to erase the footage. He has also sought police protection for himself and for the widow of his deceased brother, apprehending threat to their lives. Thane: Nearly two months since parents started protesting the steep fee hike by New English High School and Junior College, in Ulhasnagar, the institution broke its silence on Thursday to state that the 15,000-increase (from 4000) was to upgrade the schools infrastructure, with the consent of parents who are part of the Parent Teachers Association (PTA). It added that paying the hiked amount was optional. HT Image The management put out the clarification after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) staged a protest at the school and nine people were arrested for vandalising the property on Wednesday afternoon. They were released on a bail of 15,000 by the local court on Thursday. However, the impasse between the two opposing sides continues as parents have denied the schools claim that they were spoken to. Sachin Tambekar, whose niece and a nephew are students of the school, had headed the protest last month. He said, The school never discussed the optional factor earlier. Why would we protest otherwise? We had been speaking to them to make it optional, but were yet to receive a confirmation. Also, we condemned the MNS attack on the school. Our children were inside and scared after the incident. Primary school students were in the middle of their exam at the time of the attack. The schools trustee, Prakash Gurnani, said, This is a 60-year-old school, which does not charge fees for the aided section. The hike was mandated after PTAs approval. Almost 70% of parents have paid the fees. No government aided school has such facilities like ours. Meanwhile, the school has been in the eye of the storm for other alleged lapses. Last month, BJP MLA Ganpat Gaikwad led protesting parents to the institution when a case was registered against it for beating up students for failing to pay the hiked fee. Parents of nearly 7,000 students who come from lower middle-class milieu had opposed the hike. Gurnani said the case against a teacher for beating up a student was false. She was one of the best and most loved teachers. We have been portrayed in a wrong way. We are continuing to have dialogues with parents to work out solutions that would be amenable to both of us, he said. Sagar Gupta, the parent whose son studying in Class VI was allegedly beaten up by the teacher, denied receiving any communication from the school about the optional hike. We had just received a message on the parents WhatsApp group indicating the change in fee structure and were asked to pay up within a time frame. We are continuing to receive the same messages. Lalita Dahitulye, education officer of Zilla Parishad, said, We have been asking the school to produce the papers relating to the government aid and have initiated an inquiry. The school officials have not submitted any documents so far. We will take necessary action once the inquiry is complete. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Four people were booked on Thursday on charges of attempting to abduct two minor children and their father from Surajpur, police said. The kidnappers leave the black Scorpio and flee the scene on foot. (HT Photo) According to the father, Subhash Kashyap, a resident of Surajpur town and native of Sutiyana village in Greater Noida, the incident happened around 2pm when he had gone to pick up his children, aged 11 and 7 years, from school. I was in my black Scorpio and was heading home after picking up my children when a white Brezza blocked my way on the Dadri main road. There were four men inside the vehicle and three of them got down and forcefully got into my vehicle. I recognised two of the suspects as Rohit Singh and Akash, who are also from Sutiyana village, said Kashyap (35). He further alleged that the suspects took control of the car and began to drive the Scorpio while another suspect drove the Brezza ahead of them. While driving, the men beat me up and threatened to beat my children as well. Just then, the Scorpio got stuck in traffic, following which I raised the alarm to get the attention of the passersby. Fearing that they would be arrested, the suspects got out of the vehicle and fled on foot. This was caught by a nearby CCTV camera, said Kashyap. He said his family and Singhs family were involved in a dispute earlier this year at their village Sutiyana. Anil Kumar Yadav, deputy commissioner of police, Central Noida, said, Preliminary investigation has found that Kashyaps cousins were allegedly involved in a fight with some men from Sutiyana who are related to Singh. On June 14, a brawl had taken place between them. An FIR was registered in connection with that incident at the Ecotech 3 police station. He said Kashyap suffered minor injuries in the abduction bid. We are gathering CCTV footage from the area and exploring all avenues to investigate the case. The complainant has received treatment for injuries while his children are safe. On the basis of a complaint given by Kashyap, an FIR has been registered at the Surajpur police station against Singh, Akash and two other unidentified people under Indian Penal Code sections of wrongful restraint (341), assault (323) and abduction (364), said the DCP. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ashni Dhaor Ashni Dhaor is a correspondent with Hindustan Times. She covers crime, education, health, politics, civic issues and environment in Ghaziabad city. She graduated from Delhi University in 2015 and has since been working with Hindustan Times since. ...view detail A 15-year-old boy was allegedly kidnapped and killed in Guwahatis Beltola area after his parents failed to pay the ransom money, police said. Police traced the accused on Wednesday evening and around midnight, arrested him from his residence. (Representative file image) The minor was kidnapped on August 8 while he was returning home from school, the complaint lodged by his father said. Police said they recovered the minor boys body from Bonda area on the outskirts of Guwahati city on Wednesday night. The boys father identified the body after which police registered a case against the 30-year-old accused. Also Read: Chef killed over poor quality of food at Rajasthan restaurant The minor boys father said that the accused runs a street-side shop at Hatigaon area near their house and was known to their family members. He came to my house after my son went missing to pass the message of kidnappers, the father said. The accused allegedly demanded 60 lakh and told the boys family members that the amount has to be paid within 24 hours. The family paid 90,000 to another person as asked by the accused. After our first attempt to save our son failed, we rushed to the police station. On Wednesday late night, they called me, and I saw his dead body, the father said. Police traced the accused on Wednesday evening and around midnight, arrested him from his residence. A senior official of Assam police said that sharp objects were used to kill the minor boy and the dead body was dumped in a forest area near the Guwahati city. There are multiple deep cuts on the dead body, the police official said. The body has been sent to Gauhati Medical College and Hospitals (GMCH) for postmortem. According to police, the accused said that he came in contact with the boy through an online game. They used to play for money and claimed the minor boy took a loan from him, police said. The accused claimed that the boy had come to meet him after which both went to Bonda Amsing Forest Camp in the formers scooter. He has however denied the allegations of kidnapping and murder, police said. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized late mining baron Anil Salgaocars shares for allegedly violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). ED said Salgaocar owned iron ore mines in Goa and Karnataka. (HT PHOTO) In a statement, the agency on Wednesday said it initiated an investigation against Salgaocar on the basis of Panama Papers and Pandora Papers leaks that alleged Salgaocar incorporated multiple British Virgin Islands (BVI) companies. The entire shareholding of Late Anil Salgaocar which has been transferred to [the] Estate of Late Anil Salgaocar, in all 33 companies which varies from .1% to 99.9% has been seized by ED. These said 33 companies own 441 immovable properties located mainly at Goa and few at Mumbai and Karnataka. Salgaocar, who was also a member of the Goa assembly, passed away in 2016 in Singapore. His sons Sameer and Arjun Salgaocar have taken over their fathers businesses. Their representatives declined to comment. ED said Salgaocar owned iron ore mines in Goa and Karnataka. It added iron ore they produced was sold/exported through Indian group companies exclusively to the Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) in BVI and Singapore. These SPVs were not declared before Indian authorities and they acted as trading companies indulging in [the] sale of iron ore produced in India to China which resulted in profit shifting outside India, the ED said. It added of Salgaocars five BVI companies derived profit amounting to around $690,650,641 (around 5718 crore) through iron ore trading activities. The same was not declared before the Indian authorities. ED said Salgaocar contravened provisions of FEMA by acquiring foreign exchange and holding assets outside India. Sameer and Arjun Salgaocar also faced a probe over illegal mining before a trial court discharged them. Their Salgaocar Shipping Pvt Ltd bagged a mining block in the auction held in Goa in December last year. The Goa government on Wednesday relieved deputy inspector general of police (DIG) A Koan of his duties, days after he was caught misbehaving with a woman at a nightclub, DIG A Koan was escorted out of the club in an inebriated state. (CCTV videograb) State opposition parties, however, described the governments decision as woefully inadequate. Recently posted to Goa and given charge as DIG, Koan misbehaved with a woman who was at the same beach club, Las Olas, along with her partner, in the Calangute beach area on Monday night. CCTV footage from the club showed the woman reacting angrily and slapping the police officer on the face. Soon after, the footage showed the officer being escorted out of the club by private security guards who intervened during the altercation between the woman and the police officer. Footage also showed Koan, who was dressed in civil clothes, barely being able to walk out of the club on his own. No complaint has been filed by the woman. Also Read: Goa CM promises action against IPS officer accused of misbehaving with woman He is a predator. If police who are supposed to protect them (women) are going to molest them, and then get it on the face. He should be suspended and sent home. It was our expectation that like any other sexual predator action should have been taken against him. Tomorrow if a common person misbehaves with a woman and gets two slaps in return, he would have been arrested and a case filed against him. Here no such thing happened, he has only been relieved from his duty as DIG, opposition legislator Vijai Sardesai said. The police, who have to protect women, now begin to do this, which has been the governments response. Yesterday the Chief Minister (Pramod Sawant) assured that he would take action... He should take action as per law, he added. When asked about the developments in the case, chief minister Sawant said that the Union home ministry has been informed about it. We have already reported the matter to the head office and notified the (union) home ministry. (Any) other action will be taken by the home ministry. He (Koan) has been relieved of his charges, Sawant said. On Monday, Sawant had promised strict action against an officer of the Indian Police Service (IPS) who allegedly misbehaved with a woman at a nightclub in Goa. Koans identity had not been made public at the time. Speaking to Hindustan Times, Goas top cop DGP Jaspal Singh said that an incident report has been sent to the CM for the state government to take further action. The incident, the knowledge of which we received via social media, was verified based on the circumstances and prima facie found to be true. There are no statements recorded yet, Singh said. While not specifically referring to this incident, Singh posted on Twitter that the IPS cadre as a whole should not be judged based on an isolated incident. Dont judge officers of the IPS based on isolated instance of misdemeanour. They come out of long, arduous and meticulous training to serve the nation. They have sacrificed lives at the altar of nation and are fighting terrorism, insurgency and naxalism and daily crime, Singh said. Koan was earlier posted in the Delhi police traffic department and served as deputy commissioner of police as well as the additional commissioner of police in the wing. A Buddhist monk was found dead with his body hanging from a tree near Kali temple in Bihars Bodh Gaya on Thursday morning, police said. (Representative Photo) Police said that the body was seen by morning walkers, who informed the police, following which a team reached the spot. The monks body was recovered and sent to Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital (ANMCH) for post-mortem, police added. Police said they also found a bag containing Aadhar Card, passport, driving license, wire, key, knife etc., from the body. The documents revealed the deceaseds identity as Howard David Sanjib (44) of Zakir Hussain Nagar in Nellore town of Andhra Pradesh, police said. Primary investigations suggest that the monk died by suicide, but we are waiting for the post-mortem report to ascertain the actual case of death, station house officer at Bodh Gaya police station Rupesh Kumar Sinha said. The monk was living in the Burmese Monastery for the past three days, police said, adding that they searched his room but found suspicious material leading to his death. Police also questioned the management and inmates but nothing indicating towards murder was found, SHO Sinha said. The Kaimur police have busted an illegal gun factory which was used to manufacture arms and ammunition for Maoists. Three people, including the factory operator, have been arrested. Kaimur SP Lalit Mohan Sharma with arrested Maoists and the recovered firearms. (HT Photo) During the raid in the Adhaura forests on Wednesday afternoon, the police recovered ready and semi-made firearms, equipment and material used in manufacturing guns, pistols and bullets along with Maoist pamphlets, incriminating literature and receipt books, officials said. The three arrested people Ramsurat Singh, Vijay Shankar Singh and Ayodhya Singh confessed to manufacturing firearms for Maoists and repairing their weapons for over two decades. Earlier in 1998, Ramsurat Singh was arrested and jailed for making illegal firearms, the police said. He used to hand over the weapons and ammunition to hardcore criminals Rohit Rai and Sanjay Kumar, who then sent it to Maoists. The raids were conducted upon the identification of Rohit Rai, alias Prakash alias Dharmraj, who was arrested by the Aurangabad police with firearms and ammunition on Monday. Rai had escaped arrest during a Kaimur police raid on July 31. His associate from Uttar Pradesh, identified as Sanjay Kumar Sahni, was also arrested with two pistols, nine bullets and three walkie-talkies, Kaimur superintendent of police Lalit Mohan Sharma said. Rai confessed to reorganising the cadre base, building firepower and economic resources for the ultras in Kaimur and Magadh region. The police conducted the raid on Wednesday based on information Rai provided during interrogation, the SP said. A police team comprising Bhabua sub-divisional police officer Shiv Shankar Kumar, Bhagwanpur SHO Anil Prasad and Adhaura SHO Shrikant Paswan were part of the team that raided the factory. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON GAYA: Security forces on Thursday arrested a top Maoist idealogue and Communist Party of India (Maoist) politburo member in a joint operation in Gaya district of Bihar, a district police officer said. Pramod Mishra hails from Kasma village in Bihars Aurangabad and joined the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCC) in the early nineties (Sourced) Mishra and his associate, Anil Yadav of Lutua in Gaya, were arrested in an operation conducted on a tip, said Gaya senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ashish Bharti. He is being interrogated. Police said the operation was conducted on a tip that Mishra was in Jarhi Tola village of the districts Tikari block to meet a relative. Police said Mishra was an accused in the November 14, 2021, Dumaria massacre in which four persons of a family were killed and hanged to avenge the death of four Maoist cadres. According to police records, Pramod Mishra hailed from Kasma village in Bihars Aurangabad and joined the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCC) in the early nineties. He was elevated to the central committee of the CPI (Maoist) which was formed in 2004 after the merger of the MCC and Peoples War Group (PWG). In 2007, he was made a member of the CPI (Maoist) politburo and became the in-charge of its operations in Delhi at the 9th Party Congress and was believed to have played an important role in expanding the outfits base in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir. His name also figured in the United States Country Report on Terrorism in 2006, a police officer said. The officer said he had eight known aliases such as Sohan Da, Shukla Ji, Kanhaiya, Jagan Bharat, Noor Baba, Biwi Ji, Agni and Ban Bihari. He was arrested by Bihar special task force in 2008 but stayed behind bars till 2017 when he was released after being acquitted in all cases against him due to lack of evidence. He initially spent a few months at his native village after his release before he disappeared again. . A motorcyclist was killed and five persons were injured after a cement pipe-laden container truck hits eight vehicles as its driver lost control over his vehicle due to a brake failure at the turn along the Katraj-Kondhwa Crematorium Road near Khadi Machine Chowk on Thursday morning. A school bus carrying students was among the vehicles damaged in the incident. (HT PHOTO) A school bus carrying students was among the vehicles damaged in the incident. The deceased has been identified as Prashant Krushna Chaure (43) of Dhankawadi while the injured, identified as Narayan Ramkisan Katkar (41), Ravi Sudhar Barate (32), Radhika Prashant Bodhe (40), Subhash Pandurang Badale (49) and Pramod Vitthal Shilamkar (38), have been admitted to a nearby private hospital. The students in the school bus escaped without injuries, according to the police. The Kondhwa police officials said the container was on his way to Katraj from Kondhwa when the mishap took place. While five persons who received minor injuries in the incident were given first aid on the spot, five others who were injured were shifted to Bharati Vidyapeeth Hospital, police officials said. The container hit eight vehicles due to brake failure and badly damaged them. The driver could not control the vehicle and hit the vehicles that were ahead in the lane. One motorcyclist was killed and his body has been sent to Sassoon General Hospital for autopsy, said Santosh Sonawane, incharge, Kondhwa Police Station. The police have detained the container driver, identified as Tejas Rambhau Kakade (22), and the container involved in the accident has been seized. The eight vehicles damaged include two wheelers, cars, and minibuses. The accident that took place at a black spot has underlined the need to improve road safety measures. The area residents have been demanding the authorities to speed up land acquisition process for road widening project. Sandesh Tilekar, a resident of Tilekarnagar, said, The area is prone to heavy traffic with only two cops to man the vehicular movement. The accident took place at a congested spot. Recently, Pune municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar had visited the area and carried out a road safety inspection following complaints by residents over delay in the road widening project. Residents have also complained of unauthorised hawkers encroaching both sides of the road. Officials said that a team of Kondhwa traffic division also visited the spot and will submit a report on road safety to the deputy commissioner of police (traffic) office soon. Deputy commissioner of police (DCP), traffic, Vijay Kumar Magar, said, The accident took place due to brake failure as the container came crashing down the slope hitting other vehicles. A case of rash and negligent driving under relevant sections of the Motor Vehicles Act (MVA) has been lodged against the driver. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has called for suggestions for citizens participatory budget till August 31 this year. Citizens would be able to suggest works up to 5 lakh by filling-up online form on PMCs official website. PMC had introduced the participatory budget scheme in 2006-07. In 2022-23, PMC spent 40 crore on participatory budget, said officials. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO) Municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar has invited suggestions from citizens for various infrastructure-related works in their locality. Citizens would able to suggest works related to road, footpath, public toilets, street lights and others, while the civic body wont be able to take up works related to pedestrian bridges and speed breakers. PMC had introduced the participatory budget scheme in 2006-07. In 2022-23, PMC spent 40 crore on participatory budget, said officials. Ulka Kalaskar, head of PMCs accounts department, said, Every year, PMC gets a good response from each ward and accordingly civic body makes necessary budgetary provision for these works. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON DU UG 2nd Merit Allotment List 2023 Live Updates: University of Delhi has released the second merit or allotment list for undergraduate courses today, August 10. The list is available through candidate login on admission.uod.ac.in. DU UG 2nd Merit List 2023 Live Updates: Second allotment list for UG admission today on admission.uod.ac.in(Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO) Direct link to check DU UG 2nd Merit Allotment List 2023 As per the DU UG admission schedule, selected candidates are required to accept seats for the second round of admissions by 4:59 pm on August 13. Colleges will verify and approve these applications by 4:59 pm on August 14. The deadline for fee payment is August 15, 4:59 pm. Follow this live blog for all the latest updates. Delhi University has released DU UG 2nd Merit List 2023 on August 10, 2023. The Second CSAS allocation list can be checked by all candidates who have applied for the admission round through official site of Delhi University Admissions at admission.uod.ac.in. DU UG 2nd Merit List 2023 Live Updates DU UG 2nd Merit List 2023 released at admission.uod.ac.in, heres how to check Candidates can login to their dashboard to view their Common Rank and Category Rank for all the programs they have applied for. To check the allotment lists, candidates can follow the steps given below. DU UG 2nd Merit List 2023: How to check Visit the official site of Delhi University Admissions at admission.uod.ac.in. Click on login link and enter the required details. The second allotment merit list will be displayed on the screen. Check the allotment list and download the page. Keep a hard copy of the same for further need. Candidates can accept the allocated seat from August 10 to August 13, 2023. Colleges can verify and approve the online applications from August 10 to August 14, 2023. The last date for payment of online fees by candidates is till August 15, 2023. The classes will commence from August 16, 2023 onwards. For more related details candidates can check the official site of Delhi University. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON BPSC Bihar Teacher Admit Card 2023: Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) will release admit cards or hall teachers for the Bihar teacher recruitment examination today, August 10. This will be released on the official website of the commission, bpsc.bih.nic.in. Follow live updates on BPSC teacher admit card 2023. BPSC Bihar teacher admit card 2023 today on bpsc.bih.nic.in (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo/For representation) As per a notice issued on August 9, the exam will take place on August 24, 25 and 26 and on each exam day, there will be two shifts from 10 am to 12 pm and from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm. The commission has asked all eligible candidates to login to their dashboards and upload passport-size photographs of 25 KB ahead of downloading admit cards. Code of allotted exam centres and district names will be mentioned on admit cards and detailed information about exam centres will be shared with candidates through the BPSC website on August 21. Candidates have been asked to download their admit cards by August 20. Candidates have been asked to bring additional copies of admit cards of each shift and submit it to invigilators. Candidates have to reach the exam venue one hour prior to the commencement of the examination. They have to ensure that OMR sheets are sealed properly before leaving the exam venue. The recruitment drive aims to fill 1,70,461 teacher vacancies in Bihar. Steps to download BPSC Teacher recruitment exam admit card Go to the official website, bpsc.bih.nic.in. Open the admit card download link. Key in your credentials and login to the page. Download the admit card and take printout. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Union Public Service Commission has released UPSC CDS II Admit Card 2023 on August 10, 2023. Candidates who will appear for Combined Defence Services Examination (II), 2023 can download the admit card through the official site of UPSC at upsc.gov.in. The admit card link is also available at upsconline.nic.in. UPSC CDS II Admit Card 2023 released at upsc.gov.in, download link here The CDS admit card will be available on the official website from August 10 to September 3, 2023. The Union Public Service Commission will conduct the Combined Defence Services Examination (II), 2023 at various Centres/Venues all over India on September 3, 2023. UPSC CDS II Admit Card 2023: How to download To download the admit card, candidates can follow the steps given below. Visit the official site of UPSC at upsc.gov.in. Click on UPSC CDS II Admit Card 2023 link available on the home page. Enter the required details and click on submit. Your admit card will be displayed on the screen. Check the admit card and download the page. Keep a hard copy of the same for further need. The admitted candidates will have to produce the printout of their e-Admit Card at the allotted Venue for appearing in the Examination along with proof of Identity such as Aadhaar Card/ Voter Card/ PAN Card/Passport/Driving Licence/Any other Photo ID Card issued by the State/Central Government. For more related details candidates can check the official site of UPSC. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON One day ahead of its release, Sunny Deol's Gadar 2 has managed to sell over 2.7 lakh tickets in advance bookings. Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh gave a breakdown of the trends at most major multiplex chains by 4.30 pm on Thursday. Also read: Gadar 2 trailer: Sunny Deol smashes Pakistanis with a sledgehammer, stares at a handpump Sunny Deol (R) and Ameesha Patel attend the promotion of their upcoming Indian Hindi-language film Gadar 2 at the India-Pakistan Wagah border post.(AFP) Tickets sold so far He wrote in a tweet, #Xclusiv #Gadar2 advance booking status at 4.30 pm Note: DAY 1 biz #PVR: 81,247 #INOX: 69,652 #Cinepolis: 42,268 #Miraj: 27,500 #Rajhans: 17,000 #Wave: 10,797 #Movietime: 10,010 #MovieMax: 10,088 #M2K: 2,347 #Citypride: 2,149 Total: 2,73,058 tickets sold. The 2.7 lakh tickets sold could translate to about 15 crore in revenue. High occupancy everywhere As per a Pinkvilla report, the Delhi-UP belt is expected to open with 85% occupancy. Almost 40% of this has already been booked in advance. Patna has also recorded 75% occupancy in advance and Jaipur is at 44%. In Gadar 2, Sunny Deol reprises his role of Tara Singh from his 2001 blockbuster hit Gadar: Ek Prem Katha. Filmmaker Anil Sharma, who also helmed the original, has directed the follow-up which will hit the screens on August 11. Tara Singh is desi Hulk? In a recent interaction, Sunny said every man wants to watch a superhero on screen and his character Tara Singh is no less than Hulk or Superman. "Tara Singh is our Hulk, Superman. Every man wants to watch Hulk and Superman. He believes that (the hero) on screen will set things right. Like there are Marvel Comics, here is Tara Singh. You don't draw these powers from working out. These are emotional powers," Deol said during a session on the last day of the 2023 Jagran Film Festival in New Delhi. Citing the example of the famous Hindustan Zindabad sequence from Gadar, the actor said when a character is faced with a difficult choice, God comes on screen to show the way. "Then, you move ahead. That is the superpower of honesty, earnestness, and simplicity. That's what superheroes are all about," he added. Gadar 2 will clash with Akshay Kumar's OMG2, which also released on the same day. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor Shah Rukh Khan hosted an Ask SRK session on Twitter and answered questions from fans. From revealing details of his upcoming film Jawan to talking about his bald look in the film, Shah Rukh responded to many questions. He also answered whether he fell for co-star Nayanthara during the shoot. Also read: Jawan first song Zinda Banda: Shah Rukh Khan dances his heart out in foot-tapping track Shah Rukh Khan and Nayanthara will be seen together in Jawan. Ask SRK on Twitter Shah Rukh tweeted, So many things to feel happy about today.feel I should spread some part of it to you all. Lets do #AskSRK for a few minutes. Ready ahhh!! #Jawan. One of the users asked the actor, Nayanthara mam pe lattu huye ya nahi (Did you fall for Nayanthara)? He responded, Chup karo! Doh bacchon ki maa hain woh (Shut up! She's mom to two young kids)!! Ha ha. #Jawan. Shah Rukh Khan on pointers for impressing a girl Another one also asked Shah Rukh for tips to impress a girl. The Pathaan actor replied, Pehla sabak yeh patana patana' mat bolo accha nahi lagta (lesson number one is the word patana is too crass). Talking about Jawan, the actor also shared, My favourite song is Chaleya from the film. Romantic and sweet and gentle.just like me. While he said Jawan is an emotional drama, he also added, The film has a strong take on women empowermenthow to respect and stand for them. Shah Rukh Khan on Jailer Besides talking about Jawan, Shah Rukh also mentioned Rajinikanth in one of his answers. When someone asked him about Rajinikanth's Jailer, Shah Rukh revealed, Of course I love Rajni sir.Maassss!! He had come on Jawan set and blessed us too. He also reacted to 16 years of his film Chak De India and said, I remember how lovely the girls were. Aditya and Jaydeep and Sumit were so helpful to make this really beautiful film. One of my all time happy place. He also tackled some users who criticised him in their questions. Earlier in the day, Shah Rukh had shared a poster of Jawan and wrote in the caption, The Daring. The Dazzling. The Dangerous. Directed by Atlee, the film also has Sanya Malhotra and Priyamani, apart from Nayanthara. It is set to release on September 7 in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor Vijay Raghavendra's wife Spandana Raghavendra died due to a heart attack on Monday. She reportedly suffered a massive heart attack while she was on a vacation in Bangkok. At the funeral held on Wednesday, Vijay was seen in tears. Actor Yash, who also attended the funeral meet, was seen consoling the actor and giving him a long hug. (Also read: Kannada actor Vijay Raghavendra's wife passes away in Bangkok, CM and deputy CM pay condolences) Yash hugged an emotional Vijay Raghavendra at the funeral. Yash hugs Vijay Raghavendra In a video that was shared on X by a fan page of the actor, Yash was seen consoling an emotional Vijay Raghavendra as he broke down in tears. Yash held him close and was seen talking to him for a couple of minutes. The video of the same quickly went viral on the micro-blogging site. Spandana's death Meanwhile, after the news of Spandana's death became public, the chief minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah and deputy CM DK Shivakumar paid condolences to the family. In a post on X, Siddaramaiah wrote, The news of the untimely death of famous Kannada actor Vijay Raghavendra's wife Spandana has come as a shock. I pray for the eternal peace of the departed soul. My condolences to the families of Vijaya Raghavendra and BK Shivaram who are saddened by the loss of Spandana. Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar said, I am deeply saddened to know that the wife of famous Kannada actor Shri Vijay Raghavendra, Mrs. Spandana Raghavendra, has passed away suddenly in Bangkok. Recently the couple met me and wished me well. I pray for Spandana's soul to rest in peace. My condolences to his family and friends. In a conversation with the media, Spandana's brother-in-law Srimurali said, Spandana slept on the night of August 6, and did not wake up the next morning due to low blood pressure. Spandana tied the knot with Vijay in 2007 and the couple has a son, named Shourya. Spandana died few days before the couple's 16th wedding anniversary on August 27. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR HT Entertainment Desk Dedicated professionals who write about cinema and television in all their vibrancy. Expect views, reviews and news. ...view detail After being seen in a crucial role in Ponniyin Selvan I and II, veteran actor Nasser is back with a new show and stresses on how the significance of the role matters to him and what cause it is related to. He now plays a pivotal role in the web show The Jengaburu Curse, which is a suspense thriller that revolves around how exploiting nature can lead to dangerous consequences. He says the cause behind it is what made him perform even better. Also read: Nila Madhab Panda returns with The Jengaburu Curse, asks dusre kyu nhi banate such films, shows Nasser in a still from The Jengaburu Curse. The Sony LIV series The Jengaburu Curse is directed by Nila Madhab Panda of I Am Kalam fame. In an interview with Hindustan Times, Nasser talks in detail about getting into his role, which is a mysterious one to reveal the least. He also spoke at length about how manmade problems have led to severe environmental damage. Nasser on climate change On being asked if the show is related to a real incident, Nasser says, Yes, a real issue which is made in an interesting way for the screen for everybody to see because its a very important issue going on earth. See there are problems happening all over the world and every country has got its own problem. But there is only one big problem which the whole world is facing and that is this climate change. The climate doesn't care how rich or how developed country you are. Let us leave God alone in this. The nature has set its own patternwhen it will rain, when the sea will have the current and which direction. It is like gears in a watch or a clock. It has to have this much forest and river, it has to sit in pattern." Watch: Nasser on Baahubali, Ponniyin Selvan, nepotism, climate change Earlier, we used to produce only what we want. Now human beings know you can produce more than what you want and you can sell it. You can make it a trade. You can become rich. You can compare yourself with other person. All this greed has taken away forests, diverted rivers, built buildings which are not good for earth and has made a lot of flora and fauna to get extinct. All these things have changed the pattern of the nature. Bombay rains are now so unpredictable. Now there are floods in Rajasthan. There is a heat wave in Europe. So what is happening? Who gave this curse? It is you and me, our greed. It is not God. It is not even nature," he adds. Nasser on The Jengaburu Curse Nasser says he expects people to have tears in their eyes while watching The Jengaburu Curse. "Now we have to wipe away the curse. We have to give back what we robbed from Mother Nature. This web series is not preaching, it's going to give information about climate change. It has been told indirectly through a very emotional relationship between a daughter and a father. Why this young girl is searching for her father? Even if it is an issue based film, the way that the story is told is like a James Bond kind of thing. People should have tears in their eyes, it is a very intelligently made script," he says. Nasser plays a very loving and caring tribal museum curator and later on, has surprises in his character. We understood it is not only about how good you are doing your character. We are performing for what cause --that's what made us to perform better, he says. Nasser on being left cluless about roles in South films At 65, Naseer has an experience of over 34 years with around 700 films to his credit. On being asked about his process of getting into a role, the actor replies, It's very simple. Down South, for most of the mainstream films, they tell about the role in the last last minute, sometimes a day before the shoot. When I ask what can I do, they say, no, no sir, you will do it.' You are without any clue. If they ask me to think, it becomes very scary. It's not challenging. But I have done it. I have framed my own story about the character. I mean how his way of thinking has been shaped or what has he studied? In those days, they thought that they have signed an actor, he will do." Nasser gives it to the young directors, especially of the Hindi films and web series he has done, who he says have the final film in their memory. He claims that there is a lot of guidance and the actor need not even get prepared to go for the shoot. They tell you what to do, what not to do. They give a space to discuss and clarify your doubts. Even if you do 3 days character, the director is ready to narrate and read for him, he says. "Personally, I'll sit back and design. I'll see what I do in the film. What is the purpose of this character? If there is ample time, we try to go deeper. If I play a neurosurgeon for example, I go meet a few neurosurgeons. I should feel comfortable that I'm playing a doctor, not just delivering the dialogues," he says about his method which he claims has been taught by his teachers. Nasser on why he doesn't say no to any role Naseer however, reveals hardly ever saying no to projects. I can't say no for so many reasons. Now I have done about 700 films. If I had to say no, I I should have rejected at least about 200 or so. But sometimes because of the friendship you have, sometimes because of the money they pay and sometimes strong recommendation comes to you. Please, for my sake, you do that film. He further explains, Moreover, it is my profession. I have to be a bit flexible, I may not be strong enough to say no. I can say no if I don't want to. But when I have decided and taken money, I will stop cribbing about it or find flaws. I don't do that. Even if I know it's going in a wrong way, I feel but they expect this, they have paid, I give the best. "In the beginning of our career, when out of a training institute, you apply theory and criticize all the directors and everything. You say no but you need next day meal. There is a pleasure in saying no but later on, the reality teaches that you cannot change this system. If you don't like the system, please get out. Don't try to change the system," the Baahubali actor signs off. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The events of Made in Heaven Season 2 kick off soon after the explosive Season 1 finale. The progression seems natural: Karan (Arjun Mathur) and Tara (Sobhita Dhulipala) are now flatmates, Jauhari (Vijay Raaz) has acquired a majority stake in the wedding planning company after Adil's (Jim Sarbh) separation from Tara, and Faiza (Kalki Koechlin) is drawing closer to Adil. But what doesn't feel organic is the episodic wedding format. (Also read: Made in Heaven season 1 review) Made in Heaven season 2: The hit Prime Video show is back after four years of wait. Sure, no wedding is similar to another in terms of aesthetic, sights and sounds. Or for that matter, even the issues that plague the impending marriages. But to raise a new conflict in every episode, and rush to reach its resolution within the time frame of an hour, starts to feel more imposed than free-flowing. The bride's skin colour, domestic abuse, polygamy and parental opposition to coming out - these rampant issues are worth underlining, but not to the extent of a character pulling out statistics about fairness creams or a Muslim wife resolving to fight a legal battle against polygamy or a wife lecturing her husband on how he can't take decisions for his adult wife and daughter. These are common problems but their depiction tends to lack nuance when one tries to force-fit every episode into the same box. The only exception to this Akshay Kumar/Ayushmann Khurrana-style cherry-picking of issues is a Neeraj Ghaywan episode, where Radhika Apte's Dalit bride insists on having a Buddhist wedding in order to retaliate against her in-laws demanding the traditional pheras ceremony along with a court marriage. Ghaywan uses his nuanced gaze to put forth arguments in a way that they amplify the character's voice, and not the writer or director's. He makes her voice more meaningful by opening a discourse around her politics, through not only the archaic notion of Brahmanical establishment, but also another informed Dalit counter-voice. At one point, that voice tells Radhika's character, "Sab jagah jhanda lehrana band karo" (Stop waving a flag of cause everywhere), as if it's a cue to the show's writers. All the weddings through the show are exquisitely designed, delightfully treated and beautifully shot, but the Buddhist wedding speaks more to the soul than the eyes. It feels like an earned culmination to a woman's struggle for identity, as opposed to the tokenistic device of the women entering on black steeds in a lesbian wedding. You don't expect the likes of Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti and Alanrkita Shrivastava to endorse male saviour syndrome, but in Season 2, it feels like the writers are projecting their own selves as saviours behind the pen. The Made in Heaven crew. The show lands more when the conflict revolves around the simpler cracks in love. For instance, Neeraj's episode with real-life couple Neelam Kothari and Samir Soni playing lovers, married to different people, and planning their kids' wedding with each other is just a hilarious premise to begin with. They hook up in hidden corners of the royal wedding venue, like young mates hopelessly in love. They debate eloping from their children's wedding, and to me, that's the most adorable love story. Or when in the series finale, directed by Zoya and Reema, it's the boyfriend willing to sacrifice his career in order to marry and look after his pregnant girlfriend. The subversion of gender dynamics is neatly constructed and has a larger purpose. Even in the gorgeous episode set in France, directed by Zoya and Reema, two Bollywood actors marrying each other for optics seems more lived-in. The actors may be marrying for mileage, their dreamy love story helps in keeping many others alive in hope. Some weddings tend to resonate more because they mirror a regular character's own life at that point. An abuse victim feels deep empathy for a gullible bride (Mrunal Thakur) marrying her violent boyfriend; a girl decides to be Tara-like and rejects a boy because he's not rich enough, only to yearn for him years later; Tara getting drawn towards a wife who learns of her husband's adultery 23 years into their marriage; Tara telling the bride to take ownership of her husband's finances. Even Karan consoling a woman whose husband is marrying another woman, and Tara pushing the parents of a lesbian bride to attend her wedding, are attempts by Karan and Tara to reconcile with each other. Their friendship continues to strike a chord in the most economical way. Arjun Mathur is terrific in presenting Karan in all his messiness and with all his frailties. Watch out for him choking up when he struggles to explain the turmoil within, or jolting as if a shockwave has gone through him when he cremates his mom, or most of all, when he breaks down out of guilt for hating his dead mom. Vikrant Massey pops up again as Nawab, but don't expect a torrid lovemaking scene like in the last season. His turn here is more composed and restrained, and rightfully so. Sobhita Dhulipala's character is equally complex, but deceptively polished on the surface. Her character arc then becomes a tighter rope walk because she has to keep playing morally contentious moves, without getting any spotlight to explain them or redeem herself. She does doing both though, through her telling eyes, confident smile and fluid body language and demeanour. Jim and Kalki's relationship also has quite an organic trajectory in Season 2, and the two continue to share that crackling chemistry. On the other hand, Shashank Arora and Shivani Raghuvanshi's Kabir-Jazz dynamic plays out like a fun, competitive game of snake-and-ladders. Thankfully, we get to know more about Kabir, beyond Shashank's deliberately opaque reactions and his carefully crafted monologues. But it's really the new characters, except Ishwak Singh, who stand out. Both Mona Singh and Trinetra Haldar deserve spin-offs of their own. Mona is a powerhouse performer who can mine gold from a well-written character like Bulbul. And Trinetra has such an assured presence in front of the camera as if she was born and raised in front of one. She's also the answer to all the sceptics wondering if casting trans women in those parts can yield any results except token representation. In this show, Trinetra is an actor first, a transwoman later. The writers also fill her world with so much love - she's referred to as "you look amazing" by a number of key characters, her parents dotingly call her 'meri beti,' and she's also said to be one of the highest-paid employees of Made in Heaven. Of course, there are those common instances of catcalling and shaming, but the focus is more on her struggle to find love than acceptance. At one point, she tells a dating app match when he shows curiosity for her journey, "I just want to go on a date, not give a TED talk." One wishes if the writers had painted the entire show with the same light strokes that they created Trinetra's character Mehek with. Made in Heaven Season 2 is never consistently preachy, but it sure is patchy with its heavy-handedness. I would pay good money to see where Karan and Tara go from here, or where Bulbul and Mehek come from. But as far as the episodic issue-based wedding format is concerned, it wouldn't hurt if the makers slash and burn their format into a new life in Season 3. Made in Heaven Season 2 is streaming on Prime Video India. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The 22nd summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which was presided over by India, recently took place virtually. SCO has gone through substantial changes since its founding in 2001. As a result, the dynamics of this organisation have also been affected, which needs to be examined. Since 2005, India has been a member of this organisation in the capacity of an observer. At the Astana summit in Kazakhstan in 2017, India was admitted as a permanent member of the SCO. Pakistan was given full membership in the SCO along with India. Strategic analysts have emphasised what India can gain from joining this organisation since it became a permanent member. The key reason for raising concerns about India's position in SCO is China's dominance in this organisation. However, the primary objective for New Delhi joining the SCO was to connect with Central Asian nations, as the SCO provides a regular platform for bilateral contact. India's admission was also critical since Central Asian nations wanted India to join to balance Russia and China's dominance inside the organisation. Flags flutter at the headquarters of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Beijing on July 4, 2023. (AFP) As a result of its permanent membership, New Delhi has been striving to make constructive contributions to the SCO. In this context, India's presidency of SCO this year has been very important. The New Delhi Declaration was signed by the member-States at the conclusion of the summit. The declaration stated that the international community should "come together to combat the activities of terrorist, separatist and extremist groups. In addition, special attention must be paid to prevent the spread of aggressive nationalism, religious intolerance, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and fascism." The leaders also approved two other thematic joint statements presented by India: One on cooperation in combating separatism, extremism, and radicalisation that leads to terrorism and the other on cooperation in digital transformation. Since it has been India's goal to combat terrorism and share Indian skills with other like-minded nations of SCO, these joint statements, together with the New Delhi Declaration, are of the utmost importance. India's presence in SCO is important for two main reasons. Firstly, India has good relations with the western world and being a part of this organisation helps not show SCO as an anti-West organisation. Similarly, the Central Asian nations have also been working to diversify their foreign relations, and the United States and the West have been important partners for these countries. Hence, they are also uncomfortable with SCO being labeled as an anti-west organisation. The statements made by some of the leaders of Central Asia at the New Delhi Summit of SCO emphasised non-alignment and multipolarity. On the contrary, China and Russia keep promoting it as a group of anti-western countries. Another reason is that the Indian presence is important to maintain power asymmetry within the grouping. Central Asian countries want India to play a bigger role in SCO. While on the contrary, Indian strategists insist that India should not be too optimistic about this organisation because of China. With the rapidly changing geopolitical environment, Central Asia has become more critical for China not only for hydrocarbons and connectivity but also for security. As a result, China is now focusing more on keeping Central Asian countries under its influence. Beijing has institutionalised its political ties with these countries through the recently conducted China-Central Asia Summit. However, it should be highlighted that while China has influence among the political elite in Central Asia, there is also anti-China sentiment among the local population. Despite its limited presence in Central Asia, India enjoys widespread support in these countries. The primary reason for this is the civilisational, historical, and cultural ties between India and Central Asia. With the entry of India and Pakistan into the SCO, the doors have been opened for other like-minded countries to join as full members. In this sequence, under the presidency of India, Iran has become the newest member of SCO, which was observer since 2005. In addition, Belarus has also started formalities to join the Eurasian organisation as a permanent member. Some other countries in the West Asian, South East Asian and South Asian regions have joined the SCO as dialogue partners. Thus, the geographical and economic capabilities of the SCO are expanding. And this expansion will also have a greater impact on the dynamics of the group. Russia and India are two countries that seem to be benefiting from the expansion of the SCO. Iran's entry will give a boost to the connectivity initiatives of which India and Russia are also an important part, such as the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). In addition, relations between Iran and Russia have been developing significantly since the start of the Ukraine crisis. Belarus is also an ally of Russia. The admission of these countries as permanent members is expected to strengthen the position of Russia in the SCO, which is considered a junior partner of China. Although the term "junior partner" is a Western creation, it can be deemed contextual. Russian opposition to China's expansion into Eurasia will be displayed whenever the favourable settings are present. Finally, it would be fair to say that since joining this organisation, India has successfully made its presence felt in SCO. It is the only country in this organization which has refused to support China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It also refused to sign the Economic Development Strategy 2030 mentioned in the Delhi Declaration, on which Chinese influence was clearly visible. These examples show that the Indian presence in SCO is very important and counterbalance to Beijing. Therefore, India should continue to engage with the organization by presenting the best propositions suited to its Eurasian strategy. Despite remaining in the SCO, India needs to put more emphasis on ways to develop its relations with each Central Asian country. This article is authored by Pravesh Kumar Gupta, associate fellow (central Asia), Vivekananda International Foundation. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha on Thursday rejected as totally baseless Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) allegations that he forged signatures of members of Parliament (MPs) while proposing their names without consent to be added to a select committee on the Delhi Services Bill. AAP MP Raghav Chadha. (PTI) He said the rules of conduct of business in the Rajya Sabha do not mandate the need to take the signatures of MPs while proposing their names for such a panel. Chadha said he did not take any signatures nor submitted them. The rules...say that for the formation of a select committee, an MP can propose names of any members for which no signature, no written consent of the member whose name is being proposed to be included...is required. Accordingly, I did not take the signature, nor did I submit any signature. Even the official complaint, the records, and the Rajya Sabha bulletin do not mention forged signature, said Chadha at a press conference in the presence of all AAP MPs. Chadha cited the Rajya Sabha rulebook and added the exercise of proposing names to a proposed select committee is akin to sending out invitations for a birthday party or a press conference. If a member whose name has been proposed does not want to be included in the select committee, the member can withdraw. On Monday, five Rajya Sabha MPs demanded a privilege motion against Chadha alleging their forged signatures were added to a proposed select committee without consent. Union home minister Amit Shah said the five complained about this and called it a breach of privilege of the House. He demanded an investigation and said the matter should be referred to the privileges committee, which was subsequently done. Chadha proposed the formation of a select committee to examine the bill but it was negated through a voice vote. He said BJP leaders were ignorant of the conduct of business rules. I do not have any remedy for the ignorance of the BJP leaders. The BJP is working on the formula that if they repeat a lie 100 times, it becomes the truth. Under this formula, the BJP leaders are spreading propaganda against me. Chadha said he will convey his view to the privilege committee and justice will prevail. He added privilege proceedings have been initiated against top leaders including former Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Indira Gandhi, and Manmohan Singh. Chadha said the complaint against him was made after he exposed BJPs double standards. I received a second notice of committee on privileges in the last week. Attempts are being made to suppress the voice of the Opposition...membership of Rahul Gandhi was taken away, two AAP MPs were suspended. He said an undeclared emergency was in force in the country. But, regardless of what the BJP does, they will not be able to suppress my voice. Chadha said since the privilege committee is considering the matter, he will not go into the nitty-gritty of the matter. All responses will be given to the privilege committee. AAP MP Sanjay Singh hit out at the Narendra Modi-led dictatorial government for passing the unconstitutional Delhi Services Bill. He said the government has started a new trend of disqualifying MPs who speak against it. The home minister said a big forgery has been done. He did not have the knowledge that no signature is required for proposing names. The intention of the home minister is to disqualify Raghav Chadha the way they disqualified Rahul Gandhi, but we will fight and win. BJP leader Harish Khurana accused Chadha of trying to mislead the people. He should explain whether he took the consent of the MPs before proposing their names or not. Khurana said rule number 72 (2) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) says that no members shall be appointed to a select committee if they are not willing to serve on the committee. The mover shall ascertain whether a member proposed to be named by him is willing to serve on the committee. This is not like a birthday party invitation which Chadha is taking so lightly. As Tata Group-owned airline Air India unveiled its new logo and plane livery colours on Thursday, its creator Tasneem Ali said that they created a look that is modern but along with that it also comes with the heritage. Tasneem Ali Speaking to the agencies, Tasneem said, So when we were re-imagining the brand, we actually looked at elements within the Air India brand world and had a new interpretation of it. The window which has always been on the plane, on the outside, and inside menu card, the iconic Air India window which has been an enduring design symbol with the thing, we took that and re-imagined it. Also read: Air India flight en route Dubai returns to Thiruvananthapuram due to AC issue The whole point of the exercise was to create something that is authentically and identifiably Indian, but presented in a very contemporary world-class manner, she added. On the previous famous Maharaja logo, Tasneem said, We have defined a role for the Maharaja, given him a relevant place. He's very much therejust like even in the original idea of Maharaja, he was not a part of the logo. He was in the advertising, not the logo. Unfortunately, he crept into the brand identity later but it was never supposed to be like that. So we have defined a significant place for him. Air India on Thursday revealed its new logo The Vista and its new tail design and theme song. The airline retained the red and white colours, with a dash of purple. According to Tata Sons Chairman Chandrashekaran, the idea of the new was inspired by the peak of the golden window frame that signifies limitless possibilities. We are focusing on upgrading all human resource aspects... While we have ordered a large number of aircraft We have to refurbish and get our current fleet in acceptable level... It is going to be a lot of hard work but the path is clear...We know where we want to be... The new logo represents our bold vision, he said. Meanwhile, in a press release, the airline said wrote: Air India is making significant investments throughout the guest experience to elevate its service and to strengthen its position as the preferred airline for travelers flying to, from, and within India. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Bengaluru: Amid reprimands from Karnataka high court, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has begun removing 59,000 flex banners that dotted the cityscape. BBMP has encountered 134 complaints related to unlawful hoardings since the HC order. The high court issued a clear directive to the BBMP on August 2 ordering the immediate removal of all illicit flex banners and hoardings. The court also ordered a comprehensive report from the civic body and the state government within a span of three weeks and added that a fine of 50,000 per banner would be imposed on offenders. BBMPs track record revealed a history of non-compliance with prior court orders and directives, despite repeated warnings from high court. These unauthorized flex banners and hoardings had predominantly served as instruments of promotion for politicians and their respective supporters. Deputy chief minister, DK Shivakumar, who also holds the position of Bengaluru development minister said on August 8 that an impending ban on flex banners within Bengaluru, is set to be enforced by the 15th of August. This prohibition will extend its reach to political entities, private organizations, individuals, and even religious establishments. In three to four days, within August 15, we are going to ban flexes in the entire Bengaluru, Shivakumar told reporters. No one will be allowed to put up flexes. It doesnt matter if it is mine or my partys or political leaders or opposition parties no flexes would be allowed in Bengaluru. He said in order to implement the court directions, the BBMP will not allow flex banners across the city and violators will be charged a 50,000 fine. No political parties and leaders will be allowed to put up hoardings. I have spoken to MLAs cutting across party lines about the implementation of the ban. This will come into effect in two or three days, Shivakumar said. Within the context of this ongoing issue, the BBMP has encountered 134 complaints related to unlawful hoardings, leading to the registration of 44 First Information Reports (FIRs) since the HC orders. During the hearing on August 2, BBMP submitted a compliance report detailing the identification of 9,570 unauthorized flex banners in the city since the beginning of 2023. The court, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the report, deeming it inadequate and highlighting the fact that action had been taken primarily against the manufacturers of these banners. You are not taking action against people who are erecting these banners/flexes for their own glorification, and you are catching the manufacturers. It is something irrational, illogical, and unreasonable. It is clear that your officers are not serious about taking action. This (compliance report) is only an eyewash, a division bench headed by Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale said. Regarding the data, the court noted discrepancies, while a total of 9,570 unauthorized flex banners had been identified, only 80 complaints had been filed, and merely 53 FIRs had been registered. This discrepancy was especially glaring in a particular area of Bengaluru (West), where 2,521 unauthorized banners were identified, but only five complaints and six FIRs were registered. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said 'Bharat Mata' is apparently an unparliamentary word in the country, a day after some of his remarks made in Lok Sabha during the no-trust motion were expunged by Speaker Om Birla. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi leaves from Parliament House before PM Modi's speech on 'No Confidence Motion' in Lok Sabha. (ANI) "Apparently, Bharat Mata is an unparliamentary word in India nowadays," Gandhi told reporters when asked about his comments expunged from the records of Parliament. Gandhi left Parliament just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi replied to the no-confidence motion that was moved by the Congress on behalf of the opposition bloc INDIA, saying he had some work. He, however, returned to the house when the prime minister was speaking. Some of Gandhi's remarks on 'Bharat Mata' made during the second day of the debate on the no-confidence motion were expunged from the records late on Wednesday night by the Lok Sabha Speaker. In a major development, the US State Department has notified the US Congress about the Biden Administrations decision to manufacture GE-F 414 jet engines through full transfer of technology (ToT) route in India for LCA Mark II aircraft to be produced by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The notification was sent to Congress on July 28 and the deal will stand approved after 30 days as per requirement. PM Narendra Modi at White House with Bidens on June 22, 2023. The MoU between GE and HAL was signed on June 22, 2023 in Washington during Prime Minister Narendra Modis three day visit to the US. It is understood that the US Congress will approve the engine manufacturing deal as it is in no way detrimental to American national security interests. While the Modi government is tight-lipped about the entire deal, it is understood that the GE F 414 engines will be used to power the LCA MK II, the AMCA Mark I and Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter (TEDBF) for Indian aircraft carrier developed by Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) of the DRDO. It is learnt that at least 100 engines will be required to produce LCA Mark II fighter with some 200 engines needed for twin engine AMCA Mark I and TEDBF at the turn of this decade. The ADA is expected to develop the prototype of LCA Mark II by the end of 2024 or early 2025 with the program going on as per schedule. LCA Mark II model According to the joint statement issued at the end of PM Modis June visit to the US, both the leaders have committed their governments to working collaboratively and expeditiously to support the advancement of this unprecedented co-production and technology transfer proposal. While the LCA Mark I is powered by GE-404 engines, the much powerful GE-414 engine powers the multiple combat proven US F-18 multirole jet fighter. Washington watchers told HT that the US Congress has a window of 30 days to raise clarifications if any to the deal and will be approved by the end of this month. Given that India-US are close allies and partners in QUAD and in the Indo-Pacific, the notification to US Congress is seen as a formality as the bilateral relationship has had bipartisan consensus since the turn of the century. The GE-F-414 deal was worked out by National Security Advisor Ajit Dioval with his US counterpart Jake Sullivan during the inaugural dialogue of initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (iCET) on January 31, 2023 in Washington. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The central government on Thursday tabled in the Rajya Sabha a proposed law, effectively displacing a Supreme Court judgment that had sought to divest the executive of the absolute power to appoint the chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners (ECs) by including the Chief Justice of India (CJI) as a member of the selection panel. HT Image According to the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, the President will ratify the appointments following the recommendation of a selection body consisting of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP), and a Union cabinet minister who would be nominated by the PM. Even as the Constitution bench judgment of March 2 was clear that the selection panel proposed by it will continue to hold good till a law is made by Parliament, the apex court had extensively referred to a similar mechanism for selection of the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Lokpal while underlining the devastating effect of continuing to leave appointments in the sole hands of the Executive. The bill, moved by law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, stated that a search committee, headed by the cabinet secretary and comprising two other secretaries to the Government of India, shall shortlist a panel of five names for consideration of the selection committee for appointment as CEC and ECs. The selection panel can, however, also consider names other than those shortlisted by the search committee. It also clarified that when an EC is appointed as a CEC, they will get a maximum cumulative tenure of six years. Commenting on the qualification of the CEC and ECs, the bill says they should either be holding or have held a post equivalent to the rank of secretary to the Government of India and shall be persons of integrity, who have knowledge of and experience in management and conduct of elections. While the maximum term of CEC and ECs will be six years or until they attain the age of 65 years, the bill added that they shall not be eligible for reappointment. The bill, however, will not come up for discussion and passage in the monsoon session that culminates on Friday. The March 2 judgment by the Constitution bench was delivered in the absence of a law to regulate the appointment of CEC and ECs, as mandated by the Constitution. Instead, the appointments were carried out through the 1991 Transaction of Business Act, which the court had noted, lacked objective standards regarding the selection and qualification of the CEC and ECs. The five-judge bench verdict in March laid down that CEC and ECs will be chosen by a panel comprising the PM, LoP (or the leader of the single largest Opposition party in Parliament) and CJI, till Parliament passes a law on appointments. In making CJI one of the members of the selection panel for CEC and ECs, the Constitution bench, led by justice KM Joseph (since retired), had taken note that CJI was also one of the members in the selection panel to pick the CBI director as well as the chairperson and members of the Lokpal the anti-corruption ombudsman. We make it clear that this will be subject to any law to be made by Parliament, said the judgment. The inclusion of CJI was done dismissing the Centres objection that the participation of CJI in picking ECs cannot be the only guarantee of fairness in the selection process. The bench maintained at the time that it was imperative for the apex court to step in and put in place a mechanism because political dispensations of varying hues had failed in discharging their constitutional obligation under Article 324(2) that talked about framing a law to guide such appointments. Under Article 324(2) of the Constitution, the President is empowered to appoint CEC and ECs. This provision further stipulates that the President, who acts on the aid and advice of the Prime Minister and the council of ministers, will make the appointments subject to the provisions of any law made on that behalf by Parliament. However, with no such law having been framed, CEC and ECs used to be appointed by the PM and the council of ministers, under the seal of the President. The rules for such appointments were also silent on the qualification of a candidate, prompting the top court to come down heavily on the Centre for making such appointments without there being any objective criteria. The court in its judgment noted that the making of a law for such appointment was a constitutional imperative and an unavoidable necessity, but since Parliament has failed to do so, there is certainly a vacuum that needs to be filled through the intervention of the highest court of the land. Political parties undoubtedly would appear to betray a special interest in not being forthcoming with the law. The reasons are not far to seek. There is a crucially vital link between the independence of the Election Commission and the pursuit of power, its consolidation and perpetuation, rued the top court in the March verdict. In its judgment, the court stressed that a person, who is weak-kneed before the powers that be, cannot be appointed an EC. A person, who is in a state of obligation or feels indebted to the one who appointed him, fails the nation and can have no place in the conduct of elections, forming the very foundation of the democracy... It is important that the appointment must not be overshadowed by even a perception, that a yes man will decide the fate of democracy and all that it promises, it said. While the part of the judgment recording the final relief mentioned only about the interim arrangement, at one point in the judgment, the bench said: A law could not be one to perpetuate what is already permitted namely appointment at the absolute and sole discretion of the Executive. A law, as Gopal Sankaranarayanan (one of the lawyers appearing in the batch of matters demanding an objective and transparent mechanism to appoint ECs) points out, would have to be necessarily different. Reacting to the development, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the Prime Minister is weakening Indian democracy with one decision after another. I had already said that the Prime Minister does not believe in the Supreme Court of the country. His message is clear whatever order of the Supreme Court he does not like, he will bring a law in Parliament and overturn it. If the PM openly does not accept the Supreme Court, then it is a very dangerous situation, Kejriwal posted on X (formally Twitter). The BJP, however, said the government is well within its right to bring the bill. Read the Supreme Court judgment. It had suggested a transient method for appointment of the CEC in absence of a statutory mechanism. The government is well within its right to bring in a bill for the same, BJPs IT department head Amit Malviya posted on X (formerly Twitter). Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sushmita Dev said it is yet another attempt to control an institution which must be independent. The prime minister will appoint an union cabinet minister to replace the CJI as a member of the selection committee to recommend a chief election commissioner. The leader of the opposition will be a member (of the selection panel) but is bound to be outnumbered. This is yet another way to control an institution which must be independent. she said on X. A vacancy will arise in the poll panel early next year when election commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey demits office on February 14 on attaining the age of 65. His retirement will come just days before the likely announcement of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls scheduled by the Election Commission. In the past two occasions, the commission had announced parliamentary polls in the month of March. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON PANAJI: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has pulled up the Goa government for billing as much as 28% of its expenses under the other expenditure minor head, which, according to the CAG ,not only affected transparency in financial reporting but also prevented proper analysis of allocative priorities and quality of expenditure. CAG has found that as many as seven state departments in Goa had more than 50% of their expenditure booked under the other expenditure minor head. (File photo) In the CAG report on state finances for the financial year ending in March 2022, the CAG also found that as many as seven state departments had more than 50% of their expenditure booked under the other expenditure minor head when that category is to be resorted to only when the appropriate minor head has not been provided in the accounts. Finance Accounts 2021-22 of Government of Goa disclosed that expenditure aggregating 4,708.07 crore, constituting 28 % of the total expenditure ( 16,908 crore) was classified under Minor Head 800-Other Expenditure in 61 Major Heads under revenue and capital sections, the report pointed out. Similarly, receipts aggregating 502.85 crore, constituting four per cent of the total revenue receipts ( 14,286 crore) was classified under Minor Head 800-Other Receipts in 42 Major Heads, the report states. The booking of expenditure under omnibus Minor Head 800 increased by 887 crore (23%) during 2017-22, the report added. In the case of Major Head 2801 (Power) category, an expenditure of 1,777 crore (80 %) was booked under Minor Head 800. This expenditure was incurred towards cost of bulk supply of power from the National Thermal Power Corporation, the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited and and Rajasthan State Petroleum Corporation Limited. The expenditure could have been booked either partially or wholly under Minor Head 101 (Purchase of Power) falling under any of the Sub-Major Heads namely, 02 (Thermal Power Generation), 01 (Hydel Power Generation) or 06 (Rural Electrification), the Auditor said. Also Read: CAG report finds faults in database of health scheme, worlds largest During the exit conference, the finance department said a circular has been issued to all the departments to avoid booking under omnibus Minor Head 800, if an appropriate Minor Head is available under the relevant Major Head. Accounting of large amounts under the omnibus Minor Head 800 - Other expenditure/ Receipts affects transparency in financial reporting, as it fails to indicate disaggregated information on different activities of the Government separately in the accounts, the auditor said. The CAG report also reported that the during 2021-22, the states revenue receipts increased by 3,846 crore (37%); own tax revenue by 1,654 crore (40%); and non-tax revenue by 844 crore (30%), over the previous year. Fund transfers from the central government increased from 1,073 crore in 2012-13 to 4,694 crore in 2021-22. The states share in central taxes also increased by 1,061 crore and grants-in-aid by 247 crore over the previous year, the report added. Per capita income of the State stood at 5,44,865 which was significantly higher than the all-India per capita income of 1,72,913 during the year 2021-22. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday arrested the prime accused who was absconding in connection with the 1,000 crore Srijan scam related to an NGO in Bhagalpur area of Bihar, according to a statement from the agency. Opposition party legislators demonstrate against the multi-crore scam by Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti, in Patna on March 2, 2020 (Parwaz Khan /HT Photo) The accused identified as Rajni Priya, who was the secretary of NGO Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti (SMVSS), was arrested from Sahibabad in Uttar Pradesh. The central agency had registered 24 cases on the allegations of misappropriation of 1000 crore (approximately) of government funds by the NGO by fudging records. The scam came to light in 2017 after NGO founder Manorama Devis death. CBI had taken over the investigation of the cases in 2017 on the request of the then Bihar government led by JD (U)-BJP combine. It was alleged that the NGO officials had conspired with officials of multiple banks, including Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank, Bank of India, etc. for diversion of government funds into their accounts by using forged documents. Priya who is also the daughter-in-law of the NGO founder has allegedly been absconding since the beginning of probe. She was declared proclaimed offender by CBI court in November 2022. On June 28, 2020 the CBI had filed the charge sheet in the case including SMVSSs founder secretary Manorama Devi (late), her son Amit Kumar and his wife Rajni Priya, SMVSS manager Sarita Jha, director Subha Laxmi Jha, besides the then chief managers, then branch managers and other officials of the Bank of Baroda and the Indian Bank. Of the 27 accused in this case, 12 were lodged in Beur jail, seven of them got regular bail while the Patna high court stayed the arrest of four accused. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Centre has listed a bill for introduction in the Rajya Sabha to regulate the appointment, conditions of service and term of office of the Chief Election Commissioner and other election commissioners, the move which is likely to trigger a fresh tussle between the executive and the judiciary. Rajya Sabha proceedings underway during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi. (ANI) The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill also seeks to set up a procedure for the transaction of business by the Election Commission. As per the bill, the Election Commissioners shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of a Selection Committee consisting: (a) The Prime Minister- chairperson (b) The Leader of Opposition in the House of the People Member; (c) A Union cabinet minister to be nominated by the Prime Minister- Member The Supreme Court had in March delivered a landmark verdict aimed at insulating the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and election commissioners from the Executive's interference. It had ruled that their appointments will be done by the President on the advice of a committee comprising the prime minister, the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India. Reacting to the development, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday alleged that the prime minister is weakening Indian democracy with one decision after another. I had already said that the Prime Minister does not believe in the Supreme Court of the country. His message is clear - whatever order of the Supreme Court he does not like, he will bring a law in Parliament and overturn it. If the PM openly does not accept the Supreme Court, then it is a very dangerous situation, Kejriwal wrote on X (formally Twitter). The Supreme Court had formed an unbiased committee which would select unbiased election commissioners. Overturning the order of the Supreme Court, Modi ji made such a committee which would be under his control and through which he would be able to appoint the person of his choice as the Election Commissioner. This will affect the fairness of elections, Kejriwal alleged. In another tweet, Kejriwal claimed, The selection committee of election commissioners proposed by the prime minister will have two members from the BJP and one from the Congress. It is obvious that the election commissioners who will be elected will be loyal to the BJP. Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Saket Gokhale also reacted and alleged that the Modi government has again brazenly trampled upon an SC judgment & is making the Election Commission its own bunch of stooges". "Shocking In a Bill being tabled in Rajya Sabha today, the Chief Justice of India has been replaced by a Union Minister on the Selection Committee to appoint the Chief Election Commissioner & 2 ECs. SC in its judgment had clearly noted that the committee should be (A) Chief Justice of India (B) PM (C) Leader of Opposition In the Bill, the Modi Govt has replaced CJI with a Union Minister. Basically, now, Modi & 1 Minister will appoint the entire Election Commission. This is a clear step towards rigging the 2024 elections after fear has been struck into BJPs heart by the united INDIA alliance." he tweeted. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice KM Joseph, in a unanimous verdict, held that this norm will continue to hold good till a law on the issue is made by Parliament. A vacancy will arise in the poll panel early next year when Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey demits office on February 14 on attaining the age of 65 years. His retirement will come just days before the likely announcement of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls' scheduled by the Election Commission. On the past two occasions, the commission had announced parliamentary polls in March. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Chhattisgarh has started the process of recognising habitat rights of the Kamar tribe, a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) in a move that could eventually lead to establishing their customary rights over areas they inhabit in four forested districts of the state. Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday distributed habitat rights for 20 villages consisting of 20 to 30 families in each on average (PTI) Habitat rights are different and their recognition is more powerful than the recognition of forest rights alone. These rights once recognised by the government allows a tribe to assert their customary and traditional rights over the entire area they traditionally inhabited; and to conserve and ecologically manage the area; and, most importantly, to have a say on any proposal to divert forests. Experts said the move to recognise habitat rights is particularly significant in view of the provisions of Forest Conservation (Amendment) Act, passed in the ongoing session of Parliament which exempts unrecorded deemed forests from the ambit of the law. The Forest Conservation Rules 2022 removed a clause on obtaining prior consent of gram sabhas for forest clearance proposals related to any infrastructure project. In 2015, Madhya Pradesh recognised habitat rights of baigas in Dindori district. In Chhattisgarh, this is the first time habitat rights are being recognised. The Kamar tribe is spread across four districts--Gariyaband, Mahasamund, Dhamtari, and Kanker districts.The importance of habitat rights is that it recognises the rights of the community over the entire spread of their area. Four categories of rights are recognised-- their claim on lands; ecological rights which includes use of water bodies, forest resources, traditional knowledge; customary practices such as traditional attire, house building techniques; and economic activities like honey keeping, bamboo art and crafts etc, explained Bibhor Deo, project lead at United Nations Development Programme, Technical assistance on Forest Rights & Governance to Tribal Department of Chhattisgarh. These rights do not include hunting or trapping. On Wednesday, Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel distributed habitat rights for 20 villages consisting of 20 to 30 families in each on average. Now the process of recognising rights will continue in three other Kamar districts also. These communities live away from habitation in slightly isolated hamlets within forests, added Deo. Chhattisgarh has identified and listed seven such groups --Abujhmadia, Baiga, Birhor, Kamars, and Pahadi Korwas, which are tribes recognized by the central government, along with two communities, Bhunjia and Pandos, recognized by the state government. According to Forest Rights Act 2006, the district level committee shall, in view of the differential vulnerability of PVTGs amongst the forest dwellers, ensure that all receive habitat rights. Leadership of the gram sabha plays an important role in the application process of habitat rights. Habitat rights are one of the most important rights under Forest Rights Act 2006 because it is over their entire customary habitat. Naturally this makes it an important provision for conservation of forests and biodiversity rich areas. The Chhatisgarh governments move is particularly significant in the context of Forest Conservation Amendment Act because these habitats overlap with areas proposed for forest diversion for various projects or with deemed forests. These areas are also affected by monoculture plantations, said Tushar Dash, an independent expert and researcher on forest rights. He added that recognition of habitat rights is particularly difficult because of the large area involved which are often important for mineral reserves and other projects. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Congress on Thursday gave a notice of breach of privilege by Union home minister Amit Shah for allegedly not speaking the truth on Maharashtra farm widow Kalawati Bandurkar who Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had met in 2008. Union home minister Amit Shah. (ANI) The notice was given to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla by Congress MP and the partys whip in the House, Manickam Tagore. I submitted a privilege motion against Amit Shah for misleading Parliament yesterday on Smt Kalawati story to the Speaker, Tagore said on X, formerly known as Twitter, while sharing a copy of the notice. Earlier this week, Tagore had moved a breach of privilege notice against BJP lawmaker Nishikant Dubey, accusing him of misleading the Lower House through his allegations against Rahul and Sonia Gandhis links with China. Gandhi visited Kalawati in 2008 after her husband died by suicide following a farm crisis in Maharashtras Vidarbha region. During a debate on the no-confidence motion in the House on Wednesday, Shah spoke about 13 failed attempts to launch Gandhis political career and recalled how the latter narrated a tale of a poor woman named Kalawati. The Union minister said it was the Narendra Modi-led government which ensured that the widow got a home and benefited from various government schemes. The Congress, however, claimed Shahs statement was false and also shared a purported video of the farmer in which Kalawati is heard saying Gandhi helped her tide over poverty. In his notice, Tagore alleged that Shah had breached parliamentary privilege by not upholding the sanctity of accurate and truthful information when addressing the House. The issue in question pertains to a statement made by the Honble Minister of Home Affairs in Lok Sabha yesterday i e. 09.08.2023, wherein he provided details of facilities purportedly extended by the Government at the house of smt Kalawati, a farmers widow from Maharashtra. However, to the utter dismay of the concerned us, this statement has been vehemently refuted by the concerned Smt Kalawati herself to media channels who has explicitly stated that the modi Government has not provided any such facilities for the past eight years instead Sh Rahul gandhi helped her in building her house, he said. This discrepancy between the statement made by the Honble Union Minister and the reality as communicated by the affected Smt Kalawati raises serious doubts about the veracity of the information presented in the Lok Sabha and it highlights a potential breach of privilege under Rule 22, Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rules, he added. Tagore said he hoped the Speaker would take cognisance of the matter and consider initiating appropriate action. The breach of privilege motion, as outlined in Rule 22. Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rules, should be initiated to ensure the accountability and integrity of our parliamentary system, he said. Therefore, I request you to exercise your esteemed authority to move a breach of privilege motion against the Honble Union Minister for his statement which appears to be in direct contradiction to the ground reality and direct him to seek apology from the House of People for his wrong and irresponsible statement yesterday. The video clip and link of the same is attached herewith, he added. Meanwhile, Kalawati said she received 3 lakh for constructing a house under the state governments Gharkul Yojana in 2013, a ration card in 2009 and electricity connection in 2008 immediately after Gandhis visit to her home at Jalka. Delhi Police have found several flaws in the security arrangements in different places in the National Capital ahead of the Independence Day celebrations and G20 event. Delhi Police's Special Cell audited these places between 27 and 29th July 2023. Deputy Commisioner further asked police officials to brief the people and rectify these flaws in the security.(ANI) About 100 such places have been identified by the Special Cell of Delhi police where there are flaws in the security. READ | Independence Day 2023: Will India celebrate its 76th or 77th I-Day this year? Here's all you need to know After this, Deputy Commisioner of Police, HQ &TYR, Special cell, Delhi, has issued an order which said, During checking dated 27 July to 29 July, several shortcomings have been noticed in various Hotels, Guest Houses, busy markets, taxi stands, parking lots, cyber cafes, PG accommodations, Cinema Halls, Malls etc. Deputy Commisioner further asked police officials to brief the people and rectify these flaws in the security. In an order, it was further said, It is therefore, requested that local police officials under your jurisdiction may be advised to brief the concerned to rectify these defects accordingly and a compliance report to this effect may kindly be sent to this office for the perusal of senior officers. If the above area does not fall in your Jurisdiction, the same may be sent to the concerned District/Unit. India will be celebrating its 77th Independence Day on 15th August 2023. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hoist National Flag from the historic Red Fort and will address the nation afterwards. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has asked the Chhattisgarh government to provide details of the money spent through contractors in works sanctioned under the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) for the last five years, officials aware of the development said on Thursday. Chhattisgarh, which is one of the 13 mineral-rich states, has collected 10,513 crore under DMF so far and spent 7,928 crore, according to the state governments website (HT archive) In a July 27 letter, ED sought details of year-wise funds collected under the DMF and their allocation to the districts in Chhattisgarh, other than Korba. ED sought details about Korba district in 2022. HT has assessed the letter sent by ED to JP Maurya, director of the states ecology and mining department. The object of the District Mineral Foundation, set up as a non-profit body in districts by the state government, is to work for the interest and benefit of persons and areas affected by mining-related operations. Since 2015, mining companies have to deposit 10% of the royalty paid to the state government to DMF for major minerals such as coal and iron ore, with states having discretion to utilise the funds for socio-economic development in the mining areas. Chhattisgarh, which is one of the 13 mineral-rich states, has collected 10,513 crore under DMF so far and spent 7,928 crore, according to the state governments website. ED has also sought details of agencies and departments that carried out the stipulated works in the districts using the funds. Details of contractors firms to whom the works under DMF were allotted, along with their PAN card, GSTIN and addresses. Project work-wise details of payment made by these agencies /departments to the contractors firms along with details of bank accounts from which payment was made, the ED letter said. It also sought guidelines and regulations on utilising the DMF funds along with restrictions imposed, if any, for appropriate use of these funds. ED sought the information by August 4 under Section 54 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). I received the letter on August 1 and submitted the details a few days ago following the instructions from the department concerned, said a district collector, requesting anonymity. It was not immediately clear if ED has registered a formal case in connection with utilisation of DMF funds. The letter does not mention so, a state government official said, declining to be named. There is no Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) number mentioned in the letter, which means they have sought the information just for scanning the details and till now no case has been registered, the official added. JP Maurya did not respond to questions about the ED letter despite several attempts. According to the Chhattisgarh governments website, Of the total 7,928 crore expenditure, 1,404.93 crore has been spent on projects related to education and 651.99 crore on health services. A total of 7,874 projects related to agriculture and allied activities under DMF fund have been approved. Only 171.5 crore have been spent on environment protection and pollution control measures under DMF. According to a July 21 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on mining in Chhattisgarh, the state government declared 22 districts as mining affected areas in January 2016. The audit report observed that existing control measures prescribed by the mining department to curb illegal mining activities were not being compiled properly and pointed to the absence of a comprehensive database of quarry leases, and boundary pillars/boundary marks to indicate the demarcation of the quarry lease area. It said this resulted in non-identification of quarrying activities beyond the sanctioned lease areas. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ritesh Mishra State Correspondent for Chhattisgarh. Reports Maoism, Politics, Mining and important developments from the state. Covered all sorts of extremism in Central India. Reported from Madhya Pradesh for eight years. ...view detail RAIPUR: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has asked the Chhattisgah government to provide details of money spent through contractors under the District Mineral Fund (DMF) over the last five years, officials aware of the development said on Thursday. Mining companies have to deposit 10% of the royalty paid to the government in the district mining fund from 2015 for major minerals (File image) In a July 27 letter, ED sought details of year-wise funds collected under DMF scheme and its allocation to the districts other than Korba district in Chhattisgarh. ED sought details about Korba in 2022. Mining companies have to deposit 10% of the royalty paid to the government in the district mining fund from 2015 for major minerals such as coal and iron ore with state governments having discretion to utilise the funds for socio-economic development in the mining areas. HT has reviewed the letter sent by ED to J P Maurya, director of the states ecology and mining department. ED also sought details of agencies and departments who carried out the stipulated work in the districts using the funds. Details of contractors firms to whom the works under DMF were allotted, along with their PAN card, GSTIN and addresses. Project work-wise details of payment made by these agencies /departments to the contractors firms along with details of bank accounts from which payment was made, the ED letter said. It also sought guidelines and regulations on utilising the DMF funds along with restrictions imposed, if any, for appropriate use of these funds. ED sought the information by August 4. I received the letter on August 1 and submitted the details a few days ago following the instructions from the department concerned, said a district collector requesting anonymity It is not clear if ED has registered a formal case in connecion with utilisation of DMF funds. An official said the letter does not quote a Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) number which means that they have sought information for scanning the details. JP Maurya did not respond to questions about the ED communication despite several attempts. According to the Chhattisgarh governments website, 10,513 crore have been collected under DMF and the state has spent 7,928 crore. Of the total expenditure, 1404.93 crore has been spent on projects related to education and 651.99 crore on health services. A total of 7,874 projects related to agriculture and allied activities under DMF fund have been approved. Only 171.5 crore have been spent on environment protection and pollution control measures under DMF. According to a July 21 report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on mining in Chhattisgarh, the state government declared 22 districts as mining affected areas in January 2016. The audit report observed that existing control measures prescribed by the mining department to curb illegal mining activities were not being compiled properly and pointed to the absence of a comprehensive database of quarry leases, and boundary pillars/boundary marks to indicate the demarcation of the quarry lease area. It said this resulted in non-identification of quarrying activities beyond the sanctioned lease areas. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ritesh Mishra State Correspondent for Chhattisgarh. Reports Maoism, Politics, Mining and important developments from the state. Covered all sorts of extremism in Central India. Reported from Madhya Pradesh for eight years. ...view detail The government on Thursday tabled in the Rajya Sabha a proposed law that seeks to exclude the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from the panel to appoint the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs) months after a Supreme Court constitution bench revamped the selection mechanism for their appointments. Rajya Sabha proceedings. (ANI) In March, the court ruled a panel comprising the Prime Minister (PM), the Leader of the Opposition (LoP), and the CJI, shall appoint CEC and ECs until Parliament brings a law while underlining the independence of the Election Commission of India (ECI) requires a collegium. The court said that the purity of the election process must be maintained to preserve democracy or else it would lead to disastrous consequences. The constitution bench said the CJIs presence can usher in impartiality to a selection process when all governments want yes men in the poll panel. The government called it a fallacious and constitutionally impermissible suggestion that the executive cannot make an honest selection without the help of the judiciary. The court lamented that successive governments have completely destroyed the independence of ECI by ensuring no CEC gets the full six-year term since 1996. The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill says the panel for appointments of CEC and ECs shall comprise the PM, LoP in the Lok Sabha, and a Cabinet minister. It was introduced a day before the monsoon session is set to end. The bill is also not part of the 31 bills listed for passage during the session. The ECI is a three-member body with a CEC and two ECs. Under Constitution Article 324(2), the President is empowered to appoint the CEC and ECs. This provision stipulates the President, who acts on the aid and advice of the PM and the council of ministers, will make the appointments subject to the provisions of any law made on that behalf by Parliament. With no such law having been framed, the PM and the council of ministers appointed CEC and ECs under the Presidents seal. The rules for such appointments were also silent on the qualification of a candidate. Trinamool Congress Rajya Saha member Sushmita Dev opposed the proposed law saying the CJI should head the collegium. This bill defies the March 3 order of a five-judge Supreme Court bench. We must insist on CJI heading the selection committee and the PM and Opposition Leader as other members or else CEC may be a puppet, Dev said. The bill says CEC and ECs should have held the post equivalent to the secretary to the government of India and shall be persons of integrity, who have knowledge of and experience in management and conduct of elections. It says a Cabinet secretary-led search committee with two members not below the rank of secretary having knowledge and experience in matters relating to elections, shall prepare a panel of five persons for the posts. This [the panel] would then be sent to the Selection Committee chaired by the Prime Minister and including the Leader of Opposition or leader of the single largest Opposition party in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet minister nominated by the PM. The bill says the term of the CECs and ECs remained unchanged at six years or until they reach the age of 65 or whichever is earlier. The salary of the CEC and ECs would be the same as the Cabinet Secretary. The appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners shall not be invalid merely by reason of any vacancy in or any defect in the constitution of the Selection Committee, says the bill. In its ruling in March, the Supreme Court said ECI must have an independent secretariat, rule-making powers as well as an independent budget to be able to function independently. It added the process of removal of ECs should be on par with CEC, which can be removed only through an impeachment process like a judge of a constitutional court. The judgment came as the Opposition has questioned the independence of ECI citing the declaration of poll dates and alleged dereliction in acting against the leaders of the ruling party for violation of poll regulations. It brought on par the selection of CEC and ECs with the appointment of the Central Bureau of Investigation chief, who is also selected through the same composition of the collegium. The courts order came on four public interest litigations for directives for setting up a neutral and independent selection panel for recommending names to the President for appointments as CEC and ECs. The petitions complained that Parliament has not framed legislation despite a mandate under Article 324(2). The five-judge bench questioned the Union government over the lack of regulations to guide the appointment of CEC and ECs while hearing the pleas in November last year. It questioned the government if it was not defeating the wishes of the framers of the Constitution by not framing a law. The court added it could examine the necessity of having a better system. It said the absence of a law for the appointment of ECs has resulted in an alarming trend. The government told the court that the participation of the CJI in picking ECs cannot be the only guarantee of fairness in the selection process. The court asked the government to produce the file related to the appointment of Arun Goel as an election commissioner on November 18 even as the bench was seized of the matter. The file was produced on November 24 and prompted the bench to question the tearing hurry and haste shown in appointing Goel. The court wondered if the then Union law minister Kiren Rijiju followed any yardstick to zero in on Goel from the pool of four officers picked for the selection. This came after Rijijus criticism of the apex courts model of selecting judges through the collegium system. The court clarified that it will not scrutinise the correctness of Goels appointment. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: The Gujarat government told the Supreme Court on Thursday that it had no vested interest in ordering the early release of 11 life convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case last year, even as the petitioners argued that the release was illegal as it ignored a trial court order directing the convicts to undergo a default sentence of two years for not paying a fine of 2,000. Supreme Court has dismissed a review petition filed by the 2002 Gujarat riots survivor Bilkis Bano, seeking a review of its May 2022 order (AP Photo) Each of the 11 convicts was held guilty by a trial court in Mumbai in January 2008 for three gang-rapes, including that of Bilkis, and 14 murders committed by them during the 2002 Gujarat riots. With none of the convicts having deposited the requisite fine, admitted even in the states checklist prepared at the time of remission, the petitioners said there was no way they could come out without serving the default sentence of 34 years (two years each for 17 crimes) and termed the states decision to be direct interference with a judicial order. Also Read: Gujarat objects to pleas against early release of convicts in Bilkis Bano case A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan posted the matter for hearing on August 17 for the state government represented by additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju to respond to these submissions. The petitioners comprising Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and former CPI MP Subhashini Ali, among others, questioned the release claiming that the crime was of such a nature that the convicts deserved no leniency. They stated that this was not a criminal matter but an executive order under challenge and the convicts could not object to the PILs (public interest litigation) as the fundamental right to a fair trial would not be available to them once the conviction has attained finality. The bench said, There may not be any fundamental right but there exists a constitutional right and a statutory right. The purpose is to see that the convict reintegrates into society. Also Read: Convicts in Bilkis case driven by blood thirsty approach, SC told Advocate Nizam Pasha, appearing for a woman rights body, argued that the state government has been consistently favouring the convicts, to which the bench said that the occasion did not arise as the trial of the case was shifted out of the state to Mumbai. Pasha said, The case was rightly transferred out as there was total failure of the state to grant justice to the victims. With the initiation and grant of remission, the matter has travelled back to the same state which has consistently favoured the convicts. The state represented by advocate Swati Ghildiyal objected by saying, We have no vested interest in this case. It came to be decided after a bench headed by justice Ajay Rastogi (since retired) directed us to do so. She referred to a decision of May 13, 2022 by a bench of justices Rastogi and Vikram Nath directing the state to decide the remission plea of a convict Radheshyam Bhagwandas Shah in the Bilkis case. This decision later became the reason for the state to consider remission for the other 10 convicts as well under a 1992 policy that was in force on the date of their conviction. Arguing for another PIL petitioner, advocate Vrinda Grover said, The entire remission is ex-facie illegal as they had to serve 34 years in default sentence. The state government had to see if they have completed the sentence as this amounts to direct interference with a judicial order. Also Read: Supreme Court questions own order in Bilkis Bano case In a case of life sentence, the court asked at what point of time is the default sentence to operate. Grover cited judicial decisions to show a remission order does not operate against the default sentence and in case of life convicts, the default sentence will arise when they become eligible for premature release on completion of 14 years of jail term. In the present case, Grover said the checklist prepared by the jail advisory committee recorded the fact that none of the 11 convicts had paid the fine but wrongly calculated the period of default sentence as six years. This fine was directed to be paid to the victim Bilkis Bano by the Bombay high court while deciding the appeals against conviction in 2017. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for Moitra, said the state government has a mandate to preserve the rule of law by protecting the rights of women and children. In a case of this nature where the crimes took place in an environment of sectarian and communal violence, Jaising said that the remission ought to have been considered in this context. The bench told the petitioners that it had already heard the victim (Bilkis) on the issue of remission and wondered why the PILs should be entertained on the same issue. Advocate Aparna Bhatt, appearing for Ali, reminded the court that the Gujarat riots were a sensitive matter where the court monitored the trials and directed a probe by a special investigation team on a petition filed by the national human rights commission. Jaising told the court that the Constitution casts a fundamental duty on every citizen to renounce practices derogatory of women and promote communal harmony. She said, A public authority has acted capriciously and I am here to uphold the rule of law. The decision of the Telangana government revoking a 27-year-old government order (GO No. 111), which prevented construction activity and establishment of industries within 10-km radius of major water bodies Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar -- and their catchment areas on the outskirts of Hyderabad, has resulted in a big boom in the real estate in the western parts of the city. The Telangana government revoked a 27-year-old government order that prevented construction activity and establishment of industries within 10-km radius of Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar- and their catchment areas on the outskirts of Hyderabad. (HT Archives) Greater Hyderabad, which is geographically one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country, is all set for further expansion with the unlocking of 132,000 acres of land from restrictions following the revocation of the GO. According to experts in the real estate market, this would mean the city, which is presently spread over 650 square kilometres, would be expanded by another 600 sq km of area making it the biggest city in the country. In another five to six years from now, Hyderabad will become a mega global city, competing with the top cities in the world. The state government is also gearing up to provide infrastructural facilities to meet the growing requirements of the city, said V Rajasekhar Reddy, senior member of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers of India (CREDAI), Telangana chapter. It was on May 23 that the Telangana cabinet announced scrapping of the GO 111 and in less than two months, the real estate activity has picked up at a rapid pace. The state government has begun auctioning off government lands available in the areas which had earlier come under the purview of the GO. On Thursday, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) put up for auction 100 acres of land at Budvel under Rajendranagar mandal (block), which falls within 10 km radius of Himayatsagar reservoir and is closer to the Outer Ring Road (ORR), the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and the IT corridor. HMDA divided the land into 14 parcels, each comprising 3.47 acres to 14.33 acres and put them up for auction. The response was huge. While HMDA was expecting to generate a revenue of 3,000- 3,500 crore from the auction of the entire land, it generated 2,061 crore from the auction of seven plots, measuring a total of 58.31 acres, till evening. On August 3, HMDA raised 3,320 crore through auction of 45.33 acres at Kokapet, which has emerged as a major growth centre, with the highest bid going in for 100.75 crore per acre, an all-time record in the state. The government also made another 121 crore through the auction of residential plots at Mokila layout, which was under the purview of the GO 111 till recently. Apart from the government lands which went in for highest-ever prices in the auctions, several private ventures have started coming up in and around Osmansagar and Himayatsagar catchment areas. The entire western part of Hyderabad will emerge as another booming city once all these projects come up. What is more attractive for the real estate investors is that the government has developed massive infrastructure in these areas, Reddy said. A HMDA spokesperson said the recently auctioned Kokapet layout had been provided with the most modern infrastructure like wide roads, electricity and water connections. The plots are meant for high rise buildings with unlimited Floor Space Index, the spokesperson said. The layout is close to the social infrastructure like financial district, Information Technology hubs like Madhapur and Nanakramguda and has connectivity to the main parts of the city through Outer Ring Road and other connecting roads. During the cabinet meeting on July 31, the Telangana government also took a decision to expand metro-rail connectivity to all corners of the state at a cost of 60,000 crore in four phases. In the next couple years, there would be metro rail connectivity to the international airport, which en route touches several rapidly growing areas, state municipal administration minister K T Rama Rao announced after the cabinet meeting. However, the massive demand from the big realtors for the lands unlocked after the withdrawal of GO 111 also triggered apprehensions in several quarters. The average price of 73 crore at which the land was sold out at Kokapet will naturally result in abnormal hike in the land prices in the adjacent areas, making the housing unaffordable for the middle-class or even upper middle class people, another realtor said on condition of anonymity. He said only rich and mighty would be able to buy luxury villas and flats in the western part of Hyderabad and it would become a city only for the neo-rich. It will result in lopsided development, he argued. Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin on Thursday said that by artificially escalating land prices in Greater Hyderabad, the state government had made it impossible for the common people, especially the middle class, to own a house or plot. These escalated land prices are not only illogical but also highly inflated, Nizamuddin said, adding that the government had rendered the western Hyderabad zones prohibitively expensive for the general populace. The CREDAI representative said not just in the western parts, Hyderabad has been witnessing expansion in the other three sides as well, particularly towards southern side, where there is an industrial growth. We are aware that the abnormal increase in land prices would affect the middle class. We explained the same to KT Rama Rao and he has agreed to go in for a planned expansion of the city, keeping in view the growing housing needs of common people, Rajasekhar Reddy said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Srinivasa Rao Apparasu Srinivasa Rao is Senior Assistant Editor based out of Hyderabad covering developments in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana . He has over three decades of reporting experience. ...view detail Bengaluru A group of IIM-Bangalore faculty members has written an open letter on Tuesday to corporates to de-fund the spread of misinformation and hate speech through news channels and social media. (Hindustan Times) A group of 17 IIM-Bangalore faculty members, comprising both current and retired staff, has written an open letter on Tuesday to corporates to de-fund the spread of misinformation and hate speech through news channels and social media. In an open letter, written in their personal capacity, 11 present and six retired IIM-B faculty members said that they are drawing the attention of corporate India leaders to the fragile state of internal security with an increasing risk of violent conflicts in the country. Noting that over the past few years, an open and public exhibit of hatred towards minorities in public discourse has become common practice in India, in political discourse, television news, as well as on social media, the signatories said, the usage of othering, dehumanising and demonising language while referring to minorities has reached alarming levels, and acts of violent hate crimes, often by organised and radicalised groups, against minorities have seen a rise. The inaction of police and security forces during recent communal riots, as well as the acquittal or pardoning of culprits involved in rape and mass murder during previous instances of riots, coupled with the silence of authorities, has signalled a glaring level of complacency in place of urgency by the government, the faculty wrote. These trends concern corporate India, as they point towards an increasing risk of violent conflicts in the country, it said. In the worst case, such acts of violence could culminate into a genocide, which would annihilate the social fabric as well as the economy of the country, casting a long dark shadow over Indias future. Corporate India, which hopes to reach new frontiers of international growth and innovation in the 21st century, cannot afford to live with even a small possibility of such a scenario, the letter said. The signatories said that India has a long history of tolerance and peaceful coexistence of different faiths, they would like to believe that the risk of large-scale violent conflicts or genocide in India is still small. However, this risk is no longer close to zero, as the rapidly increasing levels of radicalization of citizens are fermenting an atmosphere conducive to large-scale violence being triggered due to unexpected disturbances, they said. The leaders of corporate India have an important and substantial role to play in curbing the spread of hate and misinformation, they said, urging corporates to stop funding hate, support responsible stakeholders and develop a welcoming work culture. The signatories include Anubha Dhasmana, Arpita Chatterjee, B K Chandrashekar, Deepak Malghan, Hema Swaminathan, Krishna T Kumar, Malay Bhattacharyya, Mira Bakhru, P D Jose, Prateek Raj, Raghavan Srinivasan, Rajluxmi V Murthy, Ritwik Banerjee, Shalique M S, Soham Sahoo, Srinivasan Murali and Vinod Vyasulu. India is gearing up to celebrate its 77th Independence Day on August 15- marking the country's independence from British Raj 76 years ago. The day honours our freedom fighters and their contribution for the country. Social gatherings, cultural events, hoisting the tricolour or tiranga, watching parades, citizens singing patriotic songs, and more will be witnessed on the day. Independence Day: The day honours our freedom fighters and their contribution for the country. 1. How long does it take to sing the Indian National Anthem, 'Jana Gana Mana'? -52 seconds -1 minute 30 seconds -45 seconds -1 minute 10 seconds The Indian National Anthem, "Jana Gana Mana," takes approximately 52 seconds to sing when sung at the proper pace. It's important to note that only the first stanza of the originally written song by Rabindranath Tagore is adopted as the National Anthem, and it is this stanza that is sung in 52 seconds. 2. Why was August 15, 1947, chosen for India's independence? -Anniversary of Japan's surrender in WWII -Coincided with a Lunar Eclipse -Lord Mountbatten's Birthday -Traditional Indian Timing The selection of August 15, 1947, as India's Independence Day was less about historical resonance within India and more a choice by the British. Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy, advanced the original departure date, picking August 15 due to its significance as the anniversary of Japan's WWII surrender, a day he deemed lucky. 3. How many countries celebrate their Independence Day on Aug 15, apart from India? -0 -1 country -3 countries -5 countries On August 15, several nations, from the vast subcontinent of India to the peninsular regions of Korea, mark their respective days of independence or significant national observances. While India commemorates its emancipation from British rule, both South and North Korea remember their liberation from Japanese occupation. The Republic of the Congo celebrates its independence from France, and Bahrain observes the day it was recognized as a sovereign entity post-British treaty relations. Notably, the tiny nation of Liechtenstein also joins this list, celebrating its National Day. This date serves as a reminder of the shared histories and significant milestones in the world's timeline. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR HT News Desk Follow the latest breaking news and developments from India and around the world with Hindustan Times' newsdesk. From politics and policies to the economy and the environment, from local issues to national events and global affairs, we've got you covered. ...view detail Putting an end to speculation that the Indian civil aviation sector could be affected due to issues faced by engine maker Pratt & Whitney (P&W), the Indian aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday said that the impact on IndiGo, the largest Indian passenger airline, will be minimal. P&W engines: Minimal impact on the capacity of Indian carriers, says DGCA The announcement is likely to bring relief to the airline and travellers who were expected to face the brunt. This comes after the engine maker recently announced that there were material anomalies on the PW1100G engines globally, affecting approximately 200 engines. P&W issued the Service Instructions (SI) enlisting the serial numbers of the engine series which are required to be removed for performing the Angle Ultrasonic Scan Inspection (AUSI) during the shop visit and are accordingly required to be removed before September 15, 2023. The impact of this Service Instruction on the fleet of Indigo, as ascertained from them, is minimal and only two engines which are currently operational in their fleet would be required to be removed out of a total of 13 affected engines (of which 11 are currently non-operational), a senior DGCA official said. This implies that there would be little or no impact on the capacity of Indian carriers during the ensuing high season, the official added. P&W had last month revealed that hundreds of its PW1100G engines will need to be returned and checked for microscopic cracks due to a rare condition in the powdered metal used to produce some of the engines high-pressure turbine disks. As per reports, 1,200 of its engines will need to be returned globally and inspected over the course of the next year : 200 by the end of this summer, followed by a further 1,000 before September 2024. The PW1100G engine, also known as the GTF (geared turbofan) engine, is commonly used to power the A320neo and A321neo. The popular narrowbody aircraft are used globally and IndiGo was believed to be one among the airlines to be most affected. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON 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 chemical analysis report in connection with the water contamination case that led to six deaths and hospitalisation of 214 people in Chitradurgas Kavadigarahatti area has found the presence of Vibrio cholerae bacteria, officials familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The incident led to 6 deaths AND hospitalisation of 214 people. (HT) The chemical analysis report confirmed the presence of Vibrio cholerae bacteria in the contaminated water samples.This resulted in vomiting and diarrhoea among those affected. No poisonous content was found, a health department official Thirumalesh said. Last week, the FSL report had also said that no poisonous content was found in the samples. According to the report, Vibrio cholera species of bacteria was found in the culture. The analysis of samples collected from the three deceased also revealed that the water supplied between July 30 and August 1 was unfit for consumption. The water contamination cases in Kavadigarahatti had gone up to 214 since August 1, officials said, adding that 47 people were discharged on Tuesday. Since the first case was reported on August 1, five deaths were reported. The deceased were identified as Parvathamma (75), Rudrappa (50), Manjula(23), Raghu (27) and Praveen (28). According to officials, there are 735 houses in Kavadigarahatti and 220 houses were supplied with contaminated water. Following the incident, the water supplied by the city municipality was stopped and alternate arrangements were made.The health department had also taken door-to-door survey in other residential areas of the city. Additionally, Asha workers were appointed to go to the houses of the victims regularly to inquire about their health, according to officials. Meanwhile, Karnataka Lokayukta summoned top government officials on August 24 in connection with the case. Urban development department secretary from Bengaluru, Chitradurga district commissioner, Chitradurga municipality administrative director, district health officer, municipality commissioner, AEE (assistant executive engineer) and health inspectors have been summoned. Expressing concern over the deaths, Lokayukta justice BS Patil said that a suo motu case has already been registered in connection with the incident. He has also sought a report from the concerned officials. Chief minister Siddaramaiah had ordered a probe into the incident and directed the district authorities to initiate stern action against the officers found guilty. The authorities have sent a report recommending suspension of AEE R Manjunath Giraddi and JE (junior engineer) SR Kiran Kumar, attached to Chitradurga municipality. Valve operator Prakash was also suspended by the district commissioner. Two 'Made in India' ALH Dhruv choppers would be used for showering petals during the main Independence Day event at the Red Fort on August 15, for the first time, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver his tenth straight speech. The choppers made by the HAL are a significant achievement of the defence public sector unit which came in for praise by the Prime Minister in his reply to no confidence motion on Thursday. The showering of petals at the venue over the main Independence Day gathering near Red Fort started in 2021 after which Russian-made Mi-17 V5s were inducted. READ | Delhi Police detects flaws in security arrangements in national capital ahead of Independence Day celebrations This year, two ALH Dhruv choppers would be used for the showering petals after the Prime Minister hoists the flag at the Red Fort, defence sources said. The choppers made by the HAL are a significant achievement of the defence public sector unit which came in for praise by the Prime Minister in his reply to no confidence motion on Thursday. READ | Independence Day 2023: Will India celebrate its 76th or 77th I-Day this year? Here's all you need to know The petals will be showered by the choppers in the Amrut formation which have been drawing loud applause and cheers from the audience in the previous two events. The Prime Minister will give his speech after the showering of petals, to honour the participators which will include 1800 special guests. Nearly 1,800 special guests drawn from various walks of life from all over the country will be part of Independence Day celebrations in the Capital, defence ministry spokesperson A Bharat Bhushan Babu tweeted. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Mysuru HT Image A large number of gram panchayat members of a taluk in Raichur district resigned after a Muslim member was elected as its president, officials have said. The members alleged that the post of the president should have been reserved for the general category or the OBCs. Members of the R H Camp-1 gram panchayat in Sindhanur taluk resigned on Monday after a Muslim member, Rehman Pasha was elected as the president of the local body in the election held on August 3. The presidents post in the gram panchayat is reserved for the general category every two terms. The last time a member from the general category was elected president was in 2008. This term the post of the president was reserved for the general category. The members who resigned said that they were angry that the reservation for the general category had been given away. They also alleged that some people had reluctantly participated in the presidents election held on August 3 due to political pressure. They have demanded the cancellation of the election and urged for a re-election. Although there are reports that say a total 19 members have resigned, Rehamat Pasha, president of gram panchayat said,The number of resigned members is 15, and not 19 as published in the media. Of the 38 members of the gram panchayat, 30 members belong to OBCs and other castes. Seven members are from SC-ST and only one is from the Muslim community. The other community said that one among them should have been elected as president. Pasha said there is no discrimination among Hindus and Muslims in the panchayat, adding that all the members are living in harmony and striving for development. I have spoken to the members who resigned from their posts and persuaded them to take back the resignation. All the members will take back their resignations on Thursday and there is no commotion now, he said, adding that if the GP members do not withdraw their resignations in 15 days, he would move the matter to the taluk panchayat executive officer for further action. However, GP member Pradeep Kumar, who lost the election has alleged, Nineteen members have the support of the BJP and the JD(S) in the panchayat, but the Congress has 17 members support, and a Congress backed member was elected as president through cross-voting. There is no communal angle in this. All the members are working together and they have opposed the president not because he is a Muslim, but since he managed to win through cross -voting. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON New Delhi The government recognises the suffering of the people of Manipur, sees the crimes against women in the state as unacceptable, is committed to bringing perpetrators to justice, and will ensure that a new dawn of peace will arise in the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Parliament on Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the Lok Sabha on Manipur crisis. (PTI) The PM added that India, and Parliament, stand firmly with Manipur, and the government is committed to steering the state back to the path of development. Modi contrasted the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) governments track record in boosting security and development in the North-East with that of past Congress governments, blaming the opposition party for the problems in the region. He also pointed out that given the churn in global politics and the rise in importance of Southeast Asia, the importance of North-East states will grow in the years to come. In a speech that lasted for two hours and 15 minutes, Modi first mentioned Manipur a little over 90 minutes into his speech, soon after the Opposition walked out claiming that he hadnt addressed the issue. Modi referred to the court judgment in a reference to Manipur high courts decision to consider Meities of the valley as scheduled tribes that triggered unrest and opposition among tribals, particularly Kukis, of the hills as leading to the cycle of violence. Many families have suffered. There have been grave crimes against women, this is unacceptable. Our government is committed to ensuring the strictest punishment against perpetrators, Modi said, adding that he wanted to assure the citizens that a new dawn of peace will arise in the state. I want to assure the people of Manipur that India is with you. Parliament is with you. We will together find a solution to this challenge. We will establish peace again. I assure the people of Manipur that we will spare no effort in returning the state to the path of development. Modis speech came at the end of a three-day debate triggered by a no-confidence motion filed by Congresss Gaurav Gogoi on July 26, citing the grave injustice in Manipur and the PMs silence on the issue. When the session commenced, in the wake of the prolonged crisis in the state, the government had offered to discuss Manipur, with home minister Amit Shah willing to respond to the Oppositions concerns, but the newly constituted Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc insisted that the PM speak on the ethnic violence in the state, and saw the no-confidence motion as a way to force Modi to address the issue. The debate saw Opposition leaders, including Congresss MP Rahul Gandhi, criticise the PM for failing to visit Manipur or speak on the issue, slam the central and state governments administrative failure in restoring peace despite violence having persisted for over three months, demand the dismissal of state chief minister N Biren Singh, highlight the gruesome incidents of sexual assault that stirred the nations conscience, and point to the deepening Meitei-Kuki political, emotional and territorial divide in the state. For his part, Shah, in a speech on Wednesday, provided a historical context of ethnic violence and the insecurities felt by both communities, outlined the steps taken by the government to boost security, claimed that the violence had peaked in May and consistently dipped since, and appealed for peace and dialogue. It was in this acrimonious context that Modi stepped in to intervene on Thursday evening. Modi said that if the Opposition had agreed to Shah when he offered a full discussion on Manipur, all elements of the issue could have been debated. The country was surprised that the opposition had spread so many lies.Amit Shah, without getting into politics, patiently explained the situation, expressed the governments concern, and sought to make citizens aware of the issue. It was an honest effort to find ways to resolve the impasse in Manipur but the Opposition doesnt want to do anything beyond politics. Claiming that he personally had an emotional attachment to the region and had extensively travelled in the Northeast, Modi presented three examples to showcase the Congresss approach to the region. The first was of March 5, 1966 when the then PM Indira Gandhi used the Air Force against innocent civilians in Mizoram. Werent citizens of Mizoram our citizens? Even today, Mizoram mourns on March 5 every year. It hasnt forgotten till now. And Congress has hidden this fact from the country, an angry Modi said. The second incident, he said, was from 1962 when the then PM, Jawaharlal Nehru, in the wake of Chinese aggression against India and ingress across the North-East, said in a radio broadcast that his heart went out to the people of Assam. People of Assam still remember that. Nehru had left them to their fate. And the third incident, Modi said, in a clear attempt to highlight the contradictions between the Congress and socialist outfits that now constitute the India bloc, was socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohias criticism of the Nehru government for not developing the region. Lohia said that a region of more than 30,000 square miles has been kept in cold storage and deprived of development. This is your attitude to the North-East. In contrast, the PM pointed out that in nine years, he had travelled to the region 50 times while Cabinet ministers had spent over 400 nights in not just the state capitals but also district headquarters of the North-East states. He said that since there were fewer parliamentary seats from the region, the Congress didnt care much for it, and he could claim with responsibility that the Congress had given birth to the problems in the region. Separatism was rife, the Indian states civil servants had to pay separatist groups to be able to function, national anthem wasnt allowed, Modi said, drawing a comparative picture. But for him and his government, Modi said, the region was a part of their heart. In Manipur, he said that the government in the last six years had brought an end to blockades and strikes. The more we keep politics away, the closer we will come to resolution. He also pointed out that with Southeast Asia developing, ASEAN becoming more important, Indias northeast will soon become a centre point. I can see it and thats why our government has made development in the region a top priority, Modi said, pointing to the boost in infrastructure and connectivity across the northeast in his term. Hitting back, the Congress accused the PM of being gripped with Congress-phobia. ... In these two hours, all he did was to twist the name of our country - India. There is a Congress-phobia inside that we can see because the prime minister spent most of his time blaming the Congress party, partys deputy leader in LS Gaurav Gogoi said. Expressing anguish and disappointment over continues disruptions and logjams in Parliament, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda on Thursday said democracy can be saved only if everybody maintains dignity and decorum. Former PM HD Deve Gowda(HT_PRINT) The 90-year-old Janata Dal (Secular) (JDS) party chief and member of Rajya Sabha from Karnataka expressed his displeasure about acts of shouting, name-calling and sloganeering which marred the proceedings during almost the whole of Parliament's monsoon session. "I came to attend Parliament despite ill-health, but have been very disappointed by what is happening. From my long experience, I say this is a new low. Democracy can be saved only if everybody maintains dignity and decorum," Gowda said in a post on X, (formerly Twitter). "Shouting, name-calling, sloganeering will only destroy what is left of our system," he added. Parliament has been witnessing a logjam over a number of issues, including the violence in Manipur, since the beginning of the Monsoon Session on July 20. Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day after its proceedings resumed post lunch on Thursday after Leader of Opposition M Mallikarjun Kharge demanded a discussion under Rule 167 on Manipur and urged the presence of PM Modi in the house. Members of the ruling parties were on their feet protesting against Kharge's demand. On this, Kharge said, "What will happen if the prime minister comes to the House? Is he 'paramatma' (almighty)? He is not God." Sloganeering from ruling benches intensified after Kharge's remark on the PM. Meanwhile, the Centre introduced in the Rajya Sabha a contentious bill that seeks to replace the Chief Justice of India with a cabinet minister in the panel for selection of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners, amid an uproar by the opposition. The opposition leaders have been demanding a full-fledged discussion on the issue including a statement by the prime minister in Parliament. Both houses -- Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha -- have seen repeated adjournments amid massive ruckus by the opposition leaders. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday carried out searches at the residence of a man over his alleged links with the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) in Karimnagar district in Telangana, officials familiar with the matter said. An NIA team, acting on a tip-off, raided the residence of one Tafreez Khan (20) at Karkhana Gadda in Karimnagar district in Telangana. A team of police personnel from Telangana Armed Reserve Police Force assisted the NIA team during the searches. (HT Archives) An NIA team, acting on a tip-off, raided the residence of one Tafreez Khan (20) at Karkhana Gadda near Husseinipura Colony at around 4am. A team of police personnel from Telangana Armed Reserve Police Force assisted the NIA team during the searches. We have no information about the searches all we did was provide security at the area as per the request of NIA, a local police officer said on condition of anonymity. Khan was not at his house when the searches took place, officials said, adding that he left for Muscat eight months ago in search of a job. A resident of Jagtial district, Khan, staying at his in-laws home before leaving for abroad, officials said. The NIA team questioned his family members. They also seized some documents and literature from Khans house and left the place within three hours, the police officer quoted above said. The NIA team also carried out searches at a few other alleged hideouts of the PFI in Adilabad district. In September 2022, too, NIA authorities conducted searches at Khans residence and a few other places in the neighbouring Jagitial district. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Sleuths of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday carried out searches at the residence of a suspected activist of the banned organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) in Telanganas Karimnagar, people familiar with the matter said. (Representative Photo) A team of NIA from Hyderabad, acting on a tip-off, with assistance from a team of Telangana Armed Reserve Police Force swooped on the residence of one Tafreez Khan, 20, at Karkhana Gadda near Husseinipura Colony at around 4am on Thursday, said the people mentioned above. We have no information about the searches and all that we have done was to provide security arrangements at the area as per the request of the NIA, a local police official said on condition of anonymity. Khan was not there at his residence when the searches took place, police said. The NIA team questioned his family members. They reportedly seized some documents and literature from Khans house and left the place within three hours, the police official quoted above said. In September 2022, too, the NIA raided the residence of Khan and a few other places in the neighbouring Jagitial district. The NIA team also carried out searches at a few other hideouts of the PFI in Adilabad. The home ministry, through a gazette notification issued on 27 September 2022, imposed a ban on PFI and its eight affiliates Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO), National Womens Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala, effectively declaring them as terror organisations. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday invoked how late Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa was humiliated in the state assembly in 1989. Late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa Speaking during the debate on the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha against the Narendra Modi government, Nirmala Sitharaman said, I agree that women suffering anywhere - Manipur, Delhi, Rajasthan - will have to be taken seriously. No politics played. But I want to remind this entire House of one incident which happened on 25th March 1989 in the Tamil Nadu assembly. Then she hadn't become chief minister Jayalalithaa's saree was pulled in Tamil Nadu in the assembly. She was the leader of opposition. The DMK members who were seated there, heckled her and laughed at her... Has the DMK forgotten Jayalalithaa? You pulled her saree, you demeaned her. That day Jayalalithaa took an oath that she will never come to the House unless she becomes the CM. Two years later, she returned as the CM of Tamil Nadu... Sitharaman also hit back at MP Kanimozhi by reminding the DMK of how it watched as Jayalalithaa was humiliated in the assembly. Why Jayalalithaas saree was pulled in the assembly? On March 25, 1989, Jayalalithaa, the Leader of the Opposition and the first woman in the state to occupy that post, was assaulted in the Tamil Nadu assembly. Violence erupted in the assembly between members of her party and MLAs of Karunanidhis DMK. Karunanidhi called her all sorts of names after she called him a criminal. Later, she was physically assaulted and the loose end of her saree was pulled out. Incensed and humiliated, she left the assembly, vowing that she would come back as the chief minister. The incident acquired the reverence of myth in the public imagination. Two years down the line, she threw Karunanidhi off the chief minister seat and swept to power. No-confidence motion against Modi government The Opposition moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government on July 26 which was accepted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. This is the second time Narendra Modi is facing a no-confidence motion. Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday initiated the debate on the motion which later turned into a heated argument between the Opposition and the Centre. The Parliament has been witnessing a logjam over a number of issues, including the violence in Manipur, since the beginning of the Monsoon Session on July 20. The opposition leaders have been demanding a full-fledged discussion on the issue including a statement by the prime minister in the Parliament. Both houses -- Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha -- have seen repeated adjournments amid massive ruckus by the opposition leaders. Manipur had been on the boil for the last three months after ethnic clashes broke out between two tribal communities Meitis and Kukis, when the Manipur High Court asked the state government to consider adding one of the communities to the list of Scheduled Tribes. (With inputs from agencies) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said the state government has no plans to conduct a "caste census" in the state. UP CM Yogi Adityanath (Pic for representation) "The subject matter of census is mentioned at number 69 of the Union List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. Census Act 1948 and Census Rules 1990 have been made by the Government of India for census work under which the work of census is done by the Government of India," he said. Adityanath said this in a written reply to a question asked by Samajwadi Party member Sangram Yadav. "No," the chief minister said in the state assembly in his reply on the government's plans for "caste census". The Samajwadi Party, which has been demanding a "caste census" in the state, had included the issue in its manifesto for the 2022 assembly polls. The issue will be top on the Samajwadi Party's poll plank for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as part of party chief Akhilesh Yadavs new formula - the PDA (Pichada, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) that is backwards, Dalits, and minorities - chiefly Muslims. Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday asserted that the Centre has been working hard on bringing peace to Manipur, where ethnic violence broke out in early May killing more than 150 people so far. Shah was speaking during the no-confidence motion debate in Lok Sabha, where Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, earlier in the day, tore into the Narendra Modi government over its handling of the violence in Manipur, alleging the politics of the BJP has harmed Bharat Mata in the state. Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi. (ANI file) I want to let the country know, the Prime Minister called me at 4.30am, and then woke me up again with a phone call the next day at 6am. For three straight days, we worked from here to ensure peace, Amit Shah said in what was the governments strongest response to the Oppositions charges on Manipur in the ongoing monsoon session. "For three days, continuously, we worked round the clock. We held 16 video conferences, sent 36,000 CAPF (central cops) personnel immediately, used air force planes, changed the Chief Secretary and DGP (police chief), sent an adviser from Surat; the Centre sent chief secretary and DGP, too. All this was done on May 4 itself," Shah told the Lower House. As the Lok Sabha witnessed some fireworks during the debate on the no-confidence motion for the second day during which Gandhi also said that the members of the ruling party were not protectors of India, Shah appealed with folded hands for peace in Manipur and urged the warring Kuki and Meitei communities to hold talks with the Centre to resolve the issue that has triggered the ethnic violence. "In Manipur, they (BJP) have harmed Hindustan. Their politics has harmed Hindustan in Manipur," Gandhi alleged. The Lok Sabha adopted a resolution read out by Speaker Om Birla appealing for peace in Manipur and it was enthusiastically supported by the BJP-led NDA members in the presence of the opposition. Hours after Gandhi's blistering attack on the prime minister for not visiting the strife-torn Manipur, a combative Shah, who hit back and spoke on a range of issues including on the several scams during the tenure of the Congress-led UPA, urged the opposition not to politicise the ethnic violence in Manipur that erupted on May 3. Whatever happened in Manipur is shameful, but: Amit Shah "I agree with the Opposition that there is a cycle of violence in Manipur ... Nobody can support such incidents. Whatever happened is shameful, but to politicise those events is even more shameful," Shah said in his nearly two-hour-long intervention. Shah also questioned the intention of leaking the video of two women being paraded naked in Manipur just ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament which began on July 20. The video of the incident which happened on May 4 surfaced on July 19. Modi is scheduled to reply to the debate on August 10 which will be followed by voting -- the outcome of which is already known with the numbers comfortably stacked in favour of the government. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON No Confidence Motion Highlights: The debate on no-confidence motion, moved by the I.N.D.I.A. bloc against the central government, is in its last leg today and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address the House. The last two days of the motion witnessed a fierce battle between the ruling and the Opposition coalitions over the Manipur violence and other raging issues . Congress MP Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Deputy Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi and other MPs in Lok Sabha. (ANI) Rahul Gandhi gave his first speech for the motion after his MP status was reinstated. From his last speech in the Lok Sabha to Bharat Jodo Yatra, he spoke on range of topics. On Manipur issue, he accused the central government of killing Mother India in Manipur. Responding from the government's side, Union home minster Amit Shah hit out at the Opposition for doing politics over the violence in the northeastern state. Meanwhile, several Bills from both Houses have been passed including the contentious Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023, this week. Trinamool Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra, speaking in favour of the no-confidence motion, on Thursday said the motion is not meant to succeed in the house, but more than a no trust in the government, the motion is about the 'have confidence' in the INDIA bloc -- the alliance of the opposition. The Manipur situation is different than other states, Mahua Moitra said adding that Manipur is a 'hate crime, civil war'. Mahua Moitra speaking in the Lok Sabha on Thursday in favour of the no-confidence motion. Most no-confidence motions are negative motions to bring down the government of the day. We know that's not the possibility here. We don't have the numbers. Many of my friends in the Treasury Bench and other BJP allies like YSR, have mocked us that this motion is doomed to fail INDIA is perhaps the first bloc which moved the motion not to bring down anything, but to resurrect something, Mahua Moitra said. Manipur hate crime against a particular community Replying to what Mahua Moitra called 'false prevalences' when the Manipur situation is compared with other states, the MP said, What is happening in Manipur is a hate crime against a particular community where it is understood that police personnel of one community, possibly the same community as the chief minister, handed over the women of one community to be raped and pillaged by a mob and every attempt to prevent those women from seeking justice. The issue is that the two communities in Manipur are pitted against each other in an atmosphere of civil war. 6,500 FIRs in past 3 months? Which state has seen this. "We have not heard of one change in the police force, not one change in the government, not one person taking responsibility. This is the biggest failure of the double-engine government. Let us not insult other states by asking what about Rajasthan, what about Chhattisgarh? Manipur is a tacitly approved hate crime. Make no mistake. This is civil war," Mahua Moitra said. PM Modi, if you are listeningI beg you on behalf of the people of Manipur. Change the administration, allow all the parties to work for a truce. Otherwise, even after your term ends, India will echo in one voice as to what went so wrong in Manipur, Mahua Moitra said. 'Sabziya Hindu hui aur bakra Musalmaan ho gaya' India has lost confidence in you. The spectacle of the prime minister of the greatest democracy bowing to religious Seers of a majority in the chamber of the new Parliament fills us with shame, police manhandling and filing FIRs against champion wrestlers fills us with shame, 50 panchayats in 3 districts of BJP-ruled Haryana issuing letters forbidding Muslim traders entering the state fills us with shame. 'Nafrato ki jung mein ab dekho kya kya ho gaya, sabziya Hindu hui aur bakhra Musalmaan ho gaya'. We are not going to be bullied. Mamata di is not scared, Stalin is not scared, Akhilesh ji is not scared, Rahul Gandhi is not scared. One crony capitalist is not going to make a monkey out of India's regulators and Equity markets while we watch. Everyone asks if not Modiji then who? After this inaction on Manipur, India will say, anyone but Modi, Mahua Moitra said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Swati Maliwal of the Delhi Commission for Women reacted sharply to Union minister Smriti Irani's allegation that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi blew a flying kiss towards the treasury benches which were booing him while he was leaving the Lok Sabha after his speech during the no-confidence motion debate on Wednesday. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi speaks during a discussion on the Motion of No-Confidence in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing Monsoon session of Parliament, in New Delhi.(PTI) A supposed flying kiss thrown in the air ignited so much fire. A man named Brij Bhushan is sitting two rows back. The one who called Olympic wrestlers into the room and put his hand on their chest, put his hand on their waist and sexually assaulted them. Why don't you get angry at what he did? Swati Maliwal wrote on X (formally Twitter) amid a massive political row over the Congress leader's action. Maliwal was referring to sexual harassment charges levelled against outgoing Wrestling Federation of India chief and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh by six top wrestlers including Olympic medallists Bajranj Punia and Sakshi Malik. After participating in the debate on the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha, Gandhi blew a flying kiss, drawing sharp reactions from the treasury benches with Irani calling him a misogynist and saying the House had never witnessed such an "indecent act". BJP women MPs met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and demanded "stringent action" against Gandhi for his "inappropriate gesture". In a complaint, signed by more than 20 women parliamentarians, it was alleged that Gandhi behaved in an indecent manner which not only insulted the dignity of women members in the House, but also brought disrepute and lowered the dignity of this august House. Coming out in defence of Gandhi, the Congress said he never disrespected women and the BJP was indulging in an indecent act of accusing him of misconduct as it does not want a debate on Manipur violence. Congress whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore accused Irani of suffering from "Rahul-phobia" and asked her to come out of it. "Smriti Irani is consumed by 'Rahul phobia' and she should try to come out of it," Tagore said on BJP's charge of 'misbehavior' by Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha. Party general secretary KC Venugopal said throughout the Bharat Jodo Yatra, those who joined it and watched it, all are giving it as a symbol of humankind and love and affection. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also sought to defend Gandhi, saying "I was at the visitors gallery and he (Rahul Gandhi) did it as a gesture of affection. They (BJP) can't accept love." "Why are they feeling bad about it? It was just a genuine gesture, that's what he did. Like he said 'mohabbat ki dukaan'. You people have got used to 'nafrat' (hatred), that is why you are not able to accept 'mohabbat' (love)," she said. According to Jharkhand Congress MP Geeta Koda, Gandhi has always respected women and his behaviour has always been good. Hugging without sexual intent not an offence: Brij Bhushan The counsel for Brij Bhushan on Wednesday argued on the point of charges in sexual harassment case that hugging or touching a woman without a sexual intent is not an offence. The counsel also submitted before Rouse Avenue Court on the point of jurisdiction and limitations in the matter. He said the allegations are time-barred. Additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM) Harjeet Singh Jaspal heard the arguments advanced by advocate Rajiv Mohan, counsel for Brij Bhushan. The matter has been listed for further arguments on Thursday. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Opposition on Thursday attacked the Union government for introducing a bill in the Rajya Sabha that seeks to exclude the chief justice of India (CJI) from a three-member selection committee that picks the election commissioners and chief election commissioner, accusing the Centre of diluting and overturning an order by the Supreme Courts Constitution bench. The bill seeks to exclude CJI from the selection panel. The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 seeks to replace the CJI with a cabinet minister as one of the three members of the selection panel to choose the CEC and election commissioners the other two being the prime minister and the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha. The introduction of the bill, especially the deletion of CJI from the panel, sparked a fresh standoff between the government and the opposition. Introduction of this bill will override the Supreme Court Constitution Benchs judgment regarding the appointment of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners, Communist Party of India (Marxist) lawmaker John Brittas, who had given a notice against the introduction of the bill, told reporters outside Parliament. Brittas said Clause 7 of the bill that prescribes the selection committee composition is in stark contradiction to the dictum laid down by the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the judgment dated March 2, 2023 in writ petition (Civil) No. 104 of 2015 (Anoop Baranwal Vs Union of India) and other connected writ petitions, wherein Supreme Court emphatically declared that the appointment of the CEC and the ECs shall be made on the recommendations made by a three-member committee comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition of the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India. The CPI(M) leader further said that the spirit of the apex court verdict was to maintain the Election Commission as an independent mechanism as it deals with the democratic process of the country. So, the independence in the appointment process of CEC and other election commissioners has to be preserved as sacrosanct for ensuring the conduct of free and fair elections in the country. Any attempt to dilute its independence is to be nipped in the bud, he added. The bill will not come up for discussion and passage in the Monsoon session of Parliament that winds up Friday. Attacking the Centre for introducing the bill amid a din, a Trinamool Congress lawmaker, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the government knew it does not have the numbers to pass the bill, so they tried to bulldoze its introduction. The Congress also put its opposition on record. Speaking outside Parliament, Congress Rajya Sabha member Randeep Surjewala said, The bill is an assault on the Constitution, the judiciary and peoples rights to elect their own government in a fair and impartial manner... He also made a reference to the Anoop Baranwal vs Union of India case, saying in para 165 of the judgment, the top court had said, the election commissioners including the CEC blessed with nearly infinite powers and who are to abide by the fundamental rights must be chosen not by the Executive exclusively and particularly without any objective yardstick. The Congress leader said the proposed committee does not constitute a check and balance and it is clear beyond all doubt that the appointments committee is an empty formality since not a single cabinet minister would vote against the prime minister, who nominated him or her. ...The ruling regime has two nominees as opposed to one from the legislative opposition, effectively rendering their presence and vote redundant. This is exactly the executive control that the Supreme Court has warned against, he added. Manoj Jha of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) said the composition of the selection committee does not bode well for the poll panels independence. I am shocked but not surprised at the manner in which the present dispensation will decimate everything that we thought was according to constitutional propriety or morality, he said outside of Parliament. The new composition shows that the quorum will weigh in favour of the government, Jha said. With these three members, we know which direction it is going to go in... Now onwards, there is no doubt, we cannot even think of free and fair elections and Article 324 is virtually redundant. If you look at the past record of the way how the EC has handled complaints against the ruling party, now onwards when they will have the patronage, they believe they have been chosen by a regime...even the election commission shall become more than what the word sham describes, he added. Article 324 vests the superintendence, direction and control of elections in an Election Commission. As per the bill circulated by the government, the selection will be carried out by a three-member panel comprising the prime minister, who will be the chairman, and two members the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha or the leader of the largest party in the House, and a cabinet minister to be nominated by the PM. The government pointed out that it was the Supreme Court that ruled in March that appointments to the poll panel should be made on the advice of a committee comprising the PM, LoP in the Lok Sabha and the CJI until Parliament framed a law on the selection process. Just as the court has said, the government has moved ahead to frame the laws...what is the opposition protesting against, said a senior government functionary, requesting anonymity. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday claimed in the Parliament that attacks against Muslims are rising in the country and expressed concern over the alleged radicalisation of the majority community. AIMIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. (PTI Photo) Speaking during the no-confidence motion debate, Owaisi said, Recently, a uniform-clad man, after killing his senior official, went to train compartments, asked for peoples names, looked at their beards and attire and killed Muslims. After that, he said if you want to live in India, you will have to vote for Modi, Yogi. I want to ask the government is this not an example of extreme radicalisation and extremism of the majority community? And if it is, what will the government do? The AIMIM leader was referring to the incident in late July when a Railway Protection Force (RPF) constable named Chetan Kumar Choudhary shot dead his duty in-charge assistant sub-inspector Tika Ram Meena and three Muslim passengers on the Jaipur-Mumbai Central Express. Further, Owaisi also raised concerns over the recent Nuh violence and alleged that the 750 houses destroyed in the Haryana district were demolished without following due process because they were of Muslims. Isnt Bilkis Bano a daughter of this country? Those 12 people who raped her, killed her daughter, mother, you released them. Is this your conscience? You are promoting majoritarian politics, Owaisi alleged. While on the Gyanvapi survey, Owaisi claimed that the government is trying to undermine the Places of Worship Act, the AIMIM MP said the Uniform Civil Code formula of one nation, one language, one culture is that of a dictator. Agra: A plea seeking a stay on a demolition drive at a railway land near Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi was filed in a Mathura court on Thursday, a day after authorities razed at least 60 houses on ground of alleged encroachment. On Wednesday, railway authorities, along with the local police and administration, removed alleged encroachment at Nai Basti (HT Photo) According to petitioner Yakub Shah, authorities carried out the demolition at Nai Basti, which has a predominantly Muslim population and roughly comprises 200 houses, on Wednesday, even as a case challenging the eviction notices issued to the residents in June remained pending in the same court of civil judge (senior division), Mathura. The court heard both the petitioner and the railway authorities, and reserved its verdict in the case, Shah, a 66-year-old resident of the area, said. We submitted an application in the court, requesting an injunction against the demolition activity in Nai Basti, which is a settlement along the railway track in the backyard of Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi. The legal representation from the railway side was present during the proceedings, Shah said. During the hearing, we contended that the next hearing in a related case (against the eviction notice, in the same court) is scheduled for August 21, and railway authorities are expected to present their response on that date. Despite this, the railways proceeded with the demolition drive on Wednesday, disregarding the same courts authority and demolishing 60 houses, rendering their occupants homeless. This action demonstrates the railways apparent disregard for the courts authority in a matter that is sub-judice, he added. Shah also said that railway authorities on Thursday issued fresh notices to the remaining houses and asked the occupants to vacate the area within three days. The railway authorities, in the presence of a police force, gave an ultimatum of three days before proceeding with the demolition drive, which, if it continues, will defeat the very purpose of the suit filed by the petitioner (against the eviction notice) in the first place, he said. On Wednesday, railway authorities, along with the local police and administration, removed alleged encroachment at Nai Basti. A railways public relations officer said the land is being vacated to transform the line between Mathura and Vrindavan from narrow gauge to broad gauge. Prashasti Srivastava, PRO for Agra Division within North Central Railways, said eviction notices were issued to the encroachers residing along the railway tracks. In all, 135 unauthorised occupants were served eviction notices. Many of them requested time to relocate, and their appeals were accommodated by the administration. However, no substantial justification was provided to impede the demolition. Consequently, 60 structures were razed on Wednesday. The remaining unauthorised constructions will be demolished in the coming days, he said. The Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi is located adjacent to the Shahi Eidgah mosque. Multiple suits have been filed in different courts of Mathura, with a common claim that the Eidgah complex was constructed on a part of 13.37-acre land belonging to the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust. The suits have demanded that the mosque, which abuts the temple, be removed and the land returned to the trust. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday assured the people of ethnic violence-hit Manipur that the entire country is with them and that peace will be restored soon in the northeastern state. Replying to the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha amid the opposition's calls for his statement on the violence in Manipur, PM Modi said, Both the state and central governments are doing everything possible to ensure that the accused get the strictest punishment. (CHECK LIVE UPDATES) Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks in Lok Sabha during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.(ANI) I want to tell the people of Manipur including women and daughters of Manipur that the country is with you, PM Modi said. PM Modi also hit out the Congress for leaving behind an unstable situation in Manipur during their regime. Manipur had become the victim of ethnic clashes during the erstwhile Congress regime. There was a time in Manipur when everything used to be run by insurgents. Whose government was it at that time? PM questioned. Alleging the opposition for doing politics over the crisis in Manipur, P< Modi said, What has happened in Manipur is painful, but no one should play politics on it. The opposition has been hitting out at the Centre over the violence in the northeastern state and has been demanding Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh's immediate resignation. Violence in Manipur Ethnic violence first broke out in Manipur on May 3 between the Meitei and the tribal Kuki communities in which over 150 people have been killed so far while thousands have been displaced. Several incidents of crimes against women also surfaced after a disturbing May 4 video of three women being stripped and paraded naked went viral on social media. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday took a veiled jibe at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, mocking his Mohabbat ki Dukaan remark. Prime Minister Narendra Modi replies on the Motion of No-Confidence in the Lok Sabha in the Monsoon session of Parliament, in New Delhi.(PTI) Yesterday, someone talked doing 'dil se baat'. Their 'Modi prem' is such that they see Modi even in their dreams. I can understand Congress' problem, they have been launching a failed product repeatedly. The launch fails every time, PM Modi said during his reply to no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha. ALSO READ: PM Modi's jibe at Rahul Gandhi on Manipur: They speak of Mother India's death The launching fails and they harbour hatred for voters. But PR people propagate 'Mohabbat ki dukan'. That is why, people of the country are saying, 'Ye hai loot ki dukan, jhooth ka bazaar', the prime minister said. Continuing his jibe at the Congress MP, the prime minister said,"...Kal yahan dil se baat karne ki baat bhi kahi gayi thi. Unke dimag ke haal ko toh desh lambe samay se janta hai. Lekin ab unke dil ka pata bhi chal gaya. Their 'Modi love' is strong that they even dream of Modi. If Modi drinks water while giving speech, they say 'Modi ko paani pila diya'. If I wipe off my sweat when I am out meeting the poor in the scorching sun, they say Dekhiye Modi ko paseena la diya". ALSO READ: Two 'I's in I.N.D.I.A stand for...: PM Modi says Congress name, symbol stolen PM Modi's jibe at Rahul Gandhi comes a day after Union home minister Amit Shah took a similar jibe at the Congress leader. There is one member in this House who has been launched 13 times in politics. This member failed all 13 times. I have seen one launching when he went to meet a poor lady from Bundelkhand named Kalavati. But what did you", the minister had said in Lok Sabha. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a blistering attack on the Opposition in general and the Congress in particular, terming the no-confidence motion brought against the government Gods blessing; declaring that citizens had faith in the government and none in the Opposition; mocking the Congresss recent electoral performance, its obsession with one family, and its poor track record with predictions; accusing his opponents of celebrating and amplifying every negative characterisation of India and effectively telling them to prepare for another stint in opposition. HT Image Modi also promised to make India the worlds third largest economy in his third term, spoke of how decisions taken now will lay the foundations for India for the next 1,000 years, highlighted the spirit of confidence that has engulfed young Indians today, and claimed that the world had confidence in Indias ability to contribute to global good. He also spoke on the violence in Manipur one of the demands of the Opposition and said all efforts were being made to restore peace in the ethnic violence-hit state. Modi highlighted the contradictions in the newly constituted INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) group and termed it a ghamandiya (arrogant) bloc of parties that will be routed in the next elections. Modi confidently declared that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will return to power in 2024, slammed those who brought the motion for failing to do their homework, and egged the Opposition on to bring a similar motion in 2028, at the end of his third term, just as they had done in 2018 and now in 2023, both times ahead of Lok Sabha elections. In 2018, it was Gods will that the opposition brought a no-confidence motion. I had said then too that this is not a test of the government but is their own floor test. When the vote happened, the opposition couldnt even get all the votes it had. And when we went to the electorate, people expressed their no confidence in the opposition. The NDA (National Democratic Alliance) and BJP got even more seats. The oppositions no confidence motion is auspicious for us. I can see you have decided that NDA and BJP will break all records in 2024 and come back with peoples blessings, Modi said at the outset of his 2 hours and 13 minute speech (a record for a no-confidence speech by a Prime Minister, beating the previous mark of Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1965), laying the tone for a speech marked by both confidence and belligerence against the Opposition. Modi was speaking in the Lok Sabha at the end of the debate triggered by a motion brought by Congress parliamentarian Gaurav Gogoi against the government over its failure to restore peace and normalcy in Manipur. The Prime Minister hit out at the Opposition on several counts. First, he accused them of not paying serious attention to the lawmaking in Parliament and highlighted the significance of legislations passed in this session to which the Opposition could have constructively contributed. You arent concerned about the hunger of poor, but just your own hunger for power. You arent concerned about the future of youth, but just your political future. Two, Modi accused the Opposition of failing to do their homework for the no-confidence motion. Your darbaris are also unhappy on social media. The Opposition organised the fielding but we hit the fours and sixes. You are just playing no-balls, while we are scoring centuries. Why dont you prepare and come? I gave you five years to prepare. He pointed out that the leader of the Congress in the houses Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wasnt on the list of speakers to speak on the motion. Why? Maybe because you got a call from Kolkata! Modi said, in a seeming reference to the difficult ties between the Congress leader from Bengal and the Trinamool Congress (TMC). Three, he hit out at the contradictions that existed within the INDIA bloc, particularly the clashes between the Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI (M), in Kerala and the TMC and the communists in Bengal, and alleged that everyone in the alliance wanted to become the PM. Suggesting that the opposition leaders had cremated the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in Bengaluru, when they formed INDIA, Modi said that he had been delayed in expressing his condolences. And in an effort to further sow a divide between the Congresss first family and the rest of the alliance, Modi said that those that the Opposition was following didnt know the difference between red and green chills and lacked an Indian sensibility. He alleged that the Congress had never respected leaders from outside the Nehru-Gandhi family, citing the examples of Babasaheb Ambedkar and Sardar Patel and the instability caused by the Congress as it topped governments led by Charan Singh, Chandrasekhar and HD Deve Gowda. Four, he attacked the Congress for having more faith in Pakistans claims about terror than the Indian Armys claims about surgical or air strikes, or groups such as Hurriyat in Kashmir rather than the young of Kashmir. If someone says anything negative about India, they immediately pick it up. There is some magnetic power. They legitimise these things and amplify it. They dont have faith in Indian capabilities and citizens. But I want to tell the house that people have no confidence in the Congress. Five, he attacked the Congress for being out of touch with reality and gave specific examples from Tamil Nadu (where the party last won elections in 1962), West Bengal (last Congress win was in 1972), UP, Bihar and Gujarat (where it last won in 1985), Tripura (last win - 1988), and other states to show the partys weak electoral record and popular support. He mocked the fact that a leader, in a reference to Rahul Gandhi, had been launched over a dozen times in politics, yet the product kept failing, which is why the party had now begun blaming the voters. Six, Modi also said that the Opposition had a secret blessing whoever they wished ill did well pointing to himself as an example. The PM offered three specific policy examples where, according to him, the Opposition had been wrong. It had predicted the failure of the banking sector and left it with non-performing assets; today, public sector banks were in good health. It had discredited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL); today, it had its highest ever revenues. And it had predicted that those who invested in Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) were about to lose hard-earned earnings; today, LIC was doing well. Seven, Modi attacked the Congress for its economic record, and claimed that it did not have faith in the countrys capabilities. I had said sometime ago that in our next term, India will become the third largest economy in the world. A responsible opposition should ask questions about how will we do it, give suggestions, or campaign in elections that it will make India number one. Instead, Modi said, the Congress suggested that the growth to the third largest economy would happen naturally and inevitably. Rubbishing the suggestion, Modi alleged, The Congress doesnt have the vision, intent, policies, understanding of global economy or Indian economic capabilities. He also warned that the oppositions economic policies would bankrupt India, and the country would suffer the same consequences that others in the neighbourhood had. And finally, a key thrust of the PMs speech was not just contrasting the governance and political record of the Congress with that of the BJP. In a response to Gandhis expunged allegation that Bharat Mata was being killed in Manipur, Modi alleged that the Congress was responsible for Indias Partition and a series of decisions that fragmented and weakened Indian unity. This is loot ki dukan, loot ka bazaar (a shop of corrupt, a market of the corrupt). It has hate, scams, appeasement, black minds, nepotism, playing on Gandhis slogan of a shop of love in a market of hatred to turn it back against the Congress. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused Modi of using the debate as an election rally, adding that had he shed his arrogance by speaking on Manipur earlier, valuable parliamentary time could have been saved. Thank you Prime Minister, At last you spoke in the House on the Manipur violence...Had you given up your stubbornness and arrogance earlier, the valuable time of the Parliament could have been saved. Important bills would have been passed with good discussion, the Congress chief said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). We are pained that on an unprecedented issue like the Manipur violence, the opposition had to use a parliamentary weapon like a no-confidence motion. But you also used the House as an election rally, he also said. Nearly an hour and a half into his speech, the Modi did not mention Manipur, prompting many opposition lawmakers to stand up and chant Manipur! Manipur! before walking out in protest. The central and the state governments are working towards peace. I assure people of Manipur that peace will be restored soon, Modi said. The country is with you. We will sit together and find a solution to the current challenge to restore peace and put Manipur on the path of development. The prison department on Thursday suspended the head warden and a warden of Hindalaga jail following the corruption allegations during an internal investigation, officials familiar with the matter said. Union minister Nitin Gadkari received a threat call from one of the prisoner on January 14. (ANI) Head warden BL Melavanki and warden VT Vaghamore have been suspended from their posts due to alleged involvement in providing prisoners with unauthorized external amenities including facilitating the use of cell phones, officials said. Upon the directive of Prisons ADGP Malini Krishnamurthy, Deputy ADGP (northern range) TP Shesha ordered the suspension of these individuals. Officials in the know of the development said that both Melavanki and Vaghamore had been supplying prisoners with items like food, tobacco, and bedsheets from outside, and they were also involved in letting prisoners use cell phones, which led to their suspension. After revelations of irregularities, negligence, and corrupt practices within the jail came to light, the prison department initiated an investigation and conducted an internal inquiry, during which the guilt of the suspended individuals was established, added officials. Prashant Mogaveer, a murder convict from the coastal Karnataka regions Kundapur, who has been serving a life sentence at the jail since February 22, 2018, for a murder committed in Kundapur in 2014, reportedly used a cell phone to record video footage of the lapses within the jail. He shared these visuals with his contacts last month. The video had an audio commentary in Kannada. Following the incident, the assistant superintendent of the Belagavi Prison, K Shahabuddin, lodged a first information report (FIR) with the Belagavi rural police against Mogaveer for using a cell phone within the restricted jail area. A case was registered against him under sections 424 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 42 of the Prisons Amendment Act. The case was investigated by station inspector (SI) Vijaykumar Shinnur. The century-old prison gained media attention and captured national interest when it was revealed that two convicted prisoners had established connections with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a terrorist organization based in Kashmir. One of the prisoner Jayesh Pujari made a threat call to Union transport minister Nitin Gadkaris public relations office (PRO) in his Nagpur constituency in Maharashtra on January 14, demanding 100 crore and claiming to be a member of the Dawood Ibrahim gang. At that time, he was lodged in a jail in neighbouring Karnataka, police have said. Pujari who had been incarcerated at Belagavi jail since 2013, came into contact with LeT terrorist Basiruddin Noorahmed, also known as Afsar Pasha. Afsar Pasha had been convicted for bomb blasts in Bengaluru in 2012 and was also involved in a money laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PLMA) investigated by the enforcement directorate (ED). Jayesh Pujari, serving a life sentence, underwent a transformation after connecting with Afsar Pasha. He converted to Islam and changed his name to Shakeer Ahmed, becoming an ardent follower of the Islamic faith. Belagavi jail superintendent Krishnakumar informed HT that the duo (Pujari and another individual) used newly admitted prisoners mobile phones to contact Union minister Gadkaris office. Both prisoners, who are in the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), admitted to calling Gadkari, who is closely associated with the Hindu right-wing organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Recently, a convicted individual was severely injured in an altercation and was admitted to the ICU of a government hospital in Belagavi. As a controversy erupted after an alleged flying kiss gesture by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi with BJPs Smriti Irani training guns at the leader, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi called his gesture affectionate. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi(Shrikant Singh) "I don't understand that when he was speaking, all the ministers were standing up. Ministers were creating obstructions. He made an affectionate gesture, what problem do you have with it? You are habitual of so much hatred that you fail to understand any gesture of love, of affection, Chaturvedi said. She further said that Rahul Gandhi's words were not driven by animosity, despite his disqualification and subsequent legal victory. You disqualified Rahul Gandhi as an MP and ousted him from his residence. He came back after winning his cases. Still, he is not talking to you out of hatred. If you have a problem, it is your problem and nobody else's, the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said. A massive controversy erupted after Smriti Irani accused Rahul Gandhi of passing a flying kiss in the Parliament which seats women members. The one who was given the chance to speak before me, displayed indecency before leaving. It is only a misogynistic man who can give a flying kiss to a Parliament which seats female members of Parliament. Such undignified conduct has never before seen in the Parliament of the country...," Irani said. Demanding strict action against Rahul Gandhi, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) women MPs wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker OM Birla alleging the Congress MP of making inappropriate gesture and displaying indecent behaviour in the House. "I would like to drew your attention towards the incident in the House by Rahul Gandhi, MP from Wayanad, Kerala. The said member has behaved in an indecent manner and making inappropriate gesture towards Smriti Irani, Union Minister and Member of this House while she was addressing the House. We demand stringent action against such behaviour by the Manner, which has not only insulted the dignity of women members in the House, it has also brought disrepute and lowered the dignity of this august House," the letter read. In a complaint, signed by more than 20 women parliamentarians, it was alleged that the Congress member made an "inappropriate gesture" towards Irani when was speaking in the House. The bench presiding over the suo motu case concerning the demolitions in Nuh and Gurugram has been altered prior to its scheduled hearing tomorrow. The new bench, consisting of Justices Arun Palli and Jagmohan Bansal, is set to address the issue on August 11, a report in The Live Law states. On August 7, the bench comprising Justice G.S. Sandhawalia and Justice Harpreet Kaur Jeevan took up the suo motu case. During the hearing, the High Court issued a stay order on the ongoing demolition drive in Nuh. This decision was made in response to communal clashes that had occurred in the area. A man shows the demolished shops in Nuh district.(HT File) READ | Nuh violence: 1,208 structures razed by Haryana govt, mostly of 1 community The High Court raised significant inquiries directed at the state authorities. It also sought clarification on whether the state's actions were veiled attempts at carrying out "ethnic cleansing" under the guise of maintaining law and order. The court pointed out that it had become aware of the fact that the "State of Haryana" was employing force to demolish structures due to the occurrence of riots in Gurugram and Nuh. Apparently, without any demolition orders and notices, the law and order problem is being used as a ruse to bring down buildings without following the procedure established by law The issue also arises whether the buildings belonging to a particular community are being brought down under the guise of law and order problem and an exercise of ethnic cleansing is being conducted by the State," the division bench of Justice G.S Sandhawalia and Justice Harpreet Kaur Jeewan categorically stated. READ | HC halts Nuh demolitions by Haryana, asks if govt action is ethnic cleansing The Court had initiated suo motu cognizance based on news articles reporting the ongoing demolition activities in Nuh and Gurgaon, which were a consequence of the communal clashes. Newspaper reports quoted the Home Minister directly, where he mentioned that the use of bulldozers was a form of "illaj" (treatment) since the government was probing the communal violence. The Court, in reference to this statement by the Home Minister said, power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." "We are of the considered opinion that the Constitution of India protects the citizens of this country and no demolitions as such can be done without following the procedure prescribed in law, the court observed. The Court additionally issued specific instructions to the State of Haryana. It requested the state to provide a sworn affidavit detailing the number of buildings that had been demolished in the preceding two weeks in both Nuh and Gurugram. It also sought clarification on whether any prior notice had been given before the demolitions took place. The Mumbai Police has registered an FIR against Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) MLA Prakash Surve's son Raj Surve and others for allegedly kidnaping a businessman Rajkumar Singh for ransom from the Goregaon East area Wednesday. The abduction allegedly took place at gunpoint. A CCTV camera footage of the incident surfaced online. Reports claimed that about 10 to 15 people stormed into the Global Music Junction office in Goregaon in Mumbai, and abducted the music company CEO. A CCTV camera footage surfaced online in which 10 to 15 persons are purportedly seen abusing the staff and forcibly taking one person with them. According to Rajkumar Singhs statement, he was forcibly picked up from his office and was pressured at gunpoint to settle a business loan given to Manoj Mishra of Patna. Rajkumar was taken to MLA Prakash Surves office in Dahisar, where the MLAs son Raj Surve and his men threatened him at gunpoint to settle the matter and not speak about the same to anyone, news agency ANI reported citing the FIR. On the complaint of Rajkumar Singh, the Vanrai police registered a case and booked 10 accused including Raj Surve, Manoj Mishra, and Vikky Shetty. No arrest has been made yet, said police officials. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi took a dig at the Shinde camp over the incident. The navratnas of the traitor gang, she tweeted. Singh was allegedly kidnapped in front of his staff at gunpoint from his office at Goregaon East by 10 people and was taken to Surve's office at Dahisar. In the office, Surve made him sign a blank stamp paper. Later, Singh's office staff and relatives alerted the police and he was rescued. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday launched the free smartphone scheme for women in the state. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot addresses during the launch of Indira Gandhi Smartphone scheme, at Birla auditorium in Jaipur (PTI) Under the Indira Gandhi Smartphone Yojana, the state government will transfer 6,800 to the e-wallet of a beneficiary through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) , officials familiar with the matter said. The beneficiary, after the completion of their KYC (know your customer) process, can then purchase a mobile phone of their choice in the camps set up by the government. During the event to launch the scheme the CM also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah over the Manipur issue. Earlier, Gehlot said that 50% of the promises made by the state government have been fulfilled. Through Indira Gandhi Smartphone Yojana, the state is fulfilling its another promise, he said. The CM said the scheme was delayed due to the shortage of chips in the international market because of the Covid pandemic. Now, women will be provided with smartphones in the camps without any hassle. The beneficiaries will be given free internet data for three years, he said. The CM said that under the second phase of the scheme, smartphones will be provided to eight million women. Addressing reporters in Jaipur, Gehlot said the approach of PM Modi and home minister Amit Shah towards Manipur may lead to unrest in parts of the country. The kind of behaviour you have been doing with the country is worrying(Manipur) state is burning and there has been unrest. Imagine what will happen if this spreads to other parts of the country in five or ten years because these people have created this type of atmosphere, he said. If the atmosphere escalates, then the central government and army, state governments and their police forces will not be able to do anything, like they are not able to do anything in Manipur, he told reporters. Retorting back, former minister and BJP MLA Vasudev Devnani said the entire opposition is conspiring to taint PM Modis image by playing politics on Manipur incident, which is dangerous to the country. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Supreme Court has given two months to Dattatray Padsalgikar, former deputy national security adviser and ex-director general of police (DGP) of Maharashtra, and a high-powered committee comprising three retired women high court judges, to come back with their reports on investigation and the efficacy of rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures in the sectarian violence-hit Manipur. HT Image According to the order sheet of August 7 proceedings that was released late on Thursday, the top court bench led by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud will take up the reports on October 13 for further directions. Padsalgikar will oversee the investigation to be carried out by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into at least 12 cases of crimes against women that the Centre conceded will be probed by the federal agency. The retired IPS officer, the court order clarified, will also monitor and supervise the 42 special investigation teams (SITs) constituted by the Manipur government for probing more than 6,500 other First Information Reports (FIRs) registered in connection with the violence in the northeastern state. Padsalgikar is also requested to investigate the allegations that certain police officers colluded with perpetrators of violence (including sexual violence) during the conflict in Manipur, it added. The all-women committee of three former high court judges have been tasked with enquiring into the nature of violence against women and ensuring physical and psychological well-being of those housed at relief camps, besides the payment of damages to victims. In its 36-page order, the apex court criticised the N Biren Singh government for its tardy pace of investigation by the investigating machinery, referring to delays in lodging of FIRs and no arrest, among other reasons. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON New Delhi Jammu & Kashmir cannot claim sovereignty independent of the Union of India after the erstwhile princely state acceded to the country, the Supreme Court observed on Thursday, adding it is a very, very difficult proposition to accept that Article 370 was a permanent feature wresting a vestige of sovereignty with the J&K legislative assembly. The court is hearing a batch of petitions that challenged the 2019 abrogation of Article 370 (ANI) According to a Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, the integration of J&K with the country was absolutely complete as soon as Article 1 of the Indian Constitution came into force, declaring it to be a part of the Union of India and therefore, no questions could now be raised regarding the complete merger of J&K. Also Read | Article 370: Constitution of J&K cannot limit Indian Constitution, says SC On the fifth day of the arguments in a batch of petitions that have challenged the August 2019 abrogation of Article 370 and the revocation of J&Ks special status, the five-judge bench emphasised that distribution of legislative powers, or a restriction on the Centre to frame laws on certain subjects or in some states, does not affect the fact that sovereignty rests only with the Union of India. One thing is very clear that the there was an unconditional surrender of sovereignty of J&K with India. The surrender of sovereignty was absolutely complete. Once sovereignty was absolutely and fully vested in India, the only restraint would be on power of Parliament to enact laws on certain subjects...merely because some fetters are on Parliament to frame laws with respect to the State List, does it mean that states retain their sovereignty? No, said the bench, also comprising justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai and Surya Kant. The bench, emphatically, added: Once Article 1 says that India shall be a Union of States and that included the State of J&K, transfer of sovereignty was complete. We cannot read the post Article 370 Constitution as somehow a document which retains some elements of sovereignty in J&K. Also Read | Brexit-like vote not possible on Article 370: Supreme Court The courts remarks came as senior counsel Zafar Shah, representing the Srinagar Bar Association, argued in favour of constitutional autonomy in favour of J&K, contending that the erstwhile Valley state acceded to India but never completely integrated or merged but rather kept its autonomy intact through Article 370. Claiming that J&K could not be put on par with any other state that merged with India, Shah submitted that Article 370 could not have been done away with since it required the concurrence of the Constituent assembly of J&K, which, he said, does not exist anymore and was the only machinery to do so. Shahs submissions, however, prompted the bench to point out that the intention of the framers of the Indian Constitution could be gathered from the placement and the language of Article 370 since it was referred to as a temporary provision and even talked about the procedure to abrogate it. Also Read | How abrogation of Article 370 has helped India diplomatically Framers themselves envisaged that it could cease to exist some day...Therefore, to say that Article 370 has acquired a permanent status is something that would be...a very, very difficult proposition to accept. Suppose the state itself says that we want all laws to apply. Then where does 370 go? Then we really come back to the process. Was this process permissible or not? And we can examine that, it observed. To this, Shah suggested that the complete integration of J&K with India could have been done only by doing away with Article 370. But the bench retorted that the complete integration was done the moment Article 1 of the Indian Constitution included J&K as a part of the Union of India. The integration has already taken place as per Article 1. What is superior? The Constitution of India or the Instrument of Accession? Restraints on power to enact legislation are implicit in the scheme or the frame of the constitution...because we dont have a unitary State. But does that retract from sovereignty? No. Its just a fetter on Parliament, it said. Also Read | Peace dividend in Jammu and Kashmir is visible post-Article 370 abrogation The bench added: Concurrence is not something unique only to the relationship with J&K. There are various shades of concurrence required in the Constitution. But that does not reflect upon the sovereignty of the Union...Our notions of parliamentary exclusion from states have been an evolving exercise. But one thing is clear, sovereignty was ceded completely to the Union of India. Referring to the amendment in Article 248 in 1972, the court pointed out that even before the August 2019 abrogation, Article 248 was amended in relation to its application to J&K to hold that Parliament has exclusive powers to make any laws on prevention of activities towards disrupting sovereignty of India. It contains an absolutely clear and unequivocal acceptance of sovereignty of India...So, no vestige of sovereignty was retained post the Instrument of Accession...There are provisions in the Constitution which apply with concurrence of states also. See Article 249. Concurrence of state is required if the Union wants to make laws in the State List. Look at Article 248...Parliament can do nothing in financial matters without a say of the states. But that does not mean sovereignty vests with the states, it added. Shah concluded his submissions on Thursday. Senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for another petitioner, commenced his arguments, and in his opening statements, attacked the division of J&K into two Union territories, calling it a constitutionally impermissible exercise. He added this was the first time when a state had been reduced to a UT. The hearing will resume on Tuesday next week. A raft of petitions, filed by parliamentarians from the National Conference party, Kashmiri citizens, former bureaucrats and various organisations laid the challenge to the abrogation of Article 370 soon after the presidential order in August 2019. While some petitioners brought up the requirement of consent from the Constituent Assembly for the abrogation of Article 370, others questioned the validity of the Presidents Rule that was in effect when the abrogation was made. A few of these pleas went back to the Instrument of Accession, while some highlighted the Supreme Courts ruling of 2018 that observed that Article 370 had gained a status of permanence. Many of these pleas also challenged the Jammu & Kashmir State Reorganisation Act, by which the state was bifurcated into two Union territories with effect from October 30, 2019. On August 28, 2019, the Supreme Court issued notices on the pleas despite resistance from the central government, which argued that Article 370 had international and cross-border implications. On July 3, the Supreme Court notified the setting up of a new Constitution bench, comprising its first five judges. A week later, the new bench directed that day-to-day hearing in the case would begin from August 2.Also SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmaker Mahua Moitra on Thursday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh and address the situation in the ethnic violence-hit northeastern state. TMC MP Mahua Moitra. (PTI) I do not know what is more unfortunate that the Prime Minister does not address the Manipur issue in the House or does not go to Manipur to reassure the petrified people, she said while speaking in Lok Saba during the debate on the non-confidence motion against the government. She blamed the Bharatiya Janata Partys majoritarian bravado for destroying Manipur. We are not going to be bullied. Moitra underlined the motion was more about confidence in India. She added it is less of a no-confidence motion as it was not brought to defeat the government by numbers but to resurrect Indias founding principles such as secularism which the government has buried six feet under. Most no-confidence motions are negative motions moved with a moderate probability to bring down the government of the day. We know that it is not even a possibility... we do not have the numbers, she said. This motion would not succeed in the House but the large motion must succeed and it will when the people of India have their say soon. She said the Manipur issue is mired in silence and the governments false equivalencies. The issue in Manipur is of a hate crime of a particular community where is understood that police personnel of one community possibly the same community as the chief minister handed over women of another community to be raped by a mob and made every attempt to prevent those women for seeking justice. She said it is an atmosphere of civil war that has rarely been seen in India in the past few decades. Kolkata: A first-year student of Jadavpur University in Kolkata died after allegedly falling from the second-floor balcony of his hostel where he was staying since last week, police said on Thursday. The 18-year-old student from Nadia district was found lying naked in a pool of blood in front of the main hostel building outside the university campus by students at around 11.45pm on Wednesday, police said. While the deceaseds family alleged he was ragged at the hostel premises, police said an investigation is underway. The university said it has set up an internal committee to probe the students death. The 18-year-old student from Nadia district was found lying naked in a pool of blood in front of the main hostel building outside the university campus by students at around 11.45pm on Wednesday, police said. The teens body bore several injury marks and he was rushed to a private hospital where he died at around 4.30am on Thursday, police added. We heard a loud thud and rushed out. He was lying naked in a pool of blood, a student said on condition of anonymity. The student received multiple injuries and died at 4.30am during treatment at the KPC Medical College, a police officer at Jadavpur Police Station said, seeking anonymity. The student had enrolled for Bengali Honours last week and had shifted to the hostels A2 block on Sunday as the classes began on Monday. The deceaseds family alleged he was being ragged at the hostel premises and wanted them to visit him in the hostel. My son called last night (Wednesday) and spoke to his mother. He was very afraid and was under tremendous pressure. He begged me and his mother to come. It was clear that he was being tortured, the students father told reporters. A senior police officer said while the family is yet to register a formal complaint, police have sent the body for post mortem and begun a probe of unnatural death. We have started a probe. We are waiting for the family to lodge a formal complaint. Once they lodge the complaint, we will register an FIR. We are also waiting for the autopsy report. In his complaint to the university registrar, the students uncle said he spoke to his mother at around 9.30pm on Wednesday and at around 1.25am on Thursday, the family received a call that he had fallen from the balcony. Earlier in the day, he called his mother and said he was very happy and the class went well. But at around 9:30pm, he again called his mother, saying he was very afraid and begged his parents to come and take him home, the uncle said. He told his mother that he had many things to share. The doctors told me there were some injury marks on the body. How can this happen without being ragged, he added. The relative also ruled out the possibility of a suicide. He did not commit suicide, he said. A section of students and teachers alleged that former students frequently visited the hostel, stayed in the premises and even sometimes harassed the freshers. It is not for the first time that allegations of ragging have poured in. Earlier too, students have faced such situations. Senior and former students often harass freshers, a hostelite said, seeking anonymity. Speaking on similar lines, a professor, who did not want to be named, said: This particular hostel, as it is located outside the university campus, is a free zone for former students. They frequently come to the hostel, stay there overnight and harass freshers. The freshers are often ragged. The victim was surely a victim of ragging by senior and ex-students. Separate hostel facilities need to be arranged for freshers as per guidelines of the University Grants Commission. Former students who stay in the hostel illegally should be evicted and action be initiated against them, the Jadavpur University Teachers Association said in a statement. The university formed a seven-member internal committee to probe the death. An internal committee be formed to enquire the extremely sad incident of student of UG-1, Bengali, last night at the main hostel with Professor Subenoy Chakraborty, Dean, Science as chairman, it said in a statement. The panel visited the hostel premises. We will do everything that is in our hands. The process may take some time. Police have already started their probe. An internal probe committee has been set up to find out what happened. He informed his parents but never informed us. Had the information reached us, we could have acted, joint registrar Sanjay Gopal Sarkar said. West Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose visited the premises in the evening. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: Ten Kuki-Zo-Hmar tribal MLAs on Thursday submitted a representation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging the Centre to not remove Assam Rifles personnel from the state. An Assam Rifles officer keeps a watch in Manipurs Phaileng village amid ethnic clashes in Manipur (PTI) The legislators sent this submission a day after 40 MLAs of the ruling Manipur coalition wrote to PM Modi seeking complete disarmament, withdrawal of the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement with surrendered militant groups, and removal of the Assam Rifles. Also Read: At check point in Manipur, biased' Assam Rifles replaced with police, CRPF The 40 MLAs -- from BJP, Naga Peoples Front, Nationalist Peoples Party(NPP) and one Independent legislator , in their memorandum, sought removal of the Assam Rifles from the forces present location of deployment and said that other trustworthy central forces along with the state police be stationed in their place. Meitei groups and Meira Paibis (collective of Meitei women) have accused the Assam Rifles of being biased in discharging their duty, sheltering Kuki militants, and also using excessive force in dealing with Meitei women protesters. The 10 tribal MLAs, who have been at odds with Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh over his handling of the ethnic violence, said they feared for their safety because a campaign had been started against the Assam Rifles to remove them from the state. The memorandum said, Manipur State Police has now started removing the Assam Rifles posts from key areas and started lodging false and fabricated FIRs against the Assam Rifles to hinder/pressurise them from doing their duties. Meanwhile, it is learnt that some biased valley Meitei MLAs have approached your esteemed office seeking removal of the Assam Rifles from the state of Manipur. On behalf of all tribal communities, we the elected tribal representatives (MLAs) humbly pray to you not to remove the Assam Rifles from our state as it would harm and jeopardise our safety and security. Also Read: Stopped from going after militants, say Manipur cops in FIR against Assam Rifles Lallian Mang Khaute, former IPS officer and MLA from Churachandpur, one of the 10 who sent the memorandum, said, I closely worked with the Assam Rifles during my long career in the IPS in different capacities, be it in Tripura or in Manipur as the DGP. The AR (Assam Rifles) are called friends of the Northeast people. They are doing a great job under most difficult situations in Manipur. It is unfortunate that their professionalism and commitments to maintenance of internal security has been questioned by some people. Their continued deployment in Manipur will definitely bring about stability and peace in the state of Manipur sooner than later. They should not be withdrawn from their deployments in Manipur. The other 40 MLAs who have supported chief minister N Biren Singh had reached the Capital on Wednesday afternoon and submitted their representation at the PMs residence later in the evening. The 40 legislators also met senior party leaders on Thursday afternoon. On August 5, Manipur police filed an FIR against Assam Rifles personnel for allegedly blocking their way and stopping them from pursuing armed miscreants, who were involved in the killing of three men in Kwakta. Three days later, the Manipur police issued an order to relieve Assam Rifles personnel at a check post in Moirang between Bishnupur to Kangvai and replace them with Manipur police and the CRPF. The police order did not cite any reason for the change. After reports of the FIR and removal of the Assam Rifles, the Army on Tuesday (August 8) said that some inimical forces were making desperate, repeated and failed attempts to question the role of the Assam Rifles. In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), the Army said that the force was working relentlessly towards saving lives and restoration of peace. Indian Army and Assam Rifles assure the people of Manipur that we will remain firm and resolute in our actions to prevent any attempt that could result in furthering violence in an already volatile atmosphere. At least 152 people have been killed and nearly 50,000 displaced in Manipur since May 3, when ethnic violence erupted in the northeastern state between the numerically dominant Meitei community which forms 53% of the state population and mostly inhabits the Imphal Valley and the tribal Kukis, who live primarily in the hill districts. Clashes first broke out on May 3 in Churachandpur town after Kuki groups called for protests against a proposed tweak to the states reservation matrix, granting scheduled tribe (ST) status to the Meitei community. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Prawesh Lama Prawesh Lama covers crime, policing, and issues of security in Delhi. Raised in Darjeeling, educated in Mumbai, he also looks at special features on social welfare in the National Capital. ...view detail Two people were killed while another was injured in rain related incidents across Uttarakhand in last 24 hours even as the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Dehradun centre on Thursday issued a red alert for seven districts with a forecast of heavy rains from 12 to 14 August, officials familiar with the matter said. The Ganga river in spate, in Haridwar (Rameshwar Gaur/ HT) The state continued to be battered by the heavy rain and a rise in the water level was reported with over seven rivers breaching the warning level in the last 24 hours causing flooding and water inundation in four districts of the state on Thursday, one of the officials added. According to the IMD data, the state reported 20.1 mm rain in 24 hours (up to 8.30 am Thursday) with a maximum of 109.6 mm rain in Dehradun followed by 65.3 mm rain in Udham Singh Nagar and 34.2 mm rain in Champawat. An 84-year-old seer was killed on Thursday while another sustained injuries after a wall collapsed on their temporary shelter them in Rishikesh area of Dehradun district, officials said. State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) media in-charge Lalita Negi said a wall collapsed over the two sadhus near Laxman Jhula Chaurasi Kutiya in Rishikesh. Local residents pulled out one of the sadhus, but were unable to rescue the other one. The deceased has been identified as Rajasthan resident Gajanan and the injured as Bihar resident Shri Kedar. He is undergoing treatment at the hospital, she said. In Majri Grant area at Doiwala of Dehradun district, a 12-year-old girl drowned after the water from a nearby rain-fed drain broke the sidewalls and entered the house on Wednesday night. Dehradun disaster management officials said the deceased was identified as Akanksha Koli. Deceaseds father Anand Koli said, The water inundated the house on Wednesday night. I was able to save my younger daughter. I rushed my elder daughter to a hospital in Rishikesh but she was declared dead. In another incident, a house caved in trapping an elderly man Rehmat Ali under the debris in Yamkeshwar block on Wednesday, said the officials. The SDRF team reached the spot to rescue the man. Till the filing of this report, the rescue operation was ongoing. In Bageshwar district two men identified as Brijbhan Yadav (28) and Anuj Yadav (26), residents of Uttar Pradesh, fell in a gorge near Frog Point in the district when they lost control of their vehicle. Both were rescued by the SDRF team and were rushed to hospital for treatment. In a related development, five rivers were flowing above the warning level in the state at 8 am on Thursday, according to Central Water Commission data, including Ganga river that was flowing at 293. 5 metres above the warning level of 293 metres at Haridwar. The water level of Ganga in Rishikesh was 339.4 metres close to the warning level of 339.5 metres while Saung river in Haridwar district was flowing at 337.4 metres above warning level of 337.2 metres. District magistrate Dhiraj Gabriyal has directed the education department officials to shut down all schools from Class 1 to 12 in Haridwar owing to the increased water level in the rivers. Ban Ganga river breached the warning level of 230 metres and was flowing at 230.35 metres at Raisi in Haridwar at 8 am on Wednesday. Gauri Ganga river was flowing at 987.38 metres above the warning level of 987.25 metres, Kali river in Dharchula, Pithroagarh, was flowing at 889.20 metres with a warning level at 889 metres, according to the data. Meanwhile, in Rudrapur, Uddham Singh and Kashisipur areas in the Kumaon region over 100 people were stuck when the water entered their houses . They were later rescued by SDRF teams and shifted to safer places. Due to a surge in water levels of Ganga, two powerhouses run by Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL) were shut on Thursday. UJVNL public relation officer Vimal Dabral said, The Chila and Pathhri hydro powerhouse ,downstream the Pashulok barrage in Rishikesh, were shut down due to surge in Ganga river and to avoid any damage to the machines of the powerhouse. Over 241 roads have been blocked across the state, according to public works department data released at 7.30 pm on Thursday. In Tehri district the road was blocked on the Rishikesh-Srinagargar highway national highway due to landslide near Atali Ganga on Wednesday night. Tehri district disaster management officer Brijesh Bhatt said the work to clear the road has been started. In Chamoli district, the Badrinath highway was also closed due to the surge in the water level and was opened for traffic on Thursday said disaster management officials. In Rudraprayag district 19 roads were closed while in Uttarkashi seven roads were closed for traffic due to landslides on Thursday, said the officials. Rudraprayag district magistrate Saurabh Gherwar directed the officers deployed on the yatra route to clear the roads at the earliest for the convenience of the pilgrims. Mysuru Two men were arrested over alleged hate speech and sharing it on social media in Yadgir district, police said on Wednesday. Two men were arrested over alleged hate speech and sharing it on social media in Yadgir district (Representational Image) According to the police, the accused were identified as Akbar Syed Bahadur Ali (23) and Mohammad Ayaz (22). The two posted videos on TikTok and Instagram threatening to behead those who insult Prophet Mohammad. The videos were brought to the attention of police by a man named Neeraj Atri, who tagged the Prime Minister in a tweet. Few twitter users also tagged DGP of Karnataka in the post, and urged the DGP to take stringent action against them. Following this, a suo motu case was registered against the accused at the Yadagiri rural police station and they were arrested on the late on Tuesday, officers said. In the video clip, the accused is heard saying, We belong to Sunnathe Jamaat. This is what we are taught from childhood. Face all difficulties in life. But if anyone insults Prophet Mohammed, behead them. The accused further said in the video, Those who grab girls and call themselves men, if you are men, come to the field. How much do those who commit atrocities on Muslims, those who target Muslims? The Quran is very clear. Kafir (non-Muslim), in the end, your place is hell. The video clip grabbed the attention of the people in the district and it was widely shared on social media. Soon after the clip came to our notice, we registered a case against the two accused and arrested them, Yadgir SP Dr C B Vedamurthy told HT. He said the accused were booked under sections 153(A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race) and 505 (making, publishing, circulating communal hatred) at the Yadgir rural police station. He said accused Bahadur Ali was working in Kohinoor Solar Company while Ayaz was running a chicken shop. Both the accused posted videos on social media threatening communal harmony. Further investigation is going on. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the first flight service from Lucknow to Varanasi on Thursday, said an official statement. UP CM Yogi Adityanath(ANI) The service, launched by IndiGo Airlines, will complete the journey between Varanasi and Lucknow in just 55 minutes. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the flight held at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, the Chief Minister described the launch of the flight to connect the state capital with the spiritual capital of the nation as "much-needed" and a "commendable effort". He added, This service will fulfill the commitment of the Prime Minister's Udaan Scheme, which aims to allow even the common man wearing slippers to travel by air. The Chief Minister expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Civil Aviation of the Government of India and IndiGo Airlines on behalf of the people of the state, said the statement. He stated that the demand of entrepreneurs, businessmen, representatives, enlightened society, and pilgrims visiting the Vishwanath Dham in Varanasi was being met today with the launch of the air service between Varanasi and Lucknow., it added. READ | Three more airlines seek DGCA nod to fly from Prayagraj CM Yogi further stated that, under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, Varanasi has established new milestones in the realms of spirituality, culture, and physical development, said the statement. Considering this progress, it was crucial for Varanasi to be connected with Lucknow through air. In the year 2016-17, Varanasi Airport saw only 19 lakh passengers in a year, but today, in 202223, this number has grown to more than 25 lakh passengers, he added. The Chief Minister highlighted that in the past 6 years, there has been a rapid expansion of air services in Uttar Pradesh. Initially, in 2017, there were only two active airports in Varanasi and Lucknow whereas presently, there are 9 fully operational airports in the state, added the statement. He mentioned that the state government is now expeditiously preparing 12 more airports, including two international airports, and among these, the Ayodhya Airport will become fully operational in December. Similarly, the first runway of Asia's largest Jewar Airport will also be completed by the end of this year, it added. The Chief Minister revealed that in the past, no one even thought about domestic airports, but today the work of connecting Azamgarh, Shravasti, Chitrakoot, Aligarh, Moradabad, and Saharanpur with air services is progressing rapidly, said the official statement. He emphasized that the country is currently in a phase of healthy competition wherein safety and punctuality in air services are particularly essential. He said that around 2000 new aircraft are set to enter the Indian market soon, which will elevate people's aspirations to new heights, it added. The Chief Minister further asserted, even though the distance from Lucknow to Varanasi is around 300 kilometers, the necessity for this air service was undeniable. We need to grasp the importance of Varanasi. "On the occasion of the launch of the first flight service, all the MLAs from Varanasi are travelling to Varanasi, and they will return similarly by air, he CM said. The statement also said that the Chief Minister, while providing the first ticket of the Lucknow to Varanasi flight service to a female passenger, extended best wishes to all travelers for a comfortable journey. On this occasion, Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation General Dr. VK Singh, joined through video conferencing from New Delhi. During the program, State Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh, Cabinet Minister Anil Rajbhar, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ravindra Jaiswal, Dr Dayashankar Mishra Dayalu, Chief Secretary of the state Durgashankar Mishra, Director-General of Police Vijay Kumar, Principal Secretary (Home) Sanjay Prasad, CEO of IndiGo Peter Elbers, Special Director of IndiGo R.K. Singh, and Chief Minister's advisor Awanish Awasthi were present, said the statement. The IndiGo flight service between Lucknow and Varanasi has been started for three days a week, namely Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, for now, said the statement. The IndiGo flight with flight number 6E-7319 will depart from Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow at 2:20 PM and will arrive at Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi at 3:30 PM after a 1-hour and 10-minute journey. Similarly, the IndiGo flight with flight number 6E-7321 will depart from Varanasi Airport on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 4:05 PM and will arrive at Lucknow Airport 55 minutes later, stated the official statement. VARANASI: The Varanasi district court on Thursday ordered the media print, social and electronic to refrain from publishing any news regarding the ongoing scientific survey of the Gyanvapi mosque complex without any formal information, people familiar with the matter said. The ASI survey is being done on court orders (File photo) The court also ordered the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials involved in the exercise, besides the plaintiffs, defendants, their advocates, district government counsel (civil) and other officials not to share any information about the ongoing survey with the media. District judge Ajaya Krishna Vishvesha passed the order on an application filed by Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which manages the 17th-century mosque, seeking an order to stop the media from publishing, disseminating false and wrong news about the survey being conducted by the ASI on Gyanvapi premises. If the print media, social media or electronic media wrongly publishes any news regarding the survey without formal information, despite no information being provided by the ASI, plaintiffs and the defendants side, then necessary action may be taken against them as per the law, the court said in its order. It is ordered to all the ASI officials, who are involved in the survey, that they will neither give any information regarding the survey to media, nor will they share the information regarding the survey with anyone else, and they will submit the report before the court, it added. SM Yasin, the joint secretary of the mosque committee, hailed the order. We welcome the order passed by the honorable district judge after hearing our application, Yasin added. The application was filed through by the mosque committee through its counsel Mumtaz Ahmad, Akhlaque Ahmad and Rais Ansari on August 8. The ASI survey is being done on court orders and no ASI official has given any statement regarding the proceedings, and yet social, print and electronic media were disseminating false and wrong news in an arbitrary manner about portions (of the mosque) where the survey has not yet been conducted, said Mumtaz Ahmad. It is necessary to stop social, print and electronic media from publishing and disseminating wrong/false news about the survey for maintaining peace and avoiding ill-effects on the mind of public, he added. Manbahadur Singh, counsel for the Hindu side, on Wednesday opposed the mosque committees application, saying it is a very big case. People want to know about this matter. Therefore, media should not be stopped from coverage, Singh argued in the court. Saurabh Tiwari, another counsel for a Hindu plaintiff, said that under Article 19(1) of the Constitution, the media has the freedom to publish news. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal on Thursday announced their plan to resume on August 28 the Jalabhishek Yatra in Nuh that was abandoned midway on July 31 after violence broke out between Muslims and Hindus who had gathered in the area in large numbers. After the clashes, the Haryana government went on a demolition drive targeting around 1,200 properties. (Parveen Kumar/HT) Also Read | Over 30 suspects held from Rajasthan for Nuh violence, say police Nuh deputy commissioner Dhirendra Khargata and Narendra Bijarniya, Nuhs superintendent of police, said they were yet to receive an application for the march. The former said the administration would look at the situation closer to the date of the yatra before deciding on allowing it. Ajeet Singh, president, VHP, Gurugram, said that on July 31 there were over 3,500 people who participated in the yatra but that on August 28, there will be much more. We have invited our counterparts from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat to be part of the yatra to show our strength and presence. We have no intention to create any violence but we will be well prepared this time, he said. Although an annual affair for at least the last three years, this years yatra was different. Many Muslims who live in the area, which does not usually see communal clashes, were upset at what they saw as the administrations apathy in apprehending Monu Manesar, a cow vigilante accused in the February lynching of two Muslim cattle traders from neighbouring Rajasthan (Nuh is part of the Mewat region that spans parts of the two states). Manesar himself posted videos on social media ahead of the march that seemed to suggest he would be present. Also Read | 30 khaps, farm unions demand arrest of Monu Manesar It has since emerged that some Muslims in the area mobilised reinforcements from Rajasthan and also guns, stones, and bottles to attack the procession, which was also a show of strength with at least some of the marchers armed with guns and swords. The violence resulted in six deaths and 88 people being injured. And questions have been asked of the administration for intelligence lapses that resulted in it being taken by surprise, as well as its tardy response. After the clashes, the Haryana government went on a demolition drive, targeting around 1200 properties, almost all belonging to Muslims on the grounds that they were encroachments or were owned by people who were involved in the violent clashes in Nuh. The Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed the demolition on Monday, commenting that it looked as if the government was involved in ethnic cleansing. Several Haryana villages have since held panchayat meetings and barred the entry of Muslim traders, and parts of the state have also seen an exodus of Muslims. Also Read | Nuh demolitions: New high court bench to hear matter Yashwant Shekhawat, district secretary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad who was part of the first yatra said it is important to complete it before end of this month. We have lost our three members , they have laid their life for us and we want to pay tribute to them with the completion of the yatra. VHP and Bajrang Dal members said they plan to organise a mahapanchayat in Manesar to discuss the preparations and logistics for the yatra. We want the participants to be well prepared . The yatra has a broader purpose and message, we will use social media and other platforms to raise awareness about it and invite others to join us in large numbers, said Kulbhushan Bhardwaj, a member of Bajrang Dal. Meanwhile, deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala said that the permissions will be given based on the present situation. It all depends on situation in the district and the call will be taken by the administration and police. Presently, Section 144 is imposed in the district, he said. Jawahar Yadav, officer on special duty (OSD) to Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, said that the government is unaware of any plans by groups to resume the yatra on August 28. The administration will take a call where it is safe and secure for them to take out the religious procession from Gurugram to Nuh. Based on their decision, police protection will be provided to them, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Popular actor and Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan on Thursday called upon the people to drive away the YSR Congress party from Andhra Pradesh which, he alleged, had destroyed the state beyond repair. Addressing a huge rally in Visakhapatnam as part of his Varaahi Yatra, Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan alleged that Jagan had come to power by telling lies and making false promises. (ANI) With the support of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, we shall pull down chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy from power and save Andhra Pradesh. The battle will begin from Visakhapatnam itself, Pawan Kalyan said while addressing a huge rally at Jagadamba centre in Visakhapatnam as part of his Varaahi Yatra in the evening. Stating that he had made a fervent appeal to the people not to vote for the YSRCP in the 2019 assembly elections, the Jana Sena Party chief alleged that Jagan had come to power by telling lies and making false promises. In the last four years, the YSRCP leaders looted the state. They destroyed red sand dunes in Vizag, made big money through ganja smuggling, liquor, sand and land mafia dealings. The government increased power tariff, enhanced state excise duty on petrol and imposed tax on garbage, he alleged. Stating that he had no hatred towards village volunteers system, Pawan Kalyan said Jagan was misusing their services for electoral benefits. Some volunteers have been indulging in irregularities and crimes, he said and appealed to the officials not to fall into the trap of Jagan. He appealed to the people not to give one more chance to Jagan in 2024 assembly elections. If you do that, nobody can save Andhra Pradesh, he warned. The YSRCP leaders are yet to react to Pawan Kalyans allegations against the government and the chief minister. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON As PM Modi spoke on Manipur on Thursday replying to the no-confidence motion brought by the INDIA alliance, he said he would talk about two past incidents and both of them took place courtesy of the Congress. "The first one happened on March 5, 1966. The Congress attacked the people of Mizoram with its Air Force. The Congress should answer whether it was the Air of any other country. Were the people of Mizoram not the citizens of my country? Was their security not the responsibility of the country?" PM Modi said. Read | Two 'I's in I.N.D.I.A stand for...: PM Modi says Congress name, symbol stolen In this screen grab India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) is seen on a television screen as he addresses the lower house Lok Sabha in New Delhi on August 10, 2023, in response to the Opposition's no-confidence motion against the NDA government. Dozens of opposition MPs walked out of India's parliament on August 10 as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was defending his record at the climax of a three-day no-confidence debate, television images showed. (Photo by ARUN SANKAR / AFP)(AFP) "Even today, Mizoram has not forgotten the day because there has been no attempt to heal that wound. And who was in power then? Indira Gandhi. The Congress put a lid on this," PM Modi said adding that the Congress killed the trust of the northeast. "That wound comes to the surface in some form or the other," PM Modi said. Read | 'Bharat Mata' apparently unparliamentary word: Rahul Gandhi on his expunged remarks in LS "In 1962, when China attacked India, when people of the country were expecting the government to save them, Nehru said in his radio speech my heart goes out to the people of Assam. This was the situation. That radio broadcast still hants people how Nehru ji left them to their fate," PM Modi said. Read | Why did opposition walk out amid PM Modi's speech in Lok Sabha? Cong MP says Northeast jigad ka tukda: PM Modi on Manipur The situation of Manipur is being presented as if the problems cropped up now. If anyone is responsible for this, it is the Congress. The people of the northeast are not responsible, PM Modi said. There was a time in Manipur when Mahatma Gandhi's photo was not allowed in government departments. Who was in power then? PM Modi said as the NDA MPs shouted Congress. Their pain and sympathy are selective. They can't think for the country, or humanity. Their sympathy starts and ends with politics, PM Modi said adding that bandhs and blockades have become a thing of past in Manipur. "There are serious crimes against women and they are unforgivable. Both the state and central governments are doing everything possible to ensure that the accused get the strictest punishment. I want to assure the people that peace will be restored in Manipur in the coming time, PM Modi said urging the opposition to work together with the government. Read | Those interested in stock market: PM Modi's investment tip during LS speech PM Modi's strong criticism of Rahul Gandhi, opposition, INDIA: 'Cakes were cut in aeroplane' PM Modi let a no-holds-barred attack on the opposition alliance INDIA which brought the no-confidence motion. As he called Rahul Gandhi a failed project of the Congress, PM Modi said INDIA alliance stole the name from NDA only and the dots in between the name shows that they have already divided INDIA. "The difference is clear...Once upon a time, birthday cakes used to be cut on planes. Today the aeroplanes carry vaccine," PM Modi said. In INDIA alliance, everyone wants to be the groom, everyone wants to be the prime minister, PM Modi said. Opposition walk-out during PM Modi's speech: Teflon coating is gone The Opposition MPs made a walkout as PM Modi continued his reply to the no-confidence motion. PM Modi avoided Rajya Sabha for 21 days and today was his first entry to the Lok Sabha. The no-confidence motion was the only way to make him speak. And 90 minutes into his speech, not a wisp on Manipur. What did the INDIA parties do? They walk out. Within 30 seconds of the walkout, he speaks on Manipur for four minutes," Trinamool MP Derek O' Brien said. "Mr Prime Minister, I said last week you have a heart of stone, may be even worse. But I can tell you the positive. The teflon coating is gone. The sheen has vanished. After your speech today, one is quite confident that INDIA jeetega Bharat," Derek said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Thursday said that the opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc walked out of the Lok Sabha during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech since he did not take any responsibility for the failure of the double-engine government in Manipur. Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi at Parliament (PTI) So many women were raped in the tenure of the Manipur CM, the state was divided, 60,000 people became homeless, AK-47 is in the hands of common people. Despite making such an unsafe environment, he is not sacking his chief minister. He did not say when he will visit Manipur...Even today, they (Centre) don't have a permanent solution, they don't have a roadmap about when will peace return to Manipur, Gogoi told the news agency ANI. He added, The entire Manipur state is dissatisfied & sad with PM's words...That is why the I.N.D.I.A. alliance walked out. PM Modi, in around 2.5 hours speech, replied to the no-confidence motion moved by the opposition against the ruling government. On the Manipur crisis, PM Modi assured the people of the ethnic violence-hit state that the entire country is with them and that peace will be restored soon. Both the state and central governments are doing everything possible to ensure that the accused get the strictest punishment. I want to tell the people of Manipur including women and daughters of Manipur that the country is with you, he said. PM Modi's veiled attack on Congress Hitting out at the Congress, PM Modi said that the party left behind an unstable situation in Manipur during their regime. Manipur had become the victim of ethnic clashes during the erstwhile Congress regime. There was a time in Manipur when everything used to be run by insurgents. Whose government was it at that time? PM questioned. He also alleged the opposition for doing politics over the crisis in the northeastern state and said, What has happened in Manipur is painful, but no one should play politics on it. Sikkim chief minister Prem Singh Tamang has announced that his government will give a full year of maternity leave and a month of paternity leave to its employees. The national law on maternity leaves the Maternity Benefit Act 1961 already entitles women to six months, or 26 weeks, of paid maternity leave for their first two children and three months for subsequent children. PREMIUM The provisions make Sikkim more progressive on paper than even several developed countries. (HT_PRINT) An HT analysis shows that while these provisions make Sikkim more progressive on paper than even several developed countries as far as maternity leaves are concerned there is a specific context behind the announcement and its benefits might not reach a large part of the intended beneficiaries. Who knows whats going on in their heads as they buzz about? PREMIUM (Shutterstock) What we have known, for quite a while, is that bees are among the cleverest creatures in the animal kingdom. They can learn to carry out complex tasks, navigate mazes, solve problems. They search, find and remember (thats how they forage for nectar). Research has shown that bees can recognise human faces with 90% accuracy. It turns out they may have a knack for numbers too. According to a paper published in 2022 in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, bees can distinguish between odd and even numbers. Researchers from Australias Deakin University, Monash University and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and Frances Center for Integrative Biology in Toulouse, first trained bees to tell the difference using positive association. To teach bees a parity task, we separated individuals into two groups. One was trained to associate even numbers with sugar water and odd numbers with a bitter-tasting liquid. The other group was trained to associate odd numbers with sugar water, and even numbers with quinine, the papers key authors (Scarlett Howard, Adrian Dyer, Andrew Greentree and Jair Garcia), wrote on the research portal The Conversation. The study, which ran for five years, used laminated cards bearing printed numbers from 1 to 10. Through trial and error, the bees eventually learnt to choose the right answer about 80% of the time. What fascinated the researchers was that when they introduced the numbers 11 and 12, which the bees hadnt been tested on, they were able to distinguish the odd one from the even with 70% accuracy. What the research couldnt determine was how they are able to do it. Humans, for instance, tell odd numbers from even using memory or maths. But the human brain has 86 billion neurons; the bee brain has less than a million. Could that suffice? Could the understanding of numerical patterns be inherent, even in creatures with brains this small? As the research project continues, the scientists are attempting to answer some of these questions. To see their learning abilities first-hand was quite incredible, Howard of Monash University told Wknd. Each experiment we conduct now will have many different implications for understanding the bee brain and the limits of miniature insect brains, while also communicating to the public how amazing insects are. Most Indian gastronomic classics that is to say, dishes that you find on lots of menus have been around for decades if not centuries. North Indian biryani dates back to the Mughals. What we now call Kerala biryani predates the Mughals by several centuries. The great kormas of Awadh are two centuries old. Rogan josh is so old that it is hard to even figure out when it left Kashmir and moved southwards. Champaran Meat is such a hit that chef Chintan Pandyas version is almost the signature dish of Dhamaka, the hottest Indian restaurant in NYC. (Photo: Dhamaka) The dark, slow-cooked goat meat dish popped up seven years ago and is now seen in small restaurants, from Bihar to Noida. At Dhamaka, where the chef Chintan Pandya experiments with dishes from all over India including the North East, his version of Champaran Meat is such a sensation that the New York Times has written glowingly about it, Chintan has done Instagram videos about cooking it and nearly every review of the restaurant mentions this dish. Bolognese sauce was invented by Italian immigrants in England or America. Sandeep Pande, now at the St Regis in Goa, is the chef that other chefs look up to. Chintan Pandya and everyone else who has worked with Sandeep regards him as an encyclopaedia of food. I asked him how long ago he first heard of the dish: It became popular around six year or seven years back, he explained. And suddenly everyone jumped on to the bandwagon and started putting whole garlic bulbs in thin gravy in a sealed mud pot and called it Champaran Meat. Comorin does a version too. Chicken Kiev was invented in New York, yet in Kiev there are plenty of restaurants serving the original version. So, he was not acting out of some kind of Bihari pride? No. Not at all. I had never heard of it when I was growing up in Bihar. Champaran Meat is slow-cooked goat meat made in a handi. The meat is marinated with onions and garlic and cooked over an extended period with chopped ginger and whole spices like green and brown coriander, tej patta, cloves, dried chilli, powdered red chilli, turmeric, cumin, dhania powder and mustard oil. Could Ahuna Meat be the original inspiration for what we now call Champaran Meat? At the ITC Royal Bengal, Champaran meat is not on the menu but they make it on request for banquets. I spoke to Abhinav Chaudhary, the Bihari chef who makes it. He accepted that there was a connection to Ahuna Meat and said that it is the idea of meat slow-cooked on a handi with whole garlic that is at the root of what he and other Biharis cook. He did not recognise many of the modern recipes for Champaran Meat, he said, but every chef has the right to do his own thing. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Tara Sutaria is an absolute fashionista. The actor keeps slaying fashion goals like a pro with snippets from her fashion diaries on her Instagram profile on a regular basis. From acing casual attire to slaying stunning looks in ethnic ensembles to being the boss babe in formal outfits, Tara knows how to walk right into our hearts with her sartorial sense of fashion. The actor knows how to keep it minimal, chic, stylish and comfortable with the choice of her attire. With every picture, Tara ensures to make fashion lovers scurry to take notes of her fashion. The actor's fashion diaries are inspo for us and for all the right reasons. Tara Sutaria is the epitome of elegance in a sheer black saree(Instagram/@tarasutaria) ALSO READ: Tara Sutaria's rainy-day outfit features a white backless midi dress: Watch Tara is currently in Bhutan. The actor, a day back, shared a set of pictures of herself looking ethereal in the six yards of grace. Tara's fashion diaries are our favourite, and her ethnic looks are meant to be bookmarked. The actor shared pictures of herself looking like the epitome of grace in a sheer black saree. With multiple pictures, Tara showed us how to keep it minimal and traditional. The actor looked stunning in the black saree featuring silver sequin details throughout and netted details. She further teamed it with a matching sleeveless blouse with a square neckline. Take a look at her attire here. " In my favourite.. A sari. Celebrating art, literature, music and the good things in life in magical Bhutan," Tara captioned her pictures. In no time, the actor's pictures were flooded with likes and comments from her Instagram family. Tara further accessorised her look for the day in statement black and silver ear studs. The actor wore her tresses into a sleeked bun with a middle part. With white flowers added to the bun, Tara added more ethnic touch to her look. Tara opted for a minimal makeup look to let her ensemble do all the talking. In nude eyeshadow, black eyeliner, black kohl, mascara-laden eyelashes, drawn eyebrows, contoured cheeks, a shade of nude lipstick and a small black bindi, Tara aced the ethnic look to perfection. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Anyone who hits the beach in Greece these days will have great difficulty finding a spot on the sand to spread out a towel or unroll a beach mat. The uncontrolled spread of sun lounger rentals means that empty space on Greek beaches is now rare. (Also Read | Greece plans hourly caps on tourists visit to ancient Acropolis of Athens) A familiar sight on Greek beaches: Identical sun loungers and umbrellas fill almost the entire beach, right up to the shoreline. (Konstantinos Bizas/DW) On beaches up and down the country, row upon row of identical sun loungers and beach umbrellas block the view of the sea. They have been put there by entrepreneurs, hoteliers and beach bar/cafe owners in Greece who sometimes charge extortionate rates for their rental. A luxury lounger on the island of Paros in the Cyclades can cost up to 120 ($131) per day. But it's not just a problem of a lack of space: In some tourist regions in Greece, people who don't want to pay the high rental prices for sun loungers or cannot afford to do so are not allowed onto the beaches at all. On Paros, the locals have had enough and have started to fight back. They are determined to "reclaim the beach." A grass-roots movement known unofficially as the "towel movement" is protesting the illegal privatization of beaches on Paros and other Greek islands. Defending people's right to beach access "We defend the right of the citizens and visitors of our island to have free access to the beaches we love," the Paros Citizens' Movement for Free Beaches wrote on its Facebook page. "The Greek summer is part of our soul, it is part of our identity: let's not let anyone take it away from us!" There has been a wave of solidarity on social media, with messages of support and advice flooding in from all over the country. No room at the beach Greek media have dubbed the protest "the beach towel revolt," but Konstantinos Bizas, prefect of Paros and the neighboring island of Antiparos, doesn't like this phrase and prefers to refer to the initiative by its chosen name, the Paros Citizens' Movement for Free Beaches. After all, that is exactly what the movement is about: Keeping the island's beaches open to the public. "By law, only 50% of space on a beach can be leased out for private operation; the remaining 50% must remain free and open. In the case of a nature conservation area, only 30% can be leased out," he told DW. Popular Greek island Paros is the third-largest island in the Cyclades and is situated right next to the larger island of Naxos. It has a population of 14,000 and has over 700 tourist operations offering 25,000 beds. A further 10,000 beds are available via Airbnb.) According to official statistics, some 750,000 tourists visited the island last year, attracted by its numerous beautiful beaches, of which 10 are particularly popular. Bars, cafes and restaurants have been opened on these beaches and have gradually expanded and spread, leaving no free space on the sand. Shoreline law is not being enforced Retired teacher Christos Georgousis is one of the founders of the initiative, which works together with the Archilochos Cultural Association to protect the beaches and ensure free access to the sea. He says that the situation on the popular holiday island has gotten completely out of control. For two years now, he adds, no one has monitored whether regulations are being complied with. Georgousis decided that the time had come to act and in early June invited representatives of the local authorities and the opposition in the local council to a meeting to discuss possible solutions. About 200 people attended. Locals protest illegal privatization At the end of July, the first two demonstrations took place on beaches on the island. Some 300 and 400 people respectively took part, with several holding up large "reclaim the beach" banners. Locals were joined by foreigners who either live on the island or visit it regularly. The protests have since spread to the islands of Naxos and Serifos. "The citizens' movement is not targeting tourists or entrepreneurs," film director Panos Kekas told DW. All the activists want, he stressed, is that the law of the land is respected, namely that half of all beaches remain free of umbrellas and sun loungers so that locals and tourists alike can enjoy the sea and nature. Checks are not being carried out The people who are active in the grass-roots movement come from all parties, walks of life and age groups, says secondary school teacher and activist Tasos Kasapidis. "Members of the movement posted data from the authorities on the internet and found out that only 7,500 square meters [80,700 square foot] of beach on Paros were leased out to businesspeople, but that they have occupied a total of 18,500 square meters." This creeping privatization of Greece's beaches is a problem not only on Paros but across the country. All over, hotels and strand bars are not restricting themselves to the areas they are leasing but have expanded illegally. They have been able to do so because the authorities are not carrying out the stipulated checks. According to Greek law, beaches are public property and can only be rented out by local or other competent authorities in very specific circumstances. But the authorities don't always carry out the requisite inspections whether it be because they don't want to lose support or whether certain entrepreneurs are related to or friends with local politicians. Whatever the reason, the upshot is that a small group of people are making a profit at the expense of a large part of local society. Protests are bearing fruit Despite all this, the Paros Citizens' Movement for Free Beaches has achieved a lot in just two months. Greek Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis pledged last week to step up inspections and identify illegal operations, saying "We will not give up the beaches to anyone." Since then, beach umbrellas and sun loungers have been removed from the popular Santa Maria beach on the northeastern coast of Paros and three businesspeople have been arrested and charged. A public prosecutor from Athens will now travel to the island to assess the situation, and an extraordinary meeting of the local authority will investigate the matter. Appropriately, the activists celebrated their success by throwing a party on Santa Maria beach. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Jammu and Kashmir administration's decision to open areas close to the Line of Control for tourists has drawn not only local visitors but also people from far-flung places. Hailing from Hyderabad in Telangana, G Shankara Rao and his family decided to visit the last village on the Line of Control (LoC) after hearing about the decision. "We decided to visit after we came to know that we can see the Pakistan border," Rao said. Rao is accompanied by his wife, two daughters and their husbands. Jammu and Kashmir's decision to open areas near the Line of Control for tourism is attracting visitors from far-flung places.(Unsplash/Jannes Jacobs) Having lunch on the banks of the Kishenganga river, known as the Neelam on its other bank in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the tourists cannot believe that they can see people from PoK without having to cross the frontier. Asked if he felt safe so close to the LoC, Rao said it should be as there are adequate security personnel around. The locals of Keran tehsil are also happy as the decision to open the border areas has brought earning opportunities. "I am very thankful to the Indian Army and the district administration and particularly to Home Minister (Amit Shah) and Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) who paid attention to this," Mudasir Khan, a local resident, said. He further said the Indian Army contributed immensely in the area following the ceasefire. Earlier, there was no proper source of livelihood for the poor people living there. "Since this border tourism opened, we hope and appeal to people across India to visit," Khan added. Shakir Bhat, who works at the local post office, said the opening of the border areas for tourism was possible only because of peace. "Earlier, we never imagined that we can work like this. It was not possible as it was a firing zone. Since the ceasefire, everything is peaceful, children are going to school ... peace should be here forever," Bhat said. There is, however, one common demand from most residents. "We request better roads and connectivity so that the tourists can travel without any inconvenience," Bhat said, his sentiment echoed by other locals. Deputy Commissioner (Kupwara) Ayushi Sudan said the administration is working on improving the facilities. "I would say any tourism that needs to be developed here needs to be sustainable and eco-friendly as well. This is a beautiful valley, we would not like to destroy it. However, the basic infrastructure facilities for Keran are already in the pipeline. Some of those are being done now and some more will be taken up in the future," she said. While private investments are welcome in developing infrastructure, the government will not allow damage to the ecology, she said. "There has been a good footfall of tourists in Keran this year -- almost 1,000 to 1,500 people visit every day. The number exceeds 2,000 on weekends. A lot of local torusim has already been generated. With the help of the Army, we are making efforts towards creation of the tourism infrastructure," the deputy commissioner said. She said the road has been handed over to the Border Roads Organisation while work is underway for laying optical fiber cables. "We already have a connectivity project in the pipeline. We hope the optical fiber cable link will be completed by end of this year," Sudan added. A new study claims, prolonged use of widely-used acid reflux medications can be linked to a heightened risk of dementia. Long term use of acidity medicines can lead to dementia risk(Shutterstock) Published in the American Academy of Neurology's journal on Wednesday, the research delved into individuals who rely on proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for managing their condition can be affected. Common PPIs include omeprazole (Prilosec), esomeprazole (Nexium), and lansoprazole (Prevacid). Acid reflux, characterized by stomach acid flowing into the esophagus and causing irritation, is often aggravated after meals and during periods of lying down. PPIs are prescribed to address recurring acidity, stomach ulcers, and digestive tract problems by targeting acid-producing enzymes in the stomach lining. These findings suggest that long-term use of PPIs may carry more risks than benefits, despite their effectiveness in managing acid reflux. Patients and healthcare providers should carefully weigh the potential consequences, emphasized study author Kamakshi Lakshminarayan, a University of Minnesota researcher and member of the American Academy of Neurology, in a press release on Thursday. Supported by the National Institutes of Health, the study involved 5,712 participants aged 45 and above, with an average age of 75, who had not previously displayed symptoms of dementia. The investigation spanned five and a half years. Although these drugs provide relief to many, we observed a noteworthy association between long-term usage and an elevated risk of dementia. Short-term use, however, did not display the same correlation, Lakshminarayan remarked. Segmented into four groups based on their duration of PPI use less than 2.8 years, 2.8 to 4.4 years, over 4.4 years, or none at all volunteers' data was adjusted for variables such as age, gender, race, as well as health-related factors like hypertension and diabetes. The study found that the group with 4.4 years of PPI use faced a 33% elevated risk of dementia compared to non-users. Nevertheless, no significant evidence pointed to heightened dementia risk among those consuming PPIs for less than 4.4 years. Despite its insights, the study has certain limitations, including potential fluctuations in drug usage between check-ins or the inclusion of over-the-counter medications by participants. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON People working out at a gym in Port St. Lucie, Florida, were in for a surprise when an unexpected guest visited the place. A turtle managed to slip into the Iron Knight Gym through a slightly open garage door, causing quite a stir, reported WSVN. The gym manager safely escorted the turtle out of the gym. (Representational Image: Pixabay/Pexels) The gyms manager, Nikki Baker, joined in on a unique workout session as she followed the turtles slow movements amidst the weight machines and dumbbells. Its a turtle. I dont know if I should pick you up; I dont want you to snap at me. And I dont want to hurt you, Nikki Baker told CNN, highlighting her concern for the turtle. Baker then employed a gentle coaxing technique and shooed the turtle out with a towel. She added, You always think turtles are slow, but no, this guy was going. After Bakers patient efforts, the tortoise exited the gym, perhaps searching for its next unconventional adventure. Earlier, a Colorado couples wedding reception was crashed by an unexpected guest - a bear. Brandon Martinez and Cailyn McRossie-Martinez had already faced rain during their wedding ceremony in Boulder County. However, during their reception, a bear entered the venue and raided the dessert bar. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON An insurance consultant named Suzie Cheikho recently lost her job after being monitored by keystroke technology while working remotely. Cheikho, who was a consultant for Insurance Australia Group (IAG), was terminated for not typing enough while working from home, reported The New York Post. The womans typing speed was only 54 keystrokes per hour on average.(Representationl Image: Pexels/Anna Shvets) Cheikho had worked for the company for 18 years and was responsible for creating insurance documents, meeting regulatory timelines, and ensuring work-from-home compliance. However, her own work from home performance was deemed inadequate, resulting in her being sacked on February 20 this year. This comes after the company issued her a formal warning three months prior and put her on a performance improvement plan in November 2021. The New York Post reported that she had missed deadlines, meetings and was absent and uncontactable. Her failure to complete a task even led to the company being fined by industry regulators. Subsequently, Cheikho brought an unfair dismissal application against the company, which the Fair Work Commission (FWC) rejected, ruling that she was terminated for a valid reason of misconduct. The outlet further reported that the company tracked Cheikhos activity for 49 days between October and December and found that she had very low keystroke activity. She reported to work late on 47 days, finished early on 29 days, and did not work her rostered hours for 44 days. On four days, she did zero hours of work, and her average keystrokes per hour were only 54, indicating that she was not presenting for work and performing as required. Cheikho argued that she did not believe for a minute that she had worked less and even claimed that her FWC employer had a premeditated plan to remove her from the business and that she was targeted due to her mental health issues. During a Microsoft Teams meeting, Cheikho had written the F word across her hand while discussing her work performance with her manager. FWC Deputy President Thomas Roberts ruled that the evidence showed Cheikho was not working as she was required to do during her designated working hours. He found Cheikho could not provide a credible explanation for the data to her employers or throughout the FWC proceedings. The applicant was dismissed for a valid reason of misconduct, Roberts noted in FWC findings. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Arfa Javaid Arfa Javaid is a journalist working with the Hindustan Times' Delhi team. She covers trending topics, human interest stories, and viral content online. ...view detail President Biden was caught off guard by a Fox reporter during an event in New Mexico when he was asked to respond to inquiries regarding his involvement in his son Hunter's business dealings. Fox News' Peter Doocy speaks to President Joe Biden at the Arcosa Wind Towers, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Belen, N.M. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)(AP) Biden was confronted after his son Hunter Biden's former business partner, Devon Archer's, testimony revealed his presence during 20 business meetings. 'There's this testimony now where one of your son's former business associates is claiming that you were on speakerphone a lot with them, talking business,' Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked US President. Biden responded, What a lousy question to ask. To which Peter reiterated the question with more authority. Biden retorted, 'Because it's not true. I never talked business with anybody. I knew you'd have a lousy question," as he moved away from the reporters. Archer's testimony has raised new concerns about the extent of President Biden's involvement in Hunter's business ventures. Archer disclosed that President Biden participated in conversations with foreign business partners, even attending dinners with Hunter's patrons from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. The revelations have intensified scrutiny on President Biden's role in his son's international business dealings. House Republicans, led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, are inching closer to launching an impeachment inquiry in light of the emerging evidence. Archer's statements have cast a shadow on President Biden's previous claims that he did not discuss business matters with his son. Archer described instances where President Biden engaged in casual conversations that included discussions about the weather, fishing, and other topics. The president's presence in these interactions seemed to imply a form of endorsement, showcasing the "brand being delivered along with other capabilities and reach," according to Archer. One particular incident Archer highlighted was a meeting in Beijing, where Hunter put his father on speakerphone during discussions with a Chinese investment fund CEO. This incident underscores President Biden's involvement in Hunter's ventures, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest and undue influence. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Two people were killed and seven injured in an apparent missile attack by Russia on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said. A view shows the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine August 9, 2023. REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi(REUTERS) A Reuters reporter at the scene saw emergency workers lifting a body, putting it on a stretcher and wrapping it into a black body bag. Rescuers went through debris and an ambulance was parked near damaged buildings. "We are waiting if they find anyone under the rubble," a doctor, Vyacheslav, said. He did not give his last name. Ukrainian officials had earlier reported three deaths. "Fortunately, one person was resuscitated. Doctors were assisted by police paramedics at the scene," Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on the Telegram messaging app. Zaporizhzhia city council secretary Anatoliy Kurtev earlier said that Russia had hit a residential area of the city. According to him, windows were blown out in several buildings. A video posted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy showed smoke billowing from burning and badly damaged buildings next to a church. Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential administration, later posted a photo showing that the church is located close to residential buildings. Ukraine suspects that an Iskander missile was used in the attack, Yermak said. (Reporting by Vladyslav Smilianets in Zaporizhzhia, editing by Bernadette Baum, Andy Sullivan and Grant McCool) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON TikTok star Alix Earle has been named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Local Miami list in which the entrepreneurs are collectively projected to generate nearly $300 million in revenue by the end of 2023. According to a report by msn.com, Earle has an estimated net worth of $6 million as of 2023. She has also made it big through Bitcoin mining. TikTok star Alix Earle(Instagram) In the past six months, Earle's popularity has sky-rocketed across social media platforms. On TikTok, her following has grown by 1000% and she has 5.6 million followers on the platform. Her number of followers on Instagram has touched 2.9 million. She has landed brand deals with companies like Amazon, GrubHub, American Eagle etc. She has even created her own energy drink with Amino Lean. ALSO READ| Use air horns: Oakland Police in the United States advises residents amid crime surge Her beginning as a TikToker and earnings Earle gained stardom on TikTok with videos of her days as a University of Miami student. She chronicled her life filled with back-to-back parties and adventures. According to Jessica Liliann who is an influencer marketing manager, Earle charges between $40K and $70K for a brand deal. Reportedly, for a single post, she may charge reach $100K. Possible reasons for her immense success Experts have been trying to understand the reason behind her explosive rise in popularity. Some theories suggest her dating prominent individuals as one important reason. At least 17 people drowned when a boat carrying Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar's Rakhine state broke up at sea this week, rescuers said Thursday. Tens of thousands of Rohingya remain in Rakhine where there are severe restrictions on their movement(File/ AFP) "We found 17 dead bodies... as of yesterday," Byar La, a rescuer from the Shwe Yaung Metta Foundation told AFP, adding that around 30 more people are unaccounted for. Chinas confirmed cases of Mpox rose nearly five-fold in July to a new high, even as government efforts to contain the infectious diseases spread ramp up. There were no severe cases or deaths from mpox, the virus that was until recently known as monkeypox. (AP/File) Last months case count was 491, versus 106 in June, according to a statement from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. All patients were male and 96% of them had had sexual activity with another man, according to the Chinese CDC. There were no severe cases or deaths from mpox, the virus that was until recently known as monkeypox. Though no longer a global health emergency after the World Health Organization lowered the global alert level for mpox in May, though it cautioned more needed to be done to eradicate the sometimes-deadly virus. The Chinese CDC in late July asked its local branches to mobilize volunteers and social organizations to reach out to priority groups, including men who have sex with men, to educate them about mpox and improve access to tests and treatment. The viruss spread in China appears to have accelerated after the mainland reopened its borders as part of its abrupt pivot away from its strict Covid Zero policies. It also comes as a government campaign to raise awareness about the disease prompts more people from at-risk groups to seek medical help and as theres continued detection of new cases among people coming from abroad according to a statement from Chinese CDC experts. Its difficult to contain mpoxs spread given the viruss covert transmission among men sleeping with other men, the statement added. Market reaction in China was muted in early trading Thursday, with small gains by some diagnostic technology shares. Some healthcare firms dipped. Guangdong province and Beijing in July remained the two locales with the largest concentration of cases, but areas including Shanghai and western Sichuan province each confirmed at least 25 mpox patients during the month. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON One dead suspect and six others arrested in the assassination of Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio are Colombians, Ecuadorean police said on Thursday, and the government said it was pursuing the "intellectual authors" of the murder. Members of the media outside the funeral home where the late presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio's remains were taken in Quito, Ecuador, on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. (Photographer: Misha Vallejo/Bloomberg) The fatal shooting on Wednesday night, less than two weeks before the election, has sent shockwaves through the South American country, leading some rivals to suspend campaigning and bringing the issue of rising violence to the foreground. Villavicencio, a vocal critic of corruption and organized crime, was killed leaving an evening campaign event at an education facility in northern Quito. The deceased suspect died of injuries sustained in a shoot-out, the attorney general's office said on Wednesday. Nine people, including a candidate for the legislature and two police officers, were injured, it added. The dead suspect had been arrested on weapons charges in July, the government said on Thursday, adding that the six detained men belong to organized crime groups. The police press office confirmed their nationalities later on Thursday afternoon. "The national police now have the first arrests of the alleged material authors of this abominable event and will employ all of their operative and investigative capacity to discover the motive of this crime and its intellectual authors," Interior Minister Juan Zapata told journalists. The involvement of Colombian nationals in the murder is reminiscent of the 2021 killing of Haiti's President Jovenel Moise, who was assassinated in his home by a group which included 26 Colombians and two Haitian-Americans. President Guillermo Lasso said the crime was clearly an attempt to sabotage the election, but that voting would go ahead as planned on Aug. 20, albeit amid a national state of emergency. Lasso, who declared three days of mourning, said on Thursday he has asked the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation for help with the investigation and that a delegation would arrive in the country in the coming hours. The FBI confirmed it was assisting. Violence in Ecuador has surged in recent years, especially in cities along drug-trafficking routes like Guayaquil and Esmeraldas where citizens say they live in fear. Several Latin American countries have seen similar issues since the coronavirus pandemic. The armed forces were deploying all over the country and would remain deployed until the end of the electoral process, Defense Minister Luis Lara told journalists. "Citizens have the guarantee that the armed forces will provide the necessary security for the realization of the vote, the vote of Ecuadoreans will be the best response to the mafias and their allies," he said. Villavicencio's party Movimiento Construye on Thursday rejected what it said was "political use" of his death and called for a speedy investigation in a statement posted on X, the social media site previously known as Twitter. The party condemned an unverified video circulating on social media purportedly from a gang called Los Lobos, or The Wolves, claiming responsibility for Villavicencio's killing, alleging he had received millions of dollars from them for his campaign and threatening fellow candidate Jan Topic. Neither the police nor the attorney general's office responded to requests for comment about the authenticity or origin of the video, which features more than a dozen black-clad and masked men waving high-powered rifles. Movimiento Construye said: "Those who sit to negotiate with mafiosos, those who give them microphones, those who generate fear campaigns with trick videos in the name of criminal organizations and who take the name of Fernando Villavicencio in vain with lies are responsible for the crime." Los Lobos have thousands of members, according to some reports, and are active in the country's violent prison system. Former President Rafael Correa, who was heavily criticized in office by Villavicencio, then a journalist, re-posted the video overnight, but said in a post on Thursday morning that it was fake, without providing more information. Villavicencio had been sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over statements made against the former president, but he fled to Indigenous territory within Ecuador and later was given asylum in Peru, before returning after Correa left office. BALLOT BOX JUSTICE Candidate Luisa Gonzalez, who is running for Correa's party and leading with 29.3% support, expressed horror at the killing, but did not suspend her campaign. Indigenous candidate Yaku Perez and law-and-order hopeful Topic both suspended their campaigns, while businessman Otto Sonnenholzner begged the government to take action. Perez said he hoped to hold a meeting with the other candidates and the Catholic Church to discuss a "national security agreement," without providing further details. Villavicencio's party said on Wednesday that discussions had been held about whether to suspend campaigning due to recent political violence, including the July murder of the mayor of Manta. Villavicencio opposed a suspension, it said, saying it would be an act of cowardice. The party can choose another candidate, the electoral court said, but ballots have already been printed and distributed and Villavicencio's name and photo appear on them. The party said in a Thursday statement it would take time to mourn before making decisions about the vote and asked for international oversight on the investigation. "The only comfort left to us is to valiantly vote and see justice done at the ballot box," it said. Villavicencio, who police said had three rings of security on Wednesday, had on Tuesday made a report to the attorney general's office about an oil business, but no further details of his report were made public. There were 3,500 violent deaths in Ecuador in the first half of the year, according to police figures, with nearly half occurring in the largest city, Guayaquil. Lasso, who called the elections early amid an impeachment bid against him, has been criticized for failing to tamp down violence, despite using emergency powers to authorize soldiers to patrol the streets and use their weapons against criminals. His government blames bloodshed on the streets and in prisons on criminal infighting to control drug trafficking routes used by Mexican cartels, the Albanian mafia and others. Beyond security, employment and migration are major issues in the presidential contest. Villavicencio, a married father, had 7.5% support in polls, placing him fifth out of eight candidates. His body will be released to two people chosen by his wife, including his lawyer, the attorney general's office said on X. Countries lined up to condemn his assassination and call for a full investigation. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON An earthquake of magnitude 5.2 on the Richter Scale jolted Indonesia on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported. Indonesia Earthquake: It took place around 142 km W of Tual in Indonesia at 07:30:29 (UTC 05:30).(Representational) It took place around 142 km W of Tual in Indonesia at 07:30:29 (UTC 05:30). According to the USGS, the depth of the earthquake was registered at 90.5 km and its epicentre was found to be at Latitude: 5.777S and Longitude: 131.478E respectively. No reports of casualties or material damage are known yet. Notably, Tual is a city in Indonesia's Maluku Province that is geographically situated within the Kei Islands. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis frequently strike Indonesia, a country of more than 270 million people because of its location on the "Ring of Fire." The Ring of Fire, or the Circum-Pacific Belt, is a path along the Pacific Ocean characterized by active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. It is a horseshoe-shaped belt about 40,000km long and about 500 km wide that contains two-thirds of the world's total volcanoes and 90 per cent of Earth's earthquakes. Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, a vocal critic of corruption and organized crime, was killed on Wednesday evening during a campaign event in northern Quito, authorities said. Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio(REUTERS) Local media reported Villavicencio had been shot, but Ecuador's police and Interior Ministry did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the details of the killing. The attorney general's office said a suspect in the crime later died of injuries sustained in a shoot-out. The violence injured nine other people, including a candidate for the legislature and two police officers. Videos on social media purportedly from the campaign event showed people taking cover and screaming as gunfire sounded. "For his memory and his fight, I assure you that this crime will not remain unpunished," President Guillermo Lasso said on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Organized crime have gone very far, but all the weight of the law will fall on them." Lasso's government has blamed rising violence on the streets and in prisons on criminal infighting to control trafficking routes used by Mexican cartels, the Albanian mafia and others to move drugs. He said he would host top security officials at an urgent meeting. RISING VIOLENCE Security concerns, along with employment and migration, are major voter concerns in the presidential vote set for August 20. Villavicencio had pledged to combat corruption and reduce tax evasion if elected. According to opinion polls, his support was at 7.5%, ranking him fifth out of eight presidential candidates. Villavicencio's party Movimiento Construye said on X that armed men attacked its Quito offices in a separate incident. The party said discussions had been held recently about whether to suspend campaigning due to political violence, including the July murder of the mayor of Manta. Villavicencio opposed the suspension, it said, saying "keeping silent and hiding in moments when criminals assassin citizens and authorities is an act of cowardice". The candidate, a former unionist and journalist, had on Tuesday made a report to the attorney general's office about an oil business, but no further details of his report were made public. Villavicencio, from the Andean province of Chimborazo, was a former union member at state oil company Petroecuador and later a journalist who denounced alleged millions in oil contract losses. Late night marches decrying the murder took place in several cities, including Villavicencio's hometown of Alausi. 'FAILED STATE' Villavicencio was an outspoken critic of former President Rafael Correa and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over statements made against the former president. He fled to Indigenous territory within Ecuador and later was given asylum in Peru. "Ecuador has become a failed state," Correa, who now lives in Belgium, said on X. "Hopefully those who try to sow more hate with this new tragedy will understand that will only continue to destroy us." As a legislator, Villavicencio was criticized by opposition politicians for obstructing an impeachment process this year against Lasso, which lead the latter to call the early elections. Other candidates in the race reacted with horror to the killing. "This makes us all mourn, my solidarity to all his family and the people who follow his ideals. This vile act will not go unpunished!," presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez, who is running for Correa's party, said on X. Indigenous candidate Yaku Perez said he had decided to suspend his presidential campaign and demanded the violence stop in a video posted after the incident. "To the government; we don't want words Act. We are dying," candidate Otto Sonnenholzner told a press conference. "Today more than ever, the need to act with a strong hand against crime is reiterated. May God have him in his glory," presidential hopeful Jan Topic said on X, before also suspending his campaign. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON An armed Utah man accused of making violent threats against President Joe Biden was shot and killed by FBI agents hours before the president landed in the state Wednesday, authorities said. US President Joe Biden(AFP) Special agents were trying to serve a warrant on the home of Craig Deleeuw Robertson in Provo, south of Salt Lake City, when the shooting happened at 6:15 a.m., the FBI said in a statement. Robertson was armed at the time of the shooting, according to two law enforcement sources who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of an ongoing investigation. Robertson posted online Monday that he had heard Biden was coming to Utah and he was planning to dig out a camouflage suit and begin cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle," a post that came after months of graphic online threats against several public figures, according to court documents. Robertson referred to himself as a MAGA Trumper, a reference to former President Donald Trumps Make America Great Again slogan, and also posted threats against top law enforcement officials overseeing court cases against Trump. Neighbors described Robertson as a frail, elderly man his online profile put his age as 74 who walked with the aid of a hand-carved stick. Though he regularly carried guns, they said he didn't seem a threat. Theres no way that he was driving from here to Salt Lake City, setting up a rifle and taking a shot at the president 100% no way, said neighbor Andrew Maunder outside the church across from Robertsons street. Biden flew to Utah Wednesday ahead of a visit to a Veterans Affairs hospital in Salt Lake City Thursday to talk about the PACT Act, which expanded veterans benefits. He also planned to hold a reelection fundraiser. A White House official who requested anonymity to discuss the matter said Biden was briefed after the raid. Read more: Ecuadorian presidential candidate shot dead mid-campaign Robertson's posts indicated he did appear to own a long-range sniper rifle and numerous other weapons, as well as camouflage gear known as a ghillie suit," investigators said in court records. Robertson was charged under seal Tuesday with three felony counts, including making threats against the president and against FBI agents investigating him, court documents show. Robertson also referenced a presidential assassination and also posted threats against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and New York Attorney General Letitia James, authorities said. The time is right for a presidential assassination or two. First Joe then Kamala!!! authorities say Robertson wrote in a September 2022 Facebook post included in the filings. No attorney was immediately listed for Robertson in court documents and family members of Robertson could not be immediately reached for comment through publicly available phone numbers. The FBI investigation began with a tip about the Bragg threat from Trump's own social media platform Truth Social in March, after Robertson posted about waiting in the courthouse parking garage with a suppressed weapon and wanting to put a nice hole in his forehead. His account has since been suspended from the platform. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Former Vice President Mike Pence has expressed strong disapproval of conspiracy theories surrounding the 9/11 terrorist attacks, particularly those propagated by fellow GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The controversy unfolded as Ramaswamy questioned the veracity of the official 9/11 Commission report. CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA - AUGUST 06: Republican presidential candidate businessman Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to guests at Ashley's BBQ Bash hosted by Congresswoman Ashley Hinson (R-IA) on August 06, 2023 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Seven of the 14 GOP candidates seeking the party's nomination for president were scheduled to speak at the event. (Getty Images via AFP) Pence's critique: Pence, in an interview with New Hampshire's Union Leader newspaper, voiced his offense at Ramaswamy's remarks, asserting that such conspiracy theories dishonor the memory of the brave armed forces who defended the nation against its enemies. Pence pointed out the stark difference in experience, suggesting that Ramaswamy was merely a grade-schooler during the September 11 attacks, while Pence was serving on Capitol Hill. Ramaswamy's statements: Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur and a fellow contender in the GOP presidential race questioned the government's official narrative surrounding 9/11 during an interview with Blaze TV's Alex Stein. While he admitted to lacking concrete evidence, Ramaswamy emphasized the importance of skepticism and critical analysis, especially in a world where the government's credibility is being challenged. The interview between Ramaswamy and Stein delved into various conspiracy theories, including doubts about the moon landing and the credibility of the 9/11 Commission report. The conversation further escalated when Stein openly stated his belief that the 9/11 Commission had lied. This is not the first time Ramaswamy has dabbled in conspiracy theories. He faced criticism from CNN's Jake Tapper for making claims about the Federal Reserve in a previous incident. Ramaswamy's response: Taking to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Ramaswamy cited a declassified FBI report from 2021 that suggested preplanned interactions between a Saudi government employee and the hijackers of 9/11. He implied that such revelations contradict the government's official stance. Ramaswamy extended his skepticism to other areas, including COVID-19, Hunter Biden, and the Nashville school shooter. The clash between Pence and Ramaswamy underscores the increasing presence of conspiracy theories in political discourse. While skepticism and critical thinking are valuable tools in evaluating government narratives, they must be balanced with respect for historical facts. Wildfires are racing across part of Maui in Hawaii, destroying sections of a historic town on the island. The fires forced evacuations in some areas, including the popular tourist spot of Lahaina Town. The National Weather Service said that Hurricane Dora was partly to blame for the strong winds driving the flames. US president Joe Biden ordered all available Federal assets to help combat wildfires which have killed at least six people. Here are top updates on Hawaii wildfires: Hawaii Wildfires: Flames are seen near boats docked at Lahaina as wildfires driven by high winds destroy a large part of the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii.(Reuters) Rejani Raveendran, a 40-year-old India-born college student has announced her bid for Senate in the US state of Wisconsin, becoming the first Republican to officially contest against Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin. Rejani Raveendran, chair of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point College Republicans. Raveendran, chair of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point College Republicans, on Tuesday officially launched her run against 61-year-old Baldwin in Portage County. The announcement made Raveendran the first Republican Senate candidate in Wisconsin with just under a year to go until the primary, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. "I have met lots of politicians, lobbyists, and policymakers. Many of them were there for 20, 30 and 40 years. We elect them, send them and they become so comfortable in DC and forget all about us, why we (have) sent them there," she said on Tuesday while announcing her candidacy. Raveendrans longshot entry would indeed add a new face to the race. The mother of three has not been involved in politics until recently. She joined the Stevens Point College Republicans this year, she said, and only decided to run for Senate after her trip to Washington earlier this summer. She plans to graduate with a bachelor's degree in political science next year. During her interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last week, she said I see whats going on in our country, noting she recently visited Washington. I realised how much DC is (dominated) by these polished politicians. I realised there is a need for a change in our political system. We need some new faces with new ideas, she said. I am not a politician, and I do not want to be a politician, said Raveendran, who immigrated to the US in 2011 from India, where she was a nurse and midwife. She lived in California before moving to Wisconsin in 2017. Im a regular person who knows the situations in regular peoples lives, she added. Raveendran became a US citizen in 2015. That means she will have been a citizen for 9 years in 2024 the minimum number of years needed to be a Senator, media reports said. Raveendran said her campaign will focus on securing the border and cracking down on illicit drugs like fentanyl, stopping illegal immigration and advocating for medical freedom, suggesting she is opposed to vaccine mandates. Republican US Representative Tom Tiffany last week announced he will not run against Baldwin, and Gallagher, Republicans top choice candidate, has also declined to run. Raveendran has said that she supported former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 and is supporting him again in 2024.ead The internet was shocked by an Instagram post on Wednesday that announced the death of Lil Tay, a 14-year-old rapper and YouTube star. However, her father, Christopher Hope, has not confirmed or denied the news to the media. Father wont confirm, ex-manager wont deny, fans in shock(Christopher John Hope/facebook) According to the New York Post, he said, Yeah, you have the right person, but I dont have any comment right now. Im not able to give you any comment right now. Im sorry I cant. Lil Tays death came from her verified Instagram account, which had been dormant for more than four years. It also said that her brother, Jason Tian, had died as well. We have no words to express the unbearable loss and indescribably pain. This outcome was entirely unexpected, and has left us all in shock, the post read. Her brothers passing adds an even more unimaginable depth to our grief. The Instagram post asked for privacy and said that the cause of their deaths was still under investigation. Also Read: Viral teen influencer Lil Tay dead at 15, fans raise doubts over sudden demise The teenage rappers former manager, Henry Tsang, also did not confirm or deny the news. He told the US Sun on Wednesday that he had been in touch with people who knew the familys situation. Given the complexities of the current circumstances, I am at a point where I cannot definitively confirm or dismiss the legitimacy of the statement issued by the family, he quoted. He also urged people to be careful and accurate in their information. I encourage everyone to rely on reputable and official sources for information. We must exercise patience while awaiting further developments before drawing any conclusions, he said. It is unclear where Lil Tay and her brother died, or if they were together. The late rapper had lived in Los Angeles with her mother, Angela Tian, at one point, but later moved to Vancouver, Canada, with her father. The Vancouver Police Department told The Post that they had no reports of their deaths. The Post could not reach her mother or Los Angeles authorities. Lil Tay became famous in March 2018 when she was only 9 years old. She made viral videos where she cursed and showed off her money and cars. She disappeared from social media shortly after. She told the Daily Beast in an interview that she had to move to Vancouver with her father because of a court order. She accused him of being an absent father who only wanted money from her. She also alleged that he threatened to have her mother arrested if they did not go back. Her father denied these allegations and said he only wanted three things for her: no more cursing videos, 25 percent of her earnings in a trust fund, and structure in her public image. ALSO READ| Who is the late rapper Lil Tays brother Jason Tian? family death shook the internet He also denied allegations of abuse against him and his second wife, Hanee Hope, that were posted on Lil Tays Instagram account in 2018. He said her account must have been hacked. In 2021, Jason claimed on a GoFund Me page that his sister had been physically and mentally abused by their father and his wife. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON North Korean leader Kim Jong Un replaced the military's top general as he called for more preparations for the possibility of war, state media KCNA reported, as per news agency Reuters. Kim Jong Un made the comments at a meeting of the Central Military Commission, the report said. The country's top general, Chief of the General Staff Pak Su Il was "dismissed," KCNA reported, without sharing details. He had served in his role for about seven months only. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the 7th enlarged meeting of the 8th Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea.(Reuters) Pak Su Il was replaced by General Ri Yong Gil, who has served as the country's defence minister as well as the top commander of its conventional troops. Ri Yong Gil has also previously served as the army chief of staff but was replaced in 2016. Then, his sacking and absence from official events sparked reports in South Korea that he had been executed. Although, Ri Yong Gil reappeared a few months later when he was named to another senior post by Kim Jong Un. At the meeting, the North Korean leader also set a target for the expansion of weapons production capacity, the report said. Kim Jong Un also called for the military to conduct drills with the country's latest weapons and equipment to keep its forces prepared for combat, the report said. This comes after Kim Jong Un visited a weapons factories last week where he called for more missile engines, artillery and other weapons to be built at a large scale. Photos released by KCNA showed Kim Jong Un pointing at Seoul and areas surrounding the South Korean capital on a map. Meanwhile, the US accused North Korea of providing arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine, including artillery shells, rockets and missiles, claims which have been denied by both Moscow and Pyongyang. North Korea is set to stage a parade on September 9, marking the 75th anniversary of the Day of the Foundation of the Republic. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON On Wednesday, London came under the grip of riot and attempts to loot after provocative TikTok videos calling for the same. Frightened store owners pulled down their shutters with customers still inside when attempted looting happened at around 3pm on Oxford Street in Central London, as reported by the Mirror. Police and law enforcement officials arrested rioters and a dispersal order was put in place to maintain law and order. On Oxford Street in Central London, frightened store owners pulled down their shutters with customers still inside when attempted looting happened at around 3pm.(Twitter) "Throughout Wednesday (9 August) officers maintained a high visibility presence within the Oxford Street area. As of 20:15hrs officers have issued 34 people with dispersal orders and made nine arrests", stated Met Police. "Four people were arrested on suspicion of breaching the dispersal order, one person was arrested on suspicion of going equipped to steal, one person arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer and one person was arrested on suspicion of public order offence." It added that in the afternoon two persons in Essex were "arrested for conspiracy to commit robbery following online social media posts". ALSO READ| Use air horns: Oakland Police in the United States advises residents amid crime surge Wednesday's incidents in London, have happened after rioting and violence took place in New York last week. Violent crowd had scuffled with the police in New York after gathering at Union Square Park in a bid to receive free Playstation 5 consoles, which was announced to be given away by Twitch streamer Kai Cenat. The rioting in New York resulted in assault on cops who were hit with rocks, bottles, and other debris when they tried to disperse the unruly mob. The streamer Cenat was also taken into custody by the police during the chaos caused mainly due to his announcement of free giveaway at the location. Violence, rioting and chaos have affected cosmopolitan cities like Paris as well in recent times. Two Republican presidential hopefuls, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, have agreed to a pledge that requires them to support the partys nominee in 2024 and to participate only in debates sanctioned by the Republican National Committee. FILE PHOTO: Florida Governor and Republican U.S. presidential candidate Ron DeSantis attends a barbecue hosted by former diplomat Scott Brown, as part of his "No B.S. Backyard BBQ" series, in Rye, New Hampshire, U.S. July 30, 2023. REUTERS/Reba Saldanha/File Photo(REUTERS) The pledge is part of the RNCs strategy to avoid division and discord among the candidates and to focus on defeating President Joe Biden. Ramaswamy was the first to sign the pledge, which is also known as the Beat Biden pledge, on Tuesday, according to a report by the Washington Post. He was followed by DeSantis, who tweeted a picture of his signature on Wednesday from his campaign account. CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA - AUGUST 06: Republican presidential candidate businessman Vivek Ramaswamy speaks to guests at Ashley's BBQ Bash hosted by Congresswoman Ashley Hinson (R-IA) on August 06, 2023 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Seven of the 14 GOP candidates seeking the party's nomination for president were scheduled to speak at the event. Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by SCOTT OLSON / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)(Getty Images via AFP) See you in Milwaukee! the tweet said, referring to the location of the first presidential primary debate on Aug. 23. The tweet also revealed some of the contents of the pledge, which read, I acknowledge and accept that if I fail to sign this pledge or if I participate in any debate that has not been sanctioned by the Republican National Committee, I will not be eligible to participate in any further Republican National Committee sanctioned debates, Additionally, I affirm that if I do not win the 2024 Republican nomination for President of the United States, I will honor the will of the primary voters and support the nominee in order to save our country and beat Joe Biden, I further pledge that I will not seek to run as an independent or write-in candidate nor will I seek or accept the nomination for president of any other party, The pledge is signed by both the candidate and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who announced in April that she decided to impose the pledge as a way to prevent any potential challenges or defections from the partys nominee in 2024. But, former President Donald Trump, who is leading the polls among GOP voters for 2024, has not committed to signing the pledge or attending the debates. He told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in February that his support for the nominee would depend on who it was. ALSO READ| Wildfires destroy Hawaii's Lahaina town, 6 killed & several injured. Devastating images emerge It would have to depend on who the nominee was, Trump said. Candidates who want to qualify for the debates have to meet certain criteria for polling and fundraising set by the RNC. They also have to sign the pledge at least 48 hours before the debate. The second debate is scheduled for Sept. 27. The historic town of Lahaina on Maui, Hawaii has been ravaged by wildfires that have killed at least 36 people and injured more than 270. This combination of satellite images provided by Maxar Technologies shows an overview of Lahaina on Maui, Hawaii, on June 25, 2023, left, and an overview of the same area on Wednesday, Aug. 9, following a wildfire that tore through the heart of the Hawaiian island. (Maxar Technologies via AP)(AP) The fires, driven by strong winds from a nearby hurricane, have destroyed hundreds of buildings, some dating back to the 1700s, and forced residents to evacuate or seek refuge in the ocean. A comparison of photos from before and after the fires shows the extent of the damage in the town center. A Google Earth image shows several structures along a road that leads to Front Street, a popular tourist spot with shops and restaurants. But a photo posted by Maui County on Facebook shows the same area reduced to ashes and rubble, with smoke filling the air. Firefighting crews were continuing to battle a fire that burned multiple structures and brush in Lahaina, with four helicopters launched this morning to assist in the firefighting efforts, the county said on Facebook. ALSO READ| Wildfires destroy Hawaii's Lahaina town, 6 killed & several injured. Devastating images emerge The town still had no phone service on Wednesday. The Coast Guard rescued 14 people from the water off Lahaina, including two young children who were reunited with their family members. Many residents had jumped into the ocean to escape the flames. The wildfire spread its fiery tongue with the help of Hurricane Dora, which was passing about 500 miles south of Hawaii but brought gusts of up to 60 mph to the island. The hurricane also caused power outages and flight cancellations. Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke advised tourists to avoid the island until the situation improves. Here is some before-and-after compilation of Lahaina, Maui devastating wildfire: 1. A vast portion of waterfront in Lahaina, Maui, wildfire ate much of the town 2. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the grand banyan tree, situated at the Heart of Lahaina in America. Despite enduring the #MauiFires, its poignant existence stands as a somber representation of both the climate crisis and historical exploitation. 3. Another waterfront from Maui usher the devastating nature of the wildfire 4. Aerial shots reveal extensive destruction across sections of Maui following the catastrophic spread of brush fires 5. Complete devastation SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A huge wildfire ravaged the town of Lahaina in Maui, Hawaii, on Wednesday, August 9, 2023, killing at least 36 people and injuring many more. Smoke and flames rise in Lahaina, Maui County, Hawaii, U.S., August 8, 2023 in this still image from video obtained from social media.(Twitter/KanekoaTheGreat) The fire, which was likely sparked by human activity, spread rapidly in the windy and dry conditions, reaching the historic center of the town, which is a popular tourist spot with shops and restaurants. The wildfire destroyed hundreds of buildings, some of which dated back to the 1700s. It also forced some residents to flee into the ocean to avoid the flames and smoke. The county mayor, Richard Bissen Jr., said he was still trying to find out how and where the six people died. He said he was in search and rescue mode and that the death toll could rise. Governor Josh Green also said he expected some loss of life as a result of the fire. Many people were hurt by burns or smoke inhalation and taken to hospitals in Maui or Oahu. ALSO READ| This is a dictatorship, DeSantis sparks a row after suspending Democratic attorney A regional director for Hawaii Life Flight said six patients were flown to Oahu on Tuesday night, three of them in critical condition. A firefighter was also hospitalized with smoke inhalation but was stable. The fire was worsened by the strong winds from Hurricane Dora, which was passing about 500 miles south of Hawaii but brought gusts of up to 60 mph to the island. The National Weather Service said the winds made it hard for firefighters to control the fire and carried embers to new areas. The island was also suffering from drought conditions, which made the vegetation more prone to burning. Hawaii has seen a 400 percent increase in the average area burned by wildfires in the last century, partly due to climate change and the invasion of non-native grasses that provide fuel for fires. More than 2,100 people were displaced by the fire and sought shelter in evacuation centers or at Kahului Airport, where 2,000 stranded travelers were housed after their flights were canceled or delayed. The Coast Guard rescued 14 people who fled into the ocean instead of facing the fire and smoke. Some residents described the scene as apocalyptic and said they had to get their elderly relatives out of their homes. Martin stated, Its definitely one of the more challenging days for our island given that its multiple fires, multiple evacuations in different district areas. This is so unprecedented. Right now it is all-hands-on-deck and we are anxious for daybreak, he added. Alan Dickar, a poster shop owner who escaped with his friends and cats, said he lost everything he owned in the fire. Every significant thing I owned burned down today. Ill be OK. I got out safely, he said. Former US President Barack Obama took to Twitter to share a heartfelt post. Its tough to see some of the images coming out of Hawaii a place thats so special to so many of us. Michelle and I are thinking of everyone who has lost a loved one, or whose life has been turned upside down, the tweet read. The former president also shared a community foundation charity link for Maui, and asked youd like to help, you can do so here. Acting Governor Sylvia Luke, who was in charge while Governor Green was traveling, declared a state of emergency for Maui County on Wednesday, authorizing several actions including activation of the National Guard, expenditure of state funds for relief efforts, and coordination with federal agencies. The governor also requested assistance from President Biden, who pledged to mobilize all available federal assets to help Hawaii recover from the fires. ALSO READ| Passport revoked, citizenship in question - Ex-ISIS bride Hoda Muthana's bid to return to US sparks debate Maui was not the only island affected by wildfires this week. Three fires were also burning on Hawaiis Big Island, but they did not cause any deaths or injuries or destroy any homes. Mayor Mitch Roth said one fire was pretty much under control and another was 60 percent contained as of Wednesday. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Movenpick Hotel Surabaya City is set to become a popular destination for business and leisure visitors looking to enjoy Indonesia's second-largest city and the thriving East Java province. The property is relaunching and opening its doors under the Movenpick Hotels & Resorts brand, focusing on providing warm and heartfelt service and healthy living. The hotel features 243 spacious and stylish rooms and suites, and guests can unwind in the elevated outdoor infinity swimming pool, fully-equipped fitness centre, and soothing spa. The hotel's six function spaces feature integrated screens and audio-visual technology, with the largest accommodating up to 750 delegates. Patita Restaurant is an elegant all-day dining concept that will showcase creative new flavours and nourishing bites, while the lively Lobby Lounge offers refreshments throughout the day. Movenpick Hotel Surabaya City is now the second Movenpick-branded property in Indonesia, following Movenpick Resort & Spa Jimbaran Bali. The opening of this property is part of a significant expansion strategy for this legendary Swiss brand in Indonesia, which is world-renowned for its innovative culinary offerings, heartfelt service and mindful sustainability. Ideally positioned on Jalan Ahmad Yani, within Surabaya's most dynamic commercial district, Movenpick Hotel Surabaya City is surrounded by shopping malls, offices, exhibition centres, educational establishments, medical facilities and more and is conveniently located only a 30-minute drive from Juanda International Airport. Travellers can now book the hotel's exclusive reopening offer, with rates starting from IDR 1.310.248 net/room per night for two people, including breakfast. Hotel website Today, Nobu Hotel San Sebastian opens its doors as the fifth hotel in Spain for Nobu Hospitality, the rapidly growing luxury lifestyle brand founded by Robert De Niro, Nobu Matsuhisa and Meir Teper. Working together with Spanish hospitality group, Millenium Hospitality Real Estate SOCIMI (MHRE), Nobu Hotel San Sebastian brings world renowned Nobu cuisine to the city with the most Michelin-starred restaurants per square metre. Housed in the former Vista Eder Palace, one of the last historic buildings on La Concha Bay designed by the architect Francisco Urcola, this exclusive boutique hotel offers 17 luxuriously designed guest rooms and suites, the iconic Nobu restaurant, Nobu Terrace with stunning sea views, and a rooftop infinity pool exclusively for hotel guests. The interiors, conceptualized by Tomas Alia from Studio Caramba, seamlessly unite the Franco-Basque Belle Epoque style of the building with Nobu's signature Japanese minimalism. Using natural materials and traditional millwork, Alia creates a sense of calm and elegance from the moment the guest arrives. The entrance and lobby area are inspired by Torii gates with clean, simple lines, arriving at a stunning sculptural central staircase which leads to guest rooms and suites, where neutral tones contrast with dramatic floor-to-ceiling headboards. Nobu Terrace features an inside - outside space, creating a dialogue with the sea and coastline, while in Nobu restaurant, the classic, pared down Nobu aesthetic allows the dishes to be the star of the show. Located on the main floor of the property, guests can dine at Nobu's world-famous namesake where Executive Chef Yannick Lohou and Head Sushi Chef Hideaki Mizushima serve Nobu signature dishes alongside specials which pay homage to celebrated local ingredients, such as txangurro crab, sea urchins, mackerel, and cod cheeks. Nobu Terrace will be open for breakfast for hotel guests, and to the public throughout the day, to enjoy sweeping views over La Concha Bay, Nobu small bites and carefully crafted cocktails. Located on the Paseo Miraconcha, the hotel boasts spectacular views over the La Concha Bay towards Santa Clara Island and is just a 15-minute stroll from San Sebastian's Old Town, Parte Vieja, with its buzzy pintxo bars. The spectacular Piene del Viento coastal sculpture is a mere 10-minutes away, close to the main railway station with direct connections to Madrid and Barcelona, as well as regional trains to explore the stunning coastline of the Basque Country. San Sebastian airport is just 20-minutes away, with connections to London City and major Spanish cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga, Valencia and Sevilla, as well as the Balearic Islands. With more than 25 years of experience with Four Seasons, Richard Raab has taken on his most exciting assignment yet as he looks ahead to the opening of the stunning new Four Seasons Resort and Residences Cabo San Lucas at Cabo Del Sol. Most recently General Manager of Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay - an urban resort on its own island in the country's capital - and the former Four Seasons Hotel Lion Place St. Petersburg, Richard's Four Seasons career began in the food and beverage division at the legendary Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. From there he went on to Hawaii before returning to the UK, where Swedish-born Richard had earned his second hospitality degree at the University of Surrey. Subsequent assignments took him to the Caribbean, back to LA and to the first of two assignments in the Middle East at Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach. Montage Hotels & Resorts today announces the appointment of Robert Friedl as general manager of Montage Kapalua Bay. With three decades of leadership experience in the hospitality industry, including a dozen years in Hawaii with a turn as resort manager during Montage Kapalua Bay's reflagging and remodeling from The Residences at Kapalua Bay, Friedl is responsible for all the daily operations of the luxury beachfront resort. Friedl rejoined Montage Kapalua Bay from MacNaughton Hospitality in Honolulu, where as vice president of hospitality operations he oversaw all operational aspects of a three-property division, while playing a major role in the creation of independent luxury hospitality brands and leading the transition of a 327-room hotel into the company's portfolio. Friedl's previous hotel management experiences include general manager of The Laylow Waikiki, an Autograph Collection Hotel for six years, assistant general manager and then general manager of The Sebastian - Vail in the heart of Colorado ski country. In 2008, Friedl was appointed first director of operations and then resort manager of The Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, Kapalua Bay which transitioned to The Residences at Kapalua Bay, a Timbers Resort, and then to Montage Kapalua Bay. Other properties dotting Friedl's career history include The Ritz-Carlton Club, Aspen Highlands; Hard Rock Hotel San Diego; and L'Auberge de Sedona in Arizona. Friedl received a Bachelor of Business Administration and then a Master of Business Administration in hotel, restaurant, and catering management from Hotelfachschule Pegnitz in Germany, including a three-year management apprenticeship at the Atrium Hotel in Nuremberg. Business travel is the second highest expense for companies, coming in just behind payroll and perks. But how do these travel expenses and experiences differ between businesses? And what trends and behaviors are currently commonplace in business travel? How regularly do business travelers travel Business travel by company size Geographical influences on business travel International vs domestic business travel How much do companies spend on business travel? Which aspects of business travel are most commonly booked by companies? Why do employees travel for business? Conclusion Methodology Sources Booking.com for Business has taken a closer look at the behaviors of business travelers through research and surveys aimed at small to mid-sized companies, in the US, UK and Germany. With this information, we can build a clear picture of prevalent trends in this particular type of corporate travel. Understanding how and why different businesses embark on travel not only helps to identify future travel predictions, but also uncovers trends in spend, which businesses can compare their own budgets and behaviors to. According to current trends, despite business travel having been put on pause for a few years, business trips are back on the agenda and as relevant as ever. So what variables enable some businesses to travel more often than others? How regularly do business travelers travel? The number of business trips undertaken annually by our sampled small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) changes depending on a few factors - including firm size, location, and whether the travel is international or domestic. Business travel by company size The average number of annual trips varies significantly depending on the size of the business. For firms employing between 201 and 500 people, the average number of business trips a year is 29. At the other end of the scale, small businesses that employ 50 people or less only average 14 business trips a year - this suggests that the larger the firm, the more business trips per year. Reasons for this could include having more of a travel budget to play with, or more prospects that need a high level of attention with a personal, face-to-face touch. Geographical influences on business travel Does geographical location play as big a role in the regularity of business travel as business size? Based on responses to our survey, the UK is traveling the most, with an average of 23 trips a year, and the US isnt far behind with 22, whereas the average German SMB employee travels less, with an average of 18 trips per year. While the UK is reported as having 5.5 million private sector businesses, only 0.7% of these have 50-249 employees, and an even smaller 0.1% have 250+ employees. The bulk of these businesses (5.47 million) have 0-49 employees. This means that while the UK is traveling the most, a lot of these business trips could be carried out by a very small number of employees or solopreneurs, as 1.4 million of these SMBs have employees and 4.1 million have no employees. International vs domestic business travel Looking at how far afield these business travelers are venturing, the responses to our survey show that of the participating firms, UK businesses are taking more international trips (meaning trips that cross national borders) than those in the US and Germany. Across the US, UK and Germany the majority of annual business trips embarked on by small and mid-sized companies are domestic - though workers from the UK seem to get abroad the most, and travel domestically the least. The US has the biggest difference in the frequency of international vs domestic trips - with domestic travel five times higher, on average, than international. In general, the business culture in the US tends to be more focused on domestic markets as it is home to a diverse range of industries. When you consider that the US is nearly the same size as the whole of continental Europe, this also reduces the need for traveling outside of the country for business. With so many countries in close proximity to each other, international travel is not only more accessible in Europe, it is almost essential - a single European country isnt likely to be home to the variety of businesses and industries that the US is. This is especially true for countries that rely heavily on pre-internet industries such as manufacturing. So, working in a UK or Germany-based business might heighten the likelihood of needing to travel internationally for business, compared to a role based in the US, due to the need to look further afield for diverse industry partners. Overall, the data suggests that when it comes to domestic travel, US businesses at the larger end of the small to mid-sized scale are racking up the most miles. In contrast, when looking at international travel, smaller UK companies are leading the way. These numbers are likely heavily influenced by not just the size of the businesses, but also the industrial landscape of a business country of origin. This detail dictates how far a business may have to travel - whilst the size of a business contributes to how frequently they can afford to make those journeys, based on annual travel budgets. How much do companies spend on business travel? When looking at how much is spent on business travel, the idea that the larger the business, the more is spent, is a reasonable assumption to follow - and the data seems to support this. Companies of 51-500 employees reported a rough annual budget of somewhere between $137,803.60 to $155,896 a year for business travel, based on our sample analysis. The smaller companies of 0-50 people are only assuming a budget of just over $26,000 over the same period, over $100,000 less. With smaller budgets to contend with, small businesses might be likely to find business travel management more complicated. They may lack the funds to travel comfortably by booking better flights and hotels, or be working in a team that is too small for the appropriate amount of stress-alleviating delegation. Small business owners, a large proportion of the 0-50 employee firms, are likely more in need of great deals than other survey participants, based on their smaller annual spend. This could also explain why UK SMBs have a smaller average annual budget for business travel than the US and Germany - due to the larger number of smaller firms. In fact, there are significant differences in how small to mid-sized companies from different countries spend money on business travel. While we discovered earlier that German employees take fewer international business trips than the UK, and fewer domestic trips than the US, SMBs in Germany are simultaneously spending the most. A German SMBs annual travel budget averages at $135,125.40 annually, far more than the US ($98,708.90) and UK ($71,792.90). This could be for a variety of reasons, including each countrys popular business travel destinations and the quality of flights and accommodation booked. Which aspects of business travel are most commonly booked by companies? When asked what they spend money on as part of business travel, 93% of small to mid-sized businesses agree to spending on hotels, making them the most common expenditure of business trips. Flights are agreed on as the second most common expenditure of business travel (83%), followed by car rentals (63%) and trains (52%). Only 12% of small to mid-sized companies spend money on buses as part of their business travel, perhaps needing their transportation to be more direct, reliable and time-efficient. This would explain the higher percentage of these businesses spending money on taxis (33%). Based on our participants responses, an average of $102,495.40 a year, per business, is thought to be spent on business travel. Its possible that this expense could be reduced with better business travel management tools, to allow for booking early to secure better deals and special business rates on these most common expenditures. But what makes business travel so invaluable that it can justify the expense? Why do employees travel for business? The most popular reason SMBs have for spending on business travel in the US (87%) and the UK (80%) is conferences and similar events, whereas in Germany its trade show visits (76%). However, when looking at the overall breakdown across all countries surveyed, conferences and events are still the leading factor, with 79% of respondents from a small or mid-sized company planning business travel with those gatherings in mind. Client engagement was the second most popular reason for business travel, with 69% of small to mid-sized businesses agreeing that its one of the main reasons for their work trips. For first impressions and networking, traveling for conferences and trips focused on client engagement are essential. Even following the distance enforced by the pandemic, the importance of face-to-face communication is still clearly felt among businesses worldwide. This is because they allow for more effective and successful communication than online interactions. However, visiting other offices and interacting in person with fellow employees seems to be less of a priority for small to mid-sized companies - where having other offices may not be applicable - with only 42% of respondents citing it as a reason for business travel. Conclusion Business travel continues to prove itself to be both resilient and vital for small and mid-sized companies, with travel costs currently the second-largest expense for businesses, behind only salaries and perks. Firm size does appear to directly correlate with the number of trips taken per year, and the money spent on them - with larger SMBs travelling more and spending more annually. For UK-based businesses in particular, where there are more small businesses, the ability to travel easily and cost-effectively is likely to be of priority. However, the correlation between trips taken and money spent isnt always clear cut, as we saw with the amount the average German SMB is spending per year. This suggests that companies from different countries may have different travel styles and priorities, and that there is a disparity in the amount of money spent on travel components such as flights and hotels. With the proper support to keep business travel cost-effective and smooth, firms of all sizes might be able to travel more frequently and effectively, and go on to flourish as a result. Corporate travel managers and business travel management platforms and software may be the solution for any businesses struggling to stay on top of their travel requirements. Comparing the behaviors of your firm to the trends showcased here may highlight areas in need of observation, and even optimization - and ultimately could benefit your profit margins. Methodology Booking.com for Business conducted a 15 minute quantitative online survey in 2022 with 604 travel management decision makers across 3 markets (US, UK and Germany), and both managed and unmanaged micro businesses with 2 - 50 employees, small businesses with 51 - 200 employees and medium business with 201-500 employees. Survey questions included the businesses current processes and challenges for booking business travel, why they book business trips, how much the business (split by market where relevant) spends on business travel, and the features each business size wants and needs in a travel management platform. The responses were then analyzed to showcase the travel frequency of different business sizes and job positions both domestically and internationally, as well as spend across each of the core markets, firm sizes and job positions. Sources Part of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG), Booking.com's mission is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world. By investing in the technology that helps take the friction out of travel, Booking.com seamlessly connects millions of travellers with memorable experiences, a range of transportation options and incredible places to stay - from homes to hotels and much more. As one of the world's largest travel marketplaces for both established brands and entrepreneurs of all sizes, Booking.com enables properties all over the world to reach a global audience and grow their businesses. Booking.com is available in 44 languages and offers more than 28 million total reported accommodation listings, including more than 6.6 million listings of homes, apartments and other unique places to stay. No matter where you want to go or what you want to do, Booking.com makes it easy and backs it all up with 24/7 customer support. Follow us on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter, like us on Facebook, and for the latest news, data and insights, please visit our global media room. View source [PRAGUE] Mews, the industry-leading hospitality cloud, has been chosen by Alpin Family to power their accommodation portfolio. Alpin Family is a leading Austrian hotel company with over 20 entities and 550+ accommodations under their three brands: AvenidA, The House Collection and Alpin Rentals. After a successful pilot with Mews in 2022, they began onboarding additional properties in spring 2023 at a rate of three hotels every two to three weeks. We chose Mews because we need a cloud-based solution that works across multiple properties. We have a central office from which we operate our hotels, and now we have a clear overview and can action things like price requests centrally. We dont have to switch from system to system. Magdalena Mandl, Head of Marketing at Alpin Family The group has already seen significant operational gains. Previously, all payments had to be manually charged, but now this process is automated through Mews Payments, as is card payment verification. The proportion of direct bookings has increased since introducing Mews Booking Engine, reducing the amount of commission given to OTAs. Alpin Family is a brilliant example of combining personal, family-inspired hospitality with modern hotel technology. Its great to see that even after just a few months, Mews is unlocking time savings for teams and better guest experiences. Matt Welle, Mews CEO Guests are also benefiting from the move to Mews. Online check-in and onsite kiosk check-ins provide the option of a digital guest journey, which has led to cutting average check-in time by half. Additionally, front desk staff now have more time to engage with guests. You can see our team are now more relaxed because of Mews. Onboarding is also a lot less complicated for new staff. In the past, we needed staff to take time out of their day to train new starters, but now they can log in to Mews University and learn on their own. Michaela Riedlsperger, Head of Reservations at Alpin Family About Mews Mews is the leading platform for the new era of hospitality. Over 3,500 properties across more than 85 countries are powered by Mews. Mews Hospitality Cloud is designed to streamline operations for modern hoteliers, transform the guest experience and create more profitable businesses. Customers include Accor, Generator-Freehand, Nordic Choice Hotels, The Social Hub, Life House and Airelles, as well as hostel groups such as YHA Australia, Clink Hostels and Wombats Hostels. Mews has been named the World's Best Independent Hotel PMS Provider by World Travel Tech Awards (2022) and Best Place to Work in Hotel Tech (2021, 2022) by Hotel Tech Report. The company has offices in Europe, the United States and Australia. About Alpin Family Hotels & Residences Alpin Family is one of the leading companies in the hotel industry in Austria and combines the established hotel brands "AvenidA", "The House Collection" and "Alpin Rentals". Alpin Family includes over 20 resorts with over 550 accommodations in top destinations in Austria. Our goal is to make your vacation in the "IN" regions of Austria a very special experience. Our employees put their hearts into their work every day and give their best to create unique vacation moments for you. George Barker Director of Communications Today, Collective Retreats , a pioneer in experiential outdoor hospitality, has announced The Conservatory , a community of design-forward hotels for nature enthusiasts. A first of its kind, The Conservatory presents a portfolio of nature-based, artfully designed properties that expand upon their locations' culture, environment, and history. Inspired by the power of design to frame nature's beauty and foster connection, The Conservatory is proud to announce its first partners: Piaule , a 24-room landscape hotel and spa in New York's Catskill mountains where modernist luxury cabins float above the forest floor, rounded out by an otherworldly spa and a highly regarded restaurant , a 24-room landscape hotel and spa in New York's Catskill mountains where modernist luxury cabins float above the forest floor, rounded out by an otherworldly spa and a highly regarded restaurant Casa MUSA , a secluded 5-bedroom villa, pool, and luxury safari tents situated between palms and coast on a mile of uninhabited tropical beachfront , a secluded 5-bedroom villa, pool, and luxury safari tents situated between palms and coast on a mile of uninhabited tropical beachfront Casa TO , a contemplative architectural oasis in the heart of Puerto Escondido's surfing capital that invites green views and tranquility a stone's throw from a vibrant local scene , a contemplative architectural oasis in the heart of Puerto Escondido's surfing capital that invites green views and tranquility a stone's throw from a vibrant local scene GrayBarns , a historical textile mill reimagined as a haven of refuge along the Silvermine River in Norwalk, CT featuring a 6-bedroom inn, tavern, barn and mercantile. , a historical textile mill reimagined as a haven of refuge along the Silvermine River in Norwalk, CT featuring a 6-bedroom inn, tavern, barn and mercantile. hinter , modern cabins where Nordic and Japanese design coalesce in contemporary, climate-positive spaces amongst the Quebec forests that propose a slow living lifestyle modern cabins where Nordic and Japanese design coalesce in contemporary, climate-positive spaces amongst the Quebec forests that propose a slow living lifestyle Hill Farm by Sagra , a boutique inn and private cottages in the Equinox Mountain Valley presenting the future of agritourism in Vermont, inspired by the longstanding European tradition of farmers hosting guests at olive oil farms and wineries , a boutique inn and private cottages in the Equinox Mountain Valley presenting the future of agritourism in Vermont, inspired by the longstanding European tradition of farmers hosting guests at olive oil farms and wineries Kokos Huis , a 200-year-old farmhouse-turned-hotel in the heart of South Africa's wine country, Riebeek Kasteel, that has been thoughtfully renovated and decorated by local artisans , a 200-year-old farmhouse-turned-hotel in the heart of South Africa's wine country, Riebeek Kasteel, that has been thoughtfully renovated and decorated by local artisans The Malin , a coworking brand partner offering work-focused members clubs for professionals to work amongst high design and low distraction with multiple locations in New York City and Nashville Designed by a leader in outdoor hospitality, The Conservatory is the new school of nature-based hospitality. "As passionate leaders in the outdoor hospitality industry, we celebrate like-minded visionaries who deliver memorable experiences in extraordinary settings," says Peter Mack, Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Collective Retreats. "The Conservatory is a collective where design-driven hotels connect people to nature and to each other." The Conservatory is launching with exclusive perks, including 10% off best available rate and upgrades if available. Guests can count on bespoke delights and surprises, such as excursions and amenities. When roadblocks are deliberately thrown in your way, particularly in the workplace, it can be discouraging or even disheartening. Workers can sense when they are able to do more, but often lack the power or means to achieve their goals or even to speak up and express their frustration. Working in such an environment is highly irritating, which can lead to defeatism, reduced efficiency, and detachment. Entrusting employees with greater responsibilities and decision-making leeway enhances engagement and organizational success. Simply put: Empowerment equates to Engagement. In fact, a research paper published in Forbes showed that employees who felt powerless were evaluated in the 24th percentile of engagement, while those with a higher level of empowerment came in at the 79th percentile. Fortunately, all organizations can empower their employees by using the right strategies. What is employee empowerment? The term 'employee empowerment' has become an increasingly popular topic among businesses in recent years, as more and more organizations strive to create cultures in which their employees feel enabled to use their skills and potential to their fullest. Employee empowerment is a model of management that gives employees control over their work. Specifically, it means that employees can make decisions that directly affect their day-to-day operations, without needing to consult with their bosses. The goal of employee empowerment is to create a culture of trust, collaboration, and engagement, as well as to foster innovation and give employees a sense of autonomy and ownership. For businesses, that means increased productivity, loyalty, and motivation from their team. How does employee empowerment relate to inclusive leadership? The relationship between employee empowerment and inclusive leadership is an important one, as both impact the effectiveness of the organization as a whole. By giving employees the ability to influence and contribute to decisions concerning their work, empowerment provides an essential framework for workplace success. In turn, inclusive leadership seeks to leverage this empowerment, giving voice to the opinions of all employees and seeking to foster a culture that is open to dialogue and teamwork. While the precise paths of both concepts may differ, their ultimate outcomes are often one and the same. Results revealed that inclusive leadership is a strong predictor for employee empowerment. At the same time, the concept of inclusive leadership has gained traction as a means of leveraging employee empowerment and creating a culture in which all voices can be heard. In contrast to the traditional top-down model of leadership, which isolates decision-making to the highest levels of hierarchy within the organization, inclusive leaders strive to create a workplace environment in which employees are encouraged to contribute their perspectives and have the freedom to express themselves authentically. The emphasis of inclusive leadership is on establishing shared values and goals within the organization, with input from all workers, regardless of rank or tenure. The ability to lead inclusively is one of the most powerful skills that a leader can possess. It encourages collaboration and dialogue, and creates a sense of community and belonging. An inclusive leader looks beyond the status quo and creates an environment in which everyone is valued and included. They have the ability to build bridges and embrace diversity, not just tolerance. When leaders are truly inclusive, those they lead are inspired to work together to achieve greater things that bring success to all. DISCOVER OUR SOLUTIONS FOR L&D IN HOSPITALITY Benefits of employee empowerment By empowering employees, the organization not only gets better results, but it also creates a productive and engaged workforce. Here are some of the major benefits to consider: Increased productivity Empowering employees enables them to take ownership of their work, make decisions and take the initiative, leading to increased productivity and better performance. Studies have shown that empowered employees are more likely to go the extra mile and work hard to exceed expectations. A study conducted by the Harvard Business Review provides strong evidence for the positive link between employee empowerment and performance, noting that organizations that invested in structuring and supporting well-defined decision-making processes experienced substantial improvements in team performance. Empowering employees enables them to take ownership of their work, make decisions and take the initiative, leading to increased productivity and better performance. Studies have shown that empowered employees are more likely to go the extra mile and work hard to exceed expectations. A study conducted by the Harvard Business Review provides strong evidence for the positive link between employee empowerment and performance, noting that organizations that invested in structuring and supporting well-defined decision-making processes experienced substantial improvements in team performance. Improved engagement Employees who are empowered tend to be more engaged in their work, leading to higher levels of job satisfaction, better employee retention and improved customer satisfaction. Employees who are empowered tend to be more engaged in their work, leading to higher levels of job satisfaction, better employee retention and improved customer satisfaction. Reduced managerial overhead This is one of the major benefits to consider, as delegating authority and decision-making to employees reduces the amount of time managers spend on managerial tasks and frees them up to focus their attention on more strategic initiatives, like developing their team. This is one of the major benefits to consider, as delegating authority and decision-making to employees reduces the amount of time managers spend on managerial tasks and frees them up to focus their attention on more strategic initiatives, like developing their team. Improved morale When employees feel that their opinions are valued and appreciated, morale is typically improved. This leads to reduced absenteeism and an overall better working environment. When employees feel that their opinions are valued and appreciated, morale is typically improved. This leads to reduced absenteeism and an overall better working environment. Enhanced creativity Empowerment encourages employees to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions to problems, thus fostering innovation and improved problem-solving. Empowerment encourages employees to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions to problems, thus fostering innovation and improved problem-solving. Improved relationships By promoting an environment of trust, employees feel comfortable working with each other, which can only improve teamwork and communication between departments. The challenges of employee empowerment While employee empowerment is a powerful tool to help organizations reach their objectives, there are some potential challenges that organizations need to be aware of. Here are some of the common challenges: Increased risk By giving employees more freedom, organizations also run the risk of things going awry. Organizations need to ensure that processes, procedures and other safeguards are in place to minimize the risks. By giving employees more freedom, organizations also run the risk of things going awry. Organizations need to ensure that processes, procedures and other safeguards are in place to minimize the risks. Lack of trust If employees do not trust their managers, they may be hesitant to use their discretion, leading to a feeling of disconnection. Organizations need to foster a culture of trust and open communication if they want to be successful with employee empowerment. If employees do not trust their managers, they may be hesitant to use their discretion, leading to a feeling of disconnection. Organizations need to foster a culture of trust and open communication if they want to be successful with employee empowerment. Onboarding issues Organizations need to take the time to properly onboard and train employees on the new processes and procedures. Otherwise, employees might feel overwhelmed or confused. Organizations need to take the time to properly onboard and train employees on the new processes and procedures. Otherwise, employees might feel overwhelmed or confused. Leadership issues If managers are not properly trained or don't understand the concept of employee empowerment, it could be difficult for them to effectively manage their teams. Leaders need to ensure they are on board and understand the benefits of employee empowerment before they implement it. Techniques for building employee empowerment include Implementing employee empowerment can seem daunting, but with the right steps in place, it can be successful. Here are some tips organizations should consider when implementing employee empowerment: Invest in training Taking the time to train employees on the new processes and procedures is essential for employee empowerment to be successful. Employees should be provided with the necessary training to help them understand how their roles contribute to the success of the organization. Use training to underscore the organizations vision and mission and provide an overview of the companys programs.Training can also help employees build the skills they need to better handle their responsibilities. Providing employees with the necessary training and resources are essential to empowerment success. Not only must employees know which specific skills they need to have to succeed in their roles, they also need to have access to those tools and resources. Investing in your staff training is an investment in your businesss future. Training staff expands their knowledge base, makes them more productive, and can even strengthen employee loyalty. When employees are well-trained, they feel more motivated to take the initiative, have higher job satisfaction, and are better prepared to handle challenges. Investing in staff training is like planting seedsit can lead to long-term growth and success. DISCOVER OUR SOLUTIONS FOR L&D IN HOSPITALITY Communicate clear expectations and boundaries Managers should have a clear understanding of what employee empowerment looks like and what is expected of employees. This includes having a thorough understanding of decision-making processes, responsibilities, and outcomes. Before implementing an employee empowerment program, it's important to establish the goals of the initiative. What are you trying to accomplish? Is the goal to create an engaged and inspired workforce, or to enable employees to make meaningful decisions? Is your overall goal to create a culture of knowledge-sharing and collaboration, or to develop an empowered workforce that can create value and innovate? Being clear with yourself and your team on the goals of the program will make it much easier to move forward. Although employee empowerment initiatives can be extremely effective when implemented properly, employee-empowering programs can also be hampered by existing organizational structures and processes. In order to make employee empowerment successful, it's important to identify and remove any existing structural barriers that stand in the way. This could mean examining hiring practices, relocation policies, work-life balance, job descriptions, or any other policies or protocols that could be hindering employees from being their most productive and engaged selves. It's essential to identify potential roadblocks before you attempt to implement any sort of employee empowerment program. Managers should have a clear understanding of what employee empowerment looks like and what is expected of employees. This includes having a thorough understanding of decision-making processes, responsibilities, and outcomes. Before implementing an employee empowerment program, it's important to establish the goals of the initiative. Listen, learn and adapt your approach Organizations need to be flexible and open to suggestions from employees. For instance, if a certain process isn't working, don't be afraid to listen to feedback from employees and make adjustments as needed. When implementing employee empowerment initiatives, flexibility is key. Some employees will take to the new empowerment faster than others, hence the importance of being ready to adjust policies, plans, and processes. Organizations need to be flexible and open to suggestions from employees. For instance, if a certain process isn't working, don't be afraid to listen to feedback from employees and make adjustments as needed. When implementing employee empowerment initiatives, flexibility is key. Some employees will take to the new empowerment faster than others, hence the importance of being ready to adjust policies, plans, and processes. Facilitate feedback Encourage employees to provide feedback about their job satisfaction and any challenges they face. Consider holding monthly feedback sessions where employees can express their points of view in a constructive environment. This offers employers the opportunity to identify areas of improvement within the organization. It also lets employees know that their opinions are appreciated, and their feedback is taken seriously. Encourage employees to provide feedback about their job satisfaction and any challenges they face. Consider holding monthly feedback sessions where employees can express their points of view in a constructive environment. This offers employers the opportunity to identify areas of improvement within the organization. It also lets employees know that their opinions are appreciated, and their feedback is taken seriously. Recognize achievements An effective employee empowerment program should involve a reward system for employees who make significant contributions to achieving department, team, and organizational goals. This could involve certificate awards, special prizes, and recognition events. In addition to rewarding employees for their successes, thank-you notes and recognition of small accomplishments can be just as powerful in motivating employees. Holacracy topples hierarchy A trio of EHL researchers, namely Bertrand Audrin, Stefano Borzillo and Steffen Raub, explored the notion of holacracy in a recent paper. According to their work, Holacracy removes top-down hierarchies and instead decentralizes management and authority, replacing managersubordinate relationships with fluid autonomous (self-organizing) teams to accomplish tasks and achieve company goals. Under holacracy, the hierarchical pyramid is no longer. Managers become lead links, subordinates become roles and departments become circles. According to the researchers, Circles operate as autonomous fluid teams, where roles are defined around the work to be done rather than the person doing it. Individuals are not assigned tasks by their manager; instead, they negotiate amongst themselves to ensure that the roles are allocated to the most suitable person, which mirrors the concept of subsidiarity. Beyond the new nomenclature, holacracy enables certain organizations to increase: 1) decision-making speed; 2) innovation capabilities; 3) the agility of their work methods; 4) transparency; 5) employee engagement; and 6)overall effectiveness. The research team worked with a local business in Switzerland to assess employee readiness as they prepared for the implementation of a holacracy structure in their company. Employee empowerment is a powerful tool for organizations to help create an engaged and productive workforce. There are both benefits and challenges when it comes to employee empowerment, and organizations need to be aware of these before implementing the strategy. To ensure success, organizations need to take the time to invest in training, create clear expectations, and demonstrate respect to employees. With the right steps in place, employee empowerment can be a powerful force for positive change in organizations. EHL Hospitality Business School Communications Department +41 21 785 1354 EHL View source Embassy Suites Chicago Naperville Hotel Civitas Capital Group today announced that it has closed a senior loan on the 168-key Embassy Suites by Hilton Chicago Naperville hotel located in Naperville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. This loan will be used to refinance an existing loan on behalf of the owner, a joint venture between Brookfield Reinsurance/ANICO and Superhost Hospitality. The all-suite hotel, developed by Superhost in 2015, is the newest full-service hotel in Naperville and caters to both business and leisure travelers. Naperville is located off the I-88 corridor, known as the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor, an economic center that is home to the headquarters and regional offices of businesses from a vast range of industries, including aerospace, healthcare, transportation and manufacturing, as well as scientific institutions, colleges, and universities. In addition to offering easy access to the city's key employers, the hotel sits in Freedom Plaza, a premier location featuring Naperville's top restaurants and bars, and is close to area attractions such as Naperville Riverwalk, Naper Settlement, Morton Arboretum, and Centennial Beach. "The Naperville Embassy Suites loan perfectly aligns with a key strategy of ours," says Melanie Pugmire, Vice President, Lodging Investments, who served as co-lead on the transaction with Marisa Lizak, Managing Director, Investments. "Our Lodging team looks to invest in high-quality, globally branded, strong-cash-flowing hospitality assets located in the top 25 U.S. MSAs assets that are owned and operated by well-capitalized, experienced sponsors." Embassy Suites by Hilton Chicago Naperville features 168 guest rooms and a robust amenity package, offering complimentary breakfast and evening receptions as well as an indoor pool, fitness center, guest laundry, market pantry, outdoor patio and on-site restaurant, Brickstones Grill. Most notably, the hotel has nearly 14,000 SF of flexible event space that can accommodate meetings and banquets of any occasion and any size up to 1,000 guests. Wait! Before you go Please sign up for our Evening Digest and Breaking Newsletters Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Subscribers to Register-Star or The Daily Mail are eligible to receive full access to HudsonValley360. If you have an existing print subscription, please make sure your email address on file matches your HudsonValley360 account email. remaining of Thank you for using HudsonValley360! On your next view you will be asked to log in or create an account to continue reading. Kylie Minogues Padam Padam is the 2023 pride anthem the LGBTQ+ community needed Kylie Minogues infectious pride anthem, Padam Padam, has captivated LGBTQ+ audiences worldwide, surging in popularity on Spotify and TikTok while reigniting interest in her legendary career. by Jon OBrien from the Chartmetric Blog She is the gay shorthand for joy, Rufus Wainwright said of Australian superstar Kylie Minogue back in 2006. And thanks to an omnipresent, onomatopoeic electro-pop banger inspired by Edith Piaf, a whole new generation is now discovering this for themselves. Indeed, as all the padamic and padamonium puns would suggest, Padam Padam has swept the LGBTQ community this year like few other Pride anthems have before. Referencing the sound of a lovestruck humans heartbeat, its two-word title has already become firmly entrenched in the queer lexicon (its also been petitioned for inclusion in the Oxford English Dictionary). It was the track Andy Cohen played for Vice President Kamala Harris as she helped celebrate the 54th anniversary of Stonewall. It was chosen to soundtrack a teaser for Prince Williams visit to Londons iconic LGBTQ venue, The Royal Vauxhall Tavern, on the royals official Instagram account. It was even quoted by openly gay MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle in U.K. Parliament! (So, happy Pride Month, let our hearts win over hate and, finally, Mr. Deputy Speaker, in the words of Kylie, Padam Padam). Co-written by Peter Rycroft and Ina Wroldsen, it was also the default sound of this years Pride festivities you could barely go five minutes without hearing its addictive beats and sex-positive lyrics blaring out somewhere. It is as if Kylie implanted these switches in the brains of all the gays that were set to turn on the first time they heard Padam Padam, remarked DJ fur trap to The New York Times in a piece about its sudden dancefloor ubiquity. And now were all her Padam zombies. Of course, much of Kylies decade-spanning output has been synonymous with the queer scene. The three albums she made with hit factory Stock Aitken Waterman from 1988-1990 were rooted in the Hi-NRG sound that emerged from San Franciscos SoMa district. And who can forget Your Disco Needs You, her 2000 Village People homage deemed so ridiculously camp that her UK label refused to release it as a single? The difference with Padam Padam, though, is that its success occurred in the age of streaming and social media. Buoyed by a number one placing on Spotifys just hits playlist (2.8 million followers) and multiple Top 20 weeks on Happy Hits! (6.2 million), Pop Rising (3 million), and Hot Hits UK (3 million), the first taster of Kylies forthcoming 16th studio effort, Tension (set to be released on September 22), has already racked up more Spotify streams (50.1 million) than any of her previous lead singles from the last decade. The title track from 2013s Into the Blue, for example, petered out at just 17.1 million. And although Dancing from 2018s country-tinged Golden (36.7 million) and Say Something from 2020s Studio 54 throwback Disco(33.9 million) fared better, they still didnt make significant enough waves beyond her usual fanbase. Admittedly, Padam Padam still has a long way to go to beat Kylies biggest hit, Cant Get You Out of My Head. The beloved synth-pop track gave the Antipodean her first U.S. Top 10 single in 13 years upon its 2001 release and has since amassed an impressive 391.3 million Spotify plays. But, with 50.1 million streams, its on course to surpass other enduring favorites, Spinning Around, Love at First Sight and The Loco-Motion, all of which are hovering higher above the 50 million mark. Another major promotional push should see it overtake In Your Eyes (69.7 million) and Taio Cruz collaboration Higher (75.8 million). Kylies more visible U.S. presence has undeniably helped boost her numbers this time around. The star first performed Padam Padam on American Idol just four days after the tracks May 18 premiere, and the shows 5.7 million viewers no doubt helped kickstart a first-week total of 2.8 million streams. Since then, Kylie has headlined iHeartMedia 103.5s annual summer gig KTUphoria, guested at New York pop-up party Horse Meat Disco, and been interviewed on Andy Cohens Sirius XM radio show where she went viral for her uncanny impersonation of TikToks AI voice. Furthermore, on July 17, the day of its Chartmetric Track Score peak at 671, it was declared by Pitchfork as a contender for Song of the Summer. In fact, Kylies stateside profile is now so high that shes been able to announce an October run at The Venetians new, 1,000-capacity venue Voltaire, her first-ever Las Vegas residency. Its perhaps little surprise, therefore, that Kylie has made the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs Chart for the first time since it was created in 2013. But thats not the only Padam Padam milestone. On the other side of the Atlantic, its No.7 peak saw her join Cher, Lulu, and Diana Ross in the exclusive club of female artists to have U.K. Top 10 hits across five consecutive decades. And back in her Australian homeland, she scored her biggest hit since Timebomb back in 2012. TikTok has been particularly instrumental in the rise of the Padamic, with more than 31.3k posts featuring the song at its center. Two behind-the-scenes clips uploaded by Kylie herself have attracted nearly 30 million views alone, the first showing some backstage action from her surprise appearance at the Capital Summertime Ball at Londons Wembley Stadium (June 11) and the other some impromptu street dancing (June 25). While Eurovision winner Loreen, Little Mix vocalist Jade Thirlwall, and actress Suki Waterhouse have all racked up seven-figure view counts lip-syncing to the bop, one of the TikToks thats gained the most media traction was posted by a team of largely middle-aged retail workers. Capitalizing on their easy access to red fabric, the Wimbledon, London branch of arts and crafts store Hobbycraft deservedly went viral on June 2 for their enthusiastic recreation of the Sophie Muller-helmed Padam Padam video. In fact, they even attracted the attention of the idol they were paying tribute to. After giving Hobbycraft a massive shout-out for their efforts on radio station KISS FM, Kylie once again proved her good sport nature by dueting them in a TikTok video which quickly amassed a further 1.3 million views. I feel like I have one foot in the old world and one foot in the new, the star recently saidabout her new-found love of the platform. Now I think its amazing and I do wonder what it would have been like if it had started with my career. With 344.3k followers on the app, 100.5k of which have been accrued since the May 18 release of Padam Padam, Kylie is the perfect example of how artists who once relied on traditional media can still thrive in the online world. Of course, Kylie is still slaying when it comes to the old-school metrics, too. Padam Padam made headlines on June 23 when the U.Ks biggest youth-oriented station BBC Radio 1 finally relented to all the pressure and wisely added Kylie to its playlist for the first time since 2010s Get Outta My Way: this also made the Aussie the oldest ever female to be playlisted by the national institution. As youd expect from a country that (bar a brief flop period in the mid-90s) has always embraced Kylie as one of their own, the U.K. is responsible for the lions share (38.8%) of the songs 38.6k radio spins, with Londons radio stations hammering it 910 times in June alone. But further evidence of her increased transatlantic appeal comes with the fact the U.S. is the third most Padam-struck radio nation with 9.25% of the total airplay. And most impressively, the U.S. (2.8 million) has now overtaken the U.K. (2.2 million) in terms of Kylies monthly Spotify listeners. Indeed, the unexpected success of Padam Padam has also sparked a renewed interest in Kylies career as a whole. Close to dropping out of the Top 1000 before its release, the star has since climbed up Chartmetrics Artist Rankings, peaking at No.221 on June 11 after receiving a significant boost in her Chartmetric Score in the wake of her May 22 American Idol performance. Since the songs release, Kylie has also enjoyed a notable boost in followers on Spotify (+4.6%), Instagram (+6.3%), and YouTube (+8.3%), with the biggest growth, unsurprisingly, coming from TikTok (+41.3%). On the day the revived talent show brought Kylie back into the prime-time spotlight again, her Wikipedia page received 46.6k views, likely from many new fans who wouldnt have even been born yet when she released her first single in 1987 just now learning of her illustrious career. Padam Padam, therefore, has attained a much bigger crossover appeal than most of this years new Pride or Pride-adjacent releases. Of the 25 tracks that appeared in Billboards Best LGBTQ songs of 2023, for example, only two come close to its massive number of Spotify streams. Dove Cameron feat. Khalids moody ballad, We Go Down Together (40.1 million), however, is unlikely to get many parties started. And although Doechii feat. Kodak Blacks What It Is (46.6 million) boasts far more playful energy, it hasnt gripped the gay scene in quite the same way. There is now one major challenger to Padam Padam, though. After dropping on July 13, Troye Sivans Rush accumulated 28.5 million streams within its first two weeks of being released 21.8 million more than Kylie achieved in the same time frame. And thanks to a headline-grabbing video an unapologetically queer celebration of summer thats sparked a discourse over body diversity its first 14 days of YouTube views (7.3 million) also more than doubled Kylies (3.3 million). That said, Rush undoubtedly skews more toward Gen-Z. The remarkable thing about Padam Padam is how its cast a spell on audiences of all ages, from those who can remember her playing tomboy mechanic Charlene in the soap opera Neighbours to those who, until very recently, believed a certain Ms. Jenner was the only famous Kylie around. Whats even more exciting is, according to her BMG label, theres plenty more where Padam Padam came from, too. As the videos most-liked YouTube comment perfectly summarized, Shes not just an icon, shes a legend. Graphics by Nicki Camberg and cover image by Crasianne Tirado; data as of Aug. 4, 2023. Share on: The 'No Crumb Left Behind' cider doughnut eating competition is scheduled for Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at Hilltop Orchards. RICHMOND, Mass. The manager of Hilltop Orchards is excited to host the farm's second annual "No Crumb Left Behind" cider doughnut eating competition. But he does not think he'd make a good contestant. "I've been known to sit by the computer and eat five or six [doughnuts] on one or two occasions through the course of the day," David Martell said this week. "I probably haven't really had more than six. "The other thing is I don't want to eat all the profits." On Saturday at 5:30, 10 competitors will have a chance to test their limits in a race to see who can consume the most doughnuts in a 10-minute span. At stake: a dozen free doughnuts per month for one year to the winner. Martell said Tuesday that Hilltop received about 25 submissions to participate in this year's competition. Ten entrants were chosen at random to earn a seat at the table. One of them was Hinsdale's Jim Ouimette. "I only heard about [the competition] this year for the first time," Ouimette said. "My wife pointed it out to me, and my daughters were in earshot. They started cracking up. "I'm not a big guy average size, average build but I tend to eat a lot of cakes and sweets. On a whim, I just signed up for it to have some fun." Saturday will mark Ouimette's first foray into the world of competitive eating, but he's quick to point out that "No Crumb Left Behind" is all in good fun. "It's not like we're doing the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest," he said. Of course, like that Coney Island tradition that dates back to the 1970s, the more modest Berkshire County version helps to build some brand awareness for the sponsor. "There's a lot of different reasons we started it," Martell said. "People are always like, 'I can eat 12 of those, no problem.' The truth is, after the third or fourth one, it hits you. "And there's this constant argument about who makes the best cider doughnuts in the Berkshires and all of Massachusetts, really. Typically, an event like this gets the word out and it's a reminder to come pick apples, have cider doughnuts, enjoy hard cider, sweet cider, everything." This year, the nascent mid-August tradition will offer a bright spot in what has been a challenging summer for agriculture in the region. "I would say with all this heat and rain we've had, it's been a pretty deplorable season," Martell said. We do have a crop. We have enough apples for people to come and do pick-your-own. We'll be open for pick-your-own. We may run a few short for some of our hard cider, but we'll figure it out. "It wasn't a good year for growing, that's for sure." Win or lose on Saturday, Ouimette expects to be one of those customers coming back to pick apples when the harvest begins. "I love Hilltop," he said. "It's a fantastic place. We do all our apple picking, pumpkin picking there. "We've only lived out here for about nine years, but we have family ties here. And any time people from back in Boston come to visit us, especially in the fall, they want to go there. We have a good time with it." Will those return trips include a dozen doughnuts on the house? Only time will tell, and Ouimette was not making any predictions. That said, when it was pointed out that last year's winner downed 17 doughnuts in the 10 minutes allotted, Ouimette sounded optimistic about his chances. "I don't want to jinx myself, but I don't think two doughnuts per minute is much of a stretch," he said. "I have not tried it before, but I don't see why I couldn't do it." For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} North Koreas leader Kim Jong-un has fired his top military general and replaced him with his former defence minister, an official who was once believed to have been executed. The countrys top general, chief of the general staff Pak Su Il, was dismissed after serving in his role for about seven months, state media KCNA reported, without elaborating the reason for the military shake-up. He was replaced by former defence minister General Ri Yong Gil in the North Korean military on 31 December. Mr Kim made the announcement at the Central Military Commission meeting in which other leading commanding officers were dismissed, transferred or appointed. He also ordered the army to gird for a war as the US and South Korea prepare for a large-scale military exercise. Mr Ri, who previously served as the army chief of staff, was replaced in 2016 and was rumoured to be executed after his absence from official events. Ri Yong Gil is a longstanding member of North Koreas military elite, who before making it to the top, experienced ups and downs during his career. Seven years ago, he was even rumoured to have been executed after a personnel reshuffle, said Leif-Eric Easley, professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. He said Mr Kim does not want anyone to become too powerful to challenge him, taking lessons from Russias invasion of Ukraine, amid which the Wagner Group founder led a brief rebellion against Vladimir Putin. The reorganisation of the military leadership was briefly mentioned towards the conclusion of the report by the state-run mouthpiece KCNA. The report primarily focused on the significant matter of enhancing the armys preparedness for war, citing political and military circumstances in the Korean peninsula. Without mentioning the US and South Korea directly, Mr Kim said the meeting analysed the military moves of the chief culprits of deteriorated situation on the peninsula and condemned the Western allies of expanding drills as invasion rehearsals. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the 7th enlarged meeting of the 8th Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (via REUTERS) He said the preparations included the testing-firings of more than 100 missiles since the start of 2022, driving tensions on the Korean peninsula to their highest point in years. Making full war preparations was the topmost agenda on the list of the meeting, the KCNA report said. The present situation, in which the hostile forces are getting ever more undisguised in their reckless military confrontation with the DPRK [Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea] requires the latters army to have more positive, proactive and overwhelming will and thoroughgoing and perfect military readiness for a war, it said. After the meeting on Wednesday, Mr Kim signed an order to implement unspecified important military measures, the KCNA report said. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (centre) attending the 7th enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) in Pyongyang, North Korea, 09 August 2023 (EPA) Pictures of the meeting published by state media showed Mr Kim directing the generals attention to points on a blurred map of the Korean peninsula. The areas appeared to be the metropolitan region surrounding South Korean capital Seoul, where half of the countrys 51 million people live, and an area around the central city of Daejeon, the location of South Koreas army headquarters. It comes after Mr Kim last week went on a three-day tour of the countrys key weapons factories, including a facility that produces launcher trucks for his intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to target the US mainland, and called for significant improvements to the countrys arms and war readiness. Amid soaring tensions in the region, North Korea will draw attention to its militia parade on 9 September to mark the 75th anniversary of the Day of the Foundation of the Republic. It will be followed by the US and South Korea joint military drills between 21 August and 24 August. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Indian political leader Rahul Gandhi is facing the wrath of women lawmakers from the ruling party after he was accused of blowing a kiss during a parliament session a claim strongly disputed by the opposition Congress. Gandhi spoke in parliament for the first time on Wednesday after being reinstated as a lawmaker after disqualification in a defamation case. He opened the discussion on the second day of the debate on no-confidence brought against Narendra Modis government over ethnic violence continuing in the northeastern state of Manipur since May. Speaking right after Gandhi, Smriti Irani, the federal minister for women and child development from the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), accused the Congress MP of misogyny and making an indecent gesture, claiming he made a flying kiss at her during the session. Only a misogynist man can blow a flying kiss to parliament that seats women MPs, Ms Irani said. The action lacked dignity, she said. Never before has the misogynistic behaviour of a man been so visible in parliament. When the House of the people where laws are made to protect the dignity of women during the course of a session stands witness to a mans misogyny, my question is should he be brought to task? she questioned. The Congress has denied the allegations, saying he was gesturing towards the treasury benches and not anyone in particular amid commotion and sloganeering taking place in the Lok Sabha or lower house of parliament. The incident prompted at least 21 women parliamentarians of the BJP to file a written complaint against Gandhi to house speaker Om Birla to demand stringent action against his alleged inappropriate gesture. The letter accused Gandhi of insulting the dignity of women members in the house. Video footage of the session showing Gandhi from a distance has gone viral on social media. While the footage does not clearly show Gandhis gesture, social media users were split, with some accusing the Congress MP, while others defended him. Gandhi is yet to offer a statement on the matter. Actor and BJP lawmaker Hema Malini, one of the signatories of the letter, raised eyebrows after she said she did not see Gandhi making the gesture. The controversy follows Gandhi, a Congress scion known for making cheeky gestures, including winking at a fellow lawmaker and hugging Mr Modi during a parliament session, catching him off guard. In July 2018, during a debate on a previous no-confidence motion against the BJP, Gandhi walked across to where Mr Modi sat and hugged him while he was sitting. After the hug, Gandhi returned and winked at his former colleague, lawmaker Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was sitting next to him. The Congress partys leaders have accused the BJP of blowing the issue out of proportion. Rahul Gandhi gestured towards the treasury benches as he was leaving with a flying kiss as he had called them brothers and sisters. He did not direct it towards any particular minister or MP, and not at all towards Smriti Irani, an unnamed Congress leader was quoted as saying by NDTV. That no one saw. I dont think there is any record, I certainly did not see it. I dont know who else saw it and whether it happened and who it happened to. I believe it is not there on Sansad TV [government channel that broadcasts parliamentary proceedings] either. So, we have no idea, said Congress MP Shahi Tharoor. Opposition lawmaker and ex-Congress leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said the gesture was not towards women parliamentarians and added that the BJP was so deeply attached to hatred, it could not accept a gesture of love. Meanwhile, Swati Maliwal, the chair of Delhi Commission of Women, called out Ms Irani for remaining silent on BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh, who is at the centre of sexual harassment allegations by several Olympic wrestlers, while reacting strongly to a supposed flying kiss. A supposed flying kiss thrown in the air ignited so much fire. A man named Brij Bhushan is sitting two rows back. The one who called Olympic wrestlers into the room and put his hand on their chest, put his hand on their waist and sexually assaulted them. Why dont you get angry at what he did? she wrote on X, formerly Twitter. The controversy erupted after Gandhis scathing attack on the BJP and Mr Modi over sectarian violence in Manipur taking place for three months. In a 30-minute speech, he criticised the PM for not addressing his governments failure in stopping the violence in Manipur and not visiting the state once since May. Gandhi, who visited Manipur last month, accused Mr Modi of being anti-national and murdering India in Manipur. As I said in the beginning of my speech that India is a voice. It is the voice of our people, the voice of from the hearts of our people, he said. You have murdered that voice. This means you have murdered Bharat Mata [mother India] in Manipur. By killing the people of Manipur, you have murdered India. You are anti-national, you cannot be desh bhakts [patriotic], you cannot be a nation-lover. You have murdered India, he said. This is why PM does not go to Manipur because you have murdered India in Manipur. Mr Modi is expected to address the session on Thursday to conclude the debate on the no-confidence motion, which his party is not expected to lose as it has a comfortable majority in parliament. The motion was presented by the newly formed INDIA alliance, a 26-party opposition bloc, to force Mr Modi to address the issue of Manipur. Since early May, violence has continued to roil the remote state ruled by the BJP. Mr Modi had only addressed the issue partially, when a horrific video emerged of women who were gang-raped and paraded naked by a mob in Manipur. While he condemned the sexual assault, he refrained from commenting on the larger conflict. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Six police officers in the Philippines have been suspended and are under criminal investigation for the fatal shooting of a teenager they had wrongly identified as a murder suspect. Jerhode Baltazar, 17 was fatally shot in the head at a suburban Manila fishing village last Wednesday, according to local reports. The police were reportedly looking for suspects involved in a shooting incident that occurred in Barangay NBBS Kaunlaran on 2 August. After a suspect managed to evade arrest, law enforcement was allegedly informed that the suspect had boarded a boat. Upon reaching the location, law enforcement spotted the teenager along with his friends boat. News website Rappler reported that the teenager was gripped by fear and so the 17-year-old leapt from the boat and began swimming, while his friend remained aboard. The police subsequently opened fire at Baltazar. It was found out later that the 17-year-old victim was not the suspect the cops were looking for. Authorities have now acknowledged that the officers decision to shoot the unarmed 17-year-old was a lapse in judgment. They cannot invoke self-defence. They were unable to prove that the victim resisted arrest, Navotas city police chief Col Allan Umipig told local media. The basis for the polices mistaken identity, however, remains unclear. They had received orders to apprehend a suspect linked to another shooting incident in Navotas. The six officers involved have been relieved of their duties and are currently held in custody, pending an inquiry into potential charges of homicide. In accordance with Philippine law, the maximum penalty for such an offence is 20 years of imprisonment. The law also mandates that the police officer must first issue a verbal warning before he could use force against an offender. Meanwhile, videos circulating on social media showed Jesse Baltazar, the victims father, gripping his sons lifeless body after it was recovered from the water. Mr Baltazar raised questions by asking authorities why his son suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head despite the officers claim of firing warning shots. Local media reported that occurrences of this nature were frequent throughout the tenure of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who waged a brutal war against drugs resulting in a spate of many such violent incidents. In December 2020, for example, a notable case unfolded when former police officer Jonel Nuezca fatally shot Sonya Gregorio, aged 52, and her 25-year-old son Frank during a heated altercation. The incident was captured on video and subsequently gained widespread attention after going viral. Approximately a year later, Nuezca died while in incarceration. Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Wildfires raging out of control in Hawaii have claimed at least 93 lives, displaced thousands of families, knocked out 911 and cell services, forced residents to escape into the ocean, and almost wiped out an entire town, officials say. Several large fires on Maui and the Big Island, partly fuelled by strong winds from Hurricane Dora, have destroyed dozens of homes and businesses and completely cut off affected areas. Maui County officials confirmed the dramatic rise in the death toll to 93. The death toll is expected to rise when specialist search and rescue teams begin the grim task of going door-to-door in burned out areas. A thousand people remain missing. Aerial images of the historic western Maui town of Lahaina showed it had been almost completely destroyed. Lieutenant governor Sylvia Luke said the devastation was a tragic moment for the entire state and recovery would take years. Governor Josh Green, who returned to Hawaii on Wednesday night, said in a video statement the state had suffered a terrible disaster. Search and rescue efforts continue across Maui, Big Island and Oahu as several wildfires are still actively burning. What we know about the Maui fires On Maui, the worst affected area is the historic western town of Lahaina, where a dozen residents were rescued by the US Coast Guard at around 10.50pm Tuesday local time after jumping into the ocean to escape the flames and smoke. They were transported to safe areas by a US Coast Goard (USCG) 45-foot rapid response vessel. Most of Lahainas waterfront Front St business district was feared destroyed, according to Hawaii News Now. Dramatic videos posted to social media showed apocalyptic fires sweeping through the town, a tourist and commercial hub that was Hawaiis first capital and is the ancestral home of the Hawaiis indigenous Kanaka Maoli. This photo provided by County of Maui shows fire and smoke filling the sky from wildfires on the intersection at Hokiokio Place and Lahaina Bypass in Maui, Hawaii on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023 (Zeke Kalua/County of Maui via AP) The wind gusts had downed power lines and cut out electricity to the area. Traffic in and out of the town was very heavy as residents tried to evacuate on Tuesday, County of Maui spokesperson Mahina Martin told the Associated Press. Maui County closed all roads around Lahaina on Wednesday, and people who werent in an evacuation area were urged to shelter in place. Lahaina Tiare Lawrence told Hawai News Now that people had been forced to run for their lives. Its just so hard. Im currently Upcountry and just knowing I cant get a hold of any of my family members. I still dont know where my little brother is. I dont know where my stepdad is, she told the news site. Hawaii wildfires: Maui and Big Island evacuated as Hurricane Dora winds fuel blazes Everyone I know in Lahaina, their homes have burned down. Lahaina resident Alan Dickar posted footage showing fires sweeping through the business district on Tuesday night. Today was a devastating day in Lahaina, he wrote on Facebook. A lot of homes nearby burned as well. Tomorrow, the sun will rise, and, through the smoke, we will all find our way. A separate fire is threatening the southern coastal town of Kihei. Clint Hansen, of Maui Luxury Real Estate, shared drone footage of the Kihei blaze to show the extent of the destruction. He encouraged others to share pictures to show just how extreme the wildfires had become. Old footage, pictures, anything that explains the severity because people are not understanding how bad this is, Mr Hansen wrote on Facebook. Kihei appears to be doing OK for now but Lahaina is apocalyptic. A third fire raging in the inland mountainous region of Kula is yet to be contained. Dozens of residents were evacuated overnight from the area after brush fires were reported in the Olinda Rd, Aulii Drive and Hanamu Rd areas. People watch as smoke and flames fill the air from raging wildfires on Front Street in downtown Lahaina, Maui on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2023 (Alan Dickar via AP) The American Red Cross has set up emergency shelters at Kihei, Lahaina and Pukalani. More than 4,000 people were being housed across four emergency shelters on Wednesday evening, state officials said. Some shelters have been overrun , acting governor Sylvia Luke told reporters. The County of Maui said at least 100 firefighters were tackling the separate blazes. More then 20 people have been injured, including a firefighter who was hosptalised for smoke inhalation while battling fires in West Maui fire. Wildfires are raging in three areas on the Hawaiian island of Maui (Google Maps) At Mauis Kahului Airport, 1,800 passengers were trapped overnight after dozens of flights were cancelled or delayed, according to the Hawaiian Department of Transportation. Thousands of Maui residents remain without power on Wednesday, and 911 services are out indefinitely in the west of the island. Hawaiis National Guard has been activated and is assisting local emergency services, Hawaiis adjutant general Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara posted on Facebook. Erratic wind, challenging terrain, steep slopes and dropping humidity, are making it difficult to predict path and speed of a wildfire, Maui Fire Assistant Chief Jeff Giesea said in a statement. On Big Island, a wildfire has destroyed 1800 acres and is threatening 200 homes around the rural community of Kohala Ranch. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved a disaster declaration to provide assistance, according to a release from the Hawaiian Governors office. What are officials saying? Mr Bissen Jr, the Maui County mayor, said that six fatalities had been confirmed moments before a news conference on Wednesday afternoon. Im sad to report that just before coming on this, it was confirmed weve had six fatalities. We are still in search and rescue mode, he said. The initial death toll rose dramatically late on Wednesday night to 36. Many still remain unaccounted for. Earlier, Hawaii Governor Josh Green, who is cutting a vacation short to return to the fire-stricken state, said in a statement: Heroic efforts by first responders have prevented many casualties from occurring, but some loss of life is expected. We have suffered a terrible disaster in the form of a wildfire that has spread widely as a result of hurricane-force winds in the region and underlying drought conditions. Maui and the Big Island both experienced significant fires. Much of Lahaina on Maui has been destroyed and hundreds of local families have been displaced. He is expecting to make a formal request for federal assistance in the next few days. Hawaii Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke, who is acting governor in Josh Greens absence, told CNN that the state was facing an unprecedented natural disaster and called on the White House to declare a federal emergency to provide immediate support. Maui hospitals have been overwhelmed with people suffering from burns and smoke inhalation, Ms Luke told CNN. We are already in communication with other hospital systems about relieving the burden the reality is that we need to fly people out of Maui to give them burn support because Maui hospital cannot do extensive burn treatment, she told the network. In addition to dealing with disaster, were dealing with major transportation issues as well. Satellite phones were the only way to contact the stricken town, she said. Its impeding communication. Its impeding efforts to evacuate residents and we are very concerned about that, Ms Luke told CNN. On Wednesday, the White House said it was directing all available assets from the US Coast Guard, Navy, and Marines to assist in the rescue effort. Were working as quickly as possible to fight those fires and evacuate residents and tourists. In the meantime, our prayers are with the people of Hawaii, but not just our prayers: every asset that we have will be available to them, President Biden said in remarks at a Veterans Affairs medical center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Hawaiian indigenous leader Kaniela Ing told The Independent in a statement that his heart is breaking at the utter devastation that the wildfires were causing friends and family. The extreme wildfires in Lahania, in this summer of climate disasters, are yet more proof that we are in a climate emergency and this crisis is killing us, Mr Ing, the National Director of the Green New Deal Network, added. Former president Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii, wrote: Its tough to see some of the images coming out of Hawaii a place thats so special to so many of us. Michelle and I are thinking of everyone who has lost a loved one, or whose life has been turned upside down. He encouraged people to donate to the Hawaii Community Foundations Maui Strong Fund. What is causing the fires? The wildfires were whipped up by Hurricane Dora, a category 4 storm passing about 500 miles (804 kms) south of the Pacific Ocean archipelago, and a strong high pressure system to the north, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. "These strong winds coupled with low humidity levels are producing dangerous fire weather conditions that will last through Wednesday afternoon," the NWS said. Between Monday and Wednesday, wind gusts as high as 67mph were recorded in Maui, according to the NWS . West and southern areas of Maui were already in severe drought conditions, according to the US Drought Monitor. The climate crisis has created warmer, dryer conditions that are increasing the risk and extent of wildfires across the western United States, according to the Center for Climate and Energy Conditions. Wildfires have wrought havoc for years across the North American continent, especially in the US Southwest and Canada. But blazes of this magnitude have rarely, if ever, been seen in Hawaii. Josh Marcus contributed reporting to this story. Close Wildfire roars through Hawaiis historic Lahaina Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} At least 114 people have lost their lives in the devastating Maui wildfires as first responders continue searching for 1,000 missing in the fire-ravaged town. The search to find and identify victims remains painstakingly slow only 10 victims so far killed in the fires have been identified. Hawaii governor Josh Green estimates that 3,000 buildings and homes burned to the ground or were damaged and that losses are nearly $6bn. The head of the Maui Emergency Management Agency resigned on Thursday after officials came under increased scrutiny over the response to the devastating wildfires. Herman Andaya submitted his resignation just one day after he defended his decision of not using outdoor alert sirens before the fires overwhelmed the historic community of Lahaina. Mr Andaya cited unspecified health reasons. Residents are also reporting that investors and realtors are trying to capitalise on the wildfires to purchase land from locals. Were not going to allow it, Mr Green said. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A Burger King worker has received over $400,000 worth of donations, a year after he went viral when he revealed that he hadnt missed work in 27 years. Kevin Ford - a cook and cashier at the Burger King in the Las Vegas McCarran International Airport - has been given $407,000 from donors so far, according to his GoFundMe Page. While the page was first launched by his daughter, Seryna, last year, theres been a spike in donations throughout the last two days, with contributions ranging from $10 to $1,000. The fundraiser now has a new goal of $450,000, as of 9 August. According to the description, Ford is a single father of two, who began working at Burger King 27 years ago, and has never missed a day on the job. Seryna, who wrote the description, also explained what motivates her father to keep working: Being able to provide for his family. As our family grew and he remarried, he continued to work there because of the amazing health insurance that was provided through this employer because it was unionized, she wrote. This got all four of his daughters through high school and college with full healthcare coverage. Seryna also noted that Kevin would use donations for his retirement fund, and to visit his grandchildren. My dad continues to work there, because though he does look young, he is coming up on retirement age and leaving would cost him his retirement, she added. In no way are we asking for money or is he expecting any money but if anyone feels like blessing him he would love to visit his grandchildren. In some of the recent donations made to the fundraiser, people have expressed how theyve been inspired by Kevin and his work ethic, one year after he first made headlines. My wife and I recently had our third child, and its been rough getting accustomed to having three kids, one wrote. Your story makes me feel like Im not alone. Like there is at least 1 other person who has done what Im doing and succeeded. Thank you, Seryna for sharing, and thank you Kevin for being a great human. Keep on keepin on. In a video posted to his TikTok in June 2022, Kevin went on to open a bag of gifts that he received from HMSHost - Burger Kings partner company - after nearly three decades working for the fast food chain. Some of the goodies included a Starbucks cup, a single movie ticket, and a bag of Reeses Pieces. While many people went on to show their support for Kevin and praised his positivity in the video, they also criticised HMSHost. They claimed that the companys gift was too trivial, since the Burger King employee had been working at the company for so long. Its sad they did him like this but look at his positivity. This is someone that finds the good in everything. I know he will be blessed with more, one TikTok user wrote in the comments at the time. 27 years of commitment and without even skipping a day - this guy deserves to be given his own franchise, to have his own BK @Burger King, another added. When Kevins GoFundMe Page also launched that month, it quickly went viral, with comedian David Spade making a donation of $5,000 to it. In June 2022, the Saturday Night Live star also reached out to Kevin on social media to celebrate him. Keep up the good work. 27 years, Spade wrote in his message, which was obtained by TMZ. Kevin then responded: HOLY S*** Dude!!! Cannot Believe This!!! In April of this year, Kevin shared an update to the GoFundMe page to reveal that he received enough money to visit his grandchild in Texas. It was about a year ago when this unthinkable power of God all changed my life forever!!! he wrote. The miracle of generosity of so many people all around the world has allowed me to save for retirement and my childrens and grandchildrens futures and even to someday soon own my own home dreams really can come true. The Independent has contacted Seryna and a representative for Burger King for comment. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Grimes has described her relationship with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk as the best internship ever. Speaking with Wired, the 35-year-old artist candidly opened up about her career, children, and former relationship with the South African-born billionaire. Not only does she have Musk to thank for her son, X A-Xii (nicknamed X), and daughter, Exa Dark Siderl (nicknamed Y), but she credited her extensive technological knowledge to him. I learned from him, like, the best internship ever. People dont like talking about Elon, but it was incredible to be right there watching all that SpaceX stuff happen, she said. Thats a master class in leadership and engineering and makes you understand how rare it is to have a leader of that quality. Grimes further reflected on Musks management and his 2022 acquisition of X, formerly known as Twitter. She expressed an appreciation for his dedication to and the undertaking of something of that magnitude. Additionally, she praised his old world discipline, noting how quick people are to criticize it when its beneficial. Hes challenged me a lot, Grimes remarked. I learned a lot about running my own team and my own life. Im now way tougher and smarter than I used to be. The Canadian musician isnt the only that benefitted from being in the relationship. Grimes thought Musk may have learned how to have more fun from being with her since reports circulated in 2018. I try to soften him up, to build family culture. And he steals a lot of my memes, she noted. Five years ago, the couple debuted their relationship at the Met Gala in May. Their relationship left fans speculating whether it had fizzled out or was still very much going on for two years. Then, in 2020, Grimes confirmed they were pregnant with their first child, leaving people to assume they were together. Shortly after she declared Musk as the father, Grimes spoke to Rolling Stone about how being with her boyfriend had affected her career more than she thought it would. She said: No one believes me about this, but I just did not understand what I was getting into at all. Not that Im mad about it. I just didnt think it would be a thing. The s**t thats happened with my boyfriend this year has overwritten so much of my lifes work. Musk told PageSix that he and Grimes were semi-separated in 2021, but then they announced the birth of their daughter in March of 2022. However, hours after, Grimes tweeted: Me and E have broken up *again* since the writing of this article haha, but hes my best friend and the love of my life, and my life and art are forever dedicated to The Mission now. Sign up to IndyEat's free newsletter for weekly recipes, foodie features and cookbook releases Get our Now Hear This email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyEats email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} One American woman living in Paris left a bad taste in the mouths of her European followers when she said it was weird how French people butter their sandwiches. In a 5 August TikTok post, Amanda Rollins dished out the hot take while she prepared her and her boyfriends lunch for the following day. The lifestyle blogger took two half baguettes and cut them face open. As she began to prep the bread with pats of butter on her knife, she admitted that some one of her fellow American followers may find what shes doing strange. It occurred to me that French people do something very weird with sandwiches that I think you guys would find strange. This is butter, Rollins said. What they do, its like a classic sandwich. Its ham, cheese, and butter. She went on to explain how mustard and mayonnaise two known sandwich spreads are replaced with the salty dairy product that has a high concentration of fat. In her opinion, mayonnaise is basically fat as well, and the creamy sauce is more flavorful. Because of this, Rollins assumed people would think the butter replacement was gross, but she encouraged them to try it anyway. I know you might be thinking that sounds gross, but its actually so good. Is it healthy? No, of course not, the TikTok user remarked. What do you think of that? Its kind of crazy. Dont knock it until you try it, she continued. European app users couldnt believe how taken aback Rollins was by the act of spreading butter on a sandwich. As odd as Rollins made the food choice seem, they found it even more unusual that Americans dont follow the same recipe Who doesnt use butter in their sandwich? a baffled individual wrote, while another added: How is that crazy? Its the most simple basic sandwich. One woman assumed: Honestly, I think its only the US that dont put butter on their sandwiches. Butter before anything, a TikToker from England exclaimed. Swede here, and totally normal in Scandinavia as well, another user added. One Canadian person claimed it was typical in their area as well. Always butter in a sandwich. No mayo ever, they commented. Speaking with Insider, Rollins admitted she was not expecting so many people from outside the US to think using mayo in lieu of butter was irregular. A lot of people were saying mayonnaise on a sandwich is weird to which I GASPED. In the US we are big condiment people, she remarked. Currently living in Paris, Rollins added how obviously barren the grocery store condiment sections were compared to the ones in America. She was confident that people in the US who put butter on their sandwich bread were in the minority because butter is more of a toast lubricator. We dont view BUTTER as a CONDIMENT, its like a cooking ingredient and sometimes a toast lubricator. Like slabbing cold butter onto a sandwich would feel weird in the US, I know I am not making this up, she told The Independent. People in the comments are GOING OFF on the fact that Americans are the only ones who dont do this regularly. Theres someone from each country in Europe chiming in and saying we do that in England, we do that in Germany, we do that in. Sweden, etc and I have comments like this is the most normal thing in the world, americans are the only ones who find this weird - to which I keep replying: ...and who do you think my audience is? she continued. Rollins butter on sandwiches aversion extends to all recipes except the ham and cheese combo. Otherwise, the Paris resident prefers to stick with saucy condiments like shes always done in the States. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A grandson is sharing the love story of his grandmother and her high school sweetheart on TikTok. Noah Russi, who goes by the username @liveforlines on the platform, posted a video montage of his grandmother and her current husband who was also her first boyfriend ever. POV: going to visit my Nan who moved back across the world to be with her first high school bf, text across the screen reads at the start of the TikTok as Russi is seen sitting on a train. Then the montage begins as more text goes across the screen detailing how the two came back together after spending decades apart. Russi explained that the couple both had six children of their own with different spouses, but they both lost them due to cancer. They got married when they were both 70 years old and are now both in their 80s. They both had six kids of their own, text across the screen reads. But reconnected when cancer took their partners. They end up getting married at 70 years old. Its now been 10 happy years together. I dont think they would be here without each other. In between each line of text is a different moment the couple has shared throughout their marriage whether that be the two of them snuggling on the couch, holding hands while walking across the beach, or waltzing around the kitchen. The TikTok ends with the words A love story written across the screen as the couple tightly hug each other. Russi does not reveal which countries were involved in the round-the-world love story. But the first scene of the TikTok shows him on what appears to be a London Underground train, while he himself appears to be based in Vancouver, suggesting the two countries may be Canada and the UK. Since being posted one week ago on 3 August the video has been viewed over 700,000 times with over 1,000 comments expressing their love for the story. Its like the red string, it pulls and stretches but never breaks..it was attached to them the whole time. Until they met again, one comment gushed. Imagine their partners together in Heaven watching over them happily, a second person mentioned. A third commenter called the two of them the sweetest thing ever. Russi replied to this comment saying it gets even more sweet when hes physically around them and not just visiting like he was this time. You should be in their presence. If that aint love I dont know what love is, he wrote. This comes after another cute gesture as a farmer planted 80 acres of sunflowers for him and his wifes fiftieth wedding anniversary on 10 August. And coming up with the idea was no easy task. Well were celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary August 10th and you know whats a guy get his gal for the 50th? Lee Wilson said. And I put a lot of thought into it and she always liked sunflowers. The farmer planted 1.2 million sunflowers in total which is roughly 15,000 sunflowers per acre. He began the planting process in May with his sons help. Unlike Russis grandmother, this couple has been together since high school and never looked back. We met in high school. She couldnt date until she was 16, and I called her on her 16th birthday and thats when we started dating, Lee said about his wife, Renee. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Canadian influencer Lil Tay is reportedly alive, according to a statement allegedly issued by her family. In a statement toTMZ on 10 August, Lil Tay, whose real name is Claire Hope, said she and her brother Jason Tian are both alive and that her Instagram account was hacked, after a since-deleted post shared to the account claimed they had passed. The clarification came one day after a post was shared to her Instagram, which was not signed and offered no explanation about how or when the deaths occurred. I want to make it clear that my brother and I are safe and alive, but Im completely heartbroken, and struggling to even find the right words to say, the statement to TMZ read. Its been a very traumatising 24 hours. All day yesterday, I was bombarded with endless heartbreaking and tearful phone calls from loved ones all while trying to sort out this mess. According to the publication, she also addressed the statement on Instagram and said that her account was hacked, with a third party allegedly sharing false information about her. My Instagram account was compromised by a third party and used to spread jarring misinformation and rumours regarding me, to the point that even my name was wrong, the statement continued. My legal name is Tay Tian, not Claire Hope. The Canadian influencer went on to express her gratitude for Meta, noting that the social media company helped her get her Instagram back and deleted the allegedly false statement. The statement came after a mysterious Instagram post had also emerged, claiming that both Lil Tay and her brother were not dead. The post, which was shared by the account @termanii.__, was posted on Thursday morning, and claimed that Lil Tay had been revoked access to her official Instagram account. Speaking to The Independent on 9 August, Harry Tsang, Lil Tays former manager, said that after the initial statement about her death was released on Instagram, hed been in communication with individuals who have an intimate understanding of the familys situation. However, he said he could not confirm or deny the accuracy of the now-deleted Instagram post. Given the complexities of the current circumstances, I am at a point where I cannot definitively confirm or dismiss the legitimacy of the statement issued by the family. This situation calls for cautious consideration and respect for the sensitivities involved. My commitment remains focused on delivering updates that are both reliable and appropriately timed, he said. He continued: In times like these, it is imperative that we prioritise accuracy and empathy. I encourage everyone to rely on reputable and official sources for information. We must exercise patience while awaiting further developments before drawing any conclusions. Lil Tays father, Christian Hope, also told Insider on 9 August that he could not comment on the post and declined to confirm that his daughter had died. The police department in Vancouver, where the family was believed to be living, also said that it was not aware of death reports for the influencer or her brother. As of now, we are not aware and are not investigating, the department said in a statement to The Independent. In addition, Insider reported that the Los Angeles Police Department and the county medical examiner did not have any information on an investigation into the death of anyone named Claire Hope. Lil Tays former manager Harry Tsang released a statement to The Independent in which he raised doubt about the claim that the influencers account had been hacked. He suggested there may have been other potential motives, such as a publicity stunt. The Independent has contacted Meta and Lil Tays father for comment. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Thousands of Hawaii citizens have been displaced following wildfires that devastated the historic town of Lahaina in Maui. Multiple neighbourhoods were burned as the fires were fueled by heavy winds blowing from Hurricane Dora, resulting in many being told to evacuate, with some Hawaii residents taking refuge in the ocean to avoid the flames. Many have lost their lives and thousands have been evacuated as a result of the wildfires. Hawaiis governor Josh Green has estimated that billions of dollars will be needed to fully recover, as the US Civil Air Patrol and the Maui Fire Department reported that approximately 271 structures were damaged or destroyed by the fires. Here is a list of resources to help those impacted by the natural disaster. The Hawaii Salvation Army began providing meals for the approximately 50 individuals who had taken shelter in Maui Countys/American Red Cross Pukalani shelter, an effort that is now spreading across the entire island. They are asking for monetary donations and meal donations from either restaurants or certified kitchens to continue giving out food and shelter. During emergencies, the best way the public can help is to provide monetary donations which allows the delivery of the exact relief supplies a community needs, Victor Leonardi, divisional director of emergency services and safety for The Salvation Army Hawaiian & Pacific Islands Division, said in a news release. Plus, The Salvation Army uses one hundred per cent of all donations designated disaster relief in support of disaster operations. Donations can be made on the Hawaii Salvation Armys website. There are also multiple fundraisers taking place across the state, including the Aina Momona fundraiser through the Hawaii Community Foundation, the Kakoo Maui fund through The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, Alakaina Foundation Family, and Kakoo Haleakala, and the Hawaii Community Foundation Maui Strong Fund. The grocery store Foodland is also accepting monetary donations at checkout to support The American Red Crosss efforts. Other places accepting monetary donations include Aloha United Way, Maui Food Bank, and Maui Mutual Aid, which is focusing on supporting Maui families, elderly, people with disabilities and those without insurance. If you are a Hawaii resident, the Hawaii Restaurant Association is putting together donations and gathering volunteers to help evacuees on Oahu. The Maui Police Department is also asking for specific donations of non-perishable food, bottled water, hygiene items, and blankets to be collected at Mauis War Memorial Complex. Ice cream shop Cream B and Hoomana Barbell are asking for donations of food, drinks, snacks, bedding, pillows, and personal hygiene products that can be picked up at 1826 Kaohu St. The Maui Humane Society has said its animals are safe, however, the organisation has said it needs to allocate more space to displaced pets and is asking for more people to sign up to be fosters in the meantime. In addition, the organisation is asking for donations of pet supplies to give to families who are keeping their animals. Monetary donations will also be accepted to help the shelter deal with the increase in care they need to provide. There is also a page on their website to report any lost or found pets. To find all of the latest updates about the Hawaii wildfires, follow our liveblog here. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Princess Dianas struggle with an eating disorder has been detailed in a new childrens book about her life. The latest instalment in the Little People, Big Dreams book series will be released on 7 September and will introduce young readers to the worlds most-loved princess. The book is part of the best-selling biography series for children by author Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara, which explores the lives of influential people from designers to scientists to activists. Vivienne Westwood, David Bowie and Ru Paul are among the people whose lives have been depicted in the book series. A digital copy of the book shared withThe Independent features a description of the eating disorder that Diana, Princess of Wales, suffered from, stating: Even though her life seemed to be taken from the pages of a fairy tale, she soon realised that the princes heart belonged to someone else Over time that sadness grew into an eating disorder called bulimia. Whenever she felt alone, she sought relief by eating all the cakes she could find in the royal kitchens, it continued. The illustration shows an upset Diana sitting on the floor of a kitchen holding an empty plate in her lap. The book continues: But that sweet feeling of comfort didnt last long. Once it was gone, she would try to get rid of all the food she had eaten by making herself sick. It took her time to seek help, learn to love herself and stop hurting her body. But once she did, she felt better than ever, it continued. Pages from Little People, BIG DREAMS: Princess Diana (Quarto Group) The author credits the late royal as one of the first famous people to speak up about her struggle with bulimia, helping others to confront it, too. While the book details Dianas divorce from then-Prince Charles, she kept charming people with her own king of magic and shining light on important causes, from mental health issues to animal rights. It also goes on to describe the famous occasion when she hugged a patient with AIDS in a New York hospital during the height of the AIDS epidemic in the Eighties. Diana first addressed her eating disorder directly in her 1995 Panorama interview with Martin Bashir. She said in the interview: I had bulimia for a number of years. And thats like a secret disease. You inflict it upon yourself because your self-esteem is at a low ebb, and you dont think youre worthy or valuable. You fill your stomach up four or five times a day some do it more and it gives you a feeling of comfort. Pages from Little People, BIG DREAMS: Princess Diana (Quarto Group) Dianas eating disorder has since been widely depicted in accounts of her life. In season five of Netflixs The Crown, several scenes depict Dianas struggles with bulimia. A spokesperson for the UKs eating disorder charity Beat has said in a statement to The Telegraph that reading about eating disorders can help young people spot the signs more quickly. According to the charitys data, around 1.25m people in the UK have an eating disorder. It advises that bulimia is a serious mental illness that can affect anyone of any age, gender, ethnicity or background. Pages from Little People, BIG DREAMS: Princess Diana (Quarto Group) Its website states: People with bulimia are caught in a cycle of eating large quantities of food (called bingeing), and then trying to compensate for that overeating by vomiting, taking laxatives or diuretics, fasting, or exercising excessively (called purging). Treatment at the earliest possible opportunity gives the best chance for a fast and sustained recovery from bulimia. Beats advice continues: Episodes of binge eating are often very distressing, and people may feel trapped in the cycle of bingeing and purging. People with bulimia place strong emphasis on their weight and shape, and may see themselves as much larger than they are. The representative for the charity told The Telegraph: Reading about eating disorders can help young people to spot the signs more quickly. However, its crucial that books raise awareness in a sensitive and appropriate way. We advise that writers avoid going into detail about eating disorder behaviours, calories or weights as this can worsen symptoms for somebody who is unwell, or contribute to an eating disorder developing if someone is vulnerable. For anyone struggling with the issues raised in this article, eating disorder charity Beats helpline is available 365 days a year on 0808 801 0677. NCFED offers information, resources and counselling for those suffering from eating disorders, as well as their support networks. Visit eating-disorders.org.uk or call 0845 838 2040. Little People, Big Dreams: Princess Diana is published on 7 September Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The nation will soon mark the first death anniversary of the late Queen Elizabeth II, who died on 8 September 2022. According to reports, the Prince and Princess of Wales will lead tributes to the late monarch on the anniversary of her death. Prince William and Kate Middleton will reportedly deliver a message to Britons in honour of the Queens legacy, although it is unclear whether this will be made in person, broadcast on television, or released on social media. Meanwhile, King Charles III is reportedly expected to spend his mothers death anniversary quietly and privately at Balmoral in Scotland, where she passed away. Grant Harrold, former royal butler to King Charles and Queen Camilla when they were still the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, told The Independent exclusively that, like all big royal anniversaries, the first year will be an important one. The public will want it to be noted, lots of people will be reflecting and remembering and thats what the royal family will do, he said. However, Harrold does not believe there will be any events to mark a year since the Queens passing. Instead, any commemorations will be more reflective. If there [are] any royal duties that the family are undertaking, they will continue as normal, Im sure we will see people call out and ask them if theyre remembering the Queen today and, of course, they will say they are, he said. The biggest indication will be what we see on social media. It will not surprise me at all if we see any videos and posts thats how it will be marked because thats the way things are done now. Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William, Prince of Wales leave after a service for the reception of Queen Elizabeth II's coffin at Westminster Hall, on September 14, 2022 (Getty Images) Harrold, who worked for Charles and Camilla from 2004 to 2011, added that members of the royal family are now much more modern with their approach to social media. He pointed to William and Kate sharing lovely behind-the-scenes videos of the Kings coronation in May and said there may be similar unseen footage or images involving the Queen released to remember her. Noting how religious the late Queen was, he added: For her fathers [death] anniversary, the Queen would always mark it by being at Sandringham on the day and would actually go to church. It wouldnt surprise me if members of the Royal family decide to go to church. Britain Coronation King At Last (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Following the death of King George VI, Queen Elizabeth stayed at Sandringham every year from Christmas until after 6 February, which was the day he died. Charles usually stays at Balmoral for his summer break, and will likely do so until after the Queens anniversary. Harrold offered his thoughts on what Charles and Camilla will do to mark the day and said: As far as whether something is done in terms of a tribute, I dont think anything public will be done. Its more than likely going to be behind closed doors. I think its going to be a day for the family to be a family, to reflect and remember. The King wont be making any speeches on the day, they are a family that are private when it comes to these things. However, keep an eye out on their social media channels as this is likely to be where any tributes or memories are shared. Following the anniversary, Charles and Camilla are reportedly set to go on their postponed state visit to France. The royal couple were originally scheduled to go in March, but were forced to postpone it due to widespread protests in the country over retirement age reforms. According to reports, the King and Queen may also go to Kenya in the autumn, marking Charles first major trip to a Commonwealth country since he took the throne. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} China sent navy ships and a large group of fighter jets toward Taiwan, continuing its military pressure on the island, Taiwans defense ministry said Thursday. China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory and has regularly sent flights toward the island in reaction to the island's political activities. In the past year, it has also sent navy vessels as well as drones to circle the waters near the island. Taiwan's defense ministry said the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army sent 33 warplanes and 6 navy vessels between 6 a.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday. The J-10 and J-16 fighter jets flew across the midline and to the southwest of Taiwan. The ministry said in an earlier statement Wednesday that Taiwan's military tracked five of the ships as they sailed in coordination with the flights of the fighter jets. The ministry said it used land-based missile systems to track the aircraft, 10 of which crossed the midline of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary that had been considered a buffer between the island and mainland. In response to escalating Chinese military pressure, Taiwan has been buying weapons and fighter jets to shore up its defenses. In July, the U.S. announced a $345 million package of sale s to Taiwan that will include portable air defense systems, intelligence and surveillance capabilities, firearms and missiles. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A zoo in Bedfordshire which is using night-vision technology to monitor its Asian elephant herd has said the footage is vital to protecting the endangered species in the wild. Whipsnade Zoo, near Dunstable, has released night-vision footage of the herd, showing 11-month-old Nang Phaya crawling over her aunties Lucha, 41, and Karishma, 24, appearing to entice them to play while they attempt to sleep. Elephant keeper Stefan Groeneveld explained his team is using the cameras to monitor the multi-generational herd at night in order to provide 24-hour care and learn more about changes to the family dynamic since the birth of Nang Phaya last year. While the footage from the conservation zoo provides an insight into the herds nocturnal habits, it also helps scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) who are working with Asian elephants in the wild, Mr Groeneveld said. Sadly, elephants are one of the most persecuted species in the world, facing daily threats in the wild from poachers, conflict with the communities they live alongside, droughts, as well as habitat loss and degradation, Mr Groeneveld said. The conservation research also includes dung sampling to support faecal DNA testing, sound monitoring to aid understanding of communication, motion studies and thermal imaging. Of the night-vision footage, released ahead of World Elephant Day on Saturday, Mr Groeneveld said it shows Nang Phaya is not ready to grow up just yet. Thanks to advancements in camera technology were able to learn so much more about these incredible animals, he said. Last year our hidden cameras captured Donna giving birth to Nang Phaya, surrounded by the rest of the females in the herd, including her own mum Kaylee who provided reassurance and support. Now were using the cameras to learn more about the herds sleep patterns, social structure and interactions after the sun sets. From this latest footage we can see that its still always playtime for Nang Phaya, who is not ready to grow up just yet. He added that every piece of knowledge that is gained aids the team in providing the best care possible for the tight-knit herd. From watching hours of night footage over the last year weve learnt that 41-year-old aunty, Lucha, has become a second mum to little Phaya, who can often be found curled up next to her and 24-year-old Karishma. This shows us what a tight-knit herd we have at Whipsnade and how close Phayas relationship is with all of the females. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} More than 100,000 migrants appear to have crossed the Channel in the last five-and-a-half years since current records began, according to analysis by the PA news agency This is how events have unfolded since the start of the Channel migrant crisis: 2018 December 28: Home Secretary Sajid Javid breaks off his holiday and declares a major incident in the Channel following an upsurge in small boat crossings, with at least 221 migrants attempting the voyage since the start of November. December 31: Mr Javid bows to pressure from Tory MPs and announces two more Border Force cutters are to be stationed in the Channel, having previously warned they would act as a magnet for migrants. 2019 January 24: Mr Javid and his French counterpart, Christophe Castaner, announce a joint action plan aimed at halving the number of successful crossings over the summer and reducing it to an infrequent phenomenon by spring 2020. It includes more than 6 million for new security equipment such as CCTV and night goggles, increased beach patrols and intelligence sharing, and a commitment to conduct return operations as quickly as possible. August 9: A 31-year-old Iranian woman, Mitra Mehrad, becomes the first migrant known to have drowned while attempting the crossing after falling from a dinghy. August 23: Prime Minister Boris Johnson warns migrants we will send you back after almost 100 attempt the crossing in the space of 24 hours. December 31: 1,892 migrants are reported to have successfully crossed the Channel in the course of 2019, while 1,235 were intercepted by the French authorities. 2020 July 12: Home Secretary Priti Patel and French interior minister Gerald Darmanin announce a new joint intelligence cell to counter the people smuggling gangs as 180 migrants make the crossing the highest number to date on a single day. September 26: The Home Office announces plans to acquire two jet skis to try to stop the migrant boats after a new record 416 migrants make the crossing in one day. October 27: A family of five, including three young children, drown after their boat capsizes in the Channel. November 28: Ms Patel and Mr Darmanin announce a new joint operational plan with more French police patrols and the deployment of cutting-edge surveillance and detection technology. December 31: At least 8,417 people arrived in small boats in the course of 2020, quadruple the number of the previous year. 2021 March 24: Ms Patel says she will consider all options to offshore processing of asylum claims to third countries as she sets out plans to overhaul the immigration system. November 11: 1,185 migrants take advantage of the unseasonably mild weather to make the Channel crossing a new record for a single day. November 15: Ms Patel and Mr Darmanin issue a joint statement vowing to prevent 100% of crossings, making the Channel route unviable for migrants. November 24: 27 people, including a pregnant woman and three children, are drowned after their dinghy capsizes in the deadliest incident in the Channel since Mr Javid first declared a major emergency. Ms Patel is disinvited from a meeting of European interior ministers following a diplomatic row between Mr Johnson and President Emmanuel Macron over the response to the tragedy. December 31: The total number of arrivals for the year is 28,526. 2022 April 14: Mr Johnson announces plan to deport migrants arriving in small boats to Rwanda for their claims to be processed, saying it would act as a very considerable deterrent. June 15: The first deportation flight to Rwanda is cancelled just minutes before take-off following a ruling by a judge at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. August 23: The Ministry of Defence said 1,295 migrants made the crossing in 27 boats, another new record which remains the highest figure for a single day. August 25: Ms Patel announces an agreement with the Albanian government to curb the numbers of migrants from that country amid concerns they account for 60% of all those arriving in the UK. October 31: New Home Secretary Suella Braverman prompts uproar in the Commons when she describes the numbers of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the Channel as an invasion on our southern coast. November 14: Ms Braverman signs a new agreement with Mr Darmanin allowing British officers to join French beach patrols. November 23: Admitting the Government has failed to control our borders, Ms Braverman tells MPs they are determined to fix the problem, following criticism of overcrowding at the Manston processing centre in Kent. December 14: Four people die while 39 others are rescued after their dinghy capsized in the Channel. December 19: The High Court rules the Governments Rwanda policy is legal but orders the cases of the first eight deportees to be reconsidered. Campaigners later take the case to the Court of Appeal. December 31: 45,755 migrants made the Channel crossing over the course of the year, according to Government figures. 2023 January 4: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announces legislation to tackle the migrant crisis is one of five key priorities for his premiership. March 7: Ms Braverman tells MPs the Illegal Migration Bill will impose a legal duty to remove those arriving in the country illegally, barring them from claiming asylum in the UK. March 18: Visiting the country for the first time as Home Secretary, Ms Braverman doubles down on plans to send migrants to Rwanda despite the ongoing legal battle. March 29: The Government unveils plans to house asylum seekers on disused military bases, ferries and barges in a bid to cut spending on hotels. April 26: The Home Secretary says migrants crossing the Channel have values at odds with British norms and are linked to heightened levels of criminality comments which are condemned by Labour. May 25: Figures show the asylum backlog has hit a new record high with more than three quarters of claims made by people who crossed the Channel since 2018 still awaiting a decision. June 5: Mr Sunak insists his plan to stop Channel crossings is starting to work but plays down suggestions that fewer arrivals were a result of poor weather conditions at the time of year rather than policy decisions. June 18: The number of Channel crossings for the year so far tops 10,000. June 26: Estimates in a Home Office assessment reveal 169,000 could be spent on every asylum seeker forcibly removed to a third country such as Rwanda. June 29: The Home Secretary lashes out at phoney humanitarianism hindering efforts to stop Channel crossings as the Government loses the latest legal battle over its plans to send migrants to Rwanda after a Court of Appeal ruling. July 3: A new record is set for migrant crossings, with 3,824 arrivals in June the highest total for that month since records began in 2018. July 10: MPs learn the Home Office is paying for thousands of empty hotel beds reserved for migrants to avoid overcrowding at processing centres. Meanwhile, immigration minister Robert Jenrick is lambasted from his own backbenches in Parliament after defending the painting over of cartoon murals at a unit for lone child asylum seekers. July 12: The first asylum seekers arrive at former RAF airbase Wethersfield Airfield in Essex as it is brought into use as accommodation. Legal action is brought against the plans. July 13: The Government is given the go-ahead to take the legal battle over its Rwanda deportation policy to the Supreme Court. July 20: Despite condemnation from campaigners, sweeping asylum reforms under the Illegal Migration Bill become law after being given Royal Assent and being made an Act of Parliament. But it is unclear when the new rules will come into force. The number of migrants crossing the Channel tops 14,000 for the year so far. July 21: Officials insist the Bibby Stockholm barge, due to house migrants in Portland off the Dorset coast, is not a floating prison as they give reporters a tour of the facilities. July 27: Ms Braverman buys marquees to sleep 2,000 asylum seekers on disused military sites in a bid to avoid using hotels ahead of an expected surge in Channel crossings. July 28: It emerges plans to move 2,000 migrants into RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire which is subject to a legal challenge have been delayed until October. August 1: Figures show the average number of migrants crossing the Channel per boat in July (52) was the highest on record for any month since records began in 2018. August 2: The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) calls for an urgent meeting with the Home Secretary over safety concerns raised about the Bibby barge. August 5: Mr Sunak announces a plan for social media firms including Facebook, TikTok and Twitter to team up with the National Crime Agency to crack down on people smugglers posts encouraging asylum seekers to cross the Channel. August 7: The first group of asylum seekers finally boards the Bibby Stockholm after weeks of setbacks and delays. Meanwhile, official figures confirm more than 50,000 migrants are living in hotels. At the same time, the Government announces fines will rise for employers and landlords who give unauthorised migrants jobs or tenancies. August 8: Justice Secretary Alex Chalk defends the Governments announcement of a task force targeting corrupt immigration lawyers as critics brand it a red herring to distract from the asylum backlog. August 9: The Home Office announces that the UK and Turkey have struck a new deal to disrupt and dismantle people smuggling gangs in a bid to tackle the surge in illegal migration. August 10: Fresh arrivals of people on lifeboats on Thursday appeared to take the number of Channel crossings since 2018 past the 100,000 mark, analysis of Government figures by the PA news agency showed. Reports the same day suggested senior ministers were split over whether the UK should ditch its commitment to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which underpins the countrys duty to help migrants. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Two men have been jailed for their part in a daytime robbery and knife attack in central London in which members of the public suffered savage injuries. Tyrone Dean, 24, and Louis Parkinson, 26, wore masks when they tried to snatch mobile phones and flee on bicycles on October 6 but their plans were thwarted when passers-by stepped in and frustrated their attempts at a getaway. Among the injured were four people who tried to help and were punched in the face or slashed with a knife, which at first was carried by Dean who then passed it to Parkinson, Inner London Crown Court heard. The incident caused widespread concern and national media coverage. It was a truly shocking example of mindless violence and utter lawlessness Judge Benedict Kelleher Judge Benedict Kelleher told Dean and Parkinson: You acted with appalling violence. The incident caused widespread concern and national media coverage. It was a truly shocking example of mindless violence and utter lawlessness. Dean and Parkinson, who both have lengthy criminal records stretching back to when they were youths, were each sentenced to 12 years in prison. They will have to serve at least two-thirds of their jail sentences, and an extra five years on licence once released. When civic-minded members of the public sought to apprehend (Dean and Parkinson), the defendants caused them savage injuries with a knife in their frantic attempts to escape Prosecutor Sam Barker Both men offered their apologies for the stabbings. Prosecutor Sam Barker, who said the pair had embarked on a brazen spree of theft, added: When civic-minded members of the public sought to apprehend them, the defendants caused them savage injuries with a knife in their frantic attempts to escape. Paul Grange was robbed of his telephone in Fitzrovia shortly after 9am, while Nicholas Badger had his stolen on Bishopsgate around 45 minutes later. CCTV footage showed Dean and Parkinson cycled that morning from Fitzrovia to the Regent Street area, passing London landmarks and to streets that were busy with city workers and people going about their business not because they were sightseeing, but because they were looking for people to rob of valuable items, the prosecution said. The court heard that Mr Grange and Alison Sanders were each stabbed in the arm by Dean who also stabbed self-employed courier Vladimiros Konstantinidis twice in the the chest and once in the back, causing his lung to collapse. Another man Henry Charlton-Weedy needed 52 stitches and was also marked for life after being slashed in the face and left with a severe scar running from the top of his cheekbone to his mouth. Ms Sanders, along with William Allison and Mr Konstantinidis, made up a brave group who became involved in a melee during the second incident as they tried to catch the thieves. It was at the moment Parkinson appeared to be being overpowered, that Dean again produced the knife he had used on Mr Grange in the first incident, the court heard. I cannot believe that this has happened to me and so many lives have been changed over a mobile phone, including the suspects who have changed their futures Vladimiros Konstantinidis The prosecution said Dean could be seen in footage to be brandishing the knife in his hand when he came running towards the group who were fighting Parkinson. Mr Barker said: The group broke up as the fight became more ferocious, and Mr Dean swung the knife. Mr Allison was knocked to the ground by Mr Parkinson, and Mr Konsantinidis and Mr Parkinson began to grapple. Mr Dean then sought to return to his bicycle, pursued by Alison Sanders. As she single-handedly sought to stop him escaping, Ms Sanders was stabbed by Mr Dean in the arm. Mr Konstantinidis said he had been left in a worse place after the incident as he had had to spend some of his savings which had been earmarked for his wedding when he was forced to take six weeks off work due to his injuries. I will never be the same as I was before the incident and that is due to the defendants Alison Sanders In his victim impact statement, he said: I cannot believe that this has happened to me and so many lives have been changed over a mobile phone, including the suspects who have changed their futures. Mr Konstantinidis, who said he had had to deal with fear, stress and anxiety, added: This was a frenzied attack with no control or calculation which could have left me blind or worse dead. Ms Sanders needed surgery as the injury she suffered severed a tendon and her radial nerve. In her victim statement, Ms Sanders told the court that her recovery was expected to take two years and that she would only have 80% function in her right hand and that she may never play the piano again. Ms Sanders said: I will never be the same as I was before the incident and that is due to the defendants. She added: I used to play piano regularly in church. I enjoyed it and it meant a lot to me. Its hard to think I may never be able to play the piano in the way I used to. Dean, of Willow Walk, Haringey, north London, admitted robbery, possession of a knife, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, theft, two counts of wounding, attempting to wound, and possession of cannabis. Parkinson, of Catherall Street, Highbury, north London, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possession of a knife, attempting to wound, wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and possession of cannabis. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A retired miner who was freed from prison after killing his seriously ill wife is to have his verdict and sentence appealed against by the attorney general in Cyprus, his legal team have said. British expat David Hunter was released from custody on July 31 after a court sentenced him to two years in jail for the manslaughter of Janice, his spouse of 52 years. The 76-year-old was allowed to walk free within 15 minutes of being sentenced at Paphos District Court due to time already served and good behaviour. Mr Hunter spent 19 months in prison before being found guilty of manslaughter, but cleared of the more serious charge of premeditated murder. We will continue to fight for David before the Appeal Court of Cyprus as we have done throughout the lengthy mission to free David Michael Polack, Justice Abroad On Thursday his legal team said the Cypriot attorney general has now filed an appeal against Mr Hunters sentence and acquittal for murder. It means the pensioner, who had decided to stay in Cyprus to be near his wifes grave, faces a further legal fight. The couples daughter Lesley Cawthorne told the PA news agency she was devastated at the news. In a statement, Ms Cawthorne said the family would again urge compassion for my elderly and frail father. We continue to be so very grateful for all the support we have had, she added. Michael Polak, director of Justice Abroad, said he was very disappointed with the decision, which gets in the way of David getting on with his life. Mr Polak said: He has spent 19 months in prison and faced legal proceedings over that period that would be difficult for anyone, but especially for someone of his age. This is a very sad matter, however, it is difficult to see how the continued pursuit of David assists anyone. We will continue to fight for David before the Appeal Court of Cyprus as we have done throughout the lengthy mission to free David. Mr Hunter told his trial he suffocated Mrs Hunter after she begged him to as she was suffering from a rare form of blood cancer. A three-judge panel accepted the defence case that he had spontaneously acted out of love for his wife after she asked him to help end her life. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} For nearly two centuries, The Crooked House pub has delighted tourists and locals alike with its slanted walls and optical illusions, entertaining visitors as marbles and pennies rolled up its walls. It now lies in rubble and ruin following a devastating fire that tore through the property on Saturday evening. Two days later, its new owners brought in diggers to demolish the entirety of the charred remains of the historic pub, without permission from the local council. Staffordshire Police have now confirmed that they are treating the fire as arson and would be speaking to the owners in a joint investigation with the fire service and South Staffordshire district council. The Crooked House pub near Dudley was demolished on Monday (Matthew Cooper/PA) (PA Wire) Carly Taylor, 34, and her husband Adam had only purchased Britains wonkiest pub from Marstons Brewery nine days before the blaze for an alternative use. Have you been affected by this story? If so email holly.evans@independent.co.uk The businesswomans company, ATE Farms Ltd, had acquired the property shortly before locals submitted an application to Historic England for the 19th century public house to be given protected listed status. This would have ensured that any physical changes to the building would have required consent from the local council. Ms Taylors husband is a shareholder and former director of Himley Environmental Ltd, which runs a landfill site in the area next to the pub. Information available on Companies House shows that Mr Taylor was a previous director at ATE Farms, while his wife is registered as a person with significant control of the business, holding at least 75 per cent of the shares. Marstons Pubs confirmed to The Independent that they had sold the pub to ATE Farms Ltd, after the pub closed last month. A Facebook post on July 28 from their social media account said the pub was unlikely to open its doors again, despite thousands of locals signing a petition to keep its doors open. In 2020, the couples company purchased another pub, despite a campaign by villagers who wanted to preserve it. Documents show that in March 2021, Rugby Borough Council approved a request to have the Sarah Mansfield Country Inn, in the village of Willey, protected as an asset of community value which was later overturned following an appeal. The burnt out remains of The Crooked House pub before it was demolished (Jacob King/PA) (PA Wire) The couple have recently succeeded in another application, after Harborough District Council approved their plan to build 21 holiday homes at their farm in Lutterworth despite traffic concerns. The Independent has made attempts to contact the couple and their respective companies. Emergency services were alerted at 10pm on 5 August that a blaze had broken out inside The Crooked House, with 30 firefighters tackling the smoke and flames. Efforts were hampered however by mounds of mud and dirt in the roads, preventing easy access to the fire. The building was levelled on Monday shortly after investigating fire crews and police officers left the scene after the property was deemed unstable. Footage showed a digger tearing down the remaining walls and reducing the historic landmark to a large pile of rubble. A local mayor has called for the pub to be rebuilt brick by brick' (Jacob King/PA Wire) Roger Lees, leader of South Staffordshire Council, said that planning officers had visited the burnt-out pub on Monday but had not agreed to the demolition. The agreed course of action included the removal of three elements of the first-floor front elevation only, Lees said. This was only to avoid the weak parts of the structure from falling. At no point did the council agree the demolition of the whole structure nor was this deemed necessary. This council finds the manner in which the situation was managed following the fire completely unacceptable and contrary to instructions provided by our officers. West Midlands Mayor Andy Street called for the pub to be rebuilt brick by brick in a letter to the council, and stressed that major questions needed answering. South Staffordshire council described the demolition as completely unacceptable (David Davies/PA) (PA Wire) Staffordshire Police said in a statement: Our investigation into a fire at The Crooked House on Himley Road last Saturday, 5 August, continues as we try to understand the circumstances, which we are now treating as arson. Were conducting a joint investigation with colleagues at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service and are liaising closely with their fire investigators, who have confirmed that the cause of the fire cannot currently be determined. However, police are following up on a number of lines of enquiry. Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Chisholm added: We understand the signficance of this much-loved building and the upset and anger felt by many, so we want to reassure you were doing all we can to understand more about what happened, and who was responsible. The historic landmark was built in 1765 and had been a popular tourist attraction due to its slanting walls (Nick Maslen/Alamy/PA Wire) The Crooked House was originally built as a farmhouse in 1765 but one side gradually sank 4ft into the ground due to subsidence from mining works carried out in the 1800s. It was converted into a public house named The Siden House in 1830, siden being the Black Country dialect for crooked. It was renamed The Glynne Arms after the local landowner before coming to be known as The Crooked House in later years. The pub had first been threatened with closure during the 1940s, but was bought by Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries, who reinforced the walls with girders and buttresses. It had since become a popular tourist attraction as well as a wedding venue, with thousands of locals mourning its tragic loss and signing petitions to have it rebuilt to its former glory. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A dangerous driver jailed for killing a mother while showing off at speeds of up to 110mph in his Range Rover has seen his sentence increased by the Court of Appeal after it was found to be unduly lenient. Rida Kazem, 24, was driving beautician Yagmur Ozden, 33, and their friend Zamarod Arif, then aged 26, home from a night out in west London in the early hours of August 22 last year when he lost control. Ms Ozden died of her injuries while Kazem later had his left leg amputated below the knee after the pair were thrown from the vehicle as it ploughed through a Tesla car park, ending up on a west London railway track. Ms Arif, who was the only one wearing a seatbelt, sustained serious injuries including a broken arm and leg in the crash, which happened near Ealing. In May, Judge Martin Edmunds KC jailed Kazem, from Greenford, west London, for seven-and-a-half years after he previously pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving. But at a hearing in London on Thursday, senior judges increased Kazems sentence to nine years after it was challenged by the Attorney Generals Office (AGO) as being unduly lenient. During his sentencing at Isleworth Crown Court, west London, CCTV footage of the incident was played, drawing gasps and sobs from members of Ms Ozdens family. Kazems black Range Rover Sport SVR, valued at up to 180,000, hit a top speed of 110mph on the 40mph-limit A40 westbound before he lost control, hitting a curb. Footage showed the airborne vehicle crash across a pavement, through a fence and into a lower-level car park. Spinning nose-over-rear, the Range Rover hit a stationary Tesla, occupied by a taxi driver, who was charging the car, before the wreckage ended up on the tracks at Park Royal Tube station. At Thursdays hearing, Joel Smith, for the AGO, said the sentencing judges approach to calculating Kazems jail term was inadequate. The barrister also said that the significant injuries caused to Ms Arif and the taxi driver which included 25 fragments of glass needing to be removed from his eyes justified a further significant increase in Kazems sentence. Judges were told that Kazem had previous speeding convictions, including a May 2020 offence of driving at 95mph in a 50mph zone and another of breaking the speed limit for which he was banned from driving for six months in November 2020. Mr Smith said Kazem had not learned from his previous convictions while highlighting aggravating features of his case, including the impact on victims such as Ms Ozdens 13-year-old daughter Melek. The teenager previously described her shock over the fatal crash in a victim impact statement, and said after the May hearing that she was not really happy with his sentence. In written arguments, the AGO said Kazem, who joined Thursdays hearing via video-link, had exposed other road users and members of the public to a very significant risk of death or serious harm. It is submitted that the sentence imposed was unduly lenient and failed to take proper account of the nature of the offences of which the offender has been convicted, and the aggravating features, the AGO document said. David Rhodes, for Kazem, said: The sentence, while lenient, was not unduly lenient. It was lenient but justly so. He said the offender had a daily reminder of his crime, adding that the days are longer in prison than for an able-bodied person. Mr Rhodes said Kazem could not engage in education or work in prison nor get the physiotherapy he needed for his injuries which will require further surgery. The lawyer said the sentencing judge made a reasonable, humane and merciful decision. Lady Justice Thirlwall, sitting with Mr Justice Wall and Mrs Justice Ellenbogen, concluded Kazems jail term was unduly lenient after an error in the assessment of the sentencing judge. She said it was likely to be correct that Kazem had been showing off to his friends during the incident. Kazem will serve at least two-thirds of the sentence and was banned from driving for 14 years. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A notorious British fraudster who was jailed in the UK after conning an ex-girlfriend out of 300,000 has been released from a Spanish prison, a court has heard. Mark Acklom was extradited to Spain two years ago after being freed from a near six-year sentence imposed in England in 2019. But a UK court has now been told that the 50-year-old has been released from jail in Spain after serving a further two years imprisonment. No details were revealed of his current whereabouts, although he does have a wife and two children living in Spain. The serial conman had fled Spain in 2016, midway through a three-year fraud sentence, after being given temporary release while he applied for parole. He was already wanted by Avon and Somerset Police for scamming his then-girlfriend, Carolyn Woods, out of her life savings in a romance fraud which began in 2012. The fugitive was later tracked down to Switzerland and extradited back to Britain in 2019, where he was jailed for five years and eight months. Since then, prosecutors have been using the Proceeds of Crime Act (Poca) to try to recover the money stolen from Ms Woods. Over the last four years there have been a series of hearings at Bristol Crown Court under Poca legislation to establish Ackloms criminal benefit and available assets. A four-day hearing to determine his liability was due to be held in November but that date has now been vacated due to the unavailability of the judge and will instead be held next year. The court heard that lawyers representing Acklom have lodged new applications with the court alleging an abuse of process, which will take time for the Crown to respond to. John Hardy KC, prosecuting, told the court he is content for the full hearing to be postponed until 2024. I understand Mr Acklom has been released from his Spanish incarceration and, reading between the lines, we do not anticipate that Mr Acklom will seek to attend the hearing in person but may try to attend remotely, he said. Judge Martin Picton fixed an administrative hearing for November 10 and said a four-day hearing will begin on April 16 2024. During his relationship with Ms Woods, Acklom posed as a Swiss banker and MI6 agent to destroy her life. He claimed he was friends with celebrities including Nicky Clarke and Chris Evans, had spoken to Hillary Clinton and knew fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, and was involved with secret MI6 missions. In 1991, Acklom, then aged 16, was given a four-year custodial sentence for a 466,000 mortgage fraud after posing as a City stockbroker. He also spent 11,000 after stealing his fathers credit card, swindled a former teacher out of 13,000, and ran up a 34,000 bill with a private charter jet company. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A US military serviceman has denied multiple counts of rape at an RAF base and will face trial next year. American airman Keiran Lee Bogstad pleaded not guilty to raping a UK citizen three times between November 2020 and February 2021 at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire. At a hearing at Northampton Crown Court, Bogstad, 22, was told he will face trial at the same court on 30 September 2024. Adjourning proceedings, Judge Adrienne Lucking KC said: Im going to release you on bail on the same terms as before. You must attend court on every occasion you are required to do so. If you fail to attend on any of those occasions there will be a warrant issued for your arrest. If you fail to attend on the day of your trial the prosecution will apply to go ahead with the trial in your absence. Bogstad, wearing a polo shirt and chinos, spoke only to confirm his identity and enter his pleas and replied, Yes maam, when the judge asked if he understood what she had said. He was given bail with conditions not to leave the country or contact the complainant, with a previous court hearing having heard that the defendant had already surrendered his passport. His role in the United States Air Force (USAF) was not disclosed in court. Bogstad was represented by James Bloomer, with Peter Ratliff prosecuting. The trial is expected to last six days. Northamptonshire Police previously said it had led the investigation with the full cooperation of the United States Air Force. RAF Croughton, which is currently used by the USAF, was put in the spotlight in 2019 after teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn was killed by American citizen Anne Sacoolas as she drove on the wrong side of the road after leaving the base. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Londons famous Brick Lane became a battleground for supporters and opponents of Chinas Communist Party, as artists engaged in a graffiti war with slogans and signs countering each other. It began after a group of artists spray-painted the big red Chinese characters that outline the 12 core socialist values on a nearly 100m long wall on East London Street on Saturday. The Chinese government slogan under the leadership of Xi Jinping is at the heart of CCP propaganda and these values include, prosperity, patriotism and harmony, democracy, equality, freedom and the rule of law. The graffiti on the Brick Lane swiftly went viral on social media, sparking criticism and concerns with another section of artists covering it with anti-Beijing slogans. The CCP slogan was overlaid with social concerns linked to Chinese rule with graffiti reading Free Taiwan, Free Tibet, Free Uyghur and references to the Tiananmen Square massacre references. But on Monday, residents woke up to the wall being completely whitewashed by the Tower Hamlets council. While confrontational art was removed from both sides, the residents were upset that they lost some more meaningful older slogans. A woman sticks a Tibetan independence poster on an area of wall that had been graffitied with Chinese Communist Party ideology (Getty Images) It included a piece of graffiti work that was a tribute to the late street artist Marty. Wang Hanzheng, one of the students who created the graffiti, wrote on Instagram that the piece "didnt have much political meaning". "In the name of freedom and democracy, it illustrates the cultural centre of the West, this is Londons freedom Decolonize the false freedom of the West with the construction of socialism, lets see what happens," the post read. "Needless to say whats the situation on the other side," he added. Benedict Rogers, head of the rights group Hong Kong Watch, was critical of the graffiti on Brick Lane. I utterly condemn the #CCP thugs who defaced Londons Brick Lane with their regimes vile hate-filled propaganda, he said. The Brick Lane area known for its diverse and vibrant atmosphere has colourful and intricate murals painted on the lanes and buildings, making it a popular destination for street art enthusiasts. But the slogans on Brick Lane have ignited online debates regarding their classification as street art and the intricate interplay between freedom of expression and political propaganda. Moreover, the wall has transformed into a stage for conflicting narratives, with individuals promptly incorporating fresh graffiti to voice criticisms against the Chinese government. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Dissident republicans are claiming to be in possession of leaked information about Northern Ireland police officers circulating on WhatsApp after a data blunder. Hundreds of police officers have voiced fears for their safety following the data breach that affected 10,000 officers and staff. Simon Byrne, head of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), apologised on Thursday over the industrial-scale breach of data. The breach happened when the PSNI responded to a Freedom of Information request seeking the number of officers and staff at all ranks and grades in the organisation. In a published response, a table was embedded containing ranks and grade data of all the forces employees. It also included the surnames, initials, locations and departments for all PSNI staff, many of whom keep their jobs secret even from friends and family for their own security. The leaked data was potentially viewable by the public for up to three hours and prompted fears that officers could be forced to move homes and leave their jobs. The Police Federation for Northern Ireland (PFNI) says its members are appalled at the blunder. Were taking steps to reassess whether we need to redeploy some specialist officers away from their usual place of work Simon Byrne Assistant chief constable Chris Todd apologised earlier this week to officers for the unacceptable breach. It emerged on Wednesday that PSNI was also investigating a second data breach, with a police-issue laptop, radio and spreadsheet containing the names of more than 200 officers and staff, believed to have been stolen from a Newtownabbey car on 6 July. Mr Byrne told the media on Thursday: I am deeply sorry about what has happened when we have seen an industrial-scale breach of data that has gone into the public domain. We quickly established a critical incident command structure ... so that we can work flat out to get answers to the questions that are on everybodys lips, both within the organisations and beyond that. An early worst-case scenario that we have been dealing with is that third parties would attempt to get this data to intimidate, corrupt or indeed cause harm to our officers and staff. A police vehicle is attacked with petrol bombs during an illegal dissident march in Londonderry in April (Getty Images) We are now aware that dissident republicans claim to be in possession of some of this information circulating on WhatsApp, and as we speak we are advising officers and staff about how to deal with that and any further risk that they face. Ian Acheson, senior adviser at the Counter Extremism Project, had previously told The Independent that even if bad actors had not gained access to the information, they would use the possibility that they had seen it to capitalise on its psychological, manipulation and propaganda value. Mr Byrne said he would not be stepping down, explaining that the priority was remaining alert to the safety and welfare of officers and staff. He said no police officers had been moved from their home. One of the things weve done under the leadership is establish a group to look at real-time concerns about threat and risk, Mr Byrne said. Weve had over 500 referrals to that service, which is real-time triaging the level of risk that we perceive officers to be facing and then were offering them that advice. Were taking steps this afternoon to reassess in some cases, which I wont go into for operational reasons, whether we need to redeploy some specialist officers away from the usual place of work to a new location. The laptop and documents stolen in Newtownabbey had not been recovered, he confirmed. The devices could be wiped remotely, and laptops are protected by a password. So were quite confident that any information on those devices will not be accessible by a third party, Mr Byrne said. In February, senior detective John Caldwell was seriously injured when he was shot in Co Tyrone. Earlier this year, Mr Byrne said he received briefings almost every day about plots to attack and kill his officers, adding that the threat from dissident republicans remained a real worry. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Police have arrested nine people and issued 34 dispersal orders after an incident on Londons Oxford Street, following social media rumours of planned disorder. Two people were held in Essex for conspiracy to commit robbery following online social media posts, while others were arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer and going equipped to steal. In one incident, two young men were led away from near to a McDonalds fast food restaurant in handcuffs, close to a shop rumoured to be the target of the disturbance. Nearby shops including an optician and pharmacy closed their shutters briefly shortly after 3pm on Wednesday, as crowds gathered on the busy street. The men, one wearing a green hoodie and the other a grey tracksuit, were apprehended by police before being handcuffed. Traffic on the packed street was temporarily brought to a halt, until four mounted police alongside security personnel were able to disperse onlookers. There was a heavy police and security presence on the popular shopping street in the build-up to the disturbance, after rumours of a planned disorder were circulated on social media. City of Westminster Police said: Throughout Wednesday, officers maintained a high-visibility presence within the Oxford Street area. It added: Four people were arrested on suspicion of breaching the dispersal order, one person was arrested on suspicion of going equipped to steal, one person arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer and one person was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence. Earlier in the afternoon, officers arrested two people in Essex for conspiracy to commit robbery following online social media posts. Dispersal orders provide the police with extra powers to break up groups of two or more people, where they believe their behaviour is causing a nuisance, harassment or distress. Oxford Street is Europes busiest shopping street, with about half a million daily visitors. As many as eight members of Rishi Sunaks government are reportedly prepared to press him into a manifesto commitment to leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The determination of some will be greater if British courts block the deportation of refugees to Rwanda, which has already been long delayed, to the acute embarrassment of ministers. Some have already hinted at as much. Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, says that well do whatever is necessary ultimately to defend our borders and to bring order to our asylum system. Others hint at much the same off the record, while the home secretary, Suella Braverman, has expressed a personal view that the UK should leave the convention. What is the point of leaving the ECHR? Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Lee Anderson has doubled down on his incendiary claim that small boat arrivals should f*** off back to France by saying he had stayed in far worse places than the Bibby Stockholm barge. The deputy Tory chair said he had had a lovely time in downmarket hotels in Skegness and other seaside resorts, so asylum seekers forced onto the vessel should not complain. I have stopped in worse accommodation in Skegness, in Blackpool, in Scarborough, in Whitby and all around the country, he told GB News. And did I moan? No, I went for a nice weekend, had a lovely time and didnt complain to anybody. Mr Anderson refused to apologise for his f*** off remarks which have sparked outrage from the opposition and unease from Tory moderates insisting on Thursday that unhappy asylum seekers should go back where they came from. The initial row was sparked after 20 of those set to be housed by the Home Office in the highly controversial barge in Dorset were granted a last-minute reprieve after legal challenges. The first group of asylum seekers who have been placed on board have since spoken out about the prison-like conditions, with one person describing it as like Alcatraz. Anyone that is complaining about the standard of luxury accommodation, I stand by my words they should go back to where they came from, Mr Anderson said on Thursday. The deputy chair said he was very angry about the latest figures showed that the number of arrivals on small boats has topped 100,000 since 2018. Im very angry about the number. Very angry every single day when I see these illegal migrants, said Mr Anderson, who criticised the government this week for having failed to stop migrants making the crossings. The deputy chair also admitted that he sometimes thought we should ignore the courts a reference to the ruling against the bid to send people on a one-way flight to Rwanda before checking himself and conceding that obeying the law was the British way. Lee Anderson has admitted Sunak government has failed to stop crossings (PA/AP) The SNPs home affairs spokesperson Alison Thewliss said Mr Andersons latest comments add to the list of despicable things that he has said. Such a sweeping statement oversimplifies a complex and humanitarian issue, she said. One former Tory minister told The Independent that Mr Andersons comments make the party look chaotic and unsophisticated which puts Rishi in a slight mess. Another ex-minister referred to Mr Anderson as a fascist who does not represent the same party as me. Nigel Farage told The Independent: Lee is reflecting what millions and millions feel its just unusual from a deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. The former Brexit Party leader said Mr Sunak will be happy with the row because its a Tory party tactic to say, If we speak like an awful lot of people think, theyll think were on their side, Mr Farage added. But the fact is they are delivering nothing, absolutely nothing. It comes as Tories on the right push for Mr Sunak to commit to leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to reduce the chances of being thwarted by the Strasbourg court that judges human rights cases. Eight cabinet ministers are among the senior Tories prepared to put leaving the ECHR at the heart of the next manifesto if deportation flights are blocked by the courts, according to The Daily Telegraph. But senior Tory David Davis said: Calls to leave the ECHR are from those who clearly do not understand the basis of the problem. The former minister said the primary problem is an operational one inside the Home Office Suella Bravermans department, which is responsible for clearing the asylum backlog. Pulling out of the ECHR would put the UK at odds with most European nations, and could also cause complications in relation to the operation of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland and the post-Brexit trade deal with the EU. Asked if he thought the Tories were serious about quitting the ECHR, Mr Farage said: Very few MPs think we should leave the ECHR. They might get desperate enough to put it in the manifesto but they wont mean it. I dont believe for a moment theyd do it. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Energy secretary Grant Shapps has warned senior Conservatives pushing for Rishi Sunak to ditch green policies that the governments net zero pledge remains vital. The cabinet minister said that the global climate crisis poses a threat to Britains security and energy supply, as he fired back at Tory MPs calling for No 10 to scrap measures deemed too costly. We cant have global security without net zero, Mr Shapps told Politico. Theres no global security if millions of people are having to uproot because of weather patterns. He also unveiled plans for the UK to host a global energy security summit next year, and hinted that China could be invited, saying he wanted the conference to be inclusive. Oil giants like Qatar and Saudi Arabia should be in the room at what he said would be a real-world, gritty energy-security conference where we are talking about the realities of the world that we live in. But he faced an immediate backlash from Tory MPs on both issues. Ex-business secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg told The Independent that Mr Shapps was fundamentally wrong, and insisted that the UK is a major contributor to global security through our economic strength. The rush to net zero at the expense of the economy is a threat to global security, Mr Rees-Mogg said. On China, he added: I think to take the view that China enhances our security in any way is eccentric. Mr Sunak has appeared to shift his tone on green policies after his party unexpectedly clung on to its Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat by seizing on the backlash against the London mayors proposal to expand the Ulez scheme, which levies a fee on some motorists in an effort to combat air pollution. Rishi Sunak is under pressure on climate change (PA Wire) The PM who vowed to be on the side of motorists and said banning things was not the right approach also gave the green light to 100 new licences for oil and gas exploration and production in the North Sea, despite opposition from environmentalists and green Tories. Some Tory backbenchers have urged Mr Sunak to go further and renounce plans to ban new oil boilers by 2026 and new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030. But Mr Shapps has sent a strong signal that he believes in the push away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy, arguing it is a vital part of the promise to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The energy secretary said that part of the answer to energy supply problems can be found in the need to diversify from fossil fuels. He added: Greater diversity could actually give us much greater security. He said: Imagine if the UK hadnt moved from less than 7 per cent renewables to as we see in the first quarter of 2023 47 per cent renewables. Imagine that hadnt happened and we went into the energy shock. What would the impact have been? Rishi Sunak with Grant Shapps (via Reuters) Mr Shapps announced plans for Britain to host an international summit on energy security next year, pencilling it in for spring 2024 to coincide with the second anniversary of Russias Ukraine invasion. Referring to the need to move away from fossil fuel dependence, he said: [The energy security summit] will be about getting to net zero, ultimately. From an energy security point of view, its important that we do both. Defending the new licences, he added: Were not going to do it while screwing our population. Were going to do it while taking our population with us. That means accessing our own oil and gas rather than importing [it from] others. Mr Sunak is under pressure from two warring Tory camps: the Conservative Environment Network, whose members are pushing for stronger action on climate change, and the Net Zero Scrutiny Group, which is lobbying for environmental policies to be watered down. Net zero sceptics want the PM to build on the success of the anti-Ulez by-election result in Uxbridge by scrapping Boris Johnsons policy to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles from 2030. Sunak is accused of being uninterested in fulfilling Boris Johnsons climate policies (Getty/AP) He also faces a rebellion on the de facto ban on oil boilers from 2026, which mostly affects those living in off-grid homes in the countryside. Former environment secretary George Eustice described the policy as Ulez for rural communities. Former home secretary Priti Patel said the government should pause all its climate targets, while Sir Jacob said the country cannot afford net zero as currently planned. Mr Sunak has angered green Tories in recent weeks, after he signalled his sympathy with those worried about the cost of climate policies by saying he doesnt want to hassle families in the quest to achieve net zero. Former energy minister Chris Skidmore, who led the governments net zero review, said the decision to grant 100 new fossil fuel licences was the wrong decision at the wrong time and warned the PM that he risked being on the wrong side of history. And Tory peer Zac Goldsmith told the BBC this week that he was very tempted to back Labour at the next general election because of the governments failure to push on with its net zero commitments. Recommended Tory MP George Eustice compares new oil boiler ban to Ulez for rural communities A staunch Johnson ally, Lord Goldsmith recently quit Mr Sunaks government in a blaze of acrimony as he accused the PM of being uninterested in the climate emergency. Rob Ford, professor of politics at Manchester University, told Politico that U-turning on net zero policies would cost more votes than it will gain because the only people who will pay attention to it are the people who dont like it. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Police have been carrying out further searches in Gibraltar into the disappearance of a Royal Navy sailor more than 36 years ago. Simon Parkes, from Bristol, was last seen in December 1986 when the ship he was serving on, HMS Illustrious, was docked in the territory. His disappearance has previously been part of investigations by Hampshire police into serial killer Allan Grimson, a former petty officer, who was jailed for life for the murder of two young men and who was serving on board the aircraft carrier at the same time as the 18-year-old. The searches by officers from Hampshire police at the Town Range car park follow previous visits by detectives including digs at the cemetery in the British Overseas Territory. A forces spokesman said: Officers investigating the disappearance of a young sailor more than 30 years ago have carried out a small amount of excavation work at Town Range car park in Gibraltar this week as we followed a potential further line of inquiry. Nine officers from Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary, including detectives and specially trained search officers, carried out the work in Gibraltar from Monday August 7 to Thursday August 10 as we continue to investigate what happened to Simon Parkes. This investigation continues to be a collaborative operation between Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary and Royal Gibraltar Police with support from the Gibraltar Defence Police and the Royal Navy. Royal Navy Rating Parkes, from Bristol, was last seen in December 1986, when the ship he was serving on, HMS Illustrious, was docked in Gibraltar. The 18-year-old radio operator went on to shore but never made it back on board, and when the ship returned to Portsmouth days later, no-one knew what had happened to him despite a huge manhunt to find him. Since then, investigations into his disappearance have so far failed to find answers for his devastated parents. Detective Chief Inspector Adam Edwards, who is overseeing the investigation, said: Based on new information specialist officers have spent four days in Gibraltar following a potential new line of inquiry. We have excavated a small area at Town Range car park, around and inside of some water tanks, and have assessed the material removed. Disappointingly we have not identified anything that helps to move the investigation into Simons disappearance forward. There is no intention to expand our search area or move to other locations at this time. However it is important to stress that our investigation does remain ongoing. Id like to thank our colleagues at Royal Gibraltar Police for their assistance with this latest operation and the public in Gibraltar for their patience during this activity. We have kept Mr and Mrs Parkes informed of our progress and Id like to thank them again for their support. We know this remains a difficult time for them and we hope our ongoing work will bring them the answers they so desperately want. Following the operational activity our officers visited the memorial site for Simon and laid some flowers to show our support to his family. Grimson was jailed in 2001 at Winchester Crown Court for the murders of naval rating Nicholas Wright, 18, from Leicestershire, and barman Sion Jenkins from Newbury, Berkshire. He has always denied being involved in the disappearance of Mr Parkes. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} US President Joe Biden will deliver a speech in Utah on the delivery of federal benefits to veterans exposed to toxic substances during their military service. President Biden is visiting a Utah veterans medical center to mark the one-year anniversary of the signing of legislation providing aid to veterans sickened by gases from military toxic burn pits. Biden is at the end of a three-state swing through the American West to invigorate his re-election bid by touting the economy, new infrastructure projects and legislative accomplishments to Americans, many of whom are unhappy about the direction of the country. Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The father of a missing Wisconsin 13-year-old said he believes his son was possibly coerced to leave his family home by another individual. James Yoblonski, 13, reportedly took his family's van and left his home in Reedsburg on 12 June, according to Sauk County deputies. The teen may have also taken his father's handgun with him. "It's not like him to do anything like this," William Yoblonski, the boy's father, told Fox News Digital. "I mean, he's never driven my vehicle on the streets or anything. He's moved my van around my shop a couple times. That was it." Security footage caught the teen leaving his home around midnight and walking across the street to where the family's van was parked, and sat inside for an hour before leaving, his father explained. Police eventually found the van by tracking his father's cellphone which the teen also took at the western edge of Devil's Lake State Park later that day. They found a makeshift campsite at the park they believed the boy built. Later probes into the teen's search history found he had looked up information about teens crossing state lines and boarding airplanes. Mr Yoblonski doubts that his son spent an evening at the makeshift campsite because police dogs did not pick up his scent in the area. He believes he left the area with another individual. "I think he left with somebody. I think he sat there and waited for a horn to honk and came out and got in the car with somebody," the father said. He theorises that his son met someone online or in person who may have coerced or influenced his son to leave home. James reportedly posted a video to Snapchat from his father's home shortly before his disappearance. "'I'm sorry. I don't think I'll be back for school. I don't want to hurt anybody, but I might,'" Mr Yoblonski said, paraphrasing his son's comments in the video. James Yoblonski, 13, disappeared on 12 June after he reportedly left to live off the grid, police said (Sauk County Sheriffs Office) He believes someone else was holding the phone and recording his son in the video. Though Mr Williams has not been named as an official suspect in his son's disappearance, he knows that some members of the public are likely eyeing him as a possible culprit. He recently took and passed a polygraph test administered by the Sauk County sheriff's office, which he said he hoped would return the focus of the case to his missing son. Mr Williams has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to his son. "I just want my son back. That's why I put up a $10,000 reward. If I could afford to go more than that but I just don't have that kind of money. Like I said, I'm a single father," he said. Mr Williams has expressed some frustration with the lack of answers coming from the sheriff's office. Since then, the FBI has joined the search for the missing teen. Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A suspect accused of kidnapping a sex worker and imprisoning her in a cinderblock cell was awarded $2500 after appearing on a 2018 episode of Judge Judy. Married father-of-two Negasi Zuberi, 29, allegedly abducted a woman from Seattle while impersonating a police officer, drove 450 miles to his home in Klamath Falls and held her hostage in a purposely-built cell in his garage. Mr Zuberi was arrested after the terrified woman punched her way out of the cell and raised the alarm, and she has since been credited with saving lives. The FBI has linked Mr Zuberi to attacks on sex workers in four states and is appealing for information to identify other possible victims. Mr Zuberi, who authorities say uses several aliases including Sakima, Justin Hyche and Justin Kouassi, appeared in a September 2018 episode of Judge Judy where he sued Alicia Westfall, the mother of his two children, after a domestic dispute. In the episode, titled Baby in Danger, Mr Zuberi accused his then-girlfriend of throwing a glass bottle at him while he was holding their baby and pouring bleach on his clothes. Judge Judy, a reality TV star and former family court judge whose real name is Judy Sheindlin, ruled in his favour and ordered Ms Westfall to pay him $2500. Ms Westfall later obtained a temporary restraining order after he allegedly beat her and threatened to kill her and their children, according to court documents obtained by the New York Post. Kidnapping suspect Negasi Zuberi, 29, appeared on a 2018 episode of Judge Judy where he sued the mother of his children after a domestic dispute (Judge Judy / screen grab) The couple was living in Antioch, California, at the time of the alleged assaults in July 2020, and both of the children were under the age of five, The Post reported. Court documents allege that Mr Zuberi drove from his home in Klamath Falls to Seattle on 14 July and approached the woman posing as an undercover police officer. The woman told authorities that he told her she was under arrest, and pointed a taser at her, before placing her in handcuffs and leg irons and shoving her in the back of his car. He allegedly sexually assaulted her several times on the 450-mile drive back to Klamath Falls, before locking her in the cinderblock cell. A cinderblock cell found in the garage of Negasi Zuberi (FBI) After the woman escaped, Mr Zuberi fled the home and was arrested the next day after a stand-off with Nevada state police troopers in Reno. Inside the suspects home, police found a diagram of a planned 100-foot hole, and a note reading: You dont want any type of investigation. Stephanie Shark, an FBI special agent in charge of the Portland Field Office, praised the womans bravery in a statement. Her quick thinking and will to survive may have saved other women from a similar nightmare. Negasi Zuberi has been linked to attacks on sex workers in four states (FBI) The victims focus, actions and her will to survive triggered a law enforcement response that may have actually saved many other women from a similar nightmare, Ms Shark said. According to neighbours, Ms Zuberis wife had no clue about the makeshift cell in their garage. Mr Zuberi lived in California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Alabama, and Nevada between August 2016 and July 2023, according to authorities. Klamath Falls police said Mr Zuberi is believed to have several different methods to gain control of his victims including drugging their drinks, pretending to be a police officer, and soliciting the services of sex workers and then violently sexually assaulting them. He has been charged with interstate kidnapping and transporting an individual across state lines with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Anyone with information about Mr Zuberi is urged to visit fbi.gov/SakimaVictims or call 1-800-CALL-FBI to provide tips. The FBI Portland Field Office can be reached at (503) 224-4181. Close Woman's body found off of popular trail believed to be missing Maryland woman Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} More than a week after mother-of-five Rachel Morin was found dead on a popular trail in Maryland, authorities have yet to make any arrests in the investigation into her death. Morin, 37, was last seen heading to the Ma & Pa Trail at around 6pm on 5 August. Her boyfriend reported her missing that night after she failed to return home and her body was found the following day. On Thursday, Harford County Sheriffs Office said investigators had been made aware of potential witnesses who may have seen Morin on the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air on Saturday. The witnesses either three men, two women and two dogs or two men, three women and two dogs were urged to come forward. Officials said that these individuals had been identified and were contacted by investigators. A spokesperson for the sheriffs office told The Independent on Tuesday that the department had increased patrol on the Ma & Pa Trail area to reassure the community in the aftermath of Morins tragic death, but noted that there is no perceived threat at this time. Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A sheriff in Maryland has vowed that the heinous coward who authorities believe killed mother-of-five Rachel Morin will be brought to justice - though investigators still have yet to identify a suspect. Harford County Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler did not share many details in the Wednesday update over concern of jeopardising the ongoing probe, but said there was one thing he was sure of, and that this was an intentional taking of a persons life. Morin, 37, was last seen heading to the Ma & Pa Trail in Bel Air at around 6pm on Saturday, according to the Harford County Sheriffs Office. After she failed to return home that night, her boyfriend Richard Tobin reported her missing. Morins body was later found near the trail on Sunday afternoon, and her death was labeled a homicide. Together we will solve this crime and find the heinous coward who took Rachel Morin from her family and friends, Mr Gahler said on Wednesday. He added that a team of detectives have been working around the clock to piece together a timeline of the case and that some of the more than 100 tips that have been submitted by the public have been promising. Rachel Morin was last seen alive heading off on the Ma and Pa Trail (Harford County Sheriffs Office) Some of your tips have been promising and tremendous in advancing the investigation and bringing us closer to getting the answers that we need, the answers that Rachels family needs, and the answers that our community needs, the sheriff added, urging the public to continue their efforts. Mr Gahler asked that people continue to send in all tips, even if they seem minuscule. Even if its something that you might think is insignificant, that might be the key piece of evidence or information we are looking for. The sheriff also addressed questions about whether Morins boyfriend Richard Tobin had been interviewed. Richard Tobin has denied involvement in his girlfriend Rachel Morins death as homicide probe launched after womans body found (Facebook / Rachel Morin) The answer is yes, we have, the sheriff said, Along with many other people who are close to Rachel. That is the way an investigation is conducted, he added. Mr Tobin released a statement on Facebook earlier this week saying he had nothing to do with Morins death. Investigators in the Harford County Sheriffs Office do not have an official suspect yet in the case. We do not have a solid suspect. Not knowing whether this was a targeted event specific to Rachel, we are going to say, yes, be aware, be thinking there could be somebody out here and this is a random event, Mr Gahler said. Mr Gahler urged the public to be vigilant when walking along the Ma & Pa Trail and said there will be increased patrols along the trail. Sign up to our free US news bulletin sent straight to your inbox each weekday morning Sign up to our free morning US email news bulletin Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the US Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Newly-released bodycam footage has shown the moment a Las Vegas SWAT team raided a home in connection with the unsolved murder of Tupac Shakur. ABC News obtained 13 hours of footage from the 17 July nighttime raid on the home of Duane Keith Davis, 60, who has said he witnessed Shakurs killing in a 1996 drive-by shooting near the Las Vegas Strip. The video shows several armoured vehicles move into Henderson, a suburb 15 miles (24kms) southwest of Las Vegas. As armed Las Vegas Metropolitan police department officers surround the property, an officer calls over a loud hailer that they have a search warrant and for the occupants to come out with your hands up and your hands empty. Mr Davis, also known as Keffe D or Keefy D, and a second person are then seen walking backwards out of the houses garage. Much of the footage is redacted to avoid showing the officers entering a private property, according to ABC News. Mr Davis can be seen chatting to officers outside of the home. Police seized four laptops, four tablets, phones, two black tubs with photographs, according to a search warrant. Bodycam footage shows Duane Keith Davis emerge from his home in Henderson as a SWAT team executes a search warrant on 17 July (ABC News) Officers also removed a copy of Mr Daviss autobiography Compton Street Legends a copy of Vibe magazine featuring an article about Tupac. The officers also retrieved ammunition that was tested against shell casings found at the scene of Tupacs murder, according to ABC News. These did not produce a match, the network stated. Police have long suspected Mr Daviss nephew Orlando Anderson of killing Tupac on 7 September 1996. Las Vegas police raided a home in connection with the unsolved murder of Tupac Shakur in 1996 (AP) Tupac and rap impresario Suge Knight had been driving in a BMW near the Strip when they were ambushed at a red light. Tupac was shot four times as he sat in the passenger seat and died in hospital six days later at the age of 25. No arrests have been made in the investigation. Anderson denied any involvement in the high-profile slaying before he was gunned down in an unrelated gang hit in Los Angeles in 1988. Security footage from the MGM Grand Hotel showed Tupac attack the former Los Angeles Crip gang member in the hotel lobby earlier that night as part of an ongoing feud between rival gangs. Keefe D, a former member of the Southside Compton Crips gang, has previously claimed in a Netflix documentary and his 2019 memoir to have been present when Tupac was murdered and that Anderson was the shooter. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The United States has reached a $6bn agreement with Iran for five American detainees to be released from prison, reports say. The Iranian Americans, Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi and Morad Tahbaz, as well as two unnamed prisoners, had all been held on charges of spying in the notorious Evin prison and have now been placed under house arrest in a Tehran hotel, reported The New York Times. The US government will unfreeze $6bn in oil assets and a number of Iranian prisoners will also be freed as part of the deal, according to the newspaper. The group will be held at the hotel for several weeks before being allowed to board a plane and leave the country, stated Jared Genser, the lawyer for Mr Namazi. One of the unnamed Americans is a scientist and the other is a businessman, sources told the newspaper. Another prisoner, an American woman, has already been moved to house arrest. The move by Iran of the American hostages from Evin Prison to an expected house arrest is an important development, Mr Genser told CNN. While I hope this will be the first step to their ultimate release, this is at best the beginning of the end and nothing more. And he added: There are simply no guarantees about what happens from here. Mr Namazi was arrested in 2015 while on a business trip to Iran and was charged with having relations with a hostile state. His father, Baquer Namazi, was released in October 2022 after more than six years of imprisonment in Iran. Mr Shargi, a businessman, and Mr Tahbaz, an environmentalist, were both arrested in 2018. All of the men have denied the claims against them and the US State Department has previously declared that all three were wrongfully detained. The $6bn of Iranian assets will be unfrozen in South Korea and placed into an account in the central bank of Qatar, sources told The New York Times. It will be controlled by the Qatar government and can only be accessed by Iran to pay for humanitarian items such as food and medicine. The Biden administration acknowledged the move by the Iranians in a statement from National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson. We have received confirmation that Iran has released from prison five Americans who were unjustly detained and has placed them on house arrest., she said. While this is an encouraging step, these US citizens Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Shargi, and two Americans who at this time wish to remain private should have never been detained in the first place. We will continue to monitor their condition as closely as possible. Of course, we will not rest until they are all back home in the United States. Until that time, negotiations for their eventual release remain ongoing and are delicate. We will, therefore, have little in the way of details to provide about the state of their house arrest or about our efforts to secure their freedom. The development was also welcomed by Jamal Abdi, president of the National Iranian American Council. This is welcome news and we are hopeful that this is just the first step and these unjustly detained Iranian Americans will be free to return home and reunite with their loved ones very soon, he said in a statement. The pain and irrevocable loss they have experienced is difficult to imagine. We are encouraged by the Biden administrations prioritization of this matter and the ongoing diplomatic efforts with regional interlocutors to secure their release. It is impossible to make up for the time that has been robbed from them, but we hope this furlough is an irreversible step toward their full freedom and that one day all prisoners of conscience detained in Iran are free. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A couple in Georgia have accused a doctor of using excessive force which allegedly decapitated their baby during delivery. First-time parents Jessica Ross, 20, and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr, 21, claim Tracey St Julian, an ob-gyn specialist, and staff at Southern Regional Medical Center then tried to cover up the the decapitation by propping their son up to make it appear his head was still attached. The couples attorneys announced they were suing Dr St Julian and the hospital in Riverdale, about 13 miles (20kms) south of Georgia, for gross negligence, fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress at a press conference on Wednesday. They were so excited about the birth of their first child, attorney Cory Lynch told reporters. Unfortunately, their dreams and hopes turned into a nightmare that was covered up by Southern Regional Medical Center. The hospital said privacy laws prevented it from discussing individual patients, but that it denies the allegations in a statement to the Associated Press. Our commitment is to provide compassionate, quality care to every single patient, and this loss is heartbreaking, it said. According to the lawsuit, the baby became stuck as Ms Ross was giving birth vaginally in the hospital on 9 July. The couple requested a cesarean section, but this was denied and the doctor failed to seek help quickly, according to Mr Lynch. Dr St Julian then applied ridiculously excessive force on the babys head to try to deliver it, attorneys said. The babys mother and father Jessica Ross and Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr (centre), with attorneys Roderick Edmond (left) and Cory Lynch (right) (AP) The doctor delayed taking Ms Ross for a C-section for three hours, by which time a foetal monitor had stopped recording a heartbeat, according to the suit. The babys legs and body were then delivered by C-section, while the head was delivered vaginally just after midnight on 10 July, attorney Roderick Edmond, who is also a physician, told the press conference. Doctors tried to convince the couple the babys head was still attached by wrapping and propping up his body, the attorneys alleged. Staff at the hospital allegedly discouraged the couple from seeking an autopsy and advised them to have the boy cremated, the lawsuit claims. They only realised their baby had been decapitated when they took it to a funeral home, according to the suit. The case was an example of the increased risk of infant and maternal mortality for Black women, Mr Edmond said. Southern Regional Medical Center told the Associated Press that Dr St Julian was not an employee and it had taken the appropriate steps in response to this unfortunate situation. Dr St Julian is described as a board certified obstetrician and gynecologist and certified robotic surgeon who has been practicing in the Atlanta area since 2005. She is part of the Premier Womens Obgyn healthcare organisation that provides midwifery, fertility and hormone replacement treatment in the Atlanta area. Premier Womens Obgyn did not immediately respond to a request for comment by The Independent. Close Related video: Trump polls far ahead of Republican rivals, despite legal troubles Donald Trump is cementing his lead in the Republican presidential primary. His closest rival, Ron DeSantis, is slipping behind according to a new CBS poll out Sunday while other GOP rivals are gaining on the Florida governor. Meanwhile, in the Democratic primary, support is dropping for the anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jr. A poll by Quinnipiac University released on Wednesday revealed that Mr Kennedy is supported by 13 per cent of Democrats, a drop of 3.5 per cent compared to June. The recent poll was conducted between 10 and 14 August and included 1,632 likely voters. It showed a slight increase in support for Marianne Williamson, the self-help author who also ran for president in 2020. Her support increased from eight per cent in June to nine per cent in August. Support for President Joe Biden increased from 70 to 72 per cent. Mexicos president posed a question Wednesday that nobody was really asking: why, if a woman criticizes him, he isnt considered victim of gender violence. Mexico has strict political regulations that forbid questioning someones competence based on their gender. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador fell afoul of those rules when he suggested last month that opposition presidential hopeful Xochitl Galvez was a puppet manipulated by powerful men. An electoral court decided on Aug. 2 that fit the definition of gender violence, and ordered Lopez Obrador to stop it. But Lopez Obrador and surprisingly, his feminist wife questioned the fairness of that, saying Galvez has criticized the president, but he hasnt been considered a victim of gender violence. Everything that they say to me, isn't that gender violence? Lopez Obrador said at his morning media briefing. Or is gender only about women? That ignored a couple of facts: Galvez has never suggested Lopez Obrador is wrong because he is a man, or that he is manipulated by women. It also ignores the overwhelming evidence over millennia that saying someone isn't capable of something because of their gender is a tactic that has been used almost exclusively against women. Lopez Obrador claims, perhaps rightly, that he never said specifically that Galvez had been promoted and manipulated by powerful men. He did call her a puppet who had been imposed by a group of men whose names he mentioned. It would all seem like a strange thing to fight about the president speaks off the cuff for about two hours per day at his media briefings, and has occasionally made some seemingly unsupported statements but then, as has become usual, his supporters doubled down in their defense of the president. His wife Beatriz Gutierrez Muller herself an academic specializing in literature and other themes, who has asked not be referred to as first lady came out on her Facebook page to ask whether the president might be right. Gender-based political violence is only punished when it is men against women? When it is men against men, or women against men, can't you consider it gender-based political violence? This is a serious question, she wrote. Political analyst Denise Dresser wrote in a tweet, he has no idea what gender violence is. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} An Ecuadorian presidential candidate known for speaking up against cartels and corruption was shot and killed Wednesday at a political rally in the capital, amid a startling wave of gang-driven violence in the South American country. President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and suggested organized crime was behind his slaying, less than two weeks before the 20 August presidential election. "I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished," Mr Lasso said in a statement. "Organised crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law." Ecuadors attorney generals office said that one suspect died in custody from wounds sustained in a firefight after the killing, and police detained six suspects following raids in Quito. In his final speech before he was killed, Villavicencio promised a roaring crowd that he would root out corruption and lock up the countrys "thieves." Prior to the shooting, Villavicencio said he had received multiple death threats, including from affiliates of Mexicos Sinaloa Cartel, one of a slew of international organized crime groups that now operate in Ecuador. He said his campaign represented a threat to such groups. "Here I am showing my face. Im not scared of them," Villavicencio said in a statement, naming detained crime boss Jose Adolfo Macias by his alias Fito. Villavicencio was one of eight candidates, though not the frontrunner. The politician, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement. Supporter Ida Paez said that Villavicencios campaign had given her hope that the country could overcome the gangs. At the rally, she said, "We were happy. Fernando even danced. His last words were, if someone messes with the people, he is messing with my family." As drug traffickers have begun to use the countrys coastal ports, Ecuadorians have reeled from violence not seen for decades. The sounds of gunfire ring in many major cities as rival gangs battle for control, and gangs have recruited children. Just last month, the mayor of the port city of Manta was shot and killed. On 26 July, Mr Lasso declared a state of emergency covering two provinces and the countrys prison system in an effort to stem the violence. Former vice president and candidate Otto Sonnenholzner said in a news conference following Wednesdays killing, "We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears and we do not deserve to live like this. We demand that you do something." Videos of the rally on social media appear to show Villavicencio walking out of the event surrounded by guards. The video then shows the candidate getting into a white pickup truck before gunshots are heard, followed by screams and commotion around the truck. This sequence of events was confirmed to The Associated Press by Patricio Zuquilanda, Villavicencios campaign adviser. Zuquilanda said the candidate had received at least three death threats before the shooting, which he had reported to authorities, resulting in one detention. He called on international authorities to take action against the violence, attributing it to rising violence and drug trafficking. "The Ecuadorian people are crying and Ecuador is mortally wounded," he said. "Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society." Villavicencio was one of the countrys most critical voices against corruption, especially during the 2007-2017 government of President Rafael Correa. He was also an independent journalist who investigated corruption in previous governments, later entering politics as an anti-graft campaigner. Villavicencio filed many judicial complaints against high-ranking members of the Correa government, including against the ex-president himself. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over his criticisms of Correa, and fled to indigenous territory in Ecuador, later receiving asylum in neighboring Peru. Edison Romo, a former military intelligence colonel, said the anti-corruption complaints made Villavicencio "a threat to international criminal organizations." Mr Lasso, a conservative former banker, was elected in 2021 on a business-friendly platform and clashed from the start with the left-leaning majority coalition in the National Assembly. A snap election was called after Lasso dissolved the National Assembly by decree in May, in a move to avoid being impeached over allegations that he failed to intervene to end a faulty contract between the state-owned oil transport company and a private tanker company. Ecuadors constitution includes a provision that allows the president to disband the assembly during a political crisis, but then requires new elections for both the assembly and the presidency. The country has faced a series of political upheavals in recent years. Authorities said that at least nine others were injured in the Wednesday shooting, including officers and a congressional candidate, in what they described as a "terrorist act." The killing was met with an outcry by other candidates who demanded action, with presidential frontrunner Luisa Gonzalez of the Citizen Revolution party saying "when they touch one of us, they touch all of us." Villavicencio was married and is survived by five children. Utah Governor Spencer Cox on Thursday hit back at critics who have questioned why he, a Republican, would welcome President Joe Biden to his state rather than make a show of publicly snubbing the US chief executive over policy disagreements. Mr Cox, who was among the official greeters who met Mr Biden as he disembarked from Air Force One on Wednesday, addressed the question of why hed chosen to attend the presidents arrival when he spoke on Thursday ahead of Mr Biden at an event to mark the anniversary of the PACT Act, a piece of bipartisan veterans care legislation which the president signed into law last year. Mr Cox said hed welcomed him to the Beehive State on behalf of its more than three million residents. Anytime we get the opportunity to have a president of either party in our state, we appreciate this amazing opportunity that we have to collaborate to work closely together, to push back on policies with which we disagree and to find areas of common ground, he said. On the matter of common ground, Mr Cox noted that there had been some question from members of his own party over whether he would choose to officially welcome the president to his state, given that Mr Biden is a Democrat and he is not. I think its insane that we are having those conversations in our country, said Mr Cox, who added that he appreciated the Democratic governors whod welcomed Mr Bidens GOP predecessor, Donald Trump, to their states during his four-year term, and noted that he was reciprocating with the same courtesy. We honour this office of the presidency. When the President succeeds, America succeeds and we want to find ways to work together. We also do want to push back when we disagree, and I think weve gotten really good at that part. But we need to remember the other part of that equation that makes us so proud to be Americans, he said. Turning to the subject of the legislation Mr Biden was in Utah to celebrate, Mr Cox acknowledged that the PACT Act, which was intended to compensate veterans whove had injuries tied to the use of burn pits during overseas service, has special meaning to the president, whose late son Beau died of brain cancer which he believes was caused by exposure to burn pit fumes in Iraq. Mr. President, we thank you for the sacrifice of you and your family. And were grateful to have you here honouring veterans in the Beehive State, he said. Democratic members of Congress have revived their demands for the resignation of US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas following the largest accounting yet of the gifts, luxury vacations and private travel he received from a group of wealthy benefactors in his years on the nations highest court. Hes corrupt as hell and should resign today, US Rep Bill Pascrell of New Jersey wrote on 10 August following ProPublicas latest investigation. The outlets months-long probe has uncovered previously undisclosed travel, hospitality and gifts from influential billionaires with connections to right-wing interest groups with business before the court from private flights and yacht cruises to resort accommodations and VIP tickets to sporting events that legal experts argue are likely to violate disclosure requirements. US Rep Gerry Connolly said that no Justice should accept these types of gifts. Thomas has repeatedly brought dishonor and ethical malpractice to our highest Court, he wrote. I reiterate my call that he must resign. This is exactly why we need SCOTUS ethics reform. Would billionaires have given Justice Clarence Thomas massive gifts if he was just a law clerk? NO. Thats what makes this corrupt, said US Rep Ted Lieu. They were seeking to curry favor with Justice Thomas, either directly or indirectly. And Justice Thomas violated the law in accepting the gifts. The Independent has requested comment from a spokesperson for the Supreme Court. Several proposals in Congress including legislation introduced by Independent Senator Angus King and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski would force the nations high court to create a binding code of conduct, appoint an ethics officer to oversee compliance, or establish an ethics policy as strict as one for members of Congress. The Supreme Court is the only arm of the federal judiciary that is not bound by a code of ethics. Republican lawmakers who have supported a years-long effort with right-wing legal groups to radically reshape the federal judiciary by seating dozens of ideologically like-minded judges accused congressional Democrats of using ethics reform to undermine the Supreme Courts conservative supermajority, a long-held goal of GOP-aligned special interest groups. Conservative Justice Samuel Alito whose private jet travel and fishing trips are also the subject of close scrutiny has publicly rejected congressional attempts to regulate the Supreme Court, comments that Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Durbin has called unwise and unwelcome. Mr Durbin said the latest reporting makes it clear: these are not merely ethical lapses. This is a shameless lifestyle underwritten for years by a gaggle of fawning billionaires. Justices Thomas and Alito have made it clear that theyre oblivious to the embarrassment theyve visited on the highest court in the land, he added. Now its up to Chief Justice Roberts and the other Justices to act on ethics reform to save their own reputations and the Courts integrity. ... If the Court will not act, then Congress must continue to. Congress did not create the Supreme Court, Mr Alito told The Wall Street Journal last month. I know this is a controversial view, but Im willing to say it No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court period. He added: I dont know that any of my colleagues have spoken about it publicly, so I dont think I should say. But I think it is something we have all thought about. The second-ranking Democratic senator responded to his remarks stating that Justice Alito is not the 101st member of the Senate. The ethical conduct of Supreme Court Justices is a serious matter within this Committees jurisdiction. Ensuring ethical conduct by the justices is critical to the Courts legitimacy, Mr Durbin said in a statement earlier this month. The next time Justice Alito thinks about taking a private plane to a billionaire-funded fishing trip, he should have to ask more than Can I take this empty seat? He should have to ask if doing so is consistent with his legally-mandated ethical obligations. Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday he won't sign a pledge to support the Republican nominee if he loses the GOP presidential primary, flouting a requirement for appearing in the first debate later this month. Why would I sign it?" Trump said in an interview on the conservative cable network Newsmax. I can name three or four people that I wouldnt support for president. So right there, theres a problem. He declined to name the candidates he wouldn't support, saying there's no reason to insult them. But he singled out South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy for praise, saying they have been very nice. Trump said he will announce next week whether he'll participate in the debate, scheduled for Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, but his refusal to sign the pledge suggests he plans to make good on his threat to skip it. Trump has repeatedly questioned why he should debate his rivals given his substantial polling lead and has suggested he might hold a competing event instead. On Wednesday, he pushed back against former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's taunts, telling Newsmaxs Eric Bolling that theres no upside to participating in a debate when hes already leading by a wide margin. Its not a question of guts. Its a question of intelligence, Trump said. Eight candidates say they have met qualifications to be on stage in Milwaukee, with former Vice President Mike Pence announcing this week he had secured enough donors. Candidates need to satisfy polling and donor requirements set by the Republican National Committee: at least 1% in three high-quality national polls or a mix of national and early-state polls, between July 1 and Aug. 21, and a minimum of 40,000 donors, with 200 in 20 or more states. They also must sign a statement pledging not to participate in any debates not sanctioned by the party, including the general election debates sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates, and to support the winner of the Republican primary. I affirm that if I do not win the 2024 Republican nomination of President of the United States, I will honor the will of the primary voters and support the nominee in order to save our country and beat Joe Biden, the pledge says, according to a copy posted by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. Candidates also must pledge not to run as an independent, write-in candidate or third-party nominee. The pledge has been criticized by some candidates including Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who has been fiercely critical of Trump. Only former Texas Rep. Will Hurd has said definitively that he will not sign the 2024 pledge, though he has not met the polling and fundraising thresholds required to attend. He said he wont support Trump, who has been indicted three times, if he becomes the eventual nominee. The district attorney of Fulton County issued a memorandum to her office staff denouncing a new lie being told about her by Donald Trump and his allies while instructing them to not comment publicly on the matter. Fani Willis issued the memo after the Trump campaign began running an ad spot in the state suggesting falsely that she had been engaged in an extramarital affair with a rapper who was the target of a racketeering probe launched by Ms Williss office, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reported on Wednesday. Theres zero evidence for such an affair occurring, and neither of the parties alleged to have been involved have claimed as much. But that hasnt stopped the former president and his team from making the outright dishonest assertion at least once during public campaign rallies with his followers in recent weeks, or from running ads claiming that Ms Willis got caught hiding a relationship with a gang member she was prosecuting. I guess they say that she was after a certain gang and she ended up having an affair with the head of the gang or a gang member, Mr Trump said of Ms Willis at a rally in New Hampshire. In her response, Ms Willis instructed her staff: You may not comment in any way on the ad or any of the negativity that may be expressed against me, your colleagues, this office in the coming days, weeks or months. She also described the ads and statements of Mr Trump as derogatory and false. The source of the Trump campaigns newest lie appears, according to the AJC, to be an article in Rolling Stone which examined Ms Williss handling of the YSL Mondo case. The article itself does not make any reference to an affair, however, and theres no other apparent reason (other than sexism and desperation) for the Trump campaign to suggest that she had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with Mondo either during that investigation or previously when she served as a defence attorney and briefly represented him on an unrelated case. In general, the situation is a perfect representation of the Trump camps continued addiction to fact-free conspiracies that rile up their most hardcore loyalist supporters but fail to hold any water when brought before actual authorities. Much like the Trump campaigns failed efforts to prove claims of election fraud in court after their 2020 loss to Joe Biden, the Trump legal team has thus far been unsuccessful in their attempts to discredit Ms Willis or her team before any authority in the state of Georgia that actually matters. A judge tossed out a lawsuit by Mr Trump seeking to disqualify Ms Willis from participating in investigations against him and scrap the evidence her office has gathered in late July; as a result, her office is expected to issue an indictment or indictments related to his scheme to overturn the election results within days. President Joe Biden will welcome Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to the White House on Oct. 25 for the visit and state dinner that the U.S. promised when Biden had to scrap a stop in Australia earlier this year to focus on debt limit talks in Washington. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Wednesday that the visit would underscore the deep and enduring alliance between the United States and Australia and the two nations shared commitment to supporting an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Biden last May curtailed an Asia-Pacific trip that was to have included stops in Australia and Papua New Guinea because he needed to return to Washington because of the debt limit crisis. The scuttling of two of the three legs of the overseas trip Biden did visit Japan for a Group of Seven summit with leaders of some of the world's major economies was a foreign policy setback for an administration that has made putting a greater focus on the Pacific region central to its global outreach. Albanese said in a statement his visit would be "an important opportunity to discuss our ambitious climate and clean energy transition, and shared goal of a strong, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific. Close Who is Ron DeSantis? Nearly five months ahead of the Iowa caucuses, 14 candidates have hit the campaign trail hoping to convince voters, and their respective parties, why they are the best option. So far, just three Democrats have announced their campaign for the White House: incumbent President Joe Biden, self-help author Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine advocate Robert F Kennedy Jr. As of now, President Biden is assumed to be the Democrats choice for representing the party. Whats more unclear is who will receive the GOP nomination as the pool of candidates grows. Leading the GOP polls is ex-president Donald Trump who has continued to receive support from voters despite facing three criminal indictments this year. Other Republican candidates include Florida governor Ron DeSantis, ex-vice president Mike Pence, ex-South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, ex-Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum, South Carolina senator Tim Scott, ex-New Jersey governor Chris Christie, Miami mayor Francis Suarez, and ex-congressman Will Hurd. Republicans who qualify will go head-to-head in the first RNC debate on 23 August. A conservative legal nonprofit led by former Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller has sued retailer Target, claiming that the company failed to anticipate a backlash against a Pride-themed collection of merchandise sold in May. The lawsuit, filed in Florida federal court, is on behalf of investor Brian Craig, who owned $28,000 in Target stock that he said saw a major decline in value, as the retailer lost an alleged $10bn in market value the month the collection was released. The suit claims the company failed to anticipate social and political risks associated with the LGBTQ+-themed collection and alleges the company misrepresented its oversight because the board monitored only one side when it came to factoring social issues into business decisions. (Getty Images / iStock) Target embraced the radical transgender agenda with its children-and-family-themed Pride marketing and sales campaign the corporations infamous Pride collection, a statement from the group about the suit reads, adding included clothing for young children with rainbow Mickey Mouse symbols, LGBT-themed bibs and onesies for babies, and tuck-friendly bathing suits for transgender women. This predictably caused more than a $12 billion collapse in share value, the largest stock price decline in over 20 years. The Independent has contacted Target for comment. Mr Miller, as well as a number of prominent conservative commentators, encouraged followers to protest the Target collection. Just say no to Target, he wrote in one May post on X. Woke Corporations are destroying America, he added in another post that month about the campaign. One message on his social media simply read, Dont shop Target. The company has been making Pride-themed collections with little incident for over a decade, but the conservative activism surrounding 2023s edition seems to have changed things. In May, the company pulled some Pride-themed merchandise from the shelves, citing confrontational behaviour from customers. Since introducing this years collection, weve experienced threats impacting our team embers sense of safety and well-being while at work, Target said in a statement. Given these volatile circumstances, we are making adjustments to our plans, including removing items that have been at the center of the most significant confrontational behavior, the company added. Our focus now is on moving forward with our continuing commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community and standing with them as we celebrate Pride Month and throughout the year. Its not the first time Mr Millers group has waded into the growing culture war surrounding LGBTQ+ issues. In 2022, the group spent millions on ads attacking the Biden administrations policies towards LGTBQ+ people, claiming the Biden administration is pushing radical gender experiments on children. Donald Trump and his aide Walt Nauta pleaded not guilty in federal court on several charges claiming that the former president kept classified documents at his private Florida club Mar-a-Lago and attempted to hide some of them from government authorities with the help of his staffers. Mr Trump, who waived his right to appear at the Thursday arraignment in Fort Pierce, Florida, entered his plea via his lawyers. The waiver was filed last week by his lawyer Christopher Kise. The ex-president was initially charged with 37 crimes in a June indictment, to which he pleaded not guilty. The following month, prosecutors added another three charges in a superseding indictment. Mr Nauta attended the hearing on Thursday, where he also pleaded not guilty after being charged with six counts in the initial indictment and another two counts in the superseding filing, according to The Washington Post. The third defendant in the classified documents case, Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, faced his first charges in the superseding indictment. He was set to enter a plea to the four charges against him on Thursday but he wasnt arraigned because a Florida-based lawyer had yet to make the court aware that Mr De Oliveira is a client, which is a requirement for an arraignment to take place in federal courts in South Florida. Mr De Oliveira was allegedly involved in a scheme with Mr Nauta and Mr Trump to attempt to delete surveillance footage showing Mar-a-Lago workers moving boxes containing government documents that federal authorities had said needed to be handed over. Mr De Oliveira has now appeared in court twice without being arraigned. He also went to court last week but didnt enter a plea as he didnt have a Florida-accredited attorney. As conditions of their release ahead of trial, Florida judges on the federal level have barred the three defendants from communicating with witnesses about the facts of the probe. Federal prosecutors under the guidance of Special Counsel Jack Smith have alleged that Mr Trump committed 32 counts of illegally retaining national defence information and of deceiving investigators. Mr Nauta and Mr De Oliveira face charges of obstructing the probe and lying to the authorities. The judge in the case, Trump-appointed Aileen Cannon, has scheduled the trial to start in late May next year, in the middle of the Republican primary. Mr Trump was indicted earlier this year on business fraud charges on the state level in New York in connection to the hush money payment to adult actor Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election the trial is set to begin in March. Mr Smith also charged Mr Trump this month in connection to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election in a separate probe. Mr Trumps lawyers asked Judge Cannon to account for Mr Trumps campaign schedule as he attempts to take back the White House in 2024. The case regarding the mishandling of national defence information will be tried under the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA), which outlines what needs to be done ahead of a trial to determine what classified information will be used in court proceedings. This process is set to slow down the discovery phase as it might prompt further pretrial motions and hearings, The Post noted. Close Donald Trump indictment - latest news Donald Trump should be prevented from running for federal office again under the 14th amendments provision barring those who support insurrections against the government from service, a new group of experts is arguing. Harvard professor Lawrence Luttig pushed that idea on Sunday, speaking on CNNs State of the Union. All officials, federal and state, who have a responsibility to put on the ballot candidates for the presidency of the United States are obligated under the Constitution to determine whether Donald Trump qualifies to be put on the ballot, he said. Mr Trump and 18 of his allies were indicted last week for allegedly running a criminal enterprise to try to thwart the 2020 presidential election. He cancelled his proposed press conference at which he claimed he was going to unveil a report that would exonerate him in the criminal case. As of now, theres no concerted effort to file legal challenges against his ability to appear on the ballot, though that will likely change as the nation inches closer to primary season. The former president is also the defendant in four ongoing criminal proceedings, including his most recent charging on criminal counts related to what Georgia prosecutors argue was a criminal scheme to solicit state official to support changing the states 2020 election results at the presidential level. Donald Trump speculated that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis might change her mind about indicting him for his conduct in Georgias 2020 election - even as he lobbed fresh insults at her. Mr Trump on Wednesday spoke to Newsmaxs Eric Bolling, who mentioned how Ms Willis father was a member of the Black Panther Party and repeated an unfounded rumour that Ms Willis had an inappropriate relationship with a gang member. Mr Trump made the allegation earlier in the week when speaking in Windham, New Hampshire. The thrice-indicted, twice-impeached former president said that Ms Willis could not give him a fair shake in Bollings words before he repeated the lie that he won the state of Georgia in 2020. This woman is not a capable woman, he said of Ms Willis. I mean, and maybe shell change her mind. I dont know what shes doing. All I know is she could have done it two and a half years ago if she was going to do something. Fulton County is home to Atlanta, which has a large Black population that helped deliver the state to Mr Biden. Mr Trump repeated his claim that he did nothing wrong when he called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find enough votes to change the result of the election. Ms Willis is investigating Mr Trumps efforts to overturn President Joe Bidens win in the state. And this is about a perfect phone call, a call where I am questioning the election, telling them in my opinion the election was rigged he said. And theyre saying I did something incorrect. I didnt do anything wrong. I believe I won that election by many, many votes. The former president could face his fourth indictment of the year as soon as next week, according to multiple reports. The seven-month investigation by Ms Willis office reportedly named 20 people as targets, including Mr Trumps former attorney Rudy Giuliani. Law enforcement began erecting physical barriers around the courthouse in Fulton County. In response, Mr Trumps campaign has begun to run an ad attacking Ms Willis, as well as Special Council Jack Smith and New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose investigation into alleged hush money payments led to Mr Trumps first indictment. The advertisement will air in Atlanta, Washington, DC and New York City. -Andrew Feinberg contributed reporting Donald Trump reacted furiously on Thursday to a proposed trial date of 2 January in special counsel Jack Smiths case against the former president for allegedly trying to overthrow the 2020 election result. Deranged Jack Smith has just asked for a trial on the Biden Indictment to take place on January 2nd., just ahead of the important Iowa Caucuses, Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Thursday. Only an out of touch lunatic would ask for such a date, ONE DAY into the New Year, and maximum Election Interference with IOWA! Such a trial, which should never take place due to my First Amendment Rights, and massive BIDEN CORRUPTION, should only happen, if at all, AFTER THE ELECTION. The same with other Fake Biden Indictments. ELECTION INTERFERENCE! Earlier in the day, Jack Smiths office asked the District of Columbia judge to schedule the twice-impeached, thrice-indicted ex-presidents trial for a four to six week period beginning on 2 January next year. In an eight-page filing authored by Senior Assistant Special Counsels Molly Gaston and Thomas Windom, the special counsels office said their proposed schedule would give Mr Trump and his defence team sufficient time to prepare a case and review the evidence which the government is prepared to turn over as part of the discovery process, as well as litigate any pre-trial matters such as the request for a change of venue Mr Trump has said he will call for. The prosecutors also said that a 2 January 2024 trial date would most importantly ... vindicate the publics strong interest in a speedy trial, which they described as being of particular significance because Mr Trump is charged with conspiring to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election, obstruct the certification of the election results, and discount citizens legitimate votes. A January 2, 2024, trial date represents an appropriately speedy trial in the public interest and in the interests of justice, while affording the defendant time to prepare his defense and raise pre-trial legal issues with the Court, they said. At his arraignment one week ago, Mr Trumps attorneys indicated that they would request significant delays and ask Judge Tanya Chutkan to stop the clock set under the Speedy Trial Act which sets out a 70-day period in which trials in criminal cases are required to begin. The ex-presidents legal strategy in both civil and criminal matters, dating back decades, is to cause as many delays as possible through any means possible. The three criminal cases against him have not proved an exception to this pattern, as Mr Trump is understood to believe his best chance at avoiding any negative consequences from the cases is to win next years presidential election. But the magistrate judge who presided over the arraignment, Moxila Upadhyaya, told Mr Trumps counsel that Judge Chutkan intends to set a trial date after a status conference on 28 August, and gave the government a full week to propose a trial schedule. Mr Trumps team will now have a week to respond to the departments proposed schedule, though its unlikely that the ex-presidents counsel will agree with the governments timeline. At the arraignment last week, Trump attorney John Lauro suggested that he and his co-counsel could not begin to consider any possible trial date until theyd received the evidence which the government must turn over as part of the pre-trial discovery process. We need all that information, I think, in order to address the issue of when we would be ready, and also the extent to which we would have an idea of how long the trial would be, he said. Mr Trumps legal team has already prevented the discovery process from kicking off by objecting to the governments proposed protective order on the grounds that it would violate the ex-presidents right to free speech by barring him from publicly revealing evidence while on the campaign trail. The prosecutors noted the disconnect between the arguments made at arraignment and the Trump defence teams refusal to agree to a protective order that would allow them to begin reviewing discovery, calling the contradiction perplexing. They also slammed Mr Lauros claim that the defence is starting with a blank slate as impossible and disingenuous, citing Mr Trumps awareness of and response to much of the evidence which was previously made public during the House January 6 select committees hearings last year and the panels final report. Continuing, prosecutors also pointed out that one of Mr Trumps lawyers, Evan Corcoran, has long represented the ex-president in matters relating to his efforts to overturn his election loss. The defendant has a greater and more detailed understanding of the evidence supporting the charges against him at the outset of this criminal case than most defendants, and is ably advised by multiple attorneys, including some who have represented him in this matter for the last year, they said. The Governments proposed schedule and January 2 trial date afford the defendant many months to review the discovery in this matter, raise pre-trial legal issues, and prepare his defense. No additional time is necessary or warranted under the Speedy Trial Act and in light of the publics strong interest in a prompt trial. The special counsels office also responded to a separate motion Mr Trumps attorneys made to exclude a 25-day period between his arraignment and the scheduled 28 August hearing from Speedy Trial Act calculations. Prosecutors said they opposed the motion as unnecessary because the time Mr Trumps team seeks to exclude has already been and continues to be excluded under the Act. They added that Mr Trumps legal team appeared not to understand that both the Speedy Trial Act and the Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution (which guarantees speedy trials in criminal cases) protects not just a defendants rights, but the publics strong interest in the efficient administration of justice. None of the defendants perfunctory and undeveloped arguments justify the Courts exclusion of time at this juncture of the case. The defendant cites his need to review discovery ... but the defense has steadfastly refused to accept the discovery that the Government has prepared and organized to facilitate the defenses review, they said. Josh Marcus contributed to this story. Donald Trump branded a Georgia prosecutor a young racist and claimed she had an affair with a gang leader, speaking to a rally just days before he is expected to face a criminal indictment from her office. The three-times indicted former president took shots at Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis, who is investigating him for his conduct in the state during the 2020 presidential election. Theres a young racist in Atlanta ... They say she was after a certain gang and she ended up having an affair with the head of the gang or a gang member, claimed Mr Trump during a speech in New Hampshire on Tuesday. This is a person who wants to indict me. Shes got a lot of problems. But she wants to indict me to try and run for some other office Wants to indict me for a perfect phone call, this was even better than my perfect call on Ukraine. And he added: I challenged the election in Georgia, which I had every right to do and they want to indict me because I challenged the election. Last week Mr Trump posted a video on Truth Social featuring a Rolling Stone headline about Ms Willis defending rapper YSL Mondo in 2019, and falsely claiming that she got caught hiding a relationship with a gang member she was prosecuting. There is no suggestion or evidence that Ms Willis had any romantic relationship with the rapper, who described mother-to-son type of talks with her, reported the magazine. Ms Willis, who is married with two children, is expected to soon indict him for illegally trying to reverse Joe Bidens victory in the state, which paved his way to the White House. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (AP) Mr Trumps alleged election interference included his infamous phone call to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, in which he demanded that he find him the 11,780 votes he needed to beat Mr Biden. Trump attacks Fani Willis pic.twitter.com/WDnwII5KRe Acyn (@Acyn) August 8, 2023 Ms Willis has also investigated a scheme to put in place an alternate slate of presidential electors. Even if Mr Trump wins the 2024 election he cannot fire Ms Willis, unlike special counsel Jack Smith, as state crimes are not subject to presidential pardon. Fulton County Sheriff officers block off a street in front of the Fulton County Courthouse on August 07, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia (Getty Images) Mr Trump has already been indicted on federal charges that he tried to overturn the 2020 election and a separate federal case over alleged retention of government documents at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. He has also been charged by the Manhattan DA in a hush-money case linked to the 2016 presidential election. That case relates to allegations he paid off a porn actress he had allegedly had an affair with while his wife was nursing their newborn son. He has pleaded not guilty in all of the cases and strongly denied any wrongdoing. Earlier this year the former president was found liable for sexually assaulting a magazine columnist, E Jean Carroll, in a New York department store in the mid-1990s. Mr Trump has a long history of making outrageous false claims about his opponents. He called his own former secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, dumb as a rock, and his former defence secretary James Mattis the worlds most overrated general. He has recently taking to insulting fellow Republican presidential nominee and former friend Chris Christie over his weight. The Washington Post calculated that during the four years of his presidency, Mr Trump made more than 30,000 false or misleading statements. The day after his presidency ended, the paper wrote: What is especially striking is how the tsunami of untruths kept rising the longer he served as president and became increasingly unmoored from the truth. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A hospital in Vancouver has apologised for mentioning medical assistance in dying (MAID) to a patient who sought psychiatric care after experiencing suicidal thoughts. Kathrin Mentler, 37, told The Globe and Mail that she went to Vancouver General Hospital in June seeking treatment after her condition of long-term chronic depression was aggravated by a traumatic event. She said she was told by a clinician that the system was broken, and there would be a lengthy wait to see a psychiatrist. Ms Mentler told the news site she was then asked: Have you considered MAID? A spokesperson for Vancouver Coastal Health, which operates the hospital, confirmed to The Independent that assisted dying was raised during the conversation, but said it was done to assess her risk of suicide rather than as a suggestion. For patients who present with suicidality, staff complete a clinical evaluation with each client and explore all available care options, which may include questions about whether they have considered Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) as part of the patients contemplations, the spokesperson said. We understand this conversation could be upsetting for some patients, and we share our deepest apologies for any distress caused. Medical assistance in dying has been legal in Canada since 2016 for terminally ill residents. The law was expanded in 2021 to people living with debilitating disabilities or pain, even if their lives arent at immediate risk. The Canadian government has since paused a planned extension to make assisted dying available to patients suffering from mental illness alone. Ms Mentler, a counseling student, told The Tyee that she had long lived with depression, anxiety and chronic suicidal thoughts, but still found joy in life. That day my goal was to keep myself safe, she told the publication. I was thinking of maybe trying to get myself admitted to hospital because I was in crisis. She said it was upsetting to be told of another patient who had found relief in death. That made me feel like my life was worthless or a problem that could be solved if I chose MAID, Ms Mentler told The Tyee. Paraplegic army veteran Christine Gauthier told a Canadian select committee in December that she was offered a medical assisted device vy a case worker (YouTube / CBC) The issue of assisted dying has divided the medical community and religious activists in Canada and the United States, where it is legal in 10 states and Washington DC. Advocates such as Dying With Dignity describe the procedure as driven by compassion, an end to suffering and discrimination and desire for personal autonomy. But some human rights advocates and religious groups say the regulations are open to abuse, lack necessary safeguards, and can devalue the lives of disabled people. Four more states, New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Pennsylvania are considering enacting assisted dying legislation. Last December, a retired Canadian army colonel and Paralympian testified before a Canadian veterans affairs committee that she was offered medical assistance in dying while fighting to have a wheelchair lift installed in her home. Christine Gauthier testified that a veteran affairs case worker had written to her offering to provide a device she could use to take her own life, prompting an apology from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Three other disabled veterans had been offered the same option, according to reports in Canadian media. In July, Lisa Pauli, a 47-year-old who had struggled with anorexia for decades, told Reuters that she was looking forward to the MAID legislation being expanded to allow people who suffer from mental conditions to legally take their own lives. If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, call National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Helpline is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you. If you are based in the UK, the Samaritans offers support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} A well-respected pastor and three beloved teachers were among those who sat down together for a home-cooked family lunch apparently involving wild mushrooms in rural Australia at the end of last month. Within days, the teachers were dead and the pastor left fighting for life. The tight-knit community in Leongatha, in Victoria state, has been shaken to its core, with the mystery also gripping the attention of people around the world as police opened a homicide investigation and searched the home of the host, 46-year-old Erin Patterson. With Victoria Police describing the incident as a suspected mushroom poisoning, detective inspector Dean Thomas said it was not clear what type of mushrooms the guests had eaten on 29 July, but their symptoms were consistent with those from a death cap, a particularly deadly variety. Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said it was not clear what type of mushrooms the guests had eaten on 29 July, but their symptoms were consistent with those from a death cap (Getty Images) Police took several items from Ms Pattersons home on Saturday, before questioning her the following day. She was released without charge but police said she remains a suspect. However, Ms Patterson, who did not get ill herself, told media outside her home that she did not know what had happened, declining to answer questions about what meals were served to which guests or the origin of the mushrooms. "I didn't do anything," she told Network Nine on Monday. "I loved them and I'm devastated they're gone." The 46-year-old had been hosting her in-laws, Gail and Don Patterson, both 70, and Gails sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, with her husband Ian, 68. The four who ate the dish - a beef Wellington pie, according to the Guardian - all fell mysteriously ill over the following days. Shortly after, Gail and Heather passed away in hospital on 4 August, while Don died on 5 August. Ian, a pastor from the local Baptist church in Korumburra, remains in critical condition. Ms Pattersons ex-husband Simon Patterson, with whom police said she has an amicable relationship, was supposed to be at the lunch but could not make it at the last minute, according to Daily Mail Australia. Ms Pattersons son and daughter were also at home, but the pair ate a different meal than the rest. The Mail quoted a close family source as saying Ms Patterson and her ex-husband had separated years ago but wanted to keep the relationship amicable for their childrens sake. I think he was really trying to facilitate a healthy co-parenting arrangement, they said. Basically all of his choices and everything he was doing was to keep things stable for the kids. Heather Wilkinson, 66, with her husband Ian Wilkinson, 68, a pastor from the local Baptist church in Korumburra (The Salvation Army Australia Museum/Facebook) Interest in the case soared on Wednesday after police searched a local refuse centre for a dehydrator believed to have been used in the preparation of the lunch, which they later conducted forensic tests on, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Speaking to The Independent, local mayor Nathan Hersey told of the utter shock, disbelief and grief reverberating throughout their close community and more widely in the wake of the tragedy. Im hearing from people regularly about their shock and disbelief and how theyre coming to terms with such loss, he said. People so well connected, loved and respected in the local community have been struck down and died so suddenly. Mushroom foraging is popular in the area even though theres risk involved, said Mr Hersey, adding that a lot of people would know what theyre looking for. He said he had personally met the Wilkinsons, describing them as lovely and caring people with integrity. He said a close friend of the couple had told him, Weve lost a real level of kindness in our community this week because of these deaths. But he added: The community is rallying around and supporting one another. Ms Patterson, who did not get ill herself, told media outside her home that she did not know what had happened (News International) The Patterson and Wilkinson families said in a statement in a local newspaper on Sunday they were grateful to our wider communities for their outpouring of love, support, and prayers, adding: This support extends not only to those we have tragically lost but also to our family member who continues to bravely fight for his life in the hospital. Deaths from consuming mushrooms are relatively rare in Australia, which has several species including the "death cap" mushroom that can be deadly if ingested. The deaths have led to warnings from health experts across the country not to forage for wild mushrooms and to buy from reputable sellers. DI Thomas said on Monday it would take some time to determine what happened and police are keeping an open mind. "We presume at this stage it was mushrooms but it's a complex investigation that I think will take some time," he said, adding: It could be very innocent but, again, we just dont know. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} An award-winning British surgeon shot dead during violent protests in South Africa has been described as a loving family man. Kar Hao Teoh, who worked at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, was a tourist in Cape Town when he was shot in front of his wife and two-year-old son on 3 August, police said. It is believed the 40-year-old had taken a wrong turn from the nearby airport when a group approached the vehicle he was in. The shooting occurred in the Nyanga township near Cape Town International Airport. Unrest began on the outskirts of South Africas second-largest city after minibus taxi drivers announced a week-long strike recently. Five separate murders have been recorded during the protests, which have included stone-throwing, road blockades, looting, arson and public violence, the South African Police Service said. The taxis national union, which is angry at what it calls heavy-handed tactics by police and city authorities in impounding vehicles, said its members are not instigating violence. A spokesperson for the Princess Alexandra Hospital said: Sadly, we can confirm that Mr Kar Hao Teoh, consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, has died. He was a well-respected member of the team, valued colleague and friend to many across the hospital as well as in regional, national and international trauma and orthopaedic networks. The shooting occurred in Nyanga township near Cape Town International Airport (Getty Images/iStockphoto) In 2021, Mr Teoh won an international prize for his pioneering research into the treatment of ankle fractures. The British Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society said, in a tribute shared online, that Mr Teohs sudden and tragic death has shocked all of us. The post said: He was remembered by colleagues past and present as a kind, gentle person, a dedicated and talented surgeon and a rising star of the foot and ankle world who had already made a big impact in the British and European Foot and Ankle Societies. He has worked in Scotland, England and Wales and has left fond memories with people in all corners of the country. He leaves a wife and a two-year-old son. Our heartfelt sympathies and condolences go out to them. More than 25,000 has already been pledged to a JustGiving page that was set up to help and support his young family. The JustGiving page said his death had left a void in our hearts. It said: Kar was not just a respected Trauma and Orthopaedic Consultant but also a dear friend, a dedicated colleague, and a loving family man. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Cats in Cyprus are being treated with anti-Covid pills meant for humans after a feline virus killed thousands of animals on the island. An estimated 8,000 cats have died from feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), prompting the government to approve the use of stockpiled human coronavirus medication. The disease is almost always lethal if left untreated, but medication is effective in around 85 per cent of cases. However, the high price of the medication made it inaccessible to vets and pet owners in Cyprus, activists said. The governments veterinary services director Christodoulos Pipis said the first batch of 2,000 medication packages will be used to mitigate what has been called the FCov-2023 outbreak, with a total of 80,000 pills becoming available later. Mr Pipis told The Guardian the health ministry rolled out the treatment on 8 August, celebrated as International Cat Day. Each pill will cost 2.50 (2.16) and can be bought at local vets offices, after a formal examination and diagnosis. It is hoped the move will end the outbreak, first noticed in the capital Nicosia in January. FIP, which spreads through contact with cat faeces, proliferated across the island four months later, the Pancyprian Veterinary Association said. Local animal activists claimed FIP has killed 300,000 cats, but PVA president Nektaria Ioannou Arsenoglou called that figure an exaggeration. Cats in a shelter in Nicosia (AP) The disease is unrelated to Covid-19 and cannot be contracted by human beings. However, the active ingredient in anti-Covid medication Lagevrio, molnupiravir, has proven effective in treating cats whove contracted FIP. The feline virus has been around since 1963, Ms Arsenoglou added, but previous epidemics in the UK, US, Taiwan, and Greece remained confined to catteries and eventually fizzled out without the use of any medication. However, the outbreak in Cyprus has also affected indoor cats. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Ukrainian forces broke through Russias defensive lines after launching a surprise raid across the Dnipro River. The river divides liberated Ukrainian territory on one bank and Russian-occupied land on the other, and for months it has served as part of the front line in southern Ukraine. Russian military bloggers said that up to seven boats, each carrying up to six troops, arrived on the Russian-occupied bank, apparently under the cover of darkness, and advanced 800m. Blogger Trinadtsatyi, posting on the Telegram messaging app to more than 150,000 followers, said a number of Russian soldiers were allegedly killed or taken captive during the raid. Images circulating on social media appeared to show captured soldiers. Monitors of Russia's invasion said there were clear signs of a major battle. The Russian-imposed head of the occupied part of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, claimed the Ukrainian raid had been repelled. But the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) which tracks movements on the battlefield said the limited raid appeared partially successful. And that while Russian forces appeared to have partly pushed back Ukrainian troops, the ISW said Saldo was likely purposefully trying to refute claims of Ukrainian presence in this area to avoid creating panic. The ISW said of the raid: The majority of prominent Russian [military bloggers] claimed that Ukrainian forces managed to utilise tactical surprise and land on the east bank before engaging Russian forces in small arms exchanges. Data from the past 24 hours in this area appear to confirm that there was significant combat, likely preceded or accompanied by artillery fire, the ISW added. The raid is said to have happened during a rotation of Russian troops, as more experienced fighters were redeployed towards Zaporizhzhia in the south and the Donbas region in the east. Both front lines that have been the scene of heavy fighting. Ukrainian forces have tried a number of times to cross the Dnipro, as gaining a foothold on the Russian-occupied bank would enable them to push further into Moscow-held territory. This latest raid appears to be the most significant since the launch of a similar operation by Ukraines 73rd marine special operations unit. Meanwhile, in Russia, one person was killed and more than 50 injured in a blast at the site of a factory that makes optical equipment for Putins security forces in the town of Sergiev Posad, 30 miles (50km) northeast of Moscow, local authorities said. Emergency services said the explosion occurred in a warehouse containing pyrotechnic equipment, state news agency Tass reported. Tass also quoted emergency services who dismissed early reports that the blast was caused by a drone attack, many of which have peppered Moscow and the surrounding area in recent weeks. Russia's Investigative Committee, Russia's top law enforcement agency, also denied the blast was from drones. Russia often blames Ukraine for such attacks and while Kyiv rarely claims responsibility for them, officials are happy to play up the disruption and suggest that the war is coming home to Russia. Before the factory explosion, Russian officials said air defences had shot down two drones aimed at the capital overnight, accusing Ukraine. One of the drones came down in the Domodedovo district south of Moscow, and the other fell near the Minsk highway west of the city, according to the mayor, Sergei Sobyanin. Moscow Domodedovo airport is one of the capital's busiest hubs. It wasn't clear where the drones were launched, and Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment. Mr Sobyanin said there were no casualties. Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report Close Firefighters battle wildfires in Portugal as thousands forced to evacuate For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} Portuguese authorities fear new wildfires could spark as blistering 37C heat has provoked extreme weather warnings. Yellow warnings - the lowest level on a three-tier scale - will remain in place across the Beja and Faro districts until 10 August at the minimum, with the Met Office anticipating that, on Friday, temperatures will reach highs of 37C across Faro in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. Vitor Vaz Pinto, regional commander of the emergency and civil protection authority (ANEPC), said on Wednesday the wildfire in the municipality of Odemira, in the Alentejo region, was brought under control at 10.15am. The wildfire started on Saturday, but high temperatures and strong winds hampered efforts by more than 1,000 firefighters and water-dousing planes to extinguish the flames, which destroyed some 8,400 hectares, according to preliminary data. For now, firefighters, water-dousing planes and bulldozers being used to prevent the spread of the fire will remain on the ground and then gradually be demobilised, Vaz Pinto said. Temperatures have now dropped along the Portuguese coast but remain high across the countryside, with around 100 municipalities remaining at maximum risk of wildfires. The biggest blaze, in the northeast, burned about 600 hectares (1,500 acres) and required the evacuation of 150 people. Close Ukraine war: Footage appears to show moment drone attack hits building in central Moscow For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed revenge for the attack which left seven dead and 144 injured in Chernihiv. I am sure our soldiers will give a response to Russia for this terrorist attack, Zelensky said in his nightly video address, delivered early on Sunday at the end of a visit to Sweden. A notable response. He said that of the 144 people injured, 15 were children, and named the girl killed as Sofia. Fifteen others were police officers, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram. Klymenko said most of the victims were in vehicles, crossing the road, or returning from church. Regional governor Viacheslav Chaus said 41 people were in hospital on Saturday. Zelensky said the strike on Chernihiv, a city of leafy boulevards and centuries-old churches about 145 km (90 miles) north of Kyiv, coincided with the Orthodox holiday of the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. It comes as a Ukrainian drone crashed into the rooftop of a railway station in the Russian city of Kursk, injuring five people and setting off a fire, the TASS news agency said on Sunday, citing regional governor Roman Starovoit. Fernando Villavicencio, the assassinated Ecuadorian presidential candidate, had been warned to wear a bulletproof vest days before he was killed. Villavicencio was shot at a political rally in the capital Quito on Wednesday 9 August, amid a startling wave of gang-driven violence in Ecuador. A few days ago, he told crowds he had been warned to protect himself. They have told me to use a [bulletproof] vest, but here I am in a sweaty shirt, Villavicencio said. The drug traffickers can come, let them come. Let the hired killers come. Let them come. Let the extorters come. Its the end of the threats. Crowds fled from police in shocking scenes during a day of chaos in Londons Oxford Street. Police clashed with dozens of young people, wrestling some of them away, while officers on horseback dispersed crowds on Europes busiest shopping street on Wednesday. West End stores were forced to close their shutters during the suspected looting raid which was reportedly inspired by a viral TikTok craze encouraging people to rob JD Sports. The Metropolitan Police arrested nine people and issued 34 dispersal orders. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} It was a hot, sunny day in Alaskas capital city, uncharacteristic of the largest temperate rainforest in the world. My nineteen-year-old niece and I were chatting about global warming, as Alaskans do whenever we get too hot. Global warming? my niece laughed. More like global burning. Hours later, ice melt that had accumulated in a Mendenhall Glacier basin over the last year crested the glacial dam. That same day, a raging current swept the home where two friends and teaching colleagues of mine lived into Mendenhall River. The river soon began devouring the bank near my sister-in-laws home. She spent several hours moving possessions from one side of the house to another in case part of her home fell into the river. Throughout the night, half of her neighbors house washed away. Friends on the other side of the river evacuated as neighborhoods and houses filled with diesel-smelling water. My husband, a Juneau water utility worker, was called to shut off the water from the devastated home and others to prevent reservoirs from draining and depleting the city water supply. As he navigated hundreds of onlookers and police officers trying to keep citizens safe, hundred-year-old spruce trees floated down the river. He heard timber snapping and boulders ripping loose from the embankment. Alaska house crashes into river as glacier flood batters riverbank In the end, no one was injured, gratefully. However, the cat belonging to my friends who lost their home is still missing. The next day, friends walked the streets looking for the missing cat. Locals set up GoFundMe accounts and offered up homes for displaced residents to stay in. Good samaritans brought around loaders to clean up debris littered along the Douglas boat launch. Beachgoers gathered oil barrels, eyeglasses, Christmas tree lights, family heirlooms, and building scaffolding that had washed up the shore. Some salvaged a ceiling truss and laid a blanket over it as a sun shade. A viral TikTok video resulted in significant international coverage of the historic flooding. Across social media, comments poured in, ranging from support and condolences to victim blaming. Thats what you get for building so close to the river, wrote one. Keep voting Republican, Alaska, wrote another, and enjoy the environmental price you pay. While I understand the urge to justify needless human suffering with victim blaming, such overgeneralizations are unhelpful and inaccurate. Although some might think Alaskans use sled dogs in lieu of email, Alaskans are very connected to the environment economically, culturally, spiritually, and ancestrally. Climate change affects everything from fisheries to our receding glaciers to the land on which our homes sit. In Southeast Alaska, where the flood occurred, most voters believe climate change is real. Just as the US discovered in 2020 that Latinos are not a voting monolith, neither are Alaskans. The state recently elected a Democrat to the US House of Representatives. The majority of voters in Southeast Alaska vote Democrat. Many of us are frustrated with our governors denial of human-caused climate change and pursuit of massive greenhouse gas-emitting drilling projects, like the Willow Project. Regarding the decision to build homes on an eroding river bank, no one forecasted such devastation. The homes that flooded and washed into the river were 50 to 100 feet from the embankment; many were not even to be considered in a flood zone. Although the glacial outburst flooding occurs yearly, the ice dam, known as Suicide Basin, had never crested until this year. By some estimations, more than 150 acres of riverbank were devoured by the historic flood. Contributing to the rapid and massive loss is the fact that Mendenhall River sits on glacial silt, sediment from ground-up rock, and gravel caused by glacial erosion, which is more easily eroded than rivers bordered by bedrock. Multiple families have been displaced or impacted due to this climate change disaster. One displaced teacher recently spent months in a neonatal intensive care unit with twin babies. Her home is now condemned as much of her condos structural foundation washed into the river. A total of ten members of the Juneau Education Association lost their homes. A website with various GoFundMe requests to assist all affected families has been set up to help the affected families. In Maui, hurricane-fueled fires have resulted in dozens of deaths, people missing, and communities decimated. We should avoid shaming and guilt-tripping people about their choices regarding where they live. Juneau school board member and insurance agent Emil Mackey, who adjusted damages from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, recently wrote on a community forum: A natural disaster could affect any of us. Nobody knows if there is a sinkhole under their home. [Being] told you should have done something different does not help. What does help is verbal support, food, water, shelter, and other outreach to help them recover. Rather than scapegoating victims to alleviate our grief that the world is burning, I urge people to help and donate to those in need. Questions raised over how US life insurance firm became involved Aircraft lessor Carlyle Aviation Management and a number of its Dublin-based subsidiaries have launched a $186m (169m) legal action in the United States related to six aircraft that the group had leased to Russian carrier UTair. The head of Cork engineering services business Glanaco has said the firm got out in time from its former parent company Deepverge after a 1 management buyout. Television What to watch on TV, Netflix, Apple TV+, Prime and Disney+ today: The Rose of Tralee, Chris Pratt in Jurassic World and the new series of Billions Bad gags abound in the latest offering from Disney Its time Disney gave up on the idea of making the Haunted Mansion anything more than a Disneyland ride. As though they learnt nothing from their failed attempt with the 2003 film of the same name starring Eddie Murphy, theyve brought it back, again. And all for a reboot that feels bumpier than the actual ride. Radio reviews: Joe Duffy was representing an important strand of public service by going on the attack here Rancher David Henderson watches his herd of cattle after pouring them animal feed on his ranch in Tennessee Colony, Texas, U.S. August 3, 2023. REUTERS/Evan Garcia The brown and black cattle of Texas, beloved symbols of the Lone Star state, walk through desiccated grass and stand in shrunken watering holes while their ranchers struggle to get them enough food. Ryan Tubridys name to disappear from 9am slot and talks about a successor have already begun A High Court judge has ruled that the names and images of three children who were the subject of child abduction proceedings can be published following their father's refusal to hand them over to the authorities. Irish soldier Sean Rooneys fiancee pays tribute on what should have been their wedding day We might not be getting married today but we will make up for everything we missed out on when I see you again Hollai Nic Conaill Oig and Sean Rooney (Photo: Hollai Nic Conaill Oig/Twitter) Sylvia Omorodion Thu 10 Aug 2023 at 13:01 Irish News Man (30s) slashed in the face in attack on Talbot Street in Dublin as gardai identify suspect IF Taoiseach Leo Varadkars visit to Northern Ireland couldnt have come at a more apt time, the leak of key data on PSNI members couldnt have come at a worse one. After such an indefensible hiatus, Mr Varadkar was eager to emphasise grounds for progress and identify problems as well as opportunities to enhance cooperation. Videos Lion's Mane jellyfish spotted in Cork as Irish Coast Guard issue sting warning Video shows a Lions Mane jellyfish floating in Roaring Water Bay, Co. Cork. The Lions Mane jellyfish delivers a powerful sting that can be very painful to humans. The Irish Coast Guard has issued a national warning after reports of many painful Bishop David OConnell was shot dead at his Hacienda Heights home in February. A 61-year-old handyman charged with the murder earlier this year of the Cork-born Bishop of Los Angeles, David OConnell, is set to appear before a preliminary court hearing today (Thursday) where the District Attorney will lay out the evidence in the case. Schoolbus lottery chaos in north Cork leaves parents scrambling as first day of term looms Parents told by Minister Foley that there will no additional buses as applications for tickets up by 21% in year Parents of 17 children at least have been told they will have no place on the schoolbus from Castlemagner to their parish school, Ballyhass National School. Concubhar O Liathain Corkman Thu 10 Aug 2023 at 01:01 Irish News RNLI battle Storm Betty to rescue yacht and two sailors in Co Kerry The Indo Daily Revisited: Unsolved The killing of Fr Niall Molloy Wexford & District Flourishing womens shed in south Wexford creates a new space to call its own Since its inception in 2015 the Tomhaggard Womens Shed (TWS) has seen its membership grow to almost 50 members. This increase in numbers has led to the creation of An Tigin, the groups new creative workspace and a venue which will accommodate Sammy Long and Sam Fagan, hailing from Ballybofey, in County Donegal with Bill Porter, Owner of Gill Hall Estate, John McCullough, Chairman of the World Trial Committee and Isabel Branch, CEO of the International Sheepdog Society. Wicklow man Paddy Fanning will represent Ireland at the prestigious World Sheepdog Trials, which will take place at Gill Hall Estate in Dromore, County Down, between September 13 and 16. Ex-rebel leader launches alliance to overturn military coup in west African state Nigers junta has accused France of violating its airspace as part of a broader plan to destabilise the country, ratcheting up rhetoric in a way that left little hope for a swift diplomatic resolution of the crisis there. Europe Obituary: Martin Walser, German writer who argued for a new national identity after the shame of the Nazis A Utah man accused of making threats against Joe Biden was shot and killed by FBI agents, hours before the US president was expected to land in the state yesterday. Photo Courtesy: The Morung Express The village of Kiyevi in Nagaland has chosen Satoli Z Swu, a 63-year-old retired government teacher and community stalwart, as its new village chief. Swu's elevation to this traditionally male-dominated role is a significant testament to the evolving dynamics in Naga society, where women are increasingly assuming prominent positions and advocating for positive change, reports Morung Express. The historic moment took place during a dedicatory prayer ceremony on August 3, where Swu was draped with the revered Gaonburas Red Shawl, symbolizing her investiture as the village chief. Swu, a mother of six and widow of the late Zheshito Swu, who was a respected leader himself, brings a wealth of experience from her years of service to both society and the church. Her journey to leadership wasn't without challenges, as the customary practice of hereditary Kingship initially prompted male family members to select her brother-in-law. However, upon his refusal, Swu humbly accepted the responsibility, backed by the consensus of the village people, who recognized her capabilities and entrusted her with the role. Defying societal norms and the remnants of gender biases, Swu remains steadfast in her commitment to advancing her community. She envisions her leadership as an opportunity to foster peace and reconciliation between the Sumi and Zeliang communities, addressing a long-standing boundary dispute that has persisted for four decades. With optimism and determination, Swu believes that women possess unique qualities that can contribute to conflict resolution and peace-building. Swu's achievement resonates within the broader context of Naga women's empowerment. Over the years, Naga women have increasingly broken barriers and shattered stereotypes, emerging as influential figures in various fields. Their amplified visibility and assertive voices have begun to reshape societal norms, marking a significant step forward in the pursuit of gender parity and inclusive leadership. As Naga women continue to rise and make indelible marks across diverse spheres, Satoli Z Swu's appointment as the village chief stands as a beacon of progress and an embodiment of the transformative power of women's leadership. Photo courtesy: Pixabay Srinagar/UNI: Security forces busted two modules of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) by arresting six militant associates of the group in Kashmir, police said on Thursday. The modules were busted in the border town of Uri in the Baramulla and Budgam districts of Jammu and Kashmir. They said joint forces of Baramulla Police and Army's 16 SIKHLI during joint patrolling and area dominance at Churunda Uri noticed one suspected person who was roaming in the area and tried to flee while noticing the patrolling party. "He was apprehended tactfully by joint forces. During his personal search, two grenades were recovered from him, and he was taken into custody immediately," a police statement said. He was later identified as Showkat Ali Awan of Churunda Uri. Police said during further questioning he revealed the names of his accomplices, Ahmad Din and Mohammad Sadeeq Khatana, both residents of Churunda. The two were questionable, and upon their disclosure, two grenades, a Chinese pistol, a pistol magazine, and four live rounds were recovered from them, police said. "The accused are involved in the cross-border smuggling of arms and ammunition at the behest of Pakistan-based terror handlers and its further distribution to LeT terrorists for carrying out terror activities," police said. A case under the Indian Arms Act and the UA (P) Act was registered in Police Station Uri, and investigations were taken up in the matter. In a separate operation, Police and security forces arrested three militant associates linked with the proscribed terror outfit LeT in Budgam and recovered incriminating materials from their possession. Police, along with the Army's 62 RR, arrested three terrorist associates in the Khansahab area of district Budgam, they said. They have been identified as Qaisar Ahmad Dar of Kremshora, Tahir Ahmad Dar, and Aqib Rashed Ganie, both residents of Wagar, linked with the proscribed terror outfit LeT, police said. "Incriminating materials, including one Chinese hand grenade, two magazines, and 57 live rounds, have been recovered from their possession. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation," police said. Accordingly, a case under relevant sections of the law has been registered at Police Station Khansahab, and an investigation has been taken up. New Delhi: Speaking in response to the no-confidence motion in the Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday took a dig at the Opposition, saying that the no-confidence motion is lucky for the NDA. Modi referred to the coalition formed by the Opposition parties, I.N.D.I.A, as Ghamandiya (one steeped in arrogance) as he alleged that the alliance represents corruption, nepotism, and an era of failure that weakened Indias position. Attacking the Opposition, specifically the Congress, Modi said people of India have reposed faith in the government time and again, adding that he considers it as a God's blessing that the opposition brought the no-confidence motion. Speaking in the Lok Sabha. https://t.co/FVFoofiMkA Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 10, 2023 It happened in 2018 as well. Even then I had said, the motion is not a floor test of our government but theirs, he said. They could not win when voting happened, they fell short. When they reached out to the public, their response reflected a lack of confidence in the Opposition. The NDA and BJP received a greater number of votes, showing our popularity. Interestingly, the opposition's motion of no-confidence has provided us with a fortunate outcome. This decision solidifies our belief that the NDA and BJP will secure a substantial victory and return with a strong mandate, he said. Slamming the Opposition that has repeatedly accused the government for not working for the poor, he pointed out that IMF has called the DBT (direct-benefit transfer) a logistical marvel. WHO has said India is saving lakhs with the Jal Jeevan Mission. WHO analysed the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Many allegations were levelled by them. They claimed that Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) was in dire straits, even resorting to showing videos of HAL employees to intimidate them and propagate the idea of HAL's decline. Their intentions seemed to revolve around the downfall of HAL. They asserted that LIC (Life Insurance Corporation) was on the brink of collapse, insinuating that the funds of the less fortunate had been squandered. However, present circumstances reveal that LIC is consistently gaining strength and resilience. Their favourite slogan is "Modi teri kabr khudegi (Modi, your grave will be dug). But to me, their offensive language and use of unparliamentary words serve as a source of motivation. But why do they resort to such behavior? In my opinion, the opposition seems to possess a mysterious blessing anyone they criticize ends up prospering. I am a living testament to this phenomenon. They directed their criticism towards the banking sectors, even bringing in external experts and circulating rumours. Ironically, the profits of state banks witnessed a twofold increase despite their efforts. The nation holds the belief that when you introduce a no-confidence motion in 2028, by that time the country will have secured a position among the top three, he said. In 1991, the nation teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. However, by 2014, India had risen to the top five. While Congress might perceive this transformation as something magical, it was actually achieved through a concerted effort of "reform, perform, and unwavering diligence." The history of the Congress and its friends reveals a lack of confidence in India and its potential. In the face of border attacks and frequent terrorist incursions by Pakistan, while Kashmir grappled with terrorism, the Congress relied on the Hurriyat, separatists, and those aligned with a Pakistani flag. In response, we carried out surgical strikes, yet they remained sceptical of our actions and chose to trust Pakistan instead, he said. The Congress seems to be consumed by arrogance, causing them to lose touch with the reality on the ground. "They can find people to create a ruckus and shout slogans, but they must work as an Opposition that can oppose constructively. It needs a lot of work and apparently, they dont want to act in that way. We have seen that the Opposition was underprepared to debate over issues such as Manipur," he said. Taking a jibe at the Opposition parties meeting in Bengaluru to form a coalition ahead of the 2024 general elections to defeat the BJP, Modi said, During your (Opposition) gathering in Bengaluru, you convened to bid farewell to the UPA. I should have offered my condolences at that time, but the delay wasn't my doing. While you were performing the last rites of the UPA and attempting to glorify the patching and repainting of ruins, you were essentially trying to present an old car as an electric vehicle. I came here today to respond to the allegations, despite the unparliamentary language against me, I am happy that we were able to speak about the work we have done so far and I thank the Opposition for bringing the no-confidence motion. New Delhi/IBNS/UNI: Trinamool Congress (TMC) Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday, while opposing the remission granted to 11 convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case, said that release of these convicts might pose a danger to her life and it is a crime against humanity. "Post-release, these 11 convicts are dangerous for her (Bilkis Bano) life. It is a crime against humanity. There are violations of natural justice. Post-release, there's a vulnerability. We are seeking relief to quash the order of the Gujarat government of remitting the sentences and release these 11 convicts prematurely," Senior lawyer Indira Jaising, appearing for the petitioner- Mahua Moitra, told the apex court two-judge bench, headed by Justice B V Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan. She submitted to the top court that there's a silence on categories of crime to be granted remission. There is no policy at all. There are no norms laid down by the state of Gujarat for remission. "Crime, criminal, motive, gravity, nature of crimes were not considered while granting remission to these 11 convicts. My client has come before this court because public authority has acted capriciously, and she has come in the public interest for the public good," Jaising told the court. The Gujarat government awarded remission to all 11 convicts and freed them on August 15, last year. Bano has filed a writ petition in the top court challenging the remission granted to 11 convicts. The 11 convicts who were set free are Jaswant Nai, Govind Nai, Shailesh Bhatt, Radhyesham Shah, Bipin Chandra Joshi, Kesarbhai Vohania, Pradeep Mordhiya, Bakabhai Vohania, Rajubhai Soni, Mitesh Bhatt, and Ramesh Chandana. The court was hearing a batch of pleas, including certain ones filed by third parties, challenging the decision of the Gujarat government to grant remission to 11 convicts who had gang-raped Bilkis Bano and murdered her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots. "Instead of protecting the rights of women and children, the Gujarat government has remitted the convicts. Crime committed against Bano cannot be looked at in isolation of what was happening in Gujarat during the Communal and sectarian riots," Jaising said. "It is a crime against a civilian. This is a violation of gross human rights. The state of Gujarat has not considered that the crime committed against Bilkis Bano was a crime against humanity. What happened to Bilkis is cruel, inhuman, and degrading," Jaising said. The trial court judge has rightly said in an adverse manner and refused to give its nod for remission to 11 convicts, keeping in view the nature and brutality of the crimes, Jaising said. On Thursday, the petitioners concluded their arguments, and the Supreme Court will start hearing from the State of Gujarat on August 17. During the course of the hearing, the senior lawyer also said that communal harmony is the hallmark of a democracy. "No religion teaches hatred. If in the name of religion, people are killed, that is essentially a slur and blot on the society governed by the rule of law," she said. Image Credit: Screengrab New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday slammed the Opposition, alleging that it only wanted to "play politics" on Manipur violence despite Home Minister Amit Shah's detailed explanation of the state of affairs in the northeastern state. I want to assure the mothers and sisters of Manipur that the country and the parliament are with you. Once again, Manipur will move on the path of development, Modi said as he accused the Opposition bloc INDIA of not intending to debate the Manipur issue as the The Centre and the state government are working together to punish the perpetrators of heinous crimes against women in Manipur, he said. Modi alleged that it was the Congress that did the groundwork that led to the current tumultuous situation in Manipur. Starting with Ram Manohar Lohia's criticism of Jawaharlal Nehru regarding his northeastern policy, he traced its consequences to the rise of separatist movements in multiple states of the northeastern region. Referring to the previous No-Confidence Motion brought by Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party in 2018, Prime Minister Modi said, "Back then, I had mentioned that the motion was not a test for our government, but for theirs... When the vote was cast, they didn't garner enough support... When we turned to the public, it was evident that people had expressed their lack of confidence in them. The NDA and BJP received greater support. In a sense, the Opposition's No-Confidence Motion serves as a positive sign for us." The Opposition made it clear that it had brought the No-Confidence Motion knowing well that the government holds a significant numerical advantage to compel Prime Minister Modi to speak on the issue of Manipur. This was one of their two demands, which the government was unwilling to accommodate, they claimed. A file photo of the assassinated politician | Photo courtesy: Wikipedia Creative Commons Ecuador's upcoming presidential election was bloodied by the assassination of a presidential candidate at a campaign rally in the capital city on Wednesday amid an escalation in drug cartel fuelled violence in the South American nation. Fernando Villavicencio, who was campaigning against gangs, corruption and drug dealers, was shot dead in the capital Quito. A suspect was also killed in the shootout, said Ecuador's president Guillermo Lasso, assuring that the guilty would be punished. "Organised crime has come a long way, but the full weight of the law will fall on them, Lasso said as he declared a state of emergency for 60 days. He also mobilized the armed forces across the country and announced three days of national mourning, according to the BBC. Equador Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio moments before he was assassinated.#Equador #Assassination pic.twitter.com/MqCcEfaQoX (@Agsidorova) August 10, 2023 According to the British broadcaster, Fernando Villavicencio, a member of the country's national assembly, was attacked as he left the event in the capital, Quito, on Wednesday. Villavicencio was also a former journalist. He is one of the few candidates to allege links between organised crime and government officials in Ecuador, BBC reported. The rise in violence owing to the growing drug cartel presence has been an election issue in this year's presidential campaign. A member of his campaign team told local media the 59-year-old was getting into a car when a man stepped forward and shot him in the head, reported BBC. Image: Unsplash/Micha Brandli Seoul: North Korea on Wednesday convened an enlarged central military commission meeting, discussing ways to intensify war preparations in response to the grave political and military situation on the Korean Peninsula, state media reported. The enlarged session of the Central Military Commission of the Worker's Party of Korea (WPK) analyzed military developments that deteriorated the situation on the peninsula and decided on "the plans for offensive military countermeasures," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. The issue of proactively conducting actual war drills and making full preparations for carrying out the operation plans was also discussed, the KCNA said. Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the WPK, chairman of the Central Military Commission of the WPK, and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, stressed the need to increase the means to strike enemies. He said it's necessary to conduct actual war drills to hone the military's skills to efficiently operate the latest weapons commissioned to the military, the KCNA report said. Kim also underlined the need to manufacture more weapons to modernize the military. The meeting also dismissed General Pak Su Il from the post of the chief of the General Staff and appointed Vice Marshal Ri Yong Gil as the new chief, according to the report. In a spate of incidents targeting Hindu community in Sindh, armed motorcycle borne attackers robbed several Hindu businessmen and kidnapped two individuals, including an eight-year-old child, possibly for ransom. Ransom calls have not yet been received by the individuals families. "While Gobind Ram, a Jacobabad-based cloth merchant, while traveling to Manjhipur for business dealings was robbed of Rs.2010000 and a mobile phone at gunpoint around 150 meters from Dilmurad police station on 05.08.2023 (1600 hrs), armed motorcyclists kidnapped Avinash Bajaj, an oil trader, from his office in Shahdakot, besides looting Rs. 900000 cash he had kept in office on 05.08.2023 (2130 hrs)," sources said. Separately, in three incidents of targeted robbery at gunpoint, robbers looted Rs. 500000 and 48 grams of gold jewelry from the house of one Satyapal of Thul (Jacobabad, Sindh). "Rs. 800000, 15 tola gold jewelry and 4 mobile phones were looted from house of Krishan Lal near Hathedar police station after taking them hostage in the interveining night of 5&6.08.2023," sources said. Akash Kumar, a pharmacy owner, was stopped at Rato Dero Shikarpur Road on Aug 5 and robbed of Rs. 120000 while he was going to make payments to his dealer. Dr. Lajpat Rai, a renowned medical practitioner of Kandhkot (Sindh) was fired upon and injured by armed motorcyclists who tried to stop his car, early morning on Aug 6 at Badani Bakhshapur Link Road. When he refused to stop and increased speed, he was fired upon. Doctor Rai received bullet injuries in back and leg, though he somehow managed to escape and reach the nearest police post. According to him, the attackers might have wanted to kidnap him as he was not carrying substantial amount during the time of attack. Reportedly, an eight-year-old, Adesh Kumar, son of businessman Kamal Kumar, was kidnapped by armed motorcyclists from the same area where Dr. Lajpat Rai was fired upon on Aug 6. Photo Courtesy: Chinese Embassy in Solomon Islands Facebook page The Chinese government has granted over USD 130,000 to Solomon Islands news companies to 'promote the truth about China's generosity and its true intention to help develop' the Pacific island country, media reports said. The Island Nation became a major point of contention between China and the USA after Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare shifted the island nation's diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019. In 2022, the country signed a security pact with China which alarmed the United States and allies such as Australia as they feared it could pave the way for a Chinese military presence in the region. The July 2022 funding proposal from the owners of the Solomon Star newspaper and its Paoa FM radio station to the Chinese embassy says a partnership will benefit Beijing by 'promoting China as the most generous and trusted development partner in Solomon Islands', reports Radio Free Asia. The pay-for-play arrangement was first reported Sunday by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, which is funded by nonprofit foundations and government agencies. It says its Pacific reporting is funded by a no-strings attached U.S. government grant. The documents reviewed by BenarNews provide specific details of what was an open secret in some circles in the Solomon Islands about largesse from Chinas embassy directed at the countrys media. The Solomon Star is one of two main newspapers in the Solomon Islands, reports RFA. A July 17 email to several Solomon Star reporters from the papers senior journalist, Alfred Sasako, reprimanded the reporters for critical coverage of Sogavares official visit that month to Beijing. I write to place on record my profound disappointment about our front page article, titled China Trip Exposed, Sasako said in the email reviewed by BenarNews. My further disappointment is the fact that such publicity makes it very difficult for me to deal with the Chinese Embassy on matters pertaining to Chinese Government support for [the] Solomon Star, he said in the email that also extolled the benefits of Chinas assistance to the Solomon Islands. An editorial in the Solomon Stars Tuesday edition defended its Chinese government funding and denied the Chinese embassy had reproached the newspaper for negative coverage or attempted to censor any reports. Yes, Solomon Star has nothing to hide, said the article as quoted by RFA. We have received funding support from China. It claimed that other media organizations and journalists in the Solomon Islands were also receiving or seeking Chinese government funding. The funding document claimed that the Lamani family-owned Solomon Star had even approached the Chinese embassy in 2021 about financial assistance and the embassy agreed to provide about U.S.$41,000. The agreed funding was increased in June 2022 to about U.S.$133,000 based on a new Project format provided by the embassy, it said. Image: Twitter video grab The Philippines' foreign ministry recently summoned Beijing's envoy to complain about the China Coast Guard firing water cannon at a Philippine Coast Guard ship while it was escorting a civilian convoy on the South China Sea. In response, the Chinese government reiterated its demand that the Philippines remove the BRP Sierra Madre, a rusty World War II-era naval ship that Manila deliberately ran aground in the Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal) in 1999 to serve as a military outpost in those contested waters, Radio Free Asia reported. The convoy of Philippines ships was on a mission to deliver food, water, fuel and other supplies to troops stationed aboard the BRP Sierra Madre. According to reports, the incident happened during this time. While meeting with the Chinese envoy on Monday morning, Manila conveyed the strong protest of the Philippine government to the blocking and water cannon operation by the Chinese Coast Guard and Chinese maritime militia vessels against Philippine indigenous boats, Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Ma. Teresa Daza told reporters as quoted by RFA. The Philippine convoy was conducting [a] regular rotation and resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal, she said. Chinese patrol ships attacked a Philippine Navy vessel. A new incident has occurred in the South China Sea between China and the Philippines. A Chinese Coast Guard ship armed with water cannons reportedly attacked a Philippine ship carrying supplies for the garrison on the pic.twitter.com/A4apSWXWss Avia.Pro - Foreign Affairs - Geopolitics (@avia_pro) August 7, 2023 The Philippine government also expressed disappointment that it could not reach Chinas foreign ministry through a hotline established between the countries earlier this year to improve communication during incidents related to the South China Sea, she said. In November 2017, KK Harshina, a woman from Kerala's Kozhikode, underwent a Caesarean for the birth of her third child. She was discharged from the hospital days later, but the 31-year-old soon started experiencing pain in her abdominal area. As the pain became unbearable, Harshina and her family consulted several doctors, and after getting infected repeatedly, she underwent two more surgeries. FACEBOOK Forceps left behind in stomach But the pain never subsided and only worsened in the following months and years. Finally, after living with unbearable pain for nearly five years, in September 2022, to the shock of Harshina, a doctor told her that the reason for the severe pain was a surgical instrument that was left behind in her stomach. Harshina underwent another surgery at the Kozhikode Medical College, where she had her Caesarean in 2017, and metal forceps, which is used to control bleeding from blood vessels by clamping the artery, was removed from her stomach. REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE Forceps pierced her bladder The doctors who conducted the surgery also found that the surgical instrument had pierced her bladder, resulting in the severe pain and recurring infections she had been experiencing for nearly five years. While the mother of three was relieved that the nagging pain that made her life a living hell was gone, Harshina wanted to know how the forceps ended up there. She filed a police complaint and also petitioned Health Minister Veena George and Medical College Superintendent about the gross medical negligence. BCCL Two lakh compensation for five years of pain After the incident caused outrage, the Kerala government announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for Harshina. But Harshina said that the amount was too little as her family had to spend nearly Rs 35 lakhs for her treatment in the five years. Probe clears doctors of charges An internal investigation by the Medical College Hospital cleared its doctors and even went on to state that the forceps in question did not belong to them. However, a police investigation into the incident substantiated Harshina's claim that the forceps were left by doctors at Kozhikode Medical College hospital during the cesarean. FACEBOOK The report indicts two doctors and two Kozhikode Medical College hospital nursing staff responsible for this costly goof-up. A medical board on Tuesday rejected the police findings and argued that there was no conclusive evidence to say that the forceps was left behind during the c-section. Hunger strike for justice With the government failing to act against the accused, Harshina has been on a hunger strike in front of the Kozhikode Medical College for the past 80 days, demanding action against the culprits. FACEBOOK "I am doing this so that no one else should go through what I had to face. I am shocked that the medical board has rejected the police's findings. I don't understand how someone could do it with a straight face. But I won't give up and will go to any lengths to fight for justice," Harshina said on Wednesday before she and some 11 other protesters were taken into custody by the police. For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News. As Manipur continues to grapple with ethnic violence between the communities of Meiteis and Kukis, the third community in the state - the Nagas - have been more or less on the sidelines. Barring the death of a Naga individual in the crossfire, the Nagas have managed to be removed from the horrific violence that has plagued the state for more than 3 months now. But now, Manipur is seeing efforts being made to highlight the Naga political issue. Massive rally brings back Naga political issue A massive rally was organised by the Naga tribals in Manipur on Wednesday, demanding a resolution to the decades-old Naga political issue. Naga rally on August 9, 2023/ AFP Organised by the United Naga Council (UNC), the apex body of the Nagas in Manipur, the huge rally was held in Manipur's four Naga-dominated districts of Tamenglong, Chandel, Ukhrul, and Senapati, which are located along the Nagaland and Myanmar borders. Holding placards and banners, the rally participants, comprising men and women, shouted slogans for early solution to the Naga peace talks. Apex Kuki tribal body, Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM) and Hmar Inpui, the apex body of Hmar tribes, had supported the UNCs mass rally. In a statement, the UNC said that Naga peace talks with the government have made significant progress with the signing of the historic Framework Agreement between the Centre and the NSCN-IM eight years ago, in August of 2015. BCCL However, the inordinate delay in signing the 'Final Agreement' is a cause for concern and has the potential to derail the peace negotiation, it said. Demand for 'Greater Nagalim' with separate Constitution and Flag "Greater Nagalim" is one of the core demands of the NSCN-IM. The Greater Nagalim demand envisages redrawing of boundaries in the Northeast region in order to bring all Naga-inhabited areas under one administrative umbrella. This includes redrawing the boundaries of Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, as well as Myanmar. This demand also extends to a separate Naga Yezabo (Constitution) and Naga national flag for Greater Nagalim. The assertion of Naga nationalism began during British rule and has continued after Independence. The National Socialist Council of Nagaland - Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM), an insurgent outfit, is one of the factions of the erstwhile Naga National Council (NNC), which had declared Naga independence on August 14, 1947. PM Modi with Naga leaders/ Indian Express The Framework Agreement of 2015, signed by the Government of India and NSCN-IM had, recognised the unique history, culture and position of the Nagas and their sentiments and aspirations. But, the details of the agreement are yet to be released by the government. Stiff opposition by neighbouring states There is naturally a stiff opposition to the NSCN-IM's demand in the neighbouring states. In October of 2017, amid the debate over whether Assam and Manipur would lose parts of their land to Nagalim, then Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal had said that "not an inch of state's land would be parted with", The Telegraph had reported. Similarly, Manipur is also against the Greater Nagaland demand since NSCN (IM) wants the Naga-inhabited hill districts of Manipur included in Nagalim. In 2001, Manipur witnessed violent agitation against the NSCN-IM demand and even the state Assembly was partially burnt. Many people lost their lives when the ceasefire between the Centre and NSCN-IM was extended without territorial limits. Why Kuki tribal bodies are now supporting Greater Nagalim demand However, amidst the ongoing ethnic conflict in Manipur, apex Kuki tribal bodies have supported this particular rally for Greater Nagalim after seeing Centre's apathy for tribal demands. Firstpost "Enduring the apathetic attitude of the successive Manipur governments for over 50 years' vis-a-vis denial of tribals' constitutional rights and institutional injustices meted out by the majoritarian hegemony in socio-politico and economic spheres upon the suppressed tribal communities, it is prudent on the part of the Central leadership to act conscientiously thereby expedite the processes of resolving the legitimate demands of both the tribal communities in the form of separate administration for the Kukis and in conformity with the Framework Agreement for the Nagas so as to ensure lasting peace in the beleaguered, torn-apart state of Manipur," the KIM statement had said. The Manipur violence, which began on May 3, has left over 160 dead and over 700 injured of both communities. For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News. After Netflix, it appears that Disney+ (known as Disney+ Hotstar in India) will begin cracking down on password-sharing. A move that was once called foolish has reaped benefits for Netflix as the platform added 6 million new subscribers after logging out non-paying users. During its Q3 2023 earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger claimed that Disney+ is "actively exploring" ways to limit account sharing with new policies expected to roll out sometime in 2024. Unsplash Goodbye, password-sharing on Disney+ Hotstar Without sharing a number, Iger said that a "significant" amount of people have been sharing their Disney+ credentials with friends and family. He highlighted how they wish to explore how many of them can be converted into new subscribers. If this works out as well it has for Netflix, the company could add new subscribers and boost its revenue. According to Iger, Disney+ would bring in "some" new subscribers after changing password-sharing policies. Even then, it's unlikely for this work to finish before 2024. Disney is expected to begin updating its subscriber agreements with fresh terms towards the end of this year, which Iger called a "priority." Also read: How To Transfer Your Netflix Profile In Light Of New Password-Sharing Rules In India Unsplash Disney+ Hotstar (as it is known in many countries including India) lost 12.5 million subscribers between April and June, bringing its subscribers down to 40.4 million from 52.9 million. The platform lost rights to live stream Indian Premier League (IPL). In addition, HBO pulled all its content off Disney+ Hotstar in March this year in India. Now, that content is available to stream via JioCinema. Even considering all these factors, Disney+ Hotstar is still among the most sanely priced streaming subscriptions, costing 899 a year with ads. The Premium subscriptions costs 1,499 with no ads and support for ultra-HD resolution. Unsplash Also read: Password-Sharing On Netflix No Longer Allowed In India: What Has Changed? In contrast, Netflix's Premium subscription costs 649 per month, with the mobile only plan starting at 149 per month. What do you think about Disney+ Hotstar's move? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com. By Tyler Durden August 09, 2023: Information Clearing House -- " Zero Hedge " -- Republicans on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday revealed over $20 million in payments they claim foreign actors from places like Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan sent the Biden family and their associates while Joe Biden was vice president. The records show Baturina wired $3.5 million to Rosemont Seneca Thornton, a shell company belonging to Hunter and Archer, in February 2014. Three-quarters of a million dollars was then transferred directly to Archer, and the rest was used to fund a new company, Rosemont Seneca Bohai. The bank record shows a transfer of $3.5 million on February 14, 2014 and a transfer of $2.7 million to Rosemont Seneca Bohai on March 11, 2014. -Daily Mail "During Joe Bidens vice presidency, Hunter Biden sold him as the brand to reap millions from oligarchs in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. It appears no real services were provided other than access to the Biden network, including Joe Biden himself. And Hunter Biden seems to have delivered," said committee chairman James Comer (R-KY). "Its clear Joe Biden knew about his sons business dealings and allowed himself to be the brand sold to enrich the Biden family while he was Vice President of the United States." We have been breaking people out of the Matrix for more than 23 Years! In one instance, Kazakh oil oligarch Kenes Rakishev wired $142,000 to Hunter Biden's shell corporation to buy a new Porsche (which Hunter bought the next day), before a dinner was set up between the oligarch and Joe Biden, bank records show. And on March 25, 2014, there were two separate transfers for $2.2 million and $200,000 respectively into the Rosemont Seneca Bohai account, which Hunter and Devon Archer used to receive other personal payments such as those from Burisma. The committee says Hunter then transferred the money into another Rosemont Seneca Bohai account that he and Archer were able to access. After this, then-VP Joe Biden attended a dinner with Baturina, Hunter, Archer and others at Cafe Milano in Washington DC. And guess who was left off Biden's list of sanctioned Russian oligarchs? Baturina. The committee also says they have proof that Archer and Biden were paid $1 million each for their role on Burisma's board, or $83,333 per month. Nothing to see here, just energy expert Hunter Biden raking it in from the company has father would later protect by forcing Ukraine to hire its head prosecutor. The committee has subpoenaed records from six different banks and have received thousands of records regarding the shell corps, but have not 'yet' subpoenaed bank records for the Biden family. On Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called on President Biden to "give us his bank statements." Third Bank Records Memorand... by James Lynch Views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Lawmaker representing the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, Ireti Kingibe, says she has not received any prayers in her email from the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio. Kingibe, a Senator under the platform of the Labour Party, LP, said this in reaction to a gaffe made by Senate President Godswill Akpabio when he announced to the lawmakers that they have been paid to enjoy their recess. Recall that on Monday, the upper legislative chamber concluded the screening and confirmation of ministerial nominees given by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. After the exercise, the lawmakers adjourned the plenary to September 26. Addressing his colleagues before the adjournment motion was moved, Akpabio said money has been sent by Magaji Tambuwal, clerk of the National Assembly, to the senators to enjoy their holidays. In order to enable all of us to enjoy our holidays, a token has been sent to our various accounts by the clerk of the national assembly, Akpabio had said. READ ALSO: SERAP To Sue Akpabio Over Holiday Allowance For Senators Comment The senate president was promptly alerted by his colleagues that he was speaking on live television. Fearing that his disclosure will bring another backlash to him, Akpabio quickly recanted his comments with a feeble attempt at downplaying his gaffe by rephrasing the initial comment. He however rephrased saying, In order to allow you to enjoy your holiday, the Senate president has sent prayers to your mailboxes to assist you to go on a safe journey and return. But Kingibe who spoke on Wednesday while featuring on Channels Televisions Politics Today, maintained that she did not receive any allowances that were out of the ordinary. No, actually, I didnt receive any prayers, but Ill check my email for the prayers, Kingibe said humorously, adding that she did not know for sure what Akpabio was talking about. The lawyer representing the Peoples Democratic Partys presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, Liu Angela, said she had sent an email to President Bola Ahmed Tinubus lawyers, requesting for their cooperation in asking the Chicago State University about documents already in the public domain, which have been submitted in proceeding in court. According to her, the email, which was sent on August 3, 2023 was requesting, to learn CSUs position on whether, how, and when they were provided to other Nigerian litigants, and CSUs position on the authenticity of the documents. READ MORE: Tinubu: US Court Declines Atikus Request To Subpoena Chicago State University Mr. Tinubu should have been keen to clear up any inconsistencies in his academic achievements and set the records straight by allowing the expedition of the legal process. If there is an explanation for the discrepancies we have identified, we would think that Mr Tinubu would be eager to provide it. If you would like to provide an explanation to us, we are happy to consider it. That might preclude the need for, or at least expedite the deposition, the lawyer said. However, Tinubus legal team have continued to frustrate these gestures opposing all initiatives aimed at setting the records straight about the academic records of their client at Chicago State University. Angela stressed that Mr Tinubus adamant refusal to grant them access to his school records has only fuelled suspicions and suggested that he has something to conceal. She said: In candour, the vehemence of Mr Tinubus opposition to this discovery is increasing rather than mitigating our suspicions. The Niger Republic military has threatened to kill President Mohamed Bazoum if the Economic of West African States (ECOWAS) attempts any forceful intervention to restore civilian rule. INFORMATION NIGERIA reports that a United States military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the representatives of the junta told the U.S. Under Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, of the threat to Bazoum during her visit to the country this week. Recall that Bazoum, who was deposed on July 26, and his family are being held hostage at his residence by the military forces deployed by the coup leaders. However, the regional body had met in Abuja weeks ago and issued a seven-day deadline for the Niger junta to reinstate ousted President Bazoum or risk sanctions, including possible military intervention. READ MORE: ECOWAS Orders Standby Force To Restore Constitutional Order In Niger It was gathered that ECOWAS issued fresh sanctions on Niger junta and their allies in Burkina Faso including Mali over to the sacked President. Meanwhile, ECOWAS said on Thursday that it had directed the deployment of a standby force to restore democracy in Niger after the coup. However, it gave no details about the make-up, location and proposed date of deployment for any military intervention force. In his speech at the extraordinary meeting in Abuja, President Bola Tinubu described the ongoing political crisis in Niger Republic as a threat to the stability of other Western African countries. Tinubu has therefore urged ECOWAS leaders that the union should prioritize diplomacy in settling the political crisis in Niger. Primate Elijah Ayodele, leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, has warned the United States (US) President, Joe Biden against invading Niger Republic following the coup that ousted President Mohammed Bazoum. The cleric warned that invading Niger Republic would amount to fighting God, adding that it may lead to third world war. The warning followed the US acting Deputy Secretary, Victoria Nulands comment asking the junta to return Bazoum back to power. However, Ayodele warned that the US invasion of Niger Republic is satanic and a terrorist move that would spark Gods anger. In a statement signed by Oluwatosin Osho, his media aide, Ayodele warned Biden to allow the people of Niger Republic to decide their future rather than forcing the return of democracy on them. READ ALSO: Niger Crisis Requires Public Diplomacy Mohammad Sanusi According to him, invading Niger Republic will cause more trouble to world peace. If the US invades Niger Republic, it will be a satanic and terrorist move. It means Joe Biden is looking for Gods anger. It is a means to start a third world war which God is against. Leave Niger to decide their future, this is the message of the Lord to the US. Going to fight in Niger is like fighting God, the US will pay heavily for it if the invasion happens. This will also discredit and disqualify Joe Bidens government. His second-term ambition is still shaking, an attempt to invade Niger Republic will destroy his government. Dont invade Niger, invasion of the country will cause more trouble to the peace of the world, it wont be an easy thing. Its too early to fight in Niger, dont start a third world war, he stated. Some owners and operators of recreational centres and beer joints in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have decried the decline in their recent business activities and customers patronage due to rising cost of living. The operators made this known on Wednesday in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, lamented that the situation was inspired by the removal of fuel subsidy. They added that this had led many customers to reduce their spending on activities like alcohol consumption and others. Mr Chibuzo Nzewata, a proprietor of a recreation spot in Garki, expressed concern over a decline in business activity, attributed low patronage to the removal of fuel subsidy. Nzewata said that one of the major challenges was inadequate power supply from the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, adding that running on generators from morning till the closing period would not grow the business. READ MORE: Hisbah Shuts Beer Parlours, Bans Prostitution In Jigawa During Ramadan According to him, customers have been visiting but there is a slight decline in profit margin, owing to the rising cost of running the business. Before now, we used to have a full arena but it has reduced due to high cost of living. People do not come out to patronise us like before. Selling of alcoholic drinks is what gives us more money than other drinks but sales have drastically reduced. I know that removal of fuel subsidy has made most of my patrons cut back on spending on activities like alcohol consumption and others. I believe that in spite of the economic crunch, Nigerians will soon get over this and come out to have fun and live up to their perception as the happiest set of people on earth, he said. Another operator of a pepper soup joint and bar, Madam Julie Okoli said business activity had been slow since the removal of fuel subsidy. She said that prices of commodities had also skyrocketed, adding that this has really affected the way people visit joints and bars. The problem is that the economy is so bad that people only save their money for food and nothing else. It is someone who has comfortably eaten that will talk of going out to the bar to drink with friends. There is adjustment in the price of my pepper soup and Nkwobi; a plate of pepper soup was previously sold for N700, but it is now sold for N1000. `Nkwobi was formerly N1000 but now goes for N1500. People do not patronise us as they used to because of the economic hardship, but I believe things will normalise soon. As you can see for yourself, business is dull. The month of July was the worst month for us. On a Friday night, we use to make over N250, 000, but now we do not make up to N200, 000. The situation is really bad, she lamented. Similarly, Mr Godwin Idoko, a proprietor of a recreation spot in Wuse Zone 5, who lamented low patronage. Idoko said that his recreation centre had a live band that entertains customers but he could not afford to pay the drummers due to dwindling resources. We cannot afford to use the facilities we are used to and known for because we do not have the resources, and patronages have reduced drastically. If you are conversant with this joint, it is always full, but as you can see, there are more of empty tables and chairs, Idoko said. A group of Quranic memorizers under the aegis Raudatul Huffaz Nigeria, has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other security agencies to disregard recent calls to halt Nasir El-Rufais inauguration as Minister. Recall that lastweek, the Senate confirmed 45 of the 48 ministerial nominees of which El-Rufai is one of three nominees awaiting confirmation. However, some critics of the former Kaduna State Governor, applauded the Senates decision to halt the confirmation. But Raudatul Huffaz alleged that the calls to reject El-Rufai were motivated by vested interests and that people should prioritise competence over sentiment. The Quranic memorizers also opposed the call by Tsangaya scholars affiliated with the Sheikh Dahiru Bauchi Foundation to reject the former governors confirmation because of his decision to oppose the Almajiri system while he was governor. The groups chairman, Al-Hafiz Sani Ado Mato, at a press conference in Jos, Plateau States capital, on Wednesday, said all the calls against El-Rufai should not be enough to prevent the President or any other body from confirming him as a minister. READ ALSO: Tinubu Meets Wike, El-Rufai At Aso Villa Ado Mato said: We strongly believe that the call to reject the former governor is for surreptitious objects. Some people feel that whichever position he is given to handle, they wont make free money they way they are making. Take it or leave, whichever position you give him, he would definitely turn it around. He is a man of his word. He is firm in decision making. As patriotic citizens of this country, devoid of any sentiment, El-Rufai is highly competent. Take a look at what he has done as a former minister and former Governor. On the alleged oppression of the Almajirais during his administration in Kaduna, the group stated, To our understanding, the former governor was not fighting the Almajirai, but was making efforts to sanitise the system given how the system is run. He furthered that the former Governor should be confirmed in the interests of justice, fairness, and integrity. Daniel Bwala, an aide to the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, has urged the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to learn from Washingtons way of dealing with Niger Republics chaos. Bwala stated that Washington till date has refused to refer to the unrest in Niger Republic as a coup. The PDP chieftain opined that if Washington should admit that there is a coup going on in the embattled country then it would have to stop military assistance, technical support and diplomatic relations. READ ALSO: Dont Invoke Gods Wrath, Leave Niger Rep. Alone Primate Ayodele To US President Biden According to him, Washingtons refusal to acknowledge the coup was because it wanted to explore all diplomatic measures. Urging ECOWAS to take a page from their book, he wrote via X, Interesting facts. Up till now Washington refused to declare what happened in Niger as a coup, because if it did, it will automatically stop military assistance, technical support and diplomatic relations. It says Washington refused to declare it a coup so they can explore all diplomatic options. This is a lesson for the loud mouth ECOWAS. The former Emir of Kano, Mohammad Sanusi on Wednesday said that the current crisis in Niger Republic requires public diplomacy which should not be left to government alone. Sanusi while addressing newsmen in Abuja after the meeting, said he came to the Presidential Villa to brief President Tinubu on his discussions with the leaders of military junta that overthrew the democratically elected government. It was gathered that Sanusi, who arrived at the State House about 8:25 pm, said that he came to brief President Tinubu on his discussions with the leaders of military junta that overthrew the democratically elected government. According to him, I came to brief him on the details of my discussions with leaders of Niger. Well continue to do our best to bring the two parties together to improve understanding. This is the time public diplomacy, its not a matter that we leave to governments, all Nigerians, all Nigeriens need to be involved to find a solution that works for Africa, a solution that works for Niger that works for Nigeria and a solution that works for humanity. READ MORE: Tinubu, Ex-CBN Governor Sanusi In Closed-Door Meeting Asked to respond to the reports that he took the initiative by himself and not governments delegation, he said: No, I was not sent by the government. Government officials were aware I was going, but it was my personal initiative, using my personal contacts to get there and I will continue to do my best. It is my duty as a leader to do that. He said that he was well received by the military juntas in Niger. Meanwhile, ECOWAS leaders are set to meet on Thursday on the crisis in Niger, whose military rulers have defied its ultimatum to cede power or face possible military action. ECOWAS heads of state (will) hold another extraordinary summit on the political situation in the Republic of Niger, the 15-member bloc said in its first official reaction after Niger ignored Sundays deadline to reinstate democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum. Doyin Okupe, former Director-General of the Obi-Datti presidential campaign council, has urged the Senate to direct ministerial nominee, Nasir El-Rufai to write an undertaking before his confirmation. He opined that the former Kaduna State Governor should be made to sign an undertaking not to make comments on religion. Okupe also urged the Senate via X to reconsider its decision to drop El-Rufai as a minister since he has the capacity to handle the power crisis in Nigeria. I am not a fan of Mallam El-Rufai, whom I consider to be a radical of some sort and who has in the recent past demonstrated some traits of religious extremism. READ ALSO: IGP Egbetokun Re-appoints Adejobi As Force PRO Still, very few people will doubt El-Rufais competence and immense capacity to perform. The Senate may insist on an undertaking from him before his confirmation that while in office as minister, he will refrain from making any comments or remarks on religion. The power ministry is extremely important in our economy and in our serious efforts to combat poverty. If any Nigerian can fix our energy problems, former Governor El-Rufai is certainly one of such people, he tweeted. Recall that the Senate had refused to confirm El-Rufai out of the 48-man ministerial list nominated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, due to security reasons. The Oyo State House of Assembly has passed and approved a bill to grant special public holidays for traditional worshippers in the State to celebrate Isese Day annually. INFORMATION NIGERIA reports that the bill was passed on Wednesday to adherents of traditional religion in the state. However, the motion, was read before the lawmakers by the Majority Leader, Hon. Sanjo Onaolapo. The lawmakers stressed the importance of dedicating a day for adherents of traditional religion to celebrate as it is for Christians and Muslims across the country. READ MORE: Isese: Stop Provoking Our Members Traditionalists Warn Muslim Extremists Hon. Sanjo also noted that some states in the Southwest region had already done so, stressing the need to respect the beliefs of traditional religious worshippers. It was gathered that the State Governor, Seyi Makinde, had promised to sign the bill into law once passed by the state House of Assembly. In July, the Ogun State House of Assembly approved a special holiday for Isese in the state, years after their predecessors in the chamber had declined requests to do so. The holiday was fixed for August 20 annually for adherents of traditional religions to celebrate. The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has threatened to take legal action against Senate President Godswill Akpabio over his alleged payment of holiday allowances to senators. In a statement released on its Twitter handle on Thursday, SERAP announced that it was suing the Senate President over the comment. Were suing the Senate President Godswill Akpabio over the alleged payments of holiday allowances by the Clerk of the National Assembly into the various accounts of senators while some 137 million poor Nigerians face severe economic hardship, SERAP said. Recall that during a plenary session on Wednesday, Senate President Akpabio, during a public address to his colleagues, mentioned the disbursement of holiday allowances by the clerk of the national assembly into the bank accounts of various senators. READ ALSO: SERAP Sues President Tinubu For Not Disclosing Spending Details Of Fuel Subsidy Savings The senate president, unaware of the live broadcast, said the distribution of a monetary token was a means to enable the senators to enjoy their holidays. As soon as Senator Umahi takes his oath of office, we shall rearrange the office of the leadership. To enable all of us to enjoy our holidays, a token has been sent to our various accounts by the Clerk of the National Assembly, Akpabio said. However, when his fellow senators informed him of the live broadcast, he quickly withdrew his statement. In order to allow you to enjoy your holiday, the Senate President has sent prayers to your mailboxes to assist you to go on a safe journey and return, he rephrased. Akpabios comment has sparked controversy across the nation, raising questions about the legitimacy and timing of such money transfers. Nigerians have since condemned the token to be given to Senators saying it is both unjust and inconsiderate, particularly at a time when many Nigerians are struggling. South East Governors forum has resolved to fight insecurity decisively in the region individually and collectively, in partnership with the Federal Government and other Stakeholders. Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State made this known on Thursday after a closed-door meeting of the regions governors at the Enugu State Government House. The Forum firmly resolved to fight insecurity decisively in the region individually and collectively, in partnership with the Federal Government and other Stakeholders, the governor, who is the Chairman of the South-East Governors Forum, said. We commend the security agencies for their cooperation thus far and encourage them not to relent. We wish to state categorically that the perpetrators of the insecurity in our region and their sponsors are criminals and should not be seen as legitimate agitators. Therefore, upon arrest, they should be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the land. The Forum resolved to hold the security and economic summit on a date to be announced soon. READ MORE: IPOB: Senate Rejects Motion To Release Nnamdi Kanu INFORMATION NIGERIA reports that the meeting was attended by Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State, Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra, Governor Alex Otti of Abia State, and Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi. The South-East region has seen scores of attacks blamed on the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group or its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN). IPOB, which seeks a separate state for ethnic Igbo people, has repeatedly denied responsibility for the violence. Tracking the annual flurry of announcements at Microsoft Build is a good way to understand what the company thinks is important for its developer customers. Build 2023 pushed artificial intelligence and machine learning to the top of that list, with Microsoft unveiling a full-stack approach to building AI applications, starting with your data and building on up. Among the biggest news for that AI stack was the launch of Microsoft Fabric, a software-as-a-service set of tools for working with big data, with a focus on data science and data engineering. After all, building custom AI applications begins with identifying and providing the data needed to design and train machine learning models. But Fabric is also concerned with running those applications, delivering the real-time analytics needed to run a modern business. Microsoft Fabric: A one-stop data shop The intended audience of Microsoft Fabric covers both business users and developers, so theres a lot to discover. Much of whats in Fabric exists already in Microsoft Azure and the Power Platform. The key changes are a focus on open data formats and providing a single portal for working with data that can support many different use cases. What Microsoft is doing with Fabric is bringing together many of the key elements of its data analytics stack, filling in gaps, and wrapping it all in a single software-as-a-service dashboard. Here youll find elements from the Azure data platform, alongside tools from the Power Platform, all wrapped up to give you one single source of truth for your enterprise data, whatever its source. That last point is perhaps the most important. With data produced and used by many different applications, we need a common place to access and use that data, no matter how its stored. Fabric lets us mix structured and semi-structured data, and use relational and NoSQL stores to gain the insights we need. Its an end-to-end enterprise data platform that can bring in data from the edge of our networks, and deliver the information people need to enterprise dashboards. At the same time, Fabric can provide the training data for our machine learning models. The result is a single data platform that offers different user experiences for different purposes. If youre using Fabric for analysis, you can explore data using Power Query in Power BI. If youre looking for insights in operational data, youre able to use Apache Spark and Python notebooks, while machine learning developers can work with data using the open source MLflow environment. OneLake: the OneDrive for data Microsoft Fabric is built on top of a single data platform, OneLake. Described as OneDrive for data, OneLake is an organization-scale data lake for all of your analytics data. Thats an important difference from other data lake products, as it takes you away from previous siloed approaches, where individual departments manage their own data lakes. All your data goes into OneLake, allowing you to provision separate data warehouses and lakehouses, in workspaces that can have centrally managed policies and security tools to ensure that data is not used inappropriately. OneLake is based on Azures second-generation data lake tooling. Theres only one OneLake per tenant, with data stored in multiple containers. Each OneLake can be subdivided into many different workspaces with their own access policies, managing their own data items. OneLake is designed to host any type of file, with both web-based and desktop tools to help you explore and use your data. Youre not limited to Azure data. Microsofts existing library of connectors to line-of-business applications and services ensures that you can use Fabrics data factory tools to manage data from multiple sources. One key feature here is support for the Apache Parquet data format. Designed for large data warehouses, Parquet is a column-oriented data storage format thats easily compressed and memory efficient, with support for high-performance column queries. Because data can be exported in Parquet format from most cloud storage services using Fabric data factory connectors, Parquet gives you a way to optimize data exports for use in Fabrics data lake. OneLakes native storage format uses the Delta format for tables, an extended version of Apache Parquet, with support for transactions and with scalable metadata. Its an open format that is able to support many different types of data source. Delta format tables are designed for large data lakes, much like Fabrics, and offer a range of different APIs that make it easier to integrate with traditional analytics and machine learning. Using OneLake means you only need to store the data once and you can use it with your choice of query tool. OneLake and data lakehouses One key concept is critical to all the different use cases for Fabric: the lakehouse. A lakehouse helps you bring the data you need to one place, where it is accessible across the whole of your organizations Azure-hosted data lake. A lakehouse gives you a way to use large amounts of data, while providing a single view that contains tools for storing, managing, and analyzing your data. Fabrics lakehouse implementation is designed to work with Delta tables, so youll need to ensure that any data in a lakehouse is in the appropriate format. Once data has been imported you can use notebooks to explore your data, using code to extract information that can be used elsewhere in your organization. Alternatively, theres the option of using a SQL endpoint to access lakehouse data from other applications. OneLake supports working with tools like Azure Databricks and Azure HDInsight, using the existing Gen 2 Azure Data Lake Storage APIs. Creating a lakehouse is easy enough. You can start in the dashboard or inside an existing Fabric workspace. Once created its ready for you to load data, with several different mechanisms available depending on your data source. While the simplest option is to upload data directly from a PC, its more practical to work with the built-in copy tool, which will convert data into delta tables, ready for use. You can even use Power BIs familiar dataflow tool to bring in data from connectors to other platforms and to handle the appropriate transforms. Alternatively, you can use Apache Spark code for loading data into your lakehouses. Real-time analytics in Fabric support time-based data in semi-structured formats. Instead of having separate tooling for long-term analysis and operational analysis, you can now work with the same data in different ways. As data arrives, operational analytics can help pinpoint issues that need immediate responses. Once stored, the same data becomes the basis of training data for machine learning as well as source data for report-based data analysis, along with data from other systems. Dipping in and out of OneLake Usefully, not all of your source data needs to be stored in OneLake; you can use shortcuts to link to other storage locations. Shortcuts are the data lake equivalent of a symbolic link, allowing you to work with data without hosting it in Azure. This reduces the risks associated with copying data, allowing you to control access to line-of-business systems from inside the Fabric dashboard. Once created, shortcuts are displayed as foldersa table folder of structured data, and a file folder of unstructured data. If a shortcut contains either Delta or Parquet format data it will automatically be used as a table, with Fabric loading the connections metadata and using it to manage the resulting table. More and more enterprises are embracing a common repository for all of their data, and Microsoft is rushing to meet the demand with Fabric. By building on top of open standards like Delta and Parquet, Microsoft has found a way to help businesses build and manage data lakes using existing data platform skillsready to support both data warehouse analytics and machine learning. Having a free trial while the service is in public preview makes it possible to evaluate it before making any long-term decision. Google has introduced Project IDX, a browser-based development environment that combines templates and generative AI assistance to make it easier to build and deploy full-stack and multiplatform applications with popular languages and frameworks. Would-be users of the preview service must start by joining a waitlist. Built on Google Cloud and powered by the Codey foundational AI model, Project IDX starts with a web-based workspace that will feel familiar to developers, Google said. Google with Project IDX is exploring how innovations in AI including Codey and the PaLM 2 large language model can help developers write higher quality code and build applications faster. Codey provides smart code completion, an assistive chatbot, and contextual code actions such as add comments and explain this code. AI capabilities for the project are in an early phase, Google said. Code OSS, Microsofts GitHub repository for developing the companys Visual Studio Code editor, also is used by Project IDX. Introduced August 8, Project IDX is intended to address the difficulty of developing full-stack, multiplatform apps, Google said, in which developers must navigate an endless sea of complexity, duct-taping together a tech stack thatll help you bootstrap, compile, test, deploy, and monitor your apps. Each Project IDX workspace has the full capabilities of a Linux-based VM, paired with universal access provided by the cloud. New projects can be created from templates for popular frameworks including Angular, Flutter, Next.js, React, Svelte, and Vue, while existing projects can be imported from GitHub. Backing for Python, Go, and other languages will arrive soon, joining support for JavaScript and Dart, Google said. A fully configured Android emulator and an embedded iOS simulator are also due to arrive shortly, joining a built-in web preview already available. Firebase Hosting also enables shareable previews of web apps before deployment to production. Future plans call for more collaboration capabilities, deeper framework integrations, and more personalized and contextual AI assistance. Detectives respond to a shooting on the 2000 block of East Clementine Street in Kensington. Read more The strip of East Clementine Street in Kensington was empty Thursday afternoon, yellow and red caution tape littered among the trash. A white front door at one end of the block was splattered with blood, the steps spilled with a trail of red that led into the street. These were the grim remnants of a shooting that erupted on the block Wednesday night and left a 4-year-old girl and her father fighting for their lives, and their neighbors distraught. The 24-year-old man was outside his home, on the 2000 block of East Clementine Street, when a car sped down the block and a gunman started shooting about 9:30 p.m., said Capt. James Kearney, head of the non-fatal shootings unit. The shooter fired at least 10 times, Kearney said, striking the man at least twice in the lower back and leg. Advertisement All the while, as the shots rang out, the mans 4-year-old daughter was in the doorway of her home. A stray bullet flew through the doorway and struck her in the stomach, Kearney said. READ MORE: A month after a 12-year-old was killed, city leaders are absent. And children on the block are too afraid to play. The girls mother was tending to the father outside, Kearney said, when her aunt began to scream. She emerged from the home carrying the child, who was bleeding profusely. The family jumped into the back of a blue Chevy Malibu and sped to the hospital. On Thursday afternoon, the father was stable at Temple University Hospital, Kearney said, while his daughter remains in critical condition at St. Christophers Hospital for Children. No arrests have been made, though investigators have recovered video of the shooting and are optimistic about leads in the case, Kearney said. The motive remains under investigation. The family, who neighbors said have lived on the block for about two years, could not be reached Thursday. Neighbors remained shaken by what had unfolded overnight. A woman who lives on the block said she was in her home when she heard the shots, followed by the screeching wheels of a car and haunting screams. She said her nieces and nephews love playing with the little girl. They often ride bikes together and play with the familys dogs, she said. This should not have happened, she said. Shes a little girl, and now theres all this blood. More than 120 children under 18 have been shot in Philadelphia this year, 20 of them age 12 and under. At least seven of the children were accidentally shot by relatives mishandling unattended guns, while the others, such as the 4-year-old girl in Kensington, were injured by stray bullets. Two children under 12 have died. Wanda Maddox, who lives a street over, said the 4-year-olds birthday was just the week before. She had just dropped a gift by the family home Wednesday afternoon, she said. I cant believe it, Maddox said. Im just going to pray for that baby. Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele said Thursday that the suspects who stole the soldier's ID were "arming criminals, plain and simple." Read more When a U.S. Army soldier lost his wallet while visiting his mother in East Germantown in April, authorities said, thieves picked it up, stole his identity, and used it to buy 14 handguns, some of them later used in crimes. Taalibudeen Taalib Ibn Hasdn Anderson, 22, and Tariq Anderson, 23, who live a few houses down from the soldiers mother on Boyer Street; and Daijon Griffin, 21, of Wilmington, were each charged this week with more than 500 counts of identity theft and gun trafficking, according to Montgomery County court documents unsealed Thursday. There was no indication that any of the three had hired lawyers. The group, using the stolen military ID and drivers license, bought the handguns from a federally licensed arms dealer in Wyndmoor, and attempted to buy 14 more before detectives, alerted to the crime by the high volume of the mens purchases, shut down the transactions. Advertisement READ MORE: Special Report: Philly has a gun problem. Straw buying makes it worse. Three of the guns were later recovered from suspects in shootings or other incidents in Philadelphia, according to the affidavit of probable cause for the mens arrests. Taalibudeen Anderson posed as the soldier able to do so, law enforcement sources said, due to their resemblance and made the purchases between June 17 and July 6, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele. These defendants were arming criminals, plain and simple, Steele said. And the actions of these criminals are made even worse by their taking advantage of a loss by a soldier serving our country. The Andersons needed to impersonate the soldier, the affidavit said, in order to pass the required background check required for gun purchases. Both are barred from buying guns themselves due to previous convictions: The elder Anderson has a drug conviction from 2019, and his brother was adjudicated delinquent for felony robbery in 2017. The soldier said he had reported his wallet stolen to his superiors, and had never met the suspects, nor given them permission to buy guns in his name, the affidavit said. Detectives arrested the Andersons on July 12 outside of TriTac Firearms in Wyndmoor, where they were trying to buy more guns, the affidavit said. During a subsequent search of the home the brothers share on Boyer Street, the affidavit said, officers found numerous empty gun boxes matching the handguns the two had previously purchased, as well as shipping labels, ammunition and receipts for guns and accessories. Investigators later learned, through recorded prison phone calls, that Griffin was helping the two sell the guns and attempted to delete evidence of the transactions from Taalibudeen Andersons email, the affidavit said. He was later taken into custody, as well. Experts pinpointed a solution to the United States ever-rising health-care expenditures long ago: Hold doctors and hospitals financially accountable for cost and quality, instead of paying them more for providing more care regardless of results. Yet savings have been elusive, even when providers and hospitals embrace the call to action. Take Rothman Orthopaedic Institute: The leading Philadelphia orthopedic practice was among the early adopters of Medicares so-called bundled payments, an arrangement in which doctors are paid a set amount for a surgery and all services that go with it. If they do it for less, they get to keep part of the savings. They lose money if they go over the cost target. Under that approach one of the more popular to come out of the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Affordable Care Act Rothman has saved Medicare and private insurers more than $100 million over the last five years and gotten to keep $50 million of that. But the company abandoned Medicares bundled-payment program in 2018 after having to pay Medicare $6.7 million. Advertisement We bottomed out, said Rothman president Alexander Vaccaro. It comes to the point where you cant save more money. Rothman is still expanding bundled payments with insurers, including Independence Blue Cross, Aetna, and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, because they offer more flexibility, Vaccaro said. But the organizations experience exemplifies the challenges of altering a health-care payment system that has been built on the back of the massive Medicare program. Its a large boat were trying to change the direction of, said Rachel Werner, a physician and the executive director of the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. The big picture The federal government has been trying to make the U.S. health-care system more efficient since at least 1983, when Medicare started paying hospitals predetermined amounts for each hospital admission no matter how much it cost the hospital. The 2010 Affordable Care Act brought a renewed push. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Center (CMMI) launched more than 50 experiments to reduce costs and improve quality in part by changing the way it pays doctors and hospitals. The results have been discouraging, said Werner. CMMI has tested dozens of models and only a few of them have been successful if you define success in terms of saving money for CMS, Werner said, referring to the Medicare and Medicaid regulator. The experiments have not been big enough in terms of rewards and incentives to have an impact, she said. Rothman had plenty of company in leaving its Medicare bundled-payments program after Medicare changed its benchmarking method, making it harder for providers succeed. The number of doctors and hospitals participating in that program fell to 749 last year from 1,707 in 2020, but its not clear how many dropped out after having to repay Medicare, like Rothman did. Penns hope for bundled payments Some experts said progress toward changing the way health care is paid for has stalled, in part because Medicare is not pushing for alternative payments, such as bundles, as hard as it used to. Jeff Helton, a clinical assistant professor of health administration at the University of Colorado-Denver blamed the Trump administration for the retreat from experimentation. The wind came out of the sails back in 2017 on really a broad rollout from the federal government standpoint, he said. The University of Pennsylvania Health System experienced firsthand Medicares pullback. The systems radiation oncologists were preparing for a bundled payment for the treatment of breast cancer. They reduced the number of radiation treatments for breast cancer to 17 from 22, or more than 20%. It was about to happen, and then they decided to pull the plug, said Keith Kasper, the health systems chief financial officer. Kasper said Penn Medicine has a breast cancer bundled-payment program with IBC but hasnt been able to convince the insurer to do bundles for other types of cancer. Other private insurers havent agreed to any cancer bundles with Penn, Kasper said. Reducing the number of treatments needed to treat cancer benefits patients and means insurers pay less, but doctors end up with less revenue. Thats a central conflict in health-care finance. Rothman benefits from its focus on orthopedics, which lends itself to bundled payments because theres relatively little variation in treatment, according to Richard Snyder, an executive vice president at Independence Health Group, the largest insurer in the Philadelphia region. The mechanics of replacing a knee are pretty similar whether youre a female or a male, youre 50 or 60 or 70, Snyder said. How Rothman handles bundled payments To help enter the world of bundled payments, Rothman brought nurse-navigators into its practice in 2014. It now has eight of these nurses who analyze the condition of every Rothman patient scheduled to have a hip, knee, or shoulder replaced, plus certain spine surgeries. The navigators are agnostic to insurance. If youre having a hip or knee replacement at Rothman, youre being navigated the same way whether were in a bundled payment or not, said Diane McGonigal, Rothmans first nurse navigator and now director of nurse navigation and episodes of care. Much of what nurse navigators do is assess a patients health risks to figure out if the surgery can safely be performed in an ambulatory surgery center or at a more expensive site. They also look at how much help a patient needs after surgery whether they need inpatient rehabilitation or can go straight home with home care or sometimes with just a visits from a physical therapist. Much of the savings from bundled payments which are expected to cover emergency department visits, hospital readmissions, physical therapy, and medical equipment have come from the shift to outpatient surgery for most joint replacements and the elimination of inpatient rehabilitation, according to Medicare. Since 2018, when Rothman started using its own patient navigation software, the number of patients each nurse navigator handles has increased to 2,900 per year from 2,100 per year, McGonigal said. That amounts to 30% of Rothmans surgical patients. Rothman started bundled payments with IBC in 2018 and has maximized its share of savings, keeping about 80% because it has been doing well on quality measures, said Bryan Wellens, Rothmans vice president of population health. Insurance perspective In orthopedics, Rothman was an early adopter of bundled payments in the Philadelphia region, but its biggest competitor, Premier Orthopedics, was close behind, said Independences Snyder. Snyder also said that progress away from the traditional fee-for-service payments, which pay doctors and hospitals based on the volume of services provided, varies depending on the specialty. Because Rothman and Premier combined have a large market share of orthopedics in the Philadelphia region and both have adopted bundled payments, the region is moving pretty fast away from fee-for-service in that specialty, Snyder said. Were pretty far out in front, he said. A 4-year-old girl and a 24-year-old man standing in the front doorway of their home were shot Wednesday night in the citys Kensington section, police said. Around 9:35 p.m., police responded to a reported shooting on the 2000 block of East Clementine Street. Once police arrived, they were told the shooting victims had been taken in a blue Chevrolet Malibu to a hospital. Police located the Malibu and the two victims at St. Christophers Hospital for Children. The girl was shot in the abdomen and the man was shot in the abdomen, back, and leg. The girl was initially reported in critical condition, but was later upgraded to stable, police said. Advertisement The man was transported by medics to Temple University Hospital and was listed in critical condition. Chief Inspector Scott Small said the man and girl were in the front doorway of their home on Clementine when they were struck by gunfire. Police found three spent shell casings on the block and seven more at the intersection of Clementine and Amber Streets, Small said. Police were told the shooter or shooters fled in a dark-colored vehicle, possibly a sedan, Small said. Investigators were checking numerous private surveillance cameras near the crime scene for video evidence of the shooting and any suspects, Small said. More than 100 children have been shot in Philadelphia this year. SEPTA police officer Martin Zitter waits as the El train arrives at 13th street station in Philadelphia on May 31. Read more Police arrested a man who shot at the windshield of a SEPTA bus and harassed its driver in North Philadelphia, officials said Wednesday. Heriberto Acevedo Jr., 32, was charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, possession of an instrument of a crime, making terroristic threats, reckless endangerment, and several firearms offenses in connection with the events of July 14. Acevedo is accused of threatening a SEPTA Route 57 bus driver just before 6 a.m. after he was asked to pay his $2.50 fare and refused, according to the Philadelphia District Attorneys Office. After arguing with the driver, Acevedo got off the bus near Front and Luzerne Streets and fired a handgun once at the bus windshield, authorities said. Advertisement Neither the driver nor any of the five passengers on the bus was injured. District Attorney Larry Krasner said at a news conference that Acevedos arrest could be credited to one of the 30,000 high-quality cameras SEPTA operates between its buses and its stations. Investigators were able to identify Acevedos image from previous arrests, Krasner said. SEPTA CEO Leslie S. Richards said she was grateful that the bus operator was unharmed, and reminded riders that the agency had increased its police presence on trains after a handful of recent violent crimes. We hope this is a warning to anyone who thinks they can commit a crime on SEPTA we are watching, Richards said. The announcement comes less than two weeks after police arrested a man in connection with the stabbing of another man in the neck on the Market-Frankford Line in Old City in July, the result of an altercation that left the victim in the hospital with injuries. After two men were injured and one teenager was killed in separate shootings on SEPTA buses in May, the agency announced in June that it would add 21 transit police officers to its lines. Those additions were focused on the Market-Frankford and Broad Street subway lines, areas a spokesperson said attract high volumes of ridership and quality-of-life violations. Acevados arrest, while lauded by the agency, follows a string of crashes involving SEPTAs buses and other vehicles that killed one person and injured 25 others in separate accidents over one week in late July. In the most recent crash, a Route G bus ran into another Route G bus, which was stopped at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at 15th Street and Oregon Avenue. Andrew Busch, a spokesperson for SEPTA, said three passengers from each bus reported minor injuries. The driver of an SUV that crashed into a SEPTA bus and several other vehicles in Havertown on Tuesday was experiencing a diabetic emergency, police announced Wednesday. Four people, including the driver of the SUV, suffered non-life-threatening injuries on West Chester Pike at Eagle Road, police said. A collision Sunday involved an off-duty SEPTA employee who was allegedly intoxicated when she crashed her vehicle into a SEPTA trolley in Philadelphias Kingsessing neighborhood. Addressing riders safety concerns, Richards said shed spent the morning in meetings with staff holding discussions about safety within the agency. Richards said every agency employee would be undergoing safety training, and that management planned to reach out to bus operators, mechanics, and maintenance workers to hear their concerns. SEPTA has also been in contact with PennDOT, which oversees the agencys safety operations, and the Federal Transit Administration, according to Richards. Philadelphia SWAT officer Richard P. Nicoletti shown pepper spraying three kneeling protesters on I-676 on June 1. Nicoletti is now being charged with simple assault, reckless endangerment, official oppression, and possession of an instrument of crime. Following a mistrial in May, he will be retried in October. Read more The retrial of former Philadelphia SWAT Officer Richard P. Nicoletti will take place in a courtroom outside of the city, a judge ruled Wednesday. Common Pleas Court Judge Roxanne E. Covington said the high-profile nature of the case, extensive news coverage, and an inaccurate statement from the District Attorneys Office could compromise Philadelphia jurors ability to fairly weigh whether Nicoletti acted criminally when he pepper-sprayed three demonstrators during the citys 2020 racial justice protests. Following a mistrial earlier this year, Nicolettis defense lawyers contended that in order to have a fair trial in October, the case should be moved to a courtroom outside of Philadelphia. The citys jury pool was compromised by the tense and sensitive nature of the citys protests and riots in 2020, they said, as well as the numerous media reports and a misstatement from officials in the DAs Office. Attorney Charles Gibbs said nearly a third of the prospective jury pool in Nicolettis first trial in May had acknowledged bias on the issue of police conduct, and most were aware of Philadelphias protests, riots, and police response. Gibbs shared with the judge a thick stack of news articles written about Nicoletti, the incident, and the previous trial, arguing that the media has run the gamut on Nicoletti and equated him to a Rizzo cop. Advertisement Mr. Nicoletti should not be a referendum on policing, he should not be a referendum on protests, Gibbs said. Pretrial publicity has hampered Mr. Nicoletti from having a fair trial. The judge agreed. City residents strong sentiments on policing and the media coverage played a part, she said. She also cited a statement a spokesperson for the District Attorneys Office had sent to reporters ahead of opening statements in May. In an email, the spokesperson, Jane Roh, incorrectly wrote that Nicoletti was responsible for teargassing protesters on I-676. Nicoletti, 37, was not responsible for the widespread deployment of teargas on the highway, but instead pepper-sprayed three demonstrators who were sitting on the highway amid the melee. If this came into my hands, how many other individuals hands could it have been in? Covington asked about the email, questioning whether it may have led to inaccurate media reports. She said she had ordered Roh to appear in court to address the error and issued a gag order in the case. She said publicity in the case, partly resulting from the misstatement, could be inflammatory and lead to juror bias, and she said that was reason to move the trial. Roh and the DAs Office declined to comment Wednesday. Assistant District Attorney Joshua Barnett argued that just because jurors have knowledge of the incident doesnt mean they cannot be unbiased in weighing the facts of the case. He said the news coverage of the incident and pictures and videos of Nicoletti spraying the protesters simply depicted what happened. And in the previous trial, he said, some of the prospective jurors had expressed bias toward Nicoletti, not against him. Still, Covington sided with the defense. Based upon the pool, the environment, the myriad of articles, and the necessity of the gag order, the court grants the change of venue, she said. Wednesdays decision is just the latest chapter in an incident that attracted national attention and turned into a legal battle in both civil and criminal courts. In March, the city agreed to pay $9.25 million to hundreds of plaintiffs who had sued over the Police Departments use of force during the protests, which lasted several days. Nicoletti is one of two officers to face criminal charges for their behavior during the 2020 protests following the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Prosecutors have argued that Nicolettis use of pepper spray at point-blank range and into three demonstrators faces was unnecessary and beyond the scope of his duties as an officer. Video shows Nicoletti pulled down one womans goggles to spray directly into her eyes, then spray the others and shove one man to the ground. Hes been charged with simple assault and reckless endangerment. This was not immediately necessary the defendant did not have to do it, Assistant District Attorney Brian Collins said in May. He made a choice, and a decision, to do it. Nicolettis lawyers argued that his use of the spray was pre-approved by his superiors including Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw making it a tool he was allowed to use while seeking to defuse a dangerous situation and get protesters off a highway. He was justified in what he did, Fortunato Perri Jr. told jurors in May. There is zero evidence that he did anything other than his job. Covington did not say where the trial would occur. It is set to begin Oct. 16. Marissa Zito combed through text messages and bank records, which showed that her mother, Meagan Diaz, had lent more than $20,000 to the FOP's Terry Reid. Read more In mid-July, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 5 announced in a short email to its members that the union had removed one of its top leaders: Terry Reid, who served as a union trustee, and its disability coordinator. The Inquirer learned there was a surprising backstory to Reids sudden firing: The family of Raymond Diaz, a Philadelphia police officer who died at 47 in 2016, had filed a complaint against Reid with police Internal Affairs. Reid did not respond to messages left by reporters. What did the Diaz family allege in their complaint? Marissa Zito claimed that her mother, Meagan Diaz Raymonds widow had loaned Reid more than $20,000 last fall. Diaz repeatedly texted Reid, begging to be repaid, but Reid whose total FOP compensation was $189,000 often ignored Diazs pleas, or offered excuses as to why she couldnt repay the money, according to copies of text messages that the Diaz family shared with The Inquirer. READ MORE: Family claims a top FOP official tried to scam a police officers widow out of $20,000 How did Reid know the Diaz family? Reids position with the union required her to meet with families of police officers who died in the line of duty. Raymond Diaz suffered career-ending injuries in an on-duty car crash in 2014. Following surgery in 2016, he was prescribed pain killers, and died of an accidental prescription overdose. Reid comforted Diazs widow, and routinely brought the family food, Zito said. Reid also testified on Meagan Diazs behalf when she sought a $100,000 state benefit for fallen police officers. A judge ruled that Diaz was entitled to the benefit in August 2022. What went wrong? Diaz felt indebted to Reid, according to her family, and agreed to loan Reid thousands of dollars on multiple occasions. But by late December, Diaz was struggling to pay her own bills, and was trying to stage a baby shower for her son, who was expecting his first child. Terry, what is going on? Diaz texted Reid on one occasion. I need my money and I shouldnt have to beg you and be sick over it. How did this situation come to light? Diaz, who had diabetes and several other illnesses, died on Feb. 26. The following day, Reid visited Diazs family. Four people Diazs mother, one of her daughters, and two family friends say they saw Reid pick up Diazs phone, and delete the text message history between the two women. Reid allegedly told Diazs mother and daughter that she would repay the borrowed money, but insisted that the women could not tell anyone about the matter especially FOP President John McNesby. Diazs family managed to restore the deleted text messages, which dated back to October. The messages showed the cash amounts Diaz had given Reid, and Diazs growing desperation over not being repaid. In March, Marissa Zito filed a complaint with Internal Affairs, accusing Reid of having taken financial advantage of her mother. What does the FOP say? McNesby told The Inquirer he was left speechless by an email that Zito sent him, outlining her allegations against Reid. I pride myself on how we take care of these families, he said. If someone does something like this, it upsets me. Thats why we did what we did. The union examined records for a fund that it maintains for families of fallen police officers to ensure that no money meant for the Diaz family had been misappropriated, McNesby said. He said the union is not aware of other families of fallen police officers having made similar claims about Reid. Where does the case currently stand? Zitos complaint has been referred to the Special Investigations Unit of the District Attorneys Office for criminal investigation, according to a law enforcement source. On July 11, Reid retired from the police department. Two days later, she repaid Marissa Zito the last of the money that she owed. Members of an honor guard perform their duties as New Jersey Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver lies in state in the statehouse's rotunda in Trenton, N.J. Read more TRENTON, N.J. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a host of lawmakers, and numerous mourners poured into the statehouse rotunda Thursday to mourn the late Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, whose U.S. flag-draped casket lay in state just over a week since she died after a hospital stay for an undisclosed medical issue. God Bless Sheila, Murphy, a Democrat, said after a New Jersey State Police honor guard placed her remains near the state seal in the rotunda. A stream of legislators, former staffers and members of the public paid their respects to Oliver, who was the first Black woman elected to statewide office in New Jersey history, as well as the first Black woman to be Assembly speaker. She was 71. Donna Jackson, 60, from Trenton, carried an umbrella into the statehouse as she prepared pay her respects. Jackson said she met Oliver once at a rally years ago and said she loved her. She echoed many of the eulogies about Oliver that cast her as a trailblazer. Advertisement It's empowering that a Black woman accomplished this much, Jackson said. Murphy and first lady Tammy Murphy attended a private visitation with Oliver before the rotunda opens to the public. Murphy ordered flags to be flown at half-staff for a month and commissioned a portrait of her that he has said would hang in the statehouse. In addition to serving as Murphys top deputy, stepping in while he was out of the state, Oliver also oversaw the Department of Community Affairs, which coordinates state aid to towns and cities and supervises code enforcement. Oliver served in the Assembly, where she was elected speaker in 2010. She served in that role until 2014, returning to the back benches when Murphy tapped her to be his running mate in 2017. They won the election that year and were reelected together in 2021. She began her legislative career in 2003, when she won an Assembly seat in native Essex County. Before that she served on the Essex County board of chosen freeholders from 1996 to 1999. Born and raised in Newark, she earned a sociology degree from Pennsylvanias Lincoln University and had a master's degree in community organization from Columbia University. Speaking from his office last week, Murphy remembered her as an advocate for affordable housing and for urban communities across the state, including Atlantic City, where she was the de facto final decision maker for some of the city's most consequential decisions. A law passed under Republican Gov. Chris Christie gave control over much of the city's major decisions to the state. As acting governor she signed a bill in 2021 that established a pilot program to overhaul the states juvenile justice system in four cities and which aimed to reintegrate young people into their communities. Another measure she signed in 2021 revived a defunct fund for urban enterprise zones aimed driving economic development in cities through lower sales tax rates. After lying in state in the statehouse Thursday, Oliver's remains will lie in the historic Essex County courthouse Friday. A funeral service where Al Sharpton and the governor will eulogize her is set for Saturday. The state constitution requires Murphy to name a successor within 45 days of the vacancy. He so far has not nominated anyone. Senate President Nicholas Scutari will serve as acting governor if Murphy leaves the state or is incapacitated in the interim. A jogger runs on along a trail at the Rail Park in the Callowhill neighborhood on Sunday, November 29, 2020. Read more When Debbie Robinson steps out of her apartment, she loves looking at the trees. We got all these beautiful trees. Red trees, all these different yellow trees, all these beautiful trees, Robinson, 59, said of her apartment complex in Grays Ferry. The trees make her feel better about her health, too. A lot of people dont know, trees give off good oxygen. And I love that, because [Im] on oxygen 24 hours a day, [but] Ill be going out and stuff because Ive never been a person to just sit around. That greenery goes away once she gets out onto the street, though. Its just dead. Its just dead, she said, explaining how trees and healthy grasses are hard to find in her area. Robinson is a member of the environmental justice group Philly Thrive, and wishes that the city or private developers might plant more trees or build parks to bring more greenery to Grays Ferry. But she also knows that green development sometimes comes with a cost. Advertisement The value of housing would go up and people wont have nowhere to live, she said. If I move out of this complex, where am I going to go? I cant afford that. Me and my husband, were living on his disability. So its like a catch-22. But we really need it. Last month in Philadelphia, it felt like 105 degrees in the shade. With cooler days ahead, it may be easy to forget that the effects of climate change go beyond the rising temperature; environmental pollutants are shortening peoples lives in Philadelphia and water is flooding their neighborhoods. And as tends to be the case with many of the problems affecting the city, low-income communities of color often experience those affects most acutely. North and West Philly are measurably hotter than the rest of the city. But while climate change is a global problem that is mostly driven by large corporations and wealthy individuals, Philadelphia can still build climate-supporting improvements that make the environment more tolerable for its people. These projects can be both large and small, from the construction of sprawling parks like Phillys proposed Rail Park, to a row of trees along a street, or the creation of new bike lanes. Dont forget about displacement Building new green infrastructure may seem like an entirely beneficial move for Philadelphians, especially those who live in the hottest and most flood-prone areas. But community advocates and academics alike are warning against a rush to build new parks and plant trees without seriously thinking about one potential consequence: displacement. Folks are absolutely thinking about gentrification. I think when community members ... hear about any kind of development, they think its for someone else, said Jerome Shabazz, the executive director of the Overbrook Environmental Education Center, and an original member of the citys Environmental Justice Advisory Commission. That is an apathy that is not ill placed. Its the tradition. In a 2020 study of the citys new public green spaces, Temple Universitys Hamil Pearsall and Jillian K. Eller found that public green spaces may anchor gentrification processes. Additionally, new spaces in wealthy neighborhoods were more publicly accessible than parks in gentrifying neighborhoods. It should not just be for others. It should be for all. Jerome Shabazz Research confirmed that the citys most vulnerable people feel these negative greening affects most. When certain kinds of green infrastructure are built in already gentrifying neighborhoods, it can lead to further displacement and, according to a Temple University study, forces Black and Latinx residents to move to areas that are hotter and have less climate protection. Maybe people appreciate having a new park or more trees ... but theyre concerned about what the broader impacts [are] and what it might mean for their community, Pearsall, an associate professor of geography and urban studies at Temple, told The Inquirer. Urban greening, Shabazz said, should be a valued-added proposition to every community member.It should not just be for others. It should be for all. And we have to find a way to do that, particularly [for] the most vulnerable because they have the least amount of advocacy around these issues. READ MORE: Philly to hire its first city forester, and plant thousands of trees over the next decade Reflecting the communities and neighborhoods Shabazz believes that if the city and developers considered the impacts of their greening in planning stages, it would help prevent gentrification that might come years later. For instance, green projects could be paired with local hiring mandates or housing stabilization policies. The only thing that precedes our actions are our intentions, he said. Displacement is a part of your planning process. The question is, are you driving and pushing for that, or are you not? But even while the city, environmentalists, and developers consider their impact internally, its critical for them to work more closely with community groups as they consider future greening projects, too. Shabazz thinks the city and environmentalists like him can do a better job of educating residents about the effects of todays environment on their health and why green development is necessary. And both he and Pearsall emphasized the need for more communication with community members overall, so that greening meets the needs of people currently living in these project areas and ultimately helps prevent displacement. That whole concept of community engagement is really important, but not just engagement as allowing people to weigh in, but to really be an important part of the decision-making process, Pearsall said. [Its] making sure people feel like the green spaces that are being developed are really for them, something that reflects their community and who they are and what they would like to have in their neighborhood. Lukich said todays technology allows insurers to quickly identify a vehicles damage, allocate a partnered repairer and get a customer underway very quickly. So its a lot more efficient and lot more customer focused, he said. Another big change during the last 20 years, said Lukich, is the rationalisation of the motor body repair industry. There has been a significant reduction in the number of crash repair businesses with a lot of the smaller traditional businesses closing up, he said. This is partly due to the requirement to invest in equipment and technology to ensure a quality product, but, more significantly, without a secure, high volume work provider like an insurance company, staying in the industry has become difficult. Horton told Insurance Business: Then how do we ensure theyre all delivering in this low- to mid-90s combined ratio? So, theres more work to do on the US. But the US its a much more straightforward business than it ever has been. Its not that many lines of business, so we havent got too many areas to focus on to improve it. Commenting on Zurichs financials, group chief executive Mario Greco said: Zurich has made a strong start to the new financial cycle. We have high expectations for the groups performance and we set targets accordingly. More importantly, we deliver. To the extent that communication issues contributed to the grounding of the vessel, then details of conversations between the pilots is important because it illustrates that the dispute almost certainly delayed the master and crew taking the appropriate evasive action, particularly as the discussions were in a local language (Arabic) that they did not understand, so had no opportunity to evaluate the competing actions, he said. A police officer in Canada told me that they ship out about 15,000 containers a day from one port, but they just dont have enough people to inspect the containers, Lewis said. There is a high number of vehicles being stolen in Canada right now, and its because of the shortage of vehicles and vehicle parts. Janis has worked as a practicing attorney and corporate advisor for nearly two decades. He joins Kaufman from Rocket Mortgage, where he served as associate general counsel. He was also an active member of the company's risk advisory group and risk counsel, setting the strategy for codes of conduct, ethics, information security and vendor management. Peters contribution over the last 27 years to both the Corporation and the wider Lloyds market has been highly valued, and his expertise and experience has been central to the resolution of many complex issues that have confronted the market, said Bruce Carnegie-Brown, chairman of Lloyds. Peter leaves with our very best wishes. Munich Re did see better results for insurance revenue from insurance contracts in this line, as its figures rose to 9.3 billion in Q2 from 9.019 billion last year. Life and health reinsurance also generated a very strong result at 325 million, with Munich Re noting that the sectors contribution was in line with its expectations. In total, the net result from the life and health reinsurance sector totalled 326 million. This has a lot to do with information and education, Rauch said. I do not see AI helping very much in this regard within the next few years. People need to understand what their exposure is, what probabilities they face, and what concrete measures they can take to improve resilience and ultimately reduce their vulnerability to natural hazards. This is about building codes. Its about land use planning. As said, it is a topic of demand. Munich Re is interested in offering more risk transfer solutions also in Asia. It is our core business. New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! A New York judge on Tuesday dismissed lawsuits filed by Airbnb and three hosts over New York City`s rules for short-term rentals, saying the restrictions are entirely rational. In a 14-page ruling, Supreme Court Judge Arlene P. Bluth said having to comply with a registration system does not present an overly onerous obligation to the company and hosts. Such a system, she said, will help identify many illegal short-term rentals before theyre listed on the Airbnb platform. To be sure, these rules will likely not be perfect, she added. But it addresses a problem raised by OSE (New York City Mayors Office of Special Enforcement) and avoids a key obstacle enforcing the ban on illegal short-term rentals. A city official cited thousands of illegal short-term rentals when defending the new rules in court, noting 43,000 on just Airbnb in 2018. The city received nearly 12,000 complaints regarding illegal short-term rentals from 2017 to 2021. New York`s 2022 ordinance requires owners to register with the mayors office, disclose who else lives in the property, and promise to comply with zoning, construction and maintenance ordinances. San Francisco-based Airbnb has called the restrictions extreme and oppressive and a de facto ban against short-term rentals that left the company no choice but to sue. Taken together, these features of the registration scheme appear intended to drive the short-term rental trade out of New York City once and for all, Airbnb said in June. The company said the mayors Office of Special Enforcement failed to consider reasonable alternatives. Asked to respond to the court`s decision, Theo Yedinsky, global policy director for Airbnb, on Tuesday evening said the city`s rules are a blow to its tourism economy and the thousands of New Yorkers and small businesses in the outer boroughs who rely on home sharing and tourism dollars to help make ends meet. The city is sending a clear message to millions of potential visitors who will now have fewer accommodation options when they visit New York City: you are not welcome, he said in a statement. Debbie Greenberger, an attorney who represents the three Airbnb hosts who sued the city in a companion lawsuit, said in a statement that her clients are disappointed in the ruling, arguing how the city`s rules go after regular New Yorkers instead of illegal hotel operators. She called on city officials to allow Airbnb hosts to rent out their own homes on a short-term basis in order to be able to afford to live in this increasingly unaffordable city. The city is expected to begin enforcing the law on Sept. 5. A message was left seeking comment with the city`s Law Department about the judge`s ruling. Airbnb sued New York state in 2016 over a ban on advertising short-term rentals. It dropped that lawsuit when the city promised not to enforce it. In 2020, Airbnb settled a lawsuit against the city over monthly reporting requirements for its listings. Airbnb said the 2022 ordinance violates both settlements. The New York restrictions are among many efforts by local communities to regulate short-term rentals without banning them. New Orleans is among cities taking on the rental giant after a court struck down a previous law. Photo: Supporters of Airbnb rally outside New York City Hall in 2015. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File) Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Legislation New York New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! Even the smartest institutions in the land can miss deadlines and can lose $15 million in insurance coverage because of it, a federal appeals court decided Wednesday. The U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that found that a Zurich American Insurance Co. subsidiary does not owe coverage to Harvard University in its long-running and high-profile affirmative action litigation. The reason? Harvard did not provide notice to its insurer within 90 days of the end of the policy period, as required by the policy. Zurich had every right to deny coverage based on lack of timely notice, Circuit Judge Bruce Selya wrote for the panel of judges. Harvards arguments in its appeal lacked force and were little more than gaslighting, the opinion said. Harvard in 2014 had purchased a one-year, $25 million liability policy from AIG unit National Union Fire Insurance, which covered litigation costs for claims brought against the university. The institution also obtained a $15 million excess policy from Zurich American, to cover legal costs after the AIG policy was exhausted. Both policies were claims-based, not occurrence-based, and both required Harvard to report legal claims no later than 90 days after the end of the policy period. The policies covered Nov. 1, 2014 to Nov. 1, 2015. The now-monumental lawsuit that successfully challenged Harvards admissions policy, which culminated with a landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in June, was filed Nov. 17, 2014. Harvard notified AIG but failed to notify Zurich until May 2017, well after the 90 day notification window, the appeals court explained. Zurich denied the coverage and Harvard sued. A federal district court in November 2022 decided against the school, and Harvard appealed. The universitys attorneys argued that although Harvard did not provide formal notice of the suit, Zurich probably knew about it through news reports. The university asked for discovery to show what Zurich officials may have known about the case at the time. But the district court and the appellate judges ruled against that motion, noting that such information was irrelevant because the policy required written notice. Harvard also argued that Massachusetts law gives insureds some leeway on late notices, as long as late notice does not prejudice the insurers claim investigation. But the appeals court said that deadlines are even more important in claims-based policies, so that insurers can accurately set premiums. A claims-made policy covers claims made during the policy period, regardless of when the incident or act occurred, the court explained. The purpose is to minimize the time between the insured event and the payment. If a claim is made against an insured, but the insurer does not know about it until years later, the primary purpose of insuring claims rather than occurrences is frustrated, the court noted, citing a 1989 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision, Charles T. Main vs. Firemens Fund Insurance. Not all liability insurance policies are on an equal footing, and the no harm, no foul principle does not apply to failures to give timely written notice under claims-made insurance policies, said the 1st Circuits opinion in the Harvard case. In Massachusetts, notice provisions of claims-made policies which require that notice of a claim be given by the end of the policy period or a defined period ending shortly thereafter are of the essence of those policies. Those provisions are intended not merely to facilitate an investigation into the facts underlying a claim but also just as importantly to promote fairness in rate setting. In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court, by a 6-3 vote, in June struck down the use of race as a factor in deciding which students are granted admission to college. The case, Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard, essentially ended the affirmative action program and already had a widespread impact on college admissions. Harvard may have little trouble paying its legal costs, some have suggested. The universitys endowment from donors stood at $53 billion in 2021, the largest in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report. Zurich American Insurance Group, on the other hand, also is well capitalized, with a $6.5 billion profit in 2022, the group has reported. Top photo: An entrance to Harvard. (AP Photo/Michael Casey) Topics Massachusetts A dam on a Norwegian river partly collapsed after heavy rain on Wednesday, sending water gushing through a wide gap in the structure, and the prime minister said the country should be prepared for more floods in the coming days. The Braskereidfoss power dam on the Glomma River, Norways biggest waterway, was unable to open its hatches after its control room flooded. Norway has evacuated more than 3,000 people this week as rivers swelled to their highest levels in at least 50 years, and homes and businesses have been submerged or swept away by landslides. Main roads were closed and train services suspended across wide parts of southern Norway as rivers breached their banks, and authorities warned of more flooding to come in the days ahead as the water moves towards lower-lying coastal regions. The next two to three days will be absolutely critical and well be mobilizing around the clock, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a press conference. River Flows Normalise Water levels at the Braskereidfoss dam later subsided, flowing in a controlled manner and avoiding major downstream flooding, a police spokesperson said. Police earlier considered blowing one of the 45-year-old dams hatches to help relieve the water pressure, but decided not to as the explosion would have been difficult to control. A railway bridge collapsed on the line connecting Oslo to Trondheim, Norways third-largest city, but there was no danger as trains had been suspended since Monday. Innlandet county, one of Norways worst-hit areas, said many people were isolated by the floods and that first responders may not be able to reach those in need. Were in an emergency situation of national dimensions, Innlandet Mayor Aud Hove said in a statement. The government on Wednesday mobilized more helicopters to take part in evacuations, the ministry of justice and public security said. Strong winds, intense rain and landslides hit different parts of the Nordic region in recent days, knocking out power lines in Finland, flooding villages in Norway and Sweden and bringing public transport to a standstill in hard-hit areas. On Monday, a Swedish train derailed when a railway embankment was washed away by floods, injuring three people. Authorities in Norway and Sweden maintained red alerts, their most severe flood warnings, for several regions on Wednesday. (Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Victoria Klesty; Editing by Alexandra Hudson, John Stonestreet, Angus MacSwan and Sandra Maler) Photograph: An mudslide has hit several residential buildings in Bagn in Valdres, Norway, on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. (Cornelius Poppe/NTB Scanpix via AP) Topics Flood New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! Hedge Fund Manager Daniel S. Loeb has agreed he will not make further attempts to take SiriusPoint private for two more years. SiriusPoint and Loeb, who has about a 9.5% shareholding in the Bermuda-based specialty insurer and reinsurer, have entered a standstill agreement whereby Loeb will not make a takeover or purchase proposal or acquire more than 9.5% of the outstanding shares until at least July 2025. In April this year, Loeb surprised SiriusPoint with an announcement he was looking to take the company private. A month later, the deal was scrapped when the parties were unable to agree on a deal value. However, there were ongoing uncertainties about Loebs intentions for SiriusPoint and the standstill agreement will provide the company and its employees with stability as Chief Executive Officer Scott Egan continues to implement long-term turnaround plans without having to worry about a looming takeover, according to a source close to the company. The standstill agreement stipulates that Loeb would not take any action in support of, or make any proposal with respect to controlling, changing or influencing the companys management, business, capitalization or corporate structure. We welcome the standstill agreement as a strong signal of support for the progress we are making towards creating long term value in our business and for our shareholders, commented Egan in a statement. Our recent half year results were an important evidence point of our strategy and our progress so far, and we are focused on building on that momentum. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our employees, business partners, and customers for their continued support. SiriusPoint is the product of a merger between Third Point Re and Sirius International Insurance Group in February 2021. One of SiriusPoints predecessor companies, Third Point Re, was incorporated in October 2011 with the backing of Loebs hedge fund Third Point LLC. Related: New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! Cameron Mutual Insurance Company and its wholly owned subsidiary, Cameron National Insurance Company, were placed into rehabilitation this week by the Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri. Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance (DCI) Director Chlora Lindley-Myer was named rehabilitator for both companies. As the rehabilitator, the DCI Director assumes management of the company, attempts to correct existing problems, continues operations, maintains policyholder accounting, and develops a plan of rehabilitation or petitions the Court for liquidation. Based in Cameron, Missouri, Cameron Mutual is licensed in Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. The company provides property and casualty insurance, and its lines of business include personal (primarily homeowners and auto coverage), commercial, and farm. Cameron National National is a property and casualty insurer licensed in Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, but has no active policies. An order of rehabilitation notice posted on Cameron Mutuals website states the rehabilitation proceeding was prompted by a significant decline in Cameron Mutuals financial condition. Cameron Mutual has been experiencing a slow decline in market share, and the lines of business it writes are highly competitive. It is geographically concentrated in areas impacted repeatedly by severe storms, resulting in major losses this year, DCI said in a statement. AM Best withdrew credit ratings of Cameron Mutual in July as the company requested to no longer participate in AM Bests rating process. AM Best affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of B (Fair) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of bb (Fair) of Cameron Mutual and offered a negative credit ratings outlook. Cameron Mutual experienced capital erosion in each of the last four calendar years, eroding surplus by nearly 50% over the most recent five-year period. Management has been challenged by its limited profile that is primarily concentrated in Missouri (with modest exposure in Arkansas and Iowa), offering personal auto, farmowners, personal property and commercial multi-peril products, AM Best said. Furthermore, while management continues to refine the companys risk portfolio in an effort to reduce aggregate exposure and volatility, these mitigation strategies have yet to gain material traction. Cameron Mutual pursued affiliation agreements with other mutual insurers and refocusing on small commercial and farm business lines where it could be more competitive, DCI said. incorporated in 1892, Cameron Mutual is one of Missouris oldest mutual insurance companies. The had approximately 26,215 policyholders and 1,247 open claims as of July 31, 2023. Cameron Mutuals existing policies are not cancelled by the order of rehabilitation. Policyholders, claimants, agents, brokers, attorneys, and other persons with questions regarding Cameron Mutual or National should visit http://insurance.mo.gov/companies/receiv.php. Source: DCI, AM Best Topics Missouri Iowa Arkansas New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! The White House on Tuesday held its first-ever cybersecurity summit on the ransomware attacks plaguing U.S. schools, in which criminal hackers have dumped online sensitive student data, including medical records, psychiatric evaluations and even sexual assault reports. If we want to safeguard our childrens futures we must protect their personal data, first lady Jill Biden, who is a teacher, told the gathering. Every student deserves the opportunity to see a school counselor when theyre struggling and not worry that these conversations will be shared with the world. At least 48 districts have been hit by ransomware attacks this year already three more than in all of 2022, according to the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft. All but 10 had data stolen, the firm reported. Typically, Russian-speaking foreign-based gangs steal the data sometimes including the Social Security numbers and financial data of district staff before activating network- encrypting malware then threaten to dump it online unless paid in cryptocurrency. Last school year, schools in Arizona, California, Washington, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Michigan were all victims of major cyber attacks, the deputy national security advisor for cyber, Anne Neuberger, told the summit. An October 2022 report from the Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog agency, found that more than 1.2 million students were affected in 2020 alone with lost learning ranging from three days to three weeks. Nearly one in three U.S. districts had been breached by the end of 2021, according to a survey by the Center for Internet Security, a federally funded nonprofit. Do not underestimate the ruthlessness of those who would do us harm, said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during the summit, noting that even reports on suicide attempts have been dumped online by criminal extortionists and urging educators to avail themselves of federal resources already available. Education tech experts praised the Biden administration for the consciousness- raising but lamented that limited federal funds currently exist for them to tackle a scourge that cash-strapped school districts have been ill-equipped to defend effectively. Among measures announced at the summit: The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency will step up tailored security assessments for the K-12 sector while technology providers, including Amazon Web Services, Google and Cloudflare, are offering grants and other support. A pilot proposed by Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel yet to be voted on by the agency would make $200 million available over three years to strengthen cyber defense in schools and libraries. Thats a drop in the bucket, said Keith Krueger, CEO of the nonprofit Consortium for School Networking. School districts wrote the FCC last fall asking that it commit much more Krueger urged that several hundred million be made available annually from its E-Rate program, which has helped expand broadband internet to schools and libraries across the country since 1997. He said he was nevertheless heartened that the White House, Departments of Education and Homeland Security and the FCC recognize that the ransomware attacks plaguing the nation`s 1,300 public school districts are a five-alarm fire. The lasting legacy of school ransomware attacks is not in school closures, multimillion-dollar recovery costs, or even soaring cyber insurance premiums. It is the trauma for staff, students and parents from the online exposure of private records which the AP detailed in a report published last month, focusing on data theft by far-flung criminals from two districts: Minneapolis and the Los Angeles Unified School District. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho of the Los Angeles district, the nation`s second- largest, recounted for summit attendees lessons learned and best practices for mitigating the impact of extortionist ransomware attacks. For starters, he said, We don`t negotiate with terrorists. We did not pay the ransom. Carvalho noted how the FBI told him that paying ransoms doesn`t guarantee the stolen data won`t eventually find its way onto dark web forums where hackers hawk it for use in ID theft, fraud and other crimes. While other ransomware targets have fortified and segmented networks, encrypting data and mandating multi-factor authentication, school systems have reacted more slowly. A big reason has been the unwillingness of school districts to find full-time cybersecurity staff. In its 2023 annual survey, the Consortium for School Networking found that 66% of districts lack a full-time cybersecurity position and half don`t have adequate staff to integrate technology into the classroom. It quoted one respondent as saying staff burnout, morale and motivation were a problem. Cybersecurity spending by districts is also meager. Just 24% of districts spend more than one-tenth of their IT budget on cybersecurity defense, the survey found, while nearly half spent 2% or less. Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Cyber K-12 OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Attorneys seeking reparations for three living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre filed an appeal in the case with the Oklahoma Supreme Court and said a district court judge erred in dismissing the case last month. The appeal was filed Friday on behalf of the last known living survivors of the attack, all of whom are now over 100 years old. They are seeking reparations from the city and other defendants for the destruction of the once-thriving Black district known as Greenwood. For 102 years they`ve been waiting, said Damario Solomon-Simmons, an attorney for the three, during a press conference Monday on the steps of the Oklahoma Supreme Court building. They`ve been waiting, just like every other victim and survivor of the massacre, for just an opportunity to have their day in court. Solomon-Simmons, who brought the lawsuit under Oklahoma`s public nuisance law, said he wants the high court to return the case to district court for discovery and for a judge to decide the case on its merits. District Court Judge Caroline Wall last month dismissed the case with prejudice, dashing an effort to obtain some measure of legal justice by survivors of the deadly racist rampage. Defendants in the case include the City of Tulsa, the Tulsa Regional Chamber, the Board of County Commissioners, the Tulsa County Sheriff`s Office and the Oklahoma Military Department. A spokesperson for the City of Tulsa, Michelle Brooks, declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. A Chamber of Commerce attorney previously said the massacre was horrible, but the nuisance it caused was not ongoing. The lawsuit contends Tulsas long history of racial division and tension stemmed from the massacre, during which an angry white mob descended on a 35-block area, looting, killing and burning it to the ground. Beyond those killed, thousands more were left homeless and living in a hastily constructed internment camp. The city and insurance companies never compensated victims for their losses, and the massacre ultimately resulted in racial and economic disparities that still exist today, the lawsuit argued. It seeks a detailed accounting of the property and wealth lost or stolen in the massacre, the construction of a hospital in north Tulsa and the creation of a victims compensation fund, among other things. Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Oklahoma CEDAR PARK, Texas (AP) __ A fire with flames shooting up to 60 feet (18 meters) in the air damaged an apartment complex and condominiums near Austin, Texas, and forced hundreds of residents from their homes but caused no major injuries, authorities said. The fire was reported about 6:15 p.m. Tuesday as a grass fire, Cedar Park Fire Chief James Mallinger said during a news conference. The wind moved this fire quickly it went around the apartment complex, around the condos complex before crossing a road where it was stopped, according to Mallinger. The city said in a statement early Wednesday that just one minor injury was reported after about 300 apartments, 95 townhomes and several businesses were evacuated. Firefighters remained on the scene Wednesday, according to the statement. The fire burned about 50 acres (20 hectares), according to the statement, and displaced residents were offered shelter at a nearby church. Cedar Park is located on the northern edge of Austin, about 170 miles (274 kilometers) southwest of Dallas. Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Texas New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! Three former attorneys for the McClenny Moseley & Associates are urging a judge to lift a nine-month suspension that bars them from practicing in the federal Western District of Louisiana and pin blame for the law firms ethical issues on the law firms partners. Claude F. Reynaud III, Cameron S. Snowden and Grant P. Gardiner each say that R. William Huye, the former managing partner of MMAs New Orleans office, persuaded them to affix their names to hundreds of hurricane-damage lawsuits without telling them that MMA didnt actually represent many of the plaintiffs and was actually acting on behalf of a restoration contractor. Each of the the three lawyers also said they were unaware that MMA was using Velawcity, an internet marketing firm, to sign up clients. They said founding partner Zach Moseley handled marketing and the law firms finances. Another founding partner, James McClenny, resigned from the law firm last December. All of the judges assigned to the Western District of Louisiana decided collectively in June to extend an initial 90-day suspension of the MMA lawyers. Founding partner Zach Moseley and Huye were suspended for one year, Snowden and Reynaud for nine months, and Gardiner and founding partner James McClenny for six months. The court however, also scheduled a hearing held on Tuesday to hear the lawyers arguments as to why the punishment is inappropriate. Snowden said in a brief filed on Aug. 1 that its not fair that the US District Court for Western Louisiana the same punishment as the law firms founding partners. While Mr. Snowden accepts full responsibility for his limited role in connection with the MMA debacle, it is respectfully submitted that when comparing the relative culpability of the individuals involved, Mr. Snowdens actions pale in comparison to those of Messrs. McClenny, Moseley, and Huye, he said. Reynaud, Snowden and Gardiner say that Huye told them last summer that he planned to use a permissive joinder to file only 100 to 150 lawsuits for damages caused by Hurricane Laura in 2020. Instead of a single plaintiff for each damage claim, he intended to file one suit against each insurer with numerous plaintiffs for each. After the Western Louisiana District Court rejected that approach on Aug. 12, 2022, Huye told the three attorneys that he needed each of them to use the federal court systems filing system, called PACER, to affix their names to the lawsuits as plaintiffs counsel, according to information Reynaud provided to the court. The two-year statute of limitations for Hurricane Laura claims was fast approaching. The lawyers said they agreed to let their names be used only because otherwise the law firms clients would lose an opportunity to file suit. Reynaud said the situation presented an ethical dilemma: He had a choice of using his PACER account to file the lawsuits or refuse and effectively surrender the right of property owners to assert their insurance claims. Reynaud and Gardiner said in their affidavits that they did not know at the time that in 856 cases, MMA actually represented Apex Roofing and Restoration, not the homeowners. Reynaud included with his court filing affidavits by paralegal Melanie Farrell and attorney Heather Melaas. Both worked for MMA at the time the Hurricane Laura lawsuits were filed but quit after the scandal broke. Both said Reynaud had no management responsibilities and never handled money for the law firm. Farrell said she overheard Huye telling Reynaud that he had personally verified the information in the lawsuits. New Orleans insurance defense attorney Matthew Monson reacted to each attorneys arguments with posts on his LinkedIn page. After the Claims Journal ran a story about Gardiners pleadings on July 27, he said that the MMA saga should serve as a life lesson for new lawyers. Younger attorneys need to ask exactly where the files are coming from, he said. If you do not get a straight answer, consider another path before your career is ruined. Topics Louisiana New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Tuesday that he wants to make it harder for people to file lawsuits and win big legal judgments, arguing that suits are driving up insurance and business costs. The laws on our books make it too easy to bring frivolous lawsuits against Georgia business owners which drive up the price of insurance and stop new, good- paying jobs from ever coming to communities that need them the most, Kemp told the Georgia of Chamber of Commerce during a speech in Athens. His remarks echoed some of those made by Florida lawmakers in March, before the Florida Legislature passed a sweeping tort reform measure that aims to limit the incentives for and damages allowed in civil lawsuits. Kemp`s remarks also brought a partisan tone to the annual chamber event, even as Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff argued that a bipartisan approach was best for Georgia. Lets work together, Ossoff exhorted the largely Republican business group. Lets put politics aside. The chamber has long supported limits on lawsuits, but their efforts have stalled in the legislature in recent years. Kemp`s speech signals that he will back the chamber, which endorsed his 2022 reelection. Georgia lawmakers capped noneconomic damages including pain and suffering in a 2005 tort reform law, but the state Supreme Court overturned such caps as unconstitutional in 2010. The announcement sets up a major fight when the General Assembly convenes in 2024. This year, Kemp pushed into law almost all of the agenda he sought when he was reelected, leaving him able to launch new initiatives. The decision lines up with Kemp`s background as a property developer. Owners of commercial properties and apartment complexes have been some of the biggest supporters of lawsuit limits. Another big backer is the trucking industry. Kemp called the burdens on those industries unacceptable. Local trucking companies either cant afford the insurance theyre offered, or cant find a carrier altogether, and business owners live in fear of being sued for ridiculous claims on their property, Kemp said. Kemp said his call to level the playing field in our courtrooms will cut insurance premiums and help create more jobs. Linking the issue to auto insurance rates could help. Georgia had the eighth most expensive average auto insurance premiums in 2020, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, with an average premium of 1, 254.83. Rates were the central issue in the 2020 election for state insurance commissioner. It`s unclear what might emerge. But a business-backed plan in 2020 sought to limit damages for defective products to $250,000, make it harder to sue property owners for harms on their property caused by someone else, and bar plaintiffs lawyers from arguing for a specific amount of money before a jury. Business groups also say Georgia should change its practice of allowing plaintiffs to sue an insurance company at the same time they sue a trucking company. Republicans mostly support restrictions and Democrats mostly oppose them. I think that parties who have been harmed or injured or exploited or abused deserve an opportunity through our justice system to pursue redress, Ossoff told reporters before the event. And of course, its also the case that businesses sometimes bear the cost of responding to abusive litigation. So its about striking the right balance. Ossoff was at pains to emphasize his bipartisanship, saying Georgia is at its best when everyone is all pulling in the same direction. You will not find me investing my time courting controversy on national cable news or posting insults on social media, Ossoff said. That`s not the way to get things done for Georgia and my job is to get things done for Georgia. Ossoff`s remarks come a little more than a month after Kemp attacked Democrats at the groundbreaking for a supplier of electric battery material in Bainbridge. Kemp has said Georgia Republicans __ not President Joe Biden`s administration __ should get the credit for attracting electric vehicle makers to the state. Ossoff argues the electric vehicle boom wouldnt happen without Democratic policies, but argues we`re all on the same team, and that`s team Georgia. Kemp could challenge Ossoff for his Senate seat in 2026. Top photo: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp at the Georgia Chamber Congressional Luncheon this week. (Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Georgia New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! West Virginia`s state Legislature approved millions of dollars in raises and bonuses for corrections employees Tuesday, the same day as a lawsuit was filed against Republican Gov. Jim Justice and other state leaders over working conditions in the states regional jails and prisons. The Republican-dominated state Legislature approved more than $21 million in pay increases for corrections officers and bonuses for other staff, along with a number of other policies meant to lessen the burden of jail and prison workers. The spending bills were passed during a special session called by Justice earlier in the week. The funding for corrections passed along with a number of other appropriations, including $150 million to the State Road Fund for equipment and paving and $45 million to support Marshall Universitys growing cybersecurity program. The special session came a year after Justice declared a state of emergency and called on the state National Guard to help stop steep worker attrition at the state`s jails and prisons, which have a vacancy rate of more than 30%. Justice previously declared a state of emergency for the state`s jails and prisons in 2017. Weve got to take care of the people that are making sure we dont look like a Third World country out there with the way that were taking care of our prisons, Republican Del. Brandon Steele of Raleigh County said on the House floor Tuesday. Action on the bills came as a federal lawsuit was filed Tuesday seeking to force the state to spend $330 million to improve prison and jail conditions and fill worker vacancies. The lawsuit alleges inhumane living conditions in the correctional facilities and accuses Justice and others of ignoring overcrowding and failing to provide regular funding for upkeep, WVNS-TV reported. A spokesperson for the governor didnt immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit. Lawmakers approved over $21 million for correctional officer pay increases Tuesday, and two one-time bonuses of $2,294 for other jail staff who are not correctional officers, like kitchen staff one payment will come immediately, and another six months later. The total cost of the bonuses will be around $71, 127. Additionally, lawmakers passed a bill requiring that the state provide temporary identification cards to people released from incarceration at no cost. The legislation was a clarification of a bill passed in 2019 that said the state must make efforts to assist people in obtaining identification cards after release. The new legislation also increases the time the temporary identification cards are valid, from 90 to 180 days. Republican Del. Larry Kump said the bill seeks to help reduce recidivism in the state corrections system. Another bill passed Tuesday requires larger cities in the state to pay county commissions for the daily costs of housing certain inmates in jails who appear before a magistrate court instead of a municipal court. A different bill authorizes the state Supreme Court to develop a pretrial release program for people convicted of nonviolent misdemeanors. The original version of the bill that passed the Senate earlier in the week also included non-violent felonies, but that was scrapped by the House. Although the House amendment slightly narrows the potential programs that the Supreme Court may develop, it provides a starting point that may be expanded in the future, Republican Senate Majority Leader Tom Takubo said before the Senate greenlit the House`s version Tuesday night. Another bill that passed would bar the use of state funds for medical procedures in state jails and prisons unless they are medically necessary, as defined by the medical professional treating the patient. Lawmakers approved an amendment that would allow for birth control to be covered by state funds if requested by an inmate. Some of the funding for the appropriations approved this week is to come from the $1.8 billion surplus the state ended the fiscal year with in June, while other funding involves reappropriating money from other sources. Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits New You can now listen to Insurance Journal articles! Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping list of public safety issues he wants lawmakers to address during an upcoming special session prompted by a shocking Nashville school shooting earlier this year that resulted in the deaths of three children and three adults. The proclamation includes 18 different topics the Republican governor wants lawmakers to consider, such as mental health, gun storage and school safety policies. But notably, it allows lawmakers to discuss Lees proposal to limit dangerous people`s access to guns. As our nation faces evolving public safety threats, Tennessee remains vigilant and is taking continued action to protect communities while preserving the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens, Lee said in a statement, adding that he has worked with the General Assembly to identify practical measures to strengthen public safety. Earlier this year, Tennessee`s GOP-dominated Statehouse refused to consider tightening the state`s relaxed gun laws in the days following a shooter opening fire at The Covenant School, a private elementary school in Nashville. Instead, legislative leaders hustled to adjourn and ignored the pleas from distraught families to enact meaningful change surrounding gun control Despite the Legislature`s initial defiance, Lee promised he would convene a special session and stressed that lawmakers needed more time to listen and discuss his proposal. Yet in the weeks since, Lee has remained mum on whether he has enough support for his bill that would keep guns away from people deemed likely to pose a threat to themselves or others. Lee has also maintained his proposal is not a so- called red flag law, which he has described as a toxic political label meant to draw lines in the sand. To date, 19 states have red flag laws on the books many enacted after tragedies. Florida notably did so after the deadly 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Law enforcement officials had received numerous complaints about the 19-year-old gunmans threatening statements prior to shooting and killing 17 students. The laws, which allow courts to issue extreme risk protection orders, are intended to temporarily remove guns usually for up to a year from people showing signs of potentially violent behavior. In many cases, family members or law enforcement must petition a court for an order. GOP leaders and gun rights advocacy groups have encouraged Lee to abandon the special session, and others have publicly declared their resistance to supporting any sort of gun control measure. On the other hand, parents of students at Covenant, gun control advocates and Democratic lawmakers have pushed for firearms restrictions in hopes of preventing another deadly tragedy. Both sides have bought numerous advertisements ahead of the special session, which kicks off Aug. 21. Shortly after Lee released the broad proclamation, Democratic leaders pushed back, saying it falls short. For such a broad call, this proclamation somehow manages to miss the target, Democratic state Rep. John Ray Clemmons said in a statement. Gov. Lee has again wilted in the face of the legislative supermajority. The winners here are special interests and extremist legislators holding our state hostage. The clear losers are Tennessee families and school children. The fight this spring over whether to change Tennessees gun laws was further heightened when Republicans expelled two young Black lawmakers, both Democrats. Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were expelled over a breach of decorum rules for their protest on the House floor, where they called for the GOP to pass gun control measures after the school shooting. Their white colleague who joined them in protest, Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson, was spared by a single vote. Jones and Pearson were temporarily appointed back to their seats. After Pearson and Jones won special elections last week, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder sent a letter Monday to House Speaker Cameron Sexton on Jones behalf seeking confirmation that Jones will be restored to his committee assignments for the special session. Sexton has previously said lawmakers who are appointed arent given committee seats until they are elected. In a statement, Sexton said no committee decisions have been made yet for the Aug. 21 special session, saying he will announce assignments that week. Sexton and other legislative leaders added in a separate statement that they are looking forward to the opportunity to strengthen public safety and mental health resources without infringing on the rights of law-abiding Tennesseans. Photo: A makeshift memorial outside the school earlier this year, after a gunman killed three children and three adults. (AP Photo/Wade Payne, File) Copyright 2023 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Gun Liability Tennessee Source: Streetwise Reports August 10, 2023 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Telehealth company Reliq Health Technologies signs contracts with 20 new rural health clinics (RHCs) in California, Nevada, Puerto Rico, Texas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Telehealth company Reliq Health Technologies Inc. (RHT:TSX.V; RQHTF:OTCQB; A2AJTB:WKN) announced it has signed contracts with 20 new rural health clinics (RHCs) in California, Nevada, Puerto Rico, Texas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The contracts are expected to add more than 50,000 patients to the company's iUGO platform, which remotely monitors patients, by the end of 2024. "Building on our success to date with Rural Health Clinics in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, we are now expanding into RHCs on the U.S. mainland as well as adding new RHCs on the islands," said Reliq Chief Executive Officer Lisa Crossley. "The Rural Health Clinic program is intended to increase access to primary care services for patients in underserved, rural communities. Clinics that are granted RHC status receive enhanced reimbursement rates for providing Medicare and Medicaid services to their patients." The first five RHCs will start onboarding more than 10,000 patients next month with an average revenue of US$60 per patient per month, Crossley said. The remaining 15 will be onboarded next year. Reliq had its first profitable quarter during the three months ending March 31 with a gain from operations of CA$731,017 YoY. It also has started scoring larger contracts for iUGO, including one with a U.S. health plan that operates in five states with more than 3,000 doctors and 1 million patients. The company will not release its final results for fiscal year 2023, which ended June 30, until October. But Crossley recently told analysts and shareholders that according to estimates, revenues more than doubled from fiscal year 2022. "Going forward, we expect that total revenues will double, more than double again, from fiscal year 2023 to fiscal year 2024," Crossley said. "So, we're certainly in a period of rapid growth. And I would say that growth is going to accelerate significantly over the second half of the (calendar) year and into 2024." The company is gathering "continuing momentum," wrote Maxim Group analyst Allen Klee in an updated research note. "We believe the company has hit an inflection point of accelerating revenue and EBITDA profitability. Tailwinds include a significant number of larger contracts that have been won." Klee, who doubled down on his Buy rating of the stock and CA$1.75 per share price target, generally agreed with Crossley's revenue predictions. "We also believe our revenue could prove conservative if the company is successful in onboarding some of the larger contracts that have been announced," he wrote. The Catalyst: Telehealth Market Continues to Grow The iUGO platform helps manage diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), congestive heart failure, diabetes, hypertension, and others. Patients get audible reminders to step on a scale, take their blood pressure, or prick their fingers for glucose monitoring. The information is automatically uploaded to the cloud. It draws on data from fall detection devices, medication tracking, and vitals data to flag patients at home or in facilities who need additional monitoring. The global telehealth market is expected to reach US$455.3 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24% from 2023 to 2030, according to Research and Markets. "The pandemic exposed the shortcomings in the health care systems," the researchers wrote. "The government-imposed travel restrictions and lockdowns (mandated) in order to curb the spread of the virus . . . led to patients and healthcare institutions shifting toward teleconsultation and telemedicine." Analyst: Company Has Growing Momentum Analyst Klee wrote that Reliq's larger contracts signaled growing momentum for the company. "We believe a discount to the peer group average is warranted based on the company being at an early stage of execution," wrote Klee. "We project that Reliq will have a primarily recurring, high-margin business model going forward." iUGO is a "compelling offer for practitioners," Klee wrote. "A typical practice can bring in more than US$1 million in Medicare and Medicaid payments implementing it." "We project FY23 revenue of C$17.1M, up 101% (YoY), in line with management's expectations for revenue to double in FY23 and implying F4Q23 revenue of C$4.8M, up 110% (YoY)," Klee wrote. "For FY24, we project revenue of C$34.2M, +99% (YoY), roughly in line with management's expectations for revenue doubling in F2024." The analyst also sees potential catalysts for the coming year, predicting "increased cash flow generation, shift to profitability, an uplisting to a large U.S. exchange, and the initiation of a stock dividend." Ownership and Share Structure About 8% of Reliq's shares are owned by insiders, including Crossley, with 1.6% or 3.22 million shares. About 0.3% of the company is owned by institutional investors, including FNB Wealth Management, with 0.01% or 0.03 million shares, according to Reuters. Other top investors include Eugene Beukman, who owns 0.11% or 0.23 million shares, and Brian Storseth, who owns 0.07% or 0.14 million shares, Reuters said. Crossley said 91.7% of the company is retail. The company has 203 million shares outstanding, with about 200 million free-floating. It has a market cap of CA$101.45 million and trades in a 52-week range of CA$0.76 and CA$0.46. More Info: This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. 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That's all it takes to get an article published on Investor Ideas - Learn More Source: John White August 10, 2023 (Investorideas.com Newswire) However, construction of the firm's new export facility in Louisiana is advancing well, noted a ROTH Capital Partners report. Tellurian Inc.'s (TELL:NYSE American) Q2/23 revenue and earnings per share (EPS) were below forecasts due to lower-than-expected natural gas production and prices, reported ROTH Capital Partners analyst John White in an Aug. 7 research note. Tellurian is building liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure and developing resources along the U.S.' Gulf Coast. "Tellurian continues to execute its integrated strategy by progressing construction of its Driftwood project and through the production and sales of natural gas," White wrote. Driftwood LNG is the company's new liquefied natural gas export facility being built in Louisiana. Material Gain Projected Despite this underperformance in Q2/23, which ended June 30, 2023, ROTH maintained its US$3.30 per share target price on the Texas-based energy firm. Given it is currently trading at about US$1.66 per share, the return to target implies a significant return for investors of 99%. Tellurian is still a Buy. Production Up Year Over Year White presented Tellurian's Q2/23 results. The natural gas company generated US$32 million (US$32M) in revenues, not even half of ROTH's estimate of US$76.6 million (US$76.6M). Similarly, Q2/23 EPS came in at (US$0.11), also below ROTH's forecast of US$0.03. Tellurian produced 17,200,000,000 cubic feet (17.2 Bcf) of natural gas, which compares to 9 Bcf produced at the same time last year. Construction Update White reported that the construction of Driftwood LNG is progressing "very well." To date, more than 9,000 piles have been driven, and more than 10,000 cubic feet of concrete have been poured for the first plant and the storage tanks. Regarding the second plant, preparations for piling work were just completed. More Info: This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp Get Great Trading Ideas and News Alerts Guest posts and sponsored content - Got $100? That's all it takes to get an article published on Investor Ideas - Learn More Vancouver, British Columbia - August 10, 2023 (Newsfile Corp.) (Investorideas.com Newswire) AVANTI GOLD CORPORATION (CSE: AGC) (FSE: X37) (the "Company" or "Avanti") is pleased to announce an update following a site visit to Misisi Project. CEO Dr. Colin Porter and board member Mata Botama recently conducted a site visit to the Misisi Project to engage with local communities and assess the current status of logistics and infrastructure at the project. Several constructive meetings took place with senior community representatives, local and district chiefs, and leaders of the local artisanal miners' cooperative (Sycomines). The airstrip at Lulimba was found to be in excellent condition and roads to Misisi town and the field camp were all passable. The camp itself is in good condition with all accommodation and catering facilities fully functional as well as the electricity supply. Some minor remedial work will be required. Access roads to the Akyanga project area are good. Samples from a 2,200m drilling by the previous operator remain on site and have not been assayed. The integrity of the samples was assessed and overall condition is considered to be good. These samples will be dispatched for assay as a priority. Results will assist in further definition and updated classification of the Akyanga Hill resource. Phase 1 drill planning has been completed with a view to further upgrading of the Akyanga inferred resource by infill drilling and exploration drilling on the Akyanga East target which lies 800m to the east of the main resource. An initial 14,000m of drilling has been planned and contractors identified. CEO Dr. Colin Porter commented: "The site visit to Misisi was extremely productive and we were pleased with the condition and amount of existing infrastructure at Misisi. All engagements with the community were extremely positive and the benefits of Avanti returning to the area to commence an organised exploration programme were discussed with and supported by the community and Sycomines. Avanti look forward to continuing to build positive relationships with all local stakeholders as we progress our exploration programme in the near future." About Avanti Gold Corporation Avanti Gold Corporation is a mineral exploration company working on a Tier-1 gold opportunity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ("DRC"), located in the Fizi territory of South Kivu province, in the DRC. The Misisi Gold Project (or the "Project") has a contained Inferred Mineral Resource of 3.11 million ounces of gold as reported in the Company's National Instrument 43-101 technical report on the Misisi Gold Project (the "Technical Report") filed on Sedar+ on August 4, 2023. The Project is located 250 kilometres south of Bukavu, the provincial capital of the South Kivu Province, in the DRC. The Project is comprised of three contiguous 30-year mining leases, valid until 2045, covering 133 square kilometres of prospective exploration ground along the 55-kilometre-long Kibara Gold Belt. The Kibara Belt is a well-known metallogenic province and hosts a number of other deposits including the Twangiza (5.1 Moz oz Au, source: S&P Global) and Namoya (1.9 Moz, source: S&P Global) gold mines. The Project is host to the Akyanga deposit, which is the subject to Inferred Resource of 40.8 million tonnes at an average grade of 2.37 grams per tonne gold containing 3.11 million ounces. Qualified Person Ephraim Masibhera, a "Qualified Person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"), has reviewed the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. This news release also includes references with respect to the Twangiza (5.1 Moz oz Au, source: S&P Global) and Namoya (1.9 Moz, source: S&P Global) gold mines, which are located near the Misisi Gold Project. The Company advises that, notwithstanding their proximity of location, discoveries of minerals on such properties, any promising results thereof are not necessarily indicative of the mineralization of, or located on the Misisi Gold Project, or the Company's ability to commercially exploit the minerals claims which comprise the property or to locate any commercially exploitable deposits therefrom. For more information on the Misisi Gold Project, please refer to the Technical Report filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR+. On behalf of the Board of Directors Email: info@avantigoldcorp.com Office: +1 (604) 908-1679 Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. More Info: This news is published on the Investorideas.com Newswire - a global digital news source for investors and business leaders Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp Get Great Trading Ideas and News Alerts Guest posts and sponsored content - Got $100? That's all it takes to get an article published on Investor Ideas - Learn More Ryanair senior executive Eddie Wilson said a new decree passed by the Italian government to reduce the impact of rising airfares this summer is illegal. The government's airline initiative is designed to clamp down on carriers use of algorithms to set ticket prices particularly for connections from Italian hubs to the islands of Sicily and Sardinia in a bid to protect consumers against sudden price spikes. Its ridiculous, illegal and goes against free market laws, Wilson, who is chief executive officer of Ryanairs main unit, said in an interview. If the new package isnt scrapped, theres going to be an impact on Ryanair operations in Italy, said Wilson. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Melonis cabinet earlier this week approved the airline measure alongside a controversial surprise tax on banks profits that roiled markets. Prompting a sharp fall in Italian bank shares, the government imposed a major windfall tax of 40% on banks' net interest income, measured as the difference between the interest rate the bank is charged and the rates it charges to consumers. Renewed demand for summer travel following the end of Covid-related restrictions has buoyed airlines, but inflationary pressure could dent demand in coming months. Earlier this year, the airline unveiled 1.43bn in after-tax profits for the 12 months to the end of March, forecasting an increase of 10% in passenger numbers to 185 million for the 2024 financial year. Likely prompting a double-digit rise in profits, the rebound also means that chief executive, Michael O'Leary is on course to secure a potential bonus of almost 100m in the coming years. However, Ryanair has lowered its full-year forecast for traffic and said it may need to cut ticket prices to fill seats this winter as passengers become more cost-sensitive. Additional reporting from Bloomberg Like many a small rural farmer, Peter Monaghan was looking for an additional income source to bolster his revenue. Based in Maghera, Co. Cavan, he investigated a number of enterprises before settling on what might have seemed an unlikely choice a snail farm. Passionate about working the land, Peter recognised that his small suckler farm would not create a viable income on its own. He eventually decided that snail farming was a business worth trying especially given the twin attractions of a relatively low initial investment and catering to an obvious gap in the market. Subsequent to extensive research Inis Escargot was established in 2015, and now rears, fattens, finishes and exports snails directly from the farm. Currently, the farm raises three million snails a year, mostly for export. Snail farming is seven days a week, it's like milking. You have to be there every evening to feed your snails, manage your snails, pick your snails. Inis Escargot is now one of Irelands largest snail farms, leading the way in terms of knowledge and experience, having perfected a farming method that works. Inis Escargot not only breeds and sells snails, but also teaches other would-be farmers how to start a similar business. Peter, who also operates a small beef herd, provides on-farm and virtual training courses for anyone interested in starting a snail farm, teaching tried and trusted methods perfected over the years. From establishing our farm in 2015 we have since tried and tested many different methods, and are now currently using what I believe is the most efficient. We have also taken almost 50% labour from many of the processes and procedures, which is the key to a sustainable snail farm. The course is designed to help people move from their existing jobs and gradually transition into snail farming, whether on a full- or part-time basis. We have found that starting up gradually works best to maintain low risk, both financially and physically, he adds. The training includes on-farm and virtual training and ongoing support in his aim to create a community network of successful snail farmers throughout the country. Snail farming produces a huge amount of product from a small piece of land and Ireland is the ideal location for this type of business. Inis Escargot is one of only 30 snail farms in Ireland, but their popularity is growing. The snail growing season starts in January, with infant snails fed forage rape and a high-cost calcium powder mix. Escargot is often eaten as a delicacy. "While the thought of eating snail may not be appetising to some, escargot actually has a number of notable benefits. It is an excellent source of protein and is rich in iron and other minerals, making it beneficial for those who are struggling to maintain a healthy diet. Spain is currently the biggest grower of snails, but given the severe rise in temperatures being experienced there due to climate change, Ireland is increasingly viewed as a better geographical bet for the industry. You'll get a few raised eyebrows when you mention youre visiting a sheep farm in southern Alberta a vast section of Canada which proudly declares itself Beef Country. There also arent too many farms in Western Canada where youll get greeted with a pot of Barrys tea, but then Ray and Nancy Nolan are no ordinary ranchers either. Carlow man Ray and Canadian wife Nancy have sought to make their mark on the local palate, promoting lamb as a healthy and tasty centrepiece of dinner tables through their brand Lambtastic. Originally from a sheep farm on this side of the Atlantic, Ray met Nancy in London. Growing up, it felt like the message was Get out, get out theres no money in farming, he said. So I put myself into the culinary world and really liked it and worked my way around Ireland Waterford, Carlow, Tralee, Kinsale, and Limerick. The next move for the young up-and-coming Irish chef was a hop across the water to the Dorchester the famous five-star luxury hotel which dominates Londons Park Lane. The step was a lucky one in more ways than one and was where he met his now, wife Nancy, an agronomists daughter who grew up on a mixed grain and beef farm in Vulcan, Alberta. At the time, Nancy had just six months left on her Visa, so she knew she had to act quickly in her search for a job. So, of course, I went to the Dorchester, she said. The guy who met me at the door ended up being my boss, she says with a wry smile at husband Ray. It took him a while, but we got together eventually, and the Dorchester ended up extending my visa. Together, the couple have cooked for a reem of the rich and famous, including Nelson Mandela, the Queen, Princes Charles, Harry and William, and even Michael Jackson. It was really funny because he had a reputation for going to the Ritz, so we all thought they were joking when they said Michael Jackson was dining with us, Nancy explained. Being chefs, the pair worked long hours, preparing well for the demands of rancher life, so when the opportunity came up to take on Nancys family farm, it was a challenge they couldnt turn down. But while the whole business wouldnt have been possible without the support of Nancys family, the decision to go into sheep, in particular, was one driven by Ray. One, being Irish and knowing about sheep and second, in our culinary circle, we knew they were crying out for lamb, he said. True to form, one chef soon placed an order for 20 lambs, which was enough to kick off the meat sales side of the business, and the rest soon sparked from there. We went out and bought 50 head of Suffolk sheep, which was the breed I was used to growing up, Ray explained. Soon the couple were raising 350-400 sheep a year, but a reshuffle in dwelling houses, and the decision to build on the homestead meant they had to sell a substantial portion of their flock to finance the changes. However, they are now in the process of rebuilding numbers back up. Building a brand Initially, the business clientele consisted mostly of restaurants. However, this left the business exposed to the radical disruption caused by Covid lockdowns, and through the necessity to continue selling their meat, the couple explored a new business opportunity meat parcels sold direct to the public. Before Covid, it was all restaurants and hotels. We knew every week what the week would look like it was the same hotels, same restaurants, same customers forever. But then Covid came along and it was a whole new world, Nancy said. But when Covid hit, people did start looking for farmers, and it made that connection easier. We were in a good place because people would recognise our name from the restaurants and would start looking for us. So we went from delivering to hotels and restaurants to delivering to peoples homes and that has continued. Through their brand, Lambtastic Farms, the couple has since launched a range of value-added packages and bundles. Stock from the farm are slaughtered around 40 minutes from the farm in High River and then transported to the next town over, Okotoks, for processing. However, while finding a butcher capable of meeting the couples exacting culinary standards was a challenge at first, sticking to their principles has helped to build their reputation. It was very important for us to keep a short supply chain, but with our cheffing background, we know whats good and whats not. I think knowing what quality meat should look like has helped us a lot, Ray said. Starting out, we went through a lot of butchers, because you go to the trouble of raising these animals and then you give them to the butcher, and he messes it up. That aspect was a struggle to get right. With our background, we knew what a lamb rack should look like, we knew what a lamb leg should look like and exactly how we wanted it. It also means we are able to keep a close eye on things and send a quality product every time that consistency of quality is very important to our hospitality customers. We went through about seven or eight butchers before we got one we were consistently happy with. But it was night and day when we found our current one someone that was willing to work with us and meet the standards we have. On the farm, lambs are finished at 120lbs liveweight by six to eight months. We are pretty picking about lambs which go over one year, because they are classified as a hogget, Ray explains. However, slaughtering their stock was another challenge to overcome. Not everybody wants to slaughter lamb, but everyone wants to slaughter beef, Ray said. Some of the abattoirs were only able to take lambs sporadically, and often booked up two years down the line. But achieving a consistent supply was something the couple knew would be key to their business. Star Trek fans might appreciate the nod to the series in the town of Vulcan. The pair also like to get hands-on, putting their culinary skills to good use for cooking demonstrations at Vulcans popular Spock Days in the town famous for its space-themed town centre just in case its Star Trek namesakes ever fancy dropping in. Farm to Table dinners events where establishments showcase their farm suppliers also form a key part of the business marketing. Farming east of the Foothills In Western Canada, everything is much bigger than back home on the Emerald Isle, but farming just east of the Foothills has its challenges too. The land isnt as productive as Ireland, Ray explains. [In Ireland], you can keep your animals out longer, and you get more of a yield. While here, you need to be bigger and you get less. For example, on the farms 2,000 acres of cereal crops, Ray expects canola yields of around 25-30 bushels, yellow peas 40-50 bushels, barley 60 bushels, and wheat 35-40 bushels, (1.5-2 tonnes an acre). The farm also includes grazing land at High River as well as 140 acres of pasture in Vulcan, where the couple live with their three children, Breadon, Charless, and Isabella. Ray baled 120 silage bales in mid-May, but despite the thousands of miles between him and his familys home farm in Co Carlow, some things never change. Im always on the phone to Dad and checking in on what the prices are and how much it rained, he said. He beats us on that one every year, he laughs. Dad will be on the phone complaining about how dry its been, and Ill joke, What? You havent had rain for ten days?! Its a very different way to farm, he explains. There are no subsidies just crop insurance, which protects farmers in the event that a crop fails, and a privately-run scheme which rewards the farm for its carbon sequestration, which the couple have recently signed up to. This year, between tornadoes and drought, forage has been particularly scarce. He has even had to change the way he spreads fertiliser to more frequent but lighter applications in phases according to rainfall. Its dramatically affected everything. Hay has obviously been an issue its so scarce, and the price has been ridiculous, so for anyone going out to buy hay and to feed it to their sheep, its been really, really tough, he said. This year, hay has hit around $300/tonne almost double the normal $152 paid. "If I was selling lambs to the market, I probably wouldnt be able to make money from it at the moment. Ray and Nancy Nolan have put their background as high-end chefs to good use for their business producing and marketing lamb. Ray believes the attitude to food is also vastly different across the pond: I think at home, you get more of a culture around local Irish food. Were very proud of our local food. When I think of Irish food, I think of the lovely farmhouse cheeses right away. The grocery stores have a fair amount of local produce on their shelves, while here, you dont have that. Food production over here is many monopolised in the grocery stores by big companies. We cant supply them because they want federal inspections and to be able to stock the produce across 50 stores. The scale required for that means they wont even let us in the door. Its come with challenges, as it means that restaurant chains have been unable to take lamb for their restaurants in other provinces. But the federal inspection process also requires much larger quantities of lamb than what the farm is producing. A flipside is that it also means that every one of the farms customers, whether it be a chef or a member of the public, has a direct relationship with Ray and Nancy. Quality is number one for us, number two you know exactly where it came from, and number three, you know me. You have a relationship, reputation and quality and when you get those right they are all crucial to our business, Ray said. He explains this relationship means his customers have also been very understanding of some of the challenges with input costs and margins in recent months. There have been times when we have had to increase prices and if you explain the why of it, rather than just announcing the increase, they are pretty understanding about it, he said. Gerry Conlon was wrongly imprisoned, as one of the 'Guildford Four', for the IRA bombing of an English pub in 1974 which killed five people. Anyone who saw the moment on television in October 1989 when Conlon was finally released from the Old Bailey in London after his conviction was quashed will never forget it. Conlon insisted on going out the front door of the courthouse, instead of being released discretely out a side door into a waiting taxi. With an arm raised by one of his sisters, he proclaimed his innocence with his dead fathers words echoing in his ears: They put us in through the back door. You go out the front door and tell the world what they did to us. As one of the 'Maguire Seven', Conlons father, Giuseppe, was also wrongly convicted, after being arrested on a trip to London to talk to solicitors for his son. He died in prison in 1980. Lorenzo Moscia, 49, was a university student in Rome when he saw Jim Sheridans movie, In the Name of the Father, about the Conlons miscarriage of justice story. Lorenzo Moscia, director of In The Name of Gerry Conlon. It changed Moscias life. He was captivated by Gerry Conlons ordeal. It inspired him to become a lawyer like Gareth Peirce, the solicitor who helped overturn the Guildford Fours wrongful convictions. After a couple of years working as a lawyer, Moscia switched lanes and became a photojournalist, spending 15 years working in South America. When he returned to Rome to live, Gerry Conlon was still at the back of his mind. He wondered how Conlon had fared. Using his contacts at the Guardian newspaper, Moscia got in touch with him. Conlon agreed to do a two-hour interview. Moscia travelled to Belfast in January 2013 and ended up staying for three weeks. Ten days were spent travelling around the city with Conlon, shooting hours of footage and interviewing him in Conlons kitchen, with Moscias video camera propped up on a cigarette pack. It was the last interview Conlon gave before dying in June 2014. Moscia, who was in Brazil covering the World Cup at the time, was bereft. The Guildford Four: Carole Richardson, Gerry Conlon, Paddy Armstrong, Paul Hill. Moscia teamed up with a producer, Ines Vasiljevic, to work on a gripping documentary about Conlons life, entitled In the Name of Gerry Conlon, which features interviews with key players in Conlons harrowing drama. These include Peirce; Paddy Joe Hill, one of the Birmingham Six; Paddy Armstrong, one of the Guildford Four; and Alistair Logan, a solicitor for the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven, and a man who became a surrogate father to Armstrong and Carole Richardson, who was only 17 years old when she was imprisoned as one of the Guildford Four. She died from cancer in 2013. The most difficult aspect of making the documentary was that the main character was not available, says Moscia. Gerry had passed away. OK, we got the money to make a good documentary. We could pay the editor, the musician, and so on. We could do something good. I knew we could build Gerrys story not just from the interviews I had from his kitchen, but with other people in his life. We got so much material we could have made hundreds of documentaries. Gareth Peirce, solicitor. I spent so much time with Gareth Peirce, with Alistair Logan, with Paddy Joe Hill in Glasgow and his miscarriages of justice organisation (Mojo), where Gerry worked campaigning for wrongfully imprisoned people. Paddy Joe Hill is such a strong character. How can you build the story which Gerry who is no longer with us is still the centre? That was the challenge. I needed to make the spine with Gerry. At some point, the other characters needed to help Gerry a man who had passed away 10 years ago to tell the story. It was like being in the presence of a ghost. The details in the documentary are chilling, particularly the beatings the Guildford Four received in police custody. Conlon got his nose broken. Police also set dogs on him. He had to drink water from the toilet. He wasnt allowed sleep. They forced a confession from him by threatening to get a rogue branch of the British military in Belfast to kill his mother. Once imprisoned, jail wardens opened his cell door in the morning so other inmates could attack him. Moscia believes his solo filming style helped extract more intimate testimonies. When I arrived in Dublin to interview Jim Sheridan, he said, OK, where is the rest of the troupe? I said, No, the troupe is me. I stepped into his kitchen with a bottle of red wine and two cameras. Being alone is an advantage. Sometimes I could have gone with more crew, but I said, No, theres going to be too much difference with the style of Gerrys interview. Its better if its just me and the interviewee in their kitchen. Often you see a documentary and you can feel the presence of 15 people in the background milling around during an interview: the director, the person on lights, the cameramen, and so on. With me, it was just myself, a couple of Canon cameras, tripods, leads, microphone. It makes things more unguarded. Its so difficult to get in touch with Gareth Peirce. If you see her interviewed online, you will never see her cry or get emotional." In this film, however, the campaigning lawyer Shes like the Iron Lady, and she got emotional remembering Gerry at the end of the documentary. In the Name of Gerry Conlon will be screened on RTE One television, on Monday, August 14 From the documentary to the feature: In The Name Of The Father The director Jim Sheridan adapted Gerry Conlons autobiography, Proved Innocent, into a movie called In the Name of the Father. It was released in 1993. It starred Daniel Day-Lewis as Conlon, Pete Postlethwaite as his father, Giuseppe, and Emma Thompson as the lawyer Gareth Peirce. It was nominated for seven Oscars. Incidentally, Gareth Peirce has never watched the film. The name Giuseppe really attracted me, says Sheridan in the directors cut of the documentary, In the Name of Gerry Conlon. I immediately thought the idea of a father/son story was very powerful that that was the way to tell the Guildford Four story. Gerry was involved, but during the filming there were fights. There were arguments. I didnt want to bar him from the set and say [he] couldnt be there, but he was on the set. It wasnt something he was big into. When the film was released, Conlon was upset with deviations the film script took from his autobiography. Then after the movie, there were arguments, adds Sheridan. Conlon went to the films world premiere in Dublin, but didnt speak with Sheridan for 15 years, according to the documentary maker, Lorenzo Moscia. They eventually ended up making peace, however. Barbie is set to open across the Middle East but moves by Kuwait and Lebanon to ban the film over its themes on gender and sexuality have raised questions over how widely it will be released. Kuwait announced its ban late on Wednesday, saying the film promotes ideas and beliefs that are alien to the Kuwaiti society and public order without elaborating, according to a statement published by the state-run KUNA news agency. In Lebanon, culture minister Mohammad Mortada said the film was found to contradict values of faith and morality and promote homosexuality and sexual transformation. His request to ban the film was forwarded to Lebanons General Security agency, which falls under the Interior Ministry and traditionally handles censorship decisions, to make the final verdict. The move has already sparked an uproar in Lebanon, which has long been an island of relative tolerance for homosexuality. Kate McKinnon, who is gay, stars in the film (Ian West/PA) Across the Middle East, many Muslims, Christians and Jews consider homosexuality to be sinful. In some parts of the Arab world, members of the LGBTQ+ community have been arrested and sentenced to prison. In Iraq, regulators have even banned media from using the word homosexuality, instead ordering outlets to refer to it as sexual deviance. The film does not include any overt sexuality, but the all-star cast includes Kate McKinnon, who is gay, and Hari Nef, who is transgender. Ken, played by Ryan Gosling, also sometimes behaves in a feminine manner that would be controversial in much of the Middle East. Many in the LGBTQ+ community have embraced the film, even as some have criticised it as pushing a heteronormative narrative. The Warner Bros movie about the dolls has grossed over $1 billion in less than a month since opening in other markets. The film led and produced by Margot Robbie, directed and co-written by Greta Gerwig crossed $400 million in the US and $500 million internationally faster than any other movie at the studio, including the Harry Potter films. It is set to open in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on Thursday evening. Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have invested billions of dollars in sports, entertainment and tourism in recent years. But like much of the rest of the Middle East, they criminalise homosexuality and view LGBTQ+ advocacy as a threat to their societies that must be quashed. The films release in the region was initially planned for August 31 but was recently brought forward, indicating that any censorship issues had been resolved. Films are often delayed for release in the region to allow time for production companies to censor them or for committees to review them. Warner Bros did not respond to requests for comments about whether or not the movie was censored for release in the region. Cmere, whats the story with the weather forecast? The old doll gave a yelp out of her the other night when we were watching repeats of Im a Celebrity from 2014 (is it just me or is there nathin on the telly?) and I thought 'here we go now, either Zara is having a flash sale or Meghan Markle was caught doing the dirt on the foxy prince'. Wrong on both counts, Dowcha Donie. A website called Extremely Mega-Sensational Weather told my old doll that it was going to be 27C in Cork on Wednesday and off with her upstairs to start grooming as she calls, or leaving dodgy bits of hair all over the shower as I refer to it myself. Along comes Wednesday anyway, and it was well gloomy like. There was heat in the air in fairness, but it was that kind of shocking heat that gives you a weird itch and has you saying muggy to strangers on the bus. The old doll was like a dog, she had copied an outfit from the Barbie movie, she looked the business in fairness, but it was terrible to see her in tears because she thought it would be like the Canaries in Cork. So like, where is the best place to get a reliable weather forecast? - Dowcha Donie, Blackpool I rang Met Eireann and asked what theyd advise. The woman said: "Try emigration, its going to rain until 2028." Were getting earache on our WhatsApp group, Douglas Road Stunners Who Ended Up Next To a Dublin Family on Holidays. We all make a point of going on holidays to different parts of France in August, because its super-expensive then and what better way to shove your wealth in your sisters face, serves her right for marrying a guy from Bishopstown and now shes stuck sneaking off to France the minute the kids are out of school to try and save a bit of money. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, we Stunners disperse to different campsites across la belle France: we used to go together but there was a fierce amount of sleeping with each others husbands. Were on the old WhatsApp to each other every day... its either that or talk to our kids. Weve noticed a fierce outbreak of Dublin accents across France this year. Orla_Elocuted said there was a very nice Dublin family next to her in the Premium Area of her exclusive campsite, but the honking DART accent on their kids would wear you thin. She asked them if they could mime for the final few days of the holidays, but their Dublin mother got wind of it and there was war. (Orla sang Ill tell me Ma when I go home, the Corkies wont leave the Dubs alone at her nemesis, no speakie for the rest of the holiday.) Do you know Audrey, is there any way to get Dublin people to use a different accent? - Jenni, Douglas Road, currently in France, very expensive. I rang the Posh Cousin there and asked her what she thought. She said: "I feel very sorry for Jenni nobody who matters goes to campsites these days." Hello, its Rosealeen here in Ballydesmond. You cant beat a dating app that comes straight to the point, which is why Im rarely off 50-Something Widowers in Your Area Who Know Who To Drive You Wild. Bad cess to men who werent married before, they would get an NG in female anatomy. Thats No Grade before you ask a very popular mark for people who sat the Inter Cert in Scartaglin. Anyway, didnt I hook up with Mikey last week, and Mikey likey all-night-long let me tell you. The only problem is his misery of a dog, Speckles. She belonged to Mikeys widow and Speckles is still sad because your one only died last month... not in the bed thank God. But Mikey has a big heart, the gowl, and he lets Speckles sleep inside in the bed with us. Sorry now, but its hard to lose yourself in the pleasures of the flesh with a 17-year-old cocker-spaniel giving the stink eye. Do you think I should say 'Mikey, its either me or that fecking dog'? - Rosealeen, Ballydesmond. My brother is a vet, as my mother likes to remind me twice a week. I rang him there and asked if there is a downside to having a cocker spaniel in bed. He told me I always had a colourful life. Im not ringing him anymore. Well hello from sunny California. My second wife and I will visit your fair isle on a cruise ship soon, well be tying up in the grand old town of Cobh. Im told I need to see the sights of your second city, but the missus is all about winners (like myself) and insists we need to visit the capital. So, how long would it take us to get to Belfast? - Mack Schlaffenberg III Jnr I was going to suggest you try Google Maps, but you are probably as bad with technology as you are with geography. (Not to mention history.) It will take you 4 hours and 24 minutes to travel to Belfast, or three days if there is a crash on the M50. Bear in mind that Belfast is in another country. But so is Dublin in fairness. Frontline staff at University Hospital Limerick say they are increasingly fearful about what the winter will bring as the hospital struggles to cope with unprecedented August overcrowding. More than a year since Health Minister Stephen Donnelly deployed a specialist HSE team to address chronic overcrowding, particularly in the emergency department, the hospital had 100 patients on trolleys on Wednesday. On August 1, 110 patients were waiting for a bed, while in July, the hospital had 86 and 95 patients on trolleys on two separate days. Siptu industrial representative Ger Kennedy says the situation is worrisome, noting how there is very little difference now between the summer figures and the winter. If thats the case in July and August, what are they going to be like come October or November, if this is the trend? Fine Gael senator Martin Conway: 'If this is the case in August, I dread where we will be on the first of November or even worse on January 1.' File picture: Stephen Collins Mr Kennedy said there is real concern among members, including paramedics and porters. The Midwest Hospital Campaign described the overcrowding as unacceptable and called for a reversal of the policy which saw emergency departments closed in regional hospitals in Ennis, Co Clare, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, and St Johns, Limerick. This time last year they deployed a team of experts from the HSE to sort things out, said spokeswoman Noeleen Moran. One year on and despite all the efforts and the rejigging of plans for bank holiday weekend rotas, there is no difference to the outcome for patients. There is no difference to the trolley figures. The only thing that can turn this situation around will be the acceptance that one emergency department is not adequate to serve a population of over 400,000 people, she said. Noeleen Moran said: 'One year on and despite all the efforts and the rejigging of plans for bank holiday weekend rotas, there is no difference to the outcome for patients.' Picture: Brendan Gleeson Mr Donnelly has defended the reconfiguration process and the role of the smaller hospitals, while also acknowledging that significant work remains to be done. In a letter to the Regional Health Forum West several days ago, he said: These hospitals play a pivotal role in the delivery of high-quality patient care within the region. The model 2 hospitals accept transfers of appropriate patients from UHL on a daily basis. He pointed to construction of a 96-bed unit, and said: Pre-planning meetings on a second 96-bed ward block at UHL have been also held and it is anticipated that planning permission will be applied for this month. The letter was in response to a query from Nenagh-based Independent councillor Seamus Morris, It concluded: The minister recognises that while improvements in patient care have been achieved, as noted in HIQAs most recent inspection report of UHL, there is still significant work to be done. However, Sinn Fein TD for Limerick City Maurice Quinlivan accused the minister of not doing enough. Minister Donnelly hasnt taken a hands-on approach here. Hes come down for a few photo ops, but 2023 will be the worst year for trolleys at UHL, he said. Mr Quinlivan claims the 2009 amalgamation of emergency departments at UHL left the hospitalcovering too large an area. People might be sitting in beds for four or five days, he said. Theres a lot of things that could be done quickly, but July was its highest number of all time and its clear that UHL has never gotten the priority it deserves. Mr Quinlivan added that there is no concrete plan to fix overcrowding. It is a massive area to cover with no plan. Theres a 96-bed ward being developed which would be welcome and other plans, but they will take years. Fine Gael senator Martin Conway said: If this is the case in August, I dread where we will be on the first of November or even worse on January 1. He urged the health minister to tell the HSE to send its specialist team back in. A hospital spokesman said: University Hospital Limerick has for a sustained period been managing significantly high numbers of patients presenting to our Emergency Department, including many frail, elderly and other patients with complex care needs. A daily average of 220 people came to the ED in July, compared to 195 in 2019, he said. A shortfall in patient bed capacity at UHL has been repeatedly acknowledged by all parties and remains the fundamental driver of hospital overcrowding, he said. This month 11 nurses join the ED, and he said: Staff at all levels across UL Hospitals Group are working hard to reduce these wait times. The population of endangered corncrakes in Ireland has risen by more than a third, according to new figures. New research from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) found that there has been a 35% increase in the corncrake population here over the past five years. The NPWS says a total of 218 corncrake breeding territories have been recorded in 2023, a 10% increase on the total recorded last year. Additionally, corncrakes have been spotted on the Aran Islands for the first time in 25 years, and the numbers of corncrakes recorded in their core breeding areas of Donegal, Mayo and Galway have increased by 15% since 2022. Shy and secretive, the corncrake is known for its unique call. The bird is red-listed on the Birds of Conservation Concern in Ireland 2020-2026, given significant decreases in both numbers and range in Ireland and other European countries in recent decades. Since 2021, the Corncrake/Traonach LIFE Project, a five-year project funded through the EU and co-ordinated by the NPWS, has been working on a number of measures to counteract the decline of the corncrake here. Through the project, data on the bird's population in Ireland is gathered annually. Heritage Minister Malcolm Noonan said it was "fantastic to see that biodiversity action for the iconic corncrake is working." Shy and secretive, the Corncrake is known for its unique call. File Picture Mr Noonan said the corncrake population increase was "remarkable" and "a testament to the hard work and commitment of so many, not least the farmers and communities at the heart of the effort." According to the NPWS, corncrake conservation measures involve pre-emptive planning with farmers in their breeding areas, primarily located on the north and west coast. NPWS data shows a number of measures which are effective in improving the birds habitat, namely, the creation of large patches of nettles or other crops for the birds to hide in, and the delaying of grass mowing until mid-August enable the corncrake to raise broods of chicks in safety. The NPWS says that the involvement of 250 farmers and landowners now managing close to 1500 hectares of land for corncrakes has been key to success as regards increasing population numbers. We are now seeing the birds expand their range into new areas in Sligo and Kerry as well as areas outside the core LIFE project sites. This is great news and even better that NPWS has the supports in place to grow the success of the LIFE project work and make potential actions for the birds available to more farmers," said Ciaran Reaney, who co-ordinates the NPWS Corncrake Conservation Programme. "I think people have a real gra for the corncrake and want to hear it back in our landscape. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) issued 10 enforcement orders on food businesses in July, including one in Cork. The FSAI, which is responsible for food safety procedures in Ireland, issued seven closure orders, one improvement order and two prohibition orders. Three closure orders were served under the FSAI Act, 1998. A closure order is served where it is deemed that there is, or there is likely, to be a grave and immediate danger to public health at or in the premises. Spice of India, Looneys Cross in Bishopstown, Cork, was closed from July 5 to July 7. An FSAI inspection found an open drain, rotting timber and cracked concrete within the seating area of the restaurant, while rodent droppings were noted behind a freezer. MJ Atkinson Ltd, Pullamore Business Park, Cavan, was found to be unregistered, had meat which was "unfit for human consumption" and a lack of food safety management procedures. It was closed on July 4 and is yet to re-open. Al Huda Grocery in Summerhill, Dublin, was inspected on July 27. It was found to have "heavy cockroach activity" including multiple live cockroaches in the kitchen where 'ready to-eat' meals were being stored. Furthermore, the fridges in the grocery were switched off, despite food being stored in them. It was ordered to close and has yet to re-open. Al Huda Grocery in Dublin was found to have "heavy cockroach activity". File picture Four businesses were hit with closure orders under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020. Momo's, Belgard Square, Tallaght, was found to "not be maintained in a clean and hygienic condition. An accumulation of thick dirt, grease, cobwebs and food debris was observed throughout the entire premises. All cleaning equipment such as mops and sweeping brushes were coated in a thick layer of grease and dirt." It closed on July 27 and re-opened on August 8. Sichuan Chilli King, Parnell Street, Dublin was closed after it was inspected on July 21. The inspector's notes read: "The extent of the congealed dirt, spilt food and debris throughout the premises and particularly the food handling areas was such that it may present a grave and immediate danger to public health." It re-opened on July 27. Pizza Lab, 16 King Street North, Dublin, faced two orders from the FSAI in July. The first was a prohibition order, in place from July 11, which found storage issues with raw chicken fillets and doner meat, among others. Read More Vitamin K levels could play part in keeping lungs healthy, study suggests It was then closed from July 12 to July 17 due to issues with tracing the food and specific records. The cold room in the business was not working while there was "no food safety culture." Ocean Palace Chinese, Blackcastle Shopping Centre, Navan in Meath was closed from July 11 to July 26. An inspection report read: "There was a significant build-up of mould growth on surfaces in the cold room. There was a thick build-up of food debris evident on the inside of food storage containers. Food preparation surfaces and food storage surfaces were dirty and greasy to touch." An open bag of cooked chicken was stored adjacent to blood stained boxes of raw chicken. One restaurant was served with an 'Improvement Notice' by the FSAI with D Grill on Aungier Street in Dublin asked to improve by August 14 or risk closure. Delhi2Dublin, Crumlin, Dublin, was also served a prohibition order due to "inadequate" temperature control measures. A community near Dublin Airport has lambasted the Daa for the devastating impact of flights from the airports newest runway, which locals say are in breach of planning permission. Locals in areas close to Ashbourne have been subjected to constant aircraft noise since new flight paths were introduced in February, leading to public outcry. Proposed flight paths from the new runway, which first opened in August 2022, were environmentally assessed on the basis of a straight out pathway, one where no turns were taken by aircraft for five nautical miles following takeoff, when the runway first received planning permission in 2007. However, the runway has never followed those paths, and has instead imposed almost immediate turns on departing aircraft leading them over neighbouring communities. Fingal residents group spokesman Liam OGradaigh said peoples lives had been impacted to such an extent that many were thinking of selling up. Its devastating, for some its intolerable, he said. Ive had a woman on the phone crying to me today over the impact. We have people putting their houses up for sale because they want to get out, and others want to do so and know theyll have to take a hit on their houses. Some of these are people who built properties having engaged with Fingal County Council and were told they wouldnt be impacted by the runway, he said. A Daa spokesperson said the updates introduced in February had led to flight paths aligning more closely with the information previously communicated by Daa. They acknowledged when the runway first opened an issue had been identified which resulted in some local communities being unexpectedly overflown, for which Daa apologises. The planning permission for the runway is currently subject to five actions by Fingal County Council, one of which has led to an enforcement order against Daa requiring the number of night flights from the airport reduce to 65. Daa has taken a judicial review against that order in the High Court. The family of Nora Sheehan, whose murder in 1981 was finally solved last week, have spoken of their so gentle and fierce kind loved one receiving justice after 42 years. Noel Long, a now 74-year-old from Passage West in Cork, was found guilty last Friday of the murder of Nora Sheehan in 1981. The body of Ms Sheehan, Crookstown-raised and living in Ballyphehane, was found in Shippool Woods, more than 25km from where she was last seen alive in June 1981. Long, who had multiple previous convictions including for attacking women, was suspected of being involved in her murder in the early days of the investigation, but it took advances in forensic science over the decades to produce the evidence needed to bring him to justice. Aged 32 at the time, he will now serve a mandatory term of life imprisonment for the murder of the 54-year-old mother-of-three. In a special report by Barry Cummins and Bridog Ni Bhuachalla on RTE Ones Prime Time, her family spoke of their love for Ms Sheehan, the impact her death had on everyone, and their wait for justice. Son James said: She was fierce kind. Even back then if a neighbour died or anything like that, shed always go to the homes and lay them out. She brought that with her from the country. Noras son Jerry added: She was lovely, she was always there. The two of them, hed [Noras husband, James] work days and shed work nights, so thered be always someone with us. James died within four years of her murder, which killed him, they said. Until then he was bouncing, said Jerry. They knew the suspect was living in Cork but they had to live with it, Jerry added. I suppose the only thing we had was we have good neighbours. We all grew up together and everyone was there for everyone else. Only for that we wouldnt be surviving at all. I just hope he rots in hell for what he did, Noras sister Sadie said. Sadie moved to the UK prior to the murder, and recalled the night she learned Nora had been killed. I always listened to Radio Eireann, and youd get the news, she said. I heard this terrible news, and then I phoned home and I could not believe it. Thats when the shock set in, that it was actually her... somebody who was so gentle. Noras granddaughter Katie said the family has spent 42 years hoping that that day would come. Every single piece of information helps. Its never too late to get justice for your loved ones, she said. A High Court judge has ruled that the names and images of three children who were the subject of child abduction proceedings can be published following their father's refusal to hand them over to the authorities. In an extremely rare move, Mr Justice Garrett Simons opted to lift reporting restrictions in the case in order to allow the public to assist the Gardai to locate the three siblings, Godjpy Da Silva (aged 10), Jeafide Da Silva (aged 13) and Jenovie Da Silva (aged 16), who are believed to be with their father, Mr Pedro Da Silva. Arising out of the court's decision, the Gardai will issue what is known as a Child Rescue Ireland or CRI Alert in respect of the siblings due to concerns about their safety and welfare. Last Christmas, the children were taken to Ireland from England, where they normally reside, by their father for a purported holiday. After they failed to return to England last January the children's mother, Ms Alice Da Silva who is separated from Mr Da Silva, brought proceedings seeking their return under the Hague Convention, the international agreement which governs alleged 'child abduction'. Mr Da Silva opposed that application and argued that the children should be allowed reside with him in Ireland, and they had resided at Slieve Foye Lodge, Dundalk, Co. Louth. Both the High Court and the Court of Appeal directed that the children be returned to England. However, the children have not been returned nor handed over to the relevant authorities by a designated deadline that expired earlier this week. This failure has resulted in further proceedings being brought against Mr Da Silva over his refusal to comply with the courts orders, including orders seeking his attachment and possible committal to prison for contempt. Unable to find children On Wednesday, Mr Justice Simons made several orders against Mr Da Silva including that he arrested by the Gardai and brought before the court over his alleged contempt. The judge also made orders allowing An Garda Siochana and the Child and Family Agency to enter the property in Ireland where the father and the three children have been residing, for the purposes of securing the children, and bringing them before the courts. Mr Da Silva was further ordered to deliver up the children's passports to the Gardai, and not to leave the jurisdiction. When the matter returned before the High Court on Thursday the judge was told that the Gardai had not been able to locate Mr Da Silva nor the children. They were not at their address in Dundalk, and enquiries were also made to see if the family were at an address in West Dublin, the court heard. The court heard that Mr Da Silva had sent two emails to lawyers acting for the children's mother, which further displayed that he would not be complying with the court's orders regarding the three children. Mr Da Silva had said in those communications that he would return the children to the UK, however that promise could not be taken seriously given his recent actions, the mother's lawyers said. CRI Alert In light of the ongoing refusal to comply, the court was asked to make orders directing An Garda Siochana to issue a CRI Alert. The criteria for issuing such an alert have been more than met in this case, it was argued. The effect of this would mean that the children's pictures and names would be published in the media, and on social media. The judge said he accepted that Mr Da Silva would reject any contention that the three children's safety and wellbeing was at risk. However, the judge said he had no option other than to direct the Gardai to issue the public alert in respect of the three minors given the "flagrant breach" of the court's orders regarding the children. In order to do this the judge said he was lifting orders previously granted by the courts preventing the media from identifying any of the parties involved. Parties involved in child abduction proceedings are normally anonymised due to the ages of the children involved. The judge also directed the Gardai to bring Mr Da Silva before the High Court as soon as he has been detained by them. Original case Last month, the High Court made orders directing that the children be returned to England. That order was upheld following an appeal to the Court of Appeal. Their parents had split up some time ago, and the siblings have been the subject of joint custody and access orders issued by the Courts of England and Wales. Ms Da Silva's lawyers successfully argued before the Irish courts that the children were brought to Ireland and wrongfully retained here by their father, without their mother's consent. Mr Da Silva had opposed the application. The courts found that there was no grave risk to the children in the event of their return to England. The courts noted that the children had expressed objections to returning to their country of habitual residence. However, the Irish courts ruled that they should be returned to England where their interests may be more carefully examined and accommodated by the authorities in that jurisdiction. When contacted on Thursday afternoon gardai said there were no plans to issue the public alert for the children at that point. Three flights which had been due to depart Cork Airport this morning have been cancelled due to "inclement weather conditions" on the ground. They are: Air France flight AF1095 to Paris Charles de Gaulle, which had been due to depart at 11.10am; Aer Lingus flight EI712 to London-Heathrow, which had been due to depart at 11.45am; and KLM flight KL1086 to Amsterdam-Schiphol, which had been due to depart at 1.25pm. Weather conditions earlier this morning saw four flights which had been due to land in Cork Airport diverted Shannon Airport. The first, a Ryanair flight from London-Stanstead which had been set to touch down in Cork at 10.05am, landed at Shannon Airport at 9.54am. Other affected flights included a Ryanair flight from Edinburgh, an Air France Flight from Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, and an Aer Lingus flight from London-Heathrow. A number of other flights scheduled to land at and depart from Cork Airport this afternoon and evening have also been affected by delays. A Cork Airport spokesperson said: "As a result of inclement weather conditions on the south coast of Ireland this morning, a number of arrivals were diverted. "Passengers seeking further information should check their respective airline websites or to contact their airline directly before travelling to the airport." A spokesperson said Shannon Airport said: "Four flight diversions have been facilitated at Shannon Airport this morning due to adverse weather conditions. The airport said that it "remains on standby for further diversions if required." If you have never been to Puck Fair before, there is something deeply surreal about seeing a crowd of people cheer on and clap as a goat is hoisted some 50ft above them in a metal cage. But as odd as it sounds, the centuries-old tradition and key feature in the Killorglin town fair would appear to be as popular as ever. Indeed, the controversy around this tradition may have even helped. One American family happened to be staying in the town before heading to Cork for a family wedding and they decided to go after they read about the decision to end the tradition of leaving the goat in its cage for all three days of what is one of Irelands oldest fairs. The best-known feature and tradition of the fair is the annual crowning of the goat as King Puck. But instead of spending three days stuck in the cage, as was traditional for around 400 years up until last year, a goat only spent around 75 minutes in his high-rise cage for yesterdays opening night after his coronation. John Mullane, Rathkeale at the annual Puck Fair horse fair in Evans field, Killorglin, Co Kerry. Picture: Dan Linehan After going up around 5.32pm, after a temporary stop at one of the floors of the blue and white structure it is suspended from to pose for pictures with Puck Queen Leila Mulvihill, he was taken down around 6.45pm and whisked off to some secret location. Given the sensitivity around this years festival, and the reluctance of the events high-profile PR firm to answer basic questions like how old is the goat and how big is his cage, one couldnt help imagine his accommodation for the duration of the fair is some five-star shed, with as much food and water as he wants and a small posse of vets hovering nearby ready to race to his side should he so much as sneeze. His next appearance will be on the closing and so-called Scattering Day, which is Saturday, of the fair. Concerns about the goats welfare became a big issue last year when the fair, which dates back to the early 1600s, was held during a heatwave. It was so hot at various points that last years goat had to be taken down from the cage and cooled down. The issue was debated on radio programmes such as RTEs Liveline, where callers condemned the centuries-old tradition. The Hoynes family from New York State were not concerned about the controversy. We heard about it but we have to assume the goat is very well cared for, Bill Hoynes, who was there with wife Deirdre and sons Rick and Ben and Bens fiancee Michaela, told the Irish Examiner. We didnt know the festival was on when we made plans to come over but we heard all the fuss around it when we arrived last week. We are fascinated and find it very interesting, especially as its a tradition going back so far. Local councillors said recently there has been a degree of resentment locally over the way animal rights groups have used the media to highlight concerns for the welfare of the goat. Miley Cash the well-known horse dealer with Codie Guy at the annual Puck Fair horse fair in Evans field, Killorglin, Co Kerry. Picture: Dan Linehan But in doing so, local Fianna Fail councillor Michael Cahill said, ancient traditions have come under threat from the unbelievable pressure from animal rights activists. Mr Cahill has suggested the welfare concerns come from snowflakes who are holding locals to ransom and who campaign for animals while wearing cow skin shoes. In another departure from tradition, Dublin PR firm Drury - whose high-profile clients include government departments and multinational companies - was taken on to handle publicity for the event. The PR firm declined to provide information on how long the goat would spend on his perch throughout the festivities, among a series of other questions. The budget will not "do anything to harm the long-term health" of the Irish economy, the public expenditure minister has insisted. Paschal Donohoe tempered expectations of a giveaway budget on Thursday, saying that while there is money available for the Government to put towards spending and tax cuts, he and Finance Minister Michael McGrath will resist the temptation to use the billions of euro in surpluses to chase votes from the public. Mr Donohoe has faced some internal criticism within Fine Gael from politicians who feel that he has been too prudent with the public finances. However, speaking at Cabra Library in his Dublin Central constituency, he said this type of management had allowed the economy to recover from the financial crash and covid. "The reason for our economy being in a position to help and intervene like we did during covid and then in a position to help with all of the issues associated with the rising cost of living is because our public finances were restored to health. "So yes, we will help. Yes, we are aware and want to help with all of the challenges that our society is facing with the cost of living. "But we won't jeopardise the health and long-term resilience of our public finances. Because that underpins our ability to do everything. "I am very fortunate to have been in a position where I've now been involved in decisions that have seen our finances going back into surplus twice." Mr Donohoe said the 6% projected rise in spending will mean the budget will be "big" but said that no decisions on specifics have yet been made. We will have to make a decision on the design of those matters in September and October. And myself and Minister McGrath said before the summer that we have not made decisions in relation to what those measures will be yet. There will be measures within the budget to focus on the cost of living because we fully appreciate that for so many, even though inflation is coming down, prices are still going on. And it's a huge challenge. The budget will help with that. Scrapping USC 'not realistic' Mr Donohoe added that he does not believe that scrapping the Universal Social Charge (USC) a pledge his Fine Gael party made in the 2016 election campaign is now "realistic". I've said many times since 2016 that the Universal Social Charge now funds so many of the public services that our society depends on it. Its abolition is not a realistic objective. Mr Donohoe also re-committed his own future to Irish politics, saying that he will run again in the constituency. "I'm in the heart of Dublin Central and what clearer message can I give out about the commitment, can I give out to the communities that have been good enough to elect me then to be here and launch this initiative? I'm already performing a role in Europe. "I'm already in Europe, so to speak, as president of the EuroGroup, and I remain completely committed to my work here in Irish politics and completely dedicated to how I can continue the work that I've begun." If you want to sort out dereliction, you could talk to people in Cappoquin. With a population of little more than 700, you wouldnt think theyd be capable of getting the guts of 6m in State aid to buy up and develop a small estate of derelict properties. The former Moore's Hotel on Main Street, Cappoquin, Co. Waterford which is due to be renovated. Picture: Dan Linehan But, since 2018 when Cappoquin became a pilot town under the Governments Town Centre Living Initiative and the launch of the Cappoquin Regeneration Company, that is exactly what has happened. When the Irish Examiner visited in 2021 for its focus on dereliction, there were three listed and protected buildings on Main St that needed to be restored the long-vacant Moores Hotel, Fennells Pub, and the former Uniackes shop. There were also three houses on Upper Main St that badly needed attention. Covid delayed things but work is due to begin, with the properties all finally having got planning permission. Work has started on these buildings on Main Street, Cappoquin. Picture: Dan Linehan Numbers 6, 7 and 8 Upper Main St will be fully renovated and restored as residential properties and then sold on the open market, with the proceeds of the sales going back into buying more property to do up and sell. Moores Hotel, Fennells and Uniackes shop will also be renovated and restored but the community behind the initiative plan to hang on to the properties and lease them out to businesses. Blackwater House on Main Street, Cappoquin. Picture: Dan Linehan Also at the time of the last focus on dereliction in the village, Blackwater House was being restored, and that has now been completed. Former Waterford county manager Denis McCarthy, one of the three directors of the Cappoquin Regeneration Company, said: Work was affected by covid, but that is now office-ready and good to go. Our original plan was that it should be some sort of office hub, but covid and the popularity of working from home has changed that, and so we are moving slightly away from the idea of the building being just an office hub. John Flynn (left) and Denis McCarthy of the Cappoquin Regeneration Company outside Fennell's Bar and Uniacke's shop in Cappoquin which are due to be renovated. Picture: Dan Linehan The current postmaster in the village is retiring, so locating the post office in the property might be an option. But the fact that the building is ready is proof our system works. It has been a long road but it is working, and we are very proud of what we have done and what we are doing. None of this would be possible if the community, the local council and the State hadnt worked together. It also helps that the village has had a vision of what it wants to do and it had a lot of groundwork done before things started to happen in 2018. A building on Upper Main Street, Cappoquin. Picture: Dan Linehan It was no accident that the Rural and Community Development Minister, Heather Humphreys, announced 115m Rural Regeneration and Development Fund funding for 23 landmark rural regeneration projects across Ireland in the village last November. One of funding allocations she announced was the 5m needed to develop Moores Hotel, Fennells and Uniackes shop as part of the Cappoquin Regeneration Project. Tramore At the other end of the county, in Tramore, things are looking up for a different reason: money. The seaside town has become a very popular place to live and as a result, prices are now higher than they are in Waterford city, 15 minutes' drive away and developers are snapping up derelict and vacant sites. The Seahorse Tavern which shut down in 2010 is up for development at Palace Square between Turkey Road and Strand Street in Tramore, Co. Waterford. Picture: Dan Linehan A sign of the times was the sale in February of a 1920s bungalow for, according to the Residential Property Price Register, 1.7m. The fact that Fiddaun Cottage, on Doneraile Drive, was renovated and refurbished on TV by Dermot Bannon in 2019 may well have contributed to its high sale. But elsewhere in the town, significant properties are also changing hands. The former Grand Hotel in Tramore, Co. Waterford. Picture: Dan Linehan The biggest issue affecting the people of Tramore in 2021 as far as dereliction was concerned was the landmark Grand Hotel. The large hotel, which was built in the 1700s and is one of Irelands oldest hotels, has been empty ever since it was sold to Chinese businessman Guoqing Wu in 2014. A derelict sites notice was issued in 2018 and the council had been trying to engage with Mr Wu about the building, with little success. Described by a local businesswoman as the elephant in the room (in the town) in our 2021 piece, things have changed a bit and now all eyes are on it but in a more positive way. This is because the hotel, which was put up for sale for 2m last August through Sherry Fitzgerald John Rohan, has been bought by Waterford developer, James Frisby. Estate agent John Ronan of Sherry Fitzgerald standing by the former Tramore Hotel which has just been sold for development into luxury apartments on Strand Street in Tramore. Picture: Dan Linehan The purchase was reported by WLR FM and confirmed by his father Noel in a text message to the local radio station earlier in January. Mr Frisby said his son hopes to turn the Grand into a hotel with 100-plus rooms. Mr Rohan has been involved in a lot of other notable sales of derelict properties in recent months in the picturesque seaside town. They include the former Tramore Hotel on Strand Street, which was destroyed by fire in 2018. The former Tramore Hotel on Strand Street in Tramore which was destroyed by fire in 2018. Picture: Dan Linehan For years, little more than walls with weeds growing out of the top of them, it was sold to developers in the first week in July. The developers are going to demolish what is left of the building and build apartments and townhouses. Things are really moving in Tramore, Mr Rohan said. I can see the end of dereliction in sight, I really can. Property prices are now higher than in Waterford because Tramore has become a really popular place to live." County councillor and former mayor Lola OSullivan said: "It has been a long time since I have seen such a movement. A lot of people who lived away have moved back or want to move back. There is property moving in Tramore and it is moving very fast. County Councillor Lola O'Sullivan standing outside the former Grand Hotel in Tramore. Picture: Dan Linehan Its a great place to work from home, its a great place to bring up children, its only about an hour and a half from Dublin. Kilmacthomas Kilmacthomas is not quite basking in the same glow of success against dereliction as they would have hoped. But things are at least starting to change for the better since 2021. Ger Cusack, chairman of the Kilmacthomas Voluntary Social Enterprise Group, said: A number of buildings have come into use that were not in use before. There has been some change for the better since 2021 but not major change. Some privately owned properties on the Main Street that were vacant then are now occupied but we still have three significant buildings that are vacant. Back in 2021, one of Kilmacthomass most notable vacant properties was the old railway station, which had planning permission in place to construct a distillery on the site. It has since been restored to a limited degree, in that it has been weatherproofed and re-roofed and doors and windows have been replaced. But although there has been talk of it being turned into a museum, it has yet to be brought into use. The derelict Woollen Mills building, dating back to the 1850s, just off Main Street, is still derelict. Planning permission had been approved in 2020 to construct a distillery on the site. It is understood this plan for the site will not now go ahead. The former David Lynne bar, which also featured in the Irish Examiners 2021 focus on dereliction and vacancy in Munster, is still empty, but there is a rumour that it has been bought. Tallow When former Tallow Mayor Sean Tobin spoke to the Irish Examiner, one of the derelict buildings in the town that was due to have work done on it was the old Bride Valley Stores building. Amounting to little more than stone walls with grass growing out of them, the large stone building dating back to the 1700s has been derelict for over 20 years. It is one of around 60 that have either had a makeover or are due to have one in the small west Waterford town. Waterford City and County Council managed to secure 100,000 Streetscape Enhancement Measure (SEM) funding for projects in Tallow through the Department of Rural and Community Developments Town and Village Renewal Scheme. Tallow, Co. Waterford. Most of the properties along the main thoroughfare into town have been given a facelift, including the derelict buildings." Picture: Dan Linehan Tallow has been transformed in the past three months, said Mr Tobin, who is chair of the Tallow Enterprise Centre and one of the main catalysts for change in the town. Most of the properties along the main thoroughfare into town have been given a facelift, including the derelict buildings. This is not a case of us painting windows and doors onto derelict buildings as you see in some towns. This is us actually cleaning them up, re-plastering them and fitting in new doors and windows and changing wiring. But it is not just tidying up the derelict and vacant shops or houses, the town is also seeing properties being snapped up by developers. In the past two years, a group of three houses that had been derelict for 30 years have been done up and now have people living in them. They include Gertie Ronans former shop, which had been empty for around 50 years, opened as a coffee shop about six months ago. Jackie Ryans former butchers shop, next door, has now been renovated and turned into a residential property. If you approached the town from the south, it was dull and grey about 12 months ago, he said. But now, with the facelift, the place is totally transformed. It reminds me of the old days of the Corpus Christi processions through the town everything is just gleaming. Things are happening finally. We have lots of new small shops opened and buildings that were vacant are being used again. There is a real energy coming back into the town. His tip for other towns trying to fight vacancy and dereliction is a simple one. As soon as you realise tackling vacancy on your doorstep is a complex issue that takes time to sort out, you need to get all the players playing together, he said. We would not be able to improve Tallow if it werent for the council, the State and the community all working together. Just going around saying there is a problem is not enough. It does not solve anything. Vacancy rates in Waterford According to the 2022 census, Munsters smallest county recorded the largest increase in its population since the last census in 2016. Currently at 127,363, this is up 9.6% or 11,187. With a total housing stock of 55,159, according to the CSO, Waterford has a vacancy rate of 7.1% based on its estimated 3,916 vacant dwellings. The vacancy rate would be higher if the countrys 2,126 unoccupied holiday homes were taken into consideration. Of its vacant dwellings, 875 were classed as rentals and 446 were vacant dwellings for sale. Its commercial vacancy rates were, in the GeoDirectory Commercial Buildings Report Q4 2022, given as 14.3%, up from 13.9% the year before. In its Residential Buildings Report for Q2 2023, GeoDirectory said there were a total of 551 new addresses added to Waterfords housing stock by December 2022, up 1% on the previous year. Added to that, the number of buildings under construction was 593 in the last quarter of 2022, and 538 residential commencement notices where the local authority is notified of an intention to develop or extend a property were submitted. There are currently 37 properties on Waterford County Councils Derelict Sites Register and 16 sites on the Vacant Sites Register. This is three less than the number in July/August 2021, and the council is in the process of removing a number of sites from the vacant sites register. Since July/August 2021, it has also issued four Compulsory Purchase Orders. Although there are around 100 so-called voids on the councils books, it says it has renovated and brought back into use some 209 short-term units and 20 long-term units. On 15 June, the overcrowded fishing trawler Adriana sank on its illicit journey from Libya to Italy, drowning hundreds of men, women and children. In response, states have expressed shock and sadness, and have moved to prosecute smugglers associated with the journey. Greece, under whose watch the tragedy occurred, declared three days of mourning and arrested nine of the survivors, charging them with human trafficking. In Pakistan, where hundreds of the victims originated, 10 suspected traffickers were arrested. Some survivor accounts have turned the spotlight on the actions of the Greek coast guard. At one point, its officers attached a rope to the Adriana, possibly with the intention of towing it, and possibly contributing to capsizing it. I am a scholar with a focus on the development of international law and legal institutions in the practice of transitional justice. My view is that the focus on smugglers, or even the action and inaction of the Greek coast guard, distracts from the real cause of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean: the deliberate policies set in place by European states and supported by the European Union. Diminishing legal protections for migrants In the wake of the massive population flows accompanying the second world war, European states enacted the 1951 Refugee Convention. This document obliges state signatories to recognise and protect refugees and to grant them social welfare rights on par with citizens. As enacted, this law is quite protective, serving as a legal shield for vulnerable people. The shield always had holes. For example, not all migrants qualify as refugees, who must face a well-founded fear of persecution. This category focuses on political, rather than social, harms; starvation and economic tragedy generally do not qualify. A rescue of migrants carried out in the Mediterranean by Medicine Sans Frontiers. New holes are appearing. A foundation of the 1951 convention is the state obligations against refoulement or pushing refugees back into harms way. Long considered as fundamental, this obligation is no longer unassailable. Over the past several years, a pattern of pushbacks has emerged. The Greek coast guard and the EU border agency Frontex have been caught putting migrants out to sea. In May 2022, the director of Frontex resigned after a report showed Frontex was involved in hundreds of illegal pushbacks. These actions should be understood as symptomatic of state illegality. States have deliberately adopted policies that make refugee movement deadly. For example, states have closed legal land and air routes via visa schemes and stiff penalties for airlines carrying incorrectly documented passengers. This drives migrants towards dangerous crossings. Individual court cases often recognise state illegality, years after the fact. In December 2022, a court in Rome found the Italian coast guard and navy guilty of manslaughter and negligence in the 2013 death of 268 people in a shipwreck off Lampedusa. The two individual defendants were acquitted, however, because the claims against them were time-barred. Likewise, a 2012 judgment by the European Court of Human Rights found Italy responsible for human rights violations against migrants committed by the Libyan coast guard. A 2018 filing before that same court alleges ongoing deadly treatment by Italy and Libya. The judgment is still awaited. Activists have asked the International Criminal Court and the Court of Justice of the European Union to review European treatment of migrants. A life raft carrying survivors floats in the sea between Malta and the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2013, following the capsize of a boat carrying migrants. A court in Rome last year found the Italian coast guard and navy guilty of manslaughter and negligence in this incident. File photo: AP/Armed Forces of Malta Yet even if these powerful courts take on these cases, they can only do so much. As long as each case is treated as a potentially prosecutable individual incident rather than as part of an illegal aggregate horror, preventable loss of life will continue. The Mediterranean is now regarded as the worlds deadliest place for migrants. Since 2014, states have ceased rescue operations in the Mediterranean. States now perform border protection instead. States have also shut down private rescue operations, by impounding boats on trumped up charges and criminally prosecuting NGO workers as human traffickers. As the NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres states, "Not only has Europe failed to provide search-and-rescue capacity, it has also actively sabotaged others attempts to save lives." Weakening rule of law The 1951 Refugee Convention was only one of a series of European rule of law projects designed to recognise and protect human rights following the devastation of the second world war. As I describe in my recent book on international law in Africa, these legal projects took seriously the threat that states pose to individuals, both within and outside their borders, and sought to address this danger by binding states to supranational laws. This structure rule of law above the state via an international rule of law system is the model advocated for African states emerging from colonialism, and for any and all developing states engaging in global politics and commerce. But European states are renouncing key elements of this rule of law structure via the illegality of their policies towards migrants. European states repudiation of legal responsibilities challenges rule of law norms in the international system. This in turn weakens that system as a model for states seeking to normalise rule of law internally. Read More Mediterranean countries push for more solidarity in migrant crisis Scientists are wondering if global warming and El Nino have an accomplice in fuelling this summers record-shattering heat. The European climate agency Copernicus reported that July was 0.3C hotter than the old record. Thats a bump in heat that is so recent and so big, especially in the oceans and even more so in the North Atlantic, that scientists are split on whether something else could be at work. Scientists agree that by far the biggest cause of the recent extreme warming is climate change from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas that has triggered a long upward trend in temperatures. A natural El Nino, a temporary warming of parts of the Pacific that changes weather worldwide, adds a smaller boost. But some researchers say another factor must be present. The January 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai volcano in Tonga may have an appreciable effect on climate. File picture: Maxar Technologies/AP What we are seeing is more than just El Nino on top of climate change, Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo said. One surprising source of added warmth could be cleaner air resulting from new shipping rules. Another possible cause is 150m tonnes of water spewed into the atmosphere by a volcano. Both ideas are under investigation. Cleaner air possibility Florida State University climate scientist Michael Diamond says shipping is probably the prime suspect. Maritime shipping has for decades used dirty fuel that gives off particles that reflect sunlight in a process that actually cools the climate and masks some of global warming. In 2020, international shipping rules took effect that cut as much as 80% of those cooling particles, which was a kind of shock to the system, said atmospheric scientist Tianle Yuan of Nasa. The sulphur pollution used to interact with low clouds, making them brighter and more reflective, but thats not happening as much now, Yuan said. He tracked changes in clouds that were associated with shipping routes in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, both hotspots this summer. In those spots and, to a lesser extent, globally, Yuans studies show a possible warming from the loss of sulphur pollution. The trend is in places where it really cant be explained as easily by El Nino, he said. There was a cooling effect that was persistent year after year, and suddenly you remove that, Yuan said. Diamond calculates a warming of about 0.1C by mid-century from shipping regulations. The level of warming could be five to 10 times stronger in high shipping areas such as the North Atlantic. Did the volcano do it? In January 2022, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haapai undersea volcano in the South Pacific blew, spewing more than 150m tonnes of water into the atmosphere as vapour a heat-trapping greenhouse gas according to University of Colorado climate researcher Margot Clyne, who co-ordinates international computer simulations for climate impacts of the eruption. The volcano also blasted 500,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide into the upper atmosphere. Holger Vomel, a stratospheric water vapour scientist at the US National Centre for Atmospheric Research, said the water vapour went too high in the atmosphere to have a noticeable effect yet, but that effects could emerge later. A couple of studies use computer models to show a warming effect from all that water vapour. Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service. File picture One study, which has not yet undergone the scientific gold standard of peer review, reported this week that the warming could range from as much as 1.5C of added warming in some places to 1C of cooling elsewhere. But Nasa atmospheric scientist Paul Newman and former Nasa atmospheric scientist Mark Schoeberl said those climate models are missing a key ingredient the cooling effect of the sulphur. Normally, huge volcanic eruptions, such as 1991s Mount Pinatubo, can cool Earth temporarily with sulphur and other particles reflecting sunlight. However, Hunga Tonga spouted an unusually high amount of water and low amount of cooling sulphur. The studies that showed warming from Hunga Tonga didnt incorporate sulphur cooling, which is hard to do, Schoeberl and Newman said. Schoeberl published a study that calculated a slight overall cooling 0.04C. Lesser suspects Lesser suspects in the search include a dearth of African dust, which cools like sulphur pollution, as well as changes in the jet stream and a slowdown in ocean currents. Some nonscientists have looked at recent solar storms and increased sunspot activity in the suns 11-year cycle and speculated that Earths nearest star may be a culprit. For decades, scientists have tracked sunspots and solar storms, and they dont match warming temperatures, Berkeley Earth chief scientist Robert Rohde said. Read More John Gibbons: There are things we can all do to help mitigate climate change Solar storms were stronger 20 and 30 years ago, but there is more warming now, he said. Still, other scientists said theres no need to look so hard. They say human-caused climate change, with an extra boost from El Nino, is enough to explain recent temperatures. University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann estimates that about five-sixths of the recent warming is from human burning of fossil fuels, with about one sixth due to a strong El Nino. The fact that the world is coming out of a three-year La Nina, which suppressed global temperatures a bit, and going into a strong El Nino, which adds to them, makes the effect bigger, he said. Climate change and El Nino can explain it all, Imperial College of London climate scientist Friederike Otto said. That doesnt mean other factors didnt play a role. But we should definitely expect to see this again without the other factors being present. The listing was only online for about 20 minutes. One of those nice location, nice place ones that probably gets hundreds of inquiries. The eagle-eyed housemate spotted it, and sent in the generic were really nice people, we promise, please let us live here email about six minutes before the ad was taken down. Irish Examiner reporter Sean Murray: 'We were right place, right time. We got lucky. Many others wont be.' It was all very quick then. View the place, sign the lease, pack up our things. Phew. Weve found a place to live. With two months to spare before we get evicted. We were right place, right time. We got lucky. Many others wont be. According to new figures from the Residential Tenancies Board, there were 5,735 eviction notices issued to tenants in April, May, and June of this year after the no-fault eviction ban lifted. This was a huge increase of almost 1,000 on the first three months of the year when the ban was still in place. Still, our household was one of the 4,753 that got our eviction notice in January, February, and March. Our one was sent shortly after the Government indicated theyd be lifting the eviction ban. These stark figures came on the same day a bleak report on the availability of rental accommodation by Daft.ie laid bare the difficult situation renters with an eviction notice are facing into. Amid the surge in market rents, there was what was described as an extraordinary shortage of rental accommodation options. On the first of this month, there were fewer than 1,200 homes available to rent on the platform nationwide. With over 5,000 households facing eviction soon and homelessness already at record levels, its clear that the numbers dont look good. In his analysis for the latest Daft.ie report, TCD associate professor Ronan Lyons painted a bleak picture for the people getting evicted in terms of the availability of alternative accommodation. While Dublin has lost existing rental homes due to landlords selling up, so have other parts of the country, he said. Indeed, only in Dublin has new supply had any chance of offsetting the terminations recorded by the RTB. Couple that with the detail actually provided by the RTB and that picture gets bleaker. If supply is helping to offset the 2,298 eviction notices issued in Dublin in the last quarter, then that is most welcome and needed. But what about the 720 eviction notices issued to households in Cork, the 321 in Galway, the 205 in Limerick, and the 173 in Waterford? Mr Lyons noted that in both Limerick and Waterford cities, there were just seven homes to rent at the start of the month. He said: Technically, in the case of Waterford, thats an improvement on two on the same date a year ago. But nobody would argue that a single-digit number of homes is anywhere close to adequate for some of Irelands principal cities. Feeling lucky All of this isnt to say that an eviction notice means that people will enter homelessness when they get the boot from where they live. My housemates and I were lucky enough that if it did come to that date when we had to move out and hadnt found anywhere, we could go back to our parents. Im sure many people in their 20s and 30s frequently see posts on their social media being like I/my friend is looking for a new flatshare and the like. It may not be an ideal size, it may be much more expensive than theyd have liked but many will end up finding somewhere. Im paying around 10% more in the new gaff than I was paying before. And again, Im considering that lucky. These are relative luxuries compared to what families facing eviction with little options face. And its that bigger picture that keeps intruding when we hear such big stats thrown around. Month after month, the number of people homeless in Ireland keeps reaching new record levels. At the time of the discourse over the Government lifting the eviction ban, the narrative from the coalition was that homeless numbers rose under the eviction ban anyway. The counter from advocates was that it was a sticking plaster helping to paper over the cracks and was buying time for longer-term solutions to be put in place. But they lifted it anyway. And homelessness reached a record 12,600 people at the end of June. The Government is pledging to ramp up housing supply with a plethora of support schemes to try to encourage house building along with schemes to help first-time buyers get on the ladder. But with homelessness surging and eviction notices skyrocketing in the short term, its hard to see hope on that horizon for now. A planning row has erupted between a steel manufacturing company owned by well-known Cork businessman, Noel C Duggan, and a group of residents over the level of noise and environmental pollution from the plant which they claim is causing an extreme nuisance. The Church Street Residents Association in Millstreet, Co Cork has lodged an appeal with An Bord Pleanala against the recent decision of Cork County Council to grant retention permission to Noel C Duggan Structural Steel for an existing workshop at its factory near the centre of the north Cork town. The workshop is used for the welding, cutting, drilling, cleaning and fabrication of steel used in construction. In their appeal, the group of residents from Church Street claim their row of terraced houses which date from the late 1800s predates the development of the steel manufacturing plant. Solicitors for the residents association said their clients were entitled to the peace and enjoyment and amenity of their properties without interruption from the development which will be aggravated by the grant of retention permission. They claim the plant is generating both noise and environmental pollution with noise levels regularly exceeding 100 decibels. They claim the noise generated by the machinery, which consists of consistent beeping and humming sounds as well as the sound of steel being moved and scraped, is extremely disturbing. The residents said they are unable to enjoy any peace in their gardens while the factory is operating, which is between 7am and 5pm from Monday to Saturday. The residents argue that attempts to limit the noise and effects of spray painting coming from the plant through planning conditions are insufficient as existing ones dating from 1997 are not being complied with. They claim the serving of enforcement notices against the company demonstrates it has a history of non-compliance. The fact that the applicant has had to make this application for retention permission speaks volumes in this regard, they added. Planning documents show Cork County Council opened enforcement files in the past four years against the company in relation to the alleged unauthorised construction of the workshop and the storage of steel products on the site. The council noted the current case is an attempt by the company to regularise the development of the workshop. However, council planners said the development on the 3.0-hectare site was compatible with the zoning of the lands. They claimed the business of steel construction was generally acceptable in principle on the site provided it was operated in accordance with planning conditions. However, the council noted that Noel C Duggan Structural Steel had not complied with its request to submit a revised layout plan for the plant. The council said the companys use of the south-eastern part of the site for steel-related activity was not acceptable because of its proximity to a residential area. Council planners rejected the companys claim that the issue was being addressed through an enforcement case. Other council officials claimed a noise impact assessment provided by the company did not provide any comfort or reassurance that the development was not impacting on the local noise climate, while an updated version contained very few details. The company also initially failed to provide a requested response as to how it would manage a requirement to keep the workshops doors closed. One planner claimed the companys response about the use of any painting process in the manufacture of steel was disingenuous and not satisfactory. Among the conditions imposed in the grant of retention permission is that the south-easternmost section of the site is not used for any storage of steel or goods including raw materials and packaging or crates. The council also imposed noise limits of 55 decibels during operating times at the plant with slightly lower limits at other times of the day as well as a requirement for monitoring of noise levels to be carried out. A ruling on the appeal by An Bord Pleanala is due in early December. An Ecuadorian presidential candidate known for speaking up against cartels and corruption has been shot and killed at a political rally. President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and suggested organised crime was behind his killing, less than two weeks before the presidential election on August 20. Mr Villavicencio moments before he was killed at a political rally in Quito (API via AP) I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished, Mr Lasso said in a statement. Organised crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law. Ecuadors attorney generals office said that one suspect died in custody from wounds sustained in a firefight after the killing, and police detained six suspects following raids in Quito. In his final speech before he was killed, Mr Villavicencio promised a roaring crowd that he would root out corruption and lock up the countrys thieves. Prior to the shooting, Mr Villavicencio said he had received multiple death threats, including from affiliates of Mexicos Sinaloa Cartel, one of a slew of international organised crime groups that now operate in Ecuador. He said his campaign represented a threat to such groups. Here I am showing my face. Im not scared of them, Mr Villavicencio said in a statement, naming detained crime boss Jose Adolfo Macias by his alias Fito. Supporters of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio run for cover after he was shot to death (API via AP) Mr Villavicencio was one of eight candidates, though not the frontrunner. The politician, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement. Supporter Ida Paez said that Mr Villavicencios campaign had given her hope that the country could overcome the gangs. At the rally, she said: We were happy. Fernando even danced. His last words were, if someone messes with the people, he is messing with my family. As drug traffickers have begun to use the countrys coastal ports, Ecuadorians have reeled from violence not seen for decades. The sounds of gunfire ring in many major cities as rival gangs battle for control, and gangs have recruited children. Just last month, the mayor of the port city of Manta was shot and killed. On July 26, Mr Lasso declared a state of emergency covering two provinces and the countrys prison system in an effort to stem the violence. Former vice president and candidate Otto Sonnenholzner said in a news conference following the killing: We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears and we do not deserve to live like this. We demand that you do something. A bullet-riddled vehicle is surrounded by police as they guard the hospital where several of the injured were taken after the attack (Juan Diego Montenegro/AP) Videos of the rally on social media appears to show Mr Villavicencio walking out of the event surrounded by guards. The video then shows the candidate getting into a white truck before gunshots are heard, followed by screams and commotion around the vehicle. This sequence of events was confirmed to The Associated Press by Patricio Zuquilanda, Mr Villavicencios campaign adviser. Mr Zuquilanda said the candidate had received at least three death threats before the shooting, which he had reported to authorities, resulting in one detention. He called on international authorities to take action against the violence, attributing it to rising violence and drug trafficking. The Ecuadorian people are crying and Ecuador is mortally wounded, he said. Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society. Alexandra Villavicencio, sister of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, arrives to the hospital that he was taken to (AP Photo/Juan Diego Montenegro) Mr Villavicencio was one of the countrys most critical voices against corruption, especially during the 2007-2017 government of former president Rafael Correa. He was also an independent journalist who investigated corruption in previous governments, later entering politics as an anti-corruption campaigner. Mr Villavicencio filed many judicial complaints against high-ranking members of the Correa government, including against the ex-president himself. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over his criticisms of Mr Correa, and fled to indigenous territory in Ecuador, later receiving asylum in neighboring Peru. Edison Romo, a former military intelligence colonel, said the anti-corruption complaints made Mr Villavicencio a threat to international criminal organisations. Mr Lasso, a conservative former banker, was elected in 2021 on a business-friendly platform and clashed from the start with the left-leaning majority coalition in the National Assembly. Police investigators at the scene outside the school where the shooting took place (AP Photo/Juan Diego Montenegro) A snap election was called after Mr Lasso dissolved the National Assembly by decree in May, in a move to avoid being impeached over allegations that he failed to intervene to end a faulty contract between the state-owned oil transport company and a private tanker company. Ecuadors constitution includes a provision that allows the president to disband the assembly during a political crisis, but then requires new elections for both the assembly and the presidency. The country has faced a series of political upheavals in recent years. Authorities said that at least nine others were injured in Wednesdays shooting, including officers and a congressional candidate, in what they described as a terrorist act. The killing was met with an outcry by other candidates who demanded action, with presidential frontrunner Luisa Gonzalez of the Citizen Revolution party saying when they touch one of us, they touch all of us. Mr Villavicencio was married and is survived by five children. Russian air defence systems have shot down two drones heading towards Moscow for the second straight day, officials said. The attack disrupted flights at two international airports as Ukraine appeared to step up its assault on Russian soil. One drone was downed in the Kaluga region south-west of Moscow and another near a major Moscow ring road, according to Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin and the Russian Defence Ministry, which blamed the attack on Ukraine. No casualties or damage were immediately reported. Domodedovo airport, south of the city, halted flights for more than two hours and Vnukovo airport, south-west of the city, stopped flights for more than two-and-a-half hours and redirected some incoming aircraft to other airports, according to Russian news agencies. Ukrainian soldiers on the front line in Donetsk (Libkos/AP) It was not clear where the drones were launched, and Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment. Ukraine usually neither confirms nor denies such attacks. Firing drones at Moscow after more than 17 months of war has little apparent military value for Ukraine, but the strategy has served to unsettle Russians and bring home to them the conflicts consequences. Russias Defence Ministry also said it had stopped Ukrainian drone attacks in Moscow-annexed Crimea. It said it shot down two drones near the port city of Sevastopol and electronically jammed nine that crashed into the Black Sea. On Wednesday, Ukrainian media reported social media blogs as saying that a thick plume of smoke billowed over Sevastopol, which is the headquarters of Russias Black Sea Fleet. The governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said the smoke came from a fleet training exercise and urged local residents not to worry. The incidents have come against the backdrop of Ukraines ongoing counter-offensive, which Ukrainian and Western officials have warned will be a long slog against the Kremlins deeply entrenched forces. Ukraine has been promised more weapons and ammunition to help sustain its counter-offensive (Libkos/AP) The Pentagon is to provide Ukraine with another 200 million dollars (156.75 million) in weapons and ammunition to help sustain the counter-offensive, according to US officials. Ukraine has already received more than 43 billion dollars (33.7 billion) from the US since Russia invaded last year. Ukraines presidential office said at least six civilians were killed and 27 were injured between Wednesday and Thursday mornings. In eastern Ukraines Donetsk province, Russia shelled 16 cities and villages, and three people were killed, the office reported. In Zaporizhzhia, three people were killed and nine wounded, including an 11-month-old baby. Meanwhile, 12 people remained missing after an explosion on Wednesday at a factory that makes optical equipment for Russian security forces, Russias state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency officials. The Zagorsk Optical and Mechanical Plant was destroyed (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP) Russias Emergency Ministry said 71 people required medical assistance after the explosion. Russian officials did not offer a suspected cause of the explosion at the Zagorsk plant in the region around Moscow, which added to jitters about potential Ukrainian drone strikes. The fallout from Russias war against Ukraine has brought concerns to neighbouring countries, including the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus this summer after their short-lived mutiny in Russia. Polands defence minister said the country intends to put 10,000 soldiers along its border with Belarus amid fears of a spike in illegal immigration. Polish officials have accused Belarusian authorities of organising illegal border crossings to disrupt and pressure Warsaw, which along with other Nato countries has provided support for Kyivs war effort. Ecuador has declared a state of emergency after an anti-corruption presidential candidate was shot and killed at a political rally. The assassination of Fernando Villavicencio in the capital city Quito happened on Wednesday, less than two weeks before a special presidential election. He was not a frontrunner, but his killing, which President Guillermo Lasso suggested could be linked to organised crime, furthered a crisis that has already claimed thousands of lives and underscored the deep challenge that the countrys next leader will face. Mr Lasso declared three days of national mourning and a state of emergency that involves additional military personnel deployed throughout the country. Given the loss of a democrat and a fighter, the elections are not suspended; on the contrary, they have to be held, and democracy has to be strengthened, Mr Lasso said on Thursday. In his final speech before he was killed, Mr Villavicencio, 59, promised a roaring crowd that he would root out corruption and lock up the countrys thieves. Mr Villavicencio moments before he was killed at a political rally in Quito (API via AP) The attorney generals office of Ecuador said one suspect died in custody from wounds sustained in a firefight after the politicians assassination. Various operations carried out in different sectors of Quito resulted in six arrests. Mr Villavicencio had reported receiving multiple death threats, including from affiliates of Mexicos Sinaloa cartel, one of a slew of international organised crime groups that now operate in Ecuador. He said his campaign represented a threat to such groups. Here I am showing my face. Im not scared of them, Mr Villavicencio said in a statement before his death, naming detained crime boss Jose Adolfo Macias by his alias Fito. Supporters of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio run for cover after he was shot to death (API via AP) Mr Villavicencio, one of eight candidates running for president, was the candidate of the Build Ecuador Movement. As drug traffickers have begun to use the countrys coastal ports, Ecuadorians have reeled from violence not seen for decades. The sounds of gunfire ring in many major cities as rival gangs battle for control, and gangs have recruited children. We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears and we do not deserve to live like this Just last month, the mayor of the port city of Manta was shot and killed. On July 26, Mr Lasso declared a state of emergency covering two provinces and the countrys prison system in an effort to stem the violence. Former vice president Otto Sonnenholzner, who also is seeking the presidency, said at a news conference following the killing: We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears and we do not deserve to live like this. We demand that you do something. Videos of the rally on social media appear to show Mr Villavicencio walking out of the event surrounded by guards. The video then shows the candidate getting into a white truck before gunshots are heard, followed by screams and commotion around the vehicle. The sequence of events was confirmed to The Associated Press by Patricio Zuquilanda, Mr Villavicencios campaign adviser. Mr Lasso said the murderers threw a grenade into the street to cover their flight, but it did not explode. Police later destroyed the grenade with a controlled explosion, he added. Mr Zuquilanda said the candidate had received at least three death threats before the shooting and reported them to authorities, resulting in one detention. The campaign adviser called on international authorities to take action against the violence, attributing it to rising violence and drug trafficking. A bullet-riddled vehicle is surrounded by police as they guard the hospital where several of the injured were taken after the attack (Juan Diego Montenegro/AP) The Ecuadorian people are crying and Ecuador is mortally wounded, he said. Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society. Mr Villavicencio was one of the countrys most critical voices against corruption, especially during the 2007-2017 government of former president Rafael Correa. He was an independent journalist who investigated corruption in previous governments before entering politics as an anti-corruption campaigner. Mr Villavicencio filed many judicial complaints against high-ranking members of the Correa government, including against the ex-president himself. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over his criticisms of Mr Correa, and fled to indigenous territory in Ecuador, later receiving asylum in neighbouring Peru. Mr Lasso, a conservative former banker, was elected in 2021 on a business-friendly platform and clashed from the start with the left-leaning majority coalition in the National Assembly. Alexandra Villavicencio, sister of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, arrives to the hospital that he was taken to (AP Photo/Juan Diego Montenegro) A snap election was called after Mr Lasso dissolved the National Assembly by decree in May, in a move to avoid being impeached over allegations that he failed to intervene to end a faulty contract between the state-owned oil transport company and a private tanker company. Ecuadors constitution includes a provision that allows the president to disband the assembly during a political crisis, but then requires new elections for both the assembly and the presidency. Diana Atamaint, the president of the National Electoral Council, said the election date of August 20 was unalterable due to constitutional and legal mandates, as well as electoral activities that have already been approved by the council. The country has faced a series of political upheavals in recent years. Authorities said that at least nine others were injured in the shooting, including officers and a congressional candidate, in what they described as a terrorist act. Police investigators at the scene outside the school where the shooting took place (AP Photo/Juan Diego Montenegro) The killing was met with an outcry by other candidates who demanded action, with presidential frontrunner Luisa Gonzalez of the Citizen Revolution party saying when they touch one of us, they touch all of us. Mr Villavicencio was married and is survived by five children. Ukrainian authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation Thursday of nearly 12,000 civilians from 37 towns and villages in the eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian forces reportedly are making a concerted effort to punch through the front line. The local military administration in Kharkivs Kupiansk district said residents must comply with the evacuation order or sign a document saying they would stay at their own risk. Hanna Maliar, Ukraines deputy defence minister, had said the previous day that the intensity of combat and enemy shelling is high in the area. The city of Kupiansk and the territories around it were under Russian occupation until September 2022 (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP) The city of Kupiansk and the territories around it were under Russian occupation until September 2022, when Ukrainian forces conducted a rapid offensive operation that dislodged the Kremlins forces from nearly the entire Kharkiv region. The re-taking of those areas strengthened Ukraines arguments that its troops could deliver more stinging defeats to Russia with additional armament deliveries, which its Western allies duly provided. But as Ukraine has pursued a slow-moving counteroffensive in recent weeks, Russian forces have struck back in some areas. Ms Maliar said Russia has formed an offensive group and is attempting to move forward in the area in an effort to advance on the Ukrainian-held city of Kupiansk, which is an important rail junction. It was not possible to independently verify either sides claims. Ukrainian soldiers on the front line in Donetsk (Libkos/AP) Earlier Thursday, Russian air defence systems shot down two drones heading toward Moscow for a second straight day, officials said. The attack disrupted flights at two international airports as Ukraine appeared to step up its assault on Russian soil. One drone was downed in the Kaluga region south-west of Moscow and another near a major Moscow ring road, according to Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin and the Russian Defence Ministry, which blamed the attack on Ukraine. No casualties or damage were immediately reported. Domodedovo airport, south of the city, halted flights for more than two hours and Vnukovo airport, south-west of the city, stopped flights for more than two-and-a-half hours and redirected some incoming aircraft to other airports, according to Russian news agencies. Ukraine has been promised more weapons and ammunition to help sustain its counter-offensive (Libkos/AP) It was not clear where the drones were launched, and Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment. Ukraine usually neither confirms nor denies such attacks. Firing drones at Moscow after more than 17 months of war has little apparent military value for Ukraine, but the strategy has served to unsettle Russians and bring home to them the conflicts consequences. Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said: This cannot but please us because people in Moscow thought they were safe. Now, the war affects each and every Russian. We now see that something happens in Moscow on a regular basis, he added. Russias Defence Ministry also said it had stopped Ukrainian drone attacks in Moscow-annexed Crimea. It said it shot down two drones near the port city of Sevastopol and electronically jammed nine that crashed into the Black Sea. A woman reacts at the scene of a building damaged after recent Russian missile strikes in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine (Libkos/AP) On Wednesday, Ukrainian media reported social media blogs as saying that a thick plume of smoke billowed over Sevastopol, which is the headquarters of Russias Black Sea Fleet. The governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said the smoke came from a fleet training exercise and urged local residents not to worry. The incidents have come against the backdrop of Ukraines ongoing counter-offensive, which Ukrainian and Western officials have warned will be a long slog against the Kremlins deeply entrenched forces. The Pentagon is to provide Ukraine with another 200 million dollars (156.75 million) in weapons and ammunition to help sustain the counter-offensive, according to US officials. Ukraine has already received more than 43 billion dollars (33.7 billion) from the US since Russia invaded last year. Ukraines presidential office said at least six civilians were killed and 27 were injured between Wednesday and Thursday mornings. The Zagorsk Optical and Mechanical Plant was destroyed (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP) In eastern Ukraines Donetsk province, Russia shelled 16 cities and villages, and three people were killed, the office reported. In Zaporizhzhia, three people were killed and nine wounded, including an 11-month-old baby. Meanwhile, 12 people remained missing after an explosion on Wednesday at a factory that makes optical equipment for Russian security forces, Russias state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency officials. Russias Emergency Ministry said 71 people required medical assistance after the explosion. Russian officials did not offer a suspected cause of the explosion at the Zagorsk plant in the region around Moscow, which added to jitters about potential Ukrainian drone strikes. The fallout from Russias war against Ukraine has brought concerns to neighbouring countries, including the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus this summer after their short-lived mutiny in Russia. Polands defence minister said the country intends to put 10,000 soldiers along its border with Belarus amid fears of a spike in illegal immigration. Polish officials have accused Belarusian authorities of organising illegal border crossings to disrupt and pressure Warsaw, which along with other Nato countries has provided support for Kyivs war effort. An Italian prosecutor investigating a capsizing that left 41 migrants feared dead in the Mediterranean Sea denounced Tunisia-based smugglers who launch boats so badly built that they quickly take on water, overturn or break apart. The capsizing this week was the latest in a string of similar tragedies that have killed dozens of people who entrusted their lives to smugglers based on Tunisias shores to reach Italy in hopes of finding a better life. Four migrants who were rescued by a passing merchant ship following the capsizing on August 4 told doctors and police that they survived by clinging to air tubes for hours. A group of survivors from the capsized boat spotted an empty vessel and struggled to reach it, with only four people able to climb aboard. Forty-one people are believed dead after a boat carrying migrants capsized off Tunisia in rough seas, the Italian Red Cross and rescue groups reported (Karolina Sobel/Sea-Watch/AP) Once inside the vessel, the survivors discovered that the iron-hulled, open-topped vessel had no engine. State TV reported that the migrants survived for four days on four bottles of drinking water and half a packet of crackers that they found inside the boat. A Malta-flagged ship rescued them and an Italian Coast Guard vessel took them to Lampedusa, a small Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea. The survivors said 41 other passengers, including three children, all set out from the port of Sfax, Tunisia, on August 3. They said waves as high as four meters (13 feet) swamped the smugglers boats the next day. The others migrants were missing and presumably dead. Chief prosecutor Salvatore Vella, based in Agrigento, Sicily said: Their story is plausible. We know that the smugglers launch these boats of very poor quality with 50 to 70 migrants aboard. Sometimes survivors of such shipwrecks include crewmen engaged by the smugglers who then try to pass themselves off as passengers, but in this case, we can exclude any of the four had such a role, Mr Vella told The Associated Press. The boat the survivors set off in is the type hastily soldered together with pieces of iron by smugglers in Tunisia to keep up with demands by migrants desperate to make the risky journey toward Italys shores, Mr Vella said. The soldering on these boats is done only at some points, not in a solid line (so) water gets in, he added. They are criminals. The fate of who those who might have been on board the empty vessel is not known though its not uncommon for smugglers to tow or transfer people between boats in the Mediterranean. The four migrants are said to have survived for four days with just four bottles of drinking water and half a packet of crackers before they were rescued (Karolina Sobel/Sea-Watch/AP) Often boats are left behind after migrants go aboard a rescue vessel, Mr Vella said. We dont know why there was no engine aboard the boat found by the survivors, but these engines are precious, so its possible someone took it at sea. Pope Francis, who since the start of his papacy has repeatedly denounced the loss of life of migrants at sea, said on Twitter: Let us not remain indifferent to these tragedies. According to an official of the European Unions border agency, Frontex, a fishing boat was recently seen harassing migrants at sea off Tunisias coast, circling around them and asking them for money in exchange for towing them to closer to Lampedusa. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, whose right-wing government includes an anti-migrant party, had enlisted the European Unions help to forge an accord with Tunisia in a bid to stop the migrant boats in exchange for economic and other aid. But the number of migrants reaching Italy so far this year is more than double compared to the same period in 2022, with no sign of slowing. Some 1,000 set foot on Lampedusa in the 24 hours ending Thursday morning alone. On Monday, the charity rescue ship Geo Barents took aboard 49 migrants, including 32 unaccompanied minors, from a smugglers vessel that had been adrift for days, said Doctors Without Borders, which assists on the ship. With sorrow I heard about the news of the shipwreck involving migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. Let us not remain indifferent to these tragedies, and let us pray for the victims and their families. Pope Francis (@Pontifex) August 10, 2023 Imagine them six days adrift without food and only salty seawater to drink, Doctors Without Borders tweeted on Thursday. Survivors told their rescuers one child disappeared in the sea. As of Thursday, nearly 94,800 migrants have arrived by sea this year in Italy, either after being rescued by the Italian Coast Guard, by private charity ships or by making it unaided, according to Interior Ministry figures. On Wednesday, Libyan authorities said at least 27 African migrants have died in the countrys western desert near the border with Tunisia. Later, Tunisia and Libya agreed to take 276 sub-Saharan migrants stranded in the desert near the border post of Ras Jedir to shelters, Tunisian Interior Ministry spokesman Faker Bouzghaya told the AP on Thursday. We took charge of a group that was sheltered by the Tunisian Red Crescent and the Libyan side did the same so that the migrants were evacuated from the zone, he said, adding that Tunisia took in 126 migrants. The number Libya agreed to take was not immediately available. Nigers junta told a top US diplomat that they would kill deposed President Mohamed Bazoum if neighbouring countries attempted any military intervention to restore his rule, two Western officials told The Associated Press. Representatives of the junta told US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland of the threat to Mr Bazoum during her visit to the country this week, a Western military official said. A US official confirmed the account. Mr Bazoum, who was deposed on July 26, says he is being held hostage at his residence. Analysts say ECOWAS might be running out of options as support fades for a military intervention. (Sam Mednick/AP) West African heads of state met in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to discuss next steps after Niger military junta defied their deadline of Sunday to reinstate Mr Bazoum but analysts say the bloc may be running out of options as support fades for a military intervention. Nine of the 11 heads of state expected to attend were present, including the presidents of Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone. The non-ECOWAS leaders of Mauritania and Burundi also participated in the closed-door meeting. The regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) bloc said on Thursday that it had directed the deployment of a standby force to restore democracy in Niger after the coup. ECOWAS commission president Omar Alieu Touray said he could only reaffirm the decisions by the military authorities in the subregion to deploy a standby force of the community. He said financing had been discussed and appropriate measures have been taken. Mr Touray blamed the junta for any hardship caused by the sanctions imposed on Niger and said further actions by the bloc would be taken jointly, not by any single country. It is not one country against another country. The community has instruments to which all members have subscribed to, he said. Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who currently chairs the bloc, said: It is crucial that we prioritise diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach. He said leaders must act with a sense of urgency, though appeared to retreat from the blocs earlier threat to use force. Niger was seen as the last country in the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert that Western nations could partner with to counter jihadi violence linked to al Qaida and the so-called Islamic State group that has killed thousands and displaced millions of people. Omar Touray, president of the ECOWAS Commission, welcomes Burundis President Evariste Ndayishimiye, centre, for the ECOWAS meeting in Nigeria as West African heads of state began meeting to decide next steps after Nigers military junta defie The international community is scrambling to find a peaceful solution to the countrys leadership crisis. Oladeinde Ariyo, a security analyst in Nigeria, said: Let me tell you, any coup that has succeeded beyond 24 hours has come to stay. So, as it is, they are speaking from the point of strength and advantage. So, negotiating with them will have to be on their terms. On Wednesday, a Nigerian delegation led by the former Emir of Kano, Khalifa Muhammad Sanusi, met the juntas leader, General Abdourahmane Tchiani. The former emir was one of few people allowed to meet General Tchiani. When Ms Nuland met with the coup leaders earlier this week, she was denied access to both General Tchiani and Mr Bazoum. A separate delegation comprised of ECOWAS, the United Nations and the African Union was barred from coming at all. West Africas regional bloc has failed to stem past coups throughout the region. Niger is the fourth country in the 15-member state bloc to have experienced a coup in the last three years. The bloc has imposed harsh economic and travel sanctions. But Andrew Lebovich, a research fellow with the Clingendael Institute, says as the junta becomes more entrenched, the options for negotiations are becoming limited. He said: Its very difficult to say what might come out of it, but the fact that the initial deadline passed without intervention and that the (junta) has continued to hold a fairly firm line, indicate that they think they can outlast this pressure. A supporter of Nigers ruling junta holds a placard in the colours of the Russian flag reading Long Live Russia, Long Live Niger and Nigeriens at the start of a protest (Sam Mednick/AP) The main parties positions are dangerously far apart, according to the International Crisis Group, a think tank, which said that if dialogue is going to succeed, each side is going to have to make concessions, which theyve so far refused to do. Since seizing power, the junta has cut ties with France and exploited popular grievances toward its former colonial ruler to shore up its support base. It also has asked for help from the Russian mercenary group Wagner, which operates in a handful of African countries and has been accused of committing human rights abuses. Lou Osborn, an investigator with All Eyes on Wagner, a project focusing on the group, said Moscow is using Wagner and other channels of influence to discredit Western nations. Ms Osborn said their tactics include using social media to spread rumours about Wagners upcoming arrival to Niger and employing fake accounts to mobilise demonstrations and spread false narratives. Their objective is not to support the junta or an alternative political approach but to sow discord, create chaos, destabilise, she added. She pointed to a Telegram post on Wednesday by an alleged Wagner operative, Alexander Ivanov, asserting that France had begun the mass removal of children likely to be used for slave labour and sexual exploitation. Neither Russias government nor Wagner responded to requests for comment. Supporters of Nigers ruling junta hold a Russian flag (Sam Mednick/AP) While theres no reason to believe Russia was behind the coup, it will leverage the opportunity to gain a stronger foothold in the region, something Western nations were trying to avoid, Sahel experts say. France and the United States have more than 2,500 military personnel in Niger and along with other European nations have poured hundreds of millions of dollars of military assistance into propping up the countrys forces. Much of that aid has now been suspended. Meanwhile, Nigers approximately 25 million people are feeling the impact of the sanctions. Some neighbourhoods in the capital Niamey have little access to electricity and there are frequent power cuts across the city. The country gets up to 90% of its power from Nigeria, which has cut off some of the supply. Since the coup, Hamidou Albade, 48, said hes been unable to run his shop on the outskirts of Niamey because theres been no electricity. He also works as a taxi driver but lost business there, too, because a lot of of his foreign clients have left the city. Its very difficult, I just sit at home doing nothing, he said. Still, he supports the junta. Were suffering now, but I know the junta will find a solution to get out of the crisis, he said. Russia is scheduled to launch its first mission to the moon in nearly 50 years on Friday, racing to land on the lunar south pole before a spacecraft from India gets there. The launch of the Luna-25 craft to the moon will be Russias first since 1976 when it was part of the Soviet Union and will be conducted without assistance from the European Space Agency, which ended co-operation with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. The Russian lunar lander is expected to reach the moon on August 23, around about the same day as an Indian craft that was launched on July 14. Only three governments have managed successful moon landings: the Soviet Union, the United States and China. India and Russia are aiming to be the first to land at the moons south pole. The Luna-25 mission is set to launch from the Vostochny Cosmodrome (Roscosmos State Space Corporation/AP) Roscosmos, Russias space agency, said it wants to show Russia is a state capable of delivering a payload to the moon, and ensure Russias guaranteed access to the moons surface. Study of the moon is not the goal, said Vitaliy Egorov, a popular Russian space analyst. The goal is political competition between two superpowers China and the USA and a number of other countries which also want to claim the title of space superpower. Sanctions imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine make it harder for it to access Western technology, impacting its space program. The Luna-25 was initially meant to carry a small moon rover but that idea was abandoned to reduce the weight of the craft for improved reliability, analysts say. Foreign electronics are lighter, domestic electronics are heavier, Mr Egorov said. While scientists might have the task of studying lunar water, for Roscosmos the main task is simply to land on the moon to recover lost Soviet expertise and learn how to perform this task in a new era. The Luna-25 will be launched from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russias Far East. The spaceport is a pet project of Russian President Vladimir Putin and is key to his efforts to make Russia a space superpower and move Russian launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The mission hopes to be Russias first successful moon landing in nearly 50 years (Roscosmos State Space Corporation/AP) It is unclear if Mr Putin will attend the launch of the lunar lander. In 2016, he was present at the failed launch of a Soyuz rocket, after which Russian media reported he seriously rebuked officials. A previous Indian attempt to land at the moons south pole in 2019 ended when the lander crashed into the moons surface. The lunar south pole is of particular interest to scientists, who believe the permanently shadowed polar craters may contain water. The frozen water in the rocks could be transformed by future explorers into air and rocket fuel. The moon is largely untouched and the whole history of the moon is written on its face, said Dr Ed Bloomer, an astronomer at Britains Royal Observatory in Greenwich. It is pristine and like nothing you get on Earth. It is its own laboratory. The Luna-25 is to take samples of moon rock and dust. The samples are crucial to understanding the moons environment ahead of building any base there, otherwise we could be building things and having to shut them down six months later because everything has effectively been sand-blasted, Dr Bloomer said. A search of the wildfire devastation on the Hawaiian island of Maui revealed a wasteland of obliterated neighbourhoods and landmarks charred beyond recognition as the death toll rose to at least 36, with an untold number missing. A flyover of the historic town of Lahaina showed entire neighbourhoods that had once been a vibrant vision of colour and island life reduced to grey ash. Block after block was nothing but rubble and blackened foundations, including along famous Front Street where tourists shopped and dined just days ago. Boats in the harbour were scorched and smoke hovered over the town, which dates back to the 1700s and is the biggest community on the islands west side. Tiffany Kidder Winns gift store, Whalers Locker, which is one of the towns oldest shops, was among the many businesses destroyed. As she assessed the damage on Thursday, she came upon a line of burned-out vehicles, some with charred bodies inside them. It looked like they were trying to get out, but were stuck in traffic and couldnt get off Front Street, she said. She later spotted a body leaning against a seawall. Ms Winn said the destruction was so widespread I couldnt even tell where I was because all the landmarks were gone. The search of the wildfire wreckage on the Hawaiian island of Maui revealed a wasteland of burned homes and obliterated communities (Rick Bowmer/AP Fuelled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the fire started on Tuesday and took Maui by surprise, racing through parched growth covering the island and feasting on homes and anything else that lay in its path. The official death toll stood at 36 late on Wednesday, making it the deadliest US wildfire since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, which killed at least 85 people and laid waste to the town of Paradise. The Hawaii toll could still rise, though, as rescuers reach parts of the island that had been inaccessible due to obstructions of the three ongoing fires, including the one in Lahaina that was 80% contained on Thursday, according to Maui County news. More than 270 structures have been damaged or destroyed and dozens of people have been injured, including some critically. Adam Weintraub, a spokesperson for Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said: We are still in life preservation mode. Search and rescue is still a primary concern. He said search and rescue teams still will not be able to access certain areas until the fire lines are secure and they are sure they will be able to get to those areas safely. The historic town of Lahaina and its famous Front Street had been bustling with tourists just days earlier (Bosco Jr Bae/AP) The flames left some people with mere minutes to act and led some to flee into the ocean. Bosco Bae, a Lahaina man, shared a video on Facebook from Tuesday evening that showed fire burning nearly every building on a street as sirens blared and wind-blown sparks raced by. Mr Bae, who said he was one of the last people to leave the town, was evacuated to the islands main airport and was waiting to be allowed to return home. Marlon Vasquez, a 31-year-old cook from Guatamala who came to the US in January of last year, said that when he heard the fire alarms, it was already too late to flee in his car. I opened the door and the fire was almost on top of us, he told The Associated Press. We ran and ran. We ran almost the whole night and into the next day, because the fire didnt stop. Mr Vasquez and his brother Eduardo escaped via roads that were clogged with vehicles full of people. The smoke was so toxic that he vomited. He said that he is not sure whether his roommates and neighbours made it to safety. People fled from the smoke and flames by escaping into the ocean (Zeke Kalua/County of Maui/AP) Lahaina residents Kamuela Kawaakoa and Iiulia Yasso described their harrowing escape under smoke-filled skies on Tuesday afternoon. The couple and their six-year-old son got back to their apartment after a quick dash to the supermarket for water, and only had time to grab a change of clothes and run as the bushes around them caught fire. We barely made it out, Ms Kawaakoa, 34, said, still unsure whether anything was left of their apartment. The family fled and as they called 911, they saw the Hale Mahaolu senior living facility across the road erupt in flames. Communications have been spotty on the island, with 911, landline and cellular service failing at times. Chelsey Vierras grandmother, Louise Abihai, was living at Hale Mahaolu and the family does not know if she was able to escape. She doesnt have a phone. Shes 97 years old, Ms Vierra said. She can walk. She is strong. Its tough to see some of the images coming out of Hawaii a place thats so special to so many of us. Michelle and I are thinking of everyone who has lost a loved one, or whose life has been turned upside down. If youd like to help, you can do so here. Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 10, 2023 Relatives are monitoring shelter lists and calling hospitals. We have got to find our loved one, but theres no communication here, said Ms Vierra. We dont know who to ask about where she went. As the fires raged, tourists were advised to stay away, and about 11,000 people flew out of Maui on Wednesday, with at least another 1,500 expected to leave on Thursday, according to Ed Sniffen, state transportation director. Officials prepared the Hawaii Convention Centre in Honolulu to take in the thousands who have been displaced. In coastal town of Kihei, south-east of Lahaina, wide swathes of ground glowed red with embers as flames continued to chew through trees and buildings. Gusty winds blew sparks over a black and orange patchwork of charred earth and still-crackling hot spots. The fires were fanned by strong winds from Hurricane Dora passing far to the south. Several thousand Hawaii residents raced to escape homes on Maui as the Lahaina fire swept across the island, killing multiple people and burning parts of a centuries-old town. (Rick Bowmer/AP) It is the latest in a series of disasters caused by extreme weather around the globe this summer. Experts say climate change is increasing the likelihood of such events. Thomas Smith an associate professor in environmental geography at the London School of Economics and Political Science said wildfires arent unusual in Hawaii, but the weather of the past few weeks created the fuel for a devastating blaze and, once ignited, the high winds created the disaster. Mayor Mitch Roth said the Big Island is also currently seeing blazes, although there had been no reports of injuries or destroyed homes there. Power was out in parts of Maui, with cellular service unavailable also, making it difficult for many to check in with friends and family. Some were posting messages on social media. Major General Kenneth Hara, of the Hawaii State Department of Defence, told reporters that officials were working to get communications restored, distribute water, and possibly add law enforcement personnel. Satellite images show an overview of southern Lahaina on Maui, Hawaii, on June 25, 2023, left, and an overview of the same area on Wednesday, August 9 (Maxar Technologies via AP) He said National Guard helicopters had dropped 150,000 gallons (568,000 litters) of water on the Maui fires. The Coast Guard said it rescued 14 people who had jumped into the water to escape the flames and smoke. Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr said that officials had not yet begun investigating the immediate cause of the fires. Mauro Farinelli, of Lahaina, said the winds started blowing hard on Tuesday and then somehow a fire started up on a hillside. It just ripped through everything with amazing speed, he said, adding it was like a blowtorch. Mr Farinelli said the winds were so strong they blew his garage door off its hinges and trapped his car inside. A friend drove him, his wife, Judit, and their dog, Susi, to an evacuation shelter. He has no idea what had happened to their home. Were hoping for the best, he said, but were pretty sure its gone. President Joe Biden declared a major disaster on Maui. While traveling in Utah on Thursday, Mr Biden pledged that the federal response will ensure that anyone who has lost a loved one, or whose home has been damaged or destroyed, is going to get help immediately. Mr Biden promised to streamline requests for assistance and said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was surging emergency personnel on the island. After 35 years, many members of the 88 Generation, most of whom were young student activists during the 8888 Uprising of 1988, continue to inspire and make sacrifices for the cause of democracy and freedom in Myanmar. Among the 88 Generation members who remained active and sacrificed for the ongoing revolution to root out the military dictatorship after another military takeover ended the short-lived countrys democratic period in February 2021, one stands out as the most exemplary. He was Ko Kyaw Min Yu, better known as Ko Jimmy. The new military regime led by Min Aung Hlaing hanged the veteran democracy activist in Yangons Insein Prison on July 23 last year, after eight months of detention, for his anti-regime activities against military rule. Also killed were former hip-hop artist and parliamentarian Ko Phyo Zeya Thaw and two others. The executions were the first in more than four decades. The 53-year-old was held dear by the Myanmar people, including the young, for his democracy activism. He is survived by a daughter, now 15, and his wife, Ma Nilar Thein, who was herself an 88 Generation Student Group leader. Ma Nilar Thein is in hiding due to her anti-junta activism. In 1988, Ko Jimmy was a young university student and among the leading figures of the 88 Generation Student Group. He spent nearly half his life as a prisoner, serving 21 years in Insein and Tharawaddy prisons from 1988 to 2005 and 2007 to 2012. He was first sentenced to 20 years in jail for his involvement in the student demonstrations and underground movement during the 1988 popular uprising, and was later given five years for his role in the Saffron Revolution in 2007. After his release in 2012, Ko Jimmy worked with philanthropic projects, capacity-building schemes for young people and educational programs along with 88 Generation comrades like Ko Min Ko Naing. He was also known for his literary works. When the military staged a coup and overthrew the civilian government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Ko Jimmy was one of the 88 Generation members at the forefront of the anti-regime movement and called on the public to root out the military dictatorship. The junta arrested him in October at his hideout in Yangon and charged him with high treason and counterterrorism for allegedly masterminding a campaign of guerrilla warfare against the regime in the countrys biggest city. He was accused of threatening public tranquility with social media posts criticizing military rule. The regime also said Ko Jimmy was the leader of Operation Moonlight, which carried out hugely successful urban guerrilla attacks. In an interview for the 33rd anniversary of the 8888 uprising in August 2021 with local media outlet Burma VJ, two months before of his arrest in Yangon, Ko Jimmy expressed concern that the revolution should proceed without delay, saying the country and people would have to suffer if it took a long time. But he said he believed that the current struggle would be the final battle to bring down the junta and end military dictatorship once and for all, saying there is unprecedented unity between the old and new generations and different groups, while also praising the new generations bravery and intellectual approach to the revolution. If we continue forward like this, I believe, we will definitely win, he said. Do you wanna write history with bullets saying the winner is right? You will only achieve this if this generation of students is gone. Do you wanna write history with artillery? You will only achieve this if the sky stops raining. Only the right shall win. From a popular speech by Ko Jimmy YANGONAt least 17 people drowned when a boat carrying Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmars Rakhine State broke up at sea this week, rescuers said Thursday. Thousands of Rohingya risk their lives each year making perilous sea journeys from camps in Bangladesh and Myanmar to try to reach Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia. Byar La, a rescuer from the Shwe Yaung Metta Foundation in the town of Sittwe, said more than 50 people were thought to be on the boat heading for Malaysia when it got into trouble in heavy seas on Sunday night. We found 17 dead bodies as of yesterday, he told AFP. We found eight men alive. Police have taken them for questioning. Rescuers are still trying to find those unaccounted for, he said, although the exact number on board is not known. Rakhine in Buddhist-majority Myanmar is home to around 600,000 Rohingya Muslims, who are considered migrants from Bangladesh and are denied citizenship and freedom of movement. Deadly sea crossings More than 3,500 Rohingya in 39 vessels attempted crossings of the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal in 2022, up from 700 the previous year, according to the United Nations refugee agencys January data. At least 348 Rohingya died or went missing at sea last year, the agency said, calling for a regional response to stop further drownings. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says calls for maritime authorities in the region to rescue and disembark people in distress have gone unheeded with many boats adrift for weeks. Amnesty International likens the living conditions of Rohingya people in Rakhine State to apartheid. A Myanmar military crackdown in 2017 forced some 750,000 Rohingya to flee Rakhine for Bangladesh following widespread accounts of murder, arson and rape. Myanmar is facing genocide accusations at the United Nations top court following the mass exodus. Bangladesh and Myanmar have discussed efforts to begin repatriating Rohingya refugees to their homeland. A top US rights envoy in Bangladesh said in July conditions remain unsafe for the return of ethnic Rohingya refugees to Myanmar. Funding cuts forced the United Nations food agency to cut rations to Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh twice this year. A cyclone ravaged Rakhine in May and the military junta has blocked international efforts to deliver aid. Myanmar has been in chaos since Daw Aung San Suu Kyis civilian government was toppled in a military coup in February 2021, ending its brief period of democracy. After reshuffling his cabinet last week, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing has appointed his economic advisor, retired Lt-General Nyo Saw, to two vital economic committeesone that control foreign exchange and another that oversees trade. Nyo Saw was appointed to the Foreign Exchange Supervisory Committee (FESC), and the Committee on Ensuring a Smooth Flow of Trade and Goods when they were reconstituted last month. He was appointed as Min Aung Hlaings economic advisor last month. Yangon-based executives say that Min Aung Hlaing is hoping that Nyo Saw can solve the foreign-currency crisis caused by a steep decline in foreign trade and foreign investment since the February 2021 coup. The FESC is tasked with stabilizing exchange rates, and scrutinizing spending of foreign currency on imports of essential commodities that are not produced domestically, such as fuel, medicine, oil, fertilizer and building materials, according to junta media. The other committee Nyo Saw was appointed to focuses on trade. Nyo Saws business experience, however, is in military-owned companies. He is the chairman of one military-owned conglomerate, Myanmar Economic Corporation, and holds a senior post at another, Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. He also holds a senior post military-owned Inwa Bank. Nyo Saw also chairs a committee to import fuel from Russia, the regimes major arms supplier. The committee was formed in August 2022 as fuel shortages hit the country. Along with his experience in military-owned businesses, he is also considered to be loyal to Min Aung Hlaing. Min Aung Hlaing has the trust and confidence in Lt-General Nyo Saw, a Yangon-based executive said. Nyo Saw was part of the 23rd intake of the Defense Services Academy, and later served as the commandant of both the Defense Services Technological Academy and the Defense Services Academy, as well as the head of the central and southern commands before he retired as quartermaster general in 2020. Nyo Saws swift rise to senior economic posts in the junta will be ineffectual, a Myanmar-based economist told The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity. One person cannot salvage an economy that has collapsed due to political instability and mismanagement, the economist said. The situation is even more precarious because very little foreign currency flows into Myanmar and two state-owned banks crucial for international transactions have been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department, the economist added. The ongoing economic crisis was triggered by the coup. There wont be changes in the economy without political changes first, he said. In June, the United States sanctioned Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank for enabling the military regime to fund violence with foreign currency earned from state-owned enterprises. The sanctions on the two banks, which have been the key financial institutions controlling the flow of foreign currency in Myanmar for decades, have seriously disrupted juntas access to US dollars and US dollar transactions. Almost 75,000 homes have been incinerated in six regions and seven states of Myanmar by junta forces and affiliated militias since the February 2021 coup, according to Data for Myanmar. As of 31 July 2023, Myanmars military and its affiliated groups burned down approximately 74,874 civilian houses, the independent organization reported on Tuesday. In June and July of this year more than 4,250 homes were incinerated, it said. Junta forces have been using arson attacks to deter and retaliate against those who oppose military rule, with their frequency highest in resistance strongholds. Arson attacks accelerated rapidly in the second year after the coup, according to figures provided by Data for Myanmar. Junta forces torched at least 2,111 homes in 2021 and 46,905 in 2022, the group said. As of the end of July 2023, they have torched 25,858 homes so far this year, according to Data for Myanmar. Sagaing Region has been hardest hit. Rural and urban areas of the region accounted for 77% of all homes torched since the coup. Magwe Region and Chin State followed. In terms of entire villages being incinerated, about 15 percent were in Magwe Region and three percent were in Chin State, Data for Myanmar said. Seven percent of the homes torched by junta forces and affiliated militias were in Bago, Mandalay,Tanintharyi and Yangon regions, and in Kachin, Kayah, Mon, Shan and Rakhine states. Singapores United Overseas Bank (UOB) which is known as the offshore bank of choice for Myanmar generals has told Myanmar banks that it will cut off ties with them by September 1, Nikkei Asia reported on Wednesday. According to the report, the financial giant said in a confidential note sent to Myanmar banks last week that it will restrict all incoming and outgoing payments to and from Myanmar account holders, allowing funds to be moved only between accounts held with the bank. It will also impose tough new curbs on Visa and Mastercard transactions by Myanmar individuals and banks, restricting their dealings to accounts within UOB. In addition, UOB said it would close Myanmar banks nostro accounts at its Hong Kong branch foreign currency accounts banks hold at overseas counterparts to facilitate trade, the report said. Last month, the bank also told Myanmar Airways International (MAI) that it would shut down all of the airlines accounts by mid-August, following US sanctions in June on two Myanmar state-owned banks that conduct international transactions. The latest clampdown was also seen as a response to US pressure on Singapore to curb offshore banking and financial services for Myanmars military regime, as the actions followed a series of visits to Singapore by US State Department Counselor Derek Chollet and senior sanctions coordination officials, who met with the Monetary Authority of Singapore and key Singaporean banks in April. Singapore is the largest source of foreign investment in Myanmar as well as the preferred haven for Myanmars military rulers and their cronies. They make frequent visits to the city state for medical reasons, recreation or to squirrel away money in bank accounts held by proxies. Many Singaporean companies have commercial ties with Myanmars junta and its conglomerates. Following the coup, the city state saw its financial leverage over the regime rise. UN Rapporteur Tom Andrews also revealed that the number of Singapore-based entities known to have supplied the Myanmar juntas military has risen to 138 with the addition of 91 entities. Local anti-regime strike organizations in Sagaing Region have called on Chinese mining firms Wanbao and Yang Tse to halt their collaboration with the Myanmar junta, which is committing atrocities and destroying civilian life and property across the region. In partnership with the military-owned Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd, Wanbao and its two subsidiaries, Myanmar Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd and Myanmar Yang Tse Copper Ltd, run three copper mines Letpadaung, Sabetaung and Kyesintaung in Salingyi Township. Even before the 2021 coup, the mines had long been a source of public fury for destroying the environment and seizing peoples land. A total of 17 local strike bodies in Monywa, Salingyi and Yinmarbin townships issued a statement on Monday saying that the mining companies are supporting the military in various ways. The companies give junta troops a base in their compounds, providing food and resources a s well as vehicles for the soldiers to raid villages in the township. Wanbao has also allowed the military to use its company compound as an artillery base that shells surrounding villages, the statement said. With this support, junta soldiers are able to arbitrarily kill travelers on the Nyaung Pin Gyi-Salingyi road, plant landmines near lampposts and in residents farms, and burn their houses in nearby villages. Furthermore, junta troops are forcing residents along the Pathein-Monywa road to leave their villages whenever the two companies transport cargo or Chinese workers. Regime troops based in the mining companies compounds have been brutally killing local civilians and torching their houses since soon after the coup, according to the Yinmabin-Salingyi multi-village strike steering committee. Military training for the pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia was held in these compounds. The worst is that fences are being built in places that could not be fenced before the coup, Ko Lwan Thu, the head of the strike committee, told The Irrawaddy. Recently, Myanmar Wanbao seized neighboring farmland and fenced-off farms in old Wethmay village to the east of the mining compound. They fenced an area around the Wanbao company and covered it with green plastic. Some residents are trapped in this area, but we still dont know about their condition, Ma Chaw Su Han, a representative of Monywa University Student Union, told The Irrawaddy. The joint statement was issued by the student union, Lapataung Taung main strike column, North Yinmarbin strike force, Yinmabin-Salingyi multi-village strike steering committee and regional strikes forces. The student union representative said the regional strike forces will send their plea over human rights violations by the mining companies to international embassies. The statement said despite Wanbao frequently claiming via social media that it conducted development activities for locals, compensation for residents whose land had been confiscated for mining has not yet been paid and demands of displaced residents have not been addressed. All the posts on their Facebook pages are fake. They are supporting the terrorist military, Ko Lwan Thu said. An American nurse and her daughter, kidnapped in Haiti by criminal gangs two weeks ago, were released safely on Wednesday, a Haitian humanitarian organization reported. Version en Espanol Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter were kidnapped from a hospital where the nurse works, in the Haitian capital, and managed to be released although no details of the circumstances are known, nor if a ransom was paid. The Christian aid organization El Roi Haiti, for which Alix Dorsainvil works, had asked not to contact the nurse or her family. "The group expressed in a statement that it could confirm the freedom of the nurse "with a grateful heart and immense joy." The Christian group offers medical care, education and basic services in impoverished areas of Haiti. The US State Department said it was pleased with the news of the release and thanked the Haitian and US entities that facilitated it. These people have been through an extremely difficult experience, both physically and mentally. Gunmen abducted the New Hampshire woman and her young daughter in late July from a clinic in a gang-controlled area of Port-au-Prince where Dorsainvil works, according to local media. Gang violence and criminal gangs have been on the rise in recent years in Haiti, frequently killing, raping and kidnapping citizens for ransom. Thursday, Aug 10th, 2023 (9:43 am) - Score 3,936 A new trial has just been conducted by UK telecoms giant BT (EE) and supplier Ericsson, which is claimed to be somewhat of a European first after it successfully demonstrated the transmission of Standalone 5G services in a wideband Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) radio carrier (over 20MHz) within a sub-3GHz spectrum band. Theres a lot to unpack here, so well start by adding a little context. Firstly, Standalone (SA) networks are pure end-to-end 5G networks that can deliver improvements such as ultra-low latency times (fast), better upload speeds, network slicing capabilities, better support for Internet of Things (IoT) devices, increased reliability and security (most existing 5G is non-Standalone and thus has some reliance on older / slower 4G infrastructure). As for FDD, its a spectrum usage technique like Time Division Duplex (TDD). In a traditional TDD setup, the networks uplink and downlink connections essentially use the same spectrum frequencies, albeit at different times. By comparison, FDD mode means that both uplink and downlink can transmit at the same time, albeit by using different spectrum frequencies. The two methods can also be combined. In this case, the breakthrough trial is said to have demonstrated the benefits of configuring a wide carrier bandwidth of 50MHz (50MHz downlink + 50MHz uplink) in EEs 2.6GHz band and performing downlink aggregation with two TDD carriers in EEs 3.5GHz band. The trial also evaluated an intermediate carrier bandwidth of 30MHz. Conducted on BTs live network in Bristol and Potters Bar using existing Ericsson commercial hardware (Baseband 6648, Radio 4419) and by activating the software feature Large Bandwidth Support Low-Band, testing with MediaTek Dimensity powered handsets with integrated MediaTek M80 Release-16 modem, the trial has shown a capacity uplift of more than three times with a single FDD carrier. This is particularly significant for the uplink in 5G Standalone (5G SA), which is currently based on a single carrier. Greg McCall, Chief Networks Officer of BT Group, said: This breakthrough is the latest example of our commitment to maximising the full potential of 5G for our customers. As network quality and accessibility improve, so too will innovation and the 5G services ecosystem. Demonstrating new network capabilities such as those announced today is critical to achieving this goal, and also paves the way to ensuring that 5G SA delivers new possibilities for our customers. Evangelia Tzifa, CTO Networks & Managed Services for Ericsson UK, said: This is a great step forward for the deployment of 5G Standalone for EE in the UK. Ericsson innovative software capabilities such as large bandwidths for NR FDD as well as NR Carrier Aggregation enable a solid foundation for improved end user experience and network performance. This is a fundamental link for business success and the evolution to next-generation connectivity across the country. Sadly, there were no solid benchmark results or comparisons provided to properly support the claim of performance benefits, although we dont doubt that they exist in this setup. But it would have been nice to see something more detailed than a vague claim of capacity uplift. Enabling 5G to be expanded in FDD bands is an important step in paving the way for the arrival of EEs 5G Standalone mobile network. 5G SA will in future enable superior experiences for consumers and businesses meeting the growing demand for data, although initially we dont expect to see it being deployed much beyond dense urban areas. Thursday, Aug 10th, 2023 (12:00 am) - Score 1,176 The latest Q2 2023 data from caller ID verification firm Hiya, which among other things also works with UK broadband ISP BT (EE) to help detect and block SPAM and fraud calls, has revealed that 27.3% of UK calls from non-contacts are spam (79.3 million) and, of that figure, 18% were classified as nuisance calls and 9.3% were fraud calls. Put another way, some 34% of all UK spam calls (79.3 million) in Q2 were labelled as fraud and each person received an average of 4 spam calls a month. The UK is sadly home to the highest proportion of fraud calls in Europe, although it should be said that the aforementioned figure of 9.3% for fraud calls is down from 13% at the end of 2022 and the spam call rate of 27.3% is down from 28%. NOTE: Non-contact calls are those placed from numbers that are not in an individuals local address book. The top sources of scam calls in Q2 2023 came from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) impersonators, which was followed by those trying to impersonate Amazon and, finally, a new scam is growing that attempts to impersonate your own family members (e.g. a fake daughter that pretends to have lost her phone or a fake child kidnapping) the latter sometimes involves AI-generated voice clones! AI voice-generated scams are very likely the model of the future and we expect to find more and more evidence going forward, said Kush Parikh, President of Hiya. In order to address this emerging tactic, carriers must implement stronger voice security solutions to protect their subscribers. Check out the full report. Thursday, Aug 10th, 2023 (9:07 am) - Score 2,040 Network access provider Openreach has faced complaints from residents in the small rural Wiltshire village of Little Cheverell, which occurred after most of the community was left cut-off from broadband ISP and phone connectivity for three weeks due to a tree that fell and damaged the operators overground pole network. In total, 95 out of 144 customer connections in the area were left disconnected. The problem is that the time it takes to replace a pole and fix related wiring can vary a lot, depending upon wider issues like as the need to seek road permits/permissions, whether ISPs have classified any local customers as vulnerable (faster response), safety of the site, availability of engineering resources and the level of local damage etc. NOTE: Openreach s network includes over 4 million poles across the UK, some of which are as much as 15 metres high (8-9m is more common). In this case, the operators local network was cut off on 20th July 2023 when a tree fell in Low Road and disconnected the local lines disrupting connectivity for most of the village. According to the Gazette and Herald, residents then had trouble getting Openreach to acknowledge and respond to the problem. Some locals also raised concerns about the risk to life during the loss of access to a working phone service. But its worth noting that most mobile network operators claim to have good 4G coverage in the area, and EE has even managed to deploy some outdoor 5G. A Spokesperson for Openreach said: The complex repair involves teams from Openreach and our partners, and our priority is to complete the work safely and as quickly as possible. We re-erected the pole last week and applied for permission for traffic management, but were unsuccessful because of other works in the area. We tried to do this again with a diversion but were unable to effect a suitable workaround. We now have permission to undertake the work tomorrow (Wednesday) for a period of three days. We have fibre and copper engineers ready to start and should have customers online quickly once their work can begin safely. We anticipate all customers being reconnected by Thursday afternoon. We know how frustrating it is to be without phone and/or broadband and were really sorry we havent been able to get things repaired more quickly. Its worth remembering that vulnerable status (which can prioritise repair work) is determined by broadband providers; if you think you or a family member should be given this status, please register with your provider. Openreach has previously informed us that, at least during major storm related issues (its unclear if this incident was caused by a storm), it can take around 20 days to fix damaged poles. But over the years weve seen examples where, in rare cases of extreme damage, rural areas have been left to wait for 6-12 weeks before repairs (here, here and here). But in urban areas, a downed pole may only be a matter of hours or just a few short days, although even these are dependent upon some of the aforementioned caveats. Today Windy with intermittent light rain early. Remaining cloudy overnight. Low 72F. Winds S at 25 to 35 mph, becoming N and decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Locally heavy rainfall possible. Tonight Windy with intermittent light rain early. Remaining cloudy overnight. Low 72F. Winds S at 25 to 35 mph, becoming N and decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Locally heavy rainfall possible. Tomorrow Partly cloudy skies. High 91F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Florida Phoenix ) People, its too hot to be this stupid. A new NPR/PBS/Marist poll shows that nearly three-fourths of Republicans dont think the climate crisis is a big deal and we dont need to do anything about it. I guess the good news is that 56 percent of all political persuasions say the climate crisis requires urgent action. That includes nearly nine out of 10 Democrats and over half of Independents. The Earth is being held hostage by the party of ignorance, conservatives who no longer want to conserve anything other than white privilege. Theyve become a death cult, denying whats obvious to rational, literate people. Who cares if the seas are boiling? As long as they own the libs. Its not as if the science is unsettled. The data are solid; weve been shown over and over again whats happening and told what to do about it. But Republicans see reducing fossil fuel use and developing sustainable energy as just another front in the culture war, right up there with reproductive rights, education, race, gender issues, gay rights, and those satanic vaccines. This is the hottest summer in 120,000 years. Accelerated climate change is causing sea water temperatures to reach 100 degrees off the coast of Florida; parts of Canada are bursting into flame; the Southwest is scorched; places in Europe where a summer high temperature used to be maybe 80F, are now watching their thermometers break 98. But who are you going to believe, Republicans or a bunch of lying climatologists who have the receipts? Article continues after bonus IC video CBS from three months ago: Fort Lauderdale continues recovery from historic flooding Its common to characterize our inability to address the skin-searing, ocean-boiling, crop-killing climate crisis as planetary suicide. Thats partly true. Those of us in the greenhouse gas emitting world are indeed colluding in our own destruction. Murder for hire But this is also a long murder for hire, contracted by Big Oil, Big Ag, Big Bank, the Republican Party, and even a few Democrats. The corporations have understood the dangers of climate change for more than 40 years. They dont care. To them, high carbon emissions smell like money. Not only are right-wingers ignoring our frying earth, theyre determined to push it to the brink. The Heartland Institute, a cabal of ultra-libertarians initially famous for questioning the link between tobacco and cancer, now peddles climate denial to schools, shipping out propaganda masquerading as common sense to educators, hoping to influence schools Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas and Baptist preacher, now publishes a Kids Guide to the Truth About Climate Change, a brightly-colored booklet of misinformation and senseless graphs assuring children the climate has always changed, greenhouse gases have fluctuated for thousands of years, and if teachers and the media say different, its because they have an agenda. Dismissing the climate crisis is now a full-time job for rightwing think tanks and politicians, determined to protect the likes of Exxon, Shell, and BP. The Heritage Foundation has concocted a policy document for the next president (assuming thats a Republican) demanding Washington nix Joe Bidens climate initiatives, gut the EPA, ramp up oil and gas production, and maybe sell off public lands for drilling and mining. A Wall Street Journal editorial board member (who traffics in unhinged opinions) complains that Wall Street Journal reporters (who deal in facts) shouldnt keep writing about the climate. Such scary stuff causes mental disorders, she says. Its just a little heat wave. Calm down. Jump in the pool! Woke fabrication Article continues after bonus IC video GOP Climate Change Denial In Washington, Republicans work themselves into fits, insisting that climate change is some kind of woke fabrication. During a hearing in July, some of the Houses dimmer bulbs tried to bully U.S. climate envoy John Kerry. They pulled out spurious charts to prove the Earth isnt warming and attacked Kerry on the ground that his political science degree from Yale isnt real science, so how dare he lecture the intellectual giants of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on greenhouse gasses? Not surprisingly, two congressmen from Florida particularly distinguished themselves, behaving like third graders denied another hit of Skittles, lobbing juvenile insults. Rep. Cory Mills, who famously handed out commemorative hand-grenades when he first took office, snarked about Kerry flying in on his private jet. Another member of the Brain Trust, the Treasure Coasts Brian Mast, accused Kerry of pushing a far-left radical agenda. Kerry doesnt own a private jet, and you can bet they knew that. Moreover, his agenda might better be characterized as helping save us from the deadly consequences of our own idiocy. But since when has reality mattered to the likes of Mills, Mast, and the rest of the Idiot Caucus? Meanwhile, Florida burns and floods and our supposed leaders dont give a damn. On April 12 this year, Fort Lauderdale got hit with 26 inches of rain in one day. Streets were under two feet of water; airport runways were awash; houses destroyed. Ron DeSantis didnt show up. He was on book tour. After former Gov. Rick Scott, a man so spooked by the politics of climate change that he forbade state employees to even say climate change, decamped for the U.S. Senate, Floridians felt a tiny shiver of hope. Newly-inaugurated Gov. Ron DeSantis named a chief science officer. Hell, no Could it be that the state would finally get serious about mitigating greenhouse gases? That would be a super-sized hell, no. DeSantis talks a big game about resilience and saving the Everglades, and he put together a task force to tackle toxic blue-green algae a huge health risk but he hasnt done a damned thing to slow down production of the greenhouse gases that are killing us or force polluters to stop dumping filth in our waters. He refused to accept federal money to foster energy efficiency and renewables such as wind and solar because, I suppose, it might give him Joe Biden cooties. He ignores the increasingly vicious hurricanes, the sunny-day floods, the coastal erosion, the ecological collapse of our waterways, and that thick, stinking blanket of poisonous algal bloom choking the life out of Lake Okeechobee. To slow down our carbon production, we need to stop encouraging fossil fuel extraction and embrace solar and wind. But DeSantis and his party refuse. To clean up our impaired waters, the governor and Legislature must stop the sugar, dairy, and phosphate interests from using them as a sewer system. Shrug To save the planet, we have to push the nations of the earth especially the U.S., India and China to stop gagging our skies with noisome emissions. We know this. The Republican Party knows this. Ron DeSantis knows this. Yet he shrugs and signs laws to help developers drain, dredge, and pave whats left of Florida. After all, these are the people funding his campaign. DeSantis says he disapproves of politicizing the weather and refuses to, as he puts it, do any left-wing stuff. Left-wing stuff like caring for Floridians suffering killer storms, undrinkable water, and roaring floods? As my colleague Craig Pittman often reminds us, during hurricane season Florida is trying to kill us. Republican Party nihilism is trying to kill us all of us, every day. ( Middle Eastern Monitor ) The repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war forced the administration of US President Joe Biden to back down from the policy of limited interest in the Middle East, and pulled the US back into a region that has changed dramatically in recent years. This region has now become a foothold and place of influence for several great powers competing with Washington. In addition to the complete Chinese infiltration that extends from the economy and trade to technology and diplomacy, Russia has succeeded in exploiting the disastrous results of the fluctuations in American policy since 2001, going from military interventions and a desire for unilateral domination in the Middle East to strategic hesitation and backing down from security pledges made to regional allies and military withdrawals, doing so in order to reformulate its roles in the region beyond its traditional area of influence in Syria. Moscow presented itself to the Middle East as a stabilising force looking for military, security, economic and commercial cooperation with all the governments of the region without giving the Middle Easterners a choice between it and their existing alliances with the US. Moscow left Washington to put restrictions on arms exports to the region and it offered its weapons without conditions. Decision-makers in the Russian presidency and in the diplomatic institutions used the state of ambiguity created by the fluctuations in US policy with regard to Middle East security, and they tried to export a new image of Russia as a superpower capable of direct military and security intervention to defend its allies (Syria as an example) and an ally that can also influence the developments and outcomes of conflicts occurring in the region (Libya, for example). It also portrayed itself as not opposed to diplomatic solutions to end these conflicts, as it does with Iran and Turkiye with regard to Syria and with Egypt, the UAE, Turkiye and France with regard to Libya. Russia has worked to extend networks of arms export, security, and economic and commercial cooperation, so its role in Syria did not prevent it from forging a strategic relationship with Israel. Meanwhile, its closeness with Israel did not prevent it from maintaining its strong ties with Iran, despite the constant and escalating hostility between Tel Aviv and Tehran. The relations of cooperation and coordination with Israel and Iran also did not prevent Moscow from exporting weapons to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Turkiye, and increasing cooperation between it and Algeria in North Africa. Russian decision-makers also succeeded in developing alliances of interest with Middle Eastern governments regarding global energy prices, which Moscow and the Gulf capitals want to keep high to support their budgets, and mixed this with the agreement with Egypt and Algeria to build nuclear reactors with funding and technology from Russia. The clear strategic objective of Russias roles in the Middle East is not to allow the US to act in the region as the sole dominant power. The second objective is to push for developing a new security system that inherits American unilateralism and is formulated by all of the great powers, i.e. the US, China, Russia and Europe, along with the influential regional parties. Therefore, Russia presents itself as an alternative global power whose policies do not fluctuate with the change of administrations, and one that has military and security cooperation and coordinate with regards to energy prices separately from the traditional lines of conflict between Israel and Iran, between the latter and the Gulf states, and between Turkiye and many Arab parties. Article continues after bonus IC video Hinustan Times from two weeks ago: Major Escalation As Russian Jet Strikes U.S. Reaper Drone In Syria; America Fumes At Moscow Therefore, it was not surprising that Iran and Syria aligned with Russia, refused to condemn Russias aggression against Ukraine, and refrained from applying Western sanctions. However, the American shock came as Washingtons allies in the Middle East did not explicitly condemn Russia and enforce sanctions. The governments of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Turkiye and even the government of Washingtons top ally in the region, Israel, all refused to implement the sanctions and kept their cooperation and coordination with Moscow unchanged. Even the GCC governments did not give in to the pressures of the Biden administration to raise their oil and natural gas production rates in order to lower the current energy prices and spare the US president and his party from the punishment of the voters in the elections. The Gulf states thus enabled Russia to maintain its high revenues of energy exports, and on the other hand, they punished the Biden administration for Americas disregard for its Arab allies and its repeated talk of moving away from the Middle East. Therefore, Russia reaped some of the fruits of its alliances of interest with the Middle Eastern governments and the fruits of its pragmatic policies that did not set conditions for cooperation with everyone. It worked to present a new image of a strong Russia capable of military intervention, export of arms and technology, and making security pledges; a new image reminiscent of the influential Soviet presence in the Middle East during the second half of the twentieth century. This article first appeared in Al-Quds Al-Arabi on 7 August 2023 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 Eastern Monitor TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Jaguar Mining Inc. ("Jaguar" or the "Company") (TSX:JAG)(OTCQX:JAGGF) today announced financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023. All figures are in US Dollars, unless otherwise expressed. Second Quarter Highlights Operating cash flow was $10 million, compared to $9.4 million in the second quarter of 2022, mainly due to an increase of 6% in the average realized gold price 1 , combined with an 8% decrease in operating costs, and lower cash income taxes paid of $1.9 million, compared to $2.4 million in the second quarter of 2022. This was partially offset by a 17% decrease in ounces of gold sold from 20,482 ounces the second quarter of 2022 to 16,917 ounces in the second quarter of 2023. , combined with an 8% decrease in operating costs, and lower cash income taxes paid of $1.9 million, compared to $2.4 million in the second quarter of 2022. This was partially offset by a 17% decrease in ounces of gold sold from 20,482 ounces the second quarter of 2022 to 16,917 ounces in the second quarter of 2023. Free cash flow of $2.4 million and was based on operating cash flow plus asset retirement obligation expenditures, less capital expenditures, compared to $5.5 million in Free Cash Flow in the second quarter of 2022. Free cash flow was $141 per ounce of gold sold compared to $270 per ounce of gold sold in the second quarter of 2022. Total capital expenditures were 4% or $0.43 million higher in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2022 with sustaining capital expenditures $3.7 million higher offset by non-sustaining capital expenditures which were $3.3 million lower. Sustaining capital expenditures of $8.3 million in the quarter consisted of $5.5 million in primary development, $2.2 million in equipment, $0.5 million in brownfield exploration, and $0.1 million of other sustaining capital. Revenue decreased 12% to $33.2 million compared with $37.9 million in the second quarter of 2022, mainly due to a decrease in ounces produced, which resulted in lower ounces of gold sold of 16,917 ounces as compared to 20,482 ounces in the second quarter of 2022, partially offset by an increase in the average realized gold price of $1,962 per ounce compared to $1,852 per ounce in the second quarter of 2022. Gold production decreased 24% to 16,750 ounces compared to 22,028 ounces in the second quarter of 2022, due to a 15% decrease in the average head grade, combined with an 11% decrease in tonnes of ore processed. Operating costs decreased 8% to $19.5 million compared to $21.1 million in the second quarter of 2022. The decrease in operating costs was predominantly the result of decrease in tonnes mined compared to second quarter of 2022. Cash operating costs increased 12% to $1,150 compared to $1,029 per ounce of gold sold in the second quarter of 2022 due to a 17% decrease in ounces of gold sold compared to the second quarter of 2022. All-in sustaining costs increased to $1,781 compared to $1,366 per ounce of gold sold in the second quarter of 2022 due to the cash cost increase as explained above, combined with higher sustaining capital expenditures the result of a 20% increase in primary development plus exploration development in the quarter of 1,955 metres compared to 1,627 metres in the second quarter of 2022. Net loss of $1.1 million, compared to Net Income of $9.5 million in the second quarter of 2022. Major variances included a $4.7 million decrease in revenue, a $5.6 million increase in foreign exchange expenses, an increase of $1.3 million in income tax expense, offset by $1.6 million decrease in operating costs. 1 This is a Non-GAAP financial performance measure with no standard definition under IFRS. For more details, refer to the Non-GAAP Performance Measures section of the MD&A. Cash Position and Working Capital1 As of June 30, 2023, the Company had a cash and cash equivalents position of $23.9 million, compared to $25.2 million on December 31, 2022. As of June 30, 2023, working capital was $17.5 million, compared to $19.5 million on December 31, 2022, which includes $3 million in short term loans from Brazilian banks. Vern Baker, President and CEO of Jaguar Mining stated: "The Company faced another difficult quarter as both mines encountered issues with dynamic orebodies leading to lower grades and tonnes than was expected in the areas we mined. At the Pilar mine, both tonnes and grade were impacted by rapid geometry changes in the main orebody. The Pilar mining team has adapted plans to flatter dips, narrower ore widths, and extended strike lengths. At the Turmalina mine, the team has increased sampling and drilling to improve the grade mined. Development rates continued to be strong at both mines during the quarter as we are working to position the mines with an increasing number of headings to drive production up. We have also implemented cost reduction measures which have begun to take effect reducing our operating costs. These initiatives will continue in the second half of the year. While the strengthening Brazilian Real impacted our costs and income during the quarter, we continue to have a strong balance sheet and are well positioned to execute our improvement plans. Finally, I am very excited to announce the appointment of Alfred Colas as Chief Financial Officer of Jaguar Mining. His background and extensive experience in mining and project development makes him a good fit for our Company. We know Alfred will be a great contributor to unlocking the value of our gold assets". Corporate Updates On August 1, 2023, the Company announced it had entered into a share purchase agreement to purchase and assume from a subsidiary of IAMGOLD Corporation, the Pitangui Project and the remaining interest in the Acurui Project, two gold mineral exploration projects located in Brazil which are close in proximity to the Company's MTL Complex and Paciencia Complex. Following completion of the Transaction, the Company will hold a 100% ownership in the Pitangui Project and the Acurui Project. The Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Alfred Colas as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Colas is a seasoned finance executive with over 20 years of experience with publicly listed mining and forestry companies and five years of experience in private-equity real estate. Mr. Colas spent over 13 years in progressively senior finance roles with Barrick Gold Corp, culminating in his 2007 assignment as finance manager at the Veladero Mine in Argentina, where he was a seminal part of the team that successfully turned around the operation. From 2010-2013, he was controller of Rainy River Resources, following which he was VP and CFO of FNI Mining. In 2015, Mr. Colas joined Potenia Solar as CFO and, after its sale, he continued as CFO of a family office focusing on senior-care investments. Later, Mr. Colas served as CFO of dual-listed silver producer, Excellon Resources, and most recently, he was CFO of GreenFirst Forest Products. Mr. Colas holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto, and he obtained his CA/CPA designation in 1995, having started his career in 1992 as an auditor with Price Waterhouse. 1 This is a Non-GAAP financial performance measure with no standard definition under IFRS. For more details, refer to the Non-GAAP Performance Measures section of the MD&A. Second Quarter 2023 Results Non-GAAP performance The Company has included the following Non-GAAP performance measures in this document: cash operating costs per ounce of gold sold, all-in sustaining costs per ounce of gold sold, average realized gold price (per ounce of gold sold), sustaining capital expenditures, non-sustaining capital expenditures, adjusted operating cash flow, free cash flow, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), adjusted EBITDA and working capital. These Non-GAAP performance measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and, therefore, may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company's performance. Accordingly, they are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. More specifically, Management believes that these figures are a useful indicator to investors and management of a mine's performance as they provide: (i) a measure of the mine's cash margin per ounce, by comparison of the cash operating costs per ounce to the price of gold; (ii) the trend in costs as the mine matures; and (iii) an internal benchmark of performance to allow for comparison against other mines. The definitions of these performance measures and reconciliation of the Non-GAAP measures to reported IFRS measures are outlined below. Reconciliation of sustaining capital and non-sustaining capital expenditures1 Reconciliation of Free Cash Flow1 Reconciliation of Cash Operating Costs, All-In Sustaining Costs and All-In Costs per Ounce Sold1 Reconciliation of Net Income (Loss) to EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA1 Working Capital1 Qualified Person Scientific and technical information contained in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Jonathan Victor Hill, BSc (Hons) (Economic Geology - UCT), FAUSIMM, Vice President Geology and Exploration, who is also an employee of Jaguar Mining Inc., and is a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). The Iron Quadrangle The Iron Quadrangle has been an area of mineral exploration dating back to the 16th century. The discovery in 1699-1701 of gold contaminated with iron and platinum-group metals in the southeastern corner of the Iron Quadrangle gave rise to the name of the town Ouro Preto (Black Gold). The Iron Quadrangle contains world-class multi-million-ounce gold deposits such as Morro Velho, Cuiaba, and Sao Bento. Jaguar holds the third largest gold land position in the Iron Quadrangle with just over 25,000 hectares. About Jaguar Mining Inc. Jaguar Mining Inc. is a Canadian-listed junior gold mining, development, and exploration company operating in Brazil with three gold mining complexes and a large land package with significant upside exploration potential from mineral claims. The Company's principal operating assets are located in the Iron Quadrangle, a prolific greenstone belt in the state of Minas Gerais and include the Turmalina Gold Mine Complex and Caete Mining Complex (Pilar and Roca Grande Mines, and Caete Plant). The Company also owns the Paciencia Gold Mine Complex, which has been on care and maintenance since 2012. The Roca Grande Mine has been on temporary care and maintenance since April 2019. Additional information is available on the Company's website at www.jaguarmining.com. For further information please contact: Vernon Baker Chief Executive Officer Jaguar Mining Inc. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 416-847-1854 Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements and information are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's expectations and plans relating to the future. All of the forward-looking information made in this news release is qualified by the cautionary statements below and those made in our other filings with the securities regulators in Canada. Forward-looking information contained in forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "are expected," "is forecast," "is targeted," "approximately," "plans," "anticipates," "projects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "believe" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may," "could," "would," "might," or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, may be considered to be or include forward-looking information. This news release contains forward-looking information regarding, among other things, expected sales, production statistics, ore grades, tonnes milled, recovery rates, cash operating costs, definition/delineation drilling, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, capital expenditures, costs and timing of the development of projects and new deposits, success of exploration, development and mining activities, currency fluctuations, capital requirements, project studies, mine life extensions, restarting suspended or disrupted operations, continuous improvement initiatives, and resolution of pending litigation. The Company has made numerous assumptions with respect to forward-looking information contained herein, including, among other things, assumptions about the estimated timeline for the development of its mineral properties; the supply and demand for, and the level and volatility of the price of, gold; the accuracy of reserve and resource estimates and the assumptions on which the reserve and resource estimates are based; the receipt of necessary permits; market competition; ongoing relations with employees and impacted communities; political and legal developments in any jurisdiction in which the Company operates being consistent with its current expectations including, without limitation, the impact of any potential power rationing, tailings facility regulation, exploration and mine operating licenses and permits being obtained and renewed and/or there being adverse amendments to mining or other laws in Brazil and any changes to general business and economic conditions. Forward-looking information involves a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including among others: the risk of Jaguar not meeting the forecast plans regarding its operations and financial performance; uncertainties with respect to the price of gold, labour disruptions, mechanical failures, increase in costs, environmental compliance and change in environmental legislation and regulation, weather delays and increased costs or production delays due to natural disasters, power disruptions, procurement and delivery of parts and supplies to the operations; uncertainties inherent to capital markets in general (including the sometimes volatile valuation of securities and an uncertain ability to raise new capital) and other risks inherent to the gold exploration, development and production industry, which, if incorrect, may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the Company and described herein. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of gold exploration, development, mining and production, including environmental hazards, tailings dam failures, industrial accidents and workplace safety problems, unusual or unexpected geological formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding, chemical spills, procurement fraud and gold bullion thefts and losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance, or the inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks). Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. For additional information with respect to these and other factors and assumptions underlying the forward-looking information made in this news release, see the Company's most recent Annual Information Form and Management's Discussion and Analysis, as well as other public disclosure documents that can be accessed under the issuer profile of "Jaguar Mining Inc." on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking information set forth herein reflects the Company's reasonable expectations as at the date of this news release and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Non-IFRS Measures This news release provides certain financial measures that do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS. Readers are cautioned to review the below stated footnotes where the Company expands on its use of non-IFRS measures. Exceptional results include 1839.55 g/t, 779.81 g/t, and 300.47 g/t Au from Zone 5 North Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Lion One Metals Limited (TSXV: LIO) (OTCQX: LOMLF) (ASX: LLO) ("Lion One" or the "Company") is pleased to report exceptional high-grade gold results from ongoing infill and grade control drilling at its 100% owned Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project in Fiji. Assay results are presented here for infill and grade control drilling completed in the Zone 5 area of the deposit, which encompasses the near-surface portions of lodes UR1 to UR8, as well as URW2A and URW3. The Zone 5 area of the deposit is scheduled for mining in early 2024. Grade control drilling is being conducted in anticipation of future mining and is therefore focused on the first part of Zone 5 to be mined whereas infill drilling is focused on the parts of Zone 5 scheduled to be mined later. Zone 5 includes the main north-south oriented lodes at Tuvatu (UR1, UR2, and UR3), and represents the upward extension of the Zone 500 feeder zone, which includes intercepts such as 20.86 g/t Au over 75.9 m (TUG-141), 12.22 g/t Au over 54.90 m (TUDDH-601), and 17.52 g/t Au over 23.7 m (TUDDH-608) (see June 6, 2022, August 15, 2022 and November 7, 2022 news releases). Zone 5 will be the second major part of Tuvatu to commence mining after mining in the URW1 area began on May 18, 2023. Once Zone 5 is in production, Tuvatu will have two major zones of very high-grade, near surface mineralization developing and producing simultaneously. Highlights of new Zone 5 drilling: 80.78 g/t Au over 6.6 m (including 793.24 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (TUDDH-643, from 242.7 m depth) (including 793.24 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (TUDDH-643, from 242.7 m depth) 261.93 g/t Au over 1.8 m (including 1839.55 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-0067, from 48.2 m depth) (including 1839.55 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-0067, from 48.2 m depth) 93.05 g/t Au over 0.9 m (including 300.47 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-0067, from 53.3 m depth) (including 300.47 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TGC-0067, from 53.3 m depth) 9.96 g/t Au over 6.8 m (including 165.95 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-653, from 89.5 m depth) (including 165.95 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-653, from 89.5 m depth) 17.48 g/t Au over 3.3 m (including 95.63 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (TUDDH-643, from 111.6 m depth) (including 95.63 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (TUDDH-643, from 111.6 m depth) 17.2 g/t Au over 2.7 m (including 124.52 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-651, from 194.5 m depth) (including 124.52 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-651, from 194.5 m depth) 11.84 g/t Au over 3.9 m (including 48.27 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (TUDDH-650, from 203.5 m depth) (including 48.27 g/t Au over 0.6 m) (TUDDH-650, from 203.5 m depth) 9.53 g/t Au over 3.9 m (including 55.08 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-653, from 53.0 m depth) (including 55.08 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-653, from 53.0 m depth) 15.96 g/t Au over 1.5 m (including 72.46 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-637, from 161.7 m depth) (including 72.46 g/t Au over 0.3 m) (TUDDH-637, from 161.7 m depth) 14.93 g/t Au over 1.5 m (including 23.89 g/t Au over 0.9 m) (TUDDH-650, from 192.6 m depth) Infill drilling is being conducted from surface on approximately 20 m centers while grade control drilling is being conducted from underground on 5-10 m centers. Infill drilling is considered an intermediate stage of drilling and is designed to increase understanding of the deposit in targeted areas whereas grade control drilling is designed to provide much higher resolution and detailed understanding of the geometry and mineralization of lode arrays in advance of underground development. Figure 1. Location of Zone 5 Infill and Grade Control Drillholes. Left image: Plan view of Tuvatu showing Zone 5 infill and grade control drillholes in relation to the mineralized lodes. Drillholes are shown in black, mineralized lodes in pale grey, and underground developments in red. The yellow dashed square represents the area illustrated in the image on the right. Right image: Oblique view of Zone 5 infill and grade control drilling looking approximately northeast. Infill drilling was conducted from surface whereas grade control drilling was conducted from underground. Table 1. Highlights of composited infill drill results in the Zone 5 area. For full results see Table 4 in the appendix. Hole ID From To Interval (m) Au (g/t) TUDDH-634 123.4 124 0.6 25.95 TUDDH-637 161.7 163.2 1.5 15.96 including 161.7 162.3 0.6 38.62 which includes 161.7 162 0.3 72.46 TUDDH-637 198.2 202.1 3.9 5.38 including 198.2 198.5 0.3 10.02 and 201.2 202.1 0.9 16.13 which includes 201.8 202.1 0.3 40.21 TUDDH-643 111.6 114.9 3.3 17.48 including 111.6 113.7 2.1 28.44 which includes 113.1 113.7 0.6 95.63 TUDDH-643 242.7 249.3 6.6 80.78 including 242.7 246.3 3.6 17.39 which includes 243.9 245.7 1.8 55.49 which includes 243.9 244.5 0.6 79.84 and 245.1 245.7 0.6 14.89 and also including 247.5 249.3 1.8 271.14 which includes 247.5 247.8 0.3 40.03 and 248.7 249.6 0.6 793.24 TUDDH-643 254.7 257 2.3 9.41 including 254.7 255.3 0.6 35.54 TUDDH-650 192.6 194.1 1.5 14.93 including 192.6 193.5 0.9 23.89 TUDDH-650 203.5 207.4 3.9 11.84 including 203.5 204.7 1.2 35.18 which includes 203.5 204.1 0.6 48.27 and 204.1 204.7 0.6 22.09 TUDDH-651 184.6 185.2 0.6 32.65 TUDDH-651 194.5 197.2 2.7 17.2 including 194.5 196 1.5 25.92 which includes 195.4 195.7 0.3 124.52 and also including 196.9 197.2 0.3 25.22 TUDDH-653 53 56.9 3.9 9.53 including 55.1 56.9 1.8 19.47 which includes 56 56.3 0.3 46.92 and 56.6 56.9 0.3 55.08 TUDDH-653 89.5 96.3 6.8 9.96 including 91.3 92.2 0.9 66.62 which includes 91.6 91.9 0.3 165.95 and 91.9 92.2 0.3 30.46 TUDDH-656 101.9 103.1 1.2 13.13 including 101.9 102.5 0.6 19.73 and 102.5 103.1 0.6 6.54 Table 2. Highlights of composited grade control drill results in the Zone 5 area. For full results see Table 4 in the appendix. Hole ID From To Interval (m) Au (g/t) TGC-0059 57.4 58.3 0.9 6.88 including 57.4 57.7 0.3 12.89 and 58 58.3 0.3 8.14 TGC-0061 55.8 58.2 2.4 3.4 including 57.3 37.6 0.3 12.84 TGC-0065 45.3 45.6 0.3 36.2 TGC-0065 49.2 50.7 1.5 5.68 including 49.2 49.5 0.3 9.59 and 50.4 50.7 0.3 15.76 TGC-0065 52.2 52.5 0.3 33.51 TGC-0067 48.2 50 1.8 261.93 including 48.8 49.4 0.6 934.91 which includes 48.8 49.1 0.3 1839.55 and 49.1 49.4 0.3 30.26 TGC-0067 53.3 54.2 0.9 93.05 including 53.3 53.9 0.6 155.68 which includes 53.3 53.6 0.3 10.89 and 53.6 53.9 0.3 300.47 Zone 5 Zone 5 is located along the main north-south corridor of Tuvatu and represents the shallower portions of the UR lodes, occurring between the surface and the exploration decline. It encompasses a series of closely spaced, narrow, high-grade to locally bonanza-grade vein arrays that strike approximately north-south to northeast-southwest and dip sub-vertically to steeply east. The lodes in the center of the corridor (UR1, UR2, UR3, URW2, URW3) are very closely spaced and strike north-south. They have an east-west width of approximately 75 m and a strike length of approximately 600 m. The lodes in the east and southeast (UR4, UR5, UR6, UR7, UR8) strike approximately northeast-southwest, are slightly wider spaced, and fan out to the east. They have a northwest-southeast width of approximately 250 m and a strike length of approximately 600 m (see Figure 2). The lodes within the main corridor at Tuvatu have a vertical extent in excess of 1000 m and appear to coalesce at approximately 450 m depth where they transition to Zone 500 - the very high-grade feeder zone at Tuvatu. Zone 5 is located approximately 250 m directly above Zone 500. The results reported in this news release therefore represent high-grade mineralization that is the direct vertical upward extension of the Zone 500 feeder zone. The region between Zone 5 and Zone 500 has only been tested by relatively wide-spaced exploration drilling. The results reported here represent the initial stages of a more systematic infill and locally grade control drilling program in Zone 5, which has a strike length in excess of 300 m in the north-south direction and a vertical extent of approximately 250 m (see Figure 3). Figure 2. Main Zone at Tuvatu. Left image: Plan view of Tuvatu identifying the lodes referenced in this report. Right image: Section view looking approximately northeast, showing the location of Zone 5 and Zone 500 relative to the lodes. Drillholes reported in this news release are shown in yellow for visibility. Figure 3. Location of High-Grade Intercepts from Zone 5 Drilling. High-grade intervals are shown for Zone 5 infill and grade control drillholes reported in this news release. Composite intervals with grades between 3 and 10 g/t Au are shown in yellow, intervals with grades between 10 and 30 g/t Au shown in red, and intervals over 30 g/t Au are shown in purple. Select high-grade intervals are identified. Image is looking approximately north-northeast, grades are gold grades in g/t. Infill Drilling A total of 14 Zone 5 infill drillholes are included in this news release. The infill drill program was drilled from surface and was designed to target the near-surface portions of the main UR lodes. The goal of the program is to increase the understanding of mineralization and lode geometry in this part of the deposit, which is scheduled for mining in late 2024 and beyond. Zone 5 mining will progress upwards from the exploration decline and thus the lower portions of Zone 5 are the first scheduled for extraction. The Zone 5 infill drill program is ongoing. Examples of mineralization observed in the Zone 5 infill drillholes are shown in Figure 4. Figure 4. Example Mineralization from Zone 5 Infill Drilling. Top left: UR5 lode. Colloform quartz vein with abundant coarse grained honey sphalerite rimmed by fine-grained sooty pyrite (TUDDH-637, 162.0 m). Top center: UR2 lode. Narrow chalcedonic quartz vein with fine grained pyrite and sphalerite, weak potassic alteration halo (TUDDH-644, 220.3 m). Top right: Banded, vuggy and colloform chalcedonic quartz vein with coarse grained sphalerite and fine-grained pyrite and galena. Strong chocolate brown alteration halo (TUDDH-637, 220.3m). Bottom left: UR1/UR2 lodes. Wide variable white to grey silica vein with coarse grained sphalerite and pyrite (TUDDH-643, 243.9 m). Bottom center: UR1/UR2 lodes. Vuggy white silica vein with coarse grained sphalerite and pyrite (TUDDH-643, 247.6 m). Bottom right: UR1/UR2 lodes. Quartz-sphalerite-pyrite vein with abundant coarse-grained sphalerite and narrow potassic alteration halo. The inset image identifies a speck of visible gold within the yellow circle (TUDDH-643. 249.0 m). Pen used for scale. Grade Control Drilling A total of 12 grade control drillholes have been completed to date in the Zone 5 area of Tuvatu, six of which are reported here. Results from the first six grade control drillholes completed in Zone 5 were reported in the news release from June 14, 2023. The grade control drillholes were drilled from underground and were designed to target the Zone 5 blocks scheduled for near-term production. This area is planned to be mined in early 2024 and results from the grade control drill program will provide increased understanding of the geometry and continuity of mineralization in those blocks and will help to optimize mine development and extraction in the near future. The grade control drill program is on schedule and the results to date confirm the local understanding of the Zone 5 geological model. Zone 5 grade control drill programs are ongoing. Examples of mineralization observed in the grade control drillholes are shown in Figure 5. Figure 5. Example Mineralization from Zone 5 Grade Control Drilling. Left: URW3 lode. Monzonite hosted hydrothermal breccia with coarse grained sphalerite and pyrite (TGC-0056, 29.1 m). Center: Vuggy hydrothermal breccia with colloform silica, coarse grained sphalerite and pyrite, and strong potassic alteration halo (TGC-0067, 48.3 m). Right: Hydrothermal breccia with grey chalcedonic silica, coarse grained pyrite and sphalerite rimmed by fine grained sooty pyrite. Strong potassic alteration halo (TGC-0067, 49.0 m). Width of core is 4.76 cm in each photo. About Tuvatu The Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project is located on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. The January 2018 mineral resource for Tuvatu as disclosed in the technical report "Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Tuvatu Gold Project, Republic of Fiji", dated September 25, 2020, and prepared by Mining Associates Pty Ltd of Brisbane Qld, comprises 1,007,000 tonnes indicated at 8.50 g/t Au (274,600 oz. Au) and 1,325,000 tonnes inferred at 9.0 g/t Au (384,000 oz. Au) at a cut-off grade of 3.0 g/t Au. The technical report is available on the Lion One website at www.liononemetals.com and on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Qualified Person In accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43- 101"), Sergio Cattalani, P.Geo, Senior Vice President Exploration, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has reviewed and is responsible for the technical and scientific content of this news release. QAQC Procedures Lion One adheres to rigorous QAQC procedures above and beyond basic regulatory guidelines in conducting its sampling, drilling, testing, and analyses. The Company utilizes its own fleet of diamond drill rigs, using PQ, HQ and NQ sized drill core rods. Drill core is logged and split by Lion One personnel on site. Samples are delivered to and analyzed at the Company's geochemical and metallurgical laboratory in Fiji. Duplicates of all samples with grades above 0.5 g/t Au are both re-assayed at Lion One's lab and delivered to ALS Global Laboratories in Australia (ALS) for check assay determinations. All samples for all high-grade intercepts are sent to ALS for check assays. All samples are pulverized to 85% passing through 75 microns. Gold analysis is carried out using fire assay with an AA finish. Samples that have returned grades greater than 10.00 g/t Au are then re-analyzed by gravimetric method. For samples that return greater than 0.50 g/t Au, repeat fire assay runs are carried out and repeated until a result is obtained that is within 10% of the original fire assay run. Lion One's laboratory can also assay for a range of 71 other elements through Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES), but currently focuses on a suite of 9 important pathfinder elements. All duplicate anomalous samples are sent to ALS labs in Townsville QLD and are analyzed by the same methods (Au-AA26, and Au-GRA22 where applicable). ALS also analyses 33 pathfinder elements by HF-HNO3-HClO4 acid digestion, HCl leach and ICP-AES (method ME-ICP61). About Lion One Metals Limited Lion One's flagship asset is 100% owned, fully permitted high grade Tuvatu Alkaline Gold Project, located on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji. Lion One envisions a low-cost high-grade underground gold mining operation at Tuvatu coupled with exciting exploration upside inside its tenements covering the entire Navilawa Caldera, an underexplored yet highly prospective 7km diameter alkaline gold system. Lion One's CEO Walter Berukoff leads an experienced team of explorers and mine builders and has owned or operated over 20 mines in 7 countries. As the founder and former CEO of Miramar Mines, Northern Orion, and La Mancha Resources, Walter is credited with building over $3 billion of value for shareholders. On behalf of the Board of Directors of Lion One Metals Limited "Walter Berukoff", Chairman and CEO Contact Investor Relations Toll Free (North America) Tel: 1-855-805-1250 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Website: www.liononemetals.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release This press release may contain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking information. Generally, forward-looking information may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "proposed", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases, or by the use of words or phrases which state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, or might occur or be achieved. This forward-looking information reflects Lion One Metals Limited's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Lion One Metals Limited and on assumptions Lion One Metals Limited believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to, the actual results of exploration projects being equivalent to or better than estimated results in technical reports, assessment reports, and other geological reports or prior exploration results. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Lion One Metals Limited or its subsidiaries to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: the stage development of Lion One Metals Limited, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current research and development or operational activities; competition; uncertainty as to patent applications and intellectual property rights; product liability and lack of insurance; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting mining, timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; not realizing on the potential benefits of technology; conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labour or loss of key individuals. Although Lion One Metals Limited has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Lion One Metals Limited does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Appendix 1: Full Drill Results and Collar Information Table 3. Composited results from infill drillholes in the Zone 5 area (grade >0.5 g/t Au) Hole ID From To Interval (m) Au (g/t) TUDDH-634 92.2 92.8 0.6 0.52 TUDDH-634 93.7 94.3 0.6 0.5 TUDDH-634 123.4 124 0.6 25.95 TUDDH-634 125.2 125.5 0.3 1 TUDDH-634 128.5 129.4 0.9 6.8 TUDDH-634 including 129.1 129.4 0.3 10.89 TUDDH-634 148.5 149.1 0.6 1.46 TUDDH-637 48.2 48.8 0.6 0.6 TUDDH-637 68.8 69.4 0.6 0.81 TUDDH-637 161.7 163.2 1.5 15.96 TUDDH-637 including 161.7 162.3 0.6 38.62 TUDDH-637 which includes 161.7 162 0.3 72.46 TUDDH-637 173.1 177.6 4.5 2.69 TUDDH-637 including 173.1 174 0.9 8.59 TUDDH-637 180 182.1 2.1 2.7 TUDDH-637 183.9 187.5 3.6 2.76 TUDDH-637 including 185.7 187.5 1.8 5.03 TUDDH-637 198.2 202.1 3.9 5.38 TUDDH-637 including 198.2 198.5 0.3 10.02 TUDDH-637 and 199.7 200.6 0.9 3.42 TUDDH-637 and 201.2 202.1 0.9 16.13 TUDDH-637 which includes 201.8 202.1 0.3 40.21 TUDDH-637 219.2 220.4 1.2 8.32 TUDDH-637 including 219.5 220.4 0.9 12.79 TUDDH-637 222.2 222.5 0.3 2.29 TUDDH-637 224 226.4 2.4 1.87 TUDDH-637 243.5 245 1.5 1.13 TUDDH-637 251.3 253.7 2.4 2.46 TUDDH-637 258.5 259.1 0.6 0.94 TUDDH-637 281.9 282.5 0.6 5.96 TUDDH-637 290.9 292.1 1.2 1.97 TUDDH-637 298.7 299.6 0.9 6.68 TUDDH-638 14.2 14.8 0.6 1.31 TUDDH-638 29.8 30.4 0.6 1.29 TUDDH-638 106.9 107.2 0.3 0.99 TUDDH-638 123.1 123.7 0.6 1.44 TUDDH-638 154.9 155.2 0.3 15.17 TUDDH-638 162.4 163.3 0.9 3.19 TUDDH-638 166.3 167.5 1.2 6.23 TUDDH-638 including 166.3 166.9 0.6 8.43 TUDDH-638 169.9 171.7 1.8 3.6 TUDDH-638 including 170.8 171.7 0.9 6.07 TUDDH-638 179.8 181.3 1.5 1.62 TUDDH-638 235.9 236.5 0.6 0.87 TUDDH-638 241.3 242.5 1.2 4.8 TUDDH-638 including 241.9 242.5 0.6 9.06 TUDDH-639 50.3 50.6 0.3 5.17 TUDDH-641 153 153.7 0.7 2.78 TUDDH-641 including 153 153.3 0.3 5.1 TUDDH-641 174.5 174.8 0.3 0.57 TUDDH-641 176.9 178.7 1.8 2.32 TUDDH-641 including 176.9 177.5 0.6 5.1 TUDDH-643 111.6 114.9 3.3 17.48 TUDDH-643 including 111.6 113.7 2.1 28.44 TUDDH-643 which includes 113.1 113.7 0.6 95.63 TUDDH-643 133.4 133.7 0.3 10.37 TUDDH-643 158.8 159.1 0.3 0.83 TUDDH-643 163.3 163.9 0.6 5.3 TUDDH-643 173.6 173.9 0.3 10.14 TUDDH-643 213.7 214.6 0.9 0.61 TUDDH-643 216.4 217 0.6 10.99 TUDDH-643 233.8 234.4 0.6 5.48 TUDDH-643 242.7 249.3 6.6 80.78 TUDDH-643 including 242.7 246.3 3.6 17.39 TUDDH-643 which includes 243.9 245.7 1.8 55.49 TUDDH-643 which includes 243.9 244.5 0.6 79.84 TUDDH-643 and 245.1 245.7 0.6 14.89 TUDDH-643 and also including 247.5 249.3 1.8 271.14 TUDDH-643 which includes 247.5 247.8 0.3 40.03 TUDDH-643 and 248.7 249.6 0.6 793.24 TUDDH-643 251.7 252.9 1.2 0.97 TUDDH-643 254.7 257 2.3 9.41 TUDDH-643 including 254.7 255.3 0.6 35.54 TUDDH-643 260.4 261.3 0.9 0.69 TUDDH-643 262.8 266.1 3.3 1.63 TUDDH-643 268.3 268.8 0.5 1.3 TUDDH-644 172.3 175 2.7 2.33 TUDDH-644 including 173.8 174.4 0.6 5.83 TUDDH-644 208.6 208.9 0.3 4.37 TUDDH-644 220.3 220.6 0.3 12.85 TUDDH-644 237.1 237.7 0.6 1.19 TUDDH-646 116.7 117.3 0.6 1.65 TUDDH-646 154.8 155.1 0.3 0.67 TUDDH-646 181.5 183.3 1.8 2.41 TUDDH-646 including 183 183.3 0.3 13.29 TUDDH-646 223.9 224.5 0.6 8.98 TUDDH-646 including 224.2 224.5 0.3 15.09 TUDDH-646 231.1 233.2 2.1 4.23 TUDDH-646 including 232 232.6 0.6 10.27 TUDDH-646 252.3 252.7 0.4 2.81 TUDDH-646 253.9 254.2 0.3 2.16 TUDDH-649 24.9 25.2 0.3 1.93 TUDDH-649 153.6 154.2 0.6 0.74 TUDDH-649 161.7 162.3 0.6 0.52 TUDDH-649 188.1 190.8 2.7 1.21 TUDDH-649 248.7 249.3 0.6 1.17 TUDDH-649 251.4 252.3 0.9 0.86 TUDDH-649 257.1 257.4 0.3 3.31 TUDDH-650 53.6 53.9 0.3 0.61 TUDDH-650 76.7 77 0.3 0.62 TUDDH-650 104.1 104.4 0.3 0.67 TUDDH-650 148.5 149.1 0.6 0.51 TUDDH-650 179.1 179.4 0.3 1.62 TUDDH-650 180.6 181.2 0.6 0.51 TUDDH-650 192.6 194.1 1.5 14.93 TUDDH-650 including 192.6 193.5 0.9 23.89 TUDDH-650 199 199.3 0.3 1.66 TUDDH-650 203.5 207.4 3.9 11.84 TUDDH-650 including 203.5 204.7 1.2 35.18 TUDDH-650 which includes 203.5 204.1 0.6 48.27 TUDDH-650 and 204.1 204.7 0.6 22.09 TUDDH-650 210.4 210.7 0.3 2.05 TUDDH-651 18.25 18.85 0.6 0.93 TUDDH-651 80.55 81.15 0.6 2.09 TUDDH-651 100.65 100.95 0.3 1.46 TUDDH-651 118.65 119.25 0.6 1.46 TUDDH-651 139.95 140.55 0.6 4.39 TUDDH-651 184.6 185.2 0.6 32.65 TUDDH-651 194.5 197.2 2.7 17.2 TUDDH-651 including 194.5 196 1.5 25.92 TUDDH-651 which includes 195.4 195.7 0.3 124.52 TUDDH-651 and also including 196.9 197.2 0.3 25.22 TUDDH-651 222.4 224.8 2.4 2.22 TUDDH-653 0 0.6 0.6 3.37 TUDDH-653 21.9 22.2 0.3 1.26 TUDDH-653 53 56.9 3.9 9.53 TUDDH-653 including 55.1 56.9 1.8 19.47 TUDDH-653 which includes 56 56.3 0.3 46.92 TUDDH-653 and 56.6 56.9 0.3 55.08 TUDDH-653 64.4 65 0.6 0.56 TUDDH-653 89.5 96.3 6.8 9.96 TUDDH-653 including 91.3 92.2 0.9 66.62 TUDDH-653 which includes 91.6 91.9 0.3 165.95 TUDDH-653 and 91.9 92.2 0.3 30.46 TUDDH-653 111.6 111.9 0.3 6.53 TUDDH-653 116.7 118.8 2.1 1.59 TUDDH-653 120 120.6 0.6 0.59 TUDDH-655 59.7 61.5 1.8 2.74 TUDDH-656 27.2 28.4 1.2 0.89 TUDDH-656 77 77.6 0.6 1.05 TUDDH-656 80.6 81.2 0.6 0.7 TUDDH-656 101.9 103.1 1.2 13.13 TUDDH-656 including 101.9 102.5 0.6 19.73 TUDDH-656 and 102.5 103.1 0.6 6.54 TUDDH-656 106.7 107 0.3 0.58 TUDDH-656 119.6 119.9 0.3 1.71 Table 4. Composited results from grade control drillholes in the Zone 5 area (grade >0.5 g/t Au) Hole ID From To Interval (m) Au (g/t) TGC-0056 26.7 29.4 2.7 1.52 TGC-0056 38.1 38.4 0.3 2.31 TGC-0056 39.6 39.9 0.3 0.73 TGC-0058 34.2 34.8 0.6 0.66 TGC-0058 35.4 35.7 0.3 0.51 TGC-0058 48.3 48.6 0.3 4.83 TGC-0058 53.1 55.2 2.1 3.82 TGC-0058 including 53.1 54 0.9 8.74 TGC-0058 56.4 57 0.6 1.1 TGC-0059 39.4 40.3 0.9 0.53 TGC-0059 50.5 50.8 0.3 3.1 TGC-0059 53.2 54.4 1.2 0.88 TGC-0059 57.4 58.3 0.9 6.88 TGC-0059 including 57.4 57.7 0.3 12.89 TGC-0059 and 58 58.3 0.3 8.14 TGC-0061 34.2 34.5 0.3 0.69 TGC-0061 35.4 36 0.6 0.75 TGC-0061 45.6 46.8 1.2 0.56 TGC-0061 49.8 50.4 0.6 0.84 TGC-0061 55.8 58.2 2.4 3.4 TGC-0061 including 57.3 37.6 0.3 12.84 TGC-0065 29.7 30 0.3 0.61 TGC-0065 32.4 33.6 1.2 2.44 TGC-0065 45.3 45.6 0.3 36.2 TGC-0065 49.2 50.7 1.5 5.68 TGC-0065 including 49.2 49.5 0.3 9.59 TGC-0065 and 50.4 50.7 0.3 15.76 TGC-0065 52.2 52.5 0.3 33.51 TGC-0067 23.6 23.9 0.3 1.06 TGC-0067 48.2 50 1.8 261.93 TGC-0067 including 48.8 49.4 0.6 934.91 TGC-0067 which includes 48.8 49.1 0.3 1839.55 TGC-0067 and 49.1 49.4 0.3 30.26 TGC-0067 53.3 54.2 0.9 93.05 TGC-0067 including 53.3 53.9 0.6 155.68 TGC-0067 which includes 53.3 53.6 0.3 10.89 TGC-0067 and 53.6 53.9 0.3 300.47 TGC-0067 63.2 63.8 0.6 2.89 TGC-0067 67.1 67.4 0.3 9.18 Table 5. Collar coordinates for grade control and infill drillholes reported in this release. Coordinates are in Fiji map grid. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Almadex Minerals Ltd. ("Almadex" or the "Company") (TSX-V: DEX) is pleased to announce that, further to its news release of July 11th 2023 describing the identification of new targets, it has acquired by staking a 100% interest in the New Hope porphyry copper exploration project in Arizona, USA (see attached location map). The 950 hectare New Hope project covers a roughly 3.5 by 1.5 kilometre area of intense hydrothermal alteration developed in volcanic rocks and crosscutting intrusive dykes. The observed hydrothermal alteration is characteristic of the upper levels of a porphyry system. Almadex has completed a surface alteration and geologic mapping program. Remnants of an advanced argillic altered lithocap with Na-alunite, pyrophyllite and dickite along with a phyllic alteration signature including high crystallinity muscovite at surface have been mapped with a Terraspec mineral spectrometer. Complete results from this work are being compiled presently as additional analyses are being carried out. Almadex looks forward to reporting on these and its exploration plans for the New Hope project moving forward. Subsequent to identifying the New Hope target, Almadex research identified reports describing some of the past work in the area from the 1950s to the 1970s. These summary reports mention shallow drilling, some geophysics and a description of two diamond drill holes with uncertain collar locations. One of these was a deep hole believed to have been drilled adjacent to the argillic alteration zone. Drill logs for this hole obtained by Almadex describe propylitic epidote-chlorite alteration and weak copper mineralisation, consistent with the periphery environment of a porphyry copper system. J. Duane Poliquin, Chairman of Almadex commented, New Hope is an exciting new addition to our portfolio. It is the result of first principals based conceptual exploration. We hope to make more additions to our project portfolio in 2023. This portfolio of mineral projects is the result of years of effort and invested intellectual capital. Our CAD$18 Million cash position as of Q1 2023 gives us the luxury of advancing these projects in the manner best suited for shareholders. We have a track record of discoveries, and we feel the varied and exciting projects in our portfolio have the potential to add to that record. Qualified Persons Morgan J. Poliquin, PhD, PEng, the President and CEO of Almadex and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"), has reviewed, and approved the scientific and technical contents of this news release. About Almadex Almadex Minerals Ltd. is an exploration company that holds a large mineral portfolio consisting of projects and NSR royalties in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. This portfolio is the direct result of many years of prospecting and deal-making by Almadex's management team. The Company owns a number of portable diamond drill rigs, enabling it to conduct cost effective first pass exploration drilling in house. On behalf of the Board of Directors, J. Duane Poliquin J. Duane Poliquin, Chairman Almadex Minerals Ltd. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release includes forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements within it, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward looking. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, among other things, the ongoing receipt of results from the New Hope property and the plans to release details of future exploration programs at New Hope, the addition of more projects to the portfolio during 2023, and the likelihood of future discoveries. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, permitting, continued availability of capital and financing, equipment availability, relationships with third-party clientele and their willingness or ability to continue to use the Companys drills for exploration, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove accurate and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, other than as required pursuant to applicable securities laws. Contact Information: Almadex Minerals Ltd. Tel. 604.689.7644 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. http://www.almadexminerals.com/ Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Tembo Gold Corp. (TSXV: TEM) ("Tembo", or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Licences Purchase Agreement dated August 9th, 2023 (the "Agreement") with Lake Victoria Gold Ltd. ("LVG"), a private Australian company, pursuant to which the Company will acquire (the "Acquisition"), indirectly through its wholly-owned subsidiary Tembo Gold Tanzania Limited, LVG's Imwelo Gold Project (the "Project") in Tanzania. Tembo has also entered into a binding letter of intent dated August 8th, 2023 for a C$11,520,000 financing with Taifa Mining and Civils Limited ("Taifa"), a prominent Tanzanian mining contracting firm. The Project The Project is a gold project located in northern Tanzania immediately to the west of Geita Gold Mine of Anglogold Ashanti. The Project is held by LVG's Tanzanian subsidiary, Tanzoz Mineral Limited. An updated pre-feasibility study ("PFS") was completed in 2021 by Measured Group Pty Ltd of Australia, incorporating mine design, mine planning, scheduling, reserve estimation and costing. The Project is held under a Tanzanian mining licence ML538/2015 and includes a primary mining licence PML2637, over which LVG has a right to acquire through a purchase agreement. The ML is 3.85km2 and the PML is 8.5021ha. The Project is subject to a 2% royalty to a previous owner. The ML is fully permitted for mine construction and production to commence. The Project resource comprises seven mineralized locations that have been drilled and includes 42,000oz Au measured mineral resources at 3.15g/t, 95,700oz Au indicated mineral resources at 1.95g/t and 153,900oz inferred mineral resources at 1.53g/t for a total 291,600oz Au (the "Historical Resource Estimate"). Further information on the Historical Resource Estimate can be found below. The gold occurs as typical quartz vein shear hosted gold deposits suitable for open pit mining. The Project ML provides 'bluesky' potential. Drilling to date has only been down to 80m below surface. A number of areas were not drilled as they were not accessible at the time, and extensions to the known mineralisation remain untested, both along strike and certainly downdip. The Company anticipates it may define a current mineral resource on the Project and, eventually, mineral reserves that will allow expansion of production and extension of the mine life; however, there is no assurance that further exploration will result in the definition of current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The Historical Resource Estimate is derived from a report entitled "Geology and Resource Estimate Report - Imwelo Project, Tanzania, Lake Victoria Gold Limited" dated May 31, 2017 (the "Report") prepared by Measured Group Pty Ltd. The Historical Resource Estimate presented in the Report was carried out in accordance with the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves" (2012 Edition) prepared by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Australian Institute of Geoscientists and Minerals Council of Australia. The Report includes the following Historical Resource Estimate: Historical Mineral Resource Estimate Classification Cutoff Grade Au g /tonne Tonnes Gold Grade g/tonne Ounce Gold Measured 0.50g/t 414,000 3.15 42,000 Indicated 0.50g/t 1,530,300 1.95 95,700 Inferred 0.50g/t 2,781,500 1.56 153,900 (Source: MEASURED GROUP PTY LTD (MG) Geology and Resource Estimate Report - Imwelo Project, Tanzania, Lake Victoria Gold Limited, May 2017) The above noted Historical Resource Estimate dated 31 May 2017 is the last historical mineral resource estimate on the Project and no more recent data is available to the Company. The Historical Resource Estimate is based on a detailed review completed by LVG and Measured Group Pty Ltd. of local conditions. It has incorporated LVG's view of long-term metal prices, foreign exchange and cost assumptions, plus mining and metallurgy performance to select cut-off grades and physical mining parameters. The cut-off grade is based on a gold price of US$1,500 and an 88% metallurgical recovery is assumed in the calculation of the cut-off grade. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the Historical Resource Estimate as current mineral resources, and the Company is not treating the Historical Resource Estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The Company believes that the Historical Resource Estimate is relevant to an appraisal of the merits of the Project and forms a reliable basis upon which to develop future exploration programs. The Company will need to conduct further exploration, and there is no guarantee that the results obtained will reflect the historical estimate. In order to verify the Historical Resource Estimate to a current mineral resource estimate, the Company will need to retain a qualified person to verify historical drilling and assaying methods and validate historical results, add any drilling and assaying or other pertinent geological information generated since the last estimation, and complete an updated resource estimate and a new technical report. Significant data compilation, drilling, sampling and data verification may be required by a qualified person before the Historical Resource Estimate can be classified as a current resource. There can be no assurance that any of the historical mineral resources, in whole or in part, will ever become economically viable. In addition, mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. Even if classified as a current mineral resource, there is no certainty as to whether further exploration will result in any inferred mineral resources being upgraded to an indicated or measured mineral resource category. "Lake Victoria Gold is excited for the opportunity to become part of the Tembo family. The merging of the technical and country knowledge and experience of our respective teams will provide a strong foundation for the development and progress of the Tanzanian Gold Projects," said Seth Dickinson, Managing Director, Lake Victoria Gold. Terms of the Acquisition Under the Agreement, Tembo will acquire the Project for consideration of C$5,500,000, consisting of approximately 23.6 million common shares of Tembo at a deemed value of C$0.22 per share, plus approximately USD$221,000 cash. LVG will be required to hold the Tembo shares received as consideration for the Acquisition in escrow in accordance with the share release conditions outlined below: 1/3 of shares released from escrow upon Commercial Production (as defined in the Agreement) being achieved on the Project; 1/3 of shares (1/2 of remaining shares) released 6 months after Commercial Production; and 1/3 of shares (all remaining shares) released 12 months after Commercial Production. If Commercial Production is not achieved within 3 years of closing, the escrow shares will be released to LVG. During the escrow period, Tembo (or its nominee) will retain voting rights over the escrowed shares. Conditions to closing of the Acquisition include: satisfactory completion of due diligence by Tembo, acting reasonably; Tembo obtaining all necessary shareholder approvals to complete the Acquisition; Tembo and LVG obtaining all required regulatory approvals, including in respect of the Fair Competition Act ( Tanzania ) and the TSX Venture Exchange (" TSXV ") to proceed with the Acquisition; completion of the initial tranche of the Financings (see below); completion of a technical report on the Project and acceptance of the report by the TSXV; and other customary conditions precedent for a transaction of this nature. Following the completion of the Acquisition, a nominee of LVG will be added to Tembo's Board of Directors and Seth Dickinson will be offered the role of Chief Operating Officer of Tembo. Closing of the Acquisition is expected to be completed by December, 2023. The Acquisition constitutes a "Fundamental Acquisition" under the policies of the TSXV, and is subject to TSXV acceptance. All Tembo shares issued pursuant to the Acquisition will be subject to a 4 month hold period from the date of issuance under applicable Canadian securities laws. The Acquisition is an arm's length transaction and no finder's fees are payable. Financings In conjunction with the Acquisition, Tembo has entered into a binding letter of intent ("LOI") with Taifa for a financing commitment of C$11,520,000 (48,000,000 shares) (the "Financings"). Taifa, owned by Tanzanian tycoon Rostam Aziz, was founded in 1987 as a civils and earth-moving operation in Mbeya, Tanzania. It has since grown into the largest locally-owned civils and mining contracting business in Tanzania with prominent companies such as Petra, De Beers, Barrick, and AngloGold Ashanti as partners. The agreement with Taifa reinforces Taifa's growing influence in Tanzania's mining sector and provides Tembo with a local partner with extensive mining expertise. Under the terms of the LOI, Taifa's investment will take place in three stages, as follows: Prior to completion of the Acquisition, Taifa (or related persons) will initially subscribe for 16 million shares of Tembo at C$0.22 per share for gross proceeds of C$3,520,000. On closing of this initial investment, Tembo will enter into a mining services contract with Taifa outlining conditions upon which Taifa will provide mining services work for the Project. Such services will be provided on industry competitive terms. Taifa will obtain the right to nominate one member to the Tembo Board of Directors. Upon completion of final engineering and closing of Acquisition, Taifa will have 20 days to complete a second private placement of 16 million units (" Units ") at a price of C$0.24 per Unit (subject to TSXV pricing rules) for gross proceeds of C$3,840,000. Each Unit will consist of one common share of Tembo and one warrant (" Warrant ") exercisable to purchase one additional common share of Tembo for 2 years at a price of C$0.26 per share. On closing of this investment, Tembo will enter into an additional mining services contract with Taifa pursuant to which Taifa will provide mining services for Tembo's Tembo project . Such services will be provided on industry competitive terms. On the date that is six months after Tembo breaks ground on the Project, Taifa will have 20 days to exercise the Warrants which will result in the issuance of an additional 16,000,000 shares of Tembo for gross proceeds to Tembo of C$4,160,000. On closing of this investment, Tembo will enter into a third mining services contract with Taifa outlining conditions upon which Taifa will provide mining services for the Tembo projects including all future projects. Such services will be provided on industry competitive terms. "The acquisition of Lake Victoria Gold and the partnership with Taifa Mining strategically positions and transforms Tembo into a vehicle for growth and consolidation in Tanzania. We are excited to see Tembo evolve from a company with one exploration asset to a company with multiple paths of shareholder value creation. We look forward to working with Seth Dickinson from LVG and the Taifa team as we identify and evaluate other accretive opportunities in the country," said David Scott, President & CEO of Tembo. Tembo intends to use the proceeds from the initial Financing for the Acquisition and development of the Project. Tembo reserves the right to complete additional financings either before or after completion of the Acquisition or the Financings. Terms of any additional financings will be disclosed by press release. All securities of Tembo issued pursuant to the Financings will be subject to a 4 month hold period from the date of issuance under applicable Canadian securities laws. The terms of all financings are subject to TSXV acceptance. The Financings will be arm's length transactions. Capital Structure Upon completion of the Acquisition and the Financings, it is expected that Taifa will own approximately 27.1% of Tembo's outstanding shares on a partially diluted basis, and LVG or its shareholders will own approximately 13.3%. Qualified Person David Scott, Pr. Sci. Nat., is the Qualified Person responsible for the technical content of this news release. David Scott, Pr. Sci. Nat., has prepared, supervised and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release. About Tembo Tembo Gold is a Canadian public company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V") under the symbol TEM. The Company has a 100% interest in the Tembo Gold Project which has over forty thousand meters of drilling and is located adjacent to Barrick's 20Moz Bulyanhulu Mine in Tanzania's prolific Lake Victoria Goldfield. In April 2022 Tembo completed a transaction with Barrick, whereby Tembo sold six of its non-core licenses to Barrick for $6mm USD, and Barrick is committed to spending $9mm USD over the first four years. Additionally, Tembo will receive contingent payments of up-to $45mm USD on the first five million ounces discovered by Barrick. The company has assembled a highly experienced team with a track record of developing, financing, and operating mining projects in Africa. Tembo is focused on the discovery and development of world-class gold projects in Africa as well as seeking additional opportunities that can bring value to the company and shareholders. On Behalf of the Board of Directors of Tembo, David Scott President & CEO Phone: +255 767 366 146 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. For more information please contact: Simon Benstead Director & CFO Phone: 604-685-9316 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Marc Cernovitch Director Phone: +1 604-685-9316 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation, including: future exploration plans with respect to the Project, defining current mineral resource and mineral reserves on the Project, the terms of the Acquisition and the Financings, entering into mining services contracts with Taifa, the anticipated share structure of Tembo following the Acquisition and Financings, the use of proceeds for the Financings, the closing of the Acquisition and the Financings, including the satisfaction of the closing conditions thereunder and the expected timing thereof, and receipt of all regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSXV for the Acquisition and Financings and the Tanzania Fair Competition Commission for the Acquisition and the Company's intention to provide further updates in respect of the Acquisition and the Financings. All statements in this news release 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 necessarily involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond Tembo's control, including risks associated with or related to: the completion of the Acquisition, the Financings and related transactions, including receipt of all regulatory approvals and third-party consents, the volatility of metal prices and Tembo's common shares; changes in tax laws; the dangers inherent in exploration, development and mining activities; the uncertainty of reserve and resource estimates; not achieving development or production, cost or other estimates; actual exploration or development plans and costs differing materially from the Company's estimates; the ability to obtain and maintain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for mining activities; environmental regulations or hazards and compliance with complex regulations associated with mining activities; climate change and climate change regulations; fluctuations in exchange rates; the availability of financing; financing and debt activities; operations in foreign and developing countries and the compliance with foreign laws, including those associated with operations in Tanzania and including risks related to changes in foreign laws and changing policies related to mining and local ownership requirements or resource nationalization generally, including in response to the COVID-19 outbreak; remote operations and the availability of adequate infrastructure; fluctuations in price and availability of energy and other inputs necessary for mining operations; shortages or cost increases in necessary equipment, supplies and labour; regulatory, political and country risks, including local instability or acts of terrorism and the effects thereof; the reliance upon contractors, third parties and joint venture partners; challenges to title or surface rights; the dependence on key personnel and the ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the risk of an uninsurable or uninsured loss; adverse climate and weather conditions; litigation risk; competition with other mining companies; community support for Tembo's operations, including risks related to strikes and the halting of such operations from time to time; conflicts with small scale miners; failures of information systems or information security threats; the ability to maintain adequate internal controls over financial reporting as required by law; compliance with anti-corruption laws, and sanctions or other similar measures; social media and Tembo's reputation; and other risks disclosed in the Company's public filings. Tembo's forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management and reflect their current expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date hereof. Tembo does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions should change other than as required by applicable law. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what benefits or liabilities Tembo will derive therefrom. For the reasons set forth above, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Norris Lithium Inc. (CSE: CHCK) (the "Company" or "Norris") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a purchase agreement (the "Agreement") to acquire a 100% interest in the Alice lithium property located in the Red Lake Mining Division of Northern Ontario (the "Alice Property"). The Alice Property is located on the Allison Lake Batholith, in an area identified by government mapping for its high potential for lithium exploration. There are multiple mapped pegmatites on the property which require further investigation. Dale Ginn, the Company's President and CEO stated, "This acquisition gives Norris the opportunity to explore for LCT pegmatites in Ontario adjacent to Lithium One's Allison property. We are able to conduct surface exploration on this ground while awaiting imminent road access to our Highway and Bus properties in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay Region of Quebec, near the Corvette Deposit." Figure 1: Location Norris Lithium's Alice Property The Alice Property consists of 184 claims covering 3743 ha. It is located 100 km east of Red Lake, Ontario with road access. It is adjacent to Lithium One's Allison South project, proximal to Green Technology Metals' Allison Lake lithium project, and 40 km southeast of their Root lithium project. The project is underlain by the Allison Lake Batholith, a peraluminous, S-type fertile granite with multiple pink and white pegmatites mapped on the property. The margins of the batholith have been identified by government mapping as an underexplored and highly prospective area. Agreement Terms Under the terms of the Agreement, the Company will acquire a 100% interest in the Alice Property from 1252272 B.C. Ltd. (the "Vendor"), an arm's length private company, in exchange for the payment of $100,000 and the issuance of 1,000,000 common shares within five business days of filing of final required documents with the Canadian Securities Exchange. The Alice Property will be subject to a 2% net smelter returns royalty in favor of the Vendor, one-half of which can be purchased by the Company at any time for a cash payment of $1,000,000. Qualified Persons This news release has been reviewed and approved by R. Dale Ginn, P.Geo., the President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company and a Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101. About Norris Lithium Inc. Norris is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral property assets in Canada. Norris holds the Highway and Bus Lithium properties in the James Bay region of Quebec and the Solitude Lake Property located near the Savant Lake area in the Patricia Mining Division, Ontario. Norris' objectives are to conduct exploration programs on its Solitude Lake Property and Quebec Lithium properties and to locate and develop other economic mineral properties of merit. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS R. Dale Ginn, Chief Executive Officer For further information, please contact: R. Dale Ginn Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Telephone: 204-794-5818 The Canadian Securities Exchange has not approved nor disapproved of the content of this press release. This news release may contain certain "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this news release and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or results or otherwise. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Li3 Lithium Corp. (TSXV: LILI) (FSE: WD9) ("Li3 Lithium" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has identified lithium mineralization over 1.2 kilometer strike at the Nels Luck pegmatite target from its ongoing exploration program at the Mutare Lithium Project, located in Zimbabwe. Li3 Lithium holds a 50% operating ownership interest in the Mutare Lithium Project, with the remaining 50% owned by Premier African Minerals Limited, operator of the Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Mine in Zimbabwe. The Company has received assay results from 842 channel samples collected from trenches during the initial phase of the 2023 exploration program. The trenching program, currently focused on the Nels Luck area (Figure 1), which is situated in the Mutare Greenstone Belt ("MGB") East zone, is expected to assist in identifying priority targets for the upcoming 5,000-meter exploration drilling program scheduled to start in the coming weeks. Highlights: 2349m of trenches uncovered a 1.2 km long and up to 60m wide pegmatite(s) at Nels Luck 842 samples taken from the trenches were sent for analysis in June and July Highly anomalous results across the pegmatite including 36 m of 0.37% (3692ppm) Li 2 O The trenching program consisted of 25 trenches for a total of 2349m (Table 1). A total of 598m of pegmatite was intersected in the trenches (Table 1, Table 2, Figures 2-4). The Nels Luck claims hosts a group of lepidolite, spodumene, and tantalite, bearing lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites with an approximate surface expression of 1200 meters by up to 100m (Figure 2-4). The Nels Luck group of claims is situated approximately 15 km northeast in the same stratigraphic package, on the southern limb of a regional syncline, that hosts the Sabi Star Lithium Tantalum Mine. Francois Auclair, P.Geo, M.Sc., CEO and President of Li3 Lithium commented, "The trenching program conducted by Li3 Lithium has confirmed wide, well-developed pegmatite lithium mineralization at the Mutare Lithium Project, which remains open at depth and along strike. Initial assay results from the first-half of the 2023 trenching and surface sampling programs are promising given that the Nels Luck area of the Mutare Lithium Project is just 15km from the world-class Sabi Star Lithium Tantalum Mine. A phase one diamond drilling program, up to 5,000 meters targeting the Nels Luck area, is scheduled to commence in the coming weeks as we begin to define the grade, thickness, and spatial continuity of the pegmatite trends." Table 1: Trench Collar summary table, coordinates are in WGS84 UTM Zone 36S Nels Luck Trenching Summary Survey Easting Northing Elevation Azimuth Length (m) MP23-NLE-TR001 404163 7885418 850 339 94 MP23-NLE-TR002 404217 7885443 853 339 103 MP23-NLE-TR003 404250 7885460 857 345 96 MP23-NLE-TR004 404325 7885486 854 343 88 MP23-NLE-TR005 404416 7885446 858 338 155 MP23-NLE-TR006 404528 7885428 870 328 202 MP23-NLE-TR007 404558 7885439 834 324 206 MP23-NLE-TR008 404613 7885459 870 332 85 MP23-NLE-TR009 404439 7885383 859 338 57 MP23-NLE-TR010 404400 7885321 856 332 90 MP23-NLW-TR001 403931 7885307 853 310 137 MP23-NLW-TR002 403880 7885283 850 299 135 MP23-NLW-TR003 403755 7885262 853 308 90 MP23-NLW-TR004 403682 7885252 859 336 67 MP23-NLW-TR005 403607 7885200 863 331 79 MP23-NLW-TR006 403569 7885164 865 334 60 MP23-NLW-TR007 403504 7885173 874 317 62 MP23-NLW-TR008 403469 7885133 876 325 92 MP23-NLW-TR009 403418 7885122 874 340 87 MP23-NLW-TR010 403353 7885167 876 348 27 MP23-NLW-TR011 403290 7885093 880 324 25 MP23-NLW-TR012 403213 7885029 884 324 130 MP23-NLW-TR013a 403127 7885391 897 327 67 MP23-NLW-TR013b 403097 7885369 904 350 50 MP23-NLW-TR014 402996 7884941 990 325 65 TOTAL 2349 Table 2: Summary of Lithium Oxide (Li 2 O) trench composite results greater than 0.10% (1000 ppm) from the Nels Luck area. Ppm values are rounded to the nearest 1 and % values are rounded to the nearest 0.01 Trench Name From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Li 2 O ppm Li 2 O % MP23-NLE-TR003 51 80 29 1285 0.13 MP23-NLE-TR004 59 83 24 1283 0.13 MP23-NLE-TR006 198 202 4 1544 0.15 MP23-NLW-TR001 66.5 78 11.5 1369 0.14 MP23-NLW-TR002 63 80 17 1303 0.13 MP23-NLW-TR002 99 102 3 2747 0.27 MP23-NLW-TR002 123 135 12 1478 0.15 MP23-NLW-TR003 39 48 9 2270 0.23 MP23-NLW-TR003 86 89 3 1131 0.11 MP23-NLW-TR004 2 12 10 1661 0.17 MP23-NLW-TR007 25 61 36 3692 0.37 MP23-NLW-TR008 54 92 38 3152 0.32 MP23-NLW-TR009 42 55 13 3504 0.35 MP23-NLW-TR009 64 85 21 2602 0.26 MP23-NLW-TR010 0 21 21 2486 0.25 Figure 1: Mutare Lithium Project License and Location map, identifying the location of the initial surface samples across the Mutare Lithium Project Figure 2: Summary of Nels Luck trenching results Figure 3: Summary of Li2O% trench composite results at Nels Luck West Figure 4: Summary of Li2O% trench composite results at Nels Luck East Discussion Lithium minerals decompose readily in the weathering tropical environment. Lithium-ions are too small to effectively fill the octahedral site (in which lithium is bonded to six oxygen atoms) in spodumene, amblygonite-montebrasite and lithiophilite-triphylite, at near-surface conditions (London D, 2017)[1] . Therefore, lithium is frequently leached away when the pegmatite is subject to weathering. It is likely that the moderately anomalous Li2O trenching results were due to the pegmatites sampled in the trenches at Nels Luck being moderate to strongly weathered, especially compared to the relatively fresh grab samples taken in May. Mutare Lithium Project, Zimbabwe The Mutare Lithium Project is located in eastern Zimbabwe's Mutare Greenstone Belt, an emerging lithium district. The Company is evaluating the acquisition of additional prospective ground, either through staking or agreements with potential vendors. The area was deemed prospective for lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites based on prior target generation work. Management believes the lithium exploration potential of the MGB is analogous to that of the Pilbara Craton pegmatites in Western Australia. Zimbabwe, which is estimated to hold Africa's largest lithium resources and the fifth largest globally, is rapidly emerging as an important player within the lithium supply chain. Over the past year and a half, major Chinese battery metals companies have committed approximately US$1.4 billion to acquire and develop lithium projects in Zimbabwe. Technical information Quality Assurance and Quality Control of Li3 Lithium's trenching and sampling programs are under the control of the Company's geological employees and are consistent with industry best practices. One blank (cement) and one standard (AMIS-0565, or AMIS-0656, or AMIS-0355) is inserted as samples every 20 samples (18 rock samples, one CRM, one blank). Trenching samples are transported by Li3 Lithium's employees following a defined chain of custody, to Zimlabs in Harare, Zimbabwe. All samples were pulverized to produce a 30g charge and then analyzed by G706 (multi acid digestion with AAS finish). Zimlabs is a subsidiary of GNK laboratories and is internationally accredited laboratory testing provider with ISO/IEC 17025:2005 certification (Laboratory Accreditation Number: TEST-S 0010 (lSO/lEC t7025:20t7l). The Company has sent all of the pulp of the grab and trench samples for analysis of Niobium (Nb), Tantalum (Ta), and Caesium (Cs) to SGS Johannesburg. Results are pending. Qualified Person Francois Auclair, QP, M.Sc, Quebec Order of Geologists, CEO and President of Li3 Lithium, is the non-independent qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects for the technical disclosure contained in this news release. M Auclair, the company's qualified person and an officer, has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release About Li3 Lithium Corp. Li3 Lithium is focused on acquiring and developing hard rock spodumene lithium assets in Zimbabwe and Argentina, where the founders have significant experience and relationships. As evidenced by recent market growth, hard rock lithium deposits are forecast to continue to dominate the global supply of lithium given the scarcity, complexity and capex-intensive nature of alternative brine sources. Contact Information: Li3 Lithium Corp. Francois Auclair, P.Geo, M.Sc., CEO and President Tel: 514-889-5089 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. www.lithium3.com CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward- looking information. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. [1] Reading Pegmatites: Part 3-What Lithium Minerals Say, David London, Pages 144-157. Published online: 14 Feb 2017 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00357529.2017.1252636) TORONTO / Aug 10, 2023 / Business Wire / Trigon Metals Inc. (TSX-V: TM; OTCQB: PNTZF) (Trigon or the Company) announces the full restart of milling and processing at the Kombat Mine. The Company has succeeded in restarting copper concentrate production at the Kombat mine in Namibia, placing the project on track to meet commercial production targets by the end of September. On the evening of August 3, 2023, the Company achieved the major milestone of turning on the mills crushing facility and starting the flotation circuit. The plant has been running in three-hour bursts as the Trigon team fine-tunes the equipment and sets up for a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week operation. Concentrate levels are building in the thickeners with first concentrate production pending. Trigon President and Chief Executive Officer, Jed Richardson, commented: I would like to thank our staff, contractors, suppliers, local partners, and the Namibian government for their concerted efforts in getting Kombat back into production. This milestone for both our Company and the Kombat community pushes us forward as a cash-flowing operation. We look forward to the continued growth of our operations at Kombat as Trigon offers yet more value to our dedicated shareholders." Local Director, Trigon Namibia, Jeremy Hangula, commented: We commend the team at Trigon Namibia for their outstanding efforts at achieving the milestone of bringing these deposits into production. Support from our local shareholders and stakeholders has proven to be invaluable and has contributed greatly to the hundreds of jobs created, and currently adding value to the Kombat community. Qualified Person The technical information presented in this press release has been reviewed and approved for disclosure by Fanie Muller, P.Eng, VP Operations of Trigon, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Virtual Non-Deal Roadshows Hosted by Renmark Financial Trigon will be participating in a live Virtual Non-Deal Roadshow session on Tuesday, August 15, 2023. Trigon welcomes stakeholders, investors, and other individual followers to register and attend this live event. Jed Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Aidan Sullivan, Vice-President, Investor Relations will walk viewers through the latest investor presentation followed by a live Q&A. Investors interested in participating in this event will need to register using the link below. As a reminder, registration for the live event may be limited but access to the replay after the event will be on the Trigon website. REGISTER HERE: Tuesday, August 15, 2023 at 12:00 PM ET: Click Here Please access this link using the latest version of Google Chrome to ensure smooth connectivity. Trigon Metals Inc. Trigon is a publicly traded Canadian exploration and development company with its core business focused on copper and silver holdings in mine-friendly African jurisdictions. Currently, the company has operations in Namibia and Morocco. In Namibia, the Company holds an 80% interest in five mining licences in the Otavi Mountainlands, an area of Namibia widely recognized for its high-grade copper deposits, where the Company is focused on exploration and re-development of the previously producing Kombat Mine. In Morocco, the Company is the holder of the Silver Hill and Addana projects, highly prospective copper and silver exploration projects. Cautionary Notes This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements include statements regarding the Kombat Mine, the reopening of the Kombat Mine, the Companys ability to restart operations, the economic viability of the Kombat Mine, the Companys ability to mine underground and the related timelines, the infrastructure required for Trigons operations and the Companys future plans and objectives. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statements or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws. 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. VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 10, 2023 /CNW/ - NorZinc Ltd. (the "Company" or "NorZinc") is pleased to announce the appointment of Jim Dainard to the role of Chief Financial Officer. The Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Robin Bienenstock as Chair of the Board to its Board of Directors. Ms. Bienenstock will join the board alongside existing NorZinc directors, Rohan Hazelton, Wes Loyd and Calum Semple, bringing the number of Board members to four (4). "We are thrilled to welcome Jim Dainard to the management team. Jim brings strong project financing insight and capabilities and has hands-on experience in Northern operations that will be invaluable as we advance through the next stages of development of the Prairie Creek Project," said Rohan Hazelton, President & CEO, NorZinc. "To have such respected and seasoned individuals such as Robin join our Board, we believe, is a testament to the potential of the Prairie Creek Project. Robin's extensive experience in the global investment community and financial sectors will contribute immensely to the successful development of the Project," Mr. Jim Dainard is an experienced Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) with over 22 years' experience in finance and accounting, 14 of those years dedicated to the mining industry. Mr. Dainard commenced his career in public accounting, moving to IT and financial services before transitioning to the resource sector in 2009. Most recently, Mr. Dainard served as the VP Finance at Victoria Gold Corp. At Victoria, he was involved in various stages of the Eagle Gold mine's life cycle from early-stage exploration through studies, permitting and development, project finance into construction, and through to operations in the Yukon. He was responsible for overseeing the Company's accounting, financial reporting and planning and analysis functions, involved in matters related to treasury, project finance, corporate debt, and regulatory compliance while leading initiatives in risk management, internal controls, continuous business process improvement and as well, tax planning. He holds a Bachelor of Accounting (Honours) degree from the Goodman School of Business at Brock University. The Company would like to thank Peter Portka for his contributions over three and half years of service to Norzinc as Chief Financial Officer and wish him success in all his future endeavours. Ms. Robin Bienenstock is a successful investor and independent public company director with over 25 years of blue-chip experience with global companies. Ms. Bienenstock is a corporate director and the Canadian representative of Resource Capital Funds, a mining-focused alternative investment firm. From 2017 to 2022 she served as an Investment Partner at RBMP Capital Management LLP ("RBMP"), a long-short hedge fund which she founded in London in 2017. She was a partner at Marlin Sams Fund LP from 2014 until 2016, and a senior research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., LLC, Research Division from 2007 until 2014. Prior to that Ms. Bienenstock also worked at McKinsey & Company as an Associate Principal. Ms. Bienenstock currently serves as a Non-Executive Director on the board of directors at Cogeco Communications [and Executive Chair at New Moly LLC] and has previously held various board level roles at multiple organizations including serving on the board and was Chair of the Safety and Corporate Social Responsibility and member of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committees of Torex Gold Resources, from 2020 to 2021 and on the Board and Chair of Compensation and member of the Governance Committees of Pretivm Resources, from 2018 to 2021. About NorZinc NorZinc Ltd. is a privately held mining company headquartered in Vancouver, BC. The Company is focused on the development of its high-grade zinc, silver and lead Prairie Creek Project located in Canada's Northwest Territories. The Company has an experienced Leadership team along with an established site infrastructure and is dedicated to responsible mining in the communities in which it operates. Kim Byung Chul is coming back to the limelight months after the success of his drama "Doctor Cha" with the legendary star Uhm Jung Hwa. In his new legal series, he will work together with his "SKY Castle" co-star Yoon Se Ah. Read on to know more. Kim Byung Chul To Play Prosecutor In New Drama 'Perfect Family' On August 9, it was announced that Kim Byung Chul is coming back with a new family drama. Earlier this year, Kim Byung Chul received his major breakthrough drama "Doctor Cha" which earned him a huge following and international recognition. He played a reputable doctor who lives a double life due to his infidelity. Kim Byung Chul's chemistry with Uhm Jung Hwa, Myung Se Bin and Min Woo Hyuk also captured the hearts of the viewers. Because of this, the public wants to see more of him on the television screen. Thankfully, he's finally coming back with a brand new series. Kim Byung Chul was cast to star in the webtoon-based drama "Perfect Family" as Choi Jin Hyuk, a well-known prosecutor who quits his high-paying job to protect his adoptive daughter. He has a loving and nurturing nature. His thorough personality allows him to become a rational person especially in times of need. Choi Jin Hyuk's life changes its trajectory when his daughter Choi Sun Hee, played by Jung Ji So, gets involved in a murder case. "Perfect Family" marks Kim Byung Chul's first ever comeback in a major acting role. In this series, he reunites with his on-screen wife Yoon Se Ah who he coupled up with in the smash hit series "SKY Castle." Attention is given to Kim Byung Chul who will take on his first ever legal family drama in his career. He is expected to showcase a never-before-seen side of him on screen. "Perfect Family" begins filming in the later half of the year when the production finalizes its cast and crew. Stay tuned for more updates. Where To See More of Kim Byung Chul Kim Byung Chul celebrates his 20th anniversary as an actor this 2023. Since his debut, he has appeared in various big scale works, which earned him domestic and international acclaim. As of this writing, his filmography includes more than 40 films and dramas like "Descendants of the Sun," "Mr. Sunshine" and "All of Us Are Dead," which all received syndrome-level popularity. Kim Byung Chul's most notable works include "SKY Castle" which earned him his Best Supporting Actor award at the Baeksang Arts Awards in 2019, and "Doctor Cha." He was able to cement his name as a versatile star through the JTBC work, leaving viewers in awe during the entire run of the series. Catch him on "Doctor Cha" on Netflix. All 16 episodes are available for streaming. Watch the teaser here, ICYMI: KDramaStars owns this article. Written by Elijah Mully. 1 Shares Share We need more doctors who look like us. I led a small group discussion with high school students enrolled in the Medical Careers Education and Emergency Preparedness (MedCEEP) s Summer Pipeline Program. Our task was to brainstorm solutions to address a critical health disparity, and our group was assigned the topic of Maternal Health. The students, all young Black and Latina women from the Southside of Chicago, unanimously agreed that increasing the representation of doctors who share their racial backgrounds would be a powerful step towards addressing the Black Maternal Health Crisis. Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes compared to their White counterparts. Unfortunately, the recent Supreme Court decision deeming race-conscious admissions as unlawful is expected to have a significant negative impact. It is projected to decrease the number of Black and Latinx students enrolling in medical schools and other professional degree programs by 37 percent. The Association of American Medical Colleges has argued in an amicus brief for the Supreme Court that diversity in medical education markedly improves health outcomes. They cite evidence showing that minority health professionals are more likely to practice in underserved communities, and racially diverse health care teams can lead to better health outcomes for minority patients due to increased trust and provider insight. Despite this, the representation of Black and Hispanic doctors remains low, with only 5.7 percent and 6.9 percent respectively. Several barriers hinder Black and Latinx students from pursuing careers in health care, including financial burdens, concerns about the duration of training, and difficulties in acclimating to the majority culture. However, the most significant barrier is the high attrition rates. Even before race-conscious admissions policies were outlawed, affirmative action alone was insufficient to create a health care workforce that reflects the demographics of the American population. Given the additional challenges medical schools and other health care training programs face in building racially diverse classes, there is an urgent need to significantly increase financial and personnel investment in programs that recruit and retain students of underrepresented racial identities in health care fields. Pathway and pipeline programs are activities designed to support the matriculation of students with underrepresented identities into health care training programs. These programs can begin as early as elementary school and continue to support post-baccalaureate students in their journey towards medical school. They offer comprehensive support, including academic assistance, mentorship, extracurricular enrichment, and financial resources. The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, located on the Southside of Chicago, hosts several pipeline and pathways programs. MedCEEP, for example, runs an eight-week summer program where local high school students participate in career panels, health disparity didactic sessions, and skills workshops. Additionally, they receive mentorship from medical students, residents, and faculty. The school also organized the 7th Annual Black and Latina Women in Medicine Forum, providing a space for women at all career stages to discuss their unique experiences as minoritized identities in medicine. Pre-medical student attendees were even gifted MCAT study materials, which are often financially inaccessible to many students. Dr. Abdullah Pratt, an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at Pritzker School of Medicine and my mentor, participated in pipeline programs at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago during high school and college, respectively. Today, he runs programs that expose thousands of Chicago children to careers in medicine while educating them about emergency preparedness and violence prevention. His inspiring story exemplifies how early pipeline programs can transform students into agents of change, working to address health inequities in their own communities. Given the publics mixed views on race-conscious admissions policies, investing further in pathways and pipeline programs may prove to be a more palatable and less politicized approach to increasing the diversity of health care professionals. As a former 9th-grade biology teacher, I witnessed firsthand how increased academic support, early career exposure, and positive mentorship made all the difference in keeping students on track to graduate. I believe that similar educational interventions aimed at diversifying the health care fields would have a broader appeal and impact. With Black and Latinx professionals continuing to be underrepresented in medical fields, expanding current programs that aim to increase representation is crucial. We need to reach more communities, recruit more promising students, and ensure they stay in health care fields for the long term. If you are a medical professional or student, I encourage you to consider donating your time and resources to a local pipeline program. If such a program does not exist in your area, perhaps you could take the initiative to start one. Only through increased investment in these programs can we create a workforce of health care professionals prepared to promote racial health equity at a national level. Alia Richardson is a medical student. Government featured Police unionization looms, accusations swirl in Key Colony Beach Its been several months since the Key Colony Beach police force, a team of five, filed interest cards in early May to begin the process of unionizing. Public employees right to unionize is written into the Florida Constitution in its very first Article in Section 6. Since then, little has occurred to either accelerate or slow the process. However, Andrew M. Axelrad, General Counsel for the Dade County Police Benevolent Association (PBA), who is handling the union efforts, said by phone that the situation should be crystallizing soon. Axelrad said he was waiting and had nothing new to report but was also waiting for final recommending orders. He explained that the Public Employees Relations Commission, consisting of three commissioners appointed by the governor to oversee state labor relations, had reviewed the KCB police forces constitutional right to collectively bargain on July 7. He added that those reviews are generally rubber-stamped and he should receive the final order any day. Each side the city and the police force has been mostly mum on the subject since Axelrad and City Administrator Dave Turner exchanged emails in early May, immediately after the union interest cards were completed. However, at the July 20 KCB City Commission meeting, Commissioner Freddie Foster accused the city and Turner of attempting to defund the police, predicated on both correspondence he had received from Turner and budget preparation information submitted to the five-member commission. In an email Turner sent to commissioners on May 9, one day after the union notified the city of their intentions, Turner sent an email saying, under the auspices of budget preparation for fiscal year 2023-24, that in the past I have mentioned we need to look at our Public Safety as a whole and the savings to the city (in excess of $450,000) and will discuss. And Foster believes its more than coincidental that law enforcement salaries in the fiscal year 2022-23 budget are $458,476. Public Safety can reasonably be considered to include fire and EMS personnel, along with police, but KCBs fire/EMS contract with Marathon is a separate line item in the current city budget. Besides that, the city couldnt shave that expense since it would leave KCB without any fire/EMS support. Also coincidentally, the pending promotion of officer Jamie Buxton to the vacant sergeant position, which appeared to be a foregone conclusion at the June commission meeting, has since been delayed. Axelrad said he raised the issue of her promotion with Turner, who claims he needs to maintain the status quo while the union negotiation process is ongoing. But Axelrad said there are no stipulations that theres a hiring or promotion freeze during the process. It can happen, and I made that clear to the citys outside council for this process, a specialist in labor law, David Miller. Axelrad said Miller agreed that Buxton should still be promoted. It might be a little gameplay by the city, he said. Miller said by phone he was not at liberty to comment on the ongoing unionization process without the citys permission, which he had not received by press time. Axelrad added though that if PERC agrees to the unionization, it then gets transferred to its election department, so the bargaining union is made official. The city has no obligation to do anything until that happens, so thats in a holding pattern, he concluded. As far as possible defunding efforts by Turner and the city, Axelrad said hes not concerned, but admitted its more than a coincidence that subject is circulating. If the city decided to dissolve the police force and go with the Monroe County Sheriffs Office, they cant do that while this process is ongoing, he said. Theres a strict state law about defunding the police, which is only a couple years old. It would be viewed as retaliatory. A decision is expected at the Thursday, Aug. 17, city commission meeting, and Foster believes the union process should come to a head then. Axelrad was asked why the KCB police pursued this action in the first place. He said that even prior to filing the interest cards, if employees were being treated fairly, there would be no reason for them to pursue unionization. He doesnt know exactly why they started the process but didnt discount Turners directives as the reason. Turner communicated a series of potentially punitive directives against the KCB police in early May before the unionization process began. On May 3, he directed officers leaving the city to complete a new form each time an officer leaves the city. That was followed by yet another directive on May 4 questioning the substantiation of having take-home vehicles, plus regimented Sunset Park patrol orders and maintaining the cleanliness of vehicles for spot checks, just prior to union efforts beginning. Something happened, said Axelrad. These circumstances could add even more woes to a city dealing with a City Hall rebuilding vote that just this week resulted in citizens filing a temporary injunction to petition the courts to prohibit the city from taking any action until enough signatures are secured to request a referendum vote. There is also a FEMA investigation relating to potential fraud on the part of the city regarding altering the condition of the current City Hall post-Hurricane Irma. rtamborrino123@gmail.com Giant telecommunication company, Airtel Uganda has confirmed its intention to list on the stock market of Uganda up to 20 percent of its shares, totaling Shs8 billion. The company, wholly owned by Airtel Africa plc, is due to publish the prospectus (offer document) approved by the Capital Markets Authority, which will pave the way for the Initial Public Offer (IPO). This is in line with the terms and conditions of the National Telecommunications Operators (NTO) license that was issued to Airtel in 2020, following new licensing guidelines by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC). Nishant Mohan, the Airtel Finance Director said the Initial Public Offer, which should be operational by the 16th of December this year, will give Ugandans preferential treatment. In 2020, following a recommendation by Cabinet, UCC issued new guidelines for the National Telecommunications Operators license under the Uganda Communications (Licensing) Regulations 2019 and later the Uganda Communications (Fees and Fines) (Amendment) Regulations 2020. They provided for, among others, the sale of at least 20 percent of the company to the public, as part of the governance and national economic contribution function. It becomes the second company to go public under the new regulations and guidelines, having delayed beyond the 60-day deadline for a company to list after obtaining the NTO license. Airtel Uganda Managing Director, Majoj Murali, limited on how much information they can give to the public because of the capital markets regulations, said they are confident of the market. The first IPO by an NTO was MTN Ugandas 22.5 billion shares in December 2021, and while it termed the exercise successful, there was a 36 percent undersubscription. This was attributed to a partly negative campaign on social media that dampened the willingness, especially by the Ugandans to buy the shares. Airtel Board Chairman Hannington Karuhanga urged Ugandans especially the youth to diversify their savings into equity, instead of leaving the market to foreign investors, which will also contribute more to the development of the economy. The Addiction Prevention and Rehabilitation Association of Uganda (APRAU) has slammed governments consideration of legalising cannabis (marijuana) and khat, further calling for a total ban. A section of leaders from the Parliaments Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs as well as other leaders have been scrutinizing the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Bill, 2023 in a bid to legalise the substances for commercial and medical purposes. Speaking to journalists in Kampala, Isharaza Mwebaze the chairperson of the Addiction Prevention and Rehabilitation Association of Uganda (APRAU), said their findings indicate that drugs especially marijuana and khat (mairungi) are some of the highly abused drugs that cause mental health challenges to abusers. The association further tasked government and the general public to interest themselves with available data and statistics that show the negative impacts caused by the mentioned drugs. Government is considering a review of the national budget following World Banks move to halt funding to Uganda due to the Anti-Homosexuality law. Speaking to legislators on Thursday, the State Minister for Finance, Henry Musasizi revealed that government intends to revise the national budget, adding that emoluments of public servants could be affected. We took the firm decision and we agreed that we shall face the consequences. We shall be coming soon, I want to prepare your minds that very soon we are going to revise the budget downwards & we shall be coming to you for support. Even the emoluments are going to be affected given the preliminary we are seeing, Musasizi told MPs on Thursday. Mr. Amos Kankunda, the chairperson of the Finance Committee says Parliament does not regret their decision to pass the Anti-Homosexuality Act. He says government will advise Ugandans on how to survive amid the World Bank ban. While reacting to the loan ban, Bugiri Municipality MP, Asuman Basalirwa, the mover of the Anti-Homosexuality law said theres need to rethink the countrys spending habits. We are a God-fearing country, God who created us will make us survive, it isnt World Bank that created us Let us look for new friends. We also need to rethink the extravagance that is exhibited in public offices, Basalirwa said. Meanwhile, President Museveni has assured Ugandans that the country will develop with or without loans. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Bank said Ugandas Anti-Homosexuality law contradicts its values. Ugandas Anti-Homosexuality Act fundamentally contradicts the World Bank Groups values, the development lender said in a statement Tuesday, adding that no new public financing, would be presented to the banks board of directors for approval for the time being. Legislators have asked government to step up frugality in public expenditure following World Banks decision to suspend financial support to Uganda over the enactment of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023. The Bank says the Act fundamentally contradicts its values. MPs are concerned that Ugandas future is uncertain, noting that they do not regret passing the law that they say is aimed at preserving Ugandas values. Bugiri Municipality MP, Asuman Basalirwa, the mover of the law, has advised government to turn to the Middle East for financial support, saying the region offers cheaper loans with less strings attached. We were representing the views and interests of the people of Uganda. This has been the most popular bipartisan piece of legislation in the history of parliament of Uganda, Basalirwa said, adding that You cannot regret doing the right thing, President Museveni has since assured Ugandans that the country will develop with or without loans, President Museveni is today expected to meet private broadcasters under their umbrella body the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) following his directive that ring-fenced public advertising cash to state-owned media outlets. Yesterday, members of parliament learnt that the state-owned Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) owns only 11 out of the over 300 radio stations across the country. NAB and the Uganda Editors Guild have since suspended a ban on coverage of government events which they had announced to protest the discriminatory advertising directive. In their 18th July letter signed by the association Secretary-General Mr. Joseph Beyanga addressed to the Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary, Mr. Ramathan Ggoobi, broadcasters say implementation of the said directive will not only contravene the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda but also set a precedent that goes against governments policy that champions a private sector-led economy, Todays meeting is intended to iron out the public advertisement cash row. The streets of Kilkenny will be the ultimate destination for 190 supercars next month as Cannonball 2023 rolls into town. The event will see free family festivals, celebrities, over 1,000km of Irish open roads, 1.5 million raised for Irish charities and the awesome sight of over 200,000 excited spectators coast to coast waving chequered flags from September 15-17. Cannonball, the action-packed supercar spectacle, is set to roll on September 15-17, with proceeds to The Jack and Jill Childrens Foundation. Cannonball, fuelled by milesPLUS from Circle K, is the largest organised road trip in Europe featuring the finest cars on the planet from the awe-inspiring power of Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren to the grace and elegance of Porsche, Aston Martin, and Maserati. Cannonball has already raised 1,538,602 for Irish charities and brings a unique and inimitable electric atmosphere to host towns all over the country making it a widely-anticipated free family event for spectators. On Thursday, September 14, the Cannonball crew will roll into Malahide Castle to get set for another adrenalin fuelled supercar spectacle. The supercars are due to start arriving from 6pm with an opportunity for spectators to be captivated by their enviable fusion of engineering excellence and breathtaking design. On Friday at 10am, the gleaming convoy will depart Malahide Castle and will blaze a trail to Cavan for a lunch stop at the Slieve Russell Hotel and Country Club in Cavan. The first finish line and overnight stay will be in Ballina and the cars are due to arrive to the finish line on the Quay at 6pm to help celebrate Ballinas 300th birthday. On Saturday, September 16 the convoy will leave the Quay in Ballina at 10.30am and travel to Salthill Hotel for lunch at 1pm and then onwards to Pery Square Limerick City for the second finish line and overnight stay in association with Limerick City and County. On Sunday, September 1 the supercars will leave Limerick City at 10.30am, then fuel up at Circle K Fermoy and then onwards to Cork for lunch at Foto Island Resort before a big dramatic final finish line in Kilkenny City at 6pm. This year the official charity of Cannonball is The Jack and Jill Children's Foundation - an Irish childrens charity that funds and delivers in-home nursing care, respite support and end-of-life care for children from birth to six years of age who have highly complex and life-limiting medical conditions. There are currently over 400 children under the care of Jack and Jill right across the country and the charitys mission is to empower parents to care for their child at home, because there is no care like home care for a Jack and Jill child. Cannonball offers spectators a unique opportunity to witness the world's most prestigious and sought-after supercars up close and enjoy the unique festival atmosphere that Cannonball is renowned for. The Brazilian Dancers, giant screens, music and fanfare brings all the glamour of carnival and live DJs, bands and festivals in host towns get the party started. The Cannonballers and celebrities in colourful costumes add to the melee. From Spiderman to Star Wars, Cat Woman to Wonder Woman, cheerleaders to Charlies Angels, Batman, the Joker and more, it is a totally unique free family day out. This year, organisers are also calling on spectators to dress up in fancy dress with prizes for best dressed. Cannonball was founded by Kildare businessman Alan Bannon and the benefit to the host towns for this event is estimated at 2,567,000 per year. Cannonball is fuelled by milesPLUS from Circle K as the main headline Sponsor for 2023 and all official fuel stops on the route where spectators can see the cars will be announced in the coming days. The Tour Sponsor this year is Apache Pizza and Cannonball official partners include Karl Goodwin Motors, AB Signs, HONE Energy and Majestic Ireland Road Trips. See cannonball.ie for more. Co Kilkenny nursing homes will join compatriots across the country in hosting music-themed celebrations to mark 'Nursing Homes Week'. 'Nursing Homes Week' takes place from August 21-27 and is a celebration of nursing home care both locally and nationally, honouring residents and staff in nursing homes for the vital role they play in Irish society. This year, music is the theme for the celebrations as homes in Kilkenny and across the country participate in an online 'Music Speaks' festival. Amongst the festivities will be the broadcast of music performances by nursing home residents. This will feature renditions of classics such as Danny Boy, Molly Malone, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, Cant Help Falling in Love, You Are My Sunshine, Que Sera, Sera, intertwined with performances by residents of different instruments, including piano, accordion and the bodhran. Music Speaks will also include performances from Mobile Music Machine with Niamh Kavanagh, Sive, Ross Scanlon, John McCormack and John Spillane. Performances from the Irish Traditional Music Archive will also be opened up to nursing home residents and an online discussion will be hosted discussing the impact of music on nursing home residents. Tadhg Daly, CEO of Nursing Homes Ireland, said: "We are thrilled to have brought together a very special and unique Music Speaks festival for nursing home residents and staff to enjoy during the Week of celebration. Nursing homes are home to truly very special people, who are tremendous characters and have a rich legacy in song and music." Adding, "Music fulfils an absolutely integral role in nursing home care, providing comfort to residents, stimulating memories, bringing them together, and it gives great joy and happiness." Not long ago, travel advisors appeared to be sailing into the sunset as options for booking vacations online flourished. But business has been booming. The American Society of Travel Agents reports that about 27% of its members say that over half of their clients are working with a travel advisor for the first time. Business is booming, and travel advisors continue to be a vital part of the travel industry" said Zane Kirby, President and CEO of the American Society of Travel Advisors. With years of experience and knowledge about destinations, transportation options and vendors, an advisor can eliminate hours of online research time. Their knowledge and experience also gives them the foresight to prevent potential problems. Between weather delays, natural disasters, flight cancellations, lost luggage and much more, a lot can happen on vacation. Travel advisors act as the travelers advocate in the event something goes wrong, helping navigate the challenge of making any necessary itinerary changes The more complex or luxurious the trip, the more useful an agent can be. Agents have an inside track on deals and upgrades, and they can quickly solve problems or change plans while you're on a trip, says industry consultant Mark Murphy, at TravAlliancemedia. In some cases, travel agents don't charge their clients for example, an agent who books a cruise may earn a 10% commission from the cruise line. Others impose booking fees say, $30 for an airline ticketor require a deposit that they'll keep if you cancel. Subscribe to Kiplingers Personal Finance Be a smarter, better informed investor. Save up to 74% Sign up for Kiplingers Free E-Newsletters Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail. Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail. Sign up Bottom line Keeping up with the details of planning a trip is challenging enough. Travelers have faced pandemic-related restrictions and hassles with refunds and penalties for cancellations. Starting Next year, the EU will be requiring Americans traveling to Europe to pay a fee and you'll have to apply for approval under the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) .Travel advisors have the skills to navigate the changing protocols and resources to take the stress out of travel planning. Aug 10 (Reuters) - China's Alibaba Group Holding (9988.HK) reported its strongest quarterly revenue growth in almost two years on Thursday as its domestic e-commerce unit focuses on low-cost products to attract consumers amid a sober economic environment. The Chinese e-commerce giant posted first-quarter revenue of 234.16 billion yuan ($32.29 billion), up 14% from the prior-year quarter which was hit by strict pandemic lockdowns. The figure beat analysts' estimates of 224.92 billion yuan, according to Refinitiv data. The company's U.S.-listed shares rose as much as 4.8% in early trading. "Most investors had expected an okay quarter, but the magnitude of the outperformance, especially on the profit beat likely exceeded most expectations," said Alicia Yap, an analyst at Citi Bank. Alibaba's net profit rose 51% year-on-year. The latest revenue figure represents an improvement from flat to 3% growth in the past four quarters. However, fears have grown about China's economy, which has faltered after an initially brisk recovery from the lifting of COVID curbs late last year. On Wednesday, China reported it tipped into deflation in July at the consumer price level - a development expected to further weigh on shoppers' will to spend. "The latest macro data indicates some uncertainties in the pace of post-COVID recovery, but as economic and consumer activities continue to resume, our businesses demonstrated encouraging trends," Alibaba Group CEO and Chairman Daniel Zhang told analysts in a post-earnings call. Revenue in the first quarter to end-June was helped by a recovery in consumer purchases on Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall marketplaces, boosted in part by the 618 shopping festival, China's second-largest online shopping event, in June. Competition has increased recently from rivals known for offering low-cost products, such as PDD Holdings (PDD.O) Pinduoduo and ByteDance's Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, both of which pose major challenges to Alibaba. In response, Trudy Dai, CEO of Taobao and Tmall Group, said Alibaba would invest more to attract bargain hunting consumers, especially young people, older people and shoppers from China's lower-tier cities. "Our value-for-money battle will continue and will be an area of major investment," Dai said. A 6.5% increase in daily active users in June for the Taobao app - which tends to sell lower cost merchandise than brand-dominated Tmall - was cited as one indicator of improvement. Sales at Cloud Intelligence Group, a major growth driver outside of e-commerce, reported the smallest revenue growth among the group's six business units of 4%, but the division's underlying profit more than doubled as its workplace collaboration tool, Dingtalk, helped to reduce costs. This was the last earnings announcement under Zhang, who will step down from his roles in September to focus on leading its cloud division. The cloud unit is expected to seek an IPO soon, with Alibaba in May saying it would spin off the division to pursue an IPO within 12 months. The CEO role will be handed over to Eddie Yongming Wu, chairman of Alibaba's Taobao and Tmall Group, while Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai will take over as chairman. Regulatory concern has eased for China's tech giants, including Alibaba, this year, with Chinese authorities keen to boost private sector confidence. This was the first set of quarterly results for the $241 billion market-value behemoth since it split its business into six units, which many experts said could also ease scrutiny over the tech giant. (1 Chinese yuan renminbi = $0.1387) Aug 10 (Reuters) - (This Aug. 9 story has been corrected to specify that Midea air conditioners' ranking was by retail sales for home use, not the number of units sold, in paragraph 11) Chinese home appliance maker Midea Group (000333.SZ) said on Wednesday it is studying a potential listing in Hong Kong as part of its global strategy. The new shares to be issued would account for no more than 10% of enlarged capital, Midea, already listed in the Shenzhen stock exchange, said in a filing. Bank of America (BAC.N) and China International Capital Corp (CICC) (3908.HK) are working on the deal, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The sources could not be named as the information is not yet public. Bank of America and CICC declined to comment. Midea shares dropped as much as 3.6% to 55.5 yuan ($7.70) in morning trading on Thursday, hitting a two-month low. Midea's market capitalisation was $56.47 billion before the listing plan was made public, meaning a deal of up to 10% would be one of the largest listings in Hong Kong since 2021. The company is looking to sell as much as 8% to 10%, one of the sources said. Specific plans, including the timeline, remain uncertain, the company said in the Wednesday filing. The initial filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange would be made this year, with a likely share sale sometime in 2024, one of the sources added. Midea ranked first in retail sales of home-use air conditioners in China last year and second in retail sales of washing machines, the company said in its 2022 annual report, citing data from data provider All View Cloud. The company said last month it was formulating a plan to spin off its logistics unit Annto and list it on the Shenzhen stock exchange in a bid to streamline the company's managerial structure and expand Annto's funding channels. ($1 = 7.2110 Chinese yuan renminbi) BEIJING, Aug 10 (Reuters) - China has lifted pandemic-era restrictions on group tours for more countries, including key markets such as the United States, Japan, South Korea and Australia in a potential boon for their tourism industries. The decision was announced by China's culture and tourism ministry on Thursday, effective immediately. Prior to the pandemic, mainland Chinese tourists spent more than any other country's tourists when abroad, clocking up a combined $255 billion in 2019 with group tours estimated to account for roughly 60% of that. Their absence since the pandemic has led to financial troubles for many tourism-dependent businesses around the globe. Germany and Britain were also among the countries for which restrictions were lifted but Canada, which has had especially politically fraught relations with China of late, was not reinstated. It was China's third list of countries to receive approvals. The first batch approved in January included 20 countries such as Thailand, Russia, Cuba and Argentina. The second batch in March included 40 countries, among them Nepal, France, Portugal and Brazil. China has never explained its staggered approach to approvals but analysts have noted that the countries taking time to gain approval have had more political and/or trade tension with the world's second-largest economy. The move was welcomed by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as well as tourism ministers in South Korea and Australia, who said it would boost their economies. "This is another positive step towards the stabilisation of our relationship with China," said Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell. Just how much outbound Chinese tourism will bounce back for the latest group of countries remains to be seen. Expectations that demand would come roaring back after borders were re-opened have to date been largely unfulfilled. International flights in and out of China have recovered to only 53% of 2019 levels as of July. That is in large part due to staffing issues for many global airlines that have limited the flying of more routes, slow visa issuance for Chinese travellers amid backlogs in many Western countries, and a sputtering domestic economy that is discouraging many holidaying Chinese from spending big. In response to the news, some Chinese said online that they were less than enthusiastic about international trips. "I don't want to go; I feel domestic travel is pretty good, such as the beautiful scenery in Xinjiang and the Northeast and the food is cheap," said one Weibo user with the handle @Chongshengshilangbushilang. But others were more upbeat. "Despite a cooling overall economy, 40% of (Chinese) people say they will spend more on travel," said Steve Saxon, a partner at McKinsey & Co. "People want to spend the money they've saved during COVID on international travel." Trip.com, China's largest travel agency, noted that the news had led to a spike in searches for destinations including Australia and Japan. Those countries, along with several other Asian nations and the United States, are among the most visited by Chinese travelers. "The opening of group travel from China to the U.S. is a significant milestone," said Adam Burke, head of the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board. "It's impossible to overstate the importance of Chinese tourism to Los Angeles." Shares in firms in the latest group of countries with large exposure to Chinese travel demand jumped on the news. Gains for South Korean casino operators were particularly striking, with Grand Korea Leisure (114090.KS) and Paradise (034230.KQ) surging 20% and 18% respectively. Two sources in South Korea's travel industry told Reuters it was the first time group tours from China would be allowed on a large scale since a 2016 dispute over Seoul's deployment of a U.S. missile defence system. China has never publicly acknowledged limiting group tours to South Korea. KAHULUI, Hawaii, Aug 10 (Reuters) - A wildfire that swept through the picturesque resort town of Lahaina on Hawaii's Maui island has killed at least 36 people, authorities said, while leaving smoldering ruins in its wake and forcing thousands to flee. Video footage showed neighborhoods and businesses razed and vehicles burned to a crisp across the western side of the U.S. island as the wildfires cut off most roads out of Lahaina, the historic former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom. The town is one of Maui's prime attractions, drawing 2 million tourists to the island each year, or about 80 percent of its visitors. The cause in Maui had yet to be determined, but the National Weather Service said the fires were fueled by a mix of dry vegetation, strong winds, and low humidity. Maui resident Dustin Kaleiopu on Thursday said his family, now relocated to the other side of the island, had only had minutes to evacuate and lost two generational family homes to the flames. "There are still so many people that we are unable get in touch with, and that still remains true for many families here," Kaleiopu said in an interview on NBC News' "Today" program. "Everyone I know is now homeless." Such scenes of devastation have become all too familiar elsewhere in the world. Wildfires, often caused by record-setting heat this summer, forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in Greece, Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe. In western Canada, a series of unusually severe fires sent clouds of smoke over vast swaths of the U.S., polluting the air. Human-caused climate change, driven by fossil fuel use, is increasing the frequency and intensity of such extreme weather events, scientists say, having long warned that countries must slash emissions to prevent climate catastrophe. Wildfires occur every year in Hawaii, according to Thomas Smith, an environmental geography professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, but this year's fires are burning faster and bigger than usual because of the low rainfall, higher temperatures, and nearby storm systems. THREE SEPARATE BLAZES On Maui, firefighters were battling three separate blazes on the island, officials said late on Wednesday night, without providing further details. Officials said on Wednesday that the fires also destroyed parts of Kula, a residential area in the inland, mountainous Upcountry region. Fires were also affecting Kihei in South Maui. Hawaii's Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke told a press conference late on Wednesday that officials were still assessing the damage. "It will be a long road to recovery," she said. The blazes began on Tuesday night as powerful winds from Hurricane Dora, hundreds of miles to the southwest, fanned the flames. By Thursday, the strong winds had largely abated. Beyond the human casualties, the fire burned cultural treasures such as Lahaina's historic 60-foot-tall banyan tree, which marked the spot where Hawaiian King Kamehameha III's 19th-century palace stood, according to local reports. Some 271 structures were damaged or destroyed, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported, citing official reports from flyovers conducted by the U.S. Civil Air Patrol and the Maui Fire Department. As of early Thursday, the tracking site Poweroutage.us reported about 11,000 homes and businesses were without power on Maui, which has a year-round population of 165,000. The wildfires spread quickly through populated areas of Lahaina, a city of about 13,000 people. Some people jumped into the Pacific Ocean to escape the smoke and fire conditions, prompting the U.S. Coast Guard to rescue them, according to a Maui County press release. Julius Limbaga, 38, woke up from a nap on Tuesday when he smelled smoke in his Lahaina apartment, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. "The fire was so fast and in just a blink of an eye it was everywhere," Limbaga said. He told the newspaper that he doused himself with water and ran to the Lahaina harbor, his rubber slippers melting as he ran. The Coast Guard rescued him from the harbor waters and took him to be treated for burns on his feet and legs. Dr. John Vaz, the doctor in charge of Maui's Malama I Ke Ola Health Center, told the Star-Advertiser that most incoming patients didn't say anything at first, "just stood around with blank faces." "But once they start eating and start to animate a bit more, the trauma is starting to come out," he said More than 11,000 travelers were evacuated from Maui, Ed Sniffen of the Hawaii Department of Transportation said late on Wednesday. Though at least 16 roads were closed, the airport was operating fully and airlines were dropping fares and offering waivers to get people off the island, Sniffen had said earlier in the day. Southwest Airlines said on Thursday that it was increasing flights to Hawaii due to the evacuation efforts. A mass bus evacuation to the Kahului Airport for visitors in West Maui was to resume at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, officials said. The National Guard, U.S. Navy, Marines and Coast Guard were mobilized, while the U.S. Department of Transportation aided evacuation efforts, President Joe Biden said. Get all the essential market news and expert opinions in one place with our daily newsletter. Receive a comprehensive recap of the day's top stories directly to your inbox. Sign up here! (Kitco News) - Central banks continued to bolster their reserves with gold purchases in July, according to the latest International Financial Statistics data released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Krishan Gopaul, senior analyst for the World Gold Council, highlighted three central banks purchases of precious metals in a series of Twitter posts published Wednesday and Thursday. Central Bank of Turkey data shows that its #gold reserves rose by 17 tonnes in July, adding to the 11 tonnes bought in June when it resumed net buying after heavy net selling between March-May, Gopaul said. Ytd net sales now total 85 tonnes, with total gold reserves at 457 tonnes. He said the Czech National Bank also added 2 tonnes to its gold reserves in July, bringing their year-to-date net buying total to nearly 10 tonnes, which represents almost half of their 21 tonnes of total holdings. But the biggest purchaser highlighted in the IMF data was the National Bank of Poland, which increased its gold reserves by 22 tonnes last month. This brings year-to-date net purchases to 71 tonnes, and lifts total gold reserves to 299 tonnes, Gopaul said. On Monday, Gopaul shared that China bought 23 tonnes of gold in July, and noted that China has purchased 126 tonnes of gold to date in 2023, increasing its official reserves to 2,136 tonnes. China's ongoing gold purchases have put renewed focus on the growing de-dollarization trend as nations around the world reduce their exposure to the U.S. dollar. Although China has become a leading buyer in the precious metal market, some analysts say that the central bank is just getting started. "When you buy gold, it's a direct vote against the U.S. dollar," said Willem Middelkoop, creator of the Commodity Discovery Fund. "China is sending a message to the White House that they don't support the global financial system backed by the U.S. dollar." Middelkoop said he also expects China to buy gold for an extended period, and that he believes this is the start of the endgame for the U.S. dollar. "It will take decades, but this is how a new system is started," he said. I expect China will continue to buy gold for the next decade. We will have a multi-polar currency world for quite a while." And Russias finance ministry announced late last week that it would start buying currencies and gold again in August after 18 months of selling or sitting on the sidelines as Moscow looks to profit from recent high oil prices. FX purchases were halted in late January 2022, and the program was suspended after the invasion of Ukraine the following month. The finance ministry said it planned to buy 1.8 billion rubles, or $19.27 million worth of foreign currency, each day from Aug. 7 to Sept. 6, with FX purchases totaling 40.5 billion rubles ($3.78 billion). It did not share a specific target for its gold purchases. Analysts have said that central bank demand remains a significant support for gold prices even though it has slowed in recent months. Aug 10 (Reuters) - Russian retailer Magnit (MGNT.MM) on Thursday said it had completed a deal to buy back blocked shares from Western investors, the first deal of its kind since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The offer to buy back shares at a 50% discount, a requirement demanded by the Kremlin, is the first proposal of its kind by a Russian company since sweeping Western sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Russian countermeasures deprived many foreign investors of the ability to trade in Russian securities. Magnit said it had bought back 16,910,664.8 shares from shareholders, representing about 16.6% of all issued and outstanding shares at an amount of around 37.4 billion roubles ($388.25 million). "Approximately 200 orders have been fulfilled including those from investors from the USA, UK, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Scandinavian countries, Singapore, Japan, Canada, Australia and other jurisdictions," Magnit said in a statement. But Magnit, Russia's second-largest retailer with almost 28,000 food and home goods stores across Russia and Uzbekistan, said that settlement procedures with shareholders whose stakes were being cleared through Euroclear were ongoing. Magnit said that the approvals it had received grant the right to buy additional shares from non-resident shareholders. The company may consider "various options" for the purchase of shares from shareholders who didn't participate in the tender offer, including a new tender offer and/or bilateral sale transactions at tender offer purchase price, Magnit said in a statement. Magnit had previously said its wholly owned subsidiary Magnit Alyans would buy around 21.5% of shares outstanding. That figure was more than double its initial offer, which it ended up tripling to almost 30% after strong demand from Western investors. JPMorgan (JPM.N), in an investor circular dated July 12, said "it was actively seeking to recover" shares in Magnit, which underpinned depositary receipts (DRs) JPM had issued to investors before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "Magnit's GDR program depositary bank, JP Morgan Chase Bank, also took part, as well as other international investors," Magnit said, such as hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds and individual investors. Muchas felicidades a Oswaldo Bilbao, director del @Cedet_etnico, quien recibio el Premio del Secretario de Estado para Campeones Anti-Racismo! Su trabajo para combatir el racismo y la discriminacion en el ???? es un ejemplo para todos @US_SRREJ pic.twitter.com/0lpPgn8knA Weather Alert ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM CDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with heat index values of 105 to 115 degrees. * WHERE...Portions of south central, southwest, and west central Illinois. Portions of central, east central, northeast, and southeast Missouri. * WHEN...Until 10 PM CDT Thursday. The heat may last into Friday for some areas. * IMPACTS...Heat related illnesses increase significantly during extreme heat and high humidity events. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. && Braun Stacey Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW Free Report) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 364,016 shares of the specialty retailers stock, valued at approximately $38,047,000. A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its stake in Lamb Weston by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 9,400 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $982,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in Lamb Weston by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 2,531 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Lamb Weston by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 16,947 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $1,771,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its stake in Lamb Weston by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 746 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its stake in Lamb Weston by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 7,456 shares of the specialty retailers stock valued at $666,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.26% of the companys stock. Get Lamb Weston alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at Lamb Weston In other Lamb Weston news, SVP Sharon L. Miller sold 4,350 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.00, for a total transaction of $500,250.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,859 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,733,785. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Sharon L. Miller sold 4,350 shares of Lamb Weston stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.00, for a total value of $500,250.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 49,859 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,733,785. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Eryk J. Spytek sold 6,319 shares of Lamb Weston stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.23, for a total transaction of $652,310.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,052 shares in the company, valued at approximately $108,597.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of research analysts have commented on LW shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Lamb Weston from $120.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of Lamb Weston from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $115.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Lamb Weston in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lamb Weston presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $119.40. Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Lamb Weston Lamb Weston Stock Performance NYSE:LW traded down $1.09 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $99.33. The stock had a trading volume of 1,669,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,398,775. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.80. Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. has a 52 week low of $74.91 and a 52 week high of $117.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30. Lamb Weston (NYSE:LW Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The specialty retailer reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.66 billion. Lamb Weston had a net margin of 18.86% and a return on equity of 84.65%. Lamb Westons quarterly revenue was up 46.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.65 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Lamb Weston Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. Lamb Westons payout ratio is 16.18%. About Lamb Weston (Free Report) Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc produces, distributes, and markets value-added frozen potato products worldwide. It operates through four segments: Global, Foodservice, Retail, and Other. The company offers frozen potatoes, commercial ingredients, and appetizers under the Lamb Weston brand, as well as under various customer labels. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LW? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Lamb Weston Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Lamb Weston and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO Free Report) by 10.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 234,645 shares of the semiconductor companys stock after buying an additional 21,491 shares during the quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.48% of Onto Innovation worth $20,620,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Onto Innovation by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 84,116 shares of the semiconductor companys stock valued at $7,310,000 after purchasing an additional 5,850 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in Onto Innovation by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 52,277 shares of the semiconductor companys stock valued at $4,543,000 after acquiring an additional 2,697 shares during the period. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Onto Innovation by 88.7% in the 1st quarter. AlphaCrest Capital Management LLC now owns 3,963 shares of the semiconductor companys stock valued at $344,000 after acquiring an additional 1,863 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in Onto Innovation by 23.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 15,977 shares of the semiconductor companys stock valued at $1,392,000 after purchasing an additional 3,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 55.5% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 26,215 shares of the semiconductor companys stock worth $2,278,000 after buying an additional 9,352 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.44% of the companys stock. Get Onto Innovation alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Benchmark increased their price target on shares of Onto Innovation from $97.00 to $118.00 in a report on Friday, June 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Onto Innovation from $100.00 to $123.00 in a research note on Monday, June 5th. B. Riley raised their price target on shares of Onto Innovation from $135.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Monday, July 17th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Onto Innovation from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, June 14th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Onto Innovation currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $117.17. Onto Innovation Stock Down 1.4 % Shares of ONTO stock traded down $1.73 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $118.52. The companys stock had a trading volume of 299,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 269,930. Onto Innovation Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $56.02 and a fifty-two week high of $126.64. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $111.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.52. The company has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.01 and a beta of 1.39. Insiders Place Their Bets In related news, SVP Robert Fiordalice sold 669 shares of Onto Innovation stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.15, for a total transaction of $62,317.35. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,920 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,482,948. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director David Brian Miller sold 5,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.69, for a total value of $498,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,808 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,177,139.52. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Robert Fiordalice sold 669 shares of Onto Innovation stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.15, for a total transaction of $62,317.35. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,920 shares in the company, valued at $1,482,948. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,746 shares of company stock valued at $1,200,485. 0.81% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Onto Innovation Company Profile (Free Report) Onto Innovation Inc engages in the design, development, manufacture, and support of process control tools that performs macro defect inspection and 2D/3D optical metrology, lithography systems, and process control analytical software worldwide. It offers process and yield management solutions, and device packaging and test facilities through standalone systems for optical metrology, macro-defect inspection, packaging lithography, and transparent and opaque thin film measurements; and process control software portfolio that includes solutions for standalone tools, groups of tools, and enterprise-or factory-wide suites. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ONTO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Onto Innovation Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Onto Innovation and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. National Health Investors, Inc. (NYSE:NHI Get Free Report)s share price dropped 7.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $50.68 and last traded at $50.75. Approximately 53,032 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 222,699 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.00. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth NHI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of National Health Investors in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of National Health Investors from $56.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of National Health Investors in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. They set an equal weight rating and a $52.00 target price on the stock. Get National Health Investors alerts: Check Out Our Latest Report on National Health Investors National Health Investors Price Performance National Health Investors Announces Dividend The firm has a market cap of $2.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.46 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 12.71, a current ratio of 12.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stocks 50-day moving average is $53.76 and its 200-day moving average is $53.18. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 29th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 28th. National Health Investorss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 173.08%. Institutional Investors Weigh In On National Health Investors Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in National Health Investors by 336.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 686 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 529 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC increased its holdings in National Health Investors by 71.8% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 737 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Retirement Group LLC bought a new stake in National Health Investors in the 1st quarter valued at $44,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System bought a new stake in National Health Investors in the 1st quarter valued at $50,000. Finally, State of Wyoming boosted its stake in shares of National Health Investors by 199.3% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,242 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 827 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 62.06% of the companys stock. About National Health Investors (Get Free Report) Incorporated in 1991, National Health Investors, Inc (NYSE:NHI) is a real estate investment trust specializing in sale, leasebacks, joint-ventures, senior housing operating partnerships, and mortgage and mezzanine financing of need-driven and discretionary senior housing and medical investments. NHI's portfolio consists of independent living, assisted living and memory care communities, entrance-fee retirement communities, skilled nursing facilities, and specialty hospitals. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for National Health Investors Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for National Health Investors and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. raised its stake in Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO Free Report) by 5.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 22,639 shares of the medical research companys stock after acquiring an additional 1,256 shares during the quarter. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A.s holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific were worth $13,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. lifted its holdings in Thermo Fisher Scientific by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 1,024 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $564,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 3,627 shares of the medical research companys stock valued at $1,997,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 614 shares of the medical research companys stock valued at $354,000 after acquiring an additional 18 shares during the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 723 shares of the medical research companys stock valued at $417,000 after buying an additional 18 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1776 Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. 1776 Wealth LLC now owns 799 shares of the medical research companys stock valued at $440,000 after buying an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. 96.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Thermo Fisher Scientific alerts: Thermo Fisher Scientific Stock Up 0.0 % Shares of NYSE TMO traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $547.65. 368,959 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,514,991. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.37 billion, a PE ratio of 37.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.77. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a 52-week low of $475.77 and a 52-week high of $609.85. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $532.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $547.65. Thermo Fisher Scientific Announces Dividend Thermo Fisher Scientific ( NYSE:TMO Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The medical research company reported $5.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.43 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $10.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.99 billion. Thermo Fisher Scientific had a net margin of 13.14% and a return on equity of 18.59%. The companys revenue for the quarter was down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $5.51 EPS. Analysts forecast that Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will post 22.37 EPS for the current year. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.26%. Thermo Fisher Scientifics dividend payout ratio is currently 9.57%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $700.00 to $650.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 27th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific from $664.00 to $625.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $595.00 to $630.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Thermo Fisher Scientific from $662.00 to $698.00 in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Thermo Fisher Scientific in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $633.50. Read Our Latest Analysis on TMO Insider Transactions at Thermo Fisher Scientific In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $549.00, for a total transaction of $5,490,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 141,330 shares in the company, valued at $77,590,170. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Marc N. Casper sold 10,000 shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $549.00, for a total transaction of $5,490,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 141,330 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $77,590,170. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Stephen Williamson sold 14,100 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $550.00, for a total transaction of $7,755,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 27,393 shares of the companys stock, valued at $15,066,150. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 25,700 shares of company stock valued at $14,125,960. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Thermo Fisher Scientific Company Profile (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. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TMO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Thermo Fisher Scientific Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Thermo Fisher Scientific and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Blume Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ Free Report) (TSE:CNQ) by 28.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,800 shares of the oil and gas producers stock after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Blume Capital Management Inc.s holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $100,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new stake in Canadian Natural Resources during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 57.6% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 594 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN bought a new stake in Canadian Natural Resources during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Natixis bought a new stake in Canadian Natural Resources during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Glassman Wealth Services raised its position in Canadian Natural Resources by 25.9% during the 4th quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 847 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. 71.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Canadian Natural Resources alerts: Canadian Natural Resources Stock Up 0.6 % CNQ stock traded up $0.34 on Wednesday, hitting $61.32. 1,258,694 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,034,301. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a 12-month low of $44.45 and a 12-month high of $62.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $57.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a market cap of $66.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.24 and a beta of 1.58. Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend Wall Street Analyst Weigh In The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 5th. Investors of record on Friday, September 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.6744 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.40%. This is an increase from Canadian Natural Resourcess previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. Canadian Natural Resourcess payout ratio is 52.06%. A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CNQ shares. UBS Group started coverage on Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Wednesday, July 12th. They set a buy rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Canadian Natural Resources from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. National Bank Financial downgraded Canadian Natural Resources from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Canadian Natural Resources in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $88.17. Get Our Latest Report on Canadian Natural Resources About Canadian Natural Resources (Free Report) Canadian Natural Resources Limited acquires, explores for, develops, produces, markets, and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company offers light and medium crude oil, primary heavy crude oil, Pelican Lake heavy crude oil, bitumen (thermal oil), and synthetic crude oil (SCO). Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CNQ? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ Free Report) (TSE:CNQ). Receive News & Ratings for Canadian Natural Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Canadian Natural Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. The press briefing was held following a Council of Ministers session at the Government Palace in Lima. El premier Otarola resalto que el viaje de la presidenta Dina Boluarte a Brasil significa el retorno pleno de la diplomacia presidencial peruana. Permitio fortalecer la relacion con este pais hermano, y los altos intereses del Peru a nivel internacional, enfatizo. Cumberland Partners Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE:CM Free Report) (TSE:CM) by 51.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,098 shares of the banks stock after buying an additional 3,090 shares during the period. Cumberland Partners Ltds holdings in Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce were worth $385,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,652 shares of the banks stock valued at $809,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Glassman Wealth Services grew its position in Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce by 49.8% in the 4th quarter. Glassman Wealth Services now owns 659 shares of the banks stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. grew its position in Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. now owns 14,024 shares of the banks stock worth $595,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 18,231 shares of the banks stock worth $798,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce by 20.7% in the 1st quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,568 shares of the banks stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 37.70% of the companys stock. Get Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce alerts: Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Price Performance CM stock traded down $0.49 on Wednesday, hitting $41.56. 894,839 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,156,569. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has a 1-year low of $39.40 and a 1-year high of $53.36. The stock has a market cap of $38.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $42.88 and a 200-day moving average of $43.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Increases Dividend Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce ( NYSE:CM Get Free Report ) (TSE:CM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 25th. The bank reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.05. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce had a net margin of 11.14% and a return on equity of 14.13%. The business had revenue of $4.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.15 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, June 28th were paid a dividend of $0.642 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 27th. This is a positive change from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerces previous quarterly dividend of $0.64. This represents a $2.57 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.18%. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerces dividend payout ratio is currently 64.65%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several research analysts have commented on CM shares. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 10th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, June 29th. Finally, CIBC upgraded shares of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $70.40. Read Our Latest Report on Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Profile (Free Report) Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a diversified financial institution, provides various financial products and services to personal, business, public sector, and institutional clients in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Canadian Personal and Business Banking; Canadian Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; U.S. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE Free Report) by 4.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,855 shares of the utilities providers stock after buying an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLCs holdings in NextEra Energy were worth $2,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of NEE. Appleton Partners Inc. MA boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA now owns 13,360 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Virginia VA boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. Trust Co. of Virginia VA now owns 8,776 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075 shares during the period. Central Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 5,511 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $425,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 9.7% in the 1st quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 36,563 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $2,818,000 after purchasing an additional 3,230 shares during the period. Finally, PFG Advisors boosted its holdings in NextEra Energy by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 30,032 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $2,315,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042 shares during the period. 77.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get NextEra Energy alerts: NextEra Energy Price Performance NEE traded down $0.42 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $68.50. The company had a trading volume of 5,032,361 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,129,461. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.53. The company has a market capitalization of $138.62 billion, a PE ratio of 17.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.46. NextEra Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $67.91 and a twelve month high of $91.35. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $73.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $74.89. NextEra Energy Dividend Announcement NextEra Energy ( NYSE:NEE Get Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.81 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.68 billion. NextEra Energy had a net margin of 30.05% and a return on equity of 12.25%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.81 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that NextEra Energy, Inc. will post 3.11 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.4675 per share. This represents a $1.87 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 29th. NextEra Energys payout ratio is 46.29%. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, EVP Robert Coffey sold 4,000 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.90, for a total transaction of $299,600.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 11,292 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $845,770.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO John W. Ketchum purchased 13,600 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 14th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $74.26 per share, with a total value of $1,009,936.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 184,485 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,699,856.10. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Robert Coffey sold 4,000 shares of NextEra Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.90, for a total transaction of $299,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,292 shares in the company, valued at approximately $845,770.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Friday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley restated an overweight rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Friday, July 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of NextEra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, June 7th. They issued a buy rating and a $90.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $95.00 to $90.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of NextEra Energy from $93.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $91.36. View Our Latest Research Report on NextEra Energy NextEra Energy Profile (Free Report) NextEra Energy, Inc, through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electric power to retail and wholesale customers in North America. The company generates electricity through wind, solar, nuclear, coal, and natural gas facilities. It also develops, constructs, and operates long-term contracted assets that consists of clean energy solutions, such as renewable generation facilities, battery storage projects, and electric transmission facilities; sells energy commodities; and owns, develops, constructs, manages and operates electric generation facilities in wholesale energy markets. Read More Receive News & Ratings for NextEra Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for NextEra Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (NYSE:FMS Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of Reduce from the nine analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $28.95. Several brokerages have commented on FMS. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Thursday, July 13th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. They set a neutral rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA in a report on Wednesday, July 12th. They set a buy rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, April 28th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Get Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA alerts: View Our Latest Report on FMS Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA Trading Up 1.5 % Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $221,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 24,144 shares of the companys stock worth $578,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC bought a new stake in Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $120,000. Arbor Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $212,000. Finally, Mirabella Financial Services LLP bought a new stake in shares of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA during the 2nd quarter valued at $840,000. Institutional investors own 6.66% of the companys stock. Shares of NYSE FMS traded up $0.40 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $26.32. The companys stock had a trading volume of 137,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 706,517. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 1.26. The stock has a market cap of $15.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.16 and a beta of 1.06. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA has a 12 month low of $12.78 and a 12 month high of $27.72. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.29. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA (NYSE:FMS Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 9th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.10. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA had a net margin of 3.01% and a return on equity of 5.15%. The business had revenue of $5.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.98 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA Company Profile (Get Free Report Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA provides dialysis and related services for individuals with renal diseases in Germany, North America, and internationally. The company offers dialysis treatment and related laboratory and diagnostic services through a network of outpatient dialysis clinics; materials, training, and patient support services comprising clinical monitoring, follow-up assistance, and arranging for delivery of the supplies to the patient's residence; and dialysis services under contract to hospitals in the United States for the hospitalized end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and for patients suffering from acute kidney failure. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Tembo Gold Corp. (CVE:TEM Get Free Report) insider Phoenix Gold Fund Limited purchased 175,000 shares of Tembo Gold stock in a transaction on Friday, August 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of C$0.20 per share, for a total transaction of C$34,720.00. Tembo Gold Stock Down 2.5 % TEM stock opened at C$0.20 on Thursday. The companys 50 day moving average price is C$0.18 and its 200 day moving average price is C$0.18. The firm has a market capitalization of C$19.85 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.50 and a beta of 0.42. Tembo Gold Corp. has a fifty-two week low of C$0.15 and a fifty-two week high of C$0.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.06, a quick ratio of 5.80 and a current ratio of 1.66. Get Tembo Gold alerts: Tembo Gold Company Profile (Get Free Report) Recommended Stories Tembo Gold Corp., a junior mineral exploration company, engages in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties in Tanzania. The company primarily explores for gold deposits. Its flagship project is the Tembo gold property covering an area of 32 square kilometers located in the Lake Victoria goldfield district in northwest Tanzania. Receive News & Ratings for Tembo Gold Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Tembo Gold and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Cloudflare (NYSE:NET Get Free Report)s stock had its equal weight rating reissued by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $43.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanleys price target suggests a potential downside of 32.40% from the companys current price. Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price objective on Cloudflare from $65.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Cloudflare from $55.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Mizuho upped their target price on Cloudflare from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Guggenheim cut Cloudflare from a neutral rating to a sell rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Cloudflare from $65.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cloudflare has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $66.16. Get Cloudflare alerts: Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Cloudflare Cloudflare Trading Down 4.5 % Insider Buying and Selling NYSE NET traded down $2.98 on Monday, hitting $63.61. 3,313,145 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,251,508. The companys 50 day moving average price is $66.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 3.84 and a quick ratio of 3.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -99.36 and a beta of 0.93. Cloudflare has a twelve month low of $37.37 and a twelve month high of $80.99. In related news, General Counsel Douglas James Kramer sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $150,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 157,454 shares in the company, valued at $7,872,700. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Scott D. Sandell sold 20,307 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.26, for a total value of $1,325,234.82. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,325 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $412,769.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Douglas James Kramer sold 3,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total transaction of $150,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 157,454 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,872,700. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 613,897 shares of company stock worth $39,451,422 in the last three months. 14.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cloudflare Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. TFC Financial Management Inc. purchased a new position in Cloudflare in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Cloudflare in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Belpointe Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Cloudflare in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Cloudflare by 45.4% in the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 682 shares of the companys stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alta Advisers Ltd purchased a new position in Cloudflare in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors own 74.38% of the companys stock. About Cloudflare (Get Free Report) CloudFlare, Inc operates as a cloud services provider that delivers a range of services to businesses worldwide. The company provides an integrated cloud-based security solution to secure a range of combination of platforms, including public cloud, private cloud, on-premise, software-as-a-service applications, and IoT devices; and website and application security products comprising web application firewall, bot management, distributed denial of service, API gateways, SSL/TLS encryption, secure origin connection, and rate limiting products. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Cloudflare Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Cloudflare and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Trane Technologies plc (NYSE:TT Free Report) by 40.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 50,724 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 14,590 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLCs holdings in Trane Technologies were worth $9,332,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of TT. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Trane Technologies during the first quarter valued at approximately $178,000. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in shares of Trane Technologies by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 16,727 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,554,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Trane Technologies during the 1st quarter worth $219,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Trane Technologies by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,133,851 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,769,040,000 after purchasing an additional 77,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Trane Technologies by 3.8% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 956,177 shares of the companys stock valued at $146,008,000 after purchasing an additional 34,591 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.23% of the companys stock. Get Trane Technologies alerts: Insider Transactions at Trane Technologies In other news, SVP Evan M. Turtz sold 6,108 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.21, for a total value of $1,253,422.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,666 shares in the company, valued at $4,035,659.86. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CAO Mark Majocha sold 2,202 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.28, for a total value of $427,804.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,797 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $737,681.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Evan M. Turtz sold 6,108 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.21, for a total transaction of $1,253,422.68. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 19,666 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,035,659.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 20,374 shares of company stock valued at $4,080,669 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the companys stock. Trane Technologies Price Performance Shares of NYSE TT traded up $0.81 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $202.86. 213,980 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,422,149. The firm has a market cap of $46.33 billion, a PE ratio of 24.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Trane Technologies plc has a fifty-two week low of $139.07 and a fifty-two week high of $209.17. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $190.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $183.18. Trane Technologies (NYSE:TT Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 2nd. The company reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $0.12. Trane Technologies had a net margin of 11.18% and a return on equity of 31.22%. The company had revenue of $4.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $4.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.16 EPS. The businesss revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Trane Technologies plc will post 8.86 EPS for the current fiscal year. Trane Technologies Announces Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be issued a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 31st. Trane Technologiess payout ratio is 36.99%. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of research firms have recently issued reports on TT. Citigroup increased their target price on Trane Technologies from $218.00 to $237.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Trane Technologies from $172.00 to $181.00 in a research note on Monday, July 10th. Mizuho upped their target price on Trane Technologies from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. 888 reaffirmed a maintains rating on shares of Trane Technologies in a report on Thursday, May 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Trane Technologies from $184.00 to $183.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $194.81. Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on TT Trane Technologies Company Profile (Free Report) Trane Technologies plc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, sells, and services of solutions for heating, ventilation, air conditioning, custom, and custom and transport refrigeration in Ireland and internationally. It offers air conditioners, exchangers, and handlers; airside and terminal devices; air sourced heat pumps, auxiliary power units; chillers; coils and condensers; gensets; dehumidifiers; ductless; furnaces; home automation products; humidifiers; indoor air quality assessments and related products; large and light commercial unitary products; refrigerant reclamation products; thermostats/controls; transport heater products; variable refrigerant flow products; and water source heat pumps. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Trane Technologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Trane Technologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Primerica (NYSE:PRI Get Free Report) posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday. The financial services provider reported $3.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.81 by $0.18, RTT News reports. The firm had revenue of $688.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $704.91 million. Primerica had a net margin of 16.55% and a return on equity of 29.54%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 2.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.86 earnings per share. Primerica Trading Down 0.7 % Shares of Primerica stock opened at $213.48 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $200.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.41 and a beta of 1.17. Primerica has a 12 month low of $120.18 and a 12 month high of $220.00. Get Primerica alerts: Primerica Dividend Announcement The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. This represents a $2.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 18th. Primericas dividend payout ratio is currently 21.21%. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PRI shares. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Primerica in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. They set a strong-buy rating and a $244.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Primerica from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Primerica from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Saturday, July 8th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Primerica from $240.00 to $260.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $217.50. Check Out Our Latest Report on Primerica Insider Transactions at Primerica In related news, CEO Glenn J. Williams sold 4,000 shares of Primerica stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.25, for a total value of $765,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,543,757.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Primerica news, Director John A. Jr. Addison sold 1,700 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.95, for a total transaction of $322,915.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 18,087 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,435,625.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Glenn J. Williams sold 4,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $191.25, for a total value of $765,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 49,902 shares of the companys stock, valued at $9,543,757.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $2,119,760 in the last quarter. 0.87% of the stock is owned by insiders. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Primerica by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 3,907,117 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $672,962,000 after purchasing an additional 24,125 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Primerica by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,277,573 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $564,529,000 after purchasing an additional 12,990 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Primerica in the 4th quarter worth $210,472,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Primerica by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,112,658 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $133,174,000 after acquiring an additional 6,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Primerica by 27.4% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 811,888 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $115,142,000 after buying an additional 174,822 shares in the last quarter. 91.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. About Primerica (Get Free Report) Primerica, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products to middle-income households in the United States and Canada. The company operates in four segments: Term Life Insurance; Investment and Savings Products; Senior Health; and Corporate and Other Distributed Products. The Term Life Insurance segment underwrites individual term life insurance products. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Primerica Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Primerica and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. ResMed Inc. (NYSE:RMD Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of Moderate Buy from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $263.43. A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of ResMed from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, June 21st. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of ResMed from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $262.00 to $284.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 1st. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of ResMed from $260.00 to $250.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 4th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of ResMed from $280.00 to $260.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of ResMed in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. They issued a buy rating and a $255.00 target price for the company. Get ResMed alerts: Read Our Latest Research Report on ResMed ResMed Stock Up 1.7 % NYSE:RMD traded up $2.95 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $179.87. The company had a trading volume of 351,362 shares, compared to its average volume of 674,183. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 3.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $26.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.48. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $215.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $218.93. ResMed has a twelve month low of $176.14 and a twelve month high of $247.65. ResMed (NYSE:RMD Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The medical equipment provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.67 by ($0.07). ResMed had a net margin of 21.25% and a return on equity of 24.94%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.49 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 22.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that ResMed will post 7.19 earnings per share for the current year. ResMed Increases Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 17th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 16th. This is a boost from ResMeds previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. ResMeds payout ratio is currently 28.85%. Insiders Place Their Bets In other ResMed news, COO Robert Andrew Douglas sold 1,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.22, for a total value of $333,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 252,026 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $56,005,217.72. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other ResMed news, CEO Michael J. Farrell sold 5,675 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $232.10, for a total value of $1,317,167.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 436,930 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $101,411,453. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Robert Andrew Douglas sold 1,500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Monday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $222.22, for a total transaction of $333,330.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 252,026 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $56,005,217.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,075 shares of company stock valued at $5,374,291 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.39% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On ResMed Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of ResMed in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in ResMed during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its position in ResMed by 72.4% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 131 shares of the medical equipment providers stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in ResMed during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in ResMed by 3,940.0% during the 1st quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 202 shares of the medical equipment providers stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.58% of the companys stock. About ResMed (Get Free Report ResMed Inc develops, manufactures, distributes, and markets medical devices and cloud-based software applications for the healthcare markets. The company operates in two segments, Sleep and Respiratory Care, and Software as a Service. It offers various products and solutions for a range of respiratory disorders, including technologies to be applied in medical and consumer products, ventilation devices, diagnostic products, mask systems for use in the hospital and home, headgear and other accessories, dental devices, and cloud-based software informatics solutions to manage patient outcomes, as well as provides customer and business processes. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for ResMed Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for ResMed and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Foreign Minister Park Jin met with the Ethiopian prime minister in Addis Ababa as he seeks support for Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo, Seoul's foreign ministry said Thursday. During his luncheon meeting with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali on Wednesday (local time), Park stressed that Ethiopia serves as a crucial gateway for Korea's diplomacy with Africa as a host of the African Union and called for efforts to further advance their relations into a "strategic partnership." Park also mentioned that he had chosen Ethiopia as the first destination in his African tour as the two countries commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations. Abiy shared Park's views on elevating bilateral ties and stressed cooperation in sectors such as agriculture, mining, industrial technology, health and trade, the ministry said. (Yonhap) Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. Bam Margera has been arrested and cited for alleged public intoxication. The 43-year-old 'Jackass' star was arrested following a row with a woman outside of the Radnor Hotel in Radnor Township, Pennsylvania in the early hours of Wednesday (09.08.23) morning. According to TMZ, law enforcement sources said patrolling officers saw Margera "arguing loudly" with someone outside the hotel in the Philadelphia area at 4.15am. The officers are said to have stopped and made their approach, finding the ex skateboarder allegedly smelling of alcohol and slurring his speech. It's said they took him into custody and then to a nearby police station, where he was issued two citations. One was for alleged public intoxication, while the other was for disorderly conduct. He was later released with no further incident following a call to a friend. Meanwhile, the Radnor Hotel's general manager Louis Prevhost said Bargera tried to get a room at around 3.15am on Wednesday (09.08.23). The star was allegedly upset at not being allowed into the hotel - which is inline with its policy regarding no one who isn't already registered being allowed in after 1am. However, it's said Margera didn't do anything negative, and he didn't even enter the hotel before leaving without incident. Prevhost noted there is no record of anyone at the hotel calling the police, and he's not sure who ended up contacting the authorities. Last month, a judge ruled that the star will stand trial on charges of allegedly punching his brother during a row at their home in Chester County. A judge ruled during a July 27 hearing that in order to remain free on bail, Margera must get a drug and alcohol screening, and he can partake in "no drug or alcohol use". According to court documents, officers responded to an incident at a property in Chester County, Pennsylvania on Sunday (23.04.23) and Jess allegedly told them his TV star brother had banged and kicked his bedroom door and left him a threatening note. Jess is also alleged to have told officers Margera later assaulted him and made threats against him and others in the house. Police said Bam had fled into the woods before they arrived at the scene. After his arraignment, Margera addressed the case in a post on social media in which he denied his brother's claims. Margera wrote: "I just got out of the courthouse with my lawyers. Everything went great and the false accusations of what my brother says are not true and he will be sued for defamation as well as being evicted from Castle Bam sooner than later. "The reason I lost my cool is because I read his phone saying he wants me back in California and he wants to find a way to 302 me. F*** him." The Portuguese man-of-war (sometimes spelled "man-o'-war") is partly transparent, lacks a spine and kills prey with stinging tentacles. If you didn't know any better, you might mistake this thing for a jellyfish. But it's not. Indeed, there's a fundamental difference between them. Every jellyfish is a singular animal, just like you or me. On the other hand, every Portuguese man-of-war is a floating colony made up of smaller, genetically identical entities that all live and work together in concert. Advertisement "The Portuguese man-of-war is colonial and the colony consists of bodies (called zooids)," says biologist Catriona Munro, in an email. She tells us that from an evolutionary standpoint, these bodies are similar "to free living individuals." Their lifestyle isn't all that unique. The Portuguese man-of-war is a siphonophore; it belongs to the Siphonophora order of animals. And when you get right down to it, all known siphonophores, this species included, are just colonies of zooids. "The colony itself functions as an 'individual' and the bodies or units within the colony do not," explains Munro. Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 37321634879546445318178958256678572390 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 132509920391844444201923187434235716888 YEREVAN, AUGUST 9, ARMENPRESS. On August 9, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan had a telephone conversation with U.S. acting Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Yuri Kim, the foreign ministry reported. Minister Mirzoyan briefed on the escalating situation in Nagorno-Karabakh resulting from Azerbaijan's illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor, which has already lasted for about 8 months and which may turn into a real humanitarian catastrophe in front of the eyes of the international community. Minister Mirzoyan emphasized that since June 15, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh have been under a total blockade, facing an acute shortage of food, medicine and other essential supplies. The minister added that the continuous deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh threatens the efforts of Armenia and the international community aimed at establishing stable peace in the region. He underscored the need to make the best use of existing mechanisms and to immediately lift the blockade of the Lachin corridor in accordance with the Orders of the International Court of Justice. Both sides stressed the need to take steps in order to resolve the situation and agreed to continue contacts in that direction. Minister Mirzoyan emphasized the imperative of joint efforts of the international community in the current situation. Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 1671815386587046159813371080597489009146 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 1338359978130937279616528766582923169918 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 1547023817256153619614356086018121944146 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 129295520306528050735991976850506918596 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 77831184307349058031962767769986602954 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 67875765946299036674590389460854482555 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 366025046351205010410405848425100198042 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 48336583929885282732444971640694875196 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 1725050678308923976614853545358010122392 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 10594876333139660316668712601142725973 YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Several hundred protesters blocked one side of the 134 Freeway in Glendale, California Wednesday night to call attention to the humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh resulting from Azerbaijans blockade of Lachin Corridor. Using a big rig, protesters blocked off the eastbound side of the freeway at Central and Brand avenues, ABC7 reports. Protesters then gathered on freeway lanes and unfurled signs calling for support from U.S. Congressman Adam Schiff, a staunch supporter of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. Protesters have also been showing up at Schiff's local office in recent days, calling on the Democratic congressman to do more to support their cause, according to ABC7. In the past, Schiff has issued statements condemning the blockade and calling for the Biden Administration to take action. He also has authored a House resolution calling for recognition of Artsakh's sovereignty and condemning Azerbaijan's aggression. In a statement released August 7, Schiff said, With Azerbaijan's refusal to allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to deliver lifesaving humanitarian aid in, and transport patients requiring urgent medical attention out of Artsakh, the need for the international community to take action and find a lasting solution to the conflict grows with each passing day. I've persistently called for Azerbaijan to lift the blockade and allow humanitarian aid to move freely via the Lachin Corridor, and I have urged President Biden to take immediate action to address the dire situation in Artsakh. On Wednesday, he issued a new statement which read: "I stand with the people of Armenia, Artsakh, and the Armenian-American community - not only my constituents but those around the world. I hear and see your pain over the inhumane situation your brothers and sisters are facing. From condemning ceasefire violations, to advocating for the release of Armenian prisoners of war, to calling for sanctions and accountability for Azerbaijan, I've always been, and will continue to be, steadfast in my commitment to ensuring the protection of fundamental rights for the people of Artsakh." I am in communication with the Biden Administration, the State Department, and my Congressional colleagues and am advocating for using all tools at our disposal, including pushing for U.S. humanitarian aid to Artsakh, cutting off military and other assistance to Azerbaijan, and imposing sanctions on those responsible for this crisis. I will be with you every step of the way and will always stand with the people of Armenia and Artsakh." Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 109220362700488634417056221774040375135 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 36111822500787089187347568167667364852 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 100678673531614708124913560669727286986 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 35593307749588949594763839147171028892 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 147955694096502601968485997613619255724 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 1663776661542830251312787004542511688405 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 97984127289850475936703397932870894375 Validating your browser . . . Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Please enable cookies and reload the page. This may take up to 5 seconds Event ID: 76911813696027991222758495490117439328 On 9 August US Christian humanitarian aid organisation El Roi Haiti announced the release of US citizenand her child, who were kidnapped in Haitis capital Port-au-Prince on 27 July. End of preview - This article contains approximately 384 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options On 9 August a gunman assassinated Fernando Villavicencio, a presidential candidate in Ecuadors 20 August general election. Analysis: Villavicencios murder marks a new low point in Ecuadors ongoing security meltdown, in which political violence has surged amid the explosive growth of drug trafficking groups. Representing the centrist Construye, Villavicencio had based his campaign on pledges to crack down on corruption and crime. Whilst not a favourite to win the election, he had a reasonable chance of making the second round run-off, and with up to 50% of voters saying that they are still undecided, could not have been ruled out as a potential victor. Ecuadors largest crime gang, Los Lobos, took responsibility for the assassination and suggested that it owed to Villavicencios alleged failure to uphold promises made to the group in return for campaign donations. This may have been an attempt to taint the reputation of security hardliners in the election, with the gang also naming Jan Topic of the Alianza por un Pais Sin Miedo coalition. Villavicencio was shot dead as he left a campaign rally in Quito. A further nine people were injured in the attack, and the suspected gunman was then killed in a shootout with the security forces. Villavicencio, who based his campaign on security and anti-corruption pledges, was a potential contender for the elections second round run-off, which will be held if no candidate secures 40% of the vote plus a ten percentage point lead. Villavicencio scored between second and fifth place in different polls in recent weeks, with as many as half of respondents saying that they had not decided who to vote for. In a video posted on social media, a group of armed men wearing balaclavas and claiming to be members of Los Lobos took responsibility for Villavicencios assassination. One of the group read a statement saying that every time corrupt politicians dont make good on the promises they make when they receive our money, which is millions of dollars to finance their campaign, they will be killed. The man singled out Topic, warning that if you dont keep your word you will be next. Villavicencio had said on 4 August that he had received death threats from another criminal gang, Los Choneros, but said that he would not let these stop him from campaigning. Following his murder, relatives of Villavicencio accused the authorities of not taking sufficient action to ensure his safety. The attorney generals office announced last night that six people had been arrested in connection with the assassination following raids at two locations in Quito, and said that weapons had been seized from one of the addresses. President Guillermo Lasso declared a 60-day nationwide state of exception in response to the killing, which will see the armed forces deployed to assist with domestic security and the holding of the elections. He also declared a three-day period of national mourning. declared a 60-day nationwide state of exception in response to the killing, which will see the armed forces deployed to assist with domestic security and the holding of the elections. He also declared a three-day period of national mourning. Lasso, who is not seeking re-election, said that the terrorist assassination would not result in the suspension of the elections, saying that this is the best reason to vote and defend democracy. Topic and Yaku Perez , of the left-wing Claro Que Se Puede, both announced the temporary suspension of their campaigns in response to Villavicencios murder. , of the left-wing Claro Que Se Puede, both announced the temporary suspension of their campaigns in response to Villavicencios murder. The US ambassador in Ecuador, Michael Fitzpatrick, said the US government is ready to assist in the investigation into the assassination. Looking Ahead: With large swathes of voters still undecided, according to polls, the assassination could impact the election by increasing support for hardline security candidates such as Topic, an outsider proposing radical security policies inspired by El Salvadors President Nayib Bukele. YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Human rights advocate, lawyer Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab has reacted to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh after a former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court warned that Azerbaijans blockade of Lachin Corridor constitutes genocide. Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab is a programme lawyer with the IBA's Human Rights Institute and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. Dr Ochab works on the topic of genocide, with specific focus on the persecution of ethnic and religious minorities around the world. In an article titled Lachin Corridor Blockade Starves Nagorno-Karabakh the lawyer said that the reports of the dire situation in Nagorno-Karabakh must be taken seriously at last and acted upon. As Nagorno-Karabakh is being starved, the international community cannot continue looking away as it has done for the last eight months. The people of Nagorno-Karabakh require urgent assistance without any further excuses, she added, noting the first Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampos expert opinion which determined that Azerbaijan is committing genocide in Nagorno-Karabakh. Ochab cited the August 7, 2023 statement by a group of United Nations experts who raised the alarming situation in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the ongoing blockade of the Lachin Corridor by Azerbaijan. Colombia, a vibrant South American gem, invites tourists with its captivating landscapes, rich history, and warm culture. Go on an unforgettable journey through this diverse nation, where stunning natural beauty and captivating urban hubs await your exploration. Continue reading to discover the perfect travel itinerary that showcases Colombia's finest offerings. Planning Your Trip Before you jet off to Colombia, outline your travel itinerary. Decide which regions and cities you want to explore. Think of the logistics before booking anything. Are you drawn to the bustling streets of Bogota, the tropical vibes of Cartagena, or the tranquility of the Amazon rainforest? Entry Requirements and Visa For many nationalities, Colombia offers a tourist visa on arrival, allowing you to stay for up to 90 days. Citizens of certain countries, including the United States, European Union member states, and several South American countries, can enter Colombia without a visa for short stays. It's important to check the entry requirements for Colombia specific to your country before you travel. Best Time to Visit Colombia's diverse climate means that the best time to visit varies by region. The dry season December to March and July to August is ideal for most regions. The cloudy season from April to May and October to November, is low-season, when it's sunny in the morning and cloudy or rainy in the day. The Amazon rainforest is best to visit from November to February. Budget Considerations Colombia is known for offering excellent value for money. Your budget will depend on factors such as accommodation, transportation, dining, and activities. Generally, you can experience Colombia's highlights without breaking the bank. 7 Day Itinerary Day 1: Arrival in Bogota Your Colombian adventure commences in Bogota, the sprawling capital city nestled amidst the Andes Mountains. Begin your day with a visit to the iconic Gold Museum, which houses an astonishing collection of pre-Hispanic gold artifacts. Wander through the charming streets of La Candelaria, an enchanting colonial neighborhood adorned with colorful facades. Day 2: Coffee Delights in the Coffee Triangle Go to the famed Coffee Triangle, a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its lush coffee plantations and breathtaking vistas. Learn about the coffee-making process during a guided tour of a coffee farm. Get your caffeine dose in freshly brewed Colombian coffee while soaking in the picturesque surroundings. Day 3: Medellin In Medellin, experience a city transformed. Visit Comuna 13, once a notorious neighborhood now revitalized with vibrant street art and community projects. See from above the cityscape in the Metrocable, offering panoramic views of this progressive metropolis. Day 4: Caribbean Charms of Cartagena Fly to Cartagena, where history and beauty collide. Walk through the cobblestone streets of the Old Town, surrounded by well-preserved colonial architecture. Explore the imposing San Felipe de Barajas Castle, a testament to Colombia's rich past. Day 5: Tayrona National Park Don't miss a nature-filled escapade to Tayrona National Park, where dense jungles meet pristine beaches. Trek along scenic trails to reach hidden bays like Playa Cristal and Cabo San Juan, where turquoise waters seduce for a refreshing swim. Tip: If you are not interested in this, change it to a day trip from Cartagena to Guatepe. Day 6: Cali's Salsa Rhythms Feel the energy of Cali, Colombia's salsa capital. Take a salsa dancing lesson to immerse yourself in the city's vibrant culture. Enjoy a night of electrifying dance performances at a local salsa club. Day 7: Departure As your Colombian journey draws to a close, take a moment to reflect on the incredible experiences you've had. Colombia's diverse offerings will have left an indelible mark on your heart. Don't Postpone this Trip Colombia, a land of astonishing contrasts, invites you to explore its treasures. With a meticulously crafted itinerary that unveils the best of this enchanting nation, you'll create memories to last a lifetime. Don't miss the chance to go on this remarkable journey. Book your Colombian adventure today and unlock the door to a world of wonder and discovery! In a stunning loss for anti-abortion rights advocates, Ohio has rejected a Republican-backed constitutional amendment, Issue 1, that would hamper abortion rights in the state. Issue 1 would have raised the voting threshold for future constitutional amendments to 60% from a bare majority and derailed Ohio abortion rights. The measure mobilized Ohioans who came in droves to vote for or against the measure. BBC noted that more ballots were cast in the special vote on Issue 1 than the primaries for governor, Senate, House, and other major state-wide races in last year's midterms. Nearly all of the votes have been tallied and around 57% of voters had rejected Issue 1. Only 43% voted yes to the Republican-backed measure, which would have made it harder to place amendments before voters in the first place. Petitioners need to gather signatures from 5% of eligible voters in each of Ohio's 88 counties to do this. Currently, it only needs to have signatures from at least 44 counties. What Does Issue 1 Have To Do With Ohio Abortion Rights? For the elections in November, a proposed amendment to Ohio's constitution would enshrine abortion rights. To stop this, Republicans introduced Issue 1, which would make the proposed amendment harder to pass as it would require 60% of votes to be enshrined in the state constitution. Now that Issue 1 has been rejected, that 60% threshold would not be needed in November, with abortion rights just needing a simple majority to pass and be enshrined in the state constitution of Ohio. READ NEXT: California Serial Stabbings Suspect Carlos Dominguez Mentally Unfit To Stand Trial Republican state lawmakers have openly admitted that Issue 1 was to make things harder for abortion rights in the November election, though the state's chief election official, Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, noted that "Issue 1 was about protecting the Ohio constitution from outside moneyed interests." President Joe Biden lauded the opposition against Issue 1, saying, "Today, Ohio voters rejected an effort by Republican lawmakers and special interests to change the state's constitutional amendment process." According to NBC News, he also added, "This measure was a blatant attempt to weaken voters' voices and further erode the freedom of women to make their own health care decisions. Ohioans spoke loud and clear, and tonight democracy won." Ohio Abortion Rights Advocates Turn Their Attention to November Vote With Issue 1 defeated, Ohio abortion rights advocates are now moving on to their next battle, and that is the November elections, which includes the measure to enshrine abortion rights into the Ohio constitution. Kelly Hall, executive director of The Fairness Project, praised the win, telling CBS News, "It's absolutely appropriate that it's decided by the majority of Ohioans and Ohioans are not beholden to the views of a 40% minority." A poll last July found that 58% of likely voters might back the abortion rights amendment. Rhiannon Carnes, spokeswoman for Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, told CBS News, "Ohioans still have a voice and an opportunity this November to ensure families have the freedom to make decisions that are best for them, free from government meddling and interference." READ MORE: Donald Trump's Rants and Attacks Vs. Judge, Special Counsel Jack Smith Could Lead to Gag Orders This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Ohio voters reject Issue 1 in special election - WFAA The Brazil Amazon Summit concluded on Wednesday with the adoption of a roadmap aimed at safeguarding the tropical rainforests. This effort has been hailed as a significant stride in addressing climate change concerns, even though it falls short of the specific commitments some environmental advocates were hoping for in terms of ending deforestation, AP reports. Leaders and officials from eight Amazonian nations came together in Belem, Brazil, on Tuesday to endorse a declaration outlining strategies to balance economic development in their respective countries with the imperative of preventing irreversible degradation of the Amazon Forest. Critics from various environmental organizations characterized the declaration as a collection of noble intentions lacking quantifiable objectives and clear timelines. Nonetheless, it received praise from certain quarters, including Amazon's coalition of Indigenous groups, who found satisfaction in acknowledging two of their primary demands. The WWF, an international environmental organization, noted the significance of regional leaders heeding scientific warnings and societal calls regarding the perilous state of the Amazon Forest. However, the WWF expressed regret that the eight Amazonian nations did not reach a common point to end deforestation in the region. READ NEXT: Brazil: Lula Calls for Amazon Forest Protection Amazon Countries Failure to Reach 'Common Point to End Deforestation' Impacts Battle with Climate Change The inability of these Amazonian countries to forge a consensus on forest protection underscores broader global challenges in formulating agreements to combat climate change, according to Reuters. Critics argue that policymakers are not acting swiftly enough to avert catastrophic global warming. Marcio Astrini, representing the Climate Observatory environmental lobby, highlighted the situation's urgency, stating that with the planet undergoing alarming temperature rises, it's inconceivable that the eight Amazonian nations couldn't unanimously declare the imperative of zero deforestation. While Presidents from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru attended the summit, high-ranking officials represented Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. Bolivia and Venezuela were the sole Amazon countries that did not sign the 2021 agreement among over 100 nations to strive for a halt in deforestation by 2030. Thousands of Indigenous Activists Gather for Parallel Summit in Belem Leading up to the summit, Indigenous activists held a parallel gathering in Belem to amplify their calls for increased government backing in safeguarding the Amazon Forest, per The Guardian. Tragedies such as the murders of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira have underscored the risks involved in such endeavors. These activists also advocate for a commitment to protect 80% of the Amazon Forest by 2025. The departure from the chaotic Amazon policies of former President Bolsonaro by current President Lula has garnered relief and apprehension among campaigners. While his administration has already managed a 42.5% reduction in deforestation, concerns persist that the predominantly conservative Brazil congress might hinder Lula's ambitious environmental agenda. Alessandra Korap, a Munduruku people leader, highlighted the challenges posed by political opposition and urged Brazil President Lula to take a firm stance against oil exploration in the Amazon and to counter contentious draft legislation that could undermine Indigenous land claims established before Brazil's 1988 constitution, which, she warned, could have dire consequences for Indigenous communities. READ MORE: Brazil President Lula Offers To Help Free Imprisoned Bishop in Nicaragua This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Bert Hoover WATCH: Indigenous communities demand greater change as Amazon rainforest summit begins - From Guardian News A wind-driven wildfire on Hawaii's Maui Island has tragically claimed the lives of at least six individuals, as announced by Maui Mayor Richard Bissen Jr, CBS News reports. The fast-moving fires have ravaged the area, prompting an ongoing search and rescue operation. Mayor Bissen Jr. expressed uncertainty regarding the final toll, given the ongoing rescue efforts and the potential for further developments. The circumstances surrounding the fatalities have not been disclosed. Mayor Bissen Jr. confirmed the death toll before addressing the media and other officials. Several individuals remain unaccounted for, potentially including those in vehicles who have not sought refuge in shelters. More than 2,100 people have sought shelter in the five shelters that have been established on the island. The fires have also led to power outages in certain areas, affecting shelters and local hotels. Acting Governor Sylvia Luke informed reporters that certain shelters had become overcrowded. It discouraged incoming tourists from traveling to the island. The situation has forced some individuals to seek refuge in the ocean to escape the encroaching flames and smoke. The Coast Guard reported rescuing a dozen individuals in Lahaina who had taken to the water as a means of escape, while local hospitals have begun treating burn patients. READ NEXT: Hawaii: Mauna Loa Erupts What Started Maui Island Fires? The ignition source of the Maui Island fires remains uncertain, per USA TODAY. The increase in wildfires in Hawaii over recent decades has been attributed, in part, to nonnative grasslands introduced by various groups, including plantations and ranchers unfamiliar with the native ecosystems. Dry and fire-prone, these grasses have contributed to more extensive and intense fires in the region. Factors such as high winds and low humidity likely exacerbated the fires' spread, but specific details remain limited, according to Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, the commander general of the Hawaii Army National Guard. The National Weather Service had alerted authorities to the elevated fire risk due to prolonged dry conditions. The powerful winds accompanying Hurricane Dora, a Category 4 storm in the Pacific Ocean, significantly contributed to the fires' progression, resulting in gusts of up to 60 miles per hour that damaged homes and knocked out power. President Joe Biden Sends Military To Help With Hawaii's Maui Island Fires In response to the disaster, President Joe Biden issued a statement in which he authorized the deployment of "all available Federal assets" to combat the devastating Maui Island fires, according to AP. The Coast Guard, Navy, and Marines are assisting with response and rescue efforts, with the Marines contributing Black Hawk helicopters for fire suppression. The Hawaii National Guard has also activated Chinook helicopters to aid firefighting, search, and rescue operations. The Transportation Department is collaborating with commercial airlines to evacuate tourists from the island. At the same time, the Interior and Agriculture departments stand ready to support post-fire recovery endeavors. President Biden extended condolences to the victims' families and expressed gratitude for the courage firefighters, and first responders had to confront the crisis head-on. READ MORE: Hawaii: Surfing Star Mikala Jones Dies This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Bert Hoover WATCH: Deadly wildfires burning parts of the Hawaiian island of Maui, evacuations in place - From KREM 2 News A brawl erupted between a group of people and several white boaters in Montgomery, Alabama, August 5. That viral brawl was caught on video and has since become viral and inspired memes that are blowing up all over social media. What started this melee, though? As the viral video suggests, a group of white men started attacking a black dockworker who was just asking them to move their pontoon boat from the dock so that a riverboat filled with around 200 passengers could dock. Yo this is wild A group of white men attacked a black security guard after the security asked them to move their pontoon boat so the big Harriot can dock. They refused to & attacked the security guard. A group of black men seen & went defend him by beating the white men pic.twitter.com/Qzo3U3Kq1r Shannonnn sharpes Burner (PARODY Account) (@shannonsharpeee) August 6, 2023 The white boaters refused to move their small pontoon, leading to a confrontation, which then led to the boaters attacking the dock worker. However, several others rushed to the dock worker's aid, and an all-out brawl ensued. Police later arrived but were initially ineffective at starting the brawl. In the end, they finally broke the fight, leading to the arrests of some of the white boaters. This happened in one of Montgomery, Alabama's biggest tourist spots, the Riverfront, which also has a riverboat attraction. The white boaters were blocking that riverboat from docking, angering many of the passengers who captured the brawl on camera. Christa Owen, who was aboard the riverboat, the Harriott II, spoke with NBC News and stated that she was with her daughter and husband when the confrontation started. "What was hard is we were all on the boat and witnessing our poor crewman being attacked by these guys, and we couldn't do anything about it," said the passenger. "It was really difficult to watch, and, like I said, we felt helpless, because we were forced to be spectators." She then called the actions of the rowdy boaters "inexcusable." Warrants Issued Regarding the Viral Alabama Dock Brawl Montgomery Police arrived at the scene and described the situation as d "a large group of subjects engaged in a physical altercation." They detained several involved in the Alabama brawl, though charges are still pending. Many of those arrested included the white boaters who initiated the brawl. According to CNN, there are now four active warrants that have been signed by a judge, and Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed vowed that "justice will be served." READ NEXT: California Serial Stabbings Suspect Carlos Dominguez Mentally Unfit To Stand Trial Memes Explode After Alabama Dock Brawl Went Viral The brawl was filled with meme-worthy moments, from a man with a steel chair running down to clobber one of the boaters to a kid swimming across the river to help the dockworker out. Needless to say, the moments from the wild brawl sparked a lot of memes. This probably the best view of went down in Montgomery Alabama pic.twitter.com/FrUxk8ES0E Timmy&Jimmy (@mickeywon234) August 7, 2023 Nah this edit has me on the floor lmaoo pic.twitter.com/zRZdYh3jIo Sylvia (@SylviaObell) August 7, 2023 i sat down and spoke with the chair from #montgomery and got the inside scoop. tune in this afternoon pic.twitter.com/NieTgCX8Cw Tre Melvin (@TreMelvin) August 7, 2023 Facebook has got me rolling!!!!!! Not the chair earrings pic.twitter.com/Uyz1QRxLeu colorfullstory (@colorfullstory) August 7, 2023 I love the internet pic.twitter.com/hPS2ZrQqYl Aaron Busby (@MrBusby4o8) August 7, 2023 Legends shirt here https://t.co/uLRP4UThQO Alter Ego (@uyajuswaa) August 7, 2023 I never seen a picture so accurate in my life pic.twitter.com/sQy8vH4Lvo Nicole Nicole (@niicole__nicole) August 7, 2023 READ NEXT: Ohio Rejects Issue 1 in Big Loss for Anti-Abortion Groups This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Alabama Riverboat UPDATE: Charges Handed Out In VIOLENT Dockside Brawl - The Hill Former president Donald Trump is also facing an election interference probe in Georgia, and a Georgia sheriff is warning him that he might actually have his mugshot taken this time, unlike his previous indictments. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to drop indictments against the former president in August, and when this does happen, Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat says Donald Trump will have his mugshot taken. When asked why he would be doing this, the sheriff answered, "First and foremost, we will follow our own policies and procedures." He added, "We simply don't ... give any leniency just because of your status. Ultimately, there may be a court order that his lawyers may ask for, there may be some alternate ... processes around it, but we'll stay focused on our policies and procedures. And if a mugshot is warranted, we'll follow that policy and procedure as well." According to The Independent, Sheriff Labat noted that the case is in Fulton County, where Atlanta is. Because of this, they get plenty of high-profile cases, and his Georgia election interference case will be no different. "And so again, we treat everybody equally," he said. The sheriff also stated that he took notes from Trump's previous arraignments, saying, "We've certainly learned from both New York as well as Miami. So, we've got a lot of different agencies involved." Donald Trump Vows To Violate Protective Order in Federal Election Interference Case The Georgia Election Interference case is running alongside the bigger federal criminal case where Trump was indicted and charged with over 30 crimes. After attacking the judge and Special Counsel Jack Smith, a protective order was requested, with Smith's prosecutors arguing that Trump might intimidate witnesses through his attacks on social media. However, despite the protective order looming, Donald Trump is signaling that he will continue his social media attacks and violate that protective order. "Crooked Joe now wants the thug prosecutor, this deranged guy, to file a court order taking away my First Amendment rights so that I can't speak...I will talk about it. I will. They're not taking away my First Amendment right," Trump said during a campaign stop. READ MORE: Donald Trump vs. E. Jean Carroll: Ex-POTUS Gets Big Loss in Defamation Counterclaim According to Rolling Stone, Magistrate Judge Moxila A. Upadhyaya told Trump during the hearing that "it is a crime to try to influence a juror or to threaten or attempt to bribe a witness or any other person who may have information about your case, or to retaliate against anyone for providing information about your case to the prosecution, or to otherwise obstruct the administration of justice." Trump reportedly affirmed that he understood the judge's warning during his hearing on Thursday, yet in public, Trump continued to threaten not just the judge and the special counsel but also potential star witness Mike Pence, Trump's vice president. Chris Christie Fires Back at Donald Trump While out campaigning, Trump also attacked former New Jersey Governor and GOP presidential nomination rival Chris Christie, calling him a "fat pig," However, Christie is firing back. "If you had the guts you would show up to the debate and say it to my face," said the former New Jersey governor, who remains one of the loudest Trump critics in the Republican party. According to The Independent, Trump had been focusing on Christie's weight in his attacks. However, he could not answer the former governor's criticisms of Trump's policies and current court cases. READ MORE: Court Finds Donald Trump Liable for Sexual Abuse This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: More than a dozen indictments expected from Georgia DA in Trump case - CNN A Utah man lost his life in a fatal shooting during an early morning FBI raid Wednesday, as confirmed by the FBI to ABC News. The operation was conducted in connection with an ongoing investigation into alleged threats made against President Joe Biden and other individuals. Two officials who were briefed on the matter disclosed that the investigation was initiated in April and subsequently relayed to the US Secret Service by the FBI in June. Apart from online threats, the individual under scrutiny had indicated his intention to take physical action. These threats were regarded as "credible" by officials. The shooting incident transpired around 6:15 a.m. local time during the execution of arrest and search warrants at a residence in Provo by special agents from the FBI's Salt Lake City division. READ NEXT: Utah Man Shot 12 Times by Police The Threats Utah Man Posted Prosecutors have alleged that the man, identified as Craig Robertson, had posted threatening content on social media, including a post on Monday stating, "I hear Biden is coming to Utah. Digging out my old Ghille suit and cleaning the dust off the m24 sniper rifle. Welcome, [sic] buffoon-in-chief!" The FBI spokesperson informed Fox News that the incident is under investigation. A law enforcement source confirmed that the individual was armed. President Joe Biden visited Salt Lake City Wednesday. A complaint filed by prosecutors in US District Court, Utah district, charged Robertson with interstate threats, influencing, impeding, and retaliating against federal law enforcement officers through threats and threats against the president. The prosecutors' complaint alleges that Robertson threatened to kill Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and posted content indicating his intent to kill D.A. Bragg and President Biden. His social media posts also contained threats against other politicians, including California Governor Gavin Newsom. Moreover, Robertson also threatens to kill US Vice President Kamala Harris. An FBI agent mentioned in a court filing that Robertson seemed to possess a sniper rifle, a ghillie suit, and other firearms. The US Secret Service, via a spokesperson, addressed the incident on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), acknowledging their awareness of the FBI's investigation involving an individual in Utah who had exhibited threats towards a Secret Service protectee. The statement indicated that the FBI led the effort and directed inquiries to the FBI and DOJ. "We are aware of the FBI investigation involving an individual in Utah who has exhibited threats towards a Secret Service protectee. While we always remain in close coordination with the Bureau, this is an FBI-led effort, and we refer any related questions to the FBI and DOJ," the spokesperson wrote. FBI Previously Visited the Utah Man for His Threats on Social Media Earlier in March, FBI agents visited Robertson's residence due to a concerning social media post, according to CNN. Robertson's responses during this interaction were evasive, with him allegedly stating, "I said it was a dream!" and "We're done here! Don't return without a warrant." Following this encounter, the Utah man purportedly continued to threaten FBI agents through online posts, one of which was cited in court documents saying: "To my friends in the federal bureau of idiots: I know you're reading this and you have no idea how close your agents came to 'bang.'" READ MORE: Utah Woman Charged With Murdering Husband This is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Bert Hoover WATCH: Utah man killed by FBI after threats against Biden, other politicians - From LiveNOW from FOX An assassination has rocked Ecuador as presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot dead while leaving a campaign event in Quinto. President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination before condemning the attack. Lasso, an outgoing president, stated that he was "outraged and shocked by the assassination" and stated that he will convene a meeting of his security cabinet. "For his memory and his fight, I assure you that this crime will not remain unpunished," the president added. According to The Guardian, Fernando Villavicencio is a well-known anti-corruption advocate and former journalist who had previously worked for the publication. The publication described its former journalist as "outspoken about alleged links between organized crime and politics." While leaving the campaign event in Quinta, Villavicencio was surrounded by supporters and was also escorted by security guards as he made his way to his vehicle. A video circulated on social media showed that gunshots rang out and people started screaming before the Ecuador presidential candidate was shot dead. Villavicencio's uncle, Galo Valencia, then blasted the state for not providing enough security, as there were also reports of supporters being injured. "What we witnessed was like a horror film. The death of my relative. I have no words for what's happening in the country. They just killed democracy," said Valencia. Fernando Villavicencio Also Shot Dead Fernando Villavicencio, a member of Ecuador's national assembly, was reportedly shot three times, according to witnesses. The suspect who shot him is now also dead, shot by the candidate's security personnel. According to the BBC, nine people were also injured, including a political candidate running for the national assembly and two police officers. READ NEXT: Christina Aguilera Net Worth 2023 So far, six arrests have been made, with the main suspect who killed Villavicencio already dead. The shooter reportedly died from wounds sustained from the shootout that happened after the candidate was shot. So far, no details have emerged as to who ordered the assassination, though just a few days before the shooting, the former Guardian journalist stated on national TV that he received several death threats from the jailed leader of the Choneros gang, known as "Alias Fito." The gang leader reportedly ordered the candidate to stop mentioning his name, but Villavicencio continued to defy this. Who Was Fernando Villavicencio? Fernando Villavicencio is an outspoken critic of organized groups such as the one led by "El Fito," which has ties with the infamous Sinaloa Cartel. His candidacy was often seen as a threat to these criminal groups as he often promised to go after them, as well as the politicians and officials that they are working with. Before he died, he was an assemblyman who was outspoken against corruption. According to the Associated Press, as a journalist, he made a name for himself investigating corruption in previous governments. He particularly rankled ex-President Rafael Correa while he was president. READ NEXT: 5 Most Bizarre Foods in Ecuadorian Cuisine This article is owned by Latin Post. Written by: Rick Martin WATCH: Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio shot, killed at campaign event - CBS Miami Bethlehem bars had long cashed in on Musikfest by refilling festival mugs at discounted rates. But the practice was almost iced during Musikfest 2010. Authorities asking for clarification from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board found out the mug refills were technically illegal. A Northampton County court ruling from the early 90s had deemed takeout beer sold in open containers violated the liquor code but only in that county. That meant that bars like Rippers Pub and Bethlehem Brew Works were blindsided by warnings to stop. Not that that stopped them. Chuck Kovacs, owner of Rippers (a bar at the center of the earlier court ruling) reasoned the state liquor code allowed for the sale of up to 192 ounces of beer for takeout but didnt specify what kind of container it should go in. Would they prefer us to sell (six-pack bottles) and have people walk around with projectiles in the street? Kovacs asked, rhetorically. Thankfully, we didnt have to find out. Pennsylvania legislators the following year carved out an exception during Musikfest, allowing the refills to continue. More on Musikfest 10 Musikfest 40 for 40: 2010Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor The March of Dimes Top Chef Challenge is held at Musikfest for the first time. Eight chefs were given mystery baskets of 16 ingredients (and had to use 12) with the theme baby food. The contents? Lobster, clams, shrimp, strawberries, baby carrots, petite rack of lamb, Israeli cous cous and bok choy. Musikfest turns to social networking to build its audience. Organizers are proud of the Musikfest account nearing 20,000 Facebook fans in 2010. (Today, it has 110,000 followers.) Musikfest 40 for 40: 2010Ashli Truchon | lehighvalleylive.com contributor Headliners: Counting Crows with Augustana; Norah Jones with Elvis Perkins; Martina McBride; Lynyrd Skynyrd; Heart; The Doobie Brothers; Styx and Blue Oyster Cult; Adam Lambert with Orianthi and Allison Iraheta; Selena Gomez & the Scene with JLS and Hot Chelle Rae; Sublime With Rome and special guests The Dirty Heads and The Movement Estimated attendance: 1.06 million MUSIKFEST 40 FOR 40 Musikfest 40 for 40 is a special series based on archived stories from The Express-Times and lehighvalleylive.com, one for each year of Musikfests four decades. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Gnel Sanosyan has met with the new Iranian Ambassador Mehdi Sobhani. Minister Sanosyan welcomed the newly appointed ambassador and wished him success during his mission in Armenia, the ministry said in a readout. Both sides attached importance to the warm, friendly Armenian-Iranian relations and the need to develop it. I am happy to note that our relations are developing with good pace, but there is great potential to develop and enhance the relations in other directions as well, Sanosyan said, highlighting the importance of the existing cooperation in the energy sector. The course of joint projects was discussed during the meeting. Sanosyan attached importance to the need for completing the projects in the defined timeframes. The need for a speedy completion of the construction of the third power transmission line between Iran and Armenia was underscored. The Iranian Ambassador said he will make sure that the work implemented in Armenia gets completed within the defined timeframes. Both sides attached importance to the involvement of Iranian construction companies in construction processes taking place in Armenia. Issues related to road construction and mining were also discussed. The long-awaited opening of German discount grocer Aldi at Bethlehem Plaza in Bethlehem Township is just two weeks away. Aldi on Thursday announced its grand opening is set for 8:45 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 24, in space previously occupied by Kmart at 3833 Nazareth Pike, near Routes 22 and 191. The new store is replacing an existing Aldi at 3050 Easton Ave. in the township, which is set to close Aug. 23. Caliber Collision has since submitted plans before the townships Planning Commission to move into the former Aldi property. Planners will hear the application during the commissions Aug. 28 meeting. The first 100 customers of the new store will receive a gift bag filled with a sampling of Aldi fan favorites products, according to the announcement; all shoppers will be invited to enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win a $500 Aldi gift card. Aldi is known for its low-cost groceries, everything from organic produce to sustainable seafood to gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan foods to meats and cheeses. The chain stocks about 10% national brands and 90% of its own exclusive brands. The new store additionally will offer curbside pickup and grocery delivery options. As a way to keep costs down and parking lots more tidy, Aldi also follows a European system when it comes to their carts. Locks are attached to handlebars of each cart with patrons needing to insert a quarter into slots to release the locks. When their shopping is complete, shoppers then return the carts to the corral at the front of the store, insert the chain from the cart in front of theirs, and quarters are released back to shoppers. Bob Grammer, Center Valley regional vice president for ALDI, said in a news release the revamped Bethlehem Township store is sure to make shopping smarter, faster and easier for shoppers. We are always looking out for the needs of our shoppers and decided to move our Bethlehem store to allow more room for added fresh, high-quality products at affordable prices, which our loyal shoppers know and love, Grammer added. Aldi operates more than 2,000 stores across 36 states, with over 25,000 employees. The companys U.S. headquarters is in Batavia, Illinois. Regionally, Aldi has stores in the Nazareth, Easton and Allentown areas. The Pohatcong Township Aldi opened in February 2018 and the Aldi in the Dorneyville Shopping Center in South Whitehall Township opened in November 2022. James Balliet, the Bethlehem Plazas leasing agent, previously said Aldi is using 22,000 square feet of the 105,000-square-foot former Kmart site. The Kmart interior was gutted prior to Aldi signing onto the lease. The James Balliet Property Group continues to seek new tenants for the rest of the space. The Kmart space has been vacant since July 2013. Kmart in October 2018 declared bankruptcy beneath a reported $11.3 billion in debt. Former Kmarts in Allentown, Wind Gap and South Whitehall Township have been transformed into other businesses. The former Kmart in Wilson Borough remains vacant except for occasional pop-up seasonal stores. Aldi is set to join these tenants at Bethlehem Plaza: Dollar Tree, Hibachi Grill, China King, and a tanning and nail salon. The shopping center also sits across from Bethlehem Square, which includes T.J. Maxx & HomeGoods, Walmart, Home Depot and a Giant Food Store as its anchors, as well as some smaller retailers like Bath & Body Works and GameStop. Editors note: This story has been updated with new details from the Bethlehem Township planning office. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Easton elected official Taiba Sultana on Wednesday night attended her first meeting of the city council since being arrested last month in what police described as a domestic incident. The city councilwoman made no public statements during the brief meeting in City Hall on her situation, and declined to comment afterward. Sultana, 39, was held in Northampton County Prison before being released on $20,000 unsecured bail the day after her arrest July 31 in the alleged incident at her South Side home. She is charged with simple assault and harassment. A preliminary hearing is scheduled Aug. 28 before District Judge Daniel Corpora himself a former Easton City Council member to determine if there is sufficient evidence to send the charges toward trial in the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas. Sultana had been the focus of an unrelated controversy in June, when she was forced by fellow council members to defend a Facebook post she had made about the May 31 arrest of Lance Wheeler. Wheeler was taken into custody by Wilson Borough police in an investigation into allegations he threatened and yelled at three boys while they were passengers on a Wilson Area School District van he was driving last Aug 29. Wheelers arrest took place as he was volunteering in Easton to help residents displaced by the May 29 fire that raced through a block of row homes on Ferry Street in the city. I am outraged! Sultana had posted alongside video of Wheelers arrest that included audio of residents cursing at police. Easton officers were there to stand by as Wilson police took Wheeler away in handcuffs. Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. and longtime Councilman Ken Brown urged Sultana, a first-term council member, during a June 13 meeting of the council to consider how constituents can view social media posts and other public statements before all facts of any given incident are known. In Wheelers case, investigators said he rejected calls to surrender and told police theyd have to arrest him with his location publicly known as the fire relief efforts he was involved in were continuing. He also asked to be handcuffed, authorities have said. Panto accused Sultana of condemning Easton police. Sultana insisted she was not criticizing the city police department and in a June 28 council meeting called for an apology. Several city residents spoke out at councils July 12 meeting in support of Sultana, singling out her efforts to help the Ferry Street fire victims, in particular. Wheelers own preliminary hearing to review evidence in his case is scheduled Aug. 23 before District Judge Alan Mege. Wheeler is charged with simple assault, corruption of minors, terroristic threats and harassment and is free on $25,000 unsecured bail. Wheeler was elected in November 2021 as a Pennsylvania state constable for Eastons Sixth Ward and ran unsuccessfully for Easton City Council in the May 16 primary election. Wednesday nights city council meeting was not Sultanas first public appearance since her arrest. She posted to Facebook images of her attendance at National Night Out parties held Aug. 1. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. The sunniest side of network television is about to meet the grouchiest corner on Sesame Street. Come October, Food Network star Sunny Anderson will host a special episode of the worlds longest running childrens program when she helps Oscar the Grouch, Sesame Streets only trashcan-dwelling miser, find new homes for shelter dogs. The episode titled Oscars Handmade Halloween is scheduled to air Oct. 5 on Max, formerly HBOMax. During the episode, Anderson and the Grouch will make dog costumes out of reused household items and thingamabobs found inside Oscars trashcan. The episode will culminate with huge doggie Halloween costume parade, producers say. Andersons episode will be the second of three specials that focus on giving back to the community. The other two episodes will star former Carolina Panthers safety-turned-celebrity chef Eddie Jackson and HGTVs Jasmine Roth, as they host a bake sale and perform a classroom makeover. Those episodes will air on Aug. 10 and Dec. 7 on Max. In a post to her instagram on Friday, Anderson called the initial news about her invitation to stop by the worlds most famous street the best call Ive received this year. Ill be in and out of happy tears all day, she wrote. They knew I love rescuing and invited me to share some sunshine with The Grouch!! I cant wait for you to see his ... tender side?!? Anderson first made Lehigh Valley headlines last year when she took to social media to celebrate the news about plans to build a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and an Arbys restaurant along Route 22, at the former Aharts Market property in Phillipsburg. She relocated to Warren County from New York City in 2016, she said. Sesame Street will officially enter its 54th season in November. The three 22-minute episodes are reported to be the series first unscripted specials and have the stars and their puppet compatriots go into real neighborhoods to help out children and their families. To learn more about the special episodes or to figure out how to get Sesame Street, visit sesameworkshop.org. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Glenn Epps can be reached at gepps@lehighvalleylive.com or glenn_epps_on Twitter. To say that a short-lived tornado hit without warning on Monday in Allentown isnt entirely accurate. There was no specific tornado warning, thats true. The National Weather Service says there was no time. The twister that brought down trees and damaged homes and property in the Midway Manor neighborhood on the Bethlehem border lasted less only around two minutes, from 7:21 to 7:23 p.m., according to details released by the weather service Wednesday evening. But a tornado watch had been issued earlier to indicate that conditions were right for formation. And the area was under a severe thunderstorm warning at the time. Its really important that people take severe thunderstorm warnings as seriously as tornado warnings, said Sarah Johnson, warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Services regional forecast office in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Strong thunderstorms with straight-line winds can be just as damaging as a swirling tornado, or more so, she said. But the weather service will review Mondays event for ways to improve the lead time on warnings. After surveying the damage, the weather service on Tuesday confirmed a tornado had struck Allentown. It was the Lehigh Valleys second of 2023 and at least the 33rd since 1950. In a more detailed report issued Wednesday evening, the weather service said the tornado had estimated peak wind speeds of 100 mph, good for a rating of EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale that is based on estimated wind speeds and related damage. The scale ranges from a least-severe EF0 to a 200 mph-plus EF5. The Midway Manor twister followed a path 0.30 of a mile long and 160 yards wide, crossing into Bethlehem, the National Weather Service said. The tornado began near East Pennsylvania Street between North Ulster Street and North Van Buren Street, the weather service report issued Wednesday evening states. At this location, damage to the roof of a church and a neighboring shed was seen with multiple shingles removed and displaced. A large hardwood tree was also uprooted in this area, falling to the north as it was uprooted. The tornado then continued to the northeast towards East Lily Street and North Wahneta Street causing sporadic tree damage along the way. As the tornado crossed North Wahneta Street, the amount of damage began to increase with a shed removed from its foundation and tossed about 50 feet northwest. Multiple trees were uprooted or snapped in this area as well. As the tornado continued to the northeast, approaching and crossing East Fairmont Street, it reached its maximum width, around 160 yards. It is also reached its maximum intensity, causing damage to multiple homes. The greatest damage was to homes along the west side of Club Avenue, where multiple homes lost between 30 and 50 percent of their roof covering. One home had a front porch awning taken off the east side of the house, lofted, then landed about 100 feet away in the backyard of a house two doors down. Additionally, damaged crops in the backyard of a home where fallen in a manner consistent with a convergent wind pattern. The tornado continued northeast across Club Avenue, crossing into Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Here, the tornado began to weaken, but still snapped or took large branches down on multiple trees. The tornado then dissipated as it approached Pennsylvania Avenue. No known injuries or fatalities occurred with this tornado. Wednesday evenings report also announced that a tornado was confirmed Monday evening in Holland Township, Hunterdon County. This EF0 twister had an estimated peak wind speed of 85 mph and touched down for about a minute beginning at 7:37 p.m. across a path a half-mile in length and 150 yards wide. It started along Riegelsville-Milford Road, resulting in tree damage and significant damage to two farm outbuildings, according to the assessment. Additional straight-line winds estimated around 95 mph occurred at 7:40 p.m. in neighboring Bethlehem Township, New Jersey, over an area 200 yards wide and half-mile long, a weather service storm survey team found. Storms that form into a squall line like on Monday can arrive with a wall of wind, even before the rain. In this case, Johnson said, a tornado briefly spun up on that leading edge and provided no lead time for a fresh warning. Allentown residents said it all happened very quickly. It started out real calm, like, normal storm. And then all of a sudden it just started ramping up, said Lizzie Evans, of Ulster Street. Then there was this, just kind of whoosh sound in the house and then this big crack. My mom was like, Oh my God, theres a tornado! Evans thinks the cracking sound was a tree falling. But the whoosh? It sounded like there was this weird pressure thing that just happened in the house before the loud crack and the tree broke. I dont know. Its wild. Prior to this, the Lehigh Valleys most recent tornado struck the Slate Belt on June 26. It damaged wheat fields along a 3.3-mile-long, 60-yard-wide path along Martins Creek Belvidere Highway in Lower Mount Bethel Township. Rural lands are more likely to be hit by a tornado just by law of averages. Cities, being more compact, take up less area. But they are not immune. Theres a myth that cities cant be affected by tornadoes, Johnson said. Allentown and Bethlehem certainly have been struck before. A tornado last hit Allentown in 2008, causing $1.5 million in damage to homes and Dieruff High School. A small 1992 twister touched down in a Center City Bethlehem shopping center parking lot. A series of three tornadoes traversed the Allentown and Bethlehem areas in August 1983. The previous year, one was reported at the Allentown Fairgrounds. And at least four more urban-area tornadoes were confirmed in the Lehigh Valley between 1950 and 1980. The National Weather Services Mount Holly office has issued 31 tornado warnings this year across its entire forecast area, which stretches from Berks County to the Jersey Shore and south into Delaware and eastern Maryland. Johnson said the office record is 52 tornado warnings in 2021. Four of the last five years have been above average for tornadoes in the Mount Holly offices coverage area, she said. The exception was 2022 when only one hit, in Bucks County. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Supervising reporter Kurt Bresswein contributed to this report. Reach him at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Upwards of 75,000 will descend on the majestic grounds of Stradbally Hall for the Electric Picnic in September but few will every have seen the inside of stately home at the heart of the Laois estate that hosts the big music and arts festival annually. You can be one of the rare few to see inside the house during Heritage Week 2023. A member of Historic Houses of Ireland, Stradbally Hall is surrounded by over 500 acres of rolling park and woodland. Although best known as the home of the Picnic, Stradbally Hall has been home to the Cosby family for almost 500 years and they continue to work to preserve it for generations to come. Laois County Council's Heritage Office is co-ordinating Heritage Week event with Thomas Cosby. "A hidden gem in the heart of the Irish Midlands, it is a fine embodiment of living heritage. Find out more about how Stradbally Hall has changed over the centuries and how it continues to thrive today. We look forward to welcoming you for tours throughout Heritage Week," he said. The house will be open to the public from 10 am to 1 pm during Heritage Week from Saturday to Saturday August 12 to 19 for guided tours of Stradbally Hall. The entry fee for adults is 10 while children are free. For more details email: thomascosby1974@gmail.com or telephone: 086 8519272 This year's Electric Picnic runs from September 1 to 3. This Heritage Week the Vikings are coming to Portlaoise! That's what the Laois Heritage Office have declared in an invite to the Old Fort in Fitzmaurice Place where The Golden Ravens re-enactment group will be displaying Viking clothes, weapons and crafts. "They will also be demonstrating Viking cooking and fighting techniques. Everyone welcome and make sure to come early before the Vikings go berserk," says the Laois Heritage Office at Laois County Council. The Vikings will be in town on Saturday, August 12 from 12 noon to 4pm. There been another Viking flavour to another event later in Heritage week in Portlaoise when the School of Irish Archaeologys big Dig and Coin Striking Workshop takes plae at the Old Fort "The big Dig is a recreation of a Viking house excavation designed for children from 6 12 years of age. This allows children to explore the Viking world through a simulated and controlled archaeology dig. "The Viking Coin Making Workshop will demonstrate how Irelands first coin was minted while learning all about ancient trade and commerce in medieval Ireland," say the organisers. Free tickets for walks-ins will be available on the day but are limited! Tickets can also be booked online using the Eventbrite links www.eventbrite.co.uk big Dig Workshop Portlaoise www.eventbrite.co.uk Coin Striking Workshop Portlaoise Organiser: Laois Heritage Office. The event takes place on Friday, August 18 from 11am to 4pm To find out more about the events email: tcarolan@laoiscoco.ie Heritage Week runs from August 12 to August 20. Inland Fisheries Ireland secured fines and costs totaling 3,750 against a Laois farmer for damaging stretches of a local river. The farmer was convicted of carrying out works on 800 metres of river channel in the Mountrath area, thereby impacting the habitats of trout, lamprey and eels along the river. Inland Fisheries Ireland said the farmer claimed his motivation for carrying out the work was to drain land to alleviate flooding. South-Eastern River Basin District Director at Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) Lynda Connor said the action of the farmer had demonstrated a disregard for the river, its fish species and habitats. IFI will continue to prosecute such illegal activity in fulfilment of its remit to protect and conserve Irelands important inland fisheries resource, she said. The decimation and removal of a rivers habitat can be devastating in terms of its effects on fish. It can also impact instream biodiversity such as vegetation and insects, said Ms Connor. The IFI said that 800 metres of river channel on the farmers property, and on an adjoining property, had been dug out, deepened, reprofiled and the river bank vegetation removed. The IFI work was carried out in the closed season at his farm in Mountrath in December 2022. The farmer received fines of 3,000 and was also ordered to contribute 750 towards the costs of the prosecution. Landowners need to seek all necessary and relevant information from their advisors, and from Inland Fisheries Ireland, before carrying out any works near, or on, a watercourse adjacent to their land, said Ms Connor. The appropriate window for any instream works is between July and September, but only with the guidance and permission of IFI. During the closed season, from October to June, no works should take place in a river. IFI continues to encourage members of the public to report incidents such as this, and those of water pollution, fish kills, and illegal fishing to its 24/7 phone number, 0818 34 74 24, she added. Landowners can refer to further guidance on minding Irelands watercourses here https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2014/Watercourse_Management.pdf Education Minister Norma Foley has said no parent can be compelled to pay a voluntary contribution to a school. Ms Foley was speaking at an event to mark the Governments 53 million euro scheme for free books for primary pupils from September. Asked by reporters about the separate cost burden of voluntary contributions on families, the minister said she is conscious of the financial load on parents and guardians. I want to be very clear in terms of voluntary contributions: No parent can be compelled to make a voluntary contribution to the school. She said this is provided for under the Education Act and parents cannot be charged for any provision of education laid down by the curriculum. Were asking schools also be mindful no parents, no guardian can be compelled to make a contribution. Asked if she will call on boards of management to ban voluntary contributions, Ms Foley said Government funding for education has increased by 1.5 billion euro over the last three years. We have recognised the difficulties for schools. We have increased by 90 million in terms of funding to provide for energy costs and and all of that, but I am saying to please be cognisant of the burdens that are placed on (parents and guardians). Asked if it is the Governments ambition to ensure schools are given sufficient funding so they do not have to seek voluntary contributions, Ms Foley said: There has never been as much money going into education as we have going in presently. I dont underestimate the challenge that schools are facing. She said any school with an individual funding issue can contact the Department of Education directly. Starting from humble beginnings in Clane, Kildare man and experienced carpenter Ciaran Canning is now working on a Hollywood adaptation of a hit musical. Wicked: Part One is adapted from the 1995 book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is an American novel published in 1995, written by Gregory Maguire and illustrated by Douglas Smith, which in itself draws inspiration from the L Frank Baums classic The Wizard of Oz. The film adaptation, Wicked: Part One, will feature stars such as Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum, but the film would not be possible without the hard work of those who make the very sets they act upon; this is where Ciaran comes in. Ciaran is the the son of Ronnie and Jim Canning of Clane: he works as a master scenic carpenter for Film, Television and the Theatre. Speaking to the Leader about his long and varied career, he said: "Working in a team we have just completed the biggest sets ever to be built in Europe for the up and coming blockbuster film Wicked. "Prior to that, last year, again working in a team, we built the large set for the battle scene for the upcoming film Napoleon." Ciaran added: "In the last few years my client base has consisted of (working on franchises such as) James Bond, Star Wars and Marvel, as well as companies such as Disney, Warner Bros, MGM, Paramount and the BBC to name but a few. "In the years before that I worked as a production carpenter on The Brit Awards, MTV Awards, IDM Awards yearly. "In addition to that, I built scenery and toured with some major pop bands such as The Prodigy, Boyzone , East 17 and Oasis to name just a few." He continued: "In the time before that, I spent some six years working on the Southbank in London Training as a Master Scenic Carpenter. "I worked at Sir Laurence Oliviers theatre The Old Vic, The Royal Festival Hall for the English National Ballet, Shakespeares Globe, LWT, The National Theatre." HUMBLE BEGINNINGS When asked about his childhood in Clane, he said: "Growing up in Clane was very different than these days as you can imagine... (there was) a lot more freedom in my opinion back in those days for young people. "It was very innocent and magical, we had so many play areas; I mean the type of access to open spaces that just isnt here anymore. "I went to school in the prefabs, not great, and yet still it was a good education; it was full of hope, I guess, for a better future for the village." Ciaran continued: "In those days we had the roller disco on the Dublin road what a place for teenage fun. "Of course, we also had the other village disco to freequent, meet, dance and maybe some chance of getting off with someone you fancied!" he joked. Ciaran added: "It was all very innocent; up at the back of the Abbey there was a large muddy hill area, we would have some craic running scramblers round there. It was such a smaller village back then, the roads were our own. "In those times, we would think nothing of walking to Naas for a few pints and then walking home. "The greatest teenage hang out of all was called Georgie Dunnes: it was a shop on the main street with a small pool room and juke box on the side. Man do I have some golden memories of the craic we had there; ot was a place for singing your favorite jukebox songs, meeting your girlfriend for a kiss and of course the odd time you might bunk off school!" "Growing up in Clane, in my youth was adventurous, we played in bands, made up music, and had gigs in the local pub. In those day the pubs in Clane would be jammed packed, full of smoke! We loved it!" "Its enough to say growing up in Clane in my youth were some of the best years of my life." Regarding his initial work as a carpenter, Ciaran said: "Prior to that, I was here (in Ireland) training as a carpenter/ joiner at various training facilities for a body called AnCO. "It was at this time during my apprenticeship that I got my first taste of scenery; I would help build the sets for the Moat Theatre of Naas. "At that time it was run by the great Mona Conroy, and as a young lad, she always reminded me of Elizabeth Taylor." Ciaran also revealed that the original Wizard of Oz was a childhood favorite for all of his family: "It was something as children we all looked forward to when it was on at Christmas time. "I wanted very much to be a part of this latest production, and I was delighted that it had been brought to another level. In addition, being the biggest set ever to be built in Europe, it meant for someone of my background that it was a must that I be part of it." A sneak peek of Wicked: Part One was shared by the film's director, Jon M Chu, on his official Twitter account back in April. When asked about his favourite song in the musical, he said: "Im still a 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' fan, but all of the songs are really fantastic in the production." Commenting on the production of the upcoming film, Ciaran said: "There were so many great moments, the biggest one being the team work displayed throughout. "All of us on the crew cared for so wonderfully by production, it was a great gathering of a great many people in a great way." Ciaran also said that people can expect to be entertained by the latest adaptation: "We all know everyone loves the stage performance, but prepare to be totally elated and mesmerised by the film. "Production has chosen to go back in some way to the golden age of musicals, and that includes the scenery... I feel when the fans head into the movie theatres to witness this adaptation, their popcorn will be seriously popping! Theyll be singing in the aisles!" When asked about the current Hollywood strike, he said: "I hope for the future of the industry that the people involved can resolve this matter and come to collective understanding for the good of all." Furthermore, when he was asked the extremely divisive question of whether he was Team Oppenheimer or Team Barbie, Ciaran replied: "Well now, on this one I would have to stay on the fence.... show-business is like a family, and you know what families are like!" He jokingly added: "You dont want to show favouritism, it might shorten your Christmas card list!" Lastly, while reflecting on his career, as well as his life in general, Ciaran said: "Since leaving Clane all those years ago and now to have come full circle with all thats happened in the middle, I look to the future and whats next to come. I have loved my travels abroad and all that came with them." "I would like to see more of these large productions come here to Ireland; I would love to see a future where our own industry crew can find enough work here at home." "This is a goal of mine: to assist in any way I can to make this happen," Ciaran concluded. Co Kildare Nursing Home residents will participate in a special national music performance to mark Nursing Homes Week 2023. The Music Speaks broadcast, to take place Monday August 21, will encompass performances from over 100 nursing home residents from over 30 nursing homes. Featuring from Co Kildare will be husband and wife Christy and Madge McDonnell, residents of Craddock House, Naas. They will be performing Danny Boy as a duet and Christy will be singing solo Molly Malone. Also participating will be Care Assistants Juliana David and Melita Didara of Craddock House who will sing the hymn 10,000 reasons. Nursing homes in Co Kildare and across the country will be hosting music-themed celebrations August Monday 21 to Sunday 27 to mark Nursing Homes Week 2023. The Music Speaks performance will be broadcast to over 400 nursing homes with 25,000 residents across the country and available for the broader public to watch via NHI.ie. It features renditions of classics such as Danny Boy, Molly Malone, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, Cant Help Falling in Love, You Are My Sunshine, Que Sera, Sera, intertwined with performances by residents of different instruments, including piano, accordion, bodhran. The Music Speaks performance is a highlight of the broader online Music Speaks festival which will mark the national celebration of nursing home care. The Music Speaks festival will include performances from Mobile Music Machine with Niamh Kavanagh, Sive, Ross Scanlon performs John McCormack, John Spillane. Further, performances from the Irish Traditional Music Archive will be opened up to nursing home residents and an online discussion will be hosted discussing the impact of music on nursing home residents. Tadhg Daly, Nursing Homes Ireland CEO said, We are thrilled to have brought together a very special performance of nursing home residents to mark Nursing Homes Week 2023 and our Music Speaks festival. Nursing homes are home to truly very special people, who are tremendous characters and have a rich legacy in song and music. Our Music Speaks performance encompasses one resident who is 100 years of age playing accordion, a 98-year-old delivering an excellent piano solo, a 95-year old singing Boys from the County Armagh. Residents love to sing and perform and the Music Speaks extravaganza honours the talents of the very special people in our society who are nursing home residents. Music fulfils an absolutely integral role in nursing home care, providing comfort to residents, stimulating memories, bringing them together, and it gives great joy and happiness. The festival we have created is truly unique, bringing residents together for a very special range of performances and events over the course of a week. It will feature outstanding performers who supported nursing home residents during Covid19, a trip down memory lane for residents via the Irish Traditional Music Archive, and a discussion on the impact of music in our nursing homes. We wish residents and staff a very happy Nursing Homes Week 2023. Visit NHI.ie for further information. YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Armenia and Iran have extended the Gas for Electrical Energy agreement until 2030. The extension was signed on August 10 at the Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures in Yerevan, between Aram Ghazaryan, the CEO of the Yerevan TPP, and Majid Chegeni, the Iranian Deputy Minister of Oil and Director of the National Gas Company, the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures said in a press release. Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Gnel Sanosyan praised the agreement as one of the best manifestations of the friendly Armenian-Iranian relations. The extension of the agreement is a beneficial deal for the two countries. The extension enables to increase the volumes of gas imports and electrical energy exports, which will definitely have a positive impact on the economic development of the two countries, Sanosyan said. Chegeni also attached importance to the extension, adding that it will boost the development of Armenian-Iranian ties. Kildare gardai were involved in a the Irish branch of an international police operation targeting a crime syndicate. An Garda Siochana, in conjunction with INTERPOL and Law Enforcement Agencies across 21 countries around the world carried out enforcement activity under Operation JACKAL. 3 premises searched in Dublin, Wicklow and Longford 9 persons arrested and detained under Organised Crime legislation 4 Persons arrested and detained for money laundering offences 33 persons arrested and charged for money laundering 1 person arrested and charged with gangland offences and money laundering 9 incidents of stolen money recovered from foreign bank accounts Over 400,000 of stolen monies recovered for Irish companies. As part of INTERPOL Operation JACKAL a period of international Law Enforcement action was planned to take place across April and May of 2023. Led by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB), under Operation SKEIN, in this jurisdiction, due to the volume of arrests/ detentions/ charges in Ireland, the period of action commenced during the 1st Quarter 2023 and culminated in intensified activity during April/ May 2023. These operations were built on activity previously highlighted by An Garda Siochana in October 2022. Interpol Operation JACKAL / Ireland Operation Skein - 14th October 2022 - Garda There were three facets to the Ireland plan: Conduct searches for evidence arrest, detain and question suspects arrest and charge suspects where directions have been received from the DPP. Due to the volume of reports, cases, suspects, GNECB submit investigative packages to local districts for suspects to be arrested and investigated locally. The searches and detentions were co-ordinated by the GNECB and included assistance from local Garda units across the country. The arrests for charging were conducted by GNECB and local Gardai in counties including Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Limerick, Kerry, Laois, Longford, Cork. In addition, GNECB continues to work with financial institutions to put new systems in place for the reporting of money laundering and money mules. The co-operation of financial institutions has been second to none and the success of this operation could not have been achieved without this support. Positive examples of cases where money was recovered from Business Email Compromise (BEC) fraud in Ireland include: Case 1: Complaint by company that over 98,000 was stolen in a BEC fraud and transferred to a bank a/c in Portugal - working with the financial institution, the payment was cancelled and all the money was recovered. Case 2: Over 149,000 stolen in a BEC from a victim buying an apartment in Spain. Money was laundered through an a/c in Spain. Working with the financial institution GNECB was able to recover nearly 76,000 laundered through a secondary a/c in Spain. Case 3: Over 95,000 stolen in a BEC in USA in early April 2023 and laundered through an a/c in Ireland. Working with the financial institution, GNECB was able to freeze and recover over 91,000. In 7 cases involving Irish Companies, with over 475,000 cash stolen, over 400,000 was recovered by the GNECB. Speaking about the results of Operation JACKAL today, Assistant Commissioner Kelly, Organised and Serious Crime said "Operation JACKAL continues to demonstrate our commitment to work internationally, engaging with Law Enforcement partners, such as INTERPOL, in disrupting the activities of Transnational Organised Crime Groups. Operation JACKAL is a direct response to investigations initiated by the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB), once again highlighting the internationally recognised expertise and professionalism of the members of An Garda Siochana, particularly those attached to GNECB Speaking about Operation SKEIN, Detective Superintendent Michael Cryan, Garda National Economic Crime Bureau highlighted that: "The 34 persons arrested and charged as part of this phase of Operation SKEIN were involved in money laundering, these persons were facilitating the criminal activities of organised crime groups, by allowing their bank accounts to be used to move criminally gained money. They also facilitated and contributed to the theft of money from other individuals and companies. This is a crime. These persons face a criminal conviction and the long term impacts of such a conviction. DSupt Cryan further appealed: "Do not let any other person have access to or use your account to transfer money. If you are approached on social media or other platform, with a promise of easy money, beware, your bank account is your information and your responsibility. "If you believe your account has been compromised in some way, contact your financial institution and An Garda Siochana. Background: Operation JACKAL (INTERPOL) is called Operation SKEIN in Ireland. Operation SKEIN is a GNECB run investigation into an International Criminal Organisation which commit mainly BEC and Romance Frauds worldwide and launder the proceeds through networks of bank accounts in Ireland. It is the assessment of GNECB/ INTERPOL that this Criminal Organisation is the Black AXE, a Criminal Organisation formed in West Africa in the mid-1970s and which is now operating worldwide. This investigation began with a request for assistance from an EU country, via EUROPOL in early 2020. 1.1 million was stolen in a BEC fraud and laundered through Asia. The fake emails originated from Ireland. Electronic devices seized during this investigation, analysed in co-operation with International Law Enforcement indicated for the first time that this Criminal Organisation was operating from Ireland and not just laundering through Ireland. To date the following Garda investigative and enforcement activity has taken place, nationwide, 84 persons arrested under organised crime legislation 327 persons arrested for money laundering offences 102 Arrests by GNECB (of the above) 204 persons charged to date 22 Juveniles admitted to the Juvenile Diversion Programme A site in Newbridge has seen a reduction in antisocial behaviour, according to one Kildare Senator. Fianna Fail Senator Fiona O'Loughlin said that locals had informed her that they had noticed 'a significant reduction' in antisocial behaviour at the area formerly known as Rooske Lodge. Back in June, the Leinster Leader reported that Rooske Lodge was in the process of being demolished. Now, Senator O'Loughlin said the following about the site: "I am glad that after a lot of work and having raised the issue at a local and national level to see action taken at Rooske Lodge (former derelict property near Sarsfields). "This site was causing local residents issues and was attracting high levels of anti social behavior." She continued: "Having lobbied hard, I managed to get this property added to the derelict sites register on November 4, 2022. "Notice was served on owner at that time, and there has been an open line of communication between the owner and Kildare County Council. "Its inclusion on the register meant that the property is incurring an annual fine of 7 per cent of market value, which is in the region of 56,000 per year while its on the register, which is very significant, and I have no doubt will ensure that the owners will take action. "I spoke to many residents in the area this morning, and they have noticed a significant reduction in anti social behavior since the owners took action," the Senator concluded. Another local politician who has been monitoring the area is Social Democrats councillor Chris Pender. Cllr Pender also commented on the site as it stands he said: "Despite the prolonged inaction and oversight by the property developers, I address the issues surrounding Rooske Lodge with both criticism and relief. "For far too long, this site was a blight on our community, causing distress to local residents and becoming a hotbed for anti-social behavior. "Through rigorous lobbying at local and national levels, I managed to have the property added to the derelict sites register on November 4, 2022." He continued: "While notice was served to the owner and a line of communication was opened with Kildare County Council, the significant delay in developer action is unacceptable. "The property now incurs a hefty annual penalty, approximately 56,000 or 7 per cent of its market value... this substantial fine for negligence should serve as a stark reminder for owners to act responsibly. "Residents have reported a considerable decline in anti-social behavior since the owners took action. Yet, one must question: why the prolonged delay? "Furthermore, it's incumbent upon us to ensure that this land is utilized appropriately and promptly." Cllr Pender concluded: "Developers must be held accountable, ensuring such neglect doesn't recur; we owe it to our community to remain vigilant and proactive." Malians demonstrate against France and in support of Russia on the 60th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Mali, in Bamako, Mali, on Sept. 22, 2020. AP France and Mali have suspended issuing visas to each other's citizens, in a heightening of a row that has already prompted a French military withdrawal from its former Sahel ally, diplomats said on Thursday, August 10. The French embassy earlier this week suspended the issuance of new visas in the Malian capital Bamako after placing all of the country in a "red zone" where it is strongly advised not to travel, they said. Mali's junta responded by freezing new visas for French citizens at its embassy in Paris in an act of "reciprocity", the Malian foreign ministry said. On August 7, the French foreign ministry issued an update on its guidance for travel. "In the current context of strong regional tensions, all travel to Mali is strongly disadvised. French citizens in Mali are urged to show the greatest vigilance," it said. Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Coup in Niger: French and Europeans evacuated without incident The higher security classification has entailed a "reorganization" of services at the French embassy, which means it is "unable to issue visas until further notice", according to a French online visa application site. France and Mali fell out after the military seized power in Bamako in 2020, ousting elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita over failures to stem a bloody jihadist insurgency. As the dispute escalated and the junta brought in Russian paramilitaries, France began to pull out its anti-jihadist force, under a phased withdrawal that ended last year. The bilateral spat has coincided with a surge of regional tensions sparked by a coup on July 26 in neighboring Niger, a key French ally. Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Niger coup: Junta digs heels in, denounces military agreements with France A supporter of Niger's National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) holds a placard during a demonstration outside at the Stade General Seyni Kountche in Niamey Niger on August 6, 2023. - / AFP On July 26, the military staged a coup in Niger, ousting the country's elected president, Mohamed Bazoum. 48 hours later, General Abdourahamane Tiani, president of the newly-formed National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), proclaimed himself head of state. This was the fourth coup in the region, following those in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea between 2020 and 2022. The international community is calling for the restoration of Niger's constitutional order and the release of the overthrown president, who has neither left the country nor resigned. Economic sanctions and condemnations have not made the putschists back down, nor has the threat of force by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), although this is not unanimously supported. For now, the Niger junta can count on the support of the military regimes in Ouagadougou and Bamako. Below, Le Monde provides an overview on the situation. What happened during the coup? On July 26, putschist soldiers, members of the elite Presidential Guard, overthrew the President of Niger Mohamed Bazoum. The head of state, his companion and son have since been held in the official residence inside the presidential palace. "This is the result of the continuing deterioration in the security situation and poor economic and social governance," said Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane on behalf of the CNSP on July 27. On July 28, after two days of uncertainty and negotiations, Tiani, the head of the presidential guard, proclaimed himself head of state. He claims to have been "motivated solely by the desire to preserve" Niger. Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes General Tiani, a new Nigerien leader with fragile power According to several Nigerien and foreign sources, Tiani was about to be relieved of his duties by Bazoum. However, Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou denied this, telling Le Monde in an interview that the subject was "not on the agenda" of the Council of Ministers meeting scheduled for July 27, and that "there was no decree to that effect either." The first step towards a transitional government was taken on Monday August 7, when a prime minister was appointed, Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine. What do the civilians think? Supporters of Bazoum attempted to approach his residence on July 26. They demanded the release of the president, elected with 55.75% of the vote in the second round of the February 2021 presidential election. They were quickly dispersed by the presidential guard, who fired gunshots, causing a stampede. One demonstrator was injured. The new military authorities also received support at several demonstrations attended by thousands of people on July 30, August 3, the anniversary of the country's independence, and August 6. Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Niger: Junta is fueled by anger against a 'sick democracy' During the July 30 march in Niamey, organized by a movement against the French army's Operation Barkhane, demonstrators chanted pro-Russian, anti-French and pro-junta slogans. "Vive Putin," "Vive la Russie," "A bas la France," ("Down with France"), "Vive l'armee nigerienne!" ("Long live the Nigerien Army!"). Demonstrators also targeted the French embassy, denouncing the presence of the former colonial power. The attack prompted Paris to evacuate its nationals. The United States, Spain and Italy soon followed suit. How did the international community react? The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union (AU), European Union (EU), France and the United States condemned the kidnapping of Bazoum, calling for his release and return to power. Russia called for pacifism. An ECOWAS delegation was sent to Niamey to "reason with Tiani and offer him a country of exile," declared Bola Tinubu, President of ECOWAS and Nigeria, on July 26. During the night of August 3-4, the delegation turned back, having been unable to meet either the deposed president or the ruling junta. Once the event had been clearly established as a coup, France suspended its development aid and budgetary support to Niger on July 29, as it did not recognize the new government. The EU also suspended "all cooperation activities." ECOWAS imposed financial sanctions and gave the putschists a week to restore constitutional order, threatening to "use force" if necessary. In response, the CNSP promised an "immediate response" in the event of aggression. The military regimes of Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea, members of ECOWAS, have expressed their disagreement with the organization's decisions. The military rulers of Ouagadougou and Bamako warned that "any military intervention against Niger" would amount to "a declaration of war" against them. They also threatened to leave the economic community and affirmed their support for the Niger junta. Is military intervention still an option? ECOWAS, chaired by Nigeria, had drawn up an outline for a possible military intervention, according to an official of the organization. Senegal was ready to mobilize its army, but several countries were reticent about the idea of intervention. Algeria, which borders Niger but is not a member of ECOWAS, was concerned about the consequences for its territory and the Sahel region. The Nigerian Senate believes that civilians would pay a heavy price, as would northern Nigeria, which shares a 1,500-kilometer border with Niger. ECOWAS' ultimatum expired on Sunday, August 6. The putschists did not give in to the pressure. "Faced with the threat of intervention," the government closed the airspace, which reopened on August 2 after its initial closure. Its supporters in Mali and Burkina Faso sent a joint delegation to express their "solidarity." Military intervention would be the last resort for the West African organization, which would prefer a diplomatic solution. The leaders of the West African bloc "would prefer a resolution achieved by diplomatic means, by peaceful means, rather than any other," stated the ECOWAS spokesperson in an initial statement after the ultimatum had expired. However, they added: "No option has been ruled out." Are there foreign military forces on the ground? Niger hosts a French military operation as part of its Sahel counter-terrorism policy, an extension of Operation Barkhane, whose withdrawal from Mali was announced after the installation of a Malian military regime. The evacuation of the 1,500 French soldiers is not planned, and their presence has been denounced by the putschists. Some 1,100 American soldiers are also deployed in the country as part of the fight against jihadism, and German and Italian soldiers are also present. These forces are not engaged in combat or military intervention. Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes Political uncertainty in Niger weighs on European migration policy How are negotiations progressing? Victoria Nuland, the number-two American diplomat, met the new army chief of staff but was unable to speak with either Tiani or the overthrown president Bazoum. She claims to have proposed solutions for the restoration of democracy but does not seem to have convinced the putschists. Read more Article reserve a nos abonnes US looks to keep Russian ambitions out of Niger According to Mahamadou, the deposed president's prime minister, the military junta has asked the ECOWAS delegation to return, following its departure after unsuccessful mediation. The mission was due to arrive on Tuesday, the head of government assured French television channel TV5 Monde, but the military regime says it cannot welcome it for security reasons. "The current context of anger and revolt among the population following the sanctions imposed by ECOWAS does not allow us to welcome the delegation with the required calm and security," according to an official communique from the Niger Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the ECOWAS representation in Niamey, dated Monday and quoted by Agence France-Presse. Germany, Italy and the United States have advocated mediation and called for further discussions with the new military government. An emergency ECOWAS session on the situation in Niger is scheduled for Thursday in Abuja, the Nigerian capital. New resolutions could be taken. A WOMAN was strangled with a mobile phone cord, repeatedly stabbed with a car key, had bleach thrown in her face and told this is where you are going to die, Limerick Circuit Court heard. Judge Tom ODonnell described it as savagery. Fintan Lynch, aged 43, of Focus Ireland apartments, Parnell Street, Limerick city pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, three assaults causing harm and production of a weapon. Prosecuting barrister John OSullivan, instructed by State Solicitor Padraig Mawe, outlined the case with the assistance of Detective Garda Bryan Guilfoyle. Mr OSullivan said the accused and victim had been engaged in an intermittent romantic relationship for nine months prior to the early hours of July 18, 2022. Mr OSullivan said gardai responded to a 999 call at around 1.30am that a female had been assaulted by a male. They spoke to a lady in distress on Davis Street. She had visible injuries. The accused was arrested, said Mr OSullivan. Just over an hour earlier, Lynch had assaulted, beaten and headbutted the victim on Parnell Street. He prevailed upon her to go into his apartment. He punched and beat her, attempted strangulation with a cord of a mobile phone, stuck a tweezers in her and threw bleach in her face. He said he was going to put sugar in Dettol, boil it and throw it at her, said Mr OSullivan. The court heard Lynch told her she doesnt deserve to live and this is where you are going to die. While he was choking her with the phone cord the victim begged him to stop and said she couldnt breathe. Thats the point, you c***, said Lynch, the court heard. Mr OSullivan said Lynch told her he was going to get her father to give him 10,000 to let her go. The prosecuting barrister said the victims phone was in her car. Lynch was looking for relaxers. She said she might have some in her car. He brought her down to the car. He started looking for tablets. She ran towards the train station. He came after her and repeatedly stabbed her in the back with a car key. A male intervened which allowed her to run and scream for help, said Mr OSullivan. CCTV footage was played to the courts of the assaults on the street. The victim suffered bruising on her face, fractured nose, ligature marks on her neck from the attempted strangulation, her eyes required a wash-out from the bleach, wounds from the car key, has post traumatic stress disorder and mental health difficulties. She declined to make a victim impact statement but did tell gardai she was terrified and an eye witness heard her say, Stop, stop - youre going to kill me. Lynch has a number of previous convictions including for robbery, arson, assault causing harm, possession of a firearm in suspicious circumstances namely an Uzi submachine gun and a silencer. Mr OSullivan said Lynch wasnt that long out of custody. He put it to Det Garda Guilfoyle there was an element of the victim being tortured? Yes, said the detective garda. Mark Nicholas SC, who represented Lynch, said it was disgusting behaviour and his client is absolutely ashamed of himself. He was smoking crack cocaine and was well out of it. He was unfit to be questioned. That doesnt excuse him. It is an awful case. The pictures (of the victim) tell a thousand words. It was horrific treatment of someone who is very special to him, said Mr Nicholas, who added that Lynch is tackling his significant reliance of drugs in prison. Judge ODonnell described it as savagery. He said Lynchs previous convictions, including for possession of a firearm, underpin a history of violence. Judge O Donnell said it was a very serious case. It was appalling. There was a shocking level of violence, said the judge. He imposed a six and half year jail sentence for false imprisonment backdated to July 22 when Lynch first went into custody. Four and a half year sentences, to be served concurrently, were handed down on each of the three assaults and production of a weapon. Judge ODonnell said the ambivalence of people who witnessed the first assault on the street was extraordinary. From the video footage there are a number of witnesses across the road in clear sight. He is punching her. Not one lent assistance or rang gardai. It is a very sad indictment on our society. THE PRIVATE postal addresses of councillors have been removed from Limerick's local authority website amid fears over the safety of politicians. Councils across the country normally publish at a minimum, the name, telephone number and postal address of each member online. But here in Limerick, only the first two of these are now visible as concerns grow for the welfare of councillors. Its definitely the most unsafe time Ive felt in politics, said councillor Daniel Butler. Although a council spokesperson insisted the addresses were removed following an internal GDPR review by staff, several members have confirmed to this newspaper they contacted local authority bosses to seek the erasure of their home address. GDPR refers to General Data Protection Regulation, a set of new European-wide laws brought in to protect personal information in 2018. One of the people who sought to have her own address removed is councillor Sarah Kiely. She said: There's definitely been a shift in awareness about our safety and the safety of our families. In a time when it appears anyone is fair game, it doesn't matter who you are or what you are. People think they can say or do what they want and there are no consequences. She also pointed out: You cannot look up the (home) address of your GP or dentist and arrive to their front door. So why should you be allowed to arrive at your local politicians front door? Councillor Kiely says its regretful that members feel forced to remove their addresses. It is, but its necessary for safety in this day and age. People are very contactable, and sometimes we need to take a step back and question what information it is we are putting out, she said. There have been a number of high-profile incidents in recent weeks and years where politicians have found themselves in danger. A Dublin-based councillor, Hugh Lewis had a rock thrown at his family home with a note warning him to stop supporting refugees. Protesters have in the past gathered outside the home of Wicklow TD and government minister Simon Harris. In 2019, Independent councillor Fergus Kilcoyne was forced to contact the gardai after masked thugs attacked his own home in Patrickswell. It left his wife and children traumatised and fearing for their lives. Sinn Fein's City North councillor Sharon Benson said the offices of some of her Dail colleagues around the country have been targetted. But we don't have offices as councillors. Its our home address up there and thats the thing available to people. If they are going to come and protest, they will do this at your home. Councillor Butler who has raised the issue with his representative union, said: Its a growing issue for councillors where there are safety concerns and there are reported instances of people coming to their homes. If you see protests now, they seem a lot more aggressive. The regard in which politicians are held is greatly diminished, he said. The councillors mentioned up to now in this article all actively sought the removal of their home addresses from online. Labour councillor Conor Sheehan has not felt the need to do this. But he does believe each member should be asked whether they want their address viewable on council websites. I have no specific issues personally with people knowing where I live. I do have an issue with people protesting outside politicians homes. We live in a climate now, with the rise of coordinated far right protests, it is not just the politicians who may live in that home - spouses, kids, parents who didn't choose to be in the public eye. Green Party Dublin TD Patrick Costello last week called for the addresses of politicians on ballot papers to be made private due to safety threats. Councillor Sheahan says ahead of the local election next summer, a more generalised, less-specific address should be used on voting slips to demonstrate whether a candidate lives in a constituency. Press Release August 10, 2023 CHIZ ASKS FOR A SCIENTIFIC STUDY TO PROVE ROTC IS BETTER THAN NSTP Senator Chiz Escudero asked the proponents of Senate Bill 2034 to present a scientific study to validate that the current National Service Training Program (NSTP) is a "total failure" hence, the proposal to replace it with the reinstatement of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program. The senator said a formal study based on facts is necessary to convince the public that there is a need to scrap the NSTP, which was created under Republic Act 9613, and make ROTC a mandatory requirement for all students. During yesterday's interpellation at the plenary session, Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa, the bill's sponsor, said the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has determined that the NSTP Law has failed, a conclusion that he strongly agrees with. Escudero, however, pointed out that if the bill is to be passed into law, this should be backed up by formal studies and not just some informal statements from pro-ROTC advocates. "Can the gentleman furnish me a copy of a study, not merely the position of the (CHED) Chair but a study that says NSTP actually failed," added Escudero, who is the Chair of the Senate Committee on Higher, Technical and Vocational Education. In defending SB 2034, Dela Rosa told his colleagues that the NSTP law failed because "it is not producing the needed reserved force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and it fails to achieve its envisioned goal, which is to organize a national reserve corps that can also be mobilized in times of disaster and calamities." To which, Escudero retorted: "I'm asking for a study with respect to number one, the success or if at all, the failure of the ROTC before the NSTP law; and number two, a study, a review, or findings based on evidence and facts that the NSTP was indeed a failure." "I have yet to see a study based on facts and evidence that indeed it is a failure, and indeed ROTC is better because you have to remember that ROTC is still a part of the NSTP at present." Under the NSTP Program, both male and female college students are required to undergo one of three program components for an academic period of two semesters. The students, however, are free to choose which particular program to take. The three NSTP Program components are the Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS), Literacy Training Service (LTS) and the ROTC. Escudero likewise questioned the claim of Dela Rosa that the mandatory ROTC will effectively instill patriotism as well as equip the Filipino youth to defend and fight for the country if necessary. "We were taught to march, we were taught to stand, we were taught to carry 'yong mga garand rifle pa at that time," Escudero recalled as he shared his experience in undergoing the military training program which was called Citizen's Military Training (CMT) during his time. "But I didn't feel like I was equipped enough to defend my country because of those two years in college, once a week every Saturday," he argued. SB 2034 mandates that all students enrolled in not less than two-year undergraduate degree, diploma or certificate programs in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) and Technical Vocational Institutions (TVIs) will undertake the ROTC for four semesters. Aside from the CHED, SB 2034 proposes that the Basic ROTC Program Curriculum will be drafted by the DND and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), in consultation with other relevant government agencies and private stakeholders, including associations of schools. YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan has met with the new French Ambassador Olivier Decottignies. During the meeting on August 10, Grigoryan congratulated Decottignies on assuming office and expressed confidence that the ambassador will contribute to the deepening and strengthening of bilateral cooperation in all sectors between Armenia and France, Secretary Grigoryans office said in a readout. Secretary Grigoryan attached importance to the further development of the special relationship with France. In this context, the sides discussed prospects for intensifying and enhancing Armenian-French cooperation in a number of areas of bilateral interest. Grigoryan and Decottignies also discussed the ongoing, deteriorating humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and underscored the need for eliminating the blockade of the Lachin Corridor. GARDAI discovered a message on Facebook Messenger during an investigation asking a person to bag up three grammes, Limerick Circuit Court heard. Gearoid Ryan, aged 29, with an address at Kilteragh, Dooradoyle, Limerick, pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of drugs for sale or supply. Prosecuting barrister John OSullivan, instructed by State Solicitor Padraig Mawe, outlined the case with the assistance of Sergeant Richie Finan. Mr OSullivan said gardai executed a search under warrant at a property in Kilteragh on July 16, 2020. He said Mr Ryan wasnt there but an unnamed person was. Gardai discovered quantities of white powder in a headphones box and in a backpack in a downstairs bedroom. A bag containing clear plastic capsules and a vacuum packing machine were also found. Sgt Finan said the capsules were for storing and passing on cocaine and the vacuum packing machine was for sealing bags and to reduce the smell. Mr OSullivan said in the kitchen there was a weighing scales and further paraphernalia located. There were tubs of creatine found and this is commonly used as a mixing agent, said Mr OSullivan. Sgt Finan agreed, saying it can be. In total, there was 3,350 worth of cocaine and 996 of ecstasy discovered. Mr OSullivan said on the following day Mr Ryan presented him voluntarily to gardai but nothing of an evidential nature was gleaned during interviews. He said he suffers from a visual impairment. He has no previous convictions, Mr OSullivan. The barrister said gardai discovered a message on Facebook Messenger asking a person to bag up three grammes and directing them to where the weighing scales were in the kitchen. Sgt Finan confirmed this was consistent with drug dealing. Rebecca Tracey, barrister for Mr Ryan, said her client made an early plea of guilty, and voluntarily presented himself to gardai. The court heard a district court judge had refused jurisdiction. She put it to Sgt Finan that Mr Ryan was not a major player and he agreed. Ms Treacy said Mr Ryan is extremely ashamed. At the time he was wracked with addiction issues. He was living a chaotic lifestyle - drinking heavily and taking drugs. He was not making a monetary gain - he was getting and holding drugs and paying off his debt. He was feeding his habit, said Ms Treacy. The defence barrister said it was a huge wake up call for her client. It was a positive thing for him as he has dealt with his addiction issues. He contacted Saoirse and is attending drug addiction counselling. He got caught up in this due to his drug addiction. It was a means to fund his own chaotic lifestyle, said Ms Treacy. Judge Tom ODonnell said he has said time and time again that if you get involved in the sale or supply of drugs you will pay the consequences. While he presented himself to gardai effectively nothing was gleaned. What concerns me is not the value, it is that he was an active participant in the sale or supply of drugs. Zip bags, capsules and a vacuum packing machine were found, said Judge ODonnell. In mitigation, the judge said Mr Ryan has no previous convictions and hasnt come to garda attention since July 2020. Judge ODonnell imposed 20 month jail sentences, suspended for two years on both counts. LIMERICK council staff have been recognised by the Irish Planning Institute (IPI) for their efforts to get young people involved in the new development plan. Local authority workers put together a consultation programme to engage young people in the preparation of the local development plan. Passed last year, it is this strategy which governs what can be built and where across the city and county. Now, Limerick City and County Council has been shortlisted for two prizes at the 2023 Irish Planning Awards, which will take place next month. The councils outreach programme was developed with teaching staff to ensure both planning and curriculum objectives were met and as a way to maximise the willingness of schools to participate. It was developed in two strands for both primary and secondary schools and saw students given the chance to look at the map of Limerick themselves and identify what theyd like to see in their local area. Council is nominated in two categories: plan making and the special presidents award. Also nominated in the plan making category is Clare County Council for its new plan for Shannon town centre. Elsewhere, the Land Development Agency has been shortlisted in the sustainable communities and placemaking strategy. This is for its Colbert Quarter Spatial Framework project. Its envisaged that through this, potentially 2,800 new homes will be developed alongside commercial space on public land around Limericks bus and rail station. IPI president Mary MacMahon said: The awards provide an excellent opportunity to reflect and promote the contribution of planning to society. TENSIONS on the southside of the city have escalated further this week following another shooting. Gardai have confirmed they are investigating an incident in which a firearm was discharged in the Hyde Road area of Limerick city on Tuesday morning, August 8. "The incident occurred at approximately 5.15am. There are no reports of injuries at this time. Investigations are ongoing," said the garda spokesperson. There have been a number of shootings in the local area in recent weeks and months. On July 15, gardai attended the scene of an explosion of a viable device that occurred at two residential properties on Hyde Road. A man received injuries to his arm. And last week, gardai came under attack as uniformed officers seized a vehicle in Ballinacurra Weston. The Armed Support Unit had to be called and plumes of pepper spray used to disperse the large crowd that had gathered. One local source told Limerick Live: Things are hot enough in Weston because of feuding families and the shootings on the Hyde Road. TRIBUTES have been flooding in for the late John Barrett, a well-known Limerick-born celebrity hairstylist who is being remembered as a lovely, warm gentleman who never forgot his Limerick roots. From Princess Diana to Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mr Barrett showed the world that a young Limerick teenager with a dream could have his name known amongst the great hair stylists of all time. Fashion stylist and model Celia Holman Lee recalled one of her fondest memories of Mr Barrett when she brought him home to Ireland. He came back to judge a phenomenal fashion show that we did in UL. It was a celebration of student designs twenty years ago. He flew in from New York and Ill never forget it. It was pouring out of the heavens and he arrived into UL and Ill always remember it. He had a silk suit on him and the rain had made it shrink a little and he asked me how am I going to dry this Celia? and I said theres a radiator over there if you want to stand next to it, Celia laughed. He told that story to anyone who would listen. He was fantastic, one of the greats, she added. Fine Gael councillor for Limerick City North Olivia OSullivan said it was sad to hear of Mr Barretts passing. I was in New York a long time ago now. I visited his salon as he had hired another hair stylist that had come out of Limerick, Cllr OSullivan said. He was delighted that we were from Limerick and visiting. He was a lovely man. He had some hugely high-profile clients and never forgot his Limerick roots, she added. Mr Barrett styled the hair of Catherine Zeta-Jones for her wedding with Micahel Douglas,he styled Princess Dianas hair on a number of occasions, and also styled Martha Stewart and Beyonce. CONCERNS were raised at the final meeting of Dail Eireann before summer recess regarding the potential transportation of cluster munitions for Ukraine through Shannon Airport. Three members of Parliament, Deputy Thomas Pringle, Deputy Brendan Howlin, and Deputy Catherine Connolly, posed their queries to the Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheal Martin, seeking clarity on measures taken by the government to ensure Ireland does not facilitate the transit of cluster munitions. In his written response, Minister Martin reiterated Ireland's strong commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), an international treaty aimed at eliminating cluster munitions due to their indiscriminate and imprecise nature, which the country has supported since its adoption in Dublin in 2008. The Minister assured that foreign military aircraft can only land in Ireland if they adhere to strict conditions, which include being unarmed and without ammunition, or explosives. Moreover, these aircraft must not be involved in intelligence gathering or military operations or exercises. For civilian aircraft operating within Irish sovereign territory, the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons, and Dangerous Goods) Orders of 1973 and 1989 explicitly prohibit the carriage of munitions of war without an exemption granted by the Minister for Transport. The exemption process involves consultations with relevant departments, including the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Justice, to consider foreign policy and security implications. The Department of Transport seeks advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law, Ireland's international obligations, and its broader arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation policy. Minister Martin's response emphasises the stringent measures in place to ban cluster munitions and preventing their transportation through Irish territories. The issue has drawn attention as concerns mount over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, with the US agreeing to provide cluster munitions to the country. The government's commitment adheres to international agreements to having strict control over airport activities to promote peace and security. Seven businesses across Ireland were ordered to close in July 2023 for breaches of food safety legislation. That's according to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), which today (August 10) confirmed a total of ten enforcement orders were issued last month due to food safety breaches, which include "heavy" cockroach activity near uncovered food, the presence of rodent droppings, and the storage of rotten meat. Three Closure Orders were served under the FSAI Act 1998 on Al Huda Grocery in Dublin 1, Spice of India (restaurant/cafe), in Bishopstown, Cork, and MJ Atkinson Limited in Cavan, while four further closure orders were served under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations 2020 to Momo's (restaurant/cafe) in Tallaght, Dublin 24, Sichuan Chilli King (restaurant/cafe), in Dublin 1, Pizza Lab (takeaway) in Dublin 7, and Ocean Palace Chinese Takeaway in Navan, Co. Meath. An improvement order and prohibition order were served under the FSAI Act 1998 to D Grill (restaurant/cafe) in Dublin 2 and Delhi2Dublin in Dublin 12 respectively, while a further prohibition order was served under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations 2020 on Pizza Lab (takeaway) in Dublin 7. Reasons for the issuing of enforcement orders include the storage of medications immediately above ingredients, a lack of information relating to meat traceability, significant build-up of mould on surfaces in a cold storage room, and no evidence of regular cleaning. An inspector also noted an open bag of cooked chicken stored adjacent to blood-stained boxes of raw chicken in one establishment, while another noted foul water stagnating in an open drain near a drinks service area. Commenting on the news, Chief Executive of the FSAI, Dr Pamela Byrne, said that while the majority of food businesses adhere to food safety regulations, it is clear that some businesses are not fully compliant. She said, "Food safety is critical to safeguarding public health. Failures to follow the basics of staff training, regular cleaning and correct storage of food are seen again and again throughout the Enforcement Orders issued in July. "It is also not acceptable for businesses to store and process meat and poultry without proper registration with the relevant authorities. "Unregistered and unauthorised food businesses are a risk to public health, as it is not possible to verify compliance with food law. All food businesses, from the established to the newly opened, must fully adhere with food safety regulations at all times. Enforcement action will be taken for transgressions, in the interest of public health protection." YEREVAN, AUGUST 10, ARMENPRESS. On August 10, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan had a telephone conversation with the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia Bujar Osmani. As a continuation of the meeting of two ministers within the framework of the Dubrovnik Forum in July, Minister Mirzoyan briefed his counterpart on the details of the deepening humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh resulting from Azerbaijans illegal blockade of the Lachin corridor, the ministry said in a readout. Minister Mirzoyan emphasized that since June 15, the people of Nagorno-Karabakh have been under total blockade and the humanitarian activities of the ICRC, the only international humanitarian organization with access to Nagorno-Karabakh, are being obstructed, as the ICRC announced on July 25. Both sides emphasized the urgency of resolving the humanitarian situation for people on the ground and the need for joint steps with international partners in that direction. While highlighting the importance of the statements of international partners with targeted calls to Azerbaijan, Minister Mirzoyan emphasized the need for consistency and joint efforts in that direction. The interlocutors exchanged views on collaboration within the OSCE platform. Axis Bank will raise its stake in Max Life to 16.22% from 9.99%by infusing 1,612 crore through a preferential allotment of shares. Axis Bank, along with its entities (Axis Securities and Axis Capital), acquired a 12.99% stake in Max Life in 2021, and through this new investment, they will own 19.02% in the insurer. This is with reference to our earlier letters dated April 28, 2020, July 23, 2020, August 24, 2020, October 30, 2020, February 24, 2021, April 6, 2021, and January 10, 2023, informing that Axis Bank Limited (Axis Bank") and its subsidiaries, i.e., Axis Securities Limited and Axis Capital Limited (together referred to as Axis Entities") have entered into agreements (including amendments thereto) with Max Financial Services Limited (Max Financial"), with regard to the acquisition of equity stake of Max Life Insurance Company Limited (Max Life") and matters incidental thereto," Axis Bank in a stock exchange filing said. In this regard, we would now like to inform you that the Acquisitions, Divestments, and Merger Committee of the Board of Directors of the Bank at their meeting held on August 9, 2023, has approved the proposal for the Axis Bank to infuse Rs. 1,612 crores in Max Life through preferential allotment, resulting in Axis Banks direct stake in Max Life increasing to 16.22% and the collective stake of Axis Entities increasing to 19.02%, it said. As communicated vide our letter dated January 10, 2023, the aforesaid acquisition would be done at Fair Market Value using Discounted Cash Flow method. The Bank will now enter into a Share Subscription Agreement with Max Life for proposed acquisition through subscription to the Preferential Issue of 14,25,79,161 fully paid-up equity shares of the face value of Rs. 10 each, at a fair market value of Rs. 113.06 per share (arrived at as per extant regulations and including a share premium of Rs. 103.06 per equity share). The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, including IRDAI, PFRDA, CCI, and any other requisite approval. The Bank has requisite approval from the Reserve Bank of India for the proposed acquisition. In a stock exchange filing, Max Financial said the proposed capital infusion will help the insurer to support its growth ambitions, augment capital position and improve solvency margins. The proposed transaction is subject to receipt of shareholders approval and regulatory approvals from IRDAI, PFRDA, and CCI. This capital infusion will help Max Life to support its future growth ambitions, to augment its capital position, and to improve solvency margins. On the allotment of the said share capital to Axis Bank Limited, the shareholding held by Max Financial in Max Life will stand reduced to 80.98% from the current level of 87%," said Max Financial in a stock exchange filing. Twitter Inc. or X was fined $3,50,000 for not immediately complying with a Justice Department search warrant for records pertaining to former US President Donald Trump's account. The social media giant was held in civil contempt by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. According to the newly unsealed court filings, the district court had issued a search warrant in a criminal case and directed Twitter to produce information related the Twitter account of Donald Trump. The search warrant was issued along with a nondisclosure order that prevented the company from notifying anyone about its existence. Although Twitter ultimately complied with the warrant, the company did not fully produce the requested information until three days after a court-ordered deadline. The district court thus held Twitter in contempt and imposed a $350,000 sanction for its delay." the court filing read. In its appeal to the district court, Twitter argued that the non-disclosure order violated First Amendment rights and that the court should have stayed enforcement of the warrant until the social media giant's objections were resolved. It further noted that district court abused its discretion by holding Twitter in contempt and imposing the sanction. Twitter also said that if it turned over the records before the district court assessed the legality of the nondisclosure agreement, it would prevent the former president from "asserting executive privilege to shield communications made using his Twitter account," AP reported. According to the Washington Post, Judge Beryl A. Howell said in her ruling that there are reasonable grounds to believe that disclosing the warrant to Donald Trump would jeopardize the ongoing investigation by Special Counsel John "Jack" Smith. She also noted that it would give Trump an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior, or notify confederates. New Delhi: Fast moving consumer goods company Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. (GCPL) on Thursday said it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu government to set up a manufacturing facility in the state at an investment of 515 crore over the next five years. The proposed unit to be located in Thiruporur Taluk, Chengalpattu, near Chennai, will provide the maker of soaps and hair colours greater access southern markets. The plant will manufacture the companys core brands such as Cinthol, Godrej Expert Rich Creme, Godrej Selfie shampoo hair Colour, and Goodknight. The investment of 515 crore over the next five years is in line with GCPLs long-term strategy to actively participate in Indias growth journey and our unwavering commitment to deliver affordable, best quality and innovative products to consumers. With the establishment of this facility, we will create over 400 job opportunities in Tamil Nadu. This facility aims to have an inclusive and gender balanced workforce. Our plan is to employ 50% of women for this facility along with 5% of employees from LGBTQ and people with disability (PWD) communities," said Nisaba Godrej, executive chairperson, Godrej Consumer Products. The plant will help accelerate GCPLs delivery timelines, optimize inventory management, and significantly reduce overall costs. The new plant is expected to boost GCPLs production capabilities and contribute to the companys overall production capacity, the company said. It will serve as a manufacturing hub for a wide range of our renowned brands and products, such as Cinthol, Godrej Expert Rich Creme, Godrej Selfie Shampoo Hair Colour, and Goodknight, bolstering our market presence further. More importantly, our commitment extends beyond business expansion; we are dedicated to making a positive impact on the community and fostering sustainable development in Tamil Nadu," said Sudhir Sitapati, MD & CEO, GCPL. GCPL sells household insecticides, personal care products and hair care brands in emerging markets. Apart from India, its products are sold in Indonesia, Africa and Latin America. production capabilities and contribute to the companys overall production capacity. Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn stepped down with a $590 million fortune earlier this week. The amount - which manages to pale in comparison to CEO Elon Musk's $230.6 billion net worth - was amassed during his four year stint at the helm. According to data compiled by Bloomberg the number is comprised mainly of Tesla shares and options he received as compensation. Kirkhorn had received a comparatively modest base salary of $300,000 in 2022. As per the companys most recent proxy filing, $31,099 in previously accrued paid time off that was applied toward the purchase of a Tesla. Tesla executives - including Kirkhorn- were not part of the massive moonshot pay package awarded to Musk by the Tesla board in 2018. The amount had incidentally helped catapult the billionaire businessman to the top of global wealth rankings. ALSO READ: Whos Vaibhav Taneja Teslas New Indian-Origin CFO? Kirkhorn joined Tesla in 2010 as a senior financial analyst and was promoted five times. Most recently, he became the CFO in early 2019 at the age of 34. Many consider Teslas financial management under Kirkhorn to have been crucial to its transformation into a disciplined and cashed-up manufacturer. The Tesla finance chief's abrupt exit has however raised questions - even as many remain cautiously optimistic about former Chief Accounting Officer Vaibhav Taneja's handling of the role. Tesla has not provided any reason behind the exit of the long term employee considered until recently to be a possible successor to CEO Elon Musk. Following 13 years at Tesla, Kirkhorn will now be staying till the end of the year to support the management transition. His departure comes as Tesla builds a new factory in Mexico and prepares to bring its Cybertruck pickup to market as it fends off rivals in the increasingly crowded EV market. (With inputs from agencies) To push the adoption Indian rupee in international trade , the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last year in July allowed invoicing and payments for international trade in domestic currency. The move was largely seen as part of the effort to bring down Indias massive oil import bill by purchasing Russian oil in domestic currency. Mint takes a look at how fruitful these efforts have proved. Who is India trading with the domestic currency? The government has said in the Parliament that it has started conducting trade in the rupee with neighboring countries such as Nepal and Bhutan. Besides, the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel said rupee trade mechanism has been initiated in case of trade with Russia, too Till 2 July 2, RBI had approved 34 applications from different Russian banks for opening Special Rupee Vostro Account in 14 Indian commercial banks. Patel added that Sri Lanka has included the Indian rupee in its list of designated foreign currencies and that eight corresponding banks from Sri Lanka have been opened with respective Authorized dealer (AD) banks in India. How does the rupee invoicing work? Indian importers undertaking imports through this mechanism make payment in Indian rupee that is credited into the special vostro account of the correspondent bank of the partner country, against the invoices for the supply of goods or services from the overseas supplier. Indian exporters, undertaking exports of goods and services through this mechanism, get paid the export proceeds in Indian rupees from the balances in the designated special vostro account of the correspondent bank of the partner country. How many vostro accounts are functional? India has been broadening access to vostro accounts. The government told the Parliament that New Delhi has allowed banks in 22 partner countries, including Russia and the UK, to open vostro accounts in the country. Notably, RBIs permission is required for a Special Rupee Vostro Account. As per RBI, the bank willing to open a Special Rupee Vostro Account for the bank of the partner country should have a good level of business resilience and financial health. Besides, they need to have experience in facilitating trade/investment transactions and capability to provide other financial services. What could the success of the rupee settlement mechanism mean for India? Rupee is yet to gain global acceptance the way dollar, yuan or euro has. Considerable push is required to achieve that. But the success of the rupee settlement mechanism along with a bigger share in global trade could change that. The Economic Survey has said that if the Indian rupee turnover rises to equal the share of non-US, non-Euro currencies in global forex turnover of 4%, the rupee could be regarded as an international currency. Why is trade in Indian Rupee not picking up significantly? A large number of private banks have businesses in the western countries that imposed sanctions on Russia. Exporters complain that Indian private banks are reluctant to trade with Russia due to fear of western sanctions. Moreover, trade in Indian currency could have picked up if India had a trade balance with Russia. But Indias trade deficit with Russia touched $43 billion in 2022-23 largely due to purchase of Russian oil. This has resulted in huge piling up of Indian rupee with Russia that it is unable to use. The Reserve Bank has imposed monetary penalties on four co-operative banksone from Bihar and three others from Maharashtrafor deficiencies in regulatory compliance. These banks are Tapindu Urban Co-operative Bank Limited, Islampur Urban Co-operative Bank Limited, Mahabaleshwar Urban Co-operative Bank Limited, and Mangal Co-operative Bank Limited. The Reserve Bank imposed a monetary penalty of 1,00,000 on The Tapindu Urban Co-operative Bank Limited, Patna for non-compliance with the directions issued by RBI on Exposure Norms and Statutory / Other Restrictions UCBs. The bank had failed to comply with RBI directions on prudential inter-bank exposure norms at the gross level. The Islampur Urban Co-operative Bank Limited, Maharashtra was penalised of 2.00 lakh for non-compliance with certain provisions the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and certain provisions of the Reserve Bank of India (Know Your Customer (KYC)) Directions, 2016 and Maintenance of Deposit Accounts-UCBs. The bank had not transferred the eligible amount to Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF) and had not conducted periodic review of risk categorisation of its customers as well as annual review of inoperative accounts. The Mahabaleshwar Urban Co-operative Bank Limited, Maharashtra was also penalised of 2.00 lakh for non-compliance for contravention of certain provisions Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (BR Act), specific directions issued by RBI under Supervisory Action Framework (SAF), and directions issued by RBI on Maintenance of Deposit Accounts and Know Your Customer (KYC). The Co-operative bank had granted interest relief in a loan account of its ex-director, sanctioned fresh loans and renewed CC limits of its borrowers despite SAF restrictions and had not conducted annual review of inoperative accounts and periodic review of risk categorisation of its customers. The apex bank imposed a monetary penalty of 1.00 lakh (Rupees One lakh only) on Mangal Co-operative Bank Limited, Mumbai (the bank) for non-compliance with the directions issued by RBI on Maintenance of Deposit Accounts and Know Your Customer (KYC). The bank had not conducted annual review of inoperative accounts and periodic review of risk categorisation of its existing customers. The actions of Reserve Bank was based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the banks with its customers. Rajinikanth's much-awaited Jailer movie is now on the big screens today, August 10. The film marks the grand comeback of Rajinikanth after two years. Fans of superstar Rajinikanth were seen celebrating outside theatres across Chennai, on the release of his film 'Jailer'. A large number of fans thronged cinema halls in Kerala and Tamil Nadu on Thursday as Rajinikanths action thriller film Jailer hit the big screens today. Several fans of the legendary actor were spotted at the cinema halls early morning, while some fans were seen going berserk, pushing through the doors, and rushing into the theatre. A Japanese couple has traveled from Osaka to Chennai to watch Rajinikanth's new film 'Jailer'. To see the Jailer movie, we have come from Japan to Chennai," Yasuda Hidetoshi, Rajinikanth fan club leader, Japan told PTI. The movie has minted 12.8 crore in advance bookings, close to the sale of six lakh tickets, according to media reports. 'Jailer' is an action-packed entertainer and has a stellar star cast that includes Priyanka Mohan, Shiva Rajkumar, Tamannaah Bhatia, Ramya Krishnan, Yogi Babu, Vasanth Ravi, Vinayakan in prominent roles. In the film, Rajinikanth portrayed the father of a police officer. The film also demonstrated how a regular individual uses swords and firearms to take out evil men. Watch the video below, Investors are a gullible lot. In their quest for bigger returns, they fall easy prey to a host of financial intermediaries such as mutual fund distributors. Many wary investors have instead opted to deal with investment advisersthe ones who have registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and have to comply with several guidelines before they can offer advice for a fee. Yet, what if such advisers themselves were to commit fraud. That is exactly what Indore-based investment advisory Money Market Manthan Financial Services did, as per an investigation by the market regulator. There are 1,329 Sebi-registered investment advisers in the country. And, despite all the regulations put in place by the market regulator to ensure the protection of investor, Sebi discovers that some of them are, well, scamming their clients. Last month, Sebi released an order against Money Market Manthan Financial Services, once upon a time a registered investment adviser. Sebi had exactly 11 reasons to justify that the company was defrauding its clients. Being deceptive One way to make money in the stock market is to be really good at understanding financial statements, macroeconomic factors, making financial models. You take some risk and make some money if things work out. An arguably better way to make money is to not invest your own money in the market and instead advise someone else to invest theirs, and charge them for the advice. The only thing that matters here are good marketing skills. So, how exactly does an investment adviser be good at marketing? Fund managers can point to their past fund performance and wink while they put out the disclaimer that past performance isnt indicative of future returns. But investment advisers dont manage money, they just give out advice! Heres what Vicky Kamariya, who ran Money Market Manthan, put on the firms website, as per an extract from the Sebi order. Equity Cash Intraday: You are definitely going to make profits if you make investments on the basis of stock cash tips given by our team who solely work for researching the news and stocks. You can subscribe our services at reasonable package and then get up to intraday basis calls every day, weekly and monthly reports, chat sessions and dedicated customer service support for becoming a successful trader and make big profits with small investments on regular basis". View Full Image Mint The statement, You are definitely going to make big profits with small investments," has a nice ring to it. Unfortunately, Sebi is not convinced by promises of any sort of fixed returns when it comes to the equity markets. This one was out-and-out illegal! Now, for a quick question. When you sign up for something with your email address and get a welcome emailhow often do you read the contents of that email? Investment advisers are mandated to inform clients of the risks associated with investing, not guarantee returns. Kamariya, in his response to Sebi, said that he did inform his clients about the risks. In the welcome email! Heres what Kamariya said: The noticee did not offer /provide any guaranteed returns, which was also mentioned on Noticees website. Further, in the welcome mail sent to the clients while onboarding them, the following was clearly mentioned: Stock market has inherent market risk; hence, we do not claim any profit guaranteed services. Noticee do not provide any profit sharing services, guaranteed service and services which are not mentioned (on) our website." Money Market Manthan does not guarantee profits and only provides services mentioned on its website. But its website guarantees profits. A fine example of a paradox. Risk profiles Before investment advisers give out advice, they must understand how much risk their client can (and wants to) take. They cant give the same investment advice to a fresh graduate with their career ahead of them and individuals in their 40s who are struggling to repay their home loans. This is the reason that Sebi mandates investment advisers to do risk profiling of all their customers. So, Money Market Manthan did this risk profiling of its clients, for some of them at least. The investors were assigned one of three risk statuseslow risk, medium risk, high riskbased on how they answered a questionnaire. There were questions like Whats your investment goal?, Whats your income?, and How much do you want to invest? So far, so good. The problem was in what happened when someone wasnt assigned high risk based on the questionnaire. In August 2019, one of Kamariyas clients was assigned medium risk based on the questionnaire. Less than 30 days later, in September, the risk profile was updated to high risk, the Sebi inquiry found. The company apparently had a trick up its sleeve. Its sales team was asked to call up this client and make him re-answer some of the questions. Heres one of the questions: High risk is associated with high return, medium risk is associated with medium returns and low risk is associated with low returns? What risk can you bear (not prefer)? If someone asks you whether you want high returns or low returns, you would most likely say that you want high returns. Thereafter, your risk profile would be marked as high tisk and you would start getting advice to buy random derivatives. That seems to be precisely what the company did. Super high fees Money Market Manthan went to great lengths to simultaneously follow, and disregard, Sebi rules, so it does not come as a surprise that the firm was also overcharging its clients. (See graphic on the charges collected from clients, as per the Sebi order.) These figures are bizarre! It sounded like the investor wanted to invest 1 lakh and was also willing to pay 3 lakh as fees for high returns. Instead, if you were to put the entire 4 lakh in a fixed deposit, you can get better returns. Money Market Manthan, however, didnt just charge the full fees all at once. The fees started low, then suddenly spiked. The initial fee began at around 5,000. And the client makes a profit at first, always! The firm wins their trust. Then suddenly, the client has the chance to buy an exclusive service available only to high net worth individuals (which the client is not) and stands to gain a lot. And thats that! In one instance, Money Market Manthan charged 4.6 lakh as fees and promised to turn the clients investment into 22 lakh (the initial investment unknown). The company did not respond to emails on the Sebi order. The bare minimum Kamariya was fined a mere 8 lakh for all of the fraud that he did. Sebi decided that he had violated four sections of the securities law but for some reason went with the minimum penalty for each section. This was in addition to Sebi cancelling the companys investment adviser licence, Between 2018 and 2019the time period examined in Sebis investigationMoney Market Manthan had collected 1.4 crore in fees. If an investor files a complaint against a Sebi-regulated entity on its complaint redress system SCORES, the firm must take some action to resolve the complaint. Money Market Manthan obviously has a ton of pending complaints on SCORES, most of which are presumably demanding their money back. Sebi fined Money Market Manthan just 8 lakh but it also directed the firm to resolve its pending complaints on SCORES. Resolving these complaints might just mean issuing refunds to all the investors who were defrauded. Shreedhar Manek is the author of the finance newsletter BoringMoney.in (To read the Sebi order in the enquiry proceedings against Money Market Manthan Financial Services, go to https://www.sebi.gov.in/enforcement/orders/jul-2023/order-in-the-enquiry-proceedings-against-m-s-money-market-manthan-financial-services_73974.html) After Independence Day 2023, the peace talks between the Centre, the Assam government, and the ULFA pro-talk faction will take place in Delhi, said the outfit's leader Anup Chetia on Wednesday while hoping for its conclusion before 2024, according to a report published by the news agency PTI. Speaking to media persons, Chetia said, We hope to arrive at a solution with the Government of India before the (general) election ... It realizes that if it signs the agreement with us (ULFA pro-talk faction) the Assam imbroglio will be solved." After Independence Day celebrations our discussions will be held in New Delhi with the representatives of the Government of India and Government of Assam," the outfit's leader said. When asked if the pro-talk faction will appeal to ULFA-I chief Paresh Baruah to join the peace process, Chetia replied, We have contact with him It depends on the Government of India - if it is interested to talk with him and the group. But there is a lack of communication - the ULFA(I) demands are the same as before and the GOI cannot accept them." However, he was quick to add that Baruah is not in Bangladesh, as is popularly believed, as per PTI reports. He is somewhere, we don't know anything. But our discussions are on. It will be good for Assam and its people if other groups come to the negotiating table," he added. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had invited Baruah to visit and spend a week in the state to witness the changes that had taken place since the 1980s when he left. Sarma's offer to Baruah had the assurance of a safe passage during his visit, PTI reported. The pro-talks ULFA faction had begun talks with the Centre as long back as in 2011 but a final solution is yet to be arrived at. The faction has alleged that there has not been much progress since the Narendra Modi government came to power, though the talks had reached the final stages during the regime of the former premier Manmohan Singh. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: The textile industry is concerned that Chinese exporters are dumping cheap fibre and polyester in India ahead of the implementation of a quality control order (QCO) on a range of textile input materials, Brij Mohan Sharma, joint managing director, Rajasthan Spinning & Weaving Mills said. While bigger players have welcomed the QCO, micro, small and medium enterprises that lack a resilient supply chain are heavily dependent on imported raw material and are facing the double whammy of slowing exports and a raft of standards imposed on the industry. Cheap quality imports from China are being dumped into India. There is a difference of 5-7 per kg in case of polyester fibre. The Chinese are aggressively dumping fibre into India knowing full well that the government will come out with standards from 1 October. People in the commodity segment who are not having a dedicated supply chain will feel the pinch of it. But when you talk about the value addition quality control order is necessary. We have taken it up with the ministry of textile," Sharma said in an interview. Sharma said policy makers must focus on the cotton value chain that is the core strength of Indian textile industry. India, one of the worlds largest cotton producers, is currently facing the risk of becoming a net importer after both exports and production registered a record decline in the current financial year amid weak demand for textile products in the West due to the long-drawn Ukraine war. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) expects Indias cotton exports to slip to its lowest in 19 years during the current crop season between October 2022 and September 2023 as it expects farmers to shift to other profitable crops such as oilseeds and pulses. Indian cotton yarn exports hit a decadal low of 664,000 tonnes in FY23. You [government] are only talking about garments and technical textiles. Our core competency is cotton. I agree that to focus on exports systematically is important but cotton cannot be set aside which is Indias core strength. Too much volatility cotton prices negatively impact the industry. Price between 55,000 -65,000 per candy is normal but 1 lakh is not. It has happened in the case of cotton, viscose and fibre," Sharma added. Queries sent to the textile ministry remained unanswered. A peaceful settlement in Ukraine is possible only if Kiev stops hostilities and terrorist attacks, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said. August 10, 2023, 17:41 Peaceful settlement possible if Kiev stops hostilities, terrorist attacks diplomat STEPANAKERT, AUGUST 10, ARTSAKHPRESS: "On our behalf, we continue maintaining our principled stance that a comprehensive, sustainable and just settlement is possible only if the Kiev regime stops the hostilities and terrorist attacks, while its Western sponsors stop pumping up the Ukrainian military with weapons," Galuzin said in an interview with TASS. According to the Russian diplomat, "the original foundations of Ukraine's sovereignty - its neutral, non-bloc adherence and non-nuclear status - must be confirmed in order to reach this [conflict] settlement." "The new territorial realities must be recognized, the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine and the rights of its Russian-speaking citizens and national minorities must be ensured in accordance with the requirements of international law," Galuzin added. Every Friday, Plain Facts publishes a compilation of data-based insights, complete with easy-to-read charts, to help you delve deeper into the stories reported by Mint in the week gone by. Indian companies doled out record high dividends of 4 trillion in the last fiscal year, registering a 28% rise. From 1 November, India will restrict the import of laptops and computers in a bid to boost domestic manufacturing. Meanwhile, Indian companies' spending on corporate social responsibility (CSR) remained flat in 2021-22. Home-made laptops To boost domestic manufacturing, India is all set to curb imports of laptops, tablets and personal computers among other items. From November, companies will need a licence for their inbound shipments. India's move is expected to hit major foreign players like Dell, Apple, Lenovo, and HP, possibly making their products expensive in the country. At present, India has almost no competitive advantage in the international trade of computers. The market is dominated by China and Vietnam, the former being the world leader in computer exports and also the largest net exporter, a Mint analysis showed. CSR spending India Inc.'s spending on corporate social responsibility (CSR) remained flat in 2021-22, an analysis by primeinfobase.com based on companies annual reports showed. The combined CSR expenditure by 1,205 listed companies that were required to spend under the law stood at 14,801 crore, similar to 14,763 crore in 2020-21. Education-related sectors and healthcare segments received the highest CSR spends, close to 60% of the total expenditure. Reliance Industries continued to lead the charge in CSR activities by shelling out 813 crore in 2021-22. Adani stakes $500 million: That's the amount raised by the promoters of Adani Group by selling a part of their holdings in Adani Green Energy. As of market price on 8 August, around 31,095 crore were required by the promoters to release the shares pledged by the promoters in five key group firms. The Adani groups promoters have been monetizing stakes in several firms over the past three months. US-based boutique asset management firm GQG Partners Llp has purchased around $3 billion worth of shares from the promoters in various Adani Group firms. Handsome rewards Despite lackluster growth in profit, India Inc. paid handsome rewards to shareholders in 2022-23 through dividends, a Mint analysis of 439 BSE 500 companies showed. Indian companies gave record high dividends of 4 trillion, up 28%. This includes proposed payouts. This is the third consecutive year when dividend payments posted a strong double-digit growth. Some of the biggest dividend payers include Tata Consultancy Services, Vedanta and public sector firms such as Coal India, Oil and Natural Gas Corp. and Power Grid Corp. of India. Surplus surprise Russian funds worth $10-12 billion are estimated to have been invested in the Indian government treasury bills in the year ended 31 March 2023, a report by Mint said. A surge in trade deficit, amounting to $43 billion, with Russia has led to higher surpluses in the vostro accounts of exporters under the rupee trade settlement mechanism. In 2022-23, aggregate imports from Russia jumped almost five times from the previous fiscal as India purchased huge quantities of crude oil. India imported crude worth $31 billion from Russia in FY23, as against $2.5 billion in the previous year and $900 million in FY21, data from the commerce ministry showed. Jets woes 350 crore: That's how much the new management of Jet AirwaysJalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC)will have to pay to the Committee of Creditors (CoC) by 31 August, Mint reported. A plea had been filed by State Bank of India before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against JKC to recover pending dues. A lawyer for JKC said the group will do its best to pay the amount by the deadline. Till now, the lenders have infused nearly 400 crore of public money into the airline. Digital ironies The rapid growth of internet users in India in recent years has brought with it a series of contradictions. On one hand, the country boasts of having the largest number of people connected to the internet, but on the other, internet shutdowns are frequently used as a law-and-order tool in times of unrest. Last year, India saw 45% of all shutdowns globally, a Mint analysis showed. Internet penetration still falls behind the world average of 63%: the country ranked 120th in the world with 46% penetration in 2021. Chart of the week: Price pinch The cost of preparing a vegetarian thali at home surged to 33.7 in July, up 28% since June, a study by Crisil showed. Soaring prices of vegetables, especially tomatoes, onions, and potatoes are said to be the reason behind this steep rise in costs. Meanwhile, the cost of a non-vegetarian thali rose by a relatively moderate 11%. Follow us on #MintCharts on our social media handles. In May, a Navi Mumbai residents family bought a personal accident policy in his name from Aditya Birla Health Insurance Company (ABHI). While that in itself is a perfectly routine transaction hundreds of people do so every day there was a catch. The man who was insured had died of natural causes a few days earlier. After a month or so, the family lodged a 50 lakh claim saying that he had died in an accident. But the elaborate scheme failed, says Mayank Bathwal, the insurers chief executive officer. We got hold of the original death certificate and could figure out that the policy was issued on 17 May, while the death had occurred on 13 May." In another case, in Udaipur, Rajasthan, also involving ABHI, the person insured died due to chronic kidney disease (CKD) whereas a claim was raised under a personal accident policy. The claimant, using local connections, had provided forged documents (such as a fake FIR and postmortem report) to make the death look accidental and take advantage of the insurance policy. After due diligence, the ABHI team found that the insured was suffering from CKD. Documents proving the death was due to a medical condition were sourced from the hospital and the claim was rejected. While ABHI managed to spot the fraud in both cases, there are many instances where insurers fail to do so. Simply put, frauds are a constant threat for the health insurance industry. They can be perpetrated by individuals, as in the two cases above, or by hospitals themselves, in connivance with policyholders. The industry categorizes these crimes into two categories: hard and soft fraud. Hard fraud involves shady hospitals trying to swindle insurers. Soft fraud, meanwhile, has two sub-categories, and even reputed hospitals have been known to indulge in it to drive up revenue. While there is no publicly available consolidated data, industry stakeholders say fraud claims could easily make up 10-15% of overall claims paid in a year. If that is true, the total amount paid out by Indias five standalone health insurers and 24 general health insurers to settle such claims would be in the region of 7,000-10,000 crore. Data from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai), the insurance regulator, shows that in 2021-22, general and health Insurers settled 21.9 million health insurance claims worth 69,498 crore. Hard fraud Uttam Nagar in New Delhi, has become infamous as a hotbed of hard fraud. Hospitals and nursing homes have mushroomed in the area and some have been found filing fraudulent claims often. These hospitals, located in the congested bylanes of Uttam Nagar, look more like the back-end offices of small enterprises. Typically, they feature a small pharmacy, a few chairs for visitors, and a crowded reception desk within a cramped, dimly lit space. One deserted hospital in the area had just five operational beds, though a 10-bed facility is the minimum to run a hospital certified by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers. In some cases, patients with health insurance policies do not even set foot in these hospitals, and yet, claims in their names, with medical reports, are submitted to health insurers. Consequently, hospitals in Uttam Nagar are viewed with a wary eye, at least by health insurers. Indeed, HDFC Ergo and ICICI Lombard have blacklisted about 10 hospitals from the locality in the last six months. If an insurer blacklists a hospital, it means neither cashless nor reimbursement claims will be entertained from these hospitals. In all, more than 100 hospitals have been blacklisted in the national capital. The spokesperson of a Gurugram-based healthcare firm narrated an alarming anecdote about an Uttam Nagar hospital to this writer. The hospital (which has not yet been blacklisted) managed to enrol with the healthcare firm, which helps patients fetch medical loans for in-patient hospitalization. This hospital generated 12 loan requests of nearly 9 lakh in the first month itself. It surprised us. We went to visit the hospital physically. They did not even have a proper operating theatre. We figured those were fake loan requests," the spokesperson revealed. Not only did they raise fake loan requests, but also insurance claims. Ten out of the 12 claims got cleared. Only two insurers detected their fraud." Not surprisingly, insurers are suspicious of every claim that emanates from Uttam Nagar. Faridabad, Gurugram and Palwal in Haryana; Meerut, Kanpur, Lucknow and Unnao in Uttar Pradesh; Surat and Ahmedabad in Gujarat; Pune, Nashik, and Ahmednagar in Maharashtra; and Bengaluru in Karnataka are other regions where fraud cases are quite prominent. In the last two financial years, we have removed almost 300 hospitals from our network and blacklisted around 2,400 hospitals through investigation findings and industry coordination," says Bathwal. Star Health and Allied Insurance, another insurance company, blacklisted 1,765 such hospitals in 2022-23, of which 394 were network hospitals and 1,371 were non-network hospitals. Soft fraud Before you get admitted to a hospital, the helpdesk asks if you are covered by insurance or will be paying the treatment costs yourself. When patients are insured, it has been observed that some hospitals tend to overcharge, adding needless tests, unwarranted procedures or extending the patients stay. This is soft fraud. While hospitals and doctors committing such frauds may believe the patient will be spared any payout because of his/her insurance policy, ultimately, these frauds play a role in forcing insurance companies to hike premiums. Consequently, every policy holder and every person seeking a health insurance policy is adversely affected. In industry parlance, there are two types of soft fraud: waste and abuse. Take, for example, a cystoscopy with DJ stenting. This is a surgery that involves two steps, inserting a cystoscope and placing a DJ Stent (double J stent). Hospitals may show these two steps as two separate procedures. You have to do one to get to another. It is essentially one surgery, but sometimes it will be billed as two or multiple surgeries," says the spokesperson of an insurance company, on condition of anonymity. Some recent cases involve robotic or laparoscopic surgery. These are costlier than open surgeries. Hospitals may opt for such surgeries even though an open surgery would have worked. These are waste frauds. Similarly, conducting multiple tests to diagnose an ailment is also a waste fraud. Abuse is more serious than waste. For example, if a patient is suffering from piles, and undergoes treatment, hospitals may add treatments for fissure and fistula, as well. In the case of stones, the doctor may state that additional stones were identified while operating. Conducting stem cell transplants to treat autism is also an abuse fraud. The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation had revoked the registration of NeuroGen Brain & Spine Institute earlier this year as the Indian Council of Medical Research does not recognize stem cell therapy as a treatment for autism. Star Health blacklisted the hospital later. NeuroGen Brain & Spine Institute did not respond to clarifications sought by Mint. On their part, insurers have taken efforts to ink memorandums of understanding for package dealspre-defined rates for various treatments. However, even in these cases, hospitals may add extra treatment to heal a comorbidity. Every treatment will have a separate ICD (International Classification of Diseases) code. Hospitals tend to add multiple codes in one bill. For example, a hysterectomy may be packaged under a negotiated rate; but if a patient is diagnosed with hypertension, a separate line of treatment will get added and be charged," says Arindam Ghosh, director, India Insure Risk Management and Insurance Broking Services. To be sure, such cases are complex. No two doctors will treat one patient alike. The opinion of a treating doctor will take precedence in these cases," says Ghosh. Preventive measures In cases where waste and abuse frauds are identified, third-party administrators (TPAs) or insurers communicate with hospitals seeking clarity. We have earmarked doctors and medical professionals to process such claims. We get into healthy dialogues with the hospitals and treating doctors. Usually, a dialogue sensitizing the service provider may suffice. But, if we identify a repetitive pattern in a particular hospital or the reasons are not convincing, we take disciplinary action," says Dr Madhumathi Ramakrishnan, executive vice president, Star Health and Allied Insurance. The insurer has an in-house fraud-detection team that has assigned scores to all its network hospitals on different parameters. If there is a suspected fraud case, we analyse the hospital in toto instead of sticking only to the ongoing case," she says. Aditya Birla Health Insurances FWA (fraud, waste and abuse) team not only analyses the suspected fraud claims, but also audits the paid cases. In case a fraud claim has been paid, it initiates a process to recover the amount paid. We file FIRs and carry out investigations against the advisor, employee and the entire nexus," says Bathwal. Insurers also leverage artificial intelligence tools to mitigate frauds. They integrate these tools in the claims processing system to detect patterns or outliers based on past data and issue alerts for potential fraud. Analytics are run every time a new pattern of fraud is identified. Today, insurers are also using automation, big data and various analytical tools to analyse individual and hospital claims patterns, as well as geography, billing details, and other data to trigger investigations into health claims. Tools like the Google Timeline of the customer are also helpful today to corroborate the evidence collected during claims investigations. Different metrics like Cibil score, etc., are also being embedded in the investigation process to do better risk profiling of customers," says Vivek Chaturvedi, chief marketing officer and head of direct sales, Digit General Insurance. This is not only helping bring the level of insurance frauds down but also aiding in driving down the turnaround time for claim settlement." Further, the industry hopes to have all claims in cashless form because the chances of fraud are lower with cashless claims. Globally, if a patient goes to a hospital outside of the network coverage, he or she will have to pay 30-40% of the bill by himself. This is called co-pay. Eventually, we shall have to do the same to prevent fraud and make the system more efficient," says Ghosh. In 2021-22, 59% of the total number of claims were settled through cashless mode and another 38% through reimbursement mode. Divided they stand Despite fraud being an industry-wide menace, insurers have not come together to fight it. There is no common platform where insurers can interact with each other and share data to gauge frauds. Indeed, it was only recently that insurers de-empanelled suspicious hospitals together, putting more than 2,200 hospitals across India in the excluded list. Secondly, discussions are on to create a platform called Bima Satark, a fraud prevention platform for health insurers, where policyholders health data can be shared. However, data confidentiality remains an issue. The government has made provisions for citizens to avail of a Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) ID. This is a 14-digit health ID that allows one to store and share ones health records digitally with hospitals, clinics, insurance providers and others. While it is mandatory for those buying Ayushman Bharat health insurance, it is optional for others. One needs to be very cautious when it comes to health records. There is a legal angle. Discussions are on to take the platform live, but there will be challenges unless data confidentiality issues are tackled," says Ghosh. Ankur Gigras, CEO and co-founder, HexaHealth, believes that collating anonymous or masked data at the industry level may help. The claims data can be segregated hospital-wise, condition-wise and location-wise to identify erratic trends," he says. The banking industry has a parallel to detect fraudulent loan applications without compromising data privacy. Rating agencies Cibil and Experion have come up with a score system to identify risky borrowers. A similar risk score can be associated with hospitals / doctors at an industry level," adds Gigras. Hospitals are businesses, too Hospitals need to maintain average revenue per operating bed to keep the business running. It has been seen that branded hospitals tend to get a better deal from insurers. Hospital brands should not be given better tariff arrangements as they end up earning a premium from insurance companies whereas small hospitals bleed due to negotiated arrangements and difficult settlement cycles," says Gigras. The General Insurance Public Sector Association (GIPSA), a group comprising New India Assurance Company, National Insurance Company, United India Insurance Company and Oriental Insurance Company, has a package with pre-negotiated rates for various treatments. Ayushman Bharat works exactly in the same way operationally and takes away any possibility of sudden surprises to the hospital / patient at the time of discharge," says HexaHealths Gigras. A similar structure is needed for private insurers to ensure better utilization of the sum assured and avoid any shock in rates at discharge. Nationwide, more than 550 hospitals have enrolled with GIPSA for procedures such as kidney transplants, total knee replacement, liver transplants and dialysis, among others. While rates can be negotiated with insurers and could be the same across the industry, they shouldnt be so low that they overstretch the balance sheets of hospitals," says Mohit Soni, director at Soni Hospitals in Jaipur. As things stand, each health insurer is fighting a lone battle. A combined effort to share data and offer industry-wide package deals to hospitals would, however, go a long way to usher in transparency and minimize fraud. Ahead of Independence Day, the Delhi Police imposed prohibitory orders under CrPC Section 144 near areas such as Rajghat, ITO, and Red Fort on Thursday. "In view of Independence Day celebrations, Section 144 of CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) has been invoked in areas nearby Rajghat, ITO, Red Fort, etc. No gathering of any kind is permitted in these areas," Delhi police posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. This year a diverse delegation of US lawmakers will attend India's Independence Day ceremony. According to a report by PTI, Indian-American Congressman Ro Khanna and Congressman Michael Waltz will be present at Red Fort. Khanna and Waltz will be joined by Congressmen Deborah Ross, Kat Cammack, Shri Thanedar, and Jasmine Crockett along with Rich McCormick and Ed Case. Independence Day will be celebrated on August 15 during which the prime minister addresses the nation from the Red Fort. In addition to this, the Border Security Force (BSF) will run Operation Alert from August 11 to August 17 along the India-Pakistan International Border to thwart infiltration and smuggling attempts. During this, a close watch will be kept by the BSF near the India-Pakistan border. The number of security checkpoints will be increased and camel patrolling as well as foot patrolling will be enhanced, Inspector General of Border Security Force (Rajasthan Frontier) Puneet Rastogi said. He said the BSF increases its vigilance ahead of Independence Day. Meanwhile, the Union Ministry of Culture yesterday launched a 21-day nationwide campaign, 'Meri Maati Mera Desh' to pay tributes to the Bravehearts who laid down their lives for the country and mark the conclusion of the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav' (AKAM). The closing ceremony will be held at Kartavya Path here on August 30 in the presence of various dignitaries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this campaign during his 'Mann Ki Baat' broadcast. An 'Amrit Kalash Yatra' will also be held. As part of this yatra, soil from all corners of the country will be carried in 7,500 pots to create an 'Amrit Vatika' in Delhi. This 'Amrit Vatika' will symbolise the commitment to 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat', the ministry said. Tushar Gandhi on Thursday said that he would be filing an official complaint Sambhaji Bhide for making making offensive remarks about Mahatma Gandhi's lineage during his speech. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Gandhi said, On my way to Pune. Will file a criminal defamation complaint against the PMs Revered Guruji Bhide at the Deccan Police Station at noon today. Will not take slander against my ancestors without seeking legal redress. Last month, an FIR was registered in Amravati against Bhide, the founder of the Shri Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan outfit, for allegedly making offensive remarks about Mahatma Gandhi's lineage during his speech. Amid opposition parties' demand for action against Bhide for his derogatory remarks against Mahatma Gandhi, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis last week said insult of national icons will not be tolerated. Later, another case was filed against Bhide claiming he made derogatory comments against Gautam Buddha, Jyotiba Phule and Periyar Naicker, which hurt the sentiments of those who revered them. The complaint cited some online videos in which Bhide was seen purportedly making derogatory comments against the social reformers. Gandhi detained as he left home to commemorate Quit India Day Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that police detained him as he left home to commemorate Quit India Day at Mumbai's August Kranti Maidan. Meanwhile, social activist Teesta Setalvad in a tweet claimed she was stopped from leaving her residence and that noted freedom fighter G G Parikh was also prevented from reaching the August Kranti Maidan. A police official said when Tushar Gandhi came out of his residence in suburban Santacruz, he was told that he cannot go to participate in a rally for which permission was denied. However, he was later allowed to visit the August Kranti Maidan, the official said. Gandhi visited the site in the afternoon, he said. (With agency inputs) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke about the steps taken by the central government to combat the rise in prices of tomatoes in the country. The Union Minister informed in Lok Sabha that the tomatoes will be sold at a price of 70 by the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Limited (NCCF) in the Delhi-NCR region. Also Read: Mahua Moitra's 'bright pink & green saree' jibe ahead of no-confidence motion speech NCCF is planning a sale of tomatoes in Delhi-NCR region at a subsidized rate of 70 this weekend and covering all the nooks and corners of Delhi" the Finance Minister said in parliament. The Finance Minister explained that tomatoes are being procured from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka to be distributed through cooperative societies like NCCF and NAFED. She also noted that this system is already being used in states like Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan since July 14. I want to highlight the fact that on these essential commodities, we are taking enough steps but more will also be taken because we are conscious that people need essentials at an affordable price" she added. Finance Minister Sitharaman also informed that the government has initiated the imports of tomatoes from Nepal by removing the import restrictions and the first lot of tomatoes are likely to reach Varanasi, Lucknow and Kanpur by Friday. Finance Minister Sitharaman highlights the works done by Modi government: FM Sitharaman was defending the government's policies during the no-confidence motion discussion in the Lok Sabha. She praised Prime Minister Modi's leadership while highlighting the economic transformation brought in by the current government. She also highlighted the global economic challenges that are posing significant hurdles for nations like high inflation and sluggish growth. FM Sitharaman also highlighted the problems faced by some developed countries. She was quoted as saying by ANI, "the United Kingdom's struggle, where the Bank of England has raised interest rates 14 consecutive times, and the European Central Bank's struggle with high inflation, having raised interest rates nine times to a 23-year high". World Lion Day is celebrated on August 10 every year. PM Narendra Modi shared on X (formerly twitter) that World Lion Day provided an opportunity to celebrate the magnificent lions that capture our admiration with their strength and magnificence. He mentioned that India felt proud to be the home of the Asiatic Lions, and highlighted that there had been a consistent rise in the lion population in India over recent years. PM Modi applauded the individuals and groups working tirelessly to protect the lions' habitats. He expressed the hope that the efforts to cherish and safeguard these creatures would continue, ensuring their thriving existence for generations to come. The purpose of Lion Day is to create awareness about the majestic hunter, the ultimate feline, often referred to as the king of the jungle. Lions, scientifically known as Panthera leo, rank as the second-largest cat species globally, with the Asian tiger taking the lead and weigh between 300 and 550 pounds. History The history of World Lion Day traces back to its founding by Big Cat Rescue, the largest accredited sanctuary dedicated to big cats worldwide. August 10th is a day when people globally unite to honour the mighty lion through various means. Despite the festive nature of the occasion, it's built upon a serious concern: the lion population has significantly declined, necessitating their inclusion on the endangered species list, similar to their larger relative, the tiger. Co-founders Dereck and Beverly Joubert, a couple deeply passionate about big cats, conceived World Lion Day in 2013. They brought together National Geographic and the Big Cat Initiative under a single umbrella to safeguard the remaining big cats thriving in their natural habitats. Three million years ago, lions roamed freely across Africa and the Eurasian supercontinent. However, shifts in the natural environment and multiple ice ages have confined their range mainly to Africa and specific parts of Asia. Also read: Dolphins, sea lions found dead in numbers, showing abnormal behaviour on coastlines: Whats happening? Significance According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, lions are classified as a "vulnerable" species, indicating that their numbers could and should be higher. Current estimates by researchers suggest that there are 30,000 to 100,000 lions remaining on Earth. Without significant intervention, there's a risk that they could join the list of endangered species alongside other creatures most at risk of extinction. While humans and sizable species like lions can coexist harmoniously, this balance can only be achieved through a comprehensive understanding of how to cohabit effectively. Objective World Lion Day encompasses three primary objectives. The initial goal is to increase awareness about the challenges confronting lions and the various issues the species encounters in its natural habitat. The second objective revolves around identifying strategies to safeguard the expansive territory of these magnificent creatures, which includes initiatives like establishing additional national parks and minimizing human settlement areas. Lastly, the third objective involves enlightening individuals residing in proximity to wild feline populations about potential hazards and methods to ensure their protection. Also read: International Tiger Day 2023: From history to significance, all you need to know Lion population in India The global count of wild lions has experienced a significant decline, with the sole exception being the African continent. Nevertheless, lions have found a natural habitat in India, resulting in a consistent rise in their population within the nation, particularly in the Gir Forest. This forest serves as the second-largest habitat for these majestic creatures outside of Africa. The population of Asiatic lions has steadily grown in Gujarat's Gir forest and the broader Saurashtra protected area. The lion population escalated from 523 to 674 individuals between the years 2015 and 2020. Since the year 2016, the Forest Department of the Gujarat government has been actively celebrating World Lion Day. Gujarat's Chief Minister Patel will inaugurate various initiatives today. The Chief Minister will unveil a Lion Anthem and introduce the Sinh Suchna Web App. Additionally, two books titled "The King of the Jungle The Asiatic Lions of Gir" and "Hu Gujarat no Sinh" will be launched. Patel will deliver an address via video conference from Gandhinagar on this occasion. The State government announced that the commemoration of World Lion Day will extend to more than 7,000 schools and colleges across 10 districts and 74 talukas that are encompassed within the Asiatic Lions landscape. School children will don lion masks and participate in rallies, while educational institutions will feature speeches focusing on lions today. An 'unseen' photo of the World's richest person, Elon Musk's house is out in public. So where does the Tesla CEO live? Not many people are aware, Musk lives in a 2-bedroom house. Musk, whose net worth is $225,000,000,000 ($225 billion), sold his five grand houses in 2020 and moved to a tiny residence in Boca Chica, Texas. Walter Isaacson, the author of an upcoming biography on Elon Musk, shared a photo of Musk's tiny house and wrote, "In 2020, Musk decided to sell his five grand houses and to have as his primary residence this spartan two-bedroom house in Boca Chica, TX, where we would meet and he would sit at this wood table and make phone calls.". Issacson, who also authored Apple Inc founder Steve Jobs' biography, said he would reveal in detail why Musk chose to stay in a 2-bedroom house in his forthcoming book. One of the much-awaited biographies of the century will be available for the public from 12 September this year. According to Amazon Inc's website, the book 'Elon Musk' is "an intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our eraa rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence". For two years, author Issacson shadowed Musk, attended his meetings, walked his factories with him, and spent hours interviewing him, his family, friends, coworkers, and adversaries to write a biography on Musk. 'A TITBIT ABOUT ELON MUSK' The biography will share details about Musk's childhood. Born in South Africa, Musk was beaten by bullies regularly. However, his relationship with his father was more tormenting than his schoolmates. Musk developed into a tough yet vulnerable man-child, prone to abrupt Jekyll-and-Hyde mood swings, with an exceedingly high tolerance for risk, a craving for drama, and a maniacal intensity that was callous and at times destructive. At the beginning of 2022after a year marked by SpaceX launching thirty-one rockets into orbit, Tesla selling a million cars, and him becoming the richest man on earthMusk spoke ruefully about his compulsion to stir up dramas. I need to shift my mindset away from being in crisis mode, which it has been for about fourteen years now, or arguably most of my life," he said. It was a wistful comment, not a New Years resolution. Even as he said it, he was secretly buying up shares of Twitter, the worlds ultimate playground. Adding more to the drama, Musk changed the name of Twitter to 'X' recently, where he often writes about snarky rivalry with Thread founder Mark Zuckerberg. Under its G20 Presidency, India has prioritized the enhancement of food security. This commitment was showcased through the convening of the Global Food Security Summit 2023 in New Delhi, spanning from August 8 to August 9. The primary agenda of the summit revolved around the promotion of sustainable agricultural practices, the reduction of reliance on imported food, and the reinforcement of resilience against the impacts of climate change. In a conversation with LiveMint, Lisa Moon, who holds the position of President and CEO at the Global FoodBanking Network (GFN) and is also the organizer of the G20 Global Food Security Summit 2023, emphasized the critical objectives and pressing nature of ensuring food security. (Edited excerpts.) How are G20 member countries and the guest countries collaborating at the Global Food Security Summit 2023 to address food security challenges on a global scale? The Global Food Security Summit 2023 is comprised of officials, businesses and civil society members from across India. There are some representatives at the summit who are from nearby countries, like Nepal, as well as Indonesia and more. The goal of the Summit is to raise awareness about the urgency of food security to encourage the Indian government and G20 countries to make this issue a centrepiece of the upcoming G20 summit in September. By recognizing the importance of food loss and waste, India can play a powerful role in advancing food security in the world. What specific initiatives or strategies are being discussed at the summit to strengthen local efforts in achieving food security goals? Food security is a complex challenge that has multiple drivers, including conflict, supply chain disruptions, extreme heat and other disasters, and more. That said, the impacts of food insecurity are hardest on people at the local level, especially vulnerable populations, such as women and children. One growing opportunity to address food security is through food banking, which is a time-tested approach that provides surplus food to those who need it while reducing food loss and waste. Responses to food insecurity must be appropriate for the specific context. Food banks address related issues such as providing nutrition for school children. Food banks can also address gender inequity by providing job training and skill-building for women and marginalized communities. Also Read: Russia exits UN-brokered deal for export of Ukrainian grain - What does this mean for global food economy? In light of Russia's blocking of a grain deal, what impact does such geopolitical action have on global food security and the availability of essential food resources? The breakdown of the grain deal in the Black Sea is a tragic outcome of the conflict that is causing greater food insecurity, interrupting the flow of grain to the international market and driving up food prices. The global community must stand together to accelerate an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. How does ongoing conflict in certain regions of the world affect the ability to ensure food security for vulnerable populations? Conflicts, whether in Europe, Africa or other regions, can impinge upon food access and disrupt international supply chains. When these conflicts occur in food-abundant areas, the toll can be severe and it is hardest on vulnerable populations who dont have the resources to respond. This is particularly problematic given the multiple crises that are affecting food security around the world today. The G20 should be a platform to confront food security and take action to ensure that all people have access to healthy food. How can diplomatic channels and negotiations be leveraged to ensure that food trade disruption? Like other challenges that cross international borders, countries should work together to address food security issues. Countries should look for opportunities to advance common solutions that will benefit individual nations and help stabilize the global landscape. How will the establishment of the food bank counter the ongoing challenges? Food banking can be a solution that bolsters food security. Last year, food banks in GFNs network helped provide food to 32 million people. Food banks also reduce food waste, increase resilience in communities and help avoid greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, food banks play an important role in advancing many of the Sustainable Development Goals. We hope that leaders at the G20 will recognize this time-tested approach that feeds people and strengthens communities. NEW DELHI: : India and Taiwan are working on a migration and mobility agreement for greater collaboration and movement of skilled professionals between their technology industries, a person aware of the matter said. An agreement may also cover sectors like agriculture and manufacturing. Taiwans skills in semiconductor manufacturing and advanced technologies could fit well with Indias large pool of technology talent. The terms and scope of the movement of skilled tech workers have not been negotiated yet, the person cited above said on condition of anonymity. India has already signed migration agreements Germany and the UK. A key focus of those agreements is to improve the flow of skilled migrants in priority fields like high technology. External affairs minister S. Jaishankar recently said such agreements had proved mutually beneficial", since legal mobility is increasingly important in a world where we think of a unified workplace." Queries sent to the ministry of external affairs and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre in New Delhi remained unanswered at press time. The move also represents greater willingness by India to deal with Taiwan. New Delhi does not formally recognize the island nation and does not maintain formal diplomatic ties with it, since the Chinese government claims Taiwan as part of its territory. However, India has been willing to expand economic ties with Taiwan in recent years, with the presence of companies like electronics manufacturer Foxconn and electric mobility firm Gogoro in India driving the economic relationship. Recent news reports said executives from semiconductor giants TSMC and UMC have also visited India. With the larger context of global supply chain restructuring and the China plus one strategy, I am sure that we will see an acceleration of collaboration between the two sides in the field of semiconductor and information and communication industry," said Kao Shien-Quey, Taiwans Deputy Minister of the National Development Council in July this year. Taiwan announced the opening of a third Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre (TECC) in Mumbai this year. The TECC in Mumbai will help expand mutually beneficial trade and investment opportunities between Taiwan and India. Under Taiwans New Southbound Policy, it will also promote exchanges and cooperation in science and technology, education, culture, and people-to-people ties between Taiwan and western India," reads a press release by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre in Delhi, which functions as Taiwans de facto embassy in India. There is no longer any justification for consuming alcohol excessively and then deciding to drive home, especially in Italy. The Italian government intends to initiate a trial initiative aimed at offering intoxicated individuals the opportunity to utilize complimentary taxi services. Italy is currently testing a strategy to offer free taxi rides to party attendees as a means to reduce instances of drunk driving and mitigate fatal accidents. This trial initiative is set to continue until mid-September and will be implemented across six nightclubs in different regions of the country, ranging from Puglia to Tuscany and Veneto. Within this program, individuals who appear inebriated upon exiting these venues will undergo an alcohol test. Should their test results exceed the legal limit, a taxi will be summoned to transport them home. The funding for this endeavor is being supplied by the transportation ministry, with the endorsement of Matteo Salvini, who serves as Italy's transport minister, deputy prime minister, and leader of the hard-Right League party. It is further reported that funding for the program will be provided by Deputy PM Matteo Salvini who is also the Transport Minister in the Italian government. "Free taxis at the end of the night for those who have drunk too much," he wrote on X, the micro-blogging platform which was previously called Twitter. Although driving under the influence is against the law in Italy too, the nation has witnessed numerous accidents and situations involving individuals who were driving despite being intoxicated. Therefore, the government in Italy intends to introduce an innovative complimentary taxi service for individuals who are under the influence. Despite the presence of strong disincentives like substantial fines and penalties, these measures have not effectively curbed unfortunate occurrences. Now, the introduction of the free cab service has the potential to alter the situation positively. Drink driving represents a serious problem" in Italy, according to a 2020 report by the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) but surveys have shown that the level of acceptance of drunk driving in Italy is high compared to other EU countries. US President Joe Biden is not expected to participate in summits alongside Southeast Asian leaders scheduled to take place in Jakarta next month, Reuters reported citing sources. This potential absence raises concerns about the extent of the US commitment to a region crucial in its endeavours to counterbalance China's growing influence. Biden is scheduled to participate in a G20 summit in India on September 9-10 and has mentioned his intention to visit Vietnam, a vital emerging partner in Southeast Asia, to enhance relations. However, his attendance at the September 4-7 summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which comprises ten nations, remains uncertain. Reuters further reported Biden is not anticipated to travel to Indonesia. Furthermore, a Washington-based ambassador representing an ASEAN member revealed that Indonesia was informed on Monday about Biden's decision to not attend. Asked if it was correct that Biden would not be going to Indonesia, a senior White House official told Reuters on Tuesday: "We're still working on it ... we'll probably have more to say about it soon." White House spokespersons did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sources told Reuters that Biden's schedule for Asia is not official until it has been announced and could change. Several ASEAN diplomats said it would be a significant disappointment if Biden did not go to Jakarta, given the public emphasis his administration puts on the importance of ties with the region. A senior diplomat pointed out that Indonesia intentionally rescheduled the ASEAN summits, typically held in November, to September, aiming to accommodate Biden's attendance and his subsequent participation in the G20. Insiders indicated that Biden was projected to delegate Vice President Kamala Harris to represent him. Harris, who is the first Asian American vice president, has previously engaged in diplomatic efforts within the region. Also Read: India and ASEAN mark 30 years of diplomatic relations in Cambodia Biden previously generated disappointment within the area by canceling a trip to Papua New Guinea in May, which would have marked the first visit by a sitting US president, along with a subsequent scheduled visit to Australia. These cancellations were due to his efforts to negotiate a resolution to the US debt ceiling crisis with lawmakers. During an address at an event connected to ASEAN in Washington on Tuesday, Jonathan Finer, the deputy national security adviser to Biden, commended the significance of the US-ASEAN relationship and emphasized that the administration's strategy for the Indo-Pacific region is fundamentally centered around "ASEAN centrality." "It will be viewed as another letdown by the region," said Murray Hiebert, a senior associate with the Southeast Asia program at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Southeast Asia has been impressed that Washington under Biden has stepped up engagement with the region," Hiebert said, adding, "For him to skip the summit when he will already be nearby attending a summit in India, and likely making an official visit to Vietnam, will prompt many in the region to wonder whether the US is again slipping back to its episodic and half-hearted engagement with the region." Also Read: 'ASEAN crucial pillar of India's Act East Policy,' says EAM Jaishankar Ted Osius, a former US ambassador to Vietnam who heads the US-ASEAN Business Council, said there would likely be some disappointment if Biden was unable to go to Jakarta, although he stressed the "dramatic" increase in U.S. government-to-government engagement with ASEAN under Biden, a Democrat. ASEAN member nations expressed dissatisfaction when Donald Trump, Biden's Republican predecessor, opted to not participate in regional summits for three consecutive years. This was viewed by policy experts as contributing to China's efforts to expand its influence in the area. Barack Obama, who preceded Trump, attended all U.S.-ASEAN and East Asia summits from 2011, except for 2013 when he had to cancel due to a government shutdown occurring domestically. (With inputs from Reuters) The US State Department, in a meeting on March 7 last year, urged the Pakistani government to oust Imran Khan from the Prime Minister position due to his neutral stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to a report published by The Intercept. During the meeting, the Pakistani ambassador to the United States and two State Department officials have drawn tremendous attention, debate, and rumors in Pakistan over the past year and a half. One month after the meeting, a no-confidence motion against Imran Khan's leadership was held in Parliament. Since then, the PTI chief and his supporters have fought against the military and its civilian collaborators, the report said. The document titled Secret", obtained by The Intercept, includes information on the meeting between US State Department officials and the Pakistani ambassador to the US. In the document, it was mentioned that the US objects to Imran Khan's foreign policy on the Ukraine war. The meeting between the US and Pakistani officials took place two weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On March 2, Lu had been questioned about India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan's neutrality in the Ukraine war during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Prime Minister Imran Khan has recently visited Moscow, and I think we are trying to figure out how to engage specifically with the Prime Minister following that decision," Lu responded when asked about Pakistan's recent decision to abstain from voting on a UN resolution criticizing Russia's involvement in the conflict, The Intercept reported. Imran Khan, while addressing a rally, directly responded to European calls that Pakistan rally behind Ukraine. What do you think of us? That we are your slaves and that we will do whatever you ask of us? We are friends of Russia, and we are also friends of the United States. We are friends in China and Europe. We are not part of any alliance," Khan said as quoted by The Intercept. After this, Lu directly raised the issue of the no-confidence vote. Pakistan's president dissolved the country's parliament late Wednesday, paving the way for an election amid political and economic turmoil. Mint takes a look at the situation in the crisis-hit country, including the election and when it will take place. Last week, Sharif announced that the National Assembly would be dissolved on Wednesday. According to established procedures, a caretaker administration will take over the reins of government during the election campaign. These elections are likely to be highly contested and controversial. To begin with, the countrys most popular politician, Imran Khan, has been disqualified from contesting the election after he was convicted on a corruption charge. He was also arrested and is being held in Attock jail. Pakistans powerful military, which clashed with Khan during his tenure as Prime Minister, is also accused of exerting pressure on Khans party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) by engineering defections from senior leaders. Khans arrest on corruption charges in May had triggered widespread protests. Given his popularity, observers of Pakistani politics worry that the militarys efforts to stack the deck against Khan may lead to public backlash and a political crisis. There are also concerns about when the elections will be held. Ordinarily, an election would have to be conducted within 60 days of the dissolution of the Assembly. However, since PM Sharif did so prior to the end of the Assemblys full term, the elections must now be held within 90 days. Theres an additional complicating factor: the census. Pakistan conducts a census every five years and then carries out a delimitation of constituencies. Once the census is approved by a body known as the Council of Common Interest, Pakistans election commission is bound to redraw constituency boundaries. However, the Election Commission may require as long as four months to carry out the delimitation exercise, which clashes with the other rules calling for an election within 90 days of the dissolution of the National Assembly. The Election Commission of Pakistan told the media that the elections could be delayed till next year while the delimitation exercise carries on. A senior government minister suggested the elections could be delayed till March next year. Some commentators believe the incumbent government is trying to buy more time given its unpopularity among the general public. "Unfortunately, the country has been taken over by fascists, and they are petrified of elections," said Imran Khan in a media interview. AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday while taking part in the no-confidence motion took a dig at Home Minister Amit Shah's remark in Lok Sabja which he gave on Wednesday AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, said Our Home Minister was talking about 'Quit India' yesterday. I wonder if he gets to know that the word 'Quit India' was coined by a Muslim, he will not use this word. I want to say that the kind of politics you (Central govt) are doing will harm the country. I want to ask the PM if Hindutva is more important than the country." On the use of the "Quit India" slogan by the BJP in recent times, Owaisi said that if the saffron party got to know that a Muslim had coined the term, they would stop using it. "Our Home Minister has said Quit India -- if they come to know that this slogan was given by a Muslim, they will stop saying it. Yusuf Meher Ali had coined the slogan which Mahatma Gandhi had spread across the country. "If you really want to say Quit India then say 'China, Quit India'...the politics of appeasement which you do should 'Quit India'. You are creating danger for this country. I want to appeal to the government that the kind of politics you are practising will only harm the country," he said. Referring to the Uniform Civil Code, Owaisi said that it is a formula of dictators. "UCC formula is that of one country, one religion, one culture and one language. This is the formula of dictators. India is a bouquet, a mosaic where there are various languages and cultures," he said. He also asked why the government which calls itself "vishwaguru" has failed to bring back Khulbushan Yadav or the eight navy personnel stuck in Qatar jail for a year. He also demanded that the government tell the Supreme Court that it is committed to the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act of 1991. Owaisi also spoke of the lynching of Muslim men and said that while the prime minister speaks of loving the backwards among Muslims, these are the men who are lynched. On Wednesday Amit Shah said he had heard the speeches of opposition leaders and had reached the conclusion that this no-confidence motion was brought only to create confusion. On the Quit India movement's anniversary, the prime minister has given the slogan -- 'Corruption Quit India, Dynasty Quit India and Appeasement Quit India', he said. "Modi has ushered in a new era of politics since 2014, that of development which will lead to the creation of India of the dreams of our freedom fighters much before 2047," the home minister said. *With Agency Inputs No confidence motion in parliament: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to respond to the oppositions no-confidence motion debate during the Parliament session on Thursday, the INDIA bloc MPs hope that he candidly discusses Manipur, unlike perceived evasiveness by Amit Shah, who started his speech with Pandit Nehru In a sharp attack towards PM Modi, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge stated in Rajya Sabha, ...Pradhan Mantri ke aane se kya hone wala hai, kya parmatma hai woh? Yeh koi bhagwan nahi hai" Noting that everyone is eagerly waiting for PM Modi to speak in the Parliament, MP Manoj Kumar Jha said, This no-confidence motion wasnt brought for numbers. We all are aware that youve (Centre) numbers, but we have small numbers and through this device, we could hear something, Manipur could hear something." I just hope that today he doesnt become a human of the past and start with Nehru like Amit Shahs speech yesterday, he went on to add, as quoted by ANI. Revolutionary Socialist Party MP N. K. Premachandran, meanwhile, said that PM Modi might be entirely avoiding the issue. "We are not expecting much from the Prime Minister because yesterday's reply by the Union Home Minsiter it is very clear that they are not answering to the specific queries raised by the opposition...The Union government failed miserably in handling the Manipur violence...As the core issue is being ignored by the Union Home Minister in yesterday's reply we are anticipating such type of reply from the Prime Minister also..." Chinas Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Thursday made remarks on the U.S. administrative order of reviewing U.S. companies investments going abroad. The United States imposing limits on its own companies investing abroad is an act of decoupling and severing industrial and supply chains under the guise of de-risking in the investment sector, a spokesperson with the MOC said. The act gravely deviates from the principles of market economy and fair competition advocated by the United States, affects the normal business decisions of enterprises, undermines the international economic and trade order, and seriously disrupts the security of global industrial and supply chains. China is seriously concerned about it and reserves the right to take measures, according to the spokesperson. We hope that the U.S. side will respect the laws of market economy and the principle of fair competition, refrain from artificially impeding global economic and trade exchanges and cooperation, as well as setting obstacles for the recovery of world economic growth, the spokesperson said. The Impact of Decoupling from China on the USA The United States and China have been engaged in a trade war for several years now, and there is growing talk of decoupling the two economies. Decoupling would mean that the US and China would reduce their economic interdependence and focus on developing their own industries. There are a number of potential impacts of decoupling on the USA. One impact is that it could lead to higher prices for consumers. This is because the US would have to rely more on domestic production for goods and services that are currently imported from China. Domestic production is often more expensive than imported goods, so prices could go up. Another impact of decoupling is that it could lead to job losses in the United States. This is because some US companies would likely move their operations out of China if there was a decoupling. This would lead to job losses in the manufacturing and service sectors. Decoupling could also have a negative impact on the US economy as a whole. This is because China is a major trading partner for the US. If the two countries were to decouple, it would reduce trade between them and could lead to a slowdown in the global economy. Jimmy Giannettino, an Auburn city councilor and candidate for mayor, could not hide his disappointment after the state responded to proposed revisions to the Owasco Lake watershed's rules and regulations. "New York state has failed us," he told The Citizen. The long-awaited response from the state Department of Health comes three years after local stakeholders, including the city of Auburn and town of Owasco, developed and submitted proposed changes to the watershed rules and regulations. The rules haven't been updated since 1984. The Citizen reviewed the two proposals and found significant differences between the state and local plans, particularly in the area of nutrient management a point of contention among farms that operate within the watershed. The local proposal would update the watershed rules and regulations to include prohibitions on applying manure and commercial fertilizers for farms with 7 or more acres of land. The local plan would also prohibit livestock access to watercourses, such as brooks and streams, except for designated areas. Other proposed rule changes would include preventing feed storage areas from being within 250 feet of Owasco Lake's high water mark. But the state's response, which was obtained by The Citizen, omits those proposed policy changes. Under the nutrient management heading, the state Department of Health encourages non-concentrated animal feeding operation farms to participate in the state's Agricultural Environmental Management program, which is voluntary. The state's proposal does not include any new regulations on agricultural operations within the watershed, despite a state-funded study that found the main source of phosphorus in Owasco Lake is farmland. The local plan also included a rule that states "no person or corporation shall allow any pollutant of any kind to be discharged, deposited or otherwise transported into Owasco Lake, a watercourse, or stormwater conveyance such as a roadside ditch." The state omitted that provision. "Unfortunately, their response ignored our urgent concerns about the contamination of the watershed," Giannettino said. "Their proposal serves as little more than window dressing and it will prevent us from effectively protecting Owasco Lake." Erin Clary, a spokesperson for the state Department of Health, said in a statement to The Citizen that the agency is "finalizing updates to the watershed rules and regulations" a process that will include a public comment period. Over the last five years, the state has provided more than $9 million for water quality projects in the watershed, according to Clary. With the approval of the Owasco Lake Watershed Nine Element Plan in 2022, she noted that more state funding will be available to help "implement best management practices to reduce excess nutrients from reaching the lake." One possible explanation for why many of the updates proposed by local stakeholders were not included in the state's revisions, is that they "have key elements that are not supported by state legislative authority," Clary said. She explained, though, that there are existing laws, programs and regulations to protect drinking water in the watershed. "Bolstering these programs to realize the clean water quality objectives in the Finger Lakes region, including Owasco Lake, will continue to be a high priority," Clary said. The process to update the watershed rules and regulations began six years ago after the emergence of harmful algal blooms in Owasco Lake. The presence of cyanotoxins raised concerns about drinking water quality. The lake is the drinking water source for nearly 50,000 residents, including those living in Auburn. The state supported an immediate fix a $2 million investment for drinking water treatment systems. Then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo visited Owasco to announce the funding. But local officials say that was viewed as a short-term solution. The long-term plan included updates to the Owasco Lake watershed rules and regulations. A working group formed to develop the proposed rule changes and included representatives from several local agencies, including the Cayuga County Health Department, the city's Department of Municipal Utilities and the Cayuga County Soil and Water Conservation District. The city of Auburn and town of Owasco held a joint meeting in October 2020 to approve the updated rules and regulations, which were submitted to the state Department of Health for review. But the agency did not issue a formal response until last year. While local leaders have acknowledged the COVID-19 pandemic likely was a factor that caused the delay, they were frustrated it took so long for the state to respond. There were two developments in 2022 that add to concerns about Owasco Lake. Harmful algal bloom toxin levels were so high last year that the Cayuga County Health Department encouraged residents to store drinking water in case of an emergency. Additionally, elevated levels of disinfection byproducts were found at one sampling location in Auburn. At the time, city officials described it as a "red flag" and urged the state to approve new watershed rules and regulations. The Auburn City Council and Owasco Town Board will hold separate meetings Thursday and discuss next steps. Owasco Supervisor Ed Wagner said those options include legal action or making a direct plea to Gov. Kathy Hochul. City and town officials have already met twice, Wagner told The Citizen, to discuss how to respond to the state's proposal. "Like the city, we're not happy with the results," Wagner said. "After a six-year process, we get less control than we had before and we think what we had before was inadequate." A trio of Cayuga County villages could become the second group of New York municipalities to share a $10 million prize in the state's Downtown Revitalization Initiative. Steve Lynch, director of the county's Department of Planning and Economic Development, said Wednesday that the villages of Aurora, Cayuga and Union Springs will submit a joint application for the seventh round of the initiative. The Downtown Revitalization Initiative is a state program that began in 2016. Most years, the state has awarded $100 million for investments in downtown areas, with one winner selected from each of the state's 10 economic development regions. The city of Auburn is a past recipient of a $10 million grant, having won the Downtown Revitalization Initiative in 2018. Last year, the village of Homer in Cortland County won the $10 million prize. Lynch told the Cayuga County Legislature's Planning and Economic Development Committee that his staff has been busy working on the villages' joint application. "We're doing all kinds of events and outreach, mostly trying to engage the business community so that we can have economic development projects which look really good for those grant applications," Lynch said. Although most DRI winners are solo recipients, there has been one successful joint application. In 2022, the village of Clinton and town of Kirkland shared a $10 million prize. But the village is located within the town. There is some distance between the three Cayuga County villages seeking the grant, with Aurora and Cayuga separated by 12 miles. Union Springs is halfway between the other two villages. As the county Department of Planning and Economic Development assists the villages with the joint DRI application, it is also seeking funding for each village in the NY Forward program. NY Forward is a similar program with a focus on smaller, rural communities. The village of Moravia in Cayuga County won a $2.25 million NY Forward grant earlier this year. Aurora, Cayuga and Union Springs submitted applications in the first round of the initiative, but were not selected. The awards available through NY Forward are smaller than the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. The regions can choose whether to award two $4.5 million grants or one $4.5 million prize and two $2.25 million grants. For the DRI and NY Forward programs, the deadline for applications is Sept. 29. Winners will be announced later this year. THE new leader of the Social Democrats has signalled the partys intention to stand local election candidates across the country, including Longford. Holly Cairns said she is really hopeful the party will find a Social Democrat candidate to contest the local election in Longford next summer, and encouraged anyone who was considering getting into politics to do so. You dont need a special qualification or invitation to get involved. We need a vast array of experience that isnt really apparent at the moment, when we look at gender and loads of other types of representation that we need. Ms Cairns made the comments while on a visit to Limerick to meet with members of the citys party branch and attend the selection convention, having also visited Waterford. The Social Democrats leader was accompanied by Limerick City councillor Elisa O'Donovan, who has strong links to Longford with her mother hailing from Moyne. Cllr O'Donovan, a Speech & Language Therapist was first elected in 2019, and she is a niece of former Longford County Council Cathaoirleach and Fianna Fail stalwart Luie McEntire. The Limerick City West representative previously tweeted, "Our family has always been strong advocates for Longford and it's great people. Longford people have a great wit and tend to not take life too seriously!" Sinn Fein's rising star looking to make his mark in Longford Sinn Fein bosses are hoping the partys persistent lofty opinion poll performances will rub off locally as it eyes up possible candidates to stand in next years local elections. Ms Cairns also hit out at the Governments attitude towards climate action, as the Climate Change Advisory Council this week reported that Ireland will not meet its carbon budget targets for 2021-2025 or for 2026-2030, unless urgent action is taken. I think the fact that we're basically having a national conversation about should we or shouldn't we take action on climate and agriculture is a disgrace, it's 2023, Ms Cairns, who comes from a farming background, said. I find it confusing and frustrating that we're having that conversation, when it should be: how do we make farming more sustainable? Better than that, how does Ireland become the country leading the way in sustainable agriculture? That's where I'd like to see us in protecting the future of the sector and future generations of farmers. The next generation of farmers need something to farm. Embattled Garda Commissioner Drew Harris is facing criticism over the long term future of Granard garda station. Not for the first time, Fine Gael Cllr Paraic Brady hit out at what he claimed was the continued downgrade of the north Longford station amid claims phonecalls are being re-rooted to a Galway location. Cllr Brady, who was speaking at a recent Granard Municipal District meeting, insisted his derision was not aimed at garda management locally, but rather senior bosses in Dublin's Phoenix Park. What's more is all of the undercover detectives have moved into Longford, he said. We are no longer known as a garda force because Drew Harris has implemented a English style police force in this country. Cllr Brady, who received the backing of his fellow councillors, said the only way to ensure Granard garda station remained in place was if government chiefs appointed a new garda superintendent to Granard. What we need is more gardai on the ground, he said. I am not criticising the guards at all, what I am criticising is the system that is in place. Cllr Brady said recent changes to garda boundaries which saw the former Roscommon/Longford division being replaced to include that of Mayo also needed to be revisited. He said the inadequacy of the new policing model had been illustrated locally in recent days in which he claimed resulted in two patrol cars being left out of commission temporarily. In a bid to highlight his concerns, Cllr Brady led calls for a letter to be sent to Justice Minister Helen McEntee. Fellow Councillor PJ Reilly backed those sentiments up, describing the current situation as being unfair to the citizens of north Longford. I do not agree with Granard garda station being downgraded because it represents a very large area of the community in north Longford, he said. Since there is only two garda districts in Longford, Granard and Longford, it is very unfair to the people of north Longford to see it being downgraded. Like Cllr Brady before him, Cllr Reilly said there was now an onus on government chiefs to step in. I would like to see a superintendent back in Granard because I do think it is unfair to have one superintendent across the county, he said. Granard needs its own independent superintendent because it is serving half the county. The guest of honour at the annual asado (barbecue) of the Longford Westmeath Argentina Society, held at the Rustic Inn in Abbeyshrule was the Argentine ambassador, Ann-Laura Cachaza, who was accompanied by Argentine embassy officials Juan Tacetti and Deputy Nicolas Vidal. Also present at the event were Deputies Peter Burke, Robert Troy and Joe Flaherty as well as Senator Micheal Carrigy, while Philomena Murnaghan, from Omagh and Paula Slattery from Dublin, both of whom previously held the role of Irish ambassador in Argentina, travelled from their homes to Longford. A crowd of close to 160 attended the event, at which Argentine-style food was served and an exhibition of tango dance provided, followed by music from Johnny Carroll. Ambassador Cachaza remarked that the Irish community is still very much alive and active in Argentina and she urged the society to continue to celebrate the tight bond between the two countries. The ambassador paid tribute to the chairperson of the asado, Una Byrne, who had welcomed her and her husband to Ireland earlier this year, and she noted that among the attendance in Abbeyshrule was John Gallagher from the Admiral Brown Society in Foxford. Visiting from Argentina and in attendance at the event was Silvia Fleming, a member of The Hurling Club in Buenos Aires, which last year celebrated the first centenary of its foundation. Ms Fleming presented society representative Mary Egan with a copy of The Hurling Club's centenary publication and also a book written by club member Juan Jose Delaney, whose roots go back to Walderstown, Athlone. She went on to tell the gathering that many members of the club trace their roots back to Westmeath or Longford. (CNN) The death toll from the catastrophic wildfires in Maui has soared to 36, and officials worry the devastation could intensify as the infernos torch more of the ravaged island. The loss of life marked a staggering increase from earlier reports of six people killed. While survivors recall harrowing escapes by car or boat, many residents who fled still dont know whether their homes and businesses have been reduced to ashes. My colleagues, friends, family were all homeless, said Dustin Kaleiopu, whose home was destroyed by the flames. Were hoping that the death toll does not rise to much higher. Heres the latest: Billions of dollars in losses: While its too early to know the full magnitude of destruction, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told CNN he estimates billions of dollars of structural damage. Dozens are dead: As the firefighting efforts continue, 36 total fatalities have been discovered today amid the active Lahaina fire, Maui County officials said late Wednesday night (Thursday morning ET). No other details are available at this time. 50 people jumped into the ocean to escape: The Coast Guard plucked more than 50 people from the Pacific Ocean who had fled wildfire flames in Lahaina this week, Capt. Aja Kirksey said Thursday. Initial reports suggested about 100 people fled into the water, and the Coast Guard is still looking for survivors or possibly victims who might not have survived in the ocean. But so far, we have not received a report of any deceased or any additional survivors for us to recover, Kirksey said Thursday morning. A historic town is virtually wiped out: Much of Lahaina, where about 12,000 people live in western Maui, has been destroyed and hundreds of families there have been displaced, the governor said. More than 270 structures have been impacted in Lahaina, county officials said. Some are still unaccounted for: Three helicopters from the US Coast Guard and US Navy were used in search and rescue efforts along the west Maui coastline, and a federal team arrived Wednesday to help search efforts in the Lahaina area, officials said. Thousands dont have cell phone service: It could take days or even weeks to fix cell phone networks in Maui. Officials have been using satellite phones to communicate with providers on the west side of Maui to restore power to the area, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke said. Power outages continue: More than 11,000 homes and businesses on Maui had no power as of 11 p.m. Wednesday local time (5 a.m. ET Thursday), according to PowerOutage.us. Thats about 15% of the islands electricity customers. Additional crews are being deployed from Oahu, Hawaiian Electric said. Theres not enough long-term shelter: More than 2,100 people were in four emergency shelters in Maui on Tuesday night, the mayors office said. While theres enough shelter for an emergency response for a few days, theres not enough shelter for long-term living, the governor told CNN. Visitors should leave: Maui County officials have urged visitors to leave Lahaina and Maui as soon as possible, saying seats were available on outgoing flights. More than 11,000 people were flown out of Maui on Wednesday, Hawaii Department of Transportation director Ed Sniffen said. Airlines increase capacity: Alaska, Delta, United and American all brought in larger planes to get more people off the island. Southwest dropped its fares and increased service. Hospitals are overwhelmed: Hospitals on Maui were overwhelmed with burn patients and people suffering from smoke inhalation, Luke told CNN Wednesday. Severed communications and an exhausting firefight Thousands of people especially on Mauis western side still cant call 911 or update loved ones about their status because power and communications were knocked out, authorities said. About two dozen firefighters from the Honolulu Fire Department on the island of Oahu have been sent to the island of Maui to help battle the blazes, said Scott Humber, spokesperson for the Honolulu mayors office. Some Maui firefighters have been fighting the fires for 24 hours straight, Humber said. How the wildfires spread so quickly Fanned in part by fierce winds from Hurricane Dora passing hundreds of miles to the south, the wildfires on Maui and to a lesser extent, Hawaiis Big Island ignited and spread Tuesday. The infernos jumped over freeways, barreled through neighborhoods and obliterated homes and businesses. As of Wednesday evening, Maui Fire Department reported no significant changes for the Lahaina, Upcountry and Pulehu/Kihei fires on the island, Maui County officials said. The ongoing drought in Hawaii worsened over the past week, helping fires spread, according to the US Drought Monitor released Thursday. Severe drought conditions in Maui County jumped from 5% to 16% in the past week, while statewide moderate drought levels increased from 6% to 14%. We have no more Lahaina. Its gone In the devastated Maui town of Lahaina, Mark Stefl and Michele Numbers-Stefl have lost their home to a wildfire for the second time in less than five years. They first saw flames under half a mile from their home on Tuesday before the winds quickly intensified and the fire suddenly was in their yard, Mark Stefl told CNN on Wednesday. We just lost our house again. Twice in four years, Mark Stefl said. The first time their home burned to the ground, it was from a quick-moving fire fanned by winds from 2018s Hurricane Lane. Now, the two-story yellow home they rebuilt is gone, and so are their cat and dog. The fire just engulfed our house, he said. We have no more Lahaina. Its gone. Its not just homes and businesses that were damaged or destroyed. Historical and cultural sites in Lahaina have also been engulfed by the fires, a CNN analysis of new Maxar Technologies satellite imagery shows. The images, taken at 11:03 a.m. local time Wednesday, show that one of the largest banyan trees in the US the size of an entire city block and more than 60 feet high has burnt. It was imported from India in 1873, Hawaiis Tourism Authority says. Other prominent sites, including the Wo Hing Temple Museum, have been destroyed. Parts of Maui look like theyve been bombed in war Maui resident Daniel Sullivan said the scene was apocalyptic when an inferno enveloped his neighborhood and closed in on his family. Sullivan saw the fire get closer and closer and we had no way to get out because the roads were blocked. His home survived, he said, but many friends lost theirs. The island has been decimated, Sullivan said. Helicopter footage shows scores of structures on Maui burned to the ground many of them in Lahaina, a tourism and economic hub on the west side of the island. It looked like an area that had been bombed in the war, said Richie Olsten, a pilot who flew a helicopter over Maui. Maui resident Jeff Melichar had to evacuate Tuesday evening as embers and smoke enveloped his home. I am told my house is gone, but we are not yet allowed access to West Maui, he said. The lieutenant governor toured the destruction in Lahaina during a flyover Wednesday and said it was shocking and devastating. The whole town was decimated, Luke said. Were still trying to assess the amount of damage but the road to recovery will be long, she said. Its going to take years. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Michele Numbers-Stefl. The-CNN-Wire & 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. (Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Thursday and not separately reported by Alliance News: ---------- abrdn Asia Focus PLC - Investment firm focused on Asian small caps - Declares fourth interim dividend for the year ended July 31 of 1.61 pence net, compared to 1.6p a year prior. In total, the four interim dividends declared for financial 2023 - including this dividend - amounted to 6.41p per share, compared to 6.4p the previous year. ---------- Jadestone Energy PLC - Oil and gas production company focused on the Asia-Pacific region - In July, production at the company's Montara venture in offshore Australia was temporarily shut in following a gas alarm within the FPSO's 4S ballast water tank. Says that an inspection has identified the location of a small defect between tank 4S and oil cargo tank 5C, which poses no safety or structural risk, nor any risk of a hydrocarbon leak to sea. Jadestone is now focused on final inspections in ballast water tank 4P prior to returning this tank to service, offloading crude oil from tank 5C, and re-entry to 4S in order to finish the inspection. ---------- Westmount Energy Ltd - Oil and gas investing company focussed on high impact drilling outcomes in emerging basins - Notes the proposed transaction announced by Eco (Atlantic) Oil and Gas Ltd regarding its acquisition of a 60% operated interest in the Orinduik Block, offshore Guyana, through the acquisition of Tullow Guyana BV, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tullow Oil PLC. Westmount didn't specify financial details, but said the acquisition of Tullow was in exchange for a combination of upfront cash and contingent consideration. Upon completion, Eco will hold a 75% participating interest in Orinduik, and will become operator of the block. Westmount holds 1.5 million shares in Eco, which represents 0.4% of its issued common shares. ---------- TI Fluid Systems PLC - Oxfordshire-based maker of automotive fluid storage, carrying, delivery, and thermal management systems for light vehicles - Declares an interim dividend of 2.3 euro cents per share. The dividend will be paid in sterling. Says the dividend will be converted from euro to sterling using the London closing spot rate on August 18. ---------- ACG Acquisition Co Ltd - Special purpose acquisition company looking to benefit from favourable price conditions for new economy metals and other mining materials - Says that it continues to discuss potential improvements to the transaction structure with its Anchor Investors and Appian Capital Advisory LLP, but has yet to reach an agreement regarding the proposed acquisition. The longstop date for a decision is August 18, after which either of ACG or Appian Capital may terminate the agreement. Subsequently, the book-building conducted in connection with the placing remains paused, and ACG has determined to cancel the retail offer. Any funds previously paid will be returned to retail investors through PrimaryBid in accordance with the corresponding provisions of the Prospectus. In mid-June, ACG announced that it had agreed the acquisition of the Atlantic Nickel nickel sulphide mine in Santa Rita and the Mineracao Vale Verde copper mine in Serrote, both in Brazil, from funds advised by Appian. ---------- By Holly Beveridge, Alliance News reporter Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Problem at Luxembourgs border described as temporary ahead of all four reactors working again Just hours after describing that the French nuclear power plant near the Luxembourg border was nearing full operations again within weeks, operators of the Cattenom site on Thursday reported a temporary setback. Cattenom's Reactor 3 was disconnected from the electricity distribution grid early Thursday after operators reported a fault that set off the power-generating turbine's protection mechanisms, Electricite de France (EDF) said in a statement. An investigation into the stoppage was expected to find the problem and restore the reactors operations later on Thursday, EDF said. Reactor 3 resumed producing electricity in April after almost a year offline while it underwent repair works for corrosion. Luxembourg's government sent several letters to French authorities last year raising concerns about Cattenom. On Wednesday, EDF said it resumed producing power in Reactor 2 at Cattenom, which lies around 10 kilometres south of Luxembourg's border and 25 kilometres from the country's capital. That left only the plant's Reactor 1, which had a series of shutdowns in the past year to address corrosion and other concerns, still out of service. It has been undergoing maintenance since 27 May but was this week began a month-long restarting process after work crews finished reloading its 193 radioactive fuel assemblies on Tuesday, the company said. French nuclear output is a cornerstone for Europes electricity market, even though its hovering around 50% of capacity. Its nuclear stations continue to be crucial to the market despite outages and high output from renewable sources such as solar, which has been highly productive as heatwaves have ripped through many parts of southern Europe this summer. France became Europe's top net power exporter in the first half of this year, with most of the electricity flowing to Great Britain and Italy. Financial app Lista shares tips and tricks on how to get a credit card application approved. Lista says it is crucial to recognize ones credit scorea rating based on financial management which affects the likelihood of obtaining credit cards and other financial services. When it comes to being denied a credit card, one significant reason might be that a credit score is too low, it says. The score includes factors such as payment history, length of credit history, types of credit used, amount owed and number of new credit applications. The same goes for any late or missed payments for any other financial obligations one might have. Getting rejected for that first credit card isnt a dead end. There are several steps you can take to improve your credit score and increase the chances of getting your credit card application approved the next time you apply, according to Lista. The first step is to build credit history by seeking out banks or fintech institutions that offer financial products such as small personal loans. Successfully paying off these loans can help build credit history and improve ones credit score. Opening a savings account at a bank can also help improve credit record. Once the savings account is active and in good standing, applying for a credit card at the same bank could improve chances of approval. Thats because the bank with which you opened your savings account is in the best position to verify your credit history, it says. Another tip is to pay bills on time or before their due dates. To save yourself the hassle of manually paying your bills one by one, some banks can automatically debit your bill payments from your savings account, it says. Lista discourages multiple applications. If a bank rejects your credit card application, should you try again with a different bank? No, you shouldnt. Successive applications in a short span of time can cause your credit score to take a hit. It also gives banks the impression that youre desperate for credit, it says. One should also be honest throughout the application process. Honesty is the best policy for a reason. Some applicants falsify records or submit fake documents such as pay slips or certificates of employment. However, banks and other financial institutions have surefire ways of determining whether those documents are indeed legitimate, it says. An obvious tip is to find a stable source of income, as lenders need assurance that the people they extend credit cards to are able to pay their bills on time. Thats why many approved applicants are those with full-time jobs. If youre a freelancer or self-employed, an approved application may boil down to how well you can show that your business or professional practice is profitable. Prepare to collect and show a lot of documents such as business permits, income tax returns, and more, it says. Apply for a credit card that fits your credit score As a newcomer to credit, you probably wont be able to qualify for credit cards with huge rewards and long 0 percent interest terms right away. However, all is not lost. Many credit cards intended for those new-to-credit offer good rewards and might not even charge annual fees. If you opened a savings account at a bank, having good history might even pre-qualify you for approval on certain cards, it says. One way to stay on top of your credit is by monitoring your credit reports. Additional data from the TransUnion Philippines credit perception study showed that 54% of Filipinos are comfortable monitoring their own transactions and expenses. To easily access your credit report and build the habit of monitoring your credit behavior, all it takes is a few clicks on Lista, the fastest-growing financial management app in the Philippines, it says. Through a partnership with the countrys leading credit bureau CIBI Information Inc., The Credit Information Corp., the countrys sole public credit registry and repository of credit information, has authorized Lista to access CIC credit data through CIBI as a non-accessing entity. The partnership enables Filipinos to access their credit reports and utilize other premium features on the Lista app such as the Credit Score Trend which shows users how their credit scores have performed in the span of six months. In the pursuit of greater financial inclusion, our partnership with CIBI is instrumental in helping more Filipinos create and maintain good financial habits, says Khriztina Lim, Lista co-founder. Through the Lista app, users can know their credit scores in just a few taps. This information is made instantly available to help users determine eligibility for credit cards and loans. They can also discover tips on how to improve their credit scores, all at a very accessible price, she says. One can obtain credit score on Lista for P199 per request. Users should prepare one valid ID for identity verification. A recent study by TransUnion Philippines shows that 67 percent of Filipinos show high favorability towards credit cards. Further insights indicate that 62 percent of Filipinos are likely to use credit cards in the coming year. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- In a recent press release, Farasis Energy unveiled a significant strategic shift in its investment plans. The company announced its decision to terminate the "High-Performance Power Lithium Battery Project" initially earmarked for its 2021 annual private placement initiative. The remaining funds, totaling 2.653 billion yuan, will be redirected toward two new projects: the "Ganzhou 30GWh New Energy Battery Project (Phase I)" and the "30GWh Power Battery Production Base Project (Phase I)". Diving into specifics, the Ganzhou 30GWh New Energy Battery Project (Phase I) involves an total investment of 2.274 billion yuan. Approximately 1.326 billion yuan from the capital raised will be infused into this venture, which is expected to take 18 months to complete. Upon fruition, the project will exhibit an annual production capacity of 15GWh of ternary pouch batteries. Photo credit: Farasis Energy The other 30GWh Power Battery Production Base Project (Phase I), situated at the Sino-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City in the Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone. This endeavor carries a total investment of 2.064 billion yuan, with 1.326 billion yuan sourced from the redirected funds. The project's estimated construction timeline is also 18 months, culminating in an annual production capacity of 15GWh of lithium iron phosphate pouch power batteries. These strategic realignments come on the heels of Farasis Energy's private placement in November 2022. The company issued a total of 140 million shares at 23.7 yuan per share, securing a 3.318 billion yuan in investments from prominent stakeholders, including Guangzhou Industrial Investment and Capital Operation Holding Group, CIIHG, and Guangzhou Chong Hing. Originally earmarked for the High-Performance Power Lithium Battery Project and technological reserves, the raised capital fell short of the initial projected investment. As a result, Farasis Energy opted to recalibrate its allocation, reducing the investment in the aforementioned project from the initial 3.92 billion yuan to 2.756 billion yuan. Despite these strategic adjustments, progress on the original projects has been rather measured over the past year. Up until August 2nd of this year, a mere 110 million yuan has been utilized from the raised funds, reflecting a modest 4% progress in investment. Consequently, an unutilized balance of 2.653 billion yuan still remains within the confines of the project's account. Farasis Energy has elaborated on the rationale behind these transformative changes, citing three pivotal factors. Foremost, the evolution of its technology roadmap from ternary pouch power batteries to the cutting-edge Super Pouch Solution (SPS) signifies a leap in innovation. This SPS approach not only excels in cost-effectiveness but also demonstrates remarkable adaptability and material compatibility. The new projects will have production lines built on the new SPS technology. Moreover, the company's strategic collaboration with local government platforms in Ganzhou and Guangzhou cities, adopting a contract manufacturing model, serves to alleviate financial pressures. Finally, the geographical placement of production capacity in Ganzhou and Guangzhou is harmoniously aligned with the distribution of downstream customers. This strategic positioning fosters closer engagement with core clients, thereby enhancing service quality and responsiveness. PH-VIETNAM TIES. President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. thanked Vietnamese Ambassador Hoang Huy Chung for his service as his countrys envoy to Manila in a farewell call at Malacanang on Thursday. PCO Photo President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he is looking forward to signing an agreement with Vietnam that would strengthen maritime cooperation in the West Philippine Sea. Now that we are going to start discussions on the agreement that wehave between the Philippines and Vietnam, I think it is a very, veryimportant it will be a very, very important part of our relationshipand it will bring an element of stability to the problems that we are seeing now in the South China Sea, the President said during a courtesy call of outgoing Vietnam Ambassador to the Philippines Hoang Huy Chung. Mr. Marcos said the agreement is going to be a very big step in maritime cooperation between the Philippines and Vietnam. The ambassador said Vietnam President Vo Van Thuong extended his gratitude to President Marcos and the Philippine government for working closely with them, especially on their common interest in the West Philippine Sea and the prevention of further incidents in the Philippine waters. And President, Vietnam, we have very respect for your thought that you are a friend to all, none enemy, Chung told Mr. Marcos. Meanwhile, the President met with Zimbabwes non-resident Ambassador-Designate to the Philippines, both sides eyeing to explore stronger bilateral relations. The President welcomed Ambassador Constance Chemwayi, who will be based in Malaysia, to the Malacanang Palace for the presentation of her credentials. I hope that we will find many things to explore. I hope that your coming today will be the beginning of that close ties, President Marcos told Chemwayi. The President affirmed that the Philippines and Vietnam have a good solid agreement that is beneficial for both counties, making it easier for them to face the common challenges when it comes to territorial disputes in the South China Sea. I really believe that we have to make these bilateral agreements. I think you will not be surprised and I think Im not giving away any confidence that we will like to have these bilateral agreements as well with the other countries within ASEAN, Mr. Marcos said. Last month, the Supreme Court has denied with finality a tripartite partnership of the Philippines, China and Vietnam to explore a portion of the West Philippine Sea for oil and gas. The High Court struck down due to lack of merit the appeal of its January 10, 2023 decision declaring as unconstitutional the Tripartite Agreement for Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU) by China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC), Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp. (PetroVietnam), and the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC). In 2008, the parties had agreed to search an area in the South China Sea covering 142,886 square kilometers for possible petroleum and gas resources. But in an en banc resolution, the SC junked the oil firms motion for reconsideration seeking to reverse its decision to void the JMSU since the issues raised have already been passed upon in its ruling in January. The High Court declared the joint search unconstitutional for allowing wholly-owned foreign corporations to participate in the exploration of the Philippines natural resources without observing the safeguards provided in Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Whether youre a parent in need of your childs medication late at night or a graveyard shift employee seeking vitamins for a healthier lifestyle, the last thing you want is to worry about getting your medicine. Introducing KonsultaMD Pharmacy, the latest 24/7 medicine delivery service that promises to give you peace of mind when buying medicine, so you can focus on the things that really matter, being productive by getting things done at work, or spending more time with your friends and family. Getting relief from a busy work week or sending a care kit to a loved one is now made easier than ever. Within a few minutes, you can get all your medicine shopping done all in one app. Order your vitamins, supplements, and prescription medications at your convenience with just a few taps. KonsultaMDPharmacy is the newest and only superhero of hassle-free 24/7 medicine delivery in the Philippines. Say goodbye to the inconvenience of having to dress up, driving through traffic to get to a pharmacy or convenience store, and waiting in a long line. Now, you can order your medicine, whether for a headache or cough, anytime without stepping outside. On-Demand Access to Your Healthcare Needs With its 24/7 medicine delivery, KonsultaMD brings the pharmacy to you! Order anytime, day or night. KonsultaMDs licensed pharmacists and riders are ready to fulfill your orders 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In need of everyday vitamins like Ascorbic Acid, Multivitamins or Folic Acid? Perhaps youve run out of your Amlodipine, Losartan, or Carbocisteine. No problemKonsultaMD has a wide range of medicines, vitamins, and wellness products to choose from. And heres the cherry on top: if you have any questions about medications, dosages or possible drug interactions, KonsultaMDs licensed physicians are just a video call or chat away. Consult with medical professionals, get e-prescriptions, and purchase your prescribed medicine or supplies right in the same app. It doesnt get any more convenient than that! Purchasing medicine from KonsultaMD Pharmacy is simple. Just follow these 5 easy steps: How to Purchase from KonsultaMD Pharmacy Step 1. Register on the KonsultaMD SuperApp to unlock 24/7 access to the medicines that you need. Step 2. Once youve created an account, simply tap on Pharmacy and add your delivery address. Step 3. Now you can start exploring the wide range of products and add what you need to your cart. Step 4. Checkout and confirm your payment to complete the purchase. Step 5. Your items will be delivered straight to your doorstep. Join us at the KonsultaMD Pharma Metro Tour If youre in Metro Manila, look out for the KonsultaMD Pharmacy van cruising around town. Its stocked with free health kits, discount vouchers, refreshing beverages, and its got KonsultaKat waiting to help you get back on track. Download, register, and show the KonsultaMD app to claim these exclusive goodies. Be sure to follow KonsultaMD on social media for the latest Metro Tour locations, because the KonsultaMD Pharmacy van is always on the moveso when it does stop by, make sure youre there! https://www.facebook.com/konsultamd https://www.instagram.com/konsulta.md/ https://www.tiktok.com/@konsultamd Download the KonsultaMD app or visit its website at use.konsulta.md/pharma247 to explore KonsultaMD Pharmacy and all its medical services. Because when it comes to your health, KonsultaMD is here for you 24/7. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Taylor Swifts fans are in their Wildest Dreams after the artist made a special announcement during the last 2023 U.S. Eras Tour date. During the acoustic set of the last SoFi stadium show on Wednesday, the 12 time Grammy Award artist announced the upcoming re-release of her pop album 1989. The album originally debuted in 2014. Prior to the announcement, the artist traded in some of her iconic tour outfits for different ones all in different shades of blue a color the Swiftie fandom has dubbed the album color. So now, here we are on the last night of the U.S. leg of the Eras tour in the eighth month of the year on the ninth day. You might have noticed there are some new outfits in the show, she teased to fans wearing a blue dress. Theres something that Ive been planning for a really, really, really ridiculously, embarrassingly long time, and I think instead of just like telling you about it, I think Ill just sort of show you. There, Swift revealed the cover art and release date for 1989 (Taylors Version) on the big screen in SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California. The new album will be available to fans on Oct. 27, exactly nine years after her first release of 1989. She then quickly transitioned into singing New Romantics as her first surprise song of the night, a track off the deluxe edition of 1989. The announcement didnt stop there, as Swift took to Instagram, telling fans that this re-recorded album is her favorite. To be perfectly honest, this is my most FAVORITE re-record Ive ever done because the 5 From The Vault tracks are so insane. I cant believe they were ever left behind. But not for long! she said online. Fans can pre-order the album on her website here. Even though Swift has wrapped up the Eras Tour in the U.S. for the year, she will still be on tour, heading to Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. Really thrilled to tell you this!! Mexico, Argentina and Brazil: We are bringing The Eras Tour to you this year! Swift wrote on Instagram in June. Joining her will be fellow artist Sabrina Carpenter. You can look at tickets for those shows below. StubHub Aug. 24 - Foro Sol in Mexico City, Mexico - Buy tickets at VividSeats StubHub Aug. 25 - Foro Sol in Mexico City, Mexico - Buy tickets at VividSeats StubHub Aug. 26 - Foro Sol in Mexico City, Mexico - Buy tickets at VividSeats StubHub Aug. 27 - Foro Sol in Mexico City, Mexico - Buy tickets at VividSeats StubHub Nov. 9 - Estadio River Plate in Buenos Aires, Argentina - Buy tickets at VividSeats StubHub Nov. 10 - Estadio River Plate in Buenos Aires, Argentina - Buy tickets at VividSeats StubHub Nov. 11 - Estadio River Plate in Buenos Aires, Argentina - Buy tickets at VividSeats StubHub Nov. 17 - Estadio Niltan Santos in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Buy tickets at VividSeats StubHub Nov. 18 - Estadio Niltan Santos in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Buy tickets at VividSeats StubHub Nov. 19 - Estadio Niltan Santos in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Buy tickets at VividSeats StubHub Nov. 24 - Allianz Parque in Sao Paulo, Brazil - Buy tickets at VividSeats StubHub Nov. 25 - Allianz Parque in Sao Paulo, Brazil - Buy tickets at VividSeats StubHub Nov. 26 - Allianz Parque in Sao Paulo, Brazil - Buy tickets at VividSeats Swift will be back in the states in October of 2024. On Aug. 13, local blues bassist Roger Smith will be inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame at an event that also honors the Prescott Blues music venue, the Windsock Cocktail Lounge, and will gather over a dozen Hall of Fame members for a jam session. Since 1995 and the induction of Chico Chism and Big Pete Pearson, the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame has been honoring Arizona blues musicians (and venues) who have been nothing short of legendary in their influence on the Arizona blues scene and beyond. Tom McMillan, the Arizona Blues Hall of Fames northern Arizona chairperson, said each year at induction ceremonies, a host of performers gather to celebrate the honorees. This years Prescott ceremony is anticipated to be quite memorable, McMillan said. I think theres 14 or 16 Hall of Fame players that are scheduled to appear, McMillan said. Thats probably the largest number of Arizona Blues Hall of Fame inductees scheduled to perform in one venue that Ive seen for quite some time. For a $5 suggested donation, blues and live music fans can gather in Prescotts Windstock Cocktail Lounge for a night of performances and celebration. In addition to those festivities, the ceremony will also include a raffle for a guitar signed by Arizona Blues Hall of Fame members. Were a nonprofit organization and all the money that we raised basically goes to put on the induction ceremony and anything left over goes to the nonprofit to support the Blues Hall of Fame, McMillan said. While the Windstock Cocktail Lounge ceremonys festivities are set to be a hit, it wont be the only Arizona Blues Hall of Fame ceremony this year. In fact, the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame divides the state into three regions, inducting one member from each region into the Hall of Fame every year. Alongside Smith, who represents northern Arizona, Walkin Cane Mark is representing the central region and Terrance TK Kelly is the southern regions inductee. All the 2023 Arizona Blues Hall of Fame inductees are being honored for their contributions to Arizonas blues landscape. McMillan said anyone whos been paying attention to Flagstaffs blues and live music scene is aware of the influence Smith has. Smith arrived in Flagstaff in 1972, and it wasnt long before he made his way onstage, performing in blues acts that had audiences lining up out the doors. He was one of the early players that did the Monday Night Blues at Charlys, McMillan said. Which, back in the eighties, was an institution. Smith and Charlys go way back. The 2023 Arizona Blues Hall of Fame Inductee noted that he had been performing at the Pub & Grill (and blues joint) since Henry Taylor got the place back in 1977. Thats where I play most often, and thats where I currently play in the Wednesday Night Blues Band, which is every Wednesday there, Smith said. It used to be the Monday Night Blues Band, but it got moved over to Wednesdays. On top of regularly performing at Charlys, Smith said he also performs pretty frequently in Prescott at the Windstock Cocktail Lounge as well as other venues known for drawing a blues-loving crowd. Additionally, Smith has been no stranger to the stage of Arizonas biggest blues festival, the Flagstaff Blues and Brews Festival. With artists recognized from each of Arizonas three regions, McMillan said communities have an opportunity to recognize that great blues music is being made right near them. Smith said that being chosen to enter the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame is especially an honor because the inductees are all selected by current hall of famers. Its gratifying to have recognition from peer players that have already achieved that particular position in the state, Smith said. Its also gratifying to be recognized because Im a side man, I play bass. Smith and McMillan said that, more often than not, those being recognized in the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame are people often considered front men. Its unusual for a side man to be nominated, let alone get inducted into the Hall of Fame, McMillan said. Though, having played with Smith himself for quite some time, McMillan said its always a pleasure to play with Smith and that the bassist does a great job knowing how to make the other players he plays with sound good. Ultimately though, getting recognized for his performances isnt what motivated Smith to pursue blues music. Instead, a genuine love for the genre and its originators became the driving factor, he said. Growing up in southern California, Smith said much of what was on the radio was rock and roll. Enjoying the rock music, Smith said it didnt take long for him to recognize that much of the music he was enjoying originated from blues artists like Lightning Hopkins, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Otis Span, BB King, Albert King and more. Particularly the British bands were making hits that were actually American Blues tunes, Smith said. Everybody from the Stones to Led Zeppelin played tunes by Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters. By learning about the origins of some of his favorite music, Smith developed a love for the blues that followed him right to Flagstaff. Though since arriving in the mountain town, Smith said the nature of live blues performances have changed drastically. Audiences for both blues shows and live music in general both shrunk and grew older. So, McMillan said artists who continue to keep both the blues and live music afloat in Flagstaff and around the state are worth appreciating. Audiences can share the love and catch Smith performing Wednesday nights at Charlys as part of the Wednesday Night Blues Band or at the Arizona Blues Hall of Fames northern region induction ceremony on Aug. 13 at the Windstock Cocktail Lounge. CHICOPEE An unnamed buyer has purchased the Cabotville Mill, restoring hope that the myriad of problems surrounding the property are over and the building will finally be renovated and repurposed. The building was put up for sale in an online auction which ended at 2 p.m., Wednesday. The Matthews Real Estate Investment Services, which ran the auction, announced on the website the mill has been sold subject to the investors completing the terms of the financial transaction. The minimum bid was listed for $6 million. Several hours before the auction was completed the highest bid submitted was about $10.5 million. The final accepted bid was not announced on the website. Officials for the investment company declined to comment. The name of the purchaser for now will remain a secret until the sale is filed with the Hampden County Registry of Deeds, investors submit permit applications with the city or the buyer comes forward publicly. Mayor John L. Vieau said he was also in the dark about who the buyer was but said he is hoping the troubled property has been sold to someone who can develop it. That building is a key component to the success of downtown that we have been hoping for, Vieau said. If the final sale goes through, the buyer will be the third person to purchase the historic mill since 2005. The building measures about 700,000 square feet and dates to the mid 1800s when it operated as a textile mill. The most recent project was proposed by Aaron J. Papowitz, founder and managing principal of SilverBrick Group LLC, who purchased the mill under the name 4 Perkins LLC., in May 2018 for $7.8 million. He received special permits to convert the building to about 600 live-work apartments with a mix of commercial and retail on the first floor. The project, however, came to a dramatic end when Papowitz applied to renew his permits and officials found fire and building code violations in the fall of 2021. After months of promising to fix them but taking no noticeable action, the fire chief and building inspector ordered the mill closed and gave notice to the about 60 small businesses operating there to immediately shut down and gave them a short deadline to move. At the time Papowitz said the project was not viable for the company but the mill could not be sold or financing for the project could not be secured if the special permits expired. After months of wrangling, the City Council voted against renewing the permits in May 2022. The property is currently under a court order that requires the owner to provide around-the-clock security to prevent unauthorized people from getting into the mill. That came after the city provided security for several months because of concerns about fires and squatters breaking into the vacant building. CHICOPEE The citys National Night Out event has been postponed for a second time due to rain and possible thunderstorms. The event, which was held nationally on Aug. 1, has been held in Chicopee on the first Monday of August for years. It was originally scheduled for Aug. 7 and then pushed back to Aug. 10. Please stay tuned. Well announce the rescheduled date shortly, officials said on the citys Facebook page. Our priority is ensuring a safe and enjoyable family event for all. The popular event is designed to bring law enforcement and the community together to improve relationships and reduce crime. There will be free food, demonstrations from the police and fire departments with the Hampden County Sheriffs office. Other activities include a flashlight parade around the neighborhood, police K9 demonstrations, dance and taekwondo shows, a rock wall and more. A North Shore family is looking for answers while authorities try to find the body of a 20-year-old mother whose boyfriend has been charged in connection with her killing. A memorial of candles for Nayeli Nieves was placed outside the Salem Heights apartment complex, located at 12 Pope St. in Salem. This is the same apartment complex where the missing woman used to live and is believed to have been killed. We want her body found, we want an answer to everything thats going on and we just want justice for her, Nieves sister-in-law, Janessa Sosa, and her father, Samuel Nieves, told CBS Boston. Several more of Nieves family members have expressed their frustrations surrounding her death and disappearance while asking the public to help them find Nieves body. My family is trying to find the body of my sister. Please help, Jennifer Nieves wrote on Facebook. Please, everyone help me look for my little sisters body, Beba Nieves said on her Facebook page. Police arrested Pablo Vicente and charged him with the murder of a missing Salem woman named Nayeli Nieves. Vicente, 33, is being held without bail after pleading not guilty Tuesday to killing Nieves, his girlfriend, according to the office of Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker. He was arraigned in Salem District Court Tuesday on one count of murder in connection with his girlfriends disappearance and killing, Tuckers office said in press release. Assistant District Attorney A.J. Camelio told the judge that one of Vicentes relatives contacted a Lynn police detective Monday to say Vicente told him he had killed Nieves and left her body in a dumpster at their apartment complex. That prompted Lynn police to contact Salem police, who went to the apartment and found evidence that supported the relatives claim, officials said. Authorities launched a search for Nieves and arrested Vicente Tuesday morning, Tuckers office said. Authorities found what they believe to be human remains in a dumpster, Salem Police Chief Lucas Miller said during a press conference Tuesday afternoon. Investigators said Vicente confessed to choking the 20-year-old in front of her young children before disposing of the body after three days, CBS Boston reported. John Hughes, who has lived at the complex since 2008, told MassLive on Thursday that he saw police searching the dumpster after state troopers arrived at the complex around 5 a.m. Tuesday. That night that happened, I just heard that there was some arguing going on, he told MassLive. Its been going on for two weeks. It should have been caught. Miller said during the press conference that Vicente was arrested before and had a restraining order filed against him years ago. CBS Boston also reported that Vicente has a history of violence against Nieves, and that he was charged with domestic violence against her in 2019. May God rest Nayelis soul. What was done to her is a horror, Eliyana Torres said on Facebook. She was such a loving person and she was a good mom and sister and I am very thankful she made me the godmother of her daughter. She didnt deserve this. Nieves was the mother of a 3-year-old and 18-month-old, Tuckers office said in the release. The Department of Children & Families has taken custody of the two children. Nieves family plans on trying to get custody of them, CBS Boston reported. Meanwhile the search for her body is ongoing. A 53-year-old former Massachusetts talk radio host and newspaper editor was sentenced by a Fall River District Court judge of indecent assault and battery involving a child, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn IIIs office announced Wednesday. Richard Oliveira was convicted on the charges of indecent assault and battery on a person under the age of 14 and assault and battery, Quinns office said in a statement. Judge Cynthia Brackett sentenced him to two years in the house of correction with one year to serve and the balance suspended for three years. The defendant took advantage of his position of trust and engaged in despicable conduct by molesting an 8-year-old girl, Quinn said in his statement. In addition, he later violently assaulted the girl. The victim testified that when she was 8 years old, she approached Oliveira in his Swansea homes bedroom and was sexually molested, Quinns office said. Two years later, Oliveira dragged her around his house by her hair after she threw out his cigarettes. As he did so, he pulled out some of her hair. The victim said she disposed of the cigarettes because she had asthma and that breathing was difficult around Oliveira when he smoked, Quinns office said. She said she suffered from anxiety and depression for years because of what Oliveira did to her. Walking alone on a street still frightens her because what Oliveira did tainted her childhood, Quinns office added. If Oliveira violates any terms of his eventual release or commits a new crime, he could become liable to serve the remainder of the suspended jail sentence, Quinns office said. The defendants conduct is difficult to comprehend, Quinn said in his statement. Based on the facts of the case, I feel the defendant should have been sentenced to a longer period of incarceration. I commend the victim for coming forward and for testifying in court under very difficult circumstances. Scott Cale may not have been the primary villain in the scheme of Medicaid fraud in which he involved himself the prosecution, the defense and the judge all agreed on that. But by allowing a Worcester dentist who had lost the right to bill Medicaid to use his credentials to circumvent the ban, Cale allowed the late former dentist Anthony DiStefano to cause direct harm to Medicaid patients, a federal judge said Thursday, as she sentenced Cale to 18 months in prison. Cale previously pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of healthcare fraud. Advocates are hailing a ruling by the state Department of Public Health that the birthing center at Mass Memorial Healths Leominster campus is an essential service that is necessary for preserving access and health status in its service area. The new ruling by the state Department of Public Health comes in the wake of a July 24 public hearing where residents, policymakers, caregivers and advocates argued that closing the center would endanger the lives of both mothers and newborns, the advocacy group, Community United to Save Our Birthing Center, said in a Wednesday statement. After the Congressional Hearing on UFOs on July 26, more people across the U.S. have been reporting sightings, according to the National UFO Reporting Center. In July, retired Air Force Maj. David Grusch testified that the U.S. has concealed what he called a multi-decade program to collect and reverse-engineer UAPs, or unidentified aerial phenomena, the official government term for UFOs. Part of what the U.S. has recovered, Grusch testified, were non-human biologics, which he said he had not seen but had learned about from people with direct knowledge of the program. And in recent years, the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies have been pushed by Congress to better investigate reports of devices flying at unusual speeds or trajectories as a national security concern. All of this, the reporting center stated, has led to an increase in UFO sightings being reported. As usual, we received a mix of reports of dramatic sightings of structured craft, to mysterious orange orbs, to erratically moving lights, to misidentification of SpaceX launches, etc., the website stated. In Massachusetts, the website has collected more than 2,642 sightings over the years, some of which include photos. On July 21, an orb that shifted into craft, with other craft behind speeding opposite direction was seen in Lakeville. It lasted about 30 seconds. In Gloucester, one person reported seeing a UFO that changed from cube to cylinder and then went into the ocean. They shared a photo. Other reported sightings have been in Worcester, Boston, Orange, Hyannis and Hampden. Although some of the sightings can be easily explained by other things, some are still a mystery. In January 1967, Betty Andreasson was at home with her family in South Ashburnham when she claimed gray aliens with oval-shaped heads and enormous eyes slipped her into a trance and abducted her, according to Stacker. The aliens then exposed the meaning of life to her while aboard their craft, she said. But they then immediately erased her memory, the website reported. Andreasson later when on to recover some of those memories under hypnosis, according to the website, and they were documented in the book The Andreasson Affair. One of the most notable sightings in Massachusetts was officially recognized as a historic event by The Great Barrington Historical Society in 2015. Former resident Thomas Reed was 9 years old when he had his UFO sighting in the 1960s. He then spent decades telling and retelling the stories. In 2015, The Great Barrington Historical Society formally inducted the account of the 1969 incident in February, describing it as significant and true after reviewing contemporaneous news coverage, witness statements and polygraph results. One of the most notable sightings in Massachusetts was officially recognized as a historic event by The Great Barrington Historical Society in 2015. Former resident Thomas Reed was 9 years old when he had his UFO sighting in the 1960s. He then spent decades telling and retelling the stories. In 2015, The Great Barrington Historical Society formally inducted the account of the 1969 incident in February, describing it as significant and true after reviewing contemporaneous news coverage, witness statements and polygraph results. The papers and the stories have gotten so ridiculous that the truth has been lost, Reed said. First of all, they keep using the cornball terminology you might find -- the abduction stuff. Thats not what happened. Our family is very credible. Were not a bunch of lunatics. In 2016, Reed told MassLive that he remembers that him and his family were driving from Ski Butternut in Great Barrington over the Sheffield Bridge when they noticed a bright, floating object near their car. They felt what Reed describes as a change in pressure, or an electromagnetic field; a dead silence fell, the light grew brighter, and they found themselves somewhere else. Read more: Monument dedicated to Sheffield UFO sighting Now, we do remember being in what looked like an airplane hanger, Reed said. We didnt stay in the car. We were removed from the vehicle, thats true. Where we were, I dont know. Stacker.com ranked Massachusetts among the top 20 states for UFO sightings. Almost three-quarters of all UFO sighting reports in the United States occur between 4 p.m. and midnight, and tend to peak between 9 and 10 p.m., Stacker wrote so keep an eye out. The Associated Press contributed to this reporting. Dear Annie: I am currently married with no kids. I travel a lot for work and vacation. The issue is my wifes sister, her husband and their kids. Three years ago, my wife and I allowed them to move into our home because their living situation was not great. They shared a small apartment that was overrun with rats and cockroaches. We told them that they could stay until they were able to get back on their feet. This was only supposed to be six months to a year. Annie, its been three years and counting with no end in sight. This is the fathers third marriage, and he has seven kids in total. The children rule the roost and are not disciplined. I am no longer their fun-loving uncle. We butt heads about everything. I find myself on the edge of screaming at them daily. When I get home from work, the house is a complete mess. They eat all the food I buy, dont clean and do not pay rent. They are on easy street, and I am paying for it. My wife and I had decided to finally give them a hard deadline to leave this past spring. My wifes sister lost her job just before this deadline. She was employed three weeks later while the husband has been employed this whole time- but the hard deadline came and went. Worse yet, my wife is completely on their side. She doesnt want them to be forced out because then she would be abandoning family. I am at my wits end and dont know what to do. A co-worker suggested that when Im home, I should be in nothing but my underwear to make the situation uncomfortable for them so they will leave. I feel like I am completely out of options and have been actually considering this or worse. Please, Annie, what should I do? Almost Au Naturel in Alabama Dear Almost Au Naturel: Your co-workers suggestion gets points for creativity. Unfortunately, it is also passive, avoidant and immature. A direct confrontation would solve your problem quickly, but it sounds like you are willing to do anything to avoid that. The first step is to get on the same page as your wife. Explain to her that you are not abandoning the family and perhaps brainstorm some other ways in which you can support them but that you need to regain control of your home in order to preserve your well-being. Once you and your wife find your common ground, initiate the long-overdue conversation. How Can I Forgive My Cheating Partner? is out now! Annie Lanes second anthology featuring favorite columns on marriage, infidelity, communication and reconciliation is available as a paperback and e-book. Visit http://www.creatorspublishing.com for more information. Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS.COM Sign up for Reckons latest newsletter, Reproductive Justice with Becca Andrews, a weekly repro rundown covering the good, the fair-to-middlin' and the ugly in repro news. Enter your email to subscribe to Reproductive Justice with Becca Andrews. Behind some of the most high-profile Supreme Court cases in the last decade is a conservative legal advocacy group that takes pride in their work against LGBT equality and reproductive justice all in the name of religious liberty. And theyre winning. Becket Law, formerly the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, holds an 8-0 track record of Supreme Court cases since 2012. They served on counsel on several high-profile cases, including the 2014 Burwell v. Hobby Lobby case, which granted businesses the right to deny employees healthcare that included contraception, and they filed an amicus brief in Dobbs v. Jacksons Womens Health Organization, a landmark case which supported the overthrowing of the constitutional right to abortion. Their latest quest is to question laws that protect abortion care providers and patients from harassment. After a Manhattan 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal rejected the challenge in June, Becket filed a petition with the Supreme Court last month that claims the 2000 Hill v. Colorado decision is in stark contradiction of constitutional principles [the court] applies in all other contexts outside of abortion. Theyre overturning laws that protect abortion care providers and patients Beckets latest petition, Vitagliano v. County of Westchester, seeks to rule buffer zone laws as unconstitutional, a feat they accomplished in Massachusetts in 2014. Buffer zone laws act to protect abortion clinics by prohibiting protests within an allotted space of an establishment. Bubble zones work similarly, protecting several feet of space around a person within a specific distance of a clinic. In Hill v. Colorado, SCOTUS upheld a law that banned approaching within eight feet of someone for the purpose of engaging in oral protest, education, or counseling, outside of an abortion clinic. Current buffer and bubble zone laws vary by city or state but essentially protect abortion care providers from physical harm and harassment. According to Guttmacher, 14 states and the District of Columbia prohibit specific action, including threats and damage, aimed at providers. Just like buffer zones around a polling location protect voters from intimidation by political operatives lobbying them for a specific candidate, a buffer zone around an abortion clinic protects people from intimidation by those who oppose abortion as theyre walking up to the clinic, explained Melissa Fowler, Chief Program Officer at the National Abortion Federation (NAF). NAFs 2022 Violence and Disruption Report revealed a spike in violence against abortion providers after Dobbs. Incidents of stalking were up 229%, from 28 cases in 2021 to 92 in 2022. There were also 4 reported arsons, 20 invasions, 4 bioterrorism threats, 43 burglaries,10 bomb threats and 218 death threats or threats of harm targeting providers last year alone. Theres a very real history of severe violence and harassment against providers and so we need to be taking measures to keep them safe, said Fowler. They use religious freedom as a license to discriminate Becket proclaims itself the leaders in the fight for religious liberty, winning cases that allow businesses and adoption agencies from discriminating against the LGBT community on the basis of religious beliefs. They are trying to essentially use religious liberty as a license to discriminate, and we see that in their major cases, said Shannon Russell, Directory of Policy at Catholics for Choice. Catholics for Choice is a nonprofit fighting against religious-based opposition to reproductive healthcare, citing that they represent the pro-choice Catholic majority. Although Becket is also a faith-based organization, Russell says the two groups have very different definitions of the right to religious freedom. When were talking about religious liberty, we mean the right to practice your faith, free from discrimination, but when theyre talking about religious liberty, its more about pursuing protections for large institutions and for right-wing beliefs, explained Russell. The line defining the separation of church and state grows thinner and thinner as more right-wing, religious parties influence laws to accommodate their beliefs, essentially weaponizing religion to eradicate existing reproductive healthcare policies. Theyre successfully infiltrating the U.S. political system Particularly in the case of the Trump administration, conservative organizations such as Becket were serving as a pipeline for HHS, said Ashley Underwood, Director of Equity Forward, an organization that investigates groups and individuals heavily involved in the anti-abortion movement. In fact, at least two Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials had ties to Becket during Trumps tenure as president former Office for Civil Rights Director Roger Severino and former HHS Secretary Alex Azar. Russell explained how placing Becket-affiliated leaders in these roles progresses their agenda. A lot of times when [the] administration cant get their policies passed through Congress, they will use the regulatory process, Russell told Reckon. So for instance, the Trump administration and Severino did that by doing these regulations around Sections 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, and also around refusals and denials of care based upon so-called religious or moral beliefs. Even with so much influence, Becket is not a household name and not many know about the organization. Underwood says this is a source of power. Most people wont recognize them by name and its very much so by design. She continued, something that this movement really relies on is confusion. Russell says not recognizing these connections contributes to the anti-abortion ecosystem and beyond. Its so incredibly important to share this information with folks because, you know, they might not realize how all of this is so interconnected, how attacks against abortion access and contraceptive access and LGBTQ people are so related and how theyre being perpetuated by the same people, Russell said. Theyre being funded by the same people. Annabel Rocha is a sexual health and reproductive justice reporter based in Chicago. She is currently working on a project focused on period poverty in Illinois for the Journalism and Women Symposium. She is a previous City Bureau Civic Reporting Fellow, 2022 National Fellow for the USC Center for Health Journalism and graduate of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. SPRINGFIELD The Board of Police Commissioners is looking for feedback from Springfield residents on the manual they intend to use for their work. First Associate City Solicitor Devon Grierson told the committee Wednesday that a draft of the manual is available for online review on the Police Departments website in both English and Spanish. The manual is a collaborative effort by the city, commissioners and the U.S. Department of Justice. The commissioners are responsible for disciplinary oversight of the employees of the citys police department. All five members of the commission are appointed by Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, who was previously not in favor of the board, said it would rehash the same political squabbles that occurred more than 100 years ago. He vetoed the City Councils vote to establish the board in 2016. This caused a legal debacle that began in 2020 and concluded in 2022. In 2021, Judge Francis E. Flannery ruled in favor of the councils 2018 ordinance to establish a police commission, which existed for around a century before it was eliminated in 2005. The purpose of the manual is to list in detail the purpose and responsibilities of the board. The draft states that within five days of the opening of an investigative case, the board will acknowledge the complaint and the Springfield Police Department employee who is the subject of it. Additionally, board members must individually review the entire investigative file before determining whether to hold a hearing on the complaint. The draft states that board members are not permitted to discuss their review of the files outside of a meeting. Grierson said residents can share comments on the manual until Aug. 31 by going to the boards page on the Police Department website. Were also going to be having a community outreach meeting on Zoom, which will be on Aug. 17, Grierson said. Well also take input from the commissioners that we will incorporate. Grierson said he doesnt know whether the Department of Justice or the city will host the outreach meeting. He added, Within a month after that (meeting), we should have a final draft. First Associate Devon Grierson provides an update on the progress of the Board of Police Commissioners Manual. (Jonah Snowden / The Republican) Meanwhile, Sarno told The Republican he heard only one comment has been submitted on the draft of the manual through City Solicitor John Payne Thursday. Each board member shared thoughts Wednesday on the draft of the manual, at the request of resident Tracey Carpenter. Board member Madeline Fernandez said she believes needed topics were covered in the manual and encouraged city residents to review it and offer feedback. Newly named board member Christy Torres also urged residents to look at the draft. She said she has been carrying the draft with her to become further acquainted with her new role. Robert Cee Jackson, who was elected board vice chairperson during the meeting, termed the draft excellent. He too called for residents to read the draft, saying its what the board will use when things get going. Board member Gary Berte said his main concern going forward is whether there will need to be a modification of the manual. Albert Tranghese, who was elected chairperson of the board, called for openness in how the panel operates. The only time we will not be transparent, in my opinion, is when we have to go to executive session, Tranghese said. Tranghese said he wants residents of Springfield to understand that the panel aims to do whats best for the city. Related Content: The unincorporated parts of Coconino County will now be subject to a short-term rental ordinance after the Coconino County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve a set of local regulations for owners of Airbnbs and Vrbos. The ordinance will go into effect on Nov. 14. After a 120-day implementation period, short-term rentals will need to be registered with the county and provide proof of liability insurance. An emergency contact, who must respond to resident or renter complaints or concerns within 72 hours, has to be officially designated. Short-term rentals are required under the new rules to be "habitable dwellings," meaning garages, tents, campers, temporary structures, trailers, and recreational vehicles cannot be permitted or listed. The ordinance also includes provisions meant to preserve the nature of single-family neighborhoods. It prohibits the use of short-term rentals for parties and large events such as weddings and requires that renters use the property as a temporary single-family dwelling. Family in the ordinance is defined as any number of individuals related by blood, marriage, affinity or legal adoption/guardianship, or a group of not more than five unrelated persons living together as a single housekeeping unit in a single dwelling unit sharing common cooking facilities. Owners also have to inform their neighbors of plans to run an Airbnb or Vrbo before the property is listed for rent. At the meeting Tuesday night, residents engaged with the board, asking questions and largely supporting regulations on short-term rentals. Out of more than a dozen written comments the board received prior to the meeting, four werent in support of regulation. Until 2022, we really were not able to pass regulations, Coconino County Board of Supervisors Chair Patrice Horstman said. She was referencing Arizona Revised Statute 11-267.17, which offers municipal governments a small degree of oversight over vacation rentals. The law doesnt allow counties to ban short-term rentals altogether, but allows for the imposition of registration and fees. We were not able to regulate [short-term rentals]. This created a largely unregulated commercial short-term rental industry," Horstman said. "Unfortunately, this was in single-family residential, quiet residential neighborhoods. Unfortunately, there were some bad actors, who instead of being good neighbors, in fact violated the neighborhood, violated the peace and quiet for others who lived there. We believe in personal property rights, but when these personal property rights interfered with the neighbors quiet enjoyment and their personal property rights, it concerned all of us. When the Legislature allowed us a brief window, a brief opportunity to do some regulations, we started working with the county attorney, with our county manager on this ordinance. The majority of commenters Tuesday night talked about the impacts theyd seen as a result of absentee rental owners. Some mentioned limited property upkeep; others talked about parties, parking and unruly behavior on the part of vacationers. Residents complained that short-term renters were not aware of fire risks or snow removal policies demonstrating a need for better education. Board members expressed hope that banning parties and requiring an emergency contact to address concerns immediately would curb some of the common complaints. District 3 Supervisor Matt Ryan said the emergency contacts required response was not meant to allow for people to badger their neighbors in a petty or draconian way, and that the provision was meant to help address concerns around absentee owners. An emergency contact, in theory, could communicate with renters who violated rules around fire restrictions, for example, or handle illegal parking or trash disposal at a short-term rental. Coconino County Attorney Bill Ring was present to answer questions from supervisors and the public Tuesday night and said, We all have an expectation of how a family home should operate. If an Airbnb or Vrbo functions in that framework, this ordinance basically only requires registration. The permitting fee for short-term rentals, under state law, can be no more than $250. The penalty for failing to register a vacation rental will start with an initial fine of $1,000. Registration, Ring said, should be a tool for encouraging good behavior all on its own. There are many good actors out there. The idea is not to crack down on the good actors, the idea is to enforce against the bad actors. What were really seeking is compliance with registration so we can really see where these land uses are occurring and who we need to contact in the event of a complaint. The ordinance allows for a route to suspension, Ring said. Thats why we have an emphasis on registration good actors will automatically comply. We expect to see a large number of registrants of people who want to comply. Owners will be required to publish their permit number in any advertising or listings for their rentals. For those who dont register, penalties are clearly defined in the ordinance. A number of commenters were concerned that some of the regulations approved might be difficult to enforce. Ring pointed out that permit or registration revocation might be just one way for the county to respond to short-term rental situations. Suspension of a rental or short-term rental permit can occur if there are three or more violations within a 12-month period. Clock starts. If there is a more severe violation ... were not limited from taking up other remedies health code, zoning codes, environmental code violations. Those can be going directly to court to join some of the worst violators, Ring said. Its not entirely clear yet, however, how all of the ordinances provisions will be enforced. In keeping with the concept of preserving a safe neighborhood environment, the ordinance prohibits short-term rental owners from offering their space to sex offenders. How the owners will know for certain whether the person theyre approving on the other end of a booking app has a criminal record isnt evident. That regulation, however, is allowed under state law. Before casting his vote, Ryan described the ordinance as a place to start, a tool that will become more and more effective over time once its been implemented. I think were trying to be very practical. Weve listened to peoples comments and weve adjusted. I support the intent of the ordinance here. We have the opportunity to create a tool. ... I see this as responsible and a piece of very good work on the legal side. Following the ordinances passage there will be a 120-day implementation period during which rental owners can register properties, designate emergency contacts and inform neighbors of their vacation rental operations where needed. The Freeform original series grown-ish continues its sixth and final season this Wednesday, Aug. 9 at 10 p.m. ET with a new episode. Those without cable can watch the new episode for free through DirecTV Stream or FuboTV, each of which offer a free trial to new users. You can also watch the series the next day on Hulu, which offers a free first month when you sign up. The Johnson familys eldest daughter is taking her first steps into the real world as she heads off to college, FuboTV said in a description of the series. grown-ish explores the first trappings of adulthood, and Zoey must navigate through the trials and tribulations of these momentous steps. Zoey discovers that once she leaves the nest, things do not always go her way, it added. The series features that in between place where youre not quite an adult but facing grown world problems for the first time, Kenya Barris, the shows creator and executive producer, said. The new episode is titled Toxic, according to FuboTV, and in a description of the episode it said The crew waves red flags when Zaara is all consumed by her recent fling with Drea; Aaron feels a romantic spark for his colleague but is unsure about his next move; Kiela struggles with a class assignment Lauryn excels in. You can watch a sneak peek for the new episode of grown-ish below or by clicking here to watch on Freeforms YouTube channel. How can I watch Freeforms grown-ish for free without cable? Those without cable can watch the new episode for free through either DirecTV Stream or FuboTV, each of which offer a free trial to new users. You can also watch the series the next day on Hulu, which offers a free first month when you sign up. What is DirecTV Stream? The streaming platform offers a plethora of content including streaming the best of live and On Demand, starting with more than 75 live TV channels. What is FuboTV? FuboTV is an over-the-top internet live TV streaming service that offers more than 100 channels, like sports, news, entertainment and local channels. It offers DVR storage space, and is designed for people who want to cut the cord, but dont want to miss out on their favorite live TV and sports. With the devastating wildfires ravaging Hawaiis Big Island and Maui, killing at least 36 people and destroying hundreds of homes, AAA is offering help to travelers across the Hawaiian Islands and in the continental United States. Described as unprecedented, these wildfires have prompted President Joe Biden to issue an emergency declaration to bring federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by wildfires, CNN reported. Meanwhile, evacuations continue as 11,000 people continue to lack electricity due to outages. AAA Travel is monitoring the situation, which remains fluid with phone and internet services compromised and Maui operating under a state of emergency, the insurance agency said in a statement. Other islands, including Oahu, remain clear from any fire danger. With that in mind, AAA suggested travelers reach out to their travel advisors or airline/hotel/tour company to ensure they are operating as scheduled. Vacationers with flights booked to Maui through American, Delta, Hawaiian, Southwest, Alaska and United airlines will be offered travel waivers for traveling without any penalties, AAA added. While insurance policies vary, travel advisors or carriers can help with coverage options. For those scheduled to travel later next week or further out, the situation remains fluid, AAA said in its statement. Airlines and hotels continue to modify their policies and waivers. Travelers are encouraged to stay in contact with their travel advisor for the latest information as well as to make any desired itinerary changes. Read more: Bodies donated to science needed to be saved after fire at American International College Lastly, the agency said travelers in Maui trying to return home should know the National Guard, along with the federal government and state officials, are working to evacuate people on the island. In addition, suppliers like hotels, airlines and tour companies will provide updates when available, AAA said. The top priority is to first get everyone to safe sheltering locations on the island. Designing national development strategy is difficult. But designing a parallel and compatible regional development strategy is even harder. We have a clever and robust national strategy (basically, low corporation tax, high education standards, the very effective IDA for attracting and managing inward investment). However, perspectives on the development of our peripheral regions are all over the place: simplistic, poorly organised, depressingly ineffective, and no indication that we are learning from our failures. Even worse, our national strategy is rigidly a 26-county one. I reflected on these issues as I read through the recently published All-Island Strategic Rail Review. If ever there was an opportunity to knit North and South together in an entirely non-political way using an improved rail system, this was it. But with the exception of Belfast-Dublin and Derry-Letterkenny links, we were effectively offered two back-to-back strategies, the main of objectives of which are to transport people more efficiently internally within the North or within the Republic. (That is, the Republic except for Donegal, which remains isolated from the island rail network of 2050: a kind of transport Outer Mongolia. Perhaps we really have a 25-county national strategy?) We have never really taken regional policy very seriously on this island, in the sense of having a hard look at how peripheral regional economies differ from those of big eastern and southern population agglomerations. Puzzling, in view of the extremely strong identification Irish people have with their own native counties and towns (just think of the GAA). It seems that when civil servants move from the sticks to Belfast or Dublin, they see regions through metropolitan eyes, not meriting much consideration. Light touch In the 1960s there was a vigorous debate on growth poles. This involved selecting a few big urban locations that could benefit from economic, business and social agglomeration economies, with the expectation that they would interact effortlessly with surrounding areas, spreading prosperity from the core to the periphery. This proved politically unattractive in an era when population was not as skewed to urban east and south as it is today, with obvious implications for Dail representation. A light-touch policy that encouraged regional dispersal of the benefits of (mainly) inward investment was preferred. Native businesses could take care of themselves. Sixty years later we have an island economy that has a tiny number of developed urban regions. Less-favoured peripheral regions have had some injections of foreign investment, but they lack the appropriate infrastructure for growth to become self-sustaining. In the absence of proper strategic planning, the desire to disperse economic development opportunities to the regions was frustrated by centripetal market forces. We ended up with a regional outcome that nobody ever wanted: a few prosperous but overcrowded cities and many seriously lagging peripheral regions. The situation in Northern Ireland is even worse, with a general dearth of strategic interest in its own sub-regions and an unwillingness to embrace strong, mutually beneficial cross-border development initiatives. Official Northern Ireland statistics make it impossible to explore how, say, the economies of the Newry-Mourne region or the region centred on Derry City are performing relative to other Northern Ireland regions, or relative to Northern Ireland as a whole. Whereas Ireland was outward looking, enjoyed dramatic growth and caught up to European living standards, Northern Ireland was inward looking, declined and stagnated. This judgement may appear harsh. There are, of course, isolated centres of excellence, dedication and enthusiasm in the peripheral regions and within the cross-border region. But there is no overall guiding strategy through which these success stories could cumulate and generate positive spillovers to other parts of the region. Market forces are not absent from regions, but without an appropriate supportive strategy, they are weaker. What hope? If it proved impossible to come up with a sensible, integrated all-island rail network by 2050, what hope is there for an integrated regional development strategy for the island that might alleviate or remove the policy fault lines that make it difficult to think coherently on an all-island basis? In its absence, the fact that losses for the North are higher than for the South gives me cold comfort. We need to address the peripheral nature of the economy of the cross-border region, which was particularly disadvantaged by partition. Far from being a minor issue, this is at the very core of the goal to renew the island economy in mutually beneficial ways. It is distressing that when one tries to make a case for a cross-border development strategy, one is greeted by old, tired jokes about smuggling. The reality is that both sides of the border region have suffered, while the rest of the island centred on Belfast and Dublin goes its separate way. Why do we fear that honest and realistic discussion of our mutual economic challenges will pose risks to the continuation of peace when the exact opposite it probably nearer the truth? Q: In the early morning of August 10, Beijing time, US President Biden signed the executive order on setting up screening mechanism on outbound investments and restricting US entities investments in the semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence sectors in China. Whats Chinas comment? A: China strongly deplores and firmly opposes the USs single-minded rollout of restrictions on investments in China. We have made serious demarche to the US. Restricting US companies investments in China with national security as a front is a clear act of overstretching the concept of security and politicizing business engagement. The moves real aim is to deprive China of its right to develop and selfishly pursue US supremacy at the expense of others. This is blatant economic coercion and tech bullying, an act that seriously violates the principles of market economy and fair competition, undermines the international economic and trading order, destabilizes global industrial and supply chains and hurts the interests of both China and the US and the global business community. This is de-globalization and a move to phase China out. President Biden committed to not seeking to decouple from China or halt Chinas economic development. We urge the US to follow through on that commitment, stop politicizing, instrumentalizing and weaponizing tech and trade issues, immediately cancel the wrong decisions, remove the restrictions on investments in China and create an enabling environment for China-US business cooperation. China will follow the developments closely and resolutely safeguard our rights and interests. Wednesday marked the start of the 2023-2024 school year for most Flagstaff students, with families filling up the sidewalks around local schools as they dropped off their students for the start of a new grade level. Wednesday, Aug. 9, was the first day for most schools, including those in the Flagstaff Unified School District (FUSD), Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy, Pine Forest Charter School and Flagstaff Junior Academy. Other K-12 schools, including BASIS Flagstaff, Montessori School of Flagstaff and San Francisco de Asis Catholic School resumed a week ago. According to the agenda for Tuesdays governing board meeting, a total of 514 kindergartners are enrolled in FUSD elementary schools this school year. At the end of last year, the district enrolled 8,923 students across all grade levels. Students and their families gathered at schools across the city Wednesday morning for the start of the 2023-2024 school year. Second-grader Jubilee Zabala said she was feeling both good and "nervous" as she walked to Thomas Elementary with her family Wednesday morning. Her brother Jacobi was starting first grade at the school. Their mother, Natasha Quasula, said she thought the school year would go well, even though the family hadnt prepared for its start as well as shed have liked -- mostly in terms of going to bed a little earlier. She did say that she liked the change in start times this school year. Were just tired from going to bed late and waking up early and not used to it from over the summer, she said. Jubilee said her plan for the year was to have fun and that her favorite part of school was learning. One new fourth-grader said she wasnt looking forward to starting school again, as she didnt like school. She did enjoy some things about it, like math and one of my friends. Alexa, another Thomas student, also said she was feeling good about her first day of first grade. Shed been to Thomas for kindergarten as well and had already met her new teacher. Her older brother Jose was starting fourth grade and said he was ready for the school year to start. His favorite subject is math, he said, and he hoped to meet a lot of friends this school year. I am excited and honored to welcome our students and families to the start of the 2023-2024 school year, FUSD Superintendent Michael Penca said in a welcome message. ... I am grateful you have selected FUSD and am eager for our families and students to partner with the dedicated educators and staff who will be sharing their talents and expertise to create inspiring, inclusive and supportive learning communities and provide the services needed for students growth and success. by Fern Siegel , August 10, 2023 Nickelytics, an out-of-home ad platform, has teamed with Kiwibot, a delivery robotics company, for a summer treat. They launched the "Savor the Flavor with Rita's Italian Ice" campaign, in collaboration with Texas-based agency Stiletto Collective. The focus is bringing Rita's Italian Ice to the streets of Washington, D.C., with an immersive experience. The goal is to get locals to try Rita's ice flavors. "This partnership with Nickelytics opens up new creative opportunities for our delivery robots and allows us to showcase their versatility, said David Rodriguez, co-founder-head of business at Kiwibot. Together, we can create delightful interactions that will make the 'Savor the Flavor' campaign an unforgettable experience for everyone." The campaign will run until August 28. advertisement advertisement Ritas Italian Ice & Frozen Custard is all about surprise and delight and having our beloved brand highlighted on a delivery bot is just that, said Mark Jenkins, vice president of marketing at Ritas Italian Ice. This combination of engaging advertising and meaningful innovation aligns perfectly with Ritas. Nickelytics has also done work for various brands, including WesBanco, Los Angeles Times, Nationwide and Re/Max. Stiletto Collective counts Rambler Sparkling Water, Four Hands, Shippo and Grammarly among its clients. Often touted as the massiest and the OG action star of Indian cinema, Sunny Deols power-packed performances in high on content films have made a place in everyones hearts over the years. The iconic star is now making a comeback to the action genre with Gadar 2, a highly anticipated sequel to his 2001 all-time grosser Gadar: Ek Prem Katha. Zee Studios The film is expected to feature vintage Sunny Deol in mass action form entertaining the audience like only he can. Before you watch the film, here are 9 of the most iconic yet WTF action scenes of Sunny Deol that are must-watch: Hand Pump Scene In Gadar: Ek Prem Katha Perhaps the most iconic fight scene of not only Sunny Deols career but also of Indian cinema. In the 2001 film, Sunny Deol as Tara Singh uproots the hand pump to scare and overpower 100s of Pakistanis out for his blood. Sunny Deol Vs Karnas Kavach and Kundal In Naksha The plot of this 2006 film is about the adventure to unravel the magical Kavach and Kundal of Suryaputra Karna. On one side there is evil Jackie Shroff and on the other side, there are the half-brothers played by Sunny Deol and Vivek Oberoi. In the climactic action scene, Jackie eventually wins the race to the ornaments and wields them, gaining superhuman abilities. But that didnt stop Sunny Deol from beating the crap out of him. Sunnys Dhaai Kilo Ka Haath - 1, Karnas Kavach and Kundal - 0. Breaking Out Of A Concrete Pillar In Narasimha In the 1991 action film, there is a scene where Sunny Deols titular character is buried alive inside a pillar. Taking his name too seriously, the superstar breaks out of the pillar to everyones shock. Sunny Deol Shows Other Action Heroes How Its Done In Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani The 2002 film stars a number of action heroes like Suniel Shetty and Akshay Kumar but it is Sunny Deol who eventually overpowers the shapeshifting superpowered serpent played by Armaan Kohli. In the climactic scene of the film, Armaan uses all his powers against Sunny Deol but once again his dhaai kilo ka haath proves to be the ultimate brute force. Sunny Deols Dhaai Kilo Ka Haath - 1, Shapeshifting Superpowered Serpent - 0 Bulletproof Sunny Deol In Maa Tujhe Salaam In the 2002 patriotic film, Sunny Deol plays an army officer who single-handedly takes on an army of terrorists proving not even multiple bullet wounds can stop him. Interestingly, one bullet even brushes off his head but he is simply unstoppable. Landmines Got No Sh*t On Sunny Deol In Farz In the 2001 film, Jackie Shroff plays a criminal who escapes successfully in the climax using a metal detector from a minefield. Sunny Deol, who is chasing him, has no such luxury of a metal detector. So, what he does is runs blindly through the minefield and unknowingly steps on one of them that blasts off. But instead of hurting Sunny, the blast acts as a catapult that throws him up in the air helping him grab Jackies helicopter mid-air. I mean you have to watch the scene above. It is actually that wild. World Champion Boxer Is Rag Doll For Out Of Shape Sunny Deol In Apne In this emotionally charged scene, Sunny makes a heroic last-minute entrance to save the honour of his father Dharmendra and avenge his younger brother Bobby Deol as he takes on the world champion Luca Gracia and throws him away like a rag doll. Stopping An Oncoming High-Speed Truck With Bare Hands In Yamla Pagla Deewana: Phir Se In the 2018 film, Sunny Deol stops an oncoming truck with bare hands and sheer brute force. Honestly, only he can sell such scenes on the big screen. Literally Breaking The Dance Floor With Bare Hands In Heroes In the 2008 film, Sunny Deol had a special appearance as a former Air Force officer who lost his legs in the war and is now wheelchair-bound. But that didnt stop him from beating the crap out of a number of eve teasers in hand-to-hand combat in a bar. Watch him use his dhaai kilo ke haath and literally break the dance floor. School started Wednesday for students in the Flagstaff Unified School District (FUSD) and teachers were already in their classrooms before that, making sure everything was ready for their students return. Marisa Hansen has been a kindergarten teacher at Thomas Elementary for the past six years, and for the past two weeks has been working to make sure her classroom was ready for her newest set of students. Shes been collecting materials, organizing her classroom and meeting with other members of her teacher team. I just love to see the growth from the kiddos at the beginning of the year until the end of the year, she said of her choice to teach kindergartners. They come in just learning the basics and by the time they leave us, they know so much. They can read, they can write sentences, they can add and subtract. Its very exciting getting back into the swing of things," said Melissa Bianco, a kindergarten teacher at Marshall Elementary. She's also been preparing her classroom, writing all of her students names "50,000 times" -- on folders, desks, nametags -- and clearing off the walls so they can be redecorated with her students' work throughout the year. I try very hard not to be in school over the summer, so when I come back, its refreshing, its exciting, it's a fresh start," she said. " ... Theres a lot of energy behind it because of excitement and a little bit of nervousness, because you just never know when they all come together what the dynamics going to be like, but you always hope theyre going to just be so happy to be in school. Shes starting her 18th year teaching kindergarten at Marshall and her 20th with the district. She first decided to work with the age group when her own daughter entered kindergarten at the school. I remember the feeling I had when I brought her here, she said. It was so warm and so welcoming that I wanted to be a part of that. Adjusted elementary schedule As part of a new policy increasing teacher preparation time, elementary schools in the district will have a slight adjustment to arrival and dismissal times this school year. School now starts at 9 a.m. for elementary schools across the district, with students being dismissed at 3:30 p.m. every day except Fridays -- the weekly early release at 12:45 p.m. Puente de Hozho is the exception, running from 7:50 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. every day except Wednesday, when students are released at noon. The changed early release day is to provide reliable bus transportation to families, according to the districts announcement. Preschool times across the district have also changed, with the morning session now running from 9 to 11:45 a.m. and the afternoon session from 12:45 to 3:30 p.m. In its summer newsletter, FUSD Superintendent Michael Penca noted that the district made these adjustments to address instructional time requirements, staff schedules and opportunities for them to prepare instruction and learn together, and to coordinate safe and reliable bus transportation services. A full list of arrival and dismissal times for district schools is available at fusd1.org. Kindergarten half days For district kindergartners, the first week of school will be entirely half days. Theyll arrive at school at the same time as students in other grade levels, but leave midday to help them adjust to the start of the school year. The districts after-school program, FACTS, will also not start for kindergarten students until Friday because of the shift in schedules. Bianco said kindergarten teachers across the district had gathered to advocate for this change. They met with district leaders as well as other stakeholders in the decision, including parents and transportation staff. While there was some division of opinion (the main concern was families that might need to find alternate childcare arrangements), Bianco said the decision was eventually made in order to prioritize students needs. [Kindergartners] come from a variety of different settings, so its a rude awakening for them to come in for a full day where you have all these expectations of standing in line and sitting for lengths of time and going here and there, and theres a lot of transitions now," she said. "We expect a lot at the very beginning and I think it's very difficult." She added: "They end up enjoying it 99% of the time anyway, but were easing them in and were giving them a taste of what schools going to look like. We want them to be wondering whats next. ... They have 13 more years of school: lets take it slow, lets get them in so they want to come back and they love it, and they want to know because theyre curious. Lets keep that curiosity. The change is meant to give kindergartners and families time to adjust to attending school full time. Sometimes being at a place they dont know, or theyre not familiar with, it can be a little intimidating for those kindergartners, so those half days help them adjust and get to know the school and the teachers and the school family there while also allowing them to go home and see their families and adjust at a slower pace, Hansen said. Plus, theyre very tired by the afternoon that first week of school. Bianco also mentioned that students were often exhausted when the first day of kindergarten was a full day, with some kids becoming overwhelmed and crying or running out of the classroom. While some kindergartners will be coming from a preschool program (some even attend them at the same school), for others, starting kindergarten will be the first time in a classroom. In Biancos classroom, the first day started with a time for parents to drop off their kids, spending some time in the classroom before leaving. The students then learned more about their school and what happens in a typical day. Its like a snapshot for them to see this is my classroom, these are going to be my friends, these are going to be my teachers," she said. "Then hopefully they want to come back day two because it wasnt overwhelming and it wasnt drawn out for such a long period of time. Hansen said the first day of kindergarten often focuses on helping students get used to the school environment. This can include showing them how to get to locations around the school -- their classroom, the playground -- who their teacher is and other kindergarten teachers. They come in, they explore the classroom, theyll explore different materials, theyll be using manipulatives, she said, We learn how to use crayons, pencils, glue, lots of reading stories, some playing too. ... A lot of just getting to know the kiddos before we dive deep into curriculum. In the afternoons after the early dismissals, the kindergarten teachers will be assessing their students using the Kindergarten Developmental Assessment (KDA). The KDA is done three times throughout the school year and helps teachers understand their students developmental skills -- which they use to plan instruction to best meet their classes needs. Tasks in the assessment include identifying uppercase letters, shapes, colors and numbers, writing their name, drawing a person and cutting with scissors. In past years, the exercise has been done during the school day, during related activity times, Hansen said. Some assessments are done leading up to the school year as well, with Bianco saying last week that teachers at Marshall had already assessed about 45 kindergartners. The district is also this year adding the Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA), which focuses more on social emotional development. These will be completed once the students are in the classroom, Bianco said, as the KEA requires more knowledge of the students personalities and habits -- details such as how they interact with others in the class or how long they sit still. Were constantly going back and reflecting on those assessments with the students and continually assessing them throughout the year so we can better meet them where they need and help them be successful in the long run, Hansen said. Preparing kids Bianco and Hansen both advised families with young students to practice some school-related skills to help them be successful. Among the skills Bianco listed were sitting for short bursts, being around other kids, using the restroom independently, following instructions and spending time away from family. Academically, I think, thats our job, she added. ... Whatever they come with, as long as they make the cutoff for age, were going to do what we can with what we receive. They all come in at different levels, thats what makes it so interesting. I would say make sure they know their name, make sure they know how to ask to go to the bathroom, make sure they practice eating a school lunch. By that, I mean setting a timer for 20 minutes and having them practice eating during that time, so that way they are actually eating while theyre at school, Hansen said. Just really encourage them and make them feel happy about it, because we want them to come in and feel like theyre already loved and feel like school is a safe place and its their second home. Jharkhand Teacher Jobs 2023: The recruitment notification for the JSSC 10+2 Teacher Vacancy notification has been released online. Candidates who are looking for government teacher jobs can apply online. All the candidates who are interested in submitting their application can follow the application format and other details which have been mentioned below. Qualified competitors can Read more Lawmakers voiced alarm and concern this week as the Air Force continued testing the safety of working spaces at intercontinental ballistic missile bases after finding potentially dangerous levels of carcinogens at the facilities at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. Air Force Global Strike Command announced that polychlorinated biphenyls, banned chemical compounds commonly known as PCBs that were used in building and electrical materials, were detected at Malmstrom during an ongoing study into possible toxic exposure and cancer concerns among America's current and former missileers. A spokeswoman for the command told Military.com on Thursday that additional air and surface sampling has been completed at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, and Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. Results will be available in roughly two months, she said. Read Next: After Website Problems, VA Extends PACT Act Deadline for Retroactive Benefit Claims "The samplings were recently completed at the three bases, and we anticipate a minimum of 60 days from when each sample was taken, before any holistic results are available," Capt. Lauren Linscott said. "We will continue to keep our Airmen out of areas that have not been mitigated for elevated PCBs." Early this year, a Space Force officer detailed exposure risks and various cancer diagnoses among veterans who served at Malmstrom in a briefing, warning of a possible link between their service and cancer. The Air Force began a study focusing on Malmstrom and expanded it in February to include a wide assortment of jobs at the nation's intercontinental ballistic missile bases. In May, Air Force Global Strike Command announced "no immediate factors were discovered that would be considered immediate concerns for acute cancer risks" and added "no specific factors had been found at Malmstrom AFB to indicate an elevated risk level, environmental or otherwise, present at that installation." But this week's announcement that carcinogens had been detected at two launch control centers and missile alert facility sites at Malmstrom shows that risks could still be uncovered by the ongoing study. Two Montana lawmakers, Rep. Matt Rosendale and Sen. Jon Tester, wrote letters to the Department of Defense voicing alarm over the recent findings. "I'm deeply concerned by reports that hazardous materials linked to many types of cancer have been found at Malmstrom Air Force Base," Rosendale said in a statement. "Our service members should not be afraid to report for duty for fear that they will be exposed to toxic chemicals, carcinogens, or other dangerous substances." Tester, the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, called on the Pentagon to take care of those affected and their families. "I am deeply alarmed by the Air Force's most recent study, released this week, which revealed that unsafe levels of a likely carcinogen have been detected at Malmstrom," Tester wrote in a letter. "Our missileers play a critical role in protecting Montana and our nation, and I am calling on the Defense Department to ensure all potentially impacted service members and their families receive swift answers and appropriate care." Production of polychlorinated biphenyls was outlawed in the U.S. by the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976. Overexposure to the oily substances in animal studies has been tied to a range of serious health conditions, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. "Three hundred surface swipe samples were taken from across all Malmstrom AFB," Air Force Global Strike Command said in a press release. "Of the swipes, 279 returned non-detectable results. Of the 21 with detectable results, 19 were below the mitigation level established by federal law and regulation." The Space Force officer who first raised the alarm in a presentation at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, detailed 36 cases in which missileers who had been stationed at Malmstrom during their careers were diagnosed with a type of cancer. Ten of the airmen who have received cancer diagnoses, according to his briefing, developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Two developed Hodgkin lymphoma, and 24 developed another form of cancer. Overall, eight of the 36 missileers with cancer diagnoses, the majority of whom served at Malmstrom sometime between 1997 and 2007, have died. This is not the first time the military has investigated a link between missileer service and cancer clusters. In 2001, the Air Force Institute for Operational Health did a site evaluation and sampled for potential chemical and biological contaminants at Malmstrom after cases of various cancers from missileers were reported -- including cervical cancer, thyroid cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma and two cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in which those patients died, according to a report issued in 2005. The Air Force said in 2005, following the release of the report, that "there is not sufficient evidence to consider the possibility of a cancer clustering to justify further investigation" and that "sometimes illnesses tend to occur by chance alone." But the Air Force Medical Service, which is conducting the new "Missile Community Cancer Study," now says those conclusions may be outdated. Under a frequently asked question section on the service's website, the office says that the findings from two decades ago may have changed. "We acknowledge time has passed and have the responsibility to investigate any potential service-related risks to airmen, Guardians or their dependents' health," the website says. "We take this responsibility seriously." The issue is of great concern to the newly created Space Force, as more than 400 of the service's current officers are former missileers. Additionally, the Torchlight Initiative, a non-government organization composed of current and former ICBM community members and their families, has a self-reported registry in which 268 current and former service members or their surviving family members tied to ICBM bases have reported cancer, diseases or illnesses. So far, 217 of those cases are cancer and 33 are non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Roughly 46% of those self-reported cases are from those who served at Malmstrom Air Force Base. Cleanup and mitigation of the PCBs at Malmstrom are underway and were ordered by Air Force Global Strike Commander Gen. Thomas Bussiere. "Based on the initial results from the survey team, which discovered PCB levels above the cleanup threshold designated by law in two of our facilities, I directed Twentieth Air Force to take immediate measures to begin the cleanup process for the affected facilities and mitigate exposure by our airmen and Guardians to potentially hazardous conditions," Bussiere said in a statement. "These measures will stay in place until I am satisfied that we are providing our missile community with a safe and clean work environment," he said. When asked about the specific details of the cleanup and mitigation efforts, including whether missileers would be displaced from their routine workspaces, Linscott did not provide specifics, saying policies and procedures are being implemented by the workforces at those bases. If resources for thorough cleanup and mitigation can't be provided by the bases, those services may be contracted out. "We are currently partnered with bioenvironmental and medical teams from across the Air Force to determine their capacity for cleanup," Linscott said. "If they are unable, we expect to look for contract assistance." -- Thomas Novelly can be reached at thomas.novelly@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomNovelly. Related: 'Go Get Screened': Space Force Chief Urges Missileers to Get Tested as Cancer Study Underway TAIPEI, Taiwan China sent navy ships and a large group of fighter jets toward Taiwan, continuing its military pressure on the island, Taiwans defense ministry said Thursday. China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory and has regularly sent flights toward the island in reaction to the island's political activities. In the past year, it has also sent navy vessels as well as drones to circle the waters near the island. Taiwan's defense ministry said the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army sent 33 warplanes and 6 navy vessels between 6 a.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday. The J-10 and J-16 fighter jets flew across the midline and to the southwest of Taiwan. The ministry said in an earlier statement Wednesday that Taiwan's military tracked five of the ships as they sailed in coordination with the flights of the fighter jets. The ministry said it used land-based missile systems to track the aircraft, 10 of which crossed the midline of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary that had been considered a buffer between the island and mainland. In response to escalating Chinese military pressure, Taiwan has been buying weapons and fighter jets to shore up its defenses. In July, the U.S. announced a $345 million package of sale s to Taiwan that will include portable air defense systems, intelligence and surveillance capabilities, firearms and missiles. In the last year since the PACT Act went into effect, the Department of Veterans Affairs has expanded benefits and health care to hundreds of thousands of veterans, with more expected to qualify as they develop illnesses related to exposure to burn pits and other battlefield toxins. By Thursday, the anniversary of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics, or PACT Act, the VA had received 843,448 claims under the legislation and enrolled 113,719 veterans in VA health care as a result of the law. The department has distributed $1.85 billion in disability compensation and other benefits to 340,754 eligible veterans or survivors, a number that will increase as the VA processes a half-million pending claims and receives applications from 1.65 million veterans who have submitted an intent to file in the past year. Read Next: Soldiers at JBLM Authorized to Buy AC Units as Base Moves Toward Air-Conditioned Barracks VA Secretary Denis McDonough said Thursday that millions of veterans are now receiving health care and compensation for conditions "that followed them home from war." "We're proud that so many veterans and survivors have already benefited from the PACT Act, but this is just the beginning: We won't rest until every veteran and every survivor gets the VA health care and benefits they deserve," McDonough said in a statement released Thursday. The PACT Act expanded health care and disability benefits to potentially 6 million veterans exposed to burn pits and other environmental pollution while serving in the Middle East, southeast Asia and elsewhere, including post-9/11, Persian Gulf War and some Vietnam-era veterans -- the largest expansion of VA benefits in decades. Anticipating an influx of new patients and veterans eligible for disability benefits, the VA embarked on a hiring effort to attract medical providers, as well as claims specialists. It also introduced an automated system to accelerate the claims process for common conditions that warrant disability compensation and to prevent its backlog of claims that are older than 125 days from growing exponentially. Since the PACT Act was signed on Aug. 10, 2022, the disability claims backlog has grown. In September, it was slightly less than 150,000 claims; it is currently at 272,925 claims but could grow to as much as 730,000 next year. Veterans who develop an illness related to exposures covered by the legislation or their survivors may file a claim at any time. However, eligible beneficiaries were encouraged to submit a claim or an intent to file a claim by Aug. 9 to receive retroactive benefits to the date that President Joe Biden signed the law last year. That date has been extended to Aug. 14 as a result of technical issues with the website designed to submit claims and intentions to file claims, according to the VA -- an extension that earned praise from lawmakers shortly after it was announced Thursday but also criticism from those who believe the department should have been better prepared. House Veterans Affairs Chairman Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., sent a letter to McDonough saying that the technological glitch that affected roughly 5,600 veterans should not have happened. "VA's failure to anticipate and prepare for the increased volume of submissions as the PACT Act deadline approached is unacceptable, given that the situation was easily foreseeable as this law is the largest expansion of health care and benefits for veterans in recent history," Bost wrote. The VA said it has approved PACT Act applications at a rate of roughly four in five claims, with an average assigned disability rating of 70%. Some veterans have been surprised, however, that they have received 0% disability ratings for some conditions, such as hypertension, which was designated a presumptive condition for Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange under the PACT Act. According to affected veterans who have contacted Military.com, Vietnam-era veterans who have hypertension that is controlled by medication have received a 0% disability rating. That includes former Army Spc. Jeff O'Malley, a Vietnam veteran whose Freedom of Information Act requests and research led to an understanding of the VA's decision to not count hypertension in a list of new presumptive conditions tied to Agent Orange in 2017. His hypertension is barely controlled by medication. "I worked so hard to get this done," O'Malley told Military.com. "It's not just me." According to data provided to Military.com by the VA, more than one-third of PACT Act disability ratings awards have received a 0% disability rating, meaning that affected veterans are eligible for benefits and services such as health care, federal hiring preferences and travel allowances for VA medical appointments, but not disability compensation. The 0% disability rating also can lead to a secondary service connection for any condition caused by the originally rated condition, according to VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes. Hayes said that if hypertension eventually causes cardiovascular disease, then the affected veteran can get service connection for heart disease, which "would likely have a higher rating." "And if that heart disease causes the veteran's death, the veteran's spouse would be entitled to survivor's benefits," Hayes said. In addition to the increase in disability claims submissions, more than 113,000 veterans from the PACT Act population have been added to VA health care as a result of the legislation. Lawmakers and advocates who fought for passage of the PACT Act celebrated the anniversary during a number of events and press conferences Thursday. Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., said it is important that service members, veterans, physicians and others need to be aware of the potential dangers of battlefield exposures and the benefits that vets and survivors rate as a result of the PACT Act. His constituent, Air Force veteran Jennifer Kepner, died of pancreatic cancer as a result of exposure to burn pits used to dispose of garbage, chemicals and industrial waste in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. "Her story fueled my anger, my passion to get this legislation passed for all veterans," Ruiz said, noting that the president's son, former Army National Guard Maj. Beau Biden, was stationed at the same base as Kepner in Iraq and died of brain cancer linked to burn pit exposure. "We got it done," Ruiz said during a press conference alongside the Kepner family. During an event in Salt Lake City marking the anniversary Thursday, President Biden emphasized the act's importance in helping veterans and survivors, including Robinson's wife and daughter, and praised those who worked on the law. "Everyone who fought so hard, came together to keep promises to the veterans, to keep faith for our heroes. That's courage. That's character," Biden said. "There is nothing beyond our capacity when we decide to work together to get it done. We never fail when we do that." -- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on X and Threads @patriciakime. Related: After Website Problems, VA Extends PACT Act Deadline for Retroactive Benefit Claims SEOUL, South Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his military to sharpen its war plans and signed off on expanding combat operations of frontline units, state media said Thursday, as the United States and South Korea prepare for a large-scale combined military exercise. Condemning the allies expanding drills as invasion rehearsals, Kim has used them as a pretext to further accelerate his weapons demonstrations, which have included the testing-firings of more than 100 missiles since the start of 2022, driving tensions on the Korean Peninsula to their highest point in years. Experts say Kims nuclear push is aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power so he can eventually negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength. Thursdays meeting of the North Korean ruling Workers Partys central military commission, which Kim controls as chairman, was to discuss advancing his militarys war readiness and establishing offensive countermeasure plans to deter his adversaries, which state media said were getting more blatant in their reckless military confrontation with the North. After talks of boosting North Korean frontline units and stepping up war drills to incorporate new strategies and weapons, Kim signed an order to implement unspecified important military measures," Pyongyangs official Korean Central News Agency said. During the meeting, Kim stressed that the military must acquire more powerful strike means to bolster his nuclear deterrent and make speedier deployments of those weapons to combat units. He called for the countrys munitions industry to step up mass production of various weapons and systems, and for the military to actively conduct actual war drills to digest those systems and enhance its war-fighting capabilities, KCNA said. Photos of the meeting published by state media showed Kim pointing to spots in a blurred map of the Korean Peninsula. The spots appeared to be the metropolitan region surrounding the South Korean capital of Seoul, where half of the countrys 51 million people live, and an area around the central city of Daejeon, the location of South Koreas army headquarters. Kim also made personnel changes during the meeting, appointing Vice Marshal Ri Yong Gil as his new chief of general staff to replace Gen. Pak Su Il, KCNA said. Since he began his rule in late 2011, Kim has shown a tendency to swiftly replace senior government and military officials if he was unhappy with their performances or needed to hold them responsible for broader policy failures, which the North never pins on its supreme leader. The decision to sack Pak eight months into the job possibly indicates that Kim was dissatisfied about his ability to craft military strategies and went back to a more trusted hand in Ri, who had a lengthy previous stint as chief of general staff, said Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior analyst at South Korea's Sejong Institute. When asked about Kims comments, Ahn Eun-ju, a spokesperson at South Korea's Foreign Ministry, said it was deplorable that North Korea was talking about boosting war readiness while ignoring the plight of its desperately poor population. Some experts say the North's economy is likely at its worst since Kim took power. COVID-19 restrictions further shocked an economy crippled by decades of mismanagement and U.S.-led sanctions imposed over his nuclear ambitions. That hasn't stopped Kim from channeling the country's limited resources into expanding a nuclear arsenal he sees as his strongest guarantee of survival. North Korea should instead pay attention to the safety of its citizens with a typhoon approaching, Ahn said, referring to Tropical Storm Khaunun, which pounded South Korea with intense rains and winds on Thursday and was expected to blow into North Korea early Friday. We are maintaining a firm readiness posture, and North Korea's empty threats of force will not work with us," she said. Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson for South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a briefing that the U.S. and South Korean intelligence authorities were closely monitoring North Korean weapons development activities and possibilities of provocations. Kims comments during the meeting echoed what he said last week during a three-day tour of the countrys key weapons factories, including a facility that produces launcher trucks for his intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to target the U.S. mainland, and called for significant improvements to the countrys arms and war readiness. Kims visits also included an artillery factory that deepened outside concerns that North Korea was preparing to export artillery and other arms supplies to Russia as President Vladimir Putin reaches out to other countries for support in the war in Ukraine. In the face of deepening confrontations with Washington and Seoul, Kim has been trying boost the visibility of his partnerships with Moscow and Beijing to break out of diplomatic isolation and insert himself into a united front against the U.S. Kim invited Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and a Chinese ruling party officials to share center stage at a giant military parade in Pyongyang where he rolled out his most powerful missiles designed to target South Korea and the United States. Shoigus presence at the July 27 parade came after Kim took him on a tour of a domestic arms exhibition, which demonstrated North Koreas support for Russias invasion of Ukraine and added to suspicions the North was willing to supply arms to Russia. During Thursdays meeting, North Korean officials also agreed to hold another military parade to mark the 75th anniversary of its governments founding. The Sept. 9 parade would be the countrys third event in 2023 alone. Analysts say the North has never staged military parades more than twice in the same year. WARSAW, Poland Poland intends to put 10,000 soldiers along its border with Belarus, the country's defense minister said Thursday as Warsaw worries about the presence of Russian-linked mercenaries in Belarus and migrants trying to cross the border without authorization. Separately, the Polish military said it was searching an area near the border with Belarus for a lost fuse from a missile but that it posed no threat because the detonator has built-in protections. The fuse was lost during "intensive activities using specialized equipment to ensure security, the military said. On Tuesday, after the end of combat flights, one of the helicopters carrying out a patrol in the border area was found to have no fuse in one of the missiles. The flight was carried out along the border strip and did not take place over built-up areas, the military said in a statement, appealing to residents to alert police if they saw the missing item. Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said 10,000 soldiers would ultimately be deployed to the border area. He made the announcement in a state radio interview a day after a different official said Poland was sending 2,000 additional troops to the border over the next two weeks, essentially doubling its military presence there. The soldiers are being deployed to reinforce the work of police and Border Guard officers. For two years, Poland has contended with migrants arriving at the border from Belarus trying to enter the country illegally. The government in Poland and other countries along NATO's eastern flank have accused President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, an ally of Russia, of opening the migration route in an act of hybrid warfare aimed at creating instability in the West. Poland is also worried about the presence of Wagner group fighters who deployed to Belarus after a short-lived mutiny in Russia in June. Anxieties were further heightened last week when two Belarusian military helicopters briefly entered Polish air space, something Warsaw viewed as a deliberate provocation. With parliamentary elections in Poland scheduled for Oct. 15, the conservative ruling party, Law and Justice, has tried to demonstrate that it is serious about security as it seeks an unprecedented third term. A NATO official said earlier this week as Belarus began military training drills near its border with Poland that the Western military alliance was monitoring the situation in Belarus but did not see an immediate threat. NATO has significantly increased its defensive presence in the eastern part of the alliance in response to Russias aggressive actions, and we continue to do what is necessary to deter any threat and protect every inch of allied territory," NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said Monday. We do not see any direct or imminent military threat posed by Wagner mercenaries to our allies, but we remain vigilant, Lungescu added. ___ Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed. A retired U.S. Army soldier is facing federal charges that accuse him of stealing a Humvee from Fort Stewart and plowing into a building at the Georgia base in July, federal prosecutors said. After stealing the Humvee, the man, 39, of Dublin, Georgia, barreled through the front doors of Fort Stewarts Third Infantry Division Headquarters building on July 10, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Georgia. A person at the scene pinned him down until Fort Stewart Military Police arrived and detained him, a criminal complaint filed in court says. Hes accused of causing more than $1,000 worth of damages, according to the criminal complaint. The retired staff sergeant was indicted on charges of damage to government property and theft of government money, property or records, the attorneys office announced in an Aug. 9 news release. The indictment was filed Aug. 8, according to court records. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in federal prison, prosecutors said. Statesboro-based trial lawyer Troy Marsh, who represents the man, declined a request for comment from McClatchy News on Aug. 9. Prosecutors didnt provide a motive for the incident. However, the criminal complaint says the act was intentional based on the mode and precision. The man has a prior criminal history involving arrests for driving under the influence and disorderly conduct, according to the criminal complaint. He joined the Army in June 2002 and served until July 2013 as a wheeled vehicle mechanic, Army spokesman Bryce S. Dubee told McClatchy News in a statement on Aug. 9. During his military service, he was deployed to Iraq from January 2005 to January 2006 and again in September 2008 to August 2009, according to Dubee. He received several awards during his career, Dubee said. Dubee declined to comment on the charges as its Army policy not to discuss matters in ongoing litigation. 2023 The Charlotte Observer. Visit charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The Navy's newest Arleigh Burke-class guided- missile destroyer, the USS Carl M. Levin, arrived at its home port of Pearl Harbor on Monday. The ship was christened Oct. 2, 2021, at the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, where it was built, and was commissioned June 24 in Baltimore. The ship is named for the late Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, who chaired the Senate Armed Services Committee from 2001-2003 and again from 2007 until his retirement in 2015. "USS Carl M. Levin honors the legacy and achievements of a great American senator who always placed service of others above self," said Cmdr. Kelly Craft, the destroyer's commanding officer, in a Navy news release. "Symbolized in U.S. steel, the crew has worked tirelessly to bring her to life and sail her to our home port of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. We are proud to join our comrades in the defense of Hawaii, ready to take on any challenge and always remain tenacious in the fight." According to the news release, the ship conducted training along the way to Hawaii, with its crew earning certifications in underway refueling and resupply at sea, supporting aircraft operations, gun shoots, small-boat operations, and other areas. It also made port calls at naval bases in Rhode Island, Virginia, Florida and San Diego, and stopped in Oranjestad, Aruba, before continuing through the Panama Canal and visiting Manta, Ecuador. In Hawaii, the Levin joins Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, part of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet, and is expected to largely support operations in the region. ___ (c)2023 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser Visit The Honolulu Star-Advertiser at www.staradvertiser.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The D-Backs signed veteran right-hander Aaron Sanchez to a minor league deal, according to an announcement from their Triple-A club in Reno. Hes making his organizational debut with the Aces tonight. Sanchez was released by the Twins a few weeks ago. The 31-year-old had spent the year with Minnesotas top minor league club, working 73 innings over 18 appearances. Sanchez struggled to a 5.30 ERA with a modest 16.8% strikeout percentage and a massive 15.6% walk rate. That unsurprisingly wasnt enough to crack a Minnesota rotation that has been one of the best in the majors. While this years results are poor, Sanchez managed a solid 3.75 ERA in 13 Triple-A starts a season ago. He couldnt carry that over in a few stints in Minnesota, where he surrendered a 6.60 ERA over 60 MLB frames. Sanchez has been up-and-down as a depth option for a few teams in recent seasons, settling in as a journeyman since winning the AL ERA title with the Blue Jays back in 2016. Sanchezs velocity is down from those halcyon days due to intervening injuries, but hes an experienced depth option who still induces a decent number of grounders. Arizona has been in a free fall over the past six weeks. After leading the NL West for a good chunk of the first half, theyre 8-23 since the start of July. An ongoing seven-game losing streak has dropped them to 57-57, the first time theyve been .500 since April 7. An unsettled rotation behind Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly has been a big reason for that. Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson havent pitched well, while Zach Davies and Tommy Henry are on the injured list. With the deadline past, minor league deals of this ilk are the clubs clearest way to add rotation depth. Despite their dismal recent run, the D-Backs are still just two games back of the final National League Wild Card spot. The Guardians have sent pitcher Chris Vallimont outright to Triple-A Columbus, according to the transaction log at MLB.com. He was designated for assignment on Monday when Cleveland claimed Ramon Laureano from Oakland. Vallimont hasnt thrown a big league pitch with the Guardians. His sole major league experience came last month as a member of the Orioles, when he recorded two outs in a scoreless appearance against the Yankees. Baltimore designated him for assignment shortly thereafter and sold his contract to Cleveland. The 26-year-old righty has spent parts of five seasons in the minors. Split between four organizations Minnesota, Miami, Baltimore and Cleveland he owns a 4.97 ERA in 422 1/3 minor league frames. That includes a 5.65 mark between the Os and Guardians Triple-A clubs in 2023. Vallimont has a serviceable 22.7% strikeout rate over that stretch, but a 12.7% walk rate is suggestive of strike-throwing concerns that have been present for much of his career. This is the second time Vallimont has cleared waivers in his career. Baltimore outrighted him over the offseason before re-selecting his contract and then designating him again. Players with multiple career outrights have the right to test minor league free agency. Its not clear whether Vallimont will do so or stick with Columbus and try to pitch his way back onto the MLB roster before seasons end. The Red Sox announced that left-hander Richard Bleier, who was designated for assignment on Monday, has been released. Bleier, 36, came over to the Sox in the offseason deal that sent Matt Barnes to the Marlins. That transaction hasnt worked out especially well for either side, as Barnes allowed 5.48 earned runs per nine innings before undergoing hip surgery in July that he seems unlikely to return from this season. Bleier, meanwhile, made 27 appearances for Boston this year with a 5.28 ERA and has now been cut from the roster. The southpaw had signed a contract extension while with the Marlins prior to the 2022 season, a pact that followed his 2.95 ERA over 68 appearances the year prior. The two-year, $6MM deal covered 2022, which was supposed to be his final arbitration season, as well as 2023 and came with a club option for 2024. He was paid $2.25MM last year, is earning $3.5MM this year with the 2024 option valued at $3.75MM with a $250K buyout. Bleier went on to have a solid 3.55 ERA last year before this years disappointing results. Theres still over $1MM left to be paid out on that deal, as well as the buyout on the option. The combination of that money and his struggles this year meant that no club was going to claim him on waivers and take on that contract. But he has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment while retaining the money, so the Sox have simply skipped the formalities and sent him to the open market. They will still be on the hook for the remainder of the contract. Hell now be free to sign with any club, who would only be responsible for paying him the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Sox pay. Despite his 2023 numbers, he will likely still garner interest. He had a 3.09 ERA over 144 appearances in the 2020-2022 period and his peripherals this year arent drastically different. His 55.2% ground ball rate in this season is shy of his 60.5% rate in the previous three years, but not by much. His 3.8% walk rate is right in line with the 3.9% mark from the preceding seasons. His 12.1% strikeout rate is certainly low, but even in the more successful 2020-2022 period he was only at 16.9%. Bleiers inflated ERA this year is likely due to a couple of factors. His 65.8% strand rate is shy of his own career rate and league average, pushing some more runs across. On a related note, his 17.9% rate of fly balls leaving the yard is a career high. He has a 4.25 SIERA on the year thats over a full run better than his ERA and closer to his career marks. Now that the trade deadline has passed, teams have few options for adding talent and depth to their systems. Since Bleier has a track record of success and comes with virtually no financial cost, hes likely to latch on somewhere. CHIPPEWA COUNTY, MI -- The U.S. Marshals have confirmed a shooting took place Wednesday that left one person hospitalized and that a suspect wanted by police for child abduction is dead. According to WLUC-6, the suspect has been identified as Giovanni McNab, who was wanted in Missouri for abduction and parental kidnapping. U.S. Marshals confirmed that McNab died following a confrontation with law enforcement, but did not release details on how he died. The ordeal began Wednesday when a special operatio ns group established a perimeter around a residence where McNab was believed to be. While the perimeter was set up, McNab allegedly exited the home and fired several shots at the Marshals, striking a deputy who was trying to rescue two children inside. That deputy was listed in stable condition, according to the U.S. Marshals. Details remain limited, but law enforcement was eventually able to rescue the two children believed to have been with McNab and a woman who was with him was taken into custody. As the situation unfolded Wednesday, a large police presence was seen in the eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula, near the areas of Goetzville, Pickford and Stalwart. A police presence was also noticeable at the Mackinac Bridge earlier in the day. There is no threat to the community according to the Chippewa County Sheriffs Office. READ MORE: Traverse City restaurant manager who embezzled over $100K sent to prison Both drivers killed in head-on crash in U.P., speed believed to be a factor 20-year-old Michigan man receives up to 45 years in prison for murder in U.P. LAKEWOOD, CO -- A driving instructor has been fired after he crashed his car through the front of the driving school he was employed at on just his second day on the job. According to the Lakewood Police Department in Colorado, one person suffered a minor injury in the incident, but did not require a hospital visit after the car came barreling through a wall Tuesday morning. According to Denver-7, police said multiple people inside the Community Driving School were able to dive out of the way of the car and avoid injury. The driver of the car was issued a traffic citation following the crash. Thankfully there was only one minor injury. Several people were able to dive out of harms way. The driver, an instructor at the business, was cited for a traffic violation. pic.twitter.com/tJcWTWqfmO Lakewood Police Dept. (@LakewoodPDCO) August 8, 2023 The owner of the school, Steve Rohman, said the employee was coming in for a training session focused on the schools classroom portion of the program. The driver was in his own personal vehicle at the time of the crash. Rohman confirmed the employee is no longer with his company. READ MORE: Traverse City restaurant manager who embezzled over $100K sent to prison Alleged child abductor from Missouri shot at U.S. Marshals in U.P. before his death Both drivers killed in head-on crash in U.P., speed believed to be a factor Correction: This story originally incorrectly identified the date the FBI alleges Molitor participated in surveillance at the governors vacation home. BELLAIRE, MI -- Did FBI paid informants and undercover agents illegally instigate the men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020? If so, the three remaining defendants facing trial in Antrim County were entrapped and would be acquitted under the law. However, thats not a question for the the jury to decide, prosecutors with the state Attorney Generals Office claim in a recent court request asking Antrim County Circuit Judge Charles M. Hamlyn to forbid defense attorneys from raising entrapment claims, or even using the word. Here, none of the defendants in this case have formally asserted that they were entrapped as a matter of law or more importantly asked this court to conduct an entrapment hearing to determine whether they were entrapped as a matter of law, Assistant Attorney General John S. Pallas wrote in an Aug. 8 court filing. This is likely because they realize there was no entrapment in this case and thus no legal or factual basis to ask for an entrapment hearing. This pre-trial failure to raise the defense before this court should preclude defendants from attempting to raise the defense before the jury, whether they use the word entrapment or otherwise argue to the jury that the government and/or its agents manufactured or instigated the crimes committed by defendants. The remaining defendants awaiting trial are Eric Molitor of Cadillac and twin brothers Michael Null of Plainwell and William Null of Shelbyville. Eleven other defendants in the case have already faced prosecution: five were found guilty by federal or state juries, two were acquitted in federal court and four agreed to plead guilty as part of plea deals. At previous trials -- two in federal court and one in Jackson County -- entrapment claims have been raised, or at least insinuated, by the defense. The government paid a veteran identified in hearings and court documents as Dan at least $64,000 to work as an informant for the FBI. Dan joined a militia known as the Wolverine Watchmen in 2020 and became alarmed by some of the violent discussions. Within an hour of being allowed into their encrypted chat room he was so disturbed by the violence they were discussing and planning that he contacted police, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Roth said on March 9, 2022, during opening statements at the federal trial for four defendants. He agreed to cooperate with investigators. He agreed to remain in the group and he agreed to record their conversations. Dan met Adam Fox, whos been identified by the FBI as a ringleader in the plot, during a protest in Lansing in about March 2020. Evidence photos depict Fox openly carrying a rifle and wearing a Hawaiian shirt, the fashion accessory adopted by the anti-government Boogaloo movement, which seeks to topple the government through civil war. Informant Dan tries to get (Fox) to come to join the Watchmen, Foxs attorney, Christopher Gibbons, said at his trial. The evidence will show that the Watchmen were not interested in having Adam Fox in their militia. Separately, another FBI informant identified as Steve led a militia known as the III% Patriot Militia. They invited Fox to a meeting in Ohio in June 2020. The informant later appointed Fox, whos described by his own attorney as a broke, homeless misfit living in the basement of a vacuum shop, the leader of the militias Michigan chapter. Fox and his newly formed militia joined Dan and other members of the Wolverine Watchmen for training sessions through which the FBI said the plot to kidnap the governor evolved, eventually resulting in the men acquiring guns, ammunition, flex cuffs and makeshift explosives. Prosecutors said plotters first surveilled Whitmers vacation home on Birch Lake in Elk Rapids in August 2020. Molitor is accused of participating. At a later training weekend held in Luther between Sept. 12 and Sept 13, the Null brothers are accused of participating as lookouts in a second night surveillance of Whitmers home. During that trip, Fox inspected the underside of a bridge for possible detonation to slow police response, prosecutors said. Two FBI informants and two undercover agents also joined during that trip. They drove almost an hour each way to Elk Rapids, Roth said at the federal trial. A little after midnight in total darkness their three cars arrived in Elk Rapids. They circled the governors home, stalking their prey. Another FBI informant name Red claimed to have a $4,000 bomb that could be used to destroy the bridge. Foxs attorney said the men were also offered free gear by the informant. Prosecutors said the plotters agreed to pool their money to purchase the bomb and were arrested prior to paying Red a deposit. The presentation of any purported evidence of entrapment and any arguments that flow from it would be particularly confusing to the jury as it begins its deliberations, Pallas wrote in his Antrim County court filing. This is because, even if counsel have not used the word entrapment in eliciting this evidence or making these points, they would have raised the issue of whether the government instigated or manufactured the defendants crimes, an issue that does not have anything to do with the guilt or innocence of the three defendants. The U.S. Attorneys Office opted not to indict Molitor or the Null brothers for their involvement, but they were charged by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel with providing material support for terrorist acts, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Jury selection for the trial of Molitor and the Null brothers is scheduled to begin on Aug. 21 with opening statements on Aug. 23. More on MLive: Michigan AGs interference with witness reveals big flaw in system, kidnap plot attorney says FBI informant, others fear charges and refuse to testify in Gov. Whitmer kidnap plot trial Five accused Michigan Gov. Whitmer kidnap plotters to face joint trial, judge rules Michigan AG wants to seal evidence defendant in Gov. Whitmer kidnap plot threatened to expose Kidnap plotter receives nearly 20-year sentence Life sentences too severe for men in Gov. Whitmer kidnap plot, defense attorneys say EMPIRE, MICH. -- Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will host a series of events for stargazing enthusiasts in the coming weeks, with programming for educators, students and the public. The Night Sky Navigator series is expanding the parks night sky educational programming with a teacher workshop, field trips for local schools, and an event for all visitors. The programming is free and made possible with grant funding from the National Park Foundations Open Outdoors for Kids initiative, according to an announcement by park officials. All night sky programs at Sleeping Bear Dunes are free, though participants must have a park entrance pass or annual pass displayed in their vehicle. Programs will be cancelled in the case of thunder or heavy rain. The programming includes: Night Sky Navigators public event: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23 at the Dune Climb. Look for the parks Bear Force One mobile visitor center, where rangers will have workbooks guiding visitors to various stations arranged in a loop. The stations include hands-on activities and games related to nocturnal animals, light pollution, constellation stories of the Anishinaabe, lunar phases, and more. As part of the loop, a Solar System Walk will be set up around the Dune Climb. Solar telescopes may be available to safely look at the sun for part of the event, courtesy of the Grand Traverse Astronomical Society. Night Sky Navigator ranger-led teacher workshop: Saturday, August 19, at the Dune Climb from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Educators will receive training on classroom lessons and conduct a lighting audit. Rangers will also share information on field trip options for the September event series (see below for more details). Participants will be served a light dinner, a stipend, and can earn State Continuing Education Clock Hours for completing the workshop. Interested educators should email Drea Weiner, MiSTEM Network Regional Director of Northwest Education Services at aweiner@northwested.org to sign up. Night Sky Navigators field trips: Held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily from Wednesday, Sept. 20 through Friday, Sept. 22. Similar to the public event on September 23, but for 4th and 5th grade classes. This field trip meets Michigan Science Standards and reimbursement for bus transportation is available based on certain criteria. Interested schools should contact the National Lakeshores Education Team at slbe_education@nps.gov. For a calendar and more information about the National Lakeshore, visi nps.gov/slbe. RELATED: Best Sleeping Bear Dunes trail has been rerouted, see where it will take you You can vacation in a vintage Sears cottage at this Northern Michigan state park Chick of Michigans oldest piping plover flies 1,500 miles to spend winter in Florida Stargazers, cross your fingers for clear skies this weekend: The annual Perseid meteor shower will be at its plentiful peak, creating the best window all summer for witnessing shooting stars. The peak night for catching this beloved annual meteor shower is the night of Saturday, August 12 into the wee hours of Sunday, August 13, though the pre-dawn mornings of August 11, 12 and 13 should all make for great viewing, according to the astronomy website EarthSky. This year the Perseids will really get the chance to show their stuff, as the meteor shower falls just a few days before a new moon, allowing for very dark skies. Under a dark sky with no moon, skywatchers frequently report 90 Perseid meteors per hour or more. Even with favorable viewing conditions there are still a few tricks to getting the most out of this summer spectacle. Heres what to know: Where: Find a viewing location with dark skies, away from cities, downtowns, parking lots and other highly lit areas. Do your research ahead of time to find a safe location away from nighttime light pollution. Look to rural areas or one of Michigans dark sky parks or preserves. When: Meteors can start appearing as early as 10 p.m., but the best time to view the Perseids is between midnight and dawn, with activity typically at its greatest in the hour before dawn. Whether this means pulling an all-nighter or setting an alarm to wake before the sunrise is up to you. How to view: NASA suggests lying back with your feet pointing toward the northeast thats where the meteors will appear to originate and look straight up. Give your eyes up time to get used to the darkness (and avoid using your cell phone at this time). It can take a half-hour or more for human eyes to fully adjust and be able to see fainter meteors. For more skywatching tips, visit solarsystem.nasa.gov/skywatching/whats-up. RELATED: Where to find water trails for paddling in Michigan 8 Michigan islands where you can camp overnight Leland Blue stone: What is this beach treasure everyone is looking for Up North? Why Michigan is seeing the Northern Lights more often MANTON, MI A Northern Michigan woman is accused of attacking her ex-boyfriend, and ramming and swerving into his vehicle, police said. Georgiana Rae Caldwell, 43, of Cadillac, is accused of approaching the victim while he was parked outside a business in Manton, Michigan State Police said in a news release. She allegedly began yelling at him and then assaulted him. The victim fled in his vehicle. Caldwell allegedly followed him in her vehicle. She is accused of ramming the victims Jeeps rear bumper multiple times. She then allegedly pulled alongside the Jeep and swerved into it, causing a crash. WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI A pair of F-22 Raptor fighter jets roared into Washtenaw County Thursday morning, two days before theyll perform at one of the largest airshows in the country. The U.S.A.F. F-22 Demo Team arrived in style just after 10 a.m., banking sharply over the airfield at Willow Run Airport and firing afterburners to show off the power of the fifth-generation stealth fighter. One of the two aircraft will perform in Saturday and Sundays morning shows while the other sits on display on the tarmac. The lineup for this years show includes a fleet of restored P-51 Mustang fighters from the 357th Fighter Group, a B-29 Superfortress, Lockheed CT-133 Silver Star, a KC-135R Stratotanker and a rare airworthy MiG-23UB. Thunder Over Michigan Marketing Manager Scott Buie says this years event will feature more ride-along flights than ever before and the return of the Thunder Pub bar. Guests can book a ride online on the Yankee Air Museums B-17 Flying Fortress, B-25 Mitchell, C-47 Skytrain or a UH-1 Iroquois, also known as the Huey. Tickets for three of the four air shows are still available, with Saturday mornings show already sold out. Guests can purchase tickets, check each days schedule or look up directions to the airport on Thunder Over Michigans website. More from MLive Woman who went missing after car crash found in Livingston County cornfield Check out all the food, fireworks and family fun coming to Dexter Daze 1800s Ann Arbor life depicted in Concordia University oil painting gallery GENESEE TWP, MI -- The state and federal government have resolved a civil rights complaint that alleged Michigan regulators discriminated against a predominantly Black Flint area neighborhood when they approved pollution permits for an asphalt plant here. The agreement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy provides for enhanced engagement with residents, pursuit of funding for a community-led public health assessment, and a community air monitor near the plant in Genesee Township. The plant is just across its border with Flint. But the announcement of a resolution fell far short of what community groups behind the complaint had sought. Im outraged, we all are, Nayyirah Shariff, director of Flint Rising, said in a statement on Thursday, Aug. 10. Our community invested substantial time and resources into building trust with EPA and EGLE, and they squandered it. With the EPAs permission, EGLE just washed their hands of us so they can continue serving their real constituents, the corporations. Flint Rising and four other community groups -- Saint Francis Prayer Center, The Environmental Transformation Movement of Flint, Michigan United, and C.A.U.T.I.O.N -- had been involved in the discussions of their civil rights complaint with EPA and EGLE. They had pushed for a resolution agreement that would have secured local protections for residents suffering from industrial pollution and reform Michigans air permitting program ... The groups filed their complaint with the EPA Civil Rights Compliance Office in 2021, claiming that the states air permit approval process violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. EGLE issued an air permit for the Ajax plant in November 2021 but included what it called a host of site-specific conditions and restrictions (that) provide safeguards to ensure compliance with the law and to better protect the community. Ajax sought a revised permit from EGLE without stricter guidelines while the community groups took several actions, including complaints with federal agencies and a Genesee Circuit Court lawsuit. The lawsuit claimed EGLE made errors during the permitting process. The city of Flint also argued in court that emissions testing carried out by the state was flawed. The Ajax property is located off East Carpenter Road, across Flints border with Genesee Township. The area has been described by EGLE as a neighborhood of color in social and economic distress. Groups opposing the asphalt plant have said it is an unjust burden for an area that already includes the Genesee Power Station and where residents are hospitalized for asthma at more than three times the state average. In initially protesting the plant, Flint residents traveled to the state capitol and held a mock funeral to commemorate the death of their neighborhood. EGLE said in a statement Thursday that its agreement with EPA includes a commitment to enhancing future dealings with local residents, including 3,000 people who live within a one-mile radius of the plant. We look forward to continuing to work closely with communities, environmental justice advocates, and permit applicants to ensure that protections available under the law for residents near polluting facilities are enforced, and to encourage public policy advancements that address the unique burdens many frontline communities face, the EGLE statement says. We realize the agreement does not address all the issues raised by the local residents during our discussions, the agency said in its statement. We remain committed to continuing to work with the community to address ongoing concerns. This includes our collaborative work with EPA to address challenges presented in overburdened communities. Representatives of community groups said during a Thursday news conference that Michigans current permitting rules dont give enough weight to the cumulative impact of pollution on poor communities. Were not going to stop, said Ted Zahrfeld, board chair of the St. Francis Prayer Center. I dont know if its going to be resolved in my lifetime (but) we will continue to fight. Want more Flint-area news? Bookmark the local Flint news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Flint daily newsletter. Read more at The Flint Journal: EPA to review Michigan approvals for industrial plants in Flint, Detroit Judge upholds permit allowing Flint area asphalt plant to operate Death to profit over people: Flint residents hold mock funeral in Lansing to oppose proposed asphalt plant HOLLAND, MI -- Police took two juveniles into custody after they fled from a stolen vehicle that crashed into a power pole along 112th Avenue. Ottawa County sheriffs deputies said Holland police officers initially tried to stop a stolen vehicle about 12:10 p.m. in the area of 17th Street and Van Raalte Avenue. The vehicle eluded police. Later, at about 12:25 p.m. deputies spotted the stolen vehicle near 120th Avenue and James Street and began a pursuit. After a short chase, the vehicle went off 112th Avenue and struck a power pole. Two juveniles fled the stolen vehicle and ran into a nearby neighborhood. Both were captured. Police took them to the Ottawa County Juvenile Detention Center and they face numerous charges. More from MLive Former Allegan County deputy acquitted in womans crash death from speeding cruiser Police locate vehicle of interest in fatal hit-and-run of Montcalm County teen KENT COUNTY, MI Infighting among further right, grassroots conservatives who took over the Kent County Republican Party in December has prompted the chair of the county party to step down. The Kent County GOP announced Wednesday, Aug. 9, that chair Tim Walenga will be resigning along with seven other members of the partys executive committee who submitted their letters of resignation. Walenga was selected in December to lead the Kent GOP by grassroots conservatives from the wing of the party aligned with former President Donald Trump. Earlier that month, the group filled half of the county partys executive committee with like-minded, further-right conservatives, keeping out more moderate Republicans. Since the takeover, the county party has been more willing to publicly wade into culture war issues, such as distributing fliers alleging the Kent District Library system hosts events that promote gender confusion ahead of the Algoma Township vote on whether to leave the library system. Related: Mailer falsely accuses Kent District Library of hosting drag queen reading hours ahead of election Supporters of Walenga wrote in their collective letter of resignation obtained by MLive/The Grand Rapids Press that rather than the chairs weaknesses being shored up by committee members, they were instead exploited, mocked and weaponized against him and those who tirelessly supported him. Our slim values-aligned majority that we entered the year with no longer exists, the letter states. The division has been sewn and cultivated, trust destroyed and friendships lost. The letter, penned by Rina Baker, Jeff Carlson, Angela Gillisse, Gail Schuiling and Anna Timmer, did not detail specific points of contention with Walengas leadership. Those who take issue with Tims deficiencies are welcome to their opinion, but the reality is simple, the letter states. Without Tim willing to run for chair when asked to by many, this goal of an outspokenly conservative, grassroots-led party would not have been possible. Walenga did not return calls for comment. Those who spoke with MLive/The Grand Rapids Press said the county party is likely lagging behind in fundraising efforts compared to prior years, in part due to the grassroots members opposing establishment donors, such as the DeVos family. Kent GOP executive committee member Stefanie Boone, in a July 25 email to her committee colleagues obtained by MLive/The Grand Rapids Press, listed 10 reasons why she believes Walenga should be removed as chair. Among them was a failure to meet fundraising goals and produce fundraising records. Chair Walenga has promised (to the Kent GOP Executive Committee) a goal to raise $250,000 for the Party in 2023, Boone wrote. The bank accounts speak for themselves. The other half of the county partys 81-member executive committee are Republican nominees, whether successful or not, who ran for county and state level offices. Generally, that group belongs to the more moderate and traditional wing of the party, and the recent resignations leave room for them to take back control of the county party. Whether the group waits for the county partys next convention in December 2024 or acts on the divisions before then remains to be seen. Forces from outside our county are now involved, helping bring about our current reality, that it is only a matter of time before the prevailing power in Kent County will re-take command, Walengas supporters wrote in the resignation letter. The letter states the grassroots group that took over the county party arent monolithic in their beliefs. Some wanted to bring Trumps America First principles to the local level. Others wanted biblical principles back to the forefront of the party. Still more took issue with the political power structure in the county, where a small group of wealthy and highly-connected people influence dozens of primaries, the letter states. Certainly, the 2020 election and the policies enacted during COVID played a role in the frustration and energy of our movement, causing hundreds of Kent County Republicans to get involved at the grassroots level and attempt to shift the power dynamic in a more representative direction, the letter states. The Kent GOP takeover by the pro-Trump wing of the party didnt happen in a vacuum. Divisions within the Republican Party have been playing out across the state, including in Ottawa County, where a group of further right Republicans trounced moderate, same-party incumbents in the August 2022 primary and took control of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners. Want more Grand Rapids-area news? Bookmark the local Grand Rapids news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Grand Rapids daily newsletter. Read more on MLive: End of an era: Holland coal power plant falls in morning implosion Michigan gets control of 21 oil wells, $2.85 million in lawsuit settlement Michigans weekend weather will sneak by as not-too-bad GRAND RAPIDS, MI The Circle Theatre is bringing the August Wilson play, Ma Raineys Black Bottom, to the stage this month, beginning tonight. Circle Theatre, located at 1703 Robinson Rd. SE, will have productions August 10-12, 16-20 and 23-26, with Sunday, August 20 being a matinee showing. Tickets will range from $30-$34 and will be available at circletheatre.org. The story follows Gertrude Ma Rainey in 1927, beginning her musical reputation as the Mother of the Blues, recording her old favorites in a rundown studio in Chicago. While Rainey fights for control of her own music with her cocky trumpet player, Levy, who is looking for his own place in the music industry, the play explores themes of racism, rage and exploitation. Wilson wrote the play in 1982. He has been referred to as the theaters poet of Black America, chronicling the Black experience in the 20th century. Director Will Gearring said working with a Wilson play has been an honor, especially with this production being the first time a Wilson play has been put on stage in West Michigan. Getting to work on his words and knowing the time period and all the research that he put into figuring out this play as he wrote it has just been a pleasure to see actually come out on stage, and the actors have definitely risen up to their challenges, he said. Gearring said he knew of the play before working on it, reading it years before and watching the movie based on the play that came out in 2020 with Oscar winner Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman. He said he was excited to start his own work on the project. While he has had challenges and triumphs like in any directorial process for a show, Gearring said he was grateful to have a team around him ready to work, whether that be to ask questions or even have the actors learn a whole new instrument to play on stage as part of a band. While there is music in the play, its not a musical, creating a unique aspect of the show that Gearring is excited to show off with a blues and jazz soundtrack. Gearring said the show is still relevant today with two themes. One is the continuous battle to own your own creative music that we still see in upcoming artists or even the biggest stars like Taylor Swift, who is re-recording most of her masters now to own her own copyright. The second is pride versus talent, proving that if pride overruns your talent and ability to make music, it could lead to your downfall. Talent doesnt always mean that youre gonna become something with that talent, Gearring said. Its good to have pride, but it really is that pride goeth before the fall. Gearring said the show is giving variety to the theater season, as the Circle Theatre presented Pippin as their last main stage performance in July, and the next presentation after Ma Raineys Black Bottom is Sweeney Todd, which is slated for Sept. 7-23. For Circle to say were going to do a specifically Black show, it takes a little courage, Gearring said. With that variety, you get to see Black actors that you might have seen throughout the years, but never so many on one stage at Circle for this type of production. Gearring said the big takeaway from the show is appreciating the history of music to understand where we are now in the industry, taking Ma Raineys story of being a game-changing artist, influencing all genres of music with her blues and jazz background. Hip-hop and all the things that we see now that we kind of take for granted, it started from someplace and I want people to think about that there are these people from the past that were going through situations that had to be strong to make sure that we can now enjoy what we are enjoying as far as music or culture or just in general, stories from our ancestors, Gearring said. For the full schedule of Ma Raineys Black Bottom, head to Circle Theatres website. Want more Grand Rapids-area news? Bookmark the local Grand Rapids news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Grand Rapids daily newsletter. Read more: D.A. Blodgett-St. Johns opens $13.9M facility with family clinic, gym What new business just opened near Celebration Cinema North? Specialty drinks made daily Grand Rapids airport invests $14.5M in cutting-edge aircraft rescue and firefighting facility KENTWOOD, MI When passing by Matt Vriesmans classroom during a typical school day, its not uncommon to hear shouts, debates and laughter coming from his students. Vriesman, who teaches history in a suburb of Grand Rapids at East Kentwood High School, encourages his students to question what they read in their textbooks and think critically about how the narrative of history impacts their worldview. That means students often get into complex discussions as they dissect the past and their own realities, he said. The best lessons are when they get to be the real historians behind the scenes, questioning the textbook, said Vriesman, 38, who is in his 16th year of teaching. Were not just talking about these stories that happened 300 years ago or 1,000 years ago, he said. Were really talking with each other about our present and assumptions that weve made about who we are. When you can get students to that place its inspiring, and its hopeful. In recognition of his impassioned work engaging Kentwood Public Schools students in history class, Vriesman was recently named the 2023 Michigan History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the nations leading organization dedicated to K-12 American history education. The annual award goes out to one K-12 teacher in each state across the country who is doing exceptional work in the classroom to highlight the crucial importance of history education. Knowledgeable and impassioned teachers bring our countrys history to life for students, allowing them to understand that engaging with history is about more than a series of facts, said James G. Basker, president of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, in a statement. Teachers are the lifeblood of our students education, and these are the best of the best. History is often characterized as a boring subject. But Vriesman, who has taught at East Kentwood for six years, tries to get students fired up about history by coming up with engaging lesson plans that personalize history for his students and gets them to see how the past influences their present. For example, a few summers ago, he partnered with historians at the Grand Rapids Public Museum to create an interactive map of Grand Rapids that localizes the story of the Great Migration, when millions of Black Americans fled from the South to the north in the early 20th Century, and its influence on West Michigan. The map allows students to click on different areas of the city of Grand Rapids and read about which neighborhoods in the city were Black-only. The map allows students to learn how the Great Migration changed what the city looks like today, Vriesman explained. The point is, theyre seeing all the stuff were learning in American history, and now all of a sudden, theyre clicking on somewhere in the Baxter neighborhood, or downtown, and you have kids saying, Oh my god, my grandma lives there, (or)Thats where my cousin lives, he said. All of a sudden, were seeing American history happen on our streets, and were starting to understand why our communities look the way they do. Lindsay Kimbrough, assistant principal of East Kentwood High School, called Vriesman a model for public educators. Watching Vriesman teach is to watch his passions collide, she said. Matt sees brilliance in all scholars, and does not leave equity and excellence to chance, she said in a statement. His knowledge of history is unparalleled, but his passion and ability to create dynamic experiences for scholars is what sets him apart. Through his carefully curated lessons, scholars are encouraged to explore the content in a meaningful way, and think critically about things then, and how they connect to and impact the now. Vriesman teaches two Advanced Placement (AP) history classes: AP U.S. History and AP World History. Starting this fall, he will also teach AP African American Studies, a new and widely-discussed AP course that is being piloted at a handful of schools across the state. The East Kentwood educator said he is passionate about pushing back against racist and outdated narratives that are still found in most modern history textbooks. Several years ago, when he was in graduate school, he began to study how current AP U.S History textbooks continue to perpetuate racists myths that have been debunked by historians, like claims that Black Americans flipped from voting Republican to Democrat in 1936 because of welfare relief checks, he said. I started changing some of my lessons, based on (the finding that) some of the stuff in this textbook is actually just racist mythology, Vriesman said. This is not even history anymore, historians dont even believe this. Inspired to help other educators push back against outdated curriculum, he started a website called antiracistapush.com, which is now used by other AP U.S. History teachers and students around the country. On the website, he shares lesson plans, discussions, and resources for teachers on how to create an Antiracist history class. Vriesman, who was born and raised in Kentwood, earned his bachelors degree in education and world history at Calvin College (now Calvin University), and his masters degree in history from Missouri State University. As the recipient of the 2023 Michigan History Teacher of the Year award, Vriesman earned a $1,000 honorarium and a core archive of American history books and Gilder Lehrman educational materials. He is now one of 53 finalists in the running for the 2023 National History Teacher of the Year Award. This years National History Teacher of the Year will be announced in fall 2023 during a ceremony in New York City, according to a news release from the Gilder Lehrman Institute. The ceremony will feature Peabody and Emmy Award-winning ABC News Senior National Affairs Correspondent Deborah Roberts as its presenter. Nominations for the 2024 History Teacher of the Year awards are now open. Students, parents, educators, and supervisors can nominate K-12 teachers by visiting gilderlehrman.org/nhtoy. Want more Grand Rapids-area news? Bookmark the local Grand Rapids news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Grand Rapids daily newsletter. More on MLive: Muskegon school worker fired for multiple allegations of physical aggression with children GVSU receives $2.6M to train more nurses practitioners Latest student loan forgiveness bill would remove interest for current borrowers, cap future rates JACKSON COUNTY, MI The Jackson County Fair has brought many festivities through the week, but there are still several days to catch carnival rides, concerts and of course some fair food. The 2023 Jackson County Fair began Sunday, Aug. 6, and will continue through Saturday, Aug. 12, at the Jackson County Fairgrounds/Keeley Park, 200 W. Ganson St. Many events have already taken place, including the demolition derby and the Twisted P Rodeo. Related: Corn dogs, carnival rides & concerts: Your guide to the 2023 Jackson County Fair There are also around 50 different food vendors at the fair this year, including some locally owned ones. Here are 5 Jackson County-area eats to find at the 2023 fair: The Band Wagon Catering at the Jackson County Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 9. This Jackson County-based food truck is known for serving up loaded potato tots on the menu. The Band Wagon Catering This Jackson County-based food truck is known for serving up loaded potato tots on the menu. This truck was started by friends and coworkers Sharee Hoyt and Lauren Phoenix, who wanted to share their love of food and rock n roll with the county. The Band Wagon Catering is located near the American 1 Credit Union Event Center. They serve popular loaded tots including the Beast of Burden Tots, a Rolling Stones reference. These tots are topped with ground beef, banana peppers, onions, provolone cheese, green onions and sauce. A variety of popcorn flavors displayed from Jackson Popcorn Depot at the Jackson County Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 9. Freeze dried candies are also available for purchase, Jackson Popcorn Depot Jackson Popcorn Depot is offering a teaser of what they usually sell inside of the Jackson Crossing, 1218 Jackson Crossing. A vendor space has been set up underneath the Grandstand Stage. They are offering a range of items for people to stop by and grab sweet or savory snacks. Popcorn flavors including cotton candy, Chicago style and strawberry lemonade. Freeze dried candies also are available for purchase, including gummy sharks and peach rings. Dirt Road Donuts at the Jackson County Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 9. The Concord-based eatery makes up sour cream doughnuts, which people can choose how they customize. Dirt Road Donuts Find something sweet at this doughnut food truck at the Jackson County Fair. The Concord-based eatery makes up sour cream doughnuts, which people can choose how they customize. Located near the 4-H Agriculture Area, people can choose a range of doughnut hole sizes, including three pieces to a dozen. Doughnuts can be topped with cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar or served plain. Chocolate, maple caramel or a raspberry drizzle flavors also are available, while sprinkles and bacon can also be added. Other items such as apple cider slushies, edible cookie dough and occasionally coffee are also offered. Owners Caiden Bauer and Anna Gautz posed with an elephant ear inside of Marys Gourmet Elephant Ears at the Jackson County Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 9. This stand has its roots in Jackson, Hillsdale and Lenawee counties. Marys Gourmet Elephant Ears This elephant ear stand is a tradition at the Jackson County Fair. Started by Mary Stalhood, this stand has been attending the fair for over 30 years, grandson Caiden Bauer and fiancee Anna Gautz said. The stand has its roots in Jackson, Hillsdale and Lenawee counties. Still made from the same recipe, people can get a plain elephant ear or one with toppings. Some of these toppings include cherry, apple, Snickers, peanut butter, Bavarian cream and chocolate, apple and caramel and nuts. The stand is located near the American 1 Credit Union Event Center, along with many other food vendors . The exterior of Randy's BBQ at the Jackson County Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 9. This Irish Hill-based eatery is offering barbecue items such as pulled pork, chicken and brisket sandwiches. Randys BBQ Randys BBQ is a food truck based deep in the Irish Hills-area. This food trailer is offering some barbecue flair for Jackson County Fair attendees. People can find pulled pork, chicken and brisket sandwiches. Burnt ends, sausage bites and macaroni and cheese are sold at the establishment. People can find this trailer amongst others right by the American 1 Credit Union Event Center. Want more Jackson-area news? Bookmark the local Jackson news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Jackson daily. More from the Jackson Citizen Patriot: $6.2M renovations underway at historic Michigan Theatre of Jackson Michigan NASCAR race boasts best attendance since 2015 Sweet corn season is at its peak. Heres where to get yours in Jackson County Mahoney, Wilson move ahead in Jackson mayoral race 5 great places to watch live music around Jackson After nine more arraignments Thursday morning, all 16 pro-Donald Trump electors have pleaded not guilty to the eight felony charges Attorney General Dana Nessels office has leveled against them. There were a slew of arrangements in Lansings 54-A district court Thursday morning before Magistrate Judge Laura Millmore. The final nine arraigned Thursday were released without having to post bail. Kurt Krause, the attorney for one of them, John Haggard of Charlevoix, was openly skeptical of the charges in court. The probability of conviction is low given the dubiousness of the factual basis asserted by the government, Krause said. The would-be electors were part of a scheme to replace Michigans electoral college representatives with a slate of pro-Trump Republicans after the 2020 presidential election. Multiple accounts have recalled how the would-be electors met in December 2020 in the then-Michigan Republican Party headquarters just as legitimate electors met in the state Capitol. They then walked to the Capitol and attempted to enter but were turned away. Nessels office contends that by signing documents claiming to be the duly and qualified electors and saying they convened in Michigans Capitol to cast votes as required by Congress neither of which were true they committed a slew of crimes related to forgery. All face the same eight felony charges. These false documents were then transmitted to the United States Senate and National Archives in a coordinated effort to award the states electoral votes to the candidate of their choosing, in place of the candidates actually elected by the people of Michigan, Nessels office said in a release announcing the charges. Then-candidate Joe Biden won Michigan by a margin of 154,000 votes, a victory confirmed by numerous audits and Michigans board of state canvassers. Related: An uphill battle: how a Hawaii election could complicate Michigans pro-Trump electors case Some of the false electors are prominent Republicans, including former Michigan Republican Party co-chair Meshawn Maddock; Kathy Berden, one of three Republican National Committee representatives for Michigan; Kent Vanderwood, the mayor of Wyoming; Stan Grot, Shelby Townships clerk and Marian Sheridan, the partys current grassroots vice-chair. Maddock and Mari-Ann Henry of Brighton previously pleaded not guilty. Their next court dates have been pushed to October. The Trump electors arraigned today are scheduled to next appear in court later this month. Vanderwood has faced calls to resign as mayor but has refused, and Grot has been blocked from administering elections in Sterling Heights while he faces charges that include election law forgery. WIlliam Choate of Cement City, one of the electors, didnt appear at a probable cause conference after the arraignments. His attorney David Kallman, said he was confused about the appearance and had thought Choate didnt need to be there. The attorneys for Berden disclosed during the arraignment she had recently moved to Tennessee for medical reasons. The individuals charged are: Kathy Berden, 70, of Snover William Choate, 72, of Cement City Amy Facchinello, 55, of Grand Blanc Clifford Frost, 75, of Warren Stanley Grot, 71, of Shelby Township John Haggard, 82, of Charlevoix Mary-Ann Henry, 65, of Brighton Timothy King, 56, of Ypsilanti Michele Lundgren, 73, of Detroit Meshawn Maddock, 55, of Milford James Renner, 76, of Lansing Mayra Rodriguez, 64, of Grosse Pointe Farms Rose Rook, 81, of Paw Paw Marian Sheridan, 69, of West Bloomfield Ken Thompson, 68, of Orleans Kent Vanderwood, 69, of Wyoming Read more on MLive: Democrats historic majority threatened by two mayoral races this fall HIGH ISLAND, MI A small, sandy gray and white shorebird ran toward two familiar wildlife biologists, stopping short of where they stood on the shoreline of a rocky spit on the northeast corner of High Island. That individual Great Lakes piping plover is somewhat of an ambassador for the endangered species on the uninhabited island in northern Lake Michigan west of Beaver Island. Scientists with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa have, for 20 years, been traveling to the remote island to monitor the plovers as they nest and fledge their chicks. And this bird became a bit of favorite in recent years. Hes named Biimaajii, which means he stirs about because he kind of runs around like he owns the place, said Bill Parsons, a scientist in the tribes natural resources department. Its been a record year for Great Lakes piping plovers, a species first federally listed as endangered in 1985. This year scientists counted 80 unique breeding pairs across all five Great Lakes and monitored 85 nests. Thats eight more pairs than last year and the most since the species was first added to the federal Endangered Species List. The final count on plover chicks successfully fledged across the Great Lakes is expected yet this month. The plovers are an endangered shorebird that the numbers were critically low in the 80s. And theyve slowly, the population has slowly rebuilt to the point now where theres nesting plovers on all five Great Lakes. For the past few years, theres been 75, 76 nesting pairs. And weve had our best year as far as chick productivity here on High Island this year, Parsons said. On July 19, 2023, he and fellow wildlife biologist Derek Hartline took one of their weekly trips to the far-flung island in the Beaver Island archipelago to check up on the plovers. This time they intended to count how many of this seasons hatched chicks were fledged and which remained fuzzy, little puffballs still unable to fly and fend for themselves. They quickly found Biimaajii (pronounced beh-meh-JEE in the Indigenous Anishinaabemowin language) as he ran circles around a bunch of plover chicks with their full feathers, brooding them as they built up strength for their coming first flight to the Atlantic or Gulf coasts. Hartline peered through a spotting scope and called out directions to Parsons, who had a long-lens camera. Both honed in on the group with their gear. I think all seven are right there, Bill. Yeah one, two, three, four, five, six, seven and Biimaajii is right there walking toward them, Hartline said while Parsons rapid-fired his cameras shutter. The beloved adult bird is easily differentiated from other plovers by his ankle tags in the colors of the tribal medicine wheel, yellow, red, and black, with an orange flag and a silver federal band. He seemed to be helping another male adult plover presumably his own offspring with what would in human terms be called his grandchildren. Next the scientists spotted two chicks that werent yet fledged, little living cotton balls with toothpick legs that pitter-pattered along the beach. Their male parent named BRR repeatedly flew at and chased the larger plover chicks away from his late-nest hatchlings that were only 13 days old. Quite a flock of shorebirds gathered on the High Island spit that day. Brown and white sanderlings with their black beaks and legs ran among the plovers. Various seagulls lingered about. The scientists even spotted a male piping plover from Pennsylvania, a migrating bird making a pit stop on its way south. The female piping plovers were already gone on their journey south. They always leave behind the male plovers to raise the chicks. Related: Beaver Island is a pristine environmental haven. Will it last? Parsons said 2023 is the best season for the number of piping plovers observed on High Island. But there were heartbreaks, too. We have had some issues with depredation or predation of the adults. Weve had a merlin, which is a small falcon, take three of our nesting adults. And then we also had a Caspian tern kill one of our females just recently. So that was on our nest No. 7. And unfortunately, that nest failed, he said. Not all the hatched chicks survived either. Parsons and Hartline were even there one day when a merlin snatched up a chick and flew away with it still cheeping. That was terrible, Hartline said, shaking his head. The raptor seemed to home in on the protective enclosures installed around the first three nests, somehow crashing through the netting and killing plovers as they incubated eggs. The tribal scientists worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and collectively decided not to use the barriers around the next four nests found on High Island. While there were no more confirmed losses to merlin after that, the Caspian tern attack did happen and resulted in the death of Biimaajiis on-and-off nesting partner named Miigaaza. First time that weve ever documented that, Parsons said. Related: Beaver Island is a paradise for birdwatching The scientists also reported that when they returned to High Island on Aug. 1, they found only one of the two youngest plover chicks that were still fuzzy back during that mid-July visit with MLive journalists. It looks like one of the two made it. We saw them both a week ago but also observed a merlin that day, too, Parsons said via email. A bright side for the High Island plovers this year is that the scientists collected 12 eggs from the three nests attacked by merlin. Ten of those eggs hatched in captivity at the University of Michigan Biological Station in Pellston and those chicks will be released into the wild. Parsons said that even with the losses, the record success of plovers on High Island this year is worth celebrating 18 fledged piping plover chicks between those hatched on the island and in captivity. This is the best year that weve had for monitoring as far as the total number of adults observed and the number of nests and chicks produced. Weve definitely, over that 20 years, seen that the population is slowly, incrementally successful, but were nowhere near the target for rehabilitation of the population, he said. A critical part of the tribes goal with its plover monitoring program is to protect the habitat on the remote island so the species can continue to flourish. The depredation losses in such a remote location only underscores the importance of continued protections for the endangered plovers across the Great Lakes, the scientists agreed. Were out in the middle of Lake Michigan, so theres not the normal ground nesting predators that you would see on the mainland. So, we dont have skunks, possums, raccoons, and other ground predators here on this island. Theres not a lot of people that come here. And fortunately, most of the folks that do make it here are environmentally conscious and are aware of the piping plover, Parsons said. Being an endangered species, one of the things that we strive to manage for in the tribal culture and philosophy is to manage for seven generations. So, were trying to protect this spot for future generations so that we continue to have this endangered species here in the future. Read more of our Beaver Island coverage here. Sign up to receive MLive's free new environment and climate newsletter, "Lake Effect." Enter your email here: Related articles: The rarest wildflower in Michigan thrives on Beaver Island Mercenary wasps may be key to saving ash forests on Beaver Island Dark sky island: Beaver Islanders embrace Michigans darkest nights Private submersibles join Lake Michigan research on Beaver Island Yes, there are beavers on Beaver Island LANSING, MI Michigan state officials will take over control of 21 old oil wells in Ottawa and Ingham counties in a settlement with an oil and gas company. Attorney General Dana Nessel said the state will also receive more than $2.85 million in civil fines and expected costs to plug the wells and clean up the sites. The state sued Fisher McCall Oil & Gas last year for failing to do so themselves. Two of the old wells leaked oil, including one that spilled into a lake at Ottawa Countys Bend Park in April this year. Crews work to remediate areas of Bend Area park, located at 9500 12th Ave. in Jenison, where several large puddles of suspected crude oil have been found. (Photo provided by the Ottawa County Parks and Recreation Department) This settlement takes these oil wells under state control for proper and responsible remediation and protects the health and safety of Michigans residents and natural resources, Nessel said in a statement. She said the financial burden for the cleanup will remain on the corporation that failed to maintain the wells, rather than falling to the taxpayers. Details of the settlement include $2.1 million to plug the 21 wells; $400,000 to remediate the wells and related facilities; $102,095 to reimburse the state for the costs of responding to past oil leaks; $250,000 in civil fines; and, $51,627 in a forfeited bond with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. According to the consent judgment, Fisher McCall disavows any interest and ownership in the wells and associated equipment left on the sites. Twenty of the well sites are in Ottawa Countys Georgetown and Tallmadge townships, with one in Ingham Countys White Oak Township. Related: Michigan gets $32 million in federal cash to plug abandoned oil wells Phil Roos, EGLE director, said those who profit from Michigans natural resources have a legal obligation to leave no long-term hazards and, in this case, those obligations were not fulfilled. This settlement sends a message that Michigan will aggressively pursue irresponsible parties when they fall short of their responsibility to protect Michiganders natural assets, Roos said. Improperly sealed well sites can leak contaminants into surface and groundwater, and methane and other greenhouse gases can also escape and contribute to climate change. Sign up to receive MLive's free new environment and climate newsletter, "Lake Effect." Enter your email here: Related articles: Consumers Energy explores sale of 13 hydroelectric dams Lake Michigan diesel spill travels north but remains offshore Michigan township says Wolverine Worldwide still owes $19M in PFAS settlement Ghanaian Rapper Guru has announced he terminated his six-years record deal with Australian record label, Indi Royal Group of Companies because the company was not reciprocating his energy. The deal was signed in February but it came to an abrupt end after Guru said he wanted out. Like I said, you give me the light and I see the future. [If] my instincts tell me to carry on, I shall, but if my instincts tell me where we're going will not be productive so I should stop, I stop, and that's how it is, he said in an interview on Accra Fm on Tuesday. Early stage, we had a Sony deal coming through, he said revealing that accepting that deal would have made him a slave. That would have made me look like a slave and I don't like thatI don't want a situation where you cheat me. I prefer that we both loot and share that's my philosophy. According to him, he does not like to cheat anyone in business with him, the same way he doesn't expect to be cheated. Don't cheat me. Let's loot and share. If you don't like that, you're a witch. It's simple, he stressed. About his deal with Indi Royal Group of Companies, he said the energy he invested into the deal was not reciprocated, so he lost interest. I am no longer interested. That's it, he told host Nana Romeo. Ghanaian actress Kafui Danku took to social media to express frustration over what she deemed an "exorbitant" GHS1000 braiding fee charged at a salon in East Legon, Accra. In a post on Thursday, the filmmaker recounted her experience at the braid lounge, describing the stylist as "rude" and providing "the worst service" she had ever encountered. According to her, the stylist took issue with the fact that her guest did not greet her upon entering. Despite being willing to pay the GHS1000 fee, the renowned actress was outraged by the experience. "Who even charges 1000 ghs for common braids! For such charges, service should be top notch," she wrote. Kafui Danku placed blame for the high prices on the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) government led by President Nana Akufo-Addo, noting, "I blame the NPP government for all this," she stated. I. BRETHREN IN JESUS CHRIST, fear thou not; for I am with thee. God is reassuring you that, irrespective of what you see or hear, JEHOVAH is still with you. Fear not, my dear sister, for God has not forsaken you. Be not dismayed, do not be intimidated, and dont let the temporal setback discourage you, for God is with you. I am thy God; you are not alone, therefore, do not be afraid of physical loneliness. I am with you, so do not believe any other report. This is God's assurance unto you: I WILL STRENGTHEN THEE. YEA, I WILL HELP THEE. YEA, I WILL UPHOLD THEE WITH THE RIGHT HAND OF MY RIGHTEOUSNESS. II. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, this eighth month I charge thee to be steadfast, unmovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not going to be in vain. You need to stand firm and let nothing move you. The eighth month sometimes brings frustration as the ambition set at the beginning of the year seems to be fading away. It is also associated with stocktaking and mapping up strategies to recover lost ground and set the stage to complete the year on a good note. Thats why you need to be strong and immovable, firmly rooted, and move on for the change you have been praying for. Dont whether in faith, but march on, Christian soldier, to victory. III. Daughter of Zion, this eighth month, let no one deceive you in any way to bow down to Baal, any spirit, or the gods for a token of bread and a cup of tea. The Lord, who made the way for you to enter into that marriage, will provide to sustain you. The Lord, who took you out of the slave market and planted your feet on the rock that cannot be moved, will establish you. Beloved, God will order your steps to meet that life partner in due season. And God, who opened the door for you to be employed, will definitely promote you. The promotion comes not from the north or the south but from above only. God will sanction. IV. BELOVED SON OF MAN, reaffirm and proclaim the Word of God. Dont worry, for it will be well with you. Any productive venture you set your heart to undertake, God says it shall be well. Yes! It shall be well with you throughout that journey; you will not encounter any accident or incident, for God is in control. If God says it will be well with you, no one can change it. It will be well with your family. Yes, it will be well with your marriage and your business. Yes! You shall enter into a fruitful relationship, and it shall be well with you. IT IS ESTABLISHED BOTH IN THE SPIRITUAL AND PHYSICAL REALM THAT IT SHALL BE WELL WITH YOU. This is DIVINE FOOD FOR THE SOUL sent forth through the Authority and Power of Christ Jesus and served to the brethren through God's Vessel Francis Ameyibor, Yes! God is my greatest source of strength. He is my defender, my salvation, and is good and faithful in every way. V. 2023 MY DIVINE YEAR TO PURSUE, CAPTURE, AND TAKE POSSESSION Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. PRAYER: I believe that God does not make any mistakes; if He says all things shall work together for my good, so shall it be this year and beyond. Lord, establish your word in my life through Christ Jesus name. I pray, Amen. REF: I Corinthian 15:58 I Thessalonians 2:2 Isaiah 3:10 Isaiah 41:10 Exodus 15:2 WHATSAPP CONTACT: +233277438688 GOD'S VESSEL GLOBAL FOUNDATION Recently, renowned award-winning makeup artist and beauty expert, Sandra Don Arthur also known as Alexandrina Makeup launched her masterclass Beyond the Brushes with Alexandrina to empower Ghanaian makeup artists with the expertise for industry success. The masterclass held at The Fitzgerald in East Cantonments, Accra and produced by Debonair Afrik Studios was a massive success and attended by over 100 makeup artists and enthusiasts. Some notable guests that attended include Sacha Okoh, founder and creative director at SO Aesthetics, Gilbert Asante, award-winning editorial photographer, Akai Kotei, fashion and beauty content creator, and Cynthia Ama Gadzanku, a certified makeup artist and skincare formulator. The masterclass began with the conversation Navigating the Beauty Industry with Ghanaian beauty industry players including Sacha Okoh, Akai Kotei, Cynthia Ama Gadzanku and Gilbert Asante. Speakers shared insights on how makeup artists and beauty professionals could continue to stay relevant in its fast-evolving trends, work with beauty brands globally and achieve success. Following this, Alexandrina taught attendees invaluable makeup techniques that she had perfected throughout her journey through two major demonstrations. The Traditional Bridal Demo: Alexandrina showed how she created long-lasting bridal glam looks for clients while teaching the class techniques to cater to all their clients needs and expectations. Alexandrina showed how she created long-lasting bridal glam looks for clients while teaching the class techniques to cater to all their clients needs and expectations. The Creative Editorial Demo: Alexandrina led attendees through the process of creating a unique editorial look and tips that help to save time and earn more money This year marks my 12th anniversary in the beauty industry and my journey has been a rewarding yet complex one. Some of the lessons that I have shared, I wish I was taught 12 years ago to make things smooth. My masterclass is a way to give back to my community, empower them and also share my knowledge with makeup artists globally shared Sandra Don Arthur. The class climaxed with exciting giveaways for attendees courtesy of beauty brands such as SO Aesthetics, Hair Senta, Rozay, Colorbox Cosmetics, and Shaded Beauty, More than just a masterclass, this was also an empowerment session for makeup artists. We know the pains that come with building a makeup kit so I partnered with top Ghanaian brands to help makeup artists. We have gifted attendees makeup items worth thousands of cedis to start them on this journey. I am very grateful for my partners added Sandra. In 2018, Sandra Don Arthur became the first Ghanaian makeup artist at the New York Fashion Week. She is also a two-time award-winning makeup artist at the Ghana Makeup Awards for Best Editorial and Best Makeup Artist. Follow her @alexandrinamakeup to stay updated on all her work, 09.08.2023 LISTEN MTN Ghana has assured of satisfactory customer service in consolidating its gains over the years. Addressing some stakeholders at its Annual Media and Stakeholder forum in Ho, Thursday, August 3, 2023, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Ghana, Mr. Selorm Adadevoh said the company has positioned itself to always ensure its customer service is excellent. "Investment in customers is a very key and prudent investment in customers is making it possible in achieving customer satisfaction as an organization," he said. He said by 2025, MTN will inject a whopping amount of USD 1billion into expanding its networks. This, he said forms part of its ambition 2025 digital solutions for Africa/Ghana geared towards improving customer experience and satisfaction. The CEO, emphasising the importance of technology in today's digital world, said, the company is investing 25million dollars in the building of Ghana's ICT hub to empower the youth by creating an enabling environment and employment opportunities as technology is leading the change all over the World. He assured stakeholders of MTN's resolve in protecting customer data and necessary information in accordance with the Data Protection Act. Senior Manager of Corporate Communications, MTN Ghana, Mrs Georgina Asare Fiagbenu said the Forum over the years has been a very fruitful and important engagement for the company to take feedback on its operations. The forum on the theme: "Leveraging Technology to Serve Customers with Excellence, "was attended by the media, academia, industry players, government officials among other stakeholders. In a new development, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the Minority Leader, has withdrawn his application for the recusal of the presiding judge, Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe, in the ongoing case where he is accused of causing financial loss to the State. The withdrawal was made by his legal team during the scheduled motion to request the recusal. The former Deputy Finance Minister is facing allegations of causing financial loss to the state. He filed the application for recusal following the court's approval of a witness summons he had requested. The summons were intended for several witnesses, including former Health Minister Alex Segbefia. Despite filing witness statements, Dr. Ato Forson's legal team faced difficulties in ensuring the appearance of these witnesses in court. Justice Afia Serwah Asare-Botwe questioned the decision to issue a motion for witness summons, emphasizing the potential consequences of issuing arrest warrants if the witnesses failed to appear. Dr. Ato Forson's legal team, led by Dr. Bassit Bamba, argued that due to the challenges in securing witnesses' presence, seeking a motion was the most viable course of action. However, after several weeks, Dr. Ato Forson's lawyers returned to the court to withdraw the application for the judge's recusal. Godwin Edudzi Tameklo, representing Dr. Bamba, formally withdrew the recusal application, which was subsequently struck out by the trial judge. Dr. Ato Forson, along with Sylvester Anemana, a former Chief Director at the Ministry of Health, and businessman Richard Jakpa, is facing charges related to the alleged willful financial loss of 2.37 million to the state. The charges stem from a contract to purchase 200 ambulances for the Ministry of Health. The prosecution, led by the Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Yvonne Atakora-Obuobisa, presented five witnesses and concluded their case on February 14, 2023. Notable witnesses included the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu. The prosecution aims to establish whether the purchase of defective vehicles adhered to the approved parliamentary purchase agreement. Additionally, they seek to determine if Dr. Forson had the proper authorization from the Finance Minister or a superior officer to instruct the establishment of irrevocable Letters of Credit (LCs) that led to the payments. The case has been adjourned to October 2, 2023, in the upcoming legal year. Source: Classfmonline.com Niger's new military rulers on Wednesday accused France, the country's traditional ally, of having released captured jihadists and breaching a ban on air space on the eve of a key summit on the Sahel's latest crisis. Leaders of the West African bloc ECOWAS are to meet in the Nigerian capital Abuja to mull their options, with diplomacy apparently edging out military intervention at present after a showdown last weekend. Two weeks after a coup that toppled Niger's elected president, the regime accused France of having "unilaterally freed captured terrorists" -- a term for jihadists conducting a bloody eight-year-old insurgency. The jihadists then gathered to plan an attack on "military positions in the tri-border area," a hotspot region where the frontiers of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali converge, according to the statement issued by the coup leaders, called the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP). "Events of an extreme gravity are unfolding in Niger as a result of the behaviour of the French forces and their accomplices," it declared. It urged the security forces to "raise their alert level across the country" and on the public "to remain mobilised and vigilant." The regime also accused France of having flown a "military plane" from neighbouring Chad into Niger air space, defying a ban imposed on Sunday. The two allegations were rejected by a French government official. Key summit Thursday's summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) takes place under the chairmanship of Nigeria, the regional superpower and advocate of a hard line against the coup. Struggling to stem a cascade of putsches among its members, the bloc gave Niger's military rulers until last Sunday to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum or face potential use of force. But the coup leaders remained defiant, and the ultimatum passed without action. On Tuesday, a bid to send a joint team of ECOWAS, UN and African Union (AU) representatives to the capital Niamey ran into the ground. The coup leaders said they could not guarantee the mission's "safety" in the light of what they said was public anger to sanctions imposed by ECOWAS. ECOWAS' current chairman is Nigeria's recently-elected president, Bola Tinubu. He has advocated a hard line in the crisis. By Kola SULAIMON (AFP) Despite the failure, ECOWAS and Nigeria said they would pursue all options to resolve the crisis, and the United States emphasised a "peaceful" outcome even though it too had been rebuffed. ECOWAS said it would "continue to deploy all measures in order to restore constitutional order" in Niger. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said through his spokesman that "no options have been taken off of the table" but diplomacy was the "best way forward." 'Peaceful resolution' The United States sent veteran envoy Victoria Nuland to Niamey on Monday, but she came away empty-handed, being unable to meet Bazoum or even the new strongman, General Abdourahamane Tiani. Despite this, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday he had spoken to Bazoum "to express our continued efforts to find a peaceful resolution" to the "current constitutional crisis". France, which had adopted a combative tone as the ECOWAS ultimatum loomed, also signalled a softer line. A French diplomat said it was "up to ECOWAS to take a decision, of whatever kind, on restoring constitutional order in Niger." Bazoum, 63, was detained on July 26 by members of his presidential guard. Members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), including those suspended or sanctioned following a coup. By Nalini LEPETIT-CHELLA (AFP) It is the fifth coup in Niger's history since independence from France in 1960 -- and the fourth in the ranks of the 15-nation ECOWAS since 2020. Bazoum's election in 2021 had helped Niger to cement close ties with France and the United States, which have major bases and troop deployments in the country. Sahel crisis Countries in the fragile Sahel are battling with a jihadist insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012, spread to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015 and now is causing jitters in states on the Gulf of Guinea. The bloody campaign has been devastating for those three countries, which have a long history of turbulence and are among the poorest nations in the world. French President Emmanuel Macron, right, and Niger President Mohamed Bazoum at the Elysee Palace on July 23. Little more than a month later, Bazoum was overthrown. By Ludovic MARIN (AFP) Since their coups, Mali and Burkina Faso have fallen out with France, the region's former colonial power and its traditional ally. France last year withdrew its forces from those countries and refocussed its anti-jihadist strategy on Niger. Mali and Burkina Faso have voiced solidarity with their counterparts in Niger, saying that any ECOWAS military intervention would be considered a "declaration of war" against them. Sam George, a Member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram has accused the New Patriotic Party's economic management team of causing huge financial loss to the state. According to him, Dr. Ernest Addison, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Ken Ofori Atta were responsible for the Bank of Ghana's (BoG) gargantuan GHC60.8 billion loss. In an interview on Metro TV, he said the economy was bound to fail. The Bank of Ghana in 2022 alone posted a loss of GHC60.8 billion. You know how many Agenda 111 hospitals and there is one coming up in Ningo-Prampram. I am worried because that project has stalled for almost six months. That 60.8 billion could have built 3074 Agenda 111 hospitals. That is the gravity and enormity of the mismanagement of Ernest the printer, Ken the saint and Bawumia the liar, Sam George stated. The recent annual report of BoG revealed that GH131.586 million was spent on motor vehicle maintenance and running as of December 2022, a significant increase from the GH61.510 million spent during the same period in 2021. Additionally, personnel costs rose to GH1.620 billion up from GH1.260 billion in 2021, while foreign and domestic travel expenses surged to GH97.437 million, marking a staggering over 300% increase from the GH28.176 million recorded in 2021. 09.08.2023 LISTEN Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has warned that it will punish any lottery company or betting company that refuses to deduct a 10% withholding tax on winnings. The GRA will begin implementing the withholding tax on August 15, 2023. The tax will be charged on profits accrued after each win. The GRA says the new policy is in line with an amendment to the Income Tax Act 2023 (No.2), Act 1094. Speaking to journalists in Accra, Commissioner of Domestic Tax Edward Appenteng Gyamerah said that lottery companies and betting companies must comply with the law. The obligation is on you to withhold and if you fail to do that, you can be assured that your licenses will be withdrawn. We are expecting GH1.2 billion, which is the expected revenue. This is the initial stage of this policy and going forward the expected revenue is very high. Im sure after the first year, we will see the full potential, which is in the range of GH3 billion, the Commissioner for the Domestic Tax Revenue Division at GRA, cautioned. The new withholding tax on gaming winnings and excise duties on beverages are part of the GRA's efforts to improve revenue mobilization in Ghana. The Bank of Ghana (BOG) has issued a statement to provide more details on the 2022 audited financial statements that were published on July 28, 2023. According to BOG, a wide range of factors contributed to the overall loss of GHS60 billion which it noted has become a matter of unfortunate politicization. In the statement, it said the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), where the stock of Government of Ghana's debt had to be cut in half, was a key prerequisite for an International Monetary Fund bailout. A major plank of the corrective action required for the IMF program was the Domestic Debt Exchange, where the stock of Government of Ghana debt was to be halved from 105% of GDP to 55% of GDP by 2028. The holders of Government debt had their debt instruments exchanged for new ones with lower interest payments and longer terms. Despite the losses inflicted on households and banks, the threshold of 55% of GDP was not met. The statement continued by asserting that government had to absorb haircut on its non-marketable holdings of government debt instruments. The Bank of Ghana was used to close the gap to enable Ghana meet the debt threshold that qualified Ghana for the IMF program (Bank of Ghana, therefore, acted as a loss absorber). This means the Bank of Ghana had to absorb a 50% haircut on its non-marketable holdings of Government debt instruments. This singular act led to significant impairment losses of GHS 32.3 billion to the Banks accounts. Impairments of marketable instruments also accounted for another GHS16.1 billion, bringing the total impairments of Government holdings to GHS48.4 billion. Below is the full statement by the Bank of Ghana Bank of Ghana released its full-year 2022 audited financial statements on 28th July 2023. The financial statements reported a total loss of GHS60 billion, which has since become a matter of unfortunate politicization. It is noteworthy that GHS53.1 billion of those losses were a direct result of the Governments domestic debt restructuring exercise (phase 1 and II). It is important to put the Bank of Ghanas 2022 financial results in proper context with a clear statement of the problem that Ghana faced and the chronology of events in Ghana since 2019. There was a clear mismatch between revenue inflows and expenditure financed in 2020 by exceptional support from the IMF and World Bank resources, and in addition to financing from the Bank of Ghana through the issuance of the GHS10 billion Covid-19 bond. As a result, sovereign spreads on Ghana bonds widened, signalling investor dissatisfaction with the stance of fiscal policy. The Budget for 2022, which was read in 2021, failed to address fiscal concerns as the Budget was even more expansionary by about 23% with a raft of revenue measures to raise financing. As a result, the Credit Rating Agencies further downgraded Ghanas sovereign debt rating, which blocked Ghanas access to international capital market borrowing. This triggered a liquidity crisis, spilling over into a balance of payments crisis. External and domestic payments needed to be made, the domestic auction was failing, and the Bank of Ghana had to step in to arrest a major economic and social crisis. In 2 months, the Bank of Ghana lost US$500 million in reserves and built significant overdraft with the government as a result of the auction failures. It became clear that Ghana was on a path that was unsustainable, and the Government had to approach the IMF for support in July 2022. The IMF process included putting into place a credible programme of reform, which included restructuring of the total government debt to sustainable levels. Until Staff Level Agreement with the IMF was reached in December2022, the Bank of Ghana had to continue to provide the necessary support to keep the economy running. In line with the provisions of the Bank of Ghana Act, (Act 612), as amended, the Bank informed the Minister of the developments in its finances. The Minister reported this to Parliament as part of his briefing to Parliament on the IMF programme and the Domestic Debt Exchange. A major plank of the corrective action required for the IMF programme was the Domestic Debt Exchange, where the stock of Government of Ghana debt was to be halved from 105% of GDP to 55% of GDP by 2028. The holders of Government debt had their debt instruments exchanged for new ones with lower interest payments and longer terms. Despite the losses inflicted on households and banks, the threshold of 55% of GDP was not met. The Bank of Ghana was used to close the gap to enable Ghana meet the debt threshold that qualified Ghana for the IMF programme(Bank of Ghana therefore, acted as a loss absorber). This means the Bank of Ghana had to absorb a 50% haircut on its non- marketable holdings of Government debt instruments. This singular act led to significant impairment losses of GHS 32.3 billion to the Banks accounts. Impairments of marketable instruments also accounted for another GHS16.1 billion, bringing the total impairments of Government holdings to GHS48.4 billion. As experienced by central banks globally, price and exchange rate movements led to a loss of GHS5.2 billion whiles impairments of Cocobod loans amounted to GHS4.7 billion. This is the reason the Bank of Ghana reported a loss of GHS60 billion in 2022. Central banks are not commercial banks. This financial outcome has very little implication for the operations of the Bank of Ghana as supported by evidence from other central banks. Technically, Central Banks cannot be insolvent or bankrupt. Bank of Ghana assures key stakeholders and the general public that we are committed to the highest standards of prudent management, governance, and transparent accounting and audit practices. END 9TH AUGUST 2023 The United States on Wednesday accused Sudan of having threatened to expel the United Nations mission from the war-torn country if the UN envoy, already in Khartoum's crosshairs, speaks before the Security Council on the atrocities of the conflict. During a session devoted to Sudan and South Sudan, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, whose country is chairing the Council in August, slammed the absence of Volker Perthes, the special representative of the secretary-general in Sudan and head of the UN mission there, known as UNITAMS. "We had expected SRSG Perthes to brief the Council. We now understand that the Sudanese government warned it would end the UN mission in Sudan if the SRSG participated in this briefing. And that is unacceptable," the US ambassador said in front of her Sudanese counterpart, Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed. The Sudanese ambassador denied the charge. "The mission of Sudan has not sent a letter or a correspondence saying that we are threatening to boycott the session," he said. But Thomas-Greenfield repeated the charge in front of assembled media after the session. "We were told yesterday that Volker would be briefing the Council. And this morning his name was pulled. And we understand that that happened because the Sudanese government threatened to pull UNITAMS out of Sudan if he briefed the Council," she said. "We were appalled by it, it was outrageous, it was unacceptable," she added. The Sudan briefing was delivered by the Assistant Secretary General for Africa, Martha Ama Pobee, who said the conflict "continues to have immense repercussions on the country and its people who continue to face unimaginable suffering." She noted that "sexual violence continues to be perpetrated on a large scale, while children continue to be killed or victimized or are at risk of being recruited to fight." The war in Sudan, pitting the nation's army under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (FSR) of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagl, began on April 15 and has claimed around 4,000 lives according to the NGO Acled, and has left nearly four million internally displaced persons and refugees. In June, Perthes denounced possible "crimes against humanity" in Darfur, after which Khartoum declared him persona non grata, accusing him of being biased. Farhan Haq, a spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres said Perthes "continues to be the Special Representative of the Secretary-General dealing with Sudan," without however confirming the accusations of the US ambassador. The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has stressed that putting up a new head office is a priority now more than ever. The Central Bank was bashed by the Minority in Parliament on Tuesday when the leader of the group, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson addressed a press conference. According to the Minority, it is shocking that the Bank of Ghana is going ahead to build a new head office at North Ridge worth $250 million after incurring GHS60 billion losses in 2022. In a press release to reply to the Minority, BoG has indicated that building a new head office is crucial at this point in time since the old head office built by the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is no longer fit for purpose and will not stand any major earth tremors. A structural integrity assessment conducted by the BoG revealed that the current BoG Head Office building, built by the Nkrumah Government in the early 1960s, is no longer fit for purpose and could not stand any major earth tremors. The outcome of the structural integrity work was that the main building does not satisfy the full complement of excess strength required for a building to be considered safe for usage. This means that in the case of a worst-case gravity and wind loading scenario, for example, unusually strong wind, the building may be significantly affected. The building also does not have the required strength to withstand the expected imposed significant earthquake loads that would be expected to occur in the Accra area, parts of the release from the Bank of Ghana explained. The release further noted that based on the above and looking at the strategic objective of positioning Ghana as the financial hub of the sub-region with prospects of a potential Headquarters for a future regional Central Bank, it believes a new Head Office building is very important. Management of the Central Bank believes that with a new office building, the operational efficiency of the Bank will also be boosted. The Board and Management of the Bank considered a new Head Office building as the most important priority project to support the operational efficiency of the Bank, and also position the Bank of Ghana in a very good position to be the host of the regional Central Bank as we currently host the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI) of the Sub-region, the BoG release added. The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has described as unfortunate what it terms the politicisation of the content of its 2022 Annual Report and Financial Statement. The Central Bank in July released its full-year 2022 audited financial statements. In the statement, BoG reported that it incurred a loss of GHS60 billion in the year under review. It is based on this loss that the Minority in Parliament has given BoG Governor Dr. Ernest Addison a 21-day ultimatum to resign from his position. In the midst of the backlash being directed at BoG, it has issued a press release to explain the GHS60 billion losses in its report. The Central Bank in its release explains that GHS53.1 billion of the total losses recorded were directly a result of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme run by government. Bank of Ghana released its full-year 2022 audited financial statements on 28th July 2023. The financial statements reported a total loss of GHS60 billion, which has since become a matter of unfortunate politicisation. It is noteworthy that GHS53.1 billion of those losses were a direct result of the Governments domestic debt restructuring exercise. As experienced by central banks globally, price and exchange rate movements led to a loss of GHS5.2 billion whiles impairments of Cocobod loans amounted to GHS4.7 billion. This is the reason the Bank of Ghana reported a loss of GHS60 billion in 2022, parts of the release from BoG said on Wednesday, August 9. The Central Bank further reminds the Minority that it is not a commercial bank and its financial outcome at the end of every year has very little implication for the operations as supported by evidence from other central banks. While insisting that it cannot technically be insolvent or bankrupt just like every other Central Bank in the world, BoG has assured the general public that it is committed to the highest standards of prudent management, governance, and transparent accounting and audit practices. Mr Prosper Kofi Patu, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary aspirant for Akatsi North, has asked delegates to endorse his candidature to pull a surprise in the 2024 general elections. As the research officer since the creation of the constituency in 2012 and having worked with its chairmen and parliamentary aspirants, he was the right person to contest for the party to end the reign of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the constituency, Mr Patu said. In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after filing his nomination, he said delegates should choose a candidate, who would wrest the parliamentary seat from the NDC. I realise that the hour has come because there have been some shortfalls and I'm here to correct those ones. I don't want to be a candidate just by name but to take the seat for the NPP, Mr Patu said. The hour has come for the NPP to take the parliamentary seat. We want to take that seat. Described by others as a workaholic, result-oriented and dedicated to the development of Akatsi North, he said because of his appealing nature the party would easily get the larger constituents to vote for him to win the seat. It has never happened in Akatsi North before since 2012 up till now. They only bring people who are not known and we have to beg people to accept them. Marketing them becomes a problem, he said. But I'm grateful to God that the hour has come for Akatsi North to have a leader who will listen to them, attend to them, pick their calls and even when they need his help, the person will be here for them. He noted that after the primaries, he would take steps to ensure unity among party members and work towards reinstating suspended constituency executives to present a united front for victory in the 2024 election, saying; There is strength in unity. So far, four persons, including the District Chief Executive, Mr Simon Peter Kofi Ofosu, Mr Paul Ayra and Mr Justice Dogbey have picked nomination forms and are expected to submit them by Thursday, August 10. Mr Alex Mensah Adenyo, Secretary, Akatsi North NPP, who recounted past struggles to get candidates to contest on the party's ticket in the NDC-dominated area, said the situation had changed and that the party had become more attractive, making more of the youth willing to work for its victory. GNA The Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) have called for the enactment of national legislation to safeguard the breastfeeding rights of working parents. The two institutions said the proposed legislation should grant full leave, flexible work arrangements, and breastfeeding leave to breastfeeding working parents. In a joint statement to mark the 2023 Breastfeeding Week, the FDA and the GHS expressed concern that despite the health benefits of breastfeeding to newborns, many working parents still faced difficulties in keeping up with exclusive breastfeeding for the recommended six months. It said many working parents continued to give breast-feeding for up to two years or longer. The statement said breastfeeding was a fundamental right of every child and important to childs survival and development. It appealed to employers to encourage and establish breastfeeding-friendly workplaces with safe spaces, hygienic facilities, and storage of breast milk. Long working hours, limited maternity leave, inadequate breastfeeding leave and the stigma surrounding breastfeeding in the workplace are some of the barriers preventing parents from providing nutrition, optimal for their infants, the statement said. It called on all stakeholders, including governments, employers, civil society, and community organisations, to work together to overcome those barriers and create a favourable environment to support breastfeeding for working parents. The 2023 World Breastfeeding Week is on the theme: Enabling Breastfeeding: Making a Difference for Working Parents. The week-long awareness and sensitisation campaign emphasises the importance of creating a supportive environment that allows working parents to continue breastfeeding without affecting their work. GNA A file photo of Bank of Ghana's Head Office 10.08.2023 LISTEN The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has issued a detailed response to claims by parliament's minority group about its plans to construct a new headquarters building. In a 3-page statement released on Wednesday, August 9, the central bank explained that its assessments found the current 1960s building "is no longer fit for purpose and could not stand any major earth tremors." The central bank noted that its plan to build a new office aligns with "positioning Ghana as the financial hub of the subregion." "The Board and Management of the Bank considered a new Head Office building as the most important priority project to support the operational efficiency of the Bank, the statement said in part. According to the statement, "A structural integrity assessment conducted by the BoG revealed that the current BoG Head Office building, built by the Nkrumah Government in the early 1960s, is no longer fit for purpose and could not stand any major earth tremors." It continued, "The outcome of the structural integrity work was that the main building does not satisfy the full complement of excess strength required for a building to be considered safe for usage." This comes after the NDC Members of Parliament recently called for the Governor and his deputy's resignation over 2022 losses. They threatened to occupy the premises if the governors refuse to resign. Leaders from West African bloc ECOWAS will meet on Thursday for an emergency summit on the coup in Niger, after the country's military chiefs defied an ultimatum to restore the elected president. Two weeks after the coup that toppled Mohamed Bazoum, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says it is seeking a diplomatic solution but has not ruled out using force to resolve the crisis. Important decisions are expected from the gathering in Nigeria's capital Abuja, according to a statement from the 15-nation organisation on Tuesday. Struggling to stem a cascade of coups among its members since 2020, the bloc gave the troops who seized power on July 26 until last Sunday to reinstate Bazoum or face the potential use of force. Coup leaders remained defiant, however, and the deadline passed without action. The possibility of a military intervention in Niger, a fragile nation that ranks among the world's poorest, has sparked debate within ECOWAS and warnings from neighbouring Algeria and Russia. Economic Community of West African States. By Nalini LEPETIT-CHELLA (AFP) Niger's neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, both ruled by military governments who seized power in coups, have said an intervention would be tantamount to a declaration of war on their countries. On Tuesday, a bid to send a joint team of ECOWAS, UN and African Union representatives to the capital Niamey was rejected by the coup leaders. The nomination of a new prime minister by the coup leaders earlier this week appeared to signal the start of a transition to a new government. But in a twist on Wednesday, a former emir of the Nigerian city of Kano revealed that he had met with the coup leaders to help mediate the crisis. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi told Nigerian state television he had spoken to coup leader General Abdourahamane Tiani and would deliver a "message" to Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu, though he was not an official government emissary. Current ECOWAS chair, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, is taking a hard line against last month's coup. By SIMON MAINA (AFP) "We came hoping that our arrival will pave the way for real discussions between the leaders of Niger and those of Nigeria," said Sanusi, who is known to be a close friend of Tinubu. Current ECOWAS chair Nigeria is taking a hard line against last month's coup, the fifth in Niger since independence from France in 1960. Speaking before flying to Abuja on Wednesday, Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo said the future of ECOWAS was at stake following coups in four member states, namely Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Niger. Bazoum remained Niger's sole recognised president and coups must be ended, he added. 'Deplorable living conditions' The leader of the United Nations added to a chorus of concern about the welfare of 63-year-old Bazoum, who has been detained by members of his presidential guard since July 26. Bazoum has been detained by members of his presidential guard since July 26. By Bernd von Jutrczenka (POOL/AFP/File) Antonio Guterres denounced "the deplorable living conditions that President Bazoum and his family are reported to be living under", according to a UN statement. CNN reported Wednesday that Bazoum was being kept in isolation and forced to eat dry rice and pasta. Countries in the fragile Sahel region are battling a jihadist insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012, spread to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015, and is now causing jitters in states on the Gulf of Guinea. The bloody campaign has been devastating for those three countries, which have turbulent histories and are among the poorest nations in the world. Bazoum's election in 2021 had helped Niger cement close ties with France and the United States, which have major bases and troop deployments in the country. France last year withdrew its forces from Mali and Burkina Faso after falling out with their military leaders, refocussing its anti-jihadist strategy on Niger. Aminata Kabba says she has not seen justice in the year since learning from a social media video that armed men had shot her son dead, days after widespread riots gripped Sierra Leone. "I just thought of dying that day with my son," the 65-year-old cook from the northern city of Makeni told AFP, speaking from a friend's house where she since moved for her safety. Her son -- Hassan Dumbuya, a vocal supporter of the opposition All People's Congress (APC) party -- was killed last August several days after protests across the West African nation spiralled into riots that left dozens dead, including seven police officers. Amnesty International said it has gathered testimonies alleging excessive use of force during the riots. An investigation committee appointed by President Julius Bio called the violence "an insurrection against the central government". Residents of Makeni say dozens of people in the APC stronghold city were rounded up in the following days. They say many were arrested, some were shot, and several were killed. Police said Dumbuya, 36, who was also known as Evangelist Samson, died in crossfire during a raid on a "hideout" for "perpetrators" of the insurrection. His mother says her son, whom she called Evangelist because he had from a young age always acted like a preacher, was lured into a trap and shot in a swamp as he tried to run away. "He came from a poor family but he knew how to talk to others -- he liked to share whatever little he had with others," she said. The bodies of all 27 civilians killed in the riots and ensuing raids were kept at a morgue in the capital Freetown for two months. Several families interviewed by AFP said authorities had refused to handover the corpses for private burials, instead holding a state funeral in mid-October. Many of the victims came from the Muslim-majority north of the country and their families had wanted to bury them quickly. They believed the bodies were not properly stored and an AFP reporter present at the state funeral said the coffins emitted a strong stench. Gunshots Alie Koroma, 27, told AFP he and three other men were rounded up at dawn the day after the riots and made to walk towards a nearby field. "Suddenly, I just heard gunshots," he said. "I was shot and fell down, helpless." Koroma, who claimed he had nothing to do with the riots and had stayed home on August 10, said police shot him in the shoulder. His cousin -- Alie Daniel Tholley, 25, who relatives say had a cognitive disability -- was killed, according to half a dozen family members and neighbours interviewed by AFP. Between sobs, Tholley's mother, Jattu, said she had been hiding in a nearby house when she heard the gunshot that killed her son. Sierra Leone. By (AFP) "My son was very close to me... he always stayed near me," she said, wiping away tears even as her eyes began to well again. "He was like my handbag -- he even went along with me to the market." The government-appointed investigation committee said that "claims of extra-judicial killings" following the protests "could not be ascertained based on evidence collected". "However, public allegations of extra-judicial killings especially during curfew hours following the insurrection should be further looked into," it said in its report. The families AFP interviewed in Makeni said they had not been contacted by any investigators. Yusuf Keketoma Sandi, the deputy information minister, told AFP that in April 2023, "the Special Investigation Committee presented its report to the president which included various accounts of victims (and) relatives of victims and responses by the security forces". "Government reaffirms its commitment to the recommendations of the report," he added. AFP met five other men from the same Makeni community who said they had been arrested on August 11, beaten and brought to a Freetown prison where they were held for over a month, sometimes receiving only one meal a day. All claimed they had not participated in the riots. Kabba, Dumbuya's mother, said she was blocked by armed guards from approaching her son's casket at the funeral in October. She said the state had offered her family 20 million leones (about $1,000), which they rejected because his life was "worth more". "Give me my child," Kabba said. "Give me my child's body." On Wednesday, August 9, a symbolic parliamentary session was convened at Cape Coast University in the central region, marking a significant event in the celebration of 30 years of continuous parliamentary democracy. The occasion aimed to commemorate the uninterrupted democratic process that has been a cornerstone of the nation's governance. During this mock parliamentary session, a spirited debate took place, with participants including students from various universities. Ultimately, the team representing the University of Cape Coast emerged victorious in the debate competition, showcasing their prowess in parliamentary discourse and argumentation. The Takoradi Technical University secured the second position in the debate, while the Cape Coast Technical University secured the third spot, displaying their commendable debating skills as well. The event witnessed the attendance of esteemed dignitaries, including the Second Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Andrew Asiamah, the Central Regional Minister, Marigold Assan, and several Members of Parliament representing the central region. In addition, prominent figures such as traditional and religious leaders, officials from the Regional Coordinating Council, and heads of both governmental and non-governmental organisations graced the event with their presence. The media also covered the event, capturing the significance of this celebratory occasion. The audience was diverse, comprising students from selected secondary institutions and members of the general public who gathered to witness and participate in the event. The mock parliamentary sitting and subsequent debate not only commemorated the three decades of uninterrupted democratic practice in Ghana but also highlighted the intellectual and communicative talents of the participating students. Source: Classfmonline.com Majority Chief Whip and MP for Nsawam-Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh-Dompreh has declared that Vice President Dr Mahamaudu Bawumia will win the upcoming presidential primaries of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) with ease. He is appealing to the delegates to have faith and vote for him massively to be the next flagbearer of the party. He asserts that the Vice President is the only candidate who can even approach the NDCs fortresses and deny them the opportunity to hijack the NPPs status as the ruling party. He made the comments when the Vice President stormed Nsawam/Adoagyiri on Tuesday, as part of his campaign tour of the Region to meet NPP delegates. At Adoagyiri, St Martin Senior High School, a large crowd of NPP members including delegates besieged there to welcome the Vice President by giving him a warm reception. Addressing the party members, Annoh-Dompreh argued that the Vice President, who stands out among the other candidates, is currently the partys last chance, so it is necessary to give him the leading role over the party so that he can win the 2024 elections. Annoh-Dompreh noted that in Ghana, presidential candidates defeat their opponents with just 3% of the vote and that, in his opinion, only Dr Bawumia has the drive to give the NPP that edge. He said that the delegates in all 16 of the regions are pleading with voters to choose Bawumia as the flagbearer and end the 8-year jinx on the political sphere. The Majority Chief Whip said, he does not doubt that the next general elections will come down to a fierce contest between former President John Dramani Mahama and the current vice president. He believes that the main opposition political party is afraid of Dr Bawumia and calling for a particular candidate in the NPP. He has therefore called on all delegates who will vote in the flagbearer elections of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to vote for Dr Bawumia and stand resolute with him. DGN online Ghanaians should query Akufo Addo's government on various issues, including why so many taxes are being imposed on the people following the E-Levy, even though the current Ghanaian president promised to reduce taxation after criticizing Mahama for imposing too many taxes on the people. More significantly, why are numerous NPP leaders hoarding large sums of money? The answer is simple: they are starving Ghanaians and depriving them of a better life to buy votes in 2024. Akufo Addo has been the president for nearly seven years and has yet to complete any important projects in the country, even though the country is in massive debt with no accountability. The same government previously charged each foreign traveler $150 for a COVID test at the Kotoka International Airport, and while the World Health Organization has lifted the COVID emergency threat, Ghanaians are still paying COVID tax and various other taxes that never existed in Ghana. Meanwhile, the National Identification Authority charges foreigners $120 to produce a one-year non-citizen ID. As intelligent, concerned Ghanaians, we must ask why the government is aggressively making money, while the quack finance minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, claims that Ghana has no money and that Ghanaians, including pensioners, must go through a psychologically torturous debt restructuring program to secure an International Monetary Fund deal. Failure, lies, deception, and corruption scandals will expose this government. To be honest, Akufo Addo did not win the 2020 presidential race because Jezebel Jean Mensa, the head of the electoral commission, rigged the elections for the incompetent, lazy, and corrupt Akufo Addo and because he lacks the intelligence to rule a nation and is only good at embezzling funds, he has failed miserably as a leader, but he wants history to repeat itself by rigging the elections again. However, Ghanaians may be peaceful and coexist peacefully as Christians and Muslims, but Akufo Addo should never underestimate them or consider them as stupid. When people are pushed to their breaking point and can't take it any longer, their rage is more powerful than an entire army. The president continues to humiliate the oppressed masses because they appear to be quiet, but in 2024, the poor Ghanaians will demonstrate to the NPP government that power belongs to the people. Ghana's economy failed due to massive corruption. The influence of COVID and the Russian-Ukraine war was little; yet, the administration seeks to convince the public that the two are to blame for the government's failure. The Akufo Addo administration wants Ghanaians to understand that the country lacks funds but apart from chronic corruption, the collapse of the 8 financial institutions, the negligence at the ports, and a drop in both domestic and foreign investments affected the economy. On two separate occasions, Ghana's failed and incompetent president, Akufo Addo, despite the carnage and collapse of all the country's facilities, stated that he will do whatever it takes to gain victory for the NPP party. Following that, Bryan Acheampong, another NPP politician, made the treacherous claim that "the NPP will never hand over power to the NDC." Ghanaians are prone to forgetting things, but Akufo Addo is thoroughly corrupt and believes what he says. For a long time, Akufo Addo has quietly urged NPP politicians to do anything imaginable, whether illegal, official, or even criminal, to ensure the party's triumph in 2024. That's why, even though this government is the worst in Ghanaian political history, they can't stop talking about breaking the 8th cycle. What has this government accomplished so far to merit breaking the eighth cycle? A whole hospital building serving communities was demolished, and the government failed to replace it. Since the NPP politicians, including Ken Ofori-Atta, Akufo Addo, Gabby Otchere-Darko, Paul Adom-Otchere, Cecilia Dapaah, and many others who are yet to be exposed, have significant sums of money stashed away in their homes, they want to use it to buy votes in the 2024 elections. However, because Ghanaians are not stupid, they would accept the money while still voting this useless political party out. The incident that took place in Assin North that led to Gyakye Quayson's triumph, will reoccur to topple the government after 2024. Akufo Addo and Ken Ofori-Atta should quit starving Ghanaians by imposing additional taxes as they hoard money to buy votes since the NPP will not win. Even Alan Kyerematen understands that the NPP will not win, the reason he says that two million votes from Kumawu will assure his victory, which will also fail regardless of how strong tribalism is in Ghana. Former president John Dramani Mahama has criticized the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for the huge losses. He described the Governor of BoG as pliant for using the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) as cover up for the GHS60.8billion losses it incurred. According to Mr. Mahama, it is sad that Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta is also attributing the collapse of the economy to the Russia and Ukraine war, and covid-19. In a tweet, he described the finance minister as incompetent for driving Ghana's economy into a ditch. The Bank of Ghana has reported significant losses totaling GH60.81 billion for the financial year 2022, in contrast to the GH1.23 billion profit recorded in 2021. The losses were primarily attributed to the government's domestic debt restructuring activities and the depreciation of the local currency, among other factors. As of December 31, 2022, the central bank's overall liabilities and those of its subsidiaries surpassed their combined assets by GH54.52 billion, according to the audited financial statement for 2022, which was published on July 28. This decrease in net value was a result of both the Group's assets being impaired and the effect of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP). The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has hit back at the Minority in Parliament over claims that the Central Bank has become broke and bankrupt. Addressing a press conference after reading the 2022 Annual Report and Financial Statement of BoG, Minority Leader Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson blasted Governor Dr. Ernest Addison for supervising a GHS60 billion loss. He said how the Central Bank has been run will soon require that Ghanaians pay taxes to recapitalise the Bank. The almighty Bank of Ghana is now bankrupt with negative equity of over GH55 billion and counting that will require the taxpayer to recapitalise it, Dr. Ato Forson argued. But in a press release to address the sentiments of the Minority in Parliament, the Bank of Ghana on Wednesday said the Minority has got it very wrong. The release noted that just like all Central Banks in the World, the Bank of Ghana is not a commercial Bank and losses alone do not determine its performance. The release further said it is technically impossible for the Bank of Ghana to become bankrupt. Central banks are not commercial banks. This financial outcome has very little implication for the operations of the Bank of Ghana as supported by evidence from other central banks. Technically, Central Banks cannot be insolvent or bankrupt, parts of the release from BoG said. Meanwhile, the Bank of Ghana has assured key stakeholders and the general public that it is committed to the highest standards of prudent management, governance, and transparent accounting and audit practices. 10.08.2023 LISTEN The Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) Inter-Departmental Stakeholder Meeting to dissect the draft supplementary act concerning cooperation in the suppression of other illicit Maritime activities in the ECOWAS Region is underway in Ghana. Participants at the four-day meeting would analyse the draft Supplementary Act, which is designed to serve as an important means of furthering international cooperation in the fight against maritime crime as well as a significant force multiplier that helps to overcome the challenges posed by scarce law enforcement assets and resources in the region. In a working document made available to the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema, by Mr Serge Kouadio Koffi, Programme Officer IT and Communication Directorate of External Relations, ECOWAS Commission said the draft Supplementary Act is being developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It is within UNODCs framework of the Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP) ECOWAS project "Support to West Africa Integrated Maritime Security (SWAIMS)" funded by the European Union. Speakers at the meeting include Mr. Francis Izeg Omiunu, National Programme Officer, GMCP, and UNODC; and Colonel Abdourahmane Dieng, Head of Division Regional Security at the ECOWAS Commission. According to the document, the main goal of the SWAIMS project is to support ECOWAS member states in strengthening the prosecution of piracy and other maritime crime cases by improving the application of the rule of law at sea and on land with the under-listed main activity indicators and targets to assess project achievement vis-a-vis the expected result. It also seeks to focus on the development of a regional maritime legal framework, its dissemination, and sensitization initiatives, ensuring that new maritime crime legislation is drafted and submitted for approval. The development of Memoranda of Understanding about the prosecution of maritime crime suspects with a focus on the hand-over of suspects between countries and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) developed and endorsed to reinforce the capacity to conduct national investigation and prosecution through proper profiling of the right course of action. The project also seeks to strengthen law enforcement officers through training and capacity building on the law of the sea, evidence collection, and maritime crime, as well as training on the law of the sea and maritime crime for prosecutors and judges in the pilot countries. Other issues the project seeks to deal with include providing effective support for the prosecutions and trials of maritime crimes through the provision of material and interpreters, as well as coordination among prosecutors and investigators. In general, UNODC, through its Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP), provides support to the full criminal justice system, from sea to land, to ensure that Member States are in a position to tackle the threats of maritime crimes, including piracy, armed robbery at sea, and trafficking in drugs, people, and weapons, and to secure the waters of coastal states. The Community Focus Foundation Ghana (CFF- Ghana) has become aware of a letter in circulation believed to be emanating from the Council of State purported to be its response to concerns brought to the Council by the largest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on the appointment of two known activists of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) including Dr. Peter Appiahene and Hajia Salima Ahmed Tijani respectively. We consider the content of the said letter pedestrian and a joke. In fact, the most piercing and annoying part of the Council's letter to the public has to do with their reference to studying the Curriculum Vitaes (CVs) of the said politically exposed personalities and recommended same to the President for appointment. Such jaundiced and shameful position ignorantly advanced by the Council on such a delicate issue bothering on the survival of Ghana's democracy must be condemned by all well-meaning Ghanaians. If the Council has any respect for the democracy which brought it into being, and the special mandate it has to serve under Article 70(2) of 1992 Constitution, it would have spared Ghanaians such a compromised and irritating response. It's important to put on record that the ill-conceived advise by the Council of State to the President of the Republic, HE Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo on the appointment of known NPP activists dangerous to our young democracy. In the spirit of protecting Ghana's fledging democracy, CFF-Ghana is by this release demanding an immediate resignation of Dr. Peter Appiahene and Hajia Salima Ahmed Tijani from office as Deputy Commissioners of the EC to help in rebuilding public confidence to win the trust of all political stakeholders in Ghana and beyond. Richard Kasu Communications Directorate, CFF-GHANA. 10.08.2023 LISTEN Former President, John Dramani Mahama has taken a swipe at Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta. In a short post on social media, the leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has described the Finance Minister as incompetent. He argues that it is because of Ken Ofori-Atta's incompetence that he uses the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war as a cover-up after destroying the Ghanaian economy. An incompetent Finance Minister damages the economy and uses Covid-19 and Ukraine/Russia war as cover-ups, John Dramani Mahama said in a post on Facebook. In his post, the former President did not spare Bank of Ghana Governor Dr. Ernest Addison either. He accused the Central Bank Governor of causing destruction and using the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme as a cover-up. A pliant Governor destroys the Central Bank and seeks to use DDE as a cover, Mahama said in his post. This follows the Bank of Ghana release on Wednesday, August 9, which explained the GHS60 billion losses in the 2022 Annual Report and Financial Statement of the Central Bank. In the release, BoG said the DDEP programme accounted for GHS53.1 billion of the losses as it acted as a shock absorber in that period of hard times. Bank of Ghana released its full-year 2022 audited financial statements on 28th July 2023. The financial statements reported a total loss of GHS60 billion, which has since become a matter of unfortunate politicisation. It is noteworthy that GHS53.1 billion of those losses were a direct result of the Governments domestic debt restructuring exercise, parts of the BoG release said. 10.08.2023 LISTEN Perception index polls are essential ingredients of good governance, Ghanaians must, therefore, embrace and support such initiatives, Mr. Peter Bismark Kwofie, Executive Director of the Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI) Ghana, has noted. He said perception index surveys also serve as critical feedback mechanisms to strengthen good governance and called on the government to holistically adopt such reports and work with them. Mr. Kwofie stated during the launch of the commencement of its 2023 survey on government waste report and crumbs of wasteful spending to get public opinion on the usage of their taxes by governments at Tema which was monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult). Mr. Kwofie noted that whether it's the Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International or the ILAPI perception survey on government waste and crumbs of wasteful spending, they are critical indexes for the government to understand the social, political, and economic barometer of the country. The ILAPI is a Tema-based non-profit, non-partisan, educational research organization and think tank with expertise in Free Enterprise Public Policy Research. ILAPI also operates exclusively for education, social, political, and business consulting, free market economics advocacy, decentralization, international relations, individual liberty, the rule of law, poverty alleviation, and entrepreneurship. The survey, which can be assessed online at the Institute website, https://ilapi.org/, was the second edition, with the first one covering the citizens' perception of tax usage between 2016 and 2021. As part of the launch, Mr. Kwofie reiterated the urgent need for citizens to be vigilant about government expenditure: "We can only be participants in the governance architecture if we are watchful and prevent wasteful expenditure." He explained that government wasteful spending refers to the inefficient allocation of resources by state entities, resulting in unnecessary costs and financial loss. This issue, according to ILAPI, poses significant challenges to the sustainability of public finances, hindering economic growth and diminishing public trust in the governments ability to manage taxpayer funds effectively. Mr. Kwofie noted that one key factor that contributed to the wastage of public funds, was the lack of transparent and accountable procurement processes, which include inefficient bidding systems, inadequate oversight mechanisms, and instances of corruption, leading to inflated contract prices. He also revealed that the presence of redundant or obsolete government programmes and agencies, which often duplicate functions, results in inefficient resource allocation and unnecessary administrative costs, insufficient evaluation of project feasibility, unrealistic cost estimates, and poor monitoring of expenditures, often amounting to cost overruns and improper allocation of resources. To mitigate wasteful spending and gain citizens trust, Mr. Kwofie suggested strengthening budgetary processes and introducing effective oversight mechanisms to promote a culture of fiscal responsibility within the government's financial architecture. Additionally, the ILAPI Executive Director recommended a comprehensive review of government programmes to identify redundancies and inefficiencies. It explained that eliminating or merging redundant entities or institutions can result in cost savings and improved service delivery. He also said the implementation of robust monitoring systems, promoting competitive bidding, and imposing strict penalties for fraudulent practices would help save taxpayers contributions. Mr. Stephen Dansu, the Head of Research at ILAPI, explained that the survey, which is a perception representative poll, would target respondents across the country using a digital or online platform, including the ILAPI website, Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter, and WhatsApp. Volunteers across Ghanas 16 regions have been engaged to assist in the poll. He described the poll as a convenient online survey that utilized random sampling within four months. Mr. Dansu said the launched survey would serve as a continuation of the first one, which saw 2000 respondents participate, the majority of whom believed that, on average, 70 percent of taxpayers contributions would go into wasteful spending. On 26th July, 2023, Abdourahamane Tchiani led the Niger Army to cease power from President Mohamed Bazoum, overthrowing the Countrys constitution. In reality, it was liberation of the country from the clutches of neo-colonial France and US. It was not democracy that failed; it was Neo colonialism and Western imperialism that collapsed. Niger with a population of about 26 million cover a total land area of over 1.2 million Km square (5 times the size of Ghana). The country produces 5% of the world uranium demand and has other minerals such as Gold, oil, ore, coal, etc. Sadly, the mineral rich country has over 80% of it populates living without access to electricity and other basic amenities as similar percentage live below the poverty line. There was no end in sight anytime soon until the military take over. The citizens got tired of the exploitation from France and want a shift in trade, governance and security. The New leadership are tilting more to Russia and away from France and NATO. Nigeriens have cut ties with hostile countries like Nigeria and France, their colonial masters. They have banned the export of uranium and other mineral resources with immediate effect. They have closed their borders, airspace and intensify surveillance in readiness to repel any attack from any quarters. They have also directed foreign troops to vacate the country. The combine military troops of both America and France in the Sahel stand at nearly 3,000 (US=1,100+, France=1,500+). Nigeria cut off Electricity supply to Niger. As ECOWAS meets on Thursday, the military action agenda should be aborted as any such action in Niger would be a proxy war between NATO and Russia. The spill over would be disastrous for the Sahel region and Africa in general. I am sure the West would implore every available means to topple the Military Government or destabilise the whole Niger republic. It did appear more than half of Nigeriens supported the coup. The only viable alternative to this crisis is diplomatic dialogue. It may be slow but it is the best approach now. TOPPIE SAATORPIE HSE NO: BO-BO-107, BOLI 0549633819 Journalists Against LGBTQ+ Ghana have condemned the recent actions of the World Bank in halting new lending to the Ugandan government due to its anti-LGBTQ law. According to the group, the decision by the World Bank is not only hypocritical but also discriminatory towards African nations. In a statement issued on Thursday, 10 August 2023 the group said: while we acknowledge that the World Bank has stated that the law contradicts its values, we question the selective approach taken by the organisation. Many countries in the Middle East and Asia, which receive substantial funding from the World Bank, have similar or even harsher laws on homosexuality. It is perplexing that the World Bank continues to lend to these countries without any regard for their human rights records. The group noted The World Banks decision to single out Uganda raises concerns about the underlying motives behind such actions. The group called on African countries to withdraw their contributions from the World Bank en bloc, noting: African nations should take control of their own financial destiny and establish their own Africa Bank. This move will enable us to address our unique challenges and foster development without external interference. It urged the Parliament of Ghana to expedite the passage of the anti-LGBTQ+ law without delay. It is essential to protect our cultural values and uphold the will of the Ghanaian people. It also called on all stakeholders, including civil society organisations, media outlets, and the general public, to support this cause and stand against any form of discrimination. The World Bank has announced it will halt new loans to Uganda as the countrys controversial anti-LGBTQ law contradicts the World Bank Groups values. Source: classfmonline.com A 33-year-old food vendor has been sentenced to death by an Accra High Court after he was found guilty by a jury for throwing his two-year-old son into the sea near Akuma Village, Accra, as a sacrifice to become rich. The convict, Prince Acquaye, aka Juu, according to court documents, had engaged in occultism and killed his son for sacrifice in April 2021. The documents indicate that the convict later told his girlfriend, the little boy's mother, that if anything happened to their son, she should not worry as they were going to be rich very soon. The matter was, however, reported to the police and Prince Acquaye was arrested and charged with murder. He was put before a Kaneshie Magistrate Court which after committal proceedings referred him to the High Court for trial. He pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder, and the trial went its full length, but a seven-member jury unanimously found him guilty of murder. He was, therefore, sentenced to death in spite of Parliament voting to repeal the death sentence last month. This is because the new law will only apply to new cases and not those pending before the repeal. The prosecution's fact is that the complainant in the case, Abigail Nyumor, a food vendor, was the convict's girlfriend and they lived together with the deceased, who was their only son. The prosecution said somewhere February 2021, the convict had told the complainant that if something happened to their son, she should not worry because they were going to be rich very soon. According to the prosecution, the complainant thought it was a joke, so she told the accused to stop that. The prosecution said on April 20, 2021, at about 1200 noon, the victim, now deceased, asked the convict to give him money to buy groundnuts. Prince Acquaye offered the victim GH5, and not quite long, the complainant went to sleep. The prosecution said the complainant, however, woke up after some neighbours informed her that the convict had thrown the victim into the sea. The facts said the convict was arrested and the victim was rescued and sent to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, but he died the following day. The prosecution said preliminary investigations indicated that the accused was initiated into occultism, and it was time for him to make his sacrifice. The convict, according to court documents, chose his son for the sacrifice by throwing him into the cliff at Akuma Village, which is 33 feet above sea level. -DGN online 10.08.2023 LISTEN Four persons nearly lost their lives when they were hit by stray bullets from sporadic gunshots by illegal miners at Banaso, a small mining community near Enchi in the Aowin municipality of the Western North Region. DAILY GUIDE sources indicate that one of the victims is an official of a non-governmental organization called Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA) in the area. The IPA official whose name was not given went to the community to conduct a survey on the performance of school children in the mining area. However, when he got to one of the schools, he realized that most of the school children were absent and so he decided to visit some of the homes to ascertain why most of the pupils were not in school. He hired a tricycle popularly called Pragya for his journey however when they got to an area near an illegal mining site, they needed to cross a bridge to be able to enter the community. However, the wooden bridge was destroyed and so it was difficult for the tricycle rider and the IPA official to enter the community. While waiting to find a means to enter the area, some of the illegal miners, who thought the IPA official was a spy, rushed on him and in the process a misunderstanding ensued between them. A source told DAILY GUIDE that one of the Chinese miners allegedly ordered the head of their security, who is a Ghanaian, to shoot to scare the visitors away. So the security man started shooting indiscriminately and upon hearing the gun shots some the community folks who stay nearby started running for their lives as the security guard chased them whiles shooting, the source said. According to the source, two female school pupils, the tricycle rider and the official of IPA, were hit by bullets from the gunshots. The four persons were rushed to a nearby health centre for first aid treatment but later transferred to the Enchi Government Hospital and then to the Asankragwaa hospital. Currently we learnt they have been referred to a hospital in Accra for further treatment, a source indicated. The police have commenced investigations to unravel what actually led to the shooting incident. -DGN online An Accra Circuit Court has sentenced a 25-year-old unemployed man to 36 months imprisonment for stealing a goldsmith machine valued at GH5,000. Emmanuel Bortey unlawfully entered the house of a goldsmith and caused damage to his plywood valued GH1000.00. Charged with unlawful entry, causing unlawful damage and stealing, he pleaded guilty. The Court presided over Mr Isaac Oheneba Kuffour convicted Bortey on his own plea and sentenced him to 12 months imprisonment on the charges of unlawful entry and causing unlawful damage and 36 months term on the charge of stealing. The sentences are to run concurrently. Police Sergeant Priscilla Avorga, prosecuting, told the Court that the complainant, who was a goldsmith and the accused person, now convict, were both residents of Nungua Kpokeke and Nungua Traditional Council Area respectively. The prosecution said on July 25, 2023, at about 1700 hours, the complainant woke up and detected that the convict had broken into his goldsmith shop in his house and made away with his jewellery manufacturing machine. It said the complainant went out in search of the machine and visited a scrapyard in the vicinity and informed the occupants of the said scrapyard about the crime. The prosecution said on the same day at about 0800 hours, the complainant had information from the scrapyard that the convict was seen with the complainant's machine about to offer it for sale. It said the complainant and his three sons rushed to the scrapyard and in an attempt to apprehend the convict, he abandoned the machine and bolted. The prosecution said luck eluded the convict and he was arrested and handed over to the Nungua Police. In the investigation caution statement, the prosecution said the convict admitted the offences. GNA Richard Ahiagbah, the National Communications Director of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), has slammed the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) for taking the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to the cleaners. This comes after the NDC recently called for the resignation of the Bank of Ghana Governor, Dr. Ernest Addison following the central bank's report of a GHS60 billion loss in 2022. The NDC held a "Moment of Truth" press conference where it threatened to occupy the Bank of Ghana if the Governor fail to resign. Mr Ahiagbah slammed NDC for not helping to resolve pressing issues that would better the lives of Ghanaians. Instead, he said the opposition party politicizes everything without considering the impact on citizens and the economy. The NPP Communications Director stressed that the economy needs urgent attention to improve the conditions of Ghanaians. However, the NDC's actions, including calls for the Governor's resignation, Mr. Ahiagbah said sidetrack from earnest efforts to get the economy back on track. His post on Twitter today, August 10, reads, "There are very pressing issues to be resolved with the economy to improve conditions for Ghanaians, but somehow, the NDC does not get it. They politicize everything and anything." He added: "The politicization of the honest effort being engaged to recover the economy is a new low!" West African leaders came together Thursday for an emergency summit on the coup in Niger, whose new military rulers have defied an ultimatum -- backed by the threat of force -- to restore the elected president and pressed ahead with appointing a new government. More than two weeks after the coup that toppled Niger's elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says it is seeking a diplomatic solution but has not ruled out military intervention. Important decisions are expected from the gathering in Nigeria's capital Abuja, according to a statement from the 15-nation organisation on Tuesday. Struggling to stem a cascade of coups among its members since 2020, the bloc gave the troops who seized power on July 26 until last Sunday to reinstate Bazoum or face the potential use of force. But the coup leaders remained defiant and the deadline passed without action. In their latest show of resistance against international pressure, the military leaders named a new government, according to a decree read out on national television on Thursday. Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine will lead the 21-member administration, with generals from the new military governing council heading the defence and interior ministries. Niger is one of the world's poorest countries, often ranking at the bottom of the UN's Human Development Index, a benchmark of prosperity. By - (AFP) The possibility of a military intervention in Niger, a fragile nation that ranks among the world's poorest, has sparked debate within ECOWAS and warnings from neighbouring Algeria as well as Russia. Niger's neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, both ruled by military governments that seized power in coups, have said an intervention would be a "declaration of war" on their countries. Hopes for 'real discussions' On Tuesday, a bid to send a joint team of ECOWAS, UN and African Union representatives to the capital Niamey was rejected by the coup leaders. The nomination of a new prime minister by the coup leaders earlier this week appeared to signal the start of a transition to a new government. But in a twist on Wednesday, a former emir of the Nigerian city of Kano revealed that he had met with the coup leaders to help mediate the crisis. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi told Nigerian state television he had spoken to coup leader General Abdourahamane Tiani and would deliver a "message" to Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu, though he was not an official government emissary. "We came hoping that our arrival will pave the way for real discussions between the leaders of Niger and those of Nigeria," said Sanusi, who is known to be a close friend of Tinubu. Current ECOWAS chair Nigeria is taking a hard line against last month's coup, the fifth in Niger since independence from France in 1960. Economic Community of West African States. By Nalini LEPETIT-CHELLA (AFP) Speaking before flying to Abuja on Wednesday, Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo said the future of ECOWAS was at stake following coups in four member states -- Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Niger. Bazoum remains Niger's sole recognised president and coups must be banned, he added. 'Deplorable living conditions' UN secretary general Antonio Guterres added to a chorus of concern about the welfare of 63-year-old Bazoum, who has been detained by members of his presidential guard since July 26. Guterres denounced "the deplorable living conditions that President Bazoum and his family are reported to be living under", according to a UN statement. CNN reported Wednesday that Bazoum was being kept in isolation and given meals only of plain rice and pasta. Countries in the fragile Sahel region are battling a jihadist insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012, spread to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015, and is now causing jitters in states on the Gulf of Guinea. The bloody campaign has been devastating for those three countries, which have turbulent histories and are among the poorest nations in the world. Bazoum's election in 2021 had helped Niger cement close ties with France and the United States, which have major bases and troop deployments in the country. France last year withdrew its forces from Mali and Burkina Faso after falling out with their military leaders, refocussing its anti-jihadist strategy on Niger. Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has described the ongoing political crisis in Niger as a threat to the stability of the entire West African region. Speaking at the 2nd ECOWAS Extraordinary Summit on Niger in Abuja on Thursday, Mr Tinubu urged heads of States in the subregion to contribute their quota in the effort to restore democracy in Niger. "As leaders of our respective nations, we must recognize that the political crisis in Niger not only poses a threat to the stability of the nation but also has far-reaching implications for the entire West African region, he said. He added: "By remaining steadfast in our adherence to the principles of democracy, good governance, and the rule of law, we can restore peace, stability, and prosperity in the Republic of Niger, thereby fostering an environment conducive to growth and development for all." Mr Tinubu expressed confidence that the summit would be a "defining moment" in ECOWAS' efforts to build a stronger and more integrated West Africa. Niger experienced its fifth coup since independence on July 26 when soldiers detained President Mohamed Bazoum and announced his overthrow on state television. A junta led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani has taken power. This was Niger's first coup in over a decade, following similar takeovers in neighboring Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso. Analysts have labeled the region a "coup belt". ECOWAS and the African Union have strongly condemned the coup and called for constitutional rule to be restored in Niger. The crisis threatens to further destabilize a region already plagued by poverty, terrorism and food insecurity. Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has called on West African leaders to help make a lasting impact on the lives of Nigeriens amidst the country's ongoing political crisis. Mr Tinubu has challenged his fellow Heads of state leaders to join ECOWAS in taking concrete action aimed at addressing the crisis for the good of the region. Speaking at the 2nd ECOWAS Extraordinary Summit on Niger in Abuja on Thursday, August 10, Mr Tinubu stated, "Let us seize this opportunity to make a lasting impact on the lives of our fellow Africans as we strive to build a future defined by peace, progress and prosperity. Mr Tinubu described the summit as a "defining moment" in efforts towards a more resilient and integrated West Africa. The Nigerien crisis poses threats to stability in Niger and the wider region, Tinubu warned. However, adherence to democracy, good governance and rule of law, the ECOWAS chair said, can restore peace and prosperity in Niger. On July 26, soldiers detained President Bazoum and announced his overthrow, in Niger's fifth coup since independence. A junta led by General Tchiani has taken power. The coup, Niger's first in over a decade, follows similar takeovers in neighbouring Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso. Analysts have labeled the region a "coup belt." 10.08.2023 LISTEN Interview with the Secretary-General of the Developing Eight States Organization for Economic Cooperation (D-8), His Excellency Amb. Isiaka Abdulqadir Imam. Cooperation is a fundamental resource for populous countries on the way to rapid economic and industrial development: for this reason, the case of D-8 is worthy of attention. Globalization unravelled enormous economic opportunities but also opened new and old contradictions. Developing-8 was founded in 1997 the acme of globalization following Prof. Dr Necmettin Erbakans vision to encourage stable cooperation among major Muslim developing countries. So, D-8 members are Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkiye. D-8 encourages wide-ranging intra-Muslim cooperation in topical sectors: agriculture, food, energy, infrastructures, technology, and more. Or by words of a famous Swiss scholar, Djawed Sangdel: The exercise of citizenship must allow everyone to become an actor of society. And by the same token; every society should be able to access globally. Hence, each of the D8 Member States are carving out an increasingly important space in the global market. Turkiye has achieved record levels in exports over the past year (+12,9%). Nigerias GDP in 2022 grew by more than 3% while the country remains a reference point for the export of hydrocarbons the country is among the first exporters of gas (LNG) and oil in the world and has the most abundant reserves on the African continent. Malaysia, which stands at a strategic crossroads, has been able to diversify an economy historically based on the export of hydrocarbons. About 12% of globl trade passes through the Suez Canal. So, Egypt is a key country. His Excellency Ambassador Isiaka Abdulqadir Imam from Nigeria is currently the Secretary General of the D-8 Organisation with its Secretariat Istanbul-based. It is the first time that a representative of Nigeria has led the organization. Previously, was guided by a Turkish representative (Ambassador Ayhan Kamel), two Indonesians (Dr. Dipo Alam and Prof. Widi Agoes Pratikto), an Iranian (Dr. Seyed Ali Mohammad Mousavi), and, finally, a Malaysian (Ambassador Dato Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari). Ambassador Imam holds a bachelors degree in political science from the American University in Cairo, Egypt. After graduation in 1985, he joined Nigerias oldest bank, First Bank Nigeria, then he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 1993. In his diplomatic career in the Foreign Service of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he served as Charge dAffaires ad-interim at the Nigerian Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil. He had also served in different capacities in Nigerias Diplomatic Missions in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Pretoria, South Africa and Tokyo, Japan. Based on the common religious identity, which is even during globalization a universal social glue, the D-8 organization has, by its nature and vocation, a global scope and seeks to achieve common objectives such as the resolution of economic disparities, cooperation in the field of energy and of renewables, the development of trade. Below is our interview with the Secretary-General. The D-8 organization brings together developing countries with large populations and growing industries. How can resources (energy, food, etc...) be guaranteed for so many people, even more so at a time like this dominated by uncertainty and scarcity? The D-8 is indeed home to more than 1.16 billion people. Ensuring the sustainability of resources, such as energy, food, water, and other necessities, can be enduring challenges. As one of the measures to ensure food security, the D-8 established the D-8 Research Centre for Agriculture and Food Security in Faisalabad, Pakistan, in March 2023. The Centre aims to create innovative solutions for agricultural resource management. This includes developing new technologies and improving agricultural practices, particularly by creating climate-smart agriculture. The D-8 Organization also forges collaboration and partnerships with external parties. The collaboration aims at sharing resources, knowledge, and best practices. It also aims at establishing joint initiatives and coordinated efforts to address common challenges. For instance, the D-8 is closely consulting with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and other development banks. In the area of energy, the D-8s priority is to strengthen the Member States resolve to ensure energy security while at the same time striking a balance with environmental protection. The Organization is also embarking on finding and creating alternative energy sources. D-8 brings together distant and diverse countries with a Muslim majority. Can we say religion is a fundamental 'social glue' in a developing society - continuity in discontinuity - but also for international relations? All D-8 Members happen to be from countries with Muslim-majority populations. All Members are also Members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. However, in its day-to-day operation, the D-8 operates beyond the realm of religion. As stated in both the Istanbul Declaration and the D-8 Charter, the D-8 was established with its main objective to be socio-economic development by peace instead of conflict, dialogue instead of confrontation, cooperation instead of exploitation, justice instead of double standards, equality instead of discrimination, and democracy instead of oppression. In simpler terms, the D-8 is an economic and development cooperation organization, not a religion-based one. What goals do you set for your mandate as Secretary General? What are the critical issues that D-8 wants to solve? One challenge that the D-8 face is that despite its size in term of population, i.e., 1.16 billion people, the intra-D8-trade volume does not reflect such a vast market. The intra-trade volume for 2022 was approximately US$ 164 billion. Therefore, my goal as the Secretary-General is to increase the intra-trade volume to meet the mandated target of at least 10% of the blocs global trade by 2030. The Leaders also provided a quantitative number of US% 500 billion by 2030. In so doing, I promote and enjoin the Member States to utilize and operationalize the D-8 Preferential Trade Agreement (D-8 PTA), which was signed in 2006 and entered into force in 2012. The PTA comprised offers of more than 1.200 tariff lines. The major challenge to implement the D-8 PTA organization-wide, i.e., by all Members, is that to date, only five countries have finalized their required domestic procedures to implement the PTA. My sub-objective, therefore, is to enjoin the remaining members to ratify and complete their internal procedures to implement the PTA. Another challenge that the D-8 faces is that the organization has yet to be widely known, despite having existed for more than 26 years. Therefore, expanding the organizations visibility within the Member States and globally has become one of my visions as the Secretary-General. In so doing, I expanded cooperation with other international organizations, particularly within the United Nations system. The D-8 has an observer status at the United Nations General Assembly, which can serve as a foundation to expand its visibility internationally. Another measure to increase the organizations visibility is effective awareness-raising campaigns using the organizations public relations tools and social media accounts. Lorenzo Somigli Columnist specialised in energy and geopolitics, publications in Italian and international media and magazines like leSfide and Transatlantic Policy Quarterly, as well as the international institutes such as the IFIMES. Reportage: Lebanon & Turkiye (2021). In Italy, parliamentary assistant (2021-ongoing) & media expert (culture, art). President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo has assented to the Criminal Offences Amendment Act, 2023, and the Armed Forces Amendment Act, 2023, recently passed by Parliament to substitute life imprisonment for the death penalty into law. The president assented to the bills on Wednesday, August 2, 2023. It will be recalled that on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, and Thursday, July 27, 2023, the Parliament of Ghana passed the Criminal and Other Offenses (Amendment) Bill, 2022, and Armed Forces (Amendment) Bill, 2022, to substitute life imprisonment for the Death Penalty. These amendments which have been described globally by Human Rights watchers as historic were proposed by the Member of Parliament for Madina Constituency, who also doubles as deputy Ranking Member of the Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, Francis-Xavier Kojo Sosu. Prior to the amendments, the proposals had received widespread support from key stakeholders including the President of the Republic of Ghana, the Chief Justice and Justices of the Supreme Court, the Ghana Armed Forces, the Police and Prison Services, Civil Society Organisations, Religious Organisations, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, and the Diplomatic Community, among others. Following the passage of the Bills, Ghana has now become the 29th African country to abolish the death penalty from its statute books for ordinary offences. According to Mr. Sosu, the introduction of Private Member's Bills to substitute life imprisonment for the death penalty is in line with recommendations of the 2010 Constitutional Review Commission Report and subsequent Government White Paper, and forms part of efforts to achieve the realisation of a free, open, progressive, inclusive and secure society. - Citi Newsroom Ministry of Finance has described as funny propaganda claims being disseminated by the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) regarding an alleged upcoming tax aimed at recapitalizing the Bank of Ghana. Addressing journalists during the NDC's Moment of Truth series on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, the NDC alleged that Ghanaians will soon be made to pay a levy toward recapitalizing the central bank. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, fellow countrymen and women, let me assure you that very soon, Ghanaians will be made to pay for Bank of Ghanas recapitalization levy, a tax to recapitalize the Bank because as we speak, the central bank has collapsed, Minority Leader, Cassiel Ato Forson told the press. However, the Deputy Finance Minister, Dr John Kumah, used his Facebook platform to debunk these allegations and encouraged the public to dismiss them as mere propaganda. In his post, Dr Kumah emphasized that the claims made by the opposition party were unsubstantiated and urged Ghanaians not to lend them credence. Below is John Kumahs Facebook post Ignore this funny NDC Propaganda about the collapse of the Bank of Ghana (BoG). BoG is Solid! The NDC is funny! Its not true that a recapitalization levy is to be introduced for BoG, the Central Bank hasnt collapsed. The main source of income to the Bank is from government transactions i.e. fees and charges on all government transfers, the banks investments in marketable instruments and also earnings from non-marketable holdings of the Bank. Given that government transactions have gone down, naturally, the income of the bank will go down. Also, because of the debt restructuring, earnings on their holdings on markable and non-marketable bonds will go down. Beyond this, the Bank is solid and is capable of performing its core function. Article 183 clause 2 (c) of the 1992 constitution enjoins the Bank of Ghana to promote and encourage economic development in the country, hence there is nothing untoward in the actions of the Central Bank to support the state in its economic recovery efforts. It is important to further highlight that a negative balance sheet by a Central Bank is not unusual, in fact most Central Banks around the world run negative balances to achieve the overall economic anchor objectives of a Central Bank. History clearly illustrates this. Several central banks had negative equity yet fully met their objectives for example, the central banks of Chile, Czechia, Israel and Mexico experienced years of negative capital. But throughout, financial and price stability were maintained. Bank For International Settlements Bulletin No.68. According to Nordstrom and Vredin (2022), a central bank's credibility depends on its ability to achieve its mandates. Losses do not jeopardise that ability and are sometimes the price to pay for achieving its aims. Such propaganda and unnecessary attacks at the central bank only result in increased market volatility, and panic selling of assets, and can trigger a chain of events that can affect our overall economic stability. By Kabah Atawoge Six cities hit by fighting in Ethiopia's northern region of Amhara, including the regional capital Bahir Dar and the holy city of Lalibela, are under curfew after the federal government announced it had "freed" them from militiamen. The region has been in a state of emergency since last week after violence erupted between the military and local fighters. The government on Wednesday said most cities in the region had been liberated from what it called "bandits". A statement by a federal government emergency body listed six towns including Bahir Dar, the second-largest city Gondar and Lalibela, a Unesco World Heritage site. It said the cities would remain under curfew until 23 August. Private vehicles are not allowed on the streets after 7pm and public rallies have been banned. There has been no official casualty toll from the unrest, but hospital doctors in two of the affected cities told French news agency AFP on Wednesday that scores of civilians had been killed or injured. In Lalibela, a resident told the Associated Press that more than a dozen civilians died during a battle with the military that lasted until Wednesday. Meanwhile an aid worker in Bahir Dar said the fighting was "very bad, with many civilians killed". State of emergency Ethiopia has rushed soldiers to Amhara since it declared a six-month state of emergency in the region on Friday. The violence erupted over attempts by the federal government to dismantle regional paramilitaries across Ethiopia after the end of a two-year conflict in the Tigray region. Militia in Amhara, which neighbours Tigray, fought alongside Ethiopia's military in that conflict. They now accuse the federal government of trying to weaken Amhara's defences by ordering its forces to disband, which the government denies. Fighting broke out in early August between the military and an Amhara militia known as Fano. Local authorities last week asked the federal government for assistance managing security as the situation had become "difficult to control". According to the emergency decree, street rallies and gatherings are banned, while anyone found violating its provisions could face imprisonment for up to ten years. The decree also allows the authorities to declare curfews and for suspects to be searched and held without a warrant. Rights concerns Human Rights Watch has expressed concern that the restrictions undermine fundamental freedoms. "Increased reports of casualties are emerging amidst a deepening crisis in Ethiopia's Amhara region," HRW's expert Laetitia Bader wrote on Twitter. She warned that the "sweeping state of emergency" risks further abuses and urged the international community not to "ease its scrutiny" on the crisis. Meanwhile Save The Children is calling for humanitarian aid access to continue in Amhara. "Lives of families and children are being put at risk as the Amhara region faces an alarming escalation of conflict only nine months after a truce ended two years of violence," the NGO said. (with newswires) Bank of Ghana Governor Ernest Addison and his deputies must be held responsible for mismanaging the central bank, Minority Leader Cassiel Ato Forson insists. Reacting to the bank's justification for its 2022 expenditures, which the main opposition National Democratic Congress deems as wasteful, Dr Forson tweeted: "I've seen @thebankofghana attempting to justify their actions! This further strengthens our stance that Dr. Addison and his deputies (the Printers) should be held responsible for the mishandling of the central bank and their blatant disregard for our laws! #AddisonMustGo". Apart from making a loss of GHS60.8 billion, the Auditor-General's report also revealed that the bank has a negative equity of over GHS55.1 billion. Among other things, the report revealed that millions of Ghana cedis were expended on running the bank, which the NDC has described as a "waste on frivolous administrative" things. For instance, the Bank of Ghana spent GHS131.6 million on motor vehicle maintenance and running in 2022 alone - a 114% increase over the previous years expenditure. Similarly, foreign and domestic travels of the bank cost the Ghanaian taxpayer GHS97.4 million, which is about 246% increase over the previous year. The bank, according to the NDC, "also dissipated another GHS8.6 million on Directors remuneration alone", which represents about an 87% increase over the previous years expenditure. "This simply means that Ghanaians were charged a 'mismanagement fee' to deliver the collapse of the bank", Dr Forson told journalists on Tuesday. Additionally, he said the bank further claimed to have spent "a colossal GHS357.9 million on banking supervision expenses". The A-G's report also disclosed that the bank spent GHS67.9 million on computer expenses while communication expenses amounted to GHS32 million. The report said other undisclosed expenses amounted to GHS287.8 million of the taxpayers money. -classfmonline.com Dr Serebour Quaicoe, Director of Electoral-Services at the Electoral Commission (EC) has assured Ghanaians that the 2023 District-Level Elections (DLEs) would be held this year. He said, his Office (the Department for Electoral-Services), had submitted its proposal for the conduct of the Elections to the Commission for consideration and approval; and that hopefully, the Commission would be meeting next week to come out with a tentative date and timetable for the DLEs. On June 15, Mr Samuel Tettey, a Deputy Chairman of the EC in-charge of Operations, announced that the EC had picked October 3, 2023, as the date for the conduct of the DLEs for the election of assembly members and unit committee members. However, Dr Quaicoe, speaking at National Stakeholders Dialogue on the Upcoming DLE, which was organized by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), noted that Commission would be meeting next week to come out a tentative date for the DLEs. The Stakeholders Dialogue was organized by the CDD-Ghana in collaboration with the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development and the GIZ Ghana. He said in November, last year, the EC submitted its budget proposals to Parliament for approval, which had since been approved by the House. If you remember, we were thinking of developing a new CI (Constitutional Instrument), till now as you are all aware, we are having a challenge with the proposed new CI, he stated. Because we were saying that due to the abuse of the guarantor system, we wanted to take it off (the list of requirements for new voters registration), and that reflected in our budget programme, now that that has become an issue, I want to assure all of you that God willing we will have the elections. Dr Quaicoe said the Commission would look at the new CI when it was done with this years DLEs. He said the EC would be doing the registration of new voters, as well as organise voters register exhibition. He said according to their estimations, every year, about 500,000 new voters qualify for registration and that if one takes the period 2021 to 2023, about 1.5 million new voters qualify to be registered. He said their system was such that they could even take a period of one week to register all the newly qualified voters. He said the previous DLEs were held around 17th December; so, if the pending one was held around the same period it would be in order. He, however, assured Ghanaians that Commission would be coming out with the tentative date next week. He said there was no way they could pass the new CI before this years District-Level Elections; saying because even if you put it before Parliament, you will need 21 sitting days, not 21 days (for it to mature), so automatically, we cannot do that now. We will do new registration, do the exhibition and do the elections. Concerning the availability of resources for this years DLEs, he said their budget was an activity-based budget and that funds would be made available by the Government as and when they embarked upon their activities. Mr Paul N.K. Aborampah-Mensah, Programmes Manager, CDD-Ghana, said there was the need for Ghana to have a fixed date for Local Government Elections, so that all stakeholders could work towards that. He also admonished stakeholders and District Assemblies to organize more robust education on DLEs to eradicate voter apathy. District Assembly Elections are held every four years to elect electoral area representatives to the District Assemblies. Professor Emmanuel Debrah, Director of the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy, University of Ghana, in his presentation on an assessment of the last two local government elections, identified inadequate funding, late release of resources for election activities, rushed implementation of election timetable, logistical constraints, and poor remuneration for temporary election officials as the main challenges recorded in the DLEs. Mr Kokro Amankwah, the General Secretary of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG), reiterated that the DLEs mobilised human resources than any other election in Ghana to make a choice and promote inclusivity. He said, however, only 579 women were appointed out of over 6,200 electorates, highlighting institutional and cultural barriers that prevent women from participating despite many government interventions. GNA Mahmud Turkia / AFP/File 10.08.2023 LISTEN Tunisia and Libya announced Thursday they had agreed to share responsibility for providing shelter for hundreds of migrants stranded at their border, many of them for over a month. The migrants, primarily from sub-Saharan African countries, had been driven to the desert area of Ras Jedir by Tunisian authorities and left there to fend for themselves, according to witnesses, rights groups and UN agencies. Aid groups said three groups of about 300 migrants from sub-Saharan African countries in total remain stranded there in life-threatening conditions. A spokesman for Tunisia's interior ministry, Faker Bouzghaya, said during a joint meeting with Libyan authorities in Tunis that "we have agreed to share the groups of migrants who are at the border". "Tunisia will take charge of a group of 76 men, 42 women and eight children," Bouzghaya told AFP. He said the groups were transferred on Wednesday to reception centres in the cities of Tatouine and Medenine and provided with health and psychological care, with the help of the Tunisian Red Crescent. Under the agreement, Libya will take in the remaining 150-200 migrants, humanitarian sources said. The Libyan interior ministry earlier on Thursday announced the bilateral agreement to "put an end to the crisis of irregular migrants stranded in the border area". In a later statement, it said there were no more migrants stranded at the border following the agreement, adding that joint patrols were being organised to "secure the border". 'At least 27' deaths Racial tensions had flared in Tunisia's second city of Sfax after the July 3 killing of a Tunisian man following an altercation with migrants. Up to 1,200 black Africans were "expelled, or forcibly transferred by Tunisian security forces" to desert border regions with Libya and Algeria, Human Rights Watch said. The Tunisian Red Crescent had on July 12 provided shelter to about 630 migrants found at Ras Jedir, as well as 200 others who had been pushed towards Algeria, non-governmental groups said. But AFP journalists and other media had reported that about 350 migrants had remained stranded at Ras Jedir in the following weeks. Some 40 kilometres (25 miles) south at Al-Assah, hundreds of other migrants were seen pouring into Libya, with no access to food, water and vital supplies until they were rescued by Libyan border guards in early August, according to an AFP team there. Since the start of July, "at least 27 migrants" were found dead after being abandoned in the Tunisian-Libyan border area and another 73 were missing, a humanitarian source told AFP on Thursday. Until Wednesday migrants had continued to arrive in Libya at Al-Assah at a rate of about 50 per day before being rescued by Libyan guards, the same source said. Libyan authorities have come under sharp criticism by the UN over reported violence against migrants, about 600,000 of whom reside in the war-scarred North African country. The two North African countries are major gateways for migrants and asylum seekers attempting perilous voyages in often rickety boats in the hopes of a better life in Europe. Mediterranean Sea crossing attempts from Tunisia had multiplied in March and April following a incendiary speech by President Kais Saied who had alleged that "hordes" of irregular migrants were causing crime and posing a demographic threat to the mainly Arab country. Xenophobic attacks targeting black African migrants and students have increased across the country since Saied's February remarks, and many migrants have lost jobs and housing. At least 11 migrants died in a shipwreck off the coast of Sfax, local court spokesman Faouzi Masmoudi said on Monday, adding that another 44 were missing and only two were rescued. The distance between Sfax and Italy's Lampedusa island is only about 130 kilometres (80 miles). The United Nations has described the central Mediterranean migration route as the world's deadliest, claiming hundreds of lives each year. More than 1,800 people have died attempting the route so far this year, according to figures released Friday by the International Organization for Migration. Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in the Ashanti Region has taken legal action against 22 customers who have failed to settle their water bills, collectively owing a total of GHS198,762.07. Despite disconnections and repeated efforts by GWCL officials to recover the outstanding amounts, the customers have failed to fulfil their financial obligations. The GWCL thus resorted to legal action, against the defaulting customers. Some of the defaulting customers have already appeared in court, although the presiding judge at the Asokwa District Court emphasised that the landlords themselves must personally attend the proceedings. The Ashanti South Regional Manager of GWCL, Ing. Edward Kwabena Agyekum, urged customers to take responsibility for their water consumption by promptly paying their bills. He noted that timely bill payments contribute to the company's ability to consistently provide water to households. Mr Agyekum stated: I want to urge our customers to make every effort to pay for the water they consume. The inability of customers to pay their bills is a matter of attitude, and that is why I am calling on all Ghanaians to pay for the water they use. When bills are paid on time, it helps us to continue to provide water to homes. The case has since been adjourned to Monday, 28 August 2023. -classfmonline.com The National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi has rejected the Bank of Ghanas defense of its 2022 Annual Report and Financial Statement. According to him, the Central Bank is in a crisis because of its illegal and criminal printing of money for President Akufo-Addos government. Among the things reported in the 2022 Annual Report and Financial Statement of BoG in July, the Central Bank spent a whopping GHS131.6 million on Motor vehicle maintenance and running in 2022 alone - a 114% increase over the previous years expenditure. Foreign and domestic travels of the Bank of Ghana cost the Ghanaian taxpayer a staggering GHS97.4 million, which is about a 246% increase over the previous year. In addition, the Central Bank incurred a loss of GHS60 billion. Worried by the state of BoG, the Minority in Parliament has given Governor Dr. Ernest Addison a 21-day ultimatum to resign. On Wednesday, August 9, when the BoG issued a press release to reply to the Minority, it provided a further breakdown of the figures and explained the GHS60 billion losses were incurred largely because of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) run by government. This has been rejected by Sammy Gyamfi who insists that the crisis the BoG finds itself in is self-inflicted. Speaking on the Good Morning Ghana Show on Metro TV, he said It is very clear from all the facts that the Bank of Ghana is indeed in this quagmire primarily because of two things. The first one is the illegal and criminal printing of money for the reckless Akuffo-Addo/Bawumia nation-wrecking government. The second one is the outrageous so-called operational expenses the bank engaged in last year. These two factors are the main factors why the Bank of Ghana is in this mess. The NDC National Communications Officer just like the Minority in Parliament is of the view that BoG Governor Dr. Ernest Addison must leave his role. Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan - Head of the Department of Foreign Policy Affairs of the Presidential Administration, Hikmat Hajiyev, responded to the accusations of lawyer Luis Moreno Ocampo, who prepared a biased, anti-Azerbaijani legal report, Azernews informs via Hajiyev's tweet. The tweet reads that Who is a lawyer Luis M.Ocampo author of biased anti-Azerbaijani legal report containing accusations of "genocide"? Citing MediaPart, Hikmet Hajiyev noted that Lawyer Luis M.Ocampo managed companies based in some of the most notorious tax havens of the world while serving as chief prosecutor at ICC. The Department of Veterans Affairs is extending the deadline for veterans to apply for benefits under the PACT Act meant to help those exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange and other toxic substances. The deadline to apply or register an intent to file was Aug. 9 but has been extended to Aug. 14 because of issues veterans faced with error messages when seeking to apply for benefits and long helpline wait times. The PACT Act was signed into law a year ago, and since then the VA has received more than 843,000 claims that fall under the act, including about 4,300 from Montanans, according to a press release from Sen. Jon Testers office. Since October last year, more than 133,000 veterans who would be eligible for the PACT Act have enrolled in VA health care, with 1,700 of those being Montanans. There have been 4.1 million vets screened for health conditions related to exposure to toxic chemicals. Montana VA has provided 25,940 toxic exposure screenings, a spokesperson said. On Aug. 9, Tester sent a letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough raising concerns about errors messages and long wait times when veterans called for assistance. He asked for extended call center hours, along with overtime staff, and requested daily updates from the VA about efforts to contact veterans to assure them their intents to file for benefits had been processed properly. Tester also raised concerns about a Sept. 30 deadline for one-year health care open enrollment. By Aug. 10, the VA said in a press release it made the decision "out of an abundance of caution after experiencing technical difficulties with" the website to apply for or submit an intent to file for benefits. Citing high demand, the VA said some veterans received error messages, but even so the administration has successfully logged every one of these intents to file, meaning that every veteran or survivor who has received an error message while applying for PACT Act benefits can consider their intent to file complete. Over the last few days, wait times for the helpline have ranged from 10 minutes up to nearly an hour. Veterans will be contacted individually to confirm their filings, the news release said. The administration is also informing veterans of the change via a banner on the VA website, communication over social media, emails, and through congressional leaders and veterans service organizations. By 5 p.m. Aug. 9, the VA said less than one-tenth of 1% of attempts to submit an intent to file resulted in an error message, down from 18% of Aug. 8. To file a claim or submit an intent to file, veterans or those assisting them can visit VA.gov/PACT. The new deadline is 9:59 p.m. Mountain Time on Aug. 14 to receive benefits backdated to Aug. 10, 2022. 10.08.2023 LISTEN Professor Smart Sarpong, a Senior Research Fellow at Kumasi Technical University, has commended the Minority in Parliament for its oversight responsibility. He commended the NDC for the disclosure of crucial information regarding the Bank of Ghana (BoG) dealings. During the Minoritys "Moment of Truth'' held on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, the Minority led by Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson was saddened over the GHc60.8 billion loss incurred by the Bank of Ghana last year. According to the Minority, the "catastrophic decline" experienced by the bank in 2022 is a major concern. "The bank recorded a staggering loss of GHS60.8 billion, which is equivalent to $6 billion. This is twice the amount we are to receive from our recent IMF bailout," he stated. Discussing the issue on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show, Professor Smart Sarpong applauded the Minority's proactive approach to providing the public with necessary information. According to Professor Sarpong, the Minority has proven to be a more reliable source of public information on this matter than the BoG itself. "It tells you that the Minority, in this case, has become a better source of public information than the Bank of Ghana," he remarked. He expressed concern over the Bank of Ghana's inability to effectively communicate and clarify the issues. Prof. Sarpong went on to express his disappointment in the bank's poor public relations efforts, suggesting that the situation calls for a review of its communication strategies. The president of the Central African Republic said his country wanted good relations with France, in an interview that followed years of tension fuelled by the CAR's rapprochement with Russia. "We are not against France," President Faustin Archange Touadera said in an interview with AFP and France's TV5 Monde. "I have just received France's new ambassador to the Central African Republic. That means that cooperation between France and the Central African Republic is ongoing, and we seek to improve it, to strengthen it in the interests of our two peoples." France, the former colonial power, intervened militarily in the chronically unstable CAR in 2013 to help stem a civil war flaring along sectarian lines. That intervention and deployment of UN peacekeepers paved the way for elections in 2016 won by Touadera. He was re-elected in 2020 in controversial circumstances, and supporters want him to run for a third term -- a scenario on which he declined to comment in the interview. Relations between France and the CAR began to come under strain after Touadera in 2018 brought in paramilitaries from Russia's Wagner group to help train his armed forces. In 2020, hundreds more Russian operatives and Rwandan troops were flown in to shore up his regime as rebel groups advanced on the capital ahead of the elections. France last December pulled out its last troops from the CAR as hostility mounted on social media. Asked about his partnership with Russia, Touadera, 66, said, "There are no reasons why this relationship can't continue... the Russian authorities themselves have said so." Map of Central African Republic. By (AFP) "The Central African Republic is a country that seeks to have good relationships with all countries that wish to work with us, including France and the Russian Federation," he said in the interview at the presidential palace on Wednesday. "Today we are conducting diplomatic efforts to enable our country benefit from (all) types of potential cooperation." In Africa, Wagner has been accused by rights groups and other watchdogs of carrying out atrocities and pillaging mineral wealth in exchange for supporting fragile regimes. The future of the organisation, led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, became clouded after it launched a short-lived rebellion against Russia's military top brass in June. But a private security company affiliated with Wagner said it deployed a new batch of "instructors" in the CAR ahead of the constitutional referendum on July 30. The new constitution would extend the presidential mandate from five to seven years and abolish the two-term limit, removing any legal obstacles preventing Touadera from seeking a third spell in office. Violence in Cape Town eased after a week-long minibus taxi strike that paralysed the city and left five dead including a British tourist, police confirmed on Thursday. The strike, which stranded commuters in one of South Africa's largest cities, was called off on Thursday evening after long negotiations. No new violence has been reported since Tuesday. The 40-year-old British man was shot and killed on August 3 after a road blockage by strikers forced him to drive into a township area participating in the strike. "No arrests have been made pertaining to the British citizen but investigations are certainly underway," warrant officer Joseph Swartbooi told AFP. The man identified as Kar Teoh was reportedly killed in front of his wife and two-year-old son. Teoh was a consultant foot and ankle surgeon at the state-run Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust in England. "His professional dedication was unparalleled, but it was his personal warmth, his commitment to friendship, and his unwavering support that we will remember most fondly," friend and fellow orthopaedic surgeon Paul Lee said in an online tribute. City authorities extended their "condolences to his loved ones and all others who have become victims of this violence". A police officer was also killed last Friday as officers were "performing crime prevention patrols to quell taxi related incidents", authorities said. Authorities reported three other deaths that were believed to be related to the strike. 'Getting hungry' Drivers of minibus taxis, the main mode of transport for millions of working-class South Africans, blocked multiple roads in a strike that began last Thursday as a result of clashes with city authorities. The South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) called for the action over a new law giving the city the power to impound vehicles over offences such as driving without a licence. By GIANLUIGI GUERCIA (AFP) The South African National Taxi Council (SANTACO) called for the action over a new law giving the city the power to impound vehicles over offences such as driving without a licence, not displaying registration plates or overloading. President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned the violence. Late on Thursday, the minibus taxi union said it was calling off the strike with "immediate effect" after "painstaking deliberations". Talks with the local government resulted in a deal to work towards the release of impounded vehicles, the union added. Earlier, authorities said measures were being taken to "mitigate impact" of the strike on deliveries. Some supermarkets had empty shelves on Thursday afternoon, an AFP reporter saw. "We are getting hungry now... There's no bread, there's no milk, there's no eggs," a distressed 58-year-old, who asked to remain anonymous over security fears, told AFP, before the announcement of the ending of the strike action. Bernard Allotey Jacobs, former NDC Chairman for the Central Region has strongly criticized the decision of the Minority in Parliament and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to picket the Bank of Ghana (BoG) if the Governor, Dr. Ernest Addison, and his deputies do not heed their call to resign within 21 days. Dr Ato Forson, the Minority Leader in Parliament has accused the BoG's management of financial mismanagement following the $6billion incurred by the bank. In a statement, the NDC said, "We in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) saw the red flags and have consistently warned of the mismanagement of the financial sector by the Governor of the Central Bank and his team of incompetent deputies. "Only last week, the Annual Report and Financial Statement of the Bank of Ghana was released. This report depicted the catastrophic decline of the Bank into a bottomless pit. The report revealed...Bank of Ghana recorded a staggering loss of GHS60.8 billion, which is equivalent to $6 billion. This is twice the amount we are to receive from our recent IMF bailout. "This means the recklessness and mismanagement of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana has cost the nation twice what we are struggling and sacrificing to receive from the IMF amid major conditionalities. "Well embark on popular action to occupy the Central Bank and drive out the team of inept, callous and criminal mismanagers of the finances of this country and Save the Bank of Ghana. The March to Ensure Accountability will begin in 21 days if the Governor of the Bank of Ghana does not do the needful and pack bags and baggage out of that sacred institution that he has so desecrated. In reaction to the NDC threatening a "March to Ensure Accountability," Allotey Jacobs cautioned the opposition party during a discussion on Peace FM's "Kokrokoo" morning show monitored by ModernGhana News. He emphasized that the NDC's actions were creating tension in the country. Drawing attention to ongoing tensions in the West African sub-region, Mr Jacobs cautioned against creating further unrest and instability. "What I want to tell the Minority is to look at what is happening in the west coast of Africa. Don't create tension and don't think that something will happen for you to get something. "It will not be possible but rather you will create some kind of thing that cannot be described," he added. KUMASI, 10 August Tensions continue to escalate in Kumasi as the conflict between the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) and tricycle operators, known as the Pragya union, reaches a boiling point. The Nkosoahene of the Ashanti Region, Alhaji Abdulai Ali Barry, has issued a plea for calm, urging tricycle operators to halt their protests after the KMA imposed a ban on their operations within the Central Business District (CBD). Days of unrest have gripped the city, with clashes between the KMA and the Pragya union resulting in multiple arrests, injuries to security personnel, and a disruption of business operations. The situation has prompted concerns about public safety and economic stability within the region. Sarki Ali Barry, acting as an intermediary between the Asantehene and the Zongo populace, conveyed his apprehension over the ongoing tension. "We must seek an amicable understanding between all parties involved," he emphasized during a meeting with union leaders in Kumasi. He stressed that the sporadic outbursts of unrest could lead to further tension, causing financial losses and wasting precious time. Member of Parliament for Asawase, Hon. Muntaka Mubarak, has also beseeched the tricycle operators to refrain from further demonstrations. Addressing a gathering of tricycle operators in Aboabo, he urged the KMA to lay out clear rules and regulations for operating within designated areas rather than an outright ban from the CBD. The KMA has impounded hundreds of tricycles who's operators defied the ban and clashed with city guards. The KMA's decision to restrict tricycle operations in the CBD was motivated by a desire to alleviate congestion in the metropolis, according to statements from the municipal authority. In contrast, tricycle operators vehemently argue that the KMA's move is unjustified and stems from the municipal's inability to effectively manage transportation systems. The head of the KMA's transport department, Randy Wilson, said the Assembly remain unwavering in its commitment to reducing congestion, despite the mounting resistance from the Pragya union. Ibrahim Khalilulahi Usman 10.08.2023 LISTEN Ghana is currently grappling with a dual development challenge that is caused by leadership and technical advisory failures. The politicians have demonstrated their inability to efficiently manage the productive resources of the country. The current economic crisis has led many public policy analysts and economists to suggest that the country has a leadership crisis. That may not be the only development challenge: there is a technical failure too. The politicians and technical people working at the Ministries and Departments (MDAs) as Chief Directors must always formulate economic policies. The politicians can equally formulate their economic policies and seek the advice of experts for their implementation. However, it appears there is heavy political dominance over the use of technical knowledge in the implementation of economic and social policies. So, the advisories of the technical people are neglected in the end, leading to systemic failures. The intertwining of political and technical failures has impeded the nations progress and ability to harness its full potential. There is clear evidence of political failures that are being experienced from one regime to the next. There have been reports of corruption and governance deficits. Rampant corruption within the government and public institutions has undermined the country's development efforts. Corruption is experienced in the regime. The Auditor-General reports embezzlements of public funds annually, which politicians cannot curb. The country does not have effective governance and accountability mechanisms that are properly developed and instituted to check perennial reports of corruption and mismanagement of public funds at the MDAs and the MMDAs. Transparent governance that can safeguard against corruption and misapplication of funds is lacking in the political culture of the country. People with expertise in many areas relevant to the functioning of a government have failed the country, or the politicians are overshadowing them. There are no adequate reasons to explain the compounded challenges of the Ministry of Finance or the Central Bank of Ghana, because there are technical people to advise the leaders of these institutions in their policy choices. Milton Friedman emphasized the relevance of technical advisory services in governance in his assertion that "The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem." Political leadership has failed the country for many decades. Ghana may currently be experiencing abusive political leadership actions, which are justified in the end. Andrew Jackson claimed, "There are no necessary evils in government. Its evils exist only in its abuses." The governance system of Ghana has been characterized by the misuse of authority by the two major political parties. The solution to perennial corruption, misappropriation, and misapplication of state funds cannot be identified in the political leadership or the political will of those who lead nations. The economic and development challenges of Ghana can only be addressed by the efficient use of technical expertise and solutions proffered by technical people such as Chief Directors, economists, and Financial experts employed in government institutions. Politicians have biases toward the implementation of policies. Their aim is always to achieve the end, regardless of the process or method used. It is obvious that the economic and development challenges in Ghana are both a failure of political leadership and deficient technical advice by persons in charge of policy implementation. Political leadership opinions dominate the advisories of technical people. That is why, for over three decades, Ghana has not been able to address issues of mismanagement and embezzlement at the MDAs. Effective collaboration between policy formulation and implementation needs to be anchored on the practical advice of technical personnel at the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies. Until the country finds a critical development role for people with technical expertise and involves such persons in policy coordination and implementation, the crisis will exacerbate to unbearable levels. The political elites do not have what is required to build an economy with ethical and balanced policy choices. The solution to our development challenges is found in the assertion of Jim Collins, who remarked that "First get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats, and then figure out where to drive." Yet, changing the political leaders in election cycles does not engender the needed solution. There must be a national dialogue on the limits of political power in policy implementation. Emmanuel Kwabena Wucharey Economics Tutor, Advocate and Religion Enthusiast. The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has announced that the handing over ceremony of the old leadership will take place on September 9, 2023 at the Accra International Conference Center. After extensive consideration, the committee unanimously agreed for the handing-over ceremony to be scheduled for the second week in September, stated Joshua K. Opey, spokesperson for the NUGS Transition Team, in a press release on Wednesday, August 9. The handing over ceremony will see newly elected NUGS national executives formally take over from their predecessors who are stepping down after completing their term. Mr. Opey confirmed that the Accra International Conference Center will be in good shape to host the important event. The committee thanks all stakeholders for their continuous support, he remarked in the statement. A new crop of leadership has been elected to manage the affairs of the nations student body. The elections took place during the 56th National Union of Ghana Students Delegate Congress, which was held at the University of Cape Coast on July 9, 2023. The event saw Daniel Kyeremeh emerging as president-elect and Issahaque Ismail Tuchesung emerging as General Secretary elect among many others. As the most prominent student organization in Ghana, NUGS has historically played a key role in national affairs and student advocacy. 10.08.2023 LISTEN Some delegates at the Abuakwa North constituency of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have appealed to the partys leadership to reinstate parliamentary candidate hopeful, Edgar Asamoa Boateng, ahead of the parliamentary primaries on August 25, 2023. The delegates contend that the upcoming elections must be competitive, and that no candidate should be declared winner for contesting unopposed. It will be recalled that the NDC suspended Edgar Asamoah Boateng on July 25 after he sought a court injunction to prevent the party from holding both the presidential and parliamentary primaries, in all the 275 constituencies. Mr. Boateng sought a high court injunction on the May 13 presidential and parliamentary primaries of the NDC due to what he described as a lack of a voters register provided to his aspirants. In a letter signed by the General Secretary of the party, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, the NDC informed Mr. Boateng that his conduct breached Article 49 (1) (d) of the Partys constitution. Speaking to Citi News about the matter at the party head office in Accra, the delegates called on the party to expedite investigations ahead of the primaries. There have been rumors that they have suspended one candidate called Edgar Asamoa Boateng. We think that there is no need for them to suspend him. So we are here for our seniors [leadership] to look into the matter and solve it properly. Because if they decide not to step in, it will affect the NDC at Abuakwa constituency in the 2024 general elections. We dont want that thing to happen. We dont want any unopposed candidate. We want a free and fair election to be conducted. If team A or team B wins, we are all NDC members. That is what we are here to say to them. Another NDC delegate in the constituency also said, If theres something wrong, they should let the delegates know. They shouldnt cover-up. If theres any problem behind his suspension, they should let us know. -citinewsroom West African leaders on Thursday increased their threat of imminent military action against Niger after the country's coup's leaders moved to consolidate their control two weeks after seizing power. At an emergency summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), members decided "to order the deployment of the ECOWAS standby force to restore constitutional order in Niger", its Commission President Omar Touray said. The bloc had already set a deadline of last Sunday for the military leaders to reinstate Niger's president Mohamed Bazoum -- detained since July 26 -- or face military intervention. But the regime ignored the deadline. The details of any eventual military deployment by ECOWAS states and its impact on Niger were not immediately clear. "All is not lost yet" for a "peaceful solution, as a roadmap to restore democracy and stability", said Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu, who chaired the crisis meeting. But he added: "No option is taken off the table, including the use of force as a last resort. "If we don't do it, no one else will do it for us." Before the closed-door talks, Tinubu had insisted that "we prioritise diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach". Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara noted that the West African bloc "has intervened in the past, in Liberia, in Sierra Leone, in Gambia and Guinea-Bissau" when constitutional order in the countries was threatened. "Today we have a similar situation in Niger, and I like to say that ECOWAS cannot accept this," he said. 'We must engage' The 15-nation bloc is struggling to stem military takeovers that have now swept through four of its members in three years, potentially heralding fresh instability in a region struggling for years against jihadist insurgences. Before the meeting, Tinubu acknowledged that "the seven-day ultimatum we issued during the first summit has not yielded the desired outcome". An attempt this week to send a joint team of ECOWAS, UN and African Union representatives to Niger's capital Niamey was rejected by the coup leaders. Niger is one of the world's poorest countries. By - (AFP) "We must engage all parties involved, including the coup leaders, in earnest discussions to convince them to relinquish power and reinstate President Bazoum," he said. But the coup leaders on Thursday signalled further defiance by appointing a new government. A 21-member cabinet will be headed by Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, a civilian, with generals from the new military governing council leading the defence and interior ministries. The possibility of military intervention in Niger, a fragile nation that ranks among the world's poorest, sparked debate within ECOWAS and warnings from neighbouring Algeria as well as Russia. Niger's neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, both ruled by military governments that seized power in coups, also warned an intervention would be a "declaration of war" on their countries. Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, also hit by a recent coup, have been suspended from ECOWAS and like Niger were not represented at the Abuja summit. Hopes for 'real discussions' In a twist on Wednesday, a former emir of the Nigerian city of Kano said he had met with the coup leaders to help mediate the crisis. Economic Community of West African States. By Nalini LEPETIT-CHELLA (AFP) Sanusi Lamido Sanusi told Nigerian state television he had spoken to coup leader General Abdourahamane Tiani and would deliver a "message" to Tinubu, though he was not an official government emissary. "We came hoping that our arrival will pave the way for real discussions between the leaders of Niger and those of Nigeria," said Sanusi, who is known to be a close friend of Tinubu. Current ECOWAS chair Nigeria had taken a hard line against last month's coup, the fifth in Niger since independence from France in 1960. Speaking before flying to Abuja on Wednesday, Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embalo said the future of ECOWAS was at stake following the recent coups among its members. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres joined a chorus of concern about 63-year-old Bazoum, saying that he and his family were reportedly living in "deplorable living conditions". CNN reported Wednesday that Bazoum was being kept in isolation and given meals of only plain rice and pasta. Unstable Sahel Countries in the Sahel are battling a jihadist insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012, spread to Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015, and is now causing jitters in states on the Gulf of Guinea. The bloody campaign has been devastating for those three countries, which have turbulent histories and rank among the poorest nations in the world. Niger has the misfortune of facing a double jihadist insurgency, both in its southwest and also from militants crossing into the southeast. Bazoum's election in 2021 had helped Niger cement close ties with France and the United States, which have major bases and troop deployments in the country. France last year withdrew its forces from Mali and Burkina Faso after falling out with their military leaders, refocussing its anti-jihadist strategy on Niger. The West African bloc ECOWAS, which on Thursday said it will muster a "standby force" against the coup leaders in Niger, has a long history of military interventions in the region. The 15-member Economic Community of West African States, which is dominated by Nigeria, has previously sent troops into a number countries since 1990. Liberia In August 1990, in its first such foray, ECOWAS members assemble a force of several hundred men to intervene in Liberia's brutal civil war. The Nigerian-dominated force quickly grows to nearly 20,000 soldiers. Economic Community of West African States. By Nalini LEPETIT-CHELLA (AFP) In 1997, it carries out a major disarmament operation, paving the way for multi-party elections. The last ECOWAS soldiers leave Liberia in October 1999 but four years later the bloc intervenes again after a second civil war breaks out. That mission is later folded into a UN peacekeeping operation. Sierra Leone In May 1997, ECOWAS forces are deployed in neighbouring Sierra Leone, also in the throes of a civil war. They drive out a military junta and reinstate president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah. In 1999, they repel a rebel offensive on the capital Freetown. The force is replaced by a UN peacekeeping force in 2000. Guinea-Bissau A West African force also intervenes in the former Portuguese colony of Guinea Bissau in 1999 after an army mutiny against President Joao Bernardo Vieira. But the force withdraws several months later after failing to prevent Vieira's overthrow. ECOWAS troops have returned twice since -- in May 2012, to help the political transition after another coup and in 2022 after a failed putsch that claimed 11 lives. Ivory Coast A 1,300-strong West African force is deployed in January 2003 after a civil war effectively cuts Ivory Coast in two. In 2004, the ECOWAS soldiers are integrated into the UN's mission in the country. Mali In January 2013, ECOWAS sends a force to Mali under a UN resolution to help drive out the Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadists who overran the country's north. France launches operation Serval. In July 2013, the 6,300-strong ECOWAS force is absorbed by the UN's MINUSMA stabilisation force in Mali. MINUSMA ends its operations in June 2023 after being pushed out by an anti-Western military junta. Gambia In January 2017, troops from five African nations gather on the borders of the tiny coup-prone state of The Gambia to pressure strongman Yahya Jammeh to stand down after losing presidential elections to Adama Barrow. Two days later, Jammeh agrees to go into exile in Equatorial Guinea, ending six weeks of crisis. At Barrow's request the ECOWAS mission remained in The Gambia. Imagine a lake up to 4 miles wide and 31 miles long submerging the Yellowstone River and 32,000 acres of the Paradise Valley, south of Livingston. There would be no concerts at Pine Creek Cafe or Emigrants Old Saloon. Chico Hot Springs might have beach-front property. Fly fishing for fat, educated trout on Nelsons, Armstrongs or Depuy spring creeks would be impossible. Historic family ranches and wildlife habitat would be flooded. One of the most popular and scenic stretches of the Yellowstone River for trout fishing, camping and floating would be replaced by 4 million acre feet of standing water. There are a lot of people to thank that a dam was never built, and one of them will be posthumously recognized this month with the dedication of a new fishing access site named in his honor Jim Posewitz. The site will be close to where, in 1963, the Bureau of Reclamation first imagined the Allenspur Dam where the Paradise Valley narrows at limestone cliffs near its northern extremity. The Jim Posewitz Free River fishing access, just south of Livingston, includes three interpretive panels discussing the dam issue. Jim happened to be one of those people with leadership talent, who took the opportunity to educate a broad spectrum of people about the benefits of leaving water in the river, all at the same time the public was embracing Earth Day, said Gayle Joslin, a retired Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks biologist and Posewitzs life partner. Without his hard work, and others like him, we wouldnt have the Yellowstone we do today, said Mike Duncan, Region 3 fisheries manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. He was speaking in a 2020 Fresh Tracks video about the river titled The Dam That Never Was: A Conservation Story of the Yellowstone River. Although the Allenspur Dams creation was first outlined in the 1960s, it wasnt until the 1970s that it seemed closer to a reality. Thats when a proposal surfaced to make Eastern Montana and northern Wyoming the coal-powered boiler room for an energy-hungry nation. The idea was outlined in a 1971 study by the Bureau of Reclamation that identified 42 coal-fired electrical plants in five western states, half of them in Montana. To support coal-generated power, the North Central Power Study suggested the damming of the Yellowstone River near Livingston to provide a steady supply of water to coal plants. What they needed was a third of this river, essentially to dry her up, Posewitz said in the Fresh Tracks video. Dams on the Shoshone River, above Buffalo Bill Reservoir in Wyoming, and the Tongue River were also proposed to meet the needs for cooling the coal generating electrical plants near mines. Large water conduits would extend from Hardin, Miles City and Boysen Reservoir to Gillette, Wyoming. In presenting this report, the participants wish to make certain that those persons and agencies directly involved, and the public at large, understand that the participants fully recognize the very real concern for the environment, the report stated in its introduction. The participants fully intend such development of generation will be responsive to this concern, will be studied in detail with respect to the accumulative impact on the environment, and will incorporate whatever methods and facilities are necessary to minimize this impact. Livingston residents were largely united in their opposition. I dont really see any unified support for it, John Sullivan, the youthful editor of the Livingston Enterprise, told the Billings Gazette in 1972. People out in the valley are pretty much up in arms about it. Central to the Livingston dam proposal being shot down was Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks determined work. (Back then, the agency was named the Montana Department of Fish and Game.) The agencys wildlife and fisheries studies of the undammed Yellowstone River, and potential impacts if it were dammed, helped convince Montana residents and lawmakers to keep the Yellowstone River free-flowing. Helping drive FWPs research and public information process was Jim Posewitz, leader of the agencys Environment and Information Division. The thing about Jim Posewitz is that he was really good at looking at all of the angles, said Bob Martinka, who helped gather baseline data as a Fish and Game ecologist working for Posewitz. You didnt work for Jim, you worked with him. He was a teacher and a mentor. He was also the father of six sons at the time he undertook the fight to protect the Yellowstone River. Even though he was only 8 years old, Andrew Posewitz remembers his fathers stress from working on the issue. He put his job on the line, Andrew said, and the biologists who helped write the studies worked long hours to outline the nuanced arguments for keeping the river free-flowing. You dont go into a battle without having the truth on your side, Posewitz said in the Fresh Tracks video. And we could stand before power if we had the truth. Posewitz died in 2020 at the age of 85. The Wisconsin native left behind a legacy of conservation activism, not just in Montana, but for anyone who reads his short treatise on ethical hunting, Beyond Fair Chase. In 1961, after graduating from Montana State University, he began his 32-year career with Fish and Game, first working as a fisheries biologist. Back then, his research helped prevent more damming of the Missouri River upstream from Fort Peck Reservoir. That stretch of water is now part of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. While arguments about coal mining heated the state's political atmosphere, Montana's legislature dramatically changed the scene, first in 1973 with the passage of the Water Use Act and then in 1974 when it enacted the Yellowstone Moratorium, wrote William Lang in a 1985 issue of Montana: The Magazine Of Western History." The Water Use Act revolutionized the water allocation system in Montana by forcing major users to acquire a state permit. The Yellowstone Moratorium halted any significant allocation of the river's water for three years and asked public agencies to estimate how much of the Yellowstone's water should be reserved for their future use. Industrial applicants for Yellowstone water would have to wait their turn. There was this cultural mindset about water and the cliche 'use it or lose it,' and what I was advocating for was 'No, leave it in the river,' Posewitz told reporter Tom Kuglin in an interview. "That was a major shift in thinking about rivers. They were no longer just something to be sucked dry for other economic purposes." Fresh out of journalism school at the University of Montana in 1976, Rich Landers signed on to help produce a special edition of Montana Outdoors magazine, FWPs publication, detailing the findings of fish and wildlife research on the Yellowstone River, he said. Landers would later move on to a long career as the outdoor reporter for the Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington. The data were overwhelmingly in support of maintaining a free-flowing Yellowstone and securing minimum flows to sustain fish and wildlife, Landers wrote in an email. Why keep this a secret? Montana Fish and Game officials concluded. A captivating documentary film, Yellowstone Concerto, also was commissioned. Jim Posewitz, or Poz, as we called him, loomed over the projects with enthusiasm, urgency, positivity and a gift for getting people to recognize aesthetic values that have no price tag, Landers added. Fish and wildlife science could make a difference, he said. Give lawmakers the facts on maintaining a minimum flow in the Yellowstone to sustain fish and wildlife. In the introduction to the 48-page publication, Fish and Game director Wes Woodgerd wrote, In our agricultural-industrial society, it's next to impossible to protect a free river. Nearly all of our great rivers have been essentially undone. In striving for the Yellowstone's preservation, we are, in a sense, reaching for a star; but it's not unreachable. To attract national attention, writers from The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and even Penthouse flew over the river, dams and coal fields as part of a press tour funded by a distillery that made Yellowstone Bourbon. The next day, the reporters got to float and fish the Yellowstone River in what one writer described as the cocktail campaign. Life magazine featured a 10-page color photo essay on the topic titled Great River in Crisis, writer Nick Bergmann reported. Locals formed the Allenspur Committee to Save the Upper Yellowstone. It was Jims strategic mind and unabashed optimism that spawned so many successful efforts and brought them across the finish line, Joslin said. In 1978, the project was killed following a two-month public hearing. The State Board of Natural Resources set aside more than half the Yellowstone Rivers water for fish, wildlife and water quality protection, the Billings Gazette reported on Dec. 16 in a front page story. One writer called it the most important agency decision ever enacted in the history of Montana. As a repercussion, two years later Posewitzs division was eliminated and everyone who worked on the project for Fish and Game was reassigned. What drove Jim Posewitz to fight the Allenspur Dams construction was saving a free-flowing river so later generations would be able to see and experience a wild waterway. A large percentage of Posewitzs ashes were scattered near the proposed dam site so he could watch the river run free. At first, Andrew said his father considered having his ashes spread in the Yellowstone River, but later decided he didnt want them washed downstream to St. Louis. The handout at his memorial service noted, As you so often reminded us, the battle for wild places and our natural resources is never over; each victory simply sets the stage for the next battle. National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia has made a case why President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo should not dare send Ghanaian soldiers to Niger to fight the military junta. This follows the signals from the leadership of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) indicating that a military intervention will be initiated to restore democratic rule in Niger. According to Johnson Asiedu Nketia, any such intervention will be a useless exercise. This is why he insists President Akufo-Addo must not send any Ghanaian soldier to take part in the military intervention. The Niger coup that they say Ghana should deploy military personnel Im telling President Nana Akufo-Addo and the entire Ghanaian populace that we should not participate in this useless exercise and play with the lives of our soldiers. They should not take any Ghanaian soldier to participate in the military exercise in Niger because its a completely useless exercise, the NDC National Chairman said. Johnson Asiedu Nketia continued, Was ECOWAS not in West Africa and aware of the happenings that led to the coup detat in Niger? If a civilian subverts the will of the people, is that not a coup detat? The fact that you were elected through election does not mean anything, so if you subvert the will of the people, that is a coup detat. So if a soldier pulls a gun and stages a coup, theres no difference between you and him. Meanwhile, ECOWAS has ordered its forces to be on standby for the proposed military intervention in Niger. This comes hours after a meeting on Thursday, August 10. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. boosted its stake in WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC Free Report) by 89.2% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 151,224 shares of the technology companys stock after acquiring an additional 71,289 shares during the period. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.s holdings in WESCO International were worth $23,370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WESCO International by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 593,543 shares of the technology companys stock worth $74,311,000 after buying an additional 28,530 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WESCO International by 28.9% in the 1st quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 244,975 shares of the technology companys stock worth $37,858,000 after purchasing an additional 54,875 shares in the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WESCO International by 7.2% in the 4th quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 187,433 shares of the technology companys stock worth $23,467,000 after purchasing an additional 12,640 shares in the last quarter. J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WESCO International by 48.5% in the 1st quarter. J. L. Bainbridge & Co. Inc. now owns 125,269 shares of the technology companys stock worth $19,359,000 after purchasing an additional 40,925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of WESCO International by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 110,067 shares of the technology companys stock worth $13,780,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares in the last quarter. 92.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Get WESCO International alerts: Insider Buying and Selling In related news, EVP Nelson John Squires III sold 3,490 shares of WESCO International stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $628,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 66,147 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $11,906,460. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Nelson John Squires III sold 3,490 shares of WESCO International stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.00, for a total value of $628,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 66,147 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $11,906,460. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP James Cameron sold 7,687 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $153.47, for a total value of $1,179,723.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 35,811 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,495,914.17. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 14,668 shares of company stock valued at $2,418,849. 2.60% of the stock is owned by insiders. WESCO International Stock Performance Shares of WESCO International stock traded down $0.97 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $151.33. 310,664 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 675,583. WESCO International, Inc. has a 12-month low of $112.08 and a 12-month high of $185.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.12, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 2.00. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $167.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $154.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.33. WESCO International (NYSE:WCC Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The technology company reported $3.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.45 by ($0.74). WESCO International had a net margin of 3.81% and a return on equity of 20.41%. The business had revenue of $5.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $5.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $4.19 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that WESCO International, Inc. will post 15.4 EPS for the current fiscal year. WESCO International Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 15th were issued a $0.375 dividend. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 14th. WESCO Internationals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp cut their target price on WESCO International from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 4th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on WESCO International in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on WESCO International from $170.00 to $155.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on WESCO International from $214.00 to $189.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Loop Capital increased their price target on WESCO International from $170.00 to $210.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, WESCO International currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $181.75. View Our Latest Analysis on WCC WESCO International Company Profile (Free Report) WESCO International, Inc provides business-to-business distribution, logistics services, and supply chain solutions in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Electrical & Electronic Solutions (EES), Communications & Security Solutions (CSS), and Utility and Broadband Solutions (UBS). Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WCC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for WESCO International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for WESCO International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL Free Report) by 4.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,224 shares of the enterprise software providers stock after purchasing an additional 363 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in Oracle were worth $857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Atlas Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Oracle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $315,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 8,566 shares of the enterprise software providers stock valued at $700,000 after purchasing an additional 1,565 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Oracle by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 3,991 shares of the enterprise software providers stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Oracle by 45.5% in the 4th quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 102,427 shares of the enterprise software providers stock valued at $8,372,000 after purchasing an additional 32,033 shares during the period. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Oracle in the 4th quarter valued at $735,431,120,000. Institutional investors own 43.43% of the companys stock. Get Oracle alerts: Insider Activity at Oracle In related news, EVP Maria Smith sold 3,680 shares of Oracle stock in a transaction on Friday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.00, for a total transaction of $423,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,909,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Oracle news, EVP Maria Smith sold 3,680 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.00, for a total value of $423,200.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,600 shares in the company, valued at $1,909,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Edward Screven sold 354,837 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.39, for a total value of $43,783,337.43. Following the sale, the insider now owns 2,543,033 shares in the company, valued at $313,784,841.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,175,443 shares of company stock valued at $510,658,596 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 43.70% of the companys stock. Oracle Trading Down 1.8 % Shares of Oracle stock traded down $2.13 on Wednesday, hitting $113.10. 6,522,122 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,470,490. Oracle Co. has a one year low of $60.78 and a one year high of $127.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 55.54, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a fifty day moving average of $115.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $100.39. The company has a market capitalization of $306.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 1.00. Oracle (NYSE:ORCL Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, June 12th. The enterprise software provider reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.09. Oracle had a negative return on equity of 470.73% and a net margin of 17.02%. The company had revenue of $13.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Oracle Co. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year. Oracle Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 26th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 12th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 11th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Oracles dividend payout ratio is presently 52.29%. Analyst Ratings Changes Several research firms recently issued reports on ORCL. Mizuho boosted their price target on Oracle from $116.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 13th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Oracle from $105.00 to $120.00 in a research report on Friday, June 9th. Citigroup upped their target price on Oracle from $86.00 to $106.00 in a research report on Friday, June 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Oracle from $120.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 13th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Oracle from $112.00 to $132.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Oracle has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $119.37. View Our Latest Report on ORCL Oracle Profile (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 Cerner healthcare, Oracle Advertising, and NetSuite applications suite, as well as Oracle Fusion Sales, Service, and Marketing. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ORCL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Oracle Co. (NYSE:ORCL Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Oracle Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Oracle and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Northern Oil and Gas (NYSE:NOG Free Report) had its price target upped by Jefferies Financial Group from $41.00 to $50.00 in a report issued on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Northern Oil and Gas from $45.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 11th. Raymond James reduced their price target on Northern Oil and Gas from $48.00 to $44.00 and set a strong-buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 24th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Northern Oil and Gas from $47.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 13th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Northern Oil and Gas from $60.00 to $53.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Northern Oil and Gas from $42.00 to $45.00 in a report on Thursday, July 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $46.67. Get Northern Oil and Gas alerts: Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on NOG Northern Oil and Gas Price Performance Shares of NYSE NOG traded up $0.56 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $42.40. 1,482,024 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,606,155. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $35.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.92. The stock has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. Northern Oil and Gas has a one year low of $24.21 and a one year high of $42.86. Northern Oil and Gas (NYSE:NOG Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.35 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $476.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $414.01 million. Northern Oil and Gas had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 55.68%. The firms revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.72 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Northern Oil and Gas will post 7.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Northern Oil and Gas Increases Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 28th will be issued a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. This is a boost from Northern Oil and Gass previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 27th. Northern Oil and Gass dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.38%. Insider Activity In other Northern Oil and Gas news, CEO Nicholas L. Ogrady sold 22,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.06, for a total transaction of $878,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 177,255 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,923,580.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Nicholas L. Ogrady sold 22,500 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.06, for a total value of $878,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 177,255 shares in the company, valued at $6,923,580.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider James B. Evans sold 1,000 shares of Northern Oil and Gas stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $40,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,759,480. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 142,791 shares of company stock worth $5,906,692 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.60% of the companys stock. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in Northern Oil and Gas by 137.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 10,915,028 shares of the companys stock valued at $331,271,000 after buying an additional 6,322,462 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Northern Oil and Gas by 5.5% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,803,857 shares of the companys stock worth $206,497,000 after purchasing an additional 354,002 shares during the last quarter. Angelo Gordon & CO. L.P. grew its stake in Northern Oil and Gas by 400.6% in the 4th quarter. Angelo Gordon & CO. L.P. now owns 5,113,784 shares of the companys stock valued at $157,607,000 after purchasing an additional 4,092,342 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Northern Oil and Gas by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,515,908 shares of the companys stock valued at $138,625,000 after purchasing an additional 494,969 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Northern Oil and Gas by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,743,683 shares of the companys stock valued at $102,615,000 after purchasing an additional 20,217 shares during the last quarter. 98.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. About Northern Oil and Gas (Get Free Report) Northern Oil and Gas, Inc, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, exploitation, development, and production of crude oil and natural gas properties in the United States. It primarily holds interests in the Williston Basin, the Appalachian Basin, and the Permian Basin in the United States. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Northern Oil and Gas Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Northern Oil and Gas and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado trimmed its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM Free Report) by 2.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 870,724 shares of the semiconductor companys stock after selling 25,000 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorados holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing were worth $80,995,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hall Laurie J Trustee purchased a new stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. South Dakota Investment Council lifted its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 18,812 shares of the semiconductor companys stock valued at $1,401,000 after buying an additional 1,750 shares during the period. First National Bank of Hutchinson bought a new position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing during the 1st quarter valued at $306,000. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 4,364 shares of the semiconductor companys stock valued at $325,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Pinebridge Investments L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 4,860 shares of the semiconductor companys stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 776 shares during the period. 16.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing alerts: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Price Performance NYSE:TSM traded down $0.51 on Wednesday, reaching $93.98. 6,423,795 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,943,704. The company has a quick ratio of 2.04, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $101.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.97. The firm has a market cap of $487.42 billion, a PE ratio of 15.53, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.06. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited has a 12 month low of $59.43 and a 12 month high of $110.69. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on TSM shares. Susquehanna increased their price target on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $128.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a report on Friday, July 14th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 21st. Finally, StockNews.com cut Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, July 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $108.33. View Our Latest Report on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Profile (Free Report) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, packages, tests, and sells integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices in Taiwan, China, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, the United States, and internationally. It provides complementary metal oxide silicon wafer fabrication processes to manufacture logic, mixed-signal, radio frequency, and embedded memory semiconductors. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TSM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Canaccord Genuity Group upgraded shares of Q2 (NYSE:QTWO Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has $40.00 price target on the technology companys stock, up from their previous price target of $25.00. Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Q2 from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Q2 from $32.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Robert W. Baird raised Q2 from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Monday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Q2 in a research note on Wednesday, July 12th. They issued a buy rating and a $38.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on Q2 from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Q2 presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $37.80. Get Q2 alerts: Read Our Latest Analysis on Q2 Q2 Trading Up 0.9 % Shares of Q2 stock traded up $0.29 on Monday, hitting $33.44. 622,297 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 658,924. Q2 has a one year low of $18.91 and a one year high of $48.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 2.25. The company has a fifty day moving average of $31.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.81. The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.72 and a beta of 1.44. Q2 (NYSE:QTWO Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. The technology company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by $0.13. The business had revenue of $153.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $149.71 million. Q2 had a negative return on equity of 9.76% and a negative net margin of 14.08%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Q2 will post -0.48 earnings per share for the current year. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, Director R. H. Seale sold 22,300 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.28, for a total value of $742,144.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 470,954 shares of the companys stock, valued at $15,673,349.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director R. H. Seale sold 22,300 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Friday, July 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.28, for a total value of $742,144.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 470,954 shares of the companys stock, valued at $15,673,349.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CRO Michael A. Volanoski sold 1,038 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.35, for a total value of $29,427.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now directly owns 204,824 shares of the companys stock, valued at $5,806,760.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 68,289 shares of company stock valued at $1,978,620 over the last ninety days. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Q2 Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in Q2 during the first quarter worth about $49,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Q2 by 175.7% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,191 shares of the technology companys stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Q2 by 370.8% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,243 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 979 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Q2 by 135.6% during the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,616 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JNBA Financial Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Q2 during the 1st quarter valued at about $52,000. Q2 Company Profile (Get Free Report) Q2 Holdings, Inc provides cloud-based digital solutions to regional and community financial institutions in the United States. The company offers Digital Banking Platform, an end-to-end digital banking platform supports its financial institution customers in their delivery of unified digital banking services across digital channels. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Q2 Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Q2 and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Trane Technologies plc (NYSE:TT Free Report) by 0.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 102,471 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Trane Technologies makes up about 1.3% of Eagle Global Advisors LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Eagle Global Advisors LLCs holdings in Trane Technologies were worth $18,853,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Trane Technologies during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $178,000. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in shares of Trane Technologies by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 16,727 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,554,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Trane Technologies during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $219,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Trane Technologies by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,133,851 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,769,040,000 after acquiring an additional 77,924 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Trane Technologies by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 956,177 shares of the companys stock valued at $146,008,000 after acquiring an additional 34,591 shares in the last quarter. 81.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Trane Technologies alerts: Trane Technologies Price Performance TT stock traded down $3.49 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $202.05. 754,597 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,430,301. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $188.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $182.80. Trane Technologies plc has a one year low of $139.07 and a one year high of $209.17. The company has a market cap of $46.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. Trane Technologies Announces Dividend Trane Technologies ( NYSE:TT Get Free Report ) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The company reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $0.12. Trane Technologies had a return on equity of 31.22% and a net margin of 11.18%. The business had revenue of $4.71 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.16 earnings per share. Trane Technologiess revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Trane Technologies plc will post 8.86 earnings per share for the current year. The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Investors of record on Friday, September 1st will be paid a $0.75 dividend. This represents a $3.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 31st. Trane Technologiess dividend payout ratio is currently 36.99%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In TT has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America upped their price target on Trane Technologies from $160.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Trane Technologies from $172.00 to $181.00 in a research report on Monday, July 10th. Mizuho increased their target price on Trane Technologies from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Trane Technologies from $210.00 to $231.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Trane Technologies from $203.00 to $178.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $194.81. Get Our Latest Analysis on Trane Technologies Insider Buying and Selling In other news, CAO Mark Majocha sold 2,202 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.28, for a total transaction of $427,804.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,797 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $737,681.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Mark Majocha sold 2,202 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.28, for a total transaction of $427,804.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,797 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $737,681.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Paul A. Camuti sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.00, for a total value of $980,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 89,409 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,524,164. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 20,374 shares of company stock valued at $4,080,669. Corporate insiders own 0.39% of the companys stock. About Trane Technologies (Free Report) Trane Technologies plc, together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, sells, and services of solutions for heating, ventilation, air conditioning, custom, and custom and transport refrigeration in Ireland and internationally. It offers air conditioners, exchangers, and handlers; airside and terminal devices; air sourced heat pumps, auxiliary power units; chillers; coils and condensers; gensets; dehumidifiers; ductless; furnaces; home automation products; humidifiers; indoor air quality assessments and related products; large and light commercial unitary products; refrigerant reclamation products; thermostats/controls; transport heater products; variable refrigerant flow products; and water source heat pumps. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Trane Technologies plc (NYSE:TT Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Trane Technologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Trane Technologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Wayfair (NYSE:W Get Free Report) had its target price raised by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $45.00 to $90.00 in a research report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Morgan Stanleys price target points to a potential upside of 20.50% from the companys current price. Several other research analysts have also weighed in on W. Stephens raised shares of Wayfair from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and increased their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Wayfair from $56.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Gordon Haskett upgraded Wayfair from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Credit Suisse Group upped their price objective on shares of Wayfair from $118.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Wayfair from $88.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $79.11. Get Wayfair alerts: View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Wayfair Wayfair Stock Down 8.6 % Insider Buying and Selling at Wayfair Shares of NYSE W traded down $7.07 during trading on Monday, hitting $74.69. The company had a trading volume of 4,349,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,806,261. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.01 and a beta of 3.19. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.90. Wayfair has a fifty-two week low of $28.11 and a fifty-two week high of $90.71. In other news, insider Steve Oblak sold 24,653 shares of Wayfair stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.54, for a total value of $974,779.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 219,548 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $8,680,927.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Wayfair news, COO Thomas Netzer sold 21,241 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.11, for a total value of $1,361,760.51. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 109,379 shares of the companys stock, valued at $7,012,287.69. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Steve Oblak sold 24,653 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.54, for a total value of $974,779.62. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 219,548 shares of the companys stock, valued at $8,680,927.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 127,489 shares of company stock valued at $7,540,837 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 26.81% of the companys stock. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Wayfair A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in W. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Wayfair by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 2,360 shares of the companys stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wayfair in the first quarter valued at $378,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Wayfair by 42.7% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,204 shares of the companys stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 659 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in Wayfair by 51.6% in the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 12,740 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,548,000 after acquiring an additional 4,338 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aviva PLC lifted its position in shares of Wayfair by 1.5% during the first quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 23,470 shares of the companys stock worth $2,600,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.35% of the companys stock. Wayfair Company Profile (Get Free Report) Wayfair Inc engages in the e-commerce business in the United States and internationally. The company provides approximately fourty million products for the home sector under various brands. It offers online selections of furniture, decor, housewares, and home improvement products through its sites, including Wayfair, Joss & Main, AllModern, Birch Lane, Perigold, and Wayfair Professional. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Wayfair Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Wayfair and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Wedbush restated their outperform rating on shares of Cinemark (NYSE:CNK Free Report) in a report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $20.00 target price on the stock. Wedbush also issued estimates for Cinemarks Q3 2023 earnings at $0.16 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $1.11 EPS, Q2 2024 earnings at $0.49 EPS, Q3 2024 earnings at $0.40 EPS, Q4 2024 earnings at $0.29 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $1.18 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $1.38 EPS. Several other brokerages have also recently commented on CNK. B. Riley increased their target price on Cinemark from $23.00 to $24.00 in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Cinemark from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price target for the company from $21.00 to $18.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. Benchmark reiterated a buy rating and issued a $17.00 price target on shares of Cinemark in a report on Monday, April 10th. Barrington Research raised their target price on Cinemark from $19.00 to $20.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 9th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Cinemark in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cinemark presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $18.50. Get Cinemark alerts: Get Our Latest Report on Cinemark Cinemark Price Performance Cinemark stock traded down $0.83 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $17.53. 3,192,438 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,863,479. The company has a quick ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 9.70. The business has a fifty day moving average of $16.61 and a 200 day moving average of $15.18. Cinemark has a 1-year low of $8.28 and a 1-year high of $18.85. The company has a market capitalization of $2.13 billion, a PE ratio of -70.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 2.27. Cinemark (NYSE:CNK Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $942.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $870.21 million. Cinemark had a negative return on equity of 4.43% and a negative net margin of 0.28%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.17 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cinemark will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current year. Institutional Trading of Cinemark Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cinemark by 61.1% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 50,486 shares of the companys stock worth $872,000 after acquiring an additional 19,144 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Cinemark by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,133,373 shares of the companys stock worth $19,584,000 after buying an additional 11,733 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. bought a new position in shares of Cinemark during the 1st quarter valued at $247,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Cinemark by 63.4% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 52,765 shares of the companys stock valued at $923,000 after buying an additional 20,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cinemark by 55.6% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 58,176 shares of the companys stock worth $1,005,000 after buying an additional 20,792 shares during the period. 98.06% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Cinemark Company Profile (Get Free Report) Cinemark Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the motion picture exhibition business. As of February 24, 20223 it operated 518 theatres with 5,847 screens in the United States, and South and Central America. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Plano, Texas. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Cinemark Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Cinemark and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. increased its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC Free Report) by 123.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 726,384 shares of the financial services providers stock after purchasing an additional 400,951 shares during the quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.s holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $27,152,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Defender Capital LLC. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the first quarter worth $246,000. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new position in Wells Fargo & Company during the first quarter worth $124,000. Dakota Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company in the first quarter valued at $222,000. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. grew its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 0.3% in the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 273,936 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $13,274,000 after purchasing an additional 770 shares during the period. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 24.5% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 9,630 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,895 shares during the period. 72.11% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Wells Fargo & Company alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of brokerages have recently commented on WFC. Wolfe Research downgraded Wells Fargo & Company from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research report on Friday, July 7th. Odeon Capital Group downgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $43.75 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, July 17th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Wells Fargo & Company from $64.00 to $54.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $46.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Friday, April 14th. Finally, VNET Group restated a maintains rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Monday, June 26th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $48.62. Wells Fargo & Company Stock Down 1.7 % WFC traded down $0.76 on Wednesday, reaching $43.72. The companys stock had a trading volume of 11,684,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,349,818. The stock has a market cap of $164.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.13. Wells Fargo & Company has a 1 year low of $35.25 and a 1 year high of $48.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The businesss 50 day moving average is $43.19 and its 200 day moving average is $42.36. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $20.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.11 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 11.15% and a net margin of 16.18%. Wells Fargo & Companys revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.74 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 4.86 EPS for the current fiscal year. Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. This is a boost from Wells Fargo & Companys previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Wells Fargo & Companys dividend payout ratio is presently 35.00%. About Wells Fargo & Company (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. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Wells Fargo & Company Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Wells Fargo & Company and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. HONOLULU Wildfires in Hawaii fanned by strong winds burned multiple structures in areas including historic Lahaina town, forcing evacuations and closing schools in several communities Wednesday, and rescuers pulled a dozen people escaping smoke and flames from the ocean. The U.S. Coast Guard responded to areas where people went into the ocean to escape the fire and smoky conditions, the County of Maui said in a statement. The Coast Guard tweeted that a crew rescued 12 people from the water off Lahaina. The county tweeted that multiple roads in Lahaina were closed with a warning: "Do NOT go to Lahaina town." Fire was widespread in Lahaina, including Front Street, an area of the town popular with tourists, County of Maui spokesperson Mahina Martin said in a phone interview early Wednesday. Traffic has been very heavy as people try to evacuate and officials asked people who weren't in an evacuation area to shelter in place to avoid adding to the traffic, she said. The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora, which was passing to the south of the island chain at a safe distance of 500 miles (805 kilometers), was partly to blame for gusts above 60 mph (97 kph) that knocked out power as night fell, rattled homes and grounded firefighting helicopters. Dangerous fire conditions created by strong winds and low humidity were expected to last through Wednesday afternoon, the weather service said. Acting Gov. Sylvia Luke issued an emergency proclamation on behalf of Gov. Josh Green, who is traveling, and activated the Hawaii National Guard. Officials were not aware of any deaths and knew of only one injury, a firefighter who was in stable condition at a hospital after experiencing smoke inhalation, Martin said There's no count available for the number of structures affected by the fires or the number of people affected by evacuations, but Martin said there are four shelters open, with more than 1,000 people at the largest. "This is so unprecedented," Martin said, noting that multiple districts were affected. An emergency in the night is terrifying, she said, and the darkness makes it hard to gauge the extent of the damage. "Right now it is all-hands-on-deck and we are anxious for daybreak," she said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a disaster declaration to provide assistance with a fire that threatened about 200 homes in and around Kohala Ranch, a rural community with a population of more than 500 on the Big Island, according to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. When the request was made, the fire had burned more than 600 acres (243 hectares) and was uncontained. Much of Hawaii was under a red flag warning that continued Wednesday, and two other uncontrolled fires were burning on the Big Island and Maui, officials said. Fire crews on Maui were battling multiple blazes concentrated in two areas: the popular tourist destination of West Maui and an inland, mountainous region. In west Maui 911 service was not available and residents were directed to call the police department. Because of the wind gusts, helicopters weren't able to dump water on the fires from the sky or gauge more precise fire sizes and firefighters were encountering roads blocked by downed trees and power lines as they worked the inland fires, Martin said. About 14,500 customers in Maui were without power early Wednesday, according to poweroutage.us. "It's definitely one of the more challenging days for our island given that it's multiple fires, multiple evacuations in the different district areas," Martin said. Winds were recorded at 80 mph (129 kph) in inland Maui and one fire that was believed to be contained earlier Tuesday flared up hours later with the big winds, she added. "The fire can be a mile or more from your house, but in a minute or two, it can be at your house," Fire Assistant Chief Jeff Giesea said. In the Kula area of Maui, at least two homes were destroyed in a fire that engulfed about 1.7 square miles (4.5 square kilometers), Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said. About 80 people were evacuated from 40 homes, he said. "We're trying to protect homes in the community," Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth said of evacuating about 400 homes in four communities in the northern part of the island. As of Tuesday, the roof of one house caught on fire, he said. Fires in Hawaii are unlike many of those burning in the U.S. West. They tend to break out in large grasslands on the dry sides of the islands and are generally much smaller than mainland fires. Fires were rare in Hawaii and on other tropical islands before humans arrived, and native ecosystems evolved without them. This means great environmental damage can occur when fires erupt. For example, fires remove vegetation. When a fire is followed by heavy rainfall, the rain can carry loose soil into the ocean, where it can smother coral reefs. A major fire on the Big Island in 2021 burned homes and forced thousands to evacuate. The island of Oahu, where Honolulu is located, also was dealing with power outages, downed power lines and traffic problems, said Adam Weintraub, communication director for Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. Your browser does not support the iframe HTML tag. Try viewing this in a modern browser like Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer 9 or later. ___ How climate change drives hotter, more frequent heat waves How climate change drives hotter, more frequent heat waves Is climate change to blame? Understanding heat waves Analyzing the likelihood of a heat wave under climate change Protecting at-risk populations from heat waves Palisade Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE:THG Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,600 shares of the insurance providers stock, valued at approximately $334,000. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in THG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in The Hanover Insurance Group by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,690,436 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $472,893,000 after acquiring an additional 10,204 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of The Hanover Insurance Group by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 3,235,297 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $483,743,000 after purchasing an additional 50,073 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,299,490 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $175,600,000 after purchasing an additional 103,416 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in The Hanover Insurance Group by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,105,729 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $141,688,000 after purchasing an additional 6,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in The Hanover Insurance Group by 13.6% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,074,171 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $138,031,000 after buying an additional 128,273 shares in the last quarter. 85.38% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get The Hanover Insurance Group alerts: Insider Activity In other news, Director Jane D. Carlin sold 1,246 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.04, for a total transaction of $142,093.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 2.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. The Hanover Insurance Group Trading Down 1.0 % Shares of THG traded down $1.16 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $110.81. The stock had a trading volume of 104,518 shares, compared to its average volume of 180,397. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $112.76 and a 200 day moving average of $123.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The company has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a P/E ratio of -43.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.67. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $108.71 and a 52 week high of $148.78. The Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 2nd. The insurance provider reported ($1.91) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts consensus estimates of ($1.91). The business had revenue of $1.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.42 billion. The Hanover Insurance Group had a negative net margin of 1.60% and a negative return on equity of 2.83%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 16.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.32 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The Hanover Insurance Group Announces Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.81 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 15th. This represents a $3.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The Hanover Insurance Groups dividend payout ratio is currently -124.62%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research firms recently weighed in on THG. StockNews.com assumed coverage on The Hanover Insurance Group in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating for the company. JMP Securities decreased their price objective on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $170.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 12th. TheStreet cut shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from $148.00 to $141.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of The Hanover Insurance Group from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $155.00 to $153.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, The Hanover Insurance Group has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $148.43. Read Our Latest Analysis on THG The Hanover Insurance Group Profile (Free Report) The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides various property and casualty insurance products and services in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Core Commercial, Specialty, Personal Lines, and Other. The Commercial Lines segment offers commercial multiple peril, commercial automobile, workers' compensation, and other commercial lines coverage. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for The Hanover Insurance Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for The Hanover Insurance Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Blume Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS Free Report) by 3.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,602 shares of the investment management companys stock after buying an additional 550 shares during the quarter. The Goldman Sachs Group makes up approximately 1.5% of Blume Capital Management Inc.s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Blume Capital Management Inc.s holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $4,776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GS. Norges Bank bought a new position in The Goldman Sachs Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $759,531,000. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,936,351 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $2,038,425,000 after buying an additional 1,696,350 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 168,772.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,244,589 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $427,367,000 after buying an additional 1,243,852 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 58.5% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,298,015 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $428,474,000 after buying an additional 479,032 shares during the period. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group by 197.1% during the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 473,887 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $162,723,000 after buying an additional 314,382 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.90% of the companys stock. Get The Goldman Sachs Group alerts: Insider Transactions at The Goldman Sachs Group In other news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 4,200 shares of The Goldman Sachs Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $356.28, for a total transaction of $1,496,376.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,457,330.96. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 10,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.71, for a total value of $3,457,100.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 128,982 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,590,367.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO David M. Solomon sold 4,200 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $356.28, for a total value of $1,496,376.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 124,782 shares in the company, valued at $44,457,330.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,159,686 shares of company stock worth $123,960,027 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.54% of the companys stock. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several analysts have recently commented on GS shares. Societe Generale downgraded shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, July 10th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Monday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $339.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, Atlantic Securities raised shares of The Goldman Sachs Group from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and lifted their price target for the company from $330.00 to $351.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, The Goldman Sachs Group has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $396.93. Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on The Goldman Sachs Group The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Down 1.6 % GS traded down $5.57 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $342.69. 1,295,997 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,582,246. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.97 billion, a PE ratio of 14.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $334.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $337.45. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $287.75 and a 1 year high of $389.58. The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 19th. The investment management company reported $3.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $3.25 by ($0.17). The firm had revenue of $10.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $10.61 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 9.74%. The Goldman Sachs Groups revenue was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.73 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 25.75 EPS for the current year. The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 31st will be paid a dividend of $2.75 per share. This represents a $11.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. This is a boost from The Goldman Sachs Groups previous quarterly dividend of $2.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 30th. The Goldman Sachs Groups payout ratio is presently 46.93%. The Goldman Sachs Group Company 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. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for The Goldman Sachs Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for The Goldman Sachs Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its stake in shares of GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE:GDDY Free Report) by 20.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 37,712 shares of the technology companys stock after buying an additional 6,301 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.s holdings in GoDaddy were worth $2,931,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of GoDaddy by 5.3% during the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 11,305 shares of the technology companys stock worth $879,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in shares of GoDaddy by 34.0% during the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 162,326 shares of the technology companys stock worth $12,616,000 after acquiring an additional 41,226 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in shares of GoDaddy by 38.9% during the first quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 5,003 shares of the technology companys stock worth $389,000 after acquiring an additional 1,401 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of GoDaddy by 11.8% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 53,230 shares of the technology companys stock worth $4,137,000 after acquiring an additional 5,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of GoDaddy by 37.0% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 55,432 shares of the technology companys stock worth $4,308,000 after acquiring an additional 14,976 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.73% of the companys stock. Get GoDaddy alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GDDY shares. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of GoDaddy in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a buy rating for the company. Benchmark reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of GoDaddy in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. Royal Bank of Canada assumed coverage on GoDaddy in a research report on Monday, June 5th. They set a sector perform rating and a $80.00 price target for the company. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on GoDaddy in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. They set an outperform rating and a $95.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of GoDaddy from $98.00 to $95.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Three investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GoDaddy currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $92.00. GoDaddy Stock Up 2.2 % Shares of NYSE GDDY traded up $1.58 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $72.40. 1,799,915 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,169,116. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.19 billion, a PE ratio of 34.21 and a beta of 0.96. GoDaddy Inc. has a 52 week low of $64.65 and a 52 week high of $85.32. The companys 50 day moving average price is $74.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.48. Insider Activity at GoDaddy In other GoDaddy news, CAO Nick Daddario sold 341 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total value of $25,701.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,722 shares in the company, valued at $1,561,817.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Michele Lau sold 7,243 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.32, for a total value of $545,542.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 72,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,481,789.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Nick Daddario sold 341 shares of GoDaddy stock in a transaction on Friday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.37, for a total transaction of $25,701.17. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,561,817.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,553 shares of company stock worth $1,620,723 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.54% of the companys stock. GoDaddy Profile (Free Report) GoDaddy Inc engages in the design and development of cloud-based products in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Applications and Commerce and Core Platform. The Applications and Commerce segment provides applications products, including Websites + Marketing, a mobile-optimized online tool that enables customers to build websites and e-commerce enabled online stores; and Managed WordPress, a streamlined and optimized hosting platform that allows customers to build and manage a faster and more secure WordPress site and offered with WooCommerce to sell online; and marketing tools and services, such as GoDaddy Studio mobile application, search engine optimization, Meta and Google My Business listings, and email and social media marketing designed to help businesses acquire and engage customers and create content. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GDDY? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for GoDaddy Inc. (NYSE:GDDY Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for GoDaddy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for GoDaddy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. decreased its position in HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ Free Report) by 56.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 179,353 shares of the computer makers stock after selling 228,958 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.s holdings in HP were worth $5,264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P raised its holdings in HP by 89.9% in the 1st quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P now owns 873,243 shares of the computer makers stock worth $31,698,000 after purchasing an additional 413,491 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in HP by 46.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 305,877 shares of the computer makers stock worth $11,103,000 after buying an additional 97,178 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC bought a new position in HP in the first quarter worth about $892,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in HP by 6.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 17,651 shares of the computer makers stock worth $641,000 after buying an additional 1,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in HP in the first quarter worth about $309,000. Institutional investors own 76.18% of the companys stock. Get HP alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In HPQ has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of HP from $30.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised HP from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and upped their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Monday, April 17th. Citigroup initiated coverage on HP in a research note on Thursday, June 29th. They issued a neutral rating and a $32.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of HP from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Finally, 58.com reissued a maintains rating on shares of HP in a research note on Wednesday, May 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $29.88. HP Stock Down 0.8 % HPQ traded down $0.26 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $32.81. 4,711,946 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,562,333. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.35 billion, a PE ratio of 12.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.01. The companys 50-day moving average is $31.32 and its 200 day moving average is $30.07. HP Inc. has a 52 week low of $24.08 and a 52 week high of $35.32. HP (NYSE:HPQ Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 30th. The computer maker reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $12.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.07 billion. HP had a negative return on equity of 121.57% and a net margin of 4.75%. The businesss quarterly revenue was down 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that HP Inc. will post 3.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. HP Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 13th will be paid a $0.2625 dividend. This represents a $1.05 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 12th. HPs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.77%. Insider Transactions at HP In other news, insider Alex Cho sold 22,490 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.50, for a total value of $685,945.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 22,003 shares of the companys stock, valued at $671,091.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Marie Myers sold 4,165 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.31, for a total transaction of $122,076.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 34,776 shares in the company, valued at $1,019,284.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Alex Cho sold 22,490 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.50, for a total value of $685,945.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 22,003 shares in the company, valued at $671,091.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 198,620 shares of company stock valued at $6,108,881 over the last quarter. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. About HP (Free Report) HP Inc provides products, technologies, software, solutions, and services to individual consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses, and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health, and education sectors worldwide. It operates through Personal Systems and Printing segments. The Personal Systems segment offers commercial personal computers (PCs), consumer PCs, workstations, thin clients, commercial tablets and mobility devices, retail point-of-sale systems, displays and other related accessories, software, support, and services for the commercial and consumer markets. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding HPQ? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for HP Inc. (NYSE:HPQ Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for HP Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for HP and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in Floor & Decor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:FND Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 11,189 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,099,000. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FND. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Floor & Decor by 32.2% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 6,652 shares of the companys stock worth $539,000 after acquiring an additional 1,619 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Floor & Decor by 28.2% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 13,092 shares of the companys stock worth $1,062,000 after buying an additional 2,882 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Floor & Decor by 84.2% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 9,055 shares of the companys stock worth $733,000 after purchasing an additional 4,138 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Floor & Decor by 4.3% during the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 11,755 shares of the companys stock worth $1,047,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Floor & Decor by 273.9% during the 1st quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 789 shares of the companys stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 578 shares during the period. Get Floor & Decor alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several analysts have recently issued reports on FND shares. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Floor & Decor in a research note on Friday, June 23rd. They issued a buy rating and a $120.00 target price for the company. Wedbush reduced their price target on shares of Floor & Decor from $115.00 to $110.00 in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Floor & Decor from $82.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Monday. Telsey Advisory Group raised their target price on Floor & Decor from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Floor & Decor from $133.00 to $122.00 in a research report on Friday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $103.19. Insider Buying and Selling at Floor & Decor In other Floor & Decor news, EVP Steven Alan Denny sold 6,381 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.59, for a total transaction of $661,007.79. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,419 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,286,484.21. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Thomas V. Taylor sold 18,656 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.00, for a total value of $2,145,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 177,891 shares of the companys stock, valued at $20,457,465. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Steven Alan Denny sold 6,381 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.59, for a total transaction of $661,007.79. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,419 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,286,484.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 55,301 shares of company stock worth $5,984,168 over the last ninety days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Floor & Decor Trading Down 0.1 % Shares of NYSE FND traded down $0.12 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $105.37. 1,139,213 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,380,686. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $103.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $97.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Floor & Decor Holdings, Inc. has a 1 year low of $63.51 and a 1 year high of $116.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.90. Floor & Decor (NYSE:FND Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts consensus estimates of $0.66. Floor & Decor had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 6.55%. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Floor & Decor Holdings, Inc. will post 2.44 EPS for the current year. Floor & Decor Company Profile (Free Report) Floor & Decor Holdings, Inc together with its subsidiaries, operates as a multi-channel specialty retailer and commercial flooring distributor in Georgia. The company offers tile, wood, laminate, vinyl, and natural stone flooring products, as well as decorative accessories, wall tiles, and installation materials and tools. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Floor & Decor Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Floor & Decor and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in John Bean Technologies Co. (NYSE:JBT Free Report) by 2.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 698,797 shares of the industrial products companys stock after acquiring an additional 14,084 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc.s holdings in John Bean Technologies were worth $76,372,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in JBT. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in John Bean Technologies by 64.6% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,844,737 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $218,546,000 after buying an additional 723,720 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of John Bean Technologies in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,359,000. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in shares of John Bean Technologies by 82.0% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 372,539 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $44,134,000 after buying an additional 167,866 shares during the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in shares of John Bean Technologies in the 1st quarter worth approximately $15,598,000. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of John Bean Technologies by 20.8% in the 4th quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 796,136 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $72,711,000 after buying an additional 137,242 shares during the last quarter. 97.66% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get John Bean Technologies alerts: John Bean Technologies Trading Up 0.4 % Shares of NYSE:JBT traded up $0.39 on Wednesday, reaching $111.39. 81,926 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 153,110. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $117.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $110.59. John Bean Technologies Co. has a 52 week low of $81.59 and a 52 week high of $125.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.29 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. John Bean Technologies Announces Dividend John Bean Technologies ( NYSE:JBT Get Free Report ) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The industrial products company reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.18 by ($0.21). The business had revenue of $427.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $466.98 million. John Bean Technologies had a return on equity of 17.20% and a net margin of 6.08%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that John Bean Technologies Co. will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 25th were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 24th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. John Bean Technologiess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.98%. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on JBT shares. TheStreet upgraded John Bean Technologies from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Monday, July 3rd. 58.com reaffirmed a reiterates rating on shares of John Bean Technologies in a report on Friday, June 30th. 888 reaffirmed a reiterates rating on shares of John Bean Technologies in a report on Friday, June 30th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of John Bean Technologies in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an outperform rating and issued a $128.00 price target on shares of John Bean Technologies in a report on Friday, June 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $116.00. Get Our Latest Report on JBT John Bean Technologies Company Profile (Free Report) John Bean Technologies Corporation provides technology solutions to food and beverage industry and equipment and services to air transportation industries in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. The company operates through two segments: FoodTech and AeroTech. It offers value-added processing that includes chilling, mixing/grinding, injecting, blending, marinating, tumbling, flattening, foaming, portioning, coating, cooking, frying, freezing, weighing, and inspection. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding JBT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for John Bean Technologies Co. (NYSE:JBT Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for John Bean Technologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for John Bean Technologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR Free Report) by 0.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 594,945 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock after acquiring an additional 4,093 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. owned approximately 3.31% of Quaker Chemical worth $117,769,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in shares of Quaker Chemical during the first quarter worth about $39,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Quaker Chemical during the first quarter worth about $59,000. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of Quaker Chemical by 30.2% during the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 754 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $131,000 after buying an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Park National Corp OH purchased a new stake in shares of Quaker Chemical during the first quarter worth about $216,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Quaker Chemical by 10.9% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,213 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock worth $181,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. 79.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Quaker Chemical alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Quaker Chemical in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Quaker Chemical from $227.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Quaker Chemical from $220.00 to $235.00 in a research report on Monday, May 8th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Quaker Chemical in a research report on Thursday, June 1st. They set a buy rating and a $250.00 price target on the stock. Insider Transactions at Quaker Chemical In related news, Director Jeffry D. Frisby sold 3,487 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.00, for a total value of $728,783.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,685 shares of the companys stock, valued at $979,165. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Melissa Leneis sold 4,445 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $195.61, for a total value of $869,486.45. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 3,178 shares of the companys stock, valued at $621,648.58. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffry D. Frisby sold 3,487 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.00, for a total transaction of $728,783.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,685 shares in the company, valued at $979,165. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,817 shares of company stock valued at $2,586,931. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the companys stock. Quaker Chemical Stock Down 3.1 % Shares of NYSE KWR traded down $5.58 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $174.23. 84,568 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 91,911. The businesss 50-day moving average price is $194.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $194.92. Quaker Chemical Co. has a twelve month low of $129.06 and a twelve month high of $216.45. The company has a quick ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 370.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 1.39. Quaker Chemical (NYSE:KWR Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.93 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.08. Quaker Chemical had a net margin of 0.45% and a return on equity of 9.59%. The business had revenue of $495.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $507.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.32 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Quaker Chemical Co. will post 7.4 EPS for the current fiscal year. Quaker Chemical Increases Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 17th will be given a dividend of $0.455 per share. This is a boost from Quaker Chemicals previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, October 16th. Quaker Chemicals payout ratio is presently 387.23%. About Quaker Chemical (Free Report) Quaker Chemical Corporation develops, produces, and markets various formulated chemical specialty products for a range of heavy industrial and manufacturing applications. The company operates through four segments: Americas; Europe, Middle East, and Africa; Asia/Pacific; and Global Specialty Businesses. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding KWR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Quaker Chemical Co. (NYSE:KWR Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Quaker Chemical Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Quaker Chemical and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI Free Report) by 0.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 275,116 shares of the industrial products companys stock after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the quarter. Brown Advisory Inc.s holdings in Valmont Industries were worth $87,839,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Valmont Industries by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,067,641 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $555,409,000 after acquiring an additional 71,967 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Valmont Industries by 2.0% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,731,432 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $413,120,000 after purchasing an additional 33,219 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Valmont Industries by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 619,358 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $166,715,000 after purchasing an additional 12,230 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Valmont Industries by 66.9% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 533,278 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $176,339,000 after purchasing an additional 213,702 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Valmont Industries by 3.4% in the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 413,963 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $92,989,000 after purchasing an additional 13,748 shares during the period. 85.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Get Valmont Industries alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on VMI shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Valmont Industries from $389.00 to $352.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 17th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Valmont Industries from $310.00 to $290.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Valmont Industries in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Valmont Industries Stock Up 0.5 % NYSE:VMI traded up $1.27 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $250.58. 167,700 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 151,342. Valmont Industries, Inc. has a 12-month low of $246.33 and a 12-month high of $353.36. The business has a 50-day moving average of $279.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $296.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 1.43 and a current ratio of 2.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.27 billion, a PE ratio of 19.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.08. Valmont Industries Dividend Announcement The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 16th. Investors of record on Friday, September 29th will be given a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 28th. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. Valmont Industriess payout ratio is 18.63%. Valmont Industries Company Profile (Free Report) Valmont Industries, Inc produces and sells metal products in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Denmark, and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Infrastructure and Agriculture. It manufactures and distributes steel, pre-stressed concrete, composite, and hybrid structures for lighting, transportation, and telecommunications equipment, as well as electrical transmission, distribution, substations, and renewable energy generation equipment; and provides coatings services to preserve metal products. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding VMI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Valmont Industries, Inc. (NYSE:VMI Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Valmont Industries Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Valmont Industries and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Cannell & Co. lowered its position in 3M (NYSE:MMM Free Report) by 8.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 16,550 shares of the conglomerates stock after selling 1,550 shares during the period. Cannell & Co.s holdings in 3M were worth $1,740,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MMM. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of 3M by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 678 shares of the conglomerates stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its holdings in 3M by 13.3% during the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 836 shares of the conglomerates stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its holdings in 3M by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 7,941 shares of the conglomerates stock valued at $1,182,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in 3M by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 35,800 shares of the conglomerates stock valued at $3,763,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 3M by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Encompass Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,517 shares of the conglomerates stock valued at $422,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.60% of the companys stock. Get 3M alerts: Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, insider Khandpur K. Ashish sold 9,432 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.27, for a total transaction of $936,314.64. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 20,943 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,079,011.61. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.51% of the companys stock. 3M Price Performance Shares of NYSE:MMM traded down $0.41 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $103.71. 2,115,448 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,616,493. The businesss 50 day moving average is $102.41 and its 200-day moving average is $105.04. The company has a market capitalization of $57.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -36.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. 3M has a 1-year low of $92.38 and a 1-year high of $152.30. 3M (NYSE:MMM Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The conglomerate reported $2.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.73 by $0.44. 3M had a positive return on equity of 38.99% and a negative net margin of 4.43%. The business had revenue of $7.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.48 earnings per share. 3Ms quarterly revenue was down 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that 3M will post 8.95 earnings per share for the current year. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on 3M from $95.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 25th. Barclays lifted their target price on 3M from $93.00 to $96.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. StockNews.com lowered 3M from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, July 20th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on 3M from $95.00 to $100.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an underweight rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of 3M in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a hold rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $115.83. Get Our Latest Stock Report on MMM About 3M (Free Report) 3M Company provides diversified technology services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Safety and Industrial; Transportation and Electronics; Health Care; and Consumer. The Safety and Industrial segment offers industrial abrasives and finishing for metalworking applications; autobody repair solutions; closure systems for personal hygiene products, masking, and packaging materials; electrical products and materials for construction and maintenance, power distribution, and electrical original equipment manufacturers; structural adhesives and tapes; respiratory, hearing, eye, and fall protection solutions; and natural and color-coated mineral granules for shingles. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MMM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for 3M (NYSE:MMM Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for 3M Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for 3M and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. New York Life Investment Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT Free Report) by 15.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,998 shares of the industrial products companys stock after selling 13,703 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLCs holdings in Caterpillar were worth $16,934,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Horan Securities Inc. raised its stake in Caterpillar by 678.6% in the 1st quarter. Horan Securities Inc. now owns 109 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 470.8% during the 1st quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. now owns 137 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC acquired a new position in shares of Caterpillar during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Caterpillar by 1,400.0% during the 1st quarter. Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 150 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.28% of the companys stock. Get Caterpillar alerts: Caterpillar Stock Up 0.6 % NYSE CAT traded up $1.64 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $284.53. 3,084,317 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,253,894. The company has a 50 day moving average of $249.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $236.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $145.15 billion, a PE ratio of 17.72, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.13. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12 month low of $160.60 and a 12 month high of $293.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. Caterpillar Increases Dividend Caterpillar ( NYSE:CAT Get Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The industrial products company reported $5.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.57 by $0.98. The company had revenue of $17.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.46 billion. Caterpillar had a net margin of 12.91% and a return on equity of 55.93%. The companys revenue was up 21.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.18 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.05 earnings per share for the current year. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 20th will be given a $1.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 19th. This represents a $5.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. This is an increase from Caterpillars previous quarterly dividend of $1.20. Caterpillars payout ratio is presently 32.36%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research analysts have recently commented on CAT shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, July 17th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Caterpillar from $287.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Caterpillar from $183.00 to $234.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Caterpillar from $283.00 to $323.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Tigress Financial increased their target price on Caterpillar from $266.00 to $282.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $267.00. Get Our Latest Analysis on Caterpillar Insider Transactions at Caterpillar In other news, insider Joseph E. Creed sold 7,286 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.25, for a total value of $2,078,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Joseph E. Creed sold 7,286 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.25, for a total value of $2,078,331.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Cheryl H. Johnson sold 6,415 shares of Caterpillar stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $260.00, for a total transaction of $1,667,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,362 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,254,120. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,701 shares of company stock valued at $9,246,232. Insiders own 0.33% of the companys stock. About Caterpillar (Free Report) Caterpillar, Inc engages in the manufacture of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. It operates through the following segments: Construction Industries, Resource Industries, Energy and Transportation, Financial Products, and All Other. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CAT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Caterpillar Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Caterpillar and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. A Bismarck woman serving life behind bars for plotting with her lover to kill her husband and cover up the crime with a fire has appealed her murder conspiracy conviction to the North Dakota Supreme Court. The attorney for Nikki Entzel argues that prosecutors by not calling co-conspirator Earl Howard to the stand to testify during Entzels trial failed to prove any conspiracy between the two to kill Chad Entzel, 42. Howard, a man with dual citizenship in the U.S. and Canada who had been living in Belwood, Ontario, pleaded guilty before Nikki Entzels trial to conspiracy and arson under a deal with prosecutors and was sentenced to serve 25 years in prison. The states failure to present the testimony of Ms. Entzels co-conspirator can only be evidence that Earl Howard did not support the states theory, attorney Samuel Gereszek wrote in the appeal, referring to the contention of authorities that Nikki Entzel and Howard were having an affair and had plans to kill Chad Entzel and cash in on insurance. Burleigh County States Attorney Julie Lawyer in her response to the appeal maintains that evidence in the case shows the killing was preplanned. Oral arguments before the Supreme Court are scheduled for Sept. 19. The case Emergency workers responding to a fire call on Jan. 2, 2020, found the body of Chad Entzel in the Entzel home northeast of Bismarck. He had been shot twice with a shotgun. Investigators built a case alleging Nikki Entzel and Howard tried to cover up the killing through several means including starting two fires in the house. Prosecutors said Nikki Entzel told law enforcement that Howard shot her husband, and Howard initially was charged with murder. That charge was dismissed in May 2021 after an evaluation of the firearm didnt conclude who pulled the trigger. Howard, who is now 45, in October 2021 pleaded guilty to arson and three conspiracy charges murder, arson and tampering with evidence. He was sentenced in February 2022 to 50 years in prison with half of the time suspended. State prison records shows hes incarcerated at the James River Correctional Center in Jamestown, with an estimated release date of November 2040. Entzel pleaded not guilty to the three conspiracy charges and took her case to trial in October 2022. Six days of testimony included more than 300 exhibits and more than 40 witnesses, all presented by the prosecution. Entzels defense attorney at trial, Thomas Glass, opted not to give an opening statement at the start of the trial, and he called no witnesses. Entzel did not take the stand in her own defense. Glass instead focused much of his closing argument on the absence of Howard. Appeal arguments Prosecutors had listed Howard as a witness but did not call him to testify. Lawyer after the verdict said the evidence in the case was just overwhelming. She also said that if Howard had been put on the stand he might have chosen not to speak and potentially incriminate himself as being the one who pulled the trigger. Lawyer reiterated her stance on the evidence in her response to the appeal, saying the evidence supports Entzels confession to investigators on Jan. 9, 2020, that the killing was planned a version of events Lawyer says Entzel conveniently ignores in her appeal brief. Gereszek wrote in the appeal that The state failed to present any evidence to support their theory that Ms. Entzel agreed with Earl Howard to murder Chad Entzel, and that By not calling Mr. Howard to testify at Ms. Entzels trial, the only inference that can be drawn is that he would have provided testimony contrary to the states theory. Gereszek also stated that prosecutors presented no evidence of Entzel being involved in any plan before the killing. All the state was able to present to the jury was actions taken by Ms. Entzel post death of Chad Entzel, he wrote. Lawyer in her filing disagreed. She said evidence shows that Nikki Entzel purchased renters insurance just days before the killing and fire, and sent proof of the policy to Howard. The prosecutor also said Nikki Entzels account was used to turn off the driveway security camera at the home before the killing, and that when Entzel returned to a hotel after the slaying she shows no signs of distress despite the fact that she claims she had no idea Howard was going to kill Chad. Lawyer also said Entzel told law enforcement that she was planning to leave her husband. She had been looking at houses in Texas and actually had a job interview in Texas later that month, the prosecutor wrote. Entzel, now 42, this past February was sentenced to life in prison but with a chance for parole. Prison records show shes housed at the Dakota Womens Correctional and Rehabilitation Center in New England. Cooke & Bieler LP purchased a new stake in Integer Holdings Co. (NYSE:ITGR Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 210,330 shares of the medical equipment providers stock, valued at approximately $16,301,000. A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ITGR. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Integer by 420.6% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 328 shares of the medical equipment providers stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Integer during the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Strs Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Integer during the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,000. US Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Integer in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Finally, State of Wyoming lifted its stake in Integer by 129.5% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 840 shares of the medical equipment providers stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 474 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.34% of the companys stock. Get Integer alerts: Integer Price Performance Integer stock traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $88.66. 187,696 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 295,389. Integer Holdings Co. has a one year low of $50.05 and a one year high of $96.17. The stock has a market cap of $2.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 3.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.07. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Integer ( NYSE:ITGR Get Free Report ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The medical equipment provider reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.15. Integer had a net margin of 4.77% and a return on equity of 9.67%. The business had revenue of $400.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $367.05 million. On average, equities analysts predict that Integer Holdings Co. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. TheStreet upgraded shares of Integer from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Integer from $96.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, July 28th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Integer in a report on Thursday, May 11th. They issued a neutral rating and a $88.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Integer in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Integer from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $93.83. Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Integer Insider Buying and Selling at Integer In other news, Director Jean M. Hobby sold 3,625 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.85, for a total value of $303,956.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,126 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $765,215.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.84% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Integer Profile (Free Report) Integer Holdings Corporation operates as a medical device outsource manufacturer in the United States, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and internationally. It operates through Medical and Non-Medical segments. The company offers products for interventional cardiology, structural heart, heart failure, peripheral vascular, neurovascular, interventional oncology, electrophysiology, vascular access, infusion therapy, hemodialysis, urology, and gastroenterology procedures. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ITGR? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Integer Holdings Co. (NYSE:ITGR Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Integer Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Integer and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. CompX International (NYSE:CIX Get Free Report) and Acme United (NYSE:ACU Get Free Report) are both small-cap industrial products companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, dividends and valuation. Risk and Volatility CompX International has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acme United has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Get CompX International alerts: Earnings and Valuation This table compares CompX International and Acme Uniteds revenue, earnings per share and valuation. Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio CompX International $166.60 million 1.69 $20.87 million $1.61 14.22 Acme United $193.03 million 0.65 $3.04 million $1.09 32.52 Profitability CompX International has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Acme United. CompX International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Acme United, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. This table compares CompX International and Acme Uniteds net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets CompX International 12.32% 12.39% 11.16% Acme United 2.02% 4.91% 2.36% Dividends CompX International pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. Acme United pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. CompX International pays out 62.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Acme United pays out 51.4% 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. CompX International has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Acme United has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. CompX International is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth. Analyst Ratings This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for CompX International and Acme United, as provided by MarketBeat. Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score CompX International 0 0 0 0 N/A Acme United 0 0 0 0 N/A Insider & Institutional Ownership 8.0% of CompX International shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 62.3% of Acme United shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of CompX International shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 32.7% of Acme United shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term. Summary CompX International beats Acme United on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks. About CompX International (Get Free Report) CompX International Inc. manufactures and sells security products and recreational marine components primarily in North America. It operates in two segments, Security Products and Marine Components. The Security Products segment manufactures mechanical and electrical cabinet locks, and other locking mechanisms used in various applications, including ignition systems, mailboxes, file cabinets, desk drawers, tool storage cabinets, high security medical cabinetry, integrated inventory and access control secured narcotics boxes, electrical circuit panels, storage compartments, gas station security, and vending and cash containment machines. This segment serves recreational transportation, postal, office and institutional furniture, cabinetry, tool storage, healthcare, and other industries. The Marine Components segment manufactures and distributes stainless steel exhaust headers, exhaust pipes, mufflers, and other exhaust components; gauges, such as GPS speedometers and tachometers; mechanical and electronic controls and throttles; wake enhancement systems, trim tabs, steering wheels, and billet aluminum accessories; dash panels, LED indicators, and wire harnesses; and grab handles, pin cleats, and related hardware and accessories primarily for performance and ski/wakeboard boats for the recreational marine and other industries. The company sells its products directly to original equipment manufacturers, as well as through distributors. The company was incorporated in 1993 and is based in Dallas, Texas. CompX International Inc. is a subsidiary of NL Industries, Inc. About Acme United (Get Free Report) Acme United Corporation supplies first aid and safety, cutting, sharpening, and measuring products to the school, home, office, hardware, sporting goods, and industrial markets in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. The company offers scissors, shears, knives, rulers, pencil sharpeners, paper trimmers, safety cutters, lettering products, glue guns, and other craft products under the Westcott brand name; and cutting tools under the Clauss brand. It also provides fixed blades, folding knives, sight cutting tools, and tactical tools under the Camillus brand; fishing tools and knives, as well as cut and puncture resistant gloves, telescopic landing nets, net containment systems, and tools and fishing gaffs under the Cuda brand; and sharpening tools under the DMT brand. In addition, the company offers first aid kit and safety solutions under the First Aid Only brand; portable eyewash solution and over-the-counter medication, including active ingredients aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen under the PhysiciansCare brand; bodily fluid and spill clean-up solution under the Spill Magic brand; various first aid kit, refill, and safety supplies, including CPR kits, burn kits, and automotive and emergency first aid kits under the First Aid Central; and alcohol prep pads, alcohol wipes, benzalkonium chloride wipes, various antiseptic wipes, castile soaps, and lens cleaning wipes under the Med-Nap brand. It sells its products directly and through its independent manufacturer representatives to wholesale, contract, and retail stationery distributors; office supply stores; school supply distributors; drug store retailers; industrial distributors; wholesale florists; mass market and e-commerce retailers; and hardware chains, as well as through its websites. The company was formerly known as Acme Shear Company and changed its name to Acme United Corporation in 1971. Acme United Corporation was founded in 1867 and is based in Shelton, Connecticut. Receive News & Ratings for CompX International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for CompX International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Realty Income Co. (NYSE:O Free Report) by 3.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 177,639 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock after buying an additional 5,727 shares during the quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc.s holdings in Realty Income were worth $11,248,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Realty Income by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 18,951,549 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $1,202,097,000 after purchasing an additional 2,273,591 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Realty Income by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,354,940 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $911,059,000 after purchasing an additional 465,470 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in Realty Income by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 9,103,654 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $576,444,000 after purchasing an additional 148,913 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Realty Income by 100,285.5% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,624,121 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $547,028,000 after purchasing an additional 8,615,530 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Realty Income by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,246,941 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $523,110,000 after purchasing an additional 26,175 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.52% of the companys stock. Get Realty Income alerts: Realty Income Trading Up 0.9 % O stock traded up $0.51 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $59.51. The company had a trading volume of 3,887,220 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,906,832. The stock has a market cap of $42.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.03, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.78. Realty Income Co. has a 52 week low of $55.50 and a 52 week high of $75.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stocks 50 day moving average price is $60.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.30. Realty Income Announces Dividend Wall Street Analyst Weigh In The firm also recently declared a jul 23 dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.2555 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 31st. This represents a yield of 5.1%. Realty Incomes dividend payout ratio is presently 229.10%. Several research firms have recently weighed in on O. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Realty Income from $71.00 to $71.25 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. StockNews.com downgraded Realty Income from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Realty Income from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded Realty Income from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating and set a $69.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $69.61. Read Our Latest Research Report on Realty Income About Realty Income (Free Report) Realty Income, The Monthly Dividend Company, is an S&P 500 company and member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index. We invest in people and places to deliver dependable monthly dividends that increase over time. The company is structured as a real estate investment trust ("REIT"), and its monthly dividends are supported by the cash flow from over 12,400 real estate properties primarily owned under long-term net lease agreements with commercial clients. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Realty Income Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Realty Income and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 41,780 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,648,000. A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of YUMC. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in Yum China by 20.9% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,387 shares of the companys stock valued at $151,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in Yum China by 36.2% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 272,169 shares of the companys stock valued at $17,253,000 after acquiring an additional 72,400 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Yum China by 6.9% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 187,981 shares of the companys stock worth $11,916,000 after purchasing an additional 12,200 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in Yum China by 8.4% during the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 157,764 shares of the companys stock worth $10,001,000 after purchasing an additional 12,280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pitcairn Co. acquired a new position in Yum China during the first quarter worth $212,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 75.56% of the companys stock. Get Yum China alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets Several analysts have recently issued reports on YUMC shares. TheStreet upgraded Yum China from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Yum China in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Finally, OTR Global upgraded shares of Yum China from a mixed rating to a positive rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. Yum China Stock Down 0.2 % Yum China stock traded down $0.09 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $56.56. 1,983,653 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,713,167. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a current ratio of 1.77. The companys 50-day moving average is $58.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.04. The firm has a market cap of $23.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.06, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.55. Yum China Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.58 and a 52-week high of $64.70. Yum China (NYSE:YUMC Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 31st. The company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.08. Yum China had a net margin of 7.20% and a return on equity of 10.38%. The business had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. The companys quarterly revenue was up 24.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Yum China Holdings, Inc. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year. Yum China Announces Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 28th will be paid a $0.13 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 25th. This represents a $0.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. Yum Chinas payout ratio is currently 29.38%. About Yum China (Free Report) Yum China Holdings, Inc owns, operates, and franchises restaurants in China. The company operates through two segments, KFC and Pizza Hut. It operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Little Sheep, Huang Ji Huang, Lavazza, COFFii & JOY, Taco Bell, and East Dawning brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, hot pot cooking, simmer pot, Italian coffee, specialty coffee, Mexican-style food, and Chinese food categories. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding YUMC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Yum China Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:YUMC Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Yum China Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Yum China and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $560.00 to $617.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Morgan Stanleys price target would indicate a potential upside of 17.05% from the stocks previous close. A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Eli Lilly and Company from a hold rating to a buy rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $408.00 to $615.00 in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Eli Lilly and Company from $565.00 to $633.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an overweight rating and set a $550.00 target price on shares of Eli Lilly and Company in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Eli Lilly and Company from $510.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Eli Lilly and Company from $500.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $517.00. Get Eli Lilly and Company alerts: View Our Latest Stock Report on Eli Lilly and Company Eli Lilly and Company Stock Up 0.2 % Shares of Eli Lilly and Company stock traded up $0.89 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $527.12. The companys stock had a trading volume of 2,146,884 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,065,285. The firm has a market capitalization of $500.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.62, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.35. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $455.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $396.40. 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 has a 1-year low of $296.32 and a 1-year high of $538.00. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The company reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $8.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $7.58 billion. Eli Lilly and Company had a return on equity of 61.42% and a net margin of 20.54%. Eli Lilly and Companys revenue was up 28.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Eli Lilly and Company will post 8.77 earnings per share for the current year. Insider Buying and Selling at Eli Lilly and Company In other Eli Lilly and Company news, major shareholder Lilly Endowment Inc sold 204,409 shares of Eli Lilly and Company stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $523.74, for a total transaction of $107,057,169.66. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 100,823,810 shares of the companys stock, valued at $52,805,462,249.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Patrik Jonsson sold 6,000 shares of the businesss 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 directly owns 36,941 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $15,864,681.86. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Lilly Endowment Inc sold 204,409 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $523.74, for a total value of $107,057,169.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 100,823,810 shares in the company, valued at $52,805,462,249.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 772,663 shares of company stock valued at $365,372,076. 0.13% 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 business. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Eli Lilly and Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Silicon Valley Capital Partners bought a new position in Eli Lilly and Company in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its position in Eli Lilly and Company by 193.3% in the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 88 shares of the companys stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management bought a new position in Eli Lilly and Company in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Laffer Tengler Investments bought a new position in Eli Lilly and Company in the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. 87.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. About Eli Lilly and Company (Get 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. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Eli Lilly and Company Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Eli Lilly and Company and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. EnerSys (NYSE:ENS Get Free Report) updated its second quarter earnings guidance on Wednesday. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $1.77-1.87 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $1.80. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer upped their price target on EnerSys from $110.00 to $119.00 in a report on Friday, June 16th. BTIG Research upped their price target on EnerSys from $100.00 to $125.00 in a report on Friday, June 16th. CL King assumed coverage on EnerSys in a report on Friday, July 14th. They set a buy rating and a $137.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on EnerSys in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a strong-buy rating on the stock. Get EnerSys alerts: Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on ENS EnerSys Stock Down 0.8 % Shares of ENS traded down $0.86 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $102.85. The companys stock had a trading volume of 254,487 shares, compared to its average volume of 222,858. EnerSys has a 12-month low of $56.72 and a 12-month high of $113.34. The stock has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a PE ratio of 24.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 2.64 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The companys 50 day moving average is $106.23 and its 200 day moving average is $92.68. EnerSys (NYSE:ENS Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 25th. The industrial products company reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.44. EnerSys had a return on equity of 14.75% and a net margin of 4.74%. The business had revenue of $990.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $953.05 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that EnerSys will post 7.66 EPS for the current fiscal year. EnerSys Dividend Announcement The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 16th were paid a dividend of $0.175 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 15th. This represents a $0.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. EnerSyss dividend payout ratio is presently 16.43%. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, insider Andrew M. Zogby sold 10,537 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.21, for a total transaction of $1,098,060.77. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 20,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,135,783.95. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Institutional Trading of EnerSys A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of EnerSys in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $238,000. Vident Investment Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EnerSys in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $231,000. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EnerSys in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of EnerSys in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of EnerSys in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $212,000. 94.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. EnerSys Company Profile (Get Free Report) EnerSys provides various stored energy solutions for industrial applications worldwide. It operates in three segments: Energy Systems, Motive Power, and Specialty. The company offers uninterruptible power systems applications for computer and computer-controlled systems, as well as telecommunications systems; switchgear and electrical control systems used in industrial facilities and electric utilities, large-scale energy storage, and energy pipelines; integrated power solutions and services to broadband, telecom, renewable, and industrial customers; and thermally managed cabinets and enclosures for electronic equipment and batteries. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for EnerSys Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for EnerSys and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Federal Agricultural Mortgage Co. (NYSE:AGM Get Free Report)s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $176.50 and last traded at $172.44, with a volume of 7872 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $165.90. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Get Federal Agricultural Mortgage alerts: Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Federal Agricultural Mortgage Federal Agricultural Mortgage Trading Up 0.7 % The firms 50-day moving average is $149.85 and its 200-day moving average is $139.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The firm has a market cap of $1.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56 and a beta of 1.04. Federal Agricultural Mortgage (NYSE:AGM Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. The credit services provider reported $3.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.96 by $0.60. Federal Agricultural Mortgage had a net margin of 15.69% and a return on equity of 22.54%. The business had revenue of $84.41 million during the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Federal Agricultural Mortgage Co. will post 13 EPS for the current fiscal year. Insider Activity at Federal Agricultural Mortgage In other Federal Agricultural Mortgage news, EVP Zachary Carpenter sold 486 shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total transaction of $72,462.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,716 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,299,555.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Everett M. Dobrinski acquired 582 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $128.25 per share, with a total value of $74,641.50. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 6,407 shares of the companys stock, valued at $821,697.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Zachary Carpenter sold 486 shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $149.10, for a total value of $72,462.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,716 shares in the company, valued at $1,299,555.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 3,214 shares of company stock valued at $473,815. 2.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Federal Agricultural Mortgage A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 43.7% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 484,073 shares of the credit services providers stock worth $64,434,000 after purchasing an additional 147,124 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 333,394 shares of the credit services providers stock worth $47,921,000 after purchasing an additional 4,534 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 325,289 shares of the credit services providers stock worth $46,757,000 after purchasing an additional 2,042 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 241,772 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $27,250,000 after acquiring an additional 16,706 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Federal Agricultural Mortgage by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 177,882 shares of the credit services providers stock valued at $23,692,000 after acquiring an additional 9,409 shares during the period. 66.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. About Federal Agricultural Mortgage (Get Free Report) Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation provides a secondary market for various loans made to borrowers in the United States. It operates through Corporate AgFinance, Farm & Ranch, Rural Utilities, and Renewable Energy segments. The company's Agricultural Finance line of business engages in purchasing and retaining eligible loans and securities; guaranteeing the payment of principal and interest on securities that represent interests in or obligations secured by pools of eligible loans; servicing eligible loans; and issuing LTSPCs for eligible loans. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Federal Agricultural Mortgage Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Federal Agricultural Mortgage and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. FineMark National Bank & Trust lowered its stake in shares of Edwards Lifesciences Co. (NYSE:EW Free Report) by 29.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,534 shares of the medical research companys stock after selling 4,711 shares during the period. FineMark National Bank & Trusts holdings in Edwards Lifesciences were worth $954,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 104,971.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,399,249 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $1,148,938,000 after purchasing an additional 15,384,593 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Edwards Lifesciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $658,390,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 21,874,280 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $1,632,040,000 after purchasing an additional 4,712,819 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 161.5% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 3,503,803 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $261,419,000 after purchasing an additional 2,164,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in shares of Edwards Lifesciences by 655.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 2,325,457 shares of the medical research companys stock worth $173,502,000 after purchasing an additional 2,017,801 shares during the last quarter. 79.78% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Edwards Lifesciences alerts: Edwards Lifesciences Price Performance EW stock traded down $0.62 on Wednesday, hitting $77.97. 3,158,249 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,143,482. Edwards Lifesciences Co. has a 1-year low of $67.13 and a 1-year high of $105.79. The stock has a market cap of $47.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.77, a P/E/G ratio of 4.31 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $88.47 and a 200-day moving average of $84.35. The company has a current ratio of 3.15, a quick ratio of 2.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. Insider Activity at Edwards Lifesciences Edwards Lifesciences ( NYSE:EW Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 26th. The medical research company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.51 billion. Edwards Lifesciences had a net margin of 24.56% and a return on equity of 25.43%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.63 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Edwards Lifesciences Co. will post 2.55 EPS for the current fiscal year. In other Edwards Lifesciences news, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.27, for a total value of $676,673.85. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 19,248 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,795,260.96. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Michael A. Mussallem sold 29,350 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.87, for a total transaction of $2,344,184.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 54,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,333,107.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Scott B. Ullem sold 7,255 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.27, for a total transaction of $676,673.85. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 19,248 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,795,260.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 139,801 shares of company stock worth $12,109,452. 1.29% of the stock is owned by insiders. Analyst Ratings Changes EW has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Edwards Lifesciences in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on shares of Edwards Lifesciences in a research note on Tuesday, July 18th. They set an outperform rating and a $107.00 target price for the company. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $95.00 to $102.00 in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $103.00 to $107.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Edwards Lifesciences from $75.00 to $87.00 in a report on Monday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $92.68. Read Our Latest Report on Edwards Lifesciences Edwards Lifesciences 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. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Edwards Lifesciences Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Edwards Lifesciences and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. First Business Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 55,348 shares of the financial services providers stock after buying an additional 2,769 shares during the period. First Business Financial Services Inc.s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Spartan Fund Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at $180,000. Charter Research & Investment Group Inc. increased its stake in Bank of America by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Charter Research & Investment Group Inc. now owns 73,961 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $2,115,000 after buying an additional 6,759 shares during the last quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 246,021 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $7,036,000 after purchasing an additional 11,294 shares during the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 119,751 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $3,425,000 after purchasing an additional 6,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RPG Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. RPG Investment Advisory LLC now owns 158,733 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $4,540,000 after purchasing an additional 4,318 shares during the last quarter. 67.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Bank of America alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several research firms have recently weighed in on BAC. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $45.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $32.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday, July 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Friday, June 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $36.26. Insider Transactions at Bank of America In other news, insider Dean C. Athanasia sold 77,806 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.48, for a total transaction of $2,449,332.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 353,971 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $11,143,007.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 75,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.53, for a total transaction of $2,364,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 185,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,836,455.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Dean C. Athanasia sold 77,806 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.48, for a total transaction of $2,449,332.88. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 353,971 shares of the companys stock, valued at $11,143,007.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Bank of America Stock Performance NYSE BAC traded down $0.41 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $30.86. The companys stock had a trading volume of 30,376,234 shares, compared to its average volume of 51,256,953. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $245.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.36. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $26.32 and a 12 month high of $38.60. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $29.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.43. Bank of America (NYSE:BAC Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.04. Bank of America had a net margin of 19.97% and a return on equity of 12.01%. The firm had revenue of $25.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.98 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.73 EPS. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.41 EPS for the current fiscal year. Bank of America Increases Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 31st. This is an increase from Bank of Americas previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Bank of Americas dividend payout ratio is 25.29%. About Bank of America (Free Report) Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services for individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, large corporations, and governments worldwide. Its Consumer Banking segment offers traditional and money market savings accounts, certificates of deposit and IRAs, noninterest-and interest-bearing checking accounts, and investment accounts and products; and credit and debit cards, residential mortgages, and home equity loans, as well as direct and indirect loans, such as automotive, recreational vehicle, and consumer personal loans. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BAC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Bank of America Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bank of America and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Hill & Smith (LON:HILS Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by equities researchers at Berenberg Bank from GBX 1,625 ($20.77) to GBX 2,000 ($25.56) in a research note issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm presently has a buy rating on the stock. Berenberg Banks target price points to a potential upside of 15.21% from the stocks previous close. Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Numis Securities raised their price objective on Hill & Smith from GBX 1,600 ($20.45) to GBX 1,700 ($21.73) and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, May 25th. Shore Capital reaffirmed a hold rating on shares of Hill & Smith in a report on Thursday, May 25th. Get Hill & Smith alerts: Get Our Latest Research Report on HILS Hill & Smith Price Performance Insider Activity Shares of LON:HILS traded up GBX 56 ($0.72) on Wednesday, reaching GBX 1,736 ($22.19). 70,776 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 121,696. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 36.58. Hill & Smith has a 1-year low of GBX 859 ($10.98) and a 1-year high of GBX 1,738 ($22.21). The company has a 50-day moving average of GBX 1,526.28 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 1,413.04. The firm has a market cap of 1.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2,627.27 and a beta of 1.22. In other news, insider Alan Giddins acquired 6,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 9th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 1,670 ($21.34) per share, for a total transaction of 100,200 ($128,051.12). Company insiders own 2.36% of the companys stock. About Hill & Smith (Get Free Report) Hill & Smith PLC manufactures and supplies infrastructure products in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, North America, the Middle East, rest of Asia, and internationally. It operates through Roads & Security; Utilities; and Galvanizing Services segments. The Roads & Security segment supplies products and services to support road and highway infrastructure, including temporary and permanent road safety barriers; renewable energy lighting and power solutions; intelligent traffic solutions; street lighting columns; and bridge parapets, as well as offres security products that includes hostile vehicle mitigation solutions, high security fencing, and automated gate solutions. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Hill & Smith Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hill & Smith and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Sen. John Hoeven has inserted wording into an appropriations bill report urging the National Park Service to keep herds of wild horses and longhorn cattle in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Hoeven, R-N.D., said the language is intended as a strong message to park officials that Congress wants the wild horses and longhorns to remain a call to reverse an initial preference for gradually eliminating the herds. We want to make sure that the horses continue to exist and roam inside the park, Hoeven said. This essentially directs the Park Service to keep a herd commensurate with Theodore Roosevelts time. Because the plea to keep the horses and longhorns appears in a report accompanying the 2024 budget bill for the U.S. Department of Interior, the National Park Services parent agency, park officials should be inclined to follow congressional intent, Hoeven said. The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved the bill, which now awaits action by the full Senate. The horses are overwhelmingly popular not only among North Dakota residents, but among visitors to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Hoeven said. All the people who have talked to me about it want to keep horses in the park, Hoeven said. The senator noted that the North Dakota Legislature unanimously passed a resolution calling upon the park to keep the horses and longhorns, as have all the states tribal leaders, and Gov. Doug Burgum has offered to help the park keep the horses. Congress has used wording similar to the language Hoeven inserted in the appropriations bill report to urge the National Park Service to keep horses in parks in other states, Hoeven said. The reason were doing it this way is thats how they did it, he said. Hoeven said he agrees with Burgums position that the park should not only maintain wild horses to commemorate Roosevelts time ranching and hunting in the Badlands, but that the herd should be large enough to be genetically healthy. Thats why we used the language we did, Hoeven said. The whole point is we want a large herd size, he added, noting the current herd is about 186 horses. The Senate appropriations bill report, which spells out congressional intent, urges the Service to consider maintaining the historic scene commensurate with the historic herds during the period when President Theodore Roosevelt was a rancher in the area. The Nokota horse, North Dakotas honorary equine, is a distinct breed that originated and resides in the park, Hoeven said. Hoeven, who convened a meeting with park officials in February that also included legislative leaders, Gov. Doug Burgum and Attorney General Drew Wrigley, said he believes the park officials are well aware of the broad support for keeping the horses. I think theyll work with us, Hoeven said. Im not sure where theyre getting this big push to eliminate or sterilize the wild horse herd. Maureen McGee-Ballinger, deputy superintendent of the park, said work continues for a new livestock management plan. Options include a range of alternatives, from no changes to total elimination of the herds. National Park Service officials said a legal review revealed that the enabling legislation for Theodore Roosevelt National Park does not allow it to maintain horses the park has kept for decades to memorialize the historic scene of the open range ranching era. The next step in the process will be to release a draft environmental assessment, which will trigger a public comment opportunity. No decision has been made at this time, McGee-Ballinger said. Chris Kman, director of Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates, applauded Hoevens effort to formalize support for keeping the herds through legislation. Because it would be part of the National Park Service budget, if adopted, it should get park officials attention, she said. ICL Group (NYSE:ICL Get Free Report) issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The basic materials company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.12 by $0.01, MarketWatch Earnings reports. ICL Group had a net margin of 18.85% and a return on equity of 35.99%. The business had revenue of $1.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. ICL Group Trading Down 1.7 % ICL traded down $0.11 on Thursday, reaching $6.53. 594,023 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,280,012. ICL Group has a one year low of $4.96 and a one year high of $11.03. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $6.52. The company has a market cap of $8.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 4.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Get ICL Group alerts: ICL Group Cuts Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.047 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 29th. This represents a $0.19 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. ICL Groups dividend payout ratio is presently 25.00%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several analysts have issued reports on ICL shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an equal weight rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of ICL Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of ICL Group from $8.00 to $7.00 in a report on Thursday, June 1st. Bank of America lowered shares of ICL Group from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, May 18th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of ICL Group in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a buy rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $7.83. Read Our Latest Report on ICL Group Institutional Investors Weigh In On ICL Group A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 199.5% in the 1st quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 4,144,200 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $27,773,000 after purchasing an additional 2,760,561 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 737.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,268,289 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $27,378,000 after purchasing an additional 1,997,559 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of ICL Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,595,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 1,302.0% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,568,507 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $10,627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,456,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of ICL Group by 35.5% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,724,591 shares of the basic materials companys stock valued at $25,327,000 after purchasing an additional 975,801 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 14.17% of the companys stock. ICL Group Company Profile (Get Free Report) ICL Group Ltd, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty minerals and chemicals company worldwide. It operates in four segments: Industrial Products, Potash, Phosphate Solutions, and Growing Solutions. The Industrial Products segment produces bromine out of a solution that is a by-product of the potash production process, as well as bromine-based compounds; produces various grades of potash, salt, magnesium chloride, and magnesia products; and produces and markets phosphorous-based flame retardants and other phosphorus-based products. Read More Receive News & Ratings for ICL Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for ICL Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Institutional & Family Asset Management LLC raised its stake in United States Oil Fund LP (NYSEARCA:USO Free Report) by 2.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 30,799 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 781 shares during the quarter. Institutional & Family Asset Management LLCs holdings in United States Oil Fund were worth $2,046,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in USO. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group bought a new position in shares of United States Oil Fund in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of United States Oil Fund by 310.0% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 410 shares of the companys stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in shares of United States Oil Fund in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of United States Oil Fund in the 4th quarter valued at about $51,000. Finally, Money Concepts Capital Corp boosted its stake in shares of United States Oil Fund by 1,021.3% in the 4th quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 841 shares of the companys stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 766 shares during the last quarter. Get United States Oil Fund alerts: United States Oil Fund Stock Up 1.4 % Shares of NYSEARCA USO traded up $1.04 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $75.10. The companys stock had a trading volume of 4,767,986 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,428,821. United States Oil Fund LP has a one year low of $57.83 and a one year high of $78.96. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $66.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.38. United States Oil Fund Profile United States Oil Fund, LP (USO) is a commodity pool that issues limited partnership interests (shares) traded on the NYSE Arca, Inc (the NYSE Arca). The investment objective of USO is for the daily changes in percentage terms of its shares per share net asset value (NAV) to reflect the daily changes in percentage terms of the spot price of light, sweet crude oil delivered to Cushing, Oklahoma, as measured by the daily changes in the price of the futures contract for light, sweet crude oil traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange, that is the near month contract to expire, except when the near month contract is within over two weeks of expiration, in which case it will be measured by the futures contract that is the next month contract to expire, less USOs expenses. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding USO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for United States Oil Fund LP (NYSEARCA:USO Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for United States Oil Fund Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for United States Oil Fund and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Institutional & Family Asset Management LLC raised its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO Free Report) by 2.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 73,394 shares of the utilities providers stock after purchasing an additional 1,415 shares during the period. Institutional & Family Asset Management LLCs holdings in Southern were worth $5,107,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Personal CFO Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.2% in the first quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 14,772 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,028,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 5.8% in the first quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 16,831 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares in the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 7.0% in the first quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 5,234 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 7.1% in the first quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 10,275 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $715,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kanawha Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.5% in the first quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC now owns 108,905 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $7,578,000 after acquiring an additional 1,570 shares in the last quarter. 63.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Southern alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes SO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday. They set a buy rating and a $72.00 price objective for the company. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $79.00 to $77.00 in a research report on Friday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an underweight rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, July 21st. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Southern from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $73.47. Insider Transactions at Southern In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,435 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total value of $100,435.65. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 74,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,196,477.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Southern news, insider David P. Poroch sold 10,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.05, for a total transaction of $700,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 28,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,009,804.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,435 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total value of $100,435.65. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 74,246 shares in the company, valued at $5,196,477.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 138,761 shares of company stock valued at $9,804,044 in the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Southern Trading Up 0.6 % NYSE:SO traded up $0.38 on Wednesday, reaching $69.19. 3,727,756 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,205,171. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.50. The companys 50 day moving average is $70.72 and its 200-day moving average is $69.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $58.85 and a 1-year high of $80.57. Southern (NYSE:SO Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $5.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.47 billion. Southern had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 9.86%. The companys quarterly revenue was down 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.07 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 3.6 EPS for the current fiscal year. Southern Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 18th. Southerns dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.94%. About Southern (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. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Southern Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Southern and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. JDM Financial Group LLC cut its position in shares of iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEARCA:IEMG Free Report) by 13.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,354 shares of the companys stock after selling 2,794 shares during the quarter. iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF makes up 0.8% of JDM Financial Group LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. JDM Financial Group LLCs holdings in iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF were worth $895,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of IEMG. Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new position in iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Thompson Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF in the first quarter worth $40,000. Tradition Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. Tradition Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,282 shares of the companys stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF by 43.1% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,304 shares of the companys stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont raised its stake in iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF by 4,571.1% during the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 1,775 shares of the companys stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 1,737 shares in the last quarter. Get iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF alerts: iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF Trading Up 0.3 % IEMG stock traded up $0.16 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $50.06. The company had a trading volume of 7,982,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,214,259. The business has a 50 day moving average of $50.09 and a 200 day moving average of $49.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.26 and a beta of 0.75. iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has a fifty-two week low of $41.44 and a fifty-two week high of $52.30. About iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF The iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the MSCI Emerging Markets IMI index, a market-cap-weighted index of emerging-market firms, covering 99% of market capitalization. IEMG was launched on Oct 18, 2012 and is managed by BlackRock. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IEMG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEARCA:IEMG Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. New York Life Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in American Express (NYSE:AXP Free Report) by 0.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 93,326 shares of the payment services companys stock after selling 397 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLCs holdings in American Express were worth $15,394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AXP. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. now owns 1,759 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 2,178 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,220 shares of the payment services companys stock worth $180,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of American Express by 1.2% during the first quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,566 shares of the payment services companys stock valued at $1,041,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares during the period. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its position in shares of American Express by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 4,064 shares of the payment services companys stock valued at $601,000 after acquiring an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.84% of the companys stock. Get American Express alerts: American Express Stock Performance NYSE:AXP traded down $2.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $163.82. The stock had a trading volume of 2,438,639 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,277,069. American Express has a 1-year low of $130.65 and a 1-year high of $182.15. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $170.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $166.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $120.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.67, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.19. Analyst Ratings Changes American Express ( NYSE:AXP Get Free Report ) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 21st. The payment services company reported $2.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.08. American Express had a net margin of 12.99% and a return on equity of 29.26%. The business had revenue of $15.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.41 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.57 EPS. American Expresss revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 11.16 EPS for the current fiscal year. Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of American Express from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $185.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, July 6th. Redburn Partners downgraded shares of American Express from a neutral rating to a sell rating and set a $125.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, May 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of American Express from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of American Express from $194.00 to $185.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Finally, Stephens reiterated an underweight rating and issued a $146.00 price objective on shares of American Express in a research note on Tuesday, July 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $172.88. Get Our Latest Research Report on American Express 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. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for American Express Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for American Express and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. New York Life Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in Dollar General Co. (NYSE:DG Free Report) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 48,292 shares of the companys stock after selling 1,112 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLCs holdings in Dollar General were worth $10,164,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Concord Wealth Partners bought a new stake in Dollar General in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. First Manhattan Co. grew its position in shares of Dollar General by 447.4% during the 4th quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 104 shares of the companys stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Financial Freedom LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Capital Directions Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Dollar General during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Riverpoint Wealth Management Holdings LLC bought a new position in Dollar General in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.02% of the companys stock. Get Dollar General alerts: Insider Buying and Selling In other news, Director Michael M. Calbert acquired 2,500 shares of Dollar General stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 8th. The stock was bought at an average price of $155.25 per share, for a total transaction of $388,125.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 116,682 shares in the company, valued at $18,114,880.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Jeffery Owen purchased 1,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $157.86 per share, with a total value of $236,790.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 55,720 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $8,795,959.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Michael M. Calbert acquired 2,500 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 8th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $155.25 per share, for a total transaction of $388,125.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 116,682 shares in the company, valued at $18,114,880.50. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Dollar General Trading Up 1.1 % Shares of DG traded up $1.78 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $167.05. 1,655,855 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,413,049. The firm has a market cap of $36.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.74, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.28. Dollar General Co. has a 12-month low of $151.27 and a 12-month high of $261.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $165.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $199.96. Dollar General (NYSE:DG Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 1st. The company reported $2.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.38 by ($0.04). Dollar General had a return on equity of 40.03% and a net margin of 6.19%. The business had revenue of $9.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.41 EPS. Dollar Generals quarterly revenue was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Dollar General Co. will post 10.03 earnings per share for the current year. Dollar General Announces Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 11th were paid a $0.59 dividend. This represents a $2.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 10th. Dollar Generals payout ratio is presently 22.24%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Dollar General from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their price target for the company from $235.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Monday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $230.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Friday, June 2nd. Daiwa Capital Markets cut shares of Dollar General from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $172.00 price target for the company. in a report on Tuesday, June 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of Dollar General from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $178.00 to $165.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 6th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group reduced their price objective on shares of Dollar General from $220.00 to $170.00 in a report on Friday, June 2nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Dollar General presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $202.71. Read Our Latest Analysis on DG Dollar General Company Profile (Free Report) Dollar General Corporation, a discount retailer, provides various merchandise products in the southern, southwestern, midwestern, and eastern United States. It offers consumable products, including paper and cleaning products, such as paper towels, bath tissues, paper dinnerware, trash and storage bags, disinfectants, and laundry products; packaged food comprising cereals, pasta, canned soups, fruits and vegetables, condiments, spices, sugar, and flour; and perishables that include milk, eggs, bread, refrigerated and frozen food, beer, and wine. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Dollar General Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Dollar General and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. New York Life Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK Free Report) by 16.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,330 shares of the asset managers stock after selling 4,055 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLCs holdings in BlackRock were worth $14,272,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new position in BlackRock in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Steward Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 168.1% during the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 47 shares of the asset managers stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in shares of BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Tyler Stone Wealth Management grew its position in shares of BlackRock by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 48 shares of the asset managers stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.37% of the companys stock. Get BlackRock alerts: BlackRock Price Performance NYSE:BLK traded down $4.89 on Wednesday, hitting $692.09. The company had a trading volume of 440,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 656,503. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $705.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $688.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.21, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.27. BlackRock, Inc. has a 52 week low of $503.12 and a 52 week high of $785.65. The company has a current ratio of 4.21, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. BlackRock Announces Dividend BlackRock ( NYSE:BLK Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 14th. The asset manager reported $9.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.52 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.47 billion. BlackRock had a net margin of 29.90% and a return on equity of 14.29%. The companys revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.36 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that BlackRock, Inc. will post 35.16 earnings per share for the current year. The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $5.00 per share. This represents a $20.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 7th. BlackRocks dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.41%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of research analysts have issued reports on BLK shares. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of BlackRock from $928.00 to $921.00 in a research report on Sunday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of BlackRock from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and increased their target price for the stock from $770.00 to $835.00 in a research report on Monday, July 10th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $750.00 to $815.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of BlackRock from $760.00 to $740.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of BlackRock from $881.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $767.69. Check Out Our Latest Report on BlackRock Insider Transactions at BlackRock In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 20,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $742.04, for a total transaction of $14,989,208.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 464,125 shares in the company, valued at $344,399,315. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other BlackRock news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 2,079 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $733.82, for a total value of $1,525,611.78. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,160 shares in the company, valued at $4,520,331.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 20,200 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $742.04, for a total transaction of $14,989,208.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 464,125 shares of the companys stock, valued at $344,399,315. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.06% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. About BlackRock (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. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BLK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for BlackRock Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for BlackRock and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. NewEdge Wealth LLC lessened its position in shares of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK Free Report) by 22.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,483 shares of the asset managers stock after selling 1,562 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLCs holdings in BlackRock were worth $3,668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BLK. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Steward Financial Group LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in BlackRock by 168.1% during the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 47 shares of the asset managers stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in BlackRock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Tyler Stone Wealth Management raised its position in shares of BlackRock by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 48 shares of the asset managers stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.37% of the companys stock. Get BlackRock alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes BLK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America dropped their price target on BlackRock from $928.00 to $921.00 in a research report on Sunday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on BlackRock from $881.00 to $888.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on BlackRock from $780.00 to $770.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 3rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on BlackRock from $583.00 to $542.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group increased their price target on BlackRock from $662.00 to $673.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $767.69. BlackRock Price Performance NYSE BLK traded down $4.89 on Wednesday, reaching $692.09. 440,201 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 656,503. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $704.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $689.23. The company has a quick ratio of 4.20, a current ratio of 4.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a market cap of $103.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.27. BlackRock, Inc. has a 12 month low of $503.12 and a 12 month high of $785.65. BlackRock (NYSE:BLK Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 14th. The asset manager reported $9.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $8.52 by $0.76. The firm had revenue of $4.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.47 billion. BlackRock had a return on equity of 14.29% and a net margin of 29.90%. The firms quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that BlackRock, Inc. will post 35.16 EPS for the current fiscal year. BlackRock Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $5.00 per share. This represents a $20.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 7th. BlackRocks dividend payout ratio is presently 58.41%. Insider Transactions at BlackRock In other news, CEO Laurence Fink sold 20,200 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $742.04, for a total transaction of $14,989,208.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 464,125 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $344,399,315. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Mark Wiedman sold 2,079 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $733.82, for a total transaction of $1,525,611.78. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,160 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,520,331.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Laurence Fink sold 20,200 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $742.04, for a total value of $14,989,208.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 464,125 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $344,399,315. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.06% 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. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for BlackRock Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for BlackRock and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. NewEdge Wealth LLC lowered its holdings in EMCOR Group, Inc. (NYSE:EME Free Report) by 9.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 27,828 shares of the construction companys stock after selling 2,784 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLCs holdings in EMCOR Group were worth $4,525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in EMCOR Group by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 7,902 shares of the construction companys stock worth $1,285,000 after buying an additional 538 shares during the last quarter. Mitchell Capital Management Co. increased its position in EMCOR Group by 76.1% in the 1st quarter. Mitchell Capital Management Co. now owns 26,959 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $4,383,000 after acquiring an additional 11,654 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in EMCOR Group by 471.0% in the 1st quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 354 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 292 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp increased its position in shares of EMCOR Group by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 9,118 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $1,482,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the period. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its position in shares of EMCOR Group by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 4,010 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $652,000 after purchasing an additional 535 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.67% of the companys stock. Get EMCOR Group alerts: Insider Transactions at EMCOR Group In other news, CEO Anthony Guzzi sold 2,435 shares of EMCOR Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.01, for a total value of $450,499.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 236,546 shares in the company, valued at $43,763,375.46. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 22,000 shares of company stock worth $4,196,296. Company insiders own 1.60% of the companys stock. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on EMCOR Group in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a strong-buy rating for the company. Read Our Latest Research Report on EME EMCOR Group Stock Down 1.9 % Shares of EMCOR Group stock traded down $4.18 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $217.01. The companys stock had a trading volume of 385,415 shares, compared to its average volume of 380,056. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.99 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $187.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $168.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. EMCOR Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $112.85 and a 1-year high of $222.27. EMCOR Group (NYSE:EME Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The construction company reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.37 by $0.58. EMCOR Group had a return on equity of 24.20% and a net margin of 4.13%. The firm had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.99 earnings per share. The businesss revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that EMCOR Group, Inc. will post 11.07 earnings per share for the current year. EMCOR Group Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 20th were paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 19th. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.33%. EMCOR Groups payout ratio is presently 7.16%. EMCOR Group Profile (Free Report) EMCOR Group, Inc provides electrical and mechanical construction, and facilities services primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom. It offers design, integration, installation, start-up, operation, and maintenance services related to electrical power transmission, distribution, and generation systems; energy solutions; premises electrical and lighting systems; process instrumentation in the refining, chemical processing, and food processing industries; low-voltage systems, such as fire alarm, security, and process control systems; voice and data communications systems; roadway and transit lighting, signaling, and fiber optic lines; heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, and geothermal solutions; clean-room process ventilation systems; fire protection and suppression systems; plumbing, process, and high-purity piping systems; controls and filtration systems; water and wastewater treatment systems; central plant heating and cooling systems; crane and rigging services; millwright services; and steel fabrication, erection, and welding services. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding EME? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for EMCOR Group, Inc. (NYSE:EME Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for EMCOR Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for EMCOR Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lifted its stake in Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY Free Report) by 10.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,486 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltds holdings in Eli Lilly and Company were worth $510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Eli Lilly and Company by 193.3% in the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 88 shares of the companys stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Eli Lilly and Company in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Tanglewood Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new position in Eli Lilly and Company in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Freedom Wealth Alliance LLC bought a new position in Eli Lilly and Company in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. 87.25% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Eli Lilly and Company alerts: Eli Lilly and Company Trading Up 0.9 % Eli Lilly and Company stock traded up $4.63 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $526.23. The stock had a trading volume of 5,333,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,072,704. 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 has a 52-week low of $296.32 and a 52-week high of $538.00. The firm has a market cap of $499.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a fifty day moving average of $455.16 and a 200 day moving average of $396.40. Eli Lilly and Company Dividend Announcement Eli Lilly and Company ( NYSE:LLY Get Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The company reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $8.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.58 billion. Eli Lilly and Company had a net margin of 20.54% and a return on equity of 61.42%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 28.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Eli Lilly and Company will post 8.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 8th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 14th. Eli Lilly and Companys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.86%. Analysts Set New Price Targets Several brokerages recently weighed in on LLY. Credit Suisse Group upped their target price on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $490.00 to $580.00 in a report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $500.00 to $615.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $490.00 to $580.00 in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $550.00 to $630.00 in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $500.00 to $590.00 in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $511.17. Read Our Latest Research Report on Eli Lilly and Company Insider Transactions at Eli Lilly and Company In other news, EVP Patrik Jonsson sold 6,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $429.46, for a total transaction of $2,576,760.00. Following 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 accessible through this hyperlink. In other Eli Lilly and Company news, major shareholder Lilly Endowment Inc sold 204,409 shares of Eli Lilly and Company stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $523.74, for a total value of $107,057,169.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 100,823,810 shares of the companys stock, valued at $52,805,462,249.40. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Patrik Jonsson sold 6,000 shares of Eli Lilly and Company stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $15,864,681.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 772,663 shares of company stock valued at $365,372,076. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Eli Lilly and 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. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Eli Lilly and Company Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Eli Lilly and Company and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. When North Dakotans travel to other states and engage in activities that are legal in those states, is our state government entitled to know the details? Are North Dakotans the property of the state, or are they free people with privacy as long as they comply with the laws of states that they visit? For many of us, its a no-brainer: Of course North Dakotans are free people and arent the property of the state. Of course North Dakotans can exercise freedom and enjoy privacy in other states as long as they arent breaking those states laws. Unfortunately, ND Attorney General Drew Wrigley does not seem to believe we have such freedom and privacy when we leave the state. Wrigley has opposed a rule change proposed by the federal Department of Health and Human Services that aims to strengthen privacy protections under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The rule change limits a states access to information about reproductive health care that occurs outside of its borders. For instance, if a North Dakotan receives a legal abortion in Minnesota, North Dakota agencies are not entitled to that information. The proposed rule change comes at a time when states differ greatly in their laws regarding reproductive health care, including abortion as well as gender-affirming health care for transgender individuals. Of course, this is entirely compatible with the overturn of Roe v. Wade. In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Womens Health Organization enabled state governments to restrict abortions within their own states boundaries. It did not enable state governments to get involved in reproductive health care occurring in other states. It also did not enable state governments to treat their residents as state property and surveil their activities in another state, assuming the laws of the other state are not broken. Should Colorado report to ND agencies that you used legal cannabis in Denver? Should Montana report to ND agencies that you went to rehab in Billings for alcoholism? Of course not. Our reproductive health care should be just as private. This is what it means to leave it to the states when it comes to abortion. It means that a state like Minnesota can permit abortions and other reproductive health care. It means that North Dakota agencies are not entitled to documentation of reproductive health care sought within another states borders. These issues needed clarification given the relative recency of the Dobbs decision. The HHS proposed rule change clarifies and protects our privacy and freedom in this new era of leaving it to the states when it comes to reproductive health care. HIPAA protects your privacy, and so its rules should adapt to modern realities. If we dont bolster our privacy, it may slip away within many domains of our lives not just reproductive health care. State officials who want information about your out-of-state reproductive health care dont seem to be leaving it to the states, do they? Opposition to the HHS proposed rule change seems ironic, cynical, or both. Its ironic for politicians who support the Dobbs decision because they think we should leave to the states the issue of abortion to resist federal rules for ensuring abortion is indeed left up to the states. Of course, leave it to the states may not be a sincere position for some politicians. It may cynically obscure a desire to force abortion restrictions onto other states. If the Dobbs decision means that abortion law is left to the states, then our state government should stay out of reproductive health care that occurs outside of our state borders. Pacer CSOP FTSE China A50 ETF (NYSEARCA:AFTY Get Free Report) shares were up 0.2% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $15.73 and last traded at $15.73. Approximately 401 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 1,106 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.69. Pacer CSOP FTSE China A50 ETF Trading Up 0.2 % The firm has a market cap of $4.88 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.77 and a beta of 0.38. The stocks 50 day moving average is $15.19 and its 200 day moving average is $15.91. Get Pacer CSOP FTSE China A50 ETF alerts: Institutional Trading of Pacer CSOP FTSE China A50 ETF Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in Pacer CSOP FTSE China A50 ETF by 61.7% in the 1st quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,051 shares of the companys stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pacer CSOP FTSE China A50 ETF by 34.7% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 15,818 shares of the companys stock worth $257,000 after acquiring an additional 4,075 shares during the period. Finally, Flow Traders U.S. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pacer CSOP FTSE China A50 ETF by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC now owns 31,236 shares of the companys stock worth $567,000 after acquiring an additional 15,615 shares during the period. Pacer CSOP FTSE China A50 ETF Company Profile The Pacer CSOP FTSE China A50 ETF (AFTY) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the FTSE China A 50 index. The fund tracks an index of the 50 largest China A-shares listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. AFTY was launched on Mar 12, 2015 and is managed by Pacer. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Pacer CSOP FTSE China A50 ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Pacer CSOP FTSE China A50 ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Post (NYSE:POST Free Report) had its price objective boosted by Evercore ISI from $105.00 to $108.00 in a research note released on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Several other research firms also recently weighed in on POST. StockNews.com began coverage on Post in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating for the company. Barclays began coverage on Post in a research note on Tuesday, May 2nd. They set an overweight rating for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on Post in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. They set a buy rating and a $106.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $103.00. Get Post alerts: Get Our Latest Analysis on Post Post Stock Performance Shares of Post stock traded up $0.74 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $88.50. 889,911 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 446,492. Post has a 12-month low of $80.39 and a 12-month high of $98.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.17 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.08. Post (NYSE:POST Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.63. Post had a return on equity of 8.52% and a net margin of 4.82%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.69 EPS. The businesss revenue was up 21.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Post will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year. Insiders Place Their Bets In other Post news, Director Ellen F. Harshman sold 400 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.60, for a total value of $34,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 10,272 shares in the company, valued at approximately $879,283.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Post news, Director Ellen F. Harshman sold 400 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.60, for a total value of $34,240.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 10,272 shares of the companys stock, valued at $879,283.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Bradly A. Harper sold 1,965 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.31, for a total value of $169,599.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,887 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $680,726.97. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Institutional Trading of Post Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of POST. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Post by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 3,011 shares of the companys stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Post by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,241 shares of the companys stock valued at $225,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Post by 136.7% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,553 shares of the companys stock worth $454,000 after acquiring an additional 3,784 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Post by 545.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 32,425 shares of the companys stock worth $2,222,000 after acquiring an additional 27,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Post by 29.8% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 36,813 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,550,000 after purchasing an additional 8,444 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.90% of the companys stock. About Post (Get Free Report) Post Holdings, Inc operates as a consumer packaged goods holding company in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Post Consumer Brands, Weetabix, Foodservice, and Refrigerated Retail. The Post Consumer Brands segment manufactures, markets, and sells branded and private label ready-to-eat (RTE) cereal, hot cereal, and peanut and nut butter. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Post Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Post and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. NewEdge Wealth LLC lowered its holdings in Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI Free Report) by 6.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,055 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 1,599 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC owned about 0.06% of Primerica worth $3,799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in PRI. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Primerica in the 4th quarter valued at about $210,472,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Primerica in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,974,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Primerica by 27.4% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 811,888 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $115,142,000 after acquiring an additional 174,822 shares during the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Primerica by 27.4% in the 1st quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 573,631 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $98,802,000 after acquiring an additional 123,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Primerica by 52.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 232,091 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $31,748,000 after acquiring an additional 80,152 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.27% of the companys stock. Get Primerica alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes A number of research firms have recently commented on PRI. StockNews.com upgraded Primerica from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Saturday, July 8th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Primerica from $240.00 to $260.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Primerica from $170.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James started coverage on Primerica in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. They set a strong-buy rating and a $244.00 price target on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $217.50. Insider Activity In other news, President Peter W. Schneider sold 3,500 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.99, for a total value of $647,465.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 15,024 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $2,779,289.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Glenn J. Williams sold 4,000 shares of Primerica stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.25, for a total transaction of $765,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 49,902 shares of the companys stock, valued at $9,543,757.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Peter W. Schneider sold 3,500 shares of Primerica stock in a transaction on Friday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.99, for a total value of $647,465.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 15,024 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,779,289.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $2,119,760 in the last three months. 0.87% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Primerica Stock Performance Primerica stock traded down $1.52 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $213.48. 144,437 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 148,969. Primerica, Inc. has a twelve month low of $120.18 and a twelve month high of $220.00. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $200.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $182.78. The firm has a market cap of $7.73 billion, a PE ratio of 17.54 and a beta of 1.17. Primerica (NYSE:PRI Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $3.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $3.81 by $0.18. Primerica had a return on equity of 29.54% and a net margin of 16.55%. The company had revenue of $688.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $704.91 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.86 EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Primerica, Inc. will post 15.38 EPS for the current year. Primerica Announces Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.65 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 18th. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. Primericas payout ratio is 21.21%. Primerica Profile (Free Report) Primerica, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products to middle-income households in the United States and Canada. The company operates in four segments: Term Life Insurance; Investment and Savings Products; Senior Health; and Corporate and Other Distributed Products. The Term Life Insurance segment underwrites individual term life insurance products. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PRI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Primerica, Inc. (NYSE:PRI Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Primerica Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Primerica and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd reduced its position in Prologis, Inc. (NYSE:PLD Free Report) by 95.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,200 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock after selling 191,319 shares during the quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltds holdings in Prologis were worth $1,023,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Prologis by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 33,501 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $4,180,000 after acquiring an additional 2,093 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Prologis by 11.9% in the first quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 17,351 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $2,165,000 after purchasing an additional 1,841 shares during the period. Cannell & Co. increased its stake in shares of Prologis by 1.3% in the first quarter. Cannell & Co. now owns 10,081 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $1,258,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Prologis by 3.7% during the first quarter. Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,394 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $673,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Prologis by 9.8% during the first quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 979,182 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $122,172,000 after buying an additional 87,781 shares in the last quarter. 91.74% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Prologis alerts: Insider Activity at Prologis In other Prologis news, Director George L. Fotiades sold 10,711 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.98, for a total value of $1,327,949.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Prologis Stock Performance PLD traded down $0.82 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $122.60. 2,190,321 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,010,405. The stock has a market capitalization of $113.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.98. Prologis, Inc. has a 1 year low of $98.03 and a 1 year high of $138.86. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $123.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.34 and a quick ratio of 0.34. Prologis (NYSE:PLD Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 18th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Prologis had a return on equity of 6.17% and a net margin of 42.52%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 95.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Prologis, Inc. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several research analysts have recently commented on PLD shares. StockNews.com began coverage on Prologis in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. 888 reaffirmed a maintains rating on shares of Prologis in a research note on Wednesday, June 28th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Prologis from $160.00 to $159.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 28th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Prologis from $125.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Prologis from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and set a $141.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $143.48. Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Prologis Prologis Company Profile (Free Report) Prologis, Inc is the global leader in logistics real estate with a focus on high-barrier, high-growth markets. At March 31, 2023, the company owned or had investments in, on a wholly owned basis or through co-investment ventures, properties and development projects expected to total approximately 1.2 billion square feet (113 million square meters) in 19 countries. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Prologis Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Prologis and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Range Resources (NYSE:RRC Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued on Monday. A number of other brokerages have also commented on RRC. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Range Resources from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. VNET Group reiterated an upgrade rating on shares of Range Resources in a report on Friday, May 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Range Resources from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Range Resources from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 24th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Range Resources from $29.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Monday, May 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $33.20. Get Range Resources alerts: Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Range Resources Range Resources Stock Performance RRC stock traded up $0.12 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $33.54. 2,203,746 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,367,111. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 2.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. Range Resources has a twelve month low of $22.61 and a twelve month high of $36.38. Range Resources (NYSE:RRC Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 24th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $637.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $567.67 million. Range Resources had a return on equity of 31.85% and a net margin of 37.22%. The businesss revenue was down 48.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Range Resources will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current year. Insider Buying and Selling at Range Resources In other Range Resources news, SVP Dori Ginn sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.49, for a total value of $1,179,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 282,738 shares in the company, valued at $8,337,943.62. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Reginal Spiller sold 1,950 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.80, for a total value of $52,260.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 16,713 shares of the companys stock, valued at $447,908.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Dori Ginn sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.49, for a total value of $1,179,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 282,738 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $8,337,943.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 387,044 shares of company stock worth $10,674,385. 1.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Range Resources Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in Range Resources by 0.9% during the second quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 526,200 shares of the oil and gas exploration companys stock worth $15,470,000 after purchasing an additional 4,600 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its stake in Range Resources by 7.2% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 116,635 shares of the oil and gas exploration companys stock worth $3,429,000 after purchasing an additional 7,802 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC grew its stake in Range Resources by 2.8% during the second quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 11,887 shares of the oil and gas exploration companys stock worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the period. Bruni J V & Co. Co. grew its stake in Range Resources by 0.8% during the second quarter. Bruni J V & Co. Co. now owns 969,667 shares of the oil and gas exploration companys stock worth $28,508,000 after purchasing an additional 7,978 shares during the period. Finally, Foster & Motley Inc. acquired a new stake in Range Resources during the second quarter worth approximately $355,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.85% of the companys stock. Range Resources Company Profile (Get Free Report) Range Resources Corporation operates as an independent natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and oil company in the United States. The company engages in the exploration, development, and acquisition of natural gas and oil properties. It markets and sells natural gas and NGLs to utilities, marketing and midstream companies, and industrial users; petrochemical end users, marketers/traders, and natural gas processors; and oil and condensate to crude oil processors, transporters, and refining and marketing companies. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Range Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Range Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Robert Half (NYSE:RHI Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued on Monday. RHI has been the topic of several other research reports. Redburn Partners assumed coverage on shares of Robert Half in a research note on Tuesday, June 20th. They set a neutral rating and a $76.00 target price on the stock. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Robert Half from $88.00 to $82.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Credit Suisse Group lowered their price objective on shares of Robert Half from $63.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Robert Half from $63.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Robert Half from $84.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two 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 price target of $71.22. Get Robert Half alerts: View Our Latest Research Report on Robert Half Robert Half Price Performance Robert Half stock traded up $0.46 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $76.28. The stock had a trading volume of 779,046 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,043,946. The company has a market capitalization of $8.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.13 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $75.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.81. Robert Half has a one year low of $64.65 and a one year high of $89.78. Robert Half (NYSE:RHI Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The business services provider reported $1.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $1.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.69 billion. Robert Half had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 34.51%. Robert Halfs revenue was down 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Robert Half will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Insider Buying and Selling at Robert Half In other Robert Half news, Director Dirk A. Kempthorne sold 2,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.15, for a total transaction of $152,007.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,934 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $959,056.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 2.80% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Robert Half A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its holdings in shares of Robert Half by 6.4% in the second quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 4,519 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in shares of Robert Half by 2.9% in the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 18,794 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $1,414,000 after purchasing an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. Andra AP fonden grew its holdings in shares of Robert Half by 1.1% in the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 162,800 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $12,246,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Robert Half by 9.2% in the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 91,489 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $6,882,000 after purchasing an additional 7,735 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Archer Investment Corp grew its holdings in shares of Robert Half by 65.3% in the second quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 1,765 shares of the business services providers stock valued at $133,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares in the last quarter. 89.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About Robert Half (Get Free Report) Robert Half Inc provides talent solutions and business consulting services in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The company operates through three segments: Contract Talent Solutions, Permanent Placement Talent Solutions, and Protiviti. The Contract Talent Solutions segment provides contract engagement professionals in the fields of finance and accounting, technology, marketing and creative, legal and administrative, and customer support. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Robert Half Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Robert Half and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE:RCL Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of Moderate Buy from the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $107.08. Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $70.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $100.00 to $103.00 in a research report on Monday, June 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises from $100.00 to $120.00 in a research note on Friday, June 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $65.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Friday, May 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Royal Caribbean Cruises from $109.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Get Royal Caribbean Cruises alerts: View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Royal Caribbean Cruises Royal Caribbean Cruises Trading Down 2.8 % NYSE:RCL opened at $103.17 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -322.41 and a beta of 2.47. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.28, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.18. Royal Caribbean Cruises has a 12-month low of $36.92 and a 12-month high of $112.95. Royal Caribbean Cruises (NYSE:RCL Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The company reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.24. Royal Caribbean Cruises had a negative net margin of 0.47% and a positive return on equity of 6.76%. The firm had revenue of $3.52 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($2.08) EPS. Royal Caribbean Cruisess quarterly revenue was up 61.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Royal Caribbean Cruises will post 6.25 EPS for the current year. Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Caribbean Cruises In other Royal Caribbean Cruises news, CFO Naftali Holtz sold 5,949 shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises stock in a transaction on Friday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.62, for a total transaction of $658,078.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,967 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,425,569.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CFO Naftali Holtz sold 5,949 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.62, for a total value of $658,078.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 30,967 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,425,569.54. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Henry L. Pujol sold 18,908 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.74, for a total transaction of $2,018,239.92. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 23,521 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,510,631.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 754,718 shares of company stock valued at $60,696,499 in the last 90 days. 8.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Caribbean Cruises Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 52.8% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 24,880 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,581,000 after acquiring an additional 8,601 shares during the last quarter. Saltoro Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in the second quarter valued at approximately $622,000. IPG Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises in the second quarter worth $225,000. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Caribbean Cruises by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 66,199 shares of the companys stock worth $6,867,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Royal Caribbean Cruises by 350.7% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 282,969 shares of the companys stock valued at $29,355,000 after buying an additional 220,180 shares during the last quarter. 71.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. About Royal Caribbean Cruises (Get Free Report Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. operates as a cruise company worldwide. The company operates cruises under the Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruises brands, which comprise a range of itineraries. As of February 13, 2023, it operated 64 ships. The company was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Royal Caribbean Cruises Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Royal Caribbean Cruises and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in Hess Co. (NYSE:HES Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 12,400 shares of the oil and gas producers stock, valued at approximately $1,641,000. Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. FineMark National Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Hess by 51.4% in the first quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 55,943 shares of the oil and gas producers stock worth $7,403,000 after buying an additional 18,985 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Hess by 0.8% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 448,983 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $59,418,000 after purchasing an additional 3,416 shares in the last quarter. TFC Financial Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Hess in the first quarter worth $36,000. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Hess by 46.7% during the first quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 8,460 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $1,120,000 after buying an additional 2,694 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empire Life Investments Inc. raised its position in Hess by 1.0% during the first quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc. now owns 264,860 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $35,052,000 after buying an additional 2,543 shares during the period. 82.89% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Hess alerts: Insider Buying and Selling In related news, Director Corp Hess sold 6,382,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.12, for a total transaction of $166,710,900.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Hess news, Director Corp Hess sold 6,382,500 shares of Hess stock in a transaction on Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.12, for a total transaction of $166,710,900.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Gregory P. Hill sold 33,414 shares of Hess stock in a transaction on Monday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $151.33, for a total transaction of $5,056,540.62. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 82,932 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,550,099.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 9.91% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Hess Stock Performance HES stock traded up $2.99 on Wednesday, reaching $156.40. 1,835,005 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,740,720. Hess Co. has a 12 month low of $100.34 and a 12 month high of $160.52. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $139.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $138.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.02 billion, a PE ratio of 29.96 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 1.54 and a quick ratio of 1.43. Hess (NYSE:HES Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.08. Hess had a net margin of 14.60% and a return on equity of 19.56%. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.15 earnings per share. Hesss revenue was down 22.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Hess Co. will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year. Hess Cuts Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 15th were given a dividend of $0.4375 per share. This represents a $1.75 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 14th. Hesss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.52%. Analysts Set New Price Targets Several analysts recently commented on HES shares. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Hess from $170.00 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Hess from $161.00 to $169.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Hess from $155.00 to $153.00 in a report on Monday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Hess from $158.00 to $154.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on shares of Hess from $168.00 to $164.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $167.00. Check Out Our Latest Report on Hess About Hess (Free Report) Hess Corporation, an exploration and production company, explores, develops, produces, purchases, transports, and sells crude oil, natural gas liquids (NGLs), and natural gas. The company operates in two segments, Exploration and Production, and Midstream. It conducts production operations primarily in the United States, Guyana, the Malaysia/Thailand Joint Development Area, and Malaysia; and exploration activities principally offshore Guyana, the U.S. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Hess Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hess and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shaker Financial Services LLC boosted its position in shares of The European Equity Fund, Inc. (NYSE:EEA Free Report) by 5.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 261,954 shares of the financial services providers stock after acquiring an additional 12,950 shares during the period. Shaker Financial Services LLC owned 3.70% of The European Equity Fund worth $2,213,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UBS Group AG lifted its position in The European Equity Fund by 186.6% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 7,163 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 4,664 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of The European Equity Fund during the 4th quarter worth about $83,000. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of The European Equity Fund by 25.0% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 13,904 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $127,000 after purchasing an additional 2,778 shares during the period. City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of The European Equity Fund during the 1st quarter worth about $129,000. Finally, CSS LLC IL increased its holdings in shares of The European Equity Fund by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. CSS LLC IL now owns 44,307 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 9,414 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.98% of the companys stock. Get The European Equity Fund alerts: The European Equity Fund Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:EEA traded down $0.05 on Wednesday, hitting $8.50. 14,863 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,529. The companys 50 day moving average price is $8.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.50. The European Equity Fund, Inc. has a one year low of $6.06 and a one year high of $8.93. The European Equity Fund Profile The European Equity Fund, Inc is a closed ended equity mutual fund launched by Deutsche Investment Management Americas Inc The fund is managed by Deutsche Asset Management International GmbH. It invests in the public equity markets of Europe. The fund seeks to invest in the stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding EEA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The European Equity Fund, Inc. (NYSE:EEA Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for The European Equity Fund Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for The European Equity Fund and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL Free Report) by 7.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,143 shares of the energy companys stock after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the period. Ropes Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in Shell were worth $296,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Corrado Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. America First Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Shell in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new position in shares of Shell in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 8.52% of the companys stock. Get Shell alerts: Shell Stock Up 1.4 % Shares of SHEL stock traded up $0.84 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $62.53. The company had a trading volume of 4,999,005 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,781,473. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 1.46. Shell plc has a twelve month low of $46.74 and a twelve month high of $63.69. The company has a market capitalization of $217.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.67. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $60.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.91. Shell Increases Dividend Shell ( NYSE:SHEL Get Free Report ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The energy company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $1.59 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $76.02 billion during the quarter. Shell had a net margin of 7.94% and a return on equity of 17.65%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.04 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Shell plc will post 8.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.662 per share. This represents a $2.65 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 10th. This is an increase from Shells previous quarterly dividend of $0.58. Shells dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.12%. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of research firms recently weighed in on SHEL. Morgan Stanley upgraded Shell from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 21st. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Shell from $75.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Shell currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $2,385.20. View Our Latest Analysis on SHEL Shell Company Profile (Free Report) Shell plc operates as an energy and petrochemical company Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, the United States, and Rest of the Americas. The company operates through Integrated Gas, Upstream, Marketing, Chemicals and Products, and Renewables and Energy Solutions segments. It explores for and extracts crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids; markets and transports oil and gas; produces gas-to-liquids fuels and other products; and operates upstream and midstream infrastructure necessary to deliver gas to market. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SHEL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Shell Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Shell and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Managing M&A risk 1 To optimally manage cyber risk in the mergers and acquisitions process, acquiring organizations need a rapid, accurate way to map all the endpoint assets in a target company. Read about how this is done in Managing M&A Risk: How Endpoint Visibility Can Deliver Critical Advantages. A new class of converged endpoint platforms for a better breed of IT SecOps The endpoint environment has transformed, but the balance between a superior user experience and effective security still needs better support than ever. But the legacy approach of stitching together different point solutions isnt working. Discover a new class of converged endpoint platforms for a better breed of IT SecOps. The insideout enterprise: Redefining SecOps for todays remotefirst workplace Enterprise IT teams are adapting to a new IT landscape with a workforce mostly or entirely remote indefinitely. The inside-out enterprise: redefining IT SecOps for todays remote-first workplace explores three security risk management challenges related to managing clients and what organizations can do to overcome them. The key role of digital employee experience in workplace satisfaction, productivity, and retention DEX management has become critical to keeping endpoints healthy and performant, maximizing productivity and improving employee satisfaction and sentiment. So, what separates a good DEX solution from a great one? In this white paper, find out what you need to know. Software bill of materials (SBOM) In November 2022, open-source toolkit developers announced two high-severity vulnerabilities that affect all versions of OpenSSL 3.0.0 up to 3.0.6. How should organizations prepare? One of the most effective tools for finding and addressing Full visibility and real-time threat response: Helping retailers achieve proactive IT Security Hackers are targeting blind spots and vulnerabilities in the complex, multi-tooled IT systems that retailers depend on. And rather than physical goods, threat actors are stealing valuable data. Discover how adopting a converged endpoint management solution with full visibility of assets can help retailers mitigate and prevent data breaches. GigaOm Radar for Patch Management Solutions Good patch management practices in the current global environment require mitigation of the root causes responsible for some recent cyber-events. This GigaOm Radar report highlights the key patch management vendors and equips IT decision-makers with the information needed to select the one best fit for their business and use case requirements. The complex environment facing financial services Today, banks and insurers sell through digital channels while their customers interact digitally as well. As a result, financial services companies are the target of frequent and severe cyberattacks. In this report, learn about the scope and scale of the threat landscape and what this sector can do to gain visibility into their IT environments. Coverged Endpoint Management Delivers the Goods: Risk Reduction, Productivity Gains, Licensing Fee Savings, and Improved Employee Experiences Endpoint security and management teams both share the goal of reducing risk, yet they often work in a segregated fashion. Consequently, they choose tech products that support their individual functions, missing opportunities to serve the greater organization better. Read this IDC report to discover the benefits of converged endpoint management. Information Risk Management Expectations Versus Reality Many businesses have identified a gap between their ideas of information risk management strategies and the maturity of their implementations. Through considering the experiences of 12 security professionals, the Information Risk ManagementExpectations Versus Reality report explores this gap. Continue reading to unlock insights. Arizonas Lessons Learned from its Whole-of-state Cybersecurity Strategy This is why cybersecurity is so important right nowbecause it has no borders, explains Arizonas former CISO Tim Roemer. But, without boundaries, how can any agency achieve a sense security? Under Roemers lead, Arizona did so by implementing a whole-of-state cybersecurity strategy. Keep reading to learn all about it. Cybersecurity readiness checklist for board members Most board members wouldnt call themselves cybersecurity experts. Though, to make informed decisions, all board members need a baseline understanding of their companys security posture. To help them gain that understanding, this checklist presents 9 questions for board members to ask their CIOs. Continue on to explore the questions. Creating the right habits for cyber hygiene success Remediating a cyberattack can be costly, so its a good thing that theres an approach to cybersecurity that can help you avoid remediation. Enter strong cyber hygiene, a preventative security method that can save your organization money and time. Check out this blog to learn about the 4 tenets of successful cyber hygiene. Why a holistic approach to managing risk is key to solving complex IT problems Because CIOs face both cybersecurity and reliability risks, this post encourages a holistic, collaborative approach to addressing risks. Dig in to learn about the dangers of a siloed approach and how to set in motion a collaborative program. How to create a whole-of-state cybersecurity strategy When threat actors target state and local governments, they know that they are targeting essential agencies that must resolve issues quickly. And what does a quick resolution often mean? Paying ransom. To help government agencies strengthen their defenses, this white paper introduces a whole-of-state cybersecurity strategy. Read on to learn more. Managing risk for increased trust and control in the age of data privacy regulation If your business is a victim of a data breach, youll possibly face not only financial and reputational damage but also legal repercussions. And as more data privacy regulations emerge, it becomes even more challenging for your organization to ensure across-the-board compliance. Inside this white paper, discover tips for managing regulatory risk. Views from the C-suite: Why endpoint management is more critical than ever before What were once your successful defense strategies have been outpaced by advancements in cyberthreats, leaving your endpoints vulnerable to attacks. So, how can you strengthen your endpoint security? By setting in motion 10 strategies for endpoint management. Dig into this white paper to unlock them. The Future Of Endpoint Management Endpoint management remains both a foundational capability and a difficult challenge for operations professionals as they support todays increasingly remote and hybrid workforce. This report describes 4 primary endpoint management trends around self-healing, security convergence and more. To manage these trends, read on for guidance for IT pros. Reporting On Risk In The Public Sector Cybersecurity incidents make the news daily. Does your organization have the tools needed to report and manage cyber risks at scale? Ensuring service continuity starts with reporting on your level of risk. Read this guide on how to report risks to your organizations decision makers, so you can deliver services and protect data without disruption. Protecting The IT Attack Surface While Advancing Digital Transformation To survive and to thrive, organizations must continue innovating, launching new products and services, and optimizing old ones. As a result, every organizations attack surface will continue to change and, likely, grow. Learn how business leaders can keep up with these changes in this latest technical deep dive from Tanium experts. The Ultimate Guide To Cyber Hygiene Its critical for organizations to deeply understand their risk posture and have tools in place that provide the endpoint visibility and control needed to detect and remediate security breaches. This white paper provides the benchmarks and security strategies that set IT teams up for success in proactively planning defenses against cyber threats. SilverBow Resources (NYSE:SBOW Get Free Report) had its price objective increased by equities research analysts at Truist Financial from $41.00 to $51.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage presently has a buy rating on the stock. Truist Financials price target would suggest a potential upside of 27.71% from the stocks previous close. Separately, TheStreet raised shares of SilverBow Resources from a c rating to a b- rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Get SilverBow Resources alerts: Read Our Latest Research Report on SilverBow Resources SilverBow Resources Price Performance Insiders Place Their Bets Shares of SBOW traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $39.94. 255,934 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 275,462. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.01. SilverBow Resources has a 52-week low of $19.13 and a 52-week high of $49.91. The company has a market cap of $903.33 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 2.39. In other SilverBow Resources news, Director Marcus C. Rowland sold 8,000 shares of SilverBow Resources stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.21, for a total value of $193,680.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 19,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $469,335.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Hedge Funds Weigh In On SilverBow Resources A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SBOW. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its holdings in shares of SilverBow Resources by 175.1% during the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,304 shares of the companys stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in shares of SilverBow Resources during the 2nd quarter valued at $61,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of SilverBow Resources by 118.5% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 2,511 shares of the companys stock valued at $71,000 after acquiring an additional 1,362 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of SilverBow Resources during the 1st quarter valued at $61,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of SilverBow Resources during the 1st quarter valued at $72,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.48% of the companys stock. About SilverBow Resources (Get Free Report) SilverBow Resources, Inc, an oil and gas company, engages in exploration, development, acquisition, and operation of oil and natural gas properties in the Eagle Ford shale and Austin Chalk located in South Texas. The company was formerly known as Swift Energy Company and changed its name to SilverBow Resources, Inc in May 2017. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for SilverBow Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for SilverBow Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Stokes Family Office LLC grew its holdings in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:AGG Free Report) by 24.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,939 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 1,741 shares during the quarter. Stokes Family Office LLCs holdings in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF were worth $891,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new stake in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. New Millennium Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 188.4% in the 4th quarter. New Millennium Group LLC now owns 323 shares of the companys stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new stake in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. First Manhattan Co. grew its holdings in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 697.9% in the 4th quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 375 shares of the companys stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF in the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.13% of the companys stock. Get iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF alerts: iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF Stock Up 0.1 % NYSEARCA:AGG traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $97.00. 5,634,576 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,175,023. iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF has a 12 month low of $93.20 and a 12 month high of $103.68. The company has a fifty day moving average of $97.70 and a 200 day moving average of $98.50. 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. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AGG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:AGG Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Stokes Family Office LLC boosted its position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ Free Report) (TSE:CNQ) by 56.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 8,847 shares of the oil and gas producers stock after purchasing an additional 3,201 shares during the period. Stokes Family Office LLCs holdings in Canadian Natural Resources were worth $490,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CNQ. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Canadian Natural Resources by 30.3% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 13,128 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $814,000 after acquiring an additional 3,055 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Canadian Natural Resources in the 1st quarter valued at about $403,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 26.0% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 16,727 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $1,036,000 after buying an additional 3,448 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 31.5% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 896,093 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $55,540,000 after buying an additional 214,665 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Canadian Natural Resources by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 8,432 shares of the oil and gas producers stock valued at $523,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. 71.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Canadian Natural Resources alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In CNQ has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on Canadian Natural Resources in a research note on Wednesday, July 12th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Canadian Natural Resources from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. National Bank Financial lowered Canadian Natural Resources from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on Canadian Natural Resources in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $88.17. Canadian Natural Resources Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:CNQ traded up $0.34 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $61.32. The company had a trading volume of 1,258,694 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,034,301. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.24 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The stocks fifty day moving average price is $57.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.23. Canadian Natural Resources Limited has a fifty-two week low of $44.45 and a fifty-two week high of $62.57. Canadian Natural Resources Increases Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 15th will be issued a $0.6744 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.40%. This is a positive change from Canadian Natural Resourcess previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. Canadian Natural Resourcess payout ratio is presently 52.06%. Canadian Natural Resources Profile (Free Report) Canadian Natural Resources Limited acquires, explores for, develops, produces, markets, and sells crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids (NGLs). The company offers light and medium crude oil, primary heavy crude oil, Pelican Lake heavy crude oil, bitumen (thermal oil), and synthetic crude oil (SCO). Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CNQ? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ Free Report) (TSE:CNQ). Receive News & Ratings for Canadian Natural Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Canadian Natural Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC lessened its stake in shares of Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ Free Report) by 24.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,449 shares of the technology companys stock after selling 1,107 shares during the period. Tempus Wealth Planning LLCs holdings in Block were worth $237,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. IAG Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Block by 100.0% in the 1st quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 400 shares of the technology companys stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Hollencrest Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Block in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Householder Group Estate & Retirement Specialist LLC bought a new position in shares of Block in the 1st quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont bought a new position in shares of Block in the 1st quarter valued at $47,000. Institutional investors own 63.97% of the companys stock. Get Block alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In SQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Block from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a buy rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Block in a report on Monday. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Block from $75.00 to $85.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 18th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on Block from $96.00 to $86.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have issued 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 $89.33. Block Stock Up 0.6 % Block stock traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $62.74. The stock had a trading volume of 12,150,533 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,780,529. Block, Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.34 and a 12 month high of $92.10. The company has a market capitalization of $37.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -145.02 and a beta of 2.34. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $69.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Block (NYSE:SQ Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The technology company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.04. Block had a negative return on equity of 0.61% and a negative net margin of 1.38%. The business had revenue of $5.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.19) EPS. The firms revenue was up 25.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Block, Inc. will post -0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year. Insiders Place Their Bets In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 629 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.61, for a total transaction of $37,494.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 74,458 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,438,441.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Block news, CAO Ajmere Dale sold 629 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.61, for a total transaction of $37,494.69. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 74,458 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,438,441.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Lawrence Henry Summers sold 3,669 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.46, for a total value of $295,207.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 18,611 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,497,441.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 37,868 shares of company stock valued at $2,545,857. Corporate insiders own 10.79% of the companys stock. Block Company Profile (Free Report) Square, Inc provides payment and point-of-sale solutions in the United States and internationally. The company's commerce ecosystem includes point-of-sale software and hardware that enables sellers to turn mobile and computing devices into payment and point-of-sale solutions. It offers hardware products, including Magstripe reader, which enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Contactless and chip reader that accepts EMV chip cards and Near Field Communication payments; Chip card reader, which accepts EMV chip cards and enables swiped transactions of magnetic stripe cards; Square Stand, which enables an iPad to be used as a payment terminal or full point of sale solution; and Square Register that combines its hardware, point-of-sale software, and payments technology, as well as managed payments solutions. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SQ? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Block, Inc. (NYSE:SQ Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Block Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Block and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Twin Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY Free Report) by 11.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 84,014 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after selling 10,392 shares during the period. Bristol-Myers Squibb accounts for 0.8% of Twin Capital Management Inc.s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Twin Capital Management Inc.s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $5,823,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Live Oak Investment Partners purchased a new stake in Bristol-Myers Squibb in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, First Personal Financial Services increased its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 67.8% during the 1st quarter. First Personal Financial Services now owns 495 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 74.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Bristol-Myers Squibb alerts: Insider Transactions at Bristol-Myers Squibb In other news, EVP Robert M. Plenge sold 732 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.14, for a total value of $44,754.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,584 shares of the companys stock, valued at $402,545.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.08% of the companys stock. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth BMY has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. 51job restated a maintains rating on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Friday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley restated an underweight rating and issued a $59.00 target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Wednesday, July 19th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $87.00 to $79.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Daiwa Capital Markets initiated coverage on Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research report on Wednesday, June 28th. They issued an outperform rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Finally, Credit Suisse Group dropped their target price on Bristol-Myers Squibb from $72.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $71.14. View Our Latest Research Report on Bristol-Myers Squibb Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Up 0.8 % BMY stock traded up $0.46 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $60.62. The stock had a trading volume of 7,660,058 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,341,895. The firm has a market cap of $126.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50-day moving average of $63.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.35. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52-week low of $59.71 and a 52-week high of $81.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.28. Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.99 by ($0.24). The firm had revenue of $11.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $11.81 billion. Bristol-Myers Squibb had a return on equity of 50.51% and a net margin of 17.62%. Bristol-Myers Squibbs revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 7.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 7th were paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 6th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. Bristol-Myers Squibbs dividend payout ratio is currently 60.64%. 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. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BMY? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Bristol-Myers Squibb Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bristol-Myers Squibb and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. West Coast Financial LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL Free Report) by 4.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,581 shares of the companys stock after selling 270 shares during the quarter. West Coast Financial LLCs holdings in Colgate-Palmolive were worth $419,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CL. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Colgate-Palmolive by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,842 shares of the companys stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 2,824 shares of the companys stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Rowland & Co. Investment Counsel ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Rowland & Co. Investment Counsel ADV now owns 3,695 shares of the companys stock valued at $278,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Fiduciary Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Group LLC now owns 7,336 shares of the companys stock valued at $578,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Finally, Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Colgate-Palmolive by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Sigma Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 3,152 shares of the companys stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 79.01% of the companys stock. Get Colgate-Palmolive alerts: Colgate-Palmolive Trading Up 0.2 % Shares of CL traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $76.49. 3,314,479 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,901,258. Colgate-Palmolive has a 52-week low of $67.84 and a 52-week high of $83.81. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.84. The firm has a market cap of $63.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 28.43, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 1.17. Colgate-Palmolive Announces Dividend Colgate-Palmolive ( NYSE:CL Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 28th. The company reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.02. Colgate-Palmolive had a return on equity of 386.76% and a net margin of 8.02%. The business had revenue of $4.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. The companys quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Colgate-Palmolive will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 21st will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 20th. Colgate-Palmolives payout ratio is currently 106.67%. Insider Activity In other Colgate-Palmolive news, insider John W. Kooyman sold 21,677 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.69, for a total value of $1,684,086.13. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,384 shares in the company, valued at $495,972.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Colgate-Palmolive news, insider Jennifer Daniels sold 24,703 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.70, for a total transaction of $1,968,829.10. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 52,769 shares of the companys stock, valued at $4,205,689.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John W. Kooyman sold 21,677 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.69, for a total value of $1,684,086.13. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,384 shares in the company, valued at approximately $495,972.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.34% of the companys stock. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades CL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $88.00 to $92.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $76.00 to $81.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. Bank of America upped their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $80.00 to $85.00 in a report on Monday, May 1st. Barclays upped their price target on Colgate-Palmolive from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and issued a $83.00 price target on shares of Colgate-Palmolive in a report on Monday, July 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $85.33. Get Our Latest Research Report on CL About Colgate-Palmolive (Free Report) Colgate-Palmolive Company, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells consumer products worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Oral, Personal and Home Care; and Pet Nutrition. The Oral, Personal and Home Care segment offers toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, bar and liquid hand soaps, shower gels, shampoos, conditioners, deodorants and antiperspirants, skin health products, dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners, and other related items. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Colgate-Palmolive Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Colgate-Palmolive and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Wrapmanager Inc. lessened its position in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY Free Report) by 5.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,107 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after selling 391 shares during the period. Wrapmanager Inc.s holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb were worth $493,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cigna Investments Inc. New increased its holdings in Bristol-Myers Squibb by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 26,379 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $1,898,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 6,001 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Keystone Wealth Services LLC now owns 7,468 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $518,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Dillon & Associates Inc. now owns 3,955 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $245,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tiedemann Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Tiedemann Advisors LLC now owns 4,478 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $322,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.57% of the companys stock. Get Bristol-Myers Squibb alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. 51job restated a maintains rating on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Friday, April 28th. Credit Suisse Group reduced their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $72.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. SVB Securities started coverage on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb in a research note on Monday, July 10th. They issued a market perform rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb from $78.00 to $65.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $71.14. Insider Activity at Bristol-Myers Squibb In related news, EVP Robert M. Plenge sold 732 shares of Bristol-Myers Squibb stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.14, for a total value of $44,754.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,584 shares of the companys stock, valued at $402,545.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Bristol-Myers Squibb Stock Performance Shares of BMY traded up $0.46 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $60.62. 7,660,058 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,341,895. Bristol-Myers Squibb has a 52 week low of $59.71 and a 52 week high of $81.43. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $63.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.35. The firm has a market cap of $126.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.99 by ($0.24). Bristol-Myers Squibb had a return on equity of 50.51% and a net margin of 17.62%. The business had revenue of $11.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.93 earnings per share. The firms revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bristol-Myers Squibb will post 7.47 EPS for the current year. Bristol-Myers Squibb Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 1st. Investors of record on Friday, July 7th were paid a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 6th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. Bristol-Myers Squibbs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.64%. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company 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. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BMY? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Bristol-Myers Squibb Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bristol-Myers Squibb and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. The former auditor at the Audit of European Union Funds Executive Agency (EAECA), Daniela Lazova, reveals in front of Bivols camera loopholes in the system for controlling the spending of European funds and the broken audit system. The rampant examples she provides include a fishless fishery in northwestern Bulgaria and a cut-for-scrap wind turbine owned by a company associated with Yordan Apostolov, a lawmaker from the party National Front for Salvation of Bulgaria (NFSB), part of the ruling coalition. Her attempts to enforce the rules and stop the unlawful spending of European taxpayers money have failed. Lazova has been fired. A vicious system of career and bonus incentives for the obedient who do not sanction projects related to people in power and removal of the inconvenient ones reigns in the audit agency, she says. Self-audits of the absorbing of European funds. Is this possible in a European Union Member State? It is, according to Daniela Lazova. In her words, the fact that the self-auditing body is the EAEAC, where she used to work, is even more embarrassing. We have projects for wages, training, and equipment purchases. And we audit ourselves in this programing period. And the supreme audit authority the National Audit Office of the Republic of Bulgaria sees nothing wrong with this. Although it is below any auditing standards, she says. However, the conflict of interest is the least irregularity reported by Lazova. She is an auditor with more than 12 years of experience working on European-funded projects. She has been unlawfully dismissed by the EAECA. Lazova insists that the staff of the audit authority are under pressure from the agencys management when they attempt to do their job. Big wages and bonuses are given away to people close to the management under the carrot and stick principle. A turning point in Lazovas career as an auditor at the EAECA has been her attempts to impose a correction on projects by private beneficiaries and municipalities close to the government. Dismantling the auditors trade union At the beginning of the first government term of the center-right party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), some auditors at the EAECA have gathered together to demonstrate that they would not bend to pressure, would not agree to comply to single-handed bonus rules and deadlines and to their opinion being ignored. Lazova says that when Dobrinka Mihaylova, whose family was revealed to have been a major investor in the collapsed Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB), joined the Agency in September 2009 as its Executive Director, she began staff reshuffles. Mihaylova appointed a large number of people from the Internal Control Department of the Finance Ministry, previously headed by her. According to Lazova, the majority of the newcomers had experience in audits but lacked experience in auditing EU funds, which is a must for the EAECA. In order for this reshuffle to occur, an amendment to the Ordinance on the activities of the audit authority had been made. It changed the criteria for hiring auditors and let go of the requirement for experience in auditing EU funds. Then the old employees of the EAECA, with a four-year experience in auditing EU funds, have united in a trade union organization. But it did not last long because its members had been dismissed one by one. I was the Unions President and for about one year I was protected from being fired. Then a silent battle began with transfers from one team to another with piecework with smaller budgets, so the threat to the management from what I was writing as a finding would do less damage to the specific program. Not sanctioning politically sensitive projects Lazova has been in charge of an EU operational program for the development of the fisheries sector. She found many inconsistencies and bad practices there, although the program had been incomparable in terms of budget to some others. Her teams established that many facilities had not been used for their intended purpose, such as a fishery without fish that had received funds. They also found a knocked-down by gusts wind turbine whose only remain had been its foundation while the body had been cut for scrap in the backyard of the EU funds beneficiary. In this program there are rules that say that the investment is insured in order for the insurer to reimburse the funds for the beneficiary to restore everything in its former form, says the auditor. The broken wind turbine Lazova told us that for some reason the beneficiary had not received an insurance payment and therefore did not restore the wind turbine. In this case, the beneficiary was Bul Aqua Fish (see Bivols publication on the companys ownership here). Zhivko Stefanov Vassilev and Milko Velikov Penchev, who is a parliamentary assistant of the NFSB MP Yordan Apostolov, had been partners in this company. The company is located in Apostolovs farmyard. To date, Zhivko Vassilevs partner is Victor Veselinov Skravenski. Vassilev and Penchev are local politicians from the left-wing parties the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) and ABC in the northeastern region of Dobrich. Victor Scravenski is a farmer from the northwestern Pleven region, cultivating tens of thousands of decares of land. He is the winner of the Eurofarmer Award for 2008. In this case, the on-site inspection had been done by, both, an auditor and an engineer, which, according to Lazova, happened only once while she worked at the Agency. And, both, her as the auditor, and the engineer established the same thing after the scraping, the entire investment, including the concrete foundation and the upper iron part, had become void as the foundation had no function whatsoever. The total value of the investment for the wind turbine was BGN 704,000 and Lazova had estimated that it would need a 100% correction. However, her assessment had been revised. And this thing on the basis of quality control, that is, I had not understood, I did not know, I had not correctly applied the scales for imposing financial corrections under the operational programs. This thing fits into this column, you have not done your job well at the quality control stage and the financial correction dropped down to 10%. Zhivko Vassilev commented for Bivol that the fall of the wind turbine was a force majeure and the equipment is now restored. However, it is not clear whether the auditors appearance had provoked these repairs. However, Lazova claims she had more scandalous cases in the course of her work at the EAECA, such as a project funded again under the Fisheries and Aquaculture Program. According to her, the beneficiary had been a major businessman, operating behind strawmen. The company that the auditor attempted to sanction is named Eco Energy Chiprovtsi. Its managers are Yuriy Ivanov Yunishev and Tsvetomir Vladimirov Tsvetanov. Yunishev is also Managing Director of Vidachim, a company manufacturing and selling pneumatic tires. According to an article in the Banker newspaper after its privatization in 2002, Vidachim focused on the thermal power plant (TPP) inside its factory and the production of electricity at the expense of the tires. This led to the revocation of Vidachims license by Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova in March 2015. In a press release at the time, Petkova said that the National Electricity Company (NEK) will no longer pay Vidachim for the electricity it produces, as the company relies not so much on the production of tires, but on payments from NEK for electricity produced and NEK was operating at a loss from buying power from Vidachim. Vidashim is owned by Pristisgroup Water Construction. Banker reports that its shareholders include Georgi Hristozov and Sevdalina Dimitrova, who hold 27% of the shares. Borislav Lorinkov is another shareholder with 30%. Hristozov has a long-term experience in state-run energy production, as head of the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) and the TPP Maritsa East 2. On his part, between 2009 and 2013, Lorinkov was a parliamentary assistant to GERB lawmaker Plamen Tachev. Tachev has been part of current Prime Minister and GERB leader Boyko Borisovs closest circle in the 1990s. In 1997, Boyko Borisov, the Iraqi Samir Iskander Ibrahim, Plamen Tachev Petrov, Nikolay Ninov Kostov, Veselin Ninov Kostov and Ventsislav Hristov Bozhilov incorporated in the town of Cherven Bryag the company Praihaim Ltd., engaging with the production of soaps. Borisov left this company a year and a half later but kept in touch with some of the partners. Eco Energy Chiprovtsi has received about BGN 1.5 million to breed warm freshwater fish in a dam in Northern Bulgaria. However, the dam had not been used for its intended purpose because in the mountainous areas of this region it is practically impossible to breed such fish as it needs another type of temperature, Lazova explains. But, quite intentionally, apparently having consultants, the beneficiary had obtained a certificate of force majeure from the Chamber of Commerce, as the Ordinance requires, and on that basis, I could not write that the site was not used for the purpose. That is to say, in the particular dam there are construction works, solidification, but there is no fish. I have imposed a correction for this beneficiary, but for what I saw that was not done and for what I wanted to do impose it, I could not. Therefore, the auditor has imposed a correction for construction and assembly works, but still, the management has informed her that the beneficiary may make some improvements in the meantime and correct the construction works so that part of the findings, such as a cracked dam wall, could be dropped. Inspections of Black Sea coast municipalities affiliated with the central government have been problematic as well. Their projects have been under the same program for fish farming and aquaculture as it operates with funding related to ports, cultural institutions, and others. In Sozopol, the auditors had audited the art gallery, located on two levels. It turned out that after the repair works, the site had been flooded and stray animals used it for shelter. As a consequence, the plaster had been falling off, sinks were missing, among other violations, which should not happen after construction works financed with about EUR 1 million. Lazova has tried to impose a proportional correction of about 25% only for the ground floor. Immediately after her findings, the correction had been reduced citing additional construction work following the on-site verification. A further audit by the Agency had followed, which according to Lazova is absurd and unacceptable for an audit body. Troublemakers out! And maybe I have interfered with some interests. The quality assessment of my work in 2015 played a significant role in finding a way to get rid of me. In mid-2015, a positive interim assessment has been made, but at the end of the year Lazova received the lowest rating score. At that time, she also had health problems because of the stress she had experienced. Then, Lazova wrote a complaint about direct discrimination in the workplace to the Commission for Protection against Discrimination (CDP). They received it on January 26, 2016, when she was already on sick leave. On February 28, the EAECA received a request for an opinion on the complaint from the CPD. On the same date, the management issued an order to dismiss Lazova from the job. While I was on sick leave, the audit authority had decided that they can get rid of me without being served with the release order. They used Art. 50 of the Administrative Procedure Code and one cork board in front of the Agency to place the order for my removal from work. Until today, Lazova is not sure exactly which one of the projects she tried to impose corrections on has played a crucial role in her dismissal. Nevertheless, the dismissal is illegal, according to two court instances. This decision of the Sofia City Court, apart from stipulating that the procedure has not been followed, explains that there are, in essence, inaccuracies, imperfections and inconsistencies and that there is unfair treatment of the employee. And I have a confirmation from the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) of this decision that my employer has tried to appeal. In September 2017, Lazova was offered the opportunity to return to her old workplace, but she thinks that she does not want to benefit from it since the same management is still in place there. Despite her success with the SAC, Lazova has hit the wall with the CPD. The Commission has held that she has not been discriminated against at her place of work. On the grounds that there are insufficient data in my complaint to launch pre-trial proceedings and that they lack the capacity for such type of inspections, they assigned the Minister of Finance through the Internal Audit Directorate and possibly through the Inspectorate of the Finance Ministry to investigate themselves. Because the Minister of Finance appoints the Executive Director of the EAECA and assesses their work. The Executive Directors bonuses are approved by the Minister of Finance as well. Well-paid auditors check themselves and their own relatives Lazova says that in connection with her complaint to the CPD, she had been able to obtain the bonus table for all of the EAECA staff. She found out that on the basis of an unknown amount of work and merits, certain auditors had received BGN 25,000 in a three-year period. For the same period, Lazova, who was the chief auditor, has received BGN 12,000. In the same way, a director of a directorate has received was up to BGN 45,000 BGN, but there was no data the Executive Director in this table. It is unclear what exactly the investigating authorities and those in charge of Bulgarias national security are doing about the evidence of abuses presented by Lazova. She reminds that the high salaries in the EAECA are funded under the Operational Program Technical Assistance. They start at BGN 1,800 a month and reach BGN 5,000 for the post of Executive Director. The high salaries are given so that the auditors can be objective and independent and for their institution to be the same. In fact, the big salaries and bonuses are given to people who are close to the management under the carrot and stick principle. If you are inconvenient and if you write a lot and you are interfering with the absorption of European funds, they will sanction you and you will remain without a bonus. If you are obedient and listen to what they tell you; if you put your signature under these papers, then you get a huge bonus. Lazova stresses that the audit authority is not observing basic auditing standards or the code of ethics. The Agency has people in a conflict of interest because they are checking their own relatives. But that is not all. For the previous programming period 2007 2013, the audit authority is a beneficiary under the Operational Program Technical Assistance . There are several projects. We have projects for wages, training, and equipment purchases. And we audit ourselves in this programing period. And the supreme audit authority the National Audit Office of the Republic of Bulgaria sees nothing wrong with this. Although it is below any auditing standards. No further comment is necessary. The words of Daniela Lazova simply confirm the numerous investigations by Bivol into the misuse of European funds for the Rural Development Program, municipalities, infrastructure, guest houses and other activities. And in the case of a broken audit system in the country, even OLAF cannot manage to discover the violations. *** If you find this article useful, support our work with a small donation. Pay a Bivol Tax! 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This post is also available in: Bulgarian Last month, addressing party workers at the party office in Aizawl, Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga, said that his party Mizo National Front doesnt subscribe to all policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre. However, a day after this statement created headlines, he softened his tone by saying that his party is very much a part of the NDA. Notably, along with holding the CM post, Zoramthanga is also the president of the MNF, founded by Laldenga in 1961. Reverberations From Manipur Since the takeover of the military government in neighbouring Myanmar in 2021, the Chin-Kuki people residing in the Chin state have fled and taken shelter in Mizoram. The number of refugees from Myanmar is more than 40,000. It has to be mentioned that the Chins, Kukis, Zomis and Mizos all belong to the larger Zo tribe. However, the Centre isnt happy with these refugees staying in the country and wants to deport them back to Myanmar. This policy of the Centre contradicts that of Mizorams MNF government. For the state government, supporting the decision of deporting the Chin-Kukis, ethnic brethren of Mizos, back to Myanmar would be politically self-defeating. The state government and also the MNF party have urged the Centre to allow these refugees to remain in the state till the situation improves in Myanmar. The state government has even issued temporary identity cards to these refugees for their easy identification and their safety. In addition to these refugees of Myanmar, the ethnic violence in the neighbouring state of Manipur has worsened the refugee crisis with more than 12,000 Kukis from Manipur having taken shelter in the state. As Manipur is ruled by BJP, most of the Mizos blame the saffron party particularly Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh for its failure to protect the Kukis. MNF's Gameplan Mizoram is headed for polls late this year where MNF is facing a stiff challenge from the Zoram Peoples Movement led by Lalduhoma. ZPM has replaced Congress as the main opposition party in the state. In this years Lunglei Municipal Council elections, MNF had drawn a blank while the ZPM swept all the 11 seats. In terms of vote percentage, ZPM secured 49.31 percent while MNF was able to poll just 29.4 percent of votes. With anti-incumbency rising, MNF is trying to raise the emotional issues of Chin-Kuki-Zomi and has even revived its old slogan of Greater Mizoram which aims to unite areas inhabited by the Zo tribes. In his speeches, CM Zoramthanga has spoken more than once about Greater Mizoram and even attended a large solidarity rally organised by Mizos civil society groups in Aizawl supporting the Kukis of Manipur. Strain In MNF-BJP Ties Although there is no alliance at the state level with the BJP, MNF feels that good relations with the saffron party may not provide the electoral advantage it is hoping to draw by raising the emotional issues related to the Chin-Kuki-Zomi tribes. MNF fears that Mizos could feel cheated if it adopts a dual stance of riding on both boats and this may end up benefiting the Opposition parties, particularly ZPM, which too has stated that it supports the idea of unification of Zo tribes. As a result, MNF has been trying to portray that it may be in the NDA but it is not submissive to the central governments policies. Through this, Zoramthanga is sending a message to the Mizos that it is not going to compromise the interests of the Mizos and if necessary it could break away from the NDA. The two party MPs Lok Sabha MP C Lalrosanga and Rajya MP K Vanlalvena have already expressed their desire to pull out of NDA. Divorce From NDA Not Easy Despite the irritants, Zoramthanga maintains that his party is still very much a part of NDA. It has to be kept in mind that out of the 38 regional parties attending the July 18 NDA meeting chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi, MNF was one of them. But the very next day, MNF MPs skipped an NDA floor leaders meeting to discuss strategy for the monsoon session. With ZPM gaining ground, MNF fears that if there is a hung assembly BJP could become a kingmaker by winning a few seats as this possibility cant be completely ruled. BJP does have support among some notable ethnic minorities of the state. Notably, ZPM, which has urged the MNF to come out of NDA, has been silent about a post-poll alliance with the BJP. MNF, with its history of anti-Congressism, is aware that BJP has replaced GOP as the strong central party and Mizoram, currently burdened with refugees, has to depend for financial support on the central government. Importantly, the Centre too has been giving prominence to Zoramthanga by engaging with him in order to reach out to the Kukis of Manipur. Probably thats why Zoramthanga is in no haste to burn all his bridges with the BJP and despite many ifs and buts, his party MNF still remains a part of the NDA family. Sagarneel Sinha is a political commentator and tweets @SagarneelSinha. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication. Tata group-owned carrier Air India is in talks with multiple banks for an approximately Rs 3,000 crore loan to make the down payment under sale-and-leaseback (SLB) agreements with lessors, a report has said. Talks between the airline and several banks are underway, and a top State Bank of India (SBI) official told the Business Standard that many banks would come together to extend the loan. Moneycontrol couldn't verify the report independently. Notably, after becoming a part of the Mumbai-based salt-to-software conglomerate, Air India had placed a huge order for 470 aircraft in February this year. Of these, 250 aircraft were ordered from the European planemaker Airbus and the remaining 220 were ordered from American company Boeing. The cost of these 470 aircraft is around $70 billion. This is the second-largest order in the world to buy so many aircraft in a single batch. Also Read: Air India CEO meets CCI chief on pending Vistara merger "The firm orders include 34 A350-1000, 6 A350-900, 20 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 10 Boeing 777X widebody aircraft, as well as 140 Airbus A320neo, 70 Airbus A321neo and 190 Boeing 737MAX narrow-body aircraft, the airline had said in a release. The financial daily, citing anonymous aviation industry sources, reported that Air India may buy the wide-body aircraft outright and the narrow-body aircraft (A320neo family aircraft and B737 MAX aircraft) on a SLB model. Under the SLB model, new aircraft is sold to a lessor, which then immediately leases it back to the airline. Such deals remove the aircraft and its associated debt from an airline's balance sheet. Rating agency Crisil in June maintained AAA/Stable rating on Air Indias Rs 37,500 crore bank credit facility. It is believed that banks can give them loans at very low interest. Also Read: Air India's iconic Maharaja to remain, but with a new role in airline's rebranding The airlines revenue doubled to nearly Rs 41,260 crore in 2022-23 thanks to a recovery in passenger traffic volume in the post-Covid era, and also because of the recovery of the grounded fleet, supporting more passenger traffic. Air India's iconic mascot, the Maharaja, will not be retiring despite a shift in its role. Instead of serving as a mascot, the Maharaja's presence will be reduced to the airline's premium classes and airport lounges. This move is part of Air India's rebranding efforts, set to be revealed in New Delhi, with a new logo featuring a three-color combination - red, white, and purple. This shift in branding reflects the upcoming absorption of Vistara into Air India, incorporating purple from Vistara's identity according to Financial Times. The decision to retain the Maharaja is driven by its nostalgic appeal to a significant portion of the airline's older flyers. It aligns with Air India's aspiration to be a "global brand with an Indian heart." Similar to Singapore Airlines' 'Singapore Girl,' the Maharaja aims to establish a lasting connection with passengers. Iconic presence The Maharaja has been an integral part of Air India's identity since its inception in 1946. Over time, it evolved to remain relevant and counter accusations of promoting an outdated image of India. The character even engaged in real-world interactions, endearing him to the public. Experts suggest that preserving the Maharaja in the rebranding is a wise move, offering a blend of tradition and modernity. The Tatas, who oversee Air India, engaged branding and design consultancy firm Futurebrands for the rebranding process, with McCann Worlgroup India handling promotional initiatives. Air India's transformation hopes extend beyond branding, seeking improvements in its financials. The airline's losses for FY23 increased by 16% to Rs 11,216 crore, while revenues surged by 68% to Rs 37,928 crore. Despite the financial challenges, the Maharaja's presence remains an essential part of Air India's journey as it navigates these changes. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposed on August 10 to increase the UPI Lite payment limit for a single transaction from Rs 200 to Rs 500. The raised limit will also apply to offline payments through UPI Lite, which does not require a personal identification number (PIN) for payments. The central bank also proposed the idea of enabling conversational payments for UPI, which would mean that payments would be processed without the need for a PIN. This feature would likely be enabled for UPI Lite first. Over the past four to five months, the top three UPI players have launched UPI Lite on their platforms. While there is no data on adoption from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which runs UPI, the RBI's move is a clear indication that the initial adoption and feedback have been positive. Paytm Payments Bank, an associate company of Paytm, has nine million users and 50 million transactions on its UPI Lite platform. Paytm did not independently disclose its overall UPI Lite users and is the third-largest UPI player with a 13 percent market share. While Paytm was among the first to integrate UPI Lite earlier this year, the largest UPI player, PhonePe, only launched Lite in May. With its size being more than three times that of Paytm, PhonePe is likely to have a more significant impact over the next few months. Many restaurant bills or ride-hailing payments often exceed Rs 200, and the Lite payment limit being set at Rs 200 automatically restricted the potential to use the platform more widely and frequently. "With the introduction of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology through UPI-Lite on-device wallet, offline payments will become more secure while being seamless and fast. UPI offline payments shouldnt hinder the capacity to make payments above Rs 200 per transaction. The move to enhance the transaction limit for small value digital payments in offline mode from Rs 200 to Rs 500, addresses this issue and thus will eliminate the need for multiple transactions for users," says Mandar Agashe, founder and managing director of Sarvatra Technologies. Aggressively promoting UPI Lite is essential for NPCI to achieve its target of one billion transactions per day. The platform already processes close to 10 billion transactions per month and is growing at more than 40% annually. However, unless UPI Lite enhances its use cases, adoption will not grow as much as expected. Small ticket, high volume A significant proportion of UPI transactions, possibly around half, fall below Rs 200, and over 80 percent of merchant transactions are below Rs 500. Due to the absence of a merchant discount rate (MDR), which is the commission paid to payment facilitators like banks, for UPI transactions, banks are hesitant to allocate resources towards enhancing the core banking solution (CBS). "Oftentimes it is not about the server capacity alone, but the legacy CBS applications cannot support the volumes and concurrency that UPI as a platform does these days. Card systems were built for a large volume of transactions," says a senior executive with a UPI app who worked with card companies in the past. Small-ticket transactions, which were typically paid in cash a few years ago, are now clogging up banks' CBS. SBI, HDFC Bank, and several public sector banks experienced significant technical declines (TD) due to server unavailability and were pulled up by the regulator as well as the NPCI. Banks come under scrutiny from the NPCI whenever the TD rate exceeds one percent. One of the key solutions to reduce the load of every one of these transactions hitting the banks' CBS is to create an on-device wallet, a product that UPI replaced a few years ago. Freecharge, Paytm, and Mobikwik used to be the leading mobile payment companies and used prepaid wallet, until Google Pay and PhonePe came to the scene with UPI payments. However, UPI Lite brings the best of both worlds together, and that is why the product has been finding acceptance among users. The regulatory visibility While the central bank has been cracking down on wallets for lax Know Your Customer (KYC) measures, UPI gives RBI the comfort of a full bank account. "Since most of the transactions happen through NPCI and bank servers, RBI feels confident about tracing those accounts and payments better than other measures. For instance, international merchant card payments are difficult to track or monitor," says a fintech consultant, who has worked with banks in the past. Recently, RBI issued a directive through the NPCI to firms like DreamX to halt their UPI services carried in a co-branded arrangement. RBI had also blocked Mastercard and American Express from issuing new cards for over a year on data localisation mandate. "UPI being a domestic system developed by NPCI under the RBI's aegis, the central bank is more confident about regulating and monitoring the system more closely," adds the fintech consultant. While the wallet can be loaded up to Rs 2,000 as of now, with an increased per transaction limit, this could also be raised sooner than later. Singapore's CapitaLand Investment said on Thursday it had launched a new fund for business park development in India that is expected to add about S$700 million ($520 million) to its funds under management. The real estate investment manager said its new CapitaLand India Growth Fund 2 would have a target fund size of S$525 million and invest in Grade A business parks in prime locations across gateway cities in India. Additionally, the company said it had secured a S$263 million funding from a global institution for a 50% stake in the fund's first closing. CapitaLand's total funds under management stood at S$89 billion as of March 31, with a target to reach S$100 billion by fiscal year 2024. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Infosys co-founder and Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani hailed India's Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) bill, stating that it has all the elements needed for data empowerment and will create a massive explosion of credit to buyers and sellers. "Mr Vaishnaw (IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw) has done a great job in getting the bill together. It's very strong and it is a principle-oriented bill. And it was long overdue. We now must build on that- regulation and data protection board has to come. And I am particularly pleased that it has all things required for data empowerment," Nilekani told Moneycontrol. Nilekani further said the data privacy bill provides a legal infrastructure that will lead to a massive explosion of credit for buyers and sellers. "There's going to be a lot of consumer credit in a very organised way, coming to buyers," he said. Nilekani is one of India's influential technocrats, having played a pivotal role in scaling some of the country's biggest digital public rails, from Aadhaar to Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to FASTag to the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and the Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN). His comments come a day after the data protection bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha, with a voice vote. Earlier on August 7, the bill was passed by the Lok Sabha. It will become law after it receives President Draupadi Murmu's assent. The law has been sought by various sections of society ever since the Supreme Court deemed the Right to Privacy as fundamental with reasonable restrictions in 2016. Also read | Explained: What the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill means for you A Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill was introduced in 2018 and tabled in 2019, after which it was referred to a joint parliamentary committee. The panel studied the bill for two years and presented its report and a modified PDP Bill in December 2021. But in 2022, the government withdrew the PDP Bill, citing compliance-related reasons and came out with the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill after a few months. The Cabinet approved the bill in July, clearing its way to be tabled in the ongoing monsoon session. Domestic passenger vehicles wholesales registered a 2.94 per cent year-on-year increase in July at 3,02,521 units, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers said on Thursday. As per the latest data issued by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), dispatches of passenger vehicles (PVs) from manufacturers to dealers were at 2,93,865 units in July 2022. Two-wheeler domestic wholesales were down at 12,82,054 units last month, as against 13,81,303 units in July 2022. Three-wheeler wholesales were higher at 56,034 units, as compared to 31,324 units in the year-ago month. Total vehicle dispatches across categories were at 16,40,727 units, as compared to 17,06,545 units in July 2022, SIAM said. "Though the passenger vehicle and three-wheeler segments are performing well, there has been a de-growth of two-wheelers in July 2023, compared to July 2022. "Overall, we expect that the positive economic environment, good monsoons, and upcoming festive season will support continued growth in the auto industry," SIAM President Vinod Aggarwal SIAM said. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Antler has launched a new platform to help founders build for the open network for digital commerce (ONDC). Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekanis Foundation for Interoperability in Digital Economy (formerly Beckn Foundation) will collaborate with the VC firm. ONDC, which is the government-backed ecommerce network, has seen rapid adoption with its presence now increasing to about 620 cities, with plans to double down on Tier 2 and beyond regions. There were over 1.1 million retail orders on ONDC cumulatively since its inception last year. Antler said its platform will offer pre-seed capital of $3,00,000 (around Rs 2.5 crore) which will help founders in the initial stages. The VC firm added that it will also provide another $2,00,000 (about Rs 1.6 crore) from key partners, which includes unicorn founders and other strategic backers in the Antler network, to teams that are ready with an idea for a business on ONDC. 'Best resources' While it was still early days, Antler feels around 15 startups will be able to make the cut, which means around $7.5-8 million will be pumped back towards the founders. Antler was also willing to invest as high as $10 million to support founders building for ONDC. We are excited to see founders building at population scale in themes like complex commerce, vernacular commerce and flow-based lending, to name a few. The Antler ONDC platform will provide everything from the best resources to a vibrant community and seed capital for them, said Nitin Sharma, Partner at Antler India. At present only 6 percent of MSMEs are active sellers on digital platforms. With ONDC, there is potential for the base to grow to 30-40 percent over the next decade, Sharma added. Nandan Nilekani, Chairman Infosys and Ekstep Foundation, said e-commerce wont be limited to a few players like in the current setup. Everyone, every supplier including kirana stores, grocery retailers, electronics retailers, small vendors, and restaurants should participate in the digital marketplace on an open platform. Aided by higher prices, improvement in operating performance and reversal-of-inventorisation benefits, Hero MotoCorp Ltd on Thursday reported a 32 percent year-on-year (YoY) rise in its first quarter standalone net profit at Rs 825 crore as compared to Rs 624.52 crore a year ago. The company's revenue increased 4.5 percent to Rs 8,767.27 crore in Q1FY24 as against Rs 8,392.54 crore in the year-ago period. Lower commodity costs, price hikes, positive operating leverage and a richer product mix also helped the company boost its bottom line. Niranjan Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Hero MotoCorp, said, Our underlying margins in ICE business have returned to preCovid levels, providing us the necessary fuel for growth as we move forward. The singular focus as we move ahead will be growth and market share. The performance The countrys largest two-wheeler maker posted robust financials despite a dip in volumes. The companys total sales, including exports, declined by 3 percent to 13.53 lakh units during the April to June period vis-a-vis 13.90 lakh units in the same period last year. Domestic sales were marginally down by 0.8 percent on a YoY basis while exports slumped by 43 percent. We have begun strengthening our presence in the premium segment and prebooking numbers for Harley Davidson X440 is a good start. We will see more launches of new models in this segment over the next few quarters, as we intend to win big in the premium segment. Our EV presence is getting scaled up and we are on track to cover 100 cities by December this year," added Gupta. The companys earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for Q1FY24 stood at Rs 1,206 crore, up 28 percent. Driven by softening of commodity costs, accelerated savings programs, and judicious price increases, the EBITDA margin for the quarter stood at 13.8 percent, reflecting an improvement of 250 basis points (bps). The underlying EBITDA margin for the ICE business stands at 14.5 percent, excluding the impact of the EV business. EBITDA margin is a measure of a company's operating profit as a percentage of its revenue. Profit Before Tax and exceptional items for the quarter was at Rs 1,255 crore, a growth of 52 percent over Rs 824 crore reported in the previous quarter. Consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 8,851 crore, a growth of 5 percent over the previous year, and PAT at Rs 701 crore, a growth of 20 percent over the previous year. Analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities attributed the drop in sales volumes to continued weakness in the entry-level motorcycle segment demand. Meets St expectations The results were in line with analysts expectations. According to a poll of five brokerages, Hero MotoCorps net profit during the first quarter of this fiscal was expected to rise 26 percent YoY to Rs 786 crore. The companys revenue from operations was projected to increase 4.5 percent to Rs 8,754 crore, as per the estimates. The analysts had claimed that while total vehicle sales are likely to fall by 3 percent on a YoY basis there will be a 7 percent increase in sales over the last quarter. On the other hand, exports are poised to fall 43 percent from the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Recently, Nirmal Bang, in its earnings estimates, expected Hero MotoCorp to report a net profit of Rs 775 crore up 23.6 percent YoY (up 9 percent quarter on quarter). Furthermore, net sales were expected to increase 9.8 percent YoY (up 1.5 percent QoQ) to Rs 8,150.7 crore, according to the brokerage. Nirmal Bang had also predicted that EBITDA was likely to rise by 18.8 percent YoY (up 6.4 percent QoQ) to Rs 983.3 crore. On August 10, Hero MotoCorps share price dropped 0.91 percent to Rs 3,029.35 on the BSE. The outlook Meanwhile, Hero MotoCorp expects the momentum to build up in the coming quarters on account of favourable economic indicators and positive consumer sentiments. With a slew of new launches lined up this year, the company is also accelerating its presence in the premium space. The key economic indicators are trending in a positive direction and a normal monsoon augurs well for demand as we will soon enter the festive season. Reduced inflationary pressures, moving forward, should result in more spending power in the hands of consumers. Overall, we see a positive scenario on the demand side, especially for the second half of this year and onwards, Gupta added. Hero MotoCorps June quarter net profit is expected to rise 26 percent on-year to Rs 786 crore on the back of price hikes and an improvement in operating performance. The figures are based on the average of the estimates put out by five broking firms. The country's leading two-wheeler manufacturer is slated to declare its quarterly results later on August 10. The company's revenue from operations is likely to increase 4.5 percent. Though total vehicle sales are likely to fall by 3 percent on-year, there can be a 7 percent increase over the last quarter. On the other hand, exports are poised to slump 43 percent from the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal. Follow our market blog for all the live action. Brokerage firm HDFC Securities has said that Hero MotoCorp will continue underperforming the 2W industry. In motorcycles, HMC has seen a volume decline of 1 percent relative to an industry growth of 14 percent in the first quarter. The company is expected to lose 680 basis points (bps) in motorcycle market share to 45 percent in Q1, it said. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization or EBITDA margin is expected to grow 13 percent from the year-ago period, according to the average of the six broking firms. Nomura Financial Advisory attributes the growth in margin to price hikes undertaken by the company. EBITDA margin is a measure of a company's operating profit as a percentage of its revenue. Analysts at BNP Paribas suggest that the primary reason for the growth in margin is a reversal of inventorisation benefits, lower commodity costs, and price hikes, and positive operating leverage. This will partially be offset by cost management. Analysts at Kotak Institutional Equities predict that volumes in the quarter are expected to dip 3 percent for the quarter under review due to continued weakness in entry-level motorcycle segment demand. In June, two broking firms namely CLSA and Bank of America Securities downgraded the stock as stiff competition in the entry-level segment by established as well as new players will pose a threat to the company's market share in the coming quarters. 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. Anarchist Jamie Reid, anarchist, artist, and graphic designer who pioneered the cut-and-paste punk design aesthetic, has died. He was 76. Reid is best known for his influential Sex Pistols record covers for Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols and God Save the Queen, and Pretty Vacant. From The Guardian: His lettering mimicked the cut-and-paste style of an anonymised ransom note, a style he first developed with the countercultural publication Suburban Press, which he began in 1970 alongside Jeremy Brook and Nigel Edwards. He was inspired by the alternative politics of the late 1960s, and did graphic design for the 1974 book Leaving the 20th Century: The Incomplete Work of the Situationist International, which compiled translated texts by French situationist writers. Reid explained his ethos in 2015: "Our culture is geared towards enslavement for people to perform pre-ordained functions, particularly in the workplace. I've always tried to encourage people to think about that and to do something about it." His website described his work as blending "gnosticism and dissent", with spirituality also a major component. Indian construction firm NCC Ltd on August 10 posted a 33.9 percent jump in its consolidated net profit to Rs 173.54 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, on the back of higher execution during the quarter. Revenue from operations jumped 31.9 percent to Rs 4,380.39 crore during the quarter as the company reaped the benefits of its record order wins witnessed in 2022-23, according to an exchange filing by NCC Ltd. NCC received its best-ever order inflows of about Rs 26,000 crore in 2022-23 on the back of higher outlay by the government under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP). NCC had ended 2022-23 with an order book of Rs 50,244 crore, benefits of which will be seen in the company's topline for the remainder of 2023-24. NCC continued its streak of winning orders in the Q1 2023-24 as the company bagged orders worth Rs 8,154 crore taking its total order book to Rs 54,110 crore as of June 30, 2023. In July, NCC also won projects worth Rs 1,919 crore, with its Water Division acquiring a major chunk of orders worth Rs 1,635 crore while that received by its building division amounted to Rs 284 crore. More than 80 percent of NCC's order book is from government-funded projects (both Centre and state) while the rest is from the private sector. During the quarter ended June 30, 2023, NCC reported Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization of around Rs 409.21 crore and EBITDA margin of around 9.3 percent. NCC Ltd is primarily engaged in construction of the industrial and commercial buildings, roads, bridges and flyovers. The infrastructure company also takes up housing, power transmission, irrigation and hydrothermal power projects. Outside India, the company has presence in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept India has started importing tomatoes from Nepal, India's finance minister said on Thursday amid a record high spike in prices in the country. The first lot of imports are likely to reach by Friday in Varanasi, Lucknow and Kanpur cities in northern India, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the parliament. Tomato prices have surged more than 1,400% at the wholesale market to a record 140 rupees ($1.69) per kg in the past three months, with farmers citing reasons including poor rainfall, higher temperatures and a virus outbreak that have hit the crop. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept The FAA, the aviation regulatory body in the US, has issued a warning regarding potential overheating problems in certain CFM engines that power Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. Boeing, the American aircraft manufacturer, has indicated that it has devised measures to address this issue. Two Indian airlines, SpiceJet and Akasa Air, operate Boeing 737 MAX planes equipped with these engines. Presently, there are approximately 29 Boeing 737 MAX planes in operation within the country. In an announcement made on Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has raised concerns about the possibility of overheating in specific components within the CFM Leap-1B engines that are used to propel 737 MAX aircraft. This concern arises from a "report that suggests prolonged use of the engine anti-ice (EAI) system in dry air conditions for over five minutes, under certain environmental and operational circumstances, might cause the engine inlet inner barrel to overheat beyond its design limits. This could lead to the failure of the engine inlet inner barrel and substantial damage to the engine inlet cowl," stated the regulator. Safety problem If this situation isn't addressed, the FAA warned that it could lead to the detachment of the inlet and potential failure of the fan cowl, resulting in separation from the aircraft. "The detachment of the inlet could potentially damage the fuselage and windows, potentially causing decompression and posing a threat to passengers seated by the windows behind the wing. It could also result in damage to the wing, flight control surfaces, and tail, possibly leading to a loss of control over the aircraft," the communication explained. Boeing's spokesperson provided a comprehensive statement, expressing support for the FAA's rule that tackles a potential overheating concern in specific components of the engine inlets on 737 MAX airplanes. Permanent solution While noting that there have been no safety incidents, the spokesperson clarified that under highly specific combinations of weather and operational conditions, the engine's anti-ice system might cause a part of the inlet structure to exceed its designated temperature range. Boeing has identified measures to mitigate this potential issue and is collaborating with its customers to implement these measures while working on a permanent solution. In the short term, Boeing will receive updated operational guidance for the Airplane Flight Manual to address this problem. Simultaneously, the company is cooperating with the regulatory body to develop a long-term fix. The spokesperson underlined that this issue has only recently emerged due to the very precise weather and operational conditions necessary for it to occur. Although Boeing produces the inlet, the spokesperson emphasised its unique occurrence. Insiders stated that this problem is theoretically possible under rare circumstances and is unlikely to affect deliveries. In June, the FAA received a report indicating that during specific combinations of altitude, total air temperature, and N1 settings, extended use of EAI in dry air could cause engine inlet cowl temperatures to exceed their design limits in the absence of visible moisture. "The excessive heat buildup could lead to the engine inlet inner barrel overheating beyond its material's design limit, resulting in the failure of the engine inlet inner barrel and significant damage to the engine inlet cowl. No instances of in-service failures of the engine inlet inner barrel have been reported so far," noted the FAA. India impact 737 MAX planes are on order for SpiceJet, Akasa Air, and Air India. After a suspension lasting about two and a half years, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) lifted the ban on the commercial operation of 737 MAX planes in India on August 26, 2021. The grounding of all 737 MAX planes in India occurred on March 13, 2019, following two fatal crashes involving these aircraft. The first incident involved a Lion Air-operated 737 Max plane crashing in Indonesia on October 29, 2018, resulting in 180 fatalities. Subsequently, on March 10, 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max plane crashed near Addis Ababa, claiming the lives of 157 individuals. HCLTech said on August 10 that it has signed a $2.1-billion deal with Verizon Business for providing managed network services to its global enterprise customers. This deal will be a shot in the arm for country's third largest IT services firm, following a sluggish April-June quarter performance. Share prices of the tech giant were up 3.7% at Rs 1176 in early trade on Friday morning. As of Q1FY24, HCLTech's deal wins stood at $1.56 billion, a significant drop from its $2 billion plus order book in the previous seven quarters. "We expect this deal to have a positive revenue impact over the next six years beginning in November 2023 with an estimated new total contract value of $2.1 billion over the term," HCLTech informed the stock exchanges about the deal. Under this collaboration, Verizon's networking power, solutioning, and scale will be combined with HCLTech's managed service capabilities to offer large-scale wireline service delivery for enterprise customers. Verizon will lead all "customer acquisition, sales, solutioning, and overall planning and development with its customers", whereas, HCLTech will lead post-sale implementation and ongoing support, the press release noted. A select group of Verizon Business Global Customer Operations staff will also transition to HCLTech, to execute the collaboration, which will require tight coordination and balance of responsibilities at enterprise scale. Read: MC Interview | Will improve utilisation to boost margins: HCLTech CEO Vijayakumar said, Our data-driven service delivery, advanced network capabilities and frictionless customer interfaces combined with the unique strengths and resiliency of the Verizon network will enable enterprises to drive better business outcomes and time to market." HCLTech is a widely recognized industry leader for Managed Network Services, and with their IT service expertise and ongoing support of our enterprise networking deployments, Verizon Business can modernize our service delivery and simultaneously heighten our focus on helping customers incorporate next-generation technology like 5G, SD-WAN and SASE into their operations and their own customer offerings, added Kyle Malady, CEO, Verizon Business. Interestingly, this deal will fall under the telecom and technology segments, which witnessed major ramp downs in the previous quarter. Speaking to Moneycontrol last month, Vijayakumar had shared that the company has started building a very strong pipeline from the first quarter itself and the company is seeing an "all-time high" order book at present. "We expect it to be a good booking in this quarter, which I think will help us continue to have better growth sequentially from here on, which leads us to meet the 6-8 percent (CC revenue growth) guidance for the year," he added. Shares of Axis Bank were down 0.24 percent in early trade on August 10, following approval to the proposal to infuse Rs 1,612 crore into Max Life Insurance Company. At 10:17am, the Axis Bank stock was trading 0.24 percent lower at Rs 948 on the NSE. The Infusion Plan The Axis Bank board on August 9 gave its nod to Rs 1,612-crore infusion in Max Life Insurance Company Limited, a material subsidiary of Max Financial Services Limited. The bank said the Acquisitions, Divestments and Merger Committee has approved the proposal for the infusion through preferential allotment. "Axis Bank Limited and its subsidiaries, i.e., Axis Securities Limited and Axis Capital Limited (together referred to as Axis Entities) have entered into agreements (including amendments thereto) with Max Financial Services Limited, with regard to acquisition of equity stake of Max Life Insurance Company Limited (Max Life) and matters incidental thereto," Axis Bank's exchange filing said. Also Read: Axis Bank approves Rs 1,612 crore infusion in Max Life through preferential allotment "...we would now like to inform you that the Acquisitions, Divestments and Merger Committee of the Board of Directors of the Bank at their meeting held on August 9, 2023 has approved the proposal for the Axis Bank to infuse Rs. 1,612 crores in Max Life through preferential allotment, resulting in Axis Banks direct stake in Max Life increasing to 16.22 percent and the collective stake of Axis Entities increasing to 19.02 percent," Axis Bank further stated in the exchange filing. Way ahead for Axis Bank The Bank will now enter into a Share Subscription Agreement with Max Life for proposed acquisition through subscription to the Preferential Issue of 14,25,79,161 fully paid-up equity shares of face value of Rs. 10 each, at a fair market value of Rs. 113.06 per share (arrived at as per extant regulations and including a share premium of Rs. 103.06 per equity share), Axis Bank said. Follow our live blog for all market action The proposed acquisition, the bank said, would strengthen its position in life insurance business. Post completion of this acquisition, it will increase the total holding of the bank (along with its subsidiaries e.g. Axis Securities Ltd. and Axis Capital Ltd.) in Max Life from 12.99 percent to 19.02 percent, Axis Bank informed stock exchanges. Also Read: Axis Bank sees 34.8% attrition rate in FY23, higher than FY22 and FY21 The proposed acquisition would be done at fair market value using Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) method, Axis Bank stated. The indicative time period for completion of the acquisition is four to six months. The completion of the acquisition would depend upon receipt of regulatory approvals from IRDAI, PFRDA, CCI and others. The bank has requisite approval from the Reserve Bank of India for the proposed acquisition. Max Life Insurance Company Limited, incorporated on July 11, 2000, recorded a turnover of Rs 25,342 crore, Rs 22,414 crore, and Rs 19,018 crore in FY23, FY22 and FY21 respectively. Brokerage Views on the deal CLSA has given a buy rating to the Axis Bank stock with a target price of Rs 1025 per share post the approval of Max Life infusion deal. The brokerage firm further stated that, the bank reported a steady Q1FY24 with VNB margin up 1 percent YoY. Healthy traction in retail protection has been seen followed by non-par savings and proprietary channel. Brokerage firm Jefferies has given a buy rating to Axis Bank with a target price of Rs 800 per share. On the Max deal the brokerage firm further stated that, Axis Bank will raise stake from 13 percent to 19 percent for Rs 1600 crore, tad below market capitalization implied value, improving contribution can aid growth, will track margins going ahead. Stock Performance Axis Bank stock has given a return of 9.31 percent over the last six months. The stock has consequently outperformed the benchmark Nifty Bank index that has given a return of 6.93 percent over the same duration. Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by 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 market regulator has released the procedure to obtain approval for the proposed change in control of merchant bankers and bankers to an issue, according to a circular issued on August 10. This is following a circular released on August 2, which had specified the procedure for seeking prior approval for change in control of certain intermediaries including the bankers to an issue. To obtain approval, according to the latest circular from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the intermediary should first make an online application to SEBI for prior approval through the SEBI Intermediary Portal (SI Portal) (https://siportal.sebi.gov.in). The application should be accompanied by the following information/declaration/undertaking about itself, the acquirer(s)/the person(s) who shall have the control and the directors/partners of the acquirer(s)/the person(s) who shall have the control: a) Current and proposed shareholding pattern of the intermediary. b) Whether any application was made in the past to Sebi seeking registration in any capacity but was not granted? If yes, details thereof. c) Whether any action has been initiated/taken under Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 (SCRA) / Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (SEBI Act) or rules and regulations made thereunder? If yes, the status thereof along with the corrective action taken to avoid such violations in the future. The acquirer(s) / the person(s) who shall have the control shall also confirm that it shall honour all past liabilities/obligations of the applicant, if any. d) Whether any investor complaint is pending? If yes, steps taken and confirmation that the acquirer(s)/the person(s) who shall have the control shall resolve the same. e) Details of litigation(s), if any. f) Confirmation that all the fees due to SEBI have been paid. g) Declaration cum undertaking of the intermediary and the acquirer(s) / the person(s) who shall have the control (in a format enclosed at Annexure A), duly stamped and signed by their authorized signatories that: (i.) there will not be any change in the Board of Directors of incumbent, till the time prior approval is granted; (ii.) pursuant to grant of prior approval by SEBI, the incumbent shall inform all the existing investors/ clients of the intermediary about the proposed change prior to effecting the same, in order to enable them to take informed decision regarding their continuance or otherwise with the new management; and (iii.) the fit and proper person criteria as specified in Schedule II of SEBI (Intermediaries) Regulations, 2008 are complied with. h) In case the incumbent intermediary is a registered stock broker, clearing member, depository participant, in addition to the above, it shall obtain approval / NOC from all the stock exchanges / clearing corporations / depositories, where the incumbent is a member/depository participant and submit self-attested copy of the same to SEBI The circular added, subject to other appropriate sectoral regulators approval with regard to change in control, the prior approval granted by SEBI shall be valid for a period of six months from the date of SEBIs approval within which the applicant shall file application for fresh registration pursuant to change in control. The circular has also given the process of providing approval to the proposed change in control of an intermediary in matters which involve scheme(s) of arrangement which needs sanction of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in terms of the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. This includes filing the application for approval on the change of control to be filed with Sebi before filing the application with NCLT. Upon being satisfied with compliance of the applicable regulatory requirements, an in-principle approval will be granted by SEBI; iii. The validity of such in-principle approval shall be three months from the date of issuance, within which the relevant application shall be made to NCLT. iv. Within 15 days from the date of order of NCLT, the intermediary shall submit an online application with specified documents. Shares of Suzlon Energy gained 4 percent on August 10 as the companys Securities Issue Committee decided to raise Rs 2,000 crore from a qualified institutional placement (QIP) of shares. The committee has given the green light for a minimum price of Rs 18.44 per share to eligible qualified institutional buyers, which implies a 5.7 percent discount from Wednesdays closing price. At 9:22am, shares of the company were trading 3.2 percent higher at Rs 20.18 on the BSE. Catch up on all LIVE stock market updates here This decision aligns with the special resolution passed by shareholders through a postal vote on August 8. The company also mentioned the possibility of offering up to a 5 percent discount on the minimum price for the issue. The wind turbine manufacturer said the Securities Issue Committee will discuss about the issue price and potential discounts on August 14. Suzlon Energy is a multinational wind turbine manufacturer and a market leader by wide margin. It has enjoyed a market share of 33 percent in India on the basis of total installations. The company has 20GW of operational wind power capacity globally and is well ahead of its competitors, analysts believe. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept The Reserve Bank of India on August 10 announced three new features that have the potential to usher in the next era of the payments revolution through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), including transactions through a conversation with an artificial intelligence system. Governor Shaktikanta Das announced these measures while sharing the outcome of RBI's bi-monthly policy review. The central bank held the key repo rate steady at 6.5 percent. Conversational Payments on UPI Das has proposed to launch Conversational Payments on UPI, enabling users to engage in a conversation with an AI-powered system to initiate and complete transactions in a safe and secure environment. As AI gets increasingly integrated into the digital economy, conversational instructions hold immense potential to enhance the ease of use and reach of the UPI, which has transformed Indias digital payments ecosystem. The feature will be available on both smartphones and feature phones-based UPI channels. The facility will initially be available in Hindi and English and subsequently in more Indian languages. The RBI governor's announcement today regarding the introduction of conversational payments and offline functionality in UPI Lite marks a pivotal step that is set to reshape India's economic trajectory, Rajsri Rengan, India Head of Development, Banking and Payments at FIS said. She added, these advancements hold the potential to revolutionise the digital payment ecosystem and drive financial inclusion to new heights. "A simplified AI-based interface can reduce barriers to adoption, especially among senior citizens and people with disabilities, and give them seamless access to their finances," Adhil Shetty, CEO at BankBazaar.com said. Also read | Bima Sugam a UPI moment for insurance space, will not lead to job losses in distribution space: IRDAI chief Panda UPI Lite limit raised The RBI has raised the transaction limit of UPI Lite to Rs 500 from Rs 200. Launched by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in September 2022, UPI Lite allows quick small-value transactions by optimise processing resources for banks, thereby reducing transaction failures. It allowed users to conduct transactions of up to Rs 200 a day without the need for a pin code, which reduced the transaction time. While the transaction limit has been raised to Rs 500 now, the UPI Lite balance ceiling has been left unchanged at Rs 2,000 to contain the risks associated with relaxation of two-factor authentication. UPI Lite is available on Paytm, BHIM App, GooglePay and other payments apps. Canara Bank, HDFC Bank, Indian Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, Union Bank of India and Utkarsh Small Finance Bank are already live in UPI LIte board. Also read | Making UPI payments via RuPay credit cards: Is it worth it? Offline UPI payments To promote UPI Lite, the RBI will also introduce offline payments using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. This feature will not only enable retail digital payments when internet or telecom connectivity is weak or unavailable but also ensure speed with minimal transaction declines. Instructions to NPCI, which manages UPI and UPI Lite, will be issued shortly. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on August 10 said that it will consider conversational payments on unified payments interface (UPI) through artificial intelligence (AI). Conversational payments on UPI will enable users to engage in conversation with AI systems to make payments, RBI Governor Das said at the August 10 MPC deliberations. The central bank has proposed this measure with the objective to harvest new technology enhancements for users, he added. Use of AI Other than this announcement by the central bank, other banks, both private and public, are working closely on their technology using AI and machine learning (ML) tools to expand digital banking services. Banks in India are increasingly incorporating technology such as AI-backed services in their operations. From using chatbots to partnering with fintech firms, banks are exploring how to include new-age technology. Also read: Axis Bank may use ChatGPT to talk to customers For example, the countrys largest private sector bank, HDFC Bank, has its chatbot Eva, which provides customers and non-customers with information about the lenders banking services. Axis Bank is also looking at using ChatGPTs enterprise version for enhancing communication services with customers. The countrys largest bank, State Bank of India, in its annual report for FY23 said that it will enhance the use of business analytics, AI and ML in decision-making and operations. MPC on repo rate The monetary policy committee (MPC) has on August 10 unanimously voted to leave the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 percent, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced today. The Standing Deposit Facility rate also retained at 6.25 percent; and Marginal Standing Facility rate, Bank Rate also retained at 6.75 percent. The MPC has also decided to remain focused on withdrawal of accommodation with preparedness to act should situation so warrant. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept The much-awaited Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) connecting Mumbai and Navi Mumbai will be opened for general traffic in the coming few months followed by the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) which is expected to bring drastic change in the way Navi Mumbai is looked at, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said on August 10. Shinde was speaking at a day-long conference organised by Opelox Media and Marketing titled Sustainable Cities 2030 to make Navi Mumbai a sustainable city. Addressing real estate developers, architects and urban planners through video conferencing, Shinde said, When we talk about Sustainable Cities 2030, we need to remember that 2030 is not far. Several infrastructure projects in MMR including MTHL, NMIA, Coastal Road, and unified development control regulations (DCR) will bring drastic changes and growth opportunities for infrastructure and real estate of MMR including Navi Mumbai. Opportunities galore Conceived in the 1960s, Navi Mumbai is a satellite city near Mumbai and is a part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). Several developers from apex bodies like NAREDCO, MCHI, CREDAI, and the Builders Association of Navi Mumbai (BANM) attended the conference. ALSO READ: Mumbai to Pune in 90 minutes: All you must know about Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link Bridge Sanjay Dutt, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Tata Realty, said, Indias first petrochemical plant came up in Navi Mumbai in the 1960s and the countrys biggest port known as JNPT handles 40 percent of Indias cargo tells us that Navi Mumbai is going to play a very big role when it comes to growth and development. With several infrastructure projects like the airport and MTHL, Navi Mumbai which is land-rich, is expected to have a bright future, he said, adding, Those who have invested in land-rich Navi Mumbai are today in the billionaires club, and going further due to MTHL, Navi Mumbai is expected to reduce the valuation of even Mumbai for that matter. Currently, the per-square-foot rates of residential apartments in Navi Mumbai are between Rs 5,000 and Rs 45,000. Whereas for Mumbai, the per-sq ft rate is Rs 20,000 to over Rs 1.30 lakh, depending on the location. ALSO READ: Navi Mumbai metro to start soon, boost property prices in micro-markets With Navi Mumbai Airport, MTHL and the planned Virar-Alibaug corridor, which is expected to go live by 2026, Navi Mumbai is expected to overtake Mumbai going further. We are constructing the Virar-Alibaug corridor, for which work is expected to start by year-end. The corridor will give opportunity for 9 townships along the corridor to come up, which, in turn, will benefit Navi Mumbai and Raigad belt at a large scale, said Radheshyam Mopalwar, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Maharashtra State Road and Development Corporation (MSRDC). The FBI shot and killed a man while they were trying to arrest him for making threats against President Biden and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg Jr. Craig Deleeuw Robertson posted the threats on Facebook. Examples of his threats: THERE IS ONLY ONE CREATURE IN THIS UNIVERSE I HATE MORE THAN JOE BIDEN. ITS LUCIFER, BIDEN'S BROTHER!!! IN MY DREAM I SEE JOE BIDEN'S BODY IN A DARK CORNER OF A DC PARKING GARAGE WITH HIS HEAD SEVERED AND LYING IN A HUGE PUDDLE OF BLOOD. HOORAH!!! HEY FBI, YOU STILL MONITORING MY SOCIAL MEDIA? CHECKING SO I CAN BE SURE TO HAVE A LOADED GUN HANDY IN CASE YOU DROP BY AGAIN. The FBI described Robertson as a white man, "approximately 70-75 years old" who was surveilled "wearing a dark suit (later observed as having an AR-15 style rifle lapel pin attached), a white shirt, a red tie, and a multi-colored (possibly camouflage) hat bearing the word "TRUMP" on the front." From CNBC: Get ready for the most expensive apartments to date in Noida as NCR-based real estate developer Bhutani Infra is planning to develop an uber-luxury housing project in the Delhi satellite citys Sector 32. It will be a mixed land use project comprising a mall and around 60 expansive, opulent apartments. Ashish Bhutani, CEO, Bhutani Infra, in an interview told Moneycontrol that the total estimated investment in the project is likely to be around Rs 600 crore. The cost of an apartment is likely to start from around Rs 12 crore, something unheard of in the Noida market. This will be a super-luxury project where very big size apartments will be offered. Only 60 apartments will be offered in the project and the size of flats will start from 5,000 square feet. The project is likely to be formally launched by the end of the year. The cost of flats will start from Rs 12 crore, Bhutani said. He said that the cost may vary depending on the floor and size of the apartment. Also Read: Branded real estate developers make a beeline for Noida and Gurugram with luxury launches The project will come up near Logix City Centre mall in Noidas Sector 32. The building will likely be 30 storeys tall, with the first four floors housing a mall and remaining constituting the residential component. Separate entry and exit will be provided for the housing complex and the mall, Bhutani said. The luxury housing project is intended to be completed in 42 months time from the start of work on ground. Bhutani Infra started operations in 1996 under the brand name Parmesh Complexes in Delhis Karkardooma. It has delivered close to 14 projects till date. Among its latest offerings, I-Thum IT Park in Sector 62, Noida, and Alphathum, a business park in Sector 90 are already operational. Bhutani Infra is currently developing two commercial projects, Bhutani Cyberthum and Avenue 62 in Noida. Bhutani Cyberthum is likely to be delivered by June 2024. Also Read: Media baron sells property in Noida for Rs 10.02 crore The Bombay Dyeing share was trading around a percent lower in the morning trade on August 10, a day after the textile manufacturers reported a widened consolidated loss of Rs 119.8 crore for the June quarter from Rs 76.8 crore in the year-ago period Bombay Dyeings revenue declined 17.87 percent YoY to Rs 498 crore due to lower polyester business and tepid growth in real estate segment. The Mumbai-based company recently received the boards approval for delisting Global Depository Receipts from the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, and termination of deposit agreement with Citibank NA for the companys GDRs. The underlying equity shares were listed on the BSE and NSE and would continue to be so following the termination of the GDR programme, it told exchanges. Follow our market blog for all the live action At 10.19 am, the stock was trading at Rs 113.55 on the National Stock Exchange, down 1.8 percent from previous close. Around 966,042 shares changed hands, which was lower than the 20-day average of 2,400,953. Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing is the flagship business of Wadia Group. It is a leading textile manufacturer and retailer with a range of other products. 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. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Covid-19 cases are showing signs of increase in Maharashtra after a long time due to the detection of a new Omicron Subvariant- EG.5.1 in the state in the first instance of its presence in the country. Rajesh Karyakate, Maharashtras coordinator for genome sequencing and a senior scientist with BJ Medical College, told TOI that EG.5.1 was detected in Maharashtra in May this year. It has been two months since the detection of the XBB.1.16 and XBB.2.3 subvariants of Covid-19 in Maharashtra. Despite the lack of any significant increase in cases during June and July, there does not appear to be any impact from this new subvariant. The dominant strains of Covid-19 in the area remain XBB.1.16 and XBB.2.3. As per the data received from the state health department, the number of active Covid-19 cases has increased from 70 at the end of July to 115 on August 6. The case count on August 7 was 109. EG.5.1 is a sub-strain of Omicron XBB.1.9, one that has not been able to dominate cases in India so far, as stated by Karyakarte. Although, he said that it will be prudent to keep a close watch on hospital admissions. According to the data from the state public health department, Mumbai has the maximum number of active Covid-19 cases in the state standing at 43, followed by Pune at 34 and Thane at 25. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept As the Russia-Ukraine war continues unabated, both countries are exploring ways and means to gain an upper hand. The latest is the so-called quantum jump in Russias defence expenditure (defex). According to a recent Reuters report, Russia has nearly doubled its defex target to more than $102 billion in the current year. The announcement is not surprising since Russia is on a spending spree to finance its war activities and has apparently spent the allocated budget by June this year. However, it is debatable if a quantum jump alone would enable Russia to gain a decisive advantage over Ukraine. War-led Spending According to the 2023 SIPRI Factsheet on Trends in Military Expenditure, Russia emerged as the third largest spender (from fifth in 2021) after the US and China, spending more than $86 billion and accounting for 4.1 percent of its GDP in 2022. SIPRI data, therefore, is at variance with Reuters claim, since there is an increase of only 20 percent over last years figures. Hitherto, Russia is an autocratic, militarised state with overgrown military establishments, perpetual warfare, high-level military mobilisation and a consequential larger share for the military in resource allocation. For example, in 2022, only seven countries allocated more defex as a proportion of GDP than Russia. Further, Russia continues to monetise some portions of oil exports and, therefore, would most likely sustain the revenue model for its war activities and allocate even higher portions of GDP to defence in future. However, Ukraine has also pushed up its defex. It moved from the 36th position in 2021 to the 11th in 2022, spending $44 billion. This was a 640 percent increase over its 2021 defex figures. A balance of fortunes would possibly emerge only if there is a huge asymmetry between the two countries. That is not happening since Ukraine was also able to raise a significant amount through military assistance and loans from NATO countries. The US, for example, has committed more than $40 billion in security assistance alone since February 2022. Another $35 billion stands committed for humanitarian and financial aid. A matching contribution has also been committed by the European Union institutions and non-US NATO members. Therefore, Russian defex increases are meaningless. Money Just One Factor Hitherto, money is only one of the numerous factors in warfare. For example, Americas defence budget is 39 percent of the global defence expenditure and is three times more than China, the next in the pecking order. Yet, America has not been able to win any war in recent times after the 1991 Gulf War success. Saudi Arabia is the fifth-largest military spender and is either the largest or second-largest importer of weapons in the international arms market. Yet, Saudi Arabia has failed to metamorphose itself into a recognised military power in the Gulf and West Asia region. It emerges, therefore, that there are significant non-monetary factors that decide the fate of contemporary wars. Unfortunately, Russia has many such problems that undermine the budgetary increases. First, Russia does not have a conducive military culture for carrying out successful war activities. Years of combat experience notwithstanding, Russian soldiers are fatigued. While Russia has an advanced military-industrial complex (MIC) and has been a lead arms supplier, the personnel side of military modernisation remains in shambles. Soldiers are not getting paid in time and efforts to push up military reforms were never taken seriously. The military leadership is uninspiring, best evident in the open revolt by a private army against them some time ago. Hurt By Sanctions Second, Russias supply chain economy for delivering quantitative and qualitative military hardware is increasingly coming under challenge. From being an arms exporter, Russia is now desperate to import vital spare parts for its arsenals. Its domestic MIC is not able to produce many of those items despite liberal budgetary support and manpower training in weapons production. Part of the reason is the tightening of global economic sanctions on Russia and its extermination from all international arms markets. Third, despite being an established military power, Russia is not able to come out with disruptive military innovations or technologies to gain a significant advantage over Ukraine. Its Air Force failed to make a decisive dent into Ukraines air space. The missile forces too have not made any significant damage after early impact. Russia, it seems, is a victim of overconfidence and poor strategic instincts. On the contrary, Ukraine has won back sizeable portions of territory from the Russian military. In recent times, it has taken the war to Russian territory, hitting portions of Moscow and sea ports in drone attacks from far-off distances. Contemporary wars are protracted wars. Even great powers are not able to clinch an outright victory. In uncertain war atmospherics, overt emphasis on defence spending is more about politics and marketing than an effective tool in war economy management. Therefore, it is debatable if defex increases alone will induce favourable military fortunes for Russia. At best, it would perpetuate Russias military economy without ensuring a decisive outcome in the ongoing war against Ukraine. Bhartendu Kumar Singh is in the Indian Defence Accounts Service. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication. With the passing away of Nagarajan Vittal in Chennai last week, India has lost an illustrious former bureaucrat who would be remembered for his unconventional and dynamic ways of working in the government. Though Vittal occupied many positions in his home cadre state, Gujarat, and the centre, his brief tenures as the Secretary of the Department of Electronics (DoE) and then as Secretary of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in the early 1990s came at a critical juncture in Indias economic history. The two stints of Vittal catalysed the growth of the nascent software and information technology sector which turned out to be the poster boy of the liberalisation era. 1990: Enter N Vittal Vittals coming to DoE in 1990 marked a shift in the functioning and outlook of DoE, which since its founding in 1971 was categorised as a scientific department. A policy to promote software exports was announced in 1986 but firms faced bureaucratic hurdles. They were allowed to export software using satellite data links but tariffs imposed by DoT were more than the annual turnover of some of them. Vittal decided to address the issue head-on. He met industry associations and asked them what they needed to boost software exports. He was given a list of demands including duty concession and tax holiday. Vittal promptly placed the demands before the Committee of Secretaries in June 1990. India then was facing a foreign exchange crisis and the government was keen to promote exports. Finance Secretary Bimal Jalan asked Vittal if he could promise software exports worth US$500 million by 1991 if the government acceded to the demand for a tax holiday. At that time, the software exports of all companies put together was below $100 million. Software Exports Unshackled Still, Vittal said the industry could try to reach $250 million to $300 million within a year. Ultimately, a compromise was arrived. A target of $400 million was fixed. The industry got the tax holiday but in return had to commit to an unrealistic export target. But Vittal looked at it differently. At a Nasscom meeting, he recalled an Akbar-Birbal tale. Once Akbar was so unhappy with Birbal that he wanted to behead him. Birbal pleaded for a year, and in return, he promised Akbar that he would make the kings favourite horse fly. When Birbals friends quizzed him about this strange promise, he said Who knows what will happen in one year. I may die, the horse may die or the king may be no more. Or, maybe the horse will fly. Vittal compared the promise of $400 million in software exports with Birbals promise. The tax holiday worked like magic for the software industry, and the horse did fly, if not in 1991, as targeted, but subsequently. Alongside, Vittal aggressively rolled out the Software Technology Parks (STP) scheme which offered single-window clearance and access to satellite data links all of which led to exponential growth in software exports. Liberalising Telecom As DoE secretary, he was an ex-officio member of the Telecom Commission and was also made a member of the Athreya Committee which looked into telecom reforms. In both these fora, Vittal fiercely advocated the opening of the telecom sector and slashing high tariffs for data transmission. Eventually, he was made DoT Secretary and given a free hand to introduce the changes he was advocating. He was the main architect of the National Telecom Policy 1994 which opened the doors to the private sector into basic and valued-added telecom services. The speed of governance may be a catchphrase today, but Vittal practised it in the 1990s. He believed that between perfection and speed, one should prefer speed. More CEO Than Secretary He would always carry a dictaphone with him. He would promptly record minutes of the meeting or decisions taken right in the presence of other participants. This reduced the time taken to finalise the minutes later and cut delays in decision-making. He ran the departments like a Chief Executive meeting division heads and officers regularly, taking their feedback and suggestions, and creating a clean working environment. As todays policymakers grapple with new challenges in technology and startup sectors, they could take a leaf out of Vittals management doctrine. He redefined the role of bureaucracy post-1991 this way: Secretaries of government departments must act as champions of their sector to improve Indias competitiveness in that sector. The secretary as a champion of an idea has to argue his case, persuade his colleagues, and make compromises (if necessary) so that the basic objective of the proposal is finally approved with consensus. Dinesh C Sharma is a New Delhi-based journalist and author of The Outsourcer: The Story of Indias IT Revolution (MIT Press, 2015). Views expressed are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication. Both India and China lie at the heart of the geopolitical churn in the Indo-Pacific, with their bilateral relationship holding significant implications for the future of the world order. While India is pursuing a policy of multi-alignment, it increasingly seems to be caught between two emerging power centres. On one side is a rising China, which is seeking to actively reshape the international order to facilitate its rise to the centre-stage of world affairs; on the other is the US, which is working to boost domestic strength, revitalise old alliances and fashion new partnerships in order to sustain its preeminence. So what does this mean for the relationship between India and China? After all, China is not only Indias largest neighbour but a key trading partner. At the same time, the two sides increasingly appear to be moving towards greater friction and hostility along the disputed boundary. Will the intensified tensions result in more conflict, even if of just low-intensity variety? Or is there a possibility for some sort of new peaceful equilibrium, perhaps even friendship, between the two? Intersecting Zones Of Influence To my mind, three structural factors make it difficult for India and China to get close. First, as both have risen over the past three decades, their interests have not only expanded but also now increasingly intersect across each others traditional zones of influence. Beijings intensified engagement in the Indian subcontinent and Delhis more public expression of concern around issues of the South China Sea are examples of this. Whats more, both sides have greater capabilities today and have demonstrated increased political willingness to pursue those interests. An example of this is the increased military capacity along the disputed border leading to the two forces brushing up against each other more frequently. Growing Power And Asymmetry Secondly, as their power has grown so has the asymmetry between the two. This differential has resulted in Beijing being more risk-tolerant and resorting to greater coercion to confine India within the subcontinent. Chinas common refrain that India should put the boundary issue in its proper place in bilateral relations and accept the coercively-altered status quo in Eastern Ladakh is an example of its view that India should acknowledge the power differential and act accordingly. Such an accession will not only be politically damaging for any Indian establishment but also strategically imprudent. In response, India has sought to resist while talking, de-risk in certain domains and counterbalance with actors like the US and Australia. US-India Proximity This feeds into the third structural factor, i.e., the deepening competition between China and the US. China is quite anxious and vocal about its displeasure with Indias unprecedented proximity with the US. A Delhi closely aligned with Washington presents a formidable hurdle for Beijings global ambitions. But Chinese scholars also acknowledge that the Washington-Delhi embrace is not necessarily of an alliance variety; there exist limitations, grievances, complications and divergences of interests. Consequently, Beijing repeatedly urges Delhi to view bilateral relations in the context of the once-in-a-century changes taking place in the world and think of bilateral cooperation from the perspective of their respective national rejuvenation. Yet, there is precious little that China has done to demonstrate appreciation for Indias interests and aspirations. Its policy has predominantly relied on coercion rather than accommodation. This has further damaged the already low levels of trust between the elites and populations on both sides. Sliding Public Opinion For instance, the last formal meeting between Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping was in October 2019. The informal chat they had in Bali last year didnt move the needle at all. Public opinion, meanwhile, has also sunk. Indians have historically held a rather negative view of China, though there was a brief period of positivity around Chinas development achievements around 2006-2008. This sentiment has since faded, with recent Pew polling data showing that negative opinions about China in India rose from 46 percent in 2019 to 67 percent in 2023. Other surveys also reflect this trend, which has sharpened since the events of 2020. Likewise in China, India is increasingly being viewed from a threat-prism. For instance, a recent poll by Tsinghua University found that merely 8 percent of Chinese people had a favourable opinion of India. Politics Trumps Economics Despite all the above, it is evident that trade between India and China is continuing to expand. For many, this is a contradiction. Such views, however, miss the point that increasingly both sides are approaching trade from a strategic prism. In this context, India has been open to trade and investment expansion merely to the extent that there may be few suitable alternatives and doing so serves the requirement of intermediate and capital goods for its electronics and manufacturing sectors. This is critical for Indias rise as a major power. At the same time, Delhi has sought to de-risk in emerging technologies, core telecom systems and what are seen as strategic domains. This approach needs far greater refinement and precision targeting. In essence, even if the bilateral trade figure continues to expand, the relationship between India and China will remain difficult and volatile, for in todays era, politics trumps economics. Manoj Kewalramani is the Chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Studies Programme and Research Fellow-China Studies at the Takshashila Institution. Views are personal, and do not represent the stand of this publication. The Congress on Thursday gave a notice in the Lok Sabha against alleged breach of privilege by Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing him of speaking untruth on Maharashtra farm widow Kalawati Bandurkar who Rahul Gandhi had met in 2008. The notice was given to Speaker Om Birla by Congress MP and party's whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore. "I submitted a privilege motion against Sh Amit Shah for misleading the Parliament yesterday on smt Kalawati story to Honble Speaker," Tagore said on X, formerly known as Twitter, while sharing the notice. Gandhi had visited Bandurkar's house in 2008 after her husband committed suicide following a farm crisis in Maharashtra's Vidarbha. During the debate on the no-confidence motion on Wednesday, Shah had referred to 13 "failed" attempts to launch Rahul Gandhi's political career and recalled how he narrated a tale of a poor woman Kalawati. Shah said it was the Modi government which ensured that she got a home and benefited from various government schemes. However, the Congress alleged the Modi government was lying on Kalawati and shared a video of the farmer on X. Kalawati claims in the video that Rahul Gandhi had helped her tide over poverty. In his notice, Tagore alleged that Shah has breached Parliamentary Privilege by not upholding the sanctity of accurate and truthful information when addressing the House. "The issue in question pertains to a statement made by the Hon'ble Minister of Home Affairs in Lok Sabha yesterday i e. 09.08.2023, wherein he provided details of facilities purportedly extended by the Government at the house of smt Kalawati, a farmer's widow from Maharashtra. However, to the utter dismay of the concerned us this statement has been vehemently refuted by the concerned Smt Kalawati herself to media channels who has explicitly stated that the modi Government has not provided any such facilities for the past eight years instead Sh Rahul gandhi helped her in building her house," he alleged. "This discrepancy between the statement made by the Hon'ble Union Minister and the reality as communicated by the affected Smt Kalawati raises serious doubts about the veracity of the information presented in the Lok Sabha and it highlights a potential breach of privilege under Rule 22, Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rules," he alleged. In light of the aforementioned circumstances, Tagore hoped the Speaker would take cognisance of this matter and consider initiating appropriate action. "The breach of privilege motion, as outlined in Rule 22. Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rules, should be initiated to ensure the accountability and integrity of our parliamentary system "Therefore, I request you to exercise your esteemed authority to move a breach of privilege motion against the Hon'ble Union Minister for his statement which appears to be in direct contradiction to the ground reality and direct him to seek apology from the House of People for his wrong and irresponsible statement yesterday. The video clip and link of the same is attached herewith," Tagore said in his notice. The Congress on Thursday alleged that the Modi government does not want a debate on Manipur in the Rajya Sabha as it is "obstinate" and following the "my way or the highway" approach. Opposition INDIA bloc members in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday proposed a discussion on Manipur under a rule that requires a resolution to be passed in the House, but MPs of the ruling alliance opposed their demand for the prime minister's presence, forcing an adjournment in the pre-lunch session. The opposition parties had till now been calling for a debate under Rule 267, which entails voting, and a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The government has been insisting since the start of the Monsoon session of Parliament on a short-duration discussion under Rule 176, which does not involve voting or any minister replying to the debate. In a tweet, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "In the Rajya Sabha today three MPs belonging to INDIA parties -- Tiruchi Siva of DMK, Elamaram Karim of CPM and Binoy Viswam of CPI -- submitted a motion on Manipur under Rule 167 to get a meaningful discussion on the subject going in the Council of States." "The Chairman is making every effort to break the logjam. INDIA parties have even offered to sit with those deputed by the BJP to arrive at a mutually acceptable draft if need be. But the Modi government is obstinate -- it is simply my way or the highway," Ramesh said on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Clearly, it does not want a debate. And of course, it is adamant that the PM will not speak on Manipur in the Rajya Sabha," the Congress leader alleged. On Thursday, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge requested Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to allow a discussion under Rule 167 in the presence of the prime minister. As the treasury benches protested this, Kharge quipped, "What will happen if the prime minister comes to the House? Is he 'parmaatma' (almighty). He is no God." This led to a ruckus in the House, forcing the chairman to adjourn the proceedings till 2 pm. Fans just cant keep calm as megastar Rajinikanth has returned to the screens after a gap of two years. August 10 has been declared Jailer day by his fans. Amid the frenzy surrounding Jailer, an office that has a branch in Chennai and Bengaluru both, has declared a holiday on August 10 and has even distributed free tickets of the film. Uno Aqua Care in Tamil Nadu has declared August 10 as an official holiday. The office has branches in cities like Chennai, Bengaluru, Trichy, Tirunelveli, Chengalpattu, Mattuthavani, Arapalayam, and Alagappan Nagar. A notice by the office mentioned that this move will prevent people in piling up the HR with sick leave requests. On account of the release of SUPER STAR RAJINIs movie Jailer we have decided to declare holiday on 10th August 2023 in efforts to avoid piled up leave request to the HR department, the viral notice read. We also take the privilege of going the extra mile to support antipiracy by providing free tickets to employees, it read further. The notice also called Rajinikanth the one and only SUPER STAR for all generations as well. SalemSurvey Group, another company in Tamil Nadu, said the holiday is applicable for all its employees working in Chennai, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Goa, Mumbai, and Odisha. Meanwhile, a Coimbatore-based restaurant, Le Hive, also allowed its employees to enjoy the first day, first show (FDFS) of the film without any hassles. Jayakrishna T J, a representative of Le Hive told PTI that the management decided to declare a half day holiday so that the staff can catch up the first day, first show at 9 am. "This way, we do not have to deal with a flurry of sudden sick leaves or phones running out of battery," quipped Jayakrishna. He also added the company is providing the staff with even free tickets to the first show. In addition, fans have been sharing screenshots of fully-booked theatres and putting up life-size hoardings and posters of Thalaivar outside local cinema halls. "Jailer" directed by Nelson also stars Jackie Shroff, Tamannaah Bhatia, Vasanth Ravi, Yogi Babu, Ramya Krishnan and Vinayakan. Kannada star Shiva Rajkumar will be making his Tamil debut with the film. A passenger recently left behind a bag that had Rs 80,000 and documents at Bengaluru airport before boarding a flight to Delhi, a Times of India report said. 60-year-old Rajinder Sachdeva, who was flying to Delhi from Bengaluru in a Indigo flight 6E 2406 on July 29 was carrying another bag along with the one that contained the money and the documents and realised that he had left one of his bags behind at the airport before boarding the flight. "He was carrying two small bags and during the pre-departure security check by CISF, forgot to collect one black bag containing Rs 80,000, some documents and ID cards. Only after boarding did he realise he had left behind the bag," Sachdeva's daughter Kokil said. She immediately spoke to authorities at Bengaluru airport's "Lost and Found" section and raised a complaint regarding the missing bag. After her father arrived in Delhi, they followed up with the authorities who informed them that a complaint had to be registered with the airport police station who would then check for the bag with the help of CCTV cameras. On Friday, they received an update from Bengaluru airport authorities saying that the bag had been found, but without the money. "We received communication from Bengaluru airport on Friday via email and contacted the authorities to hear the good news that the bag had been located. But much to our shock, they said it contained all the specified items except for the cash," she said. After raising the issue of the lost money, Sachdeva's daughter got a message from the airport that the full amount of Rs 80,000 was found in the bag. A family friend was later informed to collect the bag from the airport and Sachdeva is likely to receive the bag next week. Azerbaijani foreign minister Jeyhun Bayramov congratulated his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan on the occasion of being awarded the "Medal for Outstanding Service in the State," Azernews reports, citing a tweet by the Azerbaijani FM. Jeyhun Bayramov Turkish Foreign Minister success in achieving the goals set by the top management! The Swiss watchmaker Swatch produces a variety of rainbow-themed wristwatches. The Malaysian government announced today that anyone who buys or sells one could face up to three years in jail. According to an NBC News report, the government has deemed LGBTQ-themed Swatch products as "potentially harmful to morality. The Malaysian Interior Ministry's official Facebook page made the announcement today, saying rainbow Swatches may harm the interests of the nation by promoting, supporting, and normalizing the LGBTQ+ movement that is not accepted by the general public in Malaysia." From The Guardian: Malaysia's law enforcement unit at the interior ministry raided Swatch stores at 11 shopping malls across the country in May, including in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, for timepieces bearing what it called "LGBT elements". Anyone who "prints, imports, produces or has in his possession" such items faces a jail term of up to three years, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday. Any individual wearing or distributing the watches could also be fined 20,000 Malaysian ringgit (3,425), according to the ban notice. "The Malaysian government is committed to preventing the spread of elements that are harmful or may be harmful to morals," the ministry said in a statement. In response to the raid Swatch filed a lawsuit against the Malaysian government in June, arguing that the watches "did not promote any sexual activity but were merely a fun and joyous expression of peace and love." Five people sat down for lunch at a small Australian town in late July. A week later, three of them were dead of suspected mushroom poisoning, and a fourth is still fighting for his life. Meanwhile the host, who cooked the fatal wild mushroom dish and did not suffer any symptoms herself, is under investigation for potentially poisoning her guests. The mystery of the mushroom poisoning deaths has gripped a tight-knit community, with the host professing her innocence. According to news reports, Erin Patterson, 45, hosted a lunch at her house in Leongatha on July 29. In attendance were her former parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, Gails sister Heather Wilkinson and Heathers husband, Ian. Days after the lunch, Gail, 70, and Heather, 66, would both die in hospital, followed a day later by Don. The fourth guest, Ian Wilkinson, 68, remains critically ill and needing a liver transplant. Police suspect they all suffered from the effects of eating death cap mushrooms, but Erin Patterson has denied any wrongdoing. In a tearful interview, she told reporters: Im devastated. I loved them. And I cant believe that this has happened and Im so sorry. However, when asked about the origin of the mushrooms that were used in her beef wellington dish, Patterson remained silent. Police say that Patterson is a suspect in the but has not been charged with the deaths. Police also asked the public not to speculate since the deaths are unexplained and could turn out to be very innocent. At this point in time, the deaths are unexplained, Detective Inspector Dean Thomas told the Sydney Morning Herald. It could be very innocent, but we just dont know. We have to keep an open mind in relation to this, Thomas said. But again, we just dont know at this point four people turn up and three of them pass away, with another one critical, so we have to work through this. A couple from Japan's Osaka to Chennai to catch the first-day-first-show of Rajinikanth's Jailer. Yasuda Hidetoshi, who is a leader of a Rajinikanth fan club in Japan, is fluent in Tamil and even delivered a few of the veteran actor's dialogues from the film. We as a couple have come from Japan to Chennai to watch Rajinikanths Jailer film first-day first show. We were excited to watch our Thalaiva's film. We have watched it and loved it," Hidetoshi told news agency ANI. In a video shared by PTI, the couple is seen wearing matching Rajinikanth-themed t-shirts while holding hand-fans with Rajinikanth and Tamannaah Bhatias photo from Kaavaalaa printed on it. VIDEO | A Japanese couple has travelled from Osaka to Chennai, Tamil Nadu to watch Rajinikanth's new film 'Jailer'. "To see the Jailer movie, we have come from Japan to Chennai," says Yasuda Hidetoshi, Rajinikanth fan club leader, Japan. pic.twitter.com/04ACrc4Q5c Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 10, 2023 He also said he had been watching Rajinikanth movies for over 20 years, starting with 'Muthu.' Directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, Jailer saw the return of superstar Rajinikanth to the silver screen after almost two years. The film has opened well with positive reviews from fans and critics alike. Theatres across Tamil Nadu reportedly were booked full house through the week, and wore a festive look as fans cheered and danced while gathering for the first-day-first-show. Such is the craze that a company booked 2,200 tickets of the film for its employees, its founder and CEO Girish Mathrubootham said. 2,200 tickets 7 screens Freshworks employees only, Freshworks founder and CEO Girish Mathrubootham tweeted. Read more: Jailer review: Rajinikanth bounces back in a 'paisa vasool' entertainer USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept A restaurant in Italys Lake Como region allegedly charged a diner two euros extra after getting a sandwich he had ordered cut in half so that he can share it with his friend. The tourists narration of the incident on TripAdvisor was viral, following which the platform temporarily suspended publishing new reviews for the restaurant. The unnamed person said he and his friend went to the restaurant named Bar Pace in Gera Lario, on the northern side of Italys Lake Como, New York Post reported. He ordered a vegetarian sandwich which came with a side of fries. After sharing the sandwich with the friend, he was shocked to find an additional two euros in his bill. Though he paid the amount without complaining to the restaurant staff, he took to TripAdvisor later to post a damning review of the restaurant. Unbelievable but true, the customer captioned the photo of the bill online. The bill in Italian listed a vegetarian sandwich (Toast Vegetariano e Patatine) for 7.50, Coca-Cola for 3.50, water for 1.50 and espresso for 1.20. Along with this was an 2 for diviso da meta, or cutting in half. The diner reportedly gave a one-star rating for the restaurant which has over 100 reviews and an average rating of 4.5 on TripAdvisor. The owner of the restaurant, meanwhile, stood her ground and defended the extra charge. It wasn't a simple toast, there were also fried potatoes inside. It took us some time to cut it in two. And the work pays off, Cristina Biacchi told La Repubblica, an Italian newspaper. "We would have explained to him that each additional service must be paid for. We had to use two saucers instead of one and the time to wash them doubled, and then two placemats. She said no one objected to the additional fee at the time of payment and that the restaurant would have removed the amount from the bill had the customer objected to it then and there. "I repeat, if he had said it immediately, he would not have paid this supplement. And all this would not have happened, Biacchi said. TripAdvisor, put out a message on the restaurants listing, saying posting reviews were paused. Due to a recent event that has attracted media attention and has caused an influx of review submissions that do not describe a first-hand experience, we have temporarily suspended publishing new reviews for this listing. If youve had a firsthand experience at this property, please check back soon - were looking forward to receiving your review, it said. The U.N. Security Council will hold its first open meeting on North Koreas dire human rights situation since 2017 next week, the United States announced Thursday. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters that U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk and Elizabeth Salmon, the U.N. independent investigator on human rights in the reclusive northeast Asia country, will brief council members at the Aug. 17 meeting. We know the governments human rights abuses and violations facilitate the advancement of its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles program, Thomas-Greenfield said, adding that the Security Council must address the horrors, the abuses and crimes being perpetrated by North Korean leader Kim Jong Ils regime against its own people as well as the people of Japan and South Korea. Thomas-Greenfield, who is chairing the council during this months U.S. presidency, stood with the ambassadors from Albania, Japan and South Korea when making the announcement. Russia and China, which have close ties to North Korea, have blocked any Security Council action since vetoing a U.S.-sponsored resolution in May 2022 that would have imposed new sanctions over a spate of its intercontinental ballistic missile launches. So the council is not expected to take any action at next week's meeting. China and Russia could protest holding the open meeting, which requires support from at least nine of the 15 council members. A senior U.S. official from the U.N. mission, who was not authorized to speak publicly, indicated the U.S. has enough council support for the meeting to take place. The Security Council imposed sanctions after North Koreas first nuclear test explosion in 2006 and tightened them over the years in a total of 10 resolutions seeking so far unsuccessfully to cut funds and curb the country's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. At a council meeting last month on Pyongyangs test-flight of its developmental Hwasong-18 missile, North Korea's U.N. Ambassador Kim Song made his first appearance before members since 2017. He told the council the test flight was a legitimate exercise of the Norths right to self-defense. He also accused the United States of driving the situation in northeast Asia to the brink of nuclear war, pointing to its nuclear threats and its deployment of a nuclear-powered submarine to South Korea for the first time in 14 years. Whether ambassador Kim attends next weeks meeting on the countrys human rights remains to be seen. In March, during an informal Security Council meeting on human rights in North Korea which China blocked from being broadcast globally on the internet U.N. special rapporteur Salmon said peace and denuclearization cant be addressed without considering the countrys human rights situation. She said the limited information available shows the suffering of the North Korean people has increased and their already limited liberties have declined. Access to food, medicine and health care remains a priority concern, Salmon said. People have frozen to death during the cold spells in January, and some didnt have money to heat their homes while others were forced to live on the streets because they sold their homes as a last resort. India's imports from China across at least 25 major commodity groups such as consumer electronics, auto components, and iron and steel products rose in fiscal 2023, the government told parliament on Wednesday. The statement, which listed Chinese imports in a total of 31 commodity groups, comes amid New Delhi's concerted efforts to reduce its trade deficit with China since border tensions flared in 2020. Imports of electronics instruments from China grew 14% year-on-year in fiscal 2023, while imports of organic chemicals imports and iron and steel products rose 9% and 12.3%, respectively, as per the statement. Imports of all listed commodity groups were higher than shipments in fiscal 2021. Last week, India mandated a licence for the import of laptops, tablets and personal computers to boost domestic manufacturing and curb supplies from China. The mandate, which comes into effect from November 2023, is part of a string of measures over the past few years targeting Chinese products and investment. India's trade gap with China widened 13.5% in fiscal 2023 year-on-year, as India's strong domestic demand continued to support Chinese imports while COVID lockdowns in China crimped imports from India. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept President Joe Biden imposed limits on US investments in China as part of a push to restrict the countrys ability to develop next-generation military and surveillance technologies that might threaten US national security. The order, announced Wednesday, would regulate US investments in some Chinese semiconductor, quantum computing and artificial intelligence firms. It was signed after almost two years of deliberations that saw China hawks argue for faster, tougher action while others, including the Treasury Department, sought narrower measures that would take longer to go into effect. While details of the rules still need to be worked out, the language of the order suggested that Treasury and those advocating a more cautious approach won out. The order, which wont go into effect until next year, wont be retroactive and excludes sectors such as biotechnology. It may end up exempting passive investments as well as those in publicly traded securities, index funds and others assets. For the business community, this is relatively good news, said Sarah Bauerle Danzman, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and associate professor of international studies at Indiana University. Its a relatively narrow notification process and very narrow set of prohibitions. Targeting Equity Venture-capital firms and the tech industry had lobbied the Biden administration to narrow the scope of the order, after investors feared the White House would impose sweeping limits on US investment. Allied nations had also resisted, with the European Union and others saying that severe restrictions could hurt their economies. Biden administration officials said the order targets those who look to acquire equity interests in restricted Chinese companies via mergers, private equity and private capital, as well as by joint ventures and financing arrangements. Its expected to be limited to Chinese startups and larger firms that get over 50% of their revenue from the restricted sectors. Bloomberg Economics: Yards, Fences and Bidens New China Investment Rules The US already limits exports of some sensitive technologies to China, and the order would prevent U.S. investments from helping accelerate the indigenization of these technologies in what it called countries of concern, the White House said in a release. The order defined that as China, Hong Kong and Macau. Very Disappointed China is very disappointed in the US decision to go ahead with the restrictions and will safeguard its own interests, Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said in a statement. China opposes the US overuse of national security to politicize and weaponize trade, scientific and technological issues and deliberately making obstacles to normal economic and trade exchanges and technological cooperation, Liu said. The Ministry of Commerce in Beijing later called on Washington to respect market principles and fair play instead of obstructing the global economic recovery. The restrictions are the latest in a series of US actions that have complicated the Biden administrations push to improve relations with China, after a succession of flare-ups over Taiwan, rights abuses in Xinjiang, intellectual property threats, and an alleged Chinese spy balloon that was shot down in February. Not least among the irritants have been export controls on semiconductor technology announced last year and efforts by Congress to push the White House toward taking a harder line, including on defending Taiwan. Low-Key Rollout The White House announced the order after US markets closed Wednesday, but reaction was expected to be muted. Major US investors had anticipated it for some time, and venture-capital firms had already been scaling back their bets on Chinese startups for well over a year. A relatively low-key rollout on Wednesday showcased how cautious the White House is about ratcheting up tensions with China. Instead of announcing it in the presence of media and giving public remarks on the matter as is often the case for executive orders Biden opted to sign it while out of town and without cameras. The president was traveling in New Mexico to promote his Bidenomics agenda and didnt address the order. Biden in May predicted a thaw was coming in US-China relations, which over the past year have deteriorated to their worst in decades. The president also said repeatedly that he plans to speak to and meet with his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, in the near future. The two leaders could meet in November when Biden hosts the APEC summit in San Francisco, but neither side has confirmed the plans. Allies, Businesses A key question now is whether other countries will follow Washingtons move, including fellow Group of Seven countries. The administration has briefed allies and partners about the order over the past year, arguing that it must be done in coordination with them to avoid the backfilling of curtailed US investments. So far, none have followed through. A UK government spokesperson said the order helps clarify the US approach to China and Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks government will consider it closely. A fact sheet that accompanied the announcement underscored how much of the order remains a work in progress. It said, for example, the Treasury was considering the prohibition of investments in technologies that remained loosely defined, with more specific definitions subject to input the Treasury will gather during a 45-day comment period. Daniel Tannebaum, partner at Oliver Wyman, said that the release of the EO is just the start of the process and gives businesses plenty of time to weigh in on how the restrictions will ultimately work. Were not done yet, Tannebaum said. We need to see what this ultimately looks like but its encouraging that theyre giving industry a chance to weigh in on a whole host of topics. Courting Congress White House officials briefed Republican and Democratic staff on Capitol Hill about the order earlier on Wednesday, and the initial response was tepid, according to one GOP staffer who joined the discussions and asked not to be identified because the briefing was private. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat, said the order was essential but cannot be the final step. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, said the failure to include existing investments and the decision to exclude sectors such as biotechnology were concerning. The administration scaling back at a time where aggressive action is needed more than ever continues the trend of appeasing industry at the cost of national security, McCaul said in a statement. News Highlights: "Parents are requested to ensure that their wards do not carry mobile phones in the school premises...mobile phones should strictly not be allowed in the classrooms," says Delhi govt's advisory on restrictions on the use of mobile phones in school premises. USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will start consultations on Thursday and meet Leader of the Opposition Raja Riaz to finalise the name of the interim prime minister to oversee the election after the dissolution of the National Assembly. President Dr Arif Aliv dissolved the assembly before the end of its legal term on Wednesday on the advice of the prime minister. The step has been taken to give extra time to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to organise polls. Sources told PTI that Prime Minister Shehbaz would meet Leader of Opposition Riaz to discuss the interim leader. The two leaders have three days to agree on a name, otherwise, the Speaker of the defunct assembly would appoint an eight-member panel, including four lawmakers each from the treasury and opposition benches, to forge an agreement. Both sides, the prime minister and leader of the opposition, can put forward a maximum of two names for the top post. The panel has three days to agree and in case it fails, all names considered during its meetings would be sent to the ECP which would appoint one of them as the interim premier within 48 hours. The same exercise is repeated in provinces where chief ministers lead the process with the local opposition leaders. The process was adopted in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) when their assemblies were dissolved in January. In the case of Punjab, no agreement was reached at the first two levels and ultimately the ECP was involved and appointed the incumbent Mohsin Naqvi as chief minister. However, in KP, the then-chief minister and leader of the opposition agreed to appoint the current Azam Khan as interim chief minister. Under the Constitution, the prime minister will continue to serve for a limited period until a caretaker premier takes an oath. Sources said that Prime Minister Shehbaz has already held detailed discussions with his former 13-member coalition government parties and there is an agreement on the nominee but the name has not been revealed. Raja Riaz, a dissident leader of PTI, is considered close to leading parties like Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and is expected not to make a show and support the government candidate. There are also reports that Riaz is trying to seek a PML-N ticket for the next elections. Traditionally, the interim set-up was tasked to organise elections in a fair and free manner but laws have been amended lately and the next caretaker government would have powers to make decisions on the key issues due to the fragile economic situation. The interim set-up may also last longer this time as the ECP may not be able to hold an election within 90 days due to the issue of delimitation of constituencies for which it can spend 120 days. Legally, the ECP is bound to hold elections on the basis of new census results which were endorsed by the government but the election body has not yet decided whether to hold polls on the old or new census data. The existing constituencies are based on the 2017 census. Since the assembly has been dissolved before time, the ECP would hold elections within 90 days. If the National Assembly had completed its constitutional term, the polls would have been held within 60 days, but in case of dissolution before time, the elections should be held within 90 days. The polls are expected to be delayed for a couple of months as new census results have been approved, which makes it a constitutional obligation to carry out delimitation before elections. The ECP is bound to carry out delimitation within 120 days and then announce the election schedule. Though it is technically possible to expedite the process and determine delimitation of constituencies in minimum time and then go for elections within 90 days, it is not clear if the ECP would follow the deadline as it has a valid reason to overshoot the deadline. The outgoing assembly was the 15th National Assembly which began its five-year journey on August 13, 2018, with the election of a Speaker and Deputy Speaker. The outgoing National Assembly was elected after an election held on July 25, 2018. Hot on the heels of those YouTubers who ate at every Margaritaville in the United States and Canada, Ben Rowan, a man who recently moved to Texas from New York (after a stop in California), decided to try to understand what it means to be Texan by eating at San Antonio-based burger chain Whataburger for an entire weekthat's 21 meals in a row. He explains in a new piece in Texas Monthly: "When I first arrived in Texas, I didn't get the fawning over the fast-food chain. I tried to understand by eating 21 straight meals there." Calling his week-long Whataburger journey a "scientific and spiritual inquiry," he documents his experience, which seemed to consist of mostly mediocre meals and then a revelation near the end of the week that Texans' love of Whataburger is less about the food (or, really, not at all about the food) and more about the memories people make while eating there. He writes: I still don't get the draw of Whataburger, however, until late in the week, when I realize I've mistakenly focused on the food and not the Idea of the Food. Throughout my adventure, I invited colleagues to dine with me, but most refused, which I took as a tacit admission of distaste for the chain. Then, one day, I ask one of the bigger Whataburger partisans in our office, who declines my invitation but, in doing so, gives me a breakthrough. She says she doesn't like Whataburger, she likes her Whataburger, and she implores me to try a few to make sure I'm not just eating at one of the bad ones. Though I've already eaten at three different locations, my coworker's admonishment confuses me: the appeal of most fast food is that it tastes the same everywhere. But later that day, when I'm at my Whataburgerone near my homeeating with colleagues, I finally get it. The chain's appeal is not the comfort of conformity but precisely the opposite. Its chief currency is circumstance: the friends you ate it with, the contours of the night that led you there. He then goes on to recount a conversation he has with Ashley Bean Thornton, "self-described superfan from Waco who made news recently for eating at Whataburger nearly every day for ten years." Thornton's love for Whataburger is grounded in the experiences she has had at the restaurant, the friends she has made there, the familiar comfort of her favorite table. Superfan Thornton and new-Texan Rowan both adopt romantic and nostalgic views of the restaurant, which might have made since pre-2019 when the restaurant was still family owned. I mean, fine, go eat a burger there, go laugh with your friends, but, to me, these nostalgic good vibes for a rapidly-expanding corporate burger behemoth feel misplaced. In 2019, the Whataburger family sold its majority ownership to BDT Capital Partners, based out of Chicago. And in 2023 the company hired Debbie Stroud as its new Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. QSR Magazine describes Stroud as a "seasoned executive with more than 30 years of leadership experience in the restaurant and retail industry," including five years at Starbucks as Senior Vice President of U.S. Retail Operations and 27 years in financial and operational roles at McDonald's. Whataburger currently boasts annual sales of more than $3 billion and operate 950 restaurants across 14 states. CBA delivers a monster profit and a monstrous decisionwhy the banks plans to cut lending to fossil fuel projects is tellinghow the timing of the announcement has coincided with fresh supply fears and price spikes in oil and gasand why investors are in a prime position to capitalise from this underappreciation of energy The Commonwealth Bank of Australias [ASX:CBA] $10 billion profit raised a lot of eyebrows yesterday. You can certainly find plenty of opinions on the pros and cons of this result too. But while most are fixated on their bottom line, the bigger story may be within CBAs climate report. Because while lending is their bread and butter, our biggest bank has decided to withhold money from one sector in particular Oil and gas explorers, it seems, arent welcome to do business with CBA. Having revised its climate goals, the bank has ruled out lending for new fossil fuel projects. On top of that, existing fossil fuel borrowers with the bank will need to detail their emission-cutting plans from 2025 onward. Its a big decision to make, but not a totally unexpected one. Back in 2021, the bank went through the same internal debate. The only difference then was that they actually asked their investors what they thought. Only 14% of CBA shareholders backed the fossil fuel lending ban at the time. I cant imagine opinion has changed that drastically in the two years since Which begs the question, why go ahead with it now? Energy concerns mounting once more I wish I could provide a logical answer to the CBAs decision, but it is hard to find one. Perhaps the bank hopes by distancing themselves from fossil fuels theyll be able to win more business from energy transition projects. But even then, this policy decision is likely to amount to a simple PR stunt. Either way, whats done is done it seems. The irony of it all, however, must be the timing of this decision. On the same day that CBA announced this new plan, gas prices spiked by 30% or more in Europe. The catalyst? Potential strikes from local Chevron and Woodside workers could delay Aussie LNG exports. A stark and clear example of the influence and importance of our oil and gas industry. And a firm reminder of why fossil fuels are still vital to powering much of the world. Because while transitioning to more renewable fuels is a noble goal, it is still going to take time. You cant rush something this big without breaking markets. This is why oil and gas will continue to be relevant as transitionary fuel sources. But if we dont invest in new exploration and wells, then Europe wont be the only one facing steeper prices Oil continues to climb Last week, I brought up the growing issue of US oil supplies. As I noted, the Biden Administration has been very slow to replenish the strategic petroleum reserve (SPR). They even decided not to commit to the purchase of 6 million barrels last week because of market conditions. In other words, they believe prices are too high. Well, one week on, and prices are still going up One barrel of WTI crude is now up to US$84.40 per barrel, compared to US$82.15 last week. Another sign that perhaps fossil fuels are more vital to our current economy than some will admit. And with US gasoline supplies contracting by 2.7 million barrels again, supply is only growing tighter. It genuinely seems as though a few select groups are determined to lead us into another energy crisis. All because theyd rather look like theyre doing the right thing instead of ensuring the lights stay on. However, as I said last week, this is a great opportunity for investors willing to take a punt Because even if banks and governments may be giving up on oil and gas, you shouldnt. As one pundit puts it: The good news for the bulls: many commodity analysts are confident that the oil price rally has enough steam to continue running. Standard Chartered analysts have forecast that the largest global supply deficits this year will be in August and September, with deficits likely to continue till the first quarter of 2024. The International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris has predicted an oil shortage of about 1.7 million barrels a day during the second half of the year. The outlook for investment in black gold is looking stronger by the day. Regards, Ryan Clarkson-Ledward, Editor, Money Morning Brian Glenn is a drag-curious conservative pundit on a rightwing YT channel and is notable mainly for being engaged in a romantic relationship with Georgia's space laser, Marge. Before a recent Iowa Trump rally, Glenn was speaking with Trump attorney Christina Bobb when he explained what he and other conservatives learned from the 2020 election and January 6th insurrection. Glenn predicts a more successful attack next time. Crooks and Liars: Glenn complained to Trump attorney Christina Bobb that some Republicans do not believe the former president won the 2020 election. "Have we done enough in these states that we can ensure that this next election, either we're not going to see, you know, wood paneling being put up in the windows to block people behind from poll watch, we're not going to see that anymore," the host said. "Because I think if we, the first time we see that come up, I think it's gonna be a full-scale riot to stop that from happening," he added. "We didn't know any better than 2020. Now we do know." Bobb argued Trump was facing dozens of indictments because Republicans had ensured the elections would be fair. August 10, 2023 Ukraine Open Thread 2023-190 Only for news & views directly related to the Ukraine conflict. The current open thread for other issues is here. Please stick to the topic. Contribute facts. Do not attack other commentators. Posted by b on August 10, 2023 at 13:18 UTC | Permalink Comments next page A Michigan mom has been charged with lying when she illegally bought guns for her 30-year-old son, Randall Berka II, who threatened President Biden and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (the same Michigan governor who was the target of a kidnapping plot in 2020). In March, the young gentleman was arrested for posting messages on social media such as "biden [sic] deserves to die" and that he was "more than willing tot kill whitmer [sic]," as well as making threats to the LGBTQ community. At the same time, 56-year-old Michelle Berka had told the FBI that her son "scared" her, that he should be in prison, and that she "does not think the mental health treatment is working,"according to AP News. But, for whatever reason, she allegedly bought five firearms in March, four of which her son who has been barred from owning guns since 2012 ended up with. From AP News: HAGATNA (The Guam Daily Post) After about two months of delay, the Supreme Court of Guam is set to hear oral arguments Tuesday regarding the A Norfolk Southern train rests near the University of North Carolina's energy generation plant in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S. August 11, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan Drake/File Photo Unionized workers at the Lexington Co-op have reached a contract agreement, which was signed Wednesday. It affects workers at both the Hertel Avenue and Elmwood Avenue stores. Terms of the contract were not disclosed, but workers had been pressing for better wages and working conditions, as well as representation in company decision-making. Workers voted overwhelmingly in December to unionize with Workers United Upstate NY. They have spent the past several months negotiating a contract. At times, those negotiations were intense and difficult, according to workers and Lexington Co-op Markets General Manager Tim Bartlett. The contract went into effect Wednesday and runs until August 2026. Workers United also represents Starbucks workers, in a campaign that inspired hundreds of coffee shops across the country to organize. Starbucks workers, which organized with Workers United in 2021, are still in the process of negotiating a contract. - Samantha Christmann - Associated Press Sens. Jesse Lujan, left, and Chris Duenas converse during a legislative session Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, at the Guam Congress Building in Hagatna. Reporter Andrew Roberto was raised his whole life on Saipan. He graduated from Saipan Southern High School, holds a degree from Northern Marianas College, and a BA in English from the University of Guam. He once worked for KUAM, UNO Magazine, and the Guam Daily Post. ALBANY Because of a new state law, every driver in New York is poised to be automatically enrolled in expanded, more expensive auto insurance coverage. That includes millions of unmarried motorists who would derive no benefit from the extra coverage, which allows an individual to sue their spouse for damages stemming from negligent driving. The new law does not differentiate between unmarried and married New Yorkers. In memos last year, insurance companies warned Gov. Kathy Hochul that roughly half the states driving population would be enrolled in insurance coverage from which it would not benefit. Hochul signed the bill into law in December, without insisting on narrowing that aspect of the bill. New Yorkers may opt out of the added coverage, which, according to the state Department of Financial Services, costs anywhere from $20 to $84 annually. But opting out requires the consumer to be aware of the new law, contact their insurance company and sign a form declining the coverage. Already, New Yorkers had among the highest auto insurance bills in the country. The new law was pushed through by groups representing state trial lawyers, who are among the most powerful interests in Albany. Before the bill passed the State Assembly in May 2022, Republican Assemblyman Steve Hawley of Batavia argued that attorneys will love this, because it creates another lawsuit, where attorneys would gain a cut of the payout. The law took effect on Aug. 1. When auto insurance is issued, renewed or modified in New York, companies must now add the supplemental coverage to a persons plan and provide the consumer written notification of the addition. Still, insurance companies worry that consumers may not notice, and that insurers will be blamed when customers do eventually notice higher premiums. The chairman of the Senate Insurance Committee, Sen. Neil Breslin, sponsored the supplemental insurance bill in 2022. Breslin told The News this week, however, that he was potentially open to changing it. While I do feel that it is incumbent upon an insurance company and their agents and brokers to ensure that potential insureds have the best and most appropriate coverage to meet their needs, I certainly dont want people unknowingly paying for coverage that would provide them no benefit, Breslin said. I would certainly be willing to discuss potential amendments to make the law more explicit in its application if necessary. Whats covered The new law requires state insurance companies to enroll customers in supplemental spousal liability insurance. When a driver is at fault for a car accident in New York, others who sustain a serious injury generally may sue the potentially negligent driver for damages, including pain and suffering. But if the spouse of the negligent driver is injured, the injured spouse generally cannot sue their husband or wife, then recover money from their spouse's insurance policy. The exception: If the driver had the supplemental spousal liability insurance. In that instance, the injured spouse may sue their significant other, who was driving, and seek insurance payment from the drivers insurer for non-economic damages, including pain and suffering. Under prior state law, insurance companies had been required to offer the supplemental coverage to policyholders. But the policyholder had to proactively opt-in to get the coverage. In a memorandum last year, Geico urged Hochul to veto the bill. According to company data, less than half of its auto insurance customers in New York identified as being married. But under the bill, no distinction is made among the individuals that must be provided this coverage, wrote Jeremy Connor, vice president of operations for the Geico Cos. Even someone who wouldnt qualify for this coverage because they are not married would be forced to carry it (and possibly pay more for it) if they did not take extra steps to reject this coverage something they never had to do before, Connor wrote. This means that more than half of New York insureds could pay more to carry what would be a mandatory minimum coverage, when they are not eligible to benefit from it. The bill was also strongly opposed by the industrys umbrella group, the New York Insurance Association. And Richard Creedon, chairman and CEO of Utica National Insurance Group, told Hochul that only 2% of his companys customers had voluntarily opted into the coverage. Pervasive confusion will be created for those insureds who discover they were forced into purchasing this coverage, Creedon wrote in June 2022. A Hochul spokesman, Justin Henry, noted that Hochul did insist on two amendments to the Legislatures version: One moving the bills implementation date back to Aug. 1, the other making the bill expire in 2027, when the Legislature would have to renew it. In the Democratic-controlled State Legislature, the bill was sponsored last year by the chairs of chambers respective insurance committees, Assemblyman Kevin Cahill and Breslin. Cahill, who lost a primary election last year, said on the Assembly floor in 2022 that spousal coverage was a common sense part of insurance, but that many people were unaware of it. The bill passed the Assembly by a margin of 110-39, and more easily in the Senate, 60-3. Lawyers lobbying Two industry groups, the state Trial Lawyers Association and the state Academy of Trial Lawyers, lobbied in favor of the bill. In a memo to Hochul last year, Academy of Trial Lawyers President James Hacker wrote that supplemental spousal liability insurance helped to fill a gap in coverage for a very low cost. Unfortunately, while supplemental spousal coverage is available, many people are unaware of it, dont purchase it, and only find out that their spouse is uninsured when something awful happens, Hacker wrote. The trial lawyer groups did not respond to questions about how frequently such a scenario had occurred in the past. The Trial Lawyers Association has long been among the largest donors to political campaigns in New York. Since the beginning of 2021, the groups political action committee, LAWPAC, has donated about $1.5 million to state politicians on both sides of the aisle. In 2022, the year the supplemental insurance bill was passed, LAWPAC gave the maximum $117,300 to the Assembly Democrats campaign arm, and since the beginning of 2022, nearly $100,000 to the Senate Democrats committee. In November 2021, the Association gave the maximum $69,700 donation to Hochuls campaign. In mid-2022, the group gave the maximum $117,300 to the state Democratic Party, which is closely aligned with Hochul. Even without buying the supplemental insurance, spouses of negligent drivers do enjoy some protection from auto accidents. Regardless of whos at fault for an accident, insurance plans in New York are liable for up to $50,000 per person for lost wages or medical bills. But such minimum no fault insurance does not cover lawsuits alleging that a negligent driver has caused non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering. In the past, trial lawyers groups also have favored other Albany legislation that automatically enrolls drivers in such supplemental coverage, opening the door for more lawsuits. Hochul has not always agreed with the trial lawyers lobby, including her veto last January of the Grieving Families Act, a bill that allowed lawsuits to be filed for emotional damages caused by negligence. That bill was strongly opposed by a hospital industry lobbying group, which itself had donated $942,000 last year to the State Democratic Party. A Newfane animal sanctuary owner lost her bid in civil court Wednesday to end a gag order that prevents her from using social media or even billboards to comment on her pending criminal case involving two cows from a neighboring farm. The lawyer for Tracy A. Murphy, the operator of Ashas Farm Sanctuary, called Newfane Town Justice Bruce Barnes gag order unconstitutional. Murphy filed a petition in state Supreme Court in Niagara County to lift the gag order, but Justice Frank Sedita III refused to do so. Sedita said he is not unsympathetic to the constitutional arguments Murphy raised, but he said she filed the wrong application in the wrong court. Murphy argued that Judge Barnes gag order should be vacated because he exceeded his judicial authority, Sedita said. But vacating the gag order, ironically, would mean that this court would have to exceed its judicial authority, the judge said. The case has drawn national attention, with even actor Joaquin Phoenix weighing in last summer to support Murphy over the two cows in Newfane. Joaquin Phoenix supports Newfane sanctuary owner in cow dispute A lifelong vegan, actor Joaquin Phoenix stands in solidarity with the Newfane sanctuary owner who was arrested after she refused to return two cows that ended up on her property. Murphy, founder of the animal rescue and rehabilitation center, was charged last August with grand larceny, a felony, when she refused to return two cows that apparently strayed onto her property from a neighboring farm. Murphy has said she took them into her care on July 16, 2022. A couple of weeks later after a report from local rancher Scott Gregson accusing Murphy of theft when she refused to return the cows state police raided the sanctuary, seized the cows and arrested Murphy. Her charge has since been reduced to a misdemeanor but she remains under a gag order. The dispute over cows quickly boiled over into a cultural flashpoint in the Newfane community, pitting the local agricultural community against the animal rights community, said Christina N. Neitzey of the Cornell Law Schools First Amendment Clinic in a court filing. As part of her vegan lifestyle, Ms. Murphy believes animals should only be kept as companions, not raised for food or other consumables, according to Neitzey, who represented Murphy in the proceeding before Sedita. Unsurprisingly, Ms. Murphy is in a philosophical minority in and around Newfane, where raising cows for beef or dairy products is commonplace, she said. In the United States, both sides of this philosophical divide enjoy robust free speech protections which guarantee the rights to disagree and debate publicly and with passion. These liberties have been on full display in Newfane over the past year, as residents on both sides of the cow dispute have taken their views to the streets, to the press, and to social media. But not Murphy, bound by the gag order. The town justice imposed the gag order in an underlying action that is clearly a criminal one, Sedita said Wednesday. But civil proceedings like the one Murphy brought are generally not available for criminal matters except in certain circumstances, Sedita said. And petitions like hers should not be granted when there is an available remedy and process to obtain that remedy in criminal court, Sedita said. There are available remedies contained in the criminal procedure law, Sedita said, dismissing her petition. Noting the judges denial on procedural grounds, Murphys criminal defense team can seek a review of the gag order in Niagara County Court, Neitzey said after Wednesdays ruling. My understanding is that Ms. Murphys criminal defense team which is separate from the Cornell First Amendment team which handled the Article 78 proceeding intends to pursue that direct review, Neitzey said. Newfane sanctuary owner charged with grand larceny of neighboring farm's cows Tracy Murphy, president and founder of animal rescue and rehabilitation center Ashas Farm Sanctuary, was charged with grand larceny, a felony. Laura T. Jordan, as assistant district attorney for Niagara County, asked Sedita to enforce the gag order to the extent that it prohibits Murphy from posting specifically about the criminal case. In a court filing, Jordan said her concern over Murphy posting on social media about this case centers on the threats previously made toward Gregson and his family. When this case began, Mr. Gregson received telephone calls and visits to his property by members of the animal rights community and supporters of defendant, Jordan said in her filing. People left messages on his telephone telling him that he should be killed and that his children should be raped and killed. The issuance of the initial gag order quieted these threats against Mr. Gregson. Gregson previously said Murphy posted information about his family on social media sites, which led to what he called nasty phone calls and messages. The District Attorneys Office is concerned that should she be allowed to post again on social media about this case, those threats would again occur, Jordan said, noting the posts would likely produce a clear and present danger. BAMAKO, Mali (AP) A Romanian citizen who was abducted in northeast Burkina Faso in 2015 where he was working at a mine, was released Wednesday, Romanias foreign ministry said. Iulian Ghergut, who was 39 years old when a militant group linked to al-Qaida captured him at a mine where he was working as a security officer, was released and is safe on Romanian soil, the ministry said in a statement. The press release thanked all external partners, especially the Moroccan authorities, for the important support given in order to solve this extremely complicated case. It provided no further details. Ghergut was the first hostage recorded in the West African nation since the early 2000s. His kidnapping in 2015 came at a time when extremist armed groups became active across the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa. 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. China sends ships and fighter jets toward Taiwan in new show of force China sends ships and fighter jets toward Taiwan in new show of force View Photo TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) China sent navy ships and a large group of fighter jets toward Taiwan, continuing its military pressure on the island, Taiwans defense ministry said Thursday. China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory and has regularly sent flights toward the island in reaction to the islands political activities. In the past year, it has also sent navy vessels as well as drones to circle the waters near the island. Taiwans defense ministry said the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army sent 33 warplanes and 6 navy vessels between 6 a.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday. The J-10 and J-16 fighter jets flew across the midline and to the southwest of Taiwan. The ministry said in an earlier statement Wednesday that Taiwans military tracked five of the ships as they sailed in coordination with the flights of the fighter jets. The ministry said it used land-based missile systems to track the aircraft, 10 of which crossed the midline of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary that had been considered a buffer between the island and mainland. In response to escalating Chinese military pressure, Taiwan has been buying weapons and fighter jets to shore up its defenses. In July, the U.S. announced a $345 million package of sale s to Taiwan that will include portable air defense systems, intelligence and surveillance capabilities, firearms and missiles. By HUIZHONG WU Associated Press Northern Irelands top police officer apologizes for industrial scale data breach View Photo LONDON (AP) Northern Irelands top police officer apologized Thursday for what he described as an industrial scale data breach in which the personal information of more than 10,000 officers and staff was released to the public. The incident is particularly sensitive given the delicate security situation in Northern Ireland, which is still trying to overcome decades of sectarian violence known as The Troubles. Twenty-five years after a peace agreement largely ended the violence, many police officers continue to shield their identities because of continuing threats from dissident elements of the republican and unionist communities. Chief Constable Simon Byrne told reporters that dissident republicans claim to be in possession of information about police officers circulating on WhatsApp following the incident, and that authorities are advising officers and staff about how to deal with that and any further risk they face. An early worst-case scenario that we have been dealing with is that third parties would attempt to get this data to intimidate, corrupt or indeed cause harm to our officers and staff, Byrne said after he attended an emergency meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board in Belfast. The breach occurred Tuesday when the force responded to a Freedom of Information request seeking information about the number of officers and staff of all ranks and grades across the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The response accidentally included a table that contained the surnames, initials, location and departments for all employees, along with the information requested. A second breach that occurred in July was revealed Wednesday. That breach involved the theft of documents including a spreadsheet containing the names of more than 200 serving officers and staff, as well as a police-issued laptop and radio. The Police Federation for Northern Ireland, which represents rank-and-file officers, said Wednesday that it had been inundated with calls from worried officers following the data breach. A lawmaker in the Bahamas has been arrested on charges of sexual assault and issuing death threats SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) A lawmaker in the Bahamas was charged Wednesday with sexual assault and issuing death threats in a case involving a 35-year-old woman. Kirk Cornish, who represents North Abaco, said in a statement that the allegations were totally false and that he would prove his innocence. The facts will show that this was a breakup that was manipulated and exploited for political reasons, he said. Cornish resigned Tuesday as secretary of Parliament at the request of Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis, who said that the director of public prosecutions found sufficient evidence to file charges against the 48-year-old politician. The alleged incident occurred in April, according to a police statement. Calaveras, CA The Calaveras County Sheriffs Office has marked the retirement of Sergeant Laurie Murray after 23 years of service, commending her contributions. Beginning her career with Calaveras High Schools Regional Occupation Program, she pursued her passion for becoming a first responder. Serving as a medic for 14 years in Calaveras and San Joaquin Counties, she joined the Sheriffs Office in December 1999 after training at the Ray Simon Criminal Justice Training Center Law Enforcement Academy. Progressing through roles including Patrol Deputy, Lake Camanche Deputy, Senior Deputy, Detective, and Search and Rescue team member, she was promoted to Sergeant. Her supervisory role encompassed animal services and contributions to the new Sheriffs Office and Jail complex. Recently, as Sergeant in the countys Court Security Division, she emphasized safety through security assessments. Sergeant Murray received multiple awards, including campaign service ribbons. She was presented a proclamation, unanimously adopted by the Supervisors of the County of Calaveras, State of California. Presented and read by Supervisor Martin Huberty, it commemorates Sergeant Murrays significant contributions. Sheriff DiBasilio reflected on a personal experience of collaborating with Sergeant Murray, recounting an instance where she fearlessly engaged with an individual nearly twice her size. Yemeni military commander and 3 others killed in a suspected al-Qaida attack in southern Yemen View Photo SANAA, Yemen (AP) A suspected al-Qaida attack in southern Yemen on Thursday killed a military commander and three soldiers from a secessionist group, according to the groups leader, security officials, and an eyewitness. Commander Abd al-Latif al-Sayyid and the three soldiers from the Security Belt Forces, a fighting group loyal to Yemens secessionist Southern Transitional Council, were killed in an explosion while traveling in a convoy through southern Abyan province, three security officials and the witness said. They blamed al-Qaidas branch in Yemen known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula for the attack but provided no further details. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. In a obituary statement issued late Thursday by the head of the secessionist council, Aydarous al-Zubaidi said the separatist force was mourning the loss of al-Sayyid and the three fighters who were touched by the hands of treachery and terrorism. The Southern Transitional Council is backed by the United Arab Emirates and controls most of Yemens south. It is at odds with the internationally recognized government, and has repeatedly called for the south Arabian country to be split into two states, as it was between 1967 and 1990. Al-Qaida did not immediately claim responsibility for Thursdays attack but the militant group is active in Abyan province and regularly carries out ambushes against Yemeni forces. Al-Qaidas branch in Yemen is seen as one of the more dangerous branches of the terror network. Earlier this month, security officials told The Associated Press that al-Qaida militants killed five troops from the Southern Armed Forces, a large force loyal to the Southern Transitional Council. And last month, suspected al-Qaida militants clashed with forces of the secessionist council in the province of Shabwa. At least two troops and one militant were killed. Yemens ruinous civil war began in 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital of Sanaa and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition, including the UAE, intervened the following year to try to restore the internationally recognized government to power. Al-Qaida has since exploited Yemens conflict to cement its presence in the impoverished nation. By AHMED El-HAJ Associated Press Allusions to mobster movies and book burning at appeals court hearing on Biden social media contacts View Photo NEW ORLEANS (AP) Allusions to book burning and mobster movies arose during a federal court hearing Thursday as appellate judges heard arguments on whether the Biden administration crosses the line from legal persuasion to unconstitutional censorship in communications with social media platforms about controversial posts. At issue was a broad July 4 order from U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in the north Louisiana city of Monroe ruling in a lawsuit by attorneys general in Louisiana and Missouri. A conservative website owner and four critics of the administrations COVID-19 policy are also plaintiffs in the suit. The lawsuit claimed the administration, in effect, censors free speech with threats of regulatory action the government could take while pressuring companies to remove what it deems misinformation. COVID-19 vaccines, the FBIs handling of a laptop that belonged to President Joe Bidens son, Hunter, and election fraud allegations were among the topics spotlighted in the lawsuit. Doughtys order blocked the Health and Human Services Department, the FBI and multiple other government agencies and administration officials from encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put a temporary hold on the ruling last month, while lawyers prepared for Thursdays hearing, where three circuit judges heard arguments. Justice Department attorney Daniel Tenny told the judges that Doughtys order was overly broad and vague, leaving the government uncertain about what it can tell social media platforms on serious matters such as child trafficking or unfolding natural disasters. Tenny said the order characterized as threats the normal give-and-take between the administration and the platforms executives. That prompted Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod to ask whether any threats of government action against the platforms would have to be explicitly stated. Like, if somebody is in these movies that we see with the mob or something, they dont say and spell out things, but they have these ongoing relationships and they never actually say, Go do this or else youre going to have this consequence, said Elrod, who quickly added, And Im certainly not equating the federal government with anybody in illegal organized crime. Judge Don Willett picked up the theme as he discussed whether there was behind-the-scenes strong-arming. Thats a really nice social media platform you got there. Itd be a shame if something happened to it, Willett said. Any response to that? Tenny said the ruling by Doughty, appointed to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump, is unsupported by evidence that the administration engaged in illegal coercion. The plaintiffs argue that the administration has coerced social media executives by using threats of antitrust action or seeking congressional changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Section 230 protects platforms from liability for what their users post, and the possibility of antitrust action against the platforms. Now, the idea that if you know, if you dont do exactly what this White House staffer says about this particular thing, the president is unilaterally going to amend Section 230 or amend the antitrust laws is farfetched and it is not permissible for the district court to make a factual finding that thats the case, Tenny said. John Sauer, an attorney arguing for Louisiana, likened administration officials public statements and private communications seeking content changes to a government call for burning books. He said former White House press secretary Jen Psaki made a serious threat at a press briefing by discussing the possibility of antitrust efforts against the platforms. Its fundamentally transformed online discourse on questions of absolutely overwhelming social and political significance, Sauer said. Tenny also criticized Doughtys order for having put in quotation marks words that the press secretary did not say at that press briefing. It appeared to be a reference the orders account of a May 5, 2021, news conference with Psaki. At a White House Press Conference, Psaki publicly reminded Facebook and other social-media platforms of the threat of legal consequences if they do not censor misinformation more aggressively, Doughty wrote. The words legal consequences dont appear in the transcript of that days White House news conference. Doughtys order does contain accurate partial quotes from Psakis full response to a question about Facebooks decision to stop carrying posts from Trump, including references to better privacy protections and a robust anti-trust program. Doughty characterized the antitrust mention as a threat. Tenny on Thursday said it was part of a litany of policy issues that are the sorts of things a press secretary has to be talking about. The White House has said publicly it disagrees with the ruling but has said little about how and whether it has affected communication with social media companies so far. The judges gave no indication when they will rule. Along with Elrod, nominated to the court by George W. Bush, and Willett, nominated by Trump, the case was heard by Judge Edith Brown Clement, another Bush nominee. By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press In the aftermath of the December blizzard that killed 47 people, Buffalo, Erie County and state officials each demanded reports analyzing their disaster response and what needs to change before the next catastrophic weather event strikes. Report on Christmas week blizzard cites bad communication and software issues Those are some of the key takeaways from a 49-page report on the state's response to the Blizzard of 2022, released Friday by the state. Buffalo released its report in June. The state released its report last week. Erie County has no plans to let the public read its report. In response to a request by The Buffalo News, representatives for the County Executives Office said the countys post-blizzard analysis is an internal document. Requests to speak with County Executive Mark Poloncarz this week were declined. No response has been provided yet to a Freedom of Information Law request that The Buffalo News submitted on Monday for a copy of the records. Back in January, Poloncarz said he was demanding that every department head produce a report for him about their strengths and weaknesses related to the storm response. Those reports were due to the County Executives Office by Jan. 13. Then were going to do the big after-action analysis, with all the key players that need to be there, afterwards, he said at the time. So thatll include every department I control, Sheriffs Office, representatives from New York State and others that we feel should be there for our after-action review to determine, OK, what worked well? What could have been done differently? What did we try that didnt work that we could have done something else? This is not a test: Erie County plans to put emergency alert system to work when next disaster strikes County Executive Mark Poloncarz said it's now clear to him that too many people either didn't get the message or didn't take the messages of dire weather conditions seriously before the December blizzard. When The Buffalo News asked back then if that report would be public, Poloncarz said it was an internal document, but he planned to talk about the results, including what went well and lessons learned. County officials confirmed this week that the report was completed and has been used to inform months of post-storm actions and policy changes. Poloncarz is campaigning this year for re-election to an unprecedented fourth term and has spoken in forward-looking terms about improvements being made to the countys blizzard preparedness and response. But he has sidestepped in-depth discussions about where the county fell short. Instead, he has discussed new investments in snow equipment and vehicles and the need to make better use of the Emergency Alert System. Erie County hiring researchers to develop new blizzard rating scale Local officials and university researchers hope the development of a blizzard rating scale is something that would be further tweaked and adopted statewide or even farther. He and other county leaders have also discussed the hiring the State University at Albany to create a blizzard rating system and improve public communications during such weather emergencies. County leaders agreed in June to spend $350,000 over 18 months to accomplish this with help from the University at Albany, home of the Center for Excellence for Weather and Climate Analytics. The County Executives Office provided a summary page of 17 bullet points outlining changes the county has made because of the Christmas week blizzard. In response to Buffalo News questions about why the county wont release its post-blizzard analysis when both the city and the state have, county representatives stated that Poloncarz has already talked about the countys blizzard response efforts. County Executive Poloncarz has spoken extensively about the response to the Christmas Blizzard and the Countys comprehensive plan to address the unique challenges that the Blizzard presented going forward, said spokesman Peter Anderson in an email. What other reports found Both the city and state blizzard analyses mentioned a few Erie County shortcomings, though neither report was designed to look closely at county government actions. Blizzard report criticizes City of Buffalo for communication failures A report commissioned by the city and completed by the New York University Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service concluded that the City of Buffalo must improve four areas of impact: roads, utilities, communications and equity. The city report criticized the countys dispatch software, which allows only 25 calls to be viewed at a time, as hampering storm response and resulting in a backlog of 1,100 emergency calls, some of which were duplicative. The report also criticized the county decision to delay enactment of a driving ban until the morning the blizzard arrived. Seven people died in Erie County because of what officials have characterized as a delayed EMS response due to backlogged calls, unplowed streets, and stranded vehicles causing blockages, stated the New York University report commissioned by the city. It is likely that the problem of stranded vehicles was related to the timing for closing roads, a decision controlled by Erie County. Erie County representatives were not interviewed by New York University researchers for the city report. The state report, meanwhile, pointed out that the county used emergency management communication software that interfaced with the state, but it was difficult for county personnel to use because they werent as familiar with it as they needed to be, so the state lacked critical information needed to support response efforts, which delayed the delivery of assistance. The report recommends the state provide better training to end users. Legislators respond County legislators said they have not seen a copy of the countys post-blizzard report but they plan to request it. The County Legislature is currently on an August recess. Legislator Howard Johnson, D-Buffalo, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said he thinks the report is worth receiving and publicly discussing to see if theres more room for improvement. Once we come back from session, Ill probably just make an inquiry to the administration to see if thats something theyre willing to share with the Legislature, he said. I dont see why they wouldnt. Republican Minority Leader John Mills, R-Orchard Park, said he also believes its important that Poloncarz make the report public. He, too, plans to ask for it. I dont understand why he wouldnt release it to the Legislature and to the public, said Mills, who lived through last years blizzard and the Blizzard of 77. Millions and millions of dollars, plus lives, were lost. Whats he hiding? We should have all the information we need. New steps forward While Poloncarz has withheld the report, he and other county leaders have spoken publicly during the first half of this year about changes and investments to improve the countys blizzard response going forward. More utility vehicles with tank-like tracks, which can travel through heavy snow, are being allocated to the Sheriffs Office and the Parks Department. The county has also ordered two military grade industrial snowblowers and signed agreements with local snowmobile clubs so that their trail-grooming equipment can be used to assist with rescues. With blizzard behind him, Sheriff Garcia plans to be better prepared for next catastrophic storm Erie County Sheriff John Garcia said some early decisions have already been made about ways the Sheriff's Office can improve the county's response. In response to criticism that Poloncarz didnt enact a driving ban early enough during the blizzard, county officials said the county will increase pre-emptive driving bans. The county also plans to pre-position high lifts in the city to open up hospitals and the downtown corridor. High lifts also will be stationed near fire companies, and the county will pair ambulances with tracked vehicles to enable better accessibility to patients in need of rescue. Poloncarz has tapped Deputy County Executive Lisa Chimera to work on better strategies for improving emergency preparedness in at-risk communities. Beginning next month, the county also plans to distribute thousands of home emergency kits to low-income families and seniors. Biden asks Congress for $40 billion to support Ukraine, replenish US disaster aid and bolster border View Photo WASHINGTON (AP) The Biden administration has asked Congress to provide more than $13 billion in emergency defense aid to Ukraine and an additional $8 billion for humanitarian support through the end of the year, another massive infusion of cash as the Russian invasion wears on and Ukraine pushes a counteroffensive against the Kremlins deeply entrenched forces. The package requested Thursday includes $12 billion to replenish U.S. federal disaster funds at home after a deadly climate season of heat and storms, and funds to bolster the enforcement at the Southern border with Mexico, including money to curb the flow of deadly fentanyl. All told, its a $40 billion package. While the last such supplemental spending request from the White House for Ukraine funding was easily approved in 2022 despite reservations from Republicans, theres a different dynamic this time. A political divide on the issue has steadily grown, with the Republican-led House facing enormous pressure to demonstrate support for the partys leader, Donald Trump, who has been very skeptical of the war. And American support for the effort has been slowly softening. White House budget director Shalanda Young, in a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, urged swift action to follow through on the U.S. commitment to the Ukrainian peoples defense of their homeland and to democracy around the world as well as other needs. The request was crafted with an eye to picking up support from Republicans, as well as Democrats, particularly with increased domestic funding around border issues a top priority for the GOP. The Republicans have been been highly critical of the Biden administrations approach to halting the flow of migrants crossing from Mexico. Still, the price tag of $40 billion may be too much for Republicans who are fighting to slash, not raise, federal outlays. As a supplemental request, the package the White House is sending to Congress falls outside the budget caps both parties agreed to as part of the debt ceiling showdown earlier this year. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement there was strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate. The latest request from the Biden administration shows Americas continued commitment to helping Americans here at home and our friends abroad, he said. We hope to join with our Republican colleagues this fall to avert an unnecessary government shutdown and fund this critical emergency supplemental request. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who has championed of support for Ukraine, was more subdued. I look forward to carefully reviewing the Administrations request to make sure it is necessary and appropriate, McConnell said in a statement, to keep America safe, secure our borders, support our allies, and help communities rebuild after disasters. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., released a statement urging Congress to swiftly pass critical funding for disaster relief programs while separately considering military aid for Ukraine. President Joe Biden and his senior national security team have repeatedly said the United States will help Ukraine as long as it takes to oust Russia from its borders. Privately, administration officials have warned Ukrainian officials that there is a limit to the patience of a narrowly divided Congress and American public for the costs of a war with no clear end. For people who might be concerned the costs are getting too high, wed ask them what the costs not just in treasure but in blood, perhaps even American blood could be if Putin subjugates Ukraine, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said this week. Support among the American public for providing Ukraine weaponry and direct economic assistance has softened with time. An AP-NORC poll conducted in January 2023 around the one-year mark of the conflict, found that 48% favored the U.S. providing weapons to Ukraine, down from the 60% of U.S. adults who were in favor sending Ukraine weapons in May 2022. While Democrats have generally been more supportive than Republicans of offering weaponry, their support dropped slightly from 71% to 63% in the same period. Republicans support dropped more, from 53% to 39%. Dozens of Republicans in the House and some GOP senators have expressed reservations, and even voted against, spending more federal dollars for the war effort. Many of those Republicans are aligning with Trumps objections to the U.S. involvement overseas. That means any final vote on Ukraine aid will likely need to rely on a hefty coalition led by Democrats from Bidens party to ensure approval. The funding includes money to counter Russian and Chinese influence elsewhere by bolstering the World Bank and providing aid to resist Russian-aligned Wagner forces in Africa. Domestically, theres an additional $60 million to address increased wildfires that have erupted nationwide. And the request includes $4 billion for the Southern border, including $2.2 billion for border management and $766 million to stop the flow of fentanyl and provide prevention and recovery support. There is also $100 million earmarked for the Department of Labor to ramp up investigations of suspected child labor violations. To ease passage, Congress would likely try to attach the package to a must-pass measure for broader government funding in the U.S. thats needed by Oct. 1 to prevent any shutdown in federal offices. Members of Congress have repeatedly pressed Defense Department leaders on how closely the U.S. is tracking its aid to Ukraine to ensure that it is not subject to fraud or ending up in the wrong hands. The Pentagon has said it has a robust program to track the aid as it crosses the border into Ukraine and to keep tabs on it once it is there, depending on the sensitivity of each weapons system. Ukraine is pushing through with its ongoing counteroffensive, in an effort to dislodge the Kremlins forces from territory theyve occupied since a full-scale invasion in February 2022. The counteroffensive has come up against heavily mined terrain and reinforced defensive fortifications. The U.S. has approved four rounds of aid to Ukraine in response to Russias invasion, totaling about $113 billion, with some of that money going toward replenishment of U.S. military equipment that was sent to the frontlines. Congress approved the latest round of aid in December, totaling roughly $45 billion for Ukraine and NATO allies. While the package was designed to last through the end of the fiscal year in September, much depends upon events on the ground. We remain confident that well be able to continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, said Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder. There were questions in November about waning Republican support to approve the package, but it ultimately passed. Now, though, House Speaker McCarthy is facing pressure to impeach Biden over unproven claims of financial misconduct and its not clear whether a quick show of support for Ukraine could cause political damage in whats expected to be a bruising 2024 reelection campaign. Trump contends that American involvement has only drawn Russia closer to other adversarial states like China, and has condemned the tens of billions of dollars that the United States has provided in aid for Ukraine. ___ Long reported from Chicago. By LISA MASCARO and COLLEEN LONG Associated Press Vehicle strikes 3, fatally injuring 1 in service area of Los Angeles car dealership, official says Vehicle strikes 3, fatally injuring 1 in service area of Los Angeles car dealership, official says View Photo LOS ANGELES (AP) A vehicle driven by a customer struck three people Wednesday in the service area of a Los Angeles auto dealership and fatally injured one of them, a woman who was briefly trapped beneath the vehicle, authorities and witnesses say. The vehicle, driven by a female customer, struck another female customer and two workers in the service center before coming to rest in a customer reception area, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Brian Humphrey said. Bystanders freed the badly injured woman from beneath the vehicle and an off-duty nurse who was present administered CPR before she was rushed to a trauma center, Humphrey said in a statement. The woman later died, Humphrey said. Two men who work at the dealership and were struck by the vehicle were taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, including a head wound, Humphrey added. The driver had no obvious injury and remained at the scene, speaking with police officers. The dealership is in the Mission Hills neighborhood about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of downtown Los Angeles. NEW YORK (AP) A 17-year-old was indicted on a hate-crime murder charge in a stabbing that followed taunts and confrontation over a group of men dancing shirtless to Beyonce as they gassed up their car, prosecutors said Thursday. Prosecutors concluded OShae Sibleys death was motivated by anti-Black and anti-LGBTQ bias, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. Its clear to me, under the circumstances of this case, that in substantial part, this attack was caused because people were offended by Mr. Sibley and his friends dancing and celebrating, Gonzalez said. The suspect is due in court Friday to answer the charge. It mirrors the charge on which he was arrested last week. If convicted, he faces at least 20 years in prison. The Associated Press sent a text message to his attorney, Mark Pollard, seeking comment. Pollard's voicemail box was full. The teens grandmother told the Daily News he was defending himself. Prosecutors have not released the suspect's name. The chain of events that ended in Sibleys July 29 death began when he and his friends were dancing at a pump at a Brooklyn gas station, and another group of people began taunting them, authorities said. Security camera video showed the two groups arguing for a few minutes. Both sides walked away, and then Sibley and a friend returned and confronted one of the others, who had stayed behind recording on his phone. In the video, Sibley, 28, could be seen following that person and then lunging at him before the two disappeared out of the cameras frame. A moment later, Sibley walked backward into view, checking his side, then collapsed to the sidewalk. What the video shows is that Mr. Sibley was rightfully in a position to speak out and protect himself and his friends from anti-gay and anti-Black slurs, and that what occurred after that was a crime, said Gonzalez, a Democrat. He noted that Sibley and his friends were unarmed. Defending yourself from the anti-gay or anti-Black comments, arguing back, its not a cause for someone to take a weapon and do what was done in this case, the prosecutor said. He added that he was confident the charges would be proven at trial. Sibley performed with the dance company Philadanco in his native Philadelphia and in New York and took classes with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theaters Ailey Extension program. He used dance to celebrate his LGBTQ identity in works such as Soft: A Love Letter to Black Queer Men, choreographed by Kemar Jewel. About 200 people attended Sibleys funeral Tuesday at a historic opera house in Philadelphia. His death has prompted an outpouring of tributes from politicians and celebrities, including Beyonce and filmmaker Spike Lee. Tragedy struck when a three-month-old baby girl lost her life after accidentally slipping from her fathers grasp. The heart-wrenching incident occurred on Monday amidst a disagreement between the parents regarding mismanaged finances. According to the authorities, the father, identified as Collins Dzonga (23), was carrying his precious daughter to her mother when the unfortunate mishap unfolded. The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) released a statement, describing the devastating incident that transpired on the 7th of August 2023. The ZRP reports a sad incident in which a 3-month-old baby girl died after falling to the ground from her father Collins Tafadzwa Dzongas hands. Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, the National police spokesperson, shared further details surrounding the tragic event. He revealed that the father had allegedly assaulted his wife, accusing her of misusing funds, prior to the heartbreaking accident. Dzonga (23) was carrying the victim to her mother on 07/08/23. The suspect had assaulted his wife over allegations of misusing funds, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi stated. The community has been left devastated by the loss of this innocent child, as the authorities investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident. It serves as a stark reminder of the importance of maintaining emotional composure and exercising caution, particularly when handling young children. The authorities urge individuals to seek peaceful resolutions in times of conflict, ensuring the safety and well-being of all family members. Breaking News via Email The Zimbabwe Indigenous Interdenominational Council of Churches (ZIICC) has said God has blessed Zanu PF to rule, and the forthcoming elections are a mere formality. ZIICC Secretary General Thabani Dube said this during a provincial peace prayer session in Mutare yesterday. He said his organisation is privileged to work with Zanu PF. He promised that their congregants would vote for the ruling party. You were given to us by President Mnangagwa and it is prudent that we work together. You should use us especially now as we are approaching elections. In the past, it was thought that indigenous churches belonged to the opposition. Today we attest that we belong to Zanu PF. We have also changed slogans to show our solidarity with the ruling party. As August 23 beckons, you have already won this election resoundingly in the spiritual realm. What we now await is for this prophecy to be fulfilled in the physical realm, he said. Zanu PF national Womens League Secretary for Administration and Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Monica Mutsvangwa was the guest of honour. Provincial leaders of indigenous churches in Manicaland province, such as the ZCC, Family of God International, AAFIZ, Jerusarema Apostolic church, Chitenderano Apostolic church, Dombo RaMwari, Ruponeso Apostolic church, Leading Light Ministries, ZAOG Forward In Faith, St. Agnes Anglican Church, True Holy Spirit church, Jekinesheni, Zviratidzo Zvevapositori and Kupenya kwaVatumwa church attended the session. Mutsvangwa praised Indigenous churches for recognising that her party was ordained to rule forever. She highlighted that plans to allocate Indigenous churches land are in motion but would be released should they vote for Zanu PF. We are appealing for your wisdom to spread to other churches as well. We know your churches need land. This appeal has even reached the Minister of Public Works and National Housing. I want to be honest with you when your plea hits a brick wall. You appoint leaders that lack the gift of leading people. We need a person who has the gift of ruling a country and this person is President Emmerson Mnangagwa, she said. Mirror Breaking News via Email Yves here. Please thank reader albrt for providing the backstory on the hot term lawfare. By albrt, a solo lawyer from flyover country who has previously posted at Calculated Risk and Corrente The word lawfare is mentioned often these days, here at Naked Capitalism and elsewhere by commentators with widely varying viewpoints. I think its fair to say lawfare is most often used pejoratively. But until this week I wasnt confident that I knew what connotations were intended, or if everybody using the term was even on the same page. I spent a few hours researching and, as part of my effort to be a helper, Im sharing what I found. Lawfare is an invented combo-word, also known as a portmanteau. When I noticed the term a few years ago, the first thing that sprang to my mind was welfare for lawyers (law-welfare). Leftish organizations have for several decades tried to get the courts to handle issues like abortion when the Democratic party refused to do the heavy lifting politically, and this operates as a kind of informal jobs programs for the lawyer wing of the Professional-Managerial Class (PMC), the base of the modern Democratic party. One reason I made this assumption was because the word seemed to be used in a pejorative sense by rightish bloggers more than leftish bloggers. Welfare itself has become a pejorative term, and as such is traditionally beloved by the rightish-sphere.1 I eventually realized that the common usage of lawfare is based on law-warfare, not law-welfare, but I still didnt have a clear idea of what was meant. A 2021 article in the online Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs says the term was popularized by Air Force General Charles Dunlap in 2001.2 The article is entitled Legitimizing and Operationalizing US Lawfare: The Successful Pursuit of Decisive Legal Combat in the South China Sea. The article claims that China is particularly adept at lawfare, in part because of Sun Tzus teaching that defeating the enemy without fighting is the pinnacle of excellence. This particular article seems to accept as given that the rules based order we hear so much about is mainly a weapon to be deployed against our rivals, but not in the traditional sense of a rigid hegemony that allows rich nations to maintain their positions. Instead, the author appears to envision a post-modernist world of infinite legal rug-pulling, where the rules are changed constantly to disadvantage rivals, and where all that is solid has melted into air. 3 The article is not very long, so feel free to read it and see if Im being fair. The description of lawfare in the article does have some striking similarities to the Biden administrations approach to international relations, but the article was written by a young person so I will continue to hope that zhe was just under the influence of too many video games or superhero movies. General Dunlap, the father of lawfare, has more conventional views as reflected in a textbook on lawfare. He directs a Centre at Duke University Law School and he has provided occasional updates to his views about lawfare. Dunlap pretty consistently takes the position that the primary purpose of lawfare in the U.S. should be to maintain the legitimacy of military action by listening to military lawyers and following the law of war. To his credit, Dunlap took torture-apologist John Yoo to task in a 2008 article. General Dunlap also said in the same articles that the concept of lawfare is broad enough to include the asymmetrical use of the U.S. legal system by its opponents when they take advantage of U.S. adherence to legal constraints, for example by using civilians as human shields. This sense of using our own legal system against us has greatly expanded to include, e.g., arguments that radical Islamists are unfairly using the legal system to punish free speech about militant Islam, terrorism and its sources of financing. This is the type of anti-wokeness spin on lawfare that originally gave me the impression it was a concern of the rightish-sphere rather than the leftish-sphere. Lawfare as a strictly military concept seems to have peaked around 2011, about the time a blog called Lawfare was founded. Lawfare the blog purports to provide non-partisan, timely analysis of thorny legal and policy issues such as national security law, threats to democracy, cybersecurity, executive powers, content moderation, domestic extremism, and foreign policy, among many others. The blog says its name refers both to the use of law as a weapon of conflict and, perhaps more importantly, to the reality that America remains at war with itself over the law governing its warfare with othersas well as the law governing its own national security strategy. Now were getting somewhere. In this vastly expanded sense, Lawfare sounds more like a PMC jobs program, not just for lawyers, but also for journalists, academics, and all sorts of legislative/administrative flexians. The term creates plenty of opportunities for scolding deplorables, while obfuscating the actual processes and goals of governance, conflict, and diplomacy. It also sounds like a great subject for international conferences, probably maskless ones in nice places. The website Lawfare provides much of the context for how the word is commonly used today. A 2017 New York Magazine profile of Ben Wittes, a co-founder of Lawfare, said Before the [2016] election, [Lawfare] existed as an insider-y national-security forum. It was smart and provocative but basically written for the benefit and from the hawkish perspective of the U.S. intelligence community. Then came Trump. Rank-and-file members of the CIA and the NSA morphed in the popular imagination from metadata-snarfing desk jockeys to brave sleeper agents of the Deep State, bent on sinking the presidents leaky ship. By the time Trump began to turn on the people investigating his ties to Russia you know, Wittess friends Lawfare was going to war with the president on a daily basis. Readers noticed; the site attracts 600 percent more traffic than it did a year ago. TL;DR summary of where we are today: The term lawfare has less empirical meaning than it appears from the loaded way it is often used, as a metaphor like the war on drugs war on terror war on the bugaboo du jour. If anything, lawfare just means aggressive litigation, sometimes sponsored by elements of a government, but not necessarily the government that wrote the laws. Lawfare is most commonly used to describe the deep state Democratic legal war on Trump, but it also describes any similar attempt to destroy someone using the courts. Nick Corbishley used the term in this sense in a post last year the use of a nations legal system and institutions to damage or delegitimize an opponent, as has already happened in Brazil, Ecuador and now Argentina. Nicks definition is consistent with current usage, and Im not the sort of pedant to advocate for a narrower usage of a popular term. Im a different sort of pedant, and anyway its far too late to salvage General Dunlaps intended meaning for lawfare. Lawfare joins the long list of contested post-modern vocabulary ready for hegemonic deployment by anybody who is willing. I only hope this post has enriched your appreciation for the word, and I especially hope that some of you will think occasionally of my own personal connotation of lawfare, as (yet another) jobs program for the PMC. ________ 1 Since calling groups of people liberals and conservatives has no discernible meaning in the U.S. these days, I propose the terms rightish-sphere and leftish-sphere as replacements. The terms are intended to suggest both the lack of any well-developed ideas motivating the two camps, and the insularity of the two groups of camp followers. 2 The term lawfare had previously been used by a couple of Australian academics way back in 1975 (h/t Wkipedia) for the more pedestrian purpose of describing the adversarial system of handling legal disputes, as distinguished from an inquisitorial system or a more cooperative system. 3 Solid social constructs melting into air was supposed to be a harbinger of triumphant capitalism in the run-up to communism, but Marx believed that the cheap prices of commodities would be the heavy artillery with which the bourgeoisie battered down Chinese walls. The battering with cheapness seems to be going the other way these days, supporting my intuition that delegitimizing legal frameworks is not necessarily to the advantage of the U.S. bourgeoisie. The U.S. bourgeoisie might want to have a talk with their PMC minions about why that sort of thing keeps happening. Paratroopers from various NATO nations recently gathered in Poland to jump together for the Polish Jump Week. The exercise saw paratroopers from Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom meet near Krakow to learn about each others airborne techniques and equipment. Over 400 parachute jumps were performed from the deck of a C-295M aircraft and a W-3 Soko helicopter, landing in the Bedowska Desert and Zywieckie Lake in southern Poland. ENDLESS AID: Biden to ask Congress for supplemental aid package north of $10B for Ukraine President Joe Biden is expected to ask Congress soon for another Ukraine aid package an amount that could exceed $10 billion as supplemental funding for Ukraine , and domestic disaster relief as soon as the House returns from recess. According to sources familiar with the matter, this will be a major test of U.S. support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, especially since the legislative body is dominated by "Republican defense hawks." Punchbowl News reported that the incoming request is in fulfillment of America's and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries' pledge of assistance to Zelensky, despite Ukraine's slow-moving counteroffensive against Russia. Earlier in the week, the Armys acquisition chief confirmed to reporters that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is working on a funding package for lawmakers to consider. The package would be used to replenish American weapon stockpiles which have been depleted after providing munitions to Ukraine's protracted conflict with Russia. Since the beginning of the Kyiv-Moscow conflict in February 2022, the United States has already provided more than $110 billion in aid despite a major backlash from American voters. (Related: Ukraine received $1.25 billion grant from US taxpayers to pay the wages of government employees.) Back in July, 70 House Republicans voted to stop the funding for Ukraine. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has said that any additional Ukraine funding should have to go through regular order, or the appropriations process, and not a supplemental package. On the other hand, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has slammed the current defense cap set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the debt ceiling deal struck by McCarthy and Biden, and has pushed a robust aid package to Ukraine. In addition to the GOP divisions, another problem is floor time. Both chambers will be focused on preventing a government shutdown at the end of September and passing a reconciled version of the annual defense authorization measure. Meanwhile, the funding request could also include a monetary request for Taiwans military, too. CNN poll: Majority of Americans oppose further military aid to Ukraine A majority of Americans have increasingly soured on sending more aid to Ukraine, the CNN/SSRS poll that was released Friday has found. According to the survey, 55 percent of U.S. voters believe that Congress should not send more aid to Ukraine, while 45 approve of more funding. Fifty-one percent believe that America has done enough to help Ukraine, while 48 percent say it should do more. A majority of Americans have increasingly soured on sending more aid to Ukraine to help its protracted conflict with Russia, a poll released Friday has found. https://t.co/0SkurHZn6S Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) August 7, 2023 During the early days of the conflict, 62 percent believed Americans should do more to help the country. Fifty-six percent believe that the Ukraine-Russia conflict will threaten national security, although that is down from 72 percent since the February 2022 poll. The news outlet also deemed that more Americans are worried about the conflict becoming seemingly endless: "Nearly eight in 10 are worried about that, including 82 percent of Democrats, 75 percent of independents, and 73 percent of Republicans. Nearly two-thirds overall are concerned that the war in Ukraine will lead to increased threats to democracy elsewhere (65 percent) or lead to Russian attacks elsewhere (64 percent), and about six in 10 are worried it could lead to a broader war in Europe (59 percent). Furthermore, Senior Adviser for the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft Kelley Vlahos contended that the poll does not bode well for Biden. "The poll also doesn't bode well for Biden's handling of major foreign policy issues," Vlahos explained adding that some 53 percent disapprove of how he is handling the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, 56 percent disapprove of how he is handling Russia and 57 percent disapprove of how he is handling the relationship with China. Follow UkraineWitness.com to learn more about the current situation in Ukraine. Sources for this article include: Breitbart.com 1 Punchbowl.news Breitbart.com 2 ResponsibleStateCraft.org Admittedly, any decision on whether to use the law to take a persons life is a serious one, deserving close consideration and then rethinking the conclusion. Nevertheless, nearly 15 months after the racist massacre at Tops supermarket on Jefferson Avenue and more than eight months after the killer pleaded guilty to New York State felonies the U.S. Justice Department only now seems to be closing in on a decision of whether to seek the death penalty against Payton Gendron. Its not fair to anyone not to the defendant who may lose his life, but also to the families of the 10 people murdered, as well as the two who survived grievous injuries. Most Buffalonians, it seems safe to suggest, are appropriately more concerned about those suffering people than they are of the man who inflicted their pain. Nevertheless, as a matter of justice, all parties need an answer to that question and a resolution of the case. That may start to come into focus next month. Gendrons defense lawyers will meet on Sept. 18 with representatives of the U.S. Attorney Generals Office to try to persuade Attorney General Merrick Garland to forgo the death penalty. They will, they say, present mitigating evidence, although how anyone mitigates calculated, cold-blooded murder is hard to imagine. Nevertheless, that is their job. They are pushing for a penalty of life without possibility of parole the same sentence he received in a state court here and believe a decision on that could come shortly thereafter. This page has opposed the death penalty for many years, based on its inconsistent application, the fact that innocent people have been executed and the availability of an adequate alternative: Sirhan Sirhan, now 79, continues to molder in prison, 55 years after he murdered Sen. Robert Kennedy. Nevertheless, Gendrons execution is a legal possibility and a choice needs to be made so that this matter can move ahead. Even considering everything else on Garlands plate, it seems there has been more than enough time to make this call. To be sure, these cases move slowly. The massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh occurred nearly five years ago but only last week was the unrepentant killer, Robert Bowers, sentenced to death. In this case, the facts arent in dispute. Gendron did it. He pleaded guilty to 15 felonies in state court. What is necessary is for Garland to make his decision and let the cause of justice proceed. Weve waited long enough. Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing. US border crisis persists: Thousands of migrants continue to cross daily despite the summer heat The United States' border crisis is still ongoing , and recent data shows that crossing along the border with Mexico actually increased despite the summer heat U.S. Border Patrol agents stationed in the Tucson sector, which covers most of Arizona's border with Mexico and parts of the Sonoran Desert, have reported a large number of migrants arriving daily. On some days, the number of new illegals soars to 1,900 an increase of 134 percent from an average of 812 daily new migrants in June. Despite temperatures in most areas of Arizona's desert sometimes surpassing 110 degrees each day, illegal immigrants, including families with young children, are still traversing the desert in large groups. On many occasions, Border Patrol agents note that large groups are accompanied by smugglers. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed that it is seeing a "significant increase" in migrant crossings along the Arizona desert region. The agency even added that due to the "large number of migrants" at one of its facilities in Lukeville, it has been forced to hold some migrants in swelteringly hot temporary facilities in Ajo, a desert town. "This is a very serious issue. This is beyond it's not a regional issue. Our country is under attack," commented Dr. Jane Ruby, adding that shanty towns featuring dozens and hundreds of people are popping up just several feet into the American side of the Rio Grande River, which separates the United States and Mexico. "Your government's doing this. Our government is doing this." (Related: Right Now with Ann Vandersteel: Whistleblower Tara Rodas says U.S. serves as the middleman in cross-border CHILD TRAFFICKING Brighteon.TV.) Migrants from all corners of the globe attempting to cross into America Just opposite the border in the city of El Paso, Texas, over 1,000 illegals attempted to cross from the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez on Tuesday, Aug. 8, after they heard rumors spread through social media and word-of-mouth that the U.S. would allow entry to one mass group. The 1,000 migrants, many of whom have been waiting weeks to secure appointments to request asylum using the CBP One mobile app, waited the entire day as CBP officials uncoiled more razor wire across the railway gate and as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott continued efforts to set up river barriers along Rio Grande. "You can just see how many people want to pass for our families, for our future," claimed Venezuelan migrant Johan Ramirez. "We've spent many days here. Our money is running out, we're sleeping in the streets." In Border Patrol's Yuma sector in Arizona, officials confirmed that migrant crossing levels have not returned to the record levels seen in the previous years. But they did note that the groups of migrant families are now coming from more diverse corners of the globe. Families from Colombia and Venezuela in South America are still the most common, but Border Patrol officials are also now seeing more families from Senegal and Mauritania in West Africa and even families from China. The families who are able to cross the border illegally end up having to deal with the 110- to 120-degree heat the desert is seeing every single day which is already causing deaths. "Our area here has already seen a number of deaths," said Fernando Quiroz, the founder of the AZ-CA Humanitarian Coalition and who distributes food and water in the busiest crossing sites near Yuma. "We saw a mother that perished a couple of weeks ago, not far from where I'm standing." In the 2022 fiscal year, Border Patrol recorded 853 migrant deaths, a record high that eclipsed the previous all-time high of 546 in the 2021 fiscal year. During the first nine months of the current fiscal year, Border Patrol has already reported at least 330 migrant deaths. "People perish seeking the American dream," lamented Quiroz. Learn more about the crisis unfolding along the southern border at OpenBorders.news. Watch this episode of "Coffee Chat" with Dr. Jane Ruby as she discusses the ongoing invasion occurring along the southern border. This video is from the Dr. Jane Ruby Show channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Operation Lone Star fails to curb ILLEGAL CROSSINGS despite $9.5B funding. JUVENILE BIOWEAPONS: Federal gov't released nearly 2,500 illegal immigrant kids with latent TB into the US. Smuggling network caught using fake FedEx vans to smuggle migrants past US border patrol checkpoints. There are now more illegal immigrants than homeless people housed in New York City's shelters. Arizona state trooper seizes over $3M worth of fentanyl pills and cocaine during traffic stop less than 30 miles from the border. Sources include: Brighteon.com CBSNews.com Reuters.com NYC migrant crisis: Central Park being considered as HOUSING for migrants Hundreds of asylum seekers are stuck outside New York City's (NYC) arrival intake center, with many migrants waiting for days to have a place to sleep. City officials have already confirmed that these migrants could soon be staying in other iconic areas of the city, including popular tourist spots like Central Park. Many of the homeless migrants sleeping on the streets of midtown in front of the Roosevelt Hotel on East 45th Street and Madison Avenue lament that they haven't made progress as city officials consider all alternative options to house the asylum seekers. The majority of migrants are single men. NYC Deputy Mayor Anne Williams-Isom said "everything is on the table." She added that since July 30, 107,900 people have been in New York's care, along with 56,600 asylum seekers. To date, more than 95,600 people have come through the system since last spring. Migrants like Jose Gregorio, have been waiting in the same spot for several days since their arrival. New York's tracking system reveals that over 2,300 migrants entered its system in only one week between July 24 to 30. Luis Garcia, one of the migrants, told reporters he was happy to have food and water despite not having a place to stay. He added that he was still grateful even though he'd been sleeping on the street for two and a half days because he'd also slept on the street since he left Venezuela. According to the Legal Aid Society, even if some of the asylum seekers are fine with waiting in the street, the conditions still violate the city's right to shelter. Murad Awawdeh from the NY Immigration Coalition criticized NYC Mayor Eric Adams, noting that his administration has doubled down and tripled down on strategies that aren't effective and never worked in the first place. Awawdeh added that the mayor's rhetoric has changed and that it's "no longer welcoming." City officials have denied that leaving people in line is a scheme to send a pointed message to the federal government or the migrants at the border that New York is already out of space. (Related: Chicagos Black community slams city officials over $51 million fund for migrants.) NYC finally turning migrants away NYC will start distributing flyers at the U.S.-Mexico border to inform newly arrived migrants to "consider another city" and limit shelter stays for adult asylum seekers to 60 days. Adams, a Democrat, explained that the city is straining to house the influx of migrants. His office claimed that the flyers would help "combat misinformation at the border" and that New York would help migrants find other housing and "take the next step in their journey." New York is bound by a decades-old consent decree in a class-action lawsuit to provide shelter for the homeless. But as more migrants arrived, Adams tried various approaches to housing them, from tents to relocating them to other parts of the state. The decree states that NYC has a legal obligation to give shelter to those with none and to ensure that they "are safe and secure, and protected from exposure to the elements." In October 2022, Adams declared a state of emergency. He also urged President Joe Biden to provide more resources and to help migrants get their work permits. The new flyer that NYC plans to circulate at the border emphasizes the high cost of housing, food and other necessities that migrants will have to deal with if they head to the U.S. financial center. "Please consider another city as you make your decision about where to settle in the U.S.," the flyer said in English and Spanish. Watch the video below to learn more about New York's migrant problem. This video is from the Cleansing Flow channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Caravan of MIGRANTS march toward the southern border after banding together in Mexico. Five illegal migrants on FBIs terrorist watchlist ARRESTED shortly after Title 42 expired. Migrants leaving NYC for Canada by bus on taxpayer dime. Sources include: NBCNewYork.com Reuters.com Brighteon.com House Democrats demand 1,000% tax on semi-automatic weapons so only the elites and criminal groups can afford them Democrats in the House of Representatives have introduced legislation that would impose a 1,000 percent excise tax on the sale of semi-automatic weapons. Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, along with 24 other House Democrats, introduced the bill proposing the excise tax on the sale of "large capacity ammunition feeding devices and semi-automatic assault weapons" on Friday, Aug. 4. Beyer notably introduced similar legislation last year. The bill, known as HR 5135, would amend the 1986 Internal Revenue Code to add the additional 1,000 percent excise tax. Under the proposal, a semi-automatic rifle or pistol with a fixed magazine of 10 rounds or more or that have other various features that cost anywhere from $500 to $2,000 could end up costing between $5,000 to more than $20,000. Beyer claims this change is necessary to "curb the epidemic of gun violence." (Related: ATF has shut down nearly 2,000 gun stores since the implementation of its new "zero tolerance" policy.) "Congress must take action to stem the flood of weapons of war into American communities, which have taken a toll in Uvalde, Buffalo, Tulsa and too many other places," claimed Beyer when he introduced his first version of this bill last year. "Again and again, assault weapons designed for use on the battlefield have been used in mass shootings at schools, grocery stores, hospitals, churches, synagogues, malls, theaters, bars and so on." As of Monday, Aug. 7, the full text of HR 5135 has not been released for public scrutiny. It is unclear if any changes were made from his 2022 version of this same bill. Beyer's bill was introduced less than a week after more than 100 House Democrats confronted House Speaker Kevin McCarthy about their "disappointment" that House Republicans have not put forward legislation supposedly to curb gun violence in America. "As members of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, we call on you [McCarthy] to schedule votes on gun violence prevention legislation as soon as possible this year," they wrote in a public letter. "Gun violence is the leading cause of death of children in America since 2020. Last year, 1,686 children were killed and another 4,485 were injured by gun violence. Despite this preventable carnage, the House has yet to vote on even one gun violence prevention bill." Working-class Americans may not be able to own semi-automatic weapons According to Aidan Johnston, director of federal affairs for the pro-Second Amendment organization the Gun Owners of America, all a massive excise tax on semi-automatic weapons would do is keep these firearms in the hands of wealthy elites and criminals who can afford them. Many so-called semi-automatic firearms are hunting rifles used by middle and working-class Americans. "Taxing firearms at 1,000 percent would price low- and middle-income families out of the right to self-defense, and that impact would be felt the most by innocent Americans living in crime-ridden neighborhoods," warned Johnston. "This unconstitutional legislation is nothing more than a backdoor gun ban." The National Rifle Association has also argued against Democrats' use of the term "assault weapon," a designation used to "deliberately confuse the public and advance the political cause of gun control." Pro-gun organizations claim the terms "assault weapon" or "assault rifle" should only apply to automatic firearms which can discharge ammunition continuously with only one trigger pull. These firearms are used by the United States Armed Forces and are very difficult to obtain for civilian use. Gun control advocates, meanwhile, use the nebulous term "assault weapon" to include semi-automatic weapons that fire just a single round with one trigger pull. They claim these firearms, many of which are hunting rifles used by working-class families all over America, should also be placed under stricter controls. Learn more about threats against gun rights in America at SecondAmendment.news. Watch this clip from Fox News of President Joe Biden claiming that it is "sick" behavior to purchase semi-automatic firearms. This video is from the News Clips channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Study proves there is NO CORRELATION between gun control laws and mass shootings. Minnesota woman accuses state of abusing gun laws with son being charged over personally manufactured firearms. Pro-2A group sues Connecticut over UNCONSTITUTIONAL state law banning open carry. Washington state Democrats commit unconstitutional act by approving legislation outlawing semi-auto rifles. Michigan Senate passed 11 RED FLAG "gun safety" bills to restrict Second Amendment rights of state residents. Sources include: InfoWars.com FoxNews.com TheMessenger.com Brighteon.com MSM outlets forced to admit they published FAKE NEWS as supposed victim in kidnapping story confessed it was all a HOAX Once in a blue moon, fake news outlets have to admit they published a story that was fake, including a complete hoax. No, mainstream media is not admitting they published two years of fake-Trump-Russia collusion, but they are having to admit that a nursing student lied about being kidnapped for days, only because the woman admitted herself that it was all a hoax. That's right, Carlee Russell, a woman who went missing for two days, suddenly appeared back home, and admitted to detectives she had concocted the entire kidnap story out of thin air. Here's what she had claimed happened when she first called a 911 dispatcher. Russell told the 911 dispatcher that she found a toddler wandering on the side of the interstate in Alabama. She got out of her car to rescue the child when a man who emerged from the trees near her car abducted her and forced her into an 18-wheeler truck. He then blindfolded her and took her to a home where a man and woman told her to get naked. Then they took photos of her. Then she said she somehow escaped the abusers and ran through the woods all the way back home. Of course, now she admits all of this was a lie. Police had found clues when they checked the roadside and found her car, her wig and her cell phone. The fabricated hoax made national headlines, as fake news MSM gobbled it up and published it for the world to see. Social media went crazy, trying to garner awareness for the happening. Now she has an attorney telling the press it was all fake, but she could face criminal charges for wasting police time and efforts on a hoax she did all for attention. Is she mentally ill? This is not the first hoax that went viral, and it surely won't be the last. Supposed kidnap victim says she was in town the whole time After two full days and nights of being fake kidnapped, the woman apologized, through her lawyer, for her selfish actions that wasted time and valuable Hoover police department resources, while causing emotional trauma for her community. Nobody knows where she stayed during the fake kidnapping, but she says she acted alone and did not have help. Nurse-to-be (or not) Russell had prepared for the hoax in several ways. Investigators discovered afterwards that she made several internet searches trying to find out how to pay for Amber alerts, and how to steal money from a store's cash register without getting caught. She also watched several clips from the kidnapping movie "Taken" to figure out some interesting parts of her elaborate lie. She even called a relative at the onset of the hoax to let them know about the (fake) wandering toddler on the highway. So far, no criminal charges have been filed against Russell for the serious wasting of police efforts, while they could have been saving other people's lives from tragedy or locking up criminals and getting them off the streets. It's almost unbelievable that mainstream news is admitting they published false information, but most likely because it's not about war, Trump, vaccines, or the hyper-inflated Fauci Flu. It's time the fake news admits they are the hoax spreaders when it comes to national news, so everyone can spend their time talking about things that actually matter to health, happiness and safety. Bookmark Censored.news to your favorite websites for truth news that's being censored from the rest of media as you read this. Sources for this article include: NBCnews.com NPR.org NaturalNews.com Pilot shortage and union demand could make passenger flights unaffordable for ordinary Americans Flying could become too expensive for ordinary Americans. The expected increase in plane ticket prices is due to two factors: severe pilot shortages and demanding pilot unions Estimates suggest that airlines across North America will suffer shortages of around 30,000 pilots over the next decades because the country isn't training enough pilots while others are choosing to retire early. Oliver Wyman, a management consulting firm, explained that even if the supply of new pilots grows, it's still not enough to "offset a continuing wave of retirements." At the same time, pilot unions are more determined to have their needs met due to the increased leverage and are able to drive a hard bargain in negotiations with airlines. To illustrate, pilots working for United Airlines are slated to receive a 34.5 to 40.5 percent pay increase over the next four years. United also has to offer employee benefits such as job security and retirement packages, along with better benefits and work-life balance assurances for their pilots. American Airlines pilots are also demanding better pay and working conditions to match those of United, which means companies will be forced to increase ticket prices to make up for the shortfall. (Related: America is witnessing DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION of its aviation industry.) American Airlines reaches updated agreement with pilots American Airlines has reached an updated four-year tentative agreement with its pilots that is just as good, if not better, than the new deal United Airlines pilots have negotiated. The negotiating committee of the Allied Pilots Association (APA) is due to take the agreement in principle before its board of directors. Once they gain board approval, the agreement would then proceed to the full APA membership for ratification. APA and American Airlines management already came to a tentative agreement in May. But the union set its eyes on better terms after United's pilots negotiated a more favorable deal in mid-July. Once the United contract is ratified, pay rates will increase by 13.8 to 18.7 percent on the date of signing, based on the aircraft type each pilot flies. Rates will then continue to increase gradually within the next years. With the updated American deal, pay increases for pilots would be retroactive to January rather than May, and rates would be equal to those achieved by both United and Delta pilots. The deal also changed many other provisions, including those related to 401k contributions, sick leave, life insurance and the number of jump seats on aircraft. Several of the negotiated provisions depend on United Airlines pilots approving their agreement by the end of the year. In an emailed statement, American Airlines said it is thankful to the APA for its collaborative work to reach an updated agreement on a four-year contract for the airline's pilots. "It's a contract we're proud of and one our pilots deserve," concluded the airlines. Visit Collapse.news for more articles about the impending collapse of the airline industry. Watch the video below to find out more about an American Airlines Pilot who "suddenly" died during a flight. This video is from The Resistance 1776 - channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Southwest Airlines in shambles as thousands of holiday flights canceled, prompting federal review. Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg blasted for being AWOL while Southwest Airlines collapsed over the holidays. Southwest Airlines cancels most flights amid nightmare meltdown; "one of the biggest travel debacles in history" with no end in sight. Unvaccinated pilots suing United Airlines for firing or otherwise discriminating against them for having pure blood. Sources include: TheNationalPulse.com TravelWeekly.com Brighteon.com GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on 9/11 terror attacks: I dont believe the government has told us the truth In a recent interview with Alex Stein of The Blaze, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy responded to questions about his stance on conspiracy theories surrounding the 9/11 terror attacks on September 11, 2001 and the potential involvement of the Saudi Arabian government. During the interview, Stein asked Ramaswamy whether he believed the attacks were an "inside job" or if he trusted the official narrative of the government. (Related: Bombshell court filing claims that some 9/11 hijackers were CIA assets.) "I don't believe the government has told us the truth," Ramaswamy said. He went on to explain that recent years have shown the necessity of being cautious about accepting information even from government sources at face value. "What I've seen in the last several years is we have to be skeptical of what the government does tell us." The skepticism of Ramaswamy extended to the findings of the 9/11 Commission. "Do I believe the 9/11 Commission? Absolutely not," he said. His comments challenge the narrative covering the tragic event in 2001, which resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people and had far-reaching impacts on global politics and security. "Yeah, [the] 9/11 Commission lied," Stein shared his sentiment and supported the statement of Ramaswamy. After his interview, Ramaswamy took to social media the questions regarding his remarks. He reiterated his belief through a post that the government had not been entirely forthcoming about the attacks. "Do I believe our government has been completely forthright about 9/11? No," Ramaswamy wrote. While acknowledging the role of Al-Qaeda in planning and executing the attacks, he emphasized the questions covering the involvement of the Saudi government. "We can handle the TRUTH," he concluded. Some hijackers during the 9/11 attacks were CIA assets In April 2023, a court filing alleged that at least two of the 9/11 hijackers in an incident in 2011 were recruited into a secret joint operation of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Saudi intelligence. The filing was based on the 21-page report by Don Canestraro, the lead investigator for the Office of Military Commissions overseeing the cases of 9/11 defendants, classified government discovery disclosures and private interviews with anonymous high-ranking officials from both the CIA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). According to the investigation of Canestraro, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, the two 9/11 hijackers who were allegedly recruited into a joint CIA-Saudi intelligence operation, hijacked the American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon. The investigation also uncovered disturbing negligence within the CIA. An internal CIA cable at the time indicated that information about al-Mihdhar's U.S. visa was conveyed to the FBI "for further investigation." But the truth was far more insidious: Alec Station, a joint investigative initiative established by the CIA and the FBI in 1996, deliberately omitted this vital detail and even prevented FBI agents assigned to the unit from informing their superiors. One of the FBI agents involved, Mark Rossini, revealed that he was explicitly told not to involve the FBI and that sharing this information would have resulted in severe consequences, including a violation of the law and potential removal from his position. Rossini's account highlighted the deeply troubling and ethically questionable decisions made within the CIA at that crucial juncture. Rossini said: "If we had picked up the phone and called the Bureau, I would've been violating the law... I would've had my clearances suspended, and I would be gone." Find more stories like this at Conspiracy.news. Watch this video to learn more about the conspiracy theories related to 9/11. This video is from the Greekinsider channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Vivek Ramaswamy says he and RFK Jr. are under attack by Big Tech because we threaten the establishment. GOP presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy develops ingenious way to help raise money an affiliate program. Anti-woke presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy vaults into third place in Republican primary behind Trump and DeSantis. Not a bad idea: GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy wants to SHUT DOWN the FBI and start over. GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy advocates raising the voting age to 25, but still allowing 18-year-olds if they pass the civics test or perform military service. Sources include: Midiaite.com MSN.com TheGrayZone.com Brighteon.com Scientists claim to have developed targeted chemotherapy pill that can annihilate tumors while leaving healthy cells alone New research published in thejournal by City of Hope demonstrates the power of a new "cancer-killing pill" that researchers say can kill solid tumors will leaving healthy cells unharmed. Published on August 1, the preclinical research findings suggest that the new drug, known as AOH1996 and named after Anna Olivia Healey, can selectively disrupt DNA replication and repair of cancer cells. Linda Malkas, the study's main author, has been working on AOH1996 for about 20 years in honor of Healey who was born in 1996 and died of a rare form of cancer called neuroblastoma when she was just nine years of age. City of Hope, a private, non-profit clinical research center based out of California, is currently one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States. The facility released a press release about AOH1996 claiming that it "appears to annihilate all solid tumors" while avoiding healthy cells and tissue. With successful cell and animal models for AOH1996 now on the books, the next step is to test the drug in actual humans. A Phase 1 clinical trial is now underway, according to Malkas. (Related: Several years back, the American Cancer Society complained that treating patients conventionally is creating too large of a "carbon footprint," which they say is warming the planet.) AOH1996 targets all mutated versions of PCNA, setting it apart from all other targeted cancer therapies The preclinical study shows in further detail how AOH1996 targets PCNA, a cancerous version of a protein called proliferating cell nuclear antigen. Cancerous variants of PCNA are "critical in DNA replication and repair" of all cancer tumors, and AOH1996, according to City of Hope, stops that process entirely. "Data suggests PCNA is uniquely altered in cancer cells, and this fact allowed us to design a drug that targeted only the form of PCNA in cancer cells," Malkas says. When administered orally at a certain dose, AOH1996 "suppresses tumor growth but causes no discernable side effect," the study itself reads. At the current time, most other targeted cancer therapies on the market focus on just a single pathway. This is inadequate because cancer cells can still mutate and eventually become resistant to or evade the therapy, rendering it ineffective. AOH1996 functions uniquely in that it targets the mutated versions of PCNA, setting it apart from all other targeted cancer therapies currently available to patients. So far, the results of human testing "have been promising," Malkas stated, adding that AOH1996 "can suppress tumor growth as a monotherapy or combination treatment in cell and animal models without resulting in toxicity." Fellow lead author Long Gu also commented on the results, bragging that nobody else has ever targeted PCNA as a therapeutic "because it was viewed as 'undruggable.'" "But clearly City of Hope was able to develop an investigational medicine for a challenging protein target," he added. "We discovered that PCNA is one of the potential causes of increased nucleic acid replication errors in cancer cells. Now that we know the problem area and can inhibit it, we will dig deeper to understand the process to develop more personalized, targeted cancer medicines." In short, AOH1996 selectively kills cancer cells by disrupting their reproductive cycle. And it does this without harming the reproductive cycle of healthy stem cells, which the body needs for strength and subsistence. Another thing AOH1996 does is make cancer cells more sensitive to other chemical agents that can damage their DNA and destroy them. One example is cisplatin, a common chemotherapy drug used in Western medicine to treat cancer. Interested in learning more about how to fight cancer? Check out CancerSolutions.news. Sources for this article include: TheEpochTimes.com Newstarget.com Death trap: UK starts housing illegal migrants in controversial barge Bibby Stockholm, as it surfaces government spends 7M per day on asylum seekers in hotels In the run-up to the next General Election due no later than January 2025, but possibly earlier Conservative PM Rishi Sunak and his cabinet are scrambling to find ways to tackle with the ongoing catastrophe of mass illegal immigration. (Article by Paul Serran republished from TheGatewayPundit.com) Even after the UK regained the authority over its borders with BREXIT, it has not been able to tackle the constant influx of migrants coming from France, pouring over the English channel in small boats. After considering sending the illegals awaiting processing of their asylum claims to Rwanda, in Africa, the Home Office is now considering using barges and military installations to house this people. The reason: the UK government is currently spending 6m ($7,6m) per day housing more than 50,000 migrants in hotels. Sunak under pressure to tackle illegal immigration. So PM Sunak is under pressure to remove people from hotels during a soaring backlog of asylum cases to be processed by the Home Office. So the government is starting to house people in the first such barge, the Bibby Stockholm, where they hope to house up to 500 people less than 1 per cent of the over 50,000 asylum seekers currently being accommodated in hotels. The ugly vessel, deemed reasonably comfortable by reporters who visited it, was called a death trap by the Fire authorities. The barge is one of three sites set to house about 3,000 asylum seekers by the autumn. The other two are former Royal Air Force bases in Essex and Lincolnshire. BBC reported: Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said the government had been clear that those who arrive in the UK illegally should not be housed in expensive hotels. Our use of alternative accommodation sites and vessels provide basic and appropriate standards for small boats arrivals while their claims are determined, he said. As you would expect, not everyone of the migrants selected to move was excited with the death trap so many did not go. Some of these are now being threatened with eviction and homelessness. Independent reported: But several other people who refused to board buses from their hotels to Portland Port on Monday received letters demanding they move on Tuesday or face the withdrawal of housing and other support. [] Arrangements were made for you to travel from your accommodation to alternative accommodation at the Bibby Stockholm in Portland on 7th August 2023. On 7th August 2023 you did not take up the offer of this accommodation if you do not travel tomorrow, on 8th August 2023, arrangements for ceasing the support that you are receiving from the Home Office may commence. Justice secretary Alex Chalk, asked if forcing migrants was not illegal: its not unreasonable to live on the perfectly safe and decent barge. That is something the courts would have to consider but I think it would be unlikely that it would be illegal I suspect its unlikely to be unlawful. Some of the people ordered to live on the Bibby Stockholm have been reprieved, after legal challenges by Charities claimed the vessel was unsafe and unsuitable for traumatized people, and labeled it costly, cruel and inhumane. The Guardian reported: The Home Office faces a new wave of legal action if it resists formal appeals to remove asylum seekers from consideration because of mental health issues, physical conditions and other vulnerabilities. The refugee charity Care4Calais said it had stopped 20 people from being forced to board the barge so far, with dozens more referrals coming in by the hour from other refugees staying in hotels. None of the asylum seekers we are supporting have gone to the Bibby Stockholm today as legal representatives have had their transfers cancelled, said Steve Smith, the charitys chief executive. Among our clients are people who are disabled, who have survived torture and modern slavery and who have had traumatic experiences at sea. To house any human being in a quasi floating prison like the Bibby Stockholm is inhumane. To try to do so to this group of people is unbelievably cruel. Read more at: TheGatewayPundit.com U.S. Air Force launches first ever AI-piloted fighter flight as American military pivots to human-less warfare For the first time, the United States military has successfully flown a fighter plane using artificial intelligence (AI), meaning no human soldiers necessary. The Air Force reportedly flew an XQ-58A Valkyrie unmanned plane out of Florida's Eglin Air Force Base on July 27. A statement issued by the Air Force Research Lab states that the AI algorithms uploaded into the jet allowed it to fly for three full hours before safely landing. In partnership with Kratos, the Air Force Research Lab reported that it took millions of man hours to create the AI algorithms and associated simulations to make the project a success. "AI will be a critical element to future warfighting and the speed at which we're going to have to understand the operational picture and make decisions," announced Brig. Gen. Scott Cain, the research lab commander. "AI, Autonomous Operations, and Human-Machine Teaming continue to evolve at an unprecedented pace and we need the coordinated efforts of our government, academia, and industry partners to keep pace." (Related: Perhaps these AI robots are intended to take over duties for all the dead servicemen who were forced by the Pentagon and the Biden regime to get "vaccinated" for the Wuhan coronavirus [Covid-19]?) Will the U.S. military eventually become an army of AI robot soldiers? The reason the Valkyrie was chosen for the project is that it is a reusable unmanned plane that was specifically designed to be far less costly than its traditional counterparts, human piloted or otherwise. The successful July 25 flight "put a capstone," to quote Stripes, on the multi-year partnership that began with the Skyborg Vanguard program. According to reports, the plane was rocket-launched from a rail system and controlled from either a ground station or airborne fighter. The plane's onboard computer system was used to determine the best flight path and throttle settings to obey its input commands. Defense News reported that the two-year project involved a team of personnel from both the lab and the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, whose goal is to create an unmanned fighter aircraft controlled by AI. "This sortie officially enables the ability to develop [artificial intelligence and machine learning] agents that will execute modern air-to-air and air-to-surface skills that are immediately transferrable to the CCA program," said Col. Tucker Hamilton, chief of AI test and operations with the Air Force. Known as a collaborative combat aircraft, or the CCA program, the ultimate purpose behind the research and test flight is to create a fleet of combat drones that can operate without the need for actual human pilots think planet of the machines. Futuristic sci-fi films from the past depicted this kind of thing with a dystopian bent, and now we are seeing it come to life right here in the good ol' US of A, which is on a fast track towards becoming an AI-driven society. "The mission proved out a multi-layer safety framework on an AI/ML-flown uncrewed aircraft and demonstrated an AI / ML agent solving a tactically relevant challenge problem during airborne operations," Col Hamilton further added. "This sortie officially enables the ability to develop AI / ML agents that will execute modern air-to-air and air-to-surface skills that are immediately transferrable to other autonomy programs." Dr. Terry Wilson, the program manager at AFRL's Air Combat Operations (AACO), which developed the AI algorithms, further commented that, so far, the "multi-pronged approach to uncrewed flight testing of machine learning artificial intelligence ... has met operational experimentation objectives" as desired by the Air Force. The latest news about the AI takeover of the world can be found at FutureTech.news. Sources for this article include: Stripes.com NaturalNews.com DefenseNews.com AF.mil Another bank and big trucking firm COLLAPSED in July as more and more companies buckle under Bidenomics failure Another bank and a trucking firm collapsed in late July , adding to the list of companies that have buckled under economic pressure in the United States. Heartland Tri-State Bank (HTSB) of Elkhart, Kansas failed on July 28 with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) assuming control and organizing a sale soon after. The FDIC agreed to take up all of HTSB's deposits, eventually reaching a purchase and assumption agreement with Dream First Bank (DFB) of Syracuse, Kansas. HTSB's four branches reopened as DFB branches on July 31. Earlier this year, America witnessed the second-, third- and fourth-largest bank failures in its history. These failures have shown a pattern in that whenever a small bank fails, the federal government through the FDIC orders a larger bank to absorb it. Eventually, this will lead to an unusual surge of unification in the banking industry. (Related: The banking collapse of 2023 is now officially bigger than the banking collapse of 2008.) Also, HTSB's failure and its acquisition by DFB comes amid the Federal Reserve enforcing radical measures in an effort to keep more banks from crashing. The trucking industry is also falling on very tough times that even one of the big players has stopped its operations altogether. On July 30, trucking firm Yellow Corporation stopped its operations and announced it will relieve al 30,000 of its workers. The closure of the 99-year-old company was the culmination of its financial difficulties, as Yellow amassed more than $1 billion in debt. The company had been in a fight with the Teamsters Union, which represents about 22,000 drivers and dock workers in the company. A week before Yellow ended its operations, the Teamsters canceled a threatened strike that had been incited by the company's failure to contribute to its pension and health insurance plans. Instead of proceeding with the strike, the union allowed the company an extra month to produce the necessary payments. But by the end of July, Yellow had ceased picking up freight from its customers and was making deliveries only of freight already in its system. The news was confirmed by both the union and trucking industry consultant Satish Jindel. Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien said in a July 31 statement: "This is a sad day for workers and the American freight industry. Yellow has historically proven that it could not manage itself despite billions of dollars in worker concessions and hundreds of millions in bailout funding from the federal government." Yellow Corporation owes government $1.5 billion Yellow's closure is also a sad day for taxpayers, as the company owed Washington a huge amount of money. As of late March 2023, it had an outstanding debt of about $1.5 billion with $729.2 million owed to the government as part of a loan. During the Trump administration in 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (USDT) granted Yellow the pandemic-era loan on national security grounds. But a congressional probe in July 2023 found that the USDT and the Department of Defense "made missteps in this decision." Lawmakers also found that Yellow's "precarious financial position at the time of the loan, and continued struggles, expose taxpayers to a significant risk of loss." Yellow's woes also followed several trucking company debacles involving Florida's Flagship Transport in Florida and North Carolina's FreightWorks Transport. Follow Collapse.news for more news about the condition of the American economy. Watch Dunagun Kaiser and Gregory Mannarino expounding on the FDIC picking survivor banks in the video below. This video is from the What is happening channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Collapse of Silicon Valley Bank a good thing as bank serviced tyrannical tech and pharmaceutical industries run by people who support censorship and woke policies. Manufacturing giant 3M announces mass layoffs in preparation for a recession. Century-old trucking giant Yellow Corp ceases operations, leaving 30,000 employees jobless and Americas supply chain reeling. Sources include: SHTFPlan.com Edition.CNN.com CBSNews.com Brighteon.com President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has accepted credentials of newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation Mikhail Yevdokimov. The ambassador presented his credentials to President Ilham Aliyev. The head of state then had a conversation with the ambassador. They hailed the successful development of bilateral friendly relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation in various areas, and praised the implementation of active mutual activities in political, economic, trade, energy, transport and humanitarian fields, as well as in regional security issues. The sides noted that the two countries enjoy fruitful cooperation both at the bilateral level and within international organizations, lauded the contribution of the contacts between the heads of state to the expansion of bilateral ties, and expressed confidence that the bilateral relations would continue to develop successfully. They talked about the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and the current state of the negotiation process on a peace treaty. The sides also stressed the importance of projects implemented in energy and transport spheres, including the North-South Transport Corridor for regional development. Hey, Republicans. Question for you: Let's pretend that Donald Trump didn't intentionally lie about losing the election. He just had bad advice. Free speech. Yada, yada. OK, riddle me this: How can you promote this easily duped imbecile for president again? He demonstrated that he is astoundingly easily misled. He demonstrated an utter inability to listen to sound advice from his own advisers. His own attorney general, and chief of staff and vice president, and the vast majority of the rest of his staff all advised him he was wrong. Yet Trump proved utterly incapable of listening to that advice and distinguishing fact from fiction. Yet this is the guy you want negotiating against Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping? Seriously? Lord, help us! What is going through your ever-loving minds? There are only two possibilities here, folks. No others. Either: Trump is a treasonous traitor who worked tirelessly to undermine a free and fair election, the highest crime anyone can commit in a democracy, OR Hes an utterly incompetent fool. Take your pick. (I pick both, by the way.) In neither case should he ever be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office ever again (so says Bill Barr, his attorney general - one of the few times I find myself in agreement with Barr). Robert Biniszkiewicz Buffalo Reuben Yap: CBDCs let central banks CONTROL how people spend their money Firo co-founder Reuben Yap has warned that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) will be used by central banks to control how people spend their money He remarked that CBDCs give central banks "a lot of fine-grained control of how you should be spending your money." Yap continued: "To me, your money is your business. You should be free to spend your money as how you like it. It's your choice." "Your independence is a very key part of who we are. It's not for the state to tell us how we spend our money." According to the Malaysian co-founder of the privacy coin, CBDCs run contrary to how free market economies work. He also pointed out the potential for abuse, especially when people are only allowed to spend their money in recognized department stores, among others. Yap also noted how CBDCs can be used as a weapon against any political opposition. With governments having control of it, a CBDC can effectively cut off people's access to their funds to control dissent. This is the reason why there is an uptick in interest over privacy coins, even though many exchanges and government agencies are trying to ban them. Several countries already implementing CBDCs CBDCs are no longer in the planning stage, Yap continued, as several countries have already implemented it. China has long used CBDCs, tying it with the social credit score. Over in Africa, Nigeria has adopted its own version called the eNaira. The U.S. and the European Union are also mulling the use of CBDCs, in the form of the digital dollar and digital euro. "There is a clear trend that we are going to see more of this," Yap said. (Related: RIGGED: Brazils CBDC pilot program allows government to freeze funds, adjust balances at will.) While a CBDC may seem to be a convenience especially when issuing relief funds, it could also be used to restrict or limit what people can buy. The CBDC essentially takes power away from banks and gives it to a central bank controlling the use of fiat money, which is the only legal tender in a country. The Firo co-founder noted that privacy coins are one of the things that can answer or counter a CBDC, and that a privacy coin is the exact opposite of what a CBDC is. He said: "There is a sort of decentralized nature to [privacy coins] even though they, like fiat money, [are] centralized. But the CBDC takes that to the next level because CBDCs are like blockchain currencies and they are programmable." Yap stressed that privacy coins such as Firo are not like a transparent ledger or blockchains like Bitcoin or Ethereum that can freeze a particular address or blacklist certain funds which he said is already happening now. Privacy coins are indistinguishable and people can see where they are going and see how much someone is holding, he added. "Obviously, governments are saying 'Don't worry, a CBDC will be privacy-preserving. This is the utmost priority.' But if that's the case, if they are so much about privacy, why are they putting in regulations to ban privacy coins?" "If CBDCs are private, why are they banning privacy coins? It's because they enable money laundering." Yap ultimately urged people to not give the state apparatus more infrastructure to control their lives. He reiterated that people are already being monitored by companies and that they are being controlled to a certain extent. "So money, or at least cash or privacy coins, are one of those last frontiers. We should not be giving in or empowering the state apparatus to have more control over our lives if we want to be free citizens," he said. Follow CryptoCult.news for more news about the CBDCs and privacy coins. Watch Reuben Yap explaining why people should be concerned about the CBDC below. This video is from the Firo channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Skynet rising: Why CBDCs must be terminated before they go live. IMF unveils Unicoin a global CBDC. Poll: Americans dont want a central bank digital currency. Sources include: Brighteon.com Firo.org Climate fanatics unveil massive sky UMBRELLA scheme to block sunlight and cool planet Istvan Szapudi, an astronomer from the University of Hawaii , wants to create an enormous, umbrella-like solar shield made of the "wonder material" graphene, the goal being to stop global warming and climate change. In order to do this, Szapudi wants to capture an asteroid and use it as a counterweight to hold the umbrella and intercept all of the sun's ultraviolet rays so they never reach the earth's surface. Things would be really dark and cold in such a scenario, but at least it would never be warm again, warmth being something that climate fanatics everywhere fear like the plague and want to eliminate from the four corners of the earth. Szapudi actually published a paper on his harebrained idea in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a globalist bought-off "science" journal that apparently publishes just about anything these days. "In Hawaii, many use an umbrella to block the sunlight as they walk about during the day," Szapudi is quoted as saying in an attempt to sound smart. "I was thinking: could we do the same for earth and thereby mitigate the impending catastrophe of climate change?" (Related: Fake president Joe Biden thinks it's a really cool idea to block the sun to stop global warming.) What's worse: global warming or global freezing to death without sunlight? Szapudi's umbrella and asteroid idea is just one of many coming from climate fanatics these days who are proposing blocking sunlight with aerosol metals, "moon dust", and other light blockers. Not one of these people has explained precisely how their sun-blocking fantasies could ever become a reality, let alone provide scientific backing to show that such an idea would not be worse for the planet than fears about global warming. Imagine that in some parallel universe the wannabe gods who rule this planet actually could launch a massive umbrella into space while tethering it to an incoming asteroid at just the right moment to keep earth in the dark, thus allowing it to cool in accordance with the globalists' wishes: then what? Would the earth remain in the dark forever? How would plant life grow without the sun? How would humans survive without the sun? What would humanity do for heat to keep themselves alive on a planet that no longer gets any warming sunlight? These are questions that never get asked, of course, but who cares, right? As long as we can quell that pesky climate anxiety from the minds of leftists, the sky is the limit when it comes to contriving fantasy concepts for eliminating sunlight and turning the planet pitch black just to their liking. Szapudi's idea is to station his contraption at the "L1" Lagrange point, which is a position in space between the earth and the sun where objects sent there tend to stay put and not oscillate or move out of place. The weight of his shield and counterweight combined would be about 3.5 million tons, which is about 100 times lighter than previous estimates for an untethered shield. Szapudi admits that his idea "has enough weight to wreak havoc" if anything should go wrong, including the possibility that the entire apparatus crashes into earth and kills millions, and potentially billions, of people. It is worth it, apparently, to avoid having hot summers and fires and things like that. "If multiple tethers hold the shield, breaking one or two would not create an accident," Szapudi says. "When down to two tethers, the shield automatically turns away from the solar radiation (like a sail when the rigging breaks), and the counterweight pulls the structure safely toward the sun. The structure would be lost in the worst case, but the security threat to earth is negligible." Will the climate fanatics be successful in their endeavors to block the sun and turn the planet into a frozen ball of ice? Stay tuned at GreenTyranny.news. Sources for this article include: DailyMail.co.uk Newstarget.com FOOD FRAUD: DNA tests suggest more than 10% of seafood sold in Australia is not whats on the label More than 10 percent of seafood products being sold in Australia are not actually what their labels indicate This fraud was discovered after DNA testing was performed on more than 600 seafood products by the Minderoo Foundation, which is based in the city of Perth in Western Australia. The study, published Aug. 3 in Nature, highlighted the serious problem with labeling and species substitution. Compounded by a convoluted seafood supply chain with significant traceability challenges, seafood mislabeling and species substitution hinder efforts toward more sustainable, responsible and ethical fishing and business practices. Researchers from the foundation conducted the largest evaluation of the quality and accuracy of labels for 672 seafood products sold in Australia. They assessed domestically caught and six seafood products from fishmongers, restaurants and supermarkets across seven of the eight Australian states and territories. The products were divided into six groups, namely: hoki or blue grenadier prawns sharks and rays snapper squid and cuttlefish tuna Customers unknowingly purchase threatened aquatic species Shark and ray products had the highest occurrence of mislabeling of the seafood groups assessed at 35.9 percent, the study noted. The DNA barcoding analyses revealed that in 18 instances, products incorrectly labeled as "flake" or to a lesser extent as "shark" were in fact holocephalians (i.e., chimaera fishes). This raises concern as one-third of chondrichthyan species are listed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as threatened. The study also recorded two mislabeling cases for "critically endangered" species on the IUCN Red List. These were spotback skate mislabeled as "stingray" and school shark mislabeled as "gummy shark." Similarly, pigeye shark listed as "vulnerable" was sold under the label of "flake" and mislabeled as "black tip shark." Concealed under the label "shark," researchers identified the sale of five species that are threatened or of conservation concern, including the sandbar shark listed as "Endangered" and a smooth hammerhead, which may become threatened with extinction without close control of its trade according to Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and is listed as "Vulnerable." These poor-quality labels had higher rates of mislabeling than species-specific labels and concealed the sale of threatened or over-fished taxa, as well as products with lower nutritional quality, reduced economic value or potential health risks. There were a number of products labeled as "snapper" that were substituted at some point in the supply chain for lower quality or lower value species suggesting economic incentives behind these substitutions. Similar substitutions for lower-value products were also detected in prawn and tuna products. Researchers also recorded some substitutions of high-value products labeled as lower-value species a way to maintain the perceived availability of a known product in case of supply issues, or simply an unintentional mis-identification. They reported supermarket products to have the most specific labels and the lowest occurrence of mislabeling. Seafood from supermarkets is generally packaged, which can facilitate more detailed information. Conversely, restaurants had the highest mislabeling rates and the lowest specificity of product labels. The study authors reiterated that verbal validation by seafood vendors, mostly possible at restaurants and fishmongers, should not be used as an alternative to written labeling. Vendor identification attempting to improve label specificity did not match DNA analysis nearly half of the time (45.3 percent). They also noted that there were only four instances in which vendor validation would have shifted a product label from being wrong to correct, reinforcing the need for more specific and accurate written labels. Mislabeling rates were higher for imported seafood at 14.6 percent than for domestic seafood products at 9.2 percent. Meaning, the existing framework for seafood import control is insufficient. "Australians are increasingly aware of the need to protect our ocean from unsustainable fishing and want better information about the seafood on offer so they can be confident in their purchase," said co-author Emily Harrison, who works on ocean policies at Minderoo. Dr. Chris Wilcox, another study co-author, said the results were timely as Canberra is mulling measures to prevent the importation of illegal, unreported and unregulated seafood. Strengthening seafood labeling regulations in Australia for both imported and domestic products is necessary to improve labeling quality and accuracy at the consumer end. Wilcox added that overall, the research confirms the mislabeling rates in Australia are similar to other wealthy countries like the United States. (Related: Whats really in your seafood? Researchers find problems with mislabeling, fraud throughout the supply chain.) "Consumers should be able to rely on the labels to represent whats actually in the package. We wouldn't accept that in other products so we shouldnt have to accept it in seafood." Visit FoodScience.news for more stories like this. Watch Gabor "Gabe" Zolna explaining what seafood fraud is in the video below. This video is from the zolnareport.com channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Is the food in your pantry REALLY what it says it is, or are you a victim of FRAUD? Clean food FRAUD: Whole Foods sued for claiming its beef has no antibiotics lab testing proves otherwise. Italys top olive oil companies come under fire for defrauding customers with inferior oils. Sources include: TheEpochTimes.com TheGuardian.com Nature.com Brighteon.com Doctors sue California for forced implicit bias DEI indoctrination in medicine Two physicians are suing the Medical Board of California for upholding a new state law that requires all doctors in the state to undergo radical anti-white DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) brainwashing in order to continue practicing medicine. Assembly Bill 241, which was signed in October 2019 right before the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) "pandemic" by Gov. Gavin Newsom, forces all doctors in California to log at least 50 hours in continuing medical education (CME) every year in order to retain their licenses. The Equal Justice Society, an Oakland-based far-left extremist group, is claiming credit for drafting the language in AB 241, which Newsom was only too eager to sign into law. According to proponents of AB 241, its purpose is to mitigate supposed health care disparities in the areas of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation. Opponents, meanwhile, argue that the bill is a form of unconstitutional thought control. (Related: The University of Florida lied to Gov. Ron DeSantis about money spent on DEI propaganda.) Iranian doctor who came to U.S. "never imagined that she would escape the oppression of her childhood only to face creeping collectivism and unfree speech in America" In recent years, Newsom has signed a number of questionably anti-white bills pertaining to medicine. Another, known as Senate Bill 464, requires so-called "implicit bias" training for all perinatal health care providers in hospitals and birthing centers. There is also AB 1407, which requires implicit bias training as a graduation requirement for all nursing students in California. SB 263 tacks on the same implicit bias indoctrination for all real estate brokers and salespeople, while AB 242 mandates implicit bias indoctrination for all judges, court personnel, and attorneys. In essence, all of these bills aim to reprogram California workers in health care, real estate, and law to submit to radical extremist reprogramming that involves "teaching" employees in these fields that all white people are bad and all non-white people are good, and to behave and do their jobs accordingly. It should also be noted that another bill, AB 2098, muzzles all California doctors and surgeons from disagreeing with any portion of the official government narrative on Fauci Flu shots. Any such disagreement now constitutes "misinformation or disinformation," which is then deemed to be "unprofessional conduct" worthy of dismissal or other punishment. Back in January, U.S. District Judge William Shubb, who was appointed to his post by former Pres. George H.W. Bush, issued a preliminary injunction against AB 2098, at least for the time being. Concerning the aforementioned legal case, known officially as Khatibi v. Lawson, plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that the mandate outlined in AB 241 violate both the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. They also seek a permanent injunction to restrain the Medical Board of California from ever enforcing the mandate. Dr. Azadeh Khatibi, an ophthalmologist and the suit's lead plaintiff, is an Iranian immigrant who says she "never imagined that she would escape the oppression of her childhood only to face creeping collectivism and unfree speech in America," according to the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a national public interest law firm that challenges government abuses. The other primary plaintiff is Dr. Marilyn Singleton, a California anesthesiologist. Do No Harm, a national medical advocacy organization, is also named as a plaintiff, having previously filed a lawsuit against Pfizer's race-based fellowships. "It is a message that I believe is harmful both to physicians and patients," Dr. Singleton, who just so happens to be black, wrote in a February op-ed for The Washington Post about the inherently racist nature of implicit bias training. The latest news about the anti-whitening of everything in America can be found at Genocide.news. Sources for this article include: TheEpochTimes.com Newstarget.com Guns, burner phones and fake registrations the buried Michigan voter fraud scandal: GBI Strategies Director Gary Bell had 70 organizations operating in 20 states in 2020 TIED TO JOE BIDEN CAMPAIGN On Tuesday, The Gateway Pundit broke a BLOCKBUSTER REPORT on 2020 voter fraud in Michigan (Article by Jim Hoft, Ben Wetmore, And Patty McMurray republished from TheGatewayPundit.com) The investigation had been buried by politicians, government investigators and the press. On October 8, 2020, only one month before the 2020 general election, Muskegon, MI City Clerk Ann Meisch noticed a black female, whose name was later redacted from the police report, dropping off between 8,000-10,000 completed voter registration applications at the city clerks office. Clerk Meisch immediately noticed that the stacks of registrations included the same handwriting, non-existent addresses, and incorrect phone numbers. The Muskegon Police Department was contacted and asked to investigate. On 10/21/20 First Lieutenant Mike Anderson was contacted by Tom Fabus, Chief of Investigations for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessels Office. According to the MI State Police report, Fabus asked for Michigan State Police assistance with a joint investigation of alleged voter fraud being conducted by the Muskegon Police Department and the AG. An investigative task force was formed, and an investigation was initiated. During their investigation, the state police discovered the woman worked for GBI Strategies. This was included in their police report. The group had temporary offices in numerous Michigan locations. The police also identified Gary Bell as the head of the organization. When the police inspected the GBI Strategies office near Muskegon they found semiautomatic guns, silencers/suppressors, burner phones, a bag of pre-paid cash cards, and incomplete registrations, in an office space that was styled as an eyeglasses store that had gone defunct. There were never any arrests. And the investigation was turned over to the FBI where it went to die, just like all of the other Democrat voter fraud investigations. Back in November 2020 Bill Barr appointed a notorious DOJ attorney who covered up voter fraud crimes. There has always been unanswered statistical irregularities about absentee ballots from the 2020 election. These irregularities suggest massive, systemic, voter fraud among absentee ballots. Viewing the percentage of the vote each candidate won from absentee voters precinct by precinct, one can see a very suspicious correlation between the candidates in 2020 that does not exist in 2016. This suggests there was major electronic manipulation of votes combined with the physical ballots placed to back up those fraudulent votes. There is no argument that Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a far-left Democrat, sent out absentee ballot requests without a legal request on file to every voter. There is no argument that Benson then used illegal interpretations of the law to presume that all voter signatures were a match between the signatures on file and the ones on the ballots, even when they didnt match. Using COVID as the pretext, Democrats set the stage for scores of absentee ballots that would never receive scrutiny as to whether they were valid or not. And even if some illegal ballots were caught by challengers or honest poll workers, most challenged ballots in left-wing jurisdictions were routinely ignored. 2020 Voter Fraud witnesses repeatedly noted that the ballot challenging process was ignored and suppressed. Michigan State Senator Ruth Johnson, who is herself a former Secretary of State, told the Gateway Pundit: My estimate is over 800,000 ballot applications were sent to non-qualified voters in Michigan, including many individuals who moved or died, and even some individuals who were underage or non-citizens. Many were sent to people who had moved out of state. Read the rest here: This glut of insecure and accessible ballots, which could even be sent to third-party addresses or sent to addresses abroad, was ripe for fraud. And the one company that was active in Michigan and who, according to the police report from the Muskegon Police, engaged in such fraud was GBI Strategies. WHO IS RUNNING GBI STRATEGIES? GBI Strategies LLC is a left-wing campaign consulting company run by Gary Bell with a mailing address in Alexandria, Virginia. A quick online search also shows that GBI Strategies, LLC is located in Tennessee. Gary Bell has a limited presence online. He keeps a low profile despite his impressive resume. According to Compmo Group Gary Bell manages over 70 organizing operations in 20 states and lends logistical and consulting support to another 7 states. Bell brags about managing 70 different campaigns and worksites simultaneously. Bell also brags about doing IEs or Independent Expenditure campaigns for groups whose spending on campaign-related actions would not otherwise be disclosed or publicly available. Bell appears to be part of the campaign-world deep state on the left: the ones actually getting left-wing candidates into office. CompMo Group has more on Gary Bell. He started in Washington DC. This bio says Bell leads HUNDREDS of field managers and THOUSANDS of canvassers. Gary Bell has links to a wide variety of far-left political groups, including the DSCC, DNC, Black PAC, IBEW and SEIU to name a few. WHO IS FUNDING GBI STRATEGIES? FEC filings show that the far-left Black PAC organizations paid GBI Strategies $11,254,919 in 2020. Via Kanekoa the Great: Committee: Black PAC Payee: GBI Strategies LLC Candidate: Joseph R. Biden Jr. Address: 5809 Fifer Dr. Alexandria, VA, 22303 Purpose: Canvassing Year-To-Date: $11,254,919 So Black PAC paid GBI Strategies LLC $11 million to canvas for the 2020 Joe Biden presidential campaign? AND GBI Strategies was also working with the Hillary Clinton Campaign in 2016. $58,599 from Hillary Clinton to GBI Strategies during the 2016 election.https://t.co/PbPO8wwxK5 pic.twitter.com/ivqxWax0vv KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) August 9, 2023 Obviously, Hillary Clinton did not pay them enough! GBI Strategies was being paid by Democrats for several cycles now. Now we know why they were spending so much on this organization. Weve always known the 2020 election was fraudulent. We have been documenting it for years. The mainstream media tried to gaslight America about the 2020 coup. But only the Gateway Pundit keeps bringing the receipts. Our series on GBI Strategies will continue Read more at: TheGatewayPundit.com NatWest bank issues further de-banking measures with new cash limits, prompting criticism from de-banked Nigel Farage Amid all the controversy over its de-banking of former British member of the European Union (EU) parliament (MEP) Nigel Farage, United Kingdom-based NatWest bank has quietly introduced new terms of service that restrict the amount of cash customers can deposit and withdraw. The ever-encroaching push towards a cashless society is once again on display as NatWest has decided, effective Sept. 11, 2023, to reserve an "absolute right" to refuse the deposit or withdrawal of cash and checks that are deemed to be of too high an amount. Farage has been keeping an eye on NatWest ever since the bank, via Coutts, removed him as a customer because of his political leanings. Now, Farage is on a crusade, of sorts, to let the world know what these corrupt banks are up to as they continually restrict customer access to banking services. In the below video posted to X (formerly known as Twitter), Farage explains more about what NatWest and Coutts customers can expect starting on September 11, as well as the sheer number of both personal and business accounts that these banks have terminated without any proper explanation or deadline: From September 11th @NatWestGroup will be limiting the amount of cash that you can deposit and withdraw. They also have the right to refuse cash and even cheques on any basis in their new terms & conditions policy. The banks are trying to force a cashless society upon us! pic.twitter.com/CTFDNPunBO Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) August 6, 2023 (Related: Coutts, NatWest, and other British banks caught canceling conservatives could lose their licenses to operate, we are told.) As fiat collapses, globalist finance is ready and waiting to implement a new cashless, CBDC-based control system In the last four years, just as a recap, Farage says more than one million banking customers in the United Kingdom (UK) have had their accounts terminated for no apparent or stated reason. Farage says the UK government wants better rules and more transparency for personal accounts, which he supports, but says that British banks are not doing any of this voluntarily. Meanwhile, the cashless push both in the UK and in the United States is reaching a fever pitch as it becomes apparent that the globalist financial house of cards is on its last legs and is about to collapse. This is why the powers that be are racing to unleash central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and other cashless financial instruments to fill the void once fiat currencies are demolished and voided. The banks are also doing their part to set the stage for what is soon to come as they systematically undermine the rights of citizens to control their own finances and assets. Farage also warns that the new banking measures being taken in the UK are harming small businesses, many of which are being targeted with rule changes that function against their best interests. In fact, a large number of the shuttered accounts that Farage mentions in the above video were owned by small businesses that, for whatever reason, the banking cartels no longer wish to serve. Perhaps business owners were identified as having the "wrong" political leanings, and were thus punished by having their bank accounts terminated without notice or stated reason. "Cash is legal tender," Farage emphasizes about how these banks are operating against the letter and spirit of the law with their cashless endeavors. Right now, it is just cash limits and the occasional account closures. Eventually, it will be government control over how you spend your money. And after that, there will surely be "personal carbon limits" and other control mechanisms put in place to forever strip the populace of its financial freedoms and liberties. More financial news coverage can be found at Collapse.news. Sources for this article include: ReclaimTheNet.org NaturalNews.com DANGEROUS MEDS: Pharmaceutical drugs becoming so tainted that the Defense Department is calling for outside testing The world's pharmaceutical drug factories have become so filthy that the United States Department of Defense (DoD) is intervening to try to clean things up by bringing in an outside testing service to spot contamination. Valisure, an independent testing laboratory that deals with this kind of thing, was brought in by the DoD to test a slew of medications amid growing concerns about pharmaceutical drug contamination and other quality and supply issues. Under a multi-year agreement, Valisure will test dozens of popularly used drugs for dangerous chemicals. The lab will also rate manufacturers' quality to help the DoD weed out those that produce substandard products. Because the cooperative agreement has been designated as a "research and development" operation to exchange information, the Pentagon will not be paying Valisure for these testing services. (Related: Guess what kills more American children than guns do? Wuhan coronavirus [Covid-19] "vaccines.") Some generic drugs contain cancer-causing contaminants The U.S. government is primarily focused on generic drugs made by foreign companies usually based in either China or India. Because of domestic shortages, increasingly more Americans are relying on foreign drugs to get their fix, and the DoD says it is worried that consumers are taking tainted products. The covid "pandemic" shined a really bright light on America's growing dependence on foreign drugs, so much so that Congress ordered the DoD to take this next step in confirming their safety. "Drug shortages are at a nine-year high as manufacturers deal with quality issues, difficulty getting supplies and rising demand for certain drugs," reports Bloomberg about the matter. In speaking about the new partnership, Valisure CEO David Light told the media that this is a critical next step to ensure that Americans are receiving the safe, high-quality products they think they are. "Beyond the importance this holds for national security, the Department of Defense is also a large health system with millions of patients," Light said. "This DoD initiative can be a powerful model for improving the generic drug market." Valisure has a solid track record in identifying carcinogenic (cancer-causing) chemicals in not just pharmaceutical drugs but also personal care products like sunscreen, hand sanitizer, and dry shampoo. You may recall that back in 2019, the heartburn pill Zantac was taken off the market. Valisure's identification of a carcinogen in those pills is what led to that drug no longer being available to consumers. Kaiser Permanente, a California-based sick care system, is also working with Valisure to conduct drug checks on products used at its hospitals. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is none too happy about this, though. The federal agency does not like anyone using Valisure, and especially the DoD, because it claims that independent drug testing labs are "untrustworthy" and their actions could lead to unwanted shortages. The FDA does admit, however, that 62 percent of drug shortages in the U.S. are caused by quality issues stemming from poor manufacturing practices. Carboplatin and cisplatin, two popular cancer drugs, are both prominent examples of this as they are currently in short supply due to their manufacturer, based out of India, running a dirty operation that prompted a regulatory shutdown. "Our country's reliance on active pharmaceutical ingredients and medicines manufactured abroad in China and India has come at significant cost of safety," warned Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Ct.) about the matter. Those interested in learning more about Valisure's scoring system, developed by Light, can check out this study published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, which unpacks the details further. Keep up with the latest developments at BigPharmaNews.com. Sources for this article include: MSN.com NaturalNews.com Japha.org Get ready: American smart street lights now being rigged with license plate readers to spy on your every move A company called Ubicquia is partnering with law enforcement to make it easier for cops to track people's every move with new "smart" street lights that have been outfit with hidden license plate readers (LPR). According to a recent announcement, Flock Safety, the first public safety operating system for cities, is being deployed through Ubicquia, an "intelligent" streetlight infrastructure company that says it aims to "revolutionize the way public safety agencies deploy license plate reading (LPR) and situational awareness cameras to capture the objective evidence needed to solve more crime." Utilizing a multi-purpose streetlight platform called UbiHub, which plugs into the photocell socket of 360 million compatible streetlights and integrates with third party cameras containing built-in LTE connectivity, Ubicquia says smart cameras can now be deployed in a matter of minutes. "With a streetlight every 50 meters, this partnership will allow public safety departments across the country to reduce the time and cost of installing LPR services," the company proudly announced. (Related: Did you know that your home's smart meter is damaging you and your family's heart?) Massive spying and surveillance system being justified by claim it will help police solve more crimes The excuse for this massive spying and surveillance endeavor is that it is needed by law enforcement to help better solve crimes. By tracking people's travels through their license plates, cops will be able to find criminals easier, we are told. "Vehicular evidence is often the most valuable investigative lead a detective can have while investigating the roughly 70% of crime that occurs with a vehicle (estimated by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, IACP)," Ubicquia says. "Flock Safety's patented Vehicle Fingerprint technology identifies a vehicle's unique features (make, vehicle body style, license plate, state of the license plate, paper tags, aftermarket wheels, roof racks, etc.) and makes it possible to find suspect vehicles across your network of cameras." Known as the Falcon camera, the devices, which are part of FlockOS, combine both video and LPR technology into one single platform, allowing for what Ubicquia describes as comprehensive situational awareness. Some of the largest cities in North America are already using Ubicquia's smart street light platforms. Flock Safety technology is also currently deployed and operational in more than 3,000 different North American communities. "We like the sleek design and functionality of the Ubicquia platform," announced Michael Sherwood, the Chief Innovation Officer for the City of Las Vegas, which is excited to be partnering with the company. "It allows us to deploy Flock LPR cameras using our existing infrastructure. This saves the city time and money. It also gives us the additional benefit of network streetlighting controls to improve the way we manage our streetlights." "The integration of Flock Safety's LPR technology into the UbiHub platform is a game-changer for public safety agencies," added Bailey Quintrell, Senior Vice President for Growth at Flock Safety. "It enables cities to take advantage of existing infrastructure, accelerating the deployment of cameras, while delivering all the crime solving benefits of LPR technology and FlockOS, our public safety situation awareness platform for cities." According to Kyle Brown, Vice President Worldwide Channels for Ubicquia, Flock Safety's technology is a major game-changer because it is "disrupting the LRP market" in a major way. Brown says he is excited to be partnering with Flock Safety to deploy this mass spying and surveillance scheme or what he describes as a shared "commitment to public safety." More related news coverage about the ever-expanding American police state and the tools being used to subdue the American populace under totalitarian control at every street corner can be found at BigGovernment.news. Sources for this article include: Ubicquia.com NaturalNews.com Trump says either the deep state destroys America, or we destroy the deep state Donald Trump has penned a scathing op-ed highlighting all of the crimes his opponents are claiming he committed that he says he never actually committed. Most of Trump's op-ed deals with the allegation that he colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election. Also known as Russiagate, the allegations are false, Trump says, despite relentless attempts from his opponents to dub him a criminal. Trump made mention of his many promises while on the campaign trail in 2016, including his rhetoric about ending mass illegal immigration and globalist trade deals to restoring U.S. sovereignty in the face of threats from communist China. Trump also famously promised to "stand up to the permanent bureaucracy and the corporate media," which he definitely paid a lot of lip service to while padding his cabinet with many establishment politicians who qualify as the "swamp" he also promised to drain. If you are interested, the following video contains audio of Trump explaining to "Real America's Voice" how he feels Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis needs to drop out of the 2024 presidential race because his campaign is in shambles: (Related: If elected again in 2024, Trump is promising a "final battle" to "demolish the deep state" once and for all.) Trump says the real victims of the witch hunt against him are the American people One promise Trump did keep while president was putting an end to the "neocon addiction to endless foreign wars," at least insomuch as Trump did not start any new wars while president the first president since Jimmy Carter, in fact, to embrace peace during his presidency. "For nearly three years, they carried out a massive disinformation campaign and lawless persecution based on the monstrous lie that I was a traitor to my country," Trump says about the deep state, noting that "an unelected cabal" involving two-time failed presidential wannabe Hillary Clinton worked with the media to stir up these allegations against him. Trump pointed to the $1 million offered for the fake "Steele Dossier" as evidence that there was an ongoing witch hunt against him that is still going on to this very day. Trump also highlighted the fact that a former FBI lawyer recently admitted to creating this false evidence in order to justify government spying on Trump and his campaign. This "sickness was driven from the very top," Trump says, as FBI Director James Comey continually pushed agents to surveil and enact warrants against Trump. Barack Hussein Obama and fake president Joe Biden are also complicit in joining Clinton's plans to "vilify" Trump by pushing the Russiagate conspiracy theory. "They knew the truth, yet they put our country through hell," Trump says about these swamp creatures. Trump maintains that he and his family, despite all that they have gone through, are not the ultimate victims in all this. Instead, it is the American people who are "the real victims," according to Trump, as this "hoax," as he calls it, undermined the republic while threatening national security. "At a critical moment when we should have been reducing tensions with Russia, the Russia Hoax stoked mass hysteria that helped drive Russia straight into the arms of China," Trump maintains about the current foreign state of affairs. "Instead of having a better relationship with Russia as I worked to build, we now have a proxy war with Russia, fueled in part by the lingering fumes of Russiagate delirium. Ukraine has been utterly devastated. Untold numbers of people have been killed. And we could very well end up in World War III." The latest news about Trump's run for the presidency in 2024 can be found at Trump.news. Sources for this article include: ThePostMillennial.com Newstarget.com Former U.K. Health Secretary Matt Hancock turned British care homes into midazolam and morphine EUTHANASIA camps to further the covid pandemic illusion While everyone was stuck at home during the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) stay-at-home lockdown orders, former British Health Secretary Matt Hancock was busy murdering the elderly in care homes by giving them midazolam and morphinecocktails. Under the guise of "saving lives" and to "protect the NHS" (National Health Service), Hancock orchestrated the mass slaughter of seniors, only to later claim that they had all died because of the "virus." Midazolam, in case you are unfamiliar with the drug, is commonly used in the United States to execute convicted criminals via lethal injection. It causes serious, life-threatening breathing problems such as shallow, slowed, or temporary stopped breathing, ultimately leading to brain injury and death. These symptoms just so happen to mirror those the government claims are associated with "covid," as they manifest clinically as pneumonia and accompanying respiratory failure. "We're told that serious illness in Covid-19 presents pneumonia and accompanying respiratory insufficiency," explains The Expose. "Therefore typical symptoms include breathlessness, cough, weakness and fever." "We're also told that people who suffer deteriorating respiratory failure and who do not receive intensive care, develop acute respiratory distress syndrome with severe breathlessness." (Related: Check out the UK Lockdown Files, which show how Hancock and other rogue politicians conspired to "scare the pants off everyone" with the deliberate deployment of "the new variant.") Why was a lethal injection drug for criminals given to the elderly during the "pandemic?" One wonders how midazolam ever came to become a "treatment" for the Fauci Flu when we know, based on science, that it causes the very life-threatening symptoms that covid itself supposedly causes. Was the entire thing a ruse from the beginning? Was there even a virus at all, or was it just a complex sleight-of-hand by the powers that be to make it seem like a deadly virus was circulating when in fact people were dying from midazolam, 5G exposure, toxic food and water, and whatever other poisons were "activated" for such a time as this. According to the data, Hancock's involvement in pushing midazolam on elderly patients resulted in 26,541 of them dying in April 2020. This is an increase of 17,850 deaths compared to the five-year average. Had Hancock not prescribed these poor people this deadly drug, many more of them would have survived and lived on to be with their families. Instead, they are now in graves or urns, thanks to Hancock's efforts to kill them. It was Hancock who also on March 19, 2020, sent out a directive to the NHS authorizing hospitals to discharge all patients deemed as "unfit" to require a hospital bed. This resulted in even more deaths as patients in need of a bed were forcefully released. By all appearances, it was Hancock's mission to kill the elderly. How else do we explain all of his policy moves that, rather than save lives, led to tens of thousands of lives being ended earlier than they otherwise would have been had he not imposed a genocidal "treatment" plan for covid. "And it allowed Matt Hancock to orchestrate a genocide of the elderly and vulnerable so that he could tell you thousands were dying of Covid-19 and justify the draconian, totalitarian state that his government had imposed on the country, alongside many other governments around the world," The Expose adds. Hancock publicly admitted that he had "a big project" in mind to "make sure that the global supply chains for those sorts of medications ... are clear" meaning he deliberately orchestrated this genocide campaign. "In fact, those medicines are made in a relatively small number of factories around the world," he added, "so it is a delicate supply chain and we are in contact with the whole supply chain." The latest news about the covid genocide can be found at Genocide.news. Sources for this article include: Expose-News.com NaturalNews.com News / Local by Staff reporter NATIONAL Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) says it has turned the corner and is making profit, but bemoaned vandalism of its assets.This emerged during an annual general meeting held on Monday in Bulawayo.NRZ general manager Respina Zinyanduko said the parastatal was now up to date with salaries, but was in debt with the pension fund."NRZ owes the pension fund a substantial sum of money which we accumulated over the years. As a post-reporting period event, shareholders are requested to note that an agreement was reached with the pension fund to settle the debt," Zinyanduko said."In Shona they say a goat eats where it is tied to. So underpaying people results in them finding other improper means to pay themselves and now we want to undo that by being up to date with their salaries. We also had to provide mobility for patrols against vandalism which is our main enemy."According to Ziyanduko, NRZ generated $275 billion from its assets during the period under review."As you may be aware we are one of the companies that is blessed with many assets across the country, not only in workshops but even buildings across the rail line itself. Evaluation gave us a report and as a result we realised about $275,605 billion compared to a loss of $3,4 billion in 2020," she added. GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is getting more scrutiny as he continues to rise in several state and national polls. In an online video, Ramaswamy said "the knives are coming out" as his profile rises in the GOP field. The 37-year-old biotech company founder is known for his unconventional political background and statements that deviate from traditional conservative stances. (Related: GOP presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy develops ingenious way to help raise money an affiliate program.) Conservatives view Ramaswamy's opposition to "woke capitalism" and advocacy for a separation between business and political agendas as an unusual approach for a GOP candidate. Ramaswamy presents himself as a government skeptic and an outsider like former President Donald Trump. Records show that Ramaswamy contributed $2,700 to the campaign of Dena Grayson, a Florida Democratic congressional candidate in 2016. He also donated $500 in 2014 to a Massachusetts state senate candidate with strong connections to the Obama administration. He even received an endorsement from Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren. However, he clarified that these donations were made to a college acquaintance and were not intended as a political statement. Ramaswamy has also suggested raising the minimum voting age to 25. Based on his residence and election records in Franklin County, Ohio, he registered as "unaffiliated" in November 2021, rather than as a Republican. It's not exactly a surprise because Ramaswamy mentioned in an interview that he does not believe in conforming to rigid party lines, although he identifies as a Republican. He even abstained from voting in subsequent presidential elections until 2020, when he supported Trump. Moreover, his statements on issues such as abortion and animal rights have drawn both interest and skepticism. His claim that decisions about abortion should be left to the states has sparked debates about his alignment with socially conservative values. His belief that "it is wrong to kill sentient animals for culinary pleasure" as a Hindu could also potentially clash with the agricultural interests of states like Iowa. Another key point of contention is the advocacy for higher inheritance tax rates. Rural Iowans worry about the potential impact on family farms and the transfer of wealth between generations when Ramaswamy proposed rates as high as 59 percent. Critics argue that such policies could adversely affect small businesses and hinder economic growth. Ramaswamy to pardon Trump if elected president OF COURSE! Worldcoin will permit governments and private firms across the globe to use its World ID system that was the plan all along Worldcoin will permit governments and private companies across the globe to use its World ID system , according to a senior company executive. Ricardo Macieira, general manager for Europe at Tools for Humanity (TFH), confirmed the move in an interview with Reuters. He told the news outlet that Worldcoin is set to expand its operations by signing up more users and allowing other organizations to use its iris-scanning and identity-verifying technology. TFH is the company responsible for Worldcoin and the accompanying World ID system. "We are on this mission of building the biggest financial and identity community that we can," Macieira emphasized. "The idea is that as we build this infrastructure, we allow other third parties to use the technology." The TFH executive clarified that the company's primary focus is to establish an infrastructure that enables governments and other entities to implement digital identity systems. For instance, companies could employ Worldcoin's technology to ensure a fair distribution of services, like providing one free coffee to each customer without collecting personal data. Worldcoin also committed to making its iris-scanning device, known as the "chrome orb," an open-source in the future. According to Macieira, this will enable others to contribute to the technology and utilize it to benefit their own communities. He told Reuters: "Anyone can, in the future, build their own orb and use it to benefit the community that it's aiming for." Worldcoin beset with PRIVACY ISSUES since its launch Since its launch on July 24, Worldcoin has been setting up registration sites globally. People willingly undergo iris scans using the "chrome orb" in exchange for a digital ID and, in certain regions, free cryptocurrency. Over two million people have previously signed up for Worldcoin during its trial period over the last two years. The company successfully raised $115 million in May, through the support of prominent venture capital investors such as Blockchain Capital, a16z crypto, Bain Capital Crypto and Distributed Global. Armed with this capital, Worldcoin plans to expand its operations across Europe, Latin America, Africa and any region that, in Macieira's words, "would welcome its services." Worldcoin's website claims the project is "completely private" and the biometric data is either deleted or stored in encrypted form. Privacy experts doubt this claim, however. (Related: Worldcoin accused of unethical practices shortly after its official launch.) Back in 2022, the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (BayLDA) initiated an investigation into Worldcoin. TFH is subject to the BayLDA's oversight as the company behind Worldcoin has an office in Germany's southeastern Bavarian state. BayLDA President Michael Will said the agency would look into whether Worldcoin's system is "safe and stable," given concerns about its large-scale processing of sensitive data. According to him, the project "requires very, very ambitious security measures and lots of explanations and transparency to ensure that data protection requirements are not neglected." Users who entrust their data to Worldcoin deserve "absolute clarity" about the purpose and methods of data processing, he added. Meanwhile, MIT Technology Review investigated the promises of Worldcoin to anonymize and destroy the biometric data of users to protect their privacy. Sadly, the review uncovered that the data destruction did not take place as claimed. Instead, valuable biometric information of users remain within the systems of the company. Furthermore, researchers from the Technology Review found evidence of how the company collected biometric data in developing countries like Indonesia, Kenya and Colombia. The company reportedly used the chrome orb with advanced cameras and sensors to capture the bodies, faces and irises of people without proper consent. Visit CryptoCult.news for more stories about Worldcoin. Watch this video about how Worldcoin will likely be a tool to control the world. This video is from the GoneDark channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Worldcoin CEO: Global digital currency tied to global digital ID will soon be required 'whether you like it or not.' OpenAI CEO launches global "Worldcoin" cryptocurrency to facilitate Universal Basic Income (UBI) and globalist authoritarian control. "Worldcoin" is here: Just get your eyes scanned by "The Orb" and your new "World ID" will be issued to you. OpenAI CEO launches iris-scanning crypto plan to "verify" every human being: "IT'S TIME." Sources include: Reuters.com TechnologyReview.com Brighteon.com Police searched a property in Texas and discovered the remains of 24 dogs and 12 horses with a rotting smell after the landscaper reported. The 22-year-old woman in Collin County is expected to face animal cruelty charges after the police found the dead animals near her home. The authorities are investigating the incident. Recently, Nature World News (NWN) and USA Today (NWN) also reported the poor health conditions of animals in a shelter in Ohio. According to reports, the police found the horrible conditions of 30 dead dogs. The report noted the animals were near the feces and urine with no proper ventilation. About 90 dogs were also saved from the animal rescue. Dead dogs and horses in Texas According to Fox 4 KDFW News and CBS Texas reports, the Collin County Sheriff responded to a tip about dead animals in a home in Westminster. The landscaper reported the horrible conditions of animals in the area, especially dogs and horses. The police noticed the foul odor from the remains of the dogs and animals living in poor health conditions. Based on the reports, the authorities found the remains of 24 dogs and 12 horses. Some of the horses were partially and completely in the skeleton. The report highlighted that the deaths of the animals could be possibly not recent because they are likely in advanced states of decomposition. In CBS News, they managed to save other animals, including a snake, a cow, two horses and two dogs. Meanwhile, the Collin County Sheriff's Office explained that they are committed to ensuring the animals' safety in the county. The suspect is expected to face animal cruelty charges. Dogs under the extreme heat The record-breaking heat in the U.S. can put animals at risk. Dogs can become vulnerable when they are left unattended inside a hot car. Recently, NWN and New York Post reported that 12 dogs died inside a hot truck after the airconditioned did not work. The dogs were supposed to be on the way to an adoption event to find new homes. Leaving pets inside vehicles can become dangerous. Homeowners should regularly check them or at their side to avoid the said incident. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals explained that animals can suffer from increased heart rates when temperatures soar inside a hot car. Furthermore, homeowners should limit outdoor activities or daily walks as heat exposure could lead to heat stress. Outdoor activities are not also advisable. Homeowners should leave enough water for their animals and pets. Placing them in a cool environment can also become helpful to prevent the risk of heat-related health illnesses. Also Read: Dogs Die in Indiana After A.C. Fails Phoenix Records Hotter Temperatures Did you know? Dog Companion According to the Harvard Medical School, having dogs at your side can improve your heart health, decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Also Read: Dogs Tragedy: 12 Pups Die Inside Hot Truck While On the Way to Adoption Event Related Article: 30 Dead Dogs Found at Ohio Animal Rescue; Most Puppies Under Poor Health Conditions For more similar stories, don't forget to follow Nature World News. As several European countries battled wildfires, at least 120 municipalities in Portugal were placed on high alert. The wildfire began on Saturday in Odemira, Alentejo, but has already extended south to the Algarve, one of Portugal's most popular tourist destinations. Reuters reported that the wildfire quickly spread across more than 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) of extremely combustible pine and eucalyptus trees, fueled by high temperatures and strong winds. Critical, difficult and complex situation Odemira's mayor, Helder Guerreiro, described the situation as "critical, difficult, and complex." As a precaution, officials claimed they had evacuated 20 communities, four tourist hotels, and a camping site. The fire, which injured at least nine firefighters, also prompted the closure of multiple roadways for a time. The commander of the emergency and civil protection authority, Jose Ribeiro, stated that firemen had a "lot of work" ahead of them. "It is a worrying situation," Ribeiro said, as quoted by The Guardian. Around 850 firefighters have been battling the massive fire in the Alentejo region, with water-carrying planes dousing the flames from above. Bulldozers were also utilized to create fire breaks and slow the spread of the blaze. Several wildfires are presently raging around Portugal, but Odemira is the most concerning. On Tuesday, three districts in northern Portugal, including Braganca, Castelo Branco, and Guarda, were declared red alert. Temperatures in the northern city of Castelo Branco were anticipated to reach 41 degrees Celsius (105.8 degrees Fahrenheit). "The weather conditions we are going to experience in the coming days means any small occurrence (fire) could become a big one," Civil Protection secretary of state Patricia Gaspar said. Read Also: Wildfires in Northwest Territory Are so Massive, Their Smoke Reached Portugal Intense wildfires The Met Office in the United Kingdom has also issued a weather warning for Spain, Portugal, and Africa as wildfires spread across some of Portugal's most popular tourist destinations. "Temperatures have increased across Spain, Portugal and North Africa in recent days, widely into the mid-30sC, if not into the low- to mid-40sC", the Met Office tweeted, as reported by The Independent. Spain is suffering its third heat wave of the summer and is battling a number of wildfires. Extremadura is one of the regions currently devastated by the fires. A fire has burned roughly 300 hectares in Valencia de Alcantara, close to the Portuguese border. On Monday morning, the fire department in Catalonia, on the Mediterranean coast near the French border, announced that it had "brought under control" a fire that broke out on Friday and burned over 600 hectares. Scientists have rapidly demonstrated that these record-breaking temperatures are not a natural occurrence. Vikki Thompson, a climate scientist at the University of Bristol's Cabot Institute, explained that heatwaves are becoming hotter and persisting longer as a result of climate change. "Scientists have shown that many specific heatwaves are more intense because of human-induced climate change. The climate change signal is even detectable in the number of deaths attributed to heatwaves," she added, as reported by The Guardian. Related Article: At Least 1000 People Died Due to Heat Wave in Spain Related Video: As a result of the ongoing four-year extreme drought crisis, fish farms in Iraq have dried up. Fish Farms vs. 4-Year Extreme Drought Water consumption for some reasons, like agriculture irrigation, has been severely constrained by government regulations, and authorities have shut down unlawful activities they had previously disregarded. Unauthorized fish farms have been under investigation since late May. Omar Ziad, a villager from Iraq, has worked in the fish farming business since 2003 and was one of the unregistered fish farm owners. His family was forced to watch helplessly as the water resources ministry's personnel sealed the seven fish ponds his family owned when water conservation initiatives began. Here, Ziad, his father, and seven brothers would raise carp, which Iraqis used to produce their popular grilled fish meal known as masguf, surrounded by pastures and towering palm trees. The family made between US$1,300 and US$2,600 per month from the farm, which could hold up to 50,000 fish at full capacity. This is significantly more than many other families in the nation. Ziad, who also holds a teaching position, asserted that they would split the profits. However, since all but five of the village's 80 fish ponds closed, the price of carp has virtually doubled, he said and is now selling for more than 8,000 dinars (US$6) per kilogram. He continued that they sold their fish "cheaply." Lowest Point of Strategic Water Reserves Some ponds in their village are still filled with water. According to Ziad, these were saved since their proprietors held the required licenses. Iraq's water supply is in a terrible situation, making it one of the five nations listed by the UN as being most affected by some climate change consequences. Baghdad also blames upstream dams constructed by neighboring Turkey and Iran for the Euphrates and Tigris rivers' alarmingly low water levels, which have been caused by declining rainfall over the previous four years combined with rising temperatures, Phys Org reports. Some ponds in their village are still filled with water. According to Ziad, these were saved since their proprietors held the required licenses. Iraq's water supply is in a terrible situation, making it one of the five nations listed by the UN as being most affected by some climate change consequences. Baghdad also blames upstream dams constructed by neighboring Turkey and Iran for the Euphrates and Tigris rivers' alarmingly low water levels, which have been caused by declining rainfall over the previous four years combined with rising temperatures. 5000 Unlicensed Fish Farms Shamal said that officials continue to permit movable fish tanks that are submerged in rivers and that around half of the approximately 5,000 unlicensed fish farms in Iraq have been shut down. The Iraqi Association of fish farmers president, Ayad al-Talibi, stated that while he accepted the closure of unauthorized ponds, he questioned if the water that was conserved was used appropriately. Iraq produced roughly one million tonnes of fish annually before the May crackdown, but Talibi told official television Al-Ikhbariya that production has now fallen to 190,000 tonnes. River fishing has been impacted by the water problem. Also Read: Cloud Seeding Completed July in Mexico Might Recharge Aquifers During Drought High salinity in the Shatt al-Arab River, where the Euphrates and Tigris rivers meet before overflowing into the Gulf, has made fishing in far southern Iraq difficult. Every year, less freshwater flows down from the north, causing the riverbed to progressively become saltier. Lower water levels, according to a Reuters piece from the month before, have also boosted evaporation thus rendering the water more salty. 71-Year-old fisherman Khdeir Aboud claimed that there are no longer any fish in freshwater, which used to support a variety of fish. He complained that his current small wage wasn't enough to maintain a household. According to Aboud, there are only a few elderly fishermen left because the majority have left the industry in favor of odd employment, Channel News Asia reports. Related Article: German Beer Made of Recycled Greywater From SF Luxury Apartment: Safe but Not For Sale A hidden submarine volcano in Hawaii called Kamaehuakanaloa has already erupted five times over the past 150 years, providing geologists with new information on the state's expanding volcanoes. Eruptions of the Hidden Undersea Volcano, Kamaehuakanaloa For the first time, researchers at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa have been able to estimate the ages of the eight more ancient eruptions of the submerged Hawaiian volcano Kamaehuakanaloa, which is located around twenty miles off the south coast of the Big Island and has had nine eruptions in the past 2,000 years. The volcano formerly referred to as the Loihi Seamount, which the Hawai'i Board of Geographic Names renamed in 2021, has erupted no less than five times in the previous 150 years, based on new research headed by UH Earth scientists. Kamaehu is the sole active and exposed example of a pre-shield Hawaiian volcano, according to Aaron Pietruszka, the study's lead author and an associate professor in the Earth Sciences Department at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The massive lava outpouring that happens during the shield stage on the other Hawaiian volcanoes covers this early period of volcanic history. As a result, finding out more about Kamaehu's development and evolution is of significant interest. 1996 Swarm of Earthquakes in Hawaii Before this eruption, Hawai'i's underwater volcano had only one known and verified eruption, which took place in 1996. It was only found because it happened to coincide with a significant cluster of earthquakes that seismometers on the Big Island remotely observed. According to Pietruszka, because earthquakes are fleeting, seismometers are only effective to track the continuing active eruptions of undersea volcanoes. The scientists used a different method to establish the ages of earlier eruptions at Kamaehu. Pieces of cooled glassy lava that were taken from the Kamaehu seafloor outcrops using a submersible were analyzed using a mass spectrometer to calculate minute levels of the isotope radium-226. Radium-226, a chemical isotope that radioactively decays at a known rate, is present in magma by nature. The amount of radium-226 in every sample was utilized by Pietruzska and the other authors of the study to estimate how long had gone since the seafloor lava eruption. Growth of Hawaiian Volcanoes It is believed that Hawaiian volcanoes go through many stages of growth. While its neighboring active volcano Klauea is at its major shield-building stage, Kamaehu is currently in the initial submerged "pre-shield" stage of growth. Over time, the chemical of the lava that Hawaiian volcanoes release changes. When combined with observations of lava chemistry, the new eruption age estimates for the lavas from Kamaehu show that this pre-shield volcano experiences lava chemical variations every 1,200 years or so. In contrast, the chemistry of the Kilauea lava varies within a short period of time-a few years to a few decades-with a whole cycle taking roughly 200 years. The location of the two volcanoes on top of the Hawaiian hot zone, according to Pietruszka and his team, may have something to do with how this difference first came about. 'Mantle plume' refers to the region of the Earth's mantle which is rising to the surface and will eventually melt to provide the magma needed by Hawaiian volcanoes. According to models along with additional isotope data from thorium-230, a mantle plume's center should rise more quickly than its periphery. This concept is independently confirmed by the team's findings, particularly the factor of six longer timescales of fluctuation in the lava chemistry at Kamaehu. Also Read: Massive Volcanic Eruptions Suck CO2 from Ancient Atmosphere, Trigger Snowball Earth Over 700M Years Ago Connecting the Dots After completing his doctorate in Earth science at UH, Pietruszka began this work at the Carnegie Institution for Science many years ago. He had access to underwater dive films and images of Kamaehu once he arrived back in UH-Mnoa in 2019. Pietruszka said that the lavas with the highest radium-226 also had the freshest appearance, and vice versa for the lavas with the 'older' appearance, that is, those that were cracked and shattered and/or covered in marine silt. The fact that Kamaehu had erupted five times in the previous 150 years, indicating a frequency of 30 years between eruptions at this volcano, shocked him. The average gap years between eruptions are still significantly shorter compared to the previous eight eruptions that occurred within the past 2000 years, even if this is far slower than at Kilauea, which erupts virtually continually with uncommon breaks of only a few years, Science Daily reports. To better understand the deep influences on volcanic eruptions that begin within the enigmatic, upwelling mantle plume beneath the Hawaiian hot spot, the research team is working to better understand how Hawaiian volcanoes function from the earliest growth stages of volcanoes to their full, constantly active, maturity, Big Island Now reports. The findings of Pietruszka and his team were recently published in the journal Geology. Related Article: Sustainable Energy From Extinct Underwater Volcano Zuidwal Could Bring Heat to Netherlands Homes As the South American nations concluded their two-day conference in an attempt to save the Amazon rainforest, they called on the rich countries to help develop a Marshall-style plan to protect the rainforest. Presidents from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru attended the summit, while Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela sent top officials. The summit, which was held in Belem, began on the same day that the European Union's climate observatory reported that July was the warmest month on record. The Amazon leaders called for debt relief in exchange for climate action, agreed to strengthen regional law enforcement cooperation to combat human rights violations, illegal mining, and pollution, and urged industrialized countries to meet their financial obligations to developing countries. "The Amazon is our passport to a new relationship with the world, a more symmetric relationship, in which our resources are not exploited to benefit few, but rather valued and put in the service of everyone," The Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said during the closing of the summit, as quoted by The Guardian. Marshall-plan Colombian President Gustavo Petro has called for a radical rethinking of the global economy, proposing a "Marshall Plan"-style policy in which developing countries' debt is forgiven in exchange for climate action. "If we're on the verge of extinction and this is the decade when the big decisions have to be made... then what are we doing, besides giving speeches?" he said, as quoted by Aljazeera. The eight South American countries that host the Amazon rainforest have stated that maintaining its existence cannot be left completely to them, as forest resources are exploited internationally. According to Brittanica, the Marshall Plan, formerly known as the European Recovery Program, was a U.S.-sponsored initiative aimed at rebuilding the economies of 17 western and southern European countries in order to create stable conditions in which democratic institutions could thrive. It ran from April 1948 to December 1951. Read Also: Birds in Amazon Rainforest Are 'Shrinking', Experts Blame Climate Change Belem Declaration The joint declaration signed on Tuesday established an alliance to combat forest destruction, leaving countries to pursue their own deforestation goals. Reuters reported that the eight Amazon nations failed to reach an agreement to conserve their respective forests highlights the wider, global challenges of reaching an agreement to address climate change. "The planet is melting, we are breaking temperature records every day. It is not possible that, in a scenario like this, eight Amazonian countries are unable to put in a statement - in large letters - that deforestation needs to be zero," said Marcio Astrini of environmental lobby group Climate Observatory. The Amazon rainforest is home to an estimated 10% of Earth's biodiversity, 50 million people, and hundreds of billions of trees, serves as a key carbon sink, decreasing global warming. Scientists warned that deforestation is bringing the rainforest dangerously near to a "tipping point" beyond which trees will die and release carbon rather than absorb it, with disastrous repercussions for the climate. This is the first summit after 14 years of eight-nation organization, formed in 1995 by the South American countries that share the Amazon basin. The meeting is also being viewed as a dress rehearsal for the United Nations climate talks, which will be held in Belem in 2025. Related Article: Deforestation, Degradation Turns 26% of Amazon Rainforest to Grassland, Report Reveals Related Video: A three-month-old boy died in Houston as the city suffered from intense heat. The baby was left inside a hot vehicle, making him the 16th child who died in a car under the scorching heat. Authorities are now investigating the tragic and recent death of the baby in Houston. Americans are advised to avoid leaving their children inside their cars unsupervised or unattended. The NWS Weather Prediction Center's advisory explained that dangerous heat could unfold in the U.S., especially in the South and Southwestern portions. Three-month-old boy died in Houston According to the latest CNN and CBS reports, the mother found the baby boy inside the hot vehicle. The baby was immediately brought to the hospital and died. In a news conference, Assistant Chief Yasar Bashir explained that Houston is experiencing hot weather. The Assistant Chief added that parents should not leave their children inside their cars. Authorities will be investigating the child's death. News reports said it was unknown how long the parents left the three-month-old inside the hot car. The report added that using A.C. and rolling out the window could not guarantee that the child would be fine. Also Read: Intense Heat is Deadlier Than Hurricanes, Tornadoes Dealing with the hot temperatures The American Red Cross explained that extreme heat can kill people. The intense heat outlook can become dangerous for children, older adults, people with medical conditions, and pets. According to U.N. News, July reached the hottest month on record due to the challenging weather. In the U.S., soaring temperatures can result in heat-related stress and illnesses that people should watch out for. As summer is already here, deadly heat could be the main health concern for many Americans, especially those planning to go to beaches. Here are the essential safety tips for dealing with the hot weather in the U.S. this week Monitor the weather conditions Homeowners and motorists should regularly check the latest forecasts in their communities. Limiting any outdoor activities, including walking your dogs and strenuous exercise, is advisable. Avoiding exposure to hot weather can reduce the risk of heat stress and heat exhaustion. Watch out for your children and pets Homeowners should not let their pets and children unattended, especially inside a hot vehicle. Leaving them inside a hot car is life-threatening. Parents should look for someone to take care of them. Being hydrated at all times amidst the hot weather. The best defense against the scorching heat is to keep hydrated. Homeowners should ensure they have enough drinking water for their families. If you plan to go outside, bringing bottled water would be helpful. Related Article: US Severe Weather Forecast: Thunderstorms, Isolated Tornadoes To Hit Central U.S. this Week For more similar stories, don't forget to follow Nature World New News / Local by Staff reporter OPPOSITION Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa says he will free all political prisoners and the Judiciary from State capture, as part of his key deliverables in 100 days once elected into office.He says he will also reform the police, army and Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).The CCC leader will tussle it out with Zanu-PF candidate, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and eight other candidates for the top post in Zimbabwe.Chamisa announced his ambitious plan on Tuesday in Bulawayo when he was unveiling his election manifesto titled A New Great Zimbabwe for Everyone.The 100-page blueprint is anchored on five pillars, which include restoration, reconstruction, modernisation, transformation and reconciliation.Chamisa said Zimbabwe suffered from a crisis of governance, characterised by the weaponisation of the law against critics, breakdown of the rule of law, judicial capture and politicisation of State security institutions."The Zimbabwean crisis is essentially a crisis of governance. It is a crisis of leadership. The last 43 years have seen the dangers, failures and weaknesses of parasitic politics reflected in stale and dysfunctional institutions," Chamisa said as he promised to free political prisoners."The current Zimbabwe is evidence of the horridness of corrosive politics, extractive institutions, fear, collapse of the rule of law, corruption, patronage and prebendalism (selfish, greed and reward of cronies)."CCC member Job Sikhala has been in remand prison since June last year on charges of inciting public violence at the funeral of slain party activist, Moreblessing Ali.Transform Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume is serving a four-year jail term on a charge of inciting public violence in July 2020. Several other CCC members and human rights defenders also face various charges amid concerns over the muzzling of dissent through harsh legislation.Chamisa said Zimbabwe would not progress with a captured Judiciary."The citizens' government undertakes to ensure the independence of the Judiciary and other institutions in line with the Constitution and Sustainable Development Goal 16," he said."This will be done through the following: Ensuring the full independence of the Judiciary; making adequate budgetary allocations to the Judiciary; ensuring that all judicial appointments are based on merit and competency, as well as public testimonials in line with public interviews conducted by the Judicial Service Commission."The Judiciary has in the past said it is independent and does not take instructions from the Executive.According to Chamisa, the country's security services are compromised and need urgent reform."The citizens' government will transform and maintain a formidable citizens security and safety framework through the Zimbabwe National Army, Air Force of Zimbabwe, Central Intelligence Organisation and Police Service," he said."We shall build an army that supports the establishment of democratic institutions in Zimbabwe, where citizens live in happiness, peace and safety as they freely participate in the progressive governance of Zimbabwe."He also said his government would clip the powers of the dreaded spy agency, CIO, by ensuring that it is governed by an Act of Parliament defining and limiting its powers. "Re-orientation of the services shall be part of the transformation agenda. Expanding the scope of the intelligence services to assist in economic and financial crimes including money laundering and illicit deals."Chamisa also said his government would remove the local currency that President Emmerson Mnangagwa reintroduced in 2019 after a decade of dollarisation. Berlin has over 750,000 square meters of office space standing empty. But they just keep building more for example the Amazon Tower in Friedrichshain. Foto: Imago/Pemax In mid-July, activists occupied an apartment at Hermannstrae 48 in Berlin Neukolln. As nd reported in German, the loft has stood empty for several years. This could be a WG for up to twelve people. But the building's new owner wants to rent out the space for offices. A year and a half ago, I reported how the 140 residents of H48 were unsuccessfully trying to purchase their building. What does Berlin desperately need? Affordable housing. I just heard from a student who is paying 700 Euros for nine square meters. That is 3-4 times what I paid for a room when I moved to Berlin two decades ago. What does Berlin get instead? Offices. Endless new office towers. It doesn't seem to matter that the city currently has over 750,000 square meters of office space standing empty. They just keep building more. Check out the ominous Amazon spire rising above Warschauer Strae: Most Amazon engineers would prefer to work from home, but now they will be trapped inside this monument to Jeff Bezos's unconquerable ego. Column Red Flag Privat Red Flag is a column on Berlin politics by Nathaniel Flakin. It appeared in Exberliner magazine from 2020 to 2023 and found a new home at the Berlin newspaper nd as their first content in English. If you like a regular dose of very local communist content, please share. Nathaniel is also the author of the anticapitalist guide book Revolutionary Berlin. Hier die deutsche Version dieser Kolumne lesen. Why not build rental apartments? As one developer told RBB: Everyone knows you can't build apartments in Germany anymore. That's not exactly a lie: the costs for urban land and construction materials are increasing rapidly. The people at H48 learned it would take up to 50 years for their rents to pay off the building's sale price. Naturally, no investor is looking for a payoff half a century from now. What these capitalists trying to say: It is impossible for them to build housing and make a profit. As always, the problem is capitalism. There is construction all over the city, but it's for empty offices, chain hotels, and condominiums that Russian oligarchs can use to launder money. Near my home, a brand new apartment building will soon offer furnished rooms for a maximum of three months, so that the people living there thus lack basic tenants' rights. Anything, it seems, is more profitable than real housing. At the same time as the action at H48, Berlin's Senator for Urban Development, Construction, and Housing proudly announced that the city had added 17,310 housing units in 2022. Christian Gaebler of the SPD patted himself on the back for all this affordable housing. Except, as a reporter for nd analyzed in German, these numbers have been inflated by at least 20 percent. And even if it were true, the number 17,310 says nothing about the price of these housing units. Every new condo for Jeff Bezos - and he tends to buy half a dozen at a time, just in case he wants to visit a city - makes its way into government statistics on affordable housing. The capitalist market has never been able to provide decent accommodations for the urban masses. The only reason Berlin has apartments now is because the East started the Wohnungsbauprogramm (apartment-building program) in 1973, and the West had to respond with big public developments. The only way to push rents back down is with public ownership. Back in 2021, 59.1 percent of voters called for Enteignung, i.e. nationalization, socialization, expropriation, of big landlords. The last two governments have done everything they can to prevent this democratic decision from being implemented. They installed an expert commission to waste time. Now said commission has reported back that expropriation is indeed legal and affordable and more than that, no other measure will stop rents from doubling every decade. The expropriation campaign has an English-speaking group called Right to the City. How are they feeling almost two years after the vote? I am feeling energized, the activist Rosa Silvan told me, because socialization is inevitable. Besides putting up posters all over the city, the group is also supporting renters in small-scale fights against evictions and rent increases. Since the housing crisis particularly affects people without German passports, R2C says it's growing at every meeting. Even 150 years ago, Berliners were rioting against high rents and evictions (see a similar article in German). The capitalists will find a way to give us affordable housing, but only if they are terrified that we will expropriate them otherwise. News / Local by Staff reporter CHIEF Justice Luke Malaba has dismissed without hearing an application by former Zanu-PF youth leader, Jim Kunaka, who was seeking the reinstatement of self-exiled former minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, as a presidential candidate.High Court judge Justice David Mangota disqualified Kasukuwere after ruling in favour of Zanu-PF activist, Lovedale Mangwana, who had approached the court seeking the former Cabinet minister's removal from the ballot paper.Mangwana argued that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) had violated the Electoral Act by accepting his nomination papers when he had been absent from the country for 18 consecutive months.He said Kasukuwere was, therefore, an unregistered voter.Kasukuwere appealed to the Supreme Court, which upheld the ruling of the lower court.This prompted Kasukuwere to approach the Constitutional Court (ConCourt), which denied him access saying the former Local Government minister was improperly before the court.Kunaka had also approached the court seeking the reinstatement of Kasukuwere as a presidential candidate, saying disqualifying him infringed on his right to choose a candidate of his choice.But before the case was heard, Kunaka was shocked to learn that his application had been dismissed without a hearing."Below are the directions from the Honourable Chief Justice pertaining to the above application," ConCourt Registrar Anitha Tshuma wrote to Kunaka's lawyers yesterday."The applicant (Kunaka) has made the application ... for interim interdict stopping the third respondent from printing presidential ballot papers in the general election pending the determination of an application for direct access he has filed in the court.""There is, therefore, no basis on which the relief claimed by the applicant can be considered. In any case, the conduct of the third respondent is lawful. No interim interdict can be granted to stop a lawful conduct."Kunaka had cited Mangwana, Kasukuwere and Zec as respondents.Kasukuwere has, however, filed a fresh appeal at the ConCourt against the Supreme Court ruling.In the application, he wants the apex court not to confirm Mangota's ruling on his candidacy.Kasukuwere cited Mangwana, Zec and Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi as respondents. The former minister is seeking a declaration of constitutional invalidity in terms of section 15 of the ConCourt Rules.In his notice to approach the ConCourt, he said he intended to apply to the court for the order in terms of the Draft Order which had not been confirmed.The former minister said Zec had already printed the ballot papers for postal voting without his name, saying his case should be treated with urgency."If the current ballots are distributed to the electorate, the applicant's right to protection of the law and to stand as a candidate (as provided for under s56(1), 67(2a), 67(3 Xa) and 67(3b) of the Constitution) will be incurably violated," Kasukuwere's lawyers submitted.In another separate case, High Court judge Justice Tawanda Chitapi will tomorrow hear another application by Kasukuwere, where he is seeking nullification of Statutory Instrument 140A of 2023 on postal voting.In the application, Kasukuwere cited Zec, Attorney-General, Ziyambi and President Emmerson Mnangagwa as respondents.The parties yesterday met on a case management and the respondents will file their heads of arguments today.Zec on August 3, 2023 gazetted SI 140 which amended section 75(1)(d) of the Electoral Act to allow the chief elections officer to receive postal votes not later than three days of the voting day instead of 14 days.Kasukuwere says the SI violated section 157(5) of the Constitution, which states that after an election date has been proclaimed, no amendment will be made to the electoral law. Asish Mehta By Express News Service BHUBANESWAR: Gurtej Singh Sidhu, accused of running a Rs 1,000 crore pan-India cryptocurrency-based ponzi scam, had received deposits from Non-Resident Indians in Canada, Dubai, Hungary and Nepal, a probe by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) suggests. Apart from collecting money from investors in various states of the country, he had received investment from NRIs too. As the scam is massive, we will request the court to grant further remand of Gurtej, said EOW IG, Jai Narayan Pankaj. In fact, Gurtej was planning to flee to Hungary after he made a fortune out of the investment by members whose numbers ran into 2 lakh across the country. His WhatsApp chats suggested he was most likely planning to flee to Hungary or Dubai to evade arrest. A native of Faridkot in Punjab, Gurtej was a Class X dropout. Before he joined Solar Techno Alliance (STA), he worked as an insurance agent. That is where he developed contacts across the country and used them during his stint at the Ponzi firm. He then quickly climbed to the top of STAs pyramid scheme and grasped the firms Kohinoor leadership title. The EOW is trying to ascertain where the prime accused stashed the ill-gotten money. Chances of him moving the cash overseas through the Hawala route are not ruled out. The agency traced a few bank accounts of Gurtej most of which have negligible deposits. The investigators suspect Gurtej may have transferred the illegally acquired money to bank accounts of various state heads of the Ponzi firm and associates. Hungarian national David Gez, Gurtej and three to four other natives of Punjab are the masterminds of various Ponzi schemes and cryptocurrency-based scams run by STA. BHUBANESWAR: Gurtej Singh Sidhu, accused of running a Rs 1,000 crore pan-India cryptocurrency-based ponzi scam, had received deposits from Non-Resident Indians in Canada, Dubai, Hungary and Nepal, a probe by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) suggests. Apart from collecting money from investors in various states of the country, he had received investment from NRIs too. As the scam is massive, we will request the court to grant further remand of Gurtej, said EOW IG, Jai Narayan Pankaj. In fact, Gurtej was planning to flee to Hungary after he made a fortune out of the investment by members whose numbers ran into 2 lakh across the country. His WhatsApp chats suggested he was most likely planning to flee to Hungary or Dubai to evade arrest. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); A native of Faridkot in Punjab, Gurtej was a Class X dropout. Before he joined Solar Techno Alliance (STA), he worked as an insurance agent. That is where he developed contacts across the country and used them during his stint at the Ponzi firm. He then quickly climbed to the top of STAs pyramid scheme and grasped the firms Kohinoor leadership title. The EOW is trying to ascertain where the prime accused stashed the ill-gotten money. Chances of him moving the cash overseas through the Hawala route are not ruled out. The agency traced a few bank accounts of Gurtej most of which have negligible deposits. The investigators suspect Gurtej may have transferred the illegally acquired money to bank accounts of various state heads of the Ponzi firm and associates. Hungarian national David Gez, Gurtej and three to four other natives of Punjab are the masterminds of various Ponzi schemes and cryptocurrency-based scams run by STA. By AFP MANILA: Widows and mothers are at the "heart" of a gritty documentary by Philippine filmmaker Sheryl Rose Andes, who turns the camera on women left behind by former president Rodrigo Duterte's deadly drug war. More than 6,000 people were killed in police anti-drug raids during Duterte's six-year term, which ended in June 2022, government data shows. Rights groups estimate the real figure was in the tens of thousands, mostly poor men living in slums who died at the hands of law enforcers, hitmen and vigilantes. Many of the victims had wives or partners and mothers, who have had to deal with the heartbreak and hardship of losing a loved one and often the family's main breadwinner. In her new documentary "Maria", Andes follows two of these women, Mary Ann Domingo and Maria Deparine, as they struggle to survive and find justice. "We have to register that this thing really happened. And now people need to see what has happened to their families," Andes told AFP in an interview. Andes said she was inspired to make the film out of fear that Filipinos could forget, or never learn, about the brutal period in their nation's history. She got a "huge wake-up call" when one of her students in a filmmaking course she teaches at Mapua University in Manila expressed surprise that the drug war was "really happening". That moment in 2020 -- four years into Duterte's drug war, which made headlines around the world and sparked an international investigation into alleged human rights abuses -- left her aghast. Three years later, "Maria" is the first full-length documentary to compete in the country's independent film festival Cinemalaya, which opened August 4. "Maria" -- a common name for women in the Catholic-majority Philippines -- focuses on the harrowing experiences of Domingo and Deparine, which Andes says gives the film "heart and emotion". The documentary shows the women doing menial jobs to support their families and making tearful visits to the tombs of their loved ones. "I zoomed in on the details because it should not just be about numbers," said Andes. "This is a story about women. I don't want this to be remembered as a drug war story." 'It is very difficult' Deparine lost two of her sons within days of each other in September 2016. One was with a local drug dealer when they were abducted by unidentified men. They were both shot in the head and their bodies dumped under a bridge. Six days later, a second son was arrested by police at the home of a drug-dealing couple. He was later found dead under another bridge. Since their deaths, Deparine, who works in a fish cannery and voted for Duterte in 2016, has moved multiple times with her husband and surviving son as they struggle to make enough money to pay the rent. In the same month Deparine lost her sons, Domingo's partner and teenage son were killed in a nighttime police raid while the family slept in their shanty home. Later, she and three of her surviving children had to flee for fear of their safety. Lawyer Kristina Conti, who is helping Domingo seek justice for their deaths, said the four officers who allegedly shot dead her partner and son had been freed on bail and were back in uniform after serving short suspensions. That's despite the men facing a homicide trial. "As a mother who lost her partner, it is very difficult. At times I just wanted to give up, and at times I actually did," Domingo, 49, told AFP in an interview. "This (film) is our chance to show to the world what happened to us." 'Political stand' Catholic priest Flaviano Villanueva, who appears in "Maria", said widows, mothers and grandmothers endured "unimaginable" hardships to keep their remaining family members alive. Villanueva, who runs a support group for the families of the drug war's dead, said there was a "social stigma" that led to discrimination against those left behind. Orphans were "bullied" at school and widows excluded from government assistance because "her husband got killed for being a drug addict", he told AFP. Another woman who features prominently in the film is former Philippines vice president Leni Robredo, a vocal critic of the drug war who is seen consoling Domingo and Deparine. Robredo ran in the 2022 presidential election but lost by a huge margin to the son and namesake of the country's late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who has continued the drug war. Andes, who spent a decade working for a non-government organisation before turning her hand to filmmaking, refuses to shy away from difficult subjects. She said documentaries were a "powerful tool" in retelling history, but she feared that Filipinos preferred "escapism" and were not prepared to face grim reality. Despite Duterte stepping down more than a year ago and Marcos Jr vowing to take the drug war in a new direction, Andes said the killings "never stopped". "A documentary takes a political stand," she said. "We are not fiction and we are not here to titillate." MANILA: Widows and mothers are at the "heart" of a gritty documentary by Philippine filmmaker Sheryl Rose Andes, who turns the camera on women left behind by former president Rodrigo Duterte's deadly drug war. More than 6,000 people were killed in police anti-drug raids during Duterte's six-year term, which ended in June 2022, government data shows. Rights groups estimate the real figure was in the tens of thousands, mostly poor men living in slums who died at the hands of law enforcers, hitmen and vigilantes.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Many of the victims had wives or partners and mothers, who have had to deal with the heartbreak and hardship of losing a loved one and often the family's main breadwinner. In her new documentary "Maria", Andes follows two of these women, Mary Ann Domingo and Maria Deparine, as they struggle to survive and find justice. "We have to register that this thing really happened. And now people need to see what has happened to their families," Andes told AFP in an interview. Andes said she was inspired to make the film out of fear that Filipinos could forget, or never learn, about the brutal period in their nation's history. She got a "huge wake-up call" when one of her students in a filmmaking course she teaches at Mapua University in Manila expressed surprise that the drug war was "really happening". That moment in 2020 -- four years into Duterte's drug war, which made headlines around the world and sparked an international investigation into alleged human rights abuses -- left her aghast. Three years later, "Maria" is the first full-length documentary to compete in the country's independent film festival Cinemalaya, which opened August 4. "Maria" -- a common name for women in the Catholic-majority Philippines -- focuses on the harrowing experiences of Domingo and Deparine, which Andes says gives the film "heart and emotion". The documentary shows the women doing menial jobs to support their families and making tearful visits to the tombs of their loved ones. "I zoomed in on the details because it should not just be about numbers," said Andes. "This is a story about women. I don't want this to be remembered as a drug war story." 'It is very difficult' Deparine lost two of her sons within days of each other in September 2016. One was with a local drug dealer when they were abducted by unidentified men. They were both shot in the head and their bodies dumped under a bridge. Six days later, a second son was arrested by police at the home of a drug-dealing couple. He was later found dead under another bridge. Since their deaths, Deparine, who works in a fish cannery and voted for Duterte in 2016, has moved multiple times with her husband and surviving son as they struggle to make enough money to pay the rent. In the same month Deparine lost her sons, Domingo's partner and teenage son were killed in a nighttime police raid while the family slept in their shanty home. Later, she and three of her surviving children had to flee for fear of their safety. Lawyer Kristina Conti, who is helping Domingo seek justice for their deaths, said the four officers who allegedly shot dead her partner and son had been freed on bail and were back in uniform after serving short suspensions. That's despite the men facing a homicide trial. "As a mother who lost her partner, it is very difficult. At times I just wanted to give up, and at times I actually did," Domingo, 49, told AFP in an interview. "This (film) is our chance to show to the world what happened to us." 'Political stand' Catholic priest Flaviano Villanueva, who appears in "Maria", said widows, mothers and grandmothers endured "unimaginable" hardships to keep their remaining family members alive. Villanueva, who runs a support group for the families of the drug war's dead, said there was a "social stigma" that led to discrimination against those left behind. Orphans were "bullied" at school and widows excluded from government assistance because "her husband got killed for being a drug addict", he told AFP. Another woman who features prominently in the film is former Philippines vice president Leni Robredo, a vocal critic of the drug war who is seen consoling Domingo and Deparine. Robredo ran in the 2022 presidential election but lost by a huge margin to the son and namesake of the country's late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who has continued the drug war. Andes, who spent a decade working for a non-government organisation before turning her hand to filmmaking, refuses to shy away from difficult subjects. She said documentaries were a "powerful tool" in retelling history, but she feared that Filipinos preferred "escapism" and were not prepared to face grim reality. Despite Duterte stepping down more than a year ago and Marcos Jr vowing to take the drug war in a new direction, Andes said the killings "never stopped". "A documentary takes a political stand," she said. "We are not fiction and we are not here to titillate." Fayaz Wani By Express News Service SRI NAGAR: At least 1,050 militants and 319 security men have been killed in 791 militancy-related incidents in Jammu and Kashmir since 2018, as per the Centres data. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, there were 791 militancy-related incidents including 626 encounters in Jammu and Kashmir from 2018 till July 31, 2023. In 2018, 228 militancy incidents were reported followed by 153 in 2019, 126 in 2020, 129 in 2021, 125 in 2022 and 30 till July 31, 2023, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in a written reply. As per the data, in the 791 militancy incident, about 1,050 militants have been killed with the highest number of 257 militants killed in 2018 followed by 221 in 2020, 187 in 2022, 180 in 2021, 157 in 2019 and 50 till July 31, 2023. The data reveals that from 2018 to July 31 2023, 319 security men were killed. As per the data, 90 security men were killed in 2018, 80 in 2019, 63 in 2020, 42 in 2021, 32 in 2022 and 11 in 2023. According to the statistics, the security forces' killings in militancy violence in J&K have witnessed a significant drop from 90 in 2018 to 11 till July 31, 2023. As per the MHA data, 184 civilians were killed in militant-initiated incidents in J&K in the last four and a half years. Of the 184 civilians killed, 40 died in 2018, 39 in 2019, 32 in 2020, 37 in 2021, 26 in 2022 and 10 in 2023. About 35 civilians have died during encounters between militants and security forces in the region since 2018. As per the data, 15 civilians died during encounters in 2018, 5 in 2019, 6 in 2020, 4 in 2021, 5 in 2022 while no civilian deaths during encounters took place this year so far. Militant recruitment has also declined significantly in Valley in the last few years and now it is in double-digit numbers. According to Nityanand Rai, further security measures include group security in the form of static guards, round-the-clock checking at nakas at the strategic points, night patrolling and area domination, identification of vulnerable spots, security arrangement through the appropriate deployment of police, army, Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and intensified cordon and search operations are being undertaken to prevent militant attacks and militancy-related incidents. On the drop in the militancy-related violence in J&K, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha told this newspaper that the entire terror ecosystem is being dismantled through a meticulously-planned strategy. Referring to some militant attacks in the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri, he said, It is true that our attention was more on the Valley, but now security has been tightened and results are encouraging from other parts as well. Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh recently said that the number of militants active in J&K is at an all-time low. SRI NAGAR: At least 1,050 militants and 319 security men have been killed in 791 militancy-related incidents in Jammu and Kashmir since 2018, as per the Centres data. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, there were 791 militancy-related incidents including 626 encounters in Jammu and Kashmir from 2018 till July 31, 2023. In 2018, 228 militancy incidents were reported followed by 153 in 2019, 126 in 2020, 129 in 2021, 125 in 2022 and 30 till July 31, 2023, Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in a written reply. As per the data, in the 791 militancy incident, about 1,050 militants have been killed with the highest number of 257 militants killed in 2018 followed by 221 in 2020, 187 in 2022, 180 in 2021, 157 in 2019 and 50 till July 31, 2023. The data reveals that from 2018 to July 31 2023, 319 security men were killed. As per the data, 90 security men were killed in 2018, 80 in 2019, 63 in 2020, 42 in 2021, 32 in 2022 and 11 in 2023. According to the statistics, the security forces' killings in militancy violence in J&K have witnessed a significant drop from 90 in 2018 to 11 till July 31, 2023. As per the MHA data, 184 civilians were killed in militant-initiated incidents in J&K in the last four and a half years.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Of the 184 civilians killed, 40 died in 2018, 39 in 2019, 32 in 2020, 37 in 2021, 26 in 2022 and 10 in 2023. About 35 civilians have died during encounters between militants and security forces in the region since 2018. As per the data, 15 civilians died during encounters in 2018, 5 in 2019, 6 in 2020, 4 in 2021, 5 in 2022 while no civilian deaths during encounters took place this year so far. Militant recruitment has also declined significantly in Valley in the last few years and now it is in double-digit numbers. According to Nityanand Rai, further security measures include group security in the form of static guards, round-the-clock checking at nakas at the strategic points, night patrolling and area domination, identification of vulnerable spots, security arrangement through the appropriate deployment of police, army, Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and intensified cordon and search operations are being undertaken to prevent militant attacks and militancy-related incidents. On the drop in the militancy-related violence in J&K, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha told this newspaper that the entire terror ecosystem is being dismantled through a meticulously-planned strategy. Referring to some militant attacks in the border districts of Poonch and Rajouri, he said, It is true that our attention was more on the Valley, but now security has been tightened and results are encouraging from other parts as well. Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh recently said that the number of militants active in J&K is at an all-time low. Hapreet Bajwa By Express News Service CHANDIGARH: Even as some panchayats in Haryana have called for ostracising Muslims in the aftermath of communal riots in the Nuh district, some khaps in the state are firming up plans to broker peace between the two communities. Further, the Sarvkhap Panchayat said the activities of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal should be banned in all the villages across the state. At the same time, some khaps said the government's actions post-violence are justified. The state has more than 90 khaps. Their viewpoints assume significance ahead of the next years assembly and parliamentary elections as khaps enjoy considerable influence in villages. Meanwhile, a maha panchayat under the banner of Bhartiya Kisan Mazdoor Union was organised on Wednesday in Bas village in Hisar which gave a call to strengthen the communal harmony and brotherhood. Suresh Koth, who organised the mahapanchayat, said that few people tried to disturb the communal harmony. There are few people who say that they will not allow Muslims to enter the villages we dare them to come here and stop our brothers from entering the villages, he said. A resolution was passed to restore peace in the Mewat, he said, adding that a demand was made to conduct an impartial inquiry and arrest Monu Manesar and Bittu Bajrangi. Action should also be taken against those who put provocative speeches and shared videos to incite the clashes, he said. Khap leaders are planning to visit Nuh in the coming days. At present, the local administration will not give permission. Once we are given permission and normalcy returns we will go there and talk to the locals of both communities and try to broker peace between them as they have been living peacefully for years, Sube Singh Smain, national spokesperson of the Sarvkhap Panchayat, told this newspaper. He further said: Activities of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal should be banned in all the villages across the state. As both assembly and Lok Sabha elections are due next year all that has happened is a larger conspiracy to divide the communities and thus polarise the voters of the state, Smain suspects. CHANDIGARH: Even as some panchayats in Haryana have called for ostracising Muslims in the aftermath of communal riots in the Nuh district, some khaps in the state are firming up plans to broker peace between the two communities. Further, the Sarvkhap Panchayat said the activities of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal should be banned in all the villages across the state. At the same time, some khaps said the government's actions post-violence are justified. The state has more than 90 khaps. Their viewpoints assume significance ahead of the next years assembly and parliamentary elections as khaps enjoy considerable influence in villages. Meanwhile, a maha panchayat under the banner of Bhartiya Kisan Mazdoor Union was organised on Wednesday in Bas village in Hisar which gave a call to strengthen the communal harmony and brotherhood. Suresh Koth, who organised the mahapanchayat, said that few people tried to disturb the communal harmony. There are few people who say that they will not allow Muslims to enter the villages we dare them to come here and stop our brothers from entering the villages, he said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); A resolution was passed to restore peace in the Mewat, he said, adding that a demand was made to conduct an impartial inquiry and arrest Monu Manesar and Bittu Bajrangi. Action should also be taken against those who put provocative speeches and shared videos to incite the clashes, he said. Khap leaders are planning to visit Nuh in the coming days. At present, the local administration will not give permission. Once we are given permission and normalcy returns we will go there and talk to the locals of both communities and try to broker peace between them as they have been living peacefully for years, Sube Singh Smain, national spokesperson of the Sarvkhap Panchayat, told this newspaper. He further said: Activities of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal should be banned in all the villages across the state. As both assembly and Lok Sabha elections are due next year all that has happened is a larger conspiracy to divide the communities and thus polarise the voters of the state, Smain suspects. News / National by Staff reporter MDC leader Douglas Mwonzora's name will remain on the presidential ballot despite his withdrawal from the race, the Zimbabwe Elections Commission has said.A candidate can not withdraw from Zimbabwe elections 21 days before the elections, hence Zec is insisting on Mwonzora remaining in the elections..Mwonzora on Tuesday announced he was withdrawing from the race to become Zimbabwe's next president, describing the August 23 election as a "sham and a farce."He said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) refused to accept nomination papers for 87 of the party's candidates for the National Assembly, meaning that even if he won the presidency he would not have control of parliament."We are not going to be part of the baptism, blessing of this sham. This election is a farce," Mwonzora told a news conference in Harare.He said the MDC-T's 24 constituency candidates who successfully filed nomination papers will still participate in the election."We have seen massive disenfranchisement, mass disqualification of a good number of people. There is no doubt why the MDC is being treated in a different manner from other political parties, it is because the MDC took ZEC to court over delimitation," Mwonzora went on."The delimitation that we fought against is now in force and its effects are now clear on this election. Right now as we are speaking ZEC is busy changing boundaries of wards and constituencies. It has added more than a 1,000 more polling stations because delimitation was invalid."Having seriously considered this, and being a patriotic Zimbabwean, I took part in the crafting of the constitution of our land. I believe that the constitution is not there for decoration. I believe that there is a minimum standard of integrity required in our electoral system, and I believe that the mass disenfranchisement of our people, the discrimination of one party by the election management body, and with the concurrence of my party, I have withdrawn my candidature in this election. We are boycotting this farce, we are boycotting this sham, we are boycotting this presidential election."Mwonzora said he had advised ZEC of his withdrawal and specifically requested that his name is not included on the ballot paper. He expects ZEC to issue a public notification of his withdrawal, he said.The MDC-T leader, who was flanked by his secretary general Tapiwa Mashakada, said he would still vote in the election, but refused to back a particular candidate.He told reporters: "When you are boycotting, you have no-one to back, you're refusing to participate. Why should we back someone to participate in a farce, in a theft against the people of Zimbabwe?"Touting his credentials as a consistent campaigner for democratic ideals, Mwonzora said he would not vote Zanu-PF."Yes, I am going to vote, I will vote for the opposition," he said.Mwonzora also reserved some criticism for Zimbabwe's judiciary which threw out an appeal by his party to re-instate the 87 candidates."The judges have treated our cases on technicalities, we refuse to be part of that facade Zimbabweans deserve a fair judiciary and abhor selective application of the law. We cannot stand all these shenanigans, unfairness and impunity in our electoral system," he charged."I don't want to preempt what we are going to do henceforward. We are going back to the drawing back, to kick-start a programme to ensure there will be free and fair elections in this country. We are going to reconnect with the people; the people of Zimbabwe deserve a free and fair election."Zimbabwe had 12 presidential candidates but independent Saviour Kasukuwere was barred by a court, although he is still appealing. Mwonzora's withdrawal will bring the field down to 10, including Zanu-PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa who is seeking re-election.The others are main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change; Lovemore Madhuku of the National Constitutional Assembly; Trust Chikohora of the Zimbabwe Coalition for Peace and Development; FreeZim Congress leader Joseph Makamba Busha; Zimbabwe Partnership for Prosperity leader Blessing Kasiyamhuru; National People's Congress leader Wilbert Mubaiwa; United African National Council president Gwinyai Henry Muzorewa, Peter Harry Wilson of the Democratic Opposition Party and the only woman, Elisabeth Valerio who leads the Democratic Union of Zimbabwe. Prasanta Mazumdar By Express News Service GUWAHATI: A 37-year-old married Meitei woman in Manipur has filed a zero FIR with the police alleging that she was gang-raped by unknown Kuki miscreants in the hill district of Churachandpur on May 3, the day the ethnic violence in the state broke out. The FIR was lodged with the Women Police Station, Bishnupur at 4:30 pm on August 9 (Wednesday). The police registered a case based on the FIR. However, as the place of occurrence of the alleged crime was in Churachandpur district, the case was transferred to Women Police Station, Churachandpur for further investigation. Gangrape, assault or criminal force on women with intent to outrage her modesty and criminal conspiracy with common intention were mentioned in the section of brief description of offence of the FIR. According to the FIR, the crime is punishable under IPC sections 376D (gang-rape), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention). A 37-year-old married woman in Manipur has filed a zero FIR with police alleging she was gang-raped by unknown Kuki miscreants in Churachandpur on May 3, the day ethnic violence broke out @NewIndianXpress @TheMornStandard @santwana99 @Shahid_Faridi_ Prasanta Mazumdar (@prasmaz_tnie) August 10, 2023 According to local media reports, a medical examination of the woman was conducted. Thousands of Meiteis, who lived in Kuki-majority Churachandpur, had fled to the Imphal valley in the wake of the violence. Many of them are now lodged in various relief camps in the Bishnupur district. However, as the alleged crime was committed in Churachandpur, the case was transferred to Women Police Station, Churachandpur for investigation. A zero FIR can be filed at any police station. According to the womans complaint, the incident occurred around 6:30 pm on that fateful day when the Kuki miscreants started burning down her house and the houses of her neighbours. She said she cried for help but nobody came forward. GUWAHATI: A 37-year-old married Meitei woman in Manipur has filed a zero FIR with the police alleging that she was gang-raped by unknown Kuki miscreants in the hill district of Churachandpur on May 3, the day the ethnic violence in the state broke out. The FIR was lodged with the Women Police Station, Bishnupur at 4:30 pm on August 9 (Wednesday). The police registered a case based on the FIR. However, as the place of occurrence of the alleged crime was in Churachandpur district, the case was transferred to Women Police Station, Churachandpur for further investigation.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Gangrape, assault or criminal force on women with intent to outrage her modesty and criminal conspiracy with common intention were mentioned in the section of brief description of offence of the FIR. According to the FIR, the crime is punishable under IPC sections 376D (gang-rape), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman), 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention). A 37-year-old married woman in Manipur has filed a zero FIR with police alleging she was gang-raped by unknown Kuki miscreants in Churachandpur on May 3, the day ethnic violence broke out @NewIndianXpress @TheMornStandard @santwana99 @Shahid_Faridi_ Prasanta Mazumdar (@prasmaz_tnie) August 10, 2023 According to local media reports, a medical examination of the woman was conducted. Thousands of Meiteis, who lived in Kuki-majority Churachandpur, had fled to the Imphal valley in the wake of the violence. Many of them are now lodged in various relief camps in the Bishnupur district. However, as the alleged crime was committed in Churachandpur, the case was transferred to Women Police Station, Churachandpur for investigation. A zero FIR can be filed at any police station. According to the womans complaint, the incident occurred around 6:30 pm on that fateful day when the Kuki miscreants started burning down her house and the houses of her neighbours. She said she cried for help but nobody came forward. By PTI NEW DELHI: AAP Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha on Thursday hit out at the BJP for accusing him of forging the signatures of five MPs in a motion related to the Delhi services bill and said the party was trying to "suppress" his voice as he had "exposed" its "double standards". On Wednesday, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar referred complaints of four MPs, who accused Chadha of proposing their name for the constitution of a Select Committee without their consent in violation of rules, to the privileges committee to examine and investigate the matter. Addressing a press conference, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader asserted that the allegations against him were "baseless" and said an MP can propose the name of any other member without their written consent or signature for a Select Committee. "I will approach the Committee of Privileges and court of law against the BJP Lok Sabha members who levelled the false allegations of forgery against me," Chadha said. "Any member can propose the name of any other member without the written consent of the member or signature," the AAP MP said, showing the rule book at the press conference. According to the rules, neither a member's consent nor signature is required to propose his or her name for a Select Committee. Terming the allegations against him "baseless", Chadha claimed that a "rumour" is being spread about him doing forgery. He asked how the question of forgery arise when nobody's signature was taken and submitted. "A rumour which is being spread about forged signatures is absolutely wrong and baseless," Chadha claimed. "I challenge the BJP to show the papers that has the forged signatures as alleged by them. The Parliamentary Bulletin on complaints against me has no mention of forgery, fake signatures," Chadha said and added that the BJP was "trying to suppress his voice". He alleged that the BJP is after him because he "exposed" the party's "double standards" and also demanded justice for the people of Delhi. "But I will fight. I am not scared of the BJP," he added. Chadha said that one does not give public statements if the Committee of Privileges begins proceedings against them. "Whenever the Committee of Privileges begins proceedings against someone, they don't give public statements. But it was out of compulsion that I have to speak up. But I won't speak against the Hon'ble Chair or the Committee of Privileges," he added. A Rajya Sabha bulletin said the chairman had received complaints from MPs Sasmit Patra, S Phangnon Konyak, M Thambidurai and Narhari Amin, who alleged breach of privilege by Chadha "for inter-alia including their names without their consent, in violation of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, in a motion on August 7". Chadha had proposed the constitution of a select committee to consider the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and had included the names of the four MPs. Addressing the press conference, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh alleged that the Modi government has started a new tradition of getting those members suspended from the House who speak against it. "Then, declare its dictatorship in the country. Why are you playing a drama about democracy?" Singh asked the government. Hitting out at Home Minister Amit Shah, he said, "You should at least know that the name of any member can be proposed for the select committee by any other member of the House, and there is no need to have the member's signature. " The AAP leader also accused Shah of lying on the floor of the House by terming as "fraud" the inclusion of the names of the five MPs. The home minister's sole objective is to get Chadha disqualified from the Rajya Sabha as was done in the case of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha, he alleged. "But, we are soldiers of Arvind Kejriwal. We will fight. And, if you disqualify Raghav Chadha by any means, he will come back after being re-elected," Singh, who was suspended from the Upper House of Parliament during the Monsoon Session, asserted. The session, which started on July 20, is scheduled to end on Friday. NEW DELHI: AAP Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha on Thursday hit out at the BJP for accusing him of forging the signatures of five MPs in a motion related to the Delhi services bill and said the party was trying to "suppress" his voice as he had "exposed" its "double standards". On Wednesday, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar referred complaints of four MPs, who accused Chadha of proposing their name for the constitution of a Select Committee without their consent in violation of rules, to the privileges committee to examine and investigate the matter. Addressing a press conference, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader asserted that the allegations against him were "baseless" and said an MP can propose the name of any other member without their written consent or signature for a Select Committee.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "I will approach the Committee of Privileges and court of law against the BJP Lok Sabha members who levelled the false allegations of forgery against me," Chadha said. "Any member can propose the name of any other member without the written consent of the member or signature," the AAP MP said, showing the rule book at the press conference. According to the rules, neither a member's consent nor signature is required to propose his or her name for a Select Committee. Terming the allegations against him "baseless", Chadha claimed that a "rumour" is being spread about him doing forgery. He asked how the question of forgery arise when nobody's signature was taken and submitted. "A rumour which is being spread about forged signatures is absolutely wrong and baseless," Chadha claimed. "I challenge the BJP to show the papers that has the forged signatures as alleged by them. The Parliamentary Bulletin on complaints against me has no mention of forgery, fake signatures," Chadha said and added that the BJP was "trying to suppress his voice". He alleged that the BJP is after him because he "exposed" the party's "double standards" and also demanded justice for the people of Delhi. "But I will fight. I am not scared of the BJP," he added. Chadha said that one does not give public statements if the Committee of Privileges begins proceedings against them. "Whenever the Committee of Privileges begins proceedings against someone, they don't give public statements. But it was out of compulsion that I have to speak up. But I won't speak against the Hon'ble Chair or the Committee of Privileges," he added. A Rajya Sabha bulletin said the chairman had received complaints from MPs Sasmit Patra, S Phangnon Konyak, M Thambidurai and Narhari Amin, who alleged breach of privilege by Chadha "for inter-alia including their names without their consent, in violation of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, in a motion on August 7". Chadha had proposed the constitution of a select committee to consider the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and had included the names of the four MPs. Addressing the press conference, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh alleged that the Modi government has started a new tradition of getting those members suspended from the House who speak against it. "Then, declare its dictatorship in the country. Why are you playing a drama about democracy?" Singh asked the government. Hitting out at Home Minister Amit Shah, he said, "You should at least know that the name of any member can be proposed for the select committee by any other member of the House, and there is no need to have the member's signature. " The AAP leader also accused Shah of lying on the floor of the House by terming as "fraud" the inclusion of the names of the five MPs. The home minister's sole objective is to get Chadha disqualified from the Rajya Sabha as was done in the case of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha, he alleged. "But, we are soldiers of Arvind Kejriwal. We will fight. And, if you disqualify Raghav Chadha by any means, he will come back after being re-elected," Singh, who was suspended from the Upper House of Parliament during the Monsoon Session, asserted. The session, which started on July 20, is scheduled to end on Friday. Ejaz Kaiser By Express News Service RAIPUR: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) declared its candidates for nine assembly seats including four unreserved constituencies on Wednesday. BSP, which fought the 2018 Assembly elections entering into an alliance with the regional political outfit Janta Congress Chhattisgarh-J floated by the former chief minister Ajit Jogi, is yet to take a decision on whether the party will work out a pre-poll seat-sharing adjustment with any party. In the last elections, the BSP won 2 seats in Chhattisgarh. According to the BSP state leadership, the party still maintains its influence in around 22 out of the 90 constituencies of the state and aims to score from the triangular contest in the given seats. The party has committed a vote bank among the Scheduled Caste segment in the districts of Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa. The Jogi Congress led by Amit Jogi apparently has ruled out any alliance with the BSP. Political analyst Parivesh Mishra, familiar with state politics, asserted that the triangular contests in Chhattisgarh are nothing more than a myth as there will be more of a direct contest between the BJP and the Congress. Meanwhile, in an election year, the tribal-dominated regions often remain in focus for the political parties in Chhattisgarh as the tribals constitute around 31 per cent of the total states population. Bhupesh Baghel performed bhoomipujan of around 2,600 works in south Chhattisgarh on the occasion of World Tribal Day Wednesday. He launched 2,300 development works worth over Rs 637 crore under various departments, including laying foundation stones for 1838 projects and other 462 works. 22 CONSTITUENCIES According to the BSP state leadership, the party still maintains its influence in around 22 out of the 90 constituencies of the state and aims to score from the triangular contest in the given seats. The party has committed a vote bank among the SC segment in Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa. RAIPUR: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) declared its candidates for nine assembly seats including four unreserved constituencies on Wednesday. BSP, which fought the 2018 Assembly elections entering into an alliance with the regional political outfit Janta Congress Chhattisgarh-J floated by the former chief minister Ajit Jogi, is yet to take a decision on whether the party will work out a pre-poll seat-sharing adjustment with any party. In the last elections, the BSP won 2 seats in Chhattisgarh. According to the BSP state leadership, the party still maintains its influence in around 22 out of the 90 constituencies of the state and aims to score from the triangular contest in the given seats. The party has committed a vote bank among the Scheduled Caste segment in the districts of Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa. The Jogi Congress led by Amit Jogi apparently has ruled out any alliance with the BSP.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Political analyst Parivesh Mishra, familiar with state politics, asserted that the triangular contests in Chhattisgarh are nothing more than a myth as there will be more of a direct contest between the BJP and the Congress. Meanwhile, in an election year, the tribal-dominated regions often remain in focus for the political parties in Chhattisgarh as the tribals constitute around 31 per cent of the total states population. Bhupesh Baghel performed bhoomipujan of around 2,600 works in south Chhattisgarh on the occasion of World Tribal Day Wednesday. He launched 2,300 development works worth over Rs 637 crore under various departments, including laying foundation stones for 1838 projects and other 462 works. 22 CONSTITUENCIES According to the BSP state leadership, the party still maintains its influence in around 22 out of the 90 constituencies of the state and aims to score from the triangular contest in the given seats. The party has committed a vote bank among the SC segment in Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa. By Online Desk With the BJP-led NDA government and Judiciary often at loggerheads over key legislative matters, the Union government has now moved a bill that will remove the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from a three-member committee involved in the process of appointing Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Election Commissioners (EC). The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners Bill, 2023, has been listed for introduction in the Rajya Sabha to regulate the appointment, conditions of service and term of office of the CEC and ECs. It will also set up a procedure for the transaction of business by the Election Commission. The bill aims to replace the CJI with a Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM, thereby undercutting the SC's landmark verdict on the appointment process of polling officials. In March, India's top court had delivered a judgement aimed at insulating the appointment of CEC and ECs from the Executive's interference. The Apex Court had ruled that a three-member panel chaired by the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and the CJI will advise the President over appointments of polling officials. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice KM Joseph, in a unanimous verdict, held that this norm will continue to hold good till a law on the issue is made by Parliament. According to the bill, the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners "shall not be invalid" merely by reason of any vacancy in or any defect in the constitution of the selection committee. In case there is no LoP in the Lower House of Parliament, the leader of the single largest party in opposition in the Lok Sabha will be deemed to be the LoP. The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners will be appointed from amongst persons who are holding or have held a post equivalent to the rank of secretary and shall be persons of integrity, who have knowledge of and experience in the management and conduct of elections. However, the new bill will now neutralize the judiciary's involvement in the selection process and is likely to initiate a new confrontation between the two branches of government. This is one of many such disputes involving the Executive and Judiciary in recent years with both bodies differing in their views starting from the Collegium system to the basic structure doctrine. Recently, the Centre passed the contentious Delhi Services bill on July 7 circumventing SC's judgement to strip the control of civil services in the national capital from the elected government of Delhi. The apex court on May 11, had delivered a verdict that gave the Delhi government control of services in the national capital, excluding the matters relating to public order, police and land. It is to be noted that Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey will leave office on February 14, thereby leaving a vacancy in the poll panel. Pandey's retirement will come right around the time when the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections will be announced by the Election Commission of India. Opposition, critics call out government Meanwhile, leaders from the Opposition have called out the Modi government and accused them of trying to turn the election commission into a "partisan" body. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he has always maintained that the government will overturn any Supreme Court order that it doesn't like and this is a dangerous situation that can impact fairness of elections. The proposed panel will have two BJP members and one from the Congress, and therefore, whoever is selected to the poll panel will be loyal to the ruling party, Kejriwal, who is the Aam Aadmi Party's national convener, alleged on X, formerly known as Twitter. Congress MP and the party's whip in Lok Sabha, Manickam Tagore, alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah want to control the EC by bringing the bill. "Modi and Shah want to control the EC as they are doing now," Tagore wrote on X. Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate called the Bill a "gimmick" to make the Election Commission a "complete puppet" in the hands of PM Modi. "Why does PM Modi need an election commissioner of his choice? If this arbitrariness is not unconstitutional and unfair then what is?" Shrinate wrote on X. TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Saket Ghokale said the Modi government "is making the Election Commission its own bunch of stooges" and called the bill a "clear step towards rigging the 2024 elections." Constitutional expert Gautam Bhatia wrote on X: "The bill will formalise executive control over appointments to the election commission (2:1 majority in the selection committee) - further moving towards an executive Constitution." (With additional inputs from PTI) With the BJP-led NDA government and Judiciary often at loggerheads over key legislative matters, the Union government has now moved a bill that will remove the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from a three-member committee involved in the process of appointing Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Election Commissioners (EC). The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners Bill, 2023, has been listed for introduction in the Rajya Sabha to regulate the appointment, conditions of service and term of office of the CEC and ECs. It will also set up a procedure for the transaction of business by the Election Commission. The bill aims to replace the CJI with a Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM, thereby undercutting the SC's landmark verdict on the appointment process of polling officials. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); In March, India's top court had delivered a judgement aimed at insulating the appointment of CEC and ECs from the Executive's interference. The Apex Court had ruled that a three-member panel chaired by the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and the CJI will advise the President over appointments of polling officials. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice KM Joseph, in a unanimous verdict, held that this norm will continue to hold good till a law on the issue is made by Parliament. According to the bill, the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners "shall not be invalid" merely by reason of any vacancy in or any defect in the constitution of the selection committee. In case there is no LoP in the Lower House of Parliament, the leader of the single largest party in opposition in the Lok Sabha will be deemed to be the LoP. The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners will be appointed from amongst persons who are holding or have held a post equivalent to the rank of secretary and shall be persons of integrity, who have knowledge of and experience in the management and conduct of elections. However, the new bill will now neutralize the judiciary's involvement in the selection process and is likely to initiate a new confrontation between the two branches of government. This is one of many such disputes involving the Executive and Judiciary in recent years with both bodies differing in their views starting from the Collegium system to the basic structure doctrine. Recently, the Centre passed the contentious Delhi Services bill on July 7 circumventing SC's judgement to strip the control of civil services in the national capital from the elected government of Delhi. The apex court on May 11, had delivered a verdict that gave the Delhi government control of services in the national capital, excluding the matters relating to public order, police and land. It is to be noted that Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey will leave office on February 14, thereby leaving a vacancy in the poll panel. Pandey's retirement will come right around the time when the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections will be announced by the Election Commission of India. Opposition, critics call out government Meanwhile, leaders from the Opposition have called out the Modi government and accused them of trying to turn the election commission into a "partisan" body. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he has always maintained that the government will overturn any Supreme Court order that it doesn't like and this is a dangerous situation that can impact fairness of elections. The proposed panel will have two BJP members and one from the Congress, and therefore, whoever is selected to the poll panel will be loyal to the ruling party, Kejriwal, who is the Aam Aadmi Party's national convener, alleged on X, formerly known as Twitter. Congress MP and the party's whip in Lok Sabha, Manickam Tagore, alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah want to control the EC by bringing the bill. "Modi and Shah want to control the EC as they are doing now," Tagore wrote on X. Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate called the Bill a "gimmick" to make the Election Commission a "complete puppet" in the hands of PM Modi. "Why does PM Modi need an election commissioner of his choice? If this arbitrariness is not unconstitutional and unfair then what is?" Shrinate wrote on X. TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Saket Ghokale said the Modi government "is making the Election Commission its own bunch of stooges" and called the bill a "clear step towards rigging the 2024 elections." Constitutional expert Gautam Bhatia wrote on X: "The bill will formalise executive control over appointments to the election commission (2:1 majority in the selection committee) - further moving towards an executive Constitution." (With additional inputs from PTI) By PTI RAIPUR: The 'Kamar' tribe in Chhattisgarh's Dhamtari district, which is a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG), has received habitat rights, which would help in the protection of their culture and livelihood means and enable the government to work for their development, officials said on Thursday. Kamar is the first PVTG in the state to get such status, they claimed. The Kamar tribe families living in 22 settlements in Magarlod development block of Dhamtari district will be benefited from the move. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel handed over the habitat rights certificates to heads of these 22 settlements on Wednesday, on the occasion of World Tribal Day. The Kamar tribe members mainly reside in Gariaband, Dhamtari, Mahasamund and Kanker districts. Their population as per the 2011 census was 26,630, Chhattisgarh's Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste development department commissioner Shammi Abidi told PTI. The recognition of habitat rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) would not only help in protection and promotion of customary arrangements, culture, tradition, livelihood means, habitat of the PVTG by officially documenting them, but also enable the government to work for their empowerment and development of their areas through schemes of various departments, officials said. "This is the first time that habitat rights have been given to a PVTG in the state. With this move, Chhattisgarh has become the second state in the country to have issued such a right to a PVTG after neighbouring Madhya Pradesh," Abidi said. Chhattisgarh has five PVTGs declared by the Centre that include the Abujmadia, Baiga, Kamar, Birhor and Hill Korva, while the state government has given the PVTG status to two tribal groups- Pando and Bhunjia, she said. Habitat rights is a special provision under the Forest Rights Act (FRA)-2006, specially meant for the recognition of traditional rights of PVTG/Pre-agricultural Communities while community forest rights extend to all types of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs), she said. The official said habitat rights include rights of habitation and customary habitat of a PVTG community. Under this, the habitat is defined in four parameters -- demographic and geographic composition of the PVTG, socio-cultural parameters and cultural intangibles, economic parameters and ecological and knowledge of biodiversity including traditional knowledge, she said. The habitat right is recognised over customary territories. The territory/habitat of Kamar tribe is divided into sub-habitats which are called as Pali and the sub-habitat comprise multiple para/tola (settlements), the official said. Every para/tola has a traditional leader called 'Mukhdihvar' and every Pali has a traditional leader named 'Mudadaar'. They have a distinct social structure of administration and cultural system. The habitat right also recognises such social, cultural systems, she said. Efforts will soon be made to give similar rights to the Kamar tribe in other areas of Chhattisgarh as well as other PVTGs in the state, she added. RAIPUR: The 'Kamar' tribe in Chhattisgarh's Dhamtari district, which is a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG), has received habitat rights, which would help in the protection of their culture and livelihood means and enable the government to work for their development, officials said on Thursday. Kamar is the first PVTG in the state to get such status, they claimed. The Kamar tribe families living in 22 settlements in Magarlod development block of Dhamtari district will be benefited from the move.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel handed over the habitat rights certificates to heads of these 22 settlements on Wednesday, on the occasion of World Tribal Day. The Kamar tribe members mainly reside in Gariaband, Dhamtari, Mahasamund and Kanker districts. Their population as per the 2011 census was 26,630, Chhattisgarh's Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste development department commissioner Shammi Abidi told PTI. The recognition of habitat rights under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) would not only help in protection and promotion of customary arrangements, culture, tradition, livelihood means, habitat of the PVTG by officially documenting them, but also enable the government to work for their empowerment and development of their areas through schemes of various departments, officials said. "This is the first time that habitat rights have been given to a PVTG in the state. With this move, Chhattisgarh has become the second state in the country to have issued such a right to a PVTG after neighbouring Madhya Pradesh," Abidi said. Chhattisgarh has five PVTGs declared by the Centre that include the Abujmadia, Baiga, Kamar, Birhor and Hill Korva, while the state government has given the PVTG status to two tribal groups- Pando and Bhunjia, she said. Habitat rights is a special provision under the Forest Rights Act (FRA)-2006, specially meant for the recognition of traditional rights of PVTG/Pre-agricultural Communities while community forest rights extend to all types of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs), she said. The official said habitat rights include rights of habitation and customary habitat of a PVTG community. Under this, the habitat is defined in four parameters -- demographic and geographic composition of the PVTG, socio-cultural parameters and cultural intangibles, economic parameters and ecological and knowledge of biodiversity including traditional knowledge, she said. The habitat right is recognised over customary territories. The territory/habitat of Kamar tribe is divided into sub-habitats which are called as Pali and the sub-habitat comprise multiple para/tola (settlements), the official said. Every para/tola has a traditional leader called 'Mukhdihvar' and every Pali has a traditional leader named 'Mudadaar'. They have a distinct social structure of administration and cultural system. The habitat right also recognises such social, cultural systems, she said. Efforts will soon be made to give similar rights to the Kamar tribe in other areas of Chhattisgarh as well as other PVTGs in the state, she added. Ramashankar By Express News Service PATNA: Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)s chief and Jamui MP Chirag Paswan has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to solve the problems of those students who returned to the country from war-torn Ukraine last year. The Centre had launched Operation Ganga to evacuate students who got stranded in Ukraine following the invasion by Russia. Providing details of problems being faced by the medical students of Bihar and other parts of the country after they were evacuated from Ukraine, Chirag requested Modi to sort out their problems at the earliest. He said nearly 1050 medical students from different parts of Bihar studying in Ukraine were brought back to their home districts safely in the middle of the war under Operation Ganga. He said that these students were facing serious difficulties now and were moving from pillar to post and also passing through mental agony due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. The next academic session is likely to start in September, he pointed out. You got them out of the middle of the war but now they need your help to save their career. All the students (Batch September-2021 and Batch February-2022) are waiting daily for the war to stop, Chirag wrote to the PM in his letter. These medical students want that the Centre should provide them with a one-time transfer so that they can enrol themselves in the medical institute of any other foreign country so that all their problems can be solved. All these students are demanding transfer because it is not possible for them to return to Ukraine in the atmosphere of war and also they cannot do their medical studies online for long. Chirag said that a delegation of students who had returned from Ukraine had met him personally and informed him that even during the Crimea-Russia war in 2014, Indian students were granted transfer facilities so that they could study in other countries. He informed that students during the meeting also told him that the new session of these students was going to start in September this year and so the Centre should take a concrete step on the matter by the end of August by understanding their dilemmas and problems. LJP (Ram Vilas) leader said that many students had taken loans and enrolled in Ukraine for their medical studies so that by studying there they could bring laurels to themselves and their country in the field of medicine. He said that students could be saved from going back to Ukraine if the Centre initiated steps for providing transfer facilities to students. PATNA: Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)s chief and Jamui MP Chirag Paswan has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to solve the problems of those students who returned to the country from war-torn Ukraine last year. The Centre had launched Operation Ganga to evacuate students who got stranded in Ukraine following the invasion by Russia. Providing details of problems being faced by the medical students of Bihar and other parts of the country after they were evacuated from Ukraine, Chirag requested Modi to sort out their problems at the earliest. He said nearly 1050 medical students from different parts of Bihar studying in Ukraine were brought back to their home districts safely in the middle of the war under Operation Ganga. He said that these students were facing serious difficulties now and were moving from pillar to post and also passing through mental agony due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. The next academic session is likely to start in September, he pointed out. You got them out of the middle of the war but now they need your help to save their career. All the students (Batch September-2021 and Batch February-2022) are waiting daily for the war to stop, Chirag wrote to the PM in his letter.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); These medical students want that the Centre should provide them with a one-time transfer so that they can enrol themselves in the medical institute of any other foreign country so that all their problems can be solved. All these students are demanding transfer because it is not possible for them to return to Ukraine in the atmosphere of war and also they cannot do their medical studies online for long. Chirag said that a delegation of students who had returned from Ukraine had met him personally and informed him that even during the Crimea-Russia war in 2014, Indian students were granted transfer facilities so that they could study in other countries. He informed that students during the meeting also told him that the new session of these students was going to start in September this year and so the Centre should take a concrete step on the matter by the end of August by understanding their dilemmas and problems. LJP (Ram Vilas) leader said that many students had taken loans and enrolled in Ukraine for their medical studies so that by studying there they could bring laurels to themselves and their country in the field of medicine. He said that students could be saved from going back to Ukraine if the Centre initiated steps for providing transfer facilities to students. By PTI NEW DELHI: Noting that quite a few ministers have spoken in Lok Sabha during the no-confidence motion, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday asked why Minister of State and BJP's MP representing Manipur Inner, Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, has not been given a chance by the ruling party to speak in Parliament. Sparks flew on the first two days of the debate on the no-trust motion moved by the Congress on Tuesday with the opposition attacking the Centre over the violence in Manipur and the ruling NDA hitting back at it with corruption and dynasticism jibes. Several ministers, including Amit Shah, Smriti Irani and Kiren Rijiju, have spoken during the no-confidence motion till now. "Quite a few ministers have spoken in Lok Sabha during the no-confidence motion. Why is it so that the only Union MoS and BJP MP in Lok Sabha representing Manipur Inner Parliamentary constituency, Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, whose private residence was burnt down, has not been given a chance by the BJP to speak for Manipur in Parliament?" Ramesh said on X, formerly known as Twitter. Quite a few Ministers have spoken in Lok Sabha during the No Confidence Motion. Why is it so that the only Union MoS & BJP MP in Lok Sabha representing Manipur Inner Parliamentary constituency, Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, whose private residence was burnt down, has not been given Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) August 10, 2023 The no-confidence motion has been brought by the Congress on behalf of the opposition grouping Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). The debate was initiated on Tuesday by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi. It will conclude with the prime minister's reply on Thursday. WATCH | MoS RK Ranjan Singh's house set on fire in June NEW DELHI: Noting that quite a few ministers have spoken in Lok Sabha during the no-confidence motion, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday asked why Minister of State and BJP's MP representing Manipur Inner, Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, has not been given a chance by the ruling party to speak in Parliament. Sparks flew on the first two days of the debate on the no-trust motion moved by the Congress on Tuesday with the opposition attacking the Centre over the violence in Manipur and the ruling NDA hitting back at it with corruption and dynasticism jibes. Several ministers, including Amit Shah, Smriti Irani and Kiren Rijiju, have spoken during the no-confidence motion till now.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "Quite a few ministers have spoken in Lok Sabha during the no-confidence motion. Why is it so that the only Union MoS and BJP MP in Lok Sabha representing Manipur Inner Parliamentary constituency, Dr Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, whose private residence was burnt down, has not been given a chance by the BJP to speak for Manipur in Parliament?" Ramesh said on X, formerly known as Twitter. Quite a few Ministers have spoken in Lok Sabha during the No Confidence Motion. Why is it so that the only Union MoS & BJP MP in Lok Sabha representing Manipur Inner Parliamentary constituency, Dr. Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, whose private residence was burnt down, has not been given Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) August 10, 2023 The no-confidence motion has been brought by the Congress on behalf of the opposition grouping Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). The debate was initiated on Tuesday by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi. It will conclude with the prime minister's reply on Thursday. WATCH | MoS RK Ranjan Singh's house set on fire in June Rajesh Kumar Thakur By Express News Service NEW DELHI: A day before the PMs reply to the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, 40 Manipur MLAs have submitted a letter to PM Narendra Modi containing six major demands, including complete disarmament and implementation of NRC. The MLAs reached the PM's residence to submit the letter on Wednesday evening, a source said. Stating that a simple deployment of forces in the state is inadequate, the letter noted: Although it is very imperative to halt the violence in the peripheral areas, a complete disarmament is the key to achieve this goal. The signatories said the entire state required complete disarmament to foster an environment of peace and security. They emphasised the need to confiscate weapons from all armed groups. Hinting that some armed foreign forces are also responsible for violence, the letter said: The central security forces need to adopt a more proactive approach to ensure lasting peace in this region. They further noted that the farmers are attacked when they go out in their fields by militants who have positioned themselves at elevated locations. The weapons that are being used by militants in firing incidents are sophisticated military grade arms which include assault sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. The firings are being done in the presence of central security forces which have failed to react appropriately, or react at all, the letter said. This has led to loss of faith in these forces and build-up of public resentment, it claimed. The issue must be addressed politically...There are many options that can be explored. On one hand, to reassure the indigenous people of Manipur, the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC)can be implemented in Manipur, the MLAs requested the PM. NAGAS CAUTION CENTRE Even as the Kukis in Manipur raised a pitch for separate administration in the wake of ethnic violence, some Naga organisations in the state on Wednesday cautioned the Centre to not take any steps that will disintegrate the land of the Nagas while it addresses the demands of other community. NEW DELHI: A day before the PMs reply to the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, 40 Manipur MLAs have submitted a letter to PM Narendra Modi containing six major demands, including complete disarmament and implementation of NRC. The MLAs reached the PM's residence to submit the letter on Wednesday evening, a source said. Stating that a simple deployment of forces in the state is inadequate, the letter noted: Although it is very imperative to halt the violence in the peripheral areas, a complete disarmament is the key to achieve this goal. The signatories said the entire state required complete disarmament to foster an environment of peace and security. They emphasised the need to confiscate weapons from all armed groups. Hinting that some armed foreign forces are also responsible for violence, the letter said: The central security forces need to adopt a more proactive approach to ensure lasting peace in this region. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); They further noted that the farmers are attacked when they go out in their fields by militants who have positioned themselves at elevated locations. The weapons that are being used by militants in firing incidents are sophisticated military grade arms which include assault sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. The firings are being done in the presence of central security forces which have failed to react appropriately, or react at all, the letter said. This has led to loss of faith in these forces and build-up of public resentment, it claimed. The issue must be addressed politically...There are many options that can be explored. On one hand, to reassure the indigenous people of Manipur, the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC)can be implemented in Manipur, the MLAs requested the PM. NAGAS CAUTION CENTRE Even as the Kukis in Manipur raised a pitch for separate administration in the wake of ethnic violence, some Naga organisations in the state on Wednesday cautioned the Centre to not take any steps that will disintegrate the land of the Nagas while it addresses the demands of other community. By PTI IMPHAL: A group of 10 tribal MLAs of Manipur on Thursday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to remove Assam Rifles personnel from the ethnic strife-affected state, asserting this could jeopardize the security of the tribals. The Assam Rifles, the oldest paramilitary force of the country, stood the test of time and did their work without prejudice or bias, the Kuki-Zo-Hmar MLAs said in a memorandum to the prime minister. "On behalf of all Tribal communities, we the elected Tribal representatives (MLAs) humbly pray to you not to remove the Assam Rifles from our state as it would harm and jeopardize our safety and security. At the same time, we humbly pray you to control the state forces, curtail their powers and give direction to not violate the Buffer Zones manned by the Central Paramilitary aces for restoration of peace in the state, in the public interest," the memorandum read. The memorandum was dispatched two days after the Manipur unit of the BJP requested Modi to replace Assam Rifles with any other paramilitary force "permanently from the state in the interest of the public". The tribal MLAs also described as a "worrisome trend" that the Manipur Police have started removing Assam Rifles posts from key areas and lodging "false and fabricated" FIRs against the paramilitary force to hinder them from doing their duties. Manipur Police registered an FIR on August 5 accusing the Assam Rifles of blocking their vehicle after an altercation between the two forces on the Kwakta Gothol road in Bishnupur district. Security sources, however, described the FIR as a "travesty of justice" and said the Assam Rifles was undertaking a task given by the command headquarters of ensuring the sanctity of the buffer zones between Kuki and Meitiei areas. The Assam Rifles has majority of their troops from the northeastern states and as they have been guarding Manipur for long, they are aware of the local dynamics, the tribal MLAs said. "Though they have dealt the Tribal miscreants also with a hard hand, we have seen them putting their lives at risk to stand as a wall to create Buffer Zones in areas inhabited by both warring communities," the memorandum said. The Assam Rifles is being "falsely blamed by Meiteis" as they safeguard humanity, are compassionate yet firm in handling tense situations and are unbiased, it claimed. "Since the outbreak of ethnic strife in Manipur in May 2023, the unabated violence has led to deep mistrust between the Kuki-Zo-Hmar Tribals and Meitei communities which has been reflected in the splitting of local state administration and law enforcing agencies too," the MLAs said. "We also urge your personal intervention in quick resolution of the ethnic strife at the earliest, please," the 10 tribal MLAs appealed to the prime minister. A copy of the memorandum was also sent to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The state BJP on August 8 wrote to Modi: "The role of Assam Rifles in regard to the ethnic unrest and in maintaining peace and tranquillity in the state has been under considerable criticism and public outrage." Earlier, all 10 Kuki MLAs in the state cutting across party lines wrote to the Centre, seeking a separate administration for Kuki areas. Ethnic violence broke out in the state in May and has been continuing for the last three months, killing more than 160 people and leaving thousands homeless. IMPHAL: A group of 10 tribal MLAs of Manipur on Thursday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to remove Assam Rifles personnel from the ethnic strife-affected state, asserting this could jeopardize the security of the tribals. The Assam Rifles, the oldest paramilitary force of the country, stood the test of time and did their work without prejudice or bias, the Kuki-Zo-Hmar MLAs said in a memorandum to the prime minister. "On behalf of all Tribal communities, we the elected Tribal representatives (MLAs) humbly pray to you not to remove the Assam Rifles from our state as it would harm and jeopardize our safety and security. At the same time, we humbly pray you to control the state forces, curtail their powers and give direction to not violate the Buffer Zones manned by the Central Paramilitary aces for restoration of peace in the state, in the public interest," the memorandum read.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The memorandum was dispatched two days after the Manipur unit of the BJP requested Modi to replace Assam Rifles with any other paramilitary force "permanently from the state in the interest of the public". The tribal MLAs also described as a "worrisome trend" that the Manipur Police have started removing Assam Rifles posts from key areas and lodging "false and fabricated" FIRs against the paramilitary force to hinder them from doing their duties. Manipur Police registered an FIR on August 5 accusing the Assam Rifles of blocking their vehicle after an altercation between the two forces on the Kwakta Gothol road in Bishnupur district. Security sources, however, described the FIR as a "travesty of justice" and said the Assam Rifles was undertaking a task given by the command headquarters of ensuring the sanctity of the buffer zones between Kuki and Meitiei areas. The Assam Rifles has majority of their troops from the northeastern states and as they have been guarding Manipur for long, they are aware of the local dynamics, the tribal MLAs said. "Though they have dealt the Tribal miscreants also with a hard hand, we have seen them putting their lives at risk to stand as a wall to create Buffer Zones in areas inhabited by both warring communities," the memorandum said. The Assam Rifles is being "falsely blamed by Meiteis" as they safeguard humanity, are compassionate yet firm in handling tense situations and are unbiased, it claimed. "Since the outbreak of ethnic strife in Manipur in May 2023, the unabated violence has led to deep mistrust between the Kuki-Zo-Hmar Tribals and Meitei communities which has been reflected in the splitting of local state administration and law enforcing agencies too," the MLAs said. "We also urge your personal intervention in quick resolution of the ethnic strife at the earliest, please," the 10 tribal MLAs appealed to the prime minister. A copy of the memorandum was also sent to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The state BJP on August 8 wrote to Modi: "The role of Assam Rifles in regard to the ethnic unrest and in maintaining peace and tranquillity in the state has been under considerable criticism and public outrage." Earlier, all 10 Kuki MLAs in the state cutting across party lines wrote to the Centre, seeking a separate administration for Kuki areas. Ethnic violence broke out in the state in May and has been continuing for the last three months, killing more than 160 people and leaving thousands homeless. By Express News Service KOLKATA: A first-year student of Jadavpur University, one of the premier institutions in West Bengal, died under mysterious circumstances on Thursday morning. The student, Swapnadeep Kundu (18), a resident of Bagula in Nadia district, was found in a pool of blood on the ground in front of his hostel building in a naked condition at night. Swapnadeep was taken to a nearby private healthcare unit where he succumbed to his injuries. The family members of the deceased alleged Swapnadeep was a victim of ragging and they lodged a complaint with Jadavpur police station. He had called her mother on Wednesday night saying he was not well and requested her to take him back home. He also expressed his fear while talking to his mother, said Swapnadeeps uncle Arup Kundu. Swapnadeep had taken admission to the Bengali department of the university on August 3 and his classes began on Wednesday. He was excited after attending classes on the first day. He was happy about his new venture for higher education. But when he called his mother at night, his excitement was replaced by fear. We were supposed to visit the university on Thursday to discuss the issue and if necessary, to meet the authorities of the institution. But early on Thursday, we received the heart-wrenching news, said Arup. In support of their allegation, the family members said the condition of Swapnadeep when he was found indicates foul play. Had there not been ragging and torture on him, why he was found in a naked condition? He was found beneath the balcony of the building which was close to his hostel room, alleged a family member. Students of the universities came to know about the incident after hearing a loud noise and they rushed out of the building only to see Swapnadeep lying unconscious with blood oozing out of his wounds. He was not in a condition to speak. We informed the university authorities and took him to the hospital, said a student. Preliminary investigations by the police revealed Swapnadeep qualified in the Joint Entrance Examination but he opted to study Bengali. Some of his friends told us that he decided to study Bengali going against his familys wish. We have come across some missing links which we are trying to stitch together to ascertain the reason behind the incident." Meanwhile, an internal investigation committee has been formed under the leadership of Professor Subinay Chakraborty, Dean of the Science Department of the University, to investigate what exactly happened to Swapnadeep and submit a report within 15 days. KOLKATA: A first-year student of Jadavpur University, one of the premier institutions in West Bengal, died under mysterious circumstances on Thursday morning. The student, Swapnadeep Kundu (18), a resident of Bagula in Nadia district, was found in a pool of blood on the ground in front of his hostel building in a naked condition at night. Swapnadeep was taken to a nearby private healthcare unit where he succumbed to his injuries. The family members of the deceased alleged Swapnadeep was a victim of ragging and they lodged a complaint with Jadavpur police station.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); He had called her mother on Wednesday night saying he was not well and requested her to take him back home. He also expressed his fear while talking to his mother, said Swapnadeeps uncle Arup Kundu. Swapnadeep had taken admission to the Bengali department of the university on August 3 and his classes began on Wednesday. He was excited after attending classes on the first day. He was happy about his new venture for higher education. But when he called his mother at night, his excitement was replaced by fear. We were supposed to visit the university on Thursday to discuss the issue and if necessary, to meet the authorities of the institution. But early on Thursday, we received the heart-wrenching news, said Arup. In support of their allegation, the family members said the condition of Swapnadeep when he was found indicates foul play. Had there not been ragging and torture on him, why he was found in a naked condition? He was found beneath the balcony of the building which was close to his hostel room, alleged a family member. Students of the universities came to know about the incident after hearing a loud noise and they rushed out of the building only to see Swapnadeep lying unconscious with blood oozing out of his wounds. He was not in a condition to speak. We informed the university authorities and took him to the hospital, said a student. Preliminary investigations by the police revealed Swapnadeep qualified in the Joint Entrance Examination but he opted to study Bengali. Some of his friends told us that he decided to study Bengali going against his familys wish. We have come across some missing links which we are trying to stitch together to ascertain the reason behind the incident." Meanwhile, an internal investigation committee has been formed under the leadership of Professor Subinay Chakraborty, Dean of the Science Department of the University, to investigate what exactly happened to Swapnadeep and submit a report within 15 days. News / National by Staff reporter Zimbabwe's main opposition CCC leader Nelson Chamisa yesterday invaded President Emmerson Mnangagwa's volatile home town, Kwekwe, known for political violence and tensions, on the campaign trail.Before he seized power through a military coup in November 2017, Mnangagwa had been run out of town - Kwekwe - by the opposition.After the rally, Chamisa said: "THANK YOU KWEKWE! THANK YOU ZIMBABWE. They turned Kwekwe into a war zone and threatened you to the extent even using explosives to scare you away. But you resisted their terror and intimidation. We're winning big #ForEveryone ." Amit Mukherjee By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday urged with folded hands the warring Kuki and Meitei communities in Manipur to hold talks to end ongoing the cycle of violence. After his intervention in the debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, the House adopted a resolution calling for the restoration of peace in the state. I agree with the Opposition that there is a cycle of violence in Manipur ... Nobody can support such incidents. Whatever happened is shameful, but to politicise them is even more shameful, Shah said. He ruled out any change in chief ministership in Manipur, claiming incumbent N Biren Singh was fully cooperating with the Centre in restoring peace. Shah said that the government was taking proactive measure to bring back peace. Because of the quick responses and intervention, the overall toll is comparatively low at 152, he said, adding the deployment of paramilitary forces along with Assam Rifles and the Manipur police helped in reducing incidents of violence. Referring to the May 4 viral video, he said the government was not aware of it. Had the video been made available to the state Director General of Police instead of being circulated on social media on July 19, the culprits could have been immediately caught, Shah said. Dwelling on the genesis of the conflict, the minister said ever since the military seized power in Myanmar, there has been an increased influx of Kukis into India following a crackdown on militants by the junta in 2021. To deal with concerns about Myanmars Kukis settling in Manipurs jungles and changing the demographic balance in the state, the government initiated digital documentation of the refugees early this year to exclude them from voting and prevent the issuance of Aadhaar cards to them. It triggered rumours and insecurity among the natives, which fuelled unrest, Shah said in the nearly two-hour-long speech. Work on fencing the porous border with Myanmar is on. LETTER TO PM FROM 40 MLAS Forty Manipur MLAs on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi making six major demands, including complete disarmament in the state and the quick implementation of the National Register of Citizens NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday urged with folded hands the warring Kuki and Meitei communities in Manipur to hold talks to end ongoing the cycle of violence. After his intervention in the debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, the House adopted a resolution calling for the restoration of peace in the state. I agree with the Opposition that there is a cycle of violence in Manipur ... Nobody can support such incidents. Whatever happened is shameful, but to politicise them is even more shameful, Shah said. He ruled out any change in chief ministership in Manipur, claiming incumbent N Biren Singh was fully cooperating with the Centre in restoring peace. Shah said that the government was taking proactive measure to bring back peace. Because of the quick responses and intervention, the overall toll is comparatively low at 152, he said, adding the deployment of paramilitary forces along with Assam Rifles and the Manipur police helped in reducing incidents of violence.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Referring to the May 4 viral video, he said the government was not aware of it. Had the video been made available to the state Director General of Police instead of being circulated on social media on July 19, the culprits could have been immediately caught, Shah said. Dwelling on the genesis of the conflict, the minister said ever since the military seized power in Myanmar, there has been an increased influx of Kukis into India following a crackdown on militants by the junta in 2021. To deal with concerns about Myanmars Kukis settling in Manipurs jungles and changing the demographic balance in the state, the government initiated digital documentation of the refugees early this year to exclude them from voting and prevent the issuance of Aadhaar cards to them. It triggered rumours and insecurity among the natives, which fuelled unrest, Shah said in the nearly two-hour-long speech. Work on fencing the porous border with Myanmar is on. LETTER TO PM FROM 40 MLAS Forty Manipur MLAs on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi making six major demands, including complete disarmament in the state and the quick implementation of the National Register of Citizens By PTI MUMBAI: A journalist with a regional daily was attacked by a group of persons in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district, police said on Thursday. Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Vijay Wadettiwar and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut condemned the attack and alleged that "goons" of local Shiv Sena MLA Kishor Patil were behind it. However, Patil denied the charge and said he had no connection with the incident, which took place in Pachora area of Jalgaon on Wednesday afternoon. The journalist, Sandeep Mahajan, had reported about a case of rape and murder of a minor girl in Pachora area and criticised Chief Minister Eknath Shinde over the incident. An audio clip recently went viral on social media wherein Pachora legislator Patil was purportedly heard abusing the journalist. Talking to PTI, Patil said, "I had verbally abused him (Mahajan) as there were strong reasons for it. However, I have no connection with the attack that has taken place. I was in Mumbai when the incident occurred. I do not support this attack." Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) working president Supriya Sule also condemned the incident and demanded that the state government take action against the attackers. A video of the incident went viral on social media platforms in which journalist Sandeep Mahajan was seen being pulled down from his two-wheeler and kicked and punched by some persons. Based on a complaint filed by the journalist, the Pachora police have registered a non-cognisable offence against three-four persons under Indian Penal Code Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 criminal intimidation, an official said. The police have issued notices to the accused persons, he said. Senior state Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar in a social media post said, "I condemn the cowardly attack on journalist Sandeep Mahajan by the goons of Shiv Sena MLA Kishor Patil. People will show such an arrogant MLA and his government their place soon." It is now clear what happens to the common man in a state where the voice of journalists is suppressed and they are beaten up, he said. "The journalist had raised questions and sought justice for an eight-year girl who was raped and murdered, the Congress leader said, noting the girl was from Patil's constituency. Mahajan's reporting of the incident irked Patil and the latter abused him in filthy language," he claimed. "Will the chief minister and home minister show courage to take action against Patil?" the Congress leader asked. NCP working president and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule also condemned the attack on Mahajan. "It is anti-democratic and a very serious matter, where goons are sent to beat up a journalist for asking difficult questions to the chief minister of the state. It is the right of the journalists to ask questions, and it is unfortunate if such right is taken away from them," she said on X, formerly known as Twitter. "How can the state's home minister sit quietly and watch such attacks? He should take immediate action against the goons and people backing them," she demanded. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut alleged Mahajan was mercilessly attacked by "goons of Shinde faction MLA Kishor Patil". "Law and order in the state have deteriorated so much. I think Maharashtra is going the Manipur way," the Rajya Sabha member claimed. MUMBAI: A journalist with a regional daily was attacked by a group of persons in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district, police said on Thursday. Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Vijay Wadettiwar and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut condemned the attack and alleged that "goons" of local Shiv Sena MLA Kishor Patil were behind it. However, Patil denied the charge and said he had no connection with the incident, which took place in Pachora area of Jalgaon on Wednesday afternoon.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The journalist, Sandeep Mahajan, had reported about a case of rape and murder of a minor girl in Pachora area and criticised Chief Minister Eknath Shinde over the incident. An audio clip recently went viral on social media wherein Pachora legislator Patil was purportedly heard abusing the journalist. Talking to PTI, Patil said, "I had verbally abused him (Mahajan) as there were strong reasons for it. However, I have no connection with the attack that has taken place. I was in Mumbai when the incident occurred. I do not support this attack." Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) working president Supriya Sule also condemned the incident and demanded that the state government take action against the attackers. A video of the incident went viral on social media platforms in which journalist Sandeep Mahajan was seen being pulled down from his two-wheeler and kicked and punched by some persons. Based on a complaint filed by the journalist, the Pachora police have registered a non-cognisable offence against three-four persons under Indian Penal Code Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 criminal intimidation, an official said. The police have issued notices to the accused persons, he said. Senior state Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar in a social media post said, "I condemn the cowardly attack on journalist Sandeep Mahajan by the goons of Shiv Sena MLA Kishor Patil. People will show such an arrogant MLA and his government their place soon." It is now clear what happens to the common man in a state where the voice of journalists is suppressed and they are beaten up, he said. "The journalist had raised questions and sought justice for an eight-year girl who was raped and murdered, the Congress leader said, noting the girl was from Patil's constituency. Mahajan's reporting of the incident irked Patil and the latter abused him in filthy language," he claimed. "Will the chief minister and home minister show courage to take action against Patil?" the Congress leader asked. NCP working president and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule also condemned the attack on Mahajan. "It is anti-democratic and a very serious matter, where goons are sent to beat up a journalist for asking difficult questions to the chief minister of the state. It is the right of the journalists to ask questions, and it is unfortunate if such right is taken away from them," she said on X, formerly known as Twitter. "How can the state's home minister sit quietly and watch such attacks? He should take immediate action against the goons and people backing them," she demanded. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut alleged Mahajan was mercilessly attacked by "goons of Shinde faction MLA Kishor Patil". "Law and order in the state have deteriorated so much. I think Maharashtra is going the Manipur way," the Rajya Sabha member claimed. Shruti Kakkar By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Supreme Court judge Justice PK Mishra on Wednesday recused himself from hearing a bail plea filed by former JNU student leader Umar Khalid seeking bail in a UAPA case related to the alleged conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots. Directing the matter to be listed before a bench on August 17, a bench of Justices AS Bopanna and PK Mishra said in its order, Matter cant be taken up in this combination of the bench. List on 17th August. When the matter was taken up for hearing, Justice Bopanna, while drawing the attention of Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and Advocate Rajat Nair to Justice Mishras difficulty in hearing the matter, said, This will come before some other bench. There is some difficulty for my brother to take up this. Khalid had approached the apex court against Delhi HCs order rejecting his bail. Upholding the order dated March 24, 2022, passed by the lower court rejecting his bail, Justices Rajnish Bhatnagar and Siddharth Mridul had said that there appeared to be a premeditated conspiracy for causing disruptive chakka-jam and pre-planned protests at different planned sites in Delhi, which was engineered to escalate to confrontational chakka-jam, incitement to violence and culminate in riots in natural course on specific dates. Protests and riots prima-facie seem to be orchestrated at the conspiratorial meetings held from December 2019 to February 2020, it added. The bench had said that the protest planned was not a typical protest normal in political culture or democracy but one far more destructive and injurious geared towards extremely grave consequences. Notably, the SC had, on May 16, sought the response of Delhi police and posted the pleas to be heard after six weeks. The police had booked Khalid and his associates on September 13, 2020, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and provisions of the IPC. BILKIS BANO CASE: MULTIPLE PILS AGAINST CONVICTS RELEASE SETS DANGEROUS PRECEDENT Entertaining Public Interest Litigations (PILs) challenging the release of convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case by parties other than the victim will set a dangerous precedent, the Supreme Court was told on Wednesday. Advocate Rishi Malhotra appearing on behalf of one of the convicts, while raising serious objections and drawing the attention of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan to the criminal nature of the proceedings, said, So far as merits of the petition go, this is highly speculative. They dont annex the order of remission and say it is wrong, it is bad in law. Deserves to be dismissed. Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra, representing another convict, said that a third element cannot exist in a criminal matter. Referring to some of the pleas filed by two politicians, Luthra said, There is a consistent view in relation to criminal proceedings that there will be no third-party intervention or interference. NEW DELHI: Supreme Court judge Justice PK Mishra on Wednesday recused himself from hearing a bail plea filed by former JNU student leader Umar Khalid seeking bail in a UAPA case related to the alleged conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots. Directing the matter to be listed before a bench on August 17, a bench of Justices AS Bopanna and PK Mishra said in its order, Matter cant be taken up in this combination of the bench. List on 17th August. When the matter was taken up for hearing, Justice Bopanna, while drawing the attention of Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal and Advocate Rajat Nair to Justice Mishras difficulty in hearing the matter, said, This will come before some other bench. There is some difficulty for my brother to take up this. Khalid had approached the apex court against Delhi HCs order rejecting his bail. Upholding the order dated March 24, 2022, passed by the lower court rejecting his bail, Justices Rajnish Bhatnagar and Siddharth Mridul had said that there appeared to be a premeditated conspiracy for causing disruptive chakka-jam and pre-planned protests at different planned sites in Delhi, which was engineered to escalate to confrontational chakka-jam, incitement to violence and culminate in riots in natural course on specific dates.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Protests and riots prima-facie seem to be orchestrated at the conspiratorial meetings held from December 2019 to February 2020, it added. The bench had said that the protest planned was not a typical protest normal in political culture or democracy but one far more destructive and injurious geared towards extremely grave consequences. Notably, the SC had, on May 16, sought the response of Delhi police and posted the pleas to be heard after six weeks. The police had booked Khalid and his associates on September 13, 2020, under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and provisions of the IPC. BILKIS BANO CASE: MULTIPLE PILS AGAINST CONVICTS RELEASE SETS DANGEROUS PRECEDENT Entertaining Public Interest Litigations (PILs) challenging the release of convicts in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case by parties other than the victim will set a dangerous precedent, the Supreme Court was told on Wednesday. Advocate Rishi Malhotra appearing on behalf of one of the convicts, while raising serious objections and drawing the attention of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan to the criminal nature of the proceedings, said, So far as merits of the petition go, this is highly speculative. They dont annex the order of remission and say it is wrong, it is bad in law. Deserves to be dismissed. Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra, representing another convict, said that a third element cannot exist in a criminal matter. Referring to some of the pleas filed by two politicians, Luthra said, There is a consistent view in relation to criminal proceedings that there will be no third-party intervention or interference. Sudhir Suryawanshi By Express News Service MUMBAI: Journalist Sandeep Mahajan was allegedly assaulted by supporters of MLA Kishor Patil, who is from Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena faction, for raising the issue of the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl. The Opposition condemned the assault and demanded the registration of an FIR against Patil. They also demanded the immediate arrest of those who are a threat to the journalist and his family. NCP MLA Rohit Pawar also raised the issue and said the incident shows that there is no law and order in Maharashtra. Media is the fourth pillar of democracy but he was thrashed in broad daylight just because he was doing his duty and raising the issue. This is a shameful act and action should be taken immediately, Pawar said. Mahajan runs his own YouTube channel and newspaper called Dyay in Pachora in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra. A few days ago, an eight-year-old girl was raped by her 19-year-old neighbour and later the accused thrashed her with stones. Police and local MLA Patil allegedly tried to suppress the case. Mahajan raised the issue in his local newspaper and ran the news on his YouTube channel. Patil allegedly got angry with Mahajan over the report and abused him over the phone. The next day, when he was asked about it, he defended himself, saying he has not done anything wrong. However, Mahajan continued his reporting about the rape and murder and raised questions to Patil and Shinde demanding justice for the girl and her family. Following the assault, Mahajan said he went to lodge a case, but the police refused to resgister it. MUMBAI: Journalist Sandeep Mahajan was allegedly assaulted by supporters of MLA Kishor Patil, who is from Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena faction, for raising the issue of the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl. The Opposition condemned the assault and demanded the registration of an FIR against Patil. They also demanded the immediate arrest of those who are a threat to the journalist and his family. NCP MLA Rohit Pawar also raised the issue and said the incident shows that there is no law and order in Maharashtra. Media is the fourth pillar of democracy but he was thrashed in broad daylight just because he was doing his duty and raising the issue. This is a shameful act and action should be taken immediately, Pawar said. googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Mahajan runs his own YouTube channel and newspaper called Dyay in Pachora in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra. A few days ago, an eight-year-old girl was raped by her 19-year-old neighbour and later the accused thrashed her with stones. Police and local MLA Patil allegedly tried to suppress the case. Mahajan raised the issue in his local newspaper and ran the news on his YouTube channel. Patil allegedly got angry with Mahajan over the report and abused him over the phone. The next day, when he was asked about it, he defended himself, saying he has not done anything wrong. However, Mahajan continued his reporting about the rape and murder and raised questions to Patil and Shinde demanding justice for the girl and her family. Following the assault, Mahajan said he went to lodge a case, but the police refused to resgister it. By PTI CHANDIGARH: Congress MLA from Nuh Aftab Ahmed on Thursday demanded strict action against those village panchayats in Haryana that have allegedly "banned" entry of Muslim traders into their villages. Letters purportedly written by some panchayat heads in Mahendergarh, Rewari and Jhajjar districts "banning" Muslim traders from their villages have surfaced online, amid communal tension in parts of the state. The almost identical letters, supposedly written by some sarpanches in these districts in recent days, cite the violence in Nuh district on July 31, when mobs attacked a Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) procession. "It is totally unconstitutional. If any panchayat talks about such things or passes a resolution, they should be booked under strict law," Ahmed, who is the deputy leader of the Congress in the Haryana Assembly, said. He said issuing such letters will further vitiate the atmosphere in the state. The purported letters by sarpaches of some villages said the panchayats have decided not to give "permission" to the Muslim community and miscreants to conduct any business. It specifies hawkers, cattle traders and those seeking alms. ALSO READ | After Nuh, Haryana khaps seek ban on VHP, Bajrang Dal in state Five people, including two home guards, were killed in Nuh and a cleric died in an attack on a mosque in adjoining Gurugram in the violence after stones were allegedly pelted at the VHP procession. However, when contacted, many sarpanches on Wednesday had denied having issued any such letters making a reference to a particular community. A village head from Mahendergarh had said they only talked about verifying identity credentials of strangers, which was a general exercise having nothing to do with any community. On the recent demolition drive in violence-hit Nuh, Ahmed alleged that many innocent people were targeted. Many structures were demolished and innocent people harassed under the garb of illegal construction. Besides, there is also discontentment among the people over innocent people being rounded up, he said. The high court had ordered a halt to the demolition drive in Nuh and asked if it was an "exercise of ethnic cleansing". Ahmed said many innocent people whose structures were brought down during the demolition drive are now living under the open sky. "There is no arrangement for them," he added. "If we talk of governance, then the Haryana government has blatantly failed in discharging its constitutional duty," the Congress MLA said. He said the situation in Nuh was peaceful now and his party has appealed to people not to fall for rumours and maintain communal harmony. Ahmed said the people of the Mewat region have always stood for peace and brotherhood. The Mewatis have always repulsed attacks by the invaders, he added. "If you see history, whosoever was the invader, the Mewatis have always repulsed their attacks. They always stood for unity and prosperity of the country. No one has ever doubted their nationalism and commitment to the country," he said. ALSO READ | Nuh violence: Haryana govt's 'bulldozer apartheid' continues; Mahapanchayat issues threat to cops CHANDIGARH: Congress MLA from Nuh Aftab Ahmed on Thursday demanded strict action against those village panchayats in Haryana that have allegedly "banned" entry of Muslim traders into their villages. Letters purportedly written by some panchayat heads in Mahendergarh, Rewari and Jhajjar districts "banning" Muslim traders from their villages have surfaced online, amid communal tension in parts of the state. The almost identical letters, supposedly written by some sarpanches in these districts in recent days, cite the violence in Nuh district on July 31, when mobs attacked a Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) procession.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "It is totally unconstitutional. If any panchayat talks about such things or passes a resolution, they should be booked under strict law," Ahmed, who is the deputy leader of the Congress in the Haryana Assembly, said. He said issuing such letters will further vitiate the atmosphere in the state. The purported letters by sarpaches of some villages said the panchayats have decided not to give "permission" to the Muslim community and miscreants to conduct any business. It specifies hawkers, cattle traders and those seeking alms. ALSO READ | After Nuh, Haryana khaps seek ban on VHP, Bajrang Dal in state Five people, including two home guards, were killed in Nuh and a cleric died in an attack on a mosque in adjoining Gurugram in the violence after stones were allegedly pelted at the VHP procession. However, when contacted, many sarpanches on Wednesday had denied having issued any such letters making a reference to a particular community. A village head from Mahendergarh had said they only talked about verifying identity credentials of strangers, which was a general exercise having nothing to do with any community. On the recent demolition drive in violence-hit Nuh, Ahmed alleged that many innocent people were targeted. Many structures were demolished and innocent people harassed under the garb of illegal construction. Besides, there is also discontentment among the people over innocent people being rounded up, he said. The high court had ordered a halt to the demolition drive in Nuh and asked if it was an "exercise of ethnic cleansing". Ahmed said many innocent people whose structures were brought down during the demolition drive are now living under the open sky. "There is no arrangement for them," he added. "If we talk of governance, then the Haryana government has blatantly failed in discharging its constitutional duty," the Congress MLA said. He said the situation in Nuh was peaceful now and his party has appealed to people not to fall for rumours and maintain communal harmony. Ahmed said the people of the Mewat region have always stood for peace and brotherhood. The Mewatis have always repulsed attacks by the invaders, he added. "If you see history, whosoever was the invader, the Mewatis have always repulsed their attacks. They always stood for unity and prosperity of the country. No one has ever doubted their nationalism and commitment to the country," he said. ALSO READ | Nuh violence: Haryana govt's 'bulldozer apartheid' continues; Mahapanchayat issues threat to cops By Online Desk Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded to the debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. The opposition moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government on July 26 which was accepted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. This is the second time Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing a no-confidence motion. Highlights from the speech: People of the country have repeatedly reposed trust in our govt, I want to thank them all The opposition brought a no-confidence motion in 2018 also, I had said it was their floor test, not of govt, and was proven right The no-confidence motion is always lucky for us; this one also will ensure we will return with a record-breaking mandate There was a need for discussion on important bills aimed at the welfare of people, but the opposition was interested in politicking For the opposition, the party is above the country; they have more interest in hunger for power than hunger of people Centuries are being scored here (treasury benches) and no-balls are being bowled from there (opposition benches) Country watching you, but every time you have disappointed it The opposition couldn't prepare for a debate on the no-confidence motion despite so much time in hand, even its sympathisers are disappointed The tallest leader in Opposition ranks not on the list of speakers; Amit Shah's magnanimity that he promised time to Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury I don't know what was the compulsion of Congress for sidelining Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, maybe a call was made from Kolkata Our only resolution and goal should be the development of the country In 2014, a full majority govt came after three decades and we got a bigger mandate in 2019 because of our track record We gave a scam-free govt to youth, and gave them an opportunity to fly high; we also restored the pride of the country and took it to new heights Some trying to tarnish our image on the global stage, but the world knows the truth and won't be misled PM Modi says poverty going down in India, cites NITI Aayog and IMF data to state that country has almost got rid of extreme poverty Opposition has an 'ostrich-like approach', I thank its leaders for wearing black in House as I see that as 'kaala teeka' I convert abuses, and unparliamentary language hurled at me by opposition into tonic Opposition has 'secret power', anyone for whom it wishes ill is blessed instead Opposition said bad things about govt aerospace firm HAL but today it is touching new heights of success Opposition spread misgivings about LIC, but the insurance firm also touched new heights My tip to those interested in the stock market - invest in govt companies and your money will grow In our third term, India will become the third-largest economy in the world Oppn should ask how I'll make our economy the third largest in the world; if Cong thinks this will happen on its own then it has no vision The mantra of 'reform, perform and transform' as well as proper planning and hard work have taken the country to new heights When you'll bring a no-confidence motion in 2028, the country will be among the top three economies globally, this is our belief Congress and its friends have a history of doubting India's capabilities and prowess Congress and its friends used to trust Pakistan when it disowned acts of attacking our borders, sending terrorists into our territory Congress takes pride in amplifying false propaganda of any global survey tarnishing India's image Congress is so blinded by arrogance that it cannot see ground reality, and people have deep no-confidence in it People of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, UP, Gujarat, Bihar, Tripura, and Odisha have been declaring no-confidence in Congress for years I express sympathies with my opposition friends; they performed the last rites of UPA in Bengaluru You're trying to pass off the old vehicle as an electric one just by applying new paint Opposition needed 'NDA' to stay alive, they just added two 'I's to it due to their arrogance Opposition thinks it can increase its credibility by using INDIA name for an alliance Nothing is Congress' own, from its poll symbol to ideas, everything has been borrowed from someone else Congress adopted a flag similar to the national tricolour to add credibility, they also 'stole' Gandhi's surname for gains This is not INDIA but 'Ghamandia' alliance; everyone there wants to be 'groom', be PM Whenever circumstances will change, knives will be out in opposition alliance Our Constitution framers had criticised dynastic politics because it is harmful for common people's rights Congress likes 'parivarvaad', 'darbarvaad'; darbar system snatched rights of stalwarts like B R Ambedkar, Jagjivan Ram, Chandra Shekhar For years they have been launching 'failed product', every time it 'fails' Congress running 'loot ki dukaan', 'nafrat ka bazaar'; they sell partition, Emergency, atrocities and appeasement politics They know their new shop will be shut down soon 'Ghamandia' alliance wants an economy that will weaken country, pull it back by decades Opposition walks out amid PM Modi's reply to no-confidence motion debate in Lok Sabha; PM says they want to speak but cannot listen Had opposition been interested in discussing Manipur, we could have had a detailed discussion separately Home Minister called opposition for discussion; he spoke on Manipur in detail Wednesday but opposition only wants to do politics Heinous crimes committed against women in Manipur; Centre, state govt making all efforts to get culprits punished Entire country stands with the women of Manipur, this House is with them too I want to assure the people of Manipur that we will together find a solution and restore peace in the state Some people here were wishing for the 'death of Bharat Mata', how can they speak like this Congress' history has been one of disintegrating 'Maa Bharati' They have murdered the trust of the people of the northeast, wounds that keep appearing from time to time The root cause of problems in the Northeast is Congress and its politics Manipur had become a victim of ethnic clashes during the erstwhile Congress regime During Congress rule in Manipur temples used to be closed by evening, and it was impossible to worship PM Modi says his govt gave priority to the northeast, cites development works carried out in the region in the last nine years I compliment the opposition for listening to me and bringing a no-confidence motion in 2023 but they did so without any preparation I request the opposition to be better prepared when they bring a no-confidence motion in 2028 What has happened in Manipur is painful, but no one should play politics on it Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday initiated the debate on the motion which has turned into a heated argument between the Opposition and the Centre. The Parliament has been witnessing a logjam over a number of issues, including the violence in Manipur, since the beginning of the Monsoon Session on July 20. The opposition leaders have been demanding a full-fledged discussion on the issue including a statement by the prime minister in the Parliament. Both houses -- Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha -- have seen repeated adjournments amid massive ruckus by the opposition leaders. Manipur had been on the boil for the last three months after ethnic clashes broke out between two tribal communities Meitis and Kukis, when the Manipur High Court asked the state government to consider adding one of the communities to the list of Scheduled Tribes. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals - Nagas and Kukis - constitute little over 40 per cent and reside in the hill districts. Over 170 people have been killed and thousands injured since the ethnic clashes broke out on May 3. (With inputs from PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded to the debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. The opposition moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government on July 26 which was accepted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. This is the second time Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing a no-confidence motion. Highlights from the speech: People of the country have repeatedly reposed trust in our govt, I want to thank them all The opposition brought a no-confidence motion in 2018 also, I had said it was their floor test, not of govt, and was proven right The no-confidence motion is always lucky for us; this one also will ensure we will return with a record-breaking mandate There was a need for discussion on important bills aimed at the welfare of people, but the opposition was interested in politicking For the opposition, the party is above the country; they have more interest in hunger for power than hunger of people Centuries are being scored here (treasury benches) and no-balls are being bowled from there (opposition benches) Country watching you, but every time you have disappointed it The opposition couldn't prepare for a debate on the no-confidence motion despite so much time in hand, even its sympathisers are disappointed The tallest leader in Opposition ranks not on the list of speakers; Amit Shah's magnanimity that he promised time to Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury I don't know what was the compulsion of Congress for sidelining Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, maybe a call was made from Kolkata Our only resolution and goal should be the development of the country In 2014, a full majority govt came after three decades and we got a bigger mandate in 2019 because of our track record We gave a scam-free govt to youth, and gave them an opportunity to fly high; we also restored the pride of the country and took it to new heights Some trying to tarnish our image on the global stage, but the world knows the truth and won't be misled PM Modi says poverty going down in India, cites NITI Aayog and IMF data to state that country has almost got rid of extreme poverty Opposition has an 'ostrich-like approach', I thank its leaders for wearing black in House as I see that as 'kaala teeka' I convert abuses, and unparliamentary language hurled at me by opposition into tonic Opposition has 'secret power', anyone for whom it wishes ill is blessed instead Opposition said bad things about govt aerospace firm HAL but today it is touching new heights of success Opposition spread misgivings about LIC, but the insurance firm also touched new heights My tip to those interested in the stock market - invest in govt companies and your money will grow In our third term, India will become the third-largest economy in the world Oppn should ask how I'll make our economy the third largest in the world; if Cong thinks this will happen on its own then it has no vision The mantra of 'reform, perform and transform' as well as proper planning and hard work have taken the country to new heights When you'll bring a no-confidence motion in 2028, the country will be among the top three economies globally, this is our belief Congress and its friends have a history of doubting India's capabilities and prowess Congress and its friends used to trust Pakistan when it disowned acts of attacking our borders, sending terrorists into our territory Congress takes pride in amplifying false propaganda of any global survey tarnishing India's image Congress is so blinded by arrogance that it cannot see ground reality, and people have deep no-confidence in it People of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, UP, Gujarat, Bihar, Tripura, and Odisha have been declaring no-confidence in Congress for years I express sympathies with my opposition friends; they performed the last rites of UPA in Bengaluru You're trying to pass off the old vehicle as an electric one just by applying new paint Opposition needed 'NDA' to stay alive, they just added two 'I's to it due to their arrogance Opposition thinks it can increase its credibility by using INDIA name for an alliance Nothing is Congress' own, from its poll symbol to ideas, everything has been borrowed from someone else Congress adopted a flag similar to the national tricolour to add credibility, they also 'stole' Gandhi's surname for gains This is not INDIA but 'Ghamandia' alliance; everyone there wants to be 'groom', be PM Whenever circumstances will change, knives will be out in opposition alliance Our Constitution framers had criticised dynastic politics because it is harmful for common people's rights Congress likes 'parivarvaad', 'darbarvaad'; darbar system snatched rights of stalwarts like B R Ambedkar, Jagjivan Ram, Chandra Shekhar For years they have been launching 'failed product', every time it 'fails' Congress running 'loot ki dukaan', 'nafrat ka bazaar'; they sell partition, Emergency, atrocities and appeasement politics They know their new shop will be shut down soon 'Ghamandia' alliance wants an economy that will weaken country, pull it back by decades Opposition walks out amid PM Modi's reply to no-confidence motion debate in Lok Sabha; PM says they want to speak but cannot listen Had opposition been interested in discussing Manipur, we could have had a detailed discussion separately Home Minister called opposition for discussion; he spoke on Manipur in detail Wednesday but opposition only wants to do politics Heinous crimes committed against women in Manipur; Centre, state govt making all efforts to get culprits punished Entire country stands with the women of Manipur, this House is with them too I want to assure the people of Manipur that we will together find a solution and restore peace in the state Some people here were wishing for the 'death of Bharat Mata', how can they speak like this Congress' history has been one of disintegrating 'Maa Bharati' They have murdered the trust of the people of the northeast, wounds that keep appearing from time to time The root cause of problems in the Northeast is Congress and its politics Manipur had become a victim of ethnic clashes during the erstwhile Congress regime During Congress rule in Manipur temples used to be closed by evening, and it was impossible to worship PM Modi says his govt gave priority to the northeast, cites development works carried out in the region in the last nine years I compliment the opposition for listening to me and bringing a no-confidence motion in 2023 but they did so without any preparation I request the opposition to be better prepared when they bring a no-confidence motion in 2028 What has happened in Manipur is painful, but no one should play politics on it Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday initiated the debate on the motion which has turned into a heated argument between the Opposition and the Centre.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The Parliament has been witnessing a logjam over a number of issues, including the violence in Manipur, since the beginning of the Monsoon Session on July 20. The opposition leaders have been demanding a full-fledged discussion on the issue including a statement by the prime minister in the Parliament. Both houses -- Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha -- have seen repeated adjournments amid massive ruckus by the opposition leaders. Manipur had been on the boil for the last three months after ethnic clashes broke out between two tribal communities Meitis and Kukis, when the Manipur High Court asked the state government to consider adding one of the communities to the list of Scheduled Tribes. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals - Nagas and Kukis - constitute little over 40 per cent and reside in the hill districts. Over 170 people have been killed and thousands injured since the ethnic clashes broke out on May 3. (With inputs from PTI) By PTI NEW DELHI: A prisoner's right to dignity as well as mental and emotional health should be protected to enhance the chances of social re-integration post release, the Delhi High Court has said as it directed all jails here to depute a counsellor or psychiatrist for the benefit of inmates throughout the year. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said the prison administration should be sensitised about issues of mental and emotional health of inmates, and asked the Delhi State Legal Services Authority to regularly hold workshops for mental health therapies for the convicts. Long incarceration would deprive a convict of "positive emotions" and "satisfaction with life", the judge said. "While imprisonment restricts the right to liberty, it does not restrict other human rights of the convict. It is crucial to ensure that the right of prisoners to dignity and their mental and emotional health is protected so that chances of their social re-integration after their release from the prison are increased," said the court in a recent order. "In case a convict is found to be experiencing such mental and emotional health issues in prison, counselling or alternative therapies and meditation facilities be provided to the inmate. All the prisons in Delhi should have a counsellor/psychiatrist posted throughout the year who will be available to a convict who identifies or recognises his own emotional or mental health issue or it is identified by the concerned Superintendent Jail/Warden, who will produce such inmate for consultation/counselling before the psychiatrist," it directed. The court's order came on a petition for parole by a murder convict serving a life term. The convict's lawyer said since his arrest in 2013, he has continuously remained in jail. Refusing relief, the court noted that the petitioner's conduct has not been satisfactory in the jail and he invited punishments on 13 occasions for violating prison rules. It further said convicts with long incarceration might suffer from depression and other emotional disturbances which might affect their day-to-day behaviour. It thus directed that in case a convict in prison shows signs of mental health issues or is repeatedly being punished inside the prison, the administration should bring it to the notice of the psychiatrist concerned. The court said it was time to ensure that a convict becomes a law-abiding citizen upon his release, which can be achieved only if his mental health issues are recognized and attended to. "The life event of long incarceration will generally deprive the convict of positive emotions and satisfaction with life. Fear, anxiety, frustration and anger may drive such convicts to behave differently as they may consider it as a setback and may not be able to cope with it due to long incarceration," the court said. NEW DELHI: A prisoner's right to dignity as well as mental and emotional health should be protected to enhance the chances of social re-integration post release, the Delhi High Court has said as it directed all jails here to depute a counsellor or psychiatrist for the benefit of inmates throughout the year. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said the prison administration should be sensitised about issues of mental and emotional health of inmates, and asked the Delhi State Legal Services Authority to regularly hold workshops for mental health therapies for the convicts. Long incarceration would deprive a convict of "positive emotions" and "satisfaction with life", the judge said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "While imprisonment restricts the right to liberty, it does not restrict other human rights of the convict. It is crucial to ensure that the right of prisoners to dignity and their mental and emotional health is protected so that chances of their social re-integration after their release from the prison are increased," said the court in a recent order. "In case a convict is found to be experiencing such mental and emotional health issues in prison, counselling or alternative therapies and meditation facilities be provided to the inmate. All the prisons in Delhi should have a counsellor/psychiatrist posted throughout the year who will be available to a convict who identifies or recognises his own emotional or mental health issue or it is identified by the concerned Superintendent Jail/Warden, who will produce such inmate for consultation/counselling before the psychiatrist," it directed. The court's order came on a petition for parole by a murder convict serving a life term. The convict's lawyer said since his arrest in 2013, he has continuously remained in jail. Refusing relief, the court noted that the petitioner's conduct has not been satisfactory in the jail and he invited punishments on 13 occasions for violating prison rules. It further said convicts with long incarceration might suffer from depression and other emotional disturbances which might affect their day-to-day behaviour. It thus directed that in case a convict in prison shows signs of mental health issues or is repeatedly being punished inside the prison, the administration should bring it to the notice of the psychiatrist concerned. The court said it was time to ensure that a convict becomes a law-abiding citizen upon his release, which can be achieved only if his mental health issues are recognized and attended to. "The life event of long incarceration will generally deprive the convict of positive emotions and satisfaction with life. Fear, anxiety, frustration and anger may drive such convicts to behave differently as they may consider it as a setback and may not be able to cope with it due to long incarceration," the court said. Sudhir Suryawanshi By Express News Service MUMBAI: The son of Shiv Sena MLA Prakash Surve, who belongs to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's faction, was booked on Thursday over the kidnapping of a music company CEO at gunpoint. The victim was allegedly assaulted and coerced to settle a financial dispute with Manoj Mishra, the owner of another music company. The FIR against Prakash Surve's son, Raj Surve, and 14 others has been registered at Vanrai police station in Mumbai. The case was lodged after the music company CEO Rajkumar Singh filed a complaint, saying that he had been abused and threatened at the MLAs office. Mumbai police arrested Mishra and two other accused on Thursday, while a hunt for the others is on. Raj Surve has not been arrested yet. ALSO READ | Maharashtra journalist allegedly assaulted by goons linked to MLA Kishor Patil from CM Shinde's camp As per the FIR, the complainant, whose company lends loans to other firms, had a financial dispute with Mishra, who owns a music company Adishakti Private Limited. Mishra had availed loans from the complainant and had also signed an agreement. However, as per the FIR, Mishra used the loan funds for some other purpose instead of expanding his business. He allegedly wanted to end the agreement but the complainant demanded his money back. On August 9, the complainant was allegedly threatened over the phone and assaulted in his office by Raj Surves men. They then allegedly took him to the MLAs office in Dahisar at gunpoint and assaulted and threatened him there. Raj was with Mishra at the office and he asked the complainant to resolve his matter with Mishra and threatened that otherwise he would not let him go home, the FIR states. The police have collected CCTV footage from the complainants office that purportedly shows 10-15 people entering his office, assaulting the staff and forcibly taking him away. Later, the complainants family approached the police and managed to rescue him, following which a case was registered against Raj, Mishra, Padmakar, Vicky Shetty and several others on charges of kidnapping, assault and threatening under the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Arms Act. MUMBAI: The son of Shiv Sena MLA Prakash Surve, who belongs to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's faction, was booked on Thursday over the kidnapping of a music company CEO at gunpoint. The victim was allegedly assaulted and coerced to settle a financial dispute with Manoj Mishra, the owner of another music company. The FIR against Prakash Surve's son, Raj Surve, and 14 others has been registered at Vanrai police station in Mumbai. The case was lodged after the music company CEO Rajkumar Singh filed a complaint, saying that he had been abused and threatened at the MLAs office. Mumbai police arrested Mishra and two other accused on Thursday, while a hunt for the others is on. Raj Surve has not been arrested yet.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); ALSO READ | Maharashtra journalist allegedly assaulted by goons linked to MLA Kishor Patil from CM Shinde's camp As per the FIR, the complainant, whose company lends loans to other firms, had a financial dispute with Mishra, who owns a music company Adishakti Private Limited. Mishra had availed loans from the complainant and had also signed an agreement. However, as per the FIR, Mishra used the loan funds for some other purpose instead of expanding his business. He allegedly wanted to end the agreement but the complainant demanded his money back. On August 9, the complainant was allegedly threatened over the phone and assaulted in his office by Raj Surves men. They then allegedly took him to the MLAs office in Dahisar at gunpoint and assaulted and threatened him there. Raj was with Mishra at the office and he asked the complainant to resolve his matter with Mishra and threatened that otherwise he would not let him go home, the FIR states. The police have collected CCTV footage from the complainants office that purportedly shows 10-15 people entering his office, assaulting the staff and forcibly taking him away. Later, the complainants family approached the police and managed to rescue him, following which a case was registered against Raj, Mishra, Padmakar, Vicky Shetty and several others on charges of kidnapping, assault and threatening under the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Arms Act. Opinion / Columnist #ZimElection2023 "MR BIDEN WE'VE DONE THE DEAL": CHAMISA'S FANTASY SANCTIONS PHONE CALL TO THE US PRESIDENT According to a fantasy call that he shared in public, and which is captured on the attached video clip, Nelson Chamisa says, the next morning presumably after winning the pic.twitter.com/PA217HGbA1 Prof Jonathan Moyo (@ProfJNMoyo) August 9, 2023 According to a fantasy call that he shared in public, and which is captured on the attached video clip, Nelson Chamisa says, the next morning presumably after winning the election he swears by God that he's going to win even as the numbers tell a different story, he'll phone Joe Biden the next morning after winning the election to tell the US President:"Mr Biden, we've done a deal."Presumably, an Uncle Tom deal to reverse the land reform programme.As part of the fantasy deal, Chamisa says, after his call with Biden, "investors from America will come back," to Zimbabwe.Here are Chamisa's verbatim utterances on his strange fantasy call with Biden on a sanctions deal:"ZanuPF think [sic.] the problem is sanctions. We genuinely believe that sanctions are a symptom. The problem is leadership. Once we tick the boxes of leadership, sanctions will go away. The next morning, I'm going to lift [sic] my phone and say Mr Biden we've done the deal, let's fix the country. Let's do business. Investors will come back from America."Does Chamisa really believe that fantasising about fake conversations with US presidents is leadership? And, is he really serious that he wants to reduce dealing with sanctions in terms of his fantasies?In the 2018 election campaign, Nelson Chamisa fantasised that he had met with Donald Trump during a visit to the US and that Trump promised him USD 15 billion for Zimbabwe if he won the election.Chamisa's fantasy about a sanctions deal creates a can of worms for him, out of which two problems stand out.First, it is futile for Chamisa to fantasise about a secret sanctions deal with Biden when the objectives of the unilateral coercive US sanctions measures against Zimbabwe are a well known and documented open secret.There is no need for a fantasy.When the US Congress amended Zdera in August 2018, it included this:"SEC. 9. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON ENFORCEMENT OF SOUTHERN AFRI[1]CAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY TRIBUNAL RULINGS. It is the sense of Congress that the Government of Zimbabwe and the Southern African Development Community (referred to in this section as SADC'') should enforce the SADC tribunal rulings issued between 2007 to 2010, including 18 disputes involving employment, commercial, and human rights cases surrounding dispossessed Zimbabwean commercial farmers and agricultural companies."From this, it's hopeless for Chamisa to fantasise about sanctions as a symptom, when the US Congress has made it abundantly clear that the sanctions are in fact a coercive measure or foreign policy instrument to get not just Zimbabwe, but also Sadc to reverse Zimbabwe's land reform programme.When Chamisa gets back to reality from his fantasy call with Biden, he will realise that, for Zdera sanctions to be lifted, the pound of flesh that the US seeks is the revival and implementation of the long vacated and buried, so-called Sadc Tribunal rulings, meant to reverse the gains of Zimbabwe's historic land reform programme.Second, the fact that Chamisa is given to fantasies about being in conversations with the US President is embarrassing.In the 2018 election campaign, he related a fake conversation that he fantasised, having had with Trump in the US, in which he said the then US President had pledged USD 15 billion to him for Zimbabwe.Now Chamisa is fantasising about a phone call with President Biden over a "sanctions deal" under which US "investors will come back" to Zimbabwe.But why does Chamisa - who says he wants to be Zimbabwe's head of state - do this, in public and at election time?It's these strange US fantasies of his, that leave Chamisa open to the charge that he's a US puppet! By PTI NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the 'budget' for the proposed AIIMS hospital at Madurai in Tamil Nadu escalated by Rs 700 crore since land acquisition was delayed and that the state government should take the blame for it. Speaking on the debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman, amid slogan shouting by DMK members said the budget for the proposed hospital went up from Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 1,900 crore since land acquisition was delayed by Tamil Nadu. The DMK members shouted "Eppo" in Tamil demanding to know when the hospital would be built. The Minister replied in both English and Tamil. Sitharaman said, hence, the state government should take the blame and the Centre cannot be targeted for the delay. At the same time, during the coronavirus pandemic, she said site inspections could not happen and as a result, they (the state government) could not speed up the work. "I can understand the difficulty of the state government," she said adding she had "more facts" on Tamil Nadu and wanted the members to watch the television, even as some of them were staging a walkout apparently protesting against her. NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the 'budget' for the proposed AIIMS hospital at Madurai in Tamil Nadu escalated by Rs 700 crore since land acquisition was delayed and that the state government should take the blame for it. Speaking on the debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman, amid slogan shouting by DMK members said the budget for the proposed hospital went up from Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 1,900 crore since land acquisition was delayed by Tamil Nadu. The DMK members shouted "Eppo" in Tamil demanding to know when the hospital would be built.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The Minister replied in both English and Tamil. Sitharaman said, hence, the state government should take the blame and the Centre cannot be targeted for the delay. At the same time, during the coronavirus pandemic, she said site inspections could not happen and as a result, they (the state government) could not speed up the work. "I can understand the difficulty of the state government," she said adding she had "more facts" on Tamil Nadu and wanted the members to watch the television, even as some of them were staging a walkout apparently protesting against her. By Express News Service GUWAHATI: The Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) on Thursday said all Kuki-Zo tribals felt let down by Union home minister Amit Shahs comment in Lok Sabha on Wednesday as he linked the ethnic violence in Manipur to the influx of Kuki-Zo refugees from Myanmar. Three months of violence has led to the deaths of more than 130 Kuki-Zo tribals, displacement of 41,425 tribal civilians and complete physical and emotional separation of Meiteis and tribals. And the best explanation that the home minister can come up with is the entry of refugees from Myanmar, the ITLF said in a statement. It pointed out that Mizoram welcomed more than 40,000 refugees from Myanmar and displaced people from Manipur, and it is still the most peaceful state in the country. The Scheduled Tribe demand by the majority community, the government notification on forest reserves which would usurp tribals from their lands, and the demonizing of tribals by the CM (N Biren Singh) and radical Meitei intellectuals are the reasons why the trust deficit grew between Meiteis and tribals, which culminated in the sectarian clashes, the ITLF said. ALSO READ | 'I was forcefully pinned down,' says Meitei woman alleging gang-rape on May 3; files 'Zero FIR' It said accusing refugees, who are some of the most deprived and helpless sections in any community, of starting a conflict at this scale is just plain wrong. The ITLF expressed dismay that Shah was still defending the Manipur CM, who we consider is the chief architect of the violence. So many innocent people have died under his watch, and violence continues unabated after three months. Many of his own ministers have made submissions to the central government saying law and order has completely collapsed in the state. Despite all this, he is still being feted by the central government instead of being sacked, the tribal organisation said. It appealed to Shah to rise above party politics in dealing with the crisis in Manipur. Shah had on Wednesday said: After the military took over power in Myanmar in 2021, an organisation called Kuki Democratic Front (KDF) launched a movement for democracy. So, when the military there launched a crackdown against KDF, a lot of Kuki refugees started entering Manipur and Mizoram through the porous border. Thousands of them came. They settled down in jungles. This triggered concerns among people in other parts of Manipur about possible change in demography. GUWAHATI: The Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) on Thursday said all Kuki-Zo tribals felt let down by Union home minister Amit Shahs comment in Lok Sabha on Wednesday as he linked the ethnic violence in Manipur to the influx of Kuki-Zo refugees from Myanmar. Three months of violence has led to the deaths of more than 130 Kuki-Zo tribals, displacement of 41,425 tribal civilians and complete physical and emotional separation of Meiteis and tribals. And the best explanation that the home minister can come up with is the entry of refugees from Myanmar, the ITLF said in a statement. It pointed out that Mizoram welcomed more than 40,000 refugees from Myanmar and displaced people from Manipur, and it is still the most peaceful state in the country.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); The Scheduled Tribe demand by the majority community, the government notification on forest reserves which would usurp tribals from their lands, and the demonizing of tribals by the CM (N Biren Singh) and radical Meitei intellectuals are the reasons why the trust deficit grew between Meiteis and tribals, which culminated in the sectarian clashes, the ITLF said. ALSO READ | 'I was forcefully pinned down,' says Meitei woman alleging gang-rape on May 3; files 'Zero FIR' It said accusing refugees, who are some of the most deprived and helpless sections in any community, of starting a conflict at this scale is just plain wrong. The ITLF expressed dismay that Shah was still defending the Manipur CM, who we consider is the chief architect of the violence. So many innocent people have died under his watch, and violence continues unabated after three months. Many of his own ministers have made submissions to the central government saying law and order has completely collapsed in the state. Despite all this, he is still being feted by the central government instead of being sacked, the tribal organisation said. It appealed to Shah to rise above party politics in dealing with the crisis in Manipur. Shah had on Wednesday said: After the military took over power in Myanmar in 2021, an organisation called Kuki Democratic Front (KDF) launched a movement for democracy. So, when the military there launched a crackdown against KDF, a lot of Kuki refugees started entering Manipur and Mizoram through the porous border. Thousands of them came. They settled down in jungles. This triggered concerns among people in other parts of Manipur about possible change in demography. Narendra Sethi By Express News Service DEHRADUN: Monsoon rains have wreaked havoc once again in Uttarakhand since Tuesday night, causing the death of five people. This included two children who were killed in Gaurikund after being buried under the debris of a massive landslide. Rudraprayags district disaster management officer Nandan Singh Rajwar told this newspaper, Three children were buried under the debris due to a heavy landslide in Gaurikund (Gauri village) of Rudraprayag district. Two of them died while one child is undergoing treatment. Due to the heavy rains, many houses in Chuna Maheda village of Kotdwar are reported to be buried under debris. One person has reportedly died there. Three people were also killed in accidents due to heavy rains in Pithoragarh, Nainital and Rudrapur. In the Mangoli area near Nainital, a man died after he was swept away in a drain due to strong currents during rains. Thampi PV (57), son of Vasudevan, a resident of Chettikulgada village in Kattikulgada district of Kerala, fell into a ditch when a boulder fell on the BRO JCB he was driving while opening the road on Dhapa-Milam motorway in Munsiyari. He was rushed to the community health centre in Munsiyari in a BRO ambulance where doctors declared him brought dead. Speaking to this newspaper, State Disaster Response Force commandant Manikant Mishra said, Houses were flooded due to excessive waterlogging in Aravindnagar area of Sitarganj. The SDRF team reached the spot and with the help of rafts, around 200 people were rescued from submerged houses and shifted to a safer place. Uttarakhand has broken a 10-year record of rainfall in the last 24 hours, with the department issuing an orange alert for five districts including Dehradun and a yellow alert for the rest of the districts, said IMD sources. DEHRADUN: Monsoon rains have wreaked havoc once again in Uttarakhand since Tuesday night, causing the death of five people. This included two children who were killed in Gaurikund after being buried under the debris of a massive landslide. Rudraprayags district disaster management officer Nandan Singh Rajwar told this newspaper, Three children were buried under the debris due to a heavy landslide in Gaurikund (Gauri village) of Rudraprayag district. Two of them died while one child is undergoing treatment. Due to the heavy rains, many houses in Chuna Maheda village of Kotdwar are reported to be buried under debris. One person has reportedly died there. Three people were also killed in accidents due to heavy rains in Pithoragarh, Nainital and Rudrapur. In the Mangoli area near Nainital, a man died after he was swept away in a drain due to strong currents during rains.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); Thampi PV (57), son of Vasudevan, a resident of Chettikulgada village in Kattikulgada district of Kerala, fell into a ditch when a boulder fell on the BRO JCB he was driving while opening the road on Dhapa-Milam motorway in Munsiyari. He was rushed to the community health centre in Munsiyari in a BRO ambulance where doctors declared him brought dead. Speaking to this newspaper, State Disaster Response Force commandant Manikant Mishra said, Houses were flooded due to excessive waterlogging in Aravindnagar area of Sitarganj. The SDRF team reached the spot and with the help of rafts, around 200 people were rescued from submerged houses and shifted to a safer place. Uttarakhand has broken a 10-year record of rainfall in the last 24 hours, with the department issuing an orange alert for five districts including Dehradun and a yellow alert for the rest of the districts, said IMD sources. Ramashankar By Express News Service PATNA: In a significant development, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday arrested Rajri Priya, daughter-in-law of Manorama Devi, the alleged mastermind behind over Rs.1000 crore Srijan Scam in Bihar's Bhagalpur district. Rajni Priya was on the run ever since the central investigating agency took over the charge of the cases related to the misappropriation of government funds by fudging records between 2003 and 2014. The money was subsequently deposited in the unauthorized bank of the NGO, sources in the CBI said. Rajni Priya, also a key accused in the scam, was arrested from the Sahibabad area of Ghaziabad town adjacent to New Delhi. A special CBI court in Patna had issued a non-bailable warrant of arrest against Rajni Priya declaring her a proclaimed offender. After the death of Manorama Devi, the founder of the Bhagalpur-based NGO NGO Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti, Rajni Priya was made secretary of the NGO. The CBI took over the charge of the cases related to the scam in 2017 on the recommendation of the Bihar government. Sources said that altogether 24 cases were registered by the CBI against the office bearers of the NGO, bank officials, employees of the district collectorate, and others. Some building developers of the district headquarters town were also quizzed by the investigating officers. As per the FIRs, the officials of the said NGO entered into a conspiracy with officials of various banks, including Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank, and Bank of India for diversion of government funds into the accounts of the NGO by using forged documents. The CBI had filed numerous chargesheets in the case in which several persons, including a former district magistrate of Bhagalpur, have been named accused. It is alleged that the Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti, which was assigned to impart training to women, had pilfered government funds in connivance with bank officials and state government officials between 2003 and 2014, officials said. The alleged transfer and misuse of funds from government bank accounts to accounts of the NGO through a conspiracy hatched between government officials and office bearers of the NGO. The initial investigation carried out by the state police revealed that the NGO used to procure checkbooks of government officials from the banks and forged the signature of the district magistrate to transfer government funds to the accounts of the NGO. The CBI probe also found the involvement of officials of nationalized banks and government officials in the fraudulent withdrawal of funds from government bank accounts of Bhagalpur, Banka, and Saharsa districts. The founder of the NGO Manorama Devi had close connections in the corridors of power. PATNA: In a significant development, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday arrested Rajri Priya, daughter-in-law of Manorama Devi, the alleged mastermind behind over Rs.1000 crore Srijan Scam in Bihar's Bhagalpur district. Rajni Priya was on the run ever since the central investigating agency took over the charge of the cases related to the misappropriation of government funds by fudging records between 2003 and 2014. The money was subsequently deposited in the unauthorized bank of the NGO, sources in the CBI said. Rajni Priya, also a key accused in the scam, was arrested from the Sahibabad area of Ghaziabad town adjacent to New Delhi. A special CBI court in Patna had issued a non-bailable warrant of arrest against Rajni Priya declaring her a proclaimed offender.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); After the death of Manorama Devi, the founder of the Bhagalpur-based NGO NGO Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti, Rajni Priya was made secretary of the NGO. The CBI took over the charge of the cases related to the scam in 2017 on the recommendation of the Bihar government. Sources said that altogether 24 cases were registered by the CBI against the office bearers of the NGO, bank officials, employees of the district collectorate, and others. Some building developers of the district headquarters town were also quizzed by the investigating officers. As per the FIRs, the officials of the said NGO entered into a conspiracy with officials of various banks, including Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank, and Bank of India for diversion of government funds into the accounts of the NGO by using forged documents. The CBI had filed numerous chargesheets in the case in which several persons, including a former district magistrate of Bhagalpur, have been named accused. It is alleged that the Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti, which was assigned to impart training to women, had pilfered government funds in connivance with bank officials and state government officials between 2003 and 2014, officials said. The alleged transfer and misuse of funds from government bank accounts to accounts of the NGO through a conspiracy hatched between government officials and office bearers of the NGO. The initial investigation carried out by the state police revealed that the NGO used to procure checkbooks of government officials from the banks and forged the signature of the district magistrate to transfer government funds to the accounts of the NGO. The CBI probe also found the involvement of officials of nationalized banks and government officials in the fraudulent withdrawal of funds from government bank accounts of Bhagalpur, Banka, and Saharsa districts. The founder of the NGO Manorama Devi had close connections in the corridors of power. By PTI KOCHI: A non-consensual sex affirmative surgery on a minor would violate the child's dignity and privacy, Kerala High Court has held while dismissing a plea filed by the parents of a seven-year-old with ambiguous genitalia seeking permission for a genital reconstructive surgery to raise their child as a female. Justice V G Arun, in an order issued on August 7, said that intervention with an individual's right to choose sex or identity will definitely be an intrusion into that person's privacy and an affront to his/her dignity and freedom. The court, however, considering the parents' concerns over the health of the child, said necessary interventions can be made based on the recommendation by a "duly constituted medical board". It then directed the government to constitute a State Level Multidisciplinary Committee consisting of experts, which shall include a paediatrician/pediatric endocrinologist, pediatric surgeon and child psychiatrist/child psychologist. The court also directed the government to issue an order regulating sex-selective surgeries on infants and children within three months. "Until such time, sex-selective surgery shall be permitted only based on the opinion of the State Level Multidisciplinary Committee that the surgery is essential to save the life of the child/infant," the court said. The court observed that the report of chromosomal analysis was not sufficient for granting the permission as the possibility of a child with Karyotype-46XX developing male-like tendencies in adulthood cannot be ruled out. "I find that, grant of permission for conducting genital reconstructive surgery would impinge the rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India and conduct of the surgery without consent would violate the child's dignity and privacy. Granting such permission may also result in severe emotional and psychological issues if, on attaining adolescence, the child develops orientation towards the gender, other than the one to which the child was converted through surgical intervention," the court said in its order. Meanwhile, the court also said that in the instant case, the medical board shall examine the petitioners' child within two months and decide whether the child is facing any life-threatening situation by reason of the ambiguous genitalia. "If so, permission can be granted for carrying out the surgery," the court said. It further said that the right of a human being to choose his/her sex or gender identity, which is one of the most basic aspects of self-determination, dignity and freedom, has to be recognised. KOCHI: A non-consensual sex affirmative surgery on a minor would violate the child's dignity and privacy, Kerala High Court has held while dismissing a plea filed by the parents of a seven-year-old with ambiguous genitalia seeking permission for a genital reconstructive surgery to raise their child as a female. Justice V G Arun, in an order issued on August 7, said that intervention with an individual's right to choose sex or identity will definitely be an intrusion into that person's privacy and an affront to his/her dignity and freedom. The court, however, considering the parents' concerns over the health of the child, said necessary interventions can be made based on the recommendation by a "duly constituted medical board".googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); It then directed the government to constitute a State Level Multidisciplinary Committee consisting of experts, which shall include a paediatrician/pediatric endocrinologist, pediatric surgeon and child psychiatrist/child psychologist. The court also directed the government to issue an order regulating sex-selective surgeries on infants and children within three months. "Until such time, sex-selective surgery shall be permitted only based on the opinion of the State Level Multidisciplinary Committee that the surgery is essential to save the life of the child/infant," the court said. The court observed that the report of chromosomal analysis was not sufficient for granting the permission as the possibility of a child with Karyotype-46XX developing male-like tendencies in adulthood cannot be ruled out. "I find that, grant of permission for conducting genital reconstructive surgery would impinge the rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India and conduct of the surgery without consent would violate the child's dignity and privacy. Granting such permission may also result in severe emotional and psychological issues if, on attaining adolescence, the child develops orientation towards the gender, other than the one to which the child was converted through surgical intervention," the court said in its order. Meanwhile, the court also said that in the instant case, the medical board shall examine the petitioners' child within two months and decide whether the child is facing any life-threatening situation by reason of the ambiguous genitalia. "If so, permission can be granted for carrying out the surgery," the court said. It further said that the right of a human being to choose his/her sex or gender identity, which is one of the most basic aspects of self-determination, dignity and freedom, has to be recognised. By PTI WASHINGTON: Rejani Raveendran, a 40-year-old India-born college student has announced her bid for Senate in the US state of Wisconsin, becoming the first Republican to officially contest against Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin. Raveendran, chair of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point College Republicans, on Tuesday officially launched her run against 61-year-old Baldwin in Portage County. The announcement made Raveendran the first Republican Senate candidate in Wisconsin with just under a year to go until the primary, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. "I have met lots of politicians, lobbyists, and policymakers. Many of them were there for 20, 30 and 40 years. We elect them, send them and they become so comfortable in DC and forget all about us, why we (have) sent them there," she said on Tuesday while announcing her candidacy. Raveendran's longshot entry would indeed add a new face to the race. The mother of three has not been involved in politics until recently. She joined the Stevens Point College Republicans this year, she said, and only decided to run for Senate after her trip to Washington earlier this summer. She plans to graduate with a bachelor's degree in political science next year. During her interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last week, she said, "I see what's going on in our country," noting she recently visited Washington. "I realised how much DC is (dominated) by these polished politicians. I realised there is a need for a change in our political system. We need some new faces with new ideas," she said. "I am not a politician, and I do not want to be a politician," said Raveendran, who immigrated to the US in 2011 from India, where she was a nurse and midwife. She lived in California before moving to Wisconsin in 2017. "I'm a regular person who knows the situations in regular people's lives," she added. Raveendran became a US citizen in 2015. That means she will have been a citizen for 9 years in 2024 - the minimum number of years needed to be a Senator, media reports said. Raveendran said her campaign will focus on securing the border and cracking down on illicit drugs like fentanyl, stopping illegal immigration and advocating for "medical freedom", suggesting she is opposed to vaccine mandates. Republican US Representative Tom Tiffany last week announced he will not run against Baldwin, and Gallagher, Republicans' top choice candidate, has also declined to run. Raveendran has said that she supported former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 and is supporting him again in 2024. WASHINGTON: Rejani Raveendran, a 40-year-old India-born college student has announced her bid for Senate in the US state of Wisconsin, becoming the first Republican to officially contest against Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin. Raveendran, chair of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point College Republicans, on Tuesday officially launched her run against 61-year-old Baldwin in Portage County. The announcement made Raveendran the first Republican Senate candidate in Wisconsin with just under a year to go until the primary, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); "I have met lots of politicians, lobbyists, and policymakers. Many of them were there for 20, 30 and 40 years. We elect them, send them and they become so comfortable in DC and forget all about us, why we (have) sent them there," she said on Tuesday while announcing her candidacy. Raveendran's longshot entry would indeed add a new face to the race. The mother of three has not been involved in politics until recently. She joined the Stevens Point College Republicans this year, she said, and only decided to run for Senate after her trip to Washington earlier this summer. She plans to graduate with a bachelor's degree in political science next year. During her interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last week, she said, "I see what's going on in our country," noting she recently visited Washington. "I realised how much DC is (dominated) by these polished politicians. I realised there is a need for a change in our political system. We need some new faces with new ideas," she said. "I am not a politician, and I do not want to be a politician," said Raveendran, who immigrated to the US in 2011 from India, where she was a nurse and midwife. She lived in California before moving to Wisconsin in 2017. "I'm a regular person who knows the situations in regular people's lives," she added. Raveendran became a US citizen in 2015. That means she will have been a citizen for 9 years in 2024 - the minimum number of years needed to be a Senator, media reports said. Raveendran said her campaign will focus on securing the border and cracking down on illicit drugs like fentanyl, stopping illegal immigration and advocating for "medical freedom", suggesting she is opposed to vaccine mandates. Republican US Representative Tom Tiffany last week announced he will not run against Baldwin, and Gallagher, Republicans' top choice candidate, has also declined to run. Raveendran has said that she supported former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 and is supporting him again in 2024. By AFP BAMAKO: France and Mali have suspended issuing visas to each other's citizens, in a heightening of a row that has already prompted a French military withdrawal from its former Sahel ally, diplomats said Thursday. The French embassy earlier this week suspended issuance of new visas in the Malian capital Bamako after placing all of the country in a "red zone" where it is strongly advised not to travel, they said. Mali's junta responded by freezing new visas for French citizens at its embassy in Paris in an act of "reciprocity", the Malian foreign ministry said. On August 7, the French foreign ministry issued an update on its guidance for travel. "In the current context of strong regional tensions, all travel to Mali is strongly disadvised. French citizens in Mali are urged to show the greatest vigilance," it said. The higher security classification has entailed a "reorganisation" of services at the French embassy, which means it is "unable to issue visas until further notice", according to a French online visa application site. France and Mali fell out after the military seized power in Bamako in 2020, ousting elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita over failures to stem a bloody jihadist insurgency. As the dispute escalated and the junta brought in Russian paramilitaries, France began to pull out its anti-jihadist force, under a phased withdrawal that ended last year. The bilateral spat has coincided with a surge of regional tensions sparked by a coup on July 26 in neighbouring Niger, a key French ally. BAMAKO: France and Mali have suspended issuing visas to each other's citizens, in a heightening of a row that has already prompted a French military withdrawal from its former Sahel ally, diplomats said Thursday. The French embassy earlier this week suspended issuance of new visas in the Malian capital Bamako after placing all of the country in a "red zone" where it is strongly advised not to travel, they said. Mali's junta responded by freezing new visas for French citizens at its embassy in Paris in an act of "reciprocity", the Malian foreign ministry said.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-8052921-2'); }); On August 7, the French foreign ministry issued an update on its guidance for travel. "In the current context of strong regional tensions, all travel to Mali is strongly disadvised. French citizens in Mali are urged to show the greatest vigilance," it said. The higher security classification has entailed a "reorganisation" of services at the French embassy, which means it is "unable to issue visas until further notice", according to a French online visa application site. France and Mali fell out after the military seized power in Bamako in 2020, ousting elected president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita over failures to stem a bloody jihadist insurgency. As the dispute escalated and the junta brought in Russian paramilitaries, France began to pull out its anti-jihadist force, under a phased withdrawal that ended last year. The bilateral spat has coincided with a surge of regional tensions sparked by a coup on July 26 in neighbouring Niger, a key French ally. Locals in Thailand have commended a caring teacher known as Suputtra Linthong for saving 19 puppies that had been abandoned in a flooded woodland and left to drown. On August 8, Linthong received a call from a friend informing her that the animals had been abandoned close to the Ban Non Por Daeng School in Nong Bua Lamphu. She risked the torrential rain to save the animals. The two waded through the muck and discovered the 19 helpless puppies shivering in the cold and soaking wet in a pool. Two crates were used to transport the puppies to Suputtras residence, where they were housed while the friends searched for adoptive parents. Supputra took the puppies to the Nong Bua Lamphu Pet Health Centre to be examined before deciding to part with them, where it was discovered that they were in good health. She said: I will deliver them to the owners free of charge in Nong Bua Lamphu province and surrounding areas, just like I used to find homes for dogs, to ensure that the puppies are well taken care of. Pictures of the cute litter quickly went viral online, and Supputra soon became inundated with requests from people who wanted to adopt the puppies. As of August 9, all 19 puppies have been adopted, local media reported. The yearly monsoon rainy season is about to begin in Thailand and neighbouring South-East Asian nations. During this time, temperatures climb, followed by intense afternoon downpours that cause widespread flash floods. Supputra urged pet owners to find a shelter or adopter rather than irresponsibly discarding their animal pals, especially during these conditions. She said: All animals have souls, just like ours. If you dont love them, dont hurt or discard them. UST Launches 2023 'D3CODE' the Third Edition of India's Largest Hackathon for College and University Students D3CODE is a UST initiative that seeks to provide a platform for students that empowers them to solve the most pressing real-world problems and test their passion for innovation, problem-solving, design thinking, and programming skills. This year's theme is "Exploring Generative AI: Crafting the Future" and participants can register for the 2023 hackathon on the D3 website or HackerEarth before August 15.The first D3CODE hackathon was held in 2019 and most recently occurred in 2022. This year's competition is focused on developing implementable Generative AI solutions. It will be held in the run-up to UST's annual D3 technology conference at UST's state-of-the-art technology campus in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Students pursuing bachelor's or master's degree courses will be eligible to participate and compete for a share of the 19 lakhs INR offered in prize money."We are excited to welcome the brightest and most promising students in India to participate in D3CODE 2023. At a time when dynamic AI driven solutions are reshaping life, we look forward to seeing how the next generation will take on real problems to solve some of the biggest challenges in the industry creatively. With a focus on generative AI, this year's participants will have the opportunity to highlight their ability to innovate at our beautiful campus in Thiruvananthapuram," said Niranjan Ramsunder, Chief Technology Officer, UST.D3CODE 2023 key dates:* Registration and idea submission - closes on August 15* Round 1 - Programming challenge - August 18 - August 27* Top 10 Shortlist announcement - August 30* Round 2 - Video interview - August 31 - September 14* Invitation to the shortlisted team for the finale - September 15* Onsite finale - September 30 - October 1* Winners announcement - October 1D3CODE 2023 is comprised of three qualifying rounds culminating in an onsite Hackathon. The top five teams will be invited to the final in-person Hackathon at the UST Thiruvananthapuram campus, a 24-hour contest where qualifying teams build and present prototypes of their ideas to a panel of judges. The first prize winning team will be rewarded with seven lakhs Indian rupees, the second prize team will receive five lakhs INR, and the third prize team will receive three lakhs INR, while the other two teams will receive honorary mentions and two lakhs INR each. In addition, each member of these five finalist teams will receive a job offer from UST at one of its India locations, and the first prize winning team will have the opportunity to participate in the 2023 UST D3 conference.About USTFor more than 23 years, UST has worked side by side with the world's best companies to make a real impact through transformation. Powered by technology, inspired by people, and led by our purpose, we partner with our clients from design to operation. Through our nimble approach, we identify their core challenges, and craft disruptive solutions that bring their vision to life. With deep domain expertise and a future-proof philosophy, we embed innovation and agility into our clients' organizations--delivering measurable value and lasting change across industries, and around the world. Together, with over 30,000 employees in 30+ countries, we build for boundless impact--touching billions of lives in the process. Visit us at www.UST.comMedia Contacts, UST:Tinu Cherian Abraham+1 415-9857Merrick Laravea+1 416-6212Neha Misri+91-9284726602media.relations@ust.comMedia Contacts, U.S.:S&C PR+1-646.941.9139media@scprgroup.comMakovskyust@makovsky.comMedia Contacts, U.K.:FTI ConsultingUST@fticonsulting.comLogo https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1422658/UST_Logo.jpg(ANI | Posted on 09 August 2023, 1692576970 172O71O250O157) Florian Hurel Opens Premium Salon, 'Florian Hurel Hair Couture - A Heaven of Luxury' Florian is one of the most sought-after hair and make-up stylist in Bollywood and has styled the likes of Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone. He has now come up with a brand-new salon called 'Florian Hurel Hair Couture - A Heaven of Luxury' in South Mumbai.Talking about the same, Florian Hurel says, "The unique part of coming with FHHC is to elevate exciting hair artists to become their own owners by being associated with my business development. For too long, hair artists across India have been undermined and it's time for me to give elevation to this industry. I feel certain need to change something that isn't right about the industry. I also wanted to bring a very premium hair salon in the country such as a salon on the Champs Elysees of Paris or like NYC 5th avenue. The target was to have the bestest of the industry to work under the same roof and create magic."He adds, "I had always imagined myself having a beautiful place in Mumbai. The concept is made over 20 years of hard work and experience travelling around the world. We are offering all the best hair facilities and skin/nails."While services are priced high, it's actually premium quality for money that he is offering. "My haircut will be charged at 1000 USD for an appointment. An entire day will be given to the salon to cut and colour client's hair. It's based on the theory of exclusive time for exclusive clients. We are expecting a premium clientele. Everyone is welcome to step in and get their services done," he says.Meanwhile, he also runs his hair and make-up academy called Florian Hurel Academy, in Mumbai, which helps budding stylists set a career path for themselves. He adds, "I so far like what I am doing in Mumbai and will continue working very hard to create a possibility for other hair artists and professionals. I have strong plans and a strong vison." Florian Hurel Hair couture was launched on Sunday 6th August at Walkeshwar and was attended by Tamannaah Bhatia, Vaani Kapoor, Shirley Setia, Aaditi Pohankar, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Arjan Bajwa, Sriti Jha, Parth Jindal, Vishal Kalra, Kristina Patel, Zarir Meherji and Jashmina Jain.For more information, please visit florianhurelhaircouture.com.(ANI | Posted on 09 August 2023, 1692576970 172O70O251O87) A constitutional culture allows citizens to hold policymakers to account: Justice B.V. Nagarathna, Judge, Supreme Court, at JGU's 12th Convocation The Presidential Address at the Convocation was given by Justice B.V. Nagarathna, Judge, Supreme Court of India on the subject of 'Nurturing our Constitutional Culture A Higher Calling'.Justice Nagarathna congratulated the graduating students and said, "JGU has become a role model for excellence in higher education amongst leading institutions in the world. Our country India, or Bharat, is not just a piece in history or geography. It is a nation of over a billion people with over a billion dreams. It is my firm conviction that one of the binding factors is the Indian Constitution - a legal system committed to rule of law and an organised hierarchy of courts with a Supreme Court at the apex. Our core democratic institutions are vital intermediaries between citizens and government that serve both the popular rule and the rule of law."One critical institution that has been absent from these conversations, namely our colleges and universities, which are indispensable to our liberal democracy guided by the rule of law. Universities are critical to the democratic process and they must purposefully and consciously embrace their role as one of the stewards of our constitutional culture. Constitutional Culture contains the attitudes, aspirations and sentiments of the citizens and civic values which include the commitment to the ideals of tolerance and equality, that provide the standard against which citizens hold policies and policy makers to account.She served as a judge of the Karnataka High Court from 2008 to 2021. She has delivered a number of significant judgments relating to commercial and constitutional law in Karnataka. She will become the first woman Chief Justice of India in 2027.The Founding Chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University, Naveen Jindal, declared the Opening of the Convocation and addressed the august gathering, ""It is a momentous occasion today as we celebrate the achievements of our graduating students. You will embark on a new chapter in your life, and I stand before you with a profound sense of admiration and hope, as each one of you holds the potential to shape the destiny of our nation and the world at large."A dream followed by focused action will become our reality. In the India of our dreams, every child will have access to quality education. We need to live in a world where people trust each other and also feel safe. To achieve that goal, we all need to play our role in a fair and just manner, with passion and commitment. JGU was established as a tribute to my father Shri O.P. Jindal, who was a pioneering industrialist and a passionate philanthropist who worked hard for the cause of India's development. He believed that education is the best gift that can be bestowed on anyone."Professor C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor, presented the University Report and welcomed the gathering, "To fulfil the vision of the National Education Policy 2020 and to promote philanthropy in higher education, we need more enlightened and transformative business leaders like Mr. Naveen Jindal. Let us celebrate and witness together the proud moment of the graduation ceremony of the class of 2023."To the graduating students, I say with great humility that as you leave the portals of JGU, always remember that you can do more than others would like you to believe. We have always maintained that pluralistic thoughts and diversity of ideas is the essence of university life and learning. We will continue to promote this as a part of our effort, and I sincerely hope you will make the best use of this opportunity."The Convocation Address was given by Dr Joanna Newman MBE FRSA, Chief Executive & Secretary General, Association of Commonwealth Universities, United Kingdom.In her inspiring speech, she said, "It gives me great pleasure to be here in-person to commemorate the 12th Convocation Ceremony and Founder's Day of O.P. Jindal Global University, an institution I have come to know well and deeply admire. It is even more special to have an opportunity to deliver the Convocation Address to the class of 2023, in the presence of Honourable Mrs. Justice BV Nagarathana, Judge Supreme Court of India, Mr. Naveen Jindal, Chancellor and Professor C Raj Kumar, Founding Vice-Chancellor of OP Jindal Global University."My best wishes to the graduates who will soon go out into the world, and make a difference, armed with a truly world-class education from one of India's finest higher education institutions. JGU's quest for institutional excellence, supported by an unwavering focus on multidisciplinarity, excellence in research & teaching, community service, nurturing socially responsible leaders and respect for the environment and sustainability makes the institution a role model for universities in India and across the Commonwealth. The ACU, we shares many of JGU's core values and is proud to have the institution as one of our most highly engaged members in India."The Convocation ceremony started with a symbolic academic procession and featured musical performances. More than 2700 students of the 9 out of 12 schools and JIBS institute of JGU were conferred degrees by the Chancellor. The best performing students of the Graduating Class of 2023 were honoured with the Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals.The vote of thanks was given by Professor Dabiru Sridhar Patnaik, Registrar, O.P. Jindal Global University, who also initiated the Convocation Proceedings.(IANS | Posted on 09 August 2023, 1692576971 172O70O246O88) British High Commission organises reception for Chevening scholars This year's scholars include 22 women and 22 men, and over 50 per cent of the cohort hail from non-metro cities."This year's send-off for @CheveningFCDO 2023-2024 Scholarship was extra special. Equal representation of female and male scholars. Over 50% of scholars from non-metro cities. Our best to the next cohort of Cheveners from India for their exciting education journey in the UK," the British High Commission in India said on Twitter.https//twitter.com/UKinIndia/status/1688922599760560129?s=20Chevening is the UK Government's flagship international award scheme and India receives the largest number of awards in the world - benefiting over 3,700 scholars and fellows since 1983. The Chevening Scholarship offers successful applicants full financial support for a one-year Masters at any UK university.This year's cohort includes five scholars who have been co-sponsored by the Adani group to study artificial intelligence, five scholars co-sponsored by the TVS Motor group for masters in STEM, three scholars from the inaugural Chevening Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Munda Scholarship co-sponsored by the Jharkhand Government, three scholars co-sponsored by HSBC India and one scholar each co-sponsored by HUL India and Duolingo.The British High Commissioner to India, Alex Ellis congratulated the scholars and encouraged more students to take up the opportunity to study in the UK."Congratulations to the Chevening scholars on the next stage of their education journey in the UK. It is a fantastic opportunity to study in the UK at some of the world's leading universities," he said.The British envoy added, "It was great to meet this year's cohort; to get to know their stories and ambitions. Travelling to India as an 18-year-old was a life-changing experience for me. I would encourage more of India's best and brightest to take up this opportunity to study in the UK. The next application window will open in mid-September."(ANI | Posted on 09 August 2023, 1692576971 162O158O110O254) By Kirsty Needham (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Thursday during a visit to Papua New Guinea that the United States was not seeking a permanent base in the Pacific country but would boost the nation's capability under a new defence agreement. Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the United States signed a defence cooperation agreement in May that sets a framework for the U.S. to refurbish PNG ports and airports for military and civilian use over 15 years. Austin met PNG Prime Minister James Marape on the first visit by a U.S. defence chief, to discuss deepening ties and announce a U.S. Coast Guard vessel would arrive in August under a separate maritime law enforcement deal. French President Emmanuel Macron will arrive in PNG, a resource-rich but largely undeveloped nation north of Australia, on Thursday evening, the first visit by a French leader. Macron warned in a speech on Thursday in neighbouring Vanuatu of a "new imperialism" appearing in the Pacific region, testing the maritime and financial sovereignty of small nations. "Foreign ships fish illegally here. In the region, many loans with Leonine conditions strangle up development," he said. The United States and its allies are seeking to deter Pacific Islands nations from establishing security ties with China, a major infrastructure lender to the region, a rising concern amid tension over Taiwan, and after Beijing signed a security pact with Solomon Islands. The U.S. Coast Guard is boosting its presence in the region under bilateral agreements to patrol the vast exclusive economic zones of island states, although the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, with closer ties to Beijing, have blocked U.S. Coast Guard port calls. Marape said PNG's second-largest city of Lae, a major cargo port, has been designated as a U.S. base for disaster management. "I just want to be clear, we are not seeking a permanent base in PNG," Austin told a press conference in the capital, Port Moresby. Story continues The text of the defence agreement shows that it allows the staging of U.S. forces and equipment in PNG. Austin said the two countries would modernise PNG's defence force and boost interoperability. "Our goal is to make sure we strengthen PNG's ability to defend itself and protect its interest," he said. PNG's parliament has yet to ratify the defence deal, which has been questioned by some opposition politicians concerned about upsetting major trading partner China. Marape said his government prioritised diplomacy. "In the Pacific we are not about war, we are about peace, tolerance and of course promoting our values of democracy, Christianity ... The USA has always been showing that character also in their global footprint," he said. "USA do not need PNG's ground to be a launching pad," he told reporters in response to questions. "They have bases in Philippines, in Korea, elsewhere, much closer to China," he added. (Reporting by Kirsty Needham and Alasdair Pal in Sydney; additional reporting by Michel Rose in Paris. Editing by Tom Hogue and Michael Perry) VST Tillers Tractors Ltd. Introduces Series 9 The company, with the aim of further establishing its leadership position in the 4WD Compact Tractor segment in the country, designed and developed the new series of tractors at its Hosur plant. The 6 new models, in the range of 18HP to 36HP will be available from this month itself. The tractors are named, starting with "9", VST 918, VST 922, VST 927, VST 929, VST 932, VST 939 .Series 9 by VST is "The Most Advanced Compact Range" with international design and technological integration to address the growing needs of farm mechanization in Orchard, Horticulture as well as Traditional Agriculture Crops and non- agriculture field. The Segment's first features in the industry will make Series 9 as the right choice for aspiring Farmers.VST's new multiutility compact tractors have several firsts to their credit including an independent PTO, MID PTO, Reverse PTO, fully Synchromesh Gearbox, Electro-Hydraulic Controls, and Dual Track width Option with selective models. By adopting advanced technology, the new range provides increased comfort for the operator. The EHC feature enables the driver to control the implements with the touch of a button. Its narrowest track width with Dual options and short turning radius allows farmers to navigate narrow spaces easily while working with different crops, considerably increasing productivity and reducing crop damage.VST's feature-filled Series 9 tractor range comes with a state-of-the-art design and optimal dimensions making it the REAL LIGHT WEIGHT Tractor. Operating these tractors is very easy and hassle-free. The series is equipped with a best-in-Class Engine delivering best-in-class power, torque, and mileage.The ergonomics of the new VST Series 9 Tractors include raised platform, a premium look, projector headlamps, a heat protector shield, a new-generation instrument cluster, deluxe seat, and a short turning radius. These versatile tractors are suitable for a wide range of applications and can be used with tillers, rotavators, MB plough, ridger, duck foot cultivators, sprayers, loaders, haulage, thresher, genset, and many more.Talking about the launch, Antony Cherukara, CEO, VST Tillers Tractors Ltd. said, "VST's compact tractor delivers best-in-class performance in the segment. The launch of the new Series 9 tractors is in line with VST's commitment towards Farm Mechanization of multiple crops and enriching the lives of Indian farmers. With the Indian farming community embracing newer technologies, which are innovative and efficient, our Series 9 Range will be the most advanced and versatile tractor offering in its segment and is developed to deliver a winning formula of "Extra Power - Extra Saving - Extra Comfort" for better earnings for Indian farmers.""With this launch, we now have a complete range of compact tractors, and we are confident that these products will further cement our leadership position in the compact tractor market."Progressing on the path of exponential growth by adopting a Fast, Frugal & Future ready approach, a premium series of VST-Zetor will also be launched in the coming months to offer a wide range of products to the farmers and business associates.VST Tillers Tractors Limited. was established in the year 1967 by the VST Group of companies. With a legacy of more than 55 years, VST continues to drive farm mechanization and empowerment of Indian farmers. VST Tillers Tractors Ltd is one of the fastest-growing brands in the agriculture segment and commands a leadership position in power tillers with more than 70% Market share and pioneer in 4WD compact tractors segment and is amongst the leading producers of the other category of Tractors, Engines, Transmission, Power Reaper, and Precision Components. VST also exports products to European, Asian, and African markets. VST Tractors are marketed under the 'FIELDTRAC' brand in various markets of the European Union meeting the latest EU standards.The company crossed the milestone of Rs. 1000 crore revenue during FY 2022-23 and is on track to become a Rs 3000 crore global brand in diversified farm mechanization products and solutions by 2026, as per their 5X Vision.With its focus on Research and Development, the company has made significant investments in R&D to drive continuous innovation. Other than process improvisations, product improvements, and new product introduction the organization has built a strong foundation of transformation to accelerate growth by undertaking strategic initiatives, new business prospects, Global ventures, and brand initiatives.For more details, please visit: www.vsttractors.com.(ANI | Posted on 09 August 2023, 1692576971 162O158O87O138) INS Visakhapatnam, INS Trikand arrive in Dubai to conduct bilateral exercise 'Zayed Talwar' with UAE Navy The two ships are visiting Port Rashid from August 8 to August 11 and will be commanded by Captain Ashok Rao and Captain Pramod G Thomas respectively, the Ministry of Defence said in an official statement on Wednesday."During the visit, the ships will undertake professional interactions with UAE Naval Force on multiple elements of maritime operations," according to the statement.They will further share best practices to enhance cooperation and strengthen ties between the two navies.Moreover, according to the statement, this visit will boost the maritime partnership between the two navies and foster a common understanding of the security challenges in the region.The ships have entered in Dubai with the aim of cooperative engagement and maritime cooperation with regional countries.The Indian Navy took to Twitter and said, "India-UAE #BridgesofFriendship Indigenous guided missile destroyer #INSVisakhapatnam with FOCWF embarked & ASW stealth frigate #INSTrikand are in #Dubai as part of #IndianNavy's ops deployment towards co-operative engagement & maritime cooperation with regional countries. @IN_WNC"https//twitter.com/indiannavy/status/1689238682174394368?s=20Earlier, on Tuesday, Indian Embassy in UAE took to its official Twitter and said the ships arrived at Port Rashid for a bilateral exercise with UAE Navy."Indian Embassy in UAE took to its official Twitter and said, "Two ships of the #IndianNavy - INS Visakhapatnam and INS Trikand arrived at Port Rashid, #Dubai for a bilateral exercise with #UAENavy. The exercise aims to share best practices and increase synergies between the two Navies. #IndiaUAE" the tweet said.https//twitter.com/indembabudhabi/status/1688957213824495642?s=46&t=TbrKHKgG29uXA1CMFN38PwIndia and the UAE established diplomatic relations in 1972 and UAE opened its Embassy in Delhi in 1972 whereas, India opened its Embassy in Abu Dhabi in 1973, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.The traditionally strong bilateral relations enjoyed by India and UAE received impetus with the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to UAE on August 16-17, 2015 which marked the beginning of a new strategic partnership between the two countries.Bilateral Defence Interaction between India and UAE has been steadily growing in accordance with other aspects of the bilateral relationship.There have been regular high-level & functional level exchanges between the two countries. The ships of the navies of both countries have regularly made port calls to enhance bilateral defence cooperation.(ANI | Posted on 09 August 2023, 1692576972 162O158O111O133) PM Modi to reply to the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha "The PM will be present in the House tomorrow to reply to the no-confidence motion," the Union minister told the Lower House.Just before the adjournment of the House, the Union Minister confirmed the same.The opposition moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government on July 26 which was taken up by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.However, Modi's government won't lose the vote as his Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies have a majority in the Lok Sabha.Any Lok Sabha MP, who has the support of 50 colleagues, can, at any point of time, introduce a motion of no-confidence against the Council of Ministers.Thereafter, a discussion on the motion takes place. MPs who support the motion highlight the government's shortcomings, and the Treasury Benches respond to the issues they raise. Ultimately, voting takes place and if the motion is successful, the government is forced to vacate the office.Notably, the NDA has a commendable majority with a number of 331 MPs out of which the BJP has 303 MPs while the combined strength of the Opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A is 144. The numbers of unaligned parties' MPs are 70 in the Lower House.This is the second time Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing a no-confidence motion.The first such motion against the Modi government was introduced in 2018 over granting a special category status to Andhra Pradesh which was later defeated.However, the discussion over the motion has been held on August 8 and August 9.Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday initiated the debate on the motion which later turned into a heated argument between Opposition and the Centre.Gogoi, while speaking in House said that the Opposition was compelled to move the motion to break the 'maun vrat' of the PM and further asked three questions to the PM."Three questions to the PM--Why did he not go to Manipur yet? Rahul Gandhi went there, MPs from different parties, part of I.N.D.I.A went there; Union Home Minister went there and MoS Home also went, but being the PM of the country, why Modi didn't Modi go to the state? The second question is- why it took 80 days for Modi ji to speak on Manipur? When he spoke, he spoke only for 30 seconds. After that too, there is no sympathetic word from Modi ji, nor has he appealed for peace there. Ministers are saying 'We will speak on the issue'; they should do that, and no one has stopped them to speak, but ministers' words do not hold as much significance as Modi ji's does. If Mr Modi takes an initiative for peace, the step would be considered as a strong one which cannot be done by any minister," Gogoi said.He further questioned why the PM has not sacked Manipur CM yet."My third question is why the PM has not sacked Manipur CM yet. When you had to do politics in Gujarat, you changed the CM and that too two times. When there were elections in Uttarakhand you changed the CM several times. When the elections were approaching in Tripura, you changed the CM there too. So, why are you blessing the Manipur CM who himself has confessed that there was an intelligence failure because of him," Gogoi said on Tuesday.(ANI | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576972 172O70O250O5) "Doing politics over Manipur is shameful": Amit Shah in Lok Sabha "From day one I was ready for the discussion on the Manipur issue but Opposition never wanted to do a discussion. If they would have not been satisfied with my points, then they should have demanded the PM's statement. But, the Opposition was not ready to have the discussion," Shah said in the Lower House.He further said that during the past six years of the BJP government in Manipur, there was never a requirement for a curfew."The opposition doesn't want me to speak but they can't silence me. You have to listen to me. 130 cr people have elected us so they have to listen to us...It has been almost six years since BJP formed a government there. During the past six years of our government, the need for a curfew never rose,' Shah said while speaking on the no-confidence motion in the Lower House.He further said that doing politics over the matter is "shameful"."I agree that there have been incidents of violence in Manipur. No one can support such incidents. Doing politics on these incidents is shameful," Shah said.As the Opposition is demanding the Centre to sack Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, Shah said that the CM is cooperating with the Centre to restore peace there."A state CM needs to be changed when he is not cooperating. This CM is cooperating with the Centre," he said.Union Home Minister Amit Shah also gave a detailed response on what led to violence in Manipur and the measures taken by the government to control the situation in the state.He further appealed to both Meitei and Kuki communities to engage in dialogue and said that violence is not a solution to any problem."...I assure you that we will bring peace in the state. Politics should not be done on this issue," Shah said.(ANI | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576972 172O70O243O68) Kolkata hosts 3rd G20 Anti-Corruption working group, ministerial meetings Hosted at the city's ITC Royal Bengal Hotel, the gathering marks the beginning of a three-day summit aimed at addressing critical issues related to corruption on a global scale.Under the leadership of India's presidency, the 3rd G20 ACWG meet is poised to bring together key stakeholders, experts, and representatives from G20 member nations, along with 10 invitee countries and several international organizations.A total of 154 delegates have converged in Kolkata to deliberate on strategies, initiatives, and collaborative efforts to combat corruption, promote transparency, and uphold ethical governance.The G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group meeting, spanning from August 9 to August 11, is set to cover a comprehensive agenda that includes discussions on innovative approaches to combating corruption, sharing best practices and strengthening international cooperation.The culmination of this vital event will lead to the highly anticipated G20 Anti-Corruption Ministerial Meeting scheduled for August 12. Chaired by Union Minister Jitendra Singh, this ministerial meeting will provide a platform for high-level dialogues, strategic insights, and policy recommendations to further the cause of anti-corruption efforts.The G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group was formed in 2010 to provide anti-corruption advice to G20 leaders.Public and private sector integrity and transparency, bribery, international collaboration, asset recovery, beneficial ownership transparency, vulnerable sectors, and capacity-building are among the thematic focus areas.The group's members are the 19 G20 countries and the European Union, as well as Singapore, Spain, and Switzerland as permanent guest countries and other guest countries invited by the corresponding chair.International organisations and intergovernmental bodies, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Financial Action Task Force, serve as observers. Furthermore, the ACWG collaborates closely with several G20 participation groups, particularly civil society and business .The St. Petersburg Strategic Framework and multi-year action plans drive the group's activity. The co-chairs set the focus of the work within the limitations of the action plans.Every year, the group produces deliverables, which often take the shape of high-level principles, collections of best practises, and country-specific guidelines.Furthermore, the group is required to report on its progress annually and to publish monitoring or accountability reports on a regular basis.(ANI | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576973 162O158O110O28) Industry hails passing of historic data protection bill Nasscom said this marks a significant leap forward for India to establish a robust framework for personal data protection and build India as a trusted data destination.Ensuring comprehensive data protection is paramount for accelerating India's digital economy and the bill strikes a harmonious balance between flexibility and data privacy measures, it said."The technology industry and Nasscom have been working collaboratively with the government from the start to share insights and industry experiences from global regulations, the India differentiators and provided detailed submissions through the evolution of this Bill," Nasscom President Debjani Ghosh said.According to some of the key recommendations which are reflected in the Bill, the concept of purpose limitation and data minimisation should be provided in the law."The law should enhance trust in processing data in India. Processing of foreign data in India should avoid overlaps with the laws of the countries whose data is being processed," said the IT industry's apex body.Accordingly, the bill provides that companies processing foreign data in India will need to adhere to security safeguards to prevent personal data breaches under the law."Obligations should be risk-based so that start-ups and small and medium enterprises are not unduly burdened," Nasscom said in a statement.Sivarama Krishnan, Partner & Leader, Risk Consulting, PwC India, said the DPDP Bill 2023 is a much-needed leap in the right direction as it establishes the rights and duties of 'Data Principals', the owners of data, and the obligations and liabilities of 'Data Fiduciaries', who collect, store, and process the data."The Bill places reasonable obligations on data fiduciaries, ensuring responsible handling of digital personal data. Introduction of consent managers, additional obligations on Significant Data Fiduciary and verifiable parental / guardian consent for are welcome inclusions to bill," Krishnan said.Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw moved the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023 for consideration and passing in the Rajya Sabha after the Lok Sabha had already passed it.Murali Rao, Cybersecurity Consulting Leader, EY India said that the DPDP Bill is India's first data protection act, and it establishes a framework for the processing of personal data in India."As the next steps towards the enforcement journey, a Data Protection Board needs to be set up and rules to be released through separate notifications which could be for specific parts of the law," Rao noted.Vihang Virkar, Partner, Lumiere Law Partners, said that it is time that India established a robust legal mechanism to protect personal data of its citizens, in line with global standards."The current legal framework in India dealing with protection of personal data is formed of an assortment of legal provisions which can be found in various separate legislation. While India is moving rapidly to become a dominant player in the global digital economy, it is important that the existing collage of data protection laws in India be unified into a single statute," Virkar added.(IANS | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576973 172O71O246O92) India is a beautiful amalgam of different cultures, religions: Haji Syed Salman Chishty Chishty, who is also the Chairman of Chishty Foundation, was addressing the opening session of the ASEAN Inter-Religious and Inter-Culture Summit 2023 in Jakarta and said that 'One World, One Family, One Future' resonates at the ASEAN summit with the true spirit of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'.He made the remarks on August 7 and the same was recognized positively by representatives of the participating countries at various forums during ASEAN 2023 summit.Addressing the summit, Chishty said, "India, with its rich history and heritage, has long been a beautiful mix of cultures and religions. The pluralistic fabric of our nation is a testament to the values of tolerance and coexistence. We believe that dialogue is the path to greater understanding and peaceful coexistence. In a world that faces many challenges, including religious and cultural misunderstandings, it is our collective responsibility to promote inclusion and celebrate diversity"."By engaging in meaningful conversation, we can identify common values that bind us as human beings and develop solutions to address common concerns," he added.Haji Syed Salman Chishty, prominent Indian Sufi spiritual leader and, Chairman of the Chishty Foundation, said that the ASEAN Conference aims to create a centre of coordination to promote peace, security, and prosperity."On behalf of India, I am honoured to address this prestigious ASEAN Summit for Inter-religious and Inter-Cultural Dialogue under the theme 'ASEAN Common Cultural Values'," he said."We need to come together as a region to promote understanding, respect, and harmony between diverse cultures and faiths. Through this dialogue, we seek to build bridges and break down walls of ignorance and prejudice. Together, we can create an environment where all communities can thrive, preserving their unique identities while embracing the wider human family," Chishty added.He further said that India is committed to playing an active role in promoting interfaith and intercultural harmony in the ASEAN region."We will continue to support initiatives that encourage mutual respect, promote education about different cultures and beliefs, and strengthen social cohesion. We hope that this summit will be a springboard for lasting partnerships and cooperation," he said, adding that the "summit would act as a catalyst in a more peaceful, tolerant, and prosperous future for all ASEAN countries".The Sufi spiritual leader further highlighted various qualities of India and said that the ASEAN region has experienced various historical and cultural influences, including India. These influences mainly arise from India's historical trade, cultural exchange, and religious interactions with Southeast Asian countries. He said that Indian influence in the ASEAN region can be seen from many aspects.Chishty said that Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism played an important role in shaping the religious landscape of many Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar. Many ancient temples and religious structures reflect architectural and artistic style influences of Indian traditions."The message of the great Sufi Saint of 11th-century Hazret Khawaja Gharib Nawaz Moinudeen Chishty is 'Unconditional Love towards All', which resonates from Kashmir to Kanyakumari across India and South Asia as the Sufi Shrine is frequented by devotees and seekers from all diverse faith, religion and spiritual traditions of Indian Subcontinent," he said.He added that while language and script have also played an important role, Sanskrit is an ancient Indian language. "This has influenced the development of script and vocabulary in some Southeast Asian languages. For example, the Khmer script in Cambodia and the Thai script in Thailand have borrowed elements from this ancient script".Chishty added that in the realm of arts and culture, Indian art forms such as dance, music, and traditional performances have influenced the cultural expression of some ASEAN countries, leading to a unique blend with local traditions."India has a long history of maritime trade with Southeast Asia, which facilitated the exchange of goods, ideas, and technology between the two regions. It is also worth noting that Ancient sea trade routes connected India to various ports in Southeast Asia, contributing to cultural diffusion and cultural interactions.Speaking about spirituality and religion, he said "Literature and epics cannot be ignored. Indian epics such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have deeply influenced the literary and cultural traditions of many Southeast Asian countries. Local versions and adaptations of these epics are often integrated into the folklore and stories of the region".He further said that India's traditional medicine and healing methods are worth considering."Ayurveda, the traditional Indian system of medicine, has influenced traditional healing practices in some Southeast Asian countries, leading to the adoption of herbal remedies and holistic health care practices. Influence on Language. In addition to the script, Sanskrit has also contributed to the development of the vocabulary of many Southeast Asian languages, particularly in terms of technical and philosophical terms," Chishty added.Syed Salman Chishty added that Indian festivals such as Diwali, Holi, and Vesak are celebrated by communities in some ASEAN countries, showing the continued relevance of Indian cultural traditions."An important aspect is the architecture. Indian architectural styles, particularly those seen in ancient temples and monuments, have influenced the design and construction of sacred and historic buildings in countries such as Indonesia, Cambodia, and Thailand. For example, the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia features Hindu architectural elements," he further said.Syed Salman Chishti further said that Indian films, especially Bollywood films, have gained popularity in some Southeast Asian countries, introducing audiences to Indian culture, music, and dance.(ANI | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576973 162O158O94O233) Electrical activity between skin cells may influence melanoma initiation: Study Findings published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.Skin cells called melanocytes, which contain melanin, give rise to the deadly skin disease known as melanoma. The ability of melanocytes to produce vesicles carrying melanin to the keratinocytes that surround them is a fundamental characteristic that determines the colour of the skin.BRAF gene alterations are prevalent in many benign skin lesions in addition to being present in about half of all melanomas."This suggests that BRAF mutation is not sufficient for melanoma development and raises the question of why certain BRAF-mutated melanocytes develop into cancer, while others remain benign," said Richard White, MD, PhD, the senior author of the study and a physician-scientist at the University of Oxford Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center ."Cancers exist within a community of cells from the onset," added first author Mohita Tagore, PhD, a postdoctoral research scientist at MSK. "We were interested in understanding how the community of skin cells contributes to melanoma development."Since melanocytes are deeply embedded within a population of keratinocytes, White, Tagore, and colleagues asked whether communication between melanocytes and keratinocytes was involved in the progression of benign BRAF-mutated melanocytes into melanoma.Using zebrafish, mouse, and human cell models, the researchers observed that the transfer of molecules between BRAF-mutated melanocytes and normal keratinocytes was critical to melanoma initiation and that it occurred almost exclusively between melanocytes and keratinocytes that were in direct contact with one another.Researchers discovered that this communication was mediated by the neurotransmitter GABA, which was an unexpected finding given that GABA signaling is typically associated with neurons rather than skin cells, Tagore noted.In neurons, GABA inhibits a neuron's ability to send or receive electrical signals. The researchers observed a similar effect in skin cells, as the binding of secreted GABA to receptors on keratinocytes inhibited electrical activity in keratinocytes and led to the secretion of a tumor-promoting protein.In addition, they found that melanoma cells had increased expression of genes involved in GABA production compared with non-malignant melanocytes.The results suggest that BRAF-mutated melanocytes may upregulate and transmit GABA to dampen the electrical activity of neighboring keratinocytes, allow for vesicle transfer between the two cell types, and initiate the progression to melanoma, Tagore explained. She and colleagues hypothesize that molecules carried by vesicles from melanocytes to keratinocytes may trigger the secretion of the cancer-promoting protein from keratinocytes. Ongoing work is exploring this hypothesis."Something about normal electrical activity in keratinocytes appears to suppress the progression of BRAF-mutated melanocytes to melanoma," she said. "Our findings indicate that some BRAF-mutated melanocytes are able to modulate this electrical activity through GABA in order to progress to melanoma."We typically consider electrical activity in the context of neuronal communication, but these observations implicate it in cancer development as well," Tagore added."I would not have necessarily expected a neurotransmitter to be involved in the communication between skin cells," said White. "Interactions between neurons and brain cancer cells have been reported, but here we observed neuronal-like communication occurring between two non-neuron cells."The findings may have therapeutic implications, as they raise the possibility of targeting GABA to treat or prevent melanoma, the authors said. However, they cautioned that additional research is needed to understand the study's clinical applications.A limitation of the study is that all experiments were performed in preclinical models. In addition, the findings may not apply to all melanomas due to the heterogeneity of the disease.(ANI | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576974 172O70O250O23) 43 injured in blast at Moscow plant: Authorities The explosion happened on Wednesday morning at around 1040 a.m. local time at a pyrotechnics warehouse, which was being rented out on the optical-mechanical plant's territory by a private company, said Governor of the Moscow Region Andrei Vorobiev in a Telegram post.Among the injured, five are currently in critical condition, according to preliminary information provided by local authorities. Moreover, five people could still be trapped in the rubble.Vorobiev said people have been evacuated from all the buildings and workshops of the plant, as well as from a kindergarten close to the factory, Xinhua news agency reported.He also added that a sport complex near the plant had been damaged, as well as windows in nearby residential buildings.Local media, citing a State Duma deputy, suggested that the blast could have occurred due to a "violation of technological processes".In response, Russia's Investigative Committee has initiated a criminal case into the incident.int/khz(IANS | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576974 162O158O87O180) Israeli PM vows to 'transfer' funds for Arab citizens "Israel's Arab citizens deserve what all citizens deserve and I am committed to this," Netanyahu was quoted as saying on Wednesday in a statement released by his office.Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday that he has frozen funds for Arab municipalities in Israel and Palestinian higher education programmes in East Jerusalem on the ground that they could potentially benefit "criminal organisations" within Arab society, Xinhua news agency reported.The decision involves 200 million shekels (about $53.81 million), which would have come in the form of scholarships for low-income Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem to enroll in prep classes at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and two other colleges in the city.Opposition leader Yair Lapid, Israel's former Prime Minister, slammed Smotrich for making such a "racist" decision.Netanyahu's office stressed in the statement that the policy of Netanyahu is "to facilitate the development and social welfare of all Israeli citizens, Arab and Jewish alike"."The funds for the Arab local authorities in Israel will be transferred pursuant to an evaluation and supervision that they will be used for their designated purpose -- for Israel's Arab citizens and nothing else," it noted.(IANS | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576974 172O70O246O59) Channel 5 Home and Away spoilers follow from Australian pace episodes, which some UK viewers may prefer to avoid. Home and Away's Rose Delaney vowed to track down her biological father in Thursday's Australian episodes (August 10). The police constable became curious about her family heritage in the wake of a recent meeting with Mali Hudson's mother. Last week, Mali proudly introduced his girlfriend to his mum Victoria. Mali's sister Elandra, who'd already met Rose, was also part of the meeting. As Rose watched Mali, Victoria and Elandra interacting together including a conversation about how Mali and Elandra's names were chosen it reminded her that she doesn't know much about her own background. Channel 5 Related: Home and Away's Kirby Aramoana makes shock new decision In Thursday's visit to Summer Bay, Rose confided in her work colleague Cash Newman about how it felt like the right time to find out more. When Cash asked whether Rose knew anything about her father, she explained: "I don't even know the man's name. To be fair, I didn't ask until last week. "Whenever people made comments on how different I looked from Xander, mum would just get angry. I figured it was best not to ask." Rose's curiosity went down badly with her half-brother Xander, who felt that her search was disrespectful towards her late stepfather Alexander. Endemol Shine - Channel 5 Related: Home and Away's Alf Stewart to seek help over his hearing In Rose and Xander's introductory scenes last year, it was established that they shared the same mother but had different biological fathers. Despite Xander's disapproval, Rose continued with her hunt for clues and soon became convinced that she could spot her father on an old photo with her mum. Will she get to meet him? Home and Away fans in the UK will see these scenes on Channel 5 in late September. Check out more of our Home and Away coverage: - Home and Away to bring in two new characters in mystery story - Home and Away releases trailer for two new characters - Home and Away celebrates major triumph at the Logie Awards - Home and Away star Ada Nicodemou hints at darker story for Leah Patterson - Former Home and Away star Sam Frost puts brakes on wedding plans Home and Away airs weekdays at 1.45pm on Channel 5 and 6pm on 5STAR. First-look screenings air at 6.30pm on 5STAR and the show also streams on My5. In Australia, the show airs Mondays to Thursdays at 7pm on Channel 7 and streams on 7plus. Selected classic episodes are available via Prime Video in the UK. Read more Home and Away spoilers on our dedicated homepage You Might Also Like Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio assassinated Local media had earlier reported Villavicencio, a former lawmaker who had been polling at 7.5 per cent and a leading anti-corruption campaigner, had been shot at a campaign event in Quito, The Guardian reported.Videos on social media appear to show the candidate walking out of the event surrounded by guards. The video then shows Villavicencio entering a white truck followed by gunfire."For his memory and his fight, I assure you that this crime will not remain unpunished," Lasso said on Twitter.Villavicencio, from the Andean province of Chimborazo, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement. He was a former union member at state oil company Petroecuador and later a journalist who denounced alleged millions in oil contract losses. He was one of eight presidential candidates for the late August election.Villavicencio was one of the most critical voices against corruption, especially during the government of former president Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over statements made against the former president.He fled to Indigenous territory within Ecuador and later was given asylum in Peru, The Guardian reported.As a legislator, Villavicencio was criticised by opposition politicians for obstructing an impeachment process this year against Lasso, which led the latter to call the early elections.Lasso added that he was "outraged and shocked by the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. My solidarity and condolences to his wife and daughters".He said his security cabinet would meet shortly.The killing comes amid a startling wave of violence in the South American nation, with drug trafficking and killings on the rise."Organized crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law," Lasso said, referring to the perpetrators of the crime."Today more than ever, the need to act with a strong hand against crime is reiterated. May God have him in his glory," fellow presidential hopeful Jan Topic said in response to the shooting.(IANS | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576975 162O158O94O23) Battery scooter explodes during charging, house gutted in Lucknow Goods worth lakhs were also gutted in fire along with the scooty while the family of four managed a miraculous escape."The incident happened in the house of Mohammad Naseem, a resident of Jal Nigam Road under Thakurganj police station," said Pushpendra Kumar Yadav, fire station officer Chowk."As soon as we received the information, two fire tenders were sent and the blaze was brought under control. There was no loss of life," he added.Mohammad Naseem said that the scooter which exploded was Chinese and he had bought it for Rs 65,000 one and a half years ago."I am not sure if a blast took place or if it got burnt though we did hear a huge sound. I put the scooty on charge on the ground floor of my house. But a few hours later when I came down the stairs I saw smoke and fire. So, I immediately took help from neighbours and informed the fire department," he said."I have always used a battery scooter. It has been 15 years since I switched to battery scooters. Earlier, scooters were of Indian brands. But this time I bought this Chinese scooty which had a battery warranty of only one year," he added.According to him, overheating of the scooty's charger could have led to the fire. "The charging cable of these battery scooters often gets overheated. It must have been the same this time," he said.(IANS | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576975 172O70O246O94) Protegrity Announces Executive Leadership Changes as Company Accelerates Strategy as the Global Leader in Borderless Data Protection Reporting to Protegrity CEO Paul Mountford, Malagrino and Carnell will take on their new executive leadership roles in August to lead Protegrity's next phase of growth."We believe the market opportunity is massive, and that no one is better positioned than Protegrity to meet this moment," said Paul Mountford, CEO of Protegrity. "With these new leadership appointments, we are bringing to bear the talent and expertise within our company to scale our business and market presence during a period of rapid growth for the data protection industry." As Protegrity expands across industries and geographies, the company is evolving its technology and business roadmaps to meet the needs of a dynamic market. Today, enterprises are embracing the potential of advanced AI systems and analytics across multiple cloud environments, which requires an exponential increase in the amount of sensitive data captured, stored, and analyzed. Protegrity's Data Protection Platform allows global enterprises to balance the adoption of nascent technologies to tap into the power of their data to enable innovation and revenue growth with the compliance obligations of a fragmented regulatory landscape that can disrupt cross-border data flows. A seasoned industry executive, Dante Malagrino will oversee all Protegrity's technology innovation strategies and product delivery. As CPO, he will lead a global team of technology architects and engineers to deliver the most comprehensive suite of borderless data protection and privacy products. Malagrino brings to the CPO role a wealth of expertise as a technologist, and deep experience building scalable, customer-centric operational processes in product development, which will be critical for Protegrity as it grows its global customer base, which includes the world's largest banks, retailers, and health insurers. He previously served as Protegrity's Chief Technology Officer. A key part of Malagrino's portfolio will include leading the company's core product and development teams based in India. "This dynamic team of gifted engineers has been indispensable to Protegrity's success to date and will play an increasingly important role moving forward as drivers of innovation for the company," said Malagrino. Promoted to CFO, Christian Carnell will lead Protegrity's financial organization and serve as the strategic thought partner to the company's executive leadership team on the company's financial performance, capital structure, and business growth strategies. With Protegrity since 2021, Carnell brings more than 15 years of financial leadership experience, as well as business intelligence expertise spanning cross-departmental collaboration for achieving business objectives, through scalable efficiency. "I am thrilled to step into the CFO role and lead Protegrity's financial operations during a period of accelerated growth and innovation," said Carnell. "During my time at Protegrity, I've become deeply familiar with our financial goals, growth strategies and culture of excellence. My priority is to ensure we have the financial visibility and discipline to rapidly scale the business globally while continuing to deliver value for our customers." Follow ProtegrityX @ProtegrityLinkedIn linkedin.com/company/protegrity/(ANI | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576975 162O158O111O204) Indian envoy calls on Belarus Foreign Minister, discusses bilateral cooperation Taking to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, the official handle of India in Belarus wrote, "On 9 August 2023, Ambassador called on the Foreign Minister of Belarus, HE Sergei Aleinik.""The two sides discussed various aspects of bilateral ties as well as cooperation in multilateral fora," the tweet added.Earlier in July, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar wished the government and people of Belarus on their Independence Day.Taking to his official Twitter handle, Jaishankar stated, "Felicitations to FM Sergei Aleinik and the Government and people of Belarus on their Independence Day."In June this year, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko took part in a solemn meeting to mark Independence Day, according to an offical statement released by Belarus President's office. India's ties with Belarus have been warm and cordial and India was one of the first nations to recognize Belarus as an independent nation in 1991.Formal diplomatic ties between the two nations were established and the Indian diplomatic mission was opened in Minsk in 1992.In April this year, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a bilateral meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Lieutenant General Viktor Gennadievich Khrenin, on the sidelines of the SCO Defence Ministers' meeting in Delhi.Rajnath Singh tweeted, "Had fruitful discussions with the Defence Minister of Belarus, Lieutenant General Khernin Victor Gennadievich in New Delhi."Earlier in December, Indian ambassador to Belarus Alok Ranjan Jha met Belarus's foreign minister Sergei Aleinik and held talks with a key focus on India's SCO Chairmanship."FM Sergei #Aleinik, Ambassador of #India@IndiainBelarus discussed topical issues on Belarus-India bilateral agenda, interaction within Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the light of #India's SCO Chairmanship," Belarus foreign ministry said in a tweet.During the meeting, close attention was paid to the implementation of the agreements following the results of the 11th Session of the Belarusian-Indian Intergovernmental Commission, aimed at further expanding cooperation in the field of trade, economy, science, technology and culture."(ANI | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576975 162O158O111O86) Homely Secures Investment from UST to Launch Innovative Homebuyer Platform Founded in 2021, Homely harnesses technology and partnerships to support people's homeownership journey by improving their financial position and connecting them to tailored guidance, support, and products.Homely partners with landlords, renters, and financial institutions to increase transparency and accountability during the rental and buying process, as well as providing incentives and rewards through its brand partners.The funding will help Homely complete the development of its tech platform and launch its innovative proposition to the market, including activating a number of partnerships with established and trusted brands. This includes the likes of insurance giant Aviva, with both parties currently exploring a partnership.Homely's launch proposition includes a new way of buying property that allows immediate access to the housing ladder via Homely Flexible Ownership products which connect prospective homeowners to flexible, institutional, capital.As a leading global provider of technology and digital transformation services, UST has an established track record of investing in innovative businesses across a broad range of market sectors. UST has helped guide digital transformation journeys for prominent companies including Fortune 500 and Global 2000 clients across financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, semiconductor, and technology.UST will be an integral strategic partner for Homely as the team navigates the UK property market and delivers innovative solutions for renters and homeowners.Homely benefits from an experienced senior leadership team made up of* Lewis Scott, Founder and CEO - Lewis is also VP & Managing Director of Scott Brothers Group, where he has worked with global technology and lower-to-mid-market growth companies on M&A, capital raising, secondary share sales and corporate development.* Steven Ward, Chief investment Officer - Steven was previously the CEO of HSBC Alternative investment Limited.* Paul Birkin, Chief Technology Officer - Paul is the former CTO of Global Workplace Solutions at CBRE and former CIO of Experian EMEA.* Ellis Scott, Head of Mortgages - Ellis is a qualified mortgage adviser and is also Head Mortgage and Protection Adviser at Scottsdale Lifetime Partners.As well as the core day-to-day team, Homely also has support from a number of advisors with a wealth of industry and business expertise, putting Homely in a strong position to navigate current market challenges and provide industry leading technology solutions.Lewis Scott, Chief Executive Officer, Homely, said, "UST's renowned presence as leading providers of digital technology and transformation services, and the depth of knowledge of its experts, aligns particularly well with Homely. As a business we want to offer innovative, data-led solutions to the current issues facing the property market.""At such a crucial moment for the property market, this first round capital raise will allow Homely to help more people on their journey to homeownership. When it feels like buying a home, or qualifying for a mortgage, is moving further and further out of reach, Homely is committed to providing innovative solutions, underpinned by technology.""As we expand and evolve moving forward, there will be further opportunities on the horizon for investors to work with us and be part of an important journey to help more people become HomeReady. We look forward to working closely with UST and driving forward better outcomes for the UK property market."Praveen Prabhakaran, Chief Delivery Officer, UST, said, "We are pleased to join forces with Homely, a truly innovative brand that is using technology to offer modern solutions to longstanding problems within the UK property market. This is truly aligned to our core mission of Transforming Lives and we look forward to playing a significant role in enriching and enabling the homeownership journey."Homely's digital platform will be live and available for consumers to access by the end of 2023.About HomelyFounded in 2021, Homely is a free-to-access digital platform which leverages technology and partnerships to help homebuyers and renters to find a home.Whether you are searching for a rental property or setting out to buy your first home, Homely enhances opportunities and empowers each individual to embark on their journey to home ownership.Homely believes in making the path to homeownership more accessible and is working with individuals to make this a reality. Homely partners with landlords, renters, and financial institutions to increase transparency and accountability during the rental and buying process as well as provide rewards and incentives through its brand partners.Bold change requires bold action, enter Homely.The Homely offering* Rental Journey Progress Feature Helping renters to track their progress while renting towards home ownership. From pre-renters and students to room renters, low-end rental, mid-end rental and high-end rental, Homely wants to be with you on the journey all the way* Reporting maintenance issues The Homely platform allows renters to quickly report any issues with a property directly to the landlord in order for improvements to be made and any issues to be addressed* Homely's Flexible Ownership offering Once in a flexible ownership arrangement with Homely, the individual will have the right to purchase further portions of their property on periodic dates in the future for a small fee at prevailing market value. In the event an individual needs to raise liquidity, there may also be the ability to sell some or all of their holding to Homely, subject to availability. This will also provide landlords with the opportunity to sell their properties to incumbent renters.* HomelyBricks A rewards based system which integrates with existing affiliate partners with loyalty and cashback schemes to support their build-up of HomelyBricks which can become benefits or proof points when getting a mortgage* Debt Consolidation - with Monevo, Homely can help users to consolidate debt and start paying it down in preparation for saving for a deposit* ExpansionReady Helping landlords to expand their portfolios, source new financing or remortgage on existing BTL mortgages. Also provide real time information to inform their decision to expand their portfolio* Mortgage & buying scheme acceptance Working with lenders to be able to access relevant criteria for the lender to approve and accept mortgage applications in real-timeMedia Contacts, HomelyJamie Till, Libby Wallis or Georgia Turton at Instinctif Partners Homely@instinctif.com / 020 7457 2020About USTFor more than 23 years, UST has worked side by side with the world's best companies to make a real impact through transformation. Powered by technology, inspired by people, and led by our purpose, we partner with our clients from design to operation. Through our nimble approach, we identify their core challenges, and craft disruptive solutions that bring their vision to life. With deep domain expertise and a future-proof philosophy, we embed innovation and agility into our clients' organizations--delivering measurable value and lasting change across industries, and around the world. Together, with over 30,000 employees in 30+ countries, we build for boundless impact--touching billions of lives in the process. Visit us at www.UST.comMedia Contacts, USTTinu Cherian Abraham+1 415-9857Merrick Laravea+1 416-6212Neha Misri+91-9284726602media.relations@ust.comMedia Contacts, U.S.S&C PR+1-646.941.9139media@scprgroup.comMakovskyust@makovsky.comMedia Contacts, U.K.FTI ConsultingUST@fticonsulting.comLogo https//mma.prnewswire.com/media/1422658/UST_Logo.jpg(ANI | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576976 162O158O95O27) 18-yr-old donates part of liver to father; KGMU performs 25th liver transplant The family also got full support from the government as expenses involving the transplant were met by money released from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.The man, who was operated upon by doctors on July 13, was discharged on Wednesday.According to doctors, Ravi Kesharwani ,47, a shopkeeper and resident of Indira Nagar, was suffering from an advanced stage of liver cirrhosis, a serious and potentially life-threatening condition.His son, Sukesh Kesharwani, agreed to donate part of his liver after he was counselled about the liver transplant as the only option to save his father's life.The transplant procedure lasted for 10 hours. A team of over 40 staff members, including doctors and nursing staff, worked tirelessly for the successful surgery.Prof Abhijit Chandra, head of the surgical gastroenterology department at KGMU, who conducted the surgery, said that about 2,000 liver transplants are done in India every year, mostly in private hospitals, with a cost of approximately Rs 30 to 40 lakh.However, KGMU, being a state government institute, has brought down the cost to about Rs 10 lakh. He said KGMU is at the forefront of liver transplantation and organ donation in the state with the surgical gastroenterology spearheading the programme.Initially, it started with a cadaveric organ retrieval programme in 2015.The state's first green corridor for organ donation was created when a donated liver was transported to Delhi for a transplant on August 28, 2015. Since then, a total of 22 livers have been made available to patients in Delhi.Besides, 48 kidneys and over 50 corneas have been used by SGPGIMS and KGMU respectively.The first liver transplant was conducted at KGMU in 2019. From then on, a total of 25 liver transplants have been performed, 19 from live donors and six from cadaveric donors.Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has congratulated the staff of the department of surgical gastroenterology of KGMU on its 25th successful liver transplant.In a message directed to the medical university, the chief minister said, "I am extremely pleased to learn that the surgical gastroenterology department successfully performed the 25th liver transplant on July 13, 2023, marking an unprecedented milestone in the field of liver transplantation."He lauded KGMU, acknowledging that the university holds a special place in the medical world.(IANS | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576976 172O71O246O142) The power of scents in the workplace Workplace scent, also known as Smellscaping, is the art of using carefully chosen fragrances to enhance the ambiance and user experience in a commercial setting, particularly in the workplace. This often underestimated sensory element can have a profound impact on employees' well-being, customer perceptions, and overall business success. Let's delve into the world of smellscaping and explore why it should not be ignored when understanding design and building briefs for commercial spaces.Understanding SmellscapingSmellscaping is more than just the application of pleasant fragrances to mask unpleasant odors. It involves thoughtfully curating scents that align with the brand identity and desired emotional response of the space. Like a symphony conductor, scent designers must consider the harmony of different aromas to create a cohesive and captivating olfactory experience.Commercial spaces can benefit greatly from smellscaping due to the powerful connection between scent and emotion. When we encounter a particular smell, it triggers the olfactory bulb, which is part of the brain's limbic system - responsible for emotions and memory. This direct link between scent and emotion can influence mood, behaviour, and even decision-making. As such, strategically incorporating scent into the design can positively impact the overall atmosphere and the people within it.The Importance of Scent in the WorkplaceWell-being and Productivity The workplace environment greatly affects employee well-being and productivity. Studies have shown that certain scents, such as peppermint and citrus, can increase alertness, focus, and cognitive performance. Introducing these scents into the workplace can boost employees' energy levels and concentration, resulting in higher productivity and job satisfaction.Reduction High-stress environments can take a toll on employees' mental and physical health. The right scent can act as a stress reliever, promoting relaxation and reducing anxiety. Fragrances like lavender and chamomile have calming properties that can create a more soothing atmosphere, helping employees manage stress more effectively.Identity and Customer Experience Smell can play a significant role in shaping a brand's identity. Consistently using specific scents in a commercial space can create a powerful association with the brand in customers' minds. A distinct and pleasant scent can enhance the overall customer experience, making it more memorable and enjoyable.Emotional Connection Smells are closely linked to memory and can evoke powerful emotions. By using specific scents that align with positive experiences, businesses can create emotional connections with their customers, increasing brand loyalty and repeat visits.Enhancement Smellscaping complements other sensory elements in the design, creating a multi-dimensional experience. Just as lighting and colors influence the visual aspect of a space, scent contributes to the overall ambiance, making it more immersive and appealing.Integrating Smellscaping into Design and Build BriefsWhen planning a commercial space, it is crucial to consider smellscaping in the design and build briefs. Ignoring this aspect means missing out on the opportunity to create a holistic and impactful environment. Here are some steps to incorporate smell escaping effectivelyThe Brand and Space Begin by understanding the brand's values, target audience, and the purpose of the commercial space. This will help in selecting scents that align with the brand identity and resonate with the intended users.Appropriate Scents Consider the function of the space and the emotions you want to evoke. For instance, a spa or wellness center may benefit from calming scents, while a retail store might use uplifting scents to create an energetic atmosphere.Balance It's essential to maintain consistency in scent throughout the space, but also be mindful of not overwhelming the occupants. Subtle, well-balanced fragrances are more likely to have a positive impact without becoming overpowering.Adapt Before fully implementing a scent, test it in the space and gather feedback from employees and customers. Be willing to adapt the scent if necessary to better suit the preferences of those who frequent the space.Help Working with scent designers or fragrance experts can ensure that the chosen scents harmonise well with the space's purpose and brand identity. They can provide valuable insights into scent selection and application.Workplace scent or smellscaping is a powerful tool that should not be underestimated when designing and building commercial spaces. By tapping into the emotional and memory connections that scent can create, businesses can elevate the experience of their employees and customers alike. A well-executed smellscaping strategy can enhance productivity, reduce stress, and strengthen brand identity, making it an essential element in creating successful and memorable commercial spaces. As businesses strive to create meaningful and immersive environments, the art of smellscaping should not be ignored in design and build briefs.(Kunal Sharma, is the Founder & CEO, of Flipspaces)(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)Kunal/lh/tb(IANS | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576976 162O158O95O5) A journey through India's street food culture The Indian food industry is surely undergoing a renaissance, embracing the assortment of regional flavours that have long been cherished within our borders.Moreover, a vibrant street food culture has been adding immense attraction to a city's food scene and offering experiences to travelers. Godrej Food Trends Report 2023 states that the last decade has seen a steady rise in interest in street food. Digital media has taken a keen interest in street food, amplifying tales ranging from the extraordinary to the unconventional, so much so that the Indian traveler is opting for destinations just to discover local street food.Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal, Managing Director of Perfect Bite Consulting and Curating Editor of the annual Godrej Food Trends Report says, "This Independence Day, let's celebrate the diversity of food in India. With its multifarious population, India is a treasure trove of local foods waiting to be discovered. Not only does each region of the country boasts its own distinct flavors, ingredients, and cooking styles, but also has a rich repertoire of local street foods. Indian street food is as varied as its regional cuisines. This Independence Day, let us celebrate our gastronomic freedom and love for all things chatpatta masaledar, and crispy that unite us as Indians."India's street food reflects the country's rich and varied culture, with each region offering its own unique flavors and dishes. On this Independence Day, we proudly salute the culinary custodians for their role in preserving the authentic flavors of India's diverse regions. Their efforts not only safeguard our culinary heritage across different regions but also facilitate cross-cultural exchange and deeper appreciation.Godrej Food Trends Report 2023 mentions some of the Indian street food destinations that will see the most interest in 2023.Lucknow Regarded as the prime street food destination by 63 per cent of experts, the city is expected to attract a growing number of travelers who will indulge in the delights of local street foods.Kolkata Following closely, 57 per cent of the panel anticipates an increased demand for local street food in Kolkata, solidifying its reputation as a hub for culinary exploration.Amritsar 55 per cent of experts predict that Amritsar will witness more interest among people who seek to delve into the realm of local street food.Indore Notably, 47 per cent of experts express a belief in the rising curiosity among consumers to uncover the treasures of local food in Indore, suggesting an emerging trend in the city's culinary scene.India's street food is a microcosm of the country's diverse culture and it's designed to hit the high note. Also, Indian street food is easily accessible, affordable, and tasty at the same time. Hence it gives travelers an opportunity to experience the common citizen's life and highlight the connections between history, geography, religion, and food and relate to why people eat what they eat.(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)IANSlife/lh/tb(IANS | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576977 172O70O250O146) Jio Haptik Named Tech Startup of the Year in Artificial Intelligence at 13th Annual Entrepreneur India Awards Swapan Rajdev, Haptik's co-founder & CTO, received the award as the ceremony organized by Entrepreneur India, in media partnership with Entrepreneur magazine and Entrepreneur.com, was held at the Hotel JW Marriott, Aerocity, New Delhi.Jio Haptik emerged as the winner of the Tech Startup of the Year in AI from 1000 other entries for the same award, highlighting the company's distinctive contribution to the technology landscape. It is testament to Jio Haptik's commitment to developing groundbreaking AI-driven solutions that set the industry benchmark for innovation and transformation.Aakrit Vaish, CEO and co-founder of Jio Haptik, was elated as he said "We are humbled and thrilled to be named the Tech Startup of the Year in Artificial Intelligence. At Jio Haptik, we believe in driving change through AI, and this honor fuels our passion to continue advancing in our mission to redefine the way technology and human interaction converge. We are very excited about the enormous potential of Generative AI to revolutionize business functions and change the way businesses engage with customers."The Entrepreneur India Awards recognize and celebrate the country's most innovative entrepreneurs and businesses across various sectors. The accolade of being named the "Tech Startup of the Year in AI" marks a significant milestone in Jio Haptik's journey.Jio Haptik is grateful to Entrepreneur India, the esteemed jury, and all those who contributed to this significant achievement. The company reaffirms its dedication to forging new paths in artificial intelligence and is excited about the future of technology.(ANI | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576977 172O71O246O98) Would go for total de-coupling with China if I come to power, says Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy He said that he would aim to completely re-enter the trade in the Pacific and enter trade relationships with countries like India, Japan, and South Korea.In an interview with Fox News, Ramaswamy said, "Xi Jinping is the dictator and China is the top threat that the United States faces. I think I am the clearest candidate in declaring a clear path in declaring economic independence from China. That would be the first step in our policy".He further said that he would go for a "total de-coupling" with China and ban most of the US companies from doing business in Beijing."I would go for total de-coupling. I would ban most US companies from doing business with China, unless and until the CCP reforms its behaviour...I think there would be short-term consequences, but I think we can make sacrifices if we know what we are sacrificing for. I also think that when you are most willing to make a sacrifice, you actually do not have to make one at all," Ramaswamy said.He added, "I think if we are willing to enter the trade relationships with Japan, South Korea, Philippines, even India, Thailand, Vietnam, Brazil, that makes it much more tractable, than we make it out to be. I think that's achievable.Speaking on the Chinese spy balloon -- that flew over the US territory and was shot down by the American military in February this year -- he said that the US would have been immediately shot down if it had been from Russia."If that would have been a Russian spy balloon, flying over the country, we would have shot it down immediately and put up sanctions. The reason we did not do it with Chinese spy balloons, is that we are afraid of our economic dependence on China. So, I have a clear plan. I would re-enter our trade relationship, elsewhere in the Pacific, and that would put me in a position to lead our declaration of independence from China," he said.Ramaswamy also sounded an alarm over the growing Russia-China ties calling it the "single-largest military threat" and said that the US needs to deter this alliance."The number one threat, that we need to pay attention to is the growing ties between Russia and China. I need we need to drive a wedge between the alliance. I think this is the single-largest military threat that we face. And that is what gives Jinping the confidence to risk a war with the US over Taiwan on the bet that the US would not like to go after two different nuclear powers at the same time," he said.Vivek Ramaswamy is a native of southwest Ohio. His mother was a geriatric psychiatrist and his father worked as an engineer at General Electric.The 37-year-old lawmaker was born on August 9, 1985, and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents migrated to the US from Kerala.He is the third Indian-American -- along with Nikki Haley and Hirsh Vardhan Singh -- who will be up against former President Donald Trump in the primaries in January next year.He attended Harvard University for his undergrad and later got a law degree from Yale University.Ramaswamy is the author of "Woke, Inc Inside Corporate America's Social Justice Scam" and has been dubbed "the CEO of Anti-Woke Inc" by The New Yorker.A second-generation Indian American, Ramaswamy founded Roivant Sciences in 2014 and led the largest biotech IPOs of 2015 and 2016, eventually culminating in successful clinical trials in multiple disease areas that led to FDA-approved products, according to his bio.He has founded other successful healthcare and technology companies, and in 2022, he launched Strive Asset Management, a new firm focused on restoring the voices of everyday citizens in the American economy by leading companies to focus on excellence over politics.Ramaswamy is married to Apoorva Tewari Ramaswamy, an Assistant Professor at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.(ANI | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576977 172O70O242O243) Al Ansari Financial Services has seen its first-half (H1) 2023 net profit fall 2.5% to AED263 million ($71.6 million) compared to H1 2022, largely driven by lower remittance margins, higher costs as well as an increase in financing costs. Net profit for the second quarter (Q2) declined 10.7% to AED130 million, on the back of higher depreciation charge as a result of an expansion in the branch network and increasing finance costs due to interest payment on an AED300 million term loan drawn in December 2022. However operating income for the group increased by 5% year on year (YoY) in H1 2023, on robust demand across all products with significant contribution from offerings and services to corporate customers. H1 operating income H1 2023 operating income increased to AED578 million driven by a 10.7% YoY increase in the total number of transactions. This marks the highest six-month period operating income to date. The increase in the number of transactions was predominantly driven by very strong demand from the corporate business segment underpinned by expansionary economic conditions in the UAE. It was also owed to a strong increase in the Bank Notes business including multi-currency Prepaid Cards on the back of the tourism boom and the peak holiday season. These increases were partly offset by a marginal reduction in the number of Remittance transactions. H1 2023 EBITDA held steady at AED299 million compared to H1 2022 despite an increase in costs. Increase in costs during the period is directly related to the opening of 15 new branches since H1 2022, in line with groups organic expansion plans. Costs have also increased as a result of the rising cost environment, a factor impacting the exchange industry across the UAE. CAPEX increased by 62% YoY to AED20 million as the Group continues to invest in scaling its business, in line with its growth strategy. The group sustained a healthy FCF (free cash flow) of AED278 million, supported by strong cash conversion. Q2 2023 financial performance Q2 2023 Operating Income increased 1.2% YoY to AED291 million mainly attributed to strong growth in the Bank Notes, WPS and Other services, while we saw a slight decline in the income from remittance business. Q2 2023 EBITDA income declined 8.3% to AED147 million, on the back of higher operating costs, driven predominantly by groups network expansion as well as generally rising costs, an industry-wide phenomenon and lower margin on the remittance business. Performance of other offerings Worldwide Cash Express, the groups money transfer operator, saw a strong 32% YoY growth in the number of transactions in H1 2023, a reflection of the strong demand for this service from corporate customers. The Wage Protection Services (WPS) business saw a strong increase in Operating Income, up 18.5% in H1 2023 versus H1 2022. This is predominantly driven by growth in the number of newly acquired corporate customers and the increase in the number of wage disbursals. CashTrans, the groups end-to-end cash management solution, is gaining remarkable momentum, with the number of trips increasing by 32.4% YoY. The group expects the growth momentum to continue as it ramps up operating and sales efforts within this product line and as its state-of-the-art cash centre in Dubai commences operations in Q3 2023. Dividend Given the groups strong financial and liquidity position, the Board reaffirms its commitment to distributing a minimum amount of AED600 million as announced during the IPO, and outlined in the Prospectus, for FY 2023 to be paid out semi-annually with the first half expected to be distributed in October 2023 and the second payment to be disbursed in April 2024. Commenting on the results, Rashed A Al Ansari, Group CEO of Al Ansari Financial Services, said: Our focus since the start of the year has been on executing our growth strategy while continuing to produce robust financial results. I am pleased to say that we have delivered on both fronts. As the UAE economy continues to grow at a very healthy pace, our diverse offerings served us well, with strong demand from different customer segments, notably SMEs, and inbound and outbound tourism. This has contributed to sustained top-line growth. Moreover, thanks to our leading market position, the quality of our services and value-added products, the efforts of our teams, and our well-recognised brand, we grew and further diversified our customer base during the period. Our efforts to diversify the sources of revenue are contributing towards further enhancing the resilience of our business model. We are firing on all cylinders across our businesses. We are investing in our domestic expansion while also expanding our footprint in other promising GCC markets. Subject to regulatory approvals and other completion related processes, we are poised to enter the Oman market, our second foray outside UAE, following Kuwait, by acquiring a controlling stake in one of the leading exchanges in the sultanate. We are also investing in further scaling our end-to-end cash management business, CashTrans, which has so far performed tremendously, and is showing promising growth potential as we invest in ramping up operations. We are also investing in our digital channels to ensure we maintain a competitive edge while also optimising costs to serve customers. "We are well funded for our growth plans, have ample liquidity and a very comfortable leverage position. Given our robust financial position and our confidence in further unlocking shareholder value as we boldly execute our growth agenda, the Board is confirming the distribution of the promised minimum AED600 million in cash dividends to our shareholders. Tutti Frutti, a film on war dogs announced by producers Vivek Rangachari and Faraz Ahsan Tutti Frutti, brings to life an extraordinary saga of camaraderie and courage that transcends the boundaries between soldiers and their loyal canine companions.This compelling narrative, inspired by true events, will take audiences on a gripping journey, celebrating the incredible partnership between warriors on two legs and four.As the world prepares to celebrate International Dog's Month, Tutti Frutti takes center stage, paying homage to the relentless protectors who share an unbreakable bond with our soldiers. The pre-production of Tutti Frutti is set to commence soon.Behind the scenes, the film boasts a stellar team with producers Vivek Rangachari and Faraz Ahsan at the helm. Vivek Rangachari, known for producing acclaimed films like The Lunchbox and the highly anticipated 800, brings his expertise to the table, ensuring a production that resonates with authenticity and heart.Renowned writer Deepak Kingrani, celebrated for his contributions to projects like "Special Ops" and "Sirf Ek Baanda Kaafi Hai," weaves a compelling narrative that captures the essence of this extraordinary partnership. His storytelling prowess promises to elevate Tutti Frutti into a mesmerizing tale of heroism and sacrifice."Tutti Frutti stands as a testament to the often-overlooked heroes who stand alongside soldiers, unwaveringly patrolling borders and confronting danger head-on. Deepak has written a beautiful heartwarming narrative, and we are looking forward to starting the film with a good team in place." said producers Vivek Rangachari and Faraz Ahsan.(ANI | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576978 162O158O87O213) Seerat Kapoor, Sharwanand to reunite for Sriram Aditya's untitled rom-com The shooting of the film is going to be done in London. Seerat will be flying out this week and will start shooting for it from August 15 in London, a source revealed.The source further shared "This untitled film of Seerat Kapoor and Sharwanand is expected to bring an abundance of charm and authenticity to their characters, making it a memorable cinematic experience. The film promises to be a delightful rom-com that will have audiences laughing, crying, and falling in love all over again."The film will be produced by People Media Factory LLP Productions.'Run Raja Run' was directed by debutant Sujeeth and produced by Uppalapati Pramod and V. Vamsi Krishna Reddy under the banner of UV Creations. The film also stars Adivi Sesh, Sampath Raj and Jayaprakash The film was also dubbed and released in Tamil under the same title.Meanwhile, on the work front, Seerat Kapoor, who stepped into the industry as a choreographer, will also be seen playing a very pivotal role in Dil Raju's 'Aakasam Dati Vasthava'. Seerat is also going to debut as a singer along with Ishaan Khan in a music video for Jackky Bhagnani's Jjust Music Label.(IANS | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576978 172O70O243O205) How China's cyber samurais are waging a narrative war against India New Delhi-based fact-checking portal www.dfrac.org has tracked Chinese disinformation campaigns against India since 2021 onwards. A series of reports on this portal expose that Chinese are active on every social media platform - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. - and pounce on every opportunity to weave anti-India propaganda.According to dfrac.com, even people linked to Communist Party of China (CPC) directly run or manage such propaganda accounts.One such Chinese propaganda cluster is South Asia Index that doubles as a website and an official Twitter page with the same name. Official introduction of the page says that it focuses on the economy, politics, diplomacy, defence, climate change & other matters of South Asia.However, a simple glance on its timeline exposes that it is an agenda-driven tool. Every second post on the page highlights something negative about India be it demonising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, atrocities of Indian armed forces in Kashmir, Pakistan prospering as a state, China emerging as the most favoured government-system world over, and the like.One interesting aspect of the South Asia Index's modus operandi is that they manage to make some fake news about India viral in certain circles. When some children had died in Gambia allegedly after consuming India-manufactured cough syrup, the Index ran a story that 99 children died of India-made syrup in Indonesia. It was circulated among South-East Asian web circles until Indian fact-checking websites like dfrac.com debunked the claim.Another example of China making India the target of its propaganda was when the Dalai Lama was photographed in April kissing a kid and asking him to suck his tongue apparently in a playful manner. The Chinese social media army pounced on this opportunity to paint the Tibetan spiritual leader and his host India in the filthiest colour. They ran social media campaigns in all continents calling the Dalai Lama a deplorable pedophile who deserves to be exiled and punished for his crimes.Nin Sun (@NinSiv4), a Chinese, whose account shows the location as Paris, said on his account "I am the first person who has exposed the Dalai Lama as a pedophile in English. Don't be a pedophile supporter."Another twitter handle probably based in Sri Lanka (as it highlights Chinese philanthropy and investment too often) is @BattlementLK and it seems to be run by well-informed and serious propagandists. They highlight rarely known facts of history to show that India has been an aggressive civilisation and that its politics reflects that aggression towards non-Indians (read non-Hindus). Its most recent tweet on August 6 was a dig at the increasing membership size of the BJP."You can become a member of India's BJP by sending a text message. Joining the CPC requires a probation period where endorsements from other party members and approval of several party organisations are necessary for you to qualify as a member," it read.All these above-mentioned accounts are part of the vast Chinese network that is scattered all-over the world and, as locations of twitter handles suggest, operate from all major cities of the world.Confirming this, the New York Times last week published its investigative report highlighting how China, via a network run by an Indian origin American billionaire, peddles its narratives and "funds" media organisations even based in New Delhi.(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)--indianarrative(IANS | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576978 172O71O250O104) Alia says her 'Heart of Stone' character is reflection of her roots The actress also shared that she said yes to the film to add to her repository of her experience as it gave her the chance to collaborate with Gal Gadot and Jamie Dornan.'Heart of Stone' pledges a pulse-pounding escapade, led by the formidable pairing of Gal Gadot and Alia.Talking about what drew her to 'Heart of Stone', and the role of Keya Dhawan, Alia said "This was a super huge opportunity for me to be a part of a film like this, and to break through to the global market. I've been working in the Indian film industry for ten years now, but this is my first English language film, and that's always something that I wanted to tick off my box."She said that she was waiting for the right opportunity and the film offered her the same."I also wanted it to be true to who I am and where I come from. I found that in 'Heart of Stone' and in the character of Keya, because she's from India and she's pushed against these extreme circumstances. She has to really prove herself and she's fighting for something, as everyone is in the film, and she has her own motive," she added.The actress said "Also, being a part of this huge action film headlined by Gal Gadot, it's really the action film of today, one led by this really strong woman whom we all look up to and love. I really liked the whole narrative, and having seen Tom Harper's work as well, I was really excited to work with him. There were a lot of pluses that came together to make me feel I should take the plunge and do this."'Heart of Stone' will drop on Netflix on August 11.(IANS | Posted on 10 August 2023, 1692576979 162O158O110O47) As he begins his eighth year as chancellor, Robert Jones weighs in on a bigger Big Ten, the future of NIL, the mascot debate and what's next for the state's flagship university during an extensive conversation with our Luke Taylor. Download Now The News-Gazette mobile app brings you the latest local breaking news, updates, and more. Read the News-Gazette on your mobile device just as it appears in print. Kara Allison moved to Mahomet in 1990, when she was in the seventh grade. Thirty-three years later, the third-grade teacher at Lincoln Trail Elementary School still calls it home. Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Investigators say miscommunication between pilots caused United plane to drop near ocean's surface Federal investigators say that miscommunication between pilots led to a United Airlines plane diving within 748 feet of the oceans surface shortly after takeoff from Hawaii in December Donald Trumps valet, Walt Nauta, has pleaded not guilty to new charges in the case accusing the ex-president of illegally hoarding classified documents at his Florida estate Nigers junta told a top U.S. diplomat that they would kill deposed President Mohamed Bazoum if neighboring countries attempted any military intervention to restore his rule, two Western officials told The Associated Press A scientific journey decades in the making at Duke University has found a new antibiotic strategy to defeat gram-negative bacteria like Salmonella, Pseudomonas and E. coli, the culprits in many urinary tract infections (UTIs). The synthetic molecule works fast and is durable in animal tests. It works by interfering with a bacterium's ability to make its outer lipid layer, its skin, so to speak. "If you disrupt the synthesis of the bacterial outer membrane, the bacteria cannot survive without it," said lead investigator Pei Zhou, a professor of biochemistry in the Duke School of Medicine. "Our compound is very good and very potent." The compound, called LPC-233, is a small molecule that has proven effective at wrecking the outer membrane lipid biosynthesis in every gram-negative bacterium it was tested against. Co-authors at the University of Lille in France tested it against a collection of 285 bacterial strains, including some that were highly resistant to commercial antibiotics, and it killed them all. And it works fast. "LPC-233 can reduce bacterial viability by 100,000-fold within four hours," Zhou said. The compound is also tenacious enough to survive all the way to the urinary tract after oral administration, which may make it a vital tool against stubborn urinary tract infections (UTIs). Tests run at high concentrations of the compound showed "exceedingly low rates of spontaneous resistance mutations in these bacteria," according to a paper describing the findings, which appears Aug. 9 in Science Translational Medicine. In animal studies, the compound was successful when administered orally and intravenously or injected into the abdomen. In one experiment, mice given what should have been a fatal dose of multidrug-resistant bacteria were rescued by the new compound. The search for this compound took decades because of the specificity and safety required of the synthetic molecule. Zhou credits his late colleague, former Duke Biochemistry Chair Christian Raetz, for starting the search decades ago. "He spent his entire career working on this pathway," Zhou said. "Dr. Raetz proposed a conceptual blueprint for this pathway in the 1980s, and it took him over two decades to identify all of the players," Zhou said. The new drug's target is an enzyme called LpxC that is the second enzyme in the "Raetz pathway" and is essential to making the outer membrane lipid in gram-negative bacteria. Raetz joined Duke as the chairman of biochemistry in 1993 after his work on this pathway at Merck & Co. had failed to produce a successful clinical candidate. The Merck antibiotic worked, but only against E. coli, so it wasn't commercially viable and the pharmaceutical company dropped it. "He actually recruited me to Duke to work on this enzyme, initially just from the structural biology perspective," said Zhou, who came to Duke in 2001. Zhou and Raetz had solved the structure of the LpxC enzyme and revealed molecular details of a few potential inhibitors. "We realized that we could tweak the compound to make it better," Zhou said. Since then, Zhou has been working with his colleague, Duke Chemistry professor Eric Toone, to make more potent LpxC inhibitors. The first human trial of LpxC inhibitors had failed because of cardiovascular toxicity. The focus of the Duke group's subsequent work was to avoid cardiovascular effects while maintaining the potency of the compound. They worked on more than 200 different versions of the enzyme inhibitor, always searching for better safety and more potency. Other compounds worked to varying degrees, but compound number 233 was the winner. LPC-233 fits a binding spot on the LpxC enzyme and prevents it from doing its work. "It fits in the right way to inhibit formation of the lipid," Zhou said. "We're jamming the system." Adding to its durability, the compound works by a remarkable two-step process, Zhou said. After the initial binding to LpxC, the enzyme-inhibitor complex changes its shape somewhat to become an even more stable complex. The lifetime of the inhibitor binding in this more stable complex is longer than the lifetime of the bacteria. "We think that contributes to the potency, as it has a semi-permanent effect on the enzyme," he said. "Even after the unbound drug is metabolized by the body, the enzyme is still inhibited due to the extremely slow inhibitor dissociation process," Zhou said. There are multiple patents being filed on the series of compounds, and Toone and Zhou have co-founded a company called Valanbio Therapeutics, Inc. which will be looking for partners to bring LPC-233 through phase 1 clinical trials to assess safety and efficacy in humans. "All of these studies were done in animals," Zhou said. "Ultimately the cardiovascular safety needs to be tested in humans." Large scale synthesis of LPC-233 was first accomplished by David Gooden at the Duke Small Molecule Synthesis Facility. Vance Fowler and Joshua Thaden (Duke School of Medicine), Ziqiang Guan (Biochemistry) and Ivan Spasojevic (Duke PK/PD Core) helped with in vivo studies, mass spectrometry and pharmacokinetics analysis. This work was supported by grants from National Institutes of Health (R01 GM115355, AI094475, AI152896, AI148366), the North Carolina Biotechnology Center (2016-TEG-1501) and a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center Core Grant (P30CA014236). You're likely familiar with RNA, the molecule that plays an important role in protein production and gene expression control. Perhaps you're less familiar, however, with PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA), a special type of RNA that protects the genome from mutations. Now, researchers in Japan have shed light on how these critical molecules are formed by the dynamics of several associated proteins in the germline of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. In a new study published in the Journal of Cell Biology, researchers from Osaka University have clarified how the proteins Tejas (Tej), Vasa (Vas), and Spindle-E (Spn-E) contribute to the creation of piRNAs, which are found in the gonads and help protect the genome from mutations or deletions caused by transposons that may be passed on through reproductive cells. In Drosophila, piRNAs first appear as long sequences, known as precursor transcripts, which are processed in membrane-less cellular compartments called 'nuage' and turned into their shorter forms as functional piRNAs. These nuage are composed by the interactions of RNA-processing proteins, PIWI family proteins, and a group of proteins known as the Tudor-domain-containing (Tdrd) proteins. Of those, Tej, a Tdrd protein, has been previously shown to play a key role in the piRNA pathway, with a major reduction in piRNAs observed in the absence of Tej. However, the role that Tej plays in the generation of piRNA is not fully understood. The research team set out to investigate the molecular function of Tej during piRNA biogenesis. "We first evaluated the detailed function of Tej in the Drosophila ovary and confirmed that Tej is involved in processing precursor transcripts with two RNA-processing helicases: Vas and Spn-E in the nuage," explains lead author of the study Lin Yuxuan. "In the mutant germ cells that lack Tej, we observed that Vas and Spn-E are not properly assembled in the nuage, indicating that Tej plays a critical role in recruiting Vas and Spn-E to the nuage." By generating variants of Tej that lack specific regions of the protein, the investigators could identify which areas of Tej are crucial for interacting with Spn-E and modulating the mobility of Vas. They found that one distinct region, termed the 'Spn-E recruit site', contributes to the recruitment and maintenance of Spn-E in the nuage. Another distinct region, known as the intrinsically disordered region, affects both the ability of Vas to move within the nuage and the dynamics of other components of the nuage. "Our study demonstrates that Tej is a key component of nuage formation and piRNA processing," says senior author Kai Toshie. "By recruiting Vas and Spn-E, Tej facilitates nuage formation, allowing the processing of piRNA precursor transcripts into their mature, functional forms." Disruption of piRNA formation is known to cause infertility. The research team's insight into the formation of nuage and piRNA processing mediated by Tej in Drosophila germline may help to uncover the mechanisms underlying reproductive disorders, including infertility, and may contribute to the development of new fertility drugs. Previous research has revealed that the Apolipoprotein-4 (APOE-4) allele increases the risk for a variety of diseases in aging populations, specifically Alzheimer's and cardiovascular disease. And yet, despite its negative effects, this allele remains prevalent in approximately 20% of the human population. In a quest to determine how this negative allele is surviving natural selection, a group of researchers have discovered that the APOE-4 allele is associated with increased fertility in women. In the new paper, "Apolipoprotein-4 is associated with higher fecundity in a natural fertility population" released today in Science Advances, the authors worked alongside the Tsimane (Chi-mahn-eh) community in Bolivia, a forager-horticultural society, to look at the effects of the allele through an evolutionary anthropological lens. To do so, lead author Benjamin Trumble, who is an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Arizona State University's School of Human Evolution and Social Change as well as the university's Center for Evolution and Medicine, headed to the Bolivian Amazon lowlands where the Tsimane live. Trumble, along with the Tsimane Health and Life History Project (co-directed by Trumble, Hillard Kaplan, Michael Gurven, and Jonathan Stieglitz), have a longstanding relationship with the Tsimane to collect demographic and biomedical data and help provide medical care a relationship that has been in effect for over 20 years. With over 17,000 people living across 90 villages, their hunter-farmer lifestyle is more similar to human life prior to the Industrial Revolution than modern cities, offering a unique glimpse into health and aging without modern day influences. "What I do is I try to understand what human health was like prior to industrialization," Trumble explained. "For 99% of human history, we were hunter-gatherers. The world we're living in today is really weird. It's this built environment that we've created that's entirely different from what it was throughout most of human evolution. We are now essentially operating outside of the manufacturer's recommended warranty" For this particular study, Trumble and the other researchers collected data from 795 Tsimane women, ranging in age from 13 to 90 years old. The team of researchers not only retrieved genetic data to determine which alleles are prevalent for each individual, but also information about their fertility, including age of first birth, how long between births, total number of live births, etc. When looking at the data, the researchers found that Tsimane women with the presence of one APOE-4 allele had an increase of .5 births, compared to those without the APOE-4 allele. The number of live births increased even more when there was the presence of two copies of the APOE-4 allele, where these women had an average increase of two live births compared to those without this specific allele. "What we found in this population was that women began reproducing almost a year earlier if they had the APOE-4 allele and they had shorter interbirth intervals. Those two things combined allow them to have about half an additional kid if they have one copy or two additional kids if they have two copies," Trumble explains. This advantageous effect on fertility could help to explain how an allele that has such a negative impact in one's later life through the increased chances of developing Alzheimer's or cardiovascular disease has not been weeded out by natural selection the advantages take place in one's early to mid-life years, and therefore are passed along to their offspring. "Genes that are associated with diseases that occur after the age of reproduction, or after reproduction has already started, are in "selection's shadow". There have been a lot of arguments about the APOE-4 allele, that it may be an example of selection's shadow, that you don't develop Alzheimer's until after you've already had all your kids," Trumble said. Other, smaller studies have shown other advantageous aspects of the APOE-4 allele, including that children in Brazil are able to handle environmental pathogens and parasites, such as Giarada, better than those without the allele, which resulted in better cognitive functions and higher growth rates. "If you spend a calorie on growth, you can't spend it on immune function and vice versa, so if you're sick all the time, you have to invest a lot of energy in immune function, and you can't grow as fast. Children with the APOE-4 allele seem to have better immune function, so they spend less time sick and can grow faster." Even with these benefits of the APOE-4 allele that have been discovered, there is still the major deleterious effect of the increased risk of Alzheimer's and cardiovascular disease in the later stages of life. Interestingly, this negative effect of the allele is mostly seen in Westernized nations. The Tsimane, for instance, have the lowest rates of dementia and Alzheimer's in the world, as discovered in research by the large interdisciplinary team Trumble is a part of last year. This is despite having the same 20% prevalence of the APOE-4 allele in their population. What can this mean for understanding and treating the negative effects of the allele in areas affected the most? "We need to better understand global variation, and in particular, we need to kind of think outside the box and move beyond our focus on 'this allele causes X disease' and that's just how it is. Instead, we need to take a step back and say, what about in different environments? What about in the environments in which humans evolved? Because that actually opens up a whole other possibility for prevention or treatment by being able to mimic some of the aspects of that lifestyle. If we aren't seeing the same associations between APOE-4 and some outcome, then maybe if we kind of take a step back and we say, okay, what are the differences?" The Tsimane Health and Life History Project is a large interdisciplinary team effort, combining anthropologists, cardiologists, neurologists, and gerontologists, as well Bolivian physicians and Tsimane anthropologists. This project was funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging (R01AG054442). A new study published in Scientific Reports aimed to identify factors that could influence the pattern of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in a particular area. It examined whether natural radon radiation influenced the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine, looking in particular at four regions in Ukraine that were considered to have experienced increased exposure to Radon, a decay product of Uranium. Background Improving existing vaccines and drugs is essential in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, pulmonary complications and the limited efficiency of existing treatment options have fueled the interest in alternative therapies and following the patterns of COVID-19 spread. Radon, a noble radioactive gas and one of the decay isotopes of uranium, produces one kind of natural radiation. Radon has been identified as the most significant dose-forming factor in the irradiation of the Ukraine population. During COVID-19 lockdowns, long indoor stays under increased radon irradiation in Ukraine were considered to be a risk factor for cancer. Areas with high natural background radiation (HNBR), especially in China, Brazil, India, and Iran, have been assessed for health risks. However, compared to the control group, no significant increase in mortality in HNBR areas was found. Generally, the quality of such studies depends on a number of factors, including sufficient statistical power and appropriate study design. Additionally, health statistics and cancer rates in HNBR countries are not well-documented. In HBNR regions, expected health problems are hard to identify causally because such problems would exist to some degree, irrespective of radiation exposure. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed some interesting questions. For instance, the number of cases in some regions of Ukraine (e.g., Kirovograd, Kherson, Vinnytsia) was definitely lower than in others. These regions feature increased natural radiation as they are located close to Ukraines uranium deposits. About the study This study analyzed the normalized system statistics on the development of COVID-19. The goal was to detect certain anomalies and/or regularities of this process, conditional on the geographical features of particular areas of Ukraine. It was assumed that the level of health care was equal throughout the country. The main factor influencing the infection spread dynamics was considered to be population density. To reduce its impact, the densities were normalized by the average population density in Ukraine, resulting in a linear model in the form of a relationship between the size of the region and the normalized values of the number of COVID-19 cases. Key findings The normalization led to the identification of a number of regions with abnormal indicators of active COVID-19 cases. These regions formed a united area in the related basin of the Southern Bug, Ingulets, and Ingul. One could assume that the river beds of this basin have rocks of the same type. Further, considering that 83% of Ukraines uranium deposits are concentrated in the nearby Kirovograd region, it could be argued that rocks near Kirovograd contain the same uranium, but in much lower quantities. This is also the region in Ukraine where the number of COVID-19 cases was the lowest. Medical research continues to evaluate the role of radon in treating pulmonary diseases. Although radiation increases free radical production, it also activates their neutralization, preventing the expression of damaging actions of radicals. This potentially explains the beneficial effects of small doses of ionizing radiation. Recent research has quantitatively evaluated the relationship between the tissue/organ absorbed dose and the biological response caused by radon. The findings showed that a small amount of active oxygen generated from radon, was able to activate the biological defense system. As a result, it was suggested that the amount of medicine required could be reduced by combining drug and radon therapy. The aforementioned findings could explain the low number of COVID-19 cases in the specific area of Ukraine around the uranium deposits. Compared to other regions of Ukraine, the morbidity and mortality indicators in these regions was also lower. Conclusions The results presented here have provided important information on the possible dependence of a number of COVID-19 cases on the geological conditions of a particular region. The findings are important for the development of healthcare services and prevention strategies to combat COVID-19. It must be noted that the data considered in this study is incomplete, as the processing of data was interrupted by the armed conflict in February 2022. Owing to this lack of data, both at the local and national levels, the more proven parametric methods of mathematical statistics could not be used. This will be the next step in this research agenda once peace is restored and relevant statistics can be accessed. Four major clinical trial networks based in low resource settings are embarking on an exciting partnership with the Good Clinical Trials Collaborative ("GCTC") to enhance clinical research in low resource settings. By promoting the unique qualities of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and the evidence they produce, the collaboration aims to support regional research ecosystems to prioritize collaborative, informative and efficient research responses to public health challenges. ADVANcing Clinical Evidence in Infectious Diseases ("ADVANCE-ID"), Africa Health Research Institute ("AHRI"), Oxford University Clinical Research Unit ("OUCRU"), The Global Health Network ("TGHN"), and the GCTC coordinating center at Protas, have formed Good Trials Prism. Supported and funded by Wellcome, Good Trials Prism will promote and implement the principles of good RCTs to strengthen clinical trials systems in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and South Africa. These principles are outlined in GCTC's Guidance for Good Randomized Clinical Trials and incorporated in the recently published draft guidance for best practices for clinical trials by the World Health Organization. Addressing challenges in low resource settings Good Trials Prism is the first program of its kind to put these principles into practice across a diverse range of geographies and health challenges, particularly focusing on their applicability to low- and middle-income countries facing high rates of communicable and noncommunicable diseases, alongside limited research capacity and resources. High quality, principles-based guidance can play a crucial role in mitigating these challenges by providing a robust platform for all stakeholders to focus their efforts effectively and work towards common goals. A collaborative partnership Central to Good Trials Prism is the development of education and training materials to promote understanding and adoption of the principles, openly available for others to utilize and benefit from. The program will also undertake capacity strengthening, policy, advocacy, training and communications work, including delivering workshops, webinars, and training courses to promote sharing of knowledge and best practices. The networks will play a leading role in promoting and implementing the principles in their respective regions by leveraging their local knowledge and existing relationships, tailoring resources to the needs of their research environments. Good Trials Prism is a fantastic platform to further our mission to promote and support high-quality clinical trials globally. By working together to apply the principles of a good trial as outlined in our guidance and now in WHO's draft guidance, this partnership seeks to strengthen clinical trial systems and help overcome barriers in generating reliable evidence in low resource settings and across the world." Professor Sir Martin Landray, Senior Lead of the Good Clinical Trials Collaborative Dr Mo Yin, Deputy Director of ADVANCE-ID, said: "We need trials that are more relevant, fair, and transparent in areas where improved treatments are urgently required. ADVANCE-ID, in conjunction with Good Trials Prism, is dedicated to delivering such trials to enhance patient outcomes and bolster public health." Professor Limakatso Lebina, Clinical Trials Unit Lead of AHRI, said: "AHRI is pleased to be a partner on this important project. Working in a rural, under-resourced settings means we are acutely aware of the challenges of running high-quality trials in such a context. We look forward to helping develop and strengthen clinical trials capacity in the African region so that the latest drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics can be safely brought to the people who need them most." Ms Evelyne Kestelyn, Head of Clinical Trials Unit of OUCRU, said: "Being a part of Good Trials Prism allows institutions like OUCRU to share their vast expertise in clinical research and champion sustainable and equitable development of capacity in Southeast Asia. By embracing the principles of good clinical trials and working in tandem with other leading networks, we firmly believe we are well positioned to tackle the unique challenges facing clinical research and make a meaningful impact to health outcomes in this region." Professor Trudie Lang, Head of The Global Health Network, said: "Empowering researchers and healthcare workers to conduct high quality clinical trials in every healthcare setting with guidance, tools and support, will contribute to addressing the burden of diseases on health systems and save lives. This partnership is critical to ensure such resources are developed and implemented in contextually relevant ways and that all stakeholders may contribute to and benefit from these efforts". Ohio voters in a rare August election turned out in unexpectedly high numbers to defeat a ballot measure that would have made it harder to pass an abortion-rights constitutional amendment on the ballot in November. The election was almost a year to the day after Kansas voters also stunned observers by supporting abortion rights in a ballot measure. Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans without health insurance dropped to an all-time low of 7.7% in early 2023, reported the Department of Health and Human Services. But that's not likely to continue, as states boot from the Medicaid program millions of people who received coverage under special eligibility rules during the pandemic. This week's panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Emmarie Huetteman of KFF Health News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, and Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post. The host Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News' weekly health policy news podcast, "What the Health?" A noted expert on health policy issues, Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book "Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z," now in its third edition. Panelists Emmarie Huetteman KFF Health News @emmarieDC Joanne Kenen Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico @JoanneKenen Rachel Roubein The Washington Post @rachel_roubein Among the takeaways from this week's episode: It should not have come as much of a surprise that Ohio voters sided with abortion-rights advocates. Abortion rights so far have prevailed in every state that has considered a related ballot measure since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, including in politically conservative states like Kentucky and Montana. Moderate Republicans and independents joined Democrats in defeating the Ohio ballot question. Opponents of the measure which would have increased the threshold of votes needed to approve state constitutional amendments to 60% from a simple majority had not only cited its ramifications for the upcoming vote on statewide abortion access, but also for other issues, like raising the minimum wage. A Texas case about exceptions under the states abortion ban awaits the input of the state's Supreme Court. But the painful personal experiences shared by the plaintiffs notable in part because such private stories were once scarce in public discourse pressed abortion opponents to address the consequences for women, not fetuses. The uninsured rate hit a record low earlier this year, a milestone that has since been washed away by states efforts to strip newly ineligible Medicaid beneficiaries from their rolls as the covid-19 public health emergency ended. The promise of diabetes drugs to assist in weight loss has attracted plenty of attention, yet with their high price tags and coverage issues, one thorny obstacle to access remains: How could we, individually and as a society, afford this? Lawmakers are asking more questions about the nature of nonprofit, or tax-exempt, hospitals and the care they provide to their communities. But they still face an uphill battle in challenging the powerful hospital industry. Also this week, Rovner interviews Kate McEvoy, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, about how the "Medicaid unwinding" is going as millions have their eligibility for coverage rechecked. Plus, for "extra credit" the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too: Julie Rovner: KFF Health News' "How the Texas Trial Changed the Story of Abortion Rights in America," by Sarah Varney. Joanne Kenen: Fox News' "Male Health Care Leaders Complete 'Simulated Breastfeeding Challenge' at Texas Hospital: 'Huge Eye-Opener'," by Melissa Rudy. Rachel Roubein: Stat's "From Windows to Wall Art, Hospitals Use Virtual Reality to Design More Inclusive Rooms for Kids," by Mohana Ravindranath. Emmarie Huetteman: KFF Health News' "The NIH Ices a Research Project. Is It Self-Censorship?" by Darius Tahir. Also mentioned in this week's episode: Credits Zach Dyer Senior Audio Producer Emmarie Huetteman Editor No Connecticut parent needs a reminder about the importance of school safety. Legislation, parenting, community engagement, responsible drivers, support for student mental health, and more can all play a role in helping promote such safety, as schools seek to provide an environment where concerns take a back seat to a focus on academic achievement, personal growth and overall success. Ever mindful of the responsibility to keep schools and students safe, Cheshire Public Schools recently announced, in conjunction with the Cheshire Police Department, two new School Resource Officers. Officer Michael Kahn, who was sworn in to the CPD in September 2021, will be primarily assigned to Cheshire High School. Officer Oscar Rivera, sworn in January 2021, will be primarily assigned to Dodd Middle School. However, the Department says the officers will provide support, as in years past, for all schools across the District. Kahn and Rivera take over for Officers Gretchen Ovesny and Dave Maliar. The School Resource Officer (SRO) program was begun in the early 2000s, but the position were not always staffed due to manpower issues. However, in 2012, the CPD began designating an officer as an SRO and then expanded to two officers in 2018. Though Cheshire schools have a strong record of safety, the importance of having SROs was demonstrated at least once in the past school year, when a student was made aware of a troubling social media message from another student from outside the District, and communicated what had been written to the School Resource Officer at Cheshire High School. The SRO then alerted officials to the situation, which was swiftly addressed. I am committed to continuing this important partnership between the Cheshire Police Department and the Cheshire Public Schools. Our school resource officers have been invaluable in establishing relationships with young people in our community and I am confident that Officers Rivera and Kahn will continue that tradition, commented Cheshire Chief of Police, Neil Dryfe. I commend the Cheshire Board of Education and the Town Council for recognizing the need and providing the funding for these two officers through the Cheshire Police Department budget, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jeffrey Solan said. I am confident that these newly assigned officers will connect with our students in a positive way and that this relationship will serve to further strengthen the bond between our schools and the Police Department as we work together to keep our students safe. The Town Council also recently voted to fund new technology for the schools that will give police and first responders real-time information in case of an emergency. In addition, the architects for the two new elementary schools being built as part of the school modernization first-phase recently stated that they will be utilizing CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) standards in the final designs. The nations health insurance system is undergoing tremendous upheaval as an estimated 8.2 million people will need to find new coverage since pandemic protections for Medicaid enrollees came to an end this spring. That's leaving many patients confused about how to get new medical insurance. "Its an overwhelming task," said Taffy Morrison, who is working to connect Louisiana residents to new coverage through the nonprofit Southwest Louisiana Area Health Education Center. But Morrison reminds people: "Dont panic. There is help." For many of those kicked off Medicaid, a state-federal health insurance program that covers people with low incomes and disabilities, new insurance will come from their employers. Others may need to turn to the Affordable Care Act online marketplaces to replace their coverage. Elevance insurance officials told investors in mid-July they were seeing signs of movement from Medicaid to exchange plans as states ramp up reviews of who still qualifies for the public insurance program. The company, formerly called Anthem, reported 18.2% growth in its exchange plans from the year before, with its marketplace plans now covering at least 949,000 people. To prevent gaps in insurance coverage, some states, such as California and Rhode Island, will automatically enroll people who lose Medicaid in such marketplace plans. But elsewhere, Morrison and workers at similar nonprofit health groups nationwide are helping people navigate the difficult administrative process of finding the right plan. Known as "navigators" or "assisters" and publicly funded, they work with patients free of charge. Consumers should be wary of anyone charging to assist them in finding coverage or pushing a particular plan. Misleading marketing has led some people to plans that aren't actually insurance, such as health care sharing ministries, which don't necessarily cover members' medical bills. The dramatic reshuffling of insurance coverage comes with the end of federal covid-19 pandemic protections. States were barred from kicking enrollees off Medicaid during the pandemic to ensure people had access to health care. As a result, the program swelled by 30% from February 2020 to December 2022 to cover about 92 million people, including children who receive coverage under CHIP, the Children's Health Insurance Program. Now, for the first time since 2020, states have resumed checking whether enrollees remain eligible. The first batch of numbers are rolling in. So far, more than 4 million people have lost coverage in 42 states and the District of Columbia. And in June alone, more than 50,000 of them lived in Louisiana, according to state data. Of the more than 151,000 beneficiaries' files the state reviewed in a single month, nearly 13,000 people no longer qualified for Medicaid but roughly 38,000 additional people lost coverage because they did not submit a renewal packet for the state to determine whether they still qualified. Morrison's group of 50 navigators across the state will now try to make a dent in those numbers as coverage losses are expected to grow. Patient advocates in Louisiana and elsewhere agree on one crucial first step Medicaid enrollees must take regardless of eligibility status: They must fill out and return their Medicaid renewal packets. "That Medicaid paperwork, its beneficial for everybody to finish it up," said Geoffrey Oliver, who leads Connecting Kids to Coverage, a program of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri that helps families navigate the enrollment process. If people return the forms and are found to be ineligible, states pass along their information to online insurance exchanges such as healthcare.gov. The exchanges will follow up with people and share health plan options, functioning as another tap on the shoulder to prevent people from becoming uninsured. People shouldn't assume they can't afford marketplace plans, insurance experts say. Many can enroll in low- to no-cost coverage. Roughly 2.7 million people are likely to be eligible for discounted plans, federal estimates show, representing about one-third of all those expected to be ineligible for Medicaid. Of those, about 1.7 million will qualify for zero-premium plans. Another reason to fill out the packet: Even if adults in a household no longer qualify for Medicaid coverage, or now have employer coverage, children may still be eligible for public plans. A message plastered on a billboard in Randolph County, Missouri, reminds people about Medicaid renewal in big, bold letters: "Don't miss this letter." About 34% of people living in the central Missouri county are covered by Medicaid, according to a tracker maintained by Washington University in St. Louis. If people throughout the country fail to turn in the renewal packet, they run the risk of falling through the cracks, said Adrianna McIntyre, an assistant professor of health policy at Harvard. Being uninsured can lead people to postpone preventive care and cause them to end up in debilitating medical debt if emergencies happen. Most of the millions cut from Medicaid so far lost their benefits because they didn't complete the paperwork, not that they were deemed ineligible, according to KFF. And patient advocates worry enrollees may never have received the packet. Many recipients have likely moved and changed addresses but have not updated their contact information with states. Advocates fear those issues may be felt harder in places such as Louisiana, where many people have been displaced by floods and hurricanes in the past three years. In some states, Medicaid recipients can check their eligibility status online. Elsewhere, they can ask free navigators, such as Morrison, for help checking on their packets. What to know about navigating the path to insurance coverage The most important step: Fill out, sign, and return your Medicaid renewal packet. If you no longer qualify for Medicaid, that denial triggers a special enrollment period for you to find another source of coverage. You typically have 60 days before the loss of your Medicaid coverage to enroll in a new plan; the packets should arrive ahead of losing any coverage, so that should serve as a warning that a change in your benefits may be coming. You also have 60 days from when you report the loss of coverage, not the date when you actually lost it, to enroll in a new plan. That clock starts when you submit a new application via healthcare.gov, according to federal guidelines. To avoid gaps in coverage, plan ahead. Most marketplace coverage begins the first day of the following month. Here are potential coverage options for you and your family: Enroll in insurance through your job. Losing Medicaid triggers a special sign-up window for you to enroll in your employer's insurance, if available. Enroll in an Affordable Care Act plan. If employer-based coverage is not available or affordable, you and your family may be eligible for a discounted plan on the exchange. If your portion of the monthly premium for the lowest-cost family plan exceeds 9.12% of your household income, your family members would qualify for an exchange plan that offers financial assistance. Workplace insurance may be affordable for a father, for example, but not for the rest of the family. "In that situation, Dad should enroll in the employer-sponsored insurance plan and then they should go to the marketplace for the rest of the family," said Geoffrey Oliver, a navigator who leads Connecting Kids to Coverage, a program of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri. Your kids may still be eligible for Medicaid even if you no longer qualify: Even if parents or guardians no longer qualify for Medicaid coverage, their children might. In some places, kids can qualify for the Children's Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, with an annual household income of up to 400% of the federal poverty level, which equates to an income of $120,000 for a family of four. What to do before you turn 19 and lose CHIP coverage: Some young adults will age out of CHIP coverage at age 19. For them, especially those with chronic health conditions, it's important to take advantage of the special enrollment period for an Affordable Care Act plan before losing public coverage. If you turn 19 in the middle of the month say, September you should choose an exchange plan in August because most marketplace coverage begins the first day of the following month. This ensures you will not experience a gap in coverage when CHIP coverage expires. From an early age, Pasha Wrangell felt different. Societal expectations of boys, and many characteristics of masculinity, did not match how Wrangell felt inside. Bullied and ostracized, Wrangell started repressing those feelings in middle school and kept them bottled up for a long time. That led to decades of sadness, isolation, and even a couple of suicide attempts. What gnawed at Wrangell was gender dysphoria, a condition widely acknowledged in the medical community, which causes severe distress to people whose sexual identity does not match their sex assigned at birth. "It's a sense of wrongness, like someone attached an arm to my head badly, and it just punches me in the face every time," said Wrangell, 38, who grew up and still lives in this idyllic central California beach community. Facial and body hair is particularly upsetting: "I see my face in the mirror, and anytime I have to deal with hair, it is uncomfortable. I hate seeing it." Wrangell is nonbinary, meaning neither a man nor a woman, and uses the pronouns they and them. For over three years, they have been undergoing gender transition treatments to take on more feminine physical traits. These treatments have included genital transformation, known as bottom surgery; therapy with the female hormone estradiol; and electrolysis hair removal for their face, neck, and chest. All of it is paid for by Medi-Cal, California's version of the federal Medicaid insurance program for people with low incomes. California law requires Medi-Cal and all other state-regulated health plans to cover gender-affirming care that is deemed medically necessary. But therein lies the rub. Wrangell, an enrollee of the Central California Alliance for Health, the only Medi-Cal health plan in Santa Cruz, said it has been laborious to get the care they need. They contend with seemingly endless paperwork and phone calls to prove what they've already established that their need for treatments is real and ongoing. "There is a joke among the trans community, where they are always asking for letters, along the lines of, 'Oh, did they think I stopped being trans or did the hair magically go away?'" Wrangell said. And it requires a lot of work to find and vet the scant number of gender-affirming care providers who take Medi-Cal patients, Wrangell said. Over 1.6 million people ages 13 and older in the U.S. are transgender, according to the UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute, which conducts legal and policy research on gender identity and sexual orientation. Data from the institute shows an estimated 276,000 transgender people in the U.S. are enrolled in Medicaid, including 164,000 in states where transgender care is covered. Of those, 36,000 are in California, one of 25 states, plus Washington, D.C., whose Medicaid policies cover gender-affirming care. I think there's a lot of pressure in society to fit into a very narrow set of narratives, and I don't think honestly that works for most people," Wrangell said. "For some people, it's so ill-fitting, it's disastrous. A national survey of transgender people shows they disproportionately experience physical abuse, economic hardship, and mental health problems. And research finds gender-affirming care can significantly enhance their quality of life. But as Wrangell has learned, coverage and care are not the same thing. Hair removal, their top priority, has been hard to get. After 2 years of electrolysis treatment, they've had roughly only about half the total number of hours their electrologist said they needed. Permanently removing the facial hair of a transgender person assigned male sex at birth can require 400 or more hours of electrolysis spread over several years. For those paying out of their own pockets, the cost would easily reach tens of thousands of dollars. That doesn't include the cost of facial, bottom, and body-shaping surgeries. Wrangell said their health plan has limited the number of sessions it authorizes at a time, requiring constant reauthorization. Dennis Hsieh, deputy chief medical officer of the Central California Alliance for Health, said the health plan recently updated its policy to allow 50% more electrolysis in a three-month period and eliminate a rule requiring patients to submit photos of relevant body parts. Hsieh acknowledged a shortage of providers and said the alliance contracts with clinicians across several counties to provide more options. To a large extent, the challenges transgender people encounter seeking care are the same ones many people face in the "terror dome of U.S. health care," said Kellan Baker, the executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Whitman-Walker Institute, which conducts research and education on topics of concern to gay, bisexual, and transgender people. "There are a lot of people in a lot of circumstances who cannot get medically necessary care for their conditions, whether that's gender dysphoria or cancer or diabetes." Legal aid lawyers and transgender activists say another big reason for denials or delays in gender-affirming care, especially hair removal, is that many people in the medical world still think of it as cosmetic. Medi-Cal, like most commercial insurance plans, does not cover cosmetic treatments. "But if it's affecting your mental health, and it's affecting your life opportunities, and it's affecting your ability to get a job, and it's affecting your ability to get housing, is that cosmetic?" asked Elana Redfield, the federal policy director at the Williams Institute. Despite their travails in obtaining care, Wrangell said, the treatment is improving their life. The estradiol, they said, makes them feel "way more relaxed, much less on edge all the time." And Wrangell feels good about an uncommon bottom surgery they got last October, but they are facing more paperwork for a needed follow-up operation. They are frustrated about all the red tape they've encountered, precisely because the treatments are helping. "This is working," Wrangell said. "Please finish it." This article was produced by KFF Health News, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation. Rice University chemist Carolyn Nichol has won a competitive Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) from the National Institutes of Health to address race-based cancer health disparities by increasing underrepresented minority student populations' engagement and participation in biosciences education. The 5-year, $1,038,544 award will support Nichol's Cancer Health Activism Network for Greater Equity (CHANGE) project in bringing together cutting-edge cancer research with insight on race-based healthcare disparities from the social sciences in a series of transformative high school biology lessons aligned with both state and national standards. "Our goal is to affect students' interest in bioscience careers and studies by working with their teachers," Nichol said. "We're recruiting high school biology teachers to do research in university labs working on projects led by faculty at Rice and at Texas Southern University who are Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) scholars. "On the one hand, teachers will learn about the latest innovations in cancer research while, on the other hand, they'll get to hear from researchers in the social sciences about health disparities affecting Blacks it's a two-pronged approach." Nichol hopes that time in the lab will be a "transformative experience for teachers, who will return to classrooms feeling empowered and with a renewed sense of leadership:" The research internships could bring a spark to their teaching. They'll get hands-on knowledge on topics like CRISPR or epigenetics things they may not have learned about when they were in school or that have changed significantly in recent years. They'll also learn about health disparities issues that disproportionately affect minority Black populations, and ways that we can teach science more holistically and more student-driven versus teacher-driven." Carolyn Nichol, Rice University Chemist In addition to lab work, the first three years of the program will bring together high school science teachers from Houston-area schools with relatively large Black student populations for a series of workshops where participants will work on developing and refining a portfolio of lessons meant to encourage and motivate students to pursue STEM education and career paths. "It's one thing to teach a kid who is already interested in biology and wants to learn about the cell cycle and DNA, for instance, and another thing altogether to try to do that for someone who thinks that's not for them or that they can't do that," Nichol said. "For decades, we've been trying to bring more underrepresented minorities into STEM, but the numbers really haven't changed. Moving that needle has just been really hard. "This approach of showing kids both the exciting parts of science while letting them know that they have a role to play in changing prevalent race-based disparities in healthcare access could really help break that stalemate." During the last two years of the program, participating teachers will attend a 4-day professional development workshop held both in-person and virtually where they will get to share their experience and learn about all the activities and lessons developed. "One of the reasons it's so powerful to work with teachers is that, according to the Texas Education Agency, each high school teacher works with, on average, 130 students a year," Nichol said. "So, if there are 187 teachers over the five years of this project, that would impact approximately 25,000 students overall. And, since biology is the only science class that's required in the state of Texas, we hope to reach kids that might not otherwise self-select to take a science class." The program is designed based on a transformational leadership model that cultivates individuals' strengths and self-worth to drive engagement. "It's really about teaching from a positive viewpoint," Nichol said. "A lot of times when a student walks into a classroom, the teacher looks at their deficits and tries to correct them. Instead, this is an asset-based approach where teachers find positive things to reinforce in the students, build up their self-esteem and help them not feel alienated if they're different or have different skill sets. "That's what this theory is about: It's this belief that every student has something of value they can bring to the classroom." Nichol hopes that a teaching approach based on the transformational leadership theory paired with cutting-edge developments in cancer research and studies on health disparities will engage more students in STEM careers. "I would like to extend my gratitude to my colleagues in the Rice Office of STEM Engagement for their support," Nichol said. Nichol is an associate research professor of chemistry, director of the Rice Office of STEM Engagement and education director for the NSF NanoEnabled Water Treatment (NEWT) Engineering Research Center. Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has taken the covers off its newest creation, the All New Toyota Rumion. The automaker will announce the price of the MPV along with the booking details anytime soon. This sleek and stylish compact MPV promises an unparalleled combination of generous space, top-notch fuel efficiency, and an aura of premium luxury, making it a powerhouse contender in the Indian automotive market. All-New Toyota Rumion: Variants The All New Toyota Rumion is offered in a total of six variants: S MT/AT, G MT, V MT/AT, and S MT CNG, ensuring a wide spectrum of choices for discerning customers. All-New Toyota Rumion: Engine Specification Under the hood, the Toyota Rumion is powered by Marutis 1.5-litre, naturally aspirated, four-cylinder gasoline engine. This powerplant generates 103 bhp and 137 Nm of torque and can be paired with either a 5-speed manual transmission or a 6-speed torque converter automatic transmission. Similar to the Ertiga, the Rumion can be equipped with a pre-installed CNG kit from the factory, yielding 88 bhp and 121.5 Nm of torque in CNG mode. Toyota asserts that the petrol variant boasts a fuel efficiency of 20.51kpl, while the CNG variant achieves a return of 26.11kg/km., All-New Toyota Rumion: Exterior The commanding presence of All New Toyota Rumion is highlighted by the signature Toyota MPV front grille, chrome-finished front bumper, LED tail lamps adorned with chrome garnish, and exquisite machined two-tone alloy wheels. All-New Toyota Rumion: Features The interior is equally lavish, featuring a premium dual-tone dashboard with wooden finish, plush dual-tone interiors, and an array of convenient amenities. Comfort is paramount, thanks to features like a height-adjustable drivers seat, split-fold second and third-row seats, and sumptuous dual-tone seat fabric. The flexible luggage space with flat fold functionality is the cherry on top. The All New Toyota Rumion boasts a 7-inch Smartplay Cast Touchscreen audio system with Arkamys Surround Sense technology, Wireless Android Auto & Apple CarPlay, and smartphone connectivity. This infotainment system is a hub of connectivity, with Bluetooth support, steering-mounted audio and calling controls, and USB connectivity. The All New Toyota Rumion takes connectivity and convenience a notch higher with the Toyota i-Connect system. It offers remote control over climate settings, locking/unlocking, hazard lights, headlights, and more. Compatible with smartwatches and Hey Siri voice assistant, the Toyota i-Connect system also offers safety features like auto collision notification, tow alert, find my car, and more. All-New Toyota Rumion: Safety Features Crafted on the robust Heartect Platform, the MPV provides a sturdy structure that ensures maximum protection for occupants. Features like dual front and front seat side airbags, ABS with EBD and Brake Assist, Engine immobilizer, ESP, Hill Hold assist, and ISO Fix Child seat anchorages elevate the safety quotient. With front seat belts equipped with pretensioners and force limiters, seat belt reminders for all seats, and a high-speed alert system, the All New Toyota Rumion guarantees peace of mind for the entire family. This formidable vehicle comes with a standard warranty of 3 years/1,00,000 km, which can be extended to 5 years/2,20,000 km, proving Toyotas commitment to delivering value and reliability. The Maharashtra government with multiple agencies has been working on the expansion of the Mumbai-Goa highway (NH-66) for decades. Now, it has been reported that the much-awaited project, which will cut off the travel time between Mumbai to Gao from 10 hours to 5 or 6 hours, is at its final stage, and about to finish before Ganesh Chaturthi next month. The news has been highlighted by the Public Work Departments minister named Ravindra Chavan during a meeting, which was also attended by the Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde on Tuesday. Heres What Maharashtra CM Says About Project CM Eknath Shinde also reacted to the same through his official Twitter handle. He tweeted that The PW is trying to take urgent measures regarding the work of Mumbai-Goa National Highway. The detailed project report work for the Mumbai-Sindhudurg route is in its final stage. The 18-hour journey through the Samruddhi Highway has come down to 8 to 10 hours. This is proving useful in terms of expanding industry opportunities for farmers and travelers. The government has prioritized the expansion of various such communication facilities, and the communication facilities will be expanded in this manner in Konkan too." Mumbai-Goa NH-66 Highway According to the reports, once the four-lane 1,608 km long NH-66 highway will kickstart its operation, it will connect multiple states in India. It will also connect Mumbais Panvel to Kanyakumaris Cape Comorin, and will pass through Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, the Mumbai-Goa highways Panvel to Pen Taluka section has witnessed some cracks during the ongoing work. The gaps have been filled with concrete patches by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). Reacting about the cracks, activist Rajeev Mishra says those concrete slab layers without steel wont be able to take a load of vehicles in the future, and it will create potholes. The Indian Bank Association (IBA) has greenlit a proposal to designate every Saturday as a day off for bank employees, subject to approval from the finance ministry, reports say. Presently, banks are closed on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month, but the IBAs decision, if approved, would lead to a five-day workweek for banking professionals. According to The Hindu BusinessLine, a meeting held by the IBA on July 28th discussed the demand put forth by bank employees to declare all Saturdays as holidays. The association subsequently endorsed the proposal, sending it to the finance ministry for final clearance. Should the proposal secure approval, banks would operate from Monday to Friday, with the possibility of slightly extended daily work hours, potentially increasing by 45 minutes. Although an email sent by the website to the IBA for comment remains unanswered as of press time, key executives from both private and public sector banks have confirmed that the IBA nodded in agreement to the plan during the last meeting. This crucial decision has now been elevated to the finance ministry for the ultimate green light. Banking professionals remain optimistic that the finance ministry will support the proposal, paving the way for the transition to a five-day working week. As of now, bank branches operate on the first, third, and fifth Saturdays of each month. However, this was not always the case. Prior to 2015, banks functioned six days a week, encompassing all Saturdays. Earlier this year in March, the All India Bank Employees Association issued a circular disclosing that the IBA had consented to the concept of a five-day workweek for bank employees. The circular also mentioned the possibility of extending working hours by 40 minutes each day, enabling cash transactions from 10 am to 4 pm and non-cash transactions until 4:30 pm. Despite various meetings surrounding the potential implementation of a shorter work week, tangible results have remained elusive. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday, August 10, said the country has started importing tomatoes from Nepal. It comes after a record high spike in the kitchen staples prices in the country. The first lot of tomato imports are likely to reach by Friday in Varanasi, Lucknow and Kanpur, the finance minister said in parliament. Recently, tomato prices surged in the country to as high as Rs 250 per kg, as poor rainfall, higher temperatures and a virus outbreak that has hit the crop. The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) will be issuing the admit cards for the Bihar teacher recruitment examination today, August 10. The commissions official website, bpsc.bih.nic.in, will host the admit cards. According to a notification released on August 9, the exam will be held on August 24, 25, and 26, with two shifts on each day. The morning shift will run from 10 AM to 12 PM and the afternoon shift will be held from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM. Candidates who pass the recruiting exam will be assigned to positions such as TGT, PGT, or Primary Teacher. BPSCs recruitment campaign intends to fill 1,70,461 teacher vacancies. Prior to obtaining their admit cards, the commission has instructed those who are eligible to go onto their online dashboards and upload two passport-size photos of 25 KB. On August 21, applicants will be able to get complete information regarding exam centres on the BPSC website. Candidates must ensure that they have downloaded their admission cards by August 20. BPSC Teacher recruitment exam admit card 2023: Steps to download Step 1: Visit the Bihar Public Service Commissions official website, bpsc.bih.nic.in. Step 2: Look for the Bihar teacher recruitment 2023 admit card download link and click on it. Step 3: Fill in your login credentials and click on submit Step 4: The Bihar teacher recruitment 2023 admit card will be displayed on the screen. Step 5: Save and download the admit card and take a printout of it for future records. Candidates are required to arrive at the centre of the exam one hour before the examination begins. Before leaving the examination hall, they must check that the OMR papers are sealed appropriately. Candidates are advised to carry extra copies of their admit cards for each shift, which must be submitted to the invigilators. Candidates will need to carry a valid government ID to the exam venue in addition to their admit card. To avoid last-minute problems, it is critical for candidates to arrive at the exam venue at the time specified on their admit card After conducting the Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS) for the first round, Delhi University is set to release the merit list for the second round today, August 10 at 5 PM. Students who have applied can check the merit list through the portal admission.uod.ac.in. Students should keep in mind the time that they will get to accept the seats that are allocated and after the time limit is exhausted the students wouldnt be able to accept their allocated seats. Students will be given time of three days to accept the seats, from 5 PM, August 10 to 4:59 PM, August 13. Colleges will also have four days to confirm the allocated seats, from 5 PM, 10th August to 4:59 PM, August 14. The last date to pay the fees will be on August 15 till 4:59 PM before which all the selected students should have paid the fees. DU UG Merit List 2023: How to Check Step 1: Go to DUs CSAS portal at ugadmission.uod.ac.in. Step 2: Look for the DU 2nd vacant seats list for UG admission 2023 link on the homepage. Step 3: On the new page, the college-wise vacant seats list will be displayed on the screen. Step 4: Students must check their preferred college, course, and number of seats available. Step 5: To proceed further, log in via the candidate credentials and rearrange the order of preference. The first merit list came out at the start of the month on August 1 after which on August 7 vacant seats for the second round were released. The vacant seats for the third round are scheduled to be released on August 17, later this month. This year around 3,04,699 candidates have registered and out of them, 85,000 were shortlisted through the first merit list. As per reports, majorly students have applied for B.Com and opted for Kirori Mal College. Colleges like Hindu College, Hansraj College, Kamla Nehru, Gargi College, and Dean Dayal Upadhyay had a few seats. Delhi University has changed its admission pattern and has shifted to Central University Entrance Test (CUET) for the selection process and now the 12th percentage will act as a tiebreaker for the students with the same CUET score. After last years dip in the number of students who applied for registration in UG courses which only saw around two lakh students registering for Delhi University, this year the numbers have risen again. Last year saw a downfall of over 70,000 but this year there has been a steep rise with over 80,000 more candidates applying for registration at DU. The IIT-Delhi is all set to formally launch its Abu Dhabi campus from January 2024, with admissions based on a blend of mechanisms followed both by India and the UAE, said director Prof Rangan Banerjee. This will be the IIT ecosystems second international campus and is offering undergraduate and postgraduate courses from the beginning, said Banerjee on Thursday, while addressing a press conference about the upcoming convocation of the institute on August 12. He said details of the courses to be offered were being worked out, but the subjects include energy and sustainability, artificial intelligence (AI), mathematics and computing, computer science, healthcare and other related disciplines of engineering, sciences and humanities. Initially, the Abu Dhabi branch will start functioning from a temporary campus. We are still in the process of taking approvals, both internally and externally. We are working out details of courses to be offered as well as the number of seats. While in India we have JEE Advanced on the basis of which admissions to IITs take place, the same way UAE has its own mechanism so the admission system will be a blend of both, the director said. The campus will have national as well as international students. Our aim is to have a diversified campus, he added. The IIT-Delhi faculty will be spearheading the Abu Dhabi campus in the beginning, but the institute will eventually recruit faculty from there as well. The IIT-Abu Dhabi is envisioned to be a research-centric campus and the institute has already initiated outreach programmes for school students from UAE as part of its offering for the academic ecosystem of the country. Short courses and executive programmes for the industry are expected to start soon, Banerjee added. At present, a three-week mathematics immersion outreach programme is underway in Abu Dhabi where selected high school students are being taught by IIT faculty. Similarly, select students also came down to visit the IIT-Delhi campus in July where they stayed for three days to gain an understanding of teaching and research. The institute has planned a series of outreach programmes till the end of the year as part of its efforts to reach out to the education landscape in Abu Dhabi. Setting up an IIT campus in the UAE was envisioned in the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) signed between the top leadership of the two countries in early 2022. In due course, IIT-Delhi was identified by the ministry of education to roll out this effort of strategic importance to the country. The ministry had signed an agreement with the UAE government for opening a campus in Abu Dhabi, on July 16. U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden has requested federal funds to support Gundersen Health System ambulances and emergency equipment for rural Wisconsin residents. The funding would allow the hospital to provide prehospital care and ambulance transfer in rural communities, helping to ensure patients receive timely and high-quality care. Van Orden, a Republican from Prairie du Chien, has proposed $600,000 from a United States Department of Agriculture program that funds rural services such as ambulances. The funds would support three new ambulance rigs and 18 paramedics. The more of these satellite locations we can have around the district, the sooner we can get to the people, the sooner we can get medical intervention and early outcomes, Van Orden said at a press conference Wednesday. Its a very important service that Gundersen is providing to the community, and Im very proud to be able to help them further their service. Tom Tornstrom, administrative director of Gundersen Tri-State Ambulance, said the additional ambulances and staffing would help serve the southwest Wisconsin region. Gundersen Health System currently has a hospital in Hillsboro and has ambulance service partnership with other hospitals in the region that would be impacted by the additional emergency equipment. Faster emergency medical service response times improve patient outcomes. Many rural emergency services providers struggle to provide timely care due to large coverage areas and extended travel distances. Emergency medical service call times in Americas rural communities are nearly 20 to 30% higher than in suburban and urban areas, according to the Rural Health Care Association. Each year, the House Appropriations Committee collects community development project requests from members of Congress for consideration in the upcoming appropriations bill. Funding is directed to local government or nonprofit entities to carry out projects that are eligible for federal support and benefit the local community. The funding bills must still pass the House, Senate and be signed by the president to become law. The appropriations bill was green-lit by the Agriculture Committee, which Van Orden sits on, and will go to the House of Representatives for approval in early September. The Hunt for Veerappan, a gripping docu-series that delves into the life and pursuits of the notorious forest brigand, Veerappan, has taken the internet by storm. The docu-series, released on Netflix, sheds light on Veerappan countrys most infamous bandit, and his nefarious crimes and also serves as a reflection to society about the structures built within, that enable crime and help it thrive. Its this complex dichotomy that the director has presented in his four-part narrative that has won the hearts of audiences and critics, alike. The thought-provoking featurette that sheds light into who Veerappan was and how he came to be also unveiled several intense and emotionally charged moments from his life that have never been seen before. Heres a glimpse into seven such moments from the docu-series. Unveiling Veerappans Identity: A crucial moment in the docu-series is when a journalist manages to interview Veerappan, offering the world a rare glimpse into the elusive criminals appearance. Veerappan provides the journalist with pictures of himself and his gang, revealing the face behind the notorious name. The Struggle for Survival: As Veerappan realises the police force is closing in on him, he and his gang face a critical situation where they are unable to secure food for themselves. The constant need to change their location puts tremendous pressure on the gang, showing the reality of their life on the run. Finding a Home in the Forest: From being a wanted poacher to smuggling sandalwood, the forest was the epicenter of Veerappans crime. After shooting a rival gang dead, he went on to take refuge in the very forest he exploited, making it his home for decades to come. The docu-series shows how he knew the green ecosystem like the back of his hand. One such instance that was narrated was when he realised the police were on his trail because the birds had told him so. Longing for Family: As the docu-series draws close, Veerappan yearns to be reunited with his family and children. He no longer wishes to be on the run but seeks solace in being with his loved ones, putting forward his human side. Capturing Dr. Rajkumar: Veerappans capture of Dr. Rajkumar, a prominent individual, creates chaos in both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The incident sent shockwaves through the states, highlighting the powerful and far-reaching impact of Veerappans actions. Nagappas Escape: A dramatic moment unfolds when Nagappa, a film director, manages to escape from Veerappans clutches. The docu-series showcases the intensity and danger of the situation, adding to the nail-biting suspense of the storyline. The Toll of Aging: As time takes its toll, Veerappans health begins to deteriorate, and he struggles with cataract-related eyesight issues. The docu-series portrays the vulnerability of a once-feared criminal who now faces the realities of aging and its impact on his abilities. Recent incidents of communal violence in several parts of Gurugram were spontaneous and not planned, a top Haryana police official has said. Clashes in areas like Badshahpur, Sohna, and Pataudi were not calculated but random flare-ups, said Gurugram police commissioner Kala Ramachandran on Thursday while addressing a press conference. Ramachandran said that the police investigation has so far found no corroborative evidence to support theories of planning before attacks. To date the interrogation and investigation has revealed it was all random where people decided on the spot and went ahead. We have a case when men were having drinks and then decided to participate in a communal flare-up, she said. Six people, including two home guards and a cleric, were killed in clashes that erupted in Muslim-dominated Nuh when a Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) procession or the Braj Mandal Yatra was attacked by mobs on July 31. Gurugram also witnessed stray incidents of violence. The top cop said that the situation was normal in the city. Though miscreants have tried to ignite communal hatred through scattered incidents, they have so far failed, she added. The police have registered 37 FIRs in communal flare-ups to date, two of them against hate speeches. 79 people have been arrested and 93 have been detained, of which 80 have been released on bail. The security outside religious places is still present though scaled down, the commissioner informed. The city police chief said that investigations are also under process in the murder case of a Bajrang Dal member who was allegedly killed by an Aam Aadmi Party leader during the Nuh violence. We cannot divulge the details of investigations but looking at all evidence in this case. Further details will be revealed in due course, she said. The police, according to her, are holding peace meetings with different groups across Gurugram in a bid to return to normalcy. A man from Delhi purchased" a wife from Bihar for Rs 70,000. The man later claimed that she often eloped from the house for months without information. Fed up of her behaviour, he strangled her and dumped her body in a forest area at Fatehpur Beri in national capitals southwest area. Police said on Wednesday that the accused husband, Dharamveer, along with two others Arun and Satyavan who helped him in the murder have been arrested On Saturday, a PCR call was received regarding a womans body found in a forest near Jheel Khurd border in Fatehpur Beri. Police rushed to the spot and took possession of the body, Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Chandan Chowdhary said. Police launched an investigation into the case and through technical and manual surveillance, the movement of an autorickshaw at around 1.40 am on Saturday was found suspicious, she said. The route of the autorickshaw was tracked and its registration number identified. Its driver Arun, a resident of Chhatarpur, was apprehended near Gadaipur Band road, the DCP said. Arun identified the deceased as Sweety, the wife of Dharamveer. He confessed that he and his brother-in-laws Dharamveer and Satyavan, both residents of Nangloi, killed Sweety by strangulation near Haryana border and threw the body in the forest, the police officer said. The driver told the police that he was aware of the topography of the area and the accused chose the forest area for the commission of crime and the disposal of the body, she said. Arun said Dharamveer was not happy with the behaviour of his wife because she often eloped from her house for months without any information. Arun, the relative of accused, revealed that nobody knows about the parents or the family background of the victim as Dharamveer had married her by paying Rs 70,000 to a woman. The accused told that Sweety never talked about her parents or family members. She only said that she hailed from Patna in Bihar, police said. A case under sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information to screen offender) and 34 (common intention) of the India Penal Code has been registered at Fatehpur Beri police station in connection with the murder of the woman, they said. The auto-rickshaw used in the commission of the crime has been seized, police said, adding further investigation in the case is in progress, the DCP said. The preliminary probe has revealed that the accused took the woman along with them on the pretext of dropping her at a railway station. It is suspected that the victims husband gave money to an acquaintance of his wife. It is also not clear where the woman used to go after leaving her husbands house, police said, adding that these facts are being verified. (With inputs from PTI) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday moved the Delhi High Court seeking vacation of its interim order directing no coercive action against the news website NewsClick, which allegedly propagated Chinese propaganda in India. The agency said the news portals plea, in which the interim order was passed, sought quashing of ECIR which is an internal document and is not even statutory as held by the Supreme Court in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary & Ors. vs. Union of India & Ors. The ED said it has been held repeatedly by the Courts including the Supreme Court that at the stage of summons, a person cannot even qualify as a person aggrieved and therefore, the Writ Petitions would not be maintainable being wholly premature. ED Says Probe Revealed Money Laundering Offence by NewsClick The federal agency said in light of a further investigation into the matter, additional material has been revealed which discloses the commission of the offence of money laundering as well as the commission of a scheduled offence which has been intimated to the predicate agency as well, by way of an appropriate communication u/s 66(2) of the PMLA as well. The relevant facts will be produced in a sealed cover before this High Court during the course of the hearing as it is a subject matter of ongoing investigation, the ED said. Earlier this week, an investigation by New York Times revealed how a group of influence campaigns, media organisations and shell companies were funded by China to propagate Chinese propaganda. The investigation has claimed that American millionaire Neville Roy Singham, closely linked to a news website NewsClick, worked closely with the Chinese government media machine and was part of its worldwide propaganda. The investigation showed how Singham financed a news site, NewsClick, which was also part of the Chinese propaganda. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had conducted the raid at the NewsClick office in New Delhi in 2021 and began an enquiry against the website based on strong evidence of money laundering. The New York Times tracked hundreds of millions of dollars to groups linked to Neville Roy Singham- which included a think tank and an event space in the US, a political party in South Africa and news organisations in India and Brazil. Aided by Neville Roy Singham, Newsclick Furthered Chinas Agenda in India | All About the News Portal ALLEGATIONS UNFOUNDED, WITHOUT BASIS IN FACT OR LAW: NEWSCLICK on NYT Report In a statement to News18, NewsClick said the allegations being made against them by certain political actors and sections of the media are unfounded and without basis in fact or law. various false and misleading allegations have been levelled against Newsclick which pertain to matters that are currently sub judice before courts in India. We respect the sanctity of the legal process and do not intend to indulge in a media trial. The allegations being made against us by certain political actors and sections of the media are unfounded and without basis in fact or law," read the statement. Newsclick said it is an independent news organisation, and any insinuation that they function as a mouth-piece of the Communist Party of China or other interests" is false. We reiterate our faith in the Indian Courts and are confident that Newsclick has, and continues to function in accordance with Indian law. Notably, the Honble High Court of Delhi has, having found a prima facie case in favour of Newsclick, granted interim protection from arrest to various officials of the company. Further, the Honble Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Special Acts), Delhi, has dismissed a complaint filed by the income tax authorities against Newsclick, finding the same to be without merit," the statement said. The Delhi High Court has directed the city police to ensure there is no sale of Chinese manjha in the national capital during the forthcoming Independence Day period, a kite-flying season. Justice Prathiba M Singh noted that the Delhi police has taken several steps to stop the sale of Chinese manjha and even registered 284 cases from February 16 to August 3 in an effort check the menace. Accordingly, it is directed that Delhi Police shall continue to take steps to restrain the sale of Chinese manjha in Delhi even during the forthcoming Independence Day period, which is the kite-flying season, said the court in an order released Thursday. The court was hearing four petitions by family members of those who died or got injured by Chinese manjha while riding motorcycles. The petitioners have sought action and compensation from the authorities. The court, in the order dated August 8, recorded that as per a status report filed by the police, efforts have been made to implement the ban on stock, sale, storage and manufacture of the prohibited thread in any manner and to take legal action when needed. A meeting was organised with the wholesale dealers of kites and manjha products to apprise them about the complete ban on kite flying thread made of nylon, plastic or any other synthetic material popularly known as Chinese manjha and they were directed to share information on those selling the banned product, it recorded. The police also told the court that a meeting was held with the representatives of online e-commerce platforms on the issue and letters have also been issued to the heads of police of adjoining Districts of Delhi i.e. Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Faridabad, Gurugram, Sonipat and Jhajjar with a request to start special drives against use and sale of Chinese manjha in their areas. A perusal of the above (status report) would show that steps are being taken by the Delhi Police in order to stop the sale of Chinese manjha within the territory of Delhi. The Delhi Police have also interacted with the e-commerce websites and have sensitised them of the danger of selling Chinese manjha. Awareness programs have also been conducted by the Delhi Police and FIRs have also been registered, in an effort to curb the sale of Chinese manjha, the court said. The court asked the police to file a fresh status report by the next date of hearing on October 5. It also asked the Delhi Legal Services Authority to examine if the victims of Chinese manjha injury are entitled to any compensation. On February 10, the court had directed the crime branch of Delhi Police to investigate the manufacture, sale, purchase and storage of Chinese synthetic manjha, used for flying kites. It had said such dangerous threads are used by children and young adults for kite flying and it is the duty of authorities to ensure they are not made available. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a sharp attack on the INDIA alliance in Parliament, stating that the no-confidence motion was a floor test of the opposition and asserting that the BJP would secure a majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Responding to the no-confidence motion moved by the opposition against the Centre, PM Modi said that the motion has always proven to be lucky for his government. Here are some highlights from the Prime Ministers speech in the Lok Sabha: On no-confidence motion The people of India showed their no-confidence towards the opposition Oppositions no-confidence motion has proven to be auspicious for usThey brought the motion in 2018 also. I had said it was their floor test, not of the government, and was proven rightNDA and BJP will break all records in 2024 and will come back with the blessings of people." People of India have no confidence in the Congress. Some days ago, in Bengaluru, you cremated the UPA. On the one hand, you were cremating UPA and, on the other, celebrating." On oppositions actions in Parliament They [the opposition] are not interested in the Bills being discussed in the House Behaviour of some opposition parties has made it clear that, for them, the party is bigger than the country. They are worried about their own political futureThe country feels betrayedThey are more interested in hunger for power than the hunger of poor people." On Adhir Ranjan Chowdhurys speech I dont know what was the compulsion of Congress for sidelining Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Maybe the call was made from Kolkata. The tallest leader in opposition did not rank in the list of speakers. It was Amit Shahs magnanimity that he promised time to Chowdhury. The opposition could not prepare for debate on no-confidence motion despite so much time in handI gave you five years to prepare, but you came unprepared in the House. What kind of debate was done? Aapke darbari bhi dukhi hai. We are hitting centuries and they are delivering no-balls." On record of NDA government Our only resolution and goal should be development of the country. In 2014, a full majority government came after three decades, and we got a bigger mandate in 2019 because of our track record." We gave a scam-free government to the youth, giving them opportunity to fly high. We also restored the pride of the country and took it to new heights." The mantra of reform, perform and transform as well as proper planning and hard work have taken country to new heights." Thanking opposition for abuses The Opposition has an ostrich-like approach, I thank its leaders for wearing black in the House as I see that as kala teeka. I convert abuses, unparliamentary language hurled at me by them into tonicTheir favourite dialogue is Modi teri kabar khudegi. Opposition leaders have a secret blessing. Whoever they curse, only prospers. They kept saying things about HAL and the defence sector, but today HAL registered its highest-ever revenue. Share marketers should invest in companies the opposition abuses." On Congress tarnishing Indias image The Congress and its friends have a history of doubting Indias capabilities and prowess. Pakistan used to attack our borders, send terrorists to our country. It used to deny its role and the Congress used to believe them. The Congress used to believe in Hurriyat and other separatists. We carried out surgical strikes and air strikes." Today, whenever someone says anything ill about India, they believe in it. Congress takes pride in amplifying false propaganda of any global survey tarnishing Indias image." On opposition bloc INDIA UPA thinks it can reverse its fortune by changing its name to INDIA The Congress is so blinded by arrogance that it cannot see the ground reality, people have deep no-confidence in it. People of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, UP, Gujarat, Bihar, Tripura, Odisha have been declaring no-confidence in Congress for years." You are trying to pass off an old vehicle as an electric one just by applying new paintOpposition needed NDA to stay alive, they just added two Is to it due to their arrogance. It thinks it can increase its credibility by using INDIA name for alliance. Nothing is Congress own, from its poll symbol to ideas, everything has been borrowed from someone else. Congress adopted a flag similar to the national tricolour to add credibility, they also stole Gandhi surname for gains." This is not INDIA but Ghamandia alliance; everyone there wants to be groom, be the PM. Whenever circumstances will change, knives will be out in the alliance." Over 6,500 cases in three months, close to six lakh ammunition and 4,000 weapons stolen, over 100 deaths and around 75 murder cases Manipur has been in the throes of violence for more than three months and what has made the job of authorities tougher is the fact that the state has just one forensic science laboratory (FSL) and none at the regional level. According to data from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Assam has five regional labs, while Odisha has three such labs. Considering the situation in the state and to speed up investigations, the local police is exploring options to send samples to central FSLs and labs of other states. Officials are also claiming that most of the cases required FSL help for evidence collection and for proper investigation. The sensitive cases are with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has a different lab. But, Manipur Police needs FSLs for scientific examination and analysis of the evidence during investigation. In most of the cases, investigation officers have to send sample to such laboratories. Since Manipur has just one, we are planning to send samples to different state labs for speedy investigations. We will prioritise cases and send important ones like murder and attempt to murder to FSL first. A decision will be taken on this soon, a senior Manipur Police official told News18. According to the Home Ministry, apart from the facilities in seven Central Forensic Science Laboratories for forensic examination of technical and electronic evidence, cyber forensic-cum-training laboratories have been commissioned in 33 states. A total of Rs 6.21 crore, Rs 7.60 crore, Rs 9.11 crore and Rs 25.71 crore have been released/utilised in the years 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively to raise the status of the present forensic laboratories and to establish such new laboratories, the ministry said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, in data shared with the Supreme Court, the Manipur Police said between May and July 30, close to 4,500 cases of arson, 4,694 cases of destruction of property, and 4,148 cases of looting were registered. All are not different cases and multiple sections of IPC have been slapped in single FIRs. The Supreme Court said there will be 42 teams looking at the cases which have not been transferred to CBI. There will be 42 SITs looking at cases which have not been transferred to CBI. These SITs should be supervised by DIG-rank officers from outside Manipur. Each officer will monitor six SITs to see that the investigation is going correctly, the apex court said. Our efforts are to restore a sense of confidence in the rule of law. We will constitute at one level a committee of three former HC judges. This committee will be looking at things apart from investigation including relief, remedial measures etc. the court said. Nuh violence accused Munfed and Saikul were on Thursday arrested from Silkho village in Tawdu town of the Haryana district. A police officer said that the arrests were made after an encounter. An illegal country-made katta and a motorcycle were recovered from the possession of the accused. Six people, including two home guards and a cleric, died in the clashes that erupted in Muslim-dominated Nuh when a Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) procession or the Braj Mandal Yatra was attacked by mobs on July 31. Gurugram also witnessed stray incidents of violence. A mahapanchayat was organised in Baas village of Hisar district on Wednesday where people from different faiths, farmer outfits and khaps talked about strengthening bonds among communities. A number of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs took part in the mahapanchayat which was organised under the banner of Bhartiya Kisan Mazdoor Union. A resolution taken at the meeting stated that people from different religions, including Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, will work to restore peace in the Mewat region. The government has been asked to conduct an impartial inquiry into the matter and arrest the culprits. Immediate action should be taken against those who post provocative speeches and videos on social media to incite riots in the society and arrest them," it stated. Suresh Koth, one of the organisers and a member of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, asserted that Haryanas soil will not be used to divide people on the lines of caste and religion. He also condemned some panchayat heads in Mahendergarh, Rewari and Jhajjar districts purportedly writing letters banning" Muslim traders from the respective villages. Some speakers at the event from the Muslim community underlined the need to learn from Mahabharata and Ramayana. We all need to walk together and have love and respect towards each other. There is no scope for hate," one of the speakers at the gathering noted. (With inputs from PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modis government on Thursday defeated the no-confidence motion brought by the opposition. He also spoke on Manipur and peace will be restored soon. The PM expressed gratitude to people for showing faith in his government and said that the BJP-led NDA will return to power with a record majority in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The PM was replying to the debate on no-confidence in Lok Sabha. Taking a jibe at the oppositions I.N.D.I.A. alliances name, PM Modi said they even broke Indias name and cremated UPA in Bengaluru where the meeting of 26 opposition parties was held last month. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the government was ready to discuss the situation in Manipur where over 150 people were killed in the ethnic violence but the opposition ran away" from the debate in Parliament due to their political motives. While replying to the debate on the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister said heinous crimes against women which took place in strife-torn Manipur are unforgivable and highlighted that the Central and state governments are trying their best to punish those guilty. We could have discussed Manipur if they would have showed interest. Home Minister wrote and said that we are ready to discuss Manipur. The Home Minister spoke in brief for two hours on Manipur. State Government and Central Government are trying their best to give severe punishment to the accused. I want to assure the nation that the way attempts are being made in the near future peace will prevail. We want to assure mother and daughter of Manipur this country is with you, this house is with you, he said. The Prime Minister assured citizens that the people of Manipur that the state will again walk on development and the Centre will ensure it. PM Modi said that the government has given importance to the development of the northeast and added the northeast is our jigar ka tukda". Modi also spoke in detail about his governments development works for the entire northeastern region, noting that he alone had visited the area over 50 times and his ministers over 400 times. It was the Congress government under the then prime minister Indira Gandhi which used the Air Force to attack citizens in Mizoram in 1966 and also launched a military attack on Akal Takht in the 80s, he said targeting the Congress. Violent Incidents Reduced in Manipur: Shah Earlier on Wednesday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke on Manipur in Lok Sabha and dismissed talks of imposition of Presidents rule and replacing Chief Minister N Biren Singh. He said that the state government is cooperating" with the Centre to bring peace to the strike-torn northeastern state. Shah highlighted that there was no bandh and curfew or blockade for any day during the last six years of the BJP government in Manipur. He said whatever is happening in Manipur is ethnic violence triggered by circumstances and it should not be turned into a political issue. Shameful incidents have taken place in Manipur. But it is more shameful that some people are politicising it. Before the session began, I wrote to letters that we are ready for a discussion and there should not be a time limit. From day one, I am ready for discussion but they dont want it to happen and only want to protest. If they did not agree with my statement then they should have asked for the prime ministers statement," Shah said in his nearly two-hour-long intervention. Shah said that 152 people were killed in the state and 14,898 people were arrested, and 1,106 FIRs were registered. He said violent incidents have reduced since 36,000 paramilitary personnel are deployed there. The Home Minister pointed out that a unified command has been formed for coordination among Indian Army, BSF, CRPF, Assam Rifles and Manipur Police. Shah said that the central government has also held talks with Myanmar. We will stop infiltration. We have held talks with Myanmar. We are making every effort," he said. LAHAINA, Hawaii The search of the wildfire wreckage on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Thursday revealed a wasteland of burned homes and obliterated communities as firefighters battled the stubborn blaze that claimed 53 lives, making it the deadliest in the U.S. in recent years. A flyover of historic Lahaina showed entire neighborhoods that had been a vibrant vision of color and island life now reduced to gray ash. Block after block was nothing but rubble and blackened foundations, including along famous Front Street, where tourists shopped and dined just days ago. Boats in the harbor were scorched and smoke hovered over the town, which dates to the 1700s and is the biggest community on the island's west side. Tiffany Kidder Winn's gift store Whaler's Locker, which is one of the town's oldest shops, was among the many businesses destroyed. As she assessed the damage Thursday, she came upon a line of burned-out vehicles, some with charred bodies inside them. "It looked like they were trying to get out, but were stuck in traffic and couldn't get off Front Street," she said. She later spotted a body leaning against a seawall. Winn said the destruction was so widespread, "I couldn't even tell where I was because all the landmarks were gone." Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane, the fire started Tuesday and took Maui by surprise, racing through parched growth covering the island and then anything else in its path. Hawaiis governor said Thursday that 53 people were killed in Maui, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire since the 2018 Camp Fire in California, which killed at least 85 people and laid waste to the town of Paradise. The Hawaii toll could rise as rescuers reach parts of the island that were inaccessible due to obstructions of the three ongoing fires, including the one in Lahaina that was 80% contained on Thursday, according to a Maui County news release. More than 1,000 structures were destroyed by fires that are still burning in Lahaina and surrounding areas. Lahaina, with a few rare exceptions, has been burned down, the governor told The Associated Press. "We are still in life preservation mode. Search and rescue is still a primary concern," Adam Weintraub, a spokesperson for Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said Thursday. He said search and rescue teams still won't be able to access certain areas until the fire lines are secure and they're sure they'll be able to get to those areas safely. The flames left some people with minutes to act and led some to flee into the ocean. The Coast Guard said it rescued 14 people who jumped into the water to escape flames and smoke. A Lahaina man, Bosco Bae, posted video on Facebook from Tuesday night that showed fire burning nearly every building on a street as sirens blared and wind-blown sparks raced by. Bae, who said he was one of the last people to leave the town, was evacuated to the island's main airport and was waiting to be allowed to return home. Marlon Vasquez, a 31-year-old cook from Guatamala who came to the U.S. in January of last year, said that when he heard the fire alarms Tuesday, it was already too late to flee in his car. "I opened the door and the fire was almost on top of us," he said Thursday from an evacuation center at a gymnasium. "We ran and ran. We ran almost the whole night and into the next day, because the fire didn't stop." Vasquez and his brother Eduardo escaped via roads that were clogged with vehicles full of people. The smoke was so toxic, he vomited. He said he's not sure his roommates and neighbors made it to safety. Lahaina residents Kamuela Kawaakoa and Iiulia Yasso described their harrowing escape under smoke-filled skies Tuesday afternoon. The couple and their 6-year-old son got back to their apartment after a dash to the supermarket for water, and only had time to grab a change of clothes and run as the bushes around them caught fire. "We barely made it out," Kawaakoa, 34, said at an evacuation shelter, still unsure if anything was left of their apartment. As the family fled, they called 911 when they saw the Hale Mahaolu senior living facility across the road erupt in flames. Communications have been spotty on the island, with 911, landline and cellular service failing at times, making it difficult for many to check in with friends and family members. Some were posting messages on social media. Chelsey Vierra's grandmother, Louise Abihai, was living at Hale Mahaolu and the family doesn't know if she got out. "She doesn't have a phone. She's 97 years old," Vierra said Thursday. "She can walk. She is strong." Relatives are monitoring shelter lists and calling the hospital. "We got to find our loved one, but there's no communication here," said Vierra, who fled the flames. "We don't know who to ask about where she went." As the fires raged, tourists were advised to stay away. About 11,000 flew out of Maui on Wednesday, with at least another 1,500 expected to leave Thursday, according to Ed Sniffen, state transportation director. Officials prepared the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu to take in the thousands who are displaced. The fires were fanned by strong winds from Hurricane Dora passing far to the south. It's the latest in a series of disasters caused by extreme weather around the globe this summer. Experts say climate change is increasing the likelihood of such events. The Big Island also is seeing blazes, Mayor Mitch Roth said, although there were no reports of injuries or destroyed homes there. President Joe Biden declared a major disaster on Maui. He pledged that the federal response will ensure that "anyone who's lost a loved one, or whose home has been damaged or destroyed, is going to get help immediately." How climate change drives hotter, more frequent heat waves How climate change drives hotter, more frequent heat waves Is climate change to blame? Understanding heat waves Analyzing the likelihood of a heat wave under climate change Protecting at-risk populations from heat waves A Maharashtra government helicopter carrying Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to Satara from Mumbai was on Thursday afternoon diverted due to bad weather to Juhu in the metropolis, where it landed safely, a senior official of aviation regulator DGCA said. The Airbus Helicopters-manufactured chopper was 10 minutes away from Dare village in Satara, where it was scheduled to land, when the twin-engine copter was turned back due to inclement weather in the western Maharashtra district, said sources. The helicopter again took off for Satara, the home district of Shinde, at 3.30 pm when the weather conditions improved, said the official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). EC145 type helicopter (now called H145) of the Govt of Maharashtra with CM onboard got airborne at 12.30 pm from the Raj Bhavan helipad (in south Mumbai) for the Dare helipad (near Satara city). Enroute the helicopter encountered bad weather and diverted back to the Juhu aerodrome (in Mumbai) and landed safely, the official said. On taking off again at 3.30 pm, the chopper carrying Shinde landed at the Sainik School helipad in Satara at 4.45 pm and the chief minister subsequently left for his native village Dare by car, said the sources. After dropping Shinde in Satara, the helicopter later flew to adjoining Pune for evening halt, they said. A shocking video has come to the fore where a nine-year-old girl, who was returning home from school with her mother and a five-year-old brother, was brutally attacked and hurled by a cow. The chilling incident was caught on a CCTV installed outside a home in the MMDA colony area in Tamil Nadus Chennai where the girl, identified as Ayesha, was attacked on August 9. According to police, the people of the colony heard the screams of the victims mother and they chased away the cow that attacked the child. Its calf was also shooed away. The horrifying video shows that the girl was picked up by the cow using its horns and was repeatedly attacked. Cows attack harmless little girl in MMDA, #Chennai. @chennaicorp Cows roaming on the streets are a big menace and a threat to motorists and walkers. Please take action against the cow owner! #Cow #CowAttack@CMOTamilnadu @UpdatesChennai pic.twitter.com/wdV5LD0iyw Ajay AJ (@AjayTweets07) August 10, 2023 After a tough battle to shoo away the cattle, the local people managed to rescue the girl and took her to a nearby hospital as she received serious head injuries. Following a complaint from the childs mother and after an inquiry, the owner of the cow, a 26-year-old man has been arrested. A case has been registered against him for not properly maintaining the animal and allowing it to roam around, which injured the child. Additional Chief Secretary/Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner, J Radhakrishnan visited the girl at the private hospital and enquired with doctors about her injuries and the treatment provided to her. Following treatment, the GCC said the child has been discharged. Terming the incident as very unfortunate", Radhakrishnan told reporters that a fine of Rs 25,000 has been levied on the cattle owner. The cow that attacked the child and its calf has been taken by the corporation personnel to a cattle shed at Perambur here for observation. It would be ascertained if the cow is suffering from any infectious diseases and whether the attack was due to any illness. Cattle must not be allowed to stray into roads." This year alone, owners have been fined to the tune of Rs 51 lakh for allowing the cattle to roam on streets, he was quoted as saying. (with inputs from PTI) Music maestro AR Rahman has unveiled that he advised the iconic actor Kamal Haasan to explore Hollywood filmmaking during a recent interaction at the prestigious Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. In an interview with The Hindu, AR Rahman expressed his belief that Kamal Haasan should have pursued Hollywood two decades ago when he had the resources to do so. I feel like he got trapped in this industry over the years. Its a good thing for us but for him I dont know. 20 years ago, when he had the money, he should have just gone to Hollywood and made a film there. As an experiment perhaps, without worrying about success or failure. He can still do it actually. Thats what I told him now, to make an English film just for the heck of it and not be judgmental about it, AR Rahman said. AR Rahman also disclosed that he watched Oppenheimer with Kamal Haasan. He added that they visited the Chinese Theatre and watched the movie together. He expressed his admiration for Kamal Haasans extensive knowledge of film, citing his ability to recall scenes, dialogues, and even obscure trivia from a multitude of movies. While Rahman admitted that his own patience for watching films has waned over the years, he continues to be inspired by Kamal Haasans passion and enthusiasm for the art form. Offering a glimpse of their recent visit, Kamal Haasan shared a picture on Instagram. He wrote, Boys in the wood!! Found a young man who is older than I am, and thats why I keep young company. @arrahman." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) On the other hand, AR Rahman also shared an iconic moment, capturing Kamal Haasans admiration for Brando as he immersed himself in the cinematic magic on the big screen. In the caption, he wrote, One G.O.A.T watching another G.O.A.T at the @academymuseum. View this post on Instagram A post shared by ARR (@arrahman) Workwise, Kamal Haasans upcoming projects include Indian 2, a sequel to the Tamil cult classic Indian, and the highly anticipated science fiction film Kalki 2898 AD, in which he shares the screen with Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan, Pasupathy, and Disha Patani. The film is made on a budget of 600 crore (US$75 million), making it the most expensive Indian film ever created. The musical composition for the film is masterfully crafted by Santhosh Narayanan, while the cinematography is helmed by Djordje Stojiljkovic, and the intricate production design is orchestrated by Nitin Zihani Choudhary. Kalki 2898 AD is slated for a theatrical release in 2024. The much-awaited trailer of King of Kotha, directed by Abhilash Joshiy, has finally been unveiled. The trailer was unveiled by iconic actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Mohanlal, Suriya and Nagarjuna on social media. Starring Dulquer Salmaan in the lead role, the cast also includes Aishwarya Lekshmi, Shabeer Kallarakkal, Prasanna, Nyla Usha, and Gokul Suresh in key roles. Breaking away from his romantic roles, Dulquer portrays a local gangster in this period drama. The trailer offers a glimpse into his characters journey to become the King of Kotha, following in his fathers footsteps. The trailer shows Dulquer Salmaan portraying a character who struggles with alcoholism, yet he gets all the respect in his locality for his good deeds. Touted as the action-packed film, the movie also includes a romantic subplot between Dulquer and Aishwarya Lekshmi. This Abhilash Joshiy directorial revolves around the drug trade in Kotha, while Dulquers character Raju is seen at loggerheads with rival gang members over control of the trade. With the mix of action, romance and suspense, King of Kotha seems to include all the ingredients of a potential mass entertainer film. Dulquers versatile performance and engaging storyline promise that the film could attract attention from the pan-India audience. Dulquer Salmaan shared his enthusiasm, stating, King of Kotha has been an extraordinary journey. The rich characters, intricate story and grand production scale set this film apart. Collaborating with Zee Studios for the first time adds to the excitement. Its been an exhilarating journey for Wayfarer Films, Zee Studios, and mea perfect Onam treat for my audience." Discussing film production, the actor mentioned that he started producing because he wanted to ensure that his films received proper attention and were equipped with all the necessary resources. He observed that during his early days, films faced challenges due to production or other departments. As an actor-producer, he aims to provide complete support to his projects. Abhilash Joshiys directorial King of Kotha is scheduled for August 24, coinciding with the Onam festival. The movie will be released in five languages Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada. Varun Dhawan has teamed up with renowned director Atlee for the highly anticipated action-drama, VD18. After the success of his recent film Bawaal, the actor is set to ignite the screen once again with a high-octane action-packed entertainer that promises to captivate audiences with its adrenaline-pumping action sequences and gripping storyline. The dynamic duo were recently spotted together in Mumbai, marking the commencement of shooting for VD18. A video shared by the paparazzo offers fans a sneak peek into the behind-the-scenes of the film VD18. The clip captures Varun Dhawan and director Atlee sharing a candid moment on set. Dhawan, sporting his signature charm, is seen donning a casual white tee and black trousers, engaging with crew members. As per the reports of Pinkvilla, sources close to the production have revealed, Varun will be shooting for the films promo in Mumbai, and will be combining the schedule with a few important sequence shoots as well. The preparation is going on in full swing, while the makers are also simultaneously working on the plan to officially announce the movie with the promo that they are going to shoot tomorrow. It will be an entertaining promo packed with action and drama, and will feature VD in a never seen before avatar. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Manav Manglani (@manav.manglani) In a chat with Pinkvilla, Varun Dhawan expressed his enthusiasm for the project, particularly about collaborating with director Atlee. While he remained tight-lipped about specific details, he hinted at the film being a mass-action entertainer that promises to deliver an unforgettable cinematic experience. VD18 also features Keerthy Suresh and Wamiqa Gabbi in prominent lead roles, with the film scheduled to release in theatres on May 31, 2024. Penned by the talented screenwriter Kalees, known for his acclaimed work in Kee, the film is poised to deliver an exhilarating cinematic experience. With a remarkable fusion of exceptional directorial expertise, a stellar ensemble cast, and a captivating narrative, VD18 is anticipated to be one of the most eagerly awaited films of 2024. As audiences eagerly await VD18, Varun Dhawan continues to expand his horizons. The actor is set to grace the OTT platform once again, this time with the Indian version of the popular American spy thriller series, Citadel. Joining him on-screen will be Samantha Ruth Prabhu. The highly anticipated series, directed by the collaborative efforts of Raj and DK, has recently concluded its filming phase and is currently in the final stages of production. Superstar Rajinikanths latest release Jailer has hit the big screens and ardent fans of the actor have begun flocking to the theaters to watch the actioner. Well, it isnt only fans who are gripped by Rajinikanths magic, even actor Dhanush was quite excited to witness his cinematic brilliance. So much so that he visited a cinema hall to see Jailer on the first day of its release. The Atrangi Re actor was spotted at the Rohini Silver Screens in Chennai on Thursday, August 10. After experiencing Rajinikanths return to the big screen nearly after two years, Dhanush also shared his quick review of the film while walking out of the theatre. It didnt take long for his reaction to create a buzz on social media. In the video going viral, Dhanush can be seen running downstairs just moments before he gets mobbed by fans. But prior to that, the South actor gave a thumbs up to Rajnikanths film. Catch a glimpse of his reaction here: The Gray Man star sported his Captain Miller look to catch up Jailers first show in a neutral-shade shirt paired with black trousers. The actor chose a cap to complete his look. Check out the viral photo here: Directed by Nelson, Jailer stars an ensemble cast of Jackie Shroff, Tamannaah Bhatia, Shiva Rajkumar, and Ramya Krishnan among others. If this wasnt enough, superstar Mohanlal also makes a brief cameo in the film. The story of Jailer revolves around the life of Muthuvel Pandian aka Tiger, who is a strict prison officer. Upon learning of a notorious gangs plan of rescuing their leader out of lock-up, Tiger leaves no stone unturned to stop their scheme. Rajinikanth last appeared on the silver screen in director Sivas Annaatthe. Meanwhile, Dhanush who was last seen in Vaathi will next feature in Arun Matheswarans period actioner Captain Miller. Besides him, the project also features Shiva Rajkumar and Priyanka Arul Mohan in crucial roles. Captain Miller will hit the theatres in December. Notably, Dhanush was married to Rajinikanths daughter Aishwaryaa. But the couple announced their separation publicly in January 2022. With the newly formed Opposition alliance bringing a no-confidence motion during the ongoing session of Parliament, the campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections seems to have begun almost nine months in advance. The clever acronym for the newly formed political alliance notwithstanding, there is little this motley group of political parties have in common. Their nihilistic political agenda centers around opposing and stopping the Narendra Modi premiership at all costs, unmindful of the inimical impact of their anti-Modi nihilism on the Indian national interest. The frequency with which foreign influence is emerging as a factor within domestic political debates raises the question of the likely impact of such influence ahead of the 2024 general elections. The recent controversial research paper authored by a member of the faculty at Ashoka University is a case in point. Without going into the merits of the statistical argument that was sought to be made in the paper, it is worth noting how the foreign media narrative of democratic backsliding in India became the premise of the paper. It is understandable if commentators and analysts in global media outlets who have no first-hand knowledge or experience of India have indulged in such a misinformed narrative owing to the biases and prejudices of their sources. It is also understandable if certain Indian-origin and India-based writers have sought to amplify this narrative with highly exaggerated accounts of political controversies, in their op-ed columns carried by global media outlets, given how commercially remunerative these opportunities are to them. However, when an academic living and working in India at a stones throw away from the nations capital uncritically reiterates this false narrative of democratic backsliding, it makes one wonder about the kind of political agenda underlying this academic endeavour. When an Indian academic feels no compunction in citing dubious indices of democracy that have been shown to be misrepresenting and mischaracterising Indian democracy, it also makes you wonder about the intellectual dishonesty that remains masked under the garb of academic freedom. The Ashoka University episode however needs to be viewed in light of recent revelations by the New York Times on the manner in which Left-wing media outlets have been funded by China through a web of charities and non-profits to carry out propaganda in multiple nations including India. The revelations confirm earlier action by the Enforcement Directorate in India against a known leftist media outlet that was found to be receiving foreign funding from sources in China. It would be in order to point out that the action taken by the ED against the said media outlet is often cited to make the arguments about declining press freedom and democratic backsliding. Thus, we have this bizarre sequence of events where action against Chinese propaganda by the Indian State is cited to downgrade Indian democracy and to lower the ranking of India in the press freedom index. Subsequently, these flawed indices are cited as further evidence of democratic backsliding to advance false narratives of the kind the Ashoka University research paper is premised on. The absurd nature of these flawed indices becomes quite apparent from the fact that Mexico, despite having the highest number of journalist deaths, is ranked above India in press freedom. It is important to recognise the larger pattern of foreign influence underlying this false narrative. As was pointed out by this columnist in the past, the author of a recent book on democracy dying in India was not only living in authoritarian Hong Kong but had an extensive body of work in the public domain advancing Chinese narratives. His co-author of the book on Indian democracy, an Australian academic, has on record argued in the past how the Chinese state should not be deemed authoritarian. A curious line of argument that was also interestingly advanced by communist academics of Indian origin who incidentally have also been exposed for having received funding from China. A New Lines Magazine investigation, back in January of 2022, on one such individual of Indian origin highlighted how his body of work sought to whitewash Chinas excesses against the Uyghur in the Xin Jiang province. The common thread of funding across these leftist media outlets is the American millionaire who was the focus of the New York Times report. Ironically, those who have sought to give China a free pass on Xin Jiang, on its handling of the Muslim minority community in Uyghur are also the same propagandists who have sought to advance the Indian Democracy is in peril narrative over the rights of the Muslim minority in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking in his most recent episode of Mann Ki Baat, highlighted how Muslim women from India have been empowered with agency to undertake the Haj independently without a male escort. A common sight across international airports in India is how the government has facilitated the Haj pilgrimage with special and dedicated facilities. From a personal law that gives wide latitude to the Muslim community in civil matters to state facilitate Haj, a paradoxical reality of the much-maligned Indian democracy is the special rights enjoyed by the Muslim minority in stark contrast to the narrative sought to be advanced through foreign media and assorted foreign entities. One such group based in the United States purporting to speak for Indian-origin Muslims in America was not only at the forefront of organising political events of Rahul Gandhi but is also actively campaigning against Indian news agency ANI by petitioning Reuters to terminate its arrangement with ANI. This illustrative example highlights the wide range of foreign actors seeking to influence the public discourse in India ahead of the 2024 general elections. If there is any peril threatening democracy in India, it is these foreign actors who are attempting to vitiate the democratic process by seeking to delegitimise electoral outcomes of the past and to steer electoral outcomes of the future in a direction desired by Indias geopolitical rivals. Apart from the amendments to the IT rules and putting in place a regulatory framework to check the proliferation of fake news, India will need a broader firewall of sorts to insulate the public discourse from foreign influence as we inch closer to the 2024 general elections. The writer is the former CEO, Prasar Bharti. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. Who killed Mother India? Was it the Narendra Modi government as alleged by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi or the grand old party that held the countrys reins for over five decades? Well, the answer is quite obvious and straight. Feigning ignorance on ignominious and corrupt 50-odd years of Congress rule post-independence may not help make out a case for the party with diminishing returns. A party that virtually turned pigmy due to its own making and misrule has launched a desperate bid to resurrect itself in conjunction with 13 other splinter political groups run by dynasties like the one that Rahul inherits. It was rather valiant for Rahul Gandhi to make a sweeping charge against the Narendra Modi government, holding it squarely responsible for the turmoil in Manipur or the communal flare-up in Haryana. To deduce that the Modi government was responsible for killing Mother India or Bharat Mata was chivalrous for a leader whose party oversaw the partition of India, conceded Aksai Chin to China and its leaders sought a referendum on Kashmir like the Brexit vote that was held in the United Kingdom. The Congress ecosystem seems to get a high by referring to Bharat Mata or Mother India often used by right-wing forces with reference to this millennia-old Hindu-centric society that absorbed people from all faiths, modes of worship, denominations, and religion. Reference to Bharat Mata may be the Congresss way of staking a claim on this very wholesome conceptualisation of Hindus that the country and its people have a soul, spirit and distinct way of living. The claim also reflects the rudderless Congress political formation machinations to pursue a soft Hindutva line to negate the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) influence among vast Hindus that believe in cultural nationalism. Now that the Congress has made its move, will the majority of Hindus buy this and vote for the party in legislative assembly elections in Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh followed by Lok Sabha elections in 2024? Alienation of the majority of Hindus due to the unabated appeasement of Muslims and Christians is something Rahul Gandhi seems to be working on. Will this ploy work is something the Congress strategists have to think about. Weaning away the nationalist ideological base and ardent Hindus from right-wingers may not happen like heaping charges of corruption and corporate dealing on the Modi government did not work. But, Rahul Gandhi seems to take on the NDA, BJP and Narendra Modi on this plank. It may be a grave mistake that Rahul committed even before the campaign for the 2024 elections began. The grand vision of Bharat Mata, Virat Bharat or Akhand Bharat of Hindus may be beyond the comprehension of the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi who may be looking to poach into BJP-led alliance votes. A thriving society thats unique in its way of life and spread virtually across South Asia with a cultural ethos as one common thread may not be an easy fact to accept by left-leaning Congress that lost its moorings of pre-independence days and fell into the trap of sectarian politics of divisive variety. Rahul or Priyanka Gandhi Vadra showing up for aarti at temples to garner a few votes cannot be the Hindu way of life or what Hindus believe this country as a living entity with spirit and soul. Otherwise, the Congress has to date not offered a plausible explanation for its governments decision to pull back the Indian Army in the 1971 war after the forces had Pakistan territory till Lahore. Was it not that the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, hailed as the leader of the 1971 war with iron fists, did not pursue Indias West Pakistan agenda finalised in consultation with the Indian Armed Forces? Does Rahul Gandhi even have an inkling of how this played out? Did his party people, who have the cheek to seek a referendum on Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, forgot Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)? A part of this Indian territory was usurped by China in a 1963 deal with Pakistan, but did Congress remember Bharat Mata then? When Aksai Chin was occupied by China and the Congress twiddled its thumb in New Delhi, can it now claim that Mother India was sliced into pieces in Manipur and elsewhere by the Modi government? The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) was given a free pass in the 1950s and 1962 war to take over Aksai Chin, almost the size of Bhutan and was hitherto part of Indias Ladakh and never reflected in Chinese maps. Giving a staged outrageous twist to the Manipur issue by claiming that the state has been divided will not work for the Congress, given that recent violence was the handiwork of a combination of forces including the Church, drug mafia, and insurgents from across the Myanmar border. Like corruption and corporate deals charges did not stick to the BJP, separating Bharat Mata from Hindutva forces may not happen in a jiffy. Rahul Gandhi has to think of rejigging substantive Congress strategy to take on Modi, the BJP, which emerged as the largest political party globally and the NDA. Author is Director and Chief Executive, Centre for Integrated and Holistic Studies, non-partisan think tank based in New Delhi. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. In strife-torn Manipur, where two communities have been on a warpath with each other, the most vociferous demand from the Opposition has been to remove chief minister Biren Singh for failing to control the violence. However, seen from another perspective, not removing Singh from his chair may have been a prudent step. This could have helped in not flaring up matters further as the Meitei community had come out on the streets to stop Singh from voluntarily tendering his resignation a couple of months ago even tearing up his resignation letter. The Centres step to stick with Singh has helped in not causing a reaction from the Meitei side, especially at a time when the chief minister, in his official statements, has always spoken about brotherhood in the state and had told News18 earlier that both the communities were dear to him. The view amongst some in the BJP is that those in the Opposition who want Singh removed in fact want Manipur to be in turmoil for many more months. Some party functionaries also feel that if imposing President Rule in the state would have brought peace, the Centre would have done the same earlier. But the real roots of the tussle and the mistrust go deep and the priority of the Centre is to restore trust and confidence between both the communities. Removing the chief minister may have well put back that process. The powers of the chief minister are also in a way being shared now by the unified command set up by the Centre of the various paramilitary forces and the army and the Centre in a way is in charge of the situation with the CM in the loop. Home Minister Amit Shah in Parliament on Wednesday made it clear that Singh will not be removed as he had cooperated with the Centre and allowed the DGP and the Chief Secretary of the state to be changed. The view is that since Singh has not objected to Centres changes in the administrative set-up, he is part of the solution, not the problem. The Centre, however, should make sure that it acts against Singh if any evidence of bias is found against him during the course of the turmoil. So far, prima facie, the Centre does not seem to have found any such evidence that Singh had favoured any one community during the strife between the Meiteis and the Kukis. The roots of the strife lie in the Manipur High Court order asking for implementation of ST status for the Meiteis and the influx from Myanmar post 2021, as Shah told Parliament on Wednesday. Sticking to Biren Singh as the chief minister is hence a prudent step for now. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), in a power-packed press conference which was attended by 10 MPs except Punjabs Harbhajan Singh, tried to counter the allegation of the BJP that its MP Raghav Chadha had indulged in forgery in taking the names of many MPs in a select committee on Monday even as Chadha clarified that he had not yet received any notice from the Privileges Committee on the issue. Leading the charge against the Narendra Modi government, AAP MP Sanjay Singh said, You saw how the Centres dictatorial government, after strangulating the Delhi government, passed an unconstitutional Bill. However, even with this, Amit Shahs heart was not content. The Modi government has started a new tradition to terminate the membership, throw the person out, or file FIR against anyone who speaks against the government. Singh argued that in the select committee, a member can suggest the name of any other member without the need for signatures. Where has the home minister got this law from? Your purpose is to terminate the membership of Raghav Chadha in the same manner as you did with Rahul Gandhi, he added. The AAP MP in the centre of the storm clarified that he would not speak anything on the Privileges Committee or the Chair but would simply place his position. Showing the Rule Book that governs proceedings in the Rajya Sabha, Chadha said: The Rule Book says that for the creation of a select committee, any members name can be proposed and for that one does not need the sign or the written consent of the proposed member. Chadha also challenged the BJP to show the paper on which signatures were forged. Comparing the act of proposing the names of MPs in the select committee to invites for a birthday, the MP said: For example, I invite 10 people for my birthday party of whom eight accept and the other two question the invite. I have just proposed the names. Referring to the Parliament Bulletin, Chadha said words like forgery or fakery have not been used. He further alleged that BJP is irked by the act of questioning by a mere 34-year-old and wants to suppress my voice. They are after me. This is the second notice by the privileges committee to me. Chadha also said he will be forced to take legal action against those MPs who have levelled false charges of forgery. It must be noted that AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh has been suspended for the entire session and has been protesting inside Parliament premises while AAPs lone Lok Sabha MP Sushil Gupta, who had torn the copy of the contentious Government of National Capital Territory (Amendment) Bill, 2023, on the day it was passed in the Lower House, has also been suspended. When pointed out that it is not just the BJP but also others notably the BJD who have flagged off the breach of privilege issue Sandeep Pathak, AAPs Rajya Sabha MP, responded: The BJD MP was not alone. There were BJP MPs as well. The BJD MP, you must understand, was also with the NDA at that point in time, they were together. Obviously, they were trying to score brownie points and please their bosses. So it was quite obvious. It is not about the procedure, it is not about the legality. It is very clear in the Rule Book that you do not require signature or consent; it is all about a proposal. You submit a proposal and Parliament can either accept or decline. Thats all. Asked whether AAP would also try and refer those who allegedly made false allegations of forgery to the Privileges Committee, he added: Whoever repeatedly said there was forgery or forged signatures must be sent a notice. [Inside Parliament] it is Privileges Committee and outside Parliament, there is court as well. There is an appropriate time and party will decide what to do. He said there were two angles one was the proceedings inside Parliament and then there is a political angle. When there is no question of signatures at all, where is the question of forged signatures? Pathak asked. On Monday, BJD MP Sasmit Patra had drawn the attention of the Chair when his name was called out. When resolutions were being moved by respective members of Parliament who wanted to move resolutions against the GNCFT Bill, so it was select committee. At that point in time, I heard that suddenly my name has been listed in one of the resolutions being moved by Raghav Chadha. So I immediately drew the attention of the honourable Chairman, and I said that under Rule 72 (2), he allowed a point of order, so I moved a point of order any person who is taken into the committee, then that said person has to be taken cognizance of. I mean the consent has to be taken of the respective person. Without having taken consent from that person you cannot move it. So thats a very clear violation. Patra had added: So, to this, other Members of Parliament, not only me, there are a few from the BJP as well as the other parties like Dr Sudhanshu Trivedi, Narahari Amin, Ms Konyac so all of them found their name listed. It is all very shocking. Therefore, at that point in time, the matter was raised and the Union home minister was there. So he also said the matter should be investigated. We have filed our respective complaints to the Chair. The Rajya Sabha Chairman has received complaints from at least four MPs, including BJD MP Sasmit Patra. Meanwhile, speaking to reporters, the parliamentary affairs minister brushed off the fresh charges by the AAP: Like Arvind Kejriwal, Raghav Chadha also lies. UW-Madison graduate Marisa Popple has been trying to sell a six-person dining room table and chair set from her off-campus apartment for nearly a month. But with her lease ending soon and no takers, the table and chairs will likely be sentenced to life in a landfill, along with hundreds of other pieces of furniture and household goods that adorn the curbs outside off-campus college housing during August. Other furnishings from Popples apartment are headed for the same fate a cube storage shelf rescued from the curb a few years ago will make its way back out there again, this time beyond repair; Popples roommate will likely need to leave behind her couch. Everything else is probably headed to Goodwill or St. Vincents, but (Im) trying to take everything I might need to cut down on waste, she said. Downtown Madison can expect to see the worst of off-campus student moving over the weekend and into early next week. With virtually every off-campus student housing lease turning over between Aug. 14 and 15, streets near campus quickly become congested as students and their families park all along the streets for moving days, the curbsides become temporary landfills, and the city of Madison Streets Division attempts to mitigate it all starting with 4 a.m. shifts. The event, also known as Hippie Christmas, was far more notorious in the 1980s and 1990s, Streets Division spokesperson Bryan Johnson said, when students or passersby made an event of picking through discarded furniture, or household items in dumpsters or waist-high piles along the sidewalks to furnish their own dwellings. Once a tradition for UW-Madison students, dumping items along the curb now is more often a last resort when they cant sell an item online or pawn it off on a friend or classmate. There are about 35,000 students within a few miles of UW-Madison in off-campus housing alone, about the same population as the city of Sun Prairie, Johnson said. And while not every student moves each year, its enough to create havoc. Were not seeing the hip-high piles of stuff for blocks and blocks, he said. With that said, though, theres still plenty of complication and frustration and things that we need people to do right to make it all run smoothly, because its still a ton of work. A lot of it we have to do by hand ... a lot of the furniture is predominantly collected by two people grabbing it by hand and putting it into one of those old-fashioned garbage trucks. Starting Aug. 1 each year, the Streets Division regularly sends about a million pounds of unwanted items to the landfill. The Streets Division tries to get ahead of the incoming wave of trash by reassigning dozens of staff to pick up routes and by limiting other services such as brush collection and stump removal. Johnson said an increase in pre-furnished apartments, common in the larger apartment complexes, has helped to cut down on trash adorning the curbs. Better use of trash bins cuts down on messes, too, Johnson added. That also doesnt necessarily mean that waste isnt being generated in those buildings its just not making its way to the curb, he said. Its hard to quantify just how much less trash is making its way to the landfill at all because of donations or online sales, Johnson said. And while the motivations vary, UW-Madison students the Wisconsin State Journal talked to said they had attempted to sell or donate first, as did many of the people they knew. UW-Madison social work master Chloe Bigalke had a handful of things to put on the curb as she moved out of her West Gilman Street apartment Wednesday. Items such as a used couch and butterfly chair, a broken dresser and a couple drying racks were placed along the terrace after they couldnt be sold on Facebook; one person attempted to scam her over Venmo, an online payment platform. Chemical engineering graduate Ahmad Alamer had a bit more luck online. Alamer said he was hoping to sell most of his larger pieces of furniture and planning to give away the rest of his unwanted belongings for free or recycle them. The gray sectional couch Alamer put on Facebook Marketplace Tuesday for $750, a few hundred dollars cheaper than what it retails for, was marked as pending just a few hours after he listed it. I paid a good amount for it and (want to) mitigate my losses, he said. Photos: Mifflin Street Block Party Telanganas ruling party Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) on Thursday moved a privilege motion against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey, accusing him of misleading the Lok Sabha regarding the expenditure on the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme. MPs from the pink party", led by floor leader Nama Nageswara Rao, submitted the notice, availing of the privileges provided by Rule 222 of the Lok Sabha Rule Book. During the discussions around the no-confidence vote against the Narendra Modi government on Wednesday, Dubey had said that the Centre had sanctioned Rs 86,000 crore for the construction of the Kaleshwaram project in Telangana. BRS leaders soon refuted it saying that the Modi government had not given a single rupee for the project. They alleged that the Centre was deliberately misleading the House. BRS lawmaker Kotha Prabhakar Reddy said in the House: Everyone knows BJP spreads lies on WhatsApp, YouTube and Twitter, but we saw yesterday that it lies in Parliament too. They should explain when they gave us the Rs 86,000 crore they claim to have given us." Lawmakers Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, Malothu Kavitha, G Ranjith Reddy, P Ramulu, BB Patil, Manne Srinivas Reddy, Venkatesh Netha, and Pasunuri Dayakar were part of the BRS MPs delegation who met the Speaker. The Kaleshwaram project has been a controversial topic in the state after opposition parties started alleging that large-scale corruption had taken place during its construction. Built on the Godavari river at Kaleshwaram village in Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, it is said to be the largest multi-stage lift irrigation project in the world. It covers a distance of 500 km across 13 districts in Telangana. The aim is to produce 240 thousand million cubic feet (TMC) of water for irrigation, drinking, and industrial uses. On Wednesday, BRS leader Dasoju Sravan had taken to social media site X (formerly Twitter) to say: Lies & utter lies of the BJP Govt on the floor of Parliament misleading the nation. Kaleshwaram, the worlds largest lift irrigation project, is the brainchild of KCR, which was built with a loan amount taken from various financial institutions, while the government of India has not even granted a single rupee." Last year, BRS working president K Taraka Rama Rao had slammed the Centre for granting National Project status to the Upper Bhadra scheme in Karnataka and Polavaram in Andhra Pradesh, but not to the Kaleshwaram project. In his response to the motion of no-confidence, which lasted two hours and 13 minutes surpassing his 2018 record of one hour and 31 minutes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried many new things coined the phrase Congress no confidence and gave a rebuttal to Rahul Gandhis Bharat Mata ki hatya barb by calling the nation Maa Bharti. Amid big talking points, however, what is likely to skip the publics attention is how the prime minister highlighted three specific, lesser-known instances of atrocities perpetrated in the northeast under the Congress rule. March 5, 1966: Mizoram unable to forget The Congress government allegedly ordered strikes by the Indian Air Force in Mizoram on March 5, 1966. It was preceded by a revolt against the central government from the Mizo National Front. Four days before the strike, the front now the ruling party in the state had made a declaration of independence. But historians say it was a forced revolt against the Centres abject failure to deal with the 1959 famine in the Mizo area of Assam. But the then Congress government chose to bomb its own people using its own air force, which is not even considered against Maoists. Let the Congress answer: were they an air force of a different nation? Were the residents of Mizoram not our countrymen? Wasnt their security the responsibility of the Government of India? On March 5, 1966, the air force was deployed to attack innocent civilians. Honourable speaker, even today, the entire Mizoram grieves on March 5. Mizoram is unable to forget that pain. But they (Congress) never even tried to heal those wounds, said an emotional prime minister on the floor of Lok Sabha. Indira Gandhi was the PM back then. Modi said the Congress hid this reality from India, alleging that the 1984 attack on the Akal Takht in Amritsar was a result of aadat (habit) after Mizoram. November 20, 1962: Nehru left them to their fate After narrating the Mizoram tale, Prime Minister Modi rewound the clock to the 1962 Indo-China conflict when the Congress-ruled Centre abdicated its duty. During 1962, that haunting radio streaming pinches the people of the northeast to date. In 1962, when the nation was under attack and the countrymen were hoping for security when people were getting ready to fight during such a time, the only big leader was Pandit (Jawaharlal) Nehru. What did he say on the radio? He said: My heart goes out to the people of Assam. That was the state of affairs. That (radio) streaming still pinches the people of Assam, he said as there was pin-drop silence, adding, during that time, Nehru left them to their fate and now they are asking us questions? News18 has found that the speech was broadcast live on All India Radio on November 20, 1962. Nehrus exact words were: My heart goes out to the people of Assam at this hour. This is largely seen as Nehru having abandoned the people of Assam to the mercy of the intruding Chinese into Bomdila in the then North East Frontier Agency (NEFA). Nehru had viewed China as a friendly country but was taken aback at Chinas incursion given that the neighbouring country called itself anti-imperialist. A shocked and rather betrayed Nehru made that radio speech that night. Northeast deliberately deprived of development The PMs third charge was not a date but a comment by socialist freedom fighter Ram Manohar Lohia against Nehru. Modi uttered the exact words of Lohia for deliberately neglecting the northeast. Lohia ji made a very serious allegation against Nehru ji. His allegation was: Nehru Ji deliberately is not developing the northeast. He was deliberately not doing that. He continued to quote Lohia, who had said: How irresponsible and dangerous it is to lock an area more than 30,000 square miles and deprive it of all kinds of developments. The PM contrasted it with the fact that his council of ministers make hundreds of trips to the northeast, not just to the state but even to district headquarters. I have been there 50 times. This is not just data, this is a practice. This is dedication towards the northeast, he said while alleging that the Congress outlook towards the region is guided by its electoral considerations. Hamare liye northeast jigar ka tukda hai (for us, the northeast is a piece of my heart), he claimed, while alleging that the problems of Manipur have a history. If there is any mother for the problems of the northeast, its the Congress party, he added. Modi reminded of the legacy of militancy in Manipur, in particular, and the region as well. From not allowing Mahatma Gandhis photos in government offices to bombing Iskcon temple in Aizawl the PM did not shy away from reminding the people that it was the Congress that was in power in Manipur during those times. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday spoke for over two hours in Lok Sabha while replying to the debate on a no-confidence motion in which he highlighted the governments welfare works and slammed the opposition for tarnishing Indias image and politicising the situation in Manipur. Congress-led opposition, which has been pressing for PM Modis statement on Manipur violence in which over 150 people lost their lives, walked out of the lower house during his speech. The Prime Minister began his speech by expressing gratitude to the crores of people in the country who continue to support his government. He said that the NDA and the BJP will break all records in 2024 and will come back to power with the blessings of the people. Modi also predicted the opposition will bring a no-confidence motion against his government in 2028 as well. PM Modi said the opposition did not take part in discussion when crucial bills were passed by Parliament and prioritised their politics over the nation. Modis Lok Sabha Speech: I Gave Oppn 5 Yrs to Prepare, But They Are Still Bowling No Balls | Top Quotes Slamming the opposition, PM Modi said their favourite slogan is Modi teri kabr khudegi. He said that the Opposition has a special vardan that if they wish bad for someone, that person only prospers. He added that the abuses of the Opposition have worked like a tonic for him. Underlining the electoral losses of Congress and its shrinking base in several states, PM Modi said the people of India have no confidence in Congress. In Tamil Nadu, Congress won in 1962, the people of Tamil Nadu says Congress no confidence. In Bengal, they won in 1972, people say Congress no confidence, he said. The Prime Minister said they trusted Pakistan more whenever a terrorist attack took place but never paid heed to the feelings of the citizens of the country. Modi said the Congress and its allies have a history of not trusting the inherent strength of India and its armed forces, but they reached out to separatists in Kashmir. The prime minister said when India carried out surgical strikes on terrorism, and air strikes, Congress and its allies did not believe the armed forces, they trusted the claims of the enemy. From Ostrich-like Oppns Kala Teeka to Return of Ghamandia: Highlights of PM Modis Lok Sabha Speech Taking a jibe at the oppositions I.N.D.I.A. alliances name, PM Modi said they even broke Indias name and cremated UPA in Bengaluru where the meeting of 26 opposition parties was held last month. You are trying to pass off an old vehicle as an electric one just by applying new paintThe opposition needed NDA to stay alive, they just added two Is to it due to their arrogance. It thinks it can increase its credibility by using INDIA name for the alliance. Nothing is Congress own, from its poll symbol to ideas, everything has been borrowed from someone else. Congress adopted flag similar to national tricolour to add credibility, they also stole Gandhi surname for gains. This is not INDIA but Ghamandia alliance; everyone there wants to be groom, be the PM. Whenever circumstances will change, knives will be out in the alliance," he said. PM Modi said that the government has given importance to the development of the northeast and added the northeast is our jigar ka tukda". Modi also spoke in detail about his governments development works for the entire northeastern region, noting that he alone had visited the area over 50 times and his ministers over 400 times. Unforgivable crime. Centre and the state govt are making all efforts to give strictest punishment to the culprits; Peace will prevail in #Manipur again. Nation stands with the mothers, daughters and sisters in Manipur": PM Modi on Manipur viral video case #NoTrustVote pic.twitter.com/wXFYYiIpFp News18 (@CNNnews18) August 10, 2023 On the situation in Manipur, the Prime Minister said heinous crimes against women are unforgivable and highlighted that the Central and state governments are their trying best to punish those guilty. It was the Congress government under the then prime minister Indira Gandhi which used the Air Force to attack citizens in Mizoram in 1966 and also launched a military attack on Akal Takht in the 80s, he said targeting the Congress. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday had a retort ready for Congress leader Rahul Gandhis statement in Lok Sabha the previous day that Hanuman did not burn Lanka but Ravanas pride. Responding to the oppositions motion of no-confidence, he hit out at the reinstated MPs comments saying: The public is like Lord Ram, which is why you (the Congress) have been reduced to 40 from 400. Your ego has brought you from 400 to 40. Attacking the opposition in the house, the prime minister said it is true that Lanka was not set ablaze by Hanuman (a reference to the ancient Indian epic Ramayana) but it was Ravanas pride that burnt his own land. It is true that Lanka was not set ablaze by Hanuman, it was set ablaze by his (Ravana) arrogance. People are also like Lord Ram and, that is why, you have been reduced to 40 from 400. People elected a full majority government twice but it is troubling you that how come a poor man is sitting here; this is not letting you sleep and the people of the country will not let you sleep even in 2024, he said. He added: I want to express my sympathy with the opposition as a few days ago you performed the last rites of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) in Bengaluru. On the one hand, you were performing the last rites par aap jashan bhi mana rahe thay aur jashan bhi kis cheez ki khandar par naya plaster lagane ka I want to tell the opposition that you are following those who, even after so many generations, are not able to differentiate between lal mirch and hari mirch Taking a dig at the new opposition front, INDIA, the PM said the arrogance of the I does not leave them (Congress) alone. Their trouble is such that they had to take the support of the NDA to keep themselves alive. But, out of habit, the arrogance of I doesnt leave them alone. That is why, they inserted two Is of arrogance in NDA. First I the arrogance of 26 parties and, the second I, the arrogance of one family. They stole NDA too and also broke India I.N.D.I.A, he said. He added: I can understand the troubles of the Congress. For years, they have been launching again and again, a failed product. The launch fails every time. The result is that their hatred for voters has reached its peak. The launch fails and they harbour hatred for voters. But PR people propagate it as mohabbat ki dukaan. That is why, the people of the country are saying, Yeh hai loot ki dukaan, jhooth ka bazaar. Taking another dig at Rahul Gandhi, who had during his speech said he was speaking from the heart about the Manipur ethnic violence, PM Modi said the Congress leaders mental condition was well known. Kal yahaan dil se baat karne ki baat bhi kahi gayi thi. Unke dimaag ke haal ko toh desh lambe samay se janta hai. Lekin ab unke dil ka pata bhi chal gaya. Their Modi love is so strong that they even dream about Modi he said. The PM exuded confidence during his address that the BJP and its allies will break records to score a grand win in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and even took a swipe at the opposition, saying its no-confidence motion will prove auspicious for the ruling alliance as it did in 2018. He also attacked the opposition parties for not allowing discussions on a number of bills related to the countrys development. (With PTI inputs) Its free. Its safer. And no more annoying Windows updates! The Indian government is looking to replace the Windows operating system on computers used in the Defence Ministry with a new indigenous operating system called Maya OS. Having a new operating system (OS), that too for the government is a challenge but the Ministry claims that Maya OS is being introduced to thwart cyber threats and also reduce the dependence on OS made by global tech companies, like Microsoft. Not to forget, Maya OS is free, so, the government will no longer have to spend on getting genuine Windows licences or pay for expensive Microsoft Word and other services. The idea is pretty simple- cybercriminals create malware and viruses for any platform that is popular. Popularity of the platform helps in spreading malware quickly. With Windows being used by the majority of PC users across the world, it is the primary target for hackers. Another aspect to consider is that, when data is exchanged via emails, USB pen drives, portable hard drives, routers or any other end device or platform, hackers generally transmit a Windows payload because chances of infection increases due to its popularity, which makes PCs of government agencies immensely vulnerable. Now, when a Windows malware gets transmitted to a PC running Maya OS, the malware will essentially have no effect at all. Emails with malware encoded PDF, JPEG, excel sheet and docs are usually seen as a primary entry point for hackers. So, if a government officer downloads an important PDF file from an email, without knowing that the PDF has embedded Windows malware, on a PC with Maya OS, then malware cant do much. The second round of protection comes from Chakravyuh- the homegrown anti-virus system that isolates data. Chakravyuh comes with Maya OS. The government is ready to deploy Maya OS by the end of year. But what is the origin of Maya OS, what features will it offer and will the popular apps work on the new operating system? Heres a detailed explainer on the new desi OS for PCs. Maya OS - The New Desi Platform? Maya OS has been developed by the Ministry of Defence which is going to use it for the Army, Navy and other forces by the year-end. The Ministry claims Maya OS is based on the open-source Ubuntu platform which is a distribution of the Linux operating system. Now, there are around 300 active Linux distributions including Fedora, Peppermint, Kubuntu and Ubuntu. Having said that, Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distribution and there are at least 50 derivatives of Ubuntu, popular ones include Linux Mint, Elementary OS, Ubuntu Kylin and others. The reason people choose to develop derivatives of Ubuntu is simple: it allows users to customise as per preferences while allowing access to the Ubuntu apps. Also, for peripherals like keyboard, mouse, printers, etc, finding drivers that support Ubuntu is easy. So, Maya OS is just another Ubuntu derivative with access to free popular Ubuntu apps. The Ubuntu app store offers free alternatives to Microsoft Word, photoshop, browsers, etc. This will drastically reduce software licence costs for the government. Apart from Apples macOS and Microsofts Windows, Linux distributions are the most popular operating systems that are used globally for different purposes. In fact, Windows too is hugely inspired by Linux. The Ministry has designed the platform with an interface and functionalities that aim to thwart any possible cyber threats from bad actors. The OS was developed in six months as per reports, with the help of a dedicated team from agencies like Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), and the National Informatics Centre (NIC). The name Maya OS has been derived from the Hindi word for illusion. It is said that the name Maya refers to the idea of the hackers facing the illusion when they try to breach the system of the Defence Ministry. The OS gets a layer of security in the form of Chakravyuh which is an anti-malware and antivirus version for the Maya OS, looking to deny access to these malicious actors who seek to compromise data. Maya OS - Like Microsoft Windows But Safer Than Windows The UI of Ubuntu-based Maya OS has a very Windows-like feel, which makes it easier for users to understand as they already know the features and functions of the OS. In addition to this, Maya OS also offers support for cloud storage, biometric authentication, and digital signatures. In fact, even for personal use, you can buy a laptop with free DOS or without Windows for a cheaper price and install Ubuntu on it. You get access to the free Ubuntu app store. While the apps may look different, it is just about getting used to. The Defence Ministry has set a deadline of the end of 2023 for installing Maya OS on all its registered computers. The new indigenous OS is also expected to be deployed for systems used by the Army, Navy and the Air Force in the near future. Google users will soon have a useful feature available to them on Docs. The company has started beta tests for the eSignature option on the platform, which prevents people from using other doc apps to use the feature. Having this tool allows users to digitally sign documents and important letters without needing to print and scan a document. Google introduced the feature for select users last year but the beta rollout is now applicable for a wider range of Workspace accounts. Google Docs will allow people to request one eSignature from the other person, which includes fields like Signature, Initials and Name. The date signed section is auto-filled by Google. Apps like Adobe have offered the feature for a while, and people have been praying that Google brings the support for Docs and in the coming months it will be rolling out to more people. Google will also offer a status check for these eSignatures, so that you can track if an important document has been signed or not. In addition to Docs, Google is also bringing the feature to Drive, which allows people to seamlessly link their eSignatures to the documents without going to another platform. Googles in-built feature for eSignature is going to be restricted to Gmail users for the time being. Google says non-Gmail users will get the support later this year, which doesnt clearly give us a timeline. Googles Workspace is a paid service, and the post only talks about the feature coming to these users, so we are not sure if the free Gmail users will get the option ever. Google Docs is extremely useful for many people, allowing them to manage documents in real-time and share it with people. It is good to see Google bring the feature to Docs and Drive but there is still a lot more needed by the users and we are hopeful Google offers them in the near future. Google realises that 2G networks are still prevalent in the market, even though 4G is the de-facto technology for most countries. But having a dated network in the mix is a security concern, not only for the tech giant but the consumers as well, leaving them vulnerable to possible attacks which may not have a fix. So Google realises this threat and has devised a feature to stop 2G networks from becoming a security concern for users. The company has shared details about its first-of-kind security feature for connectivity, which can disable 2G networks on a phone that has Android 14 running. While Google uses the example of the United States for 2G networks, you could put India in the same context, where you still have millions using the 2G-powered feature phones. The other concern is that even the older phones will latch onto the 2G network if the other networks are not available in the area, which could become a serious weapon for malicious attacks. Google feels that some hacker might disable the use of other networks on the phone, and limit its compatibility to 2G network, allowing them to access the device through a series of vulnerabilities in the software and the network. 2G networks, first implemented in 1991, do not provide the same level of security as subsequent mobile generations do. Most notably, 2G networks based on the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard lack mutual authentication, which enables trivial Person-in-the-Middle attacks, Google explains in this post. And because of these limitations of 2G, hackers tend to downgrade the connectivity options of a device from 5G or 4G down to 2G. These features have resulted in the rise of surveillance and attacks like Pegasus have shown us the dangers posed by them. The company says Android 12 was the first version to work in this direction, and was first introduced on the Pixel 6 but is now supported by all Android devices that are compatible with Radio HAL 1.6+ and with Android 14, this security feature is going up to another level. Google has resorted to securing the enterprise devices with its latest version, who are at a greater threat from such attacks. These customers can protect the devices used by their people and also manage any possible traffic interception through 2G networks. In a bid to address persistent cybersecurity challenges, India has taken a significant step forward with the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill, 2023, being passed by both houses of parliament. As data breaches continue to plague organisations and individuals across the globe, the central governments approach hopes to bolster cybersecurity measures and safeguard personal data. Surfsharks recent global study reveals a glimmer of hope for Indias cybersecurity landscape. For the second consecutive quarter, data breaches in India have shown a downward trend. However, despite this positive trajectory, India still ranks among the top countries grappling with data breaches at a global scale. According to Surfshark, a cybersecurity company, India is the seventh most breached country in the second quarter of 2023 with approximately 1.35 million leaked accounts. Previously, India ranked sixth with 2.4 million in the first quarter of 2023. It should also be noted that the breach rate is 44 percent lower in Q2 than in Q1. Recognising the need for comprehensive legislation to fortify cybersecurity practices, the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill was passed in Lok Sabha on August 7 despite some concerns raised by the opposition centralisation of power, data protection boards independence, data localisation and cross-border data transfer. Later in the afternoon, on Wednesday, Rajya Sabha also passed the critical bill. The bill, however, which now awaits President Droupadi Murmus signature to become a law, encompasses a range of provisions specifically aimed at mitigating cybersecurity risks. This includes: Robust technical measures: The bill mandates organisations to implement stringent technical and organisational safeguards to shield personal data from cyber threats. This includes measures like encryption, access controls and well-defined security incident response plans. The bill mandates organisations to implement stringent technical and organisational safeguards to shield personal data from cyber threats. This includes measures like encryption, access controls and well-defined security incident response plans. Informed consent: Organisations will be prohibited from processing personal data without explicit consent from individuals unless justified by legitimate reasons. This provision ensures that personal data is not collected or utilised without the knowledge and agreement of individuals. Organisations will be prohibited from processing personal data without explicit consent from individuals unless justified by legitimate reasons. This provision ensures that personal data is not collected or utilised without the knowledge and agreement of individuals. Rapid breach notifications: The bill requires organisations to promptly notify individuals within 72 hours of discovering a data breach. This proactive approach empowers individuals to take necessary precautions in the event of a breach, minimising potential harm. The bill requires organisations to promptly notify individuals within 72 hours of discovering a data breach. This proactive approach empowers individuals to take necessary precautions in the event of a breach, minimising potential harm. Data protection board: A central data protection board, which will be established by the government, will oversee the enforcement and execution of the bills provisions. This regulatory body possesses the authority to investigate and penalise entities found in violation of the law. A central data protection board, which will be established by the government, will oversee the enforcement and execution of the bills provisions. This regulatory body possesses the authority to investigate and penalise entities found in violation of the law. High penalties: The bill imposes severe fines, ranging from Rs 50 crore to Rs 250 crore, for those found in violation of its terms. The substantial penalties can help prevent cybersecurity risks and may serve as a deterrent to organisations tempted to violate the law. They will be more likely to comply with the law if they know that they could face significant financial penalties. Experts said by restricting organisations from covertly collecting personal data and enhancing transparency and accountability, the bill creates a more resilient defence against cyber threats. By enforcing stringent technical measures, prioritising informed consent and facilitating rapid breach notifications, the bill holds the potential to curtail cyber threats. Experts also believe that while challenges persist, this legislative initiative offers a glimmer of hope in the ongoing battle to safeguard personal data in an increasingly interconnected world. The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday dealt a setback to Epic Games, maker of the popular video game Fortnite, in its legal battle against Apple, declining to let a federal judges injunction take effect that could force the iPhone maker to change payment practices in its lucrative App Store. Liberal Justice Elena Kagan, acting for the Supreme Court, denied Epics request to lift a decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that effectively delayed implementing an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers barring certain App Store rules, while Apple pursues a Supreme Court appeal. The 9th Circuit in April had upheld the injunction but in July put that decision on hold. Kagan handles emergency matters for the Supreme Court arising from a group of states including California. Epic filed an antitrust lawsuit in 2020, accusing Apple of acting as an illegal monopolist by requiring consumers to get apps through its App Store and buy digital content inside an app using its own system for which it charges up to a 30% commission. Rogers in 2021 rejected Epics antitrust claims against Apple. But the judge found that Apple violated Californias unfair competition law by barring developers from steering users to make digital purchases that bypass Apples in-app system, which Epic could save them money with lower commissions. The judges injunction required Apple to let app developers provide links and buttons that direct consumers to other ways to pay for digital content that they use in their apps. In seeking to pause the injunction from taking effect while it readies an appeal to the Supreme Court, Apple told the 9th Circuit that Rogers had erred in prohibiting it from enforcing its rules against all app developers in the United States, rather than just Epic. Apple will be required to change its business model to comply with the injunction before judicial review has been completed, the company told the 9th Circuit. The undisputed evidence establishes that the injunction will limit Apples ability to protect users from fraud, scams, malware, spyware, and objectionable content. Epic told the Supreme Court that the 9th Circuits standard for putting cases on hold is far too lenient. Navigating the job search can be quite challenging. From considering factors like salary and personal interests to evaluating the companys reputation, its crucial to find the right fit that aligns with your preferences. However, the complexities of job satisfaction extend beyond the initial search. Often, unforeseen elements like travel time and associated costs can significantly impact ones experience. Take, for example, a recent incident involving a man from New Delhi who quit his job on the very first day due to an unexpectedly long commute. He took to Reddit to share his experience, expressing, Got a job in a decent company with a decent pay. They wanted people and hired me instantly after some rounds of interview. I got excited as it was my first job but realised it would be too much to travel. I live in northwest part of Delhi (Pink line) and the job was based in Moulsari Avenue." Furthermore, he disclosed that relocating his residence was not a viable option and highlighted the predicament of having only three hours of leisure time aside from sleep, with monthly commuting expenses amounting to 5K. Also Read: This Boss Work Less Advice To Employee Is Winning Hearts Online Seeking guidance from fellow Reddit users, he then inquired about their strategies for addressing similar travel-related concerns, particularly considering that many established companies are situated in Gurugram. Soon, the responses poured in, resonating with empathy and shared experiences. Many recounted their own challenges with commuting and deemed his experience as commonplace. Suggestions ranged from relocating closer to the office, to making the most of travel time by engaging in productive activities Bhai aadhi Delhi Gurgaon travel karti hai daily! U gotta hustle to earn big! wrote one user. Welcome to the real world, everybody does this, commented another. Many people travel for 1.5hours one way to the office. It depends on LPA, and perks by the organisations. Most people from NCR travel a lot for work, daily. I have seen people traveling from Palwal to south Delhi for job. First 2-3 months the travel May seen hectic but then you will get use to it. Utilise the time to learn something new or watch movies while commuting, suggested the third one. This advice, along with others, led the original poster to a realisation that his hasty decision might not have been the most judicious. He subsequently edited his post, writing, I did wrong. I didnt know every other person travels this much. I had no one to talk to so I took an impulsive decision." Also Read: How Will I Afford Rent? Reddit User Shares Heartbreaking Tale Of Job Termination With No Explanation What would you do in such a situation? Northrop Grumman Awards Contracts to Kitron Published: 10 August 2023 by Tyler Hanes by Tyler Hanes BILLINGSTAD, NORWAY Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has awarded Kitron a sub-contract for production of AN/ASQ-242 Integrated Communications, Navigation, and Identification (CNI) modules for the F-35 Lightning II-program. Deliveries will secure a backlog into 2025 and have a total value of more than USD 13 million. Production will take place at Kitrons plant in Norway. The sub-contract relates to the Long-Term Supply Agreement announced on 21 September 2015 and 24 November 2016, and covers Lot 16 through Lot 17. Northrop Grummans ICNI-system provides F-35-pilots with more than 27 fully integrated operational functions. Using its industry leading software-defined radio technology, Northrop Grummans design allows the simultaneous operation of multiple critical functions while greatly reducing size, weight, and power demands on the advanced F-35 fighter. These functions include Identification Friend or Foe (IFF), automatic acquisition of fly-to-points, and various voice and data communications such as the multifunction advanced data link. Norway is one of the international partner countries participating in the F-35 program. Under a manufacturing license agreement between Kitron and Northrop Grumman, Kitron will manufacture sub-assemblies for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. In a bizarre incident, a mysterious installation appeared overnight along a coastal path in south-east England. This has resulted in a series of speculations by the locals. While some are saying that it is a prank, others are of the view that this could be related to aliens. The 8ft long wooden pole has been discovered on the cliff tops on the North Downs Way in Kent, between Folkestone and Dover. According to reports, the Dover District Council has asked Kent Wildlife Trust to seek retroactive planning permission if it wishes to keep Perkunas the Pole. Also Read: Women Create Intriguing Optical Illusion Around Pole; Watch Here Also, the Trust is now appealing to find the original artist to answer some questions about the totem pole. The area manager, Rickards has said, The artist behind this would have spent hours painstakingly carving out the details and we are keen to keep it on our reserve. The artwork seems to be a hit with the walkers who have taken selfies and congratulated us on the installation, but we had no idea how it came to be there its a Totem mystery! It's a 'totem' mystery to us as to how this sculpture came to be placed on our reserve at Capel-Le-Ferne, and we are trying to trace the artist.It is not quite a Banksy, but perhaps the totem pole artist equivalent? Read more on the story: https://t.co/1CB8yzefyD pic.twitter.com/EH2IhcQvLd Kent Wildlife Trust (@KentWildlife) August 4, 2023 He further explained that they have been given a total of eight weeks to submit planning permission. The planning application will incur a cost to the Trust, so if anyone would like to make a donation to help fund the process, it would be gratefully received, he explained. Also Read: Vistara Celebrates Baby Passengers First Birthday Mid-air in Heartwarming Gesture, Pics Go Viral Dr Francis Young, who happens to be an Oxford University historian and folklorist specialising in the history of religion and belief, has claimed that the pole, which is thought to be carved from a single tree, appeared to suggest a Lithuanian link. An image which has surfaced from the canteen of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, has sparked massive outrage among people. A set of students from the institute have opposed the alleged segregation in one of the hostel canteens. It is completely based on the food preferences. According to the image, which is circulating on Twitter, a separate place is designated to vegetarian students where non-vegetarians are not allowed. Vegetarians only are allowed to sit here, read the poster which had been stuck in the canteen. The image has angered people on social media. Also Read: Mystery Totem Pole Appears on Coastal Path in South England, Baffles People These notices stuck at premier institutes like @iitbombay is a sad state for the country and society. If the educational institute becomes the enabler of discrimination based on peoples food choices, its our duty to fight and resist such acts, wrote Twitter page Right to Food, which shared the image. Many students took to the micro blogging site and complained that it was humiliating. Here, have a look for yourself: These notices stuck at premier institutes like @iitbombay is a sad state for the country and society. If the educational institute becomes the enabler of discrimination based on people's food choices, it's our duty to fight and resist such acts pic.twitter.com/I5H981dlwr Right to Food, India (@rozi_roti) August 9, 2023 According to a report by The Indian Express, the general secretary of the hostel in an email to all the residents has clarified that this is all a misunderstanding. He claimed that there is no designated separate sitting space for vegetarian students. Acknowledging that such instances have been brought to notice, the email states, we have received reports of individuals forcefully designating certain areas of the mess as Jain sitting space and removing individuals who bring non-vegetarian food to sit in those areas. Also Read: Vistara Celebrates Baby Passengers First Birthday Mid-air in Heartwarming Gesture, Pics Go Viral The college further mentioned that such behaviour is unacceptable as it goes against the values of mutual respect and tolerance. No student has the right to remove another student from any area of the mess on the grounds that it is reserved for a particular community, it claimed. In what comes as a heartwarming incident, Vistara flight crew arranged a little birthday celebration for their youngest flyer. It happened when the family was flying to Maldives along with a toddler who had just turned one. The crew gave little Aarohi a tiny cake, some fruits, along with a handwritten note. Impressed by the gesture, the family shared pictures of the celebration on Twitter. Also Read: Viral Video Shows Brawl in Vistara Aircraft After a Father Got Upset Loved the way how Vistara Crew celebrated my daughters very first birthday in air aboard Male bound flight UK271 This is truly a heart warming gesture for us & our daughter. Thankyou Vistara, wrote Rohit as he shared adorable images of the family and the surprises that they were presented with. Loved the way how Vistara Crew celebrated my daughters very first birthday in air aboard Male bound flight UK271 This is truly a heart warming gesture for us & our daughter.Thankyou Vistara #FlyWithFeeling #VistaraView #Vistara @airvistara @aakanshasharma6 pic.twitter.com/n1XmemJjGO Rohit Aakansha Sharma (@Its_MeRohit) August 8, 2023 Vistara responded to the tweet as it wrote, First birthdays are indeed special and celebrating it at 35,000ft makes it even more special! The crew will be just as happy to read your #VistaraLove, Rohit. Meanwhile, earlier, a video that went viral showed a heated fight in a Vistara airlines aircraft. According to the caption of the video, a man was seen screaming and yelling at another man after his daughter was touched by him. Also Read: Delhi Man Quits Job Within a Day of Joining Due to Long Commute, Regrets Later The video was uploaded on Twitter handle Ghar Ke Kalesh. In the video, you can also hear a woman screaming How dare you. However, no face is visible. The crew members are trying to calm people down and neutralise the situation but the man seems to be out of control. The Guinness World Records title for performing a barani flip over most people while skating has been bagged by American teenager Mia Peterson. She attempted the record last July at Laguna Niguel in California, USA. After tremendous bouts of roller skate practice, Mia assembled 12 people and flipped over them to win her world record title. She was merely 11 when she first got introduced to the world of skating after her sister gifted her a pair of roller skates on her birthday. Within two years, the youngster had fallen in love with the sport and would often visit community skate parks to hone her skills. Perfecting her barani flip didnt come easy to the teenager, it ended up with Mia getting multiple stitches and broken ribs. She told Guinness about first attempting the flip in a foam pit. After relentless practice, she began performing the rotation on cemented platforms. I would take baby steps until I could land the flip. It is not easy at first though, I would take some tough falls here and there," she recalled. One time I split my chin and had to get 27 stitches. Also, when I first attempted a front flip I over-rotated and slammed onto my stomach, breaking some of my ribs, Mia added. After braving the injuries, it took a lot of courage for the youngster to attempt flips again. Watch her GWR attempt here: View this post on Instagram A post shared by Guinness World Records (@guinnessworldrecords) A barrage of social media users began praising and congratulating the teenager for her special victory. Though Mia practices skating often and also enjoys participating in competitions, she isnt planning to make a career in the field. I dont skate for money. I skate for the happiness it gives me," Mia continued. Confident in her abilities, Mia explained she doesnt try to push her limit. Since she attempts to flip over people, the teenager remains well aware of her capacity and keeps away from endangering lives. Notably, all the 12 people who took part in the stunt by laying down were her friends. When asked how she feels about bagging the record, Mia said shes thrilled and surreal." The teenager wishes to challenge herself to attempt another world record in future. After earning the longest barani flip title, Mia is planning to try the highest flip. Afghanistans Supreme Leader Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada has said that those who went from the country to Pakistan for militancy will not be called martyrs if they are killed. No Afghan citizens and members of the Transitional Government should engage in jihad outside Afghanistan, he said. Unrecognised individuals should not involve themselves in fight against Pakistan and in case they die doing this, they will not get martyrs honour," he said in a statement. Akhundzada declared that jihad outside Afghanistan has ended. Fight outside the border is against Islam and Sharia, he added. The violators wont be forgiven and the government will not recognise them, he said. In case anyone dies outside Afghanistan and in Pakistan, representatives of the interim Afghan government will abstain from attending their funeral, he added. Defence minister Mullah Mohamamd Yaqoob also asked his fighters not to involve themselves in such battles. CNN-News18 had earlier reported that Pakistans army chief General Asim Munir issued strict warnings to the Afghanistan government not to fight inside his countrys territory or support the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). After that Afghan spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid also attacked the Pakistan government, asking it to restrict its ideology towards the Taliban. But sources close to the Taliban say Akhundzadas directives should not be seen as him being under pressure but that as an elder he wants everyone to live in peace and harmony, and in any case, the Taliban always maintained that they will not allow their soil or cadres for any terror activities. Pakistans President Arif Alvi dissolved the countrys National Assembly close to midnight on Wednesday, just three days before its controversial five-year term ended. This marked the conclusion of the current governments tenure and set the stage for upcoming general elections. President Dr. Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly. The President dissolved the National Assembly on the advice of the Prime Minister under Article 58-1 of the Constitution," his office announced. 58 pic.twitter.com/B7kGkMWLEh The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) August 9, 2023 The 15th National Assembly, which commenced in August 2018 after the July 25, 2018 election, has now concluded, triggering the process to appoint a caretaker prime minister under Article 224-A of the Constitution. Before advising President Alvi to dissolve the parliament, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif presided over the final federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad, where he said, Tonight, with the permission of the House, I will send the advice for the dissolution of the National Assembly to the president." Selecting the Interim PM Prime Minister Sharif and Opposition Leader Raja Riaz will consult to decide on the interim prime minister. If they fail to agree within three days, the matter will be referred to the parliamentary committee. Both leaders will propose names to the committee. The committee will finalise the caretaker prime minister within three days. If consensus remains elusive, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will choose the caretaker prime minister within two days from the submitted names. Whats Next? Elections The dissolution of the assembly paves the way for elections where Imran Khan, the countrys most popular politician, has been sidelined. Pakistans National Assembly dissolution activates the Election Commissions (ECP) responsibility to conduct elections within 90 days. Previously, upon term completion, elections were held in 60 days. However, due to the early dissolution, the timeframe has been extended to 90 days. Delays in the polls are expected due to the new census required for delimitation. The ECP is mandated to complete delimitation within 120 days before announcing the election schedule. While quicker delimitation and holding elections within 90 days are feasible, uncertainties exist regarding the ECPs adherence to the timeline, given legitimate reasons for potential extensions. The Imran Khan Challenge Michael Kugelman, Director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, told AFP that any delay could offer an opportunity for the main coalition partners, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party, to strategise on addressing the challenge posed by Imran Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. However, in reality, delaying the election could further enrage the public and invigorate an opposition that has already endured months of crackdowns," he warned. Beijing on Thursday slammed the Biden administration for imposing fresh restrictions on American investments in Chinas tech industry. Chinese Commerce Ministry rebuked the restrictions, accusing the US of pushing for decoupling" bilateral investment while claiming its for de-risking." The US move seriously violates the principles of market economics and fair competition that the US has always proclaimed, and will impact business operations and decision making, in addition to damaging international trade rules and seriously disrupting global industrial and supply chains," Chinas Commerce Ministry said, as quoted by state media outlet Global Times. This statement comes hours after US President Joe Biden issued an executive order aimed at restricting certain American investments in sensitive high-tech areas in Chinaa move that could strain ties between the worlds top two economies. The new rules, expected to be implemented next year, target sectors like semiconductors and artificial intelligence, as Washington seeks to limit access to key technologies. The commitment of the United States to open investment is a cornerstone of our economic policy and provides the United States with substantial benefits," Biden said in a letter to Congressional leaders announcing the executive order. However, certain United States investments may accelerate and increase the success of the development of sensitive technologies and products in countries that develop them to counter United States and allied capabilities." The US Treasury Department is preparing a program that aims to restrict new private equity, venture capital, and joint venture investments in advanced semiconductors and select quantum information technologies in China. The move is designed to boost Washingtons national security, preventing China from acquiring cutting-edge technologies for military purposes. The program may require notification for US investments in Chinese entities dealing with less advanced semiconductors and specific artificial intelligence activities. However, exceptions could be made for certain US investments involving publicly traded securities and transfers between US parent and subsidiary companies. (With AFP inputs) Ecuadors President Guillermo Lasso on Thursday declared a two-month state of emergency, a few hours after the assassination of anti-graft presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio during a campaign rally in Quito. The Armed Forces as of this moment are mobilized throughout the national territory to guarantee the security of citizens, the tranquility of the country and the free and democratic elections of August 20," Lasso was quoted as saying in an address broadcast on YouTube. The president also declared three days of national mourning to honor the slain leader, who was a vocal critic of corruption and criminal cartels. This announcement comes as outraged Ecuadoreans protested outside the clinic where Villavicencio died. Dozens of shots had been fired, while a video posted on social media showed Villavicencio getting into a car after the event, before the sound of apparent gunfire and screaming. JUST IN: Second video emerges from outside rally event at the moment Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated. pic.twitter.com/c98bAoPdnz Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) August 10, 2023 A suspect in the crime later died of injuries sustained in a shoot-out, according to the attorney generals office. The violence injured nine other people, including a candidate for the legislature and two police officers. President Guillermo Lassos government has blamed rising violence on the streets and in prisons on criminal infighting to control trafficking routes used by Mexican cartels, the Albanian mafia, and others to move drugs. He said he would host top security officials at an urgent meeting. The assassination, which occurred less than two weeks before the scheduled August 20 presidential election, has raised concerns about escalating gang-related violence in the country. The head of the National Electoral Council said Thursday that Ecuadors election dates will remain unchanged. The date of the elections scheduled for August 20 remain unalterable, in compliance with the constitutional and legal mandate," Diana Atamaint said in a joint statement with President Lasso. Villavicencio, a vocal critic of corruption and criminal cartels, made a bold promise to root out corruption and hold the countrys wrongdoers accountable during his final rally speech. He had previously received death threats, including from international criminal groups like Mexicos Sinaloa Cartel, which has gained a foothold in Ecuador. The assassination comes amid a surge in violence involving rival gangs and escalating crime, leaving Ecuadorians grappling with security concerns. The country has experienced gunfire in major cities and an increase in gang recruitment, further intensifying the situation. (With AP input) Pakistans imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan met his wife Bushra Bibi at the high-security Attock jail for the first time on Thursday after his conviction and arrest in a corruption case, his lawyer said. Lawyer Naeem Haider Panjutha said in a video message on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the one-to-one meeting between the 70-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf: chairman and his wife lasted for about half an hour. Bushra Bibi met for half an hour. Bushra Bibi said that Khan Sahib is completely fine but Khan Sahib is kept in Class C. The legal team was not allowed to meet despite the order of the High Court. We will take up the matter in the High Court tomorrow," he said. Bushra, 48, also faces corruption charges. The third spouse of Khan is a spiritual healer known for her devotion to Sufism, a form of Islamic mysticism which emphasises on love. The Islamabad High Court (IHC) gave her permission to meet Khan, said Panjuthaha, who was granted access by the jail authorities on Monday to meet Khan. Less than a month after overthrowing President Mohamed Bazoum, the Niger military junta on Thursday formed a new government in the West African country. The coup leaders announced the decision through a decree read out on national television. Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine will lead the 21-member government as the Prime Minister, with generals from the new military governing council heading the defence and interior ministries, AFP news agency reported. After taking over the country last month, Nigers coup leaders have taken steps to consolidate its authority and rejected international mediation efforts this week. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is very concerned about the reported deplorable living conditions" of Nigers President Mohamed Bazoum and his family in arbitrary detention, his spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday. The Secretary-General reiterates his concern over the health and safety of the President and his family and once again calls for his immediate, unconditional release and his reinstatement as Head of State," the UN spokesperson said. Earlier on Monday, the junta designated civilian economist Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine as the new prime minister. Zeine, a former economy and finance minister who previously left office due to a 2010 coup, has also worked at the African Development Bank. Aneliese Bernard, a former State Department official specialising in African affairs and current director of Strategic Stabilization Advisors, noted the significance of establishing a government. She highlighted that this move demonstrates a formulated plan with broad governmental support, particularly to the public. However, the junta declined the admission of mediation teams from the United Nations, the African Union, and the West African regional bloc ECOWAS. They cited security concerns in the current threatening environment, according to a letter seen by The Associated Press. ECOWAS had issued a deadline for the junta to reinstate Bazoum by Sunday, threatening military intervention. The junta disregarded the ultimatum, which passed without ECOWAS taking action. The regional bloc is scheduled to convene again on Thursday for further discussions on the situation. The recent coup has dealt a blow to Western nations, as Niger was considered a crucial democratic ally in the fight against extremism in the region. Additionally, being a significant supplier of uranium adds to its strategic importance. Nigers international partners have issued warnings of suspending substantial military aid unless the country returns to constitutional governance. Amidst the ongoing crisis, Nigers 25 million population bears the heaviest burden. As one of the worlds poorest nations, many Nigeriens struggle day-to-day to provide food for their families, leaving them with limited attention for the escalating situation. (With agency inputs) A U.S. Air Force veteran from Brainard got a boost for his new profession, receiving a $1,000 grant from the Farmer Veteran Coalition Fellowship Fund. Allen Brezenski, owner and founder of the newly created HoneyBreeze Orchards, was able to get the grant after the Tractor Supply Company Foundation donated $100,000 to the FVC Fellowship Fund to then disperse to dozens of veteran farmers across the nation. Now 48, Allen runs the new orchard with help of his wife, Pamela Brezenski, growing produce. The couple also hopes to begin producing their own local honey in summer 2024 with new bee hives theyre purchasing. The $1,000 grant from the FVC Fellowship Fund is intended to help Brezenski with his efforts to kick start the new farm. Brezenski served 21 years in the U.S. Air Force, retiring with an honorable discharge and rank of master sergeant. He was deployed overseas six times and worked as an aircraft armament specialist, loading munitions and working on weapons systems of F-16 fighter jets and B-52 bomber planes. My wife and I were super excited, Allen said of receiving the grant. It helps immensely. What we bought with this money was a water wagon you can pull behind a tractor. And, we bought some fence posts. Allen was honorably discharged from the U.S.A.F in November 2014, and has shifted between jobs and professions in the nearly 10 years since he left the military. Ive been finding my way since retiring, he explained. I started teaching, then I was a postman for three years. Then we bought some acreage and we began planting. Allen said while he is not a farmer and did not grow up on a farm, his wife Pamela did and both are, very passionate about the HoneyBreeze project. The couple have three daughters and two grandchildren and Allen is originally from Columbus. The couples goals for the business include growing and harvesting cherries, apples, grapes and hopefully acquiring beehives to begin honey production. They own a small plot of land in Schuyler on which they are hoping to build a small farm and produce stand. The goal would be to sell produce, Allen explained. We have some land in Schuyler where we want to put up a stand and sell produce to people. His goal of having beehives is in part due to his membership on the Heroes to Hives program, which helps beginning beekeepers get their operation going. Allen said tending to the bees is, calming and a joy. As for receiving the farm grant intended to help veterans, Allen said it is heartwarming to know companies care about former military members looking to start new businesses after they are discharged. It was very, very helpful, Allen said of the $1,000 grant. It is nice to know there are things out there to help. The start-up (cost) of farming is the hardest part. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has dismissed his top general and called for stepping up war preparations in an offensive way", including boosting weapons production and conducting more drills, state media reported Thursday. The developments came at a meeting of the Central Military Commission on Wednesday, the Korean Central News Agency reported, just days after Kim inspected several major arms factories. The military gathering comes as Seoul and Washington prepare for major joint drills later this month, which the North views as rehearsals for invasion and has repeatedly warned could trigger overwhelming" action in response. At the meeting, Kim dismissed chief of the general staff Pak Su Il, replacing him with Vice Marshal Ri Yong Gil, KCNA said without giving further details. KCNA said the agenda of Wednesdays meeting was the issue of making full war preparations" including securing more powerful strike means" to ensure perfect military readiness for a war". Kim called for all the munitions industrial establishments to push ahead with the mass-production of various weapons and equipment", the report said. He also called for actively conducting actual war drills to efficiently operate (the) newly deployed latest weapons and equipment," it added. Kim reached an important conclusion on further stepping up the war preparations of the KPA in an offensive way," KCNA reported. The meeting also discussed preparations for a massive parade to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of North Korea on September 9. Last month, Pyongyang held a major military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, with analysts describing the event as the largest, most overt North Korean display of nuclear-capable systems". North Korea also held a large defence expo to coincide with the parade, with Kim giving the visiting Russian defence minister a tour of of the countrys newest and most advanced weaponry, including ballistic missiles and spy drones. Poland will boost the number of troops at its eastern border with Belarus to 10,000, the defence minister said Thursday, as he warned about potential security risks from the Russian ally. This will be around 10,000 soldiers," Mariusz Blaszczak told public radio regarding the total troop presence, an increase from the additional number announced the day before. He said 4,000 soldiers will support the national border agency and the remaining 6,000 will be in the reserve. We decided to move troops closer to the Belarusian border in order to scare the aggressor, so that the aggressor doesnt dare to attack Poland," he added. Poland has been sounding the alarm on threats that it says neighbouring Belarus poses, warning against provocations" especially involving the Wagner mercenary group currently based in the country. Warsaw says the Wagner fighters could try to cross into Poland or help migrants flood into the European Union. Last week, Poland accused Minsk of violating its airspace after two Belarusian military helicopters were spotted by inhabitants of the border area. Belarus denied the violation claims, with the defence ministry saying they were made by the Polish military and political leadership to once again justify the build-up of forces and means near the Belarusian border". The United States reportedly encouraged the Pakistani eastablisment to remove Imran Khan from power due to his perceived neutrality on the Ukraine conflict, according to a classified Pakistani government document acquired by US-based publication The Intercept. On March 7, 2022, a crucial meeting occurred involving former Pakistan ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed Khan and two State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu. This meeting happened two weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which coincided with Khans trip to Moscow. The discussion about the previously unreleased cable has ignited controversy within Pakistan for over a year, following Imran Khans ouster via a vote of no confidence last April. The PTI chief has repeatedly asserted that this was Washingtons move to remove him from power. Moreover, the leaked Pakistani government cable unveils US encouragement for Khans ousting, offering incentives for warmer ties with the Biden administration. The cable, labeled Secret," reveals talks between State Department officials and Pakistans former envoy, shedding light on the intricate dynamics of these events that have dominated Pakistani politics ever since. During the meeting, as per the document, Donald Lu openly expressed Washingtons annoyance with Pakistans stance on the conflict. Lu was quoted in the document stating that there were concerns in both the US and Europe about Pakistans seemingly neutral position on Ukraine. Lu then directly brought up the matter of a no-confidence vote, stating, I believe that if the no-confidence vote against the Prime Minister succeeds, all will be forgiven in Washington due to the perception that the Russia visit was a decision made by the Prime Minister." He continued, Otherwise," Lu emphasised, I anticipate challenging times ahead." When asked about the release of the latest cipher during a daily briefing, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, said, We had expressed concern about the visit of then-PM Khan to Moscow on the day of Russias invasion of Ukraine and have communicated that opposition both publicly and privately. Miller added that allegations that the United States interfered in internal decisions about the leadership of Pakistan are false. They have always been false, and they continue to be. The release of the report once again has given flames to claims that the US interfered in Pakistan politics, as echoed by Imran Khan after his ouster. This comes on the same day as Pakistans president dissolved the lower house of parliament, signaling the start of preparations for a general election by mid-November. This development coincides with the ongoing legal battle of Imran Khan, who seeks to overturn a corruption conviction that resulted in his imprisonment in a high-security facility last weekend. Former US President Donald Trump has refused to back the Republican partys eventual 2024 nominee, despite early support from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Indian-American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. The Beat Biden pledge," which Trump vowed not to sign, is a key requirement for the first GOP presidential primary debate to curb internal strife during primaries and the general election. I wouldnt sign the pledge. Why would I sign a pledge? There are people on there that I wouldnt have. I wouldnt have certain people, you know, somebody that Id endorse, Trump was quoted as saying by The New York Post. The 77-year-old Republican front-runner made these remarks during an interview with Newsmax host Eric Bolling. I can name three or four people that I wouldnt support for president. So right there, theres a problem, Trump said of the Republican National Committees loyalty pledge requirement. The former US president and Republican frontrunners remark comes two weeks ahead of the August 23 debate scheduled to be held in Milwaukee. Earlier this week, DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy turned in their signed pledges to the Republican National Committee (RNC). According to the pledge, if they do not win the 2024 Republican nomination for president, they will honor the will of the primary voters and support the nominee to save our country and beat Joe Biden. Trump argued that he has already made a decision about participating in the Milwaukee debate and will make an announcement next week. Despite being the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, he reiterated that he sees no upside" to joining. The former president pointed out the disparity in support among candidates and questioned the value of his involvement. As the first Republican presidential debate of the 2024 campaign approaches in two weeks, eight contenders have reportedly fulfilled the necessary requirements to participate on the stage in Milwaukee. To secure participation in the August 23 debate, candidates must meet stipulated polling and donor criteria outlined by the Republican National Committee (RNC). These criteria entail achieving at least 1% in three credible national polls or a combination of national and early-state polls conducted between July 1 and August 21. Additionally, candidates must amass a minimum of 40,000 donors, with at least 200 donors from 20 or more states. Ukraine urged civilians near the northeastern front line to evacuate on Thursday as Russia ramped up an assault to capture territory already once seized during the conflict. Kupiansk and the surrounding areas of Ukraines Kharkiv region were recaptured by Kyivs forces last September, but Moscow has since pushed back into the region. Given the difficult security situation and the increasing amount of shelling by Russian terrorist forces in Kupiansk community, you have the opportunity to evacuate to a safer place," the city administration said, naming 37 settlements wedged between the town and Russian lines. It said residents could evacuate to Kharkiv, some 56 miles (90 kilometres) west, where they would have the option to move to safer regions, urging children, the elderly and the sick to leave. Do not neglect your safety and the safety of your loved ones," it said. The warning came as Russias defence ministry announced its soldiers had improved their position" along the front line near the town, after reporting advances earlier in the week. In the course of offensive operations near Kupiansk, assault teams of the Western battle group improved their positions along the forward edge of the front line," it said in a daily briefing. Sergiy Cherevaty, spokesman for Ukraines eastern forces, confirmed to national television that Russian forces were trying to break through in the Kupiansk area. The situation remains difficult but under control," he added. The evacuation started yesterday, when the order was signed," said the head of the Kupiansk city military administration Andriy Besedin on national television. Residents could refuse to go, but had to submit a written statement to the authorities, he added but local officials were considering forcing the evacuation of children if the escalation continues and the shelling increases". - Getting dangerous - It looks like the Russians are erasing places in the Kupiansk area," said Rostyslav Melnykiv, professor at a local university in Kharkiv. People are in danger of losing their lives, not just their homes," he told AFP. One resident in the small town of Kivsharivka just outside of Kupiansk said she was preparing to evacuate with her children, while her husband refused to leave in order to care of his elderly mother. Its hard to leave them behind," Anna Koresh, 36, told AFP by phone. But since its getting dangerous its important to take the kids to a safe place." In Russia, the governor of the Bryansk region said Thursday that two people had been killed after Ukraine shelled the small village of Chausy, about three miles from the border. Russian regions bordering Ukraine have repeatedly accused Kyivs forces of indiscriminate shelling that has damaged infrastructure and caused civilian deaths. Ukraine launched a highly anticipated counteroffensive in June after stockpiling Western weapons, but it has acknowledged difficult battles as it struggles to make headway. Moscow said earlier Thursday it downed 11 Ukrainian drones nearing the Crimean peninsula and two headed for Moscow, in the latest wave of attacks targeting Russia and Russian-held territory. As a result of the thwarted terrorist attacks, there were no casualties or damage," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement on Telegram. - Drone attacks - Moscow was largely spared in the early months of the war but the number of drone attacks on the capital has risen in recent months, with the city targeted multiple times this week. Two people were killed after Ukraine shelled a small village in the Russian border region of Bryansk that has seen regular shelling and drone strikes, the regional governor said. Meanwhile in the Russian-occupied territory of Nova Kakhovka one person died and one was wounded in Ukrainian shelling, the Moscow-backed administration said on Telegram. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned last month that war" was coming to Russia, and that the countrys symbolic centres and military bases" would become targets. On the other side of the front line, an oil depot in Ukraines Rivne region was destroyed during a massive drone attack" on Thursday, governor Vitaliy Koval said, adding that emergency services and investigators were on the scene. Tensions have also risen on the Black Sea since Russia exited a grain deal agreement allowing safe passage for grain exports from the transit hubs. In a challenge to Russia, which announced in July that it would consider any ship nearing Ukraine in the Black Sea as potential military cargo carriers, Ukraine said it opened maritime routes for civilian vessels from several southern ports. Ukrainian Navy spokesman Oleg Chalyk said a first ship would take the newly open route in the near future." Im running to be Commander-in-Chief, not Pastor-in-Chief of the United States. Thats how Vivek Ramaswamy replied to a tricky question on faith at a Presidential Townhall in Iowa last week. After his performance there, and generally between July and August, Ramaswamy has been steadily progressing in the Republican race. Hes now polling at No.3 nationally after Donald Trump and Ronald De Santis. While the chances of him getting the Republican nomination for US Presidential Elections next year are rather slim, his climb to No.3, even though it is early days now, has surprised many within and outside the Republican Party. But is there a case for Vivek Ramaswamy to be seriously considered as a running mate to whoever the eventual Republican nominee will be? And in this case, most likely Donald Trump? As the political landscape begins to take shape for the presidential elections, speculation and discussion about potential running mates is already underway. One name that has emerged as a compelling choice for Donald Trumps running mate is Vivek Ramaswamy. With a blend of business acumen, diverse experience, and a commitment to conservative principles, Ramaswamy presents a unique set of qualities that could make him the ideal running mate for the former president. Vivek Ramaswamys background is characterised by his impressive success as an entrepreneur and his deep understanding of economics. Having founded multiple biotech companies and successfully taken them public, Ramaswamys business acumen is undeniable. This experience is particularly relevant at a time when economic recovery and growth are top priorities for any incoming administration. His ability to navigate complex markets and create jobs could greatly contribute to the Trump administrations economic agenda. Furthermore, Ramaswamys personal story as the son of Indian immigrants embodies the American dream. His familys journey to success underscores the importance of meritocracy and opportunity that the conservative base often champions. By selecting Ramaswamy as a running mate, Trump would showcase his commitment to diversity and inclusion, countering any claims that his administration lacks representation from various backgrounds. The appeal of Vivek Ramaswamy as a running mate goes beyond his business achievements. His willingness to speak out on contentious issues aligns with Trumps unfiltered approach to politics. Ramaswamys advocacy for free speech and his critique of cancel culture resonate with many conservatives who value open dialogue and the exchange of ideas. In a political landscape that can sometimes feel stifled by political correctness, his willingness to challenge the status quo could energise the Republican base. Ramaswamys stance on limited government and individual liberty also fits well within the conservative ethos. His belief in smaller government and reducing bureaucratic hurdles aligns with traditional Republican values. Additionally, his commitment to safeguarding personal freedoms could help bridge gaps within the party and attract libertarian-leaning voters who prioritise individual rights. A potential Trump-Ramaswamy ticket could offer a balanced blend of experience, with Trumps seasoned political knowledge and experience as a one-term president complemented by Ramaswamys fresh face and ideas. As a young and vibrant candidate, Ramaswamy could energise younger voters and provide a forward-looking vision for the partys future. However, challenges must also be acknowledged. Ramaswamys relative lack of political experience could be a point of contention, as critics might argue that governing requires a deep understanding of the political system. Additionally, his strong opinions on certain issues might alienate some voters, even as they resonate with others. But the biggest obstacle would be race. Is a predominantly white, male-dominated Republican party ready to accept a brown face as the No.2 man in the White House? Would Ramaswamys ticket energise Indian-American voters much like Kamala Harriss did when she became Bidens running mate in 2020? The Indian-American community is a small but influential minority. However, it has generally tended to vote Democratic, as do most minority communities in the US. All five Indian-origin lawmakers in the House of Representatives are Democrats. The only Indian-American lawmaker on the Republican side who had some claim to fame was former Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal. But even his bid for presidency back in 2016 was short-lived. Vivek Ramaswamy possesses a unique combination of attributes that could make him a powerful running mate for Donald Trump in the 2024 election. His proven business success, commitment to conservative principles, and ability to connect with a diverse range of voters make him a compelling choice. While challenges exist, his fresh perspective and willingness to challenge the status quo could invigorate the Republican base and contribute to a dynamic and competitive campaign. As the political landscape evolves, the potential Trump-Ramaswamy ticket is one that merits serious consideration for its ability to bridge divides, inspire a new generation, and champion a vision of American exceptionalism. US President Joe Biden on Thursday declared the Hawaii wildfires a major disaster," unblocking federal funds for the hard-hit island of Maui after the flames claimed at least 36 lives and razed a historic town. Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that a major disaster exists in the State of Hawaii and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by wildfires," a White House statement said. Brushfires on Mauis west coast fueled by high winds from a hurricane passing to the south broke out Tuesday and rapidly engulfed the seaside town of Lahaina, forcing some residents to flee into the ocean. Bidens office said he had spoken Thursday by phone with Hawaii Governor Josh Green. The president expressed his deep condolences for the lives lost and vast destruction of land and property," the White House said. Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was fatally shot following a rally in Quito on Wednesday evening, local media reported citing Interior Minister Juan Zapata. The 59-year-old journalist, Villavicencio, stood among the eight contenders in the August 20 presidential election. JUST IN: Second video emerges from outside rally event at the moment Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated. pic.twitter.com/c98bAoPdnz Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) August 10, 2023 The incident was caught on camera and is going viral on the internet. Videos circulating on social media show Villavicencio leaving the event with guards before entering a white truck, followed by gunfire. The assassination occurred amidst a surge of violence in the country, marked by escalating drug trafficking and homicides. President Guillermo Lasso asserted that this crime will not go unpunished. Organized crime has crossed a line, but they will face the full extent of the law," he added. The slain politician represented the Build Ecuador Movement and was among the eight contenders for the upcoming August election. Known for his vocal stance against corruption, particularly during former President Rafael Correas 2007-2017 tenure, Villavicencio lodged numerous legal complaints against high-ranking Correa government officials. Initial reports indicate several others were wounded in the attack, though authorities havent verified the exact number. Survived by his spouse and five children, Villavicencios legacy reverberates through his fight against corruption. (With AP inputs) During the special enforcement effort, the Metropolitan Aggressive and Prevention Selective (MAPS) Team conducted 15 vehicle inspections. Troopers discovered 31 violations of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations and state law. Troopers placed five vehicles out of service (not allowed to return to the road). Vehicles are placed out of service for a variety of reasons relating to bad brakes or tires, or other problems that pose immediate safety risks. No drivers were placed out of service. Troopers also issued one CVSA decal for an inspection with no violations. Oman' Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, has reached a framework agreement with QSS Maritime, a consortium of local and international companies, to develop, manage and operate the Shinas Port in the sultanate. The QSS Maritime, which comprises Omani groups Quartet Solutions and Dunes Petroleum and Indian group SS Maritime Company as partners, currently runs more than 7 terminals across the globe. The agreement stems from the ministrys efforts to attract more foreign investments, as well as international and local companies specialized in the management and operation of ports, said Engineer Said Hamoud Al Maawali, Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, after signing the deal with Abdulbaqi Ahmed Al Kindi, CEO of QSS Maritime. As per the agreement, QSS Maritime will implement the project in three phases, stated Al Maawali. Phase One will see the setting up of a committee to receive and hand over the port, while Phase Two will see the beginning of development work at Shinas port as well as management and operation, with effect from November 1, 2023. This phase also includes the preparation of a commercial and marketing plan and a new masterplan covering a period of 8 months, he noted. The minister said the final negotiations will begin during the third stage, a period of 12 months during which steps will be taken to prepare for signing of a long-term agreement to develop, manage and operate the port for a period of 30 years.-TradeArabia News Service Five people are dead after a head-on crash between a motorhome RV and a tractor-trailer Wednesday night, State Police at Chambersburg reported. Police said they were called to Interstate 81 in the area of mile marker 18 in Greene Township at 8:50 p.m. for a fatal crash. Police said an RV traveling south on I-81 was towing an enclosed trailer when its front tire blew out, causing the RV to travel across the median and into the northbound travel lanes. There, it struck a tractor-trailer head-on. The RV's occupants were Donald Molander, Kimberly Molander, Miranda Molander and Dane Molander of Middletown, no ages given, and they were pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the tractor-trailer was James Shade of Martinsburg, West Virginia, and he was also pronounced dead at the scene. Police said a dog was also killed in the crash but did not say in which vehicle the dog was an occupant. The crash caused the closure of I-81 in that area until 7 a.m. Thursday. Olivia Newton-John died a year ago this month, at the age of 73, and her closest family members say her missed presence has been coming through for them "in ways they never could have imagined," per People . Chloe Lattanzi, the late singer's 37-year-old daughter, tells the magazine that years back, she and her mom were having a conversation about paranormal activity, and Newton-John vowed to Lattanzi she would one day come back from the afterlife to visit "as one of those orb things." Lattanzi now says that promise came to pass just days after Newton-John died. "Two weeks after she passed, my phone accidentally took a picture of my dog, and there floating by his head was a little blue orb," Lattanzi says. John Easterling, Newton-John's widower, says he had a similar experience when he traveled to Peru in June with his late wife's ashes, to mark what would've been the couple's 15th wedding anniversary at the site where they married. "I took a picture, and this blue orb is right between my eyes" in the image, he says, adding, "It's been a supernatural year." Over at the AV Club, Sam Barsanti takes a deeper dive into what the appearance of an orb could mean, noting that, per a site called Haunted Rooms, they're "generally thought to be the manifestation of energy." Blue orbs specifically could indicate "the presence of a calming or healing energy or spirit." Barsanti notes, however, that the orbs in this particular case could also just be light bouncing off the camera lens. Still, Barsanti doesn't begrudge Lattanzi and Easterling their desire to think the orbs are Newton-John, writing, "Grief is hard, and if seeing blue orbs helps you get through it, then good for you." (Read more Olivia Newton-John stories.) The Hollywood strikes have literally hit home for actor Billy Porter, who says he has to sell his house because of the ongoing actors' strike. In a recent interview with London's Evening Standard , the Pose star said he plans to join the picket lines when he gets back to the US. He said he has to sell his house because he doesn't know when he will be working again. "The life of an artist, until you make f--- you moneywhich I haven't made yetis still check-to-check," he said. "I was supposed to be in a new movie, and on a new television show starting in September. None of that is happening." "So to the person who said 'we're going to starve them out until they have to sell their apartments, you've already starved me out," he said. He was referring to a Deadline article last month that quoted a studio exec as saying the "endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses," the Guardian notes. In the interview, Porter said streaming has upended the decades-old system in which artists were compensated fairly with residual payments. "The streaming companies are notoriously opaque with their viewership figures," he said. "The business has evolved. So the contract has to evolve." Porter slammed Disney CEO Bob Iger for his remarks on the strike. "To hear Bob Iger say that our demands for a living wage are unrealistic? While he makes $78,000 a day?" he said. The Writers Guild of America strike began on May 2 and reached the 100-day mark Wednesday, matching the length of the 2007-08 strike, the AP reports. Actors in the SAG-AFTRA union went on strike July 14. This is the first time Hollywood writers and actors have been on strike at the same time since 1960. (Read more actors strike stories.) President Biden signed an executive order Wednesday to block and regulate high-tech US-based investments going toward Chinaa move the administration said was targeted even though it reflected an intensifying competition between the world's two biggest powers. The order covers advanced computer chips, micro electronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence. Administration officials said that the effort stemmed from national security goals rather than economic interests, and that the categories it covered were intentionally narrow in scope. The order seeks to blunt China's ability to use US investments in its technology companies to upgrade its military while also preserving broader levels of trade vital to both nations' economies, the AP reports. The US and China appear to be increasingly locked in a geopolitical competition with a conflicting set of values. Biden administration officials have insisted that they have no interest in "decoupling" from China, yet the US also has limited the export of advanced computer chips and kept the expanded tariffs set up by then-President Trump. China has engaged in crackdowns on foreign companies. Biden has suggested that China's economy is struggling and its global ambitions have been tempered as the US has reenergized its alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the European Union. The administration consulted with allies and industry in shaping the executive order. "Worry about China, but don't worry about China," Biden told donors at a June fundraising event in California. The officials previewing the order said that China has exploited US investments to support the development of weapons and modernize its military. The new limits were not tailored to disrupt China's economy, but they would complement the export controls on advanced computer chips from last year that led to pushback by Chinese officials. The Treasury Department, which would monitor the investments, will announce a proposed rulemaking with definitions that would conform to the presidential order and go through a public comment process. The issue is a bipartisan priority, per the AP. In July by a vote of 91-6, the Senate added as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act requirements to monitor and limit investments in countries of concern, including China. (Read more US-China relations stories.) Five Americans imprisoned in Iran have been transferred to house arrest, US officials confirmed Thursday. The lawyer for Siamak Namazi , one of five, was restrained in his assessment on whether their freedom is near: "The move by Iran ... is an important development. While I hope this will be the first step to their ultimate release," says Jared Genser, "this is at best the beginning of the end and nothing more. There are simply no guarantees about what happens from here." But sources tell the New York Times the two countries have, after two years of negotiations, settled on an agreement that will see the five freed in exchange for an unspecified number of Iranians who are jailed in the US for sanctions violations as well as access to some $6 billion of Iranian funds, though the money will be controlled by Qatar and may only be spent on a limited list of humanitarian items, like food and medicine. The other prisoners include Emad Sharghi and Morad Tahbaz and two people whose names have not been given. One of the unnamed prisoners was already under house arrest, reports the Wall Street Journal, while the other four were on Thursday moved from Evin Prison to a hotel in Tehran. They will reportedly stay there under guard until the moneyoil revenue frozen in South Koreais moved to a Qatari account, which could take as long as six weeks, at which time it's thought they could be flown to Doha, Qatar. The AP reports on the named men, all dual US and Iranian nationals: Namazi was detained in 2015 and sentenced to 10 years in prison on "internationally criticized" spying charges; Sharghi, a venture capitalist, was in 2020 sentenced to 10 years in prison, also on spying charges; and Tahbaz, a British American conservationist of Iranian descent, was arrested in 2018 and also handed 10 years for having "contacts with the US government." As for the $6 billion, NBC News explains it's from a 2012 to 2019 period in which the US let South Korea and other countries purchase Iranian oil but didn't allow Iran to have access to the revenue. (Read more Iran stories.) Cumberland County reported that it will conduct an adult mosquito control spray Thursday night in portions of four municipalities on the West Shore. Spraying will be performed between dusk and 11 p.m. in portions of Camp Hill, Lemoyne, East Pennsboro Township and Wormleysburg, due to additional West Nile virus positive mosquito samples in these areas. Though the county initially reported four positive samples so far this summer, the county on Thursday said it now has 19 positive samples. This time last year, there had been 31 positive samples, according to the county. The county said samples positive for West Nile were found in Camp Hill, Carlisle, Lemoyne, Mechanicsburg, Shiremanstown, East Pennsboro, Hampden, North Middleton, Monroe, Shippensburg Township and Silver Spring Township. For a look at the route of the spray, check out the county's website at www.cumberlandcountypa.gov/2830/Evening-Control-Program. Fairbanks, AK (99701) Today Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 49F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch.. Tonight Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 49F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch. TDT | Manama The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa expressed pride in Bahrainis ambitions, and constant keenness to serve the homeland. He stressed that the kingdoms citizens, from various religions and sects, enjoy the respect and admiration of the world, thanks to the solidarity and love among them. We are keen to deliver the best for the citizens in all fields that enhance the status and progress of our homeland, HM the King said. His Majesty was speaking as he received yesterday at Al Safriya Palace several Fakhro family members, led by Dr. Ali Mohammed Fakhro, who presented HM with a book entitled The Fakhros of Bahrain - Merchants and Reformers. The recently-published book was written by businessman Adel Abdulla Fakhro. HM King Hamad lauded the Fakhro familys role in serving the nation, citing their good contributions to the kingdoms commercial, investment and economic activities, as well as their initiatives to serve the Bahraini society. He also commended the Fakhros honourable patriotic stances and keenness to consolidate the values of communication and solidarity that embody the authentic Bahraini values inherited from the forefathers. HM the King commended the efforts made to compile this valuable book, which documents the role played by the Fakhro family throughout Bahrains history. Thanks, appreciation and gratitude Members of the Fakhro family expressed their thanks, appreciation and gratitude to HM the King for HMs commendation of the Fakhros national role and contributions. They wished HM King Hamad abundant health and happiness so as to continue bringing about more progress and prosperity to the nation. Fast-moving wildfire kills at least 6 as it razes Hawaiian town Fast-moving wildfire kills at least 6 as it razes Hawaiian town AFP | Los Angeles The Daily Tribune www.newsofbahrain.com A wildfire that turned a historic Hawaiian town to ashes killed at least six people, officials said Wednesday, with desperate residents jumping into the ocean in a bid to escape the fast-moving flames. US Coast Guard officers plucked at least a dozen people from the water as emergency services were overwhelmed by a disaster that appeared to have erupted almost without warning. "I'm sad to report that just before coming on this, it was confirmed we've had six fatalities," Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen told a press conference. "We are still in a search and rescue mode and so I don't know what will happen to that number." At least 12 people have been treated in hospital for serious injuries, with two in critical condition. A number of those hurt have been transferred to other facilities for specialist care, the Maui Now website reported. More than 270 buildings have been damaged or destroyed in the seriously affected town of Lahaina, officials said. "Much of Lahaina on Maui has been destroyed and hundreds of local families have been displaced," said Governor Josh Green of the 12,000-resident historic town, which is popular with tourists. Video posted on social media showed blazes tearing through the heart of the beachfront town and sending up huge plumes of black smoke. "People are jumping into the water to avoid the fire," US Army Major General Kenneth Hara, the state adjutant general, told Hawaii News Now. The Coast Guard said it had "successfully rescued 12 individuals from the waters off Lahaina" and it was sending other vessels to Maui. Lahaina resident Claire Kent said she had seen her neighborhood razed less than an hour after she fled. "The flames had moved all the way down to the end of the neighborhood," she told CNN. "We were pulling out... onto the highway, you look back and there's cars with flames on both sides of the road, people stuck in traffic trying to get out," Kent said, describing the dangerous scene as "something out of a horror movie. "I know for a fact people didn't get out," she said, adding that homeless people and those without access to vehicles seemed to have been trapped. A first responder who was in the town after the blaze swept through described a scene of devastation. "As you drive down the road... either way you look, it's honestly just rubble," the person told AFP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press. "It's ash and smoke and buildings just toppled over. Other than a random building here and there, everything's just rubble on the ground." The individual said the death toll would almost certainly rise once the area could be searched properly. "With how much charred materials there were... I don't think much is alive in there," they said. "There were probably a lot of people who were caught off guard. It was pretty all-consuming." - Water on fire - Claire Kent, the Lahaina resident, described how power and cell phone coverage had been knocked out Tuesday, and she had been unaware of any approaching danger until a sudden shift of wind sparked panic. "It was all just word of mouth, like people running down the street saying 'you need to get out.' "There were guys riding around on bicycles, just screaming at people to leave." For those who managed to flee, there was worry over missing family. "I still don't know where my little brother is," Tiare Lawrence told Hawaii News Now. "I don't know where my stepdad is." Chrissy Lovitt told the outlet every boat in Lahaina Harbor had burned. "It looks like something out of a movie, a war movie," Lovitt said. "The water was on fire from the fuel in the water." - Winds up to 80 mph - Sylvia Luke, the state's lieutenant governor, said the fires were caused by dry conditions and fanned by powerful winds from Hurricane Dora, which is churning hundreds of miles south of the islands, but not expected to make landfall. She said the fires have burned hundreds of acres and were being fanned by winds up to 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour. Almost 13,000 people were without power on Maui, according to tracking website PowerOutage.us. Maui county officials said more than 2,100 people were in shelters, and a further 2,000 travelers were stranded at the airport. President Joe Biden said he was mobilizing all resources to help. "I have ordered all available Federal assets on the Islands to help with response," Biden said. "The Hawaiian National Guard has mobilized Chinook Helicopters to help with fire suppression and search and rescue on the Island of Maui. "The US Coast Guard and Navy Third Fleets are supporting response and rescue efforts." For Aarushi Dedhiya, the appointment is an opportunity to have a platform beyond Cumberland Valley High School. The 16-year-old girl is a rising junior involved in advocacy as a member of the Catch My Breath Youth Advisory Board, the Cumberland County Drug and Alcohol Youth Advisory Board and the Students Against Destructive Decisions National Student Leadership Council. During her sophomore year, she applied for an opening as a nonvoting junior member on the Pennsylvania State Board of Education. I wanted to be more involved and help be part of advocating for policies, Dedhiya said. I wanted to share my voice to help make a better public education experience for current and future students. She was one of dozens of high school students to submit two essays in 2022-23 in support of their application. Six finalists advanced out of that qualifying round to give a presentation and to participate in an interview. Dedhiya was selected to represent high school students throughout the state. I pursued this appointment because I hope to provide some transparency to students about the current decisions and topics being discussed, she said. I was inspired to continue improving the public education system in Pennsylvania for all students. Dedhiya may go into government or public policy as a career. For now, she is keeping her options open. The state board changed its bylaws in May 2008 to seat high school and college students as nonvoting members. Since then, two senior student members and two junior student members have been appointed on a regular basis to serve on the Council of Basic Education and the Council of Higher Education. In todays 5 Questions, The Sentinel gave Dedhiya a chance to reflect on her appointment and new role as a board member: Q: How do your prior experiences as a Cumberland Valley High School student prepare you for this appointment? A: I am part of my schools newspaper. This allows me to talk with other students and stay involved with my school community. I believe that these interactions with other students at my school prepare me for interacting with students beyond my district. Additionally, I have always believed in equitable education for all students. This value will carry on to my appointment. Specifically, I run a free peer tutoring service called Central PA Tutors for all students. This allows students of all socioeconomic statuses and backgrounds to receive equal educational opportunities, a value I strive for. Q: What will be your role on the board and why is that important to you? A: As a student representative for the Department of Education, I will be working with the senior [student] representative to discuss various important policies and provide a direct connection of the student voice to the board. Additionally, we run Students for Education in Pennsylvania, which allows students all over Pennsylvania to share their voices and views about many decisions and topics in Pennsylvanias educational decision-making. We also interact with the Pennsylvania Association of Student Councils, allowing us to engage with students and leaders all over Pennsylvania. These connections with numerous, unique students and leaders in our state allow us to better understand the different perspectives involved with each issue and topic, allowing us to directly share their views with Pennsylvanias Board of Education. This role is important to me because of these vital interactions, and I strive to ensure that everyones voice is heard and not ignored. With our aim of being transparent, we will keep students informed about board decisions and have a platform to share students thoughts with the board. Q: What kind of challenges and demands would this appointment place on you? A: The policy-making process is slow and there are many disagreements. Making permanent changes can be difficult. However, with continuous advocacy, listening to students views, and speaking out on various important issues, we will be able to make a strong impact in the education system and get our voices heard to better serve the 1.8 million public school students. Q: What do you hope to learn from this experience? A: I hope I can learn more about policymaking and how to become a better leader to represent a large group of people. Additionally, I want to learn more about peoples unique perspectives on issues, so I can learn to be a better advocate and have a stronger understanding of the important topics and issues on peoples mind. Q: How will this appointment engage you in issues that you feel particularly passionate about? A: I am passionate about having more mental health resources available for students all over Pennsylvania. I have been involved in student mental health advocacy for many years, and it has been important issue for me to focus on addressing in my term. After the pandemic in 2020, mental health has become a large concern for people, especially students. More support systems and resources are needed in schools. I believe that sharing my voice on this important topic and having more resources for students can help improve student mental health in schools all over Pennsylvania. Adding on, I want to help make education in Pennsylvania equitable and equal for all students, regardless of their background and socioeconomic status. An important goal for me is to have students in all parts of Pennsylvania have equal opportunities and a variety of classes and resources. This appointment will provide me with a platform to advocate for change in schools around Pennsylvania to better [the] education system. Also, by hearing other students views, I will better understand different perspectives on issues and initiatives that I plan to focus on, allowing change to benefit all students in public schools. Up until now, Japan required mangosteens from Thailand to undergo costly steam heat treatment to eliminate fruit flies. However, Japan's exemption of steam heat treatment for import of mangosteen from Thailand has taken effect. The first lot of shipments of mangosteen without the steam heat treatment process would be inspected and certified by Japanese officials in the third week of this month so that export of the fruit to Japan without the process can begin this month. The exemption of the process would help Thai exporters of mangosteen reduce cost and allow the fruit to stay fresh longer. ...continue reading The Brand's New In-Mall Concept Store! LAVAL, QC, Aug. 10, 2023 /CNW/ -- Women's and Men's footwear brand La Canadienne, known for its exceptional craftsmanship and timeless designs is thrilled to announce the opening of its newest in-mall store in Carrefour Laval on August 10th, 2023. The grand opening will debut a unique store concept that encompasses elements of existing store layout and design, with an emphasis on showcasing the brand's trademarked City Dry footwear collection. The brand's City Dry footwear collection is known for its waterproofing technology; a unique water-repellent functionality that leaves footwear ready to weather the elements, right upon purchase. Coupled with breathable materials, City Dry footwear are designed to keep feet dry and warm without compromising style. "Our brand is over 35 years young, but there is so much more opportunity to tell our story. Aside from marketing, physical retail is a key part of building brand awareness as it allows us to showcase our complete lifestyle collection and highlight our City Dry technology. With that said, we continue to be selective with our retail expansion and consider high visibility locations. Carrefour Laval is one of those and we look forward to seeing our existing and meeting new customers in this center." - Nicholas Niro, CEO of La Canadienne Established in 1987, La Canadienne has been distributed and sold throughout North America and established strong customer loyalty which supported their decision to bring their own brick-and-mortar presence into key markets. The Montreal-based brand has had a retail presence in Montreal for 15 years and has achieved a strong customer reaction with their recent retail expansions, namely in Toronto and Vancouver. With the expansion into Carrefour Laval, the largest enclosed shopping center in the Montreal area, La Canadienne is thrilled to begin to connect with local consumers in this new Quebec retail location. About La Canadienne: Montreal born. Canadian to the core. La Canadienne was born in 1987 in Montreal, a city that can experience all four seasons in a given day. Montrealers embrace the elements with style, determined to live and enjoy each day without restraint, and we set out to make shoes with this attitude in mind. No Compromise. Lacanadienneshoes.com @lacanadienneshoes SOURCE La Canadienne For further information: PR Contact: Brittany Brennan, [email protected] MONTREAL, Aug. 9, 2023 /CNW/ - New works of art are now transforming the Palace Alley and those leading to Chomedey and Sainte-Catherine streets into convivial public spaces. After Peel and Stanley streets last year, Tourisme Montreal, Montreal centre-ville and the organization MU, with the support of the City of Montreal, are continuing their project aimed at improving the cleanliness of these spaces, make them more attractive and embellish the heart of the city. Chomedey Alley Inaugurated today, on this International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, the NEHIROWISIW EQUILIBRE mural was designed by artists Meky Ottawa and Manon Bedard. This large-scale mural on the Chez Doris women's shelter building was created by Kaia'tanoron Dumoulin-Bush and Meky Ottawa, mentored by MU muralists Melissa Del Pinto and Diane Roe. Produced with the collaboration of the shelter and the Eco-Quartier Peter McGill, it pays tribute to the grandiose nature of our territories, its abundant fresh water and the fragility of our resources. NEHIROWISIW BALANCE is also an allegory illustrating the fragile balance that one can feel in a situation of vulnerability. "We are thrilled to present this remarkable piece of Indigenous art at Chez Doris. Not only does the mural add to the aesthetics of our daytime shelter, but it is also a meaningful symbol of unity and appreciation for Indigenous culture and heritage. It is important to note that a quarter of our clientele at Chez Doris is made up of Aboriginal women. This work of art beautifully reflects our commitment to welcoming and supporting Indigenous communities," says Marina Boulos-Winton, Executive Director, Chez Doris. "For MU, professionalizing female artists has always been part of our mission. By showcasing and mentoring young artists as part of this project, MU continues its commitment to increase the representation of Indigenous women artists and offer greater visibility to Indigenous art in the public space. We are grateful to our partner Tourisme Montreal, which values innovative cultural initiatives," says Elizabeth-Ann Doyle, General and Artistic Director of MU. Palace Alley (1260 Robert-Bourassa Blvd) Palace Alley opens onto the mural by artist Lucas Saenger, alias LSNR, whose graphic and abstract shapes recall a cabin, between heaven and earth. The different boxes break down the landscape into several points of view. The idea of this mural is to open a window on vast views, in an urban environment that limits the field of vision. The artwork is complemented by elements of greening, helping to create a cool environment. The space being limited, the structure indicating the name of the alley is amplified with an inviting 3D effect. Ste-Cath Alley (488 Sainte-Catherine Street West ) Only steps away from the McGill metro, a fresco celebrating unconditional love created by muralist Peru Dyer colours the alley. The vibrant work calls for compassion, empathy, and solidarity for all people. Intriguing wooden structures behind which plants will grow recall the style of the artist and enhance the beauty of the space. "We are fortunate to be able to count on partners such as Tourisme Montreal and MU, the community sector and quality artists to produce significant creations downtown. Art makes it possible to give added value to the places that make up our city, to appropriate them and to generate attractiveness. This is a sector that will particularly benefit from these artworks, and I would like to congratulate the inclusion of Indigenous art and green spaces in these projects," said Valerie Plante, Mayor of Montreal and the Borough of Ville-Marie. "Art brings new light to forgotten alleyways. This embellishment project improves the feeling of safety and the cleanliness index of the destination. These creations are concrete examples of our desire to enhance the city in a sustainable way," said Yves Lalumiere, President and CEO of Tourisme Montreal. "According to a recent survey, Montrealers and visitors describe downtown Montreal as beautiful, green and clean, hence the relevance of continuing our joint efforts to beautify and clean up the neighbourhood in order to offer the best possible experience for our visitors and residents," said Glenn Castanheira, General Manager of Montreal centre-ville. About Tourisme Montreal Tourisme Montreal is a 100-year-old private, non-profit organization that works to position Montreal as an international-calibre leisure and business travel destination. Uniting nearly 1,000 businesses and organizations working directly or indirectly in tourism, Tourisme Montreal plays a leading role in the management and development of Montreal's tourism business, and makes recommendations on issues surrounding the city's economic, urban and cultural development. For more information, go to www.mtl.org. About Montreal centre-ville Created in 1999, Montreal centre-ville is the Downtown Business Development Corporation (SDC), a non-profit organization that brings together nearly 5,000 member businesses located between Atwater Avenue and Saint-Urbain Street, and between Sherbrooke and Saint-Antoine Streets. Montreal centre-ville is the biggest organization of its kind in Canada. About MU MU is a charitable organization that transforms public space in Montreal by producing murals rooted in communities. The heart of its approach: to create murals to see and experience art on a daily basis, to trigger a social transformation and to bequeath an open-air museum to Montreal. For 15 years, MU has produced more than 200 large-scale and permanent murals in all neighbourhoods of the city, in addition to implementing an important educational component. The organization is recognized for its collection Batisseur-es culturel-les montrealais-es, which includes the emblematic mural in tribute to Leonard Cohen overlooking downtown Montreal. MU was awarded the 34th Grand-Prix du Conseil des arts de Montreal, highlighting its innovative artistic and social vision and the cultural legacy of its murals to Montreal communities. www.mumtl.org Facebook: facebook.com/MUMTL | Twitter: @MUMTL | Instagram: @MUMTL Photos of the creation of the mural can be found here (credit: Olivier Bousquet) : https://photos.app.goo.gl/wbc58hW5KZruW3gJA SOURCE Tourisme Montreal For further information: For media inquiries: Aurelie de Blois, Corporate communications, public and media relations, Tourisme Montreal, 514 918-5290, [email protected]; Elizabeth-Ann Doyle, General and Artistic Director, MU, 514 814-3043, [email protected] New products launching from Quo Beauty are designed to eliminate more plastic waste from the planet BRAMPTON, ON, Aug. 10, 2023 /CNW/ - Shoppers Drug Mart Inc. ("Shoppers Drug Mart") is making progress on its commitment to fight climate change with the launch of new Quo Beauty products, developed to reduce the amount of plastic packaging going to landfills. Quo Beauty (CNW Group/Shoppers Drug Mart) This month the brand is introducing over 40 new products and celebrating current favourites with more sustainable packaging. From lipsticks to cosmetic accessories, the new products use recycled plastics, more mono-materials, and reduced plastic packaging. In addition, the entire assortment of products from Quo Beauty are vegan and cruelty-free, all meant to remain committed to contributing to a more sustainable planet. "We know the beauty industry contributes to the plastics problem in Canada and we're leading the way with implementing solutions." says Kelly Jessop, Senior Vice President, Merchandising, Shoppers Drug Mart. "It's not always easy to address some of the challenges the industry faces, but our team is committed. It's important to the planet, our customers and our company." Quo Beauty is working to meet the Golden Design Rules with its packaging, and is well on its way to having all plastic packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. Introducing mono-material in lipstick tubes is one example of this progress, making the packaging more recyclable in more jurisdictions. Reducing plastic waste through initiatives like this is one of the many ways Shoppers Drug Mart is delivering on its purpose and helping Canadians live life well. For more information, visit https://www.loblaw.ca/en/responsibility. The Quo Beauty line of products are available in stores and online. The lineup is vegan, cruelty-free, and PETA-certified. About Shoppers Drug Mart: Shoppers Drug Mart Inc. is one of the most recognized and trusted names in Canadian retailing. The company is the licensor of full-service retail drug stores operating under the name Shoppers Drug Mart (Pharmaprix in Quebec). With almost 1,350 Shoppers Drug Mart and Pharmaprix stores operating in prime locations in each province and two territories, the company is one of the most convenient retailers in Canada. The company also licenses or owns 47 medical clinic pharmacies operating under the name Shoppers Simply Pharmacy (Pharmaprix Simplement Sante in Quebec). SOURCE Shoppers Drug Mart For further information: Media Contact: Nancy Gray, LexPR Canada, 416-803-5970, [email protected]; [email protected] Charitable initiative with Kiwanis Foundation and United Way Centraide equips students to reach their full potential RICHMOND HILL, ON, Aug. 3, 2023 /CNW/ - As Canadians gear up for another school year, Staples Canada launches its 18th annual School Supply Drive to help give students a boost. With the goal of eliminating barriers to education, the back-to-school charitable program has raised more than $16 million to-date, thanks to donations from Staples customers. "As Canada's premier destination for Back-to-School supplies, Staples understands the importance of providing students with the tools they need to help them succeed in the classroom. Unfortunately, purchasing these items can be a barrier for many in our community," said Wanda Walkden, Chief Human Resources and Communications Officer, Staples Canada. "Through Staples' annual School Supply Drive, our stores, in partnership with our chosen charities, will raise funds to buy local children the necessary supplies to support a successful school year." From August 7 to September 10, customers shopping in-store can choose to add a donation to their purchase, which is allocated to one of Staples' charitable partners. This year's partners include Kiwanis Foundation of Canada (Ontario) and United Way Centraide (rest of Canada). Partners are selected based on reputation, corporate relationship with Staples, and ability to reach communities across the provinces located within their geographical region. Donations can also be made online at staples.ca/SupplyDrive. More on Kiwanis Foundation of Canada Kiwanis empowers communities to improve the world by making lasting differences in the lives of children. Kiwanis strives to be a positive influence in communities worldwide so that one day, all children will wake up in communities that believe in them, nurture them and provide the support they need to thrive. Many Kiwanis Clubs in Ontario have supported the program for over 16 years. "Some children in our communities don't have the same benefits as others. This partnership with Staples and Kiwanis has benefited thousands of underprivileged kids with the Back to School and backpack programs," said Peter Tudisco, Governor, Kiwanis Club Cambridge. "Kiwanis is all about supporting kids and Staples has stepped up with this program. I look forward to a long association and to assist in making a young child's life just a little bit better." More on United Way Centraide United Way Centraide works to give children and youth the support they need to get a great start in life, do well in school, and reach their full potential. United Way Centraide is helping kids engage in learning, connect with their community, and build their emotional and physical wellbeing from after-school homework and tutoring programs to resources that help parents prepare their children for kindergarten. "I'm thrilled that United Way's longstanding partnership with Staples is continuing to expand eastward to Quebec and the Maritimes," said Rob Yager, President and CEO, United Way of the Alberta Capital Region. "This collaboration will bring hope and support to countless vulnerable children. Through the Staples School Supply Drive, we're able to equip young minds with the tools they need to reach their full potential and overcome barriers to education. Together, we're helping build brighter futures, one backpack at a time." About Staples Canada Staples Canada is The Working and Learning Company. The privately-owned company is committed to being a dynamic, inspiring partner to customers who visit its 300+ locations and staples.ca . The company has two brands which support business customers: Staples Preferred for small businesses and entrepreneurs, and Staples Professional for medium to large-sized enterprises, as well as seven Staples Studio co-working facilities across Canada. Through Solutionshop, Canadians can access a variety of pack and ship options , as well as a broad suite of business services. Staples is a proud partner of MAP through its Even the Odds campaign, which aims to tackle inequities in communities across Canada and helps make a future that's fair for everyone. Visit staples.ca for more information or engage with us at @StaplesCanada on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , LinkedIn , TikTok or Pinterest . SOURCE Staples Canada ULC For further information: Media information: Staples Canada: Kathleen Stelmach, 905-737-1147 Ext. 578, [email protected]; Golin, for Staples Canada: Meg Murphy, 647-475-4495, [email protected] Russias military in Ukraine has shown that they still have major military logistics problems. Infantry wins battles, logistics wins wars. quote from Army General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces on the Western Front during WWI. Russia moves military forces and supplies around primarily with rail inside of Russia and Belarus. Ukraines resistance has destroyed/damaged the rail at the border of Ukraine and Russia and Belarus. Russia is mainly relying on trucks to supply their forces. Russia has elements of its forces at most of the cities and most of the places that they were targeting. They have to buildup more forces and supplies and then constantly resupply. The logistic problems and failures make it slow going. If Ukraines resistance gets constant significant resupply then they can either hold out a long time or mount a constant resistance that would make Ukraine a problematic quagmire that never stays conquered. Despite those problems, Putin can continue to draft more replacement soldiers and keep fighting. The sanctions will prevent Russia from ramping up and make it harder to sustain operationns at a high level and tempo. The troops that survive on both sides will continue to get more and more experience. Certain current problems with logistics and tactics should get improved and corrected. There is no reason to think that Russia will be able to use this military to effectively threaten and capture Poland, Finland, Sweden or the Baltics when those places have strong NATO support. This is clearly the biggest conventional war that Russia is capable of fighting. They might capture half of Ukraine but will have a lot of trouble keeping and holding or putting in any lasting puppet government for any length of time. Russia has maintenance and logistic support brigades of about 1000 people and 400 trucks for each combined army combat group. The 400 trucks can move about 1870 tons of material at a time. Ukraine has been targeting fuel and supply trucks. The 6th Combined Arms Army is headquartered in St. Petersburg and is composed of nine brigades and regiments. This is about 20,000 to 40,000 troops and it has one maintenance and support brigade. Russian currently seems logistically limited to supporting 160,000 troops beyond their border. They will try to build pipelines with 6 inch pipe to transport more fuel. The resupply pipelines will be targeted. Russia has so far not been able to take many airfields to set up many air bridges to bring more supplies and troops deeper into Ukraine. Russia has been moving its army down roads because they did not properly maintain the over road tires on many of their vehicles. The failing off-road tires cause the vehicles to get stuck in mud. Russia has been making about 45000 to 70000 heavy trucks in recent years. This is the complete level of commercial heavy trucks. It will be problematic for Russia to get any foreign heavy trucks with the sanctions regime. NOTE: these logistic problems highlight the importance of the lend lease act of WW2 to help the Soviets to advance and defeat the Germans. The US gave/lent the Soviets a lot of trucks and fuel. The shortage of trucks makes it tough to supply forward operations and advances beyond a certain distance. Russia can move in 45-90 miles but then they have to create resupply points to continue the supply chain deeper into the country. NATO is united to support the Ukrainian resistance. An analyst for CSIS says the Russian invasion has done more to unify NATO than anything in many decades. Russia air force is losing a significant number of planes against Ukraine. Mainly single person launched missiles provided by Western forces. Russian Air Force losses over #Ukraine in the past 26 hours: 1 Su-34 strike aircraft 2 Su-25 close air support aircraft 2 Mi-24/35 attack helicopters 1 Mi-8 transport helicopter 1 Orlan-10 UAV (pictured) pic.twitter.com/vKTrs5pI2g Oryx (@oryxspioenkop) March 5, 2022 SOURCES- CSIS, ISW, Wendover, Sub Brief Written by Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com Russia is still slowly taking some smaller cities in the southeast of Ukraine but the Kyiv offensive is bogged down. What we have clearly learned is that Russias military and its equipment remain second rate. Russia has taken significant chunks of Eastern Ukraine but that seems to be the limit of their capability. Russia would fail against Poland or Turkey. The Polish military has 160,000 active personnel and 100,000 reserves. Two weeks ago, Poland announced an increase defense spending to three percent of gross domestic product next year, Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski announced on Thursday. Warsaw currently devotes 2.2 percent of GDP to the military budget. Poland has declared its ambition to become the strongest military power in Central Europe. Poland is expanding the Polish Armed Forces to 300,000 personnel. This would be about 200,000 full-time and 100,000 part-time forces. This is expanding the 160,000 currently active (113,000 regular active servicemen and women and 32,000 TDF. This would double the armys size. The Turkish Armed Forces is the second largest standing military force in NATO, after the U.S. Armed Forces, with an estimated strength in 2021 of 895,000 military and paramilitary personnel. Turkeys Bayraktar drones have been highly effective in Ukraine. Russias economy is already smaller with the collapse of the Ruble. Russia will probably end up around $1 trillion GDP with virtually no growth. Turkey and Poland will pass the Russian economy in size. Turkey has over 300 Bayraktar drones. Turkey has a significant and active military combat drone program. The largest operator of TB2 drones is the Turkish military but an export model has been sold to the militaries of a number of other countries. Turkey has used the drone extensively in strikes on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Peoples Protection Units (YPG) targets in Iraq and Syria Bayraktar drones were used by Azerbaijan in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war and by Ukrainian forces during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Selcuk Bayraktar introduces the new jet-powered, supersonic, unmanned combat aircraft Bayraktar #Kzlelma or 'Red Apple' @Selcuk: pic.twitter.com/sPy4hgTBGq Sumeyye Ceylan (@sumeyyeceylaen) March 13, 2022 The Institute for the Study of War has the following highlights: Russian forces are unlikely to launch offensive operations to encircle Kyiv larger than the scattered Russian attacks observed northwest of Kyiv targeting Irpin on March 14 and Guta-Mezhyhirska on March 15 within the coming week but may launch further tactical attacks. Russian forces continued to assault Mariupol from the east and west. Russian forces did not conduct major offensive operations toward northeastern Kyiv in the past 24 hours. Russian forces attempting to encircle Kharkiv continue to face supply shortages, particularly regarding ammunition. The Russian military falsely claimed to have captured the entirety of Kherson Oblast on March 15 but did not conduct any major operations toward either Zaporizhya or Mykolayiv. Task and Purpose has sought out direct reports of Russian military success. Russia has captured positions, equipment and destroyed Ukrainian equipment. Slow military advance are still advances. Russia has captured most of the southern coastal areas and small cities and a significant chunk of the east. Ukraine is fiercely resisting Russian advances but has not yet been able to push Russia back from early advances. This war is again showing that Russian equipment and military is second rate. This was shown over the past several decades in Afghanistan, Chechnya, Georgia and other Russian wars. Most of the equipment on both sides is Russian and Soviet era gear. Ukraine has mostly old Soviet gear. The American stinger and American javelin antitank gear is superior. The Russians have lost nearly 400 out of 1200 tanks. This shows that Russia would utterly fail to take Poland or any NATO-backed country. Russia can continue to try to modernize and improve gear and tactics but Russia has failed to solve equipment and military logistics problems for the past forty years. However, Germany, Poland, Baltics, Sweden and Finland are all increasing military spending and getting more NATO support. A few dozen A-10 Warthogs would destroy all of these Russian columns in days. The US has 177 A-10 Warthogs that are still in service. The number of soldiers and the gear in the Russia-Ukraine war is fairly comparable to the situation in the Iran Iraq War (1980-1988). Iran Iraq was a long eight-year between two armies with about 200,000 troops on each side. The Iraqi military made progress for three months and then stalled. Iran launched an offensive about two years into the war. Russia could mostly stall after a few months but Ukraine would not be able to launch effective attacks into Russia. Russia has more heavy weapons and mass destruction weapons. Ukraine could retake lost cities and territories over time. Russia does not have the Soviet-era war machine which could take and hold half of Europe. The size of the military is less and the equipment and military have not kept pace with precision war. Russias military is still superior to any Middle Eastern country. Russias military is far less effective at offensive action. Russia would still be able to punish and resist attacks on its own territory. If the people of a target country actively and continually resist, then conquering and holding countries with more than 20 million people is beyond the current militaries of the world. The US was able to semi-conquer Afghanistan (population 40 million) but holding it was very difficult. SOURCES- Institute of War, Task and Purpose Written by Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com Many people have a mistaken notion that Russia has a superpower class military that is a match for the United States. Russia has not fixed problems that were revealed nearly thirty years ago in Chechnya and seen again 14 years ago in Georgia. Russia has not created a fully modern air capability and has not mastered precision warfare. Ukraine has a few modern Turkish drones, 17000 Javelin anti-tank missiles and 2500 Stinger anti-air missiles. This relatively small supply of military gear and a motivated army is proving enough to stalemate the Russian army in Ukraine. Ukraine has a population of 44 million and Russia has a population of 144 million. Russians underestimated the will of the Chechens to fight and Putin has underestimated the will of Ukrainians to fight. Major problems with logistics, troop morale and airpower failure remain. There is an assessment that the Russian army in the North (perhaps 70,000) is poorly supplied right because most of their supply trucks are stuck in the long convoy outside of Kyiv. Convoy Thread 19/ With the total resupply force of 1,400 trucks stuck on ONE ROAD, the TOTAL Northern Russian army is IMMOBILIZED and out of ammo. This is why Ukraine is having continuous series of successes against the army in the North. pic.twitter.com/iyW5dhWFf2 Tomi T Ahonen Stands With Ukraine (@tomiahonen) March 12, 2022 Convoy Thread 20/ Can they break out? No Could Ukraine destroy them? Yes but that is not a PRIORITY. They are STUCK. Destroy the TANKS first (7 divisions have 1,500 tanks in Northern Ukraine, now out of fuel) Can Russia bring new trucks? No as ROADS into Ukraine now defended pic.twitter.com/nz2j0VXYZZ Tomi T Ahonen Stands With Ukraine (@tomiahonen) March 12, 2022 Convoy Thread 21/ This convoy was a MASSIVE MILITARY BLUNDER by Russia. Putin's Generals put all their eggs in one basket (in the North) and Ukraine can smash those eggs any day they want. Or wait until they surrender. SMART TACTICS by Ukraine!#SlavaUkraini #HeroiamSlava pic.twitter.com/yyWPj5aLv3 Tomi T Ahonen Stands With Ukraine (@tomiahonen) March 12, 2022 Chechnya had a population of about 1.5 million people. In 1994, President Yeltsin ordered the attack of Russian units into Chechnya. The initial results were a disaster. The list of tactical and operational blunders were indicative of an overall lack of competence among the Russian forces which improved only marginally during the course of the war. As the war progressed, some units fought well and with valor. There was a failure to apply the principles of war and problems within the senior leadership. This was assessed in some detail in this 25 page report. Russian forces left after two years of poor performance. Putin was named Prime Minister three years later and a month later started the second Chechnya campaign. It was more brutal and was effective in defeating the rebels. There was a ten-year insurgency. In August 2008, the Russian military fought Georgian troops in a brief five-day war. Georgia has a population of about 3.7 million. Russia defeated the Georgian forces, but the war revealed profound deficiencies in the Russian armed forces. Russias air force performed badly. The different services could not work together. Russia won in Georgia, but it was clear the Russian military simply was not set up to fight a modern war, even against a smaller neighbor, much less a peer competitor. In 2008, a lot of equipment broke down as armored units drove hundreds of kilometers to get to that battlefield. Russian reconnaissance was quite poor, and updated intelligence unavailable to the ground or air force. The Russian air force still lacks precision-guided munitions in sufficient quantities. Charlottesville will no longer have to cover the debt of students with remaining lunch balances at the end of the school year. Charlottesville City Schools students divisionwide will now be eligible for free meals through the Community Eligibility Provision program. The division is adding its final schools to its list of those already operating under the program. We had six schools last year that were on this program, so were rolling in our last three, Carlton Jones, Charlottesville school nutrition administrator, told The Daily Progress. Those final three include Burnley-Moran, Greenbrier and Venable elementary schools. Jones said the program helps to reduce the stigma of free and reduced lunch and puts everybody on the same playing field. Its tough times for a lot of families and parents out there, Jones said. So knowing that the student can come to school and receive a free breakfast or free lunch, its definitely positive. The Community Eligibility Provision program is a non-pricing meal service option for schools and school districts in low-income areas, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It allows schools and districts with the nations highest poverty levels provide breakfast and lunch at no cost without collecting household applications. Charlottesville first began participating in the program in 2019, according to Amanda Korman, Charlottesville schools spokeswoman. Previously, at schools that were not in the Community Eligibility Provision program (CEP) (in 22-23 this was just Burnley-Moran, Greenbrier, and Venable), families were invited to apply for free meals, Korman said in an email. Full rates for meals included $1.50 for breakfast at all schools, $2.50 for K-8 lunch and $2.75 for Charlottesville High School lunch, Korman said. If any student had a negative balance in their meal account at the end of the year, the division covered those debts with donations and other funding sources, she said. The division has spent more than $10,000 in the past, according to Jones. The negative balances before we started the program, they were well over $10,000, well over, so now it just eliminates all of that, Jones said. Schools participating in the program are reimbursed. A formula is developed based on the percentage of students categorically eligible for free meals based on their participation in other specific means-tested programs, per the Department of Agriculture. Those programs include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF. The implementation of the program can move forward in the remaining schools not already participating, Jones said. Weve been told we can move forward and roll out the program districtwide, he said. More students have been getting free lunches since the the program started. Our last year at Charlottesville High School, we had probably about a 25 or 30% increase in daily participation, Jones said. All Charlottesville City Schools are expected to be in the program this school year, making all students eligible for free meals. Jones said he hopes to continue seeing participation in the program increase. One thing Im excited about is that were eliminating negative debt, so its not a burden to parents, Jones said. The next thing, I would love to see more students participate in school meals. The U.S. Defense Department estimates 80,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded since the Kremlins full-scale invasion of Ukraine less than six months ago according to a top Pentagon official. The Russia-Ukraine War is the most intense conventional conflict in Europe since World War II. The Russians are taking a tremendous number of casualties on the other side of the equation, said Colin Kahl, the Pentagons top policy official. I think its safe to suggest that the Russians are probably taking 70 or 80,000 casualties in less than six months. Ukraine has inflicted more than 10,000 casualties on the Russians in just the last month as new multiple rocket systems have come to Kyiv from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. In July, CIA director William Burns said Russia had suffered around 60,000 casualties, including 15,000 troops killed in action. Ukraines military estimates that 42,340 Russian troops have been killed in combat, nearly triple what Western officials have stated. The estimates are that Ukraine has about 10,000-20,000 military deaths and 7,000-30,000 civilian deaths. Wounded would be two to four times higher. The new Russian casualty estimate includes Russian paramilitary and volunteer forces, such as the mercenary Wagner Group, some units of which have been redeployed from posts in Libya, Syria, and the Central African Republic to fight on the front lines in the Donbas region. A new Pentagon military aid package includes an undisclosed amount of ammunition for the truck-mounted High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), 75,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition, and munitions for Norwegian-made air defenses as well as 1,000 more Javelin anti-tank missile systems. The United States has now provided nearly $10 billion in military aid to Ukraine since Russias full-scale invasion, nearly twice Kyivs military budget in 2021. SOURCES- Pentagon, Foreign Policy, Wikipedia Written by Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com Russia has announced plans to expand its military to 1.5 million personnel over the next four years. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced the troop increase is expected to be complete by 2026, according to Russian state news agency, TASS. Russia will reorganize seven motorized rifle brigades in the western, central, and eastern military districts, the northern fleet, and include three motorized rifle divisions as part of the land forces, and two airborne assault divisions as part of the airborne troops. Russia will need to spend at least $100,000 per new soldier in weapons and ammo to basically and meaningfully equip 500,000 new troops. This is about $50 billion. Russia has is currently losing about 80,000 troops each year killed and another 120,000 troops wounded. If the Russian-Ukraine war is ongoing over the next four years then Russia will need to put in 800,000 troops to replace killed and wounded and add another 500,000 troops to grow the military. Russia will also have to replace thousands of lost military vehicles (tanks, trucks), planes and ships and missiles and ammunition. Previously, Russia had about $50 billion per year in military budget. However, this was just regular attempts at modernization and the lower intensity Crimea conflict. Russia is going to have to step up to about $100-150 billion per year to grow the military and run the war. This could reach 7-10% of its overall GDP. Minister Shoigu Prior Proposals The defense minister had earlier proposed a Russian military comprising 695,000 professional contracted soldiers as opposed to draftees. He also proposed to raise the age range of mandatory military service to 21-30 from the current 18-27. Its unclear whether the two proposals have been included in the latest plan. Third Expansion Plan The plan comes after Putin ordered in August recruiting 137,000 soldiers from January 1, increasing military manpower to 1.15 million. Russia drafted up to 300,000 reservists in September amid Ukraine war losses. A former Justice of the Supreme Court, Mary Peter-Odili, has denied influencing the Presidential Election Tribunal to favour President Bola Tinubu. She denied negotiating with the judges handling the presidential election petition to favour Tinubu. Mary-Odili was reacting to a publication accusing her of negotiating a pathway for President Bola Tinubu and that she meets regularly with the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court justices in that regard. Condemning the allegation, the retired judge described the allegation as malicious and falsehood. In the statement by her Media Assistant, Felix Enebeli, the retired justice insisted that the allegations were aimed at smearing her integrity and solid reputation. The statement reads: Our attention has been drawn to a publication circulating in the social media against the person of the retired Justice Mary Ukaego Peter-Odili, wherein the author, one Jackson Ude, falsely and maliciously alleged inter alia, that the revered jurist is currently negotiating a pathway for Bola Tinubu and that she meets regularly with Appeal and Supreme courts in that regard. We deny every allegation contained in the publication and state that the publication is false, malicious, mischievous and a deliberate attempt at smearing the integrity and solid reputation of her lordship. We say nothing of the fact that the publication has the potential of inciting the public against her lordship on an issue of grave national importance. Gunmen have reportedly killed 17 persons again in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State. It was gathered that the attack took place in Heipang community of the LGA in the early hours of Thursday. A grieving parent in the community, Julius Pam confirmed the attack to newsmen in Jos on Thursday. Pam said, Good morning sir. On a sad news, there was an attack early this morning in Heipang community. A total of 17 people were killed including my brother,his wife and children, all killed. The spokesman for the Plateau State Police Command, Alabo Alfred could not be reached for comment but sources at the command headquarters said security operatives had been deployed to the community Meanwhile , Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has inaugurated a Security and Information Centre aimed at facilitating public access to convey security-related information to the relevant authorities for prompt action. In a statement signed by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Gyang Bere, the governor highlighted that the centre established by the Plateau State Information and Communication Technology Development Agency, seeks to bridge the communication divide between the general public and the government. He said the centre will utilise basic technology to establish a toll-free hotline, allowing citizens to share information without incurring charges, using the phone number 080 0000 5555. Governor Mutfwang said the centre is already operational and people can call. He emphasised that the state government will cover the cost of all incoming calls on behalf of the citizens. The governor explained that the initiative will serve as a channel for the government to swiftly obtain early warning signals and intervene promptly, while also gathering feedback on developmental matters within the state. He encouraged citizens to confidently report security concerns from their local communities, with the assurance that all information will be treated with utmost confidentiality. Operating around the clock, the centre is geared towards efficient and effective service delivery, enabling citizens to report any issues relevant to the state, the statement added. The Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), a coalition of over 70 labour and civil society organisations, has given tips to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) that could help to end coups in the sub-region. Ahead of the meeting of ECOWAS leaders on Thursday to address the Niger crisis, ASCAB said it is important for the regional body to focus on the causes of the coup which has become a pattern in West Africa, and arrest the ugly development. In a statement signed by Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer and ASCAB chairperson, the group also called on ECOWAS to consider imposing more sanctions on the military junta in Niger and avoid military action. Since the call for the diplomatic initiative by the security chiefs reflects the wishes of the people of West Africa, the Authority of the Heads of State and Government should jettison the military option and impose more sanctions with a view to isolating the military junta in Niger, the statement reads. Until about three years ago, all the member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) were led by democratically elected governments. But, since some ECOWAS leaders decided to extend their tenure, there had been about nine successful and unsuccessful coups in West Africa. In view of the meeting of the Authority of Heads of State and Government, the highest decision-making organ of the ECOWAS scheduled to hold in Abuja on Thursday, August 10, 2023, it is pertinent to draw attention to the main causes of unconstitutional change of government and how to arrest the ugly development. According to ASCAB, the immediate cause of unconstitutional change of governments is the manipulation of constitutions and referenda by elected governments to extend the tenure of presidents. The group noted that ECOWAS had attempted to restrict West African presidents to two terms in office but has been opposed by leaders of countries who are scheming to extend their tenure. The new chairman of ECOWAS, President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria, should ensure that the amendment is passed forthwith while sanctions are imposed on democratically elected presidents who engage in amendment of the national constitutions to extend their tenure beyond two terms, the group said. CONTROL OF NATURAL RESOURCES BY IMPERIALIST FORCES ASCAB also noted that former colonial regimes and their allies have recklessly exploited the natural resources of ECOWAS member states which is compounded by the control of the national economy by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF). The result of such influences, the group said, was frustration with civilian governments by citizens and victims of human rights abuse who troop to the streets to celebrate coup plotters. The ECOWAS leaders should end the crude exploitation of natural resources and empower the people to control the commonwealth of member states in accordance with article 21 (1) of the charter, the statement added. The coalition said the charter provides that all peoples shall freely dispose of their wealth and natural resources. This right shall be exercised in the exclusive interest of the people. In no case shall a people be deprived of it. The pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, on Thursday, called for caution regarding the potential military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, in the Republic of Niger. Afenifere, in the communique signed by its leader, PaAyo Adebanjo, and its Secretary-General, Sola Ebiseni, emphasised the need for a diplomatic and peaceful resolution to the ongoing crisis in the country. Recall that ECOWAS had kicked against the coup carried out by General Abdourahamane Tchiani, demanding the reinstatement of toppled President Mohamed Bazoum. The situation has prompted concerns among regional stakeholders, including ECOWAS, which has been considering the deployment of military forces to restore democratic rule in the country. However, Afenifere, renowned for its advocacy of Yoruba interests and its commitment to the principles of democracy and self-determination, has taken a cautious stance on the potential military intervention. The group stressed that while restoring democratic system in Niger is vital, military action should be the last resort, preceded by exhaustive diplomatic efforts. Without much ado, Afenifere calls on the ECOWAS to adopt the option of diplomacy in dealing with the issue in the Republic of Niger. Afenifere strongly urged the Nigerien military to see the illegality and futility of usurping the sovereignty of the people of Niger to democratically decide who rules them and immediately return to the path of constitutionality, which restricts their duty to the defence of the territorial integrity of the Nigerien state. Ogun State Governorship Election Petition tribunal on Wednesday fixed September 4 for parties to adopt their final addresses. This followed the closure of cases by all parties involved in the petition filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ladi Adebutu. Adebutu had dragged Governor Dapo Abiodun before the three-man tribunal alleging that the governor did not win the majority of votes cast during the March 18 governorship election. Adebutu, in his petition said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act. Adebutu closed his case after calling 94 witnesses and tendering thousands of documents as evidence at the tribunal. The first respondent, INEC did not call any witness when it opened its case. To defend his victory, Abiodun, who is the second respondent, opened his case last week and called six witnesses against Adebutu, until Tuesday when he closed his case. Also on Wednesday, the ruling APC and third respondent opened and closed its case after calling four witnesses. Among the witnesses who testified in support of the APC are, Yemi Adelani, the APC State Collation Agent; Ifede Ifetayo, collation agent for Ikenne LG and Sulaiman Ayobami, who was Sagamu LG agent. The witnesses were led in evidence by the APC counsel, Tayo Oyetibo and cross-examined by Wole Olanipekun representing Abiodun; Gordy Uche, SAN, standing in for the petitioners; and Olumide Ogidan who represented INEC. In closing APCs case, Oyetibo said: Having carefully examined the evidence tendered by the petitioners and the evidence adduced by the respondents, we are satisfied that we have covered the case. As a result, the Justice Hamidu Kunaza-led panel adjourned proceedings till Monday, September 4, 2023, for the parties to adopt their final written addresses. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has warned the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) against military intervention in Niger Republic. In a statement signed by Daniel Okoh, CAN president, on Thursday, the association commended President Bola Tinubus diplomatic approach to resolving the crisis in Niger. The association also commended the leadership of ECOWAS for their unwavering commitment to discouraging coup detats and the forceful takeover of power. The body said military intervention will create enmity between Nigeria and Niger. CAN appealed to all stakeholders to instead embrace peaceful negotiations, exercise restraint, and tirelessly work towards a sustainable resolution of the crisis in Niger. As an organisation deeply committed to promoting justice, peace, and harmony, CAN urges His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to remain on the path of dialogue and avoid any form of military intervention or measures that would create enmity between the good people of Nigeria and Niger, the statement reads. We firmly believe that the path to lasting peace lies in upholding democratic processes, respecting the sovereignty of nations, and engaging in peaceful dialogue to address grievances and resolve conflicts. ECOWAS had given the junta a seven-day ultimatum to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, failing which it could deploy military force. ECOWAS leaders have reconvened in Abuja to discuss the crisis in Niger Republic, following the expiration of the deadline. The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has accused the Finland-based Biafra agitator, Simon Ekpa, of using the Eastern Security Network, ESN, to defraud people. The group made the remark while distancing ESN from Ekpa, stressing that hes not a registered unit member of the security outfit. Emma Powerful, the spokesman of IPOB, said it was wrong to describe Ekpa as the factional leader of the separatist group. We have observed with dismay the deliberate moves of some compromised media houses and social media platforms to attribute Simon Ekpa to the membership of the noble family of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). For the purposes of clarity and emphasis, the said Simon Ekpa is not in any way a registered unit member of IPOB, nor is he connected to Eastern Security Network (ESN). It is, therefore, imperative that media houses are appropriately guided to reflect this reality in their publications, henceforth. Those referring to the said Ekpa as a factional leader of IPOB are either misguided, ill-informed or playing the script of DSS, who are his main sponsors with the main agenda to destabilize the South East with the use of criminals. Ekpa is unknown to ESN. The fact that he has been using ESNs name to dupe gullible people through his endless fundraising schemes, does not in any way link him to ESN formed by IPOB. Ekpa has an inconspicuous group called Government in Exile. He can be seen in most of his social media videos alluding to these very facts. We are mindful of the concerted efforts of DSS and similar agencies to infiltrate, undermine and divide IPOB with the sole motive of weakening the organisation from within. It is to be reiterated emphatically that IPOB is not divided, has no factional leadership or is involved in any entity associated with efforts to criminalize the social-political space in the South East, Powerful said in a statement. The Kogi State Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dino Melaye, has said the party remains the party to beat in the upcoming election because of the level of devastation being left behind by the outgoing All Progressives Congress(APC) administration. He said this after a meeting of Kogi PDP stakeholders from the three Senatorial zones of the state, with the members of the National Working Committee at the partys national secretariat, in Abuja yesterday. Melaye said: PDP is going to win the election in Kogi State because we have never had it so bad in the history of Kogi State. Our people were impoverished, salaries have not been paid, pensions have not been paid, gratuity has not been paid, the health sector is non-existent, in fact, all the General Hospitals in the state are mere consulting clinics. Education has gone moribund, this is what the PDP is coming to ameliorate and palate. I want to assure you that by the grace of God. With the resolutions of this meeting, with the strategy adopted in this meeting, PDP is good to go in Kogi State. My charge to Kogi State is that they should not be Intimidated by the APC, by the threat, violence, the humiliation by the APC should not deter them from exercising their Democratic rights. I want to assure you that we will protect our people. Earlier in his remarks, the partys acting National Chairman, Umar Damagun, expressed confidence that the party will emerge victorious. According to him, the partys leadership decided to convene the meeting in order to ensure that no stone was left unturned to ensure every party member and supporter in the state was onboard before the election. Damagum said: We have already seen prospects in the coming election in Kogi election, so this meeting is to know your challenges are and to know how to work on the reconciliation before the election. This reconciliation will take three stages from the ward, local government and state. I am glad most of the senior stakeholders are here and they are supposed to anchor that reconciliation. Because we from outside the state we can only encourage you to work on the reconciliation. I am delightful to tell you that the Osun State Governor who is the Chairman of the Kogi Campaign Committee has promised that he will go to each zone to seat down with you on a zonal basis. He will campaign in all these places and he is very much alive to this responsibility in Kogi. A chef and former restaurant owner from Bergen County charged last year with sexually assaulting a minor was arrested again Tuesday on child sex assault charges involving a different alleged victim. Shalom Sal Yehudiel, 40, of Fair Lawn, was arrested as he tried to board a flight at JFK International Airport, according to his attorneys, Lee Vartan and Zach Intrater. Yehudiel was charged with one count of second-degree sexual assault and one count of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Union County Prosecutors Office. The child was between 14 and 15 years old at the time, authorities said. The assaults occurred between November 2016 and April 2017 in Bergen County, according to Assistant Prosecutor Caroline Lawlor, who is prosecuting the case. The charges were transferred from Bergen County to Union County due to a conflict of interest, officials said. Bergen County prosecutors charged Yehudiel in 2022 with sexually assaulting a minor in a restaurant he owned in Teaneck. On Monday, a judge dismissed those charges because the FBI failed to turn over a video they seized that would have cleared the defendant, Yehudiels attorneys said. On Tuesday, Yehudiel was arrested at the airport when prosecutors in Union County charged him with sexually assaulting a different alleged victim who had made a complaint against the chef, Vartan and Intrater said. Vartain and Intrater said there is no merit to the latest charges against Yehudiel, who is being held in a Queens, New York, jail pending extradition to New Jersey. The Union County prosecutor has brought charges that the Bergen County prosecutor twice investigated and twice declined to prosecute, Vartan and Intrater said in a statement. As recently as February 2023, the Bergen County prosecutor said it did not support the issuance of criminal charges against Mr. Yehudiel. This is an abuse of process, and this case will be dismissed, the statement said. Yehudiel owned The Humble Toast, a Jewish deli, and La Cucina Di Nava, an Italian restaurant. He also appeared on the Food Network series Chopped in 2020. Vartan said his client was not trying to flee the country when he was arrested at the airport, saying there was nothing to flee from since the original sexual assault charges had been dismissed on Monday. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. A registrar in Burlington County properly denied a marriage license to a federal prison inmate because he and his husband-to-be are unable to appear in person to apply, a New Jersey appeals court ruled Wednesday. The court backed the registrars 2021 decision, saying it was a matter of existing law and the denial did not violate any Constitutional or Civil rights, as the inmate had argued in a lawsuit. The court published the decision, meaning its precedential case law going forward. The case pitted inmate Brandon Meredith Hardy against Susan Jackson, the registrar for New Hanover Township. Hardy is serving time at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) at Fort Dix, which lies in the town. Heads up! Your next Walmart delivery may drop from the sky. The major retailer is expected to expand its drone delivery service in 2023 after adding six states to the program last year, according to the Krazy Koupon Lady. Certified pilots, who follow FAA guidelines, fly the robots that can carry packages up to 10 pounds within 1.5 miles of a drone delivery hub. The company claims that they can deliver orders in 30 minutes or less. Now, 36 Walmart stores across seven states have DroneUp, Flytrex and Zipline delivery hubs that opened by Jan. 5, 2023. Walmart says that these hubs made over 6,000 deliveries by January. Heres everything you need to know about Walmarts drone delivery service. Which states offer Walmarts drone delivery service? Seven states offer Walmarts drone delivery service. The company originally launched drone delivery in 2021 in its home state of Arkansas. The service expanded to 36 stores across six other states by December 2022: Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Utah and Virginia. How does Walmarts drone delivery service work? The delivery service is available daily between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Shoppers can make an order via the Walmart app or website, or droneupdelivery.com for a delivery fee of $3.99. Walmart+ members can use the service for free. An employee from the nearest drone hub will gather the items in the store, enter each item on a smart phone and pack it in a box, according to USA Today. Then, the employee will load it onto a drone and send it off to its delivery location. Shoppers can keep track of the process, as they will receive notifications when their order is being filled and shipped. Shoppers can order over 10,000 eligible items for delivery, including groceries, with no minimum order amount. However, the limit weight of each package is up to 10 pounds. According to Walmart, customers five favorite drone delivery orders: Great Value Cookies & Cream Ice Cream two-pound bags of lemons rotisserie chicken Red Bull Bounty paper towels When will Walmarts drone delivery service arrive in other states? Walmart has not yet announced where it will launch its drone delivery service next. However, the company is eyeing more locations to introduce the service across the country. 4,700 stores [are] located within 90% of the U.S. population, making Walmart uniquely positioned to offer drone delivery at scale, Walmart said. RELATED STORIES ABOUT RETAIL AND SHOPPING: Kmart is closing its last N.J. store Sweetgreen announces plans for its 6th N.J. restaurant N.J. businesses that have announced closings so far in 2023 Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Victoria Rosenthal can be reached at vrosenthal@njadvancemedia.com. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips. New Jersey State Police have identified the boater killed Wednesday in Cape May Harbor when the vessel he was piloting struck a loose dredge pipe. Christopher W. Heitman, 45, of Cape May, was operating a 17-foot boat about 2:20 a.m. when he struck the pipe, which had broken free from its mooring and entered the harbor, according to Trooper II Charles Marchan. Heitman and a passenger were thrown from their boat, Marchan said. The passenger was able to climb back onto the boat and a good Samaritan in another vessel helped recover Heitman, who was unresponsive in the water, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Heitman was taken to a hospital, where he died. The death remains under investigation, Marchan said. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. A 36-year-old New Jersey man broke into the home of his former coworker last month and stabbed him and his wife a combined 36 times in an attack that left the wife dead and the husband critically injured, authorities said Thursday. Zachary M. Adamo, 36, of Millville, is charged with murder, attempted murder, burglary and weapons offenses, the Cumberland County Prosecutors Office said Thursday. Adamo also faces charges of contempt of court and tampering with evidence. Authorities say Adamo entered the couples home on the 600 block of Ridgewood Road early on July 28 and stabbed Sharon Taylor 11 times and her 51-year-old husband 25 times, according to the criminal complaint. Taylor, 60, died, while her husband was critically injured. Investigators identified Adamo as the attacker by checking surveillance footage from neighboring homes and obtaining a license plate, authorities said. They also found that his cell phone had traveled through the area before and after the stabbings, authorities said. When police showed up at Adamos home, they found a knife and burned clothes in the backyard, the complaint said. Adamo is being held at the Cumberland County jail ahead of a detention hearing. A motive for the stabbing was not disclosed. Attorney information wasnt immediately available. Anyone with information is asked to call Vineland police Detective Christopher Fixler at 856-691-4111 or Cumberland County Prosecutors Office Detective Paul Panchesine at 856-332-6233. Information may also be submitted online at CCPO.TIPS. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. In previous years, teacher Lovina Shahid had difficulty helping her first graders learn vowel sounds. So, she read up on evidence-based reading programs, hoping to help the students, many of whom spoke Spanish at home. When her district adopted a new curriculum last year based on what is known as the Science of Reading, her peers were skeptical, but not for long. It was very exciting to see students able to distinguish between different vowel sounds and letter combinations, Shahid said of her students at School 21 in Passaic. At the end of the year, she loved seeing that they were confident readers, looking forward to reading their new books. Absolutely, I think they made more progress, she said. In a report to be released Thursday, a statewide education advocacy group calls for a reading revolution so more students can make such progress. The report seeks leadership from the Governor, the Legislature, and the Department of Education to ensure students receive the best possible help in learning to read. The report, Leveraging Literacy - The Path to Education Recovery in New Jersey, analyzes six districts Atlantic City, Newark, Camden, Milburn, Jersey City, and Asbury Park and their students disappointing performance on recent statewide tests. Given the low and declining reading capacity of our K-12 learners, an overhaul in reading instruction is the best hope we have to recover from the learning that has been lost because of the pandemic, said Paula White, the reports author and the executive director of JerseyCAN, which advocates for high-quality public schools for all children. The New Jersey Student Learning Assessments, taken in the spring, showed that only 42.4% of the states third graders read at grade level. A stark achievement gap exists among students in all grades. New Jersey families are fighting a dire and clear challenge far too many of our kids cannot read, and for many who can, they are reading despite their schools teaching, not because of it, White said. The report calls for using teaching materials that research has found to be effective. While many states have passed laws to require such reading instruction, New Jerseys system has been outdated and inefficient, White said, adding that the state does not require teachers to receive training on how to teach students to read. The report also calls for the states educator preparation programs to instruct future teachers on using the Science of Reading. A 2021 study by the National Council on Teacher Quality placed New Jersey among 17 states where educator preparation programs use inadequate tests to measure teacher candidates on how they teach students to read. JerseyCAN also recommends early and frequent screenings for all children to assess their reading abilities and that schools notify parents when their children are behind. Each school district chooses a reading curriculum or writes its own. Often, White said they use the instructional materials based on whatever company gives the best sales pitch. There is no guidance that is coming to say, this kind of curriculum is superior, she said. The state Department of Education is updating its reading standards this year after a listening tour, but the new information incorporating the Science of Reading has not been well publicized, White said. She noted that if districts can invest in effective reading instruction, it could be an ideal use of remaining federal COVID relief funds. The Department of Education did not return messages seeking comment. But Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth), the chair of the Senate Education Committee, said he looked forward to reviewing the reports findings and discussing literacy instruction. New Jerseys latest reading test scores and the widening achievement gaps those scores revealed are extremely concerning, he said, and Im certainly open to exploring new methods to identify and assist New Jersey students who are struggling with reading and literacy. Christi Peace, a spokeswoman for Gov. Phil Murphy, said, The Murphy Administration shares the goal of improving literacy among New Jersey students and welcomes collaboration on this critical endeavor. She mentioned his administrations two new training programs for teachers to bolster literacy in elementary schools and additional funding in the states 2024 budget. According to the report, the pandemic created a natural experiment to determine the best ways to help students catch up after months away from the classroom. In comparing the six districts, the report details how Millburn in Essex County, one of the states wealthiest communities, has an achievement gulf only 30.8% of its Black third graders are reading at grade level, compared to 47.9% of its students with disabilities, 75% of white students, and 84.9% of its English language learners. JerseyCAN calls for parental notification of reading problems, even in high-performing districts. JerseyCAN notes that more money in a districts coffers doesnt always translate to better instruction. Asbury Park, for instance, has the highest per-pupil funding among its peer districts in the state, but only 9.5% of its third graders are proficient readers. The group said districts spending should be monitored, and that it would help identify those that spend resources unwisely. The report cited encouraging moves in other states: New York City gave its schools three reading programs to choose from, all of them evidence-based, and a Massachusetts law went into effect last month mandating that schools notify parents when students have reading deficiencies. And it identifies a handful of solutions: require and monitor evidence-based reading instruction, train teachers on how to use instructional materials based on the Science of Reading, give teachers stipends for attending such training like Massachusetts does, make sure districts have money to purchase required curriculum, and pass laws requiring educator preparation programs to teach candidates to use the curriculum. Back in Passaics 19 elementary schools, which adopted new, evidence-based curriculum last year, We definitely are seeing the achievement gap close, said Lisa Rowbotham, director of Elementary and Secondary Education for the district. While teachers were initially concerned about how the new and rigorous program might be a stretch for their classes, she said students vocabularies have increased, along with their level of discourse and their state test scores. Using its funds and COVID relief money, the district worked with TNTP, a national education nonprofit addressing educational inequity, to choose new reading materials. Carly Glazer Newman, a consultant with the organization, noted that students couldnt engage with strong material with the old curriculum. The moment we started giving them those opportunities, were seeing that they absolutely can hit that bar and reach those great heights, she said. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Tina Kelley may be reached at tkelley@njadvancemedia.com. Ethel Wheeler first saw the ominous signs in her husband about a year ago. William D. Wheelers memory was fading. He would get lost while driving. He would be slow in answering questions. Then he turned uncharacteristically aggressive and started cursing. And that was not him, said Ethel, 80. William was no longer the man she married 54 years ago. He is slipping away, one lost memory and one troubling personality shift at a time. William, 84, was diagnosed last year with Alzheimers disease. Ethel is his sole caregiver. Im learning how to deal with that, she said matter-of-factly. The Plainfield man is among roughly 190,000 New Jersey residents living with Alzheimers disease, a progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually, the ability to carry out simple tasks. The frightening form of dementia not only brings memory loss, but a cascade of other issues that can overwhelm patients and their families. Recent advances have provided hope such as the Food and Drug Administrations full approval last month of the anti-amyloid drug Leqembi, the first in two decades, and the promise of another treatment, donanemab, being considered for approval. Other drugs in the pipeline offer further optimism, experts say. But many families find themselves alone and disconnected. So the Alzheimers Foundation of America will host the Alzheimers & Caregiving Educational Conference on Aug. 16 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the HOPE Tower at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune. The free conference is open to the public and will feature experts in the field of Alzheimers disease, brain health and caregiving and will offer resources for families. Free, confidential memory screenings will be conducted throughout the day. Alzheimers disease is especially prevalent in New Jersey, which has the sixth highest rate in the nation among seniors, with 12.3% of residents 65 or older estimated to have the devastating disorder. Just knowing theyre not alone helps, according to the families of Alzheimers sufferers. But it was difficult in the beginning, Ethel said. She didnt want to accept Williams diagnosis of an incurable disease. One of the first signs emerged last year at his church in North Plainfield. A member of the Community Baptist Church said William was using profanity, which was unlike him. They noticed changes within him and things that you would not have stood for before, she said. Throughout all those years together, she had never heard him speak that way. The slow decline continued until Ethel could no longer ignore it. Then came the painful diagnosis. William attends an adult day program twice a week in Scotch Plains. He can remember things from years ago, but struggles to recall what happened yesterday. If he does remember, its very likely nothing in-depth that he can tell you, Ethel said. Its been an adjustment, but shes working through the pain of watching her husbands condition progress. Emotionally, it bothered me much more than it does now, she said. Ethel no longer feels so alone, attending support groups, which have allowed her to open up to others and be vulnerable. We can cry and support each other, she said. Those interested in attending the Alzheimers & Caregiving Educational Conference can register at www.alzfdn.org/tour. Registration closes Aug. 14, at noon. Advanced registration is recommended. Have immediate questions about Alzheimers disease? Connect with licensed social workers seven days a week through AFAs National Toll-Free Helpline by calling 866-232-8484, sending a text message to 646-586-5283, or web chatting at www.alzfdn.org by clicking the blue and white chat icon in the right-hand corner of the page. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital are continuing to strike after rejecting the latest contract offer Wednesday from the New Brunswick facility. Hospital officials and union leaders met with a mediator at the Heldrich Hotel in New Brunswick with the hopes of reaching an agreement. The two sides remain at an impasse over staffing guidelines, sick time, pay and insurance benefits. The hospital in a statement said its latest offer would have established clearly defined staffing guidelines, further bolstered nurses highest-in-the-state salaries, and ensured zero increase in employee health contributions for a fourth consecutive year. Unfortunately, the union instead submitted a counterproposal well in excess of its last proposal, the statement said. This proposal is now under review by RWJUH, and we look forward to the next meeting to be scheduled by the mediator. But Judy Danella, president of United Steel Workers Local 4-200 which represents the nurses and a registered nurse at the hospital, told NJ Advance Media that the hospitals latest offer was pretty much the exact same proposal. Nurses on Thursday again gathered outside the New Brunswick hospital for the sixth consecutive day. Its unclear when the next negotiations meeting will be held. The hospital said it remains open and fully operational. The facility has hired nurses from a staffing agency to fill the roles amid the strike. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Interested in seeing a Broadway musical, but unwilling to fly to the Big Apple? You're in luck. There's one right here in town. Mid-Valley Musical Theater will perform the Disney cult classic and hit Broadway show "Newsies" this month at the Albany Performing Arts Center at West Albany High School. For veteran musical director Diane Allen, nothing says big, bold and Broadway quite like "Newsies." That's one of the reasons it's the theater company's first production. "My favorite thing about the show is the vocals and dancing and the way they work together, just because we got so much talent on this stage," Allen said as she watched her cast rehearse scenes from the musical's second act on Thursday, Aug. 3. It's certainly an ambitious production, with a cast of more than 60 performers and rousing show-stopping numbers. Tickets to the company's inaugural show are worth it just to see the state-of-the-art auditorium, which includes a production studio, costume shop, dressing room suite and a cavernous orchestra pit, complete with safety netting so actors and clumsy reporters don't fall into it. Eric McKirdy, the musical's orchestra conductor and president of the Mid-Valley Musical Theater Board, said every one of the auditorium's 700-plus seats is perfect for viewing. "In my opinion, there's truly not a bad seat in the house," McKirdy said. The new theatrical digs are courtesy area taxpayers. Back in 2017, the Greater Albany Public School District residents passed a $159 million construction bond to improve the district's facilities, including West Albany High. The Albany Performing Arts Center was one of the school's many upgrades, and it's one of the reasons Mid-Valley Musical Theater, or MVMT for short, exists. During the school year, the auditorium mostly hosts school productions and events, but in the summer the space is available to the Albany community. That prompted Diane Allen, who's directed theater for 14 years, to work with other West Albany staff members to form MVMT. Allen's experience includes directing several productions at Albany schools and Albany Civic Theater. The community theater nonprofit agency not only plans to host big Broadway-scale productions each summer but also to donate proceeds to the school district, supporting arts programs across GAPS. McKirdy said the theater is a great asset to the community. "For a very, very long time, if a person in Albany wanted to be a part of a musical a full-scale musical you had to go to Corvallis to do something at the Majestic, or you'd have to go to Salem or Eugene," he said. West Albany alum Colton Byers remembers when the school had to host theater productions in the cafetorium. "It's been so, so cool to able to come back and just see all the hard work that everyone's done, and continuing to do, to make arts really thrive in this community," he said. Byers plays Crutchie, a friend of the show's head Newsie, who (as you might have guessed) hobbles around on a single crutch. But Byers isn't the only West Albany graduate on stage. Alums include actors Eli Nicholas, who plays Jack Kelly, leader of the orphaned newsboys in Lower Manhattan, and Curtis Allen, who plays Davey Jacobs, the newest newsie on the block (for those unfamiliar with the plot like this reporter, who's shamefully never even delivered a newspaper). Both acknowledge West Albany's strong theater chops even before the new venue was built. "They had the program to fit the space before they had the space," Nicholas said. According to Curtis Allen, "Newsies" is beloved by theater fans. "It's so fun to watch," he said. Curtis Allen is the son of director Diane Allen. He said "Newsies" at the Albany Performing Arts Center is a dream realized for his mother. "She loves putting things on like this, and she loves especially involving as many people as possible, and especially youth," he said. According to the director, "Newsies" attracted nearly 100 auditions, and includes actors, dancers and musicians from Albany, Tangent, Lebanon, Corvallis, Philomath, even Salem and Tigard. The production also represents a culmination of Diane Allen's past theatrical work in Albany. "This to me is a little bit of coming together of all of that experience," she said. "Newsies" will premiere at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 11 at the Albany Performing Arts Center. You can also catch performances on Saturday, Aug. 12, Thursday, Aug. 17, Friday, Aug. 18, and twice on Saturday, Aug. 19, with the addition of a matinee at 1 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at albanypac.ludus.com. Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help (copy) Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Albany Democrat-Herald. Employees at Jersey Citys 911 call center have reached their breaking point. Three workers described working at the citys 911 communications center on Bishop Street part of the citys Department of Public Safety as hell! Another put it bluntly: Morale is gone. There is no morale anymore. Detectives in Monmouth County are seeking information leading to an arrest in the shooting of a 30-year-old man last month in Red Bank. A borough resident was shot multiple times about 1:15 a.m. July 25 in the 100 block of Montgomery Terrace apartment complex, according to Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago. The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment and has since been released, Santiago said in a statement. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Monmouth County Prosecutors Office Detective Joshua Rios at 800-533-7443 or Red Bank Police Detective Paul Perez at 732-530-2700. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. ATLANTA (AP) The Native American Journalists Association is aiming to become more inclusive as its members vote on whether to rebrand as the Indigenous Journalists Association a move inspired, in part, by evolving trends in cultural identity. The group, with more than 950 members mostly in the United States, is expected to approve the change at its annual conference this week in Winnipeg, Canada. Voting on the new name, as well as branding that would replace a feather with an ija logo in stylized letters, runs through Thursday, Aug. 10. Founded in Canada in 1983, NAJA wants to foster inclusion with Indigenous journalists there as well as in Alaska and Hawaii, since " Native American " is a modern alternative for " American Indian " referring specifically to the millions of descendants of the original inhabitants of what is now the Lower 48 states. Essentially, were going back to our roots and trying to create and provide support and resources for Indigenous journalists all across Turtle Island, board member Jourdan Bennett-Begaye said, invoking the term some Indigenous people use to refer to the North American continent. More broadly, the proposed change aligns with terminology used by the United Nations and many multinational organizations as the group also seeks allies among Indigenous journalists worldwide. The Maori people in New Zealand, the Sami people in Arctic Scandinavia and Russia, and the Mapuche people in Patagonia all face similar issues, with journalists who cover climate change, conflicts over land and resources and missing and murdered women, she said. The change also would reflect an evolution in how Indigenous people see themselves. Theyre increasingly calling for decolonizing language, moving away from terms that were imposed on them, like Indian a legacy of Christopher Columbus infamous cartographic blunder and even, in some contexts, American, which derives from a mapmakers effort to honor another Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci. Its part of this larger movement thats happening in Indigenous people, just reclaiming everything thats theirs that should be theirs, Bennett-Begaye said. Since contact, decisions have been made for us and not by us. Still, some NAJA members have raised concerns that if the association globalizes, its focus on issues particular to Native Americans might be lost. Board members have proposed creating regional chapters if that happens. Indigenous is inoffensive, but it also doesnt do any of the kind of distinct sovereignty work, distinct political work, distinct cultural affiliation " that other words do, said Elizabeth Ellis, a historian at Princeton University and an enrolled citizen of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. It doesnt tell you much beyond the fact that youre existing in opposition to a history and ongoing legacy of colonization. Usage of the word Indigenous has soared in recent years, particularly after demonstrations against the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016 forged the largest pan-Indigenous alliance in North American history. Standing Rock marked a before and after for Native American visibility in the media and popular culture, Ellis said. But the proliferation of its usage doesnt mean other terms should disappear, because theyre not always interchangeable, said Ellis. Indian, American Indian, Native American, Native, and even NDN a tongue-in-cheek slang popular in social media each have distinct meanings and are appropriate in different contexts. Indian, for example, is a historical reference used to connote barbarism to justify enslaving Indigenous people during the colonial era settlers equated it to savagery while seizing more land and federal policies invoked it as a racist concept in the 19th century, Ellis said. Indian Law remains embedded in the U.S. Constitution and in the official names of many Indigenous nations, so its usage in such contexts is inescapable. Indigenous applies worldwide, including to anyone whose ancestors didnt come from somewhere else, and whose communities have endured oppression of their people. But it doesnt reflect the particular duality that many Native Americans experience as citizens of their tribal nations as well as the U.S., Ellis said. This is why many Native Americans, when communicating with wider audiences, identify themselves first by their tribal affiliations, and increasingly, in their Indigenous language. Ellis intentionally introduces herself as Peewaalia, just as Bennett-Begaye tells people shes Dine, a member of the Navajo Nation. Young people in particular are driving these changes in language, Bennett-Begaye said. A lot of older folks, and across Indian Country, they still call themselves Indian. My late grandmother, she still calls herself Indian, she said. But young people ... they see that as derogatory. Theyre like, We dont call ourselves that. And I think thats the cool part, like, young people owning their identity. As editor of Indian Country Today, Bennett-Begaye oversaw that media organizations recent name change to ICT, prompted by conversations about identity that were happening across the United States after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. For older generations, ICT can still mean Indian Country Today, while for younger folks, it can mean Indigenous Cultures Today, or Indigenous Communities Today, she said. We really left it up to interpretation for our readers and our audience. By MICHAEL WARREN Associated Press Authorities are searching for a New Jersey man who investigators say was drunk, speeding and had drugs in his system when he caused a crash earlier this year in Plumsted that killed a woman driving another vehicle. John Zinkoski, 41, of Beachwood, was charged Tuesday with vehicular homicide and strict liability vehicular homicide, the Ocean County Prosecutors Office said. He has not yet been arrested and is a fugitive from justice, authorities said. The May 12 crash in the area of the area of Pinehurst Road and Long Swamp Road critically injured Judi Smith, 59, of Browns Mills, officials said. Smith, who was trying to make a right onto Pinehurst Road at 5:50 p.m. when her car was hit by Zinkoskis southbound pickup truck, later died of her injuries. Zinkoski was treated and released from a different hospital. He had a blood alcohol content above the legal limit of .08, prosecutors said. The exact amount was not disclosed. Officials say Zinkoski was traveling 86 mph and tests revealed the presence of cocaine and benzodiazepine in his blood at the time of the crash. Zinkoskis name has been entered in the National Crime Information Center database. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Authorities in Ocean County must pay the $1.5 million a jury awarded the widow of a man who died by suicide in the county jail more than a decade ago, New Jerseys highest court ruled Thursday. The state Supreme Court rejected arguments from the county that their employees were immune from claims of negligence under state law after Kenneth Conforti died by hanging while locked up at the Ocean County jail in 2010. A jury awarded his widow, Carol Ann Conforti, $1.5 million in 2018, finding the negligence of the Ocean County Corrections Department and its jail healthcare provider was a proximate cause to her husbands death But Ocean County appealed that ruling, arguing they were immune from the lawsuit under the state Tort Claims Act. In a 4-2 ruling, Justice Rachel Wainer Apter wrote that the evidence in the case fell outside any immunity granted by the law. Attorneys for the parties did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. The ruling ends a 13-year legal fight for Confortis family. In September 2010, Kenneth Conforti was estranged from his wife and jailed for violating a restraining order. Court records show he entered their former shared residence to see his young son, who is deaf and has Downs Syndrome. During intake at the jail, Conforti told a health worker he was experiencing feelings of hopelessness and helplessness because of marital trouble, alcoholism and an unsuccessful back surgery that had left him in chronic pain with rods and screws in his back, the records show. He was given medication for alcohol withdrawal and pain and an extra mattress and later released. However, he was re-arrested a little over a week later for again violating the restraining order. This time, court records show, he did not disclose the same problems, though the Supreme Courts opinion notes that jail staff had access to records from his previous jail time. Although initially given a bunk, Conforti was later put in a cell in which he had to lay on the floor. On October 16, 2010, he requested medical attention for back pain, the records show. Jail officials told him he could get Motrin or Tylenol from the commissary. Four days later, he wrote a suicide note to his parents, closed the cell door, covered its window and hung himself with a bedsheet. An expert hired by Confortis family testified at trial that jail officials should have prevented his death. The expert said the jail should have recognized Conforti was suicidal, failed to properly monitor inmates to prevent suicide attempts and hadnt updated their suicide prevention policy since 1999. Officials could not even say with certainty how many suicides there were at the jail, the records show. Editors note: NJ Advance Media typically limits reporting on suicides to those that occur in crowded public places, involve public figures or, in special circumstances, where there is a larger public impact. Suicidal thoughts and behaviors can be reduced with the proper mental health support and treatment. If you are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @spsullivan. A funnel cloud was reported in Burlington County on Thursday afternoon as forecasters are working to determine whether a tornado took place, the National Weather Service said. The cloud was reported near Browns Mills around 3 p.m. The area is still being examined to see if any damage occurred that would be consistent with a tornado, according to Dean Iovino, a meteorologist with the agencys Mount Holly office. The weather service defines a funnel cloud as a a rotating column of air that is not in contact with the ground. A funnel cloud becomes a tornado if it touches the ground. Earlier on Thursday, the weather service issued a tornado warning for parts of Burlington and Ocean counties that was in effect until 3:30 p.m. as a line of storms ripped across New Jersey. Tornado Warning including Burlington County, NJ, Ocean County, NJ until 3:30 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/EXxH49ydoT NWS Mount Holly (@NWS_MountHolly) August 10, 2023 The warning affected Northern Burlington County near the Fort Dix military base and Western Ocean County near Plumsted Township. A tornado watch is not as urgent as a tornado warning, but residents should remain alert as stormy weather arrives.National Weather Service A flood advisory has also been issued for Burlington, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties through 6:15 p.m. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com. After two straight very pleasant weather days in New Jersey, rain is expected to return Thursday with forecasters calling for possible thunderstorms in the late afternoon and evening ahead of what should be a good weekend for outdoor activities. As is usually the case, the summer storms could be accompanied by gusty winds as well as potential flooding. Rain might start as soon as late morning, but heavy rain is most likely to fall int the late afternoon, which could slow the ride home from work. Rainfall totals are expected to range from a quarter to a half-inch along the immediate coast in Atlantic and Cape May counties to 1 to 1.5 inches in areas in the general vicinity of Long Branch, Trenton, Flemington and Morristown, according to the National Weather Service. AccuWeather.com says northern New Jersey will receive "soaking rain" on Thursday.AccuWeather.com In northeastern New Jersey, the weather services New York office says to expect about an inch of rain, though much higher totals are possible if the strongest of the storms set up in that area. Though no flood watches or warnings have been issued, the weather service says several instances of flooding are possible in urban and poor drainage areas as well as near creaks and streams in the following counties: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic, Union, Morris, Warren, Sussex, Hunterdon, Somerset, Middlesex, Mercer, Monmouth and northwest Burlington. Those areas also have an elevated risk of excessive rainfall, though the risk of severe weather is minimal, the weather service said in its morning forecast discussion. AccuWeather.com says airport delays are possible in our area from a batch of heavy, thundery rain. Friday, Saturday and Sunday are shaping up as dry and sunny with highs in the mid to upper 80s. Afternoon showers and thunderstorms cant be ruled out on Saturday, but the other two days look like thell stay dry. Saturday and Sunday will also be pretty humid, forecasters say. AccuWeather.com is more bullish than the weather service on New Jersey getting hit with heavy rain and strong storms late in the day Saturday. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Aaron Sanchez is still on a quest to return to the pitcher he was in his first three seasons with Yankees rival, the Toronto Blue Jays. On Wednesday evening, the Arizona Diamondbacks announced that they had signed the former first-round pick and assigned him to Triple-A Reno, where he immediately made a start. BUY MLB TICKETS: STUBHUB, VIVID SEATS, TICKETMASTER The start didnt go so well, as Sanchez allowed four earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. After Sanchezs first three seasons with the Blue Jays, there was no telling how far he would go. In that time, the reliever-turned-starter appeared in 95 games, 41 as a starter, and posted a 2.86 ERA in 317 1/3 innings pitched for the Yankees rival. By his third year, Sanchez was garnering Cy Young votes after posting an AL-best 3.00 ERA and an MLB-leading .882 winning percentage. In year four, everything started to fall apart for the young pitcher. That season, Sanchez was only able to make eight starts after dealing with a blister issue on his throwing hand. From there, he was never the same again. In 2019, after being traded to Houston, he kicked off a combined no-hitter with help from relievers Will Harris, Joe Biagini and Chris Devinski. Sanchez tossed six innings, striking six batters in the memorable start. Afterward, Sanchez made stints with the San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals and finally the Minnesota Twins. After a year and a half in the Twins organization, he was released on July 23, leaving him for the Diamondbacks. MORE SPORTS - Yankees should consider these moves to keep playoff hopes alive - New Yankees injury pops up before series finale against White Sox - Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner has made decision about GM Brian Cashman | Klapisch Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription. Manuel Gomez may be reached at mgomez@njadvancemedia.com. Two days after Yankees Aaron Boone got tossed for arguing balls and strikes on Monday, he received a call from Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora. Giving Boone some time to cool off, Cora wanted to share a laugh with his counterpart, who made a mockery out of home plate umpire Laz Diaz. BUY YANKEES TICKETS: STUBHUB, VIVID SEATS, TICKETMASTER I talked to him today, Cora told reporters on Wednesday, via Sean McAdam of MassLive. I cant...I get upset and all that (with umpires), but hes so good at that, you know, the impersonations...Hes awesome, hes awesome. That was really good. I told him the hips were really good. He got it right. He friggin got it right. Id call Mike (Hill, senior vice president of on-field operations for MLB) and Ill probably pay half the fine. We got it, we got it. Boone intimated that Diaz incited the on-field rant, which saw the skipper get down on one knee and drew a line with his finger several inches off the first-base side of the plate. He then rose up and hilariously imitated Diazs third-strike call, sticking the pose before reengaging in an argument in the umps face He also revealed how embarrassed he was for his daughter, which Cora echoed in further comments. (Boone) was embarrassed. The thing is, you have kids. In my situation, if I do something like that, my daughter is 20....yeah. And by the way, it was a strike. I dont know what (Boone) was complaining about. That was good, that was good. On Tuesday, the manager said he spoke to MLB Senior Vice President of On-Field Operations Mike Hill, according to the Associated Press. Boone wouldnt comment on the discussion, but it appears he has avoided suspension. MORE SPORTS - Ex-Yankees pitcher released by rival amid poor season - Mets Buck Showalter updates on potential Edwin Diaz return - Ex-Mets ace gets into it with umps again, now with new team Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription. Manuel Gomez may be reached at mgomez@njadvancemedia.com. Six-day (Tuesday through Sunday) print subscribers of the Watertown Daily Times are eligible for full access to NNY360, the NNY360 mobile app, and the Watertown Daily Times e-edition, all at no additional cost. If you have an existing six-day print subscription to the Watertown Daily Times, please make sure your email address on file matches your NNY360 account email. You can sign up or manage your print subscription using the options below. For 16 years, Matt King has taught English at Corvallis High School, combining his love for literature and working with young people. He's been recognized for his work outside the classroom too. In fact, the Corvallis Public Schools Foundation awarded him a Golden Apple Award in 2021 for helping students and families wrestling with trauma. But when school starts again on Sept. 5, King won't be returning. Taking a leave of absence, he'll be working on a master's in applied psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle. He plans to work with young people again, just in a clinical setting. It's a decision long in the making. Even when he started teaching in 2007, King knew the job wasn't easy. But now, especially post-pandemic, he finds less of the job fits into the 40-hour work week, whether it's district meetings, or managing heightened student needs. "It's just a crowding out of things that make teaching really fulfilling and worthwhile," he said. "It feels like pressure is coming from all sides." King isn't alone in the district. According to other Corvallis teaching staff, the job has never been more exhausting, with increased student behavioral challenges, cuts to support staff and concerns over fair pay top of mind. The burnout is causing some to rethink their positions at the district though a tentative contract agreement reached last week, on Aug. 2, with the teachers' union might make a difference. The pressure's on Burnout and turnover aren't a new phenomenon, but schools nationwide have seen a sharper number of teachers retiring since the pandemic, according to Susan Gardner, dean of the College of Education at Oregon State University. "We have also seen a decline in the amount of, one, people interested in becoming teachers, and two, retention levels for current teachers," she said. While current enrollment at OSU's College of Education has ticked up in recent years, it does ebb and flow, Gardner said. Retention is a problem Christa Schmeder sees at the Corvallis School District. She's a ceramics teacher and the president of the Corvallis Education Association. "There are so many people that we never would have believed would have left education. Or Corvallis," Schmeder said, referring to veteran educators like King. Erin Ordeman, a fourth-grade teacher at Bessie Coleman Elementary, has witnessed the same thing. She's taught at the district for six years and has always wanted to be an educator and knows staff at her district who've felt that same passion who are leaving anyway. Challenges One factor driving some teachers away from the classroom: student behavioral challenges, exacerbated by multiple years of online or hybrid learning. Students "missed over a year of social time with their peers, of learning how to regulate their emotions in a classroom," Ordeman said. Ellie VanDevelder saw the consequences of that firsthand. This last school year, she worked as a behavioral specialist at Linus Pauling Middle School, responding to calls about students leaving classrooms, drug use and aggressive physical behavior. "Being a behavioral specialist is exceptionally difficult," she said. Back in February, she was one of several Linus Pauling staff members who organized a walkout during a school day to express their frustrations with students' disruptive behavior. Teachers from both Linus Pauling and Cheldelin middle schools later met with district Superintendent Ryan Noss to discuss ways to support staff. In March, however, multiple Corvallis middle school teachers and administrators reached out to Mid-Valley Media, sharing deep concerns about classroom safety and a lack of district support. One teacher said there was no protocol for when students act out violently in the classroom. In May, a 12-year-old Linus Pauling student was arrested following an altercation that sent a staff member to the hospital. For Ordeman, working with students post-COVID-19 restrictions, even at the grade school level, is overwhelming. "What I experience in my school and what I hear from my colleagues, and not just in this district but all over, is that it's all very different." "It's why people look at other jobs," she added. "We cry out for more behavioral support, and then our behavioral support gets cut." Earlier this summer, the school district approved its latest budget, cutting 43 positions. Most of those were such classified support positions as educational assistants and behavioral specialists. According to district officials, the bulk of those positions were created with federal COVID-19 relief funding designed to boost support in the classroom at the height of the pandemic. That funding has now dried up. In her 12 years of teaching, Schmeder said she's never seen misbehavior like this, but she doesn't lay the blame on students for teacher exhaustion. "The reason for burnout, I think, is more systemic than that." Schmeder and Ordeman believe certain staff have left the classroom because of a lack of district support on these issues, in addition to a lack of pay. A tentative deal? Loss of support staff, classroom safety and concerns over fair compensation are key reasons contract negotiations between teachers and the district extended into late summer. The Corvallis Education Association's last proposal requested an 8% cost of living adjustment. The district offered 6%. But the two sides appeared to have closed the gap at a recent meeting held at Lincoln Elementary School. Bargaining teams for the district and union reached a tentative agreement last week. Schmeder, union president, wouldn't share specifics because she wanted to brief her union members first, but did say the agreement addressed safety, workload and pay. District spokesperson Kelly Locey also said the deal responded to teachers' concerns. "Having this agreement in place before the start of the school year addresses one of the stressors our teachers were facing," she wrote in an email to Mid-Valley Media. That agreement includes a brand-new framework for addressing misbehavior, and that it represents a big systemic shift in how the district responds to incidents in the classroom, according to Schmeder. It also includes a new compensation package. While Schmeder didn't provide details, she said it's the most holistic in her 12 years at the district. "There were a lot of happy tears shed when the district came back with their final proposal," she said. "It's a lot easier to feel respected when the district puts money on the table," she said. She hopes union members will vote to ratify the agreement near the end of the month, and that its passage will allow district officials and teachers to focus 100% of their attention on students this upcoming year. "When people go through marriage counseling and they work through their issues, they can put all of their energy on their kids and go back to what's important," she analogized. She added that conversations around workload and safety would continue, even after a contract is approved. Before news of the potential agreement, Erin Ordeman worried that if the district and teachers union continued to move further apart, Corvallis would lose its best educators, teachers and support staff. "You lose people who don't feel like you're valued where you're at," she said. "This can be the place that people want to be. But I think we have to invest more in the people that are in the trenches every day to do that," she added. Related stories: Watertown, NY (13601) Today A mix of clouds and sun. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 78F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Cloudy. Low near 65F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Locally reported news and sports Stay Current with What's Happening Get the most of NNY360, register today! By providing your email address, you consent to receive emails and special offers from NNY360.com Gov. John Bel Edwards on Thursday morning officially broke ground on Louisiana's most ambitious wetlands-restoration effort yet at a ceremony near Ironton on the west bank of the Mississippi River. Decades in the making, the massive $2.9 billion Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion aims to recreate the river's ancient, natural land-building processes by diverting a portion of the Mississippi's freshwater, sediment and nutrients into the Barataria Basin. The hope is that it will rebuild up to 21 square miles of land and wetlands in Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes over the next half-century. "At the end of the day, the premise of the project is we want to reconnect the Mississippi River with our coastal areas so that we can replenish the marsh and grow the land that we've lost," Edwards told reporters after a ceremonial overturning of dirt. "And this project promises to do that, from a minimum of 20 square miles to a maximum of 40. (Informacion remitida por la empresa firmante) More than half the EU population doubts the veracity of information on the web. Recognizing fake content and actively countering it comes more easily to those who are young and educated. Almost nine out of every 10 Europeans believe that tech companies, as well as government, should be held responsible. Gutersloh, 10 August 2023 (News Aktuell) The population in the EU expects greater efforts in the battle against the deliberate dissemination of information over the internet that is false or has been faked. Some 85% of EU citizens believe that the political class must do more to counter the dissemination of disinformation. As many as 89% demand greater effort from the providers of social platforms. The desire for greater intervention coincides with a clearly discernible awareness of the problem among the EU population. This is shown by a new study from the Bertelsmann Stiftungs Upgrade Democracy project. It found that more than half (54%) of those surveyed are frequently or very frequently unsure whether information from the internet is true. 39% indicate that they have been consciously aware of disinformation. Reliable information is the basis for making informed judgements and so also for democratic discourse, Kai Unzicker, the author of the study, says. The European population feels great uncertainty regarding the digital content they can still trust and the content that has been deliberately manipulated. Anyone wishing to protect and strengthen democracy must not leave people to cope with disinformation on their own, the expert for democracy and cohesion at the Bertelsmann Stiftung says. Fewer than half (44%) of all Europeans say they have checked information gleaned from the internet. Even fewer (22%) report false information or alert others to it. Age certainly plays a role. The younger and more educated respondents are, the more they contest the truthfulness of information and act to counter disinformation. The Upgrade Democracy study also shows: The more social media channels the respondents use regularly, the more often they notice disinformation. Europeans are undecided regarding the effects of social media on democracy, with 30% seeing more disadvantages and 28% more advantages. 42% expect both negative and positive effects. There are differences between countries. Critical attitudes predominate in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany; while people in Poland take a considerably more positive view of social medias effects on democracy. The Bertelsmann Stiftung recommends setting up and expanding systematic monitoring by independent actors from the academic world and civil society. It should be possible at the same time to raise awareness of the risks of disinformation among the wider population. Additional information: The poll data are taken from eupinions, the Bertelsmann Stiftungs opinion research tool. The survey was taken across the entire EU in March 2023. With a sample size of 13,270 respondents aged between 16 and 70, it is representative of the EU as a whole, as well as of the member states Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. Contact: Kai Unzicker, Phone: +49 52 41 81 81 405 Email: kai.unzicker@bertelsmann-stiftung.de A teacher from Chicago will address air pollution in the Wolf Lake watershed and the greater Calumet Region. Jane Healy, who teaches grades 6 through 12 at St. Francis de Sales School on Chicagos East Side, will address this years Calumet Nature Exchange via Zoom at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, August 15. "She will talk about her plans for her students in studying the types of air pollution affecting the environment around the Wolf Lake watershed and the greater Calumet Region," Association For the Wolf Lake Initiative Executive Director Michael Boos said. "Students will measure the air quality around Wolf Lake on at least four occasions throughout the year." Healy is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College who is a master's degree candidate in education at St. Xavier University. "Healys students will gather real-time data including GIS mapping locations which they will share through the web with real air quality scientists. The hope will be that over time, students will collect a large data set of information about the level of particulate matter in the air, and be able to correlate that with data collected by other scientists or volunteers, to better understand the outside factors affecting the health of the ecosystem," Boos said. "Topics covered in class that will be linked to this include lessons on how air pollution is regulated, how we measure air pollution, data analysis and visualizing data, as well as air pollution and environmental justice." Licensed teachers in Indiana can earn an hour of professional development credit by attending. For more information, visit wolflakeinitiative.org. HAMMOND A federal judge has dismissed portions of a lawsuit filed by Lake County's former tourism chief against the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority (SSCVA) and other entities and individuals he claims had a hand in his 2021 ouster. In a series of rulings issued this week, U.S. District Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen preliminarily evaluated the allegations made by Speros Batistatos and found several were insufficient to continue toward trial. Van Bokkelen granted full dismissals to Kevin Smith, Hammond's city attorney; and Left of Center Media LLC, the parent company of the "Left of Center" podcast co-hosted by Smith and Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., records show. According to court records, the judge also dismissed claims against McDermott and the city of Hammond for alleged interference with a business or contractual relationship, but tentatively left intact Batistatos' claims against the mayor and the city for defamation, injurious falsehoods and civil conspiracy. At the same time, records show Van Bokkelen ordered additional discovery and briefing as to whether those claims still should be dismissed under an Indiana law discouraging litigation against individuals and entities exercising their First Amendment rights, also known as "strategic lawsuits against public participation," or the anti-SLAPP statute. According to court records, Batistatos can continue pursuing claims of age discrimination, retaliation, civil conspiracy, breach of contract, and breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing against the SSCVA, as well as alleged retaliation by individual SSCVA board members Matthew Maloney, Andrew Qunell, Thomas Dabertin and Matthew Schuffert. But claims that the SSCVA violated Indiana's whistleblower protections and SSCVA board members engaged in a civil conspiracy against Batistatos were dismissed by Van Bokkelen, records show. The SSCVA voted 12-2 on July 15, 2021, to remove Batistatos from his role in day-to-day tourism operations after some 30 years with the agency that's funded largely by taxes paid by Lake County hotel guests. The decision followed a weeks-long conflict between Batistatos and tourism board members over Batistatos' compensation that exceeded $330,000 between salary and benefits, including use of a company car, vacation day buyouts, vacation bonuses, stipends and retirement plan contributions. Board members also had expressed concerns about Batistatos' job performance, attitude and argumentativeness with the board on some issues. Ultimately, the board decided not to renew Batistatos' contract. It expired Dec. 31, 2021. Records show Batistatos filed initial notice of his intent to sue Nov. 18, 2021. The next day, McDermott and Smith unofficially responded to Batistatos' tort claim on their Left of Center podcast, with McDermott affirming his past characterizations of Batistatos as "a pompous ass" and "a jackass who doesn't know the law." "I didn't interfere with his employment contract. I criticized the way he did his job as a public figure spending millions of dollars of taxpayer money," McDermott said on the podcast. "Guess what, I'm entitled to do that, it's called the First Amendment." A trial date on Batistatos' remaining claims has not yet been scheduled. Gallery: Take a virtual tour of Indiana's state parks Brown County State Park Chain O' Lakes State Park Charlestown State Park Clifty Falls State Park Falls of the Ohio State Park Fort Harrison State Park Harmonie State Park Lincoln State Park McCormick's Creek State Park Mounds State Park O'Bannon Woods State Park Ouabache State Park Pokagon State Park Potato Creek State Park Prophetstown State Park Shades State Park Shakamak State Park Spring Mill State Park Summit Lake State Park Tippecanoe River State Park Turkey Run State Park Versailles State Park White River State Park Whitewater Memorial State Park Franciscan Health and the Cornerstone Community Development Corp. will host the ninth annual Health & Wellness Fair in south suburban Ford Heights. The event will take place between 12 and 4 p.m. on Aug. 26 at Cornerstone Community Development Corporation at 943 E. Lincoln Highway in Ford Heights. It will feature health and wellness activities, free health screenings, children's dental exams, and information about men's and women's health. People can learn about breast cancer education, domestic violence services, recovery services, senior programs and the Cook County CountyCare medical health plan. Participants can be screened for blood pressure, blood oxygen, body mass index, bone density, glucose, lung capacity and AFIB/heart rhythm. The event also will include group exercises, dancing, music, group exercises, dancing, giveaways and prize drawings. Attendees can get vouchers for free health screenings at Specialty Physicians of Illinois, help with ComEd payment options and information about local outreach programs. Its a pleasure to partner with Franciscan Health once again in providing much needed services to individuals and families from our service areas, which include Ford Heights, Glenwood, Lynwood and Sauk Village, said Cornerstone Community Development Corp. Executive Director Angelia Smith. Zarlengos Italian Ice and Gelato of Chicago Heights will provide frozen treats. Nutritious food options will be available as well. We are happy to once again partner with Cornerstone for the ninth consecutive year, said Jeff Lebioda, outreach and events coordinator for Franciscan Health. Many residents attend this event and receive free screenings and valuable information to help put them on a path to better health. GARY The Region's first electric transit buses are ready for service along the Broadway corridor after the Gary Public Transportation Corp. completed a four-year project to acquire four buses, making it the second transit provider in the state to operate full-size electric buses. More than 50 public officials and representatives of nonprofit organizations marked the arrival of the buses the with GPTC officials Wednesday on the Indiana University Northwest campus. The agency's interim general manager, Denise Dillard, said recent upgrades to GPTC equipment and services are promoting the regional connectivity people have been talking about for years. "We are now seeing our communities are all on one page we need to be connected," said Dillard, who introduced a variety of speakers at the celebratory event. Mayor Jerome Prince said the city should be proud of its investment in sustainable energy for current and future generations. "The city of Gary is continuing its effort to establish a safer and greener society," he said. Stephanie Hulett, chairwoman of the GPTC Board of Directors, commended staff members for incorporating the buses into the transit system. "We had to retool, relearn in order to bring new technology to Gary, Indiana," she said. "It's electric, it's clean, it's here in the G.I." State Sen. Eddie Melton, the Democratic candidate for mayor of Gary in this year's election, said the city should be proud of the new technology it's introducing to the Region, and also about the benefit GPTC provides to residents. "I'm not only thinking about the technology," he said. "I'm thinking about equity, I'm thinking about inclusion when we talk about transportation." Carl Lisek of Drive Clean Indiana, with which GPTC worked closely to acquire the buses, noted only about 2% of the 70,000 transit buses in the United States are electric. And, "we're just getting started, Gary," he said. Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Ty Warner said the agency did a regional greenhouse gas inventory a few years ago that showed that 83% of the Region's greenhouse gas emissions come from industrial sources, and that 74% of the remainder come from the transportation sector about 12% of overall emissions. Public transportation helps lessen that, and zero-emission vehicles go even further. "Any time a Gary resident jumps on a GPTC bus they are contributing towards a better Northwest Indiana," Warner said. "But these buses that you see right here, these take it to a whole new level." Shawn Seals, a senior environmental planner for the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, said the new buses would reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides by nearly 13 tons and carbon dioxide by over 1,600 tons. It will reduce diesel use by about 150,000 gallons, he said, and is the equivalent of removing 1,000 cars from the roads. Other speakers included Brenda Scott-Henry, director of the city's Department of Sustainability and Environmental Affairs; City Councilman Ronald Brewer Sr.; IUN Chancellor Ken Iwama and representatives of U.S. senators Todd Young and Mike Braun. The buses cost $3.6 million in total, with an additional $291,460 for chargers, according to GPTC. The purchase was aided by an $800,000 grant from the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust awarded in 2019 by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. The grant was a portion of Indiana's total of $40.9 million from the Volkswagen trust, which was the result of a $2.9 billion settlement made by the automaker after it admitted violating the Clean Air Act by cheating on federal emissions tests. GPTC selected Gillig Transit Bus Manufacturing, whose buses have a powertrain manufactured by Indiana-based Cummins, as supplier. The four vehicles are expected to fill about 75% of the Broadway Metro Express, or BMX, service, which runs from Gary to the north side of Crown Point. The buses have a range of 120-140 miles on a charge, according to GPTC, and are equipped with bicycle racks. Power lifts are located at the front entrance of the buses, rather than at the back entrance, as with the current buses. Dillard said that was a feature passengers needing lifts had requested. PHOTOS: Gary Public Transportation Corporation electric bus unveiling PepsiCo and the Arab Youth Centre (AYC) have opened applications for the Arab Youth Hackathon, a regional entrepreneurship programme aimed at creating smarter solutions to climate-related issues. Solutions are required in the areas of agriculture, circular economy, water security, and renewable energy and efficiency. According to recent research, 65% of Gen Z members in Mena are concerned about the world, but a higher proportion - 66% are hopeful about the change they can deliver. 50% are also actively striving to make a change through social, political, or environmental means. The hackathon will run in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, and is seeking applicants, including university students and early-stage entrepreneurs who either are looking to ideate or have a preliminary existing idea at the testing phase, which will evolve during the hackathons. Candidates must apply in teams of 2 to 3 participants aged between 18 to 35 years of age, with at least one member older than 21 years. Mentorship Once the shortlist of teams has been selected, PepsiCo, PepsiCo Foundation, Plug and Play and AYC will host a three-day local hackathon, providing mentorship and curated workshops to transfer knowledge to the participants. In the UAE, the hackathon will take place at the Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park from October 7 to 9. The proposed solutions will be assessed and selected based on its innovation and be financially feasible and scalable. A panel of experts will evaluate the entries based on their sustainability alignment, ability to reduce emissions, and the magnitude of impact on areas under the four pillars of the competition (Water, Agriculture, Climate, Circular Economy) such as climate change, energy, circular economy, deforestation, green transformation, soil fertility, waste management, water scarcity, and marine environment wellbeing. Seed fund The finals of the competition, featuring 15 of the most promising solutions from the five countries, will take place during December, in Dubai. The three best innovators will receive an equity-free seed fund from the PepsiCo Foundation to launch their businesses, worth $30,000 for the winner, $20,000 for the runner-up, and $10,000 for the second runner-up. In addition, they will participate in a five-month incubation programme that will help them develop and scale their groundbreaking ideas and ensure long-term success. Eugene Willemsen, CEO Africa, Middle East and South Asia at PepsiCo said: Young people are comfortable in a world of dialogue and collaboration, and uniquely motivated to contribute to solutions to climate-related issues. They also have the power to influence behavior in their communities and urge policymakers to tackle environmental challenges. This year, through tangible investment and collaborative action, PepsiCo is advancing COP28s goal to promote youth engagement in climate action. We are committed to diversity in thought, perspective, and action to move the needle in ways we havent imagined before, and the Arab Youth Hackathon harnesses the power of collaboration to channel this potential in tangible and measurable ways. Lasting solutions CD Glin, President, PepsiCo Foundation and Global Head of Philanthropy, PepsiCo added: At the PepsiCo Foundation, we know that global challenges require bold, innovative, local and lasting solutions. The Arab Youth Hackathon provides a platform for us to feed the potential and entrepreneurial spirit of the next generation of innovators across Mena as they develop home-grown solutions for our planets most pressing issues. We are proud to support them and couldnt be more excited about the social impact they will make. Sadeq Jarrar, Executive Director - Arab Youth Centre said: We heavily prioritise and promote climate action at the Arab Youth Centre, and always strive to formulate impactful initiatives to engage Arab youth in thinking about the future of our world. As a means to highlight Arab youth sustainable ingenuity across the Mena region, we look forward to seeing the results of the Hackathon and the solutions our applicants propose. At the Arab Youth Centre, we wholeheartedly believe in the power that youth hold when they mobilise and voice their opinions to collaborate. Through this initiative, we hope to foster a culture of leadership among Arab youth for the betterment of future generations, Jarrar continued. Private sector initiatives Private sector initiatives, especially those involving youth, play a key role in supporting COP28s ambitious sustainability goals. The Hackathon will be supported by the Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park as well as a range of universities including University of Wollongong, American University of Sharjah, American University in Dubai, Ajman University, Higher Colleges of Technology, University of Sharjah, University of Birmingham Dubai, and Abu Dhabi University that will work closely with PepsiCo and the Arab Youth Centre to identify promising talent and guide them through the process. Plug and Play, known for accelerating innovation across a wide network of accelerators, industry-leading corporations, and venture capitalists globally, will also lend its expertise to help bring the programme to life in Mena. Omeed Mehrinfar, EMEA Managing Partner, Plug and Play said: "As one of the most active global investors in sustainability, we are strong believers and renowned enablers of climate technology, thus this is a great opportunity to partner with market and thought leaders such as PepsiCo and Arab Youth Centre in activating and implementing this unique cross border Sustainability hackathon in the Arab region. We hope to continue to support young innovators, corporate partners and strategic government stakeholders with the largest open innovation platform in the world that is Plug and Play; this will be a good opportunity to tackle climate challenges and find adequate solutions from an ideation and pre-MVP perspective."-- TradeArabia News Service A new church has launched in Gary and it hopes to help revitalize the city. Flourish Church opened at 3935 Cleveland Street earlier this year with a goal of helping to restore the community. Former Bethel Church Gary campus pastor Dexter Harris struck out on his own. He envisions the church as more than just a place for sermons on Sunday mornings. He prioritizes outreach and hopes it will serve the needs of the community. Harris wants to help businesses, entrepreneurs and people to flourish in the community. Im hoping that Flourish can open its building and resources in a way that galvanizes networks, people and resources to revitalize Gary, Indiana and see it flourish again, said Harris. The church is now welcoming new congregants. Harris hopes to serve a racially diverse congregation, get to know members of the community and find out what they need to succeed. He wants Flourish church to give back to members and businesses in the community. Flourish Church restored the courtyard of Lighthouse Charter School, donated offerings to another church in need, hosted block parties, staged community cleanups, held a Juneteenth event, helped Gary have Winter Wonderland and rang doorbells to help those in need. It hosts a Jesus at da Beach series of services at Marquette Park Beach in Miller. It plans to give its offering to Habitat for Humanity in October to boost home ownership in the community. We are committed to working together with our neighbors all over NWI in order to see our community experience wholeness not only spiritually, but also mentally, physically, financially, relationally and systemically, said Hannah Berridge, Flourish Church Board member. For more information, email info@flourishchurchnwi.org or call 219-240-1818. VALPARAISO After more than 10 years of service, Scot MacDonald has stepped down as the executive director for the Memorial Opera House in Valparaiso. "At the time when Scot had started the place was bleeding out. We were in the hole, every month was just trying to make one penny touch the other and survive," Commissioner Laura Blaney, D-South, said at Tuesday's Porter County Board of Commissioners meeting. "You've been fantastic," Blaney said. "You've expanded the offerings It's become a vibrant and successful place." Board of Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North, congratulated MacDonald for making MOH a better place than it was when he took over as executive director. "We apologize for the gray in your beard now," Biggs joked. "That's not all you it's genetics," MacDonald said with a chuckle. MacDonald noted he's fortunate to have been a part of something that has made it so difficult to say goodbye. "Thank you very much for standing by us for all these years," MacDonald said to the commissioners. "It hasn't always been easy and it hasn't always been fun, but it's always been worth it so thank you." The commissioners appointed Natalie Klobucher as the interim executive director for MOH. Klobuchar has worked alongside MacDonald for more than 10 years. "She knows that place as intimately as any other human on the planet aside from Scot," Blaney said. "I look forward to her helping us along here as interim." PHOTOS: Indiana Vintage Fest Indiana Vintage Fest Low Waste Liv Offbeat Thrift and Vintage Indiana Vintage Fest The Gas Station Bad Fish Goods Bro Bros Closet Payless Vintage U.S. News & World Report has identified Community Healthcare Systems hospitals as among the best in the country. Community Hospital in Munster was named by U.S. News & World Report to its list of the 2023-24 Best Hospitals. The nationwide rankings are meant to help patients and doctors pick the right hospitals for them. Community Hospital was ranked fourth in Indiana by the former newsweekly magazine that's especially well known for its annual college rankings. Community Healthcare System is proud of the quality of care we provide the residents of Northwest Indiana, said Don Fesko, president and CEO of Community Foundation of Northwest Indiana, the parent company of Community Healthcare System. We are honored to receive these accolades from U.S. News & World Report. We will continue to offer the best and most advanced care to our community. U.S. News & World Report looked at more than 4,500 hospitals across 15 specialties and 21 procedures and conditions. Only 12% of hospitals earned a Best Hospitals ranking, the highest distinction a hospital can receive. Hospitals were recognized based on clinical outcomes, level of nursing care, patient experience and other factors. Community Hospital was recognized for colon cancer surgery and treatment of leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, kidney failure, stroke, heart failure, heart attack and COPD. Other Community Healthcare Systems hospitals also earned recognition. St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart was recognized for high-performing status in treatment of heart failure kidney failure, stroke and COPD. St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago was recognized for its treatment of heart failure. This acknowledgment represents our unwavering commitment to provide the best healthcare and support to our communities in Northwest Indiana, said Alan Kumar, COO of Community Healthcare System. Our doctors, nurses and staff are dedicated to improving the health, longevity and quality of life for every patient who enters our doors. The Procedures & Conditions ratings come out annually. They are intended to help patients make informed healthcare decisions, especially about where to receive care for challenging health conditions or elective procedures. For 34 years, U.S. News has provided data-informed rankings to help patients and their doctors find the best hospital to treat their illness or condition, said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News. For more information, visit COMHS.org. A Fort Wayne businessman seeking the Republican nomination for Indiana governor is urging his competitors to detail their proposed policy agendas as he has so Hoosier GOP primary voters next year can make an informed choice among the candidates. Eric Doden issued the challenge for candidates to put their plans on paper during a Republican Party forum Tuesday night in Fulton County, which is about 50 miles southeast of Valparaiso. "I'm the only candidate on this stage and in this race that has publicly put my plans in writing," Doden said. "If you are asking people for their vote, they deserve to see in full detail how you plan to solve their problems." Doden's campaign website, dodenforindiana.com, features under the "Eric's vision" tab six major policies the former president of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and Valparaiso University Law School graduate will try to enact if he's elected governor. They include exempting teachers from state income tax, mandating health care pricing transparency, having the state cover all costs associated with adoption, funneling $200 million a year to regional development projects, making $100 million a year available to revitalize rural communities, and implementing a partial state takeover of Indianapolis infrastructure and public safety programs. On the website, each policy is detailed in a linked two-page white paper describing the nature of the problem, Doden's plan to address it, the implementation process, desired outcomes and projected impact. "I lead from my faith," Doden said. "Faith without works is dead and bold rhetoric without solutions is just talk." Doden said "just talk" is all his competitors currently are offering as they blast out daily statements on hot-button issues without providing much information about how they'd actually govern the state in a way that solves the very real problems faced by Hoosiers and Indiana communities. In particular, Doden pointed out the gubernatorial campaign websites of U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, and former Attorney General Curtis Hill rely heavily on biography and offer some brief takes on state issues, but altogether lack the kind of policy details Doden said voters deserve. "You can read all of my detailed policy plans on my website," Doden said. "All of the other candidates ... out of respect for the voters, should do the same." The number of major candidates in the Republican primary field is likely to grow by at least one in the weeks ahead as former Indiana Commerce Secretary Brad Chambers soon is expected to join the race to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb as Indiana's chief executive. Hoosier Republicans will select their party's gubernatorial nominee at the May 7, 2024, primary election. The GOP lieutenant governor nominee will be chosen next summer by the delegates attending the biennial Republican State Convention. So far, the sole Democratic candidate for governor is Jennifer McCormick, the former state superintendent of public instruction who was elected to that post in 2016 as a Republican. 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 If a visitor goes to the Barnes Foundation, and a favorite Cezanne, Matisse or Renoir is missing because it is on loan to the Louvre, is the Barnes still the Barnes? Art lovers who have not had to imagine such a scenario may face it soon. In July, a Pennsylvania judge granted the Barness petition to lend a limited number of storied paintings from its collection galleries to other institutions and to also display them temporarily outside the set configurations established by the obsessive founder, Albert C. Barnes (18721951) when he was alive. (An exception was in the 1990s when highlights of the collection toured internationally to raise money to renovate the original building.) The decision comes just when the drama around the Barnes Foundations 2012 move from its original suburban home in Merion, Pa., to a sleek new facility in Philadelphia, sparking years of controversy and outcry, had finally died down. Both the move and the new lending policy go against Barness wishes as stated in his original indenture of trust, the legal agreement he created in his lifetime. Now, as a result, the collection will look and behave a lot more like a global museum. (There has never been a restriction on commissioning new works.) For many visitors, the town of Lahaina is a place to go for tropical beaches. But for residents of Hawaii, it is a trove of history. Its heritage museum, in a landmark courthouse, houses artifacts from before the rest of the world knew Hawaii existed. Its oldest building, the Baldwin Home, was occupied by the 19th-century physician who saved Maui from an epidemic of smallpox. Its central feature, a sprawling 150-year-old banyan tree, was planted to commemorate the arrival of Christian missionaries in 1873. On Wednesday, that legacy and more appeared to be in ashes, consumed by the hurricane-driven wildfires that have devastated the island of Maui, razing much of the historic district of Lahaina, once Hawaiis royal capital, in a matter of hours. We had no preparation, no warning, nothing, said Theo Morrison, the executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, which manages more than a dozen historic sites in the town. Ms. Morrison, a longtime resident and the mother of a firefighter who has kept her apprised of the damage, spoke from an East Coast airport on Wednesday. She left Maui a day before the fires had broken out on Tuesday night, bound for Europe on family business, she said. An F.B.I. agent on Wednesday fatally shot a man in Provo, Utah, who officials said was armed and had threatened to assassinate President Biden just hours before the president was scheduled to speak in nearby Salt Lake City. Craig D. Robertson, 75, was also charged with threatening to shoot other elected officials, including Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, as well as with making threats against law enforcement officials, according to court documents filed a day earlier in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City. The shooting comes at a moment of intense polarization in American politics. The three indictments of former President Donald J. Trump have offered fodder for supporters and allies, who have seized on his mounting legal peril to fan a narrative of a Justice Department weaponized against him and bent on derailing the Republican front-runners campaign to retake the White House. Lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday asked the judge overseeing his prosecution on charges of risking national security secrets if he could discuss the classified discovery evidence in the case in the secure facility that he once used for classified material when he was in office. The request to the federal judge, Aileen M. Cannon, was an attempt to get around a stricter provision contained in a protective order proposed by the government that would require Mr. Trump to discuss and review the classified evidence only in one of the highly secure locations run by the federal courts in Florida. While Mr. Trumps lawyers refused to offer many details about their preferred location, they told Judge Cannon that it was a previously approved facility at or near his residence an apparent reference to Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trumps private club in Florida. Christopher M. Kise, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, said the request to allow the former president to re-establish the same secure area for classified material would cut down on the immense practical and logistical hurdles and costs of having Mr. Trump travel to one of the sensitive compartmented information facilities, or SCIFs, run by the courts. The six suspects arrested in connection with the assassination of a presidential candidate in Ecuador are Colombian nationals, Ecuadors interior minister, Juan Zapata, said Thursday, marking another twist in a killing that has rocked a nation consumed by violence fueled by drug trafficking. The candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, a former journalist who had been outspoken about the link between organized crime and government officials, was gunned down outside a high school in the capital, Quito, after speaking to young supporters. The attack came just days before voting begins in an election that has been dominated by concerns over drug-related violence. A suspect was killed in the melee that followed, and nine other people were shot, officials said. Mr. Villavicencio, 59, was polling near the middle of an eight-person race. He was among the most vocal candidates on the issue of crime and state corruption. It was the first assassination of a presidential candidate in Ecuador, once a relatively safe nation, and came less than a month after the mayor of Manta, a port city, was fatally shot during a public appearance. Three people were killed and nine others were injured after a Russian missile struck a residential area of the city of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday. The attack on Wednesday hit the citys largest district, Shevchenkivskyi, which the city councils website describes as being mostly bedroom. A church building and several local shops were destroyed, and the windows were blown out of several high-rise buildings, the head of the regional military administration, Yuri Malashko, said on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday evening. The Russian missile struck around 8 p.m., after a day of air-raid warnings across the country prompted by a Ukrainian Air Force warning that a MiG-31K jet had taken off from a Russian air base. The jets are capable of carrying hypersonic Kinzhal missiles, also known as Daggers, some of the most sophisticated conventional weapons in Russias arsenal. Senegals mobile operators have implemented agreements to enable nationwide roaming between their networks. Abdou Karim Sall, Director General of the Regulation Authority for Telecommunications and Posts (LAutorite de Regulation des Telecommunications et des Postes, ARTP), said: National roaming is now a reality in Senegal. While celebrating the fact that initial trials in the Diourbel region saw a 100% success rate for the transferral of calls and SMS between networks, Sall noted that some technical issues remained relating to mobile data traffic. Senegals push for national roaming was spurred by a request from President Macky Sall to prioritise moves towards nationwide mobile network coverage. The initiative is aimed at extending connectivity to underserved areas as well as enabling service continuity in the event of a network outage. The American Museum of Natural History has always been known for creatures just not more than a million live ones. That may change, however, as a result of its Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation. Since this new wing opened in May, almost 1.5 million people have visited the museum, and most are thought to have explored the four floors of the Gilder Center that are open to the public. But even repeat visitors like me are still discovering its many attractions, including crawling and flying animals, mostly of the small but mighty variety. Where else in Manhattan can you encounter a Hercules beetle or poison dart frogs? But the center, which was designed by the architect Jeanne Gang and her firm, Studio Gang, has more than wiggly wildlife. Described by Michael Kimmelman, the architecture critic for The New York Times, as a poetic, joyful, theatrical work, it also includes a towering behind-the-scenes show of collections, a library with its own display gallery and an immersive digital experience. Here are six highlights. One of the wisest, most beautiful and unsettling exhibitions in New York this summer is Tuan Andrew Nguyen: Radiant Remembrance at the New Museum, a show about coming to terms with the intergenerational trauma of war. Nguyen works in video and also makes art objects pertaining to them. In the three recent moving-image installations here he creates narratives that operate in cinematic and real space in different, often affecting ways. Nguyen was born in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1976, and came to the United States with his family three years later. His family lived in Oklahoma, Texas and Southern California, where he earned a B.A. and an M.F. A. Revisiting Vietnam as a young man, he came to see the country and its trials as the primary subject of his art; in 2005 he moved to Ho Chi Minh City, where he continues to live and work. Nguyen is a documentarian and an assembler of broken things with a preference for collaboration. His work aims to heal the fragmented lives and retrieve the suppressed memories of the marginalized people most affected by colonization, war and displacement, especially in Vietnam. The artists first major exhibition in an American museum, Radiant Remembrance, has been organized by Vivian Crockett, a curator at the museum, and Ian Wallace, a curatorial assistant. Its video installations focus on people who live in the shadow of the two long wars for Vietnamese independence. By the mid-1970s, the Band was well known as the group that had backed Bob Dylan on his first electric tour and released a series of its own reverentially reviewed albums that returned music to a pre-psychedelic era and augured a return-to-basics movement in rock. But in 1976, with the quality and sales of its albums both declining, the Band announced a farewell show, full of illustrious guest stars, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on Thanksgiving Day. The gala concert would be filmed by Martin Scorsese, who in the last few years had directed the provocative and acclaimed films Mean Streets, Alice Doesnt Live Here Anymore and Taxi Driver. The music documentaries of the late 60s and early 70s Dont Look Back, starring a scabrous Dylan, in 1967, then the concert films Monterey Pop in 1968 and Woodstock in 1970, as well as the Rolling Stones debacle Gimme Shelter the same year were low-budget affairs, underground in their lighting, camerawork and sound. D.A. Pennebaker shot Dont Look Back by himself, using a hand-held camera and 16-millimeter film. The Last Waltz which put a spotlight on the Bands guitarist and principal songwriter, Robbie Robertson, who died this week at 80 was a confident, dramatic upgrade with an atypical structure. It begins with the concerts final song, and incorporates band interviews and B-roll shots to give personality to each member. The 1978 film employs highly stylized backlighting and footlights, avoids audience shots and uses nearly every camera angle except low angle front, which is how bands are traditionally seen by members of an audience. The musicians dressed like western gunslingers ready to face their end, and to counteract all the mythic imagery, the interviews are full of the kind of artifice other films edit out, including awkward exchanges between the band members and Scorsese, their stumbling inquisitor. The movie dwells in shades of purple, the color of bruises and cabernet sauvignon. The armorer who loaded the gun that discharged on the set of the film Rust in New Mexico, killing its cinematographer, is set to stand trial on involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering charges starting Dec. 6. The armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, entered a plea of not guilty to the charges on Wednesday after attempts by her lawyer to dismiss the case were unsuccessful. She waived her right to a preliminary hearing, a weeklong process at which a judge would have determined whether to proceed with a trial. Ms. Gutierrez-Reed, 26, was accused by prosecutors in court papers of deviating from the protocols governing the use of firearms on film sets. The films cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, was shot and killed in October 2021 when the gun that its star, Alec Baldwin, was rehearsing with on set fired a live round. Live ammunition is supposed to be banned on movie sets, and prosecutors accused Ms. Gutierrez-Reed of failing to properly ensure that the gun was safe to handle, and of failing to thoroughly examine each of the six rounds she loaded into it that day. Those rounds were supposed to be dummy rounds, inert cartridges that are used to make guns appear loaded for the camera. They also accused her of not properly responding to previous accidental discharges of blanks on set in the days leading up to the tragedy. Of course youll hurt me, Aidan tells Carrie when he finds out about that conversation. And he will hurt her, and things will get messy, but they will work it out. Aidan is just as sure as Carrie. Everything seems to be going right. So, if the aim of this episode is to convince us, the audience, not to worry that Carrie and Aidan wont make it work this time and yet that our doubts are well-founded well, its working. And I hope that the writers, executives and everyone else involved at Max understand that if Aidan and Carrie fall apart in the final two episodes of this season, after all this building of trust between them, and between them and us that some of us (me!) will sink into a hole and perish. Meanwhile, not everyone else is so self-assured in matters of the heart. For starters, Anthony has been having dinner, but not sex, with Giuseppe (Sebastiano Pigazzi), the young Italian poet who recently ended his brief stint as a Hot Fella. Maybe its his pending divorce from Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson), or maybe its just that he cant figure out what would make a fox like Giuseppe want someone like him. But for whatever reason, Anthony just cant seem to relax and embrace it. It isnt until Anthony confronts Giuseppe about what he believes is an obvious scheme to get a green card that he finds out Giuseppe already has dual citizenship. He really does just want to shag. Within moments, they do. Nya, however, has absolutely no issue showing a younger man around her bedroom. She is reveling in hot, casual sex until a gut-punch of an Instagram post crosses her feed: a photo of her ex-husband, hugging a woman we can assume is the hat-wearing songwriter Nya caught him with before. And she is pregnant. As you both know, theres a difference between documenting and investigating. At what point did you start to think, Theres something worth investigating here? LIPMAN-STERN: At first we didnt realize that we were calling on behalf of scams. And then one day, the names of the charities started getting a little crazier, and I was researching online, and some of the charities were on these lists of worst charities in the United States, or like, charities where the vast majority if not everything wasnt going where it was supposed to go. PESPAS: We started realizing that the money wasnt really being used properly, and we wanted to document that. But listen, its not just this particular company. The issue at hand is charity. No matter what the charity is, in America, its a business model. There was a guy who used to work at C.D.G. named Joe. And he used to say: Do you want to become rich in America? Start a charity. LIPMAN-STERN: Wed raise money for major police organizations PESPAS: Well, it wasnt just that. It was also money for firemen, for first responders, for paralyzed veterans. LIPMAN-STERN: Yeah, I was getting to that PESPAS: You know what C.D.G. used to do? When you donated money, theyd just change the name of the organization and call the same number back again. So they would call you for firemen, then they would call you for veterans, then they would call you for the police. It was just never ending. Among the books we recommend this week are two histories of social ferment that led to consequential change in different places and eras and conditions: Christopher Clarks Revolutionary Spring, about the unrest that swept Europe in 1848, and Paul Kixs You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live, about the civil rights struggle that unfolded in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963. In very different ways, both books feel as if theyre in conversation with this moment; you cant go wrong reading either, or both. Also on the syllabus this week: two books about the glories (and at times horrors) of human knowledge, as well as new fiction from Andrew Ridker, Jeffery Renard Allen, Ashley Audrain and more. Happy reading. Gregory Cowles WHALEFALL Daniel Kraus This brash, beat-the-clock adventure story about fathers, sons, guilt and the mysteries of the sea takes place in an absurdly improbable setting inside the various stomachs of a 60-ton sperm whale, where a scuba diver has been trapped after being inadvertently swallowed for lunch. Biden declares disaster for Maui President Biden issued a major disaster declaration for Maui as evacuation centers filled and tourists fled from the island in the wake of a fast-moving wildfire. The death toll climbed to 36, and hundreds of buildings were damaged in the tourist town of Lahaina and elsewhere on the western coast. Tad Craig, a wedding photographer who saw the wildfire on Tuesday in Lahaina, said gas tanks were exploding and smoke was blowing sideways. It was just a total inferno Armageddon, he said. Fueled by unusual conditions among them winds from a distant hurricane the fire ranks as one of the nations deadliest in decades. Flames burned with such intensity that at least a dozen people escaped into the Pacific Ocean, where they were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard. Satellite images show the scale of destruction. The fire, which officials said had been largely contained, prompted officials to evacuate 11,000 tourists from Maui, whose economy relies on tourism. Officials have strongly discouraged people from traveling to the island, one of Americas most beloved tourist destinations, while the crisis continues. At least one longtime sexual abuse victim of Jeffrey Epstein who received a monetary settlement from his estate can also pursue separate claims against two powerful former Wall Street executives who had ties to the convicted sex offender, according to two people briefed on the matter. Richard Kahn, an executor of Mr. Epsteins estate, testified in a deposition in May that the victims settlement included a carve out provision involving Leon Black, a billionaire private equity investor, and James E. Staley, a former top executive at JPMorgan Chase and Barclays, said the people, who were briefed on the deposition and spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter. The exceptions made for Mr. Black and Mr. Staley show how the two men continue to be dogged by their social and business dealings with Mr. Epstein four years after he killed himself in a federal jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. The arrangement could set a precedent for other victims of Mr. Epstein, potentially exposing Mr. Black and Mr. Staley to further scrutiny and liability. She was a victim, potentially, to these individuals, Mr. Kahn said in the deposition, according to one of the people. Mr. Kahn said that Mr. Epsteins estate agreed to the carve-out provision so that the unnamed woman could potentially sue for harms that she incurred. There are reviews out there that talk about the type of dangerous behavior that occurs, but those reviews are drowned out, Mr. Levine said. You cant find them. Predators are increasingly weaponizing apps and online services to collect explicit images. Last year, law enforcement received 7,000 reports of children and teenagers who were coerced into sending nude images and then blackmailed for photographs or money. The F.B.I. declined to say how many of those reports were credible. The incidents, which are called sextortion, more than doubled during the pandemic. Because Apples and Googles app stores dont offer keyword searches, Mr. Levine said, it can be difficult for parents to find warnings of inappropriate sexual conduct. He envisions the App Danger Project, which is free, complementing other services that vet products suitability for children, like Common Sense Media, by identifying apps that arent doing enough to police users. He doesnt plan to profit off the site but is encouraging donations to the University of Massachusetts to offset its costs. Mr. Levine and a dozen computer scientists investigated the number of reviews that warned of child sexual abuse across more than 550 social networking apps distributed by Apple and Google. They found that a fifth of those apps had two or more complaints of child sexual abuse material and that 81 offerings across the App and Play stores had seven or more of those types of reviews. Provided the countrys President, Droupadi Murmu, adds his signature, Indias personal data protection bill, passed by Parliaments upper house on Wednesday evening, will become law very soon. Readers will be aware that the bill had experienced some delays, most notably last year when it was revamped to meet concerns about the potential for mass surveillance and adverse effects on the business environment. But for a country where around one billion people are connected to the internet, a law regulating the sharing of personal information is probably well overdue. This is also a country that, as the UKs Financial Times points out, has pioneered one of the worlds largest digitisation drives, capturing citizens personal information through its Aadhaar ID system and building out an extensive network of digital infrastructure known as the India Stack. The new law imposes limits on the purposes for which data can be collected and how long it can be stored while taking what its proponents insist is a more flexible approach than that of the EU. However, there are still concerns. Some opposition politicians wanted the bill sent to committee for further review. More serious perhaps is a provision that allows the government to bypass aspects of the bill in certain vaguely defined security-related circumstances. However, the law does loosen restrictions on companies ability to transfer data overseas, making it more business-friendly than previous versions of which there have been quite a few. In fact the Supreme Court ruled in 2017 that Indians had a fundamental right to privacy. The original draft of the law was first presented in late 2019. The fires in Hawaii would be shocking anywhere killing at least 36 people, in one of the deadliest wildfires in the United States in modern history. But the devastation is especially striking because of where it happened: In a state defined by its lush vegetation, a far cry from the dry landscape normally associated with fire threats. The explanation is as straightforward as it is sobering: As the planet heats up, no place is protected from disasters. The story of this weeks blaze arguably began decades ago, when Hawaii started experiencing a long-term decline in average annual rainfall. Since 1990, rainfall at selected monitoring sites has been 31 percent lower in the wet season, and 6 percent lower in the dry season, according to work published in 2015 by researchers at the University of Hawaii and the University of Colorado. There are multiple reasons for that change, according to Abby Frazier, a climatologist at Clark University who has researched Hawaii. Uruguayans have been drinking, cooking and bathing with salty water for months. The longest drought the country has ever recorded left its capital, Montevideo, almost completely dry, forcing the city to add brackish water to its supplies. The crisis is striking for a country that was seemingly blessed with bountiful fresh water, and that appeared to be ahead of the climate change curve, as The Times Magazine reported last year. But the three-year drought brought the country to its knees. Water stress is a major concern all over the globe. A similar crisis is happening now in parts of Iran, and you may remember the 2018 drought in Cape Town, and another one in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2015. Climate change didnt directly cause the drought in Uruguay and neighboring Argentina, as we reported last year. But global warming was a factor in extreme heat that made the drought worse, scientists said, by increasing the loss of moisture from soil and plants. Deforestation in the Amazon may have also played a role. The result has been a popular commodity wine: cheap, aromatic, easy to drink and forget. In many peoples minds, thats all albarino can be. Yet, as is so often the case with wine, ideas about a grapes potential for complexity and aging become fixed not because of a grapes actual limits but because few people have tried make anything more of it. But when a producer treats a grape more ambitiously, things begin to change just look at aligote, silvaner and bobal. How albarino is farmed and what sort of wine is intended will dictate its potential. In Rias Baixas, a growing group of farmers and producers are exploring albarinos capabilities, farming the grape with care and sensitivity and experimenting with different methods of making the wine. In the process, they have demonstrated that albarino can produce wines that age for decades and offer captivating complexities. And beyond albarino, they are re-examining the regions history, resurrecting forgotten grapes and neglected vineyards, and finding excellence just as other parts of Spain, like sherry country and Sierra de Gredos, have done. If you find that the blistering, unrelenting heat is making you anxious and irritable, even depressed, its not all in your head. Soaring temperatures can damage not just the body but also the mind. As heat waves become more intense, more frequent and longer, it has become increasingly important to address the impact on mental health, scientists say. Its really only been over the past five years that theres been a real recognition of the impact, said Dr. Joshua Wortzel, chair of the American Psychiatric Associations committee on climate change and mental health, which was set up just two years ago. Our understanding of the basic biology of why this association exists is still in its infancy, he added. The movie begins as Clemens, a British doctor, appeals to Captain Eliot (Liam Cunningham) to join the Demeters company. The only educated man onboard, Clemens nonetheless proves an able deckhand, winning the favor of both the salty first mate, Wojchek (David Dastmalchian), and the captains wide-eyed grandson, Toby (Woody Norman). But The Last Voyage, directed by Andre Ovredal, doesnt waste time on characterizations. Before long, bad omens and creaky floorboards give way to repetitive, swollen set pieces as Dracula picks off the shipmates one by one. The script does find time for a feeble feminist gesture the storys sole woman can cock a rifle and a monologue about racism. These efforts to update the tale are about as successful as those of the sorry crew, whose fates were written over a century ago. The Last Voyage of the Demeter Rated R for fighting and biting. Running time: 1 hour 58 minutes. In theaters. Part of the answer can be found at a large church in Long Island City, Queens, the Evangel Christian Center, which the city said accepted nearly 200 people last week who had been in the line outside the Roosevelt Hotel, which has become the main intake center for migrants. Several migrants from the West African nation of Mauritania said Wednesday that they had been moved there from their sidewalk sleeping spots. Mohammed Yerim, a Mauritanian in his mid-20s, said he came directly to the church, bypassing the line outside the hotel, after arriving from Florida. I came here because I have a church address that someone had given him, he said, adding that the accommodations, including halal food and showers, were very good. The city declined to release a breakdown on where it is housing the most recent arrivals or the 50,000 migrants it is currently sheltering, but offered some piecemeal information accounting for several hundred new placements. Two emergency lodgings in recreation centers in Brooklyn in McCarren Park and Sunset Park that opened over the weekend are housing about 80 people each. The city found hotels upstate to take about 75 people over the last week, officials said, and is expanding the capacity of a humanitarian relief center in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. A small number of migrants leave the shelter system each week after finding homes elsewhere. Hackers stole more than $6 million from the New Haven, Conn., public school system, Justin Elicker, the citys mayor, said on Thursday. A little more than half of that money, $3.6 million, has since been recovered, and an investigation into who was responsible for the theft is underway. For now, the city has stopped its use of electronic money transfers, except for employee payroll, and will instead use checks to make payments. It is shocking to me that someone is so greedy that they would steal money from public school children, Mr. Elicker said in an interview, calling the hackers criminals who were completely unethical. The hackers appear to have gained access in late May to the email account of the school systems chief operating officer and began to monitor conversations among the school official, vendors and the citys finance office, Mr. Elicker said. The hackers impersonated the school official and vendors in order to divert the schools money to fraudulent accounts. Divisions among New York Democrats widened on Thursday around the influx of migrants arriving from the southern border, as the state attorney general took the unusual step of declining to represent Gov. Kathy Hochul in legal proceedings over how to care for thousands of newcomers. The attorney general, Letitia James, did not immediately publicize her reasoning. But a person familiar with her thinking said that Ms. James, a New York City native, had fundamental policy disagreements with the governor over the states role in managing the crisis. Their disagreement appears to have come to a head in recent days as a State Supreme Court judge in Manhattan began pushing the state government to take more responsibility in helping the city meet a unique, decades-old mandate to provide shelter to anyone who seeks it. Mayor Eric Adams has made no secret that he wants the help. As thousands of new migrants overwhelm the five boroughs, he has asked the governor to provide greater financial assistance to the city and develop a coordinated plan to send arriving migrants across the state. U.S. asylum laws were designed to protect people fleeing harm. They were enacted in the decades following the Holocaust to ensure that the United States never again turned away people fleeing persecution. But now, many blame these laws for the chaos and inhumanity at the nations southern border. The biggest blow to Americas commitment to asylum came during the pandemic, when former President Donald Trump invoked Title 42, an emergency measure that allowed border agents to turn away asylum seekers, under the justification of preventing the spread of the virus. When Title 42 restrictions were lifted in May, President Biden enacted a carrot-and-stick approach aimed at deterring new asylum seekers from traveling by foot to the border. These new measures included a set of legal pathways, including a parole program that allows people from select countries, including Cuba and Haiti, to legally enter the country for at least two years, provided they have a financial sponsor in the United States. Doing so has discouraged would-be migrants from taking a dangerous trek with a smuggler, often through multiple continents. This approach would have been a great step forward if it hadnt been paired with a countermeasure that prohibits some asylum seekers at the border from applying for protection in the United States. The vast majority of migrants must secure appointments at an official port of entry, which are difficult to obtain, or else they will be subject to expedited removal if they cannot prove that they sought legal protection in another country along the way. Few shopping experiences are more intimate than a visit to the pharmacy. The contents of your basket may disclose waxy ears, hemorrhoids, insomnia, constipation, a messy rash or the compulsion to try all permutations of the Reeses product line. The pharmacy is a place where people like to slip in and out unnoticed, hoping the cashier doesnt linger over each item at checkout. But privacy is harder to preserve now that drugstores, to thwart shoplifters, increasingly lock their stock behind cabinet doors, with buttons to push in order to get an employees attention. A pimply boy has to hail an employee to free his benzoyl peroxide and a 14-year-old girl needs to be watched as she selects a tampon that suits her cycle. Even for adults, its hard not to be self-conscious about having a store employee trail you through the drugstore like a personal shopper as you ponder which dental floss to buy. I thought about this sad atmosphere of surveillance during one of my recent visits to San Francisco, where the broader downtown retail environment has been left tattered by store closures. Walking from aisle to aisle pushing a series of buttons, I felt like an imposition on a pharmacys meager staff. After a string of these requests, I left before securing everything Id planned to buy. The whole experience felt bad: I was sorry for the shopkeeper, sorry for the employees, sorry for being there, sorry for not buying enough. I made no impulse purchases. Theres good reason for the added security. The material costs of shoplifting are considerable. In 2021, an estimated $94.5 billion nationwide was lost to shoplifting and other forms of retail shrink (which includes damaged or lost goods and employee theft). According to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation in June, 53 percent of consumers believe that retail crimes such as shoplifting and looting have increased in their communities since the pandemic. Instant messaging app Beep Pakistan has arrived. But will it challenge the popularity in Pakistan of WhatsApp? According to Indias Economic Times, Beep Pakistan, which was launched as an alternative to the existing WhatsApp service, has reportedly been developed thanks to a collaboration between Pakistans IT Ministry and the National Information Technology Board (NITB). Part of the rationale for a made-in-Pakistan app is to lessen the threat of potential cyberattacks, ensuring that sensitive government communication is better protected. Indeed, government communication is the main point of the app for now; it is currently available only to government officials. Underlining the localisation aspect of the app Beep Pakistan apparently stores all user data within servers in Pakistan and under the supervision of the National IT Board. The idea is to make sure there is no risk of audio or video leaks. There is optimism that the app will help to improve communication and efficiency within government departments. However, it wont be exclusive to the government for long. A phased rollout will see the app start within the countrys IT ministry and then move to other ministries and departments. Eventually there will be a rollout across Pakistan, bringing the app to the general public within a year via the Google Play Store. The app's features include support for audio and video calls, end-to-end encryption, document sharing with captions and instant messaging. Will Beep Pakistan eventually become the preferred alternative to WhatsApp across the country? Thats the hope of some government spokespeople, though there is still some way to go before it reaches the majority of the population. In 1999, after my freshman year in college, I was a counselor at a camp in central Vermont. It changed my life. For the next eight summers I kept going back. Camp was where I found my professional calling: Teaching kids to mold clay flowers by hand made me realize I wanted to spend the rest of my life making and teaching art. It was also where I came to understand core values. Somewhere in this outdoor summer utopia a blend of vaguely Quaker ethos with a communist, hippie, artsy sensibility and a dash of Midwestern kindness I found my people. Its where I fell in love for the first time, with a soulful, charming boy who worked slinging oatmeal and scrubbing pots in the camps kitchen. Its where I learned how to exist in community with others. Although I was technically hired as a ceramics counselor, I also appointed myself the unofficial photographer of Camp Killooleet. Even back then, I knew I would grow up and move on, and I wanted to hold onto all of it: the potted red geraniums on the dining porch windowsills, the ham and potatoes for Wednesday supper, the rutted mud puddles down the grassy fields created by campers on bikes. I wanted to freeze the smell of campfire in dirty hair, of a soggy bathing suit hanging in the cabin rafters, of a kid who is too young to wear deodorant but needs it. Camp felt magical. And inherently fleeting. By photographing it, I wanted to save it forever. The latest Trump indictment is much more complicated than the first two Trump indictments and probably any indictment that would come out of Fulton County, Ga. It attacks a scheme that played out across several weeks, in several states, involving dozens of others, including Trump-allied activists, those cited as co-conspirators and G.O.P. hacks who tried to overturn the 2020 election in state after state. I thought the best way to understand the challenges the prosecution and the defense would face before jurors and appellate judges would be to let both sides have their say through me. Each sides factual and legal arguments will play out in hundreds of pages of briefs and countless hours of trial testimony and oral advocacy. Let me cut to the chase, arguing the primary issues without, I hope, losing too much of the complexity of the case. Imagine two lawyers arguing their cases for you, a nonlawyer: Prosecution: Look, I know the indictment is long and the trial may well last for weeks but the elevator pitch is simple. Donald Trump conspired with a number of other individuals to overturn an election that he knew he lost. That scheme included a number of elements, from deliberately lying to state legislators to defraud them into altering the results to orchestrating a fake elector scheme that cast sham Electoral College votes to threatening a state official to help Trump find the votes necessary to change the outcome in Georgia. Defense: Sure, that all sounds compelling, but on closer examination, the case collapses. Lets just start with the word knew. Youre going to present evidence that a number of administration officials and others rendered an opinion that the election was fair and that Joe Biden won. Were going to present evidence that Trump received an avalanche of legal counsel to the contrary. He heard from lawyer after lawyer who told him that there may well have been decisive amounts of fraud in key swing states. Trump heard from two sets of lawyers who disagreed with each other, and he decided to follow the advice of one team of attorneys over the other. Following bad legal advice shouldnt land anyone in jail. On July 24, a large team of researchers convened in Liverpool to unveil a single number related to the behavior of the muon, a subatomic particle that might open a portal to a new physics of our universe. All eyes were on a computer screen as someone typed in a secret code to release the results. The first number that popped out was met with exasperation: a lot of concerning gasps, oh-my-Gods and what-did-we-do-wrongs. But after a final calculation, there was a collective exhale across multiple continents, said Kevin Pitts, a physicist at Virginia Tech who was five hours away, attending the meeting virtually. The new measurement matched exactly what the physicists had computed two years prior now with twice the precision. So comes the latest result from the Muon g-2 Collaboration, which runs an experiment at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab, in Batavia, Ill., to study the deviant motion of the muon. The measurement, announced to the public and submitted to the journal Physical Review Letters on Thursday morning, brings physicists one step closer to figuring out if there are more types of matter and energy composing the universe than have been accounted for. It really all comes down to that single number, said Hannah Binney, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Lincoln Laboratory who worked on the muon measurement as a graduate student. But space is also a domestic priority. In May, Mr. Putin instituted a new government award for achievements in space. In June, he awarded it to Valentina Tereshkova, who became the first woman in space in 1963, and who is now a member of the Russian Parliament and staunchly loyal to Mr. Putin. Telegraphing his avid attention to the Luna-25 launch, Mr. Putin met with Yuri Borisov, the head of Russias space program, on June 30. Mr. Borisov warned Mr. Putin that the typical chance of success of such a mission was about 70 percent, according to the Kremlins transcript of their meeting. Such missions are always risky, Mr. Borisov told the president. We would like, of course, for it to be successful. Whatever the prospects of Luna-25, the mission is a sign of how far the Russian space program has fallen since its glory days in the 1950s and 60s when it launched the first satellite, Sputnik, and the first astronaut, Yuri Gagarin, and then raced with NASA to send astronauts to the moon. Even the probes name evokes the Soviet Unions space-age heyday. Moscows previous lunar probe, launched in 1976, was called the Luna-24. This article contains spoilers for Episode 9 of the second season of And Just Like That Colorful, overflowing closets are familiar backdrops for And Just Like That , but in the new episode, Carrie and her friends leverage the full power of the clothes inside. The protagonists seem to dress intentionally, as if they are aware of what they can say with a pinstripe or pantsuit. When Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) show up to an apartment viewing in their Manhattan best, they look ready to make a multimillion-dollar offer and take on a co-op board. When Giuseppe (Sebastiano Pigazzi) attends the political event for Herbert Wexley (Christopher Jackson), the poet embodies the role of the polished artist in a blazer and vest. Ahead of Episode 9, members of The New York Timess Styles desk discussed the colors, undergarments and pet portraits in the latest installment of the series. Jeremy Allen This episodes fashion again felt very Emily in Paris. Carrie is sporting a beret as she strolls around the park with Aidan at the end of the episode! And that is a problem how? Look, its a great problem to have. But my life has been these 10-year cycles, whether in fashion or various creative jobs. After 10 years actually, its just over 11 I felt like I wanted to reboot. What is a reboot in this context? In my cycle of creativity or whatever it is the only way was to kill this version of the store and take a break. I needed to create a space where I could fine-tune what the next thing will be. Thats a bit cagey. This sounds completely mad, but Id like to do something either way smaller or way bigger a more highly curated, more highly edited version or else Tiina the Store on a department-store level. No temptation to go over to the dark side, of fashion editorial? That world as I knew it doesnt exist. What we created here in retail struck a chord with a certain type of customer, and Id like to use that knowledge. I heard all the time from my customers that theres nowhere for them to shop. During the summer of 2022, I was lucky enough to visit the home of the comics artist couple Aline Kominsky-Crumb and Robert Crumb in a remote town in the south of France. Kominsky-Crumb, in good health at the time of our meeting, died of pancreatic cancer less than six months later. She was, with apologies to Crumb, the more personable of the two. This shouldnt surprise anyone familiar with their work, which frequently focuses on their relationship, husband and wife each drawing themselves: In a 2021 comic, the Crumb Family Covid Expose, Crumb announces in the first panel, Im becoming radioactive with extreme paranoia!! In the next panel is Kominsky-Crumb, calmly striking a yoga pose while vacuuming the house and thinking, Due to naturally high serotonin level, daily yoga, mindful eating and playing with grandkids I remain high energy and positive! When they were living in California in the 1980s, struggling to support themselves, Kominsky-Crumb taught aerobics and fitness classes on the side. (I got a diploma from the Jane Fonda training thing, she had told me.) Which brings us to this, Crumbs touching tribute to his wife in the form of a yoga mat, with art based on an old flier hed made for one of Kominsky-Crumbs classes. Its not something Crumb himself would ever use, but its the contrast in their personalities that makes their work so captivating. Facing a tsunami of disinformation about the treatment of Muslims that has in recent months fueled protests from Stockholm to Baghdad, Sweden decided it needed to fight back. It turned to the Psychological Defense Agency, a part of the Ministry of Defense that its government created last year. The agency has become the first line of defense for a country facing a sustained information attack from abroad. The countrys leaders are borrowing from an old Cold War strategy to steel the countrys 10 million people for the possibility of total war with the Soviet Union. Todays main threat though not the only one is the Soviet Unions successor state, Russia. According to the agencys officials, the Kremlin has targeted Sweden with a concerted online campaign on social media and elsewhere to discredit the country and undermine its bid to join the NATO alliance. After working quietly behind the scenes, the agency has now explicitly accused Russia of exploiting recent protests by immigrants and others in Sweden that have included burning copies of the Quran, an act of desecration that is deeply offensive to Muslims. The outrage has already had an impact: delaying Swedens accession to NATO because of objections by another member, Turkey. Mr. Trumps first primary campaign amounted to a hostile takeover of the old Republican Party. He said he opposed the Iraq War and favored an America First foreign policy. He ran against the fiscal conservatives, epitomized by Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney, who would cut entitlement spending to reduce the debt. And while he did not run against social conservatives, no one could confuse Mr. Trump for a member of the religious right. Instead, immigration, crime and political correctness figured more prominently in his campaign than opposition to abortion or same-sex marriage. Perhaps surprisingly, the poll found little evidence that Republican voters who still sit upon Mr. Reagans stool make up an outsized share of the G.O.P. opposition to Mr. Trump. The voters who take the Bush-Reagan side of same-sex marriage, entitlements and foreign affairs offer nearly as much support to Mr. Trump as the rest of the party does a finding that holds even if one substitutes an alternative set of questions about abortion, preference for tax cuts over tariffs, and aid to Ukraine to define the Reagan wing. Either way, Mr. Trump has more than 50 percent of the primary vote among the Reaganites and more than 50 percent of the anti-Reaganite vote. Mr. Trumps support among the vestigial, traditionally conservative wing of the party is a reminder that his takeover of the party didnt necessarily amount to a total repudiation of the conservative agenda. After all, Mr. Trump still cut income taxes, attempted to repeal Obamacare and appointed Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade. Mr. Trumps alliance with social conservatives, in particular, seems to play a crucial part in sustaining his support among traditional conservatives overall. Republican voters who oppose same-sex marriage and abortion offer Mr. Trump even greater support than voters with more moderate views on these issues. This seems to cancel out the more modest reservations traditional conservatives have about Mr. Trumps views on foreign affairs and entitlements. The statistics on drug addiction in American prisons are stark. A majority of incarcerated Americans are estimated to have a substance-use disorder. And from 2001 to 2019, deaths in state prisons from drug or alcohol intoxication rose an enormous amount by more than 600 percent. Despite these heightened risks and the countrys ongoing opioid crisis, there historically has been little addiction treatment in correctional facilities. California is now trying to change that. My colleague Noah Weiland, a health reporter for The Times, just published an article about a sprawling effort in California to treat addiction in prisons and jails. The state is one of only a few in the nation with a comprehensive treatment program across its prison system, something addiction and public health experts say is increasingly necessary. When someone leaves jail or prison not having been treated, their tolerance for powerful opioids can be diminished and their cravings can still be intense, Noah told me. A bad batch or a dose thats too strong can be quickly fatal. As a new school year begins in Florida this week, parents are filling out a flurry of new forms specifying a students nickname or new name; allowing a child to check certain books out of the library; and opting in or out of health services ranging from counseling to temperature checks, calamine lotion and ice packs. The new bureaucracy is an offshoot of Gov. Ron DeSantiss increasingly muscular push for parental rights in education, with new laws and regulations that broadly restrict classroom instruction on gender and sexuality, including in high school, and prevent transgender students and staff members from using group bathrooms that match their gender identity. Teachers will also be barred from asking students for their preferred pronouns and could lose their professional certification for violating the new laws. Course lists and classroom libraries are also under the microscope, with districts seeking to excise material that touches on gender and sexuality, including in classics like Romeo and Juliet. Here is how some Florida school districts are interpreting the new laws. They Have a Form for That The new regulations have created a bureaucratic tangle, with several counties sending parents forms that must be filled out if they want their child referred to by something other than their legal name. The wildfires on Maui, which have been linked to dozens of deaths and burned much of the historic district of the town of Lahaina, may also have long-term impacts on the tourism industry that plays an outsize role in the islands economy. Local officials have asked visitors making nonessential trips to Maui to leave, and have strongly discouraged others from making such trips while the island is in crisis mode. Tourism was the largest single source of private capital for Hawaiis economy in 2019, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. That year the 10.4 million visitors who traveled to the state spent nearly $18 billion, the agency said. Maui accounted for almost a third of the nearly $49 million that visitors spent on average per day in the state that year, the Tourism Authority said. But even that figure doesnt quite capture how important tourism is to the local economy. The Maui Economic Development Board estimates that the islands visitor industry directly or indirectly accounts for roughly four out of every five dollars generated on the island. Ever since Tyler Cestia left his son Thomas in his truck on a hot morning in June two years ago, he has felt, he said, like a cork bobbing in the ocean. It was June 14, 2021, and Mr. Cestia was preparing for a stressful audit at work when he forgot to drop off Thomas at the babysitter on the way to his office in New Iberia, La. At lunchtime, he drove to a restaurant with the auditor and then back to his office. That afternoon, it occurred to him that he didnt remember seeing the babysitter that morning. He ran to his truck where he found Thomas in his car seat behind the drivers seat. Thomas, who was 2 and a half years old, was pronounced dead at the scene. It was just a total utter shock, said Mr. Cestia, 37, who lives in New Iberia with his wife, Pam, and their two other children. Its almost like a nightmare thats not real. Im living in a makeshift world thats not real. And once you come down off that, its a daily grind. The losses in Lahaina from the fire now include the historic Baldwin Home, which houses the restoration foundations main office and was considered the oldest house still standing on the island of Maui. It was built between 1834-35 by the Rev. Ephraim Spaulding, a missionary from Massachusetts who prized its proximity to the waters where whaling ships once anchored. The home contained the wooden rocking chairs that the family of the Rev. Dwight Baldwin had shipped all the way from their East Coast home in the 1830s when he took over the compound, their sons antique shell collection and the medical instruments that Dr. Baldwin, a missionary and physician, had used to vaccinate much of Maui against smallpox. Unlike others in Lahaina whose families in the area stretch back generations, Ms. Morrison, 75, from Berkeley, Calif., happened upon the town while sailing around the Hawaiian islands in 1975. She said her mind was made up when she set out on foot around the town, once known as a vacation spot for Mark Twain and as a gathering point for whalers, now featuring art galleries and restaurants. I walked down Front Street, she said, and decided this was my place. In the wake of the fire on Thursday, the sense of loss of history, of community, of friends and family was coming achingly into focus for many of those who had long lived there. Atypical weather conditions conspiring with a healthy dose of bad luck created ideal circumstances on Tuesday for wildfires to ignite on Maui and then spread, ravaging the island. Even for an area accustomed to wildfire weather, Maui has been experiencing particularly low humidity and high winds this summer, and a drought has dried out its vegetation. The winds, strengthened by a passing hurricane and mountainous terrain, fanned the blazes. Normally, the trade winds this time of year are moderate or breezy, and they move from high pressure toward low pressure. The greater the pressure difference and the closer the low and high pressure areas are to one another, the stronger the winds become. This week, as Hurricane Dora passed hundreds of miles south of Hawaii, its wind field was not large enough to reach the islands. However, its pressure was so strong that it bolstered the trade winds, which reached 40 miles per hour in Maui. A Michigan woman has been charged with lying to buy firearms that were found in March with her 30-year-old son, who was arrested that month after making death threats online against President Biden and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, federal agents and prosecutors said. In an indictment unsealed on Tuesday, the woman, Michelle Berka, 56, was charged with five counts of knowingly making false statements to firearm dealers in 2022. Specifically, prosecutors said, Ms. Berka said that the weapons she was buying were for her when, in fact, they were meant for someone else. Although prosecutors did not name the intended recipient of the firearms, her son Randall Berka II was arrested in March while carrying four of the same weapons, according to federal agents and a statement at the time by the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Among the firearms that Ms. Berka bought were a semiautomatic pistol, a 12-gauge shotgun and two rifles, including a semiautomatic rifle similar to an AK-47, prosecutors in her case said. A state trooper in Michigan has been acquitted by a jury after being charged with felonious assault for using a police dog to subdue an unarmed, injured man in 2020, prosecutors said. The encounter, which was recorded on a dashboard camera, occurred on Nov. 13, 2020, in Lansing, Mich., when the trooper, Parker Surbrook, tried to pull over a vehicle whose driver, later identified as Robert Gilliam, and passenger were suspected of being armed, the authorities said. Trooper Surbrook was part of a violent crime reduction unit made up of multiple law enforcement jurisdictions at the time. During the stop, however, Mr. Gilliam sped off, prompting a chase that ended when his vehicle crashed into a tree, according to dashboard camera footage released by the authorities in 2021 and an investigation by the Michigan State Police. Mr. Gilliam got out of the car and fell to the ground with a fractured hip, according to the investigation report, which did not name the passenger. Trooper Surbrook, who worked in the canine unit with a German shepherd named Knox, instructed the dog to subdue Mr. Gilliam, who can be heard in the video pleading for the trooper to pull Knox off him. The video showed the dog putting Mr. Gilliam into a hold, and it appeared to bite him several times. On Thursday, Mary Todd, 21, turned herself in and was also charged with third degree assault, the police said. She was being held for 12 hours, according to court records. The misdemeanor assault is penalized by a fine of up to $6,000 and up to one year in jail. The four accused, all of whom are white, are scheduled for arraignment on Sept. 1. The Montgomery police said on Thursday that no other charges had been levied, but more could come. While the fight appeared to be largely down racial lines, the police would not pursue hate crime charges, they said. They also will not pursue charges of inciting a riot. The weekends violent scene was captured on video by several bystanders and drew a large social media response, including cartoons, TikTok videos, a song and re-enactments. Many of the videos, which offer multiple angles and vantage points of the incident, are now a part of the police investigation, said Chief Darryl J. Albert of the Montgomery Police. The altercation began at the citys popular Riverfront Park after a pontoon boat docked in a space designated for the Harriott II, a riverboat cruise that was returning from a trip up the Alabama River. For 45 minutes, the captain of the Harriott II instructed the pontoon boat via the public announcement system to move out of the way, but to no avail. Instead, the white boaters responded with gestures, curse words and taunting, Chief Albert said at a news conference on Tuesday. Kerrie Wiener did not know if she had another fight in her. It had been more than a decade since her husband, Robert Wiener Jr., a U.S. Army Reserve veteran, died of lung cancer she said had been caused by toxic burn pits he encountered in Iraq. After the government rejected disability benefits for her family, Ms. Wiener said she never again wanted to go through the onerous process of gathering her husbands medical documents and remembering the doctors, surgeries and long nights at the hospital before his death in 2011. I just gave up, Ms. Wiener said in an interview. I never expected to get any additional benefits from the government. She still doubted she wanted to go through that ordeal again after President Biden signed legislation last year that expanded medical benefits to veterans and their families. The new law makes it easier for veterans who believe they were exposed to toxins during their service to apply for medical benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Ms. Wiener was persuaded to apply under the new law, and just five weeks later received a check. I kept looking at it and putting it in my calculator and I remember sending a picture to my friend saying, Does this say what I think it says? said Ms. Wiener, 60, of Massachusetts. Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, told a local news station on Thursday that he would think very seriously about leaving the Democratic Party and becoming an independent. Ive been thinking about that for quite some time, Mr. Manchin said in an interview on MetroNewss Talkline show, adding: The brand has become so bad, the D brand and R brand. In West Virginia, the D brand because its nationally bad. Its not the Democrats in West Virginia. Its the Democrats in Washington, or the Washington policies of the Democrats. Youve heard me say a million times that Im not a Washington Democrat. He said he had not made a decision yet either about his party affiliation or about his electoral plans. He is up for re-election to the Senate next year in what, if he runs, promises to be a very difficult race, and he has flirted with running a third-party campaign for president. Last month, he appeared at an event for the bipartisan group No Labels, which is considering fielding a third-party ticket in 2024 to the alarm of Democrats, who fear it would draw enough voters away from President Biden to ensure a Republican victory. What to do about Trump? There is no way around it. Solving the Trump problem is the master key to this election, and no one has found it. Mr. DeSantis, like almost every other Republican in the race, adopted a strategy of never criticizing Mr. Trump, for fear of alienating his ardent base. The theory was that at some point Mr. Trump would disqualify himself, and Mr. DeSantis would be positioned to inherit his supporters. But now, after three criminal indictments have failed to dent Mr. Trumps popularity with Republican voters, pressure is mounting on Mr. DeSantis to stop pretending Mr. Trump isnt in the race and take him on directly. The people who want Trump dont need a mini-me Trump, said Barbara Comstock, a former Republican member of Congress from Virginia, who is not a fan of either the former president or Mr. DeSantis. This week, Mr. DeSantis took a small step in the direction of taking on Mr. Trump by stating plainly that of course he lost the 2020 election, a position that conflicts with what many Republican voters believe. Trump is the de facto Republican incumbent, and in order to beat an incumbent you have to give voters a fire-able offense, said Terry Sullivan, who managed Senator Marco Rubios presidential campaign in 2016. West African leaders on Thursday said they had ordered the immediate deployment of a standby force ready to intervene against a coup in Niger, amid reports that coup leaders told a U.S. diplomat this week that they would kill the elected president in response to any such intervention. Mutinous generals have been holding the president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, and his family hostage in their residence for more than two weeks. They have shunned mediation efforts and ignored an ultimatum by the West African leaders to relinquish power. The threat to kill Mr. Bazoum was made to the acting U.S. deputy secretary of state, Victoria Nuland, during a surprise trip to Niger on Monday, and was first reported by The Associated Press. It was confirmed by a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomatic matters. The crisis in Niger has been humbling for several powers active in West Africa, including the United States, which has bases and troops in the country to assist in the fight against Islamist militants; France, the former colonizer, which has faced growing resentment over its presence in the region; and Nigeria, Nigers giant neighbor to the south. The 12 shots fired on Wednesday evening, killing an Ecuadorean presidential candidate as he exited a campaign event, marked a dramatic turning point for a nation that a few years ago seemed an island of security in a violent region. A video of the moments just before the killing of the candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, began circulating online even before his death had been confirmed. And for many Ecuadoreans, those shots echoed with a bleak message: Their nation was forever changed. I feel that it represents a total loss of control for the government, said Ingrid Rios, a political scientist in the city of Guayaquil, and for the citizens, as well. Ecuador, a country of 18 million on South Americas western coast, has survived authoritarian governments, financial crises, mass protests and at least one presidential kidnapping. It has never, however, been shaken by the kind of drug-related warfare that has plagued neighboring Colombia, unleashing violence that has killed thousands, corroded democracy and turned citizens against one another. Union leader. Muckraking journalist. Legislator. Presidential candidate. And, now, assassins victim. Fernando Villavicencio, who was gunned down at a rally on Wednesday, had a long history in Ecuadorean public affairs, largely as an antagonist to those in power. He rose to prominence as a union leader at the state oil company, Petroecuador, and later played a crucial role in exposing a bribery scandal that eventually led to the conviction of former President Rafael Correa. Mr. Correa, a socialist, led the nation for a decade through 2017, the longest continuous tenure of a democratically elected president in Ecuador. A commodities boom helped him lift millions out of poverty, but his authoritarian style and the corruption allegations that trailed him deeply divided the country And Mr. Villavicencio was always contesting the power of Mr. Correa, according to Caroline Avila, an Ecuadorean political analyst. Getting a drink in The Crooked House pub could feel intoxicating, even if youd ordered a lemonade. Originally built as a farmhouse in Englands West Midlands in 1765, the red brick structure had begun to sink in the 19th century after years of coal mining under its foundations. As a result, the walls slouched sideways at a 16-degree angle, dizzying customers and delighting children. Buttresses and steel bars made the structure safe, but it remained charmingly askew, leading to its jokey designation as Britains Wonkiest Pub. (Wonky means not straight or level in the U.K.) In an optical illusion caused by the pubs slant, patrons could roll marbles and coins on some of the interiors surfaces and watch them seem to tumble uphill, as though gravity had magically reversed itself. The images a reconnaissance drone sent back to Ukrainian forces provided a vivid portrait of the Russian side of the war zone. Damaged houses gave way to cratered fields on Ukraines southern steppe. There was burned-out armor in a scorched forest. A jagged Russian trench along a tree line had been blasted by American-supplied cluster munitions barely a week earlier, according to Lt. Ashot Arutiunian, the commander of the unit that recorded the images. He pointed to holes in the roofs of several large agricultural buildings in a village and said they had most likely been hit by the American-made HIMARS rocket system; it is known for its accuracy, and there was no damage to surrounding buildings or to a nearby church. This was on a recent morning, with Ukrainian artillery firing relentlessly, the deep rumbling explosions of the impact resonating in the distance. Mixed in were the louder explosions of Russian shells landing on Ukrainian positions. For the first time in Israels history, all 15 of its Supreme Court justices will crowd onto the bench on Sept. 12 to hear a case together. The reason: This one is so momentous that it could not only decide the powers of the court itself but also kindle a constitutional crisis. The 15-member court which meets in a graceful building of beige stone, straight lines and arches on a hill in Jerusalem alongside Parliament includes secular liberals, religiously observant Jews and conservative residents of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. One justice is an Arab Israeli; six are women, including the courts president. The justices will be scrutinized like never before as they begin hearing an appeal against the first part of a judicial overhaul that the government pushed through Parliament in July, angering many Israelis and stoking street protests across the country. Many Israelis fear that the overhaul will weaken the court as a check on the government, currently the most right-wing and religiously conservative in Israeli history; accelerate a rightward shift of the judiciary that started almost a decade ago; and make it more politicized and less independent. More recently, a large number of migrants have also been coming from countries in Africa. After crossing the southern border, thousands have made their way to New York with the help of officials in Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott has sent thousands in a campaign to provoke outrage and force the federal government to tighten border security. But Mr. Abbotts buses account for only a small fraction of the people who have arrived; El Paso, a Democrat-led city, has also sent new arrivals to New York at the migrants request, officials there have said, and some people have made their own way. How is the city responding? In March, the city announced the creation of a 24-hour center to welcome migrants and a new agency to help coordinate the arrival of asylum seekers, but the citys response has, at times, been fragmented and reactive as the shelter system has become more strained. More than 57,000 migrants were staying in city homeless shelters by August, Anne Williams-Isom, the deputy mayor for health and human services, said this week. In total by then, 108,400 people were staying in homeless shelters across the city, officials said. The city has proposed using a variety of locations as emergency housing for migrants. It has housed people in hotels, emergency tent shelters on Randalls Island, school gymnasiums and office buildings and is now looking to new places, like the parking lot of a state psychiatric hospital. Many of the proposals have been met with pushback from residents, and in some cases the city has retreated. At one point, Mr. Adams seriously considered housing migrants on cruise ships. In all, the city had opened 194 shelters for asylum seekers by early August. When it came time to leave Florida, Harold and Alison Issen put together a list of their preferred destinations. The couple, who grew up on Long Island but didnt meet until they were living in the Sunshine State, had raised their family in Orlando. As the years went by and their son and daughter grew up, they felt they had outgrown Florida. More and more every year, in some ways, Ms. Issen said. Houston, Denver and especially Asheville, N.C, were high on their list. They took their first stab at buying in Asheville last year, but arrived a little too late, just as prices there were soaring. On their way back, they learned that their son and daughter-in-law, who live in Chicago, were expecting their first child. That just shot Chicago to the top of the list, Ms. Issen said. Theyre renting, and were like, OK, its a little risky, but they love it. Mr. Issen, 65, works as a research psychologist for the Navy, and Ms. Issen, 66, is a semiretired mental-health professional. The two set a budget of $350,000, but raised it to $400,000 after their financial advisor emphasized the advantages of getting a mortgage rather than buying in cash. [Did you recently buy a home? We want to hear from you. Email: thehunt@nytimes.com] The couple hoped to find something on the north side of Chicago, on or near Lake Michigan, or just north in suburban Evanston. They made their first trip to the area last December, and then another in February. It was very intense, and our poor Realtor was fantastic, Ms. Issen said. She doesnt like to show more than three or four homes a day because they all start to blend together, and were like, We need to see eight to 10, and she did it. The ability to be hands-on grandparents wasnt the only draw. The couple were fans of The Bob Newhart Show, the 1970s sitcom set in Chicago. Newhart would always come home to this nice condo overlooking Lake Michigan, Mr. Issen said. In addition to being close to the lake, they wanted a place with at least two bedrooms. Ms. Issen was willing to consider a single-family house, but her husband didnt want to do yardwork. He did, however, want a place to store his tubas. They also wanted to avoid climbing a lot of stairs, which narrowed their options. As for the Newhart fantasy, the couple found that many lakeside apartments in their price range were very small and lacked closet space and parking. So living in a glass-front condo on the lakefront wasnt the highest priority after all, Mr. Issen said. But a few blocks from the water, they could find three- and four-bedroom apartments, their broker, Tedi Smola of @Properties, in Evanston, advised them. Among their options: Mapping the Damage From the Maui Wildfires Hawaii Lahaina Structures visibly damaged or destroyed in satellite imagery Honoapiilani Highway 1,000 ft. Hawaii Lahaina Structures visibly damaged or destroyed in satellite imagery 1,000 ft. Hawaii Lahaina Structures visibly damaged or destroyed in satellite imagery 1,000 ft. Source: Times analysis of satellite image by Planet Labs; building footprints from Maui County and OpenStreetMap An analysis by The New York Times using satellite images identified about 1,900 structures that appear visibly damaged or destroyed by wildfires in Lahaina, a historic tourist town on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Wind-fueled wildfires that tore through the island on Tuesday and Wednesday have claimed at least 89 lives, forced the evacuation of thousands and decimated Lahaina. While the fires were largely contained by Thursday morning, firefighters have continued to battle flare-ups, and emergency workers are still searching for survivors amid smoky and ashy conditions. Kaanapali Hawaii Area of detail Lahaina MAUI Approximate area of fires Wednesday Launiupoko One mile Hawaii Kaanapali Area of detail Lahaina MAUI Approximate area of fires Wednesday Launiupoko One mile Source: Satellite data from Landsat Satellite imagery of parts of Lahaina showed that the fires destroyed streets and leveled hundreds of structures, a number of them heritage sites that housed treasured artifacts of the towns legacy and history. Sept. 15, 2022 Planet Labs Aug. 9, 2023 Planet Labs Sept. 15, 2022 Planet Labs Aug. 9, 2023 Planet Labs Tourists flock to Hawaii in large part for its tropical landscape and lush forests, but the state has also become increasingly vulnerable to wildfires. The area burned annually by wildfires in Hawaii has quadrupled in recent decades. Invasive grasses that are highly flammable have taken over native vegetation in some areas, and climate change has exacerbated dry and hot conditions that have allowed many wildfires to spread more quickly. Worsening drought conditions in recent weeks most likely contributed to the latest blaze. Nearly 16 percent of Maui County was in a severe drought on Tuesday, an uptick from about 5 percent the week before, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Lahaina, where the damage from fires was most concentrated, is on the drier, leeward side of the island that tends to receive less rain. A Dothan nurse was arrested earlier this week after a grand jury indicted her over two years ago for allegedly stealing pain pills meant for patients. According to court documents, in March 2020, April Marie Norris, of Pansey, picked up a prescription of oxycodone from Southeast Medicine Shop in Dothan for her patient, but instead kept the drug for herself. In April 2021, a Houston County grand jury indicted Norris on 10 counts of possession of drugs by fraud. It is currently unknown why it took more than two years to arrest her. Norris was taken into custody and booked into the Houston County Jail on Monday, Aug. 7. She was released a day later after posting a $3,000 cash bond. As of Thursday morning, the Alabama Board of Nursing website still has her listed as a registered nurse. Stefan Pollack As my 22nd year of teaching at the University of Southern Californias Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism commences, the anticipation of a new academic term still ignites the same exhilaration as my first year. The surge of fresh faces ready to dive deep into the dynamic world of public relations is an electrifying experience that never ceases to invigorate and motivate me. It reflects the constantly evolving nature of our field and underscores the irreplaceable contribution of education in shaping the future contours of PR. Its an opportunity to share the knowledge and insights Ive amassed over 30 years in the trenches of PR and marketing. Yet, its also a chance to learn from the innovative ideas and perspectives of a new generation of future scholars. The task of ensuring that the curriculum remains current and relevant in the face of such rapid transformation in the PR landscape is a continuous and sometimes arduous journey. Of great importance to me is to remain steadfastly fixed on the intersection of where public relations converges with digital content creation. We live in an era where organizations have the power to transform themselves into their own media outlets, creating and disseminating content directly to their target audience. This paradigm shift has redefined how we perceive PRand the PR professionals of tomorrow must be adequately prepared to navigate the digital terrain. Throughout this new semester, Ill dive deeply into the revelations of USCs 2023 Global Communication Report, analyzing its predictions and insights into the evolving corporate communication and reputation management landscape. The report draws a fitting analogy between managing corporate reputation and solving a Rubiks Cubeeach move interconnected, each twist affecting the outcome. Similarly, every corporate action and message shape its reputation. The report emphasizes several vital points that will anchor my classroom discussions. These include the rising importance of consumer reviews and independent rankings, the role of an organizations social purpose, the critical impact of corporate culture and the potential for ESG initiatives to serve as springboards for storytelling. This holistic understanding of contemporary PR should equip students with the tools to be effective communicators. Equally crucial is gazing ahead at the horizon of PRs future. The profession is becoming inexorably intertwined with technology as artificial intelligence, data analytics and virtual reality reshape its boundaries. Acquiring a profound understanding of these changesand staying abreast of themwill be critical for the PR practitioners of the future. So, to my future students and all the PR professionals of the future, I offer this advice: Stay curious: The universe of PR thrives on novelty, innovation and evolving narratives. Cultivating an unyielding sense of curiosity is more than just a traitits a prerequisite for success in this field. As PR professionals, one is tasked with not only understanding but anticipating trends, and this requires a continuous appetite for knowledge. Reading industry publications, attending seminars, participating in workshops and never ceasing to ask questions matters. By nurturing a curious mindset, youll always be one step ahead, positioning yourself at the cutting edge of the industry and ensuring that youre never left behind as new techniques, platforms and mediums emerge. Be adaptable: The capacity to adapt is vital in the fast-paced PR industry. In an era where news breaks in seconds and trends shift overnight, adaptability is a PR practitioners strongest asset. The tools and tactics that worked yesterday might be obsolete tomorrow. Therefore, you must possess the agility to pivot swiftly and the resilience to acceptand even embracefailure. To be adaptable means to be fluid in thought and approach, willing to discard old playbooks in favor of innovative strategies. This also means being technologically agile, ensuring youre adept with the latest tools that technology offers. Remember, every challenge in PR is a lesson; how quickly and effectively you adapt determines how well you progress. Foster relationships: At its core, public relations is about the delicate dance of human interactions. The relationships you foster today might well be the partnerships that drive your success tomorrow. Whether its maintaining a good rapport with journalists you have worked with, understanding the needs of your clients or valuing the dynamics within your own team, every relationship counts. Good PR is as much about listening as its about speaking. So, always make time for one-on-one interactions, remember important milestones and ensure that every stakeholder feels valued. Building trust isnt an overnight job, but a consistent and genuine effort will pave the way for meaningful, lasting connections. Think strategically: While PR does involve sharing information, its the strategy behind the dissemination that often determines its effectiveness. Every campaign, message or initiative should stem from a well-thought-out strategy that aligns with the broader objectives of your organization or client. Always ask yourself: Whats the end goal? Whos our audience? How will this message resonate, and what channels are most effective for delivery? PR is as much a game of chess as its an artanticipating outcomes, predicting responses and always being two steps ahead. By thinking strategically, you ensure that every move you make is purposeful and every message you craft hits its mark. As we embark on this new academic term, Im reminded of the wisdom imparted by Benjamin Franklin: An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. The art of teaching goes beyond imparting knowledge; its also about igniting a passion for lifelong learning. I look forward to learning from my students, guiding their evolution and helping pave the way for their future success in the dynamic field of public relations. *** Stefan Pollack is President of The Pollack Group and an Adjunct Professor at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Christy Ingle Christy Ingle, who was senior VP at CBRE, has joined Lincoln Property Co. as chief marketing and communications officer. CBRE (Caldwell Banker Richard Ellis) is the worlds largest commercial real estate services and investment firm. The NYSE-listed firm has 115K staffers in 100 countries. Ingle handled PR for its advisory services (leasing, sales, property management, valuations) and real estate investments (Trammell Crow Co. and CBRE Investment management). Ingle is now responsible for Lincolns global brand strategy, business development, media relations and internal communications efforts. Based in Dallas, Lincoln has 3,200 professionals and 35 offices in the US, along with outposts in London, Prague and Warsaw. CEO Clay Duvall said Ingles deep background working for one of the real estate industrys most recognizable brands will be instrumental in helping us evolve our platform and client experience. An Offaly man is taking part in a humanitarian convoy which is delivering vital aid to Ukraine. James Fanning, from Syngefield, Birr, set out from southern England last week with about 40 other charity workers in a vital operation which is being run by the organisation Jeeps for Peace. The convoy took the ferry over to the continent and spent a few days driving all the way to Lviv in western Ukraine, where they handed over their jeeps and pickup trucks to the medical section of the Ukrainian military. Jeeps for Peace buy old jeeps and pick up trucks and deliver them to the Ukrainian army medical corps who then convert them for ambulance purposes. On arriving in Lviv, James and the group first visited the city's graveyard where their bagpiper played an emotional, contemplative theme as they visited the many graves of those from the city who have died during the war. After this moving event, they drove on to an army warehouse in the city where they handed over their vehicles to the army. Next, they delivered vital medical supplies to the Army Veterans Hospital in the city. According to Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, 500 Ukrainians are wounded in the war every day. Lviv's general hospital is one of 244 across Ukraine which takes in injured soldiers and civilians, treating them for physical and psychological wounds. When you visit Ukraine's hospitals you often see men in military uniform mixing with members of the public; reminding you, of course, that these aren't normal times. In some hospitals you will see that it's mostly young men filling the corridors, many of whom are missing limbs. Artillery fire plays a major part in this war and, according to Ukraine's health ministry, the most common injuries are from exploding shells. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one in two Ukrainians needed some form of rehabilitation before the invasion last year, when the country had already seen eight years of fighting in the east. The pandemic has also been partly blamed by the WHO. This need for rehabilitation has hugely increased since the invasion. As well as delivering the vehicles and medical supplies in Lviv, James and the other Jeeps for Peace volunteers visited Kyiv and the south of the country, not far from the intense fighting of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. So far, said James, Jeeps for Peace has supplied 100 jeeps and pickup trucks to the war-stricken country. A lot of ambulances have been destroyed during the brutal war; that's why these humanitarian convoys are so badly needed. Fire trucks are also needed. Nearly 500 fire vehicles have been destroyed during the war. Any secondhand vehicle will do as the Ukrainians can repair and convert them. Fire fighters don't have secure / encrypted radio communications and so the Russians can target and destroy the vehicles. While a hundred vehicles have been driven from the UK to Ukraine, Jeeps for Peace are also very keen for volunteers and vehicles from Ireland. I'd recommend it. It's a very rewarding experience. Once in Ukraine, each vehicle will be modified before being sent to the front-line. There they will be used to deliver critical supplies of food and medicines, evacuate civilians in danger, and retrieve wounded soldiers from the front-line. They can then be rapidly transported to the vital medical teams. Each vehicle directly saves lives and is invaluable. The Jeeps for Peace branch in the UK has been running for the last year, and it has just set up an Ireland branch. If you are interested in volunteering please email j4pireland@gmail.com A defendant in the grip of serious alcohol addiction was warned of the consequence of coming back before District Court Judge Bernadette Owens at Longford District Court. Ann Murphy of 10 St Michael's Court, Longford came before the court on a number of public order and theft charges. The most recent charges for the defendant was that on April 30, 2023 at Ambulance Station, Mount Carmel, Dublin Road, Longford she engaged in threatening or abusive behaviour, on February 18, 2023 at Lidl, Dublin Rd, Longford she stole steak and wine to the value of 18.68. There were eight other public intoxication charges between September '22 and July 23, and five other charges of theft, public order and failing to keep a court appointment. Solicitor Frank Gearty said his client has previously endeavoured to deal with her addiction issues and is awaiting a place in Cluain Mhuire. The solicitor said the defendant was entering a plea of guilty to all charges. Ann has serious problems she must address, Mr Gearty said. Sergeant Mark Mahon told the judge the defendant has 25 previous convictions; 16 for public order and six for theft. Mr Gearty said: Ann appreciates that the court has been good to her. She will continue her efforts to address her issues. Judge Bernadette Owens acknowledged the defendant was a person of tragedy in the grip of serious alcohol addiction. The judge sentenced her to serve a two month sentence for the April public order offence, and a consecutive two month sentence for the February theft charge, both were suspended. The period of suspension was 12 months and 18 months, all other matters were taken into consideration. The judge concluded by saying: If she comes before me on a public order or bail issue she will be remanded in custody. If she is then convicted any suspended sentences will be invoked. EKATERINA Koneva, incoming Green Party Local Area Representative for Birr, together with Minister Pippa Hackett, has welcomed the latest International Protection Applicants to be accommodated in Offaly. Emmet House Guesthouse, Birr, is to be used for International Protection Applicants. The Guesthouse has a capacity for 20 people in seven rooms and is to accommodate families and couples. Commenting on the update, Ekaterina Koneva, who is the incoming Green Party Local Area Representative for Birr, said People seeking International Protection are welcome in Birr. I have first-hand experience of moving to a new country and know how lonely it can be at the start. I understand that those coming to Emmet House are primarily new arrivals. The community of Birr has a background in helping newcomers to integrate and to feel at home. Im confident these families will receive the same welcome. Green Party Minister, Pippa Hackett, added I welcome the information provided by the International Protection Accommodation Service regarding the contract, which is initially for 12 months. This includes assurances of high standards of accommodation, privacy and services for the families. And I very much welcome the opportunities provided for the new comers to become involved in their communities and locality. Continuing, she said Emmet House is centrally located with access to buses, shops and other services, the ETB will offer English language classes where needed, and International Protection applicants can take up employment after six months. With thanks to schools in the locality for their flexibility, children will attend school where I hope they make friends, begin to feel secure and be part of a community which values them. Ekaterina said I will work with Minister Hacketts office to support the new arrivals in any way I can. My background and current experience is of working to support Ukrainian refugees and in providing training on job skills, starting a business or returning to study. I am aware of the challenges that can arise but also of the huge potential new comers offer their new communities. I know that the International Protection Accommodation Service works with a number of organisations who provide support to residents in the form of clinics, and there is a Government funded confidential helpline to assist with any queries a resident may have. Minister Hackett concluded I am committed to working with Ekaterina to assist the positive integration of International Protection applicants into the community. My office is also available to answer questions. I want to send a welcome to the families, and wish them happiness and fulfilment during their time in Birr. I also want to thank the people of Birr for opening their hearts to those seeking International Protection, something we have a proud history of doing in this country. Owaisi Hopes ASI Report On Gyanvapi Will Not Lead To More Temple Demolitions ASI Survey Of Gyanvapi Mosque Complex Continues On Day 7 Amid Tight Security India oi-Madhuri Adnal The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Thursday morning recommenced its examination of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, marking the seventh day of the process. During Wednesday's session, ASI employed Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) technology for the survey. GPR is a robust, non-invasive, and non-destructive technique used to visualize underground structures and sub-surface layouts. The ASI's survey resumed after a Varanasi court issued a directive prohibiting media coverage of the ongoing assessment at the Gyanvapi complex. The court also instructed members of the survey team to refrain from giving statements to any media outlet. Shubhash Nandan Chaturvedi (Advocate for the Hindu side) mentioned that the ASI survey is advancing systematically and harmoniously. He added, "Both the Hindu and Muslim sides are cooperating and adhering to the court's directives." During Tuesday's phase, the Archaeological Survey of India team investigated the northern wall, dome, and basements of the Gyanvapi complex in Varanasi. Members from the Muslim side were present during the survey, as well. #WATCH | Uttar Pradesh | A team of ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) arrives at the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi on the seventh day of the survey. pic.twitter.com/zGc96hia9F ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) August 10, 2023 The ASI team successfully completed measurement, mapping, and photography tasks within the Gyanvapi complex, according to government counsel Rajesh Mishra. The team divided itself into three groups, focusing on the northern wall, the dome, and the basements of the complex. IIT-Kanpur Team Joins Hands With ASI Officials To Conduct Gyanvapi Survey Vishnu Shankar Jain, the lawyer representing the Hindu side, noted that a comprehensive scientific examination is taking place within the premises in accordance with the court's order. Subhash Chaturvedi, another lawyer representing the Hindu side, affirmed that the ASI team is gathering evidence, including the dome, pavilion, and basements of the complex. On the initial day of the ASI investigation, the Muslim side abstained from participation. The mosque's 'wazu khana', an area claimed by Hindu litigants to contain a 'shivling', will not be part of the study based on a prior Supreme Court ruling safeguarding that location within the complex. Varanasi Court's ASI Survey Order from July Earlier in July, a Varanasi court mandated that the ASI conduct a scientific examination of the Gyanvapi mosque complex situated adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. This order was subsequently upheld by the Allahabad High Court. The survey of the mosque complex commenced on August 4 in compliance with court directives. Syed Mohammad Yasin, joint secretary of Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, the mosque's governing body, emphasized that the ASI's survey is being conducted per the court's orders. He expressed concerns about misleading news circulating in newspapers, news channels, and social media, which he believed could adversely affect public sentiment. Yasin conveyed that an application was submitted in the court of District Judge A K Vishvesh on Tuesday, with a hearing expected on Wednesday. He also previously indicated that if baseless information continued to spread, the Muslim side might boycott the survey. Yasin accused a portion of the media of spreading rumors during Saturday's survey, asserting that such rumors hurt the sentiments of the Muslim community. Allegedly, these reports claimed the discovery of idols, tridents, and urns in the mosque's basement. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, August 10, 2023, 10:27 [IST] Contractors In Karnataka Demand Payment Of Pending Bills, Dy CM Says Inquiry Underway India oi-PTI With Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) contractors up in arms against the government over pending dues, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday said an inquiry is on and justice will be done to those who have taken up the work and completed them honestly. The contractors of the city civic body have recently given representations to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, former chief ministers B S Yediyurappa and H D Kumaraswamy and other opposition leaders seeking intervention in getting pending dues released. They have alleged the government has kept bills pending for the last 26 months. ''As per law we have said investigation has to be done. They (contractors) had complained, Kempanna (Karnataka State Contractors Association President) had complained (irregularities). We have to get justice for them, for work taken up and for the government. Let anyone go anywhere they want for publicity. I know who is calling them (contractors) to Delhi, sending them before the media, let them do it,'' Shivakumar, who is also in-charge of Bengaluru Development, said in response to a question. Now, Karnataka Minister D K Shivakumar Faces Corruption Allegation From Contractors Speaking to reporters here, he said, ''We have ordered an inquiry, let them (contractors) prove the work they have done. Those who have done the work honestly, the government will ensure justice to them.'' The Congress government has constituted a SIT to look into the authenticity of the bills raised for works taken up in the city, which contractors have been protesting as it will lead to delay in clearance, and are demanding that their bills be paid at the earliest. Karnataka State Contractors Association has also decided to meet the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah regarding clearance of pending bills. PM Modi Erased N And Put P Instead, P For 'Pettiness, Peeve': Cong Slams Nehru Memorial Name Change PM Should Be Held Accountable For 'Scams' Pointed Out By CAG: Congress Will PM Modi Address The Nation From Red Fort Next Year? Here's What Times Now ETG Survey Says Develop Every Village, Tehsil, District To Make India Developed By 2047: PM Modi At BJP's Meet Government Defeats No Confidence Motion In LS: Check PM Modi's Top Quotes Here India oi-Oneindia English Desk Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday took on the Opposition in the much-awaited response to the no-confidence motion in the ongoing Parliament session. The No-Confidence Motion has the backing of all members of the INDIA bloc, with a combined representation of 144 MPs in the Lok Sabha. PM Modi's speech comes a day after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi delivered his speech after resuming his role as MP. Here are the top quotes: There was a need for discussion on important bills aimed at the welfare of people, but the opposition was interested in politicking. Today, I can see that the Opposition has decided that NDA and BJP will come back in 2024 elections with a grand victory, breaking all previous records, with the blessings of the people. In 2018, I had said that no-confidence motion is not a floor test for us... It has proved to be a good omen for us. God is very kind and speaks through some medium...I believe that it's the blessing of God that opposition has brought this motion. I had said during the no-confidence motion in 2018 that it was not a floor test for us but a floor test for them and as a result they lost in the elections. What kind of discussion have you done on this motion. I am seeing on social media ki 'Aapke darbari bhi bahut dukhi hai'. Fielding Vipaksh ne organise kari lekin chauke-chakke yahi se lage'. The name of the Leader of the largest Opposition party was not among the speakers...This time, what has become of Adhir ji (Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury)? His party didn't give him the opportunity to speak...It was your generosity that you allowed him to speak today even when their time slot had concluded. Lekin gud ka gobar kaise karna usmein ye mahir hain...I don't know what your compulsion is, why has Adhir babu been sidelined. Maybe there was a phone call from Kolkata, Congress insults him again & again...Hum Adhir babu ke prati apni poori samvedna vyakt karte hain. 'Vipaksh ke logon ko ek secret vardaan mila hua hai ki jiska bhi yeh log bura chahenge uska bhala hi hoga. One such example is standing before you. '20 saal ho gaye kya kuch nahi hua par bhala hi hota gaya. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) recorded its highest-ever revenue. Despite their (opposition's) allegations, HAL has emerged as the pride of the country. They said many things about LIC that the money of the poor will sink but today LIC is getting stronger. 'Share market vale logo ke liye yeh mantra hai ki jis bhi sarkari company ko yeh gaali de usme daanv laga do acha hi hone vala hai. When we say that we will make our economy the third largest economy in the next 5 years, a responsible opposition would have asked questions as to how will we do it but 'Yeh bhi mujhe hi sikhana pada raha hai. People of the country have no confidence in Congress. Due to arrogance, they are not able to see the reality. In Tamil Nadu, they won in 1962 and since 1962 the people of Tamil Nadu are saying 'No Congress'. In West Bengal they won in 1972, people of West Bengal are also saying 'No Congress'. In UP, Bihar, and Gujarat they won in 1985 and the people of these states are also saying 'No Congress. I want to express my sympathy with the opposition because a few days ago you performed the last rites of UPA in Bengaluru. On one hand, you were performing last rites par aap jashan bhi mana rahe the aur jashan bhi kis cheez ka- khandhar par naya plaster lagane ka...I want to tell the opposition that you are following those who even after so many generations are not able to differentiate between Lal mirch and Hari mirch'. PM On INDIA alliance: Their trouble is such that they had to take the support of NDA to keep themselves alive. But, out of habit, the arrogance of 'I' doesn't leave them alone. That is why, they inserted two 'I's of arrogance in NDA. First 'I' - the arrogance of 26 parties and the second 'I' - the arrogance of one family. They stole NDA too. They also broke India - I.N.D.I.A. It is true that Lanka was not set ablaze by Hanuman, it was set ablaze by his (Ravan) arrogance. People are also like Lord Ram and that is why you have been reduced to 40 from 400. People elected full majority government twice but it is troubling you that how come a poor man is sitting here and this is not letting you sleep and the people of the country will not let you sleep even in 2024. There was a time when cakes were cut in aeroplanes on birthdays, but today vaccines are being sent for the poor in those aeroplanes. If Modi drinks water while giving speech, they say 'Modi ko paani pila diya'. If I wipe off my sweat when I am out meeting the poor in the scorching sun, they say 'Dekhiye Modi ko paseena la diya'. I understand Congress party's pain - they have to launch a failed product multiple time. Their launching fails, they unleash hatred on people of India. That's why people of India are calling it - 'Loot ki dukan', 'bharashtachar ka bazar'. This 'dukan' has sold emergency, partition, atrocities on sikhs. Shame on those running 'Nafrat ki Dukaan', they sold pride of our soldiers'. Just ask those who have gone out, what is Kachchatheevu? And where is it located? DMK Govt, their CM writes to me - Modi ji bring back Kachchatheevu. It is an island but who gave it to another country. Was it not a part of Maa Bharati? It happened under the leadership of Indira Gandhi. I want to assure people of Manipur - the country stands with you, this parliament is with you. Manipur will emerge from this conflict and soon march on the path of development and progress. Whose government was there in Manipur when everything used to happen according to the wishes of insurgent organisations? Whose government was there in Manipur when Mahatma Gandhi's picture was not allowed in government offices, whose government was there in Manipur when the decision to not allow the national anthem in schools was taken?... Their (opposition) pain is selective. They cannot think beyond politics. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has granted a green light to taxpayers with uncomplicated financial situations, signalling that they can proceed with lodging their annual income tax returns. ATO Assistant Commissioner Tim Loh emphasized that taxpayers with straightforward affairs will discover that most of the information required for filing has already been pre-filled in their tax returns. Loh explained, The majority of information we gather from employers, financial institutions, private health insurers, share registries, and other entities is now readily available. Therefore, if your financial matters are relatively simple, youre free to lodge but do remember to verify the accuracy of your details before submitting. Whether you choose to file through a registered tax agent or independently via myTax, pre-filled information will be automatically integrated into your tax return. Loh also cautioned taxpayers that certain sources of income might need manual inclusion such as income from rental properties, select government payments, or earnings from side hustles. Even with the green light, dont rush! Take your time and ensure that all your details are correctly included, advised Loh. As you prepare to submit your tax return, keep these tax time tips from Tim in mind: Account for All Income: Any additional earnings from online activities, the sharing economy, investment interest, capital gains (e.g., property sales), or cash payments for services must be included in your tax return. Evaluate Your Current Situation: If your job or circumstances changed during the year, update your claims accordingly. For instance, you might have worked from home less in 2022-23 than the previous year due to a return to the office. Note that the method for calculating working from home deductions has also changed. Maintain Accurate Records: You must possess records to substantiate work-related expense deductions. The ATO app provides a convenient way to store records, including photos of receipts and invoices. Await Your Assessment Notice: The tax estimate in myTax or provided by a registered tax agent may differ from your final tax outcome. Its advisable to wait for your assessment notice before making plans based on an anticipated tax refund. Beware of Scams: Be vigilant against fraudulent communications. The ATO will never request personal information through social media, email, SMS, or provide links to log in to online services. Mr. Loh clarified, Getting in touch with us wont expedite the processing of your return, but you can monitor its progress by using the ATO app or myGov, regardless of whether you filed independently or through a tax agent. Typically, we process online returns within two weeks, but if theres a delay, well contact you. The ATO cautioned that this years tax return outcomes might differ from previous years, potentially leading to lower-than-expected refunds or even tax bills. There are various factors influencing your final tax assessment. In basic terms, no refund suggests youve paid the correct tax amount throughout the year. A tax bill may indicate an underpayment this could arise from multiple reasons, Loh explained. For self-filed returns, the payment due date is November 21, regardless of the submission date. Those utilizing a registered agent might have a later due date. If youve received a bill and can pay, its crucial to do so by the due date to avoid accruing interest. If youre encountering financial difficulties, we offer payment plan options that you can set up yourself on the ATO website, Mr. Loh advised. You can minimize your taxable income by ensuring you claim entitled deductions. The ATO provides more than 40 occupation guides to assist in understanding available deductions based on your profession. Although inflating your deductions may be tempting, we urge you to exercise caution. We possess advanced data-matching capabilities that allow us to identify questionable deductions, Mr. Loh warned. Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde's Helicopter Develops Technical Snag, Makes Emergency Landing In Mumbai India oi-Madhuri Adnal Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's helicopter had to make an emergency landing in Mumbai on Thursday. It was reported that Shinde was en route to his village via helicopter, taking off from Raj Bhavan. However, due to technical issues, an emergency landing was necessary at Juhu Airport in Mumbai, as stated by the 'ABP Majha' news channel. The reports further indicated that Shinde is now continuing his journey to his village by car. The unfavorable weather conditions prevented the helicopter from proceeding towards the Satara district. Consequently, the decision was made to perform an emergency landing at Juhu Airport. However, this isn't the first time that Shinde's helicopter encountered issues. On Camera: Shinde faction MLA's Son Kidnaps Music Company CEO At Gunpoint In Mumbai In May 2023, during a flight over Satara, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's helicopter faced technical problems. This incident led to an emergency landing at Raj Bhavan. Shinde was on his way to Satara for an event. However, due to the helicopter's malfunction, his visit had to be canceled. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, August 10, 2023, 16:11 [IST] NewsClick Row: ED Probes Prakash Karat-Billionaire Singham Email Exchanges, Funds Transfer To Journalists India oi-PTI A dump of email exchanges that include some between American billionaire Neville Roy Singham and senior CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat are under the scanner of the ED as part of its money laundering probe against news portal NewsClick which is alleged to have received dubious funds from the businessman to spread Chinese propaganda, official sources said on Thursday. The federal financial investigation agency is also probing the alleged transfer of funds of about Rs 40 lakh from NewsClick to the family members of activist Teesta Setalvad, transfer of about Rs 72 lakh to journalist and author Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, some employees of NewsClick and few independent media persons over a period of time. It had found that NewsClick also allegedly paid Rs 17.08 lakh as "salary" to jailed activist Gautam Navlakha, Rs 97.32 lakh to Bappaditya Sinha, a shareholder in NewsClick and a member of the IT cell of the CPI(M) over an unspecified period. The Enforcement Directorate (ED), according to the sources, is investigating the "end use" of these funds. The online news portal and its activities came under the spotlight again after a recent New York Times report claimed that the outlet was part of a global network that received funding from Singham, who allegedly works closely with the Chinese government media machine. The report was also raised in Parliament when BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said early this week that the funds pumped into NewsClick were used to create an anti-India environment and that he had documents pertaining to email exchanges between Karat and Singham. The ED, as part of its criminal investigation against NewsClick, its promoters and others, is probing alleged fraudulent foreign funds infusion of more than Rs 86 crore from entities linked to Singham into its holding company (PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt. Ltd.) and it is soon expected to file a charge sheet in this case. The ED had first raided the premises of NewsClick in Saidulajab area of the national capital in September, 2021 on charges of money laundering and since then the probe is continuing besides the litigation between the two sides in the Delhi High Court. Don't Intend To Indulge In Media Trial: NewsClick On Alleged China Links The agency has recorded the statements of more than 20 people in this case including that of NewsClick founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha. Thakurta told PTI that the ED has questioned him in the past as part of this investigation and that he has been "a consultant with NewsClick from May, 2018. However, I am neither an employee, shareholder or part of the editorial board of NewsClick. I am an independent journalist and I have written and contributed to many news outlets". "The amount that was given to me (by NewsClick) has varied from time-to-time over the last five years. There have been several months when I did not raise an invoice... all I can say is that the amount stated seems to be highly inflated. I really hope I have got Rs 72 lakh," he said. Karat and Setalvad did not respond to queries sent to them. The CPI(M) in a statement hit out at Dubey, charging that a smear campaign is underway against the Left as it is the most "consistent opponent" of the BJP's communal ideology. The ED, according to the sources, has retrieved emails during its searches and other evidence collection exercise where Karat, 75, in January, 2021 is reportedly exchanging emails with Singham and talking about "The Indian government is restricting investments and imports from China which is going to harm our country more", coverage of his party in a Chinese daily and some other topics. Some other emails recovered during the searches on NewsClick pertain to March, 2020 where Singham, Purkayastha and some others are exchanging notes on a "research for three article series on China and its handling of the virus (COVID-19)". An email being studied by the ED of March 30, 2020 includes Purkayastha's "request" seeking a timeline of the number of tests and people who tested positive in China (for coronavirus) and how that country ramped up its production and testing, "in contrast to countries like the US and India, who with so much lead time are still unable to ramp up kit production or procurement". Singham is learnt to have stated in the same email about "how China learned quickly when handling the crisis" and his team "working very hard to triple check ALL facts among other topics". A number of other emails that the ED recovered pertain to conversations among Singham, Purkayastha and others on news stories related to producing news stories about China, according to the sources. The agency had last year attached a flat, worth Rs 4.52 crore and located in south Delhi's Saket area, linked to Purkayastha apart from fixed deposits worth Rs 41 lakh as part of this money laundering probe. The adjudicating authority of the PMLA confirmed the ED's attachment order for the flat in February. Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur had on Monday said India had been telling the world since 2021 that NewsClick was a dangerous global network of "Chinese propaganda" that was spreading fake news. The minister said, "If you see the funding network of NewsClick, it was funded by a foreigner, Neville Roy Singham and he gets funds from China. Neville Roy Singham has direct contact with the propaganda arm of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese media company Maku Group," he said. "They present fake news in the name of free news. Congress and other parties are supporting them," he alleged. NewsClick had issued a statement on Monday claiming the allegations being made against it "by certain political actors and sections of the media are unfounded and without basis in fact or law". It said these charges were "false and misleading and pertain to matters that are currently sub judice before courts in India. We respect the sanctity of the legal process and do not intend to indulge in a media trial", the portal said. The Delhi High Court, it added, has granted interim protection from arrest to various officials of the company. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, August 10, 2023, 17:11 [IST] On Camera: Shinde faction MLA's Son Kidnaps Music Company CEO At Gunpoint In Mumbai India oi-Madhuri Adnal The Mumbai Police has lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against Raj Surve, the son of Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) MLA Prakash Surve, and others for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping of businessman Rajkumar Singh for ransom in the Goregaon East area on Wednesday. The abduction is said to have occurred at gunpoint. According to reports, a group of approximately 10 to 15 individuals forcefully entered the premises of Global Music Junction in Goregaon, Mumbai, and abducted the CEO of the music company. An online video footage from a CCTV camera depicted around 10 to 15 people purportedly verbally abusing the staff and forcibly taking an individual with them. Rajkumar Singh, in his statement, revealed that he was forcibly seized from his office and coerced at gunpoint to resolve a business loan matter involving Manoj Mishra from Patna. 6-Hour Travel Time Between Mumbai And Goa: A Reality Soon "Rajkumar was taken to the office of MLA Prakash Surve in Dahisar, where the MLA's son Raj Surve and his associates allegedly threatened him with firearms to settle the issue and keep silent about it," stated the FIR, as reported by news agency ANI. Shiv Sena (UBT) Member of Parliament Priyanka Chaturvedi took a sarcastic dig at the Shinde camp regarding this incident. She tweeted, "The navratnas of the traitor gang." For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, August 10, 2023, 12:34 [IST] Will PM Modi Address The Nation From Red Fort Next Year? Here's What Times Now ETG Survey Says Manipur, The Country Stands With You, This Parliament Is With You: PM Modi India oi-Prakash KL Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday assured the people of Manipur that the country and the Parliament stand with them while expressing hope that the crisis, which started in May, will end soon. "I want to assure the people of Manipur, the country stands with you, this parliament is with you. Manipur will emerge from this conflict and soon march on the path of development and progress," he said in Lok Sabha in his no-confidence speech. Prime Minister said that he has visited every part of North East in the last nine years and has an emotional attachment to it. He then attacked Congress for the current crisis. "There's an attempt to project the Manipur crisis as one that has just happened. The North East's problems were birthed by Congress. People of Northeast aren't responsible for these problems, Congress party's politics is responsible for it", PM Modi said in Lok Sabha. "On March 5th, 1966, the Congress government got Indian Airforce to target unarmed people in Mizoram. Were they not people of India? They got IAF to attack innocent civilians in Mizoram. Even today on March 5th, Mizoram mourns. It hasn't healed from those wounds. Congress hid this reality from the nation. Indira Gandhi got Vayu Sena to attack Mizoram. They got forces to attack the Akal Takth. It started with unleashing attacks in Mizoram', says the Prime Minister said while reminding Congress of the Aizawl bombing. 'For us, North East is our 'Jihar Ka Tukda'," he added. He then mentioned that Ram Manohar Lohia was critical of Pandit Nehru's Northeast policy and accused India's first Prime Minister of ignoring the Northeast and converting it into cold storage. "Have the Lohiawadis forgotten this?' he questioned. More than 150 people have lost their lives and several injured since ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, when a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status. On May 4, two women were paraded naked by a mob and the video of the incident surfaced online on July 4. PM Modi started his speech by thanking the Opposition party for the no-confidence motion as it has always been lucky for the BJP. He expressed his confidence that his party will return to power with a full majority again in 2024. In his speech, the Prime Minister repeatedly thanked the Opposition parties of bringing the no-confidence motion as it brings luck for the BJP. "In a way, the Opposition's No Confidence has always been lucky for us. Today, I can see that you (Opposition) have decided that NDA and BJP will come back in the 2024 elections with a grand victory, breaking all previous records, with the blessings of the people," he added. He also took potshot at the Opposition parties for not preparing well for the no-confidence motion. "The next instance in 2028, when they bring forth a no-confidence motion, I hope they approach it with readiness, diligently do their groundwork, and engage in astute actions," he added. "Let there be no politics over Manipur. Let's work towards bringing a solution. I thank those who moved this no-confidence motion. This no-confidence motion is a symbol of the Opposition's betrayal of people." The motion's notice was submitted by Gaurav Gogoi, a Congress MP, and received backing from all members of the INDIA bloc, with a combined representation of 144 MPs in the Lok Sabha. Furthermore, the motion advocated by Gogoi, who holds the position of Congress party's deputy leader in the Lower House, was also endorsed by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) led by Telangana CM KCR. Rahul Gandhi's 'Flying Kiss' Row: DCW Chief Asks Why No Action Against Brij Bhushan India oi-Madhuri Adnal Swati Maliwal, the head of the Delhi Commission for Women, responded strongly to Union Minister Smriti Irani's accusation against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Irani claimed that Gandhi had blown a "flying kiss" towards the booing treasury benches while leaving the Lok Sabha after his speech during the no-confidence motion debate on Wednesday. Maliwal took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to express her views, saying, "A supposed flying kiss thrown in the air ignited so much fire. A man named Brij Bhushan is sitting two rows back. The one who called Olympic wrestlers into the room and put his hand on their chest, put his hand on their waist and sexually assaulted them. Why don't you get angry at what he did?" This statement from Maliwal came amidst a growing political controversy over the Congress leader's gesture. Maliwal was referring to the allegations of sexual harassment made against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, outgoing Chief of the Wrestling Federation of India and a Bharatiya Janata Party MP, by six prominent wrestlers, including Olympic medalists Bajranj Punia and Sakshi Malik. Following his participation in the debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi's flying kiss garnered strong reactions from the treasury benches. Smriti Irani referred to him as a misogynist, stating that the House had never witnessed such an "indecent act." 'Indecent': BJP Women MPs Lodge Complaint Against Rahul Gandhi's Alleged Flying Kiss Gesture BJP women MPs met with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, demanding "stringent action" against Gandhi for his "inappropriate gesture." In a complaint supported by over 20 women parliamentarians, it was alleged that Gandhi behaved in an "indecent manner" which not only "insulted the dignity of women members in the House but also brought disrepute and lowered the dignity of this august House." In defense of Gandhi, the Congress asserted that he had never disrespected women and accused the BJP of making "indecent" accusations against him to divert attention from the Manipur violence debate. Congress whip in Lok Sabha, Manickam Tagore, accused Smriti Irani of suffering from "Rahul-phobia" and urged her to overcome it. Party General Secretary KC Venugopal highlighted that throughout the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the gesture was viewed as a symbol of human kindness and affection. Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi also defended Gandhi, explaining that she was present in the visitors' gallery and interpreted his action as a gesture of affection. She questioned the BJP's negative reaction, stating that they could not accept love. Top Quotes From Rahul Gandhi's Speech During No-Confidence Debate Geeta Koda, a Congress MP from Jharkhand, affirmed that Gandhi had always shown respect towards women, and his conduct had been commendable. In the context of the charges in the sexual harassment case, Brij Bhushan's counsel argued that hugging or touching a woman without a sexual intent is not an offense. The counsel also raised points related to jurisdiction and limitations in the matter, stating that the allegations were time-barred. The case is scheduled for further arguments on Thursday before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Harjeet Singh Jaspal. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, August 10, 2023, 12:15 [IST] Marrying, Or Having Sex With Woman By Hiding Identity To Be Crime Under Proposed Law Who Is Kalawati Bandurkar? The Widow Referenced In Amit Shah's Lok Sabha Speech India oi-Madhuri Adnal Kalawati Bandurkar, a poor farm widow from Jalka, found herself in the spotlight once again on Wednesday as Union Home Minister Amit Shah referenced her during a speech in the Lok Sabha, using her situation to criticise Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Back in 2008, Gandhi had paid a visit to Bandurkar's residence following her husband's tragic suicide, which was attributed to the agrarian crisis prevalent in Maharashtra. In his critique of the Congress MP, Shah stated, "There is one member in this House who has been launched 13 times in politics. This member failed all 13 times. I have seen one launching when he went to meet a poor lady named Kalavati. But what did you do for her? House, ration, electricity was provided to her by the Modi government." No-Confidence Motion Debate: Amit Shah's Top Quotes From Lok Sabha Here are top five things about Kalawati Bandurkar: After Rahul Gandhi's visit in 2008, substantial financial support poured in for Kalawati. Although Gandhi didn't directly offer financial assistance, his visit sparked contributions from various quarters, including a donation of Rs 30 lakh from the NGO Sulabha International. Initially, Kalawati had plans to contest for the Wani seat during the Maharashtra Assembly polls in 2009. However, she eventually withdrew her candidacy due to her son-in-law's threat to commit suicide if she participated in the election. Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti, the NGO supporting her, conveyed this decision. Tragedy struck Kalawati's family when her husband Parshuram tragically took his own life on December 23, 2005, as a result of the prevailing agrarian crisis. Later, her son-in-law, Sanjay Kalaskar (25), a marginal farmer and auto driver, also met the same fate with his suicide in December 2010. In 2011, her second daughter, Savita Khamankar (27), who resided in Radegaon near Warora in Chandrapur district, tragically ended her life through self-immolation. During the Bharat Jodo Yatra last year, Kalawati had met Rahul Gandhi in November, facilitated by a group of Congress workers who brought her to his rally in Washim. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari extended a gesture of support by offering a financial assistance package of Rs 1 lakh to Kalawati. You Pulled Jayalalithaa's Saree: FM Sitharaman Attacks DMK India oi-Prakash KL Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday countered the DMK by invoking the infamous incident involving former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Responding to DMK MP Kanimozhi's remarks on crimes against women, Sitharaman recalled the incident that occurred on March 25, 1989 where Jayalalithaa's saree was pulled in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. "About women, stripping women, demeaning women, and shaming women, all of us will have to feel really very serious. Women suffering anywhere, Manipur, Delhi, or Rajasthan, we will have to take it seriously, (and there should be) no politics played on it," India Today quoted her as saying. The Finance Minister, during his no-confidence motion speech, stated that Jayalalithaa was not a Chief Minister then and was the Leader of the Opposition party. "Jayalalithaa's saree was pulled in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. She was a leader of Opposition and the DMK members who were seated there, heckled her and laughed at her," she said. Earlier Govts Used To Sell Dreams To People, We Fulfil Dreams, Says Sitharaman The Finance Minister stated that Jayalalithaa took an oath that she would return to the Assembly only after becoming the Chief Minister. "She was a leader of the opposition. DMK members heckled, laughed at her. Jayalalitha took an oath that she will return to the assembly only after becoming the chief minister. And two years later, she did return as the chief minister," she said. The Finance Minister attacked the DMK during her address in the Lok Sabha on the no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, August 10, 2023, 18:08 [IST] Fire Breaks Out In Two Coaches Of Udyan Express At Bengaluru Railway Station At Least 36 People Died As Hawaii Battles Blazes International oi-Madhuri Adnal At least 36 people have died in the Lahaina fire in Hawaii, Maui County wrote in a statement posted to the county website Wednesday evening. Wildfires, whipped by strong winds from Hurricane Dora passing far to the south, took the island of Maui by surprise, leaving behind burned-out cars on once busy streets and smoking piles of rubble where historic buildings had stood. Flames roared throughout the night, forcing adults and children to dive into the ocean for safety. Officials said earlier that 271 structures were damaged or destroyed and dozens of people injured. In light of the ongoing crisis caused by the devastating fires in the Lahaina area of Maui, county authorities are urgently urging all visitors who arrived with vehicles or any mode of transportation to vacate the region. The county's request is a response to the limited resources available to address the current emergency situation. US: Biden Sends Military To Help With Brutal Hawaii Wildfires To facilitate this evacuation effort, buses will be transporting individuals from the Sheraton Maui Resort located in Kaanapali to Kahului Airport, as announced by the county. The wildfire has resulted in extensive destruction across Lahaina in western Maui, further underscoring the severity of the situation caused by one of the three wildfires. As of today, over 100 Maui firefighters are actively engaged in combating three separate wildfires. Additionally, helicopters are being utilised for water drops and search operations, as reported by Maui County authorities. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, August 10, 2023, 14:46 [IST] Ecuador's Top Presidential Candidate Fernando Villavicencio Assassinated Just 10 Days Before Elections International oi-Madhuri Adnal In a shocking incident, a candidate participating in Ecuador's imminent presidential election was tragically killed on Wednesday, as reported by the BBC. The victim, Fernando Villavicencio, a member of Ecuador's national assembly, became the target of an attack shortly after an event held in the northern city of Quito. Accounts from his campaign team recount that as he was preparing to enter a vehicle, an individual approached him and fired a fatal shot at his head. This distressing news was also corroborated by the incumbent President Guillermo Lasso, who utilised the social media platform "X" to express his solidarity and offer condolences to Villavicencio's family. He pledged that the perpetrator would face consequences for their actions. Translated roughly, Lasso's tweet reads: "I am deeply outraged and shocked by the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. I extend my sympathy and condolences to his wife and daughters. In honor of his memory and his struggle, I assure you that justice will be served." Indignado y consternado por el asesinato del candidato presidencial Fernando Villavicencio. Mi solidaridad y mis condolencias con su esposa y sus hijas. Por su memoria y por su lucha, les aseguro que este crimen no va a quedar impune. El Gabinete de Seguridad se reunira en Guillermo Lasso (@LassoGuillermo) August 10, 2023 He went on to mention: "The Security Cabinet will convene shortly at Carondelet. I have summoned the President of the CNE, Diana Atamaint; the State Attorney General, Diana Salazar; the President of the National Court of Justice, Ivan Saquicela; and other relevant state authorities to urgently address this shocking incident that has shaken the nation." Strong earthquake kills at least 13 in Ecuador, 1 in Peru Ecuador's attorney general's office confirmed that a suspect linked to the assassination of Villavicencio succumbed to injuries after being apprehended by authorities. Villavicencio was a prominent advocate against corruption, notably during the tenure of former President Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017. He initiated numerous legal complaints against high-ranking figures within the Correa administration. It is pertinent to note that the country has experienced an abrupt surge in violent crimes in recent times. Various media outlets have reported that the rise of drug cartels in Ecuador has become a significant concern in the context of the presidential campaign. Just last month, Agustin Intriago, the mayor of Manta city, was similarly killed. Earlier in February, a mayoral candidate in the city of Puerto Lopez was also assassinated in broad daylight. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, August 10, 2023, 10:05 [IST] PML-N Supremo Nawaz Sharif To Return To Pakistan Next Month: Outgoing PM Shehbaz Sharif International oi-Prakash KL As Pakistan heads for general polls, outgoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif will return to the country next month. Shehbaz Sharif has said that he would travel to London to meet his elder brother, who has settled in London since November 2019 for health reasons, once the caretaker government takes control of the administration. "Nawaz Sharif will come to Pakistan next month and will face the law and lead the election campaign," he told Geo News in an interview. 73-year-old Sharif has been living in self-imposed exile in the UK since November 2019. He was convicted in the Al-Azizia Mills and Avenfield corruption cases in 2018. He was serving a seven-year imprisonment at Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail in the Al-Azizia Mills reference before he was allowed to proceed to London on "medical grounds", according to a PTI report. Nawaz Sharif was disqualified in 2017 by the Supreme Court. In 2018, he became ineligible to hold public office for life after a Supreme Court verdict in the Panama Papers case. Before his departure to London on a four-week bail by the Lahore High Court on medical grounds, Nawaz Sharif was serving a seven-year jail term in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case. The Prime Minister also expressed confidence on his party's victory in the upcoming elections, and he would work as an active supporter of the party within a government led by Nawaz. President Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly on Wednesday at outgoing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's advice, marking an end to the current government's tenure three days ahead of its mandated period. Half of all the lights on Hanoi's Long Bien Bridge are turned off in a bid to save energy in June 2023. Photo by VnExpress Power outages in May and June have cost Vietnam about $1.4 billion, accounting for 0.3% of its GDP, the World Bank estimates. From mid-May to mid-June, northern Vietnam regions experienced frequent power outages due to heightened power demand, while hydropower supply, one of the main sources of electricity, experienced a severe drop due to droughts. Several factories in the area could not operate for hours multiple times a week as a result. The disruption to production has cost Vietnam around $1.4 billion, or 0.3% of its GDP, Dorsati Madani, senior economist at the World Bank, said at a Thursday meeting. The figures were calculated based on unmet power demand, at 36 GWh in 2022 and at 900 GWh in May and June this year. Surveys by the organization on northern Vietnam businesses in the industrial sector revealed that revenue losses caused by power outages reached 10%, and unmet power demand would also lead to a loss of revenue for Vietnam Electricity of around $75 million. The World Bank said northern Vietnam's imbalance of power supply is because the region mainly relies on hydropower and coal for electricity, both of which have been short of materials, leading to delays in energy production and distribution. The limited capacity for distribution makes it difficult for the area to access the excess energy supply in southern Vietnam, around 20 GW worth of energy. Madani said Vietnam needs more investments into the power distribution system. In a July report, the European Chamber of Commerce said the power outages may happen in cycles, and proposed that the government should focus on long-term plans. The World Bank suggested several solutions in the meantime, including schedules for the commercial operation of power plants in 2024 and 2025, investments into distribution systems and diversifying power sources. US: Biden Sends Military To Help With Brutal Hawaii Wildfires International oi-PTI President Joe Biden said in a statement on Wednesday evening that he has ordered "all available Federal assets" to help combat wildfires that have devastated parts of the Hawaiian island of Maui, killing at least six people. The president said the Coast Guard and Navy are supporting response and rescue efforts, while the Marines are providing Black Hawk helicopters to fight the fires. The Hawaii National Guard has mobilized Chinook helicopters to help with fire suppression and search and rescue operations. Biden said the Transportation Department is working with commercial airlines to evacuate tourists from the island, while the Interior and Agriculture departments "stand ready to support post fire recovery efforts." In his statement, the president offered "condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones" and expressed gratitude toward "the brave firefighters and first responders who continue to run toward danger." Firefighting crews were continuing to battle fires in Lahaina, Pulehu and Upcountry, the County of Maui said on Facebook Wednesday afternoon. More than 2,100 people were housed overnight in four emergency shelters, the county said. How Biden Reacted to US SC's Decision To End Race-Based Admissions Another 2,000 travelers were sheltering at the Kahului Airport. The wildfires ripping through Maui left a swath of devastation for blocks in the historic town of Lahaina, videos and photos of the tourist destination show. Historic buildings along Lahaina's popular Front Street were charred and flattened skeletons on Wednesday, powerlines were draped across roadways and abandoned cars were blackened husks. Richard Olsten, a helicopter pilot for a tour company, flew over the fire site on Wednesday and was shocked by a scene where it "looked like a bomb went off." "It's horrifying. I've flown here 52 years and I've never seen anything come close to that. We had tears in our eyes, the other pilots on board and the mechanics and me,'' he said, recalling even the boats in the harbor were burned. "We never thought we'd experience anything like this in our whole life," he continued. Lahaina holds strong cultural significance. It was the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom under Kings Kamehameha II and III from 1820 to 1845, and served as a main port for the North Pacific whaling fleet, according to the National Park Service. "We got out in the nick of time yesterday," recalled Lahaina resident Ke?eaumoku Kapu. He was at the cultural center he runs in the historic section of town Tuesday, tying down lose objects in the wind, when his wife showed up at around 4 p.m. and said they needed to evacuate. "Right at that time, things got crazy. The wind started picking up," he said. Two blocks away they saw fire and billowing smoke. Kapu, his wife and a friend jumped into his pickup truck. "By the time we turned around, our building was on fire. It was that quick." They didn't have time to pack up anything at their cultural center, Na Aikane o Maui, where they ''had years and years of research material, artifacts," he said. They drove south to Maalaea, where they spent the night in the truck. "Every time the wind blows, oh man, it's like reliving it again," Kapu said. He said winds were still strong Wednesday. He got word that his home, in a section of Lahaina closer to the mountains, was OK. But he was eager to see for himself. He said ''there's probably a couple hundred people here waiting for the roads to open." Officials are preparing the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu to accommodate up to 4,000 people displaced by the wildfires that swept across parts of Maui. James Tokioka, director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, said the center is not just for tourists, but also for locals. "Local people have lost everything," he said. "They've lost their house, they've lost their animals." Kahului Airport, the main airport in Maui, was sheltering 2,000 travelers whose flights were canceled or who recently arrived on the island, the county said on Facebook. Wagner Revolt Shows Russia's Struggles: Joe Biden The tourists were among those expected to be brought to the convention center. Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said search and rescue efforts are continuing when conditions are safe to enter active fire areas. He warned that the number of confirmed fatalities could increase. So far, six people have been confirmed dead in the fires. "This is a deeply somber day," Bissen said. "The gravity of losing any life is tragic. As we grieve with their families, we offer prayers for comfort in this inconsolable time." One of the wildfires burned through the town of Lahaina in the middle of the night, some residents fleeing into the ocean to escape the smoke and flames. The Coast Guard reported rescuing 14 people from the ocean off Lahaina, including two young children who were reunited with family members. The fires were worsened by high winds from Hurricane Dora, which was passing south of the island chain. "We never anticipated in this state that a hurricane, which did not make impact on our islands, would cause this type of wildfires," said Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who was acting governor while Gov. Josh Green was cutting short his personal travel to return to Hawaii. "Wildfires that wiped out communities." At least six people have been killed in wildfires that have raced across parts of Maui, Mayor Bissen said. Bissen confirmed the deaths during a press conference Wednesday, but did not provide details, such as where the people were when they died. Three separate wildfires have been burning on the Hawaiian island of Maui, including one that destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina. The fires prompted 13 evacuations, Bissen said, and there was only one road in and out. More than 2,100 people spent the night in four shelters on the island. State officials said they did not want any visitors to come to Maui, and that current visitors should leave. Lt. Gov. Luke said shelters are overflowing and resources are taxed. Thirty power lines are also down, leaving homes, hotels and shelters without electricity. The Lahaina fire is not yet under control, Bissen said, and officials have not determined what started the wildfires. "I can tell you that we did not anticipate having this many fires simultaneously," he said. Officials have released very little information about the scope of damage caused by the wildfires, but satellite images from NASA appeared to show active flames throughout much of the historic town of Lahaina. Another Maui wildfire was burning near the town of Kihei. The satellite images seemed to support some videos and photos posted to social media sites that showed flames roaring through the town and burned-down buildings. Alan Dickar's Vintage European Posters gallery has been fixture on Front Street in Lahaina for 23 years. But he watched the wildfires engulf the main strip of shops on Tuesday, and now is not sure what is left of his gallery. Front Street is popular with tourists, and Dickar said it was the "economic heart of this island." US-India Friendship Among Most Consequential In The World: President Biden Dickar snapped video of the black skies and roaring flames before evacuating with three friends and two cats. Dickar is now in the rainforests of Haiku after evacuating to Maui Meadows and having to escape again because of the threat of wildfires Tuesday. "Every significant thing I owned burned down today," he said. "I'll be OK. I got out safely." Some residents are already thinking about next steps. Kekai Keahi was in New Mexico dropping off his son at college when he found out the fire had destroyed his Lahaina community. "There is no Lahaina," he said. "Lahaina no exist anymore." His son won't stay in New Mexico, and he will go back to Maui with him Wednesday. "He gotta," Keahi said. "We have to rebuild." Keahi, who is a teacher at Lahaina Intermediate School, helped build many homes in Lahaina. "I'm pretty sure we'll pull together and rebuild. But I don't know how many years it will take us to rebuild," he said. Gov. Green, who was scheduled to return to Hawaii from personal travel on Aug. 15, instead planned to return immediately, his office said Wednesday. He was expected to be back Wednesday evening. Green has been in contact with the White House, and is preparing to request emergency federal assistance sometime in the next two days, once he has a better idea of the damage, his office said in a news release. Hundreds of families have been displaced and much of Lahaina on Maui has been destroyed, Green said in the statement. "Heroic efforts by first responders have prevented many casualties from occurring, but some loss of life is expected,'' he said. ''Our entire emergency response team, including the Hawaii National Guard has mobilized and is being supported by FEMA." With power outages and cellular service and phone lines down in some areas, many people are struggling to check in with friends and family members living near the wildfires. Some posted messages on Facebook, Reddit and other sites hoping the social media grapevine would bring word of their loved ones. Tiare Lawrence, who grew up in Lahaina, was frantically trying to reach her siblings Wednesday morning as winds whipped the island. They live in a residential area of Lahaina, near where a gas station exploded, Lawrence said. "There's no service so we can't get ahold of anyone," she said from the upcountry Maui community of Pukalani. "We're still having hurricane-force winds." Her home was serving as a refuge for 14 cousins and uncles who fled the heat, smoke and flames in Lahaina. "It was apocalyptic from what they explained," she said. Lahaina is often thought of as just a tourist town, but has "a very strong Hawaiian community," Lawrence said. "I'm just heartbroken. Everywhere, our memories," she said. "Everyone's homes. Everyone's lives have tragically changed in the last 12 hours." The County of Maui and other local government officials turned to Facebook and Twitter to warn residents that the 911 system was down on parts of the island, and that they should call police departments directly if needed. Several burn patients from Maui were being treated at Straub Medical Center, the hospital said in a statement. Sky Isnt Limit for India-US Partnership, Says PM Modi after Talks with Biden The facility has the only specialized burn unit in Hawaii. The Honolulu Emergency Services Department transported one woman in her 60s from Maui to the burn center, said department spokesperson Shayne Enright. The woman was in critical condition. The department has also received reports of multiple patients being flown from Maui to Honolulu, Enright said. The high winds that fanned wildfires on both Maui and the Big Island slowed Wednesday morning, gusting between 35-50 mph, a said Tina Stall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu. The highest winds Tuesday on the Big Island peaked at 82 mph and on Maui they hit 62 mph. The winds were caused by a high pressure system common to Hawaii, which produces the trade winds; and Hurricane Dora passing safely south of the islands. "It's kind of squeezing things in between, so that's what's been causing the winds," Stall said. The winds will continue to diminish through the day Wednesday and should reach normal levels overnight as both systems move west of Hawaii, she said. There was little chance of rain to help firefighters Wednesday, she said. Western Maui is mostly in a moderate drought, while the Big Island has some level of drought, with the northern part of that island considered abnormally dry, Stall said. An estimated 2,000 travelers, some newly arrived and others from canceled flights, were sheltering at Kahului Airport on Maui early Wednesday morning, the county announced on Facebook. Officials were discouraging non-essential travel, and some airlines were offering free rescheduling for people who planned to travel to Maui in the next few days. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Thursday, August 10, 2023, 9:18 [IST] Fernando Alcibiades Villavicencio Valencia was an Ecuadorian politician, trade unionist, and journalist who ran for president of Ecuador in the 2023 general election. He served as a member of the National Assembly from 2021 until the dissolution of the legislative body on 17 May 2023. Oneindia 19 Aug 2023 US President Joe Biden sealed new security cooperation with Japan and South Korea as he hosted the leaders of the Asian countries.. Anthony Albanese wants approvals sped up for housing projects near transport routes, the Nationals leader is backing nuclear energy and the Voice debate continues. 2008-2023 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. The man, named only as Thomas H, worked for an office dealing with military equipment and IT. Thousands of people have been evacuated as authorities rush to tame fires on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Hurricane Dora fueled the wildfire, while power outages impeded rescue operations. Travelers hoping to visit Hawaii in coming weeks are being asked to avoid Maui, which has been ravaged by wildfires. Survivors like Hawaiian Bryce Baraoidan describe narrow escapes - and what they had to leave behind. A caged bear is seen during a rescue operation from a facility where bear bile is extracted in Vietnam's northern Thai Nguyen Province in April 2018. Photo by AFP Hanoi and HCMC are among the least effective localities in Vietnam in addressing reports of wildlife crime, according to a report by Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV). The report on the responsiveness of law enforcement to wildlife crime in 2022, issued on Wednesday, revealed that only 16.9% of cases regarding wildlife crimes reported to authorities in HCMC resulted in successful action, even though the southern metropolis had the highest number of publicly reported wildlife crime cases at 444, accounting for around 40% of all cases recorded nationwide last year. Meanwhile, only 28.3% of cases reported in Hanoi resulted in successful operations, the report said. The capital had publicly recorded 113 cases in total last year, according to the report. Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province that borders HCMC has the third largest number of publicly reported cases of wildlife crime last year - 38, followed by Dong Nai at 37 and Dak Lak at 32. The locality with the highest success rate when it came to dealing with reports about wildlife crime was Quang Nam with an 84.6% success rate, followed by Da Nang at 61.9% and Dak Lak at 56.3%. Some 1,153 public reports on wildlife crime were recorded last year nationwide, with 32.7% of them then successfully resolved. Starting 2019, the ENV, an NGO on nature conservation, initiated the Combat Wildlife Trafficking Responsiveness and Performance Ranking System, which evaluate localities capabilities for wildlife protection and enforcement based on three indicators: the success rate of addressing wildlife crime in general, in dealing with live animal violations and the responsiveness to publicly reported wildlife violations. Rumble 13 Aug 2023 Russia has reportedly started copying attack drones it acquired from Iran for use in the Ukraine war. According to a Conflict.. Before Hawaii became a U.S. territory in the late 1800s, Lahaina was the capital of the Kingdom of Hawaii. The town is a beloved destination. Prosecutors say that Michelle Berka of Michigan lied when purchasing firearms last year. Her son was arrested in March with some of the same weapons after threatening online to kill President Biden, court records show. A Utah man who made threats against Joe Biden was shot and killed by FBI agents on Wednesday, just hours before a visit by the US president to the western state. Japan destroyer tests Sri Lanka shipyard with eye on future use Posted by Editor on August 10, 2023 - 5:11 pm Every summer, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) deploys a fleet of ships across the Indo-Pacific region to conduct joint training, visit ports and invite locals aboard. This year, that engagement deepened. One of the destroyers from the fleet, JS Samidare, has been making port calls that signal a greater commitment to the region. They include maintenance work at a Sri Lankan shipyard, the first time the JMSDF has serviced one of its vessels at an overseas port, and a visit to Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which sit strategically at the mouth of the Malacca Strait. The summer deployments began in 2017 under the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He had unveiled his Free and Open Indo-Pacific policy a year earlier, and the flotilla was a symbol of his new diplomatic vision. This summers moves signal an intent to expand the area and scope of operations for the JMSDF in the key region. The trigger for this deeper engagement? China, which for years has been expanding its engagement in ports that surround India, often described as its String of Pearls strategy. JS Samidare spent five days in Sri Lankas Colombo Dockyard and conducted maintenance work at the end of July. This is the first time for a JMSDF ship to undergo maintenance at an overseas shipyard, a spokesperson for the force told Nikkei Asia. There was nothing wrong with the ship, so I would describe this as maintenance rather than repair. Asked if the plan was to conduct periodic maintenance at the port in Colombo in the future, the spokesperson said, The aim this time was to verify whether Colombo Dockyard [a ship maintenance company] was fit to service ships. We checked the capabilities and adaptability as well as the management of the shipyard and we will decide future steps based on those assessments. Japanese shipbuilder Onomichi Dockyard took over Colombo Dockyard from a state-owned enterprise in 1993. On Aug. 2, the Samidare sailed to Port Blair Port for a four-day visit. No record can be found for a recent visit to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by a JMSDF vessel, the spokesperson said. The port sits at one of the worlds most important chokepoints and is considered a key observation site from which to track Chinese submarines moving from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean. The secretive boats have to surface when passing through the narrow patch of water between Malaysia and Indonesia, offering other navies a rare opportunity to track them. The port call comes after the Japan International Cooperation Agency agreed to provide India with 4.02 billion yen ($28 million) for a power supply project in South Andaman, where Port Blair Port is located. The Indian government has, traditionally, carefully guarded against foreign access to military facilities on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, said Tom Corben, a research fellow at the University of Sydneys United States Studies Centre (USSC). So its a strong signal of trust in Japan that New Delhi is willing to host visits from the JMSDF at Port Blair, and to accept Japanese investment in critical infrastructure that support these facilities. This port call also fits into a pattern of intensifying naval cooperation between the Quad partners in the Indian Ocean, Corben added, pointing to the four-way partnership between the U.S., Japan, India and Australia. In 2020, a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon, a long-range anti-submarine warfare and maritime surveillance aircraft, refueled at an Indian base in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands for the first time. Several visits by Australian and Indian patrol aircraft to each others facilities for joint operations took place in the last 18 months, Corben said. In June, a study group at USSC including Corben, published a report titled Bolstering the Quad: The case for a collective approach to maritime security, which called for the four partners to integrate their maritime logistics. The authors proposed that the Quad countries share resources and combine capabilities to be able to seamlessly refuel, resupply and repair ships and aircraft from any of its members, and foster the ability to do so at very short notice. (Source: Nikkei Asia) Sunplay Casino Review Sunplay N.V. launched an online casino with an identical persona. Named SunPlay Casino, therell be thousands of games ranging from video slots & table games. Beyond the inclusion of standard gambling products, therell be games devoted to cryptocurrencies. Thats correct, blockchain transactions are possible through SunPlay Casino. More information regarding these transactions & the steps required have been identified below. Otherwise, prepare yourself for exclusive offers from SunPlay Casino. Profile Established in 2022, SunPlay Casino is managed & operated by Sunplay N.V. in Cyprus. Licensing is provided through the Curacao eGaming Commission. 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FAQ Leaders from the eight Amazon rainforest countries gathered in the Brazilian city of Belem on August 8 for the first time in 14 years. They plan to reach a broad agreement on issues from fighting deforestation to financing sustainable development. It is the first meeting of the eight-member Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation (ACTO) since 2009. The meeting is expected to serve as something of a rehearsal for the COP30 UN climate talks, which the city will also host in 2025 Amazon rainforest - the lungs of the planet Amazon rainforest is the worlds largest tropical rainforest occupying the drainage basin of the Amazon River and its tributaries in northern South America and covers an area of 6,000,000 square km. Comprising about 40 per cent of Brazils total area, it is bounded by the Guiana Highlands to the north, the Andes Mountains to the west, the Brazilian central plateau to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Its a vast region that spans across Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. The Amazon forest is said to produce about 20 per cent of earths oxygen and is also often referred to as the planets lungs. It is the worlds richest and most-varied biological reservoir, containing several million species of insects, plants, birds, and other forms of life, many still unrecorded by science. Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here. It's little short of remarkable when you think about it. Last March, Bezalel Smotrich, the minister of finance in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Israeli government (as well as the head of the extremist Religious Zionist Party), said with striking bluntness, "There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. There is no Palestinian history. There is no Palestinian language." And yes, he's long wanted to annex the whole West Bank and essentially wipe the very idea of Palestinians out of history, but that only begins to catch his nature. Here's a description from 2017 of some of his earlier stances. He had by then declared himself in favor of "segregated maternity wards separating Jewish and Arab mothers, called for government reprisal attacks on Palestinians, and once organized a homophobic 'beast parade' protest against Gay Pride." When several Arab members of the Israel parliamentary body, the Knesset, heckled him in 2021, he said all too bluntly, "You're here by mistake. It's a mistake that [Israel's first Prime Minister David] Ben-Gurion didn't finish the job and didn't throw you out in 1948." And this February, referring to the embattled Palestinian town of Huwara in the northern part of the West Bank, he insisted that it "needs to be erased. The State of Israel needs to do that heaven forbid not private individuals." And that's just to begin down a list of extremist rants and positions Smotrich has taken. Yet he remains a crucial figure in Netanyahu's government. If that doesn't tell you something about Israel today or why there have been seemingly never-ending protests against his regime by hundreds of thousands of Israelis (in a country of only 9.5 million people), then let TomDispatch regular Juan Cole, who runs the remarkable Informed Comment website, fill you in on the shocking rest of the story. And while you're reading it, keep in mind that President Joe Biden has all too kindly invited Netanyahu to visit him sometime this year. Is that extreme enough for you? Tom How Israel Occupied Itself The Way the Crisis on the West Bank Became the Crisis in Israel Itself By Juan Cole On July 24th, the Israeli Knesset passed a measure forbidding the country's High Court of Justice from in any way checking the power of the government, whether in making cabinet decisions or appointments, based on what's known as the "reasonability" standard. In the Israeli context, this was an extreme act, since right-wing parliamentarians were defying massive crowds that had, for months on end, demonstrated with remarkable determination against such radical legislation. And that measure was only one part of a wide-ranging redesign of the court system unveiled by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January, which deeply alarmed his critics. As exemplified by prominent world historian Yuval Noah Harari, such protestors warned that limiting the functions of the highest court, in a land with a parliamentary system largely lacking other checks and balances, represented a big stride toward a future autocracy. After all, dangers abound in a nation with a one-chamber legislature, lacking the equivalent of a Senate, that elects the prime minister as the instrument of its will. The central motivation for that legislation, however, lay not in domestic politics but in the desire of extremists in the cabinet to ensure that the courts won't be able to interfere with their plans to vastly increase the number of Israeli squatter-settlements on Palestinian land on the West Bank and perhaps someday soon simply annex that occupied territory. Under such circumstances, members of the far-right Religious Zionist Party were recently excoriated by Tamir Pardo, a former head of Israeli intelligence, as Israel's "Ku Klux Klan." Reasonability, Fraud, and Occupation The Israeli supreme court had invoked what's called "the reasonableness doctrine," rooted in British common law, to strike down Netanyahu's January appointment of Aryeh Makhlouf Deri as Minister of Health and the Interior in his ever more extreme cabinet. Deri, a Moroccan-Israeli, leads the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, largely comprised of Mizrahim, or Jews of Middle Eastern ancestry, like himself. Deri has often been in trouble with the law. He was, in fact, given a three-year jail sentence in 1999 for fraud and bribery. In 2022, he was facing a possible conviction for tax fraud by the High Court of Justice, which could have resulted in jail time and a seven-year ban on political activity. According to the justices of that court, Deri promised to retire from politics to avoid being sentenced, a vow on which he later reneged. Netanyahu managed to keep Shas in his current coalition despite its loss of that important cabinet seat. Indeed, he still needs its support to stay in power. Over time, the Shas Party has swung far to the right on the Israeli political spectrum, while taking an ever-harder line in favor of expanding Jewish settlements in the Palestinian West Bank, which Israel seized in 1967. It is now inhabited by some three million stateless Palestinians whose land continues to be usurped. The Shas leadership has shifted to ever stronger support for Jewish settlements on the West Bank in large part because of the increasing proportion of Israeli squatters there who hail from the Haredim or Ultra-Orthodox religious tradition. They had already become about a third of all West Bank settlers by 2017. In the Israeli system, the Ultra-Orthodox pay little in taxes, are subsidized to study the Bible, and are exempted from military service. Moreover, as a group, thanks to their tendency to have large families, they have grown to about 13% of the Israeli population. They place a substantial burden on the state, which, in recent years, has responded by giving them inexpensive housing on Palestinian land. At the left-leaning +976 Magazine, journalist Ben Reiff recently pointed out that Minister of Justice Yariv Levin, a long-time factotum in Netanyahu's Likud Party and a driving force behind the recent attack on the judiciary, justified his actions primarily in terms of the Palestine issue. He singled out High Court decisions that prevented the blackballing of individuals who supported the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) on Israel movement for the country's apartheid-style policies toward the Palestinians or who backed "refuseniks," Israeli soldiers who decline to serve as part of an occupation force in the Palestinian West Bank. Levin also complained bitterly about court rulings requiring that Palestinians be treated in accord with the Geneva Conventions. One conclusion from Reiff's reporting is that there will be ever more blackballing of critics of the occupation by the present government. The High Court (Sometimes) Recognizes the Rights of Palestinians Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Amidst a wave of optimism surrounding China-India relations, there are talks of President Xi Jinping's possible visit to India for the G-20 summit in September. The upcoming summit holds promise as it could offer a high-level platform to discuss and address bilateral relations between the two nations. India and China have been experiencing escalated tensions since the outbreak of the border conflict in May 2020. Despite multiple rounds of military and diplomatic talks over the past several years, they have not managed to achieve the full disengagement of forces. Only a few areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) have seen limited disengagement, with little tangible progress on the ground. The rivalry between China and India plays out in the region of South Asia, particularly along the LAC. Despite various border agreements in 1993, 1996, 2005, 2012, and 2013 that temporarily reduced tension along the LAC, the core boundary dispute remained unresolved. The 2013 Depsang standoff shattered hopes of resolving the dispute, and subsequent incidents in Demchok (2014), Depsang (2015), Doklam (2017), and Galwan (2020) revealed a clear pattern of China attempting to establish a new normal through these incursions. China's expanding influence in South Asia poses significant security concerns for India as it selectively pushes its borders with Bhutan and Nepal. Additionally, China's economic grip on countries in the region, along with its actions in Myanmar, raises apprehensions about its intentions. India's growing stature, economic progress, and proximity to the US have caused unease for China, which is heavily influenced by US-India relations in shaping its policy towards India. On the other hand, India's approach towards China is not solely dependent on US-India or US-China relations. India values its strategic autonomy and has a history of making issue-based policy decisions aligned with its economic and security interests. This display of strategic autonomy by India, including its stance on the Ukraine war and refusal to follow Western diktats, does not sit well with China, which perceives India's ties with the US as adversarial. Both China and India have competing interests in the Indo-Pacific, Indian Ocean, and South Asia, which further adds complexity to their bilateral relations. India's assertive posture and its unwillingness to ally with any specific power bloc have intensified China's concerns regarding India's intentions and alignment with other nations in the global power dynamics. Unreasonable hopes have been triggered by the possibility of Chinese President Xi Jinping visiting Delhi in September for the G20 summit, with some optimists expecting a breakthrough in bilateral relations. The hope is that Xi's potential visit could end the current stalemate that began with China's aggression in Ladakh in 2020, resulting in the loss of Indian soldiers' lives. The optimism grew after the recent meeting between National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in Johannesburg during a BRICS forum when Yi urged that the bilateral relationship not be defined by a single issue, in a reference to Sino-Indian border disputes. The Chinese statement mentioning the "Bali Consensus" between Modi and Xi on stabilizing bilateral relations, along with some parts of the conversation confirmed by South Block that were not disclosed earlier, has added to the excitement in Delhi. However, this enthusiasm should be tempered by the fact that Modi and Xi had only a brief chat at the G20 dinner table in Bali, Indonesia, last November. Claims that the two leaders agreed to swiftly resolve the Ladakh frontier issues might reflect wishful thinking, which has been a characteristic of India's traditional approach to dealing with China. In the past, Delhi was eager to overlook significant differences to promote bilateral relations or collaborate on global matters. The Modi government has been clear in stating that normalcy in relations will not resume until Beijing restores peace and tranquillity on the border. On the other hand, Chinese officials have demanded that India set aside the border issue and focus on cooperation in other areas. Delhi remains firm in its stance that the "state of the border reflects the state of the relationship". Last week, a fresh reminder of the structural crisis in bilateral relations between India and China surfaced when Beijing issued "stapled visas" to Indian athletes from Arunachal Pradesh participating in the World University Games in Chengdu, China. This move by Beijing was a calculated attempt to assert its territorial claim over Arunachal Pradesh, a region over which territorial sovereignty is fiercely disputed between Delhi and Beijing. Over the past several decades, efforts have been made to manage these disputes, but the progress has been consistently undermined by the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) aggressive military and political postures along the disputed frontier. This aggressive behaviour on the part of the PLA has further eroded the already fragile trust between the two nations. Restoring the shattered trust with Delhi lies primarily in Beijing's hands. Until concrete steps are taken by China to address the underlying issues and build genuine trust, scepticism should colour India's expectations of any meaningful progress in their bilateral relations. Beijing's provocative and hostile actions, such as issuing stapled visas and maintaining a belligerent approach on territorial disputes, create significant obstacles to any constructive dialogue and cooperation between the two countries. Addressing the structural crisis requires a willingness from both sides to engage in meaningful and open discussions, respecting each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Until then, the path towards a stable and cooperative relationship remains uncertain, and India must remain vigilant in protecting its interests and standing firm in its stance on territorial matters. Nissans Yokohama Plant has produced its 40 millionth engine in June earlier this year. The Yokohama Plant commenced operations in 1935, two years after Nissans founding. It built its 10 millionth engine in 1976, its 20 millionth in 1986 and its 30 millionth in 1997. Reaching the 40 million milestone in the same year Nissan celebrates its 90th anniversary makes this achievement all the more special. Tamiyo Wada, plant manager of the Yokohama Plant says: "We were able to reach the 40 million milestone thanks to so many customers around the world embracing our cars. Leaving their mark A number of engines made by the Yokohama Plant have left their mark in automotive history. These include the 1979 L20ET, which was Japan's first turbocharged passenger-car engine, and the 1983 VG, the countrys first mass-produced V6 engine. The Yokohama Plant now makes the VR38DETT engine, which is hand-assembled by skilled takumi master craftspeople for the Nissan GT-R. Since 2007 it has produced the VC Turbo the world's first mass-produced engine featuring variable compression ratio technology. The world's first mass-produced VC Turbo engine achieves both high environmental performance and unparalleled power by adjusting the compression ratio, says Wada. As society changes, so does the Yokohama Plant. Since the launch of the all-electric LEAF in 2010, the plant has been also producing motors, including those for e-POWER vehicles such as the Nissan Note. In the fiscal year 2022, motors accounted for approximately 40% of Yokohama Plant's production. As the Yokohama Plant approaches its 90th anniversary, it continues to play a leading role in the development of Nissans cutting-edge production technology. In addition to producing motors and engines, it also serves as a pilot plant for the development of powertrain production technology that will have global applications. Next year, a pilot line will be established in the plant to develop all-solid-state batteries. Wada says: Going forward, the Yokohama Plant will continue to provide high quality innovative technologies and services to our customers.-- TradeArabia News Service My wife is insisting on staying in Germany. If I am determined to return to Vietnam to take care of my parents, we will possibly split. Im 38 and my wife is 37. We have been married for 10 years and live in Germany. We have two kids, a nine-year-old daughter and a five-year-old son. My wife was granted a scholarship for a doctorate program in Germany five years ago, so we moved to the country from HCMC. She got a good job after obtaining her doctorate degree, with the potential for a permanent residence permit. We have been arguing about our future ever since. I want to return to Vietnam since Im the oldest child, and my younger sister lives far away from my parents after marrying. My parents are over 65 already, and they live in a place around 70 kilometers from HCMC. So, they need someone to take care of them. My biggest concern is my elderly parents may feel sad every holiday as they have no children by their side. I will also have the chance to pursue a career aligning with my university major after coming back. But my wife insists on staying in Germany. She argues that the education and social welfare systems in Germany are better, with which I agree, so she wants our children to stay here. She is satisfied with her current occupation, and is also the youngest child in her family. Her parents live with one of her brothers and his family, so she does not have many responsibilities with them. We have talked a lot, but we have not reached any mutual agreement. I suggest that we can return to Vietnam, establish our careers, and send our kids abroad later. But my wife says she wants us to stay in Germany and pay my parents in Vietnam a visit, which can last for weeks, every year. Both of us understand the others reasoning, but we cannot agree with each other. I do not want to split with my wife, as we match in almost everything. If I am determined to return to Vietnam, splitting up is almost an unavoidable ending. Meanwhile, if I stay, I will be worried about my parents. The past five years has been enough, I dont want to stay far away from them anymore. It turns out that migrants are no longer welcome in the Baltic States. In 2002, the Ministers of the Council of Europe member states undertook to develop and implement integration policies founded on the principles of human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Being the Council of Europe member states the Baltic countries welcomed thousands of migrants and enthusiastically supported them. It was loudly declared that giving migrants a voice, recognising their true value and building their sense of belonging to receiving societies, in short empowering migrants, is the only appropriate policy choice in a democratic society. Today migrants in the Baltic States face unfulfilled promises of equal treatment in polarised and fragmented societies. These democratic policies do not work any more here. Unfortunately, failures have strengthened the voice of those who only see in migrants and their different traditions and customs a threat to public order, national identity and their own security. Thus, up to 6,000 of Russian citizens in Latvia are expected to receive official notices next month asking them to leave the country. Representatives of the Latvian Interior Ministry confirmed that letters are being prepared. This caused mixed reactions in the country that still hosts thousands of Russian citizens who have lived in the country since the 1990 independence from the Soviet Union, but have never obtained the Latvian citizenship. Latvia failed to integrate them into the society and even made it impossible. In Lithuania, according to LRT, some 1,164 Belarusian and Russian nationals have been deemed a threat to national security, meaning they were not able to renew or claim their residency permit or visa. It is well known that Lithuania was seeking to attract high-skilled IT professionals. In particular, entire Belarusian tech companies moved to Vilnius, bringing in thousands of their workers. They were easily granted temporary residence permits, but, three years later, it is time to renew them. And the welcoming atmosphere in Lithuania has changed considerably. The number of rejections is growing. Recommendations to refuse residence often come from the State Security Department, Lithuania's intelligence agency, which assesses each application individually. Belorussians denied residence permits have to leave the country within a month. If their actions are deemed detrimental to national security, they get deported immediately. The authorities of the Baltic States have completely forgotten their promises and do not pay attention to the democratic values. They just put migrants to use and then eject them. In case they could not get rid of them legally, they create unbearable conditions for living. One of five downtown Portland parking garages will be closed to the public indefinitely starting Aug. 18. The Portland Bureau of Transportation will close the 830-stall SmartPark garage at Southwest Third Avenue and Alder Street after a steep decline in occupancy, according to bureau spokesperson Dylan Rivera. That presents us with a financial burden and decrease in revenue, Rivera said. Its a financial drain to provide security and maintenance for a mostly empty garage. Rivera attributed the low occupancy to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, which dealt a heavy blow to parking in downtown Portland. In 2019, average peak-hour occupancy of the Third and Alder parking garage was consistently higher than 90%. This year, rates have fallen to 29%, the bureau said. The city will block all stairwells and vehicle access points with physical barriers and deactivate elevators. Sidewalk and storefront cleaning, along with security patrols, will continue. The garage houses several businesses along its perimeter, which will remain open. The Transportation Bureau will redirect its security and maintenance resources to its four other downtown garages, Rivera said. He added the closure is expected to be temporary. Were trying to see how parking occupancy recovers right now, Rivera said. We feel like consolidating will help us step up our game and better support the public. Some of the garages tenants are nervous about the impact the closure could have on business, particularly with the loss of the garages parking space. Obviously, we are really concerned and trying to wrap our heads around what is going on here, said Alex Talakoub, owner of Medallion Jewelers. It was a sudden decision, they gave us no details, and they dont have any window as to when theyll reopen. Talakoub has managed the jewelry shop since 2005, enduring vandalism during riots in 2016 and 2020 and the pandemic. But now, with this upcoming parking closure, he is worried for the future of his store. Weve been hit big time, he said. The only reason Im still around is because I care about my customers, and Id really like this town to thrive and come back. But these types of decisions set us back years. Other businesses in the garage include Buffalo Wild Wings, Cuon-Vietnamese Street Food, DarSalam Restaurant & Catering and Metro by T-Mobile Since COVID-19, downtown businesses and city leaders have grappled with the challenge of bringing residents back to the heart of the city particularly with fewer office workers commuting to the district daily. The pandemic has also slammed PBOTs budget, slashing parking revenue and gas tax collections. Next year, the bureau faces a $32 million deficit in its unrestricted funds. People are not driving the way they used to, and thats a key part of our revenue, he said. We are currently seeking input from the public on how to respond. We have no idea how long this closure will last, but were doing all we can to make sure this structure presents a positive influence on the downtown area. -- Kayla Nguyen, knguyen@oregonian.com A former Gladstone police officer will face a new murder trial in the death of his wife after the Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday upheld an appeal that found prosecutors improperly relied on a jailhouse informant to convict him in 2016. The states highest court affirmed last years Oregon Court of Appeals reversal of Lynn Bentons aggravated murder, attempted murder and criminal conspiracy convictions, saying prosecutors veiled instructions to the informant violated Bentons right to an attorney. Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey ODonnell has asked for two independent investigations of this years extremely distressing string of deaths in Multnomah County jails. Six people have died in Multnomah County custody as of Aug. 2, the sheriffs office has said, and now Oregon State Police and the National Institute of Corrections will review the cases. State police will examine Multnomah Countys investigative processes for in-custody deaths. The institute will go further by assessing the facilities, operations, policies and services of the sheriffs office. I believe these are important steps to ensure transparency in the work we do and build and maintain the communitys trust in us, Morrisey ODonnell wrote in a statement Wednesday. Should OSP and NIC identify areas of improvement at the conclusion of their respective assessments, we welcome their recommendations, and we will share them with the public when it is appropriate to do so. Beth Slovic; bslovic@oregonian.com; 503-221-8551 Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe Portlands crackdown on auto thefts notched its first major conviction Wednesday as a prolific car thief took a plea deal for three years in state prison. Prosecutors said Jesse D. Brower, 24, took orders from above to steal specific types of cars and then traded them for cash to fuel his methamphetamine addiction. Brower estimated he had stolen about 15 to 20 vehicles, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case. Fans of TV food competition shows may recognize Elizabeth Falkner, the celebrity chef who has appeared on such programs as Top Chef: Masters, Iron Chef America, Guy Fieris Tournament of Champions, and more. Falkner takes on another kind of on-camera duty in Sorry, Were Closed, a documentary in which Falkner talks to chefs in 2020, a tumultuous time when businesses were rocked by issues ranging from COVID-mandated restaurant lockdowns to fallout from the murder of George Floyd, which kicked off massive racial justice protests and heightened awareness of how restaurant workers suffered from discrimination, exploitation and other ills. The film is directed by Peter Ferriero, whose works includes the 2021 documentary, Her Name Is Chef, which focuses on six female chefs, including Falkner, who is also a producer of Sorry, Were Closed. Falkners background includes owning and opening restaurants in San Francisco and New York. In Sorry, Were Closed, she opens the film by talking about how, in March 2020, the restaurant world came to a screeching halt. As the ramifications of restaurants being forced to close because of the pandemic became starkly dramatic, Falkner says she realized, I need to go see my people. In the film, Falkner visits some chefs, restaurants and culinary professionals in person, and conducts online conversations with other chefs. Many of those Falkner talks with are familiar, including Nancy Silverton, Maneet Chauhan, Gabrielle Hamilton, Dominique Crenn, Nyesha Arrington, Alice Waters, Tanya Holland, Chris Cosentino, and Brandon Jew, among others. Reflecting the uncertainty of the early days of the pandemic, Falkner and her interview subjects sometimes wear masks, sit at a distance from each other and sometimes wear masks that are half-on, half-off. The chefs talk about the trauma of abruptly having to close restaurants, and let staff members go. Some discuss making a pivot to take-out, and selling groceries to try and hang on. Through it all, the difficulties of restaurant work -- including long hours, the temptations of substance abuse, the slim profit margins -- are mentioned as challenges during normal times. With the pandemic, culinary professionals talk about trying to cope with their own anxiety, depression and fears. Adding to an already volatile environment are the protests that erupt in the wake of George Floyds murder, in Minneapolis. In one segment, veteran Portland restaurateur and food professional BJ Smith talks via video about the Black Lives Matter marches in Portland, which made national news. Portland is a very peaceful town, Smith says in the video interview included in Sorry, Were Closed. People are showing up in massive droves to be supportive, and theyre being really met with violence. As news footage of protests plays, we hear Smith say that things seemed to be calming down, and then Trump sends his goons in, referring to federal officers deployed by then-president Donald Trump. The entire city is now protesting in larger numbers than before, Smith says. The film includes more footage of protest activity, including a Navy veteran who was struck by an officer, as shown in a video taken by Zane Sparling, then with the Portland Tribune, and now a reporter with The Oregonian/OregonLive. Chefs of color in other cities talk about instances of discrimination they experienced in their workplace, including the anti-Asian sentiment that grew after public figures, including then-president Trump, called COVID the Chinese virus. Though Falkners interviews illustrate the blows that the restaurant industry suffered during the pandemic, and touch on changes that need to happen, it seems a puzzling oversight not to include more interviews with people who arent celebrity chefs, but instead work as servers, cooks, dishwashers, and so on. Overall, Sorry, Were Closed is a snapshot of a painful time, and everyone who works in restaurants or patronized them is still contending with what it all meant. Sorry, Were Closed is streaming on demand on platforms including Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, and more. Kristi Turnquist 503-221-8227; kturnquist@oregonian.com; @Kristiturnquist Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe A 38-year-old man was arrested this week in the fatal shooting of a man at a Northeast Portland apartment complex early on July 5. Raymond Lavaughn Grant faces allegations of second-degree murder, being a felon in possession of a gun and unlawful use of a weapon in the killing of Ace L. Lewis, court records show. Police arrested Grant on Tuesday in downtown Portland. Grant has a history of contact with authorities dating back more than two decades in Oregon, including convictions on robbery and weapons charges, according to court records. Lewis, 28, was shot about 1 a.m. at the Darrins Place Apartments off Northeast 131st Place in the Argay Terrace neighborhood. Ace L. Lewis was shot and killed in the Argay Terrace neighborhood early Wednesday morning, according to the Portland Police Bureau. Photo provided by the family. A resident reported hearing six or seven gunshots after midnight that he mistook for fireworks until he heard a car driving fast out of the parking lot. He said he saw Lewis sprawled on the staircase of the center building of the U-shaped apartment complex. He said Lewis didnt live in the building but visited to see his partner and her children. Police asked anyone with information about the killing to contact Detective Jeff Sharp at 503-823-9773, or jeff.sharp@police.portlandoregon.gov. People can make anonymous tips at http://www.crimestoppersoforegon.com or download the P3 Tips app. Portland police relied too heavily on tear gas, projectiles, hand-thrown rubber-ball explosives and other distraction devices that harmed peaceful people in the crowd during 2020s social justice protests and riots, outside examiners found. The Police Bureau must strengthen its policies, command training and resources to ensure that this never happens again, the investigators with Independent Monitor said in a 95-page analysis released Thursday. The outside assessment of police crowd control tactics and training was one among a series of remedies required by the U.S. Department of Justice for the city to meet terms of a 2014 settlement agreement on officer use of force. A Justice Department critique of Portland police two years ago faulted officers for inappropriate force and said police failed to adequately document or review the more than 6,000 times officers used force during the citys mass protests after the killing in May 2020 of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Consultant Nicholas E. Mitchell, who now oversees the Los Angeles police and sheriffs departments as an independent monitor, and his team found little oversight of the Police Bureaus now-defunct specialized crowd control Rapid Response Team, with police brass largely deferring to team members about policing tactics and offering little to no review or critique of its training. This allowed the team to operate in the shadows, the report found. Further, officers across the bureau didnt receive adequate direction from supervisors on the ground rules of their engagements before they started crowd control assignments. Some supervisors provided detailed briefings while others gave cursory instructions, the review found. This led to inconsistent rules on how police should determine whether a demonstrators conduct was acceptable or should lead to arrest, according to the report. When the rules of engagement fluctuate night to night without explanation, they seem arbitrary and cause the public to doubt the logic and legitimacy of the departments response, the report said. The review found the bureaus authorized use of rubber-ball grenades or hand-thrown explosive devices that project rubber balls to disperse crowds overly permissive, noting that the manufacturer of the rubber-ball grenades used by the bureau warns that they can result in serious injury and should be reserved as a last selection when chemical agents and less-lethal impact rounds have proven ineffective. The evaluators criticized the lack of a steady presence by the police chief or his high-level command staff in the field during months of the nightly protests, which left officers feeling alone and unsupported by upper command, the city-commissioned analysis said. While the six months of chaos on Portlands streets left residents feeling alienated and furious with police tactics, officers also felt betrayed, targeted with rocks, bricks and in some cases, Molotov cocktails thrown at them, the report said. Many officers believed Portlands elected leaders failed to publicly distinguish between peaceful protesters and those who took to the street to engage in violence, the report said. The Police Bureau should have assigned more plainclothes officers to observe the crowds and had more video of what was transpiring on the street to help command staff make prudent tactical decisions, they found. The evaluators said they were shocked by the near total lack of video downtown in 2020 from stationary or mobile video cameras, other than cellphone videos, that they said hindered police investigations of excessive force by officers as well as protesters riotous behavior. The lack of video also blinded the command post, they said. Among the recommendations: The Police Bureau must dramatically reduce its reliance on tear gas and distraction grenades for crowd control and rebuild its fractured mutual aid network to draw help from area police agencies.Independent Monitor report They recommended state law be changed to allow for temporary use of pole-mounted cameras to obtain video coverage of any future civil disorder. City lawyers had interpreted state law based on a state court decision to restrict police from maintaining live video feeds of the protests because doing so would involve collecting information about protest crowds, which are political activities not directly related to an ongoing criminal investigation. In July 2020, a Multnomah County judge issued a temporary restraining order barring the city and police from collecting or maintaining video or audio of protesters in public spaces, except if it is related to a criminal investigation. That followed a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Oregon challenging the bureaus live streaming of protests. While the Police Bureau placed plainclothes officers in crowds through what it called Echo Squad in November 2020, there were no standard operating procedures governing the squad, the report found. Police must adopt guardrails to ensure that this power is never abused and should not use such plainclothes officers in crowds absent a specific articulable threat of violence or serious disorder, the report said. Since the Rapid Response Team disbanded, the Police Bureaus reliance on mobile field force officers drawn from across the bureau isnt ideal, the analysis said. These officers typically receive only two days of initial training and infrequent refresher instruction and have had limited opportunity to practice drills together, the report said. A reliance on officers with minimal public order training in one of the most active protest cities in the nation is simply insufficient to protect Portland and its residents, the evaluators concluded. The need for a specialized public order policing team is as acute now as ever, the report said. A new unit must be shaped by tighter policies, better training and more rigorous oversight, the evaluators said. They also recommended the city create a Public Order Citizens Academy to educate residents on police tactics. The public must not again be surprised by a PPB public order teams policies, tactics, practices and munitions, the examiners said. The approximately 50 officers, detectives and sergeants of the Rapid Response Team resigned en masse in June 2021, a day after a team member was indicted, accused of fourth-degree assault stemming from a baton strike against a protester. The officer charged ended up apologizing to the woman he struck in a videotaped public message and a judge dismissed the assault case. Other recommendations include: Updating police directives to specifically prohibit the use of rubber-ball grenades for public order, though state law now does so, and restricting use of officer baton pushes against members of a crowd to very limited circumstances. The analysis also said police must improve tracking of munitions in their inventory and how officers use them; must train officers to narrate their decision-making for using force into their body-worn cameras at the end of their shifts; provide officers sufficient time to complete their use-of-force reports; and rebuild what is now a fractured mutual aid network to ensure the bureau can rely on help from area police agencies for major events. The examiners also recommended that the police chief and his top assistants be visible to officers during large-scale protests and train no less than six supervisors to serve as incident commanders. The city has agreed to adopt the reports recommendations. Independent Monitor has agreed to review city progress in 180 days. An online community forum on the report will be held at 6 p.m. Aug. 23. -- Maxine Bernstein Email mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212 Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian Our journalism needs your support. Please become a subscriber today at OregonLive.com/subscribe Multnomah County will start fining American Medical Response for slow ambulance response times after trying to improve performance through other means, county officials said. My patience is exhausted, county Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said in a statement this week. AMRs ambulance-response times are unacceptable and they have not met performance metrics in months, requiring that we take action. An AMR representative was not immediately available for comment. The company has been the sole emergency ambulance provider in the county since 1995. The company can be fined $10,000 per month if its ambulances are on the scene within 8 minutes of an urban 911 call less than 88% of the time, according to its contract with the county. AMR is expected to get to the scene of a life-threatening call in an urban area within 8 minutes at least 90% of the time. In the six months ending Feb. 28, the company met that standard on only 67% of calls, according to the most recent data released by the county. Calls were especially slow in east county, with 61% of life-threatening calls to urban areas getting a response within 8 minutes, compared to 70% of calls to the west side of the county. AMR has attributed the out-of-compliance response times to staffing shortages. In June 2022, the county and the company agreed to a plan to increase staffing. But response times continued to worsen, according to a letter the county health department sent AMR on Monday. There has been no change in ambulance response times, the county health department wrote. There is not a current or updated corrective action plan. Multnomah County said it would start fining the company in September. Fedor Zarkhin; fzarkhin@oregonian.com 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. City Council members in West Virginias capital city voted against a measure that wouldve enacted a syringe service program cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as helping to stop substance abuse, increase safety and prevent cases of blood-borne infections. The body, which is majority-Democrat, voted against the proposal 17 to 9 Monday during a city council meeting. The effort was to be spearheaded by the states former abortion provider, Womens Health Center of West Virginia. Last year, the states Republican Gov. Jim Justice signed a bill into law instituting an abortion ban at all stages of pregnancy, except for medical emergencies and rape and incest victims up to eight weeks. Children are given 14 weeks under the same conditions. West Virginia currently has the highest drug overdose rate per population across the country, according to data from the CDC. In addition, the state has suffered from HIV outbreaks ever since 2019. Based on data from AidsVu, a mapping tool by Emory Universitys Rollins School of Public Health, about 2,089 people were living with HIV across the state that year. The health center had been fervently campaigning for the programs implementation within the last few weeks, before council members put it to a vote. Iris Sidikman, the centers harm reduction program coordinator, spoke about it at a public hearing earlier this month and asked city residents to keep an open mind. Sidikman, who uses they/them pronouns, explained that the center would offer wound care and supplies, referral services, behavioral health care, primary health care, substance abuse treatment and overdose prevention supplies, in addition to clean syringes. A few spoke out against the program, citing concerns about syringe litter and potentially making it easier for those struggling with substance abuse to continue using. Those same concerns were raised by residents during the city council meeting Monday. Individuals in support of the program called on council members to look at people struggling with substance abuse as humans and attempt to help them. Kenny Matthews, who survived opioid addiction, told council members we dont put hospitals where people dont get sick. We put them where its needed. He continued: What were asking to be done is to allow people to be surrounded by people that say youre worth living. You have something to contribute and you can be better. Yet, some in attendance did not agree with that sentiment. Addiction is your choice, said Ward 1 Democratic councilman Pat Jones. Its your choice. August 9, 2023 | 07:27 pm PT It's less than one week now until the new 90-day tourists visas and 45-day exemptions will be available to a wide array of international visitors. Despite the lack of clarity surrounding the new visas, once they are initiated it will encourage much greater travel possibilities within Vietnam. "Going slowly was the best way of being reminded that there is a relationship between Here and There, and that travel narrative was the story of There and Back." Those are the words of the great American novelist and travel writer, Paul Theroux, who illustrates the one piece of advice that is often repeated by a wealth of travelers: the heart of travel should be to slow down, appreciate and immerse yourself in your surroundings. The opportunity to connect with a community and travel in a way that is more environmentally friendly as you decrease your speed helps you reap other benefits along the way. Although mass tourism has advantages such as convenience and practicality, those who'll travel across Vietnam for a longer period will have the chance to encounter wonderful NGOs and other more sustainable examples of ecotourism, away from resorts and similar infrastructure that may not be as focused on the long-term effects on the environment. There are countless examples of when a trip ends too soon or it feels rushed, whereas it's rare when we travel that we feel like we spent too long somewhere. Vietnam's new visa policy will encourage this type of travel and create memories that will feel more unique compared to the usual path. Often the days when we don't have a strict, packed itinerary are the ones which encourage spontaneity and moments or conversations that wouldn't usually take place. As interesting as popular tourist attractions such as Ba Na Hills and Cu Chi Tunnels are, frequently the lasting impressions of a trip will be the acts of kindness or unexpected meetings that take you by surprise. I recall running out of gas whilst driving alongside the paddy fields in a remote area of central Vietnam and within a few minutes, a stranger had noticed me pushing my motorbike along. Before I knew it, I was invited to have tea with his family and persuaded to have a haircut next door, whilst they filled up my bike with a jerry can. This experience certainly wouldn't be found in a Lonely Planet guide, but it is the memory I cherish most from that trip. Francais (R) from France and his friend explore stop on Ma Pi Leng Pass in Ha Giang in northern Vietnam during a motorbike trip. Photo by VnExpress/Xuan Phuong For years, travelers in Vietnam would often have to pick between places like either Sa Pa or Ha Giang in the north or not have time to see many beaches beyond Hoi An and Nha Trang along the coast in their 15-day or 30-day trip, whereas the upcoming longer visas will offer the opportunity to see more of Vietnam and appreciate it at a slower pace. Destinations in the mountainous north such as Mu Cang Chai, Cao Bang or Lang Son, which would often get overlooked in a two week or month-long trip, will significantly benefit from the tourism boost, as backpackers will have enough time to include these sights in their itinerary. Similarly, tourists who crave palm trees and the sounds of the ocean will have more time to enjoy places such as Mui Ne and Quy Nhon, which likely wouldn't have been included when visiting the country for just 15 or 30 days previously. Some of these destinations may take a while to adapt, especially after such a steep decline in visitors during the pandemic, but ultimately, the travelers and the locals will benefit from this extended period of travel. *Darren Barnard is an English teacher living in Hanoi. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Three tonnes of leaves were delivered from the northern mountainous region to Hue to serve the decoration. Many flowers in the colors of blue and purple, both imported from overseas and originating from the central highlands city of Da Lat, were used. A lot among them were rare flowers and the team had to make reservations with farm owners in Da Lat months in advance. New York, US (PANA) - Ongoing mediation efforts aimed at resolving the conflict in Sudan are critical, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Wednesday, warning against the risk of prolonged ethnic conflict Washington, DC, US (PANA) - The US has expressed concern about the health and safety of detained Niger President Mohamed Bazoum, as the junta that ousted him on 26 July continues to ignore calls for his reinstatement and entrenches itself in power Log on if you are already subscribed or Subscribe... Photo: (Photo : Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) Georgia could be the next state to implement stringent regulations on children's access to social media platforms. Two prominent Republican figures in the Georgia state Senate, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Sen. Jason Anavitarte of Dallas, announced plans to introduce legislation in 2024 that would mandate parental consent for minors to create social media accounts. The proposed law is also aimed at restricting accounts on various online services, echoing recent legislative actions in other states. Empowering Parents for Safer Online Experiences According to NBC News, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Sen. Jason Anavitarte have taken a decisive step toward safeguarding minors' online interactions. The legislators revealed their intention to craft a law in the image of Louisiana's recent legislation, which requires social media platforms to verify users' ages and prevents those under 18 from joining without parental consent. This announcement marks a bipartisan effort to address the challenges posed by children's unrestricted access to the digital realm. Georgia's proposed law aligns with the national trend of enforcing parental consent for minors accessing social media platforms. In the past year, Arkansas, Texas, and Utah have all passed similar measures, necessitating parental approval before children can engage on social media. Concurrently, discussions on the federal level have seen some policymakers advocate for the implementation of parental consent requirements to ensure young individuals' safety in the online space. The Surgeon General's Warning and Tech Industry Response According to ABC, the proposed legislation's impetus gains further validity with the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's concerns about the safety of social media for young users. In May, Murthy called on tech companies, parents, and caregivers to prioritize immediate protective measures for children online. He urged greater transparency from tech firms and likened the need for regulation to safety standards applied to child-centric products like car seats and baby formula. Social media giants, such as Meta Platforms, have faced increasing scrutiny in the wake of Murthy's concerns. Senator Anavitarte's disclosure of contact with Meta Platforms highlights the Senate's intent to collaborate with industry leaders on implementing the proposed law effectively. Meta's recent efforts to enhance age verification procedures underscore the industry's awareness of the issue's urgency. Read Also: The Ultimate Guide on How to Start Homeschooling: Your Path to Personalized Education The Path Ahead: Potential Challenges and Benefits While the proposed legislation aims to create safer online environments for minors, concerns regarding free speech and access to information have arisen. Advocates argue that such regulations could inadvertently restrict content and hinder adults' access to valuable information. Striking a balance between safeguarding minors and preserving fundamental rights remains a challenge lawmakers must address. As Georgia's lawmakers work toward implementing the proposed parental consent law, practical challenges emerge. The law's enforcement will likely necessitate the integration of age verification mechanisms into existing platforms, potentially requiring users to provide government-issued identification. The Messenger reported that this approach echoes measures adopted in states like Louisiana, Utah, and Virginia for other online spaces. As witnessed in other states, such as Utah and Louisiana, the introduction of stringent online regulations has sparked legal challenges. Organizations advocating for free speech, including the Free Speech Coalition, have raised concerns over potential constitutional violations stemming from content discrimination. The outcomes of legal battles could shape the course of online safety regulations across the country. Related Article: AP Psychology Reversal: Florida Schools Divided on LGBTQ Content Inclusion Photo: (Photo : CHANDAN KHANNA / Getty Images) A 17-year-old teenager, closely related to the Uvalde, Texas, school shooter, was apprehended on Monday for making threats to carry out a school shooting at a local educational institution. The arrest comes as authorities remain vigilant about potential threats following the tragic mass shooting incident that unfolded in Uvalde last year. The alarming incident has sparked concerns and renewed discussions about the broader issue of school safety and the ongoing impact of such acts of violence on communities. Connection to Uvalde Mass Shooting According to NBC News, the arrested teenager, whose identity is being withheld due to being a minor, is the cousin of Salvador Ramos, the individual responsible for the devastating mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde in May 2022. The tragic event claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers. Despite the police not explicitly confirming their familial relationship, an affidavit revealed the direct link between the two individuals. This familial tie raises questions about the influence of family background on such tragic incidents. The teenager's arrest was prompted by a call from his mother to San Antonio police, expressing concern about her son's intentions. According to The New York Times, the affidavit reported that her son was planning to replicate the actions of his cousin by conducting a similar school shooting. The mother's alarm was heightened by the fact that her son was under probation and reportedly intoxicated at the time of the threat. The proximity of their residence to an elementary school only exacerbated her concerns. This incident underscores the complex intersection of mental health, substance abuse, and access to firearms among teenagers. Read Also: AP Psychology Reversal: Florida Schools Divided on LGBTQ Content Inclusion Swift Response and Community Awareness The swift response from law enforcement authorities led to the teenager's arrest and subsequent questioning by detectives. He denied making any threats during the interview. The charges brought against him include threatening to commit an act of violence causing serious bodily harm, specifically in relation to comments he made to his sister. Additionally, he faces a terroristic threat charge due to the alleged comments directed towards the school itself. The incident has prompted local schools, including the Edgewood Independent School District, to emphasize the importance of vigilant reporting of suspicious behavior and the broader initiative of community safety. According to CNN, his mother conveyed to authorities that she held significant concerns due to the suspect's ongoing probation status and his intoxicated state during the incident. According to the statements given by the teen's sister during the investigation, she shared that while providing her brother with a ride, he uttered threats towards her life and expressed intentions of targeting the school. These details were documented in the affidavit. The affidavit reports that the mother supposedly overheard a telephone conversation where Cruz was allegedly attempting an unlawful acquisition of an AR-15-style assault rifle, the same firearm model that Ramos had used in the Uvalde shooting. After Cruz's apprehension, he reportedly refuted any allegations of making threats during an interview conducted by a detective, as indicated in the official document. It is hoped that collective efforts will ensure safer environments for students, educators, and communities as a whole. Related Article: Former Indiana Teacher Admits to Felony Intimidation with 'Kill List,' Receives Probation Photo: (Photo : OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images) A recent study conducted by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) challenges the prevalent notion that the global proliferation of Facebook is associated with widespread psychological harm. According to BBC, the research focused on tracking changes in well-being across 72 countries as the usage of social media platforms expanded. The findings counter the common belief that social media, including Facebook, is inherently psychologically detrimental. Meta Faces Scrutiny Amid Whistle-blower Claims Numerous countries, including the UK, have been contemplating legislative measures to safeguard social media users from online harm. This discourse gained traction, particularly due to revelations from whistle-blowers and media reports citing leaked information that indicated Facebook's internal research acknowledged negative impacts on certain users. Notably, this OII study specifically examined Facebook's effects and did not encompass other platforms owned by Meta, such as Instagram. Prof. Andrew Przybylski, a lead researcher at OII, shared that the study's aim was to address the question, "As countries become more saturated with social media, how does the wellbeing of their populations look?" Contrary to the prevailing belief, the amassed data and subsequent analysis did not demonstrate a decline in well-being linked to increased Facebook use. It's important to note that the research focused on the overarching impact of Facebook usage at a national level and did not delve into the specific vulnerabilities of certain user groups. For instance, it might not have detected negative effects on smaller user subsets if they were counterbalanced by positive outcomes for other groups. Furthermore, the study did not investigate the potential risks associated with specific types of content, such as materials promoting self-harm. While the study has its limitations, Prof. Przybylski stressed that it highlights the necessity for more comprehensive data from tech companies to assess the true impact of social media. The UK's Online Safety Bill (OSB), nearing the end of its parliamentary journey, aims to safeguard individuals from online harm. However, Prof. Sonia Livingstone of the London School of Economics cautioned that the study's applicability to the OSB's concerns might be limited. She noted that the study's general nature makes it less relevant to current regulatory and clinical deliberations. Read Also: Increased Social Media Use Causes Adolescent Girls to Manifest Lesser Life Satisfaction Earlier Complex Findings: Not Causation, but Correlation Although the OSB predominantly concentrates on protecting children online, the study's focus did not encompass young users as a distinct group since "by and large children are not using Facebook," according to Prof. Livingstone. The peer-reviewed research, conducted by Prof. Przybylski and Matti Vuorre, employed a significant amount of data provided by Facebook. Notably, the researchers maintained their independence from the company, and the study received no funding from the tech giant. Facebook provided the researchers with data indicating the growth in the number of users across different countries between 2008 and 2019, categorized by age brackets (13-34 and over 35). The OII team then compared this data with well-being indicators from the Gallup World Poll Survey, which represented nearly a million individuals. Overall, the study found no substantial evidence linking the expansion of social media usage, particularly Facebook, to a negative impact on psychological well-being. While the study did not establish causation, it underscored the value of technology companies collaborating with researchers to gain deeper insights into the effects of their platforms. Related Article: Facebook Knows Instagram Brings Negative Mental Health Impact to Teen Girls, Leaked Research Reveals Photo: (Photo : Adrian Valverde on Unsplash) A distressing incident has emerged from the iconic grounds of Disneyland in California, as an 81-year-old grandfather, Paul Perez, hailing from Nevada, has taken legal action against the theme park following an alleged attack by a security dog. The lawsuit, officially filed on August 2, paints a concerning picture of Perez's visit on May 10, 2022, during which he claims to have been bitten in the stomach by a security dog stationed near the park's entrance. In a detailed account presented within the lawsuit, Perez contends that the security dog's handler intentionally directed the animal to position itself directly in front of him. This maneuver, according to the lawsuit, resulted in Perez inadvertently stepping directly in front of the dog, ultimately leading to the unfortunate encounter. Regrettably, the incident culminated in the security dog biting Perez's stomach, resulting in injuries that have spurred him to seek legal recourse. Legal Battle Sparks Questions About Park Security In his pursuit of justice, Perez is seeking compensation not only for the medical treatment necessitated by the alleged dog bite but also for the pain, suffering, and emotional distress that have ensued in the wake of the incident. According to FOX News, this legal action has raised questions regarding Disneyland's security measures and procedures, particularly those involving the deployment of security dogs and the role of their handlers in ensuring visitor safety. Disneyland, one of the world's most renowned and visited amusement parks, boasts a security system that includes K-9 units patrolling the entrances and gates. However, the lawsuit has illuminated potential shortcomings in the efficacy of these security measures and the accountability of handlers responsible for directing these trained animals. Ian Pancer, the attorney representing Paul Perez, provided insight into the gravity of the injuries sustained by his client. Pancer revealed that Perez suffered multiple lacerations to his stomach due to the alleged attack. The incident, according to Pancer, transpired during a family outing to the theme park. Perez was accompanied by his wife, daughter, and two granddaughters. per CBS News. Pancer recounted the events leading up to the purported attack, explaining, "[The handler] let the dog just kind of jump out right in front of my client, whose body then comes into contact with the dog because, you know, he's 81 and can't stop on a dime." The unfortunate result was the reported bite to Perez's stomach. Read Also: Disney Rash Guide for Parents: Causes, Symptoms, and Cure for this Skin Disease Disneyland's Reputation at Stake As legal proceedings unfold, a broader conversation is unfolding about the training, supervision, and protocols governing security dogs and their handlers at Disneyland and other public spaces. This incident serves as a stark reminder of the potential risks that can manifest even in crowded and familiar venues. According to NY Post, the lawsuit underscores the critical importance of maintaining robust safety protocols, especially in spaces frequented by families and vulnerable visitors, such as the elderly. The alleged incident has ignited discussions concerning the delicate balance between rigorous security measures and the safety and comfort of visitors. This occurrence has triggered concerns about the potential for mismanagement and mishandling of security dogs in public areas. Disneyland, renowned for its status as a family-friendly destination, faces the challenge of reconciling its cherished image with this unsettling incident. This incident also prompts a broader dialogue about the necessity for continuous evaluation and enhancement of security procedures to ensure the safety and well-being of all visitors, regardless of their age or vulnerabilities. Related Article: Disneyland Facing Legal Action: Employees Allegedly Laughed at Disabled Woman Before Accident That Caused Her Death Iranian authorities are continuing their crackdown on journalists. Rights organization estimate that over ninety journalists were arrested in Iran in connection with the mass protests that followed the death in police custody last September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi have spent more than 300 days in prison after their arrests in September. Hamedi broke the news of Aminis grave condition after she was detained by the so-called morality police for improperly wearing her hijab; Hamedis picture of Mahsa Aminis grieving parents went viral. Mohammadi covered Aminis funeral in Saqquez and reported on the thousands of people who attended. For doing their jobs as journalists, the two women have been charged with propaganda against the system, acting against national security, and collaborating with the United States charges which can bring the death penalty. After their recent trials were held behind closed doors, Hamedi and Mohammadi are awaiting word on the verdicts and sentences. Iranian authorities are also re-arresting journalists who were detained during the protests but who later were released on bail or who were supposedly granted amnesty. Among them are Hossein Yazdi, director of the Iran Times news channel on Telegram, and free-lance journalist Nazila Maroufian. Two other journalists, Saeedeh Shafiei and Nasim Soltanbeigi, first arrested during the protests and charged with propaganda against the state and disturbing public opinion, were recently sentenced to two years in prison and two years of social restrictions, including a ban on media activities and leaving the country. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller deplored the Iranian regimes continued crackdown on journalists for engaging in acts of journalism, oftentimes with baseless and completely discredited allegation[s]. The regimes actions, he said, remain a violation of their human rights, something the world continues to watch. Photo: (Photo : bruce mars on Unsplash) In the rapidly evolving landscape of modern work culture, a new and intriguing term has emerged: "lazy girl jobs." This seemingly paradoxical phrase encapsulates a subtle yet profound shift in the way a specific segment of the workforce, particularly Gen Z, is approaching their careers. Coined as a counterpart to the already-debated phenomenon of "quiet quitting," lazy girl jobs are garnering attention and sparking discussions about the evolving dynamics of work-life balance, the influence of economic conditions, and the reevaluation of traditional metrics of success. Rebellion Against Relentlessness: Prioritizing Well-being and Flexibility According to Bloomberg, the essence of "lazy girl jobs" lies in the pursuit of roles that offer a unique blend of low-stress, low-effort environments while still ensuring a reasonable level of compensation, typically ranging from $60,000 to $80,000 annually. This intriguing trend, touted as a form of rebellion against the incessant hustle culture, emphasizes the values of autonomy and flexibility. Individuals opting for such roles prioritize the preservation of personal well-being and the ability to exercise control over their lives. At first glance, the term might appear provocative or even dismissive of hard work. However, its significance transcends its surface meaning. It serves as a challenge to the prevailing notion that productivity is synonymous with ceaseless exertion. Gabrielle Judge, a 26-year-old content creator, played a pivotal role in popularizing this term. She sees it as a means of redefining success, stating, "Everything that I'm talking about is considered lazy if you compare it to traditional working standards. Why don't I just own that now, because I know the media is going to run with it?" Beneath the surface, "lazy girl jobs" offer a glimpse into a larger phenomenon: the normalization of choosing to step away from the traditional grind. Unlike previous generations, Gen Z is demonstrating a rational approach to economics. According to Wall Street Journal, the conventional belief that hard work will inevitably yield future rewards is being challenged in the face of shifting economic conditions. Escalating living costs, the burden of student debt, and the elusive prospect of homeownership have cast doubt on the feasibility of the traditional path of delayed gratification. Read Also: Gen Z and Millennials Would Rather be Jobless Than Working for a Company they Dislike Revolutionizing Success: The Evolution from "Rise and Grind" to Personal Fulfillment The aspirational promise of the American Dream, characterized by upward mobility, is no longer an unquestionable reality. Consequently, Gen Zers are reevaluating the trade-offs between their careers and overall well-being. Instead of succumbing to the relentless "rise and grind" mentality, they are embracing alternative interpretations of success that place a premium on mental health, personal satisfaction, and flexible time management. However, it's essential to acknowledge that the allure of "lazy girl jobs" doesn't stem from an aversion to hard work. Rather, it's rooted in a recognition that the prevailing economic and societal systems may not necessarily align with the pursuit of individual happiness and contentment. According to The Guardian, the emerging trend signifies a broader transformation in the definitions of success, with the younger generation endeavoring to define their own paths to fulfillment. As the buzz surrounding "lazy girl jobs" unfolds, the resonance goes beyond a fleeting trend. It reflects a yearning for work reform, a seamless integration of work and personal life, and a fundamental reevaluation of what constitutes a meaningful and rewarding career. In a world characterized by transient fads, the underlying sentiment continues to persist, advocating for a more balanced and holistic approach to professional and personal aspirations. Related Article: Gen Z Voices Frustration Over Baby Boomers' Workplace Habits, Survey Finds Photo: (Photo : Susan Mohr on Unsplash) After being held captive for 13 days, American nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter have been safely released from kidnapping in Haiti. The pair were abducted from the community ministry where Dorsainvil works in Port-au-Prince on July 27. The organization they were associated with, El Roi Haiti, expressed immense joy and gratitude for their release. "It is with a heart of gratitude and immense joy that we at El Roi Haiti confirm the safe release of our staff member and friend, Alix Dorsainvil, and her child, who were held hostage in Port au Prince, Haiti. Today we are praising God for answered prayer," the statement read. US Government's Response El Roi Haiti has requested privacy for Dorsainvil and her family as they process the traumatic event, stating, "There is still much to process and to heal from in this situation." The U.S. State Department welcomed the reports of the release, emphasizing that the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas are their top priorities. The Haitian National Police have declined to comment on the matter as it remains under investigation. The identity of the kidnappers and their motivations are still unclear. The kidnapping incident, involving a man brandishing a gun, was witnessed by a patient awaiting a medical checkup. The patient, Lormina Louima, recounted to The Associated Press, "When I saw the gun, I was so scared. I said, 'I don't want to see this; let me go.'" According to CNN, the alarming event occurred on the same day the U.S. State Department ordered the departure of non-emergency government personnel from Haiti. The security situation in the country has deteriorated, leading to a travel advisory from the US Embassy in Haiti urging US nationals to leave the country due to recent clashes between criminal groups and police in the capital. Port-au-Prince has been plagued by a growing kidnapping-for-profit epidemic over the last few years. Hundreds of Haitians have been targeted for ransom payments, with foreigners also occasionally falling victim to these crimes. In 2021, 17 missionaries from the United States and Canada were taken hostage by a local gang. A recent UN report notes 1,014 kidnappings in Haiti from January to June this year, including 256 women, 13 girls, and 24 boys. Read Also: Black Mom and White Daughter Slam Nosy Strangers Through Sweet Video Dorsainvil's Connection to Haiti Dorsainvil, originally from New Hampshire, has been serving as a nurse for El Roi Haiti since 2020. She married the director of the organization, Sandro Dorsainvil, in 2021. Her connection to Haiti began with a visit after the 2010 earthquake, which led her to fall in love with the people. Dorsainvil has spent subsequent breaks from school and summers visiting Haiti, even funding her trips to the Caribbean nation. The kidnapping of Dorsainvil and her daughter prompted a demonstration by students from El Roi Haiti and other residents, demanding their release. The community held the beloved nurse and her daughter in high regard. The kidnapping and subsequent release of Dorsainvil and her daughter highlight the increasingly volatile situation in Haiti, where law enforcement struggles to keep pace with rampant criminal activities. While their release is celebrated, it casts a spotlight on the broader issue of safety and security in the region, leading to growing concerns among both local citizens and international observers. Related Article: Texas Student Adopts Haitian Baby He Found in Trash Can Covered with Ants Photo: (Photo : Brooke Cagle on Unsplash) The longstanding debate surrounding school choice in Nevada reached a crucial juncture as the state's Interim Finance Committee deliberated over the allocation of unspent federal funds. According to AP News, the emphasis was on replacing depleted funds for a private school scholarship program that Republican Governor Joe Lombardo supported despite opposition from legislative Democrats. Lombardo's Last Stand: Governor's Bid to Salvage School Choice Priority Sparks Legislative Clash Governor Lombardo's recent efforts represent a final attempt to salvage a fragment of his prominent school choice agenda in Nevada, where a divided government landscape has become increasingly rare. Originally aiming to expand both funding and eligibility for the state's Opportunity Scholarship program, Lombardo now aims to sustain the program at its previous levels. The initial proposal, which the Republican-dominated Legislature initially approved in 2015, sought to expand eligibility and provide an additional $50 million for the Opportunity Scholarship program. The program allows businesses to receive tax credits on contributions that support private and religious school tuitions for predominantly low-income students. However, with that proposal defunct, Lombardo is currently seeking $3.2 million from unused federal coronavirus relief funds to prolong existing scholarships that are projected to soon exhaust their resources. Ben Kieckhefer, the governor's chief of staff, appeared before legislators, estimating that around 350 students might need to switch schools on short notice due to funding shortages. He implored legislators to consider the students' well-being, prompting pointed questions from Democratic lawmakers. During the legislative committee's deliberations, concerns emerged about the funding shortfall's origins and urgency, revealing that one scholarship-granting organization disproportionately received more funding than the other six. Democratic Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno of North Las Vegas highlighted this imbalance, stating, "There is one organization that took the money that all six organizations should have had." She emphasized that the legislative body wasn't responsible for destabilizing students' situations. Amidst the debate, Republicans rallied support for the scholarship program, while Democratic lawmakers critiqued the program for lacking adequate financial safeguards and accountability measures. Lombardo had recently stood alongside parents and students in a rally advocating for school choice, asserting that "traditional public schools are not and should not be the only option." Read Also: $500 Million Education Plan: Oklahoma House Republicans Proposal to Support Teachers, Students Resource Allocation Dilemma: School Choice Dilemma Exposes Nevada's Education Challenges According to US News, the concept of school choice generally involves taxpayer-funded initiatives to broaden educational alternatives, including private or charter schools, homeschooling, or hybrid models. It aims to provide students with more options, particularly those who may not thrive in traditional public school settings. Nevertheless, Democratic legislators caution against using public funds for private schools, fearing it could exacerbate resource limitations in public schools. In an interesting turn, the use of federal coronavirus relief funds to bolster school choice isn't unprecedented. Republican governors in Tennessee, Arizona, and Oklahoma have utilized federal funds to establish charter schools, expand private school vouchers, and support scholarships for low-income students attending private institutions. Nevada's school choice debate reflects broader national discussions on the matter. The state's unique circumstances intensify the debate, with deep divisions between the relatively moderate Republican governor and the Democratic-controlled Legislature. Struggling with low per-pupil funding, teacher shortages, underfunding, aged infrastructure, and overcrowded classrooms, Nevada's educational landscape is facing multifaceted challenges. According to FOX 5 Vegas, the recent meeting mirrored the partisan discourse surrounding the Opportunity Scholarship program, with a committee split 15-7 in favor of Democrats. Disagreements between the parties during the negotiations and divergent accounts of the history of the discussions have marked them. Amidst these discussions, the implications for students and families remain at the forefront. The committee's letter to Governor Lombardo requested information about potential scholarship losses, the financial impact, and the utilization of unspent funds from previous years. As Nevada grapples with its school funding dilemmas, the debate underscores the complex interplay of education policy and budget priorities. Related Article: The Difference Between Montessori & Traditional Education: The Advantages & Disadvantages For Students At a glance Expert's Rating Pros Clever, aesthetically pleasing design Excellent battery life Range of remappable keys Makes working-from-home more ergonomic Cons Not travel friendly Expensive Our Verdict The Logitech Casa Pop-Up Desk is a great way to make working from home without a dedicated monitor more ergonomic, but its heavy build means its not suitable for using on the go. Whilst the pandemic made working from home more mainstream, not everyone has the space nor privilege for a dedicated office with external monitor/s, a desktop PC unit and standalone keyboard and trackpad. The reality is that many people are still working from laptops on dining room tables, which isnt exactly good for posture (just think about those cricks in your neck!). This scenario has inspired Logitechs new product: The Casa Pop-Up Desk, now available in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. This multifunctional product looks like an ordinary book when closed, but houses a few surprises that will transform your less-than-ideal work from home set-up into a more ergonomic experiencein theory. But how does it work in practice? Hannah Cowton / Foundry Design and build Three colour options Houses a keyboard, trackpad and a compartment for cables/stationery Weighs 1.2kg (2.6 pounds) Logitech products are nearly always high-quality, and the Casa Pop-Up Desk is no different. When closed, the Casa looks like a large notebook. Its available in three color options: Classic Chic (deep grey and green), Bohemian Blush (pink) and Nordic Calm (off white) I tested the latter. That means the stretchy silicone strap keeping the book secure is lilac, but this will vary depending on the model you choose. The case features a fabric design thats wipeable, though mine did pick up a small stain that wasnt completely removed with a wet cloth. When opened, the front cover expands out, then folds in on itself to create a stand there are two protruding parts for your laptop to nestle into, and they are secure and sturdy. According to Logitech, the stand supports laptops from 10- to 17-inches, and can hold devices weighing up to 7.5kg (16.5 pounds). Hannah Cowton / Foundry The bottom of the Casa has three compartments, housing a keyboard (the Casa Keys), trackpad (the Casa Touch) and a section for the charging cable but you could easily store pens or other small items in the latter. The keyboard is smaller than a standard one, but not so compact that youll feel cramped when typing. It features a range of handy shortcut buttons, including a dictation button, a screenshot button and even an emoji button for using in messaging apps. However, the keys arent backlit, so youll need a decent external light source while typing. The Casa weighs 1.2kg (2.6 pounds), which is a similar to some slim laptops. Whilst Logitech hasnt advised this as a travel product, one of the most natural use cases would be on a train or at a coffee shop. Sadly, the unwieldy build means that your bag will be hefty to carry around. It looks sophisticated, its easy to use and has an excellent battery life Features and usability Connects via Bluetooth Works with Windows, macOS and ChromeOS Uses Logi Options+ app The Casa Keys and Casa Touch dont require a dongle, simply connecting via Bluetooth. The Touch can easily switch between up to three different devices. While the Casa Pop-Up Desk is technically compatible with all laptops from 10-17 inches, Logitech specifically suggests Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, and iPadOS. The latter raises the prospect of using the iPad or another tablet, though its not exactly designed for this use. Hannah Cowton / Foundry If you want extra customisation over your devices, then youll need to download the free Logi Options+ app its only available on Windows (10 or later) and Mac (macOS 11 or later). Besides checking on the battery lives of your devices, you can also remap buttons, with a wide variety of commands to choose from. You can also alter the touch and tap controls on the trackpad and change the cursor speed. The Casa Keys is quiet to use, and I noticed very little lag when typing on my laptop. I had minor issues with highlighting text in WordPress with the Casa Touch, but it worked just fine in all other applications, with the device responding to quick swipes and shortcuts. Battery life When it comes to the battery life, you neednt worry. The keyboard can last up to five months on a single charge, whilst the trackpad can give up to three weeks of use. These estimates are based on around a full working day (eight hours) worth of use. During my short stint of testing, I havent made much of a dent in the battery lives of either gadget. When it comes to the battery life, you neednt worry Charging is via the USB-C ports on each device, and a cable is included in the box. Whilst I havent time to run this device to flat, Logitech claims that a one-minute charge will give you a full days use on the Keys, as will a 3-minute charge on the Touch. Hannah Cowton / Foundry Price and availability The Logitech Casa Pop-Up Desk costs 179 and is available either directly from Logitech or John Lewis. At the time of writing, this product isnt available in the US just the UK, Australia and New Zealand. There is nothing on the market that can directly compete with this product, but regardless, nearly 180 is not exactly cheap. Id only consider the Casa if there is currently no space for a monitor in your home, and youre looking for an all-in-one solution that will help give you better posture. If the Casa Pop-Up Desk is out of your price range, then check out our charts of the best laptop stands, keyboards, and mice. Hannah Cowton / Foundry Verdict There is no denying that Logitech has created something entirely unique with the Casa Pop-Up Desk. It looks sophisticated, is easy to use and has excellent battery life. The pack away build and deceiving book design also make it a great decorative piece for around the home. Whilst its mainly a solution for people working from laptops without a dedicated monitor or desk, a lighter build would also allow it to be a useful tool for working when travelling or out and about in public spaces. Plus, it doesnt come cheap. Specs At a Glance Expert's Rating Pros Fun and easy-to-use interface Reliable security features Unlimited simultaneous device connections Cons Lacks some advanced features for power users Customer support not the most helpful Not a good option for torrenting Our Verdict TunnelBear is an easy-to-use VPN that keeps it simple with basic, but solid features. It offers reliable security, but struggles with speed and unblocking issues. VPN novices might find its simplicity endearing, but advanced users will feel short-changed. Best Prices Today: TunnelBear Retailer Price TunnelBear $59.88 View Deal TunnelBear in brief: P2P allowed: Yes Unlimited device connections: Yes Business location: Canada Number of servers: 5000+ Number of country locations: 47+ Cost: $9.99 per month or $59.88 for a yearly subscription TunnelBear is a popular VPN service owned by McAfee security company and based in Toronto, Canada. Its been around for a while now and has always stood out due to its unique and kitschy bear-themed interface. The service has tried hard in recent years to add more features such as unlimited device connections in order to remain relevant in an increasingly competitive VPN market. Certainly there are ursine puns aplenty to be enjoyed here, but is the VPN service just right for you? I took it for a walk in the woods to find out. Further reading: See our roundup of the best VPNs to learn about competing products. What are TunnelBears features and services? Sam Singleton When you first open TunnelBear you cant help but notice how much work the designers have put in to it. The main interface is a world map geographically dotted with the available servers. As you scroll across the map, even the trees change based on the continent or region youre viewing (palm trees in the Middle East, Umbrella Thorns in Africa). Your actual location is signified on the map with a sheep, but once you connect to the VPN it turns into a bear. Each server location has an empty tunnel icon on it. To connect, just select the server icon you want. In addition to selecting the server from a map, there is also a drop-down list at the top with all of the servers as well. Somehow in the TunnelBear universe sheeps turning into bears and bears digging through tunnels makes sense, but the logic is lost on us. Still, its a fun and unique design element. TunnelBears settings including a VigilantBear kill switch and GhostBear features. Sam Singleton On the whole, TunnelBear is a simple service without a lot of frills, but it does provide some interesting key features worth checking out. Under Settings > Security, TunnelBear has its own version of a kill switch feature called VigilantBear. It works a little differently than a normal kill switch in that instead of disconnecting your internet in the event of a VPN disconnection, it just blocks all incoming and outgoing traffic until the connection is re-established. Additionally, TunnelBear offers a feature called GhostBear that makes your encrypted data less detectable. It does this by masking your VPN traffic and disguising it as HTTPS traffic, which is generally less likely to be blocked by censors. This can work well if you find that your connection is being blocked by streaming services such as Netflix. By turning on the GhostBear feature, there is a higher likelihood that your connection will be able to access these restrictive sites. Be warned, though, turning on GhostBear will likely slow down your connection even further. Another feature to note is SplitBear or TunnelBears version of split-tunneling, which allows you to control which apps or websites will have access to the VPN connection. Unfortunately, TunnelBear lacks many advanced features that competitors offer such as multi-hop and dedicated servers specific to certain activitiesstreaming, torrenting, etc. In fact, in the past, TunnelBear blocked access to P2P downloads but has since begun allowing them. Still, it is not something that it openly encourages with its service and for that reason other VPN providers such as ProtonVPN and Mullvad VPN are better suited for torrenting. TunnelBear offers desktop programs and mobile apps for a number of systems such as Mac, Windows, Android, and iOS, among others. There are also proxy browser extensions for Chrome and Opera. And just recently TunnelBear has switched to allow for unlimited simultaneous device connections with its premium plans. TunnelBear does offer a free service that comes with the full desktop app but a 500MB-per-month data limit. Its a great way to test out the service to see if you like it, but the low data limit isnt likely to be enough to use it regularlyyou wont even be able to stream an HD (1080p) video for more than 10 or so minutes. How is TunnelBears performance? Tunnelbear During my testing I rated speeds across TunnelBears servers in five different countries all around the world and then compared them to our baseline internet speed. TunnelBear server speeds, honestly, werent great. Across all locations tested, the speeds averaged a mere 33 percent of the base download speed and a rather poor 20 percent of the base upload speed. Not only do these numbers not impress, but it fell way short of the services in our top five fastest VPNs. Still, online speeds can vary wildly in pure Mbps tests from day to day and even hour to hour. Its best to take any and all speed tests with a grain of salt. Your experience with TunnelBear may differ from those in the tests for this review. In regards to streaming, I did notice that TunnelBear wasnt able to consistently unblock sites such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. It was successful most of the time but the odd server seemed to have trouble or was actively being blocked. When I turned on the GhostBear feature it seemed to solve most of these unblocking issues. Unfortunately, with GhostBear turned on, I noticed that my connection speeds plummeted and I wasnt able to stream HQ video because it was too slow. So GhostBear seems to work, but it wasnt really a viable solution. Therefore, I personally wouldnt recommend TunnelBear as a reliable VPN for streaming. That doesnt mean it cant be used to stream, but I believe there are better options available such as NordVPN, which works flawlessly with Netflix, or CyberGhost VPN, which has a ton of locations to choose from and optimized servers for streaming. (See our roundup of the best VPNs for streaming Netflix to learn more.) How is TunnelBears security and privacy? TunnelBears protocol options for its Windows app. Sam Singleton TunnelBear comes with your industry-standard AES-256 encryption, which is the strongest currently available and it means you can rest assured your connection will be secure. The Windows app also supports WireGuard, IKEv2, and OpenVPN protocols. I prefer OpenVPN whenever possible as its one of the most secure and flexible protocols available due to its open-source nature. But, if youre unsure, you can just select the Auto option in TunnelBears settings and the app will choose what it believes is the best protocol for your connection. Also, in order to confirm that my actual IP address is obfuscated correctly, I used a DNS leak test. It confirmed that there were no issues with accidental leaks of my IP address when connected to TunnelBears servers. According to its privacy policy, TunnelBear does not collect any DNS queries, IP addresses of users, timestamps, or other personal identifiable information. However, it does collect what it deems operational data such as user support and troubleshooting queries, total data used per month, and some sales data. It says that none of this information could identify users and are not related to the time and activity of VPN usage. Additionally, upon sign-up, TunnelBear requires users to enter in their email address and payment information. Payment options include credit cards, PayPal, and Bitcoin. Honestly, I was impressed with TunnelBears comprehensive and forthright privacy policy. Not all VPN companies provide the same detailed or thorough information about what data it specifically collects. Also, TunnelBear continues to conduct regular third-party audits by Cure53, a trustworthy and reliable Big Four auditing firm. It has successfully passed every audit for the last five years. Thats impressive and a big selling point for privacy-conscious users. TunnelBear itself is located in Toronto, Canada, which means that all personal information is handled according to Canadian law. Canada does not currently have any mandatory data retention laws either. Is TunnelBear worth it? TunnelBear is a VPN that sticks to the basics. Its an enjoyable service chock-full of bear puns that are fun and lighthearted. Its also extremely easy to useit doesnt overwhelm with too many features or country options. And while this might be ideal for the average user, power users who like to tweak and optimize their VPN connections will feel that the service doesnt offer enough. The speeds are passable, but not greatyou might say they lumber a bit. Also, I did encounter some unfortunate issues with servers being unable to unblock streaming platformsparticularly Netflix. Overall, this approachable and cheerful service is a good option for users who are just getting started with VPNs or might not be the most tech-savvy. Otherwise, there are other services such as those in our best VPNs that might be better for more advanced users. Editors note: Because online services are often iterative, gaining new features and performance improvements over time, this review is subject to change in order to accurately reflect the current state of the service. Any changes to text or our final review verdict will be noted at the top of this article. A 34-year-old man, who forged a Bank of Ghana (BoG) License to operate a microfinance company at Suhum in the Eastern region and its environs, has been sentenced to eight years imprisonment by an Accra Circuit Court. Kofi Asante, aka Davis, pleaded guilty to the charge of engaging in deposit-taking without license and was sentenced to four years imprisonment. On the charge of forgery of an official document, Asante pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eight years imprisonment. The sentences are to run concurrently, the court presided over by Joojo Amoah Hagan, said. The prosecution, led by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Emmanuel Haligah, said the Police picked up intelligence that the convict, had established microfinance business centres in the name of KM Community Bank and Prym Capital within the Suhum and its environs. It said the convict, after establishing the business, went ahead to collect deposits from people without license. The prosecution said intelligence indicated that the KM Community Bank had branches in Anum Apapam, Akorabo, and Amanase, while Prym Capital had its headquarters in Suhum. The prosecution said on June 30, 2023, Asante was arrested for investigations and when his offices were searched, copies of documents purported to be issued by the Bank of Ghana in the name of KM Community Bank were found and retrieved for investigations. It said investigations revealed that Asante had forged the Bank of Ghana License between April and January 2023 and had about 24 youths working as representatives within Suhum and its environs. It said during the period, Asante had successfully convinced about 950 persons, who made daily deposit of GHc56,000 with his business. The prosecution said during interrogation, Asante admitted that KM Community Bank and PRYM Capital were neither registered by the Office of the Registrar of Companies nor licensed by the Bank of Ghana to undertake deposit-taking business. It said Asante confessed that he forged the Bank of Ghana license retrieved from his office. Source: dailyguidenetwork.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Forty-one migrants have died in a shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa, survivors told local media. A group of four people who survived the disaster told rescuers that they were on a boat that had set off from Sfax in Tunisia and sank on its way to Italy. The four survivors, originally from the Ivory Coast and Guinea, reached Lampedusa on Wednesday. More than 1,800 people have lost their lives so far this year in the crossing from North Africa to Europe. The survivors - three men and a woman - told rescuers that they were on a boat carrying 45 people, including three children. They said their boat left Sfax on Thursday last week, but sank within hours. They added that they were rescued by a cargo ship and then transferred to an Italian coast guard vessel. The Italian coast guard reported two shipwrecks in the area on Sunday, but it is not clear whether this vessel is one of those. Tunisian authorities say Sfax, a port city about 80 miles (130km) from Lampedusa, is a popular gateway for migrants seeking safety and a better life in Europe. In recent days, Italian patrol boats and charity groups have rescued another 2,000 people who have arrived on Lampedusa. Tunisia has seen a wave of racism against black Africans in recent months and attempts to leave the country by boat have increased. Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A close associate to the Member of Parliament for Tano North, Dr. Freda Prempeh, has rebutted claims that residents of Yamfo, a community in the constituency, rejected a toilet facility constructed for them by the MP. Speaking in an interview with GhanaWeb on the back of the report, Maxwell Ado Agyei, who is also a former first vice chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) at Tano North, stated that this is purely the work of propagandists. He explained that no such thing happened at Yamfo, and that as a matter of fact, many of the residents have been so relieved by the commissioning of the project so much that the toilet is already being fully patronized. Explaining the circumstances surrounding the matter, Maxwell Agyei said that the facility at Yamfo is only one of four that Dr. Freda Prempeh, the MP, had been able to lobby for the constituency. It is all lies and falsehood being peddled by someone in particular who wants to contest her for the seat. The toilet was opened yesterday and already, there are several people thronging the place to use it. What is happening is all propaganda and it is not the reflection of what is happening in Yamfo. These people only want to tarnish the good image of the MP. The truth is that it is the government that is building these toilets across the country. It was the turn of the middle-belt under the 1 constituency 1 toilet project and the MP was able to lobby for 4 for her constituency, when some places didnt even get one. It was initially not something that was sponsored by her own money until COVID came and made money issues a little difficult, he explained. Maxwell Adu Agyei, who also served as Assemblyman for Tano North, added that with the incessant cries of the people and call on the MP to come to their aid, she eventually released her personal money for the project to completed at Yamfo. He added that he was personally involved in the project and as such, it cannot be true that after they completed it and it was opened on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, the people rejected it. There are a lot of people in that area but their toilet had been out of use for a long time so the people kept appealing to the MP. I had to call her to mount pressure on her about the complains of the people until she released her personal money for us to use for the project. I had to eventually lead carpenters to break the doors of the toilets for us to continue the work because the contractors refused to come around because they had not been paid. We bought paint and other things and fixed the place because Dr. Freda Prempeh said she could allow for the place to be under lock when her people badly needed it. After it was done, those who even thought that she was the one behind the closure have been showing gratitude to her, he added. Dr. Freda Prempeh, the MP for Tano North, was recently appointed as the Minister for Sanitation and Water Resources. Source: Ghanaweb.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Initiative Will Provide Up to $13 Million To Accelerate Deployment of Geothermal District Heating and Cooling Systems to Diverse Range of Communities Across U.S. By Alyssa Bersine | Contact media relations Community Geothermal Heating and Cooling Design and Deployment Project Locations NREL is a partner and funding recipient on four out of 11 GTO-selected community geothermal projects and provides technical assistance to two of the selected communities under other DOE programs. Graphic by Nicole Leon-Molina, NREL More geothermal heating and cooling could be coming to a community near you, thanks to a new initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO). This initiative will provide up to $13 million across two phases to support community-led geothermal solutions. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has been named subrecipient on four of the 11 communities selected for community-scale geothermal heating and cooling design and deployment projects. NREL will assist communities in Colorado (Carbondale), Vermont (Middlebury), and Alaska (Seward and a remote community near Nome) to install district or networked geothermal technologies. "These projects allow us to bring NREL's cutting-edge research and expertise to communities where transitioning to a clean energy source like geothermal will be most impactful," said Amanda Kolker, geothermal laboratory program manager at NREL. The projects are focused on developing, designing, and installing new or retrofitted geothermal district heating and cooling systems that supply at least 25% of the heating and cooling load in these communities. The systems tap into the earth's subsurface to provide low-carbon heating and cooling to both businesses and residential spaces via an underground distribution network that uses a variety of technologies, such as district-scale geothermal heat pumps and direct-use geothermal (i.e., hot water). NREL researchers are key to the design and implementation of these projects, which are part of the White House's Justice40 initiative to ensure that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged U.S. cities and neighborhoods. These diverse communities showcase a range of system sizes, technologies, and geographies, providing expansive case studies that can be used to implement similar clean heating and cooling solutions in other communities. Selected projects will also identify solutions for improving environmental justice conditions and developing careers related to renewable energy sources through technical education and workforce transition initiatives. "This provides a chance for us to apply our knowledge to support design and develop these systems," said Matt Mitchell, a researcher in NREL's Building Technologies and Science Center and NREL lead for the projects in Middlebury and Seward. "Our work here will help get these systems out there. It also helps us learn more about them and how these things can be done better in the future, which helps everybody in the long run." Carbondale, Colorado For the Carbondale project, NREL will partner with Clean Energy Economy for the Region, a nonprofit based in western Colorado, to install geothermal heat pumps. These heat pumps will support a net-zero district and will heat and cool several key buildings in the community, including school district offices, a library, 20 affordable housing units, a high school, a center for nonprofits, and townhomes. In addition, the project team is also taking into consideration what this transition will mean for the local workforce. "The objective of this project is to replace natural gas throughout their energy district with geothermal pumps for heating and cooling so we can eliminate the environmental impacts of natural gas combustion," said Xin Jin, a researcher in NREL's Building Technologies and Science Center and NREL lead for the Carbondale project. Middlebury, Vermont In partnership with GTI Energy, a research and training organization focused on energy transitions, and Vermont Gas, NREL researchers will develop a geothermal system that will meet at least 50% of the heating and cooling needs of a new affordable housing development. This development will consist of townhomes, duplexes, and multiplex units, 30% of which are intended for low- and medium-income households. NREL researchers will provide guidance on the geothermal ground loop and underground thermal network of this project, designing the ground heat exchange system. Seward, Alaska NREL researchers will partner with the city of Seward, located on the Kenai Peninsula in south-central Alaska, to develop a community-scale heating and cooling system that will refine the existing design of the city's carbon-dioxide-based heat pump systems. A geothermal heat pump will be installed in the public library and then distribute hot water to several other municipal buildings in Seward. This new system will meet nearly all heating demand for half of the area's municipal buildings, using energy from thawed ocean water from nearby Resurrection Bay in a closed-loop geothermal heat pump system. "It's kind of a proof of concept if we can do this, if we can do a district heat system for a small community in Alaska, then bigger communities can also follow suit and learn from our experience," said Robbin Garber-Slaght, a researcher at NREL's Alaska campus and NREL co-lead for the project. Once the heat pump is installed, NREL researchers will help the community collect data to refine the operation of the new heating system. Pilgrim Hot Springs, Alaska Geographically isolated and with limited access to centralized energy systems, Pilgrim Hot Springs is a historic site located on the Seward Peninsula in Alaska, 60 miles from the city of Nome. While the area has been unoccupied for years, there are plans to revitalize this landmark as a year-round destination. A direct-use geothermal district-scale system to provide heating and hot water to buildings and cooling for food storage areas is a key part of this revitalization plan. "The remote nature of the site makes this kind of project perfect for the area," said Georgina Davis, a project manager at NREL's Alaska campus and a lead on the project. "Geothermal is kind of the only option out there." If successful, this project would bring economic renewal to the area and provide jobs in a remote part of the state. Phase One and Beyond The first phase of these projects will include designing the proposed community-scale systems, analyzing environmental and permitting needs, conducting feasibility analyses, and engaging with the community. Based on first-phase outcomes, DOE will select a subset of projects to advance to a second phase and deploy their systems. Additional Community Support In addition to the Colorado, Vermont, and Alaska sites, NREL has been assisting two other selected cities Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Duluth, Minnesota through DOE's Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) and Communities Local Energy Action Program (C-LEAP) technical assistance programs. The Ann Arbor project will focus on creating a looped geothermal system, as well as efficiency improvements, rooftop solar, and battery storage, to heat and cool 262 households and other community buildings in the area. Meanwhile, the project in Duluth will use waste heat from a sanitary district to create a geothermal system that will cover 100% of heating loads in a disadvantaged neighborhood. Learn more about NREL's geothermal research. The "Girls in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)" programme, an initiative of the Ministry of Communication and Digitalisation in Accra, has benefited 100 girls from three areas. The girls came from the Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo regions and were hosted by American Tower Corporation (ATC) Ghana, a programme partner. The Girls in ICT programme aims to improve the digital skills of young women and girls interested in careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), specifically ICT. It is also intended to encourage girls and young women to pursue STEM education and employment. The girls were led through robotics sessions by facilitators who taught them about the design, building, operation, and use of robots. Additionally, they participated in several problem-solving and critical thinking exercises where they collaborated on ICT-related topics in teams or groups. Speaking at the event on Tuesday, the CEO of ATC Ghana, Ashutosh Singh, emphasised how important it was to them to prepare the next generation of STEM professionals, particularly girls. As a result, they had worked closely with the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization and remained a key sponsor and stakeholder of the initiative. This initiative also aligns with our Digital Communities sustainability project where we have built 10 fully equipped ICT learning centres across the country to provide ICT education for school children and residents in underserved and unserved communities. Plans are underway to build more Digital Communities this year. In recent years, we have witnessed significant strides in bridging the gender gap in the tech sector, but we must acknowledge that there is still much work to be done. I believe that this disparity is not due to lack of talent or capability but rather, the lack of opportunity and encouragement. That is why programs like girls in ICT are very crucial. We as a company, are here to provide you with support, encouragement, and resources needed to pave your path to the industry, he intimated. The ICT industry is a vast and dynamic landscape, encompassing a wide range of fields such as software development, data science, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and so much more. There is a place for each one of you in this ever-evolving digital realm, and your contributions will help shape the future of society. Remember that it is okay to dream big, to aim high for the stars, and to have ambitions beyond what others might expect of you. Embrace your passion and let it guide you on your journey. Pursue your interests fearlessly, and do not be discouraged by the challenges you may encounter along the way, he stated. Ashutosh Singh assured the girls that their abilities, suggestions, and distinctive viewpoints were priceless contributions to the field of technology. He praised the ministry for the project and the girls' instructors and mentors for their contributions, and he urged them to keep up the good work. ATC Ghana engineer Ethel Kumassah urged the girls to pursue their dreams, believe in themselves, pursue STEM education, and "know that the sky is only but a limit." Junior High School (JHS) Two student Ahwenepa Osei Yaa from the Nkoranza Methodist School in the Bono East Region was enthusiastic about the course of study, especially because she had learned more about robotics. She also stated that she had decided to pursue a career in computer programming. Emmanuella Segbenu, a student, also praised the Ministry and ATC for the programme and urged them to continue holding it so that additional girls may take advantage of it. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Ghanas Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has responded to calls for his dismissal as the Finance Minister, stating that such calls are part of democracy and freedom of speech. Ofori-Atta made these comments during an appearance on GTVs Talking Point show. Despite facing criticism for the countrys economic challenges and the decision to seek a bail-out from the International Monetary Fund, Ofori-Atta remained resolute and focused on addressing these issues. He acknowledged the censure vote in Parliament and emphasized that it highlighted the democratic nature of the country. Ofori-Atta stated that he is committed to serving the nation and was not deterred by the resignation calls. He acknowledged that the period during which there were calls for his resignation was challenging. However, he reiterated his commitment to serving the nation and turning the countrys economy around. He also mentioned the efforts made by his team to meet the requirements set by the International Monetary Fund. Ofori-Atta highlighted the importance of working diligently to restore confidence in the countrys economy. On the inclusion of pension funds in the Domestic Debt Exchange program, Ofori-Atta disclosed that an agreement has been reached between the government and fund managers. He believes that this move will contribute to macro-economic stability and create safer investment instruments for the future. He expressed optimism that the discussions would be concluded by September. Regarding arrears owed to trainees in the Nations Builders Corps Program (NABCo) and the Colleges of Education Teachers Association, Ghana (CETAG), Ofori-Atta confirmed that plans were in place to address these payments. He assured the public that payments would be made in an organized manner. Furthermore, Ofori-Atta revealed that the government has allocated resources to the Ghana Enterprises Agency to provide grants to Ghanaian businesses. In conclusion, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta addressed the calls for his sacking, defending them as part of democracy and freedom of speech. He expressed his determination to overcome the economic challenges facing Ghana and emphasized the governments efforts to promote stability and support local businesses. Source: dailyguidenetwork.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Former CPP General Secretary, James Kwabena Bomfeh alias "Kabila" has rebuked the Minority in Parliament for threatening to picket the Bank of Ghana should the Governor and his deputies refuse to resign within 21 days. The Minority accused the Governor of Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Ernest Addison and his deputies of malfeasance, therefore seeking their immediate resignation. Call To Resign Minority Leader, Cassiel Ato Forson speaking to journalists during the National Democratic Congress "Moment of Truth" series on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, accused Dr. Addison of mismanaging BoG resulting in an IMF bailout. "We in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) saw the red flags and have consistently warned of the mismanagement of the financial sector by the Governor of the Central Bank and his team of incompetent deputies. "Only last week, the Annual Report and Financial Statement of the Bank of Ghana was released. This report depicted the catastrophic decline of the Bank into a bottomless pit. The report revealed the following astonishing facts: 1. The Bank of Ghana recorded a staggering loss of GHS60.8 billion, which is equivalent to $6 billion. This is twice the amount we are to receive from our recent IMF bailout. This means the recklessness and mismanagement of the Governor of the Bank of Ghana has cost the nation twice what we are struggling and sacrificing to receive from the IMF amid major conditionalities," a statement read by Ato Forson outlined. It is in view of this that the Minority together with the NDC is calling on the Governor and his deputies to lay down their working tools. "We are resolved to embark on popular action to occupy the Central Bank and drive out the team of inept, callous and criminal mismanagers of the finances of this country and Save the Bank of Ghana. "The March to Ensure Accountability will begin in 21 days if the Governor of the Bank of Ghana does not do the needful and pack bag and baggage out of that sacred institution that he has so desecrated", the statement further read. Kabila To Minority To Kabila, although the Minority has the right to picket the Central Bank, it is however unconstitutional the way and manner they want to undertake this action. He noted that the constitution has specified the clear path to address their concerns and advised them to follow the constitutional path. "Picketing is a constitutional right but I'm saying, as Members of Parliament, it's imposed on them to use the prescribed constitutional route which is to follow the constitution to petition and remove a Justice of the Supreme Court other than the Chief Justice. It's constitutionally enshrined," he said on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' show. He also advised the authorities of the Bank of Ghana to be responsive and alert on clarifying issues to make things clear to the people of Ghana on matters relating to the bank and their activities. "We are not in the best of times, so burden bearers are further burdened with the responsibility to make sure we know what they are doing." Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea, has recalled fondly how Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia stood in the dock at the Supreme Court to defend the New Patriotic Party in the 2012 election petition. Welcoming Dr. Bawumia to Kyebi, as part of the Vice President's campaign tour of the Eastern Region, the MP called for a massive endorsement for Dr. Bawumia to be NPP flagbearer for the 2024 elections, highlighting his significant contributions to the party over the years. He also commended the Veep on his assistance and support to President Akufo-Addo as well as his depth of knowledge. He reminded the party faithful about the role of Dr. Bawumia in the landmark case for the party, stressing his utmost respect for Dr. Bawumia. "Some people are saying we are doing Dr. Bawumia a favour. This is ridiculous if you consider Dr. Bawumia's commitment to our party and the amount of service he has rendered to the party," Atta Akyea told the party faithful. "Dr. Bawumia has worked so hard for the NPP and contributed so much to the Government of President Akufo-Addo as Vice President. "The day I had so much respect for Dr. Bawumia and I was convinced God has blessed him was when he stood in the box alone and defended the NPP at the Supreme Court. I am a Lawyer and I know it is not easy to be in the Dock, let alone a high profile case like that." "I have 5 very good friends among the 10 people contesting and I go way back with some of them. But the truth is that Dr. Bawumia is most deserving and the best to lead us to victory." "NDC have set a trap for us, hoping that we won't elect Dr. Bawumia. But let me tell you that if we don't elect Dr. Bawumia as our candidate, NPP will be humiliated in the next election, so, Abuakwa South, let us vote for him massively, just as we did for Nana Akufo-Addo", Hon. Atta Akyea opined. The Abuakwa South MP asked the party faithful to massively vote for Dr Bawumia, pleading with them to focus on the bigger picture that the Vice President is the best candidate to break the eight for the NPP. 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. Featured Video Former President John Dramani Mahama suggested that the Governor of the Bank of Ghana is using the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) to hide the alleged mismanagement of the central bank. According to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Flagbearer, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) justified that GH53.1 billion out of the total GH60 billion loss was due to the government's Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP). According to a statement from the BoG, "In 2 months, the Bank of Ghana lost $500 million in reserves and built significant overdraft with the government as a result of the auction failures. It became clear that Ghana was on an unsustainable path, and the Government had to approach the IMF for support in July 2022. The IMF process included putting into place a credible programme of reform, which included restructuring the total government debt to sustainable levels. Until the Staff Level Agreement with the IMF was reached in December 2022, the Bank of Ghana had to continue to provide the necessary support to keep the economy running the statement added. Reacting to this on his Facebook post, Mahama wrote: "An incompetent Finance Minister damages the economy and uses Covid-19 and Ukraine/Russia war as cover-ups. A pliant Governor destroys the Central Bank and seeks to use the Domestic Debt Exchange (DDE) as a cover" Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Famous social activist and skit maker, Debo Adebayo, better known as Mr Macaroni, has asked Nigerians to stop twerking for politicians, adding that people who choose to be loyal to politicians instead of the country are the most unpatriotic Nigerians. Mr Macaroni is of the view that people should only commend politicians when they do well but call them to order when they do wrong. In a post on his social media platform, the skit maker said he has since emancipated himself and is now fully aware that politicians are not doing the people any favour by holding public offices. While urging those who sing praises for politicians to liberate their minds and free themselves from political slavery, Mr Macaroni insisted that Nigerians should hold their leaders accountable. He wrote, Some of us have since emancipated ourselves and are fully aware that politicians are not doing the people any favours by holding public office. Instead, it is the politicians that are so favoured and privileged to serve the people. Stop twerking for politicians. Liberate your minds and free yourself from political slavery. You deserve better as a Nigerian. So hold your leaders accountable. To make Nigeria work, we all have a part to play. The most unpatriotic Nigerians are those of you that have chosen to be loyal to politicians instead of the Country especially when the decisions they make affect the people negatively. Do well to commend them when they do well but also be the first to call them to order when they do wrong by the people. Now listen to a voice of reason and raise your heads up from their behinds and start doing better. Source: graphic.com.gh Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The 2023 MLB regular season is nearing the latter stages, making it an ideal time to make some futures bets. At FanDuel, new Pennsylvania customers can benefit from a no sweat first bet of up to $1,000. On top of that, FanDuel has some of the best MLB futures markets in the business. Below, you will find our favorite futures bets to make: 3 best MLB futures bets Popular MLB futures bets include World Series Winner, Player Awards, and League/Division Winners, amongst a couple of others. View our best futures bets: 3-leg parlay (+562 odds) The first leg of this MLB betting parlay is a lock to occur (barring injury). Its Atlanta Braves outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. to win the National League MVP Award at -550 odds. The superstar is batting .341 with 26 home runs and 69 RBI. He also has 53 stolen bases as well as the leagues best on base percentage (.422) and WAR (5.9). The second leg of this parlay is New York Yankees Gerrit Cole to win the American League Cy Young Award at -250 odds. Despite being a six-time All-Star selection and a two-time MLB strikeout leader, Cole has never won the Cy Young. This year, he boasts a 2.75 ERA to accompany the most innings pitched, and a 1.04 WHIP. The third leg of this parlay is San Diego Padres starter Blake Snell to win the National League Cy Young Award at +300 odds. Snell, who won the AL Cy Young in 2018, is leading the NL in ERA (2.61) and batting average against (.199). Hes also second in strikeouts at 164. A $20 wager at +562 odds will yield a $112.40 payout. Nathan Eovaldi AL Cy Young (+15000 odds) Now, this may seem counterintuitive to our three-leg parlay that included Gerrit Cole as the AL Cy Young Winner, but Texas Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi to win the award at +15000 odds is too good not to take a flier on. Eovaldi is set to return from his injury in the coming weeks. Prior to that, he tossed two complete games. He currently sits second in both WHIP (1.01) and batting average against (.208). A $20 wager at +15000 odds will yield a $3,000 payout. Tampa Bay Rays World Series (+1200 odds) We definitely like the Houston Astros, but there hasnt been a repeat MLB champion since the Yankees won three-straight World Series in the late 90s. Sure, the Braves are the current betting favorites, but were going with the Tampa Bay Rays to finally hoist the trophy. The Rays have an incredibly balanced lineup to go along with their three-headed pitching monster of Zach Eflin, Shane McClanahan, and Tyler Glasnow, who will be returning from injury shortly. Their lineup is led by the likes of Wander Franco, Randy Arozarena, and Yandy Diaz. Although, they receive solid contributions from guys like Josh Lowe, Isaac Paredes, Jose Siri, and others as well. A $20 wager at +1200 odds will yield a $240 payout. FanDuel promo info If you register for a new account, youll be eligible to receive a no sweat first bet up to $1,000 with the FanDuel welcome offer. Claiming this sign-up bonus is simple, just follow these steps: Sign up and make your first deposit of $10 or more. Get up to $1000 back in Bonus Bets if your first bet doesnt win. Thats all you need to do. One of the very best aspects of this offer is the fact that your Bonus Bets do not need to be used in one lump sum. Meaning, you can break up your Bonus Bets into smaller wagers. Know that any unused Bonus Bets will be automatically withdrawn from your account seven days after issuance. Importantly, your Bonus Bets are non-withdrawable, but any winnings that you may garner from using your Bonus Bets are immediately withdrawable. Summary Again, new FanDuel customers in Pennsylvania can sign up to receive a no sweat first bet up to $1,000. To begin your registration process, just click here. Only your first cash wager with FanDuel Sportsbook will qualify for this welcome offer. You must be 18 years of age or older and physically located in PA at the time of sign-up to qualify. Sidelines Group provides PennLive with original sports betting, lottery and casino content including odds, analysis, predictions and reviews to educate bettors. Please bet responsibly. If you have a gambling problem and are located in Pennsylvania, call 1-800-GAMBLER or contact the 24-hour helpline chat at https://www.pacouncil.com/chatline. Philadelphia authorities are on the lookout for a shooter who opened fire on a 4-year-old girl and a 24-year-old man while the two were said to have been standing in an open doorway of their home Wednesday night, according to reports. The incident occurred around 9:40 p.m. on the 2000 block of East Clementine Street, where 15 shots were fired. One bullet struck the child in her stomach, while the man was struck in the stomach and leg, according to reports from CBS News. The suspect or suspects managed to get away in a dark-colored vehicle that was last seen on the 3100 block of Amber Street, according to reports. We dont know who the intended target was, Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said to CBS News. Of course we know the 4-year-old female was not an intended target. Nobody would shoot a 4-year-old female. The young girl was rushed to St. Christophers Hospital for Children, while the man was transported to Temple University Hospital. Fortunately, both are listed in stable condition, according to reports. Right now, a motive is not yet known, or if the man was the intended target or not. Both victims are said to live at the home where they were shot, according to Small. The home where both of these victims were standing when they were shot was also struck several times by gunfire. So it appears that the shooter or shooters were intentionally firing gunshots at this property, added Small to 6ABC. So far, no arrests have been made. Read More: By NICK EL HAJJ, The Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Barbie is set to open across the Middle East on Thursday, but moves by Kuwait and Lebanon to ban the film over its themes about gender and sexuality have raised questions over how widely it will be released. Kuwait announced its ban late Wednesday, saying the film promotes ideas and beliefs that are alien to the Kuwaiti society and public order, without elaborating, according to a statement published by the state-run KUNA news agency. In Lebanon, Culture Minister Mohammad Mortada said the film was found to contradict values of faith and morality and promote homosexuality and sexual transformation. His request to ban the film was forwarded to Lebanons General Security agency, which falls under the Interior Ministry and traditionally handles censorship decisions, to make the final verdict. The move has already sparked an uproar in Lebanon, which had long been an island of relative tolerance for homosexuality. The LGBTQ+ community there has come under growing pressure in recent years as powerful Islamist and far-right Christian groups have gained influence amid a severe economic crisis. Across the Middle East, many Muslims, Christians and Jews consider homosexuality to be sinful. In some parts of the Arab world, members of the LGBTQ+ community have been arrested and sentenced to prison. Barbie does not include any overt sexuality, but the all-star cast includes Kate McKinnon, who is gay, and Hari Nef, who is transgender. Many in the LGBTQ+ community have embraced the film, even as some have criticized it as pushing a heteronormative narrative. The Warner Bros. movie about the iconic dolls has grossed over $1 billion in less than a month since opening in other markets. The film led and produced by Margot Robbie, directed and co-written by Greta Gerwig crossed $400 million domestic and $500 million internationally faster than any other movie at the studio, including the Harry Potter films. It is set to open in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on Thursday evening. Related: Weird Barbie was a reject in the movie, but you can have her for home Sweet Barbie scene features central Pa. native who designed films costumes You can buy the viral I am Kenough hoodie from Barbie. Heres where to get it. Luke Valentine has been kicked off the CBS reality show Big Brother just one week after the premiere for using a racial slur. On Tuesday night, Valentine was seen saying the slur during a conversation with other contestants on a live feed, which streams 24/7 on Paramount+. The feed shows he covered his mouth after saying it and tried to correct himself with the word dude. However, numerous viewers jumped on social media to expose the moment, many calling for his removal. On Wednesday, CBS released a statement saying that Valentine had been removed from the show. Luke violated the Big Brother code of conduct and there is zero tolerance in the house for using a racial slur, the network wrote in a statement. He has been removed from the house. His departure will be addressed in Thursday nights show. As of Wednesday afternoon, the live feeds had been removed from the streaming service. In mid-June major earthwork construction began at the Thacker Pass lithium mine site north of Winnemucca, Lithium Americas said in its second quarter report. The company is targeting the second half of 2026 for initial production at the mine. On Feb. 6 of this year the U.S. District Court in Nevada ruled favorably for Lithium Americas on an appeal filed against the Bureau of Land Management by declining to vacate the Record of Decision for the mine. Conservation and tribal groups which have been fighting the mine in federal court for around two years appealed that decision, and on July 17 the three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district courts decision, saying the BLMs approval of the mine was not arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or otherwise not in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. In its quarterly report Lithium Americas said it has approved a 2023 construction budget of $125 million. The company spent $48 million in the second quarter of the year for construction of water pipelines and ponds, infrastructure improvements and the start of major earthworks. Lithium Americas said it is continuing to work closely with the U.S. Department of Energy Loans Program Office to advance confirmatory due diligence and term sheet negotiations for the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, following the receipt of a Letter of Substantial Completion on Feb. 22 of this year. The company expects the DOE ATVM Loan Program conditional approval process to be completed in 2023. If approved, the loan program will fund up to 75% of the capital costs for phase 1 construction at Thacker Pass. The projects development costs may qualify as eligible costs under the ATVM Loan Program as of Jan. 31 of this year. As of June 30, Lithium Americas had $502 million in cash and cash equivalents and short-term bank deposits, and an additional $75 million in available credit. The company also announced that progress is being made toward separating into two companies Lithium Americas (NewCo), which will continue as the 100% owner of Thacker Pass, and Lithium Argentina, which will continue to develop Lithium Americas projects in Argentina. On July 31 at the annual, general and special meeting of Lithium Americas shareholders, 98.85% of the votes cast by shareholders were in favor of the separation. The separation is targeted to become effective in early October of this year. We are delighted to see our shareholders overwhelming support for the separation, said Jonathan Evans, Lithium Americas president and CEO. Following the separation, the Lithium Americas (NewCo) team is committed to advancing the Thacker Pass project toward production to support the critical North American lithium supply chain. Meanwhile, the Lithium Argentina team will advance Cauchari-Olaroz toward full commercial production and pursue development opportunities in its significant growth pipeline in Argentina. Also at the shareholders meeting, in connection with the second tranche of the previously announced $650 million investment by General Motors Holdings, the shareholders passed a resolution approving: the ownership by GM and its affiliates of more than 20% of the issued and outstanding shares of Lithium Americas, and of Lithium Americas (NewCo) following the separation. Many Americans are currently struggling with buying homes due to the current housing market. As this situation persists, a real estate company has released a report on which cities are the most budget friendly for first-time homebuyers. Point2Homes a division of Yard Systems Inc., [that] covers real estate trends, news, and tips was the website on which the report was published, with researchers first seeding a list of the 100 biggest cities in the United States. They then compared median home prices as lifted in June from Redfin, PropertyShark, and Realtor.com and peppered in insurance data; tax rate at a county level; and closing costs at a national level, among other factors. Researchers also assumed a 20 percent down payment across home costs. Detroit, Mich.; Toledo, Ohio; and Cleveland, Ohio, were the first, second, and third cheapest cities for the first year of home ownership, respectively. San Francisco, Calif.; Fremont, Calif.; and San Jose, Calif., were the top three most expensive. Nowhere in Pennsylvania was mentioned on either the most expensive or least expensive category. However, when it came to the top 26 cities that had the fewest years required to save up for that first year of owning a home, Philadelphia ranked 21st. The study elaborated that it would take nearly a decade for people to cover these first-year costs, however. Renters in San Jose, Oakland, and Miami would need almost 20 years, the study reads. At the same time, those in San Francisco, Anaheim, Boston, and Long Beach would require around 18 years. In any case, homebuyers dealing with brand-new ownership-related expenses may feel the financial weight as soon as they make the decision to purchase. SEBWAING, MI Last year, FBI agents raided the Thumb-area home of a man accused of making numerous online threats to kill LGBTQ+ people, the president and Michigans governor. Now, his mother is facing a federal indictment after investigators say she bought four firearms for him from businesses in Saginaw and Genesee counties, Michigan. Michelle M. Berka, 56, on Aug. 8 was arraigned by U.S. District Magistrate Judge Curtis Ivy Jr. on five counts of making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm. The charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a quarter-million dollar fine. NEW YORK (AP) A prisoner receiving medical treatment escaped from a New York City hospital by tying sheets together, rappelling from a fifth-floor window and hailing a taxi, police said. The 44-year-old man escaped from Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital in Manhattan shortly after 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and was still at large Thursday, a police spokesperson said. The man had been in custody since a July 31 arrest for drug possession and was brought to the hospital Aug. 4 for treatment of a medical problem, a spokesperson for the city Department of Correction said. He was taken to the bathroom for a shower and managed to escape out the window using bedsheets, police said. He rappelled to a rooftop below and from there made it to the street, where he got into a taxi. The police and correction departments were looking for him Thursday. More: State to investigate how homicide suspect escaped from Pa. jail Mom bought guns for son who threatened Biden, LGBTQ+ people: FBI Update: State police identify the victims of the crash A crash killed five people and closed Interstate 81 north in Franklin County on Wednesday night. PennDOTs district press officer said an RV driving south crossed over the median and collided with a double-trailer truck at 8:53 p.m. near Chambersburg. He confirmed five people died, but it was not clear whether anyone else was injured. I-81 north is expected to be closed between Exit 16 (Route 30, Lincoln Way) and Exit 20 (Route 997, Scotland) in Greene Township into Thursday morning. All northbound lanes remained closed at 6 a.m., according to 511pa.com. The crash scene took up about a quarter-mile of the highway and was a sea of blue and red lights with local police, fire teams and Pennsylvania State Police responding. A mangled Old Dominion double-trailer truck sat along the outside shoulder of the northbound lanes. No IDs were available on those who were killed. READ MORE: Body cam footage shows what led to western Pa. man being fatally shot by police: reports Application withdrawn for addiction rehab center at former Dauphin County resort The co-captain of the Harriott II said he and a 16-year-old deckhand were attacked by a group of drunk white men when he told them to move their pontoon boat on Montgomerys riverfront, according to police records obtained by AL.com. Damien Pickett said his attackers were drunk and threatened to kick his ass Saturday night, moments before the start of the now-notorious dock brawl. I told them, No, you wont,' Pickett said in police records obtained. I told them, Do what you gotta do. Im just doing my job. When it was over, Pickett had suffered bruises to his ribs and knots on the back of his head and forehead. A 16-year-old deckhand-in-training was also injured during the melee, the records state. He has bruised ribs, said the teens mother, Crystal Warren, who obtained the warrant on behalf of her son. He is really sore. Warren also noted in her police report that a racial slur was used against Pickett during the brawl. You could here (sic) men yelling f--k that n----r and the men came down to fight my son, she wrote in her report. Warrants have been issued against the three white men who were on the pontoon boat: Richard Roberts, 48, two counts of third-degree assault; Allen Todd, 23, one count of third-degree assault, and Zachery Chase Shipman, 25, one count of third-degree assault. All charges are misdemeanors and all three had been booked by Wednesday. Efforts to reach their attorneys for comment were not immediately successful. On Thursday, police said Mary Todd, 21, surrendered to authorities on a third-degree assault charge. She is being held in Montgomerys Municipal Jail. Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert said earlier this week that he had consulted with the FBI and state prosecutors and said that the incident did not meet the criteria of a hate crime. Pickett, in police reports, said they were pulling into the boat about 6:50 p.m. Saturday when they noticed a couple of boats were too close to the docking area. They called the captain to ask them to move. He said they told him they were not moving. It was then that they used the riverboats public address system to call for the owners of the pontoon boat to move. Pickett said they made five or six requests for the boat to move with no success, so he decided to head to the dock to try to resolve the issue. Screengrab from Montgomery riverfront brawl. When I got down to the first deck, all I can hear customers screaming, Move your boat, youre in the way,' Picket said in the report. By that time, they were shooting birds, giving us the finger and packing up to leave. Pickett went to the dock where he untied one end of the pontoon and the 16-year-old deckhand untied the other. The two moved the pontoon boat over about three steps to the right and tied it back off. By that time, Pickett said, two men approached him and said, Dont touch that boat mother (expletive) or we will beat your ass, he said in the report. Both was very drunk, he said. The exchange continued until the pontoon boats owner joined in, Pickett said. Pickett said he told them there previously had been signs there letting boaters know not to dock there, but they had been pulled out. He got in my face and was like, This belongs to the (expletive) public,' Pickett said. I told him, This is the city dock.' By that time, Pickett said, one of the men hit him in the face. Pickett took off his hat and threw it in air. Somebody hit me from behind, he said. I started choking the older guy in front of me so he couldnt hit me anymore, pushing him back at the same time. Another man then tackled Pickett, he said. I went to the ground, he said. I think I bit one of them. All I can hear is, Ima kill you mother (expletive), beat your ass mother (expletive). I cant tell you how long it lasted, Pickett said. I grabbed one of them and just held on for dear life. By that time, others were involved, some of them trying to pull the men off Pickett. He said he looked up and thats when he saw one of his co-workers, also 16, swimming toward him. Eventually, Pickett said, he was able to get free and help dock the riverboat known as Harriott II. The Harriott II riverboat sails down the Alabama River in March 2013 at Union Station Train Shed in Montgomery, Alabama. (AL.com file photo/Julie Bennett) So, I let the ramp down. My nose was running, he said. I hear the passengers and coworkers arguing with the people who attacked me. The melee continued. People from off the boat and spectators were coming down the back end of the dock, he said. The one who started it all was choking my sister. I hit him, grabbed her, made her move, he said. I turned around and (Montgomery Police) had a Taser in my face. I told him I was the one attacked, and could I finish doing my job? He said he later learned that the teen deckhand had been punched in the abdomen. Pickett said as more passengers got off the boat, he apologized to them, and they told him there was no need for an apology. Some of them was giving me cards with their name and number, he said. Some said they had it all on film, so I pointed them out to MPD. Pickett said he was then checked out by paramedics. My head was hurting, he said. I felt a knot in the back of my head and in the front. He asked coworkers to bring him some ice. He told paramedics on a scale of one to 10, his pain was at a nine. City officials, he said, convinced him to go to the hospital after he finished the police paperwork. I was feeling light, so I left and went to the hospital, he said. They scanned me from head to toe. No broken bones, just bruised ribs, and few lumps. He said he was given three shots and three prescriptions. Pickett gave descriptions to police of Roberts, Todd and Shipman. Zachery was seen on video hitting and kicking me, he said. All three are charged in the assault on Pickett. The 16-year-old victim suffered contusions to his ribs when he was punched in the chest, records state. His mother, who was on the Harriott II at the time of the incident, provided the information to obtain the warrant against Roberts, the only suspect with two charges. Warrens account of the ordeal was much the same as Picketts. When her son and Pickett moved the pontoon boat, she said, About six or seven other men rushed to the dock to stomp and beat the deckhand. She said her son tried to pull people off Pickett. At that time, the man that first hit the deckhand had turned around and punched my 16-year-old son in the chest, Warren wrote. My son backed away hurt and went to tie the Harriott II up to the dock. In this screencapture of a video, provided by The Associated Press, Anwar Price (wearing a blue shirt with a yellow Nike logo) attempts to separate people involved in the riverfront brawl in Montgomery, Alabama, on Saturday, Aug. 5. Price was among the people who attempted to break up the violence. Warren said that one of the attackers was heard saying he was getting his gun. He tried to go get the gun but was tackled by an employee of the Harriott II named Aaren, she said. Once the boat was docked, she said, her son came to her on the boat to sit down so he could catch his breath. She said she took her son to the hospital in Prattville to be checked out. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia will pay $3.5 million to settle a civil case alleging a now-deceased priest sexually assaulted a teenage boy nearly two decades ago, and church officials knew of similar reports about the priest dating back to the 1970s, attorneys for the victim announced Wednesday. The plaintiff was a 14-year-old student in religious classes at St. Katherine of Siena Parish in Wayne when the sexual assault occurred in 2006, his attorneys said. They said Monsignor John Close assaulted the boy after hearing his confession. The plaintiff, now 30, reported the episode in 2018. Many survivors of child sexual abuse do not report the abuse until years later. Close died in 2018. Attorneys for the plaintiff say the archdiocese knew Close was a danger to children in the 1970s, after a priest reported teenage boys were sleeping overnight in Closes room. Close was reassigned. Other alleged victims have come forward, attorneys said. We deeply regret the pain suffered by any survivor of child sexual abuse and have a sincere desire to help victims on their path to healing, Kenneth A. Gavin, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, said in a statement. The church hierarchy denies knowing about the plaintiffs allegation prior to Closes death, and reported it to law enforcement after it was brought forward by the attorneys, an archdiocese spokesperson said in a statement. Close was ordained in 1969 and was placed in a variety of parishes and schools until he was put on administrative leave, with priestly faculties restricted, in 2011. He retired in 2012. Attorneys for the plaintiff assert in court filing that a 2011 grand jurys report which examined whether the diocese had changed its internal practices of moving priests accused of sexual abuse and not reporting the allegations to law enforcement prompted church officials to reevaluate earlier reports about Close, resulting in his publicly-disclosed administrative leave that year. The archdiocese did not immediately say why Close was placed on leave at that time. The lawsuit was settled ahead of trial. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called on the archdiocese to locate and assist any other potential victims of Close. We applaud the brave survivor in this case and hope his courage will inspire others who are still suffering because of child sex crimes by clergy to come forward, seek justice and find healing, said David G. Clohessy, former national director of the network. In 2018, a grand jury found that hundreds of Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania molested more than 1,000 children and possibly many more since the 1940s, and senior church officials systematically covered up the abuse. The report put the number of abusive clergy at more than 300. In nearly all of the cases, the statute of limitations had run out, meaning criminal charges could not be filed. More than 100 of the priests are dead, and many others are retired or have been dismissed from the priesthood or put on leave. Seven of the states eight dioceses launched victim compensation funds following the grand jury report. The funds were open to claims for a limited time. The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has paid $78.5 million to 438 claimants, as of a 2022 report. Lawmakers in Pennsylvania sought a two-year window for child sexual abuse survivors to file otherwise outdated lawsuits over their claims, but a partisan fight in the Legislature kept the proposal bottled up with no resolution in sight. Brooke Schultz of the Associated Press/Report for America wrote this story. More: National Weather Service confirms EF1 tornado hit central Pa. Harrisburg man who fatally beat, strangled 74-year-old woman threatens to kill her relatives in court Want a say in the news? Email Claudia at todayinpa@pennlive.com to have your thoughts on the stories covered here or on PennLive heard during Listening to Listeners, an original Today in Pa. segment that occurs every other Friday. You can listen to the latest episode of Today in Pa at this link, or on any of your favorite apps including Alexa, Apple, Spotify, and Stitcher. Episodes are available every weekday on PennLive. Feel free to subscribe, follow or rate Today in Pa. as you see fit! Today in Pa. Daily Podcast | August 10, 2023 The Postal Police Officers union claims Pittsburgh is on track to seeing 600 mail carriers robbed by the end of this year. Schools are hiring teachers lacking in experience as the shortage in educators continues. Hardware stores as well as others are trying to adjust to the federal ban on incandescent light bulbs that just took effect. Lastly an update on UFO sightings in Pennsylvania. Those are the stories we cover in the latest episode of Today in Pa., a daily weekday podcast from PennLive.com and hosted by Claudia Dimuro. Today in Pa. is dedicated to sharing the most important and interesting stories pertaining to Pennsylvania that lets you know, indeed, whats happening today in Pa. Todays episode refers to the following articles: If you enjoy Today in Pa., consider leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or on Amazon. Reviews help others find the show and, besides, wed like to know what you think about the program, too. As sponsored by Renewal by Anderson of Central PA. Gov. Josh Shapiro visited the West Shore Senior Center in New Cumberland on Wednesday to promote Pennsylvanias just-enacted property tax and rent rebate expansion one key piece of Shapiros fiscal agenda that is now firmly in place amid uncertainty over some other parts of the budget deal. Wednesdays event was a return for Shapiro, who visited the West Shore Senior Center earlier this year to promote his policy agenda for senior citizens who, he said, were very adamant about the bolstering the rebate program. This story has been updated to fix the county where the alligator was found. A Pittsburgh reptile rescue told a news outlet that an American alligator captured Sunday in the Kiski River will become an ambassador for his nonprofit. Nathan Lysaght, founder and director of Nates Reptile Rescue told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review that Chomper is not aggressive and is recovering at a foster residence. Chomper, who is about 4 feet long, was spotted and reported to the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission by a group of kayakers on July 30. In the following week, Chomper was spotted several times before he was captured on Sunday, Aug. 6. WTAE reported that Chomper was caught by fishermen. A humane officer told WTAE that The guy said he just grabbed the front and back leg and pulled in and prayed. Lysaght told the Tribune Review that Chomper is eating well at the foster home and will return to the rescue after Lysaght returns from being out of town. The location of the foster home is being kept a secret to protect both the foster family and the alligator. Lysaght told the news outlet that Chomper was definitely hand-raised. Im getting calls and people want to visit Chomper, Lysaght said. Hes like a reptile rock star. Lysaght told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review that he plans to use Chomper as an animal ambassador when providing educational programs about reptiles - including that alligators do not make good pets. Theres no avoiding it. Its time to get the book bags, lunchboxes and school supplies ready because its almost time for kids to return to school. If youve waited until the last minute to go back-to-school shopping, dont worry. And with Amazons two-day shipping for Prime members, theres still time for Amazon to deliver all the supplies your little ones will need to be prepared for that first day back to school. Save on essentials during Wayfairs Back to School sales event: Bedding, storage and more And while Amazons infamous Prime Day shopping event may be over, they still have some pretty incredible deals. Weve rounded up some of the best back-to-school Amazon deals available now. From lunch boxes to backpacks to crayons, dont miss the best Amazon deals on school supplies. Backpacks & Lunchboxes School Supplies Ashley Dill covers the online shopping industry, writing about commerce. She can be reached at adill@pennlive.com. ELKO What is justice flu? Its a nickname for the illness new employees of the Elko Justice Court can get after starting work in the Elko County Courthouse basement. Longtime staff say a lack of airflow and the cramped office space is the cause. Its become such a common occurrence, Justice Court Administrator Kristen Mortensen says we expect that everyone who comes into the office within a month, they are going to be sick as they acclimate to the office. Other problems such as sewer smells, snow melt leaks and flooding from lawn sprinklers accidentally left on overnight have also become too much to ignore. Recently asbestos was discovered in a floor in the back of the office. Mortensen said it would take a special team to remove it, but the job has not been scheduled yet. An uneven foundation will be fixed this year, she added. The issues come as the judges and court staff are looking ahead to a new judicial center that would combine all the courtrooms and offices of the Fourth Judicial District Court Justice, District and Family departments into one structure. It would also separate inmates from jurors, witnesses and victims and add another layer of security for judges and staff entering and exiting the building. Seeking a solution for the basement or a timeframe for the judicial center, Mortensen and District Court Chief Judge Al Kacin are looking to Elko County Commissioners for answers. A year ago, Commissioners prioritized the judicial center along with the recreation and events center with 50 cents obtained from the former 75-cent pay-as-you-go tax that was sunset by voters in 2020. But on June 7, they approved a $4 million jail expansion to alleviate inmate overcrowding. The judicial center remains a priority, said Commission Chairman Rex Steninger, but jail conditions are worsening. We know there is an emerging issue at the jail due to space constraints and how these criminals cant double up anymore, added Commissioner Delmo Andreozzi. A basement for all purposes The basement of the Elko County Courthouse is a strange labyrinth of offices connected by uneven flooring due to multiple renovations over the years, said Department A Justice of the Peace Randall Soderquist. Nearly each entryway has a dip or a rise that longtime employees are used to navigating but can take a few days for newer staff to learn. Initially, the basement had a dirt floor when the courthouse was completed in 1910, the second one built after the county was established in 1869. The two-story building was designed in the neo-classical style with a dome and a portico supported by columns. The cost at the time was $150,000. It was meant to hold County offices on the main floor and one courtroom with chambers and jury room and the jail on the second floor. The basement was never intended to be occupied at all, Soderquist said. But as the Countys population grew, the basement was gradually put into use for day-to-day operations and office space. At various times, the basement served as the home to County Human Recourses, County Assessor, Human Services and the Department of Motor Vehicles. As they needed offices they would build out corners and little rooms, Soderquist explained. Now you have this weird patchwork down here of rooms that all look a little bit different and have floors that are slightly different levels. The last department to move into the basement was the Justice Court. After the creation of Department B in 2016, space was once again rearranged to add a second courtroom. Department As courtroom sits above it on the main floor, allowing for two concurrent Justice Court calendars to run on the same day. The retrofitting did not directly affect HVAC systems or air ducts because it wasnt available when the courthouse was completed. High ceilings and windows at the top of doorways were used for ventilation on main floor, and large windows on the second floor were used to cool off the rooms. There is no forced air circulation in the courthouse. No ducting; it didnt exist when the courthouse was built. That wasnt a thing, Soderquist said. Over the years, mini-splits and condensers were installed to create ventilation. It was built for a different time, Soderquist said. Its served the County very well. Nearly 100 years later, the design of the building was evaluated after then Justice of the Peace Al Kacin commissioned a study by the U.S. Marshals, who determined the building and the Courthouse complex itself had several glaring security issues. One of the actions was to close off the multiple public entrances and filter all foot traffic through the back door, monitored by security. The other was to install bulletproof windows facing Idaho Street in 2007. The installation of the windows contributed to the lack of airflow since then, hermetically sealing the basement, Kacin said. It was absolutely necessary for security, Soderquist said. But the world we live in, its no longer safe for a judge and people in the courtroom to have regular windows. A new judicial center For Kacin, chief judge of the District Court that includes Judges Kriston Hill and Mason Simons, the basement is one of several safety and security issues. He believes a new judicial center was needed yesterday. Kacin thanked the Elko County Commissioners for approving the purchase of the former Washington Federal bank building across the street from the Courthouse complex, but noted there are still security issues in both buildings, particularly for the courts. Although plans are still being drawn, Kacin explained the new building would have secured entrances for staff and judges, keeping witnesses and jurors apart from in-custody defendants as they are transported in and out of the courtroom. To me, the most important aspect of this is safety, he said. Were trying to put all the courts in one location so there can be a one-stop-shop, and safely move incarcerated people in and around using underground facilities common in other buildings. The Elko County Jail added a courtroom in 2002, intended to save transportation costs between the jail and the courthouse and keep law enforcement safe. Still used for Justice Court hearings inmates, the jail must be locked down to walk them into the courtroom. That is also not safe for witnesses who might be called to testify during the hearings, and its hard for the jail staff as well, Soderquist said. Last year, the County finalized the purchase of the Wright Motor Co. properties where the judicial center will be built. There are also plans to seal off Sixth Street/George Boucher Way and connect both blocks without vehicle traffic coming off of Idaho Street. Kacin said a study is being conducted to determine how to backfill the offices and courtrooms once the Justice and District courts vacate the Courthouse and the bank building. Thats going to be for the whole campus; all county functions will be considered but with the understanding that the primary goal is moving the judiciary into the judicial center. I think we owe it to the jurors, the defendants and those who come into court whose safety could be compromised by not having an appropriate facility, Kacin continued. Soderquist agreed, reiterating that the 1900s-era courthouse wasnt designed for the changes in society that affect the courts today. I think the biggest reason that we need a new judicial center is so that you can have courthouse where everyone who comes in is safe and feels safe, he said. This is not the world of 1910 and its no longer acceptable to have prisoners walking around right in front of the people that they victimized. If and when the Justice Court offices leave the basement, Soderquist said it should return to its previous use as a storage facility only. To consider any other use would be cost-inefficient. The amount of work that would have to go into retrofitting down here to really make it a workable, long-term solution, I dont think its financially feasible, Soderquist said. You could build a new building for a lot less than it would cost to get this basement ready. County Commission response Funding for a new judicial center was initially estimated at $30 million, but both Kacin and Elko County Commissioners agree the final cost could be double that amount. After the 75-cent tax levy renewal for Elko County School District capital projects was defeated by voters in the 2020 election, Elko County received 50 cents of that and earmarked it for capital improvement projects and wildland fire protection. In March 2022, Commissioners approved a plan that itemized a judicial center and recreation center to be the top priorities. Commissioner Delmo Andreozzi said the $15 million for the recreation and events center was pretty close to funded due to solid ending fund balances from unexpected one-time funds received, and we generate $8.6 million a year from that 50 cents which has gone into a fund not to be touched. He also explained the Commissioners wanted to avoid issuing bonds for any capital projects because we dont know if were always going to have that 50 or 25 cents. Lo and behold this last Legislative session we found out how vulnerable that 50 cents is. On June 7, Commissioners approved revision to the list, adding $4 million Elko County Jail expansion due to overcrowding. I think [the jail] is in much more dire straits than the judges, explained Commissioner Steninger, who also serves as liaison to the Elko County Sheriffs Office. The judicial center is going to take us years to accumulate enough money to do that and I dont think our jail can wait that long, he said. The jail would be much cheaper, we can get that out of the way and then start saving money for the judicial center, which still remains a top priority. All that does is kick [the judicial center] down the road a half a year, Andreozzi added. I can appreciate the environment we have people working in [the basement], he continued. Thats something that needs to be addressed too, but to me, that line item would be a maintenance project as opposed to a new facility. He wondered how much repairs could cost for the basement. Is that something we could prioritize and put with other County maintenance projects? Again, its going to take us five, six, seven years to bank up enough money for the judicial center. Even if the judicial center is the number one priority, it aint getting done this year unless we put some money toward some kind of maintenance project, Andreozzi explained. Jon Karr agreed and said the County had to figure out some short-term repairs downstairs for them because of the water and sewage leaks. Its not hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix but we do need to spend some money down there to get it so its livable. I dont know why its not on a better maintenance program anyway, he continued. I think it needs to be immediate. Karr and Andreozzi said even if a bond were to be issued immediately an option that Commissioners said they do not want to use the judicial center would still be two or three years out. However both of them support immediate basement repairs. If we need to juggle this around and kick some cash [to the basement] to do that, I am OK to do that, Andreozzi said. I just need to know what the highest priority for the County is. Commissioner Wilde Brough suggested finding a building to lease and moving Justice Court staff out of the basement entirely due to the very poor disrepair of the office space. I think theyre going above and beyond by working down there. Its a pretty tough deal, he said. By DAVID HAMILTON, AP Business Writer Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger vowed to make its streaming services profitable via a planned October price hike on its ad-free Disney+ and Hulu plans and a crackdown on password sharing expected to extend through next year. The increases will raise the monthly cost of ad-free Disney+ by $3, or roughly 27%, to almost $14. The cost of ad-free Hulu will likewise rise $3 to almost $18 a 20% hike that will make it more expensive than the most popular ad-free tier at Netflix. Iger spoke following Disneys release of mixed earnings for its fiscal third quarter ended July 1. The company reported a substantial net loss while shedding customers in both domestic and international markets. Overall, Disney reported a 4% increase in revenue for the quarter but swung to a net loss of $460 million from a year-earlier profit of $1.4 billion. Disney shares, which closed at $87.49, rose roughly 2.2% to $89.45 in after-hours trading. Disney CEO Bob Iger in 2020. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times/TNS, file)TNS While Disney reported narrower losses on Disney+ in the quarter, the service lost domestic subscribers in the U.S. and Canada for the second straight quarter. Internationally, it racked up its third straight quarter of declines, although issues in the Indian market played a large role there. The Disney CEO acknowledged that the price hikes are intended to steer consumers toward cheaper ad-supported versions of these services, whose subscription prices are not changing. The advertising market for streaming is picking up, he said, noting that its healthier than traditional TV ads. Were obviously trying with our pricing strategy to migrate more subs to the advertising-supported tier. Iger didnt provide details about the password-sharing crackdown beyond saying that Disney could reap some benefits in 2024, although he added that the work might not be completed that year and that Disney couldnt predict how many password sharers would switch to paid subscriptions. Disney is in the middle of a strategic reorganization that includes cutting about 7,000 jobs to help save $5.5 billion across the company. Iger, who returned in November to take over the CEO post from Bob Chapek, has worked over the past several months to turn around Disneys streaming business while making sure that the financial might of its theme parks doesnt waver. Disneys theme parks are widely viewed by industry experts as a critical component of the Burbank, California-based companys business. To that end, Iger has prioritized reconnecting with the Disney theme park die-hards and restoring their faith in the brand. Shortly after Igers return, changes rolled out at U.S. parks. Hes also had to contend with trying to protect Disney Worlds theme park district from a takeover by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Disney sued DeSantis in late April, alleging the governor waged a targeted campaign of government retaliation after the company opposed a law critics call " Dont Say Gay. This month a group of mostly Republican former high-level government officials called the Florida governors takeover of Disney Worlds governing district severely damaging to the political, social, and economic fabric of the state. Internal documents show government officials in the Privy Council Office a Conservative private member's bill launched in response to convicted killer Paul Bernardo's transfer to a medium-security prison. Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks to reporters in the Foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Sunday, June 11, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby Alaskans can now use larger and heavier recreational off-road vehicles on most state land without a specialty permit, a move intended to accommodate the growth of side-by-side off-road vehicles. In late July, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources issued new general permissions that allow vehicles up to 80 inches wide and up to 2,500 pounds on land managed by the DNR Division of Mining, Land and Water. Old restrictions, based on the size and weight of a 66 Argo, allowed vehicles of up to 1,500 pounds, DNR staff said in an explanation of the change. Those decades-old limits became obsolete as off-road vehicle manufacturers updated their designs over the years, the agency said. Currently, a model of (side-by-side off-road vehicle) may vary in weight depending on upgrades from between 1,000-2,000 lbs., the permit decision states. Under the old system, someone wanting to use a larger off-road vehicle had to apply for a special land-use permit, which typically takes 30 days to get because it includes a public-comment period as well as official agency review. Most owners of those large vehicles never requested the needed permit, the agency concluded, and the requirement was impossible to enforce. DMLW cannot realistically or feasibly enforce that requirement, DNR said. That led the agency to begin rewriting its rules last year. The agency said that it is not anticipated that implementation will increase impacts on state land, though it acknowledged that it doesnt fully understand the impact that off-road vehicles were already having. The new rules apply only to vehicles that cant be licensed for highway travel, and they dont apply to all state land. Land thats part of a state park, in a special-use area, owned by the University of Alaska, controlled by the Alaska Mental Health Trust, or possessed by the Alaska Railroad isnt covered by the rule change, nor is privately owned land. Additional permits are still required for crossing streams, for commercial use, and for vehicles above 2,500 pounds when loaded with fuel. The new general permit will be in effect for five years, and the agency characterized the change as temporary, an opportunity for staff to evaluate the effectiveness of increasing the weight limit, while also identifying any unintended consequences. The agency suggested that it could pursue a permanent regulation change sometime in the future. The Alaska Beacon is an independent, donor-funded news organization. Alaskabeacon.com. This map shows the location of the property denied for conveyance at Hood Point. The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted to appeal an Alaska Department of Natural Resources decision rejecting the conveyance of 523.44 acres to the borough during its meeting on Monday. The final finding and decision recently issued by ADNR rejected the conveyance of two parcels chosen by the borough as part of its municipal land selections-Prolewy Point, measuring 513.41 acres, and Hood Point, measuring 10.03 acres. Conversely, the decision also approved the conveyance of approximately 2,736.69 acres of state-owned land on Mitkof Island, Kupreanof Island, and Fanshaw Bay to the borough. Acc... LAS VEGAS Cashman Equipment Company LLC, now Empire Southwest, is hosting a Technician Job Fair at its Elko location from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 19. The combined dealership has become the fourth largest Cat dealer in North America, and now serves an expanded territory in Nevada, Arizona and parts of California. Qualified technicians and other skilled trade candidates are invited to attend on-site interviews with recruiters and hiring managers at 5150 Idaho St. Empire says the construction and mining industries are booming. Technicians, mechanics and machinists experienced in heavy equipment, earthmoving, construction and mining are highly encouraged to apply for more than 100 open positions across the territory. Empire boasts a company culture based on the spirit of hard work, loyalty and fun. Employees are offered competitive compensation, full benefits packages, technical and career development training, tool and employee discounts, uniforms, awards and recognition programs, and more. Interested candidates can register to attend the job fair, browse open positions, or submit an interest form at cashmanequipment.com/job-fair. Gus Pennington will return to Stedman Elementary School this fall as the new fifth grade teacher. However, Pennington is no stranger to the Petersburg School District. His new teaching role comes on the heels of experience in the district as a substitute and student teacher - and as a pupil in Petersburg, himself. Pennington graduated from Petersburg High School with the class of 2019 and left for college at University of Alaska Southeast. He returned to town later that fall - just before COVID-19 closed campuses nationwide - and completed his college education online. Alongside his studie... Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Former Sec. of State Mike Pompeo got lit up by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) as he criticized Biden for getting Americans freed from an Iranian prison. The exchange: This is awesome. Not sure a 7 year old could have bungled Iran policy worse than Pompeo did. When he left, they were rebuilding their nuke program, shooting at our soldiers again, increasing support for regional proxies. The last person who should give advice on Iran is Pompeo. https://t.co/90C2JyANr8 Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) August 10, 2023 Pompeo and Trump turned Iran into a larger global threat with a policy that was a total failure. A 2021 opinion piece in The Jerusalem Post stated the clear facts, Trump left a path of collateral damage, starting with what remained of American credibility. Why would any country agree to negotiate with the United States if the next president would just scrap any agreement on a whim? Sanctions did not produce the economic deterioration that would force the Islamic Republic to curtail support for terrorism and regional unrest nor halt Tehrans missile and nuclear programs. If anything, Irans bad behavior has only accelerated. Trump and Pompeo made things worse in terms of the world and Iran. The maximum pressure policy was a maximum failure, and Pompeos criticism can be read as bitterness and jealousy over the Biden administration accomplishing what the Trump administration failed to do. As part of the prisoner swap, Iran gets access to $6 billion of their own confiscated resources that they can only use for food and medicine. Sen. Murphy also said in a statement provided to PoliticusUSA, I am immensely relieved that Morad Tahbaz, Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi, and other unjustly detained Americans have been released from prison. I have worked nonstop with Senator Blumenthal and Congressman Himes to get Morad and his fellow detainees released, and Im thrilled that this day has arrived. Nevertheless, we will not breathe easy until Morad and Vida are home with their family in Connecticut. I will continue doing everything in my power to bring these American citizens home. The point is to bring these Americans home, and when Republicans criticize Biden for doing his duty and getting these people home, they look un-American. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Defendant and former president and Republican front-runner Donald J. Trump is now demanding in court filings that the judge order the government to allow him to discuss classified evidence at a home facility set up when he was president. Donald Trump is asking to be treated as he was when he was president by being allowed to discuss classified materials at or near his his residence. His lawyers asked a federal judge to order the DOJ to re-establish a secure facility at Mar-a-Lago and possibly Bedminster. Donald Trumps lawyers on Wednesday asked a federal judge in Florida to order the government to re-establish a secure facility at his Mar-a-Lago resort where they could safely discuss the national security documents prosecutors say he illegally kept there, NBC reported. Former President Donald Trump argued in court filings Wednesday that he should not be required to go to a so-called SCIF a sensitive compartmented information facility to discuss with his lawyers the classified evidence in the documents case that special counsel Jack Smith brought against him in Florida, CNN reported Wednesday evening. Trump is arguing that he should be given the privileges he had as president: Instead, he is proposing that he be allowed to discuss those materials at a facility at or near his residence that was previously approved for discussing classified information when he was president. Yes, Trump is arguing that he should be allowed to re-establish a SCIF at or near his residence like he had when he was president. He is asking the Justice Department, which is prosecuting him for alleged illegal mishandling of these documents, including sharing them with people not authorized to see them to set up a secure facility where he can discuss materials he allegedly mishandled. Donald Trump is not president anymore. We have a president. These privileges are necessary to do the job of the president and are reserved for the president of the United States. And even if they werent, Donald Trump has shown that he cannot be trusted with national security information. CNN noted that prosecutors argued Allowing such discussions at a private residence would amount to exceptional treatment. Prosecutors also noted that Mar-a-Lago Trumps Florida resort is where Trumps alleged crimes took place. Audacity and entitlement, thy name is Donald J Trump. Lets recall that Trump got busted after lying to the FBI about having these allegedly stolen documents for storing them improperly at Mar-a-Lago in bathrooms, bedrooms, and ballrooms at his resort. Heres FBI Director Wray pointing out, Ballrooms, bathrooms, and bedrooms Are Not SCIFs when asked by Rep. Madeleine Dean about the places former President Trumps stored classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Wray clarified, There are specific rules about where to store classified information and that those need to be stored in a SCIFa Secure Compartmentalized Information Facilityand in my experience, ballrooms, bathrooms, and bedrooms are not SCIFs. Trumps argument for this is that traveling to the court to discuss the documents presents immense practical and logistical hurdles. It is often inconvenient to be a criminal defendant. This is perhaps by design, as the government is not in the habit of making criming easier and more convenient, especially when such alleged crimes threaten the United States, her people, her military, her intelligence assets, and her safety. For more context, lets recall Trumps ugly and disturbing track record with national security. In 2017, a Mar-a-Lago member posted photos of Trump discussing the North Korean missile launch in the open on the clubs patio. As tens of thousands of event guests traipsed through Mar-a-Lago, where Trump had carelessly tossed boxes of classified materials and defense information, theres plenty of photo evidence that the doors to the basement storage area were frequently open and unattended during the events. Strzok asks, Who were those guests? Who knows, really. Certainly not all European Rothschild heiresses or the Russian-speaking Ukrainian emigres pretending to be one. Just as one example, he linked to this story, Inna Yashchyshyn, a self-confessed grifter linked to a fraudulent charity, posed as a member of one of the worlds most famous banking families, gained access to Donald Trumps Florida home, and mingled with top Republicans. And then, Beyond all those guests, dont forget Mar-a-Lago sought to hire up to 87 foreign workers who likely had the ability to access to the basement area. Trump also moves banker boxes of files around a lot. Are these boxes carrying classified information, perhaps taken from an unsecured Mar-a-Lago bathroom or ballroom or basement? Why would Trump need (allegedly stolen) classified documents at Bedminster after losing the election and becoming a private citizen? The PeeTape shared this image on Xitter: These are not people who can or should be trusted with classified information. Donald Trumps convenience is not even close to the main issue of the classified documents trial and in no way, shape or form should his comfort and convenience be prioritized over the safety of the American people. Donald Trump is a criminal defendant who apparently jeopardized United States national security. Others who did much less were shown absolutely zero consideration for their logistical issues. Trump demanding and being given special consideration has reached almost comical proportions, given the many crimes he is accused of perpetrating and some of which for he has recently been indicted. Donald Trump is innocent until proven guilty, but there is no reason to further jeopardize the United States safety to accommodate his feelings. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Donald Trump revealed his powerlessness by throwing a tantrum and insulting President Biden by calling him a dumb, incompetent lunatic. Trump posted on Truth Social: I think that Crooked Joe Biden is not only dumb and incompetent, I believe he has gone MAD, a stark raving Lunatic, with his HORRIBLE AND COUNTRY THREATENING ENVIRONMENTAL, OPEN BORDERS, & DOJ/FBI WEAPONIZATION POLICIES. HE IS A MENTAL CATASTROPHE THAT IS LEADING OUR COUNTRY TO HELL! What Crooked Joe Biden, who cant string two sentences together, has done to our once great Country through his Open Borders CATASTROPHE, may go down as the greatest and most damaging mistake ever made in USA HISTORY. It is not even believable that such incompetence and stupidity could have been allowed to happen. OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED BY A MAN WITH THE MIND, IDEAS, AND I.Q. OF A FIRST GRADER. THIS INVASION OF OUR COUNTRY MUST STOP IMMEDIATELY. IT CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE! During his time in public life, Trump has at various times been described by the people who have worked with him as dumb, incompetent, and a lunatic, so his comments about Biden are a classic example of Trumps habit of projecting his flaws onto others. Joe Biden has never been described as incompetent, dumb, or a lunatic. What is really happening is that Donald Trump is lashing out because his 1/6 trial is speeding along, and he is acting like he is facing felony conviction. Of course, Trump blames Joe Biden for his indictment. It couldnt possibly be that the former president is responsible for his own actions when he tried to overthrow the government after losing the 2020 presidential election. There can be no accountability for Donald J. Trump. When Trump breaks the law and accountability is sought, it is because everyone else is out to get him. For the first time in his life, Donald Trump is facing something where he doesnt have the power, and it is causing him to implode. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) said that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas committed crimes and he explained why Thomass behavior is corrupt. Rep. Lieu tweeted: Would billionaires have given Justice Clarence Thomas massive gifts if he was just a law clerk? NO. Thats what makes this corrupt. They were seeking to curry favor with Justice Thomas, either directly or indirectly. And Justice Thomas violated the law in accepting the gifts. https://t.co/j2BbLHnreY Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) August 10, 2023 As Sarah Jones wrote in The Daily, We have far surpassed the point of suggesting this raises questions about Thomas impartiality in judicial decisions. We are now at the point of Thomas potentially violating the law and clearly using the Court as some kind of bartering system to fund his private aspirations of living like the 1%. Thomas might have been able to explain away Harlan Crow as gifts from a friend, but now Justice Thomas has more friends. and what is being documented is systemic criminal corruption. Rep. Lieu is correct. Justice Thomas has been engaging in criminal activity. Unlike the fantasies and conspiracies that House Republicans are using to investigate Joe Biden for a bogus impeachment, there is real evidence of crimes on the part of Clarence Thomas. If there was ever a circumstance that is crying out for an impeachment investigation, it is the Clarence Thomas scandal. After Democrats take back the House next November, Clarence Thomas should probably prepare to be impeached. Aiken, SC (29801) Today Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable. At the event (Photo: VOV) Zhejiang province, where has Hangzhou city, has long been a familiar destination for Vietnamese tourists, and the Beijing - Shanghai - Hangzhou - Suzhou tourism route is popular among tourists. The 19th Asian Games (ASIAD) which will be held in September and October this year is set to be a great opportunity for Zhejiang to attract more and more tourists, including those from Vietnam. According to Zheng Ni, a representative of Zhejiang provinces Department of Culture and Tourism, the province will launch three tourism products specifically for Vietnamese tourists. They include a tour to discover the history of Zhejiang, a tour across three rivers and joining recitation, as well as a tour to explore Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province which will host upcoming ASIAD 19. She said that Vietnam is also a favorite destination of Chinese tourists in general, as well as tourists from Zhejiang in particular because they love Vietnams diverse culture. Nguyen Quy Phuong, Head of the Tourism Promotion Management Department under Vietnam National Authority of Tourism, said China has always been a key market for the Vietnamese tourism sector. In the first seven months of 2023, Vietnam welcomed over 737,000 Chinese tourists. Simultaneously, China is also a favorite destination among plenty of Vietnamese tourists. The event created an opportunity to connect tourism businesses of the two countries, helping to promote and widely share the image and potential of Zhejiang tourism to the Vietnamese business community and people, promoting tourism cooperation and contributing to further development of the Vietnam - China strategic partnership./. An Aiken man died after Lexington County deputies used a Taser on him during an arrest. Deputies were trying to serve an arrest warrant on 32-year-old Bernice Junior Smith, according to Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher. Around 1:30 p.m. Aug. 9, a deputy with the Lexington County Sheriffs Office saw Smith at a store at Red Bank, Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said in a media release. Koon said the deputy started a conversation with him, but Smith ran after the deputy told him about the outstanding warrant for a shoplifting charge. Smith ran into the woods and police ran after him, then used a Taser on Smith to subdue him. Koon said Smith did not comply with verbal commands from deputies. Smith began to show signs of distress after he was handcuffed, Koon said, and deputies removed the handcuffs to render aid to Smith before he was taken to a hospital. Fisher said Smith became unresponsive; EMS took him to a nearby hospital and he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. Smith is scheduled to be autopsied at the Medical University of Charleston on Friday Koon said the deputies involved have been placed on paid administrative leave in accordance with department policy. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and Lexington County Coroners Office are investigating. The manager and operator of the Savannah River Site has a new president and CEO. Dennis Carr was named to the role by Savannah River Nuclear Solutions. "Its a privilege to lead and serve this great company and the honorable missions that we perform for the nation," Carr said in a message to employees. "Im looking forward to my new role as we continue to deliver results for our customers." He added he is excited about the company's future and he looks forward to working with its employees. "You are the reason SRNS has been so successful," Carr continued. "I pledge to do my best to keep you informed and engaged as we continue to exceed the expectations of our customers and communities, and the nation." Carr succeeds Stuart MacVean, who retired last month. He thanked MacVean for his leadership and service. Carr said MacVean made an "indelible" mark as president and CEO of the company and will be greatly missed. Carr said he and MacVean have worked closely for several years and are greatly aligned in their way of thinking, so no dramatic changes are expected. Prior to his promotion, Carr served as an executive vice president at SRNS and headed up the company's National Nuclear Security Administration projects. The Savannah River Site is the location of tritium production and efforts are underway to construct a pit production plant at the site located 20 miles south of Aiken. The NNSA is the Department of Energy office responsible for these projects. Carr also previously served as site project director and president of Fluor-BWXT, Portsmouth, at the $5 billion Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant D&D Project. He also served as project director of the $1.3 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Project Portfolio at the Savannah River Site from 20082010 and was responsible for day-to-day operations at the Fernald Closure Project from 2000-2006. He has a master's degree in business administration from Xavier University and a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from the University of Cincinnati. Finding a quick route to the Clyburn Center for Primary Care was a challenge for some drivers Aug. 9, as the medical facility played host to a food giveaway that sparked a three-hour traffic jam and resulted in free groceries for over a hundred families. Distributed were tons of watermelons, milk, pulled pork, apricots, plums, cantaloupes and chicken patties, with most of the food coming from Golden Harvest Food Bank, by way of Unity Outreach Church in Warrenville. The congregation, with the Rev. Eder Herrera as pastor, provided much of the volunteer muscle and is accustomed to the task, as Unity offers free food at a drive-through event ("mobile distribution") every Tuesday and Friday from 1 to 4 p.m., at 188 School St. in Warrenville. "We had 263 families show up yesterday, and there were 832 people in those families," said volunteer Hannah Naff. The data included 202 people over the age of 60 and 280 under the age of 18, she added. Herrera recalled the example of Aug. 8, when his church "touched 422 people," in terms of food distribution, and hopes are for Aiken County to take advantage of the service, he said. Participation is open to all. "Some local farmers donate to us," he said, noting that Dollar General, Walmart, Food Lion and Kroger are also on board, along with the South Carolina Department of Agriculture. The first Wednesday of each month includes a giveaway at an alternate site, as was the case Aug. 9, with the medical facility near Aiken High School. Giveaways are also sometimes held at the Langley Fire Department, on Augusta Road. Distribution at a remote site normally involves "around 150 families," Naff said. COLUMBIA A push to allow Richland Two students to leave their Columbia-area campuses during the day in order to get religious education is gaining attention from the school district's Board of Trustees. Several trustees expressed support for such a program during their Aug. 8 meeting, the second in a row heavily attended by supporters asking the board to adopt a policy allowing what's called release time for religious education. In order to remain in line with the law, a release time policy couldn't use any district money and would have to be housed off-campus, according to Nancy Gregory, the district's chief academics officer and former interim superintendent. Student involvement would also require parental approval. While the current push in Richland Two is mostly being spearheaded by a Christian group, a policy would also have to be open to students and organizations of any faith. "If Satan himself had a church here, we would be obligated by the Constitution to allow them to participate in this," said board chair Joe Trapp, who has expressed his support for passing a release time policy. But while the policy might be open to all faiths on paper, critics say minority religions don't always have the resources necessary to run such a program, and that release time programs would effectively treat different religions unequally. "Do not accept, I beg of you, the proposal of release time," Rabbi Jonathan Case of Columbia's Beth Shalom Synagogue told the board. "Listen to your heart, listen to your conscious, listen to the voice of God, it echoes through your soul. Do not dismantle what the founding fathers of our country and the ultimate father in heaven desires: One people, no one to be left out in the cold." A 2002 South Carolina law allows school boards to adopt release time policies and lays out certain requirements, such as written parental consent, that the private sponsoring organization provides transportation and assumes liability for the students, that no public money is spent and that students can't be released from a "core academic subject class." Another state law passed in 2006 allows the off-campus religious classes, which can teach religion and the Bible as the truth, to count for class credits. COLUMBIA A former Catholic priest who served in the Charleston Diocese pleaded guilty to the sexual exploitation of a child he met during his time as a visiting priest in South Carolina. On Aug. 10, Jaime Adolfo Gonzalez-Farias, known as Father Gonzalez, admitted in federal court in Columbia that he traveled with an 11-year-old child out of state with the intent to engage in sexual activity. He is awaiting sentencing and faces 10 years to life in prison. The 68-year-old Chilean national moved to South Carolina in 2015 and served in various roles with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston during his five-year stint. Through the diocese, he served in Greer, Newberry, Laurens and Joanna. In early 2020, Gonzalez-Farias met an 11-year-old child through this work as a visiting priest in South Carolina, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliott Daniels said following the plea hearing. Daniels said the priest groomed the child, calling him nicknames and giving him gifts. One gift was a cellphone, which was later turned over to investigators. Gonzalez-Farias would text the child, telling him "I love you" and to be a good boy. In November 2020, the priest took the child on a trip to Florida for a "beach vacation" where he sexually abused the child. "During that trip, Gonzales-Farias masturbated in front of the minor victim, attempted to sexually assault the minor victim, and showed the minor victim pornography," the U.S. Attorney's Office wrote in a press release. Daniels said the priest engaged in sexual misconduct with the child in both South Carolina and Florida, including touching genitalia, watching pornography, masturbating and showering. After the trip to Florida, the child's family reported to Catholic authorities that they thought the relationship with their child was inappropriate. The diocese then contacted the Laurens Sheriff's Department. COLUMBIA A marked Richland County Sheriff's Department SUV went missing for three days, and is thought to have been in the hands of a 26-year-old man accused of stealing it, possibly even driving it out of state, the department said. DeAnthony Jones was walking along the adjacent train tracks on Saturday, Aug. 5 when he approached the deputy training grounds in a secluded area about 20 minutes north from downtown Columbia, according to the department. The site is an "outdoor training facility" down the private drive off Monticello Road. Deputies use it for training and physical fitness tests. Google lists the location as the department's private firearms range. Once there, Jones hopped the fence and got into one of the marked vehicles, finding the keys inside, the department said. He rammed a gate open, damaging that vehicle. He then got into the SUV, a 2015 Ford Expedition used for training, and took off, the department said. The training SUV was marked with the department's decals and was equipped with lights and sirens. A fuel card was inside, which Jones tried to use at a gas station, according to Sheriff Leon Lott. A ballistic vest with a sheriff's badge was also inside the vehicle. Surveillance camera footage from a convenience store appears to show Jones wearing this vest. At a press conference on Aug. 8, Lott said he was embarrassed and upset, saying the incident was "due to the laziness and stupidity of my people who left the keys in it." The sheriff said they were looking in South Carolina "and beyond" for the stolen vehicle. He called for the community's help, offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to Jones' arrest. Someone ended up calling in, saying they had seen the vehicle in adjacent Lexington County. Deputies from the Lexington County Sheriff's Department found the stolen SUV in the parking lot of a San Jose Mexican Restaurant off Piney Grove Road. Richland deputies were called in, and both departments searched the area. Theres one thing just about everyone agrees on theres a wealth of professional-caliber theatrical talent in Columbia, especially when it comes to acting. The question, however, is: what defines a professional actor? And can one earn a living as an actor in Columbia? The short answer is yes, but only if you have a day job (usually as a teacher). And in the Columbia area, there are a dozen or so card-carrying professional actors members of the Actors Equity Association, the national union that represents stage actors. Equitys website declares a mission to advance the careers of its members by negotiating wages, improving working conditions and providing a wide range of benefits for some 51,000 dues-paying members across the country. Traditionally, an actor had to be cast in an Equity show a professional production that honored Equity contracts and paid Equity wages in order to qualify for union membership. After graduating from the North Carolina School for the Arts, Lexington native Robyne Parrish worked in theater for a number of years before being cast in a national tour of a show about Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was very young, she said. "But I was tall, and so I could play Lauras mother. Being the right type led to Parrish getting her Equity card. Union membership meant increased professional opportunities, but in time, she began to explore alternatives: teaching, directing, writing and founding her own theater company, where she had administrative and artistic duties. I started embracing my multi-hyphenate self, she explained. While serving as artistic director of a semi-professional theater in North Carolina, union membership made her an option for roles at regional theaters in nearby venues. I would drive 45 or 50 minutes to do a role in between directing gigs, she recalled. Wearing multiple hats is common in the acting industry, according to former Trustus Executive Director Chad Henderson. To be a professional artist in Columbia where all of your income comes from your craft in some way youre probably working on staff at one of the organizations and doing something loosely related to your craft. Columbia native and Equity member Jonathan Monk, who teaches drama at Heathwood Hall, explained it differently: There are two types of professional actor; you are paid any amount and you consider yourself to be a professional, or youre a member of Equity, and that establishes that youre a professional. Equity card means better pay An obvious benefit of union membership is the pay. While theres a complex fee structure based on the type and size of venue, local schools and non-profit theaters are able to hire union actors as guest artists, although most community theaters still use unpaid volunteers. Most theater professionals are reluctant to talk about specifics, but, locally, a paid actor may earn a few hundred dollars for the run of a show, whereas an Equity actor might earn double that, plus get paid weekly for the three to six weeks of rehearsals leading up to the production. But its not steady work, whether you're is based in Columbia or New York City. Now several decades into her career, Parrish is able to book regular gigs throughout the east coast, having settled comfortably into maternal roles such as both Truvy and MLynn in separate productions of Steel Magnolias, while still having time for a guest spot on a recent episode of Law & Order. Those opportunities simply dont exist in the Midlands. Compensating actors for their time is great, offered Henderson, and allows (a theater) to expect more of the artists it contracts but its not paying anyones bills on a regular basis. Still, Equity pay is a nice source of extra income. Or just to be able to pay your bills, Monk, the theater teacher, interjected several times. Health insurance is important, too. The benefits saved me, he recalled of his days as a struggling actor in New York. There's a free clinic (for union members) thats how I got seen by a doctor and a dentist. It was incredible. Monk described how Equity generally ensures well, equitable working conditions for its members. Theres the advantage of getting cast in these big national tours thats always a goal," Monk said. "But non-union tours dont necessarily have to provide housing or transportation. And they can just close down without giving you notice. When Monk signs an Equity contract, he knows that checks will come through reliably, there will be bathroom breaks during rehearsals, costumes will be washed during the run of a show and rehearsals wont be stretched past midnight, a rigor sometimes endured in community theater. Equity member Patrick Michael Kellys career path was similar: undergraduate studies at the University of South Carolina, professional stage work in Chicago and New York, graduate school at New York University and, finally, an Equity card. Once you start getting into shows at regional theaters, you can continue to book roles in the following season with the same theater, and you can develop a good relationship with the director," Kelly said. "That could lead to other offers, because now youre a known quantity. Teaching the future But a union member cant work non-union jobs, so teaching becomes a realistic alternative. Monk, a Carnegie Mellon graduate, sees no disconnect. I see it as a professional job, he said. Teaching is just like acting. As he sees it, teaching is working as an artist in his field. Being a teacher has made me more accountable as a performer," Monk said. Still, he acknowledged, I have to perform. At some point I will have to make a decision, should he ever want to pursue stage work full time. A recent addition to the Equity roster is A.C. Flora High School drama teacher Charlie Goodrich, who conceded that his roles locally are now limited. Organizations, such as the South Carolina Shakespeare Company, that offer compensation to performers must now negotiate an actor's contract with the union, and the details are handled without actor input. Traditional community theaters that do not normally pay actors are no longer able to cast Goodrich and there are consequences for any violation of that policy. If you have the passion, youll be professional no matter what level of theater youre performing in, Goodrich declared. Even if a show may run only a few weekends, I treat it like a full-time job, he said. Professional theater needed in Columbia Kelly works in administration with Richland County, but teaches as an adjunct instructor at USC and is able to direct and act in local productions. Both he and Monk described the budgetary concerns taken into account if one wants to cast a union actor. Theres a wealth of local talent in Columbia, but sometimes a particular performer is best for the role, and if that person is Equity, then accommodations must be made, including finding a place to stay for an actor visiting from elsewhere. Kelly explained how, in a pinch, regular donors to a theater may be willing to sponsor a union actors contract. Unofficially, there can be an understanding that an actor will accept and be paid for a role, but will in turn donate some or all of that pay to the theater. Even less officially, actors occasionally appear under pseudonyms, with the understanding that their participation cannot be advertised or included in any official bios. Kelly sees no reason why the Midlands could not support a more professional theater, one where an actor union or not could make a living wage during however many weeks of work are given. Goodrich agreed, saying theres certainly enough talent to sustain a professional theater. We are very lucky, very rich in that sense. And, thousands of Midlands theater-goers are willing to pay for touring productions that come through town. What if audiences invested in our local theaters instead?" Henderson wondered. "And asked them to do the first regional runs of the newest productions available? Kelly agreed. Columbia has an appetite for theater," he said. "And when you put money into something, you are putting more value into it. Parrish noted how regional theaters offering union-level salaries and working conditions attract the best actors locally and observed that a truly professional theater in Columbia could be a stepping stone for performers to get Equity cards here. But for Henderson, a lot would have to change in how Columbia invests and values art before anything grows. I think an Equity theater would be great in Columbia, he said. It would also keep a lot of people here rather than sending some of our best and brightest away. Cheryl and I grew up around dogs and when we were married, it did not take long for us to bring home our first fur babies, a Scottish Terrier and a Wire Hair Terrier. Over the years weve had Cocker Spaniels, Bostons, Frenchies, and many other wonderful companions that were members of our Read moreUntil one has loved an animal Four Vietnamese students join the summer camp in Seattle (Photo: baoquocte.vn) According to Ms. Tran Xuan Dieu, a representative of CityU University, the summer camp helps young people have the opportunity to visit and learn about life in Seattle, have the opportunity to exchange, learn more new knowledge, and improve their English skills and independent lifestyle. The Vietnamese student group participating in the program consisted of four students from Van Lang University and FUNiX Online Education Organization. During the summer camp, students can participate in English classes hosted by the Washington Language Institute of CityU University. Mr. Le Quang Thao, a lecturer at Van Lang University, as well as Head of the Vietnamese student delegation attending the summer camp, said that the program is a great opportunity for young people to learn about life in the US. According to him, this is also an opportunity for them to learn more new knowledge, improve their English level and practice their independent lifestyle. After three weeks of participating in the summer camp, the Vietnamese students have become more confident and mature, he added./. Insects seem to be the main pest at the Possums counter this week. Armyworms, chinch bugs, fleas, roaches (hey, it is Charleston, they like the worlds best city also) and mosquitoes have been attacking our Lowcountry homes and yards. Read moreSummer pests at the gate Mount Pleasant, SC (29464) Today Mainly clear. Low around 75F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Mainly clear. Low around 75F. Winds light and variable. Three years after the pandemic closed South Carolina bars and restaurants, owners are facing off against a new foe. Rising liquor liability insurance rates are wreaking havoc on a food and beverage industry with notoriously tight profit margins. In the last six years, the average liability policy in South Carolina has ballooned from $5,000 to $25,000, with some struggling to find rates under $100,000. Recent efforts by the grassroots Save SC Venues have targeted a legislative change to the statewide problem. The group, comprised of mostly small music venues and bars from around the state, has been pounding the pavement through more than 20 town halls, social media posts and rallies spreading the word that the problem is very real. At 7 p.m. Aug. 14, the SC Venue Crisis will bring its town hall series to Frothy Beard Brewing Co. at 1401 Sam Rittenburg Blvd. in Charleston. The town hall is open to the public and free to attend. The organization is led by Asheton Reid, Sheila Merck and Kynn Tribble, whose insurance rates at Tribble's Bar & Grill in the Upstate have skyrocketed in recent years. In May, SC Venue Crisis held its first town hall meeting at Tribble's to solicit support from other business owners. All of our town halls that are open to the public are a way to rally help and get people to contact their representatives, Reid said. The team and I have been putting a lot of foot to pavement to make sure everyone is aware of this issue statewide. The problem, the group contends, stems from a 2017 law, Senate 116, that requires all bars, restaurants and venues that serve alcohol after 5 p.m. to carry a $1 million liability insurance policy. Six years after the bill was signed into law, insurers are paying out two dollars for every dollar they collect for liquor liability due to a rise in civil lawsuits, said Russ Dubisky, executive director of the South Carolina Insurance Association. In South Carolina, personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits involving alcohol can have a defendant who is found to be only 1 percent responsible paying the entire verdict. As a result, as many as 14 insurance carriers have stopped writing liquor liability policies in South Carolina over the last six years. The insurers that do write South Carolina policies have raised their rates significantly. Recovery Room owner Chris DiMattia, who is helping the SC Venue Crisis drum up support for the Charleston town hall, says his rates have increased by 400 percent since 2016. Its still going up, and my other bars are going up, said DiMattia, who also owns Bangkok Lounge and Lucky Luchador. Youre going to lose your nightlife scene in South Carolina. You lose the nightlife, thats going to be a big hit to the tourism dollar. Some establishments, including Smileys Acoustic Cafe in Greenville, have been unable to afford the rising liquor liability rates. Smiley's permanently closed its doors at 111 Augusta St. in July. Multiple statehouse bills could offer some relief to South Carolina establishments. The SC Justice Act, for instance, would ensure businesses are only required to pay damages equivalent to their share of fault in civil lawsuits. The SC Venue Crisis is asking South Carolina residents to contact state lawmakers to show their support for this legislation. Leaders of the group say the situation is more urgent than the general public may realize, and more businesses could close before lawmakers return to Columbia in January. When I attended the Mary McLeod Bethune Festival in Mayesville recently, I knew thered be plenty of good food and wonderful hospitality to enjoy. But the thing I most wanted to taste was the lemonade, because legendary educator Mary McLeod Bethune had a habit of turning lemons into lemonade Read moreWeaver: What Mary McLeod Bethune can teach us about reading and resilience Weve started focusing our argument for a better way of voting on local elections giving cities and towns the option of trying out ranked-choice voting because South Carolina legislators tend to be more willing to experiment with ideas that dont affect them personally. Read moreEditorial: Haley-Scott-Youngkin argument should prompt change in SC primary rules The city of Goose Creek announced on social media the annual kids fest event, which took place for the first time at Central Creek Park, was a big success. The back-to-school celebration includes music, vendors, food trucks, activities and back-to-school giveaways. Read moreKids Fest a big hit at new park Italy-based Saipem, a leading oil and gas industry contractor, has been awarded a new contract worth $1 billion by Mellitah Oil & Gas BV Libyan Branch, a consortium of National Oil Corporation of Libya and Eni North Africa, for the development of the Bouri Gas Utilisation Project (BGUP). As per the deal, Saipem will undertake revamping of the platforms and of the facilities of the Bouri gas field, which lies in water depths between 145 m and 183 m, offshore the Libyan coast. The contract entails the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning (EPCIC) of an approximately 5,000-ton Gas Recovery Module (GRM), onto the existing DP4 offshore facility, together with the laying of 28 km of pipelines connecting the DP3, DP4 and Sabratha platforms, said the Italian contractor in its statement. The main lifting operations will be executed by the semi-submersible crane vessel Saipem 7000. With this award, Saipem confirms its commitment and competitive positioning offshore Libya and its completion will make an important contribution to reducing CO2 emissions in the North African country, it added.-TradeArabia News Service BEIJING, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- China has made serious demarches to Japan and strongly condemns that certain Japanese politician visited China's Taiwan region and made irresponsible remarks that sought to hype up cross-Strait tensions, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said here Wednesday. It was reported that Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party and former Prime Minister of Japan Taro Aso has visited Taiwan, where he met with Tsai Ing-wen, William Lai and others and delivered a speech saying that there should be no war in the region, including the Taiwan Strait, and calling for a posture of strong deterrence and "a readiness to fight." In response, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that despite China's strong opposition, certain Japanese politician visited China's Taiwan region and made irresponsible remarks that sought to hype up cross-Strait tensions, stoke antagonism and confrontation, and blatantly interfere in China's internal affairs. "This seriously violates the one-China principle and the spirit of the four political documents between China and Japan and tramples on the basic norms governing international relations. China has made serious demarches to Japan and strongly condemns this," the spokesperson added. Noting that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory and the Taiwan question is entirely China's internal affair that brooks no external interference, the spokesperson said that for half a century, Japan exercised colonial rule over Taiwan, brutally suppressed its people's resistance and committed atrocious crimes. As a country responsible for the historical crimes it committed against China, Japan needs to all the more draw lessons from history and act prudently, the spokesperson said, adding that the Japanese politician, however, kept raising the possibility of "a war" whilst in Taiwan, an obvious attempt to stir up trouble in the Taiwan Strait and push the people in the Taiwan region over the edge of an abyss. The spokesperson said that today's China is no longer what it was when the Qing government signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, and what makes this Japanese politician think he is in a position or has the confidence to make such unwarranted remarks on Taiwan? The spokesperson stressed that the complete reunification of the motherland is the common aspiration of all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation and an unstoppable historical trend. No one shall underestimate the strong resolve, will and capability of the Chinese people to defend the nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity. "We seriously urge Japan to deeply reflect on its history of aggression, abide by the one-China principle and its commitments regarding the Taiwan question, and stop meddling in China's internal affair and lending support to the 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces in any form," the spokesperson said. "We also have a clear message for the Taiwan authorities: 'Taiwan independence' has no future, soliciting Japan's support and selling Taiwan away will only harm the people in Taiwan, and any attempt to collude with external forces in seeking independence and provocations will only fail," the spokesperson added. Editor: WXL COLUMBIA The state Supreme Court ruled against Richland County legislators in giving a huge win to a judge who sued to stop them from replacing him. In the unanimous Aug. 10 ruling, the justices ordered the county's legislative delegation to send Master-in Equity Joseph Strickland's name to Gov. Henry McMaster for re-appointment to the seat he's held since 1989. It's a critical step for the Richland County judge being able to serve out the term and retire in 2027 as he intends. The unprecedented case not only pitted a judge against legislators who control judicial seats but highlighted a deep rift between Democrats in South Carolina's capital delegation. Their infighting on public display during last week's hastily called meeting on Strickland's seat continued in their responses to the ruling. "It's a victory for the rule of law," said Rep. Heather Bauer of Columbia, who was among four Democrats who filed separate legal answers in support of Strickland's request. "It feels good to be right," she said, a reference to colleagues telling her last week to pipe down. "I may be a freshman, but I'm no dummy," she said. "I just follow the rules, and I'll always fight to protect the rule of law even if that means taking on my own party." In response, House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford again criticized Bauer. "She has no clue what she's talking about, per usual," he said. "What we're talking about is what should've happened two years ago. She wasn't there." But he said the delegation will now do as told after the high court cleared up what "appeared ambiguous." The question before the justices was whether the delegation had a duty to forward Strickland's name after he was last found qualified by the Legislature's screening panel in January 2021, shortly before his last term ended. He was the only person who applied for the appointment, making him the only candidate to get the panel's stamp of approval. Technically, the governor appoints masters-in-equity, who primarily handle foreclosures, property disputes and other civil, non-jury cases. In reality, the governor historically names whoever the delegation wants. But the delegation never took any action or publicly discussed the re-appointment until Aug. 2, five weeks after the delegation's chairman, Rep. Leon Howard, sent a letter to the screening panel declaring the seat vacant and seeking a new application process. At the conclusion of last week's tumultuous meeting, the 16-member delegation voted 9-3 against Bauer's motion to forward Strickland's name to McMaster. But justices ruled that voting no wasn't an option 2 years after they had a duty to send his name along. State law on the master-in-equity process mandates that delegations send the governor a qualified candidate. The fact that Strickland was the only one to apply didn't matter. Interpreting the law any other way "would lead to absurdities and total dysfunction in the process, a result the Legislature surely did not intend," the justices wrote. After the ruling, Sen. Dick Harpootlian, who shouted back-and-forth with Rutherford last week, again accused Rutherford and Howard of disregarding state law. "The most frustrating aspect of all of this is that people like Todd Rutherford and Leon Howard are supposed to be writing laws, not breaking them," the former state Democratic Party chairman said. "This was such an egregious violation of the law that it indicates they're totally without regard for the law," he continued. "If Richland County elected representatives continue this pattern of conduct of manipulating or ignoring the law, the voters ought to just clean house." Rutherford shot back by questioning Harpootlian's reading skills. What the ruling essentially means, he said, is that in the future, legislative delegations "need to choose who they want before screening" when it comes to masters-in-equity, whose selection process differs from any other judicial seat. Howard dismissed Harpootlian's accusations as typical grandstanding. "I respect the decision of the Supreme Court. That's what a Supreme Court is for, to settle disputes," he said, noting he's already done as ordered and formally sent Strickland's name for re-appointment. "This is not about Dick Harpootlian, who's throwing rocks at his colleagues like he always does." Strickland's attorney, Nekki Shutt, said the unanimous ruling from an often-divided high court should be a strong message to the delegation to "stop meddling in the judicial system. "Through this process, we're discovering they're meddling at every level," she said. "This is just the tip of the iceberg." While justices sided with Strickland, the ruling doesn't guarantee his re-appointment. McMaster told reporters he needs to review the decision before determining whether to name Strickland for the remaining term. If he follows precedent, another step remains. The full General Assembly would still need to vote on the judge who is paid entirely by Richland County. How much is unknown. Three weeks after telling The Post and Courier to submit a public records request for his taxpayer-funded salary and two weeks after requiring $4.91 to proceed with the request, the county has yet to provide the figure. If Strickland is rejected, either by McMaster or by the Legislature as a whole, only then would the seat be vacant, allowing the Judicial Merit Selection Commission to continue the process to replace him, justices wrote. While Strickland also sued the screening panel to stop that process, which justices did, the high court stressed in the ruling that the commission did nothing wrong. It was "simply caught in the middle of a disagreement" between the judge and members of the delegation who oppose him, they wrote. "The JMSC has acted properly at all times, discharging in good faith its responsibility to receive and vet applications for judicial vacancies." Five people, including Strickland, completed applications for the seat before justices suspended the vetting Aug. 3, less than 24 hours before the candidate deadline. No one else had sought an application, according to a commission attorney. ROEBUCK In middle school, Thomas Massey Jr. went on two field trips to Walnut Grove Plantation. During Masseys visit to the 3,000-acre property in Spartanburg County, hed mention to classmates and tour guides that his ancestors were the last people to live on the property before it was deemed a historical site, but no one believed him. I couldve taken the pictures, but I was a kid so I didnt think of that, Massey, now 43, said. Massey is a descendant of Henry and Lelia Foster, an African American couple from Spartanburg County who lived in the Walnut Grove Plantation manor house from 1940 to 1961. Masseys familys story will soon be told as part of the plantations history. One hundred ninety-three descendants of Henry and Lelia Foster gathered at the property on Otts Shoals Road for a 49th family reunion event on Aug. 5. For the first time, a proclamation of their ties to the plantation was read. Also this year, Massey partnered with the Spartanburg County Historical Association to ensure that his family's story is implemented into programming at Walnut Grove. The reading of the proclamation on that Saturday morning was an auspicious occasion," he said. "It was just an amazing gathering to fellowship and reflect over my family's heritage." Foster, Moore families forged rare relationship Every year, the Foster, Butler, Woodruff and Rogers family reunion is held during the first weekend of August. It's been 20 years since the family toured Walnut Grove as part of the weekend-long events. For Massey, returning to the property was special because of the stories he was able to hear from family members who remember spending time at the manor house. In 1763, Charles and Mary Moore were granted land from King George III. The couple emigrated from Ireland to the Carolinas. Charles Moore received additional grants that brought this total acreage to around 3,000. By 1765, the Moores built their farmhouse on the property and established Walnut Grove Plantation. The family raised 10 children in the farmhouse, and with the help of around 10 enslaved people, successfully raised livestock and farmed their land. Under Ron DeSantiss leadership, Florida has attained the enviable status of the state that liberals most like to hate, and to denigrate irrationally. Thus it is no surprise to see this headline: Pro-woke professors leave Florida universities in protest. The Tampa Bay Times reported on a July meeting of the Florida Board of Governors. During the meeting, a number of professors expressed concern about the political climate in Florida. Professors and administrators said they were having difficulty hiring and retaining new teachers, in part because of Florida lawmakers dismantling CRT, DEI, and other planks of the leftist agenda from higher education. Job prospects in academia are, in general, brutal. There are many teachers hungry for tenure-track positions, and the Florida universities will have no trouble filling their ranks. And, of course, the professors who are attracted to Florida precisely because DEI has been dismantled will be vastly better than the ones who think they cant survive without it. One employee at University of Florida reportedly said that a half dozen candidates who toured the campus expressed mixed feelings about moving to Florida in the current political climate. A candidate who applied to the philosophy department at the University of South Florida reportedly took a job at a lower-ranked school in another state over political concerns. I call that a narrow escape! This is wonderful, too: [UCF History professor and AAUP chapter president Robert Cassanello] said that faculty members are especially concerned that they would be called out by conservative journalist and New College of Florida board member Christopher Rufo. Theyre changing their classes or theyre not assigning books they would normally assign out of fear that if that stuff gets published that Chris Rufo is going to come and target them and tweet about them and theyll be in the crosshairs, he said. Isnt that great? Professors were assigning books that were so bad they are afraid the taxpayers might find out about them, and now they have stopped. What a win for Ron DeSantis and Chris Rufo! Of course, safety rears its head: Carolyne Ali-Khan, a social justice in education professor Why is there such a thing as a social justice in education professor? at the University of North Florida, also had to change her course because of the Stop WOKE Act. She claimed she was also included in a state-mandated audit of university DEI expenditures, unbeknownst to her. Which I think means that she is out of a job because she was on the universitys DEI staff, but didnt realize it. Which seems consistent with being an extremely low-priority employee. She is moving to Molloy University, a small liberal arts college in New York. Its not safe here anymore on so many levels, Ali-Khan said. Its not physically safe. Its not economically safe. Its not professionally safe. Its not intellectually safe. That was not true when I got here. Florida is unsafe! Governor DeSantis, take a bow. There is much more at the link, but lets close with New College, which until recently was a failing left-wing institution with hardly any enrollment. DeSantis is now totally revamping it by, among other things, appointing Chris Rufo and other conservatives to its Board of Trustees. One new trustee said that he wants to make New College the Hillsdale of the South. What a great way to transform an institution that looked to be on the verge of going out of business. But you can imagine the whining that has ensued: Meanwhile, a July 18 report from the Tampa Bay Times found that the newly-reorganized New College of Florida is experiencing an exodus of professors. Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo was among six new Board of Trustees members appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. New College provost Bradley Thiessen told the Tampa Bay Times that 36 of the less than 100 faculty at the school have resigned or retired. Some of them are long-planned retirements or sabbaticals, but many were attributed to the change in leadership. Thiessen said many low-attendance classes would be cut, but required classes would be completed in some form. New College has already hired ten visiting faculty members, and is negotiating with six more. Temporary positions would also be used while the school seeks new full-time hires. The funniest thing about this is that these left-wing professors think they are making some kind of statement, and presumably damaging Florida in some way, by leaving. No: if a third of New Colleges professors are resigning, Hallelujah! They are self-selecting as dead wood, which creates opportunity for Rufo et al. to staff the college the way they want to. At the moment, there are lots of bad things happening in the world and a smaller number of good things. The way in which the DeSantis administration is remaking education in Florida is high on the list of good things. David McCullough covers President Trumans recognition of Israel at pages 618-620 of his biography of Truman. Truman recognized Israel within minutes of its Declaration of Independence, with the support of the American people but against the great weight of the government (at least the executive branch). Trumans recognition is set forth in the key document posted by the Truman Library here. McCullough quotes Trumans later reflections: The difficulty with many career officials in government is that they regard themselves as the men who really make policy and run the government. They look upon the elected officials as just temporary occupants. Every President in our history has been faced with this problem: how to prevent career men from circumventing presidential policy.Some Presidents have handled this situation by setting up what amounted to a little State Department of their own. President Roosevelt did this and carried on direct communications with Churchill and Stalin. I did not feel that I wanted to follow this method, because the State Department is set up for the policy of handling foreign policy operations, and the State Department ought to take care of them. But I wanted to make plain that the President of the United States, and not a second or third echelon in the State Department, is responsible for making policy. PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 07:45:39 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 580 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Bernstein Liebhard LLP:Do you, or did you, own shares of Baxter International, Inc. (NYSE:BAX)?Did you purchase your shares between May 25, 2022 and February 8, 2023, inclusive?Did you lose money in your investment in Baxter International, Inc.?Do you want to discuss your rights?Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the securities of Baxter International, Inc. ("Baxter" or the "Company") (NYSE: BAX) between May 25, 2022 and February 8, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against the Company and certain of its officers (the "Complaint").If you purchased or acquired Baxter securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Baxter International, Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than September 11, 2023. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.According to the Complaint, Baxter is a multi-national healthcare company, primarily focusing on products designed to treat kidney disease and other chronic and acute medical conditions. During the Class Period, Defendants allegedly misrepresented and concealed the true nature and severity of supply chain problems the Company was encountering and the impact they were having on Baxter's current and expected earnings.On February 9, 2023, before market hours, Baxter issued a press release to report on its Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2002 earnings results. The press release revealed that despite Baxter's assurances during the Class Period, the problems with the Company's supply chain and its effect on its operations were not under control, it did not meet its earnings guidance for the year, and Baxter would lower its earnings guidance for the first quarter of 2023.On this news, Baxter's stock price fell $5.54 per share, or over 12%, to close at $40.14 per share on February 9, 2023.If you purchased or acquired Baxter securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Baxter International, Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for sixteen consecutive years.ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. 2023 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.Contact Information:Peter AlloccoBernstein Liebhard LLP(212) 951-2030pallocco@ bernlieb.com SOURCE: Bernstein Liebhard LLP PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 07:45:48 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 574 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Bernstein Liebhard LLP:Do you, or did you, own securities of Bausch Health Companies Inc. (NYSE:BHC)?Did you purchase your securities between August 6, 2020 and May 3, 2023, inclusive?Did you lose money in your investment in Bausch Health Companies Inc.?Do you want to discuss your rights?Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the securities of Bausch Health Companies Inc. ("Bausch" or the "Company") (NYSE: BHC) between August 6, 2020 and May 3, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey and alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against the Company and certain of its officers (the "Complaint").If you purchased or acquired Bausch securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Bausch Health Companies Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than September 25, 2023. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.The Complaint alleges that Defendants made materially false and misleading statements throughout the Class Period. Among other things, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: 1) the B+L spinoff would not result in two strong separate companies; 2) without B+L, Bausch was left overly leveraged and without the cashflow generated by B+L; and 3) distribution of the B+L spinoff shares would not occur as represented.On May 4, 2023, Bausch announced negative earnings results for its first quarter of 2023, which indicated further delay of the B+L share distribution. According to analysts, the probability of a distribution was now less than 50% and, without any mention of it from management, the likelihood of it occurring in the near term was low.On this news, Bausch's stock price fell $1.51 per share, or over 20%, to close at $5.89 per share on May 4, 2023.If you purchased or acquired Bausch securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Bausch Health Companies Inc. Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for sixteen consecutive years.ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. 2023 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.Contact Information:Peter AlloccoBernstein Liebhard LLP(212) 951-2030pallocco@ bernlieb.com SOURCE: Bernstein Liebhard LLP PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 21:55:29 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 435 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 HONG KONG / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Arcartera, a pioneering BIM (Building Information Modeling) blockchain developer, is set to share its expertise at the upcoming Construction Blockchain Consortium (CBC) 2023 event. The event, organized by the UCL Department of Computer Science and The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, is a premier platform for exploring the intersection of blockchain and emerging technologies within the construction industryArcartera's prominence in the field of blockchain technology and its profound impact on the construction industry has earned the company a distinguished reputation. With a history of groundbreaking achievements, including being listed by the Hong Kong Central Bank, Arcartera stands at the forefront of innovation in construction and blockchain integration.Arcartera's CEO, Gregor Hans Schoener, will be a featured speaker at the event. He will delve into the realm of real use-cases for blockchain technology in the construction industry. Specifically, he will highlight Arcartera's pioneering move of integrating BIM onto the blockchain, a transformative step toward enhancing efficiency, transparency, and collaboration in the construction sector."At Arcartera, we recognize the transformative potential of Blockchain technology in the construction landscape," said Gregor Hans Schoener. "Smart Contracts and Decentralized Apps (DApps) are a key focus on achieving the move of BIM to the Blockchain, enabling streamlined collaboration and secure data management across the construction ecosystem." The CBC 2023 event will be held in Hong Kong as a Hybrid Event, bringing together industry leaders, technology experts, and visionaries from November 6th to 8th. Kowloon will serve as the dynamic backdrop for this event, which promises engaging discussions, innovative insights, and collaborative opportunities. Arcartera's participation in CBC 2023 underscores its commitment to revolutionizing the construction landscape through cutting-edge technology. With an unwavering dedication to transforming BIM and blockchain integration, Arcartera continues to shape the future of the industry. For more information about Arcartera and its groundbreaking contributions, please visit https://www.arcartera.com/ For media inquiries, Please contact:Thorsten GrebersMarketing ManagerAdmin@ Arcartera.com About Arcartera:Arcartera is a trailblazing BIM blockchain developer, spearheading innovation in the construction industry through the fusion of blockchain technology and Building Information Modeling (BIM). With a proven track record of accomplishments, including recognition by the Hong Kong Central Bank, Arcartera is dedicated to revolutionizing the construction sector's efficiency, transparency, and collaboration.About CBC 2023:The Construction Blockchain Consortium (CBC) 2023 event is an industry-leading forum hosted by the UCL Department of Computer Science and The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment. This event seeks to explore and harness the potential of blockchain technology within the construction industry, promoting knowledge exchange, academic discussions, and the development of sustainable solutions.SOURCE: Arcartera Fireworks light up the sky during the National Day Parade at Singapore's Padang on Aug. 9, 2023. Singapore held a National Day Parade on Wednesday to celebrate its 58th anniversary at Padang, an open playing field near the iconic Marina Bay, with a military show, performances and fireworks. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua) SINGAPORE, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Singapore held a National Day Parade on Wednesday to celebrate its 58th anniversary at Padang, an open playing field near the iconic Marina Bay, with a military show, performances and fireworks. Singaporean President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong joined thousands of audiences in the celebration. The city-state showcased its defense asset, including tanks, armored vehicles, missile systems and police fast-response vehicles during the parade to mark the achievement of the country's "Total Defense" policy. The ground forces showed their fire and combat tactics to the audience. Singapore's air force dispatched 21 aircraft, including helicopters, fighter jets and transport planes, for aerial display. Eight skydivers of the country's "Red Lions" team also performed at the event. A skydiver of "Red Lions" team performs during the National Day Parade at Singapore's Padang on Aug. 9, 2023. Singapore held a National Day Parade on Wednesday to celebrate its 58th anniversary at Padang, an open playing field near the iconic Marina Bay, with a military show, performances and fireworks. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua) Fireworks light up the sky during the National Day Parade at Singapore's Padang on Aug. 9, 2023. Singapore held a National Day Parade on Wednesday to celebrate its 58th anniversary at Padang, an open playing field near the iconic Marina Bay, with a military show, performances and fireworks. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua) Skydivers of "Red Lions" team perform during the National Day Parade at Singapore's Padang on Aug. 9, 2023. Singapore held a National Day Parade on Wednesday to celebrate its 58th anniversary at Padang, an open playing field near the iconic Marina Bay, with a military show, performances and fireworks. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua) Aircrafts fly in formation during the National Day Parade at Singapore's Padang on Aug. 9, 2023. Singapore held a National Day Parade on Wednesday to celebrate its 58th anniversary at Padang, an open playing field near the iconic Marina Bay, with a military show, performances and fireworks. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua) Fireworks light up the sky during the National Day Parade at Singapore's Padang on Aug. 9, 2023. Singapore held a National Day Parade on Wednesday to celebrate its 58th anniversary at Padang, an open playing field near the iconic Marina Bay, with a military show, performances and fireworks. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua) Aircrafts fly in formation during the National Day Parade at Singapore's Padang on Aug. 9, 2023. Singapore held a National Day Parade on Wednesday to celebrate its 58th anniversary at Padang, an open playing field near the iconic Marina Bay, with a military show, performances and fireworks. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua) (230809) -- MOSCOW, Aug. 9, 2023 (Xinhua) -- This photo shows a damaged window at the blast site of a plant in Moscow region, Russia, Aug. 9, 2023. Forty-three people have been injured so far in a blast at an optical-mechanical plant in the city of Sergiev Posad in the Moscow region on Wednesday, local authorities said. (Xinhua/Bai Xueqi) Skydivers of "Red Lions" team perform during the National Day Parade at Singapore's Padang on Aug. 9, 2023. Singapore held a National Day Parade on Wednesday to celebrate its 58th anniversary at Padang, an open playing field near the iconic Marina Bay, with a military show, performances and fireworks. (Photo by Then Chih Wey/Xinhua) Editor: JYZ PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 08:01:09 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1026 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Bradda Head Lithium Ltd. (AIM:BHL)(TSXV:BHLI)(OTCQB:BHLIF) ("Bradda Head", "Bradda", "BHL" or the "Company"), the North America-focused lithium development company, is pleased to announce drill rig mobilisation for its Phase 3 drill programme at the San Domingo pegmatite district, Arizona. This represents the second large-scale drill programme conducted in less than one year at San Domingo, underscoring the Company's commitment to exploring and unlocking the potential of our 23km2 land package within this highly prospective pegmatite district.Summary:Bradda Head was granted an exploration permit to drill at its Northern claim block in the San Domingo Pegmatite district. A rig has been mobilised and the Company expects to commence drilling this month. See Figure 1 for overview of priority target areas.The Phase 3 drill programme has been rigorously designed, benefiting from a comprehensive array of data and analyses. Bradda's team of geologists conducted an extensive soil geochemistry survey, undertook a thorough structural mapping programme, reviewed previous GPR geophysical data, and carried out additional ground truthing to optimize the locations and potential effectiveness of this exploration campaign.This has resulted in the identification of several new high priority targets which the Company is excited about and anticipates making new discoveries and extending known lithium mineralization from the previous programme.The first two phases of drilling completed in March 2023 yielded promising results, with the best intercept reported as 31.85m at 1.6% Li2O at the Midnight Owl prospect in the Northern claim block. Phase 3 drilling will aim to extend this known lithium mineralization.San Domingo's strategic location in Arizona places it at the heart of the burgeoning battery supply chain in the Western US. Bradda's 23km2 pegmatite district is steeped in a history of lithium mining, with spodumene ore previously mined in the 1940s and 1950s on a small scale from surface at various historic lithium mines within Bradda's claim boundaries.The Company is eager to advance its exploration efforts and work towards delineating the first shallow and potentially open pitable lithium resource at San Domingo.Bradda Head will continue to provide regular updates on the Company's progress at San Domingo, and extends our gratitude to all stakeholders for their support as Bradda work towards unlocking the full potential of this remarkable pegmatite district.Charles FitzRoy, CEO of Bradda Head Lithium, commented:"We are thrilled to initiate the Phase 3 drilling programme at San Domingo, building on the successes of our previous phases and leveraging the valuable insights gained from our geologists' groundwork. The aim of this programme is to delineate the first resource at San Domingo, and we are confident in the project's potential to contribute significantly to the developing battery supply chain in the Western US."San Domingo's rich history of lithium mining, combined with the positive results from the first two drilling phases, has only increased our enthusiasm and confidence in the project's potential. We remain committed to conducting responsible exploration and maximizing the value of this valuable asset. We have only just scratched the surface of what we have at San Domingo with just over 1% of the area drilled from this first programme. We look forward to sharing further developments of this exciting project."The groundwork conducted by our geologists and the comprehensive data analysis have been crucial in designing this Phase 3 drill programme. Our team's efforts are aimed at unlocking the full potential of San Domingo, and we are excited about the possibilities this exploration campaign holds for Bradda Head and its stakeholders."As well as progressing its pegmatite projects, Bradda Head recently announced further positive assay results from its lithium in clay Basin project in Arizona. With almost 0.4Mt of LCE already in compliant resources Bradda Head has the largest publicly announced lithium resource in Arizona and the Company expects that resource number to grow significantly this year." Figure 1: San Domingo overview showing priority target areas for Phase 3 drill programmeBackgroundSan Domingo's strategic location in Arizona places it at the heart of the burgeoning battery supply chain in the Western US. As the demand for lithium and other battery-related minerals continues to soar, Bradda Head aims to play a pivotal role in meeting the region's requirements while adhering to the highest standards of environmental stewardship.San Domingo is steeped in a history of lithium mining, with spodumene ore previously mined in the 1940s and 1950s on a small scale from surface at various historic lithium mines within Bradda's claim boundaries. Building on the successful outcomes of the first two phases of drilling, which concluded in March this year and yielded significant lithium mineralisation in approximately 60% of the holes drilled. The Company are eager to advance its exploration efforts and work towards delineating the first shallow and open pit lithium resource at San Domingo.The Phase 1 and 2 7,000m diamond core drilling programme was designed to test the thesis that San Domingo is similar in structure to other well-known zoned pegmatites. The hundreds of pegmatites at San Domingo are hosted within a 1.6 Ba package of Proterozoic metamorphosed greenstone altered biotite-schists, chlorite-schists, amphibolites, and muscovite-schists. These largely sedimentary host rocks to pegmatites are established as critical to the development of lithium-bearing bodies worldwide.Out of the 7,000m planned, 7,300m (47 holes completed) was drilled with positive results demonstrating high-grade intersections. This scout drilling programme was completed on 10 March, of which, assays for 47 of the holes have been received.The Company increased its claims by 75% to cover 23km2 in 2022, following on from SRK's 3D remote mapping of the Company's whole San Domingo claims, and Bradda's geological fieldwork, thereby strengthening its position in what Bradda believes has the potential to be a world class lithium district1 with the potential to deliver a Tier 1 asset.In 2022 Bradda completed a soil sampling survey covering c.11% or just under 3km2 of its 23km2 of pegmatite ground in Arizona, yielding highly prospective follow-up drill targets and a 3km trend on the area covered by the soil sampling (see PR dated 21 November2022) with the same elemental signatures that have been seen at known lithium mineralisation locations globally.The programme was expanded to cover and addi PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 16:01:35 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 979 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Canadian Regulatory Announcement: Update on Status Management Cease Trade OrderVANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Bradda Head Lithium Limited (AIM:BHL)(TSXV:BHLI)(OTCQB:BHLIF), the North America-focused lithium development company, is required by the British Columbia Securities Commission and National Policy 12-203 - Management Cease Trade Orders ("NP 12-203") to provide an update on the progress of the audit of its TSX-V financial statements for the year ended 28 February 2023 every two weeks until these financial statements are filed.The Company reports that the audit is advancing well and will provide a further update on the status of the required filings on or about 24 August, 2023. The Company currently expects to complete the audit and required filings on or before 28 August, 2023 and will issue an update announcing the conclusion of the filings at such time. Further updates on timing will be provided by the Company as necessary.Following publication of the audited financial statements and required filings, the Company intends to file its 31 May 2023 interim financial statements (and related filings) within five business days following the date of publication of its annual financial statements, i.e., on or before 4 September 2023.As required by the alternative information guidelines specified by NP 12-203, the Company reports (i) that there are no changes to the information contained in the default announcement dated 29 June, 2023 that would reasonably be expected to be material to an investor; (ii) there has been no failure by the Company in fulfilling its stated intentions with respect to satisfying the provisions of the alternative information guidelines set out in NP 12-203; (iii) there has not been any other specified default by the Company under NP 12-203; and (iv) there is no other material information concerning the affairs of the Company that has not been generally disclosed.During the Management Cease Trade Order, investors will continue to be able to trade in the Company's listed common shares on London AIM and the TSV-X. Only the Company's Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer will not be able to trade.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 396Charles 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 Ventures 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 forward-looking information. Forward looking information in this news release includes, but i PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 17:54:07 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 989 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Breezer Ventures Inc., along with its wholly owned subsidiary, Magnum Finest Spirits Inc., discusses how industry trends affects Magnum's opportunity and development.LAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Breezer Ventures Inc. (the company or Breezer) (OTC::BRZV) is reporting on the state of the $1.6 Trillion Global Alcohol Drinks Industry with respect to how it affects Magnum's products. (estimate for 2023, was $1.45 Trillion in 2021, $1 Trillion = 12 zeros)Breezer and Magnum's goal is to capture a significant piece of the market using centuries old distilling techniques, and effective marketing, to create a long term relationship between the consumer and the Magnum 1770 brand.Liquor companies that have achieved this level of success were rewarded handsomely by buyouts from Global Alcohol Distribution Conglomerates like Diageo."Actor Ryan Reynolds Sells Aviation Gin Brand For A Reported $610 Million""Jay-Z cashes-in as Armand de Brignac champagne deal valued at $630 Million"."George Clooney Sells Casamigos Tequila for $1 Billion!""Bethenny Frankel sold her Skinny Girl line for $120 million." What these numbers show are that the value in a successful liquor company is measured internationally, as these brands translate globally. Unfortunately, many of these companies are private corporations, with no opportunity for investment from the general population.Breezer and Magnum's management are looking forward to see what kind of a deal Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Teremana tequila receives, potentially another 9 figure deal!In Spirits, the expected growth rate through 2026 is a strong 5.9%. In the alcohol drinks industry, population growth is the main driver of the market. Global population growth is expected to reach 10 billion by 2050.Is the Spirits Industry Recession Proof? During the pandemic and recession that followed, the spirits industry showed consumption was consistent, if not growing.That certainly cannot be said about most of the housing, tech, automotive or airline industries. According to analysis by Goldman Sachs, spirits and beer volumes have shown little correlation to economic growth. Even during economic downturns, consumers choose to drink at home, at less expense than going out to bars and restaurants. They also commonly pick more affordable brands when they need to. Price to quality, or perceived value is a key factor in the selection process, not just in a downturn, but to the younger demographic's overall.Spirits and beer are considered affordable luxuries, or even a staple product in the US.Innovation Drives the Industry. According to Zacks Investment Research, product innovation in the alcohol industry will play a crucial role in market penetration.With this insight, the Magnum 1770 branded products were purposely designed using BiB technology, to be a disrupter, innovative, functional, using bold billboard style labeling, and adding a critical element of eco consciousness.The industry has been stuck on glass, and plastic for decades, neither are effectively recycled, contrary to popular opinion. Magnum's goal using BiB packaging is to pioneer change in the consumer's perception of boxed alcohol.The main focus is the quality of the spirits inside the box, which is derived from centuries of experience, handed down from generation to generation.The box is a statement. It delivers that high quality product in eco-friendly packaging, with cardboard being easily recyclable, biodegradable, and even compostable. It is cheaper to produce and has a lower carbon footprint than glass. It is also lighter, safer, and more cost effective to everyone along the way, easier and cheaper to transport or ship, from the distiller to the distributor/wholesaler, to the retailer and consumer.Breezer and Magnum management consider themselves very fortunate to have world class spirits made by their partners with 300 year's experience. They also believe in making responsible decisions on the packaging being used, without sacrificing the delivery of their spirits in recognizable, appealing and memorable branding.Magnum expects to announce further news regarding exciting additions to its management team, and additional new trending products launches in the months ahead, in efforts to bolster the company's asset base.About Breezer Ventures Inc. / Magnum Finest Spirits Inc.Magnum is a distilled spirits and marketing company offering products with a century's long history of outstanding quality.What separates Magnum from industry peers is their functionally innovative and environmentally conscious Bag in a Box (BiB) packaging, and distinctive billboard style labeling.Never to be associated with Discount or Bulk, top shelf Magnum 1770 branded products include an exceptional Bourbon, premium Vodka, an esteemed Gin, as well as trending Flavored Spirits.Magnum 1770 "300 YEARS OF FAMILY DISTILLING FINE SPIRITS, LEGALLY since 2015"The company plans to expand on it's relationships with the big box wine and liquor stores, warehouse liquor emporiums, traditional liquor stores, VIP and trending restaurants, bars, and nightclubs.Magnum has offices in Las Vegas NV, and Murrieta, CA .Precautionary and Forward-Looking StatementsThis release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements"describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may," "future," "plan" or "planned," "will" or "should," "expected," "anticipates," "draft," "eventually" or " projected." You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude or risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in the Company's disclosures or filings with OTC Markets, Inc. You are further cautioned that stocks of smaller companies are inherently volatile and risky, and that no investor should buy this stock unless they can afford the loss of their entire investment.Contact:310-770- PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 16:00:29 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 683 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Converge IoT to Support Cradlepoint as a Leading Partner in Bringing 5G for Business to LifeCORAL SPRINGS, FL / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Converge IoT, National Distributor and Value-Added Reseller of Wireless Hardware and Services, today announced that it has achieved 5G for Enterprise Branch Specialization from Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-delivered LTE and 5G wireless network edge solutions. The 5G for Enterprise Branch Specialization identifies and recognizes partner organizations that are leaders in positioning and selling Cradlepoint's 5G for business solutions by meeting a series of sales, technical, and business proficiency criteria.By receiving the specialization, Converge IoT will support Cradlepoint's efforts of selling the industry's most comprehensive portfolio of 5G solutions to meet the business imperatives of availability, interoperability, security, and manageability. Their expertise lies in delivering top-notch solutions that cater to the unique needs of businesses across various industries. With a deep understanding of technology and a commitment to excellence, Converge IoT is a trusted partner for businesses with Cradlepoint's 5G solutions."We are thrilled to have achieved Cradlepoint 5G for Enterprise Branch Specialization. This accomplishment is a testament to our commitment to providing businesses with the latest and most advanced technology solutions. With Cradlepoint 5G, enterprise branch customers can experience faster speeds, increased reliability, and enhanced security," said Mark Savage, CEO of Converge IoT. "We look forward to continuing to deliver innovative solutions to meet the evolving needs of enterprises." By combining its NetCloud platform with a clean-sheet-of-paper design for its new 5G modems and antenna systems, Cradlepoint is the first to deliver comprehensive 5G solutions for business. Specific capabilities include combining LTE, Gigabit-Class LTE, and 5G in a single wireless WAN; supporting all 5G spectrums, interoperating with existing customer SD-WAN and router infrastructures; and simplifying the entire network management lifecycle."Cradlepoint is committed to leading the evolution of Wireless WAN and 5G and is both the first and best choice for customers in this space," said Eric Purcell, senior vice president of global partner sales at Cradlepoint. "Our reseller, service provider, and technology partners play a crucial role in this mission. The addition of Converge IoT to our 5G for Enterprise Branch Specialization program is another important step in leading the path to 5G for business." For more information on Converge IoT's work in the industry, please visit Wireless Hardware and Services - Converge IoT. For more on Cradlepoint's 5G for Enterprise Branch Specialization and the Cradlepoint Partner Program, please visit https://cradlepoint.com/partners/for-partners/ About Converge IoTAs a national distributor of 4G and 5G technology, Converge IoT partners with major wireless carriers, such as T-Mobile for Business, allowing Retailers to access 5G Fixed Wireless services as well as custom hardware and mobility solutions. Their expertise in hardware sourcing and professional installation ensures seamless integration. They have a diverse catalog of over 60 trusted partners, offering various cutting-edge devices and telecommunications equipment, including fleet and asset tracking, mobile POS, and 5G solutions. Their solutions have been implemented in various sectors, including healthcare, transportation, and construction. Converge IoT's commitment to innovation and customer satisfaction has made them a trusted partner for businesses.To learn more about Converge IoT and their partner program, visit Converge IoT's Website, or their LinkedIn profile.About CradlepointCradlepoint enables the freedom to connect people, places, and things that drive more experiences, more ways to work, and better business results - anywhere. The company is a pioneer in Wireless WAN, offering advanced 4G and 5G routers and adapters - controlled through Cradlepoint NetCloudTM. Enterprise businesses and public sector agencies rely on Cradlepoint and its Cellular Intelligence to build a reliable, secure network wherever they need it, connecting fixed and temporary sites, vehicles, IoT devices, and remote employees. Headquartered in Boise, Idaho, Cradlepoint is a subsidiary of Ericsson's Business Area Technologies and New Businesses division. It has international offices in Asia Pacific, Canada, Europe, India, and Latin America. www.cradlepoint.com Converge IoT ContactFor sales inquiries: sales@ convergeiot.com For media inquiries: marketing@ convergeiot.com Cradlepoint Media InquiriesHighwire PRcradlepoint@ highwirepr.com SOURCE: Converge IoT, Inc. PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 20:03:26 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 938 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Crown Holdings, Inc.May 22nd was the United Nations (UN) International Day for Biological Diversity, also known as " biodiversity." But what is biodiversity?Biodiversity is commonly defined as the biological diversity of species including plants (flora), animals (fauna) and ecosystems.Why is biodiversity important?The latest WWF Living Planet Report (2022)1 highlights that global wildlife populations have plummeted by 69% on average since 1970-threatening the livelihood of our environments and diverse species--and confirms that biodiversity is at risk.What is causing this crisis?The 5 key drivers for biodiversity loss (UN, 2019)2, and some examples, include:Changes in land and sea use - deforestation and peatland drainage-especially to enable mono-crop agricultureNatural resource use and exploitation of organisms - over-fishing, unethical mining, unsustainable extraction of waterClimate change - increases in extreme weather events leading to habitat destructionPollution - marine plastic pollution and nitrogen run-off, especially from chemically fertilized agricultureInvasive species - introduced through global supply chains and human activity -- overtaking native speciesDoes this impact our industry? Why is it critical for Crown to protect biodiversity?i) Nature is a part of our supply chain, regardless of whether we directly use natural resources. Businesses, and ultimately our way of life, are dependent on healthy ecosystems. A healthy, diverse ecosystem maintains soil and soil health to grow the food we need to eat; preserves water quality for us to safely drink; and filters and improves the quality of the air we need to breathe.Crown makes packaging from aluminum and steel, mined from the abundant resources of bauxite and iron ore, to protect our customers' beverages, food, and other products-products that ultimately come from plants and water. Without nature-provided resources, also known as "eco-systems services," businesses including ours cannot continue to function effectively.ii) A lack of biodiversity has significant monetary impacts - for example, the loss of insect and animal species diversity is not just a loss for their ecosystem, but a much larger domino effect. In fact, the loss of pollinator species alone will specifically threaten global crops with an annual market value of up to $577bn.3iii) Biodiversity and nature is recognized as a powerful force to reduce CO2 equivalent emissions - it is estimated that by working with nature, emissions can be reduced by up to 11.7 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year by 20304, over 40% of what is needed to limit global warming.How is Crown taking action for biodiversity?a) Understanding any potential impacts on biodiversity: Crown has been mapping biodiversity in the vicinity of our plants using IBAT - Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool5 - starting with the aluminum beverage manufacturing facilities. We are also creating Biodiversity Risk Assessment, Mitigation, Management, and Action plans that have been audited to meet the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) Biodiversity criteria for the ASI Performance Standard.b) Raising awareness about biodiversity: Crown is offering training in our manufacturing sites (starting in Asia Pacific and the Americas) that supports employees to plant native trees and share information about biodiversity online. Raising awareness and fostering conversation around this topic is critical to improving engagement - as the existence of International Biodiversity Day demonstrates.c) Partnering with local organizations in the vicinity of our plants: To meet water replenishment targets as part of Twentyby30 sustainability program, including Goal #9, we are teaming up with other parties on appropriate habitat preservation and creation. This support for local communities in turn supports biodiversity.It is important we step up in these ways as almost 75% of the land-based environment and about 66% of marine environment has been significantly altered by human actions, but on average these trends have been much less severe or avoided in areas held or managed by indigenous peoples and local Indigenous peoples6 act as stewards for over 40% of intact ecosystems and protected areas, despite only representing 6% of the global population. Indigenous peoples managed lands have equal or higher levels of biodiversity in Brazil, Canada.7Therefore, ensuring local partnerships are engaged with local and indigenous communities is critical to sustaining a biodiverse future that will help mitigate climate change, as well as support our businesses and human life.For example, Crown's ongoing water replenishment project in Brazil supports 3 years of work, through engaging with local farmers and communities, which will result in the protection of 100 hectares of forest in the Jundiai Mirim Watershed, for each year of the project. It will also replenish almost half of the water consumed in our manufacturing plant in Cabreuva by the project completion date, and will offset 1,310 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year.8The biodiversity crisis is not unsolvable, but it needs attention now. Businesses have a role to play in long-term solutions. Crown is just at the start of an important journey to address biodiversity, alongside our ambitious and continuing Twentyby30 strategy to ultimately minimize our environmental footprint.3IPBES, 2015 - Given that pollinator-dependent crops rely on animal pollination to varying degrees, it is estimated that 5-8 per cent of current global crop production, with an annual market value of $235 billion-$577 billion (in 2015, United States dollars1) worldwide, is directly attributable to animal pollination6Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Media Release 2019 - Media Release: Nature's Dangerous Decline Unprecedented'; Species Extinction Rates Accelerating' | IPBES secretariat7Vertebrate biodiversity on indigenous-managed lands in Australia, Brazil, and Canada equals that in protected areas - ScienceDirect8Page 42, Crown_2021-Sustainability-Report.pdf View original content hereOur Crown TCP team in Nong Khae, Thailand plants t PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 07:45:41 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 656 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Bernstein Liebhard LLP:Do you, or did you, own shares of Danaher Corporation (NYSE:DHR)?Did you purchase your shares between April 21, 2022 and April 24, 2023, inclusive?Did you lose money in your investment in Danaher Corporation?Do you want to discuss your rights?Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the securities of Danaher Corporation ("Danaher" or the "Company") (NYSE: DHR) between April 21, 2022 and April 24, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against the Company and certain of its officers (the "Complaint").If you purchased or acquired Danaher securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Danaher Corporation Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than September 15, 2023. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.The Complaint alleges that Defendants made materially false and misleading statements throughout the Class Period. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (i) as the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, revenue growth associated with Danaher's COVID-19-related businesses was declining; (ii) contrary to the Company's prior representations to investors, revenues associated with Danaher's non-COVID-19-related businesses were insufficient to compensate for the foregoing negative trend; (iii) Danaher overstated its ability to sustain the growth it had experienced in 2020 and 2021; and (iv) as a result, it was unlikely that Danaher would be able to meet its 2023 revenue forecasts.On April 25, 2023, Danaher issued a press release announcing its financial results for the first quarter of 2023. Among other items, Danaher reported that "[r]evenues decreased 7.0% year-over-year to $7.2 billion, with a 4.0% non-GAAP core revenue decrease, due to the impact of lower COVID-19 revenue, and 6.0% non-GAAP base business core revenue growth." The Company also projected that "[f]or the second quarter and full year 2023, . . . non-GAAP base business core revenue growth will be up mid-single digits year-over-year", down from an earlier projection of high-single-digit growth. Notably, this announcement appeared to be at odds with Danaher's prior reassurances that revenues associated with the Company's non-COVID-19-related businesses would compensate for the foregoing negative results.On this news, Danaher's stock price fell $22.36 per share, or 8.79%, to close at $231.99 per share on April 25, 2023.If you purchased or acquired Danaher securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Danaher Corporation Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for sixteen consecutive years.ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. 2023 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.Contact Information:Peter AlloccoBernstein Liebhard LLP(212) 951-2030pallocco@ bernlieb.com SOURCE: Bernstein Liebhard LLP PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-11 00:55:57 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 652 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / AreDub, a prominent figure in the world of decentralized finance (DeFi), has taken the trading community by storm with his innovative approach to perpetual futures trading. As the co-founder of the highly regarded multi-chain DeFi project SquidGrow, AreDub has already made waves in the DeFi sector. His passion for educating and empowering traders has led to the creation of AreDub Crypto, a comprehensive educational platform that has garnered a devoted following.SquidGrow: A Leading Multi-Chain DeFi ProjectAreDub's journey into the world of DeFi began with the co-founding of SquidGrow, a multi-chain DeFi project that has gained widespread recognition since its launch in June 2022. SquidGrow's innovative solutions have contributed to reshaping the DeFi landscape, reflecting AreDub's dedication to pushing the boundaries of financial technology.Empowering Traders with AreDub CryptoBeyond his role at SquidGrow, AreDub's foray into perpetual futures trading has captured the attention of traders worldwide. In late 2022, he established AreDub Crypto, a public Telegram channel designed to educate individuals about the intricacies of perpetual futures trading while providing reliable and secure trade setups.AreDub Crypto's influence has rapidly grown, amassing a significant following. With an impressive track record of over 30 trades per month and a remarkable win rate exceeding 95%, AreDub consistently demonstrates his prowess in the field. Many of his trades have yielded gains reaching hundreds of percentage points each month.Premium Channel: Elevating the Trading ExperienceRecognizing the demand for more in-depth guidance, AreDub introduced a Premium version of his channel. Members gain lifetime access to detailed trade setups, benefiting from AreDub's extensive knowledge and experience. The Premium channel boasts the same exceptional success rate, maintaining over 95% wins across all shared trades.Moreover, the Premium channel fosters a vibrant community where traders can engage in discussions and receive personalized support and mentorship directly from AreDub. This interactive approach sets AreDub Crypto apart, providing traders with a comprehensive learning environment.Education through Various PlatformsAreDub extends his reach beyond Telegram, actively engaging with his followers on verified TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube channels. Through these platforms, he further educates his audience and provides winning trade setups, solidifying his reputation as a reliable and influential figure in the trading space.Praise from AreDub Crypto FollowersAreDub Crypto has garnered praise from traders who have benefited from AreDub's guidance and insights:A Strategic Approach: "Joining AreDub Crypto has transformed my trading strategy from high-risk gambling to a precise and highly profitable approach. AreDub's detailed analysis and education have been invaluable." - [Troy]Chart Mastery: "AreDub's superior chart technicals have significantly boosted my trading success. Following his guidance has proven to be a game-changer." - ShibtoshiRefined Approach: "Thanks to AreDub's ongoing support and mentorship, I've refined my trading approach, resulting in consistent gains and reduced losses." - [Crypteaux Breaux]Reliable Guidance: "AreDub's calls channel is one of the best in the futures and trading space. His honesty and reliability set him apart." - [Testimonial 4]Empowering Traders GloballyIn an increasingly complex trading landscape, AreDub stands as a beacon of knowledge and reliability. His dedication to educating and empowering traders has made AreDub Crypto a go-to resource for individuals of all skill levels. With his extensive experience, impressive success rate, and commitment to fostering a supportive community, AreDub is transforming the futures trading landscape and helping traders leverage their potential.Also guys - join my verified TikTok page and YouTube if you haven't already.Will be lots of content coming soon.Educational, TA and trade setups.http://t.me/AreDubCryptoShib AreDubinfo@ aredubcrypto.com Disclaimer: This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Trading involves risk, and individuals should conduct thorough research and seek professional guidance before making any trading decisions.SOURCE: AreDub PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 14:15:47 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 861 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 More than $14.5 million to Share the Light Fund to help low-income customers with bill pay assistanceOver $40.4 million invested in energy efficiency programsLaunching new program to assist seniors with critical home repairsCHARLOTTE, NC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Duke Energy and its Foundation are marking the milestone of investing more than $70 million since the beginning of 2021 to support nonprofits and other programs dedicated to help those in need. The funding, which has been growing each year, focuses on three areas: current and new affordability-focused Foundation grants, bill pay assistance for low-income customers and energy efficiency programs."Affordability continues to be top of mind for us as our customers and communities continue to feel financial strain from the rising cost of basic needs, like food," said Amy Strecker, president, Duke Energy Foundation."Continuing to listen to our neighbors about their needs is critical to how we show up in our local communities. With seniors struggling to safely age in place and making impossible decisions between critical home repairs and basic needs, our partnership with Rebuilding Together enables us to address this need by funding repairs and providing volunteers to work alongside licensed experts." Critical home repairs for seniorsThis year, the Duke Energy Foundation expanded its affordability focus to include critical home repairs coupled with employee volunteerism for seniors. Providing home repairs helps to enable seniors to better afford other basic needs, including food, medical care and utilities. The $356,000 in 2023 Foundation giving is focused across its jurisdictions. Duke Energy employees will also volunteer more than 1,300 hours, alongside organizations like Rebuilding Together, to help provide improvements to senior homes.Rebuilding Together is the leading national nonprofit organization repairing the homes of people in need and revitalizing our communities, with a network of affiliates across the country, and the primary grantee for senior affordability."The need for safe and healthy housing for older adults is critical because most of the existing housing stock in the U.S. is not designed to accommodate the physical and cognitive changes a person experiences as they age," said Caroline Blakely, president and CEO, Rebuilding Together. "With support from the Duke Energy Foundation, we are providing older adults with critical home repairs and safety modifications to help them safely age in place." Share the Light FundIn addition to the grant funding, the company is also providing support for customers through its Share the Light Fund and energy efficiency programs.Since last year, Duke Energy and its Foundation have committed nearly $14.5 million in the Share the Light Fund, which serves low-income customers with utility bill pay assistance including connection/reconnection charges and deposits to more than 26,000 households annually. Employees, customers and Duke Energy shareholders contribute to these funds. Customers who would like to access funds can visit Share the Light Fund to learn more.Energy Efficiency AssistanceThe company's customers - from families to factories - have depended on the energy efficiency programs to save both energy and money. Duke Energy is investing more than $40.4 million in these programs including our Neighborhood Energy Saver, Payment Plus, Refrigerator Replacement and Weatherization programs. To learn more about these programs, customers can visit income-qualified services.Duke Energy will continue to engage with communities to learn how the company can make a positive impact for those it serves.Duke Energy FoundationThe Duke Energy Foundation provides philanthropic support to meet the needs of communities where Duke Energy customers live and work. The foundation contributes more than $30 million annually in charitable gifts, and is funded by Duke Energy shareholder dollars. More information about the foundation can be found at duke-energy.com/foundation Duke EnergyDuke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 50,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 27,600 people.Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy transition to achieve its goals of net-zero methane emissions from its natural gas business by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions from electricity generation by 2050. The company has interim carbon emission targets of at least 50% reduction from electric generation by 2030, 50% for Scope 2 and certain Scope 3 upstream and downstream emissions by 2035, and 80% from electric generation by 2040. In addition, the company is investing in major electric grid enhancements and energy storage, and exploring zero-emission power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2023 "World's Most Admired Companies" list and Forbes' "World's Best Employers" list. More information is available at duke-energy.com . The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.Contact: Shawna Berger24-Hour: 800.559.3853Twitter: @DE_ShawnaBView original content here.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Duke Energy on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info:Spokesperson: Duke EnergyWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/duke-energy Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: Duke Energy PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 14:00:36 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1031 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 On August 3, 2023, Ocean Partners UK Limited purchased 1M Shares of DynaResource, Inc. at $5 / Share; Total Price Paid by Ocean Partners UK Limited of $5M USD.Ocean Partners UK Limited, through its 100% owned subsidiary in Mexico, MK Metal Trading SA de CV and DynaResource de Mexico SA de CV, the 100% owned subsidiary of DynaResource, Inc. in Mexico, formalized a + 3 Year Extension of Commercial Offtake Agreement through December 2026; with possible annual continuations thereafter.IRVING , TX / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / DYNR-DynaResource, Inc. (OTCQB:DYNR) ("DynaUSA", and "the Company") is pleased to announce the following update regarding the Company and DynaResource de Mexico SA de CV ("DynaMexico"), the wholly owned subsidiary of DynaUSA and the 100% Owner of Concessions comprising the prolific San Jose de Gracia high-grade gold project in Sinaloa, Mexico ("SJG"). All of these developments are in fulfillment of the MOU between the Company and Ocean Partners UK Limited ("Ocean Partners"), which was previously disclosed to the Company's shareholders.The Company has entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement with Ocean Partners (the "SPA"), under which the Company issued 1M shares of Common Stock to Ocean Partners in exchange for $5M USD.Under the SPA, Ocean Partners will name one director to serve on the Board of Directors of DynaUSA.Ocean Partners, through its 100% owned subsidiary in Mexico - MK Metals Trading ("MK"), and DynaMexico have formalized the extension of their commercial offtake agreement through December 31, 2026, and with revision of terms as per below:OP / MK agreed to Increase the Advance Credit Line available to DynaMexico to $17.5M USD.OP / MK agreed to provide an Option to convert the Advance Credit Line into a Revolving Credit Line, repayable in 12 months, in maximum amount of $10M USD.The Company and DynaMexico plan to utilize the funds received from Ocean Partners to further expand and increase test mining and milling activities at SJG, to continue exploration drilling and related exploration activities at SJG, and for general corporate purposes.In commenting on the transactions formalized with Ocean Partners and MK, DynaUSA Chairman-CEO and DynaMexico President Mr. K.D. Diepholz noted: "We greatly appreciate the attention and support we have received from Ocean Partners since February 2021, and we have enjoyed our professional working relationship with Brent Omland, Al Paterson, and Roberto Guerra. We expect Ocean Partners to make significant and strategic contributions to the further advance and development of the prolific SJG Project. And, with this extension of commercial offtake agreement formalized, DynaUSA and DynaMexico will continue our excellent partnership with Ocean Partners for many years." On behalf of Ocean Partners, Mr. Brent Omland, co-CEO of Ocean Partners commented: "We are very pleased to expand our strong relationship with Dyna and the excellent team in the US and Mexico and to join the shareholder register. We are excited to be a part of the continuing development and expansion of the world class SJG Project and provide K.D. and his team additional support and resources." On behalf of the Board of Directors of DynaResource, Inc.K.D. DIEPHOLZDynaResource, Inc., Chairman and CEO.DynaResource de Mexico, S.A. de C.V., Presidente.IMPORTANT CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING CANADIAN DISCLOSURE STANDARDSThe Company is an "OTC Reporting Issuer" as that term is defined in Multilateral Instrument 51-509, Issuers Quoted in the U.S. Over-the-Counter Markets, promulgated by various Canadian Provincial Securities Commissions. Accordingly, certain disclosure in this news release or other disclosure provided by the Company has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of United States securities laws. In Canada, an issuer is required to provide technical information with respect to mineralization, including reserves and resources, if any, on its mineral exploration properties in accordance with Canadian requirements, which differ significantly from the requirements of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") applicable to registration statements and reports filed by United States companies pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. As such, information contained in this news release or other disclosure provided by the Company concerning descriptions of mineralization under Canadian standards may not be comparable to similar information made public by United States companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of the SEC and not subject to Canadian securities legislation. This news release or other disclosure provided by the Company may use the terms "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" and "inferred mineral resources". While these terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations (under National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects), the SEC does not recognize them. United States investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted to reserves. In addition, "inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian securities legislation, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies, although they may form, in certain circumstances, the basis of a "preliminary economic assessment" as that term is defined in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that part or all of an inferred mineral resource exists or is economically or legally mineable.CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATIONThis News 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.Certain information contained in this news release, including any information relating to future financial or operating performance may be deemed "forward-looking statements." All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, which address events or developments that DynaResource expects to occur, are "forward-looking statements." These statements relate to PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 13:00:29 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 888 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Predictmedix AI Inc. (CSE:PMED)(OTCQB:PMEDF)(FRA:3QP) (the "Company" or "Predictmedix") today provided an update on its Safe Entry Stations as it relates to the healthcare vertical in which the company is rapidly commercializing into. Safe Entry was featured in an independent newspaper article in India focused on the company's Safe Entry solution as a triage solution for the healthcare industry. The featured article highlighted that BPS Women's Medical College, a major government hospital in India which screens over 2000 patients per day, is utilizing the Safe Entry to screen patients for 15 vitals in 17 seconds resulting in several positive outcomes for hospital systems. For more information, please visit https://www.bhaskar.com/local/haryana/sonipat/gohana/news/now-in-17-seconds-in-bps-college-hospital-complete-examination-of-patients-bodies-will-be-done-131626313.html A Revolution in Workflow EfficiencyThe conventional workflow of spending roughly 20 minutes per patient for physical vital sign monitoring, coupled with instrument costs, maintenance, and manual data entry, is being replaced by Predictmedix AI's Safe Entry Stations. Safe Entry streamlines the entire Triage's process, completing it within a mere 17-20 seconds. This remarkable advancement eliminates the need for labor-intensive manual screenings, significantly reducing waiting times and resource allocation challenges.Financial Benefits of Utilizing Safe Entry StationsIn an article published earlier this year in Forbes, Healthcare May Be the Ultimate Proving Ground For Artificial Intelligence, illustrates how the integration of technology like Predictmedix AI's Safe Entry Stations in hospital settings could help healthcare organizations achieve 10% savings in healthcare operational expenditures (OpEx).1The article underscores multiple key findings that emphasize the substantial financial benefits of utilizing technology like Predictmedix AI's Safe Entry Stations:Labor Cost Reduction: By automating the initial screening process, Predictmedix AI's Safe Entry Stations significantly reduce the need for manual symptom screenings and temperature checks by healthcare staff. This automation empowers hospitals to reassign personnel to more critical tasks, leading to a substantial reduction in labor costs.Efficient Patient Flow: Hospitals that have embraced Predictmedix AI's Safe Entry Stations reported a streamlined patient entry process, resulting in faster patient throughput and reduced waiting times. This improved efficiency not only elevates patient satisfaction but also allows hospitals to cater to a higher patient volume, translating into increased revenue.Preventive Measures: The proactive identification of individuals with potential symptoms or risks using Safe Entry Stations effectively prevents the spread of contagious illnesses within the hospital environment. This proactive approach significantly lowers the likelihood of outbreaks, thereby reducing the associated costs of treating infected patients and implementing containment measures.Resource Allocation Optimization: Safe Entry Stations accurately identifies symptomatic individuals at the point of entry, enabling hospitals to allocate resources more judiciously. This includes optimizing the utilization of isolation rooms, minimizing unnecessary testing, and aligning staff assignments based on real-time patient needs.Legal and Liability Mitigation: Early identification of symptomatic individuals through Safe Entry Stations assists hospitals in mitigating potential legal liabilities linked to patient exposure to contagious illnesses. This proactive approach contributes to reduced legal costs and mitigates potential damage to the hospital's reputation.Improved Infection Control: Predictmedix AI's Safe Entry Stations play a pivotal role in upholding a hygienic environment by preventing symptomatic individuals from entering the facility. This directly impacts the reduction of healthcare-associated infections, subsequently lowering treatment costs and operational expenses.Enhanced Patient Outcomes: The timely identification of symptomatic individuals through Safe Entry Stations results in early intervention and improved patient outcomes. Hospitals benefit from shorter patient stays, fewer complications, and reduced resource utilization, contributing to OpEx savings."In the realm of healthcare innovation, Predictmedix AI's Safe Entry Stations showcase the effective merging of technology and healthcare.Driven by our dedication to advancing patient care and operational efficiency, we are shaping a new paradigm in healthcare practices. By automating screening processes and optimizing resource utilization, our Safe Entry Stations offer not only tangible cost savings but also the assurance of enhanced patient safety and well-being. The evolution of Safe Entry holds promise for both our company and shareholders, as we continue to shape valuable contributions within the healthcare sector and drive positive change," commented Dr. Rahul Kushwah, COO of Predictmedix AI.About Predictmedix AI Inc.Predictmedix AI Inc. (CSE:PMED)(OTCQB:PMEDF)(FRA:3QP) is an emerging provider of rapid health screening and remote patient care solutions globally. The Company's Safe Entry Stations - powered by a proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) - use multispectral cameras to analyze physiological data patterns and predict a variety of health issues including infectious diseases such as COVID-19, impairment by drugs or alcohol, fatigue, or various mental illnesses. Predictmedix AI's proprietary remote patient care platform empowers medical professionals with a suite of AI-powered tools to improve patient health outcomes. To learn more, please visit our website at www.Predictmedix.com or follow us on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn.Public Relations ContactFor further media information or to set up an interview, please contact:Nelson Hudes HudesCommunications International (905) 660 9155Nelson@ hudescommunications.com Dr. Rahul Kushwah (647) 889 6916Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information:This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results of the Company. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be mate The State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) continues to prepare Russian sanctioned assets for privatization at auctions, despite the difficulties. According to a press release from the fund, due to the lack of potential buyers, the first auction for the sale of sanctioned property did not take place. On it, the State Property Fund planned to sell Investagro company. "Soon we will announce a new auction. Our goal is that all the property seized from the Russian oligarchs and those who support the war will work for victory and strengthen our economy," the SPF emphasizes. At the same time, it is explained why the first auction did not take place: the starting cost of Investagro was UAH 55 million - at the level of its book value, but non-current assets amount to only UAH 3.9 million. A significant share of the book value - UAH 21 million - is accounts receivable, that is, funds that counterparties must pay to the entrepreneur. In addition, the investor, according to the terms of the competition, is obliged to repay UAH 17.2 million of current debts. It is specified that earlier Investagro belonged to the Russian billionaire, the shareholder of VSMPO-Avisma titanium corporation Mikhail Shelkov. This corporation supplied titanium products to enterprises of the Russian military defense industry, in particular, under contracts for the implementation of the state defense order. Due to the fact that the Russian billionaire contributed to the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, in the winter of 2023 the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine applied sanctions against him, seizing his Ukrainian assets (100% of Investagro LLC, 100% of VSMPO Titan Ukraine LLC, 100% of Demurynsky Mining and Processing Plant, 100% of TI-Minerals, etc.). In February 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers transferred the seized assets of Shelkov to the management of the State Property Fund, and in July the fund announced the first privatization auction for the sale of his property. PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 16:15:59 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1093 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Franklin Templeton:Little could anyone predict that an idea scribbled on a napkin would develop into a global Franklin Templeton program, helping to develop young talent in the investment industry for 40 years and running."Congratulations to all involved on this milestone-the Futures Program has stood the test of time," said Charlie Johnson, former Chairman and CEO of Franklin Templeton, who had the original idea for the program while on a flight. "I've enjoyed watching it expand and adapt over the years, always with the goal of finding strong new talent to inspire innovation across the company and giving people the opportunity to learn from the ground up." The Management Training Program, as it was first called, launched in San Mateo, CA in 1983 as a leadership development program and pipeline of talent into a wide variety of departments. Over the past four decades, the program has evolved to meet the changing needs of the business. Now called the Futures Program, it continues to match diverse and highly skilled early-career talent with high-growth areas of the company."As a people business, we consider attracting and retaining the most talented colleagues in the world the key to our success," said Jenny Johnson, President and CEO. "The Futures Program helps us identify strong new employees, most right out of college, provide exposure to different areas of our company and find the right job that fits Futures Associates' skills and career aspirations." Over the course of two years, Futures Associates (FAs) complete six four-month rotations in different areas of the business. The first year builds the foundation for FAs, learning about Franklin Templeton's business, culture and values while being exposed to product and client-focused areas of the business. The second year prepares FAs for placement, building stronger relationships and shaping their learning path to align with career goals.Fifteen FAs joined the firm this year, bringing a variety of experiences, background and perspectives. The 2023 incoming US class attended a special 40th anniversary celebration in San Mateo as part of their orientation. This year also marked the return of the program to the UK for the first time since 2008.Participants from Inaugural 1983 Class Share Their MemoriesThe Management Training Program class of 1983 had about a dozen Management Trainees (MTs), half hired from within the firm and half from outside. Two members of this first class are still with Franklin Templeton: Penny Alexander, Chief Human Resources Officer, and Tom Runkel, VP, Portfolio Strategies, Multi-Sector Separately Managed Accounts. Here, they share their experiences.What do you remember from your first day in the program?Penny: I started at Franklin in November 1982 in shareholder services. I was thrilled to join the Management Training Program because it marked a new chapter for my career. The first day we all met in a conference room. It was extremely exciting, and a little angst filled, too, because this was Charlie Johnson's brainchild. My first rotation was in sales and marketing, which was a big "wow" moment for me.Tom: I was one of several recent college grads who were internal hires into the Management Training Program. I was working in the order room processing fund transactions from the wire houses. The order room essentially became my first rotation. I was excited to be accepted into the program, and I was looking forward to my journey as an MT at Franklin Templeton.What lessons from the Management Training Program do you still use today?Penny: Those were formative years. What has gone with me throughout my career is the openness to learn and taking advantage of the new opportunities presented to you. You meet people in all your rotations, and you get to build your network and your brand across the organization. That helped me build my career.Tom: If I narrowed it to the most important, I would say teamwork and building relationships across the company. We all came from different backgrounds and interests in my MT class, but we formed a bond as a team even though we worked in different departments during our rotations. That bond helped our growth as we all forged our own paths at Franklin Templeton.What advice would you give to a current FA?Penny: Take full advantage of the opportunities you have. Learn about the functions you're in and observe the leadership and your colleagues. Be open. You may come into the program with an idea of what you want to do, but you may get exposure to a different department that sparks a new interest. Recognize that you have a chance to build your brand as you rotate and to decide what your story will be. In doing so, you can also build your career.Tom: Don't be too focused on where you want to end up. Instead, enjoy the experience as you rotate through the departments. Along the way, you'll learn how the groups within Franklin Templeton interact and how they all play an important role in delivering positive experiences and outcomes to our clients. More importantly, the relationships and friendships you build as an FA will make your experience even more enjoyable.Current and Former FAs Share Benefits of the ProgramBrock Wilkins, Futures Associate, Mutual Series Research, New YorkClass of 2022The main benefit of the Futures Program is exploration. Having the opportunity to have marketable work experience within a large variety of sectors in finance is extremely valuable. A side benefit is meeting and working with so many great people in the industry. Everyone is willing to guide, help and push you further in your career, which is much appreciated in this fast-paced, highly intensive industry.Mike Reed, VP, Digital Assets Strategic Partnerships, ChicagoClass of 2000Easily the best thing about being part of the program was that it afforded me the chance to try a bunch of career paths while working at the same firm. Instead of spending years getting hired for jobs and finding out they weren't for me, I rotated through four groups before finding my passion and landing in a role that really played to my strengths and interests.Marcus Wong, Futures Associate, Australia Fixed Income, Hong KongClass of 2022The main benefits of the Futures Program are the opportunities to explore our passions, areas of interest and build new relationships. FAs can enhance their perspectives and acquire a variety of experiences from different departments to build their knowledge within the investment management industry before placing with a team that interests them.Lexi Perry, Portfo PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 21:55:44 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 783 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Gold Springs Resource Corp. (TSX:GRC)(OTCQB:GRCAF) (the "Company"), reports the release of its unaudited consolidated financial statements for the three months ended June 30, 2023 and the related management's discussion and analysis of financial position and results of operations ("MD&A"). In this press release, all amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise indicated.During the six months ended June 30, 2023, general and administrative expenses, excluding non-cash share-based payments, decreased to $0.33 million compared with $0.36 million during the three months ended June 30, 2022. During the three months ended June 30, 2023, general and administrative expenses, excluding non-cash share-based payments, decreased to $0.16 million compared with $0.20 million during the three months ended June 30, 2022. Exploration spending during the six months ended June 30, 2023, decreased to $0.67 million from $1.22 million incurred during the same period of last year. During the six months ended June 30, 2023, the Company reported a net loss of $0.28 million ($nil loss per share) compared with a net loss of $0.67 million ($nil loss per share) for the same period in the prior year. During the three months ended June 30, 2023, the Company reported a net loss of $0.07 million ($nil loss per share) compared with a net loss of $0.43 million ($nil loss per share) for the same period in the prior year. As of June 30, 2023, the Company had cash of $0.41 million.Appointment of Audit Committee MemberThe Company regretfully announces the unexpected passing of board and Audit Committee member, Horst Daspersgruber on July 27, 2023. Mr. Antonio Canton, director and President and CEO of the Company, has been appointed as a member of the Audit Committee in Mr. Daspersgruber place in order to meet regulatory requirements. The Company is not otherwise filling the vacancy created by Mr. Daspersgruber's passing at this time.About Gold Springs Resource Corp.Gold Springs Resource Corp. (TSX: GRC and OTCQB: GRCAF) is focused on the exploration and expansion of the gold and silver resources of its large Gold Springs project located on the border of Nevada and Utah, USA. The project is situated in the prolific Great Basin of Western USA, one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world.Gold Springs Resource Corp. Contact:Antonio Canton, President and CEOacanton@ goldspringsresource.com Forward Looking StatementsCertain statements contained herein constitute "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements look into the future and provide an opinion as to the effect of certain events and trends on the business. Forward-looking statements may include words such as "creating", "believe", "would", "continue", "will", "promising", "should", and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and entail various risks and uncertainties. Actual results may materially differ from expectations if known and unknown risks or uncertainties affect our business or if our estimates or assumptions prove inaccurate. Factors that could cause results or events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to, risks of the mineral exploration industry which may affect the advancement of the Gold Springs project, including possible variations in mineral resources, grade, recovery rates, metal prices, capital and operating costs, and the application of taxes; availability of sufficient financing to fund planned or further required work in a timely manner and on acceptable terms; availability of equipment and qualified personnel, failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated, changes in project parameters, including water requirements for operations, as plans continue to be refined; regulatory, environmental and other risks of the mining industry more fully described in the Company's Annual Information Form and continuous disclosure documents, which are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca . The assumptions made in developing the forward-looking statements include: the accuracy of current resource estimates and the interpretation of drill, metallurgical testing and other exploration results; the continuing support for mining by local governments in Nevada and Utah; the availability of equipment and qualified personnel to advance the Gold Springs project; execution of the Company's existing plans and further exploration and development programs for Gold Springs, which may change due to changes in the views of the Company or if new information arises which makes it prudent to change such plans or programs. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or any other reason. Unless otherwise indicated, forward-looking statements in this press release describe the Company's expectations as of the date hereof.SOURCE: Gold Springs Resources Corporation PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 23:55:15 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 467 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 CORTE MADERA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Gravitas Wine Marketing announced today the addition of Jabber Wine to its portfolio. Founded by New Zealand Legendary Winemaker Kim and Chilean viticulturist Inigo Undurraga, Jabber is a Sauvignon Blanc produced from the Casablanca Valley of Chile. This wine marries Kim's New Zealand experience with the unique viticultural qualities of Casablanca. Grapes are sourced exclusively from the premium vineyard parcels of Undurraga's family holdings to ensure the terroir's qualities shine through.Since selling his original brand, Kim and his wife have devoted their creativity and expertise to developing their New Zealand family-owned and organically farmed estate. At the same time, he has joined forces with the Chilean viticulturist Inigo Undurraga to produce premium Sauvignon Blanc. Jabber is Kim's only project outside New Zealand and it's the nickname his friends have playfully chosen for him."We have always admired the distinct qualities of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc while also waiting for the Casablanca Valley to have its moment to shine. Jabber Sauvignon Blanc is the answer. It is the perfect expression of Sauvignon Blanc with a unique fruit-forward expression, compliments of the Casablanca Valley. There isn't anything like this wine in our portfolio and we are thrilled to debut the brand to our customers." - Aaron Campbell, Gravitas Wine MarketingAbout Gravitas Wine MarketingFounder Aaron Campbell created Gravitas Wine Marketing in June 2020. Realizing the lack of California distributors and importers who specialized in effectively representing smaller producers, Campbell pulled from his 20+ years of wine sales. Campbell worked at companies such as Epic Wines, Angeles Wine Agency, and Swirl Wine Brokers where he worked in Sales Management and Executive roles. While he was gaining professional wine industry experience, Campbell received the Court of Master Sommeliers Certified Sommelier Certificate and completed the UCLA Vintage Wine Program.Gravitas Wine Marketing's portfolio includes French producers Clos de Papes, Bosquet des Papes, Le Vieux Donjon, Chateau Fortia, Dom. Olivier Hillaire, Mas de Boislauzon, Dom. Des Chers, Claude Genet, Dom. Andre Neveu, Dom. Jasmin, Dom. Bernard Gripa and Dom. Bertrand Stehelin. Bordeaux producers include Ch. Mouton,Ch. Lafite, Ch. Latour, Cheval Blanc, Ch. Palmer, Lynch- Bages, Ch. d'Yquem, and a rich selection of classified growths along with Petit Chateau. Meo Camuzet, Darviot-Perrin, Hubert Bouzereau, Dom. Coillot and other notable Burgundy producers. California producers Gamble Family, Marchelle Wines (by Greg La Follette), Volker Eisele, Freeman, Vino Noceto, Scott Harvey, LaBarge, DreamCote, Samsara and Piro. German producer Markus Molitor and Argentine great, and Altocedro among many other world-class producers.To learn more about Gravitas Wine Marketing visit their website at www.gravitaswinemarketing.com ###Please contact Aaron Campbell at 707-266-6242 or marketing@ gravitaswinemarketing.com Contact InformationAaron CampbellOwnermarketing@ gravitaswinemarketing.com 707-266-6242Related FilesGWG- Jabber Press Release FINAL.pdf SOURCE: Gravitas Wine Marketing PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 14:04:21 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 535 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 ALEXANDRIA, VA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / The Aerospace States Association (ASA) has selected Lt. Governor Josh Tenorio of Guam to Chair the National Policy Committee, becoming ASA's first Lt. Governor from a Territory to join the organization's executive leadership."I am excited to appoint Lt. Governor Tenorio as Chair of the Aerospace States Association National Policy Committee. Lt. Governor Tenorio's passions for equity, business, and the environment will be a great asset to the Association with our joint mission of supporting the Aerospace community and expanding industry opportunities nationwide." said Lt. Governor Dianne Primavera of Colorado, National Chair of the ASA.The Honorable Joshua "Josh" Franquez Tenorio is the 10th elected Lieutenant Governor of Guam. He is the Chairman of the Islandwide Beautification Task Force, the Interagency Council on Homelessness, the Guam Hazard Mitigation Committee, and the Guam Product Seal Task Force. He is the Co-Chairperson of the Guam Green Growth (G3) Steering Committee and has oversight over the Guam State Clearinghouse, charged with monitoring federal grant expenditures and programs. In addition, Tenorio currently serves on the Global Island Partnership (GLISPA) board of directors, an international organization whose mission is to build resilient and sustainable island communities; and was selected by his peers to serve on the Executive Committee of the National Lieutenant Governor's Association. Lt. Governor Tenorio is also the first LGBTQ person to be elected Lt. Governor in the United States, he advocates for LGBTQ+ rights and inclusion, and is a founding member of the non-profit, Equality Guam. He lives in Talofofo and was raised in Sinajana."Guam is where American commerce and defense begins each day. We are host to aerospace activities at the Antonio B. Won Pat Guam International Airport, Andersen Air Force Base, and the NASA Guam Remote Ground Terminal. Guam is a hub for both United Airlines and Asia Pacific Air, and is the future site for an Enhanced Integrated Air and Missile Defense System. Though small in land size, our importance for the nation's economy is larger than most states. We are the commercial gateway to America for Asia/Pacific, the host to more than 1.6 Million tourists annually, and play a key strategic role in America's defense. I am excited to Chair the ASA National Policy Committee. It is my hope, working in partnership with the ASAMembership, to develop policy initiatives that will expand our aerospace markets while securing the nation's defense. Si Yu'os Ma'ase' " said Lt. Governor Tenorio of Guam, Chair of the ASA National Policy Committee.Lt. Governor Tenorio's term will complete the term of past ASA National Policy Committee Chair, Lt. Governor Kevin Meyer of Alaska.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.MEDIA CONTACT:Ross B. Garelick BellExecutive Director703-402-6304SOURCE: Aerospace States Association PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 19:32:53 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 516 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Hagens Berman urges Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) investors who suffered substantial losses to submit your losses now.Class Period: Feb. 4, 2020 - July 26, 2023Lead Plaintiff Deadline: Oct. 2, 2023Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/vz Contact An Attorney Now: VZ@ hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895Verizon Communications, Inc. (VZ) Securities Fraud Class Action:The complaint alleges Verizon made false or misleading statements and failed to disclose that Verizon: (1) owns cables around the U.S. that are highly toxic due to their being wrapped in lead, and which harm company employees and non-employees alike; (2) faces potentially significant litigation risk, regulatory risk, and reputational harm as a result of its ownership of these lead-covered cables and the health risks stemming from their presence around the U.S; and (3) was warned about the damage and risks presented by these cables but did not disclose them as a potential threat to employee safety or to everyday people and communities.Investors began to learn the truth after the Wall Street Journal published a series of articles spanning July 9 - July 26, 2023.These articles revealed that Verizon and others left behind toxic lead cables that they laid years ago. The WSJ also reported that independently tested samples from underwater cable sites revealed lead on the banks of the Mississippi, Willamette, and Passaic Rivers as well as in parts of Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere.The WSJ further reported that Verizon officials have known for decades that lead in its networks was a possible health risk to its workers, some workers have illnesses that can be linked to lead, and lead could leach into the environment.Finally, on July 26, 2023, the WSJ reported that the Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency are investigating whether telecom companies knew of the potential risks posed by the abandoned lead cables."We're focused on investors' losses and Verizon's knowledge of potential liability stemming from its sprawling network of toxic lead-sheathed cables across the U.S.," said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation.If you invested in Verizon 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 Verizon 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 VZ@ 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: 2023-08-10 03:30:41 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 499 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 9, 2023 / Hagens Berman urges RTX Corporation f/k/a Raytheon Technologies Corporation (NYSE:RTX) investors who suffered substantial losses to submit your losses now. The Firm also encourages persons with knowledge that might assist the investigation to contact its attorneys.Class Period: Feb. 8, 2021 - July 25, 2023Lead Plaintiff Deadline: Oct. 2, 2023Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/rtx Contact An Attorney Now: RTX@ hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895RTX Corporation (RTX) Securities Fraud Class Action:The litigation focuses on RTX's disclosures about its manufacturing quality controls within its Pratt & Whitney engine program.The complaint alleges that RTX made false or misleading statements and failed to disclose that: (1) its engines had been affected from at least 2015 - 2020 by a quality control issue; and (2) this issue would require RTX to recall and reinspect many engines, affecting its customers and harming its business.Investors learned the truth on July 25, 2023, when Reuters reported that contamination in the metal used to manufacture the Pratt & Whitney engine parts meant that 1,200 of the more than 3,000 engines built of the twin-engine Airbus A320neo between 2015 and 2021 must be removed and inspected for micro cracks.The same day, RTX reduced its 2023 free cash flow guidance by about $500 million (or about 10%) and blamed this on "recent" findings of contamination in the metal used to make its Pratt & Whitney engine parts that would require potentially hundreds of accelerated engine inspections.During the earnings call, management revealed "[i]t's going to be expensive" and "[t]his is an issue that we first uncovered back in 2020 when we had an incident with the V2500 turbine disc." This news sent the price of RTX shares sharply lower that day."We're focused on investors' losses and proving RTX misled investors about its manufacturing quality controls and, recently, its claim to have remediated the contamination issue in 2021," said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation.If you invested in RTX Corporation 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 RTX Corporation 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 RTX@ 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: 2023-08-10 15:17:20 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 715 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / U.S. BankPhoto: The 60-unit development is named after Harriet (Hattie) Redmond, an African American suffragist and civil rights leader who lived and worked in Oregon in the late 1800s. Originally published on U.S. Bank company blogThe Hattie Redmond apartments, a 60-unit development that provides housing for low income, disabled people in Portland, Oregon, opened its doors on a recent rainy spring day and immediately said hello to more two dozen new residents.This development - aptly named after Harriet (Hattie) Redmond, an African-American suffragist and civil rights leader who lived and worked in Oregon in the late 1800s - is now humming along, thanks in large part to a $9.6 million Low-Income Housing Tax Credit investment and $8.3 million loan from U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance, a subsidiary of U.S. Bank."This project is located in Portland's Albina District - a place that's both historically significant and long recognized as an active hub for Portland's Black and African-American community," said Ann T. Melone, senior vice president and business development officer for Affordable Housing. "We're honored to support this model initiative, which addresses Portland's houselessness challenge in a comprehensive and sensitive way." It's an innovative project backed by a big idea. Along with the financing from U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance, this $25+ million project was the brainchild of Portland's housing authority, Home Forward, and the Urban League of Portland. A 2018 Metro Housing Bond, provided via the Portland Housing Bureau, and funding from Oregon Housing and Community Services, also helped bring the building to life.Hattie Redmond units are all permanent supportive housing (PSH), available for people who are exiting homelessness. The PSH model is considered to be a best practice and a proven strategy that can help stabilize individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. Here, referrals come from Coordinated Access, a system created in 2018 in Multnomah County to streamline and provide equitable access to shelter and housing interventions on behalf of low-income and disabled individuals. One of the goals of the development is to reconnect Black individuals to the neighborhood and to each other; supportive services in the building are provided by Urban League staff."Hattie Redmond Apartments is a model for how the City of Portland can make progress in housing people more quickly and with thoughtful community engagement," said Ivory N. Mathews, CEO of Home Forward. "This building will provide safe shelter to 60 formerly homeless people in need of culturally specific supportive services. From the location to services offered to building amenities, Urban League of Portland thought of everything. This gives us hope that many more people who have been homeless can- and will-thrive with the right support." At four stories and 34,000 square feet, Hattie Redmond is on the Yellow MAX line. On the ground floor, residents share a community room/kitchen, conference room and laundry facilities. Individual studios have full kitchens and baths in addition to living space. Floors are hardwood, with cabinetry to match. The building also features original donated artwork from six Black and brown artists adding cheer throughout, including a portrait of Hattie Redmond."For decades, I've watched our members be priced out and pushed out of neighborhoods that were once stable and welcoming of Black Portlanders," said Urban League of Portland President & CEO Nkenge Harmon Johnson. "We also know that more Black developers and property owners are a necessary part of the solution. For those reasons, the Urban League chose to be co-developers of the Hattie Redmond Building as well as provide wrap-around services for residents." Over the last three-plus decades, U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance has partnered on 95 affordable housing projects, investing more than $492 million in equity and more than $611 million in lending to create or rehab 9,000+ affordable housing units in the Portland area.Nationwide, U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance provides tax credit investments and syndications, lending and other financial solutions to help create affordable housing, spur economic activity in underserved communities, restore historic buildings, develop renewable sources of energy and strengthen Community Development Financial Institutions.View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from U.S. Bank on 3 blmedia.com Contact Info:Spokesperson: U.S. BankWebsite: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/us-bank Email: info@3 blmedia.com SOURCE: U.S. Bank PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 03:45:38 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 536 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 SHERIDAN, WY / ACCESSWIRE / August 9, 2023 / The Inscribe Agency has announced a novel approach to digital marketing- a 3-step strategy designed to revolutionize the way B2B and B2C businesses drive organic traffic and increase revenue. They've meticulously crafted this plan, changing the industry's status quo, to offer businesses a more bespoke and results-oriented alternative to the one-size-fits-all strategies common in today's market.In the world of content marketing, the landscape can often feel like a vast desert. Companies, seeking to quench their thirst for organic growth, stumble upon agencies that promise oasis-like results, but often deliver nothing more than mirages.Inscribe Agency recognized this glaring gap. "We discovered that many content marketing agencies simply provide random articles for businesses, showing little to no commitment to driving organic traffic or growing the business through content marketing," the CEO, Faturoti Kayode, revealed.Instead of following in these disappointing footsteps, Inscribe Agency has blazed a new trail. They understood that, just as every business is unique, so too should be their content strategy. "No two businesses have the same content needs, even if they operate within the same industry," the CEO continued.The agency's strategy pivots on three key pillars-content strategy, content development, and content marketing. Think of them as the inseparable trio powering the engine of online growth. Together, they offer a well-rounded and comprehensive approach to driving organic traffic.Starting with content strategy, Inscribe Agency delves deep into understanding each business's needs, goals, and audience. From there, they design a roadmap tailored to guide the journey towards enhanced digital visibility and conversion. The second stage, content development, is where Inscribe's creative prowess comes to life, transforming strategy into engaging, high-quality content that speaks directly to the target audience.The final pillar, content marketing, ensures the meticulously crafted content finds its way to the right audience. The Inscribe Agency doesn't just throw content into the digital void, hoping it sticks. They take a targeted, strategic approach, putting your content front and center for those who need it most.Indeed, this 3-step strategy was designed with one goal in mind-to help businesses drive organic traffic and thereby increase revenue, whilst simultaneously decreasing dependence on costly ads. "Our aim," the CEO explained, "is to provide businesses with a tailored content solution that will bolster organic traffic, enabling them to save money that would otherwise be spent on advertisements." Inscribe's promise is simple yet compelling: "We don't do random. We do strategic. We don't do one-size-fits-all. We do tailored. And most importantly, we deliver results. Because at the end of the day, our success is intertwined with the success of our clients. Together, we can redefine the industry, one business at a time." The Inscribe Agency's innovative approach isn't just another marketing ploy. It's a game-changer in content marketing, and a promise to businesses that their unique needs and goals can, and will, be met with a tailored strategy that works. For those weary of the one-size-fits-all approach, this 3-step strategy may just be the breath of fresh air they've been seeking.Media DetailsWebsite URL: https://inscribox.com/ Company Name: Inscribe AgencyEmail address: chat@ inscribox.com SOURCE: Inscribe Agency PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 19:35:43 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 333 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 JACKSONVILLE, FL / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / LFTD Partners Inc. ("LFTD Partners" or the "Company") (OTCQB:LIFD), the corporate parent of Lifted Made, maker of the award-winning Urb and Silly Shruum brands of hemp and psychoactive products, today announced that it will release its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023 after the U.S. stock market closes on Friday, August 11, 2023. Following this release, LFTD Partners will hold an earnings conference call on Monday, August 14, 2023 at 8:30 AM ET.Earnings Conference Call and Webcast Information:Participant phone numbers:Toll Free: 888-506-0062International: 973-528-0011Participant Access Code: 921590Webcast event link:The participant phone numbers and webcast event link will be shown on the Investor Relations section of LFTD Partners' website at https://www.lftdpartners.com/investors The webcast replay will also be available on the Investor Relations section of LFTD Partners' website.Although attendees will have the opportunity to submit questions during the earnings conference call, attendees are encouraged to submit questions prior to the call by emailing them to: jakejacobs@ lftdpartners.com About LFTD Partners Inc.Publicly-traded LFTD Partners Inc., Jacksonville, FL (OTCQB: LIFD) is the parent corporation of Lifted Made, Kenosha, WI and Aztec, NM ( www.urb.shop) , which manufactures and sells hemp-derived and psychoactive products under its award-winning Urb and Silly Shruum brands. LFTD Partners Inc. also owns 4.99% of CBD-infused beverage and products maker Ablis ( www.AblisBev.com) , and of craft distillers Bendistillery Inc. d/b/a Crater Lake Spirits ( www.CraterLakeSpirits.com) and Bend Spirits, Inc. all located in Bend, OR. Please read LIFD's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission which fully describe our business and the Risk Factors associated therewith. Stay updated with our company news and product launches by subscribing to our newsletters at www.LFTDPartners.com and at www.urb.shop CONTACTS:Gerard M. "Gerry" JacobsChairman and CEO of LFTD Partners Inc.(847) 915-2446GerardMJacobs@ LFTDPartners.com SOURCE: LFTD Partners Inc. PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 16:01:10 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 466 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Responding to the growing need for detoxification services and acute mental health stabilization, Lifeskills added a campus in Ft. Lauderdale.BRENTWOOD, TN / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Odyssey Behavioral Healthcare, a leading provider of mental health, addiction, and eating disorder treatment, is proud to announce the opening of an additional Lifeskills South Florida campus, centrally located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The 34-bed Fort Lauderdale facility addresses the growing need for acute mental health stabilization and detoxification treatment, providing specialized care for individuals with complex acute mental health and substance use disorders.Lifeskills South Florida LogoLifeskills South Florida LogoConveniently located on the Holy Cross Health campus and minutes from the Fort Lauderdale International Airport, the new facility addresses the increasing demand for subacute levels of care for mental health and substance abuse. This expansion comes at a crucial time, as recent data from the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Kaiser Family Foundation identified that in Florida:Over 15% of Florida adults have a mental health condition, and 32% reported symptoms of anxiety or depression disorders.648,000 adults in Florida have a serious mental health condition.Florida outpaces the U.S. in drug overdose deaths."We've seen the acuity of our clients' symptoms continue to increase over the last few years across our residential locations nationwide," said Richard Clark, CEO of Odyssey. "We purposely developed this new facility at Lifeskills in response to this shift in demand for these levels of care. We're proud to offer these sub-acute services at one of the most well-respected treatment facilities in the industry to help more individuals and their families in need." The Lifeskills Fort Lauderdale campus offers a non-traditional Level 1 residential program and detoxification services. Treating individuals with higher acuity symptoms, the facility supports clients with 24/7 nursing in a closely supervised, structured, and supportive therapeutic environment."Lifeskills is known nationally for our clinical expertise in treating complex psychiatric and addiction disorders. Expanding our levels of care to include detoxification and subacute residential services reinforces Lifeskills as a national center of clinical excellence, and our Fort Lauderdale campus allows us to serve more individuals in need of clinically superior treatment," said Klay Weaver, Lifeskills South Florida CEO.To learn more, visit the Lifeskills Fort Lauderdale web page.---About Odyssey Behavioral HealthcareOdyssey, formed in 2015, has a diverse clinical network of services treating adults and adolescents for eating disorders, psychiatric disorders, dual diagnosis, and other addictive disorders. Odyssey provides a continuum of care within our Psychiatric Network and Eating Disorder Network, including inpatient, intensive residential, partial hospitalization, outpatient services, detoxification, and transitional living at over 20 locations and affiliated Odyssey Outpatient Network clinics in nine states with over 600 beds.Contact InformationVicki SmithChief Marketing Officer, Odyssey Behavioral Healthcarevickis@ odysseybh.com 615-864-8145SOURCE: Odyssey Behavioral Healthcare Three killed, nine injured, incl 11-month-old child from attack on Zaporizhia reported The death toll from a missile attack on Zaporizhia has risen to three, with nine injured, including an 11-month-old child, Head of Zaporizhia Regional Military Administration Yuriy Malashko has said on Thursday morning. "Three dead and nine injured, among them an 11-month-old child a consequence of a blow to the regional center. A Russian shell claimed the lives of a 43-year-old man and young women aged 19 and 21," he said on his Telegram channel. According to the regional administration, over the last day, the Russian military carried out 82 attacks on 21 settlements in Zaporizhia region. "Some 68 shelling hit the territory of Huliaipole, Orikhove, Zaliznychne, Novoandriyivka, Novodarivka, Levadne, Bilohiria, Chervone, Stepnohirsk, Stepove, Plavni, Mali Scherbaky, Piatykhatky, Lobkove and Kamianske," the administration's head said. In addition, four air strikes on Orikhove and Mala Tokmachka; four UAV attacks on Huliaipole, Malynivka, Olhivske and Novodarivka; four shelling from the MLRS on Huliaipole, Zaliznychne, Olhivske and Levadne; and two missile strikes on Zaporizhia and Pidhirne were recorded. "As a result of the strike on Huliaipole, a family suffered: women aged 55 and 66 and men aged 39 and 68 were injured, who were promptly taken to a medical institution of the regional center," Malashko said. According to him, some 54 reports were received about the destruction of residential buildings, educational institutions and other social infrastructure facilities. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine informs about the liquidation of the consequences of a missile attack on Zaporizhia. In particular, the rescuers extinguished the fire in a 12-square-meter outbuilding, which was located on the territory of the church. They also carried out rescue work on the store building and neighboring damaged buildings. Psychologists of the State Emergency Service provided assistance to 17 injured people. Eight volunteers of the Regional Disaster Response Teams of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society worked at the scene of the incident. According to the State Emergency Service, some 36 rescuers and six pieces of equipment worked at the scene. Some 11 personnel and two pieces of equipment were involved from the municipal emergency rescue service, and 20 employees from the public utilities. PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 15:04:28 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 580 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Maini achieves Service Expertise in Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP Financials in North AmericaALPHARETTA, GA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Maini LLC, a member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) and a prominent provider of advisory, consulting and cloud implementation services, today announced that it has achieved Service Expertise in Oracle Fusion Cloud Financials, part of Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). This expertise has been attained through rigorous training, continuous learning, and extensive acquisition of knowledge in Oracle Cloud ERP.Service Expertise is a core tenet of the modernized Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) program and allows Oracle partners to highlight their capabilities in a focused area. Ultimately, Service Expertise is designed to make it easy for customers to identify partners that can deliver quality results and minimize risk for their specific needs as they adopt Oracle Cloud.In order to achieve a Service Expertise, partners like Maini must meet a series of qualifiers that demonstrate their experience and success in implementing, deploying and/or managing a specific Oracle Cloud product/service area within a defined geographic region. Requirements may include having certified individuals across diverse roles and demonstrating successful go-lives within the same region. Learn more about Expertise, including viewing the complete Expertise Catalog, at www.oracle.com/partnernetwork/expertise "Our Service Expertise achievement with Oracle is a result of our unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation, AI and cloud technology," said Vikas Maini, Founder and CEO at Maini. "We have invested significant resources in training our team to become true Oracle experts, enabling us to deliver tailored solutions that empower businesses to thrive in today's dynamic and competitive landscape." Maini's membership in OPN has led to notable achievements for businesses across various sectors. By harnessing the power of Oracle Cloud ERP's general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, financial reporting, budgeting, and more, Maini has successfully streamlined critical financial processes and delivered tangible benefits to clients.About MainiAt Maini Consulting, we recognize the dynamic nature of the business world and the need for smart, cloud-based solutions to navigate its complexities. Our clients in the financial and commercial sectors have seen tangible benefits through our services.We support customers with a full range of consulting and advising services, implementation, integration and application management services. Our areas of specialization encompass Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite, which includes Oracle Cloud ERP, Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM), Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM), and Oracle Fusion Cloud Customer Experience (CX).About Oracle PartnerNetworkOracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) is Oracle's partner program designed to enable partners to accelerate the transition to cloud and drive superior customer business outcomes. The OPN program allows partners to engage with Oracle through track(s) aligned to how they go to market: Cloud Build for partners that provide products or services built on or integrated with Oracle Cloud; Cloud Sell for partners that resell Oracle Cloud technology; Cloud Service for partners that implement, deploy and manage Oracle Cloud Services; and License & Hardware for partners that build, service or sell Oracle software licenses or hardware products. Customers can expedite their business objectives with OPN partners who have achieved Expertise in a product family or cloud service. To learn more, visit: http://www.oracle.com/partnernetwork ###TrademarksOracle, Java, MySQL and NetSuite are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. NetSuite was the first cloud company-ushering in the new era of cloud computing.Contact InformationMedia Contactinfo@ mainillc.com SOURCE: Maini PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 09:05:31 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 952 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / (TSX:NANO)(OTC PINK:NNOMF)(Frankfurt:LBMB)Q2 2023 Highlights and HeadlinesWorking capital of $30.0 million; cash of $34.4 millionCompletion of Phase Two of Co-Development Agreement with CBMMJoint Development Agreement with Our Next Energy (ONE)Advancement of Commercial Plans for LFPSix new patents issued and allowed in Canada, United States, and JapanProceeds of ~$3.0M from the exercise of stock optionsNano One Materials Corp. ("Nano One" or the "Company") is a clean technology company with patented processes for the production of lithium-ion battery cathode materials that enable secure and resilient supply chains by driving down cost, complexity, energy intensity, and environmental footprint. Nano One has filed its condensed interim consolidated financial statements (the "financial statements"), and management's discussion & analysis ("MD&A") as at and for the six months ended June 30, 2023 ("Q2 2023") and is pleased to provide the following highlights from Q2 2023.Corporate Milestones for Q2 2023Joint Development Agreement with Our Next Energy (ONE)On June 14, 2023, the Company announced signing a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with ONE to collaborate on the validation, qualification, and production of a North American supply of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode active materials (CAM). The LFP CAM will be produced at Nano One's 200 tpa pilot facility in Candiac, Quebec, for validation in ONE's production LFP cells used in its Aries and Gemini batteries, with the goal of a binding offtake agreement and expansion into future production facilities.Successful Completion of Phase Two of Co-Development Agreement with CBMMOn May 17, 2023, the Company announced the successful completion of phase two of the co-development work with CBMM, the world's leading supplier of Niobium products and technology. Phase two successfully utilized CBMM's Niobium product to make coated nanocrystal high nickel (Ni>90%) NMC cathode active material. Enhanced durability was displayed using Nano One's proprietary One-Pot process and Metal to Cathode Active Material (M2CAM) technology.This achievement opens new doors of opportunity for the two companies to market and cross-collaborate with their existing customer bases to create market pull both for Nano One's patented technology and develop a new market for CBMM's sustainable, high-quality product. This also adds a secure and resilient supply chain partner to Nano's list of qualified automotive supply chain.Advancement of Commercial Plans for LFPOn July 20, 2023, further to an update provided on April 24, 2023, the Company provided an update on its commercial plans which are aimed at jumpstarting the commercialization of its One-Pot process. To expedite commercial sampling, offtake and first revenues, the Company's Candiac facility in Quebec is being retrofitted with its new One-Pot reactors and will be recommissioned initially at 200 tons per annum ("tpa") in Q3 2023, ramping up in steps to 2,000 tpa in 2024, and 10,000 tpa thereafter in a new and adjacent facility.Nano One also has engineering work underway for a separate 100 tpa NMC and LNMO pilot facility. Having piloting capabilities for LFP, NMC and LNMO will enable Nano One to prototype, validate, design, and pilot a new generation of CAM and accelerate the commercial adoption of its One-Pot and sulfate-free M2CAM processes in pursuit of production, joint venture and licensing opportunities.The Company reported that its lithium iron phosphate (LFP) trials, One-Pot reactors, sampling and pilot production plans are being expedited as previously outlined, and that initial engineering plans for its first full scale commercial plant are nearing completion. Nano began successfully producing tonne-sized batches in Q2 2023 using the existing commercial scale equipment. In parallel Nano is installing smaller modular One-Pot reactors, engineered and built in Quebec with the aim of conducting smaller trials, evaluating new reactor designs and fast-tracking plans.Six New Patents Issued and Allowed in Canada, United States, and JapanNano One also announced significant progress on key technologies with 6 new patents that are approved for issuance, or have issued, in Canada, United States, and Japan, bringing its global total to 33. In large part to ongoing support from Government of Canada programs, Nano One continues to extend the Canadian IP landscape and its own protections, all while growing economic activity.Q2 2023 Financial Position and ResultsWorking capital of $30.0 million; cash of $34.4 millionTotal assets of $52.6M (Q1 2023 - $56.9M)Total liabilities of $7.4M (Q1 2023 - $7.5M) with no long-term debtNet use of cash and cash equivalents of $5.7MProceeds from exercises of stock options ~$3.0MTotal investment (capitalized and expensed) on at its Candiac plant including equipment, retrofitting, engineering, and expansion totalled $3.4M ($4.3M year-to-date)For a more detailed discussion of Nano One's interim Q2 2023 results, please refer to the Company's financial statements, and MD&A which are available at www.sedar.com ###About Nano OneNano One Materials Corp. (Nano One) is a clean technology company with a patented, scalable and low carbon intensity industrial process for the low-cost production of high-performance lithium-ion battery cathode materials. With strategic collaborations and partnerships, including automotive OEMs and strategic industry supply chain companies like BASF, Umicore and Rio Tinto. Nano One's technology is applicable to electric vehicles, energy storage, and consumer electronics, reducing costs and carbon intensity while improving environmental impact. The Company aims to pilot and demonstrate its technology as turn-key production solutions for license, joint venture, and independent production opportunities, leveraging Canadian talent and critical minerals for emerging markets in North America, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific region. Nano One has received funding from SDTC and the Governments of Canada and British Columbia.For more information, please visit www.nanoone.ca Company Contact:Paul Guedesinfo@ nanoone.ca (604) 420-2041Cautionary Notes and Forward-looking StatementsCertain information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking informatio PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 19:00:55 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 345 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Growing HVAC, Plumbing and Building Automation Platform Expands Services Portfolio With Specialized Industrial Piping ServicesDEERFIELD, IL / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / PremiStar, a leader in commercial and industrial HVAC, plumbing, and building automation services, has acquired Professional Pipe, LLC, a process piping company that provides installation services from coast to coast. With this acquisition, PremiStar expands its portfolio of service offerings to include industrial process piping systems, industrial pipe insulation, and millwright work. Pro Pipe possesses proven and long-term, direct-to-owner industrial customers and relationships for PremiStar to build upon.Founded in 1972 in Peachland, North Carolina, Professional Pipe began as a piping contractor for the textile industry. Since then, the company has expanded its services to address the needs of companies in the poultry and beef, food and beverage, pet food, manufacturing, power and energy, chemical and industrial laundry sectors."We are extremely proud to have been selected to join the PremiStar family of companies," says John Tyson, President of Professional Pipe. "Our highly specialized services and expertise, combined with our ability to provide installation services coast to coast in partnership with other PremiStar companies make this a perfect fit." "As PremiStar expands its service territories and customer base nationwide, the Professional Pipe team will help us expand our portfolio of service offerings and develop even deeper relationships with current and new customers," says Joe Kirmser, CEO of PremiStar. "John and his team embrace the same values of putting people first and high-integrity service that have made PremiStar an industry leader." Professional Pipe is the 21st acquisition for PremiStar since 2019.About PremiStarPremiStar, formerly Reedy Industries, operates a footprint of 42 commercial HVAC, building automation and plumbing branch locations across 12 states. PremiStar is transforming the industry by investing in leading regional owner-operators, extraordinary people, unique customer-centered solutions and the communities we serve. With nearly 2,000 employees, PremiStar helps critical facilities owners and managers in commercial, municipal, educational and industrial market segments achieve more cost-effective, more energy-efficient and healthier environments.Contact InformationMike HarrisSVP Commercial Developmentmharris@ premistar.com (402) 800-8668SOURCE: PremiStar PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 07:45:44 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 620 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Bernstein Liebhard LLP:Do you, or did you, own shares of Sea Limited (NYSE:SE)?Did you purchase your shares between April 23, 2022 and May 15, 2023, inclusive?Did you lose money in your investment in Sea Limited?Do you want to discuss your rights?Bernstein Liebhard LLP, a nationally acclaimed investor rights law firm, reminds investors of the deadline to file a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit that has been filed on behalf of investors who purchased or acquired the securities of Sea Limited ("Sea" or the "Company") (NYSE: SE) between April 23, 2022 and May 15, 2023, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona and alleges violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against the Company and certain of its officers (the "Complaint").If you purchased or acquired Sea securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Sea Limited Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than September 17, 2023. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as lead plaintiff. If you choose to take no action, you may remain an absent class member.The Complaint alleges that Defendants made materially false and misleading statements throughout the Class Period. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (i) Sea overstated its ability to manage the growth of its user base and loan book while enhancing its profitability; (ii) Sea's expansion to a broader user base and growing loan book rendered the Company significantly more vulnerable to higher credit losses; (iii) as a result, the Company was likely to book a significant increase in loan loss reserves; and (iv) the foregoing was likely to have a significant negative impact on Sea's earnings.On May 16, 2023, Sea issued a press release announcing its financial results for the first quarter of 2023. Among other items, Sea reported first-quarter earnings that fell significantly short of expectations due to a sharp increase in loan loss reserves. The Company advised that "[o]ur provision for credit losses increased by 120.5% to US$177.4 million in the first quarter of 2023 from US$80.5 million in the first quarter of 2022, primarily driven by expansion to a broader user base and the growth of our loan book"On this news, Sea's American Depositary Share ("ADS") price fell almost 18%.If you purchased or acquired Sea securities, and/or would like to discuss your legal rights and options please visit Sea Limited Shareholder Class Action Lawsuit or contact Peter Allocco at (212) 951-2030 or pallocco@ bernlieb.com Since 1993, Bernstein Liebhard LLP has recovered over $3.5 billion for its clients. In addition to representing individual investors, the Firm has been retained by some of the largest public and private pension funds in the country to monitor their assets and pursue litigation on their behalf. As a result of its success litigating hundreds of lawsuits and class actions, the Firm has been named to The National Law Journal's "Plaintiffs' Hot List" thirteen times and listed in The Legal 500 for sixteen consecutive years.ATTORNEY ADVERTISING. 2023 Bernstein Liebhard LLP. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Bernstein Liebhard LLP, 10 East 40th Street, New York, New York 10016, (212) 779-1414. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter.Contact Information:Peter AlloccoBernstein Liebhard LLP(212) 951-2030pallocco@ bernlieb.com SOURCE: Bernstein Liebhard LLP PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 22:36:10 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 835 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Skeena Resources Limited (TSX:SKE)(NYSE:SKE) ("Skeena" or the "Company") reports interim financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023. The interim financial statements and management's discussion and analysis ("MD&A") are available on Skeena's website and have been posted under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and EDGAR at www.sec.gov About SkeenaSkeena Resources Limited is a Canadian mining exploration and development company focused on revitalizing the Eskay Creek and Snip Projects, two past-producing mines located in Tahltan Territory in the Golden Triangle of northwest British Columbia, Canada. The Company released a Feasibility Study for Eskay Creek in September 2022 which highlights an after-tax NPV5% of C$1.4B, 50% IRR, and a 1-year payback at US$1,700/oz Au and US$19/oz Ag. Skeena is currently continuing exploration drilling and plans on releasing a Definitive Feasibility Study for Eskay Creek in Q4 2023.On behalf of the Board of Directors of Skeena Resources Limited,Walter ColesExecutive ChairmanRandy ReichertPresident & CEOContact InformationInvestor Inquiries: info@ skeenaresources.com Office Phone: +1 604 684 8725Company Website: www.skeenaresources.com Qualified PersonsIn accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Paul Geddes, P.Geo., Senior Vice President, Exploration & Resource Development, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has prepared, validated, and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release. The Company strictly adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines in conducting, documenting, and reporting the exploration activities on its projects.Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statementsCertain statements and information contained or incorporated by reference in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). These statements relate to future events or our future performance. The use of words such as "anticipates", "believes", "proposes", "contemplates", "generates", "targets", "is projected", "is planned", "considers", "estimates", "expects", "is expected", "potential" and similar expressions, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "might", "will", "could", or "would" be taken, achieved, or occur, may identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Specific forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the results of the Feasibility Study, processing capacity of the mine, anticipated mine life, probable reserves, estimated project capital and operating costs, sustaining costs, results of test work and studies, planned environmental assessments, the future price of metals, metal concentrate, and future exploration and development. Such forward-looking statements are based on material factors and/or assumptions which include, but are not limited to, the estimation of mineral resources and reserves, the realization of resource and reserve estimates, metal prices, taxation, the estimation, timing and amount of future exploration and development, capital and operating costs, the availability of financing, the receipt of regulatory approvals, environmental risks, title disputes and the assumptions set forth herein and in the Company's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2022, its most recently filed interim MD&A, and the Company's Annual Information Form ("AIF") dated March 22, 2023. Such forward-looking statements represent the Company's management expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events or circumstances on the date the statements are made, and are necessarily based on several estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date hereof, are not guarantees of future performance. Actual events and results may differ materially from those described herein, and are subject to significant operational, business, economic, and regulatory risks and uncertainties. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others: the inherent risks involved in exploration and development of mineral properties, including permitting and other government approvals; changes in economic conditions, including changes in the price of gold and other key variables; changes in mine plans and other factors, including accidents, equipment breakdown, bad weather and other project execution delays, many of which are beyond the control of the Company; environmental risks and unanticipated reclamation expenses; and other risk factors identified in the Company's MD&A for the year ended December 31, 2022, its most recently filed interim MD&A, the AIF dated March 22, 2023, the Company's short form base shelf prospectus dated January 31, 2023, and in the Company's other periodic filings with securities and regulatory authorities in Canada and the United States that are available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca or on EDGAR at www.sec.gov Readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and the Company does not undertake any obligations to update and/or revise any forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities laws.SOURCE: Skeena Resources Limited PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 16:01:39 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 734 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NORTHWOOD, OH / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Telesystem, a leading provider of nationwide managed technology solutions, is set to host its final #HackersSuck Cybersecurity Summit of the year at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium on October 3rd, following two previous successful summits in Phoenix and Philadelphia. This event is free of charge and open to all business owners, executives, and IT professionals, whether they attend in person or virtually Telesystem plans to continue the summit series into 2024 on their mission to educate technology partners and local businesses on the growing cyber threat landscape while giving back to the local communities the summits are held in.Telesystem's #HackerSuck Cybersecurity Summits focus on the ever evolving and growing cybersecurity threat landscape, bringing together a team of cybersecurity experts and high-profile speakers to educate business leaders and technology professionals on how to keep themselves and their businesses connected and protected. The Dallas summit will feature keynote speaker Scott Augenbaum, author and retired domestic terrorism and cybercrime FBI agent. Augenbaum has responded to thousands of cybercrime incidents and provided hundreds of computer intrusion threat briefings. He will educate the attendees on emerging cyber threats and how to protect themselves from the worldwide reach of cyber criminals."When we purchased 'Threat Protector' in August 2022 and entered the cybersecurity marketplace, we didn't want cybersecurity to become 'just another product that we offered', we wanted it to be the glue that helped to combined the rest of our solution portfolio," said Telesystem Chief Revenue Officer Bruce Wirt. "We created the #HackersSuck summits as a way to bring impactful awareness to the importance of cybersecurity," added Wirt. "Like it or not, every single business in America is on the front lines of battle for World War 3. Many people already know that the bad guys can get in through any connected device you have; but business owners don't always realize that educating their employee base on cybersecurity threats is the single most important way to protect themselves. Any employee that uses any device connected to the Internet is a target for a hacker; our summits are designed to illustrate the potential exposure for businesses and offer affordable solutions that keep organizations connected and protected." In addition to Augenbaum's presentation, the summit will also feature a cybersecurity expert panel discussion which will highlight common omissions that business leaders overlook when securing their networks and data. Attendees will also be educated on simple and affordable solutions that can instantly make an organization more secure and will have opportunities to ask the experts questions or share personal stories of how they were impacted by cyber-related breaches.Telesystem has also partnered with Cybersecurity GameChangers, a Dallas-based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting diversity in the cybersecurity industry. The charity initiative offers mentorship opportunities to middle and high schoolers, introducing them to the exciting world of cybersecurity. Telesystem will match every dollar donated to Cybersecurity GameChangers by Summit attendees up to $5,000.Bringing the summit to Dallas is part of a bigger picture for Telesystem, as it has recently expanded its services and network into Texas. In its ongoing nationwide network evolution, Telesystem has added a major network point of presence (POP) in Dallas, strengthening the company's 100G network to deliver more robust and scalable solutions to meet the evolving needs of businesses across the country. In addition to its cybersecurity services, Telesystem can offer Texas businesses a wide array of highly competitive and reliable services, including communication (Unified Communication, Contact Center, SIP Trunking), managed networking (Advanced WAN, SD-WAN, managed switches and routers), and low-latency, dedicated high-speed Internet access backed by Telesystem's always-on DDoS protection and 24/7 US-based support team.Seating for the event is limited, so guests are asked to register early. In addition to cyber education, in-person attendees will get to experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enter the Dallas Cowboys playing field through the locker room tunnel, complete with special effects. They'll get to meet with Dallas Cowboys mascot Rowdy, and participate in Pass, Punt, Kick contest. In person attendees will also be provided with breakfast and lunch. For those unable to attend in person, attendees can register to join the event virtually.Attendees can register at www.HackersSuck.com . There is no fee to register or attend the event.Press inquiries for Telesystem should be directed to Morgan Hull - Marketing Generalist: mhull@ telesystem.us Contact InformationMorgan HullMarketing Generalistmhull@ telesystem.us SOURCE: Telesystem PR-Inside.com: 2023-08-10 09:05:23 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 955 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / ZincX Resources Corp. ("ZincX Resources" or the "Company") (TSX Venture Exchange:ZNX)(US:ZNCXF)(FRA:M9R ) is pleased to announce that the Company's Kechika North Project has been optioned to an arm's-length third party (the "Optionee") based in British Columbia.The Optionee has been provided an option to acquire 100% ownership of 103 contiguous mineral claims that make up the Kechika North Project; the northern extension of the Company's contiguous, district-scale land holdings that cover 140 kilometers northward from the Company's flagship Akie Property.The deal grants the Optionee an option to acquire an undivided 100% legal and beneficial right, title and interest in and to the Kechika North Project for a cash payment of $3 million dollars; to be made within two (2) years from the effective date of the agreement.The Kechika North Project represents a contiguous group of claims that covers part of the Kechika Trough and is comprised of 6 properties identified by past historical exploration; named from south to north: Kwad, Weiss, Bear/Spa, Driftpile South, Saint and Thro.CEO Peeyush Varshney stated, "We are pleased to announce this arrangement. The properties that make up the Kechika North Project have not had modern follow-up ground exploration and have seen little to no work over the past 35 years. Importantly and strategically, this option agreement provides ZincX with potential significant non-dilutive funding." The Company's flagship Akie Project is host to the large 43-101 compliant Cardiac Creek deposit and remains, along with the southern Kechika Properties, the primary corporate focus.In addition to the Akie Project, the Company's southern Kechika Properties include the 100% owned highly prospective Mt. Alcock Property which consists of 21 claims covering 9,173 hectares and is located approximately 40 kilometres to the northwest of the Akie property and 20 kilometres from Teck Resources/Korea Zinc's Cirque property. The Mt. Alcock property remains a high-priority and is host to a prominent, highly visible barite kill zone that has been subject to historical drilling. The limited and extremely shallow drilling by previous operators intersected mineralisation with significant grade such as 9.30% combined Zn+Pb and 1.20 oz/t Ag over a downhole thickness of 8.8 metres in drill hole AK-89-3 including 14.20% combined Zn+Pb and 1.60 oz/t Ag over 3.6 metres (2) hosted in Gunsteel formation shale. Facies models derived by the Company from close examination of the Cardiac Creek deposit can be applied to the Mt. Alcock prospect and greatly assist in vectoring future targeted drilling at depth and down dip of prospective lithology.Zinc has now been designated as a Critical Mineral in both Canada and the United States. Similar to copper or lithium, Zinc will be crucial for the ever demanding and increasing green economy (Solar, Wind, Battery Storage applications). The recognition of Zinc as a Critical Mineral has led to significant investments in the Canadian zinc junior space. Fireweed Metals Macmillan Pass project has attracted significant investment from the Lundin Family ($25 million) and Osisko Metal's Pine Point project recently received a large investment from Appian Capital ($100 million). These projects, along with the Akie Project are all at the Preliminary Economic Assessment stage of development. As such, the Company's flagship Akie Project, specifically the Cardiac Creek Zn-Pb-Ag deposit, has been the target of increased market interest.ZincX Resources Corp. (TSX V: ZNX, US: ZNCXF, FRA: M9R) is a Canadian exploration and development company creating value in the critical metals space - with a focus on zinc. Zinc is a versatile and essential material for the energy transition to a lower-carbon economy. It is already one of the most used metals in the world behind iron, aluminum and copper but also has applications in energy storage. It also plays a vital role in enabling other clean energy technologies like solar and wind.ZincX Resources is well-positioned to take advantage of the worldwide looming shortfall in zinc production with the development of its Cardiac Creek (Akie property) deposit - which can help Canada meet its need for the critical mineral zinc and the global push towards decarbonization to combat climate change.The Akie Zn-Pb-Ag ProjectThe 100% owned Akie property is situated within the Kechika Trough, the southernmost area of the regionally extensive Paleozoic Selwyn Basin and one of the most prolific sedimentary basins in the world for the occurrence of SEDEX zinc-lead-silver and stratiform barite deposits.Drilling on the Akie property by ZincX Resources since 2005 has identified a significant body of baritic-zinc-lead SEDEX mineralization known as the Cardiac Creek deposit. The deposit is hosted by siliceous, carbonaceous, fine-grained clastic rocks of the Middle to Late Devonian Gunsteel Formation.The Company updated the estimate of mineral resources at Cardiac Creek in 2018, as follows:5% Zinc Cut-Off GradeContained Metal:CategoryTonnes(million)Zn (%)Pb (%)Ag (g/t)Zn (B lbs)Pb (B lbs)Ag (M oz)Indicated22.78.321.6114.14.1620.80410.3Inferred7.57.041.2412.01.1690.2052.9The Company announced robust positive results from the 2018 Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA). The PEA envisages a conventional underground mine and concentrator operation with an average production rate of 4,000 tonnes per day. The mine will have an 18-year life with potential to extend the life-of-mine (LOM) through resource expansion at depth. Key parameters for the PEA are as follows:ParameterBase Case1Tonnes Mined25.8 MtMined Head Grades7.6% Zn; 1.5% Pb; 13.08 g/t AgTonnes Milled19.7 MtMilled Head Grades (after DMS2 upgrade)10.0% Zn; 1.9% Pb; 17.17 g/t AgTotal Payable Metal (LOM)$3,960M3Initial CAPEX$302.3M including $45.7M contingencyLOM Total CAPEX$617.9M including $58.5M contingencyAll-in Total OPEX$102.4 per tonne milledPre-Tax NPV7%$649MPre-Tax IRR35%Pre-Tax Payback2.6 yearsAfter-Tax NPV7%$401MAfter-Tax IRR27%After-Tax Payback3.2 yearsThe base case used metal prices are calculated from the 3 year trailing average coupled with two year forward projection of the average price; and are: US$1.21/lb for zinc, US% The ECOWAS Heads of State have vowed to use force to dislodge the junta in Niger if it remains recalcitrant. The West African leaders arrived at the resolution at their meeting in Abuja Thursday after reviewing happenings since Sunday when the one-week ultimatum they issued to the junta lapsed. According to the communique read by ECOWAS President Omar Touray, the leaders noted that all diplomatic efforts made by ECOWAS, in resolving the crisis have been defiantly repelled by the military leadership of the Republic of Niger. They also took note of the expiration of the one-week ultimatum given for the restoration of constitutional order in the Republic of Niger. As part of their decisions, the ECOWAS leaders directed the Committee of the Chief of defence staff to activate the ECOWAS standby force with all its elements immediately. They also ordered the deployment of the ECOWAS standby force to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the Niger junta have remained defiant and continued to hold on to power while keeping President Mohamed Bazoum in detention. Since the 26 July coup, ECOWAS has sent three delegations to Niger to meet with the junta leaders. At least one of those delegations, led by ex-Nigerian military ruler Abdulsalami Abubakar, was humiliated and prevented from seeing the coup leader, General Abdourahamane Tchiani. Mr Tchiani also refused to see delegations from the AU, UN and the US. However, he met with Nigerias former central bank governor, Lamido Sanusi, on Wednesday. READ ALSO: Mr Sanusi, who later briefed Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on the outcome of his visit, said he went to Niger in his personal capacity. The former bank chief an Islamic cleric and other Islamic clerics also appealed to Mr Tinubu to avoid war with Niger and continue with diplomacy. Also, the influential Nigeria Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) stated its opposition to war and asked for a reversal of sanctions on Niger. The Nigerian Senate had also rejected a military option and called on President Tinubu to continue with dialogue. Perhaps because of the internal opposition to war within Nigeria, Mr Tinubu, who chairs the ECOWAS heads of state, on Thursday, appealed to his colleagues to continue to dialogue with the coup leaders. In reaffirming our relentless commitment to democracy, human rights, and the well-being of the people of Niger, it is crucial that we prioritize diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach, he said. He also suggested that the steps taken by ECOWAS, so far, should be reviewed to see why they were not effective. His fellow heads of state, however, disagreed with him. They not only approved the deployment of an ECOWAS standby force to Niger, but they also doubled down on the sanctions earlier imposed on the country. The West African leaders ordered member states to enforce all measures, in particular, border closures, and strict travel bans and assets freeze on all persons or groups of individuals whose actions hinder all peaceful efforts aimed at ensuring the smooth and complete restoration of constitutional order. Speaking on the reason for their decision, President Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast told journalists that the leaders were left with no option and the decision was not just about Nigerias interests. This is not a matter of Nigeria against Niger, not at all, he said. All the heads of state think that we have tried dialogue with the putschists. We have sent delegation, high personalities But they are keeping President Bazoum as a hostage. I personally consider this as a terrorist act. And we cannot let this continue. We have to act. Read the full communique by ECOWAS heads of state below. The Authority having considered the memorandum presented by the President of the ECOWAS commission on the current situation in the Republic of Niger, as well as ECOWAS engagement since the last extraordinary summit; and having considered the reports of the envoys of the chair, to Niger and various other places; Carefully considered the report and recommendations of the ECOWAS committee of chiefs of defense staff; extensively discussed the latest development in Niger since the last extra ordinary Summit held on 30th July 2023. Noted that all diplomatic efforts made by ECOWAS, in resolving the crisis have been defiantly repelled by the military leadership of the Republic of Niger; taking note of the expiration of the one-week ultimatum given for the restoration of constitutional order in the Republic of Niger decide as follows: A. Reiterates its strong condemnation of the attempted coup detat and the continued illegal detention of President Mohammed Bazoam, his family and members of his government B. Further condemns the condition in which President Bazoum is being detained and holds the CNSP fully and solely responsible for the safety, security and physical integrity of President Bazoum, members of his family and government. C. Uphold all measures and principles agreed upon by the extraordinary Summit held on Niger on 30th July 2023. D. Underscore the determination of the ECOWAS authority to keep all options on the table for the peaceful resolution of the crisis. E. Enforce all measures in particular border closures and strict travel bans and assets freeze on all persons or groups of individuals whose actions hinder all peaceful efforts aimed at ensuring the smooth and complete restoration of constitutional order. F. Warn member states who by their action directly or indirectly, hindered the peaceful resolution of the crisis in Niger about the consequences for their action before the community. G. Call on the African Union to endorse all the decisions taken by the ECOWAS authority on the situation in Niger. H. Further call on all partner countries and institutions including the United Nations to support ECOWAS, in its effort to ensure a quick restoration of constitutional order, in conformity with its normative instruments. I. Direct the President of the Commission to monitor the implementation of the sanctions. J. Direct the Committee of the Chief of defence staff to activate the ECOWAS standby force with all its elements immediately. K. Order the deployment of the ECOWAS standby force to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger. L. Underscore its continued commitment to the restoration of constitutional order through peaceful means. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Coup plotters in Niger Republic on Thursday announced the formation of a new government, a few hours before an ECOWAS meeting scheduled to hold on the same day. The new government was announced on state TV at 00:30 GMT (01:30 local time) with the pronouncement of new cabinet members, BBC reported. The new government is made up of 21 ministers, including two ministers of state and a delegate minister. This announcement is in defiance of calls by ECOWAS and other international organisations for the reinstatement of President Mohamed Bazoum. The junta had defied ECOWASs ultimatum to reinstate Mr Bazoum as president. ECOWAS will today hold its second emergency meeting of heads of state to discuss Niger. There have been several calls, especially within Nigeria, to the bloc to rethink its decision to use force if the putschists continue to remain recalcitrant. About three ECOWAS delegations have been sent to meet with the junta, all returning with no positive response. The new Niger government, made up of military and civilian personalities, is led by interim Prime Minister Lamine Zeine Ali Mahamane, who will also double up as the minister of economy and finance. Former chief of staff Salifou Mody, a lieutenant general, widely considered to be coup leader Abdourahamane Tchianis deputy, has been named minister of national defence. Abdourahmane Amadou, who has been reading the majority of the communique on state TV since the 26 July coup, is the minister of youth and sports. The junta has already named new military chiefs and sacked most of the senior government officials who served in Mr Bazoums administration. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Allegations of human rights abuses, unguarded public utterances, and a purported flood of petitions are the issues advanced by the State Security Service (SSS) against the nomination of former Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report. The Senate on Monday confirmed 45 ministerial nominees after a week-long screening of 48 of them. It withheld the confirmation of the three remaining nominees. It was shocking for many Nigerians to find Mr El-Rufai, an ally and one of the staunchest backers of President Bola Tinubu, among the three. Mr El-Rufai is believed to enjoy the presidents confidence after they overcame their political differences before the 2023 presidential election. He demonstrated his warm relationship with the president by indicating during the screening exercise that Mr Tinubu invited him to work with him. He was also among the pack of former governors on the list of nominees lavished with respect by senators during the screening exercise on 2 August. Senators fell over one another to speak in his favour. Some even discouraged their colleagues from asking him questions. An attempt by the Kogi West senator, Sunday Karimi, to table a petition he said was of security concerns against him for deliberation was summarily shot down. The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, confirmed that the Senate received a series of petitions against some ministerial nominees, and not just Mr El-Rufai, but that such complaints would be referred to the president, who nominated them, and the relevant investigative bodies. At the end of confirmation proceedings on Monday, Mr El-Rufai, who many thought had a smooth sail, was among just three nominees whose confirmations were withheld. The two others were a former senator from Taraba, Sani Danladi, and a nominee from Delta State, Stella Okotete. Mr Akpabio said their confirmations would await security clearance, which left many Nigerians wondering what the security issues could be with Mr El-Rufais nomination. After speaking with different sources with direct knowledge of the security report on Mr El Rufai, PREMIUM TIMES is reporting for the first time the security concerns the SSS raised against him. The sources, who asked not to be named because they are not permitted to discuss the sensitive matter publicly, said most of the allegations against the former governor were already known to the public. PREMIUM TIMES cannot independently verify the allegations. The issues include broad and specific allegations, including his widely reported controversial remarks and policies, according to sources with direct knowledge of the complaints by the SSS. They are broadly categorised as human rights abuses, unguarded utterances and conduct, petitions, public trust abuse, and other sundry issues. Our sources said the SSS did not confront Mr El-Rufai with these allegations. Alleged unguarded statements Allegation of unguarded statements is a major thrust of the SSS report on Mr El-Rufai, according to sources who shared their knowledge of the matter with this newspaper. Mr El-Rufai is a vocal politician who has been a recurring feature in Nigerias political space in and out of government since 1999. He occasionally courted controversies in the public offices he held in his decades-long run of political fortune. He partly owes his political fame to controversial comments, some of which continue to dog him to date. The latest was the comment he made while addressing a group of Muslim clerics in Kaduna after his party, the APC, was declared the winner of the governorship election in March. In the comment, which generated an uproar, Mr El-Rufai said Muslims could rule Kaduna for a long period while also consistently doing justice to Christians. The comment was widely criticised as divisive in a state where religious and ethnic tensions could quickly lead to bloody clashes. Months before Mr El-Rufais latest comment, a former senator from the state, a political adversary, blamed the worrisome security situation of the state on the utterances of the former governor. Citing Mr El-Rufais latest comment, the SSS, according to sources, said Mr El-Rufais public statements inflamed mistrust among the states citizens and, by extension, between Muslims and Christians in the country. The security agency also pointed out Mr El-Rufais comment in the build-up to the 2019 general elections, when he said foreign election observers and agents of the international community trying to meddle in Nigerias elections would return in body bags. The then governor, who was a governorship candidate seeking a second term at the time, would later clarify that he was only expressing Nigerias readiness to defend itself against needless intervention by external bodies, saying his comment is the kind of statement you expect to hear from a patriot. The SSS said for that comment, Mr El-Rufai was barred from entering the US, a claim PREMIUM TIMES has yet to verify independently. Our sources said the SSS also recalled a blasphemy tweet it said Mr El-Rufai posted in 2013. The agency said this generated uproar when he made the comment. Alleged human rights abuses Concerns were also raised about alleged human rights abuses by Mr El-Rufai while he was governor. These include the case concerning the killing of the sons and followers of the Shiite leader, Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, in Zaria, Kaduna State, in 2015. Over 300 followers of the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), known to be a body of Shiite Muslims in Nigeria, were killed in the attack by the Nigerian military, according to the report of an enquiry conducted by the Mr El-Rufai-led government of Kaduna State. Although the military was directly responsible, the operation enjoyed the support of the state government. Instead of holding the military accountable for the massacre of the Shiites, the government chose to prosecute Mr El-Zakzaky and his wife for the alleged murder of one soldier who was said to have been killed in a confrontation between the military and the Shiites in December 2015. The case went on for years without the Kaduna State government being able to lead any tangible evidence. The Kaduna State High Court ended up dismissing the case in July 2021. The El-Zakzaky case, according to the SSS, was reported to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and is being investigated by the United Nations human rights body. Aside from the El-Zakzaky case, the SSS also accused Mr El-Rufai of having engaged in arbitrary arrests of political enemies and seizure of properties and wanton demolition of properties of perceived political enemies. The agency also accused him of using force and intimidation to suppress protests, leading to extrajudicial killings of innocent citizens of the state. Alleged financial misconduct The SSS also alleged that Mr El-Rufai was facing a series of ongoing litigations for selling federal government assets, although no verifiable proof was provided. Some other court cases, the SSS also claimed, involved Mr El-Rufais alleged embezzlement of public funds, abuse of trusts, allegedly involving the use of cronies, allies and family members for corrupt purposes during his time as head of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and governor of Kaduna State. PREMIUM TIMES is not aware of pending charges against Mr El Rufai. The trial court dismissed the only widely known case against him similar to the allegations raised by the SSS in 2013. But the SSS insists that one of such cases is still before a judge of the Federal High Court. Petitions Painting Mr El Rufai as the most controversial ministerial nominee, the SSS said his nomination attracted the most petitions and widespread rejections on both the mainstream and digital platforms. It added that aggrieved members of the society also took protests against him to the National Assembly during the screening exercise, sources said. They added that before his nomination, several petitions weres filed against him. They also said cases were pending against him in different Nigerian and international courts, including the ECOWAS and the ICC. According to the SSS, the agency also listed some petitions filed against Mr El-Rufai, including one it said was sent to President Tinubu by the Islamic Human Rights Commission. It also listed an ICC document acknowledging the courts receipt of a petition requesting the investigation of Mr El-Rufai for acts of genocide and crimes against humanity. The other cases listed by the SSS, the sources said, were a petition to the National Human Rights Commission and Amnesty International, another one sent to the ICC concerning an alleged forceful takeover of prime land in Kaduna despite court orders, and one other sent to the Kaduna State House of Assembly over the demolition of properties in the state. Sundry issues against El-Rufai There were other sundry issues the SSS raised against Mr El-Rufai. These include an allegation that he once insulted Northern elders, whom the agency described as a respected group of statesmen. The security report, sources also said, accused Mr El-Rufai of once describing Mr Tinubu as the most corrupt person and vowing that he would never deputise such a person with a tainted profile. The agency also accused him of attempting to repeal Sharia law in Kaduna State in his dying days in office as Kaduna governor. This was said to be in his desperate bid to appease the Christian population in the state. According to sources, the SSS described the move as dangerous, with the possibility of triggering clashes in the state. There are media reports quoting the speaker of the 9th Kaduna State House of Assembly, Yusuf Zailani, that members rejected a bill to scrap the Sharia and Customary Courts in the state. But a member of the House of Assembly, Yusuf Salihu, would later deny the claim. In what appears to be political profiling, the SSS also accused the former governor of backstabbing his former bosses. Without providing verifiable details, the agency said he backstabbed former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Vice President Atiku Abubakar (who is said to have brought him into the Obasanjo administration), and the immediate-past President Muhammadu Buhari. The agency also accused Mr El-Rufai of inconsistent character, citing his previous claim of being too old to serve as a minister and his later decision to accept Mr Tinubus nomination to serve in that capacity. The agency also cited anti-people policies that allegedly destroyed peoples livelihoods in Kaduna State as evidence that he is unfit to hold office as minister. Such alleged anti-people actions attributed to the former governor included: Market demolitions without compensation or alternatives. Eviction and demolition of longstanding low-cost houses. The sacking of thousands of civil servants and removal of traditional rulers without due process. In the letter to the Senate, the SSS did not attach evidence substantiating these allegations. It said investigations were still ongoing. When contacted, Muyiwa Adekeye, the media adviser to Mr El-Rufai, declined to comment for this story. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print There are up to 16,000 IDPs in Drohobych community, 30% of them likely to stay permanently mayor Some 30% of displaced persons out of about 16,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) currently in Drohobych merged territorial community (Lviv region) may remain in it for permanent residence, Drohobych Mayor Taras Kuchma has said. "Now there are up to 16,000 migrants in the community, of which, according to our estimates, 30% will still remain with us for permanent residence. Since they have nowhere to return. These are Mariupol, Luhansk, Donetsk, there are people from Kherson and Zaporizhia regions there are about 6,000 to 7,000 of them," Kuchma said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine. He also said since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, about 20,000 IDPs have been officially registered in Drohobych merged territorial community. But their real number, according to the mayor, may be three times greater, because "many came for two or three days, many simply did not want to register." However, Kuchma said today the population of the Drohobych merged territorial community is 125,000 people. On the day hoodlums razed the home of a serving federal lawmaker in Anambra State, another set of hoodlums burnt down the Imo State home of Jerry Alagbaoso, a former federal lawmaker. Mr Alagbaoso represented Orsu/Orlu/Oru-east Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In May, less than a month before the end of the previous Assembly, he resigned from the PDP and defected to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). The former lawmaker had, in 2022, failed in his bid to clinch the PDP senate ticket to contest in the 2023 general election. How the attack on his residence happened The hoodlums attacked the former lawmakers residence on Tuesday night in Orsu after they reportedly scaled a perimeter fence and tied security men guarding the area. They removed the windows and doors of the building and forcefully entered inside the building and looted some properties, a source from the community told PREMIUM TIMES Wednesday night. The source said the attackers thought that Mr Alagbaoso was around given that he had been coming home frequently, in recent times, in preparation for the 11 November governorship election in Imo State. When they searched and didnt see him, they set the house ablaze, the source added. The police spokesperson in Imo State, Henry Okoye, has confirmed the incident. Mr Okoye, an assistant superintendent, said the commissioner of police in the state condemned the attack and has ordered an intensive manhunt for the attackers. More so, Optimal Security Operatives of the Joint task force have been deployed in Orsu to prevent similar occurrences, the police spokesperson said. Certainly, we will apprehend the hoodlums that are involved and they will be made to face the full wrath of the law. Worsening insecurity Like other states in Nigerias south-east, security has deteriorated in Imo State with frequent attacks by armed persons. The attacks often target security agencies, government officials and facilities. Hundreds of people have been killed or injured in such attacks. The latest attack comes about three days after hoodlums razed the residence of Ezekiel Nwokedi, the newly elected traditional ruler of the Okwuru Orsuihiteukwo, a community in Orsu Local Government Area of the state. Like in the case of the former lawmaker, the hoodlums reportedly looted valuables worth millions of naira before setting the building ablaze. The latest attack also occurred on the same day that hoodlums razed the Anambra home of a lawmaker, Paschal Agbodike. Mr Agbodike represents Ihiala Federal Constituency of Anambra State in the House of Representatives. The attackers invaded the house at about 1 a.m. on Tuesday in Ubahi-Mbosi, a community in Ihiala Local Government Area of the state, PREMIUM TIMES learnt. The Nigerian government has accused the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the region. But the group has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks. IPOB is leading the agitation for an independent state of Biafra which it wants to be carved out from the south-east and some parts of south-south Nigeria. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print On Wednesday, pictures of the deposed emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, and the leader of the junta in the Niger Republic, Abdrahmane Tchiani, surfaced online. Mr Sanusi was accompanied by the sultan of Damagaram, from Zinder in Niger, Aboubakar Oumarou. Me Oumarou is one of the most influential traditional rulers in the Niger Republic. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed sanctions on Niger after its presidential guards toppled the government of Mohamed Bazoum and announced Mr Tchiani as the countrys new leader. The sanctions include shutting down all borders by Nigeria and cutting off electricity supply to Niger. The one-week deadline given to the junta to reinstate Mr Bazoum expired last Sunday but ECOWAS has yet to use military action to remove the junta in Niger as it threatened. Burkina Faso and Mali, also ruled by military juntas vowed to deploy troops to help the junta in Niger stay in power if ECOWAS decided to go ahead with its threat. Disgraced envoys The meeting between Mr Sanusi and Mr Tchiani came as a surprise to many analysts because up until the photos surfaced online, the junta has turned down requests by countries and organisations to meet the coup leader. Only the Chadian leader, Mahamat Deby, met Mr Tchiani in the early days of the coup. Over the last few weeks, regional and international communities have tried to convince Mr Tchianis junta to reinstate Mr Bazoum who is still being held at the Presidential palace. An ECOWAS delegation led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar, and a former military head of state, Abdulsalam Abubakar were said to have been kept at the airport without meeting the coup leaders. Last Monday, the United States Deputy Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland was in Niger but did not get to meet Mr Tchiani. Ms Nuland said she spoke extensively with some military leaders but the intended meeting with the head of the junta did not happen. On Tuesday, the coup leaders also refused to meet a combined delegation from the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). A PREMIUM TIMES report noted that despite official communication from the delegation notifying the Niger Republic of the intention to visit the country to discuss, the coup leaders didnt allow the meeting to take place. They said the postponement of the meeting was inevitable. While reiterating their readiness to engage in discussions with delegations or emissaries concerning the situation in Niger, as indicated to the mission led by the former President of Nigeria, Abdulsalami Abubakar, the current context of anger and revolt of the populations following the sanctions imposed by ECOWAS, does not allow to welcome the said delegation in the required serenity and security, the report quoted a memo. Why I went to Niger Addressing journalists at the Presidential Villa in Abuja hours after his return from Niger, Mr Sanusi said he was in the country to discuss possible ways of solving the crisis. He said he was not sent by the federal government or ECOWAS. However, he said some government officials were aware of his trip. No, I was not sent by the government. The government officials were aware but it was my personal initiative, using my personal contact to get there and Ill continue to do my best. Its my duty as a leader to do that, Mr Sanusi said. Cultural links Mr Sanusi has maintained relationships with two influential traditional rulers in Niger Republic; the Sultan of Damagaram (Zinder) and Sarkin Katsina of Maradi, even after his dethronement. While its not known whether previous delegations made efforts to include local traditional rulers from Niger in their quest for an audience with Mr Tchiani, Mr Sanusi has now achieved a feat which will perhaps serve as a pointer to future envoys. Mr Oumarou leads the third largest city in the country only second to Niamey, the capital city and Maradi. His appearance in the pictures validated the belief that he was in Mr Sanusis entourage. Traditional leaders in Niger, which shares an expanse border with northern Nigeria, are revered as in Northern Nigeria. As one of the most influential leaders in the country, Mr Oumarou could have facilitated Mr Sanusis visit. Sanusi possibly learnt from the mistakes made by the earlier envoys, though I dont know whether he (Mr Sanusi) was sent by the federal government or not, but he learnt from the mistakes of the Sultan-led delegation and others and decided to use cultural links with Dangane. Damagaram emirate is influential in Niger Republic. And it (Damagaram) has a close relationship with the Kano emirate. So being a former emir and a prince from Kano, he used that influence. There was no way the junta leaders would not have listened to the Sultan of Damagaram due to his status in the country, Baba Bala Katsina, a social historian told PREMIUM TIMES. Tijjaniya factor Another factor that might have played to Mr Sanusis advantage is his position as the leader of the Tijjaniya sect in Nigeria. The sect was founded by the late Islamic scholar, Ibrahim Nyass. The sect has several followers in the Niger Republic, as in Nigeria. Mr Sanusi might have used his influence as the leader of the sect in Nigeria to facilitate the meeting with the leader of the junta. So far, the Niger coup leaders seem to be enjoying popular support and adherents of the popular sect might not be happy if the request of one of their leaders to mediate with the junta was turned down. Sanusi is a spiritual leader in West Africa for instance. And in Niger Republic, we know that Tijjaniya and Kadiriyya sects followers are in large numbers. The junta leaders might have felt obliged to respect Sanusi because of his status which will naturally make the sect followers admire them (coup leaders) more, Kabir Yandaki, the head of the Department of Political Science at Ummaru Musa Yaradua University Katsina told PREMIUM TIMES. A personal initiative Another reason the head of the junta might have decided to meet Mr Sanusi was that he was pursuing a personal initiative and not being prodded by the Nigerian government of leaders of ECOWAS. He said himself that he was not an envoy of the federal government or the ECOWAS. The pledge by Burkina Faso and Mali as well the presumed availability of the Wagner group, coup leaders believe they would have nothing to fear from the ECOWAS and so decided not to receive any of the regional or international delegations. The threat of force and sanctions imposed on the country has emboldened Mr Tchiani and the other coup leaders more. The Sultans led delegation didnt make internal connections in the Niger Republic. Besides, you know it was in the early days of the coup when sentiments were high. The harsh words used by the ECOWAS complicated the situation. The Sultans delegation went there (Niger Republic) in the name of ECOWAS so, its only natural for the coup plotters not to listen to them because of the image of the president (Mr Tinubu) the coup leaders have in their minds. But Sanusi on the other hand went on his own to seek a way to discuss with them. They could have agreed to listen to him because they might felt he was not there to give them conditions, Mr Katsina said. Against military might When ECOWAS gave the junta in the Niger Republic a weeks deadline to relinquish power or be removed by force, Mr Sanusi, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, was among influential people from northern Nigeria who opposed the idea. They would be more comfortable discussing with Sanusi because he was among those who didnt support the use of force against the Niger Republic seen as brothers and sisters in northern Nigeria. So, they might have felt Sanusi wouldnt support the use of force or any harsh decision against them, Mr Yandaki said. Mr Sanusi reportedly briefed Mr Tinubu about his visit to Niger Wednesday night. Now many analysts are wondering if the visit of the deposed emir to the junta leader of Niger will yield fruit where previous negotiations led by several international organisations have failed. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Two West African leaders addressed journalists on the resolutions taken at the just concluded ECOWAS extraordinary summit on Niger. PREMIUM TIMES reported how ECOWAS approved the deployment of a standby force to Niger to dislodge the junta if dialogue fails. The President of Cote dIvoire, Alhassan Ouatarra, and his Senegalese counterpart, Macky Sall, spoke to journalists in separate interviews in Abuja on Thursday. Mr Ouatarra spoke before the summit ended as he had to travel back to his country while Mr Sall spoke at the end of the summit. Read the excerpts of their interviews below. President Alhassan Ouatarra Ouatarra: We had a very good summit. We thank President Tinubu for having invited us, for his hospitality and the people of Nigeria. As youre aware this is the second summit in 10 days that we have organized on Niger and this is a critical problem we have to solve. As youre aware, ECOWAS has taken many decisions in the past, legal and factual about coup detat and the community has always condemned coup detat and coup detat have happened in many countries in the sub-region. ECOWAS has intervened in the past in Liberia, Sierra Leone recently in Gambia, Guinea Bissau and today we have a similar situation in Niger. READ ALSO: Id like to say that ECOWAS cannot accept this. This is not a matter of Nigeria against Niger, not at all. The decision that we have made today and I hope it would be implemented immediately is a decision of ECOWAS, all the heads of state think that we have tried dialogue with the putschists. We have sent delegation, high personalities like former President Abdulsalami Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, Emir of Kano, former governor of CBN Sanusi my friend and many other personalities in this important country, to talk to the people of Niger. But theyre keeping President Bazoum as a hostage. I personally consider this as a terrorist act. And we cannot let this continue. We have to act. The position of Cote dIvoire which has been endorsed by all of the heads of state is that we have been able to tell these putschists that their place is in the barracks. They should go to fight the terrorists and not try to kidnap a democratically elected president. So we believe that this for the credibility of echoes, all of us are concerned and involved in this decision. So Id like to thank my former president of ECOWAS, President Tom Barlow. He himself is a former general, democratically elected now to say what we want is democracy in our sub-region. We do not accept, we will not accept coup de tas and I think these putschists must go if they dont let Bazoum out to be able to exercise his mandate. I think we should move ahead and get them out. Bazoum is the democratically elected president. He should be freed, he should be able to exercise his mandate freely. Q: Are you saying this is ECOWASs position? Ouatarra: As you can see I have to leave now. But this is the position most heads of state who have intervened have endorsed. So I want to say I want to insist this is not a Nigerian affair. Its an affair of ECOWAS, and you know Niger is part of the monetary union of West Africa, which I am the chair and this concerns Cote dIvoire on that account. So ECOWAS is even bigger. ECOWAS is nearly 400 million people, 240 million in Nigeria, 140 million in the West African monetary union. So this is 400 million people. If we dont have democracy, do you think that our countries will be able to move ahead? This coup detat is not acceptable. We should put an end to it. And I hope it will be unanimously but well put this to an end. Thank you. ===== President Macky Sall Q: Can you please tell us how the meeting went? Sall: It was a good meeting. Q: Whats your stance as regards the resolution taken? Sall: I support the action that has been proposed by ECOWAS that we do not accept this attempted coup detat http://www.ecowas.int/to stand and that we make every effort to make sure that constitutional order returns to Niger. Q: Why is the position of ECOWAS on Niger different from other sister countries? Sall: If we had made mistakes in the past, we should try to correct it now. There is always a time to get started. I think it was a mistake not to have taken action previously, but now that we are together on this we should take action to make sure that it does not continue. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has replaced his militarys top general and called for increased weapons production, expansion of military drills, and preparations for the possibility of war, according to multiple media reports Thursday. Mr Un made the comments at a meeting of the Central Military Commission, which discussed plans for countermeasures to deter North Koreas enemies. During the meeting, he stressed that the military must acquire more powerful strike means to bolster his nuclear deterrent and make speedier deployments of those weapons to combat units, Associated Press reported. He called for the countrys munitions industry to step up mass production of various weapons and systems, and for the military to actively conduct actual war drills to digest those systems and enhance its war-fighting capabilities, Associated Press quoted KCNA as saying. Last week, the North Korean leader accelerated his weapons demonstrations, which have included the testing firings of more than 100 missiles since the start of 2022, driving tensions on the Korean Peninsula to their highest point in years. Associated Press experts said his nuclear push is aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power so he can eventually negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength. Photos released by KCNA showed Mr Un pointing at Seoul and areas surrounding the South Korean capital on a map. North Korea, which has defied all UN sanctions, is set to stage a militia parade on 9 September, marking the 75th anniversary of the Day of the Foundation of the Republic. North Korea has a number of paramilitary groups it uses to bolster its military forces. On the other hand, the US and South Korea are scheduled to hold military drills between 21 and 24 August, which the North sees as a threat to its security. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Hours after the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) declared its opposition to the use of sanctions and military deployment in Niger, some prominent Islamic scholars met with President Bola Tinubu to seek his permission to mediate the crisis. The clerics led by the national leader of the Jamaa tul Izalatil Bidah wa Iqamatis Sunnah, Sheikh Bala Lau, advised the Nigerian leader against the use of force in Niger. We want to find a lasting solution. We want peace and harmony to reign not only in Nigeria but in the sub-Saharan region and globally. So, the whole Ulama advised Mr President, that we want peace and reconciliation, Mr Lau told journalists after the meeting with the Nigerian leader. He said President Tinubu accepted their offer to intervene in the crisis. Also speaking, the spiritual leader of the Ansarudeen Society of Nigeria, Sheikh Abdurrahaman Ahmad, said Mr Tinubu promised that if we could also talk to the people on the other side, for them to be ready to give concessions, then ECOWAS, that he is chairman of is also ready. Other than that, the president deplored coup detat in the Sahel region, and, as a democrat himself, said he will do everything to ensure that there is democracy, justice, freedom and peace in the sub-region. Mr Ahmad said the Nigerian leader has given us an assignment to also mediate to ensure reconciliation between the warring factions in Niger Republic. After the meeting, another Islamic scholar and former governor of Nigerias central bank, Lamido Sanusi, also met with Mr Tinubu. PREMIUM TIMES reported how Mr Sanusi, earlier on Wednesday, met with the leader of the Niger junta, General Abdourahamane Tchiani. I came to brief him on the details of my discussions with leaders of Niger, Mr Sanusi said after the meeting with the president. Well continue to do our best to bring the two parties together to improve understanding. Mr Sanusi said negotiations to avert a war in Niger should not be left to governments alone. All Nigerians, all Nigeriens need to be involved to find a solution that works for Africa, a solution that works for Niger that works for Nigeria and a solution that works for humanity, he said. Mr Sanusi, the spiritual leader of the Tijaniya Islamic sect in Nigeria, said even though Nigerian officials were aware before he left for Niger, the trip was his initiative and he used his personal contacts. Islamic leaders in the limelight The majority of the population in Niger are Muslims and have cultural and religious ties with Nigerian Muslims, particularly those in Northern Nigeria. The Tijaniya sect that Mr Sanusi leads in Nigeria has millions of members across West Africa, including in Niger. The influence of Nigerian Islamic leaders may have influenced the decision of ECOWAS, led by President Tinubu, to include the head of the NSCIA and Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Abubakar, in a three-person delegation to negotiate with the coup leaders in Niger. However, that delegation, led by ex-Nigerian military ruler Abdulsalami Abubakar was not allowed to see the coup leader, General Tchiani, indicating the complexities in the relationships between the various strata of society in Niger and Nigeria. Mr Tchiani had also refused to meet delegations from the US, AU and the UN. When Mr Sanusi met Mr Tchiani on Wednesday, he was accompanied by the Emir of Damagaram in Zinder, in the Maradi region of Niger. ECOWAS leaders will meet Thursday in Abuja to review the next line of action after the one-week ultimatum given to the Niger coup plotters ended on Sunday. The regional bloc has already imposed sanctions on Niger, including asset freezes and the closure of land and air borders. It has also threatened the use of force if the putschists refuse to return President Mohamed Bazoum to power and if all diplomatic efforts fail. The various meetings and statements by the Nigerian Islamic clerics are to prevent the use of force. Nigeria, Africas largest economy and the largest military in West Africa, will be expected to provide a large chunk of soldiers should ECOWAS decide to use force in Niger. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print A not-for-profit organisation, Egalitarian Mission for Africa (EMA), has urged the ECOWAS Court of Justice in Abuja to stop the planned deployment of military forces against putschists in Niger Republic. Mohamed Bazoum, Nigers elected president, was overthrown by his presidential guards after being held hostage. A coterie of military officers led by General Abdourhamane Tchiani had on 26 July toppled Mr Bazoum at the Presidential Palace in Niamey. Mr Bazoum is being held by the junta in Niger. So far, diplomatic efforts by ECOWAS to restore constitutional order in Niger have failed, prompting the regional body led by Nigerias President Bola Tinubu to issue a one-week ultimatum for the coupists handover power to Mr Bazoum. ECOWAS heads of government at their meeting in Abuja agreed to take military action against the junta should it fail to return Mr Bazoum to power within one week Nigeria and other ECOWAS member states have slapped economic sanctions on the junta. But the Nigerien junta have adamantly held on to power despite the sanctions and threats of military intervention. The junta had also refused to meet with an ECOWAS emissary, heightening the fear that the regional body might be forced to take the military option. Worried by the possible deployment of troops against the junta following the expiration of the ultimatum last Sunday, EMA, through its lawyer, Kayode Ajulo, approached the ECOWAS Court to halt any military intervention in Niger. In court filings, Mr Ajulo listed ECOWAS, the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS, the President of ECOWAS Mission (Mr Tinubu), the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Republic of Niger as defendants. Other plaintiffs in the suit are Bola Akinterinwa, a professor and former Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), and Hamza Dantani, a lawyer. The plaintiffs are urging the court to invoke ECOWAS treaties and other international legal instruments to stop Mr Tinubu and the regional body from intervening militarily in Niger. Invasion breaches ECOWAS treaties In the case filed on 8 August, the plaintiffs argued that ECOWAS intending military action in Niger would amount to aggression which ECOWAS treaties and other international laws prohibit. While condemning the forceful takeover of power in the country, the plaintiffs cautioned that any military intervention might aggravate the crisis with the possibility of spilling over into Nigeria. Seven states in northern Nigeria share borders with Niger Republic. One of the plaintiffs, Hamza Dantani, an indigene of Borno State, traced his ancestry to Niger He (Mr Dantani) has a strong affinity, social and economic ties with Niger, as his family members live on the other side of the border and he has businesses in both countries. His fundamental rights are presently being breached and are in danger of further breach, the court document revealed. The filings further showed that over 300,000 refugees, many Nigerians had fled Niger in the wake of the crisis, adding that any military action would violate their fundamental right to life, right to dignity of human persons and liberty to life. With a population of 25 million people, the plaintiffs noted that any military incursion into the country will have severe humanitarian consequences. The plaintiffs contend that military invasion of Niger would be counter-productive and would ultimately lead to the disintegration of ECOWAS and plunge the sub-region into more violent conflicts to the benefit of foreign powers to sell their arms and further plunder Africas vast natural resources. EMA as a registered Non-Governmental Organization with the sole aim of promoting social justice, peace, stability, rule of law and accountability in West Africa, recommended that tackling the issue requires diplomacy to try and find an amicable solution that will benefit all parties. It further proposed that ECOWAS could suspend Niger from the sub-regional body, until its return to democracy. Prayers The plaintiffs are praying the court declare that ECOWAS failure to prioritise the fundamental human rights of its citizens in their proposed military intervention into the Republic of Niger amounts to the breach of fundamental human rights as encapsulated in the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. In urging the court to grant their reliefs, the defendants cited the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 and the Declaration on the Right to Development 1986. The defendants further asked the court to declare the ECOWAS heads of government resolution to use military intervention with the aim to resolve the coup by the 5th Defendant (Niger) will amount to the breach of the fundamental human rights to life, right to dignity of human person of citizens in the sub-region. They are praying for an order restraining Mr Tinubu, President of the ECOWAS Commission and other defendants from any military invasion or any military action in the Republic of Niger that might undermine the Republic of Nigers sovereignty and territorial integrity. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) has announced the selection of 50 grant recipients who are developing global health and development solutions using artificial intelligence (AI) enabled large language models (LLMs). Each recipient, including four from Nigeria according to the foundation, will receive up to US$100,000 each to advance their research project, for a total of US$5 million in grants. According to an official statement Thursday, the recipients were selected as part of the organisations Grand Challenges Program, a family of initiatives fostering innovation to solve pressing global health and development problems. It said more than 1,300 proposals were received within two weeks of opening application processes, noting that more than 80 per cent of these proposals were from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). It added that the findings of these projects will be shared at the Grand Challenges Annual Meeting in Dakar, Senegal, this October. Improving livelihood The foundation noted that the call for proposals specifically targeted researchers and innovators in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with the goal of reducing global inequity and improving the well-being of communities globally. BMGF in its statement said; The nearly 50 selected projects from 17 LMICs are aligned with the foundations goal of fostering a global innovation ecosystem in places where it will have the most impact. Responsible and safe use of AI-driven LLM technology has the potential to help solve some of the worlds toughest health and development challenges. For these models to be useful in LMICs, BMGF said researchers in LMICs need to participate in the design, application, and testing of this technology as it rapidly evolves. Too often, advances in technology deliver uneven benefits in many parts of the world due to existing patterns of discrimination, inequality, and bias, Juliana Rotich, the co-founder of iHub, an incubator for Nairobis young technology entrepreneurs was quoted as saying. AI is no different, with most of the tools being developed in the Global North using data from lower-resourced regions that are often incomplete or inaccurate, she added. Ms Rotich said to realise the full potential of AI, it must be developed responsibly and ethically, with the needs of the end user in mind. Nigerian innovations As part of the Grand Challenges programme to build upon existing technologies, researchers will work to address a wide range of health and development challenges throughout LMICs. A check on the list of selected projects in Africa, Nigeria has four, while South Africa has the highest with seven projects, followed by Kenya with five. In Nigeria, the projects include a large language model (LLM) tool to support frontline health workers in low-resource settings; integration of a large language model (LLM) for women-centered care; an adaptive learning content for rural students, and leveraging a large language model (LLM) for financial inclusion. In her remarks, the interim deputy director for Technology Diffusion at the Gates Foundation, Zameer Brey, was quoted to have said that the local innovators are harnessing the seismic power of AI and LLMs in ways that can be paradigm-shifting for their local communities and beyond. We believe the most impactful technological advancements include those that begin and end with the people they affect most. Also, Kedest Tesfagiorgis, the deputy director of Global Partnerships and Grand Challenges at BMGF, said: Maximising the potential of AI requires a global community of creative thinkers bringing their unique perspectives and learning from each other. About Grand Challenges According to the foundation, the Grand Challenges family of programmes stems from a century-old idea that crowdsourcing solutions to a defined set of unsolved problems can spark innovation and accelerate progress. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its Grand Challenges funding partners reportedly first used challenges in 2003 to focus attention and effort on pressing global health and development problems for those most in need. Through Grand Challenges, the foundations and partners have awarded more than 3,600 grants to a diverse pool of problem solvers in more than 100 countries, while at the same time fostering a global innovation ecosystem in places where it will have the most impact. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating cases of job racketeering in ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) has issued an arrest warrant against Haruna Kolo, a staffer of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON). The Chairman of the committee, Yusuf Gagdi (APC, Plateau), announced this on Thursday during the sitting of the committee. The committee made the resolution following the non-appearance of Mr Kolo at the hearing. The Federal Character Commission and its Chairman, Muheeba Dankaka, have been in the eyes of the storm over allegation of selling employment slots in federal establishments. Mr Kolo had on Monday, testified before the committee and accused Mrs Dankaka of running an employment ring in the FCC. He confessed to have been used as a front by the Chairperson to collect money from job applicants. Mrs Dankaka denies the allegations. The Committee had directed Mr Kolo to appear again on Tuesday, however, he has refused to do so since then. At the resumption of the hearing on Thursday (today), Mr Gagdi stated that the committee had resolved that the arrest warrant be issued against Mr Kolo. He directed the clerk of the committee to ensure compliance. For Haruna Kolo, the position of this committee is that he would lose his freedom. We will issue a warrant of arrest in respect of Haruna Kolo and compel security agencies to present him before this committee at any given period if he is so arrested. So this committee would communicate officially to the various security agencies, Mr Gagdi said. Power of warrant of arrest Section 89(1d and 2), gives the two chambers of the National Assembly the power to summon and issue warrant of arrest. For the purposes of any investigation under section 88 of this Constitution and subject to the provisions thereof, the Senate or the House of Representatives or a committee appointed in accordance with section 62 of this Constitution shall have power to issue a warrant to compel the attendance of any person who, after having been summoned to attend, fails, refuses or neglects to do so and does not excuse such failure, refusal or neglect to the satisfaction of the House or the committee in question, and order him to pay all costs which may have been occasioned in compelling his attendance or by reason of his failure, refusal or neglect to obey the summons, and also to impose such fine as may be prescribed for any such failure, refused or neglect; and any fine so imposed shall be recoverable in the same manner as a fine imposed by a court of law. (2) A summons or warrant issued under this section may be served or executed by any member of the Nigeria Police Force or by any person authorised in that behalf by the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House of Representatives, as the case may require. Committee summons AMCON, others The Committee also invited the Asset Management Company of Nigeria and several agencies to appear before the Committee on Monday. Mr Gagdi said the Committee will announce the invitation on television and in national dailies. We have made our position very clear and we have resolved to further communicate through newspaper communications today and tomorrow for these agencies to make sure they have cause appearance before this committee. And we are going to make our position very public in various dailies and televisions stations beginning from tomorrow giving agencies the last warning that they should appear before this committee on Monday unfailingly from Monday to Friday. All our witnesses that we have equally asked them to be here are going to appear before us on Monday and Tuesday in continuation to this hearing, he said. The committee, therefore, adjourned its sitting till Monday. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The ongoing meeting of the ECOWAS heads of state is likely to call for more dialogue with the coup leaders in Niger, PREMIUM TIMES can report. This follows the request by ECOWAS chair and Nigerias President, Bola Tinubu, who told his fellow West African leaders that the regional bloc should adopt more dialogue with the putschists rather than deploy the military. In reaffirming our relentless commitment to democracy, human rights, and the well-being of the people of Niger, it is crucial that we prioritize diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach, Mr Tinubu told his fellow West African leaders. We must engage all parties involved, including the coup leaders, in earnest discussions to convince them to relinquish power and reinstate President Bazoum. It is our duty to exhaust all avenues of engagement to ensure a swift return to constitutional governance in Niger. The Nigerian leader acknowledged that some of the steps taken by ECOWAS to dialogue with the coup leaders have not been successful and called for the review of such steps. It is essential to evaluate the effectiveness of our interventions and identify any gaps or challenges that may have hindered progress. Only through this comprehensive assessment can we collectively chart a sustainable path towards lasting peace, stability, and prosperity in Niger, he said. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the junta leader in Niger has refused to meet ECOWAS, AU, UN and US delegations since the regional bloc imposed sanctions on Niger. The sanctions include air and land blockade and asset freezes. Although he refused to meet with the regional leaders, General Abdourahamane Tchiani Wednesday met with Nigerian Lamido Sanusi, an ally of Mr Tinubu, who later briefed the Nigerian leader about his visit. The coup leaders also ignored an ECOWAS ultimatum to return power to ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, who is still being detained. ECOWAS had threatened to use force if its demands were ignored by the coup leaders. However, most Nigerians, including the parliament, trational and religious leaders have opposed the use in force in Niger and called for more dialogue. On Wednesday, the highly influential Nigeria Supreme COuncil for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), also called for the reversal of the sanctions on Niger. The ECOWAS meeting was still ongoing at the time of this report. Read Mr Tinubus full speech below. OPENING REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BOLA AHMED TINUBU, GCFR AT THE SECOND EXTRAORDINARY SUMMIT ON THE SOCIO-POLITICAL SITUATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF NIGER ABUJA, NIGERIA 10THAUGUST,2023 Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government; Your Excellency, the President of the ECOWAS Commission; Your Excellency, President of the African Union Commission; Your Excellency, President of the UEMOA Commission; The Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in West Africa and the Sahel; and Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen. Let me commence by welcoming you all to the Second (2nd) Extraordinary Summit on the Socio-Political Situation in the Republic of Niger, within the space of ten days. Your presence here, despite the short notice, demonstrates the unwavering dedication of our esteemed community to finding a lasting solution to the political situation in the Republic of Niger. 2. Today, we gather with a profound sense of urgency and firm determination, building upon the commitments made during our first Extraordinary Summit, on the grave political crisis befalling our sister nation. During that initial meeting, we voiced our solidarity with the people of Niger and their democratically elected President, H.E Mohamed Bazoum, by condemning the military takeover and the unjust detention of their democratically elected President. Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, 3. As you may recall, we called on the junta to rescind its decision of toppling a legitimate government. We proceeded to impose sanctions with the hope that this resolute measure would serve as a catalyst for the restoration of the constitutional order in Niger. Regrettably, the seven-day ultimatum we issued during the first Summit has not yielded the desired outcome. We have also made diligent efforts through the deployment of various ECOWAS mediation teams, to engage the military junta for a peaceful resolution of the political situation. One of the facilitators, former Head of State of Nigeria, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, would update us on the outcome of his mission to Niamey. 4. Similarly, as part of a coherent diplomatic initiatives, Special Envoys were dispatched to non-ECOWAS nations, particularly Libya and Algeria. During these engagements, the Envoy designated for Libya had the privilege of an audience with the President of Libya. This discourse resulted in an unequivocal expression of support for the resolutions adopted by ECOWAS aimed at restoring constitutional governance in Niger. In Algeria, the Envoy was received by the Minister of Foreign Affairs on behalf of the President of the country. These initiatives are aimed at presenting a cohesive and united stance regarding the ongoing circumstances in Niger, thus showing a collaborative and concerted approach among African nations. Your Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, 5. Following the resolution of our previous Extraordinary Summit to initiate a meeting of the ECOWAS Chiefs of Defense Staff, the meeting of the Chiefs of Staff Committee was duly held from 2nd to 4thAugust, 2023. The outcome of that meeting, as well as a Memorandum by the President of the ECOWAS Commission on current socio-political developments in Niger, will be presented during this Summit. These will offer critical insights that will inform our collective decision-making process at this meeting. 6. Todays Summit provides a significant opportunity to meticulously review and assess the progress made since our last gathering. It is essential to evaluate the effectiveness of our interventions and identify any gaps or challenges that may have hindered progress. Only through this comprehensive assessment can we collectively chart a sustainable path towards lasting peace, stability, and prosperity in Niger. Moreso, in reaffirming our relentless commitment to democracy, human rights, and the well-being of the people of Niger, it is crucial that we prioritize diplomatic negotiations and dialogue as the bedrock of our approach. We must engage all parties involved, including the coup leaders, in earnest discussions to convince them to relinquish power and reinstate President Bazoum. It is our duty to exhaust all avenues of engagement to ensure a swift return to constitutional governance in Niger. 7. More specifically, as leaders of our respective nations, we must recognize that the political crisis in Niger not only poses a threat to the stability of the nation but also has far-reaching implications for the entire West African region. By remaining steadfast in our adherence to the principles of democracy, good governance, and the rule of law, we can restore peace, stability, and prosperity in the Republic of Niger, thereby fostering an environment conducive to growth and development for all. Esteemed Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, 8. I am confident that this 2nd ECOWAS Extraordinary Summit on the Socio-Political Situation in the Republic of Niger will be a defining moment in our journey towards a stronger, more resilient, and integrated West Africa. Let us seize this opportunity to make a lasting impact on the lives of our fellow Africans as we strive to build a future defined by peace, progress, and prosperity. 9. In conclusion, I extend my gratitude to each of you for your attention to this critical issue. I trust that our deliberations will be productive and fruitful, leading us to find an amicable solution to the political crisis in Niger. As we continue to work together in solidarity and harmony, we can ensure a prosperous future for the entire West African region. 10. With these remarks, I hereby declare this Extraordinary Summit open. Thank you all, for your attention. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print President Bola Tinubu still expresses the hope of a peaceful resolution of the crisis in Niger despite the ECOWAS resolution ordering preparation for war. Mr Tinubu made his stance known in his closing remarks to his fellow ECOWAS heads of state at their extraordinary meeting in Abuja. I hope that through our collective efforts, we can bring about a peaceful resolution as a roadmap to restoring stability and democracy in Niger, the Nigerian leader said. And you know Ill see from the communique of this extraordinary summit that no option is taken off the table, including the use of force as a last resort. Mr Tinubus closing remark was shared with journalists by his media team after the meeting. Read the full statement below. I stand before you filled with gratitude and hope, that each some of us have addressed and have exhausted your concern. We have exhibited great membership, dedication and patriotism and have recognized the danger facing our dear neighbour, Niger. I hope that through our collective efforts we can bring about a peaceful resolution as a roadmap to restoring stability and democracy in Niger. READ ALSO: All is not lost yet. The outcome of this summit is a testament to the power of collaboration and unity. We have reaffirmed our commitment to the people of Niger and to the progress of entire ECOWAS community. We will continue with that. And you know Ill see from the communique of this extraordinary summit that no option is taken off the table, including the use of force as a last resort. If we dont do it, no one else we do it for us. We remain steadfast in our commitment to supporting Niger in the journey towards peaceful democratic stability in the country. The road ahead will undoubtedly have challenges but as family, we believe that with our collective result, we can navigate these obstacles and chart a path towards lasting peace and prosperity for Nigerians and ECOWAS. I send my sincere gratitude to all of you, for your dedication and valuable contributions during this extraordinary Summit. Your unwavering commitment to ECOWAS and the welfare of our continent is highly commendable. I want to thank you for your positive remarks and recognition given to me and the government of the people of Nigeria. May our collective efforts pave the way for a brighter future for the Nigerian people and for all Africans. ECOWAS has continued to thrive as a beckon of unity, cooperation and progress in the region. With this, I officially bring the second extraordinary summit on his socio-political situation and the Republic of Nigeria to a close. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has no doubts about receiving F-16 fighter jets. "I have no doubt that F-16s will be in our skies," he said in a video address on Wednesday. According to him, "every day, every week, we work to ensure that our defenders of the sky have more air defense systems and missiles for them. Tomorrow I will continue this work, trying my best to provide more protection for the sky." "Our entire territory needs much more air defense systems than we have now. Step by step, we are turning this 'much more' into concrete capabilities of our Air Force, our anti-aircraft gunners, our mobile firing brigades," he said, noting that "we are also preparing more specifics on modern fighters for our warriors." He also thanked Olaf Scholz for providing additional Patriot installations. "I thank Germany and Mr. Chancellor personally for fulfilling this agreement it will definitely save thousands of lives of our people. It will definitely bring us closer to creating a full-fledged sky shield for Ukraine," Zelenskyy said. The president also said after the meeting of the Staff, "there was also a special communication between our commanders, the Head of the Office, international relations officials and partners to provide our warriors with ammunition and equipment." The Elections Petition Tribunal for National and State House of Assembly sitting in Kano has nullified the election of the member representing Tarauni Federal Constituency, Mukhtar Yarima. The election of Mr Yerima, a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, (NNPP) was annulled over certificate forgery. The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Hafizu Kawu, challenged the election of Mr Yerima, at the tribunal for allegedly forging his primary school certificate. On Thursday, a three-member panel of the tribunal led by I.P Chima, in a two-hour judgment, ruled that the primary school certificate, tendered by Mr Yerima to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was forged. The tribunal held that Hausawa Primary School, which Mr Yarima claimed to have attended had disown the certificate and the lawmaker never attended the school. The tribunal declared all the votes scored by Mr Yarima under NNPP during the election as a waste and consequently returned and declared the petitioner, Mr Kawu of the APC winner for being the second runner-up in the election. READ ALSO: The tribunal ruled that the next person with the highest number of votes is the rightful winner of the election and the candidate should be returned elected. Responding to the judgement, a lawyer representing the APC, Nureini Jimoh, a Senior Advocate of Niger (SAN), welcomed the development while commending the judgement. He said the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) section 66 subsection one subsection (i) stated that anyone who submitted a forged certificate to the electoral commission (INEC) is disqualified from participating in the election from the beginning. Efforts to speak to the NNPP representatives at the tribunal were unsuccessful, as none of them were available to speak to reporters. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Professor Mamman stands as a paragon of excellence, leadership, and unwavering dedication. His journey is an inspiration to aspiring legal professionals and a testament to the transformative power of education, integrity, and a commitment to positive change. Professor Tahir Mamman has just been nominated by President Bola Tinubu as one of his ministers. The academic luminary was successfully screened and confirmed by the National Assembly. A well-deserved nomination as it is, when I tuned in to the live broadcast of the ministerial screening, a captivating scene unfolded. What was supposed to be academic grilling of some sort, turned out be a moment encomium showering. The atmosphere was charged with admiration and respect by the lawmakers, including former students of Prof. Mamman, who stepped forward for testimonies. Their heartfelt testimonials painted a vivid portrait of a dedicated mentor and visionary educator. Senator Mohammed Tahir Monguno, representing Borno North, vividly recounted his days in UNIMAID under Prof. Mammans guidance, while Senator Shehu Lawan Kaka of Borno Central eloquently shared his experiences as a student leader under the professors wise counsel. The hallowed chamber buzzed with a sense of pride and unity, underscoring the profound impact of Prof. Mamman on shaping not only legal minds but also future leaders of our great nation. In the realm of legal luminaries, few names shine as brightly as that of Professor Mamman. With an impressive array of credentials and an unwavering commitment to excellence, he stands as a beacon of integrity and leadership in the legal community. Professor Mammans journey began when he obtained his Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) Degree from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1983. A year later, he graduated from the Nigerian Law School, solidifying his foundation in the legal field. His academic prowess paved the way for a remarkable career that would leave an indelible mark on Nigerias legal landscape. Entering the academic sphere, Prof. Mamman embarked on a path of influence and contribution. He joined the University of Maiduguri where he taught Law, rising to the esteemed position of the Dean of the Faculty of Law. His dedication to legal education was further underscored by his pursuit of a Masters Degree from the University of Warwick and, subsequently, a Ph.D., reinforcing his commitment to continuous learning and academic growth. In 2005, Professor Mamman assumed the role of Director-General of the Nigerian Law School after serving as Deputy Director-General of the Kano Campus, marking a pivotal phase in his career. Over the course of his eight-year tenure, his leadership led to transformative growth and infrastructural development within the institution. His visionary approach and unwavering dedication played a significant role in shaping the future of legal education in Nigeria. Beyond his national impact, Professor Mammans reputation expanded, earning him a place as a recognized member of the prestigious Body of Benchers. His dedication to legal education extended to the global arena, as he served as a board member of the International Association of Law Schools based in Washington. In September 2015, Prof. Mamman was conferred with the esteemed title of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) as a recognition for his exceptional contributions within the legal realm. This recognition underscored his standing as a legal luminary and his profound impact on the legal profession. Presently, Prof. Mamman serves as the Vice-Chancellor of Baze University, situated in the heart of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. His role as an academic leader continues to shape the minds of future legal professionals, instilling in them the values of integrity, excellence, and ethical practice. In recognition of his exceptional contributions, the Federal Government of Nigeria bestowed upon Professor Mamman the national honor of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), a testament to his commitment to nation-building and the advancement of legal education. Prof. Mammans academic and professional journey is a testament to his unwavering commitment to the legal field. His practice areas include Arbitration and Mediation and Corporate and Commercial Law. As an esteemed member of the Nigerian Bar Association and the International Bar Association, Professor Mamman remains at the forefront of legal discourse and innovation. Professor Mamman stands as a paragon of excellence, leadership, and unwavering dedication. His journey is an inspiration to aspiring legal professionals and a testament to the transformative power of education, integrity, and a commitment to positive change. Tinubus astute decision to appoint Professor Tahir Mamman as a minister reflects wisdom and foresight that can significantly contribute to Nigerias development. With a distinguished academic background, leadership experience, and legal acumen, Professor Mammans strategic placement in key ministries holds the promise of advancing the nations progress and addressing complex challenges with innovative solutions. The nation watches with anticipation, eager to witness his ability to evolve from an academic leader to a transformative force that propels Nigeria toward a more prosperous and just future. Gidado Shuaib, a media and communications specialist, is the Editor-In-Chief of the News Digest. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print The death toll of the Thursday nights attack in Heipang, a community in Barikin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State has risen to 21. The spokesperson of Operation Safe Haven, a joint security task force in the state, Ola James, confirmed that 17 persons were killed in the attack. However, the Berom Youth Moulders -Association (BYM) in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Rwang Tengwong, said aside from the 17 people killed in the community, four more bodies, believes to be members of a local vigilantes were recovered. 21 persons have been reportedly killed in an attack in two different villages in Heipang Community of Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, Plateau State by Fulani militia, alongside Bandits. After carrying out the attack in Heipang town, on citing the attackers, vigilante members from Rayogot who were on alert tried to stop them but in the process, four persons were killed. The incident, which ought to have ordinarily been averted, going by the security alerts given out to all relevant bodies including OPSH, but the attacks were still carried out. Prior to the attack, there was a robbery incident along Heipang Highway, killing one person and injuring one. The identity of the criminals was not yet ascertained by all including Security agents, but the entire District has been subjected to impending attacks, which true to fact, was carried out with little or no response to avert it, the statement said. MACBAN debunks allegation The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), in the state, has denied the allegation that the killing was carried out by their members. Nuru Abdullahi, MACBAN chairperson in the state, while responding to the allegation, condemned the incident, describing it as barbaric, and blamed the security agencies for not responding swiftly before the attack was launched. We condemned the attack in its totality. It is also surprising that we are being accused of attacking the community. That is not true. We have learned that there was a warning signal there would be an attack on the community and the security agencies were informed. We are blaming the security for not responding on time. This must be stopped, he said. Governor Mutfuwang expresses grief Meanwhile, the Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang, has expressed deep sadness at what he described as a bloody attack. He also condemned the recent attacks in some villages in Mangu Local Government Area where more lives were lost. In a press statement by his director of Press and Public Affairs, Gyang Bere, the governor appealed to security agencies to double their efforts and put an end to the senseless killings of innocent people in the rural communities of Mangu and Barkin-Ladi. He described the deteriorating security situation in some parts of the state as unfortunate and called for greater collaboration between community leaders and security agencies to prevent further attacks. Mr Mutfwang emphasised the importance of peace and unity among all citizens, regardless of faith or ethnicity, for the development and growth of the state. He expressed sympathy for the affected communities and families of the deceased, assuring them of the governments commitment to addressing the issues. Mr Mutfwang prayed for comfort for the grieving people of Heipang and Mangu and urged them to make use of the security and information centre activated by the state government to communicate security information for prompt intervention. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Governors of the five states in the South-east have said those behind insecurity in the region were criminals and not Biafra agitators. The governors stated this after their over two hours closed-door meeting at the Government House, Enugu on Thursday. In attendance at the meeting was Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State, his Abia State counterpart, Alex Otti, and the host governor, Peter Mbah of Enugu State. Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State and Charles Soludo, his Anambra State counterpart, were also in attendance. Briefing reporters on behalf of the governors, the chairperson of the South-east Governors Forum, Mr Uzodinma, who read out a communique issued at the end of the meeting, said they have firmly resolved to fight insecurity decisively in the region both individually and collectively. He said the governors also resolved to fight the insecurity in partnership with the federal government and other unnamed stakeholders. READ ALSO: We wish to state categorically that the perpetrators of the insecurity in the region and their sponsors are criminals and should not be seen as legitimate (Biafra) agitators. Therefore, upon arrest, they (the perpetrators) should be dealt with in accordance with the laws of the land, he said. The governors also announced that they had resolved to hold a security and economic summit on a date that will be communicated soon. They commended the security agencies for their cooperation so far in the fight against insecurity in the region and urged them not to relent at this time. Background Security has deteriorated in the Igbo-speaking part of the South-east with frequent attacks by armed persons. The attacks often target security agencies, government officials and facilities. Hundreds of people have been killed or injured in such attacks. The Nigerian government has accused the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of being responsible for the deadly attacks in the region. But the group has repeatedly denied any involvement in the attacks. This is the first time the five governors would be meeting to discuss insecurity in the region after the 2023 general elections which saw the election of three of the governors Messrs Mbah, Nwifuru and Otti. PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the meeting focused on how to stop the infamous Monday sit-at-home usually enforced by a faction of the IPOB in the South-east. This newspaper also reported that the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, in late July, via a handwritten letter issued through Aloy Ejimakor, his special counsel, ordered a pro-Biafran agitator, Simon Ekpa, to stop issuing sit-at-home orders in the region. But Mr Ekpa, who has continued to issue the order in the region, described the letter as fake, and maintained that the illegal order would go on until Mr Kanu speaks to him directly in Finland, a North European country, where he (Ekpa) resides. The pro-Biafran agitator leads Autopilot, a faction of the IPOB, a group agitating for an independent state of Biafra which it wants carved out from the south-east and some parts of south-south Nigeria. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print Ijaw and Akoko communities in Ondo State have expressed dissatisfaction with the plan for the creation of new local council development areas (LCDAs) in the state. The state government had sent a bill to the state House of Assembly for breaking the states 18 local givernment areas into 33 LCDAs At a public hearing on the bill on Thursday, leaders of Ijaw communities in Ese-Odo Local Government Area accused the government of trying to give away their ancestral land through the exercise. The communities issued the government a 21-day ultimatum to reverse the alleged ceding of the lands to Irele and Ilaje local government areas in the exercise. They issued the ultimatum during a protest at the state House of Assembly, which on Thursday held a public hearing in Akure on a bill for the creation of the LCDAs. The 33 LCDAs are to be created from the existing 18 local government areas of the state. The Ijaw communities said the exercise as configured would put them at a disadvantage in the state. Led by their traditional rulers, Sunday Amiseghan, the Kalasuwei of Apoi land; and Pere Egbunu, the Agadagba of Arogbo-Ijaw, the communities urged the state government to rescind its decision. READ ALSO: According to the communities, the whole of Okparama 1 and II and Ogidigba were ceded to Ilaje while part of Apoi 4 and 5 were ceded to Irele Local Government Area. They also said instead of ceding parts of their communities in Ese-Odo Local Government Area to other areas, more LCDAs should be created from Ese-Odo. Mr Amiseghan, the Kalasuwei of Apoi land, while addressing journalists during the protest, vowed that the people would resist the ceding of their ancestral land to anyone. We are the only non-Yoruba speaking people in Ondo State. We are ready to defend our cultural and traditional identity, he said. We are making our observations regarding the creation of LCDAs. The Ijaws have been marginalised a long time ago in Ondo State. We are special people in Ondo State because we have bitumen and abundant oil. We should be given special condition. We demand for more LCDAs in Ese-Odo. We will never concede one inch of our land to either Ilaje or Ikale. The Ondo State Government must withdraw that map. The chairman of Ondo branch of the Ijaw National Congress, Bonsuwei Ominidouha, said they would fight against the ceding of their land. We are a peace loving people. We are calling on the Ondo State government to stop the nonsense. INC will fight the course to make sure that one inch of our land will not be ceded, he said. The whole of Okparama 1 and II and Ogidigba are ceded to Ilaje. Part of Apoi 4 and 5 are ceded to Irele Local Government. We do not want to fight with anybody. It was failure of leadership that led to the Ijaw/Ilaje crisis and we do not want a repeat of that war. Also, a group of prominent Akoko indigenes alleged marginalisation of their area in the creation of the new LCDAs. Speaking under the umbrella of Akoko Consultative Forum, the people rejected the proposed LCDAs, saying it was an unfair distribution of the councils. The group noted that while Owo and Ose local government areas are to get eight new LCDAs, Akoko with four local government areas are to get only nine LCDAs. The group said Akoko deserves at least 15 LCDAs. However, the lawmakers assured of fairness as they received presentations from groups and concerned citizens. The state government had also earlier called for calm, saying nothing is final until the assembly concluded its work. Share this: Twitter Facebook WhatsApp Telegram LinkedIn Email Print MARKEL, London, Aug. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Markel, the insurance operations within the Markel Group Inc. (NYSE: MKL), has named Steven Feng as an underwriter for its Warranty and Indemnity (W&I) team. This new arrival forms an integral part of Markel's strategy as the organisation continues to accelerate growth across its W&I portfolio. Steven Feng, Underwriter, Warranty and Indemnity, Markel, London Based at Markel's London office, Feng will report directly to Bryan Dressler, head of W&I at Markel's international insurance business, where he will be responsible for underwriting the tax risks inherent in W&I transactions. Feng's skillset complements the team's existing strengths, which include experience in multiple insurance lines, financial due diligence, and investment rationale expertise, to create a model specifically tailored for small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) transactions in the UK and European Economic Area (EEA). Feng brings a wealth of experience to his underwriting role, having spent more than nine years at professional services firm PwC. After qualifying as an accountant in PWC's Assurance team, he spent almost five years working within the organisation's London Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Tax team, where he advised private equity clients on a variety of mid-market to high value transactions. During this period, he held several senior roles which included senior associate for M&A tax and M&A tax manager, respectively. Speaking of Feng's appointment, Dressler commented: "Markel's W&I business line was established last year with the purpose of being able to systematically assess the primary pillars of W&I risk insurance, financial, legal, and tax due diligence to allow for a streamlined and steady experience for our brokers and insureds. Steven's background in managing tax risks in line with the cadence of M&A fits this foundation perfectly." He concluded: "As an accomplished tax due diligence manager, Steven has the tools and focus to ask the right questions to arrive at the right insurance solutions for our clients at Markel. This will play a crucial role in our plans to continue driving profitable growth for the W&I portfolio and to harness insights from our valuable partnerships with coverholders." About Markel We are Markel, a leading global specialty insurer with a truly people-first approach. As the insurance operations within the Markel Group Inc. (NYSE: MKL), we operate the Markel Specialty, Markel International, and Markel Global Reinsurance divisions, as well as State National, our portfolio protection and program services operations, and Nephila, our insurance-linked securities operations. Our broad array of capabilities and expertise allow us to create intelligent solutions for the most complex risk management needs. However, it is our people and the deep, valued relationships they develop with colleagues, brokers, and clients that differentiates us worldwide. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2182622/Steven_Feng_2023.jpg SOURCE Markel Mayor of Drohobych Taras Kuchma predicts that in a year or two the city authorities will be able to provide housing for all those in need from among internally displaced persons (IDPs). "We conducted a survey, according to the results of which some 90% of all migrants said they need a permanent roof over their heads, because they have nowhere to return... It is clear that it will not be possible to provide everyone with permanent housing in the shortest possible time. Therefore, we have a category when, for example, housing is received by points: if it is a large family or if people have some factors, and then on this scale we form the first priority for housing. I think that in a year or two Drohobych will provide housing for all IDPs who are in this needs," Kuchma told Interfax-Ukraine. He also said approximately 30% of all IDPs in Drohobych have already been employed. "These are those who were unemployed or did not have their own business. In absolute terms, we managed to find 161 people employed. The rest of the people find work for themselves: they open their own small businesses," the mayor said. Earlier, Kuchma said the majority of internally displaced persons (60%), who were taken in by Drohobych merged territorial community after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, are people whose homes and property were destroyed as a result of hostilities and who, accordingly, have nowhere to return. According to him, there are currently about 16,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the community, of which 30% can remain for permanent residence. ACTAVAN was developed in collaboration with Waikaitu; uses plant extracts as a novel active ingredient against fruit rots BEIJING and TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ADAMA Ltd. (SZSE 000553), one of the world's leading crop protection companies, announced the registration of its global bio-control product, ACTAVAN, in Peru. ACTAVAN is ADAMA's first global bio-fungicide developed in collaboration with the New Zealand company Waikaitu Ltd. ACTAVAN uses plant extracts to effectively prevent the occurrence of fruit rots in crops such as grapes, berries, and certain vegetables, while also improving their quality. In addition, ACTAVAN increases the sugar content, peel firmness, size, and weight of the berries, also reducing fruit splitting. As a biological product, ACTAVAN is compatible with organic farming and integrated pest management (IPM) practices ACTAVAN represents a significant innovation in ADAMA's biological offering and complements the existing ADAMA portfolio by providing effective and reliable fungicidal action for all type of farming using a novel active ingredient. "Farmers around the world are searching for an effective bio-fungicide that allows them to incorporate sustainable agricultural practices, and still produce high quality fruits and berries," said Walter Costa, VP Marketing and Product Strategy at ADAMA. "A great collaboration with Waikaitu led to a novel and powerful bio-fungicide that meets both the complex requirements of the value chain, and the high-quality performance standards that fruits and vegetables producers have been waiting for." ACTAVAN is a bio-fungicide that stimulates the plant's immune system at a systemic level and consistently deliver positive results. Additionally, unlike many other fungicides, there is no pre-harvest interval for ACTAVAN, which gives farmers more freedom to plan crop treatment schedules. "We're proud to work together with ADAMA to deliver this vital product that helps farmers maintain the balance of nature," said Alex Pressman, CEO and founder at Waikaitu Ltd. "Sustainable farming is the future for feeding the world's population in a way that is better for the planet and better for business. ACTAVAN leads the way by protecting plants from harmful fungal diseases and improving fruit quality, while still meeting organic and sustainable farming requirements." ACTAVAN is currently registered for use in Peru, and ADAMA expects to register the product in other Latin American countries, and in more regions such as Asia-Pacific and Europe, in the near future. ADAMA has more than 50 biological solutions in its portfolio, such as Bralic, a pesticide based on garlic extract, and Protege, a microbiological nematicide and fungicide. About ADAMA ADAMA Ltd. is a global leader in crop protection, providing solutions to farmers across the world to combat weeds, insects and disease. ADAMA has one of the widest and most diverse portfolios of active ingredients in the world, as well as state-of-the-art R&D, manufacturing and formulation facilities. With a culture that empowers our people to listen to farmers and ideate from the field, ADAMA is uniquely positioned to offer a vast array of distinctive mixtures, formulations and high-quality differentiated products, delivering solutions that meet local farmer and customer needs in over 100 countries globally. For more information, visit us at www.ADAMA.com and follow us on Twitter at @ADAMAAgri. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/799829/Adama_Agricultural_Solutions_Logo.jpg ADAMA Contact: Tal Moise Public Relations Email: [email protected] SOURCE ADAMA Ltd. DUBLIN, Aug. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "AI Use Cases for Technology Vendors and Service Providers" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The report highlights key emerging AI use cases across industry verticals and horizontal business functions and key growth drivers and restraints that impact the AI market. It also offers technology vendors and service providers, with growth opportunities in the areas of industry-specific solution areas, advisory and implementation services, and data management space. Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications have captured the attention of enterprise and consumer segments. AI technology implementation has increased, and it is being adopted across industries and business functions worldwide driving operational efficiencies and creating strategic differentiation. In addition, with the recent disruption in the generative AI technology space, enterprises are constantly looking for use cases with the potential to transform business models, processes, and company functions. From revolutionizing manufacturing processes, automating workflows, and personalizing service portfolios to enhancing customer experience (CX) and augmenting business growth, AI is driving unprecedented changes that are redefining the very fabric of industries. This creates growth opportunities across the information and communication technologies (ICT) ecosystem right from software and application development, and IT services to data management vendors. Key Topics Covered: 1. Strategic Imperatives The Impact of the Top 3 Strategic Imperatives on Artificial Intelligence (AI) 2. Growth Environment Scope of Analysis Technology Definitions AI, A Technology Priority for Global Enterprises AI Adoption Journeys Growth Drivers Growth Restraints Top Reasons for Leveraging AI Across industries 3. Growth Opportunity Analysis by Industry Vertical Key Sectors Adopting AI AI in Healthcare - Use Cases AI in Retail & Wholesale - Use Cases AI in BFSI - Use Cases AI in Manufacturing - Use Cases AI in Travel and Hospitality - Use Cases AI in Transportation & Storage - Use Cases 4. Growth Opportunity Analysis by Business Function AI in Horizontal Business Functions - Use Cases 5. Companies to Watch Company to Watch - Copy.ai Company to watch - Trigo Company to Watch - Workday 6. Growth Opportunity Universe Growth Opportunity 1 - Industry Vertical Solutions Growth Opportunity 2 - AI Advisory and Implementation Services Growth Opportunity 3 - Data Management Services For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/plh3j6 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 From Phoenix, AZ and Atlanta, GA to Barcelona, Spain - Aiper is inspiring homeowners to bring vacation home by transforming the backyard into a personal oasis, one clean pool at a time HGTV Hosts & Designers, Chip and Pauli Wade, join the celebration by sharing their favorite backyarding tips and products ATLANTA, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Aiper, the global creator of innovative, cordless robotic pool cleaners, continues to celebrate the pool season with its first annual Bring Vacation Home Pool Party Tour. This splashy invite-only soiree is part of a series of events designed to not only celebrate summer, but to inspire homeowners to bring vacation home by transforming backyards into the ultimate staycation destination with the help of Aiper's flagship product line, the next generation Seagull Series, which includes the Seagull SE and Seagull Plus as wells the award-winning Seagull Pro. Aiper's Seagull Pro sitting poolside. "We know that pool maintenance can be a time-consuming and work-intensive task, which doesn't feel like a vacation," said Richard Wang, CEO and Founder of Aiper Global. "The pool party tour is our way of not only celebrating summer, but a reminder of how smarter tech solutions can handle the dirty work associated with pool ownership, leaving more time for fun in the sun." The tour kicked off on July 15, 2023, at the Hotel Palomar in Phoenix, Arizona, following the Maricopa County Home & Landscape Show. During the event, attendees enjoyed live music, custom-crafted cocktails, tray-passed hors d'oeuvres and unique performances as well as product demonstrations featuring the Seagull Series. Keeping the party going in August, Aiper along with Modern Luxury Interiors Atlanta and HGTV Hosts & Designers, Chip and Pauli Wade, are making a splash at their Modern Idea Home in the Blue Ridge Mountains for a Pinhoti Peak Exclusive Estate Event and pool party. Expect top-of-the-line brands in attendance, estate tours, Instagram-able moments, interactive food experiences, and product demonstrations. "Pauli and I are thrilled to welcome Aiper into our home as we continue to enjoy the warm weather, good times by the pool, and share our favorite products that make homeownership easier," said Chip Wade, HGTV Host & Designer. "Cleaning our pool was always something I dreaded on my chore list, but I got relief since I discovered Aiper and I'm excited to show our guests how easy it is to use the robot cleaners simply set it and forget." The multi-award-winning Seagull Pro is Aiper's most advanced cleaner, featuring WavePath Navigation Technology for a systematical clean and the world's first quad-motor system to not only suck up debris off the pool floor but gives the robot the ability to climb and clean the pools walls. While the Seagull Pro is ideal for larger-sized pools up to 3,200 square feet, the Seagull Plus is perfect for mid-sized pulls up to 1,300 sq. ft and the Seagull SE is designed for smaller pools up to 850 sq. ft. The Seagull Plus and Seagull SE will thoroughly clean pool floors only. Combining a sleek and hydrodynamic design with easy-of-use, all Aiper robots will self-park at the end of its cleaning cycle and charge like any other smart device. Eco-friendly, Aiper robots also reduce the workload on a pool's filter system thus making it more energy efficient. Later this year, Aiper will be announcing the details for their last pool party tour stop which will be in Barcelona, Spain. For additional information about how to attend the Atlanta pool party contact Aiper and Modern Luxury Interiors via email at [email protected] and [email protected] For more information about Aiper cordless robotic pool cleaners, visit www.Aiper.com. and follow Aiper on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. About Aiper Aiper is the leading global creator of innovative cordless robotic pool cleaners on a mission to Bring Vacation Home by inspiring pool owners to turn their backyards into a personal oasis with the help of smarter cleaning solutions. After doing a deep dive into the pain points of traditional pool cleaners, the company embarked on a path to merge technology with innovative design to create the world's most easy-to-use robotic pool cleaners that are not only cord and hassle-free but can automatically handle all the dirty work so pool owners can stop manually cleaning. Unlike other products on the market, each Aiper robot is guaranteed to minimize the time and money spent laboring cleaning and give more time back to enjoy quality time with friends and family by the pool. Through that, Aiper has earned its place as the world's best cordless robotic pool cleaner since its launch. In 2023, the Aiper Seagull Pro was named a CES 2023 Innovations Award Honoree. SOURCE Aiper NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The airport ground support equipment market size is forecast to increase by USD 1,630.63 million from 2022 to 2027, at a CAGR of 4.27%, according to the recent market study by Technavio. The growth of the market will be driven by the rise in construction and upgradation of airports, the growing construction of cargo terminals, and the modernization of airport GSE. Charts & data tables about market and segment sizes for a historic period of five (2017-2021) years have been covered in this report. Download The Sample Report Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Airport Ground Support Equipment Market Airport Ground Support Equipment Market 2023-2027 Company Scope Technavio has extensively analyzed 15 major companies, including AERO Specialties Inc., Aeroservices Ltd., Alvest SAS, Avia Equipment Pte Ltd., Cavotec SA, China International Marine Containers Group Ltd., Curtis Instruments Inc., ITW GSE ApS, John Bean Technologies Corp., Kalmar Motor AB, Mallaghan GA Inc., MULAG Fahrzeugwerk GmBH u Co. KG, Rheinmetall AG, Sojitz Aerospace Corp., STANGCO Industrial Equipment Inc., Swati Airport Support Services Pvt. Ltd., TCR International N.V., Textron Inc., Tronair Inc., Vestergaard Co., and Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment Co. Ltd. Key Benefits for Industry Players & Stakeholders The report offers information on the criticality of company inputs, including R&D, CAPEX, and technology. It also provides detailed analyses of the market's competitive landscape and the company's product offerings. The report also provides a qualitative and quantitative analysis of companies 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 companies as pure play, category-focused, industry-focused, and diversified; it is quantitatively analyzed to categorize companies as dominant, leading, strong, tentative, and weak. Expand operations in the future - To get requisite details, ask for a custom report. Airport Ground Support Equipment Market - Segmentation Assessment The market is segmented by type (powered airport GSE and non-powered GSE) and geography (APAC, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South America). The aircraft GSE market share growth by the powered airport GSE segment will be significant during the forecast period. This segment includes tugboats, elevators, ground power equipment, refueling equipment, buses, air launchers, personal watercraft, toilet service vehicles, catering vehicles, and de-icing vehicles. Increased air travel and increased freight transport are driving this adoption. Additionally, airlines and airports are shifting from diesel-powered GSEs to electric-powered GSEs, citing the benefits of lower costs and greater flexibility. Due to the increased use of regional aircraft, the demand for motorized airport GSEs at regional airports is also increasing. Hence, these factors are expected to drive segment growth during the forecast period. will be significant during the forecast period. This segment includes tugboats, elevators, ground power equipment, refueling equipment, buses, air launchers, personal watercraft, toilet service vehicles, catering vehicles, and de-icing vehicles. Increased air travel and increased freight transport are driving this adoption. Additionally, airlines and airports are shifting from diesel-powered GSEs to electric-powered GSEs, citing the benefits of lower costs and greater flexibility. Due to the increased use of regional aircraft, the demand for motorized airport GSEs at regional airports is also increasing. Hence, these factors are expected to drive segment growth during the forecast period. North America is projected to contribute 31% by 2027. In North America, the aircraft manufacturing supply chain includes several prominent companies, resulting in increased GSE manufacturing activity for aircraft and airports. The region's aviation market is mature and driven primarily by strong aviation industries in countries such as the US. Hence, these factors are expected to drive segment growth in the region during the forecast period. To get detailed insights about inclusions and exclusions, buy the report Airport Ground Support Equipment Market Market Dynamics Key Driver The rise in the construction and upgrades of airports is a key factor driving market growth. The number of air passengers is increasing due to the economic development of emerging countries such as India, China, and Indonesia and the growth of the tourism industry. Furthermore, countries such as Spain, China, Italy, the UK, Germany, and Thailand have seen an increase in tourism, which has encouraged investment in new airport construction and improvements. As a result, the demand for airport ground support equipment (GSE) has increased, creating a growth opportunity for market companies. Thus, these factors are expected to drive market growth during the forecast period. Major Trends The growing adoption of GSE pooling is a major trend in the market. Rising passenger numbers and the desire for smooth and punctual operations are driving airports and airlines to seek effective and cost-effective solutions. GSE pooling is a ground-handling approach used by airport operators to improve efficiency and reduce costs. As peak demand varies by airline and handler, excess GSE is often stored at airports, taking up unnecessary space and disrupting operations. Therefore, major airports worldwide are embracing the GSE pooling concept. Hence, these factors are expected to drive market growth during the forecast period. Significant Challenges The cost pressure on airport GSE manufacturers is a significant challenge restricting the market growth. Airport component manufacturers face challenges in producing cost-effective, high-quality parts. To succeed in this competitive market, GSE manufacturers must adopt growth strategies. Intense competition and growing consumer demand require us to meet stringent cost targets while ensuring profitability. A small supplier base due to industry consolidation is forcing suppliers to diversify their offerings, which is capital intensive, creates new requirements such as new part design and development, and makes cost control difficult. Hence, these factors are expected to restrict 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! What are the key data covered in this Airport Ground Support Equipment Market report? CAGR of the market during the forecast period Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the airport ground support equipment market between 2023 and 2027 Precise estimation of the size of the airport ground support equipment market and its contribution to the market in focus on the parent market Accurate predictions about upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior Growth of the airport ground support equipment 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 companies Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of airport ground support equipment market companies. Gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Related Reports The airport handling services market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 6.8% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by USD 56.02 billion. Furthermore, this report extensively covers market segmentation by type (international and domestic), service (GSHS and CHS), and geography (APAC, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South America). The increasing infrastructure developments in the aviation industry is a key factor driving the growth of the market. The air cargo market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 5.32% between 2022 and 2027. The size of the market is forecast to increase by 19.52 million tons. Furthermore, this report extensively covers market segmentation by end-user (manufacturing, FMCG and retail, pharmaceuticals and chemicals, and other industries), type (belly cargo, freighter), and geography (APAC, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and South America). The increase in e-commerce sales to boost the air cargo market is a key factor driving the growth of the market. Airport Ground Support Equipment Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 4.27% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 1,630.63 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 3.28 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 31% Key countries US, Canada, China, Germany, and UK Competitive landscape Leading Companies, Market Positioning of Companies, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled AERO Specialties Inc., Aeroservices Ltd., Alvest SAS, Avia Equipment Pte Ltd., Cavotec SA, China International Marine Containers Group Ltd., Curtis Instruments Inc., ITW GSE ApS, John Bean Technologies Corp., Kalmar Motor AB, Mallaghan GA Inc., MULAG Fahrzeugwerk GmBH u Co. KG, Rheinmetall AG, Sojitz Aerospace Corp., STANGCO Industrial Equipment Inc., Swati Airport Support Services Pvt. Ltd., TCR International N.V., Textron Inc., Tronair Inc., Vestergaard Co., and Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment 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 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 Power Rating Exhibit 07: Executive Summary Chart on Incremental Growth Exhibit 08: Executive Summary Data Table on Incremental Growth Exhibit 09: Executive Summary Chart on Company 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 companies 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 airport ground support equipment market 2017 - 2021 Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size Data Table on Global airport ground support equipment market 2017 - 2021 ($ million) 4.2 Type Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021 Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size Type Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million) 4.3 Power rating Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021 Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size Power rating 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 between2022 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 Powered airport GSE - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 34: Chart on Powered airport GSE - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 35: Data Table on Powered airport GSE - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 36: Chart on Powered airport GSE - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 37: Data Table on Powered airport GSE - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 6.4 Non-powered GSE - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 38: Chart on Non-powered GSE - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 39: Data Table on Non-powered GSE - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 40: Chart on Non-powered GSE - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 41: Data Table on Non-powered GSE - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 6.5 Market opportunity by Type Exhibit 42: Market opportunity by Type ($ million) 7 Market Segmentation by Power Rating 7.1 Market segments Exhibit 43: Chart on Power Rating - Market share 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 44: Data Table on Power Rating - Market share 2022-2027 (%) 7.2 Comparison by Power Rating Exhibit 45: Chart on Comparison by Power Rating Exhibit 46: Data Table on Comparison by Power Rating 7.3 Electric - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 47: Chart on Electric - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 48: Data Table on Electric - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 49: Chart on Electric - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 50: Data Table on Electric - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 7.4 Non-electric - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 51: Chart on Non-electric - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 52: Data Table on Non-electric - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 53: Chart on Non-electric - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 54: Data Table on Non-electric - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 7.5 Hybrid - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 55: Chart on Hybrid - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 56: Data Table on Hybrid - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 57: Chart on Hybrid - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 58: Data Table on Hybrid - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 7.6 Market opportunity by Power Rating Exhibit 59: Market opportunity by Power Rating ($ million) 8 Customer Landscape 8.1 Customer landscape overview Exhibit 60: Analysis of price sensitivity, lifecycle, customer purchase basket, adoption rates, and purchase criteria 9 Geographic Landscape 9.1 Geographic segmentation Exhibit 61: Chart on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 62: Data Table on Market share by geography 2022-2027 (%) 9.2 Geographic comparison Exhibit 63: Chart on Geographic comparison Exhibit 64: Data Table on Geographic comparison 9.3 North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 65: Chart on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 66: Data Table on North America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 67: Chart on North America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 68: 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 69: Chart on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 70: Data Table on Europe - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 71: Chart on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 72: Data Table on Europe - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.5 APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 73: Chart on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 74: Data Table on APAC - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 75: Chart on APAC - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 76: 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 77: Chart on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 78: Data Table on South America - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 79: Chart on South America - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 80: 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 81: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 82: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) and - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 83: Chart on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) and - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 84: Data Table on Middle East and Africa - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.8 US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 85: Chart on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 86: Data Table on US - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 87: Chart on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 88: Data Table on US - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.9 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 89: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 90: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 91: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 92: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.10 Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 93: Chart on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 94: Data Table on Germany - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 95: Chart on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 96: Data Table on Germany - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.11 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 97: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 98: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 99: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 100: Data Table on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.12 Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 101: Chart on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 102: Data Table on Canada - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 103: Chart on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 104: Data Table on Canada - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.13 Market opportunity by geography Exhibit 105: Market opportunity by geography ($ million) 10 Drivers, Challenges, and Trends 10.1 Market drivers 10.2 Market challenges 10.3 Impact of drivers and challenges Exhibit 106: Impact of drivers and challenges in 2022 and 2027 10.4 Market trends 11 Company Landscape 11.1 Overview 11.2 Company landscape Exhibit 107: Overview on Criticality of inputs and Factors of differentiation 11.3 Landscape disruption Exhibit 108: Overview on factors of disruption 11.4 Industry risks Exhibit 109: Impact of key risks on business 12 Company Analysis 12.1 Companies covered Exhibit 110: Companies covered 12.2 Market positioning of companies Exhibit 111: Matrix on company position and classification 12.3 AERO Specialties Inc. Exhibit 112: AERO Specialties Inc. - Overview Exhibit 113: AERO Specialties Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 114: AERO Specialties Inc. - Key offerings 12.4 Alvest SAS Exhibit 115: Alvest SAS - Overview Exhibit 116: Alvest SAS - Product / Service Exhibit 117: Alvest SAS - Key news Exhibit 118: Alvest SAS - Key offerings 12.5 Cavotec SA Exhibit 119: Cavotec SA - Overview Exhibit 120: Cavotec SA - Business segments Exhibit 121: Cavotec SA - Key offerings Exhibit 122: Cavotec SA - Segment focus 12.6 Curtis Instruments Inc. Exhibit 123: Curtis Instruments Inc. - Overview Exhibit 124: Curtis Instruments Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 125: Curtis Instruments Inc. - Key offerings 12.7 ITW GSE ApS Exhibit 126: ITW GSE ApS - Overview Exhibit 127: ITW GSE ApS - Product / Service Exhibit 128: ITW GSE ApS - Key news Exhibit 129: ITW GSE ApS - Key offerings 12.8 John Bean Technologies Corp. Exhibit 130: John Bean Technologies Corp. - Overview Exhibit 131: John Bean Technologies Corp. - Business segments Exhibit 132: John Bean Technologies Corp. - Key offerings Exhibit 133: John Bean Technologies Corp. - Segment focus 12.9 Mallaghan GA Inc. Exhibit 134: Mallaghan GA Inc. - Overview Exhibit 135: Mallaghan GA Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 136: Mallaghan GA Inc. - Key news Exhibit 137: Mallaghan GA Inc. - Key offerings 12.10 MULAG Fahrzeugwerk GmBH u Co. KG Exhibit 138: MULAG Fahrzeugwerk GmBH u Co. KG - Overview Exhibit 139: MULAG Fahrzeugwerk GmBH u Co. KG - Product / Service Exhibit 140: MULAG Fahrzeugwerk GmBH u Co. KG - Key offerings 12.11 Rheinmetall AG Exhibit 141: Rheinmetall AG - Overview Exhibit 142: Rheinmetall AG - Business segments Exhibit 143: Rheinmetall AG - Key news Exhibit 144: Rheinmetall AG - Key offerings Exhibit 145: Rheinmetall AG - Segment focus 12.12 Sojitz Aerospace Corp. Exhibit 146: Sojitz Aerospace Corp. - Overview Exhibit 147: Sojitz Aerospace Corp. - Product / Service Exhibit 148: Sojitz Aerospace Corp. - Key offerings 12.13 TCR International N.V. Exhibit 149: TCR International N.V. - Overview Exhibit 150: TCR International N.V. - Product / Service Exhibit 151: TCR International N.V. - Key offerings 12.14 Textron Inc. Exhibit 152: Textron Inc. - Overview Exhibit 153: Textron Inc. - Business segments Exhibit 154: Textron Inc. - Key offerings Exhibit 155: Textron Inc. - Segment focus 12.15 Tronair Inc. Exhibit 156: Tronair Inc. - Overview Exhibit 157: Tronair Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 158: Tronair Inc. - Key offerings 12.16 Vestergaard Co. Exhibit 159: Vestergaard Co. - Overview Exhibit 160: Vestergaard Co. - Product / Service Exhibit 161: Vestergaard Co. - Key news Exhibit 162: Vestergaard Co. - Key offerings 12.17 Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment Co. Ltd Exhibit 163: Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment Co. Ltd - Overview Exhibit 164: Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment Co. Ltd - Product / Service Exhibit 165: Weihai Guangtai Airport Equipment Co. Ltd - Key offerings 13 Appendix 13.1 Scope of the report 13.2 Inclusions and exclusions checklist Exhibit 166: Inclusions checklist Exhibit 167: Exclusions checklist 13.3 Currency conversion rates for US$ Exhibit 168: Currency conversion rates for US$ 13.4 Research methodology Exhibit 169: Research methodology Exhibit 170: Validation techniques employed for market sizing Exhibit 171: Information sources 13.5 List of abbreviations Exhibit 172: 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 CHICAGO, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In the near future, the animal genetics industry is poised to undergo a transformative revolution, driven by rapid advancements in genomics, biotechnology, and data analytics. This industry will witness the emergence of cutting-edge techniques such as precision breeding, gene editing, and synthetic biology, enabling the tailored enhancement of livestock traits for improved productivity, disease resistance, and environmental sustainability. Ethical considerations and regulatory frameworks will play a pivotal role in shaping the direction of this industry, ensuring that breakthroughs are balanced with responsible practices. As genetic insights continue to unravel, the animal genetics sector will likely foster collaborations between biotech companies, research institutions, and agricultural stakeholders to create a more resilient and efficient global food supply chain. Animal Genetics Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $6.6 billion in 2023 and is poised to reach $9.5 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 7.4% from 2023 to 2028 according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. Factors such as better accessibility to technologies and well-established distribution channels drive growth in the developed markets across Europe and North America. Moreover, the growing demand for livestock food products has driven the need for genetic materials and live animals, as breeders and the animal food products industry seek higher productivity standards. Download an Illustrative overview: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=12462093 Browse in-depth TOC on "Animal Genetics Market" 283 - Tables 77 - Figures 168 - Pages Animal Genetics Market Scope: Report Coverage Details Market Revenue in 2023 $6.6 billion Estimated Value by 2028 $9.5 billion Growth Rate Poised to grow at a CAGR of 7.4% Market Size Available for 20212028 Forecast Period 20232028 Forecast Units Value (USD Billion) Report Coverage Revenue Forecast, Competitive Landscape, Growth Factors, and Trends Segments Covered By product & service Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa Report Highlights Updated financial information / product portfolio of players Key Market Opportunities Innovations in phenotyping services Key Market Drivers Growing global population and rapid urbanization Live animals segment accounted for the largest share of the animal genetics market. The animal genetic products segment is categorized into live animals and genetic materials. In 2022, the live animals segment commanded the largest share of the animal genetics market. This is attributed to the high demand for live animals to breed generations with high-productivity traits, high maternity ability, high growth rates, and feed efficiencies. Also, growing demand for animal proteins, the rising awareness of the benefits of genetic improvement in livestock, and the technological advancements in animal breeding are further boosting the market growth. The key players in the live animal genetics market are Genus plc, EW Group, , Cobb-Vantress, Topigs Norsvin, and Hendrix Genetics. The poultry segment accounted for the largest share of the animal genetics market. The live animal segment is segmented into canine, poultry, porcine, bovine, and other live animals. The poultry segment accounted for largest share of the live animal market in 2022. The high demand for poultry meat and eggs in developed countries and the increasing demand for the same in developing countries due to the growing population and rapid urbanization drive the growth of the poultry segment. Europe accounted for the largest share of the animal genetics market. The global animal genetics market is segmented into North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. In 2022, Europe accounted for the largest share of the animal genetics market, followed by North America and Asia Pacific. Market growth is driven by the need to improve livestock productivity, growing demand for animal food products, and the high intake of animal-derived proteins. Request Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=12462093 Animal Genetics Market Dynamics: Drivers: Growing global population and rapid urbanization Restraints: The emergence of alternative such as lab-based meat Opportunities: Innovations in phenotyping services Challenges: Economic sustainability in local breeds Key Market Players: Some of the major market players in the animal genetics market include Neogen Corporation (US), Genus (Uk), Urus (US), EW Group Gmbh (Germany), Groupe Grimaud (France). Recent Developments: In March 2023 , URUS Group collaborated with Genetics Australia. The JV will be 60 percent owned by URUS and 40 percent owned by Genetics Australia (GA). It will have access to the full suite of GENEX products and access to the PEAK program. , URUS Group collaborated with Genetics Australia. The JV will be 60 percent owned by URUS and 40 percent owned by Genetics Australia (GA). It will have access to the full suite of GENEX products and access to the PEAK program. In January 2023 , Zoetis collaborated with VAS to give farmers better compatibility crossover between Vas's PULSE platform, a broad farm management cloud-based software, and DairyComp, a herd health system with Zoetis's CLARIFIDE genetic and fertility testing. Get 10% Free Customization on this Report: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestCustomizationNew.asp?id=12462093 Animal Genetics Market Advantages: Improved Productivity: Animal genetics advancements enable the breeding of livestock with enhanced traits such as faster growth rates, increased milk or egg production, and efficient feed conversion, leading to higher overall agricultural productivity. Disease Resistance: Selective breeding and genetic engineering allow for the development of animals with increased resistance to diseases, reducing the need for antibiotics and minimizing disease-related economic losses. Quality Enhancement: Genetic improvements can lead to better meat quality, improved taste, tenderness, and nutritional content, meeting consumer demands for high-quality and nutritious products. Environmental Sustainability: By breeding animals that require fewer resources, produce less waste, and emit fewer greenhouse gases, the industry contributes to more sustainable and eco-friendly farming practices. Resource Efficiency: Animal genetics helps optimize resource utilization by minimizing inputs such as feed, water, and land while maximizing outputs, thus reducing the overall environmental impact of agriculture. Biodiversity Preservation: Focused breeding programs can help conserve and protect endangered or rare animal breeds, maintaining biodiversity within livestock populations. Reduced Food Insecurity: Enhanced genetics lead to increased food production, helping to address global food security challenges and ensuring a stable supply of animal-derived products. Economic Benefits: Farmers can benefit from increased profitability due to improved yields, reduced mortality rates, and access to premium markets willing to pay for genetically superior products. Human Health Research: Studying animal genetics can provide insights into human genetics and diseases, contributing to advancements in medicine and biotechnology. Innovation and Technological Progress: The animal genetics market drives technological innovation, fostering collaborations between biotech firms, researchers, and agricultural stakeholders to develop cutting-edge solutions. Customization: Advances in gene editing and synthetic biology enable the customization of animal genetics to meet specific market demands and consumer preferences. Ethical Considerations: Ethical practices within the industry, such as ensuring animal welfare and addressing potential concerns, help create a more responsible and transparent approach to genetic enhancements. In summary, the animal genetics market offers a range of advantages that encompass improved agricultural productivity, environmental sustainability, economic growth, and ethical considerations, ultimately contributing to the development of a more resilient and responsible global food system. Related Reports: Veterinary Equipment Market - Global Forecasts to 2027 Veterinary Diagnostics Market - Global Forecasts to 2027 Veterinary Reference Laboratory Market - Global Forecasts to 2027 Companion Animal Pharmaceuticals Market - Global Forecasts to 2027 Next Generation Sequencing Market - Global Forecasts to 2027 About MarketsandMarkets: MarketsandMarkets is a blue ocean alternative in growth consulting and program management, leveraging a man-machine offering to drive supernormal growth for progressive organizations in the B2B space. We have the widest lens on emerging technologies, making us proficient in co-creating supernormal growth for clients. The B2B economy is witnessing the emergence of $25 trillion of new revenue streams that are substituting existing revenue streams in this decade alone. We work with clients on growth programs, helping them monetize this $25 trillion opportunity through our service lines - TAM Expansion, Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy to Execution, Market Share Gain, Account Enablement, and Thought Leadership Marketing. Built on the 'GIVE Growth' principle, we work with several Forbes Global 2000 B2B companies - helping them stay relevant in a disruptive ecosystem. Our insights and strategies are molded by our industry experts, cutting-edge AI-powered Market Intelligence Cloud, and years of research. The KnowledgeStore (our Market Intelligence Cloud) integrates our research, facilitates an analysis of interconnections through a set of applications, helping clients look at the entire ecosystem and understand the revenue shifts happening in their industry. To find out more, visit www.MarketsandMarkets.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Contact: Mr. Aashish Mehra MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/animal-genetic-market.asp Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/animal-genetic.asp Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg SOURCE MarketsandMarkets Second Quarter Signings and Openings Fuel Growth for Industry's First and Largest Upscale Soft Brand ROCKVILLE, Md., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Ascend Hotel Collection, part of Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), continued 2023 with an impressive second quarter, reinforcing its position as the largest single collection of independent hotels worldwide. The Collection awarded six new agreements and added seven new properties to its domestic portfolio in the second quarter of 2023, providing guests with even more options coast to coast. Ascend Hotel Collection. (PRNewsfoto/Choice Hotels International) These new properties will be backed by the power of Choice Privileges, the award-winning loyalty program where members earn points on eligible charges during their stay, which can be redeemed for reward nights at approximately 7,500 hotels, representing nearly 630,000 rooms, in 46 countries and territories worldwide. With the Choice Privileges Mastercard, members can earn more points faster, including on everyday purchases, and use those points toward a stay at one of the Collection's properties in new, key markets. Recent signings include properties in popular destinations across the United States, including: Three Bears Resort in Warren, Wisconsin . This is the second Ascend property developed by S&L Hospitality, joining The Harborview in Port Washington, WI , and the 6th Choice property under management by the group. . This is the second Ascend property developed by S&L Hospitality, joining The in , and the 6th Choice property under management by the group. A 44-room property in Red River, New Mexico within walking distance from Red River Canyon and Old Town . within walking distance from Red River Canyon and . The Bradford Hotel in Springfield, Missouri . This 49-room property in the Medical Mile is developed by Elliot Lodging, adding to a lineup of five existing Choice properties. . This 49-room property in the Medical Mile is developed by Elliot Lodging, adding to a lineup of five existing Choice properties. La Creole Inn & Suites in Lafayette, Louisiana , a new construction developed by Pride Opportunity Developers. , a new construction developed by Pride Opportunity Developers. Black Bear Inn in Orono, Maine . This 68-room property is the latest addition by New England Hospitality to the Collection. "In addition to continuing to welcome new franchisees to the Collection, we are proud to see existing Choice owners increase their footprint following their continued success with Ascend and other Choice brands," said Mark Shalala, senior vice president, franchise development, upscale brands, Choice Hotels. "Since the Collection's inception 15 years ago, we've been committed to helping owners run profitable businesses while maintaining operational independence, providing unmatched support from Choice's industry-leading technology and robust distribution platform." Recent openings to the Ascend Hotel Collection include unique locations, from alpine resorts to lakeside retreats including: "From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the scenic shores of Lake Michigan, these new hotels are a great representation of the unique offerings guests have come to expect and value from Ascend," said Indy Adenaw, senior vice president and general manager, upscale brands, Choice Hotels. "As we approach a curated collection of over 360 unique hotels and resorts around the world, we look forward to welcoming even more guests, so they can experience our exceptional service and upscale offerings that enhance their exploration of the destination." Choice Hotels is an industry challenger within the upscale segment with brands Ascend Hotel Collection, Radisson and Cambria Hotels. These upscale brands enable Choice Hotels to meet guests' needs in more places and for more occasions while driving more value for owners. Additionally, Choice Hotels, with a franchisee-first focus and an industry-leading retention rate, has been committed to providing its hotel owners with the support they need to succeed since it launched the country's first hotel chain in 1941. Today, Choice offers franchisees a suite of proprietary cutting-edge cloud-based solutions, including the choiceADVANTAGE property management system, the choiceEDGE guest reservation platform, and ChoiceMAX, a mobile-friendly revenue management tool that continuously adapts to changes in the market using real-time data. Additionally, the award-winning Choice University educational platform delivers customized and always evolving learning and development resources. From pre-opening to grand opening and every day forward, Choice provides hotel owners with best-in-class resources to help them maximize the return on their investment. Ascend Hotel Collection: Let the Destination Reach You. The Ascend Hotel Collection is a global portfolio of independent resort, historic and boutique hotels. Recognized as the hotel industry's first "soft brand" concept, there are more than 360 Ascend Hotel Collection properties worldwide, open or in the pipeline, including in Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Japan, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ecuador, Mexico and throughout the Caribbean. Membership with the Ascend Hotel Collection enables distinctive, independent properties to gain a global presence while maintaining their local charm. For more information, visit https://www.choicehotels.com/ascend. About Choice Hotels Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is one of the largest lodging franchisors in the world. The challenger in the upscale segment and a leader in midscale and extended stay, Choice has approximately 7,500 hotels, representing nearly 630,000 rooms, in 46 countries and territories. A diverse portfolio of 22 brands that run the gamut from full-service upper upscale properties to midscale, extended stay and economy enables Choice to meet travelers' needs in more places and for more occasions while driving more value for franchise owners and shareholders. The award-winning Choice Privileges loyalty program and co-brand credit card options provide members with a fast and easy way to earn reward nights and personalized perks. For more information, visit www.choicehotels.com. Addendum This is not an offering. No offer or sale of a franchise will be made except by a Franchise Disclosure Document first filed and registered with applicable state authorities. A copy of the Franchise Disclosure Document can be obtained through contacting Choice Hotels International at 1 Choice Hotels Circle, Suite 400, Rockville, MD 20850, [email protected]. 2023 Choice Hotels International, Inc. All Rights Reserved SOURCE Choice Hotels International, Inc. Pennsylvania 811 encourages everyone to contact 811 three business days before digging to avoid damaging buried utilities WEST MIFFLIN, Pa., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Aug. 11 is almost here, and with over 50 years of service to the Commonwealth, Pennsylvania One Call System hopes that the 8/11 date on the calendar will serve as a natural reminder for residents to contact 811 prior to any digging project to have underground utility lines marked. Every few minutes an underground utility line is damaged because someone decided to dig without first contacting 811. Planting a tree? Replacing a mailbox post? New fence or deck? Avoid service interruptions or injury by notifying 8-1-1 at least 3 business days before you dig. When contacting 811, homeowners and contractors are connected to Pennsylvania One Call System, the local 811 center, which notifies the appropriate utility companies of their intent to dig. Professional locators then arrive at the dig site to mark the approximate locations of underground lines with flags, spray paint or both. Striking a single line can cause injury, repair costs, inconvenient outages and fines. Every digging project, no matter how large or small, warrants contacting 811 by phone or online. Installing a mailbox, building a deck, planting a tree and laying a patio are just some examples of digging projects that require an 811 request at least three days before breaking ground. "On Aug. 11 and throughout the year, we remind homeowners and professional contractors alike to use the 811 service before digging to reduce the risk of striking an underground utility line," said Bill Kiger, President & CEO for Pennsylvania One Call System. "Calling 811 or visiting www.paonecall.org is really the only way to know which utilities are buried in your area so that you can dig safely." The depth of utility lines can vary for a number of reasons, such as erosion, previous digging projects and uneven surfaces. Utility lines need to be properly marked because even when digging only a few inches or digging in a location that's previously been marked, the risk of striking an underground utility line still exists. Visit www.paonecall.org for more information about 811 and safe digging practices. SOURCE Pennsylvania One Call System, Inc. NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Technavio, a leading provider of industry news and insights, is pleased to announce its latest report on the Blockchain Technology Market. The report highlights the estimated growth and forecast for the market between 2022 and 2027, predicting an increase in market size of USD 11,047.61 million and a rise at a CAGR of 32.72%. Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Blockchain Technology Market 2023-2027 Blockchain technology is driving growth in the energy market through its role in enhancing power grid reliability. By modernizing grids and enabling early failure detection, it optimizes performance and reduces downtime. The rise of Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) further fuels this growth by ensuring secure record-keeping and transparency. Despite initial costs, blockchain's potential in mitigating grid failures and ensuring data security continues to propel its adoption and expansion in the energy sector. The European region, notably the UK, Germany, and Russia, is set to be a focal point of this growth, contributing 38% to the market's overall advancement. YoY growth 2022-2023(%) 30.56 Key Countries North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa The report provides comprehensive insights into the market, and it is segmented by end-user (BFSI, government, healthcare, and others), type (private, public, and hybrid), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa). This segmentation provides a comprehensive view of the market, encompassing diverse communication solutions and regions. Furthermore, it examines key trends shaping companies' landscape and identifies potential challenges faced by market players. To get insights into the key trends, download the sample report here! The major Blockchain Technology Market companies include Amazon.com Inc, Accenture Plc, Amcon Soft, Ara Soft Group LLC, Capgemini Service SAS, Cargoledger, ConsenSys Software Inc., Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd., HCL Technologies Ltd., Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Infosys Ltd., Intel Corp., International Business Machines Corp., OpenLedger and Oracle Corp. These companies are actively implementing various strategies, such as strategic alliances, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, geographical expansion, and product launches, to enhance their presence and competitiveness in Blockchain Technology Market. The blockchain technology in the energy market is driven by its application in bolstering power grid reliability and the rising adoption of Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS). The integration of blockchain to proactively detect and address power grid failures holds promise for optimizing performance, albeit with initial implementation costs. The emerging trend of BaaS, with its focus on enhanced security and transparency, is further propelling market expansion. Europe, particularly prominent markets like the UK, Germany, and Russia, is set to play a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of blockchain's impact on the energy sector, ushering in a more resilient and efficient energy landscape. Technavio provides a report that includes competitive intelligence, highlighting major players' key developments and growth strategies, enabling stakeholders to make informed decisions and stay competitive in the market. To buy the complete report on Blockchain Technology Market, click here. Below, are other reports you might be interested with: Blockchain Technology in Healthcare Market: Blockchain technology in healthcare market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 32.79% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecasted to increase by USD 1,939.31 million. This report covers market segmentation by type (private, public, and hybrid), end-user (pharmaceutical and medical device companies, healthcare payers, and healthcare providers), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa). Blockchain Technology in Energy Market: The blockchain technology in energy market share is expected to increase by USD 919.5 million from 2021 to 2026, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 66.37%. This report covers market segmentation by end-user (power and oil and gas) and geography (Europe, North America, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America). About Technavio: Technavio is a trusted source for industry news and insights that help businesses stay ahead in today's competitive landscape. With a team of experienced analysts and researchers, we continuously scrutinize and evaluate the dynamic landscape of markets across the globe. Our comprehensive coverage, meticulous research methodologies, and pragmatic industry expertise have earned us the trust and reliance of a vast clientele, including over 100 esteemed Fortune 500 organizations. SOURCE Technavio Blue Compass Gives Away a New RV to Local Mechanic FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Compass RV celebrated the sale of its 150,000th RV in July by giving away a 2023 Jay Flight 264BH to a local mechanic and his family at our Blue Compass RV dealership in Cincinnati. Blue Compass CEO Jon Ferrando surprises customer by giving away 2023 Jay Flight 264BH Blue Compass RV celebrated the sale of its 150,000th RV in July by giving away a 2023 Jay Flight 264BH to a local mechanic and his family at the Blue Compass RV dealership in Cincinnati with store associates and CEO Jon Ferrando "This is an incredible milestone for our company to sell over 150,000 RVs in a little over five years, continuing our momentum as the fastest RV company to achieve this mark," said Jon Ferrando, Founder, President and CEO. "All of our associates helped us attain this historic milestone in record time. Last year we gave away our 100,000th RV sold to a deserving military veteran." "We surprised our customer, by ripping up the contract and giving away the 2023 Jay Flight 264BH he was purchasing to go on trips with his family. Thank you to our customers and associates for making this happen, along with Ken Walters and his team at Jayco for helping us give this unit away to a deserving family," added Jon Ferrando. To learn more about Blue Compass RV, please visit: https://www.bluecompassrv.com . ABOUT BLUE COMPASS RV: Blue Compass RV is the fastest growing RV retail company in the United States with a mission to provide an exceptional sales, service and RV ownership experience for its customers. Blue Compass RV has over 100 RV stores in 33 states. Blue Compass RV is led by Jon Ferrando, Founder, Chief Executive Officer and President. Jon Ferrando was instrumental in building America's largest automotive retailer from start-up to over $20 billion in revenue. Blue Compass RV's leadership team has over 300 years of automotive and RV retail industry experience. Media contact: Blue Compass, bluecompassrv@finnpartners.com SOURCE Blue Compass RV BOSTON, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BMI Korea Co., LTD. ("BMI Korea"), a leading Korean biotech company specializing in biologics development, introduces its novel recombinant hyaluronidase, BMI-2004, and shares Phase 1 clinical trial results at the 15th Annual Bioprocessing Summit being held in Boston (August 14-17th, 2023) (Link to conference details). Recombinant hyaluronidase represents a significant advancement in enabling the transition of IV biologics to subcutaneous (SC) formulations. BMI-2004, a novel recombinant ovine hyaluronidase, offers a better option in the field of SC formulation development. BMI Korea's proprietary liquid formulation technology ensures enzyme stability at a pH level of 5 which aligns with the preferred pH for most of the monoclonal antibody formulations. Notably, BMI Korea distinguishes itself from its competitors through its dedicated BMI-2004 facility, providing flexibility in concentration and supply volume to cater to individual customer needs. This capability allows customization for various biologic therapies and patient requirements. Dr. Hojoon Choi, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of the company will present a podium talk titled "BMI-2004: A Breakthrough in Subcutaneous Drug Delivery" on August 16th. The presentation highlights BMI-2004's potential in enhancing patient experience and treatment outcomes where Dr. Choi will share the results from Phase 1 clinical trial of BMI-2004. "BMI-2004 demonstrated a favorable safety profile with a very low incidence of injection site reactions" said Dr. Choi. The trial, with 250 healthy participants, evaluated BMI-2004's safety and tolerability (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05922813). Dr. Prof. Beom Joon Kim, MD, Ph.D. from Chung-Ang University Hospital led the trial as the principal investigator. BMI Korea seeks strategic partnerships for co-formulation development to transition from IV to SC biologics, leveraging BMI-2004 hyaluronidase and liquid formulation technology. Join BMI Korea's presentation and visit BMI Korea's booth (#110) at the conference to explore the latest developments. About BMI Korea Co., LTD. BMI Korea is a leading South Korean biotech company dedicated to advancing biologics, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices. We are committed to transforming healthcare and addressing unmet medical needs worldwide through innovation and patient-centric solutions. BMI KOREA (bmikr.co.kr) Contacts BMI Korea Co., LTD. Kacy Kim, Director Business Development [email protected] SOURCE BMI Korea Co., LTD. Temporary lanes for merchant ships sailing to or from the Black Sea ports of Ukraine have been announced, the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have reported. "According to navigation order No. 6 issued by the Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine dated August 8, 2023, new temporary routes for the movement of civilian ships to/from the Black Sea seaports of Ukraine were announced. At the same time, it is reported that during all routes the military threat and mine danger from the Russian Federation remains," the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Facebook on Thursday. As reported, these routes have already been proposed by Ukraine in an appeal to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The IMO Council has recognized Ukraine's right to free commercial navigation, guaranteed by international maritime law. The IMO called on Russia to comply with international conventions and stop threats to merchant shipping in the Black Sea. "The indicated routes will be used primarily to enable the exit of civilian ships located in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdenny since the beginning of Russia'sfull-scale invasion of on February 24, 2022. Vessels will be allowed to pass along the routes, the owners/captains of which officially confirm their readiness to operate in the current conditions," the Navy said. The last vessel with Ukrainian food left the port of Odesa on July 16. After Russia's withdrawal from the grain deal, the aggressor state attacked the port's grain infrastructure in order to cut off the access of Ukrainian food to world markets. World leaders, including African countries, called on Russia to stop blackmailing food and not hinder Ukrainian agricultural exports. DUBLIN, Aug. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Bullous Keratopathy - Epidemiology Forecast to 2032" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The report offers an in-depth understanding of Bullous Keratopathy, its historical and forecasted epidemiology, and trends in the United States, EU4 (Germany, France, Italy, and Spain), the United Kingdom, and Japan. Bullous Keratopathy is a pathological condition characterized by the formation of small vesicles (bullae) in the cornea due to endothelial dysfunction. The corneal endothelial cells are responsible for maintaining the cornea's clarity and shape, but in this condition, they experience trauma and progressive stromal and epithelial edema. This results in the swelling of the cornea and the formation of bullae, which disrupt vision and cause pain. Diagnosing Bullous Keratopathy is primarily based on clinical evaluation, including history, risk factors, and examinations such as slit lamp examination and anterior segment optical coherence tomography (ASOCT). The report provides detailed epidemiological data related to Bullous Keratopathy in the 7MM (United States, EU4, and Japan) from 2019 to 2032. It includes information on major etiologies of Bullous Keratopathy, total cases, gender-specific cases, and cases related to corneal transplant/keratoplasty. Some of the key highlights of the report include: A 10-year forecast of Bullous Keratopathy epidemiology in the 7MM. Patient segmentation based on major etiologies, gender, and corneal transplant/keratoplasty cases. Analysis of disease risk and burden. Identification of growth opportunities in the 7MM concerning the patient population. Assessment of patient population growth at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) across the 7MM during the forecast period (2023-2032). Bullous Keratopathy Detailed Epidemiology Segmentation Cases of major etiologies of bullous keratopathy in 2022 were estimated to be approximately 6,538,483, 2,563,799, and 168,671 for FECD diagnosed prevalence, cataract surgery, and glaucoma surgery of bullous keratopathy respectively in the US. These cases are expected to increase by 2032. In 2022, the total bullous keratopathy cases in the cataract surgery cohort comprised the majority of cases (49.4%), followed by bullous keratopathy in FECD (42%) in the US. While there were least cases in the bullous keratopathy glaucoma surgery. These cases are expected to increase by 2032 at a CAGR of 0.9% during the study period (2019-2032). Among the 7MM, the United States accounted for approximately 41% of the total bullous keratopathy cases in the US, which is expected to increase further during the study period (2019-2032). accounted for approximately 41% of the total bullous keratopathy cases in the US, which is expected to increase further during the study period (2019-2032). Among the 7MM, Germany accounted for the second-highest total bullous keratopathy cases in 2022, with approximately 25,692 cases. These cases are anticipated to decrease by 2032. accounted for the second-highest total bullous keratopathy cases in 2022, with approximately 25,692 cases. These cases are anticipated to decrease by 2032. In 2022, there were approximately 37,044 cases of males and 58,553 cases of females suffering from bullous keratopathy, respectively, in EU4 and the UK. the publisher's estimates these are expected to increase during the study period (2019-2032). In Japan , the gender-specific cases of bullous keratopathy were approximately 7,371 males and 10,306 females, respectively, in 2022. The cases are expected to increase by 2032. , the gender-specific cases of bullous keratopathy were approximately 7,371 males and 10,306 females, respectively, in 2022. The cases are expected to increase by 2032. In 2022, the bullous keratopathy cases in corneal transplant/keratoplasty included overall corneal transplant/keratoplasty cases, and bullous keratopathy patients in corneal transplant/keratoplasty were approximately 50,506 and 14,142 cases, respectively, in the US. These numbers are expected to rise during the study period (2019-2032). Scope of the Report The report covers a descriptive overview of bullous keratopathy, explaining its symptoms, grading, pathophysiology, and various diagnostic approaches. The report provides insight into the 7MM historical and forecasted patient pool covering the United States , EU4 ( Germany , France , Italy , and Spain ) and the United Kingdom , and Japan . , EU4 ( , , , and ) and the , and . The report assesses the disease risk and burden of bullous keratopathy. The report recognizes the growth opportunities in the 7MM concerning the patient population. The report provides the segmentation of the disease epidemiology for the 7MM, cases of major etiologies of bullous keratopathy, bullous keratopathy cases in major etiologies, total bullous keratopathy cases, gender-specific cases of bullous keratopathy, and bullous keratopathy cases in corneal transplant/keratoplasty. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/q5nitn 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 VANCOUVER, BC and TORONTO, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - BZAM Ltd. (the "Company" or "BZAM") (CSE: BZAM) (OTC: BZAMF), a leading Canadian cannabis producer, announced today that further to its press releases dated July 13, 2023, and July 25, 2023, the Company has closed its previously announced purchase of an aggregate of 270,000 class A shares in the capital of BZAM Cannabis Corp. ("BCC") from certain minority shareholders of BCC (the "BCC Shareholders") pursuant to share purchase agreements entered into with each of the BCC Shareholders (the "Share Purchase"). As consideration for the Share Purchase, the Company: (i) issued an aggregate of 475,000 common shares of the Company (the "Common Shares") to certain BCC shareholders at a price of between $0.18 and $0.23 per Common Share; and (ii) paid an aggregate of $14,700 to other BCC shareholders who did not receive Common Shares. The Common Shares were issued in reliance on certain prospectus exemptions available under securities legislation and are subject to a four-month plus one day statutory hold period. The closing of the Share Purchase has resulted in the Company owning 88.2% of BCC, which is a 30.5% increase of the Company's existing ownership stake of BCC. About BZAM Ltd. BZAM Ltd. (CSE: BZAM) (USOTC: BZAMF) is a leading Canadian cannabis producer with a focus on branded consumer goods, innovation, quality, consistency, integrity and transparency. The BZAM family includes core brands BZAM, TGOD, ness, Highly Dutch Organic, TABLE TOP, and partner brands Dunn Cannabis, FRESH and Wyld. BZAM operates facilities in BC, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, as well as retail stores in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Regina, Saskatchewan. BZAM's Shares and certain warrants issued under the indentures dated June 12, 2020, October 23, 2020 and December 10, 2020 currently trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") under the symbol "BZAM", "BZAM.WR", "BZAM.WA", and "BZAM.WB" respectively. BZAM's Shares trade in the U.S. on the OTCQX under the symbol "BZAMF". For more information on BZAM Ltd., please visit www.bzam.com. Neither the CSE nor the CSE's Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of CSE) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE BZAM LTD. -- Fast casual seafood leader hires industry veteran to lead financial strategies -- NASHVILLE, Tenn., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Captain D's, the nation's leading fast casual seafood restaurant, announced today Jeff Wilson has joined its executive team as chief financial officer. Wilson will develop and execute financial strategies to support the company's business plans, as well as lead the finance department. He is joining as Captain D's continues expanding its geographic footprint, introducing new menu offerings and offering an exceptional customer experience with streamlined digital, drive-thru and delivery options. "We are pleased to have Jeff join the Captain D's executive team, bringing with him a wealth of finance, operations, and profitability enhancement skills in both public and private companies," said Phil Greifeld, CEO and president of Captain D's. "Our impressive AUVs and strong sales comps system-wide have contributed to accelerated growth with new and existing franchisees over the past several years, and we have no doubt that Jeff's extensive leadership experience will help the brand continue to reach new heights." Wilson spent the past 15 years at Cracker Barrel, most recently as the company's vice president of finance and CFO of the Emerging Brands group. He also served as corporate controller and vice president of operations analysis for the company. Prior to his time with Cracker Barrel, Wilson joined Metromedia Restaurant Group in Dallas directly after college and was there a decade, working his way up to CFO. He earned a master's in business from the University of Texas at Dallas and a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Idaho. Commenting on his new role, Wilson said, "Captain D's has always stood out to me as an iconic brand that continues to grow and be a leader in the industry. I'm excited about the direction of the company and the opportunity to contribute to this incredibly talented team." Captain D's has developed restaurant footprints well-suited to the increasingly competitive real estate market, including highly efficient double drive-thrus, smaller footprints and cost-effective conversion opportunities. These flexible options are attracting multi-unit and multi-concept franchisees who are growing with the brand throughout the South, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states. Captain D's forward-thinking real estate strategy, paired with its seafood niche in the fast casual space, has positioned the company for accelerated development in 2023 and beyond. With more than 530 restaurants in 23 states, Captain D's is the fast-casual seafood leader and number one seafood franchise in America ranked by average unit volume. The company is currently seeking single and multi-unit operators to join in the brand's rapid expansion. For more information about franchise opportunities, visit www.captaindsfranchising.com or call 800-314-4819. ABOUT CAPTAIN D'S Headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., Captain D's has more than 530 restaurants in 23 states. Captain D's is the nation's leading fast casual seafood restaurant and was named the #1 seafood chain in the QSR 50, ranked by AUV. Founded in 1969, Captain D's has been offering its customers high-quality seafood at reasonable prices in a welcoming atmosphere for over 50 years. Captain D's serves a wide variety of seafood that includes freshly prepared entrees and the company's signature batter dipped fish. The restaurants also offer premium-quality, grilled items such as shrimp, Tilapia and Salmon, as well as hushpuppies, desserts and freshly brewed, Southern-style sweet tea, a Captain D's favorite. For more information, please visit www.captainds.com . Contact: Nicole Hunnicutt Fish Consulting 404-558-4108 [email protected] SOURCE Captain D's CHICAGO, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The report "Catalyst Handling Services Market by Service Type (Catalyst loading/Unloading, Catalyst Screening, Segregation, & Storage, Catalyst Transport & Handling, Spent Catalyst Holding), End-use Industry (Petroleum Refining) and Region - Global Forecast to 2028", is projected to reach USD 732 million by 2028, at a CAGR of 4.5% from USD 588 million in 2023. Browse in-depth TOC on "Catalyst Handling Services Market" 167 Tables 30 Figures 183 Pages Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=216147239 The catalyst handling services market is mainly driven by the stringent environmental regulations. Moreover, it is also driven by increasing focus on energy efficiency and cost optimization. 'Spent catalyst handling segment is projected to grow at fastest CAGR, in terms of value, during the forecast period.' Spent catalyst handling is a vital process in the refining and petrochemical industries, dealing with the safe and efficient management of used catalysts. These catalysts have reached the end of their useful life and require careful handling to ensure environmental compliance. The process includes collection, transportation, and proper disposal or regeneration. Effective spent catalyst handling not only adheres to regulatory standards but also contributes to sustainable practices, promoting responsible environmental stewardship within the refining and petrochemical sectors. 'Chemicals & fertilizers end-use industry segment is projected to be the second fastest growing end-use industry type in the catalyst handling services market, in terms of value.' The global chemicals and fertilizers production scenario has witnessed robust growth, with the chemical industry playing a pivotal role in driving various sectors of the economy. Strong statistics highlight the industry's significance, as global chemical production reached over USD 5 trillion annually. Request Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=216147239 In terms of regional contributions, Asia stands out as a powerhouse, accounting for approximately 55% of the global chemicals production. China, the world's largest chemical producer, leads the way with its substantial output, contributing over one-third of the global chemical production. India, with its expanding manufacturing and agricultural sectors, has also emerged as a significant player in the region's chemical industry. 'Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market for catalyst handling services market during the forecast period, in terms of value' The markets of Asia Pacific are registering high growth, and the trend is projected to continue during the forecast period. Emerging economies such as India, and China are investing in various industrial developments that are driving the catalyst handling services market. The rapid industrial growth, increasing refining and petrochemical activities, and the rising demand for efficient catalyst management solutions in the region's expanding energy sector. New technology launches and partnerships are the major growth strategies adopted by the key players in the market. The key global players in the catalyst handling services market include Anabeeb (Saudi Arabia), Mourik (Netharlands), Cat Tech International (UK), CR 3 (Thailand), Technivac (UK), Catalyst Handling Resources (US), Dickinson Group of Companies (South Africa), Buchen-ICS (Germany), Kanooz Industrial Services (Saudi Arabia), and Group Peeters (Belgium). Browse Adjacent Market: Equipment Machine and Tooling Market Research & Consulting Related Reports: Polypropylene Catalyst Market - Global Forecast to 2025 Refinery Catalyst Market - Global Forecast to 2025 About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is a blue ocean alternative in growth consulting and program management, leveraging a man-machine offering to drive supernormal growth for progressive organizations in the B2B space. We have the widest lens on emerging technologies, making us proficient in co-creating supernormal growth for clients. The B2B economy is witnessing the emergence of $25 trillion of new revenue streams that are substituting existing revenue streams in this decade alone. We work with clients on growth programs, helping them monetize this $25 trillion opportunity through our service lines - TAM Expansion, Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy to Execution, Market Share Gain, Account Enablement, and Thought Leadership Marketing. Built on the 'GIVE Growth' principle, we work with several Forbes Global 2000 B2B companies - helping them stay relevant in a disruptive ecosystem. Our insights and strategies are molded by our industry experts, cutting-edge AI-powered Market Intelligence Cloud, and years of research. The KnowledgeStore (our Market Intelligence Cloud) integrates our research, facilitates an analysis of interconnections through a set of applications, helping clients look at the entire ecosystem and understand the revenue shifts happening in their industry. To find out more, visit www.MarketsandMarkets.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Contact: Mr. Aashish Mehra MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Research Insights: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/catalyst-handling-service-market.asp Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/catalyst-handling-service.asp Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg SOURCE MarketsandMarkets YOSEMITE, Aug. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Yosemite National Park's annual park-wide cleanup event, Yosemite Facelift , is proudly celebrating its 20th anniversary this September, with significantly expanded programming and partnerships. Yosemite gateway partner Rush Creek Lodge & Spa is taking this voluntourism experience to new heights by offering their Facelift guests the opportunity to trade trash for Spa services ! Between September 4th and October 5th, 2023, lodge guests participating in Facelift will receive a complimentary detox spa experience which includes a magnesium foot soak at Rush Creek Spa . Yosemites annual park-wide cleanup event, Facelift, is celebrating 20 years with expanded programming and partnerships. Tweet this Rush Creek Lodge & Spa guests participating in Yosemite Facelift. Founded in 2003 by Ken Yager, President of the Yosemite Climbing Association , Yosemite Facelift has grown into a transformative week-long event, bringing together volunteers from around the world to contribute to the preservation of this cherished national treasure. Yosemite Facelift was conceived as a way for climbers to give back to Yosemite after each bustling summer tourist and climbing season, instilling a sense of stewardship and environmental responsibility among participants. The 20th anniversary event is set to take place in Yosemite Valley on September 20th to 24th, 2023, with volunteer opportunities from as little as an hour to larger multi-day projects, plus daily giveaways, guest speakers, music and celebrations. This initiative has inspired similar cleanups in over 20 additional locations across America, including the 2nd annual Groveland Facelift September 9th and 10th, 2023. To participate in any Facelift event, interested individuals must pre-register at yosemiteclimbing.org . Facelift volunteers staying at Rush Creek Lodge & Spa will end their day not only satisfied with their stewardship efforts, but also with the invitation to head to the innovative Yosemite-inspired Spa for some luxurious pampering. Rush Creek Spa's Wellness team will treat guests to a complimentary Detox Experience that includes a magnesium foot soak in the Spa's heated outdoor lounge and access to day use amenities such as the Granite Waterfall Mineral Hot Tub, Warm Waterfall Coves, Aromatherapy Steam Room and more.. To book this exclusive wellness treatment, guests can call the Wellness Team at (209) 379-2425. Over the years, Yosemite Facelift has witnessed remarkable success in its efforts to keep the park free from litter and waste. During the event's 16th year in 2019, nearly 3,000 dedicated volunteers participated, resulting in the collection of nearly 16,000 pounds of trash, a significant portion of which was recycled to keep it out of landfills. To date, the cumulative efforts of Yosemite Facelift have led to the removal of an impressive 1 million pounds of trash from Yosemite National Park, making a substantial positive impact on the environment. Ken Yager, the visionary behind Yosemite Facelift, is dedicated to expanding cleanup initiatives to other national parks as well. Collaborating with the National Park Service and sponsors such as The North Face, 5 Gyres, Patagonia, and Leave No Trace, Yager launched similar cleanups in South Lake Tahoe, Mammoth Lakes, Rocky Mountain, Joshua Tree , and others. He hopes that Yosemite Facelift will serve as an inspiration for communities to engage in environmental stewardship not only in parks but also in their local surroundings, as they did in San Francisco's Glen Park earlier this year. Yosemite Facelift remains committed to preserving the natural splendor of Yosemite National Park and encourages everyone to join this noble cause, and Rush Creek Lodge & Spa is honored and eager to support its participants. By fostering a spirit of camaraderie and fun while cleaning up the environment, Yosemite Facelift continues to inspire a worldwide community of volunteers dedicated to preserving our precious natural heritage. For more information and to participate in Yosemite Facelift, please visit yosemiteclimbing.org . To book the exclusive wellness treatment at Rush Creek Lodge & Spa, participants can call the Wellness Team at (209) 379-2425. ABOUT RUSH CREEK LODGE & SPA A fresh take on the Yosemite experience, Rush Creek opened at the doorstep of Yosemite in summer 2016. The contemporary mountain lodge offers 143 guest rooms , and extensive amenities including Restaurant/Tavern , guided recreation program and Yosemite-inspired Spa . Rush Creek is a Certified B Corporation , meeting social sustainability and environmental performance standards, including a fully self-funded on-site youth employment program and a host of environmental initiatives . SOURCE Rush Creek Lodge & Spa Retention rates include over 91% of Securian Financial Service's financial professionals, and $50 billion in client assets exceeding the $47 billion previously stated at signing All managing partners and financial advisors will form a new community in the Cetera ecosystem known as Cetera Wealth Management Group SAN DIEGO, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cetera Financial Group (Cetera), the premier financial advice Wealth Hub, announced today that it has completed its acquisition of the retail wealth and trust business of Securian Financial Group, Inc. (Securian Financial). More than 91% of the invited financial professionals, representing nearly $50 billion in client assets, made the choice to join Cetera, which is in line with Cetera's transition projections. The financial professionals and their teams are now a distinct community, branded as Cetera Wealth Management Group, within Cetera Advisor Networks (CAN). Cetera purchased certain assets related to Securian Financial Services, Inc., as well as the equity of Securian Trust Company, NA., which is now a standalone Cetera entity named Cetera Trust Company, N.A., and will continue to serve its existing advisors and clients and expand to serve those in Cetera's other businesses. The transaction is the largest in Cetera's history, and nearly 150 team members are joining the Cetera home office staff from Securian Financial. "We are thrilled to welcome so many Securian Financial professionals to Cetera, where we know they will grow and thrive as an integral pillar of the Cetera Advisor Networks community," said Tom Taylor, chief sales and growth officer at Cetera. "The close of this important partnership represents the beginning of a new phase of opportunity for the professionals who are joining us as well as everyone affiliated with Cetera. We look forward to a bright future for the managing partners, financial professionals and team members who now call Cetera home." Taylor continued, "It's worth noting, cultural fit is everything in making unions successful, in both the near and long term. It's refreshing and reassuring how similar our cultures are, and how these top-caliber professionals and their leadership team feel like family. We share the same ethos of client-centricity and innovation and can't wait to get to work serving clients together, with even more products, solutions and support than before." "I am excited and eager to begin our bright future at Cetera, and to offer its exponential growth, scale and optionality to our valued financial professionals, managing partners and team members," said Kjirsten Zellmer, president of Cetera Wealth Management Group. "The Cetera team has partnered with us to execute a strategic, expert onboarding and integration process that minimized business disruption and will position us for great success as Cetera Wealth Management Group. Cetera's financial stability and growth potential, with Mike Durbin and Adam Antoniades at the helm, position us as a true disruptor in a commoditized and crowded space. The human side of Cetera, its familial culture of caring, diversity and collaboration, is what made the choice to join Cetera an easy one." Amid the transition, Cetera's customer service continues to shine, providing dedicated support advisors need to succeed in their business and serve their clients. Among Cetera advisors, satisfaction currently ranks among all-time highs with an overall satisfaction score of 4.7 out of 5 stars, based on more than 23,000 reviews. In addition, Cetera's Net Promoter Score (NPS) considered the gold standard of customer-service metrics is 53. An NPS over 50 is considered excellent, according to Bain & Company, which created the net promoter system to help companies measure and manage customer loyalty. The metrics underscore Cetera's track record of deep and proven service capabilities and represent a strong foundation for consistent, industry-leading support for advisors across Cetera communities. Additionally, Cetera is accelerating the delivery of its digital experience and technology roadmap, with a focus on providing solutions designed to simplify and streamline core business activities for financial professionals and their teams, enhance the end-client digital experience to drive retention and acquisition, and enable business success through a unique and differentiated approach to growth. Cetera continues to prioritize and increase its investments in new and improved technology as a core component of its overarching growth strategy. Click here to learn more about Cetera Wealth Management Group and click here to learn more about Cetera Trust Company. About Cetera Financial Group Cetera Financial Group (Cetera) is the premier financial advisor Wealth Hub where financial advisors and institutions optimize their control and value creation. Breaking away from a commoditized and homogenous IBD model, Cetera offers financial professionals and institutions the latest solutions, support, and services to grow, scale, or transition with a merger, sale, investment, or succession plan. Cetera proudly serves independent financial advisors, tax professionals, licensed administrators, large enterprises, as well as institutions, such as banks and credit unions, providing an established and repeatable blueprint for scalable growth. Home to more than 8,000 financial professionals and their teams, Cetera oversees approximately $330 billion in assets under administration and $116 billion in assets under management, as of March 31, 2023. In a recent advisor satisfaction survey of more than 23,000 reviews, Cetera's Voice of Customer (VoC) program vigorously measures advisor experience and satisfaction 24/7. Currently, it's ranked 4.7 out of 5 stars. Visit www.cetera.com, and follow Cetera on LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. "Cetera Financial Group" refers to the network of independent retail firms encompassing, among others, Cetera Advisors LLC, Cetera Advisor Networks LLC, Cetera Investment Services LLC (marketed as Cetera Financial Institutions or Cetera Investors), and Cetera Financial Specialists LLC. All firms are FINRA/SIPC members. Located at: 655 W. Broadway, 11th Floor, San Diego, CA 92101. Individuals affiliated with Cetera firms are either Registered Representatives who offer only brokerage services and receive transaction-based compensation (commissions), Investment Adviser Representatives who offer only investment advisory services and receive fees based on assets, or both Registered Representatives and Investment Adviser Representatives, who can offer both types of services. Securian Financial is the marketing name for Securian Financial Group, Inc., and its subsidiaries. SOURCE Cetera Financial Group Authors Seek to Inspire a New Generation to Embrace the Power of Grit and the Magic of Building SALISBURY, Md., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Grit Leads to Greatness is an adventure book for young readers with a message for adults. Co-authors Jenny Kerr Schroen and Chris Eccleston are on a mission to ignite a passion for the trades among young minds and address the pressing need for skilled workers in the building trade industries, specifically the building, plumbing, and electrical industries. The authors are calling the construction industry to the classrooms to participate in two nationwide events. Tweet this Grit Leads to Greatness is an epic adventure childrens book written by Jenny Kerr Schroen and Chris Eccleston that seeks to inspire a new generation to embrace the power of GRIT and the Magic of Building. The book is illustrated by Justin Donaldson with Rachel Danae. Grit Leads to Greatness paints a picture of a society where trade skills have been forgotten. Readers meet Tegan and Trig, two resilient siblings who embark on a transformative journey through a dystopian society. As they navigate treacherous terrain and face daunting challenges, they discover the power of grit and the importance of trade skills in their quest to save their city from impending disaster. Numerous studies indicate the amount of skilled trade jobs is far outpacing the supply of qualified workers to fill them. The authors believe that by captivating children's imaginations and instilling an appreciation for the trades early on, the book could contribute to reversing the declining interest in these crucial vocations. To support a wider understanding of the importance of the trades, the authors are planning upcoming events nationwide: Careers in Construction Month in October 2023 and Read Across America Week, March 4-8, 2024. The authors are "calling the construction industry to classrooms" to participate by purchasing bundles of twenty five books to give to local third graders. The plan invites contractors to read aloud to the children, who follow along with their own copy. It's a unique opportunity for the industry to connect with kids by sharing personal stories of the part they play in construction and how it applies to the world we all live in. By each child receiving their own copy of "Grit Leads to Greatness" to reread at home, the authors have the opportunity to change the parent's stigma of the industry from dirty and disrespected to noble and necessary. The authors state, "We strongly believe that together we can jointly promote the trades and inspire a new generation of both skilled workers and advocates who will contribute to the growth and prosperity of the building, plumbing, and electrical industries." About Jenny Kerr Schroen and Chris Eccleston Chris Eccleston, founder of Delmarva Veteran Builders (DVB), a commercial construction firm in Salisbury, MD and Jenny Kerr Schroen, the firm's Creative Developer, both shared a life-long dream to write a children's book. Basing their concept on DVB's tagline "Grit Leads To Greatness," they devised an epic adventure book to show both parents and children that construction is heroic. SOURCE GLTG, LLC SINGAPORE, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- China Yuchai International Limited (NYSE: CYD) ("China Yuchai" or the "Company"), a leading manufacturer and distributor of engines for on- and off-road applications in China through its main operating subsidiary, Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Company Limited ("GYMCL"), wishes to announce today its unaudited consolidated financial results for the 2023 first half-year ("1H 2023") ended June 30, 2023. The financial information presented herein for 1H 2023 and for the 2022 first half-year ("1H 2022") are reported using the International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. Financial Highlights for 1H 2023 Revenue grew by 7.0% to RMB 9.2 billion ( US$ 1.3 billion ) compared with RMB 8.6 billion in 1H 2022; ( ) compared with in 1H 2022; Gross profit increased by 14.1% to RMB 1.6 billion ( US$ 214.8 million ) compared with RMB 1.4 billion in 1H 2022. Gross margin increased to 16.9% in 1H 2023 compared with 15.9% in 1H 2022; ( ) compared with in 1H 2022. Gross margin increased to 16.9% in 1H 2023 compared with 15.9% in 1H 2022; Operating profit grew by 34.6% to RMB 387.7 million ( US$ 53.7 million ) compared with RMB 288.0 million in 1H 2022; ( ) compared with in 1H 2022; Basic and diluted earnings per share increased by 90.8% to RMB 4.37 (US$ 0.60) compared with RMB 2.29 in 1H 2022; compared with in 1H 2022; Total number of engines sold decreased by 8.4% to 165,793 units compared with 180,911 units in 1H 2022. Revenue was RMB 9.2 billion (US$ 1.3 billion) compared with RMB 8.6 billion in 1H 2022. The total number of engines sold by GYMCL in 1H 2023 declined by 8.4% to 165,793 units compared with 180,911 units in 1H 2022. The decrease was mainly due to lower engine sales in the truck and agriculture application markets, partially offset by higher engine sales in the bus, industrial, and marine and power generation markets. According to data reported by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers ("CAAM"), in 1H 2023, commercial vehicle unit sales (excluding gasoline-powered and electric-powered vehicles) increased by 8.3% compared to 1H 2022 as truck and bus sales increased by 6.0% and 28.1% respectively. Gross profit increased by 14.1% to RMB 1.6 billion (US$ 214.8 million), compared with RMB 1.4 billion in 1H 2022. Gross margin increased to 16.9 % as compared with 15.9% in 1H 2022. The increase in gross profit and gross margin was mainly attributable to margin improvement across most market segments with greater sales of larger engines, and contributions from ongoing cost reduction efforts. Other operating income increased by 59.3% to RMB 136.2 million (US$ 18.8 million) compared with RMB 85.5 million in 1H 2022. The increase was mainly due to higher government grants received and recognized. Research and development ("R&D") expenses decreased slightly to RMB 406.0 million (US$ 56.2 million) compared with RMB 408.5 million in 1H 2022. The Company continues to invest in research and development for on-road engines in the commercial vehicle markets and off-road engines as well as new energy products. Total R&D expenditures, including capitalized costs, were RMB 465.2 million (US$ 64.4 million) representing 5.1% of revenue in 1H 2023, as compared to RMB 476.9 million, or 5.6% of revenue, in 1H 2022. Selling, general and administrative ("SG&A") expenses increased by 19.3% to RMB 894.5 million (US$ 123.8 million) from RMB 749.6 million in 1H 2022. The increase was mainly due to higher provision for personnel and other selling and administrative expenses compared with the same period last year. SG&A expenses represented 9.8% of revenue for 1H 2023 compared with 8.7% in 1H 2022. Operating profit rose by 34.6% to RMB 387.7 million (US$ 53.7 million) from RMB 288.0 million in 1H 2022. The operating margin was 4.2% compared with 3.4% in 1H 2022. Finance costs declined by 2.9% to RMB 53.6 million (US$ 7.4 million) from RMB 55.2 million in 1H 2022. The share of financial results of the associates and joint ventures was a profit of RMB 29.6 million (US$ 4.1 million) compared with a loss of RMB 30.9 million in 1H 2022. This improvement was primarily due to higher profits at MTU Yuchai Power Company Limited and a return to profitability at Y&C Engine Co. Ltd. Income tax expense was RMB 110.6 million (US$ 15.3 million) as compared with RMB 56.5 million in 1H 2022. The change was mainly due to the higher taxable income in 1H 2023 and adjustment for under provision in the prior year. Net profit attributable to equity holders of the Company was RMB 178.4 million (US$ 24.7 million) compared with RMB 93.7 million in 1H 2022. Basic and diluted earnings per share were RMB 4.37 (US$ 0.60) compared with RMB 2.29 in 1H 2022. Basic and diluted earnings per share for 1H 2023 and 1H 2022 were based on a weighted average of 40,858,290 shares. Balance Sheet Highlights as at June 30, 2023 Cash and bank balances were RMB 5.6 billion ( US$ 777.2 million ) compared with RMB 4.9 billion at the end of FY 2022; ( ) compared with at the end of FY 2022; Trade and bills receivables were RMB 9.0 billion ( US$ 1.3 billion ) compared with RMB 6.8 billion at the end of FY 2022; ( ) compared with at the end of FY 2022; Inventories were RMB 4.9 billion ( US$ 682.4 million ) compared with RMB 4.9 billion at the end of FY 2022; ( ) compared with at the end of FY 2022; Trade and bills payables were RMB 8.0 billion ( US$ 1.1 billion ) compared with RMB 6.9 billion at the end of FY 2022; ( ) compared with at the end of FY 2022; Short-term and long-term loans and borrowings were RMB 3.0 billion ( US$ 419.7 million ) compared with RMB 2.3 billion at the end of FY 2022. Mr. Weng Ming Hoh, President of China Yuchai, commented, "We achieved better financial results, with higher revenue, margins and earnings per share than the same period last year despite uneven growth in the China's commercial vehicle markets. Investments in key joint ventures are now contributing more to net profits." "Our revenues in the first half of 2023 reflected the breadth of our product portfolio to serve our customers across a number of industries. We are confident that we can leverage the long-term growth potential of our businesses and create value for our shareholders," Mr. Hoh concluded. Exchange Rate Information The Company's functional currency is the U.S. dollar and its reporting currency is Renminbi. The translation of amounts from Renminbi to U.S. dollars is solely for the convenience of the reader. Translation of amounts from Renminbi to U.S. dollars has been made at the rate of RMB 7.2258 = US$1.00, the rate quoted by the People's Bank of China at the close of business on June 30, 2023. No representation is made that the Renminbi amounts could have been, or could be, converted into U.S. dollars at that rate or at any other certain rate on June 30, 2023 or at any other date. Unaudited 1H 2023 Conference Call A conference call and audio webcast for the investment community has been scheduled for 8:00 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time on August 10, 2023. The call will be hosted by the President and Chief Financial Officer of China Yuchai, Mr. Weng Ming Hoh and Mr. Choon Sen Loo, respectively, who will present and discuss the financial results of the Company followed by a Q&A session. Analysts and institutional investors may participate in the conference call by registering at: https://register.vevent.com/register/BI74bf52d8366e405fac48da1ef3a1942d at least one hour before the scheduled start time. A reply email will be sent with instructions and numbers to join the call. For all other interested parties, a simultaneous webcast can be accessed at the investor relations section of the Company's website located at https://www.cyilimited.com. Participants are encouraged to join the webcast at least 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. The recorded webcast will be available on the website shortly after the earnings call. About China Yuchai International China Yuchai International Limited, through its subsidiary, Guangxi Yuchai Machinery Company Limited ("GYMCL"), engages in the manufacture, assembly, and sale of a wide variety of light-, medium- and heavy-duty engines for trucks, buses, passenger vehicles, construction equipment, marine and agriculture applications in China. GYMCL also produces diesel power generators. The engines produced by GYMCL range from diesel to natural gas and hybrid engines. Through its regional sales offices and authorized customer service centers, GYMCL distributes its engines directly to auto OEMs and retailers and provides maintenance and retrofitting services throughout China. Founded in 1951, GYMCL has established a reputable brand name, strong research and development teams and significant market share in China with high-quality products and reliable after-sales support. In 2022, GYMCL sold 321,256 engines and is recognized as a leading manufacturer and distributor of engines in China. For more information, please visit https://www.cyilimited.com. Safe Harbor Statement: This news release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "project", "targets", "optimistic", "confident that", "continue to", "predict", "intend", "aim", "will" or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that may be deemed forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, statements concerning China Yuchai's and the joint ventures' operations, financial performance and condition are based on current expectations, beliefs and assumptions which are subject to change at any time. China Yuchai cautions that these statements by their nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a variety of important factors such as government and stock exchange regulations, competition, political, economic and social conditions around the world and in China including those discussed in China Yuchai's Form 20-Fs under the headings "Risk Factors", "Results of Operations" and "Business Overview" and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Among others, if the COVID-19 pandemic is not effectively and timely controlled, our business operations and financial condition may be materially and adversely affected due to a deteriorating market for automotive sales, an economic slowdown in China and abroad, a potential weakening of the financial condition of our customers, or other factors that we cannot foresee. All forward-looking statements are applicable only as of the date they are made and China Yuchai specifically disclaims any obligation to maintain or update the forward-looking information, whether of the nature contained in this release or otherwise, in the future. For more information: Investor Relations Kevin Theiss Tel: +1-212-510-8922 Email: [email protected] -- Tables Follow CHINA YUCHAI INTERNATIONAL LIMITED UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENTS For the first half years ended June 30, 2023 and 2022 (RMB and US$ amounts expressed in thousands) June 30, 2023 June 30, 2022 RMB '000 US$ '000 RMB '000 US$ '000 Revenue 9,171,003 1,269,202 8,568,505 1,185,821 Cost of sales (7,618,986) (1,054,414) (7,207,874) (997,519) Gross profit 1,552,017 214,788 1,360,631 188,302 Other operating income, net 136,201 18,849 85,492 11,831 Research and development expenses (406,047) (56,194) (408,481) (56,531) Selling, general and administrative expenses (894,485) (123,790) (749,604) (103,740) Operating profit 387,686 53,653 288,038 39,862 Finance costs (53,642) (7,424) (55,231) (7,644) Share of results of associates and joint ventures 29,626 4,100 (30,942) (4,282) Profit before tax 363,670 50,329 201,865 27,936 Income tax expense (110,627) (15,310) (56,487) (7,817) Profit for the period 253,043 35,019 145,378 20,119 Attributable to: Equity holders of the Company 178,377 24,686 93,724 12,970 Non-controlling interests 74,666 10,333 51,654 7,149 253,043 35,019 145,378 20,119 Net earnings per share - Basic 4.37 0.60 2.29 0.32 - Diluted 4.37 0.60 2.29 0.32 Unit sales 165,793 180,911 CHINA YUCHAI INTERNATIONAL LIMITED SELECTED UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET ITEMS For the periods ended June 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022 (RMB and US$ amounts expressed in thousands) June 30, 2023 (Unaudited) December 31, 2022 (Audited) RMB '000 US$ '000 RMB '000 Cash and bank balances 5,616,231 777,247 4,850,743 Trade and bills receivables 9,049,354 1,252,367 6,792,958 Inventories 4,931,085 682,428 4,937,755 Trade and bills payables 8,002,430 1,107,480 6,919,421 Short-term and long-term loans and borrowings 3,032,581 419,688 2,341,432 Equity attributable to equity holders of the Company 9,230,044 1,277,373 9,008,946 SOURCE China Yuchai International Limited BEIJING, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from People's Daily: People's Daily carries an editorial Wednesday, under the pen name "Huan Yuping", elaborating on China's position on the "Global South.". It is the first time Chinese state media has commented on the "Global South." The article, entitled "Global South confident in building equal, orderly multi-polar world," was published in a prominent position on the third page of People's Daily. It took up nearly one third of the page, demonstrating the importance People's Daily places on the "Global South." There has been a sharp rise in international attention on the "Global South" in recent years. While expressing its explicit support for the "Global South," the People's Daily commentary noted that China is an ex-officio member of the "Global South" and will always be a member of the big family of developing countries. The article emphasizing that development and rejuvenation are the historical mission of the "Global South." As profound changes unseen in a century are evolving rapidly in the world today, discussions on the "Global South" signal an intensifying aspiration of emerging markets and developing countries for independent development, solidarity, and cooperation. These countries are becoming a non-negligible force in the international landscape, the article said. The increasing confidence demonstrated by the "Global South" on the international stage highlights the diverse values and interests of the developing world, reflecting the urgent need to safeguard peace and development and defend fairness and justice, the article pointed out. Since February this year, the newspaper has published 9 commentaries under the pen name "Huan Yuping." The articles provided insightful analysis and interpretation of major international affairs, conveying viewpoints that closely align with the perspectives of the Chinese government. The "Huan Yuping" commentary was published as the 15th BRICS summit draws near. The summit is scheduled to take place from Aug. 22 to 24 in Johannesburg, South Africa. South African International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor said on Aug. 7 that during the summit, BRICS leaders will discuss topics such as strengthening BRICS cooperation and expanding the BRICS mechanism. More than 40 countries have expressed an interest in joining BRICS and 22 of them have formally applied to join the group. Pandor said South Africa has invited 67 leaders from Africa and the "Global South" to attend the BRICS-Africa outreach and BRICS Plus dialogues. Twenty leaders from international and regional organizations, including the UN Secretary-General and the Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, will also be invited to attend the meetings. SOURCE People's Daily ZURICH, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Chubb Limited (NYSE: CB) today declared a quarterly dividend equal to $0.86 per share, payable on October 6, 2023 to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 15, 2023. The dividend will be payable out of legal reserves and will be made in United States dollars by the company's transfer agent, as described in the Chubb Limited 2023 proxy statement. This will be the second installment as approved by the company's shareholders on May 17, 2023. 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 40,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: www.chubb.com. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Forward-looking statements made in this press release, such as statements regarding dividends, and our expectations and intentions and other statements that are not historical facts, reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. For example, payment of scheduled or future dividends could be affected by extraordinary company events or capital constraints or similar factors that could require the company to adjust, delay or withhold dividend payments. Additional information regarding factors that could cause differences from these forward-looking statements appears in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. SOURCE Chubb Limited People receiving humanitarian aid come under fire from Russia in Kherson region, six people injured administration As a result of Russian artillery shelling of Bilozirka (Kherson region), six people were injured, one of them was hospitalized with severe wounds, Head of the regional military administration Oleksandr Prokudin said. "The Russian army shelled Bilozirka with artillery. Six people were injured. Residents who were receiving humanitarian aid at that time were under fire," he said on the Telegram channel on Thursday. One person was reportedly seriously injured. All victims were hospitalized. New platform empowers Cigna Healthcare customers to set personal health goals, track daily metrics, and get real-time feedback and guidance based on their data BLOOMFIELD, Conn. and PROVIDENCE, R.I., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cigna Healthcare, the health benefits division of The Cigna Group (NYSE: CI), is partnering with Virgin Pulse, a global digital-first health and well-being engagement company. This new partnership will offer a connected and more personalized health experience to support the vitality of approximately 11 million customers. The new platform, available on myCigna, is part of Cigna Healthcare's commitment to empower individuals and workforces as a whole to make better health choices and develop better habits throughout their health journey. "Digital health programs improve health outcomes and enhance vitality for individuals and their communities," said Heather Dlugolenski, senior vice president, commercial strategy and solutions, Cigna Healthcare. "For employers, investing in employee well-being directly translates into a more productive workforce and a thriving business. That's what we're offering through this enhanced digital platform in partnership with Virgin Pulse." The Virgin Pulse platform uses AI-powered technology and behavior change science to empower customers to take control of all aspects of their health mental, physical and social by making better choices, setting achievable goals and earning financial incentives. Participants can track their progress by connecting a compatible fitness device, like an Apple Watch, or through logging minutes exercised, weight, time slept, and other daily metrics. Fostering social and community health, users can choose to share their activity with co-workers, family and friends who also use the platform to encourage each other to achieve their health goals. Based on the customer's logged data, preferences and claims experience, myCigna can connect them to other relevant programs available through their Cigna Healthcare benefits, such as pre-diabetes management or behavioral health services. "We're excited to partner with Cigna Healthcare to improve whole person well-being by simplifying the experience through our best-in-class digital solution," said Chris Michalak, CEO, Virgin Pulse. "Together, we're committed to delivering innovative, data-driven digital health solutions designed to advance health in an engaging, personal and intuitive way." The new platform will be available to certain Cigna Healthcare customers who receive coverage through their employer effective Jan. 1, 2024, with plans to expand over time. About Cigna Healthcare Cigna Healthcare is a health benefits provider that advocates for better health through every stage of life. We guide our customers through the health care system, empowering them with the information and insight they need to make the best choices for improving their health and vitality. Products and services are provided exclusively by or through operating subsidiaries of The Cigna Group (NYSE:CI), including Cigna Health and Life Insurance Company, Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Evernorth Health companies or their affiliates and Express Scripts companies or their affiliates. Such products and services include an integrated suite of health services, such as medical, dental, behavioral health, pharmacy, vision, supplemental benefits and others. Learn more at CignaHealthcare.com. About Virgin Pulse Virgin Pulse is the leading digital-first health, wellbeing, and navigation company that empowers organizations across the globe to activate populations, improve health outcomes, and reduce spend in an era of accelerating cost and complexity. Virgin Pulse's Homebase for Health connects data, people, and technology to deliver high tech, human touch experiences that engage and reward individual journeys. Virgin Pulse impacts over 100 million people across 190 countries by helping Fortune 500, national health plans, and many other organizations change lives and businesses for good. For more tips and insights, connect with us on Twitter or LinkedIn. Media Contacts Meaghan MacDonald (860) 840-1212 [email protected] Julie Sculley (617) 970-7876 [email protected] SOURCE Cigna Healthcare HOUSTON, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CITGO Holding, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the "Company"), today announced its offer to purchase (the "Offer") for cash an aggregate principal amount of up to $192.356 million (the "Excess Cash Flow Offer Amount") of its 9.25% Senior Secured Notes due 2024 (the "Notes") at a purchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Notes to be repurchased, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the settlement date, on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase, dated August 10, 2023 (the "Offer to Purchase"). The Offer will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on September 8, 2023, unless extended or earlier terminated by the Company (the "Expiration Time"). Subject to the Excess Cash Flow Offer Amount of $192.356 million, for each $1,000 principal amount of Notes validly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) prior to the Expiration Time and accepted by the Company, holders of Notes will receive $1,000 in cash (the "Offer Price"), plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but excluding, the settlement date. Tendered Notes may be validly withdrawn at any time prior to the Expiration Time, unless extended or earlier terminated by the Company. The settlement date is currently expected to be the fifth business day following the Expiration Time. If the aggregate principal amount of the Notes tendered in the Offer exceeds the Excess Cash Flow Offer Amount of $192.356 million, the Company will purchase Notes having an aggregate principal amount equal to the Excess Cash Flow Offer Amount on a pro rata basis (subject to the applicable procedures of The Depository Trust Company), with adjustments as may be deemed appropriate by the Trustee (as defined below). The Notes are governed by an indenture, dated as of August 1, 2019 (as amended to the date hereof, the "Indenture"), by and among the Company, the Guarantors party thereto and TMI Trust Company, as trustee (the "Trustee"). Under the terms of the Indenture, the Company is obligated to offer to purchase for cash an aggregate principal amount of up to the Excess Cash Flow Offer Amount of its outstanding Notes at the Offer Price. The Offer is being made to satisfy this requirement. The Excess Cash Flow Offer Amount is equal to 50% of the Excess Cash Flow (as defined in the Indenture) of the Company and certain of its subsidiaries for the Excess Cash Flow Period (as defined in the Indenture). None of the Company, its board of directors (or any committee thereof), TMI Trust Company, the paying agent for the Offer, or the Trustee or their respective affiliates is making any recommendation as to whether or not holders should tender all or any portion of their Notes in the Offer. This announcement is not an offer to purchase or sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase or sell any securities. The Offer is being made solely by the Offer to Purchase. The Offer is not being made to holders of Notes in any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the securities, blue sky or other laws of such jurisdiction. About CITGO Holding, Inc. CITGO Holding, Inc. ("CITGO Holding" or the "Company") is the direct parent of CITGO Petroleum Corporation ("CITGO"). CITGO Holding is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PDV Holding, Inc. ("PDV Holding"), a Delaware corporation and an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. ("PDVSA" or "ultimate parent"), which is a Venezuelan corporation 100% owned and controlled by the Government of Venezuela. CITGO manufactures or refines and markets transportation fuels as well as petrochemicals, other industrial products and lubricants. We own and operate three large-scale, highly complex petroleum refineries with a total rated crude oil refining capacity of approximately 807,000 barrels per day, located in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Corpus Christi, Texas and Lemont, Illinois. Our refining operations are supported by an extensive distribution network, which provides reliable access to our refined product end-markets. We own 30 active refined product terminals with a total storage capacity of 7.8 million barrels and have equity ownership of an additional 3.5 million barrels of refined product storage capacity through our joint ownership of an additional eight terminals, spread across 21 states. We own or have an equity interest in four additional terminals, consisting of approximately 1 million barrels of refined storage capacity, which are currently inactive or only utilized to store feedstocks used in refining operations. We also have access to more than 150 active third-party and related-party terminals through exchange, terminalling and similar arrangements. Our retail network consists of approximately 4,200 independently owned and operated CITGO-branded retail outlets located east of the Rocky Mountains. We and our predecessors have had a recognized brand presence in the U.S. for over 100 years. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify these statements by forward-looking words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "project," "target," "will," "would," "should," the negative of these terms and similar terms and phrases. These statements relate to, among other things, expectations regarding revenues, costs and expenses, refining and other margins, profitability, cash flows, capital expenditures, liquidity and capital resources, our working capital requirements and other financial and operating items. These statements also relate to our industry, business strategy, goals and expectations concerning our market position and future operations. Any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of our future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on assumptions and assessments made by our management in light of their experience and their perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors they believe to be appropriate. Although we believe the assumptions upon which these forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, any of these assumptions could prove to be inaccurate, and the forward-looking statements based on these assumptions could be incorrect. In addition, our business and operations involve numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could result in our expectations not being realized or could otherwise materially affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. We caution readers that these forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the results that are projected, expressed or implied. We do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information or development, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any of these forward-looking statements. SOURCE CITGO Petroleum Corporation DALLAS, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Civitas Capital Group, a Dallas-based alternative investment manager offering niche opportunities in U.S. real estate, today announced that it has closed a senior loan on the 168-key Embassy Suites by Hilton Chicago Naperville hotel located in Naperville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago. This loan will be used to refinance an existing loan on behalf of the owner, a joint venture between Brookfield Reinsurance/ANICO and Superhost Hospitality. "The Naperville Embassy Suites loan perfectly aligns with a key strategy of ours." Tweet this Embassy Suites by Hilton Chicago Naperville The all-suite hotel, developed by Superhost in 2015, is the newest full-service hotel in Naperville and caters to both business and leisure travelers. Naperville is located off the I-88 corridor, known as the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor, an economic center that is home to the headquarters and regional offices of businesses from a vast range of industries, including aerospace, healthcare, transportation and manufacturing, as well as scientific institutions, colleges, and universities. In addition to offering easy access to the city's key employers, the hotel sits in Freedom Plaza, a premier location featuring Naperville's top restaurants and bars, and is close to area attractions such as Naperville Riverwalk, Naper Settlement, Morton Arboretum, and Centennial Beach. "The Naperville Embassy Suites loan perfectly aligns with a key strategy of ours," says Melanie Pugmire, Vice President, Lodging Investments, who served as co-lead on the transaction with Marisa Lizak, Managing Director, Investments. "Our Lodging team looks to invest in high-quality, globally branded, strong-cash-flowing hospitality assets located in the top 25 U.S. MSAs assets that are owned and operated by well-capitalized, experienced sponsors." Embassy Suites by Hilton Chicago Naperville features 168 guest rooms and a robust amenity package, offering complimentary breakfast and evening receptions as well as an indoor pool, fitness center, guest laundry, market pantry, outdoor patio and on-site restaurant, Brickstones Grill. Most notably, the hotel has nearly 14,000 SF of flexible event space that can accommodate meetings and banquets of any occasion and any size up to 1,000 guests. ABOUT CIVITAS CAPITAL GROUP Civitas Capital Group is a nimble alternative investment manager offering compelling, niche opportunities in U.S. real estate. Civitas exists to create opportunities that enrich our communities, investors, and employees alike. Driven by relentless creativity, Civitas digs deeper to uncover opportunities that others miss. Follow Civitas Capital Group on LinkedIn. Learn more at civitascapital.com. SOURCE Civitas Capital Group Appointed by the Democratic Mayor and a key member of the team that defended Pennsylvania election integrity against attacks during the 2020 election, Cmm'r Bluestein's demonstrated integrity aligns with Forward's values PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, City Commissioner Seth Bluestein announced his affiliation as a Forward Republican, fighting with other members of the Forward Party for shared-ground solutions to the largest problems facing their communities. Of his decision to affiliate with the Forward Party, Commissioner Bluestein said, "My job as Commissioner requires me to set aside partisanship and work to ensure free, fair, and secure elections for every voter in our city," said Bluestein. "Partnering with the Forward Party an organization committed to finding common ground among all voters and building a people-first election system sends a strong message to every Philadelphian that I am putting the voters first." Forward Party Managing Director for Communities and Building, Joel Searby, cited Commissioner Bluestein's support from across the ideological spectrum, as well as his "Defender of Democracy" award from the Center for Election Innovation & Research when asked about the Forward Party's support of Commissioner Bluestein. "Free and fair elections are a cornerstone of American democracy, and too many public officials are politicizing them for partisan gains. Commissioner Bluestein has proven himself to be a defender of our democracy in a time when it is under assault. We couldn't be more proud that people such as he continue to affiliate with our Party." Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, Forward Co-Chair and former two-term governor of New Jersey, says, "I'm excited, and we're excited, to endorse and support Comm'r. Bluestein in the upcoming election." Commissioner Bluestein joins other Forward Affiliates and elected candidates across the country, including mayors, members of city councils, and state legislators from California, Florida, and Arizona, among others. The Forward Party is built around shared values rather than a set of policy prescriptions, allowing local leaders to focus on solutions that will work in their communities. The Party's focus on values allows our elected officials to work across the aisle to find shared solutions rather than engaging in partisan fighting tied to ideologies that fail to produce results for Americans. Forward Affiliates are elected officials who retain their party registration with one of the two major parties, but publicly join with Forward and pledge to govern according to this values-based platform: BOTTOM-UP, NOT TOP-DOWN Forward empowers leaders to find solutions that work in their communities. We won't dictate a rigid, top-down policy platform and expect it to work for all Americans. DIVERSE THINKING ISN'T JUST WELCOME, IT'S REQUIRED Forward welcomes new ideas and fearless conversations around the issues of the day. We won't silence debate or refuse to adapt to the modern world. WORK TOGETHER, NOT AGAINST Forward strives for collaborative solutions. We'll make sure they work, and we'll try something else if they don't. ALL ARE WELCOME LEFT, RIGHT, OR CENTER Forward is creating a political home for everyone willing to work together in good faith to find practical ways to make this country better. MORE LISTENING, LESS TALKING Forward is asking what we can do for your community. We will not ask what your community can do for us. GRACE AND TOLERANCE Forward believes in approaching one another with grace and tolerance, finding ways to pick people back up rather than knock them down. REFORM MINDED Forward supports election reform policies such as ranked-choice voting and open, nonpartisan primaries to bring more competition and better options to the ballot in local elections. As more and more Americans grow sick of the outdated two-party system in this country, more and more elected officials are finding a welcoming home in the Forward Party. "We're seeing an unprecedented number of elected leaders reach out to us, tired of being told what's best for their constituents by out of touch party leaders," said Lindsey Williams Drath, Forward Party's CEO. "We believe that voters put people in office in order to solve their problems, and the Forward Party is creating space for these public servants to do just that, without requiring them to adopt policy positions they don't believe in or know won't work just to toe the party line." The Forward Party is bringing moderates, conservatives, and progressives together to heal our political divisions, find our shared ground, and create a brighter future for America. Forward Party candidates are accountable to the voters, and they will focus on solutions, not partisan fighting, in order to serve their constituents better. https://www.forwardparty.com For more information about the Forward Party, please read through our Prospectus and Q1 Fact Sheet . CONTACT: Matt Shinners [email protected] www.forwardparty.com SOURCE Forward Party PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nine members of Congress have sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland warning about Iranian regime influence in Shia mosques across the United States. Their letter stems directly from original investigative reporting by the Middle East Forum's media outlet, Focus on Western Islamism (FWI). The congressional letter summarizes FWI's discoveries of extremism and even taxpayer subsidy of extremist Tehran-linked institutions in Maryland, Michigan, Virginia, and Texas. Congress seeks answers into foreign influence over cultural and religious institutions located in U.S. towns and cities Tweet this These institutions, the congress members state, are part of "a network of regime-sponsored mosques acting as agents for a foreign adversary. The radical ideology being promoted by this regime preaches hatred not only towards Jews, Christians, and Westerners, but also to Sunni Muslims and fellow Shi'a Muslims who do not accept the regime's ideology." The nine legislators call on the Department of Justice and the Intelligence Community to "counter this malign influence," utilize tools such as the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and provide briefings on the "extent" of Iranian influence over "cultural and religious institutions" in America. Susannah Johnston, FWI's chief investigative reporter, wrote extensively on the institutions named in the letter. She notes: "Focus on Western Islamism has previously investigated the Iranian regime's influence at each of these mosques from children singing allegiance to the regime at Houston's Islamic Education Center, the Islamic House of Wisdom's close relationship with the regime's leaders, and multiple mosques accepting funding from an alleged regime proxy, the Alavi Foundation. Our reporting was the catalyst for the nine members of Congress to write their letter to Attorney General Garland." MEF director Gregg Roman added: "Evidence suggests the Iranian terror regime has outposts managed by their own intelligence and security operations within American mosques. Some of these outposts are even funded by American taxpayers. This is a dangerous and unacceptable situation that demands immediate and thorough investigation. Iran must not be allowed to undermine U.S. security from our own soil and with our own money." The Middle East Forum promotes American interests in the region and protects Western civilization from Islamism. It does so through a combination of original ideas, focused activism, and the funding of allies. For more information, contact: Gregg Roman [email protected] +1 (215) 546 5406 SOURCE MIDDLE EAST FORUM The Melville company hosted community building activities throughout July MELVILLE, N.Y., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SupplyHouse.com, a national leader in distributing plumbing, heating, and HVAC supplies, celebrated the spirit of community and shared purpose throughout July with a celebration designed to bring employees closer, raise funds for industry education, and spotlight team members who exemplify the company's core values. From July 10th to July 28th, SupplyHouse.com's core values of GRIT (generosity, respect, innovation, and teamwork) were put into action. The company hosted 168 "Role Shares", a unique learning program that paired employees from across different departments within the organization. The goal was to share insights into their work, expanding their understanding of the company's diverse roles and fostering a sense of camaraderie. This program provided a platform for employees to better understand each other's roles and the work being done by different team members across the country. "We love Role Shares because they simultaneously build business acumen and human connection. We find that when people share and connect over their roles, they create stronger teamwork and a deeper understanding of the company as a whole," said SupplyHouse.com Chief Human Resources Officer Matt Willden. Connecting through GRIT: SupplyHouse.com's 2023 Core Value Celebration Tweet this SupplyHouse.com also ran a Core Values Spotlight initiative through Slack that invited team members to nominate colleagues who they felt embody the company's core values in their everyday work. The chosen representatives were recognized and celebrated across various company platforms. In addition to the digital initiatives, SupplyHouse.com took part in a Charity Miles challenge that encouraged employees to engage in physical activities such as walking, running, or biking. In total, 102 team members racked up over 3800 total miles and the company made a $5001.80 donation to the PHCC Educational Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the plumbing and HVACR industry workforce through innovative educational programming. "These initiatives align perfectly with our core values and our belief in the importance of connectivity, support, and recognition in the workplace," said Matt Willden. About SupplyHouse.com: Named a Top Place to Work for the second consecutive year in 2023, SupplyHouse.com is a rapidly growing e-commerce company headquartered in Melville, New York, with 4 fulfillment center locations across the United States to facilitate fast shipping. If you'd like to join their team of over 1000 diverse and self-motivated individuals, visit their careers page at www.supplyhouse.com/careers. SOURCE SupplyHouse.com COP28 President-Designate, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber , has visited Barbados , meeting with Prime Minister Mia Motley and addressing leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). President-Designate, Dr. , has visited , meeting with Prime Minister and addressing leaders of the (CARICOM). In his address, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber acknowledged the significant impact climate change has already had on the region and stressed the COP28 Presidency's vision for a paradigm shift in global efforts to reduce climate change and support regions, like the Caribbean , that are most vulnerable to its impacts. acknowledged the significant impact climate change has already had on the region and stressed the Presidency's vision for a paradigm shift in global efforts to reduce climate change and support regions, like the , that are most vulnerable to its impacts. "The peoples of the Caribbean have been on the front lines of climate change for longer than most. You have been facing some of the harshest climate impacts. And in a very real sense, your experience represents an early warning system for the rest of the world." have been on the front lines of climate change for longer than most. You have been facing some of the harshest climate impacts. And in a very real sense, your experience represents an early warning system for the rest of the world." "Last month I laid out the COP28 Presidency's vision Fast tracking a just, equitable and orderly energy transition; Fixing climate finance; Focusing on people, lives and livelihoods; And underpinning everything with Full inclusivity." Presidency's vision Fast tracking a just, equitable and orderly energy transition; Fixing climate finance; Focusing on people, lives and livelihoods; And underpinning everything with Full inclusivity." "Many of you will be familiar with the global goal I have called for to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030." Right here in Barbados , the Bridgetown and Bowmanston Solar Power plants are expected to displace 1000 tons of CO2 and save nearly 400,000 dollars in diesel fuel costs every year. , the and Bowmanston Solar Power plants are expected to displace 1000 tons of CO2 and save nearly in diesel fuel costs every year. "Addressing the climate finance gap is so important and why I have made it a key priority for COP28 ." ." "As a first step, I have called on donor countries to "show me the money", when it comes to the long overdue 100-billion-dollar finance pledge." finance pledge." "I am also calling for deep, system-wide reform of IFIs and MDBs to make them more responsive to the climate and development needs of the 21st century." "We need to ensure the right balance between mitigation finance and adaptation finance. This region knows only too well the human and economic costs of too little finance for climate adaptation and resilience." "I am calling on all parties to double adaptation finance by 2025 and ensure that a substantial portion of all climate finances goes to adaptation in the future." BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- COP 28 President-Designate Dr. Sultan Al Jaber has visited Barbados to meet with Prime Minister Mia Motley and address distinguished leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). In his speech, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber reaffirmed the COP28 Presidency's commitment to support communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and to push the international community to close the climate finance gap and address social and economic development in-step with climate action. COP28 President-Designate Dr. Sultan Al Jaber alongside leaders of the Caribbean community at CARICOM (PRNewsfoto/COP28) Dr. Al Jaber said: "The peoples of the Caribbean have been on the front lines of climate change for longer than most. You have been facing some of the harshest climate impacts. And in a very real sense, your experience represents an early warning system for the rest of the world." In his address to CARICOM, the COP28 President-Designate emphasized the critical role climate finance will play in the global energy transition, reminding those present that 'fixing climate finance' is one of four of his key 'Action Plan' priorities for COP28 alongside 'focus on people', 'lives and livelihoods' and underpinning everything with 'full inclusivity'. "As a first step, I have called on donor countries to "show me the money", when it comes to the long overdue 100-billion-dollar finance pledge. I am also calling for deep, system-wide reform of IFIs and MDBs to make them more responsive to the climate and development needs of the 21st century. In short, all forms of finance must be more available, more accessible, and more affordable," added Al Jaber. Dr. Sultan Al Jaber also praised the work of The Bridgetown Initiative, which he noted was "a wake-up call for the global community to make good on past promises and modernize a financial architecture that was built for the last century." Spearheaded by Barbados, The Bridgetown Initiative seeks to facilitate access to international financing, an effort that aligns with the COP28 Presidency's own commitment to modernize global financial infrastructure to support climate action. In his speech, the COP28 President-Designate also highlighted that Barbados represents "a living example of renewable energy's potential not only to deliver carbon free power, but to lower energy costs and create new avenues for economic growth." He noted that the Bridgetown and Bowmanston Solar Power plants are expected to displace 1,000 tons of CO2 and save nearly 400,000 dollars in diesel fuel costs every year. The UAE itself has partnered on carbon and cost-saving projects across 16 Caribbean nations through the Abu Dabi Fund for Development and Masdar. However, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber noted that the cost of capital is proving a stumbling block to progress. "We all know that the cost of capital has slowed the adoption of renewable energy in this region, alongside many other climate vulnerable regions of the world. That is why addressing the climate finance gap is so important and why I have made it a key priority for COP28," Al Jaber added. Dr. Sultan Al Jaber also warned of the importance of striking the "right balance" between mitigation finance and adaptation finance, noting this will be critical as world leaders begin outlining the parameters for a new, collective goal for finance during COP28, and beyond. "This region knows only too well the human and economic costs of too little finance for climate adaptation and resilience. That's why I am calling on all parties to double adaptation finance by 2025 and ensure that a substantial portion of all climate finance goes to adaptation in the future," Dr. Sultan Al Jaber said. During his visit to Barbados, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber also announced that the UAE will host a meeting of the Independent High-Level Expert Group (IHLEG) on Climate Finance in August. The two-day meeting will bring together world-leading economists, private sector leaders, the COP28 Presidency and the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions and will prepare the ground ahead of COP28, ensuring the event delivers tangible action on international finance reforms. During his stay in Barbados, the COP28 President-Designate held a bilateral meeting with several other dignitaries, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and the Minister of Energy and Business Development. He also conducted a tour of the island, visiting key ecological sites and climate adaptation projects, including the energy-efficient, hurricane resilient homes of the Home Ownership Providing Energy (HOPE) project and the sea defense installation at Holetown, which is designed to protect the local community from rising sea levels. Dr. Sultan Al Jaber's visit to Barbados follows a trip to Brazil, where he delivered remarks at the Amazon Summit and Collaboration for Sustainable Development and urged leaders to build on President Lula's achievements in reducing deforestation. Notes to Editors COP28 UAE: COP28 UAE will take place at Expo City Dubai from November 30-December 12, 2023 . The Conference is expected to convene over 70,000 participants, including heads of state, government officials, international industry leaders, private sector representatives, academics, experts, youth, and non-state actors. UAE will take place at Expo City from . The Conference is expected to convene over 70,000 participants, including heads of state, government officials, international industry leaders, private sector representatives, academics, experts, youth, and non-state actors. As mandated by the Paris Climate Agreement, COP28 UAE will deliver the first ever Global Stocktake a comprehensive evaluation of progress against climate goals. UAE will deliver the first ever Global Stocktake a comprehensive evaluation of progress against climate goals. The UAE will lead a process for all parties to agree upon a clear roadmap to accelerate progress through a pragmatic global energy transition and a "leave no one behind" approach to inclusive climate action." Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2183826/COP28.jpg SOURCE COP28 COP28 President-Designate, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber , has visited Barbados , meeting with Prime Minister Mia Motley and addressing leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). President-Designate, Dr. , has visited , meeting with Prime Minister and addressing leaders of the (CARICOM). In his address, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber acknowledged the significant impact climate change has already had on the region and stressed the COP28 Presidency's vision for a paradigm shift in global efforts to reduce climate change and support regions, like the Caribbean , that are most vulnerable to its impacts. acknowledged the significant impact climate change has already had on the region and stressed the Presidency's vision for a paradigm shift in global efforts to reduce climate change and support regions, like the , that are most vulnerable to its impacts. "The peoples of the Caribbean have been on the front lines of climate change for longer than most. You have been facing some of the harshest climate impacts. And in a very real sense, your experience represents an early warning system for the rest of the world." have been on the front lines of climate change for longer than most. You have been facing some of the harshest climate impacts. And in a very real sense, your experience represents an early warning system for the rest of the world." "Last month I laid out the COP28 Presidency's vision Fast tracking a just, equitable and orderly energy transition; Fixing climate finance; Focusing on people, lives and livelihoods; And underpinning everything with Full inclusivity." Presidency's vision Fast tracking a just, equitable and orderly energy transition; Fixing climate finance; Focusing on people, lives and livelihoods; And underpinning everything with Full inclusivity." "Many of you will be familiar with the global goal I have called for to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030." Right here in Barbados , the Bridgetown and Bowmanston Solar Power plants are expected to displace 1000 tons of CO2 and save nearly 400,000 dollars in diesel fuel costs every year. , the and Bowmanston Solar Power plants are expected to displace 1000 tons of CO2 and save nearly in diesel fuel costs every year. "Addressing the climate finance gap is so important and why I have made it a key priority for COP28 ." ." "As a first step, I have called on donor countries to "show me the money", when it comes to the long overdue 100-billion-dollar finance pledge." finance pledge." "I am also calling for deep, system-wide reform of IFIs and MDBs to make them more responsive to the climate and development needs of the 21st century." "We need to ensure the right balance between mitigation finance and adaptation finance. This region knows only too well the human and economic costs of too little finance for climate adaptation and resilience." "I am calling on all parties to double adaptation finance by 2025 and ensure that a substantial portion of all climate finances goes to adaptation in the future." BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- COP 28 President-Designate Dr. Sultan Al Jaber has visited Barbados to meet with Prime Minister Mia Motley and address distinguished leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). In his speech, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber reaffirmed the COP28 Presidency's commitment to support communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and to push the international community to close the climate finance gap and address social and economic development in-step with climate action. COP28 President-Designate Dr. Sultan Al Jaber alongside leaders of the Caribbean community at CARICOM Dr. Al Jaber said: "The peoples of the Caribbean have been on the front lines of climate change for longer than most. You have been facing some of the harshest climate impacts. And in a very real sense, your experience represents an early warning system for the rest of the world." In his address to CARICOM, the COP28 President-Designate emphasized the critical role climate finance will play in the global energy transition, reminding those present that 'fixing climate finance' is one of four of his key 'Action Plan' priorities for COP28 alongside 'focus on people', 'lives and livelihoods' and underpinning everything with 'full inclusivity'. "As a first step, I have called on donor countries to "show me the money", when it comes to the long overdue 100-billion-dollar finance pledge. I am also calling for deep, system-wide reform of IFIs and MDBs to make them more responsive to the climate and development needs of the 21st century. In short, all forms of finance must be more available, more accessible, and more affordable," added Al Jaber. Dr. Sultan Al Jaber also praised the work of The Bridgetown Initiative, which he noted was "a wake-up call for the global community to make good on past promises and modernize a financial architecture that was built for the last century." Spearheaded by Barbados, The Bridgetown Initiative seeks to facilitate access to international financing, an effort that aligns with the COP28 Presidency's own commitment to modernize global financial infrastructure to support climate action. In his speech, the COP28 President-Designate also highlighted that Barbados represents "a living example of renewable energy's potential not only to deliver carbon free power, but to lower energy costs and create new avenues for economic growth." He noted that the Bridgetown and Bowmanston Solar Power plants are expected to displace 1,000 tons of CO2 and save nearly 400,000 dollars in diesel fuel costs every year. The UAE itself has partnered on carbon and cost-saving projects across 16 Caribbean nations through the Abu Dabi Fund for Development and Masdar. However, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber noted that the cost of capital is proving a stumbling block to progress. "We all know that the cost of capital has slowed the adoption of renewable energy in this region, alongside many other climate vulnerable regions of the world. That is why addressing the climate finance gap is so important and why I have made it a key priority for COP28," Al Jaber added. Dr. Sultan Al Jaber also warned of the importance of striking the "right balance" between mitigation finance and adaptation finance, noting this will be critical as world leaders begin outlining the parameters for a new, collective goal for finance during COP28, and beyond. "This region knows only too well the human and economic costs of too little finance for climate adaptation and resilience. That's why I am calling on all parties to double adaptation finance by 2025 and ensure that a substantial portion of all climate finance goes to adaptation in the future," Dr. Sultan Al Jaber said. During his visit to Barbados, Dr. Sultan Al Jaber also announced that the UAE will host a meeting of the Independent High-Level Expert Group (IHLEG) on Climate Finance in August. The two-day meeting will bring together world-leading economists, private sector leaders, the COP28 Presidency and the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions and will prepare the ground ahead of COP28, ensuring the event delivers tangible action on international finance reforms. During his stay in Barbados, the COP28 President-Designate held a bilateral meeting with several other dignitaries, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and the Minister of Energy and Business Development. He also conducted a tour of the island, visiting key ecological sites and climate adaptation projects, including the energy-efficient, hurricane resilient homes of the Home Ownership Providing Energy (HOPE) project and the sea defense installation at Holetown, which is designed to protect the local community from rising sea levels. Dr. Sultan Al Jaber's visit to Barbados follows a trip to Brazil, where he delivered remarks at the Amazon Summit and Collaboration for Sustainable Development and urged leaders to build on President Lula's achievements in reducing deforestation. Notes to Editors COP28 UAE: COP28 UAE will take place at Expo City Dubai from November 30-December 12, 2023 . The Conference is expected to convene over 70,000 participants, including heads of state, government officials, international industry leaders, private sector representatives, academics, experts, youth, and non-state actors. UAE will take place at Expo City Dubai from . The Conference is expected to convene over 70,000 participants, including heads of state, government officials, international industry leaders, private sector representatives, academics, experts, youth, and non-state actors. As mandated by the Paris Climate Agreement, COP28 UAE will deliver the first ever Global Stocktake a comprehensive evaluation of progress against climate goals. UAE will deliver the first ever Global Stocktake a comprehensive evaluation of progress against climate goals. The UAE will lead a process for all parties to agree upon a clear roadmap to accelerate progress through a pragmatic global energy transition and a "leave no one behind" approach to inclusive climate action." Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2183826/COP28.jpg SOURCE COP28 This is the second of six CML food trucks destined for the DMV market. HYATTSVILLE, Md., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cousins Maine Lobster , leading quick-service Maine lobster roll concept, announces the launch of their newest franchise market in Maryland. They are celebrating with the grand opening of the new food truck on August 18 at Streetcar 82 Brewing Company in Hyattsville, Maryland. Cousins Maine Lobster Maryland Grand Opening 12:00 - 8:00 PM Streetcar 82 Brewing Company 4824 Rhode Island Ave Hyattsville, MD 20781 FMI The operation is led by franchisees and brothers Yunus and Thameem Shahul and is part of a multi-unit franchise food truck deal for Washington, DC; Maryland; and Virginia. Yunus Shahul joined the Cousins Maine Lobster Franchise Family in September 2018 with his first food truck in Connecticut. Over the past five years the brothers have worked together to expand their franchise footprint to five markets that span from Connecticut to Virginia. The Shahul brothers launched their first DMV-area food truck in Virginia in March 2023 and have seen great success. "We are committed to investing in the DMV with the goal of building the same strong customer base that we have in our established markets," Yunus explained. "Our brand has experienced great growth and a strong customer following on the East Coast and we know we can continue to connect with consumers in the DMV." "Our growth has been measured and strategic," explained Jim Tselikis, Cousins Maine Lobster co-founder. "Not only have the Shahul brothers grown with Cousins Maine Lobster, but Cousins Maine Lobster has grown with them. We truly believe that our strength is in our franchisees and we are thrilled to grow in the DMV with the Yunus and Thameem at the helm." Maryland marks the 54th unit for the Cousins Maine Lobster franchise system, which also includes seven brick and mortar stores. They are actively franchising across the US and are currently seeking priority candidates for the Midwest. They are also evaluating new real estate to expand their brick and mortar footprint. For more information on franchising and real estate opportunities go to https://www.cousinsmainelobster.com/franchise/ . About Cousins Maine Lobster Founded in 2012 by real-life cousins and Mainers, Jim Tselikis and Sabin Lomac, Cousins Maine Lobster began with two things: a food truck, and a shared vision to extend the highest-quality Maine lobster to the lobster-starved masses by making it affordable and accessible. Growing up in Maine, lobster was tradition always a reason to gather family, friends, and loved ones to share a special meal. After appearing on Shark Tank a few months later, Jim & Sabin partnered with Barbara Corcoran and began franchising, working with local owners and entrepreneurs to bring Maine lobster to over 40 cities across the country. DISCLAIMER: This information is not intended as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy a franchise. It is for informational purposes only. The offer of a franchise can only be made through the delivery of a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) that has first been registered with any applicable state authority in compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Contact: Annie Tselikis Cousins Maine Lobster [email protected] SOURCE Cousins Maine Lobster The global digital biomarkers market is experiencing growth due to several factors, including the rise in the prevalence of chronic diseases, an increase in the number of geriatric populations, and the benefits associated with digital biomarkers. PORTLAND, Ore., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report titled, "Digital Biomarkers Market by Type (Wearable, Mobile Application, Software, and Others), Application (Cardiovascular Disease, Sleep and Movement Disease, Neurological Disorders, and Others), and End User (Healthcare Companies, Hospitals, and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2023-2032." According to the report, the global digital biomarkers market was valued at $2.1 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $14.7 billion by 2032, registering a CAGR of 21.3% from 2023 to 2032. Request Sample of the Report on Digital Biomarkers Market Forecast 2032- Allied Market Research- https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/132906 Digital biomarkers are quantifiable, unwavering physiological, behavioral, or environmental data that is gathered using digital platforms or equipment. These biomarkers come from various sources, including digital tools, mobile apps, sensors, and wearable technology. They offer valuable information about an individual's health status, disease progression, response to treatment, and general well-being. By enabling remote monitoring, personalized medicine, early disease detection, and more effective healthcare interventions, digital biomarkers have the potential to completely transform the healthcare industry. They provide a data-driven strategy for managing healthcare and have the potential to greatly enhance patient outcomes and care quality. Prime Determinants of Growth: The global digital biomarkers market is experiencing growth due to several factors, including the rise in the prevalence of chronic diseases, an increase in the number of geriatric populations, and the benefits associated with digital biomarkers. However, the high cost associated with digital biomarkers is anticipated to hinder the growth of the market. On the contrary, the high presence of digital biomarker providers and the rise in initiatives taken by the government to develop healthcare infrastructure are expected to witness growth during the forecast period. Report Coverage & Details: Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 20232032 Base Year 2022 Market Size in 2022 $2.1 Billion Market Size in 2032 $14.7 Billion CAGR 21.3 % No. of Pages in Report 438 Segments Covered Type, Application, Clinical Practice, End User, and Region Drivers The rise in the prevalence of chronic diseases Increase in the number of geriatric populations The benefits associated with digital biomarkers Opportunities Rise in the number of product approvals and product launches by market players Large number of market participants Restraints High manufacturing cost of digital biomarkers What is the Impact of Recession 2023 on Digital Biomarkers Market? The 2023 recession has negatively impacted the global digital biomarkers market, resulting in hiring freezes, budget cuts, or reductions in the workforce. These constraints are projected to limit the availability of skilled personnel to deploy and manage the digital healthcare system. However, the global digital biomarkers market is expected to recover from the negative impact of the recession as demand for new treatment options for chronic diseases rises. Want to Explore More, Connect to our Analyst- https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/connect-to-analyst/132906 The wearable segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period- Based on type, the wearable segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than three-fifths of the global digital biomarkers market revenue, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. Owing to the high presence of market players who manufacture wearable digital biomarkers. However, the mobile application segment would display the fastest CAGR of 22.1% from 2023 to 2032. Due to the rise in awareness among people regarding mobile applications and digital biomarkers and the rise in prevalence of chronic diseases. The cardiovascular diseases segment to maintain its lead position throughout the forecast period- Based on application, the cardiovascular diseases segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for nearly two-fifths of the global digital biomarkers market revenue, and is estimated to maintain its lead position throughout the forecast period. Due to the rise in the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and increased awareness among the public regarding digital biomarkers for cardiac diseases. However, the diabetes segment is projected to manifest a significant CAGR of 22.3% from 2023 to 2032. Due to the rising prevalence of diabetes. The monitoring segment to rule the roost by 2032- Based on clinical practice, the monitoring segment held the highest market share in 2022, contributing to nearly three-fifths of the global digital biomarkers market revenue, and is projected to rule the roost by 2032. This is due to increased awareness among the public regarding digital biomarkers for monitoring cardiac diseases and other chronic diseases. On the other hand, the diagnostic segment would showcase the fastest CAGR of 21.8% from 2023 to 2032. The growth is attributed to a rise in the usage of diagnostic digital biomarkers by healthcare providers for the diagnosis of chronic diseases. For Procurement Information- https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/132906 The healthcare consumers segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period- Based on end user, the healthcare consumers segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for nearly three-fourths of the global digital biomarkers market revenue and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. This is due to a rise in adoption of healthcare consumers. However, the healthcare providers segment would portray the fastest CAGR of 22.0% from 2023 to 2032. North America to maintain its dominance by 2032- Based on region, North America held the highest market share in 2022, holding nearly half of the global digital biomarkers market revenue, and is likely to dominate the market during the forecast period. The growth is attributed to the high presence of digital biomarker manufacturers in North America and the rising prevalence of chronic disease. However, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 22.3% from 2023 to 2032. Owing to the rising number of geriatric populations, it is more susceptible to chronic diseases, and an increase in awareness among people regarding digital biomarkers. Leading Market Players: - Actigraph Llc Verily Life Sciences LLC Alivecor Koneksahealth Amgen Inc. Empatica Sonde Health, Inc. Clario Feel Therapeutics Brainomix The report provides a detailed analysis of these key players in the global digital biomarkers market. These players have adopted different strategies such as agreements, partnerships, acquisitions, and business expansion to increase their market share and maintain dominant positions in different regions. The report is valuable in highlighting business performance, operating segments, product portfolios, and strategic moves of market players to showcase the competitive scenario. Comprehensive Healthcare Industry Research Studies: Internet of Things in Healthcare Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20222032 Medical Tourism Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20222032 3D Cell Culture Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20222032 Neurovascular Devices Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20222032 Viral Vector and Plasmid DNA Manufacturing Market- Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20222032 AVENUE- A Subscription-Based Library (Premium on-demand, subscription-based pricing model): AMR introduces its online premium subscription-based library Avenue, designed specifically to offer cost-effective, one-stop solution for enterprises, investors, and universities. With Avenue, subscribers can avail an entire repository of reports on more than 2,000 niche industries and more than 12,000 company profiles. Moreover, users can get an online access to quantitative and qualitative data in PDF and Excel formats along with analyst support, customization, and updated versions of reports. Get an access to the library of reports at any time from any device and anywhere. For more details, follow the link: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/library-access About Allied Market Research: 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 domains. AMR offers its services across 11 industry verticals including Life Sciences, Consumer Goods, Materials & Chemicals, Construction & Manufacturing, Food & Beverages, Energy & Power, Semiconductor & Electronics, Automotive & Transportation, ICT & Media, Aerospace & Defense, and BFSI. 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. Contact: David Correa 5933 NE Win Sivers Drive #205, Portland, OR 97220 United States Toll Free: +1-800-792-5285 UK: +44-845-528-1300 Hong Kong: +852-301-84916 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1-855-550-5975 [email protected] Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636519/3950895/Allied_Market_Research_Logo.jpg SOURCE Allied Market Research Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba believes that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is able to resume the operation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative after Russia withdraws from the deal in July 2023. "I think he [Erdogan] can. We know that Turkish diplomacy is working with Russian. However, we are building alternative routes for the export of wheat and other products, bypassing the Black Sea," Kuleba said in an interview with the Italian edition of Corriere della Sera. Earlier, Bloomberg said Turkish President Erdogan intends to resume the deal under the Black Sea Grain Initiative in an expanded format and called on Western countries to help turn this initiative into the basis of peace between Russia and Ukraine. CHICAGO, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In the near future, the digital dentistry industry is poised to undergo a transformative evolution, redefining the landscape of dental care and treatment. With rapid advancements in technologies such as 3D printing, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality, dental procedures will become increasingly personalized, efficient, and minimally invasive. Digital impressions, virtual smile design, and precision-guided surgical interventions will become standard practice, enhancing patient outcomes and experiences. Tele-dentistry will bridge geographical gaps, enabling remote consultations and monitoring, while data-driven insights will optimize treatment plans and preventive care. However, the industry must also navigate challenges related to data security, regulatory compliance, and ensuring equitable access to these technological advancements across diverse populations. Digital Dentistry Market in terms of revenue was estimated to be worth $7.2 billion in 2023 and is poised to reach $12.2 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 10.9% from 2023 to 2028 according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets. Growth in this market can primarily be attributed to increasing demand for improved cosmetic dental operations, rising demand for same-day dentistry, rising outsourcing of lab manufacture, rising returns on investment for digital dentistry solutions, and a growing patient base for dental treatments. Increased adoption of digital dentistry solutions by DSO, rise in the number of players manufacturing improved 3D printers, and increased adoption of digital workflow by dental practitioners. Download an Illustrative overview: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=71673710 Browse in-depth TOC on "Digital Dentistry Market" 305 - Tables 56 - Figures 294 - Pages Digital Dentistry Market Scope: Report Coverage Details Market Revenue in 2023 $7.2 billion Estimated Value by 2028 $12.2 billion Growth Rate Poised to grow at a CAGR of 10.9% 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 By product, by application, by specialty areas, by end users, and by region Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa Report Highlights Updated financial information / product portfolio of players Key Market Opportunities Consolidation of dental practices and rising DSO activity Key Market Drivers Increasing demand for same-day dentistry Orthodontics accounted for the largest share of the digital dentistry market. Based on the specialty areas, the digital dentistry market is segmented into prosthodontics, orthodontics, implantology, and other specialty areas. In 2022, orthodontics held the major share of digital dentistry market. The large share of the orthodontics segment can be attributed to the growing demand for clear aligners and the increasing incidence of malocclusions, rise in aesthetics and patient appearance is increasing the demand for digital dentistry in orthodontics. The diagnostics segment is growing at the highest rate in the digital dentistry market, by application. Based on the application, the digital dentistry market is segmented into diagnostics, therapeutics, forensic and others. The large share of this segment can be attributed to the increasing number of dental laboratories, the expansion of existing dental laboratories, the growing affordability of dental laboratory services, and the rising adoption of advanced technologies by dental laboratories. Digital dentistry has seen a great adoption in the diagnostic space, to quickly identify caries, determine the plan of treatment, easily visualize the criticality of each patient's case, and educate the patient regarding their dental conditions. North America segment accounted for the largest share of the digital dentistry market The global Digital dentistry market is segmented into North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. In 2022, the North America segment accounted for the largest share of the digital dentistry market. Rise in the number of dental diseases, increased DSO operations, high spending capacity of dental practices, increased number of skilled labor, increased support from government, and rise in awareness of oral diseases. Request Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=71673710 Digital Dentistry Market Dynamics: Drivers: Increasing demand for same-day dentistry Restraints: The Lack of reimbursement for dental procedures Opportunities: Consolidation of dental practices and rising DSO activity Challenges: Reluctance to switch to digital dental solutions Key Market Players: The major players in the digital dentistry market include Dentsply Sirona (US), Envista Holdings Corporation (US), 3M Company (US), Ivoclar Vivadent AG (Switzerland), Planmeca OY (Finland), 3Shape (Denmark), Align Technologies (US), J Morita Corporation (Japan), 3D Systems, Inc. (US), Straumann Group (Switzerland), Stratasys (US), Kulzer (US), Vatech Co. Ltd. (US), Carestream Dental LLC (US), Bego GMBH & Co. KG (Germany). Recent Developments: In March 2023 , 3Shape launched TRIOS 5 intraoral scanner, 3Shape Unite platform, TRIOS Share, patient engagement, and studio apps, to help lab professionals to ease workflow with digital integration. , 3Shape launched TRIOS 5 intraoral scanner, 3Shape Unite platform, TRIOS Share, patient engagement, and studio apps, to help lab professionals to ease workflow with digital integration. In January 2023 , 3Shape ( Denmark ) acquired LabStar (US) to grow and manage businesses. The acquisition helps provide innovation and customer service to dental labs with many more opportunities, especially in digital dentistry. , 3Shape ( ) acquired LabStar (US) to grow and manage businesses. The acquisition helps provide innovation and customer service to dental labs with many more opportunities, especially in digital dentistry. In February 2022 , BEGO GMBH Co., KG partnered with Whip Mix so that end users of Whip Mix VeriBuild and VeriEKO 3D printers can use Bego's 3D printing material such as VarseoSmile Crownplus and VarseoSmile Temp. Get 10% Free Customization on this Report: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestCustomizationNew.asp?id=71673710 Digital Dentistry Market Advantages: Enhanced Precision and Accuracy: Digital tools such as CAD/CAM systems and intraoral scanners enable highly accurate and precise measurements, leading to better-fitting restorations and reducing the need for adjustments. Efficient Workflow: Digital processes streamline treatment procedures by eliminating the need for traditional molds and manual steps, saving both time and resources. Customization and Personalization: Technologies like 3D printing and computer-aided design allow for the creation of patient-specific dental prosthetics and appliances, leading to improved outcomes and comfort. Improved Patient Experience: Digital impressions are more comfortable for patients, reducing discomfort associated with traditional molds, and virtual simulations help patients visualize treatment outcomes, increasing their understanding and satisfaction. Remote Consultations and Teledentistry: Digital tools enable remote consultations, expanding access to dental care for patients in remote areas or with limited mobility. Data-Driven Treatment Planning: Digital records and software analytics enable data-driven insights for treatment planning, leading to more informed decisions and optimal outcomes. Reduced Radiation Exposure: Digital radiography uses lower radiation doses compared to traditional X-rays, improving patient safety. Environmentally Friendly: Digital dentistry reduces the need for physical materials like film and chemicals, making it more environmentally sustainable. Collaboration and Communication: Digital tools facilitate seamless communication and collaboration among dental professionals, enhancing coordinated care for patients requiring multidisciplinary treatments. Better Record Keeping: Digital records are easily accessible, reducing the risk of lost or damaged physical files, and aiding in the management of patient history. Cost-Efficiency: Over time, investments in digital technologies can lead to cost savings through reduced material wastage, decreased chair time, and fewer redo procedures. Technological Innovation: The digital dentistry market continues to evolve, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in dental care and opening doors to new treatment options and techniques. Patient Education: Digital tools, such as augmented reality and virtual simulations, help educate patients about their oral health, treatment options, and expected outcomes. Minimal Invasive Procedures: Digital guidance systems allow for minimally invasive surgeries, preserving more of the patient's natural dental structure. Quick Turnaround: With digital workflows, dental restorations can often be produced faster, reducing the time patients have to wait for their treatments to be completed. Overall, the digital dentistry market's advantages lie in its ability to provide accurate, efficient, patient-centered, and technologically advanced dental care, improving both patient experiences and outcomes. Related Reports: Intraoral Scanner Market - Global Forecasts to 2028 Collagen and Gelatin Market - Global Forecasts to 2028 Dental 3D Printing Market - Global Forecasts to 2028 Surgical Procedures Market - Global Forecasts to 2028 Dental Practice Management Software Market - Global Forecasts to 2028 About MarketsandMarkets: MarketsandMarkets is a blue ocean alternative in growth consulting and program management, leveraging a man-machine offering to drive supernormal growth for progressive organizations in the B2B space. We have the widest lens on emerging technologies, making us proficient in co-creating supernormal growth for clients. The B2B economy is witnessing the emergence of $25 trillion of new revenue streams that are substituting existing revenue streams in this decade alone. We work with clients on growth programs, helping them monetize this $25 trillion opportunity through our service lines - TAM Expansion, Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy to Execution, Market Share Gain, Account Enablement, and Thought Leadership Marketing. Built on the 'GIVE Growth' principle, we work with several Forbes Global 2000 B2B companies - helping them stay relevant in a disruptive ecosystem. Our insights and strategies are molded by our industry experts, cutting-edge AI-powered Market Intelligence Cloud, and years of research. The KnowledgeStore (our Market Intelligence Cloud) integrates our research, facilitates an analysis of interconnections through a set of applications, helping clients look at the entire ecosystem and understand the revenue shifts happening in their industry. To find out more, visit www.MarketsandMarkets.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Contact: Mr. Aashish Mehra MarketsandMarkets INC. 630 Dundee Road Suite 430 Northbrook, IL 60062 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: [email protected] Research Insight: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ResearchInsight/digital-dentistry-market.asp Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ Content Source: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/digital-dentistry.asp Logo : https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660509/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg SOURCE MarketsandMarkets "It's a fresh take on the Amazon Locker concept, in service of our mission to ensure all people have access to the healthy food they need to thrive." CHICAGO, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- To coincide with its third anniversary, the food-security nonprofit Dion's Chicago Dream is launching an innovative program to provide fresh, quality produce to households in need: the Dream Vault. The Dream Vault is a network-enabled bank of lockers designed to serve 200 households living within a one-mile radius with fresh fruits and vegetables, at no cost to them. Every week, each recipient can enter a code and pick up their box of healthy produce. Dion's Chicago Dream expands suite of food access solutions with the Dream Vault "It's a fresh take on the Amazon Locker concept, in service of our mission to ensure all people have access to the healthy food they need to thrive," said Dion Dawson, founder and chief dreamer of Dion's Chicago Dream. The first Dream Vault is located at the new Save A Lot grocery store in Englewood at 832 W 63rd Street. Dion's Chicago Dream aims to launch at least four more Dream Vaults throughout the City of Chicago with other partners by the end of the year. Over the past three years, Dion's Chicago Dream has provided more than 600,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables to households in need throughout the Chicagoland area through its Dream Fridge and Dream Deliveries programs. Media Contact: Carina Daniels [email protected] 510-847-1617 SOURCE Dion's Chicago Dream Aug. 11th is National 811 Day, which promotes safe digging practices to protect underground utility lines Customers encouraged to call 811 and have underground utility lines marked before digging RICHMOND, Va., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With summer comes extra time outside, and home improvement projects. Dominion Energy Virginia encourages homeowners and contractors to call 811 and have underground utility lines marked before beginning any digging projects. The 811 service is free of charge and supported by Virginia's utilities to protect communities from accidental damage to underground utility lines. Whether you're a construction contractor or working on a DIY home improvement project, locating the underground electric or gas lines on your property could save lives, avoid outages and help you avoid fines. State law requires the public to contact 811 at least three business days before starting a project to request underground utility markings. "Everyone has a role to play in keeping our communities safe," said Sylvia White, Dominion Energy Virginia's Director of Distribution Operations. "Calling before you dig is one of the most important things you can do before any construction or home improvement project. It will keep you safe and protect the safety of your neighbors." Here are a few important reminders for safe digging: Call before you dig. Before digging, contact VA811 at least three full working days before beginning any digging project by visiting www.va811.com or dialing 8-1-1. Before digging, contact VA811 at least three full working days before beginning any digging project by visiting www.va811.com or dialing 8-1-1. Wait for the utility lines to be marked. At no cost, 811 technicians will mark the location of the utility lines on the requested property. Once you've confirmed the utilities have been marked, it is safe to begin the digging project. At no cost, 811 technicians will mark the location of the utility lines on the requested property. Once you've confirmed the utilities have been marked, it is safe to begin the digging project. Respect the markings for your safety. Dig at least 2 feet from all sides of the marks, not on them. Dig at least 2 feet from all sides of the marks, not on them. Dig with care. If you accidentally damage a utility line, no matter how minor it may seem, move to a safe location. From a safe place, call Dominion Energy Virginia at 1-866-366-4357. Visit dominionenergy.com/safety/call-before-you-dig for more information about the call-before-you-dig process. View the Spanish language version of this release. About Dominion Energy About 7 million customers in 16 states energize their homes and businesses with electricity or natural gas from Dominion Energy (NYSE: D), headquartered in Richmond, Va. The company is committed to safely providing reliable, affordable and sustainable energy and to achieving Net Zero emissions by 2050. Please visit DominionEnergy.com to learn more. SOURCE Dominion Energy CLEVELAND, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers continue to re-examine their daily habits, placing an emphasis on those that enrich their lives. Self-care, meditation and healing practices are at the forefront, and the concept of home has evolved into a sanctuary for well-being. In support of this longing for consistency in the home and feeling of comfort, Dutch Boy Paints unveils its 2024 One-Coat Color of the Year: Ironside, a deep olive shade with dark undertones that creates a level of comfortable sophistication. Dutch Boy Paints unveils its 2024 One-Coat Color of the Year: Ironside, a deep olive shade with dark undertones that creates a level of comfortable sophistication. Ironside is rooted in comfort and creates a space that is elegant and charming. As dark shades become more appreciated in the home, this deep olive is versatile in wide-open spaces or enclosed comfy places, reflecting well-being from all angles. "Creating a space for wellness should be a driving factor in everyday life," said Ashley Banbury, NCIDQ and color marketing manager, Dutch Boy Paints. "That's why taking a natural approach to healthy living and safe spaces is a pivotal part of the current landscape. Dutch Boy Paints' 2024 One-Coat Color of the Yearthe stunning, strong Ironsideincorporates all the above in one bold color and can be applied in one single coat." Ironside is rooted in comfort and creates a space that is elegant and charming. As dark shades become more appreciated in the home, this deep olive is versatile in wide-open spaces or enclosed comfy places, reflecting well-being from all angles. Dutch Boy Paints' 2024 Color of the Year, Ironside, as well as all the shades in the complementing 2024 color palettes, are proven to be one-coat hide colors, providing a simple solution for DIYers. The brand's tested one-coat colors deliver optimal coverage with just a single coat, helping achieve a beautifully finished project in three easy steps: (1) selecting a favorite one-coat trends color; (2) pairing it with Dutch Boy premium paint and Purdy applicators; and (3) using the recommended technique to apply with confidence. Ironside (422-7DB) lays the foundation for three designed color palettes that make up the Dutch Boy Paints' 2024 One Coat Color Trend Forecast. By building on the deep, olive tones of Ironside, these palettes deliver a multifaceted look that's comforting and simple, while also embracing individual design styles: Embrace Palette As homeowners place an emphasis on the comfort of slowing down, the Embrace palette elevates a room as consumers make their homes a primary place for self-care and wellness. The calming hues paint the picture of a retreat to rest and recharge with shades including Antique White (011W), Whale's Tail (430-6DB) and Heritage Brown (411-7DB). Retreat Palette In a quest to be present, we crave simplicity in our surroundings. The Retreat color palette gives us peace of mind to explore new angles in our lives as we take extra time for ourselves. Ironside is the color that ties Sanded Grout (412-4DB), Wild Orange (310-4DB) and Antiquated Olive (424-6DB) together, bringing both cleanliness and warmth to the home. Inspire Palette Personal expression and creative outlets have become therapeutic. Bold uses of pattern, color and curated spaces in this color palette create self-inspired trends and environments. Explore color by combining shades like Ultra White (002W), Pineapple Flan (214-3DB) and Strawberry Shade (302-6DB). "Dutch Boy's 2024 One-Coat Color Trend Forecast speaks to homeowners, DIYers and anyone with specific tastes in color selection," said Michelle Bangs, senior brand manager, Dutch Boy Paints. "We're taking a comforting approach; embracing restoration and nature, while bringing harmony into the home. These color palettes are easy to customize to complement the personal style and preference of DIYers everywhere." For additional simplicity, Dutch Boy's 2024 trend colors are all available in the brand's award-winning Twist & Pour containera unique easy-to-open, easy-to-hold and easy-to-pour container available exclusively at Menards. Visit https://trends.dutchboy.com/ or Menards retail locations to explore the full Dutch Boy Paints' 2024 Color Trend Forecast. About Dutch Boy Group Founded in 1907, Dutch Boy Paints continues to be an industry leader in delivering innovative and high-quality products and packaging solutions and is one of the most recognizable brands in the market over 100 years later. In recent years, a new vitality, youthfulness and the promise of Simple Solutions have also shaped the brand. Heritage and trust have been brought to life with energy and empowerment, inspiring DIYers and paint enthusiasts for generations to come. For more information, visit dutchboy.com. About Sherwin-Williams Consumer Brands Group Sherwin-Williams Consumer Brands Group offers innovative products to meet customers' paint and coating needs. The group manufactures products under well-known brands such as Valspar, HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams, Dutch Boy, Purdy, Krylon, Minwax, Thompson's WaterSeal, Cabot, Dupli-Color and many more. Founded in 1866, The Sherwin-Williams Company is a global leader in the manufacture, development, distribution and sale of paints, coatings and related products to professional, industrial, commercial and retail customers. For more information, visit www.Sherwin-Williams.com. SOURCE Dutch Boy Paints Enter for a Chance to Win a Sweet VIP Race Experience and Unforgettable Ride with Ricky Stenhouse Jr.! ISLANDIA, N.Y., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cue the victory "donut!" Entenmann's, the iconic baked goods brand, is giving fans an exhilarating opportunity with the Entenmann's Ride with Ricky Sweepstakes. As part of the Grand Prize package, Entenmann's is offering race fans and donut lovers the chance to win a VIP trip to watch the #47 Entenmann's race team in action and take an unforgettable ride with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at an upcoming race! Ride with Ricky Sweepstakes Ricky Stenhouse Jr. From now through August 27, fans can visit RidewithRicky.Entenmanns.com to enter the Entenmann's Ride with Ricky Sweepstakes for a chance to win an exclusive VIP experience for four with round-trip airfare, accommodations, grandstand tickets, and an unforgettable ride with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at one of three upcoming races: Dallas/Ft. Worth ( September 24 , 2023) ( , 2023) Homestead, FL ( October 22 , 2023) ( , 2023) Martinsville, VA ( October 29 , 2023) In addition to the Grand Prize, fans will also have 160 chances to win a $100 Kroger gift card for each lap during the evening race in Daytona on August 26, 2023, making the August Daytona race even sweeter. "At Entenmann's, we understand that life is meant to be enjoyed, and our delicious baked goods have been a part of people's cherished moments for 125 years," said Jason Amar, Director of Marketing at Entenmann's. "That's why we're so excited to be partnering with Ricky and the #47 race team once again to offer our fans a remarkable experience that brings together the exhilaration of racing and the joy of enjoying Entenmann's tasty treats for a winning combo. We can't wait to see who gets to ride with Ricky!" Fans can watch the #47 Entenmann's race team at the Coke Zero Sugar 400 in Daytona Beach on Saturday, August 26 at 7:00pm EST on their local NBC station. "It's cool to be partnering with Entenmann's again this year, combining my love of victory donuts with Rich Frosted Donuts!" said Ricky Stenhouse Jr. "This Entenmann's Sweepstakes is such an exciting opportunity to share my passion for racing and Entenmann's fans alike, and I'm looking forward to taking the lucky winner for a spin!" For more information about how to enter the Entenmann's Ride with Ricky Sweepstakes, visit RidewithRicky.Entenmanns.com. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN IN THE ENTENMANN'S "RIDE WITH RICKY" SWEEPSTAKES. Open to legal residents of the 50 US & DC, 18 or older and have reached the age of majority in state of jurisdiction. Void where prohibited. Sweepstakes starts 8/10/23 at 9:00 AM ET and ends 8/27/23 at 5:00 PM ET. For Official Rules, which govern, click here. Sponsor: Bimbo Bakeries USA, Inc. About Entenmann's Bakery Entenmann's history dates back 125 years to 1898 when William Entenmann opened his first bakery in Brooklyn, New York. By the 1960s the company was selling delicious donuts throughout the New York metropolitan area; by the 1970s it began selling nationwide. Today, the Entenmann's portfolio includes over 100 different baked goods in the U.S., including donuts, snack cakes and pies, cakes, cookies and more, providing a wide variety of delicious baked goods to choose from that everyone can enjoy. Entenmann's goes great with people! About Bimbo Bakeries USA Bimbo Bakeries USA (BBU) is a leader in the baking industry, known for its category leading brands, innovative products, freshness and quality. Our team of 20,000+ U.S. associates operates more than 50 manufacturing locations in the United States. Over 11,000 distribution routes deliver our leading brands such as Arnold, Artesano, Ball Park, Bimbo, Boboli, Brownberry, Entenmann's, Little Bites, Marinela, Mrs Baird's, Oroweat, Sara Lee, Stroehmann and Thomas'. BBU is owned by Mexico's Grupo Bimbo, S.A.B de C.V., the world's largest baking company with operations in 33 countries. About JTG Daugherty Racing JTG Daugherty Racing has been competing in NASCAR for 29 years and is owned by husband and wife Tad Geschickter and Jodi Geschickter, five-time NBA All-Star and NBC analyst Brad Daugherty, and Gordon Smith. On Sunday, February 19th their dreams were realized when their driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won the iconic DAYTONA 500. It was the 2023 DAYTONA 500 CHAMPION's third NASCAR Cup Series win and the team's second victory in the premier series. The team has cemented a birth in the NASCAR Playoffs, which kicks off at Darlington Raceway on September 3. SOURCE Entenmanns DUBLIN, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Allergy Treatment Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2017-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The global allergy treatment market is anticipated to witness a growth of steady CAGR in the forecast period, 2023-2027. This can be ascribed to the growing prevalence of different kinds of allergies among populations across the globe. According to a report published by Food Allergy Research & Education in 2020, estimated that around 32 million residents in the United States have food allergies. Additionally, the growing use of over-the-counter medications and the increasing popularity of self-medication is further expected to create lucrative opportunities for the growth of global allergy treatment market. Besides, the growing popularity of immunotherapy for the treatment of different allergies is further expected to support market growth. Furthermore, the growing geriatric population across the globe is expected to increase the demand for different allergy treatments. The elderly population has a weaker immune system and is more susceptible to different kinds of allergies, thereby increasing the demand for different treatment options for the treatment of various allergies. Rising Pollution Levels Increasing indoor and outdoor pollution is leading to an increase in the prevalence of asthma and different allergic disorders of the respiratory tract. In 2019, around 7.8% population in the United States had asthma. This, in turn, is expected to spur the market growth through 2027. Additionally, air pollution can aggravate the symptoms of allergic rhinitides, such as headaches, blocked or runny noses, itchy or watery eyes, and sleep disturbances. Also, studies suggest that different eye allergies can be caused due to presence of different pollutants in indoor and outdoor air. This, in turn, is expected to increase the demand for treatments specific to the allergies caused due to pollution. Development of Immunotherapies for the Treatment of Allergies One of the key trends revolutionizing the allergy treatment market is the development of different types of immunotherapies. Various biotechnology & pharmaceutical companies, along with different academic & research institutions across the globe are investing in research & development activities for developing immunotherapies for the treatment of different allergies. For instance, Aimmune Therapeutics, Inc. is developing an investigational biologic immunotherapy drug, AR101, for the treatment of peanut allergy. According, to clinicaltrials.gov, as of September 2022, there are around 364 allergy immunotherapy studies under different phases of development worldwide. This, in turn, is expected to create lucrative opportunities for the growth of global allergy treatment market. Companies Mentioned Johnson & Johnson Sanofi SA GlaxoSmithKline plc. F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG Leti Pharma GmbH AbbVie Inc. Alembic Pharmaceuticals Limited Bausch Health Companies Inc. Novartis AG ALK-Abello AS Market Segmentation By Type: Eye Allergy Food Allergy Skin Allergy Asthma Rhinitis Others By Treatment: Anti-Allergy Medications Immunotherapy By Route of Administration: Oral Inhalers Intranasal Others By Distribution Channel: Hospital Pharmacies Retail Pharmacies Online Pharmacies For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/94sb03 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 The epidermolysis bullosa market size is anticipated to increase during the forecast period (20232032) owing to the increase in the clinical and genetic testings, recent approvals of potential gene-based cell therapies, and expected launch of emerging therapies into the epidermolysis bullosa market. LAS VEGAS, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- DelveInsight's Epidermolysis Bullosa Market Insights report includes a comprehensive understanding of current treatment practices, epidermolysis bullosa emerging drugs, market share of individual therapies, and current and forecasted market size from 2019 to 2032, segmented into 7MM [the United States, the EU4 (Germany, France, Italy, and Spain), the United Kingdom, and Japan]. Key Takeaways from the Epidermolysis Bullosa Market Report As per DelveInsight analysis, the epidermolysis bullosa market size in the 7MM was approximately USD 1.5 billion in 2022. in 2022. According to the assessment done by DelveInsight, the estimated total prevalent epidermolysis bullosa cases in the 7MM were approximately 46K in 2022. in 2022. Epidermolysis is more prevalent in children and young adults as ~78% cases were in the age group of <19 years in the 7MM in 2019. cases were in the age group of <19 years in the 7MM in 2019. VYJUVEK is the only FDA-approved therapy in the US, and FILSUVEZ is the only approved therapy in the EU, which is available in Germany only. Japan also has one approved cell therapy for epidermolysis bullosa with the name of JACE. only. also has one approved cell therapy for epidermolysis bullosa with the name of JACE. Among all the therapies VYJUVEK is expected to capture the largest market share followed by EB-101 and FILSUVEZ by 2032 in the 7MM. Leading epidermolysis bullosa companies such as Abeona Therapeutics, Castle Creek Biosciences, RHEACELL, Ishin Pharma, Holostem Terapie Avanzate, BridgeBio (Phoenix Tissue Repair), InMed Pharmaceuticals, Shionogi, Anterogen , and others are developing novel epidermolysis bullosa drugs that can be available in the epidermolysis bullosa market in the coming years. , and others are developing novel epidermolysis bullosa drugs that can be available in the epidermolysis bullosa market in the coming years. The promising epidermolysis bullosa therapies in the pipeline include EB-101, D-Fi (dabocemagene autoficel), ABCB5+ mesenchymal stem cells (ABCB5+ MSCs), ISN001, RV-LAMB3-transduced epidermal stem cells, PTR-01, INM-755, Redasemtide, ALLO-ASC-SHEET, and others. Discover which therapies are expected to grab the major epidermolysis bullosa market share @ Epidermolysis Bullosa Market Report Epidermolysis Bullosa Overview Epidermolysis bullosa is a rare, inherited genetic disorder that affects the skin and mucous membranes. It belongs to a group of disorders known as "blistering skin diseases." Epidermolysis bullosa is characterized by extreme skin fragility, causing the skin to be exceptionally sensitive to friction or trauma, leading to the formation of painful blisters and sores. The primary cause of epidermolysis bullosa is genetic mutations that affect the production of proteins responsible for holding the layers of the skin together. The hallmark symptom of epidermolysis bullosa is the development of blisters on the skin and mucous membranes, often triggered by minor friction or pressure. These blisters can occur on any part of the body, both external and internal, and can be painful and prone to infection. In severe cases, the blisters may lead to chronic wounds, scarring, and deformities. Diagnosing epidermolysis bullosa involves a combination of clinical examination, family history assessment, and skin biopsy. The doctor will carefully examine the patient's skin and note the characteristic blistering patterns. Epidermolysis Bullosa Epidemiology Segmentation DelveInsight estimates that there were approximately 46K prevalent cases of epidermolysis bullosa in the 7MM in 2022. The United States contributed to the largest prevalent cases of epidermolysis bullosa, accounting for ~65% of the 7MM in 2022. Whereas EU4 and the UK, and Japan accounted for around 30% and ~5% of the total population share, respectively, in 2022. The epidermolysis bullosa market report proffers epidemiological analysis for the study period 20192032 in the 7MM segmented into: Total Epidermolysis Bullosa Prevalent Cases Total Epidermolysis Bullosa Diagnosed Prevalent Cases Epidermolysis Bullosa Cases by Gender Epidermolysis Bullosa Cases by Age Epidermolysis Bullosa Type-specific Cases Epidermolysis Bullosa Treatment Market Currently, there is no cure for epidermolysis bullosa, and treatments primarily focus on managing symptoms and improving patients' quality of life. The main goal of epidermolysis bullosa treatment is to prevent or reduce blistering, promote wound healing, and manage associated complications, such as infection and pain. Wound care is a fundamental aspect of epidermolysis bullosa management, involving gentle handling of the skin, dressing changes, and meticulous wound cleaning to minimize the risk of infection. Advanced wound dressings and bandages are used to protect the affected areas and provide a supportive environment for healing. Pain management is crucial, and pain relief medications, including topical anesthetics and systemic analgesics, are often prescribed to alleviate discomfort. In recent years, there has been significant progress in research and the development of innovative therapies for epidermolysis bullosa. Gene therapy and other experimental approaches hold promise for potential future treatments. Clinical trials investigating gene-editing techniques, such as CRISPR-Cas9, have shown encouraging results in preclinical models. Moreover, cell-based therapies, such as stem cell transplants, are being explored as potential treatments for epidermolysis bullosa. To manage complications and enhance the overall well-being of epidermolysis bullosa patients, a multidisciplinary approach is crucial. This involves a team of healthcare professionals, including dermatologists, wound care specialists, pain management experts, nutritionists, and psychologists, working collaboratively to address the various aspects of the condition. While significant strides have been made in understanding and treating epidermolysis bullosa, continued research and funding are essential to improve existing therapies and eventually find a cure for this challenging and life-altering disease. To know more about epidermolysis bullosa treatment guidelines, visit @ Epidermolysis Bullosa Management Epidermolysis Bullosa Pipeline Therapies and Key Companies EB-101: Abeona Therapeutics D-Fi (dabocemagene autoficel): Castle Creek Biosciences ABCB5+ mesenchymal stem cells (ABCB5+ MSCs): RHEACELL ISN001: Ishin Pharma RV-LAMB3-transduced epidermal stem cells: Holostem Terapie Avanzate PTR-01: BridgeBio (Phoenix Tissue Repair) INM-755: InMed Pharmaceuticals Redasemtide: Shionogi ALLO-ASC-SHEET: Anterogen Learn more about the FDA-approved drugs for epidermolysis bullosa @ Drugs for Epidermolysis Bullosa Treatment Epidermolysis Bullosa Market Dynamics The epidermolysis bullosa market dynamics have witnessed significant changes in recent years. As awareness about this condition has increased, there has been a surge in early diagnosis and better disease management, leading to a growing patient population seeking treatment options. This has subsequently attracted increased research and development activities by pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology firms, resulting in the emergence of potential novel therapies. The epidermolysis bullosa treatment market has become more competitive, with several companies vying to develop innovative products, including gene therapies, cell-based therapies, and advanced wound care products. Regulatory agencies have also become more proactive in facilitating the development and approval of epidermolysis bullosa treatments, which has further accelerated the pace of progress. However, challenges persist, primarily related to the high cost of research and development for rare diseases like epidermolysis bullosa and the limited patient pool. Pricing and reimbursement complexities for novel therapies have also been obstacles, impacting their accessibility to patients worldwide. Additionally, there is a need for improved diagnostic tools and better patient support systems to ensure timely and effective treatment. Despite these challenges, the epidermolysis bullosa market continues to show promise and growth potential, driven by scientific advancements, increased funding, and collaborative efforts among stakeholders. The ultimate goal is to alleviate the burden on epidermolysis bullosa patients and improve their quality of life through innovative and transformative therapeutic approaches. As the landscape evolves, ongoing efforts from the medical community, policymakers, and advocacy groups are critical in fostering advancements and addressing the unmet needs of individuals living with this devastating condition. Report Metrics Details Study Period 20192032 Coverage 7MM [the United States, the EU4 (Germany, France, Italy, and Spain), the United Kingdom, and Japan]. Epidermolysis Bullosa Market CAGR ~8% Epidermolysis Bullosa Market Size in 2022 USD 1.5 Billion Key Epidermolysis Bullosa Companies Abeona Therapeutics, Castle Creek Biosciences, RHEACELL, Ishin Pharma, Holostem Terapie Avanzate, BridgeBio (Phoenix Tissue Repair), InMed Pharmaceuticals, Shionogi, Anterogen, and others Key Pipeline Epidermolysis Bullosa Therapies EB-101, D-Fi (dabocemagene autoficel), ABCB5+ mesenchymal stem cells (ABCB5+ MSCs), ISN001, RV-LAMB3-transduced epidermal stem cells, PTR-01, INM-755, Redasemtide, ALLO-ASC-SHEET, and others Scope of the Epidermolysis Bullosa Market Report Therapeutic Assessment: Epidermolysis Bullosa current marketed and emerging therapies Epidermolysis Bullosa current marketed and emerging therapies Epidermolysis Bullosa Market Dynamics: Conjoint Analysis of Emerging Epidermolysis Bullosa Drugs Conjoint Analysis of Emerging Epidermolysis Bullosa Drugs Competitive Intelligence Analysis: SWOT analysis and Market entry strategies SWOT analysis and Market entry strategies Unmet Needs, KOL's views, Analyst's views, Epidermolysis Bullosa Market Access and Reimbursement Discover more about epidermolysis bullosa drugs in development @ Epidermolysis Bullosa Clinical Trials Table of Contents 1. Key Insights 2. Report Introduction 3. Executive Summary Of Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) 4. Key Events 5. Epidemiology And Market Forecast Methodology 6. Epidermolysis Bullosa Market Overview At A Glance 6.1. Market Share (%) Distribution By Therapies In 2023 6.2. Market Share (%) Distribution By Therapies In 2032 7. Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB): Disease Background And Overview 7.1. Introduction 7.2. Causes Of Epidermolysis Bullosa 7.3. Signs And Symptoms Of Epidermolysis Bullosa 7.4. Pathogenesis Of Epidermolysis Bullosa 7.5. Pathophysiology Of Itch In Epidermolysis Bullosa Skin 7.6. Classification Of Epidermolysis Bullosa 7.7. Genetic Bases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa 7.8. Diagnosis Of Epidermolysis Bullosa 7.8.1. Types Of Laboratory Referral 7.8.1.1. Neonate With Skin Fragility 7.8.1.2. Pediatric And Adult Patients With Skin Fragility 7.8.1.3. Carrier Testing 7.8.1.4. Prenatal Diagnosis 7.8.2. Further Testing 7.8.2.1. Skin Biopsy 7.8.2.2. Molecular Testing 7.8.2.3. Genetic Testing For Epidermolysis Bullosa 7.8.2.3.1. Nextgeneration Sequencing (NGS) Targeted Gene Panel And Wholeexome Sequencing In Epidermolysis Bullosa 7.8.2.3.2. Sanger Sequencing (SS) 8. Treatment And Management Of Epidermolysis Bullosa 8.1. Management Of Blisters 8.2. Skin And Wound Management 8.2.1. Management Of Epidermolysis Bullosa Simplex (EBS) 8.2.1.1. Management Of Junctional Epidermolysis Bullosa (JEB) 8.2.1.2. Management Of Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (DEB) 8.2.1.3. Management Of Kindler Syndrome 9. Guidelines 9.1. Diagnostic Guidelines 9.1.1. Clinical Practice Guidelines For Epidermolysis Bullosa Laboratory Diagnosis 9.1.2. Japanese Guidelines For Diagnosis And Treatment Of Junctional And Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa 10. Epidemiology And Patient Population Of 7MM 10.1. Key Findings 10.2. Assumption And Rationale 10.3. Total Prevalent Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In The 7MM 10.4. Diagnosed Prevalent Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In The 7MM 10.5. The United States 10.5.1. Total Prevalent Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In The United States 10.5.2. Diagnosed Prevalent Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In The United States 10.5.3. Gender-Specific Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In The United States 10.5.4. Age-Specific Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In The United States 10.5.5. Type-Specific Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In The United States 10.6. EU4 And The UK 10.6.1. Total Prevalent Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In EU4 And The UK 10.6.2. Diagnosed Prevalent Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In EU4 And The UK 10.6.3. Gender-Specific Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In EU4 And The UK 10.6.4. Age-Specific Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In EU4 And The UK 10.6.5. Type-Specific Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In EU4 And The UK 10.7. Japan 10.7.1. Total Prevalent Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In Japan 10.7.2. Diagnosed Prevalent Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In Japan 10.7.3. Gender-Specific Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In Japan 10.7.4. Age-Specific Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In Japan 10.7.5. Type-Specific Cases Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In Japan 11. Patient Journey 12. Marketed Drugs 12.1. Key Competitors 12.2. Vyjuvek (Beremagene Geperpavec): Krystal Biotech 12.2.1. Product Description 12.2.2. Regulatory Milestones 12.2.3. Other Developmental Activities 12.2.4. Clinical Developmental Activities 12.2.4.1. Clinical Trial Information 12.2.5. Safety And Efficacy 12.2.6. Product Profile 12.3. Filsuvez (Oleogel-S10): Chiesi Farmaceutici 12.3.1. Product Description 12.3.2. Regulatory Milestone 12.3.3. Other Development Activities 12.3.4. Safety And Efficacy 12.3.5. Product Profile 12.4. JACE (Human Epidermal Cell Sheet): Japan Tissue Engineering 12.4.1. Product Description 12.4.2. Regulatory Milestones 12.4.3. Safety And Efficacy 12.4.4. Product Profile 13. Emerging Drugs 13.1. Key Competitors 13.2. EB-101: Abeona Therapeutics 13.2.1. Product Description 13.2.2. Other Developmental Activities 13.2.3. Clinical Developmental Activities 13.2.3.1. Clinical Trial Information 13.2.4. Safety And Efficacy 13.3. D-Fi (Dabocemagene Autoficel): Castle Creek Biosciences 13.3.1. Product Description 13.3.2. Other Developmental Activities 13.3.3. Clinical Developmental Activities 13.3.3.1. Clinical Trial Information 13.3.4. Safety And Efficacy 13.4. ABCB5+ Mesenchymal Stem Cells (ABCB5+ MSCS): Rheacell 13.4.1. Product Description 13.4.2. Other Developmental Activities 13.4.3. Clinical Developmental Activities 13.4.3.1. Clinical Trial Information 13.4.4. Safety And Efficacy 13.5. ISN001: Ishin Pharma 13.5.1. Product Description 13.5.2. Other Developmental Activities 13.5.3. Clinical Developmental Activities 13.5.3.1. Clinical Trial Information 13.6. RV-LAMB3-Transduced Epidermal Stem Cells: Holostem Terapie Avanzate 13.6.1. Product Description 13.6.2. Other Developmental Activities 13.6.3. Clinical Developmental Activities 13.6.3.1. Clinical Trial Information 13.7. PTR-01: Bridgebio (Phoenix Tissue Repair) 13.7.1. Product Description 13.7.2. Other Development Activities 13.7.3. Clinical Development 13.7.3.1. Clinical Trials Information 13.7.4. Safety And Efficacy 13.8. INM-755: Inmed Pharmaceuticals 13.8.1. Product Description 13.8.2. Clinical Development 13.8.2.1. Clinical Trials Information 13.8.3. Safety And Efficacy 13.9. Redasemtide: Shionogi 13.9.1. Product Description 13.9.2. Other Development Activities 13.9.3. Clinical Development 13.9.3.1. Clinical Trials Information 13.9.4. Safety And Efficacy 13.10. ALLO-ASC-Sheet: Anterogen 13.10.1. Product Description 13.10.2. Other Developmental Activities 13.10.3. Clinical Developmental Activities 13.10.3.1. Clinical Trial Information 14. Epidermolysis Bullosa: 7MM Analysis 14.1. Key Findings 14.2. Market Outlook 14.3. Key Market Forecast Assumptions 14.4. Conjoint Analysis 14.5. Total Market Size Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In The 7MM 14.6. United States Market Size 14.6.1. Total Market Size Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In The United States 14.6.2. Market Size Of Epidermolysis Bullosa By Current And Emerging Therapies In The United States 14.7 EU4 And The UK Market Size 14.7.1. Total Market Size Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In EU4 And The UK 14.7.2. Market Size Of Epidermolysis Bullosa By Current And Emerging Therapies In EU4 And The UU 14.8. Japan Market Size 14.8.1. Total Market Size Of Epidermolysis Bullosa In Japan 14.8.2. Market Size Of Epidermolysis Bullosa By Current And Emerging Therapies In Japan 15. Unmet Needs 16. Swot Analysis 17. Kol Views 18. Market Access And Reimbursement 18.1. United States 18.1.1. Centre For Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) 18.2. EU4 And The UK 18.2.1. Germany 18.2.2. France 18.2.3. Italy 18.2.4. Spain 18.2.5. United Kingdom 18.3. Japan 18.3.1. MHLW 18.4. Epidermolysis Bullosa Market Access And Reimbursement 19. Appendix 19.1. Bibliography 19.2. Report Methodology 20. Delveinsight Capabilities 21. Disclaimer Related Reports Epidermolysis Bullosa Epidemiology Forecast Epidermolysis Bullosa Epidemiology Forecast 2032 report delivers an in-depth understanding of the disease, historical and forecasted epidemiology, and epidermolysis bullosa epidemiology trends. Epidermolysis Bullosa Pipeline Epidermolysis Bullosa Pipeline Insight 2023 report provides comprehensive insights about the pipeline landscape, pipeline drug profiles, including clinical and non-clinical stage products, and the key epidermolysis bullosa companies, including Abeona Therapeutics, Castle Creek Biosciences, RHEACELL, Aegle Therapeutics, Phoenix Tissue Repair, Inc., Lenus Therapeutics, LLC, Wings Therapeutics Inc., Krystal Biotech, Inc., Onconova Therapeutics, Inc., InMed Pharmaceuticals Inc., Constant Therapeutics, Kangstem Biotech, ProQR Therapeutics, Ishin Pharmaceutical, among others. Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Pipeline Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Pipeline Insight 2023 report provides comprehensive insights about the pipeline landscape, including clinical and non-clinical stage products, and the key dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa companies, including Phoenix Tissue Repair, Castle Creek Biosciences, Phoenicis Therapeutics, Aegle Therapeutics, RHEACELL GmbH & Co. KG, Anterogen Co., Ltd., Abeona Therapeutics, Inc, InMed Pharmaceuticals, BridgeBio Inc., Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Relief Therapeutics, Quoin Pharmaceuticals, among others. Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Market Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa Market Insights, Epidemiology, and Market Forecast 2032 report delivers an in-depth understanding of the disease, historical and forecasted epidemiology, as well as the market trends, market drivers, market barriers, and key dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa companies, including Castle Creek Biosciences, Amryth Pharma, Krystal Biotech, Abeona Therapeutics, BridgeBio, Phoenix Tissue Repair, among others. About DelveInsight DelveInsight is a leading Business Consultant and Market Research firm focused exclusively on life sciences. It supports pharma companies by providing comprehensive end-to-end solutions to improve their performance. Get hassle-free access to all the healthcare and pharma market research reports through our subscription-based platform PharmDelve. Contact Us Shruti Thakur [email protected] +1(919)321-6187 www.delveinsight.com Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1082265/3528414/DelveInsight_Logo.jpg SOURCE DelveInsight Business Research, LLP DUBLIN, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Evolution of Cloud in the Telecom Wholesale Market - Development Trends, Growth Opportunities and Case Studies" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Embracing Cloud within Telecom Wholesale will be mandatory in the future This Global Outlook Report provides analysis of cloud trends in telecom wholesale, and makes firm recommendations for incumbent telecom wholesalers to strategize for Cloud deployment. The analysis and findings in this report are based on a detailed assessment of wholesale provider strategies, backed up by qualitative executive interviews with senior leads in the wholesale segment. A number of case studies are presented, giving live examples within industry, encompassing traditional telecom wholesalers, hyperscalers, cloud platform providers, and data center providers. The report's findings concluded that closer integration of cloud strategies will be mandatory in the successful delivery of future wholesale products and services. The report provides: An assessment of market trends in telecom wholesale, providing an update on wholesale providers' strategies and priorities with respect to portfolio and services. Insights on the use of cloud solutions in telecom wholesale, examining the drivers for introduction and across what product areas. Analysis on hypersaler and cloud platform provider strategies, and how traditional telcos should position themselves. Presents discussions and recommendations on what incumbent telecom wholesale providers should do to become more cloud-enabled in telecom wholesale. Scope The Global Outlook Report 'Evolution of Cloud in Telecom Wholesale' concluded that for traditional telecom wholesalers to stay relevant in the future, they will need to increase innovation through cloud enabled wholesale services. Consolidation and operational agility will be key for traditional telecom wholesalers, adapting to future cloud delivery models. The study highlighted that traditional wholesale carriers in the main are still challenged in establishing how they should position their portfolio of services against disruptive and cloud providers in the ecosystem. Reasons to Buy Valuable insights and recommendations for traditional wholesale carriers on the critical considerations and strategic options for implementing cloud within wholesale. The report's case studies provides real examples of market approaches, business models, and portfolio roadmaps in relation to cloud delivered products. Case studies are presented on incumbent carriers, cloud platform providers, hyperscalers, and data center providers. The report also provides actionable recommendations for providers to consider when defining their cloud wholesale strategy. Key Topics Covered: Executive Summary Section 1: Introduction & Objectives Introduction & Objectives Section 2: The Global Wholesale Market Landscape The Global Wholesale Market Continues to Maintain Momentum Increased Threat of New Players in the Wholesale Ecosystem Evolution of the Telecom Wholesale Ecosystem The Wholesale Ecosystem: Reconfiguring the Traditional Wholesale Business The Global Wholesale Market is Realigning to Demand Section 3: Use of Cloud In Wholesale Increased Telecom Business Unit Consolidation Wholesale Infrastructure Development Trends - 2023 Update Current Wholesale Portfolio and Growth Opportunities - 2023 Update Section 4: Future Cloud Considerations In Wholesale Cloud Enablement Across Telecoms, Including Wholesale Cloud Considerations When Partnering with Hyperscalers Telco and Hyperscaler Cloud Journey Section 5: Case Studies Incumbent Carrier: Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier Incumbent Carrier: Telefonica Global Solutions Data Center: Equinix Cloud Communications: Messagebird Cloud Communications: Twilio Cloud Communications: Vonage Hyperscaler: Amazon Web Services (AWS) Section 6: Key Findings and Recommendations A selection of companies mentioned in this report includes Alibaba Amazon Web Services Baidu BICS BT Colt Cisco Coca-Cola Deutsche Telekom Equinix Ericsson Facebook Fortinet Google GTT iBasis Juniper Networks Liquid Telecom MessageBird Mobily Microsoft Nokia Oracle Orange Palo Alto Networks PCCW Global PLDT Rasa SAP SalesForce ServiceNow Sparkle Saudi Telecom Company Synverse Tata Communications Telefonica Telstra Global Tomia Twilio Uber Verizon Vonage VMware Vodafone WhatsApp Windstream YaloChat Zayo For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/7hhbzf Source: GlobalData 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 IRONDALE, Ala., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Colin B. Donovan, Vice President of Theology at EWTN Global Catholic Network and a well-known on-air theologian, was named a member of the Vatican's prestigious Pontifical International Marian Academy at a televised ceremony on August 9. The appointment recognizes Donovan's dedication to the field of Mariology and zeal for promoting the honor and love of Our Lady worldwide. Birmingham Bishop Steven J. Raica presented Donovan with the Marian Academy's Letter of Appointment and Diploma during a Mass, which broadcast around the world. "The Network and its viewers have greatly benefited from the breadth of Colin's knowledge and his love for Our Lady." Tweet this Colin B. Donovan, Vice President of Theology at EWTN Global Catholic Network and a well-known on-air theologian, was named a member of the Vaticans prestigious Pontifical International Marian Academy at a televised ceremony on August 9. The appointment recognizes Donovans dedication to the field of Mariology and zeal for promoting the honor and love of Our Lady worldwide. Birmingham Bishop Steven J. Raica presented Donovan with the Marian Academys Letter of Appointment and Diploma during a Mass "Colin has been an integral part of EWTN for nearly 27 years, serving as a theologian and expert commentator on matters of the Catholic faith and doctrine," said EWTN Chairman & CEO Michael P. Warsaw. "The Network and its viewers have greatly benefited from the breadth of Colin's knowledge and his love for Our Lady." The Marian Academy was established in 1946, under the reign of Pope Pius XII, to promote Mariology, which is the serious study of the Blessed Virgin Mary and true devotion to her through consecrations and popular piety. The Academy is also responsible for organizing scientific debates and conferences and for publishing a journal of their work called Marianum. On Dec. 8, 1959, Pope John XXIII gave the title "pontifical" to the Academy; its statutes were later approved by Pope Paul VI; and more recently, were revised under the reign of Pope St. John Paul II, who was also a member of the Academy. Pope Francis has placed the Academy under the Dicastery of Culture and Catholic Education. Donovan, who expressed deep gratitude at being chosen for this prestigious honor, said his passion for Marian studies began at an early age and was fostered by the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion, who instilled in him a deep devotion to the Blessed Mother and the significance of her messages at Fatima. "The Sisters taught us about the Miraculous Medal, Fatima, and the Rosary beginning in kindergarten," Donovan said. "This community was founded by Alphonse Ratisbonne, an atheist who was famously converted to the Faith by Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. My interest in Mariology never left me and has been elevated over time by formal theological study in Canada and Rome, by a year lived in Fatima, and through my theological duties here at EWTN, answering Marian questions on and off-air, and providing commentary for EWTN's May and October coverage of the Fatima anniversaries." Donovan's journey with the Pontifical Marian Academy began when he was invited to speak at the Fatima 100th Anniversary conference in Ireland in 2017. The invitation was extended by Dr. William A. Thomas, STD, President of the Irish Mariological Society, a member of PAMI, and a former classmate of Donovan's at Rome's Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, also known as the Angelicum. Other conferences followed. Despite the challenging circumstances brought about by the pandemic, Donovan also had the opportunity to participate in PAMI's 2021 Mariological Congress in Rome via Zoom, followed some weeks later by a Zoom conference with the Mariological Society of America. These events further solidified Donovan's connection with the esteemed academy, which has recognized Donovan's dedication to theological teaching and writing about Our Lady through various media platforms with this prestigious award. Donovan is humbled and grateful for this honor, and excited about going to events like the above in person. He also says: "I will continue to promote Marian devotion and scholarship as long as the good Lord allows." ABOUT EWTN and EWTN NEWS In its 43rd year, EWTN is the largest Catholic media organization in the world. EWTN's 11 global TV channels and numerous regional channels are broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week to over 425 million television households in more than 160 countries and territories. EWTN platforms also include radio services transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio, and over 600 domestic and international AM & FM radio affiliates; a worldwide shortwave radio service; one of the most visited Catholic websites in the U.S.; as well as EWTN Publishing, its book publishing division. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., EWTN News operates multiple global news services, including Catholic News Agency, "The National Catholic Register" newspaper and digital platform, ACI Prensa in Spanish, ACI Digital in Portuguese, ACI Stampa in Italian, ACI Africa in English, French and Portuguese, ACI MENA in Arabic, CNA Deutsch in German and ChurchPop, a digital platform that creates content in several languages. It also produces numerous television news programs including EWTN News Nightly, EWTN News In Depth, EWTN Pro-Life Weekly, The World Over, and others. SOURCE EWTN Global Catholic Network NPL 2023-1 Includes the Company's Twenty-first Community Impact Pool Offering WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Fannie Mae (OTCQB: FNMA) today announced its latest sale of non-performing loans as part of the company's ongoing effort to reduce the size of its retained mortgage portfolio, including the company's twenty-first Community Impact Pool (CIP). CIPs are typically smaller pools of loans that are geographically focused and marketed to encourage participation by non-profit organizations, minority- and women-owned businesses (MWOBs), and smaller investors. The one large pool includes approximately 1,460 loans totaling $236.5 million in unpaid principal balance (UPB), and the CIP includes approximately 25 loans totaling $6.6 million in UPB. The CIP consists of loans geographically located in the Miami-Dade area. All pools are available for purchase by qualified bidders. This sale of non-performing loans is being marketed in collaboration with BofA Securities, Inc. and First Financial Network, Inc., a woman-owned and -controlled business, as advisors. Bids are due on the one large pool by September 7, 2023, and on the CIP by September 20, 2023. Terms of Fannie Mae's non-performing loan transactions require the buyer of the non-performing loans to offer loss mitigation options designed to be sustainable for borrowers. All buyers of non-performing loans are required to honor any approved or in-process loss mitigation efforts at the time of closing, including forbearance arrangements and loan modifications. In addition, non-performing loan buyers must offer delinquent borrowers a waterfall of loss mitigation options, including loan modifications, which may include principal forgiveness, prior to initiating foreclosure on any loan, not secured by property which is vacant or condemned at the time of closing. In the event a foreclosure cannot be prevented, the owner of the loan must market the property to owner-occupants and non-profits before offering it to investors, similar to Fannie Mae's FirstLook program. Interested bidders are invited to register for future announcements, training and other information here. Fannie Mae will also post information about specific pools available for purchase on that page. About Fannie Mae Fannie Mae advances equitable and sustainable access to homeownership and quality, affordable rental housing for millions of people across America. We enable the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and drive responsible innovation to make homebuying and renting easier, fairer, and more accessible. To learn more, visit: fanniemae.com | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube | Blog Fannie Mae Newsroom https://www.fanniemae.com/news Photo of Fannie Mae https://www.fanniemae.com/resources/img/about-fm/fm-building.tif Fannie Mae Resource Center 1-800-2FANNIE SOURCE Fannie Mae Sony Middle East and Africa has announced that Zoom Video Communications will be coming to Sonys Bravia TVs that are compatible with Bravia CAM. This partnership will allow users to easily connect with friends, family, and colleagues for video calls and meetings from the comfort of their living room. Sonys Bravia is the first TV brand to support the Zoom for TV app on Google Play Store. With Zoom on Bravia TVs, users will be able to take advantage of all the features that make Zoom one of the leading video communication platforms. This includes video communication on a TV screen, screen sharing, and collaboration tools. Advanced features Users will also be able to use Bravia CAMs advanced features it recognises where one is in the room and how far one is from the TV, then adjusts sound and picture settings so they're just right. All of that is possible with a very simple setup when using a compatible TV with a Bravia CAM, it only takes downloading the Zoom app from Google Play and launching it with the TVs remote. We are excited to partner with Zoom to bring video conferencing to our Bravia TVs, making Zoom services available on the Android TV platform, said Shusuke Tomonaga, Head of Bravia TV Product Design, Product Technology Center, Sony Corporation. This partnership will make it possible for our customers to enjoy more realistic video communication on a large TV screen in the living room, enabling them to be more connected with the people they care about, whether they are working from home, learning remotely, or just catching up with friends and family. We are thrilled to work with Sony to bring Zoom to their Bravia TVs, said Eric Yu, Head of Hardware Partnership at Zoom. We are allowing our customers to enjoy the best of both worlds the convenience of video conferencing on their TV and the power of Zooms collaboration tools. Zoom will be available on select Bravia TVs that are compatible with Bravia CAM in selected countries from July 2023.-- TradeArabia News Service Kuleba: We never seen Chinese arms supplies to Russia, we hope this not to change Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine has not seen the supply of Chinese weapons to Russia, despite the fact that Moscow is very interested in this. "We have never seen the supply of Chinese weapons to Russia. Let's hope that doesn't change, although we know that Moscow is very interested in Chinese weapons. We are aware of some Chinese enterprises exporting components used by the Russian military industry, but this is not a mass flow. We share this information with the Chinese government, hoping that they will take action," Kuleba said in an interview with the Italian edition of Corriere della Sera. The Ukrainian minister also noted the importance of China's presence at the meeting of advisers to heads of state and government in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) on August 5 and 6. "Even if now we do not expect drastic changes from the Chinese side. And we also understand the special relationship between Moscow and Beijing. This requires very delicate diplomacy to ensure that China remains on the side of peace and the territorial integrity of Ukraine," he said. MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Join 3x founder Halle Tecco and powerhouse Fenwick corporate partner Michael T. Esquivel for "Closing Time," a new podcast series from Fenwick that peels back the curtain and provides a true insider's look at the world of digital health startups. Each episode, you'll get to be a fly on the wall during a pitch meeting, as your hosts speak with the titans who are shaping and reshaping the healthtech landscape about how to get from opening pitch to closing the investment deal and beyond. "I'm thrilled to leverage my experience as a successful founder and investor to inform hard-driving conversations that can inspire and guide the entrepreneurs shaping the future of healthcare," said Tecco, who founded three healthcare startups and teaches at the Columbia Business School. "And there's no better firm than Fenwick to partner with on such a comprehensive and entertaining crash course in digital health." "The decision to launch 'Closing Time' was inspired by a simple principle: Go where your audience is," said Esquivel, who co-leads Fenwick's healthtech practice. "Fenwick has its finger on the pulse of healthtech, and we're so excited to deliver foundational discussions to inspire and empower the next generation of disruptors. These podcasts are a natural extension of our multiplatform content network to keep our clients informed about key legal and business developments in this space around the globe." Check out the trailer and subscribe today on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music or anywhere else podcasts are available. Upcoming episodes will feature: Founders: Lisa Alderson, Clarified Precision Medicine Co-Founder and Strategic Advisor Sonali Bloom , 2020 Onsite CEO , 2020 Onsite CEO Brooke LeBlanc, Edge Health Founder and CEO James Edward Murray , Therify Founder and CEO Venture Capitalists: About the Hosts Halle Tecco is a healthcare investor and 3x healthcare founder (Rock Health, Natalist, Cofertility). She is also an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, where she teaches the school's first MBA-level course on digital health investing. She has a Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University and earned her MBA from the Harvard Business School. Halle advises the Harvard Medical School Department of Biomedical Informatics and sits on the board of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association. Follow her on Twitter at @halletecco. Michael Esquivel is a startup partner at Fenwick, an angel investor and lecturer at Stanford. As the co-lead of Fenwick's healthtech practice, he is a tireless advocate for entrepreneurs and the companies and teams they have built. He was recently named one of nine "behind-the scenes players who can make or break a digital-health startup" by Business Insider. Michael also serves as an advisor to the sector's leading seed fund, Rock Health. A regular contributor to Fenwick's Life Sciences Legal Insights blog, Michael frequently writes about the latest issues and trends affecting the ever-evolving healthtech industry and shares additional insights on Twitter at @mtesquivel. He obtained his JD from the Columbia University School of Law. About Fenwick Fenwick provides comprehensive legal services to leading technology and life sciences companies at every stage of their lifecycle and the investors that partner with them. We craft innovative, cost-effective and practical solutions in areas ranging from venture capital, public offerings, joint ventures, M&A and strategic relationships, to intellectual property, litigation and dispute resolution, taxation, regulatory and employment and labor law. For five decades, Fenwick has helped some of the world's most recognized companies become and remain market leaders. For more information, please explore fenwick.com. Potential guests interested in appearing on "Closing Time" can reach out here to join us. SOURCE Fenwick & West LLP Companies Invest in State's Rural Communities DURBIN, N.D., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rural broadband providers broke ground today on a series of multimillion dollar projects that will deliver leading-edge fiber broadband technology to rural communities across Eastern North Dakota. A groundbreaking ceremony near Casselton today was hosted by Halstad Telephone Company, MLGC, Polar Communications, Red River Communications, and BEK Communications Cooperative. L-R: Mason Sisk, Office of ND Governor / Will McIntee, Senior Advisor for Public Engagement, The White House / Lori Hinz, Moderator / Karl Blake, CEO Polar Communications ,Senator Kevin Cramer (R) ND The group cuts a golden fiber cable to symbolize unity in connecting rural areas through fiber broadband. "The people living in this region have been waiting a long time for this to happen," says Tom Steinolfson, CEO/GM of Red River Communications. "Speaking on behalf of my broadband colleagues across the state, we are thrilled to be able to fulfill the promise to the residents of these underserved and unserved communities who have been waiting a long time to enjoy the same connectivity as some of their neighbors in more populated areas." In total, these rural broadband providers are building more than $119 million worth of fiber broadband, funded by four separate state and federal funding sources. "Our focus is to ensure that every resident in North Dakota has access to high-speed broadband, leveling the playing field between urban and rural communities," says Karl Blake, CEO of Polar Communications. "North Dakota has always been the most connected state in America. With these recent funds, we'll be that much closer to 100% connectivity." The transformational technology upgrade will generate a surge of benefits including: igniting economic opportunities for local businesses and agricultural operations, enabling rural students to realize their educational aspirations with better access to online learning platforms, strengthening healthcare services through improved telehealth capabilities, and bolstering public safety by improving communications infrastructure. "This is a game changer for us," says Clay Erdmann, Regional Sales Manager for Mustang Seeds, a seed supply company located just three miles south of Casselton. "We'll be able to run our business much more efficiently with a reliable, faster connection." "This is an unprecedented opportunity taking place in Eastern North Dakota," says Steinolfson. "We want to take a moment to thank the Governor's office, our state's congressional delegation, local and state legislators, and county officials for helping to secure the funding needed to make these projects a reality. Also, we thank the residents and businesses of our rural communities for your resilience and patience throughout this process." Call your local broadband provider to learn about project details and to sign up for services. Media Contact: Julie Skaret, Media Relations 701.391.0413 [email protected] SOURCE Bek Communications -Earnings Call Scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET on August 28, 2023- SHANGHAI, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- FinVolution Group ("FinVolution", or the "Company") (NYSE: FINV), a leading fintech platform, today announced that it will report its second quarter 2023 unaudited financial results, on Monday, August 28, 2023, after the close of U.S. markets. The Company's management will host an earnings conference call at 8:30 PM U.S. Eastern Time on August 28, 2023 (8:30 AM Beijing/Hong Kong Time on August 29, 2023). Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows: United States (toll free): +1-888-346-8982 Canada (toll free): +1-855-669-9657 International: +1-412-902-4272 Hong Kong, China (toll free): 800-905-945 Hong Kong, China: 852-3018-4992 Mainland, China: 400-120-1203 Participants should dial-in at least 5 minutes before the scheduled start time and ask to be connected to the call for "FinVolution Group." Additionally, a live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available on the Company's investor relations website at https://ir.finvgroup.com. A replay of the conference call will be accessible approximately one hour after the conclusion of the live call until September 4, 2023, by dialing the following telephone numbers: United States (toll free): +1-877-344-7529 Canada (toll free): +1-855-669-9658 International: +1-412-317-0088 Replay Access Code: 4673303 About FinVolution Group FinVolution Group is a leading fintech platform with strong brand recognition in China and international markets connecting borrowers of the young generation with financial institutions. Established in 2007, the Company is a pioneer in China's online consumer finance industry and has developed innovative technologies and has accumulated in-depth experience in the core areas of credit risk assessment, fraud detection, big data and artificial intelligence. The Company's platform, empowered by proprietary cutting-edge technologies, features a highly automated loan transaction process, which enables a superior user experience. As of March 31, 2023, the Company had over 164.5 million cumulative registered users across China, Indonesia and the Philippines. For more information, please visit https://ir.finvgroup.com. For investor and media inquiries, please contact: In China: FinVolution Group Head of Investor Relations Jimmy Tan, IRC Tel: +86 (21) 8030 3200- Ext 8601 E-mail: [email protected] The Piacente Group, Inc. Jenny Cai Tel: +86 (10) 6508-0677 E-mail: [email protected] In the United States: The Piacente Group, Inc. Brandi Piacente Tel: +1-212-481-2050 E-mail: [email protected] SOURCE FinVolution Group The growth of the global fire truck market is driven by factors such as the growth in stringent fire safety regulations, the electrification of fire trucks, and the rise in the replacement of aging fire truck fleets. PORTLAND, Ore., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Fire Truck Market by Type (Aerial, Pumper, Rescue, Tanker, and Others), Application (Residential & Commercial, Industry & Airport, Military, and Others), and Propulsion Type (ICE, and Electric): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20232032". According to the report, the global fire truck industry generated $6.2 billion in 2022 and is anticipated to generate $9.9 billion by 2032, witnessing a CAGR of 5.0% from 2023 to 2032. Download Sample Pages - https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/6641 A fire truck is a vehicle that is specifically constructed and equipped to respond to emergencies such as fires, hazardous material events, medical emergencies, and extrication scenarios. They are an essential component of fire departments and emergency response services, helping to protect lives and property during fire and disaster conditions. Fire trucks are designed to carry essential firefighting supplies such as ladders, hoses, water pumps, and other equipment essential for fire extinguishing. Prime determinants of growth The growth of the global fire truck market is driven by factors such as stringent fire safety regulations, electrification of fire trucks, and the rise in replacement of aging fire truck fleets. However, regulatory compliance and safety standards, and high initial investment hamper the growth of the market. On the contrary, the surge in the integration of advanced safety features, and technological advancements are expected to offer remunerative opportunities for the expansion of the fire truck market during the forecast period. Report Coverage & Details: Report Coverage Details Forecast Period 20232032 Base Year 2022 Market Size in 2022 $6.2 billion Market Size in 2032 $9.9 billion CAGR 5.0 % No. of Pages in Report 267 Segments Covered Type, Application, Propulsion Type, and Region. Drivers Stringent fire safety regulations. Electrification of fire trucks. Rise in replacement of aging fire truck fleets Opportunities Surge in the integration of advanced safety features Technological advancements Restraints Regulatory compliance and safety standards High initial investment COVID-19 Scenario The fire truck industry was severely impacted during the pandemic due to the slowdown in construction activities, infrastructure projects, and industrial operations, affecting the demand for fire trucks. However, as economies recovered post-pandemic, there was gradual reopening of businesses and industries and increased demand for firefighting and rescue services. This led to a rise in orders for fire trucks from municipal governments, industrial facilities, and other organizations, which resulted in market growth. Procure Complete Research Report Now - https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/fire-truck-market/purchase-options The pumper segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. Based on type, the pumper segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for more than two-fifths of the global fire truck market revenue, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period, as fire departments adopt electric pumper trucks to focus on sustainability and reducing their carbon footprint. However, the tanker segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 7.6% from 2023 to 2032, owing to the rise in the demand for tanker fire trucks to support firefighting efforts by providing a substantial amount of water to extinguish the flames or support other firefighting apparatus. The residential and commercial segment to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period. Based on the application, the residential and commercial segment held the highest market share in 2022, accounting for nearly half of the global fire truck market revenue, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period as there is a surge in the manufacturers provide a wide range of residential fire trucks such as tanker firetrucks, and others to meet the specific needs of firefighting operations. However, the military segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 8.0% from 2023 to 2032, owing to a rise in the number of contracts between the manufacturers and the defense sector to design, build and supply firefighting vehicles to meet these specific military requirements. The ICE segment to maintain its lead position during the forecast period Based on propulsion type, the ICE segment accounted for the largest share in 2022, accounting for more than four fifths of the global fire truck market revenue, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status throughout the forecast period as it is a traditional choice for many fire departments and organizations due to their reliability, power, and established infrastructure for fuel availability and maintenance. However, the electric segment is projected to manifest the highest CAGR of 6.2% from 2023 to 2032, owing to a surge in the trend toward electric fire trucks in the firefighting industry as an environment-friendly alternative to traditional ICE fire trucks. Asia-Pacific to maintain its dominance by 2032 Based on region, Asia-Pacific held the highest market share in terms of revenue in 2022, accounting for more than two-fifths of the fire truck market revenue, and is likely to dominate the market during the forecast period, as the manufacturers in the region aim to create partnerships and other strategies for the development of new and innovative fire truck solutions. However, the LAMEA region is expected to witness the fastest CAGR of 7.3% from 2023 to 2032, owing to a rise in the demand for customized fire trucks that cater to the specific requirements of the oil & gas, and military sector. Leading Market Players: - Oshkosh Corporation MORITA HOLDINGS CORPORATION Rosenbauer International AG Alexis Fire Equipment Company Scania Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd. NAFFCO REV Group Magirus Albert Ziegler GmbH HL Mando Corp. Interested to Procure the Research Report? Inquire Before Buying - https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/6641 The report provides a detailed analysis of these key players of the global fire truck market. These players have adopted various strategies such as product development, expansion, agreement, contract, and others to increase their market penetration and strengthen their position in the industry. The report is helpful in determining the business performance, operating segments, developments, and product portfolios of every market player. Similar Reports We Have on Automotive Industry: Municipal Fire Fighting Vehicles Market Research Report 2023-2035 Firefighting Aircraft Market Research Report 2023-2035 Firefighting Drone Market Research Report 2023-2035 U.S. Fire Truck Market Research Report 2023-2035 Japan Fire Truck Market Research Report 2023-2035 About Us 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. Contact: David Correa 1209 Orange Street, Corporation Trust Center, Wilmington, New Castle, Delaware 19801 USA. USA/Canada (Toll Free): +1-800-792-5285 UK: +44-845-528-1300 Hong Kong: +852-301-84916 India (Pune): +91-20-66346060 Fax: +1-800-792-5285 [email protected] Web: www.alliedmarketresearch.com Allied Market Research Blog: https://blog.alliedmarketresearch.com Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/636519/Allied_Market_Research_Logo.jpg SOURCE Allied Market Research MELBOURNE, Australia, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: TLX, Telix, the Company) today announces that a first patient has been dosed in China in the pivotal Phase III registration study of TLX591-CDx (Illuccix, Kit for the preparation of 68Ga-PSMA-11),[1] for the imaging of prostate cancer using positron emission tomography (PET). The Phase III Illuccix China study (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT05847348) is a prospective, open-label, single-arm, multicenter study in Chinese patients with biochemically recurrent (BCR) prostate cancer that is intended to bridge to the marketing authorisation granted to Illuccix by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The study a collaboration with Telix's strategic partner for the Greater China region, Grand Pharmaceutical Group Limited (Grand Pharma) is required to establish that the diagnostic utility of TLX591-CDx is equivalent in Chinese and Western populations. This study will enrol up to 110 patients with BCR prostate cancer, and data will support a future marketing authorisation application for TLX591-CDx in China. Dr Shams UL Arifeen, Regional Medical Director, Telix Asia Pacific said, "We are pleased to have commenced this study, which brings advanced PSMA-PET imaging[2] one step closer for Chinese men with prostate cancer. With our strategic collaborator in the region, Grand Pharma, we would like to express our gratitude to Dr Yong He, principal investigator at Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University as well as his clinical research team, and the patients who will contribute to this important study." About Prostate Cancer in China The Asia Pacific region comprises approximately one third of the world's male population and includes many nations whose populations are ageing or increasingly adopting a more affluent, "Western-style" lifestyle, the two main demographic trends driving increasing cancer incidence rates. Consequently, the incidence of prostate cancer is increasing in many parts of the region. In China, 115,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, increasing by approximately 6% each year.[3] In line with government policy supporting wider geographic access to nuclear medicine, the number of PET/CT cameras installed in China is forecast to reach 1,240 by the end of 2023, compared with 133 in 2010.[4] About Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited Telix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialisation of diagnostic and therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals. Telix is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia with international operations in the United States, Europe (Belgium and Switzerland), and Japan. Telix is developing a portfolio of clinical-stage products that aims to address significant unmet medical need in oncology and rare diseases. Telix is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: TLX). Visit www.telixpharma.com for further information about Telix, including details of the latest share price, announcements made to the ASX, investor and analyst presentations, news releases, event details and other publications that may be of interest. You can also follow Telix on Twitter (@TelixPharma) and LinkedIn. Telix's lead product, Illuccix (TLX591-CDx), has been approved by the U.S. FDA,[5] by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration,[6] and by Health Canada.[7] Telix is also progressing marketing authorisation applications for this investigational candidate in the United Kingdom and the European Union.[8] About Grand Pharmaceutical Group Limited Grand Pharma is an international pharmaceutical company of technological innovation. Its core businesses cover three major areas, namely pharmaceutical technology, nuclear medicine anti-tumour diagnosis and treatment and cerebro-cardiovascular precision interventional diagnosis and treatment technology and biotechnology. Based on the pharmaceutical and biological industries, Grand Pharma focuses on the needs of patients, and take technological innovation as the driving force. In response to the unmet clinical needs, Grand Pharma will increase its investment in global innovative products and advanced technologies, enrich and improve its product pipelines, consolidate and strengthen its industrial chain layout, and fully leverage Grand Pharma's industrial strengths and R&D capabilities to provide more advanced and diverse treatment solutions to patients worldwide. Telix Investor Relations Ms. Kyahn Williamson Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited SVP Corporate Communications and Investor Relations Email: [email protected] This announcement has been authorised for release by the Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited Disclosure Committee on behalf of the Board. Legal Notices This announcement is not intended as promotion or advertising directed to any healthcare professional or other audience in any country worldwide (including Australia, United States and the United Kingdom). This announcement may include forward-looking statements that relate to anticipated future events, financial performance, plans, strategies or business developments. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of words such as "may", "expect", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "anticipate", "outlook", "forecast" and "guidance", or other similar words. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's good-faith assumptions as to the financial, market, regulatory and other risks and considerations that exist and affect the Company's business and operations in the future and there can be no assurance that any of the assumptions will prove to be correct. In the context of Telix's business, forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements about: the initiation, timing, progress and results of Telix's preclinical and clinical studies, and Telix's research and development programs; Telix's ability to advance product candidates into, enrol and successfully complete, clinical studies, including multi-national clinical trials; the timing or likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals, manufacturing activities and product marketing activities; the commercialisation of Telix's product candidates, if or when they have been approved; estimates of Telix's expenses, future revenues and capital requirements; Telix's financial performance; developments relating to Telix's competitors and industry; and the pricing and reimbursement of Telix's product candidates, if and after they have been approved. Telix's actual results, performance or achievements may be materially different from those which may be expressed or implied by such statements, and the differences may be adverse. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable laws or regulations, Telix does not undertake to publicly update or review any forward-looking statements. Past performance cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance. Readers should read this announcement together with our material risks, as disclosed in our most recently filed reports with the ASX and on our website. 2023 Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited. The Telix Pharmaceuticals and Illuccix name and logo are trademarks of Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited and its affiliates (all rights reserved). [1] For regulatory reasons, Telix refers to its 68Ga-PSMA-11 kit as Illuccix in markets where it has received regulatory approval, and TLX591-CDx when referring to its use in both approved and unapproved markets. Registrations vary country to country. Always refer to local labelling. [2] Imaging of prostate-specific membrane antigen with positron emission tomography. [3] Ye Dingwei et al. Lancet Oncology, 2022. [4] Goetz Partners research 2020. [5] Telix ASX disclosure 20 December 2021. [6] Telix ASX disclosure 2 November 2021. [7] Telix ASX disclosure 14 October 2022. [8] Telix ASX disclosure 3 April 2023. SOURCE Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited The awards will be presented prior to a fireside chat with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. WICHITA, Kan., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As a nonprofit helping propel the technology industry forward in Kansas, FlagshipKansas.Tech is set to celebrate excellence and innovation in the Kansas tech industry at its second annual Ad Astra Technology Summit. The awards will be presented at Wichita State University's Charles Koch Arena on October 2, prior to the fireside chat with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Nominations are being accepted through September 5 for the following categories: Tech Educator of the Year Honors educators driving technological innovation, literacy, and diversity in Kansas classrooms. Tech Student of the Year (K-12) Recognizes an exceptional Kansas K-12 student excelling and innovating in tech-related fields. Tech Student of the Year (Higher Ed) Recognizes an exceptional Kansas college student excelling and innovating in tech-related fields. Tech Startup of the Year Honors innovative, disruptive, and rapidly growing tech startups in Kansas. Tech Visionary of the Year Honors individuals or organizations driving significant innovation and transformation in Kansas. Tech Community Innovator of the Year Recognizes those leveraging technology for social and community development in Kansas. To learn more about the guidelines and submit a nomination, visit adastrasummit.tech/nominations. About the Ad Astra Technology Summit The annual Ad Astra Technology Summit is set to return for its second year in Wichita, Kan., on October 2. The summit aims to bring together industry leaders, startup entrepreneurs, government officials, and educators to explore and address current technology issues in various informative sessions. It will be hosted with event partner Barton School of Business at Wichita State University's iconic Woolsey Hall and Charles Koch Arena. Co-founder of Apple Inc., Steve Wozniak, will be the keynote speaker in an exclusive fireside chat at Koch Arena moderated by FlagshipKansas.Tech Immediate Past Chair Luis Rodriguez. An awards ceremony preceding the chat will highlight leaders and innovators in Kansas tech. Summit tickets will include floor seats for both of these high-profile events. Dr. Larisa Genin, Dean of the Barton School of Business at Wichita State University, praised the conference, saying, "This one-day event is not just a conference; it's a platform for innovation and collaboration. We're excited to see diverse topics being discussed, ranging from digital skills development to startup business enablement." The summit will include industry panels, apprenticeship programs, and a special focus on digital skills development, which are critical for today's digital workforce. Teachers will also be eligible for one full graduate credit hour issued through WSU. "I've seen firsthand the transformative power of technology and education, and this conference embodies that intersection," said Ben Sebree, FlagshipKansas.Tech board chair. "The opportunities for learning, networking, and collaboration make the Ad Astra Technology Summit a must-attend event." Tickets for the summit and the separate fireside chat event are now on sale, starting at $60, with options for sponsorships that include opportunities for a VIP book signing with Wozniak. In addition, scholarships for teachers and group discounts are available. "I am excited to support the FlagshipKansas.Tech mission through this event, which represents a vital gathering of some of the most exciting people in the Kansas technology sector," said Steve Wozniak, Co-founder of Apple. "I look forward to the fruitful discussions that will no doubt emerge from it." For more information on the Ad Astra Technology Summit and to purchase tickets, please visit adastrasummit.tech. About FlagshipKansas.Tech FlagshipKansas.Tech is a nonprofit organization that brings together Kansas technology companies to shine a light on the depth of skill, ingenuity, and innovation running through our cities and communities. Current goals include raising awareness, attracting and retaining technology talent, and supporting technology workforce training and education. Learn more at flagshipkansas.tech. SOURCE FlagshipKansas.Tech Duree & Company is Sole Winner in PR Category for its Work on Columbia Care/Cannabist's Launch in West Virginia, a New Cannabis Market ASPEN, Colo., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Award-winning Fort Lauderdale- and Aspen-based full-service public relations and marketing agency Duree & Company, Inc. is the sole winner of the inaugural Cannabis Marketing Association Seven Awards' "Best Use of PR" award. The firm won for its work with Columbia Care/Cannabist's Launch in West Virginia, a new cannabis market. Duree Ross, president, founder and CEO of Duree & Company, accepted the "Best Use of PR" award in-person at the Cannabis Marketing Association Seven Awards. Photo credit Cannabis Camera. Duree Ross, president, founder and CEO of Duree & Company, at the Cannabis Marketing Summit in Denver Colorado, where she delivered a presentation on crisis communication, by way of special invite from the event organizers. Photo credit Cannabis Camera. Firm President and Founder Duree Ross accepted the award in person at the Cannabis Marketing Association Seven Awards Show, held at the 2023 Cannabis Marketing Summit in Denver, Colorado. Ross was present at the conference to deliver a presentation on crisis communication, by way of special invite from the event organizers. Launched in 2023, Cannabis Marketing Association's Seven Awards aim to highlight and uplift successful marketing campaigns that are advancing the image of cannabis within the regulated industry. There are 20 unique award categories, including "Best Use of PR," which focuses on public relations campaigns and crisis communications. Entries were judged by independent jurors who considered a number of criteria in making their final selections. Duree & Company's established cannabis practice and multifaceted work with brands in the cannabis space laid the groundwork for a highly successful partnership with multi-state operator (MSO) Columbia Care and the expansion of its Cannabist brand in a number of U.S. markets. The PR/awareness campaign, with a goal to increase medical card holders as well as advancement of medical cannabis use in West Virginia, took place from FebruaryMarch 2022. With Cannabist's plans to enter the new medical market of West Virginia in five cities across the state, the firm devised a campaign to position Cannabist as the go-to resource for a friendly, uncomplicated shopping experience for medical marijuana patients. Because medical cannabis was a new industry in the state, and Cannabist was one of the first dispensaries in each county it serves, the firm worked to dispel any preconceived notions among media and the public, and communicate how Cannabist is committed to the local communities it serves. Among other efforts, the firm proactively pitched media for story opportunities and publicized educational events to help patients better understand the state's medical cannabis program, how to obtain a medical card, how to select products, and connect prospective patients with licensed medical providers. Duree & Company garnered more than 64 million media impressions in just over two months. The media coverage helped to establish Columbia Care/Cannabist as a leading player in the cannabis industry in West Virginia, and helped raise awareness about the benefits of cannabis products and to educate the public about the safety and legality of using them. "We are honored to be the sole recipient of Cannabis Marketing Association Seven Awards' 'Best Use of PR' award," said Ross. "Working to launch this new cannabis market was an opportunity for us to use our cannabis PR expertise to lay the groundwork in a state that is newly medical. "This award is a testament to our established and esteemed cannabis PR practice, through which we work with clients from multi-state operators to labs to cannabis lawyers and more, up and down the cannabis supply chain," she continued. For more information about Duree & Company's cannabis practice, visit its microsite https://cannabismarketingpr.com/, dedicated to its practice providing PR and marketing for clients in the booming CBD, hemp and cannabis industries. Also for more information, call the firm's Fort Lauderdale office at 954-723-9350, or its Aspen office at 970-452-2195. About Duree & Company, Inc. Founded in 1999, Duree & Company is a full-service, well-respected and highly creative public relations and marketing agency serving a diverse client base of local, national and international consumer brands, landmark industries, business leaders and philanthropists from its offices in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Aspen, Colorado. Practice areas include nonprofit, hospitality, business, lifestyle, health and wellness, legal, real estate, yacht and marine as well as cannabis, psychedelics, and other emerging industries. Duree & Company is a member of some of the nation's most elite professional organizations including PR Boutiques International (PRBI), The Florida Hemp Council, Cannabis Marketing Association and is a corporate partner of Cannabis LAB. To learn more, call 954-723-9350; go to dureeandcompany.com; cannabismarketingpr.com; or psychedelicpr.com. Join the social conversation and follow Duree & Company on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn at @DureeCoPR. Media Contact: Duree & Company, Inc. (954) 723-9350 / [email protected] SOURCE Duree & Company Bank Foundation Continues to Raise Funds to Achieve Greater Equality and Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs of Color in the DC Region FAIRFAX, Va., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Freedom Bank of Virginia announced today it will be hosting its second annual Freedom Bank Foundation Campaign Celebration on Thursday, September 14 in Reston, Virginia. The Annual Campaign raises funds to promote economic inclusion in the local community and builds on the exciting work the Freedom Bank Foundation has engaged in with the Community Business Partnership (CBP) through the NOVA Freedom Fund which provides financing and technical assistance for minorities and entrepreneurs of color in the DC Region. "We are thrilled to host the Freedom Bank Foundation Campaign Celebration at the iconic Reston Town Center Pavilion. It will be a fun evening focused on raising awareness and funds to increase economic inclusion and make our communities, more vibrant, and more equitable. We have already seen the fruits of the Foundation's work with the help of the CBP through the NOVA Freedom Fund. The Fund has assisted local business owners transform their trajectory with essential funding to help their business grow and thrive," said Joe Thomas, President and CEO. "Our Board of Directors and employees are committed to this important work, and we invite our clients, shareholders, vendor partners, friends and community members to take advantage of this opportunity to help the Foundation fulfil its critical mission," continued Mr. Thomas. The Freedom Bank Foundation is a nonprofit, tax exempt charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations are tax deductible as allowed by law. Businesses or individuals who are interested in attending or learning more about the Campaign Celebration or the Foundation are asked to contact [email protected] or visit freedom.bank/foundation. About Freedom Bank Freedom Bank is a next-generation community bank, headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, offering commercial banking, personal banking, and mortgage banking solutions using banker expertise and innovative technology to build lead relationships with clients. Focusing on businesses, real estate owners, and professionals, Freedom Bank concentrates on key industry verticals to deliver unique, sector-specific solutions to help clients meet their goals and realize their dreams. Freedom Bank has sales office locations in Fairfax, Vienna, Reston, Manassas, and Chantilly, VA. The Freedom Bank Mortgage Division is headquartered in Chantilly, VA and the Freedom Bank Small Business Lending Division is headquartered in Harrison, NY. For information about Freedom Bank, visit our website at www.freedom.bank. Contact: Joseph J. Thomas President & Chief Executive Officer Phone: 703-667-4161 Email: [email protected] SOURCE The Freedom Bank of Virginia DUBLIN, Aug. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Nitrile Gloves Market Factbook (2023 Edition): Analysis By Type (Powdered, Powder-Free), Texture (Smooth, Micro-Roughened, Aggressively Textured), By End Use Industry, By Region, By Country: Drivers, Trends and Forecast to 2029" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global Nitrile Gloves Market is set to witness substantial growth, projected to reach USD 14.36 billion by the end of 2029, soaring from USD 5.89 billion in 2022. Over the forecast period from 2024 to 2029, the market is anticipated to expand at a remarkable CAGR of 13.3%. The Global Nitrile Gloves Market Factbook offers comprehensive data for the historical period of 2019-2022, estimates for 2023, and insights into the forecast period of 2024-2029. This research report provides a detailed analysis of various regions and 15 countries, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. The increasing demand for nitrile gloves in the healthcare sector, driven by growing awareness of self-care and hygiene, the COVID-19 outbreak, and stringent regulations, is contributing to the market's favorable growth. Additionally, the shift from latex to nitrile, rising prevalence of chronic diseases, and technological advancements in manufacturing processes have further improved the quality and efficiency of nitrile glove production. Furthermore, the high demand for nitrile gloves in medical examinations, surgeries, and other healthcare procedures has surged due to increasing focus on hygiene and safety in healthcare facilities. The market's growth is also supported by the development of specialized textures, such as micro-roughened gloves, which offer enhanced grip and improved slip resistance, catering to industries like construction, automotive, and manufacturing, where safety and grip are of utmost importance, especially in wet or oily conditions. The Asia Pacific region, particularly Malaysia and Thailand, is a major production hub for Nitrile Gloves. Malaysia is the world leader in the manufacturing of nitrile gloves, catering to more than 60% of the total global demand. Nitrile gloves export shipments from Malaysia in the year 2022 stood at 86.1K, exported by 1,318 Malaysia exporters to 2,715 buyers. Technological advancements have allowed manufacturers to produce thinner Nitrile Gloves without compromising their protective properties. These gloves offer improved tactile sensitivity, allowing wearers to perform tasks that require fine motor skills and precision. Kimberly Clark introduced and developed two gloves for higher-risk lab environments in the biotech, non-sterile pharmaceutical and university research fields, where science and safety must work hand-in-hand. Conventional nitrile gloves, when disposed of in landfills, can take up to 100-200 years to biodegrade. This contributes to the problem of non-biodegradable waste accumulation, posing a severe threat to the environment and wildlife. As a result, there is a growing demand for sustainable and eco-friendly disposable products in the forecast period. With growing environmental awareness, manufacturers could invest in research and development to produce biodegradable nitrile gloves and meet the increasing demand, thereby protecting the environment. Scope of the Report The report analyses the Nitrile Gloves Market by Value (USD Billion) The report presents the analysis of Nitrile Gloves Market for the historical period of 2019-2022, the estimated year 2023 and the forecast period of 2024-2029. The report analyses the Nitrile Gloves Market by Type (Powdered, Powder -free) The report analyses the Nitrile Gloves Market by Texture (Smooth, Micro-Roughened, Aggressively Textured) The report analyses the Nitrile Gloves Market by By End Use Industry (Medical and Healthcare, Food and Beverage, Chemical, Automotive, Oil and Gas, Others) The key insights of the report have been presented through the frameworks of SWOT and Porter's Five Forces Analysis. Also, the attractiveness of the market has been presented by region, by services, by mode of operation & by end users. Also, the major opportunities, trends, drivers and challenges of the industry has been analysed in the report. The report tracks competitive developments, strategies, mergers and acquisitions and new product development. Competitive Landscape Market Position Matrix Company Profiling Hartalega Holdings Berhad Top Glove Corporation BHD Ansell Ltd. Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd. Cardinal Health, Inc. Ammex Corporation Unigloves Superior Glove MCR Safety Dynarex Corporation Market Background Scope and Product Outlook Executive Summary Research Methodology Strategic Recommendations Focus on Sustainability Expansion of Distribution Network For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/jkv3va 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 BEIJING, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Since 2012, China has witnessed an extraordinary economic transition, with historic achievements in all aspects of the economy from its size to quality. Such an unparalleled feat does not just happen, especially during a tumultuous period in the global geo-economic landscape and a tough phase in China's economic transformation and upgrading process. It was Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era that guided the country in overcoming various risks and challenges, and in keeping the China economic miracle alive. As China embarked on the quest to become a great modern socialist country amid global changes unseen in a century, Xi's economic thought has been and will continue to be the guiding principle for development in China for years to come, and have great significance for the world. What is Xi's economic thought? What does it mean for China and the world? To answer these questions, the Global Times has launched this special coverage on Xi's major economic speeches and policies, and how they are put into practice to boost development in China and around the world. In China's economic policymaking, policymakers and economists often use a rather apt term to describe the integral role the private sector plays in the country's social and economic development: "56789." This refers to private firms' contribution of more than 50 percent to national tax revenue, more than 60 percent to the national GDP, more than 70 percent to technological innovation achievements, more than 80 percent to urban employment, and 90 percent to the total number of enterprises in China. More than describing private firms' enormous contributions to China's overall development, the phrase also lays bare the weight of the private firms in China's economic policymaking. And yet, whenever private firms, or the Chinese economy, encounter challenges, some at home and abroad levy obsolete claims against China's policy for the private sector. Some foreign media sources describe normal industrial regulation as "crackdowns," while others seek to paint a dire outlook for Chinese private firms. Evidently, this has, to some extent, led to negative sentiment among some private firms, as private fixed-asset investment shrank by 0.2 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2023, with a 0.6-percent contraction in June alone, according to official data. This further fueled pessimism toward Chinese private firms and even the Chinese economy as a whole. The IMF said last month that China's economy was slowing due to weaker private investment. Are Chinese policymakers paying less attention to private firms, or engaging in "arbitrary crackdowns?" Are private firms facing an increasingly grim outlook in China? After conducting interviews with more than a dozen Chinese private firms, entrepreneurs, and experts, the Global Times found that, while challenges remain, the private sector remains overwhelmingly confident in operation and future growth, pointing to increasing support from policymakers and China's overall economic prospects. Personal care and support for the private sector from President Xi Jinping have become a source of confidence for the country's vast private sector. Support from top leader Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has, at important meetings and inspection tours around the country, commended the crucial contributions of the private sector to China's social and economic development and voiced unwavering support for the high-quality development of private firms. "The CPC Central Committee has always considered private enterprises and private entrepreneurs as being in our ranks," Xi said in March, while visiting national political advisors from the China National Democratic Construction Association and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, who were in attendance at the first session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Wang Yu, a member of the National Committee of the CPPCC and chairman of Spring Airlines, was among the national political advisors who were in attendance when Xi visited. "I am very touched!" Wang said at the time, noting that Xi's remarks helped "eliminate any worry among the vast number of private entrepreneurs and set our minds at ease, and greatly boosted our confidence in continuing to overcome difficulties." In a recent interview, Wang said that a slew of recent policy measures for private firms further demonstrated Xi and the CPC Central Committee's unwavering support for the private sector. "Although China's economy is stabilizing and improving, the external situation is complicated and severe, and it still faces the huge test of 'triple pressures.' Private enterprises, especially small and medium-sized ones, have been more affected and impacted. At such a time of difficulty and confusion, the Party and the government have provided firm support and clear guidance," Wang told the Global Times. On July 19, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council released a guideline on boosting the growth of the private economy, vowing to improve the business environment, enhance policy support, and strengthen the legal guarantee for the development of the private economy. Containing 31 measures, the guideline addressed major challenges faced by the private sector. On July 24, Xi presided over a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee to analyze economic situation and make arrangements for work in the second half of the year. The meeting called for policies and measures to promote private investment and provide private enterprises with an enabling environment. It also stressed upholding the principle of unswerving consolidation and development of the public sector and unswerving encouragement, support, and guidance of the development of the private sector, or "the two unwaverings," which is also a key aspect of Xi's economic thought. "A series of recent weighty documents will not only strengthen the importance attached to and support for the private economy, but will also provide a stronger policy guarantee for the development of the private economy in the new era through a series of new measures that are normalized and based on the rule of law, and will further stabilize expectations and boost confidence," Li Jin, chief researcher at the China Enterprise Research Institute in Beijing, told the Global Times. Efforts to tackle challenges Highlighting the ultra-efficiency of policymaking and execution unique to China's system, and following the remarks and policy guidelines from the top leadership, various ministries have, in recent days, issued a slew of measures to help private firms tackle major challenges and ensure steady, sound development of the private economy. Last week, eight Chinese ministries issued 28 measures to support the private sector, vowing to provide fair access for private firms to participate in major national projects and technological undertakings, increasing financial and land support, and strengthening the legal protection of the private firms. On Sunday, the State Taxation Administration announced 28 measures to facilitate tax payments and promote the development of the private sector. The measures have been well received by private entrepreneurs around the country, who described them as "timely rain" that will help them address major challenges they are facing in a targeted manner. Chen Xu, chairman of the SENKEN Group, a police appliances manufacturing company in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, said that the company faces relatively big burdens in areas such as tax, research and development (R&D) investment, and rising labor costs, and recently implemented measures address such challenges. "In particular, measures aimed at providing fair market access for private firms is very helpful for us," Chen told the Global Times, adding that other measures to help protect intellectual property are also very important to the firm, as it spends more than 30 million yuan on R&D each year. Wang Shaoshao, founder of Ouhua, a small business in Zhejiang that focuses on flowers and related cultural products, said that recent policy measures supporting the land use of private firms greatly help the company, as it seeks to rent land for business activities. Cai Qinliang, head of a company specializing in Christmas decorations manufacture in Yiwu, Zhejiang, said that exports orders are gradually returning to pre-pandemic levels and other challenges such as surging shipping costs are easing thanks to increased policy support. "From production to shipment and customs, the policies issued by the government are very conducive to the development of the enterprise, which can ensure that we can clear customs and ship out goods as soon as possible," Cai told the Global Times, noting that recent measures aimed at cutting processing time for tax rebates to less than six working days and extending loans for small businesses, in particular, will help ease firms' financial burdens. Zhejiang is one of the largest private business hubs in China, with the private sector enterprises accounting for over 70 percent of its economic activity. Zhejiang plays a crucial role in leading national efforts to boost the confidence of private firms, analysts said. Upbeat on future prospect Contrary to the rather dark picture painted by certain foreign media outlets, private entrepreneurs expressed confidence in their future outlook, thanks to firm support from the top leadership and concrete measures that help address challenges they face. Moreover, there are emerging signs that point to the resilience of the private sector in face of challenges. In the first seven months of 2023, exports and imports by the private companies totaled 12.46 trillion yuan, up 6.7 percent year-on-year, becoming a bright spot in China's overall trade in the face of downward pressure, official data showed on Tuesday. This growth rate is significantly higher than the 0.4 percent year-on-year growth rate in China's foreign trade registered for the same period in 2022. Notably, the share of private firms' exports and imports in the country's total foreign trade rose to 52.9 percent. "In fact, the production and order situation of our company in 2022 has recovered to about 90 percent of the pre-pandemic level, and it is still gradually improving this year and expected to basically return to the pre-pandemic level," Cai with the Christmas decorations manufacturing firm said, also adding, "with strong policy support, we are quite confident in the future." Chen, chairman of SENKEN, said that despite challenges, the company is moving along steadily with its five-year plan for a listing on the stock market by 2024. It is also actively expanding its overseas market, even after having exported products to more than 60 countries and regions. "The hope is that our brand can be competitive and influential overseas," he said. And for the private sector, the country's firm support is for long term, rather than a short-term boost measure. "The '56789' feature of the private economy has not changed, and private firms are inseparable from the Chinese economy," Li said, adding that the private sector plays an increasingly crucial role in the country's pursuit of high-quality development and ultimate Chinese modernization. More forms of long-term policy support are expected for private firms, as Xi put it in March, to boost their confidence and unburden them of their worries, so that they can ambitiously pursue development. https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202308/1295984.shtml SOURCE Global Times URCS hands more than 170 food packages over to residents of two regions in six months The Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS) has donated more than 170,000 food packages to residents of Kherson and Kharkiv regions from the World Food Programme in six months. "The joint program of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society and the World Food Programme (WFP) has been implemented since February 2023 and covers Kherson region and Chuhuyiv district of Kharkiv region," the URCS reported on Facebook on Thursday. Food packages are provided to the most vulnerable groups of the population, including internally displaced persons, large families, and persons with disabilities. The project runs until the end of the year. "In Kherson region, our volunteers delivered humanitarian aid to such settlements as Pravdyne, Myroliubivka, Tomina Balka, Tavriyske, Nova Zoria, Antonivka and others. In particular, part of the kits was handed over to people affected by the destruction of Kakhovka hydroelectric power station," said Maksym Dotsenko, the director general of the National Committee of the URCS. LUXEMBOURG, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Globant (NYSE: GLOB), a digitally native technology services company, today announced it will release results for the second quarter ended June 30th, 2023 on Thursday August 17th, 2023 after the close of regular market hours. Following the release, Martin Migoya, Globant's CEO & co-founder, Juan Urthiague - CFO, Patricia Pomies - COO, and Diego Tartara - Global CTO, will discuss the results in a video conference call beginning at 4:30pm ET. Video conference call access information is: https://more.globant.com/F2Q23EarningsCall About Globant (NYSE: GLOB) We are a digitally native company that helps organizations reinvent themselves to create a way forward and unleash their potential. We are the place where innovation, design and engineering meet scale. We have more than 26,000 employees and we are present in more than 25 countries in 5 continents working for companies like Google, Electronic Arts and Santander, among others. We were named a Worldwide Leader in CX Improvement Services by IDC MarketScape report. We were also featured as a business case study at Harvard, MIT, and Stanford. We are a member of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord. For more information, please visit www.globant.com Investor Relations Contact: Arturo Langa, Globant [email protected] +1 (877) 215-5230 Media Contact: Wanda Weigert, Globant [email protected] +1 (877) 215-5230 SOURCE Globant New 31 MW campus will provide critical digital infrastructure to support accelerating cloud computing and AI growth in Japan Construction of the first phase comprising 10 MW is underway and expected to be ready for service by February 2025 TOKYO, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- GLP Pte Ltd. ("GLP") a leading global developer, owner and operator of logistics real estate, data centers and renewable energy is pleased to announce that it has broken ground on Tokyo West 1 ("TKW1"), its first three-building data center ("DC") campus totaling 31 MW IT load in West Tokyo, Japan. GLP TKW1-1 (rendering) Building 1 represents the first phase of the three-building campus and is expected to be ready for service by February 2025. It is designed to meet both hyperscale and enterprise customer requirements for physical and cyber security, safety, reliability, and sustainability. Buildings 2 and 3 representing 10 MW and 11 MW IT load, respectively, will be developed in sequence in the vicinity of the same site. Located in an area with low natural disaster risk to promote stable business continuity, the campus is situated within a network-rich environment and is in proximity to some of the largest enterprise, IT and telecommunications and hyperscale companies. The new facility will also feature amenities including private meeting rooms, offices and common rest areas such as a lounge to provide customers with an optimal working environment. Leveraging its existing real estate portfolio and core capabilities of acquiring land for development, GLP has assembled a dedicated global team of trusted data center industry veterans. Combined with experienced local professionals, the team is well-equipped to provide full-scale data center technical expertise in design, delivery, and operations. TKW1 will be constructed to LEED Gold certification standards and will benefit from GLP's renewable energy business, offering clean sources of energy to advance the sustainability objectives of its future enterprise and hyperscale customers. "This groundbreaking marks our first data center facility in this region and represents a significant milestone as we further establish our digital infrastructure business to be a leading provider in Japan. As a rising data center hub in Asia, Tokyo is a prime location for our entry into the market and we look forward to serving hyperscale and enterprise customers' data capacity needs in this region," said Yoshiyuki Chosa, President and CEO of GLP Japan. "We will leverage our expertise, scale and synergies with our renewable energy business to provide customers with sustainable digital infrastructure to power the future." "We are thrilled to celebrate the first of many groundbreakings in Japan as we begin to deliver capacity to both local enterprise and global hyperscale customers. With more than 600 MW of IT load currently available across our four planned campuses in Tokyo and one in Osaka, we are positioned to deliver sustainable, safe, secure and reliable data center solutions to satisfy current and future demand from business application, cloud, and AI computing deployments," said Jennifer Weitzel, President, Global Data Center Business of GLP. Facility Overview Facility name: Tokyo West 1, Building 1 Location: Tokyo (West) Site area: Approx. 3,400 Total floor area: Approx. 8,700 Structure: 3 floors above ground, seismic isolation, and RCS structure IT Power Capacity: 10MW Start of construction: August 2023 Ready for Service: End of February 2025 (planned) Certification: LEED Gold certification (planned), Data Center Tier 3 (planned) About GLP GLP is a leading global business builder, owner, developer and operator of logistics real estate, data centers, renewable energy and related technologies. GLP's deep expertise and operational insights allow it to build and scale high-quality businesses and create value for its customers. Its new global data center business is committed to being a positive force for technology, people, and the planet. With a world-class team of trusted industry leaders and GLP's global presence, the company is positioned to lead the industry in reliable, safe, secure, and sustainable digital infrastructure. With seven in-flight campuses across Japan, the UK, and Brazil, the business has over 850 MW of power currently available and, combined with the Americas, more than 1,500 MW in its global pipeline. GLP owns and operates assets and businesses in 17 countries across Asia, Europe and the Americas. GLP Capital Partners, a global alternative asset manager with $125 billion in assets under management as of 31 March 2023, is the exclusive investment and asset manager of GLP. To learn more about GLP, visit www.glp.com/global. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2182341/TKW1_1_Japan.jpg SOURCE GLP goHomePort is now renting RV storage spaces at its newest RV and boat storage location and booking RV service and repair appointments at its third onsite RV service and repair facility in Colorado. WELD COUNTY, Colo., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- goHomePort, which was launched in 2020 with a mission to make RV ownership easy, celebrated a Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting for its fifth Colorado RV storage and third onsite RV service and repair facility on Wednesday, August 2nd. The goHomePort - Longshadows RV storage facility is a 13-acre location on the border of the towns of Mead and Platteville. It brings 430 new, premium RV and boat storage spaces to the community a mix of pull-through canopy, three-sided canopy, and open storage spaces with four state of the art service bays open to the public. It is located at 17164 E. 1-25 Frontage Road, highly visible to I-25 traffic south of CO HWY 66. goHomePort gives Ed Harper the honor of cutting the ribbon at its Platteville, Colorado Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on August 2, 2023, celebrating the opening of its fifth Colorado goHomePort RV and Boat Storage location and third onsite goHomePort RV Service and Repairs facility. Left to Right: goHomePort Co-founder Greg Kranias, Ed Harper, former owner of the Platteville storage location, and goHomePort Co-founder R. Randall Clark. goHomePort RV and Boat Storage, RV Service and Repairs, and RV Rentals and Rental Management teams with former owners Ed and Becky Harper seated in the place of honor after the Ribbon Cutting in Platteville, Colorado on August 2, 2023, honoring their late son who had purchased the property with a dream of making it a premier RV and boat storage facility. "We were honored by the turnout for our ribbon cutting ceremony," said Greg Kranias, Co-Founder of goHomePort. "It was a great opportunity to introduce goHomePort Storage, goHomePort RV Service and Repairs, and goHomePort RV Rentals and Rental Management to the local community and to thank everyone for their support." The ribbon cutting honor was given sentimentally to Ed Harper, former owner of the Longshadows storage facility before it was purchased by goHomePort. Harper honored his late son with a story of how the property was originally his son's, who had purchased it with a big dream of creating a premium RV and boat storage facility just off of I-25. Before cutting the ribbon, Harper expressed that upon his son's passing that dream is being carried on with the goHomePort acquisition and development. After the ribbon cutting, guests and staff mingled over a BBQ lunch. "Those who attended our ribbon cutting ceremony were able to witness the exciting improvements of this facility, with gated and secure access, a full set of amenities to serve the everyday needs of the RV owner, full-time staff on site, and the four brand new repair bays," said Markus MacIntosh, Operations Manager for goHomePort RV Service & Repairs - Longshadows. "Our RV technicians are highly experienced, we service all years, makes, and models and our focus is on premier customer service. We are excited to offer a world class guest experience and earn our community's business." About goHomePort goHomePort is the parent company for three complementary businesses that serve its core mission of making RV ownership easy. goHomePort Storage offers premium storage solutions to RV and boat owners throughout the United States with safe and secure storage facilities and a full suite of amenities to serve the everyday needs of the RV owner. goHomePort Rentals offers an innovative RV rental management program to owners looking to rent out their RV without the hassle of doing the work themselves. goHomePort RV Service & Repair offers RV owners high-quality and convenient RV repair service with premier customer service. For more information, visit goHomePort.com . Contact: Jess Bolen Director of Marketing goHomePort RV Service and Repairs [email protected] SOURCE goHomePort VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Gold Royalty Corp. ("Gold Royalty" or the "Company") (NYSE American: GROY) is pleased to announce the filing of its operating and financial results for the three months and six months ended June 30, 2023. The Company will be hosting an Investor Webcast to discuss these results and update on Friday, August 11 at 10:00 AM EDT. All amounts are expressed in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted. David Garofalo, Chairman and CEO of Gold Royalty, commented: "We have maintained our 2023 financial guidance and are encouraged by the expected near-term organic cash flow growth of our portfolio with assets such as Cote and Odyssey on the cusp of entering and ramping up production. Our team has continued to execute our growth strategy in a disciplined manner, having recently announced the agreement to acquire the Cozamin royalty while simultaneously achieving a 30% decrease in quarterly cash operating expenses year over year. We expect a strong second half of 2023 with increased production from Canadian Malartic, initial revenues from Cozamin, and Cote nearing completion of construction." Highlights for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, include: Adjusted Net Loss Per Share* for the second quarter of 2023 was unchanged at $0.02 per share compared to the comparative period as lower Total Revenue and Land Agreement Proceeds in the second quarter 2023 were partially offset by an over 30% decrease in Cash Operating Expenses. per share compared to the comparative period as lower Total Revenue and Land Agreement Proceeds in the second quarter 2023 were partially offset by an over 30% decrease in Cash Operating Expenses. Total Revenue and Land Agreement Proceeds* in the second quarter were lower than expected primarily due to resequencing of production at the Barnat Pit at Canadian Malartic. Full year Total Revenue and Land Agreement Proceeds* guidance of $5.5 million to $6.5 million is maintained as the shortfall in revenue from Canadian Malartic is expected to be substantially recovered in the second half of the year. to is maintained as the shortfall in revenue from Canadian Malartic is expected to be substantially recovered in the second half of the year. On July 31, 2023 , the Company announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire a 1% royalty on portions of the' producing Cozamin copper-silver mine in Mexico operated by Capstone Copper Corp. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. , the Company announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire a 1% royalty on portions of the' producing Cozamin copper-silver mine in operated by Capstone Copper Corp. Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. The Company generated two new royalties through the royalty generator model and has now created 37 royalties through the royalty generator model since 2021. *Adjusted Net Loss Per Share, Total Revenue and Land Agreement Proceeds and Cash Operating Expenses are non-IFRS measures and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the Company's results under IFRS. See "Non-IFRS Measures" below for further information. The following table sets forth selected financial information for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023: For the three months ended June 30 For the six months ended June 30 2023 2022 2023 2022 (in thousands of dollars, except per share amounts) ($) ($) ($) ($) Revenue 468 1,907 1,235 2,545 Net loss (2,496) (3,438) (5,579) (5,826) Net loss per share, basic and diluted (0.02) (0.03) (0.04) (0.05) Dividends declared per share 0.01 0.01 0.02 0.01 Cash used in operating activities (1,337) (4,205) (3,398) (11,821) Non-IFRS and Other Measures Total Revenue and Land Agreement Proceeds* 557 2,024 2,527 3,783 Cash Operating Expenses* (1,822) (2,618) (4,345) (6,383) Adjusted Net Loss* (2,487) (2,036) (3,805) (4,184) Adjusted Net Loss Per Share, basic and diluted* (0.02) (0.02) (0.03) (0.03) Total gold equivalent ounces ("GEOs")* 237 1,031 639 1,376 * See Non-IFRS Measures below. For further detailed information, please refer to the Company's unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements and management's discussion and analysis, for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, copies of which are available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov. Outlook Management currently believes the Company is on track to meet its previously disclosed forecast of $5.5 million and $6.5 million in total revenues and land agreement proceeds in 2023 based on the production guidance published to date by the operators of the properties underlying the 'Company's interests, a forecasted gold price ranging from $1,700 to $2,000 per ounce and expected payments from land agreements. The Company expects to incur $7.0 to $8.0 million in recurring cash operating expenses in 2023 (forecasted operating expenses, excluding transaction-related and other non-recurring expenses) which remains unchanged as well. The Company currently expects that it will generate positive net operating cash flow in 2024 (forecasted operating cash flow before movement in non-cash working capital adjusted for land agreement proceed credited against mineral properties) when select key growth projects are expected to ramp up in production, including the long-life cornerstone mines at Cote and Odyssey. The foregoing projected outlook constitutes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws and is intended to provide information about management's current expectations for the Company's 2023 fiscal year. Although considered reasonable as of the date hereof, such outlook and the underlying assumptions may prove to be inaccurate. Accordingly, actual results could differ materially from the Company's expectations as set forth herein. In preparing the above outlook, management assumed, among other things, that the operators of the projects underlying the Company's royalties will meet expected production milestones and forecasts for the applicable period and that operators of land agreements will elect to make all expected payments over the period. See "Forward-Looking Statements". Portfolio Update Odyssey Project (3.0% NSR over the northern portion of the project): On June 20, 2023 , Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (" Agnico Eagle ") provided an update on the Canadian Malartic Complex including the details of an updated internal study. The updated internal study outlined an improved production profile and opportunities to add production in years 2025 to 2028. Recent positive drill results in the Odyssey internal zones indicate the potential for further increases in production during the 2023-2028 transition period. (3.0% NSR over the northern portion of the project): On , Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (" ") provided an update on the Canadian including the details of an updated internal study. The updated internal study outlined an improved production profile and opportunities to add production in years 2025 to 2028. Recent positive drill results in the Odyssey internal zones indicate the potential for further increases in production during the 2023-2028 transition period. Cote Gold Project (0.75% NSR royalty over the southern portion of the project): On May 11, 2023 , IAMGOLD Corporation (" IAMGOLD ") disclosed that, as of March 31, 2022 , the Cote Gold Project was estimated to be approximately 80% complete. Additionally, on May 16, 2023 , IAMGOLD disclosed a $400 million loan term financing deal with Oaktree Capital Management and outlined that construction of the large-scale, long life Cote Gold Project was on-track and on-budget to commence production in early 2024. (0.75% NSR royalty over the southern portion of the project): On , IAMGOLD Corporation (" ") disclosed that, as of , the Cote Gold Project was estimated to be approximately 80% complete. Additionally, on , IAMGOLD disclosed a loan term financing deal with Oaktree Capital Management and outlined that construction of the large-scale, long life Cote Gold Project was on-track and on-budget to commence production in early 2024. Ren Project (1.5% NSR royalty and 3.5% NPI): On May 3, 2023 , Barrick Gold Corporation (" Barrick ") reported their first quarter results and mentioned significant financial investments in equipment and development including portals at Ren that will boost productivity and mineralization development, alongside a new paste plant at Goldstrike. On August 8, 2023 , Barrick reported their second quarter results and outlined that exploration had progressed at significant brownfields opportunities at Carlin. Barrick further outlined that drilling continues to confirm potential discoveries across the exploration pipeline in the Nevada Complex. (1.5% NSR royalty and 3.5% NPI): On , Barrick Gold Corporation (" ") reported their first quarter results and mentioned significant financial investments in equipment and development including portals at Ren that will boost productivity and mineralization development, alongside a new paste plant at Goldstrike. On , Barrick reported their second quarter results and outlined that exploration had progressed at significant brownfields opportunities at Carlin. Barrick further outlined that drilling continues to confirm potential discoveries across the exploration pipeline in the Nevada Complex. Fenelon Gold Project (2.0% NSR royalty over the majority of the project): On June 26, 2023 Wallbridge Mining Company Limited (" Wallbridge ") delivered a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment (" PEA ") for the Fenelon Gold Project. The PEA outlined a 12.3 year mine life with average annual gold production of 212,000 ounces. For further information regarding the PEA, please refer to Wallbridge's news release dated June 26, 2023 . (2.0% NSR royalty over the majority of the project): On Wallbridge Mining Company Limited (" ") delivered a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment (" ") for the Fenelon Gold Project. The PEA outlined a 12.3 year mine life with average annual gold production of 212,000 ounces. For further information regarding the PEA, please refer to Wallbridge's news release dated . Granite Creek Mine Project (10.0% NPI): On July 11, 2023 , i-80 Gold Corp (" i-80 ") provided a comprehensive update on its operations including development and exploration activities at Granite Creek. i-80's disclosed that its focus has shifted to the Ogee Zone at Granite Creek with positive grade reconciliation, increased mining rates and increasing production. i-80 is also accelerating infrastructure development to access the high-grade South Pacific Zone as Granite Creek progresses towards full commercial production. (10.0% NPI): On , i-80 Gold Corp (" ") provided a comprehensive update on its operations including development and exploration activities at Granite Creek. i-80's disclosed that its focus has shifted to the Ogee Zone at Granite Creek with positive grade reconciliation, increased mining rates and increasing production. i-80 is also accelerating infrastructure development to access the high-grade South Pacific Zone as Granite Creek progresses towards full commercial production. Whistler Gold-Copper Project (1.0% NSR): On May 30, 2023 , U.S. GoldMining Inc. ("US GoldMining") announced that following the successful completion of its initial public offering in April 2023 which raised gross proceeds of US$20 million , US GoldMining has approved its 2023 exploration program and budget for the Whistler gold-copper project. It further disclosed that Phase 1 of its inaugural exploration program has commenced with field crews undertaking rehabilitation work on the existing camp which will enable the commencement of core drilling, mine engineering and environmental baseline studies later in the 2023 summer field season. Royalty Generation Model Update The Company's Royalty Generator Model had a productive quarter with two new royalties during the quarter. The Company has now generated 37 royalties since the acquisition of Ely Gold Royalties in 2021 through this model. Details of the new royalties generated during the quarter are as follows: The Quarter Horse property was sold to First Majestic with Gold Royalty retaining a 0.75% NSR royalty over the property. The Goldfield West property was sold to Centerra Gold Inc with Gold Royalty retaining a 2.0% NSR royalty over the property. The Company currently has 31 properties for land agreements and 7 properties under lease and expects to generate $3.2 million in land agreement proceeds in 2023 assuming all land option agreements are exercised. The model continues to be a low-cost portion of the business with only $81,000 spent on mineral interests maintenance expense during the first half of 2023. Investor Webcast An investor webcast will be held on Friday, August 11, 2023 starting at 10:00 am ET (7:00 am PT) to discuss these results. Management will be providing an update to interested stakeholders on the Company's quarterly results including key recent catalysts that have been announced on the assets underlying the Company's royalties. The presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session where participants will be able to ask any questions they may have of management. To register for the investor webcast, please click the link below: https://www.bigmarker.com/vid-conferences/GoldRoyaltyCorp-TownHallForum-Q2Results A replay of the webcast will be available on the Gold Royalty website following the presentation. About Gold Royalty Corp. Gold Royalty Corp. is a gold-focused royalty company offering creative financing solutions to the metals and mining industry. Its mission is to invest in high-quality, sustainable, and responsible mining operations to build a diversified portfolio of precious metals royalty and streaming interests that generate superior long-term returns for our shareholders. Gold Royalty's diversified portfolio currently consists primarily of net smelter return royalties on gold properties located in the Americas. Qualified Person Alastair Still, P.Geo., Director of Technical Services of the Company, is a "qualified person" as such term is defined under Canadian National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") and has reviewed and approved the technical information disclosed in this news release. Notice to Investors For further information regarding the project updates regarding properties underlying the Company's interests, please refer to the disclosures of the operators thereof, including the news releases and reports referenced herein. Disclosure relating to properties in which Gold Royalty holds royalty or other interests is based on information publicly disclosed by the owners or operators of such properties. The Company generally has limited or no access to the properties underlying its interests and is largely dependent on the disclosure of the operators of its interests and other publicly available information. The Company generally has limited or no ability to verify such information. Although the Company does not have any knowledge that such information may not be accurate, there can be no assurance that such third-party information is complete or accurate. Unless otherwise indicated, the technical and scientific disclosure contained or referenced in this news release, including any references to mineral resources or mineral reserves, was prepared by the project operators in accordance with NI 43-101, which differs significantly from the requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission applicable to domestic issuers. Accordingly, the scientific and technical information contained or referenced in this news release may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of the SEC. Forward-Looking Statements: Certain of the information contained in this news release constitutes "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including but not limited to statements regarding: estimated future Total Revenues and Land Agreement Proceeds and expected future cash flows; the proposed acquisition on a royalty on portions of the Cozamin mine; expectations regarding the development of the projects underlying the Company's royalty interests, including the estimates of the operators thereof their timing and ability to achieve production; and expectations regarding the Company's growth and statements regarding the Company's plans and strategies. Such statements can be generally identified by the use of terms such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "believe", "plans", "anticipate" or similar terms. Forward-looking statements are based upon certain assumptions and other important factors, including assumptions of management regarding the accuracy of the disclosure of the operators of the projects underlying the Company's projects, their ability to achieve disclosed plans and targets, macroeconomic conditions, commodity prices, the ability of the parties to the Cozamin transaction to satisfy the conditions to completion of such transaction and the Company's ability to finance future growth and acquisitions. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements including, among others, any inability to any inability of the operators of the properties underlying the Company's royalty interests to execute proposed plans for such properties or to achieved planned development and production estimates and goals, risks related to the operators of the projects in which the Company holds interests, including the successful continuation of operations at such projects by those operators, risks related to exploration, development, permitting, infrastructure, operating or technical difficulties on any such projects, any inability to satisfy the conditions to the completion of the proposed Cozamin transaction, the influence of macroeconomic developments, the ability of the Company to carry out its growth plans and other factors set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended September 30, 2022 and its other publicly filed documents under its profiles at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov. Although the Company 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. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Non-IFRS Measures The Company has included, in this document, certain performance measures, including: (i) Adjusted Net Loss and Adjusted Net Loss Per Share; (ii) GEOs; (iii) Total Revenue and Land Agreement Proceeds; and (iv) Cash Operating Expenses which are each non-IFRS measures. The presentation of such non-IFRS measures is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These non-IFRS measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS, and other companies may calculate these measures differently. Adjusted Net Loss and Adjusted Net Loss Per Share Adjusted Net Loss is calculated by adding land agreement proceeds credited against mineral properties and deducting the following from net income: Transaction related and non-recurring general administrative expenses1, share of (gain)/loss and dilution gain in associate, impairment, changes in fair value of derivative liabilities and short-term investments, gain on disposition of short-term investments, gain on loan modification, foreign exchange gain/(loss), other income/(expense) and land agreement proceeds credited against mineral properties. Adjusted Net Loss Per Share, basic and diluted have been determined by dividing the Adjusted Net Loss by the weighted average number of common shares for the applicable period. The Company included this information as management believes that they are useful measures of performance as they adjust for items which are not always reflective of the underlying operating performance of our business and/or are not necessarily indicative of future operating results. The table below provides a reconciliation of net loss to Adjusted Net Loss and Adjusted Net Loss Per Share, basic and diluted for the periods indicated: For the three months ended June 30 For the six months ended June 30 2023 2022 2023 2022 (in thousands of dollars, except per share amounts) ($) ($) ($) ($) Net loss (2,496) (3,438) (5,579) (5,826) Land agreement proceeds credited against mineral properties 89 117 1,292 1,238 Transaction related and non-recurring administrative expenses 176 575 635 1,535 Share of (income)/loss in associate (350) 47 (222) 155 Dilution income in associate (12) (20) (12) (100) Impairment of royalty 3,821 Change in fair value of derivative liabilities (9) (2,836) (239) (4,634) Change in fair value of short-term investments 135 3,627 77 (248) Loss on Loan modification 249 Foreign exchange (gain)/loss 59 3 107 (10) Other income (79) (111) (113) (115) Adjusted Net Loss (2,487) (2,036) (3,805) (4,184) Weighted average number of common shares 144,560,621 134,372,502 144,425,846 134,196,906 Adjusted Net Loss Per Share, basic and diluted (0.02) (0.02) (0.03) (0.03) 1 Transaction related and non-recurring general administrative expenses are a supplementary financial measure comprised of operating expenses that are not expected to be incurred on an ongoing basis. During the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, transaction related and non-recurring administrative expenses related primarily to professional fees related to changing the Company's fiscal year-end, tax restructuring following the completion of corporate transactions, establishing a dividend reinvestment and finance programs and select corporate development activities and in the same periods of 2022, related primarily to consulting fees and professional fees associated with corporate transactions. GEOs Total GEOs are determined by dividing revenue by the following average gold prices: Units Average Gold Price Three months ended June 30, 2022 (US$/oz) 1,850 Three months ended June 30, 2023 (US$/oz) 1,978 Six months ended June 30, 2022 (US$/oz) 1,850 Six months ended June 30, 2023 (US$/oz) 1,933 Total Revenue and Land Agreement Proceeds reconciliation Total Revenue and Land Agreement Proceeds are determined by adding land agreement proceeds credited against mineral properties to total revenue. The Company has included this information as management believes certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company's performance in comparison to other gold royalty companies in the precious metal mining industry. Below is a reconciliation of our Total Revenue and Land Agreement Proceeds to total revenue for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively: For the three months ended June 30 For the six months ended June 30 2023 2022 2023 2022 (in thousands of dollars) ($) ($) ($) ($) Royalty 399 1,727 633 1,986 Advance minimum royalty 25 25 356 313 Land agreement proceeds 133 272 1,538 1,484 Total Revenue and Land Agreement Proceeds 557 2,024 2,527 3,783 Land agreement proceeds credited against mineral properties (89) (117) (1,292) (1,238) Revenue 468 1,907 1,235 2,545 Cash Operating Expenses Cash Operating Expenses is determined by excluding the impact of non-cash expenses, revenue, other income and tax recovery. The Company has included this information as management believes certain investors use this information to evaluate our performance in comparison to other gold royalty companies in the precious metal mining industry. The table below provides a reconciliation of net loss to Cash Operating Expenses. For the three months ended June 30 For the six months ended June 30 2023 2022 2023 2022 (in thousands of dollars) ($) ($) ($) ($) Net loss (2,496) (3,438) (5,579) (5,826) Non-cash expenses, revenue, other income and tax recovery: Revenue (468) (1,907) (1,235) (2,545) Other income (79) (111) (113) (115) Depletion 204 1,037 321 1,525 Depreciation 16 21 37 36 Share-based compensation 828 705 1,708 1,851 Share of (income)/loss in associate (350) 47 (222) 155 Dilution income in associate (12) (20) (12) (100) Impairment of royalty 3,821 Change in fair value of derivative liabilities (9) (2,836) (239) (4,634) Change in fair value of short-term investments 135 3,627 77 (248) Loss on Loan modification 249 Foreign exchange (gain)/loss 59 3 107 (10) Interest expense 328 269 622 374 Tax recovery/(expense) 22 (15) (66) (667) Cash Operating Expenses (1,822) (2,618) (4,345) (6,383) SOURCE Gold Royalty Corp. The newly designed photoanodes suppress undesirable losses associated with photoelectrochemical water splitting and enhances the reaction kinetics GWANGJU, China, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Currently, hydrogen is mainly produced by natural gas, which, unfortunately, also generates greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide as by-products. Scientists argue that hydrogen produced this way, while economical, is not truly sustainable, and thus requires a more eco-friendly approach for its generation. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting based on solar energy is one such promising approach. However, its widespread application is limited by a lack of efficient photoanodes for catalyzing the rate-limiting oxygen evolution reaction (OER), an important reaction in PEC water splitting. The novel photoanodes suppress the undesirable internal and external losses associated with photoelectrochemical water splitting, resulting in an unprecedented photon-to-current conversion efficiency of 12.79%. Recently, organometal halide perovskites (OHPs) have emerged as a promising photoanode material on this front. Unfortunately, OHP-based photoanodes suffer from two undesired losses that limit their efficiency. One is an internal loss resulting from a recombination of photogenerated charge carriers (required for electricity generation) within the anode itself, which, in turn, hinders water splitting. The other is external loss due to the slow reaction kinetics of water splitting, resulting in a loss of charge carriers at the interface of the anode and electrolyte. Against this background, a team of researchers from Korea and USA, led by Professor Sanghan Lee from Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology and including Associate Professor Jangwon Seo from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, has now developed a highly efficient OHP-based photoanode using a rational design approach, which overcomes the above limitations. Their study was published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials on June 17, 2023. "The high efficiency of the photoanode for photoelectrochemical water splitting was achieved through the simultaneous suppression of internal and external losses of photogenerated carriers," highlights Prof. Lee. In their work, the team fabricated a novel Fe-doped Ni 3 S 2 /Ni foil/OHP photoanode in three steps. They first synthesized the Fe-doped Ni 3 S 2 catalyst for OER on Ni foil through a hydrothermal method followed by a chemical conversion. They then separately fabricated the OHP photovoltaic cell consisting of SnO 2 electron transport layers (ETLs) through spin coating. Finally, they combined the two components to obtain the photoanode. The team found that adding glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride (GTMACl) to the anode passivated the defects at the OHP/ETL interface, effectively suppressing the undesired charge carrier recombination within the anode. Further, it enhanced the light-soaking stability of the OHP cell, a crucial factor in real-world PEC water splitting. Additionally, the high catalytic activity of Fe-doped Ni 3 S 2 ensured a high OER rate at the anode, reducing the loss of photogenerated carriers within the electrolyte. Consequently, the Fe-doped Ni 3 S 2 /Ni foil/OHP photoanode exhibited an unprecedented applied bias photon-to-current conversion efficiency of 12.79%, higher than that reported for OHP-based photoanodes in existing studies. Overall, this study provides important insights into the prospects of rationally designed OHP-based photoelectrodes, as Prof. Lee highlights: "The proposed technology is expected to contribute to the vitalization of the hydrogen economy and carbon neutrality by enabling a large-scale and eco-friendly hydrogen production using solar energy without external voltage in the next 10 years. This, in turn, will help realize hydrogen as an ideal renewable source of energy in the future." And we sure hope the researcher's vision is realized soon! Reference Title of original paper: Suppression of Undesired Losses in Organometal Halide Perovskite-Based Photoanodes for Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Journal: Advanced Energy Materials DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202300951 About the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) Website: http://www.gist.ac.kr/ Contact: Chang-Sung Kang 82 62 715 6253 363572@email4pr.com SOURCE Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) - Revenue of KRW81.6bn, Operating profit of KRW28bn...28% YoY growth - Botulinum toxin and HA filler sales growth in both domestic and overseas market... Strong performance in Europe and Asia Pacific - Preparing for launch of toxin in Canada and targeting to resubmit to U.S. FDA SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hugel, a global total medical aesthetics company, announced its 2Q23 consolidated financial statements on August 9th, reporting revenue of KRW81.6bn, operating profit of KRW28bn, and net profit of KRW21.4bn. Revenue and operating profit both grew 28% YoY, reaching all-time highs for 2Q performance. Gross profit recorded KRW62.9bn, a 26% increase YoY. Revenue of Hugel's botulinum toxin product increased 17% YoY led by growth in both domestic and overseas markets. Hugel has solidified its leading position in domestic market by expanding its distribution channel to online. Export revenue grew backed by steady growth in Asian markets such as Thailand, Taiwan, and Japan as well as 23 European countries. The company also rapidly generated revenue from Australia followed by official launch of its botulinum toxin, Letybo in April. Hugel's HA filler revenue rose 43% YoY. Domestic sales of HA filler increased significantly 103% YoY driven by consumer targeting campaigns and academic promotions. HA filler export revenue are gradually increasing in Asia Pacific and major European countries, such as France, Poland, Germany, and the U.K. Cosmetics revenue grew 41% YoY led by increasing sales in existing health and beauty stores and home shopping channels as well as newly added online distribution and marketing channels. Absorbable thread revenue also increased around 20% YoY backed by product line-up expansion. Hugel plans to expand its domestic market share in 2H23 through novel sales and marketing strategies. The company plans to expand its academic programs, seminars, and small group academies; actively host evidence-based campaigns based on various global clinical data results; and digitize existing webzines to strengthen its partnership with HCPs. Hugel will also focus on expanding overseas markets. In China, Hugel continues to partner with new hospitals and clinics, including a supply contract with "Mylike," the largest hospital network in China based on "One Patient One Vial" campaign in line with the Chinese government's three policy goals standardization of plastic surgery institutions, specialization of medical staff, and legalization of products. In addition, Hugel hosted a launching ceremony for its HA filler brand "Persnica" in June prior to commencing official sales. Hugel plans to develop various strategies to create synergy between its toxin and filler products to increase market competitiveness. In Australia, Hugel expects to achieve a 5% share within the botulinum toxin market this year by leveraging on the local network previously established with its HA filler. The company also will continue to further expand its presence in European countries for both botulinum toxin and HA filler products. In addition, Hugel is about to enter the North American botulinum toxin market. Hugel received approval for its Letybo in Canada last year and is preparing for commercial launch into the market after 3Q23. The company is also targeting to resubmit in the U.S. at the end of August and receive marketing approval by 1Q24. Hugel continues to expand its presence in Rest of the World (ROW) markets, including the United Arab Emirates for HA filler and Kuwait for botulinum toxin. The company also won the bid led by the Brazilian government. An official from Hugel said, "By achieving stable sales growth not only in the Korea market but also globally, we have set a new record for sales and operating profits in the second quarter. We will soon complete our entry into major overseas markets, such as Canada and the U.S., and will continue to expand our global presence." SOURCE Hugel GREENWICH, Conn., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hunt Scanlon Ventures, a leading M&A advisory firm focused on the human capital markets, announced today that it has facilitated a transaction between ZRG and The Registry and served as a strategic advisor to both companies. ZRG is one of the world's rapidly growing global talent advisory firms. Since 1992, The Registry has helped colleges and universities across the U.S. and abroad during times of transition with experienced and diverse interim leaders. The company's record speaks for itself over 1,200 placements at over 500 institutions of all types. "The Registry is the nation's top firm providing the best-matched interim solutions to institutions of higher learning, especially colleges and universities that are going through challenging transitions," said Larry Hartmann, CEO of ZRG. "Adding The Registry to the family of ZRG companies puts us in a leadership position in providing talent solutions in higher education." Based just outside Boston in Peabody, MA, The Registry has successfully placed more senior interim leaders on campuses across the nation than any other organization during the past three decades. The firm initiated and accelerated a new trend in American higher education: the utilization of outside interim presidents. "This acquisition is a huge win for ZRG," said Scott A. Scanlon, CEO of Hunt Scanlon Ventures based in Greenwich, Conn., which helped facilitate the transaction and served as a strategic advisor to ZRG and The Registry. "It compliments a fast-growing interim solutions platform that ZRG has been strategically building, but it also enhances one of ZRG's key executive search verticals in higher education." Mr. Scanlon said the acquisition is ZRG's largest to date. "Calls for interim leaders are gaining wider traction as demographics shift and talent needs change," said Mr. Scanlon. "The most sought after 'on-demand' roles are increasingly found across the C-suite and now in every industry and that makes interim solutions one of the biggest growth areas of recruiting," he said. "The Registry is known across all of higher education as the gold standard interim talent solution and the firm's second-generation founders leave behind a legacy of unparalleled client service," said Mr. Scanlon, who has known the firm's management team for more than a decade. "George Matthews and Dr. Bryan Carlson built a unique platform that disrupted how interim roles are filled through a fully vetted, membership-based network. That legacy is what ZRG now inherits, and we believe this transaction will give Larry Hartmann and his team an unprecedented opportunity for growth," he added. About Hunt Scanlon Ventures: Hunt Scanlon Ventures is an M&A advisory firm focused on the human capital markets. The firm assists in global merger and acquisition advisory, sourcing and facilitating transactions, buyouts, and growth capital investments as it guides founders to successful exits. Hunt Scanlon is an investor in data-driven and AI-powered human capital platforms where the firm works in partnership with management teams to scale and grow their businesses through a combination of capital investment, acquisitions, and other strategic initiatives. Contact: Cody Crook Managing Director (317) 417-6936 [email protected] SOURCE Hunt Scanlon Media Unique combination formula designed to effectively stabilize gut discomfort and dysfunction in patients with IBS* MIDDLETOWN, Conn., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyperbiotics, a global leader in precision probiotics, today announced the launch of PRO-IBS Support*, an advanced, dual-action synergistic blend of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 299v and the highly bioavailable Boswellia serrata extract. This unique combination formula was designed to effectively stabilize gut discomfort and dysfunction in patients with IBS, and provide accelerated and prolonged relief from bloating, gas, and irregularity.* Hyperbiotics PRO-IBS Support* Probiotic According to the American College of Gastroenterology, an estimated 10-15% of the adult population in the United States have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but only 5-7% receive an IBS diagnosis. PRO-IBS Support* has been uniquely formulated to provide patients with relief from occasional IBS symptoms more quickly, and for prolonged periods of time, while nurturing a healthier gut microbiome. This carefully selected blend of clinically studied ingredients works synergistically to reset and support the gut, promoting improved gut function, regularity, and overall well-being for individuals seeking effective digestive support.* KEY FEATURES Each capsule contains 30 billion CFUs of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 299v, the clinically effective dose and strain used in over 65 clinical studies 299v, the clinically effective dose and strain used in over 65 clinical studies Highly bioavailable, lecithin-based Boswellia serrata extract 125mg in a clinically studied dose range with standardized phytoactives extract 125mg in a clinically studied dose range with standardized phytoactives Clean formula, and free from major allergens, including gluten, dairy, soy, egg, peanut, tree nut, fish, shellfish, sesame, active yeast, and preservatives No artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners No unnecessary excipients Suitable for vegans and vegetarians Shelf-Stable Non-GMO "With the prevalence of IBS and related conditions, we saw a critical need to introduce an affordable, science-backed solution for patients," explained John P. Troup, PhD, Chief Science and Education Officer, Hyperbiotics. "By pairing clinically studied Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 299v with Boswellia serrata extract, we are able to offer a dual-action solution that provides more effective relief than standalone probiotics." Hyperbiotics offers a comprehensive line of precision probiotics harnessing science-backed probiotic strains to deliver probiotics tailored to patient needs, at an affordable price point. Hyperbiotics probiotics are vegan, non-GMO and shelf-stable. To learn more or purchase, visit Hyperbiotics.com/ProIBSSupport. About Hyperbiotics Hyperbiotics is a leading probiotic brand committed to serving the needs of practitioners, their patients, and individuals striving to improve their gut health and overall well-being through targeted precision probiotics. Through the utilization of "precision probiotics" Hyperbiotics harnesses well-researched probiotic strains and complementary ingredients to deliver premium formulas, tailored to specific patient needs, at an affordable price. Hyperbiotics is part of the Blueroot Health family of brands. To learn more, visit Hyperbiotics.com. About Blueroot Health Blueroot Health is a consumer health company growing a diverse portfolio of brands that fuel lasting happiness and health for people and planet. The company's industry-leading brands including Vital Nutrients, Bariatric Fusion, Fairhaven Health and Hyperbiotics offer a suite of clean, innovative, and clinically relevant nutritional supplements that work. The portfolio includes specialized solutions for fertility and reproductive health, metabolic and bariatric health, and precision probiotics, as well as a full spectrum of clinically relevant formulas trusted by healthcare practitioners, patients, and consumers worldwide. Blueroot Health is committed to making a lasting, positive impact on the communities it serves, without leaving a negative footprint on the planet. For more information, visit blueroothealth.co. Media Contact Erin Anthony [email protected] *These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. SOURCE Hyperbiotics The brand visits the Scottish borders for a compelling campaign that celebrates "Modern Prep" VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- INDOCHINO , the global leader in custom apparel, has launched its Fall/Winter 2023 collection. Rooted in an updated take on prep style, this year's Fall/Winter collection celebrates the most timeless form of smart dressing by marrying richly-textured, luxurious fabrics with modern relaxed silhouettes. This effortless approach to tailoring furthers the brand's commitment to a diverse offering of versatile options that are ideal for the modern consumer and every body. INDOCHINO DEBUTS FALL/WINTER 2023 COLLECTION: The brand visits the Scottish borders for a compelling campaign that celebrates Modern Prep Building upon the overarching theme of "A Story In The Making," which the brand introduced for Spring/Summer 2023, this new season continues to celebrate personal style and INDOCHINO's unique ability to help consumers share their stories through custom apparel. The collection was brought to life in the picturesque Scottish borders, where the campaign's imagery was captured across the breathtaking views of historic castles and open landscapes. This setting perfectly complements INDOCHINO's updated approach to prep trends styles that stay true to the boarding school origins of the look, but also incorporate dark and moody notes to update the aesthetic and add an edge. The Fall/Winter 2023 collection offers elevated pieces that can be easily layered or mixed and matched for everyday, alongside a comprehensive formalwear assortment, providing all the essentials for a seasonal wardrobe upgrade. "Prep style has long been beloved by the tailoring world for its mix of luxury and ease," said Drew Green, CEO of INDOCHINO. "This juxtaposition is particularly relevant for INDOCHINO's consumers and how they want to dress today, so it became the ideal starting point for our Fall/Winter collection. Our shoppers want to be sharply dressed without sacrificing comfort. Our industry-leading made to measure experience allows the customer to approach this new season's take on Modern Prep in their own way through the rich textures and bold heritage patterns." ABOUT INDOCHINO As the global leader in made to measure apparel, INDOCHINO has developed the shopping experience of the future. Born out of the belief that you don't need to spend a fortune on a custom wardrobe, INDOCHINO was the first company to disrupt the retail sector by offering made to measure apparel in a way that is accessible to the masses. The brand was also named to the Newsweek and Statista America's Fastest Growing Online Shops list for 2022. Customers take on the role of designer, picking out every detail of their garments to make them truly one-of-a-kind. These are made to their precise measurements and shipped directly to their door, hassle free. The company's omni-channel approach allows them to shop online or in person at any INDOCHINO showroom. For more information, visit www.indochino.com and follow INDOCHINO's social media channels. SOURCE INDOCHINO Unveils New Technology to Support Tax-Free School Shopping in Texas and New Jersey and 50% off Annual Subscription for New Instacart+ Members Marks Instacart's Biggest Back-to-School Initiative Ever Alongside Family-Favorite Brands in the U.S. and Canada Including Babybel, Chobani, Lunchables, SKIPPY and Yoplait SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, today announced "You've Got This, Parents," a new back-to-school campaign with more ways for families to save. The six-week, omnichannel campaign showcases how Instacart is the one-stop destination for hassle-free back-to-school shopping in the U.S. and Canada. Instacart's expansive selection spans more than 1,400 retail banners across North America making it the perfect solution for busy parents to shop everything on their kids' school list, including: fresh groceries for breakfasts and school lunches, school supplies, sporting equipment, backpacks, kids' clothing, electronics, and other everyday essentials. Back to School, delivered School lunches with Instacart "You've Got This, Parents'' marks Instacart's biggest back-to-school campaign ever alongside family-favorite brands across the U.S. and Canada, including Babybel, Chobani, Lunchables, SKIPPY and Yoplait, among others. Instacart is also rolling out more ways for families to save during the campaign. First, by reducing its annual Instacart+ subscription fee for new members to $49 for the first year a 50 percent discount beginning August 111. Second, by enabling tax-free shopping on eligible back-to-school items for consumers in Texas and New Jersey during those states' official tax-free holidays: August 11-13 and August 26-September 4, respectively. "Back to School can be a hectic and bittersweet time for parents, and this campaign embodies how Instacart has parents' backs this season," said Instacart CMO Laura Jones. "From Instacart Shoppers who shop with the same care you do to our incredible selection of retailers including Best Buy, Costco, and Dick's Sporting Goods, Instacart makes preparing for school seamless so families have more time to enjoy these last moments of summer together." The new campaign highlights Instacart's grocery intelligence and how its AI-supercharged 'Ask Instacart' search experience can make school lunch prep that much easier. Now, parents can search for "easy school lunches" or "lunch a kindergartener can make" versus searching for specific items. The "You've Got This, Parents" campaign will reach families in the U.S. and Canada across multiple channels including OTT/OLV, linear TV, paid and organic social, audio, CRM, affiliate marketing, and on the Instacart App with 'Back-to-School Groceries' and 'Back-to-School Essentials' pop-ups. As part of Instacart's CPG co-marketing capabilities, CPG brands across the U.S. and Canada, including Babybel, Chobani, Lunchables, SKIPPY, and Yoplait, are joining forces with Instacart during the "You've Got This, Parents" back-to-school campaign to reach parents gearing up for the new school year. Instacart launched its CPG co-marketing solution earlier this year, which brings the brand strength of CPG partners together with Instacart's ability to help get products in consumers' hands quickly during key moments. CPG brand partner testimonials: "Babybel is a fun, convenient and healthy dairy snacking choice: 100% real cheese, source of calcium and protein, lactose-free. We know busy parents want to savor the last moments of summer with their families before the kids go back to school. Instacart is a key marketing channel for us this Back to School season to inspire parents as they shop and fill lunch boxes with nutritious, kid-friendly snacks," said Juliette Oliver, E-Commerce Manager at Bel Canada. "With school starting soon, we know parents are beginning to think about an important part of their kid's routine, lunchtime and just like Instacart we want parents to know we have their back," said Samantha Mills, Associate Director of Brand Communications for Lunchables. "Lunchables is more than just food for the body and our mission is to power kids' creativity through buildability. Whether a rocket ship, penguin or UFO, parents can feel good knowing there are endless possibilities for what kids can build during their lunchtime adventure, nurturing their creativity through imagination." "SKIPPY peanut butter is the choice for peanut butter lovers, filling lunch boxes, picnic baskets and kitchen pantries everywhere," said Sarah Johnson, director of Nut Butters Marketing for SKIPPY. "Whether parents are packing lunch with PB&Js or peanut butter cookies, our goal is to be a staple both at home and at school. Our partnership with the Instacart Back to School campaign will ensure that moms and dads don't forget to pack their kid's favorite lunchtime sandwich." "The back-to-school time frame is a critical window for Yoplait, so we're always experimenting with new ways to most effectively reach consumers during this key season," said Jeevan Grewal Associate Director, Omni at General Mills Canada. "As a result, we were thrilled when Instacart approached us with their new CPG co-marketing capability and are looking forward to activating alongside them during their back-to-school campaign." About Instacart Instacart, the leading grocery technology company in North America, works with grocers and retailers to transform how people shop. The company partners with more than 1,400 national, regional, and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 80,000 stores across North America on the Instacart Marketplace. Instacart makes it possible for millions of people to get the groceries they need from the retailers they love, and for approximately 600,000 Instacart shoppers to earn by picking, packing and delivering orders on their own flexible schedule. The Instacart Platform offers retailers a suite of enterprise-grade technology products and services to power their e-commerce experiences, fulfill orders, digitize brick-and-mortar stores, provide advertising services, and glean insights. With Instacart Ads, thousands of CPG brands from category leaders to emerging brands partner with the company to connect directly with consumers online, right at the point of purchase. With Instacart Health, the company is providing tools to increase nutrition security, make healthy choices easier for consumers, and expand the role that food can play in improving health outcomes. For more information, visit www.instacart.com/company , and to start shopping, visit www.instacart.com . For anyone interested in becoming an Instacart shopper, visit https://shoppers.instacart.com/ . 1Beginning August 11, 2023, new members can sign up for IC+ for just $49 for the first year a 50% discount. While supplies last. SOURCE Instacart The European Union considers it very important to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative in connection with the growth of world food prices, EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Spokesperson Peter Stano has said. The efforts of the international community, primarily the UN with the support of Turkey, continue, he said at a press briefing in Brussels on Thursday. He also said there is an international consensus that it is necessary to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative which is very important not only for Ukraine, but also for the food market, for world prices for food. According to Stano, despite the fact that there are no rigidly established stages or specific deadlines for this process, these efforts never stop and are carried out with the support of the entire international community. The EU expects that it will be possible to return to this initiative, as it is very important for everyone, and especially for the population of those countries that have been greatly affected by rising prices due to Russia's actions, he said. Stano also confirmed that EU High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell had sent a letter to foreign ministers of several countries urging them to put pressure on Russia to return to the grain deal. The spokesperson clarified that the letter did not provide for specific responses within any specific time frame. The letter was intended to share arguments with partners why it is important to act in this area. It was a step in the context of efforts to organize international activities to increase pressure on Russia to return to this very important initiative, Stano said. PITTSBURGH, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- "We wanted to create a simple and easy way to enjoy a hot or cold meal when away from home," said one of two inventors, from Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, "so we invented the CHILL GRILL. Our design can be used at work, school, while camping, on road trips, etc." The invention provides an effective means of keeping foods at the appropriate temperature while away from home. In doing so, it offers an alternative to traditional methods of refrigerating and heating foods. As a result, it enables the user to enjoy a hot/cold meal. The invention features a portable design that is easy to use so it is ideal for the general population. Additionally, it is producible in design variations and a prototype model is available upon request. The original design was submitted to the Melbourne sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 21-MJA-186, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com. SOURCE InventHelp DALLAS, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Internet Travel Solutions (ITS LLC), an industry leader in corporate booking tools, airline solutions, and business travel services, is proud to announce groundbreaking advancements in its ability to present and shop New Distribution Capability (NDC) fares in side-by-side displays, inclusive of both NDC and traditional EDIFACT airline fares. The ability to now book NDC fares on specific airlines has also been released. ITS has developed these proprietary, innovative solutions in response to client demand for better insight, visibility, and understanding as it relates to what an NDC fare includes, and how it may fit within a corporate travel policy. ITS has added both Accelya and Sabre NDC shopping and booking paths and combined them with EDIFACT or non-NDC fares. ITS was one of the earliest Farelogix "Direct Connect" partners and has now upgraded to the current Accelya NDC platform. This enables users to seamlessly book NDC fares with United Airlines, American Airlines (AA), and Qantas Airways via both agent telephonic support and proprietary booking tools and technology. Next steps include plans to connect to more NDC selling sources and airlines, including additional Accelya-hosted airlines and Navitaire-NDC hosted airlines. Today, most airline direct websites require the traveler to wait to choose an upgrade or branded fare that is presented only at the trip summary before checkout, and not shown with flight list results. "ITS prioritizes transparency by integrating both NDC and non-NDC fares at the flight selection level on TripEasy.com and our other co-branded Sites. We display both cabin (or shelf) level detail and sub-shelf (drawer) level detail to each shopper," said Brian Tanis, VP of Marketing and Product. "Travelers can hover over any fare to see if there is an NDC or non-NDC option that is preferred on the flight they want. As a result, ITS puts the shopper in control and eliminates the slow process of choosing, moving two steps down the booking path, only to frustrate shoppers who must back out and try another option." Beyond mere fare visualization, ITS focuses on equipping Travel Managers and company Administrators with the tools needed to manage NDC bookings. Customizable policies, approval workflows, and notifications tailored to individual client needs ensure smooth, efficient travel management. "Even though NDC fares instantly create an order when the form of payment is present, ITS offers unique capabilities including approval workflows specifically for our clients that want advanced capabilities. Every corporate travel program is unique, so ITS always engages our clients via dedicated account managers and operations specialists to ensure success," Tanis adds. It is worth noting that as NDC technology emerges, limitations exist. Currently, NDC supports a single Passenger Name Record (PNR) only for multiple travelers that shop together. Most corporate travelers want their own individual record locator for expense reporting, so ITS initially limits NDC shopping to single passenger arranger or traveler booking for commercial workflows. They have strategically integrated multi-passenger NDC itineraries for airline solutions workflows, and clients seeking multi-stop, multi-passenger and complex itineraries are currently directed to their Accelya solution. Lastly, addressing client concerns regarding paid seat restrictions on AA non-NDC base fares, ITS offers a solution for clients who want to purchase an NDC fare on AA or any other NDC- enabled airline that supports paid seat ancillary options. Looking forward, ITS is actively working toward expanding NDC connections to encompass a wide array of airlines and selling sources, solidifying the organization's commitment to versatility and traveler-centric services. About ITS ITS leads the way in delivering innovative travel technology solutions to diverse sectors, including airlines, corporate travel, events and meetings, HR, energy, and travel management. ITS products and services create savings and provide long-term value through ease of use and valuable integration. Our one-stop platform, TripEasy , simplifies the entire business travel process for all travel-related needs. With better fares, robust features, and more options from which to choose, TripEasy helps manage compliance and personalizes each experience. Explore our offerings at www.its.com, and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to learn more. Media Inquiries ITS Media Relations Email: [email protected] Phone: +1 214.915.9039 SOURCE Internet Travel Solutions (ITS) PITTSBURGH, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: KOP) today announced that the company will host meetings with the investment community in Chicago on August 11, 2023. Koppers management will be represented by Leroy Ball, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Quynh McGuire, Vice President of Investor Relations. The presentation materials will be available on www.koppers.com in the Investor Relations section of the company's website. ### About Koppers Koppers, with corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is an integrated global provider of treated wood products, wood treatment chemicals, and carbon compounds. Our products and services are used in a variety of niche applications in a diverse range of end markets, including the railroad, specialty chemical, utility, residential lumber, agriculture, aluminum, steel, rubber, and construction industries. We serve our customers through a comprehensive global manufacturing and distribution network, with facilities located in North America, South America, Australasia, and Europe. The stock of Koppers Holdings Inc. is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "KOP." For more information, visit: www.koppers.com. Inquiries from the media should be directed to Ms. Jessica Franklin Black at [email protected] or 412-227-2025. Inquiries from the investment community should be directed to Ms. Quynh McGuire at [email protected] or 412-227-2049. For Information: Quynh McGuire, Vice President, Investor Relations 412 227 2049 [email protected] SOURCE Koppers Lamoille Health Partners further extends access to high-quality care services in Vermont with the addition of the Cambridge-based primary care provider to its health center network, MORRISVILLE, Vt., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Lamoille Health Partners today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Family Practice Associates, an independent primary care provider located at 272 North Main Street in Cambridge, Vermont. Pending final regulatory approval, the transaction will bring a third family medicine practice location to the growing Lamoille Health Partners quality care network. The acquisition aligns with Lamoille Health Partners' commitment to expand consumer access to health and wellness services in the Lamoille Valley to create healthy, thriving communities. "As the only Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in the county, we're relentlessly focused on our purpose to ensure everyone in the community can live their best lives," said Lamoille Health Partners President and CEO Stuart G. May. "By expanding our footprint to the western edge of the county with the planned acquisition of Family Practice Associates, we can serve more families and individuals with access to high-quality services. We can continue to optimize care with integrated Lamoille Health Partners services, such as nutrition programs, health education, care coordination, pharmacy services, 340B discounts on medications, and medication-assisted treatment for substance use, just to name a few." Under May's leadership, Lamoille Health Partners has grown significantly to touch the lives of more community members than ever before. Today, more than 19,000 people trust Lamoille Health Partners with their healthcare needs. The dedicated FQHC organization is recognized by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the National Committee for Quality Assurance for notable achievements in the areas of access, quality, health equity, health information technology, and COVID-19 public health emergency response. Lamoille Health Partners ranks among the top 30% of all HRSA-supported health centers nationally for best overall clinical performance. The acquisition is expected to be completed in October 2023. Family Practice Associates will continue to serve patients in its current location with its team of health professionals and support staff and will be rebranded as Lamoille Health Family Medicine Cambridge. "Family Practice Associates has been supported by their community and community board for nearly 5 decades. We're eager to proactively build upon that trust and extend our patient services in Cambridge to further support the needs of our neighbors," May said. "By making comprehensive primary care services more accessible, we're delivering not only premier healthcare, but also excellent value that contributes to improved outcomes and stronger economic growth in Vermont." About Family Practice Associates: An independent medical practice, Family Practice Associates for the past forty-eight years has been providing primary care, pediatric care, women's health, mental health screenings, chronic condition management, prevention, education, and resources to advance health and wellness. Supported by the community and their community board, Patients are cared for by a clinical team of board-certified family medicine physicians, nurse practitioners, licensed practical nurses, medical assistants, and other professional staff. About Lamoille Health Partners: Lamoille Health Partners is the only Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Lamoille County. Committed to high-quality, whole-person care with a superior patient experience, Lamoille Health Partners delivers on its mission to help people live their best lives by providing premier, comprehensive healthcare for everyone including: family medicine, pediatrics, dentistry, psychiatry, behavioral health, medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorders, onsite pharmacy services, and community health. Lamoille Health Partners also funds The Lamoille Health Collaborative, a partnership of community health organizations that share resources and expertise to advance population health and wellness. For more information, visit lamoillehealthpartners.org. Contact: Stuart May, President and CEO [email protected] 802-888-0901 SOURCE Lamoille Health Partners NORWALK, Conn., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LBB Specialties (LBBS), a leader in specialty chemicals and ingredients distribution in North America, announced Courtney Flood has been promoted to Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. In this expanded role, Flood will report to CEO Hank DeWolf and be responsible for collaborating with vertical leadership on commercial strategy and corporate marketing. Additionally, Flood will lead the company's principal partnership efforts and establish new processes and standards for principal management across the organization. Courtney Flood, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at LBB Specialties "Courtney has been instrumental in the realignment of our commercial organization into industry verticals while onboarding our legacy division acquisitions to join the LBB Specialties platform under one centralized brand," said Hank DeWolf, President and CEO of LBB Specialties. "In this expanded role, she will ensure broad customer reach by end-market, building a platform for exclusive principal representation and strategic partnerships with minimal overlapping chemistries." As Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, Flood will also help shape future initiatives in digitization and sustainability, crucial to delivering outstanding service as a technical solutions provider for customers. Flood joined LBB Specialties in 2020 as Director, Life Sciences Marketing and was promoted to Vice President, Marketing in 2021. Prior to joining LBB Specialties, Flood held account management roles at Croda and Brenntag Specialties. Flood holds a B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the Honors Program at New York University's Tandon School of Engineering. She has been a Trustee of The Chemists' Club since 2012. LBB Specialties is a leader in North American specialty chemicals and ingredients. It is a diversified supplier serving end-markets including care, food & nutrition, industrial specialties, and life sciences. LBB Specialties generates approximately $500 million in revenue annually and employs more than 110 commercial team members. www.LBBSpecialties.com Media Contact: Ahmed Hanafy [email protected] SOURCE LBB Specialties LLC The national, Hawaii-based restaurant franchise is seeking support from its customers to help Maui Island HONOLULU, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to the raging wildfires that have destroyed entire Maui communities and all but leveled the historic Lahaina town, L & L Hawaiian Barbecue is joining the relief effort by donating one dollar for every customer order made through its official L&L Hawaiian Barbecue mobile app and online website orders, up to $10,000. The relief effort by the company will run through August 31, 2023, to the American Red Cross of Hawaii, providing shelter and comfort to thousands of people who were forced to evacuate due to the massive fires. L&L Hawaiian Barbecue (PRNewsfoto/L&L Hawaiian Barbecue) "We are humbly asking our supporters, customers, and franchisees across the nation to join us in our effort to support the people of Maui during this challenging time, This is a time to show the spirit and strength of aloha, which has been our commitment and mission throughout the years," says Elisia Flores, CEO of L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. L&L Hawaiian Barbecue, whose corporate headquarters is located on the neighboring island of Oahu, has five locations on Maui Island, often called the "Valley Isle," including two in Lahaina, a tourist and economic hub of 9,000 people. On Thursday, August 10, we were able to finally connect with the operators of Lahaina stores. Unfortunately, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue in the Lahaina Shopping Center, located at 170 Papalaua Street, has been totally destroyed by the fires. The other Lahaina L&L Hawaiian Barbecue in the Honokowai Shopping Center, located at 3350 Lower Honoapilani Highway, was not affected, but they do not have access to the Internet or electricity. The L&L Hawaiian Barbecue Corporate team is in close contact with all of the franchise operators and employees, and assisting them and their families. L&L Hawaiian Barbecue has 64 other locations throughout Hawaii State, and over 150 locations nationwide, including two in Japan. The L&L Hawaiian Barbecue App is available through the Apple App Store and the Google Play store for free download. If anyone is interested in donating directly to the Maui fire relief effort, they can make a direct donation to the American Red Cross of Hawaii at https://www.redcross.org/local/hawaii.html. About L&L Hawaiian Barbecue Founded in Honolulu as L&L Dairy in 1952, L&L is a popular eatery in Hawaii. The iconic L&L Hawaii brand re-invented itself as a restaurant by Eddie Flores Jr. and Johnson Kam in 1976 that specialized in the cuisine of Hawaii. The two have since grown the company into the most popular restaurant franchise specializing in Hawaii cuisine throughout the world. Today L&L Hawaii offers Hawaiian-style comfort food and hospitality at its over 220 locations throughout 14 states and Japan. For more information, visit hawaiianbarbecue.com. SOURCE L&L Hawaiian Barbecue MISSOULA, Mont., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LMG Security, an internationally recognized cybersecurity consulting firm, has discovered a new vulnerability involving a Fortune 500 company's software static encryption key. For the full details on the company and software impacted, please visit: https://LMGsecurity.com/software-vulnerability. Any adversary with access to this specific software can use this key to decrypt the administrative credentials for VMware's vCenter and leverage this access into a complete takeover. This type of vulnerability can easily be used in a zero-day attack. Discovered by Tom Pohl, LMG Security's penetration testing team manager, this information is being released at Pohl's DEFCON session, "Private Keys in Public Places." "Attackers are looking for private keys," said Tom Pohl, penetration testing team manager at LMG Security. "While we were doing a penetration test, I discovered a static AES encryption key within the company's Compellent Integration Tools for VMware (CITV). Once I retrieved the AES key, I was able to use it to decrypt the vCenter administrative credentials and gained complete access over their VMware environment." "This key is the same for EVERY customer!" Pohl continued. "If a criminal leverages this vulnerability, they could use it against any of this company's customers. Firmware and software binaries are littered with private keys that are hidden but not necessarily secured. We need to raise awareness of the risks stemming from this attack vector." This discovery was reported to the company with the standard 90-day window to fix the issue before this announcement. Pohl says that if criminals find old, private keys for many firmware devices they can use them to breach the systems of a wide array of organizations. From there, they can expand their access and privileges to take control of the victims' networks. Software vendors should take steps to secure these private keys, and organizations should always be vigilant about checking the security controls used by their current and prospective suppliers. Pohl also recommends organizations conduct penetration testing at least annually, so expert white hat hackers can identify your security gaps before an attacker breaches your environment. Please visit LMGsecurity.com for more information on LMG Security's penetration testing or advisory services. ABOUT LMG Security LMG Security is an internationally recognized leader in the cybersecurity consulting industry. This full-service cybersecurity firm provides one-stop shopping for a wide array of cybersecurity services. Specializing in penetration testing, advisory and compliance services, cybersecurity solutions, and training for more than a decade, the LMG Security team's services were featured on the Today show. In addition, the team has published cutting-edge research on cell phone intrusion detection and banking Trojans, written books on ransomware and cyber extortion, network forensics, and data breaches, and routinely speak or train at Black Hat, RSA and many other security conferences. LMG Security is privately held and headquartered in Missoula, Montana. For more information visit LMGsecurity.com. Contact: Leslie Bishop [email protected] +1-406-830-3165 SOURCE LMG Security Award win comes on the heels of a $13M Series B fundraise for the real estate location intelligence platform MONTREAL, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Local Logic , a location intelligence provider that quantifies location at scale to shape smarter developments and more sustainable cities, today announced that it has won the "Agent Marketing Solution of the Year" at the annual PropTech Breakthrough Awards. PropTech Breakthrough is a leading independent market intelligence organization that evaluates and recognizes standout real estate technology companies, products, and services around the globe. The mission of the PropTech Breakthrough Awards is to honor the excellence and creativity of companies in the larger field of real estate technology. This year, the program had over 1,700 nominations from all over the world. Winners in other categories include Curbio , Ohmyhome , Snapdocs , and Zillow . The PropTech Breakthrough Awards specifically look for innovative solutions and companies that address a true need, solve a complex or critical problem, or seize an opportunity to create or revolutionize a new market or industry. The Agent Marketing Solution of the Year is awarded to the company that consistently delivers the best products to help MLS partners, real estate brokerages, and franchises grow their businesses. "This award is a true testament to the hard work that the Local Logic team has been doing since our inception," shares Vincent-Charles Hodder, CEO and Co-founder. "In a time when the real estate industry is constantly evolving, we're thrilled to be recognized by the PropTech world for our innovative location insights and the tangible business value they provide." 52% of a property's value can be connected to data on the structure itself, meaning 48% is tied to other factors like location, proximity to transit, retail and schools, the character of a neighborhood, and more. Local Logic strives to help agents, brokers, investors, and consumers understand the value of a location by quantifying that 48% through proprietary algorithms. The location intelligence platform digitizes the built world delivering unrivaled clarity and data to empower investors and urban planners to create more sustainable, equitable cities. Local Logic's location insights are featured on more than 6,000 websites across the U.S. and Canada and used by over 15 million monthly consumers. This award is announced on the heels of a $17.5 Million Series B Fundraise, which the team plans to leverage to help the real estate industry further understand and predict the impact of location. For more information on Local Logic's solutions, please visit locallogic.co. About Local Logic Local Logic is a location intelligence platform that digitizes the built world for consumers, investors, developers, and governments delivering unrivaled clarity and actionable insights capable of creating more sustainable, equitable cities. With more than 85 billion unique data points the largest unique location data set in the U.S. and Canada the platform creates a digital twin of cities, quantifying the built world and offering predictive, precise analytics to inform the present and future of over 250 million individual addresses. About PropTech Breakthrough Part of Tech Breakthrough , a leading independent market intelligence organization for global technology innovation and leadership, the PropTech Breakthrough Awards program is dedicated to honoring and recognizing the creativity, hard work and success of companies, technologies and products in the larger field of real estate technology. The PropTech Breakthrough Awards provide a platform for public recognition around the achievements of breakthrough Real Estate Technology companies and products in categories including Financing, Property Management, Short Term & Vacation Rental, Shared Space, Marketplaces, Investment & Crowdfunding, Agent Tools & Services, Property Closing, Insurance, Construction Tech and more. For more information, visit PropTechBreakthrough.com SOURCE Local Logic KAHULUI, Hawaii, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- U-Haul is offering 30 days of free self-storage and U-Box container usage to residents who have been impacted by the deadly fires burning across Maui. Evacuations have been issued and many people have been displaced. There are three active fires on the island. Having accessibility to self-storage and portable storage containers is beneficial to communities affected by natural disasters. "Our neighbors are struggling right now," explained Don Chae, U-Haul Company of Hawaii president. "U-Haul is assisting by offering a secure place for people to store their belongings at no cost for 30 days. We send our aloha to our community and stand by ready to help." U-Box containers provide 257 cubic feet of storage and one-ton capacity. This generous space enables furniture, boxes and other belongings from up to one-and-a-half rooms, on average, to be shipped and stored safely inside each container. U-Haul Company of Hawaii also donated a truck to the Maui Rescue Mission so they can pick up and deliver supplies to the affected areas. People seeking more information about the U-Haul disaster relief program or needing to arrange 30 days of free self-storage should contact: U-Haul Moving & Storage of Maui-Kahului 424 Dairy Road Kahului, HI 96732 (808) 249-8041 In addition to its 30 days free self-storage disaster relief program, U-Haul is proud to be at the forefront of aiding communities in times of need as an official American Red Cross Disaster Responder. About U-HAUL 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. The enhanced U-Haul app makes it easier for customers to use U-Haul Truck Share 24/7 to access trucks anytime through the self-dispatch and self-return options on their smartphones through our patented Live Verify technology. Our customers' 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 959,000 rentable units and 82.3 million square feet of self-storage space at owned and managed facilities. U-Haul is the top retailer of propane in the U.S. and the largest installer of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket industry. We were recently named one of America's Best Large Employers (Forbes, 2023); a Best for Vets Employer (Military Times, 2022); and one of the Healthiest Workplaces in America (Healthiest Employers, 2022). Find careers at uhauljobs.com. Get the U-Haul app from the App Store or Google Play. Contact: Andrea Batchelor Jeff Lockridge E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 602-263-6194 Website: uhaul.com SOURCE U-Haul Strategic investment will fuel the development of JUDI the new platform standard for claims processing and overall growth of full-service customer solutions NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Capital Rx, the health technology company changing the way prescription drugs are priced and patients are cared for in America, has received a strategic investment from Memorial Hermann Health System, a non-profit health system committed to creating healthier Houston communities. Memorial Hermann joins Capital Rx's existing investors in supporting the development of JUDI, the new standard for backend claims processing platforms in the pharmacy benefit management (PBM) industry, and the overall growth of Capital Rx's full-service PBM and pharmacy benefit administration (PBA) platform as a service (PaaS) solution. "We're thrilled to have the investment support of Memorial Hermann as we work to modernize this country's claims processing infrastructure and deploy our aligned customer model to more employers, unions, municipalities, and other payers to create enduring change," said AJ Loiacono, Co-Founder & CEO of Capital Rx. "It's especially rewarding because we share the same values and prioritize community, compassion, credibility, and having the courage to be innovative in everything we do." Capital Rx's JUDI brings exponential operational efficiency and control to Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial plans and prescription claims processing. A modern, open, and scalable platform, JUDI allows for seamless communication and data integration between vendors and across the continuum of care. Importantly, its intuitive design and workflows save time, allowing health systems and other payers to allocate resources more efficiently and toward what matters most: caring for patients and members in the communities and populations they serve. "As we assessed the health care ecosystem for innovative capabilities to help accelerate the evolution of the pharmacy service model and prescription claims processing, Capital Rx's vision for a framework that prioritizes efficiency and allows for exceptional patient care set the company apart for investment consideration," said Feby Abraham, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Memorial Hermann. "Capital Rx's platform is focused on bringing clarity and consistency to drug prices, broadening access to medication, and helping its clients control pharmacy costs, all without sacrificing member service and patient outcomes." The Health Management Academy's Strategic Partnership Alliance, which explores new venture and investment opportunities on behalf of a group of the country's largest health systems, identified Capital Rx as a mission-aligned disruptor with next-generation technology for its members, including Memorial Hermann. To learn more about Capital Rx's pharmacy benefit administration capabilities and JUDI, please visit: Capital Rx JUDI About Memorial Hermann Health System Charting a better future. A future that's built upon the HEALTH of our community. This is the driving force for Memorial Hermann, redefining health care for the individuals and many diverse populations we serve. Our 6,700 affiliated physicians and 32,000 employees practice the highest standards of safe, evidence-based, quality care to provide a personalized and outcome-oriented experience across our more than 260 care delivery sites. As one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in Southeast Texas, Memorial Hermann has an award-winning and nationally acclaimed Accountable Care Organization, 17* hospitals, and numerous specialty programs and services conveniently located throughout the Greater Houston area. Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center is one of the nation's busiest Level I trauma centers and serves as the primary teaching hospital for McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. For more than 115 years, our focus has been the best interest of our community, contributing nearly $500 million annually through school-based health centers and other community benefit programs. Now and for generations to come, the health of our community will be at the center of what we do charting a better future for all. To learn more, visit: https://memorialhermann.org/ *Memorial Hermann Health System owns and operates 14 hospitals and has joint ventures with three other hospital facilities, including Memorial Hermann Surgical Hospital First Colony, Memorial Hermann Surgical Hospital Kingwood, and Memorial Hermann Rehabilitation Hospital-Katy. About Capital Rx Capital Rx is a healthcare technology company changing the way prescription drugs are priced and patients are cared for in America. As a Certified B Corp, Capital Rx is executing its mission through an efficient Single-Ledger Model that increases visibility and reduces variability in drug prices. The company's cloud-native enterprise pharmacy platform, JUDI, connects every aspect of the pharmacy ecosystem, servicing over 2.4 million members for Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial plans. Together with its clients, Capital Rx is reimagining the administration of pharmacy benefits and rebuilding trust in healthcare. To learn more, visit capitalrx.com. Media Contacts Michael Passanante, Vice President, Marketing Justin Venneri, Content & Communications Strategy Lead [email protected] SOURCE Capital Rx The hottest stage in a dispute that occurred between Poland and Ukraine due to a ban on import of Ukrainian grain is in the past, Chief of the Cabinet of the President of Poland Pawe Szrot has said on the air of Polish radio. Head of the International Policy Bureau at the Presidential Chancellery of the Republic of Poland Marcin Przydacz has received from the Ukrainian side an invitation to talks in Saudi Arabia, which is a sign of improving relations, Szrot said. "I think this is not the only dispute between us, and, of course, we may have new ones in the future. We should approach them in a calm manner and work to settle them so that relations between our countries are good and become even better," he said. HORSHAM, Pa., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- MRA Group (MRA), a privately held real estate development and client services firm, has announced its acquisition of the former LMG Medical Building, a 40,000 square foot medical office complex situated on over 10 acres, at 1001 S. Broad Street in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. MRA has extensive renovation plans to modernize the building facade, deliver energy efficient improvements, and change the name to Lansdale Medical Building (LMB). Rendering of Upgrades to Lansdale Medical Building (LMB) LMB is a well-known medical facility strategically located at the intersection of Allentown Road and Broad Street. Currently, LMB is 50% leased with tenants ranging from family practice, orthopedic surgery, physical therapy, imaging, and lab diagnostics. LMB's proximity to a vibrant community of over 138,000 residents within a five-mile radius, in addition to easy access to Route 309 and the Northeast Extension of the PA Turnpike make this medical office building desirable for the community and tenants. MRA President & Partner Mike Wojewodka stated, "We look forward to breathing life back into this destination community medical office facility. With the improvements we are making, the ideal location in the Lansdale/North Wales area, and the current tenants in place, we plan to attract more healthcare providers bringing significant benefit to the surrounding community." MRA's capital improvement plans will provide an enhanced experience for tenants, currently anchored by Grand View Health, LMG Family Practice, and Labcorp. These upgrades are expected to be completed by the end of 2024. About MRA Group MRA Group (MRA), based in Horsham, PA, is a privately-held, vertically integrated real estate development and client services firm servicing the healthcare, higher education and life sciences sectors. Founded in 1991 by CEO and founding partner, Lawrence J. Stuardi, MRA prides itself on maintaining the same high level of integrity and excellence that led to its recognition as one of the most respected real estate firms in the mid-Atlantic region. With 32 years of value-add and ground-up development experience, along with providing a full suite of real estate solutions to our clients, MRA has developed and continues to manage more than 4.5M square feet of medical, life sciences and office real estate, and has structured over $2B of financial transactions. A few recent and notable development projects include Chestnut Run Innovation and Science Park, Spring House Innovation Park, the Holy Redeemer Medical Building at 201 Veterans Way, the Lab at the University of Pennsylvania's Pennovation Works Campus, and TEK Park among others. Learn more at www.mragroup.net. Media Contact: Brendan Farrell 215-449-2442 [email protected] SOURCE MRA Group 'Hungry for Something Else' Campaign Features Fresh Salads, Vibrant Bowls and Sides. WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Nando's PERi-PERi, the popular South African-born restaurant brand globally loved for its distinctive fiery grilled PERi-PERi chicken, has recently hatched a brand-new summer menu of reinvented PERi-charged bites. Now available in Nando's US stores located in Virginia Beach, Chicago, the Washington D.C. region, Houston, and soon-to-be Dallas, the menu introduces customers to hot new ways to enjoy Nando's classic PERi-PERi flavor with the fresh flavors of summer. "We couldn't wait to introduce these bold and inventive new menu items with Nando's lovers everywhere," shares Sepanta Bagherpour, Chief Marketing Officer at Nando's PERi-PERi North America. "Whether you're sharing a meal with friends in a Nando's restaurant or grabbing fuel for your next summer adventure, our menu has something that'll feel familiar but taste completely exciting and new." Nando's PERi-PERi launches brand-new summer menu featuring fresh salads, vibrant bowls and sides Tweet this Seasoned Nando's enthusiasts and daring new diners alike are sure to be drawn to Nando's new lineup of seasonal salads, like the fiery Spicy Chicken Kale Caesar Salad covered in pickled red onion, crispy chickpeas, PERi pita croutons and shaved parmesan, served over mixed greens and kale dressed in Nando's signature PERi Caesar dressing. Guests craving a PERi-powered salad with a subtler spice are invited to try the PERi Ranch Crunch Salad, a tomato, cucumber, and onion salad mixed with feta, crispy chickpeas, and PERi pita croutons served over mixed greens dressed in PERi ranch. Celebrating diversity on and off the plate, Nando's newly expanded menu features new options for plant-powered diners, like the Rainbow Vegetarian Bowl served with flame-grilled halloumi cheese, avocado, tomato, cucumber & onion salad, pickled cauliflower, hummus, feta and a superseed crunch. For the vegetarian's carnivore counterparts, Nando's is introducing the vibrant PERi Chicken Rainbow Bowl with halloumi swapped for a grilled chicken breast or two thighs basted to preferred spice level. Both bowls are served over Portuguese rice and finished with a Lemon & Herb PERi-PERi drizzle. No Nando's meal is complete without trying one of the reimagined sides, like the brand-new PERi Honey Sweet Potatoes roasted and tossed in PERi-spiked honey and topped with feta and pepitas. Guests craving noodles can order up a serving of the dreamy, creamy PERi Mac, flavored with PERi-infused breadcrumbs. And finally, eating veggies just got a little more exciting with the new Golden Cauliflower roasted and tossed in sweet chilli sauce, topped with superseed crunch. All Nando's meals are enjoyed best in the company of good drinks, and the new beverage menu additions are sure to be instant hits. Nando's fans can spice up their next summer hangout with a jug of Red Wine Sangria or a glass of the breezy brandy-infused Peach Lemonade Poncha, a bright and summery traditional drink from the island of Madeira garnished with lemon and a sprig of mint. See the full list of new menu offerings and prices below: Salads & Bowls: PERi Ranch Crunch Salad - $14.99 - Spicy Kale Caesar Salad - $12.49 - PERi Chicken Rainbow Bowl- $14.99 $14.99 Rainbow Vegetarian Bowl- $13.99 Sides: PERi Mac - $4.99 - PERi Honey Sweet Potatoes - $4.99 - Golden Cauliflower- $4.99 Beverages: Red Sangria Peach Lemonade Poncha About Nando's PERi-PERi: After making its 1987 debut in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nando's has spread its flame to legions of fans in 24 countries on five continents who can't resist the allure of succulent PERi-PERi chicken that's been marinated for 24 hours, flame-grilled to perfection, and basted to their preferred flavor and spice. The restaurant is equally renowned for its spicy PERi-PERi the Bird's Eye Chilli Pepper that indigenous Africans introduced to the Portuguese centuries ago. Nando's PERi-PERi entered the US market in 2008 with the opening of its first location in Washington, D.C., and now operates nearly 50 restaurants in and around Virginia, Maryland, Washington, and Chicago. Coming soon--Texas, too. For more information, visit www.nandosperiperi.com. CONTACT: Charissa Benjamin/202-415-4461/[email protected] Megan Reilly/215-399-6029/[email protected] SOURCE Nando's PERi PERi LONDON, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- nChain, a global leader in Web3 solutions, today announces the signing of a strategic partnership agreement with Universal Plastic, to achieve common sustainability goals towards ocean protection: regenerating the marine ecosystems by taking out plastic, giving agency to locals by fairly rewarding them for their efforts and making companies act upon their footprint, getting a step closer to the ESGs. In this partnership, nChain is investing 2,000,000 and acquiring a 20% stake in the equity of Universal Plastic. This partnership aims to support and enhance Universal Plastic's technology offerings by licensing nChain's intellectual property (IP) portfolio. Universal Plastic intends to leverage nChain's expertise in Web3 technologies to drive social impact initiatives, firmly positioning themselves at the forefront of sustainable innovation. Powered by nChain's technology the partnership will merge transparency, social engagement, and quantifiable impact, and seeks to mitigate the effects of plastic pollution while propelling forward the pioneering work of ocean defenders dedicated to ecosystem regeneration. "nChain is committed to fostering a global wave of social impact. Our collaboration with Universal Plastics exemplifies our mission to facilitate transparent and trustworthy avenues for companies to honour their environmental commitments. Together, we catalyse positive ecological change by leveraging emerging technologies, enabling companies to embrace environmental stewardship and pave the path to a better world," commented Christen Ager-Hanssen, Group CEO of nChain. Alvaro Bravo Hernandez, CEO of Universal Plastics, commented, "This partnership with nChain is a momentous leap toward our threefold vision restoring marine ecosystems, empowering local communities, and catalysing corporate environmental responsibility. The disruptive potential of Web3 technology aligned with our mission transforms aspirations into realities." The partnership between nChain and Universal Plastics represents pioneering efforts in environmental initiatives, underpinned by the potential of Web3 technology, to create a digital blue economy that sustains and regenerates the ecosystem. About Universal Plastic UNIVERSAL PLASTIC (UP) is a scientifically supported (Bazaruto Center for Scientific Studies) Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain-Based initiative. We developed the first tech platform to quantify, audit and notarise data from plastic waste collections. This aims to regenerate marine ecosystems by incentivising plastic waste collections led by local communities. Through the data management of this process, our platform provides an inclusive, accessible, and trustworthy way to align corporations with ESG by connecting and engaging them with local individuals, communities and organisations that are at the forefront of restoring nature. About nChain nChain is a leading provider of global blockchain technology, IP licensing and consulting services. We serve clients globally to power several industries, including gaming, supply chain, and finance. nChain offers Web3 solutions defined by a purpose-driven team that has come together to address some of the global challenges and make a social impact, transforming the world from Web2 to Web3. nChain currently has almost 2,800 granted and pending patents and is the developer behind the Bitcoin SV Node software, Teranode, Kensei and more. Recently voted one of the Top 100 most innovative firms in the world. For more information, visit https://universalplastic.io and https://nchain.com/ For more updates, please follow us on: LinkedIn YouTube Medium Twitter SOURCE nChain TORONTO, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - New Gold Inc. ("New Gold" or the "Company") (TSX: NGD) (NYSE American: NGD) provides an update on its tailings facilities at the Company's New Afton Mine, located in Kamloops B.C. During regular inspections of the New Afton Tailings Storage Facility completed on August 9th, the Company observed geotechnical variances that require further review by the Engineer of Record ("EOR"). Out of an abundance of caution, the Company has elected to suspend underground mining activities allowing its EOR appropriate time to review the findings. Milling operations continue unaffected and are utilizing the existing surface stockpile. In-pit tailings deposition is ongoing as planned. New Gold has alerted and is working with the relevant regulatory authorities to address the situation, and will issue further updates as appropriate. Our priority remains the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees, contractors and communities. About New Gold New Gold is a Canadian-focused intermediate mining company with a portfolio of two core producing assets in Canada, the Rainy River gold mine and the New Afton copper-gold mine. The Company also holds other Canadian-focused investments. New Gold's vision is to build a leading diversified intermediate gold company based in Canada that is committed to the environment and social responsibility. For further information on the Company, visit www.newgold.com . SOURCE New Gold Inc. The report from the Ad Council Research Institute and The Joyce Foundation comes at a time when 21 states and Washington, DC have extreme risk protection orders in place NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As more states in the US begin to adopt their own Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs), a new study from the Ad Council Research Institute (ACRI) and The Joyce Foundation uncovers the public's awareness of and attitudes toward these laws in the states where they are in place. Though awareness of these laws is relatively high (65%), only a small percentage (7%) of the public is very familiar with them and could be in a place to effectively utilize them if needed. The report also provides a communications toolkit with state-specific findings and resources to help local and national organizations drive actionable understanding of ERPOs. Though the laws differ by state, ERPOs are temporary civil orders designed to prevent tragedies and protect those who are at a high and imminent risk of using a firearm to harm other people or themselves, without resulting in a criminal record. Encapsulating four phases of qualitative and quantitative research methods between October 2022 and June 2023, the study interviewed and surveyed more than 10,000 individuals including gun owners, non-gun owners, veterans and law enforcement officials in the 19 states and the District of Columbia with existing ERPO laws. Since the start of the study, two more states have passed ERPO laws. Assessing their knowledge and attitudes, as well as effective messaging to build deeper understanding, the report and toolkit provides a deeper look into ERPOs, who is considered a trusted source to deliver this information, message framing that resonates with the public and resources to drive more awareness and understanding of these laws. Promisingly, results show that sentiments toward ERPO laws are consistently positive once provided more information about them. Based on the law description tested, 75% of respondents overall were positive towards ERPO, particularly when the messaging emphasized the prevention of suicide and mass shootings through the temporary removal of firearms. The messages and specific details highlighting ERPO preventative measures received 30% higher positivity rates than other key details about the laws. Additionally, messages that include a real scenario as well as state-level information about ERPO proved to be informative and easy to understand. Considering who is the most trusted for information about ERPOs, law enforcement consistently proved to be the most reliable across all states and demographics. However, key differences in demographic and behavioral groups did emerge regarding the sources of ERPO information: Gun owners are more likely to trust national gun associations (33% compared to the 23% average) and local shooting clubs (28% compared to the 19% average) Those who know someone in crisis are more likely to trust mental health organizations (56% compared to 43% average) Gen Z and Millennials are less likely to trust local law enforcement (29% and 32% respectively, compared to the 42% overall average) with mental health organizations being the most trusted source for information about ERPOs. The communications toolkit puts all four phases of ERPO research into practice, equipping organizations, government entities and law enforcement agencies with resources to best discuss these laws with the general public. Tested among individuals who know someone in crisis, gun owners, active-duty military/veterans and the general public, the messaging recommendations can help break through the general lack of familiarity with ERPO laws and how they are used. "Although a majority of Americans have heard of Extreme Risk Protection Orders, very few have a firm grasp on how to potentially utilize these laws to prevent harm within their community. This study and toolkit not only shed light on the public's level of awareness but provides vital insights and proven messaging frames catered to individual states to inform the public. Together, we can work towards a safer and more secure future for all communities, preventing potential tragedies before they happen" said Derrick Feldmann, Lead Researcher and Managing Director of the Ad Council Research Institute. "As more states turn to extreme risk laws, ERPOs are becoming an important part of a growing set of solutions needed to reduce gun violence in our country. However, the most significant barrier preventing extreme risk laws from saving even more people, is the lack of public awareness and understanding around ERPOs" said Joyce Gun Violence Prevention and Justice Reform Program Director Tim Daly. "Simply put, if more people closest to those in crisis knew about this tool, and when and how to use it, more lives could be saved, and more tragedies prevented. If done right, we can unlock the full potential of ERPOs, and meaningfully reduce gun violence in our communities." To address the larger issue of gun violence in the United States and encourage both gun owners and non-gun owners to take specific actions to keep our communities safe, the Ad Council announced plans for a comprehensive communications approach to tackling the issue. On the heels of the nonprofit's groundbreaking national COVID-19 Vaccine Education campaign and multi-faceted mental health initiative announcement, the Ad Council is evolving the coalition-based and multi-audience model to convene the advertising, media and business industries to address gun violence issues facing communities across the country. This new approach builds on the organization's longstanding and successful End Family Fire campaign with Brady, which focuses on the dangers of unsecured guns, and will include new communications campaigns including efforts to increase public awareness and education of ERPOs. A free webinar for individuals and organizations working to educate Americans about ERPOs will be held on August 16th from 1:30pm-2:30pm EDT. Hosted by ACRI and The Joyce Foundation, the session will review detailed findings and key takeaways from the new report as well as an ERPO communications toolkit which includes talking points and resources on the latest information so organizations, government entities and law enforcement agencies can best discuss these laws with the general public. Register for the event here. ERPOs: Understanding Public Knowledge & Attitudes Toward Extreme Risk Protection Orders can be downloaded here. About the Ad Council and ACRI The Ad Council convenes creative storytellers to educate, unite and uplift audiences by opening hearts, inspiring action and accelerating change around the most pressing issues in America. Since the non-profit's founding, the organization and its partners in advertising, media, marketing and tech have been behind some of the country's most iconic social impact campaigns Smokey Bear, A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste, Love Has No Labels, Tear the Paper Ceiling and many more. With a current focus on mental health, gun safety, the opioid epidemic, skill-based hiring and other critical issues, the Ad Council's national campaigns encompass advertising and media content, ground game and community efforts, trusted messenger and influencer engagement, and employer programs, among other innovative strategies to move the needle on the most important issues of the day. To learn more or get involved, visit AdCouncil.org, join the Ad Council's communities on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter, and view campaign creative on YouTube. The Ad Council Research Institute (ACRI) leverages the Ad Council's insight-driven approach to examine some of the most important social issues of our time. Building upon years of research expertise, ACRI works with brand, corporate and nonprofit partners and clients to conduct research to gain a deeper understanding of the public's perceptions, attitudes and willingness to act on social issues; develop and test messaging and narratives for social good campaigns; help build knowledge on the role influencers or trusted messengers can play to move the public to act; and identify key performance indicators for communications initiatives, and the tools through which to measure, assess and optimize them over time. Learn more about ACRI and our 2022 research agenda here. About the Joyce Foundation The Joyce Foundation is a private, nonpartisan philanthropy that invests in public policies and strategies to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region. In 1993, the Joyce Foundation launched its Gun Violence Program (now known as the Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform Program), to build safe and just communities in the Great Lakes region. Support for gun violence prevention research has been a consistent through-line in the program's grant making strategy, totaling more than $33 million in investments. These investments led to hundreds of scientific publications providing key insights into the nature of gun violence in the U.S. and its solutions, at a time when few other public or private funding sources were available for this type of research. A specific focus of this grant making in recent years has been to build the evidence base to inform the modern development of the ERPO policy, advance implementation efforts surrounding the policy, and to evaluate its effectiveness. In 2011, the foundation helped found the Fund for a Safer Future (FSF), a collaborative of more than 35 funders from across the country focused on preventing gun violence, and in 2016 helped establish the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities, a donor collaborative focused on reducing gun violence in Chicago. SOURCE The Ad Council The program's three-year coast-to-coast whirlwind US awareness campaign has stimulated an increase in Grenache wine consumption in the US MIAMI , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The EU co-funded European Garnacha/Grenache Quality Wines (EGGQW) Program welcomes wine lovers and connoisseurs from across the country to embrace the annual International Grenache Day on September 15 a global phenomenon celebrating the grape known as Grenache in France and Garnacha in Spain. While the rest of the world celebrates #GarnachaGrenacheDay on the 3rd Friday of every September, for EGGQW, every day is #GrenacheDay and a chance to honor one of the most widely grown and yet widely unknown grape varietals. One Month to Go Until The EU-funded European Garnacha/Grenache Quality Wines Program welcomes wine lovers across the US Tweet this All fans of Garnacha Grenache are encouraged to log their public events and join the celebration. For label-readers, Grenache plays a supporting role in blends such as GSM's (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre) and roses; but Garnacha shines in a starring role on its own as a complex and accessible wine recognized by tastemakers and trendsetters as a step above other varietals. Search for #GarnachaGrenacheDay or #GrenacheDay or #Garnacha Day in your browser to discover thousands of wine tastings at wineries, wine shops, wine bars, and homes of wine aficionados around the world, as well as restaurant menu pairings and a flood of posts, tweets, and chats, by wine lovers posting bottles of their favorite Grenache wines. The European Garnacha/Grenache Quality Wines Program initiative is spear-headed by wine industry leaders Carolina de Funes from the Spanish Asociacion Garnacha Origen and Eric Aracil from France's Conseil Interprofessionnel des Vins du Roussillon/ CIVR. According to EGGQW Manager Carolina de Funes, "Our mission is to increase awareness and appreciation of Garnacha/Grenache from the vine to the wine through wine tastings and hosted seminars across the country." The program is the first collaboration in history between Spanish and French producers as a tribute to the varietal's European legacy and potential. It featured a social media campaign, trade event activations, the creation of a dynamic website as a portal for all-things-Garnacha/Grenache, and US media trips to Spain as part of an orchestrated introduction to America of some Europe's finest wines. And it worked! A study carried out in February 2023 by Wine Intelligence shows that more than 22% of regular wine drinkers in the US (those who drink wine at least once a month) tasted a wine made with Garnacha/Grenache grapes in the last half of 2022, six points more than 2021. by shows that more than 22% of regular wine drinkers in the US (those who drink wine at least once a month) tasted a wine made with Garnacha/Grenache grapes in the last half of 2022, six points more than 2021. 80% percent of red and white Grenache US consumers consider Grenache wine to be of high quality. Best of all, sales of Garnacha/Grenache wine in the United States reached $57 million in 2021, up 4.1% from 2019 (according to a Nielsen study). reached in 2021, up 4.1% from 2019 (according to a Nielsen study). Over the past 10 years since the start of International Grenache Day in 2011 sales are estimated to have increased by 47.2%. Adds EGGQW Associated Project Manager, Eric Aracil, "The US wine market is the largest in the world with an average of 3 gallons of wine consumed per person each year; introducing wine lovers to the seductive qualities of Grenache is of tremendous value to the European winemakers we represent." As part of its campaign, the Program brought the prestigious 11th International Wine Competition Grenaches du Monde to the US for the very first time. Eighty top US wine industry professionals from around the country were hand-picked to judge over 800 competing wines from Europe and the U.S. On Thursday, September 14, the three-year-long campaign will culminate with GX: the Garnacha Grenache Experience -- the largest wine tasting of Garnacha/Grenache wines ever held outside of Europe at NYC's City Winery, showcasing wines from the competition. This industry-only soiree kick-starts International Garnacha Grenache Day and welcomes the start of the US National Hispanic Heritage Month September 15-October 15. CONTACT: [email protected] Available for Interviews: Carolina de Funes, EGGQW Manager from Spain's Asociacion Garnacha Origen Eric Aracil, EGGQW Associated Project Manager from France's CIVR Eco-Warrior! Garnacha/Grenache's deep vines are drought-resistant, adaptable, and not reliant on rainwater or irrigation. As recognized at the World Climate Change and Wine Conference held in Marbella (Spain) in 2011, Garnacha/Grenache is arguably the most eco-friendly grape in the world and is ready for climate change. The History: Garnacha wines are of Spanish origin and have been discovered at archeological sites and carbon-dated back to 153 BC. The earliest mention of Grenache in print has been traced to a book from 1513. Celebrity Winemakers who use Garnacha/Grenache Grapes from Europe: Post Malone https://maison9wine.com/ 100% grenache John Legend https://lvewines.com Jon Bon Jovi https://hamptonwaterwine.com Idris Elba https://www.portenoire.co.uk Cameron Diaz https://drinkavaline.com Kyle McLachan https://www.pursuedbybearwine.com Danica Patrick https://www.somniumwine.com Carmelo Anthony https://www.viin7estate.com LINKS TO GREAT INFO: Media Portal (Infographics, Downloadable Photos, etc). International Competition Grenaches Du Monde Medalists Introduction To Garnacha/Grenache Garnacha/Grenache Background Information SOURCE European Garnacha/Grenache Quality Wines Tiger Group and Liquidity Services to auction Zume's remaining North American assets and finished product inventory on Aug. 17; additional Zume assets in China available in an Aug. 15 online auction CAMARILLO, Calif., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Another tranche of molded-pulp packaging equipment from manufacturer Zumeknown for creating anti-leak and compostable products for the global foodservice industrygoes to auction August 17 in a sale by Tiger Group and Liquidity Services. "In addition to state-of-the-art, uninstalled and never-used equipment, we will be selling the company's finished product inventoryworth more than $2 million at costas well its remaining equipment," noted Jonathan Holiday, Director of Business Development, Tiger Commercial & Industrial. "This sale is an exceptional opportunity to purchase the remaining assets of Zume in North America. On August 15, meanwhile, will be the auction in China of additional high-quality assets that Zume purchased brand new." Bidding is underway at SoldTiger.com and AllSurplus.com for Zume's North American inventory and assets, located in California, New Jersey and Texas. The event closes at 4 p.m. (CT) on Thursday, August 17. "Zume, which previously operated a 70,000-square-foot facility in Camarillo, California, and boasted customers in more than 25 countries, had a large amount of crated, never-used equipment and inventory," said Nick Jimenez, Vice President of Global Business Development at Liquidity Services. "It was one of the few companies in North America to manufacture high-quality, leak-proof, compostable packaging out of pulp fiber, and we are pleased to offer these high-value assets on our AllSurplus marketplace." The assets include: (4) complete thermoforming cells, consisting of: Shurcon thermoformers; ABB robots; 25-ton thermoform hot presses, 25-ton trim presses, and 25-ton slurry approach skids (1) complete Shurcon thermoforming line with 1.4-ton paper pulping/mixing/processing system; Fanuc robot; (4) 20-ton thermoform hot presses; 25-ton trim press, and (1) pulper, refiner, slurry approach skid, and tank skids (20) Shurcon Mdl SCFMC1509-F pulp thermoformers (20) Shurcon/Parason large control panels for hot press pulp thermoformers (1) Shurcon Mdl SCFMC1509-T pulp thermoforming trimmer (4) Comec Mdl KV-13 pad printers (3) Shurcon Trimmer transfer sections (2) Nash Mdl XL950 liquid ring vacuum pump and compressors (2) Shurcon Mdl KSD-300/4 trimmers (1) Shanghai Wei Electrical Mdl SG-20KVA transformer Inspections will be hosted on August 16 by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, please contact Brandon Mohrey: [email protected], (610) 730-2162. Bidders must register in advance. For asset photos, descriptions, and other information, visit: https://soldtiger.com/sales/food-packaging-and-molded-pulp-fiber-manufacturer/ AllSurplus auction page: https://www.allsurplus.com/events/25225 In another assignment for the benefit of creditors, Tiger Group and Liquidity Services on August 15 will auction Zume's unused and uninstalled manufacturing assets in China. For asset photos, descriptions, and other information about the China assets, visit: https://soldtiger.com/sales/unused-uninstalled-molded-pulp-fiber-manufacturing-assets/ AllSurplus China auction page: https://www.allsurplus.com/events/25220 About Tiger Group Tiger Capital Group provides asset valuation, advisory and disposition services to a broad range of retail, wholesale, and industrial clients. With over 40 years of experience and significant financial backing, Tiger's seasoned professionals help clients identify the underlying value of assets, monitor asset risk factors and, when needed, provide capital or convert assets to capital quickly and decisively. Tiger maintains offices in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Toronto. https://tigergroup.com/ About Liquidity Services Liquidity Services operates the world's largest B2B e-commerce marketplace platform for surplus assets with over $10 billion in completed transactions to more than five million qualified buyers and 15,000 corporate and government sellers worldwide. The company supports its clients' sustainability efforts by helping them extend the life of assets, prevent unnecessary waste and carbon emissions, and reduce the number of products headed to landfills. https://liquidityservices.com/ Media Contacts: At Tiger Group, Maria Hoang, (805) 497-4999, [email protected]. At Jaffe Communications, Elisa Krantz, (908) 789-0700, [email protected]. SOURCE Tiger Finance PDS-supported clinicians and volunteers traveled to Guatemala for its 40th international service trip. IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --Pacific Dental Services (PDS), one of the nation's leading dental and medical support organizations, achieved a significant milestone in July 2023 by completing its 40th international service trip to provide vital dental care to patients in need. Since 2010, PDS has provided over $11 million in dental care globally, positively impacting over 16,660 patients. Tweet this PDS-supported clinicians and dedicated volunteers journeyed to Guatemala as part of the organizations 40th international service trip. Since its first international service trip in 2010, PDS-supported clinicians and non-clinical team members have provided a total of $11,148,654 in dental care globally, positively impacting 16,669 patients. This achievement can be attributed to the dedication of over 550 volunteers who have collectively contributed 27,720 hours of their time. These efforts have extended vital assistance to patients in Guatemala, Ethiopia, and Fiji. "This achievement is one that makes me particularly proud, as it underscores our efforts to create opportunities for our team members to serve, not only having a meaningful impact on others, but also on their own lives," said Stephen E. Thorne IV, Founder and CEO of Pacific Dental Services. "The inception of our internal 'We Serve' department and the PDS Foundation was rooted in this very purpose to provide avenues for our team to serve others in a profound and impactful way." Guatemala faces an overwhelming demand for dental care, especially among rural residents who encounter challenges in accessing it. Dental diseases, exacerbated by inadequate education and malnutrition, pose significant health concerns. Recognizing the significant need for oral health care within the country, the PDS Foundation established a cost-free dental clinic in Xenacoj in 2015. The PDS Foundation Clinica Dental also provides Spanish-translated educational resources, bridging the language gap to educate patients about the vital significance of oral health to their overall health. From July 18 23, 2023, a group of PDS-supported dentists, dental hygienists, dental assistants, and non-clinical volunteers worked alongside the PDS Foundation Clinica Dental staff. Together, they provided essential care to 102 patients, offering a comprehensive range of treatments valued at $101,651, including fillings, extractions, and root canals. Beyond dental care, the volunteers partnered with the PDS Foundation's local team and delivered stoves and food to families within the community. This trip marked PDS' third visit to Guatemala this year, with one more scheduled for September. To learn more about the PDS Foundation's international service program, please click here. About Pacific Dental Services Pacific Dental Services (PDS) is one of the country's leading dental and medical support organizations, empowering clinicians with supported autonomy to deliver comprehensive patient care. PDS provides administrative and business operations support, highly skilled staff, and ongoing training and education to help healthcare providers succeed. PDS incorporates the most advanced, proven technologies with best practices and procedures to ensure high-quality care and is a leading advocate for the integration of dental and medical care to improve whole-person health. Since its foundation in 1994, PDS has grown to support over 4,100 clinicians (dentists, dental hygienists, physicians, and nurse practitioners) in nearly 1,000 practices across 24 states and continues to expand. To learn more, visit pacificdentalservices.com or connect on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. About Pacific Dental Services Foundation The Pacific Dental Services Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization whose mission is to improve overall health through opportunities to serve locally, nationally, and internationally. The PDS Foundation provides tools and resources to help build a lasting and sustainable impact on the communities it serves as well as on the volunteers who freely give their time. The vision of the PDS Foundation is a world where everyone has a heart to serve and a home for oral health. Through its three main programs: special needs dentistry, dental assistant scholarships and international service trips, the PDS Foundation has been able to increase access to oral healthcare for communities across the globe. For more information, visit pdsfoundation.org or connect on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube. SOURCE Pacific Dental Services The company will provide support to DSN and manage the maintenance and operation of the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex Peraton has nearly 20 years of experience supporting the DSN contracts "The Deep Space Network is the critical link that connects NASA's lunar and planetary spacecraft with mission control here on Earth" RESTON, Va., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Peraton was awarded a competitive subcontract to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory with a total contract value of the $513.5 million. The company has a history with DSN dating back to 2004 including helping the James Web Space Telescope communicate across the cosmos, linking mankind and the moon, and supporting the Perseverance rover on Mars. Peraton will provide DSN engineering, testing and sustainment services, mission planning, network operations and support, network operations, network logistics and will manage the maintenance and operation of the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, California. The DSN is the critical link that connects NASA's lunar and planetary spacecraft with mission control here on Earth Tweet this The work involves the highly technical sustainment of four antenna stations each equipped with large parabolic dish antennas and ultra-sensitive receiving systems capable of detecting incredibly faint radio signals from distant spacecraft. The project scope also entails base support functions, including operator to depot level maintenance of the antennas and infrastructure along with providing armed security for the complex. "We look forward to continuing our strong relationship with JPL to further enable assured communications for our Nation's space exploration missions," said Roger Mason, Ph.D., president, Space & Intelligence sector. "The Deep Space Network is the critical link that connects NASA's lunar and planetary spacecraft with mission control here on Earth." About Peraton Peraton is a national security company that drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world's leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted, highly differentiated solutions and technologies that protect our nation and allies from threats across the digital and physical domains. Peraton supports every branch of the US Armed Forces, and we serve as a valued partner to essential government agencies who sustain our way of life. Every day, our employees do the can't be done by solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers. Visit peraton.com to learn how we're safeguarding your peace of mind. SOURCE Peraton CHICAGO, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Portage Point Partners, LLC (Portage Point), an elite boutique advisory, consulting, interim management and financial services firm, announced today that Karl Roberts will join the firm as a Managing Director in the Performance Improvement practice. Mr. Roberts adds to the tally of exceptional leaders to join Portage Point in 2023, reinforcing the firm's commitment to delivering elite talent and top-tier solutions to middle market stakeholders. "We're very excited to welcome Karl to Portage Point and the Performance Improvement practice. Karl's depth of experience as both an advisor and operator make him extremely valuable to our middle market clients, who seek swift and practical value-added solutions. At Portage Point, Karl will continue to leverage his expertise across industries to drive operational scalability, platform growth and overall value creation for our clients," said Arun Lamba, Head of Performance Improvement at Portage Point. Mr. Roberts has an outstanding track record of delivering exceptional results across a wide range of demanding situations. He is a proven and trusted advisor to private equity firms, boards and corporate management teams, having worked with over 150 clients and 50 private equity firms across more than 30 business sectors taken together, helping clients create well over $10 billion in value through step-change top and bottom-line improvements and whole company transformations. Mr. Roberts brings 25+ years of experience to Portage Point, including advisory, interim management and operating roles. His tenure also includes senior roles at three global consulting firms - he co-led EY's Value Creation Practice on the West Coast; served as Managing Director for AlixPartners, where he co-led the firm's TMT and Life Sciences practices, as well as its' Revenue & Growth and Overhead Optimization practices; he started his consulting career with McKinsey & Company's Operational Strategy and Effectiveness practice. He was most recently an Operating Partner at Dunes Point Capital serving six of the firm's portfolio companies on transformational strategies. Prior to becoming a consultant, Karl served as VP Supply Chain for Avenor (formerly Canadian Pacific Forest Products) and held key management roles with HJ Heinz's Ore-Ida Foods group and Boise Cascade. Mr. Roberts holds a BSME from California State Polytechnic University and an MBA from UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management. "I'm delighted to join such a dynamic and rapidly growing firm. Portage Point has assembled a remarkable combination of capabilities to generate substantial value for middle-market clients. I look forward to driving Performance Improvement and platform-wide growth while helping our clients quickly realize outstanding, sustainable results," said Mr. Roberts. About Portage Point Partners Portage Point is an elite boutique business advisory, consulting, interim management and financial services firm delivering integrated services that identify value capture, mitigate risk and positively impact outcomes at every stage of the ever-changing business and investment lifecycle. We are an operationally-oriented and financially-grounded team built to efficiently close knowledge gaps and deliver actionable insights to middle market stakeholders. Our expertise includes transaction advisory services, performance improvement and accelerated transformation, interim management, investment banking and financial restructuring. Since its founding in 2016, industry-leading organizations have honored Portage Point with numerous firm, transaction and individual awards most recently The Americas' Fastest Growing Companies 2023 and 2022, 2022 and 2021 Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies, 2022 Fastest Growing Firms and 2022 Outstanding Firm: Boutique Turnaround Consulting. For more information, please visit www.portagepointpartners.com. SOURCE Portage Point Partners Germany might announce soon the transfer of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine with a range of over 500 kilometers, German media outlet t-online reported on Thursday. "As can be heard from SPD [the Social Democratic Party of Germany] circles, the federal government wants to announce the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine 'soon'. The Chancellery is currently working on a solution with Germany's most important alliance partner and biggest supporter of Ukraine, the United States," it said. According to t-online, the Air Force also gave the "green light" for a delivery of German Taurus weapons. At the same time, several social democrats confirm to t-online that coordinated action, especially with the United States, is a prerequisite for the chancellor to agree to new weapon systems for Ukraine. The publication recalled that the U.S. government has so far refused to supply ATACMS short-range ballistic missiles. The Bundeswehr has over 600 Taurus systems, but only 150 are currently considered operational. Others could be repaired by the industry. It is not known how many cruise missiles the federal government intends to make available to Ukraine. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said a few days ago that the Taurus delivery was "not our top priority right now." He explained that it is not only Germany who doubts about supplies of such weapons and pointed to the United States. Franchisor and Multi-Unit-Focused Firm's Fund was Oversubscribed in Five Months and Now Has Over $1 Billion of Assets Under Management PRINCETON, N.J. and DALLAS, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Princeton Equity Group, LLC, a Princeton and Dallas-based private equity firm focused on control investments in franchisor and multi-unit companies, today announced the final closing of its Princeton Equity Partners II, L.P. with $575 million in total commitments, surpassing its $475 million target and hitting its hard cap. Raised over a period of approximately five months, the Fund was significantly oversubscribed with commitments from U.S. and non-U.S. investors, including endowments, foundations, fund of funds, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, insurance companies, and asset managers. Princeton's first fund has $352 million in total commitments and held its final close in June of 2021. Princeton is led by Co-founders and Managing Partners, Jim Waskovich and Doug Kennealey. The Fund seeks partnerships with founders and management teams of leading franchisor and multi-unit companies across a variety of end markets. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel, and Aviditi Advisors served as exclusive placement agent and advisor for the Fund. About Princeton Equity Group Princeton Equity Group is a highly experienced franchisor and multi-unit investor and exclusively invests in leading franchisor and multi-unit companies. Princeton views each investment as a long-term, supportive business partnership with founders and management teams to help build companies of great value. For more information, visit www.princetonequity.com. MEDIA CONTACT: Conner Gossel, Fishman Public Relations, [email protected] or (937) 545-9812 SOURCE Princeton Equity Group COVINGTON, Ky., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Promevo , a leading provider of innovative Google solutions, is excited to announce its participation in Google Cloud Next 2023 , the premier conference for cloud technology enthusiasts. The event will take place from August 29 through August 31, 2023, and promises to bring together industry leaders, experts, and visionaries from around the world. As a trusted Google Cloud Partner, Promevo is proud to be a Signature Sponsor at this year's conference, showcasing its latest advancements and groundbreaking products. Attendees can find Promevo at Booth 1301, where their team of Google Certified experts will be readily available to discuss how cloud technology can transform businesses and drive innovation. Promevo will also be joined by partners Cameyo, the Chrome Enterprise Recommended Virtual App Delivery (VAD) platform, and BrainStorm, the best-in-class software adoption and training platform. On Wednesday, August 30 at 9:30 am Pacific, Promevo CTO John Pettit will take the stage in Cloud Talk Theater 1 to deliver a Cloud Talk titled " Unlock Hyperproductivity with Bard & Google AI ." This not-to-be-missed session will explore how large language models (LLMs) can help organizations maximize their productivity and exceed their operational goals. Among the exciting offerings to be presented at the event, Promevo will be giving live demonstrations of its latest product, gPanel Enterprise . This groundbreaking solution is designed to optimize and simplify Google Workspace administration, empowering organizations to take full control of their Google environment. "We are thrilled to be part of Google Cloud Next 2023," said Karthik Kripapuri, CEO of Promevo. "Our team has been hard at work developing innovative solutions that redefine the way businesses harness the potential of the cloud with Google Cloud. We are excited to share our knowledge, expertise, and solutions with attendees and help them unlock new levels of productivity and efficiency." About Promevo Promevo is a trusted Google Premier Partner that offers Google Workspace, Google Chrome, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) products, services, and proprietary software to help customers navigate, monitor, and optimize their Google technology infrastructure. Promevo is committed to delivering exceptional customer experiences and driving business success through the power of Google solutions. For media inquires, please contact: Brandon Carter [email protected] (888) 380-1061 SOURCE Promevo The Property Restoration and Remediation Franchise Has Completed 39 Franchise Development Deals since the Beginning of the Year TAMARAC, Fla., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PuroClean, the leading brand in property restoration and remediation throughout the country, is continuing to build off of the brand's unprecedented growth throughout the first half of 2023 and sees no slowing down. The franchise brand has completed 39 franchise development deals since the beginning of the year, including expansions and resales. PuroClean's expansion year-to-date includes exciting growth in 13 states. The states that comprise PuroClean's 2023 expansion so far include California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Texas. With 450 locations operating across 45 states in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada, PuroClean is bringing their reliable and high-quality services to communities across North America, helping people restore their homes and lives. As PuroClean continues to enter new markets, the brand looks to bring safety and peace of mind to communities through their world-class water damage remediation, fire and smoke damage mitigation, mold removal, and biohazard clean-up services. The brand is currently looking to expand into the Minneapolis/St. Cloud and San Francisco/San Jose areas, as well as Boston, Tallahassee, and Beaumont, Texas/Lake Charles, Louisiana. "We are seeing tremendous success breaking into new markets with new franchise owners," said Tim Courtney, Vice President of Franchise Development for PuroClean. "With the success of our existing owners, they are opting to expand by purchasing new territories, which is the greatest compliment any franchisor can receive." The growth that PuroClean has experienced in 2023 is largely due to franchise owners' commitment to providing the best services possible for their communities. "PuroClean's mission to provide the highest quality, trusted restoration services is evident in each of our franchise owners," said Steve White, President and Chief Operating Officer for PuroClean. "We're thrilled about the expansion that PuroClean has seen so far this year and look forward to additional expansions to impact more communities throughout the country." For over 20 years, PuroClean has helped home and business owners restore and remedy properties, serving communities across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada with a network of over 450 offices and growing rapidly. The brand is seeking the right individuals who may be in construction and looking to add a restoration component to their business. For more information about PuroClean, call 800-775-7876 or visit www.PuroClean.com. For more information about franchising opportunities, visit www.PuroCleanFranchise.com. About PuroClean PuroClean is a leading, world-class service brand for property water damage remediation, fire and smoke damage mitigation, mold removal, and biohazard clean-up services, working with both residential and commercial customers across the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Founded in 2001, PuroClean is a diverse, fast-growing network of over 450 North American franchise locations, each independently owned and operated. With a commitment to respond within two hours, the professionals at PuroClean are thoroughly screened, insured, and trained in utilizing the latest cutting-edge mitigation technology to complete the remediation task at hand. SOURCE PuroClean Discovery May Lead to New Treatments for AIDS HENDERSON, Nev., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A study published August 10, 2023 in the journal Nature Communications has identified a new pathway that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) uses to enter the nucleus of a healthy cell, where it can then replicate and go on to invade other cells. The researchers also identified three proteins that are needed for the virus to carry out the invasion and have in turn synthesized molecules (potential drugs) that can target one of the proteins, potentially leading to new treatments for AIDS. HIV virus (yellow) infecting a human cell Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash "We have revealed a protein pathway that appears to have a direct impact on diseases, which opens up a new area for potential drug development," says the study's senior author Aurelio Lorico, MD PhD, Professor of Pathology and interim Chief Research Officer at Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine. HIV infection requires the virus to enter a cell and gain access to the well-guarded nucleus in order for the viral components to be integrated into the healthy cell's DNA. But how the viruses get past the protective membrane is not well understood and is the subject of much debate. The newly identified pathway begins with HIV entering a cell wrapped inside a membrane package, called an endosome. The virus-containing endosome then pushes the protective nuclear membrane inward, forming an indentation known as a nuclear invagination. The endosome then moves inside the invagination to its inner tip, where the virus then slips into the nucleus. The study found that three proteins were critical to the invasion: One protein (Rab7) is located on the membrane of the endosome, the second (VAP-A) is on the nuclear membrane where the invagination occurs, and the third (ORP3) connects the first two proteins together. An interaction among the three proteins is needed for the invasion to be successful, so targeting any of these proteins could halt the infection. The team has synthesized and tested molecules that interrupt the interaction among the proteins. The researchers observed that, in the presence of these molecules, HIV replication does not occur. This pathway for nuclear access was first discovered in the team's research on cancer metastasis and is likely involved in other diseases as well. "This is an entirely new pathway and we have developed molecules (drugs) that block it," says Lorico. "Although our research is at a pre-clinical stage, it is likely that the new drugs synthesized may have therapeutic activity in AIDS, other viral diseases, and possibly metastatic cancer and other diseases where nuclear transport is involved." The team is currently looking at the pathway's role in Alzheimer's disease and metastasis of many types of cancer. "Because the pathway we found may apply to many types of disease, there is a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done to understand the full benefits of this research," says Dr. Denis Corbeil, co-leading author of the study, research group leader at the Biotechnology Center (BIOTEC) of TUD Dresden University of Technology in Germany. "The ground-breaking research of Dr. Lorico and his team is a testimony to the importance that Touro University gives to its mission of service to humanity. The potential therapeutic applications of this new pathway to improve patient care are immense and may help us better navigate the next pandemic," said Dr. Alan Kadish, Touro University President. The study, HIV-1-induced nuclear invaginations mediated by VAP-A, ORP3, and Rab7 complex explain infection of activated T cells, was the result of a collaboration of researchers from Touro University Nevada College of Osteopathic Medicine, Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York, researchers from the Biotechnology Center (BIOTEC) of TUD Dresden University of Technology in Germany, and researchers from Italy. For more information, visit www.HIVInvasion.org . ABOUT TOURO UNIVERSITY NEVADA Touro University Nevada is Nevada's largest school of medicine and largest school of physician assistant studies, fully accredited, and a private, non-profit, Jewish-sponsored institution. Opened in 2004, Touro Nevada was established to help address critical needs in health care and education and as a resource for community service throughout Nevada. Its mission is to provide quality education programs in the fields of health care and education in concert with the Judaic commitment to social justice, intellectual pursuit, and service to humanity. Touro Nevada is home to more than 1,500 students in a wide variety of degree programs including osteopathic medicine, physician assistant studies, education, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and medical health sciences. The University's Henderson campus houses the Engelstad Research Complex for Biomedical and Human Performance Research that is committed to serving humanity and contributing to intellectual progress through insightful scientific research. For more information, visit www.tun.touro.edu. ABOUT THE BIOTECHNOLOGY CENTER (BIOTEC) OF TUD DRESDEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY The Biotechnology Center (BIOTEC) was founded in 2000 as a central scientific unit of the TUD Dresden University of Technology with the goal of combining modern approaches in molecular and cell biology with the traditionally strong engineering in Dresden. Since 2016, the BIOTEC is part of the central scientific unit Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering (CMCB) of the TU Dresden. The BIOTEC is fostering developments in research and teaching within the Molecular Bioengineering research field and combines approaches in cell biology, biophysics and bioinformatics. It plays a central role within the research priority area Health Sciences, Biomedicine and Bioengineering of the TU Dresden. www.tud.de/biotec www.tud.de/cmcb Contact: USA+: Michael Sherry at BerlinRosen at [email protected] Germany: Dr. Denis Corbeil at BIOTEC, TUD at [email protected] SOURCE Touro University Nevada WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Michele Flournoy, former U.S. Under Secretary of Defense, has joined the Board of Directors of Rivada Networks, Inc. "I'm honored that Michele has agreed to join Rivada's board," said Rivada CEO Declan Ganley. "Michele is one of America's foremost thinkers on geopolitics. Her insights and advice will be invaluable as we roll out the OuterNET globally, alongside other initiatives." Michele Flournoy joins Rivada Networks Board of Directors Tweet this Michele Flournoy joins the board of Rivada Networks. Flournoy was Under Secretary of Defense for Policy during Barack Obama's first term, serving as principle adviser to the Secretary of Defense in the formulation of national security and defense policy, oversight of military plans and operations, and in National Security Council deliberations. In 2017, she co-founded WestExec Advisors, a strategic advisory firm in Washington, D.C. "Rivada's OuterNET is an exciting opportunity to transform the global communications landscape," Flournoy said. "High-resiliency networks have never been more important, both economically and geostrategically. I look forward to helping the Rivada team accomplish its mission," she added. The OuterNET is Rivada's global low-Earth orbit satellite-communications constellation. When fully deployed, it will provide the unprecedented ability to connect any two points on the planet without the need to pass through third-party infrastructure. To learn more, visit www.rivadaspace.com. About Rivada Networks: Rivada Networks is a leading provider of wireless-technology solutions for government and commercial customers. We are building the first true OuterNET: a global, high-speed communications network of LEO satellites for enterprises and governments to connect any two points on the planet at gigabit speeds. Contact: Brian M. Carney Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications [email protected] SOURCE Rivada Networks, LLC ERP solution will enable Swedish sealing solutions specialist to remain evergreen and add new functionality as and when required LONDON, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- IFS, the global cloud enterprise software company, today announced that Roxtec International, a Swedish modular pipe and cable sealing systems company, has chosen to upgrade its existing IFS enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to the latest IFS Cloud solution to drive its ongoing global growth. Roxtec already uses IFS software to support its daily operations end-to-end, enabling it to benefit from full global visibility over its operations and easy localization for its multiple subsidiaries. Implementing the upgrade to IFS Cloud will allow the sealing systems company to build on this capability with an evergreen ERP model that allows it to access all the latest functionality, as required, to further increase efficiency, reduce costs, and ensure it is always compliant with local market regulations. Roxtec will also benefit from a new business process automation capability that will drive enhanced productivity across its operations and increase data utilization through integrated analytics and business intelligence. In addition, it plans to make use of the software's "Build Place" capability to customize the software and conduct impact tests. The IFS Cloud software will also help Roxtec tackle a range of specific operational challenges it currently has. It will enable enhanced electronic data interchanges to drive more efficient procurement processes as well as improve parts handling for Engineer to Order (ETO) and Configure to Order (CTO) processes. IFS Cloud will also reduce the need for costly and cumbersome custom reports, integrations, and modifications (CRIM). The upgrade will initially see IFS Cloud rolled out across 25 countries, with a further expansion to follow further down the line. Rikard Hasselgren, CIO, Roxtec, said: "We have worked with IFS for many years now and have built a strong, trust-based relationship with them over that time. We are confident that using IFS Cloud will enable us to enhance this further, allowing us to keep a lid on costs and increase operational reliability, security, redundancy, and scalability across all our daily operations end-to-end from manufacturing to customer orders to invoicing and finance." Ann Kristin Sander, Managing Director Nordics, IFS, said: "Across all of its core target markets from critical infrastructure to manufacturing to the renewable energy industry, Roxtec is experiencing strong and steady demand. Using IFS Cloud will ensure that it is able to consistently meet this demand today and easily scale to accommodate future growth plans. We are thrilled to be continuing to work in close partnership with them to assist them in meeting their long-term strategic goals." About Roxtec Roxtec is the world-leading provider of flexible modular-based cable and pipe seals. The company's invention for adaptability to cables and pipes of different sizes, Multidiameter, is based on sealing modules with removable rubber layers. It allows for a perfect sealing, regardless of the outside dimension of the cable or pipe. The solution simplifies design and engineering, speeds up installation and reduces the need for stock, material and logistics. It also provides spare capacity for easy retrofit and future upgrades. Roxtec serves and supports customers in more than 80 markets through subsidiaries and a network of distributors. For more information, please visit www.roxtec.com About IFS IFS develops and delivers cloud enterprise software for companies around the world who manufacture and distribute goods, build and maintain assets, and manage service-focused operations. Within our single platform, our industry specific products are innately connected to a single data model and use embedded digital innovation so that our customers can be their best when it really matters to their customersat the Moment of Service. The industry expertise of our people and of our growing ecosystem, together with a commitment to deliver value at every single step, has made IFS a recognised leader and the most recommended supplier in our sector. Our team of over 5,500 employees every day live our values of agility, trustworthiness and collaboration in how we support our thousands of customers. Learn more about how our enterprise software solutions can help your business today at ifs.com. Contact information EUROPE / MEA / APJ: Adam Gillbe IFS, Director of Corporate & Executive Communications Email: [email protected] Phone: +44 7775 114 856 NORTH AMERICA / LATAM: Mairi Morgan IFS, Director of Corporate & Executive Communications Email: [email protected] Phone: +1 520 396 2155 The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Public/855/3815538/8aa06e8951dcb2b7.pdf Roxtec upgrades to IFS Cloud to drive efficiencies and reduce costs https://news.cision.com/ifs/i/roxtec,c3204659 Roxtec SOURCE IFS Wildlife Conservation Leader Will Bring Guests Closer to Elephants Through New Immersive Experience SAN DIEGO, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has announced construction is officially underway on the largest and most transformative project in the San Diego Zoo Safari Park's 50-year history. The all-new Denny Sanford Elephant Valley will reimagine the heart of the Safari Park, turning the current elephant environment into a dynamic savanna and a place of exploration. Elephant Valley will give guests of all ages the opportunity to connect with elephants like never before, encouraging greater empathy, understanding, and appreciation of this majestic speciesand igniting a passion for wildlife. Artist renderings of Elephant Valley "We are thrilled to announce Denny Sanford Elephant Valleya first-of-its-kind immersive experience for visitors, to further connect the vital work happening here in San Diego to the collaborative elephant conservation initiatives we support in the field," said Paul A. Baribault, president and chief executive officer, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. "Elephant Valley could not be achieved without the incredible community, donors, members and allies who support us and make all our conservation work possible with partners around the world." Surrounded by elephants on multiple sides, including from below via an overhead walkway with views of the herd passing through, guests will learn about the crucial role elephants have as ecosystem engineers, and about their intricate social dynamics. Elephant Valley will provide guests with new insight into the role San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance pursues as a leader in wildlife conservation. It will highlight the organization's world-changing partners and celebrate the vibrant cultures and local communities where people and elephants coexist. At the center of the guest experience in Elephant Valley is a two-story lodge, inspired by the destinations frequented by travelers while on safari in Africa. This gathering place will provide opportunities to learn from educators about the awe-inspiring wildlife of the region, while witnessing elephants wade in expansive watering holes. The rich plant life in Elephant Valley has been carefully curated by a team of expert horticulturists and arborists to authentically reflect the sights, sounds and smells of the African grasslands. The vast new habitat will provide enhanced experiences for the herd of elephants by introducing several innovative features that align with seasonal variations to closely replicate the African savanna year-round. "As magnificent as elephants are, their future is equally fragile," said Lisa Peterson, executive director, San Diego Zoo Safari Park. "We are honored to take millions of wildlife allies on a journey into the life of elephants, where they will learn about the positive impact everyone can have, and share in our hope for elephants worldwide. Elephant Valley will be a place where curiosity turns into discoverywhere anyone from ages 1 to 100 will experience breathtaking moments of wonder in nature. Our hope is that the defining memories you make here stay with you for a lifetime." The effects of climate change, challenges to human-wildlife coexistence, habitat loss and poaching are taking a toll on elephant populations. African savanna elephants are currently listed as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. Conserving African elephants has long been a top priority for San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. The organization works closely with Save the Elephants, The Nature Conservancy, Northern Rangelands Trust, Kenya Wildlife Service and Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in Kenya for conservation of elephants. Scientific studies conducted in both Africa and with the elephant herds at the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, provide a unique opportunity to increase the understanding of the species, and help develop additional conservation solutions. Increasing knowledge of the complexity of elephant social behaviors and the understanding of their overall health needs has given San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and its partners valuable insight into what successful conservation outcomes look like for elephants. "Elephants across Africa are facing immense challenges, which require all of us to collaborate and find sustainable conservation solutions for elephants and people," explained Nadine Lamberski, DVM, chief conservation and wildlife health officer, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. "We are eager to witness the impact Elephant Valley will have on our continued elephant conservation efforts globally." Elephant Valley is funded by thousands of generous donors and longtime San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance supporter Denny Sanford. In addition to Elephant Valley, Sanford was the lead donor for Wildlife Explorers Basecamp at the San Diego Zoo, and for the educational television programing of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers, provided at hundreds of children's hospitals, Ronald McDonald Houses and other facilities across the globe. Elephant Valley is expected to be completed in 2025. For more information and to make a donation, visit sdzsafaripark.org/elephantvalley. About San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, a nonprofit conservation leader, inspires passion for nature and collaboration for a healthier world. The Alliance supports innovative conservation science through global partnerships. Through wildlife care, science expertise and collaboration, more than 44 endangered species have been reintroduced to native habitats. Annually, the Alliance reaches over 1 billion people, in person at the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and virtually in 150 countries through media channels, including San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers television programming in children's hospitals in 13 countries. Wildlife Alliesmembers, donors and guestsmake success possible. DOWNLOAD PHOTO AND VIDEO: sdzwa.org/pr/ElephantValley CONTACT: [email protected] SOURCE San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance NEW BOOK "CAT KID COMIC CLUB: INFLUENCERS" COMING THIS NOVEMBER; CAT KID COMIC CLUB: THE MUSICAL OPENS IN NEW YORK TO RAVE REVIEWS NEW YORK, TORONTO, LONDON, SYDNEY, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With the dog days of summer soon coming to a close, some barking great news for readers and retailers alike. Scholastic, the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books, announced today the publication of Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder, a gripping new title in the global publishing phenomenon Dog Man series by #1 bestselling author and award-winning illustrator Dav Pilkey. Releasing simultaneously on March 19, 2024, in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, this suspenseful new adventure features the beloved canine superhero, this time delving into the world of artificial intelligence. Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder follows Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under the Sea published this past spring, and to date is the #1 bestselling children's book of 2023 in North America. Scholastic to publish Dog Man: The Scarlet Shredder, latest in the #1 global bestselling phenomenon by Dav Pilkey on March 19, 2024. Hear from #1 bestselling author and award-winning illustrator Dav Pilkey about his new book, Dog Man: The Scarlet Shredder, coming March 19, 2024. With his trademark humor and heart, Dav Pilkey has made reading fun for kids with the Dog Man series' deliberate nods to classic literature featuring endearing titles like Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties, Dog Man: Lord of the Fleas, Dog Man: For Whom the Ball Rolls, Dog Man: Fetch 22, Dog Man: Mothering Heights, among others. Since Dog Man launched to multiple starred reviews in August 2016, there are more than 60 million copies of the books in print to date, with translations in 45 languages. The acclaimed stage adaptation Dog Man: The Musical from TheaterWorksUSA made a triumphant return to New York City this past spring and is currently touring in Australia, with a North American tour scheduled to play in San Francisco, Seattle, and Los Angeles this fall and continue through 2024. A Dog Man movie is currently in the works from DreamWorks Animation. In a statement, Dav Pilkey said: "Dog Man started out as a character I created when I was in second grade, but the series has evolved into a love letter to my parents. Looking back as a kid growing up with dyslexia and ADHD, my parents, who were my best advocates, let me choose whatever books I wanted to readwith no judgment. Their support and love was life-changing and helped me to become the reader, author, and illustrator that I am today." Dav Pilkey's influence and bestseller domination will continue later this year with the highly anticipated Cat Kid Comic Club: Influencers to be released worldwide on November 28, 2023, the newest volume in the #1 bestselling Cat Kid Comic Club series. A spin-off of Dog Man, Cat Kid Comic Club is an innovative graphic novel series that celebrates creativity, comics, and teaches readers about the importance of following one's own creative path. Pushing the boundaries of visual storytelling by seamlessly weaving a variety of art styles into one book including comics, photography, painting, poetry, and clay figures, Dav Pilkey said, "With the Cat Kid Comic Club books, my hope is that kids find joy in reading, appreciate different ways of thinking and collaborating, and find their purpose as they dream up their own stories." TheaterworksUSA's Cat Kid Comic Club: The Musical, the stage adaptation of the hit series, opened at the Lucille Lortel Theater in New York to rave reviews. The New York Times, which designated it as a "Critic's Pick," said, "'Cat Kid' emphasizes the value of learning about diverse points of view and encouraging creativity in young people." The musical is scheduled to tour across the U.S. and Canada starting in October 2023. "Dav Pilkey is one of the most influential and inspiring children's book creators of this generation. Through the years and through his many heartfelt booksfrom picture books, early readers, illustrated chapter books, and graphic novelswe've witnessed Dav's incredible ability to connect and engage kids to become lifelong readers. Scholastic is proud to be his publisher, and we couldn't be more excited to continue publishing Dav Pilkey books," said Ellie Berger, President, Scholastic Trade. Pilkey's foray into writing and illustrating graphic novels began in 2002 with the publication of The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, nearly fourteen years before the first Dog Man book was released. His pioneering Captain Underpants series which popularized the illustrated children's book category, has more than 90 million copies in print with translations in 44 languages, been made into a movie from DreamWorks, and adapted as an original TV series currently streaming on Netflix. Dav Pilkey was awarded a Caldecott Honor for his picture book The Paperboy in 1995. About Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder is the twelfth book in the critically acclaimed graphic novel series. In this new installment, Dog Man got sprayed by a skunk! After being dunked in tomato juice, the stink is gone but the scarlet red color remains. Now exiled, this spunky superhero must struggle to save the citizens who shunned him. Will the ends justify the means for Petey, who's reluctantly pulled back into a life of crime in order to help Dog Man? And who will step forward when an all-new, never-before-seen villain unleashes an army of A.I. robots? The Dog Man series follows the hilarious and heartwarming adventures of the "Supa Buddies": Dog Man, a lovable canine superhero, and his friends Li'l Petey, a curious kitten who embodies love, optimism, and hope, and 80-HD, a robot who expresses himself best through his art. With each Dog Man book, readers see the growth and development of the main narrators George and Harold through their comics. Their artwork, grammar, as well as their spelling improve as the series progresses. The series explores universally positive messages including empathy, kindness, and striving to become a better version of one's self, while it also tackles more complex themes including loss, forgiveness, and self-acceptance. All eleven books in the Dog Man series published to date have clinched the #1 spot on renowned bestseller lists. About Dav Pilkey The publication of Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder marks Dav Pilkey's 37 years of writing and illustrating award-winning and bestselling books for children. When Dav Pilkey was a kid, he was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. Dav was so disruptive in class that his teachers made him sit out in the hallway every day. He spent his time in the hallway creating his own original comic booksthe very first adventures of Dog Man and Captain Underpants. In college, Dav met a teacher who encouraged him to write and illustrate for kids. He took her advice and created his first book, World War Won, which won a national competition in 1986. Dav's stories are semi-autobiographical and explore universal themes that celebrate friendship, empathy, and the triumph of the good-hearted. When he is not making books for kids, Dav loves to kayak with his wife in the Pacific Northwest. For more information about Dav Pilkey and his books visit http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/davpilkey. About Scholastic For more information about Scholastic, visit our media room at http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/ SOURCE Scholastic Corporation Company Will Donate 10% of In-Store Revenue to Maui Nonprofits SEATTLE, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Seattle Sun Tan, the premier tanning destination in the Pacific Northwest, is launching "A Ray of Hope for Maui," a fundraising campaign that will donate 10% of all in-store revenue generated on Friday August 11th from its 34 locations across Washington and Idaho to three outstanding Maui nonprofit organizations: United Way Fire Relief, Maui Strong and Maui Mutual Aid. In addition, Seattle Sun Tan's online fundraiser will donate 100% of all donations given at www.seattlesuntan.com/maui or in stores, through August 31, 2023. With a commitment to philanthropy and community support, Seattle Sun Tan CEO Scott Swerland felt moved to support the people of Maui during their time of need. "We believe in the power of coming together to support those in need and the need couldn't be greater as these fires have ravaged a place our family has been visiting since the 1970's," said Swerland. "We are excited to unite our customers, staff, and partners in this collective effort to provide urgently needed relief and support to the people of Maui during this tragic time." The organizations chosen for this fundraiser play an integral role in assisting the Maui community during challenging times. Maui's United Way Fire Relief has been instrumental in aiding communities affected by fires, while Maui Strong has a long-standing tradition of providing resources for disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. The fund is currently being used to support communities affected by the wildfires on Maui. Additionally, Maui Mutual Aid has been a driving force in providing essential resources and assistance to those in need on the island of Maui. To participate in "A Ray of Hope for Maui" fundraiser, customers can visit any of Seattle Sun Tan's 34 locations throughout Washington and Idaho. By choosing Seattle Sun Tan for their tanning needs, customers will not only enjoy a sun-kissed glow but will also contribute to the well-being of the Maui community. "We invite our valued customers to be part of this meaningful endeavor. Together, we can make a difference for Maui," added Swerland. About Seattle Sun Tan Seattle Sun Tan has been a trusted name in the tanning industry since its inception in 2004. With 34 locations across Washington and Idaho, Seattle Sun Tan offers state-of-the-art tanning facilities, anti-aging and wellness services, top-tier customer service and a commitment to community support. The "A Ray of Hope for Maui" fundraiser exemplifies the company's dedication to making a positive impact beyond its tanning and wellness offerings. Media Contacts: Lee Keller, Cell: (206) 799-3805 Email: [email protected] Scott Swerland Phone: (206) 856-6800 Email: [email protected] SOURCE SEATTLE SUN TAN NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC Corp. ("TriplePoint" or the "Company") (NYSE: TPVG), and certain officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and docketed under 23-cv-02980, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired TriplePoint securities between March 4, 2020 and May 1, 2023, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials. If you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise TriplePoint securities during the Class Period, you have until August 15, 2023 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased. [Click here for information about joining the class action] TriplePoint is a business development company specializing in investments in venture capital-backed companies at the growth stage. It also provides debt financing to venture growth space companies, including growth capital loans, secured and customized loans, equipment financings, revolving loans and direct equity investments. The Complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) TriplePoint had overstated the strength of its various portfolio companies and loan book, as well as the viability of its overall investment strategy; (ii) the foregoing, once revealed, was likely to have a material negative impact on the Company's financial position and/or prospects; and (iii) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On May 2, 2023, the Bear Cave released a report titled "Problems at TriplePoint Venture Growth BDC (TPVG)" (the "Bear Cave Report"). The Bear Cave Report highlighted significant issues at TriplePoint, alleging that "TriplePoint is encumbered by high fees, weak management, and a weaker loan book saddled by portfolio company bankruptcies and upside-down startups," and asserting that "the Bear Cave believes TriplePoint's equity may be severely impaired, if it has any value at all." On this news, TriplePoint's stock price fell $1.19 per share, or 9.98%, over the following two trading sessions, to close at $10.73 per share on May 3, 2023. Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered billions of dollars in damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com. CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP [email protected] 888-476-6529 ext. 7980 SOURCE Pomerantz LLP President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met with representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Metropolitan of Chalcedon Emmanuel. "The head of state noted that the visit by the metropolitan is a very important signal of support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people from the Ecumenical Patriarchate amid the full-scale war unleashed by Russia," the press service of the Office of the President of Ukraine said. "I appreciate very much this dialogue which we continued with His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew during my recent visit to Turkey. This was very important," Zelenskyy said. The president sent to the Ecumenical Patriarch an invitation to visit Ukraine. Metropolitan of Chalcedon Emmanuel, for his part, passed Zelenskyy greetings from His All-Holiness. "We support you very much at this difficult time. You can be sure of our support and everything that we can do on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarchate," he said. During the conversation, the parties paid special attention to Ukraine's spiritual independence, Ukraine's Peace Formula and the issue of returning children who were illegally deported from Ukraine. NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of NatWest Group plc ("NatWest" or the "Company") (NYSE: NWG). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980. The investigation concerns whether NatWest and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here for information about joining the class action] On July 26, 2023, NatWest Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") Alison Rose resigned from that role after acknowledging a "serious error of judgment" in discussing former Brexit party leader Nigel Farage's relationship with Coutts, a NatWest-owned private bank, with a BBC journalist. Although CEO Rose initially informed the BBC that Coutts had closed Farage's account because he was not a profitable customer, Farage subsequently obtained a 40-page document setting forth Coutts' view that association with Farage created "significant reputational risks" for the bank, citing Farage's "xenophobic and racist" political views and the widespread perception of Farage as "a disingenuous grifter." Following Rose's resignation, NatWest's American Depositary Receipt price fell sharply, damaging investors. Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com. CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP [email protected] 888-476-6529 ext. 7980 SOURCE Pomerantz LLP NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Party City Holdco ("Party City" or the "Company") (OTCMKTS: PRTYQ). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980. The investigation concerns whether Party City and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here for information about joining the class action] On January 17, 2023, Party City abruptly filed for bankruptcy, with the Company's bankruptcy filings citing its ongoing liquidity shortfall, its need for additional loans beyond the credit lines available to it, and its inability to locate lenders willing to provide additional loansissues previously undisclosed to investors. On this news, Party City's stock price fell $0.253 per share, or 67.72%, over the following two trading sessions, closing at $0.121 per share on January 19, 2023. Then, on June 9, 2023, Party City revealed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that Ernst & Young LPP had resigned as its auditor due to a disagreement over the Company's decision not to include a "going concern" warning in its quarterly report for the third quarter of 2022, which would have alerted investors that there was substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern for the next twelve months. On this news, Party City's stock price fell $0.01 per share, or 21.52%, over the following three trading sessions, to close at $0.036 per share on June 14, 2023. Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com. CONTACT: Robert S. Willoughby Pomerantz LLP [email protected] 888-476-6529 ext. 7980 SOURCE Pomerantz LLP The global leader in charging solutions brings the latest in EV infrastructure, leveraging T-Mobile's 5G with American-made materials PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Peachtree Corners one of the nation's first smart cities powered by real-world connected infrastructure and 5G today announced global leader in EV charging solutions, Siemens, has joined the Curiosity Lab smart city ecosystem to support bringing 5G electrification to America. Siemens American-built charging stations and infrastructure will be installed at Curiosity Lab leveraging T-Mobile's 5G network as the company continues to evolve its EV charging infrastructure solutions. As the heart of what is being called #SiliconOrchard in the metro-Atlanta region, Peachtree Corners is a vibrant municipality thats home to more than 45,000 residents, 45,000 jobs and an innovation hub that houses some of the worlds most disruptive technology companies. Peachtree Corners is a premier smart city powered by real-world connected infrastructure and 5G, serving as a model for how government and private industry can collaborate to create a better future for society and business. (PRNewsfoto/Peachtree Corners) "With our eMobility R&D headquarters just across the street, we're thrilled to be supporting Peachtree Corners and joining the Curiosity Lab ecosystem alongside so many great partners whose goals are to bring EV infrastructure to the forefront of cities across the country," said John DeBoer, head of Siemens eMobility North America. "With our community charging their vehicles each day right where we live and work, this will be a great way to continuously evaluate our charging infrastructure as we collectively seek an electrified future." With both Siemens eMobility R&D hub and the North American Headquarters for Siemens Electrical Products located in Peachtree Corners, Siemens is the city's largest employer and is actively supporting the community with six EV chargers already deployed. These chargers contribute to Peachtree Corners having the largest EV charging hub outside of Metro Atlanta. "Siemens shares our vision of leveraging the benefits of 5G for the betterment of our communities," said Dave Bezzant, Vice President, T-Mobile for Government. "We are thrilled to have Siemens joining the Curiosity Lab ecosystem, and we are looking forward to working with their team to provide 5G wireless connectivity for this project." "As one of the leading smart cities in the United States, we are always looking towards the future," said Brian Johnson, City Manager of Peachtree Corners. "The electrification of America is well on its way, and here in Peachtree Corners we are proud to be embracing this technology further with Siemens joining our Curiosity Lab ecosystem. As a global leader in this space, we are honored to have had Siemens' continuous support for our city's adoption of this technology. Expanding their charging infrastructure at Curiosity Lab only strengthens that ongoing support. Together with Siemens, T-Mobile's 5G and our real-world environment, we will be able to continue to improve EV infrastructure for a positive impact towards the future of the electrification of America." Find out more about Siemens' presence in Peachtree Corners and Atlanta at https://www.siemens.com/us/en/company/siemens-in-the-usa/atlanta.html. About Siemens Corporation Siemens Corporation is a U.S. subsidiary of Siemens AG, a technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, transport, and healthcare. From more resource-efficient factories, resilient supply chains, and smarter buildings and grids, to cleaner and more comfortable transportation as well as advanced healthcare, the company creates technology with purpose adding real value for customers. By combining the real and the digital worlds, Siemens empowers its customers to transform their industries and markets, helping them to transform the everyday for billions of people. Siemens also owns a majority stake in the publicly listed company Siemens Healthineers, a globally leading medical technology provider shaping the future of healthcare. In addition, Siemens holds a minority stake in Siemens Energy, a global leader in the transmission and generation of electrical power. In fiscal 2022, which ended on September 30, 2022, Siemens Group USA generated revenue of $18.6 billion and employs approximately 45,000 people serving customers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. About the City of Peachtree Corners, Georgia As the heart of what is being called #SiliconOrchard in the metro-Atlanta region, Peachtree Corners is a vibrant municipality that's home to more than 45,000 residents, 45,000 jobs and an innovation hub that houses some of the world's most disruptive technology companies. As the United States' premier smart city powered by real-world connected infrastructure and 5G, Peachtree Corners serves as the model for how government and private industry can better collaborate to create a better future for society and business. From the world's first deployment of teleoperated e-scooters to fully autonomous shuttles being utilized by actual residents, and from a solar roadway to the largest electric vehicle fast-charging hub in the region, Peachtree Corners is where the most future-forward Internet of Things (IoT) and sustainable technologies come to life for the benefit of its citizens, and the world. For more information, visit http://www.peachtreecornersga.gov. About Curiosity Lab at Peachtree Corners Curiosity Lab is a 5G-enabled intelligent mobility and smart city living laboratory located in the southeastern United States near Atlanta, Georgia. Designed as a proving ground for IoT, mobility and smart city emerging technologies, the centerpiece of the lab is a three-mile public autonomous vehicle roadway leveraging cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) technologies. Additional infrastructure includes intelligent traffic cameras and traffic signals, smart streetlights, the country's first "IoT Central Control Room" implemented in a city and a 25,000 square foot innovation center. Owned and operated by the City of Peachtree Corners, Curiosity Lab is one of North America's only real-world testing environments and is available for use free of charge. Additional information can be found at www.curiositylabptc.com. SOURCE Peachtree Corners MAUI, Hawaii, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Maui fire attorneys at Singleton Schreiber are coordinating with local victims who have been injured, evacuated, and/or had property damaged by the fire on the island. With 36 people killed so far in the blaze, the firm is working hard to provide support to those in need. The wildfire tore through Maui, as several separate fires burned through Lahaina, burning homes, businesses, brush and more. Many residents reported seeing powerlines downed by the wind caused by Hurricane Dora before the fires began. While investigations are ongoing, Singleton Schreiber's wildfire attorneys are working with experts throughout the islands to uncover as much as possible. "From what we've learned, we believe the Lahaina fires could have been prevented had proper safety precautions been taken," said attorney Gerald Singleton. "With decades of experience litigating wildfire claims against negligent utility companies that didn't properly maintain their power lines, this fire has all the hallmarks of failed safety protocols." The fire has been fueled by high winds, low humidity and dry vegetation throughout the region. Fire crews are still working hard to fight the blaze. "We've all seen the horrible photos and videos of people fleeing for their lives, even jumping into the ocean to escape the blaze," said Maui wildfire attorney Paul Starita. "We are speaking with people all over Maui to see how we can be of service and help local residents and business owners, as well as tourists who've been stranded there." Anyone in need of a Maui wildfire lawyer should contact Singleton Schreiber right away at 808-582-8062 or by emailing [email protected]. Premier Wildfire Attorneys With over 200 employees, Singleton Schreiber has represented more than 12,000 victims of utility fires and has recovered approximately $2 billion in settlements and verdicts for its clients. SOURCE Singleton Schreiber Access to skills, government support and big business opportunities behind relocation CARDIFF, Wales, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Socura, a UK-based managed detection and response services business, has relocated to Cardiff from London to capitalise on the Welsh boom in security skills, startups, and government investment since the pandemic. Tramshed Tech Cardiff - Socura's new office Cardiff is one of the fastest growing tech hubs in Europe and home to the Cyber Innovation Hub, a Welsh Government initiative created to bring world-class cyber security products, high-growth businesses, and technically-skilled talent to the region. Wales also provides access to leading universities such as Cardiff and Swansea, which offer impressive computer science and cybersecurity courses. Socura will be looking to recruit heavily in the region, and the office will also be used by Socura's sister company, Block Solutions, which has several Welsh employees. The Welsh Government's focus on Cyber was a key factor behind the relocation, and Socura is keen to work with more Welsh businesses and private sector organisations. Major cybercriminal gangs and ransomware groups are increasingly targeting critical infrastructure providers and some of the biggest industries in Wales such as finance, healthcare, defence, manufacturing, and education. Socura has an extensive track record securing these kinds of businesses and wants to capitalise on the fact that Welsh businesses are all increasingly prioritising cybersecurity. "I was born and raised in Wales, but the decision to move our offices to Cardiff was based on merit, not sentiment," said Andy Kays, Socura CEO. "Standing in our new office, it feels as though you are in the centre of the Welsh cybersecurity boom. The rise of remote working has made many workers and businesses reconsider the compulsion to relocate or commute to London. It has allowed areas like Cardiff to emerge as a hotbed for the UK cybersecurity sector. "Cardiff is an amazing place to run a business, and its credentials as a tech hub rival any city in the UK," said Jo Stevens, MP for Cardiff Central. "We are home to fantastic universities that produce extremely talented and high-skilled individuals. We also support our businesses to grow to their maximum potential, whether that's in the UK or if they have global ambitions. The Cyber Innovation Hub is a fantastic example of this in action, and it has been a major success story since its launch. Welcoming Socura to Wales, Welsh Government Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said: "The Welsh Government's priority is to help businesses create new jobs in the industries of the future. Our clear focus on developing cyber security as key strength for Wales means we now boast world-class expertise in the sector, which is firmly at the forefront of our international economic ambitions. "So I'm very pleased to welcome Socura to Cardiff. I'm delighted they were attracted here because of our growing cyber ecosystem. I'm confident they will play a key role in helping to break down barriers to markets, support homegrown talent and attract other key players to the region. "Our people are our strength and the breadth and depth of talent that exists here across the cyber security sector is truly remarkable. To ensure we build on this, the Welsh Government is committed to supporting the cyber security industry to grow and thrive even further." About Socura Socura offers a 24/7 Threat Detection and Response managed service via its nationally distributed, UK-based SOC team. The service acts as a trusted extension of clients' in-house capabilities, delivering swift detection and containment of cyber threats. Socura helps make the digital world a safer place for its clients and changes the way organisations think about cyber security. It blends technical expertise and industry experience with a people-centric approach to security. Socura has innovation in its DNA, and is pushing the boundaries to deliver high-value cyber security services for clients. Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2183319/One_Central_Square_66.jpg SOURCE Socura Equipped with legendary Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive EyeSight Driver Assist Technology with Advanced Adaptive Cruise Control standard Driver Assist Technology with Advanced Adaptive Cruise Control standard Standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto Forester Wilderness is most rugged and trail-capable Forester ever Pricing starts at $26,895 CAMDEN, N.J., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Subaru of America, Inc. today announced pricing on the 2024 Forester, one of the automaker's most popular SUVs thanks to its safety, capability, versatility and value. The 2024 Forester is offered in six trim levels: Base, Premium, Sport, Wilderness, Limited and Touring. The compact SUV will begin arriving in Subaru retailers this fall with a starting price of $26,895. SUBARU ANNOUNCES PRICING ON 2024 FORESTER The 2024 Forester delivers the optimal blend of SUV capability and car-like ride and handling with standard Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive, Active Torque Vectoring and Vehicle Dynamics Control. The standard 8.7 inches of ground clearance for Forester (9.2 inches for Forester Wilderness) is greater than that of many SUVs, yet the compact SUV maintains a comfortably low step-in height for both front and rear passenger entry. All 2024 Forester models are powered by a 2.5-liter SUBARU BOXER engine paired to a Lineartronic CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission). The highly efficient engine produces 182 hp and 176 lb-ft of torque, while delivering an EPA-estimated 33 mpg on highways. Standard SI-DRIVE Engine Performance Management system features driver-selectable "Intelligent" and "Sport" modes for a customizable driving experience. The Forester comes standard with 60/40 split flat-folding seats offering up to 74.2 cubic feet of cargo space. The rear gate opening maximum width is 51.2 inches, allowing customers more flexibility for loading items. A power rear gate is standard on Limited and Touring trim levels and available as an option for Premium, Sport and Wilderness. For additional versatility, the SUV has a towing capacity up to 1,500 pounds (3,000 pounds for Wilderness) and comes standard with Trailer Stability Assist. Standard EyeSight Driver Assist Technology features Advanced Adaptive Cruise Control; Pre-Collision Braking; Pre-Collision Throttle Management; Lane Departure and Sway Warning and Lead Vehicle Start Alert. Automatic Emergency Steering is included on models equipped with Blind-Spot Detection with Lane Change Assist and Rear Cross-Traffic Alert. The safety feature works with EyeSight and Blind-Spot Detection to assist with steering control to help avoid a collision at speeds less than 50 mph. As in prior model years, all Forester models come standard with seven airbags: driver and front passenger frontal airbags, side curtain airbags, side pelvis/torso airbags and a driver's knee airbag. The Subaru Forester received the 2023 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) TOP SAFETY PICK award. This marks the 17th consecutive year Forester has earned an IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK (2007-2023) - more than any other small SUV. In addition, Forester received the highest possible rating for front crash prevention from IIHS. The Subaru Forester has the lowest 5-Year Cost to Own in its class and the Best Resale Value in its class according to KBB.com. The compact SUV has held both honors for four years running. Recently, the MotorTrend Buyer's Guide Ultimate Car Rankings (Spring-Summer 2023) gave the compact SUV a top ranking in its class. Introducing the 2024 Forester The 2024 Subaru Forester continues the automaker's long-running practice of offering top safety and value across the model line. The 2024 Subaru Forester has a starting price of $26,895 and comes equipped with a long list of standard features including Steering Responsive LED headlights (low and high beam) with High Beam Assist; Rear Seat Reminder; remote keyless entry system with engine immobilizer; power windows, door locks and side mirrors; a multi-function display; and combination meter with color LCD. The SUBARU STARLINK 6.5-inch Multimedia system with a high-resolution touchscreen; smartphone integration with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility; and Bluetooth hands-free streaming and phone connectivity is standard. The front center console comes equipped with a USB-A input/charge port and 3.5mm auxiliary jack. Audio and Bluetooth controls for phone and multimedia are conveniently located on the steering wheel. A popular option package is available on Forester that adds 17-inch silver-finished alloy wheels and black-finished roof rails with convenient tie-down points. The roof rails offer a dynamic capacity of 176 pounds with a 700-pound static load limit, which is robust enough for a rooftop tent. The option package is priced at $625 MSRP. Forester Premium The 2024 Forester Premium builds on the Base trim with more comfort, convenience, and technology for a starting price of $30,095. The Premium adds a standard All-Weather Package with heated front seats, heated exterior power-adjustable exterior mirrors and a windshield wiper de-icer. A 10-way, power-adjustable driver's seat; 17-inch alloy wheels in black with machine finish; X-MODE with Hill-Descent Control; panoramic power moonroof; leather-wrapped steering wheel; ladder-style roof rails; and Keyless Access with Push-button Start are also standard on Premium. New for 2024, LED fog lights and a Crystal Black Silica rear roof spoiler are standard. The Premium upgrades to the SUBARU STARLINK 6.5-inch Multimedia Plus system with high-resolution touchscreen, smartphone integration with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and Bluetooth hands-free phone and audio streaming connectivity; HD Radio; SiriusXM and TravelLink (4-month free Platinum Plan subscription); and CD player. The front center console is equipped with dual USB-A input/charge ports. The Premium offers a single option package that includes Blind-Spot Detection with Lane Change Assist and Rear Cross-Traffic Alert; Automatic Emergency Steering; dual USB-A charge ports in the rear center console; and a Power Rear Gate with automatic close and height memory. The MSRP for the package is $1,165. Forester Sport The 2024 Forester Sport, which is priced from $31,665 MSRP, adds unique interior and exterior elements to set it apart from the Forester range with an eye toward customers looking for a practical SUV with flair. The Forester Sport adds exclusive gloss black exterior trim in the front and rear, black-finished 18-inch alloy wheels and a black rear roof spoiler. On the sides, orange accents adorn the cladding and roof-rail mounts. Inside, the Forester Sport features unique dark gray cloth upholstery with orange contrast stitching on the seats, shift knob, steering wheel and center console. For drivability, the Forester Sport adds SUBARU SI-DRIVE with driver-selectable "Intelligent" and "Sport Sharp" modes. For more engaging drives, the Lineartronic CVT includes steering wheel-mounted paddle-shift controls with 7-speed manual shifting. The Sport also upgrades to dual-function X-MODE for more off-road confidence. Blind-Spot Detection with Lane Change Assist and Rear Cross-Traffic Alert comes standard along with Automatic Emergency Steering. An option package for Forester Sport includes the 8.0-inch SUBARU STARLINK Multimedia Plus system; Harman Kardon premium audio with 576-watt equivalent amp and nine speakers; Power Rear Gate; and Reverse Automatic Braking for $1,645 MSRP. Forester Wilderness The rugged Forester Wilderness returns for 2024 and adds a bevy of exterior, interior, and mechanical additions for adventure-seekers starting at $34,720. The Forester Wilderness does not sacrifice the SUV's quiet, car-like ride and exceptional outward vision with its increased capability, making it the perfect companion on the way to the trailhead and beyond. The 2024 Wilderness increases ground clearance to 9.2 inches thanks to longer coil springs and shock absorbers. The enhanced suspension also increases trail capability while delivering the comfortable ride the Forester is known for. The Wilderness subs in 17-inch matte-black alloy wheels wrapped in All-Terrain Yokohama GEOLANDAR tires for increased traction on muddy or wet roads or trails. A full-size spare is tucked underneath the cargo area for added confidence off the pavement. The Wilderness also gets a unique front fascia with hexagonal front grille and hexagonal LED fog lights, as well as a useful anti-glare hood decal in matte black to diffuse direct sunlight on the trails. Larger cladding around the wheels and a front skid plate help to protect the Forester Wilderness off-road, while offering a visually distinct appearance from the rest of the lineup. Inside, water-resistant StarTex seating surfaces, all-weather mats, and a cargo tray are all well-prepared for muddy feet and gear with wash-and-ready attitudes. The Wilderness also benefits from more robust ladder-type roof rails that can support up to 800 pounds when stationary, which is an increase of 100 pounds above the standard roof rails. The Forester Wilderness offers a smart option package with an 8.0-inch SUBARU STARLINK Multimedia Navigation system, Harman Kardon premium audio with 576-watt equivalent amp and nine speakers and Power Rear Gate for $1,850 MSRP. Forester Limited Starting from $33,775, the 2024 Forester Limited is well-equipped with convenience features that make it a standout among competitors without sacrificing capability. The Limited builds on the Premium trim level and adds 18-inch aluminum alloy wheels in black with machine finish, body-colored exterior mirrors with integrated turn signals, and black geometric-textured fog light covers, the last of which are new for 2024. The Limited is thoughtfully equipped with Blind-Spot Detection with Lane Change Assist and Rear Cross Traffic Alert; SUBARU STARLINK 8.0-inch Multimedia Plus System; dual USB-A charge ports in the rear center console; dual-zone automatic climate control with voice-activated controls; one-touch folding rear seatbacks; and Power Rear Gate. Inside, the Limited is finished with leather-trimmed upholstery, including a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift lever handle and a center dash panel finished with silver metallic and gloss black. A single option package for Limited adds the 8.0-inch SUBARU STARLINK Multimedia Navigation system, Harman Kardon premium audio with 576-watt equivalent amp and nine speakers, Reverse Automatic Braking and a heated steering wheel for $1,695 MSRP. Forester Touring The Forester Limited sits atop the range for 2024 and is equipped with standout features making it equally comfortable and capable. Priced at $37,195, the Touring offers convenience features not typically found at its price point including the innovative DriverFocus Distraction Mitigation System including gesture control capability that allows the driver to raise and lower the automatic climate control temperature via hand gestures. Other convenience features include rear heated seats at the outboard positions, a heated steering wheel, black perforated leather-trimmed upholstery with silver stitching or saddle brown perforated leather-trimmed upholstery with silver and brown stitching. The driver's seat is 10-way power adjustable with power lumbar adjustment and two-driver memory and the passenger seat is 8-way power adjustable. The Forester Touring is visually distinct from the rest of the lineup with 18-inch alloy wheels in dark gray with machine finish, satin chrome exterior folding mirrors with integrated turn signals, and LED fog lights with black and chrome textured covers. The Forester Touring includes roof rails with a silver finish; chrome exterior badging; and front, rear and side valances with silver metallic finish. 2024 Subaru Forester Trim Transmission Applicable Options MSRP MSRP + Destination & Delivery ($1,295) Forester CVT 01, 02 $26,895 $28,190 Forester Premium CVT 11, 15 $30,095 $31,390 Forester Sport CVT 21, 24 $31,665 $32,960 Forester Wilderness CVT 21, 22 $34,720 $36,015 Forester Limited CVT 31, 32 $33,775 $35,070 Forester Touring CVT 41 $37,195 $38,490 2024 Subaru Forester Option Packages Forester CODE 01: Standard Model N/A CODE 02: Alloy Wheel Package + Roof Rails $625 Forester Premium CODE 11: Standard Model N/A CODE 15: BSD/RCTA + Power Rear Gate $1,165 Forester Sport CODE 21: Standard Model N/A CODE 24: RAB + 8-inch Multimedia Plus + Harman Kardon Speaker System + Power Rear Gate $1,645 Forester Wilderness CODE 21: Standard Model N/A CODE 22: 8-inch Multimedia Plus + Harman Kardon Speaker System + Power Rear Gate $1,850 Forester Limited CODE 31: Standard Model N/A CODE 32: RAB + 8-inch Multimedia with Nav + Harman Kardon Speaker System + Heated Steering Wheel $1,695 Forester Touring CODE 41: Standard Model N/A Destination & Delivery is $1,295 for Forester and may vary in the following states: CT, HI, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, RI and VT. D&D is $1,445 for retailers in Alaska. About Subaru of America, Inc. Subaru of America, Inc. (SOA) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Subaru Corporation of Japan. Headquartered at a zero-landfill office in Camden, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of more than 630 retailers across the United States. All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. is the only U.S. automobile manufacturing plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. SOA is guided by the Subaru Love Promise, which is the company's vision to show love and respect to everyone, and to support its communities and customers nationwide. Over the past 20 years, SOA and the SOA Foundation have donated more than $300 million to causes the Subaru family cares about, and its employees have logged nearly 88,000 volunteer hours. As a company, Subaru believes it is important to do its part in making a positive impact in the world because it is the right thing to do. For additional information visit media.subaru.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Todd Hill Manager, Product Public Relations 856.488.3234 [email protected] Charles Ballard Product & Technology Communications 856.488.8759 [email protected] Aaron Cole Product Communications 720.231.0809 acole1@subaru.com SOURCE Subaru of America, Inc. SANTA ANA, Calif., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SuperMoney, a leading financial services comparison marketplace, has made it yet again to the Inc. 5000 list, a coveted ranking that celebrates America's fastest-growing private companies. It is the third year in a row that SuperMoney has made the list, and this year the company advanced its ranking 428 places. "Having SuperMoney recognized again by Inc. Magazine during turbulent economic times is a great tribute to the hard work our team," shared Miron Lulic, Founder and CEO of SuperMoney. "But the real reward is knowing we are helping millions of people make better financial decisions." At SuperMoney we are working behind the scenes to develop the future of personal finance advice and automation. Tweet this Companies featured on the Inc. 5000 list have showcased rapid growth and resilience in today's ever-evolving business landscape, navigating challenges ranging from economic uncertainties to adapting to a post-pandemic world. This recognition follows a record-breaking year for the company, which also reached the $10 billion in financing requests milestone in 2023. SuperMoney now operates in over 50 financial product verticals, including personal loans, checking and savings accounts, and home equity financing. Reflecting on the company's journey, Lulic added, "This acknowledgment from Inc. Magazine further motivates us to set our sights on even loftier goals. At SuperMoney we are working behind the scenes to develop the future of personal finance advice and automation. I am incredibly excited about what the future holds!" About SuperMoney Founded in 2013, SuperMoney is a leading platform for financial decision-making. Through its financial services marketplace and embedded finance solutions, SuperMoney provides a one-stop platform for consumers to discover, compare, and transact with leading financial service providers such as Chase, Citi and Penfed Credit Union. SuperMoney's marketplace is built to reach every American consumer in a way that gives them more choices, greater transparency, and the chance to build long-term financial health. SuperMoney was named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies for 2021, 2022 and 2023, and Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 list of fastest-growing technology companies in North America for 2022. SuperMoney is SOC2/Type II certified for data security by the AICPA. Learn more at http://www.supermoney.com. Media Contact Media Contact, SuperMoney, 1 800-524-5175, [email protected] SOURCE SuperMoney DALLAS, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) will be conducting an informational picket outside of Southwest Airlines' Spirit Party at Gallagher Way on Monday, August 14 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. CT. SWAPA has been attempting to bargain in good faith with Southwest Airlines for more than three years, even filing for federal mediation in September of 2022, and have yet to secure a contract. They are the last major carrier to reach an agreement in principle and are losing pilots to other carriers daily. This informational picket is being held to illustrate to Southwest's leadership that the pilot group is fed up with an emphasis being placed on parties while they operate under a contract that became amendable in September 2020. "The vaunted culture that Southwest has been known for has become little more than a punchline when it comes to how employees are actually treated by leadership. Our pilots deserve a contract that befits the most productive pilots in the industry, and we are willing to take the RLA process all the way to its conclusion to ensure that Southwest Airlines returns to the values it says it holds most dear," said SWAPA President Captain Casey Murray. "We cannot continue to sit by while other carriers secure contracts and lure potential aviators away from Southwest Airlines." After securing a 99% vote in favor of a strike back in May, the pilots of Southwest Airlines are ready to strike upon release from the National Mediation Board. About SWAPA Located in Dallas, Texas, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) is a non-profit employee organization representing the more than 10,000 pilots of Southwest Airlines. SWAPA works to provide a secure and rewarding career for Southwest pilots and their families through negotiating contracts, defending contractual rights, and actively promoting professionalism and safety. For more information on the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, visit www.swapa.org. SOURCE Southwest Airlines Pilots Association The partnership will support TECNO to take further its leadership in inclusive camera technology innovations that better capture and represent the diversity of beauty, produce true skin tone image and inspire natural skin tone confidence. LONDON, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- TECNO, a global pioneer in inclusive camera technology, today announced a strategic partnership with the School of Design at University of Leeds to jointly advance the application of colour science to TECNO's multi-skin tone imaging system, which is to ultimately empower the imaging experience especially portrait on TECNO's smartphones and strengthen its unique leadership across the industry. With in-depth academic research, scientific analysis and consultation from authoritative experts in the field, the partnership aims to break down barriers to achieve more realistic true-to-life portrait imaging that results in a more inclusive photography experience for smartphone users of every skin tone from TECNO's target markets. As a distinguished leader of smartphone brands, TECNO has always been dedicated to capturing and celebrating the beauty of diversity from emerging markets, embracing the perfection of true skin tones and inspiring confidence through inclusive camera technologies. This strategic partnership will leverage TECNO's cutting-edge technological capabilities and the School of Design at University of Leeds' colour science expertise to further solidify TECNO's position as a flag-bearer for smartphones designed with every skintone in mind. The collaboration will focus on delivering scientific research and breakthroughs that advance multi-skin tone portrait imaging technology in smartphones. Extensive research will be carried out into how technological barriers, psychological barriers, and localized experience barriers can be removed in order to deliver more professional photography experiences that ensure everyone is accurately represented in photography whatever shade their skin. The commencement of this exciting partnership will see even greater investment from TECNO in its multi-skin tone imaging system, with the brand and the School of Design at University of Leeds working together to further academic research and technological innovation in the field while establishing a new standard for cutting-edge multi-skin tone imaging. "TECNO has always seen portrait photography as an important opportunity to promote greater inclusivity in smartphone technology," said Jack Guo, General Manager of TECNO. "With a consistent dedication to bridge the gap with global emerging markets through better technologies, our goal is to strengthen our technological capabilities in multi-skin tone imaging to better capture the essence of humanity in a way that represents everybody. Through our collaboration with the School of Design at University of Leeds, we aim to combine our strengths and use technological innovation to enhance the imaging experience for TECNO customers whoever and wherever they are." Through years of work on the foundations of inclusive camera technology, TECNO has developed vast technical expertise and scientifically accurate verification methods in multi-skin tone portrait technology. This expertise has been honed through a localized user-centric approach, allowing TECNO to gain deep insight into local consumer requirements to develop precise methodologies that improve the user experience. While TECNO has been delivering impactful imaging for users with dark skin tones for many years, thanks also to a comprehensive image customization debugging strategy and in-depth algorithm optimizations, the brand's imaging research and investment are focused on a diverse spectrum of users. In fact, TECNO's attention to market and consumer feedback enables it to deliver an improved imaging experience for users with a wide range of skin tones. With this consumer-centric approach and market-driven strategy, TECNO is well-positioned to continue leading innovation in the industry through this new strategic partnership. The School of Design at University of Leeds, a renowned institution with a strong background in colour science, will contribute its academic and scientific support, laboratory data, and insights from authoritative experts and institutions in the research community. The university's in-depth research on skin tone and colour science places great importance on inclusivity and diversity to uplift and celebrate the beauty of true tones, and has gained recognition in both academia and industry, making it an invaluable partner. Dr. Kaida Xiao, Technical Advisor of TECNO ColourScience of Skintone Image Technology and Associate Professor in Colour and Imaging Science in the School of Design at the University of Leeds, said: "Our involvement in colour and skin tone research has spanned many years, and I'm thrilled that TECNO is joining us to pursue further inclusivity-related research with a shared vision to create more inclusive depictions of beauty. Academic research has a major role in meeting the needs of society, and through collaborations with leading enterprises like TECNO, we continuously discover new ways of implementing our knowledge. We are delighted to be partnering with TECNO as their ambitions align perfectly with ours, namely advancing technologies that can enhance people's experience of life and contribute to greater inclusivity." As a consumer-centric brand, TECNO's innovation is informed by local insights and demands acquired through extensive consumer research. In line with its "Stop at Nothing" philosophy, TECNO is dedicated to improving the smartphone experience for a global audience of every skin tone . TECNO will continue to work with leading global organizations and institutions to break down barriers and establish new standards and technologies in the field of multi-skin tone portrait and colour science. About TECNO TECNO is an innovative technology brand with operations in over 70 countries and regions across five continents. Since its launch, TECNO has been revolutionizing the digital experience in emerging global markets, relentlessly pushing for the perfect integration of contemporary, aesthetic design with the latest technologies. Today, TECNO has developed into a recognized leader in its target markets, delivering state-of-the-art innovation through a wide range of smartphones, smart wearables, laptops and tablets, HiOS operating systems and smart home products. Guided by its brand essence of "Stop At Nothing", TECNO is committed to unlocking the best and newest technologies for forward-looking individuals. By creating stylish, intelligent products, TECNO inspires consumers worldwide to never stop pursuing their best selves and their best futures. For more information, please visit TECNO's official site: www.tecno-mobile.com SOURCE TECNO SHANGHAI, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 11, 2023, the World Corrugated Awards (WCA) Ceremony, organized by RX (Reed Exhibitions), was successfully held at the Wyndham Hotel, Shanghai Hongqiao. Cheng, Michael, President of RX Greater China, Li Hua, president of the China Packaging Federation, Kishan, WPO Ambassador and CP Lau, representative of ACCA, and many other industry elites and leaders came to the scene. Selection of case nominations for WCA 2023 Since the inception in 2019, the WCA has been successfully held for 2 times, aiming to select the most pioneering design, marketing, management, and social responsibility cases of the current year, and to recognize corrugated companies, teams and individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of the global corrugated industry. On 12 December 2022, the RX announced the return of WCA with brand new awards. And It's the first year RX co-organized WCA with ACCA. On the awarding ceremony, CP Lau, representative of ACCA went on stage and said ACCA always regarded WCA as the milestone grand event in bi-annual calendar to welcome and gather the global industry's key decision makers to celebrate. In the future, ACCA will continue to work with RX to make the WCA the "Oscars" of the corrugated industry. The members of WCA 2023 jury included Peter van Ostaijen, Secretary General of CBA, Varna Sudasna, Chief Packaging Specialist of SCG Packaging, Hernan Braberman, Partner & Executive Design Director of Tridimage and other corrugated industry authorities. The international judging panel is the core team of the World Corrugated Awards, their professionalism and fairness in scoring the nominated cases and writing their comments determine the "internationality" and "authority" of the WCA. For the WCA, 2023 was a year full of change. It experienced the worst period of the epidemic in China, making case collection more difficult than in previous years. During the entire competition that lasted a full seven months, with enthusiastic support from more than 100 carton companies from more than a dozen countries, WCA still got more than 150 exciting case studies collected, of which 60 outstanding cases were successfully shortlisted. After three stages of screening, online voting and scoring by a panel of judges, eight cases stood out. Innovation Awards Innovative Design of the Year WinnerVIRUS REN GUARD PACKAGING CompanyRENGO Innovative Material of the Year WinnerUltra-thin honeycomb panels(3.5mm) CompanyTongling Xingrui Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. Innovative Application of the Year WinnerOptimPak (two versions) Company Tri-Wall (Asia) Pte. Ltd. Corporate Management Awards Best Risk Management of the Year WinnerDetection system to prevent fire in corrugated box plant ( at Cutter Blower) CompanyThai Containers Group Intelligent Production of the Year WinnerLonglide new landmark for high-end intelligent manufacturing CompanyLD Intelligent Technology Co.,Ltd Business Transformation of the Year WinnerJifeng Packaging's Innovative Co-packing Business Model CompanyPacific Millennium Packaging Group Corporation Social Value Awards People in the Industry of the Year Winner: Longping, Xu Most Influential Cardboard Mill of the Year Winner: Sichuan Yibin Global Shenzhou Packaging Technology Co., Ltd. The award ceremony invited Han Xueshan, vice president of the China Packaging Federation, Cheng, Michael, President of RX Greater China and CP Lau, representative of ACCA as the guest of honour to give awards to the winning enterprises and individuals. Each winning case got a prize of $1,000 USD ($1,500 for the Most Influential Cardboard Mill Award). On the night of the event, the organisers prepared a sumptuous welcome dinner for all the guests. 300 elites from the corrugated industry from different countries and regions gathered and spent a night exclusive to the corrugated industry. Next WCA will be launched in 2025, all companies and individuals related to corrugated are welcome to nominate cases. The organisers will also invite more authoritative industry experts to join the judging panel of the competition to jointly take on a highly influential industry event. SOURCE RX (China) Investment Co., Ltd. Russian occupation forces shelled the village of Podoly, Kupiansk district, in Kharkiv region, Head of Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Oleh Syniehubov has said. "An enemy shell hit a house. Regrettably, a woman was killed. A man suffered injuries. Emergency services are working at the scene," he said on the Telegram channel on Thursday. The enemy also attacked the village of Vovchanski Khutory, Chuhuyiv district. A 73-year-old man was injured there. He received aid from medical workers. NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The commercial online printing market size in European Union is expected to increase by USD 2.03 billion from 2021 to 2026, and the market's growth momentum will accelerate at a CAGR of 6.24%, according to Technavio. Download a Sample Report Commercial Online Printing Market in European Union Insights - Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Commercial Online Printing Market in European Union Companies : 15+, Including ADOSEVILLA SL, CEWE Stiftung and Co. KGaA, Cimpress Plc, Doxzoo Ltd., FasterPrint Srl, Grafenia plc, MOO Print Ltd., Onlineprinters GmbH, OvernightPrints GmbH, and unitedprint.com UK Ltd., among others : 15+, Including ADOSEVILLA SL, CEWE Stiftung and Co. KGaA, Cimpress Plc, Doxzoo Ltd., FasterPrint Srl, Grafenia plc, MOO Print Ltd., Onlineprinters GmbH, OvernightPrints GmbH, and unitedprint.com UK Ltd., among others Coverage: Parent market analysis; key drivers, major trends, and challenges; customer and company landscape; company product insights and recent developments; key companies; and market positioning of companies Parent market analysis; key drivers, major trends, and challenges; customer and company landscape; company product insights and recent developments; key companies; and market positioning of companies Segments: product (business cards, display pos and signage, packaging, labels, and others) and geography ( Western Europe and Eastern Europe ) To understand more about the commercial online printing market in European Union, request a sample report Commercial Online Printing Market in European Union - Company Insights The growing competition in the market is compelling companies 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 companies including - ADOSEVILLA SL, CEWE Stiftung and Co. KGaA, Cimpress Plc, Doxzoo Ltd., FasterPrint Srl, Grafenia plc, MOO Print Ltd., Onlineprinters GmbH, OvernightPrints GmbH, and unitedprint.com UK Ltd. Commercial Online Printing Market in European Union Market Dynamics Key Drivers The availability of POD services is one of the key factors driving market growth. Online print service providers offer a printing service known as POD. These services include printed products such as brochures, newspapers, and others. Furthermore, the demand for POD services has increased among consumers due to the availability of digital printing. This helps in improving print quality and delivers the required number of prints in a short time. Hence, the increasing preference for POD services is expected to drive market growth during the forecast period. Major Trends Development in communication network infrastructure is a major trend in the market. The European Commission has developed a broadband policy and strategy to increase download speeds to 1 (Gigabit/s) Gbps for every EU household by 2025. Many EU countries have implemented necessary measures to improve the infrastructure of communication networks. The rapid adoption of online printing services across Europe is due to the advances in communication network infrastructure. In addition, they have also encouraged traditional print service providers to implement web-based printing software and offer online printing to their customers. Significant Challenges The rising demand for digital advertisements and e-books is one of the significant challenges restricting market growth. The growing popularity of digital data and document distribution is expected to reduce demand for printed items, including directories, financial documents, advertising, and novels. Both outdoor and indoor advertising are increasingly using digital signage, billboards, and other media. Meanwhile, marketers are experimenting with new ways to use digital billboards. In addition, marketers can change messages and display photos remotely with full-motion digital electronic signage. Thus, rising demand for digital advertisements and e-books is expected to restrict market growth during the forecast period. Drivers, Trends & Challenges have an impact on market dynamics and can impact businesses. Find some insights from a sample report! The commercial online printing market in European Union 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 prospects. Why Buy? Add credibility to the strategy Analyzes competitor's offerings Get a holistic view of the market Grow your profit margin with Technavio- Buy the Report What are the key data covered in this Commercial Online Printing Market In European Union report? CAGR of the market during the forecast period Detailed information on factors that will drive the growth of the commercial online printing market in European Union between 2022 and 2026 Precise estimation of the size of the commercial online printing market in European Union 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 commercial online printing market in European Union across Western Europe and Eastern Europe and A thorough analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information about companies Comprehensive analysis of factors that will challenge the growth of the commercial online printing market in European Union companies Gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Related Reports The call center outsourcing market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 4.8% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecast to increase by USD 27.64 billion. Furthermore, this report extensively covers market segmentation by end-user (IT and telecom, BFSI, healthcare, retail, and others), type (inbound and outbound), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa). The rise of emerging countries as call center destinations is a key factor driving the growth of the market. The data center colocation and managed hosting services market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 13.87% between 2022 and 2027. Furthermore, this report extensively covers market segmentation by end-user (BFSI, healthcare, e-commerce, telecommunication, and others), type (wholesale and retail), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America). The rising demand for data center colocation facilities is a key factor driving the growth of the market. Commercial Online Printing Market Scope in European Union Report Coverage Details Base year 2021 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 6.24% Market Growth 2022-2026 USD 2.03 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 5.64 Regional analysis Western Europe and Eastern Europe Performing market contribution Western Europe at 98% Key countries Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Austria Competitive landscape Leading Companies, Market Positioning of Companies, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled ADOSEVILLA SL, CEWE Stiftung and Co. KGaA, Cimpress Plc, Doxzoo Ltd., FasterPrint Srl, Grafenia plc, MOO Print Ltd., Onlineprinters GmbH, OvernightPrints GmbH, and unitedprint.com UK 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, 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 *Exhibit 01: Key Finding 1 *Exhibit 02: Key Finding 2 *Exhibit 03: Key Finding 3 *Exhibit 04: Key Finding 5 *Exhibit 05: Key Finding 6 *Exhibit 06: Key Finding 7 ***2. Market Landscape **2.1 Market ecosystem *Exhibit 07: Parent market *Exhibit 08: Market Characteristics **2.2 Value Chain Analysis *Exhibit 09: Value chain analysis: Data Processing and outsourced services *2.2.1 Inputs *2.2.2 Operations *2.2.3 Marketing and sales *2.2.4 Support activities *2.2.5 Innovations ***3. Market Sizing **3.1 Market definition *Exhibit 10: Offerings of companies included in the market definition **3.2 Market segment analysis *Exhibit 11: Market segments **3.3 Market size 2021 **3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021 - 2026 *3.4.1Estimating growth rates for emerging and high-growth markets *3.4.2 Estimating growth rates for mature markets *Exhibit 12: Global - Market size and forecast 2021 - 2026 (million $) *Exhibit 13: Global market: Year-over-year growth 2021 - 2026(%) ***4. Five Forces Analysis **4.1 Five Forces Summary *Exhibit 14: Five forces analysis 2021 - 2026 **4.2 Bargaining power of buyers *Exhibit 15: Bargaining power of the buyer **4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers *Exhibit 16: Bargaining power of the supplier **4.4 Threat of new entrants *Exhibit 17: Threat of new entrants **4.5 Threat of substitutes *Exhibit 18: Threat of substitutes **4.6 Threat of rivalry *Exhibit 19: Threat of rivalry **4.7 Market condition *Exhibit 20: Market condition - Five forces 2021 ***5. Market Segmentation by Product **5.1 Market segments *Exhibit 21:Product Market share 2021 - 2026 (%) **5.2 Comparison by Product *Exhibit 22: Comparison by Product **5.3 Business cards - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 *Exhibit 23: Business cards - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) *Exhibit 24: Business cards - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) **5.4 Display POS and signage - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 *Exhibit 25: Display POS and signage - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) *Exhibit 26: Display POS and signage - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) **5.5 Packaging - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 *Exhibit 27: Packaging - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million *Exhibit 28: Packaging - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) **5.6 Labels - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 *Exhibit 29: Labels - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) *Exhibit 30: Labels - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) **5.7 Others - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 *Exhibit 31: Others - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ million) *Exhibit 32: Others - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%) **5.8 Market opportunity by Product *Exhibit 33: Market opportunity by Product ***6. Customer landscape *Technavio's customer landscape matrix comparing Drivers or price sensitivity, Adoption lifecycle, importance in customer price basket, Adoption rate and Key purchase criteria *Exhibit 34: Customer landscape ***7. Geographic Landscape **7.1 Geographic segmentation *Exhibit 35: Market share by geography 2020-2025 (%) **7.2 Geographic comparison *Exhibit 36: Geographic comparison **7.3 Western Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 *Exhibit 37: Western Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) *Exhibit 38: Western Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) **7.4 Eastern Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 *Exhibit 39: Eastern Europe - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ million) *Exhibit 40: Eastern Europe - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%) **7.5 Key leading countries *Exhibit 41: Key leading countries **7.6 Market opportunity by geography *Exhibit 42: Market opportunity by geography ($ million) ***8. Drivers, Challenges, and Trends **8.1 Market drivers *8.1.1 Availability of POD services *8.1.2 Growing adoption of digital printing *8.1.3 Value-added services (VAS) **8.2 Market challenges *8.2.1 Rising demand for digital advertisements and e-books *8.2.2 Challenges associated with the adoption of web-to-print *8.2.3 Dynamic pricing of raw materials *Exhibit 43: Impact of drivers and challenges **8.3 Market trends *8.3.1 Development in communication network infrastructure *8.3.2 Increasing adoption of hybrid printing *8.3.3 Rising demand for eco-friendly inks ***9. Company Landscape **9.1 Overview **9.2 Company landscape *Exhibit 44: Company landscape **9.3 Landscape disruption *Exhibit 45: ?Landscape disruption? *Exhibit 46: Industry Risk ***10. Company Analysis **10.1 Companies Covered *Exhibit 47: Company Landscape **10.2 Market positioning of companies *Exhibit 48: ?Market positioning of companies? **10.3 ADOSEVILLA SL *Exhibit 49: ADOSEVILLA SL - Overview *Exhibit 50: ADOSEVILLA SL - Product and service *Exhibit 51: ADOSEVILLA SL - Key offerings **10.4 CEWE Stiftung and Co. KGaA *Exhibit 52: CEWE Stiftung and Co. KGaA - Overview *Exhibit 53: CEWE Stiftung and Co. KGaA - Business segments *Exhibit 54: CEWE Stiftung and Co. KGaA - Key offerings *Exhibit 55: CEWE Stiftung and Co. KGaA Key news *Exhibit 56: CEWE Stiftung and Co. KGaA - Segment focus **10.5 Cimpress Plc *Exhibit 57: Cimpress Plc - Overview *Exhibit 58: Cimpress Plc - Business segments *Exhibit 59: Cimpress Plc - Key offerings *Exhibit 60: Cimpress Plc - Segment focus **10.6 Doxzoo Ltd. *Exhibit 61: Doxzoo Ltd. - Overview *Exhibit 62: Doxzoo Ltd. - Product and service *Exhibit 63: Doxzoo Ltd. - Key offerings *Exhibit 64: FasterPrint Srl - Overview *Exhibit 65: FasterPrint Srl - Product and service **10.7 Grafenia plc *Exhibit 66: Grafenia plc - Overview *Exhibit 67: Grafenia plc - Product and service *Exhibit 68: Grafenia plc - Key offerings **10.8 MOO Print Ltd *Exhibit 69: MOO Print Ltd. - Overview *Exhibit 70: MOO Print Ltd. - Product and service *Exhibit 71: MOO Print Ltd. - Key offerings **10.9 Onlineprinters GmbH *Exhibit 72: Onlineprinters GmbH - Overview *Exhibit 73: Onlineprinters GmbH - Product and service *Exhibit 74: Onlineprinters GmbH - Key offerings *Exhibit 75: Onlineprinters GmbH Key news **10.10 OvernightPrints GmbH *Exhibit 76: OvernightPrints GmbH - Overview *Exhibit 77: OvernightPrints GmbH - Product and service *Exhibit 78: OvernightPrints GmbH - Key offerings **10.11 unitedprint.com UK Ltd. *Exhibit 79: unitedprint.com UK Ltd. - Overview *Exhibit 80: unitedprint.com UK Ltd. - Product and service *Exhibit 81: unitedprint.com UK Ltd. - Key offerings ***11. Appendix **11.1 Scope of the report *11.1.1 ????Market definition *11.1.2 ????Objectives *11.1.3 ????Notes and caveats **11.2 Currency conversion rates for US$ *Exhibit 82: ?Currency conversion rates for US$? **11.3 Research Methodology *Exhibit 83: ?Research Methodology *Exhibit 84: ??Validation techniques employed for market sizing? *Exhibit 85: ??Information sources **11.4 List of abbreviations *Exhibit 86: 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 Info-Tech's latest research shows that data loss prevention is not just a single tool. Rather, it's an additional layer of security that depends on different components of a security program and requires adequate time and effort to mature. TORONTO, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Driven by reduced operational costs and improved agility, the migration to cloud services continues to steadily grow. At the same time, organizations must prevent the misuse and leakage of data, especially sensitive data, regardless of where it's stored. Moving to the cloud poses unique challenges for cybersecurity practitioners, such as compliance obligations and mitigating insider threats without impacting legitimate business access. Furthermore, all stages of the data lifecycle exist in the cloud, and all stages provide the opportunity for data loss. To help security teams build a data loss prevention strategy aligned with their organization's security program and architecture, global research and advisory firm Info-Tech Research Group has published its latest blueprint Prevent Data Loss Across Cloud and Hybrid Environments . Info-Tech Research Groups Prevent Data Loss Across Cloud and Hybrid Environments blueprint outlines an approach to strategizing and implementing data loss prevention solutions for cloud services. (CNW Group/Info-Tech Research Group) "Cloud services do not offer the same level of management and control over resources as traditional IT approaches. The result can be reduced visibility of data in cloud services and reduced ability to apply controls to that data, particularly data loss prevention (DLP) controls," says Bob Wilson , research director at Info-Tech Research Group. "It's not unusual for organizations to approach DLP as a point solution. Many DLP solutions are marketed as such. The truth is, DLP is a complex program that uses many different parts of an organization's security program and architecture." According to Info-Tech's research, data loss prevention doesn't depend on a single tool. Many of the leading cloud service providers offer DLP controls with their services, and the firm states that these controls should be carefully considered. As organizations increasingly move data into the cloud, their environments become more complex and vulnerable to insider threats. "Insider threats are a primary concern, but employees must be able to access data to perform their duties," explains Wilson. "It isn't always easy to strike a balance between adequate access and being too restrictive with controls." Furthermore, it's not uncommon for an organization not to know what data they use, where that data exists, or how they are supposed to protect it. Cloud systems, especially software as a service (SaaS) applications, may not provide much visibility into how that data is stored or protected. "To successfully implement DLP for data in the cloud, an organization should leverage existing security controls and integrate DLP tools, whether newly acquired or available in cloud services, with its existing security program," adds Wilson. Info-Tech's blueprint highlights that DLP is a set of technologies and processes that provides additional data protection by identifying, monitoring, and preventing data from being illicitly used or transmitted. DLP depends on many components of a mature security program, including but not limited to acceptable use policies, data classification policies, data handling guidelines, and effective identity and access management. The research blueprint outlines some of the tactics that organizations can use to achieve DLP: Identify: Data is detected using policies, rules, and patterns. Data is detected using policies, rules, and patterns. Monitor: Data is flagged, and data activity is logged. Data is flagged, and data activity is logged. Prevent: Action is taken on data once it has been detected. Info-Tech advises organizations to start applying DLP with the most critical data, as applying it to all data may not be feasible. Additionally, the firm emphasizes the fact that DLP should be considered a secondary layer of protection and that an existing security program should do most of the work to prevent data misuse. To learn more about how organizations can build an additional layer of data protection, download the complete Prevent Data Loss Across Cloud and Hybrid Environments blueprint. For media inquiries on the topic or to get exclusive, timely commentary from Bob Wilson, a cybersecurity and privacy expert, please contact [email protected] . About Info-Tech Research Group Info-Tech Research Group is one of the world's leading information technology research and advisory firms, proudly serving over 30,000 professionals. The company produces unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. For 25 years, Info-Tech has partnered closely with IT teams to provide them with everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations. Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to research across IT, HR, and software and over 200 IT and industry analysts through the firm's Media Insiders program. To gain access, contact [email protected]. For more information about Info-Tech Research Group or to access the latest research, visit infotech.com and connect via LinkedIn and Twitter. SOURCE Info-Tech Research Group Global visionaries headline the premier open source event in Europe, covering the most pivotal topics and technologies at the core of open source. SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Linux Foundation , the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, today announced the keynote speakers for Open Source Summit Europe , taking place September 19-21 at the Euskalduna Conference Centre in Bilbao, Spain. The full event schedule is available here . Open Source Summit is a global conference that hosts a collection of microconferences, mini-summits, and co-located events for the open source community. Developers, technologists, and community leaders unite at Open Source Summit every year in North America, Europe, and Asia to collaborate, innovate, and help advance a sustainable open source ecosystem. Open Source Summit Europe 2023 microconferences include CloudOpen , ContainerCon , Diversity Empowerment Summit , Emerging OS Forum , LinuxCon , Open AI + Data Forum , OpenJS World , Open Source Leadership Summit , Open Source On-Ramp , OSPOCon , SupplyChainSecurityCon , and SustainabilityCon . In addition, 10 mini-summits and co-located events will take place alongside Open Source Summit Europe, offering more opportunities for attendees to learn about PyTorch, Linux Security, OpenWallet, Open Metaverse, OpenSSF, Networking, OpenChain, SPDX, and so much more. Keynote speakers for Open Source Summit Europe 2023 include: Gabriele Columbro , Executive Director, FINOS & General Manager, Linux Foundation Europe , Executive Director, & General Manager, Jim Zemlin , Executive Director, The Linux Foundation , Executive Director, Fiona Krakenburger , Co-Founder, Sovereign Tech Fund , Co-Founder, Tara Tarakiyee , Technologist, Sovereign Tech Fund , Technologist, Cristina Bentue , Co-Founder and COO, IriusRisk , Co-Founder and COO, Vivek Mahajan , Corporate Executive Officer, SEVP, CTO, CPO, Co-Head of System Platform, Fujitsu Ltd , Corporate Executive Officer, SEVP, CTO, CPO, Co-Head of System Platform, Dave Lago , Software Development Manager, Amazon Web Services , Software Development Manager, Nithya Ruff , Director, OSPO, Amazon , Director, OSPO, Fatima Sarah Khalid , Developer Evangelist, GitLab , Developer Evangelist, Ed Parsons , Geospatial Technologist, Google , Geospatial Technologist, Jonathan Vila , Developer Advocate, Sonar , Developer Advocate, Patrick von Platen , Diffusers Team Lead, Hugging Face Open Source , Diffusers Team Lead, Jonathan Katz , Principal Product Manager - Technical, Amazon Web Services Registration (in-person) is offered at the price of US$999 through September 4, a savings of US$250. Special registration rates are available for small businesses, hobbyists, students, 'hall pass,' and virtual-only options are available as well. Please review all registration types here . Members of The Linux Foundation receive a 20 percent discount off registration and can contact [email protected] to request a member discount code. Event Sponsors Open Source Summit Europe 2023 is made possible thanks to our sponsors , including: Diamond Sponsors: Fujitsu, Google, and OpenEuler Platinum Sponsors: Amazon Web Services, Huawei, OpenSearch, and Sonar Gold Sponsors: Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Delta Lake , GitLab, Intel, Red Hat, SUSE, and Synopsys For information on becoming an event sponsor, click here or email us. Press Members of the press who would like to request a press pass to attend should contact Kristin O'Connell . Social Media Join the conversation on social media by using the hashtag #OSSummit. ABOUT THE LINUX FOUNDATION The Linux Foundation is the world's leading home for collaboration on open source software, hardware, standards, and data. Linux Foundation projects are critical to the world's infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, ONAP, PyTorch, RISC-V, SPDX, OpenChain, and more. The Linux Foundation focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users, and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at https://www.linuxfoundation.org/ . The Linux Foundation Events are where the world's leading technologists meet, collaborate, learn and network in order to advance innovations that support the world's largest shared technologies. Visit our website and follow us on Twitter , LinkedIn , and Facebook for all the latest event updates and announcements. The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see its trademark usage page: www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage . Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Media Contact Kristin O'Connell The Linux Foundation [email protected] SOURCE The Linux Foundation TULSA, Okla., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Tulsa has announced a new online nursing program to create more pathways for students to meet the growing demand for nurses. The first class begins Aug. 21 with a program for registered nurses to earn their bachelor of science in nursing, which equips them to transfer experience into leadership. This modern course delivery method costs less per hour than a traditional full-time, in-person experience and creates more flexibility for working adults to access a top-tier health care degree. The RN-BSN program features TU's top-ranked curriculum in accelerated, eight-week courses and can be completed in as few as 12 months. Students also may spread out their coursework to accommodate their schedules. "We are actively working to create more accessible ways for busy, working professionals to balance family and career advancement at a time when demand for nurses is approaching critical levels," said Ron Walker, interim dean of TU's Oxley College of Health & Natural Sciences. "Our online program is designed to be adaptable and exceptional; students can enter at any of five start dates throughout the year, pause, and then restart between sessions to fit the realities of their lives." The University of Tulsa has a 50-year history of educating students in a pre-licensure nursing program. Since its first graduating class in 1973, TU's School of Nursing has graduated more than 1,400 students with a BSN degree. The university prides itself on personalized attention, esteemed faculty and dedicated academic support and career guidance. TU's School of Nursing has reported a 100% placement rate for the past five years. TU's RN-BSN program is currently enrolling for fall 2023, with limited space still available for classes starting on Aug. 21. Financial assistance is available. For more information about TU's online nursing programs, visit online.utulsa.edu. The University of Tulsa is located on a 200-acre residential campus along historic Route 66 just two miles from downtown Tulsa. TU is among the top 15% of U.S. News & World Report's best colleges and was ranked No. 20 among U.S. universities that emphasize science, technology, engineering and math by Forbes Magazine. With a perfect score from Money Magazine for Best Colleges in America, TU is in elite company nationwide for graduation and placement rates, cost of attendance, financial aid, and alumni salaries. To learn more, visit utulsa.edu. SOURCE University of Tulsa NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The voice and speech analytics market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 16.35% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecast to increase by USD 2,565.07 million, according to Technavio. North America is estimated to contribute 41% to the growth of the global market during the forecast period. The growth in this region is due to the increasing demand for cross-industry analytics solutions for customer-centric decision-making in this region. The US is the key contributor to the market in the region. Furthermore, rapid advancements in technology, increasing use of speech and speech recognition software in wearable devices, and many call centers are the major drivers of the country's growth. For Comprehensive details on the market size of the historical period(2017 to 2021) and forecast period (2023-2027) - View the Sample report Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Voice and Speech Analytics Market Company Landscape The voice and speech analytics market is fragmented; the companies are competing with competitors and are trying to get a greater market share. The market is growing, and the chances of new entrants cannot be overlooked. The major companies have well-established economies of scale and market presence and generally rely on positioning technological advances, and the price of the products -The report provides a full list of key companies, their strategies, and the latest developments. Buy Now Market Dynamics Key Drivers The demand from the growing business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is a key factor driving market growth. Globally, the BPO sector is experiencing significant growth as large companies increasingly outsource their services and businesses to focus time and resources on their core business and office operations. Customer call analytics are essential for BPO departments to better serve their customers. A key benefit of speech and language analysis is that it enables end users to better understand their customers by uncovering hidden insights in their voice and language. Hence, these factors are expected to drive market growth during the forecast period. Major Trends The proliferation of predictive analytics in voice and speech analytics is a major trend in the market. The ability for end users to receive predictive reports on analyzed speech and audio data is one of the key features of predictive analytics. This improves business processes and provides an optimal customer experience, especially in call centers. In addition, predictive analytics are used to accurately predict future customer behavior based on phone calls. This has led many companies in the market to offer predictive analytics. Thus, these factors are expected to drive market growth during the forecast period. Significant Challenges Lack of accuracy in voice and speech analytics is a significant challenge restricting market growth. Voice and speech are very complex subjects to understand, and voice and speech analysis can be subjective and biased, leading to industry-wide concerns about the accuracy of these solutions. The solution has only a few modules of widely recognized speech and speech patterns installed for analysis, so it is not possible to predict all possible speech and speech patterns in the solution for comprehensive analysis. This is one of the biggest limitations in the market. Hence, a lack of accuracy is expected to restrict market growth during the forecast period. Technavio has identified key trends, drivers, and challenges in the market, which will help clients improve their strategies to stay ahead of their competitors. - View Sample Report Company Profiles The voice and speech analytics market report includes information on the product launches, sustainability, and prospects of leading companies including Avaya Inc., Calabrio Inc., CallMiner Inc., Castel Communications LLC, Dialpad Inc., Enghouse Systems Ltd., Invoca Inc., Liveperson Inc., Marchex Inc, NICE Ltd., Qualtrics LLC, Sabio Ltd. Co., Talkdesk Inc., ThoughtSpot Inc., Uniphore Technologies Inc., Verint Systems Inc., Voci Technologies Inc., VoiceSense Ltd, audEERING GmbH, and Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc.. Competitive Analysis The report includes competitive analysis, a proprietary tool to analyze and evaluate the position of companies based on their industry position score and market performance score. The competitive scenario categorizes companies based on various performance indicators. Some of the factors considered include the financial performance of companies over the past few years, growth strategies, product innovations, new product launches, investments, and growth in market share, among others. Market Segmentation The market is segmented by end-user (large enterprise, small, and medium enterprise), component (solution and services), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa) The market share growth in the large enterprise segment will be significant during the forecast period. The growth of this segment can be attributed to various factors such as increasing demand for automated quality assurance processes, increased regulatory compliance, and call quality assurance to identify training opportunities for customer service representatives. Furthermore, voice and speech analytics solutions that can be used to analyze communication data across platforms are becoming more common because large businesses use different channels such as chat, voicemail, voice calls, and voice messages to communicate with their customers. Thus, these factors are expected to drive segment growth during the forecast period. Gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Related Reports The enterprise asset management (EAM) market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 7.85% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecast to increase by USD 2,046.52 million. Furthermore, this report extensively covers market segmentation by deployment (on-premises and cloud-based), end-user (large enterprises and SMEs), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, Middle East and Africa, and South America). The growing number of partnerships and acquisitions is a key factor driving market growth during the forecast period. The voice speech recognition software market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 13.72% between 2022 and 2027. The market size is forecast to increase by USD 14,859.93 million. Furthermore, this report extensively covers market segmentation by technology (voice recognition and speech recognition), end-user (healthcare, consumer products, automotive, enterprise contact centers, and others), and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and the Middle East and Africa). The increasing adoption of technologically advanced mobile devices is a key factor driving market growth during the forecast period. Voice And Speech Analytics Market Scope Report Coverage Details Base year 2022 Historic period 2017-2021 Forecast period 2023-2027 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 16.35% Market growth 2023-2027 USD 2,565.07 million Market structure Fragmented YoY growth 2022-2023 (%) 15.53 Regional analysis North America, Europe, APAC, South America, and Middle East and Africa Performing market contribution North America at 41% Key countries US, China, India, UK, and Germany Competitive landscape Leading Companies, Market Positioning of Companies, Competitive Strategies, and Industry Risks Key companies profiled Avaya Inc., Calabrio Inc., CallMiner Inc., Castel Communications LLC, Dialpad Inc., Enghouse Systems Ltd., Invoca Inc., Liveperson Inc., Marchex Inc, NICE Ltd., Qualtrics LLC, Sabio Ltd. Co., Talkdesk Inc., ThoughtSpot Inc., Uniphore Technologies Inc., Verint Systems Inc., Voci Technologies Inc., VoiceSense Ltd, audEERING GmbH, and Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc. Market dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID-19 impact and recovery analysis and future consumer dynamics, 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 End-user Exhibit 06: Executive Summary Chart on Market Segmentation by Component Exhibit 07: Executive Summary Chart on Incremental Growth Exhibit 08: Executive Summary Data Table on Incremental Growth Exhibit 09: Executive Summary Chart on Company 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 companies 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 voice and speech analytics market 2017 - 2021 Exhibit 18: Historic Market Size Data Table on global voice and speech analytics market 2017 - 2021 ($ million) 4.2 End-user Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021 Exhibit 19: Historic Market Size End-user Segment 2017 - 2021 ($ million) 4.3 Component Segment Analysis 2017 - 2021 Exhibit 20: Historic Market Size Component 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 End-user 6.1 Market segments Exhibit 30: Chart on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 31: Data Table on End-user - Market share 2022-2027 (%) 6.2 Comparison by End-user Exhibit 32: Chart on Comparison by End-user Exhibit 33: Data Table on Comparison by End-user 6.3 Large enterprise - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 34: Chart on Large enterprise - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 35: Data Table on Large enterprise - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 36: Chart on Large enterprise - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 37: Data Table on Large enterprise - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 6.4 Small and medium enterprise - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 38: Chart on Small and medium enterprise - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 39: Data Table on Small and medium enterprise - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 40: Chart on Small and medium enterprise - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 41: Data Table on Small and medium enterprise - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 6.5 Market opportunity by End-user Exhibit 42: Market opportunity by End-user ($ million) Exhibit 43: Data Table on Market opportunity by End-user ($ million) 7 Market Segmentation by Component 7.1 Market segments Exhibit 44: Chart on Component - Market share 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 45: Data Table on Component - Market share 2022-2027 (%) 7.2 Comparison by Component Exhibit 46: Chart on Comparison by Component Exhibit 47: Data Table on Comparison by Component 7.3 Solution - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 48: Chart on Solution - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 49: Data Table on Solution - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 50: Chart on Solution - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 51: Data Table on Solution - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 7.4 Services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 52: Chart on Services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 53: Data Table on Services - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 54: Chart on Services - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 55: Data Table on Services - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 7.5 Market opportunity by Component Exhibit 56: Market opportunity by Component ($ million) Exhibit 57: Data Table on Market opportunity by Component ($ 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 UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 87: Chart on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 88: Data Table on UK - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 89: Chart on UK - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 90: Data Table on UK - 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 China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 95: Chart on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 96: Data Table on China - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 97: Chart on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 98: Data Table on China - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) 9.12 India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 Exhibit 99: Chart on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 100: Data Table on India - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) - Market size and forecast 2022-2027 ($ million) Exhibit 101: Chart on India - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) - Year-over-year growth 2022-2027 (%) Exhibit 102: Data Table on India - 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 Company Landscape 11.1 Overview 11.2 Company 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 Company Analysis 12.1 Companies covered Exhibit 109: Companies covered 12.2 Market positioning of companies Exhibit 110: Matrix on company position and classification 12.3 audEERING GmbH Exhibit 111: audEERING GmbH - Overview Exhibit 112: audEERING GmbH - Product / Service Exhibit 113: audEERING GmbH - Key offerings 12.4 Avaya Inc. Exhibit 114: Avaya Inc. - Overview Exhibit 115: Avaya Inc. - Business segments Exhibit 116: Avaya Inc. - Key offerings Exhibit 117: Avaya Inc. - Segment focus 12.5 Calabrio Inc. Exhibit 118: Calabrio Inc. - Overview Exhibit 119: Calabrio Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 120: Calabrio Inc. - Key offerings 12.6 CallMiner Inc. Exhibit 121: CallMiner Inc. - Overview Exhibit 122: CallMiner Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 123: CallMiner Inc. - Key offerings 12.7 Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc. Exhibit 124: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc. - Overview Exhibit 125: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 126: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc. - Key offerings 12.8 Invoca Inc. Exhibit 127: Invoca Inc. - Overview Exhibit 128: Invoca Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 129: Invoca Inc. - Key offerings 12.9 Liveperson Inc. Exhibit 130: Liveperson Inc. - Overview Exhibit 131: Liveperson Inc. - Business segments Exhibit 132: Liveperson Inc. - Key offerings Exhibit 133: Liveperson Inc. - Segment focus 12.10 NICE Ltd. Exhibit 134: NICE Ltd. - Overview Exhibit 135: NICE Ltd. - Business segments Exhibit 136: NICE Ltd. - Key news Exhibit 137: NICE Ltd. - Key offerings Exhibit 138: NICE Ltd. - Segment focus 12.11 Qualtrics LLC Exhibit 139: Qualtrics LLC - Overview Exhibit 140: Qualtrics LLC - Product / Service Exhibit 141: Qualtrics LLC - Key offerings 12.12 Talkdesk Inc. Exhibit 142: Talkdesk Inc. - Overview Exhibit 143: Talkdesk Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 144: Talkdesk Inc. - Key offerings 12.13 ThoughtSpot Inc. Exhibit 145: ThoughtSpot Inc. - Overview Exhibit 146: ThoughtSpot Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 147: ThoughtSpot Inc. - Key offerings 12.14 Uniphore Technologies Inc. Exhibit 148: Uniphore Technologies Inc. - Overview Exhibit 149: Uniphore Technologies Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 150: Uniphore Technologies Inc. - Key offerings 12.15 Verint Systems Inc. Exhibit 151: Verint Systems Inc. - Overview Exhibit 152: Verint Systems Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 153: Verint Systems Inc. - Key offerings 12.16 Voci Technologies Inc. Exhibit 154: Voci Technologies Inc. - Overview Exhibit 155: Voci Technologies Inc. - Product / Service Exhibit 156: Voci Technologies Inc. - Key offerings 12.17 VoiceSense Ltd Exhibit 157: VoiceSense Ltd - Overview Exhibit 158: VoiceSense Ltd - Product / Service Exhibit 159: VoiceSense Ltd - 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 Award Recognizes Commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility, Closing Digital Divide HOLMDEL, N.J., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Vonage , a global leader in cloud communications helping businesses accelerate their digital transformation, has been honored with a 2023 TrustRadius Tech Cares Award in recognition of The Vonage Foundation and its mission to help bridge the digital divide by making communications technology more accessible to all. Recognized in the Community Impact category, Vonage is acknowledged for collaborating with organizations that address various social issues and strive to create a positive difference in both broad and niche communities. The Tech Cares Award recognizes B2B technology companies that go above and beyond to demonstrate exceptional corporate social responsibility and support employees and communities with a focus on areas such as supporting women in tech and robust diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, among other areas. Vonage collaborates with organizations that address various social issues and create a positive difference. Tweet this "The Vonage Foundation has been honored with a 2023 Tech Cares award, recognizing their unwavering commitment to corporate social responsibility," said Megan Headley, VP of Research at TrustRadius. "As a foundation dedicated to advancing global connectivity and bridging the digital divide, they have shown remarkable dedication to empowering underserved communities through their focus on education, telehealth, crisis response, and connected world initiatives. Through strategic partnerships with organizations like Girls Who Code and StoryCorps, Vonage has effectively demonstrated their commitment to building a diverse tech workforce and positively impacting lives through innovative communication solutions." The Vonage Foundation partners with organizations to help support its mission for education, telehealth, connected world, and crisis response. Its mission is to help provide greater access to technology for students and teachers, enable healthcare providers to more easily communicate with patients, show other corporate players opportunities to help empower global citizens, and support the global community impacted by a natural disaster. "We are very proud to be recognized for the work of The Vonage Foundation," said Joy Corso, Chief Marketing Officer for Vonage. "This honor from Tech Cares not only speaks to the work of the Foundation to help advance global connectivity, but also the true giving spirit of our global team members who support so many charitable endeavors." About The Vonage Foundation The Vonage Foundation is focused on the power of communications and connectivity to bridge the digital divide by using technology to unlock innovation and drive creative minds with grants for curriculum, research, technical advancements, knowledge sharing and financial support, aiming to make the world we live in a vibrant interconnected community by ensuring a digital-first future is possible today. 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 . About TrustRadius TrustRadius is the most trusted research and review platform for business leaders to find and select the right software for their needs. Decision-makers across industries rely on verified, peer-based guidance and research from TrustRadius. Vendors engage and convert high-intent buyers by telling their unique story through rich reviews. Over 12 million visitors a year create and engage with high-quality review content and data on Trustradius.com . Headquartered in Austin, TX, TrustRadius was founded by successful entrepreneurs and is backed by Mayfield Fund, LiveOak Venture Partners, and Next Coast Ventures. SOURCE Vonage Funding will accelerate expansion of fiber-to-the-home in underserved neighborhoods across the U.S. NEW YORK and TORONTO, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tillman FiberCo, LLC ("Tillman FiberCo"), a leading developer and owner of symmetrical gigabit broadband, and Northleaf Capital Partners ("Northleaf"), a leading global private markets investment firm, today announced a strategic partnership. Funds managed by Northleaf have made an initial investment of $200 million, with the potential to invest up to $300 million more as Tillman FiberCo scales its operations. This investment enables Tillman FiberCo to accelerate its open access network with future-forward technologies, systems, and a next-generation network architecture that will deliver essential internet access to both residential and business customers, offering industry-leading symmetrical gigabit broadband internet access service speeds, underpinned by a long-term contract. Founded in 2021 and based in New York, Tillman FiberCo designs, builds, and owns high-speed internet infrastructure and aims to become a market leader in providing network access on a wholesale basis to enterprises and wholesale customers across all industries. Tillman FiberCo is part of the Tillman Global Holdings portfolio, a holding company founded by Sanjiv Ahuja, which is focused on investing in and operating telecommunications and energy infrastructure businesses in developed and emerging markets. "We're delighted to partner with Tillman Global Holdings and the Tillman FiberCo management team, both of which have deep industry relationships and decades of operational expertise," said Chris Rigobon, Managing Director at Northleaf. "Tillman FiberCo's wholesale business model, which is supported by a large anchor customer order, ensures the long-term revenue stability that our investors look for in our infrastructure portfolio. This investment is an excellent fit with Northleaf's communications infrastructure strategy, providing our investors with exposure to an attractive sector while mitigating downside risk." "Adding the support of a global investor like Northleaf is a tremendous endorsement of our model and the market opportunity ahead of us," said Ken Dixon, CEO of Tillman FiberCo. "We're confident that Northleaf's infrastructure experience, sector expertise and extensive resources will enable us to accelerate our growth, execute our business plan and ensure the highest quality of service to our customers." "Tillman FiberCo is building a best-in-class fiber network to support underserved neighborhoods across the U.S.," said Sachit Ahuja, President of Tillman Global Holdings. "We are excited to partner with Northleaf, who shares in our ambition to build a market-leading business over the long term." TD Securities served as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel to Northleaf. TAP Advisors served as financial advisor and Sullivan & Cromwell acted as legal counsel to Tillman FiberCo. About Tillman FiberCo Tillman FiberCo LLC is a builder and operator of a 100% Fiber to the Premise (FTTP) network that delivers industry leading symmetrical gigabit broadband internet access and services to residential and commercial customers. Tillman FiberCo will provide other point-to-point telecommunications services, such as dark fiber, ethernet, and high-capacity special access services, over its fiber network to enterprise and wholesale customers across all industries. In addition, Tillman FiberCo, LLC will offer a superior value proposition while empowering customers with leading-edge digital and assisted customer experiences powered by analytics and artificial intelligence. For more information, please visit https://tillmanfiber.com/. About Tillman Global Holdings Tillman Global Holdings is a U.S.-based holding company that builds leading businesses in digital and next-generation infrastructure. Tillman Global takes an owner-operator approach to investing in platforms globally. Current portfolio companies operate towers, in-building small cells, fiber and EV charging infrastructure. Sanjiv Ahuja launched Tillman Global in 2014 to build businesses with a focus on long-term value. For more information, visit https://www.tillmanglobalholdings.com/ About Northleaf Capital Partners Northleaf Capital Partners is a global private markets investment firm with more than $23 billion in private equity, private credit and infrastructure commitments raised to date from public, corporate and multi-employer pension plans, endowments, foundations, financial institutions and family offices. Northleaf's more than 200-person team is located in Toronto, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Menlo Park, Montreal, New York and Tokyo. Northleaf sources, evaluates and manages private markets investments, with a focus on mid-market companies and assets. For more information on Northleaf, please visit www.northleafcapital.com. Media Contacts Tillman Global Holdings & Tillman FiberCo: Abigail Rush 5W Public Relations [email protected] Northleaf: Sneha Satish Stanton [email protected] Nadine Cannata Managing Director, Marketing & Communications [email protected] SOURCE Tillman FiberCo, LLC NewRoad Capital Partners Completes Round, Joins Progress Ventures, Top VCs and Investors Gary Vaynerchuk, Marc Lore, and Alex Rodriguez to Back Innovative Data Stack Solution NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Tracer , the leading data intelligence platform, announced today the completion of an oversubscribed Series A fundraise co-led by NewRoad Capital Partners, Progress Ventures, and BDMI, part of Bertelsmann's corporate venture arm Bertelsmann Investments. S4S Ventures and Arbour Way Investors also participated in the series. The close of the round was accompanied by the addition of John Sheehy, Operating Partner at NewRoad Capital Partners, to its Board of Directors. Incubated out of VaynerMedia in 2015 by co-founders Jeffrey Nicholson and Leighton Welch to automate analytics across every client globally, Tracer processed more than $1B in transactions before spinning off into a stand-alone entity in 2021. Today, Nicholson serves as Tracer CEO and Welch as CTO. The company also recently appointed accomplished integrated marketing leader Obele Brown-West as President to spearhead Tracer's revenue, operations and strategic growth initiatives. An advertising and media veteran, new board member Sheehy was Global Brand President of Starcom Worldwide and a member of the Publicis Media global leadership team prior to joining NewRoad Capital Partners in 2022. Before Starcom, Sheehy was a member of the Leo Burnett global management team. With more than three decades of marketing and consulting experience, Sheehy will provide valuable guidance to the fast-growing company. Joining Sheehy on the Board, alongside Gary Vaynerchuk who retains his previously held seat: Adriaan Zur Muhlen, Managing Partner of Progress Ventures; Sanja Partalo, Co-founder and Managing Partner of S4S Ventures; and Keith Titan, Partner at BDMI. "Developed by true industry experts, Tracer has solved a global industry issue: the challenge of ingesting and managing the growing number of moving parts, partners, and channels around digital data management and reporting," said Sheehy. "Jeff and Leighton are the experts in this battle and have surrounded themselves with world-class talent to carve out their leadership position." Tracer has amassed a portfolio of high-profile clients such as Sanofi, Conde Nast, Papa Johns, Headspace, Media.Monks, and January Digital. A growing number of the world's top brands, agencies and holding companies are turning to the data platform to achieve greater transparency, customization and impact-driven reporting from their modern marketing tech stack. "Tracer is at a significant inflection point in solving one of the media and marketing industries' biggest problems: turning data into informed decisions," said Jeff Nicholson, Tracer co-founder and CEO. "In a challenging funding and growth landscape, we are humbled by the confidence our investors have in our potential. This oversubscribed round is a testament to the value we've proven our platform can deliver, and we look forward to working with John [Sheehy], our Board, and the industry giants who have joined as investors to catapult Tracer forward." Tracer's executive vision, strong enterprise client portfolio and remarkable customer retention have contributed to the confidence of its investor group, which includes Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore's VCP Ventures, Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman's Thirty Five Ventures (35V), Stephen Ross and Matt Higgins' RSE Ventures, S Capital Executive Chairman Sir Martin Sorrell, and Gary Vaynerchuk. With offices in New York City and London, and a team of more than 70 across four continents, Tracer's innovation has been celebrated by reputable industry organizations and publications. Most recently, the company was named to The Lead's ' The Leading 100 ' list, which recognizes the most innovative, high-impact tech start-ups driving business value for brands. Tracer was also honored in 2022 for its work with Sanofi by the Association of National Advertisers' Genius Award for Marketing Analytics Storytelling. ABOUT TRACER Tracer is a data intelligence platform that revolutionizes modern data stack management by eliminating technical complexity. Tracer empowers global brands, data partners and agencies to make strategic decisions by seamlessly consolidating data sources and enriching it with business insights. By leveraging its comprehensive and flexible suite of technologies, Tracer provides unparalleled transparency into business performance and delivers a centralized source of truth. MEDIA CONTACT Erica Conover [email protected] SOURCE Tracer TAIPEI, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In the contemporary world with escalating climate extremes and the global impact of the pandemic, SDGs Index Taiwan Organizer and former Cheng Kung University President Professor Huey-Jen Jenny Su delivered a speech at the Global Sustainability Focal Forum at Taipei, Taiwan on 8/4, shedding light on the profound impacts of climate change on the global education system and emphasizing the pivotal role higher education will play in combating the crisis. We are now at the crossroads between us and the future generation. Through talent cultivation and knowledge dissemination, step by step, with efforts from the corporate world, a beacon of hope emerges for a more promising future, Dr. Su expresses. (photo by SDGs Index Taiwan) Participating in this forum were Ambassador and TAISE Chairman Yu-Hsin Chien, Tang Prize Foundation Executive Director Jenn-Chuan Chen, and the fifth laureate of the Tang Prize for Sustainable Development, world renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs, offering perspectives underscoring the manifold dimensions and far-reaching implications of climate change. (photo by SDGs Index Taiwan) "We are now at the crossroads between us and the future generation. Through talent cultivation and knowledge dissemination, step by step, with efforts from the corporate world, a beacon of hope emerges for a more promising future," Dr. Su expresses. How a Pandemic Robbed Students of Critical Thinking Development According to a report recently published by The Icons , as our planet contends with the escalating effects of climate change, such as Australia entering its second consecutive year of extreme climate fluctuations marked by frequent tropical storms in 2022, to Pakistan, where relentless heavy rainfall throughout the previous year submerged a third of the country, displacing millions of people, to numerous nations in southern Europe encountering a wave of extreme heat in mid-July of 2023, culminating in over two weeks of wildfires in Greece, prompting the evacuation of countless residents and tourists, extreme climate phenomena from escalating global temperatures have wrought a heavy toll on in-classroom, hands-on learning experiences, depriving students of invaluable opportunities for engagement and experiential learning. "Taking heavy precipitation alone you can see a decline in the educational attendance index across the world," Professor Su Stated. The devastating onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the past three years highlighted the importance of immersive educational environments. The pivot to remote learning has led to substantial decreases in student participation, resulting in insufficient development of critical thinking skills and specialized knowledge. The repercussions of this disrupted educational phase will reverberate through subsequent decades as the upcoming generation grapples with the formidable task of architecting a sustainable future. From Sustainability Education to Crisis Management "Not only is education key to human capital, but we are now in total desperation for the proper education of talent for sustainable development," Professor Su emphasized. Voicing concern over the inadequate sustainability education in high schools and universities, Professor Su underscores the imperative for nurturing future talent on climate science and the intricacies of environmental and social sustainability. As the climate crisis grows in severity and demands immediate and effective action, this knowledge reservoir will empower emerging talents to engineer innovative technologies and strategies, not only facilitating climate restoration but also acting as conduits for disseminating awareness about the prevailing crisis. As we navigate the second decade of the internet age, technologies to enhance the accessibility of information have matured and found wide-ranging applications, yet effective strategies and implementation to promote environmental and social responsibilities remain at large unrealized. Professor Su contends that universities hold the potential to offer robust training in fields spanning science, technology, and communication, equipping the next generation with means to raise consciousness on the pressing crisis of climate change and inspire action. "With diverse learning and quality education you'll be able to increase information availability, bringing the whole public into some sense of awareness," Professor Su affirmed. We're in this together In an era where corporate interests intersect with environmental and social responsibilities, corporations are forging partnerships and synergistic endeavors with non-governmental organizations and students, championing the cause of green initiatives, ranging from commitments to achieve carbon neutrality to active engagement in climate restoration. The realm of the economy, through the mechanisms of green finance, has woven into the fabric of the climate crisis, spurring both established conglomerates and budding enterprises across diverse sectors to pursue the ideals of sustainable workplace practices, workforce development, and product innovation. "In the same team, there are NGOs, there are corporate leaders, there are skilled workers crafting suitable, sustainable, and environmentally-friendly industries for the next generation," Professor Su explained. Participating in this forum were Ambassador and TAISE Chairman Yu-Hsin Chien, Tang Prize Foundation Executive Director Jenn-Chuan Chen, and the fifth laureate of the Tang Prize for Sustainable Development, world renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs, offering perspectives underscoring the manifold dimensions and far-reaching implications of climate change. SOURCE The Icons All municipal services of Zaporizhia are rescuing people at the scene of Russia's missile attack on the city, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. "Zaporizhia. The city suffers daily from Russian shelling. A fire broke out in a civilian building after the occupiers hit it with a missile. As of now, one person has been reported dead. My condolences. There are wounded. All services are on the scene. They are working and saving people," he said on the Telegram channel on Thursday. "Every our warrior who destroys the occupiers, who goes forward and leads the way, who liberates our land, brings justice closer to Ukraine. Brings retribution closer. Ukraine will stand. Russian terror will inevitably lose," Zelenskyy said. DUBLIN, Aug. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The "United Arab Emirates (UAE) Construction Market Size, Trend Analysis by Sector (Commercial, Industrial, Infrastructure, Energy and Utilities, Institutional and Residential) and Forecast, 2023-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. UAE's construction industry to expand by 3.3% in real terms this year, following an annual growth of 2% in 2022, supported by improvements in the country's oil receipts, investment in renewable energy projects in line with the 2050 net zero target, growth in the real estate sector, and deepening regional integration. The industry is expected to register average annual growth of 3.9% from 2024 to 2027, supported by investment in infrastructure, renewable energy, oil and gas, housing, industrial and tourism projects. The government announced a plan in November 2022 to implement a series of projects aimed at accelerating the UAE's development and transforming it into a comprehensive hub in all sectors, as part of the 'We the UAE 2031" vision. As part of this vision, the government aims to double the country's GDP from AED1.5 trillion ($408.7 billion) in 2022 to AED3 trillion ($816.9 billion) by 2031, increase the country's non-oil exports to AED800 billion ($217.8 billion), and raise the contribution of the tourism sector to the country's GDP to AED450 billion ($122.5 billion) by 2031. This report provides detailed market analysis, information, and insights into the UAE construction industry, including: The UAE construction industry's growth prospects by market, project type, and construction activity Critical insight into the impact of industry trends and issues, as well as an analysis of key risks and opportunities in the UAE construction industry Analysis of the mega-project pipeline, focusing on development stages and participants, in addition to listings of major projects in the pipeline Scope Historical (2018-2022) and forecast (2023-2027) valuations of the construction industry in the UAE, featuring details of key growth drivers Segmentation by sector (commercial, industrial, infrastructure, energy and utilities, institutional and residential) and by sub-sector Analysis of the mega-project pipeline, including breakdowns by development stage across all sectors, and projected spending on projects in the existing pipeline Listings of major projects, in addition to details of leading contractors and consultants Key Topics Covered: 1 Executive Summary 2 Construction Industry: At-a-Glance 3 Context 3.1 Economic Performance 3.2 Political Environment and Policy 3.3 Demographics 3.4 Risk Profile 4 Construction Outlook 4.1 All Construction Outlook Latest news and developments Construction Projects Momentum Index 4.2 Commercial Construction Outlook Project analytics Latest news and developments 4.3 Industrial Construction Outlook Project analytics Latest news and developments 4.4 Infrastructure Construction Outlook Project analytics Latest news and developments 4.5 Energy and Utilities Construction Outlook Project analytics Latest news and developments 4.6 Institutional Construction Outlook Project analytics 4.7 Residential Construction Outlook Project analytics Latest news and developments 5 Key Industry Participants 5.1 Contractors 5.2 Consultants 6 Construction Market Data 7 Appendix For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/1m4f51 Source: GlobalData 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 Youth Enrichment Platform Company Partners with National Commercial Banks to Help Expedite SBA-Backed Funding for New Franchisees DALLAS, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Youth enrichment platform Unleashed Brands has coordinated several strategic funding relationships totaling more than $100M with national commercial banks that are creating SBA lending programs specifically for new Unleashed Brands' franchisees throughout the country. Unleashed Brands includes Urban Air Adventure Park, The Little Gym, Snapology, Class 101, Premier Martial Arts and XP League, some of the world's most innovative and profitable brands that help kids learn, play and grow. Through these strategic lending relationships, franchisees will have access to capital for new location development that will cover up to 90 percent of project costs, a simplified qualification process, a dedicated lending team and packaging tools to simplify the process. Primary brands being targeted under the new program are brick-and-mortar concepts Urban Air Adventure Park and The Little Gym, where the lenders are committing a large portion of their available SBA funds to Unleashed Brands' concepts. "Having dedicated lenders looking to deploy capital for our future franchisees is incredibly exciting and speaks volumes to the financial stability of our brands," said Eric Schechterman, Vice President of Franchise Finance for Unleashed Brands. "Because of our franchisee's track record of success and loan performance, we have been able to partner with banks that want to lend to our owners and help grow our brands." Unleashed Brands has 1,500 franchises operating or in development serving over 25 million children. In 2023, the brand plans to open more than 170 locations across the country and award 230 new franchise agreements. The company is backed by a management team with more than 150 years of combined consumer industry experience and continues to grow its industry-leading platform to better serve and support families as moms and dads seek to "Build Great Kids" through a seamless enrichment journey. To learn more about franchising with Unleashed Brands, please visit unleashedbrands.com. About Unleashed Brands Unleashed Brands currently includes portfolio brands Urban Air, Snapology, The Little Gym, XP League, Class 101, and Premier Martial Arts and was founded to curate and grow a portfolio of the most innovative and profitable brands that help kids learn, play and grow. Over the last 10 years, the team at Unleashed Brands has built a proven platform and know-how for scaling businesses focused on serving families. Its mission is to impact the lives of every kid by providing fun, engaging, and inspiring experiences that help them become who they are destined to be. For more information, please visit www.unleashedbrands.com. Media Contact: Sara Faiwell, Fishman Public Relations, [email protected] or (847) 945-1300 SOURCE Unleashed Brands If approved, CRESEMBA will offer a new treatment option for pediatric patients facing certain invasive fungal infections NORTHBROOK, Ill., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Astellas Pharma US, Inc. (President: Mark Reisenauer, "Astellas") announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted the company's supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for CRESEMBA (isavuconazonium sulfate), a prodrug of isavuconazole, an azole antifungal drug, seeking approval for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis (IA) or invasive mucormycosis (IM) in pediatric patients aged one to 17 years old. Under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), the FDA has set a target action date of December 9, 2023. CRESEMBA is already approved by the FDA for the treatment of IA and IM in adults. If approved for pediatric use, it may offer children significant advances in treatment or may provide a treatment where no adequate therapy exists. IA and IM are a major cause of morbidity and death among immunocompromised and hospitalized pediatric patients.1 "While rare in the general population, invasive aspergillosis or invasive mucormycosis can be incredibly dangerous for immunocompromised children, including those faced with blood and other cancers, and there are very limited treatment options," said Tadaaki Taniguchi, MD, PhD, chief medical officer, Astellas. "The collective efforts by our research and development teams, which have led to the successful sNDA acceptance for CRESEMBA by the FDA, reflect our ongoing commitment to addressing vulnerable populations with high unmet medical needs." "Since its approval over eight years ago, CRESEMBA has been helping adult patients and their physicians fight certain life-threatening fungal infections when they are often critically ill with other diseases," said Lynn Fenicchia, senior vice president and Head of U.S. Medical Specialties Business Unit, Astellas. "This sNDA acceptance by the FDA brings Astellas one step closer to helping pediatric patients by potentially having a new treatment option available for IA and IM for a younger patient population, if approved." The sNDA is based on results from a Phase 2 open-label, non-comparative, multicenter study (NCT03816176), evaluating the safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of CRESEMBA for the treatment of IA or IM in pediatric patients aged one to 17 years old. Detailed results will be presented at a future medical meeting. About Invasive Aspergillosis and Invasive Mucormycosis Invasive aspergillosis can be a life-threatening fungal infection that is seen predominantly in immunocompromised patients, such as patients with leukemia.2 Invasive mucormycosis is a rare and often life-threatening fungal infection, for which clinical and epidemiological understanding is lacking.3 Both IA and IM are known for high morbidity and mortality.2,3 About CRESEMBA (isavuconazonium sulfate) CRESEMBA (isavuconazonium sulfate) is a prodrug of isavuconazole, an azole antifungal drug. CRESEMBA is indicated for patients 18 years of age and older for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis and invasive mucormycosis.4 Specimens for fungal culture and other relevant laboratory studies (including histopathology) to isolate and identify causative organism(s) should be obtained prior to initiating antifungal therapy. Therapy may be instituted before the results of the cultures and other laboratory studies are known. However, once these results become available, antifungal therapy should be adjusted accordingly. Important Safety Information for CRESEMBA (isavuconazonium sulfate) Contraindications CRESEMBA is contraindicated in persons with known hypersensitivity to isavuconazole Coadministration of strong CYP3A4 inhibitors, such as ketoconazole or high-dose ritonavir (400 mg every 12 hours), with CRESEMBA is contraindicated because strong CYP3A4 inhibitors can significantly increase the plasma concentration of isavuconazole Coadministration of strong CYP3A4 inducers, such as rifampin, carbamazepine, St. John's wort, or long-acting barbiturates with CRESEMBA is contraindicated because strong CYP3A4 inducers can significantly decrease the plasma concentration of isavuconazole wort, or long-acting barbiturates with CRESEMBA is contraindicated because strong CYP3A4 inducers can significantly decrease the plasma concentration of isavuconazole CRESEMBA shortened the QTc interval in a concentration-related manner. CRESEMBA is contraindicated in patients with familial short QT syndrome Warnings and Precautions Hepatic Adverse Drug Reactions (e.g., elevations in ALT, AST, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin) have been reported in clinical trials and were generally reversible and did not require discontinuation of CRESEMBA. Cases of severe hepatic adverse drug reactions including hepatitis, cholestasis or hepatic failure including death have been reported in patients with serious underlying medical conditions (e.g., hematologic malignancy) during treatment with azole antifungal agents, including CRESEMBA. Evaluate liver tests at the start and during therapy. Monitor patients who develop liver abnormalities during CRESEMBA therapy for severe hepatic injury. Discontinue if clinical signs and symptoms consistent with liver disease develop that may be attributable to CRESEMBA. Infusion-Related Reactions including hypotension, dyspnea, chills, dizziness, paresthesia, and hypoesthesia were reported during intravenous administration of CRESEMBA. Discontinue the infusion if these reactions occur. Hypersensitivity Reactions: Anaphylactic reactions, with fatal outcome, have been reported during treatment with CRESEMBA. Serious skin reactions, such as Stevens Johnson syndrome, have been reported during treatment with other azole antifungal agents. Discontinue CRESEMBA if anaphylactic or serious skin reactions occur, and initiate supportive treatment as needed. Embryo-Fetal Toxicity: During pregnancy, CRESEMBA may cause fetal harm when administered, and CRESEMBA should only be used if the potential benefit to the patient outweighs the risk to the fetus. Women who become pregnant while receiving CRESEMBA are encouraged to contact their physician. Drug Interactions: Coadministration of CRESEMBA with strong CYP3A4 inhibitors such as ketoconazole or high-dose ritonavir and strong CYP3A4 inducers such as rifampin, carbamazepine, St. John's Wort, or long-acting barbiturates is contraindicated. Drug Particulates: Following dilution, CRESEMBA intravenous formulation may form precipitate from the insoluble isavuconazole. Administer CRESEMBA through an in-line filter. Adverse Reactions The most frequently reported adverse reactions among CRESEMBA-treated patients were nausea (26%), vomiting (25%), diarrhea (22%), headache (17%), elevated liver chemistry tests (16%), hypokalemia (14%), constipation (13%), dyspnea (12%), cough (12%), peripheral edema (11%), and back pain (10%). The adverse reactions which most often led to permanent discontinuation of CRESEMBA therapy during the clinical trials were: confusional state (0.7%), acute renal failure (0.7%), increased blood bilirubin (0.5%), convulsion (0.5%), dyspnea (0.5%), epilepsy (0.5%), respiratory failure (0.5%), and vomiting (0.5%). For Full Prescribing Information, please visit here. About Astellas Pharma US Astellas Pharma US, Inc. is a U.S. affiliate of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc., a pharmaceutical conducting business in more than 70 countries around the world. Astellas stands on the forefront of healthcare change to turn innovative science into value for patients. Keeping our focus on addressing unmet medical needs and conducting our business with ethics and integrity enables us to improve the health of people throughout the U.S. and around the world. For more information on Astellas, please visit: https://www.astellas.com/us. You can also follow us on Twitter at @AstellasUS, Facebook at www.facebook.com/AstellasUS or LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/astellas-pharma-us. About Astellas Astellas Pharma Inc. is a pharmaceutical company conducting business in more than 70 countries around the world. We are promoting the Focus Area Approach that is designed to identify opportunities for the continuous creation of new drugs to address diseases with high unmet medical needs by focusing on Biology and Modality. Furthermore, we are also looking beyond our foundational Rx focus to create Rx+ healthcare solutions that combine our expertise and knowledge with cutting-edge technology in different fields of external partners. Through these efforts, Astellas stands on the forefront of healthcare change to turn innovative science into VALUE for patients. For more information, please visit our website at https://www.astellas.com/en. Cautionary Notes In this press release, statements made with respect to current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs and other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements about the future performance of Astellas. These statements are based on management's current assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: (i) changes in general economic conditions and in laws and regulations, relating to pharmaceutical markets, (ii) currency exchange rate fluctuations, (iii) delays in new product launches, (iv) the inability of Astellas to market existing and new products effectively, (v) the inability of Astellas to continue to effectively research and develop products accepted by customers in highly competitive markets, and (vi) infringements of Astellas' intellectual property rights by third parties. The safety and efficacy of the agents discussed herein are under investigation and have not been established. There is no guarantee that the agents will receive regulatory approval and become commercially available for uses being investigated. Information about pharmaceutical products (including products currently in development) which is included in this press release is not intended to constitute an advertisement or medical advice. 1 Pana, Zoi Dorothea et al. "Epidemiology of Invasive Fungal Disease in Children." Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society vol. 6,suppl_1 (2017): S3-S11. doi:10.1093/jpids/pix046 2 Thornton CR. Detection of invasive aspergillosis. Adv Appl Microbiol. 2010;70:187-216. doi: 10.1016/S0065-2164(10)70006-X. Epub 2010 Mar 6. PMID: 20359458. 3 Zhang Y, Sung AH, Rubinstein E, Benigno M, Chambers R, Patino N, Aram JA. Characterizing patients with rare mucormycosis infections using real-world data. BMC Infect Dis. 2022 Feb 14;22(1):154. doi: 10.1186/s12879-022-07115-w. PMID: 35164701; PMCID: PMC8845356. 4 CRESEMBA [package insert]. Northbrook, IL: Astellas Pharma US, Inc. SOURCE Astellas Pharma US, Inc. Foreclosure Starts Down 12 Percent from Last Month; But Completed Foreclosures Up 4 Percent IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ATTOM, a leading curator of land, property, and real estate data, today released its July 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, which shows there were a total of 31,877 U.S. properties with foreclosure filings default notices, scheduled auctions or bank repossessions down 9 percent from a month ago but up 5 percent from a year ago. "The slight decline in foreclosure filings we are seeing is yet another sign of a rebounding housing market," said Rob Barber, CEO at ATTOM. "With home prices back up, several factors have combined to put more financial resources in the hands of homeowners, providing more options to avoid foreclosure. However, given with the U.S. housing market remains in flux, the various forces at play could keep the market improving or turn it back downward over the coming months." Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware post highest foreclosure rates Nationwide one in every 4,380 housing units had a foreclosure filing in July 2023. States with the highest foreclosure rates were Maryland (one in every 2,071 housing units with a foreclosure filing); New Jersey (one in every 2,335 housing units); Delaware (one in every 2,343 housing units); Illinois (one in every 2,430 housing units); and South Carolina (one in every 2,511 housing units). Among the 223 metropolitan statistical areas with a population of at least 200,000, those with the highest foreclosure rates in July 2023 were Fayetteville, NC (one in every 1,367 housing units with a foreclosure filing); Atlantic City, NJ (one in every 1,708 housing units); Columbia, SC (one in every 1,747 housing units); Trenton, NJ (one in every 1,870 housing units); and Cleveland, OH (one in every 1,957 housing units). Those metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million with the worst foreclosure rates in July 2023, including Cleveland, OH, were: Baltimore, MD (one in every 1,991 housing units); Las Vegas, NV (one in every 2,098 housing units); Jacksonville, FL (one in every 2,243 housing units); and Philadelphia, PA (one in every 2,273 housing units). Salt Lake City, Honolulu and Kansas City see largest declines in foreclosure starts Lenders started the foreclosure process on 21,020 U.S. properties in July 2023, down 12 percent from last month and down 2 percent from a year ago. States that saw the greatest monthly declines and had 10 or more foreclosure starts in July 2023 included: Hawaii (down 51 percent); New Hampshire (down 45 percent); Idaho (down 43 percent); Arkansas (down 40 percent); and Alabama (down 38 percent). Those major metropolitan areas with a population greater than 1 million that saw the greatest monthly declines in foreclosure starts in July 2023 included: Salt Lake City, UT (down 63 percent); Honolulu, HI (down 53 percent); Kansas City, MO (down 46 percent); Rochester, NY (down 43 percent); and Birmingham, AL (down 41 percent). Foreclosure completions continue to increase monthly and annually Lenders repossessed 3,332 U.S. properties through completed foreclosures (REOs) in July 2023, up 4 percent from last month and up 9 percent from last year. States that had the greatest number of REOs in July 2023, included: Illinois (355 REOs); Pennsylvania (230 REOs); California (217 REOs); Michigan (200 REOs); and Texas (200 REOs). Those major metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with a population greater than 1 million that saw the greatest number of REOs in July 2023 included: Chicago, IL (233 REOs); New York, NY (148 REOs); St. Louis, MO (104 REOs); Baltimore, MD (82 REOs); and Philadelphia, PA (80 REOs). Report methodology The ATTOM U.S. Foreclosure Market Report provides a count of the total number of properties with at least one foreclosure filing entered into the ATTOM Data Warehouse during the month and quarter. Some foreclosure filings entered into the database during the quarter may have been recorded in the previous quarter. Data is collected from more than 3,000 counties nationwide, and those counties account for more than 99 percent of the U.S. population. ATTOM's report incorporates documents filed in all three phases of foreclosure: Default Notice of Default (NOD) and Lis Pendens (LIS); Auction Notice of Trustee Sale and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NTS and NFS); and Real Estate Owned, or REO properties (that have been foreclosed on and repurchased by a bank). For the annual, midyear and quarterly reports, if more than one type of foreclosure document is received for a property during the timeframe, only the most recent filing is counted in the report. The annual, midyear, quarterly and monthly reports all check if the same type of document was filed against a property previously. If so, and if that previous filing occurred within the estimated foreclosure timeframe for the state where the property is located, the report does not count the property in the current year, quarter or month. About ATTOM ATTOM provides premium property data to power products that improve transparency, innovation, efficiency, and disruption in a data-driven economy. ATTOM multi-sources property tax, deed, mortgage, foreclosure, environmental risk, natural hazard, and neighborhood data for more than 155 million U.S. residential and commercial properties covering 99 percent of the nation's population. A rigorous data management process involving more than 20 steps validates, standardizes, and enhances the real estate data collected by ATTOM, assigning each property record with a persistent, unique ID the ATTOM ID. The 30TB ATTOM Data Warehouse fuels innovation in many industries including mortgage, real estate, insurance, marketing, government and more through flexible data delivery solutions that include bulk file licenses, property data APIs, real estate market trends, property navigator and more. Also, introducing our newest innovative solution, that offers immediate access and streamlines data management ATTOM Cloud. Media Contact: Christine Stricker 949.748.8428 [email protected] Data and Report Licensing: 949.502.8313 [email protected] SOURCE ATTOM Will focus on delivering superior customer service while enhancing existing client relations FORT WORTH, Texas, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Valor , a Fort Worth-based specialty asset management company with expertise in providing mineral management solutions and oil and gas operator outsourcing , has announced that Lindsay Hall has joined the company in the newly created role, Director of Client First. The title is a direct reference to the first of Valor's core values , "Client First," followed by Amplify Excellence, Relentless Innovation, and Exponential Growth (CARE), all of which relate to the company's core focus in delivering innovative professional services that solve complex needs. Her primary role includes the oversight of all client service initiatives, as well as developing new and innovative strategies designed to establish stronger relationships among Valor's existing individual and institutional clients. Lindsay Hall "We're pleased to welcome Lindsay Hall to our growing family of employees," said Joseph DeWoody , CEO of Valor. "As the Director of Client First, she'll play an integral role in developing and implementing exceptional service for our expanding roster of individual and institutional clients. Her previous customer-facing roles have provided her with the experience needed to improve interpersonal relationships with our valued customers and we're greatly looking forward to her contributions." A native of Abilene, Hall earned a Bachelor of Science from Abilene Christian University, where she spent time as counselor in the admissions department. She subsequently earned a master's in education from TCU, where she also served as a research associate and led a government-funded grant program designed to help students with learning disabilities. Following a brief stint overseas working at a boutique in Oxford, England, she returned to the U.S. and launched her own entrepreneurial venture, the "Bee's Knees Loft," an online retail store that she managed from the ground up. In her most recent role prior to joining Valor, Hall was a principal realtor for Compass Real Estate's Park Cities office. Thanks to these experiences, Hall has established a track record of providing superior customer service to various types of clients, while focusing on strategies that improve interpersonal relationships and communication. Founded in 2018, Valor has steadily grown to become one of the Southwest's leading mineral management companies , providing targeted services such as land management, oil and gas accounting , and lease negotiation and counsel. The foundation and cornerstone of Valor's mineral management services is mineral.tech , a proprietary mineral management platform designed to optimize and track oil and gas assets. The company also offers oil and gas outsourcing services for operators and investors, partnering with companies to offer bookkeeping, oil and gas accounting , and other back-office operations. Valor is headquartered in Fort Worth and maintains a satellite office in Midland, Texas. "As an unapologetic 'people person,' I'm excited to join Valor as their new Director of Client First," stated Hall. "I'm looking forward to onboarding new clients and regularly connecting with existing ones to ensure that we're meeting all their needs and compliance with all contractual obligations. I hope to bring new perspectives for delivering exceptional client service for the company's expanding customer base." About Valor: Valor is a specialty asset management and professional services provider that serves mineral, and oil and gas owners. We place the client first, providing flexible solutions and leveraging our team of experts to maintain the security, clarity and optimization of privately owned assets. Valor is headquartered in Fort Worth and maintains a satellite office in Midland, Texas. Explore the benefits of partnering with Valor to manage mineral rights and outsource accounting and back office services by visiting www.onevalor.com . Media Contact: Jeff Cheatham 9729616171 [email protected] SOURCE Valor SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As wildfires rage across northern Quebec, destroying a record-breaking 1.5 million hectares in the boreal forest alone, VisitorsCoverage, a global travel insurance marketplace, has stepped up efforts to aid reforestation. The new initiative is an extension of our partnership with One Tree Planted , a non-profit organization that partners with businesses to plant trees all over the world. Why Quebec Needs Trees "The devastation in Quebec should be a wake-up call for all of us to do our part," says CEO Rajeev Shrivastava. Tweet this The Quebec wildfires have devastated Canada's forests. Climate change is caused in major part by an overabundance of Carbon Dioxide. Trees are the single best way to reduce CO2 because they breathe it in and convert it to oxygen. Without trees, we will see a rise in deadly heat waves, droughts, and yes, wildfires. Canada's boreal forest is one of the world's richest ecosystems, and accounts for 9% of the world's forestation. Threaded with beautiful blue lakes and streams teeming with majestic spruces, firs and pines, and home to black bears, caribou, moose and great gray owls, this forest is as much a work of art as it is a vital driver of the country's environmental health. And in Quebec the forest has been besieged by wildfires for the last four months. According to the Quebec Provincial Forest Fire Control Agency, 3.2 million hectares of forest have burned in Quebec since the 2023 wildfires began. To put this into perspective, the average number of hectares burned in all of Canada is 2.5 million. While Quebec needed reforestation prior to the wildfire devastation, that need has now intensified exponentially. The Human Toll So far, hundreds of Canadians have been forced to leave their homes. In what should be their peak season, the livelihoods of hunters and fishermen are now in jeopardy as businesses are shuttered. Air quality issues caused by toxic smoke from the wildfires are already impacting the health and wellbeing of many residents. Inhaling toxic smoke and ash from these wildfires could damage the lungs and heart and even weaken our immune systems. These health concerns aren't confined to Canada's borders. Air pollution from the fires is now impacting the lives of many Americans. VisitorsCoverage's Promise to the Planet VisitorsCoverage was founded on one simple goal: helping people. Whether we're helping immigrants settle in America, retirees live out their travel dreams, or students explore and learn about their world, helping and doing good is at the forefront of everything we do. We partnered with One Tree Planted to do just that. "The devastation in Quebec should be a wake-up call for all of us to do our part," says VisitorsCoverage CEO Rajeev Shrivastava. A Shared Mission to Protect & Conserve On the surface, a company that sells travel insurance and an organization that plants trees don't seem to have much in common. Dig a little deeper, however, and you'll find that both VisitorsCoverage and One Tree Planted are driven by a commitment to protect and educate. One company aims to protect travelers, while the other aims to protect the world they travel. We are proud to continue our partnership to ensure that travelers and Mother Earth stay protected for generations to come. About One Tree Planted: One Tree Planted is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit on a mission to make it simple for anyone to help the environment by planting trees. Their projects span the globe and are done in partnership with local communities and knowledgeable experts to create an impact for nature, people, and wildlife. Reforestation helps to rebuild forests after fires and floods, provide jobs for social impact, and restore biodiversity. Many projects have overlapping objectives, creating a combination of benefits that contribute to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. To learn more, visit onetreeplanted.org . About VisitorsCoverage Inc.: Founded in 2006, VisitorsCoverage has helped millions of customers in over 175 countries find the travel insurance they need to feel safe, secure and well prepared for their journeys. Our award-winning and innovative marketplace of top-rated travel medical and trip insurance plans helps travelers research, compare and buy affordable travel insurance online in minutes. Find insurance for the way you travel at VisitorsCoverage.com . SOURCE VisitorsCoverage Video analytics platform developer, VisualCortex, collaborates with technology partner, Weights & Biases, to automate and reproduce its ML model training practices SYDNEY and SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- VisualCortex the Video Intelligence Platform connecting computer vision's potential to real-world business outcomes has adopted Weights & Biases ' developer-first MLOps platform to systemize its end-to-end training process for Machine Learning (ML) models. As foundational beta users of Weights & Biases recently-released 'Launch' module for automating ML workflows, VisualCortex's ML team collaborated with Weights & Biases' product team to help produce a scalable process for seamlessly managing and deploying training runs. "Working closely with the Weights & Biases team, we've been able to provide feedback that's been received with genuine thanks and then actually incorporated into their product which is both rare and pleasing," said VisualCortex Head of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Mike Seddon. "At VisualCortex, quickly delivering highly-accurate ML models, which can be reliably deployed into commercial environments, is a key differentiator for us and our clients in a competitive marketplace. To do that, we need to automate our training processes, easily determine which approaches are yielding the best results, and maximize the utilization of our ML training infrastructure at all times." "Weights & Biases is empowering us to efficiently execute and scale our training workloads, which enables us to get the most out of the hardware we use too," said VisualCortex Co-Founder and CEO, Patrick Elliott. "We've integrated Weights & Biases into our core model training workflow as a source of truth and auditability. We can evaluate and compare many different model runs, perform sweeps to find data augmentations, and easily orchestrate disparate sets of compute nodes. "We now have a robust ML model training process, which allows us to produce and continually improve highly accurate computer-vision-based insights for our clients. With Weights & Biases' help, VisualCortex has the repeatable framework needed to bring video analytics into the mainstream." Weights & Biases VP of Product, Phil Gurbacki, said that gathering transparent product feedback from organizations training production-ready ML models was critical. "Gathering input from professionals in the field who are attempting to push the boundaries of ML model training, testing and deployment is an important feedback loop for us," said Gurbacki. "The team at Weights & Biases is proud to be helping VisualCortex develop and deliver market-leading models for people and vehicle-centric uses cases, including real-time object detection and action recognition, across a range of industries from retail and commercial real estate, to car park management, smart cities and transport." Discover VisualCortex's People Counting and Pedestrian Analysis Solution here: https://visualcortex.com/people-counting-and-pedestrian-analysis-solution/ Discover VisualCortex's Vehicle Counting and Traffic Management Solution here: https://visualcortex.com/vehicle-counting-and-traffic-management-solution/ Read the full VisualCortex - Weights & Biases case study here: https://wandb.ai/wandb_fc/visualcortex/reports/VisualCortex-Takes-Video-Analytics-to-the-Enterprise-with-W-B--Vmlldzo0OTAyODg1 About VisualCortex VisualCortex is making video data actionable in the enterprise. Its Video Intelligence Platform provides the stability and flexibility to productionize computer vision technology at scale. Able to be used for any video analytics use case in any industry, VisualCortex's production-ready cloud-based environment transforms video assets into analyzable streams of data. The VisualCortex platform delivers the artificial intelligence smarts, governance and usability, enabling organizations to connect any number of video streams, repositories and use existing commodity hardware. An intuitive user interface, out-of-the-box reporting, range of configurations and integrations empower non-technical people to produce, analyze and act on insights derived from computer vision throughout the enterprise. Organizations can easily combine these AI-generated video insights with other data sources and systems to facilitate both real-time operations and strategic analysis. The VisualCortex Model Store also provides a secure marketplace for customers, partners and independent machine learning experts to share quality controlled computer vision models . For more information, visit www.visualcortex.com About Weights & Biases Weights & Biases is the leading developer-first MLOps platform that provides enterprise-grade, end-to-end MLOps workflow to accelerate ML activities. Used by over 500k ML practitioners including teams at OpenAI, Lyft, Blue River Technology, and Toyota Weights & Biases is part of the new standard of best practices for machine learning. For further media information, interviews and images, or product demonstrations, please contact: Lachlan James, VisualCortex Chief Marketing Officer, on +61 (0)431 835 658 or [email protected] For regular updates, follow VisualCortex on Twitter ( @VisualCortexApp ), LinkedIn ( VisualCortex ), YouTube ( VisualCortex ) and Facebook ( @VisualCortexApp ). For regular industry news and analysis, subscribe to VisualCortex's mailing list here: https://visualcortex.com/contact-us/ SOURCE VisualCortex Actor Creates Organization to Help Schools Access Over a Billion Dollars in Grant Money PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- VSBLTY Groupe Technologies Corp. (OTCQB: VSBGF) (CSE: VSBY) (Frankfurt 5VS) ("VSBLTY"), a leading software provider of AI-driven security and retail analytics technology, applauds the efforts of Matthew McConaughey's organization that will assist schools in accessing the over one billion dollars in grant money available through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. https://www.greenlightsgrantinitiative.org is a one-stop shop for accessing grants along with tools and tutorials. Its purpose is to make the grant application process more streamlined and accessible. In some cases, the organization will apply on a school's behalf. VSBLTY CEO says actor Matthew McConnaughey works to help schools be safer for students and teachers. Tweet this On July 20, 2023, Matthew McConaughey posted a video outlining and updating his initiative https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMpdgcUjANM. "There is the need, there is the funding, and there is the technology, yet bringing these components together for a solution is proving to be challenging for some school districts," explained Jay Hutton, CEO of VSBLTY. "We applaud the initiative created by McConaughey and his wife to help schools access available funding and, ultimately, implement safety solutions. We look forward in being able to play a small part in this noble effort to make our schools and our children safer." VSBLTY's AI-driven software Vector provides enhanced facial recognition that is crucial to strengthening today's security requirements when applying contextual data, including the ability to recognize weapons or suspicious persons in a crowd. With various partners, VSBLTY has launched a vigorous campaign with its Vector technology to provide protection to U.S. schools and houses of worship and to scale up these deployments. This additional funding and streamlined access could help accelerate these installations and rollouts. Investor Relations Harbor Access Jonathan Paterson, 475-477-9401 [email protected] Graham Farrell, +1-416-842-9003 [email protected] CONTACT: Linda Rosanio, 609-472-0877 [email protected] About VSBLTY (http://vsblty.net/) Headquartered in Philadelphia, VSBLTY (OTCQB: VSBGF) (CSE: VSBY) (Frankfurt: 5VS) (OTC: VSBGF) ("VSBLTY") is the world leader in Artificial Intelligence and real time interpretation of what a CCTV and other cameras see. By utilizing facial recognition, age and gender, VSBLTY's proprietary technology can effectively enhance retail brand engagement and measurement through customized ads on in-store digital displays at point of purchase in real time. This technology has proven to increase brand sales by over 25%. The firm is also recognized for its leadership role in the growing "Store as a Medium" movement that enables brands to reach customers with paid media ads when and where buying decisions are being made while producing a new revenue stream for retailers. Using its proprietary AI software, VSBLTY has also developed a range of security products that include not only facial recognition but weapon recognition utilizing modern surveillance cameras and legacy CCTV cameras. VSBLTY has the capability to create a proactive security system rather than a reactive security system, providing early warning of threats that can save lives. SOURCE VSBLTY PARSIPPANY, N.J., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Weinberger Divorce & Family Law Group is excited to announce the recent expansion of its seasoned team as it welcomes new Partner Tamara Levine, attorneys Michael McGuire and Ryan Clark, and returning attorney Hilliary Piedra. Weinberger Divorce & Family Law Group welcomes 4 new team members. "Each attorney brings with them unique strengths and skills that enhance our family law services and enable us to provide the exceptional legal guidance our clients have come to expect," confirms Bari Weinberger. "These newest members of our team bring additional strategic leadership and legal acumen to the firm, deepening our already expansive mastery in the field of family law. We are so happy to welcome these exceptional legal minds, including the very welcome return of Hillary Piedra," said Bari Weinberger, Weinberger Divorce & Family Law Group founder and managing partner. The firm's new hires offer a wealth of experience in various aspects of family law, enhancing the firm's capacity to serve a wide range of client needs. Partner Tamara Levine joins the firm's Parsippany office after practicing family law for almost two decades in both New Jersey and New York. Drawing from her extensive background in mediation and collaboration settlement, and litigation, Tamara is highly regarded for her advanced skillset in creating personalized legal strategies for her clients. Ryan Clark joins the firm's Freehold location. Formerly an Assistant District Attorney in Queens, New York, and a criminal defense attorney, Ryan now devotes his practice exclusively to family law. His formidable litigation skills are especially valuable to his clients dealing with complex and contested issues and for overlapping Tevis Claims. Michael McGuire also joins the Freehold office. Michael previously practiced as a criminal defense and matrimonial attorney in New Jersey and New York, honing his skills in high-stakes and emotionally charged courtroom battles. Michael now devotes his practice exclusively to family law. Return hire Hillary Piedra rejoins the firm's Parsippany office. Hillary is a noted family law attorney with vast skill and experience in all aspects of family and matrimonial matters. After moving to another firm in 2022, she is thrilled to return to her "home" team. As Bari Weinberger noted, "Hillary's decision to return is a testament to our firm's dynamic and supportive work environment. It's great to welcome her back to the firm family." About Weinberger Divorce & Family Law Group: Weinberger Divorce & Family Law Group is the state's largest divorce law firm. Their team of dedicated professionals is committed to commitment to safeguarding their clients through compassionate and effective legal care. Media Contact: Bari Weinberger 888-888-0919 [email protected] SOURCE Weinberger Divorce & Family Law Group WELL achieved record quarterly revenues of $170.9 million and record Adjusted EBITDA (1) of $27.8 million in Q2-2023. This was WELL's 18 th consecutive quarter of record revenue performance. and record Adjusted EBITDA of in Q2-2023. This was WELL's 18 consecutive quarter of record revenue performance. WELL surpassed a total of 1 million patient visits ( 2) for the first time in Q2-2023. The Company also almost achieved 1.5 million total patient interactions (2) representing approximately 5.9 million patient interactions on an annualized run-rate basis. for the first time in Q2-2023. The Company also almost achieved 1.5 million total patient interactions representing approximately 5.9 million patient interactions on an annualized run-rate basis. Today WELL also announced that its OceanMD subsidiary has signed a multi-year $38.5 million contract to provide eReferral and eOrder technology services to providers and patients in the Province of British Columbia . contract to provide eReferral and eOrder technology services to providers and patients in the Province of . WELL is upgrading its guidance with the expectation that 2023 revenue will be in the upper half of its annual guidance of $740 million to $760 million reflecting improved organic growth expectations for the balance of the year. VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - WELL Health Technologies Corp. (TSX: WELL) (OTCQX: WHTCF) (the "Company" or "WELL"), a digital healthcare company focused on positively impacting health outcomes by leveraging technology to empower healthcare practitioners and their patients globally, is pleased to announce its interim consolidated financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2023. Hamed Shahbazi, Founder and CEO of WELL commented, "We had a great quarter, our record revenue, Adjusted EBITDA(1) and patient visits are a testament to the Company's continued focus on tech enabling healthcare providers and supporting them in simplifying their work lives, modernizing, and digitizing their clinical practices and delivering the best healthcare possible. WELL exited Q2-2023 with over 3,200 providers and clinicians representing more than 40% growth in providers and delivering a milestone of over 1 million quarterly patient visits delivered by our own team of providers for the first time in the Company's history. During the past few months, we also launched several key initiatives related to Artificial Intelligence ("AI"), including WELL AI Voice and the WELL AI Investment Program which includes a recent investment in AI-enabled disease detection capabilities. This is only the beginning as we have a compelling pipeline of opportunities, we are pursuing that leverage the power of AI to give healthcare providers clinical decision support tools that will give them their time back, enhance clinic productivity and provide better patient outcomes. We are determined to faithfully support healthcare professionals with the very best technology available which now includes significant investments in AI-based products and services." Mr. Shahbazi further added, "The recently announced acquisitions of CarePlus and the clinical assets of MCI OneHealth, coupled with OceanMD's momentous contract win in the Province of British Columbia gives us confidence in increasing our expectations for 2023 revenue to be over $750 million and pave the way for our push to surpass $1 billion in revenues within a couple of years." Eva Fong, WELL's Chief Financial Officer, added, "Our profitability and cashflow profile continue to be robust. I am also pleased to announce that we have further reduced our leverage ratio(3) of net bank debt to shareholder Adjusted EBITDA from 3.0x at the end of Q2-2022 to 2.3x as of the end of Q2-2023. Our organic growth profile remains strong, and the M&A pipeline continues to be active, allowing us to provide a positive outlook for the remainder of 2023 and beyond." Second Quarter 2023 Financial Highlights: WELL achieved record quarterly revenue of $170.9 million in Q2-2023, an increase of 21.8% as compared to revenue of $140.3 million generated in Q2-2022. Year-to-date, WELL has achieved organic growth (4) of 15%. in Q2-2023, an increase of 21.8% as compared to revenue of generated in Q2-2022. Year-to-date, WELL has achieved organic growth of 15%. Canadian Patient Services revenue was $54.2 million in Q2-2023, an increase of 23.9% as compared to $43.7 million in Q2-2022, with both Primary Care and MyHealth Specialized Care Clinics achieving record revenue in the quarter. in Q2-2023, an increase of 23.9% as compared to in Q2-2022, with both Primary Care and MyHealth Specialized Care Clinics achieving record revenue in the quarter. WELL Health USA Patient Services revenue was $103.5 million in Q2-2023, an increase of 29.9% as compared to $79.6 million in Q2-2022, driven by growth in the WELL Health USA's Wisp, Circle Medical and CRH lines of business. Patient Services revenue was in Q2-2023, an increase of 29.9% as compared to in Q2-2022, driven by growth in the WELL Health Wisp, Circle Medical and CRH lines of business. SaaS and Technology Services revenue was $13.3 million in Q2-2023, a decrease of 21.8% as compared to $17.0 million in Q2-2022. This decline was due to timing of contracts in the Company's cybersecurity related business. SaaS and Technology outside of Cybersecurity was $11.3 million in Q2-2023 an increase of 29% as compared to $8.8 million in Q2-2022. in Q2-2023, a decrease of 21.8% as compared to in Q2-2022. This decline was due to timing of contracts in the Company's cybersecurity related business. SaaS and Technology outside of Cybersecurity was in Q2-2023 an increase of 29% as compared to in Q2-2022. Adjusted Gross Profit ( 1) was $90.8 million in Q2-2023, an increase of 20.3% as compared to Adjusted Gross Profit ( 1) of $75.5 million in Q2-2022. was in Q2-2023, an increase of 20.3% as compared to Adjusted Gross Profit of in Q2-2022. Adjusted Gross Margin ( 1) percentage was 53.1% during Q2-2023 compared to Adjusted Gross Margin ( 1) percentage of 53.8% in Q2-2022. percentage was 53.1% during Q2-2023 compared to Adjusted Gross Margin percentage of 53.8% in Q2-2022. Adjusted EBITDA ( 1) was $27.8 million in Q2-2023, an increase of 5.1% as compared to Adjusted EBITDA ( 1) of $26.4 million in Q2-2022. was in Q2-2023, an increase of 5.1% as compared to Adjusted EBITDA of in Q2-2022. Adjusted EBITDA (1) to WELL shareholders was $22.3 million in Q2-2023, an increase of 16.2% as compared to Adjusted EBITDA (1) to WELL shareholders of $19.2 million in Q2-2022. to WELL shareholders was in Q2-2023, an increase of 16.2% as compared to Adjusted EBITDA to WELL shareholders of in Q2-2022. Adjusted Net Income(1) was $14.4 million , or $0.06 per share in Q2-2023, as compared to Adjusted Net Income(1) of $17.5 million , or $0.08 per share in Q2-2022. Second Quarter 2023 Business Highlights: On April 26, 2023, WELL Ventures announced the launch of its AI Investment program, focused on artificial intelligence and its applications in helping support healthcare providers with next-generation tools. The WELL AI Investment Program will provide investees with capital as well as extensive support from WELL's ecosystem to help develop, test, refine, secure, de-risk and integrate the most promising such technologies into the Canadian healthcare ecosystem at scale. On May 10, 2023, the Company launched WELL AI Voice, a transformational ambient scribe product that leverages generative AI to dramatically reduce a provider's administrative burden by privately and securely capturing a patient encounter conversation and automatically generating a succinct and medically relevant chart note for the patient interaction. Since its launch, WELL AI Voice has been integrated in thousands of patient visits. On June 1, 2023, the Company completed the acquisition of five multi-disciplinary primary care clinics based in Calgary, Alberta from MCI Medical Clinics Inc., a subsidiary of MCI Onehealth Technologies Inc. (TSX: DRDR) ("MCI"), offering a range of primary care services, including family medicine, women's health, and other specialties. This acquisition marks a significant milestone in WELL's expansion into Alberta and supports the Company's national clinic expansion strategy. On June 22, 2023, the Company announced that CRH Medical has made a strategic investment in Graphium Health a leading EMR or Electronic Medical Records company focused on Anesthesia Practices. The investment is part of a Strategic Alliance designed to further digitize and modernize CRH's billing and back-office processes. Based on a recent pilot project with Graphium Health, CRH had demonstrated that it improved its time to capture billable charges by 58% or 5.6 days and reduced its overall accounts receivable ("AR") balance at the pilot project sites by 24%. Events Subsequent to June 30, 2023: On July 1, 2023, the Company through its subsidiary CRH, acquired a 100% interest in CarePlus Medical Corporation ("CarePlus"). On July 19, 2023, the Company entered into an agreement to acquire clinic assets located in Southern Ontario from MCI and a subscription agreement for a convertible debenture financing in MCI which is now strategically focused on its leading AI, Data Science and Rare & Complex Disease Detection platform. On July 27, 2023, the Company announced that it has re-branded CRH Medical Corporation as WELL Health USA. WELL Health USA's goal is to mirror WELL's mission of tech enabling care providers in the United States while digitizing and modernizing healthcare businesses. In addition, WELL Health USA will leverage its deep US based healthcare expertise and structural advantages to create a whole new category of shared services that will benefit and deliver improved integration with WELL's US based lines of business. WELL USA will be used henceforth to reflect WELL's total US based financial activity which includes lines of business such as CRH, Radar, Circle Medical and Wisp. On August 10, 2023, WELL announced that it had signed a $38.5 million contract with British Columbia's Public Health Services Authority to provide an array of digital services such as eReferrals, eConsults and eOrders to help further empower providers with best-in-class interoperability tools. This is the third Canadian province, in addition to Ontario and Nova Scotia, that has materially partnered with OceanMD. Outlook: WELL is expecting its strong performance to continue into the second half of 2023 across all its business units and for the entire Company as a whole. WELL's objective is to invest in and achieve significant growth while effectively managing its costs and delivering strong growth and sustained cashflow to shareholders. Management is pleased to provide the following update to its 2023 annual guidance: Annual revenue is expected to be in the upper half of the guidance range of $740 million to $760 million . Annual guidance only includes announced acquisitions. to . Annual guidance only includes announced acquisitions. Annual Adjusted EBITDA(1) is expected to increase by more than 10% over 2022 levels allowing the company to invest in growth and continue to acquire market share. WELL expects to continue to grow its Canadian Patient Services business both organically and inorganically and increase its market leadership as the country's first pan-Canadian clinical network with a highly integrated network of tech-enabled outpatient healthcare clinics across the country. Meanwhile, growth in the Company's WELL Health USA Patient Services business is expected to be primarily driven by organic growth, augmented by the Company's recent acquisition of CarePlus. As a company with deep tech experience and capabilities, WELL has also made investments in AI technologies a key priority within the Company and expects to develop compelling new products and enhancements to roll out to WELL's vast provider network. WELL's strong organic growth and robust cash flow profile allows the Company to continue to successfully execute on its acquisition plans. Management expects additional cash flows generated by the Company will be re-invested in the business and allocated in a disciplined manner. WELL is a purpose-driven business that aims to transform the world for the better, as such the Company has embarked on an ongoing ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) program. On July 7, 2023, the Company released its second ESG report titled "Taking Care of the Care Providers", which highlights WELL's ESG strategy, reporting initiatives and targeted actions. For more information on WELL's ESG program, please visit: https://well.company/esg-report. Conference Call: WELL will hold a conference call to discuss its 2023 Second Quarter financial results on Thursday, August 10, 2023, at 1:00 pm ET (10:00 am PT). Please use the following dial-in numbers: 416-764-8650 (Toronto local), 778-383-7413 (Vancouver local), 1-888-664-6383 (Toll-Free) or +1-416-764-8650 (International). The conference call will also be simultaneously webcast and can be accessed at the following audience URL: https://well.company/events. Selected Unaudited Financial Highlights: Please see SEDAR for complete copies of the Company's condensed interim consolidated financial statements and interim MD&A for the quarter ended June 30, 2023. Three months ended Six months ended June 30, March 31, June 30, June 30, June 30, 2023 2023 2022 2023 2022 Restated Restated $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 Revenue 170,922 169,425 140,326 340,347 266,834 Cost of sales (excluding depreciation and amortization) (80,099) (83,256) (64,852) (163,355) (121,972) Adjusted Gross Profit(1) 90,823 86,169 75,474 176,992 144,862 Adjusted Gross Margin(1) 53.1 % 50.9 % 53.8 % 52.0 % 54.3 % Adjusted EBITDA(1) 27,789 26,683 26,433 54,472 49,926 Net loss (2,016) (10,627) (1,244) (12,643) (4,020) Adjusted Net Income (1) 14,361 14,125 17,528 28,486 26,458 Loss per share, basic and diluted (in $) (0.03) (0.06) (0.03) (0.09) (0.07) Adjusted Net Income per share, basic and diluted (in $) (1) 0.06 0.06 0.08 0.12 0.12 Weighted average number of common shares outstanding, basic and diluted 235,434,417 232,171,126 216,181,083 233,811,786 213,115,055 Reconciliation of net loss to Adjusted EBITDA: Net loss for the period (2,016) (10,627) (1,244) (12,643) (4,020) Depreciation and amortization 14,041 14,522 13,810 28,563 27,185 Income tax expense (recovery) 1,889 192 (2,398) 2,081 (445) Interest income (127) (188) (109) (315) (211) Interest expense 7,828 7,774 5,254 15,602 10,408 Rent expense on finance leases (2,581) (2,490) (2,227) (5,071) (4,379) Stock-based compensation 6,134 6,599 8,527 12,733 13,666 Foreign exchange gain (65) (284) (440) (349) (481) Time-based earnout expense 1,476 10,854 4,515 12,330 7,036 Change in fair value of investments - - - - (602) Gain on disposal of investments (1,517) - - (1,517) - Share of net loss of associates 91 97 90 188 238 Transaction, restructuring, integration and other costs expensed 838 234 655 1,072 1,531 Other items 1,798 - - 1,798 - Adjusted EBITDA(1) 27,789 26,683 26,433 54,472 49,926 Attributable to WELL shareholders 22,287 20,632 19,186 42,919 35,282 Attributable to Non-controlling interests 5,502 6,051 7,247 11,553 14,644 Adjusted EBITDA(1) WELL Corporate (4,456) (4,525) (3,927) (8,981) (8,041) Canada and others 14,777 12,238 7,883 27,015 13,481 WELL Health USA Adjusted EBITDA(1) attributable to WELL shareholders 17,468 18,970 22,477 36,438 44,486 WELL Corporate (4,456) (4,525) (3,927) (8,981) (8,041) Canada and others 14,804 11,773 7,722 26,577 13,131 WELL Health USA Adjusted EBITDA(1) attributable to Non-controlling interests 11,939 13,384 15,391 25,323 30,192 Canada and others (27) 465 161 438 350 WELL Health USA 5,529 5,586 7,086 11,115 14,294 Reconciliation of net loss to Adjusted Net Income: Net loss for the period (2,016) (10,627) (1,244) (12,643) (4,020) Amortization of intangible assets 10,720 11,030 10,841 21,750 21,198 Time-based earnout expense 1,476 10,854 4,515 12,330 7,036 Stock-based compensation 6,134 6,599 8,527 12,733 13,666 Change in fair value of investments - - - - (602) Other items 1,798 - - 1,798 - Non-controlling interest included in net loss (3,751) (3,731) (5,111) (7,482) (10,820) Adjusted Net Income (1) 14,361 14,125 17,528 28,486 26,458 Adjusted Net Income per share (1) 0.06 0.06 0.08 0.12 0.12 Footnotes: (1) This is a non-GAAP financial measure and ratio. In addition to results reported in accordance with IFRS, the Company uses certain non-GAAP financial measures as supplemental indicators of its financial and operating performance. These non-GAAP financial measures include Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Net Income Per Share, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Gross Profit, Adjusted Gross Margin, and Adjusted Free Cash Flow. The Company believes these supplementary financial measures reflect the Company's ongoing business in a manner that allows for meaningful period-to-period comparisons and analysis of trends in its business. Adjusted Net Income and Adjusted Net Income per Share The Company defines Adjusted Net Income as net income (loss), after excluding the effects of stock-based compensation expense, amortization of acquired intangible assets, time-based earnout expense, change in fair value of investments, non-controlling interests, and revenue precluded from recognition under IFRS 15 that relates to certain patient services revenue that the Company believes should be recognized as revenue based on its contractual relationships. Adjusted Net Income Per Share is Adjusted Net Income divided by weighted average number of shares outstanding. The Company believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to analyze our results, enhance a reader's understanding of past financial performance and allow for greater understanding with respect to key metrics used by management in decision making. More specifically, the Company believes Adjusted Net Income is a financial metric that tracks the earning power of the business that is available to WELL shareholders. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP measures. EBITDA represents net income (loss) before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA (i) less net rent expense on premise leases considered to be finance leases under IFRS and before (ii) transaction, restructuring, and integration costs, time-based earn-out expense, change in fair value of investments, share of income (loss) of associates, foreign exchange gain/loss, and stock-based compensation expense, (iii) revenue precluded from recognition under IFRS 15 that relates to certain patient services revenue that the Company believes should be recognized as revenue based on its contractual relationships, and (iv) gains/losses that are not reflective of ongoing operating performance. The Company considers Adjusted EBITDA to be a financial metric that measures cash that the Company can use to fund working capital requirements, service future interest and principal debt repayments and fund future growth initiatives. EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered alternatives to net income (loss), cash flow from operating activities or other measures of financial performance in accordance with IFRS. Adjusted Gross Profit and Adjusted Gross Margin The Company defines Adjusted Gross Profit as revenue less cost of sales (excluding depreciation and amortization) and Adjusted Gross Margin as adjusted gross profit as a percentage of revenue. Adjusted gross profit and adjusted gross margin should not be construed as an alternative for revenue or net income (loss) determined in accordance with IFRS. The Company does not present gross profit in its consolidated financial statements as it is a non-GAAP financial measure. The Company believes that adjusted gross profit and adjusted gross margin are meaningful metrics that are often used by readers to measure the Company's efficiency of selling its products and services. Adjusted Free Cash Flow The Company defines Adjusted Free Cash Flow Attributable to Shareholders as Adjusted EBITDA Attributable to Shareholders, less cash interest, less cash taxes and less capital expenditures. Adjusted Net income, Adjusted Net Income per Share, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Gross Profit, Adjusted Gross Margin and Adjusted Free Cash Flow are not recognized measures for financial statement presentation under IFRS and do not have standardized meanings. As such, these measures may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies and should be considered as supplements to, and not as substitutes for, or superior to, the corresponding measures calculated in accordance with IFRS. (2) Patient visits are defined by any interaction a patient has with a WELL practitioner through all sources and channels. This includes also diagnostic testing consultations or any asynchronous physician consultations. Patient Interactions are defined as Patient Visits plus Technology Interactions. Patient Interactions are defined as Patient Visits plus Technology Interactions. (3) Leverage ratio is defined as Net Debt divided by trailing twelve months (TTM) Shareholder Adjusted EBITDA, where Net Debt is calculated as Total Debt less cash and excluding convertible debt. (4) Organic growth includes the impact of USD/CAD exchange rates. WELL HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES CORP. Per: "Hamed Shahbazi" Hamed Shahbazi Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and Director About WELL Health Technologies Corp. WELL's mission is to tech-enable healthcare providers. We do this by developing the best technologies, services, and support available, which ensures healthcare providers are empowered to positively impact patient outcomes. WELL's comprehensive healthcare and digital platform includes extensive front and back-office management software applications that help physicians run and secure their practices. WELL's solutions enable more than 31,000 healthcare providers between the US and Canada and power the largest owned and operated healthcare ecosystem in Canada with more than 148 clinics supporting primary care, specialized care, and diagnostic services. In the United States WELL's solutions are focused on specialized markets such as the gastrointestinal market, women's health, primary care, and mental health. WELL is publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "WELL" and on the OTC Exchange under the symbol "WHTCF". To learn more about the Company, please visit: www.well.company. Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain "Forward-Looking Information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, including, without limitation: its patient interaction run-rate and annual guidance; information regarding the Company's goals, strategies and growth plans; expectations regarding continued revenue and EBITDA growth; the expected benefits and synergies of completed acquisitions; capital allocation plans in the form of more acquisitions or share repurchases; the expected financial performance as well as information in the "Outlook" section herein. Forward-Looking Information 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. Forward-Looking Information 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 Information 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 the Forward-Looking Information and the Forward-Looking Information are not guarantees of future performance. WELL's comments expressed or implied by such Forward-Looking Information are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and conditions, many of which are outside of WELL 's control, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information. Forward-Looking Information are qualified in their entirety by inherent risks and uncertainties, including: direct and indirect material adverse effects from the COVID-19 pandemic; adverse market conditions; risks inherent in the primary healthcare sector in general; regulatory and legislative changes; that future results may vary from historical results; inability to obtain any requisite future financing on suitable terms; any inability to realize the expected benefits and synergies of acquisitions; that market competition may affect the business, results and financial condition of WELL and other risk factors identified in documents filed by WELL under its profile at www.sedarplus.ca, including its most recent Annual Information Form. Except as required by securities law, WELL does not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise. This news release contains future-oriented financial information and financial outlook information (collectively, "FOFI") about estimated annual run-rate revenue and Adjusted EBIDTA, all of which are subject to the same assumptions, risk factors, limitations, and qualifications as set out in the above paragraph. The actual financial results of WELL may vary from the amounts set out herein and such variation may be material. WELL and its management believe that the FOFI has been prepared on a reasonable basis, reflecting management's best estimates and judgments. However, because this information is subjective and subject to numerous risks, it should not be relied on as necessarily indicative of future results. Except as required by applicable securities laws, WELL undertakes no obligation to update such FOFI. FOFI contained in this news release was made as of the date hereof and was provided for the purpose of providing further information about WELL's anticipated future business operations on an annual basis. Readers are cautioned that the FOFI contained in this news release should not be used for purposes other than for which it is disclosed herein. Neither the TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE WELL Health Technologies Corp. State Property Fund considers it impossible to supply titanium ore to aggressor country due to strict verification of contracts at many levels The State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine points out the impossibility of supplying titanium ore to the aggressor country by JSC United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC), under whose management the Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine (Dnipropetrovsk Region) and the Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (Zhytomyr region) were transferred, due to strict verification of contracts at different levels. As Deputy Chairman of the Fund Oleksandr Fedorishyn said at a press conference entitled "SPF is responding to accusations of a possible supply of titanium raw materials by UMCC to the Russian Federation" at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday, the Fund and UMCC are absolutely transparent and strive to give answers to all questions. At the same time, he urged journalists to contact them when writing materials. At the same time, Fedorishyn suggested that the accusation that appeared in the media that UMCC is allegedly supplying products to the aggressor country was due to the intention to either influence the company's privatization process or the actions of its competitors or to look for a pro-Russian trace in the appearance of the article. He did not rule out that such materials may appear in the future. In turn, he said that in order for UMCC to obtain permission to supply products, it is necessary to go through many bureaucratic procedures legal, economic, technical, security, etc. "Therefore, it is infantile to admit that the Fund and other state institutions turn a blind eye, do not look where the products go, who the recipient is, or how they are used. In fact, everything is quite complicated, bureaucratized," the deputy head of the State Property Fund said. He added that the UMCC, together with the Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General's Office, created a working group to check the counterparties to whom the company sold products. In particular, the buyer of titanium raw materials is SIC LUCEAT LUX KFT (Hungary), with which UMCC has been fruitfully cooperating for a long time. At the same time, Fedorishyn said that after the inclusion of ilmenite (titanium ore) in the list of goods for the export of which a special license is needed, there were checks of contracts and letters from security services. "The State Export Control Service of Ukraine gives recommendations this is a key body that filters to whom and where deliveries go. And the public structures carried out control, and when a contract is signed, UMCC submits a number of documents to, indicating the end consumer of the products, the State Export Control Service," the deputy head of the Fund said, emphasizing that the contracts contain a number of restrictions, in particular, the absence of supplies to the aggressor country is stipulated. Further, after obtaining the permit, the goods are transported accompanied by the recipient of the products, who confirms the delivery under the contract, and the State Export Control Service checks this information. "And all the deliveries were in accordance with the contracts, which confirmed the deliveries to the end consumer. There was also an internal investigation of the SPF," the Deputy Head of the Fund said. He also said that not all product groups are subject to control only ilmenite products. And titanium ingots are the issue of the Zaporizhia Titanium and Magnesium Combine (ZTMC). "The internal audit of ZTMC showed that the facts cited in the media [about the supply of products to the aggressor country] are not confirmed," Fedorishyn said. In turn, Yehor Perelyhin, a member of the UMCC board, said that deliveries to the United States from UMCC were under a contract with another company, but did not name the recipient of titanium ore in the United States. "It is impossible to name it in accordance with the contract terms, but we have consumer confirmation that the entire volume has reached the U.S. market," he said. "We have a good track of where the goods go," the member of the company's board said. According to the SPF information for the press conference, given Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the issue of the possible supply of titanium raw materials to the aggressor country has become extremely important for Ukraine's national security. Any actions aimed at illegally exporting strategic resources to Russia are unacceptable. "The SPF adheres to the position of openness and transparency that is why it initiated an internal investigation, which should confirm or refute the media information that UMCC sells titanium raw materials to the Russian Federation during the war," the Fund said. In addition, the State Property Fund has asked the Security Service of Ukraine to conduct its own investigation and is ready to cooperate with the public and law enforcement agencies to clarify all the circumstances of the information published in the media. At the same time, the SPF urged all interested parties to adhere to objectivity and carefully check any information. "We emphasize once again that the enemy continues an active information war. Get news only from official sources," the Fund said. The investment, co-led by Inven Capital and Insight Partners, will drive the continuing growth of the leading AI-based water management solution for the built environment NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- WINT Water Intelligence, the leader in cutting-edge water management and leak-prevention solutions for construction, commercial, residential and industrial applications, has completed a $35 million Series C funding round to drive continued growth and innovation in AI- and IoT-based solutions for managing water and mitigating water damage throughout a building's lifecycle. The round was co-led by Inven Capital, a leading European climate tech fund, and global software investor Insight Partners, which also led WINT's B round. The round was joined by Taronga Ventures, one of the world's leading real asset technology investors, and other prop-tech and construction-tech investors, providing WINT strategic access to new markets. "As a climate tech investor, we were greatly impressed by WINT's vision to bring sustainability and risk mitigation into water management, coupled with its ability to rapidly rise to market leadership in this fast-growing space," said Michal Mravec, Investment Director at Inven Capital. "Their exponential growth, focus on customer value, cutting-edge technology, and ability to deliver globally are a uniquely powerful combination. We're excited about the prospect of working with this exceptional team to help drive WINT's continued growth while making our world a better place." The successful C round supports WINT's global market expansion and technological innovation. The investment reflects the urgent need for WINT's solutions across the globe as contractors, owners, tenants, and insurers seek solutions for mitigating the damage and cost of water leaks. The investment also reflects the increasing impact of global water stress and the urgency for water management solutions that prevent water waste and its associated carbon emissions. "We're excited to close this round at a time when water scarcity and climate change are becoming some of humanity's greatest challenges, while the costs of water leak damage in buildings are reaching unacceptable levels for insurers, owners, developers and contractors," said Alon Geva, CEO of WINT. "We're thrilled by the opportunity to partner with Inven and with other world-leading realestate and climate tech investors, and we are confident that their support and industry depth will help us solve these massive challenges for the world's built environment." WINT equips contractors, developers, owners and facility management teams with cutting-edge solutions to manage water throughout the lifecycle of a building, from construction to operations. WINT's AI-based solutions help companies eliminate water waste and its associated carbon emissions and prevent water damage on construction sites and in commercial and residential buildings. For more information about WINT, visit https://wint.ai. About WINT WINT Water Intelligence is dedicated to helping businesses reduce their environmental footprint by preventing the hazards, costs, waste and environmental impact associated with water leaks and waste. Utilizing the power of artificial intelligence and IoT technology, WINT provides a solution for commercial facilities, construction sites and industrial manufacturers looking to cut water waste and its associated carbon emissions and to eliminate the impact of water-leak disasters. WINT has been recognized by Fast Company and CB Insights as one of the world's most innovative AI companies and has won multiple awards including "Next Big things in Tech" and Insurance Times' claims prevention technology award. It was also listed at the top 30% of Inc 5000 the fastest growing companies in America in 2022. For more information about WINT, visit https://wint.ai. About Inven Capital Inven Capital is a EUR 500m European VC fund focused on later-stage climate tech investments in Europe & Israel, backed by CEZ Group and European Investment Bank (EIB). Inven Capital's strategy is to invest in innovative fast growing climate tech startups, with a focus on CO2 footprint reduction. It primarily focuses on later-stage growth investment opportunities with a sound business model proven by realized revenues and long-term growth potential. Since 2015, INVEN CAPITAL has selectively invested in fifteen companies including CyberX, Driivz, Taranis, Sonnen, Sunfire, tado, Forto & Zolar, with successful exits from three of them. For more information, visit www.invencapital.cz. About Insight Partners Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of December 31, 2022, the firm has over $75B in regulatory assets under management. Insight Partners has invested in more than 750 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has offices in London, Tel Aviv, and Palo Alto. Insight's mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with right-sized, right-time practical, hands-on software expertise along their growth journey, from their first investment to IPO. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners. About Taronga Ventures Taronga Ventures is one of the world's leading technology investors focused on driving innovation across real asset sectors such as real estate and infrastructure. The group consists of the RealTech Ventures funds, the RealTechX innovation programs, and Taronga Advisory, which provides institutional real asset owners and operator strategic advice on critical areas of sustainability and technology. Taronga Ventures' funds are backed by leading global institutional investors and major real asset owners and operators. Taronga Ventures covers markets across Asia-Pacific, North America, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, visit https://tarongagroup.com/. MEDIA CONTACT: Heather Ripley Ripley PR (865) 977-1973 [email protected] SOURCE WINT ST. JOHN, Virgin Islands, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Xucre.net has announced its plans to launch a much-anticipated cryptocurrency wallet for Latin America. The wallet is the first of its kind in the region and promises to revolutionize the way users buy, sell, and manage digital assets. XucreWallet is launching for Beta on Android in August of 2023. An iOS version of the Wallet is already under development. A decentralized application, XucreWallet, will be available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Quechua and Nahuatl. The wallet is designed to make crypto easy and accessible to any person in the region. Designed in Quito, Ecuador, the wallet is made with the most up to date protocols to ensure users assets are safe. The wallet incorporates a user-friendly interface that lets users easily connect other wallets and dApps via WalletConnect. "We are honored to be launching the XucreWallet for cryptocurrency in Latin America," said Jordan Paul, Xucre's Chief Technology Officer. "It is an exciting time for the region, and we are proud to provide users with a secure and user-friendly solution for managing their cryptocurrency assets." Participants in the Beta who install the application and send a transaction with the application will receive a limited release Xucre NFT, minted as recognition for early adopters of the wallet. The NFTs will be minted on a leading NFT marketplace and airdropped to all participating wallets. The XucreWallet will first be made available in pilot markets in Ecuador and Peru in 2023. Xucre plans to expand its services to all of Latin America by 2026. "We are excited to bring Xucre's wallet to Latin America," said Xucre's CEO, Alex Garcia. "Our goal is to make buying and selling crypto accessible and safe for everyone. We are committed to providing users with a secure and user-friendly experience, and we look forward to expanding our services to include all widely spoken languages in the region in the coming years." About Xucre Xucre Inc. is a developer of decentralized applications, committed to providing users with a secure and user-friendly experience when buying, selling, and managing their digital assets. The company is creating compassionate access to financial services solutions for all of the people of Latin America. Virtus Pro Populo. For terms and conditions and more information visit Xucre's website at https://www.xucre.net SOURCE Xucre The International Baccalaureate (IB) program is an internationally renowned educational framework that aims to foster critical thinking, intercultural understanding, and holistic development in students. Within this article, we will explore what an IB school entails in the context of private education in Cyprus, the differences between IB and Advanced Placement (AP), considerations to determine if IB is suitable for your child, and more. Let's go! What an IB school is all about The IB program was established in 1968 to create a globally recognized education system that emphasizes intellectual and personal growth. IB private schools in Cyprus focus on developing well-rounded individuals who are active, compassionate, and lifelong learners. The school program is designed to cultivate critical thinking, problem-solving, and open-mindedness, while also encouraging students to explore their passions and interests through a range of subject choices. The difference between IB and AP While both the IB and Advanced Placement (AP) programs offer rigorous academic coursework, they have distinct differences. The IB educational program is more holistic, with a broader emphasis on the development of students' personal attributes and community engagement. On the other hand, AP courses are more subject-specific and focus primarily on college-level content. IB also requires students to complete a core component, including Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS), Theory of Knowledge (TOK), and the Extended Essay, which encourages a well-rounded educational experience. Is IB right for your child? When it comes to parents deciding whether IB is suitable for their child the choice depends on their learning style, interests, and aspirations. The IB program may be an excellent fit for a student who thrives in inquiry-based learning environments, possess strong time management skills, and desire a well-rounded education. However, it might not be the best fit for those who prefer a more specialized academic focus or have difficulty managing a rigorous workload. From preK to graduation The IB program in elite school offers a continuum of education from the Primary Years Programme (PYP) for ages 3-12, to the Middle Years Programme (MYP) for ages 11-16, and finally, the Diploma Programme (DP) for ages 16-19. Each stage is designed to build upon the previous one, ensuring a seamless transition and consistent learning approach throughout a student's educational journey. What to look for in an IB school When considering an IB school for your child, there are several factors to keep in mind. Look for schools with experienced and qualified IB teachers who understand the philosophy and framework of the program. Consider the school's resources and facilities, as well as the extracurricular opportunities offered to enhance the overall learning experience you can check out Trinity school in Limassol as it everything we've just talked about. Additionally, check for the school's certificate by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), ensuring that it meets the program's rigorous standards. What supporters say Supporters of the IB program praise its ability to produce well-rounded and globally-minded graduates. They appreciate the program's emphasis on critical thinking, research skills, and community service, as well as the focus on developing students' emotional intelligence and intercultural understanding. Proponents believe that the IB program provides students with comfort and security to excel in college and beyond, equipping them with skills and attributes that are highly valued in today's interconnected world. What critics say Critics of the IB program for private school education argue that its rigor and workload may lead to high levels of stress and burnout among students. Some also question the program's applicability in certain countries' general educational systems, arguing that it may not align with national standards. Additionally, concerns have been raised about the potential for a "one-size-fits-all" approach, which might not suit the learning needs of every student. A final word of advice Choosing the right educational path for your child is a significant decision that should consider their unique strengths, interests, and ambitions. If your child thrives in a challenging and comprehensive learning environment and desires to become a well-rounded global citizen, the IB program may be an excellent choice. However, it is crucial to assess your child's readiness for the demands of the program and to consider other viable options if the IB curriculum does not align with their learning style and aspirations. Finally, the International Baccalaureate program offers a distinctive educational experience that fosters not only academic excellence but also personal growth and global awareness. By understanding what an IB private school in Cyprus entails, weighing its pros and cons, and assessing your child's suitability for the program, you can make an informed decision that sets them on a path of success and fulfillment in their educational journey. Damascus, Aug 10 : A roadside bomb explosion killed a TV reporter and three government soldiers in Syria's southern province of Daraa, media reported. The incident occurred when a vehicle, transporting crew members from local SAMA TV and several government soldiers, was targetted by an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion in the al-Shayah region within Daraa's rural expanse, according to the state news agency SANA report on Wednesday. Three soldiers and 31-year-old TV reporter Firas al-Ahmad were killed in the explosion, while another cameraman survived with injuries, it added. The group had been returning from covering a campaign against drug smuggling along the border shared with Jordan, Xinhua news agency reported. The Syrian Army had intensified its efforts to counter drug trafficking activities, particularly along the Syrian-Jordanian border amid neighbouring countries' concerns and requests to mitigate the flow of illicit substances. Singapore, Aug 10 : Singapore held a National Day Parade to celebrate its 58th anniversary at Padang, an open playing field near the iconic Marina Bay, with a military show, performances and fireworks. Singaporean President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong joined thousands of audiences in the celebration held on Wednesday. The city-state showcased its defence asset, including tanks, armoured vehicles, missile systems and police fast-response vehicles during the parade to mark the achievement of the country's "Total Defence" policy. The ground forces showed their fire and combat tactics to the audience, Xinhua news agency reported. Singapore's air force dispatched 21 aircraft, including helicopters, fighter jets and transport planes, for aerial display. Eight skydivers of the country's "Red Lions" team also performed at the event. Khartoum, Aug 10 : Six Sudanese intelligence officers were killed during clashes between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Omdurman city, north of the capital Khartoum, the Ministry of Defence announced. "Six of the best intelligence officers fell in Omdurman axis," the Ministry said on Wednesday on its Facebook page. Violent clashes continued on Wednesday between the Sudanese Army and the RSF in Omdurman, eyewitnesses said. Both sides on Tuesday claimed to have killed and wounded hundreds of soldiers on the other side, Xinhua news agency reported. The Sudan Doctors Syndicate, meanwhile, said in a statement on Wednesday that "the old neighbourhoods of Omdurman and Karari neighbourhood came under heavy bombardment with various types of heavy weapons, resulting in many deaths and injuries". The Alnaw hospital in the Al-Thawra area is in need of surgical personnel and emergency supplies as well as donations of blood of all types, said the syndicate. Sudan has been witnessing deadly clashes between the Sudanese Army and the RSF in Khartoum and other areas since April 15, resulting in at least 3,000 deaths and more than 6,000 injuries, according to figures released by the Sudanese Health Ministry. Mogadishu, Aug 10 : At least six passengers, including three children, were killed and 12 others injured after a minibus they were travelling in ran over an explosive device in lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia, an official confirmed. Governor of Lower Shabelle region, Mohamed Ibrahim Barre, told the Somali National News Agency that the minibus left Marka city and was heading to Qoryoley town in the region when it ran over the landmine which was planted along the road, Xinhua news agency reported. "The minibus ran over a landmine blast and we believe that the enemy, al-Shabaab, was behind this heinous act," Barre said on Wednesday. Sources told Xinhua news agency that the casualties of the latest incident are more than the figures mentioned. No group has claimed responsibility for the incident. Moscow, Aug 10 : Forty-three people have been injured so far in a blast at an optical-mechanical plant in the city of Sergiev Posad in the Moscow region, local authorities said. The explosion happened on Wednesday morning at around 10:40 a.m. local time at a pyrotechnics warehouse, which was being rented out on the optical-mechanical plant's territory by a private company, said Governor of the Moscow Region Andrei Vorobiev in a Telegram post. Among the injured, five are currently in critical condition, according to preliminary information provided by local authorities. Moreover, five people could still be trapped in the rubble. Vorobiev said people have been evacuated from all the buildings and workshops of the plant, as well as from a kindergarten close to the factory, Xinhua news agency reported. He also added that a sport complex near the plant had been damaged, as well as windows in nearby residential buildings. Local media, citing a State Duma deputy, suggested that the blast could have occurred due to a "violation of technological processes". In response, Russia's Investigative Committee has initiated a criminal case into the incident. Jerusalem, Aug 10 : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that public funds for Arab municipalities would be used for the designated purpose of serving Arab citizens following evaluation and supervision, a day after a cabinet minister's announcement to freeze them drew criticism. "Israel's Arab citizens deserve what all citizens deserve and I am committed to this," Netanyahu was quoted as saying on Wednesday in a statement released by his office. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday that he has frozen funds for Arab municipalities in Israel and Palestinian higher education programmes in East Jerusalem on the ground that they could potentially benefit "criminal organisations" within Arab society, Xinhua news agency reported. The decision involves 200 million shekels (about $53.81 million), which would have come in the form of scholarships for low-income Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem to enroll in prep classes at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and two other colleges in the city. Opposition leader Yair Lapid, Israel's former Prime Minister, slammed Smotrich for making such a "racist" decision. Netanyahu's office stressed in the statement that the policy of Netanyahu is "to facilitate the development and social welfare of all Israeli citizens, Arab and Jewish alike". "The funds for the Arab local authorities in Israel will be transferred pursuant to an evaluation and supervision that they will be used for their designated purpose -- for Israel's Arab citizens and nothing else," it noted. -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed Prayagraj, Aug 10 : The Allahabad High Court has observed that if a married woman "with prior experience in sexual relations" does not express objection, it cannot be deemed that her intimate involvement with a man was non-consensual. Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh made this observation while hearing the criminal proceedings against an individual accused of raping a 40-year-old married woman. Ironically, the accused was her live-in partner. The court noted that the alleged rape victim, without obtaining a divorce from her husband and leaving behind her two children, chose to enter a live-in relationship with the petitioner, Rakesh Yadav, with the intention of marrying him. The court addressed the plea submitted by three defendants, seeking the dismissal of the charge sheet filed against them before the court of an Additional Civil Judge (junior division) in the new Court number III/Judicial Magistrate, Jaunpur. Recalling the victim's marriage in 2001 to her husband, from whom she bore two children, it was highlighted that due to the "acrimonious" nature of their relationship, the applicant Rakesh Yadav (the first applicant) purportedly took advantage of the situation. He persuaded her under the promise of marriage, leading her to cohabit with him for a period of five months, during which they engaged in physical relations. It was alleged that the co-accused Rajesh Yadav (the second applicant) and Lal Bahadur (the third applicant), brother and father of the first applicant, respectively, assured her that they would facilitate her marriage to Rakesh Yadav. Under her insistence on marriage, they even obtained her signature on a plain stamp paper, falsely claiming that a notarised marriage had taken place. In actuality, no such marriage had been solemnised. On the opposing side, the counsel representing the applicants argued that the alleged victim, a married woman of around 40 years and a mother of two children, possessed the maturity to comprehend the nature and morality of the consensual act in question. Consequently, they contended that this case did not constitute rape but rather a consensual relationship between the first applicant and the victim. In its order last week, the court, while recognising the need for further deliberation, suspended the ongoing criminal case against the applicants. It granted the opposing parties the liberty to submit a counter affidavit (response) within a span of six weeks. The case will next be heard after nine weeks. flydubai, the Dubai-based airline, has announced its new agreement with Smartwings, the Czech Republic-based airline, to wet lease four Next-Generation Boeing 737-800 aircraft between October 17, 2023 and April 16, 2024. The Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance (ACMI) agreement with Smartwings will see four-leased aircraft support flydubais fleet of 79 Boeing 737 aircraft, enabling the carrier to add more capacity for its passengers and cater to demand for travel during busy travel periods. Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai, said: we are pleased to confirm this new wet lease agreement with Smartwings, this marks our third agreement with the carrier since 2019. Smartwings, an IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) certified company, is well-experienced in ACMI agreements. The leasing of four additional aircraft will enable us to maintain our operational efficiency, add capacity around our network and minimise any potential disruption to our passengers during one of the busiest travel periods of the year. flydubai currently operates a single-fleet type of Boeing 737 aircraft that includes 30 Next-Generation Boeing 737-800, 46 Boeing 737 MAX 8 and three Boeing 737 MAX 9. We are delighted to have signed our third ACMI wet lease agreement with flydubai. This cooperation, which we greatly value, will allow us to achieve a higher utilisation of our aircraft and provide our qualified employees with more opportunities during the winter season, says Jiri Juran, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Smartwings. The all-Economy Class aircraft will operate on select routes on the flydubai network including Chattogram, Colombo, Dhaka, Karachi and Muscat. flydubai passengers who are booked to travel on a flight operated by Smartwings will be notified prior to their travel date, a statement said. - TradeArabia News Service BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, August 10. Kyrgyz Finance Minister Almaz Baketayev met with the new Permanent Representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the Kyrgyz Republic, Farid Talishli, Trend reports. The IMF provided immediate assistance to the Kyrgyz Republic in attracting financial assistance during the state of emergency in connection with the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic to support the budget in 2020, as well as for the distribution of SDRs. Farid Talishli was born on October 25, 1972 in Moscow. He graduated from the Faculty of Engineering and Economics of the Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University, as well as the Faculty of International Economic Relations of the Azerbaijan State University of Economics. In 2006, he received a PhD in Economics from Lomonosov Moscow State University. In addition, he started his professional career in 1993 at the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan. He worked at the local representative office of the IMF in the period from 2003 through 2006. He worked as an economist at the World Bank Azerbaijan Country Office from 2006 through 2009. Moreover, he has been working at the head office of the IMF in Washington since 2010. Damascus, Aug 10 : Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that terrorism caused destruction in Syria, saying those who supported terrorism should be held accountable. Speaking to Sky News Arabia in an interview on Wednesday, Assad emphasised the extent of destruction caused by terrorism in Syria, stressing that no state intentionally destroys its own homeland. He dismissed the notion that counter-terrorism efforts could ruin the country, Xinhua news agency reported. According to Assad, if Syria had followed the demands of certain countries, the war could have been prevented. However, doing so would have come at the expense of the rights and interests of the Syrian people. Regarding Syria's relationship with friendly nations, he said their support is essential but emphasised that the true resilience lies with the Syrian people. Assad criticised the US "Caesar Act," saying it impedes Syria's economic development, worsening the country's situation. Quito, Aug 10 : Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has been killed, the country's president Guillermo Lasso has said, vowing the "crime will not go unpunished". Local media had earlier reported Villavicencio, a former lawmaker who had been polling at 7.5 per cent and a leading anti-corruption campaigner, had been shot at a campaign event in Quito, The Guardian reported. Videos on social media appear to show the candidate walking out of the event surrounded by guards. The video then shows Villavicencio entering a white truck followed by gunfire. "For his memory and his fight, I assure you that this crime will not remain unpunished," Lasso said on Twitter. Villavicencio, from the Andean province of Chimborazo, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement. He was a former union member at state oil company Petroecuador and later a journalist who denounced alleged millions in oil contract losses. He was one of eight presidential candidates for the late August election. Villavicencio was one of the most critical voices against corruption, especially during the government of former president Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over statements made against the former president. He fled to Indigenous territory within Ecuador and later was given asylum in Peru, The Guardian reported. As a legislator, Villavicencio was criticised by opposition politicians for obstructing an impeachment process this year against Lasso, which led the latter to call the early elections. Lasso added that he was "outraged and shocked by the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. My solidarity and condolences to his wife and daughters". He said his security cabinet would meet shortly. The killing comes amid a startling wave of violence in the South American nation, with drug trafficking and killings on the rise. "Organized crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law," Lasso said, referring to the perpetrators of the crime. "Today more than ever, the need to act with a strong hand against crime is reiterated. May God have him in his glory," fellow presidential hopeful Jan Topic said in response to the shooting. London, Aug 10 : British Sikh chef and former BBC presenter Hardeep Singh Kohli, who was arrested and charged over sexual harassment allegations, has been released on an undertaking and will appear in court at a later date, police said. The 54-year-old was accused of predatory and sexually inappropriate behaviour by more than 20 women, according to an investigation by The Times newspaper. "A 54-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with allegations of non-recent sexual offences. He has been released on an undertaking to appear in court at a later date," Police Scotland said in a statement on Wednesday. "A report of the circumstances has been submitted to the procurator fiscal," the police said. Police Scotland started its probe last month after fresh complaints of sexual harassment allegations emerged against Kohli. They have submitted a report to the Procurator Fiscal, the independent public prosecution office of the devolved region. The Times newspaper reported in July that a former Labour party official alleged Kohli bombarded her with unwanted sexual comments after he reached out to her on social media. "He phoned me and immediately started talking about sex," she said. "I told him I didn't feel comfortable but he tried to make out there was something wrong with me because I didn't want to engage with him in sex chat." Kohli deleted his X profile last month after women used the platform to accuse him of sexually inappropriate behaviour. Born in London to immigrant parents from Punjab, Kohli presented several programmes for the BBC and other broadcasters, and was runner up in the 2006 edition of Celebrity Masterchef. The BBC snapped ties with him in 2020. Before that, the BBC had axed him for six months when he was a reporter in 2009 following allegations of inappropriate conduct towards a female researcher. Kohli forayed into comedy in 2009 at the Edinburgh fringe, where he performed a one-man show, cooking curries on stage. He also wrote for The Guardian and also participated in in Celebrity MasterChef in 2006 and Celebrity Big Brother in 2018. Islamabad, Aug 10 : Just three days before the completion of its five-year tenure, Pakistan President Arif Alvi has dissolved the National Assembly shortly after a summary signed by Prime Shehbaz Sharif advising the dissolution of the Lower House of Parliament, was sent to the Presidency. A statement issued by the Presidency just before Thursday midnight read: "President Arif Alvi has dissolved the National Assembly under Article 58(1) on the advice of the Prime Minister." The dissolution of the National Assembly, which elects the federal government, has brought an end to the Sharif-led coalition government, reports Xinhua news agency. According to the Pakistani constitution, if the Assembly is terminated before its stipulated time, the general elections would be held within 90 days and if it completes its mandated period then the election will take place within 60 days. Following the end of the government, the Prime Minister will discuss with the opposition leader of the house to decide on a caretaker premier who will take charge until the next general elections. On his last day in power, Sharif on Wednesday chaired a meeting of the federal cabinet, made a farewell address in Parliament and chaired two separate meetings on overseas Pakistanis and the setting up of an 'Olympic village' in Islamabad, Dawn news reported. Addressing the federal cabinet, he confirmed it was his government's last day in power. The Prime Minister said the coalition government sacrificed their political capital for the sake of the country as they had a "gigantic task to save the motherland from looming default". After the cabinet meeting, he went to the Parliament House to address the National Assembly. In his farewell speech in the Assembly, Sharif said he would start consultations on Thursday to decide about a caretaker Prime Minister within three days, who will choose his cabinet for three months or until the formation of the next elected government. Soon after the National Assembly's late-night dissolution, troops were seen at different points in Islamabad. It wasn't immediately clear whether the soldiers' presence was because of security reasons or VIP movement. New Delhi, Aug 10 : Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday took a dig at Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and also questioned the Prime Minister over not visiting violence-hit Manipur. In a tweet, Chidambaram said, "Ethnic cleansing is shameful," admitted the Home Minister. It happened under his watch. He added that it is 'more shameful' that politics is being played on it. He is wrong." "Raising and debating the issue of ethnic cleansing is the duty of every citizen, especially of political leaders and MPs. What is regretful is that the Prime Minister has not found the time to visit Manipur in the last 100 days," the Congress leader added. His remarks came a day after Shah, while speaking in the Lok Sabha on the no-confidence motion, said that the ethnic strife in Manipur "is shameful, but what 's more shameful is how the opposition is playing politics over the issue". "Why was the video not shared with the DGP and police agencies? Why were the cops kept in dark about the incidents?" Shah asked in the Lok Sabha. He said, "Once the video came in public domain, we acted immediately. We identified the culprits and arrested them." Ethnic clashes erupted in Manipur on May 3 and since then hundreds of people have lost their lives whereas thousands have been forced to take refuge in relief camps. A no-trust motion has been brought by the Congress on behalf of the opposition bloc of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in Lok Sabha over Manipur. The debate was initiated on Tuesday by Congress Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi. On Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi and several other opposition MPs slammed the government while Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Amit Shah spoke against the no-trust motion. The no-trust motion will conclude with the Prime Minister's reply on Thursday. --IANSaks/dpb Warsaw, Aug 10 : The government of Poland will deploy 2,000 troops to the country's border with Belarus to maintain stability, Deputy Interior Minister Maciej Wasik told local media. Speaking to the Polish Press Agency (PAP) on Wednesday, Wasik said the commander of Poland's border guard had originally asked for an additional 1,000 soldiers, but Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak and the Security Committee decided to double the number Currently, around 2,000 Polish troops are stationed along the Poland-Belarus border, supporting hundreds of policemen and border guards, according to the PAP. According to the Deputy Interior Minister, the additional troops are slated to be deployed within two weeks. The development comes amid ongoing tensions between the two neighbouring nations. Earlier this month, authorities in Warsaw had alleged two Belarusian helicopters allegedly violated the Polish airspace during training exercises on Aug 2. The incident occurred at the eastern border region of Bialowieza which is located south of the Suwalki gap -- a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania that links the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad to Belarus and it is the only overland connection between the Baltic states and the rest of the EU. But Belarus vehemently denied and had dismissed the allegation as "far-fetched". There were alsoreports that troops from the Wagner mercenary group were moving towards the Suwalki gap from Belarus, CNN reported. In July, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned that the mercenaries were heading towards Suwalki via Grodno, a city in western Belarus, in a situation that is "becoming even more dangerous" as Russian-allied forces attempt to increase their presence near the NATO border. Moscow used Belarusian territory to facilitate its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, strengthening ties between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart in Minsk Alexander Lukashenko. Bengaluru, Aug 10 : A shocking incident of a woman being attacked by an Uber driver for taking the wrong cab came to light in Bengaluru on Thursday. The incident took place in Bhoganahalli locality in Bellandur police station limits on Wednesday. The police have begun the investigation and launched a hunt for the accused after verifying the CCTV footage. The husband of the victim, Ajay Agarwal, has expressed his outrage regarding the incident on a social media platform. The woman had booked a cab on Wednesday morning from her apartment to take her son to the hospital. When she came down she saw an Uber cab and sat inside without knowing that it was not the one she had booked. When the passenger realised that it was not her cab, she tried to alight. When the woman tried to get out of the cab, the diver started moving it. Later, when he stopped the vehicle, the driver assaulted the woman all of a sudden in the premises of the apartment. The driver also assaulted the boy who came to his mother's rescue. The entire episode is captured in the CCTV camera installed in the premises of the apartment. The residents of the apartment came to rescue and saved the woman from the attack. The residents have informed the police and the police have taken up the investigation and collected the CCTV footage of the incident. More details are yet to emerge. Rio De Janeiro, Aug 10 : Santos are in advanced talks with Chelsea to sell highly-rated forward Deivid Washington, according to media reports in Brazil. The parties have agreed in principle to a deal worth 15 million euros with up to five million euros in bonuses, Globo Esporte reported on Wednesday. It added that the 18-year-old has also received an offer from Ligue 1 outfit Monaco. Washington has made 16 first-team appearances for Santos since he was promoted from the club's youth academy in January. Chelsea currently have two other Brazilians in their senior squad: Defender Thiago Silva and midfielder Andrey Santos. San Francisco, Aug 10 : Elon Musk's Twitter faced a $350,000 fine earlier this year for refusing to comply with a search warrant concerning former US President Donald Trump's account on the micro-blogging platform. The information was revealed by the new court documents unsealed on Wednesday, reports The Verge. The warrant was issued as part of a Department of Justice special investigation. In January, as part of his inquiry into Trump's role in interfering with the orderly transition of power following the 2020 election, special counsel Jack Smith obtained a search warrant for the former President's Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump. According to the unsealed opinion, Twitter, now known as X, objected on February 1 to providing the material requested in the warrant, claiming that its accompanying nondisclosure order was unlawful under the First Amendment, which guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition. The objection came four days after the court-mandated deadline and asked the district court to determine if the nondisclosure was legal before handing over the warrant's requested material. On February 2, X moved to vacate the nondisclosure order, claiming that it "violated the company's First Amendment rights to communicate with its subscriber, former President Trump". During a hearing on February 7, the court determined that X was in contempt. However, the company was given the opportunity to purge the finding by supplying the requested materials that day before 5 p.m.. According to unsealed documents, X failed to meet the deadline. The company did send some records, but that submission was considered incomplete. It wasn't until February 9 that X finally provided all the requested records to the government. As a consequence of missing the deadline, the company received a fine of $350,000. In January 2021, the company had announced the permanent suspension of Trump's account on the platform. However, after purchasing the platform last year, Musk in November reinstated Trump's account. --IANS aj/ksk PM Modi to reply on no-confidence motion today in Lok Sabha. Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, Aug 10 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply to the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. He is likely to speak around late afternoon. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had informed the House on Wednesday that the prime minister will reply to the motion on August 10. The discussion on the motion, which began on August 8, after being initiated by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, has seen some high-voltage speeches from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister Smriti Irani and Home Minister Amit Shah. Shah, during his more than two hour long speech Wednesday evening, had said that though the incidents of Manipur were "shameful", the prime minister along with him had worked late nights to resolve the situation there. Meanwhile, according to the day's schedule, the government will seek passage of the Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in the Lok Sabha. Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will move the bill for passage. The bill seeks to amend the Advocates Act, 1961, and has been passed by the Rajya Sabha. --IANSans/dpb BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10. Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev exposed lawyer Luis Ocampo, who is the author of a biased anti-Azerbaijani report, Trend reports. As Hajiyev noted, Luis M. Ocampo managed companies based in some of the most notorious tax havens of the world while serving as chief prosecutor at ICC. Armenia's ex-president S. Sargisyan himself, who is warlord and warcriminal, committed Khojaly genocide welcomed Ocampo in Yerevan. European Investigative Collaborations network reported that Moreno Ocampo had a client, suspected of supporting war criminals in Libya. Person with such murky background deliberately distorts the ICJ decisions and the real situation on the ground with regard to the functioning of Lachin road in his biased report and presents serious factual, legal and substantive errors. Simply "No Comments"!" - he wrote on his X (Twitter) page. According to the article in the MediaPart which Hajiyev refers to, Luis Moreno Ocampo, when challenged about his offshore financial activities, said that his salary at the ICC "was not enough". On August 15th, 2012, just two months after Luis Moreno Ocampo left his position as chief prosecutor at the ICC in The Hague, the sum of 50,000 dollars landed in his account at the Abn Amro bank in Holland. The reason why a chief prosecutor is required to be so exemplary is that the ICC pursues the worst mass killers in the world. These are men and women of high rank, heads of state, military leaders, spymasters or others who are all suspected of having committed atrocities, whether these are crimes against humanity or genocide. To ensure they are not in a vulnerable situation when faced with those they accuse - who sometimes have the resources of a state or an intelligence service to defend them - the investigators must be above any suspicion. The prosecutor is at the forefront of this group, the article says. Mumbai, Aug 10 : Pluckk, India's leading lifestyle-oriented fresh fruit and vegetables brand, is proud to announce its exciting partnership with renowned Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor Khan. The partnership not only marks a significant milestone for Pluckk but also sees Kareena Kapoor Khan taking a stake in the company, cementing her position as an Investor and Brand Ambassador in the F&V industry. Nestled in the heart of Mumbai, Pluckk offers an exceptional product range comprising 400 items across 15+ categories, including essentials, exotics, hydroponics, and cuts & mixes. The diverse catalogue also includes do-it-yourself (DIY) meal kits prepared at in-house certified food-tech facilities. By offering consumers ozone -- washed & traceability, Pluckk has been a pioneer in innovation in the Fresh Fruits & Vegetables space. Seed Funded by Exponentia Ventures, Pluckk holds a strong presence across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru & Pune with plans to expand in the coming quarters. Pluckk has significantly expanded its presence on leading marketplaces, with its products now available on its own Android and iOS App and for sale on Amazon, Swiggy, Dunzo, Zepto & Reliance Signature Stores. The brand has sold over 1 million products through its differentiated offerings across its D2C & Marketplace channels in the last quarter. The availability of unique products such as DIY zoodles & cauli rice and a curated trends section has seen Pluckk position itself further as a leader & innovator in the merchandise space. Furthermore, being India's first certified Plastic neutral F & V brand, Pluckk has taken the 1st step in its eco-conscious commitment to reducing plastic waste. Pratik Gupta, CEO & Co-Founder of Pluckk said, "Our vision is to build a PAN India fresh food brand dedicated to service the needs of Indian families and homes with our network of over 1,000 farmers. Kareena Kapoor Khan's partnership with Pluckk is set to propel us towards our unwavering goal. We warmly welcome her to the Pluckk family." Kareena Kapoor Khan said, "I am delighted to be associated with Pluckk as an investor and brand ambassador, a brand that is at the forefront of providing safe and high-quality fruits and vegetables to consumers. As a mom personally the quality of food is very important to me. I look forward to being a part of Pluckk's remarkable journey and commitment to help consumers eat right in all of India." Chennai, Aug 10 : Tamil megastar Rajinikanth's latest movie, 'Jailer' is emerging as a blockbuster as fans are elated with his performance as well as the young director Nelson Dileepkumar. The movie produced by Kalanidhi Maran under the banner of Sun films is being screened in 900 theaters across Tamil Nadu. R. Pradeep Kumar, a software engineer from Kerala settled in Chennai, while speaking to IANS said: "Rajani is marvelous and so is Mohanlal, the Malayalam super star who is playing a cameo in the movie. Can't describe about the making of the movie and Nelson has proved once again that he is an indispensable presence in Tamil film world." The movie has a huge pre-review and fans were even conducting 'moun vrat' (vow of silence) at certain pockets of Tamil Nadu including Madurai and Tiruchi for the success of the movie. Prabhu Pandian, an active member of Rajani fan club based in Madurai and a businessman, while speaking to IANS said: "Rajani has delivered again. I've been a fan of the super star since I was a school-going boy and I've watched all his movies from 'Padayappa' and 'Jailer' is something different with Rajani, JackieShrof, Tamana and Mohanlal performing exceedingly well. All credit to Nelson Dileepkumar for the wonderful direction." The movie has collected Rs 13 crore in pre-booking figures till yesterday and the movie is emerging as a huge blockbuster if initial responses are to be counted. Manonmani, a housewife, after watching the movie with her husband and son at PVR cinemas in Chennai's Anna Nagar, told IANS: "Rajani is something different. The movie has given such a positive energy to me that it will stay with me for several days. He is such a great actor who can uplift a society as such, and we as Tamilians are proud that we have such an actor in our midst." Fans welcomed the movie 'Jailer' by throwing rose petals and jasmines to the screen in most of the theaters in Tamil Nadu including Chennai, Theni, Madurai, Coimbatore, Tiruchy, Salem, Erode and all other major spots of the state. -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed Washington, Aug 10 : A man who allegedly made threats against US President Joe Biden ahead of the latter's trip to the state of Utah, was shot dead during a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raid, media reports said. The raid occurred on Wednesday in Provo, about 65 km south of state capital Salt Lake City, while FBI agents were attempting to serve an arrest warrant against the accused person, Craig Robertson at his home, just hours ahead of the President's planned visit, reports the BBC. The agents were giving commands to the man when he pointed a gun at them, CNN quoted a law enforcement source as saying. The FBI has not provided any further information on the incident. Robertson was facing three federal charges, including threats against the President as well as influencing, impeding and retaliating against federal law enforcement officers by threat. Investigators noted that Robertson appeared to owns "a sniper rifle" and several other firearms.Some of the threats happened just ahead of Biden's planned trip to Utah on Wednesday evening. "I hear Biden is coming to Utah," one threat read. "Digging out my old Ghille suit and cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle. Welcome buffoon-in-chief." The US Secret Service, which is responsible for protection of high-level government officials, including Biden, said that it is "aware of the FBI investigation involving an individual in Utah who has exhibited threats to a Secret Service protectee". Robertson also posted online threats in recent months againsy Attorney General Merrick Garland, Vice President Kamala Harris, New York State Attorney General Letitia James, California Governor Gavin Newsom and New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Biden will now make his first visit to Utah as president on Thursday, with a visit to a veterans' hospital and a fundraising event in Park City. Kartik Aaryan blushes at getting proposed for marriage by a fan in Melbourne. Image Source: IANS News Mumbai, Aug 10 : Bollywood's chocolate boy Kartik Aaryan was proposed by a fan in Melbourne, where his film 'Satyaprem Ki Katha' was being premiered. Kartik was seen attending the premiere of 'Satyaprem Ki Katha' at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. Ke connected with his Australian fans and shared the magic of his latest cinematic endeavor. Fans attending the event got the chance to ask questions and interact with him and capture memorable moments. One of the highlights was a girl who proposed marriage to Kartik who was left speechless with the gesture. The incident took place in the theatre, where the film was being screened. The fan said: "I might never get a chance to ask you this question ever again but 'will you marry me?'" The crowd started cheering and hooting as Kartik was left speechless. A blushing Kartik then said: "Seedha aapneaEk yahan prem katha pooch rahe hai, ek yahan shaadi ka proposal diya. Ho kya raha hai? Yahan swayamvar lag raha hai mera. Great welcome at Melbourne." The fan then asked for a hug, to which he said: "You can get a hug." Kartik Aaryan shared his enthusiasm for being part of IFFM, stating: "I am truly thrilled to be a part of the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. This is my first time in Melbourne and to be here for a screening of 'Satyaprem Ki Katha' on the day I just landed has been amazing." "I'm overwhelmed with all this love and really means a lot that everyone is here. There's a feeling of togetherness and oneness here." 'Satyaprem Ki Katha' is about a middle-class boy Satyaprem in Ahmedabad, who is in one-sided love with Katha, who is coping with her breakup with Tapan. Through the journey, they discover each other's life and complement in accomplishing what was left halfway. The film, directed by Sameer Vidwans, also stars Kiara Advani, Supriya Pathak, Gajaraj Rao and Shikha Talsania among many others. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Jaipur, Aug 10 : Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has announced that the state government will hike OBC reservation from 21 per cent to 26 per cent, and the additional 6 per cent will go to most backward castes within the OBC category. With this, the overall reservation in the state will increase from 64 pc to 70 pc. In a series of tweets on Wednesday night, the Chief Minister posted, "There has been long-pending demand to increase OBC quota. We will fulfill this demand and reserve 6 per cent for most backward castes within OBC. "In addition to the existing 21 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the state, 6 per cent additional reservation will be given, which will be reserved for the most backward castes of the OBC category. "A survey will be conducted by the OBC commission to identify the most backward castes in the OBC category and the commission will submit the report in a time-bound manner. "With this, the most backward castes will get more opportunities for education and service in the government sector. "Various organisations of SC-ST are also continuously demanding reservation on the basis of population. The government is also getting this demand tested. "In the 10 per cent reservation for the Economically Weaker Sections category, the state government had removed the condition of immovable property, due to which that this category could get the full benefit of reservation." -IANS arc/svn Chennai, Aug 10 : A single bench of the Madras High Court has decided to suo moto review a case related to the acquittal of Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudi and his wife in a disproportionate assets case by a Vellore court on June 28. The case has been listed as item no 124. Justice Anand Venkatesh has invoked Section 397 of CrPc and decided to hear the case on Thursday. The judge said that the court felt some injustice had been done and hence the suo moto revision of the Vellore court order. Section 397 of CrPc empowers the high court or judge to call for and examine the record of any proceeding before any subordinate criminal court within its jurisdiction. The case against Ponmudi and his wife K. Visalakshi was registered in 2002 when the AIADMK returned to power stating that he had Rs 1.4 crore disproportionate to the known sources of his income. The prosecution had charged Ponmudi with amassing illegal assets when he was minister in the DMK government between 1996 and 2001. The Vellore magistrate court judge Vasanthasheela had on June 28 acquitted the Minister and his wife stating that the prosecution had failed to furnish sufficient and legally acceptable evidence against the accused. The single bench of the Madras High Court will test the correctness of the judgment of the Vellore court. It may be noted that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had questioned the minister on July 17 and 18 and had frozen his fixed deposit of Rs 41.9 crore. --IANS aal/ksk Visakhapatnam, Aug 10 : Police in Visakhapatnam have imposed curbs for the visit by actor politician Pawan Kalyan, who is set to begin Varahi Yatra on Thursday evening. Jana Sena Party (JSP) will not be allowed to take out a rally from the airport to the hotel, where he will be staying. The JSP chief is not permitted to take the route proposed by the party from the airport to the city. Police have directed him to use an alternate route through Port Road. Pawan Kalyan has been directed not to conduct road shows or greet people by coming out of his vehicle. After arrival at Visakhapatnam Airport, Pawan Kalyan will drive straight to a hotel where he will be staying. The police have allowed the yatra at 5 p.m. at Jagadamba Junction. Only four persons have been issued passes to receive Pawan Kalyan at the airport. Restrictions are already in force at the airport as part of the alert at all airports in the country in view of Independence Day. Police have already tightened security around the airport to prevent any untoward incident. Pawan Kalyanas fans and JSP supporters will not be allowed to gather at the airport to welcome him. The city police were taking all precautions as the airport had witnessed violence during Pawan Kalyanas visit in October last year. Some supporters of JSP had allegedly pelted stones on the vehicles of a state minister and a leader of YSR Congress Party when they were returning from the city after attending a rally organised by the ruling party in support of three state capitals. The police had later denied permission to Pawan Kalyan to conduct Jana Vani programme in the port city. After being confined to a hotel for almost two days, the actor politician had left the city. This time Pawan Kalyan is arriving in the city for the third phase of Varahi Yatra. JSP leader T. Shiv Shankar said Pawan Kalyan would be in the city till August 19. He would be going to Amaravati on August 15 to hoist the national flag on the occasion of Independence Day, and would be back in Visakhapatnam the following day to continue the yatra. He is likely to address a public meeting at Gajuwaka but the date is yet to be finalised. The JSP leader would also take part in the Jana Vani programme at Hotel Daspalla, where he would be staying with his team. He will meet people who intend to share with him their issues and grievances. According to the JSP leaders, Pawan Kalyan also intended to visit Rushikonda, Vissannapeta and Daspalla sites, which were either grabbed by leaders of ruling YSR Congress Party leaders or were embroiled in controversies. New Delhi, Aug 10 : Suspecting an extramarital affair with her husband, a woman shot her younger sister in Delhi, police said on Thursday. The police have said that the accused 30-year-old woman identified as Sonu, has been arrested. According to the police, at around 6.30 p.m. on Wednesday evening the victim Sumaila (20), a resident of Buland Masjid in Shastri Park, reported that her elder sister Sonu tried to shoot her with a country-made pistol. "The pellets hit her face, after which Sonu also hit her several times on her head with the base of the pistol," said a senior police official. During investigation, it was revealed that Sonu suspected Sumaila of having an extramarital affair with her husband. "A case under relevant sections of the IPC including attempt to murder and arms act has been registered at Shastri Park police station and Sonu has been arrested," the official added. --IANS ssh/ksk Ahmedabad, August 10 : The Supreme Court has set aside an FIR against senior advocate Iqbal Hasanali Syed, who had previously served as the assistant solicitor-general at the Gujarat High Court. The decision brings an end to over a year of legal wrangling, in which Syed, along with five others, were charged with offences ranging from causing hurt and criminal intimidation to extortion and wrongful confinement. These charges were levied following a complaint by Ahmedabad-based businessman Viral Shah. The case traces back to an incident involving Shah, who alleged that he was summoned to the Gandhinagar residence of former Chief Minister Shankersinh Vaghela by his personal assistant regarding a business dispute. The businessman claimed that he was threatened, detained, and assaulted at Vaghela's residence before escaping in his car. The case was overseen by a division bench comprising Justices AS Bopanna and Prashant Kumar Mishra. They allowed Syed's appeal against the Gujarat High Court's refusal to quash his petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The Supreme Court's verdict came after an affidavit from the complainant admitted naming Syed and alleging his involvement due to a 'misconception' and expressed a lack of interest in prosecuting the complaint against him. The court's order stated: "We are of the opinion that in the present facts and circumstances, the FIR as against the appellant would not be appropriate and all further action unnecessary. Therefore, the prayer as made, is to be accepted. Accordingly, the order impugned herein is set aside." On May 15, 2022, an FIR was lodged at the Pethapur police station in Gandhinagar against the six accused under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. Following this, a Gandhinagar sessions court declined to grant Syed anticipatory bail in the same month, and a single-judge bench of the Gujarat High Court, presided over by Justice Samir Dave, subsequently refused to allow his petition. New Delhi, Aug 10 : The Centre is all set to push for the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 that will exclude the Chief Justice of India from the process of appointment. The Bill is likely to trigger a fresh face-off between the executive and the judiciary over the new proposed Bill. The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Services and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, is likely to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The Bill proposes that the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and other Election Commissioners (ECs) shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of a panel comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister. The Selection Committee will be chaired by the Prime Minister, with the LoP and the Union Cabinet Minister appointed by the Prime Minister to be the members. The Bill also proposes that the CEC and othe ECs shall be appointed from among the persons who are holding or have held a post equivalent to the rank of Secretary to the Government of India and shall be persons of integrity, who have knowledge of and experience in management and conduct of elections. It also proposes that a search committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary and comprising two other members not below the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, having knowledge and experience in matters relating to elections, shall prepare a panel of five persons for consideration of the Selection Committee, for appointment as the CEC and other ECs. The Bill, in effect, aims to dilute the Supreme Court's March 2023 judgment in which a Constitution bench held that the appointment of Chief Election Commissioners and Election Commissioners shall be done by the President on the advice of a panel comprising the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of India. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10. Persons who arbitrarily announced the creation of the "Republic of Goycha Zangezur" were brought to investigation in Azerbaijan, Trend reports. The key figures of pseudo-state - Rizvan Talibov, posing as the head of the Public "Return to West Azerbaijan" Association, as well as the president of the "Goycha Zangezur Republic", and Tunzala Celebiyeva, who temporarily arrived from Turkiye to Azerbaijan, posing as the new president of this "republic", were taken to the investigative body for questioning in connection with the investigation conducted by the State Security Service Azerbaijan Republic, In 2022, Talibov announced the creation of the "Goycha Zangezur Republic", of which he is the head, and also claimed that the "republic" has its own parliament and cabinet of ministers (no connection with the Western Azerbaijan Community). The opening of the representative office of the "Goycha Zangezur Republic" in Ankara was announced on September 19. The "Goycha Zangezur Republic" and the Public "Return to West Azerbaijan" Association published information regarding the appointments made by Talibov to senior positions in the "republic" in January 2023. The Western Azerbaijan Community has issued a statement that it does not support this initiative. Talibov's unauthorized proclamation, together with unknown circles, of a structure called the "Goycha Zangezur Republic" was regarded by the intelligentsia of Western Azerbaijan as a great provocation. Foreign citizens appointed by Talibov to senior positions, having met with the Kurdish communities of Iraq and other countries, later removed Talibov from the post of the president of the "republic" and declared her the new head - Tunzala Celebiyeva. The Western Azerbaijan Community, which is the legal successor of the Public "Azerbaijani Refugee Society" Association, has been operating since 1989, is the only legal public organization that has been dealing with the problems of refugees in Western Azerbaijan since this year and collects facts and documents about Azerbaijanis who became refugees in 1987-1991. Srinagar, Aug 10 : Jammu and Kashmir Police along with Army in North Kashmir's Baramulla district busted a terror module by arresting three terrorist associates linked to proscribed terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and recovered incriminating materials, arms and ammunition from their possession, officials said on Thursday. "During joint patrolling and area domination exercise in Churunda Uri, a joint team of Baramulla Police and Army (16 SIKHLI) noticed a suspicious person who attempted to flee upon spotting the patrolling party. However, the suspect was apprehended tactfully," police said. He has been identified as Showkat Ali Awan, resident of Churunda Uri. During the search, two grenades were recovered from his possession. Subsequently, he was shifted to the police station where he was put under sustained questioning. Police said during questioning, he disclosed the names of his accomplices as Ahmad Din and Mohammad Sadeeq Khatana, both residents of Churunda Uri, who were subsequently arrested. On their disclosure, two grenades, one Chinese pistol, one pistol magazine, four live rounds and other incriminating materials were recovered. "It is pertinent to mention here that the arrested terrorist associates were involved in cross-border smuggling of arms and ammunition at the behest of Pakistan-based terror handlers and further its distribution to LeT terrorists for carrying out terror activities," police said. Rome, Aug 10 : Some 41 migrants were feared dead in the latest shipwreck on the treacherous route across the central Mediterranean. The deaths were reported by four survivors of the tragedy who were brought to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa on Wednesday, reports Xinhua news agency. According to media reports, the four survivors were rescued by the Rimona, a Maltese cargo ship. The victims were taken to the Italian coast guard, which brought them to Lampedusa for treatment on Wednesday. The survivors said the boat carrying 45 would-be asylum seekers left Tunisia for Lampedusa on August 3. It appears the vessel capsized either late August 3 or in the early hours of the next day, and the four survivors managed to stay afloat by clinging to wreckage of the boat. They subsequently found an empty boat at sea, before being rescued by the Rimona. In a joint statement, the International Organization for Migration, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Unicef expressed their "deepest condolences for the loss of dozens of lives" in the shipwreck. "Today's numbers add to the growing death toll of shipwrecks in the Central Mediterranean. According to IOM's Missing Migrants Project, more than 1,800 people have already been reported dead and missing along the route this year," said the statement. On Sunday, about 57 people were rescued after two ships sank between Tunisia and Lampedusa within a few hours of each other, while 32 people were declared dead or missing from the two vessels. Also on Sunday, 34 refugees were rescued after being stranded for 36 hours on a steep cliffside in Lampedusa, after their ship hit rocks just off the island. Rough waters made a rescue by sea impossible, but the victims were eventually lifted to safety by helicopter. According to the Italian Interior Ministry, nearly 92,000 refugees from Africa, the Middle East, and beyond have landed on the country's shores so far this year, more than double the amount that arrived in the country during the same period last year, and three times the number from 2021. The IOM has reported nearly 134,000 migrant arrivals in Europe so far in 2023. Seoul, Aug 10 : China's tourism authorities said on Thursday they have decided to lift the ban on group tours to South Korea, ending a six-year hiatus caused by frayed relations following the deployment of a US defense system to the South. Earlier in the day, the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced it will allow Chinese group tours to 78 countries, including South Korea, the US and Japan, reports Yonhap News agency. In January and March, China removed the group ban on some 60 countries in line with its eased coronavirus policy, but South Korea was excludedin a move widely viewed as an expression of Beijing's unresolved feud against Seoul's previous anti-coronavirus measures on entrants from China. Seoul's Foreign Ministry said it was currently in communication with China through diplomatic channels when asked about its stance on Beijing's latest move, including the issue of streamlining tourist visas for South Korean nationals. "South Korea and China have been in communication under the shared view that revitalizing people-to-people mutual exchanges is important," Ahn Eun-ju, deputy spokesperson for the Ministry, told a regular press briefing. Chinese group tours to South Korea have virtually been halted since March 2017 amid a bilateral rift over the deployment of the US defence shield, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD), which Beijing sees as a security threat. China began to gradually scrap its ban on group tours to South Korea, starting with some regions in December 2017, but they were suspended once again due to the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. New Delhi, Aug 10 : After Delhi Police invoked Section 144 CrPC in areas nearby Rajghat, ITO and Red-fort, Indian wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat postponed their press conference, which was scheduled on Thursday afternoon. On Wednesday night, Vinesh, Sakshi and Bajrang -- wrestlers who led the protests against outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, had announced that they will be holding a press conference on Thursday at Delhias Raj Ghat. "Hello everyone, tomorrow at 12:30 pm we are holding a press conference at Raj Ghat in Delhi. Jai Hind," wrote Vinesh in her tweet. Later, DCP Central tweeted, "In view of Independence Day celebrations, Section 144 CrPC has been invoked in areas nearby Rajghat, ITO, Red-fort etc. No gathering of any kind is permitted in these areas." After the postponement of the scheduled press conference, Vinesh said that they will share the new time and venue to mediapersons soon. Notably, the much-awaited election of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) is scheduled on August 12 in New Delhi. And. the press conference of the wrestlers is related to that only. It is learnt that the Brij Bhushan close aide Sanjay Singh from UP and his entire panel is winning the polls quite comfortably and that is what is bothering the protesting grapplers. Earlier, IANS had reported that Bajrang had left his training abroad in the middle and came back to India a little early to keep a close watch on the WFI polls. Now, reports are doing the rounds that the outgoing secretary general, VN Prasood, was approached by Bajrang recently. Standing firmly behind the sidelined WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Prasood, who will represent the Kerala Association in the special general meeting during which the election will be held, said that, "Bajrang asked me when I will be reaching Delhi for polling. He also told me that everyone is backing Brij Bhushan in the polls. I told him 'Bajrang you are a wrestler, you focus on the Asian Games selection trials and we will take care of the election". Lucknow, Aug 10 : A man got a fresh lease of life when his 18-year-old son donated a part of liver to him and he was successfully operated upon by doctors in King George's Medical University (KGMU). The family also got full support from the government as expenses involving the transplant were met by money released from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund. The man, who was operated upon by doctors on July 13, was discharged on Wednesday. According to doctors, Ravi Kesharwani ,47, a shopkeeper and resident of Indira Nagar, was suffering from an advanced stage of liver cirrhosis, a serious and potentially life-threatening condition. His son, Sukesh Kesharwani, agreed to donate part of his liver after he was counselled about the liver transplant as the only option to save his father's life. The transplant procedure lasted for 10 hours. A team of over 40 staff members, including doctors and nursing staff, worked tirelessly for the successful surgery. Prof Abhijit Chandra, head of the surgical gastroenterology department at KGMU, who conducted the surgery, said that about 2,000 liver transplants are done in India every year, mostly in private hospitals, with a cost of approximately Rs 30 to 40 lakh. However, KGMU, being a state government institute, has brought down the cost to about Rs 10 lakh. He said KGMU is at the forefront of liver transplantation and organ donation in the state with the surgical gastroenterology spearheading the programme. Initially, it started with a cadaveric organ retrieval programme in 2015. The state's first green corridor for organ donation was created when a donated liver was transported to Delhi for a transplant on August 28, 2015. Since then, a total of 22 livers have been made available to patients in Delhi. Besides, 48 kidneys and over 50 corneas have been used by SGPGIMS and KGMU respectively. The first liver transplant was conducted at KGMU in 2019. From then on, a total of 25 liver transplants have been performed, 19 from live donors and six from cadaveric donors. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has congratulated the staff of the department of surgical gastroenterology of KGMU on its 25th successful liver transplant. In a message directed to the medical university, the chief minister said, "I am extremely pleased to learn that the surgical gastroenterology department successfully performed the 25th liver transplant on July 13, 2023, marking an unprecedented milestone in the field of liver transplantation." He lauded KGMU, acknowledging that the university holds a special place in the medical world. Dubai, Aug 10 : A Dubai court has turned down an appeal for early release by a group of five men from India and Pakistan, who were convicted of murdering a security guard more than 17 years ago. The men were found guilty of killing the guard at a building site in Jebel Ali in January 2006, and were sentenced to 25 years of life imprisonment by a Dubai Court of Appeal in 2007, The National newspaper reported. Having served 15 years in prison already, the men were unable to convince the judges at the Dubai Court of Appeal with the documents presented on Monday. The court heard that the men were part of a 10-member gang who in January 2006 broke into the building site to steal 100 metres of cable worth Dh3,300. The five broke into the site, stole the cables and assaulted and strangled the security guard. Their other accomplices were identified as the driver, two who kept a lookout and two who helped to break into the building site. The robbers then loaded the stolen cable into a vehicle and drove to Sharjah where they sold it and divided the money among themselves. The guard, whose age and nationality was not revealed, had tried to confront the robbers. His body was found the next morning by his brother who reported the matter to Dubai Police. While eight men were apprehended locally, two had escaped to Oman. They were arrested by Omani authorities and extradited to the UAE, The National reported. The Dubai Criminal Court, in a 2007 ruling, sentenced the five men to 10 years for murder followed by deportation. Their five accomplices received half of that sentence with deportation. However, the Dubai Court of Appeal revised the sentences later that year, with the primary culprits receiving a life imprisonment sentence, which is 25 years. Their accomplices had their sentences doubled to 10 years. While a fresh appeal can be submitted in two years, Hassan Elhais of Al Rowaad Advocates told The National that request for an early release is examined by a dedicated committee as per the UAE laws. Elhais said the committee evaluated the behaviour of each prisoner during their jail term and the potential threat they might pose upon release. "The committee's focus isn't on the initial crime or the ensuing circumstances as that's the purview of the sentencing judges," he told The National. --IANS mi/ksk Bengaluru, Aug 10 : Stiffening his stand on withholding clearance of bills to contractors, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said on Thursday that an investigation will take place before clearing bills of contractors. Speaking to reporters, Shivakumar said, "The complaints were given by them (BJP) and Kempanna (President of State Contractors' Association). Justice has to be given in on all these complaints. Let them do anything for publicity." "I know who is calling them to New Delhi and tutoring them by giving statements. I also know who is presenting them before the media. Those behind it are well settled and will talk about it later. The contractors will have to prove their work in the investigation. For those contractors, who had executed the works genuinely, the government will give justice to them," he said. The rift between the Congress government and contractors in Karnataka is escalating day by day. The contractors, who are on the path of war against the government, met former CM B.S. Yediyurappa on Wednesday and requested him to support them to get pending bills done. The delegation of the State Contractors' Association had met Yediyurappa at his residence in Dollars Colony and sought his cooperation and support for their agitation against DyCM D.K. Shivakumar. The contractors have alleged that he is demanding 15 per cent cuts in the bills and also complained about this to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot. They had also challenged Shivakumar to take a pledge before his family deity over the commission charges. K.T. Manjunath, the President of BBMP Contractors' Association, said that many projects have been taken up and completed in the limits of BBMP and also in the Assembly constituencies. DyCM Shivakumar had stopped the payment of bills and formed a team to investigate and submit a report on the execution of projects by contractors. The contractors are not in a position to wait until the report is submitted. Many of them had written to the Prime Minister and the President to grant them mercy killing instead of delaying payments. Yediyurappa is yet to make a public statement in this regard. Former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy said that the State Contractors' Association President Kempanna, who waged a war against the previous BJP government alleging the demand of 40 per cent commission in all bills by the BJP ministers is now maintaining that the contractors have fallen into the fire from the frying pan during the rule of Congress. New Delhi, August 10 : In another e-governance initiative, Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud on Thursday launched 'SuSwagatam', a portal that allows advocates, litigants, citizens to request QR code-based ePasses to enter the Supreme Court. The web-based portal and mobile-friendly application will enable the litigants and all others to avoid long queues, and have a paperless entry pass to access the apex court. Users can scan the QR code on their ePasses at the entry and exit gates of the top court premises. The entry/exit software allows the users to register themselves online and request ePasses for various purposes, such as attending court hearings, visiting office blocks, litigantsa meeting advocates, or visiting the press lounge. The SuSwagatam portal had been tested as a pilot project since July 25 and received positive feedback from the users. More than 10,000 ePasses have been issued through the portal in the testing phase. It allows the users to choose different validity periods for their ePasses, depending on their needs and police clearance certificates. The portal also provides role-based secure logins for different types of users where they can upload their proof of identity and capture their live photo during the registration process. The launch of Suswagatam is another step to promote citizen friendly access to justice delivery systems and to enhance the convenience and efficiency of the court operations and services through the use of latest technology, said a press release issued by the Supreme Court. Earlier, the Supreme Court began live streaming proceedings of the Constitution Bench and used artificial intelligence and natural language processing technology for live transcription of its hearings. Third rail system in Kolkata Metro railways to bring down frequency to 2.30 minutes. Image Source: IANS News Kolkata, Aug 10 : A third rail system will be shortly introduced in Kolkata Railways, the oldest metro rail services in the country, leading to increase in train frequency during the peak hours. Railways sources said the third rail system had been adapted by the metro railways services authorities in global cities like London, Moscow and Singapore, among others. Chief public relations officer of Kolkata Metro Railways Kaushik Mitra said that the initiative of introducing the third rail system is expected to be completed within the next two years. Railways sources said that a tender has been floated for the purpose. As soon as the process is completed, work for installation of the third rail system will start immediately. Instead of using the traditional steel for the railway tracks, aluminum-made tracks will be installed in the third rail system. This will make the tracks more heat-resistant and result in lesser electricity consumption. City-based civil engineer Pradipta Mitra said that the longevity factor for the aluminum-made tracks is much higher than the traditional steel-made tracks since there is no question of rust involved. "Secondly aluminum as a metal is better resistant to friction of the wheels, which also enables such tracks to have a better longevity," Mitra added. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Vientiane, Aug 10 : The Mekong river will continue to rise to a dangerous level after days of heavy and light rain across Laos, with people living along its banks being warned to stay alert and prepare to evacuate if necessary. The level of the Mekong in the capital city of Vientiane was recorded at 11.23 meters on Wednesday, compared with a warning level of 11.50 meters and a danger level of 12.50 meters, Xinhua news agency quoted the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology as saying. The river overflowed its banks and slowly flooded some low-lying areas in Sithantay village of Hadxaifong district in the capital. Heavy and light rains have been forecast across the Southeast Asian country, which are expected to result in a rise in the water levels of the Mekong and its main tributaries. The level of the Mekong in Pakxan district of Bolikhamxay province was recorded at 10.46 meters on Wednesday, with the warning level at 13.50 meters and the danger level at 14.50 meters. In Luang Prabang province, the level of the river is expected to rise from 14.33 meters on Thursday to 14.43 meters on Friday, where the warning level is at 17.50 meters and the danger level at 18 meters. Lao authorities are keeping a close eye on the Mekong river and its tributaries since the water levels are expected to rise in the next few days. The department advised its officials to closely watch the water levels and issue flood warnings when necessary, so that people in at-risk areas can be prepared to mitigate the fallout of flooding. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10. Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev has exposed an anti-Azerbaijani report, prepared by its author - a lawyer named Luis Ocampo, Trend reports. In an interview with Associated Press (AP), Hajiyev stated that the document of the former ICCs first prosecutor "contains unsubstantiated allegations and accusations". "It is biased and distorts the real situation on the ground and represents serious factual, legal and substantive errors," Hikmet Hajiyev told AP. Earlier, MediaPart, an independent French investigative online newspaper, has revealed the illegal activities Ocampo was engaged in, while being an ICC prosecutor. "Luis Moreno Ocampo managed companies based in some of the most notorious tax havens in the world while serving as chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, documents obtained by Mediapart and analyzed by the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) reveal. When challenged about his offshore financial activities the former star prosecutor said that his salary at the ICC "was not enough". On August 15th, 2012, just two months after Luis Moreno Ocampo left his position as chief prosecutor at the ICC in The Hague, the sum of 50,000 dollars landed in his account at the Abn Amro bank in Holland," the article said. Ahmedabad, Aug 10 : The Ahmedabad Regional Transport Office (RTO) has permanently revoked the licence of Tathya Patel, the main accused in the recent Iskon Flyover accident case. This stern measure was prompted by Patel's history of repeated offences. Nine persons were killed and at least 13 others were injured after a speeding Jaguar driven by Tathya Patel ploughed into a crowd on a flyover near the ISKCON temple on July 20. The RTO based its decision to permanently cancel his licence on three First Information Reports (FIRs) filed against him, the most significant being the one concerning the Iskcon Flyover accident case. The decision was disclosed by Ruturaj Desai, the Regional Transport Officer of Ahmedabad, who explained that Patel was duly served a notice to appear and provide a defence against the charges. Despite receiving the notice, Patel neither appeared before the authorities nor submitted a response. RTO officials have clarified that Patel can still appeal the decision within a 30-day window with the transport authorities in Gandhinagar. If he fails to take this course of action, his driving license will be permanently revoked. In a related development that further complicates the legal situation for the Patel family, Principal District Judge D M Vyas denied bail to Pragnesh Patel, Tathya's father. Pragnesh was taken into custody on charges of criminal intimidation following his conduct at the accident site when he transported his son to the hospital. The defense portrayed Pragnesh's actions as a natural paternal reaction, arguing that any father's first instinct would be to protect his child. The prosecution, however, opposed the bail plea, emphasising Pragnesh's alleged lack of concern for the injured victims struggling at the scene and highlighting his purported history of threats and intimidation. New Delhi, Aug 10 : Congress leader Manickam Tagore on Thursday moved a privilege motion against Union Home Minister Amit Shah for misleading Parliament in the case of Maharashtra woman Kalavati Bandurkar. Shah had referred to Rahul Gandhi's much-hyped 2008 visit to the house of a widow -- Kalavati -- in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region during the ongoing discussion on no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. In his privilege motion letter submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Tagore said, "I write to bring to your attention towards breach of Parliamentary Privilege by Union Minister of Home Affairs Shah and to move a notice." He also mentioned that as per the rules in Lok Sabha, it is the duty of the Minister to uphold the sanctity of accurate and truthful information when addressing the House. "The issue in question pertains to a statement made by the Minister of Home Affairs in the Lok Sabha yesterday, i.e., August 8, wherein he provided details of facilities purportedly extended by the Government at the house of a Kalavati, a farmer's widow from Maharashtra," the Congress leader said. Tagore said, however, "to the utter dismay of the concerned us this statement has been vehemently refuted by the concerned Kalavati herself to media channels, who has explicitly stated that the Modi government has not provided any such facilities for the past eight years instead Rahul Gandhi helped her in building her house. "This discrepancy between the statement made by the Union Minister and the reality as communicated by the affected Kalavati raises serious doubts about the veracity of the information presented in the Lok Sabha and it highlights a potential breach of privilege under Rule 22, Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rules," he said. "In light of the aforementioned circumstances, I hope you would take cognizance of this matter and consider initiating appropriate action. The breach of privilege motion, as outlined in Rule 22, Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rules, should be initiated to ensure the accountability and integrity of our parliamentary system. Therefore, I request you to exercise your esteemed authority to move a breach of privilege motion against the Union Minister for his statement which appears to be in direct contradiction to the ground reality and direct him to seek apology from the House of People for his wrong and irresponsible statement yesterday," Tagore, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu's Virudhunagar said. His remarks came a day after Shah took a jibe at Rahul Gandhi and reminded the Parliament House about the Congress leader's visit to the home of Kalavati in 2008. Slamming the Congress leader, the Union Minister said, "There is a leader in this House whose political career has been launched 13 times till now. And all 13 attempts have failed." Referring to his visit to Vidarbha, he said, "I have seen one of the launches in this House. This leader visited the home of a less-fortunate woman, Kalavati, and had a meal at her home. He then spoke about poverty and her hardships in the House. Their government was in power for six years after this. I want to ask, what did you do for her? The Modi government gave her a house, electricity, gas, ration, and toilet," Shah said. Shah made the remarks during the discussion on the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha. The no-trust motion has been brought by the Congress on behalf of the opposition bloc of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). The debate was initiated on Tuesday by Congress Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi. It will conclude with the Prime Ministeras reply on Thursday. Mysuru, Aug 10 : Photos and videos of a group of young boys and girls in a drugged state in agricultural land in Goluru in Karnataka's Mysuru district have gone viral on social media on Thursday, creating a concern among the public. According to sources, the drugged youths from Kerala had stopped near Goluru in the agricultural land belonging to locals. In the video, one of the girls can be seen losing control and rolling over on the ground.Even as her friends are trying to help her stand, the girl pulls and drags them back. Somehow, the group manages to take her along with them. When the locals questioned the youth about their objectionable act, they assaulted them, the sources added. The development has raised a question on the sale and network of drugs, including ganja, on the Karnataka-Kerala border. Colombo, Aug 10 : Sri Lanka will join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and sign Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries after debt restructuring is complete, the President's Media Division (PMD) announced on Thursday. The PMD said in a statement that President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took part in events to celebrate the ASEAN Day in Colombo, expressed his support for the bloc's vision for the Indo-Pacific region, reports Xinhua news agency. Wickremesinghe said that Sri Lanka will work closely with the ASEAN nations in the coming years. Sri Lanka has an FTA with Singapore and is holding discussions to sign one with Thailand next year, the President said. Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka wants to become the first South Asian country to join RCEP, which is the largest trade bloc in history, following the completion of debt restructuring. "We must join RCEP. There is no reason not to join it," he said. Sri Lanka also plans to sign trade agreements with India and Bangladesh, he said. -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 10 : Durga Stalin, wife of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin on Thursday visited the famed Sree Krishna Temple at Guruvayoor in Trissur district and donated a gold crown weighing 32 sovereigns costing Rs 14 lakh. Along with this, she also donated a machine costing Rs two lakh to grind sandalwood. According to the temple authorities, she had given the order to make the gold crown to a Coimbatore-based goldsmith and he had visited the temple to take the measurement of the deity. Offerings by political leaders is a common feature at the famed Krishna temple at Guruvayoor. In 2001 the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalitha had donated an elephant to this very same temple. Gurugram, Aug 10 : A total of 37 FIRs were registered while 79 arrests made by the Gurugram Police in connection with the communal violence that rocked the district after it spilled over from nearby Nuh where it first erupted on July 31, an official said on Thursday, adding the overall situation was peaceful. An adequate number of police personnel have been deployed in Gurugram to maintain law and order. Speaking about the cases registered in Gurugram, Commissioner of Police, Kala Ramachandran, said: "Police action continues against those who spread violence. A total of 37 FIRs have been registered and 79 people arrested by different teams of the Gurugram police till Thursday. "Preventive action was taken against 93 people of which 80 were released on bail. Besides, 15 people were also arrested from the Sohna area. Two FIRs were also registered in connection with hate speech," she said. Ramachandran also said that of the six police officers of the Gurugram Police who were injured in the Nuh violence, two were undergoing treatment at a private hospital. Besides, to ensure a thorough investigation into the communal clashes, a special investigation team (SIT) has been formed to probe a murder case in which Imam Muhammad Saad was killed in the Sector 57 area. Violence broke out during a procession in Nuh on July 31, after which a curfew was imposed in the district. Internet services are still suspended in Nuh. "Police officers have been deployed in Gurugram and the police have been directed to strictly deal with anybody violating orders of the administration. A search operation is being conducted to arrest the absconding people," Ramachandran said. Seven persons, including two home guards and a cleric, died in the clashes that erupted in Nuh and spread to Gurugram after the Nuh riots. "We have appealed to the public not to be involved in illegal activities and hate speech amid Nuh clashes. Those found involved in wrong activities will be punished strictly," she added. Chennai, Aug 10 : Aditya Birla group's Grasim Industries Ltd closed the first quarter with a higher consolidated revenue and a lower net profit. In a regulatory filing, the company said for the quarter ended June 30, 2023, it had earned operational revenue of Rs 31,065.19 crore (against Q1FY23's Rs 28,041.54 crore) and an after tax profit of Rs 1,576.47 crore (Rs.1,933.39 crore). On a standalone basis the companyas operational revenue for the period under review stood at Rs 6,327.5 5 crore (Q1FY23 Rs.7,253.04 crore) and an after tax profit of Rs 355.27 crore (Rs.808.56 crore). The company said the total capex spent for Q1FY24 stood at Rs1,384 crore of which Rs1,046 crore was spent for the paints business. The budgeted capex for FY24 stands at Rs 5,791 crore with Rs 4,342 crore earmarked for paints and B2B E-commerce. Toronto, Aug 10 : Hundreds of international students, including Indians, have been left in limbo after a college in the Canadian province of Ontario revoked its admission offers for the coming academic year, according to a media report. Some 500 foreign students recently received an email from Northern College in Ontario, telling them that their admission has been withdrawn, CBC News reported. While a few of them have already landed in Canada, there are others like Ashley from India, who has already paid registration fees and booked her flight from Punjab to Toronto, costing her over $2,200. "It was very heartbreaking for me... It was not a normal process for us as international students who have used all the savings that we have had," Ashley, who quit her job in India to study in Canada, told CBC News. She had booked herself at Scarborough's Pures College of Technology, an affiliate of Northern College, to study healthcare administration, and had found herself a place to live in the Greater Toronto Area. Her admission acceptance letter came in February this year. "I don't know how to cope with this. I am in depression... I just want to have a valid solution for my situation," she said. In an emailed statement to CBC, Pures College said it was "ready, willing and able to accept all international students who received letters of admission", but its affiliate, Northern College, decided against doing so. Pures said that as a private college in a partnership with a public college, it is not the final decision-making authority in the admissions process. Northern College said the problem was caused by Canada approving more visas for international students than expected. CBC News cited David Francis, director of strategic initiatives for Northern College, as saying that it's the responsibility of Northern College to estimate how many visas will be approved ahead of each semester. This means the school gives out more acceptance letters than it can accommodate under the assumption that some of the applicants will have their visas denied. Further, Francis said many students apply to multiple schools, and Northern College assumes some of the students they accept will choose to enrol in different institutions. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada told CBC News that it is "very disappointed" in how Northern College handled the situation, adding it doesn't have authority to manage letters of acceptance for individual institutions. While Pures College said it will continue to work with its counterpart and students to sort out the issue, Francis said that the students will be refunded or transferred to different schools. "The college is willing to work with students on a case-by-case basis," Francis told CBC News, adding that the students who had already arrived in Canada will be treated as priority cases. International students are allowed to study in Canada based on their college acceptance letters, which they must present to the immigration authorities upon their arrival. New Delhi, Aug 10 : The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued guidelines for doctors and police in handling medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) cases for rape victims. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma directed the police to bring the victims to the hospital within 24 hours for the procedure, even if the pregnancy is less than 20 weeks old. The court also instructed the health department to circulate the existing guidelines for examining sexual assault victims in all city hospitals. Justice Sharma made the observations while denying bail to a man accused of repeatedly raping a 16-year-old, who was found to be four weeks and five days pregnant. "The Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of NCT of Delhi, and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, are directed to ensure that the existing guidelines/standard operating procedures for conducting examination of the victims of sexual assault are circulated in all the hospitals in Delhi," read the court order. "The above said ministries are also directed to circulate the additional directions contained in the present judgment, which be added to the existing SOPs, that in case the victim is pregnant and there are orders for medical termination of pregnancy, including for preservation of fetus, the investigating officer will place such orders before the superintendent of the hospital concerned, who will ensure that the doctor concerned who is assigned the duty of medical termination of pregnancy conducts the same with utmost caution," the order added. Justice Sharma further directed that the doctor concerned will ensure that the fetus is preserved and the victim is not discharged in a hurry, resulting in putting her life in danger and loss of evidence in a sexual assault case. "The doctor concerned will also mention, in case the victim is discharged without termination of pregnancy, the reasons for the same so that the crucial evidence in the form of fetus is not lost," the order said. The court also directed that directed that in cases where medical examination of a victim of sexual assault is conducted, all the hospitals concerned will ensure that along with the original MLC as well as discharge summary of such victim, a typed copy of the same is also prepared and provided to the investigating officer within a period of one week. "It is essential to do so since though at the time of recording of evidence and trial, the doctor concerned may appear, read and depose about the contents of MLC, when the court has to read and appreciate it at the stage of consideration of bail or framing of charge, it poses difficulty to the court," the order said. "The aforesaid directions of this court be circulated within 15 days of issuance of this order and its receipt by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, and Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of NCT of Delhi in all the hospitals in Delhi. Compliance report be filed within two months before this court," it added. Mumbai, Aug 10 : Bollywood actor and humanitarian Sonu Sood helped a 65-year-old man from Bihar to help him clear his debts. The man named Khilanand Jha travelled all the way to Mumbai only to meet Sonu, whom he fondly refers to as 'Gareebo Ka Masiha' or the Messiah of the Poor. Jha's story, riddled with struggles and financial burdens, touched Sonu's heart, prompting him to lend him a helping hand. For the unversed, Jha's wife, Minoti Paswan, passed away earlier this year after a paralytic stroke, leaving him with a debt of Rs 12 lakh for her medical expenses. With creditors demanding the clearance of payment, he sought Sonu's assistance after hearing about his efforts to help the less fortunate during the pandemic. Jha, accompanied by his son, recently met Sonu at his office. The actor empathised with the elderly man's situation and readily agreed to offer him support. Recently, Sonu was honoured with a well crafted massive pop art piece which spans over an enormous 1.17 lakh sq ft at the village of Ajitwal, in the Moga district of Punjab. The actor shared a video of the same on his Instagram handle and thanked the team for their efforts. Sonu wrote, '1.17 Lakh Sq Feet of pure love. Humbled beyond words. Thanks a ton for your wishes.' On the Bollywood front, Sonu will next be seen in 'Fateh', which is inspired by real-life incidents and will feature high-octane action sequences. The action-thriller is helmed by Abhinandan Gupta, who earlier worked as an assistant director in films such as 'Bajirao Mastani' and 'Shamshera'. In 1999, Sonu was introduced to Tamil language films with Kallazhagar and Nenjinile. He then appeared as an antagonist in the Telugu film 'Hands Up!' in 2000. In 2001, he appeared in 'Majunu'. He then began starring in Hindi films, with 'Shaheed-E-Azam', as Bhagat Singh in 2002. Sonu has worked in 'Yuva' (2004), 'Athadu' (2005), 'Aashiq Banaya Aapne' (2005), 'Ashok' (2006), 'Jodhaa Akbar' (2008), 'Kandireega' (2011), 'Dookudu' (2011), 'Shootout at Wadala' (2013), 'R... Rajkumar' (2013), 'Happy New Year' (2014), 'Devi' (2016), 'Kung Fu Yoga' (2017), 'Simmba' (2018), and 'Kurukshetra' (2019). BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10. Western Azerbaijan Community has condemned the joining of a truck containing "aid" collected from a number of cities and regions of France to the car convoy that Armenia wants to send to Karabakh under the name of "humanitarian cargo" without agreement with Azerbaijan, Trend reports. "France, where Islamophobia and Azerbaijanophobia are raging and has recently suffered back-to-back defeats on the African continent, wants to increase tension in the South Caucasus region and turn it into a place of geopolitical competition," the Community said. The Western Azerbaijan Community also calls on the cities and regions of France to refrain from such cheap and ridiculous actions and the policy of double standards, which is an insult to international law. The flag handover ceremony was held in the border village of Ghatota in Himachal Pradesh as Punjab Congress handed it over to the hill state's leaders. (Photo: Twitter/@INCIndia). Image Source: IANS News Mumbai, Aug 10 : Actor Akshay Kumar, who is gearing up for the release of his upcoming movie 'OMG 2', has released a small clip which gives out some details about both his character, as well as the tone of the film. Akshay will this time be playing the role of Lord Shiva, and so far it's a bit of a mystery of what exactly he'll be like. The clip which the actor posted on his Instagram account shows him in the form of Mahadev sadhu inside a police station where he is telling the officers that he will burn the city if his stuff is not found. In a humorous exchange, he goes on to say that his anger knows no bounds and once he is enraged then it took him 13 days to cool down. After that it intercuts to his more intimidating form as a messenger of Shiva in human form walking the Earth with the track aHar Har Mahadeva playing in the background with Pankaj Tripathi folding his hands in reverence alongside many devotees. The clip is in fact a subtly dark but still comedic reference to the event that in Hindu mythology known as the aShiva Tandavaa where the deity was enraged at the death of Sati, who has Lord Shivaas first wife, later reborn as Parvati. This led him to a violent cosmic dance called aTandavaa to express his grief and rage. In this violent dance he almost consumed the whole cosmos, until his anger cooled down 13 days later. aOMG 2a is one of Bollywoodas biggest films of August this year alongside aGadar 2a. The movie in a surprising twist had earlier been given an A certification by the Censor Board of Film Certification in India, despite the movie not being solely aimed at adults. Directed by Amit Rai, the movie will star Akshay, Pankaj, Yami Gautam, Pavan Malhotra and Arun Govil, hitting theatres on August 11, 2023. Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 10 : The Kerala Assembly on Thursday witnessed a ruckus after Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan was prevented from speaking by vociferous treasury bench legislators even as Speaker A.N. Shamseer said that the Assembly is not the place where one can say anything. The Speaker also ruled that the media should not report on the remarks that have been expunged. "Democracy is being butchered in Kerala, but I will go ahead according to the law. They (treasury bench legislators) were fearing that I will raise the issue about Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter. While I never named anyone, but since they feared that I might speak about Vijayan and his daughter, I was prevented from speaking and my democratic rights were butchered. But I am not going to be cowed down," Kuzhalnadan told the media outside the Assembly. On Wednesday, a news item had appeared in Malayala Manorama, a leading vernacular daily, on the alleged payment reportedly received by CM's daughter Veena Vijayan from a mining company. The report said that CMRL, a company engaged in mining, had paid Veena Vijayan and her IT firm Exalogic a sum of Rs 1.72 crore during 2017-2020 for IT services rendered. The report said that the Income Tax Appellate Board, while examining the tax returns of CMRL, stumbled upon payments made to Veena and her IT firm. It was also found based on the information provided by a few CMRL officials that no services were rendered by her firm to the company. Earlier on Thursday, when asked why they did not seek leave for an adjournment motion on the issue concerning Veena Vijayan,Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan said that media cannot decide the agenda to be followed by them on how they should function. "We cannot function according to your wishes. There are rules and procedures that are to be followed when seeking leave for an adjournment motion," said Satheesan. Commenting on the issue, BJP leader and Union Minister of State for IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said that a new phenomenon has evolved in Kerala which is known as 'Veena Service Tax', as he asked on what basis did Veena's company receive the money from CMRL. However, the CPI-M state secretariat in a statement issued on Thursday dismissed all that which has been reported as baseless. "There was a legal agreement between the two parties (CMRL and Veena Vijayan), and the money was transferred based on that agreement. And this was reported in Malayala Manorama which is known for its apathy towards the CPI-M, and hence it is least surprising." "It was the CMRL which approached the appellate authority. Veena or her company are not parties and nor was she heard and hence this is a devious move and a conspiracy was hatched ahead of the upcoming Puthupally assembly by-election. Moreover for a while now it has become the habit of the Centre to haunt political opponents using central agencies. Vijayan has no role in all these and this is just what happened in the past when he was haunted in the name of business in Singapore. Likewise here the opposition tried their best to spread canards ahead of the 2021 assembly polls, but it was all thrown into the dustbin," said the CPI-M statement. Now with the Assembly session adjourned till September 11, the Congress-led Opposition is likely to rake up the issue during the campaign for the September 5 bypoll in Puthuppally, which was necessitated due to the vacancy that arose following the demise of Congress veteran Oommen Chandy. --IANS sg/ arm Lucknow, Aug 10 : The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has objected to rushing the expenditure at the end of a financial year in Uttar Pradesh. It has also taken strong exception to the failure of successive state governments in Uttar Pradesh to place excess disbursement of Rs 32,533.46 crore under 48 grants for regularisation before the state legislature. The excess disbursement of funds made from 2005-2006 to 2020-2021, in violation of Articles 204 and 205 of the Constitution of India "vitiates the system of budgetary and financial control and encourages financial indiscipline", the government auditor said in the State Finances Audit Report (for year ended March 31, 2022) placed before the state Assembly here earlier this week. The CAG has further noted that the excess expenditure over the authorisation and subsequent non-regularisation have been regularly reported in the previous State Finances Audit Reports of Uttar Pradesh. It has recommended the state government should ensure that all the existing cases of excess expenditure are placed before the state legislature for regularisation. Leading economist Professor Yashvir Tyagi said: "Disbursement of grants by successive state governments without legislative approval, which has been objected to by the CAG, is not healthy fiscal practice. It also shows a lack of fiscal discipline. In a way it takes away the right of the legislature to scrutinise the funds disbursed and spent by the government. Such a lapse should have been avoided." The CAG has also objected to lump sum provisions of Rs 7,696.63 crore made by the state government under various heads. Out of this lump sum provision, Rs 4,261.46 crore (55.37 percent of the provision) was actually spent. It mentioned that lump sum provisions of Rs 4,260.01 crore were made for road works, which constituted 27.88 per cent of the budgeted provisions. Out of this, the actual expenditure was Rs 3,533.50 crore. "Lump sum provisions without identifying the exact object of expenditure is against transparent budgetary practices," the CAG observed. The CAG further objected to the practice of rushing expenditure in the last month of the financial year, and recommended that the state government should issue guidelines to control the rush of expenditure towards the closing months, especially in March, in order to maintain a steady pace of spending. Bengaluru, Aug 10 : The Karnataka Cabinet has decided to drop cases lodged against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar for allegedly violating the Covid protocol during the Mekedatu Padaytra last year. Speaking to reporters here after the Cabinet meeting, Karnataka Minister for Law H.K. Patil said on Thursday that a decision had been taken to drop the cases lodged against Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar, his brother D.K. Suresh and other Congress leaders during the Mekedatu Padaytra. The nine criminal cases lodged against them in various police stations of Ramanagara district would be dropped from prosecution. The Mekedatu Padayatra was undertaken by Congress leaders under the leadership of Shivakumar demanding immediate commencement of the Mekedatu project to provide drinking water to Bengaluru and surrounding regions. The procession was taken at the height of the Covid pandemic. In another major decision, the state cabinet has consented to the Karnataka Cyber Security Policy for 2023-24. Patil said the number of cyber crimes in the state are increasing and the new policy would be brought to ensure cyber security and ensure protection of data. The prevention of cyber crime and awareness in this regard are the objectives, he said. The Cabinet also agreed to the revised estimate of Rs 187 crore for the 325 bedded Super Speciality Hospital in Belagavi. It was also agreed to provide Rs 47.41 crore to start MRI Scanning facility in five district hospitals. Lucknow, Aug 10 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on Thursday, said the state government has no plans to conduct a caste census in the state. "The subject matter of census is mentioned at number 69 of the Union List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. Census Act 1948 and Census Rules 1990 have been made by the Government of India for census work under which the work of census is done by the Government of India," he said in a written reply to a question asked by Samajwadi Party member Sangram Yadav. The Samajwadi Party, which has been demanding a 'caste census' in the state, had included the issue in its manifesto for the 2022 assembly polls. The issue will be top on the Samajwadi Party's poll plank for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as part of party chief Akhilesh Yadav's new formula - the PDA (Pichada, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) that is backwards, Dalits, and minorities - chiefly Muslims. New Delhi, Aug 10 : The Delhi High Court has decided to start hearing the appeals by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate against the acquittal of former Telecom Minister A. Raja and others in the 2G spectrum allocation case on a daily basis from August 28. A bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma expressed frustration over a request for adjournment by the probe agencies' counsel and directed the matter to be listed in two weeks for submissions. The court declined a request to defer the hearing till September end and emphasised that the situation cannot continue like this. It also instructed the ED counsel to initiate submissions, with the ED's case being based on the CBI's submissions. The case is scheduled for further hearing on August 28. On December 21, 2017, a special court acquitted Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, and other defendants in the scam-related CBI and ED cases. On March 19, 2018, the ED approached the high court challenging the special court's order acquitting all the accused. A day later, the CBI too challenged in the high court the acquittal of the accused in the case. The CBI had told the high court that the trial court verdict in the 2G spectrum scam case, which acquitted all the accused persons, was challenged following an opinion from the Central government that it is a "fit case" for appeal. The scam came to light when the Comptroller and Auditor General, in a report, held then Telecom Minister Raja responsible for causing the state exchequer a loss of Rs 1,76,379 crore by allocating 2G spectrum licenses at throwaway prices. However, the trial court found that the prosecution failed to prove the charges. This verdict, however, doesn't override the Supreme Court judgement that the licenses issued during 2G spectrum allocation were illegal. The first petition filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation had alleged the loss was caused by issuing second generation (2G) spectrum licences in 2008 based on 2001 prices and competitive bidding process was not followed. --IANS ssh/vd New Delhi, Aug 10 : Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, who is facing charges related to the death of three Sikh men in the national capital's Pul Bangash area during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, has filed a request with a Delhi court to be allowed to attend proceedings through video conference, his lawyer said on Thursday. According to Tytler's lawyer Manu Sharma, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidhi Gupta Anand is expected to make a decision regarding Tytler's virtual appearance on Friday. The plea was presented in court on the grounds of security concerns. Tytler's advocate has appealed for the court's authorisation for his client to participate remotely, citing a recent protest by the Sikh community during Tytler's in-person appearance on August 5. Last week, on August 5, the court, after accepting a bail bond from Tytler, posted the matter for the next hearing on August 11. The development came a day after Special Judge Vikas Dhull had granted anticipatory bail to Tytler. During the hearing, Tytler's wife, Jennifer stood security for him in the case, and the court verified her identity and financial status. After noting that she was financially independent, the court accepted her as a surety. Tytler was brought to court amid high security. The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) members staged a protest outside Rouse Avenue Court, voicing their opposition against Tytler. Raising slogans while holding placards and posters, scores of people demanded justice while protesting in front of the court. A minor clash was also reported between the protesters and police. Judge Dhull had granted relief to Tytler on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and one surety of the like amount. The case pertains to when the Gurdwara Pul Bangash at Azad Market was set on fire by a mob on November 1, 1984 and three persons, namely Sardar Thakur Singh, Badal Singh and Gurcharan Singh, were burnt to death. The incident took place a day after then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. In its chargesheet filed in court, the CBI has said that Tytler incited, instigated and provoked the mob that had assembled at the gurdwara, which resulted in the burning down of the shrine and killing of the three persons. Charges under Sections 147 (rioting), 109 (abetment) read with 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), among others, have been invoked against Tytler by the probe agency. On June 2, the Rouse Avenue Courts approved a supplementary charge sheet filed by the CBI against Tytler in the riots case and also transferred the case to the special MP-MLA court for trial. The court had earlier also instructed the CBI to expedite the process of obtaining the forensic report of Tytler's voice sample. Mumbai, Aug 10 : Actor Varun Mitra, who is set to essay the role of Lieutenant Triveni Singh in the upcoming streaming project 'Rakshak- India's Braves, Chapter 1, Kahani Jammu Station Ki', has said that the project is a homage to all the heroes, who have laid down their lives for the nation. The trailer of aRakshak- Indiaas Bravesa was unveiled on Thursday, and is inspired by real-life incidents, the three-part film tells the story of Lieutenant Triveni Singh, a young soldier who sacrificed his own life to safeguard over 300 civilians who were caught in the crossfire, while trying to secure Jammu Railway Station. The trailer showcases Triveni Singh bravely fighting and gunning down terrorists in direct combat and selflessly sacrificing his life to save the lives of citizens. Talking about the same, Varun shared, aThis is the story of each and every soldier who fought for our country and to safeguard the citizens. Lt. Triveni Singh laid down his life for us, and this holds true for all the other martyrs as well. This film is an homage to all of them and reminds us of the kind of sacrifices the armed forces make so that we can live freely and safely." "Playing a real-life combat hero is a huge challenge for any actor, and itas a huge source of pride as well. There is pressure and responsibility that comes along while portraying this kind of role. aRakshaka is the story of bravery and courage that the martyrs display on the battlefield," he added. Directed by Akshay Chaubey, and produced by Juggernaut, the film also stars Kanika Mann, Mrinal Naval, Mrinal Kulkarni, and Mohit Chauhan in pivotal roles, and will premiere on August 11 on Amazon miniTV. Mumbai, Aug 10 : Actress Alia Bhatt, who is gearing up for her Hollywood debut with her upcoming streaming release 'Heart of Stone', said that her character of Keya Dhawan in the film, is a true reflection of her roots as it's a mark of who the actress is and where she comes from. The actress also shared that she said yes to the film to add to her repository of her experience as it gave her the chance to collaborate with Gal Gadot and Jamie Dornan. 'Heart of Stonea pledges a pulse-pounding escapade, led by the formidable pairing of Gal Gadot and Alia. Talking about what drew her to aHeart of Stonea, and the role of Keya Dhawan, Alia said: aThis was a super huge opportunity for me to be a part of a film like this, and to break through to the global market. Iave been working in the Indian film industry for ten years now, but this is my first English language film, and thatas always something that I wanted to tick off my box." She said that she was waiting for the right opportunity and the film offered her the same. "I also wanted it to be true to who I am and where I come from. I found that in 'Heart of Stonea and in the character of Keya, because sheas from India and sheas pushed against these extreme circumstances. She has to really prove herself and sheas fighting for something, as everyone is in the film, and she has her own motive," she added. The actress said: "Also, being a part of this huge action film headlined by Gal Gadot, itas really the action film of today, one led by this really strong woman whom we all look up to and love. I really liked the whole narrative, and having seen Tom Harperas work as well, I was really excited to work with him. There were a lot of pluses that came together to make me feel I should take the plunge and do this." aHeart of Stonea will drop on Netflix on August 11. Los Angeles, Aug 10 : Actor David Harbour, who is well known for his role as police officer Jim Hopper in 'Stranger Things', has said that he is already looking to the future after completing his time in the 'Upside Down'. According to Deadline, in an interview with the Insider, the 48-year old actor said: "The first year of 'Stranger Things', I remember having a discussion with a publicist and her saying, 'Maybe you don't want to be associated with the show so much,' and I was like, 'Why? I love this show. I love the character. And I do love the show. And I do love the character. But I don't want to be just that character. I don't want to be just that guy." David has been in Hollywood for a long time, but never became as big a name until he starred in the sci-fi horror series which suddenly skyrocketed his reputation, and gave him immense fame and success. Though late in his career, 'Stranger Things' earned him two Emmy Awards nominations, a Golden Globe nod and a win at the Critics Choice Television Award. Talking about his late achievement, Harbour said: "I have always been waiting for the main roles. My 20s never worked for me. For guys like me, we're always waiting to be 40, even when we're, like, 19. We're waiting for the hairline to go. Those are the guys that I admired growing up, and those are the guys I wanted to emulate." David later went on to draw parallels with George Clooney, as he was another actor who achieved his success late before becoming the household name that he is today. "I think about George Clooney leaving 'ER'. Now we just see him as George Clooney," he continued. "But there was a time when it was, The guy from 'ER' is doing a movie with Nicole Kidman." "I'm trying to navigate some of that, and it's tricky because you don't want to s*** on the people that love you for this thing that you did that you also love. But at the same time, you kind of want to leave the nest. I got more in me. I got different stuff in me, and I want you guys to see that. I don't want people yelling 'Hopper' on the street every five minutes for the rest of my life," he added. Indeed, the actor had begun to look to the future a while back only as he has gained a good strong reputation ever since 'Stranger Things' with films such as 'Violent Night', 'Hellboy', 'Black Widow', 'No Sudden Move' with his latest film being 'Gran Turismo'. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10. A lawyer has been hired for Farid Safarli, an Azerbaijani citizen arrested in Iran.Farid Safarli's mother Dilyara Askerova told Trend on Thursday. She claims that the lawyer is an Iranian attorney from Azerbaijan. "The attorney has already met with Farid and the court and is familiar with the matter. There are no justifications for Farid's arrest, the attorney emphasized," she said. Askerova added that yesterday she spoke with her son on the phone. "Farid claimed he had health issues and underwent surgery on his intestines. Although he is in terrific health right now, he is really concerned about what is taking place. In the upcoming days, a decision on Farid's case need to be made. The attorney claimed that the judge might rule on Farid without Farid's presence at the final court hearing or his final argument under Iranian law. The judge claimed that Farid attempted to conduct espionage while in Iran but was unsuccessful. But there isn't any proof of this," she continued.. The accusation of "espionage" against Farid Safarli during the court proceeding was changed to "intention to commit espionage" on July 19. Check Point acquires Perimeter 81 for $490 mn to boost its security tools. Image Source: IANS News San Francisco, Aug 10 : Cyber-security company Check Point Software Technologies on Thursday announced it is acquiring Perimeter 81, a security service edge (SSE) company, for approximately $490 million. With this, Check Point will help organisations accelerate the adoption of secure access across remote users, sites, cloud, data centres, and the internet, while aiming to deliver the most secure and fastest SSE solution in the market. Launched in 2018 with a team of over 200 employees, Perimeter 81 serves more than 3,000 customers worldwide. "With the advent of hybrid work and the rise of cloud transformation, the demand for security services that expand beyond the network perimeter is increasing," said Gil Shwed, CEO at Check Point. By leveraging Perimeter 81's capabilities and integrating them into the Check Point Infinity platform, "we continue with our vision to deliver the best security through comprehensive, collaborative and consolidated solutions," Shwed added. Perimeter 81 is offering a unique suite of capabilities, including Zero Trust Access, full mesh connectivity between users, branches and applications. This allows remote users to benefit from fast, secure internet browsing everywhere they go, while addressing cloud privacy violations. "By joining Check Point, a global leader in cyber security for over 30 years, we aim to deliver the premier SASE platform in the market," says Amit Bareket, CEO at Perimeter 81. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2023. --IANS na/ Panaji, Aug 10 : Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday tabled a report pertaining to the collapse of a portion of the renovated Kala Academy, in which he said that the sudden collapse of the roof of the open auditorium was caused by corroded steel in the structure. Sawant said that IIT Roorkey was asked to prepare a report, but it didn't respond to the follow-ups of the Goa government. "There was no response from IIT Roorkey. Hence, reports from IIT Delhi, IIT Mumbai, RITES and Public Works Department were obtained. Interim reports from the four agencies indicated that failure of the structure was basically due to the corrosion of the steel, which resulted in the sudden collapse of the roof," he said. The Chief Minster also said that the Kala Academy complex is a nearly 43 years old. "Structural repair (strengthening) of the open auditorium was not carried out. However, the old waterproofing layer of around 40 cm was removed and a new waterproofing layer of around 22 to 30 cm was laid reducing thickness, which was done during last monsoon," Sawant clarified. The BJP government in Goa had come under attack after the Kala Academy portion collapsed on July 17. The next day, the opposition had created ruckus during the beginning of the monsoon session of the Assembly, demanding discussion on the roof collapse. Later, Sawant had assured to get the matter inquired by independent agencies and table the report during the ongoing Assembly session. "No one will be spared if found guilty. Thorough investigation will be conducted in this case. The portion which collapsed is a 43-year-old structure. There was no required support to it," Sawant had said. He had also said that a White Paper will be released in this matter and placed during the Assembly session. However, Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai had demanded to file a case against those responsible for the collapse of the structure. The opposition had blamed Sawant and Art & Culture Minister Govind Gaude after a portion of the open auditorium of the renovated Kala Academy collapsed, and had sought their resignation. It may be recalled that while defending the state government's move to nominate a contractor for the renovation work of Kala Academy without floating a tender, Gaude had said in July last year that even Shah Jahan did not invite quotations before building the Taj Mahal. "Taj Mahal was built between 1632 and 1653. Do you know why it is still so beautiful and everlasting? Because Shah Jahan never invited quotations to build it. That is why the Taj Mahal is intact even after 400 years," Gaude had said. The opposition had alleged that the renovation of Kala Academy involved corruption of more than Rs 50 crore. Ahmedabad, Aug 10 : Conman Kiran Patel, who faces half a dozen cheating cases already, was arrested on Thursday on charges of cheating a businessman in Gujarat's Morbi of Rs 48 lakh. Produced in court by the city police Crime Branch, Patel, and his wife Malini Patel, faces allegations of impersonation, breach of trust, cheating, and criminal conspiracy. The complaint against Patel, filed in May, details how he deceived businessman Bharat Patel by portraying himself as a Class 1 officer in 2017 and promising to assist in obtaining a permit from the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) for his chemical business. Despite taking the hefty sum, Kiran Patel did not deliver on his promises, leading to further investigation. After looking into the matter in 2018, the businessman found that Kiran Patel had made no efforts to secure the required clearances. These recent allegations add to six prior cases of cheating filed against Kiran Patel by the Gujarat Police. New Delhi, Aug 10 : The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arrested Rajni Priya, the Secretary of Srijan Mahila Vikas Sahyog Samiti, an NGO based in Bihar's Bhagalpur, who was on the run in connection with the Rs 1,000 crore Srijan Scam. She was arrested from Sahibabad in Uttar Pradesh. A Patna court had issued a non-bailable warrant against her. The CBI had registered 24 cases on the allegations of misappropriation of Rs 1,000 crore of government funds by fudging records. The scam came to light after the death of the Founder-Secretary of the Bhagalpur-based NGO. The CBI had taken over the investigation on the request of Bihar government. It was alleged that the officials of the said NGO entered into conspiracy with officials of various banks, including Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank, Bank of India etc., for diversion of government funds into the accounts of the said NGO by using forged documents. Priya, the daughter-in-law of the Founder-Secretary of the NGO, is the key accused in the scam who was absconding since the beginning of the probe. She was declared also a Proclaimed Offender by the court. After sustained efforts, the CBI traced and arrested her from Sahibabad. Mumbai, Aug 10 : Director Kiran Rao, who is known for 'Dhobi Ghat', is going to the Toronto International Film Festival with her upcoming release 'Laapataa Ladies' as the film has been selected for screening at the prestigious film festival. The film is set in the rural India of 2001 and stars Pratibha Ranta and Nitanshi Goel. The 48th edition of the annual Toronto International Film Festival is set to be held from September 7 to September 17 and will be opened by legendary Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki's anime film 'The Boy and the Heron'. The official X handle of TIFF shared the update as they tweeted, "Kiran Rao's sophomore romp is heading to #TIFF23." The World Premiere of LOST LADIES finds two young brides hilariously entwined in a riot of mistaken identities. Set in 2001 in rural India, the film stars @PratibhaRanta and @nitanshi_goel (sic). Commenting on the occasion, Kiran shared: "I am so delighted that the world premiere of our film, aLaapataa Ladiesa (Lost Ladies) is going to be at the Toronto International Film Festival. I have very fond memories of TIFF. It's such a wonderful audience-driven festival, and I will always remember the warmth and love that we got from them." She further mentioned: "I feel very fortunate that my second film, once again produced by Aamir Khan Productions and this time with Jio Studios on board, will also begin its journey there". Actor-producer Aamir Khan, who has bankrolled the film, said in a system, "Kiran has made a gem of a film which I hope is going to connect strongly with audiences all across. Canat wait for the premiere of our film 'Laapataa Ladies' at TIFF". Kolkata, Aug 10 : Swapnadip Kundu, a fresher at Kolkata's iconic Jadavpur University (JU) who died under after mysterious circumstances after falling from the balcony of a students' hostel within the university campus on Thursday, had constantly denied having different sexual orientations before the 'mishap' took place. The police have questioned some of the students staying in the same hostel and all of them have confirmed that since Wednesday night, the deceased student had been behaving in an unusual manner and constantly telling others, "I am not a gay." City police sources said that the new finding has substantiated the allegation of the victim's parents that their son became a victim of ragging where the issue of harassment might have had a sexual orientation angle to it. Some students staying in the same hostel are now under the scanner of the investigating officers. The police are trying to get more information from the parents of the victim as to whether the latter narrated to them the nature of harassment or ragging he faced. Meanwhile, the police have already procured the post-mortem report, which has confirmed that there were no alcoholic or intoxicating substances in Swapnadip's stomach, which rules out the possibility that he fell down in an inebriated state. Besides the routine police probe, the JU authorities have also decided to conduct its own inquiry into the matter. A committee comprising teachers from various departments along with representatives from the different students' councils has been constituted for this purpose. The committee headed by science department dean Subinoy Chakraborty is supposed to complete the internal probe within 15 days and submit a report to the university authorities. Narayana Murthy emphasises on right to practice own belief, faith. Image Source: IANS News Kolkata, Aug 10 : Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy on Thursday emphasised on the necessity of Indian people to have the right to practice their own belief and faith. Speaking at the convocation of the Techno India University in Kolkata, Murthy also emphasised that none should enforce his or her own faith and belief on others. To substantiate his point, Murthy quoted former US President Franklin D. Roosevelt who stressed on freedom of expression, faith and freedom from fear and want, in order to establish a true democratic system. The Infosys co-founder also cautioned against the rise in population rate in India, and said that arresting population growth should be the prime focus in the present context. He also quoted statistics on poor per capita land availability in India compared to the corresponding figures in countries like the US, Brazil and China. According to Murthy, the rise in population will pose a major crisis for the country in the coming two decades. He also said that population control measures are not uniform throughout the country, where some pockets are making good progress, while some others are lagging. New Delhi, Aug 10 : The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has criticised the BJP-led Central government for promulgating the bill which seeks to remove the Chief Justice of India (CJI) from the selection board of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and the Election Commissioners (ECs). The AAP said that the BJP no longer entrust their faith in the CJI and this is why another decision of the Supreme Court has been overturned. Delhi Cabinet Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said that for the first time in the history of India's judiciary, such distrust has been shown in the Chief Justice and the country's cabinet and the Prime Minister. "Similarly, the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had decided that "the Delhi government will have powers over services", but the Central government, led by the BJP, has also overturned this decision," he added. Bharadwaj also said that "A few days ago, on May 11, 2023, after years of legal battles, the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the elected government in Delhi has the authority over services in Delhi. Just eight days after this, the Central government issued an order and reversed the years of hard work by the Supreme Court. On August 8, within the Parliament, the judgment of the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court was overturned by introducing a law. At that time, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that the Prime Minister does not have faith in the Supreme Court". He mentioned that over the past few years, questions have been continuously raised about the impartiality of the Election Commission that it works under the influence of the Central government, the Election Commission waits for the Prime Minister's last rally to conclude before announcing the election dates. All of this has been witnessed openly, Bharadwaj added. "The Supreme Court put an end to these questions, stating that a neutral panel will select the CEC and ECs. The apex court had ruled that the selection of the CEC and ECs should be done by an impartial independent selection committee of the Parliament. This committee would include the Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, and the Chief Justice of India. This meant that even if the ruling party and the opposition had differing opinions, a neutral person like the Chief Justice of India could mediate, and an independent Election Commission could be formed. However, even this decision has been overturned," the AAP leader said. "It's unfortunate for the country's Parliament that the institution that is looked upon with respect throughout the nation, the judiciary, is not trusted by the Prime Minister. The police, CBI, Income Tax, ED, Election Commission, etc., all of these institutions have been intimidated. It's been alleged that these institutions work at the whims and fancies of the Central government. Only one institution, the Supreme Court, remains independent in the country. But by bringing this law to the Parliament, the Prime Minister has proven that he doesn't even trust the Chief Justice of India," Bharadwaj added. Amritsar, Aug 10 : In a fit of rage, a man killed his daughter by tying her to his motorcycle and dragging her towards the railway lines where her body was found in Amritsar's Muchhal village. As per the police, the girl returned home a day after eloping with her alleged boyfriend. In a fit of rage, the father allegedly committed the crime. A CCTV footage, which has gone viral on social media, captured the incident, showing the man dragging his daughter tied to his bike at full speed. The police have registered a case in this matter. New Delhi, Aug 11 : The Supreme Court has said that it must express its anguish over the manner in which women have been subjected to grave acts of sexual violence during sectarian violence and strife in Manipur. "Subjecting women to sexual crimes and violence is completely unacceptable and constitutes a grave violation of the constitutional values of dignity, personal liberty and autonomy, all of which are protected as core fundamental rights under Part III of the Constitution," said a bench of CJI D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra in its judgment, which was uploaded late in night on Thursday. The bench said that mobs commonly resort to violence against women for multiple reasons, including the fact that they may escape punishment for their crimes if they are a member of a larger group. It said that in time of sectarian violence, mobs use sexual violence to send a message of subordination to the community that the victims or survivors hail from. "Such visceral violence against women during conflict is nothing but an atrocity," it added. The court said that it is the bounden duty of the state its foremost duty, even to prevent people from committing such reprehensible violence against women and protect them from the violence targets. It termed the pace of investigation by Manipur Police as "tardy" pace of after noting that there were significant delays between the occurrence of incidents involving heinous crimes including murder, rape and arson and the registration of zero or regular FIRs. It said that there were delays in recording witness statements, effecting arrests, and ensuring medical examination of victims. On July 20, the Supreme Court took suo moto cognizance of the disturbing viral videos and asked the Centre and the state government to apprise it about the steps taken by July 28. Later, the two tribal women who were paraded naked and sexually assaulted in Manipur had approached the top court claiming that the Manipur Police collaborated with the mob to allow perpetration of sexual violence on them. --IANS puneet/vd BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10. The "Environmental Protection First" Coalition of Azerbaijan issued a statement regarding Armenia damaging the South Caucasus ecology, Trend reports. "We condemn the response statement addressed by the Ministry of Environment of Armenia on the metallurgical plant under construction in Arazdayan (Yeraskh) of Vedibasar region of the Republic of Armenia on the border with Azerbaijan," the statement said. "Establishing this large-scale metallurgical plant blatantly ignores internationally accepted standards and principles, particularly those outlined in the UN Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (Espoo Convention)," the statement noted. "The Espoo Convention recognizes that environmental issues go beyond national borders and underscores the importance of international dialogue when multiple countries are involved in specific cases." According to the statement, construction of such a facility along the border without mutual agreement from the Azerbaijani side constitutes a clear breach of the 1991 Espoo Convention, which focuses on evaluating the environmental impact in situations spanning borders. "Both Azerbaijan and Armenia have ratified this Convention. Following the guidelines of the Espoo Convention, the environmental assessment report related to the construction should be examined by relevant Azerbaijani institutions, taking into account the perspective of neighboring Azerbaijani residents who live in close proximity to the area, as well as eco-activists," the statement said. Besides, according to the statement, the response from the Armenian side is a denial of the cooperation, violation of the Espoo Convention, and deviating from the subject matter. "Armenia should create a suitable environment to actively engage in dialogue and decision-making processes related to the construction, to conduct technical expertise, monitoring, and evaluation by involving international NGOs and civil society representatives from countries in the region (including NGOs from Azerbaijan and Georgia) to measure the extent of the damage and potential solutions," the statement pointed out. Referring to Articles 3.1 and 3.7 of the Espoo Convention, as well as Clause 4 of Annex I of the same Convention, the Azerbaijani side has formally requested comprehensive details from Armenia concerning the adverse cross-border impacts stemming from the activities undertaken in Arazdayan. "Providing this information falls under Armenia's international commitments. The unsubstantiated accusations made in Armenia's response regarding Azerbaijan's engagement in 'shooting at Arazdayan' are entirely incorrect and unacceptable," the statement also noted. "While we are raising our profound concerns about the ecological catastrophe, Armenia deliberately deviates from the subject by politicizing it. Such provocations cannot serve as a camouflage for environmental offenses." As the statement said, instead of furnishing official data, Armenian official bodies appear to be attempting to persuade media outlets that the potential repercussions will be minimal. "Regrettably, this stance contradicts the requirements of the Espoo Convention. Preliminary observations on our part reveal that environmental monitoring and impact assessment reports issued by mining enterprises operating in Armenia, spanning soil, air quality, surface and groundwater conditions, as well as flora and fauna, are not being made fully accessible to the general public," the authors explained. The 2022 Armenia Country Report from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) highlights that certain mining firms failed to generate environmental monitoring reports for the period of 2020-2021, and the country did not make the environmental assessment findings available to the public, the statement further pointed out. "Considering the aforementioned circumstances and the accumulating public discontent arising from the detrimental influence of Armenia's mining sector on Azerbaijan's ecological environment over the years, our coalition anticipates the complete disclosure of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) documents," the statement said. "The full texts of the EIA reports to be made public, as well as the numerous public dissatisfaction that has been growing due to the negative effects of Armenia's mining industry on the ecology of Azerbaijan for years." Armenia should acknowledge the legal obligation it bears in not withholding and disclosing these crucial environmental records, said the coalition. "We urge both domestic and foreign companies involved in Armenia's mining industry to promptly publish the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) documents, and the findings on their official webpages to make it publicly accessible. The right to information is an essential element of democracy and the rule of law. Concealing the information is a violation of human rights," the statement said. It further said that Armenia must meet its responsibilities by guaranteeing that impacted communities can obtain information about the activities of plants, engage meaningfully in the processes of decision-making, and address any environmental damage that occurs. "The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights provide a crucial framework for promoting responsible conduct in business, including the extractive industry," the statement said. These principles underscore the need for companies to uphold human rights, prevent adverse environmental impacts, and engage with affected communities in a transparent and inclusive manner, said the statement. "We urge all stakeholders involved in metallurgical plant building in Arazdayan to align their actions with these principles and integrate them into their operational practice," concluded the statement. Previously, Azerbaijani environmentalists issued an open letter to Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, listing Armenian polluters of the environment. The letter stated that the deterioration of the ecosystem as a result of continuous mining operations endangers not just Armenia's ecology but also neighboring countries. The open letter authors called on the prime minister to stop the construction of a new metallurgical plant being built in Arazdayan contrary to the requirements of environmental standards and international conventions, adding that the potential impact of this plant's toxic chemical waste on the local ecosystem could be enormous. Vagabond beaten to death over petty issue in Delhi. Image Source: IANS News Chandigarh, Aug 11 : A man was beaten up in front of his son in Punjab's Mansa town this week. The incident, whose video went viral on Thursday, took place in broad daylight in front of a school. The father was going to drop his son off at the school on a two-wheeler a group of men armed with sticks to the man. The video showed the man was being beaten up in front of his son. The police have filed a case against the accused under IPC 307 (attempt to murder). The accused are still at large. The police suspect that the attack was motivated by a personal dispute. New Delhi, Aug 11 : Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking every possible step to make India a manufacturing hub for medical devices. The Minister said this during his address at the curtain raiser of India's first medical technology expo, 'India MedTech Expo 2023', scheduled to be held in Gujarat's Gandhinagar, from August 17 to 19 on the sidelines of the G20 Health Ministers' meeting. Mandaviya said under the Modi government, India is taking a holistic approach to health with a vision to transform the health landscape in the country by 2047. The medical device sector is considered as one of the sunrise sectors in the country, he said. "From a market share of 1.5 per cent, we hope to increase India's market share to 10-12 per cent share over the next 25 years. With effective implementation of the recently unveiled National Medical Devices Policy 2023, we are confident of fostering the medical devices sector growth from present $11 billion to $50 billion by 2030," Mandaviya said. India is set to become the global hub of medical technology and devices with the market size estimated to reach $50 billion by 2050, he added. On the upcoming MedTech Expo 2023, Mandaviya said it will showcase India's innovations and achievements in medical and surgical procedures, drugs, equipment and facilities. He highlighted that the event will enhance visibility of medical devices ecosystem in India and create a brand identity for Indian MedTech sector. Patna, Aug 11 : A girl was brutally assaulted by her boyfriend inside the toilet in Bihar's Gopalganj district on Thursday, police said. The youth was angry over her as she ignored him and did not pick his phone calls. The incident occurred at Indarwa Abdullah village under town police station in the district. The accused had also made the video of the physical assault and forwarded it to the girl. He also threatened to upload the video on social media. The accused was making calls to the girl repeatedly. As his behaviour was rude, she was ignoring him and not receiving his phone calls. Angry over the matter, the youth intercepted the girl on the main road and brutally assaulted her. He also dragged the girl inside the toilet and beat her. After the incident, the victim reached the women police station and lodged a complaint against the accused. The district police said that an FIR has been registered against the accused and raids are on to nab him. New Delhi, Aug 11 : Doctors have submitted that there is a need to focus on improving spine wellness as they held deliberations on spine care at a programme being organised by the Association of Spine Surgeons of India (ASSI). "At least eighty per cent of the population will experience back pain at some stage of their life. Back pain is the commonest cause of disability in most countries across the globe. There is a great need to focus on improving spine wellness to alleviate the burden of spine disease," said Dr HS Chhabra in his address at the 4th SPINE20 annual summit here. SPINE20 is an advocacy group founded in 2019 by 'EUROSPINE', the German Spine Society, North American Spine Society, and the Saudi Spine Society. In addition, the group has 33 partner societies from across the globe. ASSI is one of the partner societies. Dr Chabra, who is also the Chairperson of Spine20 2023, added. "Back pain is the commonest cause of disability in most countries across the globe. There is a need for national spine care program in each country," he said. President of ASSI, Saumyajit Basu also stressed on the importance of the spine care, adding such summit's help spine surgeons to address gaps in spine care. "We are glad to admit that we have a healthy participation from spine surgeons, rehabilitation experts, and industry stakeholders at the event. Such forums will help spine surgeons and rehabilitation specialists in India as well as abroad to address gaps in spine care, treatment, rehabilitation, and research," Dr Basu said. He added: "Association of Spine Surgeons of India is happy to engage in this evidence-based advocacy initiative to inform our government about the need to focus on spine disorders." On the opening day of the two-day summit, participants including from countries like Japan, France and Indonesia discussed a plan to address gaps and challenges in spine care in G-20 countries. New Delhi, Aug 11 : Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying if he had given up his "stubbornness" earlier, the valuable time of the Parliament would have been saved while noting that even while speaking on the sensitive issue of Manipur, he treated the house as "an election rally". In a tweet in Hindi, he first thanked the Prime Minister for speaking on Manipur. "Thank you Prime Minister. At last you spoke in the House on the Manipur violence. We are sure that the pace of restoration of peace in Manipur will be faster, people from relief camps will return to their homes. They will be rehabilitated, justice will be done to them", he said. Then slamming the Prime Minister, Kharge, who is also the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said: "If you had given up your stubbornness and arrogance earlier, the valuable time of the Parliament would have been saved. Important bills would have been passed with good discussion. We are pained that on an unprecedented issue like the Manipur violence, the opposition had to use a parliamentary weapon like a no-confidence motion. But you also used the House as an election rally." He also slammed the government for suspending Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. "In the last phase, the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary was suspended, which is very undemocratic and unfortunate. It reflects the arrogance and maliciousness of the authorities. This tradition will prove very fatal for both the constitution and parliamentary democracy. We strongly condemn it", he said. Modi on Thursday spoke on Manipur during the no-confidence motion. In his over two-hour-long speech, he gave an assurance that peace will prevail in Manipur and that it will march forward on the path of development. "The entire country and the House is with Manipur. We will together ensure peace there," he said. However he said that all efforts to ensure peace in the state should be free of politics. Congress General Secretary, Organisation, K.C. Venugopal said: "Dull, boring and unoriginal. Even though INDIA compelled Prime Minister Modi to give up his boycott of Parliament and break his silence on Manipur, this was a speech that leaves the Indian people confused and sorely disappointed. "In a 2 hour 13 minute speech, he had 3 minutes of empty platitudes on Manipur, and he hid behind his already-flopped Home Minister, or the same old drivel about the past. Modi, you cannot twist history and shirk responsibility for your criminal failure in handling Manipur. "Your words of 'economic development' in Manipur are hollow, with no solution for peace whatsoever. This long monologue of WhatsApp forwards was a weak attempt to whitewash this governmentas failures of unemployment, price rise, farmersa distress, terrible condition of womenas safety, and an atmosphere of hatred. The people of India will show their no-confidence in you in 2024," Venugopal added. Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh also took a dig at the Prime Minister and said, "During the No Confidence Motion, the Prime Minister boasted about the state of HAL's health. "The fact remains - and this is beyond any dispute - that originally in the pre-2014 era, HAL was to make 108 Rafale fighter aircraft in Bengaluru with 18 being purchased outright from France. In April 2015, Modi made an outright purchase of 36 jets from France while the HAL part of the deal was quietly buried, leaving it high and dry." In his speech, Modi also sought to mock the 'INDIA' opposition's alliance New Delhi, Aug 11 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has said that it has filed a prosecution complaint (charge sheet) against Izhar Hussain Jafri, Ali Abbas Jafri and Ravi Prakash Gupta in connection with a case of Rs 100 crore 'scholarship scam', an official said. The accused were arrested by the ED on April 26 and are currently in judicial custody. Earlier, the ED conducted searches in various educational institutes across several districts of Uttar Pradesh and seized crucial evidences of the offence. Thereafter, information was passed on to Uttar Pradesh Police by the ED under sSction 66 of the PMLA, for registering FIR against the accused persons. The ED investigation revealed that these persons were operating the scam under Hygia Group of colleges and fraudulently obtained scholarship funds amounting Rs 100 crore using Aadhar and bank details of ineligible persons shown as students. The ED probe revealed that the accused persons opened 3,000 such bank accounts in the names of students using documents of various persons and common email IDs. Ravi Prakash Gupta, Izhar Hussain Jafri, Ali Abbas Jafri in conspiracy with agents of FINO payment bank namely Mohd. Sahil Aziz, Amit Kumar Maurya, Tanveer Ahmad and Jitendra Singh, among others diverted scholarship funds from students' accounts to the bank accounts of Hygia group of colleges as well as other persons and institutes. During investigation, it was also revealed that in commission of the offence, Izhar Hussain Jafri, Ali Abbas Jafri and Ravi Prakash Gupta not only controlled the bank accounts of beneficiary students and illegally kept their ATM cards, phone numbers, etc., for self-operation and subsequently withdraw the scholarship funds in cash from the bank accounts of the students at various locations. The scholarship funds were also transferred to various accounts of accused persons and their relatives and Oregon Educational Society. Earlier during investigation, bank balances and immovable assets in form of land, all valuing to Rs.3.2 crore, were attached by the ED under provisions of PMLA. Further investigation into the matter is ongoing. New Delhi, Aug 11 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Uttar Pradesh's Bhadohi, Ramesh Chand Bind, has filed a complaint with Delhi Police alleging that he was threatened by an unknown person who was demanding Rs 10 lakh, an official said on Thursday. One person, identified as Mithilesh, has been arrested from Manesar in Haryana. As per sources, Mithilesh is also found to be involved in a case registered at Bhadohi. A senior police officer said that the police registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code at North Avenue police station on Tuesday after the MP approached the police. The MP, on Monday, had received two calls from an unknown person demanding Rs 10 lakh. "The MP was threatened that he and his son would be kidnapped if he failed to pay the extortion. The alleged person was also abusing and using foul language," an official privy to the investigation said. New Delhi, Aug 11 : The Delhi government on Thursday decided to extend the financial assistance provided to the children of construction workers to cover MCD schools too. Theassistance is provided by the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (DBOCWWB). "The DBOCWWB provides financial assistance to the children of construction workers studying in government schools. Now, this scheme will be extended to the children of construction workers studying in MCD schools as well," Labour Minister Raaj Kumar Anand said. He said under the extended scheme, eligible children of construction workers will receive financial assistance as follows: Class 1 to 8: Rs. 500 per month, Class 9 to 10: Rs 700 per month, and Class 11 to 12: Rs 1,000 per month. This decision comes as a significant step towards ensuring quality education for all children of construction workers in Delhi. The financial assistance provided by DBOCWWB will alleviate the financial burden on the families and enable the children to access quality education without hindrance, he said. "By extending the financial assistance scheme to the children of construction workers studying in MCD schools, we affirm our commitment to the welfare and prosperity of their families," the Minister said. New Delhi, Aug 11 : The Supreme Court, which had set up a committee comprising three woman judges to enquire into the violence against women in Manipur, has tasked it with collecting information on such incidents, as well as monitoring the conditions at relief camps and deciding on compensation to victims. A bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, in their judgment, uploaded late night on Thursday, asked the committee, which comprises Jammu and Kashmir High Court's former Chief Justice, Justice Gita Mittal, Bombay High Court's retired judge, Justice Shalini Phansalkar Joshi, and Delhi High Court's former judge, Justice Asha Menon - to collect information from all available sources including personal meetings with survivors or their family members, local or community representatives, relief camps, FIRs or media reports. The bench said that the objective of constitution of such a committee is to restore the faith and confidence of the community in the justice system and secondly, to ensure that the rule of law is restored. It asked the committee to submit a report before it on the steps required to meet the needs of the survivors of gender violence, and ensure that the relief camps set up for the displaced have clean rations, basic medical care, essential products, free sanitary pads, suicide prevention services, etc. The committee has been empowered to issue directions for the appointment of nodal officers at relief camps and the provision of toll-free helplines to provide updates on any investigation, missing persons, and the recovery of dead bodies. "The nodal officers must also ensure that they maintain a database of all persons who are housed in their respective relief camps," the Supreme Court ordered. The committee has been entrusted with the payment of compensation and restitution to victims of violence. It has been empowered to issue directions to the State Legal Services Authority to ensure payment of compensation to all victims. "Where the victim is deceased, the next of kin should be identified for the payment of compensation," the apex court judgment said. The committee can issue directions to the state government to settle compensation for damages caused to the movable and immovable properties of persons affected by violence. It will submit its updated status report on a fortnightly basis directly to the apex court. --IANS puneet/vd DIC Asset AG signed four lease agreements for a combined retail and office space of around 9,150 sqm. The signings represent both new lettings and lease renewals for premises in properties held in the Commercial Portfolio and in the Institutional Business. DICs lettings team in Munich prematurely... [] BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has met with Lithuanian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Egidius Navikas, Trend reports citing the Azerbaijani MFA. The sides discussed the issues on the agenda of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Lithuania, as well as the current situation in the region. Minister Bayramov thanked Ambassador Egidius Navikas for his efforts to develop relations between Azerbaijan and Lithuania during his diplomatic activity in our country, wished him success in his future activities. He noted that the increase in mutual contacts and visits at the highest and high levels between Azerbaijan and Lithuania has recently contributed to the development of bilateral relations. In particular, within the framework of the official visit to the Republic of Lithuania in May this year, the 7th meeting of the intergovernmental commission on bilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and Lithuania was held. Its importance from the point of view of discussing the prospects for developing cooperation in a number of areas, including the economy, energy security, investment, contacts and other areas, has been noted. Bayramov also informed Navikas about the current situation in the region in the post-conflict period, the process of normalizing relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It was noted that the continuation of military-political provocations by Armenia against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our country, the mine threat in violation of international law, the obligations and statements assumed by Armenia is the biggest threat to the advancement of the peace agenda. It was brought to the attention that the actions of Armenia, which committed a provocation against the Lachin border checkpoint on June 15 this year, as a result of which an Azerbaijani border guard was wounded, as well as sending a motorcade allegedly with "humanitarian cargo" to the territory of Azerbaijan without agreement with our country, are regular provocations. It was emphasized that the rejection by Armenia of the proposal of the Azerbaijani side to use the Agdam-Khankendi road to supply even more food for Armenian residents indicates that this issue is purely political. Egidius Navikas thanked Azerbaijani Foreign Minister for the warm welcome. He noted that despite the fact that his activities in Azerbaijan fell on the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, during his work in our country there was a positive trend in the development of relations between Azerbaijan and Lithuania. In particular, the importance of the fact that the existing political relations between the two countries contribute to the development of ties in the fields of economy, energy, and transport was noted. The sides also exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest. Patrizia secured the refinancing for the Commerzbank high-rise in Frankfurt's banking district with a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio of 55%. BayernLB acted as facility and security agent for the club deal in cooperation with pbb, LBBW and UniCredit. While the sale of the 620 million Commerzbank high-r... Photos: Patrizia / Brian Eberle - stock.adobe.com [] Anderson, Indiana (PRWEB) August 10, 2023 -- Mytra Consulting, a leading advisory services firm specializing in the telecommunications, information technology, and electric utility industries, is pleased to announce the addition of Debbie Ivanuska to its team as a Business Consultant. With her extensive Education, IT support, and consultancy background, Debbie brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to support clients in achieving their business goals. Debbie Ivanuska began her career in Human Resources for a major department store, where she discovered her passion for training. This led her to pursue a degree in Education, and she subsequently taught for over 25 years in public Education. Throughout her teaching career, Debbie gained certification in teaching business, marketing-related courses, and cybersecurity and obtained the prestigious Cisco Instructor Certification. In addition, she gained valuable experience as an analyst for MCI WorldCom and SunTrust Securities. Drawing upon her vast experience and skills, Debbie now applies her expertise to the corporate world. At Mytra Consulting, she will focus on integrating new software programs by providing comprehensive training and support to businesses. Her spreadsheet and database management proficiency will enable companies to optimize their processes and enhance overall efficiency. Debbie is excited about implementing her skills and working with various companies. Debbie Ivanuska graduated from the University of Missouri, obtaining a Master of Education (MEd) degree and a Bachelor of Business Administration. She and her husband reside in Raymore, Missouri, where they enjoy sports, family, and traveling. Heather Lermont-Pape, Chief Learning Officer of Mytra Consulting, expressed her utmost confidence in Debbie Ivanuska's appointment as a Business Consultant. "With her extensive background in Education and IT support, combined with her passion for training and consultancy, Debbie brings a unique skill set that will greatly benefit our clients. Her ability to integrate new software programs and provide comprehensive training will be invaluable in helping businesses optimize their operations. We are thrilled to have Debbie join our team and look forward to the positive impact she will make in empowering our clients to achieve their business goals successfully." About Mytra Consulting Mytra Consulting is an advisory services firm specializing in the telecommunications, information technology, and electric utility industries. The company offers a comprehensive range of services, including strategic planning, business development, change management, and more, to clients across the United States. Headquartered in Anderson, Indiana, Mytra Consulting is committed to delivering valuable expertise and empowering clients to achieve their goals successfully. For more information about Mytra Consulting and its services, please visit http://www.Mytraconsulting.com. August Zehner, Mytra Consulting, http://www.mytraconsulting.com, 1 317-403-3550, [email protected] SOURCE Mytra Consulting Cutting-edge report highlights key technology providers and the imperative of AI integration to combat evolving cyber threats. Palo Alto, Calif., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Aragon Research, a leading technology-focused research and advisory firm, has unveiled its first Market Insights Guide for Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity, 2023. As the digital realm faces increasingly sophisticated threats, this comprehensive guide presents an in-depth analysis of the utilization of AI to bolster cybersecurity measures; Aragon analysts stress the importance of selecting AI-powered security solutions to safeguard an organization's valuable data, systems, and assets. With the cyber threat landscape constantly evolving, enterprises are recognizing the limitations of traditional signature-based tools. Hackers are harnessing the power of advanced AI technologies to orchestrate highly intricate attacks that necessitate equally advanced defense mechanisms. In response to this pressing need, numerous enterprise security software providers are seamlessly integrating AI and machine learning (ML) capabilities to enhance threat detection and mitigation. The Aragon Research Market Insights Guide delves into the sphere of AI-driven cybersecurity, spotlighting 21 major technology providers that are spearheading innovation in this space. The list of companies assessed are: Akamai, Anomali, Check Point, Cisco, CrowdStrike, CyberArk, Cynet, Darktrace, Deep Instinct, Fortinet, Google, IBM, Juniper Networks, Microsoft, Mimecast, Palo Alto Networks, Proofpoint, SentinelOne, Sophos, VMware Carbon Black, and Zscaler. Enterprise security software is quickly evolving to address new and emerging threats in the digital landscape. No longer are simplistic signature matching tools sufficient to protect the enterprise as hackers are using increasingly powerful artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to create highly sophisticated methods of attack. To combat this, many of the current enterprise security software offerings are incorporating advanced AI and machine learning (ML) technologies to identify and remediate threats more effectively. "Enterprises need to embrace providers that are incorporating AI technologies in their offerings," says Jim Lundy, CEO and Founder of Aragon Research. "If your current cybersecurity technology stack doesn't include AI, then your organization is at an ever-increasing risk of losing the battle to a successful AI-powered attack." AI acts as a pivotal technology multiplier, infusing cybersecurity solutions with enhanced intelligence and speed. The featured technology providers within the report recognize this critical paradigm shift and have proactively integrated AI and ML capabilities into their cybersecurity offerings, thus fortifying enterprises against increasingly intricate cyber threats. The Aragon Research Market Insights Guide for Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity, 2023 presents a formidable resource for organizations seeking to navigate the ever-changing threat landscape. As the digital realm confronts relentless and sophisticated cyberattacks, Aragon's newest Research Methodology empowers enterprises to make informed purchasing decisions in selecting AI-infused cybersecurity solutions. About Aragon Research Aragon Research delivers high-impact visual research, consulting, and advisory services to provide enterprises the insight they need to make better technology and strategy decisions. Aragon Research serves business and IT leaders and has a proven team of veteran analysts. For more information, visit https://www.aragonresearch.com/. Media Contact Paula Quiroz, Aragon Research, 650-285-9889, [email protected] Twitter SOURCE Aragon Research Early in his second year leading the Hollywood, FL-based provider, Scott Wester is focused on increasing access to care, the consumer experience, and a workforce that makes it all possible. HOLLYWOOD, Fla., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- A year into his tenure as president and CEO of Memorial Healthcare System (MHS), K. Scott Wester is making significant progress accomplishing short-term goals and setting a longer term strategic direction for what he calls 'a complex business that's part of a complex industry in a very large and diverse market.' His vision comes from an understanding of the changing landscape for health and care providers and that a pre-COVID approach to doing business is no longer viable. Wester has Memorial hyper-focused on increasing access for South Florida communities and enhancing the consumer experience at destinations that include soon-to-be-opened urgent and/or primary care centers in northwest Miami-Dade County, Weston, and Plantation, a comprehensive cancer center in Pembroke Pines, and an expanded mobile program that is bringing primary care services to underserved audiences in Hallandale Beach, Miramar, Dania Beach, and Hollywood. "We've been an integral part of the South Florida community for 70 years and the Memorial way and culture that's been established will be the foundation of our success moving forward," said Wester. "An engaged workforce will be a difference-maker at a time consumers are seeking convenient health solutions best delivered by a partner with a mission to serve the community, not shareholders." Wester leads an organization of more than 15,000 employees that features a patient and family-centered approach that is equally adept at delivering proactive expertise, services, and resources as it is reactive care. That's resonated with consumers whose feedback resulted in Memorial being named the 18th most trusted healthcare brand in America in a recent report ("Humanizing Brand Experience") from Monigle, one of the country's largest, independent brand consultancies. That firm's survey of more than 25,000 consumers also ranked MHS the fourth best system in the U.S. at empowering individuals with the information and resources to manage their health independently. To bolster the dedicated team of caregivers that help Memorial prioritize the individual and family, Wester's plan places a significant emphasis on workforce development to attract and retain the best talent. The system set a record for new hires during the CEO's first year, including more than 70 physicians, and decreased overall year over year turnover from 21% to 14%. He has also connected with leaders at South Florida colleges and universities to help align degree programs and employment opportunities in a Memorial environment named one of Modern Healthcare magazine's "2023 Best Places to Work in Healthcare." Understanding there is much more work to be done, Wester began his second year with an aggressive plan to expand services that will include: An $88 million infrastructure upgrade at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood to construct a new Family Birthplace and upgrade its trauma center and emergency department. infrastructure upgrade at Memorial Regional Hospital in to construct a new Family Birthplace and upgrade its trauma center and emergency department. Development of approximately eight acres of land Memorial recently purchased at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and State Road 7. Previously part of the footprint of the Hollywood Fashion Center, current conversation focuses on a mixed-use, health and wellness hub that will serve the area. Looking back on the year gone by, Wester says the keys to early success were his ability to build relationships, willingness to collaborate with strategic partners, and a laser focus on value-based care that focuses more on the quality of patient outcomes than the quantity of services provided. # # # South Florida-based Memorial Healthcare System (http://www.mhs.net) is a national leader in quality care and patient, physician, and employee satisfaction. Its commitment to deeper caring and smarter health prioritizes a person-centered approach that has delivered safe, positive outcomes for 70 years. Featuring multi-disciplinary collaboration, research, innovation, and transparency within its many facilities, Memorial is focused on removing barriers, increasing access, and providing equitable care throughout the region. It employs a staff of more than 15,000 and operates six hospitals, numerous primary, urgent, and 24/7 care facilities, medical office buildings, a health specialty center, and nursing home. To learn more, visit mhs.net and connect on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Media Contact Yanet Obarrio Sanchez, Memorial Healthcare System, 954-265-1136, [email protected] SOURCE Memorial Healthcare System Janie Bennett, Volunteer Coordinator for HPH Hospice, Wins Florida Council on Aging Award TEMPLE TERRACE, Fla., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Florida Council on Aging (FCOA) announced Janie Bennett, volunteer coordinator for HPH Hospice, as a winner of its Quality Senior Living Public Service Award. The FCOA presented the award during the Florida Council on Aging & Florida Power and Light Quality Senior Living Awards Luncheon in Orlando on Tuesday, August 8, 2023. The Public Service Award recognizes volunteers of any age in Florida as well as organizations who demonstrate an elevated level of commitment to serving seniors in their respective communities. "The individuals who are recognized by Quality Senior Living Awards represent the very best in volunteerism and service," said Teresa Barton, FCOA board president. "They are truly heroes who have dedicated much of their lives to seniors and senior causes. They should be celebrated and honored by all of us." Bennett's work in hospice care spans more than 18 years and her passion for volunteering began as early as elementary school when she volunteered to help handicap students in the fourth grade. As volunteer coordinator for HPH Hospice, Bennett directs and manages the organization's volunteer efforts, which includes working with hospice patients, families and community members. "I find joy in inspiring others to volunteer," said Bennett. "My motto in life is 'You make the world a better place by caring and giving to others daily.' As a volunteer coordinator, it is important to me to be an example to the volunteers I manage by being a community volunteer myself." HPH Hospice volunteers make impacts for patients and families in many ways, including through the Chapters Health Valor Program, Chapters Health's signature program supporting Veterans and First Responders. In recent years, the program and its volunteers earned accolades such as two Lightning Community Hero Awards from the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2022 and for the third consecutive year the non-profit group One Community Now named the Valor Program its presenting sponsor for Operation Stand Down in Pasco County. "We are thrilled to see Janie receiving this recognition for her work," said Michele Sandoval, interim executive director at HPH Hospice. "She is such an asset in our mission. Her passion and talent for inspiring our volunteers makes our team so much more effective because it's not just about the clinical side. Hospice is about caring for the whole person and their family. Janie and her team of volunteers help make that vision a reality." About HPH Hospice HPH Hospice, an affiliate of Chapters Health System, is a community-based, not-for-profit organization that supports patients in Hernando, Pasco and Citrus counties. Since 1984, HPH Hospice has been committed to excellent service through compassionate care, accountability, respect, integrity and the goal of excelling through teamwork to maximize quality of life. About Chapters Health System As a progressive leader and premier healthcare organization, Chapters Health System is dedicated to delivering innovative care throughout chronic illness progression and beyond. Since 1983 as a community-based, not-for-profit organization, Chapters Health has provided choices, education and guidance through its managed affiliates. All offerings are provided to improve the patient/family experience well in advance of end-of-life needs. In 2023, Chapters Health was named a Top Workplaces USA award-winner; in 2022, earned certified status for information security from HITRUST and for the sixth consecutive year was recognized as a great workplace in the Aging Services category by the independent analysts at the Great Place to Work Institute. To learn more, visit http://www.chaptershealth.org , like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. Media Contact Austin Mudd, Chapters Health System, 813-310-4690, [email protected] Twitter, Facebook SOURCE Chapters Health System CoreLogic released its annual Wildfire Risk Report, which quantifies the magnitude of wildfire risk across 14 western United States in terms of the number of residential properties and their associated total reconstruction cost value. IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- CoreLogic, a leader in global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions, released its annual Wildfire Risk Report, which quantifies the magnitude of wildfire risk across 14 western United States in terms of the number of residential properties and their associated total reconstruction cost value. In California, more than 1.2 million homes with a combined reconstruction cost value of more than $760 billion are at moderate or high risk of wildfire damage. In Colorado, more than 300K homes with a total reconstruction cost value of $140 billion are at risk, followed by 200K homes in Texas with a total reconstruction cost value of $85 billion. The Los Angeles, Denver and Austin metro areas lead the top three states in terms of the number of residential properties with elevated wildfire risk. Increasing exposure in wildfire-prone areas like the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) continues to be a major driver of risk in the U.S. Shifting climate patterns and extreme weather events including the return of the El Nino phase of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the atmospheric rivers in California last winter, could exacerbate risk and lengthen the wildfire season in the western U.S. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Center for Environmental Information (NECI), the number of acres burned each year has steadily increased since 1983. The average number of acres burned between 2010 - 2022 is 93% higher than that from 1990 - 2000. Increased wildfire activity combined with a greater number of homes built in or near the WUI equates to a greater level of risk in the U.S. In addition, P&C insurers in the U.S. must deal with the increasing cost of reconstruction materials and labor which has inflated the overall cost of wildfires. In the past five years, CoreLogic estimates that reconstruction costs in California have increased by 33.5%. Using data science resources and incorporating machine learning and artificial intelligence technology, CoreLogic has identified where homes are at the highest level of wildfire risk and has demonstrated how these analytics can contribute to more informative wildfire risk models. Ultimately, this creates a more accurate assessment of potential risk, than relying on historical precedence, given shifting nature of global climate and weather patterns. Wildfire risk is not static and it is imperative to understand that a changing climate could alter the risk landscape in the future. Leveraging CoreLogic's Climate Risk Analytics, it is possible to assess the potential increased wildfire costs in the U.S. by decade and climate scenarios (i.e., representative concentration pathway, or RCP, from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)). The CoreLogic analysis revealed that California residential average annual loss (AAL) may increase by 31% and 41% by mid-century (i.e., 2050) under a moderate (RCP 4.5) and extreme (RCP 8.5) increase in greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions, respectively. This analysis assumed no exposure growth and only accounts for increased wildfire activity due to climate change. For homes to remain insurable, wildfire risk assessment tools must be built on comprehensive wildfire science and account for property- and community-level mitigation, including home hardening and retrofitting older buildings that reduce wildfire damage at the property level. This includes factors such as increased defensible spaces and effective ember protectionwhich can significantly reduce structural losses and make insurance coverage more affordable. To read the full report, including best practices for wildfire risk assessment, visit h https://corelogic.com/wildfirereport About CoreLogic CoreLogic is a leading provider of property insights and innovative solutions, working to transform the property industry by putting people first. Using its network, scale, connectivity and technology, CoreLogic delivers faster, smarter, more human-centered experiences, that build better relationships, strengthen businesses, and ultimately create a more resilient society. For more information, please visit http://www.corelogic.com. Media Contact Robin Wachner, CoreLogic, 8004261466, [email protected] SOURCE CoreLogic National Online College Fall Registration Open, September Open House Events offered for all Programs via Zoom NEW BRITAIN, Conn., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Charter Oak State College Fall Registration Open Fall Term 1 Classes Start August 28; register through August 24 Charter Oak State College, (http://www.CharterOak.edu), Connecticut's public online college is offering registration for Fall Term 1 through August 24. Start classes August 28th! The College offers career-focused Online Undergraduate degrees in majors such as Nursing, Public Safety Administration, Social Work, Health Information Management, Business Administration, Early Childhood Education, Human Resources Management, Criminal Justice, Sociology, and more. Online Graduate degrees are offered in Health Informatics, Health Care Administration, and Organizational Leadership. Charter Oak State College is well known for adult student degree completion and honors qualified existing college credits, prior learning, Military and professional certifications. Attend a September virtual Open House event via Zoom to learn more about the College and its high value, affordable, Online degree programs. All event attendees apply free. Event Date Wednesday, September 13, 2023 at 5:30PM ET Career focused Undergraduate degrees in all fields including Business Administration, Human Resources Mgmt, Social Work, Cyber Security, Early Childhood Education, Public Safety Administration, Nursing, and Health Care degrees will be covered. Event Date Wednesday, September 27, 2023 at 5:30PM ET All Graduate Degree Programs and Certificates including Health Care Administration, Health Informatics, and Organizational Leadership will be covered. Register for these Zoom events at : http://www.CharterOak.edu/finishcollege Celebrating 50 years, Charter Oak State College (http://www.CharterOak.edu) is Connecticut's public online college, offering career-focused associate and bachelor's degrees in high-demand fields including Health Information Management, Nursing, Criminal Justice, Early Childhood Education, Social Work and Business Administration. The College offers master's degrees in Health Informatics, Health Care Administration and Organizational Leadership. Charter Oak is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education and governed by Connecticut's Board of Regents for Higher Education. ### Media Contact Carolyn Hebert, Charter Oak State College, 860-515-3880, chebert@charteroak.edu SOURCE Charter Oak State College The 24-hour ER operator cautioned that even though the COVID-19 mortality rate remains low, staying vigilant as kids return to classes is important. HOUSTON, August 10, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- This week, SignatureCare Emergency Center reported an uptick in the number of patients coming into its Texas emergency rooms with COVID-19 symptoms. SignatureCare owns and manages 20 emergency room locations throughout Texas, including nine in Houston area. Other emergency rooms are located in Atascocita/Humble, Spring, College Station/Bryan, Lewisville, Odessa, Paris, Austin, Pflugerville, Texarkana, Midland, and Killeen. According to Dr. Chris Langan, SignatureCare's Chief Operating Officer (COO), the company expects the upward trend to continue as the school year begins. "We have been seeing a slight uptick in COVID cases, and we expect to see more as the school year begins. The COVID mortality rate still remains at an all-time low," he said this week. He cautioned Texans to follow current guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) if they believe they may have contracted COVID-19. "Our current CDC guidance is that symptomatic individuals who test positive should stay home the first 5 days from initial symptom onset. Following that, they should wear masks for days 6-10 of the illness," Dr. Langan said. He added that there is no need to get a COVID-19 test if you are not showing symptoms, but if you decide to test and your result comes back positive, then you should take steps immediately to avoid spreading the virus. "Asymptomatic individuals should not be getting tested for COVID. However, if you are asymptomatic and for some reason did a COVID test and are positive, please wear a mask for 5 days and monitor yourself for any respiratory symptoms," he continued. The CDC said this week that the incidence of COVID-19 in Texas is still relatively low but told residents to take precautionary measures to avoid contracting the virus. "Stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccines, maintain ventilation improvements, avoid contact with people who have suspected or confirmed COVID-19, follow recommendations for isolation if you have suspected or confirmed COVID-19, and follow the recommendations for what to do if you are exposed to someone with COVID-19. "If you are at high risk of getting very sick, talk with a healthcare provider about additional prevention actions. People may choose to mask at any time. People with symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID-19 should wear a high-quality mask or respirator when indoors in public," the CDC said. According to the latest CDC estimates, EG.5, a spinoff of the XBB recombinant strain of Omicron, is causing about 17% of new Covid-19 cases in the country, compared with 16% for the next most common lineage, XBB.1.16. If you believe you may have been exposed to COVID-19 or you test positive for the virus, visit a nearby SignatureCare Emergency Center. Our ERs are open 24 hours, including during the holidays. About SignatureCare Emergency Center Houston, TX-based SignatureCare Emergency Center owns 24-hour emergency centers throughout Texas, including nine ER locations in the Houston area (Montrose, Houston Heights, Cypress/FM 1960, Copperfield, Memorial City, Westchase, Bellaire, Mission Bend/Sugar Land, and Stafford), Atascocita/Humble, Killeen, Austin, College Station/Bryan, Paris, Midland, Odessa, Pflugerville, Texarkana, Spring, and Lewisville, TX. Media Contact Felix Ofiwe, SignatureCare Emergency Center, 832-699-3777, fofiwe@ercare24.com SOURCE SignatureCare Emergency Center BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Jeyhun Bayramov has held a phone talk with Minister of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia, the current Chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Buyar Osmani, Trend reports citing the Azerbaijani MFA. Issues of cooperation within the OSCE, the agenda of bilateral and multilateral cooperation between Azerbaijan and North Macedonia, the Azerbaijani-Armenian peace process and the current situation in the region were discussed during a telephone conversation. Bayramov noted that the increasing provocations of Armenia against the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan are designed to hinder the progress of the peace process. In particular, it was said that the provocations committed by Armenia against the Lachin border checkpoint, which threaten the efforts for the reintegration of Armenians living in the region, show that this country is not interested in the peace process. The minister added that there are no grounds for Armenia's claims, such as the "tense humanitarian situation in the region" and "blockade", and the refusal to use the Aghdam-Khankendi road proposed by Azerbaijan to meet the needs of Armenian residents indicates that the issue is not humanitarian, as it is presented by Armenia, but political. He stressed that for almost 30 years Armenia kept the lands of Azerbaijan under occupation, and also used the Lachin road for military purposes, plundered the natural resources of Azerbaijan, noted the persistence of the mine threat from Armenia. The Minister stressed the importance of the Lachin border checkpoint for preventing provocative steps of Armenia. During the telephone conversation, the sides exchanged views on other issues of mutual interest. The educational program and organization will be creating documentary content for distribution this year... MIAMI, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Viewpoint, the acclaimed television show hosted by the renowned actor Dennis Quaid, recently announced a partnership with MOKA, a visionary organization dedicated to empowering people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Together, they are set to produce a special episode that sheds light on the transformative impact of care and compassion in improving communities and empowering those with disabilities. Scheduled for production later this year, the upcoming episode of Viewpoint will highlight MOKA's exceptional work in fostering positive change within communities. The show will explore how MOKA's innovative approach is making a profound difference, touching the lives of people with disabilities and bringing a positive ripple effect on the entire community. MOKA has long been at the forefront of advocating for inclusivity and equality, enabling people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to lead fulfilling and independent lives. By partnering with Viewpoint, MOKA aims to reach a broader audience and inspire people, communities, and organizations to join hands in creating a more caring and compassionate society for all. "Creating inclusive communities is beneficial for both people with disabilities as well as the community around them," stated MOKA Executive Director Tracey Hamlet. "We are excited to have this unique opportunity to share why our mission is so important and how much potential for growth and prosperity there is when communities commit to inclusion. Too often these stories don't get told and we are grateful Viewpoint is providing an avenue for this imperative message." The upcoming episode will feature personal stories, testimonials, and real-life examples of how MOKA's innovative programs and initiatives are fostering independence, breaking barriers, and empowering people to achieve their fullest potential. Additionally, the episode will underscore the importance of embracing diversity and promoting understanding, leading to a stronger and more unified society. About Viewpoint: Viewpoint is an esteemed television show hosted by renowned actor Dennis Quaid that covers a diverse range of topics, from social issues to inspiring stories of human resilience. The show aims to enlighten viewers and promote meaningful conversations that spark positive change in society. About MOKA: MOKA is a pioneering organization committed to empowering people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to lead fulfilling lives. Through innovative programs and unwavering support, MOKA fosters independence, inclusion, and personal growth for those they serve, while simultaneously creating a more compassionate and accepting community. For more information visit: http://www.moka.org Media Contact Development Division, Viewpoint with host Dennis Quaid, 561-244-7620, info@viewpointproject.com SOURCE Viewpoint with host Dennis Quaid BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10. The Western Azerbaijan Community denounces the action carried out by a group of criminals identifying themselves as "crusaders" in the heart of Yerevan, where they demanded "to give weapons to open the Lachin road by force," as well as statements made by these people about provocations on the border aimed at the Lachin district of Azerbaijan, where internally displaced people have only recently started to return, Trend reports. This is reflected in a statement by the Western Azerbaijan Community. The Community noted that such actions would not have been repeated in Armenia today if the international community had appropriately responded to the racist demonstrations of the Armenian revanchist opposition held in Yerevan last year under the banner of "Armenia without Turks" with the participation of numerous people. "The Community considers it unacceptable for revanchists to give a religious coloring to the past conflict, and calls on the international community, including the UN, its special rapporteurs, the EU, the EU mission in Armenia, ambassadors of countries that often visit the Lachin border checkpoint, the Council of Europe, international non-governmental organizations to condemn provocative actions, anti-Azerbaijani policy, xenophobia," the statement says. Courtyard by Marriott, part of Marriott Bonvoys extraordinary portfolio of 31 brands, has announced the opening of Courtyard by Marriott Jubail, the first for the brand in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The hotel is strategically located in Majd Square in Jubail City and aims to draw both business and leisure travellers. General Manager Nabil Khamaiseh said: "We are delighted to see the opening of the new Courtyard by Marriott Jubail. The new hotel will bring comfort and convenience to the Eastern Province with our contemporary accommodations, exceptional dining options, and facilities. Hotel owner Majd Investment Cos CEO Ibrahim Ali Almajdouie added: Through the highly acclaimed Courtyard by Marriott brand, we are looking forward to providing an outstanding experience for a broad audience of travelers and guests at Courtyard by Marriott Jubail. Offering 165 guestrooms, including 34 suites, the new build property features contemporary design, lighting and a relaxing color palette. Courtyard by Marriott Jubail offers two dining outlets, the Kitchen and Barista provide an all-day dining selection of international cuisine curated and served through buffet-style and bespoke a la carte options. Whether seated indoors or enjoying the ambiance of the outdoor terrace, guests are treated to panoramic views of the cityscape and the bustling Majd Square. For those seeking a quick delight, the Coffee Bar serves specialty coffees and on-the-go bites throughout the day. Courtyard by Marriott Jubail offers three flexible meeting rooms, perfect for hosting business and social events. The versatile ballroom can effortlessly transform into two distinct spaces, ensuring unparalleled flexibility for any occasion. For those seeking wellness and serenity, the hotel features a 24-hour fitness center and sauna. Additionally, adjacent to the hotel, an oasis of tranquility awaits with an inviting indoor pool and jacuzzi for the ultimate relaxation and rejuvenation experience. - TradeArabia News Service BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10. Azerbaijani Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov expressed condolences in a letter addressed to his Turkish counterpart Yasar Guler, the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan told Trend. "I'm deeply saddened by the news of the glorious Turkish army servicemen becoming martyrs and getting wounded in the area where the Armed Forces of fraternal Turkiye conduct the Claw-Lock counter-terrorism operations to neutralize the terrorist danger in the region and protect civilians from terrorist attacks and threats. Your grief is our grief too," the letter said. "I pray to Almighty Allah for the repose of the souls of the servicemen, who became martyrs, share the sorrow and grief of their relatives, and express my deep condolences to their families. I wish a speedy recovery to all the wounded. May Allah rest the souls of martyrs in peace," the letter stressed. A total of six Turkish soldiers were killed after PKK terrorists on August 9 opened fire in northern Iraq, where Turkiye launched Operation Claw-Lock last year in April to root out terrorists hiding in the border region. According to the Turkish National Defense Ministry, a total of 586 terrorists have been neutralized so far in the Claw-Lock Operation in northern Iraq. Unit sales of print books fell 8.3% last week compared to the week ended August 6, 2023 at outlets that report to Circana BookScan. Sales were down in all categories, including adult fiction where sales dropped 11.4%. Adult fiction has been by far the best performing category in 2023, but it is now struggling to keep pace with last years sales figures. A year ago, six of Colleen Hoovers books were in the categorys top 10 list, selling a total of about 350,000 copies led by the number one title, It Ends with Us, which sold about 114,000 copies. Last week, four Hoover titles were still in the top 10, selling about 85,000 copies. The number one title was once again Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, which sold nearly 43,000 copies. The best performing new release was Ann Patchetts Tom Lake, which sold more than 38,000 copies, landing it in second place on the list. Adult nonfiction had the best week, but sales in the category were still down 5.6%. American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin--the basis for the hit film Oppenheimerreturned to the category top spot, selling more than 27,000 copies. Like a River by Granger Smith was the top-selling new release, selling just over 18,000 copies. Juvenile fiction sales fell 5.8%, despite a new number one title. Dawn of the Light Dragon, the 24th volume in the Dragon Masters series by Tracey West, sold over 13,000 copies to claim the top spot. Young fiction adult fiction sales also fell despite a new number one book. A new edition of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins was released August 1 just ahead of a new promotion for an upcoming film based on the book and sold more than 22,000 copies. Subscription to paid content Gain access to all that Trend has to offer, as well as to premium, licensed content via subscription or direct purchase through a credit card. On August 15, when Santiago Pena becomes president of Paraguay, few observers outside this South American nation of seven million will think twice. In contrast to recent swings of power in Brazil and Colombia and the tumultuous elections now unfolding in Ecuador and Guatemala, Paraguay appears an island of stability. Penas conservative Colorado Party will remain in office as it has for all but five of the past 75 yearsa durable political machine that in Aprils election broke the anti-incumbent tide sweeping Latin America. Yet Pena is not a typical Colorado Party politician, nor does political continuity ensure stability. Instead, the new president will face internal compromise and the creeping footprint of transnational organized crime. Without correcting course, Paraguay, strategically located between South Americas two largest economies, risks undermining regional security. The new, old Paraguayan politics As seen from the presidential palace, a salmon-colored edifice on the Paraguay River, the contrasts of modern-day Paraguay are stark. Past the worn facades of Asuncions old downtown, foreign capital pours into high-rises and shopping malls in the new business district. Continue on and the capital regions car-choked arteries dissolve into a patchwork of dirt roads traveled by motorbikes and cows, a reminder that most wealth still grows in the farmland beyond. Penas rise to the presidency marks the emergence of Paraguays young urban class within the traditional political patronage networks that blanket this landlocked country. A former finance minister, the 44-year-old Pena is an Ivy League-educated, center-right technocrat, a profile generally appealing to foreign partners in Brasilia and Buenos Aires to Washington and Taipei. Being a competent bureaucrat, however, brings little clout in Paraguayan politics. Mastery of machine politics, not macroeconomics, matters at the top of the Colorado Party, and Paraguays young democracy gives the legislature outsized power over the executive. Pena, formerly affiliated with the traditional opposition Liberal Party, faces a steep learning curve. Moreover, the cornerstone of Penas political capital, former president Horacio Cartes, carries baggage. In the months prior to the election, the United States sanctioned Cartes for acts of significant corruption. Cartes will nonetheless head the Colorado Party through 2028, and cartistas have won leadership of both legislative chambers. The former presidents push to reassert control during Penas five-year term threatens to corrode democratic institutions, particularly the frail judiciary. Accelerating insecurity Pena will try to paper over political compromise by prioritizing a friendly investment climate and delivering growth that outpaces the regional average. Paring back the state to pursue efficiency could also open additional opportunities for criminal actors. Squeezed between the protectionist markets of Brazil and Argentina, Paraguay has for decades operated as a hub for illicit trade. Today, transnational organized crime increasingly challenges state institutions. The case of Ecuadors rapid descent into drug violence serves as a warning for Paraguay, which, despite a relatively low rate of violent crime, is similarly exposed to powerful criminal groups from neighboring states. During the past decade, the PCC, the transnational Brazilian drug cartel, has consolidated power in Paraguayan prisons. Contract killings have become more common in the capital region as narco-logistics branch from the Brazilian border into the Paraguayan interior. Recent counter-narcotics raids show that Paraguay is no longer just a marijuana producer but a center for cocaine transshipment. Cartels use airstrips across the western Chaco scrublands and ports on the lengthy Paraguay-Parana River to move Andean production to Atlantic markets. Authorities identify the Asuncion-area port of Villeta as one of Latin Americas top five seizing ports for Europe-bound cocaine. In July, German authorities traced a shipment of 10 tons of cocaine to a Paraguayan port, where the near-record cargo allegedly went unreported by customs personnel. Under Paraguays new government, synergies between organized crime and economic actors are prone to grow. Given his pledge to create 500,000 new jobs over five years, Pena will be adverse to risk growth by cracking down on Paraguays illicit economieswhich represent up to an estimated 46 percent of domestic output. Pena has argued that contraband poses a problem not for Paraguay, but Brazil, a line repeated by his Minister of Industry and Commerce. Cartes stake in contraband cigarettes, a trade believed to facilitate transnational narco-trafficking, complicates the fight against organized crime. Beyond borders Another half-decade of a compromised security apparatus threatens to undermine broader regional security. As a growing refuge for the PCC, Paraguay poses challenges for Brazilian law enforcement, and controlling contraband is a tall task along the Argentine border. In 2022, criminal networks orchestrated the assassination of a top Paraguayan prosecutor on Colombian soil. Risks reach the U.S., too. Since the 1990s, Washington has monitored money laundering and Hezbollah-linked operatives at Paraguays tri-border with Brazil and Argentina. Over the past year, the Biden administration signaled the national security risks of Paraguayan corruption by sanctioning officials across high levels of government. In response, Paraguayan policymakers face trade-offs. To diversify beyond soy and beef exports, Paraguay must integrate into regional value chains. At the eastern border, new maquila factories send auto parts to Brazil, and to the west, Chaco agroindustry grows in complexity. The outgoing Mario Abdo Benitez administration invested in bridges and 4,000 kilometers of newly-paved roadway, infrastructure spending that Pena says his administration will continue. Expanded logisticssuch as the bi-oceanic highway cutting across the Chacomay also benefit transnational actors moving illicit goods to market. Enhanced cooperation with core partners, including the U.S., can help Paraguayan institutions reduce risk inherent in the countrys security challenges. Short-term steps include installing scanners at river ports and radar across the Chaco, plus building institutional capacity to utilize data and intelligence. Bolstering security measures without constraining Paraguays promising growth and regional integration should guide policy under the Pena government. Paraguays long-term priority remains insulating democratic institutions from actors entangled in corrupt and criminal networks. As he takes office, it is unclear if Pena can find the political independence required to strengthen a vulnerable Paraguayan state. That question, given the growing stakes for regional stability and security, warrants greater attention on this country at South Americas center. Greg Ross is a graduate student at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He is currently based in Asuncion, Paraguay, where his research on Paraguayan political economy has been supported by Fulbright and Boren fellowships. The views expressed are the author's own. Property details: Enjoy this beautiful natural lot in the serene residential neighborhood of Cherokee Village. Quiet and peaceful uncleared lot to build your future dream home. This natural lot offers a blank canvas for you to create the home of your dreams. Enjoy the tranquility of this area while still being close to all the amenities you need including shops, restaurants and schools and Lake Sequoyah. 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Price: $ 1 Seller State of Residence: Missouri Property Address: 2600 Avenida Del Presidente, San Clemente, CA 92672 Number of Bedrooms: 1 Number of Bathrooms: 1 Zip/Postal Code: 92672 City: San Clemente State/Province: California Location: 658**, Springfield, Missouri You will be redirected to eBay Nearby California Abigail Heringer / Instagram By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 08/09/2023 ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. couple Abigail Heringer and Noah Erb have announced they're engaged after dating for more than two years."I've loved you three summers now, honey, and I want 'em all," Abigail and Noah captioned a joint Instagram post on Wednesday, August 9, quoting the song "Lover" by Taylor Swift Along with their announcement, the couple uploaded a slideshow of photos from their engagement.Noah, wearing a white polo with khaki pants, proposed marriage during a rooftop picnic on a beach in San Diego, CA. Noah had set up a picnic blanket covered with red rose petals.Abigail looked beautiful in a white crop top and matching pants, and she appeared ecstatic and emotional when Noah popped the question on bended knee.Abigail then shared via Instagram Stories that, after Noah proposed, he surprised her with concert tickets to Taylor's Eras Tour.Congratulatory messages poured in from Bachelor Nation.The Bachelorette's current star Charity Lawson wrote, "Congratulations!!!!" Serena Pitt commented, "CONGRATULATIONS!!! Screaming crying throwing up! Love you both so so much." Becca Kufrin gushed, "So unbelievably happy for you kiddos, love you so much."And Rachael Kirkconnell wrote, "Crying happy tears!! God bless you both so happy for y'all." Hannah Godwin , and more Bachelor Nation members also expressed their love and support.In July, Abigail revealed she and Noah were moving out of San Diego because she had bought a home to share with Noah in his Tulsa, OK, hometown.Abigail said the house needed "a little TLC" but she "couldn't be more in love" and she was "excited to start" her next chapter with Noah, where they planned to create new memories.In June, Abigail figured out what her dream engagement ring would look like through a TikTok challenge, which ultimately showed her an oval solitaire.Abigail and Noah began dating on 's seventh season, which aired in Summer 2021.In June 2022, Abigail told Us Weekly on its "Here for the Right Reasons" podcast that she and Noah talked "a lot" about an engagement in their future and how they definitely felt pressure from Bachelor Nation "to move quickly.""And I don't blame them," Noah quipped at the time. "We'd make a great married couple. But yeah, we have conversations ourselves. I think we're on the same page."But Noah said he and Abigail were "pretty happy" with the pace they were moving and he found it shocking many DMs and/or comments he had been receiving on a daily basis "from middle-aged women or married couples about proposing." He said "at least 20" a day.Noah shared, however, that he and Abigail were "having fun" and "a blast" just dating.Abigail and Noah were smitten with each other on 's seventh season in Summer 2021, but they broke up before Fantasy Suites because Abigail had struggled to be vulnerable and so Noah lost his confidence that he and Abigail were meant to be together.But after filming ended, Noah and Abigail reconnected and reconciled, and 's October 2021 finale later revealed how the couple planned to take things "slowly" going forward."You never know what you have until it's gone, then you never let it go," Noah wrote via Instagram in October 2021. "World, meet my new GF, turns out we do know how to talk to each other and I think I'll keep her."Abigail, for her part, simultaneously gushed about being in love with Noah on Instagram.Abigail -- an Oregon native -- proceeded to announce on Instagram in late March 2022 that she'd be relocating from New York City to the West Coast in order to be close to Noah as well as her family."It's definitely been an adjustment," Noah told Us, later adding, "But it's been good. It's been fun."Abigail and Noah began spending a lot of time together once Noah's nursing contracts were up and he could take a break from traveling for his job.Looking back on their breakup, Noah said last year that his brief split from Abigail made their relationship "more real.""You step away -- no cameras, no production, just you and somebody you like that were in a crazy experience in the real world," Noah explained."I think it's good. It makes it more real. You get to say, 'Okay, where am I at in real life with my own thoughts and my own time?' And all that."Noah dubbed his The Bachelorette stint on Season 16 starring Clare Crawley and then Tayshia Adams in 2020 as well as his journey on 's seventh season in 2021 "a distant, fond memory."Prior to meeting Noah on Paradise, Abigail competed on The Bachelor's 25th season starring Matt James Interested in more The Bachelor news? Follow our Bachelor Nation News Page on Facebook or join our The Bachelor Facebook Group Oscar-winning director William Friedkin died Monday in his Bel Air, Calif., home. He was 87. ADVERTISEMENT Friedkin's wife, former Paramount Studio head Sherry Lansing, told The New York Times Friedkin died of heart failure and pneumonia. Chapman University Dean Stephen Galloway, a friend of Lansing's, confirmed the death with Variety and Deadline. Friedkin's 1971 cop drama The French Connection was a landmark of gritty '70s cinema whose car chase, against a train, is frequently cited on lists of cinema's greatest car chases. The film won Oscars for Best Picture, director, Gene Hackman's performance, the screenplay and editing. Hackman returned for The French Connection II in 1975, with John Frankenheimer directing. Meanwhile, Friedkin's own follow-up was the horror landmark The Exorcist. Based on William Peter Blatty's book, The Exorcist often is listed as the scariest movie ever made. It also spawned two sequels and two prequels, none directed by Friedkin. Another sequel, The Exorcist: Believer, comes out this October. However, Friedkin did authorize an extended version of the original film in 2000 that reinstated deleted scenes. Warner Bros. is releasing the original Exorcist on 4K UHD on Sept. 19. Friedkin also sat down for an interview for Alexandre O. Phillipe's documentary Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist. Friedkin's 1977 film Sorcerer, a remake of The Wages of Fear, also is a fan favorite. He recently spoke about his 1980 film, Cruising, to an audience at Beyond Fest in October. FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! Friedkin revisited law enforcement in 1985's To Live and Die in L.A. which also boasted intense car chases and gritty portrayals of the Secret Service combatting counterfeiters. Friedkin returned to horror in 1990's The Guardian. He continued directing the '90s erotic thriller Jade, the military courtroom drama Rules of Engagement, the chase movie The Hunted, and smaller thrillers Bug, Killer Joe and his last, 2017's exorcism documentary The Devil and Father Amorth. Before French Connection, Friedkin was directing television and films including an adaptation of The Boys in the Band, Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party and the Sonny and Cher vehicle Good Times. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will adapt the bestselling book Meet Me at the Lake for Netflix. ADVERTISEMENT The couple bought the rights to the Carley Fortune romance novel through their production company, Archewell Productions, a rep for Penguin Random House confirmed Monday to Forbes. Meet Me at the Lake follows Will and Fern, "two strangers on a daylong adventure where they make a promise one keeps and the other breaks, with life-changing effects," an official description reads. The plot shares some similarities to Harry and Markle's romance, as one of the characters lost a parent in a car crash and struggled with substance abuse. Harry's mother, Princess Diana, died in a car crash at age 36 in 1997. "I'm so thrilled about working with Netflix and Archewell to bring Meet Me at the Lake to the screen," Fortune told The Independent. "Will and Fern's love story is dear to my heart, and I can't imagine a more perfect partnership." Fortune also confirmed the news on Instagram. "Writing this book was a tremendous personal challenge, and to see it recognized in this way is truly incredible," she said of the adaptation. Harry and Markle signed a multiyear deal with Netflix in September 2020. The couple have since released the docuseries Harry & Meghan and Live to Lead, a docuseries featuring featuring world leaders. Paramount+ has announced global premiere dates for The Gold, Bargain and other international originals. ADVERTISEMENT The Gold, a British miniseries created and written by Neil Forsyth and starring Hugh Bonneville , will have a two-episode premiere Sept. 17 in the United States, with subsequent episodes to be released weekly. All episodes of the series will be available Sept. 14 in international markets. The Gold explores a real-life robbery in 1983 where "six armed men broke into the Brink's-Mat security depot near London's Heathrow Airport, and inadvertently stumbled across gold bullion worth 26m." Bargain, a South Korean crime thriller developed by Jun Woo-sung and starring Jun Jong-seo and Jin Seon-kyu, will have its global premiere Oct. 5. The show follows "a group of strangers who gather at a remote motel with ulterior motives -- seeking to bargain." The group must find a way to survive after an unexpected earthquake traps them inside the building. Los Enviados, a Spanish-language mystery series following two priests searching for a missing alleged healer, will return for Season 2 by the end of 2023. In addition, British series Sexy Beast starring James McArdle and Emun Elliott, South Korean period drama Queen Woo, and South Korean thriller action series A Bloody Lucky Day are coming to Paramount+. The streaming service has yet to announce premiere dates for the shows. Porterville, CA (93257) Today Bands of heavy rain showers along with strong wind gusts at times, especially early. Low 68F. S winds at 20 to 30 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. Localized flooding is possible.. Tonight Bands of heavy rain showers along with strong wind gusts at times, especially early. Low 68F. S winds at 20 to 30 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. Localized flooding is possible. Tata group-backed Air India is in talks with commercial banks for around Rs. 3,000 crore loan, which the airline needs to make the down-payment under sale-and-leaseback agreements with lessors, according to people in the know. Photograph: Vivek Prakash/Reuters The carrier, the sources said, is talking to multiple lenders in connection with the loan. According to a top State Bank of India executive, several lenders will join hands to extend the loan. A year after coming into the Tata group fold, Air India had in February this year placed an order for 470 planes: 250 with European plane maker Airbus and 220 with the US-based Boeing. This order is the worlds second-largest single-tranche aircraft purchase. The list price of 470 planes is approximately $70 billion. The order with Boeing is for 190 B737 MAXes, 20 B787s, and 10 B777s aircraft. The Airbus order comprises 210 A320 family and 40 A350 planes. A350, B777, and B787 are wide-body aircraft that have bigger fuel tanks, allowing them to traverse long distances, such as India-North America routes. Aviation industry sources said while the wide-body planes may be purchased by the airline, the narrow-body planes (A320neo family aircraft and B737 MAX aircraft) could be taken under the sale-and-leaseback model. Under the sale-and-leaseback model, a new aircraft is sold to a lessor, which then immediately leases it back to the airline, helping the carrier free up its cash flow. Air India did not respond to Business Standard's queries on this matter. The airline, which has the best credit rating, should be able to get the cheapest funds. Rating agency Crisil in June reaffirmed Air Indias Rs 37,500-crore bank loan facilities AAA/Stable, factoring in the carriers strategic and economic importance to its parent, Tata Sons, which is also AAA-rated. These strengths are partially offset by a modest financial risk profile and susceptibility to risks inherent in the aviation business, the rating agency said. In 2022-23, Air Indias revenue doubled to around Rs 41,260 crore because of a swift recovery in passenger traffic volume in the post-Covid era, and also due to the recovery of the grounded fleet, aiding in more passenger traffic. However, Air India continues to make operating losses, largely because of a steep increase in aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices, coupled with the depreciating rupee, Crisil said, adding the order for 470 aircraft is expected to be delivered over 8-10 years. Any moderation in ATF prices, along with fleet addition and an expected rise in passenger traffic volume, should drive improvement in the operating performance of the company in 2023-24, the rating agency said. In June, the airline's chief financial officer Vinod Hejmadi said Air India had made a pre-delivery payment (PDP) to Boeing for a section of the 220 planes that it ordered from the American aircraft manufacturer. The funds were arranged from multiple banks at a very competitive rate and converted into USD at the best rates, Hejmadi said in a message to employees. PDPs are gradual payments that an airline has to pay to the manufacturer when aircraft are being built. It can amount to about 15-30 per cent of the aircrafts price. Hejmadi said that Air India had a very short period to arrange the funds and the entire deal was ably executed by its finance department and the commercial department. The airline has formally not said when the deliveries of these planes will begin. However, Airbus has stated that the deliveries of A350s will begin this year. Sources said that the deliveries for A320neo family planes may start in 2026. Air India currently has 127 aircraft in its fleet, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. While 53 of 127 planes are wide-body planes, the remaining are narrow-body planes. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10. By means of payment cards issued on the territory of Azerbaijan, individuals-residents outside the country within a month established the cashing of funds in the amount of up to $10,000, Trend reports. According to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), these changes came into force on August 9, 2023. By Resolution No. 38/1 of the CBA Board on July 28, 2023, the "Rules for Conducting Transactions of Residents of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Foreign Currency, as well as Transactions of Non-Residents in National and Foreign Currency," were changed to allow for targeted transfers of people, including foreign trade transactions of business entities, to be done under a more benevolent system. Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran on Thursday said the best of artificial intelligence and machine learning will be deployed at Air India and emphasised that the airline is not just another business for the group but a passion and a national mission. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters As Tata Group steers the transformation of loss-making Air India since taking control in January last year, Chandrasekaran said that he most of the time receives "caring criticism" about the airline that also further strengthens the commitment. Speaking at an event in the national capital where Air India's new brand identity and aircraft livery were unveiled, he said the focus is on upgrading all human resources aspects in the airline. According to him, there is a lot of hard work needed but the path is clear for the airline, and added that the best of artificial intelligence and machine learning will be deployed at the airline. "We are focusing on upgrading all human resources aspects of the airline. "Our fleet requires a lot of work. While we have ordered one of the largest fleet orders, it will take time. "In the meantime, we have to refurbish our current fleet at an acceptable level. "Our aim is to have the best of machine learning and the best of AI in Air India than any other airline," he said. Chandrasekaran, who is also the chairman of Air India, said that today is a very important milestone. "Our vision for the airline is also in the backdrop of a new, resurgent India, where the aspiration of everyone is limitless." The new logo, signified by that historically used window, the peak of the golden window, signifies limitless possibilities, progressiveness, confidence and all of that, he emphasised. "Air India is not another business for us, it's a passion, a big national mission... we have been at work during the last 15 months or so on this journey because our vision is to make this airline world class in terms of modernity, safety, technologically-most advanced, exceptional customer service and the experience that Air India used to be known for," Chandrasekaran said. Tata Group took control of Air India in January 2022. "I get at least a couple of mails a day either criticising or complimenting but even in those criticisms I receive, each and every one of them, long or short, there's a little amount of concern and heart - how can we keep going like that? "Can you not fix it? It is a very caring criticism most of the times so our commitment is only getting stronger every day," Chandrasekaran said. Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy (JRD) Tata founded the airline in 1932 and named it Tata Airlines. In 1946, the aviation division of Tata Sons was listed as Air India, and in 1948, Air India International was launched with flights to Europe. The international service was among the first public-private partnerships in India, with the government holding 49 per cent, the Tatas keeping 25 per cent and the public owning the rest. In 1953, Air India was nationalised and last year, the airline was taken over by the Tata Group from the government. Despite enduring a weak first quarter of the 2023-24 financial year (Q1FY24), Power Grid Corporation (PGCIL) has laid out an ambitious capex plan going forward. Photograph: Courtesy, Power Grid Corporation It is looking to invest around Rs 1.8 trillion on an existing asset base of Rs 2.7 trillion to aim at keeping over 50 per cent market share in the transmission market. This includes opportunities from the Rs 2.4 trillion green energy corridor. The Q1FY24 saw adjusted net profit decline 5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) and 17 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to Rs 3,600 crore. Operating profit was at Rs 9,337 crore, down 12.6 per cent YoY. This was due to telecom sales of Rs 2,100 crore, (-10 per cent YoY), lower interest accrual on differential tariffs at Rs 62 crore (down 56 per cent YoY) and lower consultancy fees of Rs 130 crore (down 33 per cent YoY). Therefore, net revenues adjusted for regulatory deferral declined to Rs 10,702 crore, (down 2.6 per cent YoY and down 12.5 per cent QoQ). While the gross block stands at Rs 2.7 trillion, operationally, the capitalisation of assets continued to be weak at Rs 1,620 crore (down 27 per cent QoQ) and capex was low at Rs 1,510 crore (down 60 per cent QoQ). PGCIL has projects of Rs 48,700 crore in hand, comprising TBCB (tariff based competitive bidding) projects of Rs 12,800 crore and regulated return projects of Rs 35,900 crore. Out of the TBCB projects, Rs 22,000 crore is towards a Leh-Ladakh project (5-year execution), whereas the balance is likely to be executed over the next three years. Standalone Capital Work In Progress stood at Rs 8,400 crore, with another Rs 6,300 crore under TBCB. PGCIL is targeting a capex of Rs 8,800 crore (including Rs 3,800 crore from TBCB projects) and capitalisation of Rs 11,000 crore in FY2024. Management expects capex to rise to Rs 20,000 crore-Rs 25000 crore by FY26. Management estimated total outlay of Rs 1.9 trillion until FY 2032, including Rs 1.7 trillion for the transmission business and Rs 17,000 crore for the other businesses. The Rs 1.7 trillion transmission outlay includes Rs 1.16 trillion for the inter-state transmission network, Rs 37,000 crore for the intra-state transmission network and the balance for cross-border, international projects. The Rs 17,000 crore of outlay for other businesses includes Rs 15,000 crore for smart metering infrastructure. Interest from subsidiaries and JVs improved to Rs 340 crore (up 34 per cent YoY and up 10 per cent QoQ). Equity investments in operational TBCB projects are Rs 3,540 crore in Q1FY24 (almost flat QoQ), whereas equity investment in under-construction TBCB projects stood at Rs 350 crore (up 10 per cent QoQ). The incentive stood at Rs 132 crore (down 11 per cent yoy, and down 3 per cent QoQ) on a consolidated basis. Trade receivables increased significantly to Rs 7,100 crore, as of June 2023, from Rs 4,800 crore, as of March 2023. Of the total dues, Rs 4,900 crore are due for over 45 days. Management referred to an ongoing dispute with the Government of Tamil Nadu, which is under deliberation at CERC/APTELthis has led to an increase in receivables. Other major dues are from J&K, Telangana, and UP. Surcharge stood at Rs 51 crore (versus Rs 97 crore in QF1Y23 and Rs 36 crore in 4QFY23. Management guidance assumes capex of Rs 8,800 crore for FY2024 and capitalisation of Rs 11,000 crore-Rs 11,000 crore. The transmission project for Leh-Ladakh (Rs 22,000 crore) awarded in Q4FY22 will commence construction only in FY2025. Completion could take five years until FY29. Among overseas opportunities, theres a $250 million project in Kenya with 40 per cent stake of PGCIL. The company is also exploring a possible project in Tanzania for $300 million. Assuming capex comes through as guided, this would push market share to around 50 per cent. The stock is a steady dividend payer with stable earnings. Some analysts have maintained buy recommendations despite the poor results. Disclaimer: This article is meant for information purposes only. This article and information do not constitute a distribution, an endorsement, an investment advice, an offer to buy or sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any securities/schemes or any other financial products/investment products mentioned in this article to influence the opinion or behaviour of the investors/recipients. Any use of the information/any investment and investment related decisions of the investors/recipients are at their sole discretion and risk. Any advice herein is made on a general basis and does not take into account the specific investment objectives of the specific person or group of persons. Opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. 'Akasa is the dark horse and I believe Go First will be up and running soon and these two together could end up with a 30 per cent share by FY24.' IMAGE: IndiGo aircraft. Photograph: ANI Photo With a combined share of over 86 per cent in the quarter ended June, the domestic airline market is already a duopoly between IndiGo and the Tatas. The consensus among experts and the aviation industry is that it is here to stay. The Tata group's acquisition of State-owned Air India saw the merger of its four airlines -- Air India with Vistara and AirAsia with Air India Express. As a result the combined share in the domestic skies, which had been small for each airline, is now 25.7 per cent and they are pretty close to their target of hitting 30 per cent much earlier than they had anticipated. On the other hand, IndiGo's market share has soared even more, hitting 63.2 per cent in June, grabbing a major share of the domestic market vacated by the troubled Wadia-owned Go First, which suspended operations in early May. As a result of all this action, the number of domestic airlines will also shrink from eight (counting Jet Airways, though its relaunch is awaited) to half that number after the mergers are completed. "The duopoly in domestic aviation is here to stay. We do not see anyone being able to make a dent in their market considering their current fleet size and future orders, as more planes means more market share," said aviation analyst Ameya Joshi. Joshi pointed out that 500 of the 700 planes flying in the country are owned by either IndiGo or Tata. Based on future orders, their grip on the market will tighten -- they have collectively ordered over 1,070 planes, which will be steadily added to their fleets each year. Only the late Rakesh Jhunjhuwala's Akasa has a clear plan: It has ordered 76 aircraft but has also hinted at an order of 'three digits' by the end of the year. So what will the domestic airline market look like going forward? In an executive briefing series on May 19 this year, global aviation consultancy firm Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) said that the Big Two's market share would moderate but still stay at 75 per cent. That means four smaller players, which include SpiceJet, Go First (if it flies again), Akasa and Jet Airways 2.0 (if it takes off) would have to battle it out for just 25 per cent of the remaining market. At best, each can get a five to 10 per cent share. No surprise, the report raises questions about the viability of these second-rung airlines. 'This is a no man's land, which will leave them neither competitively irrelevant in the general market nor occupying a specific niche. It is a position, which makes the success and survival of each individual carrier more challenging,' the report said. The answer, CAPA said, is to have a third viable alternative to ensure more competition, which can happen with mergers. One example it points to is the merger of SpiceJet with Go First. CAPA's research has shown that a minimum 10 per cent market share is required to be viable in such a market and only a niche player can survive with sub-5 per cent share. But airline executives said with Go First in trouble that time has passed. In April, two months before it suspended operations, such strategies may be worth exploring because Go First and SpiceJet still had a reasonable 15 per cent market share. Now Go First has suspended operations and some of SpiceJet's flights are grounded by the aviation regulator on safety concerns. SpiceJet's market share fell to 4.4 per cent in June, behind start-up Akasa. Though Akasa has a steady fleet acquisition strategy, it does not appear to be aggressively buying market share for the time being. Akasa currently has 20 aircraft and plans to expand the fleet to 28 planes by FY24. "Akasa is the dark horse and I believe Go First will be up and running soon and these two together could end up with a 30 per cent share by FY24," said aviation consultant Mark Martin. There is Jet Airways to consider, too, though it remains grounded by controversies over its revival plans. Joshi said it is possible for small airlines to survive in a niche area. Go First had managed till it was hit by crises -- by dominating routes in key tourist markets such as Srinagar or Leh. An alternative approach can be seen in Star Air, which describes itself as a 'commuter airline', flying short-haul routes that don't clash with the bigger airlines. He does not see a third player emerging among the existing players with the financial muscle to challenge the Big Two. Indeed, it is not easy to break in as a viable third player from zero market share in a duopoly situation. In Australia, for instance, many airlines tried unsuccessfully to break the stranglehold of the top two airlines, Qantas and Virgin Australia, with a combined 73 per cent share of the domestic skies last year. So will India's domestic airlines face a similar fate? And does this mark the end of affordable fares? During the summer holidays this year, flyers complained of air fares hitting the stratosphere, especially after Go First grounded its service, forcing the government to intervene (with little effect). At the same time, sharply discounted air fares on key lucrative routes by the bigger players could also squeeze the newer players. Some argue that Vodafone Idea's bailout by the government with a financial package to prevent a duopoly by Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel should be replicated in aviation to keep smaller airlines flying. The counter-argument here is that the government has already bailed out Air India by taking a financial hit before it was privatised. Others suggest that the fear of high air fares is unfounded. In telecom, the big two have a combined market share of 70 per cent but this has not led to steep tariff hikes. Despite that, both service providers are making profits. So why should it be any different in aviation? That's certainly a question worth considering, especially given that growth has been profit-less, with the industry losing around $8 billion in the two Covid years of FY21 and FY22. Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com 'Not only are Muslim homes and shops being bulldozed, but the cops are filing random FIRs even against people who died two-three years ago, against those who have moved to neighbouring states since almost two years to work there.' Saif ul Islam, one of the advocate-members of the Association for Protection of Civil Rights, who visited the riot-affected areas of Mewat for two-and-a-half days, tells Prasanna D Zore/Rediff.com about what he and other members of the APCR team discovered in the region which saw communal violence for the first time in many years at the end of the 84 Kos Parikrama Yatra which began July 4 with the onset of the month of Shravan in north India. APCR, established in 2006, works for the protection of human rights of the deprived sections of society and include members who are advocates, journalists and social and human rights activists. The Yatra Background And What Happened in Nuh IMAGE: The iconic gate that offers a grand entrance to Hindu devotees of Nalhar's Shiv Temple. Photograph: Adv Saif ul Islam/APCR If you talk to the locals of Nuh, they will tell you that this yatra has been taking place for almost a century now. The yatra is not something new. But for the past several decades the route of the yatra would pass through a passage considered sacred this pathway bypassed the Muslim-majority areas in the region. But since 2021, after COVID, the yatra organisers, under pressure from the Bajrang Dal, changed the route. The sacredness and the concept of the yatra envisaged igniting awareness about Hindu temples that dot the Aravali hills in this region. When you reach Medical Chauraha after passing through the Aravali Hills, the yatra would reach a huge gate of Shiv Temple at Nalhar. But since 2021 the Bajrang Dal changed the route that would pass through Nuh junction and Jhanda Park, a locality where mostly Muslims reside. In 2021 too, there was some tension leading to stone pelting here. But the peace committee in the area immediately took in their hands and the situation was taken care of. In 2022, the Muslim community leaders and locals even offered water and other refreshments to the pilgrims. But after the mob lynching of Nasir and Junaid (cattle traders from Rajasthan's Bharatpur) there was anger against Monu Manesar and Bittu Bajrangi in Mewat. IMAGE: A maqbara (a Muslim cemetery) right next to the Shiv temple was vandalised. Photograph: Adv Saif ul Islam/APCR This yatra is mostly undertaken during the two-month period of Shravan and Shravan is almost over in north India. So, the yatra went on unhindered and peaceful for more than a month. But during the fag end of this yatra a video was circulated on social media that these two would be part of the yatra. Even when this yatra entered in Nuh there were no clashes. When the yatra entered Jhanda Chowk, Bajrang Dal volunteers who were part of this yatra started brandishing knives and swords and showcasing their martial skills; there is clear video evidence of these acts; to add to it there were already videos doing the round that Monu Manesar and Bittu Bajrangi would be participating in this yatra the next day. Someone from the yatris started sloganeering hailing Monu Manesar which made the people of Nuh believe that Monu Manesar was part of the yatra on that day. The pilgrims are allowed to carry only earthen pots filled with water, which is part of the customary religious ritual. Nobody had any permission to carry arms and stop amid a Muslim-dominated area and brandish them. The cost of the gun that was fired by a Bajrang Dal activist from inside the Shiv temple is around Rs 1.30 crore (Rs 13 million). That video is already viral on social media. It is true that people of Nuh were angry at Monu Manesar and Bittu Bajrangi over the murders of Junaid and Nasir and in the heat of the moment there began a clash. Both sides attacked each other. When I spoke to both Muslims and Hindus -- and I have their audio-video testimonies -- of the area they told me that the Muslims who beat the sloganeering activists of the Bajrang Dal were outsiders. While the Muslims did bash up these people they did not use any weapon or arms to attack them. When they (Bajrang Dal volunteers) realised that they were getting beaten up they resorted to firing from guns. People from the yatra ran in different directions towards Palwal, Sohna, Gurgaon. As a reaction the cops started randomly detaining people. Till date, 246 arrests have been made throughout Haryana, out of which 146 Muslims from Nuh have been arrested. Why Gurgaon Is Seeing Action Against Rioters The very same night, the activists who had fled towards Gurgaon indulged in violence in the city by burning down a disputed mosque. There was a dispute over this mosque since 2003, but in 2011 the Supreme Court passed an order allowing construction of this mosque. But Hindutva organisations always had an eye on this structure as a disputed mosque. The police commissioner of Gurgaon told me that the city police filed 23 FIRs and arrested 55 Hindus over violence in the city. Gurgaon being the financial capital of north India, it was imperative that stern action be taken against the culprits as the city has witnessed huge financial losses due to the violence. The transportation sector suffered huge losses with a decline of 28 per cent in just two days after violence began. Now, in the aftermath of this violence many companies have asked their employees to work from home and many are planning to move their offices. For good, the CP is under pressure to act against those who participated in violent activities in Gurgaon. But in Nuh, the situation is very different. Not only are Muslim homes and shops being bulldozed but the cops are filing random FIRs even against the people who died two-three years ago, against those who have moved to neighbouring states or cities since almost two years to work there. Scared of such actions many Muslims from Nuh escaped to the Aravali hills and went into hiding. Beyond the Aravali hills, on the other side is Rajasthan. Many people from Nuh have their relatives there. 32 per cent of Mewat region is in Rajasthan and the rest is part of Haryana. The dairy farming industry, mostly dominated by Muslims in Nuh, has suffered the maximum loss because of the riots and violence here. More than 300 litres of milk has rotten and people here are just throwing it down the drains. The womenfolk milch cows and their men transport it to the markets on their bicycles and scooters. This business is totally in dumps today as many men engaged in this industry are either under arrest or have escaped wherever they could find safety. 'It has been doing yeoman service for the people of the North East.' IMAGE: Security personnel conduct combing operations in sensitive areas of Manipur. Photograph: ANI Photo "Maintaining peace in insurgency affected states is the most difficult task. There is always a danger of inter-tribal and inter communal clashes like what is happening in Manipur," says retired Lieutenant General Shakti Gurung, former corps commander in the North East who was responsible for the Kameng sector in Arunachal Pradesh. The officer with four decades of military experience was also responsible for counter insurgency operations in Lower Assam and the Karbi Anglong jungles. He also served as defence attache in Myanmar. "The clashes in Manipur must be controlled and talks must begin. A Peace and Reconciliation group comprising of neutral personalities from the North East must be created," the general tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih in an e-mail interview What are some of the unique and most difficult security challenges that the Indian Army has to deal with in the North East, especially in the border states of Manipur and Nagaland? Operationally, it is ensure the sanctity of the Line of Actual Control. There are a number of disputed areas along the LAC in the North East due to misinterpretation of its actual alignment. The McMahon Line signed at Simla in 1913 is not recognised by China. We follow it as the line that runs along the watershed. The next major challenge is the construction of infrastructure and developing road connectivity in the forward areas. This activity encounters tremendous hurdles due to the prevailing land rules. Land acquisition is a major exercise because locals do not want to part with land easily, primarily due to the price being offered. The availability of building material like sand, gravel and rocks is another major issue plaguing construction. Over the years, the forward areas have seen a sizeable increase in the number of serving and retired officers and jawans in the defence and police services who are aware of government procedures and are quite demanding. Furthermore, in the North East region, land is either community owned where families enjoy rights according to the allotment made by the village council; or individually owned which is transferable only within the same tribal community. Maintaining peace in insurgency affected states is the most difficult task. There is always a danger of inter-tribal and inter communal clashes like what is happening in Manipur. Fortunately, the Indian Army has been withdrawn from the counter insurgency role with the task being taken on by the Assam Rifles and other Central Armed Police Forces. The Assam Rifles is an excellent time tested force doing yeoman service for the people of the North East. It has 46 battalions that are engaged in border sealing and counter insurgency roles in Manipur and Nagaland. Compared to a serving army jawan whose average age is 26, an Assam Rifles soldier is roughly 38. The latter also goes to serve up to the age of 60. The physical and mental stress is thus enormous and beyond compare. To provide some relief, some more battalions need to be raised. This will allow some semblance of a 'peace-field profile' on the lines of the regular army as is also being done by other central police forces. IMAGE: The Indian Army along with the Assam Rifles, police and Central Armed Police Forces commence Area Domination Operations in the hills and valley area across Manipur. Photograph: ANI Photo As someone with an understanding of the region, how can the hostilities between the Meiteis and Kukis end and situation brought under control? Is it possible or is the wedge/divide too wide to be repaired? Talks must begin. To enable this, the clashes must be controlled. A Peace and Reconciliation group comprising of neutral personalities from the North East must be created and involved. Perhaps the mandate of the North East Council, which is purely aligned towards development, must be enhanced to involve security aspects as well. Illegal migration must be checked. The state government has recommended 1961 as the base year for identifying its native residents. This was the year Manipur was given statehood. A few lobbies are even demanding 1951 as the pass/permit system to visit the state existed till November 1950. The decision has to be political. The migration issue can be resolved only if there is political will to face the backlash. The future of those declared non residents will have to be thought of. In the Assam NRC exercise, more than two million were declared non residents. Buffer zones which the government is planning on creating between the Meiteis and Kukis can only be a short term remedy. IMAGE: Women protest against the Assam Rifles in Imphal, August 7, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo What dangers does the situation in Manipur pose to the delicate security situation vis a vis the insurgent groups based in Myanmar? Two groups claimed to be social-cultural organisations of the Meiteis played a crucial role in the clashes. Both groups were very much part of the clashes on behalf of the Meiteis. And so were the Meira Paibis, the women's organisation who according to me are the biggest block to any CI operation. Around 4,500 to 5,000 weapons were claimed to have been looted from the armouries. Of these close to 2,000 have been returned. The balance can be surmised as having gone to the Meitei insurgent groups -- the PLA, UNLF and PREPAK. I suspect that these groups too would now be located on our side of the border to indulge in the mayhem. These groups have also been supporting the Myanmar Tatmadaw (the Myanmar army) in its fight against the Peoples Defence Forces created by the anti-coup segment of the population in Chin State and Sagaing Division. It suits these groups as they are fighting the Kuki Zo people on the Myanmar side of the border as well besides natural protection from the Tatmadaw. Furthermore, AFSPA has been removed from a number of places in Manipur. This has tied the hands of security forces tremendously. The political leadership may be having their own reasons for this on which I do not wish to comment. Part 2 of the Interview: 'Oil is another reason for clashes in Manipur' Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com 'We have made a pledge; those who kicked Rahul Gandhi out of the house he had lived for 19 years, will be kicked out from the corridors of power.' IMAGE: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi speaks in the Lok Sabha on the Manipur issue, August 9, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo "Today, the entire country, including Manipur and Haryana, including the majority and minority, tells the prime minister of this country, follow Raj Dharma," T Siddhique, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee working president and the Congress MLA from Kalpetta which falls within Rahul Gandhi's Wayanad constituency, tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier. The concluding segment of a two-part interview: Part 1 of the Interview: 'Modi and Shah are scared of Rahul Gandhi' How do you look at the bulldozer politics started by Yogi in UP and now replicated in Haryana? Actually, bulldozers should be used against those who spearhead hate politics and not against the poor people who live in slums. They belong to all religions, and they are all poor. Whether they belong to the majority community or minority community, they are all from the marginalised sections of society. And they are using bulldozers against such people and not letting them live there too. Right to shelter is the right of every citizen of this country. It is not just that the government has not been able to provide them proper shelter, they are bulldozing the poor from their temporary shelters. What is happening today is, the government is not only using machineries like the ED, NIA, CBI, etc, but bulldozers also as symbols of suppression. Like I asked earlier, as a Muslim political leader, how worried are you about this situation? It is tragic that every citizen in this country is feeling a kind of uncertainty today. Throughout India, there is feeling of insecurity also. Not just the minorities of India, Dalits, media, activists, those from the majority community who do not accept the BJP, non-BJP political parties are also feeling insecure today. What the BJP wants is make everyone feel insecure. After a certain point, people will realise that they are using divisive politics to achieve power. In fact, the general public has started understanding the divisive politics game played by them. But the general talk is that Narendra Modi and the BJP will come back to power in 2024... Never. In the 2024 election, the INDIA movement will win with a good majority. It is because they are worried about their future that they are indulging in divisive politics with more vigour. They are using divisive politics to camouflage their failures like unemployment, price rise, atrocities against women and children, problems on the country's borders, etc. Through divisive hate politics, they want to make people fight against each other. They want the main concern of the people should be their enemies which in turn will make them forget the government's failures. This kind of a dangerous politics is being played out in this country by this government. Do you remember what the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said to Narendra Modi, the then chief Minister of Gujarat? That Modi should follow Raj Dharma. Today, the entire country, including Manipur and Haryana, including the majority and minority, tells the prime minister of this country, follow Raj Dharma. Wait and see, INDIA will change the prime minister who cannot follow Raj Dharma. IMAGE: Rahul Gandhi waves to the crowd during a public meeting on the occasion of International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples at Mangarh Dham in Banswara, Rajasthan, August 9, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo Now that Rahul Gandhi's disqualification has been revoked, will he the prime ministerial candidate of INDIA? People of this country believe that Rahul Gandhi is the perfect candidate to be the prime minister of this country. We at the Congress have that desire and we are expressing it, that's all. But this will only be discussed in the INDIA movement much later. Rahul Gandhi was described as a reluctant leader. Those who resigned from the Congress said, he was unapproachable as a leader. Has he changed in the last few years? My opinion is totally different from what the leaders who left the Congress, had said. Whenever Rahul Gandhi comes to Wayanad, I travel with him. From the conversations we had, I have noticed his high potential as a leader and vast knowledge as an individual. I have listened to him discuss on many subjects ranging from space technology to military strategies to various social schemes to labour laws with ease. Rahul Gandhi is a man of innocence and great knowledge. He is a very good listener. He is a man who talks less and listens more. Only such a person can understand people's problems and be a good leader. IMAGE: T Siddhique, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee working president and Congress MLA from Kalpetta. Photograph: Kind courtesy T Siddhique When Rahul Gandhi decided to fight the 2019 election from Wayanad, you had said you would give up the seat for him... We, the people of Wayanad and also the people of Kerala look at Rahul Gandhi's presence as a blessing, as a gift. We value his presence a lot. If you were to ask me what the most painful moment in my political career was, I would say it was when Rahul Gandhi was disqualified from Parliament. Our desire is to keep him as the MP of Wayanad always. If you remember, the Supreme Court mentioned how his disqualification would impact the electorate of Wayanad. When the government did not to listen to us, when the courts in Gujarat did not think about us, the Supreme Court understood our pain. The Supreme Court verdict was the moment that strengthened our belief in the judiciary. What do you expect in Parliament now? We expect to witness the fire unleashed by Rahul Gandhi in Parliament. That will start with the no-confidence motion debate itself. You can listen to several scathing questions relating to the grave problems faced by the country from him, for which Modi will have no answers. We have made a pledge; those who kicked him out of the house he had lived for 19 years, will be kicked out from the corridors of power. Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was suspended from Lok Sabha on Thursday for "repeated misconduct" pending an investigation by the privileges committee. IMAGE: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury speaks in the House during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi, August 10, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved a resolution for Chowdhury's suspension, saying he disturbs the House whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ministers speak or a debate is going on. The resolution was passed by a voice vote. The resolution was moved after certain remarks by Chowdhury on the prime minister during the no-confidence motion debate triggered an outrage from the treasury benches. A Congress leader said it was perhaps the first time the leader of the principal opposition party has been suspended from Lok Sabha. Later, speaking with reporters Chowdhury said he had not insulted PM Modi. "Modi ji is sitting 'nirav' on Manipur issue, which means sitting silent. 'Nirav' means to be silent. My intention was not to insult PM Modi," the Congress leader in Lok Sabha said. "PM Modi did not feel that he was insulted, his darbaris (courtiers) felt so and brought this proposal against me. I came to know that (the matter) has been referred to the privileges committee and I have been suspended till then," he said. The Congress called the action against its floor leader as "unbelievable" and "undemocratic". Congress whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore said, "First time for speaking against Modi, largest opposition (party) leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury suspended. Unbelievable. Undemocratic. Condemn the autocracy." Speaking in the House, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Joshi said, "It has become habitual for him (Adhir) and it has become most unfortunate. He is the leader of the Congress party, which is the largest party in the opposition in this House. Despite repeated warnings he has not improved himself." "Always in his debate he makes these baseless charges, he tries to lower the dignity of the government. There are no facts in his arguments and he never apologises. Today also, we demanded that he apologise. He did the same thing when the home minister was speaking," Joshi said. He then moved the resolution which stated that "this House, having taken note of the gross, deliberate and repeated misconduct of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in utter disregard of the House and authority of the chair, resolves that the matter of misconduct of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury be further referred to the to Committee of Privileges of the house for further investigation and report to the House and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury be suspended from service of the House till the committee submits its report". The opposition had earlier walked out of the House when the prime minister was replying to the debate on the no-confidence motion, complaining that there was no reference to Manipur in the first 90 minutes of his speech. Speaker Om Birla said the conduct of Chowdhury and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Virendra Singh during Thursday's debate was not as per the dignity of the House. BJP MP Singh then apologised to the chair. The Supreme Court on Thursday announced the launch of portal 'SuSwagatam', which would enable advocates, visitors, interns and others to register themselves online and get e-passes to enter the apex court. IMAGE: Chief Justice of India Justice D Y Chandrachud visits Block D, Additional Building Complex (ABC), Supreme Court, to inspect the work in progress of the public canteen, in New Delhi on Tuesday. Photograph: ANI Photo As soon as a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud assembled to hear a batch of pleas challenging the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, which accorded special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, the CJI announced about this online facility. "'Suswagatam' is a web based and mobile friendly application that allows users to register themselves online and request for e-passes for various purposes such as attending court hearing, meeting advocates," the CJI said. Justice Chandrachud said, "The 'Suswagatam' portal was tested as a pilot project since July 25, 2023 and has received positive feedback from the users." He said that as on August 9, more than 10,000 e-passes have been issued through the portal on a pilot basis. "You do not have to wait in the queue in the morning. All passes are generated online. This is a facility made available from this morning," the CJI said. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was present in the courtroom, told the bench that there used to be long queue in the morning hours at the apex court's counter to get the entry pass. Justice Chandrachud said a video tutorial on how to use the application is also available on the website. The Congress on Thursday gave a notice in the Lok Sabha against alleged breach of privilege by Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing him of speaking untruth on Maharashtra farm widow Kalawati Bandurkar who Rahul Gandhi had met in 2008. IMAGE: Home Minister Amit Shah intervenes in the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, August 9, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo/Sansad TV The notice was given to Speaker Om Birla by Congress MP and party's whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore. (Rajyasabha.nic.in states that a breach of privilege can arise only when the member or the Minister makes a false statement or an incorrect statement wilfully, deliberately and knowingly. (A breach of privilege is a violation of any of the privileges of MPs/Parliament, says PRS Legislative Research. Parliamentary privilege refers to rights and immunities enjoyed by Parliament as an institution and MPs in their individual capacity, without which they cannot discharge their functions as entrusted upon them by the Constitution. (Among other things, any action 'casting reflections' on MPs, Parliament or its committees; could be considered breach of privilege. This may include publishing of news items, editorials or statements made in newspaper/magazine/TV interviews or in public speeches.) "I submitted a privilege motion against Sh Amit Shah for misleading the Parliament yesterday on smt Kalawati story to Honble Speaker," Tagore said on X, formerly known as Twitter, while sharing the notice. Gandhi had visited Bandurkar's house in 2008 after her husband committed suicide following a farm crisis in Maharashtra's Vidarbha. During the debate on the no-confidence motion on Wednesday, Shah had referred to 13 "failed" attempts to launch Rahul Gandhi's political career and recalled how he narrated a tale of a poor woman Kalawati. Shah said it was the Modi government which ensured that she got a home and benefited from various government schemes. However, the Congress alleged the Modi government was lying on Kalawati and shared a video of the farmer on X. Kalawati claims in the video that Rahul Gandhi had helped her tide over poverty. In his notice, Tagore alleged that Shah has breached parliamentary privilege by not upholding the sanctity of accurate and truthful information when addressing the house. "The issue in question pertains to a statement made by the Hon'ble Minister of Home Affairs in Lok Sabha yesterday i e. 09.08.2023, wherein he provided details of facilities purportedly extended by the Government at the house of smt Kalawati, a farmer's widow from Maharashtra. However, to the utter dismay of the concerned us this statement has been vehemently refuted by the concerned Smt Kalawati herself to media channels who has explicitly stated that the Modi government has not provided any such facilities for the past eight years instead Sh Rahul Gandhi helped her in building her house," he alleged. "This discrepancy between the statement made by the Hon'ble Union Minister and the reality as communicated by the affected Smt Kalawati raises serious doubts about the veracity of the information presented in the Lok Sabha and it highlights a potential breach of privilege under Rule 22, Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rules," he alleged. In light of the aforementioned circumstances, Tagore hoped the speaker would take cognisance of this matter and consider initiating appropriate action. "The breach of privilege motion, as outlined in Rule 22. Chapter 20 of the Lok Sabha Rules, should be initiated to ensure the accountability and integrity of our parliamentary system. "Therefore, I request you to exercise your esteemed authority to move a breach of privilege motion against the Hon'ble Union minister for his statement which appears to be in direct contradiction to the ground reality and direct him to seek apology from the House of People for his wrong and irresponsible statement yesterday. The video clip and link of the same is attached herewith," Tagore said in his notice. A dump of email exchanges that include some between American billionaire Neville Roy Singham and senior Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Prakash Karat are under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate as part of its money laundering probe against news portal NewsClick which is alleged to have received dubious funds from the businessman to spread Chinese propaganda, official sources said on Thursday. IMAGE: CPI-M leader Prakash Karat (right) with secretary general of the party Sitaram Yechury. Photograph: ANI Photo The federal financial investigation agency is also probing the alleged transfer of funds of about Rs 40 lakh from NewsClick to the family members of activist Teesta Setalvad, transfer of about Rs 72 lakh to journalist and author Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, some employees of NewsClick and few independent media-persons over a period of time. It had found that NewsClick also allegedly paid Rs 17.08 lakh as "salary" to jailed activist Gautam Navlakha, Rs 97.32 lakh to Bappaditya Sinha, a shareholder in NewsClick and a member of the IT cell of the CPI-M over an unspecified period. The ED, according to the sources, is investigating the "end use" of these funds. The online news portal and its activities came under the spotlight again after a recent New York Times report claimed that the outlet was part of a global network that received funding from Singham, who allegedly works closely with the Chinese government media machine. The report was also raised in Parliament when BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said early this week that the funds pumped into NewsClick were used to create an anti-India environment and that he had documents pertaining to email exchanges between Karat and Singham. The ED, as part of its criminal investigation against NewsClick, its promoters and others, is probing alleged fraudulent foreign funds infusion of more than Rs 86 crore from entities linked to Singham into its holding company (PPK Newsclick Studio Pvt. Ltd.) and it is soon expected to file a charge sheet in this case. The ED had first raided the premises of NewsClick in Saidulajab area of the national capital in September 2021 on charges of money laundering and since then the probe is continuing besides the litigation between the two sides in the Delhi high court. The agency has recorded the statements of more than 20 people in this case including that of NewsClick founder and editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha. Thakurta told PTI that the ED has questioned him in the past as part of this investigation and that he has been "a consultant with NewsClick from May 2018. However, I am neither an employee, shareholder or part of the editorial board of NewsClick. I am an independent journalist and I have written and contributed to many news outlets." "The amount that was given to me (by NewsClick) has varied from time-to-time over the last five years. There have been several months when I did not raise an invoice... all I can say is that the amount stated seems to be highly inflated. I really hope I have got Rs 72 lakh," he said. Karat and Setalvad did not respond to queries sent to them. The CPI-M in a statement hit out at Dubey, charging that a smear campaign is underway against the Left as it is the most "consistent opponent" of the BJP's communal ideology. The ED, according to the sources, has retrieved emails during its searches and other evidence collection exercise where Karat, 75, in January 2021 is reportedly exchanging emails with Singham and talking about "the Indian government is restricting investments and imports from China which is going to harm our country more", coverage of his party in a Chinese daily and some other topics. Some other emails recovered during the searches on NewsClick pertain to March 2020 where Singham, Purkayastha and some others are exchanging notes on a "research for three article series on China and its handling of the virus (Covid-19)." An email being studied by the ED of March 30, 2020, includes Purkayastha's "request" seeking a timeline of the number of tests and people who tested positive in China (for coronavirus) and how that country ramped up its production and testing, "in contrast to countries like the US and India, who with so much lead time are still unable to ramp up kit production or procurement". Singham is learnt to have stated in the same email about "how China learned quickly when handling the crisis" and his team "working very hard to triple check ALL facts among other topics". A number of other emails that the ED recovered pertain to conversations among Singham, Purkayastha and others on news stories related to producing news stories about China, according to the sources. The agency had last year attached a flat, worth Rs 4.52 crore and located in south Delhi's Saket area, linked to Purkayastha apart from fixed deposits worth Rs 41 lakh as part of this money laundering probe. The adjudicating authority of the PMLA confirmed the ED's attachment order for the flat in February. Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur had on Monday said India had been telling the world since 2021 that NewsClick was a dangerous global network of "Chinese propaganda" that was spreading fake news. The minister said, "If you see the funding network of NewsClick, it was funded by a foreigner, Neville Roy Singham and he gets funds from China. Neville Roy Singham has direct contact with the propaganda arm of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese media company Maku Group," he said. "They present fake news in the name of free news. Congress and other parties are supporting them," he alleged. NewsClick had issued a statement on Monday claiming the allegations being made against it "by certain political actors and sections of the media are unfounded and without basis in fact or law". It said these charges were "false and misleading and pertain to matters that are currently sub judice before courts in India. We respect the sanctity of the legal process and do not intend to indulge in a media trial," the portal said. The Delhi high court, it added, has granted interim protection from arrest to various officials of the company. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10. The malted barley processing plant project, jointly financed by Azerbaijan Investment Company, Azersheker LLC, and Azersun Agricultural Products LLC, to be implemented in the Imishli district, stands as a significant initiative fostering the growth of the non-oil sector, Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan Mikayil Jabbarov wrote on his page on X (Twitter), Trend reports. The minister noted that this enterprise will comprehensively meet the raw material demands of domestic manufacturers in this area. According to Jabbarov, "ongoing state support measures, designed to stimulate the production of competitive non-oil goods, improve the raw material foundation, establish new production domains to replace imports, and broaden export capacities, continue to play a vital role in advancing these endeavors." Malting barley will first be processed at the factory in batches of 11,000 tons and 17,000 tons, respectively. The investment cost of the project is 25 million manat ($14.7 million), and 50 people will be provided with permanent work at the enterprise. The plant's operations will eliminate the need to import these goods, halting the outflow of more than $10 million from the nation. More than 510 tons of feed additives will also be produced at the factory. The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday moved the Delhi high court seeking to vacate its order that granted interim protection from coercive action to online news portal NewsClick and its editor-in-chief Prabir Purkayastha, official sources said. IMAGE: A view of Delhi high court. Photograph: ANI Photo NewsClick is again in the spotlight after a recent New York Times report claimed that the news portal was part of a global network that received funding from American billionaire Neville Roy Singham, who allegedly works closely with the Chinese government media machine. The HC had on July 29, 2021 extended the interim protection to the portal, represented through its holding company PPK NewsClick Studio Pvt. Ltd., and Purkayastha, uptill the next date of hearing. The ED informed the court that it has unearthed "additional material in this investigation which discloses the commission of the offence of money laundering" and the "relevant facts" in this context will be produced before the court in a sealed cover "as it is a matter of ongoing investigation". It said it has also informed about the fresh material to the predicate agency (Delhi police) whose FIR it had relied on to file a criminal case against the accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The agency requested the court to vacate its order as the interim protection granted to the petitioners (NewsClick's holding company and Purkayastha) amounted to "virtually granting anticipatory bail to the petitioner No.2 (Purkayastha), who is the prime suspect/accused in the present case." It said since the matter was not taken up or as no effective hearing has taken place in the matter after July 29, 2021, the order for interim protection was continuing. The agency also said the petitioners' plea to provide the Enforcement Case Information Report, the ED's equivalent document for a police FIR, to them will not be possible as per the settled principal by the Supreme Court in the 2022 case of Vijay Madanlal Choudhary and others vs Union of India. "In view of the above, since ECIR can no longer be provided to the accused and as for grant of anticipatory bail the twin conditions of Section 45 are required to be complied, the continuation of interim protection to the accused/petitioner virtually amounts to grant of anticipatory bail in a PMLA case without satisfaction of the twin conditions." "Therefore, the orders dated 21.06.2021 and 29.07.2021 granting interim protection must be vacated at the earliest in view of the settled position of law," the ED said in its petition. The premises of NewsClick and Purkayastha were raided by the ED in September, 2021. It last year attached a flat, worth Rs 4.52 crore, located in south Delhi's Saket area linked to Purkayastha apart from fixed deposits worth Rs 41 lakh as part of this investigation. The Madras high court on Thursday ordered notice to Tamil Nadu higher education K Ponmudy and his wife on a criminal revision case taken up on its own following their acquittal in a disproportionate wealth case by a local court in Vellore in June this year. IMAGE: Tamil Nadu higher education K Ponmudy. Photograph: ANI Photo Justice N Anand Venkatesh, who initiated revision against the acquittal of Ponmudy and his wife Visalatchi, said the additional public prosecutor takes notice on behalf of the state. The registry is directed to issue notice to the accused for the hearing on September 7, 2023. The registry is directed to place a copy of this order before the Chief Justice for information, the judge added. The prosecution case was that Ponmudy, a senior Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader, had amassed wealth to the tune of Rs 1.4 crore in his name and that of his wife, disproportionate to his known sources of income during his tenure as minister between 1996 and 2001. The Vellore court had acquitted the couple on June 28. The Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday approved the cyber security policy aimed at curbing cyber crimes in the state and promoting data privacy. IMAGE: Karnataka law and parliamentary affairs minister HK Patil. Photograph: ANI on Twitter It also gave administrative approval for the Centre of Excellence for Aerospace and Defence at a cost of Rs 391 crore at Visvesvaraya Technological University campus in Bengaluru, for research and studies. "The cabinet has approved Karnataka Cyber Security Policy 2023-24. The main intention of this policy is to reduce the cyber crime rate in the state which is increasing and create awareness among people about cyber security and data privacy," law and parliamentary affairs minister HK Patil said. Briefing reporters about cabinet decisions, he said, under this policy the state government, local bodies and panchayats have to implement the awareness programmes from time to time, and evaluate them. "Also to have surveys regarding cyber security and data privacy. New softwares of the state government, online banking and technical education and training programmes in this regard will come under its ambit," he said, adding that the policy in the days to come will help in prevention and detection of cyber crimes, and to streamline the measures that need to be taken. Asked whether the licensing for digital platforms come under the policy, the minister said, it will not come as it largely deals with cyber protection. Responding to a question, he said, "It may also deal with fake news, though there is no specific mention in this regard." On the Centre of Excellence, the Minister said: "It will be a software based learning lab system, it will be like a 3D digital lab and experience centre on aerospace and defence". It was approved in 2017, the project started in 2020 and total operations are being started now. Noting that the centre of excellence is under public-private partnership model with Dassault Systemes contributing Rs 250 crore, he said the other stakeholders are: Department of Electronics, Information Technology, Bio Technology and Science & Technology through Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society and VTU. The cabinet has also approved escalation in the cost of construction of Super Specialty Hospital coming up in the premises of Belagavi Medical College to Rs 187 crore. Earlier, the cost of the project was 140 crore. Also administrative nod for Rs 30.74 crore was given to have vehicle tracking and panic button system, along with centralised control room, for Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation vehicles. It was also decided to procure sunflower oil instead of palm oil for preparation of nutritious food at Anganwadis; the procurement will be made at an estimated cost of Rs 66.04 crore. "Tenders will be called for this and for this switchover to sunflower there will be additional expenditure of Rs 9.9 crores," Patil said, adding that there are complaints about palm oil, and sunflower oils are easily available in the state. It was resolved to constitute a cabinet sub committee to look into levying property taxes on illegal constructions or buildings or properties with violations, and disputed lands under Mahanagara Palikes and urban local bodies in the state. Forty MLAs from violence-hit Manipur have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that the state requires complete disarmament to foster an environment of peace and security. IMAGE: Members of Tribal community stage a protest against the ethnic violence in Manipur, at Aarey Colony, Goregaon, in Mumbai on Wednesday. Photograph: ANI Photo The MLAs, most of whom are ethnic Meiteis, also demanded the withdrawal of the Suspension of Operations (SoO) Agreement with Kuki militant groups, implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state and strengthening of the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs). In the memorandum, these MLAs opposed the demand for a 'separate administration' by Kuki groups. 'For the immediate establishment of security, simple deployment of forces is inadequate. Although it is imperative to halt the violence in the peripheral areas, a complete disarmament is the key to achieve this goal. The entire state requires a complete disarmament to foster an environment of peace and security,' said the memorandum that was submitted to PM Modi on Wednesday. 'The confiscation of all weapons belonging to insurgent groups and illegal armed foreign forces and those snatched from the state machinery needs to be carried out. In this regard, the central security forces need to adopt a more proactive approach to ensure lasting peace in the region,' it added. There have been numerous instances of farmers going out to work their fields only to be fired upon by militants, the memorandum said. 'In many cases, these firing incidents have occurred in the presence of Central Security Forces which have failed to react appropriately, or react at all,' it claimed, demanding that Assam Rifles (9, 22 and 37) need to be transferred from their present location of deployment and 'trustworthy Central forces' along with state security can replace them to 'neutralise and sanitise' all threats to peace, security and stability. The MLAs demanded the withdrawal of the SoO agreement with all those Kuki militant outfits who have violated the ground rules. 'There has been large scale foreign infiltration with arms and ammunition into the state. So, the Central forces should proactively engage with them. There has been a non-stop conflict between the State/Central forces and these insurgent armed groups in the state for the last 3 months,' the memorandum said. The MLAs also demanded the implementation of NRC in the state. 'The issue must be addressed politically in order to resolve this crisis of conflict. There are many options that can be explored. On one hand, to reassure the indigenous people of Manipur, the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) can be implemented in Manipur, sooner rather than later. Biometric registrations of immigrants have started, it should be expanded and strengthened,' said the memorandum. The MLAs said that a 'separate administration' as demanded by Kuki groups is absolutely unacceptable under any circumstances. 'To reassure all Communities, we may consider to strengthen the Autonomous District Council (ADC), and conduct of regular elections (which have not been taking place) to the Hill Area Committee (HAC) and the six existing Autonomous District Councils (ADCs),' they said. After all these actions are taken, the necessary peace talks can be initiated to deliver a lasting solution to the ongoing crisis, they added. Earlier, all 10 Kuki MLAs in the state cutting across party lines wrote to the Centre, seeking a separate administration for Kuki areas. Naga-dominated areas of Manipur also witnessed a demonstration on Wednesday against the state government seeking an early culmination of the Naga peace talks. The Naga groups earlier demanded a greater Nagaland. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum of Manipur on Thursday said tribals and Kuki-Zo community members have felt let down by Union Home Minister Amit Shah's comments in Lok Sabha on the ethnic conflict in the north eastern state. IMAGE: Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaks in Lok Sabha during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi, August 10, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo In a statement, the Indigenous Tribal Leaders' Forum, a conglomerate of recognised tribals of Manipur, said three months of violence in Manipur has led to the deaths of more than 130 Kuki-Zo tribals, the displacement of 41,425 tribal civilians and the complete physical and emotional separation of Meteis and tribals. "And the best explanation that the home minister can come up with is the entry of refugees from Myanmar," it said. The ITLF said Mizoram has welcomed more than 40,000 refugees from Myanmar and displaced people from Manipur, and it is still the most peaceful state in India. "The Scheduled Tribe demand by the majority community, the government notification on forest reserves which would usurp tribals from their lands, and the demonising of tribals by the CM and radical Meitei intellectuals are the reasons why the trust deficit grew between Meiteis and tribals, which culminated in the sectarian clashes," the group said in its statement. The ITLF said accusing refugees, who are some of the most deprived and helpless sections in any community, of starting a conflict at this scale is just "plain wrong". "Also, the ITLF is aghast that the home minister is still defending Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh, who we consider is the chief architect of the violence," it alleged. The group further alleged that so many innocent people have died under his watch, and violence continues unabated after three months. "Many of his own ministers have made submissions to the central government saying law and order has completely collapsed in the state. Despite all this, he is still being feted by the central government instead of being sacked. We appeal to the home minister to rise above party politics in dealing with the crisis in Manipur," the ITLF said. Interestingly, on Wednesday, a delegation of ITLF met the home minister, who assured them that the deployment of central security forces in the ethnic violence-hit state will be further strengthened and reoriented to plug any gaps in vulnerable areas. Speaking during the debate on the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, Home Minister Shah said problems started in Manipur with the influx of Kuki refugees from neighbouring Myanmar after the military rulers there started a crackdown against militants in 2021. The Kuki refugees started settling down in the jungles in the Manipur valley, raising fears of a demographic change in the region, Shah said. The Meitei and Kuki MLAs of Manipur have written separate letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and made conflicting demands over the presence of Assam Rifles in the ethnic strife-affected state. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during a debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha in the Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Thursday. Photograph: Sansad TV/ANI Photo While 40 legislators, most of whom are Meiteis, sought removal of the country's oldest para-military force from the northeastern state, 10 Kuki MLAs urged Modi not to do so asserting this could jeopardise the security of the tribals. Assam Rifles and other central forces including the Army were deployed in Manipur in early May to control the situation after clashes between Meiteis and Kukis broke out. In a memorandum to the PM, the 40 legislators said Assam Rifles need to be transferred from their present location of deployment and "trustworthy Central forces" along with state security can replace them to "neutralise and sanitise" all threats to peace, security and stability. They also said, "For the immediate establishment of security, simple deployment of forces is inadequate. Although it is imperative to halt the violence in the peripheral areas, a complete disarmament is the key to achieve this goal. These MLAs also demanded the withdrawal of the suspension of operations agreement with Kuki militant groups, implementation of NRC in the state and strengthening of the Autonomous District Councils. In the memorandum submitted to Modi on Wednesday, they opposed the demand for a 'separate administration' by Kuki groups. "There has been large-scale foreign infiltration with arms and ammunition into the state. So, the Central forces should proactively engage with them. There has been a non-stop conflict between the State/Central forces and these insurgent armed groups In the state for the last 3 months," the memorandum said. On August 8, the Manipur unit of the BJP also requested Modi to replace Assam Rifles with any other paramilitary force permanently from the state in the interest of the public". In another memorandum to the prime minister on Thursday, the Kuki-Zo-Hmar MLAs asserted that the Assam Rifles stood the test of time and did their work without prejudice or bias in Manipur. On behalf of all Tribal communities, we the elected Tribal representatives (MLAs) humbly pray to you not to remove the Assam Rifles from our state as it would harm and jeopardise our safety and security. At the same time, we humbly pray you to control the state forces, curtail their powers and give direction to not violate the Buffer Zones manned by the Central Paramilitary aces for restoration of peace in the state, in public interest, the memorandum read. The tribal MLAs also described as a worrisome trend that the Manipur Police have started removing Assam Rifles posts from key areas and lodging false and fabricated FIRs against the paramilitary force to hinder them from doing their duties. Manipur Police registered an FIR on August 5 accusing the Assam Rifles of blocking their vehicle after an altercation between the two forces on the Kwakta Gothol road in Bishnupur district. The Assam Rifles is being falsely blamed by Meiteis as they safeguard humanity, are compassionate yet firm in handling tense situations and are unbiased, the tribal legislators claimed. Earlier, all 10 Kuki MLAs in the state cutting across party lines wrote to the Centre, seeking a separate administration for Kuki areas. Meanwhile, the leader of the Congress Legislators Party in Manipur and former chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh has demanded an emergency session of the Assembly to find a way to end the ethnic strife in the state. "The proposed emergency session should discuss the crisis unfolding in the state and adopt a unanimous resolution to end the strife," Ibobi told reporters on Wednesday. During a recent cabinet meeting called by Chief Minister N Biren Singh, it was resolved to recommend to the Governor to convene the Assembly session on August 21. The ethnic clashes broke out in the northeastern state on May 3, after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status. Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur's population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley. Tribals - Nagas and Kukis - constitute little over 40 per cent and reside in the hill districts. Opposition MPs staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha on Thursday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was replying to a debate on the no-confidence motion, complaining that there was no reference to Manipur in the first 90 minutes of his speech. IMAGE: Opposition MPs Rahul Gandhi, Gaurav Gogoi with others walk out of the Lok Sabha as Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks on no-confidence motion during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Thursday. Photograph: Sansad TV/ANI Photo Opposition MPs were seen chanting 'Manipur, Manipur' during the prime minister's reply as they urged him to speak on the ethnic violence in the northeastern state. The parliamentarians of the parties of the opposition bloc INDIA then staged a walkout while the prime minister was speaking. Members of the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) also walked out of the House subsequently. Later on in his over-two-hour speech, the prime minister spoke on the situation in Manipur and added the Centre and the state government were making all-out efforts to restore peace there. After the opposition walkout, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, "We asked the PM to address the nation on Manipur. After one hour and 45 minutes (of his speech), he had not mentioned the word Manipur. He was making a purely political speech, there were all the old attacks on Congress party and the opposition, insults, but there were no answers to questions raised by the no-confidence motion." "It was a purely political speech. What was new? What did he tell the nation that we did not know? It lacked the gravitas that we associate with PM, and lacked any substantive reference to the motion of no-confidence," he said. Gaurav Gogoi, who moved the no-confidence motion in the House, said, "This no-confidence motion had two objectives - first, people of Manipur should get justice and second, PM Modi should speak on Manipur issue." "After so long, the nation could see the PM speaking in the House. We forced him to break his silence...but the objective of getting justice for Manipur was not achieved. PM Modi is running away from his responsibility," he said. Dravida Munnetara Kazhagam MP T R Baalu said the opposition was expecting to hear from the prime minister about the situation in Manipur and other parts of the country where incidents of violence have been reported. "He has given a political speech," Baalu added. "The intention of the no-confidence motion was... to hear his response on Manipur and Haryana, and other areas where violence is taking place. We intervened many times but he did not respond," he said. Congress leader Karti Chidambaram said, "The debate on who is the greatest spinner in India's history has been settled. It is the BJP government led by PM Modi." "In 90 minutes, he did not address the issue of the day - Manipur. We brought a no-confidence motion because the PM refused to come to the House and say what the government is doing. It is an insult to all people of Manipur and integrity of India, that is why we protested and walked out of the House," he said. A journalist with a regional daily was attacked by a group of persons in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district, the police said on Thursday. IMAGE: Shiv Sena's Pachora MLA Kishor Patil. Photograph: Courtesy Kishor Patil on Facebook Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Vijay Wadettiwar and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray MP Sanjay Raut condemned the attack and alleged that "goons" of local Shiv Sena MLA Kishor Patil were behind it. However, Patil denied the charge and said he had no connection with the incident, which took place in Pachora area of Jalgaon on Wednesday afternoon. The journalist, Sandeep Mahajan, had reported about a case of rape and murder of a minor girl in Pachora area and criticised Chief Minister Eknath Shinde over the incident. An audio clip recently went viral on social media wherein Pachora legislator Patil was purportedly heard abusing the journalist. When contacted, Patil told PTI, "I had verbally abused him (Mahajan) as there were strong reasons for it. However, I have no connection with the attack that has taken place. I was in Mumbai when the incident occurred. I do not support this attack." Nationalist Congress Party working president Supriya Sule also condemned the incident and demanded that the state government take action against the attackers. A video of the incident went viral on social media platforms in which journalist Sandeep Mahajan was seen being pulled down from his two-wheeler and kicked and punched by some persons. Based on a complaint filed by the journalist, the Pachora police have registered a non-cognisable offence against three-four persons under Indian Penal Code Sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 criminal intimidation, an official said. The police have issued notices to the accused persons, he said. Senior state Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar in a social media post said, I condemn the cowardly attack on journalist Sandeep Mahajan by the goons of Shiv Sena MLA Kishor Patil. People will show such an arrogant MLA and his government their place soon. It is now clear what happens to the common man in a state where the voice of journalists is suppressed and they are beaten up, he said. "The journalist had raised questions and sought justice for an eight-year girl who was raped and murdered, the Congress leader said, noting the girl was from Patil's constituency. Mahajan's reporting of the incident irked Patil and the latter abused him in filthy language, he claimed. "Will the chief minister and home minister show courage to take action against Patil? the Congress leader asked. NCP working president and Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule also condemned the attack on Mahajan. It is anti-democratic and a very serious matter, where goons are sent to beat up a journalist for asking difficult questions to the chief minister of the state. It is the right of the journalists to ask questions, and it is unfortunate if such right is taken away from them, she said on X, formerly known as Twitter. How can the state's home minister sit quietly and watch such attacks. He should take immediate action against the goons and people backing them, she demanded. Shiv Sena-UBT leader Sanjay Raut alleged Mahajan was mercilessly attacked by "goons of Shinde faction MLA Kishor Patil". "Law and order in the state has deteriorated so much. I think Maharashtra is going the Manipur way," the Rajya Sabha member claimed. The Supreme Court said on Thursday the surrender of Jammu and Kashmir's sovereignty to India was "absolutely complete" with the accession of the former princely state in October 1947, and it was "really difficult" to say that Article 370 of the Constitution, which accorded special status to the erstwhile state, was permanent in nature. Photograph: From Rediff.com archives, by Shailendra Bhojak/PTI Photo IMAGE: Activists of various organisations in Bengaluru display placards during a protest against the government's move to revoke Article 370 in Jammu Kashmir. Observing that once Article 1 of the Constitution says India shall be a Union of States, including Jammu and Kashmir, the transfer of sovereignty was complete in all respects, a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said. Schedule 1 of the Indian Constitution contains the list of states and Union territories and their extent and territorial jurisdiction, and Jammu and Kashmir figures there in the list. The bench, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai and Surya Kant, observed it cannot be said that some elements of sovereignty in Jammu and Kashmir were retained post Article 370. "One thing is very clear that there was no conditional surrender of sovereignty of Jammu and Kashmir with India. The surrender of sovereignty was absolutely complete. Once sovereignty was absolutely vested in India, the only restraint was on the power of Parliament to enact laws (in respect of the state)," the CJI said. "We cannot read the post Article 370 Constitution as a document which retains some element of sovereignty in Jammu and Kashmir," he said. The argument of the petitioners, who have challenged the abrogation of Article 370, is that under the Instrument of Accession the Government of India was empowered to look after only defence, communication and external affairs. Senior advocate Zaffar Shah, appearing for the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, one of the petitioners, said constitutionally speaking, there is no power vested in the central government or in the President to make any laws for the erstwhile state. Shah, who was arguing on the fifth day of hearing in the matter, said unlike Jammu and Kashmir, neither consultation nor concurrence was required for framing of laws with regard to other states. "The constitutional autonomy of the state is embedded in Article 370," he asserted. Justice Kaul said the real issue is whether the process adopted by the Centre for abrogating Article 370 was permissible or not. "To say that Article 370 is permanent is really difficult. Suppose the state itself says that we want all laws (prevailing elsewhere in the country) to apply, then where does Article 370 go? Then, we really come back to the main question of process (where Parliament can repeal Article 370). Was this process permissible or not?" Justice Kaul asked Shah. The senior counsel replied there may be different perceptions on the issue and the question would be whether Article 370 was temporary or became permanent as the constituent assembly was not there to remove it on August 5, 2019. The petitioners have repeatedly said the constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir alone could have recommended the abrogation of Article 370 and, since it ceased to exist after drafting the state constitution in 1957, the provision acquired a permanent status. They have maintained that Parliament arrogated to itself the power of abrogating the constitutional provision, an act that was unconstitutional. "If that machinery (constituent assembly) was to be recreated, then Article 370 could be removed?" Justice Kaul asked. The senior lawyer said for complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India, one had to get rid of the instrument of accession signed on October 26, 1947, as well as Article 370, and execute a merger agreement. Shah wondered whether one can proceed on an assumption that the constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir would have recommended to the Union of India the abrogation of Article 370 so it "completely integrates" with the country. Justice Khanna voiced his reservations on the use of the term "completely integrates", saying the integration had already taken place as per Article 1 of the Constitution. CJI Chandrachud said though there are restraints on the power of Parliament to make laws for states on subjects falling in the state list, the distribution of legislative powers does not affect the fact that the sovereignty vests in India. "Restraint on the power to enact legislation is implicit in the scheme of the Constitution because we don't have a unitary State. But does that retract from sovereignty? No. It's just a fetter on Parliament," the CJI said, adding that concurrence is not something unique only with regard to the country's relationship with Jammu and Kashmir. He said there are various shades of concurrence required under the Constitution and they don't reflect on the sovereignty of the Union. Referring to Article 246 A, which relates to Goods and Services Tax, the CJI said this is a classic case where the Union of India or Parliament can do nothing without the concurrence of states. "Article 246A has completely redefined our notions of sovereignty as states are given a vital role in financial matters," he told Shah, adding, "Our notion of parliamentary exclusion from states has been an evolving exercise. But one thing is clear, the sovereignty of Jammu and Kashmir was ceded completely to the Union of India." During the daylong hearing, Shah said limitations were provided in Article 370 itself with regard to the powers of Parliament to make laws for Jammu and Kashmir and, if the Centre intended to make any law on a subject which was not covered under the instrument of accession, concurrence of the state government was required. He said special status was accorded to Jammu and Kashmir because there was no merger agreement and the state's autonomy had to be maintained. Shah argued the then governor of Jammu and Kashmir had committed a "serious constitutional misconduct" in 2019 by recommending the abrogation of Article 370 to the President. He said people of Jammu and Kashmir have been divided for a long time as one part went into Pakistan, the other is with China and the remaining part is here. The Shaksgam Valley was ceded to China by Pakistan in 1963 when the two countries signed a boundary agreement to settle their border differences. Aksai Chin and Shaksgam Valley are part of Chinese administered territory in Jammu and Kashmir which India claims as its own. "We are being sandwiched by all forces being applied," Shah said and referred to the division of the erstwhile state into two Union territories. Shah concluded his arguments after which senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan commenced his submissions on behalf of Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference and others. The hearing remained inconclusive and will resume on August 16. Several petitions challenging abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which split the erstwhile state into two Union territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh -- were referred to a Constitution bench in 2019. Tushar Gandhi, the great grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, on Thursday lodged a police complaint in Maharashtra's Pune city against Hindutva leader Sambhaji Bhide for his alleged derogatory remarks against the Father of the Nation, an official said. IMAGE: Tushar Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi's great grandson. Photograph: ANI Photo Bhide, known as 'Bhide Guruji' among his followers, is accused of making offensive remarks about Mahatma Gandhi's lineage in his speech during a programme in Amravati district in the last week of July. Following his remarks, first information reports (FIRs) were registered in Amravati and Nashik against Bhide, the founder of the Shri Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan outfit. Tushar Gandhi, along with advocate Asim Sarode and other people visited the Deccan Gymkhana police station in Pune city on Thursday and submitted the complaint against Bhide. They sought registration of a case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 (defamation), 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief). Talking to reporters, Gandhi said, "Bhide has passed a derogatory statement not just against Bapu, but also made insulting remarks against his family." "The state home minister assured a strong action, but it seems no action has been taken so far," he alleged. According to Gandhi, they have sought action against Bhide under the IPC sections and filed a complaint application against him. A senior official of the Deccan police station said, "We have received the complaint application from Gandhi and we are looking into it." Bhide has drawn flak for his controversial comments in the past as well. On August 7, the Navi Mumbai police registered an FIR against Hindutva leader Sambhaji Bhide following a complaint for his alleged derogatory comments against Gautam Buddha and social reformers Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and Periyar Naicker. The Royal Observatory Greenwich announces its Astronomy Photographer Of The Year shortlisted images for the 2023 competition. 34 images in all have been shortlisted from thousands of entries from all over the world. These shortlisted images include star trails over the First World War trench memorial in Vimy, northern France, the Milky Way over an abandoned diamond processing plant in Namibia, and Jupiter flanked by two of its moons, Io and Europa. Awe-inspiring scenes of the Milky Way, vibrant star trails racing across the night sky and spiral galaxies are all features of the shortlist for this year's Astronomy Photographer of the Year. Let us take a look at the remaining 17 of them in this final part of the feature Colourful Saturn by Damian Peach A photograph of Saturn at opposition, the view captures the ring system and coloured bands and zones in its atmosphere. The Cassini Division, the almost 5,000 km-wide gap between the two main ring structures is clearly seen. Taken with a Celestron C14 EdgeHD telescope, Losmandy G11 mount, Player One Saturn-M SQR camera, 8,000 mm f/22, 50,000 single frames combined through RGB filters x 0.02-second exposure Location: Marley Vale, Barbados, United Kingdom Dance of the Moons by Damian Peach Jupiter flanked by two of its many moons, Io and Europa. Europa is the icy white moon casting a shadow onto the 'surface' of Jupiter, and Io is the yellowy-orange lava-covered circle on the lower left. The Great Red Spot is clearly seen with the shadow of Europa cutting across its southern edge. Taken with a Celestron C14 EdgeHD telescope, Losmandy G11 mount, Player One Saturn-M SQR camera, 8,000 mm f/22, 50,000 single frames combined through RGB filters x 0.02-second exposure Location: Marley Vale, Barbados, United Kingdom C/2021 A1 (Leonard) in Sky of Israel by Alex Savenok C/2021 A1 (Comet Leonard) captured over the Negev desert, Israel. The comet made its closest approach to Earth in 20212022 and was highly visible with a clear tail. Comet Leonard was destroyed by an orbit which took it close to the Sun. Taken with a Nikon Z7 II camera, 70300 mm lens, ISO 4000; Sky: 250 mm f/5.6, 22 x 30-second exposures (lights), 30 x darks, 50 x flats (tracked and stacked); Foreground: 240 mm f/5.6 Location: Negev desert, Israel St Agnes by Derek Horlock The Milky Way over the Isles of Scilly. Taken on the remote island St Agnes, the lack of light pollution allows for a breathtaking number of stars. Taken with a Nikon Z6 II camera; Sky: 35 mm (6 images panned) f/2.8, ISO 800, 6 x 180-second exposures; Foreground: 24 mm f/8, ISO 800, 100-second exposure Location: St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom Comet 2022 E3 Above Snowy Mount Etna by Dario Giannobile This image shows Comet 2022 E3 soaring over Mount Etna, Sicily as volcanic vapours sweep over the crater. The glowing turquoise green of the comet contrasts with the night sky and snowy landscape. Taken with a Canon EOS 6D camera, Sigma art 150600 mm lens, Lightach II Fornax, 293 mm f/7.1; Sky: ISO 3200, 27 x 45-second exposures; Landscape: ISO 320, 2 x 180-second exposures Location: Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy Celestial Equator Above First World War Trench Memorial by Louis Leroux-Gere Star trails above the preserved First World War trenches in Canadian National Vimy Memorial Park, Northern France. Taken over five hours, the camera captured the rotation of the sky revealing the colourful stars. Taken with a Canon EOS 6D (Astro modified), Samyang XP 14 mm f/2.4 lens, 14 mm f/3.2, ISO 1000, 577 x 30-second exposures Location: Vimy, Pas-de-Calais, Hauts de France, France On Top of the Dream by Jeff Graphy The Milky Way taken from the top of Pain de Sucre, on the French-Italian border. The photographer climbed the summit twice in search of optimum conditions. The settled clouds and the pastel colours create a serene view of the mountain range. Taken with a Canon EOS 6D camera, 35 mm f/2.8, ISO 6400; Sky: 8-second exposure; Foreground: 20-second exposure Location: Pain de Sucre, Queyras, France Dune by Burak Esenbey The Milky Way over the White Desert National Park, Egypt. Venus is clearly seen just above the horizon. Taken with a Sony ILCE-7S (Astro modified) camera, MoveShootMove mount, 18 mm f/2.8, ISO 1000, 4 x 181-second exposures Location: White Desert National Park, Egypt Solargraph 209 days by Ksawery Wrobel Solargraphs are photographs taken with a homemade pinhole camera, and can be used to capture the Sun's path across the sky. Each streak of light in the solargraph image represents one day. Missing light streaks indicate that the sun is obstructed by cloud cover. Taken with a Homemade 'Eye of Sparrow' pinhole camera, 23.5 mm f/130, 209 days total exposure Location: Bloomingdale, Illinois, USA RCW 58: Wolf Rayet Bubble by Mark Hanson; Mike Selby RCW58 is a Wolf Rayet bubble nebula. It is formed from the ejecta of the star WR 40, which shines from the centre of the bubble. Taken with a PlaneWave CDK 1000 and CDK 700 telescopes, Chroma filters, FLI 16803 and QHY461 cameras, 6,000 mm f/6 and and 4,550 mm f/6.5, multiple 60-second RGB exposures, 30 minutes total exposure per channel, multiple 600-second H-alpha exposures, 19 hours 40 minutes total exposure, multiple 900-second OIII exposures, 13 hours total exposure Location: El Sauce Observatory, Rio Hurtado, Chile Pleione's Daughters by Andre Vilhena The Pleiades star cluster contains about 1,000 stars at about 440 light years away, but only the brightest are visible to the naked eye. Taken with a TS-Optics Photoline APO 800/115 telescope, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount, QHY 268M camera, 634 mm focal length 115 mm aperture, 149 x 180-second Luminance exposures, 98 x 180-second RGB exposures Location: Santa Susana, Portugal Jellyfish Nebula by Peter Larkin The Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443) is a supernova remnant (SNR) in the constellation Gemini. Here, the stars have been removed from the image in order to focus on the delicate nebulous structures. Taken with a Celestron RASA 8 telescope, Baader highspeed H-alpha, S and O filters, Celestron CGX mount, ZWO ASI2600MM-Pro camera, 400 mm f/2, ISO 100, multiple 60-second exposures, approx. 11 hours total exposure time Location: Coppet, Vaud, Switzerland The Majestic Tarantula Nebula by Steeve Body The Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070) is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Capturing the Tarantula Nebula's intricate details and vibrant hues is a challenging task that requires precision and patience. Narrowband filters have been used for the nebulosity and RGB filters for the stars, so they are in natural colours. Taken with a Askar 107 PHQ telescope, Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro mount, ZWO ASI1600MM Pro camera, 749 mm f/7, Gain 139 for H-alpha, OIII and SII and Gain 0 for RGB, 45 x 600-second H-alpha exposures, 45 x 600-second OIII exposures, 24 x 600-second SII exposures, 40 x 45-second exposures for each RGB filter, 24 hours total exposure time Location: Bentleigh, Victoria, Australia Radio Polaris by Joao Yordanov Serralheiro Star trails taken over a deactivated radio telescope antenna. The image was achieved with a simple remote shutter locked for continuous images. Taken with a Sony ILCE-7M2 camera, 28 mm f/2, ISO 200, 124 x 30-second exposures Location: Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory, Cambridge, United Kingdom Eastern Veil: NGC6992/6995 by Jia You The Veil Nebula is a supernova remnant in the Cygnus constellation. The photographer experimented with narrowband filters for the first time to achieve the detail and structure. Taken with a Sky Rover 102APO telescope, Antlia 3nm filter, Sky-Watcher EQ6 Pro mount, ZWO-ASI2600MM-Cool camera, Gain 100, 714 mm f/7, 30 x 900-second (H-alpha x 20, OIII x 10) exposures Location: Jiuliancheng town, Hebei Province, China The Milky Way by Kush Chandaria A photograph of the Milky Way taken in the Okavango Delta, Botswana. Due to the lack of light pollution, Chandaria could see the Milky Way clearly with the naked eye. Taken with a Sigma Art 40 mm telescope, Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer Pro mount, CanonEOS Ra camera, 40 mm f/1.4, ISO 1600, 10 x 10-second exposures Location: Okavango Delta, Botswana Cassinified Pluto by Sergio Diaz Ruiz Taking inspiration from Jean-Dominique Cassini's Carte de la Lune c. 1679, an early scientific map of the Moon, Ruiz used NASA data to generate a monochrome image of Pluto. Using this image Ruiz converted pixel intensities to line thickness, in order to simulate an engraved print. Ruiz used the colour palette from Cassini's Carte de la Lune provided by the Library of the Utrecht University, and then added ripples and noise effects to the background, emulating a more realistic finish. That's the remaining 17 of 34 shortlisted entries. The competition, now in its fifteenth year, returns with an expert panel of judges from the worlds of art and astronomy. The winners of the competition's nine categories, two special prizes and the overall winner will be announced on Thursday, September 14, 2023. After which the winning images will be displayed in an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum from Saturday, September 16, alongside a selection of exceptional shortlisted images. Published with permission from The Royal Observatory Greenwich. Photographs curated by Rajesh Karkera/ Rediff.com Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com Brattleboro, VT (05301) Today Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 62F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 62F. Winds light and variable. On Friday, at 5 p.m., the Brattleboro Literary Festival invites all to join us for a conversation with New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard on her new book, "The Bird Hotel." Zaaina Asra Mahvish-Jammeh, 38, of Brattleboro, appears in Windham County Superior Court/Criminal Division on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, for a first-degree murder charge. Mahvish-Jammeh was charged in the death of Leah Rosin-Pritchard, the coordinator of Morningside House which is run by Groundworks Collaborative. Mahvish-Jammeh allegedly used an axe to murder Rosin-Pritchard. Isaac Evans-Frantz served on the Vermont State Board of Education from 2000-2001 and graduated from Brattleboro Union High School in 2001. He currently directs a national humanitarian advocacy organization and serves on the executive committee of a Vermont statewide environmental organization. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of Vermont News & Media. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10. The morning trade shows a slight decline in world oil prices, Trend reports. Investors assess the numerous variables influencing the market's supply and demand for this raw commodity. Trading information and professional analysis show that the price of October crude oil futures fell by 0.09 percent to $87.46 per barrel while the price of September WTI futures fell by 0.07 percent to $84.34 per barrel. Current prices are influenced by several factors. The market is considering the prospects of reducing supply, which is due to the tension in relations between Russia and Ukraine. This situation reinforces expectations of a reduction in supplies from OPEC+ countries. Moreover, there is a temporary decline in demand from the US, where oil reserves are growing. The Saudi Arabian government's announcement that it would continue to reduce oil production by 1 million barrels per day was a significant development that took place from July to September. The statement claims that additional reduction strategies are possible. In September, Russia also announced that it would continue to cut back on its oil exports to international markets, this time by 300,000 barrels per day. Concern in the market intensified after the Ukrainian attacks on the "Sig" tanker in the Black Sea. This has raised concerns about oil supplies from Russia to the world market. Thus, world oil prices are in a state of symbolic decline in morning trading, and the market is currently reacting to a set of factors, including external geopolitical events and the balance of supply and demand. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10. The price of Azeri LT CIF Augusta brand totaled $91.15 per barrel on August 9, increasing by $1.7 compared to the previous price, Trend reports, referring to the source from the country's oil and gas market. Azeri LT FOB Ceyhan brand currently costs $90.19 per barrel, which is $1.69 more than the previous price. In addition, Azerbaijan sells its URALS oil through the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline from the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. URALS cost $74.72 a barrel when shipped from the port, a growth of $1.7 from the previous price. Meanwhile, the price of a barrel of Brent Dated oil produced in the North Sea rose by $1.8 from the previous day on August 9 to $88.46 per barrel. (1 USD = 1.7 AZN on August 10, 2023) Six Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist associates have been arrested in Jammu and Kashmirs Baramulla and Budgam districts, officials said on Thursday. They said a terror module was unearthed in Uri area of Baramulla in north Kashmir and three terrorist associates of LeT involved in running the module were arrested. Acting on a tip off, security forces in a joint patrolling apprehended one suspected person whose search led to recovery of two grenades, they said. The individual was identified as Showkat Ali Awan, resident of Churunda area of Uri. During his questioning, he revealed the names of his accomplices Ahmad Din and Mohammad Sadeeq Khatana who were questioned and upon their disclosure two grenades, a Chinese pistol, a pistol magazine and four live rounds were recovered from them, the officials said. The accused were involved in cross-border smuggling of arms and ammunition at the behest of Pakistan-based terror handlers and its further distribution to LeT terrorists for carrying out terror activities, the officials said. A case has been registered and investigations has been taken up, they added. In another incident, security forces arrested three terrorist associates linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT in Budgam in central Kashmir and recovered incriminating materials from their possession. The arrests were made in Khansahab area of district. The terrorist associates have been identified as Qaisar Ahmad Dar, resident of Kremshora, and Tahir Ahmad Dar and Aqib Rashed Ganie both residents of Wagar, the officials said. Incriminating materials, including a Chinese hand grenade, two magazines and 57 live rounds have been recovered from their possession. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation, they said. A case has been registered and investigation has been taken up. Addressing the issue of spiralling prices of essential commodities across India, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday, August 10, said that tomatoes will be sold at Rs 70 per kg in Delhi-NCR from this weekend. To help alleviate the situation, the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India Limited (NCCF) will hold the sale of tomatoes in Delhi-NCR at a subsidized rate, the Union Minister added. "NCCF is planning a mega-sale of tomatoes in Delhi-NCR at a subsidised rate of Rs 70/kg this weekend and covering all nooks and corners of Delhi," she said while speaking in Lok Sabha during the no-confidence debate. She further informed that the procurement of tomatoes from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka and distribution of through cooperative societies like NCCF, and NAFED have begun. This approach has been launched in Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Rajasthan since July 14. Additionally, mobile vans in Delhi function as NCCF and NAFED outlets, she added. Tomato imports from Nepal The Union Minister asserted that the Centre has initiated imports of tomatoes from Nepal by removing the import restrictions. The first lot of tomatoes from Nepal are likely to reach Varanasi, Kanpur by Friday, August 11, she added. "As of date, NCCF has distributed 8,84,612 kgs of tomatoes in Rajasthan, Delhi-NCR and Uttar Pradesh & this will continue in the coming days and this will be increased also...Already the prices of tomatoes in the wholesale mandis in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have started coming down below Rs 100 and we expect this to help us," the Union Minister said. The price for tomatoes hit an all-time high, selling at over Rs 200 per kilogram in retail markets across Mumbai and other cities since July. The situation remains grim across the country as tomatoes are being sold at premium rates. The reason behind the unprecedented hike in prices was supply disruptions caused due to heavy rainfall in the key producing regions. Jammu and Kashmir police and the Indian Army on Wednesday evening busted an allegedly Pakistan-backed terror module related to arms smuggling from across the border into the Indian territory. Three terror associates of terrorists linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba have been arrested. The smuggled weapons were distributed to Lashkar terrorists, facilitating them to carry out terror attacks in the region. Baramulla police in its statement said, Baramulla police and Army's 16 SIKHLI, while conducting a joint patrol and area control in Churunda Uri, detected an individual moving suspiciously. After realising the presence of the patrolling team, the person attempted to escape but was apprehended. While conducting a personal search, two grenades were found in his possession. He was promptly taken into custody and later identified as Showkat Ali Awan, son of Abdul Karim Awan, residing in Churunda Uri. During interrogation, the arrested terror associate revealed two names - Ahmad Din and Mohammad Sadeeq Khatana. Following the disclosure, the joint operation teams have recovered two grenades, one Chinese pistol, one pistol magazine and four live rounds from them. Further probe revealed that the accused were involved in illegally bringing in weapons from across the border into the Indian soil on the direction of terror handlers in Pakistan. The weapons were then distributed to Lashkar terrorists, facilitating them to carry out terror attacks in the region. Third success in run up to Independence Day This is the third major success for the Baramulla police in foiling such attempts in the run up to Independence Day. Jammu and Kashmir police on August 2 arrested two white-collar terrorists from Azadgunj area of Baramulla during routine checking by the police. The terrorists had collected the arms and ammunition for carrying out terror attacks ahead of Independence Day in the Baramulla district. One pistol, one pistol magazine, four live pistol rounds and one grenade were recovered from their possession. Earlier on July 25, Baramulla police arrested two terror associates of Lashkar and recovered two Chinese pistols, two pistol magazines and 14 live pistol rounds from them. The duo had collected the weapons for target killing in Baramulla. Security beefed up across Jammu and Kashmir J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha held a meeting with senior police officials to review the preparednessahead of Independence Day Security forces have beefed up the security grid across Jammu and Kashmir ahead of Independence Day, which remains a high-security period. J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on August 8 chaired a meeting with senior police officials to review the preparedness for Independence Day celebrations across the Union Territory. Hu Xingdou calls for an end to 'Wolf Warrior' diplomacy and the rise of political 'struggle' under Xi Jinping Beijing Institute of Technology economics professor Hu Xingdou has called for an economic policy that benefits the most vulnerable. A top Chinese economist is making waves with a recent call for a return to the economic policies of late supreme leader Deng Xiaoping, as ruling Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping's government struggles to inject life into the country's economy after three years of the zero-COVID policy. The reform era ushered in by late Chairman Mao Zedong's successor Deng Xiaoping saw people freed up to make money as fast as they liked, and the start of a burgeoning private sector and a decades of export-led economic growth, while political ideology and authoritarian rule took a back seat. Xi is widely seen to be moving in the opposite direction, cracking down on private sector wealth and power and boosting the state-owned economy while eroding the freedoms enjoyed by the country's middle classes. In a 10-point plan posted online earlier this month, Beijing Institute of Technology economics professor Hu Xingdou calls for an economic policy that benefits the most vulnerable, echoing Deng's view that such an approach would benefit political stability in the longer term. A worker walks in front of a painting of late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping at the Museum of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, June 25, 2021. Credit: Noel Celis/AFP However, many of the points aren't confined to economic policy, and represent a public challenge to the left-leaning, command economy moves made by Xi, including deteriorating ties with developed countries. "Reaffirm Deng Xiaoping's strategy, and the principles of keeping a low profile ... and not demarcating by ideology," reads "suggestion" No. 4. "Strive to build good relationships with developed countries, coexist peacefully, and avoid a new Cold War," Hu writes, in an apparent reference to growing confrontation with Washington over trade, human rights and democratic Taiwan, which Xi has threatened to invade if its 23 million residents continue to spurn calls for "peaceful unification." Pointers on politics Suggestion No. 5 includes some pointers for managing domestic politics. "Reaffirm our total repudiation of the Cultural Revolution, change the 'struggle' mindset ... and change the Red Guard Wolf Warrior image of Chinese spokespersons, especially the foreign ministry spokesperson," it said. Suggestion No. 6 took aim at Xi's abolition of presidential term limits, paving the way for his indefinite rule as head of party, state and military, a move that many have criticized as a "cult of personality" with parallels to late supreme leader Mao Zedong. "Stick to Deng Xiaoping Thought: free the mind, seek truth from facts and [return to] a term system for leaders," it reads. A picture of Chinese President Xi Jinping is seen on a large screen during a Cultural Performance as part of the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China in Beijing on June 28, 2021. Credit: AFP Hu's 10 points aren't the first time influential voices have been raised in dissent; in 2021, Communist Party newspaper the People's Daily printed a 4,000-character essay by Qu Qingshan, dean of the Central Party History and Documentation Research Institute, lauding Deng's approach. But in February, officials deleted references to Marxism, Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, the thought of Deng Xiaoping and the ideologies of former presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao from the latest edition of the document titled Working Procedures for the State Council that was published on official websites on March 18. Hu also called for Xi's flagship Belt and Road Initiative which has been criticized as a debt trap for poorer countries to be scaled down or canceled. And, in suggestion No. 8, he blamed Xi's hawkish stance on Taiwan for "an eastward shift in the United States' strategic center of gravity" into the Indo-Pacific. He called for an end to military construction and reclamation operations in the South China Sea, and a deescalation of territorial disputes with Japan and Southeast Asia countries over islands and island chains in the region. 'Moving towards modernization' Hu's model also nixed Xi's attempts to export China's model of authoritarian rule worldwide, and for China to continue to benefit from the existing world order. "If the entire world post World War II had been dominated by planned economies, economic controls, totalitarian government and religious extremism, what opportunity would China have had to reform and open up? "To whom ... would it have opened up?" Hu concludes: "These 10 steps may be the only option to get China out of its predicament and moving towards modernization." A Chinese military helicopter flies past tourists at a viewing point over the Taiwan Strait, on Pingtan island, the closest point to Taiwan, in China's southeast Fujian province on April 7, 2023. Credit: Greg Baker/AFP Hu declined to be interviewed when contacted by Radio Free Asia on Wednesday, citing his university's regulations, but confirmed that he wrote the article, which started to spread online after it was retweeted by U.S.-based commentator Wu Zuolai. Wu told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday that the suggestions are indeed a call to Xi to change direction and go back to the policies that had served his predecessors well. He said Hu was hoping that the government would accept his ideas in the form of suggestions, which are a part of the Chinese Communist Party's internal feedback process, and the right way to go in the context of Chinese politics. "Somebody whether an ordinary person or even a leader of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party needs to set him right, regardless of how big a mistake he is making, at exactly the right moment in history," Wu said. "Lots of people need to tell him that he's making a mistake." Wishful thinking But former party school professor Cai Xia, commented online that Hu's move was "either stupid or pedantic," and showed Hu lacked the courage to go to jail for opposing Xi, but still wanted praise for his courage. U.S.-based current affairs commentator Heng He said Hu's comments were definitely a form of wishful thinking. "They sound great, but they're impossible to implement," Heng said. "The policies Xi Jinping is implementing now aren't coming from the perspective of national development, but of protecting Chinese Communist Party rule." "[So Hu Xingdou's starting point] isn't going to convince any high-ranking official," he said. "If our economic growth were founded entirely on private enterprises and free movement of capital, then the economic foundation for Communist Party rule would be gone," Heng said. "That would be the end for the Communist Party, so they can't do it." He said Deng's economic reforms sought to rely on two key factors -- the economic strength of the United States and the "enthusiasm" of the Chinese people to make money. But neither of those factors is likely to reboot the Chinese economy now that Sino-U.S. ties are at their lowest ebb for decades and amid falling investor confidence in the wake of three years of zero-COVID restrictions, he said. As for winding down the Belt and Road Initiative, Xi can't do that either, Heng said. "If you want to become a major world power, you must have international support," he said. "The Chinese Communist Party has set itself to compete with the United States, so it has to buy its friend." "How will it find allies without spending money?" Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Men can continue to wear shorts as they please, but women must maintain socialist etiquette. North Korean women wearing formal skirts pay their respects to the statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il at Munsu Hill in Pyongyang, North Korea, in 2017. North Korea is punishing women who try to beat the summer heat by wearing shorts, with authorities saying shorts with a length above the knee are an infiltration of capitalist fashion but only if the wearer is female, residents in the country told Radio Free Asia. The latest campaign against anti-socialist behavior is yet another example of Pyongyang enforcing its vaguely written Rejection of Reactionary Thought and Culture Act, which it passed in 2020 with the intent of eliminating activities deemed to be South Korean, foreign or capitalist cultural practices. While violators of the law are often citizens caught watching and distributing South Korean and Western media, it has also been used to crack down on window tinting, speaking and texting using South Korean slang or word spellings, teaching youth how to dance, or changing their hair color and wearing unapproved clothing styles. Severe punishments for what would never be considered a crime outside of North Korea have included long prison sentences and even execution. Though the law technically applies to both men and women, the current crackdown only targets women who wear shorts. The move to stop women from showing off too much skin below the knee is meant to preserve the tradition of socialist etiquette and lifestyle, a resident of the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFAs Korean Service Tuesday on condition of anonymity to speak freely. As more and more women wear shorts in the cities, including here in Sinuiju, the authorities are writing them up for violations of dress etiquette, she said. Yesterday, a police patrol arrested 10 women in the marketplace for wearing shorts. They had to write a statement of self-criticism and sign a document saying they would face legal consequences if they were caught wearing shorts again. Womens burden Most families in North Korea depend on women as the breadwinner. Men must report to their government-assigned jobs, where their salaries are nowhere near enough to live on, so families get by on the income of side businesses, which fall to the women to run. Given the huge responsibility that falls on them, citizens are angry that the government wont let them wear what they want in hot weather, the resident said. The residents complain about authorities, who confine and terrorize these women who are responsible for their families livelihood, making them spend all day in the police station just because they wore shorts. A resident of South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongyang, told RFA on condition of anonymity for safety reasons that more women are wearing shorts in public this summer due to a heat wave. In response, the authorities are stopping women who wear shorts on the streets, saying that it is not in line with socialist tradition and lifestyle, she said. It was not the first time that police arrested women for their fashion choices, the South Pyongan resident said. A few years ago, they were cracking down on wide-legged skirt pants, saying they were Japanese fashion, she said. Many women are complaining, asking why men can wear shorts and women cant. They are saying that the authorities are discriminating against us. The shorts ban for women is not the first time North Korea has applied the rules differently across genders. Last month, RFA reported that North Korea enacted a public smoking ban for all citizens, but authorities only punished female smokers. Residents in that report pointed out the double standard, noting that the countrys leader Kim Jong Un is often pictured in state media with a lit cigarette. Translated by Leejin J. Chung. Edited by Eugene Whong. The military junta has trampled on the heart of the pact, an ethnic army leader says. Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi (C) presides over a meeting in Naypyidaw with the chairman of the Karen National Union Gen. Saw Mutu Say Poe (L) and military chief Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing (R) to commemorate the third anniversary of the signing of Myanmar's nationwide cease-fire agreement. Myanmars oldest ethnic armed group said Thursday that a nationwide cease-fire agreement it signed with the national army eight years ago is now null and void because of violations of terms by the ruling military junta. The Karen National Union, the political wing of the Karen National Liberation Army that represents ethnic Karen people in eastern Myanmars Kayin state, was one of the eight original ethnic army signatories of the accord in October 2015, aimed at ending the countrys long-running armed conflicts. Two other rebel groups signed the agreement in 2018, bringing the number to 10. The KNU and other ethnic armed organizations want a national military that cannot participate in politics and the formation of a federal democratic union in Myanmar. The peace process was killed off when the Myanmar military seized power from the elected civilian-led government in a February 2021 coup, sparking new waves of violence with ethnic armies joining forces with anti-junta resistance fighters and engaging in insurgency and heavy clashes across the country. Through fighting, the junta forces have violated terms of the nationwide cease-fire agreement, or NCA, so that it no longer exists, said KNU General Secretary Pado Saw Tado Muh during an online press conference on Thursday to mark the 100th day after the KNUs 17th Congress. There is no more reason to follow the NCA because the military has trampled on Chapter 1 of the agreement, which is the heart of the whole NCA, he said, referring to the part of the pact on basic principles to which the signatories agreed. Key areas of the accord cover military codes of conduct, the protection of civilians, the provision of humanitarian assistance, a political roadmap, interim arrangements, the establishment of a Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee, and the adoption of a Framework for Political Dialogue for peacefully resolving differeences. The KNU said on July 9 that it had engaged in nearly 2,500 armed clashes with junta troops during the first half of the year in KNU-controlled territory in Kayin and Mon states and in Tanintharyi and Bago regions. Civilians fleeing fighting between the Myanmar military and the Karen National Union cross a river in eastern Myanmar's Kayin state, along the Thai-Myanmar border, Dec. 25, 2021. Credit: AFP Junta leader Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said Tuesday that the NCA should not be ignored and that the military is working hard to adhere to its terms. His comments came days after Min Aung Hlaing extended emergency rule in Myanmar for another six months on July 31, thereby delaying the date by which elections must be held according to the countrys constitution. The junta previously pledged to hold elections in August. Pado Saw Tado Muh said he would not accept any elections based on the 2008 constitution, drafted by a previous military junta that ruled Myanmar. We will not accept the juntas election, [and] we should not hold any new election based on the 2008 constitution as it will lead to more harm than good and will make it more difficult to solve the political problems of Myanmar, he said. "Therefore, we would like to tell you not to support any movement based on the election that will perpetuate the military dictatorship." After the coup, the KNU and its armed wing one of Myanmars largest ethnic armies took a more aggressive stance to the military and offered sanctuary to lawmakers, protesters, striking workers and others who faced abuse and attacks by the junta. KNLA forces have conducted deadly ambushes, captured military bases, and trained resistance fighters, including members of the anti-regime People's Defense Forces, as junta forces ramped up attacks on KNU-controlled territory. KNLA commander Brigadier General Saw Tar Malar Thaw said the junta is now on the defensive. Tactically, they cannot open offensive attacks, but instead have to use only heavy artillery and airplanes, he said. In many cases, such attacks target civilians." RFA could not reach Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, the junta's spokesman, for comment on the KNUs statements. Translated by Myo Min Aung for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed. Some areas are at risk of flash floods as heavy rain feeds mountain streams. Nearly 30,000 people from Kayin, Mon and Rakhine states and Bago region in Myanmar have been evacuated due to heavy rain and floods since the beginning of August, relief workers told RFA Thursday. Flooding forced over 8,600 people in Kayin state and over 2,000 people in Mon state to evacuate their homes. Also having to leave their homes were over 12,500 citizens of a single township in the Bago region and more than 4,100 civilians in the Rakhine state, aid workers said. Separately, the juntas local administration office said nearly 3,000 households in Bago township have been affected by flooding. A relief worker in the townships Myo Thit neighborhood told RFA that temporary camps for flood victims have been opened in the monasteries of every neighborhood in Bago since Wednesday. Now it is raining, so the water will rise again. There will be more flood victims, said the worker, who didnt want to be named for security reasons. Currently, there are more than 500 flood victims in the monasteries in Myo Thit neighborhood. In Kayin state six townships Hpa-An, Hlaingbwe, Kawkareik, Kyainseikgyi ,Hpapun and Myawaddy have been evacuated due to flooding. Local residents in Myawaddy township are still being evacuated due to the flood, an official from the aid group Mon Myat Phyu Sin Social Assistance Association told RFA. There are still some evacuees in religious buildings, also in other places and at our office, said the official, who also requested anonymity. There are 52 households at our office and we are taking responsibility for their food and drink. Saw Khin Maung, a junta council spokesperson for Kayin state, told RFA that Myawaddy and Hlaingbwe townships are at particular risk from flash floods. Water is rushing down the mountains in Myawaddy and Hlaingbwe. The floods are heavy, he said. There is water rushing at high speed from Dawna Range when the rains are heavy on that side [of the range]. He said there have been no casualties but some houses were damaged by falling trees in the town of Thandaung. The Kayin state spokesperson said more than 8,600 flood victims have been moved to 36 relief camps. He said they are receiving free medical treatment and the junta is providing each household with 2,500 kyat (U.S.$1.20) per day to buy rice and cooking oil. Heavy rains and flooding have cut off all roads leading from Kawkareik to Myawaddy, including the Asean Highway, an important route for trade with Thailand. In Mon state, floods have been reported in Bilin, Kyaikmaraw and Kyaikto townships. People wade through a flooded drinking water pond in Done Gyi village, Minbya township, Rakhine state on August 8, 2023. Credit: Ann Thar Gyi In Rakhine state, residents of Minbya, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships were evacuated on August 4, residents told RFA. Rakhine state is still recovering from Cyclone Mocha, which made landfall on May 14 with sustained winds reaching over 220 kilometers per hour (137 mph). Mocha killed more than 400 people in low lying areas of Myanmar near the Bay of Bengal and left a trail of destruction. Aid workers said more than 90% of buildings in northern Rakhine were damaged by the storm. The U.N.s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently announced that it has received only U.S.$24.3 million out of the estimated U.S.$333 million needed for relief and rehabilitation projects in cyclone-hit areas. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang. Military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. speaks to troops during a visit to the Western Command in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines, Aug. 10, 2023. The Philippines plans to deploy its own maritime militia to defend its sovereignty amid a raging territorial row with China, the Filipino armed forces chief said Thursday as he visited an island on the frontline of the sea dispute. Reporters who accompanied Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. on his tour of Palawan asked him if the military would deploy maritime militia forces as part of its transition to territorial defense from traditional internal security operations. Yes, its part of our plans, thats part of our reserve force development, the head of the Armed Forces of the Philippines replied. When we say reserve force its not just land-based forces, so we are also trying to develop our reservists who will be able to operate in sea, he said during his visit to the AFPs Western Command in Puerto Princesa, without releasing details about the militias. China and Vietnam, which are among other countries with overlapping claims in the South China Sea, are known to operate fleets of ships and boats crewed by militia members. Brawner said the military had established reserve units for deployment to the West Philippine Sea Manilas name for the South China Sea waters within the countrys 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Its already being implemented. We have established reserve units, but we are going to wait for the platforms or the vessels that actually would be used, Brawner said, emphasizing that the way forward depends on the funds. Brawner said there were plans to deploy ships and aircraft to guard the EEZ and establish the militarys presence in the sea. We want to use our fisher folks as reservists, we are going to teach them how to help us defend our country, he said. Brawner said the military also needed funds to improve its facilities in the West Philippine Sea. In 2020, diplomatic tensions between China and the Philippines escalated with Manilas discovery of large numbers of Chinese militia ships, which appeared to be trawlers, clustering within the waters of the Philippine EEZ. Suspected Chinese maritime militia boats are seen anchored off a disputed shoal in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, Feb. 21, 2023. Credit: National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea handout/AFP On Thursday, Vice Adm. Alberto Carlos, who leads the Western Command, said more than 400 foreign fishing boats, mostly from China, were intruding into the countrys territory. Carlos said about 190 of these boats were in the vicinity of the Chinese-occupied Mischief Reef, which is about 134 nautical miles from Palawan or more than 600 nautical miles from China. Its more than 400 [fishing boats], based on the last monitoring. Thats foreign vessels incursions in the West Philippine Sea now, Carlos said, referring to the most recent check on Wednesday. This is inside the EEZ maybe 85% of these are Chinese thats my estimate based on my [information], he said. According to Carlos, military leaders suspect that Chinese fishing fleets are in fact Chinese militias. He noted the involvement of two Chinese fishing boats during the harassment of two Philippine Coast Guard and two supply boats near Ayungin Shoal last week. Our suspicion is they are militia vessels taking orders from the [China] Coast Guard. The incident shows that they seem to be working taking orders from the Chinese coast guard, Carlos said. Brawner went to Palawan island amid a flurry of defense and diplomatic meetings that followed the incident at Ayungin Shoal. On Wednesday, a spokesman for the countrys task force on the West Philippine Sea said the Philippines and its defense ally, the United States, were in the final stages of an agreement to launch joint patrols this year in the South China Sea to deter encroachment by foreign ships. Apart from China, Vietnam and the Philippines, parts of the South China Sea are claimed by Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan. BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 10. Visa launched the She's Next digital community platform for women entrepreneurs from Eastern and South Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, created in partnership with Emerging Europe, an authoritative business and community development platform focused on the region, the Baku office of Visa told Trend. According to the office, the platform will unite entrepreneurs from different countries and create opportunities for networking, exchange of experience, and business expansion at the international level. "The She's Next Empowered by Visa initiative is aimed not only at empowering women but also at creating a community of ambitious, like-minded women," Senior Vice President, Regional Director of Visa in 17 countries, Vera Platonova said. She also noted that in conducting international events dedicated to women's entrepreneurship, Visa noticed that participants in previous She's Next-dubbed projects from different countries easily found a common language based on the same interests and values. "The 2022 survey of business owners in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, conducted by Visa in partnership with Emerging Europe, showed that 85 percent of respondents are ready to join the international community of entrepreneurs," the Visa representative pointed out. "Therefore, we created it to enable women to share best practices, learn from each other, and grow as leaders. I'm sure that the Shes Next digital community platform will be a real breakthrough for all entrepreneurs in Azerbaijan and the entire region," Platonova added. The education of girls and women is universally accepted in more than 200 countries and territories, including nearly 50 Muslim-majority nations. But Afghanistans hard-line Islamist Taliban rulers have banned teenage girls from attending school after the sixth grade since they returned to power two years ago. The ban was extended in December to women in universities. Countless protests by Afghans inside the country, pressure from the international community, and lobbying by Muslim scholars and clerics have failed to convince the fundamentalist Taliban leaders to reopen schools. Experts are divided over whether the ban is rooted in how the Talibans interpretation of Islam is shaped by conservative Pashtun tribal customs and cultural practices or if it is prompted by how senior Taliban ideologues interpret Islamic teachings. Most Taliban leaders are ethnic Pashtun, Sunni Muslim clerics. Many were educated in Deobandi madrasahs in neighboring Pakistan. Deobandism emerged as a puritanical Islamic revivalist movement in 19-century British Colonial India. Based on the Sunni Hanafi school of jurisprudence, it is a prominent strain among Islamists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Tribal Influences Sami Yousafzai, a veteran Afghan journalist and commentator, argues that the Taliban restrictions against women are linked to social customs and cultural practices in eastern and southern Afghanistan. Most Taliban leaders come from various Pashtun rural tribal communities in these regions bordering Pakistan. "They believe that a woman's place is either inside a house or in a grave," Yousafzai said of the basic Taliban belief influenced by the status of women in the families of clerics and religious leaders in these Pashtun regions. Women living in the households of the current Taliban policymakers were never educated and never left their homes, said Yousafzai, who has tracked the Islamist group since it emerged as a ragtag militia in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar in late 1994. These women never performed any government or nongovernmental jobs. Yousafzai says the Taliban backs policies shaped by this worldview by leaning on Islamic teachings supporting such ideas. He says Taliban leaders rely on sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad that discourage women from leaving their homes. Their primary belief is that pubescent girls should not leave home under any circumstance, he said. This is why they view women leaving home for education or work as engaging in moral corruption. In Afghanistan, a Muslim nation of some 40 million people, activists and rights advocates accuse the Taliban of implementing "gender apartheid" by denying women education, work, freedom of movement, and deciding how they can appear in public. Most Muslims agree that Islam allows women to get an education. Yet the Taliban publicly says that it will allow girls access to education only after ensuring complete gender segregation and other unspecified conditions. Almost all Afghan secondary schools were gender segregated and universities imposed a strict separation between men and women after the Taliban takeover. Yousafzai says in conservative and traditional Muslim societies around the world, some clerics also favor restrictions on women's education, work, and their role in public life. But the governments in those countries usually oppose or limit such ideas. In recent years, Saudi Arabia -- one of the most conservative Sunni Muslim nations -- has allowed women to drive and granted them freedom of movement without a male guardian. These steps are part of a reform and modernity drive by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman. The Taliban ban on education has invited universal condemnation from Muslims globally. The Taliban's ban on women's education is not rooted in [the Islamic] Sharia law but rather reflects cultural biases that contradict the teachings of Islam, said Salam al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in the United States. He said that contrary to Taliban practices, Islam emphasizes the importance of seeking knowledge and encourages all individuals, regardless of gender, to acquire an education. Historical Conflict But Islamic scholars and those who have attempted to convince the Taliban about reopening girls schools offer a different explanation. John Mohammad Butt, an Islamic scholar and former BBC broadcaster who is the only Westerner to graduate from Indias Darul Uloom Deoband, argues that the Taliban's policy on girls' education is not tribal but shaped by the century-old conflict over modern education. The problem is that girls' education in Afghanistan -- indeed, contemporary education in general -- has generally been introduced in Afghanistan in line with a secular agenda, he said. In the 1920s, a coalition of conservative clerics and tribal and community leaders deposed reformist King Amanullah Khan. He wanted to modernize Afghanistan along Turkish leader Kamal Ataturk's secular lines and championed modern education and rights for women. This opposition to modernity and secularism continued, and conservative clerics opposed women's education and work. It became a key part of the Islamist opposition to the pro-Soviet Afghan communist governments after the April 1978 military coup that ended the Afghan monarchy. The mujahedin accused the communists of spreading immorality by promoting womens education and empowerment. This has led to particular wariness on the part of conservative circles in Afghanistan with regard to girls' education, Butt said. 'Deep Ideological Conviction' Obaidullah Baheer, a political science lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan, became part of an effort to rescind the ban by talking to the Taliban last year. But he says the effort failed because the ban is a matter of deep ideological conviction for the current supreme leader of the Taliban, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada. Baheer says that the most prominent Taliban leaders have studied in Pakistani madrasahs and were thus disconnected from village and tribal life. They have been indoctrinated by the Deobandi school of thought so that they now enforce the strictest version of Islam on the Afghan population, he said. He argues that the ban on girls schools is a deliberate policy championed by Akhundzada, who he says has endorsed Taliban Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani's Arabic language book The Islamic Emirate And Its System. In this book, Haqqani supports a fringe Islamic opinion of preferring the choice of one of the Prophet Muhammad's wives, Sawdah Bint Zam'ah, who chose to stay at home until her death. Baheer says Haqqani ignores his other wives and other female companions that played an active role in many sectors of society and how they served as students and teachers for men. This fringe opinion is not held by all Taliban leaders but is one that the current absolute sovereign, the Taliban emir, seems to be convinced of, he said. Butt says that even Haqqani has acknowledged the principle that if there is something that women need to act upon, then that is also something that women need to learn about. I hope the Taliban authorities will come to realize in the not-too-distant future that education for women will make Afghan women into better Muslims, he says. It will enable them to make a stronger contribution to the well-being of their country. Two years after grappling with the issue, Western diplomats appear to be encouraging Afghan conservative and clerical circles to find ways to end the ban. Tom West, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan, recently tweeted that Afghan women must be educated and contribute to the economy to help their country stand on its own two feet. If change to policies is made, it will be because Afghans have asked for it, not a result of foreign requests, he wrote. "Yesterday, obviously, there was a bit of a bloody war," a security officer in the Belarusian city of Brest said in a leaked phone conversation with another official shortly after the country's disputed 2020 presidential election set off unprecedented mass protests -- and a crackdown whose brutality was equally unprecedented for Belarus, despite decades of harsh rule. "Brest is f***ed. Five hundred detainees. They flayed them all there like cats." For weeks after the August 9 vote, Belarus teetered on the brink of revolution as a mass, national democratic opposition movement that rose up to challenge strongman leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka refused to accept the official result of an election millions believe was stolen. Based on leaked communications among security and political officials, as well as interviews with former security officers, Lukashenka insiders, opposition activists, and protesters, RFE/RL's Belarus Service has produced Lukashenka's Lackeys, a six-part report on the tumultuous events of the summer of 2020. In gritty, behind-the-scenes detail, the podcast series shows that although the security forces were initially caught flat-footed and underestimated the nature of the mass opposition, they were ultimately able to cope with the threat -- by bringing brute force to bear against an opponent that lacked the experience and tools to go toe-to-toe against a man who was prepared to hold onto power at any cost. "We were afraid of blood," said Nobel Literature Prize laureate Svetlana Alexievich, who was a member of the opposition Coordinating Council during the uprising. "They were not afraid of blood." Andrey Astapovich, a former officer with the state Investigative Committee who resigned during the 2020 events, told RFE/RL how he was affected by the photographs he saw from those days. "I have been an investigator my whole life and I have seen injured people," Astapovich said. "But when I saw these photos, we weren't looking at bruises. They had been beaten with truncheons to the head. I have experience. I have been to autopsies. I can tell when a person has been beaten by the serious bodily injuries. I know how easy it is to crack open a skull." 'It Seemed Like We'd Already Won' In the weeks before the vote, it was already evident that this election would be unlike any of the other highly manipulated ballots in Belarus's post-Soviet history. As independent candidates began collecting signatures to qualify for the race, it became clear that a wave of discontent was sweeping the country. Anatol Kotau, who served as an adviser in Lukashenka's administration at the time, sensed the difference. "Some people within the system felt that something had gone wrong in the spring," Kotau said. "It all started with COVID. The disease entered every home through the television screens, and Lukashenka was saying it wasn't serious, that it is fake news, and that anyone who dies has only themselves to blame. COVID was a test the system failed." WATCH: Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka made disparaging comments about victims of the coronavirus, dismissing his country's caseload as "miniscule" and insisting it is "no catastrophe." Yet throughout April 2020, the number of officially confirmed cases roughly doubled every three days. The authorities' response was to tighten control of the process. On May 7, prominent blogger Syarhey Tsikhanouski announced he would run for president -- and was arrested before the month was out. His campaign was taken over by his wife, Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, then a 34-year-old teacher and interpreter with no political experience who within weeks would become the global face of democracy in Belarus. "All those hundreds of thousands of eyes that I saw at the rallies -- it was incredible," Tsikhanouskaya recalled by telephone from forced exile in Lithuania. "It was scary. I had never been on a stage before. It was a kind of euphoria, until August 9. It seemed to us then that we had already won." LISTEN: An excerpt from Episode 1 of Lukashenka's Lackeys: Another leading independent would-be candidate, banker Viktar Babaryka, was arrested on June 19. On July 24, independent would-be candidate Valer Tsapkala, who was regarded as a significant challenger to Lukashenka, fled the country after being tipped off that his arrest was imminent and that the government planned to take his children away from him. Around this time, Lukashenka's government made the fateful decision to let Tsikhanouskaya's registration as a candidate go through. Former administration insider Kotau says that choice was made "for laughs." "Babaryka and Tsapkala were not registered, so they had to find someone to beat to get a very easy win," Kotau said. "Lukashenka believed that it would be an easy victory, a very easy victory." However, the opposition countered with an unexpected move that proved equally fateful -- all the main opposition campaigns united behind Tsikhanouskaya's bid. "If not for the unification of the three campaigns, if they hadn't united and eventually become a symbol of protest and a magnet for the protest vote, nothing would have happened," Kotau said. "She had no political experience." 'A High-Level Meeting' At the same time, Lukashenka shored up his real base of support -- the police and the security apparatus. Alyaksandr Azarau is the director of BYPOL, a public organization of former police officers who quit during the protests. He said Lukashenka spent much of the preelection period visiting riot-police units and special-operations forces in places like Brest, Vitsebsk, and Maryina Horka. "He promised them support, apartments, raises," Azarau said. "They saw him in person, how he acted like a strong leader, which is what such people like." According to the leaked phone conversations -- thousands of hours of recordings by the Interior Ministry that were hacked and released by the hacking group Cyber-Partisans and have been deemed authentic for RFE/RL by independent experts -- a meeting held shortly before the election untied the hands of the security forces. "There was a high-level meeting," the deputy head of the Minsk police, Ihar Padvoyski, said during a call with another top security official. "I assume that one of the directives issued will give us confidence in the tactics of action -- so that we won't be physically afraid to work." 'Something Had Begun' Election day on August 9, 2020, began routinely enough, although there were large crowds -- a sign of intense interest in the vote and its outcome, unusual after years of apathy over tightly controlled ballots whose results were a foregone conclusion. The 50 percent turnout threshold was passed before noon. "I never saw anything like this," one Minsk voter told RFE/RL at the time. "I hope that people came out like this not only here but across the country. People who never voted before. What was the point of voting before? But now I see there is hope." But the fraud machine was already grinding away. Uladzislau Batsyan, a cadet who served as a polling-station guard, told RFE/RL he saw officials stuffing ballot boxes at Precinct No. 60. "I consulted with some guys from my academy, and they said they had also seen such cases," Batsyan recalled. "They also wanted to report them, but they were called in and told it was none of their business." Military and riot-police vehicles appeared on the streets of Minsk and other cities. Security forces blocked people from reaching the center of the capital. Nonetheless, by evening, hundreds of thousands of people had gathered around polling stations in Minsk demanding that the results be posted. "Protests began when polling-station results with falsified data began to be posted," said Azarau. "We began calling colleagues in other departments, and they all told me everything was being falsified everywhere. Election commission officials were openly admitting this. No one was counting at all -- they just wrote down the numbers that the head of the commission told them." At 8 p.m., Central Election Commission chief Lidia Yermoshina declared Lukashenka the provisional winner with 83 percent of the vote -- a result that looked like a big, bald-faced lie to the hundreds of thousands of people who had turned out for Tsikhanouskaya's campaign rallies. Police immediately began attacking the crowds. Internet and cell-phone connections were cut. "Military equipment was moving," Alexievich said, recalling observing the events from a high window. "A lot of it. It wasn't water cannons. It was military equipment, armored personnel carriers with machine guns. There was the feeling that something had begun." Police, military personnel, special-forces troops, and prison guards were all mobilized, deploying flash grenades, water cannons, rubber bullets, and more. Thousands of people were detained, often brutally. LISTEN: An excerpt from Episode 3 of Lukashenka's Lackeys: "The guys from the police and the military who were activated behaved very well," Lukashenka said the next day. "Real patriots." That morning, the Central Election Commission announced the complete preliminary election results: 80.23 percent for Lukashenka and just under 10 percent for Tsikhanouskaya. Tsikhanouskaya, however, declared herself the winner and called on the government to ensure "the peaceful transfer of power." 'We Couldn't Help Everyone' Lukashenka kept a low profile for the first few days after the election. "I think on the first day he didn't feel anything," Kotau said. "When people gathered at the column [on Independence Square in Minsk] on the first day, they were dispersed and there was a sense that everything would proceed as usual. The demonstration was a little bigger than usual, but that didn't matter. On Monday, everyone will go back to work. "And they did go back to work," he added. "But after work, they went out to protest again. People were indignant and felt deceived." A key moment came on August 10, when police shot and killed 34-year-old protester Alyaksandr Taraykouski. Police claimed that he had been killed by an improvised explosive he was carrying as he approached police lines. But video soon appeared on social media showing him being shot by police at close range as he stood with his hands over his head. WATCH: Graphic footage of the death of Belarusian protester Alyaksandr Taraykouski contradicted claims by officials that he was killed by an improvised explosive device he was trying to throw at riot police. Warning: Disturbing images. "I was struck by two things," Alexievich remembered. "The sincerity of the violence and the way the leaders of the security forces spoke about the murdered Taraykouski. He was walking and looking at them brazenly. And he had to be shot for that, for walking toward 'our guys' and looking them in the eyes, not believing they would shoot." Former investigator Astapovich recalled that police officers seemed to be enjoying the violence. "They would watch videos and laugh at who gets hit with the truncheon," he said. "They would make up funny names, like the wailing wall,' a place in the basement where beaten prisoners would wash themselves that was always covered in blood. They wore their berets and walked with their chests puffed out, and so on." The week after the election was a perilous time for supporters of Lukashenka's government, as the violence continued, and public outrage grew. "A lot of people thought Lukashenka could not hold on," Astapovich said. "In the organized-crime department, Vyachaslau Orlouski, the propagandist who was calling the protesters rats' who needed to be cornered and exterminatedhad already packed his suitcase and was ready to run off to Russia. A lot of people were thinking Lukashenka couldn't hold on and it was time to run. They were sitting on their suitcases. If the protests had lasted a little longer, everything would have been different." Former police officer Azarau said police were also showing the strain. "There were not so many of them that it was possible to alternate them and let them rest," he said. "They work until the morning. Then sleep until noon and go back to work after having some lunch. "It was also mentally exhausting," Azarau added. "They were afraid to walk in public in their uniforms. They would carry their uniforms to work and change there. The people considered them criminals. Their friends and relatives did not want to communicate with them." Reports began emerging of detainee abuse and torture, particularly at the notorious Akrestsina remand prison in Minsk. "I want to ask forgiveness from everyone who was there," said one doctor who treated victims from Akrestsina, breaking down in tears. "We couldn't help everyone. There were bruised and swollen eyes that couldn't even be pried open. There was a man whose vertebra had simply been crushed. There were people with huge bruises on their backs. Abdominal injuries that hid a mess inside." It remains unclear who ultimately gave the order for the brutal crackdown. "There are various versions," Azarau said. "Some say [Russian President Vladimir] Putin gave the order to behave like that. It is not clear. I think that Lukashenka realized he had lost the support of the population. Earlier, it was unclear -- maybe 50-50. The older generation -- my own mother -- voted for him. For these elections, we know for sure that [Russian military intelligence] prepared a report that showed only 17 percent support for Lukashenka. So it was necessary to use violence to force the population into a corner, so that even if they don't support him, they will be afraid and not resist. "Soldiers were given contracts saying they would not be prosecuted for shooting people," he added. "The order to use their weapons was given." On August 11, Tsikhanouskaya was forced to leave the country. "The government decided to use the old methods when certain people were expelled from the country and everything quieted down," she said in the recent phone interview. "They didn't understand that this time it was not about one candidate, one leader, but about all Belarusians. My departure didn't change anything: People weren't going out because someone told them to, but because they wanted to." 'They Left. There Were No Tents' The most violent phase of the crisis lasted three days. After that, both sides adopted different tactics. On August 12, a couple hundred women appeared in a Minsk market dressed all in white, demanding an accurate count of the votes. People in passing cars honked in support. Similar demonstrations popped up in other cities. The police stood back. "Almost at the same time, peaceful protests of women began in various cities," one participant told RFE/RL. "They all came out in white, with placards, with goodness, with peace. The security forces work according to their methodology, and they can react to any force except love. The power of love paralyzes them." The same day, a few hundred medical workers demonstrated in Minsk, calling for an end to the violence. "This is not a protest," one doctor said at the time. "It's a demonstration for peace so that doctors can help the wounded." A march of workers from the Minsk Tractor Factory also proceeded without police intervention. The authorities, too, changed their tactics after August 12, apparently realizing that the violence was only provoking additional resistance. "After the 12th, when they stopped beating and crushing everyone, when they stopped using force, they switched to another tactic," said Minsk police Colonel Alyaksandr Sazonau in a conversation with subordinates that was among the leaked Interior Ministry recordings. On August 16, Lukashenka held a heavily stage-managed pro-government rally on Minsk's Independence Square. Supporters were bused in from around the country, and the president gave a defiant speech. "It was an attempt to organize their own anti-Maidan," said former presidential administration staffer Kotau, referring to the Ukrainian government's efforts to resist the Maidan uprising in 2013-14. "They wanted to show they have their own supporters. They were counting on 100,000 people, but despite their logistical efforts, there were far fewer." The demonstration lasted an hour. The same day, however, saw the largest demonstration in Belarusian history, with as many as 200,000 people waving white-red-white flags taking to the streets in Minsk. There were smaller demonstrations in cities around the country. "The material the Cyber-Partisans have released, the torrent of conversations, shows that [the authorities] decided to let the situation go for a few days or a week, to vent the people's anger," Kotau said. "But the passivity of the security forces meant that a record number of people came out for the first march." The massive protest passed peacefully, without police intervention. Former police officer Aleh Alkayeu said the government simply did not have the forces needed to intervene forcibly in such a protest. But that did not mean they were inactive. "There were many informants in the crowd," Alkayeu said. "They conveyed the mood." LISTEN: An excerpt from Episode 6 of Lukashenka's Lackeys: Former Investigative Committee officer Astapovich added that the authorities' change of tactics was partially driven by the exhaustion of the police. "By [August 12], I noticed that when police ran out of the bus, they immediately put their shields on the ground," he said. "After all, it was their third straight day. They could not physically withstand such workloads for so many days in a row. And, meanwhile, more and more people were coming out." The only choice, he added, was to "let them go for a walk and the people will get tired by themselves," Astapovich added. "And that is what happened. They left. No one remained. There were no tents." Meanwhile, police operatives were filming the most active demonstrators and monitoring social media so that protest leaders could be rounded up later. 'Dealing With A Brutal Dictator' On August 17, Lukashenka helicoptered in to a staged rally in front of workers at the Minsk Wheeled Tractor Factory (MZKT) and defiantly vowed not to hold new elections "until you kill me." WATCH: A speech by Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka at a tractor plant in Minsk on August 17, 2020, was interrupted several times by workers who chanted, "Lie!" and "Leave!" But he was jeered and taunted by factory workers who booed him and chanted, "Leave!" "Those who voted against him knew they were in the majority and that they had acted legally," Kotau said. "But they were deceived, very cruelly deceived. Lukashenka suffered a big blow at MZKT. He had neverencountered an audience that not only did not listen to him but that also shouted him down." Although workers in Belarusian state television, the government's main propaganda weapon, began to resign, there were no large-scale defections from the security forces during this crucial period. "For one thing, they didn't see a real leader [in the opposition]," explained former police officer Alkayeu. "Second, everyone was thinking about themselves. They were scared by possible lustration. This is something police talk about a lot. Will I be able to work or not? Was I photographed at some point? Someone new comes to power and an officer might end up without a job. There are a lot of benefits to being a police officer -- apartments, good mortgages, and more. He could lose it all." In addition, Alkayeu said, police officers are habitually "oriented toward their superiors." "Over the years, a person gets used to obeying," he said. Meanwhile, the opposition movement was fully committed to nonviolence, Alexievich said. "Everyone was in the mood for peace," she told RFE/RL. "No one wanted to seize the telegraphs,' as Lukashenka likes to say about coups. No one was preparing Molotov cocktails. We were aware that if we came out with a Molotov cocktail, it would have been worse than China at the time of Tiananmen Square. We were dealing with a brutal dictator. No one had any illusions. "We were all afraid of blood," she added. "They were not afraid of blood. But we were afraid and felt a sense of responsibility. What was necessary was to do what the Ukrainians did during their Maidan. They stayed out for several months. I don't know why we didn't do that." Astapovich said Belarus's marginal economy also played a role in the collapse of the protest movement. "For our people, the most important thing to lose is not one's life, but one's job," he said. "There is no reserve. If you lose your job, what will you eat the next month? Everyone understands that. People save up for three months to buy new boots. I lived that way myself as an investigator." Two years later, the democratic opposition in Belarus is scattered, imprisoned, or marginalized. And Lukashenka's security forces continue their work, now focusing much of their attention on the so-called railway partisans and others who oppose Russia's invasion of neighboring Ukraine and the complicity of the Belarusian state. "To this day, they continue to jail people. They sweep the cities every day [and make arrests]," Tsikhanouskaya told Current Time in an interview. "But back then, it seemed like it was all about to come crashing down." RFE/RL correspondent Robert Coalson contributed to this report. On the third anniversary of a disputed presidential vote in Belarus, opposition activists demanded justice for protesters who were jailed and beaten in a brutal crackdown. Unprecedented demonstrations erupted against authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka after he declared victory in an election on August 9, 2020, which was widely seen as rigged. More than 1,000 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus. A polytechnic school in Russias Tatarstan, a region some 900 kilometers east of Moscow, is using manufacturing facilities that are part of a nearby special economic zone to assemble Iranian attack drones and are increasingly turning to underage students as laborers, many of whom often work in exploitative conditions. The revelations at Alabuga Polytechnic University raise troubling implications about the lengths that Russian authorities are going to in order to boost the war effort and how the advanced Iranian weaponry -- which is increasingly used to bombard Ukrainian cities and has only recently begun to be manufactured inside Russia -- could contribute to escalating tensions and rising civilian casualties. The use of underage students as drone factory workers and the details of the manufacturing facilities were first reported by Russian independent media outlets Protokol and Razvorot, which published a series of investigations in July. Since then, RFE/RLs Idel.Realities has spoken with students who describe grueling working conditions and interviewed dozens of parents whose children have been enrolled at Alabuga Polytechnic University -- some as young at 15 -- who say that their children were forced to work exceedingly long hours, often without proper breaks or meals, and under hostile conditions that have deeply affected their mental health. My son enrolled and 2 1/2 months later he called for me to take him away, Zhanna, who asked to be identified only by her first name to protect against reprisals for speaking about the operation, told RFE/RL. He said to me on the phone, Come and get me or Ill die, so I picked him up immediately. Zhanna, who asked that her underage sons name also not be used, says that she sent him from Nizhny Novgorod to study at Alabuga Polytechnic University in 2022 because of its reputation as a leading technical institution inside Russia. The school offered students -- often between the ages of 15-18 -- an opportunity to get vocational training as part of a dual program that combines a classroom education with practical work experience. Students were also promised an opportunity to work and earn a locally competitive salary of up to 70,000 rubles ($700) a month as part of the work experience program that could further their career growth. 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. But, instead, those enrolled were encouraged and in some cases pressured into working at the drone facility, where the salaries of the mostly underage laborers are contingent on meeting tough production quotas. This is a textbook definition of what constitutes exploitation, Sergei Podsytnik, an investigative journalist at Protokol who worked on the series of reports, told RFE/RL. [Students] assemble drones, with the work taking priority over their studies. The pressure to fulfill these quotas has allegedly led to strenuous back-to-back days -- with some shifts lasting up to 15 hours -- with little time for sleep or adequate sustenance. Overtime work is often unpaid, further highlighting potential labor violations. Exhausted students also reported not always meeting their quotas, which led to them not earning the salary initially promised by the school. Many students came from disadvantaged backgrounds and relied on their earnings to cover costs for tuition, room, and board and would send the remainder home. Other parents, such as Marina, said she decided to take her daughter out of the program when she discovered that she was working in apparent unsafe conditions and that staff from the school had instructed students not to tell their parents about the drone assembly work. This was the last straw for me, Marina, who also asked for her identity to be concealed, told RFE/RL. This is a dangerous production process that involves dangerous chemicals. They also forbid the kids from telling everything to their parents. RFE/RL sent multiple requests for comment to various staff and administrators at Alabuga Polytechnic University but received no replies. Making Iranian Drones In Russia The complicated and concerning dynamic at Alabuga Polytechnic University stems from growing military cooperation between Iran and Russia that has accelerated since Moscows full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Iran has said it provided drones to Russia before the start of the war, but not since. However, U.S. intelligence officials have warned for months of continued deliveries and deepening cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, saying the two sides were exploring how to set up a manufacturing plant for Iranian drones inside Russia. According to The Wall Street Journal, an Iranian delegation visited Yelabuga in Tatarstan on January 5, touring a potential site for such a factory at the Alabuga special economic zone close to Alabuga Polytechnic University. U.S. officials released satellite images in April of the plant being built. Russia already possesses an array of unarmed aerial vehicles, or UAVs, which are used mainly for surveillance and artillery spotting, but has turned increasingly to Tehran for attack drones. After being forced to abandon Ukrainian territory that its troops captured in the early stretches of the war, Moscow shifted to a strategy of relentless air assaults on Ukrainian cities. These attacks often rely on a combination of cruise missiles and self-detonating drones packed with explosives to knock out electricity and running water for the civilian population in Ukraine. So far, Iran has provided Russia mostly with so-called "suicide" drones, known as the Shahed-136, that contain a modest amount of explosives that can detonate when the drones crash into targets, military experts say. In acquiring its own domestic assembly line, Russia could dramatically increase its stockpile of the relatively inexpensive but highly destructive weapons systems. WATCH: Russia has resorted to using Shahed-136 drones from Iran in its war on Ukraine. Ukraine says it's already downed many of the drones, which work by slamming into their intended target, laden with explosives. Ordinary Ukrainians say they can already recognize the sound of the drones, which use two-stroke engines like lawnmowers or motorbikes. Iran has denied supplying the drones to Russia. The arrangement also offers substantial economic and political benefits for Iran, which has sought to portray itself as neutral in the Ukraine war. The appearance of Iranian-made drones over Ukrainian cities, however, has triggered threats of new economic sanctions from the West. The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom have also all issued rules in recent months designed to cut off the flow of drone components to Russia and Iran. The Washington Post reported in November 2022, citing unnamed U.S. intelligence officials, that the agreement to deliver Iranian drone schematics and materials for manufacture in Russia resulted from Iranian leaders believing that the arrangement would allow Tehran to avert new sanctions. Foreign Recruitment And Patriotic Education Alabuga Polytechnic University is formally not a college. All of its students are officially enrolled at nearby Yelabuga Polytechnic College, with the Alabuga institution existing on paper as a specialized program for students looking to break into high-tech industries. Currently, about 1,000 students are studying at Alabuga Polytechnic University, with several hundred of them -- most of whom are between the ages of 15 and 17 -- involved in assembling the Iranian drones. In addition to the work on the drones, there are other signs that point to blurred lines in Russia between the education system and the countrys military amid the war in Ukraine. According to current and former Alabuga Polytechnic University students, team-building and organized extracurricular activities through the school often take on a patriotic character that may be designed to expose students to official government narratives of international events or echo talking points from state television. Organized paintball games have become a mainstay for students, especially first-year arrivals, in which they are encouraged to compete against one another and then play together against more experienced outside players. Teachers and administration officials regularly refer to paintball as being part of a patriotic education needed to complement the technical aspect of their studies. In one instance, a group of new students competed in paintball as Soviet soldiers against outside players who were dressed as troops from Nazi Germany in a capture-the-flag competition meant to simulate the World War II battle of Stalingrad. According to one student, the Nazi flag contained the compass symbol used by the NATO military alliance instead of the swastika used by Nazi Germany. Other instances of political teachings from staff are more direct. In a recording obtained by RFE/RL from June 16, a senior administrator can be heard telling the teenagers that NATO launched a hybrid war against Russia back in 2011 and that it has slowly become more overt. The man then goes on to tell students that their hard work and exceeding long days at the drone factory are part of a nationwide struggle against the West and that their patriotism will be rewarded. Several students and parents identified the man in the recording as Timur Shagivaleev, the director-general of the special economic zone where Alabuga Polytechnic University and the drone factory operate. Shagivaleev did not respond to RFE/RLs request for comment. The man in the recording then goes on to tell students not to take holidays and to continue working even if it's mom's birthday, before ending his speech with, Long live our great country. WATCH: Amid a new wave of Russian drone attacks on Ukraine, analysts in Kyiv are gaining useful intelligence from a collection of downed Russian aerial weapons. They have been studying the remains of Iranian Shahed drones and Russian Kinzhal missiles, among others. Multiple current and former students told RFE/RL that students who work in the drone factory are often praised by staff, while those who have refused or asked to be reassigned due to the high workload are often publicly shamed. In some instances -- according to recordings heard by RFE/RL -- staff even encourage students to bully others who are not deemed patriotic enough. According to Protokol and Razvorots investigations, Alabuga Polytechnic University has also turned toward recruiting foreign students to enroll. The majority of them come from African countries, but also from Central Asia and Azerbaijan, where they are promised world class salaries as part of the dual-track world experience program. However, these foreign students are then given low-skill and menial tasks around the campus and the special economic zone, such as janitorial work, and are also paid lower salaries than initially promised. Written by Reid Standish based on reporting by RFE/RLs Idel.Realities At least seven people, including a child, were killed and 129 were wounded in a Russian missile strike on the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv on August 19, Ukraine's Interior Ministry said, while President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said a "terrorist state" had carried out the attack and caused "a day of pain and loss." Oleksandr Lomako, acting mayor of Chernihiv, said the attack was another blow to the city. "This is another war crime by Russia against Ukraine. The blood of all innocent children and people is on the hands of Russia. We will not forgive this. Never," Lomako said on Telegram, adding that three days of mourning would be observed on August 19-21 under a decree he signed. Zelenskiy, who is on a visit to Sweden, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, "Russian missile hit the heart of Chernihiv. A square, a university, and a theater." Zelenskiy also posted a video of the purported place of the attack. 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. "Russia turned an ordinary Saturday into a day of pain and loss," said Zelenskiy. "This is what it means to live next to a terrorist state," he said, adding, "I urge the world to stand up to Russian terror." Regional Governor Vyacheslav Chaus said on Telegram that the attack was "probably a ballistic missile." Separately, the Interior Ministry said a 6-year-old boy was killed and 15 other children were among the wounded by the missile, which struck Chernihiv's Drama Theater. The mother of the boy killed in the attack was in serious condition, authorities said. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said most of the victims were in vehicles or were crossing the street on foot. The people inside the theater reached a shelter in time after the air-raid alert was announced, he said. The UN's humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine condemned the missile attack as "heinous" and called on Moscow to end strikes on populated areas. "It is heinous to attack the main square of a large city, in the morning, while people are out walking, some going to church to celebrate a religious day for many Ukrainians," said Denise Brown in a statement. "I condemn this repeated pattern of Russian strikes on populated areas of Ukraine, causing deaths, massive destruction, and soaring humanitarian needs." Earlier on August 19, the Ukrainian military said that the air defense shot down 15 out of 17 Iranian Shahed drones that Russia used in its latest overnight attack on Ukraine. "The air force in cooperation with the air defense and other components of the Defense Forces of Ukraine destroyed 15 enemy drones," the military said in its daily report, adding that the attacks targeted the eastern, northern, and western parts of Ukraine. Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said on August 19 that its air-defense systems repelled a Ukrainian drone attack on a military airfield in Novgorod region located northwest of Moscow, but the attack resulted in a damaged Russian warplane. There were no casualties in what the ministry's statement called "a terrorist attack," but a fire that broke out on the airfield causing damage to one of the warplanes parked there. The information could not be independently verified. WATCH: Residents of Kupyansk in Ukraine's Kharkiv region are being transported to safety amid signs of a buildup of Russian forces nearby. The ministry earlier claimed that it had downed a Ukrainian missile over Moscow-occupied Crimea overnight. On the diplomatic field, Zelenskiy and his wife, Olena, traveled to Sweden for talks on defense cooperation. Zelenskiy visited Sweden with his wife, Olena, for talks on defense cooperation. He announced that he and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson had agreed on 10 points, including cooperation on the production of powerful CV-90 combat armored vehicles in Ukraine, joint training on equipment provided by Sweden, and further steps to transfer Gripen fighter aircraft to Ukraine. "I am grateful to Sweden for its firm and consistent support. Together, we protect life, freedom, and our common values." Zelenskiy said at the conclusion of his visit to Sweden, which has applied for NATO membership. Kristersson said he was proud to have had the honor to welcome Zelenskiy. "I highly appreciate our close contacts and cooperation. Swedens support for Ukraines freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity will continue for as long as it takes," Kristersson said on X. Sweden, which abandoned its longstanding policy of military nonalignment to support Ukraine after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, is part of a coalition of 11 Western countries together with Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and the United Kingdom that pledged last month to train Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16s. On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces continue to advance in the areas near the southern cities of Melitopol and Berdyansk, the military said on August 19, adding that during the day Ukrainian forces fought a total of 26 clashes along the front line. The General Staff's evening summary said Russian forces carried out five missile and 44 air strikes and 17 attacks from rocket salvo systems on troop positions and populated areas. The push toward the Russian-occupied strategic city of Melitopol is part of Ukrainian forces' attempt to cut off Russia's land bridge to Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. It comes as a U.S. intelligence report quoted by The Washington Post assessed that Ukrainian forces do not appear likely to reach and retake Melitopol during the ongoing counteroffensive. Russia controls nearly a fifth of Ukraine, including the Crimean Peninsula, most of the Luhansk region, and large tracts of the regions of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson. The Russia-installed head of the military in Kharkiv, Vitaly Ganchev, said on Russian television on August 19 that the number of communities Russia controls in the Kharkiv region had grown by five and now totals 33. "The front line is slowly moving toward Kharkiv. Our troops are approaching the suburbs of Kupyansk," he said. It is not possible for RFE/RL to verify either side's claims of battlefield success. With reporting by Reuters and AFP Crimea is facing a shortage of gasoline after Ukraine last month bombed the only bridge connecting the Russian-controlled peninsula to Russia. Gasoline stations in Crimea have at times run out of the oil product over the past month, residents have told RFE/RL. 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. One of the leading gasoline chains in Criema sent clients a text message last week urging them to stock up on the product amid concerns about a shortfall, residents said. Russia, one of the worlds largest produces of oil products, has been supplying the peninsula with gasoline and other oil products via rail across the $4 billion Crimean bridge opened in 2018. Ukraines armed forces on July 17 struck the bridge for the second time since Russia launched its full-scale invasion last year. The strike forced Russia to halt oil product shipments by rail. The bridge has become a key Ukrainian target as it tries to drive Russian forces from its territory, including Crimea. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Oil products are now delivered via a slow ferry crossing that can only take place during the day. Local residents have taken to social media to complain about the lack of gasoline. There is no 95 [octane] for the third day in a row, especially at Atan [gasoline station chain], one resident posted on a Sevastopol community page on Vkontake, a Russian social network. Following the July 17 bombing, Russian-installed Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev tried to calm residents, assuring them there wont be a deficit and said there was no need to stock up. Misha, whats up with gasoline? one resident wrote last week under Razvozhaevs Telegram channel, using the diminutive form of the governors first name in a sign of their displeasure. Do tankers only ship [Russian oil products] overseas?" Some residents said gasoline can be found if you look for it. If some cases you need a ration card to fill up. There is no gasoline at some gas stations. But there are plenty of those where it is sold freely. So you can find it when you need to fill up. I've filled up a full tank, and I only drive when its important business, one resident told RFE/RL. There is gasoline, but you need a ration card. When I hear this, I feel that we have stepped 35 years into the past when you could only get sausage with a ration card, Nadezhda Golovanova wrote on a Sevastopol social media page, referring to food deficits during the Perestroika years. WATCH: A section of the Crimea bridge was damaged by a deadly explosion last month. Moscow said two people were killed and a child was injured in the blast that it blamed on Ukrainian maritime drones. Ukraine has sought to make life in Crimea untenable for Russia in an attempt to regain control of the peninsula. With the receipt of new Western weapons and the development of indigenous ones, including drones, it has been making progress with that goal. Kyiv has stepped up its targeting of Crimea in recent months and is also trying to cut off the land bridge from Russia to Crimea through the Donesk region with its latest counteroffensive. Ukraine has recently hit two bridges connecting Crimea to Ukrainian territory under Russian control. Ukrainian military officials say the situation with supplies for residents will only get worse as Russia will need to prioritize deliveries to its military on Crimea. Oleksandr Khmelevskiy, an independent expert, told RFE/RL that this could lead to social unrest, putting pressure on Moscow. If the economic situation deteriorates significantly, support for the war from the population will decrease significantly. The further it goes, the more difficult it will be to explain to the population what Russia is fighting for, what this war was required for, he said. Etihad Airways, the UAEs national airline, has revealed a video showcasing behind-the-scenes of its electrifying skydiving orchestra stunt in celebration of its collaboration with Paramount Pictures. The stunt, watched by millions on the airlines social media channels, was released to celebrate the worldwide launch of Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One. In the adrenaline-fuelled video, Etihad Airways performed a stunt that had never been done before. Etihad put together a skydiving orchestra, who could play the instantly recognisable Mission: Impossible theme song while falling 13,000 feet at 120 mph through the air. How the mission was completed To pull it off, Etihad Airways, together with their advertising agency Impact BBDO, had to to find talented musicians who are also skilled skydivers. The stunt took weeks of preparation. Each skydiver was given their part of music to practise and learn by heart, which they needed to be able to play perfectly despite the wild environment while skydiving. In addition, custom rigging was made for each instrument to ensure the skydivers could safely play and pull their parachute when the time came. A professional skydiving cinematographer jumped with them each time to capture it all, including group shots where each instrument affected the rate at which they fell. Throughout the process, safety was always the number one priority. The hours of practice and preparation paid off. Etihad was able to create an impossible orchestra of their own and highlight to the world that Etihad is an airline that pushes boundaries and makes it their mission to deliver incredible experiences and hospitality to its guests, said the airline. Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One was written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, and is now available to watch in cinemas across the globe. Key parts of the movie were filmed at Abu Dhabi International Airports Midfield Terminal, with one of the most thrilling and technically complex action scenes taking place on the buildings 315-metre roof. The stunt video is available to view here: https://youtu.be/_tJeuuwkj04 - TradeArabia News Service ASTANA, Kazakhstan, August 10. The Ministry of Industry and Infrastructure Development of Kazakhstan has announced plans to improve the infrastructure for electric vehicles, Trend reports. An ambitious project to develop the network of electric stations in the nation's major towns and along the Almaty-Astana route has already been implemented by JSC Zhasyl Damu. According to the most recent data, there are presently 51 electric vehicle charging stations in Astana, 52 in Almaty, Pavlodar, and Aktau, as well as one charging station in each city along the Astana-Shchuchinsk route. In addition, there are several privately owned electric stations in Kazakhstan that were built by people and businesses. Moreover, there are also ultra-fast charging stations. The Talan Towers complex, for example, in the capital has six Tesla Supercharger stations. TURKMENBASHI, Turkmenistan -- At the start of this week, hundreds of mostly women protesters faced off with the mayor of Turkmenbashi in what appeared to be the largest rally to date over the breakdown of Turkmenistan's subsidized food system. As they demonstrated, President Serdar Berdymukhammedov and other top officials were in luxury hotels some 15 kilometers away at a Caspian Sea resort where government employees are strongly advised to take their summer holidays. According to an RFE/RL Turkmen Service correspondent who witnessed the August 7 demonstration, city officials initially told protesters that Mayor Amangeldy Isaev was away on business. It was only when the protesters suggested they would march to the Avaza resort where Berdymukhammedov was resting that Isaev suddenly emerged, visibly distressed, promising fresh supplies of subsidized food in the coming weeks. The incident -- an extraordinary event in authoritarian Turkmenistan, where no dissent is tolerated -- is just one of a number of recent events that point to a summer of hell for residents of one of the world's most isolated and repressive states. In any other country suffering such a protracted economic crisis, citizens would be streaming for the exits. And that is true of Turkmenistan, too. But in a state where authorities appear to view migration as an existential security threat, leaving the country is getting ever harder and more expensive. Growing Protests Over Subsidized Food The seemingly spontaneous gathering outside Turkmenbashi city hall is likely the largest of its kind to take place in Turkmenistan in many years. But smaller outpourings of anger over shortages of ultra-subsidized foodstuffs are becoming more common. Officials seem to have decided that living standards in Turkmenistan have risen to the point that the poor can now pay commercial prices for goods like flour, eliminating the need for the two-tier food system that the authorities and Turkmen consumers have relied on for so long. But Turkmen are showing they disagree with that development. An RFE/RL correspondent reported this week that villagers in the southeastern Mary Province -- the opposite side of the country from Turkmenbashi -- have been unable to secure their 5-kilogram monthly allowances of subsidized flour since the spring. "If the flour is not for sale, we are forced to buy it at commercial prices. Although the quality of flour in state stores is low, we accept it because we simply cannot afford to buy flour at 300 manats per bag," a resident in a village in Mary Province told the correspondent. A cost of 300 manats per bag is equal to six manats or $1.70 per kilo at official rates. The manat's black-market value, however, is many times lower than the official rate, making the poor-quality flour distributed at a quarter of that price effectively a government handout. That so many Turkmen require the ultra-subsidized food is an indicator of how far purchasing power has fallen in the last decade or so, when a combination of a crash in energy prices and Russia's decision to cease purchases of Turkmen natural gas left the government with a balance-of-payments crisis. Macroeconomic fundamentals would appear better these days for a country that relies on hydrocarbon sales for the vast majority of its income. But living standards still don't seem to have improved. In June -- again in Turkmenbashi -- RFE/RL's Turkmen Service heard of a protest that saw locals attack a state shop over the nondelivery of flour that was due to arrive in February. Water Struggles, Power Shortages Searing summers are to be expected in desert-filled Turkmenistan, and they have only gotten hotter in the last few years, with thermometers across the country regularly showing temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius in recent weeks. This summer has been especially bad for water shortages, meanwhile, with the Amu Darya River running visibly lower than in previous years. Earlier this week, RFE/RL's Turkmen Service reported on conflicts between farmers over irrigation water in the eastern Lebap Province, an important agricultural center where rice and cotton are grown. With local officials apparently uninterested in the problem, local rice farmers have taken to investing their own resources in equipment to drain water from the river. This approach has often resulted in more of the precious water being wasted. In addition to blaming each other, farmers in Lebap's Charzhev district who spoke to RFE/RL blamed officials for what they said was the careless uprooting of trees in the area this winter. City life is only mildly less desperate. In the capital, Ashgabat, the grid has been unable to meet rising demand during the heat wave. An RFE/RL correspondent said apartments in the city are often without power for hours at a time in the evenings, as residents return from work hoping to turn on fans and air conditioners. As soon as the city's power grid is able to provide electricity to one apartment block, the lights go out in the one apartment opposite, the correspondent observed, noting that residents had taken to wearing damp towels over their heads to cool down. The government, as usual, has not explained the lack of power. But experts familiar with the sector who spoke to RFE/RL's Turkmen Service on condition of anonymity say the fault is likely due to the Soviet-era Buzmeyin power plant outside the city operating far below full capacity. One of the experts said the government had still not found the money to import the necessary parts needed to service the U.S.-manufactured gas turbines that Buzmeyin uses. Blocking Off The Exits It has been 20 years since The Economist declared Turkmenistan the world's worst place to live -- an "unwanted prize" that the magazine occasionally bestows on countries after consultation with its large team of researchers. At the time, the country was led by autocrat Saparmurat Niyazov, who styled himself Turkmenbashi, or "Father of the Turkmen." His death brought former health minister and career dentist Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov to power, but virtually no notable changes to the system. Berdymukhammedov stepped down last year, allowing son Serdar to take the hot seat. Yet it is the older Berdymukhammedov who wields the most power, as reflected in his new "leader of the nation" title. Traditionally, migration to Turkey has been an escape route for Turkmen seeking to improve their lives. Yet that opportunity has faded somewhat after Ankara canceled its visa waiver for Turkmen nationals at Ashgabat's request last year. On August 7, the Bulgarian-based Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights reported that nearly 1,000 Turkmen citizens were bound for Turkmenistan on deportation flights after Turkish authorities "stepped up operations" to detain illegal Turkmen migrants. A statement by the foundation, detailing at least one such flight on August 5, confirmed earlier reporting by RFE/RL's Turkmen Service about imminent deportations from Turkey, where some mostly young Turkmen have engaged in activism against the Turkmen government. According to the latest Turkish government data from July, just more than 208,000 Turkmen were residing in the country, about 20,000 less than in September 2022, when the visa waiver was canceled. In the meantime, waiting times for international passports -- which can only be received in Turkmenistan -- are getting longer. Although citizens can bypass queues of six months or more by paying for a 20-day express service, these services cost up to $750, according to sources who spoke to RFE/RL. That is well beyond the reach of most citizens in a country where a typical monthly salary for a state employee may be about $400. And even for those with up-to-date passports with fresh Turkish visas inside them, there is still no guarantee of leaving the country. In one incident earlier this month, some 40 of 150 passengers with tickets for a plane from Ashgabat to Istanbul were arbitrarily prevented from boarding, a source on the flight told RFE/RL's Turkmen Service. Among them was a resident of Lebap Province, who said he had recently finished military service and was hoping to find a job in Turkey. A source at Ashgabat airport told RFE/RL's Turkmen Service that passengers over the age of 45 are usually allowed to fly -- as well as citizens who have previously visited Turkey and returned after short-term stays. As usual, the government has offered no comment on these restrictions. Written by Chris Rickleton in Almaty based on reporting by RFE/RK's Turkmen Service TWO me, TWO you a local legend and one half of the Chuckle Brothers is returning to Gulliver's Valley to mark two years since the opening of Chuckle Street. Paul, who opened Chuckle Street at the family attraction in 2021, is set to make a welcome return to Rotherham to meet fans on Wednesday, August 16, at 1.30pm. His fellow Chuckle Brother fellow Rotherham comic Barry Elliot passed away five years ago this month. The duo's highly-popular ChuckleVision children's television series ran from 1987 to 2009, with the comedy siblings often using their to me, to you catchphrase in the near 300 episodes that were broadcast. Paul said: I cant believe it is two years since I opened the fantastic Chuckle Street a great celebration of mine and Barrys journey through our Chuckle careers. Im immensely proud that Gullivers Valley created the street of photos, bringing back some great memories and hosting a place in Rotherham that celebrates that history. The indoor area tells the story of how the brothers also known for their support of Rotherham United became one of the countrys most-loved double acts. Paul added: Im looking forward to meeting families on the day, who are enjoying a day out at this amazing theme park, right on their doorstep in my home town of Rotherham. Gullivers Valley is the fourth and newest Gullivers resort in the UK and recently celebrated its third anniversary. Julie Dalton, managing director at the family-run Gullivers Theme Parks and Resorts said: We cant wait to welcome Paul back to Gullivers Valley. Not only is he a Rotherham legend but our family audience love to see him at the park. We hope that lots of people will come along on the day and celebrate two years of Chuckle Street. For more information and to book tickets, visit www.gulliversvalleyresort.co.uk A CARE village, which has three homes on its site in Rotherham, is celebrating success after being recognised with two prestigious accolades. Moorgate Care Village's Moorgate Croft has become one of the first services in the country to achieve the British Standard for Adult Residential Care. The home based at Nightingale Close along with Moorgate Lodge and Moorgate Hollow was inspected by Care Inspections UK, the UKs only registered and accredited care home inspection body, and was awarded a certificate of compliance. The British Standard BS8606:2019 specifies requirements for the provision of care for adults requiring support, personal, nursing, and/or specialist care within a residential setting. Meanwhile Moorgate Hollow has been rated one of the top 20 care homes in Yorkshire and the Humber on review site Carehome.co.uk for the third consecutive year. The ranking is based on scores compiled from reviews from residents as well as their family and friends. Chris Lane, a director at Park Lane Healthcare which operates the care village, said: Were delighted that the Moorgate services are doing so well in terms of resident and family reviews and objective, independent assessment. All three services are rated good by the Care Quality Commission and have high ratings on Carehome.co.uk. It is a testament to the hard work of the staff, particularly the managers, that these excellent standards are maintained year after year. I am particularly proud that Moorgate Croft has become one of the first services in the UK to be recognised as compliant with BS8606:2019. Our standards are an essential part of the care we give, and to be independently accredited against this demonstrates how seriously we take this at all levels within our organisation. Kevin Groombridge, chief executive of Care Inspections UK, said: Maintaining excellent standards is key to homes providing safe and appropriate care to its residents. The team at Moorgate Croft were welcoming to our inspectors, demonstrated the standards required to attain BS8606:2019, and took on board any constructive feedback we provided. We hope to return to the site soon to look at accreditation for Moorgate Lodge and Moorgate Hollow. Himachal Pradesh Kuldeep Singh's house was tragically buried under a mound of debris SHIMLA: A Devastating cloudburst in the picturesque district of Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh, has left a trail of destruction in its wake, with reports indicating that five members of a single family are missing. This grim news was confirmed by local officials, who are currently leading rescue operations in the affected area. The cloudburst, which occurred on Thursday, has led to a sharp rise in the water level of the Giri river, a significant tributary of the Yamuna. The overflowing river has breached its banks, causing water to inundate nearby residential areas. The scale of destruction caused by the cloudburst in Sirmaur is reported to be extensive. Advertisement Kuldeep Singh's house was tragically buried under a mound of debris, raising concerns that individuals might be trapped within the wreckage. In response to this calamity, approximately 70 families have evacuated their homes and sought refuge in safer locations along the national highway, seeking protection from the relentless forces of nature. In a remarkable display of solidarity and community strength, local residents initiated rescue operations even before official help arrived. Sub Divisional Magistrate G.S. Cheema informed us that rescue efforts are being hindered by falling debris, causing delays in providing crucial relief to the affected village. Punjab Police's Action Further investigation in the matter is ongoing AMRITSAR: In a significant win against the ongoing battle with narcotics, the Punjab Police successfully apprehended three individuals in Amritsar, confiscating a staggering 12 kilograms of heroin in a high-stakes anti-narcotics operation. Punjab's Director General of Police (DGP), Gaurav Yadav, disclosed this breakthrough, highlighting the invaluable role of intelligence in orchestrating the operation. In an intelligence-based operation @AmritsarRPolice has recovered 12 Kg Heroin and arrested 3 accused. Accused were on their way to deliver the consignment. The accused have been in touch with #Pakistan based smugglers. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/OBfFdFDqYN Advertisement August 10, 2023 Acting swiftly on the intelligence gathered, the Amritsar rural police successfully tracked down and arrested the three accused, who were found to be in possession of the substantial consignment of heroin. The street value of the seized heroin is estimated at Rs 84 crore. Further details reveal that the arrested individuals were reportedly on the brink of delivering this significant heroin consignment, with connections to smugglers operating out of Pakistan. As a response to this alarming situation, an FIR under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act has been officially registered at the Lopoke police station. Singapore will on Friday release Q2 data for gross domestic product, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. GDP is expected to rise 0.3 percent on quarter and 0.7 percent on year after slipping 0.4 percent on quarter and gaining 0.4 percent on year in the previous quarter. New Zealand will see July results for the manufacturing PMI from BusinessNZ, with forecasts suggesting a score of 49.4, up from 47.5 in June. Malaysia will provide Q2 numbers for GDP and current account; in the three months prior, GDP was up 5.6 percent on year, while the current account surplus was $4.30 billion. Hong Kong will release Q2 figures for GDP; in the previous three months, GDP was up 5.3 percent on quarter and 2.9 percent on year. Finally, the in Japan are closed for Mountain Day and will return to action on Monday. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. During the spring 2023 semester, U.S. college students reported experiencing high levels of worry and stress, according to a recent poll by Gallup. 76 percent of U.S. college students reported experiencing enjoyment during much of the prior day. However, majorities also said they felt stress (66 percent) and worry (51 percent). In addition, 39 percent said they endured loneliness and 36 percent said they felt sadness the previous day. These results are based on a Gallup web survey conducted between March 13 and 30 among 2,430 students pursuing their bachelor's degree at a four-year U.S. institution. Female undergraduates, who represent the majority of currently enrolled U.S. college students, are more likely than their male peers to report experiencing negative daily emotions. Among all emotions evaluated, the greatest differences between male and female students are in the areas of worry and stress. Approximately three-quarters of female students report experiencing stress a lot of the prior day, compared with 56 percent of male students. Likewise, 56 percent of female students report experiencing worry the prior day, compared with 40 percent of their male peers. Feelings of sadness are also much higher among female college students, and female students are less likely than male students to report experiencing enjoyment, the poll found. Gallup research indicates Americans' assessments of their mental reached an all-time low in the winter of 2022. Unfortunately, high levels of negative daily emotions among college students are consistent with results from the Lumina Foundation-Gallup State of Higher Education 2022 study, which found emotional stress was a major reason currently enrolled students considered stopping out in the fall of 2022. Feelings of stress, worry, loneliness and sadness have challenged higher education institutions in the years since the Covid-19 pandemic began, and they are likely to continue into the fall of 2023, Gallup says. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News [L-R] Vice-Chancellor Professor Sizwe Mabizela; Professor Adrienne Edkins; Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic and Student Affairs, Professor 'Mabokang Monnapula-Mapesela. [PIC CREDIT: Siviwe Mxuma] By Bukamuso Sebata In keeping with its cherished tradition, the Rhodes University community gathered to attend the Inaugural Lecture of Professor Adrienne Edkins. This time-honoured ritual accompanies the University's recognition of an academic's elevation to the esteemed rank of full professor. Rhodes University Vice-Chancellor Professor Sizwe Mabizela gave the welcoming speech, highlighting Prof Edkins' achievements throughout her career, with the birth of her daughter being her proudest achievement. Her academic journey commenced with postgraduate studies at Rhodes University, followed by a Beit International Fellowship at King's College London and a Wellcome Trust PhD fellowship at Glasgow University. Returning to Rhodes University for postdoctoral research, she joined the Biomedical Biotechnology Research Unit (BioBRU). Prof Edkins' ascent included roles from contract lecturer to senior lecturer, associate professor, and her current esteemed position as a full professor. Notable accolades include the DST South African Women in Science Award, Vice-Chancellor's Distinguished Research Medal, and prestigious positions within scientific societies. She has guided numerous PhD and MSc students, engaged in community initiatives, and remains dedicated to academic excellence and science education at Rhodes University. In a captivating inaugural lecture titled "Protein origami and human disease: form, function, and the shape of things to come," Professor Edkins sheds light on the fascinating world of proteins and their critical role in cellular functions and human health. Proteins, often referred to as the workhorses of the cell, orchestrate a multitude of essential processes that underpin life itself. However, the journey of proteins from linear strings of amino acids to functional, three-dimensional shapes is a remarkable feat that unfolds within milliseconds. This folding process occurs in a complex and crowded environment, where proteins must not only attain their correct shapes but also maintain them over time and adapt to changing conditions. Professor Edkins likened protein folding to the intricate art of origami, where the slightest misstep can lead to dramatic consequences. Misfolded proteins can trigger biological transformations that disrupt normal cellular functions, comparable to the changes observed when an egg is boiled. Such misfolding can lead to diseases that compromise human health. To maintain the delicate balance of protein folding, cells possess genetic mechanisms known as chaperones. These molecular assistants ensure newly-formed proteins achieve mature configurations and guide them back to proper shapes during stress. Like social chaperones, they monitor protein behaviour, prevent unwanted reactions, and play a critical role in preventing disease. The lecture also delved into the broader context of cellular biology and biochemistry. The human body comprises approximately 30 billion cells, each with about 42 million distinct proteins. These proteins serve as the driving force behind numerous cellular functions, effectively differentiating various cell types and enabling specialisation for specific tasks. While DNA has garnered significant attention for its role in life's blueprint, RNA has recently gained prominence, particularly in the development of RNA-based COVID-19 vaccines. Yet, Professor Edkins emphasised that proteins, with their intricate structures and functions, hold the true key to unlocking cellular mysteries. The challenges proteins face extend beyond their numbers and functions. At their core, all proteins begin as linear chains of amino acids. Their ultimate functionality, however, hinges on their ability to fold into precise, three-dimensional shapes. This folding process, while essential, renders proteins vulnerable to various factors, including environmental changes and mutations, which can lead to misfolding and aggregation. Professor Edkins drew parallels between protein folding and everyday experiences, such as the transformation of egg white proteins when exposed to heat. Through meticulous processes, researchers can reverse the aggregation process, "uncooking" proteins and restoring them to their original states. The implications of understanding protein-folding reach far beyond the realm of scientific discovery. Professor Edkins and her team are actively exploring how misfolded proteins contribute to diseases, aiming to identify potential treatments based on the knowledge of chaperones' roles. The pursuit of innovative solutions also involves a two-pronged approach fundamental scientific research and drug discovery. This approach aligns with the evolving landscape of drug development, which now encompasses genetic and gene therapy techniques alongside traditional pharmaceutical interventions. Professor Edkins highlighted ground-breaking advancements like CAR-T therapy for cancer treatment and gene therapies targeting conditions like muscular dystrophy. In closing, Professor Edkins underscored the significance of proteins in unravelling cellular complexities and advancing medical solutions. By employing genetic tools and innovative methods, her research illuminates the intricate world of proteins, from their origami-like folding to their dynamic behaviours and implications for health. The lecture not only celebrated Professor Edkins' illustrious achievements but also provided a glimpse into the future of scientific exploration. As the field of cellular biology continues to evolve, driven by advancements in genetic understanding and cutting-edge interventions, the potential to transform the landscape of disease treatment becomes increasingly promising. Professor Edkins' pioneering work exemplifies the power of interdisciplinary research and its profound impact on our understanding of life's building blocks. Former Eskom Group Chief Executive Officer, Matshela Koko. By Matimu Shivambu The Rhodes University Political and International Studies Department successfully hosted its annual Teach-In lecture series, a significant event on the academic calendar since 2002. This year's series, "Energy is the Life-blood of Development: Perspectives on the South African Energy Crisis", took place over lunch and spanned an hour, inviting students and the wider Rhodes community to participate actively. The Teach-In lecture series is designed to draw attention to critical issues of public concern, engaging diverse perspectives from experts to foster informed and rigorous discussions. The choice of the 2023 theme "Energy is the Life-blood of Development" was a response to the pressing matter of load-shedding, which has emerged as a significant and recurring issue impacting daily lives and academic endeavours in South Africa. The series' objective was fourfold; historicise and contextualise the South African energy crisis, provide a comprehensive overview of the current State of Eskom, formulate informed solutions and explore Alternative energy solutions. The esteemed guest speakers invited to the 2023 Teach-In Lecture Series included: Sibusiso Nkomo: an external partnerships manager at Afrobarometer. Nkomo brought his extensive knowledge and expertise in public opinion research and data analysis to shed light on the various factors that contribute to the energy crisis. Matshela Koko: renowned as Eskom's former Interim Group Chief Executive Officer and currently serving as the Managing Director of Matshela Energy, Koko's insights into the Eskom Power Crisis were invaluable in understanding the challenges faced by the national utility company. Sikonathi Mantshantsha: An award-winning financial journalist and former deputy editor of Financial Mail, Mantshantsha provided a unique perspective on the energy crisis, having previously served as Eskom's spokesperson. Dr Cambray: with experience as the managing director of Makana Meadery in Makhanda, Dr Cambray brought a local perspective to the discussions, emphasising the impact of the energy crisis on businesses and communities. In his thought-provoking presentation, Nkomo highlighted that the energy crisis is not merely a result of technical or infrastructural challenges but is deeply rooted in systemic governance issues. Corruption and inefficiency in the energy sector have significantly contributed to the country's electricity woes. Nkomo's argument resonated with many attendees, as the impact of corruption on the energy sector has been a contentious topic in the public discourse for years. Misappropriation of funds, embezzlement, and unethical practices have hindered the proper functioning of energy institutions and have resulted in a lack of necessary investments and maintenance. Furthermore, Nkomo pointed out that corruption within the energy sector has compromised transparency and accountability. This lack of transparency exacerbates the crisis and erodes public trust in energy institutions and the government's ability to address the issue effectively. Matshela Koko, the former Interim Group Chief Executive Officer of Eskom, argued that load-shedding had weakened the State and made it significantly vulnerable. He emphasised that the issue of load-shedding is primarily a leadership problem rather than a technological one. By highlighting this, Koko sought to shift the focus from technical shortcomings to the decisions and actions taken by those in leadership positions. The speaker stated that President Mbeki should not be blamed for the load-shedding predicament, indicating that the energy crisis is a complex issue that cannot be attributed to a single administration but to systemic problems that have persisted over time. Koko then proposed solutions to end load-shedding, outlining a significant performance transformation journey for the energy sector. His suggested approach included being customer-centric, building a capable workforce and improving operations. Mantshantsha pointed out that the African National Congress (ANC) government should bear responsibility for the ongoing load-shedding predicament. He argued that years of mismanagement, lack of strategic planning, and failure to address governance issues within state-owned entities like Eskom have contributed significantly to the crisis. On the other hand, Dr Cambray presented a different angle, emphasising the importance of exploring alternative electricity generation methods. As the managing director of Makana Meadery, he likely drew from his expertise in sustainable energy practices to advocate for diversifying the energy mix. The 2023 Teach-In Lecture Series will undoubtedly impact Rhodes University's academic community and the wider public, encouraging ongoing discussions and collaborations to find sustainable solutions to the South African energy crisis. In closing, the Head of the Political and International Studies Department (HOD), Prof Siphokazi Magadla, expressed her heartfelt appreciation to all the guest speakers and students who participated in the event. Prof. Magadla highlighted that the lecture series exceeded expectations, generating thought-provoking discussions beyond technicalities and delving into systemic issues, including governance, leadership, and sustainability. She also praised the students' active participation and curiosity throughout the Teach-In. Although such cases are rare, the one at the receiving end is bound to experience a lot of anger and frustration When things dont work out as expected after taking delivery of a car, the trust that one has in the brand is deeply shaken. A Tata Nexon EV owner in Ahmedabad had to go through a similar experience recently. As the matter has not been resolved as per the expectations of the owner, he has shared his experience on his Twitter handle. Hopefully, all stakeholders should be able to come to an agreeable solution in the coming days. Nexon EV breaks down after delivery According to the owner, he had taken delivery of Tata Nexon EV from Progressive Cars in Ahmedabad on July 14, 2023. The owner has mentioned the time of delivery at 1:30 PM. After taking delivery, the owner drove the car for around 15 to 20 km. At around 11 PM on the same day of delivery, the vehicle experienced a breakdown. The owner has posted an image of the cars instrument console, which shows a Critical Alert notification. The message also asks the user to contact the service centre. This sudden breakdown was surprising, as the battery indicator was still showing an available range of 201 km. The notification did not provide any more details. As there was nothing the owner could do to fix the issue, the car had to be towed to the car dealer workshop. The next day, the dealer informed them that they had identified and fixed the issue. The problem was with the PSA, which had to be replaced. Owner demanding new car or full refund Although the problem has been fixed, the owner does not want to keep the car anymore. He has stated that he does not want to drive a car that developed problems in just 10-11 hours after taking delivery. For the owner, it is more of a psychological issue than anything else. It happens when ones expectations are shattered. The Tata dealership had tried to assure the owner that there is no longer any issue with the car. They even offered extra perks and benefits and requested the owner to take delivery. But the owner has refused such offers and insists on a new car or full refund. As of now, the car is parked at the dealership and waiting for the owner to take delivery. It appears to be a stalemate, even after more than 20 days of the breakdown incident. Tata Nexon EV comes with 8 years / 1.6 lakh km of battery and motor warranty. This is good enough to ensure complete peace of mind for users. It remains to be seen how things work out in this case. It will be tough for the dealership to provide a new car or issue a refund, as the delivered car will then instantly become a second-hand car. Users can probably look at the bigger picture and ignore small issues and obstacles that may come along the way. Carlsbads first two full-time park rangers will patrol the citys preserves, trails, lagoons and beaches seven days a week in a pilot program beginning July 1. The city has 27 parks, nearly 50 miles of trails and hundreds of acres of open space, much of it covered by three lagoons and a few large nature preserves. Our trails are a great asset but also a frequent liability, said Councilman Michael Schumacher, before the City Councils 5-0 vote Tuesday to approve the program. Advertisement Off-road vehicles, transient camps, trespassing, off-leash dogs and trash dumping are recurring problems, said police Capt. Mickey Williams. Vandalism, loud parties and drug use also are sometimes reported. The provisional rangers will have limited powers of enforcement, including the ability to issue citations for some minor violations. Most other North County cities leave their parks enforcement to police officers, although a few have live-in caretakers at some of the larger parks. San Marcos, which has more parks than most cities in the area, has live-in employees at eight site, but those jobs are geared more toward maintenance than enforcement. Carlsbad has one live-in caretaker, an employee at the Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park. Vista has one at its Sportspark. Another reason for Carlsbads rangers is the March 14 settlement of a general plan lawsuit, which required the City Council to consider though not necessarily approve the pilot program. That settlement also specified that the city create a new passive-use park at the long-empty Buena Vista Reservoir in the Olde Carlsbad neighborhood and set aside additional open space, paving the way for the Poinsettia 61 residential development along Poinsettia Lane. The Carlsbad rangers will wear a distinct uniform different from a police officers uniform, and will drive a marked Carlsbad Police Department 4-by-4 patrol vehicle to access off-road areas. They will be unarmed, and will be supervised by police sergeants and managed by police lieutenants, according to a city staff report. They will carry a police radio, handcuffs, pepper spray and a Taser and will wear a ballistic vest. Candidates for the job would be required to undergo a police background check including psychological and polygraph investigations. Salaries for the rangers will cost the city a maximum of $235,600 annually, of which the San Diego Association of Governments has agreed to pay $98,280. The city also has budgeted $65,000 for the 4-by-4 vehicle and an on-board computer, and $6,668 per ranger for uniforms and equipment. After nine months, the Police Department will review the pilot program and recommend to the City Council whether it should be made permanent. Carlsbad currently patrols its preserves and trails a few hours a week with officers from its traffic division riding off-road motorcycles. The city also contracts with a private security company to patrol four of its preserves. However, those employees must call city police officers for any enforcement actions. philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @phildiehl An assistant pastor at a large Carlsbad church was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of multiple counts of molesting a child over the past year, sheriffs officials said. Matt Tague, 43, was arrested Wednesday, after calling sheriffs investigators Monday to report the crime himself, said Sheriffs Lt. Karen Stubkjaer. North Coast Calvary Chapel, where Tague had worked until this week, issued a statement saying church staffers had also reported the allegation to law enforcement Monday immediately after learning about it. Advertisement The alleged crimes were unrelated to Tagues duties at the church and didnt occur there, church and sheriffs officials said. Tague, a San Marcos resident, was jailed on suspicion of 16 counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 years old, according to online jail records. His bail was set at $1.9 million. We are utterly heartbroken by these events, the church said in its statement. Stubkjaer said detectives have no indication there are additional victims. Tague had been a family pastor at North Coast Calvary, as well as a pastor for the churchs ministry to people aged 30 to 40. A biography previously posted on the church website said he has been married for 20 years and that he and his wife have six children. Stubkjaer said sheriffs department is handling the case because the alleged incidents took place within the departments jurisdiction. She declined to provide any further details. There is still a lot of investigation to be done, and I cannot elaborate at this point, Stubkjaer said. In the statement, church officials said they have strict requirements and procedures in place for hiring pastors and staff, including professional background checks and exhaustive interviews, and that Tague had no prior record of arrest or criminal charges. North Coast Calvary Chapel is one of the largest churches in Carlsbad, with several thousand people typically attending its weekend services. The full text of the churchs statement is as follows: We are deeply grieved to share that early this week we learned that a pastor at North Coast Calvary Chapel, Matthew Tague, was reported to have acted inappropriately with a minor, off church property, and outside of church ministry activities. When our staff learned of the allegations, we immediately reported the accusation to our Sheriffs Department and terminated Mr. Tagues employment. On Wednesday May 31, Mr. Tague was arrested on suspicion of the offense. The investigation of the accusation is now in the hands of law enforcement. We ask you to please pray for the victim, as well as the family involved in this tragic matter. Please pray for law enforcement as they determine the facts. We also ask you to pray for justice and restorative healing to take place for all involved. We are utterly heartbroken by these events. We have strict requirements and procedures in place for hiring pastors and staff including professional background checks and exhaustive interviews. In this case, Mr. Tague had no previous record of arrest or criminal charges. It goes without saying that we are cooperating fully with law enforcement. As we as a church family process this tragic event, we know that you will have questions. Please meet with our pastors, all of whom will make themselves available to you, or contact Executive Pastor, Bob Mackenzie: bob@northcoastcalvary.org; 760-929-0029 ext. 104. teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT If there has been one watch in the WorldTempus safe this summer that the team couldnt keep their hands off of, it was this one This Louis Vuitton Tambour Street Diver Chronograph turned up in the WorldTempus office in June, ready for adventures in Greece on our WorldTempus on Tour week. The Aegean Sea was the perfect place to test the watch in its natural environment as we had lots of water toys to play with, including a Solaris 60 high-performance sailboat, a windsurf foil, and snorkelling equipment galore. From the WorldTempus team to the Skippers crew (our sister magazine dedicated to sailing), this was the watch that everyone wanted to try on in the water. Windsurf foil with the Tambour Street Diver Chronograph Christopher Shand for WorldTempus The Story Behind the Tambour The Tambour was first unveiled in 2002 and for over 20 years now, it has been interpreted in a myriad of ways. The Tambour chronograph diving version, however, didnt arrive until 2021, even if Louis Vuitton had been no stranger to the world of diving watches before. Called the Street Diver, it brought all the elegance and design elements of the Tambour line to a sporty, performance diving chronograph and the world loved it, from the beachgoers on the Cote dAzur right up to the Academy members of the Grand Prix dHorlogerie de Geneve (GPHG), who awarded it with the prize for best diving watch in 2021. Tambour Street Diver Chronograph Louis Vuitton The New Street Diver The Tambour collection had already become an iconic travel line with its strong aesthetic codes and colours and sculptural case shape, but the Street Diver took this one step further by harmoniously integrating a chronograph function into the design. Powered by an automatic movement with a new architecture that includes two pushers on either side of the crown, and an additional crown between 10h and 11h to set the unidirectional inner bezel, it was a winner all round. Tambour Street Diver Chronograph Christopher Shand for WorldTempus The timepiece is housed in a 46mm, 100m water-resistant, stainless-steel case with micro-blasted blue PVD and comes with a Skyline Blue aesthetic that is on both the dial and the interchangeable rubber strap. It provides a sporty look with a performance at the highest level and was the watch that I had the most difficulty keeping track of in our Greek testing diary as the whole team wanted to get it wet. Even back in Geneva, it was requested for a whole host of lake-based activities. In addition to the Skyline Blue version, there is also a black PVD version with yellow accents, which perhaps better suits the name Street Diver as it looks slightly more urban that the blue version. Perhaps Louis Vuitton should rename the blue one to the Sea Diver or Marine Diver or even Take a Splash Diver because I think this watch spent more time in the water than it did out of it! 150 religious figures and muftis from 85 nations are expected to gather at an Islamic conference that Saudi Arabia will hold in Makkah to encourage moderation. The conference, scheduled for August 13th14th, was granted royal approval by King Salman of Saudi Arabia. Through seven panel discussions, participants will examine issues related to extremism and terrorism as well as encourage tolerance and intercultural harmony. According to SPA, the two-day conference is being organized by the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah, and Guidance and aims to connect scholars and religious organizations from around the world while highlighting their contribution to promoting Muslim unity, combating extremist ideologies, and reducing violence. Back in 2022, marketers of the movie "Barbie" directed by Greta Gerwig fueled people's interest in the iconic doll and her infantile style. According to The Lyst Index, online searches for the pink outfit rose 416% during the ad campaign. And after the movie premieres in 2023, that number is only growing. ADVERTISIMENT Is it only now that Barbie is back in the trends? No. Some of the famous models popularized the character even before it became mainstream. With the help of makeup, plastic surgery and doll clothes. More details - in the material OBOZREVATEL. Vanilla Chamu Model from Japan Vanilla Chamu became famous thanks to the transformation into a "French porcelain doll" with huge eyes, long eyelashes and a thin waist. She had 30 plastic surgeries, spending about 100,000 American dollars on this dubious pleasure. The girl changed the color of her skin, the cut of her eyes, the shape of her face and nose, as well as removed several ribs and enlarged her breasts. ADVERTISIMENT Allison Harvard American model, artist and actress Allison Harvard didn't go under the knife to become like the iconic doll. She has a naturally tapered face, disproportionately large eyes and a fragile body. Thanks to interesting external data, she was noticed not only by modeling agencies, but also by directors. Allison played a role in the movie "Insensate". Hannah Gregory British "Barbie" Hannah Gregory has not had any plastic surgery. And yet she constantly strives to match her image. Tight waist, bright makeup with the effect of enlarged eyes, plump lips and lightened facial skin. The girl also wears contact lenses imitating the look of a big-eyed doll. ADVERTISIMENT Valeria Lukyanova Famous Ukrainian blogger Valeria Lukyanova, who is known in the network as the Odessa "Barbie", claims that of the plastic surgeries made only mammoplasty. She naturally has long legs, waist 47 cm, proportional facial features and large eyes. It should be noted that in Instagram the girl is followed by about 2 million users from all over the world. She tells them about her travels, different techniques of applying makeup, and also demonstrates bright doll images. The fate of Ukraine during a full-scale war does not bother the blogger at all. The celebrity is silent about the fact that the Russian Federation is an aggressor country. ADVERTISIMENT Earlier OBOZREVATEL wrote about the absence of a navel, long eyelashes and other beauty anomalies of models that mesmerize. Only verified information from us in Telegram-channel Obozrevatel, Threads and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! Well-groomed hair without split ends looks expensive and fashionable. A short haircut is a simple and budget-friendly option for this. ADVERTISIMENT Bob is the trend of recent seasons that does not require styling products. OBOZREVATEL tells about five variations, which are called hairstyles of "rich girls". Bob with straight bangs is attributed to the French, as you can meet hundreds of girls with this hairstyle there. Parisians love this haircut as it gives lightness to the look and is very easy to style. French bob is suitable for thin and sparse hair. A simple way to change your look in a second is to tip your hair to the side. A side bob never goes out of style and is a great way to add volume without the use of styling prowess. It's perfect for girls with thick hair. ADVERTISIMENT The perfect haircut for summer for girls with porous and curly hair is a simple bob. Girls with curly hair are usually afraid of short haircuts. However, stylists convince that this is the best option to get a root volume. Short hair does not burden the length and the "lushness" is distributed evenly. If you find it hard to cut you hair, elongated bob is also on trend this fall. It is suitable for girls with a round face, because a regular bob makes it wider. Masters advise to make the cut asymmetrical and "torn". ADVERTISIMENT The Italian bob is a symmetrical cut at the chin line. Cut with a razor, the Italian bob always looks like it has just been done. It is a very simple and stylish hairstyle. Earlier OBOZREVATEL wrote about hairstyles not suitable for women after 40 years. These haircuts add years. Only verified information from us in Telegram-channel Obozrevatel and in Viber. Do not fall for fakes! New paleoclimate evidence shows that around 1.1 million years ago, the southern European climate cooled significantly and caused an extinction of archaic humans on the continent. Around 1.1 million years ago, the glacial cooling pushed the European climate to levels beyond what archaic humans could tolerate, emptying the continent of human populations. The oldest known human remains in Europe have previously been recovered from Iberia and suggest that early humans had arrived from southwest sia by about 1.4 million years ago. The climate around that time would have generally been warm and wet, punctuated by mild cold periods. Up to now, the prevailing theory has been that once humans arrived, they were able to survive through multiple climate cycles and adapt to increasingly harsh conditions after 900,000 years ago. Our discovery of an extreme glacial cooling event around 1.1 million years ago challenges the idea of continuous early human occupation of Europe, said University College Londons Professor Chronis Tzedakis. In the study, Professor Tzedakis and colleagues analyzed the chemical composition of marine micro-organisms and examined the pollen content in a deep-sea sediment core recovered from off the coast of Portugal. This revealed the presence of abrupt climate changes that culminated in an extreme glacial cooling, with ocean surface temperatures off Lisbon dropping below 6 degrees Celsius and semi-deserts expanding on the adjacent land. To our surprise, we found that this cooling at 1.1 million years ago was comparable to some of the most severe events of recent ice ages, said University College Londons Dr. Vasiliki Margari. A cooling of this magnitude would have placed small hunter-gatherer bands under considerable stress, especially since early humans may have lacked adaptations such as sufficient fat insulation and also the means to make fire, effective clothing or shelters, said British Museums Professor Nick Ashton. To assess the climate impact on early human populations, the authors ran a climate simulation on their supercomputer Aleph to capture the extreme conditions during this time. Combining the output of the simulation with fossil and archaeological evidence of human occupation in southwest Eurasia, they then developed a human habitat model, which predicts how suitable the environment was for early human occupation. The results showed that 1.1 million years ago climate around the Mediterranean became too hostile for archaic humans, said Professor Axel Timmermann, director of the IBS Center for Climate Physics at Pusan National University. Together, the paleoclimate data and human habitat model results indicate that Iberia, and more generally southern Europe, was depopulated during the Early Pleistocene. An apparent lack of stone tools and human remains over the next 200,000 years further raises the possibility of a long-lasting hiatus in European occupation. According to this scenario, Europe may have been recolonized around 900,000 years ago by more resilient humans with evolutionary or behavioral changes that allowed survival in the increasing intensity of glacial conditions, said Professor Chris Stringer, a researcher at the Natural History Museum in London. The results appear today in the journal Science. _____ Vasiliki Margari et al. 2023. Extreme glacial cooling likely led to hominin depopulation of Europe in the Early Pleistocene. Science 381 (6658): 693-699; doi: 10.1126/science.adf4445 The newly-identified species of basilosaurid whale has been named Tutcetus rayanensis after the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun. This new species is not only the smallest known basilosaurid, but it is also one of the oldest records of the family from Africa. Tutcetus rayanensis inhabited the Tethys Ocean approximately 41 million years ago. The whale is the smallest basilosaurid known to date and is estimated to have been around 2.5 m (8 feet) in length and about 187 kg in body mass. It is not only the smallest basilosaurid whale yet discovered, but it is also one of the oldest records worldwide. Basilosauridae, a group of extinct fully aquatic whales, represents a crucial stage in whale evolution, as they transitioned from land to sea, said American Universitys Professor Hesham Sallam and colleagues. They developed fish-like characteristics, such as a streamlined body, a strong tail, flippers, and a tail fin, and had the last hind limbs visible enough to be recognized as legs, which were not used for walking but possibly for mating. Whales evolution from land-dwelling animals to beautiful marine creatures embodies the marvelous adventurous journey of life, Professor Sallam added. Tutcetus rayanensis is a remarkable discovery that documents one of the first phases of the transition to a fully aquatic lifestyle that took place in that journey. The fossilized skull, jaw, teeth and vertebrae of Tutcetus rayanensis were found in the Sath El-Hadid Formation of the Fayum Depression in Egypt. The individual was near adulthood, but had not reached full adulthood, as the bones within its skull and vertebrae had fused together and its permanent teeth were at an advanced stage of emergence with its permanent molars having emerged before its anterior premolars, incisors, and canines. The paleontologists speculate that the smaller body size of Tutcetus rayanensis, compared to other basilosaurids, may have evolved in response to a warming event known as the Lutetian thermal maximum that occurred around 42 million years ago. Modern whales migrate to warmer, shallow waters for breeding and reproduction, mirroring the conditions found in Egypt 41 million years ago, said Abdullah Gohar, a Ph.D. student at Mansoura University. This supports the idea that what is known as now Fayum was a crucial breeding area for ancient whales, possibly attracting them from various locations and, in turn, drawing in larger predatory whales like Basilosaurus. The findings have significant paleobiogeographic implications, demonstrating that basilosaurids likely achieved a rapid spread over the southern hemisphere, reaching high latitudes by the Middle Eocene. The Eocene fossil sites of Egypts Western Desert have long been the worlds most important for understanding the early evolution of whales and their transition to a fully aquatic existence, said University of Southern Californias Professor Erik Seiffert. The discovery of Tutcetus rayanensis demonstrates that this region still has so much more to tell us about the fascinating story of whale evolution. The teams paper was published in the journal Communications Biology. _____ M.S. Antar et al. 2023. A diminutive new basilosaurid whale reveals the trajectory of the cetacean life histories during the Eocene. Commun Biol 6, 707; doi: 10.1038/s42003-023-04986-w In an unusual incident, a woman was bitten by a shark at Rockaway Beach on Monday, August 7. The Associated Press reported that the bite was powerful enough to take a substantial portion of flesh from her thigh, leaving a sizable and deep wound. This marks the first documented shark attack in New York City waters in many years. Rare Shark Attack in New York City Tatyana Koltunyuk, 65, was swimming near Beach 59th Street when she was suddenly attacked by a shark. She endured a shark bite on her left leg to which lifeguards immediately responded to her distress calls, removing her from the water, applying a tourniquet, and offering initial aid. She was then taken to Jamaica Hospital in critical condition, her status now listed as "serious but stable." City park spokesperson Meghan Lalor expressed hopes for Koltunyuk's full recovery, emphasizing that shark bites are exceptionally rare at Rockaway. Despite reports suggesting Koltunyuk lost around 20 pounds of flesh, The New York Times reported that images indicate the figure might be exaggerated. After the attack, lifeguards evacuated the water, and helicopter searches failed to locate any sharks. The beach remained closed for swimming and surfing on the following day. According to experts, the incident marks the first shark bite at Rockaway Beach in since 1958 or about 65 years ago. Hans Walters, a field scientist from the New York Aquarium, described the occurrence as uncommon and urged continued vigilance regarding sharks, who share the same aquatic environment. He noted that while this incident is a reminder of their presence, it should not discourage people from enjoying the beach, as sharks are "our neighbors" residing in nearby waters. READ ALSO: Former Fashion Executive Killed in a Shark Attack in Maine Increasing Presence of Sharks in New York Beaches A Good Sign, Expert Says During previous summers, New York beaches were often crowded and noisy, but now beachgoers face an additional concern: shark encounters. Along Long Island's southern coast, popular beaches are witnessing a surge in shark attacks. Last month, several people, including two 15-year-olds, reported being bitten, and recently, a 65-year-old woman was seriously injured by a shark bite at Rockaway Beach in NYC. Fortunately, none of these attacks were fatal. According to Vox, these incidents follow a record of eight confirmed shark bites last summer, possibly involving sand tiger sharks. Historically, no year in the last three decades had more than two confirmed shark bites in New York. Such incidents may reflect an increase in sharks, indicative of a thriving marine ecosystem and ample fish for sharks to feed on. Shark expert Chris Paparo at Stony Brook University notes that sharks signify a healthy ecosystem and successful conservation efforts. Globally, shark and ray populations have plummeted by over 70% due to industrial fishing, which not only directly kills sharks but also depletes their food sources. However, along the Eastern Seaboard, fisheries have adopted protective measures to preserve declining shark populations and their prey, while New York has improved river cleanliness flowing into the ocean. Tobey Curtis from NOAA Fisheries noted that shark populations have indeed risen over the past years due to successful management and conservation efforts. While more sharks are a positive outcome, educating the public on coexisting with them remains a challenge. RELATED ARTICLE: 60-Year-Old Retired Professor Suffers Broken Femur, Injured Stomach and Leg After a Rare Shark Attack in California Check out more news and information on Shark Attack in Science Times. Actors of the Turkish series "The Magnificent Century" became stars, their lives are followed by armies of fans. The main character of Hurem Sultan - Meriem Uzerli, has 7 million followers in Instagram, and Sultan Suleiman - Halit Ergench, 1 million follower. ADVERTISIMENT The movie about the Ottoman Empire and its rulers has gained popularity far beyond the borders of Turkey and won many prestigious awards. OBOZREVATEL tells how the actors now live and how they have changed. Halit Ergench - Sultan Suleiman The sex symbol of "The Magnificent Century" Halif Ergench in real life raises two sons with his second wife, actress Bergusar Korel, with whom he played in the series "One Thousand and One Nights". Years after the first series, Ergenc has hardly changed. He does not shine in public, and fresh photos of the star can be found on the page of his wife. Meriem Uzerli - Hurem Sultan ADVERTISIMENT German Meriem Uzerli played the role of the Ukrainian captive Anastasia, later called Hurem. After the release of the series on the screens, it fell on her unprecedented fame. In real life, the actress also has a difficult fate. Uzerli raises a daughter Lara, whose father divorced when she was pregnant. Businessman Jan Atesh turned out to be a swindler, having borrowed from his fiancee 215 thousand dollars, fled the country. Now she married an American and gave birth to a second daughter. Nur Fettahoglu - Mahidevran Sultan Nur Fettahoglu played another wife of Sultan Suleiman - Mahidevran Sultan. Nur was born in Germany in a family of Turkish migrants, but after school went to study in Istanbul. ADVERTISIMENT The future actress got a presenter on television, and then began to act in movies. Daughter Noor gave birth to a daughter from her ex-husband, with whom she managed to divorce in early 2015. Now the couple has resumed relations, although officially divorced. Nebahat Chehre - Valide Georgian-born actress Nebohat Cehre started her career as a model after winning the Miss Turkey beauty pageant. Nebohat became famous all over the world after playing the mother of the sultan in the historical series. The actress was married twice, both marriages ended in divorce. She has no children. Now the star of "The Magnificent Century" looks as stunningly beautiful as during filming. ADVERTISIMENT Okan Yalabik - Ibrahim Pasha Actor Okan Yalabik played Sultan's best friend Ibrahim Pasha. He was married to actress Hande Soral, but the couple divorced. Outwardly, he has changed since he played in The Great Age. Yalabik has gained some weight and also let go of his beard. Selma Ergec - Khadija Sultan Turkish actress Selma Ergec, who played the sister of the Sultan and wife of Ibrahim Pasha, is not brunette in life, but blonde. She notes that her character Khadija Sultan is not like her. The star of one of the world's most popular TV series does not like excessive pathos, so she dresses very simply. ADVERTISIMENT Selim Bayraktor - Sumbul Agha Few people know that actor Selim Bayraktar is not from Turkey, but from Iraq. He left his homeland because of the war. His character is the servant Sumbul Agha, in the series charismatic and comic. Such and Bayraktar in life. He wears long hair and a beard, so fans on the street are unlikely to recognize him. Earlier OBOZREVATEL wrote about the actresses-beautiful from Turkish TV series, made plastic surgery. Photo before and after - in our material. Only verified information from us in Telegram-channel Obozrevatel and in Viber. Do not fall for fakes! Scientists for the first time managed to change the mechanism of fertilization at the genetic level, teaching the female egg to develop into an embryo without the role of sperm of the male. The study showed that this ability is also passed on to the next generation. ADVERTISIMENT This is stated in an article published in the scientific journal Current Biology. The research was conducted for 6 years with the participation of more than 220,000 fruit flies Drosophila melanogaster. In most animals, reproduction occurs sexually when a female egg is fertilized by a male sperm cell. Virgin birth, or parthenogenesis, is a process during which an egg is able to develop independently into an embryo without fertilization by a sperm cell. The mechanism has been understood by scientists for a long time, but to find the genetic cause and "graft" it to a species that traditionally reproduces sexually, scientists managed for the first time. To achieve the results, the researchers first isolated the genomes of two strains of another species of fruit fly called Drosophila mercatorum. One strain needs males to reproduce, while the other is only able to reproduce by virgin birth. They subsequently identified genes that were turned on or off when the flies reproduced without males. Once they had this data, they applied genetic engineering to Drosophila melanogaster and it worked. ADVERTISIMENT In the course of the research, it turned out that flies born in this way also gained the ability to give birth to offspring without the participation of the male. At the same time, they did not lose the ability to give birth traditionally. Scientists said that the immaculately born offspring was not an exact clone of the mother, but was genetically very similar. It is also noted that only female flies were born this way. "We are the first to show that it is possible to engineer a virgin birth in animals - it was very exciting to see a virgin fly produce an embryo capable of developing into an adult and then repeat the process," said the paper's lead author, University of Cambridge researcher Dr. Alexis Sperling. The scientist also reported that females with genetic changes waited for a male for half their life - about 40 days - and only then gave birth to children on their own. ADVERTISIMENT The experimenters also said that only 1-2% of the second generation of female flies with virgin birth ability gave birth to offspring. This happened only when there were no males around. Otherwise, they mated and reproduced in the usual way. The researchers believe that switching to virgin births may be a survival strategy for animals on the brink of extinction. In their opinion, only one generation of immaculate births can help preserve a species. As SciTechDaily notes, females of some egg-laying animals, including birds, lizards and snakes, can naturally switch to giving birth without males. But virgin births in animals that normally reproduce sexually are rare, often only in zoos, and usually occur when a female has been isolated for a long time and has little hope of finding a mate. Earlier OBOZREVATEL also told about the fact that scientists want to resurrect the mysterious dodo bird, which became extinct hundreds of years ago. ADVERTISIMENT Subscribe to OBOZREVATEL channels in Telegram and Viber to be aware of the latest events. The Ukrainian Navy has announced temporary corridors for merchant ships traveling to and from Ukrainian Black Sea ports. The military warned that the Russian Federation still poses a military and mine threat along all these routes. ADVERTISIMENT The routes will be primarily used to allow civilian vessels that have been in the Ukrainian ports of Chernomorsk, Odessa and Pivdennyi since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, the USS Navy said. Details of the routes are not publicly disclosed. Only those vessels whose owners and captains officially confirm their readiness to sail in the current conditions will be allowed to pass through the sea corridors. Military threats from the Russian Federation remain high. Information about the routes was previously submitted to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). And the IMO Council recognized Ukraine's right to free commercial navigation guaranteed by international maritime law. The organization called on Russia to comply with international conventions and stop threatening commercial shipping in the Black Sea. ADVERTISIMENT The Navy recalled that thelast ship with Ukrainian food left the port of Odessa on July 16. "After Russia's withdrawal from the grain deal, the aggressor attacked the port grain infrastructure in order to stop access of Ukrainian food to world markets", - stated in the message. Earlier OBOZREVATEL also dealt with what Ukrainian attacks on Russian ships in the Black Sea will lead to. Ukraine has taken a course to destroy Russian transportation of oil and grain, and therefore the situation is changing. For example, grain traders, sea carriers and insurers are increasingly wary of working with Russians and have sharply increased freight rates for them. Only verified information from us in Telegram-channel Obozrevatel and Viber. Do not fall for fakes! Chef Matt Knio announced the opening date for the latest location of Cannelle , his award-winning patisserie that specializes in French pastries and baked goods. The Cannelle Farmington location, Knios fourth, is set to open on Friday, Sept. 1.The first iteration of Cannelle opened in Southfield in 2003 before moving to downtown Birmingham in 2005; Knio would open locations in the downtowns of Detroit and Ann Arbor in 2019 and 2021, respectively. Knio studied the art of French baking in Paris and would graduate from Academies De Versailles as a master artesian. He has since made a name for himself here in metro Detroit, where his burgeoning business continues to attract attention from beyond our borders. Most recently, Cannelle was named best bakery in the Midwest by the Midwest Living magazine Matt Knio and his baked goods are already quite popular in Farmington, where he and his Cannelle team have served guests at the Farmington Farmers Market for several years now something thats expected to continue even after the opening of their downtown storefront, to boot. News of the Farmington location began to spread at the beginning of 2023, and in a video posted to Cannelle social media on Friday, Aug. 4, Knio announced that the location would open its doors on Friday, Sept. 1.If last summers wave of new independent coffee shops provided local coffeeheads a jolt, these late summer months in 2023 are ones for the foodies. Preceding Cannelles opening has been the Italian deli and cafe La Pecora Nera , which opened downtown on Friday, Aug. 4; and Bobs Big Boy of Farmington brought their classic American comfort food (and the famous statue) to town on Wednesday, Aug. 2. Looking for something else to look forward to? Heights Brewing is working toward a late summer/early fall opening, too. Cannelle by Matt Knio is located at 33304 Grand River Ave. in downtown Farmington.Got a development news story to share? Email MJ Galbraith here or send him a tweet @mikegalbraith President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the state continues to prepare the Ukrainian Doctrine, a comprehensive text that is the basis for the transformation of our country. The country's leadership is also working to increase defence packages for our soldiers and defence systems for the entire Ukrainian society, including air defence systems. ADVERTISIMENT The Ukrainian leader spoke about this in his traditional daily address to Ukrainians on 10 August. According to Zelenskyy, the main goal of our country is "to win the war and not to lose the country" (to watch the video, scroll to the end of the news). "Ukraine must definitely realise its historic chance for development, gained by the courage of our people - all our people," the president stressed. On the meeting with the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate The President informed about the meeting with Metropolitan Emmanuel, where they discussed, inter alia, the implementation of the formula of peace and the return of children deported from our land to Ukraine. "Of course, as always, we talked about strengthening the spiritual independence of Ukraine and spiritual peace in Ukraine. Our country is one of the historical centres of Christianity. It will continue to be so," Zelenskyy is convinced. ADVERTISIMENT According to him, Ukrainians have managed to build a special format of religious relations. "In our country, there is a Council of Churches and Religious Organisations, which guarantees that all communities are respected, all communities can convey their opinion to the state, all communities can participate in solving socially important issues. The state will never allow any of the Ukrainian religious communities to be used by the aggressor state. Ukraine will survive, will preserve its independence - all aspects of independence, including spiritual independence. And I am grateful to everyone in the world who supports our state and our people in this," the President stressed. Zelenskyy recognises soldiers The President named a number of Ukrainian soldiers who are making progress at the front, including ADVERTISIMENT - Soldier Oleksandr Hryn, 81st separate airmobile brigade - thanks to Oleksandr, more than two dozen occupants have been killed and wounded. - Soldier Oleksandr Hrynko, "Eighty", Air Assault Troops - the President thanked the soldier for replenishing our exchange fund. - Soldier Artem Eisenzimmer, 5th separate assault brigade. - Soldier Iryna Shevchenko, chief sergeant-instructor of the 1st mechanised battalion. - Soldier Andriy Maksychko, 54th separate mechanised brigade named after Hetman Mazepa, Bakhmut direction. He took out the wounded, was wounded himself, but returned to the front line after treatment. - Soldier Ivan Harbuz, 36th separate marine brigade, is fighting in the Zaporizhzhia sector. - Senior soldier Serhiy Prymochenko, a mortar gunner with the 54th separate mechanised brigade named after Hetman Mazepa. ADVERTISIMENT - Senior soldier Viktor Dorenskyi, a driver of the 80th Brigade. Fighting near Klishchiyivka, very powerful! Senior soldier Maksym Makarenko, part of the "Eighty", is fighting for Ukraine in Donbas. - Senior soldier Oleksandr Lysenko, 5th separate assault brigade, and others. "I am proud of all of you, our soldiers! Each and every one of you! And I would like to make a special mention today of the units that support the offensive of our troops. These are the units of Ukrainian sappers. They are clearing the Ukrainian land of Russian mines, opening the way for our soldiers to move forward. The 808th separate support regiment, the 48th Kamianets-Podilskyi engineering brigade, the 143rd Joint Training Centre of the Support Forces - thank you all!" - Zelenskyy emphasised. ADVERTISIMENT As reported by OBOZREVATEL: - Zelenskyy thanked Germany and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz personally for the transfer of additional Patriot air defence systems to Ukraine. The Head of State stressed that these systems will save thousands of lives in our country; - the day before, Zelenskyy held a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff in a special format - with the narrowest circle of key people. The Head of State and the Armed Forces commanders discussed plans for the Ukrainian army's offensive in the near future. Only verified information is available on our Obozrevatel Telegram channel, Threads and Viber. Don't fall for fakes! Inflation trends in the States would continue to be the main focus for investors at the end of the week. At 1330 BST the Department of Labor was expected to report that producer prices increased at a month-on-month pace of 0.2% in July. Also due out, at 1500 BST, were the preliminary results for the University of Michigan's consumer confidence gauge covering the month of August. Economists had penciled in a reading of 71.0. On home shores meanwhile, at 0700 BST the Office for National Statistics was expected to announce that the UK's gross domestic product growth was flat over the three months to June. Friday 11 August INTERIMS Beazley AGMs TwentyFour Select Monthly Income Fund Limited, SIMEC Atlantis Energy Limited (DI) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Triad Group, Strix Group, Sanderson Design Group, Telecom Plus, Ninety One, Next 15 Group Caffyns, Wincanton, Cmc Markets INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Montanaro UK Smaller Companies Inv Trust, Unicorn AIM VCT, Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Sportech QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE Tufton Oceanic Assets Limited NPV, BlackRock Latin American Inv Trust UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Balance of Trade (07:00) Gross Domestic Product (07:00) Index of Services (07:00) Industrial Production (07:00) Manufacturing Production (07:00) INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Producer Price Index (US) (13:30) U. of Michigan Confidence (Prelim) (US) (15:00) An Italian journalist claimed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces' counter-offensive was "not working". Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba aptly responded, noting that Ukrainian defenders will break through the defence line that Russian kaffirs have built over more than a year of occupation in southern Ukraine, just as the allies once broke through the Gustav Line in Italy. ADVERTISIMENT This was reported by the Corriere della Sera. Thus, the Italian journalist asked Kuleba a question: "Minister, it seems that your counter-offensive is not working. What are the reasons? Consequences?", but the Foreign Minister denied it. "The counter-offensive is moving slowly but steadily," he stressed. Kuleba explained that it is difficult to move forward, "but eventually we will do it". "I think about the Battle of Monte Cassino. Initially, the Allies were blocked by formidable German positions, it took them four months to break them, but then they managed to liberate Rome. Our situation is similar - we have summer and winter trenches. I am confident that we will win," he said. It should be added that the Battle of Monte Cassino was a series of four bloody battles that saw the troops of the Anti-Hitler Coalition break through the line of German fortifications known as the Gustav Line and enter Rome. ADVERTISIMENT Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian Defence Forces have liberated more than 40,000 square kilometres of territory. The area of de-occupied land is almost twice the size of Israel. As reported by OBOZREVATEL, in late July, the United States announced a new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine. It included additional ammunition for the Patriot, NASAMS and HIMARS systems, as well as 32 Stryker armoured personnel carriers. Only verified information is available on our Obozrevatel Telegram channel, Threads and Viber. Don't fall for fakes! In a unique collaboration, Mahindra Lifespaces Developers Limited (MLDL), the real estate and infrastructure development arm of the Mahindra Group, has joined hands with KidZania Mumbai to empower children as architects of a sustainable future. This innovative partnership combines Mahindra Lifespaces' commitment to Crafting Life with KidZania's immersive edutainment experience. The upcoming experiences, situated within KidZania Mumbai, will offer children an engaging and interactive environment to learn about sustainability through play and exploration. This initiative further aligns with Mahindra Lifespaces' flagship CSR program, the Green Army which educates and inspires school children to adopt a sustainable lifestyle. With an aim to Create One Million Caring Citizens, Mahindra Lifespaces has achieved a significant milestone of reaching over 472 schools, 77,000 children, and 3 lakh citizens across major cities of Mumbai, MMR, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru. Mahindra Lifespaces Experiences offer an exciting platform for children to unleash their creativity and learn about sustainable development. With three distinct experiences, the Sustainable Design Studio, Green Power Zone, and Construction Zone, children will be able to learn about sustainable practices and their benefits through hands-on experiences. In the cutting-edge Sustainable Design Studio, children will learn about benefits of sustainability as they design and create their own sustainable development. The Green Power Zone will educate children about renewable energy, and Construction Zone is where younger children can build their own homes using imitation bricks and cement. Theres also a realistic working crane to transport construction materials to higher floors. On completion, children will receive a certification of Green Army Architect. They can create a development and experience being an architect of the future and design a residential project from scratch by placing the towers aligned to the sun and wind path, using the building material of their choice, and placing the project amenities. Viral Oza, Chief Marketing Officer, Mahindra Lifespaces Developers Limited said, "We are excited to announce this unique partnership with KidZania, as we pave the way for children to learn about and experience the fascinating world of real estate and sustainable architecture. With the launch of Experiences, we aim to instil in the young minds the values of environmental responsibility. Guided by our unwavering commitment to sustainable development, we aim to ignite the minds of children, enabling them to envision a greener and more sustainable future. We believe that by harnessing the energy, awareness and resolve of the next generation, we can create a lasting impact, and build a world where they are more aware about sustainable solutions." Rahul Dhamdhere, Chief Marketing Officer, KidZania India said, KidZania is thrilled to announce a momentous milestone as we collaborate with Mahindra Lifespaces to ignite the passion for sustainability in young minds. This partnership seamlessly blends KidZania's experiential learning approach with Mahindra Lifespaces' unwavering commitment to creating sustainable living spaces. Together, we are dedicated to nurturing a generation of young leaders and influencers who will play a vital role in shaping a greener future for our planet. We eagerly look forward to embarking on this innovative journey and witnessing the positive impact it will have on children's understanding of sustainable living. During a grand launch event at KidZania Mumbai earlier today, the partnership was officially announced, and both the brand leaders addressed children and their parents. The event included a spectacular parade, which concluded with the unveiling of the Mahindra Lifespaces Experiences, adding to the excitement of the occasion. Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL) stated that it has agreed on an MoU with the state government of Tamil Nadu to build a manufacturing facility near Chennai, making an investment of Rs 515 crore over the course of the next five years. It will serve as a manufacturing hub for brands such as Cinthol, Godrej Expert Rich Creme, Godrej Selfie Shampoo Hair Colour, and Goodknight. "With the establishment of this facility, we will create over 400 job opportunities in Tamil Nadu. This facility aims to have an inclusive and gender-balanced workforce. Our plan is to employ 50% of women for this facility along with 5% of employees from LGBTQ and people with disability (PWD) communities, said Nisaba Godrej, Executive Chairperson, GPCL. M. K. Stalin, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, said, This development holds great promise as it is set to have a positive impact on our local economy by generating employment opportunities and driving our state's industrial growth. The upcoming facility will be located in Thiruporur Taluk, Chengalpattu District, Tamil Nadu. This strategic choice guarantees access to crucial southern markets and facilitates meeting requirements in neighboring regions. The investment of Rs 515 crore over the next five years is in line with GCPLs long-term strategy to participate in India's growth journey actively and our unwavering commitment to deliver affordable best quality and innovative products to consumers, said Nisaba. He said, this facility aims to have an inclusive and gender-balanced workforce. Our plan is to employ 50% of women for this facility along with 5% of employees from LGBTQ and people with disability (PWD) communities. GCPL is committed to building a best-in-class innovative factory that will be Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certified within the investment period, said the company. The upcoming facility will utilize energy-efficient technologies, implement waste reduction strategies, and be equipped with solar roof panels, ZLD, and zero landfill practices, the company mentioned in the statement. IIITD Innovation and Incubation Centre a section 8 company promoted by the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (IIITD), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with YES BANK. This partnership will enable IIITD-IC to strengthen its mentoring initiatives for startups, gain access to experts across the industry, as well as identify newer investment and funding opportunities that can benefit startups. Through this partnership, YES BANK will offer best-in-class banking facilities to Startups that are in a developmental phase at IIITD-IC under the Banks YES HeadStartup programme, a dedicated programme for Startups that aims to cater to this segment with a dynamic and agile bouquet of offerings. These include a salary account proposition for startups with only five employees, a fungible limit for credit cards for business and personal use, as well as an API Sandbox facility. IIIT Delhi, Director, Professor Ranjan Bose said, Through this partnership, we aim to enable enterprise banking, personal banking and beyond banking solutions required by the Startups and further strengthen the mentoring support for Startups, with their access to experts and the industry." "YES BANK has brought the bank to startups, adopting a horizontal approach and bundling up the most lucrative features possible. Our aim is to bridge the gap between startups and corporates with the right and in-time mentorship. This initiative will enable entrepreneurs with validation and market traction, along with the knowledge and skill required to thrive in this mushrooming economy, he adds. This collaboration will ensure that the chosen startups perform better, generate revenues, register growth, and attract better talent. Concerted efforts by both organisations will help startups to access larger networks, industry partners and resources, thereby aiding their scaling journey. YES BANK is one of the first banks in the country to develop a dedicated programme for startups after carefully comprehending their banking needs. The YES HeadStartup programme is a unique and pioneering initiative, which is dedicated to providing banking solutions for the new age economy. It presents best-in-class solutions for startups, ranging from conventional bank accounts to digital banking solutions like API banking. With the right banking solutions, entrepreneurs can now manage their money better and hence, use the allocated funds efficiently. YES BANK is also one of the first banks in the country to adopt the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups (CGSS), which will help these budding entities to scale up and go ahead in their journey of ideas to IPOs. Over and above getting the usual support through incubation engagement with IIITD-IC, the startups will get access to domain-specific mentors who can provide financial prudence, knowledge of business, financial operations, compliances, etc. Angel investors and VCs will get access to better-equipped startups. All such guidance and expertise based on industry experience will help startups to navigate operational and growth challenges, aiding in better decision-making. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. A Staten Island man charged with assaulting a nurse while being hospitalized for mental health issues became the subject of a debate this week over bail conditions. Isiah Peters, 26, was charged with second-degree assault, third-degree assault and second-degree harassment in connection with the July 12 incident at Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton, court documents allege. During an arraignment hearing Wednesday in state Supreme Court, St. George, prosecutors said the defendant, who stands about 57 and 280 pounds, is accused of punching a female nurse in the eye as she was trying to secure his belongings. The victim, they alleged, continues to have difficulty seeing out of one eye. In arguing for bail to remain at $5,000 cash or $10,000 bond, assistant district attorneys cited four prior misdemeanor convictions and multiple bench warrants. Additionally, they noted, is whats believed to be involvement with an organized theft ring and out-of-state ties. Peters was on probation for a theft case in the Philadelphia area at the time of the alleged assault on Staten Island. Defense attorney Susan Platis took exception to the fact that felony charges were pursued in the first place, after she said her client was taken by EMS to RUMC and then was in the process of being transferred to another facility to address mental health concerns. Im a little troubled by [the] indictment, submitted the public defender on behalf of the Legal-Aid Society of Staten Island. My client was being treated for something hes now being prosecuted for. Peters, who according to DOC records is a native of New Zealand, claimed he was missing $60,000 from his belongings at the hospital around the time of the incident. Prosecutors told the court Wednesday they believe those claims to be false. Family of the defendant, according to his attorney, have been supportive since his arrest but unable to afford the $1,000 necessary for his release. Platis requested bail be lowered in the interest of more easily pursuing mental health treatment for her client. I think things would go better if hes liberated, she said. After hearing arguments and reviewing the defendants criminal record, Justice Lisa Grey ruled the current bail amount remain intact. In the meantime, prosecutors said theyre open to an assessment in mental health court where the case could be moved if deemed appropriate by a judge. The proceedings were adjourned to Aug. 24. MORE STATEN ISLAND NEWS: Criminal Courts >> NYPD: Ghost-shaped pills of powerful Ecstasy recovered during car stop on Staten Island >> Source: $2K in tires reportedly stolen from service center for vehicles on Staten Island; tips sought by NYPD >> NYPD seeks tips in tavern burglary where worker struggled with intruder on Staten Island >> Woman, 52, accused of pepper-spray in alleged shoplifting-gone-wrong at Home Depot on Staten Island >> NYPD: Stolen luxury vehicle recovered in car stop near Outerbridge Crossing on Staten Island STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Hours after local law enforcement announced the arrest of a Staten Island man in a 2020 homicide in Mariners Harbor, defense attorney Mario Gallucci says his client has an alibi and they look forward to trial. His client, Abdul Olasupo, 26, was arraigned Wednesday in state Supreme Court, St. George on murder chargers in connection with a shooting three years ago inside a deli at Richmond Terrace and Harbor Road. The victim, Kaseem Scott, 25, of Mariners Harbor, suffered a chest wound and later died of his injuries at a nearby hospital. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. In the way of McDonalds gimmicks, this one is infinitely more complex than the usual. But here goes with an explanation on the so-called As Featured In Meal coming from the Golden Arches around New York City and beyond. The upshot: the wordy deal can be defined as a collection of menu items that have popped up in film, TV and music. The thing known as the As Featured In meal starts Aug. 14. It promises exclusive experiences for loyalists of the brand, custom merchandise and original content. As per the deep-thinking of Mickey Ds marketing minds, So, whether you... enjoyed watching George Costanzas date proclaim, I havent had a Big Mac in a long time, on Seinfeld from Warner Bros. Discovery; are exceedingly fond of McNuggets of chicken like in the film Im Not Rappaport from Universal Pictures; or you take pleasure in the details in life such as a Quarter Pounder with Cheese like Troy Dyer in Reality Bites, from Universal Pictures; you can get a front-row seat to the As Featured In Meal this summer. " So how does this translate to something we can consume? (Deep breath.) The limited-time eats will include a choice of 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, Quarter Pounder with Cheese or Big Mac Sandwich along with medium fries, a medium soft drink and the newly-branded Sweet N Sour Sauce. And on that specific condiment note to go off on another jag on this promotion theres more. The Sweet N Sour Sauce is inspired by McDonalds next as featured in moment with Marvel Studios Loki Season 2, streaming Oct. 6 on Disney+. So, starting on Aug. 14, consumers should know the following: McDonalds created a partnership with London-based streetwear line called PALACE McDONALDS, thanks to the fast foods presence in its skate videos. Starting on Aug. 14, fans who buy the As Featured In Meal can scan the code on the packaging to purchase pieces from the collab. Merch can be purchased on Aug. 18 with a pop-up fashion experience at the first MDonalds in Downey, CA (10207 Lakewood Blvd, CA.) As Featured In comes to NYC (Courtesy of McDonald's) Actress Sandra Bullock has lost her longtime partner, Bryan Randall, after a three-year fight against ALS, according to a statement released by his family to People. He was 57. The couple had been an item for eight years. It is with great sadness that we share that on Aug. 5, Bryan Randall passed away peacefully after a three-year battle with ALS, his family said in the statement. Bryan chose early to keep his journey with ALS private and those of us who cared for him did our best to honor his request. We are immensely grateful to the tireless doctors who navigated the landscape of this illness with us and to the astounding nurses who became our roommates, often sacrificing their own families to be with ours, his family added. At this time we ask for privacy to grieve and to come to terms with the impossibility of saying goodbye to Bryan, the statement concluded, signed, His Loving Family. Bullock, 59, first met her future partner, a photographer, in 2015 when her photographed her son Louiss birthday. Much like how he handled his health struggles, Randall lived a relatively private life, according to the Post. Originally from Portland, Oregon, Randall was a professional photographer who focused primarily on childrens portraits and outdoor scenes. Prior to owning Bryan Randall Photography, he worked as a model. Notably, he did campaigns for big brands like Yves Saint Laurent and Hugo Boss, appearing on the glossy magazine pages of high-end fashion magazines, including Vogue Paris and Harpers Bazaar Singapore. Bullock and Randall made their red carpet debut as a couple at the premiere of her 2015 movie Our Brand Is Crisis. I found the love of my life, Bullock gushed in a December 2021 episode of Red Table Talk. We share two beautiful children three children, his older daughter. Its the best thing ever. The Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant lost power through the main 750 kV external transmission line during the night of August 10, The ZNPP had to switch to the only available 330 kV backup line, the shutdown of which is fraught with the loss of external power. ADVERTISIMENT In case of a blackout, the main threat to nuclear and radiation safety is the stay of the fourth power unit of Zaporizhzhia NPP in the state of "hot shutdown". This was reported in the press service of Enerhoatom. The occupation forces of the Russian Federation operate the NPP in violation of the conditions of the license for the operation of reactor units of NPPs of the Ukrainian regulator. According to Enerhoatom's Executive Director Taras Tkach, in case of a complete loss of external power supply, the plant's main circulation pumps will be shut down and the power unit will switch to the "natural circulation" mode. In such a case, the reactor will have to be urgently "cooled down" in the absence of cooling pumps. This mode of operation is detrimental for the reactor unit and its duration is limited by the design. This in turn may lead to a failure of the main equipment of the power unit. ADVERTISIMENT "Further occupation of ZNPP by Russia, management of the plant by illegitimate and untrained leadership, which bears no responsibility for nuclear and radiation safety of the facility, constantly brings ZNPP closer to disaster," Enerhoatom said in a statement. To avoid a catastrophe, Zaporizhzhia NPP should be immediately returned under the full control of the legitimate operator, Enerhoatom. It will ensure bringing the plant to normal operation mode and restoration of nuclear and radiation safety of the facility. The agency emphasized that this requires urgent action by the entire international community. "Russia's nuclear terrorism must be stopped immediately, and the invaders must leave the territory of the plant and its satellite town Enerhodar," Enerhoatom said. ADVERTISIMENT Russian invaders have put the fourth unit of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant into a "hot" shutdown mode. At the same time, power unit No. 5 has been switched to a "cold" shutdown. Earlier the Ministry of Energy said about the risk of disaster at ZNPP. According to the Ministry, the invaders installed mines near the station. The Ukrainian side does not have any control over the station yet, so the nuclear reactor can explode at any moment. Meanwhile, the United States urged Russia to stop immediately, noting that "the mining of ZNPP poses a danger to the entire region." PROVO, Utah An armed Utah man accused of making threats against President Joe Biden was shot and killed by FBI agents hours before the president was expected to land in the state Wednesday, authorities said. Special agents were trying to serve a warrant on the home of Craig Deleeuw Robertson in Provo, south of Salt Lake City, when the shooting happened at 6:15 a.m., the FBI said in a statement. Robertson was armed at the time of the shooting, according to two law enforcement sources who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of an ongoing investigation. Robertson posted online Monday that he had heard Biden was coming to Utah and he was planning to dig out a camouflage suit and clean the dust off the m24 sniper rifle, according to court documents. Biden was scheduled to fly to Utah later in the day and visit a Veterans Affairs hospital in Salt Lake City Thursday to talk about the PACT Act, which expanded veterans benefits. He also planned to hold a reelection fundraiser. Robertsons posts indicated he did appear to own a long-range sniper rifle and numerous other weapons, as well as camouflage gear known as a ghillie suit, investigators said in court records. Robertson was charged under seal Tuesday with three felony counts, including making threats against the president, court documents show. In another post, Robertson refers to himself as a MAGA Trumper, a reference to former President Donald Trumps Make America Great Again slogan. Robertson also referenced a presidential assassination and made a long list of other online threats, including against top law enforcement officials overseeing court cases against Trump: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The time is right for a presidential assassination or two. First Joe then Kamala!!! authorities say Robertson wrote in a September 2022 Facebook post included in the filings. No attorney was immediately listed for Robertson in court documents and family members of Robertson could not be immediately reached for comment through publicly available phone numbers. The FBI got a tip about the Bragg threat from Truth Social in March, after Robertson posted about waiting in the courthouse parking garage with a suppressed weapon and wanting to put a nice hole in his forehead. His account has since been suspended from the platform created by Trump. No further details were immediately released about the shooting, which is under review by the FBI. At the Provo house where the confrontation apparently took place and which is connected with Robertson through public records, law enforcement could be seen Wednesday going in and out and removing items. A broken window could be seen next to the door and the blinds inside were askew. The road leading to the house was blocked by police. The house is just up the street from a meeting house of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with the Wasatch Mountains rising in the background. Travis Lee Clark, whos known Robertson for years from working at their church ward together, described Robertson as frail of health, a masterful woodworker and an established icon in their community. Robertson propped himself on a wood cane hed carved himself, said Clark, who was surprised he was considered a serious threat. He was a boomer, and he was very political and sometimes made off-color jokes ... but nothing that indicated it was a threat, said Clark, who added that he hadnt seen Robertsons Facebook posts until after his death. Even considering those posts, he said, it feels like an overreaction. Clark said Robertson had a collection of about 20 guns, though he noted that that wasnt unusual for the area. Robertson had a custom woodworking business but did not renew his license after it expired last year, according to state records. On LinkedIn, Robertson said he worked for 45 years as a structural steel and welding inspector before retiring and starting his business, saying he specialized in custom designs. Biden is in the middle of a trip to the Western United States, and was due to fly to Salt Lake City after spending Wednesday in New Mexico, where he spoke at a factory that will produce wind towers. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. Not everybody appeared to support the renaming of a stretch of highway on the North Shore after slain civil rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. back in 1988. Signs marking the expressway were riddled with bullets in 1995 and had previously been vandalized with paint. The signs had to be replaced multiple times. And those replacements didnt always come quickly. 63 BULLET HOLES The Advance in 1995 reported that James Frazier, a member of the borough NAACP chapter, had first spotted the bullet-riddled highway signs while driving along the roadway in February of that year. When I first saw them I knew they were bullet holes, he said at the time. The two signs were in the area of the Bayonne Bridge along the two-mile stretch of roadway. This sign marking the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway had three bullet holes in it in 1995. (Tony Carannante/Staten Island Advance) By an Advance count, the Bayonne-bound highway sign was found with 63 bullet holes, while the Island-bound sign had three bullet holes. WAITING FOR NEW SIGNS Frazier said he was disgusted by the vandalized signs, a desecration that he saw as racially motivated. King, the venerated American civil rights leader who led the historic March on Washington in 1963, was assassinated by gunman James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968. Frazier sent a letter to then-Borough President Guy V. Molinari about the damaged signs, but didnt receive an immediate answer. Months later, he contacted Borough Hall, the city Department of Transportation office here and the NYPD. Plans were finally made to have the signs changed. We are aware of the significance of the signs and the meaning the signs have to the community and so were responding, city DOT spokesman Allan J. Fromberg said at the time. Borough Hall spokesman Ed Burke said the office had made a request in March or April to have the signs replaced. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway sign is vandalized with paint in this photo from March 23, 1989. (Irving Silverstein/Staten Island Advance) I am appalled that the Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway sign would be singled out as a target for vandalism in what appears to be an act of racial prejudice, Molinari said. I condemn, in no uncertain terms, the apparent racist motivation behind this action. COST A CONCERN Fromberg said that if there was any delay in changing 16-foot-by-8-foot signs, it was due to city DOT officials debating whether they could afford the signs $6,000 cost. The agency eventually found the money and the signs were replaced in July 1995. Duane Felton, then chairman of the NAACPs Legal Redress Committee, said at the time that he had no doubt that the bullet holes were meant to hurt or defame the great civil rights leader as well as the Islands African-American community. We feel someone is specifically doing this, he said. This a racial message and there are continuing attacks of vandalism to the signs. NYPD Executive Officer Matthew Rafferty of the 120th Police Precinct said that the sign vandalism was initially investigated as a criminal mischief case only because bullet holes had also been found in signs along the Staten Island Expressway and the Richmond Parkway. Rafferty noted, however, that the King Expressway signs had an inordinate amount of bullet holes in comparison to the other two highways. He said, There will be an ongoing investigation and this was deemed as a possible bias incident. Sign for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway is vandalized with paint in this photo from March 21, 1989. (Tony Carannante/Staten Island Advance) As a precaution, he said, signs on all Island highways would be monitored more closely by various NYPD units and monthly pictures taken to check for damage. CULMINATION OF A DREAM The renaming of two miles of the Willowbrook Expressway in honor of King was the culmination of a dream led by Staten Islanders James Josey and Debi Rose, the Advance reported at the time. Josey, who died in 1995, was a longtime Tottenville community activist. He was the past president and founder of the Staten Island League for Better Government, an organization founded in 1945 as a political arm of the NAACP. His son, Edward Josey, is the longtime president of the Staten Island branch of the NAACP. From left, James Josey, Debi Rose, Jane M. Lyons, Dexter King, Martin Luther King III, Assemblyman Robert Straniere, Assemblywoman Elizabeth Connelly, state Sen. John Marchi, Borough President Ralph J. Lamberti and Assemblyman Eric Vitaliano at dedication ceremony for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway on April 30, 1988. (Tony Carannante/Staten Island Advance) Rose was the chair of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Committee. A longtime community activist, Rose became the first Black elected official in Staten Island history when she won the North Shore City Council seat in 2009. More than 1,000 people attended the highway renaming ceremony on April 30, 1988. The new highway sign was unveiled by Kings two sons, Martin Luther King III and Dexter King. Also in attendance were Mayor Ed Koch and Staten Island dignitaries. From left, Martin Luther King III, Mayor Ed Koch, Dexter King and Borough President Ralph Lamberti wave to crowd at dedication event for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway on April 30, 1988. (Tony Carannante/Staten Island Advance) A gala reception to celebrate the renaming was held later at Snug Harbor Cultural Center, the Advance reported. But just four months after the historic renaming, a sign on the expressway was vandalized with paint. Signs were vandalized with paint along the road twice in 1989 as well. Advance archives show no incidents of vandalism since 1995. Sign marking Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway defaced with paint in this photo from Aug. 11, 1988, four months after the highway was dedicated to the slain civil rights leader. (Irving Silverstein/Staten Island Advance) MORE STATEN ISLAND STORIES FROM TOM WROBLESKI This little known other Godfather house was spot where three key scenes in iconic gangster flick were shot Sex, drugs and the secret staircases of Staten Island Vacant bank a haunting sight at this busy Staten Island intersection STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. In honor of those who have passed away, here is a compilation of obituaries posted on SILive.com. Viewing times and guest books can be seen here. Gerald Frank Smith Sr., 91, died peacefully in Boynton Beach, FL on July 31. Smith was born and raised on Staten Island, living here for 90 years before moving to Florida, where his children and grandchildren lived nearby. During his teen years, he attended Curtis High School, worked at his fathers trucking business, and was a paperboy. As an adult, Smith bravely joined the Navy during the Korean War, earning himself three medals for his years of service. After his Navy career, Smith went on to run the family business with his father. He loved to travel, square dance, and listen to country music. For the full obituary, click here. Gertrude Mary Stumpf, 92, passed away on August 7 on Staten Island following a brief period of illness. Born in the Bronx in 1930, Stumpf lived a fulfilling life, devoted to loving and helping others. After graduating high school, Stumpf began a career with New York Telephone Co., where she worked until she had her first child. She and her family moved to Staten Island in 1957. After years focused on raising her family, Stumpf started working again in the 1970s, serving in the rectory of Monsignor Farrell High School. She then went on to become a bookkeeper at First Investors. Aside from working, Stumpf was an active parish member at Our Lady Queen of Peace and she even taught CCD classes. She held membership to the Rosary and Altar Society, was a Eucharistic Minister, and was a part of the OLQP Mothers Club for 24 years. Loved by many, Stumpf was a wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother to 30. For the full obituary, click here. YESTERDAYS OBITUARIES Navy veteran, NYFD Firefighter, and great-grandfather Raymond G. Giffen, Sr. passed away peacefully at his Rosebank home on August 7. Born in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn to Garfield and Dorothy Giffen, he was one of seven children. Raymond was introduced to his future wife by his friend, her brother John. The two were married and he enlisted in the US Navy. After Raymonds service, he began a 25-year career as a NY Firefighter working at Engine 165 in New Dorp. After his retirement, he joined NYFD Marine 9. He is the loving father of Marie Castelucci, Ana Wildrick, Raymond Jr., Mark and Patrick. He was the cherished grandfather of 11 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren. For the full obituary, click here. Thank you for visiting the Daily Journal. Please purchase an Enhanced Subscription to continue reading. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! Wind-whipped wildfires are racing through parts of Hawaii, burning structures in a historic town on the island of Maui, forcing evacuations and leading some to flee to the relative safety of the ocean, where they were rescued by the Coast Guard. The County of Maui tweeted, "Do NOT go to Lahaina Town," hours before all roads in and out of West Maui's biggest community were closed to everyone except emergency personnel. County spokesperson Mahina Martin said Wednesday that the fire is widespread in Lahaina, including on Front Street, a popular tourist destination. She says traffic has been very heavy as people try to evacuate and officials want people who aren't in an evacuation areas to shelter in place. Estonia has announced a new batch of military aid to Ukraine. It will include 150 small arms and ammunition. ADVERTISIMENT The decision was made at a meeting of the Estonian government on 10 August, its press service reports. As noted, the country's Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur stated the need to support Ukraine, which is fighting Russian aggression. "Ukraine needs to be supported against the ongoing Russian aggression. We have again found a way for Estonia to lend a helping hand. Russia should not benefit from the aggression. To do this, Ukraine's supporters should speed up military aid and improve the capabilities of their own defence industry," he said. Since the beginning of the large-scale war, Tallinn has provided Ukraine with military aid worth more than $400 million, which is more than 1% of its GDP, the Estonian government said. As reported by OBOZREVATEL: - Earlier, Hanno Pevkur said that all allies should increase military assistance to Ukraine, as they have no other choice - Ukraine must win this war. ADVERTISIMENT - The representative of the Estonian General Staff, Colonel Mart Vendla, predicted that the Ukrainian Armed Forces could make progress in the counter-offensive by winter. He noted that the occupiers' defence line is uneven, so Ukrainian defenders can break through it. - Estonian Chief of General Staff Eero Rebo believes that when the Ukrainian Armed Forces find the enemy's weakness, the next stage of the counter-offensive will begin - a breakthrough of enemy defences and possible quick success. Only verified information is available on our Obozrevatel Telegram channel, Threads and Viber. Don't fall for fakes! The fine ensemble includes Mason Kelly, Melissa Pham, David Prakash, Harrison Ritchie-Jones, Aimee Schollum, Michaela Tancheff, Nikki Tarling and Jayden Wall. Bosco Shaw has created the lighting design and Paula Levis the costumes. In large-scale works like Nyx (2015), Token Armies (2019) and Yung Lung (2022), Hamilton has experimented with unusual venues, lavish designs and elaborate multimedia and non-dance elements all with mixed results. The simplicity of the presentation in this new piece suggests a renewed enthusiasm for the job of organising bodies in space. It has energy, focus, and you should see it because it stimulates the nervous system like no other sort of contemporary dance. Reviewed by Andrew Fuhrmann THEATRE Miss Peony Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne, Until August 20 What does it mean to be Chinese? The twenty-six, friendless, unmarried Lily (Stephanie Jack) struggles to know, but the ghost of her recently deceased Poh Poh (Gabrielle Chan, who delivers a star turn as Lilys ethereal, imposing grandma) has an idea: Lily has to enter Chinese community beauty pageant Miss Peony (that Poh Poh pioneered) and win it. Enter Lilys three competitors: filial Shanghainese businesswoman Marcy (Deborah Faye Lee); eccentric Joy (Shirong Wu) from Taiwan; and western Sydney born-and-bred Sabrina (crowd favourite Mabel Li), whose accent is harnessed to great comedic effect. Guided by pageant producer Zhen Hua (played by Jeffrey Liu), the group is evenly split between ABCs (Australian-born Chinese) and migrants the play expertly explores the dualities of the former, the regional specificities of the latter, and the nexus of sexism, racism and homophobia. Miss Peony is at Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne, until August 20. Credit: Jason Lau Marcy, Joy and Sabrina come to life superbly over the course of the play, acquiring depth, dimension and nuance as their personal histories and foibles come to the fore. In comparison, Lily feels underdeveloped while theres a strong, necessary ambivalence at the heart of a character whos parsing her identity, she often feels like a vessel for the broader themes at play rather than a fully developed character in her own right. The characters switch seamlessly between English, Cantonese and Mandarin, amplifying the polyphonic feel of the play. Every word is subtitled on a screen perched aloft the stage. The inherently entertaining beauty pageant framework lends the play a natural dramatic tension. Despite this, the plays pacing is off-kilter at times and theres lengthy, at times unnecessary, exposition. Jonathan Hindmarshs sparse set a raised marble stage surrounded by steps is simple yet effective, transformed into a hospital, beauty pageant podium and restaurant at different junctures. With most of the plays action happening on an elevated level, the characters are on display to us as they are to each other. Stephanie Jack, as Lily, and her Poh Poh, played by Gabrielle Chan in Michelle Laws Miss Peony. Credit: Jason Lau There are nods to Chinese culture peppered throughout the humorously overblown battle for the bill, the sly reference to Coffs Harbours biggest attraction to illustrate how Lily is a banana, the intimate hot pot meal where the women commiserate with one another over sexist treatment theyve received. Its in these sections where playwright Michelle Laws writing is at its strongest. Hindmarshs costume design is resplendent. The women flit from one outfit to the next stunning red dresses, glitzy sequined floor-length numbers, figure-hugging cheongsam. Fittingly, in the last scene, Lily wears a cheongsam underneath a coat with her feet enclosed in shiny patent leather brogues illustrating that, perhaps finally, Lily has found a way to bridge the gap between her Australian upbringing and her Chinese heritage. Loading By choosing to explore the push and pull between two worlds against the backdrop of a beauty pageant, Miss Peony finds new ways to tread old ground. Reviewed by Sonia Nair THEATRE Telethon Kid Malthouse Theatre, until 13 August Scrutinised from a young age due to a rare degenerative disease, Sam (William Rees) is the poster boy for mystery illnesses, an influencer and a hoot. The reticent Doc (Max Brown), a renowned genetic researcher whos been studying Sams condition from the outset, takes himself and the life-saving work he does very seriously. Telethon Kid is at Malthouse Theatre until August 13. Credit: So what happens when a drunken night of passion at a pharmaceutical conference brings about a ripple effect of repercussions? Drawing on his own experiences of living with muscular dystrophy, Alistair Baldwin has crafted a deeply dark and humorous story that delights in blurring and questioning boundaries between doctor and patient, agency and abuse, medicine and marketing. William Rees (left) and Max Brown in Telethon Kid. Credit: Telethon Kid careens from funny to uncomfortable to revealing; examining medical consent in the same light as sexual consent and the hierarchy of illness illustrated most aptly by Sams friend Evie (Ashley Apap) and her little-researched early onset arthritis. The sex scenes between Sam and Doc are intimate and believable. Sams desire to be perceived sexually as a sick person imbue what should be a questionable situation with a certain tenderness. But nothing is clear cut in Telethon Kid. A scandal uncovered later in the play cleverly juxtaposes a blatant abuse of power against Doc and Sams morally grey transgression. Brown is excellent as the world-weary, morally ambiguous Doc his gentle physicality belying the thorniness of his decisions. Rees, who has a brachial plexus injury that stands in for Sams condition, expertly houses his multiplicities performative yet sincere, ostensibly young but wise beyond his years from being told hed never grow old. Sam becoming the face of a corporation that can decide whether he lives or dies is one of the darker ironies at the heart of the play. Two things provide comic relief: the disconcertingly cheesy, immaculately produced Big Pharma promotional videos that punctuate the play and the corporations marketing rep KT, played with aplomb and impeccably comedic timing by Effie Nkrumah. Christina Smiths set is a series of unfolding curtains that configures the stage into different spaces, while her costume design effectively distils the essence of each character. Apart from never learning Docs name, we rarely see him in anything other than his professional attire or scrubs underlining his struggle in demarcating his work identity from his personal life. Sams midriff-baring tops and matching patterned tracksuit sets place him firmly in the Gen Z demographic, which only further exposes the power difference between him and the Doc. KTs bold dresses in singular colour blocks underscores her ruthlessly perky facade as a corporate shill. Ending riotously, Telethon Kid offers no easy answers nor resolutions to the big questions it raises. Reviewed by Sonia Nair MUSIC Musicians of the Gewandhaus Orchestra Melbourne Recital Centre, August 4 Dating back to 1743, Leipzigs Gewandhaus Orchestra is the worlds oldest civic symphony orchestra, boasting a history of distinguished directors including Mendelssohn and Furtwangler. Presenting an elegant concert of works by Schubert, eight touring players confirmed the orchestras famously high standards. Forming a perfect prelude to Schuberts mighty Octet in F, D. 803 was an arrangement of his Moments musicaux, D. 780 by the Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen. Here, the arrangers consummate channelling of Schuberts orchestration style would lead unsuspecting listeners to think these miniatures were indeed conceived for an instrumental ensemble, rather than for the original piano. Abrahamsens intimate knowledge of Schuberts style paid dividends at every turn, whether in the deft differentiation of strings and wind in the second piece, or the subtle, smile-raising hint of a klezmer band in the third, or the masterly melding of chamber and orchestral elements in the concluding numbers. Musicians of the Gewandhaus blossomed within the sensitive acoustics of Elisabeth Murdoch Hall. Credit: John started at the University of Melbourne in 1969 as professor of geology, then chairman, in the School of Earth Sciences. He began to further contribute to university management and higher education by becoming the dean of science at Melbourne in 1983 and deputy vice-chancellor research (1985). Of course, the landing on the moon on July 20, 1969, was something that everyone wanted to see and Johns subsequent studies on the moon rocks continued to attract public attention. It reached its height, perhaps, when the Murchison meteorite landed on the same day (September 28, 1969) that John returned from the US with his first batch of moon rocks. Murchison is a rare carbonaceous chondrite, and it has become the most studied of all meteorites due to its contents of organic compounds and of mineral grains that are older than the solar system. A fragment of the Murchison meteorite. Credit: Nick Moir While convenor of the Melbourne University program on Antarctic studies John participated in Australian National Antarctic Research expeditions in 1978 and 1987. His papers are lodged with the Antarctic Studies Archive at the university library. He also involved himself with International House, and for many years Womens College/University College, where he was elected governor in 1980, until his recent ill health prevented him from participation in their affairs. He is remembered at the University of Melbourne as a dynamic and highly regarded scientist, with a high public profile due to his work on the chemical analysis of meteorites and moon rocks. John was appointed vice-chancellor at Flinders University in Adelaide in 1987, serving until 1995. Flinders, established in 1966, was one of the many new universities established at that time, partly in response to the increasing number of university students due to the baby boomers entering the system. From 1990, as the fourth vice-chancellor, John oversaw an extensive program to build three new buildings for law and commerce, information science and technology, and engineering. John Lovering was vice-chancellor and professor of geology at Flinders University from 1987 to 1995. Throughout Johns career he showed great aptitude for committee work, as a chair or president and as a significantly proactive committee member attuned to the goals of the organisation. Not only did this mean he was prominent in many university committees, he was also outside the higher-education sector. Naturally, John attracted many honours for services to geological science and tertiary education, including the award of an AO, fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and the French decoration of Chevalier des Palmes Academiques, among other awards. He was honoured in 1978 with the naming of a new mineral, loveringite, for his role in developing the fission track dating method to determine the age of rocks. John had established a specialised fission track laboratory in the geology department soon after he arrived in Melbourne. This produced many graduates who further developed the technique for other geological applications. It also spawned a successful company, Geotrack International, which continues today. John made a positive contribution to Australia in many ways, especially to geological knowledge and its applications, environmental concerns, especially waterways such as the Murray Darling Basin, and groundwater issues, tertiary education and Antarctic science. He set up various consultancies relating to his geological expertise and served as a company director on eight corporate boards. He held eight commonwealth government appointments, including chairman roles with Murray Darling Basin Commission, Antarctic Science and International Geological Correlation. If only he were around now to deal with the major problems faced by the Murray Darling Basin. John Lovering held 25 national special appointments, seven of those as chair, most of them related to geology or its applications, and to tertiary education. His seven international appointments were for his geological expertise. He made considerable contributions to Victorian and South Australian governments in a variety of roles. His valuable collection of meteorites was donated to Museums Victoria, where they will be available for future studies. He also deserved recognition for the contributions he made to the Royal Society of Victoria over many years. He served as a council member in 1970-984, vice-president 1975-977, and president 1977-1979. John returned to the RSV Council in 2000-2004 to assist with its extensive review of RSV governance, to put the society on a sounder financial base for the future and to continue its promotion of science and scientific discoveries to the Victorian community. John and Kerry Lovering. John met Kerry FitzGerald at the University of Sydney, where they were both students in geology, and they married in 1954 in California. It was to be a long and successful marriage. Kerry worked initially in geology, then after their return to Australia in 1956 she became an activist in the womens movement with Womens Electoral Lobby and as a workers compensation review officer. They have three children, Erin, Matthew and Adam. Advertisement Eating outComing soon Ukrainian eatery to bring chicken Kyiv, green borscht and dumplings of every variety to Broadway The next restaurant in the Plate it Forward family, Kyiv Social, is set to open in September, supporting Ukrainians in Sydney displaced by the war. Scott Bolles August 10, 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 When Kyiv Social opens in Sydney next month, itll have a strong claim to the title of the Australian restaurant with the most accredited team. There are lawyers, a doctor and a former economist from the central bank in Ukraine, founder Shaun Christie-David says of the posse of personnel wholl work in or consult for the Broadway restaurant. The seeds for Kyiv Social were planted when the restaurateur was approached with the idea of creating a business for Ukrainians displaced by the war. Shaun Christie-David of Plate it Forward. Supplied A lot of them are really struggling here, says Christie-David. Language barriers and non-transferable qualifications have left many Ukrainians frustrated and searching for ways to deploy their skills. Advertisement And if there was ever a time Sydneysiders might be open to trying Ukrainian food, its now. Itll run as a restaurant, but well offer weekly free lunches for newly arrived Ukrainians, and were working right now on partnerships in Ukraine to supply meals there. But it isnt just doctors and lawyers looking to get involved experienced restaurant managers and chefs are among the 4500 Ukrainians Settlement Services International estimates have touched down in Australia since the war began. The site in its Two Wolves days. James Alcock Nadia Mohylna is one of them. She fled with her seven-year-old son from Horishni Plavni, a city of 50,000 in central Ukraine, landing in Australia with a two-year temporary humanitarian visa and a CV rich in hospitality management, which shell put to use as Kyiv Socials new restaurant consultant. Itll be very special to share our traditions and food with Australian people, Mohylna says. Diners can expect a green borscht soup made with sorrel, and dumplings lots of them, filled with everything from mushrooms to cherries. Advertisement Having people like Nadia involved helps with the other aim of Kyiv Social, [which is] training people, Christie-David says. The Sydney restaurateur has plenty of experience in the area as founder of Plate it Forward, which supports refugees and asylum seekers at Colombo Social in Enmore and Kabul Social in Wynyard, and others in need at Coyoacan Social in Eveleigh. Neil Perry's chicken Kiev with garlic butter Kyiv Social will be a Plate it Forward restaurant, but in consultation with the Ukrainian community. Weve also been working with the Ukrainian ambassador on it, he adds. The restaurant will open in the former home of The Two Wolves at Broadway, next to The Lansdowne Hotel. Were in the middle of a huge renovation, well hopefully open the doors in the first half of September. Will Ukraines most famous dish feature on the opening menu? Itll 100 per cent have chicken Kyiv, Christie-David says. Advertisement Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox. Sign up I am also a descendent of Captain Bourn Russell (C8), via his first and illegitimate son William Bourn Russell Watson, and have been to at least two of the places in Japan Captain Russell visited in Lady Rowena, says Malcolm Russell Watson of Swansea. On the island of Hachijo-jima we were treated to tea and boiled potatoes, so I reckoned I also got water and vegetables as did Captain Russell. I did, however, refrain from burning any villages on Hokkaido. Many local convict descendants will not be surprised to learn the British government has rebranded their convict hulks as floating hostels, suspects Ian Nicholls of Baulkham Hills. I thought my mother was the only one with the genius idea of adding Vegemite to casseroles (C8), says Nick Bencsik of Hunters Hill. It certainly gives a much better flavour and texture than plain old beef stock. Try it and see! Like Allan Cowley (C8), Kim Reed of Dee Why sampled the beer and clamato juice coupler when in Canada: I think it was called a Red Eye. Sounds appalling now but in our mid-20s we enjoyed it. That said, Im not sure my current more mature (senior) palate would agree. From Cowley, the bloke, to Cowley, the community. Dave Lewington of Heathcote noticed that Susan Bradley grew up in Cowley, England (C8) and recalls that almost anyone who was born and grew up in Cowley worked at the Morris car manufacturers [or learned the tuba Granny]. My wife was born in Cowley and whenever mentioned is asked was it on the early morning Monday shift or the late afternoon Friday shift? The victims families carried photographs of their children and wore jumpers bearing words including Forever Young and images of angel wings as they watched on. According to the agreed facts, Edwards was driving at 117.9km/h on a 60km/h stretch of East Parade in Buxton when he lost control of the Nissan Navara ute. It left the road and hit two trees. Nearby residents heard a car speeding and a massive explosion, and called triple zero. Tyrell Edwards has pleaded guilty after five teenagers died in a car crash in Buxton; (left) mourners in September 2022. Credit: Main photos: Kate Geraghty As a result of the second impact, the rear cabin was torn open, and the rear seat ejected from the vehicle, the facts state. That night Edwards had picked up 15-year-old Tyrese Bechard and 16-year-old Antonio Desisto, then Lily Van de Putte, 14, and Gabriella McLennan, 15, and finally 14-year-old Summer Williams. All five passengers died at the scene. Over the one hour and 43 minutes before the deadly collision at 7.53pm on September 6, 2022, Edwards, a P-plater, frequently exceeded the speed limit, at one point clocking 147km/h, according to the facts. At 6.46pm, while driving and as loud music blared, Edwards held his mobile phone and filmed himself swerving the steering wheel. One of the boys yelled, Were going to spin out cuz. In a Snapchat video sent by Tyrese to Summer that night before she was in the car, Edwards said, We are going 160 the whole way. The whole way. 160. After the crash, Edwards called for help to get out of the vehicle. Im gonna go to jail, I cant go to jail, I dont want to go to jail, he said. Asked what happened, he said, I dunno if I fell asleep or if it was a kangaroo that ran out in front of me. John Van de Putte, father of victim Lily, speaks after driver Tyrell Edwards was taken into custody. Credit: Sarah McPhee In his interview with police, Edwards made a series of statements including that he only thought there were two girls that he picked up in addition to the two boys, and he didnt even know that there was another person in his car. Edwards said that sometimes when he was driving on the highway the vehicle would randomly pick up speed and then drop speed, but he didnt book it into the mechanic and he wasnt sure what speed he was doing prior to the accident, but it was probably the speed limit. He further said the steering wheel started shaking and then started going left to right and when he tried to straighten it, it got worse, that he tried to brake when the car started to shake, but it started sliding instead of stopping, and he had experienced similar shaking before on the way to work a few weeks prior. Loading A police mechanical expert found no defects with the vehicle that might have been a contributing factor to the collision, and two mechanics who previously inspected the ute spoke of no faults, the facts state. Defence lawyer Karen Watson attempted to keep Edwards at liberty until sentencing, arguing he needed to remain free for continued psychological treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive symptoms. She conceded that he would be sentenced to full-time imprisonment. But magistrate David Degnan revoked bail, saying he was not satisfied Edwards situation amounted to special or exceptional circumstances. If it is necessary to take place, then it can take place whilst the offender is in custody, he said. Degnan described the aggravated dangerous driving as particularly egregious. It was dangerous driving repeated over a period of time, ultimately leading to the loss of control of the vehicle, he said. He said the car was carrying five passengers, when it only had seatbelts for four passengers and a driver, and the impact at speed had a devastating effect. This was a tragic incident involving the loss of five young lives, the magistrate said. Since earliest colonial times, weve exhibited a wonderful disdain and comic appreciation for our self-presumed elites often slavish admiration for the British class system but, occasionally, they outdo themselves in sheer dumb arrogant pomposity. The Kings School ticked all those boxes last year, effortlessly playing into outsider prejudices by sending headmaster Tony George on a business-class trip with his wife to the UK to watch the Royal Henley Regatta. Now for the punchline: the costs of his wifes flights will have to be repaid after a NSW Education Department investigation found the jaunt an improper use of school funds and a breach of the Education Act. Kings headmaster Tony George went on a business-class trip with his wife to the UK to watch the Royal Henley Regatta. Credit: Thirteen months ago, the Herald reported on turmoil within the school over the plan for George, his deputy and their wives to fly first-class to attend the regatta. The schools first VIII was to compete in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, a race dominated by Eton College, an alma mater of princes and prime ministers. The Kings School at the time portrayed the regatta as presenting an opportunity for the headmaster to engage with other members of the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference, a group of more than 350 independent schools, recognised as best-in-class and adding that as a school of global standing, international relationships are essential to sustaining and developing key initiatives. But such hubris did not wash with everyone at the school. Plans for the trip, estimated to have cost at least $45,000, prompted an old boys representative on the schools board to quit, and sparked concern among others that the expenses had not been put before the whole council for approval. The furore saw George, and his wife eventually downgrade their tickets to business class, and the deputy pay for the trip out of his own pocket. Boats on Sydneys northern beaches have erupted into flames, causing an estimated $3 million worth of damage as authorities investigate what ignited the fire. Fire and Rescue NSW were called to Holmeport Marinas at McCarrs Creek Road, Church Point, about 5am on Thursday, after reports one of the vessels moored at the marina was on fire. Flames spread from one boat to two others nearby. NSW Fire and Rescue work to extinguish the three boats that caught fire in Church Point. Six fire trucks and 22 firefighters arrived and spent more than an hour containing the blaze as one of the boats drifted out into the bay of the marina. Water Police and the Rural Fire Service in two boats assisted fire crews. No one was on board the burning boats and there were no reports of injuries. Authorities are yet to determine the cause of the fire. Fires have been burning on the temporarily occupied island of Dzharylhach in the Kherson region for more than a week. The fire has destroyed the entire protected area of the natural park on an area of more than 1,500 hectares and caused billions of hryvnias in damage. ADVERTISIMENT Iryna Sabashenko, director of the Dzharylhach National Park, told Suspilne about this. According to her, the protected area, where the bulk of all steppe ecosystems of the island are concentrated, as well as the populations of all rare animals and the largest number of ungulates on the island, was destroyed by fire. A number of plant communities listed in the Red Data Book are under threat of extinction. Sabashenko pointed out that it takes an average of 4-5 to 8-12 years to restore steppe, meadow, and salt marsh areas, and 15 to 30 years to restore tamarack thickets. ADVERTISIMENT "We are counting the losses, but they are already in the billions of hryvnias. The fire is still ongoing, so we don't have accurate data," said the director. As a reminder, Dzharylhach has been under occupation since the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion. Part of the park, which has been on fire since early August, is an absolute nature reserve zone, where even human access is restricted. "Undoubtedly, the fire, which no one is even trying to extinguish, will bring enormous losses to the island's biodiversity," the Ukrainian Nature Protection Group said. As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, the Kakhovka Reservoir has completely gone shallow after the occupiers blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station. Now its bottom is a solid huge void, with lakes of water visible. "More than $2 billion in direct losses and at least $1.5 billion in environmental damage as a result of Russia's crime, and the worst part is tens of thousands of ruined lives, pain and suffering for Ukrainians," the Come Back Alive Foundation said. ADVERTISIMENT Only verified information is available on our Obozrevatel Telegram channel, Threads and Viber. Don't fall for fakes! Last month, writer and filmmaker John Safran penned a dedication to his long-time friend and former radio co-host, the late Father Bob Maguire. Father Bob was, among many things, a devoted community worker and advocate for disadvantaged people. When he passed away in April this year, he was given a state funeral at St Patricks Cathedral in Melbourne. Award-winning photographer Adam Ferguson captured this image of life in a makeshift camp under the Goodwill Bridge for Brisbane Times. Credit: Adam Ferguson In both the article and eulogy he read on the day, Safran reflected on one of the most impactful things he learned from Father Bob: You dont have to like people, only love them. The meaning of the aphorism, he explained, was to be kind to people and show them dignity, even if theyre wretched. Ive thought about that phrase a lot, especially this week, National Homelessness Week. A Victorian police sergeant facing child sex abuse charges has been arrested in Queensland and charged with more than 80 offences, including rape. The 42-year-old was initially charged in June with one count of sexual activity in the presence of a child under 16 and three counts of accessing child abuse material. A Victorian police officer is facing more than 80 child sex abuse related charges. Credit: Paul Rovere Following his arrest in Townsville this week, he now faces additional 78 charges including two counts of rape, 30 of producing child abuse material and 38 of possessing child abuse material. The alleged offences took place between August 2014 and May this year. Police said the man a Victorian member of the Transit and Public Safety Command was off duty when the alleged offences occurred. [Lang] succumbed to the pressures of Rose Porteous and her desire of a luxurious lifestyle and the events we come to today, Hutley said. We submit this was all done at the behest of Rose Porteous ... he began expending vast sums of money on mansions and the like. Loading Hutley said it pained his client to admit its former founders fiduciary duty breaches, but said Lang showed no regard for the interests of Hancock Prospecting nor his former business partners company Wright Prospecting, despite its case he was acting on behalf of the partnership. On the contrary, Hutley said Lang made the moves to exercise full control over the tenements and divert monetary benefits away from Hancock Prospecting without Rinehart scrutinising what he was doing. Hancock calls on reclusive heiress to front court The submissions came just hours after Hutley requested reclusive mining heiress Angela Bennett explain her absence in the battle her fathers company was waging against Hancock Prospecting after producing a flurry of documents he claimed rendered its claim hopeless. But Hutley said memorandums exchanged in 1989 between several high-ranking Wright Prospecting executives, Peters son Michael Wright, and daughter Angela Bennett indicated they knew the company had no interest in it. Documents exchanged in the days after those memos, Hutley said, showed the parties proposing that a portion of Hope Downs known then as East Angelas be made a joint asset to even out the value in a partnership carve-up. This document shows an acute awareness and appreciation by the four individuals who created it, and it was addressed to and received by Michael Wright and Angela Bennett, he said. This case is hopeless, should never have been brought, and we would invite Wright Prospecting to rescind the claim to East Angelas. It must be dismissed. The position was further corroborated, Hutley claimed, by minutes of board meetings to that effect. The court was told many of those involved in negotiations at the time had since died, with 78-year-old Bennett one of the few who could still give evidence. Hutley questioned why she had not submitted a statement in the case, referencing court rules whereby it can be inferred that if a party chooses not to give evidence, it is because it would not have helped their case. The court was told Bennett had given evidence in a previous case that she had suffered impairment of her memory following a surgery to remove a brain tumour in 2003. Regardless, Hutley said her absence should be explained. There has been no affidavit to explain [Bennetts] absence in this case, he said. If Wright Prospecting indicates Mrs Bennett is not in a position to give evidence, we will accept it, but otherwise, absent a proper explanation, there would be a Jones and Dunkel inference. We would like an explanation. Who is Angela Bennett? Angela Bennett is the daughter of Peter Wright, who along with Lang Hancock pioneered the discovery of valuable iron ore deposits in Western Australias Pilbara region. Royalties from the tenements pegged by Wright and Hancock in the 1960s flow to Bennett and her nieces Leonie Baldock and Alexandra Burt, who together own Wright Prospecting. The Australian Financial Review Rich List for 2023 put Bennetts wealth at $4.63 billion. Despite being one of the richest people in the country, Bennett maintains a low profile, with as few as two public photographs of her in existence. Hutley said the court had been denied the ability of the best view of evidence and Hancock Prospecting had been denied the benefit of Bennetts account courtesy of Wright Prospectings delay in bringing the action until 2010, which he said should also render the lawsuit void. The extraordinary delay, if this case was seriously believed to be true, by those two individuals [Michael Wright and Angela Bennett] ... they would have been the central witnesses to the Wright Prospecting case, he told the court. Loading The court was also taken through documents exchanged in the wake of Hancock Prospectings 2005 joint venture with Rio Tinto, in which it handed the mining giant a 50 per cent stake in Hope Downs. A work diary of Wright Prospectings general manager indicated the company was contacted by the son of Don Rhodes Wright and Hancocks former business associate, whose company is now fighting for a 1.25 per cent stake in Hope Downs royalties. Ken Rhodes raised his right to a royalty under a 1969 agreement his father had inked with the original pioneers, to which Wright Prospecting allegedly informed him not to look to them for a royalty for the portion of Hope Downs. The documents appear to contradict evidence tendered by Wright Prospecting, which it said showed the lucrative Pilbara iron ore site was always meant to be shared. OK, the guides tone understandably weary now, follow my laser pointer. Abundant birdlife. Credit: Jamie Lafferty Mostly the water is the colour of coffee with not quite enough milk, though once in a while on tributaries and lakes, the silt level drops, and the river darkens. At these rare spots, were encouraged to jump in for a swim. Among the passengers there is concern about piranhas. And more about caiman cousins of alligators especially after we find the colossal, Jurassic skull of a black caiman on a riverbank. It could have been as much as five metres long and 80 years old before it met its end. Conceivably there are more like it swimming in the waters around us, but theres also a beer on offer for anyone who braves the water and so, quicker than you can say consumed by a caiman Im swimming in the Amazon. Back on board, the ships days follow a fairly typical pattern for expedition cruises, with lectures on the surrounding environment, photography tuition, and briefings about whats to come during our trip. Perhaps even more than the passengers, the naturalists take great interest in what birds we see along the way, obsessing over locations and Latin names. One afternoon there is hot-faced debate about a particular vagrant spotted high in the canopy, which is resolved only after much consultation with books and a Google check when a rare sliver of signal creeps into the boat. The celebratory atmosphere over it being an upland sandpiper is surprisingly infectious. Theres a complicated number of companies involved with my particular cruise, though all drive standards just a little higher. Pisco sours all round. Lindblad, National Geographic, and Relais & Chateaux are all what corporate sorts may call stakeholders, with the last of these making their most conspicuous contribution through the kitchen. Despite our remoteness, the food is uniformly excellent, often including produce bought directly from Cucama-Cucamilla people living along the infinite banks of the river. As a result, catfish is frequently on the menu 1500 different species are thought to exist in the Amazon as is delicious oscar fish. Even fried piranha make an appearance. When it comes to fruit and vegetables in Peru, theres almost as much need for interpretation as with the fauna. One afternoon naturalist Jorge Guerra uses some of our transiting time to introduce us to a little of what grows in the upper Amazon region. Standing over a rainbow of fruit and vegetables, he has a masterfully gentle use of sarcasm, heading off any dreadful George of the Jungle jokes before they get a chance to take hold. He then gives us a crash course in wild yellow tomatoes, waxy star fruit, and his favourite taperiba, which tastes like it could be a distant cousin of a mango. These are grown locally and sold to the boat too, but while some of the villages along the Amazon River have taken steps to modernising, several still rely on the jungle for remedies and medicines, for treatments in this world and others beyond. During an astonishingly sweaty trek through the undergrowth, ship naturalist Ericson Pinedo points out machete hacks on trees, tell-tale signs that their valuable saps have been tapped for remedies and potions used for everything from anti-inflammatories to aphrodisiacs. Trekking through the jungle, Credit: Jamie Lafferty So far, so terrestrial, but later on the ship, Ericson tells us that in these parts of the mighty jungle, mysticism and cosmic expansion of the mind are core elements of indigenous culture. My grandfather was a shaman, the Peruvian tells us in the ships deliciously air-conditioned lecture room. So was my father. I thought about it, but in the end, I didnt want to do the training. For us, ayahuasca is very important, not just for getting to higher places, but for cleansing our bodies and minds. He goes on to discuss the growing popularity of the powerful hallucinogenic as a new-age treatment for depression, not something he discounts, but which he brackets with advice to make sure youre doing it with a real shaman. Back out on the river, all animals are concerned with reaching higher planes, especially when the rainy season empties deluge after deluge across the jungle. The water level on the Amazon can change by as much as 10 metres when it reaches its highest point, changing the landscape, cruise routes, and much of the fauna on display. Then, the dolphins are swimming through trees, says expedition leader Alberto. Two types of dolphin live in the waters of the upper Amazon, both of which are endangered. Theres the recognisable if skittish tucuxi, and the otherworldly pink river dolphin, a frankly weird animal that looks like an unfinished concept design for a prettier final creature. Given their conservation status, I had expected them to be rare, or at least hard to spot, but we see them every day of the trip, and on one extraordinary afternoon have them for company for over four hours as they hunt and torment fish at the mouth of a tributary emptying into the Amazon. Everything is always looking to eat something and sometimes theyre looking to eat us. For each outing, both on the skiffs and during the jungle walks, we are advised to take a hypochondriacal number of precautions to stop us being bitten or stung. Most of the other 19 guests on board are from North America and have come armed with staggeringly potent repellents, so rich in toxic DEET that they are advised not to spray it inside for fear of dissolving the ships beautifully lacquered woodwork. The staff rightly err on the side of caution, not just with this but with the fauna, too. On our final Amazon walk, however, we are assigned a local tracker who seems liberated from the rules that bind our naturalists and much else besides. The on-board dining room. Wielding a machete, Federico wears a bright red t-shirt, a sweat-sodden cap, and an air of invincibility. Ericson says he really has the eagle eye and the singular is not a mistake Federicos right eye is clouded with a cataract. Nonetheless, his ability to locate extraordinary animals in the jungle is unmatched. In a little under two hours, hes found us a goliath bird-eating tarantula, a red-tailed boa constrictor, a young green anaconda, and a giant monkey frog, the toxins from which are harvested by some Amerindians for more transcendental rituals. Dont touch it, cautions Ericson as I sneak close for a photograph. I cant lick it, even a little bit? I ask, mostly joking. What would happen? Youd be sick, says my guide. Maybe something else, but definitely very sick. I decide I dont need the Amazon to teach me that particular lesson, and slowly back away from the magical amphibian. THE DETAILS Tour Lindblad Expeditions Upper Amazon tour lasts for 10 days, starting and ending in Lima, with a week on the Amazon River. There are twice-daily outings, either for gentle hikes in the jungle or for skiff tours along the main river and its tributaries, led by local naturalists and experts. All meals and some alcoholic drinks are included, as are internal flights and transfers. International flights are not. From $11,500 a person. See expeditions.com Fly Qantas flies to Lima from Sydney, via Santiago; United fly from Sydney via Houston and LATAM fly from Melbourne via Los Angeles. See qantas.com united.com latam.com Five things to do onboard Kayaking Depending on water levels during the trip, kayaking is offered as a day trip. Participants use double-kayaks to get close to wildlife and explore parts of the Amazon even the efficient skiffs cannot reach. Towel Folding Yes, it might be kitschy, but anyone staying aboard the Delfin II will be unable to ignore the towel art awaiting them in their room each evening. So popular has it become that a class is offered to try and learn secrets from the masters. Pisco making As with the towels, the variety and excellence of the complimentary pisco sours on the ship gets most peoples attention. As well as the classic citrus version, there are infusions with cinnamon, ginger, and passionfruit, all of which are demonstrated during an afternoon class. Smartphone photography While many guests come prepared with expensive arsenals of camera kit, for ordinary guests theres tuition on how to maximise the capability of your smartphones, from taking the best landscapes, to using telescopes to create surprisingly excellent zoom capabilities. By the time the massive Panama Canal project was completed in 1914, an estimated 22,000 workers had perished from accidents, tropical diseases and the punishing heat. Learn about their fate and the staggering international effort it took to build the greatest infrastructure the world had ever seen at the Interoceanic Canal Museum (known locally as the Panama Canal Museum). Its housed in one of the most impressive of Casco Viejos historic buildings, once the Grand Hotel, constructed in 1874. The well-curated exhibits delve into Panamas history and identity from ancient times to modern sovereignty. See museodelcanal.com The beach The nearby island of Taboga is where travellers can get their beach fix. Credit: iStock Despite its waterfront location, Panama City isnt blessed with a lot of clean, swimmable beaches. Choose a hotel with a pool because the humidity can be intense. The alternative is an excursion to the fishing island of Taboga, just 30 minutes by fast ferry. Its a pretty island, home to Playa Restinga, where visitors can enjoy beachside dining, swimming, kayaking and snorkelling. If youre up for a hike, the lookouts at Cerro Vigia and Cerro de la Cruz reward the effort with fantastic views of Panama City. The beach and the hills are far less crowded on weekdays. See tourismpanama.com The restaurant Chef Jose Olmedo Carles daily-changing menu of modern Panamanian cuisine is about as fresh as it gets. The name, Fonda Lo Que Hay (Whatevers Available), says a lot about what you can expect at this wildly popular Old Quarter restaurant. Sparks fly in the open kitchen as chef Jose Olmedo Carles and his team turn the days market finds and fresh catch into dishes that celebrate modern Panamanian cuisine in surprising ways. The menu changes daily, but a few favourites are usually available, including the tuna carpaccio with house ceviche sauce, served on a mat of toasted yucca. For dessert, a mound of crushed ice hand-cranked in a vintage crusher comes with fresh fruit syrups, condensed milk, honey and other toppings. See fondaloquehay.com The way to get around Uber is widely available in Panama City at prices so low you wont believe your eyes. A 25-minute ride from the Financial District to the Old Quarter costs less than $5 (dont forget to tip). Coming from Tocumen International Airport, expect to pay a bit more, around $20. Cars are less frequently available outside the capital city, but most drivers wont mind taking you anywhere within the relatively small country. The distance from Panama City to the cruise port in Colon, for example, is approximately 74 kilometres and typically takes an hour. See uber.com The souvenir Known throughout the world as the Panama hat, the ubiquitous straw hats are in fact made in Ecuador. Legend has it that during the years it took for the Panama Canal to be constructed, workers needed lightweight head coverings to protect them from the harsh Central American sun. Hats woven from toquilla straw in Ecuador filled the bill perfectly. Today the stylish, sun-smart accessories are sold all over Panama City, from boutiques in the Old Quarter, to the airport and shopping malls of downtown. No longer confined to traditional white or natural straw shades, they come in a rainbow of colours and can be rolled up for easy packing. The side-trip A day trip out to the idyllic San Blas Islands is a must. Credit: iStock While its possible to see at least some of the San Blas Islands in one (very long) day trip from Panama City, it would be a shame to rush by all the stunning natural beauty and toes-in-the-sand serenity. The islands, located in the north-west of the country, facing the Caribbean Sea, are mostly uninhabited. The larger islands are home to the indigenous Kuna people, who carefully manage visitor access and have so far avoided the pitfalls of over tourism. Best way to get around is by boat, so join a sailing tour or charter a private vessel. See sanblas-islands.com One more thing Singapore: Chinese tour groups will return to Australia after a three-year hiatus and a $500 million-a-year hit to the Australian tourism industry, despite threats of a long-term boycott. The Chinese government has announced Australia will return to its list of approved group travel destinations. Travel agents in China must choose destinations from the list of countries, which numbered 120 before the COVID-19 pandemic. A group of Chinese tourists with a guide at Circular Quay in Sydney. Credit: Bloomberg This is another positive step towards the stabilisation of our relationship with China, Trade Minister Don Farrell said after the news on Thursday. Tourism was used by the Chinese government as leverage during its three-year dispute with Australia over human rights, COVID-19 and national security. The removal of the restriction on travel is the second reprieve in a week by Beijing after it put an end to tariffs of up to 80 per cent on Australian barley. However, sources said the damage was already done and the leak was the most disastrous security breach in Northern Irish policing history. Loading On a scale of one to five, five being the worst possible, this is six, a police source said, adding officers worst affected could be moved elsewhere in the UK and described the scale of the breach as humongous. Officers are more likely to be moved within Northern Ireland under a scheme where the government purchases their house and relocates them. Others may quit having not told family or friends they worked for the police. Referring to an IRA break-in at the Royal Ulster Constabularys Special Branch offices in Castlereagh in 2002, which was regarded as a disaster for security and a coup for the terror group, the source added: The accepted wisdom is FOI-gate will dwarf Castlereagh. This could be dynamite in the wrong hands. It makes Castlereagh look like Mickey Mouse. Loading The force on Tuesday declared a critical incident over the leak before admitting to a second major blunder 90 minutes later. It revealed that a spreadsheet containing the names of more than 200 serving officers and staff, a police laptop and radio were stolen from the back of a car last month. It is the third major breach since April when a document containing top secret details on US president Joe Bidens visit to Northern Ireland was found by a member of the public on a Belfast street. Police officers already have to take extra precautions owing to the threat from dissident republicans who in February gunned down a senior detective in front of school children. Loading The shooting in Omagh, which left DCI John Caldwell with life-changing injuries, was a reminder of the dangers facing officers. A month later the terror threat in Northern Ireland was raised to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. The officers in the database were named after a now distraught junior member of staff responding to a benign freedom of information request on police numbers forgot to remove the master spreadsheet containing sensitive data. They submitted a response to the request from an armchair journalist through the Whatdotheyknow website. Users of the website can set an alert for when new data is published about the PSNI and the link is believed to have gone live at around 2.30pm on Tuesday, with the Assistant Chief Constable notified at around 4pm. The database was removed between 30 minutes and an hour later as relatives of officers frantically called local papers to raise the alarm about the breach. Since then, it has been circulating on police WhatsApp groups but it is feared it will already be in the hands of criminals. One person who works closely with the police said: Its the single biggest disaster in the history of the PSNI, I dont care what anyone is saying to excuse it, its a gift for militant republicans Simon Byrne, the Chief Constable, has cut short a family holiday to face questions over the breach as the Information Commissioner launched its own investigation into the blunder. The senior police officer is due to attend an emergency meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board on Thursday amid calls for answers from senior politicians. I continue to be kept abreast of developments in relation to this very serious matter, Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland Secretary, said on Wednesday. Liam Kelly, chairman of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, said he was angry, Im shocked and Im looking for answers. The reality is this is unprecedented, he said. I dont think there has ever been a security breach of this calibre in this manifestation anywhere in UK policing, let alone the PSNI. He said it was galling for officers who faced the threat of dissident republicans both off and on duty that it was the PSNI itself which had volunteered this information into the public domain and potentially compromised a number of officers. It is feared the damage in morale terms and recruitment, especially of Catholics who are deeply under-represented in the force, will be devastating. Kelly said: There are officers from a nationalist Catholic background who are living in communities who are maybe not aware they are in the police service and now their names are potentially public knowledge. He added that while officers like himself were public facing, many in more sensitive roles had their details secret for a reason. Youve got people working on national security matters with MI5, youve got officers working in intelligence and the surveillance world where their anonymity is key and allows them to make the inroads to keep our society and officers safe, he added. They are worried that that veil of secrecy has been lifted on them and they are feeling particularly vulnerable. Can they continue in the roles they are currently doing and then if they cant what does their future look like either inside or outside policing? Its a life and death situation for those at the cutting edge. Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd, who identified himself as senior information risk owner, said he fully understood the very real concerns being felt by our colleagues and their families and the force was working hard to mitigate the risk. The office later said it had arrested six people so far in connection with the crime during raids in Quito. Lassos government has blamed rising violence on the streets and in prisons on criminal infighting to control trafficking routes used by Mexican cartels, the Albanian mafia and others to move drugs. Security concerns, along with employment and migration, are major voter concerns in presidential contest. Police undertake a controlled explosion of a device left outside the rally attended by presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Quito. Credit: Reuters Villavicencio, 59, had pledged to combat corruption and reduce tax evasion if elected. According to opinion polls, his support was at 7.5 per cent, ranking him fifth out of eight candidates. Villavicencios party Movimiento Construye (Build Ecuador Movement) said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that armed men attacked its Quito offices in a separate incident. The party said discussions had been held recently about whether to suspend campaigning due to political violence, including the July murder of the mayor of Manta. Villavicencio opposed the suspension, it said, saying keeping silent and hiding in moments when criminals assassin citizens and authorities is an act of cowardice. The candidate, a former unionist, had on Tuesday made a report to the Attorney-Generals office about an oil business, but no further details of his report were made public. Villavicencio, from the Andean province of Chimborazo, was a former union member at state oil company Petroecuador and later a journalist who denounced alleged millions in oil contract losses. Late night marches decrying the murder took place in several cities, including Villavicencios hometown of Alausi. Villavicencio was an outspoken critic of former president Rafael Correa and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over statements made against him. Fernando Villavicencio was one of the countrys most critical voices against corruption. Credit: Reuters He fled to Indigenous territory within Ecuador and later was given asylum in Peru. Ecuador has become a failed state, Correa, who now lives in Belgium, said on X. Hopefully those who try to sow more hate with this new tragedy will understand that will only continue to destroy us. As a legislator, Villavicencio was criticised by opposition politicians for obstructing an impeachment process this year against Lasso, which lead the latter to call the early elections. Other candidates in the race reacted with horror to the killing. Alexandra Villavicencio, sister of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, arrives to the hospital that he was taken after being shot. Credit: AP This makes us all mourn, my solidarity to all his family and the people who follow his ideals. This vile act will not go unpunished!, presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez, who is running for Correas party, said on X. Indigenous candidate Yaku Perez said he had decided to suspend his presidential campaign and demanded the violence stop in a video posted after the incident. Perez later said he was in contact with other candidates, in pursuit of a pact for security. Loading To the government; we dont want words Act. We are dying, candidate Otto Sonnenholzner told a press conference. Today more than ever, the need to act with a strong hand against crime is reiterated. May God have him in his glory, presidential hopeful Jan Topic said on X, before also suspending his campaign. Villavicencio was married and is survived by five children. PHILIPSBURG:--- The film, titled What if I told you! is primarily set in a courtroom and tells the story of how a man's crime might result from his negative experiences as a child. It covers topics such as mental health, societal expectations of men, and the role of parents and caregivers. The film will be produced, in close collaboration with the students and their teacher, Rosan Hartley-Gayle, by the Department of Youth, UNICEF the Netherlands, and local film production company Peter Sagnia Films. Last year, during the Youth Roundtable Conference, young people expressed the need for broader and more creative opportunities to express themselves and participate in decision-making processes that affect them. Since then, the Department of Youth, with the support from UNICEF in the Netherlands, has organized several collaborative events with young people to address topics that are important to them, explains Soraya Agard-Lake, Head of the Department of Youth. The script is written by Teacher Gayle and was performed by her students at the 2nd annual Interscholastic Spoken Word Competition organized by Mens Mental Health Awareness. With the assistance of Mrs. Prince and Teacher Henry-Wilson, their contribution to the event won first place, and 11-year-old Venndy Isaac, who plays the lead character, received a standing ovation. Sometimes men are called weak for showing emotion. I think the film is about how hard it is for men to address their mental health or get help. This can lead them down a bad path, shares Venndy wisely. During the Courthouse tour, Judge Wouters & Support Staff Member Ms. Daniels explained, step by step, local court proceedings in Sint Maarten: Often there are misconceptions because people think our legal system is the same as in the United States; however, it is different. We dont have a jury, for example. During the tour, students received answers to their many questions about the court system - which will be incorporated into the final script. After rehearsing for several weeks, the short film will be recorded at the Courthouse on August 12th & 13th. August 12th is also International Youth Day, organised by the United Nations to celebrate the contribution that young people make in education, employment, conflict resolution and social justice, to name a few. The final film will premiere at the end of September. As part of the tour, Youth Participation Specialist for UNICEF the Netherlands, Lenworth Wilson also gave an interactive presentation on Childrens Rights. Touching on their right to express their opinion, be safe from harm, and have access to education and healthcare, among the 54 articles of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. The students favourite right: the right to play (article 31). Mr Wilson: This short film will be an opportunity to showcase meaningful youth participation. Youth mental health was identified as a priority topic during the Youth Sounding Board consultations in 2021, the Youth Roundtable Conference in 2022, and the Sint Maarten Youth Parliament's International Youth Day Panel Discussion in 2022. We hope the film can be used to encourage more discussion on topics such as mental health, social justice, and the rights of children and young people. This activity is part of the Child Resilience and Protection Project (CRPP) executed by UNICEF the Netherlands in collaboration with the Government of Sint Maarten, financed by the Government of the Netherlands, through the Sint Maarten Trust Fund, and administered by the World Bank. Explosions erupted in Zaporizhzhia on the evening of August 9. The enemy launched a missile attack on a residential neighborhood. There are dead and wounded. ADVERTISIMENT It is known about two victims as of 20:05. This was confirmed by the Secretary of the Zaporizhzhia city Council Anatoly Kurtev. "Russia is a terrorist country," he wrote on his channel in Telegram. The news is being updated. Heliostar Drills 31.8 g/t Gold over 9.5 Metres within 8.0 g/t Gold over 72.0 Metres in Up-Plunge Target at the Ana Paula Highlights: Hole AP-23-300 0 metres @ 8.0 grams per tonne (g/t) gold including 5 metres @ 31.8 g/t gold Hole AP-23-302 52 metres @ 5.0 g/t gold Hole AP-23-299 11 metres @ 15.8 g/t gold The up-plunge target is expected to connect into a single block of continuous high grade gold mineralization. Hole AP-23-300 is 480% better than predicted in the current resource model at a >5g/t cutoff grade Heliostar Metals Ltd. (TSX.V: HSTR, OTCQX: HSTXF, FRA: RGG1) (aHeliostara or the aCompanya) https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/heliostar-metals-ltd/ is pleased to report additional drill results from the Ana Paula project in Mexico (aAna Paulaa or the aAna Paula Projecta). These four holes continue to assess mineralization up-plunge of the High Grade Panel at the core of Ana Paula. Heliostar CEO, Charles Funk, commented, aDrilling at Ana Paula continues to exceed our expectations and deliver impressive gold intercepts.A The headline hole, AP-23-300, is a 480% increase to the current resource model prediction, at a >5 g/t gold cut-off grade. The most easterly of Heliostara?s holes, AP-23-302 was also particularly impactful with an intersection of 51 metres @ 5.0 g/t gold in an area where high gold grades were not modelled in the 2023 PFS resource.A These results validate our belief that we can meaningfully increase the value of the Ana Paula project. The Company continues its well-funded expansion and infill drilling program of the High Grade Panel. Additional drill results will continue to be announced ahead of the planned resource update in November 2023.a Drill Results Results from this press release are from Heliostara?s up-plunge growth target at Ana Paula.A Hole AP-23-299 tested the up-dip and central portion of the High Grade Panel.A This hole extended mineralization towards the surface and returned 38.0 metres grading 6.95 g/t gold, including 11.0 metres grading 15.8 g/t gold. Hole AP-23-300 tested a gap in the high grade in the up-plunge area where hole AP-23-297 had intersected a sub-interval of 24 metres at 8.8 g/t gold.A A Hole AP-23-300 returned 38 metres grading 13.4 g/t gold including 9.5 metres grading 31.8 g/t gold to better define the northern extent of High Grade Panel in this area. Hole AP-23-301 tested deeper beneath AP-23-300 in an area where the panel is narrower.A It intersected 8.5 metres grading 3.0 g/t gold.A Further information is attached Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release includes certain \ForwardaLooking Statements\ within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and \forwardalooking information\ under applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words \anticipate\, \believe\, \estimate\, \expect\, \target\, \plan\, \forecast\, \may\, \would\, \could\, \schedule\ and similar words or expressions, identify forwardalooking statements or information. These forwardalooking statements or information relate to, among other things: the exploration, development, and production at the Companya?s properties; permitting at the San Antonio project; the release of exploration results; and future resource and reserve estimates.A Forwardalooking statements and forwardalooking information relating to any future mineral production, liquidity, enhanced value and capital markets profile of the Company, future growth potential for the Company and its business, and future exploration plans are based on management\-s reasonable assumptions, estimates, expectations, analyses and opinions, which are based on management\-s experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, and other factors that management believes are relevant and reasonable in the circumstances, but which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things, the price of metals; no escalation in the severity of public health crises or ongoing military conflicts; costs of exploration and development; the estimated costs of development of exploration projects; and the Company\-s ability to operate in a safe and effective manner and its ability to obtain financing on reasonable terms. These statements reflect the Company\-s respective current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of other assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political, and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forwardalooking statements or forward-looking information and the Company has made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation: precious metals price volatility; risks associated with the conduct of the Company\-s mining activities in foreign jurisdictions; regulatory, consent or permitting delays; risks relating to reliance on the Company\-s management team and outside contractors; risks regarding exploration and mining activities; the Company\-s inability to obtain insurance to cover all risks, on a commercially reasonable basis or at all; currency fluctuations; risks regarding the failure to generate sufficient cash flow from operations; risks relating to project financing and equity issuances; risks and unknowns inherent in all mining projects, including the inaccuracy of reserves and resources, metallurgical recoveries and capital and operating costs of such projects; contests over title to properties, particularly title to undeveloped properties; laws and regulations governing the environment, health and safety; the ability of the communities in which the Company operates to manage and cope with the implications of public health crises; the economic and financial implications of public health crises, ongoing military conflicts and general economic factors to the Company; operating or technical difficulties in connection with mining or development activities; employee relations, labour unrest or unavailability; the Company\-s interactions with surrounding communities; the Company\-s ability to successfully integrate acquired assets; the speculative nature of exploration and development, including the risks of diminishing quantities or grades of reserves; stock market volatility; conflicts of interest among certain directors and officers; lack of liquidity for shareholders of the Company; litigation risk; and the factors identified under the caption aRisk Factorsa in the Companya?s public disclosure documents. Readers are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forwardalooking statements or forward-looking information. Although the Company has attempted to identify key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forwardalooking statements or forward-looking information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements or information, other than as required by applicable law. Century Lithium updates progress on testing with Koch Technology Solutions Century Lithium Corp. (TSXV: LCE ) (OTCQX: CYDVF ) (Frankfurt: C1Z ) (Century Lithium or the Company) https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/century-lithium-corp/ is pleased to report successful progress in its collaboration with Koch Technology Solutions (KTS), a Koch Engineered Solutions (KES) company. As reported previously (see April 17, 2023, news release ) Century Lithium and KTS are working together on the application of KTSa?s Li-ProTM system at Centurya?s Lithium Extraction Facility (Pilot Plant) in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, USA. aCentury Lithium is delighted to see the progress made in our collaboration with Koch Technology Solutionsa stated Bill Willoughby, President, and CEO of Century Lithium. aOur team, with KTSa?s input has successfully incorporated and operated the equipment at our Pilot Plant with significantly improved results.a Since October 2021, Century Lithium has been continuously testing the extraction of lithium from the claystone found at its 100%-owned Clayton Valley Lithium Project (Project) in Nevada utilizing a chloride-based leaching process. Testing of the Li-ProTM system was conducted to evaluate potential improvements in the direct lithium extraction (DLE) area of the Pilot Plant. Adam Sackett, President of Koch Technology Solutions, added, aThe steady state results generated onsite with the Koch Technology Solutions Li-Proa Direct Lithium Extraction process has hit all our key milestones for the Century pilot program. We are excited to move towards engineering and executing a Li-Proa installation with commercial process guarantees.a With the integration of KTSa?s DLE process, the grades of the intermediate lithium solution produced at the Pilot Plant have increased to the highest levels to date, with an average grade of 7.5 grams/liter (g/l) (7,500 parts per million) lithium. These lithium concentrations are four times higher than previously generated, with sodium concentrations almost an order of magnitude lower. Highlights To Date Successful installation and operation of Kocha?s Li-ProTM DLE process Li-ProTM plant achieved steady state using Century Lithiuma?s chloride leaching process Manufacture intermediate solutions with lithium grades of 7 to 8 g/l concentrations with average lithium to sodium ratios of 0.9 to 1.1 No observed degradation of media or accumulation of deleterious elements Operational Results Since the installation of KTSa?s DLE equipment, Century Lithium has focused on improvements related to the operational aspects of the Pilot Plant and adjustments to the final flowsheet. These improvements were well supported through the development and incorporation of KTSa?s DLE equipment at the Pilot Plant. Century Lithium, with the support of KTS, has identified techniques to improve lithium recovery within the DLE area while minimizing deleterious elements in the final solutions. Collaboration between Century Lithium and Koch staff is very productive, generating ideas and changes that have resulted in the complete removal of calcium and magnesium, and marked reduction of sodium and potassium in the product solutions. Qualified Person Todd Fayram, MMSA-QP is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has approved the technical information in this release. About Century Lithium Corp. Century Lithium Corp. (formerly Cypress Development Corp.) is an advanced stage lithium company, focused on developing its 100%-owned Clayton Valley Lithium Project in west-central Nevada, USA. Century Lithium is currently in the pilot stage of testing on material from its lithium-bearing claystone deposit at its Lithium Extraction Facility in Amargosa Valley, Nevada and progressing towards completing a Feasibility Study and permitting, with the goal of becoming a domestic producer of lithium for the growing electric vehicle and battery storage market. ON BEHALF OF CENTURY LITHIUM CORP. WILLIAM WILLOUGHBY, PhD., PE President & Chief Executive Officer For further information, please contact: Spiros Cacos | Vice President, Investor Relations Direct: +1 604 764 1851 Toll Free: 1 800 567 8181 scacos@centurylithium.comA centurylithium.comA A In Europe: Swiss Resource Capital AG Jochen Staiger & Marc Ollinger info@resource-capital.ch www.resource-capital.ch NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be \forward-looking statements\.A Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions and are identified by words such as aexpects,a aestimates,a aprojects,a aanticipates,a abelieves,a acould,a ascheduled,a and other similar words.A All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management 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. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if managementa?s beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration, and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information. Osisko development reports second quarter 2023 results Osisko Development Corp. (NYSE: ODV, TSXV: ODV) (\Osisko Development\ or the \Company\) https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/osisko-development-corp/ is pleased to report its financial and operating results for the three months ended June 30, 2023 (\Q2 2023\). Q2 2023 HIGHLIGHTS Operating, Financial and Corporate Updates: 3,830 ounces of gold sold by the Company from operating activities, comprising of: 1,576 ounces of gold sold from the Trixie test mine (\Trixie\) located within the Company\-s wider Tintic Project; 1,244 ounces of gold sold from the San Antonio Gold Project (\San Antonio\) by processing stockpiles via heap leaching; and 1,010 ounces of gold sold from the Cariboo Gold Project (\Cariboo\) by processing stockpiles at a third-party processing facility. $10.8 million in revenues and $11.4 million in cost of sales generated from operating activities. On May 5, 2023, the Company announced the supplemental listing of certain previously-issued common share purchase warrants of the Company (\Warrants\) on the TSX Venture Exchange (the \Exchange\) effective as of the opening of markets on May 8, 2023. These Warrants include: (i) an aggregate 7,752,916 Warrants expiring on March 2, 2027, and (ii) an aggregate 11,363,933 Warrants expiring on May 27, 2027 (see news release dated May 5, 2023). These Warrants have been subsequently listed for trading on the Exchange under the symbols \ODV.WT.A\ and \ODV.WT.U\, respectively. The Company announced the results of its annual meeting of shareholders held on May 11, 2023, and on June 30, 2023, granted deferred share units of the Company (\DSUs\) to its independent directors as part of its regular annual remuneration program, in accordance with the DSU Plan of the Company. As at June 30, 2023, the Company had approximately $86.9 million in cash. Based on current projections, the Company believes that the capital resources available to Osisko Development as at June 30, 2023 are insufficient to fund its planned development, exploration and corporate activities for the next 12 months. To execute on its planned activities, the Company will need to seek additional funding and/or make adjustments to the timing thereof or reduce planned expenditures. The Company is exploring options to secure additional financing; however, there is no assurance that future financing(s) will be available or be available on favorable terms (refer to Note 1 in the financial statements relating to going concern). Tintic Project a Utah, U.S.A. (100%-owned) Approximately 85% of the 1,390 meter (\m\) (or 4,550 feet (\\)) of the Trixie portal and underground decline ramp has been completed as at June 30, 2023. The Company anticipates completion of the decline ramp to the main 625 feet underground level by Q3 2023. Target to ramp up processing capacity to 500 short tons per day is subject to completion of required mine and mill infrastructure upgrades, updated mineral resources estimate (\MRE\) and ongoing technical work. Small-batch VAT leaching recommenced during the quarter as the Company advanced ongoing technical work in connection with the required mine and mill infrastructure upgrades. During the quarter, the Company continued underground exploration and delineation activities on the existing Trixie deposit with two diamond drill rigs operating as part of its 2023 underground infill and exploration program targeting a total of 5,000 m (16,404 ft.). As of June 30, 2023, a total of 4,415 m (14,485 ft.) were drilled in 56 holes, with assay results for 19 holes released on May 17, 2023. Assay results for an additional 14 holes was released on July 18, 2023 (see Subsequent to Q2 2023). Assay results for the remaining drill holes are pending. On April 3, 2023, and on May 4, 2023, the Company disclosed assay results from an aggregate of 50 diamond drilling holes from the 2022 underground exploration program at Trixie. On June 27, 2023, the Company also released underground sampling results from its ongoing 2023 exploration program at Trixie. The Company is currently working on an updated MRE for the Trixie deposit to incorporate the new 2023 drilling results and the remaining 2022 drilling that was not included in the Tintic Technical Report (as defined herein) published on January 27, 2023 (with an effective date of January 10, 2023), due to assay lab delays. This new MRE is expected to be completed once the 2023 drilling program has concluded and all assay results have been received. An initial regional surface diamond drilling campaign to test for copper-gold-molybdenum porphyry mineralization potential, namely in the Big Hill area, is anticipated to commence in the following months. Subsequent to quarter end, a diamond drill rig from Major Drilling America of Salt Lake City, Utah, arrived at site in preparation of the contemplated surface drill campaign (see Figure 1). Data compilation from historic mines in the area is ongoing and anticipated to generate additional exploration drill targets on the greater Tintic Project property. Cariboo Gold Project a British Columbia, Canada (100%-owned) On May 8, 2023, the Company announced the signing of two landmark permitting agreements, the Process Charter and the Joint Information Requirements Table, reaffirming the multilateral support of and commitment by the various levels of the Government of British Columbia (\BC\) to advance the approval process of the Cariboo Gold Project. The Company also executed several project electrification initiatives in partnership with BC Hydro\-s CleanBC Industry Fund and the CleanBC Facilities Electrification Fund, which are important steps in supporting the Company\-s efforts in reducing the carbon footprint of the Cariboo Gold Project. The Company anticipates that the potential development of Cariboo may provide a basis for progress towards the establishment of a broader mining district camp, including development of multiple deposits over several trends totalling approximately 80 km of mineralization. For further information regarding Cariboo and the Cariboo Feasibility Study refer to Technical Reports. The Company anticipates receiving the Environmental Assessment Certificate in Q3 2023 and permits by the end of Q1 2024, targets which are aligned with the timelines established in the Process Charter. San Antonio Gold Project a Sonora State, Mexico (100%-owned) As of June 30, 2023, the Company sold a total of 12,788 net ounces of gold (gross 14,072 ounces) from the San Antonio heap leach pad since commencing processing of stockpile inventory in Q1 2022. A total of 1,244 net ounces of gold was sold in Q2 2023 (gross 1,008 ounces). On April 29, 2023, Mexico\-s Senate approved a wide-ranging reform of laws governing the mining industry, including a requirement that companies pay a percentage of profits to various stakeholders. The new mining law reduces the maximum length of concessions from 50 to 30 years, and may allow authorities to cancel concessions if no work is done on them within two years. The Company is closely monitoring the situation and will continue to assess the potential impacts on its Mexican assets. The Company will continue its efforts on the remaining stockpile processing, which is expected to be completed in Q3 2023. The Company awaits next steps from the government of Mexico with respect to the permitting process. SUBSEQUENT TO Q2 2023 On July 18, 2023, the Company disclosed assay results from 14 diamond drilling holes and chip sampling results from new development areas from its ongoing 2023 underground infill and exploration program at Trixie. Select assay results highlights included (see news release dated July 18, 2023): 00 grams per tonne (\g/t\) gold (\Au\) and 344.39 g/t silver (\Ag\) over 4.57 m in hole TRXU-DD-23-026 (1.90 troy ounces per short ton (\oz/t\) Au and 10.04 oz/t Ag over 15 ft.). On July 6, 2023, the Company announced that in accordance with the terms of the Company\-s previously-completed acquisition in May 2022 of a 100% ownership interest in the Tintic Project, it had satisfied the first of five deferred payments to the sellers. Deferred consideration of US$2,500,000 was satisfied by an amount of US$250,000 ($334,400) paid in cash in June 2023 and an amount of US$2,250,000 ($2,986,425) settled by the issuance of 454,026 common shares on July 6, 2023. Consolidated Financial Statements The Company\-s unaudited interim consolidated financial statements (the \Financial Statements\) and management\-s discussion and analysis (\MD&A\) for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 are available on the Company\-s website at www.osiskodev.com, on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) and on EDGAR (www.sec.gov) under Osisko Development\-s issuer profile. Qualified Persons The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Maggie Layman, P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration of Osisko Development, and FranAois VAzina, ing., P.Eng., MBA, Senior Vice President, Project Development, Technical Services and Environment, each of whom is a \qualified person\ within the meaning of NI 43-101. Technical Reports Information relating to the Tintic Project and the current MRE for the Trixie deposit is supported by the technical report titled \NI 43-101 Technical Report, Initial Mineral Resource Estimate for the Trixie Deposit, Tintic Project, Utah, United States of America\, dated January 27, 2023 (with an effective date of January 10, 2023) prepared for the Company by independent representatives of Micon International Limited (the \Tintic Technical Report\). Reference should be made to the full text of the Tintic Technical Report, which was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 and is available electronically on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) and on EDGAR (www.sec.gov) under Osisko Development\-s issuer profile and on the Company\-s website at www.osiskodev.com. Information relating to Cariboo and the Cariboo FS is supported by the technical report titled \Feasibility Study for the Cariboo Gold Project, District of Well, British Columbia, Canada\, dated January 10, 2023 (amended January 12, 2023) with an effective date of December 30, 2022) prepared for the Company by independent representatives BBA Engineering Ltd. and supported by independent consulting firms, including InnovExplo Inc., SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc., Golder Associates Ltd. (amalgamated with WSP Canada Inc. on January 1, 2023, to form WSP Canada Inc.), WSP USA Inc., Falkirk Environmental Consultants Ltd., Klohn Crippen Berger Ltd., KCC Geoconsulting Inc., and JDS Energy & Mining Inc. (the \Cariboo Technical Report\). Reference should be made to the full text of the Cariboo Technical Report, which was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 and is available electronically on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) and on EDGAR (www.sec.gov) under Osisko Development\-s issuer profile and on the Company\-s website at www.osiskodev.com. Information relating to San Antonio is supported by the technical report titled \NI 43-101 Technical Report for the 2022 Mineral Resource Estimate on the San Antonio Project, Sonora, Mexico\, dated July 12, 2022 (with an effective date of June 24, 2022) prepared for the Company by independent representatives of Micon International Limited (the \San Antonio Technical Report\, collectively with the Trixie Technical Report and Cariboo Technical Report, the \Technical Reports\). Reference should be made to the full text of the San Antonio Technical Report, which was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 and is available electronically on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) and on EDGAR (www.sec.gov) under Osisko Development\-s issuer profile and on the Company\-s website at www.osiskodev.com. About Osisko Development Corp. Osisko Development Corp. is a premier North American gold development company focused on high-quality past-producing properties located in mining friendly jurisdictions with district scale potential. The Company\-s objective is to become an intermediate gold producer by advancing its 100%-owned Cariboo Gold Project, located in central B.C., Canada, the Tintic Project in the historic East Tintic mining district in Utah, U.S.A., and the San Antonio Gold Project in Sonora, Mexico. In addition to considerable brownfield exploration potential of these properties, that benefit from significant historical mining data, existing infrastructure and access to skilled labour, the Company\-s project pipeline is complemented by other prospective exploration properties. The Company\-s strategy is to develop attractive, long-life, socially and environmentally sustainable mining assets, while minimizing exposure to development risk and growing mineral resources. The crewmembers of the Apollo 13 mission step aboard the USS Iwo Jima, after splashdown and recovery operations in the South Pacific Ocean on April 17, 1970. Exiting the helicopter from left to right are Fred Haise, James Lovell and John Swigert. Apollo 13 was NASA's third moon-landing mission, but the astronauts never made it to the lunar surface. During the mission's dramatic series of events, an oxygen tank explosion almost 56 hours into the flight forced the crew to abandon all thoughts of reaching the moon. The spacecraft was damaged, but the crew was able to seek cramped shelter in the lunar module for the trip back to Earth, before returning to the command module for an uncomfortable splashdown. The mission stands today as an example of the dangers of space travel and of NASA's innovative minds working together to save lives on the fly. The Apollo 13 mission celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 11, 2020. Related: NASA's moonwalking Apollo astronauts: Where are they now? Apollo 13 crew The Apollo 13 astronauts were commander James Lovell, lunar module pilot Fred Haise, and command module pilot John "Jack" Swigert. At age 42, Lovell was the world's most traveled astronaut when he joined the Apollo 13 mission, with three missions and 572 spaceflight hours under his belt. Lovell participated in Apollo 8, the first mission to circle the moon, and flew two Gemini missions including a 14-day endurance run. Prior to the Apollo 13 mission, 36-year-old Haise served as the backup lunar module pilot for the Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 missions. Haise was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps before joining NASA as a test pilot. He was selected for the manned space program in 1966, at the same time as Swigert. Apollo 13 was Haise's only trip to space. Apollo 13 was Swigert's first trip to space, at age 38. He had been part of the support crew for Apollo 7 and was initially Apollo 13's backup command module pilot. He was asked to join the crew 48 hours before launch time after the original command module pilot, Ken Mattingly, was exposed to German measles. Jim Lovell (left), Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise pose for their official portrait. Swigert had just replaced Ken Mattingly as command module pilot after Mattingly was exposed to German measles. (Image credit: NASA/JSC) Apollo 13 FAQs Did the Apollo 13 crew survive? Yes, though the mission failed to reach the moon, Apollo 13 made it back to Earth successfully and the whole crew commander James Lovell, lunar module pilot Fred Haise, and command module pilot John "Jack" Swigert survived. What happened to the real Apollo 13? Apollo 13 was NASA's third moon-landing mission but didn't reach the lunar surface. A series of problems plagued the Odyssey spacecraft which was designed to bring them home, causing the crew to abandon all thoughts of reaching the moon. A fire ripped through one of Odyssey's oxygen tanks and damaged another. Oxygen fed the fuel cells in the spacecraft, so power was also reduced. Fortunately the spacecraft Aquarius designed to land on the moon was still in working order. But Aquarius didn't have a heat shield so it would not survive the reentry back to Earth. So the crew crammed themselves into Aquarius which was designed for two people, not three and began the long cold journey home. Without a source of heat, cabin temperatures quickly dropped close to freezing. Some food became inedible. The crew also rationed water to make sure Aquarius operating for longer than it was designed would have enough liquid to cool its hardware down. In the hours before splashdown, the exhausted crew scrambled back over to the Odyssey and powered it up. Thanks to a monumental effort from the crew, mission control and spacecraft manufacturers helping with the mission, Lovell, Haise and Swigert safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa, on April 17, 1970. How did Apollo 13 get back to Earth safely? The Apollo 13 crew used their lunar lander Aquarius as a makeshift 'lifeboat' to survive the long cold journey back to Earth. It was a rough journey home. The entire spaceflight crew lost weight, and Fred Haise developed a kidney infection. But the small vessel protected and carried the crew long enough to reach Earth's atmosphere. The crew only returned to Odyssey in the hours before splashdown to power it up and begin their reentry to Earth. Apollo 13: "Houston, we've had a problem" Apollo 13 launched on April 11, 1970. The Apollo spacecraft was made up of two independent spacecraft joined by a tunnel: orbiter Odyssey, and lander Aquarius. The crew lived in Odyssey on the journey to the moon. On the evening of April 13, when the crew was nearly 322,000 kilometers (200,000 miles) from Earth and closing in on the moon, mission controller Sy Liebergot saw a low-pressure warning signal on a hydrogen tank in Odyssey. The signal could have shown a problem, or could have indicated the hydrogen just needed to be resettled by heating and fanning the gas inside the tank. That procedure was called a "cryo stir", and was supposed to stop the supercold gas from settling into layers. Related: This stunning 4K video re-creates Apollo 13's perilous trip around the moon A view of the damaged Apollo 13 service module after separation. (Image credit: NASA) Swigert flipped the switch for the routine procedure. A moment later, the entire spacecraft shook. Alarm lights lit up in Odyssey and in Mission Control as oxygen pressure fell and power disappeared. The crew notified Mission Control, with Swigert famously saying, "Houston, we've had a problem." (Note that the 1995 movie "Apollo 13" took some creative license with the phrase, changing it to "Houston, we have a problem" and having the words come out of Apollo 13 commander James Lovell's mouth). Much later, a NASA accident investigation board determined wires were exposed in the oxygen tank because of a combination of manufacturing and testing errors before flight. That fateful night, a spark from an exposed wire in the oxygen tank caused a fire, ripping apart one oxygen tank and damaging another inside the spacecraft. Since oxygen fed Odyssey's fuel cells, power was reduced as well. The spacecraft's attitude control thrusters, sensing the venting oxygen, tried to stabilize the spacecraft by firing small jets. The system wasn't very successful given several of the jets were slammed shut by the explosion. Fortunately for Apollo 13, the damaged Odyssey had a healthy backup: Aquarius, which wasn't supposed to be turned on until the crew was close to landing on the moon. Haise and Lovell frantically worked to boot Aquarius up in less time than designed. Aquarius didn't have a heat shield to survive the drop back to Earth, so as Lovell and Haise got the lunar module up and running, Swigert remained in Odyssey to shut down its systems to conserve power for splashdown. Apollo 13's cold, miserable trip home The crew had to balance the challenge of getting home with the challenge of preserving power on Aquarius. After they performed a crucial burn to point the spacecraft back toward Earth, the crew powered down every nonessential system in the spacecraft. Without a source of heat, cabin temperatures quickly dropped down close to freezing. Some food became inedible. The crew also rationed water to make sure Aquarius operating for longer than it was designed would have enough liquid to cool its hardware down. And Aquarius was pretty cramped as it was designed to hold two people, not three. On Earth, flight director Gene Kranz pulled his shift of controllers off regular rotation to focus on managing consumables like water and power. Other mission control teams helped the crew with its daily activities. Spacecraft manufacturers worked around the clock to support NASA and the crew. It was a rough journey home. The entire spaceflight crew lost weight, and Haise developed a kidney infection. But the small vessel protected and carried the crew long enough to reach Earth's atmosphere. In the hours before splashdown, the exhausted crew scrambled back over to the Odyssey and powered it up. The craft had essentially been in a cold water soak for days and could have shorted out, but thanks to safeguards put in place after the Apollo 1 disaster, there were no issues. Lovell, Haise and Swigert safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa, on April 17. Staff members in Mission Control celebrate the safe return of the Apollo 13 crew. Dr. Thomas Paine (center) applauds the successful splashdown while Dr. George Low (right) smokes a cigar. (Image credit: NASA/JSC) Apollo 13's legacy Numerous design changes were made to the Apollo service module and command module on subsequent missions in the Apollo program. According to former mission controller Sy Liebergot in an article by collectSPACE the changes included: Another cryo oxygen tank that could be isolated to only supply the crew. Removing all cryo tank fans and wiring. Removing the thermostats from cryo tanks, and changing the type of heater tube. Adding a 400-amp-hour lunar module descent stage battery. Adding water storage bags to the command module. A group of flight controllers gathers around the console of Glenn S. Lunney (seated, nearest camera), Shift 4 flight director, in the Mission Operations Control Room during Apollo 13. (Image credit: NASA/JSC) As for the astronauts, Haise was assigned to command the Apollo 19 moon mission. However, it and two other missions were canceled after NASA's budget was cut. He later piloted the space shuttle Enterprise during its test flights. In 1982, Swigert was elected to Congress in his home state of Colorado. However, during the campaign, he was diagnosed with bone cancer, and he died before he could be sworn in. In 1994, Lovell and journalist Jeffrey Kluger co-wrote a book about Lovell's spaceflight career that primarily focused on the events of the Apollo 13 mission. The book, "Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13" (Houghton Mifflin, 1994), spurred the 1995 movie "Apollo 13," starring actor Tom Hanks. The movie won two Academy Awards and was filmed in cooperation with NASA. The agency gave the movie crew access to the 1960s-era Mission Control in Houston to reconstruct the site as a set, and also let the actor "astronauts" fly aboard NASA's Vomit Comet airplane to simulate weightlessness. Lovell made a cameo at the end of the film as the captain of the U.S.S. Iwo Jima; Marilyn Lovell and Gene Kranz made short appearances as well, according to the Internet Movie Database. Other biographical accounts of the Apollo 13 mission include Liebergot and David Harland's "Apollo EECOM: Journey of a Lifetime" (Collector's Guide Publishing, 2003) and Kranz's "Failure Is Not An Option" (Simon & Schuster, 2000). Several non-fiction books have also examined Apollo 13, such as Andrew Chaikin's "A Man On The Moon" (Penguin Books, 1994), which included interviews with all of the surviving Apollo astronauts. Additional resources Read more about Apollo in this in-depth article from NASA. Explore the "successful failure" mission with this virtual exhibit from Space Center Houston. Discover other great stories from the Apollo missions with the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Bibliography "Space is hard - mission control after Apollo 13". 17, April. 2020. ESA Lovell, Jim, and Jeffrey Kluger. Apollo 13. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006 . Kauffman, James. " A successful failure: NASAs crisis communications regarding Apollo 13. " Public Relations Review 27.4 (2001): 437-448. Russian occupation forces once again attacked the Kharkiv region. As a result of the shelling, several people were killed and wounded. ADVERTISIMENT This was announced by the head of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, Oleg Sinegubov. "Russian occupiers are firing at the civilian population of the Kharkiv region," he said in a statement. In particular, an enemy shell hit a residential building in the village of Podoly, Kupyansk district. A woman died as a result of the occupants' shelling. Another person was wounded. Emergency services are currently working at the scene. In addition, the enemy fired on the village of Vovchanski Khutory, Chuhuiv district. A 73-year-old man was wounded there. Medics treated him on the spot and he did not need hospitalisation. It is worth noting that the authorities of Kharkiv region do not rule out the possibility of announcing a mandatory evacuation of civilians from 53 settlements in Kupyansk district near the combat zone. They may also introduce forced evacuation of children with their parents or guardians. ADVERTISIMENT As OBOZREVATEL previously reported: - On 9 August, Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine Hanna Maliar said that the occupiers had concentrated their efforts on the Kupyansk direction, trying to break through the defences of Ukrainian defenders and reach Kupyansk. - On 5 August, Russian troops dropped a guided aerial bomb on a blood transfusion centre in the Kupyansk sector. There were killed and wounded. Only verified information is available on our Obozrevatel Telegram channel, Threads and Viber. Don't fall for fakes! D eliveroo shareholders could receive their first ever dividend later this year a decade after the meal takeaway app was founded in London. The company, arguably the UKs best- known tech unicorn, said resilient customer demand meant it was in a position to return up to 250 million cash to investors. The could be in the form of either a special dividend, a tender offer or a share buyback, said CEO Will Shu, who co-founded the business with his childhood childhood friend Greg Orlowski in February 2013. Shu said: Given were well ahead were confidently saying were going to propose a return to shareholders. Weve got our investment pot, weve got our rainy day fund and now weve got surplus money to give back. Were going to be consulting with shareholders to figure out what works... typically the three options are a share buyback, a tender offer or a special dividend. The firm said it will decide on a method for the capital return by September. Its shares rose 3.3% to 128p this morning. The prospect of a potential dividend marks a milestone in the London-based firms treacherous path to profitability. Once hailed a British tech success story by then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak, Deliveroos fortunes took a turn after its botched IPO saw shares tumble as a number of major investors, including Aviva, BMO and Legal & General, said they would not be participating, citing concerns over the companys gig economy-style employment practices and fears turning a profit could be permanently out of reach. But the business today upgraded its earnings guidance after a robust first-half performance saw losses narrow. Deliveroo said it would make pre-tax earnings of between 60 to 80 million, ahead of the 20 to 50 million it previously guided, after losses fell to 82.9 million from 153.8 million the previous year. Neil Shah, director of research at Edison Group, commented: With cutting back on the minds of many consumers, Deliveroos interim results display its commitment to its delivery of resilient and adaptable business. Its strategic focuses on streamlining marketing efforts, optimising overheads, and harnessing the power of advertising, seem to be positioning the company well. The decision to return 250 million of structural surplus capital to shareholders reflects Deliveroos commitment to rewarding its investors. Revenue climbed 5% to just above 1 billion for the first six months of the year, as average order sizes grew 10% to 24.20. Order numbers slipped back 6% to 145 million. Demand in the UK proved more robust, with order numbers broadly flat. Shu said Hawaiian food had become the most popular in London, after a surge in demand for Poke bowls. Semi-skimmed milk, bananas and white wine were the most popular grocery orders. L adbrokes and Coral owner Entain has put aside 585 million to settle an HMRC bribery probe into the Turkish business it sold in 2017. The betting giant is in negotiations over a deferred prosecution agreement, and while it is not final, it says it expects to have to pay more than half a billion pounds. Entain shares fell by 2.2% to 1,328p today. They plummeted two months ago when it revealed it was in talks over a settlement, but the figure announced today is larger than the 300 million or so that City analysts had predicted. It said: While the full terms of a DPA are subject to judicial approval, the company has a sufficient degree of confidence to take a provision of 585 million against a potential settlement, which would be paid over a four-year period in relation to alleged offences under Section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010. The company currently anticipates judicial approval will be sought during Q4 2023. The amount of money put aside assumes Entain will receive full credit for cooperating with the investigation. This means that, had it not cooperated, it may have had to pay even more. Entain sold its business in Turkey, where online betting is not regulated, in 2017 in order to help secure clearance to buy Ladbrokes and Coral. However, questions emerged about the sale, with a Times report at the time suggesting it had been sold to a friend of then-CEO Kenny Alexander. Entain chair Barry Gibson said the events in question were well in the past and the business today - which changed its name to Entain from GVC when Alexander left in 2020 - is nothing like the one it was in 2017. We are pleased to be making good progress towards drawing a line under this historical issue, which relates to a business that was sold by a former management team of the group nearly six years ago. We have been working closely with the CPS throughout this process, and they have recognised our extensive co-operation. Following a complete overhaul of our business model, strategy and culture in the last few years, the Entain of today bears no resemblance to the GVC of yesterday. The Ladbrokes owner said it took a comprehensive review of its business when the investigation first emerged. When it changed its name to Entain, it also revealed it would exit all so-called grey markets where the legal status of online gambling is ill-defined. It has currently left all but one. The scandal at Entain threatened to spill over to rival 888, which owns William Hill, this summer, when a group led by Alexander bought up a stake in 888. The group hoped to make Alexander its CEO, but the gambling watchdog intervened by launching a review into the companys licence, citing the HMRC investigation. 888 said it felt its licence would be revoked if Alexander was put in charge and cancelled talks about making him CEO. Entain also announced its results today. Profit rocketed by 89% to 287.6 million, thanks in part to a better performance for its American joint venture BetMGM. In the UK, online revenue was down 2%. The company said that revenue would have been up by 7% if not for new safer gambling measures annnounced by the Government this spring. I think on any metric my tenure as a British MP was a little challenging. I was a Jewish Labour female MP, representing a Leave seat at a time when Brexit was the hot political topic and Jeremy Corbyn was leader of the Labour Party. It is fair to say that mentions of me on Twitter were not always polite, accurate or flattering. Putting aside for one moment the threats of physical violence and death which clearly incited hatred and crossed into criminal territory, reading the thousands of other @s that were sent to me, youd be forgiven for thinking that I would favour strenuous restrictions on free speech and free expression and heavy censorship of our digital space. But my own experiences fortified my belief that we should always protect freedom of speech and freedom of expression even when it means sometimes being offended or outraged. After all, for every threat I faced there were people prepared to stand with me against the hate. Daylight helped others to challenge the racists. And candidly it was harder (but apparently not impossible) for people to deny the re-emergence of anti-Jewish hate when it was being repeated daily on their social media feeds. Ruth Smeeth (second left), Luciana Berger (centre) and Jess Philllips (second right) at a demonstration outside the Labour party disciplinary hearing for Marc Wadsworth in 2018 / PA But freedom of expression is about so much more than what we see on our social media feeds and since 2020 I have had the privilege of leading Index on Censorship working with people around the world who use their voice, their words and their art as a means of expression. Every day their bravery, candour and work remind me of the need for genuine and tangible rights to freedom of expression. This is why trying to sanitise our own experiences does a disservice to the fight against tyrants and to protect freedom of expression around the world. The UK is often held up by dictators to justify their own actions. When the EU and the UK started discussions about regulating online platforms, so did some of the most regressive regimes in the world under the guise that if the UK is doing it, why shouldnt we, the difference being the intent wasnt to protect but to silence. Of course there are limits on freedom of expression. Consequences must and do come from perpetuating untruths or using your voice to incite hatred or violence but no one has a right not to be offended or to be immune from criticism or to be insulated from opinions they disagree with proffered by people they oppose. The fact is that free speech and free expression can be a tool for democratisation against tyranny and shines the disinfecting light on the dark recesses of totalitarianism. And today, we need that more than ever. As the global population races towards eight billion, more than half live in autocratic states and the trend is going against liberal democracies. Even countries which purport to hold democratic values are seeing the creeping veil of authoritarianism and censorship fall over their institutions and populations. In India, supposedly the largest democratic country on Earth, prime minister Narendra Modis government has applied pressure to social media companies to block and erase content critical of Modi and delete the accounts from prominent politicians and campaigners who speak out against him. The same government is currently restricting the press and access to the internet in Kashmir and cracking down on the pro-independence movement with all the tools associated with dictatorships. Belarus, essentially a puppet state of Russia, routinely designates journalists as extremists and those journalists who are critical of the Belarussian president Alexander Lukashenko are sent to prison. Indeed, our former Index on Censorship colleague Andrei Aliaksandrau and his wife Irina Zlobina are locked up in a Belarussian prison on the baseless charge of the organisation and preparation of actions, grossly violating public order, or active participation in them and funding and other material support for such actions. His crime was allegedly paying the fines of those arrested during the pro-democracy protests in Minsk. Ultimately, Andrei was charged with high treason and has been sentenced to 14 years in prison. Russia, we all know, is waging an illegal war in Ukraine but it has also used the special military operation to shut down any media outlet which seeks to report what is happening in Ukraine that does not explicitly tell a story of Russian victory. TV stations have been closed, newspaper owners threatened and journalists who sought to report on the Wagner rebellion have disappeared. Cuba routinely locks up trade unionists who try to speak out against the Communist government, and journalists who report on their incarceration are subjected to some of the heaviest censorship, all done under the guise of protecting national security. Journalists who criticise Castro, Cubas council of state or the national assembly can be sentenced to three years in prison. Following the devastating earthquake in Turkey, President Erdogan quickly enacted emergency legislation to control media and internet coverage of the aftermath potentially delaying the rescue of hundreds of people and suppressing any news commentary that sought to explore why emergency responses were so slow and why Turkey was so unprepared for this kind of disaster. Those journalists who did persevere were subsequently fined and in October 2022 the dissemination of fake news became an imprisonable offence with the definition of fake news of course being solely determined by political appointees of the president. These are a handful of examples, but this is the kind of challenge freedom of speech and freedom of expression face every single day. But an industrial scale of censorship is not just happening overseas. Political dissidents in the UK trying to expose the horrors of Chinas Uighur camps face threats to their families Political dissidents based in Britain, campaigning to expose the horrors of the Uighur camps in China, face threats to their family unless they cease campaigning. Chinese artists using their skills to poke fun at President Xi or the Chinese state find themselves subject to intimidation by CCP officials, at home and abroad. Alongside the despots clamping down on freedom of speech, the other emerging threat is the unintended consequences of well-intentioned attempts to regulate new spaces for debate. The European Union is currently debating plans to oversee political advertising the aim being to prevent foreign interference and bad-faith actors from using political ads to distort democratic activity. It sounds like a perfectly reasonable thing to do but once you start to allow algorithms and tech giants to determine what is and what isnt legitimate political speech and include huge fines for non-compliance, you create a risk-averse bubble in which anything controversial or complicated is removed for fear of penalty and you silence those who hold views outside the political mainstream. Ultimately, the threats to free speech are coming thick and fast... the rise in authoritarian regimes on the one side or the ill-conceived but well-meaning on the other. The challenge for those of us who stand up for free speech is to expose those who impede our human rights and enlighten those who dont see the impact of their actions. It is for the brave individuals who use their free speech as a tool for good that we stand for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. We do so to give voice to the persecuted at a time when autocracies seek to silence dissent and to provide a platform on which those who want to use their voice can stand. Baroness Anderson, as Ruth Smeeth, was Labour MP for Stoke on Trent North from 2015 until 2019 Review at a glance L iam Gallaghers pre-show DJ had been well briefed. The 1,400 lucky punters that had bagged tickets to this club show celebrating the release of a live album from the Oasis frontmans two solo shows at Knebworth last summer were whipped into a pint-flinging frenzy with The Stone Roses I Am the Resurrection, a most fitting intro for the greatest rocknroll comeback of the century so far. Just six years ago the younger Gallagher brother was one of Twitters most frustrated and caps-locked shouters, his post-Oasis band Beady Eye imploded and all his eggs quite vocally lay in the Oasis reunion basket. Three chart-topping solo studio albums later, hes an icon reborn. As he swaggered onto the Koko stage to Oasis F**king in the Bushes, biting on his smile-shaped tambourine to express the pleasure his famously surly persona and glowering attitude cant otherwise allow, it rained lager; Liam has become Broken Britains fightback hero, rocks parka-clad Rocky. In the summer of Pulp and Blur reunions, between this and Noels recent show at Crystal Palace Bowl, fans effectively got a self-assembly Oasis gig. Noel favoured the acoustic tunes and bluster ballads; Liam knocked out the monster anthems. With Bonehead sporadically joining his small army of onstage guitarists and crowd singalongs almost drowning out the band, he opened with Morning Glory and RocknRoll Star, smudged and grizzled by the surfeit of guitars but still capable of reaching escape velocity. Mid-set came a stirring Stand by Me, Slide Away and a Floyd-sized Roll It Over, to equally terrace-like receptions. Are there any Oasis fans in this little house? Gallagher asked, arguably historys most rhetorical question. Much often rests on the balance Gallagher strikes between such crowd-pleasers and his solo material. But while the laboured glam of Shockwave and The River dragged by, several newer tracks have bedded in as firm fan favourites. Nostalgic poverty ballad Once tugged at beer-oiled heartstrings, and More Power, with its child choir backing track, exuded Stones-y charm. Is this what you came for? Gallagher sang obviously not, but a minor bonus. We came, of course, for the closing run of Oasis smashes: Cigarettes & Alcohol, Wonderwall, Roll With It, a heavy-footed Live Forever, all roared back by the crowd as Gallagher stalked the stage wearing his tambourine as a crown. But where we might have expected a final Champagne Supernova, he instead rolled out a grimy cover of Hendrixs Are You Experienced? before disappearing as the DJ craftily cued up The OJays Give the People What They Want. Back from the dead, cocky as ever. N -Dubz, the English hip-hop trio from Camden Town, is getting ready to give their fans an unforgettable night at Gunnersbury Park later this week. The group has taken an 11-year hiatus to pursue their solo careers before reuniting in May 2022 and releasing the single Charmer. They then went on a sold-out UK arena tour across November and December, and now Fazer, Dappy, and Tulisa are getting ready to hit the stage on Friday, August 11, to perform some of their hit songs. But what time can you expect N-Dubz to perform, who will be their supporting act, and what is their likely setlist? Here is everything we know. What time are N-Dubz on stage at Gunnersbury Park? The award-winning music group is booked to start their show at Gunnersbury Park at 6 pm on Friday, August 11. They will, of course, be preceded by a supporting act before they start their setlist. The concert is expected to conclude around 10.30 pm. Who is their supporting act? N-Dubz will be supported by the viral drum-and-bass breakout musician Venbee. The Kent native, who started her music career in 2020, is known for songs like Low Down, Messy in Heaven, Gutter, and Die Young, which concert-goers can expect to hear live at the event. What is their possible setlist? While the hip-hop group hasnt revealed what their setlist will include, it is very likely that they will prioritise their chart-toppers and big hits. Here are the songs N-Dubz is likely to perform on Friday: Review at a glance L ove is the drug in Lucy Prebbles sad, thoughtful drama. Or is it vice versa? Tristan (a livewire Paapa Essiedu and Connie (Taylor Russell, the Canadian star of Bones and All, quietly mesmerising in her stage debut) fall in love while undergoing a clinical test for a new antidepressant. Their feelings could be real or a side-effect. A play of ideas about the way our brains work is welded to a ruthless 100-minute emotional arc, laced with wit and given a bittersweet ending. It receives a typically stark, urgent production from Jamie Lloyd which left me impressed and stimulated but also weirdly flat. Prebble, more recently a writer on Succession, wrote the play for her muse and creative collaborator Billie Piper in 2013 and it was mounted in the Nationals intimate Cottesloe (now the Dorfman). The script has been tweaked to accommodate Russells Canadian-ness and the fact that the characters are all Black, this time round. Lloyd and designer Soutra Gilmour splay the action open. Essiedu and Russell, in grey sweatsuits, circle each other on a brightly-lit monochrome corridor between two steep banks of audience seating. Beady doctors sit at either end. A human brain in a bucket is the only prop. Somehow, the agonised collapse of Essiedus cocksure Hackney boy Tris and the muted anguish of Russells psychology student Connie seem like equal acts of exposure. Watching it feels voyeuristic but Prebble isnt only interested in love, and only abstractedly in sex. She ponders medical ethics, and why we trust external chemicals rather than the reactions of our own fickle brains. Might depression be a logical reaction to life rather than an illness? These wider ideas are mostly explored through the medics, whose relationship feels schematic. Michele Austins witheringly acid Dr Lorna is prone to depression and had an unwise fling with Kobna Holdbook-Smiths Dr Toby, the creator of the drug on test. A man so purringly self-satisfied hed lick himself if he could, hes the least plausible character. Moral dilemmas seem to turn up right on cue. Austin and Holdbrook-Smith still manage to give fine, funny performances, and the two leads are terrific. The mercurial Essiedu creates a loose, lairy physicality unlike anything else Ive seen him do. Hes absolutely matched by Russell, whose understated self-possession is riveting. The short scenes where Connie and Tris explore the mystery and delirium of early romance are lovely. These days Lloyd usually boils plays down to their thrilling essence: this production feels like a throwback to earlier times when he blew them up. Its still striking, and I still think hes the most exciting director working today. Can we now see his Dolls House with Jessica Chastain, which London cruelly lost to New York thanks to Covid, please? Until 7 Oct, nationaltheatre.org.uk The story of the confrontation between Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner PMC, and Sergei Shoigu, the Minister of Defence of the aggressor country, is not over yet. At the same time, Russia understands that the idea of invading Ukraine was an idiotic one, so they will look for those responsible. Russian military personnel are already beginning to realise that they are being prepared for this role. ADVERTISIMENT This was stated by Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, during a telethon on 10 August. "Nothing is over yet, and the Prigozhin-Shoygu story is not over either," he said. According to Yusov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov also has reasons to fear for his future. "The fact that Gerasimov has recently been trying to imitate activity, to show that he is alive, young, vigorous, etc. also indicates that he is afraid and that he has something to worry about regarding his future," the DIU representative said. Yusov also added that it is possible that Russian General Sergei Surovikin, who "disappeared" after the Wagner mutiny, will return to the front. Answering a question about the dissatisfaction of Russian officers with Gerasimov, he noted that "strategically, the Russian Federation still understands that it was an absolutely idiotic idea to attack Ukraine". The occupiers did not achieve any of the goals of the "special operation", "which means that they will be looking for the extreme and scapegoats," Yusov said. ADVERTISIMENT "And the military personnel, of course, are already beginning to realise that they are being prepared for this role. They don't like it, so they are trying to fight back somehow, to snap back, so far in a quiet way behind the scenes," the DIU representative said. As reported by OBOZREVATEL: - Earlier, the DIU said that the Wagner rebellion led by Prigozhin exposed big problems in the strength of Putin's power. The Kremlin's "machine" turned out to be corroded and cracked, and the dictator himself was unable to hold the reins of power. - Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak noted that the Kremlin regime is increasingly moving the war to the territory of the Russian Federation, which, according to him, will inevitably lead to civil war, the demise of the ruling elite and the political transformation of the aggressor country. ADVERTISIMENT Only verified information is available on our Obozrevatel Telegram channel, Threads and Viber. Don't fall for fakes! T wo thieves who stabbed four members of the public in the City of London when a mobile phone robbery spree was heroically thwarted have been jailed. Louis Parkinson, 26, and Tyrone Dean, 24, armed themselves with a knife as they cycled into central London, hunting for unsuspecting victims. The brazen crime spree started in Fitzrovia, where one man was stabbed in the arm as he bravely tried to retrieve his stolen phone. A short time later, at the scene of a second robbery in Bishopsgate, several members of the public heroically stood in the way of the robbers and attempted to apprehend them. A courier was stabbed three times in the chest and suffered a collapsed lung, a woman lost the use of her hand after being knifed in the arm, and a City broker was scarred for life when he was stabbed in the face - as he bravely stared down one of the thieves. At Inner London crown court on Thursday, Judge Benedict Kelleher sentenced both Dean and Parkinson to 12 years in prison. You acted with appalling violence, said the judge. The incident caused widespread concern and national media coverage. It was a truly shocking example of mindless violence and utter lawlessness. The two men will serve at least two-thirds of their prison sentences, and an extra five years on licence once released. Tyrone Dean / City of London Police Footage from eyewitnesses and CCTV captured the scene as it unfolded in Bishopsgate was played in court during the sentencing hearing. These two defendants embarked on a brazen spree - snatching mobile telephones from people going about their morning business, said prosecutor Sam Barker. When civic-minded members of the public sought to apprehend them, the defendants caused them savage injuries with a knife in their frantic attempts to escape. The first victim, Paul Grange, was struck on the side of the head as his phone was grabbed by Dean in Fitzrovia at roughly 9am on October 6 last year, and he was cut on the arm as he and another man bravely tried to apprend the thief. Louis Parkinson / City of London Police CCTV caught the two muggers later cycling past the Ritz hotel, Piccadilly Circus, and St Pauls Cathedral while looking for more potential victims. In Bishopsgate, the violence dramatically escalated after second victim Nicholas Badgers phone had been snatched by Dean. Matthew McEwen was the first bystander to intervene, knocking Deans bike into a bollard and then tripping him up before the two men began grappling. He was then punched in the head and knocked to the ground by Parkinson, Inner London crown court heard. The two thieves attempted to cycle away but more members of the public Alison Sanders, William Allison, and Vladimir Konstaninidis - rushed into the fray to stop them. Evening Standard There then followed a melee, in which a number of brave members of the public sought to capture the two thieves, said Mr Barker. He said Mr Allison tried to pull Parkinsons rucksack from his back, before another member of the public, Henry Charlton-Weedy dived into the melee from the side and ripped the rucksack from Mr Parkinsons back. Dean, now branishing the knife, rushed towards the fight in a bid to free Parkinson, and he stabbed Mr Konstantinidis three times in the torso in the ensuing tussle. The court heard he suffered a collapsed lung, and in an impact statement he said: I wasnt able to leave my house for around six weeks due to suffering from such pain and extreme tiredness. The self-employed courier said he had to use his savings to live off when he was not able to work in the aftermath of the stabbing. Ms Sanders was stabbed in the arm as she tackled Dean to stop him fleeing and another person who joined the fray, Samuel Bawden, was punched in the face and nearly stabbed in the stomach. The court heard Mr Charlton-Weedy was slashed across the face as he made a determined effort to stop Parkinson from fleeing. Police officers at the scene after three people have been taken to hospital following a knife attack (James Manning/PA) / PA Wire Mr Charlton-Weedy stood face-to-face with Mr Parkinson with the bicycle between them, said the prosecutor. Mobile telephone footage from a passenger on a bus captures the moment that Mr Parkinson raised his right hand high above his head, with the knife held within it. He then is shown to bring it down with full force into Mr Charlton-Weedys right cheek, causing a slash injury. Refusing to release the bicycle even though he had been stabbed inthe face, Mr Charlton-Weedy can be seen to realise the injury he has sustained, and move his hand to his cheek. Mr Parkinson aimed further stabs towards Mr Charlton-Weedy. In her victim statement, Ms Sanders said she lost the use of her hand, needed help with simple tasks such as eating and showering, and told the court she may never play the piano again. I used to play piano regularly in church. I enjoyed it and it meant a lot to me. Its hard to think I may never be able to play the piano in the way I used it, she said. City broker Mr Charlton-Weedy needed 52 stitches to the wound in his face, and has been left permanently scarred. Every single time I look at myself or see a photo, theres a negative association with the trauma I have suffered, said the father-of-two. It delves far deeper than being a scar. It was a completely frenzied attack with no control or calculation - it could easily have left me blind or worse, dead. The court heard the two thieves eventually got away and went to ground in a Finsbury Park Travelodge, as news of the incident spread on the news. Dean was on police bail at the time of the crime spree, and the court heard both defendants have length criminal records which started when they were youths. Both offered apologies to the victims of the stabbings. Dean told a probation officer he set out on the robbery spree with the simple aim of getting money quickly Dean, of Willow Walk, Haringey, north London, admitted robbery, possession of a knife, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, theft, two counts of wounding, Attempting to Wound, and possession of Cannabis. Parkinson, of Catherall Street, Highbury, north London, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possession of a knife, attempting to wound, wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and possession of cannabis. A 37-year-old man has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm after a stabbing outside the British Museum. Brady Wilson was arrested in the aftermath of the incident on Tuesday morning, when a man - Zhung Ting Wei - was injured outside the world-famous museum in an alleged knife attack. Wilson has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent, wounding with intent against the same victim, and three charges of possession of an offensive weapon. It is said Wilson, of no fixed address, was carrying three black handled knives and two 10-inch kitchen knives at the time of the incident, which happened about 10am. Prosecutor Edward Kalber told Highbury Corner magistrates court on Thursday morning that Mr Wei, his wife, and his nephew had been standing outside a gift shop - Fancy That of London - before crossing the road towards the British Museum. It is said Mr Wei was confronted and stabbed by Wilson, who allegedly left the knife embedded in the victims left arm. The knife pierced his left arm and remained in the arm until later removed at hospital, he said. The British Museum was evacuated and shut to the public in the aftermath of the stabbing, as police and paramedics assisted the wounded man. The Metropolitan Police said at the time the incident was not terror-related. Wilson appeared in custody before magistrates on Thursday morning, as his case was sent to Wood Green crown court for a hearing on September 11. He was remanded back into custody, and no pleas were entered to the charges. A teenager who was stabbed to death outside a supermarket in Finchley, north London, on Monday has been named as Yusuf Mohamoud. A murder investigation is underway after the 18-year-old was found with serious stab wounds on Regents Park Road at 9.40pm. Police believe Mr Mohamoud was stabbed near the junction with Lichfield Grove and then ran over the road to a supermarket. Footage of the scene shows supermarket workers coming out to tend to the seriously injured victim before paramedics arrived. Despite the efforts of paramedics, he was pronounced dead at the scene. A teenager, 15, was arrested on suspicion of murder on Wednesday and remains in custody, but enquiries into Mr Mohamouds death continue. Police are appealing for witnesses who were in the area between 9pm and 10pm on on Monday August 7. Detective Chief Inspector Neil Rawlinson, investigating, said: I would reiterate my appeal to anyone who was in the area of Regents Park Road, near the junction with Lichfield Grove, and who witnessed the events that led to the attack on Yusuf to come forward and speak to police. Another young man has died as a result of violence and left a family devastated - we need the publics help to ensure Yusufs family get the justice they deserve. A post-mortem examination on Wednesday gave the cause of death as a stab wound. Mr Mohamouds next of kin have been informed and continue to be supported by officers. Anyone who has information that could help police should call 101 ref CAD 7779/7 Aug. To remain 100% anonymous contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. T wo fraudsters who charged more than 128,000 for building work valued at only 12,000 have both been given prison sentences following action from a London council. Luke Ockenden and Peter Tannahill were initially hired by their female victim to remove a tree from her Islington home for a quoted price of 300. The pair coerced the homeowner into undertaking a range of building works, including lead replacement, brickwork sealing, exterior house painting and interior plastering. Judge Falk sentenced Mr Ockenden and Mr Tannahill to 36 months and 42 months respectively, remarking that this was a high culpability fraud carried over a significant period of time and the victim was drained of her life savings. Mr Tannahill received more time due to his attempts to get the victim to add him to her will as a beneficiary. In relation to Mr Ockenden, the judge noted that his offending was aggravated by implied threats of violence and that he had shown no remorse. The duo, trading under the name Luke's Tree and Landscapes, harassed the homeowner into paying a total of 128,650 for unnecessary or shoddy building work during January to March 2021. An investigation was launched by Islington Councils trading standard and legal services teams, after the victim was advised to get in touch with them by the police. An expert surveyor's report revealed that, had the work carried out by the pair been done to a satisfactory standard, its value would have been an average of approximately 35,500. In reality, however, the work was assessed to have a value of merely 12,000, indicating that most of it was either poorly executed or not performed at all. The prosecution against the duo was led by the council on August 9, 2023, at Snaresbrook Crown Court. Mr Ockenden, 27, of Yateley, Hampshire and Mr Tannahill, 41, of Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey, were sentenced after having pleaded guilty in a previous hearing to fraud by false representation for their involvement in a fraudulent scheme targeting a vulnerable homeowner. As part of the sentencing process, the council said it will be asking the court to award compensation to the victim to alleviate the financial losses incurred during the scam. The judge thanked the councils investigation officer for a thorough investigation in what was clearly a difficult case. John Woolf, executive member for community safety on the Labour-run authority, called it a very upsetting case. Thanks to our trading standards and legal services teams, action has been taken and the culprits have faced justice, he said. We will take similar tough action against anyone who comes to our borough and rips off our residents like this. Islington Council remains steadfast in its commitment to protect the welfare and safety of our community. Our trading standards team is here to support and assist anyone who feels they may have been a victim of fraud. According to Citizens Advice, you should report a business to your local trading standards office if they sold you something: unsafe or dangerous, like an electronic appliance with faulty wiring fake not as described - for example, you bought a package holiday but something advertised wasnt included you didnt want to buy - for example, they put pressure on you You can also tell them about a business if: they scammed you - for example, you paid for something online that you didnt receive and you couldnt contact the seller they tried to stop you using your legal rights - for example, they said you cant return faulty goods they werent clear about the price or added on extra costs - for example, they advertised theatre ticket prices without booking fees they sold products to people who looked underage without asking for ID - for example, alcohol, knives or fireworks they didnt carry out work properly - for example, kitchen fitters left your home in a dangerous state To find your local trading standards office visit: https://www.tradingstandards.uk/consumer-help/ M etropolitan Police are on the hunt for a man who allegedly flashed a woman outside a primary school in south-east London in an incredibly traumatic incident. The victim, aged in her 40s, was approached by the man who exposed himself shortly after 3pm on June 15 outside Hayes Primary School on George Lane, the Met said. The man was described as Asian, aged between 50 and 60, 5ft and 2ins tall and skinny with dark-coloured hair. He was wearing a blue hat, a brown bomber jacket, beige chinos and beige sandals. Detective Sergeant Nicki Sawyer said: This was an incredibly traumatic incident for the woman involved and we are determined to find the man responsible. I would ask anyone who recognised the man in the computer-generated image to contact us immediately. Officers from the local policing team in south London have carried out a number of enquiries, the Met said. Anyone with information that could help the investigation is asked to call 101 quoting CAD 6124/09Aug. Information can also be shared online. To remain anonymous, the independent charity Crimestoppers can be contacted on 0800 555 111. A notorious British fraudster who was jailed in the UK after conning an ex-girlfriend out of 300,000 has been released from a Spanish prison, a court has heard. Mark Acklom was extradited to Spain two years ago after being freed from a near six-year sentence imposed in England in 2019. But a UK court has now been told that the 50-year-old has been released from jail in Spain after serving a further two years imprisonment. No details were revealed of his current whereabouts, although he does have a wife and two children living in Spain. The serial conman had fled Spain in 2016, midway through a three-year fraud sentence, after being given temporary release while he applied for parole. He was already wanted by Avon and Somerset Police for scamming his then-girlfriend, Carolyn Woods, out of her life savings in a romance fraud which began in 2012. The fugitive was later tracked down to Switzerland and extradited back to Britain in 2019, where he was jailed for five years and eight months. Since then, prosecutors have been using the Proceeds of Crime Act (Poca) to try to recover the money stolen from Ms Woods. Over the last four years there have been a series of hearings at Bristol Crown Court under Poca legislation to establish Ackloms criminal benefit and available assets. A four-day hearing to determine his liability was due to be held in November but that date has now been vacated due to the unavailability of the judge and will instead be held next year. The court heard that lawyers representing Acklom have lodged new applications with the court alleging an abuse of process, which will take time for the Crown to respond to. John Hardy KC, prosecuting, told the court he is content for the full hearing to be postponed until 2024. I understand Mr Acklom has been released from his Spanish incarceration and, reading between the lines, we do not anticipate that Mr Acklom will seek to attend the hearing in person but may try to attend remotely, he said. Judge Martin Picton fixed an administrative hearing for November 10 and said a four-day hearing will begin on April 16 2024. During his relationship with Ms Woods, Acklom posed as a Swiss banker and MI6 agent to destroy her life. He claimed he was friends with celebrities including Nicky Clarke and Chris Evans, had spoken to Hillary Clinton and knew fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, and was involved with secret MI6 missions. In 1991, Acklom, then aged 16, was given a four-year custodial sentence for a 466,000 mortgage fraud after posing as a City stockbroker. He also spent 11,000 after stealing his fathers credit card, swindled a former teacher out of 13,000, and ran up a 34,000 bill with a private charter jet company. T here could be a brief taste of summer as temperatures could hit highs of 29C in parts of England on Thursday. The Met Office has said there could be a 24-hour break from the damp summer with warmer temperatures predicted. London is expected to reach 26C with a fine and dry day expected. The temperature peaked at 25.9C in Yeovilton, Somerset, on Wednesday and it is expected to rise, the forecaster said. Met Office meteorologist Simon Partridge told the PA news agency: Thursday is a mostly dry day. There could be a little bit of mist and fog around first thing, particularly across southwestern parts of England, but generally sunny spells through the day and mostly dry. We could get a few showers developing in the afternoon across northern parts of Wales, drifting up across north-west England. The odd rumble of thunder is possible but they are very few and far between. The big thing is obviously the temperatures. Temperature wise for (Thursday) we are looking at many parts of England, Wales and southern Scotland reaching the mid 20s. We could see highs of 27C to 28C, possibly 29C somewhere in eastern England. Midlands or East Midlands. Somewhere around the central parts of the UK is where you could see the highest temperature of a possible 29C. But the hot weather could be short-lived as a band of rain could move eastwards across the country as soon as Thursday night into Friday morning. There will also be heavier bursts of rain in Scotland, the forecaster said. He predicted Friday will be a day of sunshine and showers and temperatures will be in low to mid 20Cs, with highest temperatures in East Anglia. Mr Partridge said: As we go into weekend well slowly see temperatures come back to high teens, low 20Cs through the weekend. So yes, its short-lived unfortunately, but a brief taste of summer. The good news is although this weekend will be a bit cooler than (Thursday), it is still around about average for the time of year. There will be showers around but there will also be a good amount of sunshine so its not going to be as bad as previous weekends we have seen recently. A mbulance response times in London have seen a dramatic improvement following a challenging Spring period. The latest NHS figures showed that crews took an average of 32 minutes and 12 seconds to respond to calls for heart attacks and strokes in July, marking an improvement of 13 minutes on the previous month. The figure is just two minutes off the 30-minute target, and the joint sixth fastest time regionally. Meanwhile, the average response time for the most serious life and limb Category One calls was 7 minutes and 12 seconds - the second fastest time of any regional ambulance service. It is also an improvement of a minute on the previous month. Daniel Elkeles, Chief Executive at London Ambulance Service, said: Our staff strive to keep response times to a minimum, and so we are pleased to report an improvement in the time it takes to get to our most seriously ill and injured patients. Working with our partners across health and social care systems, we have taken a number of steps to drive down our response times, and are pleased to see these actions are having an impact. The improvement comes after senior paramedics said that hot weather and air pollution during the Spring period had created a demand for services not seen since the height of the pandemic. Dr John Martin, Chief Paramedic for the London Ambulance Service (LAS), said the start of June had been unseasonably challenging but that performance improved towards the end of the month. Since, the service has driven down response times after reaching an agreement with hospitals across London that patient care will be handed over from paramedics to hospitals within a maximum of 45 minutes, when safe to do so. The LAS said that the agreement, along with a recruitment drive, had helped to reduce response times during the summer period. Mr Elkeles had previously said that delays handing patients over to hospital were the main driver behind long waits for ambulances across May and June. Separate figures released on Thursday showed that HS waiting lists in England have climbed to a new record high of 7.6 million. The figure is the highest since records began in 2007. A total of 383,083 people had been waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine hospital treatment at the end of June, down slightly from 385,022 at the end of May. Elsewhere, some 7,177 patients are estimated to have been waiting more than 18 months, down from 11,446 at the end of May. The Government and NHS England vowed to eliminate all waits of more than 18 months by April 2023 excluding exceptionally complex cases or patients who choose to wait longer with the aim of stopping waits of more than a year by March 2025. B rick Lane is known for its vibrance, lively markets, and public space art. But this week, it sees itself at the centre of a graffiti war between supporters and opponents of Chinas Communist Party (CCP). When online videos showed a group of artists spray-painting political slogans in big red Chinese characters on a nearly 100m long wall on Brick Lane on Saturday, it provoked debate over whether they count as street art and the relationship between freedom of expression and political propaganda. The core socialist values composed of 12 two-character words and are said to be the most common political slogans under President Xi Jinpings rule, who is at the heart of CCP propaganda. The values include, prosperity, patriotism and harmony, democracy, equality, freedom and the rule of law. This led to backlash and critique on social media, with another section of artists covering it with anti-Beijing slogans. And the CCP slogan overlaid with mantras linked to Chinese rule that read Free Taiwan, Free Tibet, Free Uyghur and references to the Tiananmen Square massacre. Some also added no on top of the grafitti, or posted other messages or images taking issue with the spray-painted words. Wang Hanzheng, one of the creators who also goes by the name Yi Que for his artworks, claimed the original piece didnt have much political meaning. In an Instagram photo post, Mr Wang wrote in Chinese saying the group used the political elements as a coat to discuss different environments. Pro-democracy messages have been painted on the bridge on Brick Lane. / Getty Images In the name of freedom and democracy, it illustrates the cultural centre of the West, this is Londons freedom Decolonize the false freedom of the West with the construction of socialism, lets see what happens, the post reads. Needless to say whats the situation on the other side, he added. But people hit back at Mr Wang in the comments of his Instagram posts. A top-liked comment read: Obstructing freedom of speech is not a part of freedom of speech. The jargons you used cannot justify your brutal destruction of other peoples art. The graffiti refers to a set of Core Socialist Values derived from Chinese Socialism, promoted by the Chinese government over the last decade. / Getty Images While another commenter questioned if Mr Wang would write graffiti in Beijing and wrote, Do you dare to go to Beijing and write democracy and freedom? If you dare, the home country you love will dare to arrest you. Benedict Rogers, head of the rights group Hong Kong Watch, was critical of the graffiti on Brick Lane. I utterly condemn the #CCP thugs who defaced Londons Brick Lane with their regimes vile hate-filled propaganda, he said. On Monday, just when the graffiti war was settling down, residents woke up to the wall being completely painted over by the Tower Hamlets council. Residents were upset that they had also lost some older slogans, including a piece of graffiti art that was a tribute to the late street artist Marty. The wall has created much-needed conversations around street art, freedom of expression, and political propaganda, and a space for people to openly voice criticisms for and against the Chinese government. The situation in the Kupyansk sector remains difficult but under control. Russian troops are using the tactic of "meat assaults", but to no avail. ADVERTISIMENT The enemy is trying to seize the initiative in the Kharkiv region and break through Ukrainian defences. This was stated by the spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Serhiy Cherevaty, during a telethon. Due to the intensification of Russian activity in the Kupyansk direction, the commander of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, visited the area. Ukrainian forces have strengthened their defence there. "The Kupyansk direction is one of those where the enemy is trying to seize the initiative, trying to act aggressively, to break through our defences. However, as a result of all the measures taken, in particular, the commander of the Land Forces worked in this area - orders were given, defence and strike assets were strengthened," said Cherevaty. ADVERTISIMENT According to him, the enemy's intentions are not a secret for the Defence Forces, and the soldiers are doing everything to disrupt Russia's plans for Kharkiv region. "We know the enemy units, their commanders, we know their intentions, so we are acting there to disrupt the enemy's intentions," Cherevaty said. The spokesperson for the Eastern Military Group also noted that the enemy is using its key "tactic" in the Kupyansk sector: "meat assaults". But they do not bring much success to Russia. "It's their 'replica' of Wagner. These companies are 'Storm Z'. But I think that thanks to our defence forces, they will repeat the same 'Wagner feat'," Cherevaty added. He also said that in the Kupyansk-Lyman sector, the enemy carried out 559 attacks and 16 air raids over the last day. In addition, the occupants tried to attack the positions of Ukrainian defenders four times. ADVERTISIMENT "In the course of repelling the attacks, 35 occupants were killed and 110 wounded. Three tanks, a D-20 howitzer, an Orlan-10 UAV, seven vehicles, three field ammunition depots and three enemy dugouts were destroyed," said the Armed Forces spokesman. The day before, Deputy Minister of Defence of Ukraine Hanna Mariar said that Russian troops were trying to break through the Ukrainian defences in the Kupyansk sector. The enemy has formed an offensive group there and is trying to advance, but to no avail. Meanwhile, a mandatory evacuation is being launched in Kupyansk district of Kharkiv region: civilians from 37 frontline settlements will be moved to safe regions of Ukraine. The reason for this decision was the intensified shelling of villages and towns, as well as the security situation in the region. ADVERTISIMENT Only verified information is available on our Obozrevatel Telegram channel, Threads and Viber. Don't fall for fakes! C hina has called on the UK to fulfill its international obligations amid a clash over moving its embassy to east London. In 2018, the Chinese government bought the Royal Mint Court site for 255million with the intention of moving from its current location in Portland Place. Last December, however, Tower Hamlets rejected planning permission for the super embassy development amid local opposition and concerns for the heritage site. The 700,000 square foot embassy would have been one of the largest in the world, dwarfing the 430, 000 sq ft equivalent in Washington DC. The Chinese embassy was given until August 10 to appeal the move but has since hit out at the UK Government for not intervening in the matter. It is the international obligation of the host country to provide facilitations and support for the construction of diplomatic premises, the Chinese embassy said in a response to Bloomberg. A CGI of the proposed embassy / A Tower Hamlets Council spokesperson told the Standard: The time limit for the Chinese embassy or those acting on its behalf to make an appeal is six months from the decision date. The decision was issued on February 10 and so the deadline for an appeal is today. If the applicant wanted to appeal through the public inquiry procedure then they would have already needed to have given notice to us as the local planning authority. We havent received any such notification from the applicant. In February, Sadiq Khan confirmed he would not intervene to approve the move. The clash over the site comes amid a period of strained ties between the UK and China. At the G7 summit in Hiroshima earlier this year, Rishi Sunak warned China poses the biggest challenge to global security. The UK has also criticised China over the crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong and the alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. In July, a bombshell report by the Parliaments Intelligence and Security Committee issued a series of alarming warnings about how British universities, the nuclear sector, Government and companies were being targeted by Beijing. The Chinese embassy has been approached for comment. T he Liberal Democrats will unveil their 2024 London mayoral candidate on Friday, the Standard can reveal. The party had initially planned to announce the chosen candidate in September, but have brought the contests conclusion forwards. Two shortlisted candidates - Rob Blackie and Chris French - have been put to the Lib Dems London membership to vote on over the last few weeks. Mr Blackie, a digital marketer who advises start-up tech companies, served as former party leader Charles Kennedy's director of research during the Iraq War. He has twice stood for the London Assembly and has previously been shortlisted, though not chosen, for the mayoral role. Mr French, a former Met Police special constable who now works in the health sector, stood for Lambeth Council last year. He has also been selected as the partys parliamentary candidate for Vauxhall at the next general election. Both are also standing for the London Assembly, though if either is elected as mayor, they will not also be able to sit on the Assembly. The result will be announced at a campaign rally in central London on Friday morning. The party will be hoping to improve on their record from recent mayoral contests. In the last three mayoral elections, the party has come fourth, with the Greens beating them to third place. In the last four elections, they have failed to gain more than five per cent of the vote, losing them their 10,000 deposit in each. At the last election in 2021, former London MEP Luisa Porritt secured 4.4 per cent for the party. Their best ever result was in 2004, when Simon Hughes - at that time the MP for North Southwark and Bermondsey - achieved 15.3 per cent of first preference votes. Next years election will be the first time that a first past the post system is used to choose the mayor, following changes brought in by the Government. Labours Sadiq Khan will be seeking a historic third term, while the Conservatives have selected London Assembly Member Susan Hall as their candidate. The Greens have chosen Hackney councillor Zoe Garbett, while Reform UK - previously known as the Brexit Party - have chosen Howard Cox, founder of the Fair Fuel UK campaign. The election will be held on May 2, 2024. T he number of police community support officers in London has fallen by 30% since 2015, figures have revealed. There were 1,215 full time PCSOs working in the Met this year compared to almost 1,800 eight years ago, according to Home Office data. Nationally, more than 4,500 have been taken off streets in England since the Conservatives won a majority at the 2015 election. Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park, Sarah Olney, said communities were paying the price for brutal funding cuts to forces. Londoners rely on these officers to keep our streets safe, yet the Met is being left under-resourced, she said. Ministers are happy to sit in their Westminster offices while our police forces suffer the brunt of brutal cuts and local people pay the price. Its just not good enough. In June this year City Hall launched a recruitment drive for 500 new PCSOs, with a starting salary of 30,232, in a bid to bring numbers in the capital back up. Some 1,100 are due to be hired by mid-2025, Mayor Sadiq Khan said. But it comes as the Met faces a collapse in trust following high-profile scandals, including the murder of Sarah Everard by serving officer Wayne Couzens, and PC David Carricks conviction for a horrific campaign of rape and abuse against women. A damning report by Dame Louise Casey, commissioned in the wake of Ms Everards murder, branded the force institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic. Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has vowed to rebuild trust in the Met. The Government has also withdrawn 31 million in recruitment funding from the force, despite warnings that it could be 2,000 officers short by next year. The Met was the only force in the country not to meet its recruitment targets in March, and as a result lost 30.8m in Home Office grant funding in 2022-23. A Government spokesman said: We have delivered on the promise we made to the British people to recruit 20,000 additional officers. We are keen to ensure that the Metropolitan Police has the resources it needs which is why it will receive up to 3.3 billion in 2023-24, an increase of up to 102m when compared to 2022-23 and now have more officers than the pre Police Uplift Programme peak in 2010. T he Metropolitan Police Commissioner has called on the Government to make reform that gives police the power to sack rogue officers. Writing in the Times, Sir Mark Rowley said he is leading the strongest doubling down on standards in the past 50 years but needs others to do more. He said: I have been consistent in calling on the government to reform police misconduct processes, so that police chiefs can be more decisive in dismissing rogue officers and restoring public confidence. While the majority of officers share his determination for change, Sir Mark said the final say on dismissals comes from lawyers known as legally qualified chairs (LQCs). Sir Mark said while their introduction was with the right intention, it has made the process slower, more biased and softer on standards, writing: Hearings chaired by senior Met officers before LQCs were 38 per cent more likely to result in dismissal, but now hearings are more than twice as likely to dismiss black or ethnic-minority officers. Sir Mark said the current system is too slow, he cannot appeal against unduly lenient decisions and more than 200 officers are currently suspended with full pay. He added: My own frustrations are shared by police chiefs across the country. We are accountable for our forces and we should be able to decide who is fit to serve in them. No one running a business would accept that they had to carry on employing people who had breached their standards. Racial justice groups wrote to Sir Mark at the end of July, urging him to deliver a more comprehensive plan of action. A review by Baroness Casey released in March this year recommended a major overhaul to the Met Police service, including getting rid of officers and staff who should not be serving, renaming the force, splitting up the Met and tougher vetting of new staff and officers. Sir Mark said in July: I havent shirked away from anything that Baroness Casey has said. I completely accept her diagnosis and thats why were on a big reform plan. In that month, the Met announced plans to overhaul the force with a 366 million two-year scheme, dubbed A New Met for London. The plan includes a recruitment campaign which Sir Mark says is encouraging diversity through advertisements that showcase ordinary frontline officers. Y ouths responsible for disorder in Londons Oxford Street must be hunted down by police, the Home Secretary said on Thursday. Suella Braverman called for the ringleaders behind the chaotic scenes to be locked up as she warned that the UK cannot be allowed to plunge into the lawlessness seen in some American cities. Hundreds of teenagers descended on the West End from 3pm on Wednesday after a video calling for a JD Sports shop to be looted went viral on social media app Tik Tok. Sharing footage of police making arrests, the Home Secretary tweeted: We cannot allow the kind of lawlessness seen in some American cities to come to the streets of the UK. The police have my full backing to do whatever is necessary to ensure public order. Those responsible must be hunted down and locked up. I expect nothing less from the [Metropolitan Police] and have requested a full incident report. London Mayor Sadiq Khan told the Standard that the scenes were completely unacceptable and that police investigations continue. Oxford Street Flash Mob Disorder | 9th August 2023 1 / 14 Oxford Street Flash Mob Disorder | 9th August 2023 PA REUTERS PA PA REUTERS PA Wire PA ES PA PA PA The Met was forced to launch a high-profile operation to protect stores in the world-famous shopping district. A significant number of officers were deployed and a dispersal order was put in place around several busy streets. Some shops closed and put shutters down as groups of youths travelled to the area when a shoplifting event was advertised on TikTok and Snapchat. Goodge Street and Warren Street stations were temporarily shut at the request of police, Transport for London said. At least nine people were arrested. Posts online promoting an organised robbery, with a date, time and dress code, were captioned: Dont come if you cant run. People were urged to wear balaclavas and gloves but not bring weapons. TikTok prankster Mizzy was among those who were stopped and searched in Oxford Street. He insisted he had nothing to do with the riots. Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Khan had urged people not to take part and decried the nonsense circulating on social media. PA On Thursday, he said: What happened on Oxford Street evening was completely unacceptable. Nine arrests have been made and police investigations continue. I want to thank the police for managing large and unpredictable crowds and working with partners to help keep the public safe. The disorder reportedly began when a group of teenagers gathered outside the Microsoft Experience Centre in Regent Street. Reports of young people looting were dismissed by police. REUTERS A City of Westminster police spokesman said: Throughout Wednesday, officers maintained a high-visibility presence within the Oxford Street area. Four people were arrested on suspicion of breaching the dispersal order, one person was arrested on suspicion of going equipped to steal, one person arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer and one person was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence. Earlier in the afternoon, officers arrested two people in Essex for conspiracy to commit robbery following online social media posts. One 17-year-old, who was visiting Oxford Street to do some shopping branded the organisers as stupid. Its quite silly but Im glad the police are here. Its good that theyve caught on to it. I think its a stupid idea, to put that on social media regardless. I t is considered by foodies to be one of the top restaurants in London and rated 35th best in Britain. So why does Mangal II in Dalston carry a measly 4.1 star rating on Google, down from the gloriously mediocre 4.3 it recently held? Ferhat Dirik, one of the brothers who runs the restaurant, writes in an excoriating newsletter to customers that hes had sleepless nights stressing about bad reviews online and says every negative verdict is an embarrassing public fart. Its the changing character of London that he blames. Gone were many of the locals and regulars. In were food tourists, creatives, big celeb names, ITK food people and, essentially, the cool crowd, he writes. Now, if I know anything, its that anyone who falls under the category above does not bother writing Google reviews. Instead, they post Instagram stories, which are nice, but dont help the star rating. The restaurant has always had celebrity guests. The local artist duo Gilbert and George once dined there every evening but, after they started playing music through a sound system, defected to the nearby restaurant Mangal I. But most celebs wont write a Google review. When she recently claimed that London cuisine was going down the toilet, Lily Allen named Mangal II as one of the only good restaurants left in London. But did she leave a Google review? The man who defined the art of punk John Rainford / SplashNews.com Musicians and multi-billionaires have been mourning the death of Jamie Reid, the punk artist famous for designing the collaged record cover of the Sex Pistols album and the flag on their God Save The Queen single, pictured. Reid also joined the band as they bothered Queen Elizabeth II on the Thames during the 1977 Silver Jubilee celebrations.British band Massive Attack remember Reidas an iconic iconoclast, while post-punk duo Sleaford Mods commented: Nobody evermade Boredom look so good. Billionaire Sir Richard Branson described Croydon-born Reid as a great artist with a neon legacy. He may now be the head of a massive multinational conglomerate and an aspiring space traveller, but in the Seventies it was Bransons indie label Virgin Records which signed the Sex Pistols, after they were dropped by their previous record label days after signing. Keir-mongering Whats in a name? Last night Labour chose another Keir, Keir Cozens, as a parliamentary candidate, this time in Great Yarmouth. Last month Keir Mather won for the party in Selby and Ainsty. Like party leader Sir Keir Starmer, these rising stars seem to have been named after Keir Hardie, a founder of Labour. Some have suggested vanity from Starmer in selecting candidates with his own name. To be fair, when Tony Blair became Prime Minister in 1997, 11 other Tonys were elected to parliament. This went totally unremarked. W ater firms have been accused of a scandalous cover-up after being unable to show much sewage they are pumping into rivers and seas. The Liberal Democrats said they tried to find out the volume of pollution through Environment Information Regulations similar to a Freedom of Information request but were told that information does not exist. A parliamentary committee last year found more than two billion litres of raw sewage had been dumped into the River Thames over two days following a storm. These water firms could be guilty of a scandalous cover-up. We have no idea how many billions of litres of sewage are being pumped into our precious rivers and lakes Despite this, Thames Water told the Lib Dems it does not record the volume of wastewater discharged into the environment via storm overflows. Other companies across England and Wales said the monitors they use only measure frequency and duration of spills, not volume. Six of these companies now face legal action for allegedly misleading the Environment Agency and Ofwat about the number of times they have discharged sewage, meaning they may have overcharged customers. Water UK has said these claims are entirely without merit. Scottish Water, which is publicly owned, does record and publish volume data, but only a small proportion of its discharges are monitored. In Northern Ireland, sewage discharges are not routinely monitored and the last time information was released was in late 2021 in response to a question tabled in Stormont. The Lib Dems believe that water firms in England and Wales are either not telling the truth about holding volume data, or the monitors they have installed are inadequate. They said previous requests for information found nearly a quarter of monitors were faulty or had not been fitted throughout 2021 and 2022. Either these firms are withholding data from the public, which would be an extremely serious offence, or they just arent bothering to fit proper sewage monitors The partys environment spokesman, Tim Farron, said: These water firms could be guilty of a scandalous cover-up. We have no idea how many billions of litres of sewage are being pumped into our precious rivers and lakes. The true extent of environmental damage caused by this scandal is completely unknown. We dont even know how much sewage is being pumped into bathing areas and shellfish water. A Water UK spokesman said the Lib Dem claims are fabricated and completely false. Water companies are investing billions of pounds to deploy around 50,000 monitors across overflows and in rivers Water companies are investing billions of pounds to deploy around 50,000 monitors across overflows and in rivers. These will take six different measurements defined by the Government, like spills, oxygen levels and different pollutants. Unmatched anywhere in the world, this information will be published and open for all to see in virtually real time. Only a tiny handful of monitors record volume. We could expand this, but bills would go up to pay for it. We would prefer to get on and actually fix the problem rather than delaying progress by installing ever more monitors that would tell us nothing whatsoever about actual impact. A recent investigation by the Marine Conservation Society discovered around 6,000 emergency overflows separate from the storm overflows water companies typically monitor were not being recorded. Emergency overflows are only supposed to be used in critical situations, such as if there is an electrical failure at a pumping station. Ministers need to get tougher on these water firms by demanding they fit proper sewage monitors which are up to the job More than 90% of them are not monitored either for volume, duration or frequency. Water companies are required to monitor only those that have the potential to discharge into shellfish waters. Mr Farron said: Either these firms are withholding data from the public, which would be an extremely serious offence, or they just arent bothering to fit proper sewage monitors. Ministers need to get tougher on these water firms by demanding they fit proper sewage monitors which are up to the job. The Government is letting water firms get away with faulty and flawed monitors. A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesman said: This Government is the first to require water companies in England to monitor every single storm overflow. The proportion of those monitored has increased from 7% in 2010 to 91% now, reaching 100% cover by end of this year. Greater transparency means we can hold companies to account. For instance, the regulators are undertaking the largest civil and criminal investigations in water company history. This is alongside the increased investment, tougher enforcement and tighter regulation that we are delivering through our plan for water. Water UK and Thames Water have been contacted for comment. S everal migrants have been rescued from the English Channel as the number of people crossing on small boats in the last five-and-a-half years appeared to reach 100,000. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), which aided the UK Coastguard with the search and rescue operation, said lifeboats from Dover, Ramsgate, Dungeness and Littlestone were called out on Thursday morning. The Home Office confirmed 17 individuals were rescued from the water who had gone overboard and said they were all recovered safely and have been taken ashore for routine health and safety checks. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper thanked the RNLI on Twitter for todays vital rescue operation to save lives, adding: Appalling that criminal smuggler gangs are getting away with profiting from putting lives at risk. The fresh wave of migrants arriving on lifeboats is believed to have pushed the total number of people crossing the English Channel on small boats since 2018 to 100,000. The landmark number is likely to further cast the spotlight on Rishi Sunaks pledge to stop the boats - one of the Prime Minsters five key priorities he announced at the start of the year. PA news agency analysis of Government figures since current records began on January 1 2018 showed that, as of Tuesday, 99,960 people had arrived in the UK after making the journey. RNLI lifeboats were spotted bringing dozens to shore on Thursday, meaning it is likely the milestone has been reached. A witness said there appeared to be more than 40 people brought ashore on board two lifeboats, which had attended a dinghy out in the Channel. They included women and children, with one woman carrying a small child in her arms. The RNLI said in a statement: This morning all-weather RNLI lifeboats from Dover, Ramsgate and Dungeness, along with Littlestone RNLIs inshore lifeboat, were tasked to an incident in the Channel by HM Coastguard. On arrival at the scene, some casualties were found to be in the water. All casualties are believed to be accounted for and were brought to safety by the RNLIs volunteer crews. The UK Coastguard said: HM Coastguard has been co-ordinating a search and rescue response to an incident involving small boats off Kent, working with Border Force, Kent Police and other partners. Commenting on the incident, Ms Cooper tweeted: Another awful, dangerous incident in the Channel boat crossings putting lives at risk. Thank you to RNLI for todays vital rescue operation to save lives. Appalling that criminal smuggler gangs are getting away with profiting from putting lives at risk. Data on the number of migrants detected crossing the English Channel in small boats to enter the UK each day is published by the Home Office and Border Force. The figures are published the day after and in its latest update on Thursday, the data showed that on Wednesday zero people were detected. Since the beginning of January 2023 to August 9, figures show 15,071 people crossed the Channel. Tory Party deputy chairman Lee Anderson said he was very angry about the 100,000 figure and that if things dont go to plan, the Government may have to take drastic measures and leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). On the ECHR, he said he has always been an advocate of leaving, adding: You know, were a team. If things dont work, if things dont go to plan, then weve got to take drastic measures, and I would fully support the Government in doing that. Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: 100,000 is a landmark. Criminals are making fools of us. Billions are being spent on accommodation and our asylum system is overwhelmed. It seems the weather is better able to defend our borders than the Border Force. It is time to change our laws so that the British Government has the final word on who can enter and who can stay in the UK. A Home Office spokesperson said: The unacceptable number of people risking their lives by making these dangerous crossings is placing an unprecedented strain on our asylum system. Our priority is to stop the boats, and our Small Boats Operational Command is working alongside our French partners and other agencies to disrupt the people smugglers. The Government is going even further through our Illegal Migration Act which will mean that people arriving in the UK illegally are detained and promptly removed to their country of origin or a safe third country. There have been a series of Government announcements during what was dubbed small boats week in Westminster, which included a crackdown on immigration lawyers helping migrants exploit the system, and a new partnership with Turkey to disrupt people-smuggling gangs. Meanwhile, asylum seekers were finally moved on to the Bibby Stockholm barge on Monday on the Dorset coast after the plans were beset by delays. On Thursday, it was also announced Bas Javid, currently deputy assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police Service and brother of Tory former home secretary Sajid Javid, will become the director-general of Immigration Enforcement in November. N icola Sturgeon has said she did not know police investigating the SNPs finances were going to search her home until officers knocked on the door. But the former Scottish first minister insisted she had faith that Police Scotlands actions were justified. Describing the day officers turned up at the home she shares with her husband, former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, as not the best day of my life, Ms Sturgeon said she was absolutely certain I have done nothing wrong. Its obviously been a really difficult, traumatic experience Officers from Police Scotland searched the couples home, in the outskirts of Glasgow, in April, with Mr Murrell arrested and questioned by police before being released without charge. Ms Sturgeon was arrested, and also released without charge, in June. She spoke about the really difficult, traumatic experience as she appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Iain Dales All Talk show. The broadcaster asked her if she had quit as first minister and SNP leader earlier this year because she had got wind of developments in the police investigation, which is probing the whereabouts of about 600,000 that was donated to the SNP for independence campaigning. Ms Sturgeon said she was aware of the investigation, known as Operation Branchform, telling the audience: It had been under way for years. I was aware of that. But regarding the developments in that investigation, she insisted: I had no idea what was about to happen. Ms Sturgeon said if she had had any idea about what was going to unfold she would not have been able to function in the period between announcing her departure in February and leaving office at the end of March. Asked when she first realised the search of her home was happening, she said: When it happened. Dale asked her if that was literally the knock on the door? Ms Sturgeon told him: Yes. Im not going to go any further into that, maybe one day I will be able to. She continued: Its obviously been a really difficult, traumatic experience. People live through worse, Im not going to overstate that. My touchstone I guess in all of it, all along, is I am confident in my own position. I am absolutely certain I have done nothing wrong. Therefore I need to and do trust in the process. The police are doing a job and therefore I have to have faith that everything they are doing in the process of that is justified. I am going to continue to have faith in that. The touchstone is the confidence in my own position. She revealed that when her husband was being questioned by police she had gone to her parents, saying: Always go back to your mammy and daddy. She added: I cant even remember everything that was going through my head at that point. It was not the best day of my life, put it that way. However she refused to comment on her husband, only saying: My marriage is not something anybody should worry about. Speaking about the police investigation, Ms Sturgeon stated: This is a serious process and in that process I am not going to speak for anybody other than myself, because I only can speak for myself. Asked if the couple talked about such events while together, Ms Sturgeon said: I think I am choosing when I can to try to talk about happier things. She added that in the past few months she had found depths of resilience I didnt know I had and I thought I had plumbed them over the course of the Covid experience. The former SNP leader also said an indispensable group of friends had helped her through this period. She told the audience: Theres a group of people, my closest friends, that have been utterly indispensable to me in the last few months, I probably wouldnt have the emotional wherewithal to sit here right now but for them. Ms Sturgeon added: Its not an experience I would ever have chosen, obviously, but even out of the toughest things I am finding you learn things about yourself and you learn things about life. T he King has reshuffled military appointments for working members of the royal family as the anniversary of the late Queens death approaches, with three extra roles each for the Prince and Princess of Wales. Charles has taken over eight of his mothers former honorary posts himself, including sponsor of the Royal Navys warship HMS Queen Elizabeth, and has shared some of his own affiliations now he is King. His post-accession housekeeping also includes handing over two of the disgraced Duke of Yorks previous roles to Kate and the Duchess of Edinburgh. Kate becomes Commodore-in-Chief of the Fleet Air Arm, while Sophie is now Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Irish Regiment roles held by Andrew before he returned them to the late Queen while he faced a civil sexual assault trial, which he later paid millions to settle. The princess also takes over from her husband William as Royal Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Coningsby, an appointment held since 2008. And Kate is the new Colonel-in-Chief of the 1st Queens Dragoon Guards, known as the Welsh Cavalry, a duty which was carried out by her father-in-law Charles when he was the Prince of Wales. Buckingham Palace said: Following His Majestys accession, the King is pleased to announce further military appointments for working members of the royal family. The new appointments will continue to reflect the close relationship between the armed forces and the royal family in His Majestys reign. The roles highlight the key members of the working royal family who are supporting the King in his duties. William has added Colonel-in-Chief of The Mercian Regiment, Colonel-in-Chief of The Army Air Corps and Royal Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Valley to his growing list of military commitments. He spent three years at RAF Valley in Anglesey, north Wales, as an RAF search and rescue pilot. The Queen also has a new appointment, with Camilla becoming patron of The Royal Army Chaplains Department, a position held by the late Queen. Taking on his mothers duties, Charles, who is head of the armed forces as well as head of state, is now Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, The Royal Tank Regiment and The Royal Regiment of Scotland; Captain General of both The Royal Artillery and The Honourable Artillery Company; Royal Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Marham and Air Commodore-in-Chief of RAF Regiment. The Duke of Edinburgh has followed in his father Prince Philips footsteps to become Colonel-in-Chief of The Queens Royal Hussars, which was left vacant when the duke died in 2021. Edward is also succeeding his brother Charles as Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Dragoon Guards. His wife Sophie has taken on the Kings post of Royal Colonel of The Queens Own Yeomanry. The Princess Royal has been appointed Deputy Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Regiment of Scotland by the King in recognition of her strong links to the country. The late Queens cousin, the Duke of Gloucester, becomes Air Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, and the Duchess of Gloucester is Colonel-in-Chief of the Adjutant Generals Corps, which were both held by Elizabeth II. The late Queen, who died a year ago next month, held more than 50 ranks and appointments in the UK and Commonwealth Armed Service. There are no positions for the Kings second son the Duke of Sussex, but this is not unexpected. Harry, a former solider who served in Afghanistan, is not a working member of the royal family. He lost his military roles after stepping down as a senior working royal in 2020. A previous wave of military appointments was announced in December. T he Technology Secretary has defended the Online Safety Bill amid concerns the proposed legislation could undermine the use of encryption by big technology companies. The long-awaited Bill has drawn industry criticism over plans to give regulator Ofcom greater powers to monitor private information that was previously encrypted. End-to-end encryption is a security measure that protects data and communications by scrambling them, meaning only the sender and recipient are able to read the data. It is widely used to safeguard sensitive information, with Signal and fellow messaging service WhatsApp among its high-profile users. We are not talking about the Government or social media platforms combing through individuals' messages However, ministers have insisted the measures contained in the Online Safety Bill are necessary. I, like you, want my privacy because I dont want people reading my private messages. Theyd be very bored, but I dont want them to do it, Ms Donelan told the BBC. However, we do know that on some of these platforms they are hotbeds sometimes for child abuse and sexual exploitation. We have to be able access that information should that problem occur. She added: Technology is in development to enable you to have encryption as well as to be able to access this particular information, and the safety mechanism that we have is very explicit that this can only be used for child exploitation and abuse. The long-awaited legislation is due to come back before Parliament in September, with the Bill expected to become law in the autumn. Ms Donelan stressed the Government did believe in encryption. We are not talking about the Government or social media platforms combing through individuals messages, she said. Richard Collard, the NSPCCs head of child safety online policy, called on technology companies to show leadership on the issue. The Online Safety Bill sets out a balanced settlement that should encourage companies to mitigate the risks of child sexual abuse when designing and rolling out features like end-to-end encryption. Our polling shows the UK public overwhelmingly support measures to tackle child abuse in end-to-end encrypted environments, and the specific requirements in the Bill. Tech firms should be showing industry leadership by listening to the public and investing in technology that protects both the safety and privacy rights of all users, he said. F ormer Green Party co-leader Sian Berry has confirmed she will re-stand for the London Assembly next year, despite having also been selected to contest Brighton Pavilion at the next general election. Ms Berry, who was selected last month to attempt to replace Caroline Lucas MP in the Greens only parliamentary seat, said she still intends to re-stand as an Assembly Member (AM) in 2024 - provided that she has not become an MP by that point. If theres been an election to Parliament, and Ive become an MP, then obviously I wouldnt seek to keep my current job as well, she told the Standard. But while I havent got a different job to do, representing people, Im going to keep representing the people of London. Ms Berry likewise confirmed that if she is elected as an MP after winning re-election as an AM, she will stand down from the Assembly. While the date of next years Assembly election is fixed as May 2, 2024, a date has not been set for the general election - though it cannot take place any later than January 2025. Ms Berry has been placed by party members at the top of the Greens list of London-wide Assembly candidates, who are elected using a proportional system. When a London-wide member resigns from the Assembly, the seat is given to the next person on the partys list of candidates put up at the last election, rather than a by-election being called. The procedure was used when AMs such as David Lammy and Kemi Badenoch - both now senior MPs - decided to leave the Assembly mid-term, as they won seats in Parliament. Ms Berry, a three-time London mayoral candidate, has also served as a councillor in Camden since 2014. The next borough election is not due until 2026. Asked about her future in that post, Ms Berry said that for the time being she will remain on the council, because she has a number of local projects which she wants to see concluded. Ms Berry was selected by Brighton and Hove Green members over two other candidates on July 19, after winning 71 per cent of the first preference votes. I was really pleased with the result. The amount of people whove come out already door-knocking with me is huge - weve had massive turnouts, Ms Berry said. So people are obviously really keen to work with me - and to make sure that we keep that seat and win some more. S NP MP Joanna Cherry has urged her party to ditch its Scottish Greens coalition as she branded the party totalitarian to a fringe audience. The Edinburgh South West MP has joined calls from within the SNP to give members a say on whether the power-sharing agreement should continue. The deal, known as the Bute House Agreement, was formed following the 2021 Holyrood elections, saw the two parties enter a government agreement, with Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater given ministerial posts. But, in recent months, the agreement has caused friction between parliamentarians from each party on issues such as gender forms, the deposit return scheme and highly protected marine areas (HPMAs). Ms Cherry has now joined a growing cohort of SNP colleagues including former leadership candidate Kate Forbes to call for a rethink of the agreement. Asked by an audience member during her Edinburgh fringe show In Conversation With, hosted by journalist Graham Spiers, whether the SNP should reconsider the agreement, she replied yes, adding: I voted against having a deal with the Greens. I think the Scottish Greens have become a totalitarian party. Ms Cherry also said some of the partys parliamentarians had behaved in a disgraceful way towards women and feminists. And their solutions to the climate crisis, she said, were very focused on individualistic funded by private capital. She added: Im not a big fan (of the agreement) but ultimately its up to the SNP to decide whether or not we stay in coalition with them. Its quite clear to me, certainly from speaking to colleagues in Holyrood, that in terms of the Bute House Agreement it offers certainty in what is a very challenging political landscape I think its something we should discuss as a party and I think theres an appetite to discuss it. The bigger question would be why are we afraid of debate, why are we afraid of reviewing an arrangement which could perhaps be terminated or made better? First Minister Humza Yousaf has continuously backed the Bute House Agreement, with the membership previously backing the deal by 95%. And on Wednesday, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said the power-sharing provides certainty to the party. He said: Were all democrats, we can disagree without being disagreeable. Its quite clear to me, certainly from speaking to colleagues in Holyrood, that in terms of the Bute House Agreement it offers certainty in what is a very challenging political landscape. Whether we like it or not, Holyrood is very polarised. And we need to make sure we can offer certainty to the people of Scotland in terms of budgets in terms of the policy agenda thats being taken forward. A Scottish Greens spokesperson said: With Scottish Greens in government we are delivering the positive change that our country needs, whether it is the Scottish Child Payment, rent freeze and benefit cap mitigation that have helped the most vulnerable and lifted children out of poverty, or record investment in active travel, wildlife and nature. There are always people who will oppose progressive change. In the meantime, we will continue working in government to build a fairer, greener and better Scotland. Ms Cherry also urged the new party leadership to overturn rules which prevent sitting MPs from standing in Holyrood elections. She ruled herself out of running in the 2021 Holyrood elections after the partys National Executive Committee (NEC) introduced rules meaning MPs would have to resign from Westminster to sit in the Scottish Parliament. Ms Cherry told the fringe audience she would really like to be in government and expressed hope the rule would be overturned as part of a transparency review by Mr Yousaf. She said: I dont want to be in opposition for the rest of my life. I would really like to be in government, and thats why I would like to be able to stand for Holyrood. I also think I would be of benefit to the SNP and other parties at Holyrood. The partys under different management now and clearly were having a huge review of transparency and governance and I hope the sense of encouraging some of us who have got Westminster experience to think about coming to Holyrood will come to the fore during that period. T his week, a special 50 pence coin commemorating King Charless Coronation will enter circulation. Five million of the coins with a Westminster Abbey-inspired design are being produced by the Royal Mint. The Coronation was held there in May. According to Rebecca Morgan, director of collector services at the Royal Mint, it will enable the general population to find a piece of history in their change. However, the late Queens coins, which are still in use, will outnumber the new Kings coins by 27 billion. The 50-pence piece has been the coinages most obvious modification thus far. The previous 50p, which was made available in December and was the first currency in wide circulation to include the Kings head, is followed by this new Coronation coin. Although the first King Charles banknotes are anticipated to emerge next year, no release date for other new currency has been confirmed. When did the coins bearing the King first come out? The first coins bearing the official effigy of the King first appeared in circulation in post offices in December last year. The Kings portrait appeared on a 50p, with the reverse, or tails, side of the coin commemorating the life and legacy of Queen Elizabeth II. A commemorative version of the coin was released in October, generating record visitors to the Royal Mints website in the 24 hours following. A total of 4.9 million 50p coins entered circulation across 9,452 Post Office branches throughout December. Coins were also distributed as change when customers made purchases. Some 9.6 million 50p coins later entered circulation, in line with demand. The Post Offices Aldwych branch in central London, near to Clarence House, is among the locations that received the new coins. The coins appearance coincided with the release of the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs controversial Netflix docuseries, with the Royal Family braced for Harry and Meghans revelations. At the time, the Mints Ms Morgan said: Today marks a new era for UK coinage, with the effigy of King Charles III appearing on 50ps in circulation. Its a fantastic opportunity for coin collectors to add to their collections, or start one for the first time. We anticipate a new generation of coin collectors emerging, with people keeping a close eye on their change to try and spot a new 50p that bears the portrait of our new King. The Royal Mint has been trusted to make coins bearing the monarchs effigy for over 1,100 years and we are proud to continue this tradition into the reign of King Charles III. Nick Read, chief executive of the Post Office, added: It is a tremendous honour for the Post Office and for postmasters that the first coinage featuring King Charles III is being released into circulation via our extensive branch network. Sculptor Martin Jennings created the effigy, which has been personally approved by Charles / PA December is our busiest time of the year, so the coin will be entering our network in a phased manner. If you dont receive the new 50p in your change on your first visit to a post office, you may well get it in your change in a subsequent visit, so keep a look out for it. The Kings effigy has been created by sculptor Martin Jennings and personally approved by Charles. In keeping with tradition, the Kings portrait faces to the left in the opposite direction to the late Queen. The reverse of the 50p features a design that originally appeared on the 1953 Coronation Crown. It was struck to commemorate the Queens Coronation at Westminster Abbey and includes the four quarters of the Royal Arms depicted within a shield. Between each shield is an emblem of the home nations: a rose, a thistle, a shamrock, and a leek. What will happen to UK coins bearing the late Queen? All UK coins bearing the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II will remain legal tender and in active circulation. Around 27 billion coins circulating across the UK bear her portrait. They will be replaced over time as they become damaged or worn, and to meet demand for additional coins. Historically, it has been commonplace for coins featuring the effigies of different monarchs to co-circulate, ensuring a smooth transition with minimal environmental impact and cost. D issident republicans claim to be in possession of information about police officers circulating on WhatsApp following a data blunder, Northern Irelands Chief Constable Simon Byrne has said. Hundreds of police officers have voiced fears for their safety following the data breach which revealed the names, locations and roles of some 10,000 Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers and staff. The blunder sparked serious security concerns because of the threat posed to PSNI officers by dissident republican paramilitaries who are committed to using violence to try and bring about a united Ireland. Speaking following an emergency meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board on Thursday, Mr Byrne said he was deeply sorry about the industrial scale breach of data. He said: An early worst case scenario that we have been dealing with is that third parties would attempt to get this data to intimidate, corrupt or indeed cause harm to our officers and staff. We are now aware that dissident republicans claim to be in possession of some of this information circulating on WhatsApp, and as we speak we are advising officers and staff about how to deal with that and any further risk that they face. He added the force had not yet been able to verify the substance of the claim. Up to 40 officers at MI5s headquarters in Co Down are reportedly among the names involved in the blunder earlier this week, with moves under way to ensure their protection. The incident happened when the PSNI responded to a Freedom of Information request seeking the number of officers and staff of all ranks and grades across the organisation. In the published response to this request a table was embedded which contained the rank and grade data, but also included detailed information that attached the surname, initial, location and departments for all PSNI employees. Details of another breach following the theft of documents and a laptop from a car in Newtownabbey in July emerged on Wednesday. They have not been recovered but officers said they were confident the laptops data could not be recovered. Police in Northern Ireland are under a threat from terrorists assessed as severe. Mr Byrne cut short a family holiday to return to Belfast to be questioned by politicians at the Policing Board meeting, which scrutinises the force. The meeting was held in private. During a three-decade period of violence known as The Troubles, some 302 officers were killed by paramilitaries. The Good Friday Agreement brought the worst of the violence to an end in 1998, but some dissident republicans still seek to bring about a united Ireland through violent means. Between 2009 and 2017, they were responsible for the deaths of two PSNI officers, two British soldiers and two prison officers. A German citizen was arrested on Wednesday on allegations that he tried to spy for Russia, authorities said. The suspect, who was only identified as Thomas H., in line with German privacy rules, was arrested at his home in the western city of Koblenz, and his apartment and workplace were searched. Germanys federal prosecutor said in a brief written statement that the man works for the Germany military, in the armys office for equipment, information technology and in-service support. Starting in May, the man began approaching the Russian Consulate in the western city of Bonn and the Russian Embassy in Berlin on several occasions and on his own initiative, offering to cooperate with them. On one occasion, the suspect passed on information he had obtained in the course of his professional activities for the purpose of forwarding it to a Russian intelligence service, the prosecutors office said. The investigation was conducted in close cooperation with the Federal Office for Military Counterintelligence and Germanys domestic intelligence service, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. G ordon Brown has called for the Talibans vicious repression of women and girls to be declared a crime against humanity, as the second anniversary looms of the hardline militias seizure of power in Afghanistan. The former Prime Ministers comments come after senior Tory MP Tobias Ellwood sparked anger for arguing the fundamentalists had improved security. In a video posted from Helmand province last month, he criticised Britain for failing to engage with them since the chaotic exit of Western armed forces in August 2021. Mr Brown, now a UN special envoy for global education, said he was not opposed to dialogue with the Taliban, as long it was led by Muslim countries and clerics to explain the central importance of rights for women and girls. But a parallel prosecution and sanctions were needed to keep up the pressure on the Talibans gender apartheid, he said, after the mullahs demolished two decades of progress on human rights in Afghanistan, barring women and girls from education and public life, or leaving the home without a male escort. The former Labour leader said the evidence was absolutely overwhelming to uphold a prosecution by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. Its probably the most heinous, the most vicious, the most comprehensive abuse of human rights thats taking place around the world today. And it is systematically being inflicted on millions of girls and women across Afghanistan, Mr Brown told BBC Radio 4 in an interview broadcast on Thursday. Its now two years since the chaos of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and the people who have suffered most are girls and women - theyve been excluded from education, excluded from employment, excluded from visiting public places, most recently in the last few days excluded from even visiting the cemeteries of loved ones, he said. Next Tuesday marks the anniversary of the Taliban recapturing Kabul following a lightning offensive. Britain scrambled to pull out its military and diplomatic personnel, but thousands of Afghan interpreters and other support staff who had assisted UK armed forces, including women, were left behind. Since then, the United Nations and rights groups have catalogued a growing list of abuses by the Islamist hardliners. In April, they barred Afghan women from working for the United Nations, which UN chief Antonio Guterres condemned as an intolerable violation of the most basic human rights. The following month, Mr Guterres convened an international meeting to coordinate the global communitys response on Afghanistan but said he was opposed to recognition of the de facto Taliban authorities. Mr Ellwood, however, last month said that Afghanistan was now a country transformed and urged the Government to reopen Britains embassy in Kabul. The Conservative said security has vastly improved, corruption is down and the opium trade has all but disappeared. He apologised after a backlash, but still faces the threat of a no-confidence vote to unseat him as chairman of the Defence Select Committee when the House of Commons returns from its summer recess next month. A t least 55 people have been killed and 1,000 remain missing after wildfires tore throught the Hawaiian island of Maui. A desperate search for survivors continued on Friday, in the historic town of Lahaina, where photos showed entire neighbourhoods reduced to grey ash, with block after block of nothing but rubble and blackened foundations. Boats in the harbour were scorched and smoke hovered over the obliterated town, which dates to the 1700s and is the biggest community on the islands west side. Lahaina, with a few rare exceptions, has been burned down, Hawaii Governor Josh Green told The Associated Press. Police chief John Pelletier reportedly said around 1,000 people remained missing following the fire. It emerged on Friday that many residents did not receive warnings as the fires raced towards their homes. Hawaii boasts what the state describes as the largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world, with around 400 sirens positioned across the island chain. People watch as smoke and flames fill the air from raging wildfires on Front Street in downtown Lahaina, Maui / AP But many of Lahainas survivors said they didnt hear any sirens and only realised they were in danger when they saw flames or heard explosions nearby. Hawaii emergency management records show no indication that the warning sirens were triggered. Electricity and mobile phone service had both been wiped out earlier that day, leaving the town with no real-time information about the danger. In an interview at an evacuation centre Thomas Leonard, a 70-year-old retired mailman, said he didnt know about the fire until he smelled smoke. He tried to leave in his Jeep, but had to abandon the vehicle and run to the shore when cars nearby began exploding. He hid behind a sea wall for hours, the wind blowing hot ash and cinders over him, before firefighters arrived and led him and other survivors through the flames to safety. More than 1,000 structures were destroyed by fires that were still burning, officials said on Friday. Maui resident Oprah Winfrey visiting a refuge where many families from Lahaina are taking shelter / BBC The blaze - which began late on Tuesday local time, and was fuelled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing hurricane - is the deadliest to hit the US in five years. The death toll had hit 55 by Friday afternoon, and was expected to rise as rescuers battled to reach parts of the island that had been unaccessible due to ongoing fires or obstructions. Joe Biden declared the wildfires on Hawaii a disaster on Thursday, paving the way for government aid to rebuild the shattered island, amid a desperate search for survivors. Adam Weintraub, a spokesman for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said: These were large and fast-moving fires, and its only recently that weve started to get our arms around them and contain them. So, were hoping for the best, but were prepared for the worst. Mauis most famous resident, chat show host Oprah Winfrey, visited a refuge on Friday to hand out supplies to sheltering families who had fled their homes. Hawaii Wildfires | August 2023 1 / 33 Hawaii Wildfires | August 2023 Destroyed homes and buildings burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii AFP via Getty Images A wildfire burns in Kihei, Hawaii AP Myrna and Abraham Ah Hee react as they stand in front of an evacuation centre at the War Memorial Gymnasium in Wailuku, Hawaii AP Destroyed homes and buildings on the waterfront burned to the ground in Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in western Maui, Hawaii AFP via Getty Images Thomas Leonard lies on an air mattress at an evacuation center at the War Memorial Gymnasium after his Lahaina apartment was destroyed by a wildfire AP Burned-out cars sit after a wildfire raged through Lahaina, Hawai AP The search of the wildfire wreckage on the Hawaiian island of Maui on Thursday revealed a wasteland of burned out homes and obliterated communities as firefighters battled the deadliest blaze in the U.S. in recent years AP The hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street AP Smoke billows near Lahaina as wildfires driven by high winds destroy a large part of the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii via REUTERS A wildfire burns on the island of Maui near an intersection in Lahaina, Hawaii, via REUTERS Smoke billows near boats docked at Lahaina as wildfires driven by high winds destroy a large part of the historic town of Lahaina, in Kahului, Hawaii, via REUTERS An aerial view of a wildfire in Kihei, Maui County, Hawaii, via REUTERS After hearing reports her home was destroyed along with her pets, Steff Baku-Kirkman reacts after wildfires driven by high winds were believed to have destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina, in Kahului, Hawaii REUTERS An aerial view shows damage along the coast of Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in Maui, Hawaii via REUTERS People watch as smoke and flames fill the air from raging wildfires on Front Street in downtown Lahaina, Maui AP A charred boat lies in the scorched waterfront after wildfires fanned by the winds of a distant hurricane devastated Mauis city of Lahaina, Hawaii via REUTERS Smoke fill the air from wild fires at Lahaina harbor AP People watch as smoke and flames fill the air from raging wildfires on Front Street in downtown Lahaina, Maui AP Flames are seen near boats docked at Lahaina as wildfires driven by high winds destroy a large part of the historic town of Lahaina, Hawaii via REUTERS Smoke and flames rise in Lahaina, Maui County, Hawaii, via REUTERS A overview of south Lahaina on Maui, Hawaii, AP An aerial view of smoke rising above as a wildfire burns in Lahaina, Hawaii Carter Barto/AFP via Getty Image Soke billowing from destroyed buildings as wildfires burn across Maui, Hawaii AFP via Getty Images An aerial view as smoke rises from burnt areas amidst wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, Vince Carter via REUTERS raging wildfires on Front Street in downtown Lahaina, Maui AP She reportedly visited to find out what was needed, before shopping for supplies including shampoo, pillowcases and nappies, which she handed out in person. She appeared lost for words at times during a brief interview with the BBC, but described the scenes as overwhelming. The flames left some people with only minutes to escape and led some to flee into the ocean. Kamuela Kawaakoa and Iiulia Yasso, who live in Lahaina, said they and their six-year-old son got back to their apartment after a quick dash to the supermarket for water, and only had time to grab a change of clothes and run as the bushes around them caught fire. We barely made it out, Ms Kawaakoa, 34, said at an evacuation shelter on Wednesday, still unsure if anything was left of their apartment. It was so hard to sit there and just watch my town burn to ashes and not be able to do anything, she added. A charred boat lies on the scorched waterfront after a wildfire devastated the Maui city of Lahaina / via REUTERS Around 11,000 tourists were flown out of Maui on Wednesday. Another 1,500 were expected to leave on Thursday. Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr. said the island had been tested like never before in our lifetime. We are grieving with each other during this inconsolable time, he said in a recorded statement. People are seen at the airport after wildfires ripped through Lahaina / REUTERS In the days ahead, we will be stronger as a kaiaulu, or community, as we rebuild with resilience and aloha. Major General Kenneth Hara, of the Hawaii State Department of Defense, said National Guard helicopters had dropped 568,000 litres of water on the fires. The Coast Guard said it rescued 14 people who jumped into the water to escape the flames and smoke, including two children. A British father killed in South Africa after taking a wrong turn has been named as an award-winning surgeon. Kar Hao Teoh, 40, was on holiday with his wife Sara and two-year-old son Hugo when they accidentally drove into Cape Towns Nyanga township close to the citys international airport last week. The vehicle was then approached by a group before a gun was fired. Street clashes sparked by a week-long taxi drivers strike had erupted in the area and Mr Teoh died from a single gunshot to the head. The surgeon lived in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, with his family and was based at the NHS Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex. Confirming his death, the hospital said: He was a well-respected member of the team, valued colleague and friend to many across the hospital as well as in regional, national and international trauma and orthopaedic networks. A Harley Street colleague, Professor Paul Lee, said: It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of our esteemed colleague and dear friend, Mr Kar Teoh, a respected trauma and orthopaedic consultant who left us too soon. He was a guiding light in our professional community, a devoted friend, and a cornerstone of many significant projects. For those of us privileged to call him a friend and colleague, Kar was a trustworthy and steadfast presence. Mr Teohs cousin Sancy Low, wrote on Facebook: He had a great sense of humour and would have wanted things to be light and fuss-free. A Just Giving page set up in memory of Mr Teoh with a target of 50,000 has already raised more than 25,000. One friend posted on Facebook: This doctor was a very good friend and colleague who was murdered while on holiday, it would be greatly appreciated if you could spare any amount to help. Friends revealed the surgeon, who was born in Singapore but had British nationality, had been sending pictures of his African safari shortly before he was killed. One tribute from schoolfriend Danny Wong read: Everyone knew who Kar Hao was in school. You could never miss him in a crowd. All his teachers loved him. His friends in school all liked him. A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed it was supporting Mr Teohs family and speaking to local authorities. Protests erupted in South Africa after a law was introduced giving the authorities the power to impound taxi drivers vehicles for driving without a licence or registration plates. Police started impounding vehicles last week, sparking violence as protesters set buses and cars alight and pelted the police with stones. Cape Town city mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said: In Cape Town, violence will never be tolerated as a negotiating tactic. A Cape Town police spokesman said: The deceased was seated in the driver seat with a gunshot wound to the head. Two passengers in shock and an infant were transported to a local hospital for medical treatment. U krainian authorities have ordered mandatory evacuations of nearly 12,000 civilians in the eastern Kharkiv region amid reports of relentless Russian shelling. The local military administration in Kupiansk district on Thursday said residents must comply with the evacuation order or sign a document saying they would stay at their own risk. It comes after Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said that the intensity of combat and enemy shelling is high in the area. The city of Kupiansk and the surrounding area were under Russian occupation until September 2022, when Ukrainian forces conducted a successful counteroffensive. Ms Maliar said Russia was attempting to move forward in the area in an effort to advance on Kupiansk, an important rail junction. Russia has concentrated assault troops supported by tank units, aviation and artillery in the Kupiansk area, Ukraine National Guard spokesman Ruslan Muzychuk said. Ukraine separately accused Russia of attacking a civilian infrastructure object in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia. Anatoliy Kurtev, Zaporizhzhia city councils secretary, wrote on Telegram that a fire broke out at the site of the attack and two people were injured but did not give more details. Earlier on Thursday, Russian air defence systems shot down two drones heading toward Moscow for a second straight day, Russian officials said. The alleged attack disrupted flights at two international airports. One drone was downed in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow and another near a major Moscow ring road, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin. No casualties or damage were immediately reported. Kyiv officials neither confirmed nor denied Ukraines possible involvement in the drone strikes, though Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat remarked: This cannot but please us because people in Moscow thought they were safe. Now, the war affects each and every Russian. We now see that something happens in Moscow on a regular basis, he added. A man who threatened Joe Biden was shot and killed as FBI agents served a warrant at his home on Wednesday. Special agents attempted to serve a warrant to Craig Deleeuw Robertson in Provo, south of Salt Lake City. The FBI said Robertson was armed and was shot at 6.15am. Previously, Robertson had posted threats on Facebook against the US President and a prosecutor pursuing charges against Donald Trump. On Monday, he posted online that he had heard Biden was coming to Utah and that he was planning to dig out a camouflage suit and begin cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle. Authorities also referenced a post Robertson made last September, where he wrote: The time is right for a presidential assassination or two. First Joe then Kamala!!! Robertson had also made threats against Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, US attorney general Merrick Garland, and New York attorney general Letitia James, authorities said. The FBI investigation began in March when he threatened Mr Bragg on Donald Trumps social media platform, Truth Social. AP At the time, he wrote about waiting in the courthouse parking garage with a suppressed weapon and wanting to put a nice hole in his forehead. The company alerted the FBIs National Threat Operations Center while his account has since been suspended. According to court documents, two FBI Agents came to Robertsons house after the initial warning about him from Truth Social. They found Robertson wearing a Trump cap and what one agent described in a search warrant affidavit as an AR-15 style rifle lapel pin. According to the affidavit, he told them his initial threat was just a dream and demanded they only return with a warrant. In a Facebook post days later cited in the affidavit, Robertson said: To my friends in the Federal Bureau of Idiots: I know youre reading this and you have no idea how close your agents came to violent eradication. In another undated social media post cited in the document, Robertson wrote: Hey FBI, you still monitoring my social media? Checking so I can have a loaded gun handy in case you drop by again. A post from July 21 post unearthed by SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors online extremism, reads: If I really told you what Id like to do to Joe Biden Facebook would censor me and the FBI would pay me another visit. He made a final post on Tuesday where he wrote: Perhaps Utah will become famous this week as the place a sniper took out Biden the Marxist. On Thursday, Mr Biden is expected to visit a veterans affairs hospital to talk about the Pact Act, which expanded veterans benefits, and hold a re-election fundraiser. W rap dresses are one of those magical pieces of fashion that look good on practically everyone. Whether you favour a midi, maxi or a cute mini dress, the crossover panels that characterise a wrap means its flattering for all cup sizes. Larger chests appear balanced by the open v-neck, something many plus-size wearers have at the top of their shopping list. In fact, if youre someone who wears a plus size, few frocks will work harder in your wardrobe than a wrap dress. Add a cami top underneath to make them office-appropriate in the working week, or add shoulder-skimming earrings and a pair of heels for parties and weddings. Theyre an excellent day dress option too, especially if you find a look that comes with the ultimate practical addition: pockets. With the right layers, a wrap dress can be worn well into the winter months too. Thermals are, of course, a given, but thin roll necks, a nice cardi and a thick pair of woolly tights can keep them in the rotation too. Thanks to their wrapping nature, they can adjust a size or two up and down as well, which is a useful thing for top-heavy readers who find other dresses too tight up top with excess fabric underneath. A good underlayer is key to achieving a sleek silhouette, so consider slipping into shapewear first as your outfits foundation - especially if your dress is print- or pattern-free. It will help to hone your figure, cinching at the right places to help you feel confident from every angle. Ready to shop for your next wardrobe hero? Weve rounded up the nicest wrap dresses to buy right now for every occasion in a one-stop edit. Scroll on to let outfit worries be a thing of the past. Shop the looks below M any visitors regard Japan as the doorway to the future. The country is so much more technologically advanced than the majority of other nations, from huge robots that serve dinner, to vending machines that dispense everything from Pokemon toys to Buddhist amulets. Even Japans toilets sport a futuristic edge. Theyre armed to the teeth with a range of eyebrow-raising features that make spending a penny (or more) an experience youll want to repeat. Were talking everything from bidet water washing functions to pre-warmed seats and a selection of soothing sound clips to mask the sound of what youre primarily using the loo for. Theyve started to make waves on Londons dining scene too, with a handful of restaurants adding Tokyo-style toilets to their appeal. Akira, M Restaurants and many of the citys high-end Japanese restaurants are ripe hunting grounds for anyone curious to give them a try. If youre tired of your bog-standard W.C and want more from your washroom experience, you can have one of your very own installed too. Theyre great for anyone with restricted mobility and pregnant women as well as anyone who wants to invest in bathroom pampering. Unless youre in the trade yourself, its wise to get a professional to get your shiny new luxury loo in place. But which model? Thats where we come in. Weve rounded up the best options below and spotlighted their special features to help you make an informed decision about your new bathroom addition. Best Japanese bidet toilets at a glance: Shop now H undreds of years before multi-cookers were invented, Dutch ovens were the original kitchen workhorses. Renowned for their versatility and durability, Dutch ovens are thick-walled cooking pots with tight lids, typically round or oval and made from cast iron for retaining heat. They are perfect for cooking on the hob, in the oven and even on the barbecue in some instances. Best Dutch ovens at a glance: Why should I buy a Dutch oven? The best thing about cooking with a Dutch oven is the pans versatility, especially if made from cast iron. Ceramic and aluminium versions are available, yet ceramic Dutch ovens can only be used in the oven, and aluminium doesnt retain heat as well as cast iron. Cast iron Dutch ovens, however, can be used for most things a normal saucepan can be used for. In addition to boiling, steaming, sauteing, searing, braising, frying and slow-cooking in the oven, Dutch ovens are also perfect for baking bread thanks to their heat retention. Most seasoned, uncoated cast iron Dutch ovens can also be used for outdoor cooking over open fires or on barbecues. Whats the difference between a Dutch oven and a casserole pot The terms Dutch oven and casserole are often used interchangeably, though the two do have crucial differences. At first glance, the two different styles do have many similarities. Both are generally round or oval, have side handles, are oven safe, should have tight-fitting lids and are available in cast iron. Due to these similarities, some people do make mistakes between the two, but the crucial difference is that casseroles are generally shallower than Dutch ovens, meaning water evaporates quicker. Casseroles are also made in a far greater range of materials, many of which wont be suitable for high heat. All Dutch ovens can transition from stove to oven, but not all casseroles can. To add even more confusion, many brands will call their Dutch ovens casseroles or something similar (cocotte, French oven, etc.), especially French brands. Le Creusets famous round cast iron casserole is, in fact, an enamelled cast iron Dutch oven, as is Staubs large cocotte. Cast iron vs enamelled cast iron While many modern cast iron Dutch ovens are enamelled, the bare cast iron options are arguably more traditional. Bare cast iron isnt only traditional and highly durable, its suitable for cooking on almost any surface, from all hobs to barbecues and open fires. Cast iron enthusiasts will also note that each time you use a bare cast iron pot, its surface improves due to the consistent seasoning from cooking. Enamelled cast iron Dutch ovens arent suitable for cooking over open fires or on the barbecue, but the coating does have plenty of benefits. As well as being far easier to clean, enamelled cast iron Dutch ovens dont require seasoning. The glass-like enamel coating also gives the pan a non-stick quality, prevents rusting and is ideal for all types of food as its non-reactive. Cooking acidic foods such as tomatoes in a bare cast iron Dutch oven, for instance, can lead to bad reactions with the pans material, with unpleasant flavours leaching into the food. When it comes to caring for a cast iron Dutch oven, the bare cast iron version will need to be seasoned fairly regularly to protect from rust and corrosion, best cleaned without soap or detergent, just with warm water. The cast iron will also need to be lightly oiled to prevent rust. Enamelled cast iron Dutch ovens, on the other hand, may show more stains if the coating is light, but theyre easier to clean. Simply remove stains by lightly scrubbing with a non-abrasive scouring pad. Although hand washing is always recommended, many enamelled cast iron Dutch ovens are also dishwasher-safe. What to look for when buying a Dutch oven Whether enamelled or not, cast iron Dutch ovens are, by far, the most versatile. Although expensive, theyre also extremely durable and will last for years provided theyre properly looked after. In addition to the material, look for a Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid, large and sturdy handles for safety, and something in an ideal size for what you may need. For most small families, a 4-5 litre Dutch oven will be plenty large enough, but you may want to invest in something a little larger if cooking for groups or batch cooking. How we tested the best Dutch ovens All of the featured Dutch ovens were tested in a home kitchen, on both gas and induction hobs. Each of the Dutch ovens was used to boil pasta and to cook a basic beef stew recipe. For the purpose of testing, various criteria were kept in mind. The key focuses were the overall quality of the food produced, the quality of the Dutch ovens, ease of use and cleaning, size and storage, durability and value for money. Shop the best below Le Creuset Signature Cast Iron Round Dutch Oven 24cm Le Creuset Best for: Overall Although touted as a round casserole, Le Creusets signature pot is technically more of a Dutch oven. Having become the gold standard of cast iron cookware, Le Creuset has a proven track record of producing exceptional kitchen equipment thats built to last, still made in France. With that, the only downside is the price. Le Creuset cookware is at the more expensive end of the scale, but its Dutch ovens are unrivalled and they also come with a lifetime guarantee not that its really necessary. Each Le Creuset Dutch oven is sand-cast, polished and finished by hand before being sprayed with two coats of durable, chip-resistant enamel. As well as perfectly even cast iron sides for impeccable heat retention, the lid is tight-fitting with absolutely no wobble room, the handles are roomy and the Dutch ovens are lighter than some of their competitors, suitable for use on any type of hob. The enamelled interior is also easy to wash by hand but can be popped into the dishwasher (although overuse will fade the coating over time). Whats more, a whole spectrum of colours are also available, including the brands gorgeous new Azure blue colourway, plus a variation of sizes. Buy now 170.57 , Amazon {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} ProCook Cast Iron Dutch Oven 24cm ProCook Best for: Under 100 Dutch oven ProCooks cast iron Dutch oven is easily the best sub-100 option, perfect if youre looking for something thats a little more affordable, but still boasts excellent quality. Available in a number of colours, the 24cm Dutch oven has many similarities to the Le Creuset equivalent, and the cooking quality comes very close. Its just slightly heavier and the lid isnt quite as tight fitting. Otherwise, its practically perfect, especially when considering the price. The cast iron is also enamelled, making it easy to care for in addition to being extremely versatile, and comes with a 25 year guarantee. Buy now 52.99 , ProCook {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Staub La Cocotte 26cm round cast iron Dutch oven STAUB Best for: stylish option Like the Le Creuset round casserole, the larger Staub Cocotte models are more in line with Dutch ovens, as cocottes are traditionally small pots for individual servings. Also proud of its long history of producing enamelled cast iron cookware in France, Staub has a great reputation for versatility and durability. Like Le Creuset, the Staub Cocotte is available in myriad colours, such as the beautiful new sage green and cherry blossom colourways, though the internal enamel is dark. This helps to hide stains, though it does make it slightly trickier to clean thoroughly. Elsewhere, the Dutch oven has a large surface area for cooking and a tight-fitting lid thats on the heavier side and has a relatively small knob, which is more difficult to grip with thick oven gloves. Overall, however, the Staub Cocotte is a stylish heirloom option boasting excellent quality, with the 26cm version capacious enough to generously produce 6-8 servings. Buy now 319 , Zwilling {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Lodge Cast Iron Double Dutch Oven 26cm Lodge Best for: outdoor use Lodges Cast Iron Double Dutch Oven is fairly unique in so far as having a lid that also doubles up as a cast iron skillet. Having produced cast iron cookware for more than 125 years, Lodge Dutch ovens are renowned for their flat bottoms and tight-fitting lids, while the raw cast iron is pre-seasoned with vegetable oil for a rust-resistant, non-stick finish. Both the Dutch Oven and its lid/skillet are also suitable for cooking on all hob types, as well as on barbecues and campfires (up to 260oC), making them perfect for outdoor use. Given the iron is sterile at 100oC, theres no need for soap or detergent when washing the Dutch oven, which is also ideal for outdoor pursuits. Buy now 114.99 , Lakeland {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Chasseur 20cm Round Dutch Oven Chilli Red Chasseur Best for: small families or couples Hand forged in the Champagne Ardennes region of France, this Dutch oven from Chasseur is ideal for couples or solo dining, with a 20cm diameter and space to hold 2.3 litres. Available in a range of colours, the brands Dutch oven has recently been redesigned to incorporate larger, more ergonomic handles, a more rounded base, a re-designed lid with self-basting rings to recirculate moisture during cooking and a stainless steel lid knob as standard. As well as distributing heat very evenly, the Dutch oven is suitable for use on all hob types as well as in the oven, while the double-enamelled interior is both durable and easy to clean, even dishwasher safe. A lifetime guarantee is also offered with all Chasseur cast iron cookware. Buy now 162 , Amazon {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Habitat Global 5.3 Litre Cast Iron Dutch Oven Habitat Best for: budget option The Habitat Global Dutch oven is a solid budget option, available in a selection of colours. The overall construction doesnt feel quite as robust as some of the higher-end models tested, but the quality is absolutely astounding considering the price point. With a 5.3 litre capacity, the Dutch oven is large enough to comfortably feed families or small groups, working with any hob or oven up to 260oC. The enamel coating also makes it easier to clean and care for, with the light-coloured internal coating adding a stylish flourish. A manufacturers one-year guarantee is also offered. Buy now 31.50 , Habitat {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Big Green Egg Cast Iron Dutch Oven Big Green Egg Best for: campfire cooking Its perhaps unsurprising that Big Green Eggs cast iron Dutch oven is especially ideal for outdoor cooking. The heavy-duty bare cast iron pan requires regular seasoning and more care than most of the best Dutch ovens, but youll be rewarded with great flavour and a product that gets better with age if properly looked after. In addition to its generous 5.2-litre capacity, the Dutch oven has a large handled lid (ideal if wearing oven mitts) and side handles which double up as hangers for cooking over a campfire. With that in mind, the Big Green Egg cast iron Dutch oven is also suitable for cooking indoors, on all hob types or in the oven. Buy now 75 , Harrods {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} SAVEUR Selects Voyage Series Enamelled Cast Iron Saucier 25cm SAVEUR Best for: stainless steel lid Although significantly shallower than its fellow listees, this SAVEUR Selects option is relatively lightweight, with a capacity of 3.3 litres making it ideal for a maximum of two people. The main selling point, nonetheless, is the stainless steel lid, which sets it apart from most cast iron options. Equipped with self-basting condensation rings, the lid is lightweight and double-walled for insulation. The lid lends an aesthetically modern touch to the pot, which does have its merits yet some cast iron purists may disapprove. Elsewhere, its also worth noting the pot is coated with rustproof and non-reactive enamel, has textured ergonomic non-slip handles, and is suitable for being cleaned in the dishwasher (although handwashing is recommended). Buy now 175 , Amazon {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Amazon Basics Premium Enamelled Cast Iron Dutch Oven, 4.7 L Amazon Best for: beginners Available in four neutral colours, the Amazon Basics round enamelled cast iron Dutch oven is a stylish budget option. With a 4.7 litre capacity, the Dutch ovens construction promotes even heat distribution and has side handles and tight-fitting lids, amongst other features expected from an enamelled cast iron Dutch oven. Amazon does state, however, that the enamel doesnt have a non-stick function. Its also worth noting that although the Amazon Basics Dutch oven does have great functionality (especially for the price), the enamel isnt quite as hard-wearing as some of the other options. Buy now 155.09 , Amazon {{#hasItems}} Price comparison {{/hasItems}} {{#items}} {{ merchant }} {{ price }} Buy now {{/items}} {{#hasItems}} {{/hasItems}} Mors NAC Saute Cocotte With Griddle Pan, 3.5L Mors Best for: dual-purpose cooking Renowned for their wood-burning stoves, Morss high-quality cast iron cookware has an air of Scandinavian chic. The saute cocotte with griddle pan, for instance, doubles up as two pots, with the Dutch ovens lid acting as a separate ridged griddle pan in addition to a tight-fitting lid thats more than fit for purpose. The twice-enamelled cast iron construction is also suitable for all hob and oven types, as well as being easy to clean and care for. With a 3.5 litre capacity the Dutch oven is also ideal for couples or small families, particularly easy to store when not being used. Buy now 210 , Mors T he owner of the Scotsman and the Yorkshire Post has indicated it could be interested in buying the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph if the papers are put up for sale later this year. National World said it will consider participating in a sale process if owners Lloyds decide to sell Telegraph Media Group. Lloyds took charge of the titles, and the Spectator magazine, earlier this year after the Barclay family, which at the time owned the publications, were unable to pay their debts to the bank. The bank is widely expected to sell the titles in order to recoup its money, with several potential buyers being linked to the deal already. In a statement to shareholders on Thursday, National World said: National World notes media speculation that it is a possible participant in the sale process surrounding Telegraph Media Group and its associated titles. As the company has previously announced, its growth strategy is rooted in actively exploring opportunities to build its business through acquisitions and implementing its new operating model for owned assets. It added: The board continues to evaluate accretive opportunities to grow the business and will consider participating in a sale process for Telegraph Media Group as and when such a process formally commences. There can be no certainty that an acquisition will take place nor as to the terms of such an acquisition. National World is a regional publisher which took over JPI Media in 2021, giving it titles including the Yorkshire Post, the Scotsman, the Portsmouth News and the Sheffield Star, among others. Separately on Thursday, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said it would ballot its 300 members at National World on a potential strike. The union said it would recommend they vote to strike after National World offered a 4.5% pay rise. The companys pay award had been repeatedly rejected by more than a dozen NUJ chapels representing hundreds of National World journalists, followed by a vote of no confidence in David Montgomery, executive chairman, the NUJ said. Despite talks with the publisher, including through Acas negotiations, urging an improved pay package, uplifts to minimum rates and efforts to improve pay disparities, National World has failed to present an enhanced pay award for journalists. The NUJ has repeatedly raised concerns over redundancies at the publisher after more than 50 journalists had their roles placed at risk. A separate voluntary redundancy scheme was also opened to all staff, including those outside editorial. M ade In Chelsea is to become first UK show in TV history to broadcast a three-way kiss between a male throuple. E4 stars Joel Mignott, 27, Robbie Mullett, 23, and newcomer Geronimo Mortl, 22, have decided to showcase their three-way relationship on the upcoming instalment, which was filmed in Corsica and is set to air this Sunday (August 13). In an attempt to portray the dynamic of their relationship sensitively, Channel 4 hired a queer expert to oversee the storyline and hope the move will curb any potential Ofcom complaints. Speaking about the TV first, Mignott said that the broadcaster have done their utmost to capture their relationship authentically. MIC stars Joel Mignott and Robbie Mullet are set to make UK TV history / Instagram/Joel Mignott The model said: I am not apprehensive about Ofcom complaints because Channel 4 have done everything they can to help us through this process. We even had a queer specialist who was consulting us on any emotional struggles we were going through while filming the series and afterwards. The channel has endeavoured to really be on our side in this storyline. If other people have negative complaints, then I dont care because Channel 4 have worked with us tirelessly to portray this story in the best possible light. Being a gay person, you are more prepared for trolling because you are in the minority. I dont read the comments... my mum does. But Robbie and I are in this together, so we have got each others backs, he told MailOnline. The new E4 series sees the cast swap Chelsea for Corsica in France for six weeks. In scenes yet to air, viewers see Mignott and Mullet establish a romantic connection with single model Geronimo as the cameras roll during their time on the isle. Its not the first TV milestone Made In Chelsea has made. Previously it was the first reality series to screen a same-sex wedding after Ollie Locke and his now-husband Gareth got married in 2020. The couple are now expecting twins together, via surrogacy. R ebel Wilson has given fans an update on her health a week after she sustained facial injuring while filming a stunt for her new movie, Bride Hard. The Senior Year star was left needing stitches in her nose after a stunt sequence involving a gun went wrong. The film sees her play a secret agent who struggles to fulfil her duties as the maid of honour at her childhood best friends wedding. On Wednesday, the Aussie star, 43, took to her Instagram Story to thank her fans for their outpouring of support in the wake of the on-set incident and gave them an update on her injury. In the short video, Wilson was seen sporting a small red gash on the side of her nose, but it was clear that her injury was healing, when compared to the bruised images she had shared last week. Wilson took to Instagram last week to showcase her injury / Instagram/Rebel Wilson Speaking to her camera, she shared: I just want to say thank you for your well-wishes. Ive actually been healing quite amazing. The stitches have dissolved out from my on-set accident last week. Were shooting an independent movie in Savannah, Georgia and in the middle of a night shoot, my last scene of the movie... so I had done all these kick-a*** fight sequences and then just in the last one got hit in the face with a butt of a gun. The star re-iterated that it was a complete accident" and such a shock" to her, but thanked her followers once again for their messages. She continued: So I wanted to say thank you for everybodys well-wishes, I hopefully will be totally fine. And it was, like, really fun to do an action movie, but it can be a bit dangerous at times. But Im all good, so thanks, everybody. Last week, Wilson unveiled the extent of her injuries, while explaining that it left her needing stitches. She wrote on social media alongside a blooded selfie: NOT the way I wanted to end this movie! Three stitches and in hospital last night after a stunt accident at 4am. Some might be surprised to learn that Wilson was filming amid the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. However, the film was granted a pass due to its status as an independent production. U S President Joe Biden has unveiled an executive order banning some investment into Chinas advanced chips, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence sectors. The move is aimed at addressing the threat posed by Chinas growing military, intelligence, and surveillance capabilities, the White House said on Wednesday. Biden said that acceleration in the targeted sectors poses significant national security risks as advanced computing could result in the creation of more sophisticated weapons systems, and the breaking of cryptographic codes used in espionage. What is the new ban? The forthcoming ban affects new private equity, venture capital, and joint venture investments in three types of technologies in China. These include advanced semiconductors, quantum computers, and artificial-intelligence systems designed for military or intelligence use. The tech is integral to automation, cyber-security, biometric surveillance and identification, and data processing and storage. As such, it is viewed as critical to modern defence systems, and could even revolutionise future warfare. Under the order, US investors will be prohibited from undertaking transactions involving companies or people involved in the sectors. There will likely be exceptions, however, for investments in publicly traded asset classes, and transfers from US parent companies to their subsidiaries. American and Chinese firms have poured billions into each others tech companies over the past two decades. US venture capital firms have invested in Chinese social media and electronics companies such as TikTok owner ByteDance and drone maker DJI. Meanwhile, Chinese gaming giant Tencent has acquired stakes in Snapchat and Fortnite maker Epic Games. Still, the US treasury department insists that the new regime has a more narrow focus that complements existing controls on the targeted sectors, while maintaining commitments to trade and open investment. The White House has instructed the US treasury department to oversee the new national security programme. How has China reacted to the ban? The US has previously warned that China could be ready to invade Taiwan, a hub for the worlds semiconductor supply, by 2027. President Xi Jinping called on China to boost its military might through technological innovation in March. Emphasising those efforts, the government has said it will increase defense spending by 7.2 per cent this year. Needless to say, China has not responded kindly to the new order. Beijing has argued that the US actions are aimed at curbing its technological progress. Chinas commerce ministry said the measures contradict the fair market conditions the US advocates, and has threatened retaliation. Would the UK introduce something similar? The US is now looking to its allies for support. Officials have reportedly signaled that the UK, Germany, and the European Commission have shown interest in imposing similar restrictions on the outflows of investment. But, for now, the UK has said that it will consider the measures taken by its partner across the pond, and will consult with businesses before deciding whether to follow suit. This executive order on outward investment gives important clarity on the US approach, a spokesperson for the Government said in a statement shared with the Financial Times. The UK will consider these new measures closely as we continue to assess potential national security risks attached to some investments. E l Nino is pushing certain parts of the world into uncharted territory, exacerbating threats to human health from climate change, scientists have said. Every few years temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean go through hotter or cooler phases in a cycle known as the El Nino southern oscillation. It affects weather and climate across the world, most notably in the tropics, and it therefore can have a severe impact on peoples health. Scientists recently identified El Nino as having begun its latest phase earlier this year, after three years of its cooler counterpart, La Nina. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) predicts that this is likely to temporarily push the global average temperature beyond the 1.5C marked as a climate boundary in the Paris Agreement. During El Nino, parts of Sub-Saharan and southern Africa, India, Australia, Indonesia and the Amazon typically become drier, which can limit the amount of food harvested in these regions. Other areas like parts of Patagonia, the southern United States, central Asia, east Africa and parts of China and Japan get wetter. India is already preparing for a smaller rice harvest than usual because of El Nino, said Dr Walter Baethgen of Columbia Universitys Climate School, and if there is less food produced globally it can push up prices, hurting those countries most vulnerable. Higher global temperatures can also lead to an increase in heatwaves and spread of disease to new areas. That is the point of trying to limit global warming to below 2C and ideally below 1.5C and if we're honest, as low as possible The UK is not affected directly by El Nino in any clear way, scientists said, as it is too far from the tropics and gets its weather from a variety of unpredictable sources. Professor Chris Hewitt, director of climate services at the WMO, said those areas that are predicted to get warmer with El Nino face the greatest risk, adding: Were entering uncharted territory here. That is the point of trying to limit global warming to below 2C and ideally below 1.5C and if were honest, as low as possible. Professor Gregory Wellenius of the Boston University School of Public Health said heatwaves, which are expected to increase in frequency and intensity with every increment of global warming, kill more than any other type of severe weather. It is estimated that there are half a million deaths every year around the world because of heat. Not only do the added temperatures attack people directly through dehydration, heat stroke and by exacerbating pre-existing illnesses, they also have indirect effects such as slowing down health service response times, disrupting power or water services and spreading disease. Dr Madeleine Thomson, head of climate impacts and adaptation at Wellcome, said higher temperatures brought on by El Nino are allowing malaria to spread further into the traditionally cooler regions of the east African highlands. It is becoming more prevalent over the long term with sharp outbreaks clearly aligning with El Nino periods. She said: North-western Ethiopia tends to, historically whenever theres an El Nino, go into drought, but what also happens is that you get warming. Ethiopia is a mountainous country. People who live at high altitude are not normally exposed to malaria because its basically too cool for transmission. Weve seen from historical data that when you have an El Nino, you tend to get an increase in transmission in areas in the highlands where the populations are not immune, so theyre at risk. Loading.... Virgin Galactic is set to launch its first space tourism flight with a paying customer on Thursday. Among the three people who will become astronauts for the day is retired Olympian, 80-year-old Brit Jon Goodwin, whos been waiting for the space flight since 2005 when he paid $250,000 for his ticket. Also on board will be mother and daughter duo 46-year-old Keisha Schahaff, and 18-year-old Anastatia Mayers from Antigua and Barbuda who won their seats onboard the flight in a competition. Our tech journalist Simon Hunt tells Tech & Science Daily there is a market for a lot more Virgin Galactic flights in future. According to the Financial Times, Google and Universal are negotiating a deal over an AI-generated music tool that would officially licence artists voices and melodies for tracks made using the technology. Its reported that they are working out a deal so that artists and copyright holders can make money from legitimate fan-made AI songs. It appears Disney might be the next company to carry out a password-sharing crackdown. In a recent business meeting CEO Bob Iger revealed the company is actively exploring ways to address account sharing. And the rest Mars may once have had Earth-like seasons conducive to life, UK government not anti-encryption, says Technology Secretary, research shows the International Space Station is dangerously dusty, and the supermarket AI meal planner app which suggested a recipe that would create chlorine gas. Listen above, and find us on your Spotify Daily Drive or wherever you stream your podcasts. V irgin Galactics first ever commercial spaceflight that is open to private, paying members of the public is set to launch on Thursday afternoon at 4pm UK time (9am local time) from Spaceport America in New Mexico, US. This spaceflight will carry Jon Goodwin, the first Olympian and second person with Parkinsons disease to go to space, and also Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers, the first mother-daughter duo to go to Space, as well as the first from the Caribbean. The spaceflight will be the seventh such journey carried out by the company since it started in 2004. The previous flights, which launched from December 2018 onwards, have successfully taken pilots, founder Sir Richard Branson, company employees and researchers to the edge of space and back. So whats it like to experience space tourism, how do the technologies work, and what legal protections govern these flights and protect the passengers? Heres The Standards guide. What is sub-orbital spaceflight? Virgin Galactics VSS Unity space plane, which travels to a height of 70-90km above the Earth / Virgin Galactic Sub-orbital spaceflights are basically parabolic flights, in that the space vehicle travels through the Earths atmosphere to a point some distance above the Earth, and then comes straight back down again. This essential concept is the same whether youre talking about Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic or Blue Origins spaceflight, which was founded by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos. When we talk about space, typically we talk about orbits things floating in a large ring around the Earth. For example, the International Space Station (ISS) is located in low-Earth orbit, 350km above the Earth, while Elon Musks Starlink constellation of tiny satellites moves around the Earth about 482km away. And satellite TV companies like Sky make use of huge satellites much further away in geo-stationary orbit, which is 35,786km from Earth. Blue Origins rocket New Shepard blasts off carrying Star Trek actor William Shatner, 90, a former Nasa engineer, and a healthcare executive in October 2022 / Mario Tama / Getty Images However, spaceflights dont go into orbit the space vehicle launches from the ground and travels up to just between 70km to 90km above the Earth, which is below the recognised edge of space. The flights essentially stay within the Earths atmosphere. The Karman Line, which is a boundary between the Earths atmosphere and space, is defined as being 100km above the Earth, hence why we call these flights sub-orbital. So, if you were to go on any of these flights, theres no way your space vehicle would bang into any satellites or space stations, youd be far below and mostly still within the Earths gravitational field. According to Luigi Scatteia, a space activity manager for consultancy PwC in France and Maghreb, spaceflights are so new as a technology that there are not even any statistics yet. Commercial spaceflights are only really becoming a thing now in 2023. How do sub-orbital spaceflights work? Virgin Galactic to embed In order to reach the edge of space, you need a space vehicle, typically rocket-powered, explains Mr Scatteia. There are two different approaches to make spaceflights possible the first method is where you use an actual rocket, like Blue Origins New Shepard rocket shuttle, which hops up vertically, and then comes back down again and lands vertically, too. Virgin Galactic, on the other hand, uses a carrier aircraft, the VMS Eve. It takes off like a regular aeroplane from an airport runway. The VMS Eve has two fuselages and in the middle between the two fuselages there is a sub-orbital vehicle, a space plane called VSS Unity, or SpaceShip Two, says Mr Scatteia. Virgin Galactics spaceplane VSS Unity detaches from the VMS Eve carrier aircraft at 50,000ft / Virgin Galactic The aircraft takes off, and when it [reaches] an altitude of around 50,000ft, the sub-orbital vehicle detaches from the carrier aircraft, the rocket turns on, and then the spaceplane goes up to an altitude of 70-90km. As the space plane travels up through the Earths amosphere to the edge of space, it accelerates, reaching speeds that are three times the speed of sound, before hitting the apex peak height of the journey where, for a few minutes, the space plane is in zero gravity. And then, at 300,000ft, passengers get a stunning view of the Earth below and on the way back down, the space plane heads straight to the ground helped by gravity, with aerodynamic drag used to reduce speed and make for a gentle landing. What does it feel like to be on a spaceflight? Virgin Galactic spaceflight 01 in July carried two Italian Air Force members and a researcher from Italys National Research Council / Virgin Galactic On your way up, passengers will experience up to four times the force of the Earths gravity, known as 4G. This feeling is probably more intense on Blue Origins rocket shuttle than it is on Virgin Galactics spaceplane, which only heads up vertically from 50,000ft upwards. Then, once you enter zero gravity, you are literally weightless. It is at this point that Virgin Galactic says you can unbuckle your seatbelt and float around the cabin for several minutes. After enjoying the view and experiencing zero gravity, its time to buckle up again and, on the way back down, passengers will experience up to six times the Earths gravitational force, which is 6G. A study published in Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance in May by the UKs Civil Aviation Authority, with help from the Royal Air Force and Kings College London, looked at the physical and psychological impacts sub-orbital spaceflights would have on the human body. The researchers found that G-forces could cause a rise in heart rate and blood pressure, a dip in blood oxygen and, for some people, their peripheral vision to grey out during periods of high G-force. An Italian researcher views the Earth from the edge of space on Virgin Galactics first commercial spaceflight in July, which was not open to the public / Virgin Galactic And study participants reported feeling a heavy sensation on their chests, finding it more difficult to breathe, which the researchers said could lead to less oxygen being inhaled and therefore affect the hearts rhythm, as well as seeing blood begin to pool away from the brain. However, the researchers said these effects did not last long. There was one case where a participant briefly lost consciousness, but with no lasting ill effects, and regained consciousness when the chair was tilted back slightly. Mr Scatteia says the closest way to explain what it feels like to be on a spaceflight is to imagine what it feels like when youre at the top of a rollercoaster at a theme park, just before you go down a sharp, vertical dive, and the feeling as you zoom downwards, aided by the Earths gravitational pull. Its not exactly a comfortable ride, would be closer to [the feeling of] an extreme sport, says Mr Scatteia. But I dont think theres any permanent effect on people. When you [land] then youre okay. What rights do I have as a spaceflight passenger? What the Virgin Galactic spaceplane VSS Unitys cabin looks like on the inside / Virgin Galactic So this is a tricky issue. You do not have the same consumer protection rights as someone who gets on an airplane, a train, a boat, or any other conventional vehicle on Earth. The issue is that commercial spaceflight is still considered to be in the experimental phase, and so lawmakers around the world are still working on rules to protect consumers and work out liabilities, should something go wrong. It all started in 2004 when there was the Ansari X Prize, won by the team that became Virgin Galactic. People thought it would lead to routine space tourism flights, even point-to-point space transport, but in reality, it took much much longer... now we are in 2023, and this is where we are starting to see routine operations. Its been nearly 20 years, explains Mr Scatteia. PwC did a study on sub-orbital flights back in 2012, when the scene seemed to be heating up, with lots of companies popping up and EU regulators considering introducing spaceflight regulation. Most of those companies dont exist anymore, explains Mr Scatteia. At the moment, spaceflight in the US is governed by a licensing regime devised by the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). It was only meant to last a few years while tests were ongoing, but because nothing happened for so long during the 2010s, this phase of much looser regulations was extended (see Virgin Galactics licence for SpaceShipTwo here). They couldnt fully regulate this type of vehicle with safety standards as there was no vehicle concept, so they devised a licensing regime where companies could operate or carry on accepting payment from customers, not as actual customers, but more as a sort of test crew, says Mr Scatteia. Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark high-five and hug on landing from the first crewed Blue Origin spaceflight in July 2021. Amazon stock dipped before this, as investors feared he wouldnt return safely / Blue origin / Unpixs Europe While this might bring back awful recollections of the recent OceanGate submersible disaster, where OceanGate boss Stockton Rush classed all passengers as mission specialists who contributed money to fund their own missions, in order to swerve US safety laws about experimental vehicles, he says this is not the same situation with spaceflights. I dont think there has been any corner that has been cut, and this is the reason why it took [almost] 20 years from 2004 till now to have commercial operations, stresses Mr Scatteia, who added that in the aerospace and defence industry, which includes space, safety is first and foremost. The moment you have, say, a failure with loss of passenger lives, the whole business is doomed forever, no-one will ever go on it again. If something happens to either Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin, or even just to one of them, the other one would be done for. Can passengers call themselves astronauts? Another issue is whether private citizens going on the spaceflights should be called astronauts, when they have no air force or actual space training. The moniker of astronaut, it doesnt depend on training, the wings of astronaut depend on the altitude you reach. If you reach 90km, that altitude qualifies you to be called an astronaut. The first Virgin Galactic commercial spaceflight in July was not entitled to that moniker, explains Mr Scatteia. He adds that, since Blue Origins rocket shuttle goes higher than Virgin Galactic, past the 100km Karman Line, there was a rivalry between them about whether passengers can call themselves actual astronauts, until regulators intervened. Now, such a title is only really for marketing purposes. The FAA intervened and said they cant be called an astronaut as theyre not serving the purpose... there is an official taxonomy saying they are not to be called this. Blog Archive Apr 2010 (22) May 2010 (25) Jun 2010 (8) Jul 2010 (12) Aug 2010 (18) Sept 2010 (19) Oct 2010 (29) Nov 2010 (30) Dec 2010 (18) Jan 2011 (13) Feb 2011 (21) Mar 2011 (23) Apr 2011 (19) May 2011 (31) Jun 2011 (36) Jul 2011 (46) Aug 2011 (26) Sept 2011 (12) Oct 2011 (15) Nov 2011 (17) Dec 2011 (7) Jan 2012 (18) Feb 2012 (4) Mar 2012 (12) Apr 2012 (17) May 2012 (10) Jun 2012 (21) Jul 2012 (8) Aug 2012 (15) Sept 2012 (7) Oct 2012 (17) Nov 2012 (20) Dec 2012 (10) Jan 2013 (58) Feb 2013 (59) Mar 2013 (60) Apr 2013 (98) May 2013 (134) Jun 2013 (203) Jul 2013 (292) Aug 2013 (350) Sept 2013 (363) Oct 2013 (347) Nov 2013 (374) Dec 2013 (437) Jan 2014 (543) Feb 2014 (473) Mar 2014 (525) Apr 2014 (526) May 2014 (470) Jun 2014 (408) Jul 2014 (472) Aug 2014 (522) Sept 2014 (440) Oct 2014 (471) Nov 2014 (496) Dec 2014 (535) Jan 2015 (535) Feb 2015 (520) Mar 2015 (578) Apr 2015 (657) May 2015 (679) Jun 2015 (673) Jul 2015 (728) Aug 2015 (803) Sept 2015 (922) Oct 2015 (919) Nov 2015 (798) Dec 2015 (789) Jan 2016 (781) Feb 2016 (834) Mar 2016 (929) Apr 2016 (864) May 2016 (945) Jun 2016 (1044) Jul 2016 (880) Aug 2016 (1034) Sept 2016 (966) Oct 2016 (918) Nov 2016 (854) Dec 2016 (884) Jan 2017 (879) Feb 2017 (777) Mar 2017 (896) Apr 2017 (872) May 2017 (850) Jun 2017 (851) Jul 2017 (971) Aug 2017 (1040) Sept 2017 (998) Oct 2017 (1144) Nov 2017 (1046) Dec 2017 (838) Jan 2018 (873) Feb 2018 (769) Mar 2018 (885) Apr 2018 (808) May 2018 (827) Jun 2018 (820) Jul 2018 (840) Aug 2018 (854) Sept 2018 (844) Oct 2018 (851) Nov 2018 (870) Dec 2018 (912) Jan 2019 (919) Feb 2019 (827) Mar 2019 (957) Apr 2019 (913) May 2019 (1007) Jun 2019 (934) Jul 2019 (949) Aug 2019 (936) Sept 2019 (910) Oct 2019 (920) Nov 2019 (874) Dec 2019 (908) Jan 2020 (941) Feb 2020 (848) Mar 2020 (898) Apr 2020 (848) May 2020 (822) Jun 2020 (787) Jul 2020 (819) Aug 2020 (858) Sept 2020 (841) Oct 2020 (873) Nov 2020 (811) Dec 2020 (780) Jan 2021 (765) Feb 2021 (716) Mar 2021 (819) Apr 2021 (805) May 2021 (815) Jun 2021 (824) Jul 2021 (830) Aug 2021 (832) Sept 2021 (791) Oct 2021 (754) Nov 2021 (683) Dec 2021 (693) Jan 2022 (694) Feb 2022 (654) Mar 2022 (740) Apr 2022 (745) May 2022 (748) Jun 2022 (701) Jul 2022 (704) Aug 2022 (702) Sept 2022 (699) Oct 2022 (737) Nov 2022 (718) Dec 2022 (692) Jan 2023 (662) Feb 2023 (611) Mar 2023 (692) Apr 2023 (652) May 2023 (696) Jun 2023 (701) Jul 2023 (742) Aug 2023 (461) The new REPowerEU plan, worth a total of 1.4 billion euros, which the government will send to the European Commission by the end of August, will be focused on programmes directly dedicated to Romanians, 600 million euros will be allocated for the purchase of solar panels and batteries for energy storage, and another 500 million euros for energy efficiency of homes, announced on Thursday prime minister Marcel Ciolacu. "About 60,000 households will be able to access this programme, and the value of each grant will be about 10,000 euros cumulatively. In parallel, another 500 million euros will go for home improvement in order to reduce energy consumption and, implicitly, bills by up to 30 pct. And a significant share of this money will be allocated to vulnerable population and those in rural areas," Ciolacu wrote on Facebook. The prime minister expressed his conviction that the Minister of European Investments and Projects will obtain in Brussels the approval of the plan assumed by Romania. "That means making a plan that takes into account people's needs and not personal or group interests, as happened in the past when this plan was rejected by the Commission! And I trust that the minister of European Funds will get in Brussels what he needs for Romanians and for Romania," Ciolacu said. On Thursday, Save Romania Union (USR) national leader Catalin Drula said in a message five years after the August 10, 2018 street protest, that the fight for rights and democracy is more current today than ever. "Inhuman and degrading treatment'. That is what the prosecutors write in the indictment of the 'August 10' file, finally sent to court five years after the protest in Piata Victoriei. Thousands of people were assaulted at the Social Democratic Party's command because they dared to take to the streets. No one is allowed to undermine fundamental rights in Romania. Neither PSD, nor PNL [National Liberal Party]," Drula wrote in a social media post. He accused that this year, under the "patronage" of President Klaus Iohannis, Nicolae Ciuca and Lucian Bode introduced by law, with PSD's vote, prison sentences for protests. "'Democracy in the police van' is the price that honest people in Romania pay for the peace that PNL and PSD want," said the USR leader. According to him, "the assault orchestrated by Iohannis, Ciolacu, Ciuca and Bodewill be stopped by honest Romanians voting in 2024". Finance Minister Marcel Bolos will pay a working visit to Brussels after August 21 to discuss with European Commission representatives the emergency ordinances on the cut of budget expenditures and the planned fiscal package, before the government approves them, governmental sources declared on Thursday. The Finance minister is also set to discuss with European officials the budget adjustment the Bucharest Executive is going to approve in September, as well as a draft law aimed at combating tax evasion. Also after August 21, Labor Minister Simona Bucura will travel to Brussels to present the EC the special pensions bill with the amendments formulated in accordance with the Constitutional Court ruling and the stage of the relevant reform, but also for discussions regarding the committed milestone of allocating 9.4 percent of GDP for pensions. Minister of European Investments and Projects Adrian Caciu will also have working meetings with the European Commission to discuss topics related to the renegotiation of the NRRP, such as the REPower EU chapter, which would result in Romania receiving an additional 1.7 billion euros for the energy sector, and the reduction of 2.1 billion euro worth of grants. After these visits, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu will also travel to Brussels to finalize NRRP discussions, but also for talks on the 4.4 percent budget deficit pledged for this year. The cited sources mentioned that the fiscal measures the Executive is going to approve are aimed, among others, at cancelling some fiscal facilities, namely the IT tax break for earnings above 10,000 RON and the social security contribution in construction, agriculture and the food industry. Another measure contemplated by the government is taxing properties worth over 500,000 euros, but also expensive cars of over 75,000 euros. Some of these measures would be applied from October 1, and the others from January 1, 2024. The Turkish corvette TCG Kinaliada (F-514) will make a stopover in the southeastern port of Constanta, between August 12-16, to participate in the Day of the Romanian Navy, together with Romanian military and civilian ships, informed, on Wednesday night, the General Staff of Naval Forces, in a press release. After the ship's docking, a delegation on board will, on Saturday, August 12, make official visits to the Fleet Command Vice Admiral Vasile Urseanu and to the local authorities in Constanta, and a detachment of Turkish soldiers will submit a wreath at the International Military Cemetery in Slobozia in memory of Turkish heroes. The TCG corvette Kinaliada (F-514) will be able to be visited by the civilian population on August 12, between 10.00 - 12.00 and 14.00 - 16.00. On Tuesday, August 15, the Turkish corvette will be present in the naval perimeter at sea, together with the Romanian military ships, at the Romanian Naval Forces 23 demonstration exercise. The Honour Guard, set up on the embankment in front of the Fleet Command to receive the officials, will be made up of platoons of soldiers from France, the United States of America, Turkey, the 30th Guards Brigade Mihai Viteazul and the Romanian Naval Forces. When artist Ria Unson moved to St. Louis in 1996, she didnt realize that her great-grandfather had been here nearly a century earlier as part of the 1904 Worlds Fair Filipino exhibition. The discovery that her ancestor was a pensionado a Filipino student sponsored by the U.S. government to study at an American university and be a part of a human exhibit at the Worlds Fair came in 2018, after Unson found old family photos and decided to dig up a little information about the people in the pictures. I realized that there were all of these stories here that were going to die unless someone took the time to really pass them on. So I started being interested in capturing those stories through my artwork, Unson says. Five years later, the discovery about her great-grandfather continues to shape Unsons artistic endeavors. Once I just started doing a little bit of research, I started to realize that, as a descendant of a fair participant, I could trace the effects of that event through four generations of my family, Unson says. My art practice is all about American imperialism. Unson says that the widely understood goal of the pensionado program was for participants to go back to the Philippines and be ambassadors of the American way of life. In her family, it worked Unsons grandfather, father and aunt all came to study in the U.S. Unson followed suit, moving from Manila to Madison, Wisconsin, when she was 13 for high school. Unson has always been an artist. She remembers her grandmother taking her to art classes as a child, and she majored in art theory and practice at Northwestern. Unson even considered pursuing a graduate degree at the School of Art Institute, but ultimately turned it down for what she believed was a more career-oriented path in advertising. Unson says that actually, her deviation from becoming a professional artist after college may have helped solidify her confidence in the art she makes now. I feel like it has taken me all this time to find my voice as an artist and to have the maturity and the courage to really investigate and interrogate the topics that my art practice is all about, Unson says. Unson has a day job in communications, but makes time after work to create mixed-media art focused on her and her familys identities in the Philippines and the U.S. One such collection, titled Stories We Are Told, uses classic American childrens novels that were distributed in the Philippines during the Philippine-American War. Unson says she grew up reading The Little House on the Prairie and Little Women. Language and education and books were essentially weaponized in the colonization of the Philippines, Unson says. There are all of these values and beliefs that are embedded into (our) narratives. In the collection, Unson paints pictures inspired by family portraits over the books: her half-sister, dressed in a white gown, over The Wizard of Oz, her paternal grandfather posing with other Filipino MIT graduates over sheet music to Yankee Doodle. The disconnect between Western books and the layered Filipino faces is intentional. Its really reclaiming those stories and changing them in a way that shifts them for myself and hopefully for the viewer, Unson says. Unsons other collections include Mga Kuwento Namin, which takes historic photos of the Philippine Exhibit at the 1904 Worlds Fair and projects them on portraits of present-day St. Louis Filipino women and paintings inspired by scenes of the Philippine-American War. Part of her artistic goal is to shed light on a moment in American history that is often overlooked. Unson recalls paging through one of her kids school history textbooks, and finding just one sentence about the war that completely changed her familys course in life. (Americans) were the Russia of 1899 invading a sovereign nation. That doesnt sit well with a lot of people, Unson says. Which is why the Worlds Fair in St. Louis happened. That Philippine exhibit happened. It was like a giant PR campaign to make it OK. Unson says that many people react to her artwork and its message with surprise. Their heads explode. Theyre like, Oh my gosh, I had no idea, she says. Unsons work will be displayed at a solo show at the Messing Gallery at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day school in September. She is currently working on a new exhibit, titled Mementos of memorabilia from the Worlds Fair wrapped in newspaper from the Philippine-American War. It will appear at St. Louis Lambert International Airport in May. Ria Unson Family Unsons daughter, Mason, is going into her fourth year of college and her son, Tanner, is going into his second year of college. She also has a 6-year old pocket pitbull named Herman. Home Dogtown What she makes Unson makes mixed-media art, most recently surrounding the theme of American imperialism in the Philippines. Where to buy Riaunson.com How much: $425-$4,800 Each week, I publish the First Course, an email newsletter that dishes insight, news, tips and more from St. Louis thriving dining scene. Exclusive to the newsletter is a weekly recommended dish from an area establishment. Here is a sampling of the recommendations Ive offered in recent weeks. The Italian beef sandwich at the Wood Shack Soulard sandwich standout the Wood Shack has relocated from its original location at 1862 South 10th Street to the former Twisted Ranch building at 1731 South Seventh Street. (For those of you keeping score at home, the ranch dressing obsessives at Twisted Ranch have moved to the Central West End.) The new Wood Shack is substantially larger than the first. When I walked into the building for lunch one afternoon this week, I briefly worried I'd gone through the wrong door. I suspect you could fit much of the originals footprint into the bar area by itself. Sandwiches remain the Wood Shacks mission. I have eaten my way through much of the restaurants menu since it debuted in 2017, but I dont remember ordering its take on an Italian beef before. With food media obsessing over season two of The Bear this summer, I figured the time was right. The Wood Shack serves a relatively compact Italian beef, undipped, with a small cup of debris gravy on the side. If this sandwich isnt a righteous mess like those you find at the Italian beef specialists Vinnies Italian Beef & Gyros in Lindenwood Park and Mikes Italian Beef in the Affton area, it does boast the signature style of chef-owner Chris Delgado. Delgado smokes the beef before he braises it, marrying the succulence of a traditional Italian beef sandwich to the piquant woodsmoke essence of great barbecue. With its giardiniera garnish, the Wood Shacks Italian beef is so tasty you might forget about the gravy on the side though you wont regret dipping the sandwich every couple of bites. Where The Wood Shack, 1731 South Seventh Street More info thewoodshacksoulard.com Peach ice cream at Serendipity So apparently I just missed National Ice Cream Day, which was last month. I also missed National Fried Chicken Day and National Hot Dog Day. There are too many days. But we are in the thick of summer, after all, and I do love ice cream and I am also late to visit the new home of Beckie Jacobs Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream, which has relocated from its original Webster Groves location to the Grove in Forest Park Southeast. Serendipity tempts your sweet tooth with sundaes, banana splits, shakes and more decidedly adult desserts included but the older I get, the simpler my ice cream desires become. I ordered a scoop of peach ice cream atop a sugar cone. It was the perfect afternoon pick-me-up: as lusciously creamy as you expect from great ice cream, shot through with the flavor of dead-ripe summer peach. National Ice Cream Day? Whatever. This is an everyday delight, if not necessity. Where Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream, 4400 Manchester Avenue More info 314-833-3800; serendipity-icecream.com Tacos at the new Taco Buddha in Kirkwood Ive stumbled into a theme for my newsletter recommendations in recent weeks: restaurants that have recently relocated or, in the case of Taco Buddha, expanded. The popular University City taco specialist debuted its new Kirkwood location in June along Manchester Road. A recent weekday lunch visit revealed a restaurant as crowded as the thoroughfare it faces, but moving much more efficiently. I ordered a soft drink, chips with Hatch chile queso and salsa and two tacos, and each course arrived in rapid succession. (You order at your seat via QR code, though counter service is also available if you have grown weary of QR codes.) If you have yet to visit either location of Taco Buddha, owner Kurt Ellers concept is easy to categorize tacos, duh but difficult to summarize in one visit. Many tacos draw obvious influences from Mexican, Tex-Mex and New Mexican cuisine. The Sonoran taco, a new special, features pieces of flank steak with notes of citrus and smoky chile and a just-right chewy-tender texture garnished with pico de gallo and a medium-hot salsa as well as cotija cheese, lettuce and cilantro. Other tacos might also look to, say, India. For the Jodhpur taco, the kitchen marinates chicken in yogurt, lemon and a masala blend before grilling it, imparting a subtle tanginess and edge of both warming and brightening spice. A mango salsa bridges the transition from the chicken to the tacos other components (cabbage, cotija, cilantro and the house New Mexico Sauce), making for an enjoyable, unshowy mashup. Where 11111 Manchester Road, Kirkwood More info 314-502-9951; tacobuddha.com Sign up for The First Course newsletter Exclusive insight, news, tips and more on St. Louis' thriving dining scene from St. Louis Post-Dispatch restaurant critic Ian Froeb. CHICAGO The trial of a former chief of staff to longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan opened Wednesday with a federal prosecutor arguing that the defendant lied under oath to a grand jury to protect his boss. The 68-year-old Tim Mapes, who served for almost two decades as Madigans chief of staff, faces single counts of perjury and attempted obstruction of justice. A conviction on the obstruction count alone carries up to 20 years in prison. Mapes lied repeatedly when he testified in 2021 to a grand jury investigating Madigan and others. In opening statements, the prosecutor told jurors Mapes specifically lied when he said he couldnt recall any relevant details about Madigans ties to Michael McClain, who was a Madigan confidant, the Chicago Tribune reported. The defendant lied. Not just once but again and again and again, to prevent the grand jury from finding out what Madigan, a Democrat, was up to, prosecutor Diane MacArthur said. Federal jurors in May convicted four defendants of bribery conspiracy involving the states largest electric utility. Prosecutors said McClain, two former ComEd executives and a former utility consultant arranged contracts, jobs and money for associates of Madigans to ensure proposed bills boosting ComEd profits became law. For decades, the 81-year-old Madigan was one of the most powerful state legislative leaders in the nation. Then in 2022, he was indicted on charges that included racketeering and bribery. A year before his indictment and amid speculation that he was a federal target, he resigned from the Legislature as the longest-serving state House speaker in modern U.S. history. In her opening Monday, defense lawyer Katie Hill told jurors Mapes never intentionally misled the grand jury, saying he simply couldn't remember many details about which he was asked. Hill likened the questions Mapes was asked to a pop quiz at a high school reunion. She asked jurors if theyd be able to remember the color of their prom corsages or who was class president their junior year, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Tim Mapes did not lie in the grand jury, Hill said. He did not attempt to obstruct justice. The first prosecution witness Monday was a former House Majority Leader Greg Harris, a Democrat from Chicago, who explained to jurors how state government works. He also described the power Madigan yielded as speaker. Madigan has denied any wrongdoing. The indictment accused Madigan, among other things, of reaping the benefits of private legal work that was illegally steered to his law firm. ST. LOUIS A St. Louis jury on Thursday found that Sheriff Vernon Betts did not retaliate against a deputy who was denied a promotion. Deputy Joseph Mopkins sued in 2020, alleging that Betts urged him not to provide testimony for a discrimination case brought by another deputy. When Mopkins testified anyway, he said he was denied a promotion and retaliated against for a medical condition that required him to keep a beard despite department policy prohibiting most facial hair. On Thursday, however, the jury ruled in the citys favor. Betts stood outside the courtroom after the verdict, smiling, shaking jurors hands and thanking them for their service. He said in an interview he was pleased. Im glad the jurors were able to see through the lies, he said. Lie after lie after lie after lie. Betts denied ever discouraging Mopkins from testifying. He also denied ever retaliating against Mopkins and called the people who testified in his favor disgruntled employees. JEFFERSON CITY U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner said Wednesday she supports U.S. Sen. Josh Hawleys plan to expand an existing nuclear waste compensation program to cover St. Louis residents. The Senate attached Hawleys amendment to its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, but no similar expansion had cleared the House, which has approved its own version of the annual defense bill. Wagner, a Republican from Town and Country, had not spoken out publicly in favor of Hawleys amendment until Wednesday. In a statement to the Post-Dispatch, she said members of both chambers armed services committees needed to meet in a conference committee to work out differences between the House and Senate. I am supportive of the Hawley amendment being included in the merged bill, and hope that the conference committee chooses to include it in the final version, so I have the opportunity to vote for its passage, Wagner said. She said she hoped Eric Schmitt, Missouris other U.S. senator and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, would be named to the conference committee and fight for all of Missouris interests in the upcoming negotiations. The St. Louis area was significantly impacted by our countrys WWII nuclear program, and I will continue to advocate for those affected by it, Wagner said. Schmitt supports Hawleys amendment, and U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis, also supports the Senate effort. I think this is incredible, said Dawn Chapman, one of the founders of Just Moms STL, of Wagners support. She said it was good to hear it, because, you know, everythings happening so fast with the Hawley amendment that we havent had time ... to reach out and get support or know where people stand. State Rep. Tricia Byrnes, R-Wentzville, said she anticipated Wagners support for Hawleys amendment. She sent staff to our meeting last week, and I think he was blown over by the reaction from the crowd and the people in her district that are reporting injuries, Byrnes said of a community meeting last week in New Melle. Hawleys measure, which has yet to pass the House, would provide reimbursement to people with a medical condition linked to nuclear radiation exposure and who were physically present in an affected area defined by 20 ZIP codes for at least two years after Jan. 1, 1949. Affected ZIP code areas, which cover most of north St. Louis County, the north riverfront area of St. Louis and a large swath of St. Charles County are 63031, 63033, 63034, 63042, 63045, 63074, 63114, 63135, 63138, 63044, 63140, 63145, 63147, 63102, 63304, 63134, 63043, 63341, 63368 and 63367. Bush met with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Tuesday at the Department of Energy-managed Weldon Spring site in St. Charles County. In a statement following the meeting, Bush said, this conversation marks an inflection point in a positive partnership, and I believe that, together, we will work with the community to ensure the federal government cleans up its waste, restores trust, and ensures our neighborhoods are safer and healthier. Granholm spoke to St. Louis nuclear waste history during a stop Tuesday in the citys Carondelet neighborhood to promote a federal grant for a company to manufacture a component for electric vehicle batteries. Granholm said there was no doubt St. Louis-area sites need to be cleaned up, and that weve got to make sure that people feel safe. I cant speak for the administration on that particular piece because I just dont know the answer, but it certainly is something were looking at for sure to bring justice to families that have been affected, Granholm said. Chapman said Wednesday she was waiting for more information on Granholms talks with Bush. Did she agree to anything? Chapman asked. Is she going to fight the amendment? Is she going to go back to DC, you know, and maybe schedule a Zoom meeting so we can all figure out where she is on this? Chapman asked. I dont want to fight this energy secretary. I dont know if shes a friend or a foe. Speaking in New Mexico on Wednesday, President Joe Biden signaled hes open to granting assistance for people sickened by exposure to radiation during nuclear weapons testing, including in New Mexico, where the worlds first atomic bomb was tested in 1945, The Associated Press reported. Biden brought up the issue while speaking Wednesday in Belen at a factory that produces wind towers. Im prepared to help in terms of making sure that those folks are taken care of, he said. The presidents comments appeared to signal a willingness to expand the program to also include people in the St. Louis area that may have been exposed to Manhattan Project waste. BELEN, N.M. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that hes open to granting assistance for people sickened by exposure to radiation during nuclear weapons testing, including in New Mexico, where the worlds first atomic bomb was tested in 1945. Biden brought up the issue, which potentially affects St. Louis-area residents affected by radioactive waste produced for the nations atomic weapons program, while speaking in Belen at a factory that produces wind towers. Im prepared to help in terms of making sure that those folks are taken care of, he said. New Mexicos place in American history as a testing ground has gotten more attention recently with the release of Oppenheimer, a movie about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the top-secret Manhattan Project. Biden watched the film last week while on vacation in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico spoke of how the first bomb was tested on soil just south of where the event was. The senator also discussed getting an amendment into the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which gives payments to people who become ill from nuclear weapons tests or uranium mining during the Cold War. And those families did not get the help that they deserved. They were left out of the original legislation, Lujan added. Were fighting with everything that we have to keep the amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act. Lujan co-sponsored the measure to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act with U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who has championed St. Louis-area residents who were exposed to, and sickened by, radioactive waste produced by the processing of uranium ore by Mallinckrodt Chemical Works. Their amendment, approved by the U.S. Senate, would extend health care coverage and compensation to so-called downwinders exposed to radiation during weapons testing to several new regions stretching from New Mexico to Guam. Biden said he told Lujan that hes prepared to help in terms of making sure that those folks are taken care of. The amendment also would provide for compensation to current and former St. Louis residents who developed radiation-related illnesses and who lived at least one of 20 affected ZIP code areas for at least two years after Jan. 1, 1949. The measure was not included in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act. Its fate rests with a conference committee thats expected to work out differences in the bill. The amendment also has the support of U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and U.S. Reps. Ann Wagner, R-Town and Country, and Cori Bush, D-St. Louis. The Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. A federal appeals court on Thursday appeared skeptical of the Biden administrations bid to reverse a court order sharply limiting its ability to ask social media companies to remove content that it considers to be misinformation. Daniel Tenny, a lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice, told a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans that U.S. officials never forced social media companies to remove posts about COVID-19, the 2020 election and other topics, as Louisiana and Missouri claimed in a lawsuit. Instead, he said, the government had informed the companies of certain posts that spread harmful misinformation. But Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod said that irate messages from officials taking social media companies to task for not removing certain posts quickly enough suggested a very close working relationship between the government and the companies. Its like a supervisor complaining about a worker, she said. Circuit Judge Don Willett said public statements by Biden officials suggesting that social media companies could face antitrust enforcement, or lose immunity from certain lawsuits under federal law, could be seen as threats. Thats a really nice social media platform you got there it would be a shame if something happened to it, Willett said, describing what he saw as the statements tone. Elrod and Willett, along with the third member of the panel, Circuit Judge Edith Brown Clement, were all appointed by Republican presidents. Tenny countered that the social media companies mentioned in the lawsuit, including Meta Platforms Facebook, Alphabet Inc.-owned YouTube and Twitter, now known as X Corp., regularly refused government requests to remove content. The notion that the social media companies felt they had to bend to the FBIs will when half the time they didnt it doesnt fit any of these theories, he said. John Sauer, a lawyer for the states and former Missouri solicitor general, compared the administrations efforts to the government pressuring publishers to hold mass book burnings. He said that the social media companies gave in to unrelenting pressure from the most powerful office in the world. The administration is appealing a July 4 ruling, in which U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty sided with the states in finding that the government engaged in an Orwellian program to suppress opposing views, including those questioning the efficacy of mask mandates and lockdowns to fight COVID and the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, which Democrat Joe Biden won over Republican incumbent Donald Trump. The Trump-appointed judge, whose courthouse in Monroe has become a favored venue for Republican challenges to Bidens policies, said the widespread censorship campaign violated the U.S. Constitutions First Amendments free speech guarantees. He barred government agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, from talking to social media companies to seek the removal or suppression of content containing protected free speech, with narrow exceptions. The order is currently on hold while the 5th Circuit considers the administrations appeal. The case has drawn numerous friend-of-the-court briefs, which have broken down largely along partisan lines. Republican state attorneys general and members of Congress have weighed in to support the two states, while Democratic-led states are backing the administration. The lawsuit was filed when U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Republican, was Missouri attorney general. Schmitts successor, gubernatorial appointee Andrew Bailey, has called it the most important free speech case in American history. Bailey is seeking the Republican nomination for attorney general in 2024. Less than 24 hours until our argument at the Fifth Circuit. This is the most important free speech case in American history. Missouri is standing up. Attorney General Andrew Bailey (@AGAndrewBailey) August 10, 2023 The Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. Updated at 4 p.m. ST. LOUIS The Bi-State Development Agency board on Thursday approved a new contract worked out recently with Metro Transit's main employee union. Under the deal, bus drivers, light rail operators and maintenance workers will get pay increases of 3% in each of the next two fiscal years and a $7,000 signing bonus. The salary hikes are in addition to a 5% increase retroactive to July 1, 2022, agreed to last fall while talks continued on the longer-term deal. Also OK'd was a separate contract with clerical workers. Members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local No. 788 voted to approve the contracts on Monday. Bi-State is Metro's parent agency. ST. LOUIS Nine years after a Ferguson police officer fatally shot and killed Michael Brown Jr., his family commemorated him during a social justice town hall hosted by the Progressive National Baptist Convention in downtown on Wednesday. Clad in matching T-shirts that noted Browns name would not be forgotten, his family sat and listened to panelists discuss how to increase civic engagement to improve voting access, and mobilize for the passage of effective and fair gun violence, education and health care legislation. Leaders of justice organizations serving as panelists discussed the importance of improving the lives of Black people socially, economically and politically. That call was renewed after the police killing of Brown, on Aug. 9, 2014, ignited the most recent civil rights movement. Browns father thanked the justice leaders for their work and for honoring his son. He (Michael Brown Jr.) was well recognized in the conversation today, said Michael Brown Sr. I just dont want people to forget. Humanize him, dont demonize. Thousands of people from around the world poured into the streets of Ferguson for months, protesting against police brutality after former Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot Michael Brown Jr. The uprising triggered an ongoing federal monitor and investigation into Fergusons police department, and a continued fight in Ferguson and the St. Louis community for economic and criminal justice. Nine years later, thousands traveled to downtown St. Louis this week for the annual session of The Progressive National Baptist Convention, through which Black Christian clergy advocate for civil rights through public policy. This week, they sought to differentiate themselves from predominantly white right-wing evangelicals, whom they say co-opted the perspective of Christianity. They baptize bigotry in the name of Jesus as they push neo-fascism, and neo-fascism is waging war on democracy, said the Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III on Wednesday, who took over for the Rev. Jesse Jackson as the national leader of the Rainbow-PUSH coalition. We are determined to make America great, finally. Though social justice is now a common buzzword, PNBC and its leaders noted the concept is embedded in their roots and mission. Founded in the midst of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, its most notable member was Martin Luther King Jr. Together, they helped pass historic legislation that bans racial discrimination in voting and housing. Today, the organizations leaders say improving advocacy to increase equality and fairness in health care, education and employment is the only way to improve the growing gun violence crisis in St. Louis and the rest of the country. We need more jobs, we need better schools, we need better-funded teachers, said the Rev. Dr. William Francois II, co-chair of PNBCs social justice commission. We have political priorities that arent limited to who people sleep with and policing what women do with their bodies. Though Wilson was acquitted of any wrongdoing by the courts for killing Michael Brown Jr., his family continues to fight for justice. On Wednesday, with the help of high-profile attorneys, they filed briefs before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) requesting a hearing. They allege several government agencies, from Ferguson to the federal government, failed to follow proper procedure to investigate, prosecute and punish for Michael Brown Jr.s killing. But honoring his legacy is more than just fighting for a proper investigation, his family said. Just like Wednesdays town hall, Michael Brown Jr.s family wants to advocate for people to have better lives. Throughout the year they attend similar events and have even founded their own justice-centered nonprofits dedicated to helping those impacted by trauma. Photos: Michael Brown remembered on Canfield Drive on 9th anniversary of his death OFALLON, Mo. Family members of a 64-year-old man shot and killed in his home by an OFallon, Missouri, police officer during a 2019 mental health check filed suit this week claiming wrongful death. Christopher Weich and Thomas Weich sued Monday over the Jan. 18, 2019 death of their father, Dale Weich, who was shot and killed by OFallon police Officer Joseph Litzinger. The shooting happened while the officer and a mental health worker, Jacqueline Mattingly, were attempting to compel Weich to seek mental health treatment at a hospital, according to the suit. The suit claims Weich refused to leave his home, pulled out a gun and held it to his own head before Litzinger shot him. OFallon police told the Post-Dispatch in 2019 that the officer feared for the lives of himself and Mattingly, prompting him to shoot. The suit names the city of OFallon, Litzinger and Mattingly along with Mattinglys employers, Compass Health, Inc. and Pathways Communit Behavioral Healthcare, Inc., as defendants. The suit included excerpts from an OFallon police report that details Litzinger and Mattingly, a mental health liaison to the department, going to Weichs home in the 1000 block of Mission Hills Drive in OFallon for a follow-up investigation. The two planned to speak to Weich about his medication and hoped to convince him to get treatment at a hospital, according to a police account from Litzinger quoted in the suit. The officer wrote that he intended to ask for backup from another officer for the check, but found they were on another call. The suit claims that at first Dale Weich allowed Mattingly to enter his home, but would not allow Litzinger inside for about 20 minutes. The two then spent more than an hour trying to convince Weich to voluntarily go to a hospital for mental health treatment, eventually telling him they had no choice but to take him to a hospital because of his behavior and statements, according to the suit. The suit claims Dale Weich then stopped and pulled a firearm from his robe, prompting Litzinger to point his gun at Weich. The suit claims Weich then raised the gun to his own head and the officer fired two shots, hitting and killing Weich. The suit makes claims of wrongful death, excessive force by the police, negligent hiring in OFallon, false imprisonment and medical malpractice. Attorney Tyson Mutrux is representing Weichs adult sons, Christopher and Thomas Weich, both of Springfield, Missouri, in the case. Linda Weich, Dales ex-wife of more than 30 years, told the Post-Dispatch in 2019 that Dale was an excellent father to his sons. She added that family members had been discussing getting him evaluated in the months before his death, but did not elaborate further. The city of OFallon, Compass Health and Pathways Community Behavioral Healthcare declined or did not respond to requests for comment on the allegations. Vivek Ramaswamy is as comfortable talking about Bible stories as he is sharing the message of the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most sacred Hindu texts. The 37-year-old biotech entrepreneur turned Republican presidential candidate has been steadily garnering support in a party dominated by conservative Christians. In many polls, he's in third place behind former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and he is one of six candidates who have qualified for the first GOP presidential debate on Aug. 23. He is also only the nation's second Hindu presidential candidate. Tulsi Gabbard, the former Hawaii congresswoman, ran as a Democrat in 2020. Ramaswamy shared 10 core beliefs as part of his campaign, with God is real topping the list followed by "There are two genders." He cascaded into the limelight with his 2021 book Woke Inc: Inside Corporate Americas Social Justice Scam," a scathing critique of corporations that he says use social justice causes as a smokescreen for self-interested policies. He became a regular commentator on Fox News and other conservative outlets, backing capitalism and meritocracy, and criticizing affirmative action, mask mandates and open borders. He is anti-abortion and believes gender dysphoria should be treated as a mental illness. He has expressed support for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose populist policies have been divisive. On the campaign trail, Ramaswamy has leaned into his faith as he vies for the nomination of a party where evangelical Christian support is key. In speeches and casual conversations with these voters, he maintains that his religion has much in common with the Judeo-Christian values this nation was founded on. "Im an ardent defender of religious liberty," he said. "I will be an even more vocal and unapologetic defender of it precisely because no one is going to accuse me of being a Christian nationalist. While questions have been raised about his ability to appeal to conservative Christian voters, Ramaswamy said he has more in common with people of all faiths than those with no faith at all. I was raised in a belief system where there is one true God who empowers each of us with our own capacities, he said. As we say in the Hindu tradition, God resides in each one of us. In the Christian tradition, you say were all made in the image of God. The child of immigrants from southern India, Ramaswamy grew up in Cincinnati speaking Tamil at home with his religious parents who performed pujas a form of worship rituals. He heard stories from Hindu epics, offered daily prayers to deities and attended temples in Dayton and Cincinnati. He and his wife, Apoorva, a physician, plan to raise their two sons as Hindus. Ramaswamy said he was also deeply influenced by Christians. He cemented his anti-abortion stance while attending St. Xavier Catholic High School in Cincinnati, and learned a strong Protestant work ethic from his piano teacher of 10 years. The lessons learned being Hindu were similar and in many ways overlapping with Judeo-Christian values like sacrifice, performing your duty without attachment to the results and believing that your work on this Earth is not being done by you, but through you, he said, adding these Hindu values seem to resonate with Christian and Jewish audiences. His approach is drawing support from influential Christian leaders, including Bob Vander Plaats, who had a front-row seat for Ramaswamys recent campaign visit to Iowa. While Ramaswamys faith may not be ideal for some Christian voters, it comes down to making the best choice available, said Vander Plaats, president of a conservative group, The Family Leader. If we were to tailor-make a candidate, it would be someone who shares our faith, he said. But, Id much rather see him (as president) than Joe Biden, Kamala Harris or Gavin Newsom. Most Hindu Americans and Indian Americans, on the other hand, tend to vote Democratic and be progressive on social issues like abortion, immigration and LGBTQ rights. They are divided over Ramaswamys candidacy; some are particularly irked by his eagerness to equate Hindu and Christian teachings. Ria Chakrabarty, policy director of Hindus for Human Rights, said she is concerned by Ramaswamys attempt to package Hinduism in the family values mold, talking about it as a monotheistic religion to appeal to the Abrahamic faiths. From a Hindu perspective, every person has a fundamental right to make a choice about how they want to access health care, she said. "(Ramaswamy) saying unborn life is life, what does that mean policy-wise? Its also worrying to see a Hindu feed into LGBTQ hate because Hinduism has a rich history when it comes to queerness. For Republican voters, Vander Plaats said Ramaswamys continued success hinges on distinguishing himself from the GOP front-runners. He compared Ramaswamy to Queen Esther in the Bible who was chosen by God to save the Jewish people from genocide: He needs to show us why this is his Esther moment. The 2024 presidential field, in the order they've announced Donald Trump, Republican Nikki Haley, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, Republican Marianne Williamson, Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Democrat Larry Elder, Republican President Joe Biden, Democrat Asa Hutchinson, Republican Tim Scott, Republican Ron DeSantis, Republican Mike Pence, Republican Chris Christie, Republican Doug Burgum, Republican Francis Suarez, Republican Will Hurd, Republican What are they afraid of? Thats the question that Missourians, Ohioans and Americans everywhere should be asking themselves about Republican politicians who demonstrated this week not for the first time how plainly terrified they are at the prospect of allowing the people to decide the urgent issue of abortion rights for themselves. Wasnt that the core of the conservative argument for overturning Roe v. Wade last year? That rather than letting federal judges decide this contentious issue, it should be left to the people, at the state level, through the democratic process? Yet now that the people are attempting to make themselves heard on this deeply personal topic, Republican leaders from Jefferson City to Columbus, Ohio, are using every procedural weapon in their arsenals to ensure that doesnt happen. The quest to restore abortion rights in Missouri saw a significant setback this week with the filing of a cynical lawsuit clearly designed to further stall an abortion-rights referendum that has already been brazenly sabotaged by top state Republicans. But over in Ohio, voters issued a stinging rebuke to a state GOP power structure that attempted to push back the goalposts of an abortion-rights referendum this fall. Missouris Republican-held Legislature which has attempted a similar stunt should take notice. In Missouri, the lawsuit filed Monday by two Republican state legislators appears to have little chance of winning in court. No matter. Its clear the point is to further stall an effort by abortion-rights advocates to get a referendum on the statewide ballot next year. The referendum would ask voters to unwind the Draconian abortion ban Missouri enacted last year after the fall of Roe. It outlaws all abortions from conception, including in cases of rape or incest, with a sole, vague exception for medical emergencies. Doctors who violate it can face 15 years in prison. The suit asks the court to toss out a Missouri auditors conclusion that passage of an abortion-rights referendum wouldnt create a fiscal cost for the state. A summary of potential fiscal costs is a requirement for slating a referendum, and the plaintiffs want it to say it would cost billions of dollars in lost tax revenue from unborn future Missourians. That bizarre logic, of course, has no basis in standard auditing practices. The audit itself was overseen by state Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick, himself an anti-abortion Republican, so its not as if there was some hidden agenda in the audit. The plaintiffs simply hope to continue stalling the referendum process to make it more difficult for organizers to gather the required signatures to get it on the ballot a process that cant start until these and other legal distractions are settled. If the lawsuits wacky math sounds familiar, thats because its the same argument Missouris Republican attorney general, Andrew Bailey, made recently to explain his refusal to approve the audit. The state Supreme Court rightly ruled that Bailey had no authority to do that. Other litigation still surrounds Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcrofts proposed ballot language, which would tell voters the referendum will allow for dangerous, unregulated, and unrestricted abortions. This is not only inaccurate, but its a blatant violation of Ashcrofts statutory duty to craft an unbiased description of the referendum. Note what these maneuvers all have in common: Rather than facing the abortion debate head-on, putting it before the voters and making their best argument, these tax-paid public servants are doing all that they can to ensure that there is no public debate. What are they afraid of? Perhaps theyre afraid of the fact that, of the six states in which the issue has been put on a statewide ballot since the fall of Roe including in conservative Kansas and Kentucky abortion rights has prevailed in all six. Make that seven. In Ohio, voters in Tuesdays referendum werent technically being asked for an up-or-down vote on abortion rights, but rather on a proposal to make future referendums harder for voters to pass. But no one in or outside of the Buckeye State had any doubt about what future referendum it was that Republicans had in mind when they tried to raise the threshold for passage: Ohios voters will again go to the polls, in November, to vote on whether to guarantee abortion rights in the states constitution. Tuesdays vote was 100 percent about keeping a radical pro-abortion amendment out of our constitution, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, said beforehand. It was essentially confirmation that conservatives are willing to trash the very concept of majority-rules democracy to guard their new-found authority over womens uteruses. With that in mind, the states voters defeated Tuesdays measure by a landslide of about 15 percentage points. So much for raising the threshold on democracy. Had Tuesdays referendum passed, Novembers abortion-rights referendum would have had to win 60% of the Ohio statewide vote to pass. But since Tuesdays referendum failed, the November referendum on abortion rights can pass with just 50% (plus one) support from Ohio voters who, again, knew perfectly well the groundwork they were laying by defeating Tuesdays anti-democracy measure. Kansas and Kentucky, move over. Missouri, like some other red states, has lately been pushing similar ideas to make it harder for the public to overrule their state legislatures. It isnt difficult to see why. In Missouri, as around America, poll after poll after poll shows that regular people are moderate on abortion rights: not supportive of completely unrestricted abortion, but certainly not supportive of the kinds of laws that forced a 10-year-old rape victim to flee Ohio, or that endanger the lives of Missouri women who find themselves with non-viable pregnancies. That would seem to demonstrate the need for moderation in state abortion laws. Instead, Republicans in Missouri, Ohio and elsewhere are scrambling to silence voters in any way they can. What are they afraid of? Democracy, thats what. Joe Regenbogens guest column To save our democracy, social studies education must change drastically (Aug. 3) makes a good point that experience with democracy would help students become good citizens. No matter our age, we should learn to engage with members of Congress through phone calls, letters and even meetings with them. Ive done all those actions to support poverty-fighting programs, most recently to influence the U.S. farm bill. The farm bill not only affects farmers and food producers it plays a significant role in addressing hunger in the U.S. and around the world. Readers can join me in urging Sens. Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt as well as Reps. Cori Bush and Ann Wagner to support a bill that fully funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) without adding additional obstacles that restrict access to this vital program. In addition, they should support incentives which allow SNAP participants to purchase more fresh fruits and vegetables. Everyone should have access not just to enough food to eat, but enough nutritious food to help them lead healthy and productive lives. Cynthia Changyit Levin Town & Country For over a year, Ukrainian urban areas or military facilities have been under attack by Russian UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) used as cruise missiles. The concept was demonstrated by Russian ally Iran using the Iranian Shahed-136. Russia was impressed and since early 2022 used hundreds of Shahed-136s to attack Ukraine. Russia was so impressed that they built a factory to build Shahed-136s in Russia under license. Iran assisted in setting up the factory, which began operations in early 2023. Shahed-136 is relatively crude but effective and inexpensive. If a target had any air defenses Shahed-136s tend to be detected and shot down. Russia still used them because Shahed-136 is cheap and often effective. Shahed-136 is a delta wing airborne cruise missile that weighs 200 kg (440 pounds) and armed with a warhead weighing 30 to 50 kg, most of which is explosives. Thats not a lot because most cruise missiles carry warheads weighing half a ton or more. The Shahed-136 warhead will damage, not destroy, most structures it hits. Shahed-136 is launched using a rocket motor that gets it into the air and then detaches and falls away. To be effective Shahed-136 is launched in swarms, which was the case with most attacks. Shahed-136 is propeller driven using a noisy gasoline engine. Aptly described as low (altitude), slow and loud, Shahed-136 is easy to detect and shoot down. Even before building their Shahed-136 factory Russia obtained over two thousand Shahed-136s from Iran and launched 400 of them against Ukrainian targets. Most were detected and shot down, even if launched at night or just before dawn. The noisy Shahed-136 engine serves as a useful wakeup call. For example, the Ukrainian capital is only 380 kilometers from the Russian border. The Russian capital Moscow is 840 kilometers. While Kyiv is regularly attacked by Russian missiles, including Shahed-136s, Ukraine has only recently launched UAV attacks against Moscow. Russia didnt believe this was practical or possible until Ukrainian UAVs began hitting targets in Moscow. Now Russia has to create and maintain air defense systems capable of detecting these UAVs and intercepting them. That is still a work in progress but so are Ukrainian efforts to develop, build and launch new attack UAVs for targets deep inside Russia. And not only Moscow, but the many military targets, including military bases and weapons storage or manufacturing facilities. By developing quiet attack UAVs that can travel long distances at low altitudes to avoid radar detection, the Ukrainians having an impact on Russian morale and popular support for their war in Ukraine. Ukrainians learned from the Russian experience using Shahed-136. Despite their poor performance in combat against Ukrainian targets, the Shahed-136 is an impressive system. It uses a GPS navigation system to find targets a thousand or more kilometers away. Shahed-136s rarely go that far because their max speed is 185 kilometers an hour and can be programmed to fly at altitudes from 60 to 4.000 meters (200 to 12.000 feet). At higher altitudes the noise is less noticeable but the Shahed-136 is more likely to be spotted by radar. The Shahed-136s tend to fly lower to the ground. A Shahed-136 can also be equipped with a video camera and a communications link to transmit the video images back to the Russians in real time. One of these surveillance models can be included in a swarm of attack models. This is apparently useful to the Russians the few times the surveillance Shahed-136s have been used. Several Ukrainian entrepreneurs worked to develop a more effective but still inexpensive UAV that could be used as a long-range and somewhat stealthy cruise missile. Ukraine needs such a weapon to hit important targets deep inside Russia. Ukraine does not publicize efforts in this area but revelations are made when attacks succeed and that is happening more often. So far, Ukraine has received 95 Western tanks, most of them German Leopard 2s and some British Challenger 2s. A few American M1s have arrived, mainly for use in training Ukrainian maintenance and repair personnel. By the end of the year Ukraine will have at least 30 M1s and over a hundred Leopard 2s and Challenger 2s. By early 2024 240 Leopard 1, Leopard 2, M1 and Challenger 2 tanks will be in Ukraine So far only one of the 69-ton Leopard 2s have been a total loss due to battle damage. Rheinmetall, the German manufacturer of Leopards, has already helped Polish firm PGZ establish a Leopard tank repair facility in Poland and Rheinmetall plans to set up two more tank repair centers. One will be in Romania and, eventually, another in Ukraine. The United States meanwhile plans to establish a repair facility in Poland for the thirty-one 61-ton M1s that should start arriving in Ukraine in September. British firm Babcock is handling 64-t0n Challenger 2 repairs. Ukraine wanted the Western tanks because they are more durable and rarely destroyed in combat. What often happens is that Western tanks suffer mobility kills, where the tank is largely intact but can no longer move because its engine or tracks are damaged. The most vulnerable item on these tanks is the track-laying mobility system. The Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces since June has been successful, but slow. Russia knew it was eventually coming and built extensive fortifications, including obstacles to vehicle movement, but mostly by planting millions of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. The anti-tank mines are frequently used because they are so effective. The mines themselves do not destroy tanks and other vehicles but inflict mobility kills by rendering the mine-damaged vehicles unable to move because of damaged tracks and/or tires/track wheels and suspension system. If this happens during combat, the vehicles and their crews are in big trouble. That often means the crew abandons the vehicle and seeks shelter elsewhere. Historically, most tank and armored fighting vehicle (AFV) losses come from mobility kills. The Ukraine War was unique because top attack ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles) were able to destroy Russian-designed tanks and AFVs by causing the turret to explode and kill the entire crew. Now the Ukrainians are on the offensive and have to devote a lot of men and resources to removing anti-tank and anti-personnel mines. At the same time the Ukrainians use anti-tank mines to protect quiet sectors of the front line from surprise armored attacks. The tracks on tanks are also vulnerable to accidental damage if the driver tries to cross an obstacle that can damage the tracks, often by just causing tracks to be separated from their supporting road wheels. When this happens, the crew has to get out and go through a time-consuming and strenuous effort to get the tracks back on. Track systems suffering battle damage can sometimes be repaired in the field if there is no damage to the wheels the tracks run on. Tank drivers are important members of the crew because they have to be alert and know what they are doing whenever the tank is moving. When not in combat, the tank commander will often stick his head and shoulders out of the turret and use his better view of the way ahead to warn the driver when an avoidable obstacle is spotted. A lot of different anti-tank weapons have been developed over the last century but none have been so successful as anti-tank mines. Anti-tank guns and missiles can be defeated with better armor or the more recent APS (Active Protection System). For example, in 2021 Germany successfully completed acceptance tests of the Israeli Trophy APS they wanted to purchase for their Leopard 2 tanks. The acceptance tests consisted of firing ATGMs (Anti-Tank Guided Missiles), RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and shells from tank guns or artillery that often fire such shells equipped with shaped charge warheads at tanks, at a Trophy-equipped Leopard 2. This was not the first Leopard 2 to use an APS. Turkish Leopard 2 and M60 tanks were equipped with the Ukrainian Zaslon APS in 2018 and were successful enough for Turkey to obtain a manufacturing license to build Zaslon. Several other countries have ordered Zaslon because it is one of the few APS systems that proved itself in combat. Zaslon is more flexible to install as it uses individual modules and can be used on tanks equipped with ERA (Explosive Reactive Armor). On the downside, Zaslon will injure nearby infantry, which is a major problem for many nations. Zaslon has been in service for as long as Trophy and worked against Russian weapons in 2015, but saw little exposure to combat after that until the Turks noticed it. Commercial tracked vehicles have been around since the 19th century and were the basis of the first tanks, which used commercial tracklaying systems for movement across World War I battlefields torn up by shell craters and man-made fortifications. This commercial tech was quite mature and reliable when World War I broke out in 1914 and was often used near the front lines to clear roads and repair damage caused by all the artillery shells. It didnt take long for someone, in this case the British, to put armor and weapons on a large tractor and create the first tanks. These were first used in combat during 1916 and were a success. By 1917 hundreds of tanks of all sizes were used in successful allied offensives. Between the World Wars there were major improvements in automotive technology, tank design and armored warfare tactics. Only the Russians, now ruled by a communist dictatorship, produced a lot of new tank designs. The World War I peace treaty limited the size of the German military and banned Germany from having tanks. That did not stop the Germans from developing new armored warfare tactics. For a while the Russians allowed the Germans to observe Russian tank developments. The Germans noted that the Russians were developing all sorts of tank designs, often using new American automotive and tracked vehicle tech. The Americans continued using World War I tanks into the 1930 because military budgets were small, especially during the Great Depression of the 1930s. When World War II broke out in 1939 America quickly mobilized and eventually produced more tanks and warplanes than anyone else. By 1939 the Russians finally ended seven years of border battles with the Japanese in Mongolia by defeating the Japanese with mechanized units featuring lots of light tanks. Because of this impressive Russian performance, Japan decided to stay out of any further fighting with the Russians. That lasted until Germany was defeated by the Western allies and Russia in 1945. Japanese armored vehicle design and tank warfare tactics had not developed much before or during World War II. Between 1939 and 1943 the Germans conquered most of European Russia using increasingly inferior, compared to the new Russian tanks, mobile forces. From 1943 to 1945 the Germans were on the defensive. Germany developed superior tanks like the Panther and Tiger, but not enough to offset the larger allied and Russian tank forces. At the end of World War II Russia was using a lot more T-34/85 tanks which were good enough to overwhelm the smaller number of superior German tanks. Britain and the United States never developed any outstanding tank designs during the war but, because the American out-produced everyone else, the allies always had more tanks in action, supported by more artillery, warplanes and much else. Both Russia and the Western allies used huge numbers of adequate tanks to defeat the smaller number of more effective German tanks. During the subsequent Cold War (1947 to 1991) the Russians and Western allies never fought each other directly. By 1991 the Soviet Union had dissolved and a much smaller Russia ended up with most of the 50,000 tanks the Soviet army had. By then the Western allies, including West Germany, later reunited Germany, had developed superior tank technology and, for the first time in 2023, those Western tanks saw their first action against Russian forces in Ukraine. The Western M1, Leopard 2 and Challenger 2 tanks were operated by Ukrainians, who had earlier wiped out most of Russias modern tanks using modern anti-tank weapons. Ukraine had more than a thousand Russian-designed tanks but it was Ukrainian infantry armed with new anti-tank weapons, most of them from NATO countries, who really destroyed the larger and theoretically superior Russian tank force. After sixteen months of that the Ukrainians went on the offensive but not with a lot of Western tanks. There was a lot of Western artillery and other new weapons. The Russians were forced to fall back on older and still reliable defensive tactics using anti-tank mines, tank obstacles and a sense of desperation. Modern Western tanks were a factor in the victory, but more as a threat than actual use in battle. That was because the Western tanks had already proved themselves in battle, but not a major war. The M1 entered service in 1980 and 10,300 were built. The Leopard 2 followed in 1983 and 3,600 were built. Production of both these tanks sharply declined after the Cold War ended in 1991. At that point a lot of existing Leopard 2s were no longer needed and became a hot item in the second-hand market. By 2010 secondhand Leopard 2s were hard to come by because so many had already been sold or scrapped. Germany sold off or retired so many of its Leopard 2s that by 2017, when they sought to rebuild their tank force to face the new Russian threat, it found Turkey, Chile, Greece, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland and Poland each had more operational Leopard 2 tanks than Germany. This odd situation was revealed in late 2017 when it was discovered that 53 of Germanys Leopard 2s were unavailable because they were undergoing upgrades and 86 were inoperable because of spare parts shortages. That meant Germany only had 95 Leopard 2 tanks that were combat ready. Thats 39 percent of the 244 Leopard 2s then operated by the German army. This was all attributed to a 2015 program to expand and upgrade the German tank force. That involved taking 104 retired (in the 1990s) Leopard 2A4 tanks and putting them back into service after refurbishing the older tanks and upgrading them to the A7V standard. The 104 reactivated Leopard 2A7Vs did not begin arriving until 2019 and it will take until 2023 to complete the process. There may be further additions to the active tank force depending on how much of a threat Russia continues to pose. Most Germans believed peace would last after the communist governments Russia had imposed on most East European nations after 1945 suddenly collapsed in 1989 followed by the Soviet Union dissolving in 1991. That marked the end of the Cold War. On top of that Germany was reunited in 1990 and the Russian-equipped East German military was largely scrapped. At that point the German Leopard 2 fleet shrank over 85 percent (from 2,000 to 225). Germany also retired over 2,200 Leopard 1s. Most of the retired Leopards were sold off or scrapped. But nearly a thousand Leopard 2s were put in storage just in case. Until 2014, Germany believed that those retired Leopard 2s would eventually be sold off or used for spare parts. A minority of Germans thought there was still a risk of a renewed Russian threat, so plans were made to keep upgrading Leopard 2s for foreign customers who were now operating most of the remaining Leopard 2s. Only 225 German Army Leopard 2s nominally remain in service. Currently the American M1A2SEP and the Leopard 2A7V are the two most effective and numerous modern tanks. There are also the lighter 57-ton French LeClerc 2 and the 63-ton British Challenger 2. Both of these tanks were built in small numbers (about 400 each). German firm Rheinmetall won the billion-dollar contract to produce the Challenger 3, which is a major upgrade of Challenger 2, including a new turret and much improved 120mm gun. Sometimes superior tank designs can help win a war without ever fighting. There were also new developments in anti-tank weapons, including anti-tank mines. A new American anti-tank mine design not only damages the tracks but also sends a metal projective through the thinner bottom armored of tanks. As in the past, these mines remain the major threat to tanks and any advance involving tanks needed armored mine-clearing vehicles to clear as much of the combat zone of anti-tank mines and obstacles. Naturally these new mine clearance vehicles were not built in anywhere near the numbers required. Combat engineer battalions have some of these armored mine-clearing vehicles but, as the Ukraine situation demonstrated, not enough of them. After two months of use, the Ukrainians had two Leopard 2s destroyed and five damaged. The German manufacturer of the Leopard 2 had made arrangements with PGZ, a Polish firm, to repair Leopard 2 battle damage and return these tanks to use. Ukraine had already developed a tank recovery system for the heavier (than Russian tanks) Leopards, Challengers and M1s. Maple Leaf 2022 Flow-Through Limited Partnership, Maple Leaf Short Duration 2022-II Flow-Through Limited Partnership, Maple Leaf Critical Minerals 2023 Enhanced Flow-Through Limited Partnership and Maple Leaf Corporate Funds Ltd. Announce Change of Portfolio Manager VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / CADO Investment Fund Management Inc. ("CADO"), the manager of the Maple Leaf Short Duration 2022-II Flow-Through Limited Partnership, Maple Leaf 2022 Flow-Through Limited Partnership and Maple Leaf Critical Minerals 2023 Enhanced Flow-Through Limited Partnership (together, the "Partnerships"), announces that Craig Porter, principal of Backer Wealth Manager Inc, ("Backer") the portfolio manager of the Partnerships, has advised that he intends to retire from the portfolio management business (Craig will be continuing with Maple Leaf as an industry advisor) effective as of the dates set out below: Maple Leaf 2022 Flow-Through Limited Partnership - as of September 1, 2023. Maple Leaf Short Duration 2022-II Flow-Through Limited Partnership - after completion of the mutual fund rollover, scheduled for October 4, 2023. Maple Leaf Critical Minerals 2023 Enhanced Flow-Through Limited Partnership - after both the National and Quebec portfolios have been fully invested (which will occur on or before December 31, 2023). Maple Leaf Corporate Funds Ltd, Resource Class Mutual Fund being Maple Leaf's roll over mutual fund - as of October 4th, 2023. Accordingly, as of the dates set out above, Backer will no longer manage the investment portfolios of the above mentioned funds. "We wish to sincerely thank Craig for the 5 years of leadership and solid performance at Maple Leaf. We are currently a leading force in the Canadian flow through investment space and our funds are well positioned in the resource sector. Craig will be continuing with Maple Leaf as an industry advisor for the foreseeable future and we look forward to continuing this great relationship" said Hugh Cartwright, President of CADO. CADO is pleased to announce that it has engaged Palette Investment Management Inc. ("Palette") to replace Backer as the portfolio manager for the Partnerships and the Fund. Andrew Cook, founder, President and CEO of Palette, will be responsible for providing investment advisory services to the Partnerships and the Fund in accordance with their existing investment objectives and strategies. Andrew has 34 years of experience in the financial services sector, the past 26 engaged in managing funds for several investment organizations as well as private clients. His focus has been primarily on growth companies with substantial experience in the small and midcap parts of the market. In addition, he has spent a significant amount of time in the resource sector. Mr. Cook has had a distinguished career as an analyst and portfolio manager with the Royal Bank of Canada, Midland Walwyn, Strategic Nova, Marquest Asset Management, and Matrix Asset Management Inc. Mr. Cook is a Chartered Professional Accountant and a Chartered Financial Analyst. With over 26 years of relevant experience, Andrew Cook has earned an impressive track record and excellent reputation in the resource, brokerage and banking sectors. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Emily Burkart, Managing Director CADO Investment Fund Management Inc. Tel: 1-866-688-5750 Email: [email protected] SOURCE: Maple Leaf Short Duration 2022-II Flow-Through Limited Partnership View source version on accesswire.com: NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Covia At Covia, we are proud to partner with the Arbor Day Foundation, the largest member nonprofit organization dedicated to planting trees. In 2022, to recognize the Arbor Day Foundation's 50th anniversary, we offered every U.S. Team Member a tree to plant at their home or to donate as a living tribute. Hundreds of Covia Team Members took advantage of this special opportunity. As part of this initiative, our Team Members were encouraged to visit the Arbor Day Foundation's online tool, i-Tree, to calculate where to specifically and strategically plant trees for the greatest energy- and money-saving benefits. Not only did it provide a great educational resource for our Team Members, but it also gave them an opportunity to learn more about tangible benefits for their entire community such as improved air quality, carbon sequestration, and reduced stormwater runoff. More recently, Covia supported the planting of 12,285 native longleaf trees in the Chowan Swamp in North Carolina to help return this land to its native state. The trees will support the wide array of local wildlife, serving as an important link in the regional conservation of waterfowl, black bears, and the endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers. These new trees will establish a resilient and biodiverse ecosystem and provide natural beauty for residents of the area to enjoy. This fall, Covia will once again collaborate with the Arbor Day Foundation, along with local planting partners, in Oregon, Illinois. This planting project will help restore the city's tree canopy, which has been severely damaged by the nationwide Emerald Ash Borer infestation. Covia is looking forward to sharing more information about this community-based project in the coming weeks. "We're proud to work with the Arbor Day Foundation as we strive to restore and protect a diverse range of ecosystems and habitats," said Natalie Eglinton, Covia's Director of ESG. "Our partnership with them helps us get our Team Members involved in efforts to improve the natural environment in the communities we live and work in." Chowan Swamp Planting in Action View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Covia on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: Covia Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/covia Email: [email protected] SOURCE: Covia View source version on accesswire.com: NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / July is Disability Pride Month, a time to celebrate and honor the diversity within the disability community, reflect on challenges that people with disabilities are facing, and inspire action to make the world more inclusive and accessible. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2022, around 21 percent of people with a disability in the U.S. were employed, which rose a bit from 2021, when it was about 19 percent. At the same time, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is still twice as high as for those without a disability. The Proximity Initiative is a Cisco-original program that I lead that serves our purpose to power an inclusive future for all. A Proximity Meeting is a one-on-one authentic, and transparent conversation with someone different than you with the intent to understand their lived experience, challenges, and successes based on their identity. Chris Riling, a pre-sales systems architect and I "got proximate", as I was curious to understand his experience with cerebral palsy and learn how I can support my son Bryce who is also living with cerebral palsy. In this blog we'll give you insight into our proximity meeting conversation. Alex: Hello Chris! I'm a Black man. I grew up in America, 20 minutes outside of Philadelphia, my father was a chemist, and my mom was a school nurse. I have two siblings, one brother and one sister, and I am the youngest. Related to my race in America, it was always something I was aware of growing up. I finally realized some of the confusion I had as a child, early in my career, and so forth. And since I've been able to be authentic around my identity, I've been able to be more conscious related to my interactions now, and I've been able to elevate my career; it's impacted everything. And a lot of that is because I had this realization through my son, who has cerebral palsy, around how he navigates the world and how he's so authentic and honest with his expressions and his feelings, which has impacted me to be my authentic self. That's who I am, and that's what I wanted to share at the beginning so that you can understand my lens and perspective Alex: Can you tell me more about yourself? Chris: I grew up in Toledo, Ohio. Toledo is a small, midwestern city, but I live about 45 minutes south of Detroit. I was born with cerebral palsy. When I was younger, I thought I was invincible. You're oblivious to everything and the impact of things, and you're just trying to make your way through the world. I never put much thought into the disability aspect. I just had my mind set on taking my situation and doing the best I could with it. I never really put much thought into it until I started getting into the workforce, and I realized more people were questioning my ability because of the physical things they saw. So, I'm like, well, how do I counter that? So, you know, I went out and got all these certifications; I got three college degrees. I became a CCIE, and I did all this stuff. At least academically on paper, no one's ever going to be able to dispute my ability to do this job technically, right? I landed here at Cisco, which is a great place to be, but my limitations started to become more real to me. So, I realized it's better to be more authentic and allow people to meet me where I am. It makes everybody on my team more comfortable because they can come to me and have an open conversation. Alex: How did you realize that being more open about your disability made sense as a way of being? Chris: I can't say there was just one Aha' moment. I wanted people to know I was here because of my technical ability and not for any other reason. I was trying to work hard to be the best engineer on my team. And at Cisco, I was doing a lot of traveling for work (and still do), and as you travel, you come across these situations where, you know, maybe we have to walk from the hotel to the office and from the customer site to a restaurant. I started to have these experiences, and people could see that I was struggling with it more than most. Many people just coming from a good place would say things like, Hey, is there anything I can do to help?' And I realized I might as well be honest and stop trying to put on the tough faade and accept help when needed. I think it was a gradual process. Alex: And in those interactions, you've found that most people are willing to help and be curious. Chris: They don't always know what to do or how to approach it, but it usually comes from a good place. Alex: I also relate to you over-qualifying yourself regarding your academic degrees, certifications, and experience. There's an interesting moment where you're like, okay, now I have all these degrees and certificates, what do I do now? Alex: Was finding employment challenging? Chris: It was a little bit when breaking into the field, but I don't know if it was more challenging than anybody else when you're trying to get an entry-level job. Maybe a little bit. I did a couple of interviews before Cisco early in my career, where people would ask questions like, How would you navigate this? Or how would you deal with going to customers' offices? How would you navigate doing this, or would you be able to do these things?' Anecdotally I heard after one interview that they were afraid about the perception of me going in front of their customers and what the customers might think. So, that's how I ended up getting a CCIE and a master's degree because, at that point, they can't deny your abilities; you're going to be too attractive to turn down. I kept upgrading my skills, getting more certifications, returning to school, and doing more stuff. I went through the Cisco Networking Academy program in high school and got my CCNA when I was a senior in high school. And so eventually, I reached a point in my career where I'm like, Hey, I'm studying for a CCIE. I can probably work at Cisco'. I interviewed about 30 times for different roles at Cisco until I found the right spot. But once I found the right position and got my foot in the door, it was a great place to be, and I haven't looked back. It's been almost 15 years. Alex: How was it going through the Cisco Networking Academy? Chris: It was awesome. I wish I had known, at the time, the impact it would have on my career and life. I was into computers because when I was a kid, that was one of the only things I could do. Other people were outside playing with their friends, and I was inside playing on a computer. Since I had that experience at a very young age, when I got to high school, I saw that they had a Networking Academy at the time. It was a junior and senior class for CCNA, and they allowed me to enroll as a sophomore. So, I did it during my sophomore, junior, and senior year. I had no idea that I would be into networking, and it set me down this path that I ended up being on. But I look back on it now, and I'm like, that was a serendipitous experience to have gone through that early in my life and career. If I had known it would have that impact, I probably would have gotten better grades and paid more attention. [laughs] Alex: How has your experience been working with our customers? Chris: Overarchingly pretty good. Early in my career, customers were more skeptical. But I don't know if that was disability-related or age-related because I started here young. It was probably more age-related than anything else, but I would say most customers are pretty understanding and accepting, especially when you're coming from a place like Cisco; it comes with a certain amount of credibility out of the gate. And when you hand them a business card with the CCIE logo, there's an added layer of I need to give this guy some time and attention.' Like any other sales role, if you come in trying to help solve their problem, you know, most customers are willing to listen if you're coming from a place where you're going to make their life easier. Alex: I shared earlier about my son, who has cerebral palsy. He is a high school junior, and for the next 2.5 years, he'll take a bus to a voluntary job. So, he'll get some job experience with the help of an aide with the idea that he can have a role after high school. Alex: Do you have any thoughts or career advice for people with a disability or for those with a loved one with a disability? Chris: I was very fortunate to have parents willing to go the extra mile for me. I remember them fighting the school systems to install ramps, make accommodations, all the support going through orthopedic surgeries, and seeking the right doctors. We were fortunate to have access to those resources when I was younger. When it came to my mom (who is now a nurse), she took no pity for anything. She was like, Don't sit around and pity yourself, you're going to go out there, and you're going to do something, and you're going to make yourself useful.' That instilled a value in me from a very young age to not put self-imposed boundaries on myself. I realized that the biggest limitations were beyond the mental barriers you put up when you say, I don't think I can do this, or I don't think I can be successful.' Encourage your kids to say, Yeah, sure, I have some physical limitations, but there's no predetermined rule in life that says I can't do X or Y or Z. Strive for whatever you can reach, and I guarantee you, you'll get further than you thought you would. Everyone's lived experience, even if you have the same disability, can be very different. Much like my experience is different than Alex's son at the moment. None of us are disability experts' - we all just do our best to navigate life based on our experiences and the experiences of others. Alex: My son has had seven orthopedic surgeries. We do physical and occupational therapy, and he gets speech therapy in school. We're trying to help him reach his potential. It's the unknown things of what potential you could reach, and that's what we're navigating right now. Chris: I appreciate that everything is always unknown, right? I wonder how mobile I will be when I get older, what I will be able to do, and what I will not be able to do. I don't know if anybody knows the answer to that. The only thing you can do is keep moving, stay active, and keep pushing, and you'll end up in a good place. Alex: Thank you, Chris for this inspiring meeting and sharing a glimpse of your lived experience. We all navigate the world through our identities and unique experiences. To power an inclusive future for all, and in honor of Disability Pride Month, take the inclusive action to have a conversation with someone who is different than you to seek to understand their lived experience. View original content here. Chris Riling is a pre-sales systems architect at Cisco. View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Cisco Systems Inc. on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: Cisco Systems Inc. Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/cisco-systems-inc Email: [email protected] SOURCE: Cisco Systems Inc. View source version on accesswire.com: Acquisition of additional 60% Operated Interest in Orinduik Block Guyana from Tullow Oil TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd. (AIM:ECO)(TSXV:EOG), the oil and gas exploration company focused on the offshore Atlantic Margins, is pleased to announce that it has signed a Sale Purchase Agreement (the "Agreement") pursuant to which its wholly owned subsidiary, Eco Guyana Oil and Gas (Barbados) Limited ("Eco Guyana"), will acquire a 60% Operated Interest in Orinduik Block, offshore Guyana, through the acquisition of Tullow Guyana B.V. ("TGBV"), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tullow Oil Plc. ("Tullow") (the "Transaction") in exchange for a combination of upfront cash and contingent consideration. The Transaction is in line with Eco's strategy to deliver material value for its stakeholders through early entry and exploring for hydrocarbons in some of the most prolific petroleum basins in the world. Eco, via its wholly owned subsidiary Eco (Atlantic) Guyana Inc, currently holds a 15% working interest in the Orinduik Block. On completion of the Transaction, Eco, as operator and majority interest holder in the Orinduik Block, intends to drive the exploration process and focus on its strategy to attract new partners to join the license and proactively engage in drilling. Transaction summary: US$700,000 cash payment upon transfer of TGBV's 60% Participating Interest and operatorship of the Orinduik licence to Eco Guyana, to be paid to Tullow Overseas Holdings B.V., the parent of TGBV (" TOHBV ") on completion of the Transaction (the " Initial Consideration "). ") on completion of the Transaction (the " "). Contingent consideration payable to TOHBV is linked to the success of a series of potential future milestones, as follows: US$4 million in the event of a commercial discovery; US$10 million payment upon the issuance of a production licence from the Government of Guyana; and Royalty payments on future production - 1.75% of the 60% Participating Interest entitlement revenue net of capital expenditure and lifting costs. Transaction and payment of the Initial Consideration is subject to certain market-standard conditions precedent, including customary Government and JV partner approvals. Completion is expected to occur in the second half of 2023. On closing of the Transaction, the interests of the JV partners in the Orinduik License will be as follows: Eco will hold an aggregate 75% Participating Interest via Eco Guyana and Eco (Atlantic) Guyana Inc., and be Operator of the Block; and TQAP Guyana B.V will continue to hold a Participating Interest of 25%. Gil Holzman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Eco Atlantic, commented: "We are delighted to have reached this agreement with Tullow and to be able to begin to unlock the Orinduik Block's full potential. Since 2014, we have believed in the potential of this Block, with our initial two wells in 2019 proving two different oil plays. We will proactively engage in a farm out process for this highly prospective license and begin preparations to drill a well testing the cretaceous, where all light oil discoveries have been made in the adjacent Stabroek Block." Colin Kinley, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Eco Atlantic, added: "The Orinduik Block sits on the series of continental shelves leading into the basin. This rich and prolific basin is clean sand filled and sealed nicely to trap the massive volumes of oil found thus far. Following ten years of basin evaluation and research, we have a solid and highly experienced team to take over the Operatorship role. We will start by targeting stacked pay opportunities we see in the cretaceous and look forward to continuing our aggressive approach to discovery. We see an opportunity in the multi hundred millions of recoverable range and now is the time to drill our targets." Transaction Structure TOHBV will transfer its entire interest in the Orinduik licence via the sale of TGBV to Eco Guyana in exchange for the Initial Consideration and a series of contingent payments based on future milestones as described above. TGBV holds a 60% participating interest in, and Operatorship of, the Orinduik Block pursuant to: (i) a petroleum agreement between the Minister responsible for Petroleum representing the Government of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, Eco (Atlantic) Guyana Inc. and TGBV dated 14 January 2016 (as amended from time to time) and (ii) the joint operating agreement dated between TGBV, Eco (Atlantic) Guyana Inc., and TOQAP dated 18 January 2016 (as amended from time to time). Tullow will retain its interest in the Kanuku Block. Additional cash consideration may be payable to TOHBV, in the form of contingent payments, including a royalty payment, as noted above, on upstream revenues once production from the Orinduik licence commences. Subject to the satisfaction of certain market standard conditions precedent and customary approvals, including Government and JV partner approvals, the Transaction is expected to complete in the second half of 2023. On 31 December 2022 as per the audited TGBV financial statements, the gross asset value attributable to the interests being acquired through the Transaction amounted to US$1.5 million, with attributable losses of US$713,000 (excluding a one-off write down of exploration expenses). As of 31 December 2022, the gross 2C resource attributable to the transferred interests amounted to 47.7mmbls. **ENDS** For more information, please visit www.ecooilandgas.com or contact the following: Eco Atlantic Oil and Gas c/o Celicourt +44 (0) 20 8434 2754 Gil Holzman, CEO Colin Kinley, COO Alice Carroll, Head of Corporate Sustainability +44(0)781 729 5070 Strand Hanson (Financial & Nominated Adviser) +44 (0) 20 7409 3494 James Harris James Bellman Berenberg (Broker) +44 (0) 20 3207 7800 Matthew Armitt Detlir Elezi Echelon Capital (Financial Adviser N. America Markets) Ryan Mooney Simon Akit +1 (403) 606 4852 +1 (416) 8497776 Celicourt (PR) +44 (0) 20 7770 6424 Mark Antelme Jimmy Lea The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of United Kingdom domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (as amended). About Eco Atlantic: Eco Atlantic is a TSX-V and AIM-quoted Atlantic Margin-focused oil & gas exploration company with offshore license interests in Guyana, Namibia, and South Africa. Eco aims to deliver material value for its stakeholders through its role in the energy transition to explore for low carbon intensity oil and gas in stable emerging markets close to infrastructure. Offshore Guyana in the proven Guyana-Suriname Basin, the Company holds a 15% Working Interest in the 1,800 km2 Orinduik Block Operated by Tullow Oil. In Namibia, the Company holds Operatorship and an 85% Working Interest in four offshore Petroleum Licences: PELs: 97, 98, 99, and 100, representing a combined area of 28,593 km2 in the Walvis Basin. Offshore South Africa, Eco is Operator and holds a 50% working interest in Block 2B and a 26.25% Working Interest in Block 3B/4B operated by Africa Oil Corp., totalling some 20,643km2. 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 [email protected] or visit www.rns.com. SOURCE: Eco (Atlantic) Oil and Gas Ltd. View source version on accesswire.com: NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / FedEx Corporation Every Day is Race Day! Denny Hamlin raced back to North Carolina after securing his 50th Cup Series win at Pocono Raceway just in time. The three-time Daytona 500 Champion, and driver of the #11 FedEx Toyota, along with his #11 FedEx pit crew, FedEx volunteers and Operation Warm delivered more than 150 new pairs of shoes to children at the Boys & Girls Club of Cabarrus County. On Tuesday, July 25, 2023, 1st and 2nd grade children received brand new shoes, manufactured by Operation Warm and funded through the FedEx Cares program. To make the event special, each child had a chance to create their own shoe design using colored pencils on a paper template from the Jordan brand. Out of the drawings submitted by the children receiving shoes, Denny will select his top 3 favorite designs that will be put to a fan vote on @fedex social media channels. The winning design will be brought to life and worn by Hamlin at Daytona International Speedway on August 26 for the last race of the regular season. However, all kids left as winners, receiving new shoes, a die-cast replica of the #11 FedEx Cares Toyota and a Denny Hamlin hero card. The highlight for many students and FedEx volunteers was the opportunity to meet Denny and take a photograph in front of his #11 FedEx Toyota Camry race car parked out front of the event. "I have got to do a lot of different things with FedEx," Hamlin said. "We've rebuilt houses for tornado victims, we've done things with St. Jude's Children Hospital, and with the Salvation Army, but anything with kids always touches your heart. "For us, to put shoes on the kids' feet, the Operation Warm program's core belief is that every kid deserves the basics. That's shoes on their feet and clothes on their back. FedEx is really giving back to the community, and we were able to do that this week. I am really happy to be a part of an organization like FedEx that gives back so much to the community, especially when it involves kids that are around my kids' age. It puts things in perspective of how fortunate we are." This is part of the FedEx Cares Drive Forward, Give Back campaign, which focuses on the FedEx belief that every action that improves our world, whether by working with nonprofits or doing other acts of kindness, is something extraordinary. 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 View source version on accesswire.com: CORTE MADERA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Gravitas Wine Marketing announced today the addition of Jabber Wine to its portfolio. Founded by New Zealand Legendary Winemaker Kim and Chilean viticulturist Iigo Undurraga, Jabber is a Sauvignon Blanc produced from the Casablanca Valley of Chile. This wine marries Kim's New Zealand experience with the unique viticultural qualities of Casablanca. Grapes are sourced exclusively from the premium vineyard parcels of Undurraga's family holdings to ensure the terroir's qualities shine through. Since selling his original brand, Kim and his wife have devoted their creativity and expertise to developing their New Zealand family-owned and organically farmed estate. At the same time, he has joined forces with the Chilean viticulturist Inigo Undurraga to produce premium Sauvignon Blanc. Jabber is Kim's only project outside New Zealand and it's the nickname his friends have playfully chosen for him. "We have always admired the distinct qualities of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc while also waiting for the Casablanca Valley to have its moment to shine. Jabber Sauvignon Blanc is the answer. It is the perfect expression of Sauvignon Blanc with a unique fruit-forward expression, compliments of the Casablanca Valley. There isn't anything like this wine in our portfolio and we are thrilled to debut the brand to our customers." - Aaron Campbell, Gravitas Wine Marketing About Gravitas Wine Marketing Founder Aaron Campbell created Gravitas Wine Marketing in June 2020. Realizing the lack of California distributors and importers who specialized in effectively representing smaller producers, Campbell pulled from his 20+ years of wine sales. Campbell worked at companies such as Epic Wines, Angeles Wine Agency, and Swirl Wine Brokers where he worked in Sales Management and Executive roles. While he was gaining professional wine industry experience, Campbell received the Court of Master Sommeliers Certified Sommelier Certificate and completed the UCLA Vintage Wine Program. Gravitas Wine Marketing's portfolio includes French producers Clos de Papes, Bosquet des Papes, Le Vieux Donjon, Chateau Fortia, Dom. Olivier Hillaire, Mas de Boislauzon, Dom. Des Chers, Claude Genet, Dom. Andre Neveu, Dom. Jasmin, Dom. Bernard Gripa and Dom. Bertrand Stehelin. Bordeaux producers include Ch. Mouton,Ch. Lafite, Ch. Latour, Cheval Blanc, Ch. Palmer, Lynch- Bages, Ch. d'Yquem, and a rich selection of classified growths along with Petit Chateau. Meo Camuzet, Darviot-Perrin, Hubert Bouzereau, Dom. Coillot and other notable Burgundy producers. California producers Gamble Family, Marchelle Wines (by Greg La Follette), Volker Eisele, Freeman, Vino Noceto, Scott Harvey, LaBarge, DreamCote, Samsara and Piro. German producer Markus Molitor and Argentine great, and Altocedro among many other world-class producers. To learn more about Gravitas Wine Marketing visit their website at www.gravitaswinemarketing.com ### Please contact Aaron Campbell at 707-266-6242 or [email protected] Contact Information Aaron Campbell Owner [email protected] 707-266-6242 Related Files GWG- Jabber Press Release FINAL.pdf SOURCE: Gravitas Wine Marketing View source version on accesswire.com: NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Medtronic: The Medtronic Mobile Lab is a classroom on wheels. Primarily used to train healthcare providers in the latest healthcare technology, the Mobile Lab also headed to college for the first time - specifically at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University, a historically Black college and university (HBCU). Built to simulate an operating room, each truck is equipped with the latest in surgical equipment and technology and a dedicated staff, which allows for an immersive clinical experience without the need for travel. Last year, we doubled our fleet to reach 5,000 clinicians in 38 states with healthcare technology education. And this time, students and recent alumni from the university were able to walk through the Mobile Lab, learn about the latest Medtronic-developed technology that is used in operating rooms, and consider educational and career pathways in healthcare and other science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. "It was very eye-opening, we got to ask a lot of questions," said Nymeer, a student at Alabama A&M. "The people who work at Medtronic, they're very friendly. When I left, I felt a little bit more confident, and I'm actually going to look more into medical school." The Mobile Lab's visit is just one more example of how Medtronic is aiming to advance diversity in STEM fields, in which Black and African Americans are significantly underrepresented. "[This experience] makes sure our students aren't overlooking avenues within the STEM realm," said Aaron Thompson, assistant VP for advancement and branding at Alabama A&M University. "One of our mantras here at Alabama A&M is, Start here, go anywhere,' and this partnership and this experience here today really helps our students be able to do that." Learn more about Medtronic's commitment to ID&E in the annual ID&E report. View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Medtronic on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: Medtronic Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/medtronic Email: [email protected] SOURCE: Medtronic View source version on accesswire.com: NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / The CNH Industrial brand, New Holland, is a proud sponsor of the Young Farmers contest. Recently, they congratulated the remarkable achievement of Emma Poole for winning the 55th FMG Young Farmer of the Year and emerging as the first-ever female champion in the history of the competition. The FMG Young Farmer of the Year, a prestigious event in New Zealand agriculture, showcases the talent and skills of young farmers across the country. During this year's regional finals, candidates competed in three days of challenges. The tasks included farm machinery repairs, farm skills demonstrations, and a high-paced race-style challenge featuring multiple tasks that tested both skill and speed. As a contest sponsor, New Holland provided machinery for all seven regional competitions and the Grand Final. The equipment line up included the Boomer 25C, T5.105 Utility, T6070, T7.230 tractors, 1290 HD and Pro-belt Balers, and CNH XCN1050. New Holland also hosted modules for AgriKids, FMG Junior, FMG Young Farmer, and AgriSport, providing a platform for young farmers to showcase their abilities and passion for the industry. In addition, New Holland staff members served as judges during the practical day module held on July 7th. More than 600 spectators gathered at Winchester Showgrounds in Timaru to witness the action unfold as contestants demonstrated their skills. Each challenge accumulated points, and the competition remained fiercely contested until the final buzzer quiz on Saturday evening. Emma's victory not only earned her the esteemed title of FMG Young Farmer of the Year but also awarded her the iconic trophy and the famous Cloak of Knowledge. Furthermore, Emma will have the opportunity to select her prize, either a New Holland Boomer 25 compact tractor and loader package, or an international sustainability trip. The support from New Holland and other contest sponsors made it possible for the FMG Young Farmer of the Year to present a prize pool worth $90,000 to Emma. "On behalf of New Holland and the team, we extend our warmest congratulations to Emma Poole for her outstanding achievement and wish her every success in her farming career. We remain committed to supporting the next generation of farmers and will continue to sponsor and contribute to events that celebrate incredible talent within the agricultural industry," said Murray Grant, Commercial Business Manager (New Zealand) at CNH Industrial. CNH Industrial's Commercial Business Manager (New Zealand), Murray Grant, said that New Holland is thrilled to be able to support New Zealand's agricultural industry through initiatives like the FMG Young Farmers and the Young Farmer of the Year competition, so that talented individuals like Emma receive the recognition and support they deserve. View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from CNH Industrial on 3blmedia.com. Contact Info: Spokesperson: CNH Industrial Website: https://www.3blmedia.com/profiles/cnh-industrial Email: [email protected] SOURCE: CNH Industrial View source version on accesswire.com: Company is launching a series of AI enhancements Exclusively For paying subscribers TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / August 10, 2023 / Toggle3D.ai (the "Company") (CSE:TGGL)(OTC PINK:TGGLF), a revolutionary SaaS solution harnessing the power of generative AI to convert CAD files, apply stunning 4K texturing, and seamlessly publish superior 4K 3D models is pleased to announce it has released a new exclusive set of AI Powered tools for Pro subscribers ($29/month) that enables users to make PBR (physics based rendering) materials from just images or text prompts. This is a significant competitive differentiator for Toggle3D.ai in the industry of 3D design and texturing. This new pay to use functionality gives users a massive increase in speed, efficiency and quality when creating materials for texturing 3D. This major generative-AI technological breakthrough was originally announced by the Company in May . The functionality has now been launched live in the platform and is exclusively available for paying subscribers within the Pro plan, which is anticipated to drive users to upgrade from Free to Pro. For the remainder of 2023, the Company is aggressively rolling out exclusive AI powered features for paying Pro subscribers as it drives towards both growing its user base and growing revenue. The AI material template tool is just one in a series exclusively for Toggle3D Pro Subscribers. PBR materials are important in 3D modeling as they make the materials on the model look more realistic by representing how the material would react to light in the real world. This new template has 3 AI powered workflows: Create PBR materials from a patch of texture: In this flow, the user may already have a 2D image of the texture that they want to turn into a 3D material. They upload it to Toggle3D, choose a finish option and Toggle3D creates the PBR maps for that texture that will turn it into a 3D material In this flow, the user may already have a 2D image of the texture that they want to turn into a 3D material. They upload it to Toggle3D, choose a finish option and Toggle3D creates the PBR maps for that texture that will turn it into a 3D material Create PBR materials from a product photo: In this flow, the user may have a product photo from which they want to screenshot a small texture patch and make a 3D material from that patch. Toggle3D helps the user crop the texture from the product photo, expand the small crop into a full-sized texture patch and then generate the PBR maps that will make the material 3D In this flow, the user may have a product photo from which they want to screenshot a small texture patch and make a 3D material from that patch. Toggle3D helps the user crop the texture from the product photo, expand the small crop into a full-sized texture patch and then generate the PBR maps that will make the material 3D Create PBR Materials from a text prompt: This algorithm uses industry-leading transformative machine learning models to create materials from a text prompt. However, instead of just creating images from text prompts as seen in many other text-to-image applications, Toggle3D has taken it one step further to create PBR materials from these AI generated images. The user describes a text prompt that will be turned into a PBR material with one push of a button. These materials can be seamless and upscaled to 2k resolution Watch a video demo showcasing this technology: https://vimeo.com/853092782/27a093b139 This news follows Toggle3D's recent development of a new AI photo segmentation algorithm for the Toggle3D web application, which is poised to redefine the boundaries of image analysis and 3D texturing and, unlocks a multitude of opportunities driving adopters. These new features build upon Toggle3D's continuous development by adding efficiency and speed to the 3D texturing creative workflow by using AI-powered tools to save time and money for individual users and entire design teams. This feature is another one of many in the suite of AI-powered tools being released in the platform in the coming months for Platform Pro users only. This supports Toggle3D's SaaS business model, as Platform Pro is a paid subscription available to users for $29/month. All the new AI features that are being developed for the platform are exclusively for Platform Pro (paid) users. Board of Directors and Audit Committee Changes The Company would also like to announce the appointment of Anthony Pizzonia, CPA, to the Board of Directors and as a member of the Audit Committee. Anthony has over 30 years of experience in operating, financing, and business development within the public markets and has a demonstrated ability to manage financial and operational challenges within dynamic and growing businesses. Mr. Pizzonia currently serves as Senior Director of Finance for GS1, a global standards organization. Previously, Mr. Pizzonia held a variety of positions with increasing responsibility for over 24 years, at AlarmForce Industries, one of the largest residential security companies in North America. He ultimately served as Director and Chief Financial Officer from 1992 to 2016, and eventually President before the company was acquired by Bell Canada (BCE) in Sept 2017. Mr. Pizzonia was also CFO of ImaginAR, a publicly traded technology company that provides a self-publishing platform that integrates with a mobile app to instantly create augmented reality campaigns. Mr. Pizzonia is Chartered Public Accountant and holds an Honours Bachelor of Administrative Studies degree from York University. Recent Toggle3D.ai News About Toggle3D.ai Toggle3D.ai (CSE:TGGL) (OTC:TGGLF) is a groundbreaking SaaS solution that utilizes generative AI to convert CAD files, apply stunning 4K texturing, and enable seamless publishing of superior 4K 3D models, serving various industries within the $160 billion CGI market. With its Augmented Reality-based rapid prototyping web app, Toggle3D empowers designers, artists, marketers, and eCommerce owners to effortlessly convert, texture, customize, and publish high-quality 3D models and experiences, regardless of technical or 3D design expertise. Toggle3D.ai Investor Relations Visit the Toggle3D Investor Relations website and sign up for the investor mailing list to receive the latest news, press releases, investor presentations, CEO interviews, financial information and more. Sign up for the investor mailing list - click here Follow Toggle3D.ai on Social Media YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Toggle3D Insta: https://www.instagram.com/toggle3d.ai/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Toggle3D LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/toggle3d-ai/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Toggle3Dai For further information, please contact: Investor Relations Contact(s) Julia Viola, Lindsay Betts [email protected] Toggle3D.ai Evan Gappelberg CEO and Director 866-ARITIZE (274-8493) Forward-looking Statements The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as, "will be" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements regarding the completion of the transaction are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Nextech will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws. SOURCE: Toggle3D.AI Inc. View source version on accesswire.com: DUNCAN, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- AFL announces Lisa Gunton, Vice President of Human Resources, has been named as one of 10 outstanding women leaders who make up the 2023 class of Women in Manufacturing (WiM) Hall of Fame inductees. The Hall of Fame is a national recognition of women who have made or are making renowned contributions to the manufacturing industry while supporting, promoting, and inspiring other women in manufacturing. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810442798/en/ AFLs Lisa Gunton to be inducted into the Women in Manufacturing Hall of Fame (Photo: Business Wire) Inductees were nominated by their colleagues and industry peers and selected by a judging panel of Women in Manufacturing Education Foundation (WiMEF). Executive Committee Board Members. The inductees were chosen based on their significant contributions to the advancement of women in manufacturing. Gunton joined AFL in 2014, as Vice President of Human Resources, responsible for creating strategic direction for the AFLs global human resource initiatives. Prior to AFL, Gunton spent 30 years with Milliken & Company where she held leadership positions in Information Systems, Supply Chain, Marketing, and Human Resources. She serves as the executive human resource sponsor of AFL's employee resource group, Women Everywhere Connect (WeConnect), which celebrates women who pursue careers in manufacturing. Gunton has previously served on the Board of Directors of the United Way of the Piedmont and the Executive Committee of the Upstate SC Alliance. Lisa is a true servant leader, her effective approach to human relations has positively impacted thousands of lives worldwide, expressed Grant Burns, Executive Vice President and General Counsel. This recognition is not only a personal milestone for Lisa, but it also shines a well-deserved spotlight on the significant professional contributions she has made within AFL globally and the manufacturing industry. Gunton, along with the rest of the group of exceptional women, will be officially welcomed to the Hall of Fame with an induction ceremony and gala on September 26, 2023 as part of WiMs 13th annual SUMMIT event. The event will be held in San Diego, CA. "We are thrilled to announce the 2023 inductees into the Women in Manufacturing Hall of Fame, said WiMEF Executive Director, Gretchen Moore. These exceptional women have forged new pathways for future generations in manufacturing careers. We look forward to celebrating these leaders, their impressive careers and their invaluable contributions to the sector. For more information about the Women in Manufacturing Hall of Fame and the 2023 WiM SUMMIT, visit the WiMEF website. About AFL Founded in 1984, AFL is an international manufacturer providing end-to-end solutions to the energy, service provider, enterprise, hyperscale and industrial markets. The companys products are in use in over 130 countries and include fiber optic cable and hardware, transmission and substation accessories, outside plant equipment, connectivity, test and inspection equipment, fusion splicers and training. AFL also offers a wide variety of services supporting data center, enterprise, wireless and outside plant applications. Headquartered in Spartanburg, SC, AFL has operations in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujikura Ltd. of Japan. For more information, visit www.AFLglobal.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and read our blog. The Women in Manufacturing Education Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to closing the gender gap, increasing the number of women in leadership roles, and inspiring the next generation of women in manufacturing. Proceeds from the gala support WiMEF, a partner organization to Women in Manufacturing (WiM) the only trade association solely dedicated to advancing women who work in manufacturing. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810442798/en/ Nancy Rice | Public Relations Specialist (864) 486-7386 | [email protected] Source: AFL New 20,000-square-foot headquarters will open September 2024 as an innovative, welcoming hub for music LITTLE ROCK, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Arkansas Symphony Orchestra broke ground today on its new $11.75 million Stella Boyle Smith Music Center in Little Rocks East Village, creating a first-of-its-kind music-focused headquarters for the state. The new 20,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility, slated to open in September 2024, is the Symphonys first permanent home in its 58-year history. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810930235/en/ Rendering of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Stella Boyle Smith Music Center (Photo: Business Wire) The new music center will be a radically welcoming hub of musical activity for all Arkansans, serving youth and adults of all ages with an array of musical offerings. The building will provide access to music education, music performances and music making to residents of all corners of the state through new spaces and a broadcast and recording studio. Our new music center represents a defining moment for the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and for the state, said Brigita Gardner, chair of ASOs Crescendo Committee. Countless individuals in the community have dedicated their time, effort and passion to raise funds and meticulously plan for how this center can be accessible to all and a source of joy. We embrace the promise of this landmark home as it enriches the arts in our community and serves Arkansans for many generations to come. The new music center will boast state-of-the-art features for children and adults that participate in the programs of the E. Lee Ronnel Music Academy, including music classrooms and practice spaces, ensuring a conducive environment for musical growth and creativity. The space will include Morgan Hall, named in honor of long-time ASO supporters Susie and Charles Morgan, which will serve as a versatile space for rehearsals and concerts, fostering an immersive musical experience. Live music serves as a unifying force that connects us all, transcending all walks of life, ASO Music Director Geoff Robson said. Arkansas has a rich tradition of music creators, including Florence Price, Johnny Cash, William Grant Still, the Ozark Folk Tradition, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and many more. As we embark on this exciting journey, our vision is that this new center will inspire appreciation for all kinds of music-making, be an accessible resource for those learning the craft, and help to cultivate the next generations of music creators. We look forward to ushering in this new era of possibilities. The groundbreaking of the Stella Boyle Smith Music Center follows years of effort from community supporters to privately fundraise and identify a suitable location for the new center, which needed to be constructed to provide the right specifications for musical acoustics. More than 200 generous donors throughout the community have contributed towards this project, including 48 musicians, raising more than $11 million for the center. ASO is currently raising remaining funds, as it is just $500,000 shy of its fundraising goal. Major donors include The Stella Boyle Smith Trust, Susie and Charles Morgan, Gus Vratsinas, Terri and Chuck Erwin, Windgate Foundation, E. Lee Ronnel, Simmons Bank, the State of Arkansas and members of the ASO Board of Directors. Additional center supporters include the orchestra, staff, youth orchestra parents, volunteers and numerous community leaders. This new music center will offer so many opportunities for the many diverse needs of Arkansans creating beautiful spaces to learn, teach, work, play, listen and have fun, said Jan Hundley, chair of the ASO Board of Directors. The realization of this dream has been made possible by the generous contributions of countless donors and the community's unwavering support. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our supporters, who tirelessly advocate for music and music education across the state, making this center a reality and fostering a brighter future for all. We look forward to future partnerships with community leaders such as Saint Mark Baptist Church, William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum, Lyon College, Central Arkansas Library System, City of Little Rock and more to determine how we can be a resource to strengthen their missions, ASO CEO Christina Littlejohn said. Music has the power to connect us and build communities at the micro and macro levels. Creating community has never felt so important as we read about increasing loneliness and isolation. The new Stella Boyle Smith Music Center will be a space for joyous communities. ASOs performances will still be held at Robinson Center, whereas the Stella Boyle Smith Music Center provides the opportunity for many additional community gatherings. The new music center will provide much-needed space as ASO has outgrown its current offices, and, more importantly, it will allow ASO to grow its community programs. The Stella Boyle Smith Music Center was designed by Witsell Evans Rasco Architects of Little Rock. Bailey Construction of Little Rock will build the center with an anticipated opening date in September 2024. To learn more about ASO and the new Stella Boyle Smith Music Center, visit www.arkansassymphony.org. About Arkansas Symphony Orchestra The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 58th season in 20232024. The ASO is the resident orchestra at Little Rocks Robinson Center and performs more than 60 concerts each year for more than 165,000 people through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series, First Orion Pops Series, River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series and numerous concerts performed around the state of Arkansas. In addition, the ASO offers numerous community outreach programs and brings live symphonic music education to more than 26,000 school children and more than 200 schools throughout Central Arkansas. The ASO employs 12 full-time musicians, more than 70 part-time musicians and 15 administrative staff members with an annual operating budget of $4 million. The ASO is a member of the League of American Orchestras and a partner orchestra of the National Alliance for Audition Support, an unprecedented national initiative to increase diversity in American orchestras. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810930235/en/ Angela Rachels [email protected] 501-837-2363 Source: Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Southeast Toyota Finance, TD Auto Finance, Huntington National Bank and Ally Financial Rank Highest in Respective Segments TROY, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Auto lending has become an increasingly electronic process, and dealership finance teams are generally supportive of new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) being used in the loan adjudication process. But when it comes to building business relationships, there is no substitute for an effective face-to-face sales meeting. According to the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study,SM released today, 77% of dealership finance and insurance (F&I) teams say in-person meetings with sales reps are the key to increased business with lenders. Finance teams overwhelmingly prefer one-on-one interaction with lending sales reps in the dealership, but there is a catch, said Patrick Roosenberg, senior director of automotive finance intelligence at J.D. Power. Those sales reps need to be prepared and the meetings need to be highly effective. When sales reps can clearly communicate current and upcoming programs and speak to the specifics of the dealership customer base, dealers are four times more likely to send more business within the next 12 months. The problem is, today, lender reps miss the mark on delivering a highly effective sales meeting nearly 40% of the time. While dealers are very clear with their preference for interpersonal relationships in the sales process, some dealership F&I teams are embracing new technology options as well. When it comes to the introduction of AI and machine learning in the loan adjudication and approval process, 30% of dealership finance teams say they are comfortable with the process, Roosenberg said. However, half say they are not, so it really is about striking the right balance between people and technology as the industry evolves. Study Rankings Captive Mass MarketPrime Southeast Toyota Finance ranks highest in overall dealer satisfaction with a score of 901, followed by Subaru Motors Finance (819) and Mazda Financial Services (766). Non-Captive NationalPrime TD Auto Finance ranks highest in overall dealer satisfaction for a fourth consecutive year, with a score of 878. Ally Financial (854) ranks second and Wells Fargo Auto (778) ranks third. Non-Captive RegionalPrime Huntington National Bank ranks highest in overall dealer satisfaction with a score of 753. Santander Auto Finance (746) ranks second and Fifth Third Bank (703) ranks third. Non-CaptiveSub-Prime Ally Financial ranks highest in overall dealer satisfaction for a third consecutive year, with a score of 852. Chase Automotive Finance (762) ranks second and Wells Fargo Auto (718) ranks third. See the rank charts for each segment at http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2023091. The 2023 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 3,552 auto dealer financial professionals. The study, which was fielded in April-May 2023, measures auto dealer satisfaction in five segments of lenders: captive premiumprime,1 captive mass marketprime, non-captive nationalprime, non-captive regionalprime and non-captivesub-prime. For more information about the U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study, visit https://www.jdpower.com/business/resource/us-dealer-financing-satisfaction-study. About J.D. Power J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 50 years. The world's leading businesses across major industries rely on J.D. Power to guide their customer-facing strategies. J.D. Power has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the companys business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business. The J.D. Power auto shopping tool can be found at JDPower.com. About J.D. Power and Advertising/Promotional Rules: www.jdpower.com/business/about-us/press-release-info 1 The Captive PremiumPrime segment is not award eligible in 2023. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810936219/en/ Media Relations Contacts Geno Effler, J.D. Power; West Coast; 714-621-6224; [email protected] John Roderick; East Coast; 631-584-2200; [email protected] Source: J.D. Power WICHITA, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Textron Aviation Defense today announced the arrival of the eighth Beechcraft T-6C Texan II aircraft in support of Tunisian Air Force pilot production at No. 13 Squadron at Sfax Air Base in Tunisia. Textron Aviation Defense was previously awarded a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract for eight T-6C Texan II advanced military training aircraft, in-country field service and logistics support representatives, program management support, interim contractor support for the first year, training for pilots and maintenance professionals, spare engines, spare parts and aircraft support equipment. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810438656/en/ Delivery of Cutting-Edge Training Aircraft Expands U.S.-Tunisian Security Cooperation (Credit: Tunisian Ministry of Defence) The Beechcraft T-6C Texan II is designed and manufactured by Textron Aviation Defense LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Aviation Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company. Its an honor to celebrate the induction of the Beechcraft T-6C into Tunisian Air Force pilot production, said Brett Pierson, president and CEO of Textron Aviation Defense. The worlds most advanced global air forces and pilots trust us to deliver a great aircraft that enables them to make the world a better, more secure place. Our world-class workforce goes above and beyond to design, manufacture, deliver and support the worlds premier military flight trainer. It is an honor that partner nations continue to put their confidence in the Beechcraft T-6 Texan II as the gold standard in training capabilities. Speaking at a July 17 event marking the arrival of the first four T-6C aircraft, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Tunisia Joey R. Hood said, Tunisia plays an important role in ensuring not only its own national security but also that of northern Africa and the continent as a whole, and reiterated the United States commitment to supporting Tunisias efforts to strengthen the Tunisian Air Forces capacity to respond both to security and humanitarian needs. About the Beechcraft T-6 Texan II The Beechcraft T-6 Texan II is the worlds premier military flight trainer. To date, the global fleet of more than 1,000 Beechcraft T-6 Texan II aircraft has surpassed 5 million flight hours across 13 nations and two NATO flight schools. A vital asset, the T-6 empowers global pilot training across the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Flight Training program in Canada, the Euro NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training Program (ENJJPT) at Sheppard AFB, Texas and the U.S. Air Force Aviation Leadership Program as well as the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Coast Guard, the Hellenic Air Force, the Argentine Air Force, the Israeli Air Force, the Royal Air Force, the Iraqi Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, Mexican Navy, the Mexican Air Force, the Royal Moroccan Air Force, the Colombian Air Force, the Royal New Zealand Air Force, the Royal Thai Air Force and the Tunisian Air Force. Proven experience, affordability Backed by more than 90 years of experience delivering more than 250,000 aircraft worldwide, the Beechcraft T-6 Texan IIs low acquisition, operating and sustainment costs enable global air forces to fast-track pilot production. With an installed base that more than quadruples its closest competitor, the family of Beechcraft T-6 Texan II aircraft has been the worlds number one Integrated Training System (ITS) for more than 20 years. The Beechcraft T-6 Texan II capitalizes on an active production line with an industry-leading Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL) rating of 10 as well as a proven supply chain and the affordability of 85 percent parts commonality with the Beechcraft AT-6E Wolverine. About Textron Aviation Defense LLC When military customers need airborne solutions for their critical missions, they turn to Textron Aviation Defense. With a legacy of thousands of proven Integrated Training Systems (ITS) and Integrated Weapon Systems (IWS) produced and missionized in Americas Heartland since WWII, the family of Textron aircraft equip militaries worldwide with the lowest acquisition, sustainment and training costs on the market. Provider of the worlds leading military flight trainer, the Beechcraft T-6 Texan II fleet of more than 1,000 aircraft has logged more than 5 million hours across two NATO military flight schools and thirteen countries worldwide since 2001. For more information, visit www.defense.txtav.com | www.scorpionjet.com. About Textron Aviation We inspire the journey of flight. For more than 95 years, Textron Aviation 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 missions, 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, productive and flexible flight. For more information, visit www.txtav.com | www.defense.txtav.com | www.scorpionjet.com. About Textron Textron 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, Pipistrel, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Arctic Cat, and Textron Systems. 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, our ability to perform as anticipated and to control costs under contracts with the U.S. Government; changes in foreign military funding priorities or budget constraints and determinations, or changes in government regulations or policies on the export and import of military products; and volatility in the global economy or changes in worldwide political conditions that adversely impact demand for our products. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810438656/en/ Media: Doug Scott +1.316.347.0116 [email protected] txtav.com Source: Textron DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE) (Celanese), a global chemical and specialty materials company, today announced that its direct wholly-owned subsidiary Celanese US Holdings LLC (the Company) has commenced a cash tender offer (the Tender Offer) to purchase the outstanding notes listed in the table below (collectively, the Notes and each a Series of Notes) having an aggregate purchase price (excluding accrued interest) of up to $1.75 billion (the Maximum Aggregate Purchase Price), in the order of priority, and subject to the Series Cap shown in the table below. Title of Security CUSIP / ISIN Aggregate Principal Amount Outstanding Series Cap (1) (in millions) Acceptance Priority Level (2) Reference U.S. Treasury Security Bloomberg Reference Page (3) Fixed Spread (basis points) (4) 5.900% Senior Notes due 2024 15089Q AR5/ US15089QAR56 $2,000,000,000 $1,250,000,000 1 1.750% U.S. Treasury due June 30, 2024 FIT 3 45 6.050% Senior Notes due 2025 15089Q AL8/ US15089QAL86 $1,750,000,000 $500,000,000 2 1.750% U.S. Treasury due March 15, 2025 FIT 4 65 3.500% Senior Notes due 2024 15089Q AJ3/ US15089QAJ31 $500,000,000 N/A 3 2.500% U.S. Treasury due April 30, 2024 FIT 3 40 (1) The Series Cap represents the maximum aggregate principal amount of such series of Notes that will be purchased. The Company reserves the right, but is under no obligation, to increase, decrease or eliminate the Series Cap at any time, including on or after the Price Determination Date, subject to applicable law. (2) Subject to the Maximum Aggregate Purchase Price, the Series Cap and proration, the principal amount of each series of Notes that is purchased in the Tender Offer will be determined in accordance with the applicable Acceptance Priority Level (in numerical priority order with 1 being the highest Acceptance Priority Level and 3 being the lowest) specified in this column. (3) The Bloomberg Reference Page is provided for convenience only. To the extent any Bloomberg Reference Page changes prior to the Price Determination Date (as defined below), the Lead Dealer Managers referred to below will quote the applicable Reference Treasury Security from the updated Bloomberg Reference Page. (4) Includes the Early Tender Premium of $30 per $1,000 principal amount of Notes for each Series. The terms and conditions of the Tender Offer are described in an Offer to Purchase dated August 10, 2023 (as it may be amended or supplemented, the Offer to Purchase). The Tender Offer is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions as set forth in the Offer to Purchase, including the receipt of aggregate gross proceeds in an amount sufficient to effect the repurchase of the Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase pursuant to the Offer on or prior to the Early Settlement Date on terms acceptable to the Company from the concurrent public offering of senior debt securities issued by the Company and guaranteed on a senior basis by Celanese, the Companys parent (the Parent Guarantor), and, initially, by each of the Companys current and future domestic subsidiaries that guarantee the Companys obligations under its senior credit facilities (the Subsidiary Guarantors and, collectively with the Parent Guarantor, the Guarantors). Subject to applicable law, the Company may waive any and all of these conditions or extend, terminate or withdraw the Tender Offer with respect to one or more Series of Notes including increase or decrease the Maximum Aggregate Purchase Price and/or increase, decrease or eliminate the Series Cap at any time, including on or after the Price Determination Date. The Tender Offer is not conditioned upon any minimum amount of Notes being tendered. Capitalized terms used in this news release and not defined herein have the meanings given to them in the Offer to Purchase. The amounts of each Series of Notes that are purchased in the Tender Offer will be determined in accordance with the priorities identified in the column Acceptance Priority Level in the table above and will be subject to the Series Cap. The Tender Offer will expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on September 8, 2023, unless extended (such date and time, as the same may be extended, the Expiration Date) or earlier terminated. In order to receive the applicable Total Tender Offer Consideration, holders of Notes subject to the Tender Offer must validly tender and not validly withdraw their Notes before the Early Tender Deadline, which is 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on August 23, 2023, unless extended. Holders of Notes subject to the Tender Offer who validly tender their Notes after the Early Tender Deadline and before the Expiration Date and whose Notes are accepted for purchase will receive the applicable Late Tender Offer Consideration. The applicable Total Tender Offer Consideration for each $1,000 in principal amount of Notes tendered and not withdrawn before the Early Tender Deadline and accepted for payment pursuant to the Tender Offer on the Early Settlement Date (as defined below) will be determined in the manner described in the Offer to Purchase. The consideration will be determined by reference to a fixed spread specified for each Series of Notes over the yield based on the bid-side price of the applicable Reference U.S. Treasury Security specified in the table above, as fully described in the Offer to Purchase. The consideration will be calculated by the Lead Dealer Managers for the Tender Offer at 10:00 a.m., New York City time, on the business day immediately following the Early Tender Deadline, unless extended (such date and time, as the same may be extended, the Price Determination Date). The Price Determination Date is expected to be August 24, 2023. The Early Tender Premium for each Series of Notes is $30 per $1,000 principal amount of Notes. The Late Tender Offer Consideration for the Notes purchased pursuant to the Tender Offer will be calculated by taking the Total Tender Offer Consideration for the applicable Series of Notes and subtracting from it the Early Tender Premium of $30 per $1,000 principal amount of Notes. In addition to the applicable Total Tender Offer Consideration or applicable Late Tender Offer Consideration, as the case may be, accrued and unpaid interest up to, but not including, the applicable Settlement Date will be paid in cash on all validly tendered Notes accepted for purchase in the Tender Offer. The purchase price plus accrued and unpaid interest for Notes that are validly tendered and not validly withdrawn on or before the Early Tender Deadline and accepted for purchase will be paid by the Company in same day funds promptly following the Early Tender Deadline (the Early Settlement Date). The Company expects that the Early Settlement Date will be August 25, 2023, the second business day after the Early Tender Deadline. The purchase price plus accrued and unpaid interest for Notes that are validly tendered after the Early Tender Deadline and on or before the Expiration Date and accepted for purchase will be paid by the Company in same day funds promptly following the Expiration Date (the Final Settlement Date). The Company expects that the Final Settlement Date will be September 12, 2023, the second business day after the Expiration Date, assuming Notes representing an aggregate purchase price equal to the Maximum Aggregate Purchase Price are not purchased on the Early Settlement Date. No tenders will be valid if submitted after the Expiration Date. If Notes are validly tendered and not validly withdrawn having an aggregate purchase price equal to or greater than the Maximum Aggregate Purchase Price as of the Early Tender Deadline, Holders who validly tender Notes after the Early Tender Deadline but on or before the Expiration Date will not have any of their Notes accepted for purchase, subject to the Series Cap. Holders of Notes subject to the Tender Offer who validly tender their Notes on or before the Early Tender Deadline may not withdraw their Notes after 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on August 23, 2023, unless extended (such date and time, as the same may be extended, the Withdrawal Deadline), except in the limited circumstances described in the Offer to Purchase. Holders of Notes subject to the Tender Offer who validly tender their Notes after the Withdrawal Deadline but on or before the Expiration Date may not withdraw their Notes except in the limited circumstances described in the Offer to Purchase. Subject to the Maximum Aggregate Purchase Price and the Series Cap, all Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn at or before the Early Tender Deadline having a higher Acceptance Priority Level will be accepted before any validly tendered and not validly withdrawn Notes having a lower Acceptance Priority Level, and all Notes validly tendered after the Early Tender Deadline having a higher Acceptance Priority Level will be accepted before any Notes tendered after the Early Tender Deadline having a lower Acceptance Priority Level. However, if Notes are validly tendered and not validly withdrawn having an aggregate purchase price less than the Maximum Aggregate Purchase Price as of the Early Tender Deadline, Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn at or before the Early Tender Deadline, subject to the Series Cap, will be accepted for purchase in priority to Notes tendered after the Early Tender Deadline, even if such Notes tendered after the Early Tender Deadline have a higher Acceptance Priority Level than Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn at or before the Early Tender Deadline. Notes of the Series in the last Acceptance Priority Level accepted for purchase in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Tender Offer may be subject to proration so that the Company will only accept for purchase Notes having an aggregate purchase price of up to the Maximum Aggregate Purchase Price. From time to time, the Company may purchase additional Notes in the open market, in privately negotiated transactions, through tender offers or otherwise, or may redeem Notes pursuant to the terms of the applicable indenture governing the applicable Series of Notes. Any future purchases or redemptions may be on the same terms or on terms that are more or less favorable to Holders of Notes than the terms of the Tender Offer. Any future purchases by the Company will depend on various factors existing at that time. There can be no assurance as to which, if any, of these alternatives (or combinations thereof) the Company may choose to pursue in the future. The effect of any of these actions may directly or indirectly affect the price of any Notes that remain outstanding after the consummation or termination of the Tender Offer. Notwithstanding any other provision of the Tender Offer, the Companys obligation to accept for purchase, and to pay for, Notes validly tendered and not validly withdrawn, if applicable, pursuant to the Tender Offer (up to the Maximum Aggregate Purchase Price, the Series Cap and subject to proration) is subject to, and conditioned upon, the satisfaction of or, where applicable, its waiver of, the General Conditions (as defined below) and the condition that the Company receive aggregate gross proceeds from the Concurrent Notes Offering on or prior to the Early Settlement Date in an amount that is sufficient to effect the repurchase of the Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase pursuant to this Offer to Purchase, on terms satisfactory to the Company in its sole discretion (the Financing Condition). BofA Securities, Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and TD Securities (USA) LLC are the Lead Dealer Managers for the Tender Offer. D.F. King & Co., Inc. is the Tender Agent and Information Agent. Persons with questions regarding the Tender Offer should contact BofA Securities, Inc. at +1 (888) 292-0070 (toll-free) or +1 (980) 387-5602 (collect) or [email protected], J.P. Morgan Securities LLC at +1 (866) 834-4666 (toll free) or +1 (212) 834-3554 (collect) or TD Securities (USA) LLC (toll-free) at +1 (866) 584-2096 (collect). Questions regarding the tendering of Notes and requests for copies of the Offer to Purchase and related materials should be directed to D.F. King & Co., Inc. at (212) 269-5550 (for banks and brokers) or (800) 317-8033 (all others, toll-free) or email [email protected]. This news release is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell the Notes. The Tender Offer is made only by the Offer to Purchase and the information in this news release is qualified by reference to the Offer to Purchase dated August 10, 2023. There is no separate letter of transmittal in connection with the Offer to Purchase. None of the Company, Celanese, the Celanese Board of Directors, the Lead Dealer Managers, the Tender Agent and Information Agent or the trustees with respect to any Notes is making any recommendation as to whether holders should tender any Notes in response to the Tender Offer, and neither Company nor any such other person has authorized any person to make any such recommendation. Holders must make their own decision as to whether to tender any of their Notes, and, if so, the principal amount of Notes to tender. About Celanese Celanese Corporation is a global chemical leader in the production of differentiated chemistry solutions and specialty materials used in most major industries and consumer applications. Our businesses use the full breadth of Celanese's global chemistry, technology and commercial expertise to create value for our customers, employees, shareholders and the corporation. As we partner with our customers to solve their most critical business needs, we strive to make a positive impact on our communities and the world through The Celanese Foundation. Based in Dallas, Celanese employs approximately 13,000 employees worldwide and had 2022 net sales of $9.7 billion. For more information about Celanese Corporation and its product offerings, visit www.celanese.com. Forward-Looking Statements: This release may contain forward-looking statements, which include information concerning the expected timing of the Tender Offer, our ability to complete the Tender Offer, other terms of the Tender Offer including the Financing Condition and the General Condition, the successful completion of the concurrent Notes Offering, and other information that is not historical information. When used in this release, the words outlook, forecast, estimates, expects, anticipates, projects, plans, intends, believes, will and variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations and beliefs and various assumptions. There can be no assurance that the Company will realize these expectations or that these beliefs will prove correct. There are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this release. Numerous other factors, many of which are beyond Celaneses control, could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed as forward-looking statements. Other risk factors include those that are discussed in Celaneses filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and Celanese undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810755183/en/ Investor Relations Brandon Ayache +1 972 443 8509 [email protected] Media Relations Global Brian Bianco +1 972 443 4400 [email protected] Media Relations Europe (Germany) Petra Czugler +49 69 45009 1206 petra.czugler@celanese. Source: Celanese Corporation Pennsylvania school district selects PowerSchool Student Information Cloud solutions to improve digital capabilities FOLSOM, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- PowerSchool (NYSE: PWSC), the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America, today announced Connellsville Area School District (Connellsville ASD) in Connellsville, Pennsylvania selected PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS), PowerSchool Enrollment Express, and PowerSchool Ecollect Forms, which are all part of the Student Information Cloud, to support the school's administrative, enrollment, and digital communications operations. Once these tools are fully implemented as hosted solutions alongside the districts existing use of PowerSchool Schoology Learning, part of the Personalized Learning Cloud, Connellsville ASD can securely manage scheduling, attendance, grading, calendaring, enrollment, and other core administrative functions for the 2023-24 school year. Ensuring our district has access to tools to support our hybrid learning curriculum is important to us, which is why weve decided to add additional PowerSchool products to our technology stack, said Kevin Ghost, Director of Technology, Connellsville Area School District. PowerSchool's Schoology Learning product has already helped us minimize our overall time spent on completing repetitive tasks such as grading and file distribution. We're confident our PowerSchool SIS, Enrollment Express, and Ecollect Forms products will provide even more support for our staff for years to come. Connellsville ASD has used Schoology Learning to strengthen its hybrid learning capabilities in recent years, notably throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. By leveraging the platforms learning management, assessment, parental engagement, and professional development features, Connellsville ASD has made Schoology Learning its central platform to manage online learning operations. Once PowerSchool SIS, Enrollment Express, and Ecollect Forms are fully implemented for the 2023-24 school year, Connellsville ASD will have access to an expanded, unified interface allowing them to manage school operations from anywhere and can help improve overall parent-student-teacher communications, staff collaboration, and reporting responsibilities. Connellsville ASD is a large, rural district located southeast of Pittsburgh, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania serving more than 3,800 students. The district has seven schools including a high school, middle school, and four elementary schools, in addition to an online learning academy and its career and technical center. For more information about the PowerSchool Student Information Cloud, visit, https://www.powerschool.com/student-information-cloud/. About PowerSchool PowerSchool (NYSE: PWSC) is the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America. Its mission is to power the education ecosystem with unified technology that helps educators and students realize their full potential, in their way. PowerSchool connects students, teachers, administrators, and parents, with the shared goal of improving student outcomes. From the office to the classroom to the home, it helps schools and districts efficiently manage state reporting and related compliance, special education, finance, human resources, talent, registration, attendance, funding, learning, instruction, grading, assessments and analytics in one unified platform. PowerSchool supports over 50 million students globally and more than 15,000 customers, including more than 90 of the top 100 districts by student enrollment in the United States, and sells solutions in more than 90 countries. Visit www.powerschool.com to learn more. PowerSchool. PowerSchool and other PowerSchool marks are trademarks of PowerSchool Holdings, Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. PWSC-C View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810261889/en/ WE Communications for PowerSchool [email protected] (503) 443-7155 Source: PowerSchool Holdings, Inc. NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Deutsche Bank announced today its appointment as depositary bank for the American Depositary Receipt program of Anteris Technologies Limited. Anteris Technologies Limited (OTC: ANTTY) is a structural heart company that delivers clinically superior and durable solutions through better science and better design. Its focus is developing next-generation technologies that help healthcare professionals deliver life-changing outcomes for patients. The operational headquarters for Anteris Technologies Limited is in Minneapolis, United States and its registered office is located in Queensland, Australia.* In addition to specializing in administering cross-border equity structures such as New York Shares and American and Global Depositary Receipts, Deutsche Bank provides corporates, financial institutions, hedge funds and supranational agencies around the world with trustee, agency, escrow and related services. Deutsche Bank offers a very broad range of services for diverse products, from complex securitizations and project finance to syndicated loans, debt exchanges and restructurings. * This information was provided by Anteris Technologies Limited (August 2023). Depositary Receipt Information Country Incorporated under the laws of Australia Custodian Bank BNP Parisbas S.A. ARBN 000 000 117 Effective Date August 8, 2023 Level I ADR CUSIP 03676L 100 ISIN US03676L1008 Symbol ANTTY Exchange OTC Current Ratio 1 ADS: 1 ordinary share Eligibility DTC Depositary Receipt Contacts New Business Development Nicole Pfundstein Tel: +61 2 8258 1019 www.adr.db.com Markets Distribution [email protected] London Tel: +44 (0) 20 7547 6500 gtb.db.com New York Tel: +1 212 250 9100 Deutsche Bank provides commercial and investment banking, retail banking, transaction banking and asset and wealth management products and services to corporations, governments, institutional investors, small and medium-sized businesses, and private individuals. Deutsche Bank is Germanys leading bank, with a strong position in Europe and a significant presence in the Americas and Asia Pacific. The Depositary Receipts have been registered pursuant to the US Securities Act of 1933 (the "Act"). The investment or investment service which is the subject of this notice is not available to retail clients as defined by the UK Financial Conduct Authority. This notice has been approved and/or communicated by Deutsche Bank AG New York. The services described in this notice are provided by Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas (Deutsche Bank) or by its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in accordance with appropriate local registration and regulation. Deutsche Bank is providing the attached notice strictly for information purposes and makes no claims or statement, nor does it warrant or in any way represent, as to the accuracy or completeness of the details contained herein or therein. This announcement appears as a matter of record only. Neither this announcement nor the information contained herein constitutes an offer or solicitation by Deutsche Bank or any other issuer or entity for the purchase or sale of any securities nor does it constitute a solicitation to any person in any jurisdiction where solicitation would be unlawful. No part of this notice may be copied or reproduced in any way without the prior written consent of Deutsche Bank. Past results are not an indication of future performance. Copyright August 2023 Deutsche Bank AG. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230809037251/en/ For further information, please contact: Deutsche Bank AG Press & Media Relations Dylan Riddle Tel. +12122504982 Cell. +1(904)3866481 Email [email protected] Source: Deutsche Bank Regenera and DP World sign circular waste management agreement in the Dominican Republic MONTERREY, Mexico & SANTO DOMINO, Dominican Republic--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- DP World, a leading provider of end-to-end supply chain solutions, and Cemexs circular waste management business, Regenera, have signed an agreement to enhance sustainable waste management in the Dominican Republic. Per the agreement, Regenera will convert waste tires from DP Worlds operations into an eco-friendly substitute for fossil fuels, effectively eliminating methane emissions from conventional waste landfilling practices. Cemexs waste-to-energy practices offer a solution to public and private entities looking to minimize their environmental footprint. Alternative fuels with biomass content are a key lever for Cemexs ambitious decarbonization goals within its Future in Action program. With their high biomass content, waste tires are a valuable part of the alternative fuel mix; but when disposed of in landfills, they can emit harmful chemicals into the environment. In the case of Cemex, waste tires are used as part of their alternative fuel mix to fire their cement kilns. The cement kiln has an operating temperature in the range of 1,450 Celsius degrees, which ensures that the emissions generated in the Co-processing comply with the environmental regulations on air quality and emission control at the atmosphere, in the Dominican Republic. By partnering with Regenera, DP World is able to invest in more circular and sustainable waste management practices throughout all its operations, demonstrating its commitment to mitigating global climate change. This agreement aligns with our global sustainability strategy, Our World, Our Future which focuses on climate change and decarbonization, says Morten Johansen, CEO of DP Worlds operations in the Dominican Republic. DP Worlds global decarbonization strategy aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 28% by 2030, carbon neutrality by 2040, and to become a net-zero emissions operation by 2050. Similarly, Cemex's Future in Action program focuses on sustainable excellence through climate action, circularity, and natural resource management, working towards net-zero emissions by 2050. Regenera is part of Cemexs Urbanization Solutions portfolio of integrated solutions for urban development. Regeneras services are a key enabler for the circular economy, says Juan Carlos Herrera, Cemex Global Head of Urbanization Solutions. The global supply chain that the worlds economy relies on generates waste that is not always recyclable. Our solutions help ensure that this waste is managed in the most sustainable manner possible. As part of its commitment to sustainability, DP World is investing more than USD$500 million in cutting 700,000 tons of emissions from its operations by 2028 through electrification, efficiency, and innovation. ABOUT DP WORLD: Trade is the lifeblood of the global economy, creating opportunities and improving the quality of life for people around the world. DP World exists to make the worlds trade flow better, changing whats possible for the customers and communities we serve globally. With a dedicated, diverse and professional team of more than 106,500 employees from 158 nationalities, spanning 73 countries on six continents, DP World is pushing trade further and faster towards a seamless supply chain thats fit for the future. Were rapidly transforming and integrating our businesses -- Ports and Terminals, Marine Services, Logistics and Technology and uniting our global infrastructure with local expertise to create stronger, more efficient end-to-end supply chain solutions that can change the way the world trades. What's more, we're reshaping the future by investing in innovation. From intelligent delivery systems to automated warehouse stacking, were at the cutting edge of disruptive technology, pushing the sector towards better ways to trade, minimising disruptions from the factory floor to the customers door. WE MAKE TRADE FLOW TO CHANGE WHAT'S POSSIBLE FOR EVERYONE. Follow DP World on Twitter and LinkedIn. Copyright - DP World 2023 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810982475/en/ DP WORLD AMERICAS MEDIA: Melina Vissat, Head of Communications, North America M: (+1) 704-605-6159 E: [email protected] Source: DP World Businesses and Homeowners will have access to the Fastest Internet in the Northeast ERIE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Empire Access, a fiber internet service provider declared the fastest internet in the Northeast, announces expansion of services to Eire, Pennsylvania. Erie home and business owners will have access to award-winning internet, streaming, phone, and security solutions when service availability begins launching in the Fall of 2023. Empire Access continues its expansion strategy spanning large parts of Northern Pennsylvania and New Yorks Southern Tier with service to Erie. Headquartered in Prattsburgh, New York, Empire Access primarily serves communities which lack access to reliable internet and provides businesses and residential customers alike with rapid internet services, which are ranked the fastest in the Northeast United States by PCMag. In addition to Empire Access market-leading services, it provides plans at an affordable price without promotion-ending gimmicks. Our aim is to provide the best and fastest services to meet our customers demands, states Jim Baase, CEO at Empire Access. We are excited to join the Erie community and look forward to offering our top services! Community is critical to how we operate, and we take pride in our local customer support teams which allow us to better serve our customers. Our goal is to provide the best services in the markets we enter, therein challenging our competitors to keep up. We appreciate this opportunity to join the Erie community and look forward to growing together! Empire Access pairs its high-speed fiber optic internet with a complete array of telecommunication and security services: Streaming TV delivering crystal clear, 100% HD picture quality, restart TV, Whole Home DVR, and much more Home and business phone plans covering all your favorite features such as toll-free numbers, voicemail, hosted phone systems, and more IoT security, home automation and 24/7 video monitoring with the ability to remotely, lock and unlock doors, control appliances, climate control, security management, and more right from your computer or smart device Advanced business services including enterprise Wi-Fi, high-security fire walls, business emails, audio and video conferencing, dark fiber, and metro-Ethernet Sign up to receive emails when fiber optic service is available by clicking here! Check Empire Access availability in your area by visiting: https://www.empireaccess.com/where-we-are/check-location, calling (800) 338-3300, or emailing [email protected]. About Empire Access: Founded in 1896 with a single telephone line in Prattsburgh, NY, Empire Access has grown significantly as a local communications provider serving large areas of Upstate New York and Northern Pennsylvania. Empire Access offers a wide range of products and services from scalable high-speed fiber optic internet, TV, phone, and advanced security solutions. Responding to a variety of business and consumer needs, Empire Access continues to expand into new areas while retaining a strong focus on local and personalized customer service. In 2017, 2018, and 2021, Empire Access was awarded Best Internet Service Provider in the Southern Tier region of New York. Empire Access has been named as the fastest Internet Service Provider in the Northeastern United States for two consecutive years by PC Mag. In January of 2023, Empire Access closed on a majority investment from funds controlled by Antin Infrastructure Partners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810217910/en/ iMPR Media Contact for Empire Access: Jake Curtachio iMiller Public Relations Tel: 1.914.315.6424 Email: [email protected] Empire Access Media Contact: Ethan Ball, Marketing Specialist Empire Access Tel: 1.800.338.3300 Email: [email protected] Source: Empire Access TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Ether Capital Corporation (Ether Capital or the Company) (NEO: ETHC) announces the reporting of its unaudited interim consolidated financial results for the three-month and six-month periods ended June 30, 2023. On June 15, the Company announced it is streamlining costs and internalizing certain operations to focus on profitability. It also announced that it was approved to implement a Normal Course Issuer Bid (NCIB) for 2,566,662 shares. The Company anticipates its actions and focused strategy will impact its financial results positively in 2024. With respect to the financial results announced today, the highlights for Q2 2023 include: The Net Equity Value per Share increased to $3.41 per share on June 30, 2023 from $2.24 on December 31, 2022. The Company recorded Revenue of $1.46 million in Q2 2023 vs. $1.08 million in Q2 2022, an increase of 35%. The Company incurred Operating Expenses of $0.84 million in Q2 2023 vs. $1.13 million in Q2 2022, a 26% decrease. The total value of digital assets held by the Company was $118.0 million as at June 30, 2023 vs. $73.1 million on December 31, 2022, a 61% increase over the six-month period. Cash and cash equivalents were equal to $1.65 million on June 30, 2023 vs. $2.89 million on December 31, 2022. The Company had no debt on June 30, 2023, nor at any time during the six-month period. Basic Net Income per share for Q2 2023 was $1.24 compared to Basic Net Loss Per Share of $1.95 in Q2 2022. The Net Income after Other Comprehensive Income (OCI) in Q2 2023 was $9.9 million vs. Net Loss after OCI of $114.7 million in Q2 2022. The total shareholders equity of the Company was $116.5 million on June 30, 2023 vs. $75.6 million on December 31, 2022. During Q2 2023, the price of Ether increased 3.6% and ended the period at $2,561 compared to $2,471 on March 31, 2023. The price of Ether on December 31, 2022 was $1,620. The comparative unaudited interim financial statements for the three-month and six-month periods ended June 30, 2022 were restated to recognize a Deferred Tax Expense and Liability. Additionally, the valuation methodology for Staked Ether and Consensus Layer Rewards changed during Q2 2023 from an historic cost basis to a fair market value basis. This was due to a major technical upgrade (Shanghai or Shapella) of the Ethereum network on April 12, 2023 that facilitated liquidity for these intangible digital assets, thus warranting a change in the valuation methodology applied prospectively from the date of the Shanghai upgrade. Management Commentary In Q2, we announced a strategic plan to lower our operating expenses and increase our treasury allocation to staking by at least 95%, said Brian Mosoff, CEO of Ether Capital. Since the last quarter, our team has worked hard to bring our proprietary best-in-class staking infrastructure online and ramp up our validation efforts, securing the Ethereum blockchain and bringing increased revenue to our shareholders. Were very bullish on the long-term outlook for the Ethereum ecosystem and are seeing renewed appetite amongst investors globally. Based on our focus to streamline costs, internalize operations and maximize exposure to staking, we feel that were best positioned to service our shareholders as the no. 1 access point to Ethereum staking and yield in the capital markets. Revenue Highlights The Companys Revenue increased 35% in Q2 2023 compared to Q2 2022, $1.46 million vs $1.08 million. For the six-month period ended June 30, 2023, the Companys revenue was 17% higher than the comparable period in 2022. Total Staked Ether Rewards Revenue was $1.22 million in Q2 2023 vs. $0.69 million in Q2 2022. For the six month periods ended June 30, the Staked Ether Rewards Revenue was $2.15 million in 2023 compared to $1.41 in 2022. The amount of Staked Ether was much higher at the end of Q2 2023 (36,000 ETH) compared to the end of Q2 2022 (20,512 ETH). This is a major factor contributing to the increase in revenue. The staking yield for the Company averaged 5.42% for Q2 2023 vs. 4.67% in Q2 2022. The average dollar price for Staked Ether Rewards was lower in Q2 2023 ($2,500) compared to Q2 2022 ($2,863), thus offsetting the higher Staked Ether Rewards earned during Q2 2023. Q2 2023 Q2 2022 Q1 + Q2 2023 Q1 + Q2 2022 Consensus Layer Rewards 301.8 239.0 600.2 352.7 Execution Layer Rewards 184.7 0 316.5 0 Total Staked Ether Rewards 486.5 239.0 916.7 352.7 Average Staked Ether 36,000 20,512 33,951 17,966 Yield 5.42% 4.67% 5.45% 4.85% Consensus Layer Rewards 62.0% 100% 65% 100% Execution Layer Rewards 38.0% 0% 35% 0% Revenue in C$ $1,221,237 $687,228 $2,153,468 $1,409,086 Additionally, the Company earns consulting fee revenue from Purpose Investments that is linked to the assets under management of Purpose Investments crypto ETFs (Crypto AUM). During Q2 2023, the average value of Purposes Crypto AUM of $1,027 million was lower than Q2 2022 (see table below). Additionally, the financial terms of the consulting fees changed on June 1, 2023 on a go-forward basis. Such change is reducing consulting fees between 75-80% on these particular Purpose crypto investment funds. Together, the lower average AUM and fee reductions in June 2023 resulted in a 46% reduction of consulting fees from $0.39 million in Q2 2022 to $0.21 million in Q2 2023. Q2 2022 Q3 2022 Q4 2022 Q1 2023 Q2 2023 Consulting Fees $393,178 $218,226 $183,531 $222,143 $211,443 Average AUM $1,886 MM $923 MM $767 MM $924 MM $1,027 MM Operating Expense Highlights Operating Expenses decreased 26% in the quarter to $0.83 million vs. $1.13 million in Q2 2022 primarily due to a reversal of previously expensed non-cash compensation expenses. A number of staff and Directors who are no longer with the Company have left some options unvested. Those options will not be exercised and this triggered a one-time reversal of a previously amortized compensation expense. For Q2 2023, the share-based expense was a contra-expense of ($0.17 million) compared to an expense of $0.21 million in Q2 2022, a difference of $0.38 million. The most material Operating Expense incurred by the Company during the three months was staff compensation. Compensation expenses excluding share-based compensation were $0.985 million for the quarter vs. $0.395 million in Q2 2022. In mid-June 2023, the Company announced that it would be reducing cash Operating Expenses by an estimated 45% as part of a strategic change. The Company had 10 employees (including contract) on March 31, 2023 and the number had decreased to 8 by June 30, 2023. As of August 10, 2023, the Company had 5 employees based on actual and impending departures. Revenue less Operating Expenses One measure of operating performance is Revenue less Operating Expenses. For Q2 2023, it was $0.62 million compared to a loss of $0.05 million in Q2 2022. The primary reasons for the strong performance in Q2 2023 were the much higher Staking Rewards revenue and the one-time reversal of the previously expensed share-based compensation expense. See table below for a reconciliation for this non-IFRS measure. Q2 2023 Q2 2022 Change Revenue $1,457,840 $1,082,202 35% Operating Expenses $842,156 $1,131,344 (26%) Revenue less Operating Expenses $615,684 ($49,142) 1,353% Cashflow In general, the cashflow from operations of the Company in 2023 are materially different from the financial statement earnings, whether before or after Other Comprehensive Income, for the following reasons: 81% of the Revenue in 2023 is non-cash Operating Expenses include a material recovery amount of Share Option Expense, a non-cash expense The unrealized gains for the Companys digital assets total $66.3 million, which are non-cash gains A non-cash, deferred tax expense of $6.0 million The Consolidated Statement of Cashflow and the Notes in the Companys Q2 2023 financial statements and the Management Discussion & Analysis (MD&A) include more detail. Net Income (Loss) per Share The Net Income per Share was $1.24 and $1.79 for the three month and six-month periods ended June 30, 2023 compared to Net Loss per Share of $1.95 and $2.14 respectively in 2022. The Net Income (Loss) per Share amounts do not include the impact of OCI (Loss), which is material. Assets Cash on the balance sheet was $0.50 million on June 30, 2023 compared to $0.44 million on December 31, 2022. The Company invested excess cash in a listed Purpose High Interest Savings ETF and the balance was $1.15 million on June 30, 2023 vs. $2.45 million on December 31, 2022. This ETF can be sold easily in the normal course and the Company deems it liquid and comparable to a cash equivalent. Combined, the cash and ETF totaled approximately $1.65 million on June 30, 2023. During the six-month period ended June, 2023 there was a material change regarding the valuation of digital assets as discussed above. The Companys digital assets increased in value by $44.8 million to $118 million from December 31, 2022, primarily due a 58% increase in the price of Ether during the period and the addition of 917 Ether earned from staking for the six-months ended June 30, 2023. The valuation of the Companys digital assets exceeded the cost base of those assets by approximately $58 million as at June 30, 2023. After taking into account tax loss carryforwards, the Deferred Tax Liability of those unrealized gains is approximately $2.85 million on June 30, 2023, and this is recognized on the Consolidated Interim Statements of Financial Position. Any potential future increase in the valuation of the digital assets will result in an increase in the Deferred Tax Liability of approximately 13.25% of the unrealized gains. June 30, 2023 December 31, 2022 Digital assets valuation $117,963,101 $73,139,574 Digital assets cost base $59,953,873 $57,800,415 Digital assets & Wyre cost base $61,958,773 $59,805,315 Unrealized capital gain on digital assets (excluding Wyre) $58,009,228 $15,339,159 Shareholders Equity Highlights The shareholders equity as at June 30, 2023 was $116.5 million compared to $75.6 million on December 31, 2022. The increase was primarily due to the revaluation of the Companys digital assets given the 58% increase in the Ether price during the quarter. The Net Equity Value per Share also increased to $3.41 per share on June 30, 2023 from $2.24 on December 31, 2022. The number of shares outstanding increased in 2023 to 34.20 million from 33.75 million on December 31, 2022. The Companys unaudited interim financial statements and the MD&A have been filed on SEDAR and may be viewed under the Companys profile at www.sedarplus.com. Capitalized terms used and not defined in this news release have the meanings given to them in the Companys quarterly financial statements and/or MD&A for the period ended June 30, 2023. Interim CFO Announcement The Company is also pleased to announce the appointment of Jillian Friedman as interim Chief Financial Officer, effective August 16th 2023. Ms. Friedman joined Ether Capital as Chief Operating Officer in March 2022 and will continue to oversee operations in addition to the finance mandate. The Company would like to express appreciation and gratitude to departing CFO, Ian McPherson. About Ether Capital Corporation The Companys mission is to be the premier access point in the public markets for investment in Ethereums native token, Ether. The Company generates yield on its Ether treasury through staking, a process that allows Ether holders to participate in securing the Ethereum network and earn rewards in the form of additional Ether tokens. The Companys strategy is to hold and stake Ether, build intellectual property related to staking and Ethereum infrastructure in general, and supplement staking income with consulting and sub-advisory mandates in the digital asset sector. For more information, please visit http://ethcap.co. The content of this document is for informational purposes only and is not being provided in the context of an offering of any securities described herein, nor is it a recommendation or solicitation to buy, hold or sell any security. The information is not investment advice, nor is it tailored to the needs or circumstances of any investor. Information contained in this document is not, and under no circumstances is it to be construed as, an offering memorandum, prospectus, advertisement, or public offering of securities. No securities commission or similar regulatory authority has reviewed this document and any representation to the contrary is an offence. Information in this press release is current only as of the date provided and Ether Capital is under no obligation to update this information, other than in accordance with applicable securities laws. Non-IFRS Measures The Companys condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The Company refers to the Operating Revenue less Operating Expenses, which is a non-IFRS financial measure. This non-IFRS measure is not defined by IFRS, does not have a standardized meaning and may not be comparable with similar measures presented by other issuers. The Company has presented such non-IFRS measure as management believes it is a relevant measure of the Companys operating performance independent of asset valuation changes. Non-IFRS measures should not be considered as alternatives to the information set out in the Companys financial statements. The definition of Revenue less Operating Expenses and its reconciliation is included above in a table within this press release. Forward-Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. The Company cautions the reader not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Generally, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, on pace, anticipates, or does not anticipate, believes, and similar expressions or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, should, might, or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available to management at the time they are made, managements current plans, estimates, assumptions, judgments and expectations. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the risk factors discussed in the Companys Annual Information Form dated March 23, 2023, the Risk Factors section in its most recently filed Management Discussion and Analysis and its other filings available online at www.sedarplus.com. Although the forward-looking information contained in this press release is based on assumptions that the Company believes to be reasonable at the date such statements are made, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. In addition, the Company cautions the reader that information provided in this press release is provided to give context to the nature of some of the Companys future plans and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810509613/en/ Brian Mosoff Chief Executive Officer [email protected] Jillian Friedman Chief Operating Officer [email protected] Ashley Stanhope Senior Associate, KPW Communications [email protected] Source: Ether Capital Corporation The MIT-founded company has been adding hundreds of patients per month since launching BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Piction Health Dermatology, the pioneering AI-enabled dermatology virtual clinic, is announcing its official launch to Massachusetts residents. This groundbreaking service leverages cutting-edge technology developed at MIT to deliver the highest-quality dermatological care directly to patients, without the waitlists or costs associated with clinic visits. Piction's unique virtual clinic merges the power of artificial intelligence (AI) with the expertise of top board-certified dermatologists. Patients simply complete a short medical intake questionnaire online and add 3 or more high quality images of their skin concern. Then the case is evaluated by a board-certified dermatologist within 2 days. The practice uses their database of over 500,000 images to streamline care and improve quality of care. The companys virtual clinic is powered by advanced AI, which has been trained to recognize a multitude of skin conditions. This aids dermatologists in distinguishing skin conditions accurately and quickly, leading to faster treatment plans for patients. This revolutionary approach increases patient access to specialist care and reduces the time between initial consultation and treatment. Board-certified dermatologists make all final decisions. In two-thirds of cases, the answer is clear enough that the patient receives a treatment plan without an in-person visit referral - a dramatic level of streamlining of care that truly revolutionizes the dermatologic experience. In other cases where in-person care is needed, the Piction Health Dermatology team aids their patients in getting care quickly in-person. At the age of 22, when Pictions CEO, Susan Conover, wanted to get a strange-looking mole checked out, she was told it would take three months to see a dermatologist. When the mole was finally biopsied, doctors determined it was indeed cancerous. At the time, no one could be sure the cancer hadnt spread to other parts of her body. This motivated her to act - both to improve the dermatologic experience and to free up dermatologists time so they can focus on finding and treating cancers and other life-threatening skin diseases. "Our mission is to break down barriers by making dermatology services readily available to everyone, with 90% less friction," said Susan Conover, CEO. "With our rapidly growing virtual clinic, we're enabling people to receive expert dermatological care right in the comfort of their own homes." "Piction has built a patient-first dermatology clinic that makes AI useful to the average healthcare consumer. The rapid uptake by patients shows that a wide variety of people are comfortable with this mode of care delivery - from younger digital natives who may avoid care altogether if it weren't for Piction, to older Americans more accustomed to traditional visits," said Dr. Joseph Kvedar, a past chair of the American Telemedicine Association and professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School. The broader launch in Massachusetts, along with UnitedHealth insurance coverage, marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter in dermatological care. As Piction continues to expand, it will further its mission to democratize access to dermatology, bringing top-tier skin care to patients wherever they are. About Piction Health Dermatology Piction Health Dermatology, formerly LuminDx, is a virtual dermatology clinic that utilizes advanced artificial intelligence to provide accessible, high-quality dermatological care. The company is dedicated to revolutionizing the dermatology field by leveraging technology to improve access to care and create a patient-centered approach to skin health. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810524023/en/ Cameron D. Jacox [email protected] Source: Piction Health ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Hilton Grand Vacations Inc. (NYSE: HGV) announces today the completion of a $293 million securitization of both HGV and legacy Diamond vacation ownership loans through Hilton Grand Vacations Trust 2023-1 (HGVT). Three classes of Notes were issued by HGVT, including approximately $187 million of Class A Notes, approximately $79 million of Class B Notes, and approximately $27 million of Class C notes. The Class A Notes have a coupon rate of 5.72%, the Class B Notes have a coupon rate of 6.11%, and the Class C Notes have a coupon rate of 6.94%, for an overall weighted average coupon rate of 5.94%, and an overall advance rate of 97%. Were pleased with the execution of our 2023 ABS offering, and we continue to see strong support from the capital markets, said Dan Mathewes, chief financial officer of Hilton Grand Vacations. Investor demand built quickly, peaking at over 6x subscription. At final pricing, we achieved the tightest weighted-average spread for any Timeshare ABS issuance in the past year. Proceeds of the issuance, net of fees, will be used to pay down debt and for other general corporate purposes. This transaction marks the first issuance of both deeded and trust-based collateral combined under the HGVT issuance shelf. The transaction saw significant peak order demand from over 30 unique investors. Deutsche Bank Securities served as the structuring lead manager and joint bookrunner, along with Atlas SP, Barclays, BofA Securities, MUFG and Wells Fargo Securities. Academy Securities, Citizens Capital Markets, Regions Securities LLC, and Truist Securities served as a co-managers. Alston and Bird LLP represented HGV as issuer counsel. The Notes were offered in a private placement within the U.S. to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A and outside the U.S. in accordance with Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. This press release is an announcement of record only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the Notes, all of which have been sold. Certain classes of the transaction were rated by Standard & Poors Financial Services LLC (S&P) and Moodys Investor Service, Inc (Moodys). Important Notice The statements in this press release may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. Words such as may, will, seeks, anticipates, believes, estimates, expects, plans, intends, would, could, or similar expressions indicate a forward-looking statement; however, not all forward-looking statements include these identifying words. These forward looking statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause the outcome to be materially different, including the material impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Companys business, operating results and financial condition, general economic conditions, the actual timing and status of, or any disruptions to, the re-opening of the Companys properties, as well as those factors that are discussed under the Risk Factors and Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of the Companys most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K that may update or supplement such disclosure. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in the Companys other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Further, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results over time, except as required by law. About Hilton Grand Vacations Inc. Hilton Grand Vacations Inc. (NYSE: HGV) is recognized as a leading global timeshare company. With headquarters in Orlando, Florida, Hilton Grand Vacations develops, markets, and operates a system of brand-name, high-quality vacation ownership resorts in select vacation destinations. As one of Hiltons 22 premier brands, Hilton Grand Vacations has a reputation for delivering a consistently exceptional standard of service, and unforgettable vacation experiences for guests and more than 520,000 Club Members. Membership with the Company provides best-in-class programs, exclusive services and maximum flexibility for our Members around the world. For more information, visit https://corporate.hgv.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810523077/en/ Investor Contact: Mark Melnyk 407-613-3327 [email protected] Media Contact: Lauren George 407-613-8431 [email protected] Source: Hilton Grand Vacations Inc. SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Inszone Insurance Services, a rapidly growing national provider of commercial, personal, and benefits insurance, has climbed into the Top 50 of Insurance Journal's Top 100 Property/Casualty Agencies, clinching the 44th spot. This progression from their 55th rank in the previous year further solidifies Inszone's stature as a premier insurance agency in the national landscape. The Insurance Journal's annual Top 100 Property/Casualty Agencies report is widely recognized as a premier ranking of the most successful and influential insurance agencies across the nation. Achieving a spot within the top 50 is a testament to Inszone Insurance Services' commitment to exceptional customer service, industry expertise, and innovation. Inszone's CEO, Chris Walters, reflected on the achievement, saying, "Earning a place within the top 50 is not only a significant accomplishment for us but a testament to the trust and loyalty our clients place in our services. We extend our gratitude to Insurance Journal for this recognition and vow to continue setting benchmarks of excellence for our customers." This nod from Insurance Journal is another feather in Inszone's cap, following its strategic moves aimed at growth. Looking ahead, Inszone is focused on fortifying partnerships, expanding its suite of services, and leveraging the expertise of its dedicated team to scale even greater heights in the industry. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Sacramento, California, Inszone is a full-service insurance brokerage firm that provides a broad array of property & casualty insurance, along with employee benefits solutions. With a strong, experienced management team, Inszone continues to grow organically, as well as through acquisitions. With 42 locations across California, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, and Utah, the company is looking to further expand throughout the United States. For more information about Inszone, please visit www.inszoneinsurance.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810410925/en/ Inszone Insurance Chris Walters CEO 714-619-5620 [email protected] Source: Inszone Insurance Services NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- KBRA assigns preliminary ratings to seven classes of notes issued by LAD Auto Receivables Trust 2023-3 (LADAR 2023-3), an auto loan ABS transaction. LADAR 2023-3 represents the fifth overall ABS securitization for Driveway Finance Corporation (DFC or the Company), and third of 2023. LADAR 2023-3 will issue seven classes of notes totaling $415.36 million. Credit enhancement on the notes is comprised of overcollateralization (OC), yield supplement overcollateralization (YSOC), subordination of junior note classes, a cash reserve account, and excess spread. DFC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lithia Financial Corporation, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Lithia Motors, Inc. (Lithia). DFC has been originating and servicing loans in the automobile finance business since September 2012, initially targeting a subprime borrower base. Since May 2020, the Company has been a full credit spectrum lender, financing vehicles exclusively to Lithia customers through Lithias dealership network and e-commerce business channels. Lithia was founded as a single automotive dealership in 1946 in Ashland Oregon, was incorporated in 1968, and completed an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in 1996, trading under the ticker LAD. Today, Lithia is a Fortune 500 company operating 345 dealership locations representing 46 brands in the United States, Canadian provinces, and the United Kingdom. Lithia offers an array of products and services including new and used vehicles, insurance, automotive repair and maintenance, and automobile financing through its DFC subsidiary. KBRA applied its Auto Loan ABS Global Rating Methodology, as well as its Global Structured Finance Counterparty Methodology and ESG Global Rating Methodology as part of its analysis of the static pool data and the underlying Collateral pool and stressed the capital structure based upon its stress case cash flow assumptions. KBRA considered its onsite operational review of Lithia and DFC at its Tigard, OR location, as well as periodic due diligence updates with Lithia and DFC. Operative agreements and legal opinions will be reviewed prior to closing. To access ratings and relevant documents, click here. Click here to view the report. Related Publications Disclosures Further information on key credit considerations, sensitivity analyses that consider what factors can affect these credit ratings and how they could lead to an upgrade or a downgrade, and ESG factors (where they are a key driver behind the change to the credit rating or rating outlook) can be found in the full rating report referenced above. A description of all substantially material sources that were used to prepare the credit rating and information on the methodology(ies) (inclusive of any material models and sensitivity analyses of the relevant key rating assumptions, as applicable) used in determining the credit rating is available in the Information Disclosure Form(s) located here. Information on the meaning of each rating category can be located here. Further disclosures relating to this rating action are available in the Information Disclosure Form(s) referenced above. Additional information regarding KBRA policies, methodologies, rating scales and disclosures are available at www.kbra.com. About KBRA Kroll Bond Rating Agency, LLC (KBRA) is a full-service credit rating agency registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as an NRSRO. Kroll Bond Rating Agency Europe Limited is registered as a CRA with the European Securities and Markets Authority. Kroll Bond Rating Agency UK Limited is registered as a CRA with the UK Financial Conduct Authority. In addition, KBRA is designated as a designated rating organization by the Ontario Securities Commission for issuers of asset-backed securities to file a short form prospectus or shelf prospectus. KBRA is also recognized by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners as a Credit Rating Provider. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810986280/en/ Analytical Contacts Brockton Bowers, Senior Analyst (Lead Analyst) +1 646-731-2418 [email protected] Jacob Paulose, Associate Director +1 646-731-1269 [email protected] Melvin Zhou, Managing Director (Rating Committee Chair) +1 646-731-2412 [email protected] Business Development Contact Arielle Smelkinson, Senior Director +1 (646) 731-2369 [email protected] Source: KBRA RICHMOND, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Molina Healthcare of Virginia (Molina) announced a new partnership with digital health platform Mae Health (Mae) to serve the maternal health needs of pregnant and postpartum Molina members. Throughout all stages of pregnancy, the digital platform provides early and continuous engagement for expectant and new mothers, including symptom tracking, real-time issue escalation support, and culturally resonant pregnancy education, all with the goal of reducing maternal health disparities for women of color. Mae is a member benefit available to all expectant Molina members at no cost. We are proud to provide our expecting mothers with greater access to the resources they need before and after delivery, said Darrin Johnson, plan president of Molina Healthcare of Virginia. Our state exceeds national averages for infant mortality and preterm births, and Molina is committed to improving health outcomes for mothers and their children throughout the commonwealth. The partnership also connects Molina members with virtual and community-based doulas who can provide birth education, emotional support and advocacy, lactation support, and healing. Over 70% of Mae users have initiated a relationship with a doula through the platform. Data from mothers using Maes services show a meaningful reduction in cesarean and preterm births. We are thrilled to partner with Molina as they provide enhanced perinatal resources to their members across Virginia, said Alisha Lalani, head of growth at Mae. This partnership will allow us to address disparities in maternal health outcomes and the specific clinical and social needs of mothers in a culturally congruent way. Molina members who would like information about how to access Mae Health services can contact Molina Member Services at 1-866-472-4585 (TTY 711). About Molina Healthcare of Virginia Molina Healthcare of Virginia has been providing government-funded, quality health care since 2017. The Company serves members through Medicare and Health Insurance Marketplace programs throughout Virginia. Molina Healthcare, Inc., a FORTUNE 500 company (currently ranked 125), provides managed healthcare services under the Medicaid and Medicare programs and through the state insurance marketplaces. Molina Healthcare served approximately 5.2 million members as of June 30, 2023, located across 19 states. For more information about Molina Healthcare, please visit molinahealthcare.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810638909/en/ Ben Jackey, [email protected], 502-377-9484 Source: Molina Healthcare, Inc. Funds will allow Moove to accelerate its mission to transform financial services for mobility gig workers Funding reflects the growth that Moove has achieved since launching in 2020 Round brings total funding to over $335m since inception across equity and debt ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Moove, the world's first mobility fintech, announces today that it has secured $76m in new funding, consisting of $28m in equity from new and existing investors, in a process led by Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala), $10m venture debt from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, and $38m in previously undisclosed funds raised during the prior twelve months. The African-founded business will use the funding to continue its mission to build the largest tech-driven financial services platform for mobility entrepreneurs and strengthen its position on the global stage. Moove was founded in 2020 in response to the lack of vehicle financing faced by over two million African mobility entrepreneurs. Global interest has seen the business expand across multiple geographies. It is now working towards further global expansion with plans to launch multiple new products and a goal to reach profitability by the company year-end. This investment serves as an endorsement of Mooves ability to serve its customers and execute across multiple developing and developed markets. The funding signifies the start of a relationship that will also see Faris Sohail Al Mazrui, Head of Ventures & Growth at Mubadala, join the Moove advisory board. Ladi Delano, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Moove said: We are excited to be partnering with Mubadala and BlackRock to double down on our already profitable markets including the UAE, India, UK, and South Africa, as well as continuing to invest in our customer experience and accelerate our product development to deliver group-wide profitability within the next 12 months. Faris Sohail Al Mazrui, Head of Ventures & Growth, Mubadala added: Moove has built a highly scalable tech-enabled platform to serve mobility entrepreneurs globally by providing them access to credit and other financial services previously unavailable to them. This is a hugely underbanked and underserved market that we believe has significant long-term potential. Moove has gone from strength to strength since its inception, experiencing 17x revenue growth following its Series A fundraise two years ago, and empowering over 12k customers who have completed over 22 million trips in Moove-financed vehicles across 13 markets. The business is Uber's largest vehicle financing partner in EMEA and already operates the largest EV fleet by supply hours on the Uber platform in the UAE, despite launching only four months ago. Sean Dunne, Managing Director, BlackRock (formerly Kreos Capital), said: We believe Moove has the potential to play a vital part in the electrification of mobility. Moove is providing its customers access to finance and the chance to participate in the transformation of the mobility sector, by growing its global EV fleet. As countries continue to develop, moving away from private car ownership, and towards shared mobility solutions and ride-hailing, Moove can be at the forefront of that change. Ladi Delano continues: With this investment, we will now accelerate our mission and continue creating life-changing opportunities for our customers while working towards profitability. It gives us great pride in seeing our customers build a better life for themselves and their families, and this funding will allow us to offer this chance to more entrepreneurs. As an impact driven fintech, Moove exists to provide financial services to those who are unbanked or underserved by traditional lenders, so they can obtain revenue-based financing and access a path to asset ownership and financial stability. With the rise in demand for mobility solutions, there is an ever-growing opportunity for Moove to become the financial services partner of choice for mobility entrepreneurs around the world. -- About Moove Moove is an African-born, global mobility fintech that is democratising access to financial services for mobility entrepreneurs. It does this by embedding its alternative credit scoring technology onto ride-hailing, logistics, mass transit, and instant delivery platforms, using proprietary performance and revenue analytics to underwrite customers that have previously been excluded from financial services. Moove operates in 13 markets across Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia, and is Uber's largest vehicle supply partner across EMEA. Its customers have completed more than 22 million trips in Moove-financed vehicles to date. Moove - key facts Moove has positively impacted the lives of over 50,000 people, globally Over 15,000 Moove customers since inception Over 22 million trips in Moove financed cars Over $150m equity raised, and over $175m debt funding raised since inception Over 30k new cars on order Ubers largest vehicle partner in EMEA, second largest vehicle partner in India, and largest EV fleet by supply hours in UAE Moove App live in 4 markets: South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, and India 85% adoption of Moove Wallet with an average of 12 transactions per customer per month View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230809469993/en/ Sam Uden [email protected] 07 443 956 730 Sarah Kemp [email protected] Source: Moove Compared to traditional methods, Soluvec demonstrated significant enhancement in Ivermectin solubilization and bioavailability. TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Mountain Valley MD Holdings Inc. (the Company or MVMD) (CSE: MVMD) (OTCQB: MVMDF) (FRA: 20MP), a leading-edge publicly traded biotech company whose science includes that of novel solubilization methods for therapeutic compounds, is pleased to announce the recent peer-reviewed publication of the Companys Soluvec study data in the journal, Therapeutic Delivery. The published study highlights the benefits of the Companys patented Soluvec formulation, a novel, solvent-free aqueous Ivermectin invention. This proprietary Soluvec formulation was developed using the Companys patented Quicksol solubilization technology, which aims to address the poor solubility challenges associated with Ivermectin and potentially other macrocyclic lactones. The study confirmed that parenteral administration of Soluvec led to an Ivermectin drug exposure approximately seven times higher than traditional oral drug dosing, with greater bioavailability, offering potential for enhanced therapeutic effectiveness. Key Findings from the Study: Improved Solubility with Soluvec: In the resolubilized product, Soluvec, Ivermectin was present as a mix of 28.0 nm particles and polysorbate-solubilized free Ivermectin. The total concentration was approximately 2,500 times greater than that of free Ivermectin in water. In the resolubilized product, Soluvec, Ivermectin was present as a mix of 28.0 nm particles and polysorbate-solubilized free Ivermectin. The total concentration was approximately 2,500 times greater than that of free Ivermectin in water. IVM Exposure Seven Times Higher: In beagle dogs treated parenterally with Soluvec (subcutaneous or intramuscular dosing), total exposure of Ivermectin was seven-times higher than in dogs receiving a non-solubilized Ivermectin tablet of the same dose orally. In beagle dogs treated parenterally with Soluvec (subcutaneous or intramuscular dosing), total exposure of Ivermectin was seven-times higher than in dogs receiving a non-solubilized Ivermectin tablet of the same dose orally. Increased Duration of Exposure: Peak levels were higher and, most importantly for ease of treatment, duration of exposure was reliably greater with parenteral dosing; all Soluvec-treated animals had detectable IVM at 48 h, versus none of the non-solublized Ivermectin orally dosed animals. Peak levels were higher and, most importantly for ease of treatment, duration of exposure was reliably greater with parenteral dosing; all Soluvec-treated animals had detectable IVM at 48 h, versus none of the non-solublized Ivermectin orally dosed animals. Lower Doses Possible: Enhanced bioavailability of IVM in Soluvec suggests that a lower dose may achieve the desired therapeutic effects, potentially leading to reduced treatment costs and fewer side effects. Enhanced bioavailability of IVM in Soluvec suggests that a lower dose may achieve the desired therapeutic effects, potentially leading to reduced treatment costs and fewer side effects. Safety Profile: Research underscores favourable safety profile of Soluvec, with minimal side effects generally observed in test subjects. Research underscores favourable safety profile of Soluvec, with minimal side effects generally observed in test subjects. Potential Human and Livestock Applications: The results point to the possibility of easier treatment regimens and improved therapeutic outcomes not just for livestock but potentially for humans as well. MVMD deems this research as particularly significant given our belief, and what is common knowledge among scientists, that the poor solubility of the avermectin drug class (a series of drugs and pesticides used to treat parasitic worms and insect pests) remains a barrier to achieving and maintaining therapeutic drug levels in humans and livestock species, stated Dennis Hancock, President & CEO of Mountain Valley MD. As outlined in the publication, it is likely this challenge will continue for the coming decade and may worsen with stronger drug resistance becoming the reality. Conventional Ivermectin formulations simply have not been able to achieve and maintain therapeutic drug levels, compromising the effectiveness of treatments. The article, titled Physical and Pharmacokinetic Characterization of Soluvec, a novel, solvent-free aqueous Ivermectin formulation is now available online ahead of print production and can be accessed at https://www.future-science.com/doi/10.4155/tde-2023-0021. The peer-review process for consideration of publication of MVMDs study is a third-party validation of our science and the potential commercial efficacy of our Soluvec product, continued Hancock. I am very proud of our science team for this accomplishment and look forward to the pending product rollout we anticipate this year in the animal husbandry industry in Bangladesh. On May 8, 2023, the Company announced it had entered into a licensing and manufacturing license agreement with a privately held Ontario corporation for its Soluvec1% animal husbandry applications for the territory of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. Quicksol is the Companys patented solubilization technology, which has been developed to provide solubilized drug delivery options across the macrocyclic lactone class of anti-parasitic drugs and is the principal technology applied to Soluvec. To safeguard its intellectual property and the Companys licensing royalty model, MVMD has filed for its principal Quicksol patent protection. These filings target key markets that the Company has deemed strategically important at this time where it is anticipated its Soluvec products will be sold in the future. In April 2023, MVMD had filed for Soluvec protection in 12 additional markets outside of the United States, including Canada, China, India, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, and Chile. ABOUT SOLUVEC Soluvec is an innovative, proprietary formulation of Ivermectin (IVM) made using the Companys patented Quicksol solubilization technique. This method integrates IVM with cyclodextrin and subsequently resolubilizes it in an aqueous solution fortified with a polysorbate detergent. The Companys Soluvec formulation has been demonstrated to achieve an IVM concentration approximately 2500-times higher than its conventional water-soluble counterpart. Early trials on beagle dogs indicate that Soluvec, when administered parenterally, delivers nearly seven times the systemic exposure of IVM compared to its oral administration. This suggests that Soluvec has the potential to expand the efficacy of treatments for parasitic infections and may have implications in human applications including anti-cancer therapies. ABOUT THERAPEUTIC DELIVERY In a highly competitive industry, Therapeutic Delivery provides the busy researcher with a forum for the rapid publication of original research and critical reviews of all the latest relevant and significant developments, and focuses on how the technological, pharmacological, clinical and physiological aspects come together to successfully deliver modern therapeutics to patients. The journal delivers this essential information in concise, at-a-glance article formats that are readily accessible to the full spectrum of therapeutic delivery researchers. 1 1Reference: https://www.future-science.com/journals/tde/aims ABOUT MOUNTAIN VALLEY MD HOLDINGS INC. Mountain Valley MD is building a world-class organization centered around the implementation, licensing and reselling of key technologies and formulations: patented Quicksome oral formulation and delivery technologies, patented Quicksol solubility formulation technology licensed product reseller of Agrarius, a novel agricultural plant signalling technology Consistent with its vision towards More Life, MVMD applies its owned and licensed technologies to its work for advanced delivery of molecules for human and husbandry animal applications, including the development of products for pain management, weight loss, energy, focus, sleep, anxiety, and more. Additionally, MVMDs work with Agrarius is focused on generating a positive impact on crop yields and reducing fertilizer usage. MVMDs patented Quicksome technology utilizes proprietary formulations and stabilizing molecules to encapsulate and formulate active ingredients into highly efficient product formats. The result is a new generation of product formulations that could be capable of delivering nutraceutical and drug molecules into the body faster, with greater impact, efficiency and accuracy. MVMDs patented Quicksol technology covers all highly solubilized macrocyclic lactones that could be effectively applied in multiple viral applications that could positively impact human and animal health globally. MVMDs licensed Agrairus agricultural plant signalling technology that could be capable of application to agricultural crops to naturally increase yields, reduce fertilizer usage, and increase general resilience to pests and climate change. For more Company information and contact details, visit www.MVMD.com. SOURCE: Mountain Valley MD Holdings Inc. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", "plan", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "intend", "should", and similar expressions. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information as a result of regulatory decisions, competitive factors in the industries in which the Company operates, prevailing economic conditions, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The Company is making forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: enhanced therapeutic effectiveness arising from Soluvec, potentially leading to reduced treatment costs and fewer side effects, and the possibility of easier treatment regimens and improved therapeutic outcomes for livestock and humans; poor solubility challenges continuing for several years; and the pending product rollout in the animal husbandry industry in Bangladesh . The Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon. Any forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the Company's expectations as of the date hereof and is subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities legislation. Neither the CSE nor OTC has reviewed or approved the contents of this press release. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230809269072/en/ For further information: Dennis Hancock President and Chief Executive Officer Mountain Valley MD Holdings Inc. Investor Relations @ 647-725-9755 Email: [email protected] www.MVMD.com Source: Mountain Valley MD Holdings Inc. Former Head of Product at Coinbase and Google will lead product initiatives for climate-aligned cloud and AI platform SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Crusoe Energy Systems LLC (Crusoe) announced today that Patrick McGregor has joined the company as Chief Product Officer. In his new role, McGregor will be charged with leading all product initiatives for data centers, artificial intelligence, cloud software, and bitcoin mining, which includes product strategy, product definition, product design, and product execution. Prior to joining Crusoe, McGregor was head of product for web3 developer platforms at Coinbase, where he built the foundational technologies that Coinbase and the entire crypto ecosystem rely upon. Prior to that, he was head of product for artificial intelligence at Google, after leading the expansion of Google Cloud for large enterprises and strategic industries. He was SVP of product management at Trustwave (acquired by SingTel) before joining Google. He also founded BitArmor, a pioneering innovator of enterprise encryption technology. Patrick holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University in high-performance computing and cryptography, and he earned M.S. and B.S. degrees from Carnegie Mellon University in electrical and computer engineering and computer science. Im extremely excited for this opportunity to help advance Crusoes mission of aligning the future of computing with the future of climate, said McGregor. As so many companies are now exploring AI and machine learning and seeking reliable, sustainable, and cost-effective solutions for their computing-intensive workloads Crusoes commitment to climate-aligned computing truly distinguishes it from others in this space. Last year, Crusoe launched Crusoe Cloud, which mitigates the environmental impact of compute through climate-aligned solutions that capture wasted, curtailed, or stranded energy - providing scalable, clean, low-cost, cloud solutions for compute intensive applications. This empowers innovators to solve the worlds biggest challenges with climate-aligned computing technology. Were thrilled to have Patrick onboard to build world-class products that enable the next wave of computing led innovations, said Crusoes Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Chase Lochmiller. His experience overseeing product development at Google and Coinbase will help us ensure that Crusoe stays on the leading edge of technology with Crusoe Cloud, from how it's built, to how its powered, to how its used by our customers. Crusoes patented Digital Flare Mitigation (DFM) systems are deployed directly to oil wellsites to convert stranded natural gas, a by-product of oil production that would otherwise be wasted and flared, into electricity used to power modular data centers reducing methane emissions approximately 99% and carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by up to 68.6%. To-date, Crusoes utilization of otherwise wasted flared gas has reduced flaring by billions of cubic feet and has prevented methane emissions equivalent to removing approximately 170,000 gasoline-powered cars from the road. About Crusoe Energy Systems LLC Crusoe is on a mission to align the future of computing with the future of the climate. As builders and operators of clean computing infrastructure, Crusoe reduces both the costs and the environmental impact of the worlds expanding digital economy. By unlocking stranded sources of energy to power artificial intelligence, crypto, and other high performance computing applications, Crusoe is creating the future of compute-intensive innovation that reduces emissions rather than adds to them. To learn more, visit www.crusoeenergy.com and follow Crusoe on Linkedin and Twitter. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810970601/en/ [email protected] Source: Crusoe Energy Systems LLC CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The news that Microsoft will once again be the Premier Sponsor of the 2023 PASS Data Community Summit is a welcome sign, given the increasing shift to the cloud, Redgate Software announced today. The Summit which will be held in person, in Seattle, Washington from November 14 to 17 will feature a huge program of 170 technical sessions from community experts, industry engineers and industry leaders. While the sessions will be delivered across five tracks including Analytics, Architecture and Database Management, a common thread runs through them: the interest in how the knowledge to be gained can be applied in the cloud as well as on-premises. The move to the cloud is already well-documented, with Flexeras 2023 State of the Cloud Report showing that organizations are embracing multi-cloud environments, and more than half of their workloads and data are in the public cloud. While managing cloud spend and security are their top cloud challenges, the third is the lack of resources and expertise. This is where the partnership with Microsoft is so valuable for the Summit, with attendees able to learn directly from Microsoft experts, Principal Architects and Product Managers. For example, the Summit pre-conference sessions include how to develop with Azure SQL Database locally and in the cloud, and hands-on labs showing attendees how to migrate from SQL Server to Azure SQL. Additional Microsoft sessions during the Summit will give attendees further opportunities to widen their cloud knowledge, with Microsoft speakers talking about topics like high-availability/disaster recovery on SQL Server on Azure VMs, Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL, cloud-based big data processing, hybrid data with Azure Arc, and the latest updates in Azure SQL and Microsoft Fabric. Summit attendees with questions can also find Microsoft experts on hand at the Microsoft booth. As Grant Fritchey, Redgate Advocate and a Microsoft Data Platform MVP since 2009, comments: The experience and skills that data professionals require is now wider and deeper than its ever been. Organizations looking to get more value from their data are exploring different database types and platforms, and youve got to have a broad knowledge of everything from performance tuning to Power BI, and SQL Server on-premises to Azure Database for PostgreSQL. The presence of Microsoft at the Summit will give attendees the opportunity to learn and ask about the latest thinking in SQL Server and Azure. Our mission is to help organizations drive a culture where every employee can make better decisions based on data, said Shireesh Thota, Vice President, Azure Databases at Microsoft, who will be giving the opening keynote at the event. As premier sponsor of the PASS Data Community Summit, were eager to support data professionals in growing their in-demand cloud skills by sharing the latest in modernization approaches and best practices for taking advantage of the whole data estate whether the data is in Azure SQL Database, Azure Cosmos DB, Microsoft Fabric, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Azure Database for MySQL, or someplace else. The full catalog of sessions for the PASS Data Community Summit is now available and tickets are available for the event in Seattle, WA, from November 14 17. For further details, please visit www.passdatacommunitysummit.com. About Redgate Software Redgate makes ingeniously simple software used by over 800,000 IT professionals around the world and is the leading Database DevOps solutions provider. Redgate's philosophy is to design highly usable, reliable tools which elegantly solve the problems developers and DBAs face every day and help teams get the most value out of any database, on a growing number of platforms, anywhere. As well as streamlining database development and preventing the database being a bottleneck, this helps organizations introduce data protection by design and by default. As a result, more than 200,000 companies use Redgate tools, including 91% of those in the Fortune 100. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810302018/en/ Meghana Shendrikar Allison+Partners for Redgate Software [email protected] Source: Redgate GRAPEVINE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Southland Holdings, Inc. (NYSE American: SLND and SLND WS) (Southland or Company), a leading provider of specialized infrastructure construction services, today announced preliminary financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2023. Revenue: $257 million Gross loss: $34 million Positive cash flow from operating activities: $24 million Backlog $2.7 billion Southland incurred significant unfavorable charges during the quarter, primarily stemming from its legacy asphalt and concrete materials production and paving business. In an effort to wind down this component of its Transportation segment and reallocate resources towards core operations, the Company sold various materials production assets in the second quarter. As a result, the Company recorded unfavorable charges in the quarter related to additional expected future costs associated with procuring and transporting materials from third parties. While work is expected to be completed over the next one to two years, Southland has recorded the increased estimated future costs to finish these projects in this quarter in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. The company estimates the negative impact to gross margin from these charges to be approximately $49 million for the second quarter. At the end of the second quarter, the company estimates that approximately 12% of its $2.7 billion backlog consists of legacy large-scale paving work. Frank Renda, Southlands CEO stated, We are disappointed in our second quarter performance as we faced challenges in our legacy materials production and paving business. We believe discontinuing large-scale materials production will enable us to focus on our core business and is the best decision for the long-term success for Southland. Our core business remains strong, demand for our services continues to be high and we are confident Southland is well positioned for the future. The preliminary, unaudited, financial results included in this press release are based on information available to the company as of the date of this release. As a result, our actual results presented may vary from these preliminary estimates and may be affected by the risks and uncertainties identified in this press release and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These estimates are not a comprehensive statement of our financial results for the periods presented and should not be viewed as a substitute for full financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. Conference Call Southland will release its second quarter results on Monday, August 14th after market hours. Southland will host a conference call at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, August 15, 2023. The call may be accessed here, or at www.southlandholdings.com. Following the conference call, a replay will be available on Southlands website. About Southland Southland is a leading provider of specialized infrastructure construction services. With roots dating back to 1900, Southland and its subsidiaries form one of the largest infrastructure construction companies in North America, with experience throughout the world. The company serves the bridges, tunneling, communications, transportation and facilities, marine, steel structures, water and wastewater treatment, and water pipeline end markets. Southland is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas. For more information, please visit Southlands website at www.southlandholdings.com. Non-GAAP Financial Measures Backlog as presented in this press release is an unaudited financial measure that is not presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Southland defines backlog as a measure of the total amount of revenue remaining to be earned on projects that have been awarded. A project is included in backlog once Southland has an executed contract, or authorized notice to proceed. As a result, Southland believes backlog is firm, although cancellations or scope adjustments may occur. In Southlands industry, backlog is an indicator of future revenue streams for work that has been awarded but not completed. Backlog should not be considered a comprehensive indicator of future revenue as contracts can be terminated by customers on relatively short notice, and backlog does not include future work for which Southland may be awarded. In the event of a cancelation, Southland is typically reimbursed for all of its costs through a specific contractual date, as well as its costs to demobilize from the project site. Southlands contracts do not typically grant it rights to revenue reflected in backlog. Projects may remain in backlog for extended periods of time as a result of schedule delays, regulatory requirements, project specific issues, or other reasons. Contract amounts from contracts where a transaction price cannot be reasonably estimated are not be included within our backlog amount. Note that other companies may calculate backlog differently, and therefore backlog may not be directly comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies. Further, backlog is not a measure of financial performance in accordance with GAAP and may exclude items that are significant in understanding and assessing financial results. Therefore, backlog should not be considered in isolation. Southland believes that backlog provides useful information to management and investors regarding certain financial and business trends relating to Southlands financial condition and results of operations. Southland also believes that backlog provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends. Southlands calculation of backlog is subject to inherent limitations as it reflects the exercise of judgments by management. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on Southlands current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of Southlands business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of Southlands control. Southlands actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by Southland in this press release is based only on information currently available to Southland and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Southland undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810386847/en/ Cody Gallarda EVP, Chief Financial Officer [email protected] Alex Murray Corporate Development & Investor Relations [email protected] Source: Southland Holdings, Inc. T-SCCC will support initiatives seeking to ensure success of organ transplants for patients WILMINGTON, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The PPD clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, has been granted a five-year award to provide a Transplantation Statistical and Clinical Coordinating Center for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health in the United States. This center will offer a broad range of support services critical to the design, development, execution and analysis of NIAID transplantation clinical trials and research. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, the non-profit serving as the nations transplant system under contract with the federal government, more than 40,000 organ transplants were performed in 2022, setting an annual record, with total kidney transplants exceeding 25,000 for the first time ever. Meanwhile, the Health Resources & Services Administration within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notes that more than 100,000 people are on the national transplant waiting list for all organs combined. Research advances continue to expand understanding of the biological mechanisms of solid organ transplant rejection and acceptance, yielding significant improvement in one-year survival rates and quality of life. While design of clinical trials in this field can be challenging, the PPD clinical research business has the tools and expertise necessary to help sponsors develop successful, cost-effective studies that minimize site and patient burden. Thermo Fishers PPD clinical research business has three decades of experience successfully delivering clinical research services to governmental agencies, contractors and nonprofits. The business has conducted therapeutic, vaccine and medical device studies on a global scale across all trial phases and a broad array of therapeutic areas. During the past five years, it has conducted nearly 150 studies in transplantation and related indications, involving more than 7,000 patients at more than 2,200 research sites around the world. More broadly, Thermo Fishers transplant diagnostics business offers advanced solutions to help improve quality of life for transplant patients. The scope of clinical research supported by our transplantation center enables us to help advance NIAID-sponsored transplantation studies, the results of which are essential to minimizing or, more hopefully, removing barriers to the success of transplantation procedures and the complications of long-term immune suppression, said David M. Johnston, Ph.D., senior vice president and president, clinical research, Thermo Fisher Scientific. We welcome the opportunity to help design and implement effective and efficient clinical trials to move the science of transplantation forward. The center will provide services such as statistical design and analysis; clinical protocol development, implementation and study management; biospecimen tracking; manuscript publication support; study management team organization and maintenance; and collaboration with other stakeholders to plan, oversee, execute and analyze NIAID-sponsored transplantation research. The results of that research are essential to minimizing or removing barriers to short- and long-term success of transplantation procedures by reducing the morbidities associated with pharmacological immunosuppression, inducing transplantation-immune tolerance and improving understanding of the immunologic response to allotransplantation. In June, Thermo Fisher expanded its transplant diagnostics capabilities by opening its One Lambda Laboratories. The CLIA-licensed laboratory provides a suite of noninvasive, post-transplant testing services dedicated to improving long-term outcomes for transplant patients. The new lab will introduce a menu of breakthrough assays that can detect rejection from at-home urine samples, delivering results to clinicians with rapid turnaround, while easing the burden on the patient by potentially eliminating the need for an invasive biopsy. The lab also will offer customers research services to advance the development of new immunotherapies and immunosuppressive agents. The NIAID project will be funded in whole with federal funds from NIAID, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services under cooperative agreement U01AI178756. The content of this announcement is solely the responsibility of Thermo Fisher Scientific and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. About Thermo Fisher Scientific Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with annual revenue over $40 billion. Our Mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. Whether our customers are accelerating life sciences research, solving complex analytical challenges, increasing productivity in their laboratories, improving patient health through diagnostics or the development and manufacture of life-changing therapies, we are here to support them. Our global team delivers an unrivaled combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and pharmaceutical services through our industry-leading brands, including Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific, Unity Lab Services, Patheon and PPD. For more information, please visit www.thermofisher.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810736059/en/ Media Contact Information: Randy Buckwalter 919-456-4425 [email protected] Source: Thermo Fisher TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Trigon Metals Inc. (TSX-V: TM; OTCQB: PNTZF) (Trigon or the Company) announces the full restart of milling and processing at the Kombat Mine. The Company has succeeded in restarting copper concentrate production at the Kombat mine in Namibia, placing the project on track to meet commercial production targets by the end of September. On the evening of August 3, 2023, the Company achieved the major milestone of turning on the mills crushing facility and starting the flotation circuit. The plant has been running in three-hour bursts as the Trigon team fine-tunes the equipment and sets up for a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week operation. Concentrate levels are building in the thickeners with first concentrate production pending. Trigon President and Chief Executive Officer, Jed Richardson, commented: I would like to thank our staff, contractors, suppliers, local partners, and the Namibian government for their concerted efforts in getting Kombat back into production. This milestone for both our Company and the Kombat community pushes us forward as a cash-flowing operation. We look forward to the continued growth of our operations at Kombat as Trigon offers yet more value to our dedicated shareholders." Local Director, Trigon Namibia, Jeremy Hangula, commented: We commend the team at Trigon Namibia for their outstanding efforts at achieving the milestone of bringing these deposits into production. Support from our local shareholders and stakeholders has proven to be invaluable and has contributed greatly to the hundreds of jobs created, and currently adding value to the Kombat community. Qualified Person The technical information presented in this press release has been reviewed and approved for disclosure by Fanie Muller, P.Eng, VP Operations of Trigon, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Virtual Non-Deal Roadshows Hosted by Renmark Financial Trigon will be participating in a live Virtual Non-Deal Roadshow session on Tuesday, August 15, 2023. Trigon welcomes stakeholders, investors, and other individual followers to register and attend this live event. Jed Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Aidan Sullivan, Vice-President, Investor Relations will walk viewers through the latest investor presentation followed by a live Q&A. Investors interested in participating in this event will need to register using the link below. As a reminder, registration for the live event may be limited but access to the replay after the event will be on the Trigon website. REGISTER HERE: Tuesday, August 15, 2023 at 12:00 PM ET: https://www.renmarkfinancial.com/live-registration/renmark-virtual-non-deal-roadshow-tsx-v-tm-otcqb-pntzf-2023-08-15-120000 Please access this link using the latest version of Google Chrome to ensure smooth connectivity. Trigon Metals Inc. Trigon is a publicly traded Canadian exploration and development company with its core business focused on copper and silver holdings in mine-friendly African jurisdictions. Currently, the company has operations in Namibia and Morocco. In Namibia, the Company holds an 80% interest in five mining licences in the Otavi Mountainlands, an area of Namibia widely recognized for its high-grade copper deposits, where the Company is focused on exploration and re-development of the previously producing Kombat Mine. In Morocco, the Company is the holder of the Silver Hill and Addana projects, highly prospective copper and silver exploration projects. Cautionary Notes This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements include statements regarding the Kombat Mine, the reopening of the Kombat Mine, the Companys ability to restart operations, the economic viability of the Kombat Mine, the Companys ability to mine underground and the related timelines, the infrastructure required for Trigons operations and the Companys future plans and objectives. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statements or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws. 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. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810562694/en/ For further information, contact: Jed Richardson +1 647 276 6002 [email protected] Website: www.trigonmetals.com Source: Trigon Metals Inc. MineMind will be U. S. Steels first gen AI application to launch PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- United States Steel Corporation (NYSE: X) (U. S. Steel) and Google Cloud today announced a new collaboration to build applications using Google Clouds generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) technology to drive efficiencies and improve employee experiences in the largest iron ore mine in North America. As a leading manufacturer engaging in gen AI with Google Cloud, U. S. Steel continues to advance its more than 100-year legacy of innovation. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230809529761/en/ U. S. Steel and Google Cloud Collaborate (Graphic: Business Wire) The first gen AI-driven application that U. S. Steel will launch is called MineMind which aims to simplify equipment maintenance by providing optimal solutions for mechanical problems, saving time and money, and ultimately improving productivity. Underpinned by Google Clouds AI technology like Document AI and Vertex AI, MineMind is expected to not only improve the maintenance teams experience by more easily bringing the information they need to their fingertips, but also save costs from more efficient use of technicians' time and better maintained trucks. The initial phase of the launch will begin in September and will impact more than 60 haul trucks at U. S. Steels Minnesota Ore Operations facilities, Minntac and Keetac. When fully operational, MineMind will allow a U. S. Steel technician to reduce the amount of time to complete a work order by an estimated 20%. For example, the application will assist maintenance crews by guiding them through truck repairs, ordering parts and distilling complex information. The application also provides comprehensive references, providing detailed, verified source information to ensure accuracy. Weve meaningfully accelerated digitization at U. S. Steel through our work with Google Cloud. Faster repair times, less down time, and more satisfying work for our techs are only some of the many benefits we expect with generative AI, said David Burritt, president and CEO of U. S. Steel. Im thrilled that the U. S. Steel team is a manufacturing leader in this work. U. S. Steel has been utilizing innovative technologies throughout their history across its mines and mills; however, this is the Companys first generative AI application. U. S. Steel has used machine learning, vision processing and natural language processing to reduce its energy usage and bolster the Companys safety first values, among other applications. U. S. Steel is at the forefront of the generative AI adoption cycle, said Michael Clark, vice president, Google Cloud, North America Regions. Our innovative work with U. S. Steel to power operational and functional innovation with our advanced generative AI technology has the potential to not only transform manufacturing but adjacent industries from trends and logistics, to supply chain, sustainability, process automation, and more. U. S. Steel will work with Google Cloud to continue building new gen AI applications, including applications providing real-time data and insights. The two companies will seek to continue to expand the relationship to solve for high-impact areas across the U. S. Steel value chain. About U. S. Steel Founded in 1901, United States Steel Corporation is a leading steel producer. With an unwavering focus on safety, the Companys customer-centric Best for All strategy is advancing a more secure, sustainable future for U. S. Steel and its stakeholders. With a renewed emphasis on innovation, U. S. Steel serves the automotive, construction, appliance, energy, containers, and packaging industries with high value-added steel products such as U. S. Steels proprietary XG3 advanced high-strength steel. The Company also maintains competitively advantaged iron ore production and has an annual raw steelmaking capability of 22.4 million net tons. U. S. Steel is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with world-class operations across the United States and in Central Europe. For more information, please visit www.ussteel.com. About Google Cloud Google Cloud accelerates every organizations ability to digitally transform its business and industry. We deliver enterprise-grade solutions that leverage Googles cutting-edge technology, and tools that help developers build more sustainably. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted partner to enable growth and solve their most critical business problems. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230809529761/en/ Amanda Malkowski Media Relations Manager Corporate Communications T - (412) 736-2475 E - [email protected] Source: United States Steel Corporation Vast and CYD develop innovative Avatar Model to simulate and optimise molten salt tank operation in first utility-scale project deploying Vasts world-leading clean energy technology SYDNEY--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Vast Solar Pty Ltd (Vast or the Company), a world-leader in concentrated solar thermal power (CSP), today announced a partnership with global design and manufacturing firm Contratos y Disenos Industriales (CYD) as the Company advances VS1, its 30MW/ 288MWh CSP project in Port Augusta, South Australia. Utilising Vasts proprietary, modular tower CSP v3.0 technology, VS1 is designed to generate clean, low-cost, dispatchable power with over 8 hours of thermal energy storage. The project is projected to create dozens of green manufacturing jobs, as well as hundreds of jobs during construction and long-term plant operations roles. VS1 will be Vasts first utility-scale project, and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has approved up to AUD$65 million in funding for the project. Vast has a strong track record in pioneering new tank designs and is a co-developer with CYD of Flexitank, which is the subject of a pending patent application. CYD is working with Vast on early design work on VS1 and is using a first-of-its-kind Avatar Model to simulate the construction and operation of the thermal energy storage tanks that contain molten salt at high temperatures. This is a step forward for the CSP industry, with the potential to enhance the performance of molten salt storage tanks once operational. The Avatar Model concept, developed by the CYD team, utilises a virtual model (referred to as a dynamic digital twin) that aims to create the exact dimensions of VS1s thermal energy storage system, and allows for testing and simulation under different conditions. This helps to identify and mitigate any problems, while optimising design and performance of the tanks before they are manufactured and installed. Craig Wood, CEO of Vast, said: We are delighted to be working with CYD and to have their extensive global experience in CSP supporting VS1. The Avatar Models holistic approach to the design, manufacture, construction and operation of molten salt tanks will further strengthen VS1. This innovative approach to building CSP projects is a big step forward for Vast and the whole industry. Sergio Davila from CYD said: Our collaboration with Vast is breaking new ground in the CSP industry. The Avatar Model has been developed using the extensive experience in the design and construction of molten salt tank technology amongst the Vast and CYD teams, supported by other leading companies and institutions. It provides an opportunity to implement learnings at an early-stage to ensure the optimal performance of thermal energy storage systems. About Vast Vast is a renewable energy company that designs, builds and operates CSP systems to generate, store and dispatch carbon free, utility-scale electricity, industrial heat, and to enable the production of green fuels. Vasts CSP v3.0 approach to CSP utilizes a proprietary, modular sodium loop to efficiently capture and convert solar heat into these end products. On February 14, 2023, Vast announced a business combination agreement with Nabors Energy Transition Corp. (NYSE: NETC). The combined entity would be named Vast and its securities are expected to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol VSTE while remaining headquartered in Australia. Visit www.vast.energy for more information. About Nabors Energy Transition Corp. Nabors Energy Transition Corp. (NYSE: NETC, NETC.WS, NETC.U) is a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities. NETC was formed to identify solutions, opportunities, companies or technologies that focus on advancing the energy transition; specifically, ones that facilitate, improve or complement the reduction of carbon or greenhouse gas emissions while satisfying growing energy consumption across markets globally. NETC is an affiliate of Nabors Industries Ltd. (Nabors), a leading provider of advanced technology for the energy industry. By leveraging its core competencies, particularly in drilling, engineering, automation, data science and manufacturing, Nabors, which owns the global industrys largest fleet of land drilling rigs and equipment, is committed to innovate the future of energy and enable the transition to a lower-carbon world. About CYD CONTRATOS Y DISENOS INDUSTRIALES, S.A. (CYD) is an Spanish Engineering and Construction company founded in 1989 in BARCELONA, SPAIN to provide specialized services for industrial projects in different industries (power, renewables, chemicals, pharma). Molten Salt Tanks (MST) are an important part of CYDs business. Participating in the biggest and most important CSP projects around the World. CYD works in a continuing improvement of our designs based in the experience and lessons learned in the world, CYD is collaborating with this technology looking for the best solutions for CSP and thermal Storage where we are specialists. Important Information about the Business Combination and Where to Find It This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or constitute a solicitation of any vote or approval. In connection with the proposed business combination (the Business Combination) between Vast and Nabors Energy Transition Corp. (NETC), Vast has filed a Registration Statement on Form F-4 (the Registration Statement) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC), which includes (i) a preliminary prospectus of Vast relating to the offer of securities to be issued in connection with the proposed Business Combination and (ii) a preliminary proxy statement of NETC to be distributed to holders of NETCs capital stock in connection with NETCs solicitation of proxies for the vote by NETCs stockholders with respect to the proposed Business Combination and other matters described in the Registration Statement. NETC and Vast also plan to file other documents with the SEC regarding the proposed Business Combination. After the Registration Statement has been declared effective by the SEC, a definitive proxy statement/prospectus will be mailed to the stockholders of NETC. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF NETC AND VAST ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT, THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS CONTAINED THEREIN (INCLUDING ALL AMENDMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND ALL OTHER DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE PROPOSED BUSINESS COMBINATION THAT WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED BUSINESS COMBINATION. Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free copies of the proxy statement/prospectus and other documents containing important information about NETC and Vast once such documents are filed with the SEC, through the website maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. In addition, the documents filed by NETC may be obtained free of charge from NETCs website at www.nabors-etcorp.com or by written request to NETC at 515 West Greens Road, Suite 1200, Houston, TX 77067. Participants in the Solicitation NETC, Nabors, Vast and their respective directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of NETC in connection with the proposed Business Combination. Information about the directors and executive officers of NETC is set forth in the Registration Statement Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the Registration Statement, the proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC when they become available. You may obtain free copies of these documents as described in the preceding paragraph. Forward Looking Statements The information included herein and in any oral statements made in connection herewith include 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. All statements, other than statements of present or historical fact included herein, regarding the proposed Business Combination, NETCs and Vasts ability to consummate the proposed Business Combination, the benefits of the proposed Business Combination and NETCs and Vasts future financial performance following the proposed Business Combination, as well as NETCs and Vasts strategy, future operations, financial position, estimated revenues and losses, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. When used herein, including any oral statements made in connection herewith, the words could, should, will, may, believe, anticipate, intend, estimate, expect, project, the negative of such terms and other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. These forward-looking statements are based on NETC and Vast managements current expectations and assumptions about future events and are based on currently available information as to the outcome and timing of future events. Except as otherwise required by applicable law, NETC and Vast disclaim any duty to update any forward-looking statements, all of which are expressly qualified by the statements in this section, to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. NETC and Vast caution you that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the control of NETC and Vast. These risks include, but are not limited to, general economic, financial, legal, political and business conditions and changes in domestic and foreign markets; the inability to complete the Business Combination or the convertible debt and equity financings contemplated in connection with the proposed Business Combination (the Financing) in a timely manner or at all (including due to the failure to receive required stockholder or shareholder, as applicable, approvals, or the failure of other closing conditions such as the satisfaction of the minimum trust account amount following redemptions by NETCs public stockholders and the receipt of certain governmental and regulatory approvals), which may adversely affect the price of NETCs securities; the inability of the Business Combination to be completed by NETCs business combination deadline and the potential failure to obtain an extension of the business combination deadline if sought by NETC; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the Business Combination or the Financing; the inability to recognize the anticipated benefits of the proposed Business Combination; the inability to obtain or maintain the listing of Vasts shares on a national exchange following the consummation of the proposed Business Combination; costs related to the proposed Business Combination; the risk that the proposed Business Combination disrupts current plans and operations of Vast, business relationships of Vast or Vasts business generally as a result of the announcement and consummation of the proposed Business Combination; Vasts ability to manage growth; Vasts ability to execute its business plan, including the completion of the Port Augusta project, at all or in a timely manner and meet its projections; potential disruption in Vasts employee retention as a result of the proposed Business Combination; potential litigation, governmental or regulatory proceedings, investigations or inquiries involving Vast or NETC, including in relation to the proposed Business Combination; changes in applicable laws or regulations and general economic and market conditions impacting demand for Vasts products and services. Additional risks are set forth in the section titled "Risk Factors" in the Registration Statement and other documents filed, or to be filed, by NETC and Vast with the SEC. Should one or more of the risks or uncertainties described herein and in any oral statements made in connection therewith occur, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and plans could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810691430/en/ Vast For Investors: Caldwell Bailey ICR, Inc. [email protected] For US Media: Matt Dallas ICR, Inc. [email protected] For Australian media: Nick Albrow Wilkinson Butler [email protected] Nabors Energy Transition Corp. For Investors: William C. Conroy, CFA Vice President Corporate Development & Investor Relations [email protected] For Media: Brian Brooks Senior Director, Corporate Communications [email protected] Contratos y Disenos Industriales, SA ( CYD ) Sergio Davila Business development Manager [email protected] Source: Vast Solar Pty Ltd Linked to the accounts of 17 banks in Vietnam to check the funds in real-time. Enables efficient and transparent fund management by controlling account-specific verification authority, automated preparation of vault cash reports, and connection to ERP systems. Set for release in Vietnam and then in Japan, China, the UK, and Cambodia this year with the aim of expanding to Thailand and Indonesia in 2024. SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Webcash Global (CEO Lee Sil-kwon) announced the launch of WeMBA, a global B2B fintech fund management solution, in Vietnam. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230809640145/en/ WeMBA, which has been launched by Webcash Global in Vietnam, allows efficient and transparent fund management (Source: Webcash Group) WeMBA is a solution that has tailored Branch, a fund management system for mid-sized and large companies in Korea developed by Webcash, to the Vietnamese market. It enables real-time verification of the fund status by linking with accounts of 17 banks in Vietnam and improves the efficiency and transparency of fund management through account authority management by user or department. WeMBA lifts the burden of financial management in business sites in Vietnam. It automatically generates reports on vault cash with one click and sends them to the CEOs and CFOs. Customers can automate tasks through quick and easy reporting and keep track of their finances regardless of time and place. WeMBA also supports smooth interoperation with customers internal systems (ERP). The solution provides account transaction details and balances retrieved from financial institutions in the form of an Excel file so that they can be easily entered into the ERP system, thereby shortening the working time of responsible staff and reducing errors. Currently, the number of banks in Vietnam linked with WeMBA is 17, which will increase to 25 by December 2023. Webcash aims to link WeMBA with all banks in Vietnam by 2024. Lee Sil-kwon, CEO of Webcash Global, said, The launch of WeMBA in Vietnam is expected to strengthen the competitiveness of local companies through work process innovation and cost reduction based on automation. Webcash will continue to thoroughly analyze the needs of overseas companies and enhance its customer-oriented services. Following the launch in Vietnam, Webcash Global is set to roll out WeMBA in Japan, England, China, and Cambodia where Webcash Groups local corporations have been established by the second half of 2023, and make a foray into the Thai and Indonesian markets in 2024. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230809640145/en/ [English, Vietnamese] Oanh +84-28-7300-1660 [email protected] [Korean] Eunji Kim +84-28-7300-1661 [email protected] Source: Webcash Global Detroit automaker, Ford Motor (NYSE: F) told workers Thursday morning that the company will be postponing the market launch of its Cologne-built electric Explorer SUV. The launch was previously planned for early 2024, but, according to a report by Cologne-based newspaper Kolnische Rundschau, has been pushed back due to new worldwide drive train safety rules. The report doesn't clarify the exact nature of the "global safety rules" that will be implemented. Within the EU, certain extra assistance systems will become mandatory for all new cars starting in 2024. For newly approved vehicles, this requirement has been in effect since July 6, 2022. Furthermore, starting in 2024, this mandate will also extend to vehicles with older type approval. However, these regulations do not affect the powertrain. According to the Kolnische Rundschau, the Explorer will be available for purchase by customers next summer. So far, only non-binding reservations are possible. The Explorer is built on Volkswagen's MEB platform, not Ford's technology. However, when the model was introduced, Ford had yet to share technical details about the drive system. Specifics like the power for rear-wheel and all-wheel drive, as well as battery sizes, are unknown. Volkswagen's brands offer an 82 kWh gross (77 kWh net) battery for similar-sized vehicles. The rear-wheel drive produces 150 kW, while the all-wheel drive has two options: 195 kW and 220 kW, thanks to an extra ASM on the front axle. At the moment, it is unknown exactly which components Ford is getting from Volkswagen or how the Cologne SUV model differs from other MEB models. During the debut, Ford claimed the Explorer's battery could charge from 10% to 80% in 25 minutes, while Volkswagen's official factory specification has been 29 minutes. Shares of F are up 0.51% in pre-market trading Thursday morning. By Michael Elkins | [email protected] FILE PHOTO: VSS Unity rocket operated by Virgin Galactic lands after the company's first commercial flight to the edge of space, at the Spaceport America facility, in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, U.S., June 29, 2023. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez/File WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Virgin Galactic on Thursday blasted three tourists to the edge of space aboard its air-launched VSS Unity spaceplane, a live stream showed, the Richard Branson-founded company's second commercial mission as it starts routine flights. The rocket-powered VSS Unity craft dropped from the carrier plane over New Mexico around 9:20 a.m. local time and blasted its four passengers, a company instructor and three tourists, to an altitude of roughly 55 miles (88.51 km). (This story has been corrected to rectify the spelling of Branson in paragraph 1) (Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Mark Porter and Richard Chang) FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on veterans' care at George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. August 10, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo By Patricia Zengerle and Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden asked Congress to approve about $40 billion in additional spending on Thursday, including $24 billion for Ukraine and other international needs, $4 billion related to border security and $12 billion for disaster relief. A senior administration official said the needs were great, and the White House was hopeful an agreement could be reached with Congress on the request, which covers only the first quarter of the current 2024 fiscal year. But the request could face opposition in Congress, where some far-right Republicans - especially those with close ties to former President Donald Trump - want to pare back the billions in assistance Washington has sent to Kyiv since Russian troops invaded in February 2022. Trump, the front-runner in the race to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2024, has been sharply critical of U.S. support for Ukraine in the war. And 70 House members backed an unsuccessful proposal in July to cut funding for Ukraine. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said there was strong bipartisan support in the Democratic-led Senate for doing more to back Ukraine, help Americans affected by natural disasters and "fight the scourge of fentanyl." "The latest request from the Biden administration shows Americas continued commitment to helping Americans here at home and our friends abroad; and should send a clear signal to Vladimir Putin, the Chinese government, and others of Americas resolve when it comes to defending democracy around the world," Schumer said in a statement backing Biden's request. The Senate's Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, said in a statement he looked forward to reviewing the request "to make sure it is necessary and appropriate to keep America safe, secure our borders, support our allies, and help communities rebuild after disasters." McConnell has strongly supported assistance to Ukraine, saying that much of the money is spent in the United States and citing the importance of the "democratic world" unifying against aggression, whether from Russia or China. Asked about criticism from Republicans in the House of Representatives that the request violated a budget deal reached in June, the official said it was clear when that deal was signed that it did not preclude requests for emergency funding. "There's work to do, but we are hopeful about our ability to come together," the official said. FIRST UKRAINE REQUEST SINCE REPUBLICANS TOOK HOUSE Republicans narrowly control the House, where Speaker Kevin McCarthy signaled in June that any request for more assistance for Ukraine would face an uphill path through Congress. A spokesperson for McCarthy said he would review Biden's proposal. "A Republican-led House will not rubber-stamp any blank-check funding requests; rather, the Administrations emergency funding requests must be reviewed and scrutinized on their merits consistent with the practice and principles of our majority, the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The House and Senate last approved aid for the Kyiv government - $48 billion - in December, before Republicans took control of the House. A second administration official said the United States was making good on its promise to stand by Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion that began in February 2022, and would not be bashful about asking for additional funds if needed. The funding request also includes $3.3 billion to expand development and infrastructure lending by the World Bank to developing countries and provide a "credible alternative" to China's "coercive and unsustainable lending and infrastructure projects," Biden's budget director, Shalanda Young, said in a letter to Congress. The request includes $13.1 billion for the Department of Defense, including $9.5 billion for equipment for Ukraine and replenishment of U.S. equipment stocks already sent to Kyiv. It also includes $3.6 billion for continued military, intelligence and other defense support. It seeks $8.5 billion for the Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development, including $7.3 billion for economic, humanitarian and security assistance for Ukraine and other affected countries and populations, $1 billion to strengthen strategic partnerships in developing countries and $200 million to strengthen African countries' resistance to Russia's Wagner Group, which Washington has designated a transnational criminal organization. Wagner's chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has welcomed a recent coup in Niger and said his forces were available to restore order. Among other things, the package asks for $2.65 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, including $2.2 billion for border management operations, shelter and services for migrants released from DHS custody, and $416 million for counter-fentanyl activities. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Patricia Zengerle, David Shepardson and Doina Chiacu in WashingtonEditing by Doina Chiacu, Jonathan Oatis and Matthew Lewis) The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Thursday that the upcoming funding phase for the Electric Vehicle (EV) Rebate Program in Illinois will begin on Wednesday, November 1, 2023, and conclude on Wednesday, January 31, 2024. Those who buy a new or used all-electric vehicle from a licensed dealer in Illinois, fulfill all necessary criteria, and submit their rebate application within the specified period will qualify for a rebate, subject to fund availability. "Here in Illinois, we are leading the clean energy revolutionproviding competitive incentives for companies and consumers alike," said Governor JB Pritzker. The Illinois General Assembly has allocated $12 million to the Illinois EPA for the current fiscal year, concluding on June 30, 2024. The specific funding will be based on the funds accessible in the Electric Vehicle Rebate Fund, with a maximum limit of $12 million. "This incentive program was created to encourage Illinois residents to purchase electric vehicles and has already received tremendous response from Illinois motorists, with over $19 million in rebates awarded in fiscal year 2023," said Illinois EPA Director John J. Kim. By Michael Elkins | [email protected] Indonesia announced on Thursday that it's extending the deadline by two years for car manufacturers to meet the requirements for electric vehicle incentives in the biggest car market of Southeast Asia. This decision was accompanied by pledges of investment from China's Neta EV brand and Mitsubishi Motors. Under the relaxed investment rules, car manufacturers now have until 2026 to pledge that they will produce a minimum of 40% of the components for electric vehicles (EVs) in Indonesia in order to be eligible for incentives. The purpose of setting the 40% benchmark was to promote the local production of batteries. "The relaxation on the local content requirement is to attract the investors," said minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita at the Jakarta auto show Thursday. The Indonesian government has set a goal to manufacture around 600,000 EVs by 2030. This target is 100 times higher than the amount of EVs sold in Indonesia during the first six months of 2023. Minister Kartasasmita said that Mitsubishi Motors (7211.T) had committed about $375 million to expand production, including for the Minicab-MiEV electric car. Mitsubishi said production of the EV would start in December. However, until now, only Wuling Motors and Hyundai have shifted enough production to Indonesia to qualify for full incentives. Both have factories outside Jakarta and lead the market in EV sales. By Michael Elkins | [email protected] AB SNAIGE achieved excellent results in the first half of the year, clearly reflected in the doubling of its consolidated unaudited EBITDA from EUR -1.7 million for the same period last year to EUR -0.8 million this year. The significant and positive difference between this year's and last year's EBITDA demonstrates the Company's potential and viability. It is clear evidence that the Company is moving forward in the right direction. Mindaugas Sologubas, Managing Director of Snaige AB, says that not only the achieved results are pleasing, but also their positive dynamics. "The Company is slowly but surely climbing out of a deep deficit", says Sologubas. We are particularly pleased with the second quarter results: since the announcement of the restructuring in the first half of 2022, we finally have positive EBITDA. Although we only earned EUR 2,000, this is a huge breakthrough for the Company, as last year in the same quarter we had an EBITDA loss of EUR 1 million and were in a really unenviable situation. Even under the most adverse conditions, we did not give up and achieved a positive result thanks to the efficient work of the entire SNAIGE team, the support of our customers and suppliers. Sales revenues of EUR 9.2 million in the first half of this year are around 20% lower than in the same period last year. According to M. Sologub, this is a consequence of limited working capital. "We have more orders than we can produce due to limited working capital, so we are forced to postpone or even not accept some orders. It is not possible to attract additional financing and increase sales volumes in the absence of an approved restructuring plan," said M. Sologubas. Although the Company's restructuring plan has not been approved due to the legal proceedings that have been dragging on for almost a year, AB SNAIGE is already implementing its objectives: it is increasing the production volumes of more profitable professional refrigeration equipment (from 61% in 2022 to 69% in 2023), expanding the range of these products, employing its own production facilities to fulfil the orders of other manufacturing companies, expanding the base of its existing customers, and expanding its reach into new markets. By implementing its strategy and strengthening its financial position, the Company is effectively tackling the challenges of the past and striving to achieve sustainable growth for the future. AB SNAIGE is currently awaiting a second decision of the Kaunas Regional Court on its restructuring plan. The Company hopes that the court will approve the plan, thus allowing the Company to operate and pay its creditors. The vast majority (over 80%) of the company's non-mortgage creditors and Sodra support the plan. The Company is supported by the Economic Committee of the Seimas and the vast majority of its customers. AB SNAIGE was forced to embark on a restructuring process in order to preserve the continuity of its operations, which were threatened by the outbreak of the war in Ukraine last year. General Manager Mindaugas Sologubas Phone no. +370 652 11997 Attachment ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, AdImpact, the leading ad intelligence Software-as-a-Service company, announced a multi-year agreement with Inscape. The agreement will combine AdImpacts unique advertising intelligence capabilities and proprietary ad catalog with Inscapes industry leading ACR data and nationally representative panel (NRP), empowering AdImpact to provide a comprehensive ad intelligence solution across CTV, cable and broadcast media. As media companies, agencies, DSPs and SSPs face enormous challenges in the local media space, this agreement will help enable AdImpact to answer the complex questions surrounding incremental reach, post campaign analysis, media planning and local ad detection. "Understanding full funnel ad performance is a critical input to agencies and brands. As the television landscape becomes more fragmented and personalized, local measurement and insights are paramount for the advertising industry," said Ken Norcross, Vice President, Data Licensing and Strategy, Inscape. "We are pleased to work with AdImpact through a unique partnership that delivers a broad view of advertising detection, and viewership intelligence to marketers." Our partnership with Inscape represents a significant step forward for the advancement of local measurement and comprehensive local ad detection across broadcast, cable and streaming, said Kyle Roberts, CEO of AdImpact. AdImpact is proud of this multi-year partnership, and weve been focused on turning this agreement into products for our customers available via Snowflake Data Share, APIs, and our proprietary SaaS platform. About AdImpactAdImpact is the leading advertising intelligence Software-as-a-Service company, specializing in tracking and analyzing advertising data across various media channels, including traditional, digital, and emerging platforms. Our real-time monitoring captures over one billion TV ad occurrences daily. We maintain the industry's largest ad catalog consisting of over 1.2 million unique creatives. Our coverage extends across all 210 designated market areas (DMAs), over 41,000 zip codes, and across more than 20 million IP addresses. Currently, we capture data and analytics for over 88,000 brands and advertisers. Our reliable real-time data and analytics empower users to monitor competitor ad occurrences, spending, messaging, and creatives, facilitating quick and informed decision-making. About InscapeInscape is a leading provider of currency-grade ACR data and the technology division of VIZIO Holding Corp. Inscape's TV intelligence platform powers incredible experiences for TV viewers, market leading products for VIZIO advertisers and is fueling the transformation in America's TV measurement industry. The automated content recognition (ACR) pioneer generates screen-level accurate and robust, always-on data feeds containing every second of TV viewing, giving media companies, agencies, brands and measurement providers the intelligence to modernize, optimize and revolutionize the TV and streaming marketplace. Founded in 2008 as TV Interactive Systems, Inc. and later acquired by VIZIO in 2015, Inscape operated as a wholly owned subsidiary based in San Francisco, California until 2020 when it was integrated into VIZIO's Platform+ Business. Media Contacts:Kendall Allen RockwellBroadsheet Communications for AdImpact[email protected] Melissa HouriganFabric Media for VIZIO720-608-1919[email protected] Source: AdImpact BURLINGTON, N.J., Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Burlington Stores, Inc. (NYSE: BURL), a nationally recognized off-price retailer of high-quality, branded apparel at everyday low prices, will release its second quarter fiscal year 2023 results before the U.S. stock market opens on Thursday, August 24, 2023. The Company will also hold a conference call to discuss results at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) that day. The U.S. toll free dial-in for the conference call is 1-800-715-9871 (passcode: 6156875) and the international dial-in number is 1-646-307-1963. A live webcast of the conference call will also be available on the investor relations page of the company's website at www.burlingtoninvestors.com. For those unable to participate in the conference call, a replay will be available after the conclusion of the call on August 24, 2023 beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET through August 31, 2023 11:59 p.m. ET. The U.S. toll-free replay dial-in number is 1-800-700-2030 and the international replay dial-in number is 1-609-800-9909. The replay passcode is 6156875. Investors and others should note that Burlington Stores currently announces material information using SEC filings, press releases, public conference calls and webcasts. In the future, Burlington Stores will continue to use these channels to distribute material information about the Company, and may also utilize its website and/or various social media sites to communicate important information about the Company, key personnel, new brands and services, trends, new marketing campaigns, corporate initiatives and other matters. Information that the Company posts on its website or on social media channels could be deemed material; therefore, the Company encourages investors, the media, our customers, business partners and others interested in Burlington Stores to review the information posted on its website, as well as the following social media channels: Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/BurlingtonStores/ ) and X, formerly known as Twitter ( https://twitter.com/burlington ). Any updates to the list of social media channels the Company may use to communicate material information will be posted on the investor relations page of the Company's website at www.burlingtoninvestors.com . About Burlington Stores, Inc. Burlington Stores, Inc., headquartered in New Jersey, is a nationally recognized off-price retailer with Fiscal 2022 net sales of $8.7 billion. The Company is a Fortune 500 company and its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BURL. The Company operated 933 stores as of the end of the first quarter of Fiscal 2023, in 46 states and Puerto Rico, principally under the name Burlington Stores. The Companys stores offer an extensive selection of in-season, fashion-focused merchandise at up to 60% off other retailers' prices, including womens ready-to-wear apparel, menswear, youth apparel, baby, beauty, footwear, accessories, home, toys, gifts and coats. For more information about the Company, visit www.burlington.com . Investor Relations Contacts: David J. Glick Daniel Delrosario 855-973-8445 [email protected] Allison Malkin ICR, Inc. 203-682-8225 MONTREAL and NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Coveo (TSX: CVO), a leader in AI platforms that transform digital experiences with intelligent search, recommendations, 1:1 personalization, and merchandising, today announced that the company and its customer, Caleres (NYSE: CAL), a global footwear company with a diverse portfolio of brands, won for Best Personalized Shopping Experience in the 2023 Glossy Fashion Awards. The award was based on Caleres use of the Coveo Relevance Cloud, which leverages AI to improve the shopping experience across the majority of its brands, including Famous Footwear, Sam Edelman, Naturalizer, Allen Edmonds, Dr. Scholls, and more. Were delighted to be recognized for our efforts with Caleres, said Elaine Cobb, Chief Customer Officer at Coveo. To be a $2.97B company in business for 140+ years is an incredible achievement in the retail world, but also a testament to a forward-thinking brand. Embracing digital and AI has resulted in award-winning success for Caleres. Savvy retailers who stay on top of modernizing their digital strategies will always be more competitive, and successful in the end. The Glossy Fashion Awards recognized the results achieved after Caleres finalized a two-year project, which culminated in migrating its branded websites from their former platform to the Coveo Relevance Cloud. After the initial go live, Caleres rapidly re-launched its websites over an 18-month period nearly one website per month. With Coveos AI and machine learning technology powering search and personalization across most of Caleres websites, the retailer was able to offer an improved product discovery experience with more accurate search results, which led to an increase in search-driven revenues. Furthermore, the platforms machine learning-powered product recommendations fueled the personalized shopping experience with a significant increase from product recommendations year-over-year. We had a desire to deliver a more personalized, immersive shopping experience sitewide, states Willis Hill, SVP and chief information officer at Caleres. It was important to invest in software and partners that shared our belief in the end customer experience and the empowerment of business users. Coveo fits nicely into that philosophy of focusing on the customer and with their AI, relevance, and personalization we can create smooth and impressive website experiences that feel easy and natural. The jury panel for the Glossy Fashion Awards included executives from Gucci, SAKS OFF 5TH, Fashionphile, Oakley, and others. The stand-out themes in this years Glossy Fashion Awards competition have been around sustainability, inclusivity and personalized shopping experiences, said Jill Manoff, editor-in-chief, Glossy Magazine. Our judges had the difficult job of determining which submissions represented the most inspiring initiatives. Congratulations to Caleres and Coveo on their impressive personalized shopping experience win! The complete list of Glossy Fashion Awards winners is available at: https://www.glossy.co/awards/fashion/. Visit Caleres at https://www.caleres.com/, and learn more about the Coveo Relevance Cloud at http://www.coveo.com. About Coveo Solutions We believe AI is a competitive imperative to deliver the delightful and relevant digital experiences people expect, while maximizing profitability. Coveo accelerates the application of AI platforms in enterprises, helping them personalize and profitize every experience at scale. The Coveo Relevance Cloud platform is a market-leading AI platform that enhances search, recommendations, personalization, and merchandising intelligence in digital experiences across commerce, service, website, and workplace applications. Coveos platform includes analytics, AI model testing capabilities, and can easily integrate into almost any digital user experience a large enterprise delivers. Our platform is cloud-native SaaS, multi-tenant, API-first, and headless. Coveo has been a pioneer in the application of AI within the enterprise. Our Coveo Relevance Generative Answering capability, which integrates LLM technology with Coveos platform to feed generative AI with a common, secure unified index and real-time content, helps to drive relevance at scale and consistent factuality, with secure sources of truth across all channels. Specifically, this helps to solve many of the key challenges of utilizing generative AI for enterprise use cases. We help hundreds of the worlds leading brands create tangible financial value. We believe our platform is differentiated by its sophisticated applied AI, designed to deliver highly relevant, bespoke digital experiences that drive superior business outcomes. In addition, our platforms scalability, rapid time to value, enterprise-grade security and compliance, and native integrations with other third-party technology applications set us apart. We are a Salesforce Summit ISV Partner, an SAP Endorsed App, and an Adobe Gold Partner. Coveo is a trademark of Coveo Solutions, Inc. Stay up to date on the latest Coveo news and content by subscribing to the Coveo blog, and following Coveo on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. About Caleres: Caleres is a diverse portfolio of global footwear brands that include Famous Footwear, Sam Edelman, Vionic, Naturalizer, Allen Edmonds, Lifestride, and more. Our products are available virtually everywhere in the nearly 1,000 retail stores we operate, in hundreds of major department and specialty stores, on our branded e-commerce sites, and on many additional third-party retail websites. Combined, these brands make Caleres a company with both a legacy and a mission. Our legacy is our more than 140 years of craftsmanship and our passion for fit, while our mission is to continue to inspire people to feel great feet first. Visit caleres.com to learn more about us. Forward-Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, forward-looking information). This forward-looking information is identified by the use of terms and phrases such as may, would, should, could, might, will, achieve, occur, expect, intend, estimate, anticipate, plan, foresee, believe, continue, target, opportunity, strategy, scheduled, outlook, forecast, projection, or prospect, the negative of these terms and similar terminology, including references to assumptions, although not all forward-looking information contains these terms and phrases. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, intentions, projections, or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts but instead represent managements expectations, estimates, and projections regarding future events or circumstances. Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, estimates, and assumptions that we considered appropriate and reasonable as of the date such statements are made. Although the forward-looking information contained herein is based upon what we believe are reasonable assumptions, actual results may vary from the forward-looking information contained herein. Certain assumptions made in preparing the forward-looking information contained in herein include, without limitation: our ability to capitalize on growth opportunities and implement our growth strategy; our ability to attract new customers, both domestically and internationally; the success of our efforts to expand our product portfolio and market reach; our ability to maintain successful strategic relationships with partners and other third parties; our future capital requirements; the available liquidity under our revolving credit facility; the accuracy of our estimates of market opportunity and growth forecasts; our success in identifying and evaluating, as well as financing and integrating, any acquisitions, partnerships, or joint ventures; our ability to execute on our expansion plans; and the future impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are beyond our control, that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to macro-economic uncertainties and the risk factors described under Risk Factors in the Companys most recently filed Annual Information Form available under our profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, prospective investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which speaks only as of the date made. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. Although we have attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other risk factors not presently known to us or that we presently believe are not material that could also cause actual results or future events to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking information. You should not rely on this forward-looking information, as actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those contemplated by this forward-looking information as a result of such risks and uncertainties. Additional information will also be set forth in other public filings that we make available under our profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com from time to time. The forward-looking information provided in this press release relates only to events or information as of the date hereof, and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Except as required by law, we do not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Contact InformationKiyomi HarringtonDirector, PR, Social and Corporate Communications[email protected] An image accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bec3e5a8-563c-481d-9893-e7a2733ebde1 Caleres and Coveo AI Take Top Honors in Best Personalized Shopping Experience Category at the Glossy Fashion Awards Caleres and Coveo AI Take Top Honors in Best Personalized Shopping Experience Category at the Glossy Fashion Awards Source: Coveo Solutions Inc. Communication setting out the arrangements for the supplying of the Interim Financial Report for the first half of 2023 Paris, 10 August 2023 17.45 Copies of Cofaces Interim Financial Report for the first half of 2023 are available, free of charge and on request by writing to the Company at 1 place Costes et Bellonte, 92270 Bois-Colombes, France, as well as on the websites of the Company (www.coface.com/Investors) and the AMF (www.amf-france.org). The present press release and the full regulated information concerning COFACE SA are available on the Groups website https://www.coface.com/Investors. CONTACTS ANALYSTS / INVESTORS Thomas JACQUET: +33 1 49 02 12 58 [email protected] Benoit CHASTEL: +33 1 49 02 22 28 [email protected] MEDIA RELATIONS Saphia GAOUAOUI: +33 1 49 02 14 91 [email protected] Corentin HENRY: +33 1 49 02 23 94 [email protected] FINANCIAL CALENDAR 2023/2024 (subject to change) 9M-2023 results: 14 November 2023 (after market close) Investor Day: 5 March 2024 (Paris) FINANCIAL INFORMATION This press release, as well as COFACE SAs integral regulatory information, can be found on the Groups website: http://www.coface.com/Investors For regulated information on Alternative Performance Measures (APM), please refer to our Interim Financial Report for H1-2023 and our 2022 Universal Registration Document (see part 3.7 Key financial performance indicators). Regulated documents posted by COFACE SA have been secured and authenticated with the blockchain technology by Wiztrust. You can check the authenticity on the website www.wiztrust.com. COFACE: FOR TRADE With over 75 years of experience and the most extensive international network, Coface is a leader in trade credit insurance & risk management, and a recognized provider of Factoring, Debt Collection, Single Risk insurance, Bonding, and Information Services. Cofaces experts work to the beat of the global economy, helping ~50,000 clients in 100 countries build successful, growing, and dynamic businesses. With Cofaces insight and advice, these companies can make informed decisions. The Group' solutions strengthen their ability to sell by providing them with reliable information on their commercial partners and protecting them against non-payment risks, both domestically and for export. In 2022, Coface employed ~4,720 people and registered a turnover of 1.81 billion. www.coface.com COFACE SA is quoted in Compartment A of Euronext Paris Code ISIN: FR0010667147 / Mnemonique : COFA DISCLAIMER - Certain declarations featured in this press release may contain forecasts that notably relate to future events, trends, projects or targets. By nature, these forecasts include identified or unidentified risks and uncertainties, and may be affected by many factors likely to give rise to a significant discrepancy between the real results and those stated in these declarations. Please refer to chapter 5 Main risk factors and their management within the Group of the Coface Group's 2022 Universal Registration Document filed with AMF on 6 April 2023 under the number D.23-0244 in order to obtain a description of certain major factors, risks and uncertainties likely to influence the Coface Group's businesses. The Coface Group disclaims any intention or obligation to publish an update of these forecasts, or provide new information on future events or any other circumstance. Attachment FORT ST. JOHN, British Columbia, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to BC Check-Up: Live, an annual report by the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) on demographic and affordability trends across the province, Northeast B.C. added 54 residents in 2022, bringing the regions population to 72,162 residents. Our region had negative population growth in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, so it is encouraging to see some stabilization, said Ben Sander, FCPA, FCA, partner at Sander Rose Bone Grindle. While international migration and positive natural growth are helping grow our population, we are losing a large number of residents to other regions in the province and to other provinces. Northeast B.C. welcomed a net of 523 residents from other countries in 2022, well above the 174 annual average in 2020 and 2021. The region also continued to have strong natural growth, with the number of births exceeding mortalities by 466 in 2022. Conversely, the region saw a net outflow of 458 residents to other regions in the province, and lost 477 residents to other provinces. In comparison to the province as a whole, which now has negative natural growth, Northeast B.C. continues to boast the highest birth rate across the province, continued Sander. This is largely due to the regions relatively young population. However, it is worrying to see so many residents leave to other parts of the country, especially given the shortage of labour in the region. We need to find ways to improve retention of residents. The average age in Northeast B.C. was 37.1 in 2022, over five years younger than the provincial average (42.8) and the youngest in the province. However, the average age has increased by 1.9 years since 2012, and the population aged 55+ was near a quarter of the population (24.6 per cent) compared to less than a fifth in 2012 (19.4 per cent). "While housing supply remains a significant issue in many parts of the province, Northeast B.C.s housing supply growth has been robust," remarked Sander. "Our regions housing affordability is much better than in other parts of the province, and should be highlighted as a selling feature to attract residents." Since 2017, Northeast B.C. added 571 residents, while the number of housing units completed in Fort St. John and Dawson Creek was 646. The average price of a house sold in the South Peace region was $294,375 in June 2023, up by 6.7 per cent compared to June 2022 (three-month moving averages). For comparison, the benchmark price of a home in B.C. was $977,700 in June 2023. "Our population growth in Northeast B.C. has trailed behind the average seen across the broader province. To entice migrants, it is imperative that we promote Northeast B.C. as a destination offering affordable housing, an enriching lifestyle, and promising economic prospects," concluded Sander. "To help retain residents, we must also ensure they reap the benefits of the ongoing investments in the region, such as the substantial major projects currently underway." Learn more about the BC Check-Up: Live report. About CPA British Columbia The Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) is the training, governing, and regulatory body for over 39,000 CPA members and 6,000 CPA candidates and students. CPABC carries out its primary mission to protect the public by enforcing the highest professional and ethical standards and contributing to the advancement of public policy. CPABC Media Contact: Jack Blackwell, Economist 604.259.1143 [email protected] Source: Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia Mumbai, Aug. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Duck Creek Technologies India LLP, a subsidiary of Duck Creek Technologies, today announced a historical milestone with its expansion into the Indian general insurance market. Duck Creek Technologies India LLP now offers India-based insurers the ease, convenience, and power of modern cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS), delivered as a full suite of capabilities or as stand-alone solutions. With this expansion, Duck Creek reinforces its market commitment by establishing its data center in India, supported by nearly 1,000 local employees. In partnership with its first core systems full-suite India-based insurance customer, HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited (HDFC ERGO), Duck Creek will deploy its intuitive, user-friendly, and powerful solutions to empower HDFC ERGO to take new products to market faster and significantly improve their customers experience throughout the policy lifecycle and across the insurers entire portfolio. Duck Creek's products and solutions will holistically bring a competitive advantage to HDFC ERGO across its entire system, portfolio and operations. Speaking about the partnership, Sriram Naganathan, President and Chief Technology Officer, HDFC ERGO General Insurance, said, As a leading insurer of the country, at HDFC ERGO, it has been our priority in adopting innovative technologies to address the evolving demands of our customers and offer them an enhanced customer experience. Being a digital insurer of scale, our partnership with Duck Creek Technologies India LLP is a crucial step towards unlocking the full potential of HDFC ERGOs wide insurance solutions and enabling us to offer efficient delivery and more convenience for our customers. Duck Creeks SaaS solution will empower our advanced AI/ML models, providing essential digital capabilities to meet the critical needs of our customers and partners." Rohit Bedi, Chief Revenue Officer, Duck Creek Technologies, stated, Our commitment to HDFC ERGO aligns with their outstanding vision to make insurance easier, more affordable, and more dependable for all the people in India. We are extremely proud to be a partner to HDFC ERGO, Indias leading insurance brand, in their journey to transform general insurance services in the region. Bedi added, This is a significant milestone in Duck Creeks continued growth as a leading SaaS choice for insurers worldwide. Duck Creeks partnership with HDFC ERGO is another proof point that our global technology solutions are geared towards enabling a more modern and efficient insurance enterprise. Drawing on its experience supporting the worlds largest insurers and reinsurers, Duck Creek will offer its suite of SaaS-based core insurance delivery solutions, including policy, claims, billing, rating and reinsurance, to help Indian general insurers innovate and modernize their products and services. Duck Creek is truly excited to enter the Indian insurance market with our global solutions. We want to empower insurance companies in India with hyper-personalized insurance solutions that help customers buy or service insurance from any device and anytime. Customers from all parts of India can feel secure knowing they are covered and can raise claims anytime, said Shaji Sethu, Managing Director APAC, Duck Creek Technologies. The Indian insurance market was valued at $127 billion in 2021 ($30 billion, represented in the non-life sector). It is anticipated to grow to over $200 billion by 2027, which presents an exciting opportunity for Duck Creek. About HDFC ERGO HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company Limited was promoted by erstwhile Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd. (HDFC), Indias premier Housing Finance Institution and ERGO International AG, the primary insurance entity of Munich Re Group. Consequent to the implementation of the Scheme of Amalgamation of HDFC with and into HDFC Bank Limited (Bank), one of Indias leading private sector banks, the Company has become a subsidiary of the Bank. HDFC ERGO is the second largest non-life insurance company in the Private Sector as on 31st March 2023 based on gross premium garnered. A digital-first company, transforming into an AI-first company, HDFC ERGO is a leader in implementing technology to offer customers the best-in-class service experience. The company has created a stream of innovative & new products as well as services using technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Natural Processing Language (NLP), and Robotics. HDFC ERGO offers a range of general insurance products and has a completely digital sales process with ~94% of retail policies issued digitally. HDFC ERGOs technology platform has empowered the customers to avail 69% of the services digitally on a 24x7 basis with ~19% of the customer requests serviced by Artificial Intelligence-based tools. In FY23, the company has issued 1.22 crore policies and has settled ~50 lakhs claims. The Company has an active data base of 1.5+ crore customers. HDFC ERGO is present in 496 districts of the country through their 215 branches, 10,000+ employees and 1.8 lakhs agents and channel partners. HDFC ERGO offers a complete range of General Insurance products including Health, Motor, Home, Agriculture, Travel, Credit, Cyber and Personal Accident in the retail space along with Property, Marine, Engineering, Marine Cargo, Group Health and Liability Insurance in the corporate space. Be it unique insurance products, integrated customer service models, top-in-class claim processes or a host of technologically innovative solutions, HDFC ERGO has been able to delight its customers at every touch-point and milestone to ensure consumers are serviced in real-time. Please log on to www.hdfcergo.com or stay connected on the following social media handles to get more information on HDFC ERGO and the products and services offered by the company. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hdfcergo Twitter: https://twitter.com/hdfcergogic LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hdfcergo YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/hdfcergo About Duck Creek Technologies Duck Creek Technologies is the intelligent solutions provider defining the future of the property and casualty (P&C) and general insurance industry. We are the platform upon which modern insurance systems are built, enabling the industry to capitalize on the power of the cloud to run agile, intelligent, and evergreen operations. Authenticity, purpose, and transparency are core to Duck Creek, and we believe insurance should be there for individuals and businesses when, where, and how they need it most. Our market-leading solutions are available on a standalone basis or as a full suite, and all are available via Duck Creek OnDemand. Visit www.duckcreek.com to learn more. Follow Duck Creek on our social channels for the latest information LinkedIn and Twitter. Carley Bunch Duck Creek Technologies +1201-962-6091 [email protected] Source: Duck Creek Technologies TULSA, Okla., Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EIC Rose Rock, an early-stage VC fund focused on energy technologies, announced a direct investment into Captura, a California-based carbon removal company. Captura leverages the worlds largest natural carbon dioxide (CO2) absorber the ocean to remove CO2 from the atmosphere at a large scale and an affordable cost. EIC Rose Rock participated in Capturas Series A financing with the deals lead investor, Equinor Ventures, as well as Aramco Ventures, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) through the Caltech Seed Fund, Future Planet Capital, Hitachi Ventures and mTerra Ventures. Captura began ocean trials of its first pilot system in 2022 in Newport Beach, California. That system is capable of capturing one ton of CO2 from the ocean annually. Its next-generation pilot system, which has a capacity 100x larger than the first, will soon begin ocean operations at the Port of Los Angeles. Captura plants can be situated either onshore or offshore. For early commercial facilities, the company expects to co-locate facilities with existing ocean-based infrastructure, such as desalination plants or decommissioned offshore wells. Capturas technology provides a pathway to low-cost, gigaton scale CO2 removal, and our investment creates an opportunity for our corporate energy partners to play a role in the growing carbon management sector, said David Clouse, Managing Director of the EIC Rose Rock fund. This investment will allow Captura to accelerate its rigorous piloting program while simultaneously continuing to improve the technology. Steve Oldham, CEO of Captura, said, Captura is thrilled to welcome investment from EIC Rose Rock as part of our Series A round. Our industry-leading cohort of investors are providing the funding to accelerate our technology development efforts, as well as the global reach and expertise to help drive our business to the next level. With our unique technology and world-class team, Captura is now well-positioned to become a major player in the growing carbon removal field. About EIC Rose RockEIC Rose Rock is a unique long-term partnership between George Kaiser Family Foundations tech-focused development arm, multiple Fortune 500 energy leaders and the premier venture capital fund, Energy Innovation Capital (EIC). EIC Rose Rock is committed to investing in companies dedicated to developing energy technology, including those that advance the energy transition, improve sustainability, and enhance the operational efficiency of existing assets. To learn more, visit www.eicroserock.com. About Energy Innovation CapitalEnergy Innovation Capital (EIC) is the premier capital provider for innovators serving the energy industry. EIC provides early- and growth-stage funding for visionary entrepreneurs tackling global energy challenges with transformative, market-leading solutions. EIC's team leverages our industry expertise, networks and collaborative approach to help talented entrepreneurs push the boundaries of what's possible and build great companies. To learn more, visit www.energyinnovationcapital.com. About CapturaCaptura is a Direct Ocean Capture company headquartered in Pasadena, California. Captura combines innovative technology with the natural carbon removal powers of the ocean to remove CO2 from the atmosphere at large scale and at an affordable cost, providing a critical capability in the fight against climate change. Captura was founded at Caltech and its solution has been validated and supported by the Musk Foundations Carbon Removal XPRIZE, the Department of Energys ARPA-E, and Frontier Climate. For more information, please visit www.capturacorp.com. Press Contact: Bethany Hilt, Hilt Strategic Communications LLC [email protected] Phone: 1+ 330.338.6633 Source: EIC Rose Rock CHICAGO, IL, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire Epazz Inc. (OTC Pink: EPAZ), a mission-critical provider of drone technology, blockchain mobile apps and cloud-based business software solutions, announced today that ZenaDrone has secured funding for entrance into the oil and gas industry in Houston, Texas. ZenaDrone Inc. had experienced major demand for its drone industry after multiple trade shows in Texas during 2022 and 2023. The oil and gas industry has been looking for ways to replace heavy, expensive helicopters for delivery and inspections. The company has been talking with major oil companies to use its drones for inspections and delivery of machine parts to refineries and offshore oil grid. As ZenaDrone begins to create a backlog in its production of ZenaDrone 1000, it starts to build up future revenue. The oil and gas projects will be larger in scale. We estimate the revenue per drone deployment will be approximately $150,000 to $200,000, which is double that for farming and government services, because the oil and gas industry uses many more helicopters than other sectors do. The 10 drones will be available for the oil and gas industry as a service. Companies will subscribe and select what tier of service they want to receive. Major opportunities exist in the oil and gas industry for delivery of on-demand parts and inspections of oil rigs, offshore oil rigs and refineries. According to Offshore Technology.com , Drone use cases have grown in oil and gas operations. In the oil and gas industry, drones are being deployed for a variety of applications, including inspection of offshore platforms, refining equipment, leak detection in pipelines and other midstream assets, emergency response, and material handling. According to Houston.org , As the Energy Capital of the World, Houston is the headquarters and the intellectual capital for virtually every segment of the energy industry, including exploration, production, transmission, marketing, supply, and technology. Houston employs nearly a third of the nations jobs in oil and gas extraction. Home to over 4,700 energy-related firms, the region remains at the forefront of foreign investment in energy. Shaun Passley, Ph.D., CEO and director of Epazz Inc. and ZenaDrone Inc., said, We see a clear path to revenue with ZenaDrone 1000. We are excited about deploying 10 drones to Houston oil and gas industry, which we believe will be a second major industry after the military. The ZenaDrone 1000 has a high-quality camera, allowing users to take stunning aerial photographs and videos that capture the worlds beauty from new heights. It also has autonomous flight capabilities, preventing it from crashing even in challenging weather conditions or with sudden obstacles. The drones multisensor system can measure height, depth and vegetation and establish a GPS location to track people, objects and animals in the frame of its camera with unprecedented accuracy and control. About ZenaDrone Inc. ZenaDrone is dedicated to improving intelligent, unmanned aerial vehicle technology and incorporating machine-learning software and artificial intelligence. It was created to revolutionize the hemp-farming sector, later evolving into a smart, multifunctional industrial surveillance, inspection and monitoring solution. ZenaDrone is deploying drones for Drones as a Service ( DaaS ) operations. About Epazz Inc. Epazz Inc. is a mission-critical provider of metaverse solutions, blockchain cryptocurrency, mobile apps and cloud-based software. It specializes in providing customized cloud applications to corporate firms, higher-education institutions and the public sector. Epazz develops metaverse business solutions that enable people to collaborate in real time through virtual reality. Epazz is upgrading its business solutions to be fully integrated into the metaverse; it will be manufacturing low-cost smart glasses for the metaverse. Safe Harbor Certain statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements, as defined by the Safe Harbor statement in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by their use of forward-looking terms such as may, expect, intend, estimate, anticipate, believe and continue (or the negative variations thereof). Such forward-looking statements are subject to risk, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those the statements imply. Investors are cautioned that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results may differ materially from those such forward-looking statements contemplate. Epazz assumes no obligation, does not intend to update these forward-looking statements and has no duty to update or correct information that third parties not paid for by Epazz prepare. Investors are encouraged to review Epazzs public filings on SEC.gov, including its unaudited and audited financial statements, registration statements, Form 10-Ks and Form 10-Qs, which contain general business information about the companys operations, operations results and the risks associated with the company and its operations. Penny stock picks need to be researched. Please do your homework, and review all our filings. Contact Epazz Inc. Investor Relations [email protected] 312-955-8161 www.epazz.com/investors.aspx Attachment 10 August 2023: As previously disclosed, Hexagon Agility, a business of Hexagon Composites, signed a multi-year agreement in March 2021 with Certarus, a leading full-service provider of bulk gas transport, to supply Mobile Pipeline modules for compressed gases. Under this agreement, Hexagon Agility has received an additional order estimated at USD 54 million (approx. NOK 553 million). This is the largest single order for Mobile Pipeline ever received. As the industry leader, Certarus enables customers without pipeline access to transition to lower carbon energy, including compressed natural gas, renewable natural gas (CNG/RNG), and hydrogen rapidly driving customer decarbonization. We are accelerating the adoption of low carbon fuels with use of Hexagon Agilitys next generation TITAN modules, said Curtis Philippon, President and CEO of Certarus. The demand for our offering continues to rapidly grow as customer urgency to reduce emissions and secure reliable energy cost effectively is consistently driving us to improve our capabilities and scale our platform. The TITAN modules have been the backbone of our fleet and we are excited to expand our operations with the new TITAN 450 that will allow us to deliver more gas with fewer trips. Driving energy transformation Were proud to have worked with Certarus for over a decade to drive energy transformation, said Miguel Raimao, Vice President of Mobile Pipeline at Hexagon Agility. Our newest innovation, the TITAN 450, is a game-changer. It expands our portfolio of gas transport solutions at a critical time when the world is increasingly turning to RNG as an immediate and cost-effective carbon negative solution. The new modules will be used by Certarus to transport CNG/RNG to decarbonize industrial applications; provide critical utility support during demand peaks and pipeline outages and connect RNG production facilities to natural gas pipelines. Higher capacity, lighter design, lower emissions TITAN 450 enables the safe transport of almost half a million standard cubic feet of CNG/RNG in a 40-foot module, resulting in a lower carbon footprint and reduced operating costs. The new product employs the latest technology in Type 4 composite cylinders and high-strength frame design. It delivers 25% greater gas capacity, while being 20% lighter in the same 40-foot length. As with the current generation of TITAN products, the modules are approved for a variety of gases including CNG, RNG, Helium, and Hydrogen. Timing Deliveries of the new orders will commence in Q1 2024. For more information: Karen Romer, SVP Communications, Hexagon Composites ASA Telephone: +47 950 74 950 | [email protected] Ingrid Aarsnes, VP Investor Relations and ESG, Hexagon Composites ASA Telephone: +47 950 38 364 | [email protected] About Certarus Certarus is the North American leader in providing on-road low carbon energy solutions through a fully integrated CNG, RNG, and hydrogen platform. Certarus operates the largest virtual pipeline fleet in North America, with over 730 trailers by the end of 2023, to safely deliver clean burning fuels to energy, utility, agricultural and industrial customers not connected to a pipeline. By displacing more carbon intensive fuels, Certarus is leading the energy transition and helping customers lower operating costs and improve environmental performance. With the largest fleet of mobile storage units in North America, Certarus is uniquely positioned to meet the growing demand for low and zero emission energy distribution. Learn more at certarus.com. About Hexagon Agility Hexagon Agility, a business of Hexagon Composites, is a leading global provider of clean fuel solutions for commercial vehicles and gas transportation. Its product offerings include (renewable) natural gas storage and distribution systems, Type 4 composite natural gas cylinders, and (renewable) natural gas fuel systems. These products transport clean gaseous fuels and enable vehicles to reduce emissions while saving operating costs. Learn more at hexagonagility.com and follow @HexagonAgility on Twitter and LinkedIn. About Hexagon Composites ASA Hexagon delivers safe and innovative solutions for a cleaner energy future. Our solutions enable storage, transportation and conversion to clean energy in a wide range of mobility, industrial and consumer applications. Learn more at hexagongroup.com and follow @HexagonASA on Twitter and LinkedIn. This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. This stock exchange release was published by Ingrid Aarsnes, VP IR & ESG, Hexagon Composites ASA on 10 August 2023 at 06:44 am CEST. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Imperial Metals Corporation (the Company) (TSX: III) reports financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, as summarized in this news release and discussed in detail in the Managements Discussion & Analysis. The Companys financial results are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The reporting currency of the Company is the Canadian (CDN) Dollar. QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS FINANCIAL Total revenue was $85.8 million in the June 2023 quarter compared to $36.4 million in the 2022 comparative quarter. In the June 2023 quarter, the Red Chris mine (100% basis) had 3.6 concentrate shipments (2022-4.5 concentrate shipments). Mount Polley mine had 1.4 concentrate shipments (2022-nil concentrate shipments). Variations in revenue are impacted by the re-start of the Mount Polley mine operations, timing and quantity of concentrate shipments, metal prices and exchange rates, and period end revaluations of revenue attributed to concentrate shipments where copper and gold prices will settle at a future date. The London Metals Exchange cash settlement copper price per pound averaged US$3.85 in the June 2023 quarter compared to US$4.32 in the 2022 comparative quarter. The LBMA (London Bullion Market Association) gold price per troy ounce averaged US$1,978 in the June 2023 quarter compared to US$1,873 in the 2022 comparative quarter. The average US/CDN Dollar exchange rate was 1.343 in the June 2023 quarter, 5.2% higher than the exchange rate of 1.277 in the June 2022 quarter. In CDN Dollar terms the average copper price in the June 2023 quarter was CDN$5.17 per pound compared to CDN$5.52 per pound in the 2022 comparative quarter, and the average gold price in the June 2023 quarter was CDN$2,657 per ounce compared to CDN$2,391 per ounce in the 2022 comparative quarter. A negative revenue revaluation in the June 2023 quarter was $8.2 million as compared to a negative revenue revaluation of $7.3 million in the 2022 comparative quarter. Revenue revaluations are the result of the metal price on the settlement date and/or the current period balance sheet date being higher or lower than when the revenue was initially recorded or the metal price at the last balance sheet date and finalization of contained metal as a result of final assays and weights. Net loss for the June 2023 quarter was $16.0 million ($0.10 per share) compared to net loss of $29.3 million ($0.21 per share) in the 2022 comparative quarter. The decrease in net loss of $13.3 million was primarily due to the following factors: mine operations went from an income of $0.1 million in June 2022 quarter to a loss of $10.5 million in June 2023, increasing net loss by $10.6 million Mount Polley restart costs went from $30.2 million in June 2022 quarter to $nil in June 2023, decreasing net loss by $30.2 million, and interest expense went from $1.7 million in June 2022 to $7.4 million in June 2023, increasing net loss by $5.7 million. Capital expenditures including leases were $42.5 million in the June 2023 quarter, an increase of $2.9 million from $39.6 million in the 2022 comparative quarter. The June 2023 quarter expenditures included $11.9 million in exploration, $10.7 million for tailings dam construction, $3.3 million on stripping costs, and $16.6 million of other capital. At June 30, 2023, the Company had not hedged any copper, gold or US/CDN Dollar exchange. Quarterly revenues will fluctuate depending on copper and gold prices, the US/CDN Dollar exchange rate, and the timing of concentrate sales, which is dependent on concentrate production and the availability and scheduling of transportation. OPERATIONS During the quarter ended June 30, 2023, Imperials consolidated metal production was 11,181,595 pounds copper and 14,289 ounces gold, with 7,062,836 pounds copper and 10,185 ounces gold produced from Mount Polley and 4,118,759 pounds copper and 4,104 ounces gold from its 30% share of Red Chris mine production. Mount Polley Mine Q2 2023 vs Q1 2023 Mount Polley metal production for the second quarter of 2023 was 7,062,836 pounds copper and 10,185 ounces gold, compared to 6,678,094 pounds copper and 9,980 ounces gold produced during the first quarter of 2023. Metal production was up by 5.8% for copper and 2.1% for gold for this quarter due to higher copper and gold grades and slightly higher throughput. The throughput was 15,724 tonnes per day compared to 15,440 tonnes per day, copper recovery was 79.9% compared to 81.1%, gold recovery was 68.3% compared to 71.5%. A lightning strike damaged a mill motor during the quarter, which inhibited the drive to increase throughput while maintaining the excellent metal recoveries that are being achieved year to date. The motor is out for repair and expected to be repaired and returned to site at the end of August 2023. Three Months EndedJune 30 Three Months EndedMarch 31 2023 2023 Ore milled - tonnes 1,430,842 1,389,635 Ore milled per calendar day - tonnes 15,583 15,440 Grade % - copper 0.28 0.27 Grade g/t - gold 0.32 0.31 Recovery % - copper 79.9 81.1 Recovery % - gold 68.3 71.5 Copper - 000s pounds 7,063 6,678 Gold - ounces 10,185 9,980 Q2 2023 vs Q2 2022 During the comparative June 30, 2022 quarter, Mount Polley Mine was not in production. Exploration, development, and capital expenditures in the second quarter of 2023 were $9.8 million compared to $5.2 million in the 2022 comparative quarter. Jim Miller-Tait, P.Geo., Imperial Metals Vice President Exploration (Mr. Miller-Tait), has reviewed the Mount Polley disclosure contained in this news release and is the designated Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) for the Mount Polley exploration program. Red Chris Mine Q2 2023 vs Q1 2023 Red Chris metal production (100%) for the second quarter of 2023 was 13,729,195 pounds copper and 13,680 ounces gold, compared to 11,589,689 pounds copper and 10,496 ounces gold produced during the first quarter of 2023. At Red Chris, metal production was higher by 18.5% for copper and 30.3% for gold compared to the first quarter of 2023 primarily due to higher head grades for copper and gold, and a 11.5% increase in ore milled compared to the previous quarter. Q2 2023 vs Q2 2022 100% Red Chris mine production Three Months Ended June 30 Six Months Ended June 30 2023 2022 2023 2022 Ore milled - tonnes 2,357,656 2,576,109 4,448,428 4,601,566 Ore milled per calendar day - tonnes 25,908 28,309 24,577 25,423 Grade % - copper 0.348 0.486 0.337 0.450 Grade g/t - gold 0.343 0.394 0.328 0.375 Recovery % - copper 75.9 80.5 76.6 77.3 Recovery % - gold 52.6 60.6 51.5 57.0 Copper - 000s pounds 13,729 22,005 25,319 35,316 Gold - ounces 13,680 19,540 24,176 31,628 Imperials 30% share of exploration, development, and capital expenditures were $32.5 million in the June 2023 quarter compared to $33.9 million in the 2022 comparative quarter. Block Cave Feasibility Study At Red Chris, progress towards block cave mining is advancing with the decline at 3,245 metres as of July 20, 2023. The Block Cave Feasibility Study is expected to be completed in the second half of 2023. The exploration program continued at Red Chris during the first quarter of 2023 with ongoing drilling east of the East Ridge Exploration Target returning positive results. Work is underway to update the Red Chris Mineral Resources estimate to include East Ridge in 2023, which will provide further clarity on the size and scale of this prospect. During the reporting period, there were up to four diamond drill rigs in operation. A further 6,947 metres of drilling was completed during the quarter from 11 drill holes. Mr. Miller-Tait has reviewed the Red Chris disclosure contained in this MD&A and is the designated Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 for the Red Chris exploration program. Huckleberry Mine Huckleberry operations ceased in August 2016 and the mine remains on care and maintenance status. Site personnel continue to focus on maintaining site access, water management (treatment and release of mine contact water into Tahtsa Reach), snow removal, maintenance of site infrastructure and equipment, mine permit compliance, environmental compliance monitoring and monitoring tailings management facilities. For the June 2023 quarter, Huckleberry incurred idle mine costs comprised of $1.6 million in operating costs and $0.2 million in depreciation expense compared to $1.5 million in operating cost and $0.2 million in depreciation expense in the comparable quarter of 2022. EARNINGS AND CASH FLOW Select Quarter Financial Information expressed in thousands of dollars,except share and per share amounts Three Months Ended June 30 Six Months Ended June 30 2023 2022 2023 2022 Operations: Total revenues $85,761 $36,383 $178,425 $69,509 Net loss $(16,049 ) $(29,275 ) $(23,302 ) $(36,200 ) Net loss per share $(0.10 ) $(0.21 ) $(0.15 ) $(0.26 ) Diluted loss per share $(0.10 ) $(0.21 ) $(0.15 ) $(0.26 ) Adjusted net loss $(16,056 ) $(29,706 ) $(23,311 ) $(48,460 ) Adjusted net loss per share $(0.10 ) $(0.21 ) $(0.15 ) $(0.34 ) Adjusted EBITDA $927 $(22,950 ) $6,850 $(36,330 ) Cash earnings $1,270 $(23,130 ) $6,674 $(36,461 ) Cash earnings per share $0.01 $(0.16 ) $0.04 $(0.26 ) Working capital deficiency deficiency $(103,022 ) $(62,806 ) $(103,022 ) $(62,806 ) Total assets $1,357,554 $1,231,314 $1,357,554 $1,231,314 Total debt (including current portion) $277,002 $99,092 $277,002 $99,092 NON-IFRS FINANCIAL MEASURES The Company reports four non-IFRS financial measures: adjusted net income (loss), adjusted EBITDA, cash earnings and cash cost per pound of copper produced which are described in detail below. The Company believes these measures are useful to investors because they are included in the measures that are used by management in assessing the financial performance of the Company. Adjusted net income (loss), adjusted EBITDA, cash earnings and cash cost per pound of copper are not standardized financial measures under IFRS and might not be comparable to similar financial measures disclosed by other issuers. Adjusted Net Loss and Adjusted Net Loss Per Share Adjusted net loss is derived from operating net loss by removing the gains or loss, resulting from acquisition and disposal of property, mark to market revaluation of derivative instruments not related to the current period, net of tax, unrealized foreign exchange gains or losses on non-current debt, net of tax and other non-recurring items. Adjusted net loss in the June 2023 quarter was $16.0 million ($0.10 per share) compared to an adjusted net loss of $29.7 million ($0.21 per share) in the 2022 comparative quarter. We believe that the presentation of Adjusted Net Loss helps investors better understand the results of our normal operating activities and the ongoing cash generating potential of our business. Adjusted EBITDA Adjusted EBITDA in the June 2023 quarter was $0.9 million compared to a loss of $23.0 million in the 2022 comparative quarter. We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) before interest expense, taxes, depletion, and depreciation, and as adjusted for certain other items. We believe that the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA is appropriate to provide additional information to investors about certain non-cash items and is useful to investors as an important indicator of our operations and the performance of our core business. Cash Earnings and Cash Earnings Per Share Cash earnings in the June 2023 quarter was $1.3 million compared to negative $(23.1) million in the 2022 comparative quarter. Cash earnings per share was $0.01 in the June 2023 quarter compared to $(0.16) in the 2022 comparative quarter. Cash earnings and cash earnings per share are measures used by the Company to evaluate its performance however they are not terms recognized under IFRS. We believe that the presentation of cash earnings and cash earnings per share is appropriate to provide additional information to investors about how well the Company can earn cash to pay its debts and manage its operating expenses and investment. Cash earnings is defined as cash flow from operations before the net change in non-cash working capital balances, income and mining taxes paid, and interest paid. Cash earnings per share is the same measure divided by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the year. Cash Cost Per Pound of Copper Produced The Company is primarily a copper producer and therefore calculates this non-IFRS financial measure individually for its three copper mines, Red Chris (30% share), Mount Polley and Huckleberry, and on a composite basis for these mines. Variations from period to period in the cash cost per pound of copper produced are the result of many factors including: grade, metal recoveries, amount of stripping charged to operations, mine and mill operating conditions, labour and other cost inputs, transportation and warehousing costs, treatment and refining costs, the amount of by-product and other revenues, the US$ to CDN$ exchange rate and the amount of copper produced. Idle mine and mine restart costs during the periods when the Huckleberry and Mount Polley mines are not in operation have been excluded from the cash cost per pound of copper produced. Calculation of Cash Cost Per Pound of Copper Produced expressed in thousands, except cash cost per pound of copper produced Three Months Ended June 30, 2023 Red Chris Mount Polley Composite A B C=A+B Cash cost of copper produced in US$ $17,623 $16,727 $34,350 Copper produced 000s pounds 4,119 7,063 11,182 Cash cost per lb copper produced in US$ $4.28 $2.37 $3.07 expressed in thousands, except cash cost per pound of copper produced Three Months Ended June 30, 2022 Red Chris Mount Polley(1) Composite A B C=A+B Cash cost of copper produced in US$ $9,609 $ - $9,609 Copper produced 000s pounds 6,602 - 6,602 Cash cost per lb copper produced in US$ $1.46 $ - $1.46 (1) Mount Polley mine operations were suspended in May 2019, and the mine remained on care and maintenance until the economics of mining improved. The mine restarted operations in late June 2022. Calculation of Cash Cost Per Pound of Copper Producedexpressed in thousands, except cash cost per pound of copper produced Six Months Ended June 30, 2023 Red Chris Mount Polley Composite A B C=A+B Cash cost of copper produced in US$ $37,313 $32,954 $70,267 Copper produced 000s pounds 7,596 13,741 21,337 Cash cost per lb copper produced in US$ $4.91 $2.40 $3.29 expressed in thousands, except cash cost per pound of copper produced Six Months Ended June 30, 2022 Red Chris Mount Polley(1) Composite A B C=A+B Cash cost of copper produced in US$ $20,750 $ - $20,750 Copper produced 000s pounds 10,595 - 10,595 Cash cost per lb copper produced in US$ $1.96 $ - $1.96 (1) Mount Polley mine operations were suspended in May 2019, and the mine remained on care and maintenance until the economics of mining improved. The mine restarted operations in late June 2022. For detailed information, refer to Imperials 2023 Second Quarter Report available on imperialmetals.com and sedarplus.ca. About Imperial Imperial is a Vancouver based exploration, mine development and operating company with holdings that include the Mount Polley mine (100%), the Huckleberry mine (100%), the Red Chris mine (30%). Imperial also holds a portfolio of 23 greenfield exploration properties in British Columbia. Company Contacts Brian Kynoch | President | 604.669.8959Darb Dhillon | Chief Financial Officer | 604.669.8959 Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Certain information contained in this news release are not statements of historical fact and are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect Company managements expectations or beliefs regarding future events and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Companys expectations with respect to its business and operations; metal pricing and demand; fluctuation of revenues; potential development plans and mining methods at Red Chris; expectations and timing regarding current and future exploration and drilling programs; progress and advancement of the exploration decline; expectations regarding completion of the Block Cave Feasibility Study and timing thereof; timing regarding repair of a damaged mill motor; metal production guidance and estimates; and expectations regarding the usefulness of non-IFRS financial measures including adjusted net income (loss), adjusted EBITDA, cash earnings and cash cost per pound of copper. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, outlook, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology. By their very nature forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied certain factors and assumptions that are based on information currently available to the Company as well as the Companys current beliefs and assumptions. These factors and assumptions and beliefs and assumptions include, the risk factors detailed from time to time in the Companys interim and annual financial statements and managements discussion and analysis of those statements, all of which are filed and available for review on SEDAR+ at sedarplus.ca. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, many of which are beyond the Companys ability to control or predict. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and all forward-looking statements in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements. Source: Imperial Metals Corporation INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Time is running out to apply to participate in the Mark Cuban Foundation Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bootcamp hosted by Corteva Agriscience in Indianapolis. Applications for the no-cost bootcamp are closing soon! The AI bootcamp is targeted toward underserved high school students (9th-12th grade) and offers participants a chance to learn the fundamentals of AI. Corteva has been selected as one of the 28+ host companies across the U.S. for fall 2023. If accepted, participants will engage in a four- week bootcamp held on consecutive Saturdays from October 14th to November 4th. It is imperative that students commit to attending all four sessions. The bootcamp sessions will take place from 2pm-6pm ET. No prior experience in computer science, programming, or robotics is required. The applications for both students and parents can be submitted through markcubanai.org/cortevapr. During the bootcamp, students will explore the world of artificial intelligence, including ethical implications and real- life applications, such as, TikTok recommendations, smart home assistants, facial recognition, and self-driving cars. Participants will also discover the features of Large Language Models like ChatGPT, which can answer questions, create original stories, and even generate computer code. To provide a beneficial learning environment, trained volunteer corporate mentors, who are knowledgeable in AI, machine learning, and data science, will lead the students through the curriculum. Throughout the bootcamp, students will have the opportunity to work with open source tools and develop their own AI applications related to Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, and Generative AI. The Mark Cuban Foundation provides the bootcamps curriculum materials, trains corporate volunteer mentors, and recruits and scores applications for local student selected to attend camp. In addition, the Mark Cuban Foundation and Corteva work together to provide food, information on transportation options, and access to laptops for students at no-cost to use during the bootcamp. This bootcamp is facilitated with support from Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamp Program's media partner, Notified, a globally trusted technology partner for investor relations, public relations and marketing professionals. It was a lot of fun, I learned things I didn't even know were possible with A.I. and their real-world applications showed me just how much it will change our world." - Brandon B., 10th Grade, 2022 AI Bootcamp Participant Founded by Mark Cuban in 2019, the AI bootcamp initiative has hosted no-cost AI bootcamps for students across several U.S. cities, including Dallas, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Atlantic City to name a few. The Mark Cuban Foundation has impacted 900+ students to date and has a goal to increase that number year over year. Students interested in applying to the Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamp should do so before Friday, September 8th, 2023 at markcubanai.org/cortevapr. To see our 2023 camp locations and to learn more about the Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamps, please visit markcubanai.org/faq. About Corteva Corteva, Inc. (NYSE: CTVA) is a publicly traded, global pure-play agriculture company that combines industry-leading innovation, high-touch customer engagement and operational execution to profitably deliver solutions for the worlds most pressing agriculture challenges. Corteva generates advantaged market preference through its unique distribution strategy, together with its balanced and globally diverse mix of seed, crop protection, and digital products and services. With some of the most recognized brands in agriculture and a technology pipeline well positioned to drive growth, the company is committed to maximizing productivity for farmers, while working with stakeholders throughout the food system as it fulfills its promise to enrich the lives of those who produce and those who consume, ensuring progress for generations to come. More information can be found at www.corteva.com. Follow Corteva on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. Contact: Carli Lidiak, Mark Cuban Foundation Phone: 309-840-0348 Email: [email protected] Source: Mark Cuban Foundation RALEIGH, N.C., Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marius Pharmaceuticals (Marius) and Smartway Pharmaceuticals (Smartway) are pleased to announce their strategic partnership, aimed at addressing the pressing global issue of hypogonadism through the launch of a comprehensive Early Access Program for KYZATREX (testosterone undecanoate). Hypogonadism, a prevalent medical condition affecting millions of men worldwide, is characterized by low testosterone levels, which can lead to a range of comorbidities, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, depression, and cardiovascular disease. Recognizing the critical need for innovative solutions to alleviate the burden of this condition, the collaboration between Marius and Smartway marks a significant milestone in expanding access to KYZATREX, a groundbreaking therapeutic option already demonstrating promise in improving the lives of men across the United States. Smartway Pharmaceuticals, a specialist in the provision of early access, compassionate use, and named patient supply of new therapeutics, is appointed the exclusive Early Access Provider for KYZATREX in all countries outside of the USA. Smartway has hubs across the globe including in the UK, EU, Middle East, USA, and India. Josh Cocklin, Chief Executive of Smartway, expressed his enthusiasm for the collaboration, stating, KYZATREX is already making a difference in the lives of men across the USA. With this agreement, we will extend access to KYZATREX to patients across the world. We believe that there will be significant interest in KYZATREX from healthcare specialists globally. This latest agreement extends the portfolio of Early Access Programs Smartway is managing and continues their journey as one of the most rapidly expanding EAP providers in the industry, being trusted by large and small biotech companies and manufacturers. Shalin Shah, CEO of Marius Pharmaceuticals, emphasized the significance of the partnership, stating, We have seen the difference KYZATREX has made to patients lives in the USA and are excited that this agreement will expand access. Marius is focused on the US market, so we needed a patient-centric partner with deep expertise. Smartway has the capability to provide access to KYZATREX on a global basis while meeting the strict regulatory standards. Smartway matches our desire to help patients and has the expertise combined with a global network to get KYZATREX to patients. We view this as a strategic long-term partnership. As the world grapples with the escalating burden of hypogonadism and its associated comorbidities, the collaboration between Marius Pharmaceuticals and Smartway Pharmaceuticals represents a united effort to bring KYZATREX to the forefront of the global battle against this pervasive medical condition. Through this innovative Early Access Program, the partners seek to empower healthcare professionals worldwide with a transformative therapeutic solution that can positively impact the lives of millions of men suffering from low testosterone and its related health challenges. About Smartway Pharmaceuticals (www.smartwaypharma.com) Smartway Pharmaceuticals designs, implements, and manages global Early / Expanded Access Programs, intended to empower access to medicines on a global level and help transform lives. We partner with pharma and biotechs who trust Smartway as a leader in the provision of Expanded Access, Early Access, Compassionate Use and Named Patient Programs across 98 countries. Over the last 20 years, weve gained the experience it takes to strategically advise, design, initiate and manage global or regional programs with biotechs and pharma. As part of its specialist offering, Smartway provide end-to-end solutions to manage complex EAPs, whatever the size and scale, Smartway are committed to empowering patient access to the right therapy. https://www.smartwaypharma.co.uk/how-we-help/eap About KYZATREX KYZATREX is a proprietary softgel oral formulation absorbed primarily via the lymphatic system (meaning it is not toxic to the liver) indicated in adult males for conditions associated with a deficiency or absence of endogenous testosterone. The safety and efficacy of KYZATREX was demonstrated in a phase 3, multi-center, open-label, six-month study in 155 hypogonadal males between 18 and 65 years of age with documented hypogonadism, as defined by a below normal serum testosterone level (281 ng/dL) and at least one sign or symptom of testosterone deficiency. In the efficacy population (n=139), 88 percent of hypogonadal men treated with KYZATREX achieved a mean plasma total testosterone concentration (Cavg) over 24 hours within the normal range (222-800 ng/dL) on the final pharmacokinetic (PK) visit of the study at Day 90 (primary endpoint). Based on exploratory endpoints, patients who received KYZATREX reported improvements in quality of life, energy/fatigue, erectile function, intercourse satisfaction, and positive mood. The most common side effect reported in 2 percent of KYZATREX patients was increased blood pressure (2.6%). The safety and efficacy of KYZATREX in males less than 18 years old have not been established. Please see additional Important Safety Information below, including Boxed Warning for potential increased blood pressure, for KYZATREX or visit www.kyzatrex.com. KYZATREX is only licensed in the USA. About Marius Pharmaceuticals Marius Pharmaceuticals is a patient-centric healthcare company focusing on therapies designed for hypogonadism or Testosterone Deficiency. The companys mission is to improve the functional lives of patients by reducing the downstream effects of Testosterone Deficiency, which include multiple comorbidities, such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and depression. For more information, please visit www.mariuspharma.com. Smartway Pharmaceuticals Robert Donnell, Executive Vice President- Medicines Access +44 20 4551 5884 [email protected] Anna Vassova, Marketing Manager [email protected] Marius Pharmaceuticals Lilly Washburn +1 (336) 404-9622 [email protected] Use KYZATREX (testosterone undecanoate) is a prescription drug that is used to treat adult men who have low or no testosterone levels due to certain medical conditions. KYZATREX is a controlled substance (CIII) because it contains testosterone. It is not known if KYZATREX is safe or effective in males younger than 18 years old. Improper use may affect bone growth in children. KYZATREX is not meant for use by women. Important Safety Information for KYZATREX KYZATREX can increase blood pressure, which can increase the risk of having a heart attack or stroke and can increase risk of death due to a heart attack or stroke. Your risk may be greater if you have already had a heart attack or stroke or if you have other risk factors for heart attack or stroke. If your blood pressure increases while on KYZATREX, blood pressure medicines may need to be started. If you are currently taking blood pressure medicines, they may need to be changed or new blood pressure medicines may need to be added to control your blood pressure. If your blood pressure cannot be controlled, KYZATREX may need to be stopped. Your healthcare provider will monitor your blood pressure while you are being treated with KYZATREX. Do not take KYZATREX if you: have breast cancer; have or might have prostate cancer; are a woman who is pregnant (KYZATREX may harm your unborn baby); are allergic to KYZATREX or any of its ingredients; or have low testosterone without certain medical conditions (e.g., do not take KYZATREX if you have low testosterone due to age). Before you take KYZATREX, tell your healthcare provider about all of your medical conditions, including if you: have high blood pressure or are treated for high blood pressure; have a history of diabetes; have heart problems; have high red blood cell count (hematocrit) or high hemoglobin laboratory value; have urinary problems due to an enlarged prostate; have liver or kidney problems; or have problems breathing while you sleep (sleep apnea). Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Taking KYZATREX with certain other medicines can affect each other. Especially, tell your healthcare provider if you take: insulin; medicines that decrease blood clotting (blood thinners); corticosteroids; or medicines that increase blood pressure, such as some cold medicine and pain medicines. KYZATREX may cause other serious side effects including: Increase in red blood cell count (hematocrit) or hemoglobin , which can increase the risk of blood clots, strokes, and heart attacks. You may need to stop KYZATREX if your red blood cell count increases. , which can increase the risk of blood clots, strokes, and heart attacks. You may need to stop KYZATREX if your red blood cell count increases. If you already have an enlarged prostate, your signs and symptoms may worsen while taking KYZATREX. These may include: increased urination at night; trouble starting your urine stream; urinating many times during the day; urge to go to the bathroom right away; a urine accident; inability to pass urine or weak urine flow. These may include: increased urination at night; trouble starting your urine stream; urinating many times during the day; urge to go to the bathroom right away; a urine accident; inability to pass urine or weak urine flow. Increased risk of prostate cancer . . Blood clots in the legs or lungs . Signs and symptoms of a blood clot in your leg can include pain, swelling or redness. Signs and symptoms of a blood clot in your lungs can include difficulty breathing or chest pain. . Signs and symptoms of a blood clot in your leg can include pain, swelling or redness. Signs and symptoms of a blood clot in your lungs can include difficulty breathing or chest pain. Abuse . Testosterone can be abused when taken at higher than prescribed doses and when used with other anabolic androgenic steroids. Abuse can cause serious heart and psychological side effects. . Testosterone can be abused when taken at higher than prescribed doses and when used with other anabolic androgenic steroids. Abuse can cause serious heart and psychological side effects. In large doses, KYZATREX may lower your sperm count. Liver problems. Symptoms of liver problems may include: nausea or vomiting; yellowing of your skin or whites of your eyes; dark urine; pain on the right side of your stomach area (abdominal pain). Symptoms of liver problems may include: nausea or vomiting; yellowing of your skin or whites of your eyes; dark urine; pain on the right side of your stomach area (abdominal pain). Swelling of your ankles, feet, or body (edema), with or without heart failure. Enlarged or painful breasts. Breathing problems while you sleep (sleep apnea). Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of the serious side effects listed above. The most common side effect of KYZATREX is high blood pressure. Other side effects may include: headache, joint or back pain, diarrhea, increased red blood cell count, anxiety, constipation, swelling of the legs, and increased prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels. These are not all the possible side effects of KYZATREX. For more information, ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist. You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088. You may also report side effects to Marius by visiting www.mariuspharma.com. Keep KYZATREX and all medicines out of the reach of children. See Full Prescribing Information and Medication Guide for KYZATREX. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Medaro Mining Corp. (CSE: MEDA OTC:MEDAF FWB: 1ZY) (Medaro or the Company) is pleased to announce that Rock Edge Resources has contracted Ombabika Group Inc. (100% First Nations owned) to drill 4 holes along strike of Dyke #1 (discovery outcrop) at its recently optioned Superb Lake Property, situated in northwestern Ontario. Rock Edge Resources Inc. has an option to earn a 70% interest in the Superb Lake lithium project from Medaro. (see PR dated Nov. 29, 2022). The planned drill program is aimed to test the orientation and thickness of Dyke #1. Due to slight alteration and deformation of the dyke, seen in the 2022 exploration program, it is difficult to estimate the true strike and dip on the surface. The 4 holes will provide the company with enough detail to develop a 3D orientation of the dyke and any parallel zones. This will be used to develop a full-scale drill program and provide information regarding lithium mineralization, capturing both contacts, which was not achieved in 2022. Due to permitting constraints, the contractor is using a lightweight ATV portable JKS-15 drill to produce IAW size core 26mm. Highlights: Drill hole SPB-23-01 (Az165/ Dip -45) intersected 7.1 meters of spodumene-albite pegmatite. Visual spodumene estimate is 12% for the entire interval including 2.1 meters of 20% coarse-grained spodumene. This hole is located 60m inland from the initial discovery point on Superb Lake. Hole SPB-23-02 (Az165/ Dip -70) failed to intersect pegmatite, this hole was pulled back to intersect the same cross-section at 20m deeper than hole SPB-23-01. Most likely the orientation of the dyke is more vertical than initially mapped. Hole SPB-23-03 (Dip 89) is currently being drilling, this target is a sub-vertical hole to define hanging-wall contact and orientation of the dyke as our second hole did not intersect the dyke. This hole will also give us insight into the alteration of spodumene at depth and a vertical profile of spodumene mineralization (aimed at 30-40m depth) as minor spodumene alteration was noted on surface in 2022. SPB-23-04: planned another 60-meter-long strike, based on a recent discovery at the end of July 2023, a new parallel zone 10m southeast (3-4meters wide) was identified by the ground crew. The fieldwork in preparation for drilling helped to discover a 3-4m wide parallel dyke which was found exposed after a large tree fell over in a windstorm. Prospectors examined the dyke and noted a spodumene crystal on surface. The ground crew will channel sample the dyke and confirm spodumene percentage. Based on this information, Hole SPB-23-04 will be extended past Dyke #1 to intersect Dyke #2 and test the orientation and mineralization at depth. QA/QCAll intersections reported are based on drilled widths and have not been converted to the true width. The drill core is being logged and sampled at the core shack using a rock saw at Pleson Geoscience core shack located in Nipigon, ON. The samples will be bagged and tagged using best practices and will be delivered to an independent Canadian certified laboratory for sample preparation and analysis for lithium and other elements of interest. About the Superb Lake PropertyThe Superb Lake Property encompasses approximately 2,378 hectares in the O Sullivan Lake / Maun Lake Area of the Thunder Bay Mining District of Northwestern Ontario, Canada. Geologically, the property is situated in the eastern part of Wabigoon Subprovince of the Superior Geological Province. The Superb Lake area has historical exploration carried out since the 1950s with the discovery of lithium along the shores of Superb Lake. The discovery outcrop is reported to have a minimum outcrop exposed length of 16 m, while its exposed width varies from 2.5 m to a maximum of 3.7 m. In 2020, four samples collected from a spodumene rich part of the dyke returned 1.77 % to 4.03% Li2O. Qualified Person Afzaal Pirzada, P.Geo., a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release. On Behalf of the Board of Directors Michael R. MulberryCEO & Director About the Company Medaro Mining Corp. is a lithium exploration company based in Vancouver, BC. and holds options over the Superb Lake lithium property located in Thunder Bay, Ontario; Darlin, Rapide and the CYR South lithium properties in Quebec; and Yurichson Uranium property in the Athabasca basin Saskatchewan. The Company is a party to a joint venture agreement that engages the Company in the development and commercialization of a new process to extract lithium from spodumene concentrate. For more information, investors should review the Companys filings that are available at www.sedar.com. The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy hereof. Forward Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward looking information" (as defined under applicable securities laws), based on management's best estimates, assumptions, and current expectations. Such statements include but are not limited to, statements with respect to the plans for future exploration and development of the Company's properties and the acquisition of additional exploration projects. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology such as "expects", "expected", "budgeted", "forecasts", "anticipates" "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "aims", "potential", "goal", "objective", "prospective", and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "can", "could" or "should" occur. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: risks related to the receipt of all necessary regulatory and third party approvals for the proposed operations of the Company's business and exploration activities, risks related to the Company's exploration properties; risks related to international operations; risks related to general economic conditions, actual results of current exploration activities, unanticipated reclamation expenses; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; fluctuations in prices of commodities including lithium and gold; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, increases in market prices of mining consumables, possible variations in reserves; 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; delays in the completion of exploration, development or construction activities, changes in national and local government regulation of mining operations, tax rules and regulations, and political and economic developments in jurisdictions in which the Company operates. . Although the Company 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. The forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are made as of the date hereof and are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such factors or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as require by law. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information. Please refer to the Company's most recent filings under its profile at www.sedar.com for further information respecting the risks affecting the Company and its business. Contact Information[email protected]604-602-0001 Source: Medaro Mining Corp. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Metalert, Inc. (OTC: MLRT) (the Company) , a pioneer in location sensitive health monitoring devices and wearable technology products announced today Global Safe Tracks, its OEM manufacturer, has received its first production run and started shipping units into Germany and the U.K. Based on the initial positive feedback and forecast, an additional 1,000 devices are going into production. Global Safe Tracks is under license to manufacture a modified version of the GPS SmartSole that includes 2G technology as a fall back to 4G technology for countries where 4G coverage has not been fully implemented. The European version is sold under the brand name SafeSole and the made in U.S.A. Cat M1 Bluetooth / Wi-Fi version is sold under the brand name GPS SmartSole plus. We are very pleased with the initial manufacturing results, and the ability for more product to quickly go into production in order to meet our global demand, stated Andrew Duncan MetAlert director. Since announcing our manufacturing partnership last week, we have seen immediate benefits across the supply chain. By having an extra factory and point of distribution in Germany we were able to fill orders for the U.K. within days, saving time and freight costs, back orders from Germany were quickly filled, saving time and costs, which then prompted an additional 1,000 units to go into production, as customer were seeing the improvements in our ability to ship orders. During the same time frame, we received a shipment from our U.S. factory and orders were immediately shipped out to our U.S. customers, stated Patrick Bertagna MetAlert CEO. Under the 3-year OEM license agreement, Global Safe Tracks will be manufacturing the SafeSole in Germany, enabling a faster on demand delivery throughout Europe, while significantly reducing tariff and shipping costs across Europe, in addition to opening up new markets where 4G is currently unavailable. To find out more how you can buy or become an authorized reseller or OEM partner please contact [email protected] business development. Social Media: FB: https://www.facebook.com/metalertinc IG: https://www.instagram.com/metalert/?hl=en Twitter: https://twitter.com/metalertinc Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/metalertinc/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUlYP1WQoLdKkDzwhGkx40Q General information, investor relations, wholesale licensing, consumer purchase: Tel: 213.489.3019 Email: [email protected] or [email protected] website www.metalert.com MetAlert United Kingdom, London Nelson Skip Riddle Tel: +44 7785 364100 Email: [email protected] About MetAlert, Inc.: MetAlert (OTC: MLRT) and its subsidiaries are engaged in designing, developing, manufacturing, distributing, selling, and licensing products, services, and intellectual property in the GPS/BLE wearable technology, personal location, wandering assistive technology, and health data collection and monitoring. With over 20 years of experience and an extensive patent portfolio, MetAlert is a leading solution provider for consumers/patients afflicted with Alzheimer, dementia, and autism. This market represents approximately 2.9% of the worlds population. The company offers global end-to-end hardware, software, and connectivity solutions, in addition to developing two-way tracking technologies, which seamlessly integrate with consumer products, enterprise and government agency applications. Utilizing the latest in miniaturized, low power consumption GPS, Cellular, RF, NFC, and BLE technologies, enabling caregivers to track and monitor patients in real time. Known for its game-changing and award-winning patented GPS SmartSole -- think Dr. Scholls meets LoJack, the worlds first invisible wearable technology tracking device created for those at risk of wandering due to Alzheimers, dementia, autism, and traumatic brain injury. MetAlerts subscription-based business model is built around technology innovation with intellectual property protection. The company has international distributors servicing customers across the globe with subscribers in over 40 countries and is a U.S. Military Government contractor. Other customers include public health authorities, municipalities, emergency and law enforcement, private schools, assisted living facilities, NGOs, small business enterprises, senior care homes, and consumers. www.MetAlert.com About GlobalSafeTrack Systems GmbH, operating since 2014, specializing in worldwide tracking and emergency communication solutions, both serving GSM/4G and satellite networks. Markets products under the ProteGear and SafeSole brand names. Receiver of numerous awards including the iF Design Awards 2020, redDot Design Award 2020, ISPO Product of the Year award 2020. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements. The terms and phrases expects, would, will, believes, and similar terms and phrases are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by MetAlert considering its experience and perception of current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that MetAlert believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause MetAlerts actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Certain risk factors that may cause actual results to differ are outlined in MetAlerts Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (which may be obtained on the SEC Website). These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not rely on MetAlerts forward-looking statements. MetAlert has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required. Disclaimer: MetAlert does not warrant or represent that the unauthorized use of materials drawn from this document's content will not infringe the rights of third parties who are not owned or affiliated by MetAlert. (All dollar amounts in USD unless otherwise stated). VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Orezone Gold Corporation (TSX: ORE, OTCQX: ORZCF) (Orezone or Company) reported its operational and financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023. The consolidated financial statements and Managements Discussion and Analysis are available at www.orezone.com and on the Companys profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. The Company will host a conference call and webcast on August 10, 2023 commencing at 8:00am PDT to discuss the Companys second quarter results. Additional details are provided at the end of this press release. Patrick Downey, President and CEO, commented The Bombore mine delivered another solid quarter of gold production which allowed the Company to reduce its debt by a further $19.1 million while maintaining a healthy cash balance. During the quarter, the operations team successfully completed several mill maintenance tasks including a full mill re-line with a new liner design that will increase liner life going forward. Processed head grades were lower than modelled in the first half of 2023 as we encountered a greater intensity of historical artisanal depletion in certain near-surface higher-grade ore zones mined. As a result, we now forecast that 2023 gold production will trend towards the low-end of our guidance range with a modest increase in AISC guidance. With our value enhancing initiatives, we are advancing fieldwork to connect to Burkina Fasos national grid and remain on track to receive grid power before year-end. Once completed, this will significantly reduce our cost for power which is currently being generated using on-site diesel gensets rented from a third party. In addition, our Phase II hard rock expansion feasibility study and LOM plan update is nearing completion with release of study results planned for the end of September. SECOND QUARTER 2023 HIGHLIGHTS Operational Produced 35,482 gold oz Sold 33,608 gold oz at an average realized price of $1,970 per oz AISC of $1,109 per gold oz sold Zero lost-time injuries with 1,037,000 personnel hours worked Financial Revenue of $66.4 million Earnings from mine operations of $27.5 million Net income and net income per share (basic) attributable to Orezone shareholders of $11.4 million and $0.03, respectively Adjusted earnings and adjusted earnings per share (basic) attributable to Orezone shareholders of $11.2 million and $0.03, respectively Cash flow from operations before changes in non-cash working capital of $25.2 million ($20.2 million after changes in non-cash working capital) Free cash flow of $8.0 million Principal repayment of $19.1 million under the Coris Bank senior debt facility Cash of $32.3 million at June 30, 2023 Non-IFRS measures. See Non-IFRS Measures section below for additional details. PRODUCTION AND FINANCIAL SUMMARY (All mine site figures are on a 100% basis) Q2-2023 Q1-2023 H1-2023 Operating Performance Gold production oz 35,482 41,301 76,783 Gold sales oz 33,608 43,139 76,747 Average realized gold price $/oz 1,970 1,892 1,926 Cash costs per gold ounce sold $/oz 924 799 854 All-in sustaining costs (AISC) per gold ounce sold $/oz 1,109 926 1,006 Financial Performance Revenue $000s 66,396 81,712 148,108 Earnings from mine operations $000s 27,490 39,670 67,160 Net income attributable to shareholders of Orezone $000s 11,380 22,560 33,940 Net income per common share attributable to shareholders of Orezone: Basic $ 0.03 0.07 0.10 Diluted $ 0.03 0.06 0.09 Adjusted EBITDA $000s 31,526 42,645 74,171 Adjusted earnings attributable to shareholders of Orezone $000s 11,236 24,574 35,810 Adjusted earnings per share attributable to shareholders of Orezone $ 0.03 0.07 0.10 Cash and Cash Flow Data Operating cash flow before changes in working capital $000s 25,228 41,137 66,365 Operating cash flow $000s 20,155 38,926 59,081 Free cash flow $000s 8,016 31,498 39,514 Cash, end of period $000s 32,309 45,172 32,309 Cash costs, AISC, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted earnings, Adjusted earnings per share, and Free cash flow are non-IFRS measures. See Non-IFRS Measures section below for additional information. The Company poured first gold on September 10, 2022 and declared commercial production on December 1, 2022 at its Bombore mine. As a result, comparative figures for the corresponding quarter and year-to-date period in the prior year have not been presented as they are not meaningful as the Bombore mine was under construction during this period. Operating and financial performance in the current quarter have been compared against Q1-2023 to highlight quarter-over-quarter movements in performance. 2023 Guidance Update The Company previously issued 2023 gold production guidance of between 140,000 to 155,000 oz with AISC per gold ounce sold in the range of $1,010 to $1,110. The Company is now forecasting 2023 gold production at the bottom end of its guidance range. Greater-than-anticipated artisanal depletion has been encountered in certain high-grade zones mined to the end of H1-2023 which has resulted in lower-than-modelled ore grades being delivered to the process plant. Significant artisanal workings were encountered in H1-2023 but evidence of artisanal activity has diminished as the Company mines towards lower pit benches. As a result, the Company expects historical artisanal activity to have less influence on the modelled mined grades in H2-2023. In addition, the mining contractor is currently approximately 10% behind plan in terms of material movement which has delayed access to areas of higher-grade ore. A second mining contractor, currently on-site assisting with the expansion of the tailings storage facility, has been hired on a temporary basis to improve mining volumes and to catch-up to plan by the end of 2023. As planned, the Company has processed its last remaining stockpiles of higher-grade ore accumulated during construction in June 2023, and therefore, gold production in H2-2023 is expected to decline from production levels realized in H1-2023, offsetting the benefits of greater mining volumes and expected lower artisanal depletion. AISC per ounce sold for 2023 is now revised upwards to $1,100 - $1,180, up from the previous guidance range of $1,010 - $1,110. The cost increase is driven mainly by the lower forecasted gold production and head grades. Other contributing factors include persistently high local diesel prices which affect both mining costs and on-site power generation, a stronger XOF currency, and additional government royalties from a higher-than-budgeted realized gold price. BOMBORE GOLD MINE (100% BASIS) OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS Q2-2023 Q1-2023 H1-2023 Safety Lost-time injuries frequency rate (LTIFR) per 1M hours 0.00 0.00 0.00 Personnel-hours worked 000s hours 1,037 928 1,965 Mining Physicals Ore tonnes mined tonnes 1,927,753 2,205,056 4,132,809 Waste tonnes mined tonnes 3,152,264 2,382,135 5,534,399 Total tonnes mined tonnes 5,080,017 4,587,191 9,667,208 Strip ratio waste:ore 1.64 1.08 1.34 Processing Physicals Ore tonnes milled tonnes 1,400,160 1,445,693 2,845,853 Head grade milled Au g/t 0.87 0.96 0.92 Recovery rate % 91.1 92.2 91.7 Gold produced oz 35,482 41,301 76,783 Unit Cash Cost Mining cost per tonne $/tonne 2.86 2.91 2.89 Mining cost per ore tonne processed $/tonne 6.46 6.51 6.49 Processing cost $/tonne 10.72 9.21 9.95 Site general and admin (G&A) cost $/tonne 3.73 3.23 3.47 Cash cost per ore tonne processed $/tonne 20.91 18.95 19.91 Cash Costs and AISC Details Mining cost (net of stockpile movements) $000s 9,050 9,417 18,467 Processing cost $000s 15,006 13,322 28,328 Site G&A cost $000s 5,217 4,667 9,883 Refining and transport cost $000s 164 148 312 Government royalty cost $000s 3,930 4,912 8,842 Gold inventory movements $000s (2,299) 2,019 (280) Cash costson a sales basis $000s 31,068 34,485 65,552 Sustaining capital $000s 4,308 3,530 7,838 Sustaining leases $000s - 187 187 Corporate G&A cost $000s 1,883 1,731 3,614 All-In Sustaining Costson a sales basis $000s 37,259 39,933 77,192 Gold sold oz 33,608 43,139 76,747 Cash costs per gold ounce sold $/oz 924 799 854 All-In Sustaining Costs per gold ounce sold $/oz 1,109 926 1,006 Non-IFRS measure. See Non-IFRS Measures section for additional details. Bombore Production Results Gold production in Q2-2023 was 35,482 oz, a decrease of 14% from the 41,301 oz produced in Q1-2023. The drop in gold production is attributable to decreases in head grades of 9%, plant throughput of 3%, and plant recoveries of 2% as compared to the prior quarter. Head grades were lower in Q2 due to mine sequencing, greater prevalence of historical artisanal activity in areas mined, and the mill feed prioritization of better grade ore stockpiles in Q1. Plant throughput declined marginally from Q1 which exceeded nameplate by approximately 13%. Lower plant availability in Q2 was the result of routine maintenance for the installation of newly designed mill liners in April 2023 and the replacement of worn shafts in the front-end mineral sizer in late May 2023. All major planned maintenance is now complete for 2023 with plant throughput expected to trend upwards again towards record levels. As mining deepens in certain pits, the quantity of transition ore is starting to increase. The presence of transition ore results in slightly lower metallurgical recovery and the generation of additional ball mill scats that must be recirculated through the circuit to achieve the required grind size fraction. Consequently, plant recoveries were slightly lower in Q2 as compared to Q1. To improve the treatment efficiency of scats and to crush hard oversize transition material, the Company has acquired a used mobile crushing system (a jaw crusher and a cone crusher) in good condition to pre-treat transition ore ahead of the ROM dump pocket and to crush scats prior to recirculation. The system is currently in transit from overseas and is scheduled to be placed into operations by the end of October 2023. This system will also provide additional process plant operational flexibility once the future Phase II Hard Rock plant expansion is in operation. Bombore Operating Costs AISC per gold ounce sold in Q2-2023 was $1,109, an increase of 20% from the AISC per gold ounce sold of $926 in Q1-2023. The increase in AISC was mainly driven by a combination of lower head grades, plant throughput, and recovery as explained above, higher unit operating costs, and timing of sustaining capital. Cash cost per ore tonne processed increased by 10% from $18.95 per tonne in Q1 to $20.91 per tonne in Q2 due primarily to lower plant throughput and higher processing costs for maintenance from the mill re-line and sizer shaft change-outs, and greater consumption of lime, grinding media, and power to treat a larger percentage of transition ore and scats. Site G&A also increased modestly from the planned spending increase on site security improvements including additional reinforcements of highly-trained guards and a greater frequency of patrols on and around the mining permit. Bombore Growth Capital Projects Grid Power Connection The project to connect Bombore to Burkina Fasos national grid continues to advance and remains on schedule for completion before the end of the 2023 year. All long lead equipment orders are in fabrication with certain deliveries already received at site. The main installation contractors have mobilized and fieldwork has commenced for the switching station, the main on-site substation, and the transmission line towers. SONABEL, Burkina Fasos state-owned electricity company, has approved the required drawings and designs for the powerline and substations while land compensation under the direction of SONABEL and ground clearing for the transmission line corridor are essentially complete. Pouring of concrete foundations for the 56 transmission towers are on-going with the first shipment of transmission towers and stringing gear expected to arrive in August 2023. The Company is reviewing opportunities to accelerate or to mitigate risks to schedule. The Company has also initiated discussions to formalize a power purchase agreement with SONABEL following the memorandum of understanding signed between the parties earlier in the year. Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) Phases II and III RAP Phases II and III involve the construction of four new resettlement villages (MV3, MV2, BV2, and BV1). The Company has sequenced MV3 as the first village to construct in order to gain access to mining areas that are currently contemplated in the 2024 mine plan. MV3 is the largest of the resettlement villages and requires the erection of over 1,200 private homes and public structures. RAP construction is currently behind schedule as the construction start for the MV3 village was delayed for two months as communities conducted sacred ceremonies for the new resettlement grounds. The Company has engaged several local contractors to complete homes on distinct lots within the MV3 site. To improve the pace of construction, the Company has commenced the award of work to additional contractors along with the recruitment of a small owners team to assist with procurement of building material and site construction activities. RAP compensation for displaced households began in late Q2-2023 and has continued into Q3-2023. 2023 Feasibility Study (2023 FS) Update for the Phase II Expansion The 2019 feasibility study (2019 FS) contemplated the construction of a 2.2M tonnes per annum (tpa) hard rock facility which would commence production in the third year of oxide operations. Based on the mineral reserves outlined in the 2019 FS, the overall plant capacity was to remain at a nominal 5.2Mtpa, comprising of 3.0Mtpa of oxides and 2.2Mtpa of hard rock, resulting in an average gold production profile of 134K oz per year for the first ten years of commercial operations. Subsequent to the 2019 FS, over 150,000 m of drilling has been completed leading to the discovery of the near surface P17NE deposit and extensions of other known higher grade hard rock zones within the main Bombore deposit. Results of drilling undertaken in 2022 are expected to successfully convert Inferred resources of higher grade hard rock material into the Measured and Indicated categories. The Company expects the new hard rock expansion will be sized as a 4.4Mtpa standalone circuit to operate independently and in parallel to the existing 5.7Mtpa oxide circuit, a notable increase to the 5.2Mtpa combined circuit in the 2019 FS. The Company has chosen to expand the circuit size to 10.1Mtpa as it believes recent drilling successes have demonstrated that the Bombore mine is capable of supporting a larger annual operation. The Bombore deposit remains open to further extensions and potential new discoveries from future drilling. Metallurgical test work is complete and confirms more rapid leach kinetics than those contemplated in the 2019 FS, leading to a significant reduction in required leach time from the 42 hours shown in the 2019 FS to the estimated 24 hours to be used in plant design for the 2023 FS. Flowsheet development is also complete and will follow the same design (e.g. carbon-in-leach and elution circuits) of the current operations where feasible to standardize equipment and processes. Firm quotes have been received for the SAG mill, which is on the critical path, and budgetary quotes for all other major equipment are in hand and under evaluation and will form the basis for the expansion capital estimate. Modelling of the new mineral resource estimate has concluded with modelling of the new mineral reserve estimate well-advanced. The Company remains on track to release the study results by the end of Q3-2023. The Company has held early discussions with its senior lender, Coris Bank, about their participation in this future Phase II Expansion. Coris Bank has indicated they are supportive of this expansion and the Company intends to launch more formal discussions with Coris Bank as it draws closer to completing the 2023 FS when information about the new expansion economics and capital requirements are better known. NON-IFRS MEASURES The Company has included certain terms or performance measures commonly used in the mining industry that is not defined under IFRS, including cash costs, AISC, EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted earnings, adjusted earnings per share, and free cash flow. Non-IFRS measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore, they may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The Company uses such measures to provide additional information and they should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. For a complete description of how the Company calculates such measures and reconciliation of certain measures to IFRS terms, refer to Non-IFRS Measures in the Managements Discussion and Analysis for the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 which is incorporated by reference herein. CONFERENCE CALL AND WEBCAST Orezone will host a conference call and audio webcast to discuss second quarter 2023 results on Thursday, August 10, 2023 at 8:00am PDT (11:00am EDT). WebcastDate: Thursday, August 10Time: 8:00 am Pacific Time (11:00 am Eastern time)Please register for the webcast here: Orezone Q2-2023 Conference Call and Webcast Conference CallToll-free in U.S. and Canada: 1-800-715-9871International callers: +646-307-1963Event ID: 1179590 QUALIFIED PERSONS The scientific and technical information in this news release was reviewed and approved by Dr. Pascal Marquis, Geo., Senior Vice President of Exploration, Mr. Rob Henderson, P. Eng, Vice President of Technical Services, and Mr. Patrick Downey, P.Eng. President and CEO, all of whom are Qualified Persons as defined under NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. About Orezone Gold Corporation Orezone Gold Corporation (TSX: ORE OTCQX: ORZCF) is a Canadian mining company operating the open pit Bombore Gold Mine in Burkina Faso. Orezone is focusing on mining and processing the Phase I near surface free-dig oxides at a planned annual throughput of 5.7 million tonnes. The Company believes that Bombore has a significant underlying sulphide resource to support a substantially larger Phase II expansion. The Company has recently completed a resource definition drill program, and plans to issue an updated mineral resource, reserve and life of mine plan, as part of this Phase II expansion. It is expected that the pending study will be completed in Q3-2023 to be followed by a production decision. Orezone is led by an experienced team focused on social responsibility and sustainability with a proven track record in project construction and operations, financings, capital markets and M&A. The technical report for the 2019 Feasibility Study on the Bombore Project entitled NI 43-101 Technical Report (Amended) Feasibility Study of the Bombore Gold Project is available on SEDAR+ under the Companys profile at www.sedarplus.ca. Patrick DowneyPresident and Chief Executive Officer Vanessa PickeringManager, Investor Relations Tel: 1 778 945 8977 / Toll Free: 1 888 673 0663[email protected] / www.orezone.com For further information please contact Orezone at +1 (778) 945-8977 or visit the Companys website at www.orezone.com. The Toronto Stock Exchange neither approves nor disapproves the information contained in this news release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain information that constitutes forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian Securities laws and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable U.S. securities laws (together, forward-looking statements). Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as plan, expect, project, intend, believe, anticipate, estimate, potential, possible and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions may, will, could, or should occur. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Bombore Growth Capital Projects and the 2023 Feasibility Study Update for the Phase II Expansion. All forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, terrorist or other violent attacks, the failure of parties to contracts to honour contractual commitments, unexpected changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; unexpected failure or inadequacy of infrastructure, the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, accidents and equipment breakdowns, political risk, unanticipated changes in key management personnel, the spread of diseases, epidemics and pandemics diseases, market or business conditions, the failure of exploration programs, including drilling programs, to deliver anticipated results and the failure of ongoing and uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, and other factors described in the Company's most recent annual information form and managements discussion and analysis filed on SEDAR+ on www.sedarplus.ca. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the applicable assumptions and factors management considers reasonable as of the date hereof, based on the information available to management at such time. These assumptions and factors include, but are not limited to, assumptions and factors related to 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 price and market for outputs, including gold; foreign exchange rates; taxation levels; the timely receipt of necessary approvals or permits; the ability to meet current and future obligations; the ability to obtain timely financing on reasonable terms when required; the current and future social, economic and political conditions; and other assumptions and factors generally associated with the mining industry. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Subject to applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release. Source: Orezone Gold Corporation VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reflex Advanced Materials Corp. (CSE: RFLX), (OTCQB: RFLXF), (FSE: HF2) (Reflex or the Company), announces that it has engaged Falcon Drilling Corp. to undertake the planned summer 2023 initial drill program (the Program) at the Ruby Graphite project (the Project). The Program will consist of at least 3,500 meters of diamond core drilling at the Project, located in Beaverhead County, Montana, U.S.A. The Project is prospective for natural crystalline graphite due to its history of commercial graphite production and will be fully permitted for more than 18 different drill sites across the Project. This gives the Companys exploration team the ability to explore from multiple drill locations to delineate what is referred to as the Saddle Trend identified by previous geophysics work conducted on the Project. Drill pads and access routes have been designed for the Program, consisting of up to 18 drill pads. Although all drill pads and associated access trails were submitted to regulators for approval, not all locations will be drilled as some are contingency locations if the geology is different than expected. Drilling is expected to commence August 16th 2023. The Program consists of 8 primary drill pad locations. The core holes, expected to average 135 meters in length, each will be drilled in a vertical-fan configuration at angles from 45 to 90 from horizontal and perpendicular to the strike, with up to four holes drilled at each pad. The focus is on defining the extent and grade of graphite mineralization to confirm a highly conductive electromagnetic trend that runs roughly West-East between the extensive Ground Hog mine complex and the Birds Nest mines from original operations in the early 1900s. The Saddle Trend is one of four conductivity trends identified by last years geophysical studies. The immediate Program concentrates on providing data on the geology and structure of the graphite mineralization of the trend. The work is expected to aid in the design of future drilling campaigns and ultimately to begin formulating a conceptual mine design. The Program is fully funded. This is an important milestone for Reflex and the Project, said Paul Gorman, CEO of Reflex Advanced Materials Corp. With Falcon Drilling Corp.'s expertise and experience, we are confident that we can successfully execute our Program and continue advancing toward our goal of unlocking the full potential of the Project. About Falcon Drilling Inc. Falcon Drilling Inc. of Carson City, Nevada is a reputable drilling company with over 35 years of experience in the industry. Falcon provides drill equipment and highly trained drill crews, rapid access to supplies, and mobilization services to the most remote of locations. They have specifically designed and manufactured transportable diamond drill rigs that permit fast efficient moves between drill sites with minimal environmental disturbance and site remediation costs. Their team of highly skilled professionals is equipped with state-of-the-art drilling equipment and techniques, making them a great partner for the Company in the execution of the Program at the Project. The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Greg Bell, P.Eng., General Manager of the Ruby Graphite Project, who is not independent of the issuer and is a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. For more information on Reflex Advanced Materials Corp and its mineral projects, please visit the Companys website at www.reflexmaterials.com. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, Paul Gorman CEO & Director Reflex Advanced Materials Corp[email protected]Tel. (778-837-7191)Suite 915-700 West Pender StreetVancouver, BC V6C 1G8Canada About Reflex Advanced Materials Reflex Advanced Materials Corp. is a mineral exploration company based in British Columbia. Its objective is to locate and, if warranted, develop economic mineral properties in the strategic metals and advanced materials space. It is focused on improving domestic specialty mineral infrastructure efficiencies to meet surging national demand by North American manufacturers. The Company is working to advance its Ruby Graphite Project, located in Beaverhead County, Montana, and ZigZag Lake Lithium Property, located in Thunder Bay Mining Division, Crescent Lake Area, Ontario. For more information, please review the Companys filings available at www.sedar.com. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words could, intend, expect, believe, will, projected, estimated and similar expressions and statements are intended to identify forward-looking statements and are based on the Companys current beliefs or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, such as statements regarding: future exploration work that the Company intends to complete on the Project and the timing and results thereof, including the Project; and the Companys belief that the past production at the Project is indicative of graphite mineralization at the Project. These forward-looking statements reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company, including expectations and assumptions concerning: that past production at the Project is indicative of graphite mineralization at the Project; and the nature, timing and results of future exploration work by the Company on the Project, including the Program. Although forward-looking statements are based on the reasonable assumptions of the Companys management, there can be no assurance that any forward-looking statement will prove to be accurate. By their nature, such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties which could cause the actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks inherent in the exploration and development of mineral deposits, including risks relating to changes in project parameters or delays as plans continue to be redefined, that the Company may not receive the necessary permits or approvals to conduct the desired exploration work (on the timeline or terms expected by the Company, or at all), that mineral exploration is inherently uncertain and that the results of mineral exploration may not be indicative of the actual geology or mineralization of a project; that mineral exploration may be unsuccessful or fail to achieve the results anticipated by the Company; and those risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in filings made by the Company with securities regulatory authorities. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the contents of this press release, and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Source: Reflex Advanced Materials Corp. Developed in partnership with Turner Duckworth and Brand Bureau the refreshed brand look and retail stores showcase the push for progress and empowerment that lies within the RISE ethos CHICAGO and VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- RISE Dispensaries , a rapidly growing cannabis retail chain owned by Green Thumb Industries Inc. (Green Thumb or the Company) (CSE: GTII) (OTCQX: GTBIF), today unveiled its refreshed retail brand identity. As the brand nears its seventh anniversary, RISE has debuted an inspired brand vision that embodies the Companys desire to galvanize the cannabis community to join its movement to democratize cannabis access. The refreshed brand identity and store designs were completed in partnership with Turner Duckworth , a global design firm with offices in the U.S. and the U.K., and Brand Bureau , a creative agency composed of strategists and designers who invent and interpret brands. The cannabis industry is constantly evolving and our brand should adapt alongside it, said Jen Denis, Vice President of Creative Services at Green Thumb. As we approach the seventh anniversary of the launch of RISE, we are proud to unveil a new retail identity that is reflective of the commitment we have made to our community-based roots and socially inspired mission to improve the cannabis industry for the better. With the newly designed stores, we want patients and customers to feel empowered and supported throughout their RISE experience. Turner Duckworths contributions to RISEs revitalized brand identity were inspired by the upward momentum of the cannabis industry rising into the dawn of a new day. The international design studio used RISEs optimistic and empowering aesthetic to create a bird-centric brand mark that embodies the healing and transformative qualities of cannabis. The brand mark is accompanied by a bold, vibrant color palette inspired by the cannabis plant and its products, as well as a raw, textured aesthetic that is disruptive and irreverent. The plant inspired the RISE illustration style, which feels natural, bold, layered, textural, and produced by hand a celebration of the plant. Good designs are creative, but great designs are inspired, said Gavin Hurrell, Creative Director at Turner Duckworth. We are proud to stand alongside a brand like RISE that works tirelessly to elevate the cannabis industry and the world around it. Their purpose-based work greatly inspired our vision for their reimagined brand identity, and we are excited to share it with the world. Brand Bureau was the interior designer for the RISE prototype design. The design translates the visual identity from Turner Duckworth to the environment by creating signature moments within the customer journey, honoring each region through localized illustrations, and embracing flexibility in the application of design elements to drive this pioneering product market. Drawing from our hospitality-industry expertise, our goal was not just to simply translate the visual identity to the interiors but provide a new approach to the design and experience of cannabis retail by creating an approachable and memorable environment that guests would want to return to again and again, said Hilary Miners, Head of Environment Design at Brand Bureau. The outcome was achieved by activating the brand in large impact and nuanced touchpoints through the thoughtfully considered guest journey. Turner Duckworth is a world-class design firm known for its ability to craft unmistakable visual identities and packaging for trend-forward brands. Brand Bureau is a creative agency comprised of designers and strategists, born out of the award-winning design and concept firm, AvroKO. The branding firm employs a multidisciplinary approach to design that helps companies form meaningful connections with their clients. For information on RISE Dispensaries new brand identity, retail locations or product offerings, please visit risecannabis.com. About RISE Dispensaries RISE Dispensaries, a fast-growing national cannabis retailer founded under Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries, promotes social conscience, community impact and well-being through the power of cannabis. Since opening its doors in 2015, RISE has grown its national footprint to 84 retail locations across 14 U.S. markets and serves millions of patients and customers each year. RISE Dispensaries lead innovative access to cannabis by offering home delivery, virtual pharmacist consultations, mobile pre-ordering and the first consumption lounge east of the Mississippi at RISE Mundelein, Illinois (services vary by market). RISE locations offer a wide variety of products and award-winning brands including &Shine, Beboe, Dogwalkers, Doctor Solomons, Good Green, incredibles and RYTHM, produced by owner Green Thumb Industries. RISE Rewards members enjoy insider perks, points and first access to products and merchandise. More information is available at risecannabis.com . About Turner Duckworth Turner Duckworth, a global visual identity design agency with offices in London, New York, and San Francisco, creates unmistakable designs for the worlds greatest brands. The agencys work is simple, playful, and inherently social. Turner Duckworth crafts distinctive assets and the systems that guide them to ensure that advertising, product, or packaging cuts through the noise and places brands top of mind across media and culture. Turner Duckworths designs have won over 600 awards in ten years, including the inaugural Cannes Grand Prix for Design. Learn more at https://turnerduckworth.com/ About Brand Bureau Brand Bureau (BB) is a creative agency composed of strategists and designers who invent and interpret brands across a multitude of industries, ranging from hotels and restaurants to retail and mixed-use developments. Whether tasked with concepting new scalable brands like Arlo Hotels, reinvigorating established global brands like Panera, or crafting independent start-up experiencesfrom breweries and dispensaries, to restaurants and residential projectsBB thinks about a brand from every angle, thoughtfully building towards a purposeful whole. Founded by global design firm AvroKO, they have more than a decade of experience creating brand stories, identities, and environments, but some of their best work comes from full picture thinkingwhen the team can leverage their multidisciplinary expertise to craft a holistic brand experience, or as they like to put it, from blue sky to brass tacks. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This press release contains statements which may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is often identified by the words may, would, could, should, will, intend, plan, anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, or similar expressions and include information regarding the filing of the Documents and the timing thereof. The forward-looking information in this news release is based upon the expectations of future events which management believes to be reasonable. Any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is made, and, except as required by law, Green Thumb does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking information in this news release is subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied. When considering these forward-looking statements, readers should keep in mind the risk factors and other cautionary statements in Green Thumbs public filings with the applicable securities regulatory authorities, including with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on its website at www.sec.gov and with Canadas System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com , as well as on Green Thumbs website at https://investors.gtigrows.com , including in the Risk Factors section of the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022. Investor Contact: Andy Grossman EVP, Capital Markets & Investor Relations [email protected] 310-622-8257 Media Contact: MATTIO Communications [email protected] Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e97cecf4-1bb4-448a-9a27-513d39f3045c https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/863460b6-ef43-4e3d-921c-a529191f4f78 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bb6feb44-f2ad-4353-ae17-503f8fdb5287 GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TiiCKER, the worlds first verified shareholder loyalty and engagement platform, today announced the hiring of Jonathan JJ Rabovsky as vice president of sales and shareholder engagement. With experience spanning nearly a decade in sales and sales strategy, Rabovskys responsibilities will include growing TiiCKERs client roster while driving innovative, effective shareholder rewards programs for the companys publicly traded clients. His track record includes a demonstrated ability to secure and foster long-lasting client partnerships for high-tech startups and other rapidly growing enterprises. Retail traders want to feel like an owner, and what better way to achieve this than receiving company products and loyalty perks, while taking part in the growth story of a stock, said Rabovsky. "Im looking forward to supporting TiiCKERs pursuit of public company partners and creating programs that excite retail shareholders. Prior to joining TiiCKER, Rabovsky served as vice president of sales for consulting firm nVisium, playing a pivotal role in the companys growth and ultimate acquisition by NetSPI. He has held additional sales and business development roles throughout his career, at companies such as WeddingWire. Rabovsky holds a bachelors degree from the University of Maryland. We welcome JJ to the TiiCKER family and are excited about the positive impact we know hell bring to our pace of growth and each unique shareholder engagement program, said Sarah Smith, chief growth officer. JJs insight and experience will be invaluable assets as we continue to execute our aggressive expansion plans for the remainder of 2023. Following completion of the companys $5 million seed investment round in April, the company has focused on adding top-flight talent and extending its technical leadership. Rabovskys recruitment extends those efforts, which also included recent additions to its marketing and technology teams. The companys technical leadership has resulted in approximately $700 million in connected assets among registered users and a recent ranking as one of MarTech Outlooks Top 10 Startups of 2023. About TiiCKER Launched in 2020, fintech TiiCKER invented verified stock perks and direct-to-shareholder marketing through its web-based and mobile app software platforms, providing consumers and investors with a revolutionary way to engage with the brands they love. For America's more than 130 million retail investors and fans of publicly traded brands, TiiCKER provides unique access to shareholder perks, commission-free trading, custom articles and content, and TiiCKERPerks from its marketing partners. For its brands and public company partners, TiiCKER creates and markets measurable shareholder loyalty programs to help companies engage and reward their consumers and verified owners to maximize Shareholder Lifetime Value. As a result of its innovation and leadership in direct-to-shareholder marketing, TiiCKER was awarded by MarTech Outlook as a Top MarTech Startup in 2023. Media Contact Megan Bowman[email protected] Source: TiiCKER BRADENTON, Fla., Aug. 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Token Communities, Ltd. (Symbol: TKCM, Token Communities or the Company), today announced that the Companys subsidiary Elements of Health and Wellness Inc. has retained Lorraine Law as the new head of operations to develop and manage the Greater China Market, including Hong Kong and Macau. Ms. Law has a very extensive background and experience in public company affairs and business development. She is fluent in Chinese, Cantonese and English, and graduated from Wuhan University, and has received accreditations from Boston Universitys Business Administration Program, and ESC Clermont Graduate School of Management ( France ). Ms. Law will be assisting our CEO, David Chen to develop the Greater China Market, including recruiting new distributors, designing nationwide advertising campaign, government relations and operation compliance. David Chen, CEO of the Company commented, We are excited to have Ms. Law join the Company. We look forward to having someone with her expertise in the China Markets as we grow the Company. About the Company Token Communities, Ltd., through its subsidiary Elements of Health and Wellness is actively engaged in the Health and Wellness Sector marketing and selling holistic and naturopathic products, including plant stem cell, natural supplements, cosmetic facial masks and more. We are developing an eCommerce platform to commence sales of all products. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements using the words hope, anticipate, may and statements regarding the effects of the supplements referred to herein, and future plans and objectives of the Company, are "forward-looking statements" (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) that involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results could differ materially from current projections or implied results. 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. Technical complications, which may arise, could prevent the prompt implementation of any strategically significant plan(s) outlined above. The Company cautions that statements and assumptions made in this news release constitute forward-looking statements and make no guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and opinions of management at the time statements are made. The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no duty to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release. Food and Drug Administration Disclosure The products featured in this release are not for use by or sale to persons under the age of 12. These products should be used only as directed on the label. Consult with a physician before use if you have a serious medical condition or use prescription medications. A doctors advice should be sought before using these and any supplemental product. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Investor Contact: David Chen, Chairman, CEO: [email protected] Source: Token Communities Ltd TORONTO, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Western Metallica Resources Corp. (TSXV: WMS) (Western Metallica or the Company) is pleased to announce that it has acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of Consolidated Copper Corp. (Consolidated Copper) (the Acquisition) pursuant to a share purchase agreement dated August 10, 2023 (the Agreement). Consolidated Copper holds options to acquire 100% of the Cana Brava and Turmalina Projects, two highly prospective copper-molybdenum porphyry projects located in Northern Peru. Highlights: Complementary Portfolio of Assets: The Acquisition of Consolidated Copper marks a strategic option for Western Metallica, expanding its horizons beyond Spain and positioning the Company as a copper-focused mineral exploration firm. The Acquisition of Consolidated Copper marks a strategic option for Western Metallica, expanding its horizons beyond Spain and positioning the Company as a copper-focused mineral exploration firm. Attractive Mining Jurisdiction: By acquiring 100% of the Cana Brava and Turmalina Projects, both located in Northern Peru, Western Metallica gains access to a region known for its rich mineral potential. Peru is a mining-friendly jurisdiction, which, coupled with its status as the second-largest copper producer globally, makes it an attractive destination for mining investment. The presence of major players like Rio Tinto, First Quantum and Hudbay Minerals in the vicinity of Cana Brava and Turmalina further reinforces the potential of these projects. By acquiring 100% of the Cana Brava and Turmalina Projects, both located in Northern Peru, Western Metallica gains access to a region known for its rich mineral potential. Peru is a mining-friendly jurisdiction, which, coupled with its status as the second-largest copper producer globally, makes it an attractive destination for mining investment. The presence of major players like Rio Tinto, First Quantum and Hudbay Minerals in the vicinity of Cana Brava and Turmalina further reinforces the potential of these projects. Favourable Market Conditions: Western Metallicas timely acquisition aligns with an expected period of increasing strength in the copper market, making it an opportune moment to secure these prospective assets. With the increasing demand for copper as a crucial resource in the global energy transition, Western Metallicas move positions the company favorably to cater to the growing market needs. Western Metallicas timely acquisition aligns with an expected period of increasing strength in the copper market, making it an opportune moment to secure these prospective assets. With the increasing demand for copper as a crucial resource in the global energy transition, Western Metallicas move positions the company favorably to cater to the growing market needs. Untapped Exploration Potential: The Cana Brava and Turmalina Projects lie within a copper-porphyry region that has seen notable exploration and production success. However, the central and northern portions of the belt remain significantly under-explored, presenting a region of compelling interest for future discoveries. Western Metallicas expertise in exploration and development puts the Company in a prime position to unlock the untapped potential of these projects. Gregory Duras, CEO and Director of Western Metallica Resources commented, Western Metallica is excited to enter into this Transaction to acquire Consolidated Copper, which we believe complements our existing portfolio by adding a new package of highly prospective assets in a region that is attractive for investment. Both projects lie on a copper-porphyry belt that has seen notable exploration and production success, but with much of the central and northern portions of the belt remaining significantly under-explored and, therefore, a region of compelling interest. Given the strength of the Companys balance sheet and the current positive market dynamics for copper, this is an opportune time for the Company to make this strategic acquisition. Terms of the Share Purchase Agreement Pursuant to the Agreement, Western Metallica has agreed to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Consolidated Copper in exchange for an aggregate consideration of (i) 20,000,000 common shares of the Company (the Common Shares) and (ii) 5,000,000 common share purchase warrants of the Company (the Warrant), with each Warrant entitling the holder to acquire one additional Common Share at an exercise price of $0.10 until the earlier of: (i) the date that is one (1) year from the date of issuance, and (ii) within twenty (20) days of the Company providing such holder with written notice accelerating the Warrant expiry date, provided that that the daily volume weighted average price (or closing bid price on days when there are no trades) of the Common Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange (the Exchange) is at least $0.15 for a minimum of twenty (20) consecutive trading days prior to such written notice from the Company being provided. The Acquisition was an Arms Length Transaction, as such term is defined in the policies of the Exchange, and no finders fees are payable in connection with the Acquisition. The Acquisition was completed as an expedited transaction pursuant to Exchange Policy 5.3 - Acquisitions and Dispositions of Non-Cash Assets and remains subject to final acceptance of the Exchange. A copy of the Agreement will be filed under the Companys profile on www.sedar.com. Cana Brava Project Cana Brava is a highly prospective 5,100-hectare copper-molybdenum project, located in the La Libertad Department of northern coastal Peru, only 35 kilometers inland from the Peruvian coast. The Project is located at an elevation of 1,500 metres in the western Cordillera of the Peruvian Andes. The Project contains at least three partially eroded porphyry centers and there is potential at Cana Brava for a cluster of medium-sized porphyry copper-molybdenum systems of above average grade. At the westernmost (El Sausal) porphyry center, concentrically arranged propylitic, phyllic and potassic alteration have been mapped over an area of at least 800 metres x 600 metres, with visible copper and molybdenum mineralization associated with stockwork-style quartz veining present in the topographically lowest parts. The existence of a well-developed supergene enrichment profile at El Sausal is encouraging and suggests possible enrichment of copper grades near surface. Apart from first pass mapping work, the project has never been explored by systematic modern exploration and no drilling has ever been executed to test the porphyry centres. The proximity to the coast and potential port is a positive factor for future development and economic considerations.Turmalina Project The 2,600-hectare Turmalina Project is a highly prospective copper-molybdenum breccia-hosted system located in the Piura region of northern coastal Peru, approximately 170 kilometers by road from the Pan-American coastal highway to the west. The Project is located at an elevation of 2,600 metres in the western Cordillera of the Peruvian Andes. The existence of widespread (kilometer-scale) porphyry-style phyllic alteration, sulfidic veining and numerous small quartz-tourmaline breccia pipes suggests potential exists for a very large porphyry copper-molybdenum system at depth under the breccia systems. In addition, the Project contains a historic, high-grade copper-molybdenum-producing mine in one of these breccia pipes; historical development was from within a cylindrical, semi-vertical breccia pipe about 200 metres in diameter, over at least 400 metres of vertical extent. Ore grades were verified in eight production levels, exploiting high-grade copper-molybdenum arranged around the borders of the breccia pipe. The Company believes that there is a high chance for discovery of further productive high-grade, copper-molybdenum breccia pipes. Apart from the limited historical production from the breccia pipe, the Project has never been explored by systematic modern surface exploration and no drilling has ever been executed to test the porphyry concept. About Consolidated Copper Corp. Consolidated Copper Corp. is a private Canadian-based firm with mineral claims, rights and interests in two copper-molybdenum porphyry prospective projects located in Peru; Cana Brava and Turmalina. The projects lie on the Upper Cretaceous and Miocene Cu-Mo porphyry belt respectively, occurrences that extend for at least 900 kilometers along the Western Cordillera and the adjacent high plateaus province, defined by a large number of hydrothermal mineral deposits of different types. The Cana Brava Project is a copper-molybdenum property located in La Libertad Province, comprised of a total of six exploration concessions across 3,900 hectares, plus newly staked extensions of two exploration concessions for 1,200 hectares. The Turmalina Project is a copper-molybdenum past-producing mine which underwent limited production, located in the Piura Province, comprised of six exploration concessions across 2,033 hectares, plus a newly staked extension of a new exploration concession for 600 hectares. Scheduled Investor Update Call Western Metallicas Chief Executive Officer and Director, Gregory Duras, and Vice President Exploration, Giovanni Funaioli, will discuss the Companys key initiatives and expectations for Y2023-2024, including prospective exploration and drill programs, and will respond to shareholder and investor questions during a scheduled update call, on Tuesday, August 15, 2023 at 10:00 am Eastern Standard Time. The participants may use the below information to join the call, accessible via the Zoom platform, by video conferencing and by dial-in: Please click the link below to join the video call:https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82088890032?pwd=c2JHTGxrS0NYZDBQdXB0Yk16UXpkQT09 Or join via telephone: +1 438 809 7799 Canada +1 587 328 1099 Canada +1 647 374 4685 Canada +1 689 278 1000 US +1 929 205 6099 US +34 84 368 5025 Spain +44 208 080 6592 United Kingdom +49 69 3807 9883 Germany Webinar ID: 820 8889 0032Passcode: 888888 Other international numbers available: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kCpxQ9j5w Qualified Persons The technical and scientific information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Giovanni Funaioli, Eur.Geol., Vice President Exploration of Western Metallica, who is a Qualified Person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Giovanni Funaioli is an employee of the Company and is not considered independent under NI 43-101. The technical information relating to the Cana Brava and Turmalina Projects is historical in nature and has not been independently verified by the Company. About Western Metallica Resources Corp. Western Metallica is an Ontario company with its head office in Toronto, Ontario, trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under symbol WMS. Western Metallica is in the business of mineral resource exploration and development, its principal assets are its 100% owned Nueva Celti Copper Property in the Ossa Morena belt in Andalusia, Spain, and three other Spanish gold projects in the Navelgas Gold Belt in Asturias, Spain (Penedela, Valledor and Sierra Alta). Further information of the Company can be found at: www.westernmetallica.com For more information please contact: Western Metallica Resources Corp. Gregory DurasChief Executive OfficerEmail: [email protected] Investor RelationsEmail: [email protected] Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements The Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. 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 press release. This press release contains statements that constitute forward-statements. Such forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Companys actual results, performance or achievements, or developments to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes, in light of the experience of its officers and directors, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors that have been considered appropriate that the expectations reflected in this forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. 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. The forward-looking statements and information in this press release include information relating to the planned drill program and the development of the Companys projects and other mining projects and prospects thereof, the final acceptance of the Acquisition by the Exchange; global demand for copper; and the potential and economic viability of the Cana Brava and Turmalina Projects. Such statements and information reflect the current view of the Company. Risks and uncertainties that 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 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. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that managements beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Source: Western Metallica Resources Corp. A group of bipartisan senators in Pennsylvania have introduced a measure to expand Pennsylvanias medical marijuana program by allowing patients aged 21 years and older to cultivate cannabis plants at home for personal use. The measure would allow registered medical marijuana patients in the state to grow up to six cannabis plants at home in a locked and enclosed location away from ordinary public view. Furthermore, it would grant medical cannabis dispensaries the right to sell cannabis seeds for home cultivation to registered patients. Introduced by Senators Dan Laughlin and Sharif Street alongside half a dozen other senators, the bill does not seem to limit the total number of Read More>> NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to IGC Pharma Inc. (NYSE American: IGC) are available in the companys newsroom at https://cnw.fm/IGC About CNW420 CNW420 spotlights the latest developments in the rapidly evolving cannabis industry through the release of two informative articles each business day. Our concise, informative content serves as a gateway for investors interested in the legalized cannabis sector and provides updates on how regulatory developments may impact financial markets. Articles are released each business day at 4:20 a.m. and 4:20 p.m. Eastern our tribute to the time synonymous with cannabis culture. If marijuana and the burgeoning industry surrounding it are on your radar, CNW420 is for you! Check back daily to stay up-to-date on the latest milestones in the fast -changing world of cannabis. To receive instant SMS alerts, text CANNABIS to 21000 (U.S. Mobile Phones Only) For more information please visit https://www.CNW420.com Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the CannabisNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by CNW420, wherever published or re-published: http://CNW.fm/Disclaimer Do you have questions or are you interested in working with CNW420? Ask our Editor CannabisNewsWire420 Denver, Colorado http://www.CNW420.com 303.498.7722 Office [email protected] CNW420 is part of the InvestorBrandNetwork. Reflex Advanced Materials (CSE: RFLX) (OTCQB: RFLXF) (FSE: HF2), a mineral exploration company, has engaged Falcon Drilling Corp. to execute the planned summer 2023 initial drill program at the Ruby Graphite project, which is slated to begin on Aug. 16, 2023. Based in Nevada, Falcon Drilling is a reputable drilling company with more than 35 years of experience in the industry. The company provides drill equipment and highly trained drill crews as well as rapid access to supplies and mobilization services to even remote of locations. According to the announcement, the program will include diamond core drilling of at least 3,500 meters at the Montana-based location. The company noted that Ruby Graphite, which will be fully permitted for more than 18 different drill sites across the project, is prospective for natural crystalline graphite based on its history of commercial graphite production. The number of drill sites provides the Reflex exploration team the ability to explore from multiple drill locations. The announcement also noted that the drill pads and access routes have been designed for the program, although not all locations will be drilled; some are contingency locations if the geology is different than expected. This is an important milestone for Reflex and the project, said Reflex Advanced Materials Corp. CEO Paul Gorman in the press release. With Falcon Drilling Corp.s expertise and experience, we are confident that we can successfully execute our program and continue advancing toward our goal of unlocking the full potential of the project. To view the full press release, visit https://ibn.fm/kEO6U About Reflex Advanced Materials Corp. Reflex Advanced Materials is a mineral exploration company based in British Columbia. Its objective is to locate and, if warranted, develop economic mineral properties in the strategic metals and advanced materials space. The company is focused on improving domestic specialty mineral infrastructure efficiencies to meet surging national demand by North American manufacturers. The company is working to advance its Ruby Graphite Project, located in Beaverhead County, Montana, and ZigZag Lake Lithium Property, located in Thunder Bay Mining Division, Crescent Lake Area, Ontario. For more information about the company, visit www.ReflexMaterials.com. NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to RFLXF are available in the companys newsroom at https://ibn.fm/RFLXF About MiningNewsWire MiningNewsWire (MNW) is a specialized communications platform focused on developments and opportunities in the global resources sector. The company provides (1) access to a network of wire services via InvestorWire to reach all target markets, industries and demographics in the most effective manner possible, (2) article and editorial syndication to 5,000+ news outlets (3), enhanced press release services to ensure maximum impact, (4) social media distribution via the Investor Brand Network (IBN) to millions of social media followers, and (5) a full array of corporate communications solutions. As a multifaceted organization with an extensive team of contributing journalists and writers, MNW is uniquely positioned to best serve private and public companies that desire to reach a wide audience of investors, consumers, journalists and the general public. By cutting through the overload of information in todays market, MNW brings its clients unparalleled visibility, recognition and brand awareness. MNW is where news, content and information converge. To receive SMS text alerts from MiningNewsWire, text BigHole to 844-397-5787 (U.S. Mobile Phones Only) For more information, please visit https://www.miningnewswire.com Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the MiningNewsWire website applicable to all content provided by MNW, wherever published or re-published: https://www.miningnewswire.com/Disclaimer MiningNewsWire Los Angeles, California www.miningnewswire.com 310.299.1717 Office [email protected] MiningNewsWire is part of the InvestorBrandNetwork. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Advance United Holdings Inc. (CSE: AUHI) (OTCQB: AUHIF) (FSE: 9I0) (the "Company" or "Advance United") announces that further to its press releases of July 26, 2022, September 28, 2022 and June 20, 2023, the Company has issued the Optionor (as defined below) 500,000 common shares (the "Common Shares") in the capital of the Company, at a deemed price of $0.07 per Common Share, pursuant to an amending agreement (the "Amending Agreement") with an arm's length party (the "Optionor") to amend certain payment deadlines of the original option agreement (the "Option Agreement") dated June 21, 2021 to acquire a 75% legal and beneficial interest in certain mineral claims located in Melba Township in the Kirkland Lake Area of Ontario. All securities issued in connection with the Amending Agreement will be subject to a hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance and the resale rules of applicable securities legislation. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. About Advance United Holdings Advance United brings an entirely different approach to the mining industry. We don't mine. Rather, we've acquired a portfolio of undervalued gold properties and are increasing their value through the application of modern technology. We have a growing pipeline of similar properties that we are looking to acquire. And now we've launched the Au Marketplace. A first of its kind digital platform that connects owners of mineral commodities and deposits with developers and producers. We are involved exclusively in the acquisition and advancement of past projects - with no intent to bring them back into production or to mine them ourselves. Our expertise is in identifying and acquiring undervalued properties with significant historical work, which were uneconomic at the time, but we believe have economic value at today's prices. We fund the development of re-working historic data and applying modern technology to underwrite new qualified reports, document quantifiable resources and reserves to current standards, thereby recognizing the current value. Our purpose is to bring immediate and long-term value to our partners and shareholders while seeking to eliminate exploration risk, so that we can all advance united in the shortest possible time frame. For additional information about us, our projects, or to find out how you can list your project in the Au Marketplace, visit www.advanceunited.ca. Contact Information James Atkinson, P. Geo., CEO Email: [email protected] Tel: (647) 278-7502 Forward-Looking Information and Cautionary Statements This news release may contain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to the trading of the Company's securities and the focus of the Company's business. Any such forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "contemplates", "believes", "projects", "plans" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements regarding the Company's ability to increase the value of its current and future mineral exploration properties and, in connection therewith, any long-term shareholder value, the Company's ability to mitigate or eliminate exploration risk, and the Company's intention to develop a portfolio of historic gold properties. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that the Company will continue its business as described above. Readers are encouraged to refer to the Company's annual and quarterly management's discussion and analysis and other periodic filings made by the Company with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances or actual results unless required by applicable law. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176831 Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - American Eagle Gold Corp. (TSXV: AE) ("American Eagle" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has signed an expanded Exploration Agreement ("Agreement") with Lake Babine First Nation ("Lake Babine") in central British Columbia. The Agreement confirms Lake Babine's consent for a 5-year exploration program and participation in any environmental baseline work conducted. The Agreement lays the foundation for respectful engagement between Lake Babine and American Eagle should the Company pursue further exploration or mining activities on the NAK Project. Chief Murphy Abraham and CEO Anthony Moreau were present for the signing of the exploration agreement, which occurred on Lake Babine territory. "I would like to acknowledge Lake Babine Nation Councillor Verna Power for all her hard work as the political lead in the Natural Resource sector. Day in and day out, Verna has demonstrated consistency to get us where we are today, and I raise my hands up to her to acknowledge the great work she's done on behalf of the Nation. For decades, proponents have done business in Lake Babine Nation's traditional territory without seeking consent or sharing our lands' revenues. Lake Babine raises their hands in respect to Tony and his team at American Eagle, leading by example on how to conduct business in Lake Babine Nation territory. We look forward to building on the relationship and opportunities with American Eagle from here on forward," said Chief Murphy Abraham, Lake Babine Nation Anthony Moreau, CEO of American Eagle Gold, remarked, "American Eagle respects the Lake Babine Nation, its people and their traditional territory. We are grateful to Chief Murphy, Councillor Verna Power and the Lake Babine Nation community for their invitation and consent to continue working on their traditional territory, and we are all excited at the prospect of creating additional prosperity in the region and their community." About American Eagle's NAK Project The NAK Project is in the Babine copper-gold porphyry district of British Columbia, near past-producing mines and with excellent infrastructure. Previous drilling at NAK revealed a large near-surface copper-gold system measuring over 1.5 km x 1.5 km. Historical exploration was limited to shallow depths, averaging 170 m. In 2022, American Eagle's 2022 drilling program explored deeper and discovered significant copper-gold mineralization. The objective for 2023 is to expand the known mineralized footprint at NAK and identify high-grade sources of copper and gold. The property is accessible by road, can be drilled year-round, and is largely without helicopter support. The promising initial results make NAK an ideal candidate for further exploration. Drilling resumed in June 2023, and the Company released assays for its first hole (NAK23-08) of the 2023 program on August 9, 2023. Highlights of the hole were 776 metres of 0.50% Copper Equivalent from Surface. Click here for the News Release. For the latest videos from American Eagle, Ore Group, and all things mining, subscribe to our YouTube Chanel: youtube.com/@theoregroup About American Eagle Gold Corp. American Eagle is focused on exploring its NAK project in the Babine Copper-Gold Porphyry district of central British Columbia. Anthony Moreau, Chief Executive Officer Phone: 416.644.1567 Email: [email protected] www.americaneaglegold.ca Corporate Deck QP Statement Mark Bradley, B.Sc., M.Sc., P.Geo., a Certified Professional Geologist and 'qualified person' for the purposes of Canada's National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Properties, has verified and approved the information contained in this news release. Forward-Looking Statements Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the TSX Venture Exchange policies) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain information in this press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding whether the Company can exercise its option to acquire the Project as anticipated and whether the Company's exploration efforts on the Project produce the results anticipated by management. This information is based on current expectations that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results might differ materially from those suggested in forward-looking statements. American Eagle Gold Corp. assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward looking-statements unless and until required by securities laws applicable to American Eagle Gold Corp. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in filings by American Eagle Gold Corp. with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available under American Eagle Gold Corp. profile at www.sedarplus.ca. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176824 Structurally Controlled Hydrothermal Alteration Associated with Faulted Graphitic Stratigraphy Project Expanded by Staking 1,187 Hectares; Adding Priority Targets Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (TSXV: CVV) (OTCQX: CVVUF) (FSE: DH7N) ("CanAlaska or the "Company") is pleased to announce successful completion of the 2023 drill program at the Geikie project near the Athabasca Basin margin (Figure 1). The program focused on a 15-kilometre-long northeast trending conductor system with high-priority structural targets that were compiled from recent high-resolution airborne radiometric, magnetic, and electromagnetic surveys in combination with prospecting, structural mapping, and historical data review. The Company reports the objectives of the program were exceeded, identifying graphitic host rocks with large reactivated and brecciated fault zones, associated with hydrothermal alteration and elevated radioactivity. Figure 1 Geikie Project Location To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2864/176751_12d2d80524c93aec_002full.jpg 2023 Geikie Summer Drill Program The Geikie project is located approximately 10 kilometres east of the Athabasca Basin margin and 10 kilometres west of Highway 905. The 2023 summer drill program consisted of 2,217 metres in eight drill holes, representing CanAlaska's first drill holes on it's 60%-owned Geikie project. The program successfully intersected graphitic host rocks, showing evidence of multiple post-Athabasca structural reactivation events, associated with the intersection of north-south and northwest trending faults, hydrothermal alteration, and elevated radioactivity. Figure 2 2023 Geikie Drill Program Results To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2864/176751_12d2d80524c93aec_003full.jpg The drill program confirmed the presence of hydrothermal alteration systems within a complex structural framework at Geikie, which is important in the formation of basement-hosted high-grade uranium deposits. Results of this first drill program will allow for refinement of the exploration model on the Geikie project to target the most prospective portions of the multiple structural corridors. Significant early results from the Preston Creek target area indicates the 15-kilometre-long structural corridor represents a high priority target area for further drill testing (Figure 2). Geochemical assay results for the 2023 program are pending. 2023 Geikie Summer Drill Program Target Area Results Summary The Preston Creek target area is located at the northeastern end of the 15-kilometre-long conductor trend. Five drill holes (GKI004 - GKI008) were completed within this target area (Table 1). Each drill hole in this target area intersected re-activated basement faults, up to 30 metres in width, consisting of clay gouge and breccias within variably graphitic pelitic host rocks. Hydrothermal alteration enveloping the major fault zones consisted of hematite, chlorite, clay, and structurally-enhanced graphitic clays. Within the fault zones, the alteration intensifies and locally overprints the original host rock through numerous phases of faulting and fluid circulation (Figure 3). At the base of GKI004, an extensive zone of pervasive hematite alteration was intersected at the inferred contact between the Wollaston metasediments and Johnson Lake Granite. The 21-metre-thick interval was characterized by intense brick-red hematite completely overprinting the primary texture of the host rock. Abundant interstitial specular hematite and pyrite nodules were disseminated throughout the rock and as microfractures and fracture fillings. Additionally, in GKI005, elevated radiometry, up to 1,000 cps CT007-M, was intersected from 255.3 to 255.6 metres, associated with a sheared graphitic pelite. The complex structural framework of the Preston Creek target area with the associated hydrothermal alteration is very encouraging for the prospectivity of this portion of the 15-kilometre-long conductor trend and the broader project area. The Aero Lake target area is located at the southern end of the 15-kilometre-long conductor trend. One drill hole (GKI 002) was completed within this target area (Table 1). GKI002 intersected a large re-activated fault zone from 59 to 88 metres characterized by cohesive breccias and cataclastic faults with dark grey clay gouge. Hydrothermal alteration spatially associated with the fault zone consists primarily of clay alteration and chloritization. At the base of GKI002, elevated radiometry, up to 1,750 cps CT007-M, is associated with semi-massive biotite in a pegmatite unit from 185.0 to 185.6 metres. The Hourglass Lake target area is located midway along the 15-kilometre-long conductor trend. Two drillholes (GKI001 and GKI003) were completed within this target area (Table 1). Each drill hole intersected intervals of weakly to moderately graphitic pelite with only minor structural reactivation. The inferred offset of the conductor package identified from the VTEM survey has not yet been explained. All reported depths and intervals are down hole depths and intervals, unless otherwise noted, and do not represent true thicknesses, which have yet to be determined. CanAlaska CEO, Cory Belyk, comments, "The presence of large fault structures, hydrothermal alteration and elevated radiometric values is a great outcome from this first drilling program by CanAlaska and Basin Energy. The early drill results clearly indicate the right ingredients for basement-hosted uranium deposit formation are present and active on the Geikie project. This first exploration program has tested a very small portion of this very large project and there is very little doubt that further data analysis when assays are returned in conjunction with new geophysical data will yield additional high priority targets for the next phase of exploration." Figure 3 Hydrothermal alteration enveloping fault zones in Preston Creek Target Area To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/2864/176751_12d2d80524c93aec_006full.jpg Geikie Project Expansion The Geikie uranium project was recently expanded through claim staking to add two additional claims (Figure 2) totalling 1,187 hectares, now bringing the total Geikie project size to 35,084 hectares. The new claims are host to the historical Johnson Lake (Marina) Pb-Zn-Ag showing which consists of mineralization in outcrops, boulders, and drillholes. The mineralization occurs as disseminations, layers, and coarse pod-like segregations in addition to infills along fractures. Historical grab samples returned up to 5.31% Pb, 1.49% Zn, and 1.0 oz/t Ag. The additional claims have been added to the existing earn-in agreement between Basin Energy and CanAlaska. Table 1 - 2023 Summer Drill Hole Collar Summary Drill Hole Target Area Easting Northing Elevation (m A.S.L.) Azimuth () Dip (U) EOH (m) GKI001 Hourglass Lake 548157 6369438 463.5 130 -60 249.4 GKI002 Aero Lake 545821 6366173 446.0 128 -50 240.5 GKI003 Hourglass Lake 544743 6368493 461.0 130 -50 152.0 GKI004 Preston Creek 551165 6372430 450.5 110 -50 390.0 GKI005 Preston Creek 551424 6373287 436.7 122 -45 331.0 GKI006 Preston Creek 552146 6375884 462.0 120 -45 310.0 GKI007 Preston Creek 551977 6374956 474.0 120 -45 176.0 GKI008 Preston Creek 551245 6372646 433.6 100 -45 368.0 Notes: Easting and Northing coordinates are reported in UTM Zone 13N (NAD83 datum). EOH = end of hole. m A.S.L. = metres above sea level. Geikie Project Overview The Geikie Project is located just outside the eastern margin of the Athabasca Basin within the Wollaston Domain. The Project area has been subject to minimal exploration for uranium, with most significant work targeting base metals between 1967 and 1980. During this regional work, a series of mineralized showings were discovered in the Mud Lake and Johnson Lake South (Marina South) areas. The Mud Lake uranium-molybdenum showing recorded a series of anomalous rock chips with grades of up to 0.225%U, 5.2%Mo, and 1.4%Cu. The Johnson Lake South (Marina South) lead-zinc prospect recorded anomalous mineralization in outcrop of up to 2.03% Pb, 7.2% Zn and 0.93 oz/t Ag. Recent ground prospecting on the project has since confirmed the Mud Lake uranium-molybdenum, showing results with up to 3,250 ppm molybdenum total and 0.21% uranium total in grab samples. The primary target on the Geikie project is basement-hosted uranium mineralization, where uranium bearing structures intersect favourable metasedimentary host rocks. The Geikie project is located within 10 kilometres of recent discoveries of basement-hosted uranium mineralization at the nearby Gemini Mineralized Zone ("GMZ") and ACKIO. These recent discoveries along with known mineralization at the nearby Agip-S and West Way prospects, all underscore the prospectivity of this portion of the Wollaston Belt. The Geikie project is currently being sole-funded by Basin Energy Limited (ASX: BSN) under an option earn-in agreement with the Company. Geochemical Sampling Procedures All drill core samples from the 2023 program were shipped to the Saskatchewan Research Council Geoanalytical Laboratories (SRC) in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The samples were shipped in secure containment for preparation, processing, and multi-element analysis by ICP-MS and ICP-OES using total (HF:NHO3:HClO4) and partial digestion (HNO3:HCl), boron by fusion, and U 3 O 8 wt% assay by ICP-OES using higher grade standards. Radiometric assay samples are chosen based on downhole probing radiometric equivalent uranium grades and scintillometer (SPP2 or CT007-M) peaks. Assay samples comprise 0.3 - 0.5 metre continuous split-core samples over the mineralized interval. A 0.1% U 3 O 8 cut-off with a maximum internal dilution of 1 metre is used for compositing and reporting the data. The SRC is an ISO/IEC 17025/2005 and Standards Council of Canada certified analytical laboratory. Blanks, standard reference materials, and repeats are inserted into the sample stream at regular intervals by CanAlaska and the SRC in accordance with CanAlaska's quality assurance / quality control (QA/QC) procedures. Geochemical assay data are subject to verification procedures by qualified persons employed by CanAlaska prior to disclosure. About CanAlaska Uranium CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (TSXV: CVV) (OTCQX: CVVUF) (FSE: DH7N) holds interests in approximately 350,000 hectares (865,000 acres), in Canada's Athabasca Basin - the "Saudi Arabia of Uranium." CanAlaska's strategic holdings have attracted major international mining companies. CanAlaska is currently working with Cameco and Denison at two of the Company's properties in the Eastern Athabasca Basin. CanAlaska is a project generator positioned for discovery success in the world's richest uranium district. The Company also holds properties prospective for nickel, copper, gold and diamonds. For further information visit www.canalaska.com. The qualified technical person for this news release is Nathan Bridge, MSc., P.Geo., CanAlaska's Vice President, Exploration. On behalf of the Board of Directors "Cory Belyk" Cory Belyk, P.Geo., FGC CEO, President and Director CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. Contacts: Cory Belyk, CEO and President Tel: +1.604.688.3211 x 138 Email: [email protected] General Enquiry Tel: +1.604.688.3211 Email: [email protected] Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking information All statements included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions made by the Company based on its experience, perception of historical trends, current conditions, expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances. In addition, these statements involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will prove inaccurate, certain of which are beyond the Company's control. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to revise or update these forward-looking statements after the date hereof or revise them to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176751 Certification will reduce time, costs involved with certifying CJ Biomaterials polyhydroxyalkanoate-based solutions Woburn, Massachusetts--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - CJ Biomaterials, Inc., a division of South Korea-based CJ CheilJedang and a primary producer of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolymers, announced today that CJ Blossom Park, the largest food and bio convergence research center of its kind in Korea, has received lab accreditation for "Acceptance of Client Testing (A.C.T)" from TV SUD and is now a Designated Testing Laboratory. Having this certification allows CJ Blossom Park to perform its own biodegradability testing and to complete the TUV SUD's "Industrial Compost" certification process, cutting in half the cost and time needed to gather data to apply for and obtain TUV SUD's biodegradable certification for various biomaterial products, including PHA technology developed by CJ Biomaterials. Based in Germany, TUV SUD is a global organization that offers testing, inspection, certification and advisory services to companies in various industries, including automotive, aerospace, energy, healthcare, industrial consumer products, chemical, and medical devices. Before granting certification, TUV SUD evaluates an organization's analytical capabilities according to strict, internationally recognized standards. A ceremony held at CJ Blossom Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, earlier this month to award CJ CheilJedang with its TUV SUD Accredited Testing Facility for Biodegradability' certificate, was attended by Seung-Jin Lee, Head of the Biomaterials Business from CJ CheilJedang, and Seo Jung-wook, CEO of TUV SUD Korea. "By securing this cc, CJ CheilJedang has demonstrated that our R&D facilities and analytical capabilities meet the highest global standards," says Lee. "It also clearly indicates to our customers and partners that we are committed to quickly developing solutions based on biodegradable materials, including PHA, and bringing them to market for use in various fields in a cost-effective manner." By receiving accreditation as a designated TUV SUD testing laboratory, CJ CheilJedang will actively support biodegradability testing for products that are in high demand for biodegradation certification, such as food packaging, food service ware and cosmetic containers. The company also plans to expand the scope of testing to include 'Home Compost' in the future. CJ Biomaterials is a global leader in the manufacture of PHAs, which are derived from nature and produced sustainably to be used as building blocks to replace and improve the functional characteristics of a broad range of polymers in the production of finished goods or as starting points for sustainable chemistry. PHAs work well as modifiers to other polymers or biopolymers and can be used to increase bio-based content, accelerate biodegradation and improve the functional properties of resins and finished products. The Company produces its PHA under the brand name PHACT", which stands for PHA + Action, demonstrating CJ Biomaterials' commitment to help preserve the planet. For more information on CJ Biomaterials PHA technology, visit the company's new website at https://www.cjbiomaterials.com. CJ CheilJedang held a ceremony at CJ Blossom Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, earlier this month to award CJ CheilJedang with its TUV SUD Accredited Testing Facility for Biodegradability' certificate To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9734/176818_f9d157e744e29a3d_002full.jpg About CJ BIOMATERIALS Headquartered in Woburn, MA, USA, CJ Biomaterials develops meaningful solutions that positively affect our planet, human health and well-being by addressing the challenges posed by plastic waste. The company invents and manufactures biopolymers and bio-based chemicals as part of a long-term vision to create a more sustainable future, by enabling true circular solutions that replace many non-recyclable, non-reusable and fossil fuel-based plastics and chemicals. CJ Biomaterials is a global leader in the manufacture of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs)-both polymers and associated basic chemicals. CJ Biomaterials, a business unit of CJ BIO, is part of CJ CheilJedang, a global lifestyle company with a vision to inspire a new life filled with health, happiness, and convenience. Media Contact Resource Advantage Dan Green [email protected] CJ Biomaterials Heidi Lebel [email protected] To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176818 Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Colombian conglomerate Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores S.A., aka Grupo Aval S.A., and its bank subsidiary, Corporacin Financiera Colombiana S.A. (Corficolombiana), with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Grupo Aval, whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, agreed to pay $40 million to settle the SEC charges. According to the SECs order, Corficolombiana and a joint venture partner won a contract from the Colombian government for a 328-mile highway infrastructure project in Colombia. The SEC alleges that Corficolombiana, through its former president and with the joint venture partner, bribed government officials in Colombia to win an extension to the contract. At least $28 million in illicit payments were paid with the knowledge, approval, and assistance of Corficolombianas former president. According to the SECs order, Corficolombiana caused Grupo Avals violations and provided Grupo Aval with an improper financial benefit totaling approximately $32 million. Lax control environments are fertile ground for mischief, as illustrated here where bribes were funded through payments made for invoices lacking supporting documentation and contracts for vaguely described services typically handled internally rather than by third parties, said Charles Cain, the SECs FCPA Unit Chief. This case once again highlights the importance of issuers having sufficient internal accounting controls over third-party payments. Grupo Aval and Corficolombiana consented to a cease-and-desist order finding that they violated the accounting provisions and, in the case of Corficolombiana, the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA. In determining to accept the offer, the SEC considered Grupo Avals cooperation and remediation. Corficolombiana also agreed to enter into a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and to pay more than $20 million to settle criminal charges. The SECs investigation was conducted by Ernesto Palacios, Maria F. Boodoo, and Thierry Olivier Desmet of the SECs FCPA Unit, with assistance from James Connor. The SEC acknowledges the assistance of the Colombian Superintendent of Industry and Commerce. Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that crypto asset trading platform Bittrex Inc. and its co-founder and former CEO, William Shihara, agreed to settle charges that they operated an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency. Bittrex Inc.s foreign affiliate, Bittrex Global GmbH, also agreed to settle charges that it failed to register as a national securities exchange. As alleged in the SECs complaint filed on April 17, 2023 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, Bittrex acted as an unregistered broker, exchange, and clearing agency by providing services to U.S. investors in connection with crypto assets that the SECs complaint alleges were offered and sold as securities. The complaint further alleges that Bittrex and Shihara, who was the companys CEO from 2014 to 2019, directed issuers who sought to have their crypto assets made available for trading on Bittrexs platform to first delete from public channels certain problematic statements that Shihara believed would lead a regulator, such as the SEC, to investigate whether the crypto asset was offered and sold as a security. As part of the settlement, the defendants neither admit nor deny the SECs allegations. For years, Bittrex worked with token issuers to 'scrub' their online statements of any indicia that they were investment contractsall in an effort to evade the federal securities laws. They failed, said Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SECs Division of Enforcement. Todays settlement makes clear that you cannot escape liability by simply changing labels or altering descriptions because what matters is the economic realities of those offerings. I am grateful to the SEC staff for aggressively pursuing non-compliance in the crypto industry, resolving this matter, and bringing additional relief to harmed investors. As part of the settlement, which is subject to court approval, the defendants consented to entry of final judgments that permanently enjoin Bittrex and Shihara from violating Sections 5, 15(a), and 17A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and enjoin Bittrex Global from violating Section 5 of the same Act. In addition, Bittrex and Bittrex Global agreed to pay, on a joint and several basis, disgorgement of $14.4 million, prejudgment interest of $4 million, and a civil penalty of $5.6 million, for a total monetary payment of $24 million. The SECs investigation was conducted by Daphna Waxman and Pamela Sawhney of the Division of Enforcements Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, Ainsley Kerr of the Market Abuse Unit, and Jordan Baker, Neil Hendelman, and Lisa Knoop of the New York Regional Office. It was supervised by Mark R. Sylvester, Jorge Tenreiro, and David Hirsch of the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit. The SECs litigation is being conducted by Ben Kuruvilla, Michael Welsh, and Christopher Carney and supervised by Ladan Stewart and Olivia Choe. Litigation in the bankruptcy court is being handled by Therese Scheuer and Patricia Schrage and supervised by Alistaire Bambach. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - Le 10 aot /August 2023) - Effective immediately, XTM Inc. will be reinstated for trading. The Company has rectified the situation that gave rise to the suspension. _________________________________ A compter d'aujourd'hui, XTM Inc. sera reintegre a la negociation. La Societe a rectifie la situation qui a donne lieu a la suspension. Date : Le 10 aout/August 2023 Symbol(s)/Symbole(s) : PAID If you have any questions or require further information please contact Listings at (416) 367-7340 or E-mail: [email protected]. Si vous avez des questions ou si vous avez besoin d'informations supplementaires, veuillez contacter le service des inscriptions au 416 367-7340 ou par courriel ladresse: [email protected]. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 9, 2023) - Glow LifeTech Corp. (CSE: GLOW) (OTCQB: GLWLF) (FSE: 9DO) ("Glow" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has received its first product listing and initial purchase orders from the Ontario Cannabis Store ("OCS") for its newly launched MOD THC Berry drops, a brand of naturally flavoured water-soluble drops featuring Glow's proprietary MyCell Technology. The product is expected to be available in Ontario retail locations and online at ocs.ca starting September 2023. OCS is the largest provincial distributor of cannabis products in Canada, the sole wholesaler to more than 1,600 privately owned retail cannabis stores in Ontario, and the only regulated online retailer of adult-use cannabis products in the province. Wholly owned by the Province of Ontario, OCS works with Licensed Producers authorized by Health Canada. All Ontario retailers purchase their product inventory through the OCS. "We're thrilled to launch our highly-anticipated MOD drops in Ontario first and to be able to showcase our breakthrough technology in Canada's largest cannabis market," said Rob Carducci, Chief Commercial Officer, Glow LifeTech. "The OCS is the largest centralized wholesale cannabis organization in the world1, and this listing sets the stage for expansion across the country." Glow's MOD drops To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/3920/176707_ac20f47c84d089d2_001full.jpg MOD drops are water-soluble cannabis extract drops with a burst of natural flavour (or flavourless versions), quick onset, and zero sugar. Packaged in a compact easy-to-dose squeeze dropper bottle, where 1 drop delivers 1 mg of cannabinoids, MOD gives consumers the freedom to customize your cannabis experience, your own way, whenever, wherever. It features Glow's 100% natural MyCellTM rapid onset technology for faster, more consistent absorption and great taste. MOD is setting a new standard for a more enjoyable and effective cannabis experience you can feel good about. Recent News The Company recently announced the launch of two cannabis consumer brands in Canada, MOD and .decimal, with both featuring Glow's portfolio of proprietary liquid and powder cannabis ingredient technologies. Full Story Here: https://bit.ly/448DyZO. SUBSCRIBE: For more information on Glow or to subscribe to the Company's mail list visit: https://www.glowlifetech.com/news. About Glow LifeTech Corp. Glow LifeTech is a Canadian-based biotechnology company focused on producing nutraceutical and cannabinoid-based products with dramatically enhanced bioavailability, absorption and effectiveness. Glow has rights to the groundbreaking, plant-based MyCell Technology delivery system, which transforms poorly absorbed natural compounds into enhanced water-compatible concentrates that unlock the full healing potential of the valuable compounds. Website: www.glowlifetech.com Contact: James Van Staveren Glow LifeTech Corp. TF. 855-442-GLOW (4569) ir@glowlifetech.com Forward-looking Information Cautionary Statement Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the CSE. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. There are no assurances that the commercialization plans for the technology described in this news release will come into effect on the terms or time frame described herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com. ________________________ 1Legal Cannabis in Ontario: Who Does What? To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176707 Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Li3 Lithium Corp. (TSXV: LILI) (FSE: WD9) ("Li3 Lithium" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has identified lithium mineralization over 1.2 kilometer strike at the Nels Luck pegmatite target from its ongoing exploration program at the Mutare Lithium Project, located in Zimbabwe. Li3 Lithium holds a 50% operating ownership interest in the Mutare Lithium Project, with the remaining 50% owned by Premier African Minerals Limited, operator of the Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Mine in Zimbabwe. The Company has received assay results from 842 channel samples collected from trenches during the initial phase of the 2023 exploration program. The trenching program, currently focused on the Nels Luck area (Figure 1), which is situated in the Mutare Greenstone Belt ("MGB") East zone, is expected to assist in identifying priority targets for the upcoming 5,000-meter exploration drilling program scheduled to start in the coming weeks. Highlights: 2349m of trenches uncovered a 1.2 km long and up to 60m wide pegmatite(s) at Nels Luck 842 samples taken from the trenches were sent for analysis in June and July Highly anomalous results across the pegmatite including 36 m of 0.37% (3692ppm) Li 2 O The trenching program consisted of 25 trenches for a total of 2349m (Table 1). A total of 598m of pegmatite was intersected in the trenches (Table 1, Table 2, Figures 2-4). The Nels Luck claims hosts a group of lepidolite, spodumene, and tantalite, bearing lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites with an approximate surface expression of 1200 meters by up to 100m (Figure 2-4). The Nels Luck group of claims is situated approximately 15 km northeast in the same stratigraphic package, on the southern limb of a regional syncline, that hosts the Sabi Star Lithium Tantalum Mine. Franois Auclair, P.Geo, M.Sc., CEO and President of Li3 Lithium commented, "The trenching program conducted by Li3 Lithium has confirmed wide, well-developed pegmatite lithium mineralization at the Mutare Lithium Project, which remains open at depth and along strike. Initial assay results from the first-half of the 2023 trenching and surface sampling programs are promising given that the Nels Luck area of the Mutare Lithium Project is just 15km from the world-class Sabi Star Lithium Tantalum Mine. A phase one diamond drilling program, up to 5,000 meters targeting the Nels Luck area, is scheduled to commence in the coming weeks as we begin to define the grade, thickness, and spatial continuity of the pegmatite trends." Table 1: Trench Collar summary table, coordinates are in WGS84 UTM Zone 36S Nels Luck Trenching Summary Survey Easting Northing Elevation Azimuth Length (m) MP23-NLE-TR001 404163 7885418 850 339 94 MP23-NLE-TR002 404217 7885443 853 339 103 MP23-NLE-TR003 404250 7885460 857 345 96 MP23-NLE-TR004 404325 7885486 854 343 88 MP23-NLE-TR005 404416 7885446 858 338 155 MP23-NLE-TR006 404528 7885428 870 328 202 MP23-NLE-TR007 404558 7885439 834 324 206 MP23-NLE-TR008 404613 7885459 870 332 85 MP23-NLE-TR009 404439 7885383 859 338 57 MP23-NLE-TR010 404400 7885321 856 332 90 MP23-NLW-TR001 403931 7885307 853 310 137 MP23-NLW-TR002 403880 7885283 850 299 135 MP23-NLW-TR003 403755 7885262 853 308 90 MP23-NLW-TR004 403682 7885252 859 336 67 MP23-NLW-TR005 403607 7885200 863 331 79 MP23-NLW-TR006 403569 7885164 865 334 60 MP23-NLW-TR007 403504 7885173 874 317 62 MP23-NLW-TR008 403469 7885133 876 325 92 MP23-NLW-TR009 403418 7885122 874 340 87 MP23-NLW-TR010 403353 7885167 876 348 27 MP23-NLW-TR011 403290 7885093 880 324 25 MP23-NLW-TR012 403213 7885029 884 324 130 MP23-NLW-TR013a 403127 7885391 897 327 67 MP23-NLW-TR013b 403097 7885369 904 350 50 MP23-NLW-TR014 402996 7884941 990 325 65 TOTAL 2349 Table 2: Summary of Lithium Oxide (Li 2 O) trench composite results greater than 0.10% (1000 ppm) from the Nels Luck area. Ppm values are rounded to the nearest 1 and % values are rounded to the nearest 0.01 Trench Name From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Li 2 O ppm Li 2 O % MP23-NLE-TR003 51 80 29 1285 0.13 MP23-NLE-TR004 59 83 24 1283 0.13 MP23-NLE-TR006 198 202 4 1544 0.15 MP23-NLW-TR001 66.5 78 11.5 1369 0.14 MP23-NLW-TR002 63 80 17 1303 0.13 MP23-NLW-TR002 99 102 3 2747 0.27 MP23-NLW-TR002 123 135 12 1478 0.15 MP23-NLW-TR003 39 48 9 2270 0.23 MP23-NLW-TR003 86 89 3 1131 0.11 MP23-NLW-TR004 2 12 10 1661 0.17 MP23-NLW-TR007 25 61 36 3692 0.37 MP23-NLW-TR008 54 92 38 3152 0.32 MP23-NLW-TR009 42 55 13 3504 0.35 MP23-NLW-TR009 64 85 21 2602 0.26 MP23-NLW-TR010 0 21 21 2486 0.25 Figure 1: Mutare Lithium Project License and Location map, identifying the location of the initial surface samples across the Mutare Lithium Project To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5472/176796_29ff4684743eeaf6_001full.jpg Figure 2: Summary of Nels Luck trenching results To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5472/176796_29ff4684743eeaf6_002full.jpg Figure 3: Summary of Li2O% trench composite results at Nels Luck West To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5472/176796_29ff4684743eeaf6_003full.jpg Figure 4: Summary of Li2O% trench composite results at Nels Luck East To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/5472/176796_29ff4684743eeaf6_004full.jpg Discussion Lithium minerals decompose readily in the weathering tropical environment. Lithium-ions are too small to effectively fill the octahedral site (in which lithium is bonded to six oxygen atoms) in spodumene, amblygonite-montebrasite and lithiophilite-triphylite, at near-surface conditions (London D, 2017)[1] . Therefore, lithium is frequently leached away when the pegmatite is subject to weathering. It is likely that the moderately anomalous Li2O trenching results were due to the pegmatites sampled in the trenches at Nels Luck being moderate to strongly weathered, especially compared to the relatively fresh grab samples taken in May. Mutare Lithium Project, Zimbabwe The Mutare Lithium Project is located in eastern Zimbabwe's Mutare Greenstone Belt, an emerging lithium district. The Company is evaluating the acquisition of additional prospective ground, either through staking or agreements with potential vendors. The area was deemed prospective for lithium-cesium-tantalum pegmatites based on prior target generation work. Management believes the lithium exploration potential of the MGB is analogous to that of the Pilbara Craton pegmatites in Western Australia. Zimbabwe, which is estimated to hold Africa's largest lithium resources and the fifth largest globally, is rapidly emerging as an important player within the lithium supply chain. Over the past year and a half, major Chinese battery metals companies have committed approximately US$1.4 billion to acquire and develop lithium projects in Zimbabwe. Technical information Quality Assurance and Quality Control of Li3 Lithium's trenching and sampling programs are under the control of the Company's geological employees and are consistent with industry best practices. One blank (cement) and one standard (AMIS-0565, or AMIS-0656, or AMIS-0355) is inserted as samples every 20 samples (18 rock samples, one CRM, one blank). Trenching samples are transported by Li3 Lithium's employees following a defined chain of custody, to Zimlabs in Harare, Zimbabwe. All samples were pulverized to produce a 30g charge and then analyzed by G706 (multi acid digestion with AAS finish). Zimlabs is a subsidiary of GNK laboratories and is internationally accredited laboratory testing provider with ISO/IEC 17025:2005 certification (Laboratory Accreditation Number: TEST-S 0010 (lSO/lEC t7025:20t7l). The Company has sent all of the pulp of the grab and trench samples for analysis of Niobium (Nb), Tantalum (Ta), and Caesium (Cs) to SGS Johannesburg. Results are pending. Qualified Person Francois Auclair, QP, M.Sc, Quebec Order of Geologists, CEO and President of Li3 Lithium, is the non-independent qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects for the technical disclosure contained in this news release. M Auclair, the company's qualified person and an officer, has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure contained in this news release About Li3 Lithium Corp. Li3 Lithium is focused on acquiring and developing hard rock spodumene lithium assets in Zimbabwe and Argentina, where the founders have significant experience and relationships. As evidenced by recent market growth, hard rock lithium deposits are forecast to continue to dominate the global supply of lithium given the scarcity, complexity and capex-intensive nature of alternative brine sources. Contact Information: Li3 Lithium Corp. Francois Auclair, P.Geo, M.Sc., CEO and President Tel: 514-889-5089 Email: [email protected] www.lithium3.com CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward- looking information. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. [1] Reading Pegmatites: Part 3-What Lithium Minerals Say, David London, Pages 144-157. Published online: 14 Feb 2017 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00357529.2017.1252636) To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176796 HIGHLIGHTS Drone magnetic survey completes magnetic data acquisition at Ilo Norte Multiple new targets developed from 3D modelling and reprocessing of historical magnetic data in addition to newly acquired drone survey data at Ilo Norte Ground checking of targets at Ilo Norte is now underway Mapping and sampling at Ilo Este identified undrilled prospective zones Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Solis Minerals Limited (TSXV: SLMN) (ASX: SLM) ("Solis" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the completion of a new magnetic drone survey and the reprocessing of historical magnetic data at Ilo Norte culminating in the identification of multiple high-priority targets. In addition to the survey completion, and as previously announced1, Solis has applied for an additional 3,700 hectares of highly prospective ground in the Ilo Norte region (Figure 1) and is also ground-checking new anomalies in both Ilo Norte and Ilo Este. Executive Director, Matt Boyes, commented: "The Peruvian exploration season has well and truly moved into high gear. We have now identified and secured additional tenements at Ilo Norte. We have also undertaken remote satellite data acquisition and processing, enabling us to focus on the most prospective areas now that exploration access is available. Our tenements occupy what we believe to be a very prospective corridor for copper porphyry-hosted mineralisation within an Andean belt that hasn't been fully explored. Recent significant improvements in geophysical data processing technologies have enabled us to generate high-priority, undrilled targets from existing data sets. We are now ground-checking at both Ilo Norte and Ilo Este. These will be drill tested as soon as permitted." 1 See ASX release "Quarterly Activities Report" of 31 July 2023. Ilo Norte Project, Peru (Solis 100%) Figure 1: Ilo Norte Project expanded area showing Solis' exploration tenements and applications. Coincident magnetic and radial symmetry anomalies from reprocessed historical datasets are identified with letter/number combinations. Solis' recent aerial magnetic survey area is in the SE of the tenement package. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1134/176757_280089d48411a836_012full.jpg Figure 2: Oblique northwest-southeast A-A section of Ilo Norte Project area, viewed from the north and showing reprocessed magnetic data showing magnetic anomalies (yellow) and radial symmetry filters (green-blue) - considered more prospective of intrusive bodies where coincident (S2 and S4) To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1134/176757_280089d48411a836_013full.jpg Solis has undertaken a magnetic vector inversion (MVI) with Fathom Geophysics of historical aerial magnetic data in the Ilo Norte area using modern software and filters. Analysis of the results, including structure analysis, has outlined several magnetic susceptibility anomalies associated with high-angle cross-structures across the main Andean structural trend. Some of these occur in ground acquired by Solis after its 2023 WorldView-3 (WV-3) satellite spectral imagery program. Other magnetic anomalies undercover have been identified in the southeast of the area and were applied for during June 2023 (Figure 1). Magnetic anomalies are often associated with magnetite-bearing intrusions or skarns in porphyry settings and are a valuable vector for porphyry copper-style mineralisation. Figure 2 shows a northwest-southeast oblique section, viewed from the northeast, of the four magnetic anomalies S1-S4 shown in Figure 1. Magnetic anomalies (yellow) coincide with radial symmetry filter results at anomalies S2 and S4 and are considered more prospective. The radial symmetry filter highlights round features in the data, allowing the location of areas more likely to be intrusive bodies or discrete alteration zones. The radially symmetric features in the MVI area appear to line up along the NW-trending (Andean structures) and NNE- to NE-trending structures (cross-structures). This is consistent with what is expected for intrusive activity in the area. Figure 3: Drone magnetometry survey underway at Ilo Norte To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1134/176757_280089d48411a836_014full.jpg Solis has recently flown a drone magnetometry survey over the southern portion of the Ilo Norte tenement package, an area previously not covered by historical surveys. Some 150 km lines of east-west and four north-south tie lines were flown in four days, covering an area of approximately 31km2 (Figures 3 & 4). The survey focused on following previous exploration, including remote sensing anomalies, prospective structures, and geological mapping. The objective was to identify structural architecture and magnetic highs and lows potentially associated with covered porphyries or their associated alteration. Four targets (M1-4, see Figure 5) were identified, and geological mapping and geochemical sampling are underway. Once field checked, induced polarisation geophysical surveys may be undertaken over areas considered more favourable as drilling targets. Figure 4: Ilo Norte Project showing drone magnetometry survey results in the previously unsurveyed area To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1134/176757_280089d48411a836_015full.jpg Figure 5: Geophysical targets M1-M4 identified from drone magnetometry survey over the southern portion of the Ilo Norte tenement package To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1134/176757_280089d48411a836_016full.jpg Ilo Este Project, Peru (Solis 100%) Geochemical mapping and sampling are underway at Ilo Este (Figures 6-8). Analysis of WV-3 satellite imagery in conjunction with previous data has focused exploration on a relatively unexplored western area of Ilo Este. An exposure of porphyritic quartz diorite with strong potassic alteration containing copper oxide minerals was located in an area previously untested by drilling (see Figures 7 & 8). Drill permitting will initiate shortly. Figure 6: Sampling underway at Ilo Este on previously identified targets as part of ground checking of anomalies for drill testing To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1134/176757_280089d48411a836_017full.jpg Figure 7: Copper oxide minerals in hand specimen from potassic altered porphyritic diorites at Ilo Este # containing approximately 1.5% to 2% copper oxide on the surface of the hand specimen. The presence of copper oxides in hand specimen indicates a mineral species only and should not be considered a substitute for analytical results. Visual estimates of mineral abundance should never be considered a proxy or substitute for laboratory analyses where concentrations or grades are the factor of principal economic interest. Visual estimates also potentially provide no information regarding impurities or deleterious physical properties relevant to valuations. The hand specimen was located at 8057240N and N269167E and has not been sent for assaying at this stage." To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1134/176757_280089d48411a836_018full.jpg Figure 8: Location map Ilo Este showing the position of grab sample from Figure 7; and nearby historical drill assay3 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/1134/176757_280089d48411a836_019full.jpg Brazilian Lithium Projects Jaguar Lithium Project Solis has negotiated an extension to the due diligence period2 over the Jaguar asset until 1 September 2023 due to slow production rates experienced during the current drilling programme. Borborema Lithium Project An exploration team will mobilise in August to commence fieldwork on the Borborema Lithium Project. Solis controls more than 25,600ha of prospective tenements in the northern Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Norte and Paraiba. About Solis Minerals Ltd. Solis Minerals is a Latin American battery mineral-focused mining exploration company. The Company owns a 100% interest in the Borborema Lithium Project in NE Brazil, covering 25,600ha. It has recently executed an option to acquire 100% of the Jaguar Lithium Project in Bahia state, Brazil. In addition, Solis also holds a 100% interest in 35,700ha of combined licences and applications of highly prospective IOCG (iron oxide copper/gold) and porphyry copper projects in southwestern Peru within the country's prolific coastal copper belt - a source of nearly half of Peru's copper production. This announcement has been authorised for release to the TSX-V and ASX by the Board of Solis Minerals. For further information, please contact: Australia Matt Boyes Executive Director Solis Minerals Limited +61 8 6117 4798 Stephen Moloney Investor Relations Corporate Storytime +61 (0) 403 222 052 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of accuracy of this news release. 2 Refer to ASX announcement 31 May 2023 for further details of the Jaguar Lithium Project acquisition terms. 3 Refer to ASX announcement 22 December 2021, Solis' Prospectus and Independent Expert's Report p67, for details of historical drilling programs at Ilo Este. The Company confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the Prospectus and Independent Expert's Report. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that relate to future events or performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made and information currently available to the Company. Readers 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, including, but not limited to, market conditions, availability of financing, actual results of the Company's exploration and other activities, environmental risks, future metal prices, operating risks, accidents, labour issues, delays in obtaining governmental approvals and permits, and other risks in the mining industry. All the forward-looking statements made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those in our continuous disclosure filings available on SEDAR at www.sedarplus.ca. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required by applicable law. Qualified Person Statement The technical information in this news release was reviewed by Fred Tejada, P.Geo, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101). Competent Person Statement The information in this ASX release concerning Geological Information and Exploration Results is based on and fairly represents information compiled by Mr Matthew Boyes, a Competent Person who is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Boyes is an employee of Solis Minerals Ltd. and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and types of deposit under consideration and to the exploration activities undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the "Australian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr Boyes consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on information in the form and context in which it appears. Mr Boyes has provided his prior written consent regarding the form and context in which the Geological Information and Exploration Results and supporting information are presented in this Announcement. All information about exploration results previously released to the market is appropriately referenced in this document. Dislcaimer In relying on the above mentioned ASX announcement and pursuant to ASX Listing Rule 5.23.2, the Company confirms that it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the above-mentioned announcement. APPENDIX 1 Mining Concessions table Westminster Peru SAC Concessions and Applications as of April 17th 2023 Number Concession No Registered Owner Name Size (Ha) Status 1 010500508 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO ESTE I 800 Granted 2 010500308 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO ESTE II 900 Granted 3 010500108 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO ESTE III 600 Granted 4 010195214 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO ESTE IX 900 Granted 5 010083009 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO NORTE 1,000 Granted 6 010083109 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO NORTE 1,000 Granted 7 010251109 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO NORTE 700 Granted 8 010184411 Westminster Peru Sac BRIDGETTE 1 1,000 Granted 9 010184911 Westminster Peru Sac ESSENDON 26 1,000 Granted 10 010251309 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO NORTE 1,000 Granted 11 010184511 Westminster Peru Sac MADDISON 1 1,000 Granted 12 010251209 Westminster Peru Sac LATIN ILO NORTE 7 1,000 Granted 13 010184011 Westminster Peru Sac KELLY 00 700 Granted 14 010012521 Westminster Peru Sac CARUCA 600 Granted 15 010013422A Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS 02A 100 Granted 16 010013422 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS 02 200 Granted 17 010013522 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS03 500 Granted 18 010013622 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS04 400 Granted 19 010013722 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS05 500 Granted 20 0100323122 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS06 1,000 Granted 21 010013922 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS07 300 Application Submitted 22 010013922A Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS 07A 200 Application Submitted 23 010012221 Westminster Peru Sac UCHUSUMA A 1,000 Application Submitted 24 010012321 Westminster Peru Sac UCHUSUMA B 400 Application Submitted 25 010012421 Westminster Peru Sac PALLAGUA 1 600 Application Submitted 26 010299922 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 1 1,000 Application Submitted 27 010300022 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 2 500 Granted 28 010300122 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 3 1,000 Application Submitted 29 010300222 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 4 900 Application Submitted 30 010300322 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 5 1,000 Application Submitted 31 010300422 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 6 1,000 Application Submitted 32 010300522 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 7 1,000 Application Submitted 33 010300822 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS SUR 2 900 Application Submitted 34 010300622 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS SUR 3 900 Application Submitted 35 010023223 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 8 1,000 Application Submitted 36 010032423 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 9 1,000 Application Submitted 37 010032523 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 10 1,000 Application Submitted 38 010032623 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 11 400 Application Submitted 39 010032723 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 12 1,000 Application Submitted 40 010032823 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS KELLY 01 1,000 Application Submitted 41 0100329.23 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS KELLY 02 1,000 Application Submitted 42 01-01445-23 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 13 1,000 Application Submitted 43 01-01446-23 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 14 900 Application Submitted 44 01-01447-23 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 15 800 Application Submitted 45 01-01448-23 Westminster Peru Sac SOLIS NORTE 16 1,00 Application Submitted Total Ha 35,700 APPENDIX 2 JORC Code, 2012 Edition - Table 1 Section 1 Sampling Techniques and Data (Criteria in this section apply to all succeeding sections) Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Ridgeline Minerals Corp. (TSXV: RDG) (OTCQB: RDGMF) (FSE: 0GC0) ("Ridgeline" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Nevada Gold Mines LLC ("NGM" or "Nevada Gold Mines"), a joint venture between Barrick Gold and Newmont Corp., has mobilized a drill rig to the Swift Gold Project ("Swift") located in the Cortez District of the Battle Mountain - Eureka mine trend (Figure 1). Ridgeline entered into an exploration earn-in agreement with NGM on September 22, 2021 (see press release HERE) where NGM can incur a minimum of US$ 20 million (of which US$ 5 million has been spent to-date) in qualifying work expenditures over an initial five-year term to earn an initial 60% interest in Swift, and will have further options to increase its interest to a total 75% interest. Details of the proposed drill program are highlighted below. Drill Program Highlights Drill hole SW23-005 will target the intersection of proposed low-angle structures and favourable lower plate carbonate host rocks of the Wenban and Roberts Mountains Formations. Drill hole will provide key litho-structural information between historical drill intercepts in hole MCK-99-5A (18.3 meters ("m") grading 0.64 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold ("Au")) and 2022 NGM drill intercepts in SW22-002 (41.9 m grading 0.26 g/t Au) and SW22-003 (48.8 m grading 0.45 g/t Au), (see Figure 2 and February 16, 2023 press release HERE) Drill hole SW22-004 will be extended from a starting depth of 1,104 m where the hole was previously halted by NGM in January 2023 due to severe winter weather conditions. Drilling returned up to 3.0 m grading 2.27 g/t Au in Upper Plate rocks prior to intersecting Lower Plate host rocks at 1,065 m (Figure 2). Hole will be extended through prospective host rocks to an anticipated depth of 1,500+ meters. Chad Peters, Ridgeline's President, CEO & Director commented, "To date, we are very encouraged by the exploration results at Swift with early results highlighting the potential to discover a large Carlin-Type gold system. The Nevada Gold Mines team has done an exceptional job generating a property-wide geologic model and SW23-005 will target a highly prospective structural corridor bounded by mineralized gold intercepts on both sides. We look forward to updating our shareholders as results are received." Figure 1: Plan view map showing the location of the Swift exploration earn-in agreement with Nevada Gold Mines. Modified from Barrick Investor Day presentation (November 18, 2022 Presentation HERE) To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7298/176708_79cf3f51c4ab1966_002full.jpg Figure 2: Ridgeline's conceptual long section A-A' interpreted from drilling to-date highlights past exploration results and proposed 2023 drill holes To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7298/176708_79cf3f51c4ab1966_003full.jpg Swift Project Swift is located on the Cortez District of the historic Battle Mountain - Eureka Trend approximately 30 kilometers ("km") south of the town of Battle Mountain, in Lander County, Nevada. The district-scale 75 km property is on trend to the Pipeline, Cortez Hills, and Goldrush deposits (View our Swift VRIFY Presentation), which comprise the multi-million ounce Cortez Complex owned by Nevada Gold Mines (a joint venture between Barrick Gold and Newmont Corp.). Ridgeline entered into an exploration earn-in agreement with NGM on September 22, 2021, where NGM can incur a minimum US$20 million (of which US$ 5 million has been spent to-date) in qualifying work expenditures over an initial five-year term to earn an initial 60% interest in the Swift gold project. NGM will have further options to increase its interest to a total 75% interest (subject to additional expenditures and commitments). QAQC Procedures Samples are submitted to ALS Minerals, Elko Nevada, which is a certified and accredited laboratory, independent of Nevada Gold Mines. Samples are prepared using industry-standard prep methods and analysed using Au-AA23 (Au; 30 g fire assay) and ME-MS61 (48 element Suite; 0.25 g 4-acid digestion/ICP-MS) methods. ALS also undertakes its own internal coarse and pulp duplicate analysis to ensure proper sample preparation and equipment calibration. Nevada Gold Mines QAQC program includes regular insertion of CRM standards, duplicates, and blanks into the sample stream with a stringent review of all results completed internally by Nevada Gold Mines technical personnel. Technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Michael T. Harp, CPG. the Company's Vice President, Exploration, who is Ridgeline's Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 and responsible for technical matters of this release. About Ridgeline Minerals Corp. Ridgeline is a discovery focused gold-silver explorer with a proven management team and a 192 km exploration portfolio across six projects in Nevada and Idaho, USA. More information about Ridgeline can be found at www.RidgelineMinerals.com. On behalf of the Board "Chad Peters" President & CEO Further Information: Chad Peters, P.Geo. President & CEO Ridgeline Minerals Corp. (775) 304-9773 | [email protected] Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. Cautionary Note regarding Forward-Looking Statements Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "Forward-Looking Information") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-Looking Information includes, but is not limited to, the anticipated benefits of the Earn-In Agreement and the transaction contemplated thereby. The words "potential", "anticipate", "meaningful", "discovery", "forecast", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "plan", "historical", "historic" and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify Forward-Looking Information. Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Information. In preparing the Forward-Looking Information in this news release, Ridgeline has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions that TSX Venture Exchange approval will be granted in a timely manner subject only to standard conditions; the current objectives concerning the Project can be achieved and that its other corporate activities will proceed as expected; that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner; and that all requisite information will be available in a timely manner. Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Ridgeline to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Information. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to dependence on key personnel; risks related to unforeseen delays; risks related to historical data that has not been verified by the Company; as well as those factors discussed in Ridgeline's public disclosure record. Although Ridgeline has attempted to identify important factors that could affect Ridgeline and may cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in Forward-Looking Information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that Forward-Looking Information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on Forward-Looking Information. Except as required by law, Ridgeline does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to Forward-Looking Information contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176708 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - Norris Lithium Inc. (CSE: CHCK) (the "Company" or "Norris") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a purchase agreement (the "Agreement") to acquire a 100% interest in the Alice lithium property located in the Red Lake Mining Division of Northern Ontario (the "Alice Property"). The Alice Property is located on the Allison Lake Batholith, in an area identified by government mapping for its high potential for lithium exploration. There are multiple mapped pegmatites on the property which require further investigation. Dale Ginn, the Company's President and CEO stated, "This acquisition gives Norris the opportunity to explore for LCT pegmatites in Ontario adjacent to Lithium One's Allison property. We are able to conduct surface exploration on this ground while awaiting imminent road access to our Highway and Bus properties in the Eeyou Istchee James Bay Region of Quebec, near the Corvette Deposit." Figure 1: Location Norris Lithium's Alice Property To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9293/176695_41dc4971942ca963_001full.jpg The Alice Property consists of 184 claims covering 3743 ha. It is located 100 km east of Red Lake, Ontario with road access. It is adjacent to Lithium One's Allison South project, proximal to Green Technology Metals' Allison Lake lithium project, and 40 km southeast of their Root lithium project. The project is underlain by the Allison Lake Batholith, a peraluminous, S-type fertile granite with multiple pink and white pegmatites mapped on the property. The margins of the batholith have been identified by government mapping as an underexplored and highly prospective area. Agreement Terms Under the terms of the Agreement, the Company will acquire a 100% interest in the Alice Property from 1252272 B.C. Ltd. (the "Vendor"), an arm's length private company, in exchange for the payment of $100,000 and the issuance of 1,000,000 common shares within five business days of filing of final required documents with the Canadian Securities Exchange. The Alice Property will be subject to a 2% net smelter returns royalty in favor of the Vendor, one-half of which can be purchased by the Company at any time for a cash payment of $1,000,000. Qualified Persons This news release has been reviewed and approved by R. Dale Ginn, P.Geo., the President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of the Company and a Qualified Person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101. About Norris Lithium Inc. Norris is engaged in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral property assets in Canada. Norris holds the Highway and Bus Lithium properties in the James Bay region of Qubec and the Solitude Lake Property located near the Savant Lake area in the Patricia Mining Division, Ontario. Norris' objectives are to conduct exploration programs on its Solitude Lake Property and Quebec Lithium properties and to locate and develop other economic mineral properties of merit. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS R. Dale Ginn, Chief Executive Officer For further information, please contact: R. Dale Ginn Email: [email protected] Telephone: 204-794-5818 The Canadian Securities Exchange has not approved nor disapproved of the content of this press release. This news release may contain certain "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this news release and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or results or otherwise. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176695 Calgary, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - OBSIDIAN ENERGY LTD. (TSX: OBE) (NYSE American: OBE) ("Obsidian Energy", the "Company", "we", "us" or "our") announces that we will be participating in the 2023 EnerCom Denver Energy Investment Conference from Tuesday, August 15 to Wednesday, August 16, 2023, in Denver, Colorado at the Westin Denver Downtown Hotel. Peter Scott, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will be presenting at 10:30 a.m. MDT (12:30 am EDT) on Tuesday, August 15, 2023, followed by a 50-minute breakout session. Mr. Scott will also be hosting one-on-one meetings at the conference. The presentation will be webcast live and available after the event on our website and the conference webcast page. CONTACT OBSIDIAN ENERGY Suite 200, 207 - 9th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta T2P 1K3 Phone: 403-777-2500 Toll Free: 1-866-693-2707 Website: www.obsidianenergy.com; Investor Relations: Toll Free: 1-888-770-2633 E-mail: [email protected] To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176101 Under the theme "Wings of Connection" Beijing, China--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - SAUDIA, the national flag carrier of Saudi Arabia, has launched its first direct flight to Beijing, China, in collaboration with the Air Connectivity Program (ACP). This milestone falls in line with Saudi Aviation Strategy, which recognizes the importance of air connectivity in targeting key markets, such as China, and accommodating increasing demand from international tourists seeking to discover the treasures of Saudi Arabia. The inaugural SAUDIA flight from Jeddah to Beijing, (SV 0886), took off on the morning of August 4, 2023, from King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah to Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX). A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in the presence of His Excellency Engr. Ibrahim Al-Omar, Director General of SAUDIA Group, His Excellency Mr. Chen Weiqing, the Chinese Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mr. Ayman Abu Abah, CEO of JEDCO, and executives from ACP at the boarding gate. Chocolates and a special boarding pass celebrating this historic day were distributed to the departing guests. The aircraft was welcomed at PKX with a water salute, where guests were greeted with flowers and giveaways. A second ceremony was held on the departure of the first flight from Beijing to Saudi Arabia, (SV 0887) in attendance of His Excellency Engr. Ibrahim Al-Omar, His Excellency Mr. Abdulrahman Alharbi, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to China, Mr. Ali Rajab, CEO of ACP, and Mr. Kong Yue, the Vice President of Beijing Daxing International Airport. Figure 1 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9108/176761_saudia1en.jpg An event was held at The Four Seasons Hotel, Beijing, where distinguished guests from both countries came together to celebrate this milestone. The theme of the event was "Wings of Connection", focusing on the opportunities and benefits brought by the direct flight service, while highlighting the ecosystem's role in fostering connections across trade and business, tourism, education, and culture. Under the patronage of His Excellency, Abdulrahman Ahmad Al-Harbi, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to China, and in attendance of His Excellency Engr. Ibrahim Al-Omar, Mr. Ali Rajab, and Mr. Kong Yue along with representatives from governmental entities, travel agencies, and media, this event commemorated the impact of the ecosystem's concerted efforts in strengthening the bilateral ties between Saudi Arabia and China. Figure 2 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9108/176761_saudia2en1.jpg His Excellency Engr. Ibrahim Al-Omar, Director General of SAUDIA Group, said,"We are proud to expand our operations and offer new destinations to our guests. China is a very important route for SAUDIA, and the introduction of the new direct flights to and from Beijing not only boosts tourism but also strengthens the overall economic and cultural ties between the two nations. It facilitates increased travel, trade, and people-to-people exchanges, fostering stronger bilateral relations. "Tourism is a pillar of Saudi Vision 2030, and China is ranked among the top global sources of tourists. This new route will be another large step forward towards Saudi Arabia's ambitious economic diversification agenda and it can achieve much growth with more Chinese vacationers coming to the Kingdom. "We are also very grateful for the continuous support provided by the Air Connectivity Program, which enables us to continue to grow as we work towards achieving our objective to bring the world to Saudi Arabia," He added. Ali Rajab, ACP's CEO, said,"This new route is the outcome of our collective efforts to further connect Saudi Arabia and China, strengthening an avenue for mutual growth. By working closely with our partners in the Saudi ecosystem, we have ensured that every traveler embarking on this journey will experience the seamless blend of hospitality, heritage, and innovation Saudi Arabia offers. We are excited to witness the transformative impact this flight will have on both nations and the lasting connections it will create." Alhasan Aldabbagh, President of APAC Markets at Saudi Tourism Authority, stated, "This is an iconic achievement that underscores our dedication to China - one of our vital source markets. Fueled by an ambitious tourism plan, which is underpinned by the Vision 2030 strategic framework, Saudia's historic 'Wings of Connection' expansion into Beijing will help us welcome over 4 million Chinese visitors to Saudi by 2030. Today, Saudi is expanding at a breakneck pace, with our vibrant tourism sector offering the most significant developments in the world. We eagerly await the arrival of Chinese travelers to the authentic home of Arabia, where they will embark on an exploration of Saudi's ancient culture, unique heritage, and unrivalled natural offerings." Figure 3 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9108/176761_saudia3en.jpg SAUDIA will operate four weekly flights between the Kingdom and Beijing, and will further utilize the airline's extensive fleet, catering to guests with a range of convenient check-in methods, high-quality onboard services, and a comfortable flight experience that underlines the flag carrier's commitment to excellence. About Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA) Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDIA) is the national flag carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Established in 1945, the company has grown to become one of the Middle East's largest airlines. SAUDIA has invested significantly in upgrading its aircraft and currently operates one of the youngest fleet. The airline serves an extensive global route network covering around 100 destinations across four continents, including all 28 domestic airports in Saudi Arabia. A member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO), SAUDIA has also been a member airline in SkyTeam, the second largest alliance, since 2012. The airline is ranked as a Global Five-Star Major Airline by the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) and has been awarded Diamond status by APEX Health Safety powered by SimpliFlying in recognition of its comprehensive approach to safety during the pandemic. Most recently, SAUDIA was named the Middle East's Fastest Growing Airline in 2022 by Brand Finance and the World's Most Improved Airline in 2021 by Skytrax, the second time it has received this prestigious accolade. For more information on Saudi Arabian Airlines, please visit www.saudia.com Media Center Saudi Arabian Airlines Headquarters Jeddah 21231, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Email: [email protected] To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176761 Edmonton, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - TrustBIX Inc. (TSXV: TBIX) (OTCQB: TBIXF)("TrustBIX" or the "Company") announces the release of the Vendor Verification program by Old Strathcona Farmers' Market (OSFM) on July 28, 2023, during their 40th Anniversary celebration. After verification, OSFM vendors receive and display a QR code to inform the public that they are the verified producers of the products sold in their stall. This program is the outcome of the agreement with OFSM announced by the Company on May 3, 2023. "We value the collaboration with TrustBIX to create the Vendor Verification platform to provide greater assurance and exposure about the products our market sells. This also allows us to ensure our vendors are adhering to our guiding principle, Make It, Bake It, Grow It," said Kevin Zellweger, OSFM President. "We are pleased to work with OSFM and create this platform demonstrating the authenticity of the products in their market. With over 660 farmers' markets in Canada, this is an excellent opportunity to grow our innovative BIX solutions in the agri-food sector," said Deborah Wilson, TrustBIX Vice-President. About OSFM Old Strathcona Farmers' Market is Edmonton's original year-round farmers' market and is committed to providing small independent businesses a venue to showcase locally produced products. In the heart of Old Strathcona, the Market celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and plans to renovate the facility to expand their hours of operation and better serve the Greater Edmonton Area. www.osfm.ca About TrustBIX The vision is to create a world where we trust more and waste less by leveraging BIX and its technology solutions. TrustBIX delivers independent validation of provenance and sustainable practices within multiple supply chains and industries. BIX Location Services offer solutions to supply chains that bring situational awareness for high-value assets. ViewTrak Technologies Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, provides a suite of hardware and software solutions to the livestock industry in North America and China. www.trustbix.com FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Hubert Lau President and CEO Telephone: (780) 456-2207 Email: [email protected] Twitter LinkedIn Facebook 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 of accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176621 Winners will be required to record their growing process using WeedSeedsExpress products. Each winner will receive $1,500, all the necessary equipment, and get to keep their produce. No prior experience is required, with the brand looking to test seeds on a range of skills. Haarlem, Netherlands--(Newsfile Corp. - August 10, 2023) - WeedSeedsExpress is looking for three enthusiasts to grow cannabis using a range of its products and log the progress they make. Each winner will receive $1,500, all the equipment they need, and a number of seeds from the brand's range. WeedSeedsExpress To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/9925/176765_weedseedsexpress-logo3.jpg Open to both experienced growers and novices alike, the brand is looking to test its products with a range of people, with winners required to log their progress over a four-to-eight-month period. Struan, Ecommerce Manger at WeedSeedsExpress, said, "We're keen to test our seeds out amongst a range of growers and are on the hunt for people of all abilities and experience to give it a go. If you've always wanted to grow your own weed, but have been unsure of how to do it, this is the perfect opportunity. "We're experts in the process and can help winners every step of the way with their grow journal. The aim for us is to then understand how we can improve our products to suit the entire market." Entrants are required to live in locations where it is legal to grow cannabis, and there will be a stage of Zoom interviews prior to winners being confirmed. Each winner will then receive grow tents, LED lights, humidifiers, fans, and all other equipment required. Further video training is then offered to successful applicants. Registration is already underway and will run until October 31, with successful applicants then contacted for initial Zoom interviews before confirmation. Those who aren't selected will be entered into a draw for a free 10-pack of seeds. You can enter and find more information at: https://weedseedsexpress.com/blog/get-paid-to-grow-weed. About WeedSeedsExpress: WeedSeedsExpress is a Dutch company with the goal of delivering high-grade and affordable cannabis seeds worldwide. Founded in 2005, the brand is one of the most respected retailers in Europe that are well known for their passion and knowledge around growing and cultivation. You can view WeedSeedsExpress; products and purchase online at: Contact Information: Organization: WeedSeedsExpress Phone: +31 23 302 0309 Email: [email protected] Address: Waarderweg 19 I, 2031BN Haarlem, The Netherlands Website: https://weedseedsexpress.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/176765 ORLANDO, Fla. (PRWEB) August 10, 2023 Shady Grove Fertility's first location in Orlando, Florida, is now scheduling new patient appointments with Joseph B. Davis, D.O. Prior to joining SGF, Dr. Davis was the Medical Director at Cayman Fertility Centre in Grand Cayman. "Shady Grove Fertility is dedicated to giving each patient the best possible chance at success," shares Dr. Davis. "This is my top goal, and I am honored to be part of a care team that prioritizes exceptional care and world-class success rates as we walk with our patients through their family-building journey." Centrally located in Doctor Phillips, Shady Grove Fertility's first location in Orlando extends top-tier family-building treatment options for the greater Central Florida community. SGF Orlando offers state-of-the-art technology, convenient access to care, and an expert medical team to help patients achieve their family-building goals. SGF Orlando's comprehensive fertility services include: virtual and in-person new patient consults, fertility and ovarian reserve testing and diagnosis, low-tech fertility options, in vitro fertilization (IVF), donor egg, sperm, and embryo, genetic screening and testing, gestational carrier, egg freezing, fertility preservation for patients with cancer, LGBTQ+ family building, financial counseling, and more. SGF Orlando is proud to make fertility care accessible by offering the Shared Risk 100% Refund program. This exclusive program provides patients with the opportunity to pay a fixed amount for up to six fresh IVF or donor egg cycles and unlimited subsequent frozen embryo transfers (FETs). Of the total Shared Risk 100% Refund Program participants, 82 percent take home a baby, and the rest receive a full refund to use for other family-building options. Patients may now schedule a new patient appointment with Dr. Davis at SGF Orlando by calling 407-545-8755 or by submitting this brief form. About Shady Grove Fertility (SGF) SGF is a leading fertility and IVF center of excellence with more than 100,000 babies born from 30+ years of continuous innovation and patient-centered fertility care. With convenient locations throughout the U.S. and in Santiago, Chile, SGF accepts most insurance plans and makes fertility treatment accessible and affordable through innovative financial solutions, including 100% refund guarantees for eligible patients. SGF is a proud partner practice of US Fertility, the largest physician-owned and physician-led partnership of top-tier fertility practices nationally. Call 1-888-761-1967 to schedule a new patient appointment or visit ShadyGroveFertility.com for more information. Read the full story at https://www.prweb.com/releases/shady_grove_fertility_expands_to_orlando_and_welcomes_dr_joseph_davis_to_the_physician_team/prweb19483056.htm WASHINGTON , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On August 17, 2023 , Blue Star Families (BSF) is introducing a new cohort within its Blue Star Support Circles (BSSC) initiative as part of its Combat the Silence campaign, funded by the generous Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program (SSG Fox SPGP) . Launched in February of 2023, this groundbreaking program represents a significant stride in confronting mental health stigma within the military community by addressing rising suicide rates through peer-based support and education. The initiative equips participants with vital resources and tools for early crisis detection, highlighting the critical role of family and friends in crisis support. Blue Star Families introduces a new cohort to confront mental health stigma in the military community. The new BSSC cohort further advances the Combat the Silence campaign's proactive commitment to addressing military mental health. Through an immersive eight-week virtual course, participants gain access to essential resources aimed at detecting crises in their early stages. The program harnesses the power of peer-based connections and evidence-based training, while providing participants with lethal means safety kits designed for secure storage. Its impact resonates not only within military families but also throughout the broader community, underscoring its vital role in destigmatizing mental health in the military and beyond. Recent data from Blue Star Families' 2022 Military Family Lifestyle Survey (MFLS) revealed that nearly a quarter of active-duty family respondents (23%) expressed a desire to receive mental health care but currently do not. Furthermore, 1 in 5 (20%) of active-duty family respondents reported instances of adult friends or family members experiencing suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, or succumbing to suicide between 2021 and 2022. The next cohort is set to begin on August 17, 2023 . Those who are interested can sign up at bluestarfam.org/blue-star-support-circles/ Partnerships with TAPS , the American Red Cross , Spiritune , and PsychArmor further bolster the initiative. Each organization brings unique strengths: TAPS offers specialized bereavement support; the American Red Cross provides a broad network of assistance; Spiritune contributes an innovative app promoting mental well-being through music; and PsychArmor fortifies the program with its educational resources on mental health. United in purpose, the alliance enhances the program's capacity to effectively address the complex spectrum of mental health challenges within the military community. In case of immediate crisis, support is available via text or call at 988 (press 1 for Veteran Crisis Line) or via chat at 988lifeline.org . For further information about the Combat the Silence campaign or to sign up for an upcoming Blue Star Support Circles cohort, please visit: bluestarfam.org/blue-star-support-circles/ About Blue Star Families Blue Star Families is the nation's largest community-based organization supporting military-connected families. Its research-driven approach builds strong communities through innovative solutions. For more information, click here . View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blue-star-families-launches-new-virtual-cohort-to-combat-military-suicide-and-mental-health-crisis-301897984.html SOURCE Blue Star Families SAN MATEO, Calif. , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BrightEdge, the global platform leader in organic search, content, and digital automation, today announced the appointment of Krish Kumar as CEO of BrightEdge. Founder Jim Yu will take on a more active role in accelerating innovation in the Generative AI market as Executive Chairman. BrightEdge , the global platform leader in organic search, content, and digital automation, today announced the appointment of Krish Kumar as CEO "I am thrilled about this appointment and what this means for BrightEdge." said Jim Yu . "Krish is an accomplished executive who possesses a profound grasp of technology coupled with a customer-centric perspective. During Krish's five-year tenure as our COO, he has played a transformative role in broadening our range of offerings and enhancing customer experiences." "We are only at the beginning of our mission to rapidly transform the SEO industry," Yu remarks. "As an AI-first company, our platform today gives marketers an AI competitive edge and provides vital practical business intelligence and insights. Now we are accelerating. this." As marketers embrace advanced Generative AI at scale, organizations are in a 'technology land grab' mode as they seek competitive differentiation and market share. In the past year, BrightEdge has seen a threefold increase in customer adoption of real-time, automated and AI powered technologies such as BrightEdge Insights, Instant, SearchIQ, and Autopilot. With Krish Kumar at the helm, BrightEdge is ramping up further investments in data infrastructure to expand the scope of AI-driven search experiences. "BrightEdge's transition into an AI-first company marks a significant milestone in our evolution," said Krish Kumar . "Autopilot's zero-touch technology has been helping marketers automate time-consuming tasks such as dynamic content creation, internal linking, and website error detection and fixes since 2019. Across 1500 customers in every type of industry we have seen, on average, a 65% uplift in performance." BrightEdge now has over 57 Fortune 100 brands utilizing Autopilot and machine learning modules to automate their workflows. "We see the future utilization of data science and Natural Language Processing combined with new Large Language Model (LLM) applications such as ChatGPT as key to accelerating this opportunity further. We will be empowering our customers to harness this potential like never before," Kumar comments. BrightEdge currently has over 120+ engineers specializing in SEO modules, data science, and Generative Search. The company plans to double its R&D investment through BrightEdge Labs in the next year, providing customers with early access to important innovations. About BrightEdge BrightEdge stands as the largest all-in-one enterprise SEO platform, serving 70% of the Fortune 100 companies and nine out of the top ten international digital agencies. As the global leader in enterprise organic search, content, and digital automation, it empowers marketers to transform online content into business results, such as traffic, conversions, and revenue. It is powered by a sophisticated deep-learning engine and contains the industry's most extensive data set. This includes analyzing over 30 billion keywords and search, social, content, and rich media data points. Its all-in-one platform provides vital market insights and business intelligence based on secure, compliant, and robust sets of first-party, real-time, and historical data. The company maintains a global presence with offices worldwide, with its main headquarters in the California Bay Area . Website: www.brightedge.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/brightedge LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brightedge Facebook: www.facebook.com/seoplatform For media enquires contact: [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/brightedge-appoints-krish-kumar-as-ceo-301897831.html SOURCE BrightEdge VANCOUVER, BC and TORONTO , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - BZAM Ltd. (the "Company" or "BZAM") (CSE: BZAM) (OTC: BZAMF), a leading Canadian cannabis producer, announced today that further to its press releases dated July 13, 2023 , and July 25, 2023 , the Company has closed its previously announced purchase of an aggregate of 270,000 class A shares in the capital of BZAM Cannabis Corp. ("BCC") from certain minority shareholders of BCC (the "BCC Shareholders") pursuant to share purchase agreements entered into with each of the BCC Shareholders (the "Share Purchase"). As consideration for the Share Purchase, the Company: (i) issued an aggregate of 475,000 common shares of the Company (the "Common Shares") to certain BCC shareholders at a price of between $0.18 and $0.23 per Common Share; and (ii) paid an aggregate of $14,700 to other BCC shareholders who did not receive Common Shares. The Common Shares were issued in reliance on certain prospectus exemptions available under securities legislation and are subject to a four-month plus one day statutory hold period. The closing of the Share Purchase has resulted in the Company owning 88.2% of BCC, which is a 30.5% increase of the Company's existing ownership stake of BCC. About BZAM Ltd. BZAM Ltd. (CSE: BZAM) (USOTC: BZAMF) is a leading Canadian cannabis producer with a focus on branded consumer goods, innovation, quality, consistency, integrity and transparency. The BZAM family includes core brands BZAM, TGOD, ness, Highly Dutch Organic, TABLE TOP, and partner brands Dunn Cannabis, FRESH and Wyld. BZAM operates facilities in BC, Alberta , Ontario and Quebec , as well as retail stores in Winnipeg , Manitoba, and Regina, Saskatchewan . BZAM's Shares and certain warrants issued under the indentures dated June 12, 2020 , October 23, 2020 and December 10, 2020 currently trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") under the symbol "BZAM", "BZAM.WR", "BZAM.WA", and "BZAM.WB" respectively. BZAM's Shares trade in the U.S. on the OTCQX under the symbol "BZAMF". For more information on BZAM Ltd., please visit www.bzam.com. Neither the CSE nor the CSE's Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of CSE) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bzam-ltd-announces-closing-of-previously-announced-purchase-of-shares-of-bzam-cannabis-corp-301898365.html SOURCE BZAM LTD. YOSEMITE , Aug. 9, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Yosemite National Park's annual park-wide cleanup event, Yosemite Facelift , is proudly celebrating its 20th anniversary this September, with significantly expanded programming and partnerships. Yosemite gateway partner Rush Creek Lodge & Spa is taking this voluntourism experience to new heights by offering their Facelift guests the opportunity to trade trash for Spa services ! Between September 4th and October 5th, 2023 , lodge guests participating in Facelift will receive a complimentary detox spa experience which includes a magnesium foot soak at Rush Creek Spa . Yosemites annual park-wide cleanup event, Facelift, is celebrating 20 years with expanded programming and partnerships. Founded in 2003 by Ken Yager , President of the Yosemite Climbing Association , Yosemite Facelift has grown into a transformative week-long event, bringing together volunteers from around the world to contribute to the preservation of this cherished national treasure. Yosemite Facelift was conceived as a way for climbers to give back to Yosemite after each bustling summer tourist and climbing season, instilling a sense of stewardship and environmental responsibility among participants. The 20th anniversary event is set to take place in Yosemite Valley on September 20th to 24th, 2023 , with volunteer opportunities from as little as an hour to larger multi-day projects, plus daily giveaways, guest speakers, music and celebrations. This initiative has inspired similar cleanups in over 20 additional locations across America, including the 2nd annual Groveland Facelift September 9th and 10th, 2023. To participate in any Facelift event, interested individuals must pre-register at yosemiteclimbing.org . Facelift volunteers staying at Rush Creek Lodge & Spa will end their day not only satisfied with their stewardship efforts, but also with the invitation to head to the innovative Yosemite-inspired Spa for some luxurious pampering. Rush Creek Spa's Wellness team will treat guests to a complimentary Detox Experience that includes a magnesium foot soak in the Spa's heated outdoor lounge and access to day use amenities such as the Granite Waterfall Mineral Hot Tub, Warm Waterfall Coves, Aromatherapy Steam Room and more.. To book this exclusive wellness treatment, guests can call the Wellness Team at (209) 379-2425. Over the years, Yosemite Facelift has witnessed remarkable success in its efforts to keep the park free from litter and waste. During the event's 16th year in 2019, nearly 3,000 dedicated volunteers participated, resulting in the collection of nearly 16,000 pounds of trash, a significant portion of which was recycled to keep it out of landfills. To date, the cumulative efforts of Yosemite Facelift have led to the removal of an impressive 1 million pounds of trash from Yosemite National Park , making a substantial positive impact on the environment. Ken Yager , the visionary behind Yosemite Facelift, is dedicated to expanding cleanup initiatives to other national parks as well. Collaborating with the National Park Service and sponsors such as The North Face, 5 Gyres, Patagonia, and Leave No Trace, Yager launched similar cleanups in South Lake Tahoe , Mammoth Lakes , Rocky Mountain , Joshua Tree , and others. He hopes that Yosemite Facelift will serve as an inspiration for communities to engage in environmental stewardship not only in parks but also in their local surroundings, as they did in San Francisco's Glen Park earlier this year. Yosemite Facelift remains committed to preserving the natural splendor of Yosemite National Park and encourages everyone to join this noble cause, and Rush Creek Lodge & Spa is honored and eager to support its participants. By fostering a spirit of camaraderie and fun while cleaning up the environment, Yosemite Facelift continues to inspire a worldwide community of volunteers dedicated to preserving our precious natural heritage. For more information and to participate in Yosemite Facelift, please visit yosemiteclimbing.org . To book the exclusive wellness treatment at Rush Creek Lodge & Spa , participants can call the Wellness Team at (209) 379-2425. ABOUT RUSH CREEK LODGE & SPA A fresh take on the Yosemite experience, Rush Creek opened at the doorstep of Yosemite in summer 2016. The contemporary mountain lodge offers 143 guest rooms , and extensive amenities including Restaurant/Tavern , guided recreation program and Yosemite-inspired Spa . Rush Creek is a Certified B Corporation , meeting social sustainability and environmental performance standards, including a fully self-funded on-site youth employment program and a host of environmental initiatives . View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/celebrating-20-years-of-yosemite-facelift-trading-trash-for-spa-treatments-301897408.html Authors Seek to Inspire a New Generation to Embrace the Power of Grit and the Magic of Building SALISBURY, Md. , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Grit Leads to Greatness is an adventure book for young readers with a message for adults. Co-authors Jenny Kerr Schroen and Chris Eccleston are on a mission to ignite a passion for the trades among young minds and address the pressing need for skilled workers in the building trade industries, specifically the building, plumbing, and electrical industries. The authors are calling the construction industry to the classrooms to participate in two nationwide events. Grit Leads to Greatness paints a picture of a society where trade skills have been forgotten. Readers meet Tegan and Trig, two resilient siblings who embark on a transformative journey through a dystopian society. As they navigate treacherous terrain and face daunting challenges, they discover the power of grit and the importance of trade skills in their quest to save their city from impending disaster. Numerous studies indicate the amount of skilled trade jobs is far outpacing the supply of qualified workers to fill them. The authors believe that by captivating children's imaginations and instilling an appreciation for the trades early on, the book could contribute to reversing the declining interest in these crucial vocations. To support a wider understanding of the importance of the trades, the authors are planning upcoming events nationwide: Careers in Construction Month in October 2023 and Read Across America Week, March 4-8, 2024 . The authors are "calling the construction industry to classrooms" to participate by purchasing bundles of twenty five books to give to local third graders. The plan invites contractors to read aloud to the children, who follow along with their own copy. It's a unique opportunity for the industry to connect with kids by sharing personal stories of the part they play in construction and how it applies to the world we all live in. By each child receiving their own copy of "Grit Leads to Greatness" to reread at home, the authors have the opportunity to change the parent's stigma of the industry from dirty and disrespected to noble and necessary. The authors state, "We strongly believe that together we can jointly promote the trades and inspire a new generation of both skilled workers and advocates who will contribute to the growth and prosperity of the building, plumbing, and electrical industries." About Jenny Kerr Schroen and Chris Eccleston Chris Eccleston , founder of Delmarva Veteran Builders (DVB), a commercial construction firm in Salisbury, MD and Jenny Kerr Schroen , the firm's Creative Developer, both shared a life-long dream to write a children's book. Basing their concept on DVB's tagline "Grit Leads To Greatness," they devised an epic adventure book to show both parents and children that construction is heroic. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/childrens-book-imagines-a-world-without-trades-301897954.html SOURCE GLTG, LLC ZURICH , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Board of Directors of Chubb Limited (NYSE: CB) today declared a quarterly dividend equal to $0.86 per share, payable on October 6, 2023 to shareholders of record at the close of business on September 15, 2023 . The dividend will be payable out of legal reserves and will be made in United States dollars by the company's transfer agent, as described in the Chubb Limited 2023 proxy statement. This will be the second installment as approved by the company's shareholders on May 17, 2023 . 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 40,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: www.chubb.com. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Forward-looking statements made in this press release, such as statements regarding dividends, and our expectations and intentions and other statements that are not historical facts, reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. For example, payment of scheduled or future dividends could be affected by extraordinary company events or capital constraints or similar factors that could require the company to adjust, delay or withhold dividend payments. Additional information regarding factors that could cause differences from these forward-looking statements appears in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chubb-limited-board-declares-quarterly-dividend-301897933.html SOURCE Chubb Limited China will resume short-term visas for Koreans on Saturday after Korea made the same decision on Feb. 11, the Chinese Embassy in Seoul said Wednesday. This ends a visa spat between the two countries that saw China retaliate peevishly for Korean restrictions as COVID infections surged in the world's most populous country. China will also allow Korean transit passengers to stay in Chinese cities without a visa for up to 144 hours. DALLAS , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Civitas Capital Group, a Dallas -based alternative investment manager offering niche opportunities in U.S. real estate, today announced that it has closed a senior loan on the 168-key Embassy Suites by Hilton Chicago Naperville hotel located in Naperville, Illinois , a western suburb of Chicago . "The Naperville Embassy Suites loan perfectly aligns with a key strategy of ours." This loan will be used to refinance an existing loan on behalf of the owner, a joint venture between Brookfield Reinsurance/ANICO and Superhost Hospitality. The all-suite hotel, developed by Superhost in 2015, is the newest full-service hotel in Naperville and caters to both business and leisure travelers. Naperville is located off the I-88 corridor, known as the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor, an economic center that is home to the headquarters and regional offices of businesses from a vast range of industries, including aerospace, healthcare, transportation and manufacturing, as well as scientific institutions, colleges, and universities. In addition to offering easy access to the city's key employers, the hotel sits in Freedom Plaza , a premier location featuring Naperville's top restaurants and bars, and is close to area attractions such as Naperville Riverwalk, Naper Settlement, Morton Arboretum, and Centennial Beach. "The Naperville Embassy Suites loan perfectly aligns with a key strategy of ours," says Melanie Pugmire , Vice President, Lodging Investments, who served as co-lead on the transaction with Marisa Lizak , Managing Director, Investments. "Our Lodging team looks to invest in high-quality, globally branded, strong-cash-flowing hospitality assets located in the top 25 U.S. MSAs assets that are owned and operated by well-capitalized, experienced sponsors." Embassy Suites by Hilton Chicago Naperville features 168 guest rooms and a robust amenity package, offering complimentary breakfast and evening receptions as well as an indoor pool, fitness center, guest laundry, market pantry, outdoor patio and on-site restaurant, Brickstones Grill. Most notably, the hotel has nearly 14,000 SF of flexible event space that can accommodate meetings and banquets of any occasion and any size up to 1,000 guests. ABOUT CIVITAS CAPITAL GROUP Civitas Capital Group is a nimble alternative investment manager offering compelling, niche opportunities in U.S. real estate. Civitas exists to create opportunities that enrich our communities, investors, and employees alike. Driven by relentless creativity, Civitas digs deeper to uncover opportunities that others miss. Follow Civitas Capital Group on LinkedIn. Learn more at civitascapital.com. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/civitas-announces-senior-loan-close-in-embassy-suites-chicago-naperville-transaction-301897546.html SOURCE Civitas Capital Group LAS VEGAS , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican Hospitals broke ground today on a new Neighborhood Hospital, a vital healthcare facility poised to enhance medical accessibility for the local community. Set in the heart of the vibrant Centennial Hills community, the state-of-the-art facility at 725 W Centennial Parkway marks St. Rose Dominican's fifth small-format hospital of its kind in Las Vegas . "This is indeed a momentous occasion for Dignity HealthSt. Rose Dominican family and for the Centennial Hills community," said Jon Van Boening, President of Dignity Health Nevada. "When opened, the Dignity Health Neighborhood Hospital Centennial Hills Campus will be our fifth such facility across our vast community, as we extend our mission and our commitment to provide compassionate care to our southern Nevada neighbors. We are confident the current and future residents of this growing area will come to count on us to provide exceptional professional healthcare, in the same way families across the valley have come to for more than 75 years." With a profound focus on improving access to healthcare services, these neighborhood hospitals, which are built and operated through a partnership with Emerus Holdings Inc., address the essential needs of patients and families across the Las Vegas valley, beyond the reach of Dignity Health's three acute care hospitals. "Emerus is proud to be part of this groundbreaking project, which will further enhance access to healthcare services for the people of northwest Las Vegas ," said Vic Schmerbeck , CEO of Emerus Holdings Inc. "Our partnership with Dignity HealthSt. Rose Dominican allows us to deliver top-notch medical care through our small-format hospitals, bringing compassionate and experienced care teams closer to where patients live and work." Like the four existing Dignity Health Neighborhood Hospital campuses, the design and layout of the new Centennial Campus has been thoughtfully crafted to cater to the specific requirements of the community. The facility spans approximately 24,000 square feet across two floors and will house 10 well-equipped inpatient beds and eight emergency exam rooms, including a dedicated triage room. The facility will be staffed by board-certified physicians, experienced nurses, and other clinical specialists, ensuring the same level of compassionate, patient-focused care found at existing Dignity Health neighborhood hospital locations. This commitment to excellence ensures that patients receive swift and compassionate care during their time of need. Beyond elevating the standard of healthcare available, the Centennial Campus is set to have a substantial positive economic impact on the local community. It will create job opportunities and foster a robust healthcare ecosystem, driving positive change and contributing to a healthier future for the residents of northwest Las Vegas . Dignity HealthSt. Rose Dominican remains steadfast in its mission to serve the community with the highest quality healthcare services. The groundbreaking of the new Neighborhood Hospital marks another milestone in this commitment, paving the way for enhanced medical accessibility and care. About Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican: Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican recently celebrated 75 years in southern Nevada , marking the anniversary of the arrival of the seven Adrian Dominican Sisters who founded Rose de Lima Hospital on June 27, 1947 . As Nevada's only not-for-profit, faith-based health system, St. Rose Dominican is still guided by the vision and core values of the Adrian Dominican Sisters in all its endeavors. As the Henderson and Las Vegas communities grow, the St. Rose Dominican health system and its nearly 4,000 employees continue the Sisters' mission of serving people in need. Dignity Health currently operates three acute care hospitals in southern Nevada and is a member of the multi-state Dignity Health network of nearly 10,000 physicians, 60,000 employees, 41 acute care hospitals, and 400-plus care centers, including hospitals, urgent and occupational care, imaging centers, and primary care clinics. For more information, visit our website at www.strosehospitals.org . ABOUT EMERUS Emerus is the nation's first, largest and most experienced operator of small-format hospitals, also known as community hospitals or neighborhood hospitals. Emerus partners with leading health systems across the nation to provide excellence, empathy and innovation in healthcare delivery through a network of efficient, value-based micro-hospitals. The Emerus network brings high-quality, patient-centric acute episodic and ambulatory clinical services to communities across a given market. This helps patients by positioning best-in-class provider services in the communities where they work, live and play. More information is available at www.emerus.com . CONTACT: Richard Bonnin at 281-840-9820 richard.bonnin@emerus.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dignity-health--st-rose-dominican-emerus-break-ground-on-new-neighborhood-hospital-expanding-medical-access-for-local-community-301898084.html SOURCE Emerus Business Leaders can Improve Their ESG Efforts by Evaluating Similar Organizations VIENNA, Va. , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ECI (Ethics & Compliance Initiative), the leading organization defining the future of business integrity, has compiled a searchable library of ESG, sustainability, and corporate impact reports from over 100 of the largest companies[1] in the world. Each report tells the story of an individual company's environmental, social, and governance efforts. Collectively, these reports provide a snapshot of common approaches and reveal both the priorities of the larger business community and the tenor of the evolving ESG movement. The initial release of the library is intended to be a starting place; companies are encouraged to submit their reports to ECI so that they can be included in the database. Ethics and Compliance Initiative (ECI) has compiled a searchable library of ESG, sustainability, and corporate impact. "It's a privilege to support ECI in its commitment to business integrity, through this new initiative toward sharing global best-practices toward ESG's highest and best use from the strategic to the tactical, and across industries," said Mary Beth West , FPRCA, initial funder of the library project. Ms. West , whose 30-year career has included advocacy for governance reform and communications ethics in the U.S. public relations industry, added "I urge executives across consulting, corporate, governmental and non-profit sectors to engage with ECI's offerings, certainly including the ECI Business Integrity Library, as well as ECI's proprietary research, professional development, and certifications to build ethically strong governance leading to authentic stakeholder relationships and brand reputations." The Business Integrity Library is searchable by features like use of a particular reporting framework, prioritization of environmental issues, company size or industry, and more. Dr. Patricia J. Harned , CEO, shared, "ECI's Business Integrity Library will provide our members with easy access to information from industry leaders and a deeper sense of how leading companies articulate their ESG priorities and efforts." Moving forward, ECI plans to add further functionality including a ratings system to the Library, allowing for a crowd-sourced element of report evaluation that will increase the platform's efficiency and usefulness for members. ECI members across the globe are encouraged to take advantage of this member benefit today and submit any ESG reports from their own companies for evaluation and inclusion. About Ethics & Compliance Initiative (ECI) ECI is the leading organization in defining business integrity to make the world a better, more ethical place. We provide ethics and compliance professionals with the tools they need to become great leaders, build exceptional teams, and create ethical workplaces that set the highest standard. We equip companies and organizations for success by giving them the confidence that they are doing the right thing, and the intelligence to anticipate what is coming around the corner. For more information about ECI and to become a member visit www.ethics.org. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/eci-unveils-global-business-integrity-library-to-promote-corporate-esg-efforts-301897533.html SOURCE ECO (Ethics and Compliance Initiative) DALLAS , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Havencrest Capital Management ("Havencrest"), a Dallas -based healthcare private equity firm, is pleased to announce the formation of its non-medical home care platform, Avid Health at Home ("Avid" or the "Company") in connection with its first acquisition of Chicago -based For Papa's Sake Home Care ("FPS"). Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois , FPS is a leading provider of non-medical home care in the greater Chicago area. FPS has received multiple awards and accolades for excellence over the years, including being named the #1 agency in North America by Home Care Pulse in 2022, and Havencrest Operating Partner Jen Lentz is the CEO of the Avid platform. "We are very excited about the creation of Avid as well as our partnership with FPS," commented Christopher W. Kersey , M.D., M.B.A., Founding Managing Partner of Havencrest. "With Jen's leadership and her successful operating track record in the post-acute care marketspace, our investment in FPS represents a strategic entry point into home care and will allow Avid to establish market leadership and expand access to quality care for patients across the Chicago market," Dr. Kersey stated. According to CEO Jen Lentz , "At Avid, our goal is to establish a platform that provides quality person-to-person care that leverages industry best practices as well as innovative technology. Havencrest is the catalyst to achieve that goal through our shared vision of expanding the critical role that home care plays in the larger heathcare delivery system." Avid is actively exploring new acquisition opportunities in home care across the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Mountain West geographies. Jett Aubrey , Principal of Havencrest, said, "We believe there is significant opportunity to innovate in home care through a focus on technology, training and quality measures. Home care is increasingly demanding a bigger seat at the post-acute table, and we believe that Avid is positioned to be that provider of choice for patients, providers and payers." ABOUT HAVENCREST CAPITAL MANAGEMENT Dallas -based Havencrest Capital Management ("Havencrest") is a healthcare-focused private equity fund with approximately $600M of assets under management (AUM). Havencrest comprises a leading team of investment professionals, Operating Partners and Senior Advisors, including many of the nation's leading healthcare entrepreneurs, corporate executives and public policy experts. With its unique approach to partnering with founder-owned healthcare companies with EBITDA between $3M - $15M , the Havencrest team has a successful track record in building leading companies that are changing the way healthcare is delivered in America. For additional information about Havencrest, please visit www.havencrest.com Media Contact: Tom Ruane Havencrest Capital Management truane@havencrest.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/havencrest-announces-formation-of-non-medical-home-care-platform-301897394.html SOURCE Havencrest Capital Management PITTSBURGH , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE: KOP) today announced that the company will host meetings with the investment community in Chicago on August 11, 2023 . Koppers management will be represented by Leroy Ball , President and Chief Executive Officer, and Quynh McGuire , Vice President of Investor Relations. The presentation materials will be available on www.koppers.com in the Investor Relations section of the company's website. ### About Koppers Koppers, with corporate headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , is an integrated global provider of treated wood products, wood treatment chemicals, and carbon compounds. Our products and services are used in a variety of niche applications in a diverse range of end markets, including the railroad, specialty chemical, utility, residential lumber, agriculture, aluminum, steel, rubber, and construction industries. We serve our customers through a comprehensive global manufacturing and distribution network, with facilities located in North America , South America , Australasia , and Europe. The stock of Koppers Holdings Inc. is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "KOP." For more information, visit: www.koppers.com. Inquiries from the media should be directed to Ms. Jessica Franklin Black at [email protected] or 412-227-2025. Inquiries from the investment community should be directed to Ms. Quynh McGuire at [email protected] or 412-227-2049. For Information: Quynh McGuire , Vice President, Investor Relations 412 227 2049 [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/koppers-management-meeting-with-financial-community-in-chicago-301898000.html SOURCE Koppers MISSOULA, Mont. , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- LMG Security, an internationally recognized cybersecurity consulting firm, has discovered a new vulnerability involving a Fortune 500 company's software static encryption key. For the full details on the company and software impacted, please visit: https://LMGsecurity.com/software-vulnerability. Any adversary with access to this specific software can use this key to decrypt the administrative credentials for VMware's vCenter and leverage this access into a complete takeover. This type of vulnerability can easily be used in a zero-day attack. Discovered by Tom Pohl , LMG Security's penetration testing team manager, this information is being released at Pohl's DEFCON session, " Private Keys in Public Places." "Attackers are looking for private keys," said Tom Pohl , penetration testing team manager at LMG Security. "While we were doing a penetration test, I discovered a static AES encryption key within the company's Compellent Integration Tools for VMware (CITV). Once I retrieved the AES key, I was able to use it to decrypt the vCenter administrative credentials and gained complete access over their VMware environment." "This key is the same for EVERY customer!" Pohl continued. "If a criminal leverages this vulnerability, they could use it against any of this company's customers. Firmware and software binaries are littered with private keys that are hidden but not necessarily secured. We need to raise awareness of the risks stemming from this attack vector." This discovery was reported to the company with the standard 90-day window to fix the issue before this announcement. Pohl says that if criminals find old, private keys for many firmware devices they can use them to breach the systems of a wide array of organizations. From there, they can expand their access and privileges to take control of the victims' networks. Software vendors should take steps to secure these private keys, and organizations should always be vigilant about checking the security controls used by their current and prospective suppliers. Pohl also recommends organizations conduct penetration testing at least annually, so expert white hat hackers can identify your security gaps before an attacker breaches your environment. Please visit LMGsecurity.com for more information on LMG Security's penetration testing or advisory services. ABOUT LMG Security LMG Security is an internationally recognized leader in the cybersecurity consulting industry. This full-service cybersecurity firm provides one-stop shopping for a wide array of cybersecurity services. Specializing in penetration testing, advisory and compliance services, cybersecurity solutions, and training for more than a decade, the LMG Security team's services were featured on the Today show. In addition, the team has published cutting-edge research on cell phone intrusion detection and banking Trojans, written books on ransomware and cyber extortion, network forensics, and data breaches, and routinely speak or train at Black Hat, RSA and many other security conferences. LMG Security is privately held and headquartered in Missoula, Montana . For more information visit LMGsecurity.com. Contact: Leslie Bishop [email protected] +1-406-830-3165 View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lmg-security-researcher-identifies-new-software-private-key-vulnerability-within-a-fortune-500-companys-software-301897944.html SOURCE LMG Security $1.45 million grant from the National Security Agency, one of just three awarded nationwide, enables Metro State to help Minnesota small businesses prevent, detect and respond to cyberattacks SAINT PAUL, Minn. , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Metro State University, the Twin Cities' nationally recognized urban university, has been awarded one of just three newly created grants from the National Security Agency's (NSA) National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity to establish the Metro State University Cybersecurity Clinic, a pilot program to help protect small businesses, nonprofits, K12 schools, and local government entities from cyberattacks. Metro State University awarded one of three NSA grants to provide cybersecurity services to Minnesota small businesses. The $1.45 million grant (H98230-23-1-0077) will allow Metro State to provide free or low-cost cybersecurity services to organizations that face increased cyberthreats but lack the resources to mitigate them. These services will include assessing threat vulnerability, developing threat defense strategies, and providing threat mitigation guidance. The clinic will be operated by students enrolled in Metro State's cybersecurity bachelor's and master's degree programs, providing them with an opportunity for real-world, client-focused, hands-on experience designed to increase their cybersecurity expertise, effectiveness and employability. According to Kyle Swanson , dean of Metro State's College of Sciences, which includes the university's Computer Science and Cybersecurity programs, the NSA funding will empower Metro State to uniquely address two pressing societal needsthe need to protect Minnesota's small business community and, as such, the state's economy and the need to develop a highly skilled future workforce to fill anticipated cybersecurity job openings. "Small businesses make up 99.5% of all businesses in Minnesota , and estimates suggest that 60% of small businesses hit with a cyberattack will go out of business within six months. So even just a fraction of Minnesota's small businesses falling victim to such an attack could cripple Minnesota's economy. But with this funding, Metro State will help protect the most vulnerable organizations in our state and help prevent the potential for a financial fall out," he said. "Additionally, we anticipate the number of cybersecurity job openings in Minnesota will grow by nearly 30% over the next decade. Now, Metro State will be even better positioned to help fill those openings by ensuring our students have the most technically advanced cybersecurity education as well as unprecedented client-based experience." Metro State is the only Twin Cities university to offer comprehensive programming in cybersecurity, including a cybersecurity bachelor's degree, a master's degree in cyber operations, and an accelerated combined bachelor's and master's program in cybersecurity operations. The university has been recognized as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (NCAE-CD) four times running. Created by the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the NCAE-CD Program identifies and honors universities that offer bachelor's and graduate degree programs that complete in-depth assessments and meet rigorous cyber defense requirements. "This NSA grant will allow Metro State to further fulfill its vision to engage, foster and support the underserved individuals and businesses in the Twin Cities and the greater metropolitan area," said Swanson, referencing the schools' Community Engage Initiative. "It will also solidify our position as Minnesota's cybersecurity authority and advance our national reputation for providing an innovative interdisciplinary cybersecurity curriculum." The Metro State University Cybersecurity Clinic, which is expected to open in mid-2024, will be located at 809 East Seventh Street in Saint Paul, Minn. Upon opening, Metro State will share details on qualification guidelines for organizations wishing to participate in the clinic. About Metro State University Founded in 1971, Metro State University, a member of Minnesota State, is the Twin Cities' public, urban, comprehensive state university providing lifelong learning and competitive academic and professional degree programs at the bachelor, master and doctoral levels. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate programs and more than 25 graduate degrees. Metro State ranks 22nd in the nation and first in Minnesota on CollegeNet's Social Mobility Index, which measures colleges' and universities' success in elevating students from low-income strata into the middle class within five years of graduation. To learn more, visit metrostate.edu. Contact: Patty Gibbs For Metro State University 651.269.7687 [email protected] View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/metro-state-university-bests-400-higher-education-institutions-wins-nsa-grant-to-build-and-operate-much-needed-small-business-cybersecurity-clinic-301898045.html SOURCE Metro State University TSX: MPVD TORONTO , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. (" Mountain Province ", the "Company") (TSX: MPVD) today announces financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023 ("the Quarter" or "Q2 2023") from the Gahcho Kue Diamond Mine (" GK Mine "). All figures are expressed in Canadian Dollars unless otherwise noted. Second Quarter 2023 Key Takeaways 360,308 carats were sold for total proceeds of $59.9 million ( US$44.6 million ) at an average price of $166 per carat ( US$124 ). ( ) at an average price of per carat ( ). Adjusted EBITDA 1 of $30.7 million . of . Earnings from mine operations of $26.9 million . . Net income of $17.3 million or $0.08 basic and diluted earnings per share. or basic and diluted earnings per share. Capital expenditures in H1 2023 were $44.7 million , $41.3 million of which were deferred stripping costs, with the remaining $3.4 million sustaining capital expenditures related to mine operations 1 . , of which were deferred stripping costs, with the remaining sustaining capital expenditures related to mine operations . Repurchase for cancellation of approximately US$12 million aggregate principal amount of the 9.000% Senior Secured Second Lien Notes during the fiscal quarter 1Cash costs of production, including capitalized stripping costs, and adjusted EBITDA are non-IFRS measures with no standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS. See "Reconciliation of non-IFRS measures" at the end of the news release for explanation and reconciliation. Mark Wall , the Company's President, and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Second quarter production numbers saw quarter-on-quarter improvements relative to Q1 2023 with the exception of ore tonnes mined. The revenue reduction from Q1 2023 is due to the additional sale held during the first quarter delivering record revenue results. Our H1 sales results in Canadian Dollars are slightly up year on year when compared to H1 2022. On ore tonnes mined there was a refocus towards Tuzo waste stripping to ensure that the 5034 orebody can be mined safely given that it will be mined concurrently with the Tuzo pit, which is directly above it. During the period there was also temporarily blocked ramp access due to geotechnical considerations in the 5034 pit. This movement of the sequence of ore release is temporary with mining in the 5034 pit returning to planned rates in H2 2023. Given the large stockpile of ore, there is no expected carat production interruption. On costs, the mine entered a period of heavy capitalized waste stripping during the quarter, which coupled with some one-off maintenance related costs, resulted in a high unit cost per carat recovered and tonne processed. An increase in mine waste stripping is helpful to the overall plan, we expect these costs to reduce as we phase out of the heavy waste stripping and return to planned areas of mining in the pit. Excluding capitalised waste stripping costs, cash cost of production on a per tonne treated and per carat basis in the first half of 2023, are approximately 10% below the same period in 2022. A key operational initiative in Q2 was the 5-day plant maintenance shutdown. There were several areas of the processing plant that were identified as being the primary drivers of plant instability. There remains one further task to be completed on the primary crusher in September for the major refresh of the processing plant to be completed. We have seen a step change in processing plant performance since these works were completed. Considering the points above our 2023 guidance remains unchanged, with production trending to the mid/lower end and production costs trending to the mid/upper end of the range. We remain focused on paying down debt, with US$12.0 million repaid during the quarter. Subsequent to the quarter end, we repaid a further US$6 million of debt. The Company continues to focus on achieving our long-run debt to EBITDA ratio target. Our earnings per share (EPS) at 8 cents for Q2 brings us to 22 cents for H1 2023, which is consistent with H1 2022. On growth, drilling results to date near Tuzo, the Hearne Deep and the Northwest Extension are returning positive intercepts. We look forward to continuing our work with our joint venture partner De Beers to explore and evaluate mine life extension possibilities for the project, such as deeper drilling at Gahcho Kue, as well as reviewing potential opportunities to incorporate kimberlites from our nearby Kennady North Project. We intend to report on the next phase of this project in early Q4, 2023" Financial Highlights for Second Quarter 2023 ("Q2 2023") Revenue from 360,000 carats sold at $59.9 million ( US$44.6 million ) at an average realised value of $166 per carat ( US$124 ) compared to $97.8 million from 587,000 carats sold in Q2 2022 ( US$76.0 million ) at an average realized value of $167 per carat ( US$130 ). ( ) at an average realised value of per carat ( ) compared to from 587,000 carats sold in Q2 2022 ( ) at an average realized value of per carat ( ). Adjusted EBITDA 1 of $30.7 million compared to $55.1 million in Q2 2022. of compared to in Q2 2022. Earnings from mine operations $26.9 million compared to $51.4 million in Q2 2022. compared to in Q2 2022. Cash costs of production, including capitalized stripping costs 1 of $156 per tonne treated (2022: $126 per tonne) and $87 per carat recovered (2022: $75 per carat). of per tonne treated (2022: per tonne) and per carat recovered (2022: per carat). Net income of $17.3 million or $0.08 earnings per share (2022: $22.6 million or $0.11 earnings per share). Included in the determination of the net income are foreign exchange gains of $5.5 million , the majority of which is an unrealized gain arising on the translation of the Company's US Dollar denominated long term debt, as a result of the strengthening of the Canadian Dollar versus US Dollar. 1Cash costs of production, including capitalized stripping costs, and Adjusted EBITDA are non-IFRS measures with no standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS. See the Non-IFRS Measures section of the Company's June 30, 2023 MD&A for explanation and reconciliation. Operational Highlights for Second Quarter 2023 (all figures reported on a 100% basis unless otherwise stated) 750,241 ore tonnes treated, largely unchanged relative to Q2 2022 (749,821 tonnes treated;) 1,339,196 carats recovered, 6% higher than the comparable quarter (Q2 2022: 1,260,899 carats) Average grade of 1.79 carats per tonne, a 6% increase relative to Q2 2022 (1.68 carats per tonne) 595,990 ore tonnes mined, a 43% decrease relative to Q2 2022 (1,043,348 ore tonnes mined) Financial Highlights for H1 2023 Total sales revenue of $188.6 million ( US$139.6 million ) at an average realised value of $143 per carat ( US$106 ) compared to $182.4 million in 2022 ( US$142.7 million ) at an average realized value of $167 per carat ( US$130 ). ( ) at an average realised value of per carat ( ) compared to in 2022 ( ) at an average realized value of per carat ( ). Half year Adjusted EBITDA 2 of $98.2 million compared to $99.7 million in H1 2022. of compared to in H1 2022. Earnings from mine operations of $74.1 million (2022: $94.2 million ). (2022: ). Cash costs of production, including capitalized stripping costs 2 , of $155 per tonne treated (2022: $136 per tonne) and $89 per carat recovered (2022: $81 per carat). , of per tonne treated (2022: per tonne) and per carat recovered (2022: per carat). Net income for half year 2023 at June 30, 2023 was $45.5 million or $0.22 basic earnings per share and $0.21 diluted earnings per share (2022: net income $47 million or $0.22 earnings per share). Included in the determination of the net income for the half year at June 30, 2023 are foreign exchange gains of $5.6 million , the majority of which is an unrealized gain on the translation of the Company's US Dollar denominated long term debt arising as a result of the strengthening of the Canadian Dollar versus US Dollar. was or basic earnings per share and diluted earnings per share (2022: net income or earnings per share). Included in the determination of the net income for the half year at are foreign exchange gains of , the majority of which is an unrealized gain on the translation of the Company's US Dollar denominated long term debt arising as a result of the strengthening of the Canadian Dollar versus US Dollar. Capital expenditures in H1 2023 were $44.7 million , $41.3 million of which were deferred stripping costs, with the remaining $3.4 million for sustaining capital expenditures related to mine operations. 2Cash costs of production, including capitalized stripping costs, and Adjusted EBITDA are non-IFRS measures with no standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS. See the Non-IFRS Measures section of the Company's June 30, 2023 MD&A for explanation and reconciliation. Operational Highlights for H1 2023 18.2 million total tonnes mined in H1 2023, a 13% increase from the 16.0 million total tonnes mined in H1 2022. 1,517,000 tonnes of ore treated in H1 2023; a 4% increase compared to the 1,457,000 tonnes treated in H1 2022. 2,659,000 carats recovered at an average grade of 1.75 carats per tonne, a 9% increase compared to the 2,446,000 carats, (1.68 carats per tonne) recovered in H1 2022. Sales Highlights for Second Quarter 2023 As previously released, during the second quarter, 360,308 carats were sold for total proceeds of $59.9 million ( US$44.6 million ), resulting in an average price of $166 per carat ( US$124 per carat). These results compare to Q2 2022 where 586,567 carats were sold for total proceeds of $97.0 million ( US$74.5 million ) at an average price per carat of $165 per carat ( US$129 per carat). The reduction in volume sold in Q2 2023 relative to Q2 2022 was due to the acceleration of sales into Q1 2023, where three sales were held versus the historical norm of two. Relative to Q2 2022, average price per carat in Q2 2023 benefitted from a coarser than average mix of goods sold, offsetting a softening in the market. We expect a finer mix of goods sold in Q3 2023. Growth Recent results from the Company's 2023 drill program revealed a new kimberlite discovery located 40 metres northeast of the known Tuzo kimberlite. Following the discovery and delineation of the Hearne Northwest Extension, a program to look for a similar extension was started at Tuzo; a single drillhole was collared east of Tuzo to test for a northeast extension, returning approximately 40 metres of kimberlite. Despite exploration northeast of Tuzo being in the early stage, the Company is encouraged by the width of the kimberlite intersection and its similarities to Tuzo based on initial logging. In addition, during the quarter, the Company announced positive drilling results at Hearne Deep and the Northwest Extension, which returned multiple intercepts with the longest returning 287 meters of kimberlite. During the 2023 program, 11 drillholes were drilled (seven drillholes were collared outside of the pit and four were collared on the kimberlite within the pit) to test the width and depth of the extension. Combined with past results, Mountain Province has 21 drillholes that define the extension below the final pit and to the northwest, which will be evaluated with our operating partner De Beers to examine ways to recover this deeper kimberlite. Gahcho Kue Mine Operations The following table summarizes key operating statistics for the Gahcho Kue Mine in the three and six months ended June 30, 2023 and 2022. Three months ended Three months ended Six months ended Six months ended June 30, 2023 June 30, 2022 June 30, 2023 June 30, 2022 GK operating data Mining *Ore tonnes mined kilo tonnes 596 1,043 1,024 2,062 *Waste tonnes mined kilo tonnes 8,639 6,838 17,146 13,987 *Total tonnes mined kilo tonnes 9,235 7,881 18,170 16,049 *Ore in stockpile kilo tonnes 1,266 1,353 1,266 1,353 Processing *Ore tonnes processed kilo tonnes 750 749 1,517 1,457 *Average plant throughput tonnes per day 8,333 8,231 8,290 8,050 *Average diamond recovery carats per tonne 1.79 1.68 1.75 1.68 *Diamonds recovered 000's carats 1,339 1,261 2,659 2,446 Approximate diamonds recovered - Mountain Province 000's carats 656 618 1,303 1,199 Cash costs of production per tonne of ore, net of capitalized stripping ** $ 100 103 100 110 Cash costs of production per tonne of ore, including capitalized stripping** $ 156 126 155 136 Cash costs of production per carat recovered, net of capitalized stripping** $ 56 61 57 65 Cash costs of production per carat recovered, including capitalized stripping** $ 87 75 89 81 Sales Approximate diamonds sold - Mountain Province *** 000's carats 360 587 1,321 1,094 Average diamond sales price per carat US $ 124 $ 130 $ 106 $ 130 * at 100% interest in the GK Mine **See Non-IFRS Measures section ***Includes the sales directly to De Beers for fancies and specials acquired by De Beers through the production split bidding process Financial Performance Three months ended Three months ended Six months ended Six months ended (in thousands of Canadian dollars, except where otherwise noted) June 30, 2023 June 30, 2022 June 30, 2023 June 30, 2022 Sales $ 59,918 97,761 188,575 182,414 Carats sold 000's carats 360 587 1,321 1,094 Average price per carat sold $/carat 166 167 143 167 Cost of sales per carat* $/carat 92 79 87 81 Earnings from mine operations per carat $ 74 88 56 86 Earnings from mine operations % 45 % 53 % 39 % 51 % Selling, general and administrative expenses $ 3,223 3,803 7,230 7,797 Operating income $ 20,351 43,047 61,442 78,065 Net income for the period $ 17,318 22,634 45,542 46,961 Basic earnings per share $ 0.08 0.11 0.22 0.22 Diluted earnings per share $ 0.08 0.11 0.21 0.22 * This cost of sales per carat includes the cost of acquiring 51% of the fancies and specials which have been sold, after having been won in a tendering process with De Beers Canada. Conference Call The Company will host its quarterly conference call on Friday, August 11 th, 2023 at 11:00AM Eastern Time . Title: Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call Conference ID: 76959572 Date of call: 08/11/2023 Time of call: 11:00AM Eastern Time Expected Duration: 60 minutes Webcast Link: https://app.webinar.net/9x2L4L5jok8 Participant Toll-Free Dial-In Number: (+1) 888-390-0546 Participant International Dial-In Number: (+1) 416-764-8688 A replay of the webcast and audio call will be available on the Company's website following the call. Reconciliation of Non-IFRS measures This news release refers to the terms "Cash costs of production per tonne of ore processed" and "Cash costs of production per carat recovered", both including and net of capitalized stripping costs and "Adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes Depreciation and Amortization (Adjusted EBITDA)" and "Adjusted EBITDA Margin". Each of these is a non-IFRS performance measure and is referenced in order to provide investors with information about the measures used by management to monitor performance. These measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. They do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Cash costs of production per tonne of ore processed and cash costs of production per carat recovered are used by management to analyze the actual cash costs associated with processing the ore, and for each recovered carat. Differences from production costs reported within cost of sales are attributed to the amount of production cost included in ore stockpile and rough diamond inventories. Adjusted EBITDA is used by management to analyze the operational cash flows of the Company, as compared to the net income for accounting purposes. It is also a measure which is defined in the Notes documents. Adjusted EBITDA margin is used by management to analyze the operational margin % on cash flows of the Company. The following table provides a reconciliation of the Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin with the net income on the consolidated statements of comprehensive income: Three months ended Three months ended Six months ended Six months ended June 30, 2023 June 30, 2022 June 30, 2023 June 30, 2022 Net income for the period $ 17,318 $ 22,634 $ 45,542 $ 46,961 Add/deduct: Non-cash depreciation and depletion 10,640 12,378 35,958 21,326 Share-based payment expense 366 480 706 924 Fair value (gain) loss of warrants (563) (7,322) (709) (5,797) Net finance expenses 8,780 9,054 18,302 18,206 Derivative (gains) losses (1,936) 1,361 (871) 1,438 Deferred income taxes 2,080 5,650 3,900 9,920 Current income taxes 150 - 900 - Unrealized foreign exchange losses (gains) (6,154) 10,892 (5,509) 6,746 Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and depletion (Adjusted EBITDA) $ 30,681 $ 55,127 $ 98,219 $ 99,724 Sales 59,918 97,761 188,575 182,414 Adjusted EBITDA margin 51 % 56 % 52 % 55 % The following table provides a reconciliation of the cash costs of production per tonne of ore processed and per carat recovered and the production costs reported within cost of sales on the consolidated statements of comprehensive income: Three months ended Three months ended Six months ended Six months ended (in thousands of Canadian dollars, except where otherwise noted) June 30, 2023 June 30, 2022 June 30, 2023 June 30, 2022 Cost of sales production costs $ 18,619 26,660 67,735 53,780 Timing differences due to inventory and other non-cash adjustments $ 18,284 11,209 6,449 24,715 Cash cost of production of ore processed, net of capitalized stripping $ 36,903 37,869 74,184 78,495 Cash costs of production of ore processed, including capitalized stripping $ 57,223 46,396 115,464 96,906 Tonnes processed kilo tonnes 367 367 743 714 Carats recovered 000's carats 656 618 1,303 1,199 Cash costs of production per tonne of ore, net of capitalized stripping $ 100 103 100 110 Cash costs of production per tonne of ore, including capitalized stripping $ 156 126 155 136 Cash costs of production per carat recovered, net of capitalized stripping $ 56 61 57 65 Cash costs of production per carat recovered, including capitalized stripping $ 87 75 89 81 About Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. Mountain Province Diamonds is a 49% participant with De Beers Canada in the Gahcho Kue diamond mine located in Canada 's Northwest Territories . The Gahcho Kue Joint Venture property consists of several kimberlites that are actively being mined, developed, and explored for future development. The Company also controls more than 113,000 hectares of highly prospective mineral claims and leases surrounding the Gahcho Kue Mine that include an Indicated mineral resource for the Kelvin kimberlite and Inferred mineral resources for the Faraday kimberlites. Kelvin is estimated to contain 13.62 million carats (Mct) in 8.50 million tonnes (Mt) at a grade of 1.60 carats/tonne and value of US$63 /carat, at February 2019 . Faraday 2 is estimated to contain 5.45Mct in 2.07Mt at a grade of 2.63 carats/tonne and value of US$140 /ct, at February 2019 . Faraday 1-3 is estimated to contain 1.90Mct in 1.87Mt at a grade of 1.04 carats/tonne and value of US$75 /carat, at February 2019 . All resource estimations are based on a 1mm diamond size bottom cut-off. Qualified Person The disclosure in this news release of scientific and technical information regarding Mountain Province 's mineral properties has been reviewed and approved by Matthew MacPhail , P.Eng ., MBA, and Tom E. McCandless , Ph.D., P.Geo ., both employees of Mountain Province Diamonds and Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Caution Regarding Forward Looking Information This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian and United States securities laws concerning the business, operations and financial performance and condition of Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to operational hazards, including possible disruption due to pandemic such as COVID-19, its impact on travel, self-isolation protocols and business and operations, estimated production and mine life of the project of Mountain Province ; the realization of mineral reserve estimates; the timing and amount of estimated future production; costs of production; the future price of diamonds; the estimation of mineral reserves and resources; the ability to manage debt; capital expenditures; the ability to obtain permits for operations; liquidity; tax rates; and currency exchange rate fluctuations. Except for statements of historical fact relating to Mountain Province , certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "anticipates," "may," "can," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "expects," "projects," "targets," "intends," "likely," "will," "should," "to be", "potential" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may", "should" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are based on a number of assumptions and 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. Many of these assumptions are based on factors and events that are not within the control of Mountain Province and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from results anticipated by such forward-looking statements include the development of operation hazards which could arise in relation to COVID-19, including, but not limited to protocols which may be adopted to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and any impact of such protocols on Mountain Province 's business and operations, variations in ore grade or recovery rates, changes in market conditions, changes in project parameters, mine sequencing; production rates; cash flow; risks relating to the availability and timeliness of permitting and governmental approvals; supply of, and demand for, diamonds; fluctuating commodity prices and currency exchange rates, the possibility of project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry, failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated. These factors are discussed in greater detail in Mountain Province 's most recent Annual Information Form and in the most recent MD&A filed on SEDAR, which also provide additional general assumptions in connection with these statements. Mountain Province cautions that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. Investors and others who base themselves on forward-looking statements should carefully consider the above factors as well as the uncertainties they represent and the risk they entail. Mountain Province believes that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Although Mountain Province has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be anticipated, estimated, or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Mountain Province 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. Statements concerning mineral reserve and resource estimates may also be deemed to constitute forward-looking statements to the extent they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered as the property is developed. Further, Mountain Province may make changes to its business plans that could affect its results. The principal assets of Mountain Province are administered pursuant to a joint venture under which Mountain Province is not the operator. Mountain Province is exposed to actions taken or omissions made by the operator within its prerogative and/or determinations made by the joint venture under its terms. Such actions or omissions may impact the future performance of Mountain Province . Under its current note and revolving credit facilities Mountain Province is subject to certain limitations on its ability to pay dividends on common stock. The declaration of dividends is at the discretion of Mountain Province 's Board of Directors, subject to the limitations under the Company's debt facilities, and will depend on Mountain Province 's financial results, cash requirements, future prospects, and other factors deemed relevant by the Board View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mountain-province-diamonds-announces-second-quarter-financial-results-for-2023-301898377.html SOURCE Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. HORSHAM, Pa. , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- MRA Group (MRA), a privately held real estate development and client services firm, has announced its acquisition of the former LMG Medical Building , a 40,000 square foot medical office complex situated on over 10 acres, at 1001 S. Broad Street in Lansdale, Pennsylvania . MRA has extensive renovation plans to modernize the building facade, deliver energy efficient improvements, and change the name to Lansdale Medical Building (LMB). LMB is a well-known medical facility strategically located at the intersection of Allentown Road and Broad Street . Currently, LMB is 50% leased with tenants ranging from family practice, orthopedic surgery, physical therapy, imaging, and lab diagnostics. LMB's proximity to a vibrant community of over 138,000 residents within a five-mile radius, in addition to easy access to Route 309 and the Northeast Extension of the PA Turnpike make this medical office building desirable for the community and tenants. MRA President & Partner Mike Wojewodka stated, "We look forward to breathing life back into this destination community medical office facility. With the improvements we are making, the ideal location in the Lansdale / North Wales area, and the current tenants in place, we plan to attract more healthcare providers bringing significant benefit to the surrounding community." MRA's capital improvement plans will provide an enhanced experience for tenants, currently anchored by Grand View Health, LMG Family Practice, and Labcorp. These upgrades are expected to be completed by the end of 2024. About MRA Group MRA Group (MRA), based in Horsham, PA , is a privately-held, vertically integrated real estate development and client services firm servicing the healthcare, higher education and life sciences sectors. Founded in 1991 by CEO and founding partner, Lawrence J. Stuardi , MRA prides itself on maintaining the same high level of integrity and excellence that led to its recognition as one of the most respected real estate firms in the mid-Atlantic region. With 32 years of value-add and ground-up development experience, along with providing a full suite of real estate solutions to our clients, MRA has developed and continues to manage more than 4.5M square feet of medical, life sciences and office real estate, and has structured over $2B of financial transactions. A few recent and notable development projects include Chestnut Run Innovation and Science Park , Spring House Innovation Park , the Holy Redeemer Medical Building at 201 Veterans Way , the Lab at the University of Pennsylvania's Pennovation Works Campus, and TEK Park among others. Learn more at www.mragroup.net. Media Contact: Brendan Farrell 215-449-2442 [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mra-group-acquires-40-000-square-foot-medical-office-building-in-lansdale-pa-with-plans-for-extensive-renovations-301898043.html SOURCE MRA Group The Property Restoration and Remediation Franchise Has Completed 39 Franchise Development Deals since the Beginning of the Year TAMARAC, Fla. , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PuroClean, the leading brand in property restoration and remediation throughout the country, is continuing to build off of the brand's unprecedented growth throughout the first half of 2023 and sees no slowing down. The franchise brand has completed 39 franchise development deals since the beginning of the year, including expansions and resales. PuroClean's expansion year-to-date includes exciting growth in 13 states. The states that comprise PuroClean's 2023 expansion so far include California , Colorado , Florida , Georgia , Hawaii , Louisiana , Michigan , Missouri , New Jersey , New York, North Dakota , Pennsylvania , and Texas . With 450 locations operating across 45 states in the United States , Puerto Rico , and Canada , PuroClean is bringing their reliable and high-quality services to communities across North America , helping people restore their homes and lives. As PuroClean continues to enter new markets, the brand looks to bring safety and peace of mind to communities through their world-class water damage remediation, fire and smoke damage mitigation, mold removal, and biohazard clean-up services. The brand is currently looking to expand into the Minneapolis / St. Cloud and San Francisco / San Jose areas, as well as Boston , Tallahassee , and Beaumont, Texas / Lake Charles, Louisiana . "We are seeing tremendous success breaking into new markets with new franchise owners," said Tim Courtney , Vice President of Franchise Development for PuroClean. "With the success of our existing owners, they are opting to expand by purchasing new territories, which is the greatest compliment any franchisor can receive." The growth that PuroClean has experienced in 2023 is largely due to franchise owners' commitment to providing the best services possible for their communities. "PuroClean's mission to provide the highest quality, trusted restoration services is evident in each of our franchise owners," said Steve White , President and Chief Operating Officer for PuroClean. "We're thrilled about the expansion that PuroClean has seen so far this year and look forward to additional expansions to impact more communities throughout the country." For over 20 years, PuroClean has helped home and business owners restore and remedy properties, serving communities across the United States , Puerto Rico , and Canada with a network of over 450 offices and growing rapidly. The brand is seeking the right individuals who may be in construction and looking to add a restoration component to their business. For more information about PuroClean, call 800-775-7876 or visit www.PuroClean.com. For more information about franchising opportunities, visit www.PuroCleanFranchise.com. About PuroClean PuroClean is a leading, world-class service brand for property water damage remediation, fire and smoke damage mitigation, mold removal, and biohazard clean-up services, working with both residential and commercial customers across the US, Canada , and Puerto Rico . Founded in 2001, PuroClean is a diverse, fast-growing network of over 450 North American franchise locations, each independently owned and operated. With a commitment to respond within two hours, the professionals at PuroClean are thoroughly screened, insured, and trained in utilizing the latest cutting-edge mitigation technology to complete the remediation task at hand. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/puroclean-sees-impressive-growth-in-the-first-half-of-2023-301898351.html SOURCE PuroClean And unlike the West -- where media are independent and have structures and policies in place to prevent undue political or business influence -- independent journalism in Russia has been largely stamped out, data from media watchdogs show. The country currently ranks 164 out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index, where 1 shows the best environment for media. Yet media analysts have documented how it is Russia, not Western governments, that has imposed laws and restrictions, along with a widespread disinformation campaign, as part of its war effort. In his remarks, Peskov said that the West has "a lot of talented journalists," but "since they unleashed this war against us, they absolutely live in a state of military censorship." Aside from the remarks being false, Peskov's comments are an example of what is known as an "accusation in a mirror" where an aggressor accuses others of taking the actions it instead is taking. At a youth forum near the Moscow region last week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed that Western media take orders and "professionally prepared falsehoods" from intelligence services. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, which compiles the index, says that since the war "almost all independent media [in Russia] have been banned, blocked and/or declared 'foreign agents' or 'undesirable organizations.' All others are subject to military censorship." Ukraine, meanwhile, ranks at 79 out of 180 countries on the index, with RSF saying that Russia's war there "threatens the survival of the Ukrainian media" and that the country is "at the frontline of resistance against the expansion of the Kremlin's propaganda system." Years of Attacks Even before the war, independent media in Russia faced harassment, attacks and legal challenges from the state. Dozens of media outlets and journalists in recent years have been forced to register as "foreign agents," a designation that forces them to mark all content and social media posts -- even personal ones -- with a lengthy disclaimer. Daniel Salaru, a contributor to the Vienna-based International Press Institute, described the foreign agent law as a "key tool for repressing independent media." And the European Court of Human Rights in 2022 ruled that the legislation had violated the rights of the groups designated as such. Investigative journalists in Russia who took on sensitive issues or looked into official corruption have long been targeted with threats, attacks or even killings. War Heightened Acrimony The hostile environment only ramped up when Russian invaded Ukraine. Now, reporting on anything that the Kremlin deems to be false information about the war or the armed forces can be punished by up to 15 years in prison. Russia's media regulator has ordered news outlets to use only "information and data" from "official Russian sources." And access to dozens of websites, including VOA, and social media platforms Facebook and Twitter, have been blocked. The rash of new laws had an immediate effect, with several prominent independent media outlets shuttering or moving their operations into exile. Estimates from the legal aid group Setevye Svobody, or Net Freedoms Project, earlier this year estimated that in the first year after the invasion at least 1,000 journalists left Russia "because of the threat of criminal prosecution and a ban on the profession." Harassment from Afar But exile is not always a barrier to harassment, as Dozhd TV, which relocated to the Netherlands, has found. In July, authorities designated the station an "undesirable" organization, meaning that anyone deemed a member of it risks imprisonment. Already, journalists, social media users and others who are refusing to toe the Kremlin line have faced prosecution. In April, two Russian journalists from republics in Siberia were arrested on charges of "knowingly publishing false information" about the armed forces. Both could face up to 10 years in prison. A court in February handed down a six-year sentence to Maria Ponomarenko, another journalist from the Siberian region, over a social media post about Russia's deadly airstrike on a theater in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in which civilians were sheltering. She and four others have been recognized with the Boris Nemtsov Award for their "brave defense of democratic rights and freedoms" by speaking out against the war. The award is named for Boris Nemtsov, an opposition leader assassinated near the Kremlin in Moscow in February 2015. Nemtsov was working on a report, published posthumously, about Russian soldiers secretly fighting in Ukraine at that time. Others have faced more hefty sentences. A court in April sentenced Vladimir Kara-Murza, an opposition politician and columnist, to 25 years in prison, in part for spreading what authorities called "false" information" about the army. Amnesty International said the charges against Kara-Murza stemmed "solely from his right to freedom of expression." And on Aug. 2, a 67-year-old named Takhir Arslanov was sentenced to three years in prison for saying that "Kremlin fascists" were waging a war of aggression in Ukraine, and for calling for the burning of draft offices. DALLAS , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) will be conducting an informational picket outside of Southwest Airlines' Spirit Party at Gallagher Way on Monday, August 14 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. CT . SWAPA has been attempting to bargain in good faith with Southwest Airlines for more than three years, even filing for federal mediation in September of 2022, and have yet to secure a contract. They are the last major carrier to reach an agreement in principle and are losing pilots to other carriers daily. This informational picket is being held to illustrate to Southwest's leadership that the pilot group is fed up with an emphasis being placed on parties while they operate under a contract that became amendable in September 2020 . "The vaunted culture that Southwest has been known for has become little more than a punchline when it comes to how employees are actually treated by leadership. Our pilots deserve a contract that befits the most productive pilots in the industry, and we are willing to take the RLA process all the way to its conclusion to ensure that Southwest Airlines returns to the values it says it holds most dear," said SWAPA President Captain Casey Murray . "We cannot continue to sit by while other carriers secure contracts and lure potential aviators away from Southwest Airlines." After securing a 99% vote in favor of a strike back in May, the pilots of Southwest Airlines are ready to strike upon release from the National Mediation Board. About SWAPA Located in Dallas, Texas , the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) is a non-profit employee organization representing the more than 10,000 pilots of Southwest Airlines. SWAPA works to provide a secure and rewarding career for Southwest pilots and their families through negotiating contracts, defending contractual rights, and actively promoting professionalism and safety. For more information on the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, visit www.swapa.org. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/swapa-announces-picket-of-southwest-spirit-party-in-chicago-301898130.html SOURCE Southwest Airlines Pilots Association HUDDINGE, Sweden , Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- XNK Therapeutics AB ("XNK") today announced that the company has entered into an agreement with a US biotechnology company. Under the agreement the parties will perform preclinical evaluation of XNK's autologous NK cell therapy candidate XNK02 in combination with a drug candidate currently in clinical development by the US company. The combination will initially be tested against acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The collaboration supplements XNK's current collaborations in the field of AML with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. For more information, please contact: Johan Liwing, CEO, XNK Therapeutics Tel: +46 706 70 36 75 E-mail: [email protected] About XNK Therapeutics AB XNK Therapeutics is a clinical stage immunotherapy company focused on bringing new and more effective treatments to cancer patients. The company is at the forefront of autologous NK cell-based cell therapy development with a proprietary technology platform and a pipeline spanning both hematological malignancies and solid tumor indications. The most advanced product, evencaleucel, is in phase II studies in combination with the CD38 antibody isatuximab targeting multiple myeloma. Other programs include XNK02 in AML, currently in advanced preclinical studies in collaboration with MD Anderson Cancer Center, XNK03 in bladder cancer, currently in preclinical studies in collaboration with the Karolinska University Hospital and XNK04 in preclinical studies in collaboration with a global pharma. XNK's efforts are supported by a dedicated team that include world-renowned NK cell experts and by an approved in-house GMP facility. XNK Therapeutics is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden . For more info, please visit http://www.xnktherapeutics.com. About Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) AML is the most common form of acute leukemia in adults. Globally, close to 200,000 new patients are diagnosed and about 150,000 will die from AML each year. In AML, the bone marrow produces a large number of abnormal immature blood cells, so called blasts, that can overcrowd the bone marrow and interfere with the production of healthy mature blood cells. This results in for example infections and anemia. The blasts can also spread to other parts of the body, including the central nervous system. Current treatments include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, stem cell transplantation and targeted therapy such as kinase inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies. The overall outcome for patients remains poor, relapse is common and 5-year survival rates are around 30%. The following files are available for download: https://mb.cision.com/Main/16693/3814890/2221894.pdf XNK Therapeutics enters into agreement with US-based biotechnology company View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xnk-therapeutics-enters-into-agreement-with-us-based-biotechnology-company-301897615.html SOURCE XNK Therapeutics AB FILE PHOTO: Scientist David Lordkipanidze of the Georgian Academy of Sciences shows the skull - about about 1.8 million years old - of the early human species Homo erectus excavated near the town of Dmanisi, some 85 kms (53 miles) southwest of Tbilisi, Ju By Will Dunham (Reuters) - Long before our species Homo sapiens trekked out of Africa, earlier human species also spread to other parts of the world. That dispersal, however, sometimes encountered grave hardships. Scientists on Thursday described evidence of a massive North Atlantic cooling event about 1.1 million years ago that lasted roughly 4,000 years and appears to have wiped out the entire population of archaic humans who had colonized Europe. Based on fossils from Spain, that species is believed to have been Homo erectus, generally considered the first member of the human evolutionary lineage to have expanded beyond Africa. The species was the first possessing body proportions like ours and made innovations in stone tools. The frigid interval - comparable in intensity to the more recent ice ages - appears to have rendered Europe inhospitable for the bands of early human hunter-gatherers, as extreme glaciation deprived them of food resources. Their cold tolerance may have been lacking, without sufficient fat insulation, while fashioning effective clothing and shelter and finding the means to make fire would have been challenging, the researchers said. "There was probably a complete interruption in the early human occupation of Europe, possibly for a considerable time, with an entirely new population eventually coming back," said anthropologist Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London, a co-author of the research published in the journal Science. How many perished in this regional extinction event remains unclear. "We have little idea of population numbers, but certainly tiny by modern standards - probably at best in the tens of thousands across Europe," Stringer said. This occurred during the Pleistocene epoch, about 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago, marked by global cooling episodes. "Contrary to previous beliefs, our study demonstrates that human occupation of Europe was not continuous, but rather punctuated by at least one regional climate-induced extinction," said climate physicist and study co-author Axel Timmermann of Pusan National University in South Korea. An examination of the record of human fossils and stone tools in Europe suggests a gap in human occupation of about 200,000 years starting 1.1 million years ago. "If this is true, then Europe may have been recolonized around 900,000 years ago by more resilient humans with evolutionary or behavioral changes that allowed survival in the increasing intensity of glacial conditions," said University College London physical geography professor and study co-author Chronis Tzedakis. The researchers reconstructed the ancient climate based on organic compounds left by tiny algae and pollen content in a deep-sea sediment core drilled off Portugal's coast that revealed temperature and vegetation changes. They ran computer simulations to gauge effects on human habitats, with average air temperatures dropping by about 8 degrees Fahrenheit (4.5 degrees Celsius). Our evolutionary lineage split from the chimpanzee and bonobo lineage roughly 7 million years ago, with a succession of species then acquiring more human-like traits. Fossils and stone tools indicate that Homo erectus established a foothold in Eurasia and later southern Europe relatively early in its history. Homo erectus remains are known in Georgia from about 1.8 million years ago, with stone tools in Italy and Spain about 1.5 million years ago, and incomplete human fossils, probably this species, in Spain about 1.4 and 1.2 million years ago. The human species who subsequently colonized Europe proved more resilient amid persistent glacial conditions. Homo antecessor is known from fossils in Spain about 850,000 years old, with Homo heidelbergensis known from Germany about 600,000 years ago. Around 430,000 years ago, early Neanderthals are known from Spain. Homo sapiens, arising in Africa more than 300,000 years ago, may have briefly appeared in Europe more than 200,000 years ago. But our main dispersal from Africa came only about 60,000 years ago. With Homo sapiens expanding throughout Europe, Neanderthals disappeared about 40,000 years ago. "The study provides insights into the initial vulnerability of early human species to environmental changes and how eventually they adapted to increasing glacial climatic stress," Timmermann said. (Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) FILE PHOTO: The logo of insurer Allianz SE is seen on the company building in Puteaux at the financial and business district of La Defense near Paris, outside Paris, France, May 14, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German insurer Allianz on Thursday was optimistic on its outlook for the full year after reporting a better-than-expected 18% rise in second-quarter net profit. The company, one of Europe's largest financial services groups, pointed to strength at its property and casualty division, helped by lower claims from natural disasters. Allianz stuck to its target of 2023 operating profit between 13.2 billion and 15.2 billion euros ($16.75 billion), but the insurer's finance chief was upbeat on the outlook. "Its hard to imagine we won't end up in the upper half" of that range, Giulio Terzariol, chief financial officer, told journalists. Allianz's shares traded 3.1% higher by midday in Frankfurt. Analysts were positive on the results. "Allianz delivered the stability we wanted with small beats to expectations," Bank of America analysts said in a research note. The second quarter result marks a recovery from a year earlier, which was dampened by volatile markets in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. The company also had to deal with a problem at one of its funds units last year, which was hit with a fraud case that resulted in $6 billion in settlements and fines. Allianz's CFO pointed to some markets, like Britain and Australia, where it needed "to do work" to lift profitability. Terzariol said Allianz was increasing its rates in Australia and expected improvements later this year. Net profit attributable to shareholders of 2.337 billion euros ($2.57 billion) in the three months through June compares with 1.977 billion euros a year earlier. The figure surpassed a 2.308 billion euro consensus forecast. ($1 = 0.9075 euros) (Reporting by Tom Sims and Alexander Huebner, Editing by Rachel More, Friederike Heine and Jane Merriman) FILE PHOTO: An aerial view of Hla Phoe Khaung transit camp for Rohingya who decide to return back from Bangladesh, is seen in Maungdaw, Rakhine state, Myanmar, September 20, 2018. Ye Aung Thu/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo (Reuters) - At least 17 Rohingyas were killed and 30 remain missing after a boat capsized in bad weather in the Bay of Bengal earlier this week, aid workers in Myanmar said. Volunteers said eight people were rescued from the boat, which was headed for Malaysia, a coveted destination for thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution and poverty in Myanmar and Bangladesh. It was unclear from where the boat had set off. "We found dead bodies starting from August 7," said Min Htal Wah, chairperson of Shwe Yaung Metta Foundation, a rescue organisation based in the coastal Rakhine region of Myanmar. "Within three days, we found 17 dead bodies...We found some people alive," he said, adding 10 women were among the dead. A Rohingya aid worker in Maungdaw township on the border with Bangladesh said the boat had departed in bad weather and that about 500 others were still hoping to cross to Malaysia. Nearly 1 million Rohingya live in crowded conditions in Bangladesh, among them those who fled a deadly crackdown in 2017 by Myanmar's military, which denies committing crimes against humanity. An untold number of them have died at sea from disease, hunger and fatigue as they attempt to reach Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia in rickety boats. (Reporting by Reuters staff; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by William Maclean) Australian journalist Cheng Lei poses for a selfie at an unknown location in this undated handout photograph obtained by Reuters on August 11, 2023. Nicholas Coyle/Handout via REUTERS By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian journalist Cheng Lei, detained in China on national security charges, has described how she is able to stand in sunlight for just 10 hours in a year in a "love letter" home, her first public statement since her arrest in 2020. Cheng, 48, was a business television anchor for Chinese state television when she was detained in August 2020 for allegedly sharing state secrets with another country. Her first public statement since her arrest came in what she called a "love letter to 25 million people" which was dictated to consular staff during a visit and released by her partner. "In my cell, the sunlight shines through the window but I can stand in it for only 10 hours a year," she wrote. "I haven't seen a tree in three years. I relive every bushwalk, river, lake, beach with swims and picnics and psychedelic sunsets. I secretly mouth the names of places I've visited and driven through." Cheng has yet to receive a verdict after facing trial more than a year ago in a closed court in Beijing. The precise details of her alleged crimes have not been made public. The Australian government has repeatedly raised concerns about her detention, which came as China widened blocks on Australian exports amid a diplomatic dispute that is gradually easing. China, which has said Canberra should respect Beijing's judicial sovereignty, this week lifted sanctions on Australian barley, raising expectations that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese could accept an invitation to visit Beijing this year. There is public pressure on his government to secure Cheng's release. Albanese said on Friday the timing of his visit to China is "not transactional", however Cheng's statement was "very moving" and "shows her passion for her country of Australia". "I believe it is clearly the case that Cheng Lei, who now has had three years in detention, this issue should be resolved," he told reporters, adding he had raised it in a previous meeting with Xi. Cheng's partner Nick Coyle told Reuters: "Lei being released and back home with her children would greatly improve the atmospherics with regard to the bilateral relationship, from an Australian and international perspective ... at a time where both countries are making efforts to improve relations". Coyle was chairman of the China-Australia Business Council for nine years until he left Beijing in 2022. Cheng, who moved to Australia as a 10-year-old, recalls growing up in a multicultural nation. Her prison bedding is aired once a year for two hours in the sun, and comes back warm. "I wrapped myself in the doona (quilt) and pretended I was being hugged by my family," she wrote. "Most of all I miss my children," the letter ends. Aged 11 and 14, they are living in Australia with their grandmother. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement on Friday that Cheng's message to the public "makes clear her deep love for our country". "All Australians want to see her reunited with her children. Australia has consistently advocated for Ms Cheng, and asked that basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment be met for Ms Cheng," Wong said. (Reporting by Kirsty Needham; Editing by John Stonestreet, Stephen Coates and Raju Gopalakrishnan) An aerial view shows smoke as wildfires ravage the island in Maui, Hawaii, August 9, 2023. County of Maui/Handout via REUTERS By Nandita Bose SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) -President Joe Biden on Thursday expanded federal aid to Hawaii and promised help to its suffering citizens as deadly wildfires engulfed the island of Maui, and he expressed condolences for the devastation in a call with the state's governor. Biden approved a disaster declaration for Hawaii aimed at spurring resources to allow the island to rebuild, the White House said in a statement after the fire killed at least 36 people as it swept through a historic resort town. "Anyone who's lost a loved one, whose home has been damaged or destroyed, is going to get help immediately," Biden said during remarks in Utah, where he is traveling. Biden said "we're working as quickly as possible" to fight the fires and evacuate residents and tourists. "Our prayers are with the people of Hawaii, but not just our prayers. Every asset we have will be available to them," he said. The White House said the order would make federal funding available to affected people in Maui County. In a call with Hawaii Governor Josh Green, Biden "expressed his deep condolences for the lives lost and vast destruction of land and property," the White House added. The declaration will allow affected individuals to apply for grants for temporary housing and home repairs, and allow business owners to apply for programs to recover from the disaster, according to the White House. Those grants come in addition to current emergency assistance by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard and other federal agencies, it added. (Reporting by Nandita Bose, Susan Heavey, Rami Ayyub and Jeff Mason; Editing by Aurora Ellis and Jonathan Oatis) FILE PHOTO: Travellers walk past an installation in the shape of five stars, at Beijing Daxing International Airport in Beijing, China April 24, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/file photo By Casey Hall, Sophie Yu and Joyce Lee BEIJING (Reuters) -China has lifted pandemic-era restrictions on group tours for more countries, including key markets such as the United States, Japan, South Korea and Australia in a potential boon for their tourism industries. The decision was announced by China's culture and tourism ministry on Thursday, effective immediately. Prior to the pandemic, mainland Chinese tourists spent more than any other country's tourists when abroad, clocking up a combined $255 billion in 2019 with group tours estimated to account for roughly 60% of that. Their absence since the pandemic has led to financial troubles for many tourism-dependent businesses around the globe. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo described the step as "a significant win" for the U.S. tourism industry and said it was the result of "months of hard work" between the U.S. Commerce Department and the Chinese culture and tourism ministry. Germany and Britain were also among the countries for which restrictions were lifted but Canada, which has had especially politically fraught relations with China of late, was not reinstated. It was China's third list of countries to receive approvals. The first batch approved in January included 20 countries such as Thailand, Russia, Cuba and Argentina. The second batch in March included 40 countries, among them Nepal, France, Portugal and Brazil. China has never explained its staggered approach to approvals but analysts have noted that the countries taking time to gain approval have had more political and/or trade tension with the world's second-largest economy. The move was also welcomed by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as well as tourism ministers in South Korea and Australia, who said it would boost their economies. "This is another positive step towards the stabilisation of our relationship with China," said Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell. Just how much outbound Chinese tourism will bounce back for the latest group of countries remains to be seen. Expectations that demand would come roaring back after borders were re-opened have to date been largely unfulfilled. International flights in and out of China have recovered to only 53% of 2019 levels as of July. That is in large part due to staffing issues for many global airlines that have limited the flying of more routes, slow visa issuance for Chinese travellers amid backlogs in many Western countries, and a sputtering domestic economy that is discouraging many holidaying Chinese from spending big. In response to the news, some Chinese said online that they were less than enthusiastic about international trips. "I don't want to go; I feel domestic travel is pretty good, such as the beautiful scenery in Xinjiang and the Northeast and the food is cheap," said one Weibo user with the handle @Chongshengshilangbushilang. But others were more upbeat. "Despite a cooling overall economy, 40% of (Chinese) people say they will spend more on travel," said Steve Saxon, a partner at McKinsey & Co. "People want to spend the money they've saved during COVID on international travel." Trip.com, China's largest travel agency, noted that the news had led to a spike in searches for destinations including Australia and Japan. Those countries, along with several other Asian nations and the United States, are among the most visited by Chinese travelers. "The opening of group travel from China to the U.S. is a significant milestone," said Adam Burke, head of the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board. "It's impossible to overstate the importance of Chinese tourism to Los Angeles." Shares in firms in the latest group of countries with large exposure to Chinese travel demand jumped on the news. Gains for South Korean casino operators were particularly striking, with Grand Korea Leisure and Paradise surging 20% and 18% respectively on Thursday. Two sources in South Korea's travel industry told Reuters it was the first time group tours from China would be allowed on a large scale since a 2016 dispute over Seoul's deployment of a U.S. missile defence system. China has never publicly acknowledged limiting group tours to South Korea. (Reporting by Casey Hall in Shanghai, Sophie Yu in Beijing and Joyce Lee in Seoul; Additional reporting by the Beijing newsroom, Kanishka Singh and David Shepardson in Washington and Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Editing by Jamie Freed, Edwina Gibbs and Andy Sullivan) FILE PHOTO: An exterior view of the proposed site for the new China Embassy, near to Tower Bridge in London, Britain, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo By Andrew MacAskill LONDON (Reuters) -China will pause plans to build a new embassy in London, a decision that may increase diplomatic tensions when both countries want to repair damaged relations, people with knowledge of the situation said. Beijing will miss Thursday's deadline to appeal against the local council's opposition to its plans for a new embassy near the Tower of London after local residents objected, the sources said. China will instead seek a promise from the British government to intervene if it resubmits a planning application, the people said, declining to be identified due to the sensitivity of the talks. British officials have previously expressed concerns that London's plans to rebuild its embassy in Beijing could be impacted in a tit-for-tat response unless China is allowed to relocate its UK embassy. The Chinese foreign ministry in a statement urged the British government to meet its "international obligation" to help it build a new embassy and said China wants to find a solution "on the basis of reciprocity and mutual benefit". A UK government spokesperson said its planning system is "open and transparent". "Planning matters are routinely decided by local councils and applicants have the option to appeal decisions if they wish to do so," the spokesperson said. China first announced plans in 2018 to build a new London embassy in keeping with its rising ambitions, buying land on the former site of the Royal Mint - the maker of British coins - for about 250 million pounds ($318 million). It hoped to build a 700,000-square-foot embassy, which would be China's biggest mission in Europe and almost twice the size of its one in Washington. But while unelected planning officers in London's Tower Hamlets council accepted the proposal, local elected councillors overruled them in late 2022, rejecting it on security grounds and the impact on residents. A spokeswoman for Tower Hamlets council said the Chinese government had until Thursday to appeal the decision, and no prior notice of plans to appeal had been given, something that would be needed if it wanted to overturn the decision. The Chinese government could submit a fresh application at a later date to use the site for an embassy in future, the spokeswoman said. Chinese officials have expressed frustration to the British government over its failure to help secure planning permission at official-level meetings, people involved in those talks have previously told Reuters. Bilateral relations recently hit their lowest in decades after Britain restricted Chinese investment over national security concerns and expressed unease at Beijing's increasing military and economic assertiveness. ($1 = 0.7859 pounds) (Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; editing by John Stonestreet and Richard Chang) FILE PHOTO: Cuban tanker Petion is seen at a shipyard in Veracruz, Mexico April 9, 2021. Picture taken April 9, 2021. REUTERS/Yahir Ceballos/File Photo By Marianna Parraga HOUSTON (Reuters) - Cuba has begun using its own tankers to ramp up crude imports from Mexico, which in the second quarter surpassed Russia as a key oil provider to the fuel-thirsty island, according to vessel monitoring data. Following days-long lines to fill drivers' tanks and power blackouts, the communist-run nation saddled with harsh U.S. economic sanctions has broadened its sources of oil imports in a move to ease fuel scarcity, replenish stocks and reduce dependence on its traditional and largest supplier, Venezuela. Washington has also sanctioned Venezuela's oil industry since 2019 over election-fraud claims. Mexico has emerged as a top provider, sending oil on a vessel owned by state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and ships managed by Cuba. It has delivered some 2 million barrels in the last four months, a Reuters tally based on tanker tracking showed. Since July, Cuba-flagged tanker Vilma has completed two trips from Mexico's Pajaritos terminal to Cuba's Cienfuegos and Havana refineries. The ship previously ferried Venezuelan crude and fuel oil to Cuba, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. Cuba-flagged tanker Delsa also delivered Mexican crude from Pajaritos to Cienfuegos in June, and then sailed to Venezuela, where it loaded oil, the data showed. Cuba's foreign ministry, Mexico's foreign ministry and Pemex did not reply to requests for comment. SANCTIONS FREE Vilma and Delsa are among the few Cuban tankers that have not been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Other Cuban ships have in recent years been repaired or inspected at a shipyard in Veracruz, Mexico, including U.S.-blacklisted Esperanza, which is currently there. A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Reuters in April that Washington was "aware that Cuba purchases oil from a variety of countries, both sanctioned and non-sanctioned." Pemex tanker Bicentenario separately has completed at least four trips from Mexico to Cuba this year, according to the data. In total, Mexico has supplied Cuba with about 13,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Olmeca light crude since April, the data showed. The crude is a better fit for Cuba's aging refineries than Venezuela's heavy oil. Venezuela in recent years has struggled to produce enough fuel for domestic needs, reducing what it could export. Its shipments to Cuba this year through July dropped to 55,000 bpd from almost 80,000 bpd in 2020. Mexico and Venezuela were steady crude suppliers to Cuba under the San Jose Pact in the 1990s. While Venezuela expanded exports to the island since agreeing to a bilateral trade pact in 2000, Mexico had only sporadically sent cargoes to Cuba for humanitarian reasons until this year. HELP NEEDED Russia supplied Cuba with some 12,000 bpd of oil, mostly crude, between February and July, according to the Eikon data. Cuba is nearly always in short supply of fuel, but never more so than during the sultry Caribbean summer, when residents crank up air conditioning, drawing down reserves. The Cuban government this year began refurbishing its decrepit oil-fired power plants. Those repairs and larger fuel supplies from Russia and Mexico, have contributed to steadier generation and fewer blackouts this year over last. But refined products used in passenger vehicles, public transportation and in some power generation have been scarce since March, forcing the government to ration at the pump. (Reporting by Marianna Parraga, additional reporting by David Sherwood in Havana and Adriana Barrera in Mexico City; Editing by Marguerita Choy) She said she was unsurprised at the closing. "For many users, LinkedIn has two great advantages: its social media feature, and its attraction to many multinational companies. But LinkedIn has chopped off its social media feature in China, and many foreign companies' business are slowing down, resulting in a less active hiring. So it's a shame that LinkedIn is backing out of China, but I'm not surprised." She told VOA Mandarin via text she was disappointed the network was leaving China. "I became a user... before LinkedIn entered China. My experience on the platform has been wonderful. I found almost all my jobs on LinkedIn and I've made quite a few friends there too. I really hope one day it will come back to China." A woman who is a white-collar professional in Shanghai started using LinkedIn when she was studying in the U.S. a decade ago. Like all the users in China who communicated with VOA Mandarin, she asked that her name not be used to avoid attracting official attention. InCareer notified its users in China that "after Aug. 9, we will delete all InCareer account data." The closure was not a surprise. InCareer, the Chinese app for LinkedIn, told users three months ago that "fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic climate... ultimately led us to the decision of discontinuing the service." LinkedIn, the U.S.- based social media network owned by Microsoft Corp. that focuses on building networks among business professionals, shut down its China-focused job application on Wednesday, marking the end of an era for Western social media networks struggling to grab a share of the huge Chinese market. LinkedIn was founded in 2002 and officially launched on May 5, 2003, according to its website, which says LinkedIn is the world's largest workplace socialization platform, employing about 20,000 people worldwide. It listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, a city in the heart of California's Silicon Valley. LinkedIn officially entered China in 2014 with a localized version and attracted more than 4 million members that year. As of May 2023, the total number of LinkedIn members worldwide was more than 900 million, covering more than 200 countries and regions, of which the total number of members in China has exceeded 60 million, according to the company's website. One private business owner in Beijing whom VOA Mandarin spoke to started using LinkedIn in 2013. "I thought it was a great place to find senior managers or professionals with great abilities," he said. "For example, if I see a senior manager from a prestigious consulting company, and if he lets me add him as a contact, I could talk about job opportunities with him. This social function is the key for LinkedIn." "I've been on LinkedIn for over 10 years", another white-collar user in Shanghai told VOA Mandarin: "I found it by chance when I was in college, and thought I'd look more professional by having a LinkedIn account. At that time, LinkedIn hadn't officially entered China yet, but the Chinese students who had better knowledge of Western culture thought it was cool to be on that platform." LinkedIn ended the "social media feature" seven years after the company entered China. In a letter to all Chinese users in October 2021, LinkedIn's second president in China, Jian Lu, announced that "LinkedIn will not provide function of user generated original content and interactions between users." That announcement revealed the struggle LinkedIn had had in complying with China's strict censorship in the country. Eyck Freymann was surprised to get a notice from LinkedIn in June 2021, when he was an Oxford University doctoral student, telling him his account had been blocked in China, according to the Wall Street Journal. He was informed his profile contained "prohibited" content. Freymann, who turned down a VOA request for an interview, wasn't given more details, but the Journal reported it was because he had included the words "Tiananmen Square massacre" in the LinkedIn entry for his two-year stint as a research assistant for a book in 2015. In September 2014, Rob Schmitz, a Shanghai-based reporter for the U.S. media outlet Marketplace, said LinkedIn deleted his post on the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. In March 2021, a New York Times article reported that China's internet regulator rebuked LinkedIn executives for failing to control political content. In punishment, officials required LinkedIn to perform a self-evaluation and offer a report to the regulator. The report added that LinkedIn's service was forced to suspend signing up new users inside China for 30 days. According to a transparency report published by LinkedIn in 2022, the company received 43 requests from the Chinese government to remove content in 2021. LinkedIn complied with 42 of those requests. The report did not explain why the company did not comply with the one remaining request. The private business owner in Beijing thinks that a LinkedIn without its social media feature was in no position to compete with domestic Chinese apps. "There're so many local job seeking networks in China with better features and are much more popular. Just like Google, LinkedIn's exit is a result of Internet content censorship in China." FILE PHOTO: SAG-AFTRA actors and Writers Guild of America (WGA) writers walk the picket line outside Disney Studios in Burbank, California, U.S., July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo By Danielle Broadway and Dawn Chmielewski LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger on Wednesday said he was committed to finding a solution to the Hollywood writer and actor strikes, citing his "deep respect" for creative professionals, as he signaled a turn from comments that inflamed tensions last month. Iger last month told striking actors that their demands were "not realistic." The Hollywood writers' strike entered its 100th day on Wednesday with contract talks stalled and people on the picket lines protesting what they say is a disregard for their demands. The actors strike started less than a month ago. The growth of artificial intelligence has been a key issue for union members, who fear that it could replace their creative input. "Nothing is more important to this company than its relationships with the creative," Iger said on a call discussing Disney's quarterly results on Wednesday. "I have deep respect and appreciation for all those who are vital to the extraordinary creative engine that drives this company and our industry," he said. Iger, who returned to Disney as CEO last year, did not say how he would help bring the strikes to an end. In July, Iger angered members of both unions by saying that the demands of the SAG-AFTRA actors union for a labor contract with higher pay and limits on use of artificial intelligence were "not realistic." Emmy-winning "Breaking Bad" actor Bryan Cranston about a week later took aim at Iger in remarks to striking actors, saying: "We don't expect you to understand who we are, but we ask you to hear us. And beyond that, to listen to us when we tell you, we will not be having our jobs taken away and given to robots." Under Iger, Disney has created a task force to study artificial intelligence and how it can be applied across the company, Reuters reported on Tuesday. (Reporting by Danielle Broadway and Dawn Chmielewski; Editing by Mary Milliken and Leslie Adler) By Julian Luk LONDON (Reuters) - China's largest private copper producer Nanfang Nonferrous is due to bring a major new smelter to production by October, more than doubling its capacity, a few months ahead of expectations, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Used for wiring in electric vehicles, copper is a key plank of the energy transition. Chinese firms have ambitious plans to dominate production of the refined metal also used in the power and construction industries. Nanfang's new copper plant which will take its total copper production capacity to 700,000 metric tons a year from 300,000 tons suggests China's goal of supply-side reforms to make the country self-sufficient is achievable, the sources said. The 700,000 tons of enhanced capacity will amount to about 6% of refined copper output in China, expected to produce more than 50% of global supplies estimated at around 25 million tons. China's central bank earlier in August outlined measures to guide more financial resources to the private sector to help revive economic activity and growth. Nanfang Nonferrous did not respond to a Reuters request for comment by email, telephone or WeChat. The 400,000 metric ton-per-year smelter, located in Chongzuo city of Guangxi prefecture, will start processing copper concentrates within three months - compared with market expectations for the first half of 2024. Concerns had previously been cited over limited liquidity available to private firms. "It came as a surprise," one major copper concentrates supplier said, adding that Nanfang had been buying more raw copper materials on the spot market over the past two weeks. Purchasing copper concentrates requires access to liquidity and cash, particularly given relatively high copper prices around $8,400 a metric ton. Copper prices are down from the record highs hit last year, but they are still nearly double the levels they fell to in March 2020 when COVID lockdowns hit manufacturing activity and industrial metals demand. Private firms in China have struggled to access credit compared with state-owned peers, leaving capital-intensive copper smelters largely controlled by local governments. Tight credit left Nanfang as the only privately owned sizeable Chinese copper producer. "It is easier to finance copper projects, credit lines are sufficient to kick-start the second smelting line. Copper project has been prioritised over zinc and lead production," one of the sources said. Other expansion projects include Tongling Nonferrous, aiming to be the world's top copper maker with new projects that will take its capacity to 2 million metric tons by 2025. Rising domestic copper smelting capacity in China will mean growing demand for copper concentrates and less appetite for buying refined copper from foreign companies. (Reporting by Julian Luk; editing by Pratima Desai, Veronica Brown and David Evans) BAUCHI, Nigeria (Reuters) - At least 20 people were killed and others sustained gunshot wounds on Thursday after armed men attacked two villages in the north central state of Plateau, where violence between cattle herders and farmers is common, police said. Plateau police spokesperson Alfred Alabo said the attacks took place in the early hours of Thursday when unidentified gunmen stormed Tagwam Lawuru village, shot and killed 17 people before killing another three in nearby Layowok village. "As a result of the attacks, several other people sustained varying degrees of gunshot injuries," said Alabo in a statement, urging calm and promising to arrest and prosecute perpetrators. The violence is often painted as ethno-religious: chiefly Muslim Fulani herders clashing with mainly Christian farmers. But many experts and politicians say climate change and expanding agriculture are creating competition for land that is pushing the farmers and herders into conflict, regardless of faith or ethnicity. (Reporting by Ardo Hazzad in Bauchi and Adewale Kolawole in Maiduguri, writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe, editing by Alexandra Hudson) An aerial view shows damage along the coast of Lahaina in the aftermath of wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, U.S. August 9, 2023 this screen grab obtained from social media video. Richard Olsten/Air Maui Helicopters/via REUTERS By Marco Garcia KAHULUI, Hawaii (Reuters) -Maui's wildfires have killed at least 55 people, a toll expected to rise, and unleashed destruction on the resort town of Lahaina that will take many years and billions of dollars to rebuild, Hawaiian officials said on Thursday. Governor Josh Green said the inferno that reduced much of Lahaina to smoldering ruins was the worst natural disaster in the state's history, making thousands of people homeless and leveling as many as 1,000 buildings. "It's going to take many years to rebuild Lahaina," Green said told a news conference, as officials began to map out a plan to shelter the newly homeless in hotels and tourist rental properties. "It will be a new Lahaina that Maui builds in its own image with its own values," Green said of the city that draws 2 million tourists each year, or about 80% of the island's visitors. The fast-moving inferno, which started on Tuesday, spread from the brush outside of town and ravaged the historic city of Lahaina that was once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom. It was one of three major wildfires on Maui, all of them still burning, that were fueled by dry conditions, a buildup of fuel and 60 mph (100 kph) gusts of wind. Even as firefighters continue to put out smaller fires and search and rescue teams almost certainly have yet to recover all the dead, federal recovery dollars have started to flow along with an influx of supplies and equipment. Among the incoming assistance were cadaver dogs from California and Washington that would aid search and rescue teams combing through the ruins, officials said. "Understand this: Lahaina town is hallowed, sacred ground right now," Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said, referring to remains that have yet to be recovered. "We have to get them out." Thousands of tourists and locals were evacuated from the western side of Maui, which has a year-round population of about 166,000, with some taking shelter on the island or on the neighboring island of Oahu. Tourists camped in the Kahului Airport, waiting for flights back home. Green said the scope of the disaster would surpass that of 1960, one year after Hawaii became a U.S. state, when a tsunami killed 61 people on the Big Island of Hawaii. Some people fled the flames by jumping into the Pacific Ocean. Among them was Vixay Phonxaylinkham, a tourist from Fresno, California, who said he was trapped in a rental car with his wife and children as the fires approached, forcing the family to abandon the car and take refuge in the water. "We floated around four hours," Phonxaylinkham said from the airport while awaiting a flight off the island, describing how they held onto pieces of wood for floatation. "It was a vacation that turned into a nightmare. I heard explosions everywhere, I heard screaming, and some people didnt make it. I feel so sad," he said. Many more people suffered burns, smoke inhalation and other injuries. "It was so hot all around me, I felt like my shirt was about to catch on fire," said Nicoangelo Knickerbocker, a 21-year-old resident of Lahaina, said from one of the four emergency shelters opened on the island. Knickerbocker heard cars and a gas station explode, and soon after fled the town with his father, bringing with them only the clothes they were wearing and the family dog. "It sounded like a war was going on," he said. The fate of some of Lahaina's cultural treasures remains unclear. The historic 60-foot(18-meter)-tall banyan tree marking the spot where Hawaiian King Kamehameha III's 19th-century palace stood was still standing, though some of its boughs appeared charred, according to a Reuters witness. Maui County said in a statement that the Lahaina fire was 80% contained, as firefighters secured the perimeter of the wild land areas that burned. The Pulehu fire, about 20 miles (30 km) east of Lahaina, was 70% contained. There was no estimate for the Upcountry fire in the center of the eastern mass of the island, Maui County said. Scenes of fiery devastation have become all too familiar elsewhere in the world this summer. Wildfires, often caused by record-setting heat, forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in Greece, Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe. In western Canada, a series of unusually severe fires sent clouds of smoke over vast swaths of the U.S., polluting the air. Human-caused climate change, driven by fossil fuel use, is increasing the frequency and intensity of such extreme weather events, scientists say, having long warned that countries must slash emissions to prevent climate catastrophe. (Reporting by Marco Garcia in Kahului; Additional reporting by Rich McKay, Brendan O'Brien, Joseph Ax, Jonathan Allen and Anirudh Saligrama; Writing by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Sandra Maler, Stephen Coates and Toby Chopra) A worker stands near a Mini Cooper Electric car, that is displayed during the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show in Tangerang, near Jakarta, Indonesia, August 10, 2023. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan By Stefanno Sulaiman TANGERANG, Indonesia (Reuters) - Indonesia said on Thursday it would give automakers two more years to qualify for electric vehicle incentives in Southeast Asia's largest auto market, a move followed by investment commitments by China's Neta EV brand and Mitsubishi Motors. The moves announced at the Jakarta auto show come as Indonesia races Thailand and India to build out an EV industry as an alternative to China, the worlds largest producer. Under the relaxed investment rules announced Thursday, automakers need to commit to producing at least 40% of the content of EVs in Indonesia by 2026 to qualify for incentives, two years later than the initial target. The 40% threshold had been set to encourage local battery production. "The relaxation on the local content requirement is to attract the investors," Indonesia's industry minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita told reporters on the sidelines of the Jakarta auto show. Indonesia is Southeast Asias largest auto market and its second-largest production hub behind Thailand. Toyota, its affiliate Daihatsu and Honda account for two-thirds of sales but have been slow to pivot to EVs. Indonesias government has set an ambitious target of producing some 600,000 EVs by 2030. That would be more than 100 times the number sold in Indonesia in the first half of 2023. Indonesia had earlier said it would reduce import duties from 50% to zero for EV makers planning investments. That was seen as aimed at attracting Chinese EV makers and potentially Tesla, a company the government has long courted. We roll out incentives for all the global carmakers, not for a certain name only, Agus said. The industry ministry said Mitsubishi Motors had committed about $375 million to expand production, including for the Minicab-MiEV electric car. Mitsubishi said production of the EV would start in December. Neta, an EV brand of China's Hozon New Energy Automobile, said it had begun taking orders for the Neta V EV and would start local production in 2024. Until now, only two manufacturers have shifted enough production to Indonesia to qualify for full incentives: Wuling Motors and Hyundai. Both have factories outside Jakarta and lead the market in EV sales. Wuling offers the cheapest EV on offer in a market where analysts say affordability is one challenge to wider adoption. The Chinese carmaker plans to announce a cheaper version of the Air EV, starting at around $13,200, people familiar with its plans told Reuters. Wuling did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Toyota used its presentation at the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show outside Jakarta to showcase locally produced hybrids. Toyota said it would deploy 200 charging stations at dealerships but had not committed to building EVs locally. "We don't have a concrete plan yet," Hiroyuki Ueda, president of Toyota-Astra Motor, a joint-venture between the Japanese carmaker and Indonesian conglomerate PT Astra International, told Reuters. (Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by Kevin Krolicki and Conor Humphries) By Kylie Madry MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The Mexican government will launch a military-run airline later this year, officials said on Thursday, made possible by the 815 million-peso ($48 million) purchase of the brand of defunct airline Mexicana de Aviacion. Mexicana, which entered bankruptcy proceedings in 2010, was previously a major national carrier, but encountered financial turbulence several years after being privatized. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has vowed to revive the airline to offer low-cost options to travelers, adding there is room in the domestic market for another airline. Interior Minister Luisa Alcalde, speaking alongside the president and the defense minister at the regular morning press conference, said the airline would launch with the Mexicana name following an agreement with former employees to buy its brand for 815 million pesos. The deal includes the purchase of three buildings and a flight simulator, Alcalde said, adding that next week the government would also begin to pay the more than 7,000 former employees who had not received salaries or benefits. Lopez Obrador has increasingly turned traditionally civilian-led duties in the aviation sector over to the military. Earlier this week, administration of the Mexico City International Airport was handed to the navy. Defense Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval said the airline would start with 10 rented Boeing 737-800s, to be delivered in September and October. The government will pitch in an initial 4 billion pesos for the airline, Sandoval added. Lopez Obrador said the funds would come from the public budget, but did not specify further. Mexicana will also begin selling tickets next month to an expected 20 destinations out of the Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA), Sandoval added. Opened last year, the military-run airport was built as an alternative to the Mexico City International Airport, the country's busiest. Even though Lopez Obrador has moved cargo flights and some commercial travel to the new airport, it has yet to gain traction with travelers. ($1 = 16.9509 Mexican pesos) (Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle and Jonathan Oatis) FILE PHOTO: The Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) Alicia Barcena Ibarra speaks during the presentation of the Economic Development plan in Mexico City, Mexico September 17, 2021. REUT (Reuters) -Mexico is developing a digital tracking system for fentanyl precursor chemicals, including methods to detect the substances at Mexico's coastal ports and border crossing points, Foreign Minister Alicia Barcena said on Thursday. "We are pulling together a digital tracking system that is very sophisticated," Barcena said, speaking at an event in Washington during her first U.S. visit as foreign minister, a post she was appointed to in June. Mexico has vowed to crack down on precursor chemicals coming into the country, where they are used to produce the deadly opioid fentanyl which is then often smuggled to the United States. Barcena said the substances often reach Mexico in shipments such as small packages that are difficult to trace. "The first thing we're going to do is control the precursors of the synthetic drugs," she said, without providing further details. (Reporting by Kylie Madry; editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Daina Beth Solomon) Police officers work outside the rally site where Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed at a campaign event in Quito, Ecuador August 9, 2023. REUTERS/Karen Toro By Alexandra Valencia and Tito Correa QUITO (Reuters) - The murder of Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has made some voters more wary of going to the polls on Aug. 20, making an unsettled election even harder to forecast. Villavicencio, a vocal critic of corruption and organized crime, was killed on Wednesday during an evening campaign event in northern Quito. The assassination less than two weeks ahead of voting shocked the country, where violent crime and drug trafficking have risen sharply in recent years. Voters said they were afraid of more bloodshed, with some weighing whether to comply with mandatory voting rules. "I am scared and I'm thinking about whether to go vote," said Quito manicurist Margarita Alvarado, 45. "If a candidate with bodyguards couldn't be saved ... I'm afraid something violent will happen at the polling station." "I prefer to pay the fine," Alvarado said, referring to the $45 charge levied on those between 18 and 65 who do not cast ballots. "I can't suffer this distress." Even before the assassination there was widespread uncertainty about the race. The candidates between second and fifth place, battling for a spot in a possible October runoff vote, are polling within the margin of error of each other, pollster Cedatos said in a Tuesday post to X, the platform previously known as Twitter. People planning to turn in protest or blank ballots represented about 25% of voters, the pollster said. "The assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio complicates what is already an atypical and complex political crisis in Ecuador," said Verisk Maplecroft chief analyst Jimena Blanco and lead Americas analyst Eileen Gavin in a note. "With some 40% of voters undecided, current polling data was already unlikely to be very accurate; the assassination now adds a new source of unpredictability to the electoral outcome," they added. Villavicencio's supporters, about 8% of respondents in recent polls, may not fall neatly into another camp. Despite his union ties, Villavicencio was sharply opposed to leading leftist candidate Luisa Gonzalez. "On paper, the most obvious beneficiary of Villavicencio's murder would be Jan Topic ... who is running a tough-on-crime campaign," said consultancy Teneo in a note. "However, Topic ... has limited name recognition and does not appear to have made much of an impact." Despite the suspension of campaigning by two opponents and widespread condemnation of the murder, politicians lost little time in trading barbs. Villavicencio's party denounced "political use" of his death and some supporters lobbed criticism at former President Rafael Correa, whom Villavicencio clashed with as an investigative journalist. Gonzalez, the Correa-backed candidate who leads the race with just below 30% voter support, took aim at current President Guillermo Lasso, accusing him of ties to the Albanian mafia, an allegation Lasso has always denied. Along with driving up voter abstention, Paulina Recalde of polling firm Perfiles de Opinion, said the violence and its fallout could eventually sow doubt in the electoral process. That could worsen the political crisis that led Lasso to call an early election, Recalde said, "if political forces don't curb this rhetoric of blaming each other." The electoral contest will head to a second round on Oct. 15 if no candidate wins more than 50% of valid votes or more than 40% if 10 points ahead of their nearest rival. The winner will serve until May 2025 a truncated term that ensures another heated contest soon after voters put this one behind them. "Despite being a candidate, Fernando was a regular person like anyone else and just like he was attacked, anyone could be, in a market, at a school, in a church," said voter Santiago Avilez, 37. "Anything could happen, any disaster (in the elections)," he added. "We have to vote with conscience." (Reporting by Alexandra Valencia and Tito Correa in Quito; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Brad Haynes and David Gregorio) By Ismael Lopez (Reuters) - Nicaraguan authorities froze the bank accounts of the country's top private university, a source from the institution told Reuters, marking the latest move against a Catholic-led institution in an ongoing crackdown by the government. The Jesuit-run Central American University (UCA) is the alma mater of many youth leaders who protested the government of President Daniel Ortega in 2018, which were initially triggered by old-age pension cuts. The protests turned violent, and rights groups blamed Ortega's police and other government-affiliated security forces for killing more than 300 civilians. "I can tell you that the accounts are frozen. We are trying to find out what is going on but we don't want to cause alarm," said a university official who requested anonymity to speak candidly. Earlier on Wednesday, digital news outlet Divergentes reported that UCA officials sent an email to staff and students advising that they were not receiving any payments due to reasons beyond their control. The government did not immediately reply to a request for comment. In May, authorities also froze bank accounts belonging to Catholic parishes across the country as prosecutors launched what they called a money laundering investigation. Officials have also arrested and jailed priests including Bishop Rolando Alvarez, a major Ortega critic. Catholic church leaders had acted as mediators in the aftermath of the 2018 protests. Founded in 1960, UCA graduates include many from Nicaragua's political and business class, including Ortega who began law studies there in 1962 before leaving to join the Sandinista rebel movement. Three of his sons later studied there. The university had already been singled out for budget cuts and its leaders targeted, including UCA rector and Jesuit priest Jose Idiaquez who last year was barred from returning to Nicaragua after traveling to Mexico. (Reporting by Ismael Lopez; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by David Alire Garcia and Michael Perry) Ahead of Liberation Day next week, President Yoon Suk-yeol expressed his and the country's gratitude to independence fighters and their families at a special lunch on Wednesday. Some 158 people were invited to the guesthouse at Cheong Wa Dae, the former presidential office and residence, for a meal commemorating the nation's liberation from Japanese colonial rule. FILE PHOTO: Police officers stand guard during a demonstration against Northern Ireland Brexit Protocol at Lanark Way, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, November 3, 2021. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo BELFAST (Reuters) - Northern Irish police are aware of a claim that militant groups are in possession of details of officers it accidentally shared publicly this week, and have not yet been able to verify if the claim is correct, the region's police chief said on Thursday. The surnames, initials, work location and department of all officers were made public for over two hours on Tuesday, after they were included in error in response to a freedom of information request, and published on the requester's website. The accidental data leak is hugely sensitive in Northern Ireland, where officers are still sporadically targeted by dissident groups in bomb and gun attacks, despite a 1998 peace deal largely ending three decades of sectarian violence. "We are now aware that dissident republicans claim to be in possession of some of this information circulating on WhatsApp," Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable Simon Byrne told a news conference. "We haven't yet been able to verify what the substance is behind that claim or see any of the information that dissident republicans assert that they'd have, but we're keeping this on under review." Byrne said over 500 referrals had been made to an emergency threat assessment group set up on Wednesday, when the PSNI updated personal security advice to its officers. No officers have yet been redeployed or advised to move from their home but Byrne said the PSNI is reassessing whether some specialist officers need to redeployed away from their usual place of work to a new location. Byrne said he had not been asked to resign at a meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board on Thursday, and did not think any senior resignations would help fix what he called an "unprecedented" and "grave" crisis. (Reporting by Amanda Ferguson, writing by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar) LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's Novo Banco said its lawyers were studying a ruling by a Lisbon court that Venezuela claims unblocks around $1.5 billion in Venezuelan state assets being held by the bank. Venezuela's government has decried sanctions imposed by the United States that have led to banks freezing the country's assets overseas, as well as international support for the opposition, arguing they have "stolen" Venezuelan resources. Information Minister Freddy Nanez announced on Wednesday the country had won a key court battle, allowing the release of the frozen funds held in Portugal. In a response to questions from Reuters, Novo Banco said the Lisbon District Court of Justice had ruled in response to the lender's request to "clarify existing doubts about the legal representation of Venezuelan public entities". Asked whether it planned to appeal or transfer the money to Venezuela, it replied that "Novo Banco and its lawyers are analysing the practical effects of the ruling", without providing further details. It said any transfer of the funds, which are held in an escrow account, would not affect the bank's capital ratios. In November, Nicolas Maduro's ruling Socialists and the opposition reached an agreement to create a fund using the frozen money to back health, education and other services. The $1.5 billion tied up in the Novo Banco account was meant to kick off the fund. Novo Banco is 75% owned by U.S. private equity fund Lone Star. The Lisbon court has not replied to a Reuters request for comment nor would it provide a copy of the ruling. Since taking office, U.S. President Joe Biden has eased some sanctions on Venezuela - many imposed by his predecessor Donald Trump in a "maximum pressure" campaign - to encourage dialogue. But negotiations have stalled again. The United States says it will ease sanctions on the OPEC nation only in return for concrete steps toward free elections there. (Reporting by Andrei Khalip, additional reporting by Corina Pons and Catarina Demony;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle) FILE PHOTO: A view of the Johan Sverdrup oilfield in the North Sea, January 7, 2020. Carina Johansen/NTB Scanpix/via REUTERS File Photo By Laura Sanicola (Reuters) -Oil prices settled lower on Thursday, with Brent crude holding close to January highs, as speculation about another U.S. interest rate hike faded following inflation data and OPEC remained positive on the oil demand outlook. Both benchmarks have been on a sustained rally since June, with West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) trading on Thursday at its highest this year and Brent hitting its highest price since January. Brent crude fell $1.15, or 1.3%, to settle at $86.40 a barrel while WTI settled down $1.58, or 1.9%, at $82.82. Oil prices have been boosted in recent days by extensions to output cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia, alongside supply fears driven by the potential for conflict between Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea region to threaten Russian oil shipments. But recent data showed the consumer sector in China fell into deflation and factory gate prices extended declines in July, raising concerns about fuel demand in the world's second-largest economy. The U.S. is also prohibiting some investment in China in sensitive technologies like computer chips and requires government notification in other tech sectors. "China's data just gets worse and worse, and this is only going to make it more difficult for China to ramp up its economy," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital LLC in New York. Lending support to prices, OPEC said in its monthly report on Thursday it expected a healthy oil market for the rest of the year, and stuck by its forecast for robust oil demand in 2024, as the outlook for world economic growth slightly improves. Thursday's U.S. consumer prices data for July fuelled speculation the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its aggressive rate hike cycle. Markets largely shrugged off a higher-than-expected 5.85 million-barrel build in U.S. crude stocks reported on Wednesday, after a record drawdown the week before. Low inventory levels have pushed gasoline positions to their highest since the day Russia invaded Ukraine, and investors and analysts say they may continue to rise if record Atlantic Ocean heat draws a hurricane into the Gulf of Mexico and disrupts refineries. "With gasoline and distillate deficits expanding, both markets will likely prove sensitive to the first suggestion of a major storm event capable of working its way into the Gulf of Mexico with hurricane status," said John Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Illinois. (Additional reporting by Natalie Grover in London and Muyu Xu in Singapore Editing by Mark Potter, Elaine Hardcastle and Andy Sullivan) (Reuters) -Two civilians were killed in Ukrainian shelling of the Russian village of Chausy in the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, the region's governor said on Thursday, while a civilian was killed in a Ukrainian strike on the Russian-held town of Nova Kakhovka in southern Ukraine, according to Russian-appointed authorities. Shelling of Russian territory along the Ukrainian frontier has become commonplace in recent months in Russia's war in Ukraine, which it calls a "special military operation", while Ukraine fights to drive Russian forces out of territory they have seized. Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz said that, in addition to the two deaths, two people had been injured in Chausy. In Nova Kakhovka, beside a huge hydroelectric dam blown up two months ago straddling the front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces, the Russian-backed town administration said a civilian had been killed in a Ukrainian strike on a business, and another had been wounded. Reuters was not able to verify details of the incidents independently. (Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Toby Chopra) DUBAI (Reuters) - A Panama-flagged tanker called White Pearl has caught fire near Assaluyeh on Iran's Gulf coast, Iranian state media reported on Thursday, adding that all crew members were safe. "Twenty-two of the ship's crew have been rescued by Iranian rescue teams after the ship's captain requested assistance from the port authorities," state TV quoted a local ports official as saying. The official said that the tanker, carrying 40,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas, had experienced "a problem in the engine room due to a fire." Panama's vessel registry, the world's largest, has withdrawn its flag from 136 ships linked to Iran's state oil company in the last four years, the country's maritime authority said in January. (Reporting by Elwely Elwelly; Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Editing by Hugh Lawson and Conor Humphries) MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippine government has suspended all 22 reclamation projects in Manila Bay to assess their environmental and social impacts and compliance with regulations, Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said on Thursday. The move comes days after the United States expressed concern over the involvement of a Chinese state-owned firm, which it blacklisted for its role in constructing and militarising artificial South China sea islands, in the Philippine reclamation projects. Washington has also warned of the "potential negative long-term and irreversible impacts" of the reclamation activities on the environment. Yulo-Loyzaga told a news briefing that operators of the reclamation activities involving hundreds of hectares and potentially worth billions of pesos would be fully informed and treated fairly. She did not give a timeline for completing the review. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said earlier this week there were problems in the implementation of the projects, though he did not elaborate. He expressed concern about the possible clogging of rivers connected to the bay. If there are violations, Yulo-Loyzaga said operators will be given a period within which to undertake corrective measures. "If they do not comply, it's possible for the ECCs (environmental clearance certificates) to be suspended," she said. The blacklisted company, China Communications Construction Co Ltd (CCCC), has yet to comment on the U.S. concern. (Reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz; Editing by Alexandra Hudson) FILE PHOTO: A sign is seen near the Bug River at the Poland-Belarus border, near Kostomloty, Poland July 20, 2023. The sign reads: "State border. Crossing prohibited". REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki/File Photo WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland is planning to move up to 10,000 additional troops to the border with Belarus to support the Border Guard, Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said on Thursday. "About 10,000 soldiers will be on the border, of which 4,000 will directly support the Border Guard and 6,000 will be in the reserve," the minister said in an interview for public radio. "We move the army closer to the border with Belarus to scare away the aggressor so that it does not dare to attack us," Blaszczak said. Deputy interior minister Maciej Wasik said on Wednesday that Poland would send 2,000 additional troops to its frontier with Belarus. Poland has worried increasingly about the border area since hundreds of battle-hardened Wagner mercenaries arrived in Belarus last month at the invitation of President Alexander Lukashenko. Belarus continues its military exercises near the border this week, and President Alexander Lukashenko has said several times that he was restraining Wagner fighters who want to attack Poland. Poland has also seen an increase in the number of mainly Middle Eastern and African migrants trying to cross the border in recent months. The head of the Border Guard, Tomasz Praga, said earlier this week that 19,000 people have tried to cross the Polish-Belarusian border illegally this year, up from 16,000 last year. (Reporting by Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Bernadette Baum) A high wave caused by typhoon Khanun hits a seawall in Seogwipo on Jeju island, South Korea, August 9, 2023. Yonhap via REUTERS By Hyonhee Shin, Minwoo Park and Elaine Lies SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) -South Korea authorities evacuated more than 14,000 people and closed schools in flood-hit areas as tropical storm Khanun swept over the peninsula on Thursday, having pounded southern Japan over the past week. Downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm, Khanun made landfall on the southeast coast, and was heading towards the South Korean capital Seoul. Khanun could also strike North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, early on Friday and state media there reported that the military and the ruling party had been ordered to prepare flood-mitigation measures and salvage crops. In South Korea, some 350 flights and 450 train routes were cancelled, and more than 14,000 people were moved to safety, the interior ministry said. One person was missing in the southeastern city of Daegu after falling into the river in a wheelchair, the ministry said, adding it was looking into the death of another person in the same city. The storm brought up to 60 mm (2.4 inches) of rain per hour in some east coast towns, and maximum wind speeds of 126 kilometres per hour (78 miles per hour) in the southeastern port city of Busan, the weather agency said. Khanun was passing South Korea's eastern coastal province of Gangwon as of 20:30 p.m. (1130 GMT), losing a little speed as it moved northwards at 23 kph (14.3 mph) toward the greater Seoul area. "I'm worried that people living in lowlands or making a living by farming and fishing would suffer," said Kim Wi-jeong, a 33-year-old office worker living in the capital. Most schools were shut for the summer vacation, but nearly half of those having resumed classes early, about 1,600, either closed or switched to remote learning because of the storm, the education ministry said. Some schools were hit by floods and landslides. The storm further complicated the trip of 37,000 youngsters attending the ill-starred World Scout Jamboree. Having endured a heatwave last week, they were moved to safer accommodation on Tuesday as their campsite lay in the path of the storm. The country is still recovering from intense monsoon rain last month, which left more than 40 people dead, including 14 in a flooded tunnel. Lee Hyun-ho, a professor of atmospheric science at Kongju National University, said Khanun was the first storm to pass directly over the Korean peninsula. He said increasing sea surface temperatures had made it more powerful. "The more the temperatures rise, the greater the energy that storms can get. So we will likely see even stronger typhoons in the future," Lee said. Fed by humid air from the storm, heavy rain was still battering parts of western Japan, with some areas getting well over the normal for August in the past week. One town had recorded 985 mm (38.78 inches) as of Thursday morning. Another storm, Typhoon Lan, was approaching near the Ogasawara Islands, about 1,000 km (621 miles) south of Tokyo, late on Wednesday. Though the storm's path was uncertain, the Japan Meteorological Agency said it could affect the Tokyo area by the end of the weekend. The bad weather is striking in the middle of Obon, Japan's main summer holiday, when many people leave big cities to return to their home towns. (Reporting by Elaine Lies in Tokyo and Hyunsu Yim, Hyonhee Shin and Minwoo Park in Seoul; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Ed Davies, Simon Cameron-Moore and Sharon Singleton) Nooruddin Azizi, acting Afghan Minster of Commerce and Industry, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Kabul, Afghanistan, February 22, 2023. REUTERS/Ali Khara By Mohammad Yunus Yawar KABUL (Reuters) - A Taliban delegation discussed facilitating international financial transactions with private banks on a recent trip to Kazakhstan in a bid to ease the Afghan banking sector's isolation, the acting commerce minister said. Nooruddin Azizi, acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, led a business delegation to Kazakhstan last week. In addition to banking he discussed the possibility of preferential trade tariffs, telecommunications projects and transit routes, including for possible shipments of Russian oil to South Asia, he told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. "We had teams from Da Afghanistan Bank (Afghanistan's central bank) and private banks in Kazakhstan, they discussed and are trying to find good ways to decrease the price of financial transactions ... we don't have any banking limitation with Kazakhstan," he said. Kazakhstan's trade ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Afghanistan's banking sector has been hampered and international transactions severely limited since the Taliban administration took over two years ago as foreign forces withdrew. Some Taliban leaders are subject to United Nations and United States sanctions. Many international banks have limited transactions with Afghan banks to reduce risk, economists and diplomats say, contributing to a stall in the financial system. That has been exacerbated by the United States and other governments freezing Afghan central bank assets held abroad. Azizi also said transactions that went ahead often incurred expensive fees, sometimes 5% of the transaction, which they hoped to reduce. Fixing Afghanistan's banking sector was a priority, he said, adding that there are no sanctions directly on banks. But he acknowledged international financial institutions were not easily facilitating transactions. "It is the preference of some banks that they don't want to deal with Afghanistan, they might think the trade volume is low, but for us it is very important," he said. The United States has issued exemptions to sanctions for humanitarian operations and at times helped facilitate specific transactions, such as an Afghan central bank payment to European companies to buy fresh bank notes. But traders and international agencies say normal banking has not been restored, hampering the economy and causing headaches for traders and aid programs. The United Nations, which uses billions of dollars a year to fund humanitarian operations, has to fly in pallets of cash in physical shipments to Kabul. (Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar; Additional reporting by Tamara Vaal in Astana; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield, Editing by Angus MacSwan) FILE PHOTO: Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Windham, New Hampshire, U.S., August 8, 2023. REUTERS/Reba Saldanha/File Photo By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -Donald Trump on Thursday appealed a judge's dismissal of his claim that the writer E. Jean Carroll defamed him by accusing him of rape, after a jury awarded her $5 million for defamation and sexual abuse but not rape. The former president asked the federal appeals court in Manhattan to overturn an Aug. 7 decision by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan that also rejected some of his defenses in a second defamation lawsuit by Carroll. Kaplan said the May 9 verdict reflected a finding that Trump "deliberately and forcibly" penetrated Carroll's vagina with his fingers. He said that amounted to rape as people commonly use the term, though state law defines it more narrowly, establishing the "substantial truth of Ms. Carroll's 'rape' accusations." Carroll, 79, a former Elle magazine columnist, is seeking at least $10 million from Trump, 77, in her second lawsuit. Both cases stemmed from Trump's denials that he raped Carroll in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan in the mid-1990s. Lawyers for Carroll did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A trial in the second lawsuit is scheduled for Jan. 15, 2024, but Trump wants it put on hold during his separate appeal of Kaplan's June 29 refusal to dismiss it. Carroll's lawyers opposed that request on Thursday, saying she has waited long enough, and the public would be "poorly served" by granting Trump an "effectively indefinite delay." Trump is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He has also pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in three separate criminal indictments, including over his effort to reverse his 2020 election loss and his role in events leading to the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol. In suing Carroll, Trump said she tarred his reputation by maintaining in comments on CNN following the jury verdict that he had raped her. 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 Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis) China is finally allowing group tours to Korea again in a welcome fillip for large tourist hotels, duty free shops and other retailers here. Group tours to Korea, which can include hundreds and even thousands of company workers or paying tourists, remained blocked even after the coronavirus lockdown was eased. According to the Chinese Embassy in Seoul on Wednesday, the official green light from Beijing will be given soon. The Chinese government stopped group tours to Korea in March of 2017, just after a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery from the U.S. was deployed here. FILE PHOTO: The U.S. Capitol building is seen in Washington, U.S., June 24, 2023. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of Democratic U.S. House of Representatives members urged President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday to withhold some military aid to Egypt over human rights concerns. They join a chorus of lawmakers urging such action ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline. The administration is expected to announce its decision before then. Under U.S. law, about $300 million of the $1.3 billion in foreign military assistance to Egypt is subject to human rights certification each year. Last year, the Biden administration withheld $130 million of that total because of Cairo's rights record. "Thousands of Egyptians including journalists, peaceful civil society activists, human rights defenders, and political figures remain detained on politically motivated charges and are often subject to abuse, mistreatment, and medical neglect," said the letter, led by Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The State Department declined comment on the letter, as is typical for congressional correspondence. The Egyptian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Washington sees Cairo as an important strategic partner and ally in a tumultuous region and has said repeatedly that it is committed to support its legitimate defense needs. A group of 11 senators led by Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Middle East subcommittee, recently sent its own letter urging the administration to withhold the $300 million. Human rights groups have also urged that funds be withheld. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; editing by John Stonestreet) A view of a controlled explosion of an explosive device left outside the rally site where Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed at a campaign event in Quito, Ecuador August 9, 2023. REUTERS/Karen Toro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The assassination of Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shocking and horrific and the United States hopes the perpetrators will be held accountable, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday. "It's very shocking," Kirby said in an interview with CNN. "It's heartbreaking for him and for his family, for his supporters. And I'm sure that all of Ecuador is grieving right now." Villavicencio, a vocal critic of corruption and organized crime, was killed on Wednesday during an evening campaign event in northern Quito. Kirby praised President Guillermo Lasso's decision to declare a state of emergency in Ecuador, saying that showed they were taking the killing very seriously. "We obviously hope that there'll be a full, complete and transparent investigation into this and that the perpetrators are held properly accountable," Kirby said. "It's a horrific scene. It's a disturbing video." (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Nick Macfie) Longtime chief of Lebanon's Central Bank Riad Salameh, poses as he leaves office after a 30-year tenure, at Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon July 31, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States, Britain and Canada on Thursday announced sanctions against the former governor of Lebanon's central bank, Riad Salameh, accusing him of corrupt actions to enrich himself and his associates. Salameh, in messages to Reuters, denied the allegations made by the three sanctioning countries and said he would challenge them. Some of his assets had already been frozen in previous investigations, he said. The U.S. Department of Treasury said in a statement that Salameh's "corrupt and unlawful actions have contributed to the breakdown of the rule of law in Lebanon". It had also sanctioned four others close to him, including relatives, close associates and his primary assistant, it said. "Salameh abused his position of power, likely in violation of Lebanese law, to enrich himself and his associates by funneling hundreds of millions of dollars through layered shell companies to invest in European real estate," the U.S. Treasury said. Britain and Canada also sanctioned Salameh, who served on the central bank from 1993 until July 31, 2023 on Thursday. Lawyers for Raja Salameh and his assistant, Marianne Howayek, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Once feted as a financial wizard, he left his post last month with his legacy in tatters amid the collapse of Lebanon's banking sector and corruption charges at home and abroad. In May, French and German authorities issued warrants for his arrest. Interpol Red Notices declared him wanted by both countries, mentioning charges of money laundering. The meltdown in Lebanon followed decades of corruption and profligate state spending by the factions that control the government. Many Lebanese hold Salameh and those factions responsible for the collapse that has sunk the currency's value by 98%. Salameh has repeatedly denied allegations of financial crimes and has said that he was made a scapegoat for the economic crisis. He, his brother Raja and Howayek were charged in Lebanon with money laundering, embezzlement and illicit enrichment in February. (Reporting by Susan Heavey, Muvija M, Maya Gebeily, Laila Basam and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Angus MacSwan and Angus MacSwan) (Reuters) - Verizon, the No. 1 U.S. telecom company by subscribers, said on Thursday it had signed a technology deal with India's HCLTech to help manage networks for business customers in a bid to stem a decline in its wireline business. Verizon's wireline business, which includes selling to business customers, has been a drag on its revenue for several years. Customers are looking for platforms that use artificial intelligence and automation techniques, and Verizon had to decide whether to invest significantly in upgrading systems or partner with a company that has such services, Scott Lawrence, senior vice president at Verizon, said in an interview. Under the terms of the deal, Verizon Business will lead sales and development, while HCLTech will take care of post-sale network roll-out and support. Some Verizon employees will also move to HCLTech. The partnership will help to grow existing managed service business, add new clients and reduce potential churn, Lawrence said. "We are going to start unlocking value as early as the end of this year and certainly into 2024, 2025 and beyond," he said. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm; Editing by Mark Potter) An aerial view shows the Santa Olalla lagoon, the largest permanent lagoon in the Donana wetlands of southern Spain, completely dried out for the second summer in a row amid the country's prolonged drought and the overexploitation of aquifers, the Spanish MADRID (Reuters) - The largest permanent lagoon in southern Spain's Donana national park has completely dried out for the second summer in a row due to a prolonged drought and the overexploitation of aquifers, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) said on Thursday. The drying out of the lagoon comes as Spain grapples with the third heatwave of the summer, while emptying reservoirs have forced water restrictions in parts of the country. "Since we began collecting data on the area half a century ago, this has never happened in two consecutive years, which shows the seriousness of the situation facing the Donana lagoon system and, with it, all the biodiversity that depends on it," the CSIC said in a statement. The Donana wetlands harbour many endemic and threatened species, such as freshwater eels and turtles. Most lagoons in Donana are temporary, meaning their basins fill when flooded by rainwater from aquifers in the winter and then dry out in the hotter months. But a few also contain water during the summer, providing an important refuge for migratory birds heading southward after breeding in northern Europe. According to the researchers, Donana has seen in the past two years the lowest precipitation levels in a decade and the highest average annual temperature ever recorded, at 18.53 Celsius (65.35 Fahrenheit). Donana's lagoons are not only threatened by the drought and heat. They are also surrounded by a sea of greenhouses and a complex system of pipes that take water from illegally drilled wells for use by farmers growing red berries. Andalusia's conservative regional government plans an amnesty that would legalise additional irrigation around Donana, prompting an outcry from environmentalists. (Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Andrei Khalip, Alexandra Hudson) FILE PHOTO: A Boeing logo is seen at the 54th International Paris Airshow at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, France, June 18, 2023. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo (Reuters) - Wisk Aero, Archer Aviation, along with Boeing, reached a settlement to resolve the federal and state court litigation between the parties on undisclosed terms, the companies said on Thursday. (Reporting by Ananya Mariam Rajesh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar) To: Securities and Exchange Commission 8/10/23 Re: Cann American Corp Form 10 Filed on 06/14/2023 To whom it may concern: Please be advised that Cann American Corp. (CNNA, the Company) respectfully requests the withdrawal of the above-mentioned Form 1012(g) Registration Statement pursuant to Rule 477 promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The Registration Statement was originally filed on 06/14/2023. The Company is in the process of revising its registration statement and accompanying financial statements to adequately address certain comments received by the Company from the SEC. Accordingly, the Company respectfully requests that the SEC consent to the withdrawal of the Companys registration statement on Form 10 as soon as practicable. No securities were sold in connection with the offering. SIGNATURES Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Philadelphia, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, on this 10th day of August, 2023. CABALETTA BIO, INC. By: /s/ Steven Nichtberger Steven Nichtberger, M.D. President and Chief Executive Officer POWER OF ATTORNEY AND SIGNATURES KNOW ALL BY THESE PRESENT, that each individual whose signature appears below hereby constitutes and appoints each of Steven Nichtberger and Anup Marda as such persons true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for such person in such persons name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement on Form S-8, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission granting unto each said attorney-in-fact and agent full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in and about the premises, as fully to all intents and purposes as such person might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that any said attorney-in-fact and agent, or any substitute or substitutes of any of them, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof. Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following person in the capacities and on the date indicated. UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 SCHEDULE 13G/A Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Amendment No. 2)* Better World Acquisition Corp. (Name of Issuer) Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (Title of Class of Securities) 08772B104 (CUSIP Number) July 31, 2023 (Date of Event which Requires Filing of this Statement) Check the appropriate box to designate the rule pursuant to which this Schedule is filed: [X] Rule 13d-1(b) [ ] Rule 13d-1(c) [_] Rule 13d-1(d) *The remainder of this cover page shall be filled out for a reporting persons initial filing on this form with respect to the subject class of securities, and for any subsequent amendment containing information which would alter the disclosures provided in a prior cover page. The information required in the remainder of this cover page shall not be deemed to be filed for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Act) or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of the Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see the Notes). SCHEDULE 13G/A CUSIP No. 08772B104 1 Names of Reporting Persons First Trust Merger Arbitrage Fund 2 Check the appropriate box if a member of a Group (see instructions) (a) [ ] (b) [X] 3 Sec Use Only 4 Citizenship or Place of Organization Delaware Number of Shares Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person With: 5 Sole Voting Power 0 6 Shared Voting Power 0 7 Sole Dispositive Power 0 8 Shared Dispositive Power 0 9 Aggregate Amount Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person 0 10 Check box if the aggregate amount in row (9) excludes certain shares (See Instructions) [ ] 11 Percent of class represented by amount in row (9) 0% 12 Type of Reporting Person (See Instructions) IV SCHEDULE 13G/A CUSIP No. 08772B104 1 Names of Reporting Persons First Trust Capital Management L.P. 2 Check the appropriate box if a member of a Group (see instructions) (a) [ ] (b) [X] 3 Sec Use Only 4 Citizenship or Place of Organization Delaware Number of Shares Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person With: 5 Sole Voting Power 0 6 Shared Voting Power 0 7 Sole Dispositive Power 0 8 Shared Dispositive Power 0 9 Aggregate Amount Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person 0 10 Check box if the aggregate amount in row (9) excludes certain shares (See Instructions) [ ] 11 Percent of class represented by amount in row (9) 0% 12 Type of Reporting Person (See Instructions) IA SCHEDULE 13G/A CUSIP No. 08772B104 1 Names of Reporting Persons First Trust Capital Solutions L.P. 2 Check the appropriate box if a member of a Group (see instructions) (a)[ ] (b)[X] 3 Sec Use Only 4 Citizenship or Place of Organization Delaware Number of Shares Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person With: 5 Sole Voting Power 0 6 Shared Voting Power 0 7 Sole Dispositive Power 0 8 Shared Dispositive Power 0 9 Aggregate Amount Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person 0 10 Check box if the aggregate amount in row (9) excludes certain shares (See Instructions) [ ] 11 Percent of class represented by amount in row (9) 0% 12 Type of Reporting Person (See Instructions) HC SCHEDULE 13G/A CUSIP No. 08772B104 1 Names of Reporting Persons FTCS Sub GP LLC 2 Check the appropriate box if a member of a Group (see instructions) (a)[ ] (b)[X] 3 Sec Use Only 4 Citizenship or Place of Organization Delaware Number of Shares Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person With: 5 Sole Voting Power 0 6 Shared Voting Power 0 7 Sole Dispositive Power 0 8 Shared Dispositive Power 0 9 Aggregate Amount Beneficially Owned by Each Reporting Person 0 10 Check box if the aggregate amount in row (9) excludes certain shares (See Instructions) [ ] 11 Percent of class represented by amount in row (9) 0% 12 Type of Reporting Person (See Instructions) HC Item 1. (a) Name of Issuer: Better World Acquisition Corp. (the Issuer) (b) Address of Issuers Principal Executive Offices: 775 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10021 Item 2. (a) Name of Person Filing: This Schedule 13G/A is being filed jointly by First Trust Merger Arbitrage Fund (VARBX), First Trust Capital Management L.P. (FTCM), First Trust Capital Solutions L.P. (FTCS) and FTCS Sub GP LLC (Sub GP). VARBX, a series of Investment Managers Series Trust II which is an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. FTCM, an investment adviser registered with the SEC that provides investment advisory services to, among others, (i) series of Investment Managers Services Trust II, an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, specifically the First Trust Multi-Strategy Fund and VARBX, (collectively, the Client Accounts). FTCS, a Delaware limited partnership and control person of FTCM. Sub GP, a Delaware limited liability company and control person of FTCM. Each of the persons identified herein is referred to as a Reporting Person and, collectively, as the Reporting Persons. Each of the Reporting Persons is a party to that certain Joint Filing Agreement attached hereto. (b) Address of Principal Business Office or, if None, Residence: The principal business address of FTCM, FTCS and Sub GP is 225 W. Wacker Drive, 21st Floor, Chicago, IL 60606. The principal business address of VARBX is 235 West Galena Street, Milwaukee, WI 53212. (c) Citizenship: United States (d) Title and Class of Securities: Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the Common Stock) (e) CUSIP No.: 08772B104 Item 3. If this statement is filed pursuant to 240.13d-1(b) or 240.13d-2(b) or (c), check whether the person filing is a: (a) [_] Broker or dealer registered under Section 15 of the Act; (b) [_] Bank as defined in Section 3(a)(6) of the Act; (c) [_] Insurance company as defined in Section 3(a)(19) of the Act; (d) [X] Investment company registered under Section 8 of the Investment Company Act of 1940; (e) [X] An investment adviser in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(E); (f) [_] An employee benefit plan or endowment fund in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(F); (g) [X] A parent holding company or control person in accordance with Rule 13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(G); (h) [_] A savings associations as defined in Section 3(b) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813); (i) [_] A church plan that is excluded from the definition of an investment company under section 3(c)(14) of the Investment Company Act of 1940; (j) [_] A non-U.S. institution in accordance with Rule 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J); (k) [_] Group, in accordance with Rule 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(K). If filing as a non-U.S. institution in accordance with Rule 240.13d-1(b)(1)(ii)(J), please specify the type of institution: ____ Item 4. Ownership (a) Amount Beneficially Owned: As investment adviser to the Client Accounts, FTCM has the authority to invest the funds of the Client Accounts in securities (including shares of Common Stock of the Issuer) as well as the authority to purchase, vote and dispose of securities, and may thus be deemed the beneficial owner of any shares of the Issuers Common Stock held in the Client Accounts. As of July 31, 2023, VARBX owned 0 shares of the outstanding Common Stock of the Issuer, while FTCM, FTCS and the Sub GP collectively owned 0 shares of the outstanding Common Stock of the Issuer. FTCS and Sub GP may be deemed to control FTCM and therefore may be deemed to be beneficial owners of the Common Stock reported in this Schedule 13G/A. No one individual controls FTCS or Sub GP. FTCS and Sub GP do not own any Common Stock of the Issuer for their own accounts. (b) Percent of Class: (1) VARBX: 0% (2) FTCM, FTCS and Sub GP: 0% (c) Number of shares as to which such person has: (i) Sole power to vote or to direct the vote: (1) VARBX: 0 (2) FTCM, FTCS and Sub GP: 0 (ii) Shared power to vote or to direct the vote: (1) VARBX: 0 (2) FTCM, FTCS and Sub GP: 0 (iii) Sole power to dispose or to direct the disposition of: (1) VARBX: 0 (2) FTCM, FTCS and Sub GP: 0 (iv) Shared power to dispose or to direct the disposition of: (1) VARBX: 0 (2) FTCM, FTCS and Sub GP: 0 Item 5. Ownership of Five Percent or Less of a Class. If this statement is being filed to report the fact that as of the date hereof the reporting person has ceased to be the beneficial owner of more than five percent of the class of securities, check the following [ X ]. Item 6. Ownership of more than Five Percent on Behalf of Another Person. See Item 4. Item 7. Identification and classification of the subsidiary which acquired the security being reported on by the parent holding company or control person. See Item 2. Item 8. Identification and classification of members of the group. Not applicable. Item 9. Notice of Dissolution of Group. Not applicable. Item 10. Certifications. By signing below I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the securities referred to above were acquired and are held in the ordinary course of business and were not acquired and are not held for the purpose of or with the effect of changing or influencing the control of the issuer of the securities and were not acquired and are not held in connection with or as a participant in any transaction having that purpose or effect, other than activities solely in connection with a nomination under 240.14a-11. SIGNATURE After reasonable inquiry and to the best of my knowledge and belief, I certify that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and correct. Dated: August 10, 2023 First Trust Merger Arbitrage Fund By: /s/ Joy Ausili Joy Ausili, Trustee, Vice President and Assistant Secretary First Trust Capital Management L.P. By: /s/ Chad Eisenberg Chad Eisenberg, Chief Operating Officer First Trust Capital Solutions L.P. By: /s/ Chad Eisenberg Chad Eisenberg, Chief Operating Officer FTCS Sub GP LLC By: /s/ Chad Eisenberg Chad Eisenberg, Chief Operating Officer The original statement shall be signed by each person on whose behalf the statement is filed or his authorized representative. If the statement is signed on behalf of a person by his authorized representative (other than an executive officer or general partner of this filing person), evidence of the representative's authority to sign on behalf of such person shall be filed with the statement, provided, however, that a power of attorney for this purpose which is already on file with the Commission may be incorporated by reference. The name and any title of each person who signs the statement shall be typed or printed beneath his signature. Attention: Intentional misstatements or omissions of fact constitute Federal criminal violations (See 18 U.S.C. 1001). Exhibit I JOINT FILING STATEMENT PURSUANT TO RULE 13d-1(k) The undersigned acknowledge and agree that the foregoing statement on Schedule 13G/A, is filed on behalf of each of the undersigned and that all subsequent amendments to this statement on Schedule 13G/A, shall be filed on behalf of each of the undersigned without the necessity of filing additional joint acquisition statements. The undersigned acknowledge that each shall be responsible for the timely filing of such amendments, and for the completeness and accuracy of the information concerning him or it contained therein, but shall not be responsible for the completeness and accuracy of the information concerning the others, except to the extent that he or it knows or has reason to believe that such information is inaccurate. Dated: August 10, 2023 First Trust Merger Arbitrage Fund By: /s/ Joy Ausili Joy Ausili, Trustee, Vice President and Assistant Secretary First Trust Capital Management L.P. By: /s/ Chad Eisenberg Chad Eisenberg, Chief Operating Officer First Trust Capital Solutions L.P. By: /s/ Chad Eisenberg Chad Eisenberg, Chief Operating Officer FTCS Sub GP LLC By: /s/ Chad Eisenberg Chad Eisenberg, Chief Operating Officer UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 SCHEDULE 13G Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Amendment No. 8)* Youdao, Inc. (Name of Issuer) American Depositary Shares, each representing 1 Class A Ordinary Shares, par value US$0.0001 (Title of Class of Securities) 98741T104 (CUSIP Number) July 31, 2023 (Date of Event which Requires Filing of this Statement) Check the appropriate box to designate the rule pursuant to which this Schedule is filed: [X] Rule 13d-1(b) [ ] Rule 13d-1(c) [ ] Rule 13d-1(d) * The remainder of this cover page shall be filled out for a reporting person's initial filing on this form with respect to the subject class of securities, and for any subsequent amendment containing information which would alter the disclosures provided in a prior cover page. The information required in the remainder of this cover page shall not be deemed to be "filed" for the purpose of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Act") or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section of the Act but shall be subject to all other provisions of the Act (however, see Instructions). "We will make it punishable to carry a weapon that can be used for crimes such as murder or injury on public transportation or in crowded places without justifiable reason," the ministry said Wednesday. The move follows knife rampages in Seoul's Silim-dong and Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, which triggered a flood of death threats online and a couple more thwarted attacks. The Justice Ministry wants to revise laws to punish people who threaten knife attacks or carry weapons in public more harshly. "New ground rules are also needed to punish distributing or openly posting messages that may cause fear among the public such as death threats against an unspecified group of people." The Supreme Prosecutors Office earlier urged the ministry to come up with regulations so that they can charge perpetrators with public intimidation. Currently that is not a statutory offense, and law enforcement officials have to charge them instead with threatening murder or injury, or blackmail, but that is harder to prove if defendants say they had no intention of carrying out the threat. The ministry plans to study related punishments in Germany and the U.S. In Germany, a person who threatens to kill or injure others faces up to three years behind bars, while the U.S. has similar laws in several states. In Texas, for instance, people who make such threats face two to 10 years in jail or a US$10,000 fine, and in New York up to seven years or a $10,000 fine. Since the Silim-dong stabbing rampage, police have looked into 194 death threats posted online and arrested 67 people, mostly teenage hoaxers. Six of them have been indicted. The Army is collaborating with two Florida universities on a $1.3 million research project using artificial intelligence and ultrasound to evaluate combat-related burn injuries as the service seeks to improve soldiers recovery outcomes. The five-year study will evaluate the characteristics and healing trajectory of burn wounds, Florida State University said in a statement Wednesday. The other college is Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, also know as Florida A&M. Improvised explosive devices, a significant source of wounds to service member in Iraq and Afghanistan, accounted for more than 80% of combat burn injuries from 2001 to 2018, according to the Army. With that in mind, the service is preparing for a future in which current treatments will not be enough to minimize the risk of death from burns caused by advanced weaponry. University researchers will work with the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Soldier Center in Orlando, Fla. The idea is to develop tools via deep learning that enable battlefield medics to diagnose the severity of a burn, such as its depth, more quickly and reliably. Traditional diagnostic techniques dont give accurate measurements until about three weeks after the injury, the statement said. Earlier, more accurate assessment of burn wound severity allows for faster application of treatment, it added. (On) the battlefield, they need to rapidly decide on a treatment paradigm, said Suvranu De, dean of Suvranu De, dean of FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. Do they apply medication, or do they recommend surgery preemptively? Thats a big decision. De and his team will develop their technique with B-mode ultrasound, commonly used for monitoring pregnancies. Portable devices with the same technology could be used at forward operating bases, researchers said. The work also will focus on the development of standards for realistic simulators for burn wound management. Those benchmarks would allow the military to aptly use emerging technologies from private companies in developing ready-to-use applications, the university said. UNITED NATIONS Nearly four months of brutal fighting is driving Sudan to collapse with millions of people trapped in a "humanitarian calamity" and the possibility of a new ethnic conflict spilling into the region, U.N. officials said Wednesday. The dire briefings to the U.N. Security Council by Assistant Secretary-General Martha Pobee and the U.N. humanitarian agency's operations director, Edem Wosornu, painted a grim picture of escalating clashes and no sign of an end to the conflict, which the government said in June had killed more than 3,000 people. No figures have been released since then. Wosornu said the country's descent into "a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe" has only deepened with more than 4 million people fleeing their homes and over 20 million more than half the population facing "high levels of food insecurity," or serious hunger. The fighting pits forces loyal to top army Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan against the paramilitary forces commanded by his rival, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, and clashes have continued especially in the capital, Khartoum, and nearby cities and the vast western Darfur region, which became synonymous with war crimes and genocide two decades ago. Pobee told the council that neither side is "achieving victory nor making any significant gains," and the Sudanese people are facing "unimaginable suffering." She pointed to indiscriminate and sometimes targeted attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, large-scale sexual violence and children being killed, victimized or at risk of being recruited to fight. The abduction and killing of human rights defenders in Khartoum and Darfur are also on the rise, she said. Pobee, who is in charge of Africa in the U.N. political affairs department, called for a negotiated solution to end the war as soon as possible. "The longer this war continues, the greater the risk of fragmentation and foreign interference and erosion of sovereignty and the loss of Sudan's future, particularly its youth," she said. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who chaired the meeting, said the United States was "appalled" that the U.N. special envoy for Sudan, Volker Perthes, was replaced by Pobee as the U.N. briefer after the Sudanese government threatened to end the U.N. political mission in Sudan. She said she spoke to Perthes, a key mediator in the conflict who was declared persona non grata by the Sudanese government in June, and called its threat "outrageous" and "unacceptable." Sudan's U.N. Ambassador Al-Harith Mohamed told the council that "a new perspective" was needed to understand what's going on in Sudan because viewing it as a military engagement between the rival generals and their supporters will not lead to a resolution. He claimed the conflict was the result of foreign-backed aggression supported by regional powers. As for peace prospects, he said, multiple initiatives "cause confusion" and Sudan welcomes the African Union road map, which includes coordination between all regional and international efforts as well as the importance of an immediate and permanent cease-fire. Pobee recalled the fighting in Darfur that began in 2003 by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias against people of Central or East African ethnicities and warned that the current fighting, especially in West Darfur, "continues to reopen the old wounds." "This is deeply worrying and could quickly engulf the country in a prolonged ethnic conflict with regional spillovers," she warned. The U.S. ambassador told the council there were credible reports that Dagalo's Rapid Support Forces and allied militias have carried out atrocities in West Darfur, including killings based on ethnicity, widespread sexual violence and the burning and looting of homes and villages. She called this "an ominous reminder" of the Darfur atrocities that led the U.S. to determine a genocide was taking place in 2004. And she said the United States was "gravely concerned" by the reported buildup of the paramilitary forces near El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, "which poses a threat to non-Arab populations in the area." The Security Council must speak out with one voice for an end to bloodshed, peace and "a future where Sudan is back on the path of democracy," Thomas-Greenfield said. NAIROBI, Kenya Ethiopia's government and residents say the country's military recaptured several areas in the embattled Amhara region from local militia fighters as details of dozens of civilian deaths began to emerge from the region amid an internet shutdown. The military reclaimed control of six towns, including the regional capital, Bahir Dar, and Amhara's second-largest town, Gondar, according to a government statement issued Wednesday night. The statement said a curfew was imposed in those areas but flights were set to resume. The federal government declared a state of emergency in Amhara on Friday after regional authorities lost control and asked for help. The violence erupted over attempts by Ethiopia's federal government to disband Amhara regional forces after the end of a two-year conflict in the neighboring Tigray region. Amhara forces and militia fought alongside Ethiopia's military in that conflict. Residents told The Associated Press there was fierce fighting between military personnel and militia members in Bahir Dar and Gondar until Tuesday. Around 20 civilians killed during clashes with the military were buried Monday in the Lideta area of Bahir Dar, a resident said. "They were unarmed youth," he said. "They came out when the military came, with stones and sticks to fight, and the military was shooting them." Another resident of Bahir Dar said four civilians were killed in the crossfire. An aid worker said the fighting was "very bad, with many civilians killed." Tanks were seen in the streets. A Gondar resident said a grenade killed a teenage girl and injured another child Tuesday. In Lalibela, a resident said more than a dozen civilians died during a battle that involved artillery and lasted until Wednesday. All of the residents spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing security concerns. Bahir Dar, Gondar and Lalibela were calm Thursday morning, with government troops in control, the residents said. In several areas, roadblocks were getting cleared from streets. Analysts fear the Amhara militia, known as Fano, may continue its struggle in the countryside using guerrilla tactics. The United States, the U.K. and other countries have advised their citizens not to travel to the Amhara region. The violence is a blow to Ethiopia's recovery from the Tigray conflict, which killed hundreds of thousands of people and spilled into the Amhara region, causing widespread damage. Human Rights Watch has said the new state of emergency rules in Amhara, which include a prohibition on protests and increased powers of arrest, undermine basic rights. Ethiopia's National Dialogue Commission has called for peace, while Ezema, a main opposition party, criticized the government's handling of the crisis. MEXICO CITY Mexico announced Thursday that its army-run airline will start up in September but the flight attendants won't be soldiers. The administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has also put trains, law enforcement, tourism and infrastructure projects under the army's command. That includes one tourist ferry line serving the Isla Marias islands that is manned by navy personnel. But on the new Mexicana airline, you won't have to worry about being told to "Fasten your seatbelt, and that's an order!" The Defense Department said the airline will lease 10 Boeing 737-800 jets from the manufacturer, which will provide pilots and cabin crew. Defense Secretary Luis Cresencio Sandoval originally said the contract with Boeing would be for $4 billion, but later corrected himself to say he meant 4 billion pesos, or about $235 million. He said the airline is looking at 20 potential routes between Mexico City and large and mid-size Mexican cities, some of which have limited service at present, as well as tourist resorts like Cancun. Sandoval promised ticket prices would be 18% to 20% below private competitors, but was unsure if the airline would profitable. If not, it presumably would have to operate with government subsidies. The airline has been named Mexicana after a partly state-owned carrier that went into bankruptcy in 2010 and closed. The 8,500 laid-off former employees of Mexicana are longtime supporters of the president, and his administration agreed to pay them almost $50 million for the commercial rights to the old airline's brand name and some decrepit properties. Experts have said the amount far exceeded the market value. The new airline combines Lopez Obrador's love of state-owned companies he has criticized decisions by previous administrations to sell off once-extensive government companies and his near-total reliance on the armed forces, which he views as honest and a bulwark against corruption. A military-led company operates the new Felipe Angeles airport that the president had built as a third airport serving Mexico City and is constructing a new airport at the Caribbean coast resort of Tulum. Apart from boosting traffic at the underused Felipe Angeles airport, the army-run Mexicana apparently will provide flights to feed passengers into the president's Maya Train tourism project. The army is also building that train line, which will connect beach resorts and archaeological sites on the Yucatan Peninsula. The army, which has no experience running commercial flights, has created a subsidiary ito be in charge of Mexicana. Lopez Obrador has suggested the new airline might also serve one of the classic roles of state-owned carriers: providing service to provincial airports on routes considered unprofitable by commercial airlines. That idea could run afoul of regulations that now prohibit airlines from running Mexican airports, or vice versa. (Tribune News Service) Authorities in Mexico have shuttered pharmacies in the resort cities of Cancun, Tulum and Playa del Carmen after finding an array of irregularities at 23 of the 55 locations they visited, including serious concerns such as selling expired and potentially counterfeit medications. The four-day series of raids, dubbed Operation Albatross by the Mexican government, comes months after a Los Angeles Times investigation revealed that drug stores in major tourist destinations across Mexico were selling counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl and methamphetamine. Its not clear whether anyone was charged criminally, but federal health officials in Mexico said in a statement Tuesday that authorities made 21 product seizures, netting a variety of drugs they plan to test for adulterants including fentanyl. The raids in the Yucatan Peninsula come weeks after a similar operation on the opposite side of the country led to four arrests and the confiscation of nearly 25,000 pills from pharmacies in Los Cabos. Drugstores in Mexico have long sold a wide range of medications over the counter, including many that would require a prescription in the U.S. Until recently, drug market experts had generally believed pills sold in stores unlike those sold on the street were at least what store owners and packaging said they were. Then in February, The Times published an investigation after testing pills from pharmacies reporters visited in Tijuana, San Jose del Cabo and Cabo San Lucas. In each city, some of the pills sold over the counter as either oxycodone or Adderall tested positive for fentanyl or methamphetamine. A UCLA research team recorded its findings around the same time. Over the next few weeks, reporters identified at least half a dozen people who had overdosed or died after taking pills they bought from pharmacies in Mexico. For years, grieving families had been alerting members of Congress and federal officials of the risk. But the U.S. State Department didnt explicitly warn the public about the danger until March. On June 14, The Times published a broader investigation documenting the problem across the country including in Tulum and Playa del Carmen, two of the three cities authorities targeted in Operation Albatross. Of the 55 pills Times reporters purchased nationwide, more than 50% were fake. More than a third of the purported painkillers were actually fentanyl, and 80% of the Adderall samples contained either methamphetamine or, in one case, MDMA. At the time, a federal prosecutor in Mexico told reporters that officials were interested in The Times investigation and hoped to file a complaint for potential prosecution. Weeks later, a judge greenlit the raids on pharmacies in Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo, which netted a cache of money and boxes of pills. For months, Chelsea Shover, a researcher at UCLA, has been calling for answers and action in response to the Times findings and similar results in four northwestern Mexico cities that she and a team of other researchers documented earlier this year. Stopping the sale of counterfeit pills in individual pharmacies is an important step, and its good to see that happening, she said. Its also important that governments continue to warn travelers and locals about this issue because theres still probably lots of other pharmacies where this is happening. The recent raids in Quintana Roo came in response to various citizen complaints, authorities said in the Tuesday statement, adding that millions of tourists visit the area each year. Some pharmacies were so intent on targeting tourists that they would only sell the irregular pills to foreigners, according to the statement Mexican health officials issued in conjunction with the countrys navy, which aided in the operation. When Times reporters visited Mexico earlier this year, they found that many pharmacies selling counterfeit pills were in bustling tourist districts and hotel zones. Store clerks often spoke to customers in English and offered prices in American dollars. In Tuesdays statement, health officials also said some of the pharmacies targeted in the raids offered advertising cards that included their addresses and phone numbers. They raised concerns about whether the pharmacies sold prohibited drugs and medications without required prescriptions. Over the course of five trips to Mexico this year, reporters picked up more than two dozen such cards. In many cases, the phone numbers did not work or no one responded. Aside from concerns about counterfeit and expired medication, in the Tuesday statement health officials also said they found pharmacies operating without necessary health licenses, stocking pills without proper documentation from drug suppliers and giving out prescription medications without a doctors signature. Some stores were missing patient data or didnt have proof that they could legitimately possess the controlled drugs they had on hand. Mexican health officials went on to say that they are working to protect people from businesses that skirt regulations and improperly sell controlled drugs, which can potentially endanger the health, and even the lives of the people who consume them. 2023 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. One of the U.S. Air Forces largest combat training exercises this summer focused on an expanded battlefield to prepare for threats posed by China and North Korea, a training officer said recently. Approximately 2,000 airmen and 50 aircraft from the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy took to the skies over Nevada, Utah, California and the Pacific Ocean for Red Flag 23-3 between July 17 and Aug. 4, Col. Eric Winterbottom, commander of the 414th Combat Training Squadron, said by phone Aug. 3. The exercise was designed to increase pilot survivability by exposing them to simulated air-to-air and air-to-ground combat using jets, bombers, drones and electronic attack aircraft, an Air Force statement said. For years weve operated from relatively secure safe havens and efficiency dictates that we operate from relatively large main operating bases, Winterbottom said. Its important that we transition to more of a distributed model, to spread out and counter the threats that might be out there. Red Flag started at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., in 1975 after Air Force brass realized pilot survivability in Vietnam increased dramatically after 10 combat missions, Winterbottom said. The exercise typically takes place three times a year, in winter, spring and summer, Nellis spokeswoman Lucretia Cunningham said by email Saturday. One iteration involves Five Eyes participants, an alliance of the U.S. U.K., Canada, New Zealand and Australia; another is U.S. only and the third involves an expanded roster of international allies and partners. Red Flag 23-3, training for U.S. aircrews only, aligns with the Defense Departments 2022 National Defense Strategy that identified China as the U.S. militarys No. 1 global pacing challenge, the Air Force statement said. The communist nation with its rapidly expanding and modernizing military has become increasingly aggressive in the Indo-Pacific region in recent years, militarizing man-made islands, attempting to prohibit freedom of navigation and pressing into disputed territories in the East and South China Seas. This summers Red Flag bridged airspace between the Nevada Test and Training Range, the Utah Test and Training Range and the R-2508 Complex in California to allow for longer range offensive and defensive operations, Cunningham said. Aircraft - including the F-35 Lightning II, F-16 Fighting Falcon, EA-18G Growler electronic attack, HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter, KC-135 refueler and MQ-9 Reaper drone came from as far away as Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., and Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash. The units are split into red and blue teams, with F-16s and F-35s from the Nellis-based 64th and 65th Aggressor Squadrons, augmented by visiting F-22 Raptors, F/A-18 Hornets, and B-1 bombers, making up the oppositional force, Winterbottom said. The aircraft participated in dogfights, attacked ground targets and were forced to deal with surface-to-air missile threats, while refueling in a contested environment. The red force mimicked Chinese weapons and tactics, he said. The Chinese operate fighters, bombers, electronic aircraft and unmanned aerial drones, to name a few. Their domestically produced Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter compares to the Lightning and Raptor, Voice of America reported in April last year, citing Asian security experts. A portion of the exercise also took place off the Southern California coast, in conjunction with U.S. Navy surface vessels, Cunningham added. NEW DELHI India's Narendra Modi appealed for peace during a Parliament debate Thursday, after opposition lawmakers had called for a no-confidence vote, accusing the prime minister of staying silent as a northeastern state governed by his party convulsed in months of ethnic violence. Modi raised the conflict in Manipur state some 90 minutes into his speech in response to the no-confidence motion and only as opposition lawmakers staged a walk-out in frustration. It was Modi's first statement about the violence in Manipur, where clashes since early May between two dominant ethnic groups have killed over 150 people and displaced more than 50,000. The opposition has slammed Modi's silence and moved the no-confidence motion to force him to address the conflict from the Parliament floor. For an hour and a half, Modi did not mention the crisis but made repeated digs at the opposition. Many opposition lawmakers stood up and chanted "Manipur! Manipur!" before walking out in protest. "The central and the state governments are working towards peace. I assure people of Manipur that peace will be restored soon," Modi said. "The country is with you. We will sit together and find a solution to the current challenge to restore peace and put Manipur on the path of development." Last month, after a video surfaced showing an assault on two women being paraded naked and groped in the state, Modi condemned the incident but held back from addressing the overall conflict. After the opposition walkout, Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies easily defeated the no-confidence motion an expected development as they control more than 360 seats in the 545-member Lok Sabha, the powerful lower house. The opposition argued that the motion was meant to force Modi to address the Manipur violence in Parliament, which has been locked in an intense impasse for weeks over the crisis. "We succeeded in ending Modi's silence and made him speak in Parliament," Gaurav Gogoi, a lawmaker from the opposition Congress Party, told reporters outside Parliament. "Modi is running away from his responsibility to provide justice to the people of Manipur," he added. "He should visit the state." In his speech, Modi said the violence in Manipur was saddening. "Crimes against women are unacceptable and the central government as well as the state government will work to ensure the guilty are punished," he added. During three days of debate, opposition leaders accused Modi and his party of failing to quell the bloodshed for months despite a heavy army presence in Manipur and demanded he fire the state's top elected official, who is from Modi's party. The conflict in Manipur erupted after the minority Christian Kukis protested a demand by mostly Hindu Meiteis for a special status that would let them buy land in the hills populated by Kukis and other tribal groups and get a share of government jobs. Armed mobs torched homes and buildings, killed scores of civilians, looted weapons from police armories and drove tens of thousands from their homes. On Wednesday, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi accused Modi's government of silencing people's voices and creating a civil war-like situation. In response, Home Minister Amit Shah defended the government's handling of Manipur and said they were deeply concerned about the violence. The government was working with both ethnic communities to bring peace, Shah said, but critics say it has shared little about plans on how to resolve the crisis. SEOUL, South Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his military to sharpen its war plans and signed off on expanding combat operations of frontline units, state media said Thursday, as the United States and South Korea prepare for a large-scale combined military exercise. Condemning the allies' expanding drills as invasion rehearsals, Kim has used them as a pretext to further accelerate his weapons demonstrations, which have included the testing-firings of more than 100 missiles since the start of 2022, driving tensions on the Korean Peninsula to their highest point in years. Experts say Kim's nuclear push is aimed at forcing the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power so he can eventually negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength. Thursday's meeting of the North Korean ruling Workers' Party's central military commission, which Kim controls as chairman, was to discuss advancing his military's war readiness and establishing offensive countermeasure plans to deter his adversaries, which state media said were getting more blatant in their "reckless military confrontation" with the North. After talks of boosting North Korean frontline units and stepping up war drills to incorporate new strategies and weapons, Kim signed an order to implement unspecified "important military measures," Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said. During the meeting, Kim stressed that the military must acquire "more powerful strike means" to bolster his nuclear deterrent and make speedier deployments of those weapons to combat units. He called for the country's munitions industry to step up mass production of various weapons and systems, and for the military to actively conduct "actual war drills" to digest those systems and enhance its war-fighting capabilities, KCNA said. Photos of the meeting published by state media showed Kim pointing to spots in a blurred map of the Korean Peninsula. The spots appeared to be the metropolitan region surrounding the South Korean capital of Seoul, where half of the country's 51 million people live, and an area around the central city of Daejeon, the location of South Korea's army headquarters. Kim also made personnel changes during the meeting, appointing Vice Marshal Ri Yong Gil as his new chief of general staff to replace Gen. Pak Su Il, KCNA said. When asked about Kim's comments, Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a briefing that the U.S. and South Korean intelligence authorities were closely monitoring North Korean weapons development activities and possibilities of provocations. He did not discuss it further. Kim's comments during the meeting echoed what he said last week during a three-day tour of the country's key weapons factories, including a facility that produces launcher trucks for his intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to target the U.S. mainland, and called for significant improvements to the country's arms and war readiness. Kim's visits also included an artillery factory that deepened outside concerns that North Korea was preparing to export artillery and other arms supplies to Russia as President Vladimir Putin reaches out to other countries for support in the war in Ukraine. In the face of deepening confrontations with Washington and Seoul, Kim has been trying boost the visibility of his partnerships with Moscow and Beijing to break out of diplomatic isolation and insert himself into a united front against the U.S. Kim invited Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and a Chinese ruling party officials to share center stage at a giant military parade in Pyongyang where he rolled out his most powerful missiles designed to target South Korea and the United States. Shoigu's presence at the July 27 parade came after Kim took him on a tour of a domestic arms exhibition, which demonstrated North Korea's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine and added to suspicions the North was willing to supply arms to Russia. During Thursday's meeting, North Korean officials also agreed to hold another military parade to mark the 75th anniversary of its government's founding. The Sept. 9 parade would be the country's third event in 2023 alone. Analysts say the North has never staged military parades more than twice in the same year. Putin profits off US and European reliance on Russian nuclear fuel By MARTHA MENDOZA and DASHA LITVINOVA Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. and its European allies are importing vast amounts of nuclear fuel and compounds from Russia, providing Moscow with hundreds of millions of dollars in badly needed revenue as it wages war on Ukraine. The sales, which are legal and unsanctioned, have raised alarms from nonproliferation experts and elected officials who say the imports are helping to bankroll the development of Moscow's nuclear arsenal and are complicating efforts to curtail Russia's war-making abilities. The dependence on Russian nuclear products used mostly to fuel civilian reactors leaves the U.S. and its allies open to energy shortages if Russian President Vladimir Putin were to cut off supplies. The challenge is likely to grow more intense as those nations seek to boost production of emissions-free electricity to combat climate change. "We have to give money to the people who make weapons? That's absurd," said Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Washington-based Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. "If there isn't a clear rule that prevents nuclear power providers from importing fuel from Russia and it's cheaper to get it from there why wouldn't they do it?" Russia sold about $1.7 billion in nuclear products to firms in the U.S. and Europe, according to trade data and experts. The purchases occurred as the West has leveled stiff sanctions on Moscow over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, blocking imports of such Russian staples as oil, gas, vodka and caviar. The West has been reluctant to target Russia's nuclear exports, however, because they play key roles in keeping reactors humming. Russia supplied the U.S. nuclear industry with about 12% of its uranium last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Europe reported getting about 17% of its uranium in 2022 from Russia. Reliance on nuclear power is expected to grow as nations embrace alternatives to fossil fuels. Nuclear power plants produce no emissions, though experts warn that nuclear energy comes with the risk of reactor meltdowns and the challenge of how to safely store radioactive waste. There are about 60 reactors under construction around the world 300 more are in the planning stages. Many of the 30 countries generating nuclear energy in some 440 plants are importing radioactive materials from Russia's state-owned energy corporation Rosatom and its subsidiaries. Rosatom leads the world in uranium enrichment, and is ranked third in uranium production and fuel fabrication, according to its 2022 annual report. Rosatom, which says it is building 33 new reactors in 10 counties, and its subsidiaries, exported around $2.2 billion worth of nuclear energy-related goods and materials last year, according to trade data analyzed by the Royal United Service Institute, a London-based think-tank. The institute said that figure is likely much larger because it is difficult to track such exports. Rosatom's CEO Alexei Likhachyov told the Russian newspaper Izvestia the company's foreign business should total $200 billion over the next decade. That lucrative civilian business provides critical funds for Rosatom's other major responsibility: designing and producing Russia's atomic arsenal, experts say. Ukrainian officials have pleaded with world leaders to sanction Rosatom to cut off one of Moscow's last significant funding streams and to punish Putin for launching the invasion. Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelenskyy again pressed Western leaders to target Rosatom after Russian forces captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Rosatom is running the partially shutdown plant, and the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned that a radiation leak at the Russian-occupied facility could be a major disaster. "Ukraine does not understand why sanctions have not yet been introduced against Rosatom and its leadership," Zelenskyy said in May, "when representatives of this company continue to occupy Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and put our general security at risk." Nuclear energy advocates say the U.S. and some European countries would face difficulty in cutting off imports of Russian nuclear products. The U.S. nuclear energy industry, which largely outsources its fuel, produces about 20% of U.S. electricity. The value of Russian nuclear fuel and products sent to the U.S. hit $871 million last year, up from $689 million in 2021 and $610 million in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In terms of weight, U.S. imports of uranium products from Russia nearly doubled from 6.3 tons in 2020 to 12.5 tons in 2022, according to trade data from ImportGenius. The reasons for that reliance goes back decades. The U.S. uranium industry took a beating following a 1993 nonproliferation deal that resulted in the importation of inexpensive weapons-grade uranium from Russia, experts say. The downturn accelerated after a worldwide drop in demand for nuclear fuel following the 2011 meltdown of three reactors at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi power plant. American nuclear plants plants purchased 5% of their uranium from domestic suppliers in 2021, the last year for which official U.S. production data are available, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The largest source of uranium for such plants was Kazakhstan, which contributed about 35% of the supply. A close Russian ally, Kazakhstan is the world's largest producer of uranium. The Biden administration says it is trying to revive uranium mining and the production of nuclear fuel, and lawmakers have introduced legislation to speed up the process. This week, however, President Joe Biden announced the formation of a national monument to preserve land around Grand Canyon National Park that would prevent new uranium mining in the region. "It is critical that we stop funding Russia's state-owned nuclear monopoly, Rosatom," said Sen. John Barrasso, the Wyoming Republican who introduced legislation earlier this year to fund America's nuclear fuel supply chain. "We also need to give America's nuclear fuel suppliers market certainty." Europe is in a bind largely because it has 19 Russian-designed reactors in five countries that are fully dependent on Russian nuclear fuel. France also has a long history of relying on Russian-enriched uranium. In a report published in March, Greenpeace, citing the United Nations' Comtrade database, showed that French imports of enriched uranium from Russia increased from 110 tons in 2021 to 312 tons in 2022. Europe spent nearly $828 million (almost 750 million) last year on Russian nuclear industry products including fuel elements, nuclear reactors, and machinery according to Eurostat, the EU's statistics office. Some European nations are taking steps to wean themselves off Russian uranium. Early on in the Ukraine conflict, Sweden refused to purchase Russian nuclear fuel. Finland, which relies on Russian power at two out of its five reactors, scrapped a trouble-ridden deal with Rosatom to build a new nuclear power plant. Finnish energy company Fortum also announced an agreement with the U.S. Westinghouse Electric Company to supply fuel for two reactors after its contracts with Rosatom subsidiary Tvel expire over the next seven years. The Czech Republic has sought to wean itself off Russian supplies completely and turned to Westinghouse and the French company Framatome for future shipments of fuel assemblies for its only nuclear power plant, currently supplied by Tvel, with the new supplies expected to begin in 2024. Slovakia and Bulgaria, two other countries that rely on Tvel for nuclear fuel, have also turned to different suppliers. Despite the challenges, experts believe political pressure and questions over Russia's ability to cut off supplies will eventually spur much of Europe to abandon Rosatom. "Based on apparent prospects (of diversification of fuel supplies), it would be fair to say that Rosatom has lost the European market," said Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair of the Russian environmental group Ecodefense. What remains unclear, Slivyak said, are how Hungary and France will address the issue. France has not expressed a willingness to shut off Russia's uranium spigot. Hungary, which maintains close ties to Russia, is fully dependent on Moscow to provide fuel for its four-reactor nuclear power plant. It has plans to expand that plant by two Rosatom reactors a project that is financed by a 10 billion euro line of credit from a Russian bank. Those reactors, experts said, will be fully reliant on Russian nuclear fuel for years, if not decades, to come. Litvinova reported from Tallinn, Estonia. Associated Press writers Courtney Bonnell in London, Jari Tanner in Helsinki and John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report. The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. KYIV, Ukraine Ukrainian authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation Thursday of nearly 12,000 civilians from 37 towns and villages in the eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian forces reportedly are making a concerted effort to punch through the front line. The local military administration in Kharkiv's Kupiansk district said residents must comply with the evacuation order or sign a document saying they would stay at their own risk. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar had said the previous day that "the intensity of combat and enemy shelling is high" in the area. The city of Kupiansk and the territories around it were under Russian occupation until September 2022, when Ukrainian forces conducted a rapid offensive operation that dislodged the Kremlin's forces from nearly the entire Kharkiv region. The retaking of those areas strengthened Ukraine's arguments that its troops could deliver more stinging defeats to Russia with additional armament deliveries, which its Western allies duly provided. But as Ukraine has pursued a slow-moving counteroffensive in recent weeks, Russian forces have struck back in some areas. Maliar said Russia "has formed an offensive group and is attempting to move forward" in the area in an effort to advance on the Ukrainian-held city of Kupiansk, an important rail junction. Russia has concentrated assault troops supported by tank units, aviation and artillery in the Kupiansk area, Ukraine National Guard spokesman Ruslan Muzychuk said on national television. The Russians have formed eight so-called "Storm-Z" detachments - made up of convicts released from prison acting under military commanders - for the push, and fighting in the area was "intense," according to Oleksandr Syrskyi, the ground forces commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. "Some positions are passed from hand to hand constantly," he said. It was not possible to independently verify either side's battlefield claims. Ukrainian authorities have periodically ordered evacuations, especially of children, from areas where the fighting has heated up. Officials have previously said the evacuations are necessary to save lives and enable the Ukrainian army to better defend towns from the Russian advance. Millions of Ukrainian refugees left the country after Russia's invasion started in February 2022, and millions more left their homes but stayed in Ukraine. One person was killed and nine injured in a Russian missile strike on the city of Zaporizhzhia late Thursday, said regional governor Yuriy Malashko. In Russia, two people died in Ukrainian shelling of the village of Chausi, three miles from the border, said Bryansk regional governor Alexander Bogomaz. Earlier Thursday, Russian air defense systems shot down two drones heading toward Moscow for a second straight day, officials said. The reported attack disrupted flights at two international airports as Ukraine appeared to step up its assault on Russian soil. One drone was downed in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow and another near a major Moscow ring road, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin and the Russian Defense Ministry, which blamed the attack on Ukraine. No casualties or damage were immediately reported. Domodedovo airport, south of the city, halted flights for more than two hours and Vnukovo airport, southwest of the city, stopped flights for more than two and a half hours, according to Russian news agencies. Ten flights were diverted, Russia's Federal Agency for Air Transport said. Firing drones at Moscow after more than 17 months of war has little apparent military value for Ukraine, but the strategy has served to unsettle Russians and bring home to them the conflict's consequences. Kyiv officials, as usual, neither confirmed nor denied Ukraine's possible involvement in the drone strikes, though Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat remarked: "This cannot but please us because people in Moscow thought they were safe. Now, the war affects each and every Russian." "We now see that 'something' happens in Moscow on a regular basis," he added. Russia's Defense Ministry also said it had stopped Ukrainian drone attacks in Moscow-annexed Crimea. It said it shot down two drones near the port city of Sevastopol and electronically jammed nine that crashed into the Black Sea. The Pentagon is to provide Ukraine with another $200 million in weapons and ammunition to help sustain the counteroffensive, according to U.S. officials. Ukraine has already received more than $43 billion from the U.S. since Russia invaded last year. Ukraine's presidential office said at least six civilians were killed and 27 were injured between Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Meanwhile, 12 people remained missing after an explosion Wednesday at a factory that makes optical equipment for Russian security forces, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency officials. Russia's Emergency Ministry said 71 people required medical assistance after the explosion. Russian officials did not offer a suspected cause of the explosion at the Zagorsk plant in the region around Moscow, which added to jitters about potential Ukrainian drone strikes. The fallout from Russia's war against Ukraine has brought concerns to neighboring countries, including the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus this summer after their short-lived mutiny in Russia. Poland's defense minister said Thursday that the country intends to put 10,000 soldiers along its border with Belarus amid fears of a spike in illegal immigration. Polish officials have accused Belarusian authorities of organizing illegal border crossings to disrupt and pressure Warsaw, which along with other NATO countries has provided support for Kyiv's war effort. Burrows reported from London. Associated Press Writer Yuras Karmanau in Berlin contributed to this report. No teachers will be recruited for public kindergartens in Seoul next year as their intake declines due to the low birthrate. According to the Education Ministry, 8,939 new teachers will be recruited for kindergartens, schools and other public educational agencies across the country next year, down 14 percent from this year. But only 297 will be assigned to kindergartens nationwide, down a whopping 30 percent from this year as they are the first to be hit by the declining population, and none in Seoul. "There is no vacancy for new kindergarten teachers now classes are being downsized as a result of a decline in the number of pre-schoolers," a spokesman for the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said. "Some kindergarten teachers haven't even been assigned to classes since they were recruited because of a lack of charges." KYIV, Ukraine This nation is worn out. For nearly 18 months, Ukraine has stood against its Russian invaders rallying support for its troops by embracing last year's battlefield victories in the Kyiv, Kharkiv and Kherson regions. Those wins carried beleaguered Ukrainians through a winter of airstrikes on civilian infrastructure and a brutal and symbolic battle for Bakhmut, the eastern city that fell to the Russians in May. Throughout, Ukrainian officials and their western partners hyped up a coming counteroffensive one that, buoyed by a flood of new weapons and training, they hoped would turn the tide of the war. But two months after Ukraine went on the attack, with little visible progress on the front and a relentless, bloody summer across the country, the narrative of unity and endless perseverance has begun to fray. The number of dead untold thousands increases daily. Millions are displaced and see no chance of returning home. In every corner of the country, civilians are exhausted from a spate of recent Russian attacks - including strikes on a historic cathedral in Odessa, a residential building in Kryvyi Rih and a blood transfusion center in the Kharkiv region. This week, two Russian missiles hit a single block in the eastern town of Pokrovsk where an evacuation train regularly picks up people fleeing front-line areas nearby killing civilians and emergency workers who rushed there to save them. Ukrainians, much in need of good news, are simply not getting any. Music teacher Svitlana Zhdanova, 75, was sitting in her living room in Pokrovsk on Tuesday evening when the missiles rammed into her block, shattering all her glassware and breaking her piano. Not knowing where else to go, she cleaned up the apartment she has lived in since 1969 and decided to stay. Raisa Rybalchenko, 78, lived on the fourth floor of a building badly damaged in the double strike. She was in the kitchen when the first blast hit. Soon after, five men banged on the door, shouting "Is anyone alive?" She called back that she was. One of them carried her down the stairs. Soon after, the next strike hit. At least nine people have died so far, and dozens of others were wounded. On Wednesday, Rybalchenko was among the crowds of shocked people helping board up windows and sort through the remnants of their lives. She hopes the government will repair her apartment. "But right now, I don't know," she said. "I don't have any idea what is next. I'm just in shock." In Smila, a small city in central Ukraine, baker Alla Blyzniuk, 42, said she sells sweets for funeral receptions daily as parents prepare to bury their children killed on the front hundreds of miles away. Before, she said, even when the situation was painful, "people were united." They volunteered, made meals for one another and delivered food to soldiers. Now, she said, there's a sense of collective "disappointment." Blyzniuk also lives in fear that her husband or two sons of fighting age will be mobilized. She has already noticed that far fewer men walk the streets of her city than before. Ukraine does not disclose its military casualty counts, but everyone shares stories, she said, of new soldiers at the front lasting just two to three days. "The defenders of our country should be professionals," she said. "I'm really sad," she added. "We Ukrainians did not deserve this destiny." In the Donetsk region, an Estonian Ukrainian soldier who goes by the call sign Suzie works at a stabilization point where wounded soldiers are treated before being transferred to hospitals in safer towns. On a recent day, he helped organize body bags that would soon be used in the makeshift morgue that already reeked of death. Sometimes, he said, soldiers' bodies are so blown apart they have to use two or three body bags to contain them. There are times when a soldier is returned with "just 15 percent of the body," Suzie said. "I never saw so much blood before." "It is such a hard price for freedom," he added. These scenes are unfolding a world away from Kyiv, the capital, where civilians somewhat protected by strengthened air defenses often hardly even react to air raid sirens. But even here, painful signs of the war lurk everywhere. On park benches, freshly wounded soldiers being treated in the capital sip coffee and smoke cigarettes before returning to their hospital beds. They watch as civilians stroll by, dogs and babies in tow. Viktor, 34, a former restaurant waiter, is among them. He came under mortar attack in a trench on the front line in Zaporizhzhia last week. His wrist was split open and his face now covered in scabs was sprayed with shrapnel. His knee was also hit. Now, in Kyiv, he sees bars and restaurants are packed and the city hums with traffic. A group of children walked by, craning their necks to look at his injuries. Viktor, who asked that his last name not be disclosed for security reasons, considered himself lucky to at least be able to walk. Many other men in the same park are missing limbs, and Viktor's Facebook is flooded with photos of soldiers who did not make it home at all. The images haunt him so much he no longer likes to check his phone. "It's too depressing," he said. The latest fight has been grueling. One day, it took his unit seven hours to move forward just 400 meters, he said - about a quarter of a mile. "And that was quite fast." He and his wife, who is also serving in the military, were due to see each other that afternoon for the first time since he was wounded. "I'll probably cry," he said. Once he is healed, he said, he will go back to the front. Ruslan Proektor, 52, lost his leg this summer when he stepped on a mine fighting in the east. He was immediately wounded again when the soldier trying to carry him to safety stepped on another. Now that he is recovering in Kyiv, his wife, Anna Oliinyk, 47, said she wants "the counteroffensive to be more active." "We've got all these guys coming back from the front line without limbs," she said, looking at her husband, who was in a wheelchair. "I want the price they paid to be reasonable. Otherwise it's just useless, what they went through." Given the choice now, Proektor said, he would not sign up again. "They are taking everyone and sending them to the front line without proper preparation," he said. "I don't want to be in the company of unmotivated people." Others like him are mainly enraged at Russia but they also aren't afraid to criticize Ukraine. Last week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged that a government audit of recruitment centers discovered "revolting" practices among corrupt officials. One soldier who goes by the call sign "Positive" and is recovering at a hospital in Kyiv after suffering concussions in Kherson and Bakhmut, said people profiting off the war "should be sent to the front line." Yulia Paltseva, 36, a receptionist in Kyiv, said she has been shocked by how residents of Kyiv still party and socialize. Her boyfriend is at the front and will soon be transferred to fight near Bakhmut, she said. "All those dancing and smiling people should remember that there are those soldiers like my boyfriend in the trenches without any rotations and being shelled every day," Paltseva said. As for the counteroffensive, she said: "Our expectations were higher. If it's going on, it's going slow." In Kryvyi Rih, doctor Valeriya Maslyanyk, 58, sighed as she looked up at her damaged apartment this week just one entrance over from a section of the building destroyed in a strike last month. A gaping hole sits where her neighbors used to live. Outside, a pile of flowers and stuffed animals memorializes them. Already thinking ahead to winter, she fears her windows will not be replaced by the time temperatures start to drop. She is tired and sees no end in sight. "I want to go to the sea," she said wistfully. "But the Russians took all of our seas." Across the street, construction worker Volodymyr Pravednyk, 46, stopped to observe the wreckage. His sister lives in the same apartment block but escaped unscathed. Pravednyk said that he fears that the attack was "just the beginning" of more strikes on this industrial city. He lives around the corner, and each time he passes the ruined building, he said, "I feel sorrow for us Ukrainian civilians who have to suffer so much." The Washington Post's O'Grady and Khudov reported from Kyiv, Kryvyi Rih and Smila. Levine reported from Pokrovsk and elsewhere in the Donetsk region. Mykhailo Melnychenko contributed to this report. (Tribune News Service) Ukraine laid out temporary Black Sea routes for ships that are willing to navigate waters threatened by Russia, as it seeks to reclaim control over its maritime trade. The initiative will focus on allowing ships to exit three deep-sea Ukrainian ports, the Navy said in a statement on Facebook. Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyi have been effectively blockaded since Russia last month exited the grain deal allowing safe passage and threatened any ships sailing to Ukraine. Kyiv has repeatedly said that it wants to reopen the trade routes despite the Kremlins threats, but its challenging. Shipowners are wary of sending vessels and crews into danger, while insurers view Ukraines sea ports as unsafe. Russias Defense Ministry said last month that all ships headed to Ukraines ports would be considered as potentially carrying military cargo. Vessels whose owners and captains officially confirm that they are ready to sail in the current conditions will be allowed to pass through the routes, the Ukraine navy statement said. While Russias navy and air force are superior to Ukraines, western military help and domestic weapons production have allowed Kyiv to boost its capability to strike Russian targets with missiles and, increasingly, naval drones. The last ship carrying food from Ukraine under the United Nations-brokered Black Sea deal left the port of Odesa on July 16. Ships currently stuck in Odesa include a containership and two cargo vessels loaded with metal products, according to Dmitry Timotin at Inzernoexport GmbH Agency in Odesa. I suppose it will begin with the sailing of stuck ships, and if there are no accidents, then trade will restart, he said. The routes will allow ships to move in and out of the three ports, despite Russias military threat and the risk of mining, the Ukrainian Navy said. Katerina Kononenko, an operations manager at Avalon shipping in Romania, said that shipowners with very old fleets, and who are willing to work without insurance, may be willing to use such corridors. Wheat traded in Chicago shrugged off the development, rising 0.6% to $6.655 a bushel. With assistance from Volodymyr Verbyany. 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Iran has transferred five Iranian-Americans from prison to house arrest in exchange for billions of dollars frozen in South Korea, U.S. and Iranian officials said Thursday, in a deal that comes after months of heightened tensions between the two countries. Iranian officials at the United Nations confirmed the terms to The Associated Press, saying that the prisoner transfer "marks a significant initial step in the implementation of this agreement." Iran also acknowledged that the deal involved $6 billion to $7 billion that were frozen as a result of sanctions. The U.N. mission said the money would be transferred to Qatar before being sent on to Iran if the agreement goes through. The final transfer of the money and the ultimate release of the five detainees is expected in the next month or so due to the complicated nature of the financial transactions, officials said. The deal unfolded amid a major American military buildup in the Persian Gulf, with the possibility of U.S. troops boarding and guarding commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all oil shipments pass. The agreement is bound to open U.S. President Joe Biden's administration to fresh criticism from Republicans and others that it is helping boost the Iranian economy at a time when Iran poses a growing threat to U.S. troops and Mideast allies. U.S.-based lawyer Jared Genser, who represents one of the prisoners, said the five will likely be held at a hotel under guard. "While I hope this will be the first step to their ultimate release, this is at best the beginning of the end and nothing more. But there are simply no guarantees about what happens from here," Genser said. Neda Sharghi, whose brother, Emad Sharghi, is among the prisoners, said her family "has faith in the work that President Biden and government officials have undertaken to bring our families home," she said in a statement. Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the White House's National Security Council, described the negotiations for the release as "ongoing" and delicate." "While this is an encouraging step, these U.S. citizens ... should have never been detained in the first place," she said in a statement. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the Americans "must be allowed to depart Iran and reunite with their loved ones as soon as possible." It remains unclear how many Iranian-Americans are held by Tehran, which does not recognize dual citizenship. Three of the prisoners were identified as Siamak Namazi, who was detained in 2015 and later sentenced to 10 years in prison on internationally criticized spying charges; Sharghi, a venture capitalist sentenced to 10 years; and Morad Tahbaz, a British-American conservationist of Iranian descent who was arrested in 2018 and also received a 10-year sentence. The fourth and fifth prisoners were not named. Iran, meanwhile, has said it seeks the release of Iranian prisoners held in the U.S. American officials declined to comment on who or how many Iranian prisoners might be released in a final agreement. But Iranian media in the past identified several prisoners with cases tied to violations of U.S. export laws and restrictions on doing business with Iran. The alleged violations include the transfer of money through Venezuela and sales of dual-use equipment that the U.S. alleges could be used in Iran's military and nuclear programs. Iran has been enriching uranium and stockpiling it as part of its advancing nuclear program. The deal hinges on the frozen assets in South Korea. Already, Tehran seized a South Korean oil tanker amid the dispute and threatened further retaliation this month. "Definitely Iran will not remain silent, and we have many options that could harm the Koreans, and we will certainly use them," said Fadahossein Maleki, a member of Iran's parliament who sits on its influential national security and foreign policy committee. Iran and the U.S. have a history of prisoner swaps dating back to the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis following the Islamic Revolution. The most recent major exchange between the two countries happened in 2016, when Iran came to a deal with world powers to restrict its nuclear program in return for an easing of sanctions. Four American captives, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, flew home from Iran, and several Iranians in the United States won their freedom. That same day, the Obama administration airlifted $400 million in cash to Tehran. Iran has received international criticism over its targeting of dual nationals amid tensions with the wider world. A United Nations panel has described "an emerging pattern involving the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of dual nationals." The West accuses Iran of using foreign prisoners as bargaining chips, an allegation Tehran rejects. Negotiations over a major prisoner swap faltered after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the nuclear deal in 2018. From the following year on, a series of attacks and ship seizures attributed to Iran have raised tensions. President Joe Biden entered office with hopes of restarting the deal, but diplomatic negotiations on the accord have been stalled for a year. Biden will face re-election in November 2024, potentially against Trump. Those in the U.S. long critical of diplomacy with Iran began questioning the deal immediately. Though none of the money frozen in South Korea will enter the U.S. financial system on its way to accounts in Qatar, the release is being done with American approval and is bound to draw disapproval from the GOP. "Paying $6 billion in ransom payments means the regime will only take more hostages," said Mark Dubowitz of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which led criticism of the Iran nuclear deal. "This has become a lucrative means of international extortion for Iran's supreme leader." That troop buildup may insulate Biden from criticism from Gulf Arab nations in the Persian Gulf, which rely on American security guarantees. The U.S. also is negotiating with Saudi Arabia over potentially recognizing Israel diplomatically, a deal that may involve further guarantees about military support against Iran. That's even as Riyadh reached a detente with Iran in March after years of tensions. Lee reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report. SANAA, Yemen A suspected Al-Qaida attack in southern Yemen killed a military commander and three soldiers from a secessionist group on Thursday, security officials and an eyewitness said. Commander Abd Al-Latif al-Sayyid and the three soldiers from the Security Belt Forces, a fighting group loyal to Yemen's secessionist Southern Transitional Council, were killed in an explosion while traveling in a convoy through southern Abyan province, the three officials and witness said. The four said they believed the Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula group was responsible for the attack but provided no further details. All spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal. The separatist council is backed by the United Arab Emirates and controls most of Yemen's south. It is at odds with the internationally recognized government, and has repeatedly called for the south Arabian country to be split into two like it was between 1967 and 1990. AQAP has not claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack but is active in Abyan province and regularly carries out ambushes against Yemeni forces. AQAP is seen as one of the more dangerous branches of the terror network. Earlier this month, security officials told the AP that AQAP militants killed five troops from the Southern Armed Forces, a large force loyal to the Southern Transitional Council. Last month, suspected AQAP militants clashed with forces of the secessionist council in the province of Shabwa. At least two troops and one militant were killed. Yemen's ruinous civil war began in 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital of Sanaa and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition including the UAE intervened the next year to try to restore the internationally recognized government to power. AQAP has since exploited the country's yearslong conflict to cement its presence in the improvised nation. WASHINGTON The Biden administration on Thursday asked Congress to provide more than $13 billion in emergency defense aid to Ukraine and an additional $8 billion for humanitarian support through the end of the year, another massive infusion of cash as the Russian invasion wears on and Ukraine pushes a counteroffensive against the Kremlin's deeply entrenched forces. The package includes $12 billion to replenish the U.S. federal disaster funds at home after a deadly climate season of heat and storms, and funds to bolster the enforcement at the Southern border with Mexico, including money to curb the flow of deadly fentanyl. All told, it's a $40 billion package. While the last such request from the White House for Ukraine funding was easily approved in 2022, there's a different dynamic this time. A political divide on the issue has grown, with the Republican-led House facing enormous pressure to demonstrate support for the party's leader, Donald Trump, who has been very skeptical of the war. And American support for the effort has been slowly softening. White House budget director Shalanda Young, in a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, urged swift action to follow through on the U.S. "commitment to the Ukrainian peoples' defense of their homeland and to democracy around the world" as well as other needs. The request was crafted with an eye to picking up support from Republicans, as well as Democrats, particularly with increased domestic funding around border issues a top priority for the GOP, which has been highly critical of the Biden administration's approach to halting the flow of migrants crossing from Mexico. Still, the price tag of $40 billion may be too much for Republicans who are fighting to slash, not raise, federal outlays. As a supplemental request, the package the White House is sending to Congress falls outside the budget caps both parties agreed to as part of the debt ceiling showdown earlier this year. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement there was strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate. "The latest request from the Biden administration shows America's continued commitment to helping Americans here at home and our friends abroad," he said. "We hope to join with our Republican colleagues this fall to avert an unnecessary government shutdown and fund this critical emergency supplemental request." President Joe Biden and his senior national security team have repeatedly said the United States will help Ukraine "as long as it takes" to oust Russia from its borders. Privately, administration officials have warned Ukrainian officials that there is a limit to the patience of a narrowly divided Congress and American public for the costs of a war with no clear end. "For people who might be concerned the costs are getting too high, we'd ask them what the costs not just in treasure but in blood, perhaps even American blood could be if Putin subjugates Ukraine," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said this week. Support among the American public for providing Ukraine weaponry and direct economic assistance has softened with time. An AP-NORC poll conducted in January 2023 around the one-year mark of the conflict, found that 48% favored the U.S. providing weapons to Ukraine, down from the 60% of U.S. adults who were in favor sending Ukraine weapons in May 2022. While Democrats have generally been more supportive than Republicans of offering weaponry, their support dropped slightly from 71% to 63% in the same period. Republicans' support dropped more, from 53% to 39%. Dozens of Republicans in the House and some GOP senators have expressed reservations, and even voted against, spending more federal dollars for the war effort. Many of those Republicans are aligning with Trump's objections to the U.S. involvement overseas. That means any final vote on Ukraine aid will likely need to rely on a hefty coalition led by Democrats from Biden's party to ensure approval. The funding includes another $10 billion to counter Russian and Chinese influence elsewhere by bolstering the World Bank and providing aid to resist Russian-aligned Wagner forces in Africa. Domestically, there's an additional $60 million to address increased wildfires that have erupted nationwide. And the request includes $2.2 billion for Southern border management and $766 million to curb the flow of deadly fentanyl. There is also $100 million earmarked for the Department of Labor to ramp up investigations of suspected child labor violations. To ease passage, Congress would likely try to attach the package to a must-pass measure for broader government funding in the U.S. that's needed by Oct. 1 to prevent any shutdown in federal offices. Members of Congress have repeatedly pressed Defense Department leaders on how closely the U.S. is tracking its aid to Ukraine to ensure that it is not subject to fraud or ending up in the wrong hands. The Pentagon has said it has a "robust program" to track the aid as it crosses the border into Ukraine and to keep tabs on it once it is there, depending on the sensitivity of each weapons system. Ukraine is pushing through with its ongoing counteroffensive, in an effort to dislodge the Kremlin's forces from territory they've occupied since a full-scale invasion in February 2022. The counteroffensive has come up against heavily mined terrain and reinforced defensive fortifications. The U.S. has approved four rounds of aid to Ukraine in response to Russia's invasion, totaling about $113 billion, with some of that money going toward replenishment of U.S. military equipment that was sent to the frontlines. Congress approved the latest round of aid in December, totaling roughly $45 billion for Ukraine and NATO allies. While the package was designed to last through the end of the fiscal year in September, much depends upon events on the ground. "We remain confident that we'll be able to continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes," said Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder. There were questions in November about waning Republican support to approve the package, but it ultimately passed. Now, though, House Speaker McCarthy is facing pressure to impeach Biden over unproven claims of financial misconduct and it's not clear whether a quick show of support for Ukraine could cause political damage in what's expected to be a bruising 2024 reelection campaign. Trump contends that American involvement has only drawn Russia closer to other adversarial states like China, and has condemned the tens of billions of dollars that the United States has provided in aid for Ukraine. Long reported from Chicago. Happy 74th birthday to the U.S. Department of Defense, which was officially established Aug. 10, 1949. While that may seem a bit young for the government agency that oversees the U.S. Armed Forces, the DODs roots go back to the Revolutionary War and the establishment of the War Department in 1789. The National Security Act of 1947 created the National Military Establishment, merging the War Department, Navy Department and the Department of the Air Force. In 1949, the National Military Establishment officially became the DOD, with the secretary of defense given more power over individual services, according to the Office of the Historian. Today the DOD, housed in the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., is the largest government agency, employing 3.4 million service members and civilians according to its website. The Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Space Force fall under its jurisdiction, with the Army and Air National Guards operating in part under state authority. The DOD has 11 combatant commands, each with its own geographic or functional mission. MIAMI (Tribune News Service) Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of conspiring to obstruct the U.S. governments efforts to recover classified documents from his Palm Beach estate including a new allegation accusing him of collaborating with a personal aide and a Mar-a-Lago employee in an attempt to delete potentially incriminating video surveillance images of a storage area. A defense lawyer for Trump, who was not required to attend his second arraignment in the documents case, entered the plea for him in Fort Pierce federal court. Trump, 77, who lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, is the front-running candidate for the Republican nomination for president. Initially arraigned in June, Trump has called the special counsels documents case along with a recent indictment accusing him of interfering in the Jan. 6, 2021 certification of the last presidential election a persecution by the Biden administration. Trumps valet, Walt Nauta, who used to work in the White House, pleaded not guilty in person to the updated indictment. But Mar-a-Lagos property manager, Carlos De Oliveira, a new defendant, was unable to enter a plea because he has has not retained a local counsel, a requirement to be arraigned in the Southern District of Florida. All three defendants faced arraignment Thursday morning before Magistrate Judge Shaniek Mills Maynard in the Fort Pierce federal courthouse, where their trial is going to take place in May of next year during the presidential election season. While De Oliveira also attended the hearing, his Washington, D.C., lawyer, John Irving, said that they were still trying to find a local attorney for him. Donnie Murrell, a lawyer based in West Palm Beach who stood with them in the courtroom, said he hoped to finalize his representation of De Oliveira by Friday. The magistrate judge, Maynard, rejected a proposal to hold De Oliveiras arraignment on Aug. 25, when a hearing is scheduled on the sharing of classified information in the documents case. Maynard scheduled his arraignment for next Tuesday, but she said he did not need to attend it. The special counsels office is prosecuting Trump over his handling of highly classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence and club after he left the White House in 2021. Jack Smith, the special counsel who was appointed by the attorney general, added new charges against the former president and the co-defendants in late July, accusing Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira of attempting to destroy video security footage showing the movement of boxes between the propertys storage area and residence. The superseding 42-count indictment adds three new counts against Trump. One charges him with another count of willful retention of national defense information and two others allege obstruction-related charges involving Trump, Nauta and De Oliveira. According to the indictment, Trump spoke with De Oliveira for 24 minutes after the Justice Department informed his legal team on June 22, 2022, of a draft grand jury subpoena for the surveillance footage at Mar-a-Lago. Two days later, the subpoena was officially delivered to Trumps residence. And on June 25, after changing his travel plans, Nauta flew to the Palm Beach estate. Then, on June 27, 2022, Nauta collaborated with De Oliveira to find and destroy the surveillance video, the indictment states. De Oliveira, who worked at Mar-a-Lago in various capacities before being promoted to property manager in January 2022, is charged with the obstruction conspiracy related to an attempt to delete surveillance video as well as for allegedly making false statements to the FBI. De Oliveira could not be arraigned last month because he had not yet hired a local defense attorney, which is required in the Southern District of Florida. He was represented by Irving, the Washington, D.C., attorney. Nauta, too, faces additional charges related to the attempt to delete surveillance video. Previous filings in the unprecedented case show that a June 2022 grand jury subpoena uncovered video images that prosecutors with the special counsels office say revealed damning evidence. The information provided the basis for FBI agents to obtain a court-approved warrant to search Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, 2022, when they found and seized more than 100 classified documents in the former presidents office and the clubs storage area. According to the prosecutions account of the videos, Nauta could be seen moving 64 boxes between a storage room and other areas at Mar-a-Lago between May 23 and June 2, 2022. The video footage also shows De Oliveira working with Nauta to move 30 of those same boxes from Trumps residence back to the storage area, according to the superseding indictment filed last Thursday. After arriving in Palm Beach and traveling to Mar-a-Lago on June 25, 2022, the indictment reads, Nauta and De Oliveira went to the security guard booth where surveillance video is displayed on monitors, walked with a flashlight through the tunnel where the storage room was located, and observed and pointed out surveillance cameras. Two days later, De Oliveira went to the clubs information technology office and asked an employee identified as the IT director to keep their conversation confidential. 'The boss wanted the server deleted, De Oliveira told the unnamed employee, according to the indictment. The employee resisted, saying he would not know how to do that, and that he did not believe that he would have the rights to do that, the indictment states. The employee told De Oliveira that De Oliveira would have to reach out to another employee who was a supervisor of security for Trumps business organization. According to the indictment, De Oliveira then insisted to the IT employee that the boss wanted the server deleted and asked, what are we going to do? De Oliveira left the IT office, met with Nauta on an adjacent property, then returned to the office and later reconvened with Nauta that afternoon. Later on the afternoon of June 27, 2022, Trump called De Oliveira and they spoke for approximately three and a half minutes, the indictment states. In June of this year, the federal grand jury in Miami charged Trump with mishandling highly classified documents under the Espionage Act by storing them at Mar-a-Lago and refusing to return them to federal authorities, along with conspiring to obstruct justice. Nauta also was charged with conspiring to obstruct justice. Both pleaded not guilty to the charges in the initial 38-count indictment. 2023 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. WASHINGTON President Joe Biden asked Congress on Thursday to approve $24 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine as previous U.S. funding for weapons and other support for the countrys war effort runs dry. The request is part of a new $40 billion spending proposal and comes amid growing resistance on Capitol Hill to arming Ukraine as it slowly tries to regain land occupied by invading Russian forces. Hard-right Republicans, particularly in the House, have opposed more assistance and are demanding greater accountability for weapons already sent to the battlefield. Lawmakers have approved four aid packages for Ukraine totaling $113 billion since Russias invasion in February 2022. The last round of funding, about $45 billion, was approved in December and is set to run out at the end of September. The president has reaffirmed that we will stand with Ukraine as it defends its sovereignty for as long as it takes, Shalanda Young, the leader of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in a letter to lawmakers. I urge the Congress to take swift action to provide the additional funding requested to follow through on our commitment to the Ukrainian peoples defense of their homeland and to democracy around the world. The Defense Department would receive about $13 billion under the proposal, including nearly $10 billion to replenish stocks of weapons sent to the front lines and speed up the production of equipment. The remaining funds would go toward military, intelligence and other defense-related aid to Ukraine. The administrations request also includes $44 million to support soldiers and Army personnel deployed or preparing to deploy to Europe. About $6.5 million is being requested for Air Force, Marine Corps and Space Force troops stationed or deploying to the Continent. The requested aid likely will be attached to a federal spending bill that Congress must pass by Oct. 1 to avoid a government shutdown. Republican resistance to approving funding legislation without spending cuts or other concessions is expected to complicate passage of the bill. American support for aiding Ukraine has softened over time, largely due to opposition from Republicans. More than four in 10 Republicans believe the U.S. is providing too much aid to Ukraine, the highest level since shortly after Russias invasion, according to a June survey by the Pew Research Center. Republicans were only 4% more likely than Democrats to hold that view in March of last year, according to the survey. Today, they are 30% more likely than Democrats to say the U.S. is giving Ukraine too much support. A poll conducted for CNN last month found 55% of Americans opposed Congress authorizing additional funding for Ukraine. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday that there was strong bipartisan support in the upper chamber for the supplemental funding request, which also contains money for disaster relief and addressing issues at the U.S. border with Mexico. The latest request from the Biden administration shows Americas continued commitment to helping Americans here at home and our friends abroad, Schumer said in a statement. [It] should send a clear signal to [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, the Chinese government and others of Americas resolve when it comes to defending democracy around the world. The supplemental aid is expected to fund Ukraines efforts on the battlefield for the first three months of the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, according to administration officials. The Pentagon still has $6.2 billion left in a fund that it uses to send weapons to Ukraine from its stockpiles and another $2.2 billion that it can spend on weapons contracts for the country. Congress will not debate Bidens request until lawmakers return from recess in September. We hope to join with our Republican colleagues this fall to avert an unnecessary government shutdown and fund this critical emergency supplemental request, Schumer said. Five weeks before President Joe Biden announced a historic new ban on new uranium mining around the Grand Canyon, Sarana Riggs approached the barbed-wire fence surrounding an inactive mine in an Arizona national forest, a Geiger counter in her hand. The Geiger counter didn't detect any dangerous radiation that day from the Pinyon Plain mine, about two miles from the spot where Biden would sign the monument proclamation. But Riggs wasn't convinced. The activist grew up on the Navajo Nation near Tuba City, Ariz., where a uranium mill operated until 1966. It took another 24 years to clean up the site, and yet uranium was still found later in groundwater beneath the town dump. If uranium prices keep rising, Pinyon Plain's owners, Energy Fuels, intend to begin mining there and truck the radioactive ore 265 miles through the Navajo Nation, where uranium mining is banned, to Blanding, Utah, where it operates the nation's only active conventional uranium mill. At least nine other companies are exploring or planning to prospect for uranium at more than 25 sites across the Colorado Plateau, a region that touches Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona. Energy Fuels envisions the White Mesa Mill processing most of the uranium. Mining companies say they're buoyed by uranium prices that have risen above $55 per pound from around $25 five years ago, a proposed U.S. ban on Russian uranium imports over its attack on Ukraine, and a bullish outlook on nuclear energy amid the climate crisis. "Uranium is essentially the only option we see to help move away from that reliance on fossil fuels," said Matthew Schwab, chief executive officer of Kraken Energy, which in July began drilling 20 uranium exploration wells on federal land near Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. The prospect of a modest comeback for an industry that has been nearly dormant in the U.S. for more than a decade has also rekindled arguments and opinions that span generations and led to Biden's announcement Tuesday. Supporters in Congress say more domestic uranium production will ease the dependence on Russian sources, an energy-related stance the Biden administration has generally encouraged. Skeptics point to the controversial legacy of uranium mining on the Colorado Plateau, and the radioactive waste left behind. This year, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed adding a long-derelict uranium mining district on the Navajo Nation to its list of Superfund cleanup sites and awarded $65 million to help clean up other abandoned uranium mines on the reservation. Pinyon Plain, about 15 miles from the rim of the Grand Canyon, is at the center of the national monument that Biden created on Tuesday. Baaj Nwaavjo I'tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument will be three times the size of Los Angeles and protect sites sacred to the Havasupai, Hopi and other tribes mainly by blocking new uranium and other mining in the region. The monument won't stop Energy Fuels from digging up uranium, radium and copper at Pinyon Plain, where its right to mine will be preserved. But it could limit the company's expansion in the area. For tribal communities, Pinyon Plain is a reminder of the Cold War uranium boom before 1980, when the U.S. was the world's largest producer, driven by a rush to build nuclear power plants and atomic bombs. Back then, nearly all the country's uranium production was centered on the Colorado Plateau, especially on the Navajo Nation. The industry provided thousands of jobs for Indigenous people. The radon exposure brought them sickness and death. The country's first cancer treatment center on an Indian reservation opened in Tuba City in 2019. In Riggs's community, "chemotherapy is an everyday word," she said. Three of her relatives are battling cancer. Energy Fuels' executives say those fears should remain in the past. These days, they face environmental regulations that didn't exist a half-century ago, they say, and they pay bonds to ensure their mines will be cleaned up. "I'm saddened that they think we're harming them, harming the environment, because we're not. We're highly regulated," Energy Fuels Chief Executive Officer Mark Chalmers told Bloomberg Law. Still, in corporate filings, the company has warned investors that anti-uranium activists are likely to target its business with blockades or lawsuits. The EPA is watching closely. Federal agencies are still trying to clean up waste at up to 4,000 long abandoned but still-hazardous uranium mine sites across the plateau and Wyoming, including about 500 on the Navajo Nation, according to EPA data. "We cannot let what has happened in the past perpetuate into the future," said Cliff Villa, EPA deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management. Nuclear energy Solving the climate crisis may depend on low-carbon nuclear energy, but few nuclear power plants have been built since the 1980s because they're extremely expensive. For about two decades, nuclear has accounted for the same share of the U.S. energy consumption about 8% after renewables, coal, oil and natural gas. Members of Congress, however, including Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, and Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming have introduced legislation to produce more uranium domestically so the U.S. no longer needs to rely on Russian sources. The measure, if passed, would require the Energy Department to create a nuclear fuel security program that would buy and stockpile uranium produced in the U.S. or in an allied country. Some miners aren't waiting because they see the Colorado Plateau brimming with ore. Kraken is exploring in an area a short drive from Canyonlands National Park where minerals are showing what Schwab called "off-scale radioactivity" "We're trying to move this one ahead as quickly as possible," he said. George Glasier, president and chief executive officer of Western Uranium & Vanadium, said the company is mining and stockpiling uranium ore in western Colorado as it seeks approval for a new mill in Green River, Utah. He hopes that site could begin operating by 2026 or 2027. "We're not waiting" for the Russian ban to be approved, Glasier said. "We're producing now." Other uranium companies with active interests in the Four Corners include Thor Energy, EnCore Energy, Atomic Minerals, Consolidated Uranium, Laramide Resources, UVRE and American Future Fuel Corp. Anfield Energy has three prospects in Colorado and Utah, and is studying reopening a long-derelict uranium mill in the region. Pinyon Plain is in preproduction, or "stand by," as Energy Fuels awaits higher uranium prices, according to its latest 10-K filing. The company projects it could produce more than 126,000 tons of uranium at $60 per pound. "It could produce enough uranium to fill a coal train that went from Los Angeles to New York and all the way back again," Curtis Moore, Energy Fuels' vice president of marketing, said. Despite the optimism, the industry will never boom in the region like it once did, Chalmers said. In 2008, uranium companies produced nearly 3.9 million pounds in the U.S. By 2022, that had fallen to 194,000 pounds, with production concentrated mainly in Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska and Texas, according to a May report by the Energy Information Administration. Most of the uranium used in U.S. nuclear power plants in 2022 came from Canada, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Uzbekistan, with just 5% sourced domestically, according to EIA data published in June. Chris Gadomski, head of research focusing on nuclear energy for BloombergNEF, said he's convinced lawmakers' and uranium companies' excitement over U.S. uranium is misplaced and a bad investment. "Beware of all these companies we're talking about, these small second-tier miners are all looking to attract investor interest so they can continue to produce and expand their operations," Gadomski said. The uranium demand just isn't there and demand from advanced nuclear reactors and small modular reactors isn't expected to materialize anytime soon, he said. "I wish you saw more of that going on," Gadomski said. Opposition to mining For months, anti-uranium activists and tribal leaders had been pressing Biden administration officials with a unified message: Don't let uranium mining regain its foothold around the Grand Canyon. The tribes last spring had invited Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to the Grand Canyon to pitch her on creating the new national monument. It would make permanent the 20-year mining moratorium on 917,000 acres of federal land around the Grand Canyon put in place by the Obama administration in 2012 and affirmed by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in 2017. "The uranium mining during the Cold War devastated the Navajo people, making many of our people sick from tailings and the runoff that made it into our communities," Richard Begay, speaking on behalf of Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, told federal officials during a public meeting last month in Flagstaff, Ariz. If uranium mining begins at Pinyon Plain or anywhere else around the Grand Canyon, the Havasupai people fear it will poison the aquifer that provides water to Supai, their village at the bottom of the gorge, said Stuart Chavez, a former Havasupai Tribal Council member. "Our worst fear is that our home will no longer be livable, our water will no longer be there," Chavez said. The tribes said the monument would also help repair wounds they incurred when they were forcibly removed from parts of the Grand Canyon when it became a national park more than a century ago. Ranchers and other opponents told federal officials they want the uranium industry to thrive in their region and that mining won't affect water quality because uranium is in the water naturally. "The contamination is not going to change if you ban uranium mining," said Jim Parks, a member of the Coconino County, Ariz., Farm Bureau and Cattlegrowers Association. "Water has been running down through the uranium deposits all around this Grand Canyon for many millenniums." Others said they fear the federal government is trying to take their private land near the proposed monument's boundaries. Some have long called for all federal land in Arizona to be abolished and turned over to the state part of a decades-old undercurrent of anti-federal government sentiment in the rural West, but one that's never gained traction or credibility in Washington. Land bureau chief Tracy Stone-Manning, who attended the meeting, declined to respond to questions. But the monument designation will affect only public land, no private land will be taken or restricted, the White House said. In the end, Biden enacted the ban using the Antiquities Act the same law that President Theodore Roosevelt used to protect the Grand Canyon itself as a national monument in 1908. Speaking Tuesday near Red Butte, a small mountain near Pinyon Plain sacred to the Havasupai people, Biden said tribes were forced out of the Grand Canyon and he's declaring the monument to "right the wrongs of the past and conserve this land." Biden said his decision kept a promise to Indigenous people who had fought for decades to regain full access to the Grand Canyon, "to protect these lands from mining and development, to clear them from contamination, to preserve their shared legacy for future generations." Energy Fuels executives had scoffed at the monument proposal before it was enacted. "These are tiny little mines," Moore said in an interview last month. "There is no evidence that these mines have created any environmental contamination, groundwater contamination, or any health issues over the last 50 years." But if the ban prohibits the company from exercising what it contends are valid rights to existing claims, Energy Fuels will consider challenging it in court, Moore said. The Colorado Plateau The Colorado Plateau debate mirrors the dilemma the country faces as it tries to find a more sustainable energy plan. Nuclear energy fueled with domestically produced uranium can be part of a low-carbon energy mix, "but we need to know when that material becomes waste where it needs to go," Villa, the EPA official, said in an interview. The process for turning uranium into usable energy is complex. The ore is mined, refined and ground into a powder at a mill. Chemicals are then used to separate the uranium from other minerals, and the end result is a dark substance, called yellowcake, that ultimately is converted into gaseous fuel. One ton of ore might yield only a few pounds of yellowcake the rest, still potentially radioactive, is buried or stored at waste sites. Decaying waste eventually can become cancer-causing radon gas. Federal agencies are still trying to clean up waste at up to 4,000 still-hazardous uranium mine sites across the plateau and Wyoming that miners abandoned after the Cold War, including about 500 on the Navajo Nation, according to EPA data . "Most of it is sitting right where it is on tribal land, on the Navajo Nation," Villa said. "If you're going to move it, where does it go? That's not easy." In Utah, tribal and environmental activists have protested at the entrance to the White Mesa Mill and say they're alarmed by the prospect of expanded mining near Bears Ears, about an hour north of the mill. "The Bears Ears region of SE Utah is one of the most wild, scenic, and culturally rich in the nation. It is not the appropriate place for uranium development of any kind," Landon Newell, staff attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said in an email. More intense concern comes from the other direction, from those who live along the six-hour route trucks would use to haul uranium ore between Pinyon Plain and the White Mesa Mill. "For what?" asked Riggs, the anti-mining activist who grew up in Tuba City. "For economic growth? For somebody to get rich out there? At whose expense?" The acrimony is particularly focused on the mill itself. Members of the nearby Ute Mountain Ute tribal community of White Mesa have long worried that Energy Fuels' uranium milling and storage is already contaminating their air and groundwater. Tribal members have observed "overwhelming smells in the air," and "deformed animals" in the area, and don't believe that the mill is safe, Scott Clow, environmental programs director for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2021 comments. Moore, Energy Fuels' vice president, said the tribe's claims are unprovable, anecdotal and unsupported by evidence. In an email he called Clow's claims "fearmongering and smears" so outrageous that Energy Fuels has considered suing him for defamation. He pointed to the findings from a federal investigation that the Ute requested in 2019. Four years after that petition, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, reported in June that anyone consuming the drinking water at White Mesa won't be harmed by radiological contaminants, and that air pollution from the mill is below the agency's minimal risk level for radiation. The report didn't evaluate whether the mill was polluting groundwater. Clow called the report "good news" and noted that tribal members are avoiding springs fed by groundwater. He also said history has taught his community not to accept at face value any claims about uranium mining. "You can't ignore the 500-plus sites just on Navajo Nation that are still contaminated uranium sites," he said. HAVERHILL, Mass. (Tribune News Service) Fifty-five years after being wounded by a booby trap in the jungles of Vietnam, U.S. Marine Corps veteran Pfc. Kevin Gilbert Alder was finally presented his Purple Heart recently at AMVETS Post 147. Nearly 100 area veterans were on hand to see the 73-year-old Haverhill resident be pinned with the medal by his wife of 53 years, Paulette (Deblois) Alder. "I didn't think it was ever going to happen and I'm glad that it finally did," he said. "I wasn't in Vietnam for long after I was wounded as I was evacuated to Okinawa. Things didn't go as they were supposed to and I didn't receive my medal at the time. I think it had to do with the paperwork." That situation was rectified Saturday when he not only received his Purple Heart, but also a congressional lapel pin inscribed on the back with the words, "Welcome Home," as well as a copy of "A Time to Honor," a 50th commemoration of the Vietnam War. "I'm very happy today," Paulette Alder said. "I've got my honey, he's got his medal ... what more could I ask for?" Kevin Alder, a Georgetown native, was attending what was then known as Haverhill Trade School when he enlisted in the Marines in his junior year at age 17. "We wanted to go to Vietnam and we went," he said. Alder attended boot camp after turning 18 and was then assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division. He had been in the country as a rifleman and demolitions soldier for about 14 days when his unit was patrolling in the jungles of Quang Nam Province, outside Da Nang, on July 14, 1968. As night fell, a member of Alder's unit unknowingly tripped a booby trap, according to Haverhill Veterans Services Director Jeffrey Hollett. More commonly known as an IED today, the trip wire was attached to a 155mm artillery round packed with explosives. The explosion's impact threw Alder through the air and into the mud. Upon regaining his composure, he was assisted onto his unsteady feet by a medical corpsman. Alder was among the walking wounded. He suffered injuries to his lower back and shrapnel wounds to his left hand. About 21 Marines were wounded by the booby trap and three were killed instantly. With the threat of enemy action, they called for support and were transported out of the jungle via a tank escort to nearby awaiting helicopters in an open landing zone. While being flown to a field hospital in or near Da Nang, they began receiving ground fire. Alder's helicopter and crew came under direct attack. The pilot and crew were successfully able to evade the enemy and prevent themselves and their injured passengers from being shot down. Alder's injuries sustained in combat resulted in his subsequent airlift to Kadena Army/Air Force Hospital in Okinawa, Japan, after being treated at a field hospital. Alder remained at Kadena Hospital for about two months while undergoing treatment for his injuries. His unit and command remained in Vietnam to fight the war. He was later transferred to a new unit and reassigned duties as a cook because of his injuries. Alder's last duty assignment was with Company D, 8TH Engineer Battalion, at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. He received his honorable discharge. Hollett said although Alder's DD214 Report of Discharge indicates that he was awarded the Purple Heart for his injuries in combat, he never received the medal from the Marine Corps at the time of his injuries, "which under the circumstances is understandable; as he, and his unit, and command had been separated due to his medevac and subsequent reassignment while they remained in combat in Vietnam," Hollett said. "Mr. Alder's wife is responsible for bringing this to the attention of a colleague of mine who in turn brought it to my attention," Hollett added. "Mr. Alder's award of the Purple Heart is annotated on Mr. Alder's discharge papers and our due diligence has been focused on corroborating his award of the Purple Heart with additional information." Hollett said he recently received a copy of Alder's official orders through the Massachusetts Executive Office of Veterans Services as issued by the commanding general of the 1st Marine Division, Maj. Gen. Carl A. Youngdale, in July 1968. "Additionally, we have corroborated his (Alder's) Purple Heart through the National Purple Heart Honor Roll (thepurpleheart.com/roll-of-honor)," Hollett said. Alder is well known in the Haverhill School Department, where he worked for 30 years as a supplies manager before retiring six years ago. The event included the distribution of about $15,000 in electronics (more than 120 items) to veterans in attendance by the city in partnership with the nonprofit, all-volunteer iPods for Wounded Veterans of Wilmington. The giveaway included 60 Bluetooth speakers, six HD television sets, 14 tablets, four refurbished laptops, two sound bar systems, five e-readers, dozens of sets of wireless headphones, and six MP3 players. The veterans were also treated to a free luncheon buffet. (c)2023 The Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Mass.) Visit The Eagle-Tribune Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The social revolution sparked by women in Iran marches forward. In the aftermath of Mahsa Aminis tragic death following her arrest for violating veiling regulations last September, anti-regime protests resulted in the jailing of over 22,000 people and the execution of seven men. The protests then crept into Iranian homes, where older women passionately sought freedom for their daughters to choose whether or not to wear the veil. Women now courageously remove veils in public as an act of civil disobedience, while some men humorously wear them to work to spotlight the governments illegitimacy. Iranian society has evolved from division to unity, amplifying diverse voices and feminist aspirations while an entrenched old guard resists reform and clings to power. Iran is a significant energy, geostrategic and cultural power, yet it remains relatively unknown and suffers from a negative image. Here are some ways to discover and understand one of the most sophisticated cultures in the world. Happiness (2021) is an Iranian-French television series shot entirely in Iran. The 15 six-minute episodes were first broadcast on the arte.tv Instagram channel. Directed by Pouria Takavar, Happiness depicts the life of a 17-year-old Iranian girl consumed by the same interests as youths worldwide drugs, tattoos, alcohol, sex, pets and rap music. In this case, its rap by Zedbazi, an Iranian group. The series effectively challenges preconceived notions about the country and its teenagers, shedding light on their true nature and daily lives. Still image from the movie 'A Separation' by Asghar Farhadi. Asghar Farhadi has emerged as the foremost Iranian filmmaker following the death of Abbas Kiarostami. Few directors from Iran possess the same ability to skillfully articulate the innermost thoughts and emotions of their characters, capturing moments of hesitation, contemplation, and decisive action with unparalleled finesse. Farhadis A Separation (2011) about Irans justice system is still considered one of his greatest films. Farhadi often explores a prominent theme of Iranian cinema social dynamics, with a particular focus on the middle class. As author Hamid Dabashi wrote in Masters and Masterpieces of Iranian Cinema (2023), the countrys films often air its dirty laundry in front of the whole world. But there are also road-trip movies and thrillers, a popular genre all over the world. Bandar Band (2020) directed by Manijeh Hekmat, connects the younger generations affinity for music to their concern about the climate change crisis. In Hit the Road (2021) directed by Panah Panahi, a metaphorical road trip depicts the challenges of migration. Still image from 'Hit the Road' by Panah Panahi. Law of Tehran (2019), directed by Saeed Roustaee, is a gritty crime thriller about drug abuse and trafficking in Iran. Holy Spider (2022), directed by Ali Abbasi, was filmed in Turkey and tells the story of the prostitute murders in the holy city of Mashhad, a Shiite pilgrimage site. Based on real events, the 16 murders dominated headlines and were the subject of a 2002 Iranian documentary, And Along Came a Spider (2002). Both films expose the corruption of Irans judicial system and police forces, a taboo subject that nobody dared to talk about until recently. When it comes to films about Iranian women, notable recent releases include The Art of Living in Danger (2020) by Mina Keshavarz and Radiograph of a Family (2020) by Firouzeh Khosrovani. Both directors were arrested during the May riots. Some notable novels to read include The Blind Owl (1934) by Sadeq Hedayat, a masterpiece of 20th-century Iranian modernity. There are also two books that delve into contemporary Iranian events and guide the reader from the familys microcosm to the broader social and political context. Suvashun (1969), by the first female Persian-language novelist, Simin Daneshvar, is set in the city of Shiraz during the Allied occupation of World War II. It narrates Zaris transformation from a traditional housewife to a defiant woman, fighting against injustice. This novel depicts a generation battling social and historical forces that eventually contributed to the 1979 Revolution. Tsar Amir-Ebrahimi in 'Holy Spider,' directed by Ali Abbasi. The House of the Mosque (2005) by Kader Abdolah is a story about a merchant family living in a mansion, where various characters make economic and religious decisions. The historical backdrop includes left-wing groups opposing Westernization and Islamic extremists leading to the fall of the Shah and the return of Khomeini, events that dramatically impact family harmony. In 2003, Farideh Lashai published The Jackal Came, an exciting autobiography that evoked the voice and intensity of Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad. The artist and writer reflects upon the years of left-wing militancy during the time of the shah, detailing her imprisonment for defending these ideals and subsequent exile following the 1979 Revolution. Kamand Kojouri, an influential figure in modern literature, has written two insightful books in English exploring themes of love and compassion during critical moments. Her works shed light on the important perspectives of Iranian women, highlighting their often overlooked circumstances. Renowned artists like Azra Aghighi Bakhshayeshi and Melodie Hojabr Sadat illustrate captivating subjects ranging from urban landscapes, avian life and the beauty of nature. These universal themes transcend borders, intriguingly disconnecting their association with Iran. Patricia Almarcegui is a professor of comparative literature and author of numerous essays and travel books. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition (Tribune News Service) Everyone agrees that Shannon Dabbs shot his wife. He says it was self-defense during an argument over their impending divorce in 2020 and that his wife, Susan Dabbs, pulled a gun on him first, right after lighting their bed on fire. Prosecutors argued at a probable cause hearing last month that Dabbs' story doesn't match the evidence. An autopsy found that Susan Dabbs had no smoke in her lungs, that Shannon Dabbs' description of how quickly the blaze grew was implausible and that Dabbs clothes when confronted by police on the evening of Sept. 22, 2020 didn't smell like smoke. Those reasons were cited by Boundary County Magistrate Judge Justin Julian when he found probable cause to arrest Dabbs last month. Dabbs was arrested in mid-July at a military base in Virginia, according to Boundary County Prosecutor Andrakay Pluid. Pluid, who was elected prosecutor in 2020, said the delay in charging Dabbs was due to the complex nature of the case and her desire to be able to conduct a trial quickly. "With this case, there was a great deal of investigation that was needed to prove or disprove the defendant's version of events that he had given to law enforcement," Pluid said. Pluid laid out the case against Dabbs at a probable cause hearing on July 7. The Spokesman-Review obtained an audio recording of the hearing early this week. Self-defense claim Dabbs called 911 at about 8:30 p.m. Sept. 22, 2020. He reported he had shot his wife in self-defense and that there was a fire in the cabin. Deputies arrived about 20 minutes later to the cabin largely engulfed in flames. The arriving deputies quickly arrested Dabbs. Nearly a month later, Dabbs sat down for an interview with his attorney and investigators. He spent much of the interview discussing his time in the Marine Corps, Deputy Dave McClelland said during the hearing. "He pretty much told me his life story," McClelland said. Dabbs said that on the day of the shooting, he returned home from the hardware store at about 5:20 p.m. to find his wife in the shop sweeping. The couple finished some chores then began talking about their divorce, Dabbs told investigators. They headed back up to the cabin at about 6:50 p.m. Dabbs was getting ready to leave the house and return to the shop, where he had been sleeping, when he said his wife threw the key to their flammable locker at him, then lit a piece of paper on fire and set it on their bed. He went to get a blanket to put the fire out but was confronted by his wife with a gun, Dabbs said. That's when Dabbs pulled his handgun out of his back pocket and shot his wife in the chest, he told police. Dabbs called 911 at 8:32 p.m. The call lasted about 3 minutes. He told dispatchers that he had shot his wife and that there was a fire in their bedroom. He then asked dispatchers if he should pull his wife out of the building. Dabbs said he placed the 911 call immediately after the shooting, and that following the call he ran out of the cabin to get a hose and fire extinguisher. Moments later, when Dabbs said he returned to the house, smoke was hovering about 2 feet off the floor. Susan Dabbs was on her hands and knees puking, Dabbs said. When he tried to help, Susan Dabbs told him to "get the (expletive) off," Shannon Dabbs told police. He then went to leave the cabin but, as he exited, a shot whizzed by his head, Dabbs told police. He fired a round in return and left. At 8:41 p.m., Dabbs called his stepdaughter for about a minute, according to his phone records. Six minutes passed, then Dabbs called the United States Concealed Carry Association Delta Defense team for less then three minutes. The team helps people "face the justice system" in self-defense shooting situations, according to its website. Dabbs then placed a second call to his stepdaughter, at about the same time the first Boundary County Sheriff's deputies arrived. He was arrested at gunpoint by 8:55 p.m. Conflicting evidence Dabbs' description of the fire does not match evidence collected by fire officials, Jason Blubaum, deputy state fire marshall, testified last month. "She died before the fire started," Blubaum said of Susan Dabbs. An autopsy of the portions of her body that survived the fire showed no soot around her nose or mouth, or in her trachea and larynx. A toxicology report showed normal levels of carbon monoxide, inconsistent with how long her husband described her as being alive during the blaze. Blubaum, along with officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Fire Research Laboratory, did experiments to recreate the fire as described by Dabbs. None of the testing was able to match Dabbs' story. Within five minutes of the flaming piece of paper being set on the bed, flames would have only been approximately 18 to 24 inches in diameter and about 2 or 3 inches high, not spreading to the entire room, Blubaum said. Dabbs did have soot under his nose when he was arrested, but his clothes were largely clean, which did not fit with his claim that he was in the house when smoke hovered above the floor. If there was smoke 2 feet off the floor, Dabbs' skin likely would have started blistering and splitting. "People will do everything they can in their physical capability to get away from it," Blubaum said. The judge agreed that prosecutors had probable cause to charge Dabbs and set his bond at $1 million. That bond was reduced to $300,000 on Aug. 2. Dabbs' attorney, Joseph Sullivan, declined to answer questions about his client or the case. A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 22, the three-year anniversary of Susan Dabbs' death. (c)2023 The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.) Visit The Spokesman-Review Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Brenda Ritchie had threatened to do jail time for the elderly man after entering his home armed with a hammer A Co Down woman who was armed when she twice broke into the home of an elderly neighbour has been warned that she faces an 18-month prison sentence if she re-offends in the next year. Brenda Ritchie had threatened to do jail time for the elderly man after entering his home armed with a hammer as he waited in his bed for a carer to arrive, a court previously heard. Ritchie (51) was due to be sentenced at Newtownards Magistrates Court today, but District Judge Mark Hamill deferred passing sentence until August 7 next year. He told Ritchie, who appeared via video-link from Hydebank womens prison, that he wanted an updated probation report at that time. The judge warned her that if there were further offences in the next year, or if there was any interaction with her neighbour, that will be a breach of the deferral. Mr Hamill told Ritchie she would get nine months for each of her two offences but with an order that the sentences are served consecutively. At an earlier hearing, Ritchie, from Rectory Way in Kircubbin, entered a guilty plea to burglary and assault arising from an incident on April 16 this year when she entered as a trespasser a property on Parsonage Road with intent to do unlawful damage. A prosecuting lawyer had outlined how the vulnerable victim was in his bed at around 9pm, waiting for his carer to arrive when Ritchie sauntered in through the unlocked door, waving a hammer above her head and shouting at the man. She sat on the edge of his bed, holding the hammer, said the prosecutor, adding that Ritchie told the victim, Ill do jail time for you. Although the man feared he was going to be struck, Ritchie left without striking him but she did damage his car when she left the property. The prosecutor said the assault came from the neighbours apprehension that he would be struck, although she conceded that a hammer was not recovered during the police investigation. Arrested and interviewed, Ritchie made full admissions to what she had done and that she knew there was a restraining order against her but denied having a hammer. That restraining order, along with a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for three years, had been imposed five weeks before the incident by the same judge at the same court. Mr Hamill reminded himself that in the previous incident, Ritchie had burgled the mans home but on that occasion, she had been armed with seven swords each one as long as your arm, including at least one that was four feet long. Alan Vial (38) appeared by videolink at Letterkenny District Court today. A man charged with the murder of another man whose body was found off cliffs in Co Donegal after a week-long search has been remanded in custody to allow for a book of evidence to be served in his case. Alan Vial (38) appeared by videolink at Letterkenny District Court today. Vial, from Drumanoo Head, Killybegs has been charged with the murder of Robert Wilkin on the 25th of June, 2023 at a place unknown within the State. It followed a large-scale search involving gardai, the Irish Coastguard and other agencies including the Donegal Mountain Rescue team. Robert Wilkin Mr Wilkin's remains were found in the water on July 3rd following the search for his remains at the popular tourism destination. Vial's solicitor, Mr Patsy Gallagher asked for the case to be adjourned until September 4th to allow for a book of evidence to be served on his client. Wearing a grey sweatshirt, Vial spoke briefly when asked if he was happy with the remand in custody saying "Yes, I am. Mr Gallagher added that there are also summary matters for Mr Vial but that they are of a different nature. He also told Mr Vial that he will be in touch for a consultation with his legal counsel. Mr Wilkin's remains were found in the water on July 3rd following a week-long search for his remains at the popular tourism destination. It followed a tip-off to gardai at a serious assault had taken place and an investigation was launched. A full post-mortem has been carried out on Mr Wilkin's remains but gardai have not released the results for operational reasons. A paedophile has been accused of breaching a non-molestation order from prison. Although 29-year-old Gerard McKenna did not appear at Limavady Magistrates Court, sitting in Ballymena on Wednesday, he was charged with breaching the order on December 19 last year at HMP Magilligan. None of the alleged facts surrounding the case were opened in court and District Judge Peter King adjourned matters to August 21, ordering McKenna be produced for attitude. Its not the first time that McKenna, currently serving a nine-year sentence for the abduction, sexual assault and rape of a 12-year-old girl, has been charged from prison. Convicted rapist Gerard McKenna In September 2021, the drug addict father-of-three entered guilty pleas to charges of harassment, breaching a non-molestation order and persistent improper use of a telecommunication network on dates between December 2020 and April 2021. Those charges arose after McKenna made a threat to his ex-partner that he would cut her into a thousand pieces and made upwards of 100 calls to her every week from the prison where he was at the time on remand for child rape. During his rape trial last April, the jury heard how McKenna and his friend, 27-year-old Paul Sheridan, lured two young girls away from responsible adults on December 23, 2019, giving them vodka mixed with 7UP before the pair raped the 12-year-old victim on the Lagan towpath. The jury unanimously convicted McKenna of abducting, raping and sexually assaulting the girl, offering her cocaine and abducting her 15-year-old friend. Sheridan, from Hillfoot Crescent in Ballynahinch, wasnt tried with him as he had gone on the run under paramilitary death threat. However, when he was arrested, he entered guilty pleas to rape, sexual assault and child abduction. At Craigavon Crown Court last October, McKenna was handed a nine-year sentence while Sheridan was given a six-and-a-half year sentence. They were both ordered to spend a further three years under supervised licence conditions when released. It is understood the PPS are set to appeal those sentences as unduly lenient. Brian Richards thought she was flirting with a waiter, and when they got back to her home after the meal, he attacked her A Co Antrim man who assaulted his fiancee after a night out celebrating their engagement was sentenced today. Brian Richards was handed two years on probation and 100 hours of community service. The 47-year-old, from Browndod Road in Ballyclare, pleaded guilty to a charge of assaulting the woman occasioning her actual bodily harm on September 4, 2021. Belfast Crown Court heard that Richards and the injured party met on a dating site in April 2021. He proposed in August and on September 4 they went out to a restaurant to celebrate. During this, Richards thought she was flirting with a waiter, and when they got back to her home after the meal, he attacked her. The assault began in the kitchen, with Richards approaching her and grabbing her neck. As she struggled to breathe, he held her neck for around a minute before letting her go. He then pulled her to the ground by her hair, and when she managed to get up, he again grabbed her around the neck. At this point, the woman could feel herself losing consciousness. She was brought to the ground again and Richards punched her in the face six times. When she got up, she went to the bathroom and was sick. Richards then followed her and bit her on the ear as she lay on the floor pretending to have passed out. After leaving the bathroom, she noticed Richards had taken her phone. He asked for the access code, which she gave him, and observed clumps of her hair on the floor. The woman didn't seek medical attention that night but sustained bruising to her eye, jaw, leg, arm and buttocks, which she took images of her on phone. She also suffered a cut lip and an injury to her nose in the attack, which was branded as "disgraceful" and "sustained" by Judge Mark Reel. The woman remained with Richards for around a fortnight before ending the relationship. Richards, who has been divorced twice, was arrested and interviewed by police in November 2021. He claimed that the woman had consumed too much alcohol and drugs, alleging she had attacked him and he was defending himself. Richards also denied punching her, choking her and pulling her hair, and when quizzed on how she sustained the injuries, told police she had fallen over due to alcohol and suffered hair loss as a result of stress. Defence barrister Tom MacCreanor said that despite minimising his actions, his client, who is no longer engaged to the victim, "now fully accepts the prosecution case. Mr MacCreanor added that Richards has expressed his "shame and regret for his behaviour and what he did" which will "live with him for the rest of his life. He outlined Richards "very impressive" work record and revealed he has sought voluntary counselling to deal with issues in his life, including depression and anxiety, as well as binge drinking. The judge noted that Richards told a probation officer he believed his mental health deteriorated during lockdown and his alcohol consumption increased. Richards also said that he believed he and his ex were a negative influence on each other due to their heavy drinking. Judge Reel noted that while the womans physical injuries were minor, the attack has resulted in "significant psychological harm. He added: "She has been left feeling vulnerable and isolated by this offence, committed by someone in whom she had reposed so much trust." Judge Reel also imposed a two-year restraining order which bans Richards from contacting or harassing the woman, as well as warning him that any breaches or re-offending would result in a return to court. In addition, he was ordered to pay his former fiancee 2,000 compensation. Blake Sweeney was found guilty of the manslaughter of Robert Elston (33) on May 23, 2018 Blake Sweeney in court in 2018. He is due for release soon after serving over five years and three months for the manslaughter of Robert Elston from Lisselton in Cahersiveen in May 2018. The family of the late Robert Elston, who was killed in a knife attack in Cahersiveen five years ago, have spoken about their anger and hurt that the man who committed the crime is to be released imminently In July 2019, Blake Sweeney of Fertha Drive, Cahersiveen, Kerry, was found not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of Robert Elston (33) of Lisselton at Fertha Drive on May 23, 2018. Mr Sweeney was sentenced to eight years and six months imprisonment in October 2019 with the last 18 months suspended and the sentence backdated to May 23, 2018 when he originally went into custody following the incident in Cahersiveen. It has now emerged that Mr Sweeney is to be released imminently having served five years. As is normal for most prisoners, Mr Sweeney is eligible for remission of a quarter of his sentence, bringing his release to this year. "Every day is a struggle for us and now knowing that he will be back on the streets after five years, people who steal cars get longer and we lost my brother, Dave Elston told The Kerryman this week. Mr Elston said he only heard that the man who killed his brother is to be released through unofficial channels and he is angry that gardai did not inform him personally. "There has been no support for us as a family and we were never informed, he said. "I am absolutely gutted, I couldnt believe that he is out that soon. Dave said he had to contact his brothers ex-partner and Roberts son to inform them of the news and he said that it was awful to see his nephew so upset that the man who killed his father will be out of jail "It is a horrible situation to be in .. I had to prepare my nephew, he said, adding: "Roberts ex-partner had no idea either. He said that the family have suffered enormously since the loss of Robert, especially their mother who died just over a year-and-a-half after he was killed. Robert, Dave and the rest of the family had already suffered a significant loss as their father was also killed years prior to Roberts death. Mr Elston said he would like to see longer sentences for manslaughter and murder. "After five years and three months he can walk around the streets and he killed someone, he said. During the trial the court heard that Mr Sweeney took a large knife from his mother's kitchen, went to a neighbour's house and stabbed Mr Elston shortly after the victim had visited his home with an axe having set fire to car in the Sweeneys driveway earlier that day. Solicitor for Mr Sweeney, Padraig OConnell, said Mr Sweeney is due for release imminently having served his time. He is due for release imminently. He has served his sentence subject to his rights to remission. Irish authorities arrested 12 suspects for investigative purposes and 22 for money laundering and gangland-style offences Some of the cash seized from one suspect A total of 34 arrests have been made during the Irish leg of the Interpol-led Operation Jackal which took on the notorious west African organised crime gang Black Axe. More than 2 million has also been seized, as police forces, financial crime units and cybercrime agencies across 21 countries around the world targeted the west African gang. Irish authorities arrested 12 suspects for investigative purposes and 22 for money laundering and gangland-style offences while in five criminal cases involving Irish companies, 225,655 was recovered. Bank accounts have been frozen, suspects arrested, and financial investigations triggered worldwide as the operation carried out between May 15 and 29 struck hard against Black Axe and similar West African organised crime groups. More than 200 bank accounts linked to the illicit proceeds of online financial crime were blocked during the operation and several kingpins arrested whose crime networks are considered a serious global security threat. Some of the cash seized from one suspect It became apparent early in the investigation that international cooperation and the use of Interpols analytical and coordination capabilities was essential to the investigation, and remains a pivotal element to the success to date and the ongoing investigation into this group, the Deputy Head of the National Central Bureau in Dublin, Tony Kelly, said. In Portugal, four investigations resulted in the accumulated seizure and recovery of almost 1.4 million. Interpols Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC) had deployed officers to Lisbon where Portuguese authorities raided five properties. This led to the arrest of four suspects and the seizure of 5,000 in cash. Cards and cash were seized from one suspect who was detected at an ATM using eight different money mule cards to make illicit withdrawals. Cash seized from another suspect who was arrested earlier in the year also related to West African organised crime groups. In total, 2.15m has been seized or frozen; there were 103 arrests; 1,110 suspects identified and 208 bank accounts blocked. Organised crime is mostly driven by financial gain and Interpol is committed to working with our member countries to deprive these groups of their ill-gotten assets, said Isaac Kehinde Oginni, Director of Interpols Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC). This successful operation involving so many countries clearly shows what can be achieved through international cooperation, and will serve as a blueprint for concerted police action against financial crime in the future. The director added: It also sends a strong message to West African crime networks that no matter where they hide in cyberspace, Interpol will pursue them relentlessly. The illegal activities of Black Axe and similar crimes syndicates will remain a priority for Interpol. Further arrests and prosecutions are predicted across the world as intelligence continues to come in and investigations unfold. According to Interpol, Black Axe, and an increasing number of other West African organised crime syndicates, is a violent mafia-style gang renowned for cyber-enabled financial fraud, in particular business email compromise schemes, romance scams, inheritance scams, credit card fraud, tax fraud, advance payment scams and money laundering. Sharing case studies and investigative intelligence both ahead of and during the operation, countries were able to target specific suspects and locations for raids, house searches, judicial proceedings and arrests, the crime-fighting agency revealed. The General Secretariat provided support services in the field, facilitating arrests through case coordination, crime analysis and the provision of intelligence leads. Interpol officials were deployed to Cote dIvoire, Portugal and Spain where they supported local law enforcement with crime analysis and case coordination support. Interpol also assisted local law enforcement in examining the devices seized during arrests, cross checking data against criminal databases and coordinating outreach with law enforcement agencies in other member countries. Matthew Smith (35) was found in possession of more than 120,000 pornographic images of children A former British primary school teacher has been jailed for 12 years in London for paying in excess of 75,000 to arrange the abuse of young children in India. Matthew Smith, 35, from East Dulwich, instructed teenagers to abuse kids over a period of half a decade and was found in possession of more than 120,000 pornographic images of children. Smith, who was deputy head teacher at Thomass prep school in Battersea High Street, was arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in November 2022 after cops identified him for sharing abuse material on the internet. According to the NCA, Smith was online at the time police caught up with him. He was speaking to a teenager living in India and asking him to send sexual images of a child, in return for cash. He also had forums open on his computer which were dedicated to child sexual abuse. Matthew Smith is a prolific offender and master manipulator, who coerced young men into abusing children on his behalf, said Helen Dore, Senior Officer of the NCA. He constantly sought out opportunities to gain access to children, but was adept at hiding his sexual interest in them. He conducted his offending while working as a teacher and head of pastoral care a deep betrayal of the trust placed in him. Nepal Its clear Smith has absolutely no empathy for his victims and the harm he has caused them. He presents a very real and significant risk to children, but this investigation has ensured he will spend a long time in prison, she said. Chat logs showed Smith would instruct the young men to perform sexual acts on kids and would send them images and videos as examples of ones he would like to receive in return. Smith would explain how to befriend children and build trust with a view to abusing them. He spent periods working in orphanages and NGOs across India between 2007-2014 and later lived in Nepal where he worked at a school. A spokesman for Thomass prep school said: We have been shocked and appalled beyond measure by this matter and are grateful for the work of the police and courts in bringing this man to account. Mr Smiths employment at the school, which commenced in September 2022, was terminated with immediate effect when the school first learned of the charges against him in November. While the National Crime Agency has confirmed that none of the matters under investigation related to the school or its pupils, these deplorable actions constitute an unforgivable breach of trust and our thoughts are with those who have been impacted or damaged by them. As always, we remain absolutely committed to the ongoing safety and wellbeing of our pupils and our whole school community. Rachels death just destroyed me... I lost everything because of Dr Watt Disgraced neurologist Dr Michael Watt has been at the centre of one of the UK's largest patient recalls. Watt worked as Neurology consultant for the Belfast Trust, a recent inquiry found that the Belfast Trust failed to act early on concerns raised by patients George H Smyth lost his 46-year-old wife Rachel in January 2018 after Dr Watt treated her for lupus when in fact she had multiple sclerosis. The Ardglass renowned artist says his life spiralled out of control and he almost killed himself with alcohol as he fought to deal with the unnecessary loss of his best friend. Rachels death destroyed my life, says 54-year-old George. We had a perfect life. We met at school and had been together for 31 years. We lived in a beautiful house on Tyrella beach where I painted, and she ran a successful business. I was getting five-figure sums for my paintings and sold many to famous people, but Rachel was my muse. I painted her hundreds of times, but she was more than that. I only did private commissions and when one was finished it wouldnt leave the house until Rachel had given it the thumbs-up. We travelled the world together and spent a lot of time in LA and Barcelona. I had an exhibition in the Waldorf Astoria in New York in 2009 and thats one of my favourite memories of Rachel, seeing her happy at it. We were successful but we worked really hard for it. Disgraced neurologist Dr Michael Watt has been at the centre of one of the UK's largest patient recalls. Watt worked as Neurology consultant for the Belfast Trust, a recent inquiry found that the Belfast Trust failed to act early on concerns raised by patients George says the nature of Rachels death and the ongoing lack of truth and justice only exacerbated his devastation. My drinking got out of control, says George. Im not ashamed to talk about it but I was drinking to escape, my brain had short-circuited, nothing made sense in the world and when I was drunk it didnt matter anyway. I was waking up at 5.30 in the morning to start drinking, and the goal of the day was to make sure there was always alcohol in the house. I employed a driver to ferry me about from bar to bar, friends houses or just the supermarket anywhere there was alcohol. It became my job, not painting. When Rachel died I employed a solicitor to take on the case for me and I assumed he would get the answers but after two months he brought me in and said he was disgusted with the Belfast Trust because they werent cooperating and he could no longer take my money. I had just assumed because it was clear Dr Watt had f**ked up that the truth would come out but I didnt bank on the Trust making it really difficult. They were covering for themselves because they had been aware of issues with Dr Watt as far back as 2007. I was hospitalised three times in 2021. The final time I was pretty much gone for two days and the hospital gathered my friends and family to my bedside. My mates told me afterwards they had bought new suits for my funeral, but I came round and the doctor gave me a reality check. George H Smyth with Rachel Now, having quit booze almost two years ago, hes dedicating his life to fighting for justice for Rachel and potentially thousands of other patients who died under the care of Dr Watt. Speaking to the Sunday World, George says one of the most troubling aspects of what happened to his wife is the fact he instantly took a dislike to Watt after their first meeting despite him being the supposed guru of brain doctors. I didnt like him as soon as I met him, said George, who not only lost the love of his live of 31 years but also lost his home, his business and very nearly his life as a result. Rachel was beautiful, and I could tell immediately he was pretty much ogling her at that first meeting. There was just something about him I didnt trust. George H Smyth with Rachel I told a friend I was worried about the drugs Dr Watt was giving Rachel and said what if they end up killing her. I remember my friend telling me Dont say that George, that wont happen. I remember saying to Rachel I didnt trust him and she went nuts because Dr Watt was so highly regarded so I never opened my mouth again, says George. Ill never forget when the referral letter for her to see Dr Watt arrived in the post Rachel was standing there with it and it was like shed just found the golden ticket for Willy Wonkas factory. All roads in the health system led to Dr Watt. He was seen as God or something. In the last year of Rachels life we tried to get her to see other specialists but everyone told us You must see Dr Michael Watt. As well as suffering from PTSD, George has been told he has identity disruption and anticipatory grief. This means he feared the worst and it happened. Rachels health got worse and worse under Dr Watt after he started treating her in 2015, he says. Dr Watt was jumping between conditions. He was treating her for lupus and then MS and eventually back to lupus. He was always telling us about new drugs which were working for someone else and Rachel would get excited and shed have hope. But she actually had MS and one of the drugs Watt was giving her shocked our GP when they heard she was on it. They told Rachel to stop taking them straight way. Eventually, she ended up in hospital over Christmas of 2017 as she had an infection to a cut on her leg which she couldnt fight because her blood was so thin. It was the worst Christmas ever. I was up with her most of that Christmas Day and it was a living nightmare, it wasnt my wife lying in the bed. She died three weeks later from pneumonia which she couldnt fight off because of the drugs Dr Watt had her on. George Smyth joins protestors outside the Department of Health A Royal College Of Physicians report into the care of Rachel by Dr Watt delivered to George last year confirmed his worst fears. It states that Dr Watt diagnosed her with inflammatory neurological disease and gave her drugs to treat lupus and MS but they state, however the evidence was that the patient had secondary progressive MS. Furthermore, they recommended her case should be referred to the coroner because the inaccurate diagnosis... led to the patient being exposed to unnecessary and potentially dangerous treatments. George H Smyth selling one of his works to Chris Eubank Dr Watt made hundreds of misdiagnoses in patients over two decades. including stroke, Parkinsons disease, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy in what is developing into the biggest scandal to ever hit the health service. Many patients were told they had serious conditions they didnt have and were given dangerous medication they didnt need to take, while the Belfast Trust and Health Minister Robin Swann have apologised for failing to act sooner. As well as leaving thousands of living patients with horrific misdiagnoses, there have been thousands of former patients who have passed away while under his care. Over the last year the Sunday World has highlighted the cases of some of those families who are fighting for justice and truth about what happened to their loved ones families who feel their relatives might still be alive today had they not been misdiagnosed by Dr Watt. George says Rachel is just one of around 3,500 patients who died under Dr Watts care and has called for the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) to study all those deaths as they were commissioned to do by the Department of Health five years ago. George has teamed up with a number of other relatives of deceased patients of Dr Watt. At the start, I thought I was the only one, he says. I didnt know until the last couple of years that there were many more like me out there. In the year that has passed (since he received that report) I have got nowhere with the RQIA, the General Medical Council, the coroner or the PSNI. Given the overwhelming amount of evidence that Michael Watt was a victim maker, it seems odd that the PSNI have not asked for witness statements or even interviewed him. Theres 2,000 office hours in a year so how can the PSNI not know by now if theres a case to answer for Dr Watt? All we want is justice and accountability, but we fear there is a cover-up and that peoples wages and pensions are more important than giving it to us. If the Trust had done their job properly when issues were raised in 2007, Rachel would still be alive and I wouldnt be sitting here talking to you. Today George sits in his home in Downpatrick which he admits looks more like a CID office with all the notes, files and legal documents which hes using in his fight for truth and justice. My life is on hold until I get justice, he says. We dont want to be told lessons have been learned because its too late. The exam was failed. People died. But as Martin Luther King Jr said, The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. I believe those responsible for perpetuating this cover-up need their morals spoon fed to them. A child holds up a sign reading: "We need the nurse" during a protest to demand the release of American nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter, who were kidnapped by armed men, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. American nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter were freed Wednesday, nearly two weeks after they were kidnapped in Haitis capital, according to aid organization El Roi Haiti. The Christian group founded by Dorsainvils husband asked that neither she nor her family be contacted: There is still much to process and to heal from in this situation, the group said in a statement. The group added that it confirmed the safe release with a heart of gratitude and immense joy. No other details were immediately available, including whether any ransom was paid. The U.S. State Department said it welcomed news that the two had been freed and thanked its Haitian and U.S. interagency partners for facilitating the release. We have no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas, the agency said. As you can imagine, these individuals have been through a very difficult ordeal, both physically and mentally. Officials provided no other details. Witnesses told The Associated Press that armed men had seized the New Hampshire native and her young daughter in late July from a clinic in a gang-controlled area of Port-au-Prince where Dorsainvil works. The Christian group has offered medical care, education and other basic services to people in the countrys poorest areas. Gang warfare has increasingly plagued Haiti since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Gang members regularly kill, rape and hold residents for ransom. A local nonprofit has documented 539 kidnappings since January, a significant rise over previous years. On July 27, the U.S. State Department had ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Haiti, which remains under a do not travel advisory. In a video posted on the El Roi Haiti website, Dorsainvil describes Haitians as full of joy, and life and love, people she was blessed to know. In a blog post, El Roi Haiti said Dorsainvil fell in love with Haitis people on a visit there after the devastating 2010 earthquake hit the Caribbean nation. Dorsainvil graduated from Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, where a program supports nursing education in Haiti. The colleges president, Antoinette Hays, said the community was relieved to hear of the safe release of Dorsainvil and her daughter. We send our prayers and continued support to her family and friends as they begin the healing process from this experience. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition The little fellow was brought to Dogs Trust. Dublin firefighters rescued a puppy that was bereft and alone on a city beach this week. Dublin Fire Brigade posted an image of the adorable brown terrier on their Twitter page alongside two firefighters and an on-duty lifeguard who helped out with the poor wee scraps rescue, on Dollymount Strand. The DFB wrote: "Firefighters from B Watch North Strand rescued this little dog today at Dollymount. He is currently being cared for at North Strand Fire Station. Firefighters from B Watch North Strand rescued this little dog today at Dollymount He is currently being cared for at North Strand Fire Station They'd love to keep him but not sure he's fire station trained! If you recognise him or know the owner please contact us here#LostDog pic.twitter.com/iYzmTQhr3C Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) August 6, 2023 "They would love to keep him but not sure if hes fire station trained! If you recognise him or know the owner please contact us here. The team provided an update shortly afterwards to say that Dogs Trust have taken our little pal into their care until we find his owner, fingers crossed. The heart-warming post received hundred of likes with people keen to find out what happens next. "Thats brilliant, well done, so glad hes safe, wrote one. "Has the owner come forward? asked another. Whilst another simply posted love heart and doggy emojis. Dogs Trust says its very concerned by the soaring levels of abandoned dogs in Ireland. Recent statistics shows that the number of dogs being euthanised in pounds has doubled with 340 in 2022, more than twice as many dogs, compared to 2021. Under the Control of Dogs Act, dogs whove completed the mandatory five day stay in a pound, can be euthanised if it cannot be rehomed or rescued. We might not be getting married today but we will make up for everything we missed out on when I see you again The fiancee of Irish peacekeeper Private Sean Rooney, who was killed on duty in Lebanon last December, has shared a tribute on what would have been their wedding day. On December 14, the 24-year-old, who had been serving with the 121st infantry Battalion on UN duty, was killed in Lebanon while the vehicle he was travelling with was attacked outside Beirut. This attack also left three other men injured. Five men have been charged over the attack. Before his death, Pte Rooney was engaged to be married. His fiancee, Hollai Nic Conaill Oig, has now marked what was meant to have been the wedding day for the young couple. Paying tribute to her late fiances memory on social media this week, Ms Nic Conaill Oig shared a picture of a black wedding band and wrote: We might not be getting married today but we will make up for everything we missed out on when I see you again. Ms Nic Conaill Oig has previously said that Pte Rooney died three years to the day they first met. Other social media users offered words of comfort to Ms Nic Conaill Oig, with one commenter writing: Aw Holly Today is that day? I'm so sorry. Thinking of you. Thoughts are with you as always Holly, another said. Pte Rooney was originally from Muirhevnamor in Dundalk, Co Louth, but moved to Newtowncunningham, Co Donegal. After leaving school, he joined the Irish Defence Forces in March 2019 and was a member of the 27th Infantry Battalion at Aiken Barracks. In January, the Irish Defence forces poste a statement on their social media to pay tribute to Pte Rooney one month since his passing. Currently there are nearly 500 Irish police and military personnel serving under the UN flag. Wexford man Frank Staples (41) was knocked to the ground as a result of one punch to the side of the head during a disagreement outside a McDonalds Frank had moved to Australia to set up a new life for himself and Jackie. Frank Staples with his wife Jackie. Frank is currently in hospital in Perth, Australia after suffering serious injuries from a one-punch assault. A Wexford native who suffered a brain haemorrhage after being assaulted in Perth last month had moved to Australia to try and set up a new life for his family. Frank Staples (41) was knocked to the ground as a result of one punch to the side of the head during a disagreement outside a McDonalds on Beaufort Street in Perth on Monday, July 24. He was quickly brought to ICU at The Royal Perth Hospital and fell into a coma which lasted for ten days. Although he has now emerged from the coma, Franks family say he remains unresponsive and his long-term prognosis remains unclear. Part of his skull has been removed to ease the swelling on his brain and doctors are continuing to run tests on Frank, but his dad, Jim, who flew out within hours of hearing of the assault, says they have no idea if he will make a full recovery. He has improved, hes coming round a bit, hes been taken off the ventilator and now has a tracheostomy tube in; but the doctors dont know what the long-term prognosis is going to be, said Jim (71). At the beginning they gave us the worst situation, they have to do that; Frank was totally unconscious, in a coma, with tubes coming out of everywhere, it was frightening to see it. But four days ago he came out of the coma, as in he woke up, but he still doesnt really see us when were there in front of him, doesnt recognise us. Franks sister, Sarah, has also arrived in Perth, coming from her home in San Diego to add her support. And she says they are all still in shock. Frank had moved to Australia to set up a new life for himself and Jackie. At the moment the doctors are just trying to make him follow commands, open your eyes, squeeze my hand, things like that. "Its so hard to see my brother like this, its the kind of thing you never think will happen to your own family. A man charged with grievous bodily harm in relation to the incident has been released on bail, but Jim and the rest of the Staples family are unsure of what happened on that fateful night. We dont know what happened, there was a bit of an argument, someone hit him and he went to the ground, he was unconscious before he hit the concrete and he fractured his skull upon impact, said Jim. He had been working in construction out here, was staying in a hostel, the plan was to get set up here and then have his wife Jackie join him. Jackie has arrived in Australia to be with her husband, and the extended Staples family have been rallying round during this incredibly difficult for her and Franks loved ones; further support has come from some familiar faces at the hospital. Everyone at the hospital has been fantastic, theres a lot of Irish doctors and nurses here, I even met a doctor from Mayglass, Jim says. The support weve received from everyone out here has been unreal, the local police collected me from the airport when I arrived, theyve been fantastic, made sure we have everything we need. "My wife Statia wasnt able to travel but were keeping her updated, calling a couple of times a day. "I flew out as soon as I heard what happened, had to spend 18 hours in Dubai on the way over, then my daughter Sarah came over from San Diego a day after me. "She has to go back to the States on August 15 and Jackie can only stay here until the start of September, but I plan to stay here until Frank can come home, whenever that may be. Frank and wife Jackie. With a strong Irish community in the region, Jim has already received offer of accommodation from another Wexford native, Bob OShea, but he admits he doesnt know how long hell be in Australia or how hell manage once Jackie and Sarah leave. I probably wont realise how tough things are until Sarah and Jackie leave and Im on my own here, Im trying to link in with some of the Irish groups while Im here, build some connections. Currently relying on their savings to meet the costs of flights, accommodation, transport, and food, the family will also have to pay significant medical bills in the coming weeks and months. And Sarah has set up a GoFundMe (My brother Franks brain injury recovery fund) in an effort to help meet some of those bills. My dad is going to stay here until Frank is well enough that they can get him home. Considering his current condition it will be a very long time, Sarah says. In this devastating time, I would love to be able to ease some of my family's current and future financial stresses that they are going to face so we can all focus on Frank's recovery. Weve had many messages and phone calls from people, especially the Irish here in Australia, which has been so heart-warming. If you want to help, this GoFundMe is going to alleviate a lot of stress for my family. https://gofund.me/bfbd8538 Robertson posted online he was planning to dig out a camouflage suit and clean the dust off the m24 sniper rifle Law enforcement investigate the scene of a shooting involving the FBI in Provo, Utah, on 9 August. Photograph: Laura Seitz/AP A Utah man accused of making threats against Joe Biden was shot and killed by FBI agents, hours before the US president was expected to land in the state yesterday. Special agents were trying to serve a warrant on the home of Craig Deleeuw Robertson in Provo, south of Salt Lake City, at 6.15am when the shooting happened, the FBI said in a statement. Robertson posted online on Monday that he had heard Biden was coming to Utah and he was planning to dig out a camouflage suit and clean the dust off the m24 sniper rifle, according to court documents. In another post, he referred to himself as a MAGA Trumper, a reference to Donald Trumps slogan Make America Great Again. The posts indicated he did appear to own a long-range sniper rifle and numerous other weapons, as well as camouflage gear known as a ghillie suit, investigators said in court records. Robertson was charged on Tuesday with three felony counts, including making threats against the president, court documents show. They state that Robertson also referenced a presidential assassination and made other threats against Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, and against the US attorney general Merrick Garland, and also against Letitia James, the New York attorney general. The time is right for a presidential assassination or two. First Joe then Kamala!!! wrote Robertson wrote in a September 2022 Facebook post included in the filings. No lawyer was immediately listed for Robertson in the court documents and no further details were immediately released about the planned shooting, which is under review by the FBI. Mr Biden is in the middle of a trip to the western US. He spent early yesterday in New Mexico, where he spoke at a factory that will produce wind towers, and was scheduled to fly to Utah later in the day. Today, he is expected to visit a Veterans Affairs hospital to talk about the PACT Act, which expanded veterans benefits, and hold a re-election fundraiser. Two of Dads big loves were Donegal and his walking. He had incredible walks up here and now they have been mapped out and are another part of his legacy GAY Byrnes daughter Crona reveals that her dads favourite activity in life was walking, and she says he would have been immensely proud to be honoured with what she describes as Gaybos Camino in Co Donegal. Two weeks ago a series of walks called The Gay Byrne Trails were officially opened by his 88-year-old wife, Kathleen Watkins. They have been mapped by the organisers of the local Mary From Dungloe Festival in association with Donegal Co Council. The former Late Late Show presenter, who would have been 89 last Thursday, owned a family holiday home in the Dungloe area for decades and its where he recharged his batteries away from the spotlight, going on long walks with Kathleen and a close circle of local friends. Speaking to the Sunday World, Crona, who was a judge last weekend at the Mary From Dungloe event, reveals: Two of Dads big loves were Donegal and his walking. He had incredible walks up here and now they have been mapped out and are another part of his legacy. Its something Dad would have absolutely lovedGaybos Camino, she laughs. The Gay Byrne Trails Every day he and Mum walked Carrickfinn beach, or theyd go off on one of their many walks, depending on the weather. If they were walking with their group of friends it could be anything from two hours to six hours walking. There were some huge walks. Mum was reminiscing today about one of the walks with Dad. It was a hot day and their feet were killing them on the big, long hike. At one point they sat by a river and stuck their feet in, boots and all, to cool down the feet. On a day like today where its overcast hed say, Right Katie, were heading off, time for a stroll, what are you in the mood for? They might do one loop of Carrickfinn Airport and Mum would sit in the car then and maybe read the paper while hed do a second loop walking down one side of the runway, across the top and up the other side and back. At the launch of the trails, Kathleen said that: Gay loved Donegal, he walked every inch of it and couldnt get enough of it. The trails stretch from the Gweebarra estuary to An Clochan Liath. There is a coastal route of 39km and a shorter route of 14km. Cosain Gay Byrne, The Gay Byrne Trails is phase one of three planned walking routes in west Donegal with the final stretch to be called the Brian Friel trail. Pat Nora Gallagher, Chair of the Mary from Dungloe International Festival, said Gay and Brian Friel were good friends and its only right that the two walking routes named after them should connect. The Gay Byrne Trails were officially opened by his wife Kathleen Crona said her father encouraged the entire family to go walking, no matter what the weather. The weather never mattered to him, she said. He would just tell us to Get up, get out and get on with it. Looking back, Crona says that Gaybo was always active, even when he retired from The Late Late Show in 1999. Dad didnt quit and sit back and do nothing, he had other things going, so he was still very busy, she says. Crona also worked behind-the-scenes on the Late Late until Gay retired. It was very much part of my life growing up, she says. I started appearing on the Toy Show when I was six years of age and I finished when I was 11. Then I was the hostess of the Late Late when I was 13 and I worked right up to Dads retirement in 1999. Cronas job was to look after the guests. It was fabulous, she says. I met some of the most incredible people over the years. And speaking of her fathers incredible fame in Ireland, Crona says people always treated him with respect. In Ireland they are so respectful of you when you are out with your family, she says. People would always greet him and say hello, but there were very few times I remember people hassling him. Gay Byrne had been a compere and judge at the annual Mary From Dungloe festival for decades, and now Crona has taken over his role on the judging panel. Its a great honour, she adds. Leaders from the Amazon countries pose for a family photo at the summit of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO), in Belem, Brazil on August 8, 2023. Brazils Amazon Summit closed Wednesday with a roadmap to protect tropical rainforests that was welcomed as an important step in countering climate change, but without the concrete commitments sought by some environmentalists to end deforestation. Leaders and ministers from eight Amazon nations signed a declaration Tuesday in Belem, Brazil, that laid out plans to drive economic development in their countries while preventing the Amazons ongoing demise from reaching a point of no return. Several environmental groups described the declaration as a compilation of good intentions with little in the way of measurable goals and timeframes. However, it was lauded by others, and the Amazons umbrella organization of Indigenous groups celebrated the inclusion of two of its main demands. It is significant that the leaders of the countries of the region have listened to the science and understood the call of society: the Amazon is in danger, and we do not have much time to act, the international group WWF said in a statement. However, WWF regrets that the eight Amazonian countries, as one front, have not reached a common point to end deforestation in the region. Joining the summit Wednesday were the presidents of the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, an emissary from Indonesias president, and Frances ambassador to Brazil, representing the Amazonian territory of French Guiana. An emissary of Norway, the largest contributor to Brazils Amazon Fund for sustainable development, also attended. The national representatives on Wednesday signed a similar, but much slimmer, agreement to that of their counterparts the prior day; it likewise contained no concrete goals and mostly reinforced criticism of developed nations for failure to provide promised vast climate financing. The presidents of Bolivia, Colombia and Peru did not attend Wednesdays meeting. The eight nations attending on Tuesday Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela are members of the newly revived Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, or ACTO, who hope that a united front will give them a major voice in global environment talks ahead of the COP 28 climate conference in November. The summit reinforces Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvas strategy to leverage global concern for the Amazons preservation. Emboldened by a 42% drop in deforestation during his first seven months in office, he has sought international financial support for forest protection. Speaking to reporters after Wednesdays meeting, Lula railed against protectionist measures poorly disguised as environmental concern that restrict imports from developing nations, and said developed nations must make good on their pledges to provide monetary support for forest protection. Nature, which industrial development polluted for 200 years, needs them to pay their part so we can revive part of what was ruined. Nature is in need of money, Lula said. The Amazon stretches across an area twice the size of India. Two-thirds of it lies in Brazil, with seven other countries and the territory of French Guiana sharing the remaining third. Governments have historically viewed it as an area to be colonized and exploited, with little regard for sustainability or the rights of its Indigenous peoples. All the Amazon countries have ratified the Paris climate accord, which requires signatories to set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. But cross-border cooperation has historically been scant, undermined by low trust, ideological differences and the lack of government presence. The members of ACTO convening for only the fourth time in the organizations 45-year existence demonstrated Tuesday they arent fully aligned on key issues. Forest protection commitments have been uneven. And their joint declaration didnt include a shared commitment to zero deforestation by 2030, as some had hoped. Brazil and Colombia have already made that commitment. Some scientists say that when 20% to 25% of the forest is destroyed, rainfall will dramatically decline, transforming more than half of the rainforest to tropical savanna, with immense biodiversity loss. The Climate Observatory, a network of dozens of environmental and social groups, as well as Greenpeace and The Nature Conservancy lamented the lack of detailed pledges in the declaration. The 113 operating paragraphs of the declaration have the merit of reviving the forgotten ACTO and recognize that the biome is reaching a point of no return, but doesnt offer practical solutions or a calendar of actions to avoid it, the Climate Observatory said in a statement. Colombian Indigenous leader Fany Kuiru, from the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin, praised the declaration for fulfilling two of their primary requests an acknowledgment of their rights to traditional territories and the establishment of a mechanism for the formal participation of Indigenous peoples within ACTO. Bruna Santos, director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center, said the summit demonstrated an effort to treat the Amazon as a regional agenda, but that it also highlighted ambiguities in the priorities of Brazils government, including with respect to oil exploration. Colombias president spoke forcefully about the hypocrisy of pushing for Amazon preservation while pursuing oil, equating it to betting on death and destroying life. Lula has refrained from taking a definitive stance on oil, citing the decision as a technical matter. Meanwhile, Brazils state-run Petrobras company has been seeking to explore for oil near the mouth of the Amazon River. Despite disagreements, there were signs of increased regional cooperation and growing global recognition of the Amazons importance in arresting climate change. A collective voice along with funneling more money into ACTO could help it serve as the regions representative on the global stage ahead of the COP climate conference, leaders said. Anders Haug Larsen, the head of international advocacy at Rainforest Foundation Norway, said that the Amazonian nations are correct to demand more money from developed nations, and that their political will to protect the rainforest represents a historic opportunity. With the plan from this summit and continuous reduced deforestation, this is where the international community should put its climate money, he said. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Many schools with phone bans already in place report students are happy with the measure. Cellphones will be banned from schools if the National Party is elected in October, with leader Christopher Luxon saying the ban is one of the ways the party will lift students' "abysmal" achievement. At Queen Margaret College there is a no cellphone policy, but despite that students are allowed to carry their phones with them - and are trusted not to use them. Year 13 student Eve Robertshawe says it means children learn how to appropriately use their phones. "It's actually really effective because once we get out into the real world and we have a career, our boss isn't gonna take our phone off us at the start of the day." Fellow student Avani Aiulo, Year 10, says not using her phone has helped with her learning. "I think I'm more focused and I'm more engaged in what my teachers are talking to me about, without using my phone." Year 6 student Samira Peake says people not looking down at their phones made it easier for her to make friends when she first transferred to the school At Scots College, middle school students need to keep their phones in their locker, while senior students can keep their phones on them. Year 10 student Jack Hendricksen says he found the policy "a bit weird" after coming from other schools that allowed phones. But he says not being able to use his phone means he spent more time outside at school. Imogen Oscroft, Year 8, says the policy did make it harder for students and parents to contact each other, but not impossible, while Caitlin Horn (Year 10) says people communicate more when they are not looking down at their phones. Students at both schools reported being able to use their phone in classes where teachers deem they add value. National also says it will make exemptions to the phone ban if a student needs it for health reasons or as a learning aid. 'Kids are back to being kids' While Secondary Principals' Association president and principal of Papatoetoe High School Vaughan Couillault told Morning Report a total nationwide ban is unworkable and unnecessary, that has not been the case at Otago Boys' High School, according to rector Richard Hall. The school banned openly using cellphones early last year - including during breaks. Hall says the ban is going well. "I've been really pleased with the way it's been adopted by students and the community," he told RNZ's Checkpoint. "Couldn't be happier with it, to tell you the truth." There has been two main changes, he explains. "Kids are back to being kids - playing in the playgrounds, talking to each other, all of those sorts of things that people at my extreme age did when we were at school. "The second thing is the number of incidents of cyber bullying that we have had, including students and staff, have dropped through the floor. Before we'd have incidents where boys would be videoed, photographs would be taken without their permission, and sometimes staff too, and those would be uploaded with obviously pretty dispiriting messages. That really while it's not zero, it's certainly a lot less than it's ever been." Hall says some students are apprehensive at first, but did not take long to understand why the ban is there. "I think when you explain it to teenagers and you understand all of the research around what's coming through their phones, the influence of Andrew Tate and people like that that we continually have to fight in schools, they get it straight away." Students can take phones to school - so they can call parents after the final bell for pickups, for example - but they have to stay in their bags during school hours. "It's often in your bag from the moment you enter our grounds to the moment you leave. If it's in your pocket, even if you're not using it, it's mine," Hall says. The first time a student is caught using their phone, it's confiscated overnight; the second time for a week; and the third, a conversation with their parents would result. Hall says that results in far less work than having to deal with the consequences of unabated social media use. "I don't spend much time doing it at all really, in the main. My response to that would be, what was the amount of time I was spending with serious discipline incidences and interviewing parents and interviewing boys, when teachers or boys were having their photographs taken without their permission? "That was far in excess of what I'm doing now when I'm telling a boy to give me his phone, hand it over and he can collect it tomorrow." He says if the ban came not from school officials, but the government, his job would be even easier. "I think it would be easier as a principal to say hey look, to a parent or a boy or a child who's upset with it, 'Hey, it's government policy. Just following the government policy.'" -RNZ. Members of the public are reporting a ram raid at Bayfair Shopping Centre. A SunLive reader has emailed in saying there is significant damage inside the store. Christian Froelich emailed in photos smashed windows and broken glass this morning. Christian says it appears whoever broke into the centre, did so through a glass door by the Amazon store. A police spokesperson says they responded to a burglary where a vehicle was used to gain entry to a shopping centre on Girven Road around 5am. Once inside the shopping centre the offenders have broken into two stores. Police located the vehicle travelling away from the centre around 5.10am and a pursuit was initiated. Officers abandoned the pursuit a short time later due to safety concerns. The vehicle was located abandoned, with some stolen items still inside on Concord Avenue around 5.30am. The vehicle was towed to be examined. Enquiries are ongoing. Japanese crystal scientists visit the Pulpi Geode in Almeria Leading experts in crystallography have paid a visit to this wonder of the mineral world, the globe's second largest geode Antonio Caceres / SUR Pulpi Compartir Copiar enlace WhatsApp Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Telegram A delegation of Japanese scientists have visited the town of Pulpi in the province of Almeria to see the world's second largest geode. The mayor of the municipality, Juan Pedro Garcia, and the councillor for tourism, Juan Bautista Lopez, welcomed the crystallography experts at Pulpi town hall, and accompanied them on their visit to the natural monument. Led by Professor Katsuo Tsukamoto, from the Tohoku University of Sendai, and Professors Mihoko Maruyama and Hiroshi Yoshikawa from the University of Osaka, the researchers participated last week in the International Conference of Crystal Growth held in Naples. They then asked Professor Juanma Garcia-Ruiz, author of the book and documentary The Mystery of Giant Crystals , to organise a visit to the Mina Rica and the Pulpi Geode as part of a study trip to the University of Granada. The Japanese scientists, who now return home with new knowledge about the wonder of the mineral world in Pulpi, also agreed to establish ties with the Spanish Japanese Society. This aims to better scientific cooperation between the two countries. The Pulpi geode Ampliar Pulpi The giant Pulpi geode, the biggest in Europe, is in the shape of a rugby ball and measures eight metres long by 1.8 wide and 1.7 high. Its crystals, which resemble knives of ice up to two metres long, are so astonishingly clear that it is possible to read a book through some of them. In the whole world, only one larger than this has been documented, and that is in the Naica Crystals Cave in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. A geode is the result of a rare combination of accidents and the meticulous work of nature, said Garcia-Ruiz, who knows these underground treasures very well. For one to be formed, a rock cavity fills with hot water with dissolved minerals, which then slowly cools. They have different colours and features depending on the type of materials and the conditions in which they form. In the case of Almeria, the rock is a hollow dolomite in which a fissure appeared, through which the liquid with calcium sulphate (gypsum) of volcanic origin entered, flooding the cavity during tens or hundreds of thousands of years. It is hard to determine when it occurred, but Juanma Garcia calculates that it was between two million and 90,000 years ago. The oscillations of temperature in the Earth's crust during millennia in the Sierra de Aguilon meant that in the interior the smallest crystals dissolved and the biggest ones grew extremely slowly. Demonstrators gather in front of the Embassy of Niger in Paris, in support of Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum and ECOWAS, Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023. Nigers deposed president is running out of food and under increasingly dire conditions two weeks after he was ousted in a military coup and put under house arrest, an adviser said Wednesday, and the U.S. State Department expressed deep concern about the deteriorating conditions of his detention. President Mohamed Bazoum, the West African nations democratically elected leader, has been held at the presidential palace in Niamey with his wife and son since mutinous soldiers moved against him on July 26. The family is living without electricity and only has rice and canned goods left to eat, the adviser said. Bazoum remains in good health for now and will never resign, according to the adviser, who wasnt authorized to discuss the sensitive situation with the media and spoke on condition of anonymity. Bazoums political party issued a statement confirming the presidents living conditions and said the family also was without running water. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Bazoum on Tuesday about recent diplomatic efforts, a statement said, and Blinken emphasized that the safety and security of President Bazoum and his family are paramount. The State Department statement on Wednesday called for their immediate release. This week, Nigers new military junta took steps to entrench itself in power and rejected international efforts to mediate. On Wednesday, it accused former colonizer France of trying to destabilize the country, violate its closed airspace and discredit the junta leaders. On Monday, the junta named a new prime minister, civilian economist Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine. Zeine is a former economy and finance minister who left office after a previous coup in 2010 toppled the government at the time. He later worked at the African Development Bank. The establishment of a government is significant and signals, at least to the population, that they have a plan in place, with support from across the government, said Aneliese Bernard, a former State Department official who specialized in African affairs and is now director of Strategic Stabilization Advisors, a risk advisory group. The junta also refused to admit meditation teams from the United Nations, the African Union, and the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, citing evident reasons of security in this atmosphere of menace, according to a letter seen by The Associated Press. ECOWAS had threatened to use military force if the junta didnt reinstate Bazoum by Sunday, a deadline that the junta ignored and which passed without action from ECOWAS. The bloc is expected to meet again Thursday to discuss the situation. Its been exactly two weeks since soldiers first detained Bazoum and seized power, claiming they could do a better job at protecting the nation from jihadi violence. Groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have ravaged the Sahel region, a vast expanse south of the Sahara Desert that includes part of Niger. Most analysts and diplomats said the stated justification for the coup did not hold weight and the takeover resulted from a power struggle between the president and the head of his presidential guard, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, who now says he runs the country. The coup comes as a blow to many countries in the West, which saw Niger as one of the last democratic partners in the region they could work with to beat back the extremist threat. Its also an important supplier of uranium. Nigers partners have threatened to cut off hundreds of millions of dollars in military assistance if it does not return to constitutional rule. While the crisis drags on, Nigers 25 million people are bearing the brunt. Its one of the poorest countries in the world, and many Nigeriens live hand to mouth and say theyre too focused on finding food for their families to pay much attention to the escalating crisis. Harsh economic and travel sanctions imposed by ECOWAS since the coup have caused food prices to rise by up to 5%, say traders. Erkmann Tchibozo, a shop owner from neighboring Benin who works in Nigers capital, Niamey, said its been hard to get anything into the country to stock his shop near the airport. If it continues like this, the situation is going to become very difficult, he said. The junta shut Nigers airspace this week and temporarily suspended authorization for diplomatic flights from friendly and partner countries, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Acting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland met with the coup leaders but said they refused to allow her to meet Bazoum. She described the mutinous officers as unreceptive to her appeals to start negotiations and restore constitutional rule. The U.S. has some 1,100 military personnel in the country and has seen Niger as a strategic and reliable partner in the region. Still, Nuland made more headway than other delegations. A previous ECOWAS delegation was prevented from leaving the airport. Its unclear how much coordination is involved in the various mediation efforts. Some experts have worried that if the work is not coordinated, it could undermine ECOWAS. I think the U.S would come to a modus vivendi with this junta, if the junta proved particularly amenable to U.S interests, but that doesnt seem to be on the table for now, said Alexander Thurston, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati. Analysts say the longer it takes to find a solution, the more time the junta has to dig in and the less momentum there will be to oust it. Other African nations are also divided on how to proceed. Neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, both of which are run by military regimes, have sided with the junta and warned that an intervention in Niger would be would be tantamount to a declaration of war against them. In a joint letter Tuesday to the United Nations, the two countries appealed for the organization to prevent by all means at its disposal, armed action against a sovereign state. Mali and Burkina Faso also sent representatives to Niamey this week to discuss military options. Officials from all sides said the talks went well. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Current Print Subscribers will be prompted to either login to their current site user account or to create a new one. A confirmation email will be sent when a new user account is created, which must be confirmed within three days in order to provide uninterrupted online access through your Print Subscription. Once the email address is confirmed please provide your Account Number to activate your Print Subscription Service. The upcoming NY Cannabis Insider industry insight meetup is a networking event happening August 15 from 6-9 p.m. in Midtown East Manhattan and will be held at Madam Mikettes, 987 2nd Ave., New York, NY 10022. Details and tickets available here. For the panel discussion portion of the meetup, speakers will focus on Native American nations in the cannabis community. Attendees will hear from tribal members and attorneys about the states past and present relationship with Native American nations, up to and including the recent legislative bill that aims to allow state-licensed cultivators and processors to sell cannabis to tribally licensed retailers. Matthew Leonardo, the bills author, will discuss its genesis and where it stands today in the NYS legislative process. Thunder Anderson of the Akwesasne will detail his recent encounter with law enforcement and the raid on his dispensary, Famous As. His attorney, Joseph Bondy, will talk about the current legal battles taking place over tribal cannabis and whats to be expected in the near future. Lance White of the Akwesasne will explain tribal licensing, cannabis culture among tribes and his foray into legal sales as the founder and president of Turtle Island Corporation. Read more about the topic and speakers here. NY Cannabis Insider hosts unique events across the state that bring together entrepreneurs and thought leaders to network and discuss topics essential to the New York State cannabis industry. General admission is $99 and includes all-access to the speakers and networking, light appetizers, and two complimentary beverages. Sponsors and vendors are the businesses shaping the industry locally and regionally. Look for them at the event for advice and help with your cannabis business: Etain is New Yorks only women-founded, vertically integrated medical cannabis company committed to cultivating, manufacturing, and dispensing the highest quality clean, safe, and consistent medical cannabis products for the patients of New York State. Jeffrey Hoffman & Associates PLLC is a firm that focuses on clients in the cannabis industry, including licensees in the adult-use cannabis market, patients and practitioners in the medical cannabis space, and cannabis adjacent product and service providers. Zenco Payments offers regulatory compliant Cannabis Cashless payment solutions at the lowest rates in the industry. Cannabis Workforce Initiative is a collaboration between the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University and the Workforce Development Institute. Its mission is to promote and support social equity in the adult-use cannabis market by providing quality workforce development and legal education. LIM Collegeno matter where you are in your career, if youre ready to be part of this skyrocketing industry, LIM College has a program to help you get in on it. Space is limited at each event and sponsorships are available. Contact Lindsay Wickham at lwickham@advancemediany.com to learn more about sponsorship opportunities to reach this audience. Attending the [May 2023] NY Cannabis Insider event proved to be a pivotal experience, granting me exclusive access to renowned legal dispensary owners, cultivators, and processors, said Robert Danton, founder of Day Chocolates and a 2023 event participant. Through this networking opportunity, I was equipped with new essential knowledge in regulations and connections necessary to prepare for my future permit in New York States thriving cannabis sector. NY Cannabis Insider events are attended by industry professionals, lobbyists and entrepreneurs looking to start their own cannabis business, as well as those from cannabis-adjacent businesses such as legal, security, retail, banking, finance, construction, engineering, business consultation and medical expertise. Our next industry events will be full-day educational conferences held on September 21 (Buffalo) and November 15 (White Plains). For more information, visit https://www.advancemediany.com/ny-cannabis-insider-live/. Syracuse, N.Y. Enrique Nieves grandmother woke him Wednesday morning to news that interrupted his plans to drive anywhere: Someone had punctured two of his cars tires. The 19-year-old had planned to go to his job at Regal Cinema in Destiny USA and to Onondaga Community College to sign up for classes for his second year. Instead, he had to find another way to get around and has to get the tires fixed or replaced on his car. His car was one of more than a dozen vehicles reported with tires punctured or slashed in Eastwood on Wednesday, according to the Eastwood Community Conversation Facebook group. Walking through the neighborhood Wednesday, Syracuse.com found 13 vehicles with flat tires along Clifton Place, Hastings Place and Pattinson Street. Several neighbors with flat tires had already had their vehicles towed. Some vehicles had one flat tire, others had two and a few had all four tires vandalized. Nieves Nissan Sentra rested on two flat tires along the right side of Clifton Place, along with six other vehicles with flat tires. He said he came home around midnight and didnt hear anything happening to the vehicles throughout the night. There has been an uptick of vehicular crimes in the Eastwood neighborhood, with police being called to the area for property damage, vandalism and car thefts, according to 5th District Common Councilor Jimmy Monto. Monto, who also lives in Eastwood, said his vehicle was broken into recently. He said these small quality of life crimes have to be addressed just as much as the citys bigger crimes. Its inconvenient, its expensive and I think that were all sick of it, Monto said, Were all tired of these little crimes that make us feel abundantly unsafe. A neighbor living on Clifton Place said she heard what sounded like spraying from a water hose around 3 a.m. She said she looked outside her bedroom window facing the street, but couldnt see where the noise was coming from. It wasnt until the next morning when she saw her neighbors vehicles parked with flat tires that she realized the sound was actually tires deflating. Another neighbor said her husband had to bike to his job after finding two flat tires on his truck. He ended up being two hours late. On Hastings Place, a father and son worked to remove two driver-side tires punctured overnight. David DeSocio Sr. was notified about the tires on his sons Jeep Grand Cherokee around 5:20 a.m. Wednesday when police came knocking on their door. David DeSocio Jr. had to be driven to work by his father that morning. Around 11 a.m., they stood out in the street using a jack and a lug wrench to replace the tires themselves. This is senseless, DeSocio Jr. said. Its every night, from two to three oclock in the morning theyre out here. About a month ago, DeSocio Jr. said he caught someone pulling on his door handles, checking to see if they were locked. DeSocio Sr. said his family has lived in the Eastwood neighborhood for 30 years. DeSocio Jr. said police need to better patrol the area. Monto said hed been in contact with Syracuse police and asked them to increase their patrols. He said a bike patrol was sent to keep an eye on the neighborhood last weekend. While additional patrol units could help alleviate the issues, Monto said residents should be vigilant: locking home and car doors and not leaving keys in cars. He also said residents should report incidents to police when they happen. Syracuse.com reached out to the Syracuse police for information about the vandalism Wednesday. The department did not respond as of Thursday morning. The flat tires are an inconvenience and can be costly. If the tires cant be repaired, four new tires can cost from $400 to $900 dollars, sometimes more, depending on the size of the tires, the make and model of the vehicle and installation costs. Liability car insurance doesnt cover tire damage. With comprehensive insurance a driver is covered, but they are subject to their deductible. Meaning, if tires cost $500 and a deductible is $250, drivers will pay the remaining $250. Staff writer Darian Stevenson covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, a story idea, a question or a comment? You can reach her at dstevenson@syracuse.com Fernando Villavicencio, the Ecuadorian presidential candidate shot dead on Wednesday, had denounced threats from a criminal group a few weeks before his murder. The Ecuadorian politician told the media that Los Choneros, a local armed wing of Mexicos Sinaloa Cartel, had warned him that they would attack him and his campaign group if they continued to speak about them. What this confirms is that our campaign proposal does indeed seriously affect these criminal structures. And here I am, showing my face. Im not afraid of them. For 20 years, I have gambled in this country against these criminal structures, and I repeat: I am not afraid of them, he said in footage shared online. Villavicencio was assassinated on Wednesday afternoon, after a campaign event in Quito, the Ecuadorian capital. The politician was a member of the National Assembly until its dissolution and presided over the Oversight Commission before running for president as the leader of the political group Movimiento Construye (Build Ecuador Movement). Most polls placed him in fourth or fifth position among the eight candidates running for president after Guillermo Lasso announced he would not seek re-election. The election is scheduled for August 20. Villavicencio presented himself as an anti-corruption candidate and campaigned under the slogan, Its time for the brave. Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio addresses supporters during a campaign rally in Ecuador in 2023. CORTESIA With Ecuador struggling against an unprecedented wave of crime and insecurity, Villavicencio promised to crack down on criminal groups, frequently telling rallies: The time for threats is over. We are going to bring down drug trafficking. Im not afraid of them [...] The only thing they can do is kill me, and with that we liberate an entire people. I am not afraid of death, because I have already defeated it, he told followers at the beginning of July. Villavicencio also said that he had been advised to take extra precautions due to the threats. They told me to wear a [bulletproof] vest. Here I am, in a sweaty shirt, damn it. You [the people] are my bulletproof vest. I dont need it! You come from a brave people, and I am brave like you, he shouted. Here I am. They said they were going to break me [...] Let the drug lords come. Let the hitmen come. The time for threats is over. In the video shared on social media, in which he denounced the threats, one name stood out: Alias Fito, the leader of Los Choneros. The criminal group, one of the most powerful in the country, was founded in the 1990s in the coastal city of Manta. It currently works for the Sinaloa Cartel in cocaine trafficking. Among its adversaries are Los Lobos, Tiguerones and Chone Killers, three gangs that run logistics operations for the rival Mexican group, Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Rosamond Gifford Zoo made national news last fall when mother elephant Mali gave birth to twin miracle baby elephants. Never before had twin elephant calves survived in a zoo in North America or Europe. Today, the twin elephants are growing up fast. Tukada weighed 237 pounds and Yaad weighed 220 pounds when they were born. Now they each weigh 650 pounds. Thats about the heft of a baby grand piano. After a few months feeding on Malis milk, the twins began eating solid food like as grapes and mashed apples. Now, they try all the foods the adult elephants eat: fruits, vegetables, grain and a little hay. They enjoy special treats like jelly beans and marshmallows during training sessions. The twins are playful and curious, often walking close to their mother and each other. Sometimes they whip their trunks around like pinwheels. Theyre growing out their thick tufts of baby hair. (The calves will lose this hair as they grow older.) Mali gave birth to Yaad and Tukada in October 2022. After Malis 652-day pregnancy, the twins were a surprise. As syracuse.coms Glenn Coin reported, zookeepers had no idea Mali was carrying twins until the Tukata slid from Malis birth canal nine hours after Yaad was born. Curator Dan Meates said hes often asked why the zoo didnt know Mali had a second calf inside her. The zoo did routine sonograms during Malis pregnancy, but the sonogram probe can capture only a small section of the uterus. You never see a whole image of the baby, Meates said. X-rays cant penetrate an elephants thick hide and dense muscles. The twin elephants got their names in early December. Yaad means memory in Hindi, and Tukada means chip. The calves names are a nod to the legendary prowess of elephant memories and the plans for Micron Technology to open a chip manufacturing plant in Clay. Now Yaad and Tukada are among the most popular animals to visit at the Syracuse zoo, and theyre back in the spotlight this week with World Elephant Day on Saturday, Aug. 12. This kicks off a week of celebrations for the zoos eight-member elephant herd. You can take morning yoga classes next to the zoos Asian elephant preserve on Saturdays and Sundays until August 27 from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. The $30 ticket price will benefit research on Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpes Virus (EEHV), which is the biggest killer of Asian elephants. The week ends with the annual Asian Elephant Extravaganza on Saturday, Aug. 19. This event celebrates the zoos Asian elephant herd and cultural traditions from their native countries. On Aug. 19, the zoo will host a full day of activities including performances of traditional Indian music and dance, an Indonesian orchestra, and demonstrations with the zoos elephant herd and staff. There will also be birthday celebrations for the zoos two eldest elephants, Siri and Romani. Where: 1 Conservation Place, Syracuse. When: Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. How much: This event is free for members and with paid zoo admission. More Syracuse animal news: See adorable, extremely rare twin elephants born at Syracuse zoo Koalas on loan: Syracuse zoo hosts Kumiri and Kolet for the summer Bench memorializes mother swan Faye killed at Manlius pond Katrina Tulloch shoots videos and writes life + culture stories for Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Contact her: Email | Twitter | Facebook Elbridge, N.Y. The owner of an Elbridge pizza shop has been charged with having sexual contact with a girl at his restaurant. Sotirios Gotsis, 57, of Auburn, was charged with forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child, two misdemeanors, the State Police announced in a news release. Troopers said Gotsis had sexual contact with a female under the age of 17 at a business on June 15. Gotsis is the owner of Dimitris Pizzeria, 1124 State Route 5, Elbridge, according to state records. He was issued appearance tickets and is scheduled to appear in Elbridge Town Court on Aug. 21. Russell, N.Y. A fugitive was killed and a police K-9 was wounded during a shoot-out in the North Country, troopers said. The deadly shooting happened Wednesday afternoon in a wooded area in St. Lawrence County, the New York State Police said in a news release. The state police and the St. Lawrence County Sheriffs Office were searching for a wanted fugitive in a wooded area along Donnerville Road in Russell when the suspect fired at a trooper and his K-9 partner, troopers said. The K-9 was shot; the trooper was not injured, troopers said. The suspect was then shot and killed by a state trooper, troopers said. No information about the suspect or what the suspect was wanted for were immediately released. The trooper who fatally shot the suspect was not named. The K-9 was rushed to a veterinary hospital for treatment, troopers said. It was not clear how seriously the dog was wounded. More details will be released as they become available, troopers said. READ MORE Upstate NY teacher posed as student to get explicit videos from middle schoolers, feds say Drunk woman drives into North Country restaurant, drives out and hits tree, troopers say Mondays tornado in Lewis County was among the most powerful ever recorded in New York state Syracuse, N.Y. Theres a new sponsor this year for the New York State Fairs Center of Progress building: Idaho-based Micron Technology. Micron, which plans to build a $100 billion semiconductor manufacturing complex in Onondaga County, will showcase its name on one of the biggest buildings at the biggest gathering place in Central New York. The fair draws about 1 million visitors each year. A fair spokeswoman said Micron will be a Blue Ribbon Sponsor. According to the fairs rate schedule, that means Micron will pay $50,000 to $74,999. For that amount, Micron will get banners on the outside of the Center of Progress that say Presented by Micron, and a 625-square-foot banner in the Expo Center, the fairs biggest building. Syracuse.com/The Post-Standard this week requested a copy of the contract between Micron and the fair, but has not received it. With 60,000 square feet of wide-open space, the Center of Progress is among the fairs biggest venues. During the fair, the building is home to dozens of booths of gadget vendors, state agencies, public employee unions and nonprofit organizations. Also inside is the 180-ton sand sculpture, one of the fairs most popular perennial exhibits. This years fair runs from Aug. 23 to Sept. 4. Micron announced in October it would build a massive semiconductor manufacturing complex in the town of Clay. The company plans to build four fabrication plants, or fabs, each covering 1.2 million feet of ground. Construction on the first fab is scheduled to start late next year, and the final fab is slated to be done in 2043. Micron says 9,000 employees would eventually work at the complex. An additional 40,000 would be generated by suppliers that would open up shop nearby, Micron says. Micron Technology has spent up to $75,000 to sponsor the Center of Progress building at the New York State Fair. (Photo by Jim Hickey) Senior U.S. Judge Rosemary Pooler, a longtime federal judge from Syracuse who blazed a trail for women on court benches, has died, a court clerk said Thursday. Pooler was 85. In 1991, she became the first woman elected to the state Supreme Courts fifth judicial district, which includes Syracuse. In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed Pooler as the first woman to serve as a U.S. district judge in the Northern District of New York, which covers 32 counties in Upstate New York. Four years later, she was appointed as a U.S. Circuit judge for the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The court is one level below the U.S. Supreme Court. She was the first person from Onondaga County to sit on the appeals court since 1907. In October 2021, Pooler took senior status and stayed on the court. She is an extraordinary woman and a great jurist, Catherine OHagan Wolfe, the clerk of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, said Thursday. We will miss her dearly. Before taking the bench, Pooler spent nearly two decades running for elected offices at the county, state and federal levels. Besides her 1990 election to state Supreme Court, Pooler won one other election - to the Syracuse Common Council in 1973. She also ran for Congress twice, narrowly losing to Republican opponent George Wortley by fewer than 1,000 votes in 1986. In 1988, she lost to Jim Walsh, who would go on to serve 20 years in Congress. Former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner on Thursday remembered being introduced to Pooler as a child by her grandmother, who thought the city council candidate at the time was the best thing since sliced bread. Miner met Pooler again as a young lawyer. Pooler was a U.S. district judge and a warm and welcoming presence for Miner. At that time, it was still unusual for women to be a lawyer, she said. For Miner, Pooler was the physical representation that you could excel and be welcomed and that there was room for you. Often time youd walk in courtrooms and youd be the only woman there. The two later became close friends. Miner asked Pooler to swear her in as a city councilor and later as mayor. She was such a great model for anybody in Syracuse. You could go around the country and say, Rosemary Pooler is my neighbor and people who were in the legal world would say what a tremendous mind she had and what a credit to judges she was. In her later years, Pooler split her time between Syracuse and New York City, Miner said. She had a storied career, but she was also such a warm and caring and unique person, Miner said. The kind of person who could walk into a room and just light it up with her wit and her smile and laugh and her ability to talk about the human condition. Mayor Stephanie Miner takes the oath from Rosemary Pooler, judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals, in Clinton Square during her inauguration for a second term. David Lassman | dlassman@syracuse.comDavid Lassman Staff writer Fernando Alba covers breaking news, crime and public safety. Have a tip, story idea, question or comment? Reach him: Email | Twitter or at 315-690-6950. Syracuse, N.Y. Two weeks after a man was stabbed at Vincent Apartments, splotches of dried blood remained on the dirty hallway floor, attracting swarms of flies. Jaymre Hunter stepped past the splotches and walked up a littered stairwell to his third-floor apartment. Hunter, 24, a medical assistant at the Onondaga County Health Department, was at the building July 31 collecting a few last things after moving out to live with his sister, temporarily. Like every tenant at Vincent Apartments, Hunter was ordered to leave by the new owners, who say they wont start fixing the place until its vacant. There is plenty to fix. The bathroom ceiling in Hunters apartment is blanketed with black mold. The water from his kitchen tap runs amber. His oven hasnt worked in eight months. Mice and roaches infest the building. I just gave up, Hunter said. I wanted to stay in here, but you cant. Its not livable. Still, roughly 100 other tenants remain at Vincent Apartments, a campus of eight buildings off Jamesville Avenue with a total of 267 units. The new owner, Clear Investment Group, of Chicago, has promised to spend millions renovating the Vincent and its notoriously squalid cousin, the 352-unit Skyline Apartments on James Street. The company bought both properties from Tim and Troy Green, whom city and state officials chased out of the rental housing business because of deplorable living conditions at their properties. The change of ownership should mean new life for the buildings, which have been plagued with mice, bugs, broken equipment and crime. But for long-suffering tenants, its a meaningless victory. Their reward is to be forced out. A few months ago, Clear Investment Group, or CIG, told tenants at both the Skyline and the Vincent they had 90 days to move out. Those deadlines have passed. That has spawned anxiety and confusion for many tenants. Some say they are moving in with family. Others say they have nowhere to go. Elizabeth Lanaux, a resident of Vincent Apartments, said she has not found another place she can afford. I dont want to live with my mom, said Elizabeth Lanaux, 52, a home health aide. Clear Investment Group plans to launch eviction proceedings soon, said Amy Rubenstein, CEO. Tenants lose everything There are 150 to 170 tenants still living at the two complexes. Syracuse officials say they are scrambling to try to keep dozens from becoming homeless. The mess was predictable, said Sharon Sherman, executive director of the Greater Syracuse Tenants Network. Sherman, who advises a tenant association at the Skyline complex, warned early on that CIGs plan to vacate the Skyline would leave some tenants with nowhere to go. Skyline tenants lose everything, Sherman wrote in a March 30 email to syracuse.com. Plan calls for them to be evicted from their homes. The same threat looms at Vincent Apartments. Syracuse officials were elated in March when Clear Investment Group agreed to buy the Skyline and two smaller properties from the Greens. The city had sued the Greens company to force them to hand over control of their Syracuse apartment complexes to a receiver. In April, CIG also agreed to buy the Vincent. The citys excitement to welcome new owners was widely shared in the community. But CIG was unrealistic to expect tenants at the complexes to promptly clear out, especially in a city with a severe lack of affordable housing, Sherman said. She wishes that Syracuse officials had pushed CIG in those early days to develop a more workable relocation plan for tenants. Three months before CIG bought the properties, the company was appointed to manage them by a judge, in response to the citys lawsuit. When CIG submitted its $15.2 million renovation plan in court, city officials should have urged the company to address the likely dislocation of tenants, Sherman said. That is when they should have taken more care and (asked) people who are really experts (in housing), you know, whether this plan was going to work. Thats where they failed, Sherman said. City officials say theyre not sure what more they could have done. The city does not provide relocation services; instead, it allocates federal funding to agencies such as Catholic Charities to do that. Miranda Werntz said she and her two kids plan to leave Vincent Apartments after six years and move in with Werntz's mother. Daughter RayAnn, 1, and son Rockim, 8, join Werntz on the couch. Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com And CIG insisted that both properties were so overrun with mice, bugs, crime and disrepair that it would be impractical to fix them up while tenants lived there. City officials said their focus at the time was on making sure the properties changed hands. We just wanted to make sure that we were going to have the transition to new ownership, to get the Greens out of the business of housing in Syracuse, said Sharon Owens, deputy mayor. But in the past month, as the deadlines passed and the situation worsened, city employees have worked more closely with relocation agencies and tracked the efforts of Skyline tenants to find new homes. Meanwhile, conditions remain unlivable. On July 24, a week after CIG finalized its purchase, code inspectors declared the Skyline unfit for human habitation, because of excessive trash and filthy common areas, some of which were fouled with urine. As of Monday morning, the code violations had not been fixed. Rubenstein, of CIG, said cleaning crews try to keep up, but she implied that conditions wont improve much until the tenants are gone. We are limited in what we can do until the properties are vacant. This was very clearly communicated with the city prior to us taking over, she said. Evictions are coming On April 1, CIG gave Skyline tenants a deadline of July 1 to vacate their apartments. After the deadline passed, there were still an estimated 100 people living there. At that point, Sherman beseeched city officials for help. Since then, the city has worked with half a dozen nonprofit agencies to try to find new homes for tenants, said Owens, the deputy mayor. Some of the tenants are clients of service agencies like Arise or Helio Health that help provide housing. Other tenants are working with Catholic Charities, which the city pays to provide emergency relocations. City officials notified Catholic Charities of the problems at Skyline on July 13, said Michael Melara, executive director. The next day, the agency set up an information table at the complex and asked tenants if they needed help, he said. The city had identified at least 68 Skyline tenants who were being assisted as of last week, Owens said. Officials are trying to prevent them from becoming homeless. Thats why we are engaged in really trying to get a handle on where people are in the process, Owens said. For many, the challenge is finding something affordable. Martinique Richardson said she gets assistance from Helio Health to rent this apartment at Vincent Apartments. She points toward a hole near the radiator where she sees mice enter. (Dennis Nett | dnett@syracuse.com) Juanita West, 78, a retired state worker, said she paid $685 a month for her apartment at the Skyline, where she lived for the past 22 years. West finally found an apartment at Rugby Square she can move to this month, but shell have to pay $1,025 a month plus the electric bill. Syracuse officials also plan to call in Catholic Charities and help relocate tenants at Vincent Apartments, but have not begun yet, Owens said. She is encouraging CIG to concentrate on correcting the code violations and relocating tenants from Skyline before worrying about Vincent. I really, really advise them to be able to lock up and secure Skyline, and then lets get our focus on Vincent, she said. Meanwhile, CIG continues to pressure Vincent residents to get out. Rubenstein estimated there are still 100 tenants there. On Aug. 2, residents found notices taped to their doors reminding them that the deadline to leave had passed. If you have not vacated as of yet please do so to avoid penalty, the notice said. So far, Owens said, she is not aware of any tenants who had been served with formal eviction papers. But she expects it at some point. I anticipate them beginning court proceedings, she said. The question is, when. Soon, Rubenstein said. CIG is working with a few tenants to move them into other properties owned by the company, but the majority face eviction if they dont leave, she said. Company lawyers are preparing the paperwork now. A waiting list of 1,000 The odds were stacked against tenants of the Skyline and Vincent being able to find new homes within 90 days, said Megan Stuart, director of the Housing and Homeless Coalition of Central New York. 7 1 / 7 Mold, mice and neglect at Vincent Apartments There is a severe shortage of affordable housing. Forcing dozens of tenants to search for apartments at the same time just compounds the competition for limited openings, she said. The homeless coalition has a list of 1,024 households waiting for apartments, all of whom have lived in temporary shelters within the past month, Stuart said. Finding anything affordable is a challenge, and then having that amount of people probably vying for the same apartments is just going to create quite the issue with that, Stuart said. Miranda Werntz has put up with a lot during the six years she has lived at Vincent Apartments. The reason: Its hard to find another two-bedroom apartment for $685 a month. A couple weeks ago, she found a pile of used hypodermic needles and burned foil in the stairwell just outside her door. The baseboards in her apartment are sealed with duct tape in an effort to keep out mice and roaches. And its not safe to let her kids play outside, she said. Werntz lives with her 8-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter. You never know what youll find in the grass, she said. It could be glass, it could be needles. Like Hunter, Werntz and her kids are moving in with a relative. She hopes to move this month to an apartment rented by her mother. Werntz said she tried to find her own place, but the rents were nearly double what she pays now. And the landlords were looking for tenants who made three times the rent in monthly salary. Im thankful my mom was receptive, Werntz said. I have that. But what about the people that dont? Its the meantime Owens said she remains confident that CIG will renovate the Skyline, the Vincent and two smaller apartment buildings they are buying from the Greens. That will restore more than 800 moderately priced apartments to livable condition. But the transition is difficult, she said. The question now is whether the buildings can be revived without further punishing tenants who have long suffered with the squalor. Weve worked so hard to get the Greens out of business here, at least as far as owning property that people live in, Owens said. Now were transitioning to a new owner. And I do believe that they are going to renovate the property. It is the middle, its the meantime that were going through right now. Hunter, the tenant who moved in with his sister, said it is unfair to drive tenants out because the apartment complexes are in terrible condition. I dont think it was fair to kick everybody out because like, these people dont have anywhere to go, he said. And try to understand the situation: They didnt make this place like this. Do you have a news tip or a story idea? Contact reporter Tim Knauss: email | Twitter | | 315-470-3023. By Raga Justin | Times Union, Albany Albany, N.Y. Ten regional councils that comprise the states recently launched Hate and Bias Prevention Unit, an initiative to gauge and combat hate crimes, have been conducting their kick-off meetings in private with Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado, who chairs the effort. According to the state Committee on Open Government, the regional councils are not required to comply with the states Open Meetings Law, which regulates bodies that perform a governmental function or may be involved in a decision-making process that involves public business. Still, there is nothing that prohibits the councils from opening their meetings to the public or press which has been a practice of the states 10 regional economic councils that served as a model for the anti-bias unit created with the state Division of Human Rights. The meetings have been held privately at the request of the Division of Human Rights, according to a spokesman for the agency. Delgado has conducted brief press availabilities after most of the council meetings he has attended around the state this summer. His work heading the unit has been one of his most touted roles since becoming lieutenant governor 15 months ago. The units stated mission is to quickly respond to communities after a hate or bias incident occurs, as well as to organize the anti-bias councils across the state. The regional councils are made up of community members, including representatives of law enforcement agencies and faith groups. They are working on educational programming, conflict trainings and the filing of complaints with the Division of Human Rights, according to an outline of the groups work posted online. Kristin ONeill, the Committee on Open Governments assistant director, said the regional councils were not specifically authorized by the legislation Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law creating the statewide campaign. The councils were formed as part a broader slate of anti-bias initiatives following a series of hate-fueled incidents last year, including a mass shooting at an LGBTQ club in Colorado. The law had called for the creation of a statewide campaign to combat hate crimes, particularly those targeting racial and religious minority groups. The councils were announced by Hochuls administration after she signed the legislation. Gov. Hochul convened the Hate and Bias Prevention Unit to tackle the extraordinarily sensitive issues of hate and bias that are becoming all too common, and she is committed to speaking out in public against hate in all forms, said Avi Small, the governors spokesman. As part of her ongoing commitment to transparency, Gov. Hochul will continue ensuring all state entities are in full compliance with the Open Meetings Law. In August 2021, when Hochul succeeded former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo as governor upon his resignation, she had pledged to restore transparency in state government. Cuomos administration had been known for its lack of access, obfuscation and cover-ups. ONeill, who conducts training seminars on the Open Meetings Law for the state, said that because the anti-bias councils are voluntary they are not considered an entity created or appointed to perform a necessary function in the decision-making process. Delgados office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Manny Kottaram, a spokesman for the state Division of Human Rights, said the new unit is tasked with leading public education and outreach to stem the rising tide of hate. Since the unit was announced nine months ago, the 10 regional councils have begun the process of meeting and developing their public programming that will achieve these goals. The agency offered additional information as background, noting the goal of the regional councils is to plan and develop public programming. They also cited an event scheduled for Aug. 19, when the Mohawk Valley Council is scheduled to host an art fair that would be open to the public and press. The unit is also developing public-facing materials as well as a website page that will detail their work and list the members of the 10 councils, the agency said. These councils will provide a place for community members to share concerns, organize educational programming, host hate crime prevention and community healing events, conduct trainings in conflict resolution, and facilitate the filing of complaints with the division and other relevant agencies, stated a news release that was issued when the initiative was launched. ___ (c)2023 the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) Visit the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) at www.timesunion.com By Hannah Campbell | Times Union, Albany Albany, N.Y. Thousands of people are sitting in New York jails, many for low-level charges or as they await trial. While those in custody are stripped of many freedoms, one right remains for many of those incarcerated persons: the right to vote. In New York, inmates in local jails who have not been convicted of a felony offense are entitled to vote, while those who are incarcerated for a felony conviction cannot vote until they are released from custody. (The right to vote for those with a felony conviction in New York was signed into law in 2021.) But even though many inmates in county jails have the right to vote, the facilities are not required to facilitate voter registrations or provide education programs for them. Jails are only required to notify inmates of their voting status upon release. Whether some people like it or not, thousands of New Yorkers detained in jails are eligible to vote, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, D-Brooklyn, said in a statement. But unlike other congregate settings like nursing homes, our prisons and jails arent set up for simple or straightforward voter access. The states League of Women Voters chapter is working to change that. The nonpartisan voting rights advocacy nonprofit recently conducted a survey to gather more information about the status of inmate voting statewide. The effort by the leagues Criminal Justice Reform Committee included polling jails statewide to gauge the potential barriers to voting or registering to vote while someone is in custody. Fifty-seven of the states 62 counties were surveyed. The five New York City counties were excluded because information was already available on voting programs at Rikers Island, the citys largest jail, where 800 voter registrations and 170 absentee ballot applications were processed over a 2-year period, according to the survey. I think our understanding of Rikers and what was going on there, from our work with our coalition partners, took away any naivety in how we would approach interviewing other sheriffs and their offices, said Hazel Weiser, one of the studys coordinators, who is a former law professor at the Touro Law Center and member of the leagues Criminal Justice Reform Committee. She worked with other volunteers and students to conduct the survey across the state from mid-January until the end of April. Twelve counties did not respond, she said. The survey results placed the correctional facilities on a spectrum, determining if there was a voting program and how extensive it is. Throughout the state, 16 county jails told leagues surveyors that they did not have an inmate voting program compared to 12 county jails that have a fuller program. Eighteen other jails either did not provide details on their jail voting programs, or only had information posted on signs in their facilities or provided information on a tablet or in a handbook. Some of the counties (that were) surveyed relied on the detainee to request access to the ballot and that is relying upon somebody knowing they have the right to vote, Weiser said. The state league also reached out to individual local chapters to determine whether they had a working relationship with the local sheriffs and boards of elections. Our local leagues really are the boots on the ground when it comes to voting and to issues in their own communities, said Erica Smitka, deputy director of the New York League of Women Voters. For Albany County, the local league has taken additional steps to make voting easily accessible for inmates. In 2018, the Coalition for Voter Registration in NY Capital District Jails formed, with members from organizations such as the Capital Area Urban League, the New York Civil Liberties Union and Generation Vote. The coalition works closely with Albany County Sheriff Craig Apples office and holds voter registration and education drives for county inmates. Regina Tillman, the president of diversity, equity and inclusion for the Albany League of Women Voters, also serves as the coalitions project coordinator. She said the coalition was formed after significant community interest in jail voting programs. Any kind of education, cumulatively, does help recidivism, Tillman said. So, this is just another layer of education that helps in that and upping their sense of responsibility. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, inmates could sign up for voter registration and education workshops. Volunteers would come in person to conduct the education portion, where a member of the coalition would explain voting rights and how they have evolved over time. Volunteers also assist inmates with voter registration and absentee ballot applications. Part of my plea to the sheriff was that it makes a difference when people are in-person, walking (inmates) through a process and talking to them about it, Tillman said. Around 150 inmates at the correctional facility have been registered to vote through the effort, Tillman said. The last time volunteers physically visited the Albany County jail was in October, before COVID-19 began to circulate again within the jail. The Albany County Sheriffs Office said in a statement that additional funding is necessary to facilitate voting in jails, and that the office is open to new training to facilitate these voter registration initiatives. Potential voting barriers were also outlined in the leagues survey, including reluctance from some sheriffs offices. Out of the 45 counties that responded to questioning, just 12 sheriffs offices agreed that they required additional training to facilitate voting. The program in Albany County appears to be the most evolved program in the region, based on the League of Women Voters report. According to the survey results, Rensselaer County Correctional Facility does not have an official jail voting program, and the Saratoga and Schenectady county jails have minimal information available for inmates. In Saratoga County, voting rights information has only been posted on signs inside the jail and in an inmate handbook. In Schenectady County, the jail had only put up signs last year to inform inmates of voter rights. Sheriffs officials in Saratoga and Schenectady counties did not respond to requests for comment. In Rensselaer County, there is no voting program but materials are available upon request, according to the leagues survey. Shirley Buel, president of the League of Women Voters Rensselaer County chapter, said the organization has not been given access to the correctional facility despite numerous requests. She has hoped to meet in person with inmates on a regular basis, similar to the program in Albany County. Kathleen Grady, inmate services coordinator at the Rensselaer County Correctional Facility, said there has only been one voter registration drive at the jail. In 2008, officials with the Center for Law and Justice in Albany visited there to assist inmates. Grady said inmates must request materials in writing to receive voter registration and absentee ballot forms. She said there are no future plans to implement a program, but her office is open to working with the local League of Women Voters as well as providing additional training to staff. The survey additionally outlined recommendations for correctional facilities that have programs or with just minimal information in place. They include a voter guide that could be distributed to sheriffs offices across the state, putting more information in inmate handbooks or electronic tablets and designating a staff member to inform inmates of their voting rights. While many of the recommendations are for individual sheriffs offices, Weiser explained the local boards of elections are responsible for administering voting. What wed love to see is that the New York State Board of Elections would come up with a comprehensive educational program and then provide that to all of the local boards of elections, Weiser said. Theyll take on the primary responsibility for screening and for administering voting rights within the jails. The Capital Region coalition hopes the survey results will help form new jail voting programs and create a standard approach for all sheriffs offices in the area to follow. This is not a group of people that retreats easily, said Elaine Frazier, former president of the Capital Area Urban League. Once we are drawn out, the conversation has started again and we will get back to work. The coalition also hopes to engage more organizations to reach a wider community outreach in the region. Earlier this year, Sen. Myrie introduced a bill that would require correctional facilities to provide inmates access to voter registration or apply for an absentee ballot. It also would require voting information to be included in the inmate handbook provided by individual facilities. (Individuals in jail) are constituents too, and their voices matter as much as anyone elses, Myrie said in a statement. New York should give all its eligible voters every opportunity to cast their ballots and participate in our democracy. ___ (c)2023 the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) Visit the Times Union (Albany, N.Y.) at www.timesunion.com Ships Operator, captain, and chief engineer sentenced for environmental crimes Ships Operator, captain, and chief engineer sentenced for environmental crimes aboard a Rhode Island-bound oil tanker PROVIDENCE The Greek company that owned and operated the Galissas, its captain, and chief engineer were each sentenced in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island today for environmental crimes committed in February 2022, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha. Zeus Lines Management S.A., (Zeus) owner/operator of the Gallissas, was sentenced by United States District Judge Mary S. McElroy to pay a total monetary penalty of $2.25 million, consisting of a fine of $1,687,500 and a community service payment of $562,500. The community service payment will go to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to fund projects to benefit marine and coastal natural resources located in the State of Rhode Island. Additionally, Zeus will serve a four-year term of probation, during which any vessels operated by the company and calling on U.S. ports will be required to implement a robust environmental compliance plan. The Galissas captain and chief engineer were also sentenced to terms of probation. During earlier proceedings in May 2023, Zeus admitted violating The Ports and Waterways Safety Act and The Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. The Galissas captain, Master Jose Ervin Mahinge Porquez, a resident of the Philippines, admitted to violating The Ports and Waterways Safety Act; Galissas Roberto Cayabyab Penaflor, also a resident of the Philippines, admitted violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. According to information presented in court, while the Galissas was conducting cargo operations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in February 2022, crew members became aware that the vessels inert gas system became inoperable. The inert gas system is necessary to ensure that oxygen levels within the vessels cargo tanks remain at safe levels and do not pose a hazardous condition. Rather than remaining in Rotterdam until the inert gas system could be repaired, Zeus and the ships captain, Porquez, decided to instead sail to the United States, where a spare part would be delivered upon the vessels arrival. On February 11, 2022, while crossing the Atlantic, Porquez submitted a Notice of Arrival to the U.S. Coast Guard which failed to report the hazardous condition. On February 15, 2022, the Coast Guard sent an email in preparation for inspection which inquired about the vessels inert gas system. Porquez responded but did not disclose the inoperable inert gas system. Upon arrival off the coast of Rhode Island on February 19, 2022, the vessel embarked a local ships pilot to sail the vessel closer to shore and take delivery of the spare part. Although the crew installed the spare part, the inert gas system remained inoperable. Porquez failed to report to the Coast Guard the hazardous condition that the vessels inert gas system was inoperable while the tanks were not gas free. The following day, the U.S. Coast Guard boarded the Galissas to conduct an inspection. Only then did Porquez inform the Coast Guard that the inert gas system was inoperable. The Coast Guard immediately took measurements of the oxygen levels within the vessels cargo tanks, which registered more than double the maximum allowable levels. The Coast Guard then ordered that the vessel be moved further offshore so as to not endanger the port of Newport, Rhode Island. Additionally, Zeus Operations Manager directed Porquez to create a logbook showing oxygen levels during the transatlantic voyage. Porquez had a logbook created that falsely indicated the cargo tanks were at safe oxygen levels when the vessel left the Netherlands and remained at safe levels during the majority of the vessels transit of the Atlantic Ocean. In reality, the crew had not taken any readings of the oxygen levels in the cargo tanks during the vessels voyage. The fraudulent logbook was presented to the U.S. Coast Guard during its inspection. Additionally, in a separate infraction, Zeus and chief engineer Penaflor admitted that throughout the transatlantic voyage oily bilge water was illegally dumped from the Galissas directly into the ocean without being properly processed through required pollution prevention equipment. Oily bilge water typically contains oil contamination from the operation and cleaning of machinery on the vessel. They also admitted that these illegal discharges were not recorded in the vessels oil record book as required by law. Penaflor ordered crew members under his supervision to discharge a total of approximately 9,544 gallons of oily bilge water from the vessels bilge holding tank directly into the ocean using the vessels emergency fire pump, bypassing the vessels required pollution prevention equipment. Penaflor instructed crew members on several occasions to not tell the Coast Guard about bypassing the pollution prevention equipment resulting in illegal discharges. The case was prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Stephen Da Ponte of the Department of Justices Environment and Natural Resources Divisions Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. McAdams for the District of Rhode Island, with assistance from Lieutenant Commander Paul J. Milliken from the U.S. Coast Guard District One Legal Office. The U.S. Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England and the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service investigated the case. US military personnel arrive in the Red Sea on two warships after wave of tanker seizures by Iran Sailors and Marines entered Red Sea Sunday after transiting through Suez Canal The family of Daniel Sancho, who faces trial in Thailand after confessing to having murdered and dismembered his friend Edwin Arrieta on Koh Pha-ngan, released a statement Thursday expressing their regret over the death of the 44-year-old Colombian surgeon. They also asked for respect for the respective families and stated that they would not make any statements on the case. Colombia and Thailand. Fernando Oca, a Spanish lawyer at a Thai law firm, read the statement on behalf of the family of Sancho, the son of Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho. We are very sorry to hear of Edwins passing and we accompany the family in their grief, the lawyer said in a video. Sancho, 29, who remains in custody on the island of Koh Samui on charges of premeditated murder, has been visited by a lawyer hired by the family, who works in the same office as Oca, Siam Royal International Law and Accounting Associates Co., Ltd. He was initially assisted by a public defender. We appreciate the interest of the press, but we cannot make any statements at this time in order not to interfere in the investigation and to respect the very painful moment that both families are experiencing in this terrible situation that has befallen us, reads the brief statement. Thai police are still gathering evidence against the Spaniard, while continuing to search the coastal area of Kho Pha-ngan, where Sancho admitted to disposing of parts of Arrietas dismembered body. Investigators have asked the courts to prosecute Sancho for premeditated murder, which in Thailand carries a possible sentence of death. However, Sanchos confession and cooperation with the investigation suggest that he is seeking to escape capital punishment, although if found guilty he faces life imprisonment. Investigators are searching Arrietas cell phone while also trying to clarify Sanchos motivation for the crime. In addition, divers are looking for a blue duffel bag in which the Spaniard allegedly disposed of part of Arrietas body in the sea. Thai police have also reconstructed the series of events. Meanwhile, the Colombian doctors family oppose a potential death penalty for Sancho, on the basis of religious beliefs, their lawyer said Wednesday. We definitely do not want the death penalty because our family is very religious, Miguel Gonzalez, the familys lawyer, told France Presse. It is not the right path. But we do want an exemplary penalty, including life imprisonment, added Gonzalez, who rejected Sanchos possible extradition to Spain. The case should be brought in Thailand because the evidence was collected there [...] and because that would give us greater guarantees. It would be an impartial state and there would be no interference from third parties. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition The Taos News delivered to your Taos County address every week for a full year! We offer our lowest mail rates to zip codes in the county. Click Here to See if you Qualify. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime. The assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio Wednesday afternoon in Quito has plunged Ecuador into a state of maximum alert. The murder comes ahead of the upcoming presidential elections on Sunday, August 20 and amid a deep security crisis that authorities have failed to address. Before he was killed, the 59-year-old candidate warned that he had received threats from a group of drug traffickers linked to Mexicos Sinaloa Cartel. President Guillermo Lasso pointed to organized crime and summoned his security cabinet. Here are five keys to what has become a fateful day in Ecuadors history. The assassination Fernando Villavicencio, a journalist by profession, had taken part in a campaign event at the Anderson school in the Ecuadorian capital. At 6:20 p.m., he left the building and went to his vehicle, surrounded by bodyguards. The hitman fired around 40 shots at the candidate. He was hit and died shortly after. Several companions were also injured. The alleged perpetrator died after a confrontation with security agents, the Prosecutors Office said. The election campaign The assassination impacts an already atypical presidential campaign. The outgoing president, Guillermo Lasso, dissolved the National Assembly three months ago and called snap elections to avoid a possible impeachment trial. Villavicencio, who promised strong action on crime and zero tolerance against corruption, was polling in fourth or fifth place. Leading the polls is Luisa Gonzalez, the candidate promoted by former president Rafael Correa. The vote could see a leftist government return to Ecuador. Fernando Villavicencio addresses his supporters at a rally. CORTESIA The security crisis Ecuador is suffering the worst security crisis in its recent history. The situation, which worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic, is largely due to the dispute over drug trafficking routes between Mexican cartels. During the election campaign, Agustin Intriago, the mayor of Manta, a key port in Ecuador, and Rider Sanchez, a candidate for the National Assembly, were also assassinated. In recent weeks, there have been riots and attacks with explosives. The deaths number in the dozens and although the violence is centered on the coast, affecting in particular the city of Guayaquil, it has also reached Quito. The threats Villavicencio had denounced threats from a group linked to the Sinaloa Cartel. Specifically, he had received intimidating messages from Alias Fito, a criminal from a gang known as Los Choneros. If I keep mentioning the name of Fito and mentioning Los Choneros, they are going to break me, he warned. At the same time, he made it clear to them that he was not willing to give in: Here I am showing my face, Im not afraid of them. Los Choneros is a drug gang born in the 1990s, which now works for Mexicos Sinaloa Cartel. It clashes with three other Ecuadorian criminal groups Los Lobos, Tiguerones and Chone Killers, who work for the rival Mexican organization, Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Experts work in the area where the candidate was attacked. KAREN TORO (REUTERS) Uncertainty The murder of Villavicencio has shrouded the upcoming presidential elections in uncertainty. Some rival candidates announced that they were suspending their campaign. President Lasso summoned the main authorities of the country to face the crisis and promised that he will act against organized crime with the full weight of the law. For now, the violence has brought the country to a halt. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Another day, another price hike, and this time its Disney+ thats looking to up its subscription prices. Luckily, theres something you can do about it. First, the background: Disney announced on Wednesday that it would soon hike the price of its ad-free Disney+ Premium plan to $13.99 a month, a $3-a-month increase. Do the math, and thats a hefty 27-percent price hike. Disney also announced price increases for Hulu (No Ads), which will go up to $17.99 a month (up $3 a month), as well as Hulu with Live TV, which will see price increases to $76.99 (with ads) and $89.99 (no ads), a $7-a-month price hike for each. The subscription rate Hulu with ads wont go up during this round of price hikes, nor will the price of the ad-supported Disney+ Basic plan. So, first the bad news: The trick Im about to describe for avoiding the Disney+ price hike wont work with Hulu this time, for reasons that will be apparent in a moment. But heres the good news: Yep, there is a way to skirt the Disney+ price hike, which is slated to kick in on October 12. The trick: sign up for an annual Disney+ Premium plan. If you grab Disney+s annual plan now, you can lock in a years worth of Premium for $109.99, which comes out to about $9.17 a month. After October 12, the annual price for Disney+ Premium will go up to $139.99. OK, so what about Hulu? Unfortunately, Hulu only offers an annual plan for Hulu with ads, which isnt getting a price hike in October. For Hulu (No Ads) or Hulu with Live TV, you can only pay monthly. Subscribe to Disney+ Premium for $109.99 a year How to sign up for the Disney+ annual plan You can opt for an annual Disney+ plan right when you sign up for Disney+. After you switch to the tab for unbundled Disney+ plans and pick either Basic or Premium, youll see options for both monthly and annual billing. Just pick Annual, and follow the prompts. Log in to Disney+, hover your mouse over your profile icon, and select the Account menu item. Head for the Subscription section, find your plan, then click Change . section, find your plan, then click . Next, click Save with annual plans, pick the annual billing option, then click Agree & Subscribe. Fire up the Disney+ app, tap your profile icon, then go to the Subscription heading. heading. Select your plan, switch to the annual billing option (you may be prompted for your email address and password), then tap Agree & Subscribe. Launch the Disney+ app, tap your profile icon, then go to the Subscription heading. heading. You should see a Switch to Disney+ (annual) option; tap it. option; tap it. Finish the plan change through the third partys billing system. Two things to keep in mind before signing up for an annual Disney+ plan Researchers at North Carolina State University on Wednesday revealed a novel method for foiling malicious robocalls. Called SnorCall, the method uses artificial intelligence to analyze the content in robocalls and, in a significant number of cases, provide law enforcement and other stakeholders with the information they need to track down the bad actors behind the calls. In a paper presented at Usenix Security Symposium in Boston, the researchers explained how SnorCall was used to record 232,723 robocalls collected over 23 months on more than 60,000 phone lines provided to them for their project by Bandwidth, a telecommunications platform provider. The robocalls were then transcribed and analyzed by a machine-learning network called Snorkel, which is where SnorCall gets its name. Snorkel allows researchers to build and manage training datasets without manual labeling, turning weeks or months of work into hours or days. Snorkel is the machine learning framework, which we use as the foundation layer to analyze robocall audio, explained Sathvik Prasad, a Ph.D. student at NC State and first author of the paper. Our framework is flexible enough to categorize any kind of robocall, he told TechNewsWorld. In our paper, we demonstrate how to do that for social security and tech support scams, which are predominately malicious. There are quite a few benign but annoying telemarketing calls, like auto warranty calls, he added. We collected those, too, but theyre not as harmful as a border patrol or social security impersonation call. What we focused on was the most egregious calls, the most harmful ones to society, and studied them in detail. Tracking Down Robocallers SnorCall uses the labels generated by Snorkel to identify what each call is about. Does it mention a specific company or government program? Does it request specific personal information? If so, what kind? Does it request money? If so, how much? All that is fed into a database that can be used to identify trends or behaviors. The researchers also demonstrated how they could find phone numbers that could be traced back to the originators of the robocalls. Scammers can fake where a robocall is coming from, but they cant fake the number they want their victims to call, Brad Reaves, corresponding author of the paper on the work and an assistant professor of computer science at NC State, told TechXPlore. And about 45% of the robocalls we analyzed did include this callback number strategy, he continued. By extracting those callback numbers, SnorCall gives regulators or law enforcement something to work with. They can determine which phone service providers issued those numbers and then identify who opened those accounts. What we did extracting callback numbers from robocalls had never been done before, added Prasad. It allows us to tie those numbers to the global calling infrastructure, which is also unique. He noted that spoofing caller ID numbers was an almost universal tactic used by malicious robocalls with 95% of the calls spoofing caller IDs. Out-of-Control Problem Robocalls are out of control in the U.S., maintained Maria-Kristina Hayden, CEO and founder of Outfoxm, a cyber hygiene and resiliency company. Some estimates show over 50 billion calls to U.S. consumers in 2022 alone, she told TechNewsWorld. I hear from hundreds of individuals a month who are fed up with the cadence of scam likely calls to their cell and home phones. The robocall problem is complex, added Liz Miller, vice president and a principal analyst with Constellation Research, a technology research and advisory firm in Cupertino, Calif. The reality is that the number of scam calls is rising, often targeting disproportionately vulnerable audiences, such as elderly non-English speakers who are terrified their social security number is being used as part of a criminal act, she told TechNewsWorld. But the reality is that more of these automated recorded calls are being used by legitimate businesses, organizations, or government offices as a fast way to distribute information. The weekly recorded message from a school principal to parents is one example, she continued. Robocalls are not all bad, and they are not all unwanted, she said. However, there is also a spotty capacity to differentiate or weed out the good from the bad. The company YouMail released numbers at the start of 2022, noting that in December 2021 alone, robocalls averaged 1,831 calls per second. Believable Deceptions Technology analyst Jeff Kagan noted that many of those calls can be problematic for consumers. Robocalls are often the first step in a process that leads to theft, he told TechNewsWorld. Robocalls are a problem because they are malicious, and becoming more believable, tricky, and a nuisance, declared Hayden. Even the national Do Not Call list and paid apps that are supposed to prevent calls are not very effective and Ive tried many of them, she said. Robocall campaigns are becoming more and more effective as criminals leverage global context to make their lures more believable, she added. For instance, she continued, during Covid, scammers called posing as pharmacies calling with Covid test results or vaccine appointments. Scammers are also targeting specific generations with topics that may lure them in, such as posing as representing Medicare and calling older populations, she noted. Some robocalls can even be terrifying, asserted Miller. Being told your passport is being held at a consulate unless you pay a fine can be downright chilling if you dont know the call is a total scam, she observed. She also pointed out that robocall scammers are getting more sophisticated. She cited a tag-a-long scam pegged to Camp Lejeune lawsuits. While legitimate calls to action were being deployed to join a pending legal action, robocalls were deployed telling people to call a number, where they were asked for a credit card number to join the case and become a plaintiff. Best To Be Skeptical Kagan advises consumers that skepticism is the best protection against robocall scams. You should be aware that the vast majority of times you get a call or an email or a text from someone whom you dont know, you should assume its a scam and ignore it. I get dozens of attempts every day by phone, voicemails, emails, and text messages, he said. Theres simply no way to see through all of them. Its unfortunate that weve come to this, he said. But we have. In brief: It appears that the PC market is finally showing signs of recovery. According to new data from John Peddie Research (JPR), the total number of client CPU shipments in Q2 was up by 17% compared to the previous quarter. Intel dominated the three months with a massive 23% increase in its market share, while AMD's share was down 5.3%. JPR's latest report shows that global client CPU shipments reached 53.6 million units in the second quarter of 2023. That's up from the 46 million units shipped in Q1. The figure is still down compared to the same period last year: desktop CPU shipments declined 23% YoY while notebooks were down 22%. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise to see that Intel was the dominant CPU company during the quarter, thanks to its widely available 13th-gen entry-level notebooks and desktop processors. However, AMD has released cheaper options, its Phoenix and Dragon Range APUs could find their way into more laptops, and the upcoming Strix Point APUs sound promising. Intel, meanwhile, has its Raptor Lake Refresh and Meteor Lake chips on the way we just saw leaks showing some good performance increases for the Intel i5-14600K and i7-14700 Elsewhere, notebooks CPUs were responsible for the vast majority of processors shipments, making up 72% of total units compared to 28% for desktop CPUs. "Increase in client CPU shipments from last quarter is positive and welcomed news in what has been depressing results for that quarter as well as for the last two years," Jon Peddie said. "Integrated graphics also increased from last quarter, which is not too remarkable given most CPUs have built-in GPUs. The forecast for next quarter is a cautionary positive. AMD and Intel are guiding upward, albeit modestly." JPR's report aligns with analyst firm Canalys' recent prediction that the PC market will start to recover later in 2023. It noted that desktop and notebook shipments hit a nadir of 14 million units in Q1, down 28% YoY due to low demand across all end-user segments. A different analyst company also noted a slight improvement in the second quarter. International Data Corporation (IDC) wrote that global shipments dipped 13.4% compared to the same period a year earlier - less of a decline than during Q1. A preliminary report from IDC pointed to weak demand from consumers and commercial clients, continued macroeconomic headwinds, and a shift in IT budgets as factors that have contributed to the 18-month slump. A hot potato: It's long been said that working from home results in happier, more productive workers, with most arguments against that claim coming from studies carried out by employers, suspiciously. But a new academic study has also suggested that WFH results in lower productivity, by as much as 18%. Since the end of the lockdowns, few subjects have been as contentious as working from home. Many studies have found that improved work/life balance, no commuting, and extra time with family increase worker productivity. But a working paper by economists from MIT and the University of California, Los Angeles, disputes these findings. It observed two groups made up of 235 data-entry workers one working from home, the other in the office in Chennai, India, for eight weeks. The results showed that those working from home were 18% less productive, based on net typing speed, than those working from the office. The study stipulated that those in the office stick to a 9 am to 5 pm schedule, while those at home could choose when they did their 35 hours per week. As per Insider, the study discovered that people who are less productive when working from home are actually more likely to choose WFH, not less. MIT professor David Atkin, who helped write the paper, explained why this might be the case. He said that some people might choose to work from home even though they're less productive because they need to be there during the day. They could, for example, need to take care of their children, and this can make them more distracted and less productive. Atkin suggests that the best compromise between WFH satisfaction and in-office productivity is hybrid work, in which employees split their time between both. But coming in two or three days per week is something several companies have mandated, much to the anger of their workers - many are willing to take pay cuts and lose benefits if it means working from home full time, and others say they could quit over a lack of flexibility. A Microsoft survey in September found most bosses believe working from home causes productivity to suffer; it came almost a year after another Microsoft study claimed it threatens productivity and innovation. There was also a survey that found management was more likely to want to return to the office than employees. Even those working from home often believe their WFH colleagues are being unproductive. Another survey detailed how 40% of remote workers spend four or more hours away from their PCs. What just happened? Last month's report that the US government was planning to restrict critical investments in China has proved accurate after President Biden signed an executive order introducing the ban. As with the chip-related sanctions, the government said the move will prevent China from improving its military, developing advanced weapons, and undermining US security - using money from US investors. The order authorizes the US Treasury to limit or prohibit US investment in three areas of Chinese development: semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. The restrictions will apply to "narrow subsets" of these areas, though the administration never went into detail about what these might be. Reuters writes that the measure targets private equity, venture capital, joint ventures, and greenfield investments. The US has been hitting China with semiconductor-related sanctions for a long time. New rules were introduced in August last year that restricted the export of chipmaking tools to China. October saw more US sanctions introduced. These restrict shipments of American-made electronics or other items that China could use to create chipmaking tools or equipment. They also prevent non-Chinese companies in other countries from using American equipment to service Chinese customers unless granted a license by the US. In January, the Netherlands and Japan agreed to join the States in the restriction of chipmaking-tool exports. Current US investments in China are not expected to be affected, though details of past transactions might be demanded. The treasury added that it expects certain transactions will be exempt, including those in publicly traded instruments and intracompany transfers from US parents to subsidiaries. Biden said in a letter to Congress he was declaring a national emergency to deal with the threat of advancement by countries like China "in sensitive technologies and products critical to the military, intelligence, surveillance or cyber-enabled capabilities." The measures are expected to be introduced next year following several rounds of public comment, including an initial 45-day comment period. China, of course, is not happy about the new rules, saying it is "gravely concerned" and reserves the right to take measures. It warned that the US order undermines the international economic and trade order and damages the economic and commercial interests of American companies themselves. A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington said more than 70,000 U.S. companies do business in China. Back in June, Nvidia warned that increased restrictions on the export of AI chips to China would hurt its future growth and could result in a permanent loss of opportunity for the US industry to compete in one of the world's largest markets. The Chinese government previously promised to retaliate if the Biden administration imposed new limits on technology and capital moving into the country. Back in July, China announced new controls on the export of gallium and germanium, two metals that are vital parts of the semiconductor, telecommunications, and electric vehicle industries. In context: Microsoft's approach to software security has taken a beating lately. In addition to being late to patch actively exploited vulnerabilities, the company has been criticized for not being transparent about these risks and being "irresponsible" in its handling of them. Now, researchers are blaming Redmond devs for one of the biggest hacks ever in the UK. On Tuesday, the United Kingdom Electoral Commission (UKEC) announced that it had suffered one of the worst security breaches ever in the UK. The hack exposed the personal data of as many as 40 million registered voters, including full names, street and email addresses, and any other information stored by election officials. The UKEC discovered the intrusion last October. However, an investigation revealed that suspicious activity first occurred in August 2021. So the records were exposed for nearly 14 months before it remediated the situation. While the UKEC did not reveal the cause of the breach, Ars Technica notes that independent research conducted by Zack Whittaker and Keven Beaumont found that the hack was likely an exploit of the Microsoft Exchange Server zero-day informally known as "ProxyNotShell," which Microsoft appeared to patch in October 2022. However, as they discovered, that was not the case. The vulnerabilities, CVE-2022-41080 and CVE-2022-41082, created a remote code execution chain first reported to Microsoft as being actively exploited in September 2022. Redmond immediately issued guidance for mitigating the security weaknesses. Unfortunately, Beaumont claims bad actors easily bypassed Redmond's mitigation measures. Worse yet, Exchange developers didn't fully patch the hole for months. "At the time Microsoft released temporary mitigations rather than a security patch it took until November 2022 for a security update to fully resolve the problem," Beaumont wrote. "This was a significant delay. In the meantime, the security mitigations Microsoft provided were repeatedly bypassed." Beaumont's and Whittaker's criticisms are not the only flak Microsoft has received over slow zero-day patching and lack of transparency regarding cyber risks. Last week, Tenable CEO Amit Yoran called the tech giant "grossly irresponsible" and said its security practices are "worse than you think." Last month, the company finally got around to patching six actively exploited zero-day vulnerabilities, one of which was reported way back in May 2022. And in March, it fixed two zero-days, but not before one was found and used by state-sponsored Russian hackers. However, let's be fair. If all information is accurate, the UKEC first discovered suspicious activity in August 2021, and Redmond developers were informed of the problem in September 2022. So for over a year, there was an open window in Exchange that hackers could have exploited. Does that excuse Redmond's poor mitigation guidance or lack of action until months later? No, but taking full blame for a hack that may have occurred well before Microsoft was notified of the flaw might be somewhat unfair. X is now the center of controversy after failing to deliver court documents that focus on former president Donald Trump's Twitter data, with the company facing a massive $350,000 fine. This was because Twitter was held in contempt of court for its failure to relay this request from the court amidst its ongoing investigation of the politician and business magnate. The investigation started in January of this year and it requested that Trump not be notified of the said investigation and request for his Twitter data. X Fined $350,000 for Contempt Charges by Court (Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) An unsealed court document (via Ars Technica) was revealed now, and it shows a previous course of events that explain why X (formerly Twitter) was charged with a $350,000 fine. This was because Twitter was held in contempt of court by officials after failing to meet the deadline to deliver former POTUS Donald Trump's data for an ongoing investigation. Initially, Twitter resisted the request by the court to hand over said data as it asked not to notify Trump of its demand for his social media data. The court's request asked for Trump's Twitter data, at the same time with a nondisclosure to the former president regarding this for 180 days. The nondisclosure was taken as it believed that notifying Trump would "jeopardize" the investigation. Read Also: Donald Trump's Truth Social App in Turmoil as Chief Engineer Suddenly Resigns Court Asks for Trump Data but Delayed by X Twitter failed to produce it during January and also missed the February 7 hearing deadline to bring said data, which was also moved to produce it by the end of the day. After failing to do so, the court imposed a fine of $50,000 per day, which would double per day that it is not given to the court. Initially, X was able to produce the said data but was incomplete. The social media company was able to deliver this fully by February 9, as much as three days late, with the platform imposed with a $350,000 fine. X appealed the case for months but was unsuccessful to rid of the said fine and contempt charges. X and Former President Trump The controversial exit of Former POTUS Donald Trump in office saw most of his social media accounts, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube facing a ban due to his actions and posts. However, the former president fought against this, and back in 2022, he filed a complaint against Twitter which he also withdrew as it was found that it did not violate his freedom of speech. Amidst the chaos and ban, Trump launched attempts at a social media platform, first establishing a blogpost account, then debuting the famous "Truth Social" which was a full-fledged app. Under Musk's reign, a silver lining opportunity for those who faced bans shined as the then-CEO claimed that he would grant "General Amnesty" for these suspended accounts. After failing to meet the said deadlines and failing to appeal the charges, X is now facing a $350,000 fine for last February's events, centering on Trump's data. Related Article: Elon Musk's X Introduces New 'Sensitivity Settings' to Give Advertisers Control Over Ad Placement 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. In Canada's British Columbia, a woman has found herself possessing more than 50 Amazon packages that she has never ordered. This situation has led the United Parcel Service (UPS) to send her customs bills for over $300. (Photo : CBC News) Anca Nitu says she's received more than 50 packages of returned shoes at her home in two months, with each box containing a return authorization slip to her address. Receiving Unwanted Amazon Packages An unusual situation has unfolded for a woman who finds herself entangled with a stream of more than 50 unrequested Amazon packages in British Colombia, Canada. According to The Verge, this takes a financial turn, as UPS sends her customs invoices exceeding $300 due to these unsolicited shipments she has been unable to decline upon their arrival. Anca Nitu expressed her bewilderment, telling CBC that the deliveries kept coming with no signs of ending. She further elaborated that this perplexing occurrence is linked to her dormant Amazon account. "The sight of packages at my door makes me tremble," Nitu shared, revealing the toll the situation has taken on her well-being. The ongoing influx of shipments has disrupted her sleep patterns and diminished her appetite, leaving her stressed and exhausted. Refusing to Pay Nitu is actively contesting the customs fees imposed by UPS. She conveyed her decision to stand firm and reject the payment, leading to an ongoing disagreement with UPS. Expressing her dissatisfaction with the company, she described their position as steadfast and inflexible. Nitu attempted to engage with UPS to shed light on the situation, but her encounter with them seemed far from accommodating. As we've come to understand from FTC regulations, the principle is clear: you are never obligated to pay for items you receive but have not requested. Also Read: Amazon Begins 'Prime Air' Drone Deliveries in California, Texas Vendor-Return Scheme While Nitu hasn't pinpointed the precise cause behind this bewildering ordeal, she suspects that her residence is unwittingly being enlisted as a return address for sellers or intermediaries looking to offload undesired merchandise. BBC reported that the Better Business Bureau (BBB) sheds light on the situation, suggesting it may align with a vendor-return scheme. This scheme often involves sellers, primarily from overseas locales such as China or India, evading shipping and warehouse expenses by redirecting returned goods through residential addresses. When returned items from a seller fail to find new buyers, these companies are confronted with charges for removal and disposal orders. Neesha Hothi, overseeing marketing and communication at B.C.'s BBB, indicated that she had yet to encounter this scheme in her region, but it is a familiar occurrence in the U.S. Hothi explained that the modus operandi is often propelled by the convenience and cost-effectiveness of rerouting returned products to an unexpected address instead of shipping them back to their origin, often in countries like China. Various factors could drive this to happen, such as fulfillment centers urging sellers to clear unsold stock or expiring contracts. BBB highlighted another phenomenon, the Amazon brushing scam, where companies buy items and have them dispatched to random recipients for the purpose of garnering verified reviews. However, Nitu underscored the distinction between her experience and this practice. Related Article: Unclaimed Amazon, USPS Packages Could be Purchased! Checking Auction Websites, Where To Buy, and Other Details 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Google has introduced an open beta for its newly implemented eSignature feature within Google Workspace, specifically for Google Docs and Google Drive. This feature aims to enhance the signature capture process for individual users and groups across various accounts. The announcement, made through a blog post by Google, outlines the progression of this feature. In June 2022, Google initiated alpha testing for requesting and capturing eSignatures within Google Docs. Drawing from the feedback gathered during the testing phase, the company has now elevated the eSignature capability to an open beta for subscribers of Google Workspace Individual. Additionally, Google plans to make eSignature accessible in beta mode for select Google Workspace customers. The target audience for this development includes administrators and end users who engage with Google Workspace services. Google Seamless eSignature Process The eSignature feature in Google Docs is intended to simplify the process of requesting and adding signatures to official documents, particularly for individuals operating as solopreneurs or small businesses. By integrating eSignature directly into Google Docs, users can seamlessly manage contracts, customer agreements, and other binding documents. The implementation aims to streamline workflows and eliminate the need for an app or tab switching during the signature process. Google's blog post also mentioned that the eSignature feature will be available in beta for select Google Workspace customers, in conjunction with a larger beta encompassing new custom email layouts in Gmail. These email layouts offer users the flexibility to modify existing templates, reuse layouts in multiple email campaigns, or create entirely new layouts. The rollout of the eSignature feature for Workspace Individual users is expected to be gradual, commencing on August 8. For Workspace customers interested in the beta, applications will be accepted, and customers will be allowed to list in the subsequent weeks. The eSignature feature is accessible to Google Workspace individual subscribers and eligible for beta testing for various Google Workspace editions, including Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Education Plus, and Nonprofits customers. Read Also: Google Rolls Out Default End-to-End Encryption for Google Messages, Also Securing Group RCS Chats Upcoming eSignature Features Furthermore, Google plans to introduce additional eSignature capabilities later in the year. These will include: 1. An audit trail feature that automatically includes an audit trail report in completed contracts. 2. Support for multiple signers, enabling signature requests from more than one user. 3. Compatibility with non-Gmail users, allowing eSignature requests for individuals using non-Gmail email services. 4. The ability to initiate eSignatures on PDF files stored in Google Drive. Related Article: Google's Bard AI Chatbot Can Now Talk in Over 40 Languages and Respond to Visual Prompts After Latest Update 2023 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. From left to right, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix-Antoine Tshilombo; the governor of the Brazilian state of Para, Helder Barbalho; Lula, and the President of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou-Nguesso. The dozen countries that for millennia have best preserved their tropical forests vital ecosystems for the planet to contain the climate emergency want the industrialized nations to stop making empty promises and pull out their wallets. That is the message to the worlds wealthiest states delivered at the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization climate summit hosted by Brazil, whose President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took the opportunity to level a harsh accusation against the European Union: Protectionist measures poorly disguised as environmental concern are not the way forward, he declared on Wednesday at the close of the meeting with the rest of the Amazonian countries and those that are home to the worlds largest rainforests. The message was clear enough, even if Lula did not mention the EU, the EU-27 trade agreement with Mercosur or the recent European law that bans the import of products from deforested areas. Lula insisted on the line of demanding that rich countries pay those who care for the forests, but with the additional argument of historical responsibility: Its not Brazil that needs money. Its not Colombia that needs money. Its not Venezuela. Its nature, the Brazilian president said, adding that the industrialized nations now need to pay their part so we can revive part of what was ruined. Nature is in need of money. The new European environmental demands that Mercosur rejects have become the main obstacle to the ratification of the treaty that both blocs agreed in 2019 after two decades of negotiations. The added demands by Brussels, and a law that since May vetoes EU imports of soybeans, coffee, cocoa, or meat from illegally logged or degraded areas, has touched a nerve in Brazil and the rest of the Mercosur countries, who consider it an affront and part of what Lula defines as green neocolonialism. France was also singled out. Emmanuel Macron was invited to the Belem summit as president of French Guiana, an overseas territory that is home to a small piece of Amazonia, but he did not confirm his attendance. The French president issued a tweet in which he congratulated Lula for organizing the summit, stressing that Forests are absolutely essential in the fight against global warming and biodiversity loss, while noting that France is a driving force behind the European Unions historic decision to no longer contribute to imported deforestation precisely the rule that has so irritated Brazil because it appears to be directed toward it. Lula remains committed to multilateralism and has advocated in Belem for an international system to certify rainforest products. During the current semester, Brazil presides over Mercosur and Spain holds the rotating presidency of the EU. The Brazilian president appeared alone before the press at the close of summit, a rehearsal for the United Nations COP 30 climate conference to be held in Belem in 2025. On the closing day, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia joined the eight Amazonian countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela), which a day earlier pledged to ensure that the Amazon does not reach the point of no return. If the worlds rainforests continue to lose trees and biodiversity, they will stop absorbing carbon dioxide and start emitting it, aggravating the climate crisis instead of contributing to a solution. Defense of the environment and multilateralism are two of the pillars of Lulas foreign policy, hence his insistence that the countries that are home to the valuable tropical forests unify their position and create blocs to increase their negotiating potential at the major climate summits. The President of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, speaking from Brazil, noted the basic data on the service that his country provides to the planet: My country represents 10% of the worlds forests and sequesters 24.5 gigatons of polluting gases. We need to increase this absorption of carbon dioxide and we need greater cooperation for this. Summit of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (OTCA), in Belem, Brazil. BRAZIL PRESIDENCY (via REUTERS) One voice at the COP As happens in so many international donor conferences, in the case of tropical forests, the millions of dollars pledged at successive summits by industrialized countries have not materialized. That is why the countries attending the Brazil summit plan to present a united front at the next COP summit in Dubai. Among other bilateral meetings, Lula met in Belem with Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, who, as well as presiding over the COP summit in Dubai, is the executive director of the state oil company. The indigenous people of the Amazon, often the poorest in their respective countries and with a lack of public services because of, among other reasons, the logistical challenge in providing them, feel that the developed world cares more about their trees, birds, and insects than the humans living in the six million square kilometers of forested area around the Amazon River. Their leaders are fully aware that they need to demonstrate to their compatriots that studies quantifying the potential of the bioeconomy in dollar figures translates into businesses that can be replicated on a large scale, producing cash benefits for larger sections of the population than the small producers who succeed with gourmet delicacies tailored for the international markets. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition One dead and several injured in the fire of an apartment building near Paris Record rating of the GameStar: Mr. Klinge, do you consider Baldur's Gate 3 to be the best computer game ever? God's Tweeter Week: Those You Blocked Will Come Back to You 6 incredible places to go for a picnic less than an hour and a half from Madrid "The number of heat waves will grow": a Russian climatologist on the causes of temperature records in Russia and the world Fire in L'Ile-Saint-Denis: still in shock, residents help each other "Cheems", the dog of the most viral memes on the Internet, dies Superconductor hype: Hoping is ok, but it's not enough Climate: what are the effects and consequences of the El Nino phenomenon? No confrontation in Cologne: Pro-Russian motorcade turns out to be much smaller than planned Taiwan, Qingqing and Guizhou share the "entrepreneurial experience": the complementary advantages of the two sides of the strait can achieve the overlapping effect-Chinanews.com video Approval of new drug "recanemab" for Alzheimer's disease is discussed today Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Dr. Amani Gamal: Muslims in America are more exposed to racism than others End the tired look once and for all: 15 tips to reduce dark circles and eye bags This is the new life of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, after leaving football at the age of 41: "I have nothing to prove anymore" Julia Fox. How and why a dominatrix became one of the most iconic characters of our time Harassing on LinkedIn, or how more and more men confuse the professional network with Tinder Russia crashes in the new space race for the water of the Moon: "We are again in a kind of cold war, but with more actors" Astronaut Satoshi Furukawa talks enthusiastically about launching in the U.S. on the 25th Behind the rise of professional "accompanying photography", phenomena such as "releasing pigeons" and "escaping orders" have frequently appeared Buying and selling and raising "exotic pets" Curiosity cannot break through the bottom line of the law The party of the Spanish team in the dressing room: "That the Queen! Let the Queen bounce!" 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A grave injustice and a flagrant disregard for human rights. These were the words of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman as he voiced his frustration with the treatment he endures at the maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado, known as the Rocky Mountain Alcatraz. Guzman penned a handwritten letter to Judge Brian Cogan, the same man who sentenced him to life imprisonment in 2019, seeking documents in Spanish pertaining to his case. Guzman wrote that his lawyer, Mariel Colon, visited the prison on June 20 to deliver some documents. However, the prison guards refused to let Guzman have them because the documents were in Spanish. Your Honor, here in jail, they know that I dont know English, he wrote to Cogan. The drug trafficker says he attempts to stay updated on the latest developments in his case using a dictionary. Guzman has requested documents related to a 2255 motion, and instrument that allows a prisoner in U.S. custody to seek release if they believe their sentence was imposed in violation of the U.S. Constitution or its laws. It feels like everything is being done consciously and in bad faith against me, Guzman wrote in a letter dated July 9 obtained by Milenio, a major Mexican national newspaper. In the two-page letter seen by EL PAIS, the cartel boss claims that he is often denied adequate access to his lawyer because he escaped from prison in Mexico. Its an absurd excuse they use to justify these irregularities, he wrote. The letter from Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, founder of the Sinaloa Cartel, to Judge Brian Cogan. Cortesia Its a right that every prisoner has, and they know they are violating it, claims Guzman, who is demanding the judges intervention so his correspondence is not withheld. Guzman had previously complained that he had been subjected to cruel and unfair treatment ever since he was extradited from Mexico in January 2017. In September 2021, the drug trafficker submitted an affidavit before a U.S. court claiming that his physical health and mental well-being suffered due to the isolation measures imposed on him. I have suffered a lot... Due to the treatment in ADMAX [the prison where he is serving his sentence], I now suffer from headaches, memory loss, muscle cramps, stress and depression... I have suffered a lot. In January, Guzman sent another letter, this time addressed to Mexicos ambassador to the United States, asking for President Manuel Lopez Obradors help in securing his release. A year ago, an appeals court upheld Guzmans conviction. The appeal had claimed that the jurys decision was biased, as some members had read press releases about Guzmans criminal record. It was also contended that the isolation conditions imposed on Guzman prevented him from collaborating with his defense. However, these arguments were deemed invalid by the appeals court. Any potential bias paled in comparison to the compelling evidence of Guzmans culpability, thereby rendering it harmless, stated the appeals court ruling. Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's letter to Judge Brian Cogan Cortesia In June, Emma Coronel, a former beauty queen and Guzmans third wife, was released from prison. Coronel spent 15 months in prison for drug trafficking and money laundering, before being allowed to serve the remainder of her three-year sentence under house arrest. The U.S. justice system launched a new offensive this year against Los Chapitos, four of Guzmans sons and the heirs to his drug trafficking empire, who were accused of being the main traffickers of fentanyl to the United States. In April, Alfredo, Ivan, Joaquin and Ovidio Guzman, along with 24 cartel collaborators, were charged with organized crime, drug trafficking, illegal possession of weapons and money laundering. Ovidio El Raton Guzman was arrested in January during a major operation in Culiacan, the capital of the Sinaloa. We are not the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, nor are we interested in being so, stated Guzmans sons in a letter released in May through their lawyers. They said they were victims of persecution and had been made scapegoats due to their fathers notoriety. We believed that keeping quiet and not bothering anyone would diminish the consequences of the cradle in which we were born, they said. I thank you in advance, reads the last line of Chapo Guzmans latest letter. In January, Judge Brian Cogan will sentence Genaro Garcia Luna, a former security minister under President Felipe Calderon (2006-2012). In February, Garcia Luna, who played a key role in Mexicos war on drugs, was convicted of drug trafficking, organized crime and making false statements. He was accused of collaborating with the Sinaloa Cartel for over two decades. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition A protest in favor of legalizing abortion in Peru, in September 2022. Fotoholica Press (GETTY IMAGES) In mid-June, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) issued a historic ruling: it found that the Peruvian state violated the rights of a 13-year-old indigenous girl called Camila (pseudonym), who was the victim of incest and rape, by not providing her with information on or access to legal and safe abortion. In the resolution, the CRC urged Peru to decriminalize abortion in all cases of child pregnancy and to amend the regulations governing access to therapeutic abortion to provide for its specific application to girls. It also called for the creation of a cross-cutting mechanism to ensure that victims are not retraumatized. Two months later, a very similar case shows that the Peruvian government has not heeded these calls. In this new case, the girl in question is 11 years old and is called Mila not only to protect her identity, but also to make it clear that her rights have been violated just like Camilas. Mila comes from a humble area of Iquitos, the capital of the department of Loreto, which is a gateway to the Amazon Rainforest. She has been systematically abused by her stepfather since she was six, and a month ago, she found out that she was 13 weeks pregnant. Her stepfather was detained, but the judicial system declared the request for preventive detention was unfounded and released him. As for Mila, the Loreto Special Protection Unit (UPE) decided to send her to a shelter, reportedly to protect her from her family. Her three siblings, one of who is just fourth months old, were also sent to the shelter. Milas mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said she was also a victim of her partner. She claimed that she was not able to help her daughter because he threatened to kill her. I was afraid, because he threatened me, he shut the door on me. When I wanted to go out, he told me: If you tell the neighbors, Im going to kill you, and Im going to run off. When I talk about him, I am afraid. I have nightmares, the mother told the investigative TV program, Epicentro TV. The mother said that she requested a therapeutic abortion for Mila, but that the UPE did not activate the protocol and, as a result, did not provide them with the necessary information. That was when the Center for the Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights (Promsex) took on the mothers legal defense. The UPE referred Mila to the Regional Hospital of Loreto, so that its board of doctors could decide whether Mila who hasnt even finished primary school could access a therapeutic abortion. On August 3, the board decided that Mila should continue with the pregnancy, arguing that the 11-year-old had told them that she wanted to have the baby and that rape cases are not included in the therapeutic abortion protocol. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), girls under 15 years of age are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than women over 20. Promsex managed to get Milas case looked at again: the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations has confirmed that a new medical board will review Milas case to determine whether or not she is allowed to end her pregnancy. I want it taken out of her womb. I do want to see my daughter, but I dont want to see that baby because it has hurt my daughter, said the mother. The Peru mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR), UNFPA, U.N. Women and other organizations issued a joint statement to express their deep concern over Milas case and call on the Peruvian government for action. We urge you to reconsider the decision to deny her access to therapeutic abortion and guarantee Mila, and all pregnant girls and teenage victims of sexual violence, this right with safe and age-appropriate procedures and within 22 weeks of gestation, as established by medical protocol [...] We remind you that forced maternity resulting from rape is not voluntary, and threatens integral health. According to the Womens Emergency Centers, 4,031 cases of sexual violence have been seen so far this year. In 2020, 4,238 cases were registered. According to the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio, 1,100 girls under the age of 15 become mothers every year. The horror that Mila and Camila have experienced is unfortunately not an exception, but rather an ongoing drama. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition One dead and several injured in the fire of an apartment building near Paris Record rating of the GameStar: Mr. Klinge, do you consider Baldur's Gate 3 to be the best computer game ever? God's Tweeter Week: Those You Blocked Will Come Back to You 6 incredible places to go for a picnic less than an hour and a half from Madrid "The number of heat waves will grow": a Russian climatologist on the causes of temperature records in Russia and the world Fire in L'Ile-Saint-Denis: still in shock, residents help each other "Cheems", the dog of the most viral memes on the Internet, dies Superconductor hype: Hoping is ok, but it's not enough Climate: what are the effects and consequences of the El Nino phenomenon? No confrontation in Cologne: Pro-Russian motorcade turns out to be much smaller than planned Taiwan, Qingqing and Guizhou share the "entrepreneurial experience": the complementary advantages of the two sides of the strait can achieve the overlapping effect-Chinanews.com video Approval of new drug "recanemab" for Alzheimer's disease is discussed today Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Dr. Amani Gamal: Muslims in America are more exposed to racism than others End the tired look once and for all: 15 tips to reduce dark circles and eye bags This is the new life of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, after leaving football at the age of 41: "I have nothing to prove anymore" Julia Fox. How and why a dominatrix became one of the most iconic characters of our time Harassing on LinkedIn, or how more and more men confuse the professional network with Tinder Russia crashes in the new space race for the water of the Moon: "We are again in a kind of cold war, but with more actors" Astronaut Satoshi Furukawa talks enthusiastically about launching in the U.S. on the 25th Behind the rise of professional "accompanying photography", phenomena such as "releasing pigeons" and "escaping orders" have frequently appeared Buying and selling and raising "exotic pets" Curiosity cannot break through the bottom line of the law The party of the Spanish team in the dressing room: "That the Queen! Let the Queen bounce!" Chelsea lost to West Ham in the second round match of the Premier League Saving time pressure: Goryachkina and Salimova drew the second game of the World Cup final and will play in a tie-break The misfortune of the heroine Olga Carmona: her father died before the final and she knew it later Decided the World Cup final was informed that the father had died afterwards Faith Kipyegon, queen of the 1,500 meters: "With pregnancy there was a risk of not returning, of disappearing" Olga Carmona celebrates the winning goal and learns of a stroke of fate after the game Low-priced tours are frequently forced to consume, not all of which are caused by tour guides Living in a bathing center is "cost-effective" Young people travel in the summer to live in new ways New data and new highlights: China's industrial robot installed capacity accounts for more than 50% of the global Look at China in ten dimensions! "Into the new state-owned enterprise The "Clock-in New Coordinates" network interactive communication activity was officially launched "Land-based aquaculture" away from the sea Major telecommunications companies enter the market one after another The South China Expo held at the "Three Forks" in Asia: an important platform for exchanges and cooperation among nearly 40 billion people Delivering the taste of famous restaurants with frozen foods Leave the menu to us Subscribe Spain: in Barcelona, the measures of bars in the face of mass tourism tire the inhabitants Amparo Larranaga: "I live as before, as when there were no social networks" Pedro Sanchez explores the "179 route": economic incentives to the Canarian Coalition to tie the investiture if Junts "fails" The keys to the match that made History: "Olga Carmona's left-hander has burst the glass ceiling" China independently built the first super-large self-propelled suction vessel "Tianwhale" and put it into the construction of the Pinglu Canal Egypt plans to increase purchases of Russian wheat during the construction of a hub in Suez Laura Escanes denounces that they have used her image to take her naked in photos manipulated with Artificial Intelligence The actor of the series "Clinic" called on Zelensky to be treated for drug addiction After the opening of fishing in the South China Sea, seafood enters the market in batches Guangdong Taishan's small sea fish are favored WP: The Armed Forces of Ukraine seem to have exhausted their options for a counteroffensive Imani-Lara Lansiquot made a false start at the World Athletics Championships but protested and was still allowed to run The misfortune of the heroine Olga Carmona: her father died before the final and she knew it later Rubiales kisses Jenni Hermoso on the mouth during the celebration: "I didn't like it" Communities 2019 - Privacy The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them. The assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has plunged Ecuador into crisis just days before the country is set to elect a new leader. In response to the murder on Wednesday, President Guillermo Lasso declared a state of emergency on Thursday, a measure that will be in place for the next 60 days. The armed forces are mobilized throughout the national territory to guarantee the security of citizens, the tranquility of the country, and the free and democratic elections of August 20, as planned by the National Council of Ecuador [CNE], said Lasso after an emergency meeting with his security cabinet. Villavicencio was shot to death Wednesday afternoon after participating in a campaign event in Quito. The attack took place at 6:20 p.m. local time at a school in the capital when the candidate was leaving the rally. Villavicencio whom most polls placed in fourth or fifth position among the eight candidates running for president was shot three times in the head. He portrayed himself as an anti-corruption candidate and campaigned under the slogan, Its time for the brave. Villavicencio was rushed to a medical center near the site of the shooting. Carlos Figueroa, a personal friend of Villavicencio, said in a video posted on social networks that the candidate died from gunshot wounds. Minister of the Interior Juan Zapata confirmed his death shortly afterward. The gunmen fired at least 40 shots and wounded other people accompanying him. Hours later, Lasso confirmed the arrest of at least six suspects, who, according to the Prosecutors Office, were detained in raids in two districts of Quito. The president said that the investigations were ongoing, and that authorities will apply the full force of the law against those responsible. This is a political crime that has a terrorist character, and we are in no doubt that it is an attempt to sabotage the electoral process, said Lasso. The president also pointed to organized crime, and said that it was no coincidence that the assassination happened just a few days before the first round of the vote, which is scheduled for August 20. Lasso pointed out that Villavicencio himself had recently reported that he had received death threats from a criminal group linked to the Sinaloa Cartel. In addition, Lasso decreed three days of national mourning to honor Villavicencios memory, while the president of the CNE, Diana Atamaint, indicated that the date of the elections will not be moved. Before heading the Movimiento Construye candidacy, the 59-year-old politician and journalist was a member of the countrys National Assembly until its dissolution and chaired the Oversight Committee. During the impeachment trial against Lasso, Villavicencio was criticized because the commission he oversaw issued a report favorable to the president, which did not have the support of the other legislators. The assassination took place 11 days before the elections in a country suffocated by an unprecedented crisis. During the campaign, the mayor of Manta, a key port for drug trafficking, and a candidate to the National Assembly were also murdered. A view of a controlled explosion of an explosive device left outside the rally site where Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed at a campaign event in Quito, Ecuador August 9, 2023. KAREN TORO (REUTERS) In an August 9 interview with the TV network Ecuavisa, Villavicencio criticized the role of authorities in the fight against organized crime. He stated that the police know where the hideouts of criminals, drug traffickers, illegal miners, and white-collar criminals are, and promised that one of the first things he would do if he became president would be to clean up the security forces. He also recently said that he had received threats from Alias Fito, the leader of the drug trafficking group Los Choneros. If I continue mentioning Fito and Los Choneros they will break me, he warned. However, he refused to back down: Here I am, I am showing my face, I am not afraid of them. Los Choneros is a drug trafficking group founded in the late 1990s in the coastal city of Manta. After growing for years, it has become one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Ecuador and currently works for Mexicos powerful Sinaloa Cartel in cocaine trafficking. Among its adversaries are Los Lobos, Tiguerones and Chone Killers, three gangs that run logistics operations for the rival Mexican group, Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Lasso expressed his dismay at the murder and assured that the crime will not go unpunished. My solidarity and condolences [go out] to his wife and daughters, the president added, announcing an urgent meeting of the security cabinet at the Carondelet presidential palace. I have asked the president of the National Electoral Council, Diana Atamaint; the state attorney general, Diana Salazar; the president of the National Court of Justice, Ivan Saquicela; and other state authorities to urgently attend this meeting to discuss this event that has shocked the country, he continued in a message broadcast through his social networks. Organized crime has gone too far, but the full weight of the law will fall on them, he said. Police officers work outside the rally site where Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed at a campaign event in Quito, Ecuador August 9, 2023. KAREN TORO (REUTERS) Luisa Gonzalez, the candidate from former president Rafael Correas party and who is leading the polls, suspended her campaign upon hearing the news: I receive with indignation the terrible news of the attack that caused the death of Fernando Villavicencio. This is a shame for all of us, my solidarity embrace to all his family and [members of his party]. This vile act will not go unpunished! Hours later, Correa, who lives in Belgium, also condemned the crime. Fernando Villavicencio has been murdered. Ecuador has become a failed state. You are in pain, my homeland. My solidarity goes out to his family and to all the families of the victims of violence. Those who seek to sow even more hatred with this new tragedy, I hope they understand that it only continues to destroy us, he wrote on his Twitter account. Villavicencio was the epitome of the anti-Correa movement, and theories are going to point that out. It is a turning point in a stagnant campaign, filled with candidates with no clear identity. The campaign will not be the same, after the murdered candidate, Pedro Donoso, director of the consulting firm Icare, told EL PAIS. An opinion profile indicated that 14% of Ecuadorians considered Villavicencio as the candidate who would promote a government similar to the one of Guillermo Lasso. The idea was installed in a sector that he was close to the president. Indeed, his main candidate for the Assembly was Lassos former interior minister, Patricio Carrillo. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Even before the July 26 coup detat, Nigeriens were suffering from hunger, violence and the effects of the climate crisis. In the face of a possible regional conflict, Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, is at the center of international attention. The European Union and the United States have announced the suspension of financing and the closure of airspace and borders is jeopardizing the delivery of aid to the most vulnerable. We already have enormous difficulties in getting humanitarian materials into the country, says Gregor Robak-Werth, director of Action Against Hunger in Niger, who was evacuated to Germany on Saturday. Nigers neighboring countries have closed their borders, he explains in a telephone conversation, blocking supplies at the NGOs office in Dakar, Senegal. Meanwhile Nigeria, which supplies Niger with 70% of its electricity, has left most of the capital, Niamey, in darkness. And banks have collapsed, meaning humanitarian organizations cannot pay contractors. The U.N. humanitarian chief in Niger, Louise Aubin, told Reuters that there is already a real risk of shortages in food and vaccines. Niger, says Robak-Werth, is in chronic crisis. It currently has the highest birth rate in the world, and predictions are that its population will triple by 2050. With 25 million inhabitants, it is at the bottom of the United Nations Human Development Index, only ahead of Chad and South Sudan, and 42% of its population live in extreme poverty, according to World Bank data. Like its neighbors in the Sahel belt a region made up of a dozen countries on the southern edges of the Sahara Desert it is plagued by conflict and the effects of the climate emergency. Even before the coup, 4.3 million people were dependent on international aid, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and 3.3 million were in a situation of acute food insecurity. Among the most vulnerable are some two million children, according to the latest UNICEF report. These figures could double in a very short time under the current situation, warns Robak-Werth. International financing accounts for 40% of the Nigerien state coffers. In 2021, Niger received almost $2 billion in development aid, according to the OECD. A landlocked country, 40% of Nigers economy depends on agriculture, according to the World Bank. It is the worlds seventh-largest producer of uranium, according to the World Nuclear Association, and a major supplier to France its former colonial power 70% of whose electricity is nuclear, and also has gold, coal, oil and phosphate deposits. The United Nations has confirmed that humanitarian and development assistance and peace programs will continue to assist Nigeriens affected by a combination of climate, economic and security shocks. But over the past two weeks, there has been a succession of public announcements from governments and institutions that have created uncertainty about the future of development aid. Josep Borrell, the European Unions High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, announced on July 29 in a communique the immediate suspension of budgetary support to Niger. France has announced the suspension of development aid, and Germany has stated it will suspend all direct payments to the central government of Niger until further notice. The United States last week announced a pause in some of its assistance programs, although it did not specify which would be affected and stressed that humanitarian aid will continue. In March, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $150 million in humanitarian aid for the Sahel to help refugees and people affected by conflict and famine. For its part, the World Bank on August 2 noted its alarm about the overthrow of the government. The World Bank believes that peace, stability and rule of law are fundamental for creating a world free of poverty, the institution said in a statement, adding that it had paused disbursements for all operations until further notice other than private sector partnerships which will continue with caution. Between 2022 and 2023, the Nigerien government received some $600 million from the World Bank. Some 20 NGOs warned in a joint statement that international sanctions, coupled with the conflict, could have devastating effects on the civilian population, and called for access to be allowed to those in need regardless of the political situation in the country. The platform includes, among others, the International Rescue Committee, Oxfam, Save the Children and Action Against Hunger. Last Sunday, an ultimatum issued by of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) to the coup leaders to restore President Mohamed Bazoum democratically elected in 2021 and currently detained by the military junta expired. The international community is now awaiting the results of an emergency meeting called on Thursday by this bloc of countries, led by Nigeria, which has not ruled out the use of force. Niger has a long history of coup attempts since its independence from France in 1960. The most recent occurred in March 2021, when the now-deposed Bazoum had just come to power. Neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, which have expressed solidarity with Nigers rebels, are currently ruled by military juntas. The country is key in migration policy issues for Europe and in the fight against extremist groups in the Sahel, as well as a key ally for the West in a volatile region where sympathy towards Moscow is growing. Brussels fears that Russia may take advantage of Nigers political instability to increase its influence in the Sahel, where the Wagner mercenary group already operates, according to senior EU sources. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Buses unload at the distinctive entrance to Southside Junior High School, on the first day of classes for the new school year at Livingston Parish public schools, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022. It was the first day back in a traditional school building for students at Southside Elementary, far right, and the adjoining Southside Junior High, previously separate schools that were torn down after extensive damage from the 2016 floods, after which their students were taught in temporary campus buildings set up next to Juban Parc Elementary and Juban Parc Middle School, respectively. The two schools were rebuilt together on the original Southside Junior High campus on La. 16. The prospect of industrial action at Woodside and Chevron gas plants in Western Australia, which are capable of exporting about $43 billion of liquefied natural gas a year, has hit energy markets, sending European gas prices up almost 40 per cent. The Dutch natural gas future price closed 26 per cent higher on Wednesday as talk of workers downing tools at the Woodside and Chevron facilities emerged. The marker rose another 6 per cent in early trading on Thursday. On Wednesday, members of the Offshore Alliance, a partnership between the Australian Workers Union and the Maritime Union of Australia that covers workers in the oil and gas industry, voted to take industrial action at three Woodside gas platforms. The action could start as early as next week. It doesnt make me feel particularly good, said Chang, who retired in 2018 but still appears at TSMC events. I would rather stay relatively unknown. Over a recent three-hour discussion in his office, Chang made it clear that he identifies as American he obtained his US citizenship in 1962 at a time when the company he founded is at the centre of a technological cold war between the United States and China. Even as the rivalry for tech leadership intensifies, he does not give China much of a chance for semiconductor supremacy. Inside a TSMC chip factory in Hsinchu, Taiwan. Credit: Lam Yik Fei/The New York Times We control all the chokepoints, Chang said, referring collectively to the United States and its chipmaking allies such as the Netherlands, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. China cant really do anything if we want to choke them. More than a dozen people familiar with Chang, many of whom knew him as a colleague at TSMC, said he built the company and outmanoeuvred giants such as Samsung and Intel by being meticulous, stubborn, trusting his best people and, crucially, having boundless ambition and making daring moves when justified. When TSMC stumbled after the 2008 financial crisis, he returned as CEO at age 77 to take over again. Hes probably the only person left in the chip industry who was present at the creation of the industry itself, said Chris Miller, author of the book Chip War and an associate professor of international history at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. That hes not only still in the industry but at the centre and top of it is extraordinary. Changs unlikely entrepreneurial journey helped Taiwan become an economic giant, restructured the way the electronics industry worked and ultimately charted a new geopolitical reality in which a linchpin of global economic growth lies in one of the worlds most volatile spots. To understand the tech industrys future, it is crucial to understand the world through Changs eyes and how he made that initial bet when others didnt. And unlike todays tech moguls such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, who have publicly considered a cage fight Chang has shown more restraint. If competition between the global tech giants is a series of high-stakes poker games, he is the quiet man who runs the casino. Almost an automaker Chang was born in 1931 in a China on the brink of war. Before the age of 18, he lived in six cities, changed schools 10 times, experienced bombings in Guangzhou and Chongqing, and crossed the front lines as his family fled Japanese-occupied Shanghai during World War II. When he made it to Hong Kong in 1948 with his family, who by then were trying to get away from the Chinese Communist Partys advancing army, there was no going back. Loading In 1949, Chang moved to the United States, attending Harvard before transferring to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study mechanical engineering. In 1955, when he twice failed a qualifying exam for a doctoral degree at MIT, he decided to test out the job market. Many years later, I considered failing to be admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technologys Ph.D. program as the greatest stroke of luck in my life! he wrote in his autobiography. Two of the best offers arrived from Ford Motor Co. and Sylvania, a lesser-known electronics firm. Ford offered Chang $US479 a month for a job at its research and development centre in Detroit. Though charmed by the companys recruiters, Chang was surprised to find the offer was $US1 less than the $US480 a month that Sylvania offered. When he called Ford to ask for a matching offer, the recruiter, who had previously been kind, turned hostile and told him he would not get a cent more. Chang took the engineering job with Sylvania. There, he learned about transistors, the microchips most basic component. That was the start of my semiconductor career, he said. In retrospect, it was a damn good thing. Changs relationship with Nvidia founder Jensen Huang helped make company the worlds most important designer of artificial intelligence chips. Credit: AP In 1958, he jumped to a buzzy new semiconductor company, Texas Instruments. The Dallas company was youthful and energetic, with many employees working more than 50 hours a week and sleeping overnight in the office. Four years later, Chang became an American, an identity he considers primary. In the late 1970s, Texas Instruments turned its focus to the burgeoning market for calculators, digital watches and home computers. Chang, then in charge of the semiconductor side, realised his career there was approaching a dead end. It was time for something different. Putting the puzzle pieces together If the first puzzle piece that led to TSMCs creation was the textbook, the second was an experience that Chang had toward the end of his time at Texas Instruments. In the early 1980s, Texas Instruments opened a chip factory in Japan. Three months after the production line began churning out chips, the plants yield was double that of the companys factories in Texas. Yield is a key statistic that refers to how many usable chips emerge from production. Chang was dispatched to Japan to solve the yield mystery. The key was the staff, he found, with turnover surprisingly low among well-qualified employees. Loading But try as it might, Texas Instruments could not find the same calibre of technicians in the United States. At one US plant, the top candidate for a supervisor job had a degree in French literature and no engineering background. The future of advanced manufacturing appeared to be in Asia. In 1984, Chang joined General Instrument, another chip firm, where a third puzzle piece fell into place. He met an entrepreneur who later started a company that would only design chips without also making them, which was then uncommon. He spotted a trend that would prove to have staying power: Today, most semiconductor companies design chips and outsource manufacturing. This final piece coincided with Taiwans transition from a labour-intensive and heavy industry economy to a high-tech one. When Taiwanese officials set their sights on developing the semiconductor industry, they asked Chang, whose reputation as a chip expert was established, to lead an institute for supercharging innovation. So, in 1985, Chang, then 54, left the United States for a place he knew only from several visits to a Texas Instruments factory. I certainly had no plan to spend nearly so much time in Taiwan, he said. I thought I was going back in maybe just a few years, and I really had no plan to set up TSMC, to set up any company in Taiwan. Morris Changs TSMC puts the most-advanced chips in iPhones, cars, supercomputers and fighter jets. Credit: FDC Within weeks of Changs arrival, Li Kwoh-ting, a government official who became known as the godfather of Taiwans tech development, asked him to make the state-led chip project commercially viable. When Chang assessed Taiwans strengths and weaknesses, he sensed an opening. I concluded that Taiwan was a lot more similar to Japan than the US, he said, referring to his experience with the Texas Instruments factory in Japan. In 1987, Chang founded TSMC. The business model was clear in his head: TSMC would make chips for other companies and not design them. That meant it just had to win over those inside the industry and then focus on what it could do best manufacturing. Closing the Apple contract In April 2009, angry TSMC employees many who had recently been let go by the company set up a protest camp at a leafy playground in Taipeis quiet residential neighbourhood of Dazhi. They were down the street from Changs upscale apartment building. As dark fell, the protesters rolled out sleeping bags next to a slide and jungle gym, covering themselves with a large sign that read TSMC lies lies lies. Throughout its more than two-decade history, TSMC had never laid off employees. Yet, after the 2008 financial crisis, Changs successor, Rick Tsai, began letting employees go. Chang, then 77, decided he could no longer stay on the sidelines. He took back his job, rehired the talent Tsai had let go and more than doubled TSMCs spending. Coming at a tough time for the industry, the move was not appreciated by investors. Elizabeth Sun, TSMCs former head of investor relations, recalled her reaction to the news: When I heard it, I felt like banging my head against a wall. But the bet paid off. In 2010, Chang got the call that would turbocharge TSMCs growth and clinch its lead over Samsung and Intel. Jeff Williams, a senior vice president at Apple, reached out through Changs wife, Sophie Chang, who is a relative of Terry Gou, founder of Foxconn, Apples largest assembler. The call led to a Sunday dinner with all four of them, which turned into negotiations the next day. When the deal with Apple was complete, Chang borrowed $US7 billion to build the capacity for making millions of chips for the iPhone. In the ensuing years, Apple briefly turned to Samsung for iPhone chip production again, but TSMC became its primary chipmaker. Apple is now TSMCs largest client, accounting for about 20% of revenue. Spurring the AI revolution Among the awards and photos with world leaders that stud the walls of Changs Taipei office, one is a framed comic portraying his close relationship with Jensen Huang, co-founder of chip firm Nvidia. If Apple turbocharged TSMC, it was Chang who helped make Nvidia the worlds most important designer of artificial intelligence chips. The cartoon tells the story. In the mid-1990s, when Nvidia was a startup, Huang sent a letter to Chang asking if TSMC would make its chips. After a call with Huang, Chang agreed. I liked him, Chang said of Huang. Loading By taking that chance, Chang helped spur the AI revolution in the United States. At his office, he still keeps a Bloomberg terminal. He also makes regular public appearances around Taiwan to discuss global politics and the economy. Like many, he worries about a potential conflict between the United States and China over Taiwan, although he believes the chance of such a confrontation is low. As the conversation wound down, Chang said he had some regrets that he could not be in the drivers seat as TSMC faces geopolitical challenges. But he said the timing of his retirement in 2018 made sense, driven by technology and not politics. I was literally sure that we had achieved technology leadership, he said of that time. I dont think well lose it. Richardson said: God forbid you talk about it because they call you a racist. Well, call me it. Im beyond caring. A flyer for an event hosted by Damien Richardson which claimed Renee Heath would attend as a guest speaker. She was later removed. He also riffed about one day working out exactly what antisemitic conspiracist David Icke meant by lizards in his theory about a group of shape-shifting reptiles who secretly control the world. Its been widely interpreted by the likes of the Anti-Defamation Commission that Icke is talking about Jews. Richardson said he would go much further into such topics at an upcoming event which had been scheduled to take place on Thursday night in Sale, but had recently been postponed until September. An early flyer for that event obtained by CBD said it would be featuring guest speaker Renee Heath, but her name was scrubbed out of later versions circulated online. The venue, the Cobb & Co Stables, is owned by the City Builders Church, where Renees dad Brian Heath is the head pastor. As The Age has previously detailed, the Pentecostal hardliners have attempted to infiltrate conservative politics, though the Heaths are not known to endorse any of Richardsons views. Renee told CBD that she attended the rally on Monday to talk about the closure of the native timber industry and thats what I did. I dont endorse any of the views that were said before by other people that I didnt know, she said. She would not be drawn on how she ended up on the flyer for Richards event in Sale. Joyces failure to fly Fresh from a day hobnobbing with the political elite at Parliament House in Canberra, the last inconvenience that departing Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce would have wanted was a delayed early morning flight out of the nations chilly capital the next day. Yet thats precisely what he got when he was forced to wait around for his plane to take off from Canberra Airport on Thursday. Alan Joyce met with politicians in Canberra on Wednesday. Credit: John Shakespeare Our CBD spies tell us that Joyce arrived at Canberra Airport in time for his 7.40am flight; however, the aircraft did not take off until 9.11am. Just as well Joyce touched down shortly after 10am, several hours before air traffic controllers closed two of Sydney Airports three runways due to strong winds. Qantas declined to comment on the delayed flight. Joyces tour of Canberras corridors of power was likely one of his last before he leaves the national carrier in November after more than 15 years at the helm. Hes set to be replaced by the airlines chief financial officer, Vanessa Hudson. Earlier this year, it emerged that Qantas had boycotted distribution of The Australian Financial Review, hiding newspapers from its lounges in an escalating dispute over the coverage of the airline by the mastheads columnist Joe Aston. Aston has taken aim at Joyces leadership, the airlines fleet and customer service repeatedly after Joyce claimed he was not a public figure. The Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age are owned by Nine. Our secret squirrel confirmed Joyce was not flicking through the pages of The Fin to pass time on his trip back to the harbour city. Ambulance Vic A long-overdue reset at Ambulance Victoria isnt coming cheaply, with Premier Daniel Andrews defending a decision to spend half a million dollars on consultants to implement a cultural overhaul. Daniel Andrews says cultural change sometimes has some costs associated with it. Credit: Wayne Taylor The consultants were called in after The Age blew the lid on shockingly widespread discrimination and sexual harassment within the ambulance service in 2020. A subsequent human rights commission inquiry found that around half of employees experienced bullying or discrimination and women were not accepted at senior levels because the organisation favoured macho and alpha male personalities. Andrews said on Thursday that cultural change sometimes has some costs associated with it which were an investment in the safest, most professional, most inclusive ambulance service possible. Loading Some way to go there though, it seems, after the paramedics unions secretary Danny Hill was seething this week when senior management cancelled employee awards nights at local RSLs and town halls. He was further enraged that the manager attended the launch of a new values-based policy at the 5-star Hotel Chadstone. Ambulance Victoria chief executive Jane Miller defended the event on Thursday and said it cost less than $10,000. I think it was a very, very successful day with our senior leadership team, she said. What we need to keep focused on is creating a culture that addresses what was identified in that report by the equal opportunities commission. Advertisement Exclusive Eating outMelbourne icon One of Melbournes most iconic restaurants changes hands after 26 years Dani Valent August 11, 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 Legendary St Kilda restaurant Donovans is changing owners for the first time since it opened in 1997. On August 31, founders Gail and Kevin Donovan will hand over the beachfront business to their adopted son Nick Parkhouse, the restaurants general manager. This is our home, says Gail. If we werent able to orchestrate Nick to take over from us, I would be bereft. As it is, Im so happy for him. Hes been looking for this opportunity, and were leaving the restaurant in the safest of hands. Kevin and Gail Donovan are handing over their iconic restaurant to adopted son Nick Parkhouse (centre). Wayne Taylor First things first. Melbourne need not worry. The new owner has no plans to prise the seafood linguine, old-fashioned chicken pot pie or bombe Alaska from the menu of beloved classics. Everything stays the same, says Parkhouse, a highly credentialed sommelier who has worked for the Grossi family and Colonial Leisure Group in senior roles. What Gail and Kevin have created is one of the most iconic restaurants, not only in Melbourne, but Australia. Its so revered and loved and theres not a damn thing thats going to change. Its my honour to carry the mantle. Advertisement A sad necessity has prompted the change. Kevs been unwell for five years and not able to work in the restaurant for at least three years, says Gail, 70, of her 68-year-old toy boy. His condition is undiagnosed but has included aneurysms, Parkinson-like symptoms and reduced lung function. Its time that I stayed home, not to look after Kev, because I dont intend to do that, but because we want time to have some more fun, she says. Parkhouse has been working at the restaurant for seven years. He rocked up for Christmas as a fill-in, says Gail. Kev said to me, That guy Nick, hes walked in like hes meant to be here. After a month, Kev said, My God, when Nick walks around that room, its like looking at myself. Over the years hes been here, hes become part of the family. Hes the child we never had. Weve adopted Nick and hes adopted us. Were his parents, whether he likes it or not. Theres not a damn thing thats going to change. Its my honour to carry the mantle. Nick Parkhouse Parkhouses history at Donovans is longer than his employment record at the establishment. This restaurant has been close to my heart well before I properly knew Kevin and Gail, he says. My wife, Pip, introduced me to the place when we were 20 or 21 and we could only afford to share an entree and a dessert. We started coming for all our special occasions. Advertisement He eventually proposed to Pip at Donovans, with Port Phillip Bay twinkling beyond the windows. It seemed the only place to get down on bended knee and ask her the question, he says. His silent partner in ownership is Andrew Renfrey, a venture capitalist and longtime friend of the restaurant. Im very humbled that Gail and Kevin saw something in Nick and I, he says. Its a privilege to carry on the Donovans legacy. The Donovans have history with this site that predates their restaurant. I used to come here when I was a kid living in Carnegie and this was a bathing pavilion, says Gail of the building, which dates to 1928. In the late 1980s, the premises was home to seafood restaurant Jean Jacques By The Sea. 1 / 9 Gail and Kevin Donovan, owners of Donovans restaurant with founding chef Robert Castellani in 1997. Michael Clayton-Jones 2 / 9 Gail and Kevin Donovan, joint winners of the Vittoria Coffee Legend Award at The Age Good Food Guide Awards in 2015. Pat Scala 3 / 9 Kevin and Gail Donovan on the beach outside their St Kilda restaurant in 2004. Simon Schluter 4 / 9 Kevin Donovan at the newly reopened St Kilda restaurant after a fire in 2015. Simon Schluter 5 / 9 Donovans occupies a former bathing pavilion, which dates to 1928. Wayne Taylor 6 / 9 Donovans in 2012. The restaurants interior gets a twice-yearly makeover. 7 / 9 Jean Jacques by the Sea, which later became Donovans, in 1991. Christopher Beck 8 / 9 Beer-battered fish and chips have been a menu fixture at Donovans since day one. Chris Hopkins 9 / 9 Donovans bombe Alaska. Previous Slide Next Slide It was a magical place, says Gail, who cemented her relationship with Kevin on the deck over oysters and a bottle of sancerre. They had met when American-born Kevin assessed Gail for a job at the Hyatt. Advertisement When Kev interviewed me it took him two hours and he wrote on the page, A veritable ball of fire. I went home and said to my housemate, Im going to marry that guy. I thought he was wonderful. The couple ended up buying the restaurant and naming it The Pavilion before reshaping it as Donovans in 1997 alongside silent partners Richard B. Fisher and Jeanne Donovan Fisher (no relation), an American couple of considerable means. The Age first reviewed Donovans shortly after opening. Writer Raymond Gill remarked on the casual vibrancy, the convivial environment and beachy informality. The beach-facing dining room at Donovans. Wayne Taylor The restaurant has been awarded at least one Good Food Guide hat every year since opening; the current guide celebrates the restaurants timeless dishes and classic made contemporary style. Dishes that were here on day one the whole roast duck, prawns grilled with oregano and chilli, beer-battered fish and chips are still fixtures. Advertisement Donovans is leased from the City of Port Phillip, with 16 years remaining on the current agreement. Parkhouse is looking forward to settling in. Its a contract of sale but I cant overemphasise the warmth of the handover, he says. Its surreal and wonderful at the same time. They could have chosen to sell to anyone and they chose me. I feel very privileged. Gail says not everything needs to change in this world. Donovans is a place of heart and soul and welcome and with Nick as steward it will continue to be. Whether youre 99 or 19, who doesnt love feeling at home? Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox. Sign up Advertisement Review Eating outWindsor The cult charcoal chook is only part of the story at Chapel Streets shiny Sydney import Henrietta Larissa Dubecki August 11, 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 This story is part of the August 12 Edition of Good Weekend. See all stories . 1 / 7 Henriettas rear dining room features beaten silver and blue accents. Bonnie Savage 2 / 7 Falafels, crisp outside and fluffy within, are served with runny tahini. Bonnie Savage 3 / 7 Prawn roll, a sawn-off brioche roll sandwiching creamy crustacean and black tahini mayo. Bonnie Savage 4 / 7 Kingfish crudo with compressed rhubarb and a baharat sauce. Bonnie Savage 5 / 7 Lebanese-style charcoal chicken is brined and cooked to order. Bonnie Savage 6 / 7 Henriettas free-range chooks are spun on a rotisserie over coals. Wayne Taylor 7 / 7 Its takeaway at the front, and dine-in glam at the back. Bonnie Savage Previous Slide Next Slide 14 / 20 How we score Middle Eastern$$$ Theres a glorious absurdity to the way in which we fall in culinary love all over again. Over the past few years, long-discarded flings re-embraced with the intensity of characters in a Nicholas Sparks novel include hasselback potatoes, Golden Gaytimes and buffalo wings. Right now, were giddily getting reacquainted with the 1980s delights of charcoal chicken, and Sydney can take the credit. The latest case in point, Henrietta, hails originally from the harbour citys Surry Hills and started taunting Chapel Streets Windsor end with the scent of rotisserie chook in early July. It follows in the wake of El Jannah, the multi-venue Sydney behemoth that opened in Preston last year. 13 / 20 Review Sydney's cult chicken chain hits Melbourne. Here's our verdict Advertisement Both are all about Lebanese-style charcoal chicken and are commonly described as cult venues, which is only slightly hyperbolic if you see tender, charcoal-perfumed chook with ruggedly caramelised skin as a panacea for lifes trials. Thats exactly what youll get at Henrietta, but the way you get it is entirely up to you. Its a mullet of an operation: takeaway business at the front, dine-in party out the back. And while its a valid life choice to grab a half chicken, lamb-stuffed pita and sumac-dusted chips to go, the lure of a restaurant with attentive staff, linen napkins and a menu going the full Middle Eastern mezze is reason enough to commit bodily to the experience. The chicken free-range, brined, cooked to order is unsurprisingly good. But its only part of the Henrietta story. Pass the impressively industrial open kitchen with its acres of stainless steel and performative rotisserie action and youre enveloped in a vision of disco-era Beirut. Shiny, beaten-silver wall panels are offset by Aegean blue accents, while terracotta brick is put to hardworking use in walls, floors and booths. Lighting is set to date-night flattery. This is the scaffolding for a proper night out that includes Middle Eastern-accented cocktails as fruit-forward, sweet and pouty as the Chapel Street crowd could desire; the not especially affordable wine list has a good showing of Lebanese numbers for credibility, rounded out with simpatico Australian and Italian offerings. Advertisement Go-to dish: Half chicken with pickles, condiments and Lebanese bread. Bonnie Savage The chicken ($32 half/$54 whole) free-range, brined, cooked to order is unsurprisingly good. They say the best way to eat it is with your hands. Tear open a piece of flatbread, slather it with toum (the fluffy, snow-white garlic paste) and load it up with chicken and pickles and harissa, if you like it spicy. Theres no shame in adding chips, either. Its a recipe for contentment, but the chook is only part of the Henrietta story. The mezze-style dishes from head chef Ashish Bhatnagar and his crew add to the case for a night out rather than in. Raw lamb is the basis for one of the Middle Easts most beloved dishes, kibbeh nayyeh ($24). The pounded meats putty-like texture may prove a challenging new frontier, but its vitals are balanced by nostril-rattling raw shallot and the crunch of its carbohydrate delivery device, zaatar-dusted toasted pita. Bouncy duck kofta are DIY-wrapped in cos lettuce with pickled cabbage and cacik (tzatzikis Turkish cousin) for a Levantine answer to sang choy bao. Advertisement And falafel? Of course. Five fat lobes ($14) nail the formula of super-crisp outside, light and fluffy inside and are accompanied by a pot of runny tahini with a quiver of house beetroot and cucumber pickles so salty they induce minor palate fatigue. Kingfish crudo with compressed rhubarb and a baharat sauce. Bonnie Savage Its textbook stuff mostly. Kingfish crudo ($28) nods to Melbournes obsession with the dish, but takes its own path with the vital tang of compressed rhubarb and a baharat sauce tingling with Aleppo pepper, lemon juice and sumac. A prawn roll ($15) is another flirtation with local fashions: a sawn-off brioche hotdog bun sandwiching creamy, coriander-accented crustacean dabbed with an umami-bringing black tahini mayo. For dessert, the tiramisfouf ($17) is the bastard child of the turmeric sponge known as sfouf and Italys delicious coffee and mascarpone-laden gloopfest, with pine nut praline. It works just fine. Advertisement Portions are large, but staff bundle up your leftovers to take home with military precision and a palpable joy that youve asked. The best advice for anyone heading to Henrietta is to take your mates: the bigger the army, the better. Order widely and dont forget the vibrant sides that are light to the main cartes shade (Brussels sprouts, caramelised until theyre screaming for mercy and served with tahini and date molasses, $19, can be my Henrietta wingman any day). And if were straying into the realm of polyamory, so be it. With all due respect to the chicken, theres plenty more to love here. The low-down Vibe: Old-school Chapel Street big-group buzz with a touch of glam Go-to dish: Half chicken with pickles, condiments and Lebanese bread ($32) Drinks: Cocktails mix Middle Eastern influences and independent Australian producers; Lebanese wine list with an Oz-Italian support cast Cost: About $120 for two, excluding drinks This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox. Sign up Anthony Albanese does not hide his disdain for Max Chandler-Mather when the young Greens MP takes a shot at the prime minister in parliament. Albanese has mocked his opponent as a student politician and dismissed him as a joke in one exchange at the end of question time. The prime minister knows exactly what this young Turk is up to with his all-out assault on Labor to force it to spend more on housing and do more to help renters. After all, Albanese was a young Turk himself. The leader and the upstart both came from Labor families, both joined the Labor left in their teens and both muscled their way past their seniors and into political office. A tense exchange in parliament between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Greens housing spokesman Max Chandler-Mather. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen For Albanese, this meant being branded a radical from the hard left of his party. For Chandler-Mather, it meant quitting Labor at the age of 21 and winning the prize Brisbane seat of Griffith Kevin Rudds old seat for the Greens. Now the tension between the two men sums up the competition between Labor and the Greens on a single, totemic issue: the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund that Albanese promised at the last election but Chandler-Mather will not accept. Part of the conflict is ideological because the Greens always want to spend more money on social policy but a big part of it is generational. In the midst of a war with Ukraine, as it faces off against the West, Russia is going to try to make history by becoming the first country to successfully land on the south pole of the Moon, the new promised land of space exploration. On Friday, Moscow plans to launch Luna-25, a robotic probe which intends to land near the Boguslawsky crater, a depression 60.3 miles (97 kilometers) in diameter. Landing a spacecraft on the south pole of the Moon presents many challenges, as the area is riddled with craters. But it also may be home to extremely valuable ice reserves that are probably hidden underground in areas which, due to the position of the Moon, are in constant darkness. The name of the mission is no coincidence. Russia is alluding to the Soviet probes of the 1960s and 1970s that were the first to orbit the Moon, land on its surface and show its hidden face feats Russia achieved before the United States. Luna-24 managed to reach an equatorial zone of the Moon, take soil samples and send them back to Earth in 1976. It was quite a feat, but the problem was that by then the United States, determined to win the space race, had already managed to send astronauts to the Moon, who returned with lunar rocks. Half a century later, the world is witnessing a new race to the Moon led by the United States, which wants to send astronauts to the south pole of the Moon within two years. Russia is unable to match that feat, but with Luna-25, it can become the first nation to land in that unexplored area and touch, for the first time, lunar water. 80% chance of success We still have the experience of the Soviet era, and we have prepared very carefully for this landing, Lev Zeleny, scientific director of the Russian Space Research Institute, told RT. I think we have taken into account the main difficulties, and I hope that the landing will be soft. Mission engineers estimate that the mission has at least an 80% chance of success. The Luna-25 is scheduled to take off on Friday aboard a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in northeastern Russia. The location was chosen in part so that the entire mission stays within Russias borders (normally, rockets are launched from Kazakhstan). It also allows for a more direct trajectory that avoids large inhabited areas. As a precaution, Russia has evacuated 26 residents of the village of Shakhtinsky, who will be accommodated in a hotel and invited to watch the takeoff, Reuters reports. Russian space agency technicians finalize the details of the Luna-25 probe. Roscosmos The mission is years behind schedule due to ongoing technical difficulties, including the failure of its predecessor Phobos Grunt, a joint Chinese-European project aimed at reaching Mars. The war in Ukraine and Western sanctions have been another huge stumbling block. Before the invasion of Ukraine, the European Space Agency was going to contribute to the project with a camera, but that plan was canceled and Russia has no choice but to go to the Moon alone. The primary landing spot has been carefully selected using data taken by the U.S. orbital probe LRO. Two secondary locations have been identified in case something goes wrong. The Russians believe that the Boguslawsky crater (named after a Prussian artillery officer who took part in the invasion of Russia during the Napoleonic wars) is one of the points on the pole where there may be more water, a key element for future manned missions. Oxygen and hydrogen can serve as rocket fuels to one day travel to Mars and beyond, while water can support the first human colonies. Landing on the Moon is always a huge challenge only the United States, Soviet Russia and China have managed it because there is no atmosphere to slow down a spacecraft. The Luna-25 will have to rely on its rockets to reduce its speed and avoid landing on a steep area and falling over, which happened to some of its predecessors half a century ago. Last April, the Japanese probe Hakuto-R crashed trying to land on the Moon. Heat with plutonium On the Moon, there are 14.5 Earth days of sunlight and as many at night. During the day it reaches 250F (120C), but when the sun goes down, the temperature at the pole can drop to more than 200C below zero. The Russian probe is carrying solar panels to operate during the day and a radioisotope device to generate heat with plutonium at night, when it hibernates until dawn. The Russian spacecraft is carrying eight scientific instruments. The most striking is a robotic arm that will dig a few centimeters in search of ice, collect a sample and analyze it with different instruments capable of detecting whether there is water, how much of it there is and possibly its origin. The probe is also equipped to search for other elements of interest: thorium, potassium, and uranium. The selected probe landing locations. Roscosmos It is thought that 4.5 billion years ago, Earth collided with Theia, a planet the size of Mars. The impact was so big that a small part of Theia was ejected and mixed with the remains of a young molten Earth. The result was the Moon. Whether the Moons water is a holdover from that time or whether it came aboard asteroids and comets that impacted both the Moon and Earth is a huge mystery. The first excavation of the lunar polar regolith will be a step into the unknown, the missions scientific leaders said in a recent analysis. The study of macromolecular compounds of cosmic origin preserved in lunar glaciers can reveal the secret of the origin of life on Earth and will allow us to compare biochemical molecular structures on Earth and in space, they explained. Luna-25 is the first in a series of missions with which Russia wants to return to the Moon after more than 40 years. The Russian lunar program is already planning the next landing craft based on the development of the Luna-25 design, said Maxim Litvak, one of the missions chief scientists. After Luna-26, which will be an orbital probe, two landing stations will follow. Luna-27 will carry a drilling rig [to penetrate five feet into the ground], and Luna-28 will bring soil from the Moons polar region to Earth. After takeoff, scheduled for early Friday morning, the Russian spacecraft will take between four and five days to reach the Moon. Once there, it will orbit for a few more days until it ignites its rockets and begins its descent towards the south pole. If all goes to plan, it wont win the space race, but it will make history. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition An Airbnb tax should not be part of the solution to Victorias housing crisis because it could have implications for the states GST share and is open to a federal takeover, the Coalition has warned. The Age revealed in May that Labor MPs were plotting a new levy on properties listed on short-term rental platforms to put downward pressure on rents in tourist areas such as the Mornington Peninsula. Shadow treasurer Brad Rowswell says an Airbnb tax would be another sure sign that Victoria is broke. Credit: Gus McCubbing The Labor Partys state conference has since endorsed a resolution calling for greater regulation of short-stay accommodation. A Victoria-wide Airbnb levy remains on the table as part of the governments upcoming housing package, according to Premier Daniel Andrews. Everythings being looked at, the premier said last week. Thats what a thorough, proper, deliberative policy process is about. Fuelled by overexposure, I developed a rather phlegmatic attitude towards misbehaving politicians during my time working at Parliament House in Canberra. It was only when I was invited to give evidence in Kate Jenkins review into the culture at Parliament House that I realised how jaded I had become. Thankfully, hundreds of witnesses shared their allegations of bullying, harassment and sexual assault in federal parliament, forcing the parliament to act. Yet, little has been done to formalise the complaint process and improve workplace safety on Spring Street, which is no less hazardous. Daniel Andrews has poured cold water on Will Fowles hopes of returning to Labor. Credit: The Age Over the weekend, Labor MP Will Fowles was accused of a serious assault and referred to police by Premier Daniel Andrews office. Andrews said the government was informed about an alleged incident and spent several days investigating the matter before asking (AKA insisting) Fowles to stand aside. There is one problem here: Fowles rejects the allegation. It is not true. There was no assault, he says. Each suite comprises two pods a bedroom and bathroom connected by a shaded patio. The bedrooms floor-to-ceiling window allows you to view the nightly blanket of constellations from your king-sized bed. The minimalist bathroom is white and bright and the showers wall, comprising a massive window, means youre exposed to desert vistas (and the odd lion and springbok, perhaps). Alternatively, you can flaunt your wild side in the outdoor shower thats attached to each suite and open to the elements. Food + drink Enjoy sundowners enveloped by a soft orange glow and warm breeze. Given youre in remote semi-desert, a 2 hour flight from Namibias capital, Windhoek, its remarkable what the chefs whip up: fresh fruits and salads, freshly baked breads, and everything from tender grilled meats to quinoa dishes. Delicious desserts (incredibly, often homemade ice-creams). And the wines are top South African picks. Other drink treats? Sundowners. Just before sunset, youre driven to a basalt outcrop where, enveloped by a soft orange glow and warm breeze, you gaze into the horizon and catch the scent of Namibian myrrh. Just when you think it doesnt get any better, youre handed a G&T. Out + about Australias ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher, was blocked from entering the closed court in Beijing to attend her trial in March last year. The Australian government has few details on the specific charges against her. Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has raised her case in every meeting with her Chinese counterparts, including with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in July. I want to acknowledge Ms Chengs strength, and the strength of her family and friends through this period, Wong said in a statement. In Chinas opaque legal system, the delays can mean one of two things: prosecutors still have not found enough evidence of espionage to guarantee a guilty verdict would be delivered by the Beijing court, which maintains a 99 per cent conviction rate. Or her fate is linked to the relationship between Australia and China, and Cheng is a pawn in a broader diplomatic dispute that has consumed four years and involved $20 billion in trade strikes, two governments, and the 48-year-old mother of two. Her compatriot Yang Hengjun has spent more than four years behind bars on vague national security charges. I havent seen a tree in three years, Cheng says in the messages dictated to Australian officials on their most recent consular visit to the mother of two in July and released by her partner, Nick Coyle, on Thursday. Most of all I miss my children. Loading Coyle says three years is a long time for Cheng and her family in Melbourne and Perth to be stuck in an endless cycle of uncertainty. She has missed her daughter going to high school. Her parents arent getting any younger and Lei is their only child. So time is getting more and more precious, he says. Its the big things and all those little things that we take for granted about life in Australia. Coyle says Cheng continues to show remarkable resilience. Its something everyone should be very proud of, he says. She has a lot of very good reasons to get through this and to get through to the other side. Cheng, who was born in China, grappled with her identity growing up. Like many immigrant children, she oscillated between the traditions of her parents and the kids who surrounded her at school. Cheng says memories of kindness have helped sustain her during her detention. But she grew to appreciate the ocker and the yiayias, the salt water whirling in her ears, the Sunday flea markets and the immigrant family-run takeaway shops. Brisbane in the 1990s was a pot of suburban Australia, and Cheng melted right into it. I had two identities that would often fight for the upper hand depending on the context and company, she says in her dictated messages. Loading Even when I was a bewildered 10-year-old in 1985, I remember arriving on a Qantas flight and experiencing sitting on a toilet for the first time. I received such kindness from strangers and friends. My [teacher] taught me hot and cold by running my hands under the tap. When I was assaulted in my own house, the kindness that I experienced from people, including [police] officer Mabbutt, ... helped me. Memories of this kindness have come back to me now and restored me. This is a love letter to 25 million people and 7 million square kilometres of land, abundant nature, beauty and space. Once a year, Chengs bedding in jail is taken into the sun for two hours to air. What in the World, a free weekly newsletter from our foreign correspondents, is sent every Thursday. Below is an excerpt. Sign up to get the whole newsletter delivered to your inbox. Washington: Lately, Ive had little green men on my mind. Could it really be that the truth is out there, but governments simply dont want us to know about it? That was the message delivered at a congressional hearing I attended recently where three military veterans testified that UFOs are real, commonly sighted by pilots, and that the Pentagon may even have alien aircraft and alien remains in its possession. Ryan Graves, David Grusch and David Fravor arrive for the House oversight and accountability committees hearing on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena. Credit: Elizabeth Frantz/REUTERS As a North America correspondent based in Washington, Ive sat through my fair share of hearings on Capitol Hill, from the low-key confirmation of Caroline Kennedy as the US ambassador to Australia, to the heartbreaking testimony of children who survived the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. It's official, Leicester, Belfast and Norwich are the Car Envy capitals of the UK If you see people staring at you while you drive through Leicester, dont worry, theyre just jealous. New research has revealed the city is THE nations hotspot for car envy - with 58 percent of residents admitting they suffer from car envy at least some of the time. In an exclusive survey for Cazoo, second place on the list for people who get the green eyed monster about motors was Belfast (56 percent), followed by Norwich (55 percent) and Bristol (55 percent). Brighton (52 percent) rounded out the top five car cities for car envy. And on the flip side, when it comes to car confidence, Plymouth residents are least concerned about other peoples wheels 65 per cent of those asked said they didnt suffer from car envy at all. Cardiff residents (62 per cent) are next least envious, followed by Manchester (58 percent) and Leeds (58 percent). The research also uncovered that the nations motorists are most jealous of their NEIGHBOURs car and that London and Belfast are the places where people are most likely to covet whats on next doors driveway. More than a third (37 percent) of people in the capitals of England and Northern Ireland said they would either definitely or possibly buy a car because their neighbour bought a new one. Those in Liverpool and Stoke-on-Trent (25 percent) would be next most likely to. Residents of Edinburgh (8 percent) are the least likely to be swayed by what their neighbour drives, followed by Cambridge (10 percent). Unsurprisingly, London residents also came out on top when asked if they felt pressure to ?keep up with the Joneses in the car they drive, with 42 per cent admitting that they always or sometimes did. The more laid-back residents of Plymouth are the least bothered, with 88% saying they had no interest in trying to outdo or match their neighbours motor, closely followed by Edinburgh (86 per cent). Overall, the survey suggests that 35 percent of us long for a better motor, with a hot-headed 28 percent admitting they have even lashed out at their current car in frustration. In fact, some Brits are so ashamed of their cars that one in twenty (6 percent) have told someone its not actually their motor and its borrowed from a friend, while five percent refuse to park outside their house and some have even ducked down in the seat to avoid being seen by someone they know (3 percent). Six percent have made an excuse about why they cant give someone a lift, the same number have been told by their children to drop them around the corner from their school, while one in twenty have told their work colleagues its their "second car. A spiritual nine percent say their car has a bad vibe, while almost one in five (18 percent) say its so grubby its an embarrassment, and a slightly paranoid 15 percent think their car might actually hate them. Ercan Kamil, Marketing Director at Cazoo, said: Our research provides a fascinating insight into how and why people decide to change their car. Its especially revealing that nearly half of those questioned say they have experienced ?car envy at some point, and that more than a quarter say they arent happy with their current car. The good news is that trading up has never been easier with Cazoo you can get your current car valued, part exchange it and then buy or finance another one, all from the comfort of your sofa. Click here to see the full survey results. TOP FIVE CAR-JEALOUS CITIES Leicester (58 percent) Belfast (56 percent) Norwich (55 percent) Bristol (55 percent) Brighton (52 percent) All figures are from market research conducted by Perspectus Global. The sample size was 2,000 car owners, polled between 19 May and 23 May, 2023. Bobbie Boyd talks about this summer's heat in her apartment which she shares with her 15-year-old grandson Jeremiah Williams, right, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Fayetteville, Ark. Bobbie Boyd is in a losing battle against near triple-digit temperatures in northwest Arkansas. Her window air conditioner runs nonstop and the ballooning electric bill carves about $240 out of her $882-a-month fixed income. So the 57-year-old cuts other necessities. Boyd eats one meal a day so her 15-year-old grandson, who shes raising alone, can have two. She stopped paying car insurance and skips medical appointments. The rent and the light bill. And Im broke, said Boyd, who needs the cooling to stave off her heat-induced asthma attacks. As climate change ratchets up temperatures across the U.S., millions of the poorest Americans grapple with the same agonizing decisions as Boyd between perilous indoor heat or paying costly bills. While President Joe Biden has invested billions into federal programs that subsidize the poorest Americans energy costs, the money reaches only a fraction of the most vulnerable during the sweltering summer months. Nationwide, nearly 30 million American households struggle to pay their energy bills and qualify for the subsidy, but less than 3% receive it for their summer bills, according to the latest, preliminary federal data. Compared to food stamps, which reach over 80% of the eligible population nationwide, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, falls far short even as climate change helped make July Earths hottest month on record and air conditioning becomes a means of survival. Thats because most states run out of their federal funding every year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program. Were likely to see the energy insecure population grow unless we have some pretty significant and substantial government intervention, said Michelle Graff, who studies the federal subsidy at Cleveland State University. As it stands, many states dont even offer the assistance for summer months, and those that do often run out of funds before the hottest days roll around. The program was founded decades ago with a focus on winter heating bills and has been slow to adapt to climate changes hotter summers. Biden has promoted LIHEAP as crucial for low-income families to help with their energy bills, saying last week that during the sweltering summer, even when the heat is over, many of our families may see their largest-ever energy bill. On a visit Tuesday, Biden told a crowd north of Phoenix where residents endured 31 straight days above 110 degrees in which at least 18 people died indoors without air conditioning that extreme heat is Americas No. 1 weather-related killer. Still, in Arizona, the nations hottest state where roughly 650,000 low-income households qualify for the federal energy help for cooling assistance, only about 11,600 actually received it, according to the federal data. Samira Burns, a Health and Human Services official, said in a statement that the Biden administration doubled the LIHEAP budget through the American Rescue Plan and that HHS has updated guidance to help states target support during extreme heat. The Biden-Harris Administration has prioritized ensuring that eligible households seek and receive the utility assistance they need, she said. We know we must continue to do all that we can. Just outside Phoenix five years ago, the death of 72-year-old Stephanie Pullman on a sweltering day after her electricity was cut off because of a $51 unpaid bill brought attention to the danger heat poses to people who are energy insecure. While Arizona power companies are now banned from cutting off customers during the hottest months, last year nearly 3 million people had their power disconnected for failing to pay bills a third within the three hottest summer months, according to data collected by the Energy Justice Lab. In the more extreme, but not at all rare circumstance, the risk is death, said Sanya Carley, who studies energy policy at the University of Pennsylvania and is co-director of the Energy Justice Lab. When Candace Griffin of Houston, Texas, received disconnection notices this summer, she scrambled to keep the electricity flowing by seeking nonprofit assistance to pay monthly bills that surpassed $400. There wasnt anywhere else to pull extra money from. I have to pay the energy bill, I have to have lights, I have to have AC, the 51-year-old said. And, I have to eat. The poorest Americans and minority communities already live in hotter neighborhoods and many suffer without air conditioning at all. While there are tax credits and rebates to help install air conditioning, most remain out of reach for impoverished households. But even with air conditioning, those with the lowest incomes face higher costs than their wealthier counterparts in part because they are more likely to live in older, less insulated and drafty homes. Energy insecure households paid 20 cents more per square-foot for energy usage than the national average, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The federal Weatherization Assistance Program helps shore up low-income homes to make them better insulated, less leaky and reduce reliance on air conditioning and heating altogether. Still, while almost 40 million low-income households are eligible, only about 35,000 households get the help each year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Its because, just, lack of funds, said Bruce Tonn, who studies the program at a Tennessee research nonprofit. Biden has since infused billions into the program, investments he touted Tuesday. The program is critical because it reduces energy bills, which tip roughly a quarter of low-income households into debt, according to Carley of the Energy Justice Lab. And, if electricity is disconnected, costs just add up. The fridge warms and the food goes bad; utility companies charge hefty reconnection fees. It becomes very, very difficult for them to dig out and to be able to ... pay their next energy bill, said Carley, who added that about half of households who are disconnected have been disconnected before. National nonprofits, including the The Salvation Army and Catholic Charities, offer emergency financial aid, which thousands rely upon, especially since LIHEAP requires a multi-step application every year. Vivian Romero, who is raising two teenage granddaughters outside Phoenix, has used federal LIHEAP money in the past to pay her electric bill, before the family experienced a few months of homelessness. But Romero hadnt reupped her request for LIHEAP this year, so to pay her $314 June power bill she looked to Catholic Charities, which wrote a check. Still, nonprofits often can only provide relief once a year, said Romero, adding she will reapply for LIHEAP help. The Catholic Charities funding was a one-time thing. In Arkansas, Boyd recently got a disconnection notice if she didnt pay the electric bill after receiving an extension. Last time her power got shut off, she and her grandson slept in the car. This time, The Salvation Army kept Boyd from being disconnected. Boyd doesnt receive LIHEAP; she didnt even know that the financial aid was available. The only thing between me and the sun is the roof, she said. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the oldest member of Congress, fell in her home and went to a hospital for a short time, her office said on Wednesday. The 90-year-old California Democrat, who has faced mounting concerns about her health and her ability to perform the duties of a senator, briefly went to the hospital yesterday afternoon as a precaution after a minor fall in her home, her office said in a statement. All of her scans were clear, and she returned home later Tuesday, said her spokesman Adam Russell, who provided no further details. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a statement he spoke with Feinstein on Wednesday morning. She said she suffered no injuries and briefly went to the hospital as a precaution, Schumer said. Im glad she is back home now and is doing well. The San Francisco hospital visit comes after Feinstein missed months of work in Washington earlier this year when she was hospitalized for the shingles virus and its side effects. Since her return to work in May, she has traveled the Capitol halls in a wheelchair and has often appeared confused and disoriented. Feinstein has defended her ability to perform her job, though her office said in May that she was still experiencing vision and balance impairments from the shingles virus. Feinstein, who took office in 1992, announced earlier this year that she would not seek reelection in 2024. Several Democrats have already entered the race to replace her. During her hospitalization in the spring, some progressive House Democrats publicly called on her to resign, saying her absence had grounded the push to confirm President Joe Bidens judicial nominees. However, leading Democrats, including Biden and Schumer, publicly stood beside her. Nonetheless, Feinsteins retirement plans have sparked a competitive Democratic contest to replace her, led by a trio of House lawmakers, U.S. Reps. Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff. If Feinstein resigns before the 2024 election, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom would name her replacement, potentially reordering the race to succeed her. The governor said in 2021 that he would nominate a Black woman to fill the seat if Feinstein, whos white, were to step aside. Lee is Black, and becoming the incumbent could be a decisive advantage in the contest, but its unknown if Newsom would consider Lee, given that she is already running for the seat. Porter and Schiff are white. Feinstein has had a storied political career that broke gender barriers as she rose from San Franciscos City Hall to leadership posts in the U.S. Senate. She played key roles in political battles over issues including reproductive rights and environmental protection, gaining a reputation as a pragmatic centrist. In recent years, however, she has taken a step back from senior roles at the Capitol. She relinquished the top Democratic spot on the Judiciary Committee in 2020 amid criticism from liberals on how she handled the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett. And earlier this year, she declined to serve as the Senate president pro tempore, the most senior member of the majority party who daily opens the Senate chamber, even though she was in line to do so. Feinstein had also requested to be replaced on the Senate Judiciary panel during her 10-week hospital stay earlier this year, but Republicans declined to allow the replacement. Even after she returned, concerns continued that she would not be able to make it for every crucial vote. The Senate is expected to resume work in Washington in early September. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Opinion articles written in the style of their author." These texts are to be based on verified facts and must be respectful towards people, even though their actions may be criticized. shall feature, along with the author's name (regardless of their greater or lesser renown), a footer stating their office, academic title, political affiliation (if any) and main occupation, or the occupation related to the topic being assessed The most tumultuous presidential transition in U.S. history did not take place between November 3, 2020, and January 6, 2021, but more than 160 years ago. A new Republican president-elect had to take over from a government that seemed incapable of holding together a nation in crisis. He had only garnered about 40% of the popular vote, with the rest split among a long list of opponents. He was Abraham Lincoln and the year was 1860. During the presidential transition, seven states declared secession. The southerners took over forts and rearmed. Lincolns hope that the secession movement was a passing phase was dashed when rebels attacked Fort Sumter just over a month after the inauguration, plunging the country into a bloody civil war. A century and a half later, another stormy presidential transition has led to the indictment of a former U.S. president on four charges: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. Of all the indictments facing Donald Trump, this one is the most serious. And its also the most important ever to safeguarding American democracy and the rule of law in any U.S. court case against any person. All the world is watching. The indictment is not limited to the specific events of the January 6 assault on the Capitol, nor is it limited to what Trump said about alleged voter fraud during the presidential election. The document refers to the specific actions that Trump carried out in an effort to change the result of the election: presenting alternative lists of electors (the people who vote for the president in the Electoral College), and lobbying state legislators, election officials, Justice Department officials and his own vice president to manipulate the arcane and complex electoral rules in order to change his status from loser to winner. And during the violent assault on the Capitol, for opting for inaction. That is the definition of election subversion. The fact that Trump is now the favorite to win the Republican Partys presidential nomination for the 2024 election complicates the political optics. Especially since each new indictment seems to go against President Joe Bidens own political interests. Just look at the millions raised by the Trump campaign in the second quarter of 2023, precisely when he was indicted by the Manhattan district attorney for hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, and for classified documents found in his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. Despite this, the Department of Justice has deemed the alleged crimes serious enough, and the evidence compelling enough, to proceed. Because its not about politics, its about accountability. Trump now can pursue two legal strategies. The first is to appeal to the First Amendment of the Constitution (freedom of expression, religion and press). But Special Counsel Jack Smiths decision not to file possible charges related to incitement to violence, insurrection and sedition which some had called for means that the case will avoid the full range of constitutional challenges attached to the amendment. The second is stalling. If Trump can delay the final outcome of the various criminal proceedings against him and get elected again in 2024, he could name a new attorney general who would dismiss the federal cases. Alternatively, Trump could test the limits of presidential power by trying to pardon himself. Even if Trump does not win the Republican nomination, a Republican president would likely face enormous pressure to drop the charges against him and placate his supporters. But while Trump could skirt the federal cases, those efforts would not apply to the state criminal charges he faces in New York or could face in Georgia. In other words, he still faces the possibility of being convicted in a state trial for something less consequential. As the saying goes, it took an accountant to catch Al Capone. The success of his efforts to suspend and push back the cases will not only depend on the effectiveness of Trumps legal defense, but also on Judge Tanya S. Chutkans determination to move the proceedings forward at a fair but determined pace. In her favor, she had the fact that despite the almost overwhelming factual density of the indictment it will be procedurally easier to litigate than the Mar-a-Lago papers case, which involves a lot of classified documentation. The tension between the political and judicial calendar is palpable. It was already evident when Trump decided to launch his Republican primary campaign early on, driven precisely by the fear of being prosecuted. He denies this, insisting that he would not have been charged if he wasnt running for president. But his campaign and legal issues are intimately intertwined. Perhaps he didnt take into account that if he wants to avoid conviction, he may have to spend a lot of energy and time addressing his legal issues, to the detriment of the campaign he has already said he wont participate in the first debate of the Republican primary on August 23. But he also failed to calculate that Americans are beginning to draw distinctions between his various legal problems. While the first indictment for the Stormy Daniels case did not hurt him politically, with the second indictment for withholding classified documents, his median support in the primaries fell slightly, and his net valuation fell a couple of percentage points. Working in his favor is the unsuccessful search for a Republican alternative. His rivals mistakenly try to manage a difficult balancing act by taking advantage of Trumps legal troubles, while trying not to alienate his devoted supporters. Because no one can win the candidacy without the support of the 35% of Republican voters loyal to Trump, a percentage that, however, is not enough to reach the White House. Bringing Trump before a jury does not ensure his conviction and certainly comes with risks. But the risks to the system of not prosecuting the former president outweigh those of doing so. A trial on these indictments may not only be the best opportunity to show Americans again, in the midst of election season, the actions that Trump took for his own personal benefit while putting lives and the country at risk. It may also serve as a deterrent to anyone who might want to attempt a similar attack on American democracy in the future. The vulnerability of democracy is not unique to the U.S. If Washington does not lose confidence in its ability to repair democracy at home, it will help overcome any skepticism from abroad and will be a boost to this U.S. administrations support for democracy in the world, which is so key in these times. That is why what most alarms the international community are the polls that suggest a rematch between Biden and Trump in 2024. It would be very close and very competitive, in other words, not very different from 2020. And we already know who won. As Lincoln stated: That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Wyoming Medicaids renewal process, which was restarted earlier this year to review client eligibility, has reached a key stage, according to the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH). Medicaid is a joint federal-state insurance program that pays for the medical and long-term care of qualified low-income and medically needy individuals and families. In 2020, the federal government stopped Medicaid and Kid Care CHIP eligibility reviews in all states in exchange for temporarily increased federal funding. States are now required to return to normal renewal procedures and the increased federal funding is ending. The department recommends beneficiaries check whether Wyoming Medicaid or Kid Care CHIP has current contact information renewal so notices are not missed. For those who have received packets, it is critical for forms to be completed and submitted as required to avoid loss of coverage. WDH has been reporting the states renewal status to the federal government since April. Through the end of July, coverage was renewed for just over 9,000 beneficiaries. During the same period, coverage was ended for just over 600 clients for reasons such as reaching adulthood so no longer eligible for coverage as a child, increased income, a health status change or a move to another state. Wyoming numbers are also now available for a category known as procedural terminations. This includes those who did not return renewal forms or respond to questions from WDH about their own coverage or the coverage of a family member. Through the end of July, coverage was ended for more than 10,100 Wyoming Medicaid or Kid Care CHIP clients for procedural reasons. While the number for procedural terminations may seem high, there are important considerations, said Lee Grossman, state Medicaid agent and Division of Healthcare Financing senior administrator with WDH. The figure represents a total since April and is not a monthly number. We believe many individuals who did not return forms may have realized they or their family member were no longer eligible. At the same time, we are concerned about enrollees who did not complete the renewal process but who may still be eligible for services. We absolutely want them to remain covered, Grossman said. Individuals who lose coverage for procedural reasons may provide required information for up to 90 days after coverage ended. If found to still be eligible, coverage can be backdated for up to 90 days. About three-quarters of the procedural terminations to date involve children, which has always been Wyoming Medicaids largest enrollment group. Grossman noted family members, providers and case managers often play important roles with beneficiaries, such as children or those with disabilities, who may be unable to manage the renewal process themselves. Were asking them to be aware of the renewal process as we return to business as usual. Please check on those addresses and please do not ignore notices from Wyoming Medicaid or Kid Care CHIP, he said. Not all clients receive renewal notices at the same time, with a portion sent each month. The effort will continue annually, as required by federal regulations. Enrollees can update their contact information or go through the renewal process online if its their turn at www.wesystem.wyo.gov or by calling 1-855-294-2127. A low income does not automatically qualify people for Wyoming Medicaid. People must also fall into certain categories based on age or health status. Wyoming Medicaid includes several waiver programs designed for eligible participants who prefer to get long-term care services and supports in their home or community, rather than in an institutional setting. The renewal process applies to waiver participants. As we prepared to restart our renewal process well over a year ago, it was estimated roughly 10,000 to 15,000 beneficiaries would lose coverage, Grossman said. Our enrollment continued to increase past that point in time, which will likely result in a higher overall number of closures through the year. Average monthly enrollment in Wyoming Medicaid before the pandemic was around 55,000, Grossman said. Because eligibility could not be reviewed until recently, this year its reached a historic high of about 87,000. It is not unreasonable to expect enrollment to return much closer to the range we saw before the pandemic. Renewals help ensure state and federal resources are used as intended, Grossman said. Its expected many clients found to be ineligible will qualify for subsidized insurance coverage through the federal exchange. Some children may also be moved to the Kid Care CHIP program, which has higher income guidelines. Batavia, NY (14020) Today Cloudy skies. Low around 65F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Cloudy skies. Low around 65F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Batavia, NY (14020) Today Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low near 65F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low near 65F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. KYODO NEWS - Aug 10, 2023 - 14:56 | All, Japan The Japanese government on Thursday launched a "summit" of junior high school students across Japan in order to bring greater attention to North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s. With only five of the 17 officially recognized abductees having been returned almost two decades ago and with Tokyo and Pyongyang at a deadlock over the others, the government wants to create momentum toward a resolution, in the hope that the young people who take part will spread greater awareness through their communities. "People uniting and showing a strong determination to have all the abductees return home as soon as possible will help resolve this issue," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno, who is also the minister in charge of the issue. Matsuno said he is sorry the government has been unable to secure the return of a single abductee from North Korea since the first five came home in 2002. "By participating in the summit, I want you to know more about the serious abuse of human rights that has taken place and think deeply about personal dignity," he said at the summit, in which around 60 students took part. Takuya Yokota, the head of a group representing the families of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, also spoke at the event. His sister Megumi was abducted in 1977 at age 13. "The moment you think this problem is somebody else's is when you allow human rights to be violated. I really want you to speak to your friends and families about this," he said. Student participants had been chosen by their prefectural and local school boards, but some were unable to attend due to a powerful typhoon that has rocked southwest and west Japan. Related coverage: Ex-Japan abductee to North Korea asks PM Kishida to meet with leader Kim North Korea raps Japan over abduction symposium, repeats issue resolved North Korea abductee's mother longs for progress at G-7 as time runs out New York Air National Guard Photo An MQ-9 Reaper drone is shown. The New York Air National Guards 174th Attack Wing will have an MQ-9 on display at this weekends Rochester Airshow at Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport. KYODO NEWS - Aug 10, 2023 - 22:32 | All, Japan, Travel/Tourism, World Japanese businesses welcomed China's announcement on Thursday that Japan-bound group tours will resume following a hiatus due to COVID-19, hoping for the return of "bakugai," or "explosive" big-budget shopping by Chinese tourists, but some industries expressed concern about labor shortages. All Nippon Airways Co. and Japan Airlines Co. said they are considering increasing the number of flights between China and Japan in hopes the resumption of Chinese group tours will boost their profits. The tours will "increase the number of visitors to Japan and revitalize the economy," said Koji Shibata, president of ANA Holdings Inc., ANA's parent company. Major department store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd. has prepared for a rise in duty-free shopping, having already increased the number of service counters in their shops since the end of fall last year. Smaller stores in popular tourist spots, such as Tokyo's Asakusa district, were also heartened by the news. "There are sure to be people who want to do a lot of shopping after not being able to come for years," said Koji Ojima, 51, who runs a souvenir shop on the Nakamise shopping street running to Senso-ji temple. "It's not a big store, so I'll have to devise measures to allow more customers," he said. An official of a tourism organization in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido said expectations are high that the local economy will get a boost, saying Chinese tourists "are known for spending quite a lot." In western Japan, Toshiyuki Suzuki, who operates a Japanese-style inn near Nara Park, said his business had previously been badly hit by the lack of reservations from Chinese tourists. Although preventing the spread of COVID-19 and ensuring enough workforce are still challenges, the 70-year-old said "hope for a return to liveliness exceeds" the worries. Seibu Prince Hotels Worldwide Inc., which operates the Prince Hotel brand, said it hoped the influx of Chinese tourists will lead to higher occupancy rates but remained concerned about labor shortages. The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a heavy blow to the accommodation industry in Japan, causing many employees to quit. A spokesperson said the hotel company would "work on securing people with language skills through various means, including internships." Despite the optimism across businesses, some experts were skeptical that the resumption of group tours would lead to a surge in Chinese tourists due to the slow recovery of the world's second-largest economy. Yusaku Nishimura, from the University of International Business and Economics in China, stated that even before the pandemic wreaked havoc, the preferences of Chinese visitors had been shifting from group travel to individual travel and from shopping to unique personal experiences. The professor, who specializes in the Chinese economy, expressed hope that the resumption of group tours will boost consumption in Japan. However, he noted the impact "may be limited to factors such as the weak yen." China on Thursday lifted group tour restrictions for Chinese nationals, a measure that had been in place since January 2020. In February and March, China announced the resumption of overseas group tours for Chinese citizens after a roughly three-year hiatus, but the tours were limited to a total of 60 countries, with Japan excluded from the list. Related coverage: China resumes Japan-bound group tours after COVID-19 hiatus Foreign arrivals to Japan top 10 million, 1st time since pre-COVID era Air travel demand seen soaring 28% to near pre-pandemic level in 2023 Glenfiddich brand ambassador leads group on Race to Dufftown trail On 31 July, Glenfiddich brand ambassador Mark Thomson led a group of 11 hospitality industry names on a 90k+ trail throughout Scotland. Through their journey, dubbed the Race to Dufftown, a total of 3,135 was raised for Protect Our Winters, with every donation matched by William Grant & Sons and Le Deli Robuchon London. The trail is inspired by a journey taken by William Grant in 1885, as he searched Scotland for inspiration and opportunity before building Glenfiddich. The expedition took him from Dufftown to Balmoral. Thomson documented the journey through his Instagram, with the hopes of inspiring industry members and others to follow his footsteps next year. After runners had crossed the finish line, they were greeted with a dram before being taken on a guided tour of the Glenfiddich distillery Before the run, Thomson commented: This adventure will create a lasting impression on the entrants, bringing together all the vales Glenfiddich and Protect Our Winters share, as well as promoting health and wellbeing within the industry. The love of the outdoors, challenge of the landscape and the luxury destination of the distillery creates a memorable occasion for all." 10 August 2023 - Bradley Weir Waste water from Hingna MIDC aidingEichhornias growth in Ambazari Lake Staff Reporter The rampant growth of Eichhornia weeds in Ambazari Lake is due to industrial waste or sewage water gushing into the lake from Hingna MIDC side, claimed Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). Launching a drive to clear Eichhornia weeds from the lake, the NMC had put in efforts to find out the reason for rampant growth of the weeds and sewage water contaminating the water body. Industrial waste is entering in the lake from Hingna MIDC side. Eichhornia weeds grow in stored water. Such a situation is created by contaminated water flowing in from MIDC side, Dr Gajendra Mahalle, Deputy Municipal Commis-sioner, Solid Waste Manage-ment, told The Hitavada. During inspection the ongoing drive to clear the water body of Eichhornia weeds, Dr Mahalle visited the spot and other parts on Wednesday. We have cleaned 90% weeds from the overflow point of the lake. The remaining weeds will be cleared on Thursday. The cleaning process from the centre of the lake started on Monday. The drive will continue for another 5 days, he added. Dr Mahalle also said, We are taking help of deep water swimmers of the Fire and Emergency Services Department to remove the weeds from the centre of the lake. Good thing is that the weeds are not growing in the lake, and they are accumulating in the water body from the MIDC side. Eichhornia weeds have a variety of negative impacts once introduced to a freshwater environment. A STEP CLOSER THE passage of the Inter-Services Organisation (Command, Control & Discipline) Bill, 2023 in Rajya Sabha, is a step closer towards realising the long-awaited reforms process that includes theaterisation of the Armed Forces in India. As Mr. Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister, stated in Rajya Sabha, the Bill enables the Government to constitute the inter-services organisations (ISOs). This does not mean that only after the said Bill becoming an Act, such ISOs will come into existence. Already, there are inter-services organisations operating in the country. For example, the Andaman and Nicobar Command, the Defence Space Agency, and the National Defence Academy are such organisations. Each one of them exists, but the new law will provide for legal sanction for their constitution. Apart from the technical aspect, the larger objective of the Bill is to prepare the Indian Armed Forces to respond in a better and more effective and organised manner to the the changing nature of warfare in the world. The boost to the ISO mechanism will ensure expediting the process of jointness among the forces, further improving the level of integration, and making inter-operability smoother. This is required given the emerging challenges wherein the warfare today has become hybrid, technology and network-centric as has been pointed out by the Defence Minister. Prior to the passage of the Bill in the Parliament, the Standing Committee on Defence had given suggestion pertaining to Tri-Service/Theater Commands. Before this also, certain steps were taken. For instance, the Andaman and Nicobar Command was set up in 2001 as an integrated theater command for strategic reasons. After years, in 2019, the Government set up a Department of Military Affairs, followed by appointment of General Bipin Rawat as countrys first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) the next year. The CDS was entrusted with the task of formulation of integrated theater commands. General Bipin Rawat and his successor General Anil Chauhan have done a great job in steering this effort. Theaterisation has long been in discussion. It is rooted in reorganisation of the Armed Forces into different theater commands. The thought has evolved on the principle of One Border, One Force. Thus, the Western border with Pakistan may be looked after by an integrated theater command, and the border with China by another command. For maritime border, there may be another integrated theater command. Presently, three Armed Forces in the country have 17 commands including seven each of the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force, and three of the Indian Navy. In integrated theater commands, assets of all three forces will operate under one commander. Hence, the commander-in-chief or officer-in-command will require powers to be exercised on personnel from all three functional forces, under a legal framework provided by the Bill regarding the ISOs. Once theaterisation takes place, only a notification will have to be issued to make effective the ISO legal framework. Communist China, with whom India shares a long and contested border, reorganised its seven military regions into five theater commands a few years ago. India also needed to evolve its response to such changes. The integration of forces with renewed vigour and future-readiness, will indeed be a confidence booster. The passage of the Inter-Services Organisation (Command, Control & Discipline) Bill, 2023 is significant step in that direction. As soon as the Bill gets the Presidents assent, announcement of integrated theater commands may not be far away in time. Accused involved in two loots held with stolen booty Staff Reporter Jabalpur police have succeeded in apprehending accused involved in two loot incidents in Kotwali and Gwarighat areas and recovered stolen booty including two gold chains, a gold tops, a gold ring and stolen scooter from him. The arrested has been identified as Kamlesh Gupta (33), son of Ramanand Gupta, resident of Piyush Majesty Nirmal Road, Thane in Mumbai. Superintendent of Police, Tushar Kant Vidyarthi (IPS), while addressing a press conference, on Wednesday, informed that taking serious note on increasing numbers of loot incidents, two teams were constituted under the supervision of Additional SP (City), Priyanka Shukla (IPS) and Additional SP (City South), Sanjay Kumar Agrawal (IPS). Besides this, he had declared cash rewards of Rs 5,000 each for apprehending the accused of loot incidents. Investigating the two loot cases with separate women reported in Kotwali and Gwarighat areas on July 25, 2023, police identified the same looter through CCTV footages involved in both the loot incidents. Continuing the investigation, police found the identity and location of accused. Jabalpur police established contact with Mumbai police and identified the accused as Kamlesh Gupta. A team was sent in Mumbai and the accused was apprehended with the help of Mumbai police. Police have retrieved the looted booties include two gold chains, a gold tops, a gold ring and stolen Access scooter from him. In further investigation, police learnt that the accused is a habitual looter and already arrested by Mumbai police in different loot cases. Looter was arrested with active working of police team led by CSP, Kotwali, Prabhat Shukla, CSP, Cantt, Tushar Singh, SHO, Kotwali, Anil Kumar Gupta, SHO, Gwarighat, Bhumeshwari Chouhan comprised of Kotwali, SI, Anil Gaur, Constables, Lalji, SI, Umang Agrawal, Chhatrapal and Anmol Dubey. BSP gheraos Raj Bhavan to protest atrocities against Dalits, tribals Staff Reporter In the wake of the recent incidents of atrocities on dalits and tribals in Madhya Pradesh, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) held a rally to showcase its strength through the event here in Bhopal on Wednesday. Partys National Co-ordinator Akash Anand, nephew of Mayawati, ex-CM of UP, also attended the rally. Under the leadership of Akash, BSP workers and supporters left for Raj Bhavan from Ambedkar Maidan. MLA Rambai from Patharia also accompanied him. Workers gathered from all over the State to attend the rally. State President of BSP Ramakant Pippal said, Today, on the occasion of World Tribal Day, there is a protest against injustice and atrocities against the tribal people and other oppressed classes. The BJP has been ruling Madhya Pradesh for 18 consecutive years. Injustice and atrocities are being committed on tribals, dalits, backward and minorities. In the event, referring to the incidents of oppression of tribals and dalits across the State, Rajya Sabha MP Ramji Gautam attacked Shivraj Government and claimed that in the upcoming Assembly election, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will throw BJP out of power. After Gautam, Akash Anand arrived to address party workers. Akash finished his speech within two minutes and asked party supporters to gherao Raj Bhavan. After this, he along with the BSP workers, marched towards the Raj Bhavan. However, police personnel stopped everyone by placing barricades near TT Nagar Teenshed. BSP workers raised slogans here. After this, BSP leaders ended their protest by handing over a memorandum to the officers addressed to the Governor. Ex-bandit Malkhan Singh joins Congress, vows to make Kamal Nath CM again Staff Reporter Once a terror in the Chambal ravines of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, Malkhan Singh, joined the Congress party in Bhopal on Wednesday. He took membership at PCC office in presence of State President Kamal Nath. Santosh Sharma, who was District Education Officer in Sagar and Chhatarpur, also joined the Congress. Dreaded ex-bandit Malkhan Singh, who had 17 murder cases against him, while talking to the reporters said, I would campaign for the Congress party and will do my bit to strengthen the party and ensure its win. Earlier, raised the gun against injustice, today I have sounded the bugle against injustice. We will clear the BJP in the 2023 Assembly elections. We will again make Kamal Nath sit on the Chief Ministers chair. Asked why he has joined hands with Kamal Nath after campaigning for BJP and praising Modi in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the former bandit added that he once campaigned for the BJP knowing that it was a party with principles, but now injustice and atrocities have increased in the BJP regime. Rapes are happening, peoples lands are being snatched, thats why I left the BJP. Agreeing with Malkhan Singh, PCC chief and former Chief Minister Kamal Nath said that the whole State is echoing the same thoughts. This is the first time that the dreaded ex-bandit Malkhan Singh will canvass for any political party in Madhya Pradesh. Influenced by the Bharatiya Janata Party, he had earlier campaigned for the BJP and started campaigning for it. Malkhan Singh became the face of many platforms to campaign for Narendra Modi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In his speeches, he cursed the Congress and appealed to make Narendra Modi Prime Minister. In 2019, upset with the BJP for not giving ticket he left the party. Later, he joined Akhilesh Yadavs uncle Shivpal Yadavs Progressive Samajwadi Party. Contested the election from Dhaurahara Lok Sabha seat, but lost. Mah CM, Dy CMs pay tributes to Quit India movement martyrs MUMBAI, TRIBUTES were paid to martyrs on Wednesday at the August Kranti Maidan here to mark the 81st anniversary of the Quit India movement. The movement is a major milestone in the history of Indias struggle for Independence from the British rule. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde led the gathering at the Maidan in paying floral tributes to freedom fighters and others who laid down their lives in the freedom struggle. People visited the August Kranti Maidan in the morning and offered floral tributes at the Gandhi Smruti Stambh. This is the ground from where Mahatma Gandhi gave the clarion call of do-or-die for Independence. The movement in August 1942, with Mahatma Gandhis call for immediate Independence, was launched at Mumbais Gowalia Tank, which later came to be known as August Kranti Maidan due to its association with the historic occasion. MP is example for other countries: UN representative Shombi Sharp Staff Reporter The representatives of the United Nations met Shiv Shekhar Shukla, Principal Secretary, Tourism and Culture Department, and Managing Director of the Board, at the office of Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board. The delegates included United Nation Resident Co-ordinator Shombi Sharp, UNICEF Madhya Pradesh State Representative Margaret Gwada, Chief of Staff Resident Co-ordinator Office Radhika Kaur Batra and United Nations Population Fund (UNFP) State In-charge Sunil Jacob. The delegates appreciated the hospitality of Madhya Pradesh and the efforts of the tourism department in promoting sustainable and women-safe tourism in the state. Shombi Sharp said that Madhya Pradesh is an incredible example not only for other states but also for other countries. Talking to the delegates, Principal Secretary Shukla informed that the Tourism Board is continuously working on the project Safe Tourist Destination for Women to improve the safety of women and encourage solo women travellers to visit the state. She highlighted that under the Responsible Tourism Mission (RTM), 10,000 women are already being skilled to become frontline workers in the hospitality and tourism industry and pointed out that currently 40,000 women are trained for self-defense . He said that MP is already home to 3 UNESCO World Heritage Sites including Sanchi, Bhimbetka and Khajuraho and 4 more sites including Orchha, Mandu, Bhedaghat and Satpura Tiger Reserves have been provisionally included in UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Gwalior has been selected under the Creative Cities Network. Shombi Sharp expressed gratitude to Shiv Shekhar Shukla for the warm welcome and hospitality and emphasised appreciation of the partnership between the United Nations and the Government of Madhya Pradesh to encourage collective sustainable development. Sharp said that his first official visit to India was in Madhya Pradesh and he feels a deep connection to the state. He also expressed his desire to see the tigers, architecture and natural beauty of Madhya Pradesh, as well as to fly in a hot air balloon. Radhika Kaul Batra appreciated the determination of women towards the safe tourism destinations project and the work done in the field of women empowerment. He also expressed his desire to make another visit to the fascinating State of Madhya Pradesh. Additional Managing Director Vivek Shrotriya also welcomed the guests. Tourism Board Director (Skills) Manoj Kumar Singh said that on Tuesday, Shombi Sharp, Margaret Gwada, Radhika Kaur Batra and Sunil Jacob organised a program for women operated by the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board in collaboration with the Government of India under the Nirbhaya Fund. He encouraged the stakeholders of the Safe Tourist Places Project by talking to the girls getting training in various skills and connecting with livelihood at tourist places. He also discussed in detail with the representatives of the project co-operation organisations about the on-site processes of project implementation and also discussed with the representatives of the main co-ordination departments of the project, Police, Women and Child Development Department and Urban Administration and Development Department. No talks with Hurriyat, Jamiat, Pakistan: Home Minister Shah NEW DELHI, UNION Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday ruled out any dialogue with Pakistan as well as the Hurriyat Conference, but said the Government can hold talks with the youth of the Kashmir Valley. Intervening in the debate on the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha, Shah also said that the now-scrapped Article 370 was the result of the alleged wrong policy of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the historic decision to completely merge Jammu and Kashmir with rest of the country after abrogating the Article 370, he said. We will neither hold talks with the Hurriyat, nor with the Jamiat nor with Pakistan. We will hold talks only with the youth of the Valley, he said. The Home Minister said over 40,000 people lost lives in Jammu and Kashmir due to terrorism but the situation improved to a great extent after Article 370, which gave the erstwhile State Special Status, was abrogated. Article 370 was abrogated on August 5, 2019 and the erstwhile state was divided into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Shah said the Modi Government has ended the practice of darbar move, abolished the Lakhanpur toll tax and worked for the development of Dalits and Adivasis living in Jammu and Kashmir and gave sanitation workers their rights. He said cinema halls were opened in Kashmir after 33 years and night shows and Shikara festival began too. The Home Minister said stone-pelting has become a history and temples in Jammu and Kashmir have been given protection. KYODO NEWS - Aug 10, 2023 - 23:13 | All, World The Malaysian government, on Thursday, criminalized the sale or possession of the rainbow-colored Pride collection watches from Swiss watchmaker Swatch Group that celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender movement, with offenders facing up to three years in jail. Homosexuality is a crime in the predominantly Muslim country, and there is a growing intolerance of the LGBT community. The ban on the watches, signed into force by Home Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution, covers activities including importation, production, sale, and possession. "The Malaysian government is committed to preventing the spread of elements that could be detrimental to our morals, public and nation's interest," the Home Affairs Ministry said in a statement. Violators of the law face jail time of not more than three years, a maximum fine of 20,000 ringgit ($4,370) or both. The ban came on the heel of the controversial seizures in May of Swatch Pride watches in several outlets throughout the Southeast Asian country. This led the Swiss watchmaker to sue the government, seeking the return of the watches and compensation for damages. On Swatch Malaysia's website, the Pride collection is meant to celebrate "the unity and diversity that make our society -- and Swatch -- so strong." Sana Khan missing case: Marriage, dispute, missing...? Staff Reporter and Jabalpur Correspondent The missing case of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sana Khan, also known as Heena Khan, took a new turn on Wednesday. New information about her marriage, disputes, and conflicts continued to baffle both Nagpur and Jabalpur police. Sana, a leader of BJPs Minority Cell, mysteriously went missing after leaving Nagpur for Jabalpur on August 1. Initial reports suggested she had departed to meet a person named Amit alias Pappu Rajjan Sahu, a suspect in the case, with whom she allegedly had a relationship. Information about her marriage emerged from a marriage certificate that went viral on the social media, claimed that Sana and Pappu had tied the knot in Jabalpur on April 24, 2023, in presence of a Magistrate. However, doubts were raised regarding the authenticity of Sanas signature on the document, said police. A police official said that the investigation revealed that a financial dispute had erupted between Sana and Pappu prior to her disappearance. The circumstances surrounding the alleged dispute are under scrutiny as police attempt to piece together the timeline leading up to Sanas missing timing. Surprisingly, the cops response to the case has raised many questions. Both Nagpur and Jabalpur police are not making any breakthrough. The missing case was filed at Mankapur Police Station by the mother of Sana Khan. DCP (Zone III) Rahul Madne stated that Sana left Nagpur in a private bus. She contacted her mother next morning on reaching Jabalpur. It means Sana went missing after reaching Jabalpur, he added. Smriti slams Rahul overmurder of India remark NEW DELHI : Only a misogynistic man can give a flying kiss to Parliament. Such indecent act has not been witnessed by the House ever before, said Smrit UNION Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday came down heavily on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his murder of India in Manipur remark in Lok Sabha, saying this is for the first time in parliamentary democracy that someone has made such a statement. Speaking after Gandhi during the debate on the no-confidence motion against the Government, she also attacked the Congress, saying the partys members were clapping and thumping desks when the remark was being made. I condemn the behaviour that was displayed. This is the first time in Parliaments history that someone talked about the murder of Bharat Mata, and Congress leaders were thumping desks, the BJP MP said and asserted that Manipur is an integral part of India. The Minister for Women and Child Development also trained guns at the Wayanad MP after he blew a flying kiss towards the treasury benches which were booing him while he was leaving the House. The person who spoke before me. An indecent gesture was made. Only a misogynistic man can give a flying kiss to Parliament which seats female Members of Parliament... Such indecent act has not been witnessed by the House ever before. The entire country has seen the culture of the (Gandhi) family, Irani said in the Lower House of Parliament. During the debate, Irani accused Congress leaders of supporting the idea of dividing India and said Manipur is not divided, it is a part of this country. She said that a member of his (Opposition) alliance said in Tamil Nadu that India only means north India. If he has the courage, Rahul Gandhi should comment on this. Another Congress leader said, there should be a referendum on Kashmir. Was the statement given as per the order of the Congress leadership that a leader talked about a referendum in Kashmir? You are not India because you define corruption in India, you define incompetence. You are not India, the BJP MP said attacking the Congress. Mentioning Gandhis Bharat Jodo Yatra, she said, I will not speak on joint pains. The Valley that India has seen to be soaked in blood, (but) when they went there, they were playing with snow balls. That was possible after Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi abrogated Article 370. He said, he went on a yatra and gave assurance that they will restore Article 370. Article 370 will never be restored, Irani asserted. She also recounted the horrors of the Emergency to attack the Congress, saying, the partys history is smeared in blood. The BJP MP also raised the issues of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the unrest in Kashmir during Congress regimes at the Centre. Irani also said, the Government was ready to discuss the Manipur issue and alleged that the Opposition was running away from a debate. BJP murdered Hindustan in Manipur: Rahul in LS NEW DELHI : THE politics of the BJP has murdered Bharat Mata in Manipur, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged on Wednesday and called members of the ruling party traitors, as he launched a broadside against the Narendra Modi Government over its handling of the violence in the north-eastern state. Speaking on the second day of the debate on the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha, Gandhi, in his first comments in the House after the restoration of his membership, also slammed Prime Minister Modi for not visiting Manipur and alleged that the PM does not consider the State a part of India, evoking strong protest by the treasury benches. The former Congress chief also alleged that the Prime Minister listens to only two people, Amit Shah and Gautam Adani, just as Ravan paid heed to only two peoples advice --Meghnad and Kumbhakaran. Gandhi showed an old poster of Modi and Adani sitting together in an aircraft, and claimed that Modi doesnt listen to Indias voice but theirs (Adani group). The Prime Minister was not in the House when Gandhi spoke. After the treasury benches protested over the poster, pointing out that it was not allowed by the rules, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla again asked Gandhi to exercise restraint. Hanuman had not burnt down Lanka, Ravans arrogance did it. Ravan was not killed by Ram but by his arrogance, Gandhi said, referring to the Indian epic Ramayana. I went to Manipur a few days ago. Our Prime Minister has not gone there, he has not gone there till now. He does not consider Manipur part of India. I used the word Manipur, but the reality is that there is no Manipur left. You have divided Manipur into two parts, you have broken up Manipur, Gandhi said. Gandhi said he visited Manipur and met women and children at the relief camps, but the Prime Minister had not done so. Narrating his experience of visiting relief camps in the violence-hit State, he said, I asked a woman about what happened to her and she replied that her small son, an only child, was shot before her eyes. She told me that she spent the whole night with the body of her child and then she felt afraid and left her house. When I asked her if she had brought along something with her, she responded only the clothes she was wearing and a photo. In another camp, when I asked another woman the same question about what happened to her, she started trembling and fainted, Gandhi added. These are the two examples. In Manipur, they (BJP) have murdered Hindustan. Their politics has not killed Manipur but killed Hindustan in Manipur. Hindustan has been murdered in Manipur, he said. As I had said, India is a voice of the people. You killed that voice in Manipur. This means that you murdered Bharat Mata in Manipur, Gandhi asserted amid thumping of desks by Opposition leaders. By killing the people of Manipur you have murdered Bharat, you are not desh bhakt (patriot) but deshdrohi (traitor), the former Congress chief said. The Prime Minister cannot go to Manipur because he has murdered Hindustan there...You are not the protectors of Bharat Mata but its killers, the former Congress chief alleged. Speaker Om Birla then urged Gandhi to exercise restraint while speaking in the House, asserting that Bharat Mata is our mother. Responding to the Speakers remarks, Gandhi said, I am talking about the murder of my mother in Manipur. I am speaking with respect that you murdered my mother in Manipur. My mother is sitting here. The other mother, Bharat Mata, you killed in Manipur, he said pointing to Sonia Gandhi who was present in the House. Continuing his no-holds-barred attack against the government in his over 30-minute speech, Gandhi went on to say that it is the Army that can bring peace to Manipur but the Government is not deploying it. You are sprinkling kerosene everywhere. You sprinkled kerosene in Manipur and then added fire to it. You are now trying the same thing in Haryana. You are attempting to burn the country everywhere. You are murdering Bharat Mata throughout the country, he said, referring to recent communal clashes in Gurugram and Nuh. As the treasury benches protested and slammed Gandhi, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said the Congress leader should apologise for his remarks as it is the Congress that was responsible for insurgency and other problems in the north-east. Members of various Opposition parties rushed to the Well to protest Rijijus comments during the middle of Gandhis speech and one of them was seen hitting the Speakers desk. Congress members were also heard telling the treasury benches that they will also disrupt Modis speech when he replies to the motion on Thursday. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi was seen going to different rows occupied by the MPs of the BJP and its allies, apparently advising them to keep quiet. In his speech, Rahul also said that the Bharat Jodo Yatra is not over and he undertook the cross-country march to understand what is that he loved and for what he had faced abuse for 10 years. The Congress leader also thanked Speaker Birla for reinstating his membership of the House. Waregaon ash bund collapse case: Affected farmers get compensation after 10 months Staff Reporter The 11 farmers of Waregaon village who lost their crops and agriculture land in Waregaon ash bund collapse incident last year, got compensation from the administration after 10 months on Wednesday. On October 4 last, Waregaon ash bund collapsed following heavy rains leading to ash slurry entering in adjacent agriculture fields. After the incident, the administration conducted panchnama and sent the report to the Revenue Department for calculating compensation. However, the affected farmers struggled a lot to get the compensation which they received after 10 months, on Wednesday. The ash bund breach affected total 2.50 Ha land. Whereas, the administration released a fund of Rs 1,82,545 as compensation for affected farmers. Pawan Deepak Gupta, Sanjay Fakirchand Gurav, Deorao Gangaram Pande, Jivatu Govinda Deure, Ketan Ishwar Araspure, Shriram Gondane, Sarla Deshpande, Ghanshyam Gharat, Mohd Nawab Sheikh, Shobha Girish and Nayana Farkase are the affected farmers who got compensation at a programme held at Waregaon village. The Waregaon ash bund breach has been happening every year during monsoon, at least for past two years. This year too, in June, the ash bund breach leading to loss to nine farmers, as fly ash water entered their fields. Since the 11 farmers, who got affected last year, and received the compensation on Wednesday, the 9 farmers hit this year may have to wait for their turn to get compensated by the administration till next year. KYODO NEWS - Aug 10, 2023 - 20:57 | World, All, Travel/Tourism, Japan China said Thursday that it has approved the resumption of Japan-bound group tours for its citizens, lifting restrictions introduced in January 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in a move expected to revitalize Japan's inbound tourism sector. The resumption of the tours comes amid strained bilateral relations over Tokyo's plan to start releasing treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea as early as the end of this month. Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Jianghao said the restart of group tours to Japan was a measure to "boost people-to-people exchanges and promote mutual understanding" between the two countries. "Friendship is the only correct choice" for China and Japan, Wu said at a Tokyo event for experts discussing improving bilateral ties. Japan's public and business sectors have welcomed the resumption, as the world's third-largest economy has made inbound tourism one of the key pillars of its growth strategy following the end of the coronavirus pandemic. Prime Minster Fumio Kishida told reporters on Thursday that the government hopes inbound travel from China will recover further due to resumed tours. The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a statement that it has given its approval for the resumption of group tours to Japan and over 70 other countries and territories, including the United States, Germany, Australia and South Korea. Since 2017, China had banned group tours to South Korea over the deployment of a U.S. antiballistic missile system in the country. In February and March, China announced the resumption of overseas group tours for Chinese citizens after a roughly three-year hiatus, but the tours were limited to a total of 60 countries, with Japan excluded from the list. The lifting in January of the country's strict "zero-COVID" policy involving quarantine has made it easier for Chinese citizens to travel abroad. Visas for individual Japan-bound Chinese travelers are already available. Representatives from the Japanese tourism industry had called for the resumption of Japan-bound Chinese group tours. Hopes of the tours from China being resumed boosted tourism-related shares in Tokyo as stocks ended higher, aided by optimistic earnings forecasts from some major Japanese companies. The number of Chinese visitors to Japan amounted to 9.59 million in 2019, accounting for some 30 percent of all inbound tourists. They spent a total of 1.77 trillion yen ($12 billion), official data showed. Arrivals from China stood at about 208,500 in June, down 76.3 percent from the same month in 2019, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Related coverage: Japan welcomes return of Chinese group tours amid labor shortage fear Japan eyes shift to "quality" experiences as inbound tourism recovers China resumes overseas group tours to 20 countries, Japan not included KYODO NEWS - Aug 10, 2023 - 22:54 | All, Japan, World The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News. ---------- China resumes Japan-bound group tours after COVID-19 hiatus BEIJING - China said Thursday that it has approved the resumption of Japan-bound group tours for its citizens, lifting restrictions introduced in January 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in a move expected to revitalize Japan's inbound tourism sector. The resumption of the tours comes amid strained bilateral relations over Tokyo's plan to start releasing treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea as early as the end of this month. ---------- Baseball: Ohtani first in history to reach 10 wins, 10 HRs for second time ANAHEIM, California - Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani reached another milestone Wednesday with his 10th win as a pitcher this season in a 4-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants. Ohtani (10-5) allowed one unearned run in six innings and became the first player in MLB history to win at least 10 games as a pitcher and hit 10 home runs in the same season for a second time. ---------- Typhoon Khanun brings heavy rainfall to Japan's southwest, west TOKYO - Typhoon Khanun moved past Japan on Thursday after bringing heavy rainfall to southwestern and western regions, as another typhoon approaches the country and is set to hit eastern and western areas through early next week, according to the weather agency. With Typhoon Khanun moving so slowly, linear rain bands, which can bring torrential downpours, were formed overnight over Shikoku and Kyushu islands, where some areas have received nearly 1,000 millimeters of rain since the beginning of the month. ---------- At least 36 killed as Hawaii wildfires continue raging HONOLULU - At least 36 people have been killed in wildfires on Hawaii's Maui Island and local authorities are continuing with search and rescue operations as fires continue to wreak havoc across the region, local media reported Wednesday. Lahaina, a tourist spot in Maui, remains without telephone service, either by landline or cellphone, while the coast guard has rescued 14 people from the ocean off the area's shore, according to the Maui County office. ---------- Japan gives Brazilians visa-free entry for short stays from Sept. 30 TOKYO - Japan will allow Brazilian tourists to visit the country on short stays without visas from Sept. 30, the government said Thursday, creating a reciprocal entry exemption between the two nations following a summit earlier this year. As this year marks the 115th anniversary of Japanese emigration to Brazil, the reciprocal visa exemptions are "expected to further deepen people-to-people, cultural and economic exchanges between the two countries and to promote tourism," the Foreign Ministry said. ---------- Japan welcomes return of Chinese group tours amid labor shortage fear TOKYO - Japanese businesses welcomed China's announcement on Thursday that Japan-bound group tours will resume following a hiatus due to COVID-19, hoping for the return of "bakugai," or "explosive" big-budget shopping by Chinese tourists, but some industries expressed concern about labor shortages. All Nippon Airways Co. and Japan Airlines Co. said they are considering increasing the number of flights between China and Japan in hopes the resumption of Chinese group tours will boost their profits. ---------- 2025 World Expo in Osaka tickets to be sold from Nov. 30 OSAKA - Advance ticket sales for the 2025 World Exposition in Osaka will begin on Nov. 30, 500 days before its start date, its organizers said Thursday. The admission price depends on when the tickets are bought and when they will be used, with a single-entry adult ticket costing between 4,000 yen ($28) and 6,700 yen, the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition said about the event, which runs from April 13 through Oct. 13. ---------- Japan holds junior high school "summit" on abductions by North Korea TOKYO - The Japanese government on Thursday launched a "summit" of junior high school students across Japan in order to bring greater attention to North Korea's abduction of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s. With only five of the 17 officially recognized abductees having been returned almost two decades ago and with Tokyo and Pyongyang at a deadlock over the others, the government wants to create momentum toward a resolution, in the hope that the young people who take part will spread greater awareness through their communities. ---------- Video: Yosakoi festival in western Japan PagerDuty, Inc. (NYSE:PD Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of Moderate Buy from the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $33.44. A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on PD shares. Craig Hallum cut shares of PagerDuty from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $26.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 2nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of PagerDuty from $35.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Friday, June 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of PagerDuty from $37.00 to $32.00 in a report on Friday, June 2nd. Get PagerDuty alerts: Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on PagerDuty Insiders Place Their Bets Institutional Trading of PagerDuty In other PagerDuty news, Director Rathi Murthy sold 45,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.44, for a total transaction of $964,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 23,375 shares of the companys stock, valued at $501,160. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link . In other news, CFO Howard Wilson sold 4,260 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.03, for a total value of $106,627.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 557,046 shares of the companys stock, valued at $13,942,861.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website . Also, Director Rathi Murthy sold 45,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.44, for a total transaction of $964,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $501,160. The disclosure for this sale can be found here . Insiders sold a total of 50,148 shares of company stock valued at $1,093,628 over the last 90 days. 7.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders. A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PD. Fred Alger Management LLC purchased a new position in PagerDuty in the 1st quarter valued at $33,686,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of PagerDuty during the 4th quarter worth $22,062,000. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of PagerDuty by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 10,379,689 shares of the companys stock worth $233,335,000 after purchasing an additional 549,680 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of PagerDuty by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,886,613 shares of the companys stock worth $129,788,000 after purchasing an additional 517,110 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can acquired a new position in shares of PagerDuty during the 2nd quarter worth $10,933,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.61% of the companys stock. PagerDuty Stock Performance NYSE:PD opened at $23.62 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a current ratio of 2.41. The company has a fifty day moving average of $23.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $27.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, a PE ratio of -19.68 and a beta of 0.87. PagerDuty has a fifty-two week low of $19.51 and a fifty-two week high of $35.33. PagerDuty (NYSE:PD Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 1st. The company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $103.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $103.25 million. PagerDuty had a negative net margin of 27.74% and a negative return on equity of 35.07%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.33) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that PagerDuty will post -0.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. PagerDuty Company Profile (Get Free Report PagerDuty, Inc engages in the operation of a digital operations management platform in the United States, EMEA, the Asia Pacific, and Japan. The company's digital operations management platform collects data and digital signals from virtually any software-enabled system or device and leverage powerful machine learning to correlate, process, and predict opportunities and issues. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for PagerDuty Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for PagerDuty and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO Free Report) by 3.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,545 shares of the companys stock after selling 708 shares during the period. AutoZone makes up about 2.5% of Seizert Capital Partners LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Seizert Capital Partners LLC owned approximately 0.10% of AutoZone worth $45,586,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AZO. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in AutoZone by 107,977.3% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 699,260 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,724,500,000 after acquiring an additional 698,613 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in AutoZone by 368.0% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 411,450 shares of the companys stock worth $841,242,000 after buying an additional 323,536 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AutoZone in the 4th quarter valued at $658,788,000. StonePine Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in AutoZone by 639.5% during the 1st quarter. StonePine Asset Management Inc. now owns 110,726 shares of the companys stock worth $272,181,000 after buying an additional 95,753 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC purchased a new stake in AutoZone in the 1st quarter valued at $150,670,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.36% of the companys stock. Get AutoZone alerts: Insiders Place Their Bets In related news, VP Domingo Hurtado sold 90 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $2,376.49, for a total transaction of $213,884.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 275 shares in the company, valued at approximately $653,534.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other AutoZone news, VP Charles Pleas III sold 4,200 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2,546.55, for a total transaction of $10,695,510.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 3,425 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $8,721,933.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Domingo Hurtado sold 90 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $2,376.49, for a total value of $213,884.10. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 275 shares of the companys stock, valued at $653,534.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 8,535 shares of company stock valued at $21,414,854 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.59% of the companys stock. AutoZone Stock Performance Shares of AZO stock traded down $6.01 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $2,460.55. 54,681 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 164,058. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.67. AutoZone, Inc. has a one year low of $2,050.21 and a one year high of $2,750.00. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is $2,460.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2,503.83. AutoZone (NYSE:AZO Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 23rd. The company reported $34.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $30.84 by $3.28. The business had revenue of $4.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.12 billion. AutoZone had a negative return on equity of 62.38% and a net margin of 14.45%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $29.03 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that AutoZone, Inc. will post 130.32 EPS for the current fiscal year. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AZO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on AutoZone from $2,899.00 to $2,840.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 23rd. 51job reissued a maintains rating on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Thursday, May 11th. 3M reaffirmed an upgrade rating on shares of AutoZone in a research note on Thursday, June 1st. Wedbush upped their price objective on AutoZone from $2,600.00 to $2,750.00 in a research report on Monday, May 22nd. Finally, Northcoast Research assumed coverage on AutoZone in a research report on Wednesday, June 28th. They set a neutral rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $2,716.00. Check Out Our Latest Analysis on AZO About AutoZone (Free Report) AutoZone, Inc retails and distributes automotive replacement parts and accessories. The company offers various products for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans, and light trucks, including new and remanufactured automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories, and non-automotive products. Its products include A/C compressors, batteries and accessories, bearings, belts and hoses, calipers, chassis, clutches, CV axles, engines, fuel pumps, fuses, ignition and lighting products, mufflers, radiators, starters and alternators, thermostats, and water pumps, as well as tire repairs. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AZO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for AutoZone, Inc. (NYSE:AZO Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for AutoZone Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for AutoZone and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Hilton Grand Vacations (NYSE:HGV Free Report) had its price objective cut by Barclays from $56.00 to $55.00 in a research note published on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock. HGV has been the topic of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Hilton Grand Vacations from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Hilton Grand Vacations from $75.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 16th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Hilton Grand Vacations in a research report on Monday, April 17th. They set a neutral rating and a $50.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $63.60. Get Hilton Grand Vacations alerts: Get Our Latest Research Report on Hilton Grand Vacations Hilton Grand Vacations Trading Up 1.3 % HGV opened at $46.97 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 3.36, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. Hilton Grand Vacations has a 12 month low of $32.12 and a 12 month high of $51.81. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $46.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.41 and a beta of 2.02. Hilton Grand Vacations (NYSE:HGV Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.06. Hilton Grand Vacations had a net margin of 9.41% and a return on equity of 21.20%. The firm had revenue of $1.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $990.87 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. The companys revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Hilton Grand Vacations will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year. Insider Buying and Selling In other Hilton Grand Vacations news, insider Carlos Hernandez sold 5,915 shares of Hilton Grand Vacations stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.00, for a total value of $283,920.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 11,412 shares of the companys stock, valued at $547,776. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Institutional Trading of Hilton Grand Vacations Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Hilton Grand Vacations by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 4,558 shares of the companys stock worth $203,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Hilton Grand Vacations by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the companys stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Hilton Grand Vacations by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 24,908 shares of the companys stock valued at $960,000 after acquiring an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Hilton Grand Vacations by 327.3% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 547 shares of the companys stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can boosted its holdings in shares of Hilton Grand Vacations by 7.6% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 6,144 shares of the companys stock worth $340,000 after buying an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Hilton Grand Vacations Company Profile (Get Free Report) Hilton Grand Vacations Inc, a timeshare company, develops, markets, sells, manages, and operates the resorts, plans and ancillary reservation services under the Hilton Grand Vacations brand. It operates through Real Estate Sales and Financing, and Resort Operations and Club Management segments. Real Estate Sales and Financing segment market and sells the VOIs, and source VOIs through fee-for-service agreements with third-party developers; and provides consumer financing and services loans. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Hilton Grand Vacations Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hilton Grand Vacations and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Shares of Black Hills Co. (NYSE:BKH Get Free Report) have earned an average rating of Reduce from the six research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $66.29. A number of research firms have issued reports on BKH. Mizuho decreased their target price on Black Hills from $60.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Black Hills from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Black Hills from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Get Black Hills alerts: View Our Latest Analysis on BKH Black Hills Trading Up 0.6 % BKH stock opened at $58.68 on Thursday. Black Hills has a one year low of $56.60 and a one year high of $79.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.03 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $60.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.02. Black Hills (NYSE:BKH Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $411.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $552.13 million. Black Hills had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 9.46%. The firms quarterly revenue was down 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Black Hills will post 3.73 EPS for the current year. Black Hills Dividend Announcement The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.625 per share. This represents a $2.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 17th. Black Hillss dividend payout ratio is presently 67.02%. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Black Hills Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Belpointe Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Black Hills during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Black Hills by 594.7% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 521 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 446 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bartlett & Co. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Black Hills during the 2nd quarter valued at about $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.24% of the companys stock. About Black Hills (Get Free Report Black Hills Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas utility company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Electric Utilities and Gas Utilities. The Electric Utilities segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 220,000 electric utility customers in Colorado, Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming; and owns and operates 1,482 megawatts of generation capacity and 9,024 miles of electric transmission and distribution lines. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Black Hills Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Black Hills and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. FineMark National Bank & Trust lowered its stake in shares of Chevron Co. (NYSE:CVX Free Report) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 41,149 shares of the oil and gas companys stock after selling 527 shares during the period. FineMark National Bank & Trusts holdings in Chevron were worth $6,714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. HC Advisors LLC boosted its position in Chevron by 5.6% in the first quarter. HC Advisors LLC now owns 3,435 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $560,000 after buying an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Chevron during the first quarter worth approximately $39,820,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Chevron by 3.7% during the first quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 26,194 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $4,274,000 after buying an additional 933 shares during the last quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Chevron by 3.8% during the first quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 21,069 shares of the oil and gas companys stock worth $3,438,000 after buying an additional 768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Chevron by 0.6% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 595,065 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $97,091,000 after purchasing an additional 3,389 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.65% of the companys stock. Get Chevron alerts: Chevron Trading Up 0.1 % Shares of CVX stock traded up $0.21 on Wednesday, hitting $159.86. The stock had a trading volume of 10,461,088 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,135,198. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 1.43 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $298.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.17. Chevron Co. has a 1 year low of $140.46 and a 1 year high of $189.68. The companys 50 day moving average price is $156.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $161.75. Chevron Dividend Announcement Chevron ( NYSE:CVX Get Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 28th. The oil and gas company reported $3.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.95 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $48.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $48 billion. Chevron had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 13.54%. Chevrons revenue for the quarter was down 28.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $5.82 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Chevron Co. will post 13.01 earnings per share for the current year. The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 17th. Chevrons dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.30%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth CVX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Chevron from $180.00 to $170.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 11th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Chevron from $163.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Chevron from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating and raised their price target for the company from $195.00 to $200.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Chevron from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their price target for the stock from $165.00 to $180.00 in a report on Thursday, June 1st. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Chevron in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. They set a buy rating and a $212.00 price target for the company. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Chevron currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $190.79. View Our Latest Report on CVX Insider Transactions at Chevron In other news, VP Jeff B. Gustavson sold 3,750 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.88, for a total transaction of $603,300.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 1,718 shares in the company, valued at $276,391.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the companys stock. Chevron Profile (Free Report) Chevron Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the integrated energy and chemicals operations in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Upstream and Downstream. The Upstream segment is involved in the exploration, development, production, and transportation of crude oil and natural gas; liquefaction, transportation, and regasification associated with liquefied natural gas; transportation of crude oil through pipelines; and processing, transportation, storage, and marketing of natural gas, as well as a gas-to-liquids plant. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Chevron Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Chevron and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Premium Brands (TSE:PBH Get Free Report) had its price objective boosted by research analysts at CIBC from C$99.00 to C$114.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, BayStreet.CA reports. CIBCs price target would indicate a potential upside of 1.46% from the companys previous close. Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on PBH. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Premium Brands from C$121.00 to C$130.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, July 24th. National Bankshares lowered their price objective on shares of Premium Brands from C$124.00 to C$121.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 16th. Finally, TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Premium Brands from C$120.00 to C$125.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 16th. Two 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 stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of C$117.75. Get Premium Brands alerts: Check Out Our Latest Report on PBH Premium Brands Trading Up 0.2 % PBH traded up C$0.23 on Thursday, reaching C$112.36. 18,421 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 46,511. The companys 50 day moving average is C$104.83 and its 200-day moving average is C$100.48. The company has a market cap of C$5.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.05, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.98. Premium Brands has a twelve month low of C$77.36 and a twelve month high of C$113.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 147.06, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a current ratio of 2.49. Premium Brands (TSE:PBH Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 15th. The company reported C$0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of C$0.82 by C($0.18). The business had revenue of C$1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$1.39 billion. Premium Brands had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 2.31%. Equities analysts predict that Premium Brands will post 4.8148643 earnings per share for the current year. About Premium Brands (Get Free Report) Premium Brands Holdings Corporation, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and distributes food products primarily in Canada and the United States. It operates in two segments, Specialty Foods and Premium Food Distribution. The company provides processed meat, deli products, meat snacks, beef jerky and halal, sandwiches, pastries, specialty and gourmet products, entrees, panini, wraps, subs, hamburgers, burgers, salads and kettle products, muffins, breads, pastas, and baking and sushi products. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Premium Brands Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Premium Brands and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Quanta Services (NYSE:PWR Free Report) had its price objective upped by DA Davidson from $170.00 to $190.00 in a research note published on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the construction companys stock. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Quanta Services Q3 2023 earnings at $1.87 EPS, FY2023 earnings at $6.41 EPS and FY2024 earnings at $7.78 EPS. A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on PWR. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Quanta Services from $174.00 to $190.00 in a research note on Monday, April 24th. StockNews.com started coverage on Quanta Services in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Northland Securities increased their price target on Quanta Services from $190.00 to $210.00 in a report on Friday, August 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Quanta Services from $150.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, April 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Quanta Services from $186.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, Quanta Services presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $199.91. Get Quanta Services alerts: Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Quanta Services Quanta Services Price Performance Quanta Services Announces Dividend PWR opened at $203.44 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $194.02 and a 200 day moving average of $173.27. Quanta Services has a 52-week low of $123.25 and a 52-week high of $206.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.64, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock has a market cap of $29.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.90 and a beta of 1.08. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 3rd were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 30th. Quanta Servicess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.16%. Insider Buying and Selling at Quanta Services In other news, VP Dorothy Upperman sold 4,074 shares of Quanta Services stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.87, for a total transaction of $749,086.38. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,078 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,404,651.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Dorothy Upperman sold 4,074 shares of Quanta Services stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.87, for a total transaction of $749,086.38. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 13,078 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,404,651.86. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bernard Fried sold 8,000 shares of Quanta Services stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.84, for a total value of $1,438,720.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,372 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,685,460.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Quanta Services Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PWR. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Quanta Services during the 4th quarter worth $180,853,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Quanta Services by 19.7% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,905,283 shares of the construction companys stock worth $817,416,000 after purchasing an additional 806,157 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Quanta Services during the first quarter worth $118,223,000. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Quanta Services by 52.2% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,492,323 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $196,405,000 after purchasing an additional 511,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Quanta Services by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,055,835 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $862,956,000 after acquiring an additional 501,131 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.80% of the companys stock. About Quanta Services (Get Free Report) Quanta Services, Inc provides infrastructure solutions for the electric and gas utility, renewable energy, communications, and pipeline and energy industries worldwide. The company's Electric Power Infrastructure Solutions segment engages in the design, procurement, construction, upgrade, repair, and maintenance of electric power transmission and distribution infrastructure and substation facilities; installation, maintenance, and upgrade of electric power infrastructure projects; installation of smart grid technologies on electric power networks; and design, installation, maintenance, and repair of commercial and industrial wirings. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Quanta Services Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Quanta Services and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO Get Free Report) had its price objective increased by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada from C$40.00 to C$44.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canadas target price suggests a potential upside of 11.73% from the stocks current price. A number of other brokerages also recently commented on GWO. National Bankshares lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$38.00 to C$39.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Thursday, June 1st. Desjardins set a C$39.00 price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco in a research report on Thursday, July 20th. TD Securities upped their price target on Great-West Lifeco from C$41.00 to C$42.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$40.00 to C$43.00 in a report on Thursday. Finally, CIBC lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$40.00 to C$41.00 in a report on Thursday, June 1st. Get Great-West Lifeco alerts: Get Our Latest Research Report on GWO Great-West Lifeco Price Performance TSE GWO traded down C$0.89 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting C$39.38. 686,265 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,043,491. The company has a market capitalization of C$36.69 billion, a PE ratio of 14.84, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 35.51, a current ratio of 42.86 and a quick ratio of 22.18. Great-West Lifeco has a 52-week low of C$27.99 and a 52-week high of C$40.75. The firms 50-day moving average is C$38.91 and its 200-day moving average is C$37.50. Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 9th. The company reported C$0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of C$0.89 by C($0.02). The business had revenue of C$12.36 billion during the quarter. Equities analysts forecast that Great-West Lifeco will post 3.5747748 EPS for the current fiscal year. Insiders Place Their Bets In related news, Senior Officer Paul Mahon sold 62,325 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$38.37, for a total transaction of C$2,391,204.58. 70.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders. About Great-West Lifeco (Get Free Report) Great-West Lifeco Inc engages in the life and health insurance, retirement and investment services, asset management, and reinsurance businesses in Canada, the United States, and Europe. The company offers life, accidental death and dismemberment, disability, critical illness, health and dental protection, and creditor insurance products; and retirement and wealth savings, income and annuity products, and other specialty products to individuals, families, businesses, and organizations. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Great-West Lifeco Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Great-West Lifeco and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. MGO One Seven LLC increased its stake in Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS Free Report) by 3.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,218 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 1,263 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLCs holdings in Novartis were worth $3,148,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Novartis by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,556,539 shares of the companys stock worth $136,587,000 after buying an additional 240,710 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management increased its position in Novartis by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 4,869 shares of the companys stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Novartis by 42.4% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,996 shares of the companys stock worth $965,000 after purchasing an additional 3,272 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 95,477 shares of the companys stock valued at $8,379,000 after purchasing an additional 4,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Novartis by 22.8% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 3,528 shares of the companys stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 8.07% of the companys stock. Get Novartis alerts: Novartis Stock Up 0.3 % NVS stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Thursday, hitting $103.66. 450,410 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,026,668. The stock has a market cap of $219.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Novartis AG has a 1 year low of $74.09 and a 1 year high of $105.61. The firms 50 day moving average is $100.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.45. Analysts Set New Price Targets Novartis ( NYSE:NVS Get Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 19th. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.68 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $13.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.32 million. Novartis had a net margin of 14.76% and a return on equity of 25.12%. The businesss revenue was up 6.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.56 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 6.92 EPS for the current year. NVS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BTIG Research upped their target price on Novartis from $75.00 to $85.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 19th. HSBC started coverage on Novartis in a research note on Friday, July 14th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Novartis from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Novartis in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a strong-buy rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $82.25. Read Our Latest Stock Report on Novartis Novartis 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. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding NVS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Novartis Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Novartis and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. KYODO NEWS - Aug 10, 2023 - 19:56 | All, World At least 36 people have been killed in wildfires on Hawaii's Maui Island and local authorities are continuing with search and rescue operations as fires continue to wreak havoc across the region, local media reported Wednesday. Lahaina, a tourist spot in Maui, remains without telephone service, either by landline or cellphone, while the coast guard has rescued 14 people from the ocean off the area's shore, according to the Maui County office. The Office of Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said that several large fires are burning in many areas of Maui and Hawaii islands, and the blazes have forced the closure of roads and schools as well as evacuations. "The wind-fueled fires have devastated many of our communities," the governor's office said. The governor has also been in contact with the White House as the state prepares for what will inevitably be a request for emergency federal assistance, it said. Maui Island is the second largest island of the Hawaii archipelago spanning around 1,900 square kilometers, with a population of around 120,000 people. Molson Coors Beverage (NYSE:TAP Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of Hold from the fifteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $61.88. TAP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wedbush upped their price objective on Molson Coors Beverage from $53.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on Molson Coors Beverage from $67.00 to $70.00 in a research report on Monday, June 26th. Citigroup restated a positive rating on shares of Molson Coors Beverage in a research report on Wednesday, June 21st. TheStreet upgraded Molson Coors Beverage from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 2nd. Finally, 58.com reaffirmed a maintains rating on shares of Molson Coors Beverage in a report on Monday, June 26th. Get Molson Coors Beverage alerts: Read Our Latest Analysis on Molson Coors Beverage Molson Coors Beverage Trading Down 0.4 % Molson Coors Beverage Dividend Announcement TAP stock opened at $64.61 on Thursday. Molson Coors Beverage has a 1-year low of $46.69 and a 1-year high of $70.90. The firm has a market cap of $13.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 403.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.86. The businesss 50 day moving average is $66.72 and its 200-day moving average is $59.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 31st. Molson Coors Beverages dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 1,025.00%. Insiders Place Their Bets In other Molson Coors Beverage news, insider Geoffrey E. Molson sold 1,840 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total transaction of $111,540.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 25,904 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $1,570,300.48. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.41% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Molson Coors Beverage Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in TAP. KWB Wealth increased its holdings in Molson Coors Beverage by 3.5% in the second quarter. KWB Wealth now owns 4,706 shares of the companys stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Molson Coors Beverage by 12.7% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 1,521 shares of the companys stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its holdings in Molson Coors Beverage by 0.5% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 39,371 shares of the companys stock worth $2,592,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares in the last quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in Molson Coors Beverage by 0.4% in the first quarter. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 48,740 shares of the companys stock worth $2,519,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forza Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Molson Coors Beverage by 1.3% in the first quarter. Forza Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,940 shares of the companys stock worth $824,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.73% of the companys stock. Molson Coors Beverage Company Profile (Get 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. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Molson Coors Beverage Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Molson Coors Beverage and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS Free Report) by 6.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,961 shares of the investment management companys stock after selling 131 shares during the quarter. Ropes Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group were worth $641,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FineMark National Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 4.6% in the first quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 2,015 shares of the investment management companys stock valued at $659,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 36.6% during the first quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,097 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $2,322,000 after buying an additional 1,902 shares during the last quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 19.9% during the first quarter. Cambiar Investors LLC now owns 155,384 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $50,828,000 after buying an additional 25,765 shares during the last quarter. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 6.2% during the first quarter. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL now owns 895 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in The Goldman Sachs Group by 5.7% during the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 99,705 shares of the investment management companys stock worth $32,615,000 after buying an additional 5,365 shares during the last quarter. 76.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get The Goldman Sachs Group alerts: Insider Activity at The Goldman Sachs Group In other news, major shareholder Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold 1,145,486 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.73, for a total transaction of $13,436,550.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,099,392 shares in the company, valued at approximately $587,665,868.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO David M. Solomon sold 10,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.71, for a total transaction of $3,457,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 128,982 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $44,590,367.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold 1,145,486 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.73, for a total value of $13,436,550.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 50,099,392 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $587,665,868.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,159,686 shares of company stock worth $123,960,027 in the last ninety days. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders. The Goldman Sachs Group Stock Performance Shares of GS stock traded down $5.57 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $342.69. 1,295,997 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,582,246. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $112.97 billion, a PE ratio of 14.62, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.39. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $287.75 and a twelve month high of $389.58. The firms fifty day moving average price is $333.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $337.36. The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE:GS Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 19th. The investment management company reported $3.08 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $3.25 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $10.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.61 billion. The Goldman Sachs Group had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 9.74%. The firms revenue was down 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $7.73 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. will post 25.75 EPS for the current year. The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 31st will be paid a $2.75 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 30th. This is an increase from The Goldman Sachs Groups previous quarterly dividend of $2.50. This represents a $11.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The Goldman Sachs Groups payout ratio is 46.93%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In GS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Odeon Capital Group upgraded The Goldman Sachs Group from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $355.75 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 13th. Societe Generale cut The Goldman Sachs Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on The Goldman Sachs Group from $407.00 to $411.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, July 20th. Credit Suisse Group reiterated an outperform rating and set a $410.00 price objective on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an equal weight rating and set a $347.00 price objective (up previously from $337.00) on shares of The Goldman Sachs Group in a report on Friday, July 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $396.93. Get Our Latest Stock Report on GS 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. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for The Goldman Sachs Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for The Goldman Sachs Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Roundview Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Invesco Senior Loan ETF (NYSEARCA:BKLN Free Report) by 2.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 210,354 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after purchasing an additional 4,614 shares during the period. Roundview Capital LLCs holdings in Invesco Senior Loan ETF were worth $4,375,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BKLN. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its holdings in Invesco Senior Loan ETF by 6.7% in the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 27,311 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $595,000 after purchasing an additional 1,726 shares during the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Invesco Senior Loan ETF by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,398,684 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $30,449,000 after acquiring an additional 40,338 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Invesco Senior Loan ETF by 186.1% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,156 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Invesco Senior Loan ETF by 647.6% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 646,667 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $14,078,000 after acquiring an additional 560,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Invesco Senior Loan ETF during the 1st quarter worth $224,000. Get Invesco Senior Loan ETF alerts: Invesco Senior Loan ETF Trading Up 0.1 % Shares of Invesco Senior Loan ETF stock traded up $0.02 on Thursday, hitting $21.05. 3,196,584 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,577,020. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.90. Invesco Senior Loan ETF has a 1 year low of $20.06 and a 1 year high of $21.49. About Invesco Senior Loan ETF The Invesco Senior Loan ETF (BKLN) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in high yield fixed income. The fund tracks a market-value-weighted index of senior loans issued by banks to corporations. BKLN was launched on Mar 3, 2011 and is managed by Invesco. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BKLN? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Invesco Senior Loan ETF (NYSEARCA:BKLN Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Invesco Senior Loan ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Invesco Senior Loan ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. LifeSpeak (TSE:LSPK Get Free Report) had its price objective lowered by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from C$0.60 to C$0.50 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage presently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canadas price objective points to a potential downside of 13.79% from the stocks current price. Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price target on LifeSpeak from C$1.50 to C$1.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 16th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of LifeSpeak from C$2.50 to C$1.10 in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Finally, TD Securities reduced their target price on shares of LifeSpeak from C$0.90 to C$0.65 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 17th. Get LifeSpeak alerts: Read Our Latest Analysis on LSPK LifeSpeak Stock Performance About LifeSpeak Shares of LSPK traded down C$0.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting C$0.58. 5,500 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 37,452. LifeSpeak has a 1 year low of C$0.35 and a 1 year high of C$2.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 215.34, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of C$0.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$0.63. The stock has a market cap of C$29.53 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.84, a P/E/G ratio of -0.01 and a beta of -0.48. (Get Free Report) LifeSpeak Inc provides software-as-a-service platform for digital mental, physical, and wellbeing resources for mid and enterprise-sized organizations in Canada and the United States. The company offers digital educational resources, such as easily consumable videos, podcasts, and articles for depression, stress management, and financial health; on-demand workout library, and automated and live sessions in various areas, including general fitness, mindfulness, cardio, strength, yoga, pre-natal, Pilates, and others under the Wellbeats and LIFT session brands; caregiver support services under the Torchlight brand name; and on-demand substance use support services under the ALAViDA brand. Read More Receive News & Ratings for LifeSpeak Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for LifeSpeak and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. lowered its position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD Free Report) by 24.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,780 shares of the aerospace companys stock after selling 1,530 shares during the quarter. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,091,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Certified Advisory Corp bought a new stake in General Dynamics in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. raised its stake in General Dynamics by 833.3% during the 1st quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 112 shares of the aerospace companys stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in General Dynamics during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new position in General Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in General Dynamics during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.02% of the companys stock. Get General Dynamics alerts: Insider Activity In other General Dynamics news, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 13,500 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.46, for a total transaction of $3,043,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 44,157 shares of the companys stock, valued at $9,955,637.22. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. General Dynamics Stock Down 0.0 % GD stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $226.10. 575,499 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,207,842. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.39. General Dynamics Co. has a 1-year low of $202.35 and a 1-year high of $256.86. The firm has a market cap of $61.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.83. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $216.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $220.73. General Dynamics (NYSE:GD Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The aerospace company reported $2.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.11. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.24% and a return on equity of 18.01%. The business had revenue of $10.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $9.45 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.75 earnings per share. The firms revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 12.64 EPS for the current fiscal year. General Dynamics Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 6th will be given a dividend of $1.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 5th. This represents a $5.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. General Dynamicss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.35%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $248.00 to $250.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 27th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $268.00 to $242.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 27th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $280.00 to $270.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 27th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group dropped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $239.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $262.38. Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on General Dynamics General Dynamics Company Profile (Free Report) General Dynamics Corp. is a global aerospace and defense company, which engages in design, engineering, and manufacturing to deliver state-of-the-art solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Aerospace, Marine Systems, Combat Systems, and Technologies. The Aerospace segment designs, manufactures, and sells business jets. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GD? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for General Dynamics Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for General Dynamics and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Research analysts at StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of International Tower Hill Mines (NYSE:THM Get Free Report) in a report released on Tuesday. The firm set a sell rating on the stock. International Tower Hill Mines Trading Down 0.9 % International Tower Hill Mines stock traded down $0.00 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $0.40. 123,435 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 101,925. International Tower Hill Mines has a 52 week low of $0.37 and a 52 week high of $0.75. The company has a market capitalization of $78.83 million, a P/E ratio of -40.24 and a beta of 0.75. Get International Tower Hill Mines alerts: International Tower Hill Mines (NYSE:THM Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter. 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. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for International Tower Hill Mines Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for International Tower Hill Mines and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE:TNK Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, August 3rd, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 14th will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the shipping company on Friday, August 25th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 11th. This is a positive change from Teekay Tankerss previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Teekay Tankers Trading Up 3.0 % NYSE TNK opened at $45.33 on Thursday. Teekay Tankers has a 12 month low of $22.82 and a 12 month high of $48.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.97, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of -0.08. The firms 50-day moving average is $38.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a current ratio of 3.09 and a quick ratio of 2.70. Get Teekay Tankers alerts: Teekay Tankers (NYSE:TNK Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The shipping company reported $4.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $4.28 by $0.10. Teekay Tankers had a net margin of 37.90% and a return on equity of 46.25%. The firm had revenue of $370.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $242.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. The firms quarterly revenue was up 52.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Teekay Tankers will post 13.95 earnings per share for the current year. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Teekay Tankers from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Teekay Tankers from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Monday. Read Our Latest Research Report on Teekay Tankers Institutional Trading of Teekay Tankers Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TNK. Toroso Investments LLC acquired a new position in Teekay Tankers in the first quarter valued at $234,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Teekay Tankers by 239.7% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 45,848 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $1,969,000 after acquiring an additional 32,353 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Teekay Tankers by 8.5% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 380,200 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $16,322,000 after acquiring an additional 29,697 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Global Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Teekay Tankers in the 1st quarter valued at $419,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Teekay Tankers by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 236,582 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $10,156,000 after purchasing an additional 15,645 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 48.81% of the companys stock. Teekay Tankers Company Profile (Get 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. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Teekay Tankers Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Teekay Tankers and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. The Sherwin-Williams Company (NYSE:SHW Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of Moderate Buy by the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $280.56. SHW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho raised their price objective on Sherwin-Williams from $290.00 to $305.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Sherwin-Williams from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $295.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Sherwin-Williams from $275.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Get Sherwin-Williams alerts: Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on SHW Institutional Trading of Sherwin-Williams Sherwin-Williams Stock Performance A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV boosted its position in Sherwin-Williams by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Arbor Capital Management Inc. ADV now owns 3,884 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $1,024,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 1.8% during the second quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 2,255 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Archer Investment Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 19.5% during the second quarter. Archer Investment Corp now owns 239 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 0.3% during the second quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. now owns 13,028 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $5,631,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services lifted its holdings in shares of Sherwin-Williams by 0.4% during the second quarter. First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services now owns 10,777 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $2,862,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. 75.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. SHW opened at $271.44 on Thursday. Sherwin-Williams has a 12-month low of $195.24 and a 12-month high of $283.80. The stock has a market cap of $69.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day moving average of $259.58 and a 200-day moving average of $238.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.50. Sherwin-Williams (NYSE:SHW Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.71 by $0.58. Sherwin-Williams had a return on equity of 83.63% and a net margin of 10.20%. The company had revenue of $6.24 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $6.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.41 earnings per share. The businesss revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Sherwin-Williams will post 9.82 earnings per share for the current year. Sherwin-Williams Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 18th will be given a $0.605 dividend. This represents a $2.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 17th. Sherwin-Williamss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.86%. Sherwin-Williams Company Profile (Get Free Report The Sherwin-Williams Company engages in the manufacture, distribution, and sale of paints, coating, and related products to professional, industrial, commercial, and retail customers. It operates through three segments: The Americas Group, Consumer Brands Group, and Performance Coatings Group. The Americas Group segment offers architectural paints and coatings, and protective and marine products, as well as OEM product finishes and related products for architectural and industrial paint contractors, and do-it-yourself homeowners. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Sherwin-Williams Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Sherwin-Williams and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. TransAlta Renewables (OTCMKTS:TRSWF Get Free Report) and Fortum Oyj (OTCMKTS:FOJCY Get Free Report) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations. Valuation & Earnings This table compares TransAlta Renewables and Fortum Oyjs top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation. Get TransAlta Renewables alerts: Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio TransAlta Renewables N/A N/A N/A $0.37 26.97 Fortum Oyj N/A N/A N/A $0.68 3.90 Fortum Oyj is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than TransAlta Renewables, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. Analyst Ratings Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score TransAlta Renewables 0 2 1 0 2.33 Fortum Oyj 0 3 7 0 2.70 This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for TransAlta Renewables and Fortum Oyj, as reported by MarketBeat.com. TransAlta Renewables currently has a consensus target price of $13.92, suggesting a potential upside of 39.17%. Fortum Oyj has a consensus target price of $16.85, suggesting a potential upside of 531.09%. Given Fortum Oyjs stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Fortum Oyj is more favorable than TransAlta Renewables. Dividends TransAlta Renewables pays an annual dividend of $0.83 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.3%. Fortum Oyj pays an annual dividend of $0.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. TransAlta Renewables pays out 223.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Fortum Oyj pays out 23.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Profitability This table compares TransAlta Renewables and Fortum Oyjs net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets TransAlta Renewables N/A N/A N/A Fortum Oyj N/A N/A N/A Institutional & Insider Ownership 75.9% of TransAlta Renewables shares are owned by institutional investors. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term. Summary Fortum Oyj beats TransAlta Renewables on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks. About TransAlta Renewables (Get Free Report) TransAlta Renewables Inc. owns, develops, and operates renewable and natural gas power generation facilities and other infrastructure assets in Canada, the United States, and Australia. The company operates through Canadian Wind, Canadian Hydro, Canadian Gas, US Wind and Solar, US Gas, and Australian Gas segments. Its portfolio of assets comprises 50 renewable power generation facilities, including wind, hydro, and gas. The company was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. TransAlta Renewables Inc. operates as a subsidiary of TransAlta Corporation. About Fortum Oyj (Get Free Report) Fortum Oyj, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the generation and sale of electricity and heat in the Nordic countries, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia, the Netherlands, Sweden, and internationally. The company's Generation segment generates power through nuclear, hydro, wind, and thermal resources; and provides power portfolio optimization, trading, and industrial intelligence, as well as nuclear services. Its City Solutions develops solutions in the areas of heating, cooling, waste-to-energy, biomass, and other circular economy solutions, as well as solar power production. The company's Consumer Solutions segment engages in electricity and gas retail businesses, including the provision of invoicing and customer services; and electricity and related value-added products, as well as digital services. This segment serves approximately 2.2 million customers. Its Russia segment generates and sells power and heat. The company's Uniper segment engages in the power generation business, as well as energy trading and optimization activities. Fortum Oyj was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Espoo, Finland. Receive News & Ratings for TransAlta Renewables Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for TransAlta Renewables and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. VerticalScope (TSE:FORA Get Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from C$11.00 to C$12.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canadas price target would suggest a potential upside of 126.42% from the stocks current price. Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Cormark boosted their price target on shares of VerticalScope from C$5.75 to C$9.25 in a research report on Thursday. National Bankshares downgraded shares of VerticalScope from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and reduced their price target for the company from C$10.00 to C$4.50 in a report on Thursday, April 27th. TD Securities boosted their price objective on shares of VerticalScope from C$5.00 to C$6.50 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Eight Capital cut their price objective on shares of VerticalScope from C$13.50 to C$7.00 in a research note on Tuesday, May 16th. Get VerticalScope alerts: Check Out Our Latest Report on FORA VerticalScope Price Performance About VerticalScope TSE FORA traded up C$0.12 on Thursday, hitting C$5.30. 880 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 18,663. VerticalScope has a 52 week low of C$2.64 and a 52 week high of C$15.46. The stock has a market cap of C$97.41 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.95 and a beta of -0.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 94.64. The stock has a 50-day moving average of C$4.00 and a 200-day moving average of C$5.07. (Get Free Report) VerticalScope Holdings Inc, a technology company, operates a cloud-based digital community platform for online enthusiast communities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It provides digital advertising services, including direct advertising campaigns, programmatic advertising, and custom content solutions; and e-commerce solutions. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for VerticalScope Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for VerticalScope and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. This photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows a scene at a press conference on flood control and disaster relief in Beijing, capital of China. Thirty-three people were killed by downpour-triggered disasters, and five died in rescue and relief operations as of the end of Tuesday after heavy rains drenched Beijing recently, local authorities said on Wednesday. There are 18 others still missing, including a rescuer, Xia Linmao, deputy mayor of Beijing, told a press conference. (Xinhua/Ma Xiaodong) BEIJING, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Thirty-three people were killed by downpour-triggered disasters, and five died in rescue and relief operations as of the end of Tuesday after heavy rains drenched Beijing recently, local authorities said on Wednesday. There are 18 others still missing, including a rescuer, Xia Linmao, deputy mayor of Beijing, told a press conference. The deaths of the aforementioned 33 people were mainly due to flooding and the collapse of houses. From July 29 to Aug. 2, Beijing was battered by severe torrential rains triggered by Typhoon Doksuri. It was the heaviest rainfall in Beijing since records began 140 years ago. Rain-triggered flooding has affected nearly 1.29 million people and around 15,000 hectares of crops. According to Xia, these numbers are expected to grow as the property loss assessment continues. The torrential downpour has caused significant damage to infrastructure in the mountainous areas, affecting water supply in 507 villages, causing power outages in 273 villages and 16 residential communities, and disrupting communications in 342 villages. Transportation came to a halt in 256 villages. Thanks to the relentless rescue and recovery efforts, most of the villages have successfully had their power supply, drinking water, telecommunications services and transportation restored. Beijing has also ensured that essential daily necessities, emergency supplies and medical treatment are available to the affected population, and has taken swift action to initiate post-disaster epidemic prevention work, according to the deputy mayor. The city has formulated a recovery and reconstruction plan, and will accelerate its implementation, Xia said. Childrens vibrant immersion in French culture thanks to Turing Scheme funding 85 pupils and 21 staff from primary schools across Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust recently returned from an exciting cultural experience in Normandy. Fully funded by the governments Turing Scheme, children were given the opportunity to learn more about pivotal historical moments from the Second World War, experience the Bayeux Tapestry and nearby cathedral, climb the ancient steps of Mont Saint Michel and visit Arromanches to see the remnants of the Mulberry Harbour. Normandy became the chosen destination for this transformational visit due to its historical significance and because many Devon towns and villages are twinned with towns in the region. The Turing Scheme is the UKs global programme offering opportunities in education and training across the world and enabling pupils to develop new skills and gain international experience. In 2022, the Turing Scheme received 513 applications, which was a significant increase on previous years. Whilst most applications from universities were successful, DMAT was one of only four schools in the South West who were successful in receiving a grant through this highly competitive application process. Elizabeth Underwood, Executive Principal at Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust, said: A year ago, we were delighted to receive confirmation of such significant funding from the Turing Scheme that has enabled us to make this Normandy residential available to all 230 Year 6 pupils. This second visit has been just as successful as our first trip in May of 145 children and has enabled everyone to be fully immersed in French culture and explore towns and aspects of 20th century history. Our aims of building childrens confidence in using another language for real purpose, as well as bringing children across the Trust together to support the transition onto secondary school, have been fulfilled. We hope to have inspired both children and staff to revisit Normandy in future years to find out more. Dan Morrow, Trust Leader for Dartmoor Multi Academy Trust, said: The Turing Scheme has had a transformational impact on the wider engagement our pupils with their studies and the wider world, helping to give both opportunities and experiences that will last a lifetime. We are so grateful to the Turing Scheme for their support and we look forward to building on the success of both trips in the future. MOSCOW, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Washington has committed a war crime by supplying cluster munitions to Ukraine, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Wednesday. "Given the growing shortage of ammunition for Western-manufactured artillery systems within the Armed forces of Ukraine, Washington has committed a war crime by including cluster munitions," Shoigu said at a defense ministry board meeting, as reported on the ministry's website. The minister recalled that Britain had transferred Storm Shadow long-range missiles to Ukraine in May, and that NATO countries were actively considering whether to supply Kiev with F-16 fighter jets. He pointed out that the United States is further escalating the conflict by "seeking deliveries of increasingly long-range and deadly weapons" from its allies. Abuja, Nigeria, 09 August 2023 From August 11th 13th, 2023 over 400 young people from across Nigeria and in the diaspora will converge virtually at Naija Policy Hackathon 2023 organized by Policy Shapers to find solutions to critical development challenges plaguing the country, and to set the policy agenda for the new government administration. Policy Shapers is a youth-led civic startup that empowers young people with the knowledge, skills, and tools they need to engage with public policy. Founder of Policy Shapers, Ebenezar Wikina, said Last year we gathered 200 young people at the maiden edition of Naija Policy Hack, and were taking it a step further this year with over 400 applicants at this years hackathon. We hope that this policy ideation event will provide an opportunity for youth to introspect and collaborate to develop solutions that respond to current development challenges in the country. In the course of this hackathon, we will see young people from Kano or Bauchi working with peers from Enugu, Ondo, and even Canada, the US, and Europe to develop policy ideas Teams of five will compete during the hackathon for a cash prize of up to 400,000 naira with the winning team taking home 200,000 naira. Ideas will be developed by participants along the following five tracks: the Nigeria Student Loan Program, the Climate Change Act, Tech, AI & the Nigeria Startup Act, Agriculture & Food Security, Taxation & Internal Revenue Generation. Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli (MFR), founder of LEAP Africa, Changing Narratives Africa, African Food Changemakers, and co-founder of Sahel Consulting Agriculture & Nutrition Ltd and AACE Foods Processing & Distribution Ltd, shall be delivering the keynote address on Saturday, August 12. Other speakers at the weekend-long event include Oke Epia, founder and Chief Executive at OrderPaper Nigeria, and Dr. Peter Ojo, Founder of Letter to Aso Rock. The Chief judge for the hackathon is Oluseun Onigbide, Global Director of BudgIT, while Bella Anne Ndubuisi, Dr. Azeezat Yishawu, Hasana Bello Aliyu, and Amara Nwankpa make up the esteemed panel of judges. Policy Shapers team present #ReformIELTS campaign documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs In other efforts, Policy Shapers continues to deliver global policy changes through the #ReformIELTS campaign seeking the exemption of Nigerians and other Anglo-Africans from English proficiency tests. Its petition to the UK Home Office has now been signed by almost 82,000 people and over 32 universities from the US, Canada, and the UK have announced exemptions for Anglo-Africans from IELTS/TOEFL. The campaign also earned the endorsement of former Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nigeria. Click here to join sessions at Naija Policy Hackathon 2023. The acting Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, has expressed commitment and his resilience to collaborate with Governor Mai-Mala Buni of Yobe State to ensure the state continues to benefit from the Service. The acting CGC gave this re-assurance on Wednesday, 9 August, when he received the State Governor and his entourage at the Customs Headquarters, Abuja, on a courtesy visit. CG Adeniyi described Yobe as a strategic point of operation for the Nigeria Customs Service, adding that Customs station is located in Geidam, and for us in Customs, Yobe is a very strategic place and critical in our operation. He assured the Governor that the Nigeria Customs Service would continue to engage in making significant interventions for his citizens, saying, we have noted your request, and it is heartwarming to recall that we have, in the past, been involved in the number of humanitarian supports to your state. The Customs boss, who further assured the Governor that he would do everything possible to fulfil the promises to render support to Yobe State Government, also urged Governor Mai-Mala Buni to assist the Service in all ramifications. Meanwhile, Governor Mai-Mala Buni, congratulated the acting Comptroller-General of Customs on his appointment, saying that We are here, first and foremost, to congratulate you and to thank you for what the service has been doing for us - and of course to ask for more collaboration. He also told the CGC, The service has given a lot of humanitarian support to the good people of Yobe State; thus, we want to appreciate your efforts and request to strengthen our relationship. The military junta in Niger Republic has announced the formation of a new government and the appointment of 21 persons as ministers. The coup leaders made the announcement in a televised broadcast on Wednesday night. It could be recalled that the military junta had two weeks ago toppled President Mohamed Bazoum in a coup. The coup leaders said the newly appointed Prime Minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, will lead 21 new ministers with generals from the new military governing council heading the defence and interior ministries. Meanwhile, this development is coming as ECOWAS Heads of State and Government are set to hold a summit on Thursday in Abuja to reach an agreement on the next line of action regarding the recent coup in Niger. ECOWAS, Heads of State and Governments from 11 out of 16 member States, are currently in Abuja at an extraordinary meeting over the military coup in Niger Republic. There will be a closed-door session for deliberations after the meeting. The summit, which is holding at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, will be deliberating on developments in the neighbouring Niger Republic, particularly on the next line of actions that will follow up on the resolutions and ultimatum issued to the Nigerien junta, which recently sacked the administration of the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum. Recall that at about fortnight ago, the ECOWAS Heads of State ordered the military junta in Niger that overthrew the democratically-elected President Muhamad Bazoum to reverse their action and reinstate the President. ECOWAS gave the military junta a seven-day ultimatum to vacate the seat of power and handover to the sacked President, Bazoum and the ultimatum had since expired. It threatened several sanctions including military actions against the military junta if they failed to vacate office and reinstate the embattled President. Among the President at the Old Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja, the venue of the extraordinary meeting are the ECOWAS Chairman and President of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu; President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone; President Umaro Mokhtar Sissoco of Guinea Bissau, and President Everiste Ndayishimiye of Burundi. Others are President Alassane Ouattara of Cote dIvoire, President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of Mauritania, President Nana Akofo-Ado of Ghana, President Macky Sall of Senegal, President Patrice Talon of Benin Republic and Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo. The Gambia and Liberia are member-states being represented by their Ministers of Foreign Affairs. Those absent are the heads of state in the troubled Niger Republic, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso The ECOWAS Authority had, during the last Extraordinary Summit, held on July 30, in Abuja, imposed a number of sanctions on Niger, particularly the coupists, and demanded for the immediate release of President Bazoum, his family and members of the his government, who are all being detained by the military. Sanctions on Niger Reading out the sanctions at the end of that Summit, President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Touray, said the following measures are to be applied with immediate effect. One, closure of land and air borders between ECOWAS countries and Niger. Two, institution of ECOWAS no-fly zone on all commercial flights to and from Niger. Suspension of all commercial and financial transactions between ECOWAS Member-states and Niger. Freeze all service transactions, including energy transactions. Freeze assets of the Republic of Niger in ECOWAS Central Banks, freeze of the assets of the Niger state and the state enterprises and parastatals in commercial banks. Suspension of measure from all financial assistance and transactions with all financial institutions, particularly, EBID. Call WAMU and all other regional bodies to implement this decision. Impose travel ban and asset freeze for the military officials involved in the coup attempt. The same applies to their family members and the civilians who accept to participate in any institutions or government established by these military officials, the Authority said. Meanwhile, in order to avert the escalation of the crisis and stave off the possibility of an armed intervention, several stakeholders in Nigeria and Niger have been making moves to prevail on both the ECOWAS and the military junta in Niger to approach the situation diplomatically and continue with negotiations. This morning, however, the Abdourahamane Tchiani-led junta, announced a 21-member cabinet, to be led by Ali Mahaman Liman Zeine, who was appointed as Prime Minister by the military. After sinking Skye Bank, Heritage Bank battles controversial businessman, Tunde Ayeni over N40bn debt Tunde Ayeni and Heritage Bank In what appears to be a case of the rich getting richer and cornering depositors funds for personal use, controversial businessman, Tunde Ayeni is in the news again for the wrong reasons, THE WITNESS reports. Fresh from seemingly getting reprieve from his Skye Bank legal battle a bank he allegedly ran down Ayeni, a former chairman of the defunct Skye Bank Plc, is enmeshed in another financial scandal over an alleged unpaid N40 billion loan he secured from Heritage Bank. THE WITNESS reliably gathered that the bank has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over his alleged indebtedness to the lender. Recall that Ayeni and the then managing director of the defunct Skye Bank, Timothy Oguntayo, faced 10 charges bordering on money laundering to the tune of N25.4 billion brought before them by the EFCC in 2019. The alleged heist by the duo during their time at the bank eventually brought the financial institution down, prompting an intervention from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in September 2018. The apex bank took over the struggling lender, christened it Polaris Bank Limited, and eventually sold it to new investors in October 2022. In July last year, the EFCC withdrew its case against Ayeni and Oguntayo, after allegedly entering into a secret settlement with the businessmen that may have involved the forfeiture of N15 billion in cash and assets. However, while Ayeni may have gotten a letup from his EFCC headache over his alleged financial impropriety during his time at Skye Bank, another legal tussle and battle is starring him in the face. On his indebtedness to Heritage Bank, THE WITNESS gathered that there was an initial arrangement for the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) to take over the debt, but up till today, nothing has been done. Meanwhile, Heritage Bank has been unable to take over the properties Ayeni used as collateral for the said loan for other legal reasons. A top official of the bank told THE WITNESS that the lender has formally dragged Ayeni to the EFCC, and will be looking forward to the commission doing the needful as it was determined to recover the funds. Yes, the case is now with the EFCC, said the official who craved anonymity because he hasnt been authorised to speak. We are pursuing the process legally. So, were going to do all that is necessary to recover it. As you can see, all is not well with the bank and people like Ayeni are one of the reasons for the challenges the bank is going through today. These loans are depositors funds. If the bank finally ceases to exist, do you know how many staff will lose their jobs with their families stranded? Ayeni doesnt seem to be bothered if the bank collapses. If he doesnt pay up, we will give him the Senator Andy Uba treatment. We will mobilize and protest at his residences, the official concluded. Recovery of the sum will come in handy for Heritage, which has also had struggles of late. Heritage is gradually moving from a state of comatose to a complete death situation with customers deposits on the line. The banks bankruptcy issues, and inability to meet obligations to depositors have worsened and grown from bad to worse. Recall that some workers of Heritage Bank had in June 2021 besieged the residence of Andy Uba, former senator from Anambra State, over a loan they said he owes the financial institution. The staff of the bank, who were seen with placards, gathered in front of his residence in Abuja, asking the politician to pay the purported loan to save their jobs. In 2020, the CBN took a step ahead of the defaulters by allowing banks to seize funds in the accounts of loan defaulters to protect depositors. Also, the senate in 2021 passed a bill that strengthened the power of AMCON to recover bad loans by allowing it to seize and sell properties traced to debtors, whether or not such assets are used as security/collateral for obtaining the loan in question. THE WITNESS contacted a media consultant of Mr. Ayeni to seek the businessmans reaction to the development. He however did not get back to our correspondent as at press time. Report Credit: The Witness DAMASCUS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Wednesday evening that terrorism caused destruction in Syria, saying those who supported terrorism should be held accountable. Speaking to Sky News Arabia in an interview, Assad emphasized the extent of destruction caused by terrorism in Syria, stressing that no state intentionally destroys its own homeland. He dismissed the notion that counter-terrorism efforts could ruin the country. According to Assad, if Syria had followed the demands of certain countries, the war could have been prevented. However, doing so would have come at the expense of the rights and interests of the Syrian people. Regarding Syria's relationship with friendly nations, he said their support is essential but emphasized that the true resilience lies with the Syrian people. Assad criticized the U.S. "Caesar Act," saying it impedes Syria's economic development, worsening the country's situation. B34bn Koh Samui bridge project starts public hearings KOH SAMUI: The Express Authority of Thailand (EXAT) held the first public hearing for its plan to build a 20-kilometre bridge linking the mainland to Koh Samui, with construction due to start in 2028. tourismtransportconstruction By Bangkok Post Thursday 10 August 2023 09:36 AM According to EXAT governor Surachet Laophulsuk, the orientation hearing will be held in three areas that are expected to be impacted by the project: Nakhon Si Thammarat (Tuesday), Surat Thani (Wednesday) and Koh Samui (Thursday), reports the Bangkok Post. They were selected as the project will link Koh Samui to either Surat Thanis Don Sak district or Nakhon Si Thammarats Khanom district. The hearings focus on the suitability of the project in various dimensions, including engineering, the financial impact, and environmental impact. A bridge connecting the resort island with the mainland in Don Sak district would provide an overland transportation option in addition to air and ferry links, which are currently the only modes of travel to and from the island. The bridge is also expected to reduce the time needed to attend to public health emergencies on the island, Mr Surachet said. The project changed hands from the Rural Roads Department to EXAT by the order of the Transport Ministry in July, he added, as the ministry required a sector that had more availability of technology resources and funds. It is expected to cost around B33.9 billion. Some B31.4bn will be invested in construction, with the rest for acquiring land. An impact study will take 24 months, from this April to October 2025, he said. Charity fitness event to aid stroke prevention efforts MULTI-SPORTS: Officials confirmed yesterday (Aug 9) that a walking, running and cycling combination event will take place at Bang Wad Dam in Kathu at the end of October to raise money for charity. CyclingRunning By The Phuket News Thursday 10 August 2023 02:22 PM The event on Sunday, Oct 29 is part of the National Sang Nam Jai Thai Project in honour of His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen and will raise funds towards research into stroke and paralysis prevention. The announcement was made at 3:30pm yesterday at Provincial Hall by Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew, who was joined by Vice Governors Anupap Rodkwan Yodrambam and Amnuay Pinsuwan, and Dr Kusak Loan Kiatkul from the Phuket Provincial Public Health office, in addition to selected government officials. The event is being organised by Phuket authorities in cooperation with Siriraj Stroke Center, part of the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital Mahidol University as part of the 9th Sang Nam Jai Thai Nation Project. In addition to raising much-needed funds for medical research the event also aims to raise awareness of the threat of stroke and paralysis while encouraging more exercise and healthy living among Thais. The event is being held under the banner No STROKE for all Thais by NEW GEN and participants can elect to walk, run and cycle the route, further details of which will be released closer to the event. The event will run from 5am to 9am on Sunday, Oct 29 at Bang Wad Dam and the entrance fee is B360 (which is tax deductable). Applications are open now until Aug 15 and can be made at: https://race.thai.run/wrb9phuket Alternatively, applications can be made in person at the Non-Communicable Disease Control Group Mental Health and Drug Abuse office at the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office during official opening hours. So far over 5,500 people have expressed interest to enter so it is advisable to enter sooner rather than later to avoid disappointment, officials said, although they did not state a number relating to a maximum number of entrants. For further information call: 076-212297 ext. 1300. New B26mn Kathu District Office building blessed with Garuda PHUKET: Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew yesterday (Aug 9) joined a ceremony to install a blessed Garuda image at the new main building of the Kathu District Office, which took more than a year to build at a cost of more than B26 million. constructionculture By The Phuket News Thursday 10 August 2023 10:27 AM The Garuda is a deeply revered symbol in Thailand, and has been used as a symbol of the King since the Ayutthaya period. An image of the Garuda still adorns the letterheads of all official documents today. The installation of a Garuda usually marks that a building is now ready for use, as all chattels and fittings are also under the protection of the symbol. Phra Udom Wachiramongkol, Abbot of Wat Mongkolnimit, and Phra Aram Luang led the blessing ceremony, which included the sprinkling of holy water over the Kathu District Office sign over the main entrance, above which the Garuda icon was installed.. Joining the auspicious event were Vice Governors Amnuay Pinsuwan and Anupap Rodkwan Yodrambam, Kathu District Chief Thiraphong Chuaychu along with Patong Mayor Chalermsak Maneesri and a host of government officials and other guests. The new Kathu District Office main building was commissioned after it was determined that the long-standing old building was falling into disrepair and failed to provide enough space for the officials working there. The new three-storey building provides 1,500 square metres of space. The building took 450 days to construct at a cost of over B26mn, with Sahayotha Architect Co Ltd hired as the contractor. The Kathu District Office provides administration services for three main administration areas: Patong Municipality, Kathu Municipality and Kamala Tambon Administrative Organization (OrBorTor). Pheu Thai brings six small parties into its alliance BANGKOK: The Pheu Thai Party has brought six more political parties into its alliance to form a coalition government, lifting the total number of House seats in the group to 228. politics By Bangkok Post Thursday 10 August 2023 07:42 AM Pheu Thai leader Cholnan Srikaew (centre left) joins key members of Pheu Thai and the six other political parties brought into the new coalition, at yesterdays (Aug 9) announcement. Photo: Chanat Katanyu Key members of Pheu Thai and the six new parties announced their alliance at parliament yesterday (Aug 9) - 87 days after the May 14 general election. The other parties are: Prachachart (9 House seats), Pheu Thai Ruam Palang (2), Chartpattanakla (2), Seri Ruam Thai (1), Palang Sangkhom Mai (1) and The Thongtee Thai Party (The Party of Thai Counties), which has one MP and was formed by former village chiefs, health volunteers and other civil servants. Pheu Thai leader Cholnan Srikaew said his party had now secured 228 House seats in its bid to form a Pheu Thai-led coalition government. That is still 23 short of the 251 needed for a simple majority in the 500-seat House, and more support is being sought, reports the Bangkok Post. Pheu Thai and all its coalition partners were hopeful they could ease political tensions and would seek support from all sides, elected MPs and appointed senators, for its candidate for prime minister, Dr Cholnan said. Also present at the announcement were Pheu Thai deputy leader Phumtham Wechayachai, Pheu Thai secretary-general Prasert Chantararuangthong, Seri Ram Thai leader Sereepisuth Temeeyaves, Chartpattanakla chairman Suwat Liptapanlop, Prachachart secretary-general Tawee Sodsong and representatives of the other parties. A party source said Pheu Thai was expected to announce today that it was also bringing the Chartthaipattana Party, with 10 MPs, into the coalition. This would lift the number of parties to nine, with a total of 238 seats in the House. On Monday, the leaders of the Pheu Thai and Bhumjaithai parties announced they would be the core of a bid to form a new coalition government. The two parties have 212 seats in total in the House of Representatives. The six new parties bring another 16 seats. Pheu Thai came second in the May 14 general election with 141 House seats, followed by Bhumjaithai with 71. On Aug 2, Pheu Thai dumped the election-winning Move Forward Party (MFP) and pulled out of the agreement signed with the seven other original allies seeking to form a coalition government. The party said it would form its own coalition because the MFP insisted on amending Section 112 of the Criminal code, known as the lese majeste law, which many other MPs and most of the military appointed senators oppose. Pheu Thai said it would nominate its own candidate for prime minister, Srettha Thavisin. MFP leader Pita Limjaroenrat failed to win parliaments backing when nominated for prime minister on July 13. Yesterday afternoon, senior Pheu Thai figures including Dr Cholnan and Paetongtarn Shinawatra went to the Move Forward headquarters for talks with leader Pita Limjaroenrat and party executives. Pheu Thai is hopeful that Move Forward MPs will vote for the new coalitions prime ministerial candidate even though the party that won the most votes in the election is now almost certain to be in the opposition. If enough Move Forward MPs vote in support of Mr Srettha, the coalition would not have to rely on support from the unelected Senate, which could prove unpredictable. Mr Pita was non-committal, saying only that the two parties would continue to have discussions about various issues. A meeting of Move Forward MPs resolved earlier that each member should seek the views of his or her constituents about whether they believe the party should support the Pheu Thai prime ministerial candidate. Phuket readies for Mothers Day long weekend PHUKET: Phuket Immigration has confirmed that it will be closed on Monday (Aug 14), as will all government offices, to mark the Mothers Day national public holiday to be celebrated this Saturday (Aug 12). Thursday 10 August 2023 01:10 PM Phuket Immigration has confirmed that it will be closed on Monday (Aug 14). Image: Phuket Immigration For decades Thailand has celebrated Aug 12 as Mothers Day, as it is the birthday of Queen Sirikit, the Queen Mother, who was Royal Consort to the deeply revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama 9), now feted as King Bhumibol The Great. The auspicious holiday this Saturday honours the 91st birthday of Queen Sirikit, mother of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun (Rama X). All government offices will be closed on Saturday and on Monday to honour the occasion, including Phuket Immigration, the Employment Office, the Land Transport Office and all three District Offices in Phuket. All main bank branches will close, but branches in shopping centres will remain open. All Royal Thai Police and Tourist Police stations will remain open, and some local consulates will remain open to serve their respective citizens. There will be no ban on the sale of alcohol on this holiday, as the alcohol ban is for the major Buddhist holidays only. Phuket to host World Art Exhibition PHUKET: Creative Arts enthusiasts are in for a treat with the Phuket World Arts Creative City Art Exhibition taking place from Saturday (Aug 12) until the end of the month. ArtCultureEnvironmentHistory-of-PhuketHistory By The Phuket News Thursday 10 August 2023 03:13 PM The exhibition, being held at the Phuket Old Town Community Center in Phuket Town, will see a variety of works such as paintings and sculptures from Thai and overseas artists, including works from Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, France, China, South Korea, Nepal, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia and Indonesia. Organised by the Phuket Provincial Administrative Organisation (PPAO) in conjunction with the International Association of Visual Artists of Thailand, the official opening ceremony will take place on Saturday at 4pm and will be presided over by PPAO President Rewat Areerob. The exhibition is on display until Aug 31, from 8:30am to 4pm daily and will feature art and sculptures influenced and taking inspiration from a variety of factors including the environment, everyday people in everyday life and religion. Featured Thai artists include Preecha Thaowthong, Haritorn Akaraphat showcasing Aesthetic Gate Na Phuket and Phongsathon Chitchonlathan who profiles Phuket culture and the close affinity to the sea. Other works from a range of international artists will also be on show for the viewing publics pleasure, organisers said. This aerial photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows villagers walking on a bridge leading to Shangzhuang Village of Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province. Some roads blocked by the rain-triggered floods in the county are repaired, and electricity and communication services are restored. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) This aerial photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows workers operating machinery to repair a road leading to Shangzhuang Village of Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province. Some roads blocked by the rain-triggered floods in the county are repaired, and electricity and communication services are restored. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) This aerial photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows a worker operating machinery to repair a road leading to Shangzhuang Village of Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province. Some roads blocked by the rain-triggered floods in the county are repaired, and electricity and communication services are restored. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) This aerial photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows workers operating machinery to repair a bridge in Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province. Some roads blocked by the rain-triggered floods in the county are repaired, and electricity and communication services are restored. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) This aerial photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows workers operating machinery to repair a road leading to Shannan Village of Jiulong Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province. Some roads blocked by the rain-triggered floods in the county are repaired, and electricity and communication services are restored. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) This aerial photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows workers operating machinery to repair a bridge to Liujiahe Village of Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province. Some roads blocked by the rain-triggered floods in the county are repaired, and electricity and communication services are restored. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) This aerial photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows workers operating machinery to repair a road leading to Shangzhuang Village of Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province. Some roads blocked by the rain-triggered floods in the county are repaired, and electricity and communication services are restored. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) Amit Shah on intrusion, drug smuggling Talking truth, reality | Reflecting the reality. Union Home Minister Amit Shah was bang on target in striking the nail on the head, though one wish that the strike was delivered a little more powerfully. Why the May 4 nude parade was uploaded on the social media and made to go viral just one day ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament, was a question Amit Shah raised during his address to Parliament and though it was raised as a poser, the answer lies in the very question itself. That such a question has been raised should tell the undiluted truth and such gutter level politics is not something which will cut ice with either the Union Home Minister or New Delhi itself. It was not, repeat not, uploaded to seek justice for the victims, but to swing the narrative in favour of those whose primary objective is to dismember Manipur and take one more step closer to the demand of a separate administration. Nothing but adding one more degree of indignity to the two women victims. Large scale infiltration from across the border is another point delivered by the Union Home Minister and this falls perfectly in line with the rising call for a National Register of Citizens, a demand raised not only by the different Meitei organisations but also from the side of the Naga people-the two people who are indigenous to Manipur. Large scale infiltration from across the border was qualified by the line, after the military coup in Myanmar, and to buttress this point Amit Shah talked of the illegal immigrants settling on the soil of Manipur. This is where the submission of the Solicitor General of India to the Supreme Court some days back that many of those killed are infiltrators from across the border becomes all that more significant. The State Government has already given some details on the number of illegal immigrants detected in Manipur and one here is talking only about those who have been detected leaving the possibility of many more having gone undetected wide open. It should be clear. The Union Home Minister would not have picked up his observation from thin air and it would have been backed by solid evidences, and this is where the yarn spun around the ongoing clash lies exposed. A case of the Government of India understanding the issue of the ongoing clash, even though some may try to garb this under the victim tale, that have been flouted with impunity, to quote and modify a line uttered by Saikot Assembly Constituency MLA Paolenlial Haokip while speaking to the media on April 28. The vast scale poppy cultivation by the Kuki-Chin community estimated to be spread across 13,121.8 acres of land should also be seen in the context of the admission of the Union Home Minister that narcotics trade from Myanmar has picked up. This line from Amit Shah should be read and understood along with the large scale intrusion from across the border, the declaration of 58 new villages in areas that come under Protected or Reserved Forest and by extension the narco-terrorism slogan raised by COCOMI. As professionals engaged in the job of disseminating information to the public it has not missed the eyes and observation of The Sangai Express that ever since Manipur went up in flames on May 3, the cases of drugs seized after having passed through Mizoram have become daily affairs. Earlier it was Manipur and Mizoram which figured in any drug seizure case in the North East region but the focus has now shifted to Mizoram, and this should tell its own very significant story. Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not speak much on Manipur during his speech at Parliament, but the very fact that his deputy Amit Shah did and covered a range of subjects on Manipur should more than suffice that New Delhi has spoken and this is significant. The call for NRC and the opposition raised to it should be seen in the correct perspective. Only those afraid of being detected will oppose any move to cleanse Manipur of illegal immigrants whose only claim to fame may be to wage narco-terrorism to borrow a term from COCOMI. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) during its probe into the multi-crore cash for school jobs case in West Bengal has come across crucial clues about similar recruitment irregularities in the fisheries department. The source of the clues is a person named Gopal Chandra Das, who was recently questioned by the central agency for allegedly acting as an agent for collecting money from the candidates in the school jobs case. Sources said that Das reportedly told the CBI that some of the candidates from whom he collected money were recruited in the state fisheries department instead of state-run schools. However, as informed by Das, these candidates were recruited in the fisheries department for contractual employment of 10 months at the end of which their contracts were not renewed. These candidates paid money for school jobs, but they were told to take up contractual positions in the fisheries department till the time fresh vacancies were created in the state-run schools. Some of them accepted the offer as they were assured of school jobs before the end of their contract period with the fisheries department. Advertisement Now, some officials of the fisheries department who were allegedly involved in these recruitment irregularities are under CBIs lens. To recall, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) while raiding the residence of Aryan Sill, real-estate promoter and accused in the school jobs case, had earlier accessed crucial documents regarding irregularities in different municipalities of the state. Sill is presently in judicial custody Christopher Hope, a lawyer from Vancouver, Canada, is the father of Lil Tay, the young rap sensation who has passed away. Lil Tay, who was 14 years old, and her brother have both passed away, as confirmed in a post on her Instagram on August 9, 2023. Lil Tays real name was Claire Hope. The post didnt mention the name of her deceased brother. It is with a heavy heart that we share the devastating news of our beloved Claires sudden and tragic passing, Hopes family announced on Lil Tays Instagram page, which has 3.3 million followers. Advertisement We have no words to express the unbearable loss and indescribable pain. This outcome was entirely unexpected, and has left us all in shock. Her brothers passing adds an even more unimaginable depth to our grief. During this time of immense sorrow, we kindly ask for privacy as we grieve this overwhelming loss, as the circumstances surrounding Claire and her brothers passing are still under investigation. Claire will forever remain in our hearts, her absence leaving an irreplaceable void that will be felt by all who knew and loved her. As reported by the New York Post, Chris Hope remarked, Yes, youve got the correct individual, but I cant offer any comments at this moment. Im unable to provide any remarks right now. I apologize Im unable to. Five years ago, Lil Tay disappeared from the internet. This led to a fight between her parents over who would take care of her. During this time, there were strange stories online about her family and how safe she was. In June 2018, Lil Tays Instagram account was cleared, and she posted help me on her story. A few months later, someone hacked Lil Tays Instagram account and wrote some bad things about her dad, Christopher Hope. They said that he made her come back to Canada to make money from her. Lil Tays manager, Harry Tsang, said in 2018 that these bad things were not true. Lil Tay and her mother, Angela Tian, talked to The Daily Beast on the phone. Lil Tay said, Right now Im in a bad situation, and I dont want to talk about these things. She also said her father took them back to Canada because he thought she was in danger. In 2021, Lil Tays Instagram suddenly became active again after being inactive for a long time. During this time, posts appeared on the account that seemed to come from her brother. These posts claimed that their father had hurt them physically and emotionally, and had taken all of Lil Tays money. However, Hope, their father, rejected these claims and sent a formal order to Instagram, asking them to stop these posts. The Vancouver Police Department informed The Post that they had not received any reports regarding their deaths. The Post was unable to contact her mother or the authorities in Los Angeles. Conman Kiran Patel, who faces half a dozen cheating cases already, was arrested on Thursday on charges of cheating a businessman in Gujarats Morbi of Rs 48 lakh. Produced in court by the city police Crime Branch, Patel, and his wife Malini Patel, faces allegations of impersonation, breach of trust, cheating, and criminal conspiracy. The complaint against Patel, filed in May, details how he deceived businessman Bharat Patel by portraying himself as a Class 1 officer in 2017 and promising to assist in obtaining a permit from the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) for his chemical business. Advertisement Despite taking the hefty sum, Kiran Patel did not deliver on his promises, leading to further investigation. After looking into the matter in 2018, the businessman found that Kiran Patel had made no efforts to secure the required clearances. These recent allegations add to six prior cases of cheating filed against Kiran Patel by the Gujarat Police. The Supreme Court on Thursday was told by senior advocate Indira Jaising that the crime committed against Bilkis Bano during the 2002 post-Godhra riots was a crime against humanity perpetrated on the basis of religion. A bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan was considering the arguments raised by the PIL litigants who had approached the top court against the remission granted to 11 convicts by the Gujarat government in the case of gang rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of her family members. The final hearing continued for the fourth consecutive day in the batch of petitions filed against the release of convicts, including the one filed by Bilkis Bano. Advertisement Jaising, appearing for Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra who is one of the PIL petitioners, argued that the state government, instead of protecting of protecting rights of women and children, has remitted sentence of the convicts who were involved in multiple murders and gang-rapes. She argued that the context of 2002 Gujarat riots is a relevant factor weighing against grant of remission to convict as crime committed on Bilkis Bano cannot not be looked at in isolation. Bilkis was five months pregnant when she was gang raped, she told the bench, adding that it was a cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. Jaising argued that the remission policy laid down by the state of Gujarat is no policy because it overlooks the principles laid by the Supreme Court. Also, the policy fails to categorise the crime on the basis of severity for grant of remission. Advocate Vrinda Grover further said that the crimes were committed against humanity and attacks were made against the society, not only against an individual. Grover said that the Public Interest Litigations (PILs) challenge the executive discretion and power exercised by the state government by granting remission. Criminal justice process has ended and attained finality, she added. She pointed out that the convicts did not pay the fines imposed on them and non-payment of fine makes remission itself illegal. Earlier, advocate Rishi Malhotra, appearing for a convict, had opposed the maintainability of public interest litigations, saying that the PIL litigants approached the Supreme Court based on media reports and entertaining their pleas will result in opening of a Pandoras box. The Centre, Gujarat government, and convicts have opposed the public interest litigations (PILs) filed by CPI-M leader Subhashini Ali, Trinamools Moitra, National Federation of Indian Women, Asma Shafique Shaikh and others, saying that once victim herself has approached the court, others may not be allowed to intervene in a criminal matter. Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju, appearing on behalf of the Centre, had argued that remission is reduction of sentence and a PIL cannot be entertained on the question of sentence. Insofar as the quantum of sentence is concerned, a third party can never have a say, he said. The court posted the matter for hearing on August 17 to allow counsels for Centre, state government and convicts to advance their arguments. The 11 men convicted in the case were released on August 15 last year, after the Gujarat government allowed their release under its remission policy. The convicts had completed 15 years in jail. A citizen shops at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A citizen shops at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A citizen shops at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A staff member arranges price tags at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) Citizens select fruits at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A customer pays at the checkout counter of a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A staff member arranges commodities at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A staff member arranges commodities at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A staff member packs food for customers at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) Citizens select vegetables at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A staff member sorts out vegetables at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) Citizens select seafood at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) Citizens select eggs at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) Citizens shop at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) Staff members make sushi at a supermarket in Zhuozhou, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Some markets, supermarkets and shopping malls have been returned to normal operation after the floodwater receded in Zhuozhou. At present, the supply of daily necessities in the city has been adequate with stable price. (Xinhua/Zhu Xudong) A lawyer was shot dead by bike-borne assailants in front of the JN Medical College near the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus, police officials said on Thursday. Police rushed the victim, 36-year-old Abdul Mugis, to hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival. Three men have been arrested after the deceaseds family claimed that they had some enmity with the victim. Advertisement Mugis was a resident of Jamalpur village in Aligarh district. Soon after the murder, lawyers protested by blocking a road, demanding immediate police action in the matter and compensation to the victims family. Aligarh SSP Kalanidhi Naithani also inspected the crime spot. We have spoken to the victims brother, who said that the former was also into property business. Police have registered an FIR, and launched an investigation into the matter, he said. According to police sources, Mugis was on his way to court when miscreants shot at him and fled. Hearing gunshots, locals gathered at the spot and informed police. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that the Congress had a history of dismembering the country into three parts, it had no blueprint for Indias economic development, and was using the Manipur crisis to hurt the confidence of the nation, which was fast-pacing towards progress. He was replying to the debate on the no-confidence motion brought against his government by the Congress and its INDIA alliance partners in the Lok Sabha. The motion was defeated by a voice-vote after Modis over two-hour speech. The Congress and its alliance partners staged a walk-out after one-and-a-half hours of the prime ministers speech. The Opposition was demanding Modi to speak on the ethnic violence in Manipur. Advertisement After the motion was rejected, Speaker Om Birla suspended the House Leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury till the availability of the report of the House privileges committee where his misconduct in the House was referred to on a government proposal. The prime minister said in the last nine years, the common mans confidence in the country had gone up and he was dreaming of competing internationally. India will not be cowed down, will not bend, nor slow down, he said. Modi said people will return his party to power again in 2024. India is today the fifth largest economy, and he was guaranteeing that it would be the third largest economy in the world in his next term in office. He said when people have confidence, the world too believes in India. His appeal was dont try to break the confidence of the nation. Foundations are being laid for a Viksit Bharat by 2047, and this will be achieved with labour and collective determination of the people. The strategy of Reform, Perform and Transform with labour will help India achieve the goal of the third largest economy, he said. There would be new reforms and full power will be used for performance and achieve the goal of the third largest economy, he said. He said violence started in Manipur after a court verdict. People lost relatives, there were crimes against women. The guilty will not escape and will be given strongest punishment. The state and Central governments are making efforts, he said, and in near future, Manipur will see peace, and progress. I want to tell them, the country is with them, this House stands by you. We will all together find a solution. Peace will be re-established and the march on the path of development with pace will go on; I can assure there will be no let-up in efforts, Modi said. The Congress, he said, was only worried about politics and elections, it had no interest in the North East because it had just a couple of Lok Sabha seats. This proved why it gave the North East step-motherly treatment. For us, the North East is part of our heart. Problems are being presented as if the situation came about only now. I want to say the mother of all problems of the North East is Congress, and its politics, he said. The prime minister said the Opposition had stayed away from discussion on several vital Bills for the nations progress. When it came together (on the Delhi Services Bill), this was to stand by one of the most corrupt alliance partners. Staying out of power, the Congress was not able to think coherently, he said, and this showed for the Opposition their parties were more important to them than the country. They were not thinking of the countrys future, but their own only, he said. We have given a scam-free government. We have encouraged people to achieve their goals, taken care of Indias international standing. Some people are not happy, and trying to harm, the world however has no doubts about India, he said. The Oppositions allegations about public sector units like HAL and LIC had proved wrong. Modi said every time the Opposition brought a no-confidence motion, it proved auspicious for him, and he won another election. In the last three days in the House, the Opposition spoke all abuses. Perhaps they were trying to unload their emotions. Their favourite slogan was Modi Teri Kabra Khudegi. He said people of this country had expressed no-confidence in the Congress in several states. The Congress is full of arrogance, and cannot see ground reality. The party has never won in Tamil Nadu since 1962, similarly for decades in West Bengal, UP, Bihar, Tripura and Odisha, he said. In Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, the Congress does not have a single MLA. Sometime back in Bengaluru, the Congress performed the last rites of the UPA, but still celebrated the launch of a new vehicle with new paint and presented it as an electric car. Already, there was a quarrel over taking credit for the new political alliance, Modi said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply to the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. He is likely to speak around late afternoon. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had informed the House on Wednesday that the prime minister will reply to the motion on August 10. Advertisement The discussion on the motion, which began on August 8, after being initiated by Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, has seen some high-voltage speeches from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister Smriti Irani and Home Minister Amit Shah. Shah, during his more than two hour long speech Wednesday evening, had said that though the incidents of Manipur were shameful, the prime minister along with him had worked late nights to resolve the situation there. Meanwhile, according to the days schedule, the government will seek passage of the Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023 in the Lok Sabha. Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will move the bill for passage. The bill seeks to amend the Advocates Act, 1961, and has been passed by the Rajya Sabha. Stressing the need for an improved quality of electricity in Tripura, Chief Minister Manik Saha on Wednesday chaired a review meeting of the power department, directing officials to expedite both the central and state government projects aimed at ensuring uninterrupted power supply to the state. In the review meeting, CM Saha said the government has taken various steps to improve the states electricity service quality and laid emphasis on the installation of improved transformers to provide uninterrupted power service. Electricity consumers should also be aware of wastage of electricity. The department must be informed before using more electricity at home. In this regard, the officials of the department should also be proactive and create awareness, the chief minister said. Advertisement The department should emphasise time-to-time surveillance. Billing agencies and collection agencies need to be strengthened, he added, directing the department to take strict action and necessary measures against those involved in hooking from power lines. He also exhorted officials to step down collection of unpaid bills from across the state. The CM further directed the department to play an active role to installing solar panels at GB Pant, IGM, and TMC hospitals. Further, at the review meeting, Power Minister Ratan Lal Nath said initiatives have been taken to bring 8 villages in 8 districts under solar power. The Power minister said the government has set sights on bringing all village panchayats under solar power. Chief Secretary JK Sinha, Secretary of Industry Department Abhishek Chandra, Secretary of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department Aporba Roy, Managing Director of TSECL Debashis Sarkar, and other high-ranking officials of the department were present at the meeting. On World Indigenous Peoples Day on Wednesday, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched Mo Jungle Jami Yojana expressing hope that this scheme will be a milestone in the development of tribals in the state. The scheme, according to an official release, is aimed at ensuring the rights of all eligible individuals and communities over forest land. Along with this, all development projects will be linked to this scheme and steps will be taken to create stability in the livelihood of the tribals, the release stated, adding that unsurveyed forest villages will be accorded the status of revenue villages. Addressing people from the tribal communities on the occasion, Chief Minister Patnaik said his government had set itself the goal of taking the benefits of this scheme to all eligible beneficiaries. He said steps were being taken to ensure that no deserving person is left out. The CM added that the scheme further aims at recognising the contribution of tribal people towards the sustainable development of forest resources. He said it will also help in bringing stability to climate change and the economy and livelihood of tribals, according to the release. Advertisement Stating that Odisha was a leading state in providing forest land rights, the chief minister said 4.5 lakh tribal and forest-dwelling families have been given forest land rights so far, under this initiative. He added that more than 4000 gram sabhas have been given community rights. Along with this, the process to give the status of revenue villages to the unsurveyed forest villages is also underway, he noted, according to the release. Stating that his government has always been committed to the welfare of tribals, the Odisha CM said when he first took charge of the state in 2000, the first important decision of his cabinet was to grant panchayats the right to collect minor forest produce. A lot of work has been done in this direction today. The tribals have improved in education, health and various other fields, and they have also gained prestige in various fields, the CM added. The 78th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki directs one to explore the ground reality and perceptions of realpolitik in todays world. Climate change which has seen a profusion of intentions and actions in recent times is clearly a global priority, intrinsically linked to development goals. In this framework, how must we reflect on the anniversary of the brutal bombings? On the one hand, the twin pillars of national security and economic development point to the goals of having a progressive world. On the other hand, the recent war of Russia in Ukraine throws up questions of insecurity, invasion, forced migration and lack of peace. The situation is made tenser by the threat of nuclear weapons by Russia on Ukraine to end the war. This was absolutely the same goal the United States had in bombing Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 with 15 kilotons of Uranium bombs, and Nagasaki on 9 August 1945 with 25 kilotons of Plutonium bombs. Professor Thomas Shelling, Columbia University said in both his book and lecture that the bombs were thought of as a solution to end the war. Morally presented, it saved soldiers lives, about 250,000 of them on both sides the allies and the Japanese. The Hiroshima bombing, Little Boy achieved that ostensibly, but the Nagasaki bombing, Fat Man three days later, that too when there were indications of total surrender by the Japanese, was brutal and cruel. At this point, it is worth remembering J Robert Oppenheimer said that the atomic bomb was used against an essentially defeated enemy. The two bombs were perceived more as a techno-political imperative than a military one. Advertisement By dropping an untested Uranium bomb on Hiroshima and then nuking Nagasaki with a Plutonium bomb, the United States sought to globally demonstrate its unmatched destructive power. Especially against its rival the former Soviet Union. The bombings achieved their aim i.e., to stop World War II but with horrific consequences. In light of this, the United States claiming a certain kind of ethics and morality to this day is a tremendously weak argument. Taking off from this, when India constructed its nuclear argument and tested its first implosion device in 1974, Smiling Buddha, it meant to push forward the essential argument that it would bring India power power for the nation and power to sit at the high table with other nuclear capable nations in order to construct high politics. Only a small number questioned its ethicality or morality within and outside. Slowly but surely, India gained more than a foothold in the international community with a second nuclear explosion in 1998 with Dr. Abdul Kalam, later President of India, called the Missile Man advocating not the use, but the setting up of nuclear architecture as defence. He was as moral a man as maybe J Robert Oppenheimer has been shown to be, well versed in the vedas and scriptures of Hinduism. Existentially both Oppenheimer and Kalam, the former a Christian, and latter a Muslim, felt they had a duty to perform for the nation, yet worried about morality. A little-known fact in this debate of reality versus morality is that Father George Zabelka, a Catholic chaplain with the United States Air Force, served as a priest for the airman who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and gave them his blessing on the tarmac. Days later, he counselled an airman who had flown a low-level reconnaissance flight over the city of Nagasaki shortly after the detonation of Fat Man. The man described how thousands of scorched twisted bodies writhed on the ground in the final throes of death, others on their feet wandered aimlessly in shock as their flesh melted off. The crewmens description raised a stifled cry from Zabelkas soul, My God, what have we done? Over the next 20 years he struggled to come to terms with this, and one of the pilots was till his death under psychiatric care. The Christian theology and the Just War concept were not a consideration, especially when the second bomb was dropped. The logic and principles behind nuclearization have to be debated, especially in the light of the Russian threat of nuclear war against the use of any NATO troops going forward. The world cannot face another World War. And another Hiroshima or Nagasaki cannot happen to any nation, under any circumstances in contemporary modern-day politics. Not when there are other real and present threats posed to the global community in the form of climate change. Globally, nuclearization needs to be routed towards not aiding in militarisation, but in supporting low-carbon energy future and other alternatives. Indias stand too, needs rethinking and vital exploring of viable alternatives. Foreign policy should be of course, thoughtfully plotted and be relevant to Indias strategic posture. (The writer is a political science analyst and retired Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi.) Why is the Left losing elections ~ and popular support ~ across Europe? According to some, the common denominator is that parties of the European Left, hard and soft, are both unwilling and incapable of building social coalitions that offer convincing alternative solutions to voters problems. Elections in the recent past in Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Finland suggest the dominant issues for voters are the cost of living, security (foreign and domestic), migration, national identity, and the environment. Elections in these countries saw right-wing parties either winning outright or surging ahead. In fact, it started with Frances far-right leader Ms Marine Le Pen winning an unprecedented 41.5 per cent of the popular vote in last years presidential runoff while in Rome in the second half of 2022, Ms Giorgia Melonis so-called post-fascist Brothers of Italy swept to power. But it is perhaps Germany, which has resisted the far-right agenda most tenaciously in Europe after the horrors of Nazism, which now offers a peek into the future as the country is in the midst of a right-wing surge. Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD), Germanys far-right party, is enjoying a massive uptick in support. A recent opinion poll by broadcaster ARD found that 18 per cent of voters backed the AfD ~ its highest rating since the party was founded in 2013. This level of support puts the AfD on par with the Social Democrats, the mainstream left-of-centre party in Germany. The findings of the ARD poll have sent the German political class into a tizzy and the ruling coalition into a huddle; the latter, comprising the SDP, the liberal FDP and the Greens, has seen its popular support collapse. Meanwhile, a YouGov survey has revealed that 20 per cent of Germans would vote for the AfD if an election was to be held now, while support for the SDP had dropped to 19 per cent. The Greens and FDP managed just 18 per cent between them. Germanys mainstream political parties are pointing fingers at each other over where the blame for the AfDs rapidly rising popularity graph lies. Mr Friedrich Merz, the leader of the centre-right opposition party CDU/CSU, has accused the governing coalition and particularly the Greens with their radical agenda of being responsible for the AfD gaining traction. A fact that is often elided in discussing the rise of the supremacist Right in contemporary Europe is that it is the mainstream centre-right which loses the most support when the far-right gains ground. Not only do these parties lose votes, but there is pressure on them to take less centrist and more hardline stands on major issues because of the pressure from the right flank. When it comes to the AfD, however, there is cause for worry across the ideological spectrum. A Cologne court ruled last year that the AfD was a threat to democracy and granted permission for it to be monitored by Germanys security services. Earlier this year, its youth organisation was officially categorised as an extremist group. And less than three months ago, a local leader of the AfD was charged for intentionally using a Nazi stormtrooper slogan at a campaign rally (punishable by up to three years in prison Advertisement Hours before President Joe Biden was scheduled to arrive in the state on Wednesday, an armed Utah man accused of making threats against the vice president was shot and killed by FBI agents, according to authorities. At 6:15 a.m., a gunshot occurred while special agents were attempting to serve a warrant at Craig Deleeuw Robertson at Provo, Utah, residence, according to a statement from the FBI. According to two law enforcement sources who spoke to The Associated Press under the condition of anonymity to disclose specifics of an ongoing investigation, Robertson was carrying a weapon at the time of the killing. Robertson was in possession of a weapon at the time of the murder, according to two law enforcement sources who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss aspects of an ongoing investigation. Advertisement In a another tweet, Craig Deleeuw Robertson describes himself as a MAGA Trumper, a play on the phrase Make America Great Again used by former president Donald Trump. According to papers in court, the posts showed he did appear to own a long-range sniper rifle, a number of other weapons, and ghillie suit-style camouflage clothing. According to court documents, Robertson was charged under secrecy on Tuesday with three felonies, including making threats against the president. Along with a long list of other online threats, Robertson also mentioned a presidential assassination and made threats against prominent law enforcement figures in cases involving Trump, including Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, and New York Attorney General Letitia James. A presidential assassination or two are in order. Authorities claim Robertson wrote in a September 2022 Facebook post that was included in the documents, First Joe then Kamala!!! In the court records, Robertson was not immediately represented by an attorney. The shooting is being investigated by the FBI, but no other information was made available right away. Suzie Cheikho, a long-serving consultant at Insurance Australia Group (IAG), faced dismissal from her 18-year career in February this year. This was due to alleged insufficient typing activity while working remotely. The circumstances surrounding her departure warrant closer examination of who she is. Suzie Cheikhos dismissal came as a result of her employers utilization of keystroke technology to monitor her remote work performance. According to the New York Post, Cheikhos alleged job loss stemmed from a perceived lack of typing activity during her remote work hours. Despite her appeal contesting the unfair dismissal, Australias Fair Work Commission (FWC) upheld her termination. They asserted that her removal was based on a legitimate reason of misconduct. Advertisement Earlier in November 2022, Cheikho received a formal warning regarding her productivity. The company placed her on a performance improvement plan. Records revealed that Cheikho exhibited low keystroke activity during her logged hours. They recorded zero keystrokes over extended periods. It was 117 hours in October, 143 hours in November, and 60 hours in December. Throughout the surveillance period, her average keystrokes per hour stood at 54. This is indicative of potential inadequate work engagement, as it appeared she was not consistently fulfilling her work obligations. Suzie Cheikho contested the claim, mentioning occasional use of different devices for logging in and disputing any shortfall in working hours. Her role encompassed critical responsibilities, including the timely generation of insurance documentation in accordance with regulatory deadlines and oversight of work from home compliance. The company gave reasons of missed deadlines and meetings, instances of unavailability, failure to complete assigned tasks resulting in regulatory intervention. Deputy President of the FWC, Thomas Roberts, determined that Cheikho did not fulfill her expected work requirements during designated hours, despite being under observation. While acknowledging the challenging situation, Roberts affirmed the dismissal as a justifiable response to misconduct. Cheikho later asserted that her employer had a deliberate agenda to remove her from the company, alleging that they had singled her out due to her mental health issues. However, the FWCs investigation concluded that her dismissal was grounded in valid misconduct. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that terrorism caused destruction in Syria, saying those who supported terrorism should be held accountable. Speaking to Sky News Arabia in an interview on Wednesday, Assad emphasised the extent of destruction caused by terrorism in Syria, stressing that no state intentionally destroys its own homeland. He dismissed the notion that counter-terrorism efforts could ruin the country, Xinhua news agency reported. Advertisement According to Assad, if Syria had followed the demands of certain countries, the war could have been prevented. However, doing so would have come at the expense of the rights and interests of the Syrian people. Regarding Syrias relationship with friendly nations, he said their support is essential but emphasised that the true resilience lies with the Syrian people. Assad criticised the US Caesar Act, saying it impedes Syrias economic development, worsening the countrys situation. ADEN, Yemen, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- A senior commander of the Security Belt Forces (SBF), a paramilitary force based in southern Yemen, was killed in an attack by al-Qaeda militants in the southern province of Abyan on Thursday, a government official said. Abdul-Latif Al-Sayed, commander of the SBF in Abyan province, was killed when two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) struck his convoy in the Omayran valley in the Mudiyah district, said the official who requested anonymity. At least four of Al-Sayed's bodyguards were killed in the ensuing battle with several al-Qaeda militants, the source stated. Al-Sayed was a leading figure in the fight against the Yemeni faction of al-Qaeda, known as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is considered as one of the most active branches of the terrorist group. His forces, which forms the elite military wing of the Southern Transitional Council and backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have expelled the AQAP from key southern territories that the extremists had seized over the past few years. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The UAE, which is part of the Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Houthi rebels, has trained, equipped and financed Yemeni special forces units like SBF. The ongoing civil war and power vacuum in Yemen have allowed the AQAP to flourish, posing a severe security threat within Yemen's borders and beyond. Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has been shot dead at a political rally in Quito Wednesday night, The Washington Post reported. He was shot to death by gunmen at a political rally in Quito, less than two weeks prior to the Ecuador elections, according to police. Fernando Villavicencio, aged 59, was shot several times as he left the rally at a high school in Quito, General Manuel Iniguez, a deputy commander of the Ecuadorean national police said, according to The Washington Post. Advertisement He was taken to a nearby clinic, where he was pronounced dead. A police officer was also injured in the attack, General Manuel Iniguez said. The gunmen also launched a grenade towards Villavicencios group. However, the grenade did not explode, The Washington Post reported. Villavicencio was a member of Ecuadors National Assembly before it was dissolved in May. He was one of the leading candidates in the first round of voting set to be conducted on August 20 to succeed Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso. Ecuador is facing record levels of gang violence, with drug trafficking getting out of control, as people prepare to vote for the polls, The Washington Post reported. During the election campaign, the candidates focused on rising violence in Ecuador. Guillermo Lasso called the snap elections after dissolving the National Assembly and avoiding impeachment. Born on October 11, 1963, in Ecuador, Fernando Villavicencio was a versatile figure who made substantial contributions to the realms of politics, journalism, and activism. Possessing unwavering values and a profound commitment to fairness, he indelibly influenced Ecuadors socio-political environment. In a tragic turn of events, Fernando Villavicencio, a contender in Ecuadors upcoming presidential election, was killed during a campaign event in the capital city on Wednesday. This horrifying incident marks a distressing escalation of violence and crime in the South American nation. Advertisement Ecuadors President, Guillermo Lasso, expressed his firm commitment to ensuring justice for this heinous act. He emphasized that while organized crime may have made strides, those responsible will face the full extent of the law. As a response, President Lasso has declared a state of emergency for a span of 60 days, swiftly mobilized the armed forces across the entire country, and announced three days of national mourning. Despite this tragic incident, the scheduled presidential election on August 20 will proceed as planned, as affirmed by Diana Atamaint, the President of the Electoral Council, on Thursday. Fernando Villavicencio initially made his mark as a fearless journalist in Ecuador, exposing corruption and violence. His courage led to clashes with power, even forcing him into exile in Peru due to his criticisms of former President Rafael Correas regime. He faced imprisonment until his exoneration in 2018. Returning to Ecuador, Villavicencio transitioned to politics, winning a seat in the National Assembly in 2021. His tenure emphasized transparency, accountability, and environmental protection. In a bold move, he pursued the presidency in the 2023 election, focusing on battling corruption, escalating violence, and environmental preservation. His narco state description for Ecuadors crime issues garnered attention. Villavicencios campaign resonated with corruption-weary citizens. His journey was marked by hurdles, from candidacy challenges to fluctuating polls. The killing took place less than a fortnight before the nationwide election. Just a day prior to his demise, Villavicencio had lodged a complaint with the Justice Ministry against an unspecified oil company. The specifics of this report have not been revealed. Against the backdrop of escalating gang-related unrest, The Washington Post highlighted the suspicious timing of his murder. During his bid for the presidency, Villavicencio encountered numerous death threats, including one attributed to the Sinaloa Cartel, with the most recent threat occurring just a week before the tragic shooting incident. had vowed during his campaign to combat drug cartels that have transformed the Andean nation into one of the globes most perilous regions. His murder during a rally merely 11 days before the election, where he was regarded as a strong contender for a runoff, throws the competition into disarray. This assassination lays bare the rapid encroachment of narcotrafficking-linked crime upon Ecuador. This trend is unfortunately familiar in Latin America and the Caribbean, accounting for 35% of global homicides despite having less than 10% of the worlds population. Much of this violence is fueled by the soaring production of cocaine, fentanyl, and other destructive hallucinogens, seeping into the realms of politics, commerce, and everyday existence. The battle among criminal factions for market control and logistical routes results in the yearly assassination of numerous local politicians, notably prevalent in Mexico and Brazil. Most of these lesser-known cases go unresolved. Villavicencio, who was provided police protection due to death threats, adamantly asserted, We will not make deals with the mafia. The demise of such a prominent figure evokes memories of the peak of cartel violence in Colombia during the 1980s and early 1990s, a period marked by the assassination of four presidential candidates. The tragedy in Ecuador highlights the hazards and complexities faced by leaders throughout Latin America in their struggle to dismantle the drug-fueled dominion of organized crime. Have an interesting bit of news youd like to see mentioned in the Along the Way column? Email it to Natasha Connolly at news@thesunchronicle.com. Emelie Bonin is a long time Associate Member of the Foxboro Historical Commission. Her passion for historic preservation and restoration is obviously expressed in her initiating the towns Historic House Plaque Program in 2000. She has personally researched the history of over 250 houses in Foxboro. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa greets supporters during a campaign rally in Harare, Zimbabwe, Aug. 9, 2023. Zimbabwe will hold elections on Aug. 23. (Photo by Shaun Jusa/Xinhua) HARARE, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday said the country has attained food security during a campaign rally in Harare, the national capital, to drum up support for his ruling ZANU-PF party in the upcoming harmonized election on Aug. 23. "We are food secure, we shall continue to remain food secure," Mnangagwa said amid loud cheers from party supporters. "We addressed the question of food security at the household level." Mnangagwa, who came to power in 2017, is seeking reelection for a second five-year term in the election which will also see voters choosing members of parliament and local council representatives. "We are in our third year of food security, and we are confident that in spite of climate change, we will build dams. We are promoting irrigation throughout the country to make sure we have enough irrigation in the country to irrigate our land to give us enough food each year," he added. According to the agriculture ministry, Zimbabwe, which has been supplementing a grain deficiency with imports, is now food secure after achieving bumper wheat and maize harvests this year. Mnangagwa said despite the sanctions imposed by Western nations on the country over the past two decades, Zimbabwe continues to make notable economic progress. In addition, he urged Zimbabweans to maintain a peaceful environment as the election approaches. Voters who spoke to Xinhua were excited about the coming election. "I am ready for this, and I even mobilized some of my friends, some of my people, my children for Aug. 23," said Petronella Matsvaire, a voter from Marondera, a city near Harare. "We have done the groundwork. The preparations are all going well, we are just waiting for Aug. 23," said another voter Joseph Shambare from Harare. Mnangagwa's ruling ZANU-PF party's major challenge in the election appears to be from the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change, which is led by Nelson Chamisa. Supporters of Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa cheer up during a campaign rally in Harare, Zimbabwe, Aug. 9, 2023. Zimbabwe will hold elections on Aug. 23. (Photo by Shaun Jusa/Xinhua) A supporter of Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa is seen during a campaign rally in Harare, Zimbabwe, Aug. 9, 2023. Zimbabwe will hold elections on Aug. 23. (Photo by Shaun Jusa/Xinhua) Ecuador arrests six Colombians as suspects in slaying of anti-corruption presidential candidate An Ecuadorian police report says the six men arrested as suspects in the assassination of an anti-corruption presidential candidate are Colombian nationals Solomon D. Stevens is the author of Religion, Politics, and the Law (co-authored with Peter Schotten) and Challenges to Peace in the Middle East. He wrote this for InsideSources.com . BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) has ordered the arrest of Ji Binchang, former chairman of the Qingdao Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, for suspected bribe-taking, the SPP said Thursday. The case was transferred to procuratorial authorities for examination and prosecution following the conclusion of an investigation by the National Commission of Supervision. The handling of the case is underway. Job Title: Driver PlayMatters (Fresher Job Opportunities) Organisation: International Rescue Committee (IRC) Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda About US: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the worlds worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC works with people forced to flee from war, conflict and disaster and the host communities which support them, as well as those who remain within their homes and communities. At work today in over 40 countries and 25 U.S. cities, we improve outcomes in the areas of health, safety, economic wellbeing, education, and power. Job Summary: The Driver PlayMatters will be responsible for the safe transportation of PlayMatters Uganda management staff and materials; care and maintenance of PlayMatters Uganda vehicles and their accessories. Key Duties and Responsibilities: Inspect and record the condition of the vehicles daily; prepare weekly maintenance checklist. Ensure timely servicing and maintenance of PlayMatters Uganda office vehicles (complete service request forms and maintain service maintenance records); report to PlayMatters Deputy Coordinator any mechanical problems. Ensure vehicles are insured and all legal documents are always in order; inform PlayMatters Deputy Coordinator three weeks in advance of any renewals due (i.e., insurance, road license, etc.). Conduct daily assessments of road conditions and security situation. Drive PlayMatters Uganda project staff in a safe and courteous manner to field sites across the country. Deliver mail/messages as directed. Operate HF and VHF mobile radio equipment if any. Maintain cleanliness of interior/exterior of PlayMatters Uganda office vehicles. Give accurate reconciliation of expenditures within the given period. Adhere to IRC vehicle policy and operating procedures (use of logbook, no drinking and driving, signing out vehicle on vehicle registry and so on). Assist programs or PlayMatters Admin Officer in loading cargo for the field. Qualifications, Skills and Experience: The ideal applicant must hold an Ordinary Level Certificate: A- Level Certificate is an added advantage; Valid drivers license with classes A, B & DL At least two years of driving experience preferably with NGOs. Able to pass the IRC driving test and demonstrated teamwork skills. Good interpersonal skills and ability to work as part of a team, as well as independently. Flexible and able to work in a dynamic and diverse environment. Strong communication and interpersonal skills, excellent Microsoft word and Microsoft excel skills. Willingness to travel to insecure areas within the constraints of IRC Ugandas security policy Excellent written and oral communication skills in English. NB: When applying candidates are required to attach scanned copies of their Driving Permit to be considered for selection How to Apply: All suitably qualified candidates should apply online at the link below. Click Here Deadline: 22nd August 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 YANGON, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar earned over 24.4 million U.S. dollars from the export of forest products in four months of the current fiscal year 2023-24, the Ministry of Commerce figures showed on Thursday. From April 1 to July 28 of this fiscal year, the export of forest products in the government sector earned 0.347 million dollars, while the private sector earned 24.100 million dollars, the ministry said. The figures marked a decline from 56.674 million dollars recorded in the same period a year earlier, showing a decrease of 32.227 million dollars. The forest products exported from Myanmar included teak lumber, hardwood in addition to plywood, and other forest products, state media reported. Myanmar mainly exports agricultural, animal and marine products, minerals, forest products and manufactured goods to its foreign trade partners, including China, Thailand, Bangladesh and India, according to the commerce ministry. The Centre has moved to bring in a law to regulate the procedure for appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. A Bill to this effect was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, the development coming on the penultimate day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament. The Bill to regulate the appointment, conditions of service and terms of office of the CEC and ECs, the procedure for transaction of business by the Election Commission and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, if passed by Parliament, will remove the legal lacuna with regard to the norms and procedure for appointment of CEC and ECs. The proposed legislation is also being seen in the context of the Supreme Court's order passed in March on the issue of appointment of the CEC and ECs. The top court had ruled that the top poll officials shall be selected by a panel consisting of the Prime Minister, Leader of Opposition and the Chief Justice of India till Parliament frames a law prescribing the selection process. What stands out about the Bill is the proposed composition of the selection committee. It will comprise the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition and a Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the PM as member. This marks a departure from the Supreme Court's formulation of the selection panel, which had the CJI as its third member. The Supreme Court had made it clear in its order that the selection panel devised by it will be subject to any law to be made by Parliament. The Bill lays down the criteria for selection of the CEC and the ECs, stating that they shall be appointed from amongst persons who are holding or have held a post equivalent to the rank of Secretary to the Government of India and shall be persons of integrity, who have knowledge of and experience in management and conduct of elections. As per the Bill, a search committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary and comprising of two other members not below the rank of Secretary to the Government of India, having knowledge and experience in matters relating to elections, shall prepare a panel of five persons for consideration of the Selection Committee. It is also explained in the Bill that where the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha has not been recognised as such, the leader of the single largest party in opposition of the Government in the House shall be deemed to be the Leader of Opposition. It also states that the appointment of the CEC and other ECs shall not be invalid merely by reason of any vacancy in or any defect in the constitution of the Selection Committee. There is already much consternation over the ruling dispensation having a majority in the proposed selection panel, and it is stated by critics that this goes against the spirit of the Supreme Court's order. The court had said in its order: A person, who is in a state of obligation or feels indebted to the one who appointed him, fails the nation and can have no place in the conduct of elections, forming the very foundation of the democracy. Congress leader K.C. Venugopal described the proposed law as a blatant attempt at making the Election Commission a total puppet in the hands of the PM. In a post on X, Venugopal asked what about the Supreme Court's existing ruling which requires an impartial panel. This is an unconstitutional, arbitrary and unfair Bill we will oppose this on every forum, he said. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal posted on X, saying the selection committee will have two members of the BJP and one belonging to the Congress, which makes it evident that the election commissioners who will get selected will be loyal to the BJP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday assured the people of strife-torn Manipur that peace would return soon in the state and efforts are on to punish the culprits behind the violence. Replying to a no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, the prime minister blamed the previous Congress governments for leaving behind an extremely unstable situation in the northeast. The country is with you, this Parliament is with you. We will together find ways to resolve this challenge, peace will be established again soon. I assure the people of Manipur that the state will again witness progress, Modi said. Manipur has been witnessing ethnic violence for the last three months, which has claimed over 160 lives and rendered thousands homeless. Modi said his government is working hard to give the harshest punishment to those involved in crimes in the Manipur violence. During his address, the prime minister hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his references to 'Bharat Mata' and wondered why some people wish her death. These comments have deeply hurt the sentiments of every India, he said. "These are people who sometime speak about the murder of democracy and the murder of the Constitution. These are the people (Congress) who divided Maa Bharati into three pieces. When the time came to free Maa Bharati of slavery, they chopped off her limbs," he said. "The violence in Manipur is saddening. Crimes against women are unacceptable and the central and state governments are working together to ensure the guilty are punished," Modi said. Taking a swipe at the Congress, the prime minister said the northeast had suffered the most under the long rule of the opposition party. Manipur, which has sacrificed so much for the country, never got its due from the Congress. There was a time in Manipur when everything used to be run by insurgents. Whose government was it that time?, he asked. Earlier in his speech, Modi took a jibe at the I.N.D.I.A. Alliance, saying that the leaders of the bloc have laid almost one and half decade old UPA to rest last month in Bengaluru. I want to tell the opposition that you are following those who even after so many generations are not able to differentiate between Lal mirch and Hari mirch'..., he said. Launching a scathing attack on the Congress, the prime minister said people of the country had no confidence in the opposition party, and accused it of seizing on any negative thing about India coming from foreign soil. "It is the country's confidence that when you bring another no-confidence motion in 2028, India will be the third largest economy in the world," he said, asserting that his dispensation has given a scam-free governance. Modi hit out at the opposition for bringing in a no-confidence motion against his government, saying the NDA and the BJP will return to power breaking all previous records in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He said it's a blessing of God that the opposition has brought in such a motion. "People of the country have shown trust in our government again and again. I am here to show my gratitude to the crores of the people of the country," he said. Opposition brought such a motion in 2018 also. I had said it was their floor test, not of the government and I was proven right. No-confidence motion always lucky for us; this one also will ensure we will return with record-breaking mandate, Modi said. The prime minister also attacked the opposition parties for not letting discussion on a number of bills related to the country's development, saying they have shown that 'dal' (party) is bigger than 'desh' (country) for them. The debate on no-confidence motion, moved by the opposition parties on the violence in Manipur, began on Tuesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday tried to assuage the people of Manipur, a state torn apart by ethnic violence, saying that peace will return soon and all efforts will be made to put the state in the track of development. He also told the women and daughters of the state that the entire country and entire parliament was with them during this challenging time. I want to tell the people of Manipur. I want to tell the women and daughters of Manipur that India and this house is with you. We will all together find a solution of this challenge. Peace will return. I assure people of Manipur that all efforts will be made to ensure Manipur will again progress I want to assure people of the state that the sun of peace will rise in the state and it will progress with confidence, Modi said during his reply to the motion of no-confidence in the Lok Sabha. In a speech lasting over two hours, Modi referred to Manipur briefly as most of the intricacies of the situation were answered by Home Minister Amit Shah a day earlier. A court decision came. We know what happens in courts. It led to violence and many people lost their lives, Modi said. Modi underlined that the nation had come out of such worse situations together and urged the political parties not to misuse the land of Manipur for petty politics. We must empathize with the pain and suffering and do our best for recovery. This is the way forward, the prime minister added. At the end of his speech, as the opposition had already staged a walkout, the no-confidence motion was put to voice vote. Predictably, the motion was defeated. The debate on the motion, which began on Tuesday, has set narratives for both the sides. While the opposition tried to put the government on mat on the issue of Manipur and host of other issues, the ruling party used the occasion to highlight the achievements of nine years of Modi government. Battlelines have been drawn for the 2024 elections as Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a scathing attack on the INDIA alliance, and put blame on the Congress for most of the political problems the country is facing, including Manipur. The prime ministers effort during his speech was to paint the opposition as a coalition which had run out of ideas and the INDIA was only a repackaging. He ridiculed them saying they can again bring no-confidence motion in 2028, but they should come better prepared. The no-confidence motion is lucky for us as they brought it in 2018 and we won with big majority. I thank them for this opportunity again. In 2028, when you will bring a no-confidence motion, the country will be among the top three (economies), Modi said. In an intensely political reply, Modi tore into the Congress as he narrated many past incidents since independence to show how the grand old party as a ruling party had handled similar situations. Referring to Rahul Gandhis charge of Mother India being harmed in Manipur, Modi said the Congress leader's remark was unfortunate. These are the people who talk about murder of democracy. Whatever is in their mind, it comes to fore as an accusation. The prime minister said it would have been better if the opposition had participated with due seriousness since the beginning of the session. He recalled the attitude of the opposition towards the developments in the banking sector and said that they tried their best to spread misinformation and confuse the people. However, he added, the net profit of the public sector banks increased two-fold. Modi also touched upon the phone banking scam which pushed the country towards an NPA crisis, and said that the country has revived itself from this and is now moving forward. The prime minister also gave the example of HAL which was severely attacked by the opposition. He said the HAL is touching new heights of success and has registered the highest-ever revenue. Referring to the allegations made by the opposition about LIC, Modi said LIC is growing stronger with each passing day. Modi criticised the ostrich approach of the opposition and said they are not able to see the trust of people as they are so steeped in distrust. He said the opposition's bad language and constant nitpicking works like a Kala Tika' (to ward off bad omen). The prime minister said all institutions targeted by the opposition invariably shine and called it the oppositions secret boon. Whoever they wish bad for, ends up doing well, he said. The prime minister talked about the opposition's lack of faith in campaigns like Swachh Bharat, Jan Dhan Account, Yoga, Ayurveda, Startup India, Digital India and Make in India. The opposition is quick to trust those who speak ill of the country, Modi said and mentioned a misinformed report by a foreign agency that had touted a country dealing with food insecurity ahead of India in certain parameters. He said the opposition latches on to such misinformed reports and tries to defame the country at every opportunity it gets. Modi also gave the example of the Made-in-India Corona vaccine and said that the opposition did not trust it and looked towards foreign-made vaccines. He alleged that the opposition does not trust the capabilities of India and its people. Similarly, the level of confidence for the opposition in the eyes of the people is at an extreme low, he added. With an eye on the 2024 elections, Modi said some cosmetic changes of the opposition alliance cannot fool the people of the country and that a simple change of name will not change the fortune of the alliance. They have taken the help of NDA to survive but added two I'sthe first for the ego of 26 parties and the second I for the ego of one family. They even splintered India into I.N.D.I.A., he said. The prime minister called I.N.D.I.A a Ghamndia (arrogant) coalition and pointed out the contradictions among the partners. He reiterated that even though the people of India elected a full majority government twice after 30 years, the opposition is perturbed by a Garib ka Beta who is sitting on the prime ministers chair. He said the misuse of aircraft and naval vessels in the past by the opposition is now rectified for the transportation of vaccines and to bring back those stuck in foreign lands. The prime minister warned against the politics of freebies and cited the situation in the neighboring countries as an example of the havoc that such politics can bring. He lamented the tendency of winning elections through reckless assurances and said people are being put under tremendous pressure as development projects are being shelved. Coming back to the situation in the northeast, Modi termed the issues as a legacy of the previous governments. He mentioned three incidentson March 5, 1966 the Air Force was used to attack people in Mizoram; a radio transmission by then Prime Minister Nehru in 1962 when the people of northeast were left to fend for themselves during the Chinese invasion. Modi also cited Ram Manohar Lohias allegation about the neglect of the region. The prime minister informed the house that in the current government, the ministers have done 400 night stays in various district headquarters of the northeast and he himself has visited the region 50 times. I have an emotional attachment with the northeast. Even before becoming PM, I had traveled across the region, Modi added. Earlier during the speech, as Rahul Gandhi arrived in the house, Modi shifted his focus on him. He said the Congress tried to launch a leader several times and failed every time. He said even the public was saying it was loot ki dukaan, corruption ki dukaan. Ninety minutes into the speech, as the prime minister kept on his attack on the Congress, the opposition staged a walk out. Modi said, the Opposition only want to ask questions but is not prepared to listen. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Lok Sabha on Thursday to reply to the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition parties. The floor will also witness voting on the motion, which the government is sure of winning as it has a commendable majority in the House. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday confirmed Modi's presence on the floor. "The PM will be present in the House tomorrow to reply to the no-confidence motion," Singh added. The Prime Minister is expected to make a statement on the ethnic strife in Manipur, a demand put forth by the Opposition since the monsoon session of the Parliament began last month. Gaurav Gogoi MP, who opened the debate on Tuesday, had put forth three questions to Prime Minister Modi. They include 1) Why did he not visit Manipur to date? 2) Why did it take almost 80 days to finally speak on Manipur and when he did speak it was just for 30 seconds? 3) Why has the PM not sacked the Manipur CM so far? Gogoi asked. The procedure As per protocol, any Lok Sabha MP, who has the support of 50 colleagues, can introduce a motion of no-confidence against the Council of Ministers at any time. After the motion is accepted, the Speaker fixes a time and date for the discussion. On the day of the debate, the MPs who support the motion will point out the governments flaws and the Treasury Benches will respond to the issues they raise. Ultimately, voting takes place and if the motion is successful, the government is forced to vacate the office. Will the Modi government lose? The no-confidence motion is unlikely to win as the NDA has a clear majority in the House. Of the 331 MPs, the BJP has 303 MPs while the combined strength of the Opposition bloc INDIA is 144. The numbers of unaligned parties MPs are 70 in the Lower House. As for the opposition, the floor test is an opportunity for them to demonstrate its newly firmed-up unity to take on the Modi-led BJP in the Lok Sabha elections next year. The debate The last two days of the Parliament had witnessed fierce arguments and counterarguments from both sides. Day two of the debate saw Rahul Gandhi attacking the government over the Manipur issue, alleging the politics of the BJP has "harmed Bharat Mata" in the state. "In Manipur, they (BJP) have harmed Hindustan. Their politics has harmed Hindustan in Manipur," Gandhi alleged. Home Minister Amit Shah, who responded to Rahul's remarks, had termed the violence in Manipur a cause of concern and said the incidents in the northeastern state have shamed us all. He also termed the May 4 video of the assault on women as a blot on society. The minister, however, questioned the timing of the video, a day before the parliament session. We arrested all the nine people the same day. Had we got the video before, the action would have been taken immediately. The Uttar Pradesh Assembly speaker, Satish Mahana, was visibly upset at a remark made on his manner of functioning during Question Hour today. The remark was that the Speaker was forcing the House to be in order. Are you saying that discipline in the House does not come from inside?...Is it being forced on you? I am not ready to accept this accusation, said Mahana before he removed his headphones and suspended Question Hour for 20 minutes. Speaker added he would not accept the charge that he did not allow the opposition to speak freely in the House. Mahana, who was minister of industries in the previous government, has earned praise for giving the opposition ample time and opportunity to present its viewpoints. Today, he even went on to say that he would not permit even a dot to be lessened in the respect that was due to Leader of the Opposition. He asked the House members whether previous Assemblies have accepted as many notices as the current one. This earned him fresh praise from the Opposition, with one member saying that the UP Assembly had reached fresh heights under the Speaker. You have been the guardian of all 403 legislators in the Assembly. Another opposition member said that Mahanas name would go down in golden letters in the history of the Assembly. You enjoy a respect that even this government does not have, said the member. Suresh Khanna, minister for Parliamentary Affairs said, The members of the Opposition might have emotionally made some commentsthe experience was unpleasant and we hope that it will not be repeated. The Assembly is currently conducting the Monsoon session, which started on August 7 on a stormy note with the demand that the incident in Manipur be discussed in the House. Akhilesh Yadav, leader of the Samajwadi Party also demanded that a censure motion be passed against the government. At least 17 people have drowned in an unfortunate maritime tragedy after a boat carrying over 50 Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar's Rakhine state broke up soon after sailing off. Each year, thousands of Rohingyas risk their lives as they try to get into Malaysia and Indonesia from camps in Bangladesh. "We found 17 dead bodies ... as of yesterday," Byar La, a rescuer from the Shwe Yaung Metta Foundation in the town of Sittwe told AFP. Eight men were reportedly found alive. Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar are considered migrants from Bangladesh and are denied citizenship and freedom of movement. A 2017 military crackdown displaced about 750,000 Rohingyas, forcing them to flee to Bangladesh. Last year, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees called for maritime authorities in the region "to rescue and disembark people in distress. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, at least 348 Rohingya have died or gone missing at sea in 2022 and at least 39 vessels have attempted crossing the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal. A sparsity of funds has caused the World Food Programme to cut food rations at camps in Bangladesh twice this year. Amnesty International has likened the living conditions of Rohingyas in Rakhine to "apartheid". Efforts to repatriate Rohingya refugees to their homeland have been discussed by Bangladesh and Myanmar. The situation in Myanmar has, however, been precarious-- The military toppled civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi's government in 2021. An Ecuadorian presidential candidate was shot dead on Wednesday while he was speaking at a political rally in the country's capital of Quito. The suspect, an unidentified gunman, too died after suffering injuries in the retaliatory shooting. The death of Fernando Villavicencio was confirmed by Ecuador President Guillermo Alberto Santiago Lasso Mendoza. "For his memory and his fight, I assure you that this crime will not remain unpunished," President Guillermo Lasso said on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Organized crime has gone very far, but all the weight of the law will fall on them." Lasso added that he has convened an urgent meeting. According to the attorney general's office, the suspect was injured during the shootout with security personnel. Though he was apprehended, his condition worsened. "An ambulance from the fire department confirmed his death, and the police are proceeding with collection of the cadaver," the attorney general's office added. Footage doing rounds on social media showed people screaming and running for cover amid gunfire sounds. Villavicencio was seen walking out of the event to enter a white truck, surrounded by his guards when the gunfire erupted. Several others have been injured in the attack, though authorities did not confirm how many. According to Villavicencio's party Movimiento Construye, armed men attacked its Quito offices in a separate incident. "We have not yet found a way to react to the horror and pain of the assassination of our presidential candidate," it said in a statement on X. The party added that after the assassination of the mayor of the Ecuadorian Pacific port city of Manta, Agustin Intriago, there were discussions on suspending the campaign or redoubling security. "Fernando was radical about it and shared on his social media: "Guarding silence and hiding in moments when criminals assassin citizens and authorities is an act of cowardice," the statement added. Villavicencio's murder was condemned by the Organisation of American States (OAS). "We urge all candidates to strengthen their security measures and call upon the authorities to provide the necessary support to guarantee the integrity of the participants in the electoral process. The security of candidates is fundamental to maintaining confidence in the democratic system." The US too flayed the incident. U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador Mike Fitzpatrick said he was deeply dismayed to learn of the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, who was "a fighter against the corruption and narco-criminals who have done so much damage to Ecuador." "The U.S. Government strongly condemns this attack and offers urgent investigative assistance," Fitzpatrick added. The killing comes amid a startling wave of violence in the South American nation, with drug trafficking and violent killings on the rise. Who was Fernando Villavicencio Villavicencio, 59, was one of the eight presidential candidates of Ecuador. He was one of the most critical voices against corruption, especially during the government of former President Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017. He filed many judicial complaints against high-ranking members of the Correa government. For this, Villavicencio was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over statements made against the former president. However, he fled to Indigenous territory within Ecuador and later was given asylum in Peru. Villavicencio was criticized by opposition politicians for obstructing an impeachment process this year against Lasso, which lead the latter to call the early elections, according to Reuters. Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi (R) and Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Vincent Biruta attend a joint press conference in Amman, Jordan, on Aug. 9, 2023. Jordan and Rwanda on Wednesday signed an agreement exempting ordinary passport holders in both countries from visa requirements, the state-run Petra news agency reported. (Photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh/Xinhua) AMMAN, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Jordan and Rwanda on Wednesday signed an agreement exempting ordinary passport holders in both countries from visa requirements, the state-run Petra news agency reported. The agreement was signed in the Jordanian capital Amman during the second round of strategic dialogue between the two countries, according to the report. The agreement was signed by Jordan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and Rwanda's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Vincent Biruta. Additionally, they signed two memorandums of understanding on the training of diplomats as well as population and urban development. Biruta said the new agreements, together with the one signed in February on visa exemptions for diplomats, would facilitate communication and boost tourism, trade and investment between the two countries. Biruta also announced his country's decision to establish a diplomatic mission in Amman, underlining Rwanda's commitment to expanding cooperation with Jordan in various fields. The two sides also exchanged views on global and regional issues of mutual interest and strengthening anti-terrorism cooperation in line with the Aqaba Process initiative, which was launched in 2015 by King Abdullah II of Jordan. Safadi underlined the importance of an upcoming meeting in Rwanda under the Aqaba Process initiative to discuss anti-terrorism issues in Africa. Also on Wednesday, King Abdullah II met Biruta and they discussed means of expanding cooperation between the two countries, especially in trade, tourism, investment, agriculture, and defense, according to a statement by Jordan's royal court. Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi (2nd L) and Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Vincent Biruta (1st L) attend a joint press conference in Amman, Jordan, on Aug. 9, 2023. Jordan and Rwanda on Wednesday signed an agreement exempting ordinary passport holders in both countries from visa requirements, the state-run Petra news agency reported. (Photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh/Xinhua) Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi (R) meets with Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Vincent Biruta in Amman, Jordan, on Aug. 9, 2023. Jordan and Rwanda on Wednesday signed an agreement exempting ordinary passport holders in both countries from visa requirements, the state-run Petra news agency reported. (Photo by Mohammad Abu Ghosh/Xinhua) Amid financial crisis and political turmoil, Pakistan National Assembly was dissolved on Wednesday following the recommendation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. What's next for the crisis-hit country is the general elections. The general elections is to be held within 60-90 days immediately following the day on which the term of the assembly is due to expire. President Arif Alvi approved the recommendation of dissolution by PM Sharif marking an end to the government's tenure. Sharif had earlier announced that his government will not complete his tenure and an interim government will come in after the dissolution. It was on August 12, 2018 that the five-year term of the incumbent National Assembly came to power. The dissolution comes just three days remaining to complete the tenure of the government. The dissolution of the National Assembly won't have any issue on the future of the Senate-the upper house of the Parliament. The bills passed by the national assembly till now will become invalid and be discarded. However, in the case of bills passed both by the National Assembly and the Senate will stand approved even without the President's sign. What does dissolution mean National assembly can be dissolved early if the PM recommends the president to do so. According to Article 58 of the Constitution, if the president fails to dissolve the assembly within 48 hours after the PM's recommendation, the assembly automatically stands dissolved. The cabinet members will end their roles once the assembly dissolves. However, in case of no-confidence motion moved against the PM then the recommendation of dissolution is not possible. Not just the PM, president can also dissolve the assembly at his discretion. Role of ECP With the National Assembly dissolved, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) springs into action. According to Article 224 of the Constitution, the ECP must conduct general elections within 60 days after the assembly has completed its five-year term, or within 90 days in the case of an early dissolution, reported the Dawn. It is up to the ECP to ensure fair elections. Role of interim government An interim government is appointed till fresh elections are held. The interim cabinet will have the responsibility to conduct fair elections in the country. Routine functions of the government, ensuring law and order is also part of the list of things the interim government should do. It is the president, who appoints the interim government. The choice is made in collaboration with the PM and the leader of the opposition in the outgoing National Assembly. Later, governor will appoint the chief minister in collaboration with the outgoing chief minister and leader of the opposition in the outgoing provincial assembly, reported Dawn. Meanwhile, the law also states that if the outgoing PM and the leader of the opposition cannot agree on the caretaker PM within three days of the National Assembly's dissolution, they each forward two candidates to a committee. The committee is formed by the speaker of the National Assembly and consists of eight members from the outgoing National Assembly, the Senate, or both. The committee formed are tasked to finalise the names of the caretaker PM or caretaker CM within three days of receiving the nominations. However, if the committee is unable to make a decision within the time frame, then the names will be forwarded to the ECP. A final decision will taken in two days. Meanwhile, with former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan behind bars uncertainty looms over the election date. Khan has appealed the conviction. The commission last year disqualified Khan from holding public office for five years. Sharif's ruling Pakistan Muslim League Party is expected to face tough competition from Khan's party. However, law does not allow anyone with a criminal conviction to run in elections. Two bullets hit the car of Lebanon's caretaker defence minister on Thursday as he was driving in a convoy near Beirut, a senior security official said. No one was hurt. In a brief statement, Defence Minister Maurice Sleem confirmed the shooting, which occurred in the Beirut neighbourhood of Hazmieh, but did not provide further details. An investigation was underway to find out if the minister was targeted, a senior Lebanese official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. In a separate development in the nearby suburb of Ghobeiry, a funeral was held Thursday for a member of the militant Hezbollah group killed the previous day when his truck overturned on a mountain road in the Christian town of Kahaleh. The truck was carrying Hezbollah munitions and after it crashed, clashes erupted at the scene. A second person, a resident of Kahaleh, was also killed in the shootout. The man's family claimed he was an innocent passer-by but a poster erected in the town showed him holding an AK-47 rifle. Videos circulating on social media purported to be from Wednesday's fighting showed exchanges of fire between two groups of men in civilian clothing. The Lebanese army said it is investigating. Hundreds of Hezbollah supporters attended the funeral, firing bullets into the air, a traditional gesture to honour fallen troops, and waving Hezbollah flags. The tiny, crisis-hit country of Lebanon has seen increasing political tensions between the Iran-backed Hezbollah and pro-Western Christian parties in recent years. Abortion wasn't technically on the ballot in Ohio's special election. But the overwhelming defeat of a measure that would have made it tougher to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution this fall was the latest indicator that the issue remains a powerful force at the ballot box. The election saw record turnout for what's typically a sleepy August election date and sets up another battle in November, when Ohio will be the only state this year to have reproductive rights on the ballot. It also gives hope to Democrats and other abortion rights supporters who say the matter could sway voters their way again in 2024. That's when it could affect races for president, Congress and statewide offices, and when places such as the battleground of Arizona may put abortion questions on their ballots as well. Democrats described the victory in Ohio, a one-time battleground state that has shifted markedly to the right, as a major warning sign for the GOP. Republicans' deeply unpopular war on women's rights will cost them district after district, and we will remind voters of their toxic anti-abortion agenda every day until November, said Aidan Johnson, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The measure voters rejected Tuesday, known as Issue 1, would have required ballot questions to pass with 60 per cent of the vote rather than a simple majority. With the count nearly completed, votes against the measure, or No votes, received 57 per cent compared with 43 per cent in favour, a lead of almost 430,000 votes. Interest was unusually high, with millions spent on each side and turnout by far the highest for an August election in Ohio, which in the past have been mainly limited to local races. Turnout was even higher than the most recent off-year election in November, when voters in 2017 decided two statewide ballot measures. Opposition to the measure, which became a kind of proxy for the November abortion vote, extended even into traditionally Republican areas. In early returns, support for the measure fell far short of Donald Trump's performance during the 2020 election in nearly every county. The November ballot question will ask voters whether individuals should have the right to make their own reproductive health care decisions, including contraception, abortion, fertility treatment and miscarriage care. Ohio's GOP-led state government in 2019 approved a ban on abortion after cardiac activity is detected - around six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant - but the ban was not enforced because of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, which granted a federal right to the procedure. When a new conservative majority on the high court last year overturned the nearly 50-year-old ruling, sending authority over the procedure back to the states, Ohio's ban briefly went into effect. But a state court put the ban on hold again while a challenge alleging it violates the state constitution plays out. During the time the ban was in place, an Indiana doctor came forward to say she had performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio who could not legally have the procedure in her home state. The account became a national flashpoint in the debate over abortion rights and underscored the stakes in Ohio. Ohio is one of about half of U.S. states where citizens may bypass the Legislature and put ballot questions directly to voters, making it an option that supporters of reproductive rights have increasingly turned to since Roe v. Wade fell. After abortion rights supporters said they hoped to ask voters in November to enshrine the right in the state constitution, Ohio Republicans put Issue 1 on Tuesday's ballot. In addition to raising the threshold to pass a measure, it would have required signatures to be collected in all 88 counties, rather than 44. The 60% threshold was no accident, abortion rights supporters say, and was aimed directly at defeating the Ohio abortion measure. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, six states have had elections regarding reproductive rights. In every election - including in conservative states like Kansas voters have supported abortion rights. In Kansas, 59 per cent voted to preserve abortion rights protections, while in Michigan 57 per cent favoured an amendment that put protections in the state constitution. Last year, 59 per cent of Ohio voters said abortion should generally be legal, according to AP VoteCast, a broad survey of the electorate. Last month, a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found the majority of US adults want abortion to be legal at least through the initial stages of pregnancy. The poll found that opinions on abortion remain complex, with most people believing abortion should be allowed in some circumstances and not in others. Opponents of the Ohio abortion question ran ads that suggested the measure could strip parents of their ability to make decisions about their child's health care or to even be notified about it. Amy Natoce, spokesperson for the anti-abortion campaign Protect Women Ohio, called the ballot measure a dangerous anti-parent amendment. Several legal experts have said there is no language in the amendment supporting the ads' claims. Three shots in the head ended the life of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio on Wednesday evening as assassins in two motorcycles approached the vehicle he had just entered after a political rally in the capital Quito. Four shots rang out, Villavicencio and a policeman fell. Another shot killed one of the assassins. It is not immediately clear if the act was a political assassination though there are claims of revenge from mafia and drug cartels that had threatened him earlier in the month. In videos and social media clips of the event, clarity remains elusive but the poignant views of blood stains among people hunched and kneeling in fear and self-protection became a metaphor for the country in shock. President Guillermo Lasso said he was indignant and dismayed by the crime. "For his memory and his fight," Lasso vowed that the assassination will not go unpunished. The 59-year-old candidate for the movement Build Ecuador was a fierce critic of the country's former president Rafael Correa and was one of eight candidates in the special election scheduled for August 20. The election triggered when current president Lasso dissolved the legislature and cut short his own term calling for new elections in 90 days to avoid his ouster from office. A journalist and politician, Villavicencio dedicated a huge part of his life to expose corruption in Ecuador's government. Rising from a radio host exploring Latin American culture to a stint in oil industry watchdog roles, Villavicencio clashed with the Correa administration over Petrobras contracts. His dissent resonated widely but his accusations were deemed unfounded and libelous, and he was sentenced to 18 months in prison, which he avoided by finding refuge in indigenous communities in the country's Amazonian regions and eventually political asylum in Peru. His began his political journey in 1995 with the founding of the Pachakutik Movement, an advocate for Ecuador's multi-ethnic identity, and his activism earned him multiple enemies among drug cartels and mafia that operate in the small country sandwiched between Peru and Colombia, two of the world's largest producers of cocaine. Just last month and early this month, the candidate, who was under police protection as are most of the other presidential candidates, reported a threat from the drug cartel Los Choneros, a group that operates across the country and is rumoured to have infiltrated police forces. Los Choneros ' operations span extortion, murder, assassinations, and drug trafficking. The group is said to have strong links to global criminal networks like the Sinaloa cartel, Albanian Mafia, Italian Ndrangheta, and Cosa Nostra. Its web of criminal connections is complex and powerful. Founded as a gang by a one-time street dealer nicknamed "Chonero" in 2005, Los Choneros were soon in a violent war with rival gang "Los Queseros" starting a cycle of vengeance that wiped out "Los Queseros" and began a blood-soaked grip on organized crime and power plays. As a cartel, Los Choneros turned into a narco-terror group. Villavicencio, a 2021 national assembly member from the Alliance for Honesty, emerged as a presidential contender for the Building Ecuador party this year, challenging the nexus between power and corruption. In his clear stance against corruption, he rallied under the banner, "It is time to be brave." Combatting the complex interplay of threats narcotics, illegal mining, corruption, and bribery he proposed an ambitious National Anti-Terrorism Plan. With environmentalist Andrea Gonzalez as his running mate, Villavicencio, a staunch advocate for transparency and accountability, aimed to reshape Ecuador's political landscape. A splinter group of Los Choneros Los Lobos considered the second most numerous criminal organization in the country claimed credit for the assassination "as retribution for unfulfilled campaign promises after financial support." The group released a video of a band of ISIS-like machine-gun toting, black balaclava-clad members flanking a reading of the statement that threatened other candidates who do not keep their commitments to them. Los Lobos have thousands of members across the countries prisons and have been responsible for some of the bloodies prison battles in Ecuador, leaving hundreds dead. Villavicencio, had in some of his latest speeches, called for a prison reform to control these issues. "It is a tragedy that our country has come to this," said attorney Juan Carlos Rodriguez, speaking to THE WEEK. Candidate Otto Sonnenholzner tweeted, "our country has gotten out of hand". Leading candidate Yaku Perez suspended his campaign and called other candidates to do the same, inviting for a national unity rally on Thursday. "The situation cannot continue," he said. Polls shared by the daily El Universo, ranked Villavicencio between third to fifth place among the 8 candidates, with under 10 percent support. The attack occurred at 18:20 local time when a burst of gunfire interrupted the post-rally euphoria. Villavicencio fell immediately without signs of life. He was transported to a near hospital, Hospital de Mujeres, where he was pronounced dead. Bhubaneswar, Aug 10 (PTI) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday inaugurated a centre of Infosys BPM Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of IT giant Infosys Limited here. The new centre of Infosys BPM (Business Process Management) is the first such facility of the company in eastern India. Addressing the gathering, Patnaik said, I am very happy that Infosys BPM has opened operations from Bhubaneswar. I am sure that the talented youngsters of Odisha will make this high-end customer service centre a big success for Infosys. He also outlined his governments commitment to provide Infosys with all support to further grow and contribute to the state. Earlier, the company had established its Offshore Development Centre (ODC) in Bhubaneswar which was its first such centre outside its headquarters in Karnataka. Established in April 2002, Infosys BPM Ltd has 42 delivery locations spread across 16 countries, offering an end-to-end outsourcing services provider. While thanking the government for its support, Satish HC, Executive Vice President and Co-head of Delivery at Infosys, also praised the speed and responsiveness of the state government in facilitating the establishment of this centre. He said, The strength of Infosys will increase from 10,000 to 20,000 in the near future and Infosys BPM will contribute immensely to the growth. This centre will create considerable new job opportunities for the youth of the state. Mumbai, August 10, 2023: Coding skills continue to be in high demand, and so does the need for a skilled technology workforce. The problem is supply is not keeping pace with demand, and therein lies the Skills Gap. According to a TeamLease report, though there are over 500 million Indians of working age, one out of two are not employable. Only 49% of Indian youth is employable, points out the India Skills Report. According to the National Employability Report for Engineering, 80% of Indian engineers do not possess the required skills. But FunctionUp School of Technology (FST) is helping bridge the crucial gap between demand and supply when it comes to the skilled technology workforce. FST has launched a four-year offline B-Tech degree taught by IIT alumni. The first offline campus course is conducted at Starex University in Gurugram, Haryana. FST is in talks with other offline campuses to offer B Tech courses across India. According to Pritesh Kumar, Co-Founder & Director of FST, Our program stands out with India's first institute offering a 100% Placement Guarantee Else Refund, offline B-Tech taught by IITians, a curriculum that perfectly aligns with industry requirements, and incredible industry exposure right from the 2nd year! Our objective is to secure the future of the next generation of industry-ready professionals. During the four years on the campus course in the college, the students will learn a comprehensive full-stack development learning experience in the first year, while the subsequent three years will be devoted to practical training with 4-6 internships in esteemed corporations. The course is designed and taught by IITians. This will enable students to gain invaluable experience and forge a distinct edge in the fiercely competitive tech job market. At the end of the four-year offline course, students will be awarded a B-Tech degree by FST and a B-Tech degree in Computer Science (AI & ML), across its partnered universities in India with an assurance of 100% placement or refund of the tuition fees, which is an indicator of the institutions ability to match its trained talent pool with industry requirements. FST has tied up with 850+ hiring partners including Tesla, Facebook, Mercedes, AirBnB, Twitch, Myntra, Ola, Swiggy, Meesho, Ernst & Young, Oracle, Zomato, PayPal, Cisco, and Deloitte to name a few. There is a skill gap but there is raw talent in abundance too. We provide practical skill sets critical for careers in the IT industry, adds Pritesh Kumar. FunctionUp School of Technology is led by a team of visionary alumni from IIT and ISB. The Founders are Pritesh Kumar and Bharat Gupta. Their collective expertise has forged a curriculum in collaboration with industry giants MAANG (Meta, Amazon, Apple, Netflix & Google) and exceptional IIT professionals. Founded in 2021, FunctionUp has also introduced courses for working professionals such as the Data Science Course and a Full Stack Development Course. These courses are designed for working professionals and they are focused on cracking US Remote jobs after six months of training. (Disclaimer: The above content is a press release and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.). PTI PWR PWR Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], August 10: Pyramid Technoplast Limited, an industrial packaging company known for its expertise in manufacturing polymer based molded products is planning to raise up to Rs. 153.05 crore from its public issue to fund its growth plans. The company plans to use issue proceeds for repayment of outstanding borrowings, funding working capital requirement and general corporate purposes. The public issue will open for subscription on August 18 and will close on August 22, 2023. The companys shares will be listed in the BSE & NSE. The Book Running Lead Managers to the Offer are PNB Investment Services Limited and First Overseas Capital Limited. The Registrar to the Offer is Bigshare Services Private Limited. The initial public offering of up to 92.20 lakh equity shares of face value Rs. 10 each comprises of fresh issue of up to 55 lakh equity shares and an offer for sale of up to 37.20 lakh equity shares by the promoter group - Credence Financial Consultancy LLP. Company has fixed price band of Rs. 151-166 per equity share for the public issue. The company plans to raise up to Rs. 153.05 crore from the public issue at the higher price band of Rs. 166 per share. The minimum lot size for the application is 90 shares and multiple thereof. Retail investor and HNI quota for the IPO is kept at not less than 50% and 20% of the issue respectively while QIB quota is kept at a maximum 30% of the issue. The offer includes fresh issue aggregating Rs. 91.30 crore and offer for sale by the Selling Shareholder aggregating to Rs. 61.75 crore on upper band price through the Offer. Mr. Bijaykumar Agarwal, Chairman and Managing Director of Pyramid Technoplast Limited states, The Offer marks a significant milestone in our ongoing journey. Our goal is to deliver high-quality products to our valued customers, drawing upon our wealth of experience. With India emerging as a prominent manufacturing hub for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, we anticipate continuous increase in demand for our packaging solutions. The capital generated from the Offer will play a pivotal role in driving our growth and enabling us to increase the market share. Incorporated in 1997, Pyramid Technoplast Limited manufactures polymer-based molded products (Polymer Drums) mainly used by chemical, agrochemical, specialty chemical, and pharmaceutical companies for their packaging requirements. Company has six manufacturing units out of which four are situated in Bharuch, GIDC, Gujarat, and two are situated at Silvassa, UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The total installed capacity of their Polymer Drum manufacturing units is 20,612 MTPA, the total installed capacity of the IBC manufacturing unit is 12,820 MTPA and the total installed capacity of the MS Drums unit is 6,200 MTPA. The company is in the process of constructing its seventh manufacturing unit which will also be situated in Bharuch, GIDC, Gujarat. The company has obtained UN certification outlined by United Nations Recommendation for IBC and MS Drums to meet safety levels. The financial performance of the company has exhibited considerable progress over the years, demonstrating growth and stability. For FY22-23 company reported revenue of Rs. 482.03 crore and net Profit of Rs. 31.73 crore. As on March 2023, Net worth of the company stands at Rs. 107.25 crore, Total Assets at Rs. 225.78 crore and Reserves & Surplus at Rs. 75.97 crore. Particulars FY23 FY22 FY21 Revenue (Rs in Cr) 482.03 402.64 316.18 Net Profit (Rs in Cr) 31.76 26.15 16.99 EBITDA (%) 10.75% 11.03% 10.28% PAT (%) 6.59% 6.49% 5.37% ROCE (%) 28.83% 28.49% 27.85% IPO Highlights Pyramid Technoplast Ltd IPO Opens on August18, 2023 IPO Closes on August 22, 2023 Issue Price Band Rs. 151-166 Per Share Issue Size (No of Shares) 92.20 lakhEquity Shares Fresh Issue (No of Shares) 55 lakh Equity Shares Offer for Sale (No of Shares) 37.20 lakh Equity Shares Issue Size (Rs. Cr) Rs. 139.22 153.05crore Listing on BSE & NSE (Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with PNN and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.). PTI PWR PWR New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Thursday said the best of artificial intelligence and machine learning will be deployed at Air India and asserted that the airline is not just yet another business for the group. Speaking at an event here to unveil the new brand identity and aircraft livery of Air India, he said the focus is on upgrading all human resources aspects at the airline. There is a lot of hard work needed but the path is clear for the airline, Chandrasekaran, who is also the Chairman of Air India said. There is "caring criticism" and our commitment is getting stronger, he said and added that the airline is not just another business but a passion, a national mission. We are focusing on upgrading all human resources aspects of the airline. Our fleet requires a lot of work. While we have ordered one of the largest fleet orders, it will take time. "In the meantime, we have to refurbish our current fleet at an acceptable level. Our aim is to have the best of machine learning and the best of AI in Air India than any other airline," Chandrasekaran said. Tata Group took control of Air India in January last year. Colombo, Aug 10 (PTI) President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Thursday that Sri Lanka seeks to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade bloc comprising major economies like China and Japan as the country strives to rebuild its crisis-hit economy. Addressing the 56th anniversary of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) held at Indonesia's embassy in Colombo, he said Sri Lanka will work closely with ASEAN nations. Sri Lanka's economic focus should now turn towards the East, given the rapid development in that region, he said. What is now required is to work closely in all areas to ensure that objective will be achieved, he said. Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka has applied to join RCEP, recognising the potential of this vast trade block. Sri Lanka is currently working with its external creditors to renegotiate over USD 40 billion to meet an IMF deadline by next month. The country also hopes to initiate negotiations for the establishment of free trade agreements with ASEAN member countries. One of the key aspects of the new policy is the initiation of free trade agreements with ASEAN countries. Sri Lanka has already forged a crucial trade agreement with Singapore and is actively negotiating with Thailand. The island nation was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves. Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka as an Indian Ocean state wishes to express its desire to have the region free of military interventions. That policy is in line with ASEANs objectives for the Indian Ocean region. RCEP comprises 15 members, the 10 ASEAN member states, as well as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. ASEAN is a regional organisation comprising 10 Southeast Asian nations that promotes economic growth. It comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Chennai, Aug 10 (PTI) The nation's first retail fuel outlet run by women convicts who are still serving their prison sentences was inaugurated here on Friday by Tamil Nadu Minister for Law and Prisons S Regupathy. Named Freedom Filling Station, it is located on Ambattur Road here at Puzhal, abutting the Special Prison for Women (SPW-Puzhal). It will go a long way in reforming and rehabilitating the convicts, the Tamil Nadu prison department said. "For the first time in India, a petrol retail outlet will be fully managed by convicted women prisoners. About 30 female prisoners will be employed at this petrol retail outlet. The prisoners will get Rs 6,000 each as monthly salary," an official release said. DGP in charge of Prisons and Correctional Services Amaraesh Pujari said the newly opened petrol bunk run by women convicts is a first in India, and will be run by the women convicts of SPW-Puzhal prison. It will help them in their reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration with the society, he said. It provides the women prison inmates an opportunity to learn new skills and gain work experience, which can help them find employment after their release. Also, it will give them a sense of responsibility, dignity, and self-worth, which can boost their confidence and morale. They can earn some income (up to Rs 10,000 per month) which they can use to support their families or save for their future, he said. The initiative will open up exposure to the outside world and interaction with customers and the larger society as well, which in turn can help improve their social skills and also reduce isolation. The plan will encourage prison inmates to behave well and follow rules, as they have to meet "certain criteria and behavioral yardsticks" to be eligible for the job, he pointed out. R Kanagaraj, DIG Prisons (Head Quarters); A Murugesan, DIG Prisons, Chennai Range; and V C Asokan, Executive Director & State Head, Tamil Nadu & Puducherry, IOCL took part. The prison department has already been running a 'Prison Bazaar' as part of its reform and rehabilitation initiatives. Items made by prisoners, including shoes, rain coats, readymade garments, handicrafts, note books, compost manure, bakery products and vegetables cultivated by them are sold through the Prison Bazaar under the brand name Freedom. The government had already accorded sanction for setting up five petrol retail outlets on the premises of Puzhal, Vellore, Coimbatore and Palayamkottai jails and the Borstal School in Pudukkottai. These retail outlets, run by the TamilNadu Prison Department in association with Indian Oil Corporation, are functioning well under the brand name Freedom Filling Station. The state government in an order dated May 2, 2022 sanctioned setting up of six more petroleum retail outlets on the outer premises of central prisons including the Puzhal Central Prison on Ambattur Road here, as well as in Coimbatore, Tiruchirappalli (two outlets), Madurai and Salem. LOS ANGELES, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- At least six people were killed by devastating hurricane-driven wildfires in Hawaii's Maui Island, authorities said on Wednesday. Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said that six people have been confirmed dead as a result of the wildfires and search efforts are ongoing. More than 2,100 people stayed at four shelters in Maui overnight, according to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. The agency said firefighters were able to deploy helicopters Wednesday morning to assist ground forces with fire containment. Local news outlet Hawaii News Now reported that the wildfires are active and out of control, which means a full picture of the devastation hasn't yet come into view. At least 20 people sustained serious injuries, thousands of people have been displaced, and the county's emergency response is near a breaking point, said the report, citing officials. The report added that hundreds of homes are feared destroyed and casualty figures could rise. Hawaii Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke on Wednesday issued an emergency proclamation to extend the state of emergency to all counties in the state as dangerous wildfires are continuing to burn on two major islands, Maui and the Island of Hawaii, also known as the Big Island in Hawaii. Luke, who is acting as the governor as Hawaii Governor Josh Green is traveling out of the state, said in a statement that she has ordered all affected state agencies to assist with the evacuation and discouraged non-essential air travel to Maui, which is the most affected island so far. The lieutenant governor on Tuesday afternoon issued an emergency proclamation relating to wildfires in Maui and Hawaii counties that were fueled by Hurricane Dora. "This is an unprecedented disaster as an indirect result of Hurricane Dora passing just south of our islands," said Luke in her statement on Wednesday. "It is truly devastating and my heart goes out to the residents of Maui and all those impacted." The proclamation encourages visitors in West Maui to depart the island under safe and practicable circumstances. Officials said Maui and the Island of Hawaii both experienced significant fires. The Island of Hawaii and Maui are the largest and the second largest of the Hawaiian islands, respectively. Officials noted that Hawaii national guardsmen have been activated and are currently on Maui assisting the Maui Police Department at traffic control points, and more guardsmen will be supporting Maui and Hawaii counties on Wednesday. With the exception of one school, all other public schools on Maui are closed on Wednesday due to the ongoing wildfires and evacuations on the island. Many flights into Maui have been canceled and the state plans to fly 4,000 tourists out of Maui on Wednesday to Oahu, which is home to the state capital, Honolulu, Hawaii News Now reported. Green, the governor of Hawaii, is returning to the islands. He said in a statement that Hawaii "suffered a terrible disaster in the form of a wildfire that has spread widely as a result of hurricane-force winds in the region and underlying drought conditions." "The White House has been incredibly supportive, and we expect to submit a request for a Presidential Disaster Declaration in the next 36 to 48 hours, once we know how vast the damage is," he noted. Mumbai, Aug 10 (PTI) "Laapataa Ladies", directed by Kiran Rao, and "Thank You For Coming", featuring Bhumi Pednekar, are the two Indian films that will have their world premiere at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival 2023, to be held from September 7 to 17. While "Laapataa Ladies" will be screened under the Centrepiece Programme (formerly known as Contemporary World Cinema), "Thank You For Coming" will premiere under the Gala section. The festival organisers made the announcement on its official website on Thursday. Rao is set to return to TIFF after her directorial debut "Dhobi Ghat" had its world premiere in 2010 at the film extravaganza. "Laapataa Ladies" ("Lost Ladies") follows "two young brides hilariously entwined in a riot of mistaken identities", read the synopsis of the movie issued by the gala. Set in 2001 in rural India, the film stars Pratibha Ranta and Nitanshi Goel. "I am so delighted that the world premiere of our film, 'Laapataa Ladies' (Lost Ladies) is going to be at the Toronto International Film Festival. I have very fond memories of TIFF. "It's such a wonderful audience-driven festival, and I will always remember the warmth and love that we got from them. I feel very fortunate that my second film, once again produced by Aamir Khan Productions and this time with Jio Studios on board, will also begin its journey there," the filmmaker said in a statement. Aamir Khan, who serves as a producer on "Laapataa Ladies", said he is looking forward to the film. "Kiran has made a gem of a film which I hope is going to connect strongly with audiences all across. Can't wait for the premiere of our film 'Laapataa Ladies' at TIFF," Khan added. Coming-of-age comedy "Thank You For Coming", directed by Karan Boolani, follows the story of Kanika Kapoor (Pednekar), a single girl in her 30s, and her quest for true love and pleasure. It is written by Radhika Anand and Prashasti Singh. The film, produced by Ektaa R Kapoor and Rhea Kapoor, will premiere at TIFF on September 15. It is set for a worldwide release on October 6. Rhea Kapoor termed "Thank You For Coming" an "unconventional, bold and entertaining" movie. "It is a film for this generation and we feel extremely honoured to have the world premiere of our film at TIFF 2023. Even with its unconventional storyline and bold point of view, this movie is an out-and-out Bollywood entertainer, full of masti and music so it makes this selection that much sweeter!" the producer said in a statement. Ektaa R Kapoor said this project holds a special place in her heart. "... I am eagerly anticipating the moment when I can present it to a discerning global audience. The opportunity to be part of such a prestigious festival is an absolute honor, and I am awaiting the feedback and reception it garners," she added. The film also stars Shehnaaz Gill, Dolly Singh, Kusha Kapila, Shibani Bedi, Pradhuman Singh Mall, Natasha Rastogi, Gautmik, Sushant Divgikar, Saloni Daini, Dolly Ahluwalia, and Karan Kundrra with Anil Kapoor in a special appearance. Other Indian films to premiere at TIFF 2023 are Honey Trehan's "Punjab '95", which is part of the Official Selection, Nikhil Nagesh Bhat's "Kill" (Midnight Madness segment), and Jayant Digambar Somalkar's Marathi feature film debut "Sthal" (A Match) under the Discovery Programme. Singapore, Aug 10 (PTI) An Indian national in Singapore has been charged in a district court here with duping two insurance companies into disbursing nearly SGD 77,000 in settlement sums linked to two foreign workers injury claims. Saha Ranjit Chandra, 48, allegedly deceived the insurance companies into believing that they were negotiating with an authorised person from Whitefield Law Corp under the Legal Profession Act, the police said in a statement on Tuesday. For this offence, the court on Tuesday charged him with two counts of cheating. If convicted, the offence carries an imprisonment term which may extend to 10 years and a fine, in respect of each charge, the statement said. Between July 2020 and February 2021, Saha -- who is a director at multiple firms -- had allegedly negotiated and settled work injury claims with the insurance companies in the name of lawyer Charles Yeo Yao Hui, the then-director of Whitefield Law Corporation. Since 2022, Charles has been on the run from the law, according to court documents. Charles had an arrest warrant issued against him in August 2022 after he absconded with criminal charges pending against him. Separately, Saha is also accused of giving false information to a public servant, the Registrar of Regulated Dealers of the Ministry of Law, on January 15, 2022. He allegedly failed to declare in his application for a precious stones and precious metals dealer licence on behalf of a company called Royal Jewellery that he was then under investigation in Singapore. Saha was legally bound to make such a declaration, according to court documents. If convicted, the offence carries an imprisonment term which may extend to six months, or a fine which may extend to SGD 5,000, or both. Lahore, Aug 10 (PTI) At least eight people were killed and over 10 injured after two vehicles collided in Pakistan's Punjab province on Thursday, authorities said. The accident occurred when a passenger van was on its way to Bhakkar from Mian Channu in the Punjab district, some 300 km from Lahore, Rescue 1122 spokesperson Muhammad Farooq said. The passenger van collided head-on with another vehicle coming from the opposite direction, he said. The fatal accident led to the death of seven passengers on the spot while another succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. Six passengers are critically injured. According to the authorities, the apparent cause of the accident was overspeeding, authorities said. The caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab Mohsin Naqvi expressed grief over the loss of human lives in the accident and directed the health department to provide the best medical facilities to the injured. New York, Aug 10 (AP) The new CEO of the company formerly known as Twitter says she's spent much of the past eight weeks trying to get big brands back and advertising on the social media platform that's been in upheaval since it was bought last year by Elon Musk. X Corp. CEO Linda Yaccarino said Thursday on CNBC that she has been focused on talking with brands like Coca Cola, Visa and State Farm, along with their chief marketing officers and chief executives. I've lived on a lot of planes lately, direct conversations with CMOs and CEOs, and we cover a lot of ground and I focus on those that have either maybe paused or reduced spending to remind them about the power of the platform and the power of the user base and the the economic potential of them partnering with us again, she said in her first media interview since Musk appointed her as CEO. Yaccarino suggested that part of the difficulty is that some big advertisers might not have known who to talk to because the company has slashed its staff from about 8,000 workers to 1,500 since Musk's takeover. She said her role under Musk who's also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX is clearly defined. Elon focuses on product design. He leads a team of extraordinary engineers and focuses on new technology, she said. "So think about it as Elon is working on accelerating the rebrand and working on the future. And I'm responsible for the rest. Running the company from partnerships to legal to sales to finance, all the things. She said she has autonomy in doing that and described it as like a relay race. "Elon works on the technology, dreams up what's next, passes the baton to me. I bring it to market for economic prosperity, not only for our company, but for all of our customers, like our advertising partners, she said. (AP) MRJ MRJ Islamabad, Aug 10 (PTI) Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will start consultations on Thursday and meet Leader of the Opposition Raja Riaz to finalise the name of the interim prime minister to oversee the election after the dissolution of the National Assembly. President Dr Arif Aliv dissolved the assembly before the end of its legal term on Wednesday on the advice of the prime minister. The step has been taken to give extra time to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to organise polls. Sources told PTI that Prime Minister Shehbaz would meet Leader of Opposition Riaz to discuss the interim leader. The two leaders have three days to agree on a name, otherwise, the Speaker of the defunct assembly would appoint an eight-member panel, including four lawmakers each from the treasury and opposition benches, to forge an agreement. Both sides, the prime minister and leader of the opposition, can put forward a maximum of two names for the top post. The panel has three days to agree and in case it fails, all names considered during its meetings would be sent to the ECP which would appoint one of them as the interim premier within 48 hours. The same exercise is repeated in provinces where chief ministers lead the process with the local opposition leaders. The process was adopted in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) when their assemblies were dissolved in January. In the case of Punjab, no agreement was reached at the first two levels and ultimately the ECP was involved and appointed the incumbent Mohsin Naqvi as chief minister. However, in KP, the then-chief minister and leader of the opposition agreed to appoint the current Azam Khan as interim chief minister. Under the Constitution, the prime minister will continue to serve for a limited period until a caretaker premier takes an oath. Sources said that Prime Minister Shehbaz has already held detailed discussions with his former 13-member coalition government parties and there is an agreement on the nominee but the name has not been revealed. Raja Riaz, a dissident leader of PTI, is considered close to leading parties like Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and is expected not to make a show and support the government candidate. There are also reports that Riaz is trying to seek a PML-N ticket for the next elections. Traditionally, the interim set-up was tasked to organise elections in a fair and free manner but laws have been amended lately and the next caretaker government would have powers to make decisions on the key issues due to the fragile economic situation. The interim set-up may also last longer this time as the ECP may not be able to hold an election within 90 days due to the issue of delimitation of constituencies for which it can spend 120 days. Legally, the ECP is bound to hold elections on the basis of new census results which were endorsed by the government but the election body has not yet decided whether to hold polls on the old or new census data. The existing constituencies are based on the 2017 census. Since the assembly has been dissolved before time, the ECP would hold elections within 90 days. If the National Assembly had completed its constitutional term, the polls would have been held within 60 days, but in case of dissolution before time, the elections should be held within 90 days. The polls are expected to be delayed for a couple of months as new census results have been approved, which makes it a constitutional obligation to carry out delimitation before elections. The ECP is bound to carry out delimitation within 120 days and then announce the election schedule. Though it is technically possible to expedite the process and determine delimitation of constituencies in minimum time and then go for elections within 90 days, it is not clear if the ECP would follow the deadline as it has a valid reason to overshoot the deadline. The outgoing assembly was the 15th National Assembly which began its five-year journey on August 13, 2018, with the election of a Speaker and Deputy Speaker. The outgoing National Assembly was elected after an election held on July 25, 2018. Islamabad, Aug 10 (PTI) Pakistan's outgoing Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah on Thursday called for a probe to determine the authenticity of the source document used in a news report by an American publication claiming to contain the evidence of a US conspiracy to topple Imran Khans government last year. In a series of tweets, Sanaullah said, "Potentially, it is a very sinister, treacherous, and seditious act." "Though there is nothing new in this story, the investigation needs to be held to establish the authenticity of the information or source document," he said. Sanaullah was referring to a report published in The Intercept, an online US-based news organisation, which claimed to have obtained the "secret" document that, according to former prime minister Khan, led to the fall of his government in April last year. Khan, 70, is currently serving a three-year jail term after he was sentenced by a court in a corruption case last week. The purported cipher (secret diplomatic cable) contained an account of a meeting between US State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu, and Pakistani envoy Asad Majeed Khan. "The US State Department encouraged the Pakistani government in a March 7, 2022, meeting to remove Imran Khan as prime minister over his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine," The Intercept reported on Wednesday, citing the "classified Pakistani government document". At the same time, the publication also stated it has made extensive efforts to authenticate the document but "given the security climate in Pakistan, independent confirmation from sources in the Pakistani government was not possible". Khan, also the chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was ousted by the National Assembly after he lost a vote of no confidence in April 2022, a development he alleged that Washington got involved in after he visited Moscow and met Russian President Vladimir Putin. Khan has alleged that the US orchestrated a plan to remove him from office and brandished the cypher at a public rally to back his claims. The US has time and again denied such allegations, terming them categorically false. Khan travelled to Moscow in February last year and met President Putin on the day of Russias invasion of Ukraine. Sanaullah noted that Khan had a copy of the cypher, which he has not returned and has accepted (on record) that he has misplaced or lost it. "If proven guilty, Khan should be tried under the Official Secret Act," he said. Meanwhile, the US State Department said it could not verify the authenticity of the document. Responding to a question during a press briefing in Washington on Wednesday, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller, said, "I cant speak to whether it is an actual Pakistani document or not; just simply dont know." "With respect to the comments that were reported, Im not going to speak to private diplomatic exchanges other than to say that, even if those comments were accurate as reported, they in no way show the United States taking a position on who the leader of Pakistan ought to be," he said. Miller said the US had expressed its concern privately to Pakistan, "as we express concern publicly, about the visit of then-Prime Minister Khan to Moscow on the very day of Russias invasion of Ukraine. We made that concern quite clear". "But as the former Pakistani ambassador to the United States himself has stated, the allegations that the United States has interfered in internal decisions about the leadership of Pakistan are false. As weve stated, theyre false. Theyve always been false, and they remain false," he said. London, Aug 10 (PTI) Army chief General Manoj Pande received a ceremonial welcome with a Guard of Honour at Horse Guards Parade in London at the start of his UK visit on Thursday. Gen. Pande was received by the UKs Chief of the General Staff, Gen. Sir Patrick Sanders, before he inspected a Guard of Honour by the Number 7 Company Coldstream Guards, one of the oldest regiments in the British Army dressed in their iconic scarlet tunics and black bearskin caps. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the Band of the Grenadier Guards, conducted by Director of Music Captain Robert Smith, performed a bespoke programme of music in support of the occasion to illustrate the harmony between the two nations. Framed by the Old Admiralty on one side, No. 10 Downing Street on the other, and with a clear view of Buckingham Palace, it is here that the King takes the salute from the very same spot during the Trooping of the Colour ceremony for his official birthday in June, the MoD said in a statement. There was a powerful sense of faithful continuity about the ceremonial welcome. The regiments represented on parade are among the most historic in the British Army and have enjoyed a reputation of world renown for their dual role excellence in combat operations and ceremonial duties for almost 400 years, it said. Within the ranks at the ceremony was Guardsman Singh, born in Chandigarh and joining the Coldstream Guards inspired by stories he read online about the British Army. He moved to the UK in 2021 to pursue his dream of becoming a Kings Guard. Today he had the great honour of being on parade in that role as a member of Number 7 Company Coldstream Guards. As General Manoj Pande inspected the ranks, he stopped to talk to Guardsman Singh, whose integration into the British Army is yet another example of how our two nations are working closer than ever, the MoD said. Following the inspection, the two generals retired to the grand historic offices overlooking Horse Guards Parade on Whitehall in the heart of London to discuss shared future military commitments and joint training opportunities. Gen. Pande also had meetings with the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff, General Gwyn Jenkins RM, and the Commander of UK Strategic Command, General Sir Jim Hockenhull. The UK Chief of the General Staff also accompanied the visiting Indian Chief on a cultural tour of London. The highlight of the Army Chief's visit is on Friday, when around 200 Officer Cadets, including 45 international cadets, of Commissioning Course 223 will pass out as Commissioned Army Officers at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Gen. Pande has been given the privilege of being the Sovereign's representative at that parade and he will take the salute in place of King Charles III at the pass off parade. He is the first Indian representative ever to be afforded such an honour, the MoD said. Investing in our relationships, especially that as important as India where together we can champion the rules-based international order, is a clear demonstration that the UK is open, outward-looking and confident on the world stage, it said. The region is critical to our economy, our security, and to our interest in an open and stable international order. In this, India is an equal partner for the UK, and that friendship is highly valued, as todays Guard of Honour testifies, it added. There have been a series of bilateral visits and military engagements between India and the UK since the beginning of this year, including the visit of the UKs Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, to India in April. Bilateral visits help increase understanding about shared military capabilities, objectives and priorities, all of which are seen as vital for a stronger India-UK strategic partnership. Earlier this week, the Indian Army had announced the five-day visit for the historic Sovereigns Parade during which Gen. Pande will also be visiting the Indian Army Memorial room which occupies a place of pride in the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. The talks will be focused on various matters of common interest, including defence cooperation, counter-terrorism efforts and strategic planning, officials said. "This visit marks a momentous milestone in strengthening the diplomatic, military, and cultural ties between the two nations. It bears testimony to the enduring camaraderie that has flourished over the years, promoting mutual cooperation and understanding in the realms of defence and security," the Army said in a statement. Kyiv, Aug 10 (AP) Russian air defence systems on Thursday shot down two drones heading toward Moscow for a second straight day, officials said. The reported attack disrupted flights at two international airports as Ukraine appeared to step up its assault on Russian soil. One drone was downed in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow and another near a major Moscow ring road, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin and the Russian Defence Ministry, which blamed the attack on Ukraine. No casualties or damage were immediately reported. Domodedovo airport, south of the city, halted flights for more than two hours and Vnukovo airport, southwest of the city, stopped flights for more than two and a half hours, according to Russian news agencies. Ten flights were diverted, Russia's Federal Agency for Air Transport said. Firing drones at Moscow after more than 17 months of war has little apparent military value for Ukraine, but the strategy has served to unsettle Russians and bring home to them the conflict's consequences. Kyiv officials, as usual, neither confirmed nor denied Ukraine's possible involvement in the drone strikes, though Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat remarked: This cannot but please us because people in Moscow thought they were safe. Now, the war affects each and every Russian. We now see that something' happens in Moscow on a regular basis, he added. Russia's Defence Ministry also said it had stopped Ukrainian drone attacks in Moscow-annexed Crimea. It said it shot down two drones near the port city of Sevastopol and electronically jammed nine that crashed into the Black Sea. On Wednesday, Ukrainian media reported social media blogs as saying that a thick plume of smoke billowed over Sevastopol, which is the headquarters of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. The governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said the smoke came from a fleet training exercise and urged local residents not to worry. The incidents have come against the backdrop of Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive, which Ukrainian and Western officials have warned will be a long slog against the Kremlin's deeply entrenched forces. The Pentagon is to provide Ukraine with another $200 million in weapons and ammunition to help sustain the counteroffensive, according to US officials. Ukraine has already received more than $43 billion from the US since Russia invaded last year. Ukraine's presidential office said at least six civilians were killed and 27 were injured between Wednesday and Thursday mornings. In eastern Ukraine's Donetsk province, Russia shelled 16 cities and villages, and three people were killed, the office reported. In Zaporizhzhia, three people were killed and nine wounded, including an 11-month-old baby. Meanwhile, 12 people remained missing after an explosion Wednesday at a factory that makes optical equipment for Russian security forces, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency officials. Russia's Emergency Ministry said 71 people required medical assistance after the explosion. Russian officials did not offer a suspected cause of the explosion at the Zagorsk plant in the region around Moscow, which added to jitters about potential Ukrainian drone strikes. The fallout from Russia's war against Ukraine has brought concerns to neighboring countries, including the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus this summer after their short-lived mutiny in Russia. Poland's defence minister said Thursday that the country intends to put 10,000 soldiers along its border with Belarus amid fears of a spike in illegal immigration. Polish officials have accused Belarusian authorities of organising illegal border crossings to disrupt and pressure Warsaw, which along with other NATO countries has provided support for Kyiv's war effort. (AP) SCY SCY Washington, Aug 10 (AP) Follow along for live updates of wildfires that are racing across part of Maui in Hawaii, destroying sections of a historic town on the island and forcing some to flee to the relative safety of the ocean, where the Coast Guard rescued them. The fires forced evacuations in some areas, including the popular tourist spot of Lahaina Town. The National Weather Service says Hurricane Dora, which is passing south of the island chain at a safe distance, was partly to blame for strong winds driving the flames, knocking out power and grounding firefighting helicopters. President Joe Biden said in a statement Wednesday evening that he has ordered all available Federal assets to help combat wildfires that have devastated parts of the Hawaiian island of Maui, killing at least six people. The president said the Coast Guard and Navy are supporting response and rescue efforts, while the Marines are providing Black Hawk helicopters to fight the fires. The Hawaii National Guard has mobilized Chinook helicopters to help with fire suppression and search and rescue operations. Biden said the Transportation Department is working with commercial airlines to evacuate tourists from the island, while the Interior and Agriculture departments stand ready to support post fire recovery efforts. In his statement, the president offered condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones and expressed gratitude toward the brave firefighters and first responders who continue to run toward danger. Firefighting crews were continuing to battle fires in Lahaina, Pulehu and Upcountry, the County of Maui said on Facebook Wednesday afternoon. More than 2,100 people were housed overnight in four emergency shelters, the county said. Another 2,000 travelers were sheltering at the Kahului Airport. The wildfires ripping through Maui left a swath of devastation for blocks in the historic town of Lahaina, videos and photos of the tourist destination show. Historic buildings along Lahaina's popular Front Street were charred and flattened skeletons on Wednesday, powerlines were draped across roadways and abandoned cars were blackened husks. Richard Olsten, a helicopter pilot for a tour company, flew over the fire site on Wednesday and was shocked by a scene where it looked like a bomb went off. It's horrifying. I've flown here 52 years and I've never seen anything come close to that. We had tears in our eyes, the other pilots on board and the mechanics and me," he said, recalling even the boats in the harbor were burned. We never thought we'd experience anything like this in our whole life, he continued. Lahaina holds strong cultural significance. It was the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom under Kings Kamehameha II and III from 1820 to 1845, and served as a main port for the North Pacific whaling fleet, according to the National Park Service. We got out in the nick of time yesterday, recalled Lahaina resident Ke?eaumoku Kapu. He was at the cultural center he runs in the historic section of town Tuesday, tying down lose objects in the wind, when his wife showed up at around 4 p.m. and said they needed to evacuate. Right at that time, things got crazy. The wind started picking up, he said. Two blocks away they saw fire and billowing smoke. Kapu, his wife and a friend jumped into his pickup truck. By the time we turned around, our building was on fire. It was that quick. They didn't have time to pack up anything at their cultural center, Na Aikane o Maui, where they "had years and years of research material, artifacts, he said. They drove south to Maalaea, where they spent the night in the truck. Every time the wind blows, oh man, it's like reliving it again, Kapu said. He said winds were still strong Wednesday. He got word that his home, in a section of Lahaina closer to the mountains, was OK. But he was eager to see for himself. He said "there's probably a couple hundred people here waiting for the roads to open. Officials are preparing the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu to accommodate up to 4,000 people displaced by the wildfires that swept across parts of Maui. James Tokioka, director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, said the center is not just for tourists, but also for locals. Local people have lost everything, he said. They've lost their house, they've lost their animals. Kahului Airport, the main airport in Maui, was sheltering 2,000 travelers whose flights were canceled or who recently arrived on the island, the county said on Facebook. The tourists were among those expected to be brought to the convention center. Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said search and rescue efforts are continuing when conditions are safe to enter active fire areas. He warned that the number of confirmed fatalities could increase. So far, six people have been confirmed dead in the fires. This is a deeply somber day, Bissen said. The gravity of losing any life is tragic. As we grieve with their families, we offer prayers for comfort in this inconsolable time. One of the wildfires burned through the town of Lahaina in the middle of the night, some residents fleeing into the ocean to escape the smoke and flames. The Coast Guard reported rescuing 14 people from the ocean off Lahaina, including two young children who were reunited with family members. The fires were worsened by high winds from Hurricane Dora, which was passing south of the island chain. We never anticipated in this state that a hurricane, which did not make impact on our islands, would cause this type of wildfires, said Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who was acting governor while Gov. Josh Green was cutting short his personal travel to return to Hawaii. Wildfires that wiped out communities. At least six people have been killed in wildfires that have raced across parts of Maui, Mayor Bissen said. Bissen confirmed the deaths during a press conference Wednesday, but did not provide details, such as where the people were when they died. Three separate wildfires have been burning on the Hawaiian island of Maui, including one that destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina. The fires prompted 13 evacuations, Bissen said, and there was only one road in and out. More than 2,100 people spent the night in four shelters on the island. State officials said they did not want any visitors to come to Maui, and that current visitors should leave. Lt. Gov. Luke said shelters are overflowing and resources are taxed. Thirty power lines are also down, leaving homes, hotels and shelters without electricity. The Lahaina fire is not yet under control, Bissen said, and officials have not determined what started the wildfires. I can tell you that we did not anticipate having this many fires simultaneously, he said. Officials have released very little information about the scope of damage caused by the wildfires, but satellite images from NASA appeared to show active flames throughout much of the historic town of Lahaina. Another Maui wildfire was burning near the town of Kihei. The satellite images seemed to support some videos and photos posted to social media sites that showed flames roaring through the town and burned-down buildings. Alan Dickar's Vintage European Posters gallery has been fixture on Front Street in Lahaina for 23 years. But he watched the wildfires engulf the main strip of shops on Tuesday, and now is not sure what is left of his gallery. Front Street is popular with tourists, and Dickar said it was the economic heart of this island. Dickar snapped video of the black skies and roaring flames before evacuating with three friends and two cats. Dickar is now in the rainforests of Haiku after evacuating to Maui Meadows and having to escape again because of the threat of wildfires Tuesday. Every significant thing I owned burned down today, he said. I'll be OK. I got out safely. Some residents are already thinking about next steps. Kekai Keahi was in New Mexico dropping off his son at college when he found out the fire had destroyed his Lahaina community. There is no Lahaina, he said. Lahaina no exist anymore. His son won't stay in New Mexico, and he will go back to Maui with him Wednesday. He gotta, Keahi said. We have to rebuild. Keahi, who is a teacher at Lahaina Intermediate School, helped build many homes in Lahaina. I'm pretty sure we'll pull together and rebuild. But I don't know how many years it will take us to rebuild, he said. Gov. Green, who was scheduled to return to Hawaii from personal travel on Aug. 15, instead planned to return immediately, his office said Wednesday. He was expected to be back Wednesday evening. Green has been in contact with the White House, and is preparing to request emergency federal assistance sometime in the next two days, once he has a better idea of the damage, his office said in a news release. Hundreds of families have been displaced and much of Lahaina on Maui has been destroyed, Green said in the statement. Heroic efforts by first responders have prevented many casualties from occurring, but some loss of life is expected," he said. "Our entire emergency response team, including the Hawaii National Guard has mobilized and is being supported by FEMA. With power outages and cellular service and phone lines down in some areas, many people are struggling to check in with friends and family members living near the wildfires. Some posted messages on Facebook, Reddit and other sites hoping the social media grapevine would bring word of their loved ones. Tiare Lawrence, who grew up in Lahaina, was frantically trying to reach her siblings Wednesday morning as winds whipped the island. They live in a residential area of Lahaina, near where a gas station exploded, Lawrence said. There's no service so we can't get ahold of anyone, she said from the upcountry Maui community of Pukalani. We're still having hurricane-force winds. Her home was serving as a refuge for 14 cousins and uncles who fled the heat, smoke and flames in Lahaina. It was apocalyptic from what they explained, she said. Lahaina is often thought of as just a tourist town, but has a very strong Hawaiian community, Lawrence said. I'm just heartbroken. Everywhere, our memories, she said. Everyone's homes. Everyone's lives have tragically changed in the last 12 hours. The County of Maui and other local government officials turned to Facebook and Twitter to warn residents that the 911 system was down on parts of the island, and that they should call police departments directly if needed. Several burn patients from Maui were being treated at Straub Medical Center, the hospital said in a statement. The facility has the only specialized burn unit in Hawaii. The Honolulu Emergency Services Department transported one woman in her 60s from Maui to the burn center, said department spokesperson Shayne Enright. The woman was in critical condition. The department has also received reports of multiple patients being flown from Maui to Honolulu, Enright said. The high winds that fanned wildfires on both Maui and the Big Island slowed Wednesday morning, gusting between 35-50 mph, a said Tina Stall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu. The highest winds Tuesday on the Big Island peaked at 82 mph and on Maui they hit 62 mph. The winds were caused by a high pressure system common to Hawaii, which produces the trade winds; and Hurricane Dora passing safely south of the islands. It's kind of squeezing things in between, so that's what's been causing the winds, Stall said. The winds will continue to diminish through the day Wednesday and should reach normal levels overnight as both systems move west of Hawaii, she said. There was little chance of rain to help firefighters Wednesday, she said. Western Maui is mostly in a moderate drought, while the Big Island has some level of drought, with the northern part of that island considered abnormally dry, Stall said. An estimated 2,000 travelers, some newly arrived and others from canceled flights, were sheltering at Kahului Airport on Maui early Wednesday morning, the county announced on Facebook. Officials were discouraging non-essential travel, and some airlines were offering free rescheduling for people who planned to travel to Maui in the next few days. (AP) RUP RUP Washington, Aug 10 (AP) President Joe Biden said in a statement on Wednesday evening that he has ordered all available Federal assets to help combat wildfires that have devastated parts of the Hawaiian island of Maui, killing at least six people. The president said the Coast Guard and Navy are supporting response and rescue efforts, while the Marines are providing Black Hawk helicopters to fight the fires. The Hawaii National Guard has mobilized Chinook helicopters to help with fire suppression and search and rescue operations. Biden said the Transportation Department is working with commercial airlines to evacuate tourists from the island, while the Interior and Agriculture departments stand ready to support post fire recovery efforts. In his statement, the president offered condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones and expressed gratitude toward the brave firefighters and first responders who continue to run toward danger. Firefighting crews were continuing to battle fires in Lahaina, Pulehu and Upcountry, the County of Maui said on Facebook Wednesday afternoon. More than 2,100 people were housed overnight in four emergency shelters, the county said. Another 2,000 travelers were sheltering at the Kahului Airport. The wildfires ripping through Maui left a swath of devastation for blocks in the historic town of Lahaina, videos and photos of the tourist destination show. Historic buildings along Lahaina's popular Front Street were charred and flattened skeletons on Wednesday, powerlines were draped across roadways and abandoned cars were blackened husks. Richard Olsten, a helicopter pilot for a tour company, flew over the fire site on Wednesday and was shocked by a scene where it looked like a bomb went off. It's horrifying. I've flown here 52 years and I've never seen anything come close to that. We had tears in our eyes, the other pilots on board and the mechanics and me," he said, recalling even the boats in the harbor were burned. We never thought we'd experience anything like this in our whole life, he continued. Lahaina holds strong cultural significance. It was the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom under Kings Kamehameha II and III from 1820 to 1845, and served as a main port for the North Pacific whaling fleet, according to the National Park Service. We got out in the nick of time yesterday, recalled Lahaina resident Ke?eaumoku Kapu. He was at the cultural center he runs in the historic section of town Tuesday, tying down lose objects in the wind, when his wife showed up at around 4 p.m. and said they needed to evacuate. Right at that time, things got crazy. The wind started picking up, he said. Two blocks away they saw fire and billowing smoke. Kapu, his wife and a friend jumped into his pickup truck. By the time we turned around, our building was on fire. It was that quick. They didn't have time to pack up anything at their cultural center, Na Aikane o Maui, where they "had years and years of research material, artifacts, he said. They drove south to Maalaea, where they spent the night in the truck. Every time the wind blows, oh man, it's like reliving it again, Kapu said. He said winds were still strong Wednesday. He got word that his home, in a section of Lahaina closer to the mountains, was OK. But he was eager to see for himself. He said "there's probably a couple hundred people here waiting for the roads to open. Officials are preparing the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu to accommodate up to 4,000 people displaced by the wildfires that swept across parts of Maui. James Tokioka, director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, said the center is not just for tourists, but also for locals. Local people have lost everything, he said. They've lost their house, they've lost their animals. Kahului Airport, the main airport in Maui, was sheltering 2,000 travelers whose flights were canceled or who recently arrived on the island, the county said on Facebook. The tourists were among those expected to be brought to the convention center. Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said search and rescue efforts are continuing when conditions are safe to enter active fire areas. He warned that the number of confirmed fatalities could increase. So far, six people have been confirmed dead in the fires. This is a deeply somber day, Bissen said. The gravity of losing any life is tragic. As we grieve with their families, we offer prayers for comfort in this inconsolable time. One of the wildfires burned through the town of Lahaina in the middle of the night, some residents fleeing into the ocean to escape the smoke and flames. The Coast Guard reported rescuing 14 people from the ocean off Lahaina, including two young children who were reunited with family members. The fires were worsened by high winds from Hurricane Dora, which was passing south of the island chain. We never anticipated in this state that a hurricane, which did not make impact on our islands, would cause this type of wildfires, said Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, who was acting governor while Gov. Josh Green was cutting short his personal travel to return to Hawaii. Wildfires that wiped out communities. At least six people have been killed in wildfires that have raced across parts of Maui, Mayor Bissen said. Bissen confirmed the deaths during a press conference Wednesday, but did not provide details, such as where the people were when they died. Three separate wildfires have been burning on the Hawaiian island of Maui, including one that destroyed much of the historic town of Lahaina. The fires prompted 13 evacuations, Bissen said, and there was only one road in and out. More than 2,100 people spent the night in four shelters on the island. State officials said they did not want any visitors to come to Maui, and that current visitors should leave. Lt. Gov. Luke said shelters are overflowing and resources are taxed. Thirty power lines are also down, leaving homes, hotels and shelters without electricity. The Lahaina fire is not yet under control, Bissen said, and officials have not determined what started the wildfires. I can tell you that we did not anticipate having this many fires simultaneously, he said. Officials have released very little information about the scope of damage caused by the wildfires, but satellite images from NASA appeared to show active flames throughout much of the historic town of Lahaina. Another Maui wildfire was burning near the town of Kihei. The satellite images seemed to support some videos and photos posted to social media sites that showed flames roaring through the town and burned-down buildings. Alan Dickar's Vintage European Posters gallery has been fixture on Front Street in Lahaina for 23 years. But he watched the wildfires engulf the main strip of shops on Tuesday, and now is not sure what is left of his gallery. Front Street is popular with tourists, and Dickar said it was the economic heart of this island. Dickar snapped video of the black skies and roaring flames before evacuating with three friends and two cats. Dickar is now in the rainforests of Haiku after evacuating to Maui Meadows and having to escape again because of the threat of wildfires Tuesday. Every significant thing I owned burned down today, he said. I'll be OK. I got out safely. Some residents are already thinking about next steps. Kekai Keahi was in New Mexico dropping off his son at college when he found out the fire had destroyed his Lahaina community. There is no Lahaina, he said. Lahaina no exist anymore. His son won't stay in New Mexico, and he will go back to Maui with him Wednesday. He gotta, Keahi said. We have to rebuild. Keahi, who is a teacher at Lahaina Intermediate School, helped build many homes in Lahaina. I'm pretty sure we'll pull together and rebuild. But I don't know how many years it will take us to rebuild, he said. Gov. Green, who was scheduled to return to Hawaii from personal travel on Aug. 15, instead planned to return immediately, his office said Wednesday. He was expected to be back Wednesday evening. Green has been in contact with the White House, and is preparing to request emergency federal assistance sometime in the next two days, once he has a better idea of the damage, his office said in a news release. Hundreds of families have been displaced and much of Lahaina on Maui has been destroyed, Green said in the statement. Heroic efforts by first responders have prevented many casualties from occurring, but some loss of life is expected," he said. "Our entire emergency response team, including the Hawaii National Guard has mobilized and is being supported by FEMA. With power outages and cellular service and phone lines down in some areas, many people are struggling to check in with friends and family members living near the wildfires. Some posted messages on Facebook, Reddit and other sites hoping the social media grapevine would bring word of their loved ones. Tiare Lawrence, who grew up in Lahaina, was frantically trying to reach her siblings Wednesday morning as winds whipped the island. They live in a residential area of Lahaina, near where a gas station exploded, Lawrence said. There's no service so we can't get ahold of anyone, she said from the upcountry Maui community of Pukalani. We're still having hurricane-force winds. Her home was serving as a refuge for 14 cousins and uncles who fled the heat, smoke and flames in Lahaina. It was apocalyptic from what they explained, she said. Lahaina is often thought of as just a tourist town, but has a very strong Hawaiian community, Lawrence said. I'm just heartbroken. Everywhere, our memories, she said. Everyone's homes. Everyone's lives have tragically changed in the last 12 hours. The County of Maui and other local government officials turned to Facebook and Twitter to warn residents that the 911 system was down on parts of the island, and that they should call police departments directly if needed. Several burn patients from Maui were being treated at Straub Medical Center, the hospital said in a statement. The facility has the only specialized burn unit in Hawaii. The Honolulu Emergency Services Department transported one woman in her 60s from Maui to the burn center, said department spokesperson Shayne Enright. The woman was in critical condition. The department has also received reports of multiple patients being flown from Maui to Honolulu, Enright said. The high winds that fanned wildfires on both Maui and the Big Island slowed Wednesday morning, gusting between 35-50 mph, a said Tina Stall, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Honolulu. The highest winds Tuesday on the Big Island peaked at 82 mph and on Maui they hit 62 mph. The winds were caused by a high pressure system common to Hawaii, which produces the trade winds; and Hurricane Dora passing safely south of the islands. It's kind of squeezing things in between, so that's what's been causing the winds, Stall said. The winds will continue to diminish through the day Wednesday and should reach normal levels overnight as both systems move west of Hawaii, she said. There was little chance of rain to help firefighters Wednesday, she said. Western Maui is mostly in a moderate drought, while the Big Island has some level of drought, with the northern part of that island considered abnormally dry, Stall said. An estimated 2,000 travelers, some newly arrived and others from canceled flights, were sheltering at Kahului Airport on Maui early Wednesday morning, the county announced on Facebook. Officials were discouraging non-essential travel, and some airlines were offering free rescheduling for people who planned to travel to Maui in the next few days. (AP) RUP RUP Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov and Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Du Dewen visit the Zhongda oil refinery project in the Kara-Balta city of Chui region, Kyrgyzstan, Aug. 8, 2023. (Photo by Roman/Xinhua) BISHKEK, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov on Tuesday praised a Chinese energy company's long-term contributions to Kyrgyzstan while visiting the company's Zhongda oil refinery project in the Kara-Balta city of Chui region. Japarov was accompanied by Chinese Ambassador Du Dewen, the Chinese embassy said in a press release. Representative of the oil refinery project introduced the operation of the project's first phase and the preparation and upgrading condition of the second phase. Japarov highly valued the long-term contribution of the Chinese company to the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries over the last decade, and expressed readiness to provide full support for the launch and improvement of the plant. He also noted that the company has made an important contribution to solving problems with the supply of gasoline and diesel fuel to the country, increasing budget revenues and creating jobs. "The Kyrgyz government will actively support the modernization of the plant and implementation of the second phase of the project as soon as possible," Japarov said. The Chinese ambassador noted that the China-Kyrgyzstan relationship is now at its best in history. Du stressed that China is willing to work with Kyrgyzstan to implement the important consensus reached by the two countries' heads of state in Xi'an, strengthen practical cooperation in various fields, advance the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and promote the building of a community with a shared future featuring good-neighborly friendship and common prosperity. This photo taken on Aug. 8, 2023 shows a view of the Zhongda oil refinery project in the Kara-Balta city of Chui region, Kyrgyzstan. (Photo by Roman/Xinhua) Palghar, Aug 10 (PTI) An FIR has been registered here against two policemen on charges of murder, disappearance of evidence and criminal conspiracy in connection with the alleged fake encounter in 2018 of Joginder Rana, a wanted accused in several theft cases, police said on Thursday. The case was registered on Wednesday, two weeks after the Bombay High Court ordered that a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by the Thane police commissioner, be set up for a probe into the incident. The HC had also ordered that a report be submitted to the court within four weeks. The court passed the order in a petition filed by Joginder Rana's brother Surendra Rana, who claimed the alleged fake encounter was carried out by police naik Manoj Sakpal and head police constable Mangesh Chavan, who were attached to local crime branch at Nallasopara in Maharashtra's Palghar district. During an earlier hearing, the Palghar superintendent of police filed an affidavit claiming it was Joginder Rana who had attacked the police first. As per the affidavit, on July 23, 2018, Chavan and Sakpal were coming to the police station when they spotted Joginder. When the duo intercepted Joginder, he took out his knife and started attacking them. In retaliation, Chavan shot two rounds at Joginder. He was declared dead at a hospital. Chavan and Sakpal were admitted to a government hospital at Tulinj in Nallasopara area for medical treatment, the police said. Surendra Rana's advocate Datta Mane had told the HC that during and after the incident, public/eye witnesses had clicked photographs and recorded video clips which indicate the police carried out "fake" encounter of the deceased. Mane submitted that Surendra Rana had made various representations to the Maharashtra government as well as senior police officials, like the director general of police and the superintendent of police at Palghar, seeking registration of an FIR. Following the court's order, the Tulinj police on Wednesday registered an FIR against the two policemen under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), 386 (extortion by putting any person in fear of death) and 34 (common intention) and provisions of the Arms Act, officials said. Patna, Aug 10 (PTI) The opposition BJP in Bihar on Thursday launched a blistering attack on the Mahagathbandhan government in the state, dubbing its one year in power as the death anniversary of progress. State BJP chief Samrat Choudhary told a press conference at the party office that the youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) was taking out condemnation marches (dhikkar yatra) across Bihar on the occasion. "Today is the death anniversary (punya tithi) of development and good governance in Bihar, exclaimed Choudhary, who incidentally, had also lost his ministerial berth in last year's upheaval that stripped his party of power. Apparently drawing inspiration from Prime Minister Narendra Modis ghamandia jibe at the nationwide opposition coalition INDIA, he alleged that Bihar was being ruled by a "ghamandi" (arrogant) alliance. "The arrogance was evident when, recently, job aspirants were lathicharged in Patna, and police opened fire on villagers demanding power supply in Katihar, asserted Choudhary. He also accused the government of surviving on "cut and paste", claiming "to hoodwink voters in the name of job creation, those already employed and drawing salary were being given appointment letters". Choudhary claimed that deteriorating law and order and political interference were causing state DGP R S Bhatti, who returned from central deputation less than a year ago, to give up the current assignment. Speaking at the same press conference, former Deputy CM Tarkishor Prasad said "the ruling alliance seems to have only two agenda, one is to help (chief minister) Nitish Kumar realise his prime ministerial ambitions, and the second is his replacement with (RJD leader and current Deputy CM) Tejashwi Yadav". "BJYM had recently carried out a signature campaign against the government, which was supported by 25 lakh people across the state. "We will be meeting the Governor on August 13 with the signatures to underscore the severe dissatisfaction with the government prevailing in Bihar, Choudhary added. Imphal, Aug 10 (PTI) Forty MLAs from violence-hit Manipur have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that the state requires complete disarmament to foster an environment of peace and security. The MLAs, most of whom are ethnic Meiteis, also demanded the withdrawal of the Suspension of Operations (SoO) Agreement with Kuki militant groups, implementation of NRC in the state and strengthening of the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs). In the memorandum, these MLAs opposed the demand for a 'separate administration' by Kuki groups. "For the immediate establishment of security, simple deployment of forces is inadequate. Although it is imperative to halt the violence in the peripheral areas, a complete disarmament is the key to achieve this goal. The entire state requires a complete disarmament to foster an environment of peace and security," said the memorandum that was submitted to PM Modi on Wednesday. "The confiscation of all weapons belonging to insurgent groups and illegal armed foreign forces and those snatched from the state machinery needs to be carried out. In this regard, the central security forces need to adopt a more proactive approach to ensure lasting peace in the region," it added. There have been numerous instances of farmers going out to work their fields only to be fired upon by militants, the memorandum said. "In many cases, these firing incidents have occurred in the presence of Central Security Forces which have failed to react appropriately, or react at all," it claimed, demanding that Assam Rifles (9, 22 and 37) need to be transferred from their present location of deployment and "trustworthy Central forces" along with state security can replace them to "neutralise and sanitise" all threats to peace, security and stability. The MLAs demanded the withdrawal of the SoO agreement with all those Kuki militant outfits who have violated the ground rules. "There has been large scale foreign infiltration with arms and ammunition into the state. So, the Central forces should proactively engage with them. There has been a non-stop conflict between the State/Central forces and these insurgent armed groups In the state for the last 3 months," the memorandum said. The MLAs also demanded the implementation of NRC in the state. "The issue must be addressed politically in order to resolve this crisis of conflict. There are many options that can be explored. On one hand, to reassure the indigenous people of Manipur, the National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) can be implemented in Manipur, sooner rather than later. Biometric registrations of immigrants have started, it should be expanded and strengthened, said the memorandum. The MLAs said that a 'separate administration' as demanded by Kuki groups is absolutely unacceptable under any circumstances. "To reassure all Communities, we may consider to strengthen the Autonomous District Council (ADC), and conduct of regular elections (which have not been taking place) to the Hill Area Committee (HAC) and the six existing Autonomous District Councils (ADCs)," they said. After all these actions are taken, the necessary peace talks can be initiated to deliver a lasting solution to the ongoing crisis, they added. Earlier, all 10 Kuki MLAs in the state cutting across party lines wrote to the Centre, seeking a separate administration for Kuki areas. Naga-dominated areas of Manipur also witnessed a demonstration on Wednesday against the state government seeking an early culmination of the Naga peace talks. The Naga groups earlier demanded a greater Nagaland. Itanagar, Aug 10 (PTI) Security forces in Arunachal Pradeshs Tirap district killed a hardcore NSCN-K (Nikki) operative on Thursday and recovered weapons on him, a senior police official said. The Khonsa Battalion of Assam Rifles and district police gunned down the rebel identified as self-styled secretary Wangkhai Wangsa in an area close to Hukanjuri in the district, Tirap SP Rahul Gupta said. This comes a day after the joint team led by Borduria police station officer in-charge and a column of 6 Assam Rifles carried out an operation and arrested a militant of the proscribed group from Bogapani area. The arrested militant was identified as self-styled private Teton Lokhow (22), a resident of Borduria village, the SP said, adding the militant was sending extortion messages to influential persons. Lokhow disclosed that two operatives, Wangsa and self-styled private David, were also moving in the Longding area for intimidation and extortion, the SP said. Based on his inputs, another operation was launched by the joint team on Thursday to force both Wangsa and David to surrender in an area close to Hukanjuri, he said. Acting on intelligence inputs, the joint team under DSP (HQ) Togum Gongo moved inside the Hukanjuri Naitong forest areas and spotted both the militants. "When they were asked to surrender, they fired on the forces. When security forces retaliated, Wangkhai succumbed to gunshot injuries but David managed to escape into the forest, the SP disclosed. One 9mm pistol and a .32 pistol along with personal belongings of Wangkhai have been recovered from the spot, Gupta said adding, a case has been registered at Borduria police station. The SP said the cadres belonged to Tirap and Longding districts and had been serving extortion notes to locals via WhatsApp and intimidating them through phone calls and text messages. Buxar, Aug 10 (PTI) A 40-year-old driver from Punjab was found dead inside his truck in Bihar's Buxar district on Thursday, police said. The body of Jagjeet Singh, a resident of Mansa district in Punjab, was found hanging from a rod inside the truck that was parked near an under-construction power plant in Chausa block, they said. "Jagjeet's co-driver Kada Singh went to get breakfast and when he returned, he was informed by drivers of other trucks parked nearby that Jagjeet died by suicide by hanging himself inside the truck. Police were immediately informed by the villagers," said Rahul Kumar, the station house officer (SHO) of Muffasil police station. Police reached the spot and sent the body for post-mortem examination, he said. An investigation was underway, he added. Kolkata, Aug 10 (PTI) Following are the top stories from the eastern region at 5 pm on Thursday. CAL2 MZ-MNF-NO CONFIDENCE NDA partner MNF of Mizoram to back opposition's no-confidence motion in Parliament Aizawl: The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) in Mizoram, a partner of the NDA, will back the no-confidence motion moved by the opposition against the BJP-led government at the Centre, Lok Sabha MP C Lalrosanga said on Thursday. CAL5 MN-MLAs-LD PM Manipur MLAs urge PM for 'complete disarmament', NRC Imphal: Forty MLAs of violence-hit Manipur have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that the state requires complete disarmament to foster an environment of peace and security. CAL6 MG-CHETIA-DIALOGUE Peace talks between Centre, Assam and ULFA pro-talk faction after Aug 15 Shillong: The peace talks between the Centre, Assam government and the ULFA pro-talk faction will be held at the national capital after Independence Day, the outfit's leader Anup Chetia said. CAL8 WB-TMC-EC APPOINTMENT BILL Proposed election commissioners selection bill ploy to rig 2024 LS poll: TMC Kolkata: The TMC Thursday alleged that the new proposed bill that seeks to regulate the selection of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners is a ploy to rig the 2024 Lok Sabha poll as the BJP is afraid of the united INDIA alliance. Kolkata, Aug 10 (PTI) ISF MLA Nawsad Siddique on Thursday alleged that stones were thrown at his residence at Furfura Sharif in West Bengal's Hooghly district as tension ran high in the area over the formation of a panchayat board there. Police officials present at the spot denied the allegation. Siddique, who is an MLA from Bhangar constituency in South 24 Parganas district, alleged that stones were thrown at his house and that he was prevented from going to the affected area. Tension ran high in the locality as Indian Secular Front and ruling Trinamool Congress supporters gathered in large numbers over the formation of the local panchayat board. A large police contingent was deployed in the area to maintain law and order. Alleging that Siddique was "trying to foment trouble" in the area, state Transport Minister and local Jangipara MLA Snehasis Chakraborty demanded strict action against those involved in the unrest at Furfura. Furfura Sharif is believed by many to be the second holiest Sufi pilgrimage after Ajmers Dargah Sharif. Stating that TMC won 24 seats and ISF bagged 5 in the local panchayat, the minister said the ruling party does not need to resort to any unfair means to form the board. The ISF supporters blocked a road in the area. New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) The highest number of foreign students in Germany are from India with over 42,000 students, a 25 per cent rise within a year, German Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann said on Thursday. "Great! 42,000+ Indian students in Germany, 25 % more within one year. India now no. 1 group of foreign students in Germany, much faster than expected! Germany is popular among Indian students - and Indian students are popular in Germany, I hear from professors very often," Ackermann wrote an X. In an effort to keep up with the growing number of Indian students wanting to move to Germany on a student visa, the German Embassys Academic Evaluation Centre had in April announced that it would replace the mandate for paper-printed certificates with digital certificates. "With the goal of accelerating processing times and making it easier for applicants to apply to a greater number of German universities, APS India is pleased to announce that starting from next week, paper printed certificates will be replaced," the centre had said. India and Germany had in December last year signed an agreement on comprehensive migration and mobility partnership, facilitating two-way movement of students, professionals and researchers, and also address the challenges of illegal migration. This agreement has specific provisions to facilitate mobility and employment opportunities for fostering exchange of skills and talents within both countries. These include an academic evaluation centre in New Delhi, eighteen months extended residence permits to students, three thousand jobseeker visas annually, liberalised short stay multiple entry visas and streamlined readmission procedures. New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) Salary and allowances of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners will be equivalent to that of the cabinet secretary, according to a bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Under the present law governing the service and conduct of the CEC and ECs, they are paid a salary which is equal to the salary of a Supreme Court judge. "The salary is the same at Rs 2.50 lakh per month. But the CEC and ECs now stand equated to the cabinet secretary and not judges of the SC," a functionary explained. He said once the bill is cleared by Parliament, in the order of precedence, the CEC and ECs will be ranked below a minister of state. "Since the CEC and ECs will be equivalent to the cabinet secretary and not a judge of the Supreme Court, they may be treated as bureaucrats. It can be a tricky situation during the conduct of elections," the functionary said. the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023 also adds requisite qualification for a person to become a CEC or EC. According to the bill, the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners will be appointed from amongst persons who are holding or have held a post equivalent to the rank of secretary to the Government of India and will be persons of integrity, who have knowledge of and experience in management and conduct of elections. The bill makes it clear that the CEC and ECs will hold office for a term of six years from the date on which he or she assumes office or till he attains the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. "Where an election commissioner is appointed as chief election commissioner, his term of office shall not be more than six years in aggregate...," it says. The present law is also on the same lines. The chief election commissioner and other election commissioners will not be eligible for re-appointment, according to the bill. New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) TMC MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday took a swipe at Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, saying that not one word was heard from her when a BJP MP was accused of harassment and molestation by wrestlers and now "she is talking about some flying kiss". Moitra's attack came a day after Irani expressed outrage over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi blowing a flying kiss in the Lok Sabha, calling him misogynist and saying the House had never witnessed such an "indecent act". BJP women MPs later met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and demanded "stringent action" against Gandhi. Speaking with reporters outside Parliament, Moitra said, "When a BJP MP was accused of harassment and molestation by our champion wrestlers, we did not hear one word out of the women and child development minister and now she is talking about some flying kiss, where are your priorities, madam." Her remarks were in reference to the allegations against BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment of women wrestlers. The Delhi Police had filed a charge sheet against the six-time MP on June 15 under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354-A (sexual harassment), 354-D (stalking) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. VLADIVOSTOK, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Russian cosmonauts Sergei Prokopyev and Dmitry Petelin completed their spacewalk on Thursday, which lasted more than six hours. The cosmonauts performed several tasks outside the International Space Station (ISS), including mounting additional micrometeoroid protection screens on the Rassvet module, where some equipment had been relocated to the new multipurpose laboratory module Nauka. They also installed a portable workstation on the European Robotic Arm and tested the transport of a cosmonaut on the workstation while their colleague Andrey Fedyaev operated the arm from the inside. Prokopyev and Petelin entered the open space at 17:45 Moscow time (1445 GMT) on Wednesday and returned to the ISS at 00:20 Moscow time (2120 GMT Wednesday) on Thursday. They finished their spacewalk tasks faster than initially planned and spent six hours and 35 minutes in outer space. Before re-entering the ISS, Prokopyev and Petelin disposed of two bundles of waste by pushing them away from the station. Prokopyev calculated the trajectories to minimize the risk for the station. The bundles are expected to burn in the atmosphere in the next few days. This was the eighth spacewalk for Prokopyev and the sixth for Petelin. The previous spacewalk under the Russian program occurred on June 22, when the cosmonauts replaced some old communication equipment on the Zvezda module with new high-speed radio-technical information transmission equipment. Hisar, Aug 10 (PTI) Farmers on Thursday held a protest here demanding compensation from the state government for their crops destroyed by recent heavy rains. The police stopped the farmers on the main roads outside the city when they headed to the Hisar mini-secretariat to 'gherao' it as part of their protest. They were stopped by police on Hisar-Sirsa bypass, Rajgarh and Balsamand roads. Farmers alleged that the police had put up dumpers, the roadways buses and barricades to stop them. When the police tried to stop them, the farmers tried to break the barricades. However, the police had placed dumpers full of sand and gravel in front of the barricades, which the farmers could not cross. The Sirsa-Delhi National Highway was blocked for some time as the police stopped the farmers, many of whom were on tractors, on the Hisar bypass. There was a traffic jam on the Hisar-Sirsa-Delhi bypass. The farmers had given an ultimatum regarding the gherao of the mini secretariat here in support of their demand. On Thursday they started reaching here with tractors to gherao the mini secretariat before being stopped by the police. Srinagar, Aug 10 (PTI) Six Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist associates have been arrested in Jammu and Kashmirs Baramulla and Budgam districts, officials said on Thursday. They said a terror module was unearthed in Uri area of Baramulla in north Kashmir and three terrorist associates of LeT involved in running the module were arrested. Acting on a tip off, security forces in a joint patrolling apprehended one suspected person whose search led to recovery of two grenades, they said. The individual was identified as Showkat Ali Awan, resident of Churunda area of Uri. During his questioning, he revealed the names of his accomplices Ahmad Din and Mohammad Sadeeq Khatana who were questioned and upon their disclosure two grenades, a Chinese pistol, a pistol magazine and four live rounds were recovered from them, the officials said. The accused were involved in cross-border smuggling of arms and ammunition at the behest of Pakistan-based terror handlers and its further distribution to LeT terrorists for carrying out terror activities, the officials said. A case has been registered and investigations has been taken up, they added. In another incident, security forces arrested three terrorist associates linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT in Budgam in central Kashmir and recovered incriminating materials from their possession. The arrests were made in Khansahab area of district. The terrorist associates have been identified as Qaisar Ahmad Dar, resident of Kremshora, and Tahir Ahmad Dar and Aqib Rashed Ganie both residents of Wagar, the officials said. Incriminating materials, including a Chinese hand grenade, two magazines and 57 live rounds have been recovered from their possession. All the recovered materials have been taken into case records for further investigation, they said. A case has been registered and investigation has been taken up. Jaipur, Aug 10 (PTI) Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for the violence in Manipur, claiming that their behaviour could lead to similar unrest in other places. An entire state is burning. Imagine what will happen if this spreads to other parts of the country in five or ten years because these people have created this type of atmosphere, he said. The CM referred to Congress leader Rahul Gandhis remarks during the debate Wednesday in Parliament on the no-confidence motion against the government. Gandhi had accused the BJP-led government of harming the country. Gehlot used the term varg sangharsh (class struggle) for the unrest in Manipur. He said if the atmosphere worsens, the Centre, the state governments, the army or the police will not be able to tackle the situation, like they are not able to do anything in Manipur. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event where he distributed smartphones to a group of women under a new scheme. The CM attacked BJP leaders for targeting his government over law and order, claiming that there is more crime in BJP-run states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. He also recalled his recent announcement that people involved in sex crime will not be given state government jobs. He urged people to share their ideas for Vision 2030 for Rajasthan. It is my wish that Rajasthan should be among the top states by 2030 and every step of my government is targeted towards it. On recent action by central agencies in Rajasthan, he said the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department become more active in state where elections are near. If someone has committed a wrongful act, dishonesty or theft, he should be put behind bars and I have no objection to it. But officers from these agencies are instructed by the home minister, he said. Why should we worry, let them come, he said. I have said that I am a bigger faqir (ascetic) than Modi ji. Forty lakh women will benefit from new Indira Gandhi Smartphone Yojana in the first phase, according to the state government. The scheme will empower women, the chief minister said at the event. He said widows and single women receiving pension and families with girl students have been picked for this phase. New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) A man was arrested on Thursday for allegedly attempting to extort Rs 10 lakh from Lok Sabha MP Ramesh Chand Bind, police here said on Thursday. Bind, BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh's Bhadohi constituency, said in his complaint that he received two calls on Monday from an unknown person demanding money, they added. The accused threatened the MP to kidnap him and his son in case he failed to give him Rs 10 lakh and even hurled abuses at him, police said. Based on Bind's complaint, a case was registered at the North Avenue police station here on Tuesday, they added. Tracing the call details, the police identified the accused as Mithilesh and nabbed him from Manesar in Haryana on Thursday, officials said. Mithilesh, a resident of Bhadohi, has been previously booked for other criminal cases, they added. New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) From developing a thematic park to sprucing up the city with improved amenities, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has planned to deck up the national capital with just a month to go for the G20 Summit. India assumed the G20 Presidency on December 1 last year, following which about 200 meetings were scheduled under different tracks. The Summit is slated to take place from September 9-10. "We have planned a number of things to spruce up the city and improve civic amenities ahead of the Summit. We are planning to place more than one lakh flower pots at various prominent locations, extra dustbins will be kept in streets to control littering at key location and markets," a top official in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) said. The civic body will also develop a 'G20 park' in an existing park to commemorate the G20 Presidency of India, he said. The G20-theme park will be developed in the premises of a park in M-Block of Greater Kailash-2. "This thematic park will have the logo of the G20 made in an artistic style, besides other artworks," the official said. 'Shaheedi Park', which has been redeveloped as an open-air museum park with scrap-made sculptures of freedom fighters and other heroes of India, was inaugurated on August 8 and opened to the public a day later. The redevelopment of the 'Shaheedi Park' was also taken up as part of the civic projects ahead of the G20 summit. The park in the ITO area is located near the Pragati Maidan, which houses a recently-inaugurated state-of-the-art convention complex, which will be the venue of the G20 Summit. The 18th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit in Delhi will be a culmination of all the G20 processes and meetings held throughout the year among ministers, senior officials, and civil societies. "A G20 Leaders' Declaration will be adopted at the conclusion of the New Delhi Summit, stating leaders' commitment towards the priorities discussed and agreed upon during the respective ministerial and working group meetings," according to the G20 website. From big metros to smaller cities, including those rich in history and scenic beauty such as Hampi and Khajuraho, India has planned to host the G20 meetings at these 55 locations across the country during its year-long presidency. In Delhi, other civic projects undertaken include beautification work at the Mahipalpur roundabout, which is close to the airport, and development works at a market near PVR Anupam cinema hall. Signage and display boards will be put up to improve the look-and-feel of the city. Wall painting themed on G20 were done at various locations across the city, but due to rains, at present, no new wall painting is being planned, the official said. Sites or roads affected due to recent flooding in parts of the city are being cleaned by the MCD. Restoration work, of any required of such sites, is to be done by public works department or the Delhi Development Authority, he added. Besides, roads leading to and from prominent venues will be cleaned regularly with the help of 52 Mechanical Road Sweeping Machines (MRSMs), jetting and sprinkler machines, the official said. New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) A woman allegedly shot at her 20-year-old sister in northeast Delhi's Shastri Park area suspecting her of being in an extramarital relationship with her husband, police said on Thursday. Sumaila, a resident of Buland Masjid in Shastri Park, reported to the police that her elder sister Sonu (30) tried to shoot her dead with a country made pistol around 6:30 pm on Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northeast), Joy Tirkey, said. After the pellets hit Sumaila's face, Sonu hit her several times on her head with the gun butt, he added. The victim sustained minor injuries in the incident, the DCP said. Sonu suspected that her younger sister Sumaila had an extramarital affair with her husband, he added. A case under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Arms Act has been registered at the Shastri Park Police Station here, the police said. Sonu has been arrested and further investigation is underway, they added. Kochi, Aug 10 (PTI) The Kerala High Court on Thursday put on hold for four weeks all proceedings in connection with the criminal case filed against members of the influential Nair Service Society (NSS) for protesting against assembly Speaker A N Shamseer's alleged remarks about a Hindu deity. The high court's order came on a plea by NSS Vice President Sangeeth Kumar seeking quashing of the FIR lodged against him and a thousand other identifiable members of the organisation for allegedly gathering unlawfully before a temple in the state capital. Justice V Raja Vijayaraghavan, after considering the facts and circumstances of the case, was of the view that Kumar has made out a case for grant of an interim order. "All further proceedings in crime No.798/2023 of the Cantonment Police Station shall be kept in abeyance for a period of four weeks," the court said. The NSS had on August 2 carried out a 'namajapa' procession from Palayam to the Pazhavangadi Ganapathy Temple a few kilometres away in protest against Shamseer's alleged remarks about Hindu deity Lord Ganesha. Kumar's counsel told the court that a request in terms of the provisions of the Kerala Public Ways (Restrictions of Assemblies and Processions) Act of 2011 was submitted by the petitioner and only thereafter a peaceful procession was held. The lawyer also said there was no mention in the initial records that any criminal force was used by any of the members who participated in the procession. The lawyer also contended that by registering a crime, the government was attempting to stifle the right of the petitioner and the other NSS members to protest, and that it amounts to violation of their rights under the Constitution. Defending its actions, the police argued that a crime was registered as a march was held without obtaining consent. However, it admitted that no untoward incident took place and none of the participants used any force. The procession was carried out in protest against remarks allegedly made by the Speaker at an event organised at a school in Ernakulam district recently, where he is said to have accused the Centre of trying to teach children Hindu myths instead of accomplishments in science and technology. Pithoragarh, Aug 10 (PTI) A woman undertrial from Nepal who had escaped from a judicial lock up here on Sunday was arrested on Thursday along with her accomplice. Anuska alias Akriti Budathoki (25) was nabbed by the police near Thal market in Simar village early on Thursday morning, Pithoragarh SP Lokendra Singh said at a press conference here. "The woman had escaped the lock up with the help of an accomplice who has also been arrested," he said. She had escaped from the judicial lock up through a window after climbing a wall. She had been arrested by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) on April 7, 2021 in Dharchula after being found in possession of 1,440 grams of charas, the SP said. She was later handed over to the police and was charged under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, he said. Jaipur, Aug 10 (PTI) A forest guard and a woman he was in a relationship with allegedly committed suicide by jumping into a dam in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district, police said on Thursday. They were missing since Tuesday afternoon and their bodies were found tied with a piece of cloth in the Mandol dam on Wednesday evening, they added. Bijoliya police station SHO Ugma Ram said the two were in touch for the last couple of years, adding primary information revealed that they were in a relationship. Naresh and Nirmala met on Tuesday and went missing. Their phones were switched off. Naresh's father registered a missing person report at the Mandalgarh police station on Tuesday. Meanwhile, two bodies were recovered from Mandol dam in Bijoliya, he said. The SHO further said that Naresh was posted in the Shyampura forest check post in Mandalgarh, while the woman had been living in Bijoliya town with her husband Ambalal. Ambalal was in Madhya Pradesh since last Saturday and was informed by the police about the incident on Wednesday. The bodies will be handed over to the family members after post-mortem examinations on Thursday. Naresh had two minor sons. New Delhi, Aug 10 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday assured people of Manipur that the Centre and the state government are working together to restore peace in the violence-hit state and asserted that culprits behind heinous crimes against women will be given stringent punishment. During his reply to the opposition's no-confidence motion, Modi also hit out at Rahul Gandhi over his references to 'Bharat Mata' and wondered why some people wish her death. These comments have deeply hurt the sentiments of every India, he said. "These are people who sometime speak about the murder of democracy and the murder of the Constitution. These are the people (Congress) who divided Maa Bharati into three pieces. When the time came to free Maa Bharati of slavery, they chopped off her limbs," he said in a blistering attack on the Congress, accusing it of doing nothing but politics. "The violence in Manipur is saddening. Crimes against women are unacceptable and the central and state governments are working together to ensure the guilty are punished," he said. He assured people of India that peace will return to the state due to the combined efforts of the central and state governments. Modi also spoke in detail about his government's development works for the entire northeastern region, noting that he alone had visited the area over 50 times and his ministers over 400 times. It was the Congress government under the then prime minister Indira Gandhi which used the Air Force to attack citizens in Mizoram in 1966 and also launched a military attack on Akal Takht in the 80s, he said targeting the Congress. This aerial photo taken on May 11, 2023 shows an automatic container terminal of Qinzhou Port and a railway container distribution center in Qinzhou City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Zhang Ailin) "Dual circulation," the new development pattern that China adopted in 2020, takes the domestic market as the mainstay while allowing domestic and foreign markets to reinforce each other. BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Since China adopted the new development pattern of "dual circulation" in 2020, there have been speculations that China is "turning inward." Such speculations are simply a misinterpretation of the new development pattern, which takes the domestic market as the mainstay while allowing domestic and foreign markets to reinforce each other. In no way should "dual circulation" be interpreted as a closed domestic loop. To help the readers get a fuller picture of China's new development pattern, the article provides information regarding its birth, possible contributions to the country's further opening-up, and potential opportunities it is expected to bring to the world. GROWING DOMESTIC DEMAND The new development pattern was rolled out based on changes in China's development conditions and demand for long-term high-quality growth. It also represents China's swift response to a changing global landscape that has witnessed rising protectionism and anti-globalization. "Through the strategy, China hopes to solidify its domestic market capabilities while also increasingly opening up to the rest of the world," said Cavince Adhere, a Kenya-based international relations scholar. "Recent trends have indicated just how perilous it is for countries to exclusively rely on international value chains in the backdrop of protectionist economic models or political aggressions manifested through sanctions. On this account, it is only rational that countries develop reasonable levels of domestic self-sufficiency and competitiveness," Adhere said. This aerial panoramic photo taken on Aug. 1, 2023 shows the Dishui Lake at the Lingang new area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone in east China's Shanghai. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe) A stronger domestic China will increase economic throughput in terms of goods demanded in other parts of the world besides China, which remains the largest consumer market, he added. With a population of over 1.4 billion and a middle-income group of more than 400 million, stable demand from the world's largest consumer base serves as a crucial pillar for the global economy. "China can actively participate in the development and reinforcement of global supply chains while also developing its own domestic supply chains. This can allow China to benefit from specialization and efficient resource allocation at home while minimizing the risks associated with overreliance on external supply sources," Adhere said. FURTHER OPENING-UP China has benefited greatly from its reform and opening-up over a period of 40-plus years. Expanding the domestic market is not in contradiction with China's policy of opening-up, nor does it mean the international market is no longer important to the world's second-largest economy. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said in its World Investment Report 2023 that global foreign direct investment (FDI) fell by 12 percent in 2022, while inflows to China rose by 5 percent to a record 189 billion U.S. dollars, mainly in manufacturing and high-tech industries. In the first half of 2023, some 24,000 new foreign firms were established in China, marking a 35.7-percent increase year on year, according to China's Ministry of Commerce. "I think we can say that opening up is a great benefit to China's neighbors and many countries across the world because they get the opportunity to sell to the Chinese market," said Stephen Perry, chairman of Britain's 48 Group Club. "The world's business needs China. And the world's business will continue to find that China is a good place to be," Perry said. "China is a model global trader, especially to developing countries," Perry said. "Being a major trader helps keep China as part of the world and stays safer." Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, China held a string of international events to further open up itself to the world, including the China International Import Expo, the China International Consumer Products Expo and China International Fair for Trade in Services. More notably, China signed in 2020 the landmark Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, the world's largest free trade pact. As a result, trade between China and other RCEP members in 2022 increased 7.5 percent year on year to 12.95 trillion yuan (about 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars), and RCEP investment in China, in actual use, climbed 23.1 percent to 23.53 billion U.S. dollars, data shows. People visit the third China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) in Haikou, capital city of south China's Hainan Province, on April 15, 2023. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng) GLOBAL OPPORTUNITIES China's new development pattern will bring numerous new opportunities to the world in many areas, one of which is the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Adhere noted. Echoing the view, Perry said, "China's new development model will bring more higher quality goods into the world markets, especially Asia and BRI, and provide a market for developing countries to export to China." Over the past decade since the initiative was launched, China has signed more than 200 cooperation documents with more than 150 countries and more than 30 international organizations, resulting in more than 3,000 cooperation projects and generating nearly 1 trillion U.S. dollars in investment, official statistics show. Apart from developing countries that benefited from opportunities through Belt and Road cooperation, multinational companies from developed countries also discovered fresh investment and cooperation potential in China. "Although domestic production and consumption are emphasised in the new model, China still prioritizes international trade and investment as an avenue for technology exchange, resource procurement, and market access," Adhere said. In recent years, many foreign companies have chosen China as their ideal location for their research and development (R&D) centers to cater to the vast Chinese market demands and serve a larger global market. This aerial photo taken on Aug. 20, 2022 shows the Tesla Gigafactory in Lingang new area of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone in east China's Shanghai. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang) Global carmaking giant Tesla Inc. announced in April that it will build a new mega factory in Shanghai, which will be dedicated to manufacturing the company's energy-storage product Megapack. To tap into China's fast-growing electric vehicle (EV) market, Volkswagen Group, a veteran German carmaker, reached an agreement in July to buy a 4.99-percent stake of Chinese EV startup Xpeng for 700 million U.S. dollars and co-develop two EV models for the Chinese market. In May, Volkswagen also inked an investment agreement to build an R&D, innovation, and procurement center in Hefei, the capital of China's Anhui Province. In March, global water technology provider Xylem put its R&D center in China into operation, while French multinational Schneider Electric launched its automation R&D center in east China's Wuxi City. In May, a new Volvo car design studio was opened in Shanghai. The carmaker only has three design studios across the globe. L'Oreal Chairman Jean-Paul Agon said China has proven to be a stabilizer for the global economy, an accelerator for consumption and the world's laboratory for innovation. "We believe that 'investing in China is investing in the future,'" Agon told Xinhua in a recent interview. "With a further open market, improving business environment and promising domestic demand boost initiatives, China is embracing the world with new opportunities. Meanwhile, China is also bringing opportunities to the world. We look forward to more companies enjoying these opportunities," he said. Gondia, Aug 10 (PTI) As many as 33 rice mills in Maharashtra's Gondia district have been blacklisted for next three years as the rice supplied by them has been found to be inferior quality and not fit for human consumption, officials said. Gondia Collector Chinmay Gotmare issued an order to this effect on August 4. According to an official of the Food Corporation of India, during an inspection by an FCI team, the rice from these mills supplied to Beed, Nandurbar, Latur and other districts last year under the public distribution system (PDS) was found to be of inferior quality. The team subsequently submitted its report to the Gondia collector. Gomtare said these mills have been asked to provide good quality rice in the next six weeks, or else legal action would be initiated against them. In this image taken from U.S. Coast Guard video, one of three fishermen is rescued from ocean waters by the Coast Guard five miles east of the island of Nantucket off the Cape Cod, Mass., coast Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023. The men were safely hoisted aboard the helicopter and flown to Hyannis Airport, where they were treated by emergency medical workers. The recent release of the high-budget video production by JEM seeking to commemorate and celebrate the Rebbes monumental leadership and global impact over the past 70 years has certainly sparked robust and passionate discussion within broad segments of the Lubavitch community. This sincere discourse and debate reveals an opportunity for further in-depth dialogue on critical matters of spiritual sensitivity and religious tradition. First, providing proper context is important. The team of creative professionals behind this video invested what was clearly tremendous time, effort and financial resources into the research, writing, filming and editing required to produce this expansive documentary-style project. Their intensive labor was undoubtedly pursued as a sincere labor of love and devotion aiming to inspire and educate both current followers and the broader Jewish public about the Rebbes life work in founding and guiding the Chabad-Lubavitch movement to become a dynamic worldwide network. The video utilizes impressive high-end Hollywood production value, with artistic cinematography, an emotional musical score written specifically for this film, and impactful archival footage conveying the drama and scale of the Rebbes global activities. Given the polished quality and scope of this ambitious undertaking, the motivations behind it were leshem shamayim without question. The goal was to share the Rebbes light with Jewry worldwide. At the very same time, various thoughtful concerns, critiques and objections have been substantively voiced within the Lubavitch community regarding the video productions adherence to traditional Chabad standards of modesty, discretion and reverence for sacred matters on numerous fronts. As is well-known, sensitivities around upholding the highest levels of refinement, dignity and sanctity in both public and private realms are paramount within Chabad culture, based on the Rebbes own well-documented teachings and code of conduct. Two of the most sensitive areas of controversy have been the videos inclusion of recorded female voices speaking inside a synagogue after prayer services have concluded, as well as the musical accompaniment incorporated during clips of the Rebbe delivering his legendary scholarly talks and discourses on Torah concepts. These artistic choices have deeply disturbed some traditional Chabad followers, who felt the broadcasting of womens voices from within the sanctified space of a synagogue violated norms of modesty and sanctity, while overlaying any form of background music or soundtrack during excerpts of the Rebbes holy words, especially music not of Jewish nature, was religiously inappropriate and showed a lack of deference. Additionally, more fundamentally, some have objected to the very notion of excerpting small portions of the Rebbes usually very extensive and philosophically sophisticated talks, speeches and discourses which the Rebbe would frequently prepare, craft and deliver both extemporaneously and methodically over the course of several hours and repurposing brief snippets outside of their full, nuanced context. This part has troubled some in the community who felt isolating short clips divorced from the Rebbes wider, intricate message neither accurately reflected the depth of the Rebbes wisdom nor comported with the traditionally reverential manner in which Lubavitcher chassidim study and engage with the Rebbes lectures and writings. Furthermore, the casting of an actor to dramatize and portray specific biographical scenes from the Rebbes younger life and upbringing even with noble artistic intentions has struck some as uncomfortably crossing the line away from how Chabad chassidim would typically relate to the Rebbes persona and legacy based on their own relationship with him during his decades of leadership. Some feel depicting any living tzaddik, especially one of the Rebbes preternatural stature, through the convention of a biopic risks reducing a transcendent spiritual figure to material artistic sensibilities. Are these sensitivities and critiques expressing valid concerns? Are issues of religious tradition and continuity being raised thoughtfully and in good faith? Absolutely and unequivocally. The voicing of respectful dissent demonstrates the love and passion our Torah community holds for the Rebbe and his legacy. Ignoring these concerns could risk driving segments of Anash to feel unheard or alienated, which itself could constitute the greatest chillul. At the very same time, in fairness it must be emphasized that the videos producers were surely not intending any deliberate disrespect in the choices they made. Likely they were so focused on the immense scope of the production that certain details slipped through the cracks without conscious deliberation. Dismissing likely sincere intentions and tireless efforts through harsh rhetoric benefits no one. Channeling dissent into constructive dialogue is the nobler path. Perhaps the most ideal resolution is to pursue exactly this type of thoughtful and in-depth conversation within the broad Lubavitch community on how to most effectively continue spreading and sharing the Rebbes universal teachings and inspiration in a sophisticated manner thoroughly congruent with tradition and mesorah. With mutual understanding, empathy, good will and refinement of approach on all sides, creative communication innovation and timeless custom can harmonize. Chabads great diversity is also its unique strength. No PR or Kabbolas Ponim, however slick, can ever replace the power of an earnest Chossid or Frierdige Tochter pursuing avodas hatefilah, limud haChassidus or hafatzas hamaayanos ltoeles haKlal with simplicity, devotion and ahava. If we nourish that sincerity within ourselves and in our children, we may merit to finally bring all Jewish hearts together closer to their collective Father in Heaven, ushering in the complete Geulah Sheleimah speedily and peacefully in our days. The Rebbes love and brachos surround us eternally. Signed, Mendel. NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN. DO YOU HAVE AN OPINION YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE POSTED ON YWN? SEND IT TO US FOR REVIEW. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) An explosive new report from Breitbart News exposes how the New York Times collaborated with the New York State government to create a series of articles that targeted Orthodox Jewish yeshivas. Over 800 pages of emails, obtained by Breitbart News through the Freedom of Information Act, provide a mountain of evidence of the coordination between the media outlet and the state authorities. Eliza Shapiro, a reporter for The New York Times, is prominently featured in these communications. The obtained emails reportedly show Shapiro discussing with the New York State Education Department how we can craft comments for the series of articles targeting yeshivas. The emails also indicate that Shapiro worked closely with the government to assign blame for the Times allegations and to synchronize publication timing with a vote aimed at regulating yeshivas. The first article in the series, published in September, claimed that yeshiva students know nothing and grow up with limited abilities to support their families. The article stirred controversy and raised an outcry about its accuracy and fairness. As previously reported, the article was curated with omitted information, excluded relevant sources, and disregarded pertinent on-the-record statements. Rather than being a fair look at yeshivas, it was used as a tool by secular political groups to attack the Orthodox Jewish communitys sacred institutions. The timing of the Times investigation coincided with the Board of Regents unanimous vote to increase the states influence on the education of Jewish children. This decision stirred further speculation about the intent behind the article. The newly revealed emails reportedly show the extent of cooperation between The New York Times and the New York State Education Department in crafting the narrative and maximizing its political impact. In one correspondence, Shapiro is seen working with the government to formulate the states comment on the reporting, giving the state almost a week longer to respond than the yeshivas that were the subject of the article. Shapiros emails to Emily DeSantis, then-Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs at the Education Department, indicate discussions about the publications content and timing, showing that objectivity and independence wasnt exactly high on the list of Shapiros priorities. In an email to DeSantis, Shapiro wrote: Hi! Hope all is well with you. We are aiming to publish the yeshiva investigation late next week and I wanted to walk you through it on a high level and we can talk about what might make sense for comment. Im flexible today if you have some time. Thanks so much, reporter Eliza Shapiro emailed then-Education Department Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs, Emily DeSantis, on August 29. The subject line of that email was Walking you through the yeshiva story. The yeshivas targeted by the article were contacted four days later and were not offered to walk you through it on a high level, nor to talk about what might make sense for comment. In another email, Shapiro is seen asking DeSantis for help with who to blame for yeshivas supposed failings. Good morning Emily, I have another fact checking question Im hoping you can help with. We are planning to state that the yeshivas we mention appear to be violating the substantial equivalency law, based on our findings. We understand that the state constitutional guarantee to a basic education actually puts the onus on the state, rather than the schools, to enforce the law, so in that case the state violates the law. But I wasnt sure whether its the state or the schools that can violate the SE law? Thanks so much for any guidance, Shapiro wrote. Furthermore, emails indicate that Shapiro inquired about the timing of the final Board of Regents vote on regulating yeshivas, suggesting a level of coordination between the Times reporting and the states actions. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) In an escalating diplomatic spat, Ukraine is threatening to close its borders to those seeking to spend their Rosh Hashana in Uman. The threat comes in response to Israels recent deportation of Ukrainian tourists, which has left the two nations locked in a tense standoff. Ukraines ambassador to Israel, Yevhen Korniychuk, revealed the potential border closure during a telephone interview with Israeli media. Korniychuk said he is currently engaged in discussions with Ukrainian officials to navigate the situation. According to Korniychuk, approximately 10% of Ukrainian tourists visiting Israel have faced deportation, causing consternation among Ukrainian authorities. He emphasized that Ukraine has unequivocally communicated its displeasure regarding the ongoing deportations to Israeli officials. This is not the first time the possibility of preventing travelers from crossing the border has been raised. Korniychuk had previously hinted at the prospect of blocking entry for security reasons. With tensions running high, the ambassador is now revisiting this notion as a means of asserting Ukraines stance. Korniychuk also expressed hope that Israeli police officers would continue their tradition of being present in Uman over Rosh Hashana, a practice that has been maintained in most previous years. The presence of Israeli law enforcement has helped to maintain order and ensure the safety of the events attendees. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) A judge has sanctioned Southwest Airlines, writing that the airline twisted his words and disregarded his order in the case of a flight attendant who claimed that she was fired for expressing her opposition to abortion. U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr found Southwest in contempt for the way it explained the case to flight attendants last year after losing a jury verdict. In a blistering 29-page order, the judge said the airline acted as if its own policy limiting what employees can say is more important than a federal law protecting religious speech. On Monday, the judge ordered Southwest to pay the flight attendants most recent legal costs, dictated a statement for Southwest to relay to employees, and ordered three Southwest lawyers to complete religious-liberty training from a conservative Christian legal-advocacy group. Southwest filed an appeal of last years judgement in May. A spokesman said Tuesday that the Dallas-based airline also plans to appeal the judges new sanctions. For Southwest, the sanctions add insult to injury. They stem from a roughly $800,000 judgment against the airline and the flight attendants union. Although that was less than the jurys $5.1 million award, Charlene Carter also got her job back. Carter, a longtime union critic, said she was fired after she called the union president despicable for attending the 2017 Womens March in Washington, D.C. At the event, women protested the inauguration of President Donald Trump and called for protecting abortion rights among many issues. The airline and Local 556 of the Transport Workers Union said Carter had made offensive posts on Facebook and harassed the union president in private messages. The jury in a Dallas court found that Southwest violated Carters right to religious speech. After the trial last year, the judge a Trump nominee who joined the bench in 2019 ordered the airline to tell flight attendants that under federal law, it may not discriminate against Southwest flight attendants for their religious practices and beliefs. Instead, the airline told employees that it does not discriminate, and it doubled down by telling flight attendants to follow the airline policy that it cited in firing Carter. In an order this week that alternated between sarcasm and outrage, Starr ruled that Southwest didnt come close to complying with the Courts order. He schooled the airline on the definitions of may, does and tolerate complete with footnotes citing the Merriam-Webster dictionary. The judge ordered Southwest to email a new, verbatim statement declaring that the airline may not discriminate against flight attendants for religious beliefs including but not limited to abortion. Starr ordered three company lawyers to undergo eight hours of religious-liberty training this month by the Alliance Defending Freedom, calling the group particularly well-suited for the work. The Southern Poverty Law Center has called ADF an anti-LGBTQ hate group. ADF disputes the characterization. Starr held senior positions in the Texas attorney generals office for several years before Trump nominated him for the federal bench. The Senate confirmed his nomination 51-39, voting along party lines in the then-GOP-controlled body. He is a member of the conservative legal group the Federalist Society. (AP) Former New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik has met with investigators from special counsel Jack Smiths team, a signal after last weeks indictment of former President Donald Trump that the probe into allegations he worked to overturn the results of the 2020 election is ongoing. Kerik attorney Timothy Parlatore told The Associated Press that his client sat down on Monday with officials from the government for about five hours for a discussion centered around the efforts of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to overturn Trumps loss. Bernard Kerik sat with Special Counsels Office and told them the truth, Parlatore said. Whether people agree with it or not, and even if some of the claims have since been debunked, the unavoidable reality is that the Giuliani team was making a good faith effort to investigate claims of fraud at the time. Giuliani, the former major of New York City, had served as one of Trumps attorneys and was among the unnamed co-conspirators mentioned in the indictment unsealed last week against Trump. Giuliani has not been charged. Kerik, whom Giuliani appointed to serve as police commissioner in 2000, worked for Giuliani surrounding the efforts to overturn Trumps loss. They were chasing these claims. They were limited by their time and resources, but ultimately the idea that Rudy Giuliani was intentionally pushing claims that he knew were false is not something supported by the evidence, Parlatore told CNN, which first reported on the meeting. Kerik was New Yorks police commissioner during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Years later, he pleaded guilty to federal tax fraud and other charges and served three years in prison before his release in 2013. Trump pardoned Kerik during a 2020 clemency blitz that also included former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Kerik was among the guests feting Trump after his first appearance in federal court in Florida in a case related to his handling of classified documents, attending the former presidents remarks at his Bedminster, New Jersey, club. The meeting with Kerik, for which Smith was not present, comes as a sign that the government is continuing to hear from witnesses and seek testimony in the sprawling case. Trump faces charges including conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and obstruction of Congress in the first case that seeks to hold the Republican former president criminally responsible for his efforts to cling to power after his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump has denied any wrongdoing, and he claims that Smith is targeting him in an effort to hurt his 2024 White House campaign. An attorney for Giuliani didnt immediately respond to a message seeking comment Wednesday on the Kerik meeting. A spokesperson for Smiths office declined to comment. In July, Kerik posted to social media that he had been subpoenaed several months ago and gave Smith the documents that I could, saying that Parlatore held any possibly privileged documents until waivers were obtained from Trump. No one has flipped, no one is selling out Trump or Giuliani, Kerik said then. This is about giving the Special Counsel the evidence that the legal team collected under Giulianis supervision in the aftermath of the 2020 election relating to voter/election fraud, and improprieties in that election. Parlatore, who had been a key lawyer for Trump in the Justice Departments documents probe, disclosed earlier this year that he was resigning from the Trump legal team, attributing the decision to strategy disagreements with a close adviser to the former president. Trump was indicted in Smiths documents probe three weeks after Parlatores departure. He faces 40 felony counts related to the mishandling and illegal retention of classified documents. (AP) This photo taken on May 24, 2023 shows students dressed in traditional attire studying in a renovated old house in Chenzhou's Hexie Village, central China's Hunan Province. (Xinhua) CHANGSHA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- In a remarkable metamorphosis, derelict houses are being renovated to revive their faded splendor and repurposed into villa hotels, village museums, educational bases, and other public spaces, breathing new life into these once-forgotten architectures. The "Awakening Heritage Homes" initiative in the city of Chenzhou, in central China's Hunan Province, is orchestrating a profound renaissance by resurrecting long-abandoned rural residences, ushering in a great transformation while revitalizing entire communities. Arriving in Chenzhou's Huatang Town feels akin to stepping into a realm of picturesque beauty. Xiao Xiuling, who works in the local food processing industry, rented two old buildings dating back more than 100 years and has renovated them into an exhibition hall for agricultural products. "Many villagers have moved to the cities, leaving their rural homes neglected for long. Consequently, these once-thriving residences succumbed to decay, with some houses reduced to mere fragments of broken walls, while others stand as precarious and hazardous structures," Xiao said, adding that when she first saw the old houses the atmosphere was filled with dust, the wooden windows showed signs of damage, and mossy corners were clearly visible. "We restored and renovated the old houses based on the principle of 'preserving the classical charm through meticulous repair and minimal intervention,' and the old houses now retain the old style and are brimming with newfound vitality," Xiao said. "Multiple generations of our family have lived in the same house since its construction for our grandparents. As the younger members eventually moved to larger and more modern residences, the original family home sadly fell into abandonment," said Li Yuai, a resident of Huatang Town. "Now, not only have the old houses been repaired, but we can also receive rent and dividends every year," Li said, expressing his delight in seeing the revitalized homes evolve into a prime attraction of the community. As a pilot town for the initiative, Huatang has approximately 300 derelict houses that can be transformed into rental properties. According to Tan Hao, the town's Party secretary, owners of 80 houses have signed agreement to join the initiative so far. "The progress of the rural areas was hampered by the presence of aging and abandoned houses, which also posed a safety risk and affected the quality of life," Tan said, adding that the initiative has significantly improved living conditions in the countryside by removing unsafe and rundown structures, improving outdated sanitation facilities, and solving other issues. In line with the inherent conditions of these homes, Chenzhou has also been actively pursuing a diverse "awakening" approach. In Chenzhou's Hexie Village, a splendid classical house stands as an example of this endeavor. Within its walls, the melodious echoes of chants reverberated, as a group of students dressed in traditional attire delved into the realm of sinology. According to Huang Kai, Party secretary of the village, Hexie has revitalized 19 old houses, transforming them into diverse cultural venues. "The rebirth of these old houses has also brought opportunities to enhance the collective economy of our village," Huang said. "The villagers are now actively pursuing a trajectory that amalgamates traditional culture and agritourism. Looking ahead, we hope to leverage our distinctive brand of 'old houses' to channel investments into the augmentation of infrastructure," Huang added. Enditem (Wu Haowen also contributed to the story.) This photo taken on May 17, 2023 shows an old building that has been renovated into an exhibition hall for agricultural products in Chenzhou's Huatang Town, central China's Hunan Province. (Xinhua) Donald Trump and officials in Atlanta are bracing for a new indictment that could come as soon as next week in a Georgia prosecutors investigation into the former presidents efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat has said hes in meetings every day to prepare for a possible indictment. In anticipation of potential charges, his deputies erected barriers last week along the block in front of the main courthouse. The street was closed this week, and parking is prohibited on nearby streets. Those measures are to remain in place through the end of next week, Labats office said. Trump has said he expects to be indicted a fourth time by next week and has begun stepping up his criticism of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who has spent two years leading the election probe into Trump and his allies. Speaking to supporters in New Hampshire on Tuesday, the Republican former president launched highly personal attacks on Willis and called the 52-year-old Democratic prosecutor, who is Black, a young woman, a young racist in Atlanta. Shes got a lot of problems. But she wants to indict me to try to run for some other office, Trump said. A spokesperson for Willis declined to comment on Trumps criticism. Her office hasnt said whether charges against Trump will come next week. Willis told law enforcement and local government leaders in a letter in April that she expected to announce charging decisions by the end of the current court term, which ends Sept. 1. She advised law enforcement to prepare for heightened security, noting that the announcement of charges may provoke a significant public reaction. A few weeks later, she seemed to narrow that window further in a letter to the chief judge of the county superior court. She indicated that she planned to have much of her staff work remotely for most days during the first three weeks of August and asked that judges not schedule trials and in-person hearings during part of that time, notably on the days when grand juries meet. Two grand juries were seated last month to serve through the end of the court term, one meeting Mondays and Tuesdays and the other meeting Thursdays and Fridays. Both of those grand juries have been regularly churning out lots of indictments in criminal cases unrelated to Trump, meaning its unlikely theyve had time to hear evidence in the election investigation. With the window Willis indicated to the chief judge closing Aug. 18 and the sheriffs traffic restrictions set to end at the same time, it seems a good bet that an indictment will come next week. If an indictment charges Trump, it would be the fourth to do so this year and the second to focus on the former presidents efforts to overturn his presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The U.S. Department of Justice earlier this month obtained a four-count indictment in Washington that focuses on Trumps efforts in the months between the November 2020 presidential election and the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to subvert the vote and remain in power. That was the second indictment sought against Trump by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith. A federal grand jury in Florida in June returned an indictment alleging the mishandling of classified documents. And a New York grand jury indicted Trump in March, charging him with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments during the 2016 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty in all three cases and has relentlessly rained criticism on the prosecutors in speeches and online, accusing them of launching politically motivated attacks against the clear front-runner for the Republican nomination for president in 2024. The Georgia investigation was prompted by a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican. Trump suggested the states top elections official could help find 11,780 votes needed to put him ahead of Biden in the state. Trump has insisted he did nothing wrong and has repeatedly said the call was perfect. (AP) Ukrainian authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation Thursday of nearly 12,000 civilians from 37 towns and villages in the eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian forces reportedly are making a concerted effort to punch through the front line. The local military administration in Kharkivs Kupiansk district said residents must comply with the evacuation order or sign a document saying they would stay at their own risk. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar had said the previous day that the intensity of combat and enemy shelling is high in the area. The city of Kupiansk and the territories around it were under Russian occupation until September 2022, when Ukrainian forces conducted a rapid offensive operation that dislodged the Kremlins forces from nearly the entire Kharkiv region. The retaking of those areas strengthened Ukraines arguments that its troops could deliver more stinging defeats to Russia with additional armament deliveries, which its Western allies duly provided. But as Ukraine has pursued a slow-moving counteroffensive in recent weeks, Russian forces have struck back in some areas. Maliar said Russia has formed an offensive group and is attempting to move forward in the area in an effort to advance on the Ukrainian-held city of Kupiansk, an important rail junction. Russia has concentrated assault troops supported by tank units, aviation and artillery in the Kupiansk area, Ukraine National Guard spokesman Ruslan Muzychuk said on national television. The Russians have formed eight so-called Storm-Z detachments made up of convicts released from prison acting under military commanders for the push, and fighting in the area was intense, according to Oleksandr Syrskyi, the ground forces commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Some positions are passed from hand to hand constantly, he said. It was not possible to independently verify either sides battlefield claims. Earlier Thursday, Russian air defense systems on Thursday shot down two drones heading toward Moscow for a second straight day, officials said. The reported attack disrupted flights at two international airports as Ukraine appeared to step up its assault on Russian soil. One drone was downed in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow and another near a major Moscow ring road, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin and the Russian Defense Ministry, which blamed the attack on Ukraine. No casualties or damage were immediately reported. Domodedovo airport, south of the city, halted flights for more than two hours and Vnukovo airport, southwest of the city, stopped flights for more than two and a half hours, according to Russian news agencies. Ten flights were diverted, Russias Federal Agency for Air Transport said. Firing drones at Moscow after more than 17 months of war has little apparent military value for Ukraine, but the strategy has served to unsettle Russians and bring home to them the conflicts consequences. Kyiv officials, as usual, neither confirmed nor denied Ukraines possible involvement in the drone strikes, though Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat remarked: This cannot but please us because people in Moscow thought they were safe. Now, the war affects each and every Russian. We now see that something happens in Moscow on a regular basis, he added. Russias Defense Ministry also said it had stopped Ukrainian drone attacks in Moscow-annexed Crimea. It said it shot down two drones near the port city of Sevastopol and electronically jammed nine that crashed into the Black Sea. The Pentagon is to provide Ukraine with another $200 million in weapons and ammunition to help sustain the counteroffensive, according to U.S. officials. Ukraine has already received more than $43 billion from the U.S. since Russia invaded last year. Ukraines presidential office said at least six civilians were killed and 27 were injured between Wednesday and Thursday mornings. In eastern Ukraines Donetsk province, Russia shelled 16 cities and villages, and three people were killed, the office reported. In Zaporizhzhia, three people were killed and nine wounded, including an 11-month-old baby. Meanwhile, 12 people remained missing after an explosion Wednesday at a factory that makes optical equipment for Russian security forces, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency officials. Russias Emergency Ministry said 71 people required medical assistance after the explosion. Russian officials did not offer a suspected cause of the explosion at the Zagorsk plant in the region around Moscow, which added to jitters about potential Ukrainian drone strikes. The fallout from Russias war against Ukraine has brought concerns to neighboring countries, including the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus this summer after their short-lived mutiny in Russia. Polands defense minister said Thursday that the country intends to put 10,000 soldiers along its border with Belarus amid fears of a spike in illegal immigration. Polish officials have accused Belarusian authorities of organizing illegal border crossings to disrupt and pressure Warsaw, which along with other NATO countries has provided support for Kyivs war effort. (AP) Former President Donald Trump launched a barrage of criticism targeting President Joe Biden on his Truth Social platform. The potential 2024 candidate, who has faced legal challenges, used emphatic language to accuse the 80-year-old Biden of being MAD. Trumps grip on Republican primary polls remains strong, although hes grappling with mounting legal concerns, including a possible fourth indictment in Fulton County, Georgia, by the end of this month. In his posts on TRUTH Social, Trump asserted that not only is Joe Biden inept and lacking in competence, but he also claimed that Bidens policies on the environment, open borders, and the utilization of the DOJ/FBI are disastrous and a threat to the nation. Trump painted Biden as a mental catastrophe, steering the country toward turmoil. Trump further criticized Bidens handling of open borders, suggesting that it might be remembered as one of the most damaging blunders in U.S. history. He expressed disbelief that such incompetence could have been permitted, referring to Biden as having the intellect of a first grader. Trump vehemently called for an end to what he characterized as an invasion of the country, emphasizing that this situation must not persist. Here are the texts of the Trump TRUTH posts: I think that Crooked Joe Biden is not only dumb and incompetent, I believe he has gone MAD, a stark raving Lunatic, with his HORRIBLE AND COUNTRY THREATENING ENVIRONMENTAL, OPEN BORDERS, & DOJ/FBI WEAPONIZATION POLICIES. HE IS A MENTAL CATASTROPHE THAT IS LEADING OUR COUNTRY TO HELL! What Crooked Joe Biden, who cant string two sentences together, has done to our once great Country through his Open Borders CATASTROPHE, may go down as the greatest and most damaging mistake ever made in USA HISTORY. It is not even believable that such incompetence and stupidity could have been allowed to happen. OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED BY A MAN WITH THE MIND, IDEAS, AND I.Q. OF A FIRST GRADER. THIS INVASION OF OUR COUNTRY MUST STOP IMMEDIATELY. IT CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE! (YWN World Headquarters NYC) A tiny group of right-wing Im Tirtzu activists held a protest outside the home of Supreme Court President Esther Hayut on Wednesday morning. The unique low-cost protest consisted of a feigned delivery of bananas for Esty the Queen of the Banana Republic that Israel has turned into, with the Supreme Court holding more power than any democracy throughout the world. Most recently, Hayut made a decision that the Supreme Court has the power to interfere with Israels Basic Laws, an unprecedented view that is disputed by most legal scholars including former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak and former attorney-general Avichai Mandelblit. In fact, Mandelblit said that even if the Supreme Court had the power to strike down a Basic Law, it would destroy Israels democracy. Hayut is the first Supreme Court president since the establishment of the State to even debate a Basic Law. Im Tirtzu is a non-profit organization that works to strengthen Jewish and Zionist values in Israel. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the oldest member of Congress, fell in her home and went to a hospital for a short time, her office said on Wednesday. The 90-year-old California Democrat, who has faced mounting concerns about her health and her ability to perform the duties of a senator, briefly went to the hospital yesterday afternoon as a precaution after a minor fall in her home, her office said in a statement. All of her scans were clear, and she returned home later Tuesday, said her spokesman Adam Russell, who provided no further details. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said in a statement he spoke with Feinstein on Wednesday morning. She said she suffered no injuries and briefly went to the hospital as a precaution, Schumer said. Im glad she is back home now and is doing well. The San Francisco hospital visit comes after Feinstein missed months of work in Washington earlier this year when she was hospitalized for the shingles virus and its side effects. Since her return to work in May, she has traveled the Capitol halls in a wheelchair and has often appeared confused and disoriented. Feinstein has defended her ability to perform her job, though her office said in May that she was still experiencing vision and balance impairments from the shingles virus. Feinstein, who took office in 1992, announced earlier this year that she would not seek reelection in 2024. Several Democrats have already entered the race to replace her. During her hospitalization in the spring, some progressive House Democrats publicly called on her to resign, saying her absence had grounded the push to confirm President Joe Bidens judicial nominees. However, leading Democrats, including Biden and Schumer, publicly stood beside her. Nonetheless, Feinsteins retirement plans have sparked a competitive Democratic contest to replace her, led by a trio of House lawmakers, U.S. Reps. Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff. If Feinstein resigns before the 2024 election, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom would name her replacement, potentially reordering the race to succeed her. The governor said in 2021 that he would nominate a Black woman to fill the seat if Feinstein, whos white, were to step aside. Lee is Black, and becoming the incumbent could be a decisive advantage in the contest, but its unknown if Newsom would consider Lee, given that she is already running for the seat. Porter and Schiff are white. Feinstein has had a storied political career that broke gender barriers as she rose from San Franciscos City Hall to leadership posts in the U.S. Senate. She played key roles in political battles over issues including reproductive rights and environmental protection, gaining a reputation as a pragmatic centrist. In recent years, however, she has taken a step back from senior roles at the Capitol. She relinquished the top Democratic spot on the Judiciary Committee in 2020 amid criticism from liberals on how she handled the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett. And earlier this year, she declined to serve as the Senate president pro tempore, the most senior member of the majority party who daily opens the Senate chamber, even though she was in line to do so. Feinstein had also requested to be replaced on the Senate Judiciary panel during her 10-week hospital stay earlier this year, but Republicans declined to allow the replacement. Even after she returned, concerns continued that she would not be able to make it for every crucial vote. The Senate is expected to resume work in Washington in early September. (AP) It was cleared for publication on Thursday morning that officers from the Gideonim (Unit 33) of the Lahav 443 Unit of Israel Police thwarted a terror attack a week ago. Mistaarvim (undercover) officers, in coordination with the IDF and Shin Bet, arrested a resident of Jericho who was actively planning to carry out a terror attack in Israel. He was arrested at his home along with other suspects. A gun battle ensued during the arrest operation. BChasdei Hashem, there were no injuries among Israeli security forces. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) In the first sign of the upcoming autumn in Israel, about 30 flamingos arrived at the Hula Reservoir on Thursday morning, launching the migratory season. Inbar Shlomit Rubin of KKL-JNF, the director of the reservoir, said: So although its August and its hot, the first migratory birds have already started arriving at the Hula reservoir. In addition to flamingos, were also beginning to see various types of herons, hummingbirds, egrets, and others. The Hula Valley in northern Israel is one of the worlds busiest migration flyaways, with over 500 million birds from 550 species flying over Israel twice a year. The main migratory season is in the fall, with huge flocks of pelicans, herons, storks, cranes, and other species arriving at the valley, resting on their flights between Europe and Africa. Years ago, the KKL-JNF (Keren Kayemet LYisrael-Jewish National Fund) developed an internationally acclaimed bird-watching park in the Hula Valley, which previously was a neglected area full of swamps. In 1951, the KKL-JNF began draining the swamps and over the years, rehabilitated and developed the area into a spectacular tourist site, with bird-watching areas, an observation tower, a floating bridge, waterways full of fish, and natural areas with unique flora and fauna, water buffaloes and wildcats. (YWN Israel Desk Jerusalem) Selfridges is set to make redundancies in its head office and in some retail stores as part of an efficiency drive. In an email seen by This is Money, boss Andrew Keith told staff that some teams will be 'resized and reshaped' to ensure the iconic retail brand is 'fit for the future, aligned, and working in the most efficient way'. Selfridges, which in 2021 was bought by Thailand's Central and Austrian property firm Signa in a deal worth 4billion, has been reviewing its 'structures...costs... revenue lines, and... ways of working, from top to bottom' as part of its '121 Strategy', Mr Keith wrote in the email. Selfridges flagship store on Oxford Street, London As a result, the group will begin consulting with elected team representatives and applicable trade unions on a 'proposed new shape of the organisation'. This, he said, is intended to 'unlock better ways of working and offer the potential to deliver long term sustainable growth and profitability for our business'. Selfridges revenues jumped 28 per cent to 653.4million in the year to January 2022, according to its most recently published Companies House filing, with Covid-related store closures at the beginning of the period driving the group to a 38.1million operating loss. This, however, was an improvement from the 136.9million loss the previous year. In September, Selfridges' new owners revealed plans to open small 'regional' department stores around the world, as well as new locations in the UK for the group's growing stable of brands. Then, in December, Selfridges said it planned to open a luxury hotel as part of a major revamp of its flagship store. Staff will hear more on potential job losses on Friday from 'executive director for people' Maria Glasscock, who will provide details on how to nominate representatives, timing and process. Mr Keith told staff: 'We have a proud history of leading the way and, to maintain our position at the forefront of retail, we must keep evolving. 'A critical part of this is making sure we are fit for the future, aligned, and working in the most efficient way to achieve our 121 goals. 'We've been reviewing how Head Office including some small teams in retail who support our stores are organised to best deliver for our customers. 'To do this involves looking at our structures, our costs, our revenue lines, and our ways of working, from top to bottom. 'Regrettably this is likely to mean some of our head office teams, including some small teams in retail who support our stores, will be resized and reshaped.' He added that the decision has 'not been an easy one' but it is 'right for the long-term sustainability of the business'. Mr Keith said: 'There is never a good time to make these sorts of changes. The coming weeks will be difficult for some of our team members. 'I know we will do our very best to support each other and I want to thank you in advance for your strength, empathy, and professionalism.' Selfridges has not responded to request for comment. Deliveroo shareholders could receive their first ever dividend this year as the takeaway business continues to shrink its losses. The food delivery giant has said it will dish out as much as 250million to shareholders as it rewards their loyalty despite its beleaguered stock price. Deliveroo was founded in London in 2013 by Will Shu and Greg Orlowski and went public in 2021 at 390p a share. The stock has struggled to perform ever since their anticlimactic flotation when major investors, including Aviva, BMO and Legal & General, said they would not be participating, citing concerns over the companys gig economy-style employment practices. Divileroo: Deliveroo said it will dish out as much as 250m to shareholders as it rewards their loyalty despite its beleaguered stock price But the British tech firm said the shareholder payout would be in the form of either a special dividend, a tender offer or a share buyback, taking the total sum of returns to 300million for this year alone. Deliveroo shares were up 3.50 per cent to 127.80p on the news. The update came as Deliveroo revealed it made a loss of 83million in the first half of the year, down from 153.8million in 2022, while revenues surpassed the 1billion mark thanks to higher advertising income. Deliveroo now expects pre-tax profits of 60million-80million for the full year, up from a previous forecast of 20million to 50million. Analysts at Bernstein said Deliveroos improved forecast was a big positive for the stock and the sector. Deliveroo has set its sights on profitability cutting its workforce by 9pc earlier this year and scaling back operations in some markets, including exiting Australia. The UK and Ireland were a success for Deliveroo in the half year, where sales grew by 11pc to 601.9million, thanks to soaring food prices and people spending more on their orders when they treat themselves. I am very pleased with our progress so far this year. We have delivered a strong financial performance despite challenging macroeconomic conditions, said Will Shu. Adam Vettese, an analyst at investment platform eToro, said: There had been a lot of scepticism about Deliveroo and its business model, and those investors who backed it when it went public have taken a bath on their investments. But this is a promising set of results. For now, the firm is dealing with choppy economic waters fairly well. Disney has revamped the pricing of its video streaming service after the company shed 11.7m customers in three months. The media giant said that, while standard subscriptions will remain 7.99 a month for viewers in the UK, there will now be a more expensive premium version, priced at 10.99 a month. The premium version will offer higher image quality and the ability for four different people to watch at once. New prices: Disney's premium version will offer higher image quality and the ability for four different people to watch at once A budget offering, costing 4.99 for Disney Plus, will require users to watch adverts alongside their favourite films. Walt Disney chief executive Bob Iger said the company continues to face a challenging environment but was focused on trimming costs. He also vowed to crack down on password sharing following in the footsteps of its rival Netflix. For the three months to July, group revenue increased 4 per cent to 17.5billion, just short of Wall Street estimates of 17.6billion. But it was lifted by the recovery of its theme parks, especially parks outside of the US. ROME, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Over 41 migrants are feared dead in the latest shipwreck on the treacherous route across the central Mediterranean, it emerged this week. The deaths were reported by four survivors of the tragedy who were brought to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa on Wednesday. According to media reports, the four survivors were rescued by the Rimona, a Maltese cargo ship. The victims were taken to the Italian coast guard, which brought them to Lampedusa for treatment on Wednesday. The survivors said the boat carrying 45 would-be asylum seekers left Tunisia for Lampedusa last Thursday. It appears the vessel capsized either late Thursday or early Friday, and the four survivors managed to stay afloat by clinging to wreckage of the boat. They subsequently found an empty boat at sea, before being rescued by the Rimona. In a joint statement, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) expressed their "deepest condolences for the loss of dozens of lives" in the shipwreck. "Today's numbers add to the growing death toll of shipwrecks in the Central Mediterranean. According to IOM's Missing Migrants Project, more than 1,800 people have already been reported dead and missing along the route this year," said the statement. On Sunday, about 57 people were rescued after two ships sank between Tunisia and Lampedusa within a few hours of each other, while 32 people were declared dead or missing from the two vessels. Also on Sunday, 34 refugees were rescued after being stranded for 36 hours on a steep cliffside in Lampedusa, after their ship hit rocks just off the island. Rough waters made a rescue by sea impossible, but the victims were eventually lifted to safety by helicopter. According to the Italian interior ministry, nearly 92,000 refugees from Africa, the Middle East, and beyond have landed on Italian shores so far this year, more than double the amount that arrived in the country during the same period last year, and three times the number from 2021. The IOM has reported nearly 134,000 migrant arrivals in Europe in 2023. There is no end in sight for rising rents despite costs reaching record levels, lettings agents have warned. The latest survey of agents from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found that tenant demand rose in the three months to July. Of those surveyed, 54 per cent of agents said they had seen an increase in rents during that period. It is the strongest quarterly pick-up in rental demand since the beginning of last year. It follows separate research showing the average cost of rent in England has reached a record 1,367 a month per property. The outlook for the rental market has been described as 'concerning' by rental experts Simon Rubinsohn, of Rics, described the outlook for the lettings market as 'concerning'. He said: 'Demand shows no signs of letting up, supply remains constrained and that means rents are likely to continue rising sharply despite the cost-of-living crisis.' In the Rics survey, 54% of agents said they had seen rents increase in the three months to July As demand continues to rise, the supply of properties available to rent continues to decline. Rics said the number of landlords instructing agents declined once again, with 30 per cent of agents saying they had seen a decrease, compared to from a decline of 24 per cent the previous month. And a net balance of 63 per cent of respondents expected rental prices to increase in the next three months. It is up from 55 per cent in the previous quarter and marks a record high. Rics said landlord instructions declined, with the latest net balance falling to 30% Will Ravenhill, a lettings agent in Leicester, said: 'The rental market is broken. Many buy-to-let landlords are leaving the market. 'Those that remain who have buy-to-let mortgages are increasing rents to ridiculous levels to adhere to their mortgage covenants.' Kevin Burt-Gray, a lettings agent in Cambridge, said: 'Shortage of stock and a surplus of quality tenants is keeping the private rental sector busy, with multiple applications being received on most properties within a few days of them coming on to the open market.' And David Martindale, a lettings agent in Wakefield, added: 'There continues to be good demand for rental properties and rents are continuing to rise.' Shortage of stock and a surplus of quality tenants is keeping the private rental sector busy A net balance of 63% of survey respondents expected rental prices to increase in the next three months It follows separate research by Goodlord at the beginning of this month that said rents in England have reached a record high. It said rents had soared 19 per cent in a month, with prices being pushed up by students seeking accommodation for the new university term. The fiercely competitive rental market has seen the average cost of rent in England reach 1,367 a month per property. It is the highest level ever recorded by the index and is 9.4 per cent higher than the previous record set in September last year, at 1,249. Harriet Scanlan, of Richmond estate agency Antony Roberts, explained: 'We are still in the thrust of a very strong rental market. 'At the start of this week we listed three properties for rent - and within two days, we had received multiple offers from prospective tenants on each property. 'Two of those landlords received well over asking price at best and final offering point. 'We don't relish in having to disappoint unsuccessful applicants and understand the difficulties in trying to find a new rental home in this highly-competitive market.' Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C. decreased its position in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) by 8.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,990 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 709 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. accounts for approximately 0.8% of Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C.s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Fortitude Advisory Group L.L.C.s holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. were worth $1,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Adirondack Retirement Specialists Inc. raised its position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 510.8% in the 1st quarter. Adirondack Retirement Specialists Inc. now owns 226 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares during the period. Nordwand Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Boulder Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. during the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Capital Directions Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. during the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Aspire Private Capital LLC bought a new position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the 1st quarter valued at $54,391,133,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.10% of the companys stock. Get JPMorgan Chase & Co. alerts: Insiders Place Their Bets In related news, General Counsel Stacey Friedman sold 4,310 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.16, for a total transaction of $677,359.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 57,735 shares of the companys stock, valued at $9,073,632.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Douglas B. Petno sold 4,930 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.16, for a total transaction of $700,848.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 277,161 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,401,207.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Stacey Friedman sold 4,310 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.16, for a total value of $677,359.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 57,735 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $9,073,632.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 150,171 shares of company stock valued at $20,535,635. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research firms have recently weighed in on JPM. StockNews.com started coverage on JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating for the company. Wolfe Research raised shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $170.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, July 7th. Credit Suisse Group raised their target price on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $160.00 to $170.00 in a research report on Monday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $174.00 to $180.00 in a report on Monday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $158.00 to $168.00 in a report on Monday, July 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, JPMorgan Chase & Co. presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $164.39. Check Out Our Latest Analysis on JPM JPMorgan Chase & Co. Stock Performance Shares of JPM stock opened at $155.88 on Wednesday. The businesss fifty day simple moving average is $146.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $140.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a 12-month low of $101.28 and a 12-month high of $159.38. The company has a market cap of $453.00 billion, a PE ratio of 10.03, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.10. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $4.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.75. The company had revenue of $42.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $38.66 billion. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had a net margin of 23.45% and a return on equity of 17.29%. JPMorgan Chase & Co.s revenue for the quarter was up 34.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.76 EPS. Analysts expect that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 15.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Dividend Announcement The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, July 6th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 5th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. JPMorgan Chase & Co.s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.74%. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Company Profile (Free Report) JPMorgan Chase & Co operates as a financial services company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Consumer & Community Banking (CCB), Corporate & Investment Bank (CIB), Commercial Banking (CB), and Asset & Wealth Management (AWM). The CCB segment offers deposit, investment and lending products, cash management, and payments and services to consumers and small businesses; mortgage origination and servicing activities; residential mortgages and home equity loans; and credit cards, auto loans, leases, and travel services. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding JPM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for JPMorgan Chase & Co. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for JPMorgan Chase & Co. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Bernardo Wealth Planning LLC decreased its holdings in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM Free Report) by 5.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,626 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 92 shares during the quarter. Bernardo Wealth Planning LLCs holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. were worth $212,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P increased its stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 81.1% in the first quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisor L.P now owns 222,422 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $30,321,000 after buying an additional 99,636 shares during the period. BCK Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,455,000. LSV Asset Management increased its position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 35.6% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 37,300 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $5,085,000 after purchasing an additional 9,800 shares during the period. Wsfs Capital Management LLC increased its position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 70.8% during the 1st quarter. Wsfs Capital Management LLC now owns 4,221 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $575,000 after purchasing an additional 1,749 shares during the period. Finally, Lumature Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 1,451.4% during the 1st quarter. Lumature Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,770 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 3,527 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.10% of the companys stock. Get JPMorgan Chase & Co. alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at JPMorgan Chase & Co. In other news, CEO Daniel E. Pinto sold 113,640 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.93, for a total transaction of $15,447,085.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 566,665 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $77,026,773.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Douglas B. Petno sold 4,932 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Monday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $134.90, for a total transaction of $665,326.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 282,091 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $38,054,075.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Daniel E. Pinto sold 113,640 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.93, for a total value of $15,447,085.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 566,665 shares of the companys stock, valued at $77,026,773.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 150,171 shares of company stock worth $20,535,635. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the companys stock. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Odeon Capital Group raised shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Monday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $160.00 to $173.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $157.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an outperformer rating in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $174.00 to $180.00 in a report on Monday, July 17th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group increased their price target on JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $160.00 to $170.00 in a report on Monday, July 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned 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 $164.39. Check Out Our Latest Analysis on JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Price Performance Shares of NYSE:JPM opened at $155.88 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $146.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $140.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a 1-year low of $101.28 and a 1-year high of $159.38. The stock has a market cap of $453.00 billion, a PE ratio of 10.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.10. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $4.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.62 by $0.75. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had a return on equity of 17.29% and a net margin of 23.45%. The business had revenue of $42.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $38.66 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.76 EPS. The businesss revenue was up 34.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 15.23 EPS for the current fiscal year. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Announces Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 6th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co.s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.74%. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Company Profile (Free Report) JPMorgan Chase & Co operates as a financial services company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Consumer & Community Banking (CCB), Corporate & Investment Bank (CIB), Commercial Banking (CB), and Asset & Wealth Management (AWM). The CCB segment offers deposit, investment and lending products, cash management, and payments and services to consumers and small businesses; mortgage origination and servicing activities; residential mortgages and home equity loans; and credit cards, auto loans, leases, and travel services. See Also Receive News & Ratings for JPMorgan Chase & Co. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for JPMorgan Chase & Co. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,270 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 130 shares during the quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLCs holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. were worth $556,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 11.3% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 336,522 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $45,128,000 after acquiring an additional 34,068 shares during the last quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. grew its holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Crew Capital Management Ltd. now owns 6,286 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $819,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its holdings in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 46.4% during the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 43,526 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $5,612,000 after acquiring an additional 13,792 shares during the last quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 29,711 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $3,872,000 after purchasing an additional 984 shares during the period. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its position in JPMorgan Chase & Co. by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 1,723,422 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $224,579,000 after purchasing an additional 26,285 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.10% of the companys stock. Get JPMorgan Chase & Co. alerts: Insider Activity In other news, CEO Daniel E. Pinto sold 113,640 shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.93, for a total value of $15,447,085.20. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 566,665 shares in the company, valued at $77,026,773.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Daniel E. Pinto sold 113,640 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.93, for a total transaction of $15,447,085.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 566,665 shares in the company, valued at $77,026,773.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Stacey Friedman sold 4,310 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.16, for a total transaction of $677,359.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 57,735 shares in the company, valued at $9,073,632.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 150,171 shares of company stock worth $20,535,635 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.79% of the companys stock. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research analysts have issued reports on JPM shares. Odeon Capital Group upgraded shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Monday, May 1st. Societe Generale downgraded shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, July 10th. Atlantic Securities upped their target price on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $131.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $152.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Monday, April 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given 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 $164.39. Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Stock Performance Shares of JPM stock opened at $155.88 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a market capitalization of $453.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 1.10. The companys 50 day moving average price is $146.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $140.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has a 52 week low of $101.28 and a 52 week high of $159.38. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $4.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $3.62 by $0.75. JPMorgan Chase & Co. had a net margin of 23.45% and a return on equity of 17.29%. The company had revenue of $42.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $38.66 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.76 earnings per share. The firms revenue was up 34.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will post 15.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Dividend Announcement The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 6th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 5th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. JPMorgan Chase & Co.s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.74%. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Profile (Free Report) JPMorgan Chase & Co operates as a financial services company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Consumer & Community Banking (CCB), Corporate & Investment Bank (CIB), Commercial Banking (CB), and Asset & Wealth Management (AWM). The CCB segment offers deposit, investment and lending products, cash management, and payments and services to consumers and small businesses; mortgage origination and servicing activities; residential mortgages and home equity loans; and credit cards, auto loans, leases, and travel services. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding JPM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for JPMorgan Chase & Co. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for JPMorgan Chase & Co. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Mexco Energy (NYSE:MXC Free Report) in a research report report published on Monday. The firm issued a hold rating on the stock. Mexco Energy Trading Up 0.5 % MXC opened at $13.05 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.76 million, a PE ratio of 6.18 and a beta of 1.16. Mexco Energy has a 1-year low of $10.30 and a 1-year high of $20.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $12.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.38. Get Mexco Energy alerts: Mexco Energy (NYSE:MXC Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, June 26th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $2.20 million during the quarter. Mexco Energy had a net margin of 48.80% and a return on equity of 30.50%. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Mexco Energy Mexco Energy Company Profile Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MXC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Mexco Energy by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 40,321 shares of the companys stock valued at $503,000 after purchasing an additional 957 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Mexco Energy by 15.2% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 19,000 shares of the companys stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Mexco Energy by 270.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,108 shares of the companys stock worth $990,000 after acquiring an additional 44,605 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 6.83% of the companys stock. (Get Free Report) Mexco Energy Corporation, an independent oil and gas company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of natural gas, crude oil, condensate, and natural gas liquids in the United States. It owns partial interests in approximately 6,400 gross producing wells located in the states of Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Wyoming, Kansas, Colorado, Montana, Virginia, North Dakota, and Ohio. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Mexco Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Mexco Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. True North Commercial REIT (TSE:TNT.UN Get Free Report) had its price target reduced by stock analysts at CIBC from C$3.50 to C$3.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the stock. CIBCs price objective would suggest a potential upside of 14.50% from the stocks previous close. Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on TNT.UN. Raymond James reduced their target price on shares of True North Commercial REIT from C$3.25 to C$3.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 10th. National Bankshares lowered their target price on shares of True North Commercial REIT from C$2.75 to C$2.25 in a research note on Tuesday, July 18th. Get True North Commercial REIT alerts: View Our Latest Research Report on True North Commercial REIT True North Commercial REIT Trading Down 3.0 % About True North Commercial REIT TSE:TNT.UN opened at C$2.62 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 168.64, a current ratio of 0.39 and a quick ratio of 0.06. The company has a market cap of C$241.30 million, a PE ratio of 29.11 and a beta of 1.36. True North Commercial REIT has a one year low of C$2.26 and a one year high of C$6.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average of C$2.51 and a 200-day moving average of C$3.66. (Get Free Report) The REIT is an unincorporated, open-ended real estate investment trust established under the laws of the Province of Ontario. The REIT currently owns and operates a portfolio of 46 commercial properties consisting of approximately 3.7 million square feet in urban and select strategic secondary markets across Canada focusing on long term leases with government and credit-rated tenants. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for True North Commercial REIT Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for True North Commercial REIT and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. BetterLife Pharma (OTCMKTS:BETRF Get Free Report) and Acerus Pharmaceuticals (OTCMKTS:TRLPF Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and analyst recommendations. Profitability This table compares BetterLife Pharma and Acerus Pharmaceuticals net margins, return on equity and return on assets. Get BetterLife Pharma alerts: Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets BetterLife Pharma N/A N/A -1,794.23% Acerus Pharmaceuticals -254.66% -346.72% -94.54% Volatility & Risk BetterLife Pharma has a beta of 1.42, meaning that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Acerus Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 2.6, meaning that its stock price is 160% more volatile than the S&P 500. Analyst Recommendations Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score BetterLife Pharma 0 0 0 0 N/A Acerus Pharmaceuticals 0 0 0 0 N/A This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for BetterLife Pharma and Acerus Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.com. Earnings & Valuation This table compares BetterLife Pharma and Acerus Pharmaceuticals revenue, earnings per share and valuation. Gross Revenue Price/Sales Ratio Net Income Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Ratio BetterLife Pharma N/A N/A -$6.90 million ($0.06) -0.90 Acerus Pharmaceuticals $7.38 million 7.71 -$18.79 million ($0.08) -2.75 BetterLife Pharma has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Acerus Pharmaceuticals. Acerus Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BetterLife Pharma, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. Institutional & Insider Ownership 0.0% of Acerus Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 34.8% of BetterLife Pharma shares are held 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. Summary BetterLife Pharma beats Acerus Pharmaceuticals on 6 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks. About BetterLife Pharma (Get Free Report) BetterLife Pharma Inc., a biotechnology company, engages in the development and commercialization of compounds for the treatment of mental disorders in Canada. It is also involved in refining and developing drug candidates from a set of complementary interferon-based technologies that have the potential to engage the immune system to fight virus infections. The company's products pipeline includes BETR-001 for the treatment of major depressive disorder, anxiety, and neuropathic pain and other neuro-psychiatric and neurological disorders; and BETR-002 to treat benzodiazepine dependency, anxiety, and neurodegenerative disorders. It is also developing MM-003, which has completed Phase II clinical trials for treatment of COVID-19 and other respiratory viral infections; and MM-001, a topical cream for local intravaginal use to treat HPV-induced cervical intraepithelial neoplasia that has completed Phase II clinical trials. The company was formerly known as Pivot Pharmaceuticals Inc. and changed its name to BetterLife Pharma Inc. in December 2019. BetterLife Pharma Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. About Acerus Pharmaceuticals (Get Free Report) Acerus Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a specialty pharmaceutical company, focuses on the development, manufacture, marketing, and distribution of pharmaceutical products for men's and women's health. The company offers Natesto, a nasal gel for testosterone replacement therapy in adult males diagnosed with hypogonadism; Estrace, an oral tablet for the symptomatic relief of menopausal symptoms; and UriVarx, a natural health product that helps reduce symptoms of hyperactive bladder, such as daytime urinary frequency, urgency, and nocturia. It also engages in developing Lidbree, a short acting lidocaine formulation delivered through a proprietary device into the vaginal mucosal tissue; Stendra, a PDE5 inhibitor for the treatment of erectile dysfunction; Elegant vaginal moisturizer, which provides comfort to women suffering from vaginal dryness; and Elegant pH, a pH balanced vaginal product; Gynoflor, an ultra-low dose vaginal estrogen combined with a probiotic for the treatment of vaginal atrophy, restoration of vaginal flora, and treatment of certain vaginal infections; and Tefina, a clinical stage product for women with female sexual dysfunction. Acerus Pharmaceuticals Corporation sells products through its salesforce in Canada; and through a network of licensed distributors in the United States and internationally. The company was formerly known as Trimel Pharmaceuticals Corporation and changed its name to Acerus Pharmaceuticals Corporation in September 2015. Acerus Pharmaceuticals Corporation was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Mississauga, Canada. Receive News & Ratings for BetterLife Pharma Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for BetterLife Pharma and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of Moderate Buy from the nine ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $99.27. A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ADM. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $83.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Roth Mkm started coverage on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland in a research report on Thursday, June 22nd. They set a buy rating and a $92.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. Get Archer-Daniels-Midland alerts: Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Archer-Daniels-Midland Insiders Place Their Bets Hedge Funds Weigh In On Archer-Daniels-Midland In other Archer-Daniels-Midland news, insider Fruit Molly L. Strader sold 1,455 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.80, for a total value of $126,294.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,809 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $938,221.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link . Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the companys stock. Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 63,476.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 7,555,392 shares of the companys stock valued at $570,885,000 after buying an additional 7,543,508 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter valued at $525,111,000. Providence Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 1st quarter valued at $58,266,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 4th quarter valued at $369,091,000. Finally, BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 7.6% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 47,965,394 shares of the companys stock worth $3,820,923,000 after purchasing an additional 3,391,054 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.13% of the companys stock. Archer-Daniels-Midland Trading Down 0.7 % ADM opened at $85.85 on Monday. Archer-Daniels-Midland has a fifty-two week low of $69.92 and a fifty-two week high of $98.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.63 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.46, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.82. The companys 50 day moving average price is $78.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.62. Archer-Daniels-Midland (NYSE:ADM Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The company reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $25.19 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.82 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 4.14% and a return on equity of 17.52%. The companys revenue for the quarter was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.15 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Archer-Daniels-Midland will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current year. Archer-Daniels-Midland Announces Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 16th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 15th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. Archer-Daniels-Midlands dividend payout ratio is presently 24.03%. About Archer-Daniels-Midland (Get Free Report Archer-Daniels-Midland Company procures, transports, stores, processes, and merchandises agricultural commodities, products, and ingredients in the United States, Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Ag Services and Oilseeds, Carbohydrate Solutions, and Nutrition. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Archer-Daniels-Midland Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Archer-Daniels-Midland and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Gerald Katabazi, a Ugandan coffee businessman, checks on a batch of freshly roasted coffee beans at his coffee roastery in Kampala, Uganda on Aug. 7, 2023. (Photo by Hajarah Nalwadda/Xinhua) KAMPALA, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Delegates from Africa's 25 coffee-producing countries are meeting in the Ugandan capital of Kampala with the aim of influencing the African Union to make coffee a priority crop on the continent that will pull millions of people out of poverty. Experts argue that once the continent's political leadership understands the power of coffee in transforming economies, it will bolster the continent's efforts to internally trade the "strategic commodity" but also speak with a united force on the international market. The meeting, dubbed the 2nd G-25 Heads of State Africa Coffee Summit, is convening from Aug. 7 to Aug. 10 under the theme "Transforming the African Coffee Sector through Value Addition," which is in line with the theme of the 2023 African Union agenda that focuses on accelerating the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Ezra Suruma, Uganda's former finance minister and an economist, told Xinhua in a recent interview that the 25 coffee-producing countries meeting together to speak with one voice is a major step in efforts to influence the international market. "Coming together like for example petroleum countries have been coming together and influencing, we would also have more influence on the product that we have," Suruma said. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said at the meeting that Africa is losing a lot of income to the international market that continues to prefer taking coffee in its raw form. He told the delegates that out of the 460-billion-U.S.-dollar global coffee value, the coffee-producing countries only take 25 billion dollars and Africa gets only 2.4 billion dollars. "A non-coffee producing country like Germany earns 6.85 billion dollars!! This is part of the iniquities of the present global parasitic system," Museveni said. The president said Africa must stop exporting products in their raw form but add value so that they can fetch more foreign exchange that can be used to fast track development. Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde urged international coffee trading companies to support coffee-producing African farmers technically and financially in the value-addition process. Zewde said Africa should have a united and coordinated promotion of African coffee and fair price for the product in the global market. Solomon Rutega, secretary general of the Inter-African Coffee Organization, said the coffee-producing countries have embarked on urging the non-coffee-producing countries to buy from them. He said there are talks with South Africa which largely buys its coffee from Brazil, adding that countries in the Maghreb region including Algeria and Morocco have been urged to buy coffee directly from Africa instead of buying from Europe. Rutega said Africa is also looking at emerging markets like China where it can sell coffee as a finished product. Gerald Katabazi, a Ugandan coffee businessman said all efforts made to boost coffee earnings are good at the policy level but countries need to take an extra step to address the logistical challenges that the traders face. Also, countries still have many non-tariff barriers which affect trade, he said. Rutega is optimistic that the coming into force of the AfCFTA agreement will help address some of the non-tariff barriers. The World Bank estimates that the AfCFTA will increase Africa's income by 450 billion dollars by 2035 and increase intra-African exports by more than 81 percent. According to the UN Economic Commission for Africa, this single market trade agreement will enable the African economy to reach the 29-trillion-dollar mark by 2050. This photo taken on Aug. 7, 2023 shows samples of raw coffee beans at a local coffee roastery created by Gerald Katabazi in Kampala, Uganda. (Photo by Hajarah Nalwadda/Xinhua) Ezra Suruma, Uganda's former finance minister and an economist, speaks to Xinhua on the sidelines of the 2nd G-25 Heads of State Africa Coffee Summit in Kampala, Uganda on Aug. 7, 2023. (Photo by Hajarah Nalwadda/Xinhua) Workers roast coffee beans with a machine at the coffee roastery created by Gerald Katabazi in Kampala, Uganda on Aug. 7, 2023. (Photo by Hajarah Nalwadda/Xinhua) This photo taken on Aug. 7, 2023 shows coffee beans in roasting process at a local coffee roastery created by Gerald Katabazi in Kampala, Uganda. (Photo by Hajarah Nalwadda/Xinhua) This undated file photo shows a fishing boat equipped with light products of Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. (FSL) is one of the competitive lighting brands in China, providing full-range professional lighting solutions. The company has been actively engaging in the innovation of science and technology. Its lighting products have been applied to the deep-sea manned submersible, cultivation and aquaculture, and new energy vehicle manufacturing. (Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd./Handout via Xinhua) A staff member inspects a light module applied to new energy vehicles at a production base of Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. in Foshan, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 9, 2023. Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. (FSL) is one of the competitive lighting brands in China, providing full-range professional lighting solutions. The company has been actively engaging in the innovation of science and technology. Its lighting products have been applied to the deep-sea manned submersible, cultivation and aquaculture, and new energy vehicle manufacturing. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei) A lighting product is used to promote growth of succulent plants at an exhibition hall of Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. in Foshan, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 8, 2023. Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. (FSL) is one of the competitive lighting brands in China, providing full-range professional lighting solutions. The company has been actively engaging in the innovation of science and technology. Its lighting products have been applied to the deep-sea manned submersible, cultivation and aquaculture, and new energy vehicle manufacturing. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei) This photo taken on Aug. 9, 2023 shows industry robots working at a production base of Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. in Foshan, south China's Guangdong Province. Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. (FSL) is one of the competitive lighting brands in China, providing full-range professional lighting solutions. The company has been actively engaging in the innovation of science and technology. Its lighting products have been applied to the deep-sea manned submersible, cultivation and aquaculture, and new energy vehicle manufacturing. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei) A staff member operates industry robots at a production base of Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. in Foshan, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 9, 2023. Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. (FSL) is one of the competitive lighting brands in China, providing full-range professional lighting solutions. The company has been actively engaging in the innovation of science and technology. Its lighting products have been applied to the deep-sea manned submersible, cultivation and aquaculture, and new energy vehicle manufacturing. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei) Lighting equipment of airport runway is displayed at an exhibition hall of Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. in Foshan, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 8, 2023. Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. (FSL) is one of the competitive lighting brands in China, providing full-range professional lighting solutions. The company has been actively engaging in the innovation of science and technology. Its lighting products have been applied to the deep-sea manned submersible, cultivation and aquaculture, and new energy vehicle manufacturing. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei) Members of a research and development team of Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. discuss an innovation scheme about LED applied to the deep-sea manned submersible Fendouzhe (Striver) in Foshan, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 8, 2023. Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. (FSL) is one of the competitive lighting brands in China, providing full-range professional lighting solutions. The company has been actively engaging in the innovation of science and technology. Its lighting products have been applied to the deep-sea manned submersible, cultivation and aquaculture, and new energy vehicle manufacturing. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei) Staff members work at a production base of Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. in Foshan, south China's Guangdong Province, Aug. 9, 2023. Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co., Ltd. (FSL) is one of the competitive lighting brands in China, providing full-range professional lighting solutions. The company has been actively engaging in the innovation of science and technology. Its lighting products have been applied to the deep-sea manned submersible, cultivation and aquaculture, and new energy vehicle manufacturing. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei) WELLINGTON, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) published the stress test scenario on Thursday to test the ability of the country's largest banks to withstand climate-related challenges. The stress tests are run each year to assess the banks' resilience, making sure they have enough capital to withstand severe shocks, while being able to continue supporting the economy, said RBNZ Deputy Governor Christian Hawkesby. In the case of the climate stress test, the main purpose is to improve banks' capability to manage climate-related risks, Hawkesby said. "Climate change is already impacting the global economy and the risks are expected to intensify," he said, citing the severe weather events in New Zealand's North Island earlier this year as examples of climate change playing out locally. "Globally, we are seeing the extreme climate crises other countries are dealing with," Hawkesby said. He said the RBNZ has a role to play in helping the financial industry prepare for the growing physical and transition risks that climate change poses, he said, adding that the climate stress test will indicate how climate risks may play out in the banking sector and help build the capability to manage those risks. The 2023 scenario, titled "Too Little Too Late," was developed in consultation with the participating banks in New Zealand, such as the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, ASB Bank, Bank of New Zealand, Kiwibank and Westpac, as well as climate experts. Banks have until the end of this year to determine their exposure to climate-related risks by modeling the effects of the scenario on their balance sheets out to 2050. An aggregate report will be published on how the banks performed next year, Hawkesby said. Non-participating banks and other financial institutions may find the scenario helpful as they consider and develop their responses to climate risks, he said. Tipperary nursing home residents will participate in a special national music performance to mark Nursing Homes Week 2023. The Music Speaks broadcast, to take place Monday 21 August, will encompass performances from over 100 nursing home residents from over 30 nursing homes. Featuring from county Tipperary will be residents and staff from St Marthas, Cahir. Their performances will encompass: Rivers of Bablylon a collective performance by residents and staff Boys from the County Armagh Resident Joan Ryan will sing with Margaret Childs, Healthcare Assistant Its a Long Way to Tipperary Resident Marie McGrath will be singing At the End of the Day Resident Joan Ryan will sing Staff member Christine Harding (Healthcare Assistant) will recite a staff reflection Nursing homes in county Tipperary and across the country will be hosting music-themed celebrations Monday 21st to Sunday 27th August to mark Nursing Homes Week 2023. The Music Speaks performance will be broadcast to over 400 nursing homes with 25,000 residents across the country and available for the broader public to watch via NHI.ie. It features renditions of classics such as Danny Boy, Molly Malone, When Irish Eyes Are Smiling, Cant Help Falling in Love, You Are My Sunshine, Que Sera, Sera, intertwined with performances by residents of different instruments, including piano, accordion, bodhran. The Music Speaks performance is a highlight of the broader online Music Speaks festival which will mark the national celebration of nursing home care. The Music Speaks festival will include performances from Mobile Music Machine with Niamh Kavanagh, Sive, Ross Scanlon performs John McCormack, John Spillane. Further, performances from the Irish Traditional Music Archive will be opened up to nursing home residents and an online discussion will be hosted discussing the impact of music on nursing home residents. Tadhg Daly, Nursing Homes Ireland CEO states: We are thrilled to have brought together a very special performance of nursing home residents to mark Nursing Homes Week 2023 and our Music Speaks festival. Nursing homes are home to truly very special people, who are tremendous characters and have a rich legacy in song and music. Our Music Speaks performance encompasses one resident who is 100 years of age playing accordion, a 98-year-old delivering an excellent piano solo, a 95-year old singing Boys from the County Armagh. Residents love to sing and perform and the Music Speaks extravaganza honours the talents of the very special people in our society who are nursing home residents. Music fulfils an absolutely integral role in nursing home care, providing comfort to residents, stimulating memories, bringing them together, and it gives great joy and happiness. The festival we have created is truly unique, bringing residents together for a very special range of performances and events over the course of a week. It will feature outstanding performers who supported nursing home residents during Covid19, a trip down memory lane for residents via the Irish Traditional Music Archive, and a discussion on the impact of music in our nursing homes. We wish residents and staff a very happy Nursing Homes Week 2023. BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- China opposes the U.S. deployment of cyber forces in China's neighboring countries and condemns the U.S. disinformation campaign, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday when asked to comment on U.S. cyber theft targeting Japan. According to WikiLeaks, the United States carried out cyber theft against 35 Japanese targets, including some members of the Japanese cabinet. The spokesperson said the U.S. government has not only carried out large-scale, systematic and indiscriminatory cyber theft against other countries in the world, but also attempted recently to deploy cyber forces to relevant countries in the name of capacity-building cooperation to infiltrate these countries' cyber system. The U.S. has even resorted to media and other forms of disinformation of so-called "Chinese hackers" in order to induce or coerce relevant countries, particularly those around China, to receive U.S. cyber force deployment, which is akin to "inviting a wolf into their house," given the fact that the U.S. leads the world in hacking technology, the spokesperson said. "This not only endangers their own cybersecurity, but also turn themselves into a bridgehead or springboard for U.S. government's cyber attacks against China without their knowledge," the spokesperson added. Noting that cyber military forces are different from conventional military forces, the spokesperson said they are strategically important. The nature of U.S. deployment of cyber forces is no different from deploying intermediate-range missiles and anti-missile systems next to China, the spokesperson said, adding that the move is essentially tying China's neighbors to the chariot of the U.S., which gravely harms China's strategic security interest and can easily cause major risks of miscalculation. "We hope the international community, in particular China's neighbors, will judge for themselves what the true intentions of the U.S. are," the spokesperson said. [August 10, 2023] Investing in the Next Generation of Talent: Schwab Announces Registered Investment Advisor Talent Advantage Student Scholarship Recipients Tweet Schwab Advisor Services and Charles Schwab Foundation announced today the 12 recipients of its 2023 Registered Investment Advisor Talent Advantage (RIATA) Student Scholarship. In its third year, the scholarship aims to provide the next generation of talent with the opportunity to further enrich their learnings and curiosities about the advisory profession by increasing access to the industry. In addition to receiving a $10,000 scholarship for the 2023-2024 academic year, each student will also be matched with a mentor who will share their experiences and provide them with knowledge that will help to empower their futures. This year, over 470 students attending universities across the country applied for the RIATA Scholarship. Of the completed applications, 62% are from underrepresented populations, a 25% increase from last year. "We are proud to continue the tradition of supporting university students in more ways than one," said Sherri Trombley, director of Business Consulting & Education for Schwab Advisor Services. "By reducing financial barriers and providing students with hands-on mentorship, we are fueling the future of the industry and increasing opportunities for students of underrepresented backgrounds." The scholarship applications are vetted by individuals who are RIA firm leaders serving on Schwab's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Advocacy Board. These individuals are actively leading efforts at their firms to cultivate an inclusive workplace, attract and develop differentiated talent, and champion diversity in the marketplace and their local communities. The recipients of the 2023 RIA Talent Advantage Scholarship are: Annelyse Gould, Pepperdine University, Sophomore Ansley Nicolaus, University of North Florida, Senior Elysa Flores, The University of Texas at Austin, Junior Grant Van Winkle, The Ohio State University, Senior Jane Dunlap, Calvin University, Senior Jessica Wilhite, Utah Valley University, Senior Marvin Davies, The Ohio State University, Senior Natalia Arriaga, Winthrop University, Senior Nathan Redman-Brown, George Fox University, Senior Rachel Clayberg, University of Northern Iowa, Junior Ria Karcherla, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Senior Riley Siltman, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Junior "Winning this scholarship validates my dedication and passion for making a positive impact on people's financial lives. As a member of underrepresented groups, I aim to be a role model, promoting diversity and inclusion in the RIA industry. This scholarship sets an example for future talent, showing that opportunities within the RIA industry are available for everyone. I am committed to contributing to a more inclusive RIA industry, where diverse perspectives drive innovation and better serve clients," said Ria Karcherla, scholarship recipient and Senior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. According to the recently released 2023 RIA Benchmarking Study, recruiting staff remained a top strategic priority for firms of all sizes. Last year, 37% of firms hired from colleges and universities, the highest category percentage in the study's seventeen-year history. "The increased level of interest and commitment from RIA firms to work with talent new to the workforce shwcases why the RIATA scholarship is increasingly important. It is another reason why we are dedicated to helping provide students with the right tools for establishing a career," said Trombley. Schwab is committed to elevating the voices of next generation of leaders from all different backgrounds, communities, and experiences. The RIATA Scholarship and other established programs allow Schwab to have an active hand in supporting the education of the future of the industry. This year, 80 students are attending the Student Program at Schwab's 2023 IMPACT Conference to network with advisors and other students, attend speaking sessions, and get to experience first-hand the industry at work. To learn more about the scholarship recipients or how to apply for next year's scholarship, visit: RIA Talent Advantage Student Scholarship | Schwab Advisor Services. About Charles Schwab At Charles Schwab we believe in the power of investing to help individuals create a better tomorrow. We have a history of challenging the status quo in our industry, innovating in ways that benefit investors and the advisors and employers who serve them, and championing our clients' goals with passion and integrity. More information is available at www.aboutschwab.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn. About Charles Schwab Foundation Charles Schwab Foundation is a private, nonprofit organization funded by The Charles Schwab Corporation. Its mission is to create positive change through financial education, philanthropy, and volunteerism. Charles Schwab Foundation is classified by the IRS as a charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Foundation is neither a part of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. nor its parent company, The Charles Schwab Corporation. Disclosures Through its operating subsidiaries, The Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE: SCHW) provides a full range of securities brokerage, banking, money management and financial advisory services to individual investors and independent investment advisors. Its broker-dealer subsidiary, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (member SIPC, www.sipc.org), and affiliates offer a complete range of investment services and products including an extensive selection of mutual funds; financial planning and investment advice; retirement plan and equity compensation plan services; compliance and trade monitoring solutions; referrals to independent fee-based investment advisors; and custodial, operational and trading support for independent, fee-based investment advisors through Schwab Advisor Services. Its banking subsidiary, Charles Schwab Bank (member FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender), provides banking and lending services and products. More information is available at www.schwab.com and www.aboutschwab.com. TD Ameritrade Institutional, Division of TD Ameritrade, Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, a subsidiary of The Charles Schwab Corporation. TD Ameritrade is a trademark jointly owned by TD Ameritrade IP Company, Inc. and The Toronto-Dominion Bank. Schwab Advisor Services serves independent investment advisors and includes the custody, trading, and support of Schwab. Independent investment advisors are not owned by, affiliated with, or supervised by Schwab. For informational purposes only. 2022 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. ("Schwab") All rights reserved. Member SIPC. (0823-3BE4) View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810076936/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 09, 2023] Purple Rewards: A Dual-Purpose Loyalty Rewards Platform and Employee Benefits Programme Tweet SINGAPORE, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Purple Rewards has a welcome gift for all new users! When they download Purple Rewards on iOS (https://apps.apple.com/sg/app/purple-rewards/id1634147303) or Android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.purplerewards.app&hl=en&gl=US), users automatically receive Purple Points to spend at any Purple merchant. Welcome to a whole new world of rewards, all in your pocket! Affinite is proud to announce the launch of Purple Rewards (https://www.purplerewards.co), a loyalty rewards platform that functions as an employee benefits programme as well. Thousands of exciting rewards from different merchants await in the Purple ecosystem, which comes completely free for users, employers, and employees. S$100 in Purple Points will be automatically added to a user's account when they download Purple Rewards and register for an account. These points can be used to redeem vouchers that discount purchases, maximizing savings for users on Purple Rewards. During the launch period, users will get to enjoy exclusive and stackable points and cash-based vouchers from Purple Rewards' merchants. This means greater discounts on services and products for everyone! Users are also welcome to follow Purple Rewards on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/purplerewards/) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/profile.phpid=100083828225488) to stay updated with new offers. Double the Rewards, Double the Joy! Users will never run out of points to spend with Purple Rewards' unique 2X points-back system! Whenever a user redeems Purple Points to discount their purchases, they earn back double the number of points spent. Accumulated points can be used to offset future purchases, which equates to more cost-savings for Purple users. Say Goodbye to Indecisiveness If users are unsure of where to dine or what activities to do, they can leverage on Purple Rewards' geotagging capabilities to discover nearest merchants in the vicinity. That means no more endless debates with friends and family on the day's menu or agenda! Be the First to Hear Exclusive Scoops on Megazine In conjunction with Purple Rewards, Affinite is also launching a digital magazine aptly named Megazine (https://www.megazine.co) to put out ideas for employees to enjoy a better quality of life. Readers will be the first to access knowledge, tools, resources, and tips and tricks for employees. As the working adult's ultimate lifestyle companion, Megazine's wide range of content helps readers live their best life both in and out of work. Readers might want to keep their eyes peeled there might be the occasional special voucher, event, or promotion from Purple Rewards specifically for Megazine readers. Why Purple? Why Megazine? Over the past few years, a burgeoning gap has grown between what employees seek and what employers offer. Employees have developed specific expectations of their ideal employer and the value propositions they should offer, while most employers have maintained the status quo. In these times, employees want to work for organisations that support their journey to a better quality of life. The key to unlocking that? Better benefits, for a better workplace. That is why Affinite launched Purple Rewards and Megazine. Both bridge the gap between employees and employers to make the everyday working adult's life all that much better. Join Purple Rewards as an Employer or Merchant For employers looking to provide insurance coverage and lifestyle benefits to employees, Purple Rewards might just be what they are looking for. When organisations choose Affinite to manage their corporate benefit plans, Purple Rewards matches the value of their portfolio and reimburses this amount to the organisation's employees via the application. For free. Employers will get to double the value of the insurance portfolio without paying a single cent for Purple Rewards, while employees get to choose the benefits that will improve their quality of life, alongside enjoying additional perks such as birthday cash vouchers. Everybody wins! Affinite works closely with different insurance companies to create holistic and unique solutions tailor-made for organisations, fortifying the insurance protection that companies enjoy and giving them the best value for their money with Purple Rewards. Interested to find out more? Drop the Purple team an email at [email protected]. For employees who are interested in introducing Purple Rewards to their organisation, they can head to Purple Rewards' website (https://www.purplerewards.co/nominate-your-employer) to kickstart a link-up between their human resources department and the Purple team. As thanks, an additional S$10 in Purple Points will be given to those who do so. The Purple team would be more than happy to share with merchants about how Purple Rewards can help their brand grow. If merchants would like to find out more, they can send an email to [email protected]. Happy tapping! CONTACT: Clement Ong, [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/purple-rewards-a-dual-purpose-loyalty-rewards-platform-and-employee-benefits-programme-301895184.html SOURCE Affinite Solutions Pte Ltd [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 09, 2023] Eddid Financial and Anfin Forge Strategic Partnership to Revolutionize Fintech and Financial Service in Vietnam Tweet HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Eddid Financial ("Eddid" or the "Group"), an all-encompassing financial group centered around fintech, has joined forces with AF Services Company Limited ("Anfin"), a leading online trading platform in Vietnam to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU"). This strategic partnership aims to jointly expand the fintech and investor ecosystem in Vietnam. The partnership will leverage Anfin's leading investor trading platform in Vietnam and Eddid Financial's flagship trading app, Eddid ONE, to create a synergistic blend of financial services and technology. It will also integrate the current Anfin app and Eddid Financial's new investment focused social network app, ViV, thereby broadening asset classes and market information available to users. The two parties have solidifies their intention to establish a joint venture in Vietnam to introduce Eddid's fintech solutions, products and systems to the Vietnamese market. Anfin is Vietnam's premier trading platform offering a wide range of services including stock market information, investor ducation, and investment recommendations. It has been a pioneer in democratizing financial knowledge and investment opportunities in Vietnam. "We are pleased to partner with Anfin and bring our cutting-edge fintech solutions to the Vietnamese marketplace," said Dr. Jerry Tse, CEO of Eddid Financial. "This partnership will unlock international markets for Vietnamese investors, further extending our financial presence in emerging economies." Following its recent alliance with MPay in Malaysia, this move underscores Eddid's determination to strengthening its presence in Southeast Asia and expanding its footprint in this fast-growing market. This is a testament to Eddid's dedication to deliver innovative financial services beyond boundaries. About Eddid Financial Anchored in Hong Kong, Eddid Financial is an all-encompassing financial group centered around fintech and dedicated to integrating cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies and other latest technologies into its enterprise DNA. The diversified businesses of Eddid Financial range from retail to institutional and include but are not limited to fintech, internet finance, wealth management, asset management, investment banking, and virtual assets. Eddid Financial is committed to providing one-stop financial services and products to customers through high-quality investment solutions. Members of the Group hold a variety of licenses and memberships across key financial markets, including Hong Kong SAR and the United States. These include Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) regulated activities ("RA") licenses for types 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 9; SEHK and HKCC participant (OTP-C broker number: 0974 and 0977), Insurance Broker Company license; Trust or Company Service Provider License in Hong Kong; as well as approved membership with the National Futures Association (NFA) in the United States and registered broker dealer of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). For further information on Eddid Financial, please visit www.Eddid.com.hk. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/eddid-financial-and-anfin-forge-strategic-partnership-to-revolutionize-fintech-and-financial-service-in-vietnam-301897443.html SOURCE Eddid Financial [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 09, 2023] PDRL and DroneAcharya joining forces to cultivate expertise on AeroMegh Platform; Empowering Professionals in the Drone Industry Revolution Tweet NASHIK, India, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- PDRL, a frontrunner in the software industry, is pleased to unveil a pioneering certification initiative designed for the AeroMegh platform, poised to redefine the landscape of the drone sector. In the wake of the exponential proliferation of drones and their diverse applications, the requirement for adept professionals capable of fully leveraging this technology's potential is on a swift rise. The convergence of PDRL's AeroMegh platform and its extensive certification program serves as a catalyst, arming professionals with the essential expertise and competencies requisite for success within this ever-evolving domain. AeroMegh, presented as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, presents an all-encompassing solution that seamlessly manages the entire drone data lifecycle, flight operations, data capture, processing, and data analytics. The platform's potency enables users to streamline intricate tasks effectively, resulting in substantial time and resource savings. PDRL's certification program, thoughtfully designed, extends a valuable opportunity to professionals, enabling them to delve into the intricate nuances of AeroMegh. This immersive experience facilitates the acquisition of profound expertise, imparting a distinct competitive edge within the industry landscape. PDRL takes pride in its pivotal role within the ongoing revolution in the drone industry, marked by a remarkable achievement: over half of all drone manufacturers are type-certified with AeroGCS, while AeroGCS GREEN, an integral facet of the AeroMegh suite, has earned type-certification for over 75% of agriculture drones. This evident adoption underscores the substantial demand for adept resources. In response to this burgeoning demand, PDRL has meticulously crafted a certification program tailored to amplify technical knowledge and competencies within the burgeoning drone ecosystem. Enrollees in this program gain hands-on exposure to the AeroMegh platform, acquiring proficiency in its multifaceted functionalities and applications. Upon successful completion, participants are bestowed with the esteemed PDRL certified drone professional designation, thereby establishing a clear distinction that set them apart within their professional circle. The certification program covers all aspects of drone operations, including flying, data capture, processing, and analysis. Participants receive practical training to navigate the complexities of the drone industry successfully. PDRL's certification serves as a seal of approval, confirming that professionals possess the necessary expertise and dedication to excel in the fast-paced and rapidly evolving drone industry. In order to ensure the broad accessibility of this program, PDRL has established a strategic alliance with DroneAcharya. Renowned for its prowess in drone services, training, manufacturing, and automation, DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations Limited emerges as a comprehensive drone solution provider. Operating from its headquarters in Pune, Maharashtra, DroneAcharya is a certified DGCA drone pilot training institution with established centers in both Maharashtra and Gujarat. Bolstered by a team of technology connoisseurs, they offer a tailored array of Industrial and Enterprise solutions catering to Agriculture, Mining, Energy, Infrastructure, Utilities, and Defense sectors. Fueled by a commitment to excellence and an innovative ethos, DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations Limited stands tall as a credible DGCA-approved drone pilot training organization, dedicated to furnishing its clients with accurate and dependable data solutions. Their unwavering pursuit of excellence and pioneering spirit propelled them to be the first Indian drone startup to go public and attain a listing on the BSE-SME exchange. Through this dynamic collaboration with DroneAcharya, the program's outreach will be amplified, enabling professionals from diverse backgrounds and regions to leverage PDRL's expertise to the fullest extent. PDRL's AeroMegh platform and certification program are at the forefront of empowering professionals in the drone industry revolution. As the industry continues to expand, the demand for skilled individuals becomes increasingly vital. PDRL's vision and dedication to transforming drone data into actionable insights are evident in its comprehensive certification program. This milestone represents PDRL's commitment to shaping the future of the drone industry and offers immense value to aspiring professionals and investors alike. "We understand the importance of skilled resources, and quality training by experienced personnel is an assured way of arming today's workforce. Through our association with PDRL, we aim to provide an end-to-end training for drone mapping and data handling, and enable drone professionals to carry out quality services across industries," said Prateek Srivastava, Founder and Managing Director at DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations Limited. Anil Chandaliya, Chief Executive Officer at PDRL mentioned that, "PDRL is on the path of certifying 10,000 professionals on the AeroMegh platform. Joining hands with DroneAcharya will surely help achieve this goal faster. Both of us will create skilled resources faster and generate more jobs in the industry to make India a Drone Hub by 2030." About PDRL: PDRL stands as a prominent software enterprise committed to driving transformation within the drone industry. At the heart of its endeavours is the AeroMegh platform, a comprehensive solution that seamlessly transforms raw drone data into actionable insights. Accompanied by an all-encompassing certification program, PDRL empowers professionals by equipping them with the requisite knowledge and skills to thrive within the rapidly evolving drone sector. Underscoring its dedication to innovation, PDRL remains at the forefront of technological advancement through strategic partnerships and the incorporation of cutting-edge methodologies. This concerted effort positions PDRL as a pioneering force, actively shaping the trajectory of the industry and its future potential. Media Contact: [email protected] +91 7028688858 View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/pdrl-and-droneacharya-joining-forces-to-cultivate-expertise-on-aeromegh-platform-empowering-professionals-in-the-drone-industry-revolution-301896924.html [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 09, 2023] Rainbow Children's Hospital's (RCML) Strong Performance Continues: Q1 Sees 21.1% YoY Growth Tweet HYDERABAD, India, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Rainbow Children's Medicare Limited (RCML), a leading multi-specialty pediatric and perinatal care hospital chain in India, announces its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 202324, ending on June 30th, 2023. The company shows robust operational and financial performance throughout the first quarter of fiscal year FY2324, with sustained progress, as demonstrated by growth in key operational metrics such as outpatient footfalls, inpatient volumes, and delivery numbers. This momentum builds on the successes achieved during the previous fiscal year, which ended on March 31st, 2023. Speaking on the performance of the company for Q1, FY202324, Dr Ramesh Kancharla, the Chairman and Managing Director, Rainbow Children's Medicare Ltd., said, "First quarter of the fiscal year 202324 saw revenues of Rs. 2,871.7 mn, which is a growth of 21.1% compared to Rs. 2,371.5 mn in Q1 FY23. Additionally, The EBIDTA for Q1 FY24 was Rs. 877.0 mn, which is a growth of 6.8% compared to Rs. 820.9 mn in Q1 FY23, and the PAT for Q1 FY24 was Rs. 414.9 mn, which is a growth of 7.0% compared to Rs. 387.6 mn in Q1 FY23." "It is an overwhelming momet that The Joint Commission International (JCI) has awarded its prestigious 'Gold Seal of Quality Approval' to the hub hospital in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad. As a result, the company now has two hospitals that have JCI accreditation. The accreditation recognizes the hospital's dedication to delivering exceptional healthcare services to global quality and safety standards," added, Dr Ramesh. On the project expansion, he says, "Project work for new hospitals at Central Hyderabad (~60 beds), Sarjapur, Bengaluru (~80 Beds), and Anna Nagar, Chennai (~80 beds) and a new block adjacent to Rainbow Hydernagar, Hyderabad (~50 beds) is progressing well, and these hospitals are expected to commence operations during the second half of the current financial year. With this expansion, the company would add 270 beds in the current financial year." "Additionally, project work for the spoke hospital at Hennur, Bangalore (~60 beds) and the regional spoke hospital at Rajahmundry (~100 beds) is progressing well and is expected to be completed in the next 1518 months. Subsequent to the quarter, the company has signed an agreement to lease a greenfield (~100 beds) spoke hospital in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu." "All the above hospitals are strategically located and will make an important part of the Rainbow network in the respective states." "The company remains focused on the timely execution and commencement of the projects proposed for the current financial year." The company remains committed to fulfilling its mission of delivering excellent multi-disciplinary pediatric and perinatal care and strives to enhance its service offerings by making consistent improvements," mentioned Dr Ramesh Kancharla. For further details, click here: https://www.rainbowhospitals.in/investors-relations/quarterly-results Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2182675/RCH_YoY.jpg Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2076175/RCH_Logo.jpg View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/rainbow-childrens-hospitals-rcml-strong-performance-continues-q1-sees-21-1-yoy-growth-301897088.html [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Sosei Heptares and Cancer Research UK Announce the Dosing of the First Patient in a Phase I/IIa Trial with Cancer Immunotherapy Drug HTL0039732 Tweet HTL0039732 is a novel EP4 antagonist designed by Sosei Heptares with potential to treat a wide range of cancers in combination with other immunotherapies Tokyo, Japan, London and Cambridge, UK, 10 August 2023 Sosei Group Corporation (the Company; TSE: 4565), the world-leader in GPCR-focused structure-based drug design (SBDD) and development, and Cancer Research UK, the worlds largest independent funder of cancer research, today announce that the first patient has been dosed in a Phase I/IIa clinical trial evaluating Sosei Heptares orally available small molecule cancer immunotherapy drug HTL0039732 for advanced solid tumors. HTL0039732 works by blocking signalling through a specific type of prostaglandin receptor, the prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)-type prostanoid receptor 4 (EP4). In cancer, PGE2 acts in the tumor microenvironment to trigger cancer cells to evade the immune system. Targeting EP4 to block the effects of PGE2 increases the ability of the immune system to detect and control cancer cells and makes HTL0039732 a potential candidate to treat patients with cancers that generally do not respond well to current immunotherapies, such as microsatellite stable* colorectal, gastroesophageal, head and neck, and castrate-resistant prostate cancer. Positive results from the trial will bring effective treatment closer to these underserved patient populations. Cancer Research UKs Centre for Drug Development (CDD) is sponsoring, designing and conducting the Phase I/IIa trial with three main objectives: to define the toxicity, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of HTL0039732, to identify the recommended dose for Phase II studies, and to assess its antitumor activity as a monotherapy and in combination with the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab. Phase IIa of the trial will expand the optimal combination dose in up to four cohorts in specified cancer indications. Sosei Heptares holds a license to the results generated under the trial to continue the clinical development and commercialization of HTL0039732. Chief Investigator Dr. Bristi Basu, University of Cambridge, and Co-Chief Investigator Dr. Debashis Sarker, Kings College London, are leading the trial. Patient recruitment has been initiated in the UK at Cambridge University Hospitals and Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trusts, with additional sites across the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) network to open soon. Please refer here for more details on this trial. Matt Barnes, President of Heptares Therapeutics and Head of UK R&D, said: We are very pleased to be collaborating with Cancer Research UK to advance HTL0039732 into clinical development. This novel oral small molecule drug candidate was rationally designed using our SBDD platform and has the potential to become a best-in-class approach to enhance the efficacy of immunotherapies used to treat many cancer patients. Dr. Bristi Basu, University of Cambridge, said: We are excited to be opening a new UK clinical trial using HTL0039732 to target a protein called EP4, a member of the prostaglandin receptor family that has been implicated in creating the immunosuppressive environment which promotes tumor growth in multiple cancer types. By studying HTL0039732 alone and in combination with immunotherapy, we aim to understand more about how to optimize modulation of the immune system to fight cancers. We hope that this EP4-targeting approach will deliver a promising route to improving treatment options for patients with a broad range of cancers. Dr. Nigel Blackburn, Director of Cancer Research UKs CDD, said: We are delighted to have reached this next significant milestone in our partnership with Sosei Heptares. The fac that immunotherapy works for some patients but not others means we desperately need more trials like this to open up potentially life-saving treatment options to more people. The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has granted HTL0039732 an Innovation Passport, the first step in its Innovative and Licensing Access Pathway (ILAP), which aims to improve patient access to new medicines by reducing the time to market. The MHRA grants Innovation Passports to medicines that treat life-threatening or seriously debilitating conditions, and where there is a significant patient or public health need. -ENDS- Notes to editors *Approximately 8085% of colorectal cancer patients are classified as microsatellite stable (MSS), which means they have low instability in short, repeated sequences of DNA in their tumours, known as microsatellites. MSS tumours often exist in an environment that suppresses the immune system and do not respond well to immunotherapies. About the agreement between Cancer Research UK and Sosei Heptares Cancer Research UK and Sosei Heptares signed a Clinical Trial and Licence Agreement in July 2022 to allow Cancer Research UKs Centre for Drug Development (CDD) to sponsor, design and execute a first-in-human Phase I/IIa clinical trial of HTL0039732. Sosei Heptares was responsible for enabling activities and other pre-clinical studies before the trial began and holds a license to the results generated to continue the clinical development and commercialization of the drug. The CDD was responsible for obtaining the Clinical Trial Authorisation. About Cancer Research UKs Centre for Drug Development Cancer Research UK has an impressive record of developing novel treatments for cancer. The Cancer Research UK Centre for Drug Development has been pioneering the development of new cancer treatments for 25 years, taking over 140 potential new anti-cancer agents into clinical trials in patients. It currently has a portfolio of 21 new anti-cancer agents in preclinical development, Phase I or early Phase IIa clinical trials. Six of these new agents have made it to market including temozolomide for brain cancer, abiraterone for prostate cancer and rucaparib for ovarian cancer. Two other drugs are in late development Phase III trials. www.cruk.org.uk/cdd About Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK is the worlds leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research.? Cancer Research UKs pioneering work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives.? Cancer Research UK receives no funding from the UK government for its life-saving research. Every step it makes towards beating cancer relies on vital donations from the public.? Cancer Research UK has been at the heart of the progress that has already seen survival in the UK double in the last 40 years.? Today, 2 in 4 people survive their cancer for at least 10 years. Cancer Research UKs ambition is to accelerate progress so that by 2034, 3 in 4 people will survive their cancer for at least 10 years.? Cancer Research UK supports research into all aspects of cancer through the work of over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses.? Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK's vision is to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.? For further information about Cancer Research UK's work or to find out how to support the charity, please call 0300 123 1022 or visit www.cancerresearchuk.org. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.? About Sosei Heptares Sosei Heptares is a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company focused on bringing life-changing medicines based on world-class science to patients globally. Our vision is to become one of Japans global biopharmaceutical champions. Our global business combines our world-leading GPCR-targeted StaR technology, structure-based drug design and early development capabilities in the UK with a highly experienced clinical development capability and a commercial operation in Japan. We are leveraging these capabilities to generate and advance a broad and deep pipeline of novel medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, including neurology, immunology, gastroenterology and inflammatory diseases. We intend to develop these opportunities for patients in Japan and globally both internally and through our partnerships with global biopharmaceutical companies and emerging technology companies. Sosei Heptares operates from key locations in Tokyo and Osaka (Japan), London and Cambridge (UK) and Seoul (South Korea). Sosei Heptares is the corporate brand and trademark of Sosei Group Corporation, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565). Sosei, Heptares, the logo and StaR are trademarks of Sosei Group companies. For more information, please visit https://soseiheptares.com/ LinkedIn: @soseiheptaresco | Twitter: @soseiheptaresco | YouTube: @soseiheptaresco Enquiries: Sosei Heptares Media and Investor Relations Hironoshin Nomura, Chief Financial Officer Shinichiro Nishishita, VP Investor Relations, Head of Regulatory Disclosures Maya Bennison, Communications Manager +81 (0)3 5210 3399 | +44 (0)1223 949390 | [email protected] MEDiSTRAVA Consulting (for International Media) Mark Swallow, Frazer Hall +44 (0)203 928 6900 | [email protected] Forward-looking statements This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the discovery, development, and commercialization of products. Various risks may cause Sosei Group Corporations actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: adverse results in clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for inventions; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities; and product initiatives by competitors. As a result of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Jaques Sermand Launch Brings Together Watch Enthusiast Through NFT-Powered Community Building Tweet BAAR, SWITZERLAND, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In the world of luxury timepieces, Jaques Sermand stands tall as an iconic brand that not only celebrates the art of watchmaking but also pioneers innovation in the domain of NFTs. By skillfully blending tradition and cutting-edge technology, Jaques Sermand has created a unique community-building approach that brings together watch enthusiasts like never before. In this article let's explores how Jaques Sermand utilizes NFTs to forge a dynamic network of like-minded individuals, fostering engagement, brand loyalty, and exclusivity. A Glimpse into Jaques Sermand's Legacy Jaques Sermand has been a distinguished name in the luxury watch industry for over a century, revered for its Swiss-made timepieces. Each watch is a testament to the brand's unwavering commitment to detail, precision, and quality. The signature craftsmanship of Jaques Sermand timepieces has withstood the test of time, captivating watch connoisseurs and collectors alike. With a rich heritage of horological excellence, Jaques Sermand has continually evolved to stay ahead of the curve while preserving the essence of tradition. Embodying the perfect blend of classic elegance and innovative designs, the brand has amassed a dedicated following of luxury timepiece enthusiasts from all corners of the globe. The Rise of NFTs and the Power of Community Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT), have disrupted various industries, and the luxury market is no exception. These digital certificates of authenticity are built on blockchain technology, ensuring each token is one-of-a-kind and cannot be replicated or forged. NFTs have opened up a world of possibilities, allowing artists, creators, and now watchmakers like Jaques Sermand to offer unique ownership experiences to their customers. One of the most significant advantages of NFTs is the ability to create and nurture communities around a brand or concept. Jaques Sermand has brilliantly harnessed this power by integrating NFT ownership with exclusive access to people passionate about luxury watches and blockchain technology. This community-building approach strengthens brand loyaltyand fosters engagement among enthusiasts. Jaques Sermand's NFT-Powered Community Jaques Sermand's NFT-powered community is more than just a collection of watch owners; it's an exclusive club of individuals who appreciate the intricate artistry, history, and tradition behind luxury timepieces. Customers who purchase a Jaques Sermand NFT/Watch combination gain ownership of an exquisite timepiece and entry into this exclusive community. This community is a platform for interaction where watch enthusiasts can discuss, share their passion for luxury watches, and stay updated on the latest industry trends. It's a space where the spirit of innovation meets the richness of heritage, creating an environment that celebrates tradition and technology. The Benefits of Joining the Jaques Sermand Community Here are the opportunities you stand to gain for joining Jaques Sermand community: 1. Authenticity: Each NFT issued by Jaques Sermand serves as a unique certificate of authenticity, verifying the watch's origin, craftsmanship, and ownership. With NFTs, customers can be confident they own a genuine Jaques Sermand timepiece. 2. Exclusivity: By owning a Jaques Sermand NFT/Watch combination, individuals become part of an exclusive group of discerning individuals who share a passion for luxury watches and appreciate the significance of NFTs. 3. Customization: The Jaques Sermand community offers more than just a watch; it offers a personalized experience. As part of the exclusive presale, customers can own a personalized Jaques Sermand watch and receive custom-engraved cufflinks, adding a unique touch to their collection. 4. Networking: Networking opportunities abound within the Jaques Sermand community. Enthusiasts can connect with like-minded individuals, building meaningful relationships with fellow watch collectors and blockchain enthusiasts. 5. Enriching Artistic Fusion: Jaques Sermand NFTs combine the expertise of luxury Swiss watches with the artistic brilliance of renowned artists worldwide. Each NFT represents a unique masterpiece, making it a sought-after collectible among art connoisseurs and watch enthusiasts alike. Jaques Sermand has Built a Good Reputation Based on Trust Building a reputable name requires more than aesthetics in the dynamic world of NFTs, where new projects and brands emerge regularly. It necessitates trust, authenticity, and genuine engagement with the community. Jaques Sermand's longstanding legacy and commitment to quality serve as the foundation for its reputation. The transparency offered by NFT technology adds an extra layer of trust, ensuring collectors know the origin and history of their cherished timepieces. The brand's community-first approach is at the heart of its success. By nurturing an engaged and enthusiastic community, Jaques Sermand demonstrates its dedication to its customers, earning the respect and loyalty of both luxury timepiece enthusiasts and NFT advocates. The brand's innovative approach differentiates it from competitors and attracts a new generation of tech-savvy luxury enthusiasts. Jaques Sermand's Pre-sale Offers To celebrate this innovative venture, Jaques Sermand is hosting an exclusive presale that offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for watch enthusiasts to own a personalized Jaques Sermand timepiece. Each presale purchase includes custom-engraved cufflinks, making this an unforgettable experience for those seeking a watch and a legacy. The presale collection features limited editions meticulously crafted to preserve the brand's heritage while embracing contemporary designs. The presale started on July 10th and will end on September 1st 2023. Take advantage of this opportunity and grab your spot now! Conclusion Jaques Sermand's use of NFT-powered community building has redefined what it means to own a luxury timepiece. Beyond being a status symbol, a Jaques Sermand watch now represents membership in an exclusive community of individuals who share a passion for craftsmanship, history, tradition, and innovation. If you seek to own a piece of history and be part of a thriving community of like-minded individuals, Jaques Sermand's NFT-powered luxury watches offer an exquisite opportunity to do so. Experience the future of luxury timepieces with Jaques Sermand's NFT-powered community. Explore the exclusive collection at Jaques Sermand. Be part of a legacy that blends heritage with innovation. Jaques Sermand info at jaquessermand.ch [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Flexport's debut participation in Vietnam International Logistic Exhibition, expanding its footprint with rapidly growing operations Tweet HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Flexport is participating in The Vietnam International Logistic Exhibition 2023 (VILOG) for the first time and Thomas Cassuto, the Vice President, Head of Asia will deliver a speech entitled - Digitize Global Supply Chain With Technology, emphasizing Flexport's technology to manage the supply chain with more visibility, control, and actionable insights. Flexport, the leading tech-driven logistics platform, has expanded its operations and presence in Vietnam, allowing it to open doors, get closer to its global clients' supply chains and provide added value as its expert partner. Thomas Cassuto, Vice President, Head of Asia, said, "Logistics is one of the fastest growing industries in Vietnam, with an average growth rate of 14 16% a year and a scale of 40 42 billion USD/year. Vietnam is an important market for many customers looking for sourcing options in Southeast Asia. We recognize Vietnam as a vital component of our expansion strategy in the Asia-Pacific region. With Flexport's tech-driven efforts, we strive to streamline and visualize the supply chain for our customers worldwide. We are thrilled to expand our reach in Vietnam and participate in the exhibition for the first time. I am excited and look forward to meeting our customers and sharing Flexport's value propositions at VILOG." Flexport is committed to achieving the digital transformation of the global supply chain for new and existing clients. It strives to provide customers with a wide range of products, services, and technology solutions to take full control of the supply chain from the factory floor to the customer door. Thomas further added, "Infrastructure in Vietnam has improved in recent years to met the growing demand. Vietnamese importers and exporters can gain an edge in managing their supply chain by utilizing Flexport's technology, network, and expertise. In addition, the Flexport platform further enables our customers and partners to gain greater insight, visibility, and control over the global supply chain. We are making global trade easy for everyone and moving the world forward." Flexport's presence in Vietnam will enable it to capitalize on the tailwinds and opportunities to become the excellent Global Supply Chain Company in Vietnam. For supply chains to truly evolve ahead of trends and turn data points into actionable insights, leveraging digitalization and technologies could be the solution. Flexport is dedicated to empowering all customers such as the need to deliver superior customer experiences and meet fast-evolving consumer demands becoming a more critical business differentiator. About Flexport We believe trade can move the human race forward. That's why since our founding in 2013, it's been our mission to make global trade easy for everyone. Flexport is the tech-driven platform for global logisticsempowering buyers, sellers and their logistics partners with the technology and services to grow and innovate. In 2022, Flexport was named #1 on CNBC's Disruptor 50 List as well as one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies. In February 2022, Flexport raised $935 million in a Series E investment round led by Andreessen Horowitz and MSD Partners with a strategic investment from Shopify, as well as participation from existing partners DST Global, Founders Fund, SoftBank Vision Fund 1, and other investors. The investment brought Flexport's post-money valuation to over $8 billion. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/flexports-debut-participation-in-vietnam-international-logistic-exhibition-expanding-its-footprint-with-rapidly-growing-operations-301897767.html SOURCE Flexport [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] EWTN Vice President of Theology Colin Donovan Appointed To Vatican's Pontifical Marian Academy Tweet IRONDALE, Ala., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Colin B. Donovan, Vice President of Theology at EWTN Global Catholic Network and a well-known on-air theologian, was named a member of the Vatican's prestigious Pontifical International Marian Academy at a televised ceremony on August 9. The appointment recognizes Donovan's dedication to the field of Mariology and zeal for promoting the honor and love of Our Lady worldwide. Birmingham Bishop Steven J. Raica presented Donovan with the Marian Academy's Letter of Appointment and Diploma during a Mass, which broadcast around the world. "The Network and its viewers have greatly benefited from the breadth of Colin's knowledge and his love for Our Lady." "Colin has been an integral part of EWTN for nearly 27 years, serving as a theologian and expert commentator on matters of the Catholic faith and doctrine," said EWTN Chairman & CEO Michael P. Warsaw. "The Network and its viewers have greatly benefited from the breadth of Colin's knowledge and his love for Our Lady."> Dec. 8, 1959 , Pope John XXIII gave the title "pontifical" to the Academy; its statutes were later approved by Pope Paul VI; and more recently, were revised under the reign of Pope St. John Paul II, who was also a member of the Academy. Pope Francis has placed the Academy under the Dicastery of Culture and Catholic Education. Donovan, who expressed deep gratitude at being chosen for this prestigious honor, said his passion for Marian studies began at an early age and was fostered by the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion, who instilled in him a deep devotion to the Blessed Mother and the significance of her messages at Fatima. "The Sisters taught us about the Miraculous Medal, Fatima, and the Rosary beginning in kindergarten," Donovan said. "This community was founded by Alphonse Ratisbonne, an atheist who was famously converted to the Faith by Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception. My interest in Mariology never left me and has been elevated over time by formal theological study in Canada and Rome, by a year lived in Fatima, and through my theological duties here at EWTN, answering Marian questions on and off-air, and providing commentary for EWTN's May and October coverage of the Fatima anniversaries." Donovan's journey with the Pontifical Marian Academy began when he was invited to speak at the Fatima 100th Anniversary conference in Ireland in 2017. The invitation was extended by Dr. William A. Thomas, STD, President of the Irish Mariological Society, a member of PAMI, and a former classmate of Donovan's at Rome's Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, also known as the Angelicum. Other conferences followed. Despite the challenging circumstances brought about by the pandemic, Donovan also had the opportunity to participate in PAMI's 2021 Mariological Congress in Rome via Zoom, followed some weeks later by a Zoom conference with the Mariological Society of America. These events further solidified Donovan's connection with the esteemed academy, which has recognized Donovan's dedication to theological teaching and writing about Our Lady through various media platforms with this prestigious award. Donovan is humbled and grateful for this honor, and excited about going to events like the above in person. He also says: "I will continue to promote Marian devotion and scholarship as long as the good Lord allows." ABOUT EWTN and EWTN NEWS In its 43rd year, EWTN is the largest Catholic media organization in the world. EWTN's 11 global TV channels and numerous regional channels are broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week to over 425 million television households in more than 160 countries and territories. EWTN platforms also include radio services transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio, and over 600 domestic and international AM & FM radio affiliates; a worldwide shortwave radio service; one of the most visited Catholic websites in the U.S.; as well as EWTN Publishing, its book publishing division. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., EWTN News operates multiple global news services, including Catholic News Agency, "The National Catholic Register" newspaper and digital platform, ACI Prensa in Spanish, ACI Digital in Portuguese, ACI Stampa in Italian, ACI Africa in English, French and Portuguese, ACI MENA in Arabic, CNA Deutsch in German and ChurchPop, a digital platform that creates content in several languages. It also produces numerous television news programs including EWTN News Nightly, EWTN News In Depth, EWTN Pro-Life Weekly, The World Over, and others. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ewtn-vice-president-of-theology-colin-donovan-appointed-to-vaticans-pontifical-marian-academy-301897535.html SOURCE EWTN Global Catholic Network [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Make-A-Wish Alaska & Washington Announces Partnership with Seattle's Network of Giving Tweet Make-A-Wish Alaska & Washington today announced partnership with the Network of Giving for the Seattle launch. The Network of Giving is a powerful, hyper-local digital platform enabled by financial services that fosters a community- minded movement through the connection of local consumers and merchants to community organizations while creating efficiencies in digital fundraising. With digital commerce and merchant defined and funded micro-donations, the Network of Giving allows local merchants to have the digital tools to grow their business, while providing consumers an outlet to support local organizations, and it all benefits the community where they live - at no cost to the consumer. "The Network of Giving is an easy-to-use tool that brings together merchants and consumers to support important local non-profit organizations," stated Melissa Arias, President & CEO at Make-A-Wish Alaska & Washington. "Through our partnership with the Network of Giving, the people of Seattle will have a new and unique way to support our work at Make-A-Wish Alaska & Washington." "The Network of Giving is honored to support Make-A-Wish Alaska & Washington and help grant more wishes to children with critical illnesses," stated David Saalfrank, Chief Evangelist of the Network of Giving. "The purpose of the Network of Giving platform is to support community organizations that drive impact, like Make-A-Wish Alaska & Washington. Through digital commerce, the Ntwork of Giving connects like-minded merchants and consumers - enabled by financial institutions." "For local businesses, the Network of Giving levels the playing field by providing important digital capabilities that deliver measured results on marketing spend and provide actionable insights that raise their customers' experience while enabling a seamless community movement and only asking everyone to do what they already do well today," added Saalfrank. About Make-A-Wish Alaska & Washington Together, we create life-changing wish experiences for children with critical illnesses. Research shows children who have wishes granted build the physical and emotional strength they need to fight a critical illness. This improves their quality of life and produces better health outcomes. When a wish is granted, a child replaces fear with confidence, sadness with joy and anxiety with hope. Yet not every child in our territory who is eligible for a wish receives one. With your help, we can change that. For more information please, call 800.304.9474, visit akwa.wish.org or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @MakeAWishAKWA. About the Network of Giving The Network of Giving is committed to providing financial and social empowerment to drive positive change in communities and the world. The Network of Giving SaaS platform utilizes digital commerce and is enabled by financial institutions, connecting local consumers, merchants, and non-profit community organizations. This connection empowers consumers to shop at local businesses; triggering merchant-funded micro-donations that impact their communities - at no cost to the consumer. The Network of Giving platform is powered by SMB4.0. It delivers marketing guidance for local businesses to enhance customer acquisition and retention, while driving business decisions through key analytics and real-time actionable insights. More on Network of Giving: networkofgiving.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810161529/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] ANKARA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Turkiye's National Intelligence Organization captured three members of the Islamic State (IS) group in northern Syria while they were "planning an attack", the semi-official Anadolu Agency reported Thursday. The Turkish intelligence service carried out a raid in cooperation with the Syrian opposition groups in the "Operation Peace Spring" zone in northern Syria, referring to a cross-border operation that was launched by Turkiye in 2019 to eliminate Kurdish fighters, according to the report, which failed to mention the date of the raid. Turkish security forces seized one flamethrower, one RPG rocket launcher, two motorcycles, five grenades, five AK-47 infantry rifles, two Makarov guns, one radio, four anti-tank RPG ammunition, two anti-personnel RPG ammunition, five RPG propellant cartridges, many magazines and ammunition, Anadolu reported. Turkiye's southern border with Syria has been a major crossing for Syrians and foreign fighters since the civil war broke out in Syria in 2011. Turkiye launched its first cross-border operation "Euphrates Shield" into northern Syria in 2016 to eliminate the IS members in the Jarablus and Azaz region. The Turkish army also launched "Operation Olive Branch" in 2018, "Operation Peace Spring" in 2019, and "Operation Spring Shield" in 2020 in northern Syria. The Turkish government designated the IS a terrorist organization in 2013, blaming it for a spate of deadly attacks in the country since 2015. [August 10, 2023] Joe Sullivan to Share His Perspective on the Existential Challenges of Being a CISO at Cloud Security Alliance's SECtember 2023 Tweet The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the world's leading organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications, and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, today announced veteran Chief Security Officer (CSO) Joe Sullivan will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming SECtember conference (Sept. 18-22, Bellevue, Wash.), the first global event dedicated to the confluence of cloud and cybersecurity. In his talk, Lessons from the Front Lines, Sullivan will address how increasing regulatory pressures faced by CISOs and their companies are leading many C-Suite executives to question the range of challenges and complications that can arise when implementing and maintaining effective, enterprise-wide cybersecurity strategies. "We are extremely pleased to have Joe Sullivan speak at this year's SECtember, where he will share his unique perspective on how industry developments are shaping the evolution of cybersecurity and the role CISOs play. Joe knows firsthand the internal and external pressures that CISOs are facing when securing their companies against malicious actors, and we look forward to benefiting from his experiences," said Jim Reavis, co-founder and CEO, Cloud Security Alliance. "Increasingly, CISOs are under pressure to defend not only their customers and their business, but themselves. In the face of more rigorous regulatory actions, CISOs now must take personal risk into account as something to mitigate, which brings to bear the thorny issue f what proactive measures they should be taking to benefit themselves and the companies they serve," said Joe Sullivan, CEO, Ukraine Friends. "I look forward to sharing lessons I have learned in the trenches to help today's security leaders best prepare." Joe Sullivan is the CEO of Ukraine Friends, a nonprofit providing humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine. Sullivan has worked at the intersection of government, technology, and security since the mid-1990s. He spent eight years working for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), eventually as a federal prosecutor solely focused on technology-related crimes. While at the DOJ, he received national recognition for outstanding service as a federal prosecutor and worked on many first-of-their-kind cybercrime cases, including supporting the digital aspects of the 9/11 investigation. In 2002, Sullivan was recruited by eBay to build out their eCrime team, and later took on responsibilities at PayPal. In 2008, he moved to Facebook, where he became CSO, building a small security organization into a team of hundreds. In 2015, Uber recruited him to become their first CSO, and after a three-year stint, he moved to Cloudflare, where he spent the next four years as their CSO. Throughout his career, he has advised a significant number of companies, including Airbnb and DoorDash, as well as numerous startups, and has served as a mentor to many security leaders. Sullivan has twice testified as an expert before the U.S. Congress, been a commissioner on the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, a board member on the National Cyber Security Alliance, a many-time opening plenary speaker at the Dallas Crimes Against Children Conference, a participant in a White House anti-online-bullying effort, an advisor to the Department of Homeland Security, and in 2016, accepted an appointment from President Obama to his Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity. Learn more about SECtember or register now and take advantage of early bird pricing of $599 through August 18, after which rates will increase to $850. Students and government employees pay only $250 to attend. About Cloud Security Alliance The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is the world's leading organization dedicated to defining and raising awareness of best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment. CSA harnesses the subject matter expertise of industry practitioners, associations, governments, and its corporate and individual members to offer cloud security-specific research, education, training, certification, events, and products. CSA's activities, knowledge, and extensive network benefit the entire community impacted by cloud - from providers and customers to governments, entrepreneurs, and the assurance industry - and provide a forum through which different parties can work together to create and maintain a trusted cloud ecosystem. For further information, visit us at www.cloudsecurityalliance.org, and follow us on Twitter @cloudsa. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810606669/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology Researchers Develop Highly Efficient Organometal Halide Perovskite Photoelectrodes for Water Splitting Tweet The newly designed photoanodes suppress undesirable losses associated with photoelectrochemical water splitting and enhances the reaction kinetics GWANGJU, China, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Currently, hydrogen is mainly produced by natural gas, which, unfortunately, also generates greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide as by-products. Scientists argue that hydrogen produced this way, while economical, is not truly sustainable, and thus requires a more eco-friendly approach for its generation. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting based on solar energy is one such promising approach. However, its widespread application is limited by a lack of efficient photoanodes for catalyzing the rate-limiting oxygen evolution reaction (OER), an important reaction in PEC water splitting. Recently, organometal halide perovskites (OHPs) have emerged as a promising photoanode material on this front. Unfortunately, OHP-based photoanodes suffer from two undesired losses that limit their efficiency. One is an internal loss resulting from a recombination of photogenerated charge carriers (required for electricity generation) within the anode itself, which, in turn, hinders water splitting. The other is external loss due to the slow reaction kinetics of water splitting, resulting in a loss of charge carriers at the interface of the anode and electrolyte. Against this background, a team of researchers from Korea and USA, led by Professor Sanghan Lee from Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology and including Associate Professor Jangwon Seo from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, has now developed a highly efficient OHP-based photoanode using a rational design approach, which overcomes the above limitations. Their study was published in the ournal Advanced Energy Materials on June 17, 2023. "The high efficiency of the photoanode for photoelectrochemical water splitting was achieved through the simultaneous suppression of internal and external losses of photogenerated carriers," highlights Prof. Lee. In their work, the team fabricated a novel Fe-doped Ni 3 S 2 /Ni foil/OHP photoanode in three steps. They first synthesized the Fe-doped Ni 3 S 2 catalyst for OER on Ni foil through a hydrothermal method followed by a chemical conversion. They then separately fabricated the OHP photovoltaic cell consisting of SnO 2 electron transport layers (ETLs) through spin coating. Finally, they combined the two components to obtain the photoanode. The team found that adding glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride (GTMACl) to the anode passivated the defects at the OHP/ETL interface, effectively suppressing the undesired charge carrier recombination within the anode. Further, it enhanced the light-soaking stability of the OHP cell, a crucial factor in real-world PEC water splitting. Additionally, the high catalytic activity of Fe-doped Ni 3 S 2 ensured a high OER rate at the anode, reducing the loss of photogenerated carriers within the electrolyte. Consequently, the Fe-doped Ni 3 S 2 /Ni foil/OHP photoanode exhibited an unprecedented applied bias photon-to-current conversion efficiency of 12.79%, higher than that reported for OHP-based photoanodes in existing studies. Overall, this study provides important insights into the prospects of rationally designed OHP-based photoelectrodes, as Prof. Lee highlights: "The proposed technology is expected to contribute to the vitalization of the hydrogen economy and carbon neutrality by enabling a large-scale and eco-friendly hydrogen production using solar energy without external voltage in the next 10 years. This, in turn, will help realize hydrogen as an ideal renewable source of energy in the future." And we sure hope the researcher's vision is realized soon! Reference Title of original paper: Suppression of Undesired Losses in Organometal Halide Perovskite-Based Photoanodes for Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Journal: Advanced Energy Materials DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202300951 About the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) Website: http://www.gist.ac.kr/ Contact: Chang-Sung Kang 82 62 715 6253 363572@email4pr.com View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gwangju-institute-of-science-and-technology-researchers-develop-highly-efficient-organometal-halide-perovskite-photoelectrodes-for-water-splitting-301896864.html SOURCE Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] HashiCorp Cloud Infrastructure Automation and Security Products Now Available on Carahsoft GSA Schedule Tweet SAN FRANCISCO and RESTON, Va., Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HashiCorp, Inc. a leading provider of multi-cloud infrastructure automation software, and Carahsoft Technology Corp, the Trusted IT Solutions Provider, today announced that Carahsoft has added HashiCorp Terraform and Vault to its GSA Schedule, making HashiCorps solutions available to the Public Sector through Carahsoft and its reseller partners. Through this partnership, Federal, State and Local Government agencies will be able to use HashiCorp's offerings to automate infrastructure and secure application delivery across their hybrid and multi-cloud environments. As Public Sector agencies transition to the cloud to meet modernization requirements, they require new technologies to help them move to and operate in multi-cloud environments more securely and to achieve mission success, said Melissa Palmer, President, HashiCorp Federal, Inc. HashiCorps inclusion on Carahsofts GSA Schedule will enable us to provide agencies across the Public Sector with the tools and solutions necessary for successful multi-cloud transitions, including the introduction of zero trust and automation technologies. HashiCorps portfolio can help Government agencies accelerate innovation and exceed modernization goals through adoption of its zero trust security solution and automation workflows, helping agencies operate more efficiently and securely as they transition to multi-cloud. HashiCorps approach to zero trust security uses identity to secure applications, networks, and people across multiple clouds, on-premises, and hybrid environments, which reduces the attack surface and automates complex security workflows. This ensures people, machines, and services are authenticated, every action is authorized, and data is protected. HashiCorp Vault is one of the key products in HashiCorps approach to identity-based security. Carahsoft is committed to providing our Government customers with the best zero trust solutions available in the market, and we are thrilled to add HashiCorp's innovative encryption and identity-based security automation solutions to our GSA Schedule and our robust portfolio of Government contracts," said Natalie Gregory, Vice President of Open Source Solutions at Carahsoft. "We look forward to working with our reseller partners to provide HashiCorp's solutions to Government agencies to help them achieve greater efficiency, security, and agility in their IT operations. Carahsoft is offering Public Sector customers access to HashiCorp Terraform and Vault Enterprise through their GSA Schedule. HashiCorp Terraform can help the Public Sector reduce risk and increase mission effectiveness as they integrate cloud into their IT environments. HashiCorp Vault can hlp the Public Sector reduce the risk of breaches and data exposure with identity-based security automation and encryption as a service. To strengthen the Public Sectors cybersecurity defense, agencies need to implement Zero Trust principles that safeguard networks at every entry point. Carahsoft supports solutions that help Government organizations understand Zero Trust frameworks, develop a Zero Trust strategy and implement a Zero Trust architecture. Learn more about Carahsofts Zero Trust solutions here. HashiCorp Terraform and Vault Enterprise are available through Carahsofts GSA Schedule No. 47QSWA18D008F, OMNIA Partners Contract #R191902, SEWP V contracts NNG15SC03B and NNG15SC27B, ITES-SW2 Contract W52P1J-20-D-0042 and additional State and Local Contracts. For more information, contact the HashiCorp team at Carahsoft at (703) 871-8570 or [email protected]. HashiCorp Vault Identity is the foundation for zero trust security. HashiCorp Vault is the standard for identity-based security, brokering identity across any environment to automate secure access to secrets, data, and systems. Vault supports public clouds, private datacenters, and endpoint systems like databases, cloud platforms, SSH, and messaging queues. Teams can request secrets for any system through one consistent, audited, and secured workflow. HashiCorp Vault unifies host-based and service-based identities into a central platform and brokers them across all applications, networks, users, platforms, and datacenters, providing a modern security framework that trusts nothing and authenticates and authorizes everything. With Vault, users can create and secure access to tokens, passwords, certificates, and encryption keys. Vault is supported by a growing ecosystem of more than 100 technology partners. HashiCorp Vault Enterprise has been evaluated as conformant with the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 standards and has achieved FIPS 140-2 Compliance. HashiCorp Terraform HashiCorp Terraform is the standard for infrastructure as code, enabling users to automate infrastructure deployments across multiple clouds and platforms. With Terraform, teams can use infrastructure as code (IaC) to automate the provisioning, compliance, and management of any cloud, datacenter, and service including servers, databases, and firewall policies. Terraform is supported by a growing ecosystem of more than 200 technology partners, 2,000 infrastructure providers, and 10,000 modules available through the Terraform Registry. HashiCorp Terraform is available as open source, a managed service via Terraform Cloud, and a self-managed product via Terraform Enterprise. About HashiCorp HashiCorp is a leader in multi-cloud infrastructure automation software. The HashiCorp software suite enables organizations to adopt consistent workflows and create a system of record for automating the cloud: infrastructure provisioning, security, networking, and application deployment. HashiCorps portfolio of products includes Vagrant, Packer, Terraform, Vault, Consul, Nomad, Boundary, and Waypoint. HashiCorp offers products as open source, enterprise, and as managed cloud services. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, though most of HashiCorp employees work remotely, strategically distributed around the globe. For more information, visit hashicorp.com or follow HashiCorp on Twitter @HashiCorp . Contact Kate Lehman [email protected] About Carahsoft Carahsoft Technology Corp. is The Trusted Government IT Solutions Provider, supporting Public Sector organizations across Federal, State and Local Government agencies and Education and Healthcare markets. As the Master Government Aggregator for our vendor partners, we deliver solutions for Open Source, Cybersecurity, MultiCloud, DevSecOps, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Customer Experience and more. Working with resellers, systems integrators and consultants, our sales and marketing teams provide industry leading IT products, services and training through hundreds of contract vehicles. Visit us at www.carahsoft.com . Contact Mary Lange (703) 230-7434 [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Wellness Homes of Chicago Earns Better Business Bureau Accreditation Tweet Becoming an Accredited Business with the Better Business Bureau is an honor not accorded to all businesses because not all businesses meet eligibility standards. Wellness Homes of Chicago is pleased to announce that it has met all BBB standards and is now an Accredited Business. "Accreditation in the BBB is by invitation only," says Steve J. Bernas, president & CEO of the Better Business Bureau serving Chicago and Northern Illinois. "And only those businesses that meet our high standards and pass the review process are approved by our Board of Directors." As with all businesses that are Accredited by the BBB, Wellness Homes of Chicago has committed to the BBB Code of Business Practices. The Code is a comprehensive set of policies, procedures, and best practices on how businesses treat consumers. These standards call for building trust, embodying integrity, advertising honestly, and being truthful. Bernas adds, "To maintain their Accreditation a business must be transparent, honor their promise, be responsive to their customers, and safeguard their privacy." "We are proud to be a BBB Accredited Business," said Perez Harrison Pratt, Director of Communications, "In today's world it is imperative that our customers know how seriously we take our commitment to excellence and good customer service. Our achieving BBB Accreditation exemplifies that goal." Wellness Homes of Chicago has been in business for almost 3 years, offering consumers the best healthcare. "Our desire is to stay focused on what we do best; provide outstanding services to our clients," said Perez. For more information contact: www.wellnesshome.org or Wellness Home on Halsted - 773 823 9434 Wellness Home at Northstar - 773 296 2400 About the Better Business Bureau: As a private, non-profit organization, the purpose of the Better Business Bureau is to promote an ethical marketplace. BBBs help resolve buyer/seller complaints by means of conciliation, mediation and arbitration. BBBs also review advertising claims, online business practices and charitable organizations. BBBs develop and issue reports on businesses and nonprofit organizations and encourage people to check out a company or charity before making a purchase or donation. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230807391644/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] AoLithium Introduces Two New Products - Solar Panels and Inverters - The Best Power Kit in 2023 Tweet Suzhou, China, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AoLithium 's latest power kit, launched in 2023, comprises three main products that work together to provide an all-in-one power solution designed to revolutionize off-grid energy storage. The first product, HP2000, is a high-tech inverter that can produce 200W of AC pure sine wave power. The second product is the 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 battery, which is efficient and provides reliable backup power. The final product is a set of 420W solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity. These three products can work individually or in combination to create an efficient and reliable energy system. The power kit is an all-in-one solution for off-grid energy storage in commercial and household settings. The HP2000 inverter is a high-end product that boasts high efficiency and a low noise level. The 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 battery has a long cycle life and a high energy density. Its advanced features make it an efficient and reliable power backup source. The solar panels are made with state-of-the-art technology. They can efficiently capture the energy from the sun and convert it into usable electricity. AoLithium's power kit provides a sustainable and reliable energy solution. It meets the energy needs of customers while reducing their carbon footprint and energy costs. Whether used for backup power or off-grid power supply the power kit is one of the best choices available. Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arruiSVj29A About AoLithiums Solar Panels AoLithium's new solar panels are designed to capture the energy and convert it into usable electricity. These high-efficiency panels are made using advanced technology. The quality materials ensure maximum durability and reliability. These solar panels are part of the AoLithium Power kits. They produce the basic energy which is then converted and stored by the other two components. One of the key features of AoLithium's solar panels is their high efficiency. These panels are capable of converting up to 22% of the energy from the sun into usable electricity. This makes them one of the most efficient solar panels on the market. Resultantly, customers can generate more electricity from a smaller number of panels. It helps in reducing their installation costs. Besides their high efficiency, AoLithium's solar panels are also more durable. The high-quality materials help the panels withstand even the harshest weather conditions. They are damage-proof in rain, wind, and snow. This makes them ideal for use in a wide range of applications. The versatility of these solar panels enables their use in a variety of applications. They can power homes, businesses, industrial facilities, agriculture, transportation, and other industries. The panels can be mounted on rooftops, poles, or other structures, making them ideal for both urban and rural settings. AoLithium's solar panels have undergone rigorous testing and certification processes. Advanced testing ensures their reliability and safety. The panels are certified by a range of independent third-party organizations. Customers can rest assured that they are investing in a high-quality product. AoLithium's solar panels will provide them with reliable, long-term performance. 2000W AC Pure Sine Wave Inverters (HP2000) AoLithium's new inverter, the HP2000, is a high-performance device. It can convert DC poer from solar panels or batteries into AC power for use in households and commercial applications. This innovative inverter has advanced features. The salient features set it apart from other inverters available in the market. The 2000W AC Pure Sine Wave Inverter(4000W Surge) converts the energy provided by the Solar panels. It is one of the essential parts of the Power Kit. One of the key features of HP2000 is its high efficiency. This allows it to convert DC power into AC power with minimal energy loss. The higher efficiency makes it a more sustainable option for powering homes and businesses. All the while, resulting in lower energy bills for the end user. Besides its efficiency, HP2000 is also designed to operate at a low noise level. The low noise level makes it an ideal choice for indoor and outdoor applications. The HP2000 can be used in a wide range of applications, including powering homes, offices, and industrial equipment. It is also a reliable backup power source in the event of a power outage. HP2000 can function alone or in combination with AoLithium's solar panels and batteries. It provides a flexible and efficient energy solution that can meet the needs of various customers. HP2000 stands out for its durability, ease of use, and advanced features. It has undergone rigorous testing and certification to ensure its reliability and safety. AoLithium's new 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 Battery AoLithium's new 12V 100Ah battery is a high-performance lithium iron phosphate battery. It is ideal for a range of applications that need reliable and efficient power. The battery has many features and benefits. These set it apart from traditional lead-acid batteries and other lithium-ion batteries. One of the key features of the 12V 100Ah battery is its high energy density, which allows it to store more energy in a smaller and lighter package. This makes it an ideal choice for off-grid power applications, where space and weight are at a premium. Also, the battery has a long cycle life. This means it can withstand even thousands of charge and discharge cycles without degradation. The 12V 100Ah battery has a variety of applications. For instance, off-grid power, backup power, and marine and RV applications. It can also be used in conjunction with solar panels and inverters to create a completely renewable energy system. As part of the AoLithium Power Kit the battery stores energy converted by the HP2000. This energy is used during power outages to provide constant power. The long life span of the 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 battery adds to the many perks of the new Power Kits. The 12V 100Ah battery offers several advantages. For example, it has a higher energy density and longer cycle life than traditional lead-acid batteries. It is also more reliable and efficient than other lithium-ion batteries. Thanks to its advanced BMS (battery management system), maintaining the battery is easier. The 12V 100Ah is also one of the safest products available with its advanced safety features. The 12V 100Ah battery is a game-changing product. It can help customers achieve their renewable energy goals cost-effectively and sustainably. AoLithium Power Kits AoLithium's new solar panels, HP2000 inverter, and 12V 100Ah battery can be combined to form Power Kits. The AoLithium Power Kits offer a convenient and portable solution for renewable energy needs. The kits are versatile and customizable. They can meet the specific requirements of different applications. The Power Kits come with a range of advantages, including portability, ease of use, and increased energy efficiency. They can be used for a variety of purposes, such as powering off-grid cabins, RVs, boats, and outdoor events. With a Power Kit, users can generate their own clean and sustainable energy. These kits reduce dependence on traditional energy sources and are helpful with power outages. AoLithium's Power kit includes the three new products discussed above. The 2000W Pure Sine Wave Inverter is an efficient power inverter. Coupled with the 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 battery the HP2000 can provide efficient renewable energy. The power kit also includes advanced Solar Panels with efficient energy production capacity. Aolithium Power Kits are off-grid energy storage solutions for Vans, RVs, trailers, and trucks. Some of their main features are listed below. ? The Aolithium Power Kits are designed for off-grid energy storage solutions. ? These Power Kits can be scaled up to 5120Wh, providing a long-lasting energy solution. ? The Power Kits have a 2000W AC main output and 120W DC main output. This makes them powerful enough to meet most energy needs. ? The Aolithium Power Kits are suitable for use in vans, RVs, trailers, and trucks. These kits are ideal for those who travel or live in these types of vehicles. ? The AoLithium Power Kits can also be used as UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) for home grid connection. They ensure that power outages do not disrupt daily life. ? With the Power Kits, users no longer have to worry about power outages regardless of their location. ? The solution supports wireless and Bluetooth connections. This makes it easy to track and control energy usage from a smartphone or other mobile device. ? The Power Kits come with 2 USB-A and 1 Type-C output port, 3 AC output ports, and 3 12V DC output ports. It allows users to charge many devices and power different appliances at the same time. ? Aolithium provides 24h service consultation to help users with any questions or issues. ? The Power Kits come with up to 8-year worry-free warranty, giving users peace of mind and confidence https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aolithiumpowerkit/aolithium-power-kit-reachable-anywhere-and-reliable-anytime?ref=discovery About AoLithium Aolithium International Business Ltd., founded in January 2021, is a global leader in new energy system solutions. Their expert R&D team develops advanced software and hardware for battery systems, including state-of-the-art energy storage and large-scale power battery systems. Their premier brand, AoLithium, is a front-runner in the energy storage market, offering innovative technology alongside dependable sales and service. Their eco-friendly LiFePO4 batteries stand out for being safe and environmentally conscious. Committed to driving a sustainable future, AoLithium collaborates actively within the renewable energy sector and ensures exceptional product quality and customer service. Their offerings, from solar panels and inverters to the signature 12v100ah LiFePO4 battery, can be integrated to shape efficient, green energy systems. Conclusion AoLithium introduces a versatile range of renewable energy products. Their durable solar panels guarantee efficiency, while the HP2000 inverter delivers high performance with minimal noise, making it suitable for both homes and businesses. Their 12V 100Ah battery, known for its high energy density and rapid charging, is optimal for off-grid and backup power needs. Together, these components form the AoLithium Power Kits: compact, user-friendly solutions for continuous off-grid power. These Kits, comprised of solar panels, an HP2000 inverter, and a 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 battery, are perfect for backup in RVs, trailers, trucks, and homes, ensuring uninterrupted power during outages. Choosing AoLithium means not only meeting energy demands but also endorsing a sustainable future. Penny Pan Aolithium International Business Ltd. aolithium-at-aolithium.com [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Page Removed Tweet Due to administrative reasons, the content of this page has been removed and is no longer available. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Memorial Hermann Health System Makes a Strategic Investment in Capital Rx Customer Solutions Platform Tweet Strategic investment will fuel the development of JUDI the new platform standard for claims processing and overall growth of full-service customer solutions NEW YORK, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Capital Rx, the health technology company changing the way prescription drugs are priced and patients are cared for in America, has received a strategic investment from Memorial Hermann Health System, a non-profit health system committed to creating healthier Houston communities. Memorial Hermann joins Capital Rx's existing investors in supporting the development of JUDI, the new standard for backend claims processing platforms in the pharmacy benefit management (PBM) industry, and the overall growth of Capital Rx's full-service PBM and pharmacy benefit administration (PBA) platform as a service (PaaS) solution. "We're thrilled to have the investment support of Memorial Hermann as we work to modernize this country's claims processing infrastructure and deploy our aligned customer model to more employers, unions, municipalities, and other payers to create enduring change," said AJ Loiacono, Co-Founder & CEO of Capital Rx. "It's especially rewarding because we share the same values and prioritize community, compassion, credibility, and having the courage to be innovative in everything we do." Capital Rx's JUDI brings exponential operational efficiency and control to Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial plans and prescription claims processing. A modern, open, and scalable platform, JUDI allows for seamless communication and data integration between vendors and across the continuum of care. Importantly, its intuitive design and workflows save time, allowing health systems and other payers to allocate resources more efficiently and toward what matters most: caring for patients and members in the communities and populations they serve. "As we assessed the health care ecosystem for innovative capabilities to help accelerate the evolution of the pharmacy service model and prescription claims processing, Capital Rx's vision for a framework that prioritizes efficiency and allows for exceptional patient care set the company apart for investment consideration," said Feby Abraham, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Memorial Hermann. "Capital Rx's platform is focused on bringing clarity and consistency to drug prices, broadening access to medication, and helping its clients control pharmacy costs, all without sacrificing member service and patient outcomes." The Health Management Academy's Strategic Partnership Alliance, which explores new venture and investment opportunities on behalf of a group of the country's largest health systems, identified Capital Rx as a mission-aligned disruptor with next-generation technology for its members, including Memorial Hermann. To learn more about Capital Rx's pharmacy benefit administration capabilities and JUDI, please visit: Capital Rx JUDI About Memorial Hermann Health System Charting a better future. A future that's built upon the HEALTH of our community. This is the driving force for Memorial Hermann, redefining health care for the individuals and many diverse populations we serve. Our 6,700 affiliated physicians and 32,000 employees practice the highest standards of safe, evidence-based, quality care to provide a personalized and outcome-oriented experience across our more than 260 care delivery sites. As one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in Southeast Texas, Memorial Hermann has an award-winning and nationally acclaimed Accountable Care Organization, 17* hospitals, and numerous specialty programs and services conveniently located throughout the Greater Houston area. Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center is one of the nation's busiest Level I trauma centers and serves as the primary teaching hospital for McGovern Medical School at UTHealth. For more than 115 years, our focus has been the best interest of our community, contributing nearly $500 million annually through school-based health centers and other community benefit programs. Now and for generations to come, the health of our community will be at the center of what we do charting a better future for all. To learn more, visit: https://memorialhermann.org/ *Memorial Hermann Health System owns and operates 14 hospitals and has joint ventures with three other hospital facilities, including Memorial Hermann Surgical Hospital First Colony, Memorial Hermann Surgical Hospital Kingwood, and Memorial Hermann Rehabilitation Hospital-Katy. About Capital Rx Capital Rx is a healthcare technology company changing the way prescription drugs are priced and patients are cared for in America. As a Certified B Corp, Capital Rx is executing its mission through an efficient Single-Ledger Model that increases visibility and reduces variability in drug prices. The company's cloud-native enterprise pharmacy platform, JUDI, connects every aspect of the pharmacy ecosystem, servicing over?2.4 million members?for Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial plans. Together with its clients, Capital Rx is reimagining the administration of pharmacy benefits and rebuilding trust in healthcare. To learn more, visit?capitalrx.com.? Media Contacts Michael Passanante, Vice President, Marketing Justin Venneri, Content & Communications Strategy Lead [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/memorial-hermann-health-system-makes-a-strategic-investment-in-capital-rx-customer-solutions-platform-301897977.html SOURCE Capital Rx [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Cambridge Savings Bank Supports Buyout of White Wood Kitchens with $2.6 Million in Financing Tweet Cambridge Savings Bank (CSB), a full-service mutual bank with a customer-first approach and over $6 billion in assets, today announced that it has provided $2.6 million in financing to support the acquisition and transition of ownership for White Wood Kitchens, the well-known kitchen and project management company in Cape Cod, MA, to former Information Technology leader, Anton Emelianov. With locations in Sandwich and Pembroke, MA, White Wood Kitchens sells cabinets and countertops to residential and commercial clients, along with local and regional builders, primarily in Southeastern Massachusetts. The previous owners relied heavily on modern technology to facilitate design and installation of projects, which is how Emelianov became interested in and involved with the company. Under Emelianov, White Wood Kitchens will update its multi-phase design and delivery process, which is facilitated by SaaS collaboration and a project management platform, to build efficiencies and deliver improved results. In addition to the $2.1 million loan CSB provided Emelianov to facilitate the acquisition, the bank extended a $500,000 line of credit for operating expenses. With a focus on streamlining operations, the capital will be used to support the transition for White Wood Kitchens' 14 employees and the implementation of modern tactics with future growth opportunities in mind. "When the opportunity to take ownership of White Wood Kitchens arose, I searched extensively to find a lender to facilitate the acquisition and CSB was the only bank that offered the right terms for my specific needs," said Emelianov. "Adam and the team at CSB have suported me every step of the way, particularly as I settle into my new role. I am confident that CSB is the best banking partner to set White Wood Kitchens up for success in the years to come as I modernize the business with digital methodologies." White Wood Kitchens has been recognized by several local and regional sources and companies including Diamond Furniture, The Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Cape Cod, and Houzz.com. Additionally, White Wood Kitchens recently won a GOLD PRISM Award from BRAGB (the Builders and Remodelers Association of Greater Boston) and multiple BRICC Award (Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod) throughout the years. As part of the newly implemented business development strategy, the company's business philosophy is centered around the relationships that the contractors and build partners create. Future growth initiatives could include engaging in acquisition activity to expand to the South Shore of Massachusetts, including Weymouth and the southern tip of Cape Cod. "At CSB, we have the financing options and experience needed to support local businesses during times of transition so they are well positioned for future growth," said Adam Bispham, VP, Corporate Banking Loan Officer at Cambridge Savings Bank. "Anton is a visionary, and we believe he will elevate White Wood Kitchens' success. We're eager to consult with Anton and the White Wood Kitchens team as they evolve and increase their footprint across the Commonwealth." CSB's commercial division is focused on serving the needs of its local communities and businesses, offering a full suite of Corporate Banking Lending, Commercial Real Estate Lending, Asset-Based Lending, Treasury Management, and Trade Services solutions. To learn more about CSB's custom solutions for commercial entities, please contact Adam Bispham at [email protected]. About Cambridge Savings Bank Cambridge Savings Bank is a full-service banking institution with over $6 billion in assets. As a mutual bank, CSB is committed to improving the quality of life of our employees, customers, and the communities we serve. One of the oldest and largest community banks in Massachusetts, Cambridge Savings Bank offers a full line of individual and business banking services across a robust Massachusetts-based branch network and through digital banking solutions for commercial, small business and consumer customers. In March 2023, Kroll Bond Rating Agency Affirmed CSB's investment-grade rating, reinforcing the bank's position as a reliable business lender. To learn more about how CSB can meet your needs, visit us at cambridgesavings.com, or better yet, come meet us to help you make the most out of your banking relationship. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender. About White Wood Kitchens White Wood Kitchens is an award-winning Kitchen Design and Project Management firm with showroom location on Cape Cod and South Shore. The dedicated team designs and skillfully manages installations in collaboration with premier architects and builders to ensure all parties are on point for every project. The company sells cabinets and countertops to residential and commercial clients along with local and regional builders, primarily in Southeastern Massachusetts. For more information, please visit whitewoodkitchen.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810776080/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Digital Locations CEO Rich Berliner Discussed Direct Message Capability of Indian Regional Satellites with Space Engineer Tweet Dr. Althaf Azeez commented about the use of direct messages from NavIC to cell phones to warn communities in advance about natural disasters SANTA BARBARA, CA, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Digital Locations, Inc. (OTCMKTS:DLOC), the developer of a disruptive technology that will deliver high-speed Internet from satellites directly to smartphones all over the world, today announced that in a recent podcast, its CEO, Rich Berliner, spoke with Dr. Althaf Azeez, a research engineer at Oregon State University, about the use of direct messages from NavIC to cell phones to warn communities in advance about natural disasters. NavIC, also known as Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), is designed with a constellation of 7 satellites and a network of ground stations operating 24 x 7. Three satellites of the constellation are placed in geostationary orbit, at 32.5E, 83E and 129.5E respectively, and four satellites are placed in inclined geosynchronous orbit with equatorial crossing of 55E and 111.75E respectively, with inclination of 29 (two satellites in each plane). The ground network consists of control center, precise timing facility, range and integrity monitoring stations and two-way ranging stations. NavIC SPS signals are interoperable with the other global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals namely GPS, Glonass, Galileo and BeiDou Dr. Azeez commented, The NavIC system features an internal messaging system where from the Met (Meteorological) satellites, a control center can know where the cyclone is, and it can upload that information to all the seven NavIC satellites in orbit. The NavIC satellites can then beam that information, so anyone with a capable NavIC receiver can receive this information. Dr. Azeez also discussed the importance and capabilities of high-speed Internet and data in proliferation of knowledge and how access to such service has become a fundamental human right. Dr. Althaf Azeez completed most of his higher education in India. After earning his undergraduate degree in Electrical Electronics Engineering, he joined the Indian Institute of Technology, Indore, on of the most prestigious institutions in India, where he graduated in the discipline of astronomy, astrophysics, and space engineering. He then pursued his Masters in control system and instrumentation. Dr. Azeez later completed his Ph.D. in algorithm development for a GNSS system at Oregon State University. This GNSS system is currently in orbit by India / NavIC. He is currently pursuing his postdoctoral research using GNSS for threat forecasting and monitoring. His goal is to develop a system that can warn communities in times of rising tides. Dr. Azeez is listed as a Google Scholar at https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Althaf+Azeez+ This podcast can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK--lwWzSgc About Digital Locations, Inc. Digital Locations, Inc., is the developer of a disruptive technology that will deliver high-speed Internet from satellites directly to smartphones all over the world. Today, high-speed Internet (also known as broadband Internet) is only available in densely populated areas around the world. The rest of the world is still waiting. Elon Musk (SpaceX), Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) and others are launching thousands of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. Unfortunately, without the use of additional equipment, the technology does not yet exist that will allow these satellites to deliver high-speed Internet directly to smartphones. Solving this problem represents an extraordinary business opportunity. Working with a research team from Florida International University, we are developing a truly disruptive technology that will finally make it possible for the wireless industry to offer high-speed Internet service from satellites directly to smartphones anywhere in the world, indoors and outdoors with no dead zones and no cell towers. Anyone, anywhere, regardless of location, economic status, race or gender will be able to access high-speed Internet service and benefit from remote learning, health care, government services, telework, participation in public affairs and even Netflix, Amazon and much, much more. To learn more about Digital Locations please visit www.digitallocations.com Safe Harbor Statement This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable law. Press Contact: [email protected] (805) 456-7000 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Metro State University Bests 400 Higher Education Institutions, Wins NSA Grant to Build and Operate Much-Needed Small Business Cybersecurity Clinic Tweet $1.45 million grant from the National Security Agency, one of just three awarded nationwide, enables Metro State to help Minnesota small businesses prevent, detect and respond to cyberattacks SAINT PAUL, Minn., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Metro State University, the Twin Cities' nationally recognized urban university, has been awarded one of just three newly created grants from the National Security Agency's (NSA) National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity to establish the Metro State University Cybersecurity Clinic, a pilot program to help protect small businesses, nonprofits, K12 schools, and local government entities from cyberattacks. Metro State University awarded one of three NSA grants to provide cybersecurity services to Minnesota small businesses. The $1.45 million grant (H98230-23-1-0077) will allow Metro State to provide free or low-cost cybersecurity services to organizations that face increased cyberthreats but lack the resources to mitigate them. These services will include assessing threat vulnerability, developing threat defense strategies, and providing threat mitigation guidance. The clinic will be operated by students enrolled in Metro State's cybersecurity bachelor's and master's degree programs, providing them with an opportunity for real-world, client-focused, hands-on experience designed to increase their cybersecurity expertise, effectiveness and employability. According to Kyle Swanson, dean of Metro State's College of Sciences, which includes the university's Computer Science and Cybersecurity programs, the NSA funding will empower Metro State to uniquely address two pressing societal needsthe need to protect Minnesota's small business community and, as such, the state's economy and the need to develop a highly skilled future workforce to fill anticipated cybersecurity job openings. "Small businesses make up 99.5% of all businesses in Minnesota, and estimates suggest that 60% of small businesses hit with a cyberattack will go out of business within six months. So even just a fraction of Minnesota's small businesses falling victim to such an attack could cripple Minnesota's economy. But with this funding, Metro State will help protect the most vulnerable organizations in our state and help prevent the potential for a financial fall out," he said. "Additionally, we anticipate the number of cybersecurity job openings in Minnesota will grow by nearly 30% over the next decade. Now, Metro State will be even better positioned to help fill those openings by ensuring our students have the most technically advanced cybersecurity education as well as unprecedented client-based experience." Metro State is the only Twin Cities university to offer comprehensive programming in cybersecurity, including a cybersecurity bachelor's degree, a master's degree in cyber operations, and an accelerated combined bachelor's and master's program in cybersecurity operations. The university has been recognized as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (NCAE-CD) four times running. Created by the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the NCAE-CD Program identifies and honors universities that offer bachelor's and graduate degree programs that complete in-depth assessments and meet rigorous cyber defense requirements. "This NSA grant will allow Metro State to further fulfill its vision to engage, foster and support the underserved individuals and businesses in the Twin Cities and the greater metropolitan area," said Swanson, referencing the schools' Community Engage Initiative. "It will also solidify our position as Minnesota's cybersecurity authority and advance our national reputation for providing an innovative interdisciplinary cybersecurity curriculum." The Metro State University Cybersecurity Clinic, which is expected to open in mid-2024, will be located at 809 East Seventh Street in Saint Paul, Minn. Upon opening, Metro State will share details on qualification guidelines for organizations wishing to participate in the clinic. About Metro State University Founded in 1971, Metro State University, a member of Minnesota State, is the Twin Cities' public, urban, comprehensive state university providing lifelong learning and competitive academic and professional degree programs at the bachelor, master and doctoral levels. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate programs and more than 25 graduate degrees. Metro State ranks 22nd in the nation and first in Minnesota on CollegeNet's Social Mobility Index, which measures colleges' and universities' success in elevating students from low-income strata into the middle class within five years of graduation. To learn more, visit metrostate.edu. Contact: Patty Gibbs For Metro State University 651.269.7687 [email protected] View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/metro-state-university-bests-400-higher-education-institutions-wins-nsa-grant-to-build-and-operate-much-needed-small-business-cybersecurity-clinic-301898045.html SOURCE Metro State University [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- China condemns the attack and extends condolences for the unfortunate assassination of Ecuador's presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday. "We hope the Ecuadorian government and relevant parties will work to maintain stability and that the upcoming election will be safe, steady and smooth," the spokesperson said. [August 10, 2023] Defender Pharmaceuticals Phase 3 Motion Sickness Trial Results Selected for Presentation at 2023 Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS) Tweet Subjects receiving DPI-386 (intranasal scopolamine gel) demonstrated significantly lower incidence of nausea, vomiting or the need for rescue medication in comparison to individuals administered placebo. MHSRS is Department of Defenses foremost scientific meeting, drawing approximately 3,500 attendees annually. ST. LOUIS, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Defender Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the Company or Defender), a privately held life sciences company based in St. Louis, today announced that the previously reported, positive results from its Phase 3 clinical trial with DPI-386 Nasal Gel for prevention of nausea and vomiting induced by motion in adults has been selected for presentation at the upcoming 2023 Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS) to be held August 14 -17, 2023 in Kissimmee, FL. The selection of our Phase 3 clinical trial results for presentation at this premiere event underscores both the strength of the data and the heavy impact that motion sickness has on the ability to ensure effective military operations, said Barry I. Feinberg, M.D., President & CEO of Defender Pharmaceuticals. Nausea and vomiting associated with motion remains a debilitating factor in military performance that is true regardless of mode of transportation and largely inescapable due to military personnels frequent inability to withdraw from the offending stimuli. This trial data being presented at MHSRS effectively linked motion sickness avoidance or improvement with DPI-386 as an effective, alternative means of scopolamine administration, allowing for more rapid vascular uptake and potentially direct absorption into the central nervous system. This was our pivotal Phase 3 trial with DPI-386 in motion sickness, forming the basis for our New Drug Application recently submitted to the US Food & Drug Administration. DPI-386-MS-33 was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 study investigating the efficacy and safety of DPI-386 nasal gel for prevention of nausea and vomiting associated with motion. The study included 503 subjects previously screened for experiences with motion sickness that were then dosed with DPI-386 (0.2mg) or placebo before being exposed to open sea conditions. The primary efficacy endpoint was the proportion of subjects who reported no vomiting and no use of rescue medication (e.g., antihistamine) within 4 hours after receiving DPI-386 or to the end of the voyage. As previously reported, subjects that received DPI-386 demonstrated a significantly lower incidence of vomiting or the need for rescue medication in comparison to subjects administered placebo (p<.0001). The incidence of moderate to severe nausea was also significantly less in the intranasal scopolamine group then in the placebo group (p<.0001). No serious or unexpected adverse events were observed in either the DPI-386 or placebo groups. Abstract title: Efficacy of Intranasal Scopolamine HBr (INSCOP, DPI-386) for the prevention of vomiting or the need for rescue medication associated with motion. Presenting Author: Dr. Barry I. Feinberg Breakout Session: Innovative Technologies to Optimize Warfighters' Performance, and Return to Duty: Individual Wearables, and Neuromodulation Session Type/Title: Poster Presentation Abstract Code: MHSRS-23-10223 Date: Tuesday, August 15, Poster Session #2 scheduled for 3:30-5:30 EST Additional meeting information can be found on the 2023 MHRS Congress website, https://mhsrs.health.mil/SiteCollectionDocuments/MHSRS23_agenda_F.pdf. The poster will be available on the Companys website at https://defenderpharma.com/ shortly after the event. About Defender Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Defender Pharmaceuticals, Inc., located in St. Louis, MO, is a privately held life sciences company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing medicines to help safeguard health across civilian and military populations. Our work with the Department of Defense, NASA, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other institutions advance our mission to improve the health of patients and help make the world a more secure place. About DPI-386 Intranasal Scopolamine In pharmacokinetic studies in healthy volunteers, scopolamine administered via an intranasal gel demonstrated rapid absorption, showing that intranasal drug delivery can offer healthcare providers an important alternative administration route, with potential benefits including ease of use and rapid onset of action. Intranasal Scopolamine Development Program Defender is working with the United States Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU-D) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on its intranasal scopolamine development program that is focused on specific military personnel and astronauts. In addition, the U.S. Navy has designated the DPI-386 new drug application for a priority review by the FDA meaning, should the NDA be accepted, the FDA will have six months to review and act on the application as opposed to the typical twelve months for a non-priority review application. To date, more than 1,300 patients have participated in Defender clinical studies, including over 500 participants in the recently completed DPI-386-MS-33 study. Given the successful outcome of DPI-386-MS-33, Defender has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for DPI-386 Nasal Gel for the prevention of nausea and vomiting induced by motion. Defender is also developing intranasal formulations designed to treat a wide variety of indications. We believe these new products have the potential to help safeguard health across civilian and military populations. About Motion Related Discomfort Certain motions cause discomfort in individuals while engaged in a variety of leisure or travel related activities. Most forms of travel, whether on land, in the air, or on the water, can trigger symptoms such as nausea and vomiting (example: flying, boating/fishing, car, bus, and train). Symptoms induced by motion can also have a detrimental impact on the ability of various military personnel and astronauts to perform assigned duties, potentially impacting readiness and negatively impacting resources. Motion related discomfort is a common and transient response to unfamiliar or unnatural motion or contradictory spatial sensory information, resulting in decrements to performance of tasks, pallor, cold sweating, nausea and vomiting. Prolonged exposure to certain motions may induce sopite-related symptoms such as loss of drive and concentration, drowsiness, sleepiness, apathy, depression, and a feeling of impending doom. Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements Various statements in this press release, including but not limited to statements regarding Defenders plans to continue the intranasally administered scopolamine HBr development program and pursue FDA approval, are forward-looking statements under securities law. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding our product candidates and the development thereof, such as the Companys intranasal scopolamine motion development program; the therapeutic potential of our intranasally administered scopolamine HBr product candidate; the Companys regulatory plans and timelines for intranasally administered scopolamine HBr, including our planned submission of a New Drug Application for intranasal scopolamine and the indication(s) expected to be pursued in the near term. The process by which investigational therapies, such as intranasal scopolamine, could potentially lead to an approved product is long and subject to highly significant risks. Other risk factors relevant to Defender include our reliance on third-party contract research organizations; the reliance of Defender on contract manufacturers to supply its products for research, development and commercialization and the risk of supply interruption from such contract manufacturers; the timing, plans and reviews by regulatory authorities of marketing applications such as NDAs for intranasally administered scopolamine HBr; alignment with the FDA on the regulatory pathway to approval for intranasally administered scopolamine HBr; market acceptance for approved product; competition; the possible impairment of, inability to obtain, and costs to obtain intellectual property rights; possible safety or efficacy concerns that could emerge as new data are generated during development and following commercialization; and general business, financial, and accounting risks and litigation. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect Defenders current views with respect to future events as of the date of this press release, and Defender does not undertake and specifically disclaims any 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. For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]. For more information about Defender Pharmaceuticals, please visit www.defenderpharma.com. Source: Defender Pharmaceuticals, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] FlagshipKansas.Tech's Ad Astra Summit to Award Tech-Related Innovation in Community, Business, and Education, Headlined by Steve Wozniak Tweet The awards will be presented prior to a fireside chat with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. WICHITA, Kan., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As a nonprofit helping propel the technology industry forward in Kansas, FlagshipKansas.Tech is set to celebrate excellence and innovation in the Kansas tech industry at its second annual Ad Astra Technology Summit. The awards will be presented at Wichita State University's Charles Koch Arena on October 2, prior to the fireside chat with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. Nominations are being accepted through September 5 for the following categories: Tech Educator of the Year Honors educators driving technological innovation, literacy, and diversity in Kansas classrooms. Tech Student of the Year (K-12) Recognizes an exceptional Kansas K-12 student excelling and innovating in tech-related fields. Tech Student of the Year (Highr Ed) Recognizes an exceptional Kansas college student excelling and innovating in tech-related fields. Tech Startup of the Year Honors innovative, disruptive, and rapidly growing tech startups in Kansas. Tech Visionary of the Year Honors individuals or organizations driving significant innovation and transformation in Kansas. Tech Community Innovator of the Year Recognizes those leveraging technology for social and community development in Kansas. To learn more about the guidelines and submit a nomination, visit adastrasummit.tech/nominations. About the Ad Astra Technology Summit The annual Ad Astra Technology Summit is set to return for its second year in Wichita, Kan., on October 2. The summit aims to bring together industry leaders, startup entrepreneurs, government officials, and educators to explore and address current technology issues in various informative sessions. It will be hosted with event partner Barton School of Business at Wichita State University's iconic Woolsey Hall and Charles Koch Arena. Co-founder of Apple Inc., Steve Wozniak, will be the keynote speaker in an exclusive fireside chat at Koch Arena moderated by FlagshipKansas.Tech Immediate Past Chair Luis Rodriguez. An awards ceremony preceding the chat will highlight leaders and innovators in Kansas tech. Summit tickets will include floor seats for both of these high-profile events. Dr. Larisa Genin, Dean of the Barton School of Business at Wichita State University, praised the conference, saying, "This one-day event is not just a conference; it's a platform for innovation and collaboration. We're excited to see diverse topics being discussed, ranging from digital skills development to startup business enablement." The summit will include industry panels, apprenticeship programs, and a special focus on digital skills development, which are critical for today's digital workforce. Teachers will also be eligible for one full graduate credit hour issued through WSU. "I've seen firsthand the transformative power of technology and education, and this conference embodies that intersection," said Ben Sebree, FlagshipKansas.Tech board chair. "The opportunities for learning, networking, and collaboration make the Ad Astra Technology Summit a must-attend event." Tickets for the summit and the separate fireside chat event are now on sale, starting at $60, with options for sponsorships that include opportunities for a VIP book signing with Wozniak. In addition, scholarships for teachers and group discounts are available. "I am excited to support the FlagshipKansas.Tech mission through this event, which represents a vital gathering of some of the most exciting people in the Kansas technology sector," said Steve Wozniak, Co-founder of Apple. "I look forward to the fruitful discussions that will no doubt emerge from it." For more information on the Ad Astra Technology Summit and to purchase tickets, please visit adastrasummit.tech. About FlagshipKansas.Tech FlagshipKansas.Tech is a nonprofit organization that brings together Kansas technology companies to shine a light on the depth of skill, ingenuity, and innovation running through our cities and communities. Current goals include raising awareness, attracting and retaining technology talent, and supporting technology workforce training and education. Learn more at flagshipkansas.tech. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/flagshipkansastechs-ad-astra-summit-to-award-tech-related-innovation-in-community-business-and-education-headlined-by-steve-wozniak-301898230.html SOURCE FlagshipKansas.Tech [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Breaks Ground on New $11.75 Million Stella Boyle Smith Music Center in Little Rock's East Village Tweet Arkansas Symphony Orchestra broke ground today on its new $11.75 million Stella Boyle Smith Music Center in Little Rock's East Village, creating a first-of-its-kind music-focused headquarters for the state. The new 20,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility, slated to open in September 2024, is the Symphony's first permanent home in its 58-year history. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810930235/en/ Rendering of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Stella Boyle Smith Music Center (Photo: Business Wire) The new music center will be a radically welcoming hub of musical activity for all Arkansans, serving youth and adults of all ages with an array of musical offerings. The building will provide access to music education, music performances and music making to residents of all corners of the state through new spaces and a broadcast and recording studio. "Our new music center represents a defining moment for the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and for the state," said Brigita Gardner, chair of ASO's Crescendo Committee. "Countless individuals in the community have dedicated their time, effort and passion to raise funds and meticulously plan for how this center can be accessible to all and a source of joy. We embrace the promise of this landmark home as it enriches the arts in our community and serves Arkansans for many generations to come." The new music center will boast state-of-the-art features for children and adults that participate in the programs of the E. Lee Ronnel Music Academy, including usic classrooms and practice spaces, ensuring a conducive environment for musical growth and creativity. The space will include Morgan Hall, named in honor of long-time ASO supporters Susie and Charles Morgan, which will serve as a versatile space for rehearsals and concerts, fostering an immersive musical experience. "Live music serves as a unifying force that connects us all, transcending all walks of life," ASO Music Director Geoff Robson said. "Arkansas has a rich tradition of music creators, including Florence Price, Johnny Cash, William Grant Still, the Ozark Folk Tradition, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and many more. As we embark on this exciting journey, our vision is that this new center will inspire appreciation for all kinds of music-making, be an accessible resource for those learning the craft, and help to cultivate the next generations of music creators. We look forward to ushering in this new era of possibilities." The groundbreaking of the Stella Boyle Smith Music Center follows years of effort from community supporters to privately fundraise and identify a suitable location for the new center, which needed to be constructed to provide the right specifications for musical acoustics. More than 200 generous donors throughout the community have contributed towards this project, including 48 musicians, raising more than $11 million for the center. ASO is currently raising remaining funds, as it is just $500,000 shy of its fundraising goal. Major donors include The Stella Boyle Smith Trust, Susie and Charles Morgan, Gus Vratsinas, Terri and Chuck Erwin, Windgate Foundation, E. Lee Ronnel, Simmons Bank, the State of Arkansas and members of the ASO Board of Directors. Additional center supporters include the orchestra, staff, youth orchestra parents, volunteers and numerous community leaders. "This new music center will offer so many opportunities for the many diverse needs of Arkansans - creating beautiful spaces to learn, teach, work, play, listen and have fun," said Jan Hundley, chair of the ASO Board of Directors. "The realization of this dream has been made possible by the generous contributions of countless donors and the community's unwavering support. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our supporters, who tirelessly advocate for music and music education across the state, making this center a reality and fostering a brighter future for all." "We look forward to future partnerships with community leaders such as Saint Mark Baptist Church, William J. Clinton Presidential Library & Museum, Lyon College, Central Arkansas Library System, City of Little Rock and more to determine how we can be a resource to strengthen their missions," ASO CEO Christina Littlejohn said. "Music has the power to connect us and build communities at the micro and macro levels. Creating community has never felt so important as we read about increasing loneliness and isolation. The new Stella Boyle Smith Music Center will be a space for joyous communities." ASO's performances will still be held at Robinson Center, whereas the Stella Boyle Smith Music Center provides the opportunity for many additional community gatherings. The new music center will provide much-needed space as ASO has outgrown its current offices, and, more importantly, it will allow ASO to grow its community programs. The Stella Boyle Smith Music Center was designed by Witsell Evans Rasco Architects of Little Rock. Bailey Construction of Little Rock will build the center with an anticipated opening date in September 2024. To learn more about ASO and the new Stella Boyle Smith Music Center, visit www.arkansassymphony.org. About Arkansas Symphony Orchestra The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 58th season in 2023-2024. The ASO is the resident orchestra at Little Rock's Robinson Center and performs more than 60 concerts each year for more than 165,000 people through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series, First Orion Pops Series, River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series and numerous concerts performed around the state of Arkansas. In addition, the ASO offers numerous community outreach programs and brings live symphonic music education to more than 26,000 school children and more than 200 schools throughout Central Arkansas. The ASO employs 12 full-time musicians, more than 70 part-time musicians and 15 administrative staff members with an annual operating budget of $4 million. The ASO is a member of the League of American Orchestras and a partner orchestra of the National Alliance for Audition Support, an unprecedented national initiative to increase diversity in American orchestras. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810930235/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Core Molding Technologies Presenting at the 14th Annual Midwest IDEAS Investor Conference on August 24th in Chicago, IL Tweet COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Core Molding Technologies, Inc. (NYSE American: CMT) (Core Molding, Core or the Company), a leading engineered materials company specializing in molded structural products, principally in building products, industrial and utilities, medium and heavy-duty truck and powersports industries across the United States, Canada and Mexico today announced that the Company will present at the Midwest IDEAS Investor Conference at 9:20 am CT on August 24, 2023, at The Gwen in Chicago, and management will also be available for 1x1 meetings that day. The presentation will be webcast and may be accessed through the conference hosts main website: https://www.threepartadvisors.com/midwest and in the investor relations section of the company's website: https://coremt.com/investor-relations/events-presentations/. About Core Molding Technologies, Inc. Core Molding Technologies is a leading engineered materials company specializing in molded structural products, principally in building products, utilities, transportation and powersports industries across North America. The Company operates in one operating segment as a molder of thermoplastic and thermoset structural products. The Companys operating segment consists f one reporting unit, Core Molding Technologies. The Company offers customers a wide range of manufacturing processes to fit various program volume and investment requirements. These thermoset processes include compression molding of sheet molding compound (SMC), resin transfer molding (RTM), liquid molding of dicyclopentadiene (DCPD), spray-up and hand-lay-up. The thermoplastic processes include direct long-fiber thermoplastics (DLFT) and structural foam and structural web injection molding. Core Molding Technologies serves a wide variety of markets, including the medium and heavy-duty truck, marine, automotive, agriculture, construction, and other commercial products. The demand for Core Molding Technologies products is affected by economic conditions in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Core Molding Technologies operations may change proportionately more than revenues from operations. About IDEAS Investor Conferences The mission of the IDEAS Conferences is to provide independent regional venues for quality companies to present their investment merits to an influential audience of investment professionals. Unlike traditional bank-sponsored events, IDEAS Investor Conferences are SPONSORED BY INVESTORS. FOR INVESTORS. and for the benefit of regional investment communities. Conference sponsors collectively have more than $200 billion in assets under management and include: 1102 Partners, Adirondack Research and Management, Allianz Global Investors: NFJ Investment Group, Ariel Investments, Aristotle Capital Boston, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss, BMO Global Asset Management, Constitution Research & Management, Inc., Fidelity Investments, First Wilshire Securities Management, Inc., Gamco Investors, Granahan Investment Management, Great Lakes Advisors, Greenbrier Partners Capital Management, LLC, GRT Capital Partners, LLC, Hodges Capital Management, Ironwood Investment Management, Keeley Teton Advisors, Luther King Capital Management, Marble Harbor Investment Counsel, North Star Investment Management, Perritt Capital Management, Punch & Associates, Westwood Holdings Group, Inc., and William Harris Investors. The IDEAS Investor Conferences are held annually in Boston, Chicago and Dallas and are produced by Three Part Advisors, LLC. Additional information about the events can be located at www.IDEASconferences.com. If interested in participating or learning more about the IDEAS conferences, please contact Lacey Wesley at (817) 769 -2373 or [email protected]. Company Contact: Core Molding Technologies, Inc. John Zimmer Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer 614-870-5604 Investor Relations Contact: Three Part Advisors, LLC Sandy Martin or Steven Hooser 214-616-2207 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Leading Insurtech Quility Announces Significant Investment from F&G Tweet F&G's investment will expedite Quility's advancement of its proprietary insurance technology and automation platforms, as well as its products. ASHEVILLE, N.C., Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Quility, a leading insurtech company, today announced a significant investment from F&G Annuities & Life, Inc. ("F&G") for a minority stake in Quility. F&G is a leading provider of insurance solutions serving retail annuity and life insurance customers and institutional clients. The investment is targeted at accelerating deployment of Quility's advanced technology, automation, and leads platforms removing barriers to make life insurance more accessible for agents and clients alike. Quility offers a frictionless experience for insurance agents, insurance distribution companies, and the clients they serve. Starting from quote to underwriting to policy placement, Quility fast tracks the application process in as little as 10 minutes. F&G's investment will advance Quility's proprietary insurance technology and automation platforms: Navigator : Quility's user-friendly platform provides a one-stop shop for agents to instantly offer a broad range of insurance products. Navigator's pre-underwritingand quoting tools allow agents to confidently select best-fit insurance solutions for clients. : Quility's user-friendly platform provides a one-stop shop for agents to instantly offer a broad range of insurance products. Navigator's pre-underwritingand quoting tools allow agents to confidently select best-fit insurance solutions for clients. Switchboard : Quility's automated client engagement platform accelerates agents' workflow and the prospect pipeline. From initial outreach with potential clients to appointment setting, it offers an omnichannel purchasing and nurturing experience. : Quility's automated client engagement platform accelerates agents' workflow and the prospect pipeline. From initial outreach with potential clients to appointment setting, it offers an omnichannel purchasing and nurturing experience. Data Products: Quility will drive true AI and machine learning through its proprietary data products and advanced data science offerings. "F&G's investment will expedite the innovative technology that has become synonymous with the Quility brand," said Brandon Ellison, co-founder and CEO of Quility. "This is a meaningful step in our mission to transform the way life insurance is bought and sold." "F&G's investment in Quility aligns with our own diversified tech-enabled strategy, while providing Quility the capacity to drive growth and secure its position as a leading insurtech company," said Chris Blunt, CEO of F&G Annuities & Life, Inc. "We are excited to partner with Quility as they embark on developing an innovative operating platform built with Generative AI capabilities to enhance and simplify the end-to-end insurance policy experience for agents and customers." Broadhaven Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Quility through this transaction with Norton Rose Fulbright acting as Quility's legal counsel. About Quility Quility empowers agents with an industry-leading sales enablement platform and a suite of proprietary, fully digital insurance products, creating a frictionless experience from quote to underwriting to policy placement. Quility makes the insurance process easy for industry professionals and their clients. With Quility, life insurance doesn't have to be prickly. To learn more visit quility.com. About F&G F&G Annuities & Life, Inc. is committed to helping Americans turn their aspirations into reality. F&G is a leading provider of insurance solutions serving retail annuity and life customers and institutional clients and is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/leading-insurtech-quility-announces-significant-investment-from-fg-301898233.html SOURCE Quility [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Velo3D Announces Offering of $70 Million of Senior Secured Convertible Notes Tweet Velo3D, Inc. (NYSE: VLD) ("Velo3D" or the "Company"), a leading additive manufacturing technology company for mission-critical metal parts, today announced that it has entered into a securities purchase agreement with certain affiliated institutional investors (collectively, the "Investor") for the purchase and sale of up to $105 million in aggregate principal amount of the Company's senior secured convertible notes (the "Notes") in a registered direct offering (the "Offering"). The Company expects to issue $70 million in aggregate principal amount of the Notes (the "Initial Notes") at the initial closing of the Offering on or about August 14, 2023 (the "Initial Closing"), subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. In addition, the Company has granted the Investor the right to purchase up to an additional $35 million in aggregate principal amount of the Notes (the "Additional Notes") so long as the notice to exercise such option is provided no later than the first anniversary of the Initial Closing. The Company estimates the net proceeds from the Initial Closing will be approximately $66 million, after deducting estimated fees and expenses payable by the Company. The Company intends to use approximately $22 million of the net proceeds from the Offering to repay the outstanding indebtedness under its existing credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank and the remaining net proceeds for working capital, capital expenditures and general corporate purposes. The Notes will have an initial conversion rate of 475.1722 shares of the Company's common stock per $1,000 principal amount of the Notes (equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately $2.10 per share of the Company's common stock). The initial conversion price represents a premium of approximately 15% to the $1.83 per share closing price of the Company's common stock on the New York Stock Exchange on August 9, 2023. The initial conversion price will adjust to 110% of the average of the three daily volume-weighted-average prices ("VWAP") of the Company's common stock during the three trading day period ending on and including August 17, 2023, if such average is lower than the initial conversion price, with a corresponding adjustment to the conversion rate. The conversion rate will also be subject to customary anti-dilution adjustments and adjustments for certain corporate events. Subject to certain conditions, the Company can require conversion of the Notes if the closing price of the Company's common stock exceeds 175% of the conversion price for at least 20 VWAP trading days in a 30 consecutive VWAP trading day period. As described below, the Notes will be senior secured obligations of the Company and will be effectively senior to all of the Company's unsecured indebtedness to the extent of the collateral securing the Notes. Aside from the foregoing, the Notes will rank pari passu with all of the Company's other senior indebtedness and senior to any of the Company's subordinated indebtedness. The Notes will bear interest at 6.00% per annum, payable quarterly in cash commencing October 1, 2023, and will mature on August 1, 2026. When the Company repays principal on the Notes pursuant to the terms of the Notes, it will be required to pay 115% of the principal amount repaid (the "Repayment Price"). On the first day of each three-month period beginning on January 1, 2024 (a "Partial Redemption Date"), holders of the Notes may require the Company to redeem a portion of the principal amount of the Notes at the Repayment Price plus accrued interest. The aggregate principal amount of the Initial Notes that will be redeemable on a Partial Redemption Date will be $8,750,000 for a Repayment Price of $10,062,500. Subject to certain exceptions, upon the completion of certain equity financings at a price below the conversion price, holders of the Notes will hve the right to require the Company to use up to 15% of the gross proceeds of the equity financing to redeem a portion of the principal amount of the Notes at the Repayment Price plus accrued interest. Holders of the Notes will also have the right to require the Company to repurchase all or a portion of their Notes upon the occurrence of certain corporate events constituting a "fundamental change" at the greater of (a) 110% of the conversion value (calculated based on the 5-day VWAP of the Company's common stock during the period beginning on the later of the five VWAP trading days prior to the effective date of such fundamental change and the five VWAP trading days prior to the public announcement of such fundamental change) and (b) 100% of the Repayment Price plus accrued interest. The Notes provide that, as of the issue date of the Initial Notes (which period may be extended in the reasonable discretion of the collateral agent for the Notes), the Company will have delivered to the collateral agent a U.S. security agreement, a U.S. intellectual property security agreement and UCC financing statements, in form and substance satisfactory to the collateral agent, which created a first lien security interest in all the Company's assets, including, but not limited to, the Company's intellectual property (subject to prior liens and other customary exclusions, in each case acceptable to the collateral agent in its sole discretion) and perfected a first lien security interest in all such assets other than the Company's non-U.S. assets and the Company's bank accounts. At or before 30 days after the issue date of the Initial Notes (which period may be extended in the reasonable discretion of the collateral agent), the Company will deliver to the collateral agent such additional security documents, in form and substance reasonably acceptable to the collateral agent, which perfect a first lien security interest in all the Company's remaining assets (subject to prior liens and other customary exclusions, in each case acceptable to the collateral agent in its sole discretion). Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC is acting as sole placement agent for the Offering. The Notes are being offered pursuant to a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-268346) that was filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on November 14, 2022, and declared effective on November 21, 2022. A prospectus supplement relating to and describing the terms of the Offering has been filed with the SEC and is available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. The Offering is being made only by means of the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus. Electronic copies of the prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus may also be obtained from Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department at 6933 Louis Stephens Drive, Morrisville, NC 27560, United States, or by calling 1-800-221-1037, or by email at [email protected]. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. Any statements contained herein that do not describe historical facts, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the satisfaction of customary closing conditions related to the Offering and sale of the Notes, the expected net proceeds and timing of completion of the Offering, the expected use of proceeds and the Company's entry into security agreements with respect to the Notes, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the risks identified in the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus related to the Offering, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on March 20, 2023, and the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, filed with the SEC on May 10, 2023, incorporated by reference therein, and subsequent filings with the SEC. Any of these risks and uncertainties could materially and adversely affect the Company's results of operations, which would, in turn, have a significant and adverse impact on the price of the Company's securities. The Company cautions you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date they were made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by applicable law. About Velo3D: Velo3D is a metal 3D printing technology company. 3D printing-also known as additive manufacturing (AM)-has a unique ability to improve the way high-value metal parts are built. However, legacy metal AM has been greatly limited in its capabilities since its invention almost 30 years ago. This has prevented the technology from being used to create the most valuable and impactful parts, restricting its use to specific niches where the limitations were acceptable. Velo3D has overcome these limitations so engineers can design and print the parts they want. The company's solution unlocks a wide breadth of design freedom and enables customers in space exploration, aviation, power generation, energy and semiconductor to innovate the future in their respective industries. Using Velo3D, these customers can now build mission-critical metal parts that were previously impossible to manufacture. The end-to-end solution includes the Flow print preparation software, the Sapphire family of printers, and the Assure quality control system-all of which are powered by Velo3D's Intelligent Fusion manufacturing process. The company delivered its first Sapphire system in 2018 and has been a strategic partner to innovators such as SpaceX, Honeywell, Honda, Chromalloy, and Lam Research. Velo3D has been named to San Francisco Chronicle's prestigious annual list of Top Workplaces in the Bay Area 2022. VELO, VELO3D, SAPPHIRE and INTELLIGENT FUSION, are registered trademarks of Velo3D, Inc.; and WITHOUT COMPROMISE, FLOW and ASSURE are trademarks of Velo3D, Inc. All Rights Reserved Velo3D, Inc. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810585616/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Addison Selected as Host Site for a 4th Time for Artificial Intelligence Bootcamp - APPLICATIONS CLOSING SOON! Tweet ADDISON, Texas, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Time is running out to apply to participate in the Mark Cuban Foundation Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bootcamp hosted by Headstorm in Addison. Applications for the no-cost bootcamp are closing soon! The AI bootcamp is targeted toward underserved high school students (9th-12th grade) and offers participants a chance to learn the fundamentals of AI. Headstorm has been selected as one of the 28+ host companies across the U.S. for fall 2023. If accepted, participants will engage in a four- week bootcamp held on consecutive Saturdays from October 14th to November 4th. It is imperative that students commit to attending all four sessions. The bootcamp sessions will take place from 1pm-5pm CT. No prior experience in computer science, programming, or robotics is required. The applications for both students and parents can be submitted through markcubanai.org/headstormpr . During the bootcamp, students will explore the world of artificial intelligence, including ethical implications and real- life applications, such as, TikTok recommendations, smart home assistants, facial recognition, and self-driving cars. Participants will also discover the features of Large Language Models like ChatGPT, which can answer questions, create originl stories, and even generate computer code. To provide a beneficial learning environment, trained volunteer corporate mentors , who are knowledgeable in AI, machine learning, and data science, will lead the students through the curriculum. Throughout the bootcamp, students will have the opportunity to work with open source tools and develop their own AI applications related to Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, and Generative AI. The Mark Cuban Foundation provides the bootcamps curriculum materials, trains corporate volunteer mentors, and recruits and scores applications for local student selected to attend camp. In addition, the Mark Cuban Foundation and Headstorm work together to provide food, information on transportation options, and access to laptops for students at no-cost to use during the bootcamp. This bootcamp is facilitated with support from Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamp Program's media partner, Notified, a globally trusted technology partner for investor relations, public relations and marketing professionals. It was a lot of fun, I learned things I didn't even know were possible with A.I. and their real-world applications showed me just how much it will change our world." - Brandon B., 10th Grade, 2022 AI Bootcamp Participant Founded by Mark Cuban in 2019, the AI bootcamp initiative has hosted no-cost AI bootcamps for students across several U.S. cities, including Dallas, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Atlantic City to name a few. The Mark Cuban Foundation has impacted 900+ students to date and has a goal to increase that number year over year. Students interested in applying to the Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamp should do so before Friday, September 8th, 2023 at markcubanai.org/headstormpr . To see our 2023 camp locations and to learn more about the Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamps, please visit markcubanai.org/faq . Contact: Carli Lidiak, Mark Cuban Foundation Phone: 309-840-0348 Email: [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Mountain View Selected as Host Site for Artificial Intelligence Bootcamp - APPLICATIONS CLOSING SOON! Tweet MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Time is running out to apply to participate in the Mark Cuban Foundation Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bootcamp hosted by ThoughtSpot in Mountain View. Applications for the no-cost bootcamp are closing soon! The AI bootcamp is targeted toward underserved high school students (9th-12th grade) and offers participants a chance to learn the fundamentals of AI. ThoughtSpot has been selected as one of the 28+ host companies across the U.S. for fall 2023. If accepted, participants will engage in a four- week bootcamp held on consecutive Saturdays from October 14th to November 4th. It is imperative that students commit to attending all four sessions. The bootcamp sessions will take place from 11am-3pm PT. No prior experience in computer science, programming, or robotics is required. The applications for both students and parents can be submitted through markcubanai.org/thoughtspotpr. During the bootcamp, students will explore the world of artificial intelligence, including ethical implications and real- life applications, such as, TikTok recommendations, smart home assistants, facial recognition, and self-driving cars. Participants will also discover the features of Large Language Models like ChatGPT, which can answer questions, create original stories, and eve generate computer code. To provide a beneficial learning environment, trained volunteer corporate mentors , who are knowledgeable in AI, machine learning, and data science , will lead the students through the curriculum. Throughout the bootcamp, students will have the opportunity to work with open source tools and develop their own AI applications related to Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, and Generative AI. The Mark Cuban Foundation provides the bootcamps curriculum materials, trains corporate volunteer mentors, and recruits and scores applications for local student selected to attend camp. In addition, the Mark Cuban Foundation and ThoughtSpot work together to provide food, information on transportation options, and access to laptops for students at no-cost to use during the bootcamp. This bootcamp is facilitated with support from Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamp Program's media partner, Notified, a globally trusted technology partner for investor relations, public relations and marketing professionals. It was a lot of fun, I learned things I didn't even know were possible with A.I. and their real-world applications showed me just how much it will change our world." - Brandon B., 10th Grade, 2022 AI Bootcamp Participant Founded by Mark Cuban in 2019, the AI bootcamp initiative has hosted no-cost AI bootcamps for students across several U.S. cities, including Dallas, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Atlantic City to name a few. The Mark Cuban Foundation has impacted 900+ students to date and has a goal to increase that number year over year. Students interested in applying to the Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamp should do so before Friday, September 8th, 2023 at markcubanai.org/thoughtspotpr. To see our 2023 camp locations and to learn more about the Mark Cuban Foundation AI Bootcamps, please visit markcubanai.org/faq. Contact: Carli Lidiak, Mark Cuban Foundation Phone: 309-840-0348 Email: [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] University of Phoenix President's and Dean's Lists Recognize Student Success Tweet University of Phoenix celebrates the accomplishments of the students named to its semi-annual President's and Dean's Lists, recognizing the success and progress of students who are achieving academic excellence in their programs of study. The President's List identifies students who have achieved a 4.0 grade point average (GPA), whereas the Dean's lists require a 3.5 or higher GPA for undergraduate degree program students, and a 3.7 or higher GPA for master's degree program students. Dean's Lists recognition is awarded to bachelor's and master's degree students from the College of Business and Information Technology; College of Education; College of General Studies; College of Health Professions; College of Nursing; and College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. As the workforce market shifts toward recognizing skills gaps as well as opportunity gaps for workers, the ability of individuals pursing degrees to share their progress and incremental success through recognition lists and digital credentialing can help support career mobility and demonstrate skills acquisition. "Highlighting the extraordinary academic achievements of our students with the President and Dean's Lists upholds a tradition honored across institutions of higher learning," states Chris Lynne, President of University of Phoenix. "For adult learners dedicated to their studies, these lists provide clear evidence of their acdemic commitment, progress, and success, which can be valuable for employers and potential employers." To be eligible for Dean's or President's List recognition, students must complete a minimum of 12 credits during the previous six months, with the required minimum GPA for their program level, and have no failing grades. Students enrolled in courses that are longer than typical need to complete at least 9 credits. "It is an honor to make the Dean's list because it is a direct reflection of the hard work and dedication needed for such an achievement," shares Bradley Schoffstall, who was named to the Dean's List and recently completed his Bachelor of Science in Management and is now pursuing a master's degree. "Finding time to balance an academic schedule, family time, and full-time career takes discipline and commitment. It can be difficult and trying at times, but the reward and motivation is worth it in the long run." "I'm so proud to be named to the President's List this year," shares Dawn McCormick, who is pursuing her Bachelor of Science in Management degree and shared her accomplishment on the professional social network LinkedIn. "I can't wait to see where my educational journey takes me. As a full-time mother and employee, it has not been an easy task to maintain, but the hard work and pursuit of this degree has been worth it. With the support I receive from University of Phoenix, my family, as well as my instructors, I'm extremely proud that I was able to achieve this goal along the way." The recognition offered by these lists is further enhanced by the university's progress of its skills-tagged curriculum and digital badging. University of Phoenix recently announced that associate, bachelor and master degree programs now open for new enrollment are 100% skills-mapped, and the University has issued more than 300,000 digital badges in multiple programs since launching the initiative. The university works with labor market researchers including Lightcast, formerly Emsi Burning Glass, and expert faculty in their fields, to identify, tag, and map employer sought-after skills in curriculum, and students' progress are made visible through their profile dashboard. Students can then claim digital badges, using the Credly platform, to display skills across multiple platforms including resumes, social media and digital platforms as proof of learning for potential employers, current employers, and colleagues. About University of Phoenix University of Phoenix is continually innovating to help working adults enhance their careers in a rapidly changing world. Flexible schedules, relevant courses, interactive learning, and Career Services for Life commitment help students more effectively pursue career and personal aspirations while balancing their busy lives. For more information, visit phoenix.edu. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810729950/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [August 10, 2023] Connellsville Area School District Adds Multiple PowerSchool Solutions to Digitize Administrative, Enrollment, and Communications Operations Tweet PowerSchool (NYSE: PWSC), the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America, today announced Connellsville Area School District (Connellsville ASD) in Connellsville, Pennsylvania selected PowerSchool Student Information System (SIS), PowerSchool Enrollment Express, and PowerSchool Ecollect Forms, which are all part of the Student Information Cloud, to support the school's administrative, enrollment, and digital communications operations. Once these tools are fully implemented as hosted solutions alongside the istrict's existing use of PowerSchool Schoology Learning, part of the Personalized Learning Cloud, Connellsville ASD can securely manage scheduling, attendance, grading, calendaring, enrollment, and other core administrative functions for the 2023-24 school year. "Ensuring our district has access to tools to support our hybrid learning curriculum is important to us, which is why we've decided to add additional PowerSchool products to our technology stack," said Kevin Ghost, Director of Technology, Connellsville Area School District. "PowerSchool's Schoology Learning product has already helped us minimize our overall time spent on completing repetitive tasks such as grading and file distribution. We're confident our PowerSchool SIS, Enrollment Express, and Ecollect Forms products will provide even more support for our staff for years to come." Connellsville ASD has used Schoology Learning to strengthen its hybrid learning capabilities in recent years, notably throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. By leveraging the platform's learning management, assessment, parental engagement, and professional development features, Connellsville ASD has made Schoology Learning its central platform to manage online learning operations. Once PowerSchool SIS, Enrollment Express, and Ecollect Forms are fully implemented for the 2023-24 school year, Connellsville ASD will have access to an expanded, unified interface allowing them to manage school operations from anywhere and can help improve overall parent-student-teacher communications, staff collaboration, and reporting responsibilities. Connellsville ASD is a large, rural district located southeast of Pittsburgh, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania serving more than 3,800 students. The district has seven schools including a high school, middle school, and four elementary schools, in addition to an online learning academy and its career and technical center. For more information about the PowerSchool Student Information Cloud, visit, https://www.powerschool.com/student-information-cloud/. About PowerSchool PowerSchool (NYSE: PWSC) is the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America. Its mission is to power the education ecosystem with unified technology that helps educators and students realize their full potential, in their way. PowerSchool connects students, teachers, administrators, and parents, with the shared goal of improving student outcomes. From the office to the classroom to the home, it helps schools and districts efficiently manage state reporting and related compliance, special education, finance, human resources, talent, registration, attendance, funding, learning, instruction, grading, assessments and analytics in one unified platform. PowerSchool supports over 50 million students globally and more than 15,000 customers, including more than 90 of the top 100 districts by student enrollment in the United States, and sells solutions in more than 90 countries. Visit www.powerschool.com to learn more. PowerSchool. PowerSchool and other PowerSchool marks are trademarks of PowerSchool Holdings, Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. PWSC-C View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810261889/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] People dine at a temporary shelter in Shidai middle school in Wuchang, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 9, 2023. Wuchang City has been severely affected by rain-triggered floods. A total of 2,498 evacuated residents are taking shelter in two middle schools. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao) Children play chess at a temporary shelter in Shidai middle school in Wuchang, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 9, 2023. Wuchang City has been severely affected by rain-triggered floods. A total of 2,498 evacuated residents are taking shelter in two middle schools. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao) A woman uses her mobile phone at a temporary shelter in Shidai middle school in Wuchang, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 9, 2023. Wuchang City has been severely affected by rain-triggered floods. A total of 2,498 evacuated residents are taking shelter in two middle schools. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao) People dine at a temporary shelter in Shidai middle school in Wuchang, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 9, 2023. Wuchang City has been severely affected by rain-triggered floods. A total of 2,498 evacuated residents are taking shelter in two middle schools. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao) People play chess at a temporary shelter in Shidai middle school in Wuchang, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 9, 2023. Wuchang City has been severely affected by rain-triggered floods. A total of 2,498 evacuated residents are taking shelter in two middle schools. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao) Staff member Zhang Xiaohong (R) chats with residents at a temporary shelter in Shidai middle school in Wuchang, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Wuchang City has been severely affected by rain-triggered floods. A total of 2,498 evacuated residents are taking shelter in two middle schools. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao) Children play at a temporary shelter in Shidai middle school in Wuchang, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 9, 2023. Wuchang City has been severely affected by rain-triggered floods. A total of 2,498 evacuated residents are taking shelter in two middle schools. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao) A doctor examines a resident at a temporary shelter in Shidai middle school in Wuchang, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 9, 2023. Wuchang City has been severely affected by rain-triggered floods. A total of 2,498 evacuated residents are taking shelter in two middle schools. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao) People chat at a temporary shelter in Shidai middle school in Wuchang, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Wuchang City has been severely affected by rain-triggered floods. A total of 2,498 evacuated residents are taking shelter in two middle schools. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao) Volunteers are on duty at a temporary shelter in Shidai middle school in Wuchang, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 9, 2023. Wuchang City has been severely affected by rain-triggered floods. A total of 2,498 evacuated residents are taking shelter in two middle schools. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao) Staff members carry breakfast at a temporary shelter in Shidai middle school in Wuchang, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Wuchang City has been severely affected by rain-triggered floods. A total of 2,498 evacuated residents are taking shelter in two middle schools. (Xinhua/Zhang Tao) Clearly . . . We're at the cruelest point of the Kansas City metro cruel Summer. This tragic story lacks any semblance of decency, civilization and self-respect on the part of suspects. Yes, even Socrates lamented the ways of youth. Nevertheless, this level of brazen violence amongst the NextGen doesn't seem to bode well for the future. Here's the report and hope that locals will turn in these young ladies for this RUTHLESS CRIME WHICH PUTS US ALL AT RISK . . . According to a police report, it all started when the two teens were in Walgreens with another teen and adult. When the pair walked inside with others, only one of the teens had on sunglasses. The police report goes on to say when all four women walked out of the store, the teen without sunglasses had a pair on. The Walgreens employee told police she told the adult in the group to pay for the glasses, but the woman refused. The two teens seen in the video came back in the store. One of the teens grabbed a Sprite and sprayed it in the employee's face. The woman said when she blocked the Sprite, the teen hit her and the other teen jumped in. The first teen jumped in again, punching the employee multiple times. Police are still trying to piece the incident together, but they need help finding the teens in the video. Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . This morning we learn that Kansas City, Missouri is moving right along a record breaking pace set in 2020 and the deadly spike in violence over last year is slowly moving closer to 25% YTD. Here is the latest report . . . Homicide 2500 block E 9th St This evening just before 11:30pm officers were dispatched to the 2500 block of E 9th St on a reported shooting. When officers arrived, they located an unresponsive juvenile teen male lying in a business parking lot unresponsive. The victim appeared to be suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. Responding officers rendered medical aid until EMS arrived and took over life saving measures. EMS declared the victim deceased a short moment later. The early stages of the investigation advise a sound of shots could be heard outside of a business coming from an unknown direction, at which time the victim was struck. Detectives and Crime Scene Investigators have responded and are processing the scene for evidence. Detectives will be speaking with any potential witnesses as well to discover what may have led up to the shooting occurring. If anyone has any information or saw anything they are asked to contact Homicide detectives directly at 816-234-5043 or the TIPS Hotline anonymously at 816-474-TIPS there is a reward of up to $25,000 for information submitted anonymously to the TIPS hotline. We are committed to assisting victims of violent crimes through use of Missouris Protection Program for Victims/Witnesses of Violent Crime. Funding for temporary, or even permanent relocation, may be available but is subject to pre-approval by the States administering agency. We are working with Partners for Peace in all our homicide investigations to monitor risks for retaliation and provide social services to affected residents. ############## Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . . Teen boy killed in overnight homicide This is the second juvenile teen to be killed in a homicide this week in Kansas City. Police are still searching for suspects in both cases. Teen fatally shot near 9th and Wabash Avenue KANSAS CITY, Mo. -For the second time this week Kansas City police are investigating the fatal shooting of a teenager. Just before 11:30 p.m. Wednesday officers were called to the area of E. 9th S... Teen shot and killed late Wednesday in Kansas City This evening just before 11:30 officers were called to the 2500 block of East 9th Street on a reported shooting. Developing . . . Apropos for #TBT we pay tribute to hottie actress Liz who seems to get hotter and show even more skin over the course of generations. And her hopeful posture inspires us to take a quick peek at pop culture, community news and top headlines. Check www.TonysKansasCity.com news gathering . . . Burnout But For Better Kansas City woman, mother safe after escaping deadly wildfires in Maui Jayme Monacelli and her mother are now safe on the Big Island after getting out of Maui. Small Victory For Home Team 'Bizarre!' Fielder baffled after batter hits ball into light Watch as Kansas City Royals' Kyle Isbel breaks a light at Fenway Park, leaving Boston Red Sox's Masataka Yoshida confused about where the ball is. Dead-Tree Posts Regrets An apology to future generations on behalf of my fellow baby boomers: We messed it up | Opinion On the climate, guns and rights for women and minorities, this letter writer says she and her peers failed our children and grandchildren. | Opinion Liz Forever . . . Elizabeth Hurley Poses With Mini-Me Son on Red Carpet in Plunging Red Gown Elizabeth Hurley and her mini-me son Damian Hurley hit the red carpet at the Remus Lifestyle Night in Mallorca on 3 August, looking as fashionable as ever. Post Rebukes White House Evidence of Biden corruption is becoming overwhelming - even as the left pooh-poohs it Newly revealed bank records show President Joe Biden's family and allies hauled in a jaw-dropping $20 million from foreign sources in Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. MAGA Declines GOP Agreement Trump says he won't sign Republican loyalty pledge required for 1st presidential debate The Republican National Committee requires all candidates to sign the pledge if they want to take part. Republicans Fear Pro-Choice Clap Back 2024 GOP alarms go off after Ohio abortion vote The huge voter turnout against a special ballot measure in Ohio that would have made it tougher to protect abortion rights is setting off alarm bells among Republican strategists who say abortion will be problem for their party in 2024. Republicans hope to win back control of the Senate and keep their House majority... Tragedy In Paradise Deadly wildfires devastating Maui force harrowing escapes as homes and landmarks burn | CNN As deadly wildfires devastating parts of Maui approach their third day, residents and visitors are recalling harrowing escapes by car or boat, taking stock of the homes and landmarks they've lost and wondering what to do next. Surviving Food Fight Ukraine's navy announces Black Sea humanitarian corridor but says Russian threat remains Ukraine's navy said a new temporary Black Sea "humanitarian corridor" had started working on Thursday and that the first ships were expected to use it within days. Gunfire Politics South Of Border Candidate in Ecuador's presidential election shot dead Fernando Villavicencio was attacked after an event in the northern city of Quito on Wednesday. Pandemic Comeback?!? WHO Warns EG.5 May Bring COVID-19 Increase The World Health Organization said that the new coronavirus strain could rise to dominance globally. Trash Talk Push Back 'Derogatory and false': Fulton DA denies rumors circulated by Trump Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Wednesday flatly denied that she had a relationship with a former client and other rumors spread by former President Donald Trump in a new campaign ad. Influencer End Game Family Announces Death of Teenage Internet Star Lil Tay The rapper and influencer rose to fame in 2018 when she was just 9 years old. Dog House For Doll House Lebanon, Kuwait Poised to Ban 'Barbie' for Promoting Homosexuality Lebanon, once thought of as among the most liberal parts of the Middle East, is poised to ban global hit movie "Barbie." More conservative Kuwait said Wednesday that it had gone ahead with a ban du... Internets Hotness Competition Who are the sportswomen earning the most money on OnlyFans? The rapid rise of OnlyFans has been a gamechanger for a number of sportswomen, with many now raking in more money through the content creation site than in their respective fields. Home Team Hits Doldrums Bad breaks benefit Boston but betray boys in blue beaten 4-3 Ground-rule doubles and catcher's interference did not help Kansas City tonight Steamy August Again . . . Building humidity in the metro today Patchy fog may slow your drive this morning Maniac was written by Michael Sembello for the (horrible) movie Flashdance and also earned the Billboard #1 spot in 1983. Today the old school tune serves as our TKC #TBT song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now. Once again the Kansas City skyline remains blue and we compile news and info from throughout the metro following a tragic shootout that claimed the life of a local police officer. Check TKC news gathering . . . Blue lights for Kansas City's Union Station in honor of Fairway police officer Jonah Oswald Jonah Oswald was a four-year veteran of the Fairway Police Department. Visitation, funeral set for fallen Fairway Ofc. Jonah Oswald A visitation and funeral service has been set for fallen Fairway Police Department Ofc. Jonah Oswald. 'As long as Fairway needs us': JoCo Sheriff's Office helping cover calls as officers mourn The Johnson County Sheriff's Office is helping cover calls for the Fairway Police Department as officers mourn the death of Ofc. Jonah Oswald. 'A tight community': Surrounding law enforcement agencies assisting Fairway, Kansas after loss of officer Several law enforcement agencies are assisting the Fairway Police Department in a time of need. Nonprofits, community members provide support family for the family of Jonah Oswald The community is rallying behind fallen Officer Jonah Oswald's family and providing support in a variety of ways. Developing . . . 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. Graphic novels: 4 new releases where the characters will get under your skin and into your soul Villagers receive rice and flour in Shangzhuang Village of Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 9, 2023. Affected by heavy rainfall, some villages in Laishui County encountered traffic and communication disruptions. Local authorities have made every effort in mending infrastructure damaged by flood while delivering disaster relief supplies purchased by the government and donated by all walks of life to flood-affected residents. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) Villagers unload food and bottled water from a truck in Longmen Township of Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Affected by heavy rainfall, some villages in Laishui County encountered traffic and communication disruptions. Local authorities have made every effort in mending infrastructure damaged by flood while delivering disaster relief supplies purchased by the government and donated by all walks of life to flood-affected residents. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) Villagers receive rice in Shangzhuang Village of Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 9, 2023. Affected by heavy rainfall, some villages in Laishui County encountered traffic and communication disruptions. Local authorities have made every effort in mending infrastructure damaged by flood while delivering disaster relief supplies purchased by the government and donated by all walks of life to flood-affected residents. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) Villagers unload food and bottled water from a truck in Longmen Township of Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Affected by heavy rainfall, some villages in Laishui County encountered traffic and communication disruptions. Local authorities have made every effort in mending infrastructure damaged by flood while delivering disaster relief supplies purchased by the government and donated by all walks of life to flood-affected residents. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) Villagers carrying disaster relief rice walk back home in Shangzhuang Village of Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 9, 2023. Affected by heavy rainfall, some villages in Laishui County encountered traffic and communication disruptions. Local authorities have made every effort in mending infrastructure damaged by flood while delivering disaster relief supplies purchased by the government and donated by all walks of life to flood-affected residents. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) A villager carrying disaster relief rice walks back home in Shangzhuang Village of Sanpo Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 9, 2023. Affected by heavy rainfall, some villages in Laishui County encountered traffic and communication disruptions. Local authorities have made every effort in mending infrastructure damaged by flood while delivering disaster relief supplies purchased by the government and donated by all walks of life to flood-affected residents. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) Villagers transfer donated vegetables in Ligezhuang Village of Zhaogezhuang Town, Laishui County, north China's Hebei Province, Aug. 10, 2023. Affected by heavy rainfall, some villages in Laishui County encountered traffic and communication disruptions. Local authorities have made every effort in mending infrastructure damaged by flood while delivering disaster relief supplies purchased by the government and donated by all walks of life to flood-affected residents. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) QUITO, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Fernando Villavicencio, Ecuador's candidate for the presidential election later this month, was killed on Wednesday in an armed attack following a political rally held in Quito, the country's capital, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso confirmed. "My solidarity and condolences to his wife and daughters. Because of their memory and their struggle, I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished," Lasso said through his account on the social network X, formerly known as Twitter. The security cabinet will meet at the Carondelet Palace, the seat of government. Diana Atamaint, president of the National Election Council, and Diana Salazar, the state attorney general, as well as officials from other national authorities, were asked to attend the meeting, said the president. "Organized crime has come a long way, but the full weight of the law is going to fall on them," he added. The incident occurred in the middle of an electoral campaign and 11 days before the presidential election scheduled for Aug. 20, in which Lasso's successor and 137 members of the country's National Assembly will be elected. Population of Yukon River peregrines nosedives Photo by Robin Long Skip Ambrose holds a peregrine falcon during a trip to monitor the birds along the upper Yukon River in 1985. Numbers of adult peregrine falcons on the upper Yukon River in Alaska have decreased by more than a third in the last three years, according to a scientist who has counted them there for half a century. Skip Ambrose is a biologist who has observed Yukon River peregrine falcons since 1973, missing only three years along the way. He and his wife Chris Florian returned from 2023s trip having seen only 77 adult peregrine falcons in the 166-mile stretch from the Yukon border to Circle. That is a 34 percent decrease in the average number of adult birds they counted there from 2012-2019. Normally, we have 58-to-60 nesting pairs and one or two single adults along the upper Yukon, Ambrose said. In 2023, we had 33 pairs and 11 single adults. The population decrease comes after decades of peregrine falcons recovery from the effects of DDT, a compound introduced in 1947 to kill mosquitoes and other insects. In 1973, the Environmental Protection Agency banned the use of DDT, which, when ingested by falcons, caused them to lay eggs with thinner shells that often broke. Photo by Ned Rozell Chris Florian, left, and Skip Ambrose pose on the bank of the Yukon River during a trip to monitor peregrine falcon nests in July 2018. In the decades since the DDT ban in the U.S. and other countries, peregrine falcons came back. Ambrose thinks the population of peregrines stabilized by 2012, when the birds occupied 60 territories in the upper Yukon study area and most every good cliff nesting site was taken. The comeback took 40 years, and Ambrose had a front-row seat for the show. But he has seen things change during the last few years. This recent decline is very different from the DDT-induced decline, with adults disappearing rapidly . . . resulting in an immediate reduction in the number of breeding adults and the resulting reduced number of nestlings being raised, Ambrose said. With the disappearance of breeding adults, the population will decline at a much faster rate than during the DDT era. Photo by Skip Ambrose Skip Ambrose took a shot of these peregrine falcon nestlings on ledges above the upper Yukon River during his 50-year study of the birds. Ambrose and Florian think the avian bird flu is probably killing adult peregrine falcons, maybe before they get to Alaska. Peregrines, which live an average of six to seven years, migrate from the breeding grounds of the far north to the southern United States, Central and South America. While they have found no dead birds to test for avian flu, Ambrose and Florian think the diseases prevalence all over the continent makes sense as a reason for the birds decline. Because peregrines capture and eat birds from warblers to large ducks they are quite susceptible to contracting bird flu, Ambrose said. The current strain of bird flu often kills birds within 48 hours of them contracting it (much like how the 1918 flu pandemic affected people). With his single data point of lost peregrine falcons on the upper Yukon River, Ambrose is hoping to find out more from researchers who are monitoring them elsewhere, such as Padre Island in Texas where peregrines often hunt on their migrations to and from South America. Were trying to get the word out, to see if people are noticing the same thing in other places, Ambrose said. Unfortunately, after the peregrine was (removed from the Endangered Species List) in the 1990s, most survey efforts in North America ended or were reduced substantially. Photo by Ted Swem An adult peregrine falcon in flight over Alaska What does the future hold for peregrine falcons, just a few years ago considered a great comeback success story? We have no idea, Ambrose said. In truth, nobody really knows. Since the late 1970s, the University of Alaska Fairbanks' Geophysical Institute has provided this column free in cooperation with the UAF research community. Ned Rozell is a science writer for the Geophysical Institute. Austrian federal government has not yet transferred 2 million euros to the Slovenian organization International Trust Fund (ITF), which was announced two months ago for demining in Ukraine. Member of the National Council of Austria, spokesperson for the foreign policy of the liberal party NEOS Helmut Brandstetter said this, according to APA, Ukrinform reports. "As the ITF director confirmed to us, even after two months, the federal government has not transferred a single cent of the promised two million euros to the aid organization," Brandstetter said. According to him, the Slovenian organization International Trust Fund (ITF) has not yet received a single contract. "The fact that members of the government from the Austrian People's Party, starting with the chancellor and onwards, boast at every opportunity that they are financially supporting civilian demining is a farce and simply not true," said the spokesman for the opposition NEOS. Reacting to this information, the Austrian Foreign Ministry told ARA that the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), which makes payments to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, depends on project partners - that is, the ITF - to submit project proposals quickly. It is noted that ITF submitted such a project proposal three weeks ago, on July 4. "After review by the ADA and the conclusion of an agreement with the project partner, all funding in this amount must be reviewed and approved by the ADA Supervisory Board," the statement said. The Austrian Foreign Ministry expects the funds for the ITF to be transferred "in the first half of August." As reported earlier, there was a delay in the Austrian government's transfer of 10 million in financial assistance to the Energy Support Fund for Ukraine. The first tranche of this aid was announced in December 2022, during Russia's massive attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. However, the official transfer ceremony to the Energy Community, which manages the Fund, took place only on May 25, 2023. According to the Austrian media, the money was supposed to come to the Fund from the budget of the Ministry of Climate Protection, headed by the representative of the Green Party, Leonore Gevessler. However, the ministry pointed to delays on the part of the Ministry of Finance, which has to approve the tranche and is headed by Magnus Brunner, a representative of the Austrian People's Party (OVP). As Ukrinform reported, on May 28, the Austrian federal government announced that it would provide the Slovenian organization International Trust Fund (ITF) with 2 million euros for humanitarian demining in Ukraine. Some 170-200 people cross into Ukraine from the Russian Federation every day through the Kolotilovka-Pokrovka humanitarian corridor on the border of the Belgorod and Sumy regions. Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk announced this on national television, Ukrinform reports. She said that a hub has been set up in the Sumy region, where people can receive medical, psychological and humanitarian assistance. In addition, there are vehicles that take people to Sumy for free, and there is a hub where they can spend the night and leave for Kyiv in the morning. According to Vereshchuk, at 06:47 every day, free evacuation trains depart for Kyiv. People can also take the bus to Kharkiv. Vereshchuk said that such a checkpoint with Russia operates unilaterally and it would not be possible to leave for Russia through this checkpoint. "We have closed borders with the aggressor state, and today it is only one humanitarian corridor that is arranged in this way. There are also [corridors] through Belarus. But this is the only one with Russia," she added. Earlier reports said that the Kolotilovka-Pokrovka humanitarian corridor reopened on August 5. A reconnaissance unit that performs combat missions at the front received a batch of FPV drones from the 'Ukrainian Team' volunteer headquarters. The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine reported this in a message on Telegram, according to Ukrinform. "Controlled FPV drones with a high-quality camera are capable of reaching speeds of up to 100 km/h and climbing to an altitude of up to 1000 meters. The payload is more than 1 kilogram of explosives," the statement reads. According to the DIU, thousands of citizens donated to purchase 150 of these kamikaze drones as part of a large initiative of the 'Ukrainian Team'. As reported, the band "Druha Rika" together with the Diana Podolianchuk Charitable Foundation donated more than UAH 1.8 million to the DIU. The Estonian government at a meeting on Thursday supported Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur's proposal to send 150 handguns and ammunition for them to Ukraine. That's according to the Estonian Defense Ministry, Ukrinform reports. "We must support Ukraine in its fight against the continuing Russian aggression. Once again, we have found an opportunity where Estonia can lend a helping hand," Pevkur said. He also added that the Russian Federation cannot gain anything from this aggression. "Therefore, all who support Ukraine must both speed up the provision of military aid as well as increase the capacity of their defense industry," Pevkur said. Read also: Estonia already allocated UAH 16M to restore bridge in Zhytomyr region Estonia has already provided Ukraine with over EUR 400 million worth of military aid, or more than 1% of its GDP. In particular, Estonia earlier supplied Ukraine with Javelin anti-tank systems, howitzers, artillery ammunition, anti-tank mines, anti-tank grenade launchers, mortars, vehicles, communications equipment, military field hospitals, medical supplies, personal protective equipment (helmets, etc.), and food packages (MRE). Twenty-five combat clashes have taken place between the Defense Forces of Ukraine and Russian troops throughout the day. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said this in its evening update as of 18:00 on August 10, Ukrinform reports. Over the past day, the enemy launched 3 missile attacks and 49 air strikes, carried out 36 attacks using multiple launch rocket systems on the positions of Ukrainian troops and populated areas. As a result of the Russian terrorist attacks, unfortunately, there are dead and wounded among the civilian population. The threat of the enemy launching further missile and air strikes on Ukraine remains high. "In the past 24 hours, there have been about 25 combat clashes," the report says. According to the General Staff, the Defense Forces of Ukraine continue to conduct an offensive operation in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions, getting entrenched in the regained positions and engaging in counter-battery fire. "Throughout the day, the Air Force of the Defense Forces launched 10 strikes on areas where the enemy's personnel, weapons and military equipment were concentrated, as well as two strikes targeting the enemy's anti-aircraft missile system. Also, our defenders destroyed 7 enemy Shahed-136 attack UAVs, the General Staff said. For their part, units of the Ukrainian missile forces and artillery hit four artillery pieces in firing positions, one personnel, weapons and military equipment cluster, an electronic warfare station, and a communications hub of the enemy. As reported by Ukrinform, the Defense Forces of Ukraine from February 24, 2022 to August 10, 2023 eliminated about 252,200 Russian invaders, including 580 occupiers in the past day alone. TEHRAN, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Iran and South Africa on Thursday convened the 15th session of the Joint Commission of Economic Cooperation in South Africa's administrative capital Pretoria, after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported. During the meeting, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor inked a document on economic cooperation, according to the report. Leading an Iranian delegation, Amir-Abdollahian arrived in Pretoria on Thursday morning and discussed with Pandor "important bilateral and international issues" on the sidelines of the commission meeting earlier in the day, it said. In a joint press conference held after the meeting, the Iranian minister underlined the broad potential for the two countries to carry out cooperation. He said that the two sides also made preparations for documents to be signed during Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's upcoming visit to South Africa later this month. Raisi is expected to take part in a summit of BRICS Plus after receiving an invitation from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, according to South African media. Pandor told the press on Monday that South Africa will host the much-anticipated BRICS summit from Aug. 22 to 24, adding that Ramaphosa "has invited 67 leaders from Africa and the Global South to attend the BRICS-Africa outreach and BRICS Plus dialogues." President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine posted a video showing the aftermath of the latest Russian missile strike that hit a civilian building in Zaporizhzhia. Thats according to the presidents Telegram channel, Ukrinform reports. "Zaporizhzhia. The city suffers daily from Russian shelling. A fire broke out in a civilian building after the occupiers hit it with a missile. As of now, one person has been reported dead. My condolences. There are wounded. All services are on the scene. They are working and saving people. Every our warrior who destroys the occupiers, who goes forward and leads the way, who liberates our land, brings justice closer to Ukraine. Brings retribution closer. Ukraine will stand. Russian terror will inevitably lose," Zelensky wrote. As reported, the Russian army launched another missile attack on a civilian infrastructure object in Zaporizhzhia, where a fire broke out. Rescue teams are working at the scene. As a result of the missile attack, a person was killed and nine were injured. Another suspect of espionage for the benefit of a foreign state has been detained in Germany. Minister of Justice Marco Buschman (FDP) wrote about this on X (former Twitter), noting that the suspect is an army officer. "Vigilance remains on the agenda," Buschman stressed. "The federal prosecutor's office today arrested a German officer who is seriously suspected of working for a foreign special service," the official wrote. Welt reported some details of the case, noting that the culprit is a German citizen who works in the Bundeswehrs procurement department. Detectives believe that since May of this year, the man voluntarily turned to the Russian Consulate General in Bonn and the Russian Embassy in Berlin several times, offering clandestine cooperation. At the same time, he handed over information from his professional activity "with the aim of transferring it to the Russian special service." The Federal Prosecutor's Office in Koblenz apprehended a German official on suspicion of being an asset of Russia's special services. The officer is currently in custody on an arrest warrant. His home and office were searched. The investigations were carried out in close cooperation with the Federal Office of Military Counterintelligence and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (counterintelligence). It should be recalled that in November 2022, a Bundeswehr reserve officer was handed a suspended sentence for passing sensitive information to the Russian GRU military intelligence for years. Also, in December of last year, an employee of the German intelligence service BND was nabbed for cooperation with the Russian special services, and in January of this year, his accomplice was arrested. Photo: Spiegel Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solskyi held talks with Minister of Agriculture of Hungary Istvan Nagy, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic Jozef Bires, and Minister of Transport of the Slovak Republic Pavol Lancaric. This is said in a statement issued by the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, Ukrinform reports. It is noted that the meetings were dedicated to suspending the restriction on exports of four crops to five neighboring countries, which were imposed by the European Commission until September 15, 2023. The parties also discussed the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products in the conditions of the grain corridor suspension. Solskyi informed his colleagues that the ministry had improved the forecast for this year's harvest, as the weather continues to be favorable. Accordingly, this year Ukraine will be able to export a larger amount of agricultural products than expected. As reported, in May 2023, the European Commission banned the import of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower from Ukraine to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania at the insistence of these countries. On June 5, the ban was extended until September 15, 2023. Ukraine's National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) has included Bermuda-based company Bacardi Limited, which imported $169 million worth of goods to Russia last year, in the list of international war sponsors. That's according to the NACP website, Ukrinform reports. Bacardi Limited is the world's largest privately-owned international spirits company, selling products in more than 170 countries. Among the company's well-known brands are Baron Otard, D'USSE brandy; Bombay gin; Bacardi rum; Cazadores tequila; Gray Goose vodka, Eristoff; whiskey Dewar's, William Lawson's, Aberfeldy, Aultmore, Royal Brackla, Craigellachie, Angel's Envy and other drinks (Martini, St-Germain, Benedictine). In total, Bacardi owns more than 200 trademarks, including the company's eponymous rum, which is the world's best-selling rum brand. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Bacardi announced a freeze on its exports to Russia and an end to investment in advertising, but this part of the post later disappeared from its official statement. Therefore, the company continued to supply its products to Russia for millions of dollars and to hire additional staff. The exit of a number of leading international brand owners from the Russian alcohol market has reduced competition and created opportunities for those who remained. Thus, taking advantage of the situation, the Russian branch of the company, Bacardi Rus, imported $169 million worth of goods during one year of the full-scale war in Ukraine. According to Russia's Federal Tax Service, the turnover of Bacardi Rus in 2022 grew by 8.5% to 32.6 billion roubles, and its net profit increased to 4.7 billion roubles, or 206.5% more than in 2021 (1.5 billion roubles), with more than $12 million in income tax paid to the budget of the aggressor country. Thus, Bacardi Limited continues to pay significant taxes to the Russian budget, support its economy and sponsor aggression against Ukraine, NACP said. The list of war sponsors includes 31 international companies. The head of Ukraine's National Agency for Corruption Prevention (NACP), Oleksandr Novikov, said this in an interview with Ukrinform. "Now 31 companies are on the list of international sponsors of Russias war. Most of them are Chinese. American companies seem to be in second place, and then European companies. We hope that all international companies will finally stop financing the murderous Russian regime," Novikov said. According to him, the NACP is working together with World-Check on this issue. The program allows checking counterparties and is used by banks and financial companies around the world. This means that companies included in this register are unreliable partners for all responsible businesses. "I would like to draw attention to the positive results of the impact of being included in this register. There are cases when companies refused to cooperate with Russia, for example, the Irish company Peninsula Petroleum Limited, which refuels ships at sea. They made a statement condemning Russia's war, refused to provide services to the Russian criminal regime, and we removed it from the register," the agency head added. As Ukrinform reported, on August 7, the NACP restored the status of five Greek shipping companies on the list of international war sponsors, as these companies did not fulfill the conditions agreed upon during the negotiations to remove them from the list. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and his Botswanan counterpart Lemogang Kwape have discussed cooperation within international organizations. The Ukrainian foreign policy chief announced this on Twitter, Ukrinform reports. "I had a call with Botswana's Foreign Minister Lemogang Kwape to discuss steps to strengthen bilateral relations. We also focused on cooperation in international organizations," the minister said. Andriy Yermak, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, earlier said that the development of relations with African countries is very relevant in the context of increasing Ukraine's attention to the Global South. Canada is imposing sanctions against 9 individuals and 7 entities under the Special Economic Measures Act in response to the ongoing gross and systematic violations of human rights occurring in Belarus. They also target persons who are complicit in Russias ongoing violations of Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, in part through Belarus and with Belarusian support. Thats according to Canadas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ukrinform reports. It has been 3 years since the fraudulent August 9, 2020 Belarusian presidential election, which followed a campaign marred by systematic voter repression, including state-sponsored violence against protestors, activists and journalists. Since then, the grave injustices carried out by the Belarusian government against its own people have not stopped, the statement reads. Read also: Ukraine receives from Canada portable systems for stabilizing seriously injured Those sanctioned consist of government officials, judges, and associates of the regime, including the head of Belarusian state television, Ivan Mikhailovich Eismant. Todays announcement also targets the Ministry of Defense of Belarus, the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, as well as military manufacturing and technology companies. Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms the Belarusian regimes support of Vladimir Putins unprovoked and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine, which has killed and injured thousands, displaced millions, disrupted the global economy and exacerbated global problems such as food and energy security, Canadas diplomacy states. All property of sanctions persons and entities in Canada shall be frozen, and designated individuals shall be banned from entering the country. Since 2014, Canada has imposed sanctions on more than 2,600 individuals and entities in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova that are complicit in the violation of Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity. The police of Southwestern Finland confirmed the report of an ongoing investigation after the Russian diplomat assaulted activist Petr Trofimov outside Russias Consulate General in Turku. This was reported by Yle, Ukrinform saw. On Saturday, August 5, Trofimov went out with a picket in support of his friend Dmitry Skurikhin, whom a Russian court sentenced to 1.5 years in a penal colony for his words "Sorry, Ukraine." Trofimov asked a passer-by to take a picture of him holding a poster when a man ran out of the consulate, snatched the poster from the protester's hands, and tried to hit him. Read also: Germany exposes Russian spy in Bundeswehr ranks "An employee of the Russian Consulate ran out of the gate and, using obscene expressions, threatened me and my family with physical violence. He grabbed my poster and tore it up. I dodged the blows and was left with fragments of the poster in my hands, while the employee ran back behind the fence," said the activist. He suspects that the diplomatic mission was holding a farewell party as the consulate will cease its work in a few months. "A barbecue picnic was held in the consulates backyard, some alcohol may have been consumed, which might have played a wicked joke on the culprit," he added. Trofimov said that witnesses filmed the assault on their phones. The editorial office of Turun Sanomat got hold of one of those videos. In connection with the incident, Trofimov submitted a report to the Finnish police, as well as to the prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation. Police in Southwestern Finland confirmed to Yle that they have launched an inquiry into the incident. As Ukrinform reported earlier, in July the reports came that Finland was revoking the permit for the Russian Consulate to operate in Turku after Russia announced plans to withdraw consent to the operation of the Finnish Consulate General in St. Petersburg. Photo: Petr Trofimov The Personal Data Protection Service in Georgia has launched an inquiry to investigate the legality of data processing through the YandexGo application. This was reported by Georgia Online, Ukrinform saw. The agency vowed public updates on the outcome of the probe. At the same time, the officials have warned citizens that before using the program, they should look into specifications in order to find out exactly what data on their device may be accessible to other parties, and only after that should users decide whether to download the app. It is noted that the Russian FSB will soon get permanent and full access to the databases of the Russian company Yandex. Peoples personal data, such as their name, bank information, location, preferences, contacts, etc. will thus become available to Russian security operatives. According to Meduza, it is about passenger transportation companies that are part of Yandex Yango and Yandex Go. Yandex Taxi operates in Georgia under the name of Yandex Go. As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Ministry of Digital Development of Kazakhstan announced that Yandex operations were suspended in the country in the wake of reports of the transfer of user data to the FSB. Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Austria to Ukraine Arad Benko. Ukrinform reports this with reference to the Prosecutor General's Office. Kostin and the Austrian ambassador discussed further strengthening of bilateral cooperation between the Prosecutor General's Office and relevant Austrian institutions. The Prosecutor General emphasized that Ukraine highly appreciates the support provided by the Austrian state and people. "We have been advocating for a multifaceted response to Russias aggression since the first days of the full-scale war. We hope for Austria's support on our path to restoring justice," Kostin said. As reported by Ukrinform, Ukraine and Austria will develop cooperation in the field of environmental protection, primarily in matters of restoration and development of the nature reserve fund. SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- A group of multinational fishermen, experts and activists on Thursday gathered virtually to express their firm protest against Japan's planned discharge of nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean that would destroy the entire marine ecosystem as well as their livelihood. Haruo Ono, who has been a fisherman for over 55 years in Fukushima prefecture of Japan, told the online gathering that his fellow fishermen in the prefecture were all against the ocean release plan. "The sea is not only for fisherfolks, but also has many relationships with humans, such as swimming, fishing boats, surfing and sea shrines. Dear everyone around the world, please stop our government's insanity of flushing tritium-contaminated water into the waters of Fukushima because the oceans are connected," the Japanese fisherman said. Amid wide criticism from both home and abroad, the Japanese government has been pushing to dump the nuclear-contaminated wastewater this summer from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was hit by a massive earthquake and an ensuing tsunami in March 2011. "I lived with gratitude (toward the sea) all my life, gazing at the sea all my life, treating it as my life partner like my home, workplace and family and friends. However, I heard that Japan is going to dump radioactively contaminated water into the sea where I live. It really felt like poison was being sprayed on my body," Kim Young-chul, a fisherman and executive director of the National Fisherfolks Federation in South Korea, said online. Kim stressed that any country that agreed to pollute the oceans of all humankind would be recorded in history and be forever regretted, calling for fishermen around the world to be united and prevent a single drop of the radioactive wastewater from being dumped into the ocean. Dave McCutch, a fisherman in Oregon of the United States who has been fishing since 2002, told the virtual meeting that the U.S. fishermen saw their market "died because everybody was afraid the fish were going to be radioactive." "Just the public perception of radioactivity in their fish was enough to kill our market for two and a half years. The point is the radioactive water is going to come to the U.S., American coast. We know that for sure," said McCutch. Mark Barnes, another U.S. fisherman in Oregon who has been fishing for 35 years, said Japan's nuclear-contaminated wastewater discharge would be "super detrimental to the Pacific Ocean," affecting his children and grandchildren as well as himself. "That's going to take years and years and years to affect. It's going to be a worldwide contaminant that there's no way to clean up after it's done. Absolutely no way to clean it up," said Barnes. Experts and activists raised voice against Japan's release plan in violation of international conventions and scientific standards. Epeli Lesuma, nuclear justice campaigner in the Pacific Network on Globalization (PANG), said that the Pacific Islands were disappointed at Japan's "shameless" disregard of the calls from the Pacific Islands Forum panel of experts to hold off on any release and to explore alternatives. Lesuma pointed out that Japan's actions contradicted obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, violating articles 192 and 195 and nearly all articles in Part 12 which addresses the protection and preservation of the marine environment. "The release of the nuclear-contaminated wastewater is not a one-off discharge, but rather a program which will have transnational and transgenerational effects. Such a plan will pose enormous danger to the marine environment and lead to the irreversible consequences," said Chen Shi-ting, senior researcher of the Green Citizen Action Alliance (GCAA) in China's Taiwan. The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) said in a statement on May 15 that the plan to use the Pacific Ocean as a radioactive waste dump involved risks to oceanic and human health, urging Tokyo to stop the planned release of large amounts of radioactively contaminated water into the ocean. The National Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML), an organization of over 100 member laboratories in the United States, said in a position paper in December 2022 that it opposed Japan's discharge plan based on the fact that there was a lack of adequate and accurate scientific data supporting Japan's assertion of safety. 08/09/2023 By Marlon Pitter For Sandra Miller, an adjunct faculty member in the English Department, the successful release of her latest book is a story three decades in the making. Millers novel Wednesdays at One is a psychological thriller that draws from her familys personal experience with a stalker nearly 30 years ago. The book has become a USA Today bestseller, receiving critical acclaim from Publishers Weekly, Good Morning America, BookTrib magazine and Apple Books. Millers writing journey to this point wasnt always smooth, however. After graduating from college, Miller worked as an editor and literary agent, but she knew she wanted to publish her own stories rather than edit other peoples work. She spent several years teaching English in Japan and Luxembourg before returning to the United States to earn her MFA in creative writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She wrote a literary novel that got an agent but never sold to a publishing house. There is a lot of rejection for people whose ambitions are to publish a novel, Miller says. You can stay the course, or you can give up with those early, hard rejections. And I never gave up. Despite some early struggles, Miller persisted in writing essays, short stories and journalistic pieces for various publications. One of her essays was turned into the 2005 short film Wait, starring Kerry Washington. Following up on her 2019 memoir, Trove: A Woman's Search for Truth and Buried Treasure, Miller began writing Wednesdays at One during the COVID-19 pandemic. With her children living on their own, Miller took the lockdown as an opportunity to craft the story shed been holding on to for decades. In the summer of 2020, I had the quiet and the focus to write this novel, she says. I wrote 1,000 words a day, every day for three months, sold the novel the next year, and a 30-year dream came true. Reflecting on the success of her latest novel, Miller discussed the book as well as her future in writing. Q: What was the inspiration for Wednesdays at One? A: It started 29 years earlier when my husband and I were dating. He's a psychologist, and one of his clients began to stalk him. It became a four-year stalking ordeal that would really test our family. The book is not my husbands story, but from the experience, I took away an idea: What if there was a psychologist who did something terrible in his past, and suddenly a woman not a client comes into his office and starts talking about this thing that he did? What if she knows things about him that she shouldn't know? This idea really intrigued me, and I think it has been with me for those decades. I tried to work with it in various formats, and I audited a fiction writing class with Andre Dubus at UMass Lowell when I was teaching. I showed some of my early pages to Andre, and it was from the perspective of the woman who goes into the office, not from the psychologists perspective. Andre read the pages and he said, Honestly, this gets really interesting when you start telling it from the male perspective of the psychologist. I filed that away for a few years, and when I went back to this idea during the pandemic, the story almost wrote itself. It just poured out of me. It had been in me for so long, and it just came out almost fully formed. That's why I was able to write it so quickly, but the story began 29 years earlier with that stalker. Q: Who is the target audience for this book? A: It's a kind of thriller, but I'm calling it a literary thriller. I think the audience is somebody who loves a really fast-paced read, but they also appreciate the literary sensibility of well-developed characters and good writing. That seems to be the sweet spot. Q: What were your expectations about the launch of the novel? A: I felt very confident about this book. I signed with an indie publisher called Zibby Books. It was started by two women who said they want to shake up the publishing industry. The (publishers) said, We are going to promote your book, and we are going to get it out there. We're going to connect with independent bookstores. We're going to send it to all the places that it would go if it were with one of the big presses. I felt very confident. I took a chance on this press, and they have delivered. I trusted them with a book that I believe has a lot of potential. I was driving to New Jersey for some book tour events when (my publisher) called and said I was on the USA Today bestseller list, which is crazy for a small, relatively new press. I was 68 out of 150. I couldn't believe it. I was so over the moon, and it went to show that her idea for starting this press (was good), which was about creating community amongst the authors, and not competition. High tides lift all boats. All of the authors, we support each other. We get a lot of support from marketing and publicity, and the formula worked. We created a bestseller. Its been really rewarding, because I was extremely proud of this book. Q: What are your plans going forward after the successful launch of this book? A: Im taking it in. I'm enjoying the journey that I've waited for a long time, and I'm trying to be in the moment a little bit more. I have a very robust book tour. I've been all over New England, New Jersey, New York. I'm heading down to Manhattan, and I'm also working on another novel. I'm also at a point in my life where I'm thinking about what I want to do with the next stretch of years. I know it's going to involve writing, but I'm also thinking about other ways that I can be of service or put some energy into thinking about how I can be effective in my community around environmental issues. My children are both grown and flown. They're both living in Manhattan now, and it's fun to be able to think about what the next stage of the journey is and not be too tied down to it having to be one thing or a specific type of book. I'm doing some life exploration right now. SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The ruling party of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) convened on Wednesday an enlarged central military commission meeting, discussing ways to intensify war preparations in response to the grave political and military situation on the Korean Peninsula, state media reported. The enlarged session of the Central Military Commission of the Worker's Party of Korea (WPK) analyzed military developments that deteriorated the situation on the peninsula and decided on "the plans for offensive military countermeasures," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. The issue of proactively conducting actual war drills and making full preparations for carrying out the operation plans was also discussed, the KCNA said. Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the WPK, chairman of the Central Military Commission of the WPK and president of the State Affairs of the DPRK, stressed the need to increase the means to strike enemies. He said it's necessary to conduct actual war drills to hone the military's skills to efficiently operate the latest weapons commissioned to the military, the KCNA report said. Kim also underlined the need to manufacture more weapons to modernize the military. The meeting also dismissed General Pak Su Il from the post of the chief of the General Staff and appointed Vice Marshal Ri Yong Gil as the new chief, according to the report. UNODC holds moot court on terrorist crimes against children in Nigeria Boko Haram has become infamous worldwide for the persistent attacks it has mounted against schools, universities, teachers, and students in the northeast of Nigeria for more than decade. The group's name, which can be translated as "Western education is forbidden", reflects a key element of its ideology, which opposes secular education. The violence perpetrated by Boko Haram and affiliated groups has severely affected children's access to education, particularly in Yobe and Borno States. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), by 2018 more than 1,400 schools in Northeast Nigeria had been destroyed since the conflict began, at least 2,295 teachers killed, and more than 1,000 children abducted. Boko Haram attacks against schools continue to this day. UNICEF reports that over 170 schools in Northeast Nigeria were closed in 2022, including 30 which had been attacked by Boko Haram factions, effecting approximately 67,000 boys and girls. To show its commitment to protecting students, teachers and schools from terrorism and the worst effects of armed conflict, Nigeria endorsed the international Safe Schools Declaration in 2015, which aims to promote the safety and security of schools, particularly in conflict-affected regions. In October 2021, Nigeria hosted the Fourth International Conference on the Safe Schools Declaration. The commitments under the Safe Schools Declaration include investigating attacks on schools, teachers and students and holding perpetrators accountable. Nigeria has detained thousands of Boko Haram suspects; and Nigerian prosecutors have obtained more than 600 convictions on terrorism-related charges. However, surprisingly, there has been no recorded conviction for an attack targeting schools, teachers and students to date. As part of its technical assistance to Nigerias efforts to bring terrorists to justice, UNODC has been working with the Nigerian justice system to address the practical and legal challenges hampering the investigation and prosecution of terrorist attacks on education. At the beginning of July 2023, UNODC organized a mock investigation and trial using a scenario based on the facts of an actual attack on a school in Yobe State in 2013. Participants included investigators from the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), prosecutors from the Complex Casework Group of the Federal Ministry of Justice (FMOJ-CCG), defense lawyers from the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (LACON), and representatives of the National Judicial Institute (NJI). Two Federal High Court judges presided over the mock trial. The moot court considered a terrorism-related case scenario that had been developed by UNODC trainers on the basis of the Boko Haram attack on the Yobe State College of Agriculture, Gujba, on 28 September 2013 which killed more than forty students and a teacher. Experts from UNODC gave presentations on the collection, preservation and use of digital evidence; and considerations surrounding potential child witness. Discussions were facilitated on potential investigatory avenues and charges against the suspect. Participants fully engaged in the hands-on exercise over three days, focusing on the evidence to be provided, the witnesses to be heard and the specific legal issues to be litigated. In addition to complex legal questions and issues related to the collection and presentation of digital evidence obtained by forensically exploiting a smartphone, participants discussed the delicate balance between the demands of terrorism investigations and the imperative of protecting child witnesses. Ms. Valerie Chmara, a Psychosocial Support Specialist working for UNODCs STRIVE Juvenile project, worked with participants on good practices regarding the assessment of potential child victims and witnesses. She remarked: In all actions concerning children undertaken by courts of law, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration in order to mitigate the risk of secondary victimization and re-traumatization. It is essential that professionals work as a multidisciplinary team to determine if it is in the best interests of the potential child witness to engage them in this specific terrorism investigation and prosecution. Reflecting on his experience of participating in the moot court, Mr. Una Matthew Odu, Prosecutor within the Complex Casework Group of the Federal Ministry of Justice, stated The moot court offered me the opportunity of peeping into the mind of the judges in a manner that I would never have. The atmosphere was congenial, and it was a time of introspection, reflections, learning, unlearning and relearning". The moot court was organized as part of UNODCs Project to Strengthen the Capacity of Nigeria to Collect Evidence and More Effectively prosecute Terrorism and Other Serious Crimes with Respect to the Rule of Law, funded by the United States Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), in collaboration with UNODCs project STRIVE Juvenile: Preventing and Responding to Violence against Children by Terrorist and Violent Extremist Groups, funded by the European Union. The total liquid foreign reserves of Pakistan stood at US$ 13,339.1 million while reserves held by the central bank reached $ 8,043.4 million KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Aug, 2023 ):The total liquid foreign reserves of Pakistan stood at US$ 13,339.1 million while reserves held by the central bank reached $ 8,043.4 million. The State Bank of Pakistan, in a statement issued here on Thursday, informed that SBP's reserves decreased by $ 110 million to $ 8,043. 4 million on account of debt repayments during the week ended on August 04, 2023. Meanwhile, net foreign reserves held by commercial banks stood at US$ 5,295.7 million, it added. In the previous week ending on July 27, 2023, total liquid foreign reserves held by the country was US$ 13,463.7 million. Among them, foreign reserves held by the central bank were US$ 8,153.8 million while net foreign reserves held by commercial banks were US$ 5,309.9 million. (@ChaudhryMAli88) Wintzenheim, France, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Aug, 2023 ) :A holiday home in eastern France where 11 people were killed in a fire was flouting the fire security standards required for such a property, a prosecutor said on Thursday. "The lodging had not undergone the safety inspection that is obligatory" and "did not have the characteristics needed to host the public", the deputy prosecutor for the city of Colmar, Nathalie Kielwasser, told AFP. The fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday in the small town of Wintzenheim outside Colmar in the Alsace region of eastern France. The guests on the lower floor all managed to escape alive, and it was those on the upper floor who found themselves trapped. The property was hosting a group of adults with learning disabilities and their companions at the peak of the French summer holiday season in the hugely picturesque area. "If you want to drive a car, you need a license. If you want to host people, you have to pass this inspection which then tells you how many people you can host and so forth. We impose a certain number of rules for the sake of safety," Kielwasser said. The building, an old structure recently renovated, had smoke detectors "but not sufficient for this type of property," she said. "The smoke detectors were up to standard but they are not the type of smoke detectors that are placed in properties hosting the public," she added. She said it was not yet clear whether there were fire extinguishers in the building. The owner of the property, who lives opposite and alerted the firefighters on Wednesday when the fire broke out, is in shock and has not been detained, she said. The local mayor's office has said there were 28 people on the property when the fire broke out, with 17 escaping alive. It said that the owner had signed a contract to host just 16 people. The prosecutor said investigations were continuing into whether capacity norms were respected. Seoul, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Aug, 2023 ) :North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has dismissed his top general and called for stepping up war preparations "in an offensive way", including boosting weapons production and conducting more drills, state media reported Thursday. With a cigarette in hand, Kim was shown talking to a room full of uniformed top generals, and pointing at maps, images in state media showed, while he discussed "major military actions" against South Korea at a meeting of the Central Military Commission. The Korean Central news Agency said the agenda of the meeting, which comes just days after Kim inspected key arms factories, was "the issue of making full war preparations" and ensuring "perfect military readiness for a war". The meeting comes as Seoul and Washington prepare for major joint drills later this month, which the North views as rehearsals for invasion and has repeatedly warned could trigger "overwhelming" action in response. At the meeting, Kim dismissed Chief of the general staff Pak Su Il, replacing him with Vice Marshal Ri Yong Gil, KCNA said without giving further details. Pak, who was promoted to the post late last year, may have been dismissed "because he did not demonstrate sufficient competence in the field of military operations," according to Cheong Seong-chang, a researcher at the Sejong Institute. "Kim Jong Un has shown a tendency to quickly replace officials when they are judged to be lacking in the ability to control and perform their duties," he said. Ri may have been the "most suitable person" to replace Pak, as he has previously held the position for a long time, Cheong added. - 'Mass-production' of weapons - Kim called for "all the munitions industrial establishments to push ahead with the mass-production of various weapons and equipment", the report said. "He also called for actively conducting actual war drills to efficiently operate (the) newly deployed latest weapons and equipment," it added. Kim reached an "important conclusion on further stepping up the war preparations of the KPA in an offensive way," KCNA reported, referring to the North's military. The latest KCNA report appeared to be North Korea's "own response to the upcoming joint military training between Seoul and Washington," an official from Seoul's unification ministry told reporters. Referring to photos carried by the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper showing Kim pointing to what appeared to be a map of Seoul, he said: "I think he wanted to send a message to the South with a threatening action." The meeting also discussed preparations for a massive parade to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of North Korea on September 9. Last month, Pyongyang held a major military parade to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, with analysts describing the event as "the largest, most overt North Korean display of nuclear-capable systems". North Korea also held a large defense expo to coincide with the parade, with Kim giving the visiting Russian defense minister a tour of the country's newest and most advanced weaponry, including ballistic missiles and spy drones. Chairman WAPDA Engr Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani (Retd) said on Thursday that Climate change is a real challenge across the globe MIRPUR AJK, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Aug, 2023 ):Chairman WAPDA Engr Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani (Retd) said on Thursday that Climate change is a real challenge across the globe. He was speaking as chief guest, at a seminar on "Impact Evaluation of Climatic Changes on Water Resources hosted by WAPDA in collaboration with the World Bank at WAPDA House on Thursday. He said, "Pakistan is ranked 8th most vulnerable nation to the climate crisis, according to the Global Climate Risk Index. Pakistan faced twin calamities of drought and floods last year associated with climate change." The WAPDA chief said that there was a realization about the issue across the world, and now joint efforts are required to adapt and mitigate the adverse impact of climate change. The chairman said WAPDA was the largest engineering organisation that has been tremendously contributing to off-set the impact of climate change by constructing dams and hydropower projects. These projects ensure food security, mitigate floods and droughts and provide clean and green electricity. WAPDA is constructing a number of mega projects including, Diamer Basha Dam, Mohmand, Dasu and Tarbela 5th Extension, which will further enhance WAPDA's contribution to addressing the climate issue. He thanked the World Bank and other institutions for funding the environment-friendly WAPDA projects. Highlighting the significance of the seminar, the Chairman said that the seminar will help identify multiple points of confluence associated with the impact of climatic changes on water resources for future collaboration to practical solutions. Speaking at the seminar, Senior Social Development Specialist, World Bank Imran ul Haq said that climate change is a key challenge the entire world is facing, therefore, we need to learn quickly from each other. He also highlighted salient features of the country report on climate change in Pakistan, launched by the World Bank in November 2022. He congratulated WAPDA for organizing the seminar. The seminar comprised two technical sessions, the first session was chaired by Dr. Ashraf Tanoli from GIKI and co-chaired by Dr. Sajjad Haider from UET Lahore. Dr. Shakil Ahmad from NUST Islamabad and Umer Masood from UET, Lahore presented their papers. The second session was chaired by Dr. Izhar ul Haq, former GM WAPDA and co-chaired by Dr. Khawar Munir, GM (Hydro Planning) WAPDA. Ms. Sojhla Khan Lodhi from NUST, Islamabad, Prof. Dr Sajid Rashid Ahmad, Ms. Mariam Javed from University of Punjab, Alvena Shahid, PhD Scholar from Lahore College for Women University, Dr. Muhammad Shahid from UET, Lahore, Dr. Muhammad Waseem from GIKI, Nasir Hussain from GMRC, WAPDA presented their papers in the second session of the seminar. The seminar was attended by the Vice Chancellor University of Engineering and Technology Lahore Prof. Dr. Syed Mansoor Sarwar, Senior Social Development Specialist, World Bank Imran ul Haq, researchers, professionals, and experts from various universities, WAPDA Members (Water), General Managers and officers. Trkiye has "neutralized" a total of 995 PKK/YPG terrorists since Jan. 1, including ones hiding out across the border in Iraq and northern Syria, the National Defense Ministry said on Thursday ANKARA, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Aug, 2023 ) :Trkiye has "neutralized" a total of 995 PKK/YPG terrorists since Jan. 1, including ones hiding out across the border in Iraq and northern Syria, the National Defense Ministry said on Thursday. "Fifty-three terrorists have been neutralized in the last week, including ones in Iraq and northern Syria, with the strategy of eliminating terrorism at its source, which we resolutely implement," a National Defense Ministry official told reporters at a background briefing in the capital Ankara. The total number of terrorists "neutralized" during the year has now reached 995, he added. Turkish authorities use the term "neutralize" to imply that the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured. His remarks came a day after five Turkish soldiers were killed in the harassment fire opened by the terrorist organization in northern Iraq, where Trkiye launched Operation Claw-Lock last year in April to root out terrorists hiding in the border region. The ministry official said: "586 terrorists have been neutralized so far in the Claw-Lock Operation in northern Iraq." In Syria, the official said, all necessary measures are taken to maintain security and stability in the operation areas, and terrorist attacks are responded to in kind. Since this January, 86 harassment incidents and attacks have been carried out by the PKK/YPG terrorist group in Trkiye's operation areas, and 744 terrorists were "neutralized" with the immediate intervention of Turkish soldiers, he added. In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Trkiye, the PKK listed as a terrorist organization by Trkiye, the US, and EU has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the terrorist PKK's Syrian branch. On illegal crossings into Trkiye, the official said thanks to additional effective measures, some 4,752 people, including 356 terrorists, who tried to illegally cross Trkiye's borders have been caught since Jan. 1. Nearly 134,935 were prevented before they crossed the border. Trkiye has been a key transit point for irregular migrants who want to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution. The country, which already hosts 4 million refugees, more than any other country in the world, is taking new measures at its borders to prevent a fresh influx of migrants. AUGUST 10, 2023 UTSA, the United States Mint and the National Womens History Museum will co-host the release of the latest coin in the American Women Quarters Program, featuring Jovita Idar, a Mexican-American journalist, activist, teacher and suffragist. Idars legacy will be celebrated with a ceremonial quarter release event on Thursday, September 14 at the UTSA Downtown Campus. The quarter release will kick off UTSAs annual Hispanic Heritage Month celebration while honoring Idars impact and UTSAs role as one of the nations leading Hispanic Serving Institutions. It will begin with The Historical Significance, Public Impact, and Legacy of Jovita Idar, a roundtable scheduled at 5:30 p.m. in the Buena Vista Street Building Aula Canaria (BVB 1.328), followed by the Jovita Idar Quarter Release Celebration at 7 p.m. in the Buena Vista Street Building Theater (BVB 1.326). Idar was born on September 7, 1885, in Laredo, Texas. The daughter of a newspaper editor and a civil rights advocate, Idar was exposed to journalism and political activism at a very young age. She devoted her life to fighting against separatist ideologies and sought to create a better future for Mexican-Americans. Her ideas and practices were ahead of her time. She made it her mission to pursue civil rights for Mexican-Americans and believed education was the foundation for a better future. Idar wrote many news articles in various publications speaking out about racism and supporting the revolution in Mexico. In 1911, she joined the First Mexicanist Congress in Laredo and organized Mexican-American activists. She and other women formed La Liga Femenil Mexicanista, or the League of Mexican Women, a political and charitable organization that sought to empower Mexican-American women. Idar was chosen as its first president. Idar died in San Antonio, Texas on June 15, 1946. Throughout her life, she remained on the front lines of change and advocated fiercely for the rights of women and Mexican-Americans. The Jovita Idar Quarter is the ninth coin in the American Women Quarters Program, a four-year program that celebrates the accomplishments and contributions made by women of the United States. Beginning in 2022, and continuing through 2025, the United States Mint will issue up to five new reverse designs each year. The obverse (heads) depicts a portrait of George Washington, originally composed and sculpted by Laura Gardin Fraser to mark George Washingtons 200th birthday. A recommended design for the 1932 quarter, then-Treasury Secretary Mellon ultimately selected the familiar John Flanagan design. The Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network podcast recently featured Wyoming APEX Accelerator staff. The podcast features small-business success stories, educational topics from experts and interviews with staff and leadership. Episodes are typically released twice per month. The Wyoming SBDC Network offers business expertise to help Wyoming residents think about, launch, grow, reinvent or exit their business. The Wyoming SBDC Network is hosted by the University of Wyoming with state funds from the Wyoming Business Council and funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. In an episode launched July 24, Janean Forsyth, Wyoming APEX Accelerator program manager, and Sarah Mikesell Growney, procurement adviser, introduced themselves and Wyoming APEX Accelerator services. Wyoming APEX Accelerator assists Wyoming firms to identify and secure federal, state and local government contracting opportunities. The Wyoming APEX Accelerator team helps clients navigate the government contracting learning curve and can make the whole process easier to interpret. The team offers no-cost, one-on-one assistance; periodic training workshops around the state; and an annual procurement conference with one-on-one matchmaking opportunities. This Wyoming SBDC Network podcast episode and others can be found on Spotify and Google podcasts. Episodes are available at no cost as are all Wyoming SBDC Network services. ZARANJ, Afghanistan, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Police have discovered more than half kg of heroin and arrested two persons on the charge of involvement in drug trafficking in west Afghanistan's Nimroz province, a statement of the Provincial Directorate for Information and Culture said Thursday. Police personnel found 530 gram heroin from a man and 60 gram heroin from the other man in the provincial capital Zaranj city on Wednesday, the statement said. Both the arrested men had been referred to the judiciary for more investigation, it said. BEIJING, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Telecommunication services have been restored in all 342 villages in Beijing that were impacted by typhoon-induced downpours, the Beijing Communications Administration said on Thursday. The administration said by 6 p.m. Tuesday, all affected villages in the city's Fangshan and Mentougou districts had been reconnected to the communication network thanks to continuous recovery efforts of thousands of workers. From July 29 to Aug. 2, Beijing was battered by torrential rains triggered by Typhoon Doksuri. It was the heaviest rainfall Beijing has seen since records began 140 years ago, affecting the local water supply, causing power outages and disrupting communication services in some villages. Millions of people in Afghanistan are likely to have no food, healthcare or shelter this winter because of critical funding gaps, according to various experts who spoke with VOA. What is at stake in Afghanistan this winter is the lives of millions of starving women and children, Jan Egeland, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, told VOA by email August 9. Of Afghanistans estimated 38 million people, at least 15 million are in dire need of food assistance. But the World Food Program is able to assist only 5 million people in August with the possibility the food-aid lifeline could be terminated in coming months. Funding shortfalls, Egeland said, also threaten essential healthcare services because aid agencies donate medicine and other critical resources to hospitals across the country. More than 260 clinics reportedly went out of service in June, depriving 2 million people of healthcare. If current funding needs remain unmet, 3.7 million people would lose access to essential and lifesaving health assistance, the United Nations has warned. The U.N. has appealed for $3.26 billion in humanitarian funding for Afghanistan this year, but donors have given only about $800 million (less than 25% of the appeal) as of August 8. The United States this year contributed $335.7 million to the appeal the largest contribution in 2023 but even this amount falls far below the $1.2 billion Washington contributed to the appeal last year. The United Kingdom, Germany and Canada have also slashed their contributions to the appeal from $454 million, $444 million and $106 million last year to $23 million, $34 million and $28 million thus far this year, according to the United Nations. Politics or fatigue? Behind the decline in funding lies a complex interplay of politics, fatigue, and concerns about the Taliban's repressive policies, chiefly the denial of education and work rights for Afghan women. The Taliban's restrictions on aid operations and their perceived diversion of funds for their own benefit have raised calls for greater transparency and even potential termination of aid for a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Denying interference in humanitarian activities, Taliban officials accuse Western donors of politicizing humanitarian aid. We have never interfered in aid programs, but as a responsible authority we have advised that aid be delivered to the most deserving and needy communities, said Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesperson. The politically isolated Taliban leadership faces international sanctions and many donor countries fund only the programs and activities that completely bypass Taliban authorities and regulations. The expected decline in humanitarian aid does not reflect Western donors political agendas, but rather aid fatigue after two years of extraordinary efforts to respond to the humanitarian crisis, as well as a global trend of declining aid worldwide, said William Byrd, a senior researcher at the United States Institute of Peace. Of the 43 humanitarian appeals the U.N. has launched this year asking for $55.2 billion in response to emergencies in different parts of the world, donors have given nearly $14 billion (25%) as of August. Syrias $5.4 billion appeal, Yemens $4.3 billion, Ethiopias $4 billion, and Ukraines $3.9 billion the largest appeals are respectively funded at 23%, 31%, 26% and 31%, according to U.N. figures. Cold war As humanitarian funding and operations are added to the long list of differences between de facto Taliban authorities and donor countries, aid workers say they feel caught in the crossfire. We are stuck in the middle of this cold war as we attempt to stay true to principled humanitarian service provision, said Egeland, adding that the Taliban and the foreign donors have different criteria for how they define appropriate humanitarian programming. Despite facing sanctions and failing to earn formal recognition from any country as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, the Taliban have refused to give in to widespread domestic and international calls for respect for womens rights and the formation of an inclusive government. Cutting off aid, experts say, is unlikely to change things. I have never seen well-fed men with guns and power change their ways because we starve women and children, said Egeland. Extreme poverty, isolationism and unmitigated humanitarian crises could create an environment ripe for radicalization and insurgency, potentially enabling extremist groups to exploit the situation, said Samir Gawhary of Aseel, a tech startup that offers a humanitarian funding platform for Afghanistan. This could have implications for regional and global security, Gawhary said. A relative of Amir Khalifa, who was killed by Israeli soldiers during clashes in the town of Zwata, mourns during his funeral in a refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, Aug. 10, 2023. A Palestinian militant was killed Thursday in an Israeli army forces' raid on a village near the north West Bank city of Nablus, said Palestinian medics and eyewitnesses. (Photo by Nidal Eshtayeh/Xinhua) RAMALLAH, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian militant was killed Thursday in an Israeli army forces' raid on a village near the north West Bank city of Nablus, said Palestinian medics and eyewitnesses. Amir Khalifa, 27, was killed by Israeli soldiers during clashes in the town of Zwata, west of Nablus, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a press briefing. Khalifa died of a shot in the head by Israeli soldiers, the ministry said, as medics failed to save his life. Palestinian eyewitnesses said an Israeli army unit stormed the village, and clashes broke out between the force and Palestinians, including militants. The Israeli authorities did not comment on the incident and the killing of Khalifa, who has been wanted by the Israeli security authorities for several months for being involved in shooting attacks against Israelis. Mourners carry the body of Amir Khalifa, who was killed by Israeli soldiers during clashes in the town of Zwata, during his funeral in a refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, Aug. 10, 2023. A Palestinian militant was killed Thursday in an Israeli army forces' raid on a village near the north West Bank city of Nablus, said Palestinian medics and eyewitnesses. (Photo by Nidal Eshtayeh/Xinhua) A U.S. nurse and her young daughter who were kidnapped in Haiti in late July and released this week were not harmed and are healthy, an aid organization said Thursday. The announcement allayed concerns about the state of Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter. Violent gangs in Haiti are known for mistreating and sometimes raping those they abduct, often holding victims for months and demanding multiple ransoms. "Alix is a remarkably resilient woman whose walk with God guides her deep love for her family and her passionate commitment to the Haitian people," said El Roi Haiti, the Christian group founded by Dorsainvil's husband. It also thanked U.S. authorities for working "tirelessly behind the scenes" and credited a faith-based global security ministry with providing consultants that helped lead to the Aug. 8 release of Dorsainvil and her daughter. "God demonstrated His loving kindness through both private and public sector partners and resources who helped us navigate this crisis," the group said. It's not clear whether a ransom was paid. The group and U.S. officials have not provided further details. Pierre Esperance, executive director of the National Human Rights Defense Network in Haiti, said in a phone interview that ransoms vary wildly, with some gangs seeking up to $1 million and others asking $100,000 but accepting $10,000. He also noted that gangs will sometimes demand a second or third ransom before releasing someone. "The gangs are terrorists," he said, echoing the sentiment of many in the country of more than 11 million people, where more than 530 people have been kidnapped since January, according to one local nonprofit. From May to mid-July alone, at least 40 people were kidnapped, according to Esperance's group. These include a well-known journalist, six security guards, a police officer and the former president of Haiti's provisional electoral council, who was abducted June 20 and has not been released. Dorsainvil and her daughter were kidnapped on July 27, the same day that Dr. Samson Marseille, the director of Haiti's epidemiological department, was abducted. He has yet to be released. Also that day, the U.S. State Department warned U.S. citizens to leave Haiti "as soon as possible" and ordered the departure of nonemergency U.S. government personnel because of security concerns. The country remains under a U.S. "do not travel" advisory. From January to March, more than 1,600 people were reported killed, injured or kidnapped, a nearly 30% increase compared with the last three months of 2022, according to the newest U.N. report. A Bangladeshi citizen working for the United Nations has been freed after a year and a half abduction by al-Qaida in Yemen, the prime minister's office said Thursday. "I never thought I would return home," Akam Sofyol Anam told reporters in Dhaka, following his return a day earlier on Wednesday, calling the last 18 months "horrifying." "I thought the terrorists might kill me anytime," said Anam, a former army lieutenant colonel. "My days were miserable. There was a fear of death every day. It cannot be expressed in words it is seen in films only." In February 2022, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) kidnapped Anam and four others as they returned to Yemen's southern port city of Aden after a field mission while working for U.N. Department of Safety and Security. Anam said he was not physically tortured but had often been kept blindfolded. "I couldn't see the sky for months," he said, adding that he was moved repeatedly from place to place. He said he had "no idea how much money they wanted or what was their demand," adding that he thought he had been "targeted, as I was an U.N. official." Anam "expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her role in rescuing him," the premier's office said, releasing a photograph of the two meeting. Yemen's conflict began in 2014 when Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year to prop up the internationally recognized government. AQAP and militants loyal to the Islamic State group have thrived in the chaos. Formed in a merger of al-Qaida's Yemen and Saudi branches, AQAP has carried out attacks on both rebel and government targets in Yemen, as well as foreigners. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed directly or indirectly in Yemen's war. Former President Donald Trump's legal troubles are escalating by the day. Trump is facing an unprecedented slate of criminal charges that threatens his political future and, if convicted, could land him in prison. Last week, the former president and front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination was indicted in Washington on charges of conspiring to overturn his electoral defeat in 2020, adding to existing criminal cases in New York and Florida. A fourth indictment in Georgia could come any day. No American president has ever been criminally charged before, and no one knows what happens if Trump is found guilty. The indictments have raised legal and constitutional questions, some of which are easier to answer than others. Can Trump run for president if he is convicted? Can he go to prison? Can states keep him off the ballot by requiring that candidates have a clean criminal record? What if Trump is convicted but wins the election? Can he take office and then pardon himself? Can Trump run for president if convicted? There is near universal agreement on this question: Even if convicted, Trump will face no constitutional barriers to running for the White House. The U.S. Constitution has only three requirements for presidential candidates: They must be natural-born American citizens, at least 35 years old, and have lived in the country for at least 14 years. Trump meets all three, and most constitutional scholars agree that states can't impose additional requirements on presidential hopefuls. Eugene Mazo, an election law expert and incoming professor at Duquesne University, said that even a candidate with a "mental incapacity" can't be barred from running "because the Constitution lists all the requirements." "If you want an additional requirement, it has to come through a constitutional amendment," Mazo said in an interview with VOA. In recent years, legislation by states such as California and New Jersey requiring presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns was struck down as unconstitutional, Mazo said. That means that states can't keep Trump off the ballot by passing legislation requiring presidential hopefuls to have a clean criminal record, he added. The 14th Amendment debate While states can't disqualify presidential candidates on new grounds, there is one caveat to this general rule, said Frank Bowman, emeritus professor of law at the University of Missouri. Under the third clause of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, a person found guilty of "rebellion" or "insurrection" can be barred from running for president, Bowman said. The obscure provision was originally designed to prevent members of the rebel Confederacy from holding office following the 1861-65 U.S. Civil War. The clause remained dormant for more than a century. But in recent months, liberal groups such as Mi Familia Vota and Free Speech for People have been pressing states to disqualify Trump under the 14th Amendment. They argue that Trump incited an insurrection against the United States on January 6, 2021, when a group of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory. Trump was later impeached for incitement but acquitted by the U.S. Senate. And Bowman noted that none of the current criminal charges against Trump alleges engagement in rebellion or insurrection. "Whether these efforts will actually work is debatable, not impossible," Bowman said in an interview. But others see the effort as a long shot. "I think that eventually it would get to the Supreme Court and be quickly swatted down." said Jonathan Turley, a conservative law professor at George Washington University, in a recent interview. Can Trump go to prison and campaign from behind bars? If convicted, Trump could be sentenced to prison and, theoretically, he could continue to campaign from there. "From the perspective of the criminal law, he's just a guy and, therefore, like any other guy, if he is convicted of a felony, he can be sentenced to prison for whatever term the law provides," Bowman said. No former president has ever been incarcerated, but some presidential candidates have campaigned from behind bars. In 1920, Eugene V. Debs, a presidential candidate for the Socialist Party, received almost 1 million votes while serving a sentence for sedition. In 1992, political activist Lyndon LaRouche campaigned for president while in prison for fraud. "Can he run a campaign from jail?" Mazo asked rhetorically. "It's hard, but the answer is, sure." Trump himself has vowed to continue campaigning even if he is convicted. "I'll never leave," he said in an interview with Politico in June. Whether the former president will receive a prison sentence remains uncertain, but Politico recently estimated that he could face up to 641 years if convicted of all charges and given the maximum penalty for each. This is a far-fetched scenario, however, as judges rarely impose the maximum penalty on first-time offenders and usually allow sentences to run concurrently. The sentencing decision will ultimately rest with the judge, who will weigh various factors such as the severity of the crime, the defendant's character, and the public interest. Some legal experts argue that a judge might spare Trump from prison and instead give him probation or home confinement, if only to avoid the spectacle of a former American president in a prison jumpsuit. But others say Trump could face prison time if he is convicted. "I think it'd be very hard for any judge, particularly out of the D.C. district, having sent so many of his supporters and minions to prison for essentially acting on his instigation not to give him time," Bowman said. Could Trump pardon himself? Since the waning days of the Trump presidency, experts have fiercely argued the question of a presidential self-pardon. The American president can pardon anyone for federal crimes, and some have speculated that Trump may have secretly pardoned himself before leaving office to avoid future prosecution. But Turley said he has seen no evidence to that effect. "If there were (a secret self-pardon), he would have already made that defense," Turley said in an interview on Tuesday. On the other hand, if Trump were reelected, he could issue himself a pardon, Turley said. "So if these federal trials are held after the election, Trump could pardon himself before any trial occurs, and Jack Smith will never see a jury in either of these cases." Trials in two of the three cases are set for March and May 2024, but those dates could be pushed back by pretrial motions and other legal maneuvers. And the question of a presidential self-pardon remains far from settled. Legal experts such as Bowman have argued that a presidential self-pardon violates the Constitution. No one can be their own judge. "Indeed, a presidential self-pardon is antithetical to the language and structure of the Constitution, contrary to the evident intentions of the Founders, and a very real danger to republican government," Bowman wrote in Just Security in November 2020. Chinas friendship without limits with Russia may be tested in Africa, where Beijings long-established economic interests are at risk of clashing with the growing footprint of Moscows paramilitary Wagner Group. The most recent point of potential friction is Niger, where leaders of a July 26 military coup are reported by The Associated Press to have reached out to Wagner for help in cementing their hold on power. That news is unlikely to have been welcomed in Beijing, where a foreign ministry spokesman last week described the deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, as a friend of China and said the country hoped for a political solution to the crisis. The diverging interests extend far beyond Niger as the Wagner Group expands its reach across the Sahel, often exchanging its security services for access to the regions rich mineral deposits and other resources. Niger, for example, is among the world's largest producers of Uranium. China also has massive investments in the region, and analysts are divided on how the Chinese see the mercenaries. While Wagner might shore up security allowing for the Chinese to do business in dangerous countries, Beijing also values stability and is competing for some of the same resources. Pros and Cons Chinese projects may have benefited from its presence. But in some other cases, China has also suffered from it, Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, said of Wagner in Africa. She noted that it has been widely speculated that Wagner was responsible for the deaths of nine Chinese nationals at a mine in the Central African Republic, or CAR, earlier this year. CAR rebel groups and several Western officials told the New York Times after the incident that they believed Wagner or Wagner-backed locals were behind the armed attack. But last month, Wagner posted on its Telegram channel saying that it had rescued a group of Chinese miners in CAR at the behest of the Chinese Embassy. Alessandro Arduino, an affiliate lecturer at the Lau China Institute and King's College London, noted that security is essential to China's Belt and Road infrastructure initiative in Africa. Wagner's involvement might provide a brief spell of stability enforced by military means an inherently delicate and transitory fix for China. In fact, it could potentially transform into a threat, particularly if conflicts arise over mining rights, he told VOA. Within this context, Chinese enterprises engaged in mining could strike interim deals to safeguard their workforce and assets, but the agreements with mercenaries could face a sudden U-turn, and even [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has learned that lesson, he said. Darren Olivier, director at conflict research consultancy African Defense Review, told VOA: "It's difficult to be entirely certain how China feels about Wagner. In the long term, he said, it is likely Beijing sees Wagner as a hindrance to its own ambitions while at the same time preferring that it stays in place in certain high-risk countries for now, so as to keep protecting foreign interests, including China's, until alternative approaches can be implemented. Paul Nantulya, a research associate at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, said theres no risk of China setting up its own version of Wagner. China wants to show that its activities are aboveboard, that its activities respect local laws and regulations, he said. China is much more sensitive about its reputation in Africa than Russia. Nantuyla noted that Chinese security firms operating on the continent offer advisory services, sell equipment and train local security forces but are not as operational as groups like Wagner that are involved in heavy fighting. Its only in a few cases, in Sudan for instance, when they were involved in hostage rescue and stuff like that, he continued, adding there are some that do anti-piracy maritime escorts. Analysts see no indications that Wagner mercenaries are pulling out of Africa any time soon. Despite his apparent exile to Belarus, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin whose aborted mutiny in late June challenged Russias military command, rattling the Kremlin was seen in attendance at Putins Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg last month hobnobbing with African officials. Beijing on Thursday lifted a COVID-era ban on outbound group tours to dozens of countries including the United States and Japan, a move that could see crowds of Chinese tourists return to destinations around the world. China cut itself off from the world in 2020 as part of a strict zero-COVID strategy, using visa suspensions and lengthy quarantines to curb the import of virus cases into the country. Thursday's announcement is the latest move towards reopening, after the Chinese government dropped its containment measures abruptly in December. "From now on, travel agencies across the country and online travel companies will resume operating outbound group tours" to more than 70 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and South Korea, the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a statement. Chinese tour groups had already received permission to visit a small number of countries earlier this year under a trial program, including tourist magnets Thailand, Italy and France. The tourism ministry on Thursday said outbound tourism had been developing in a stable manner since the start of the trial period, "playing a positive role in promoting tourism exchanges and cooperation." China had the largest outbound tourism market in the world in 2019, with mainland Chinese residents taking 155 million trips abroad that year, according to consulting firm McKinsey. That outflow narrowed to a trickle in the past three years as Chinese authorities restricted passport renewals and cut international flights in a bid to deter travel. In early December, Chinese authorities effectively ended the country's regime of mass testing, lockdowns and long quarantines -- but the abrupt reversal led to a spike in COVID cases. Beijing announced in late December that inbound travelers to the country would no longer need to quarantine from Jan. 8, but kept in place visa restrictions on foreigners. China resumed issuing a range of visas to foreigners in March, but inbound tourism remains at a fraction of pre-pandemic levels. A journalist who reports on disinformation for the British broadcaster BBC has spoken out about the level of online harassment she endures over her work. Marianna Spring, who hosts the podcast Marianna in Conspiracyland, said that 80% of the online hate directed at BBC journalists targets her specifically. The public broadcaster uses software that flags messages containing threats or online violence. Of 14,488 items, 11,771 were directed at Spring. Speaking about the level of harassment, Spring told The Times of London, Its really normal to hate me. She added that she felt relieved when she saw the data because the numbers supported what she was experiencing, proving that she was not going mad. Springs experiences reflect a global trend of trolling and online abuse directed at female journalists. A 2021 study by UNESCO and the International Center for Journalists found that gender is a big factor, with women the target of more online violence and sexual harassment. The study found that 73% of those surveyed had experienced online harassment in the course of their work and many described receiving messages containing threats of sexual violence, bigotry and intimidation against family. Others who report on or investigate disinformation campaigns have also experienced online hate. Yaqiu Wang, a senior China researcher for Human Rights Watch, said she has seen an environment of hostility against women on social media. Wang, an expert on digital censorship and disinformation in China, said she too has been a victim of online hate. The harassment takes a toll, she told VOA on Tuesday, even when you know the posts are likely generated by a bot. Everybody gets affected. I dont read those comments, [but] knowing there are 100 people writing nasty comments under my tweets, you wonder, Why are people so vicious? Why are people not nice and why do people do that?' Studies have found that gender-based online violence is a global issue, with female journalists targeted with smear campaigns and online attacks. An earlier UNESCO study found that the attacks are worse when combined with misogyny and other discrimination, such as racism. In some cases, online attacks escalate to physical threats, with female journalists the victim of stalking and physical assault or legal harassment. In countries like Mexico, where journalists are at higher risk of physical violence, the level of online threats is a worry, say analysts. Online attacks leveled at male and female journalists is common in Mexico, but analysts have long said there is a noticeable difference. When it comes to the digital sphere, threats are more commonly directed at female journalists, studies by Article 19 and other groups have shown. Such harassment can take a toll on mental health too, research shows. But British journalist Spring said that though a lot of people face awful online abuse, the attacks directed at her will not distract from her work. An Ecuadorian presidential candidate known for speaking up against corruption was shot and killed Wednesday at a political rally in the capital amid a wave of violence in the South American country. President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and suggested organized crime was behind his slaying. Villavicencio was one of eight candidates in the Aug. 20 presidential vote, though not the frontrunner. The politician, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement. "I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished," Lasso said in a statement. "Organized crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law." Ecuador's attorney general's office said a suspect in the assassination of Villavicencio died of wounds after being arrested by authorities. Violence in Ecuador, a historically calm country, has surged in the past year as drug traffickers have flocked to the South American nation, resulting in a concerning uptick in drug trafficking, violent killings and child recruitment by gangs. Videos on social media appear to show the candidate walking out of the event surrounded by guards. The video then shows Villavicencio entering a white truck followed by gunfire, information that was confirmed to the Associated Press by Patricio Zuquilanda, Villavicencios campaign adviser. Zuquilanda said the candidate had received death threats before the shooting, which he had reported to authorities and resulted in one detention. He called on international authorities to take action against the violence, attributing it to rising violence and drug trafficking. "The Ecuadorian people are crying, and Ecuador is mortally wounded," he said. "Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society." Police confirmed that several others were injured, including officers, describing the incident as a terrorist act and promising to get to the bottom of the killing. Villavicencio was one of the most critical voices against corruption, especially during the government of former President Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017. He filed many judicial complaints against high-ranking members of the Correa government, including against the ex-president himself. His comments were echoed by other candidates who demanded action, with leading candidate Luisa Gonzalez of the Citizen Revolution party saying "when they touch one, they touch all of us." Another candidate and former vice president Otto Sonnenholzner, meanwhile, said in a news conference, "We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears and we do not deserve to live line this. We demand that you do something." Villavicencio was married and is survived by five children. At least eight people have been killed and six others injured in two separate explosions in Somalia, residents say. At least five people were killed, and four others were injured in the town of Jalalaqsi in the Hiran region after a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest at a public place. The al-Shabab military group claimed responsibility for the two attacks. Two sources in Jalalaqsi, a medical worker and a resident, confirmed the casualties to VOA Somali. According to the resident, the bomber went to a tea shop but was approached by the security guards of District Commissioner Nur Mohamed Absuge, who was in the area. The man then detonated the bomb, killing two security guards and three civilians, the resident said. That witness account was later confirmed by the deputy district commissioner of Jalalaqsi, Abdisalam Hassan Abukar, who told VOA in a telephone interview, The target was the district commissioner. Abukar said one of the commissioners bodyguards fired a shot at the attacker before the bomb was detonated. The bodyguard is among the dead, he said. Jalalaqsi is about 200 kilometers north of Mogadishu. Meanwhile, three soldiers were killed when a roadside explosion hit their vehicle in the Yaqshid district of north Mogadishu. A security official, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media, told VOA Somali that two civilian bystanders were also injured in the explosion. Thursdays attacks come a day after a roadside explosion killed six people and injured 12 others in Lower Shabelle region. Hussein Hassan Dhaqane contributed to this report. VOA Talks with the governor of Rivne after it is attacked by Russian missiles. We learn about drones headed towards Moscow and more aid headed to Kyiv. Plus a conversation with a former ambassador about the recent peace talks in Saudi Arabia and we go to ComicCon to look at a special comic book. On August 6, authorities in Kyiv renamed the Soviet-era, 102-meter Motherland Monument to the Mother Ukraine Monument and replaced the USSR's hammer-and-sickle symbol on its shield with the trident, Ukraines coat of arms. The move came after some 663,000 Ukrainians voted in favor of replacing the Soviet-era coat of arms with the trident in July 2022. Russian officials harshly criticized the move, with Anna Kuznetsova, deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma, claiming on August 6 that Ukraines trident symbolizes slavery. In a Telegram post widely publicized in the Russian news media, Kuznetsova wrote: The trident, as a mark of slavery and a symbol of the conquest of Ukraine, was hoisted on the shield of the Motherland. That is false. From old religions to modern luxury cars, the trident is an ancient symbol that has been used by cultures around the world for thousands of years. There are no historic records or cultural interpretations associating it with slavery. In Ukraine, the trident has been known since Kyivan Rus', the Eastern Slavic state that existed from the late 9th to the mid-13th century. In modern times, it has become a symbol of the Ukrainian peoples national identity and independence. The trident was made the coat of arms of the Ukrainian National Republic in 1918, and again picked as the coat of arms of modern independent Ukraine in 1992. Archeologists dated the oldest tridents discovered in Ukraine to the 1st century AD. Many explanations have been offered for the Ukrainian tridents meaning. According to UkraineNOW, a website administered by the Brand Ukraine NGO and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, interpretations vary from references to the Trinity, a bow with arrows, a candlestick and even a falcons wing. The Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, maintained by scholars and editors from the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, states that the trident was first used as a state symbol in 10th century Kyivan Rus', when it was the coat of arms of the Rurik dynasty: The trident was stamped on the gold and silver coins issued by Prince Volodymyr the Great (9801015), who perhaps inherited the symbol from his ancestors (such as Sviatoslav I Ihorovych) as a dynastic coat of arms and passed it on to his sons During the Kyivan Rus' period, the trident was depicted on coins, ceramics, tombstones, medallions, rings, weapons, seals and manuscripts. Archaeologists have also discovered tridents inscribed on the bricks and stones of churches, castles and palaces from the 10th-12th centuries. The trident symbol disappeared after the Mongol Empire conquered Kyivan Rus in the middle of the 13th century, but it returned in 20th century with Ukraines efforts to regain independence. In March 1918, the Central Rada, the parliament of the Ukrainian National Republic (UNR), adopted the trident as the country's coat of arms. The UNR, which was in a federation with Russia until it declared its independence in January 1918, was recognized by France, Great Britain and the Central Powers (the German Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.) The UNR government went into exile in 1920 after the Soviet Union seized control of Ukraines territory. The Soviet authorities banned the trident, labeling it a "nationalist symbol." However, independence fighters and many in exile continued to use the trident as a symbol of Ukraine. After Ukraine's independence was restored in 1991, Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, adopted the trident on February 29, 1992, as the chief element in the state coat of arms, maintaining the traditions of the Ukrainian National Republic. According to the UkraineNOW website, the trident, widely displayed in Ukraine today on everything from t-shirts to badges, is an important historical and national emblem: The symbol connects past and present from the Kyivan Rus times, where Ukraine has its roots, to the 21st century. Since the days of the Ukrainian Peoples Republic, the trident (Tryzub) has become an important symbol for those who fought for Ukraines independence 100 years ago and those who protect it now. LHASA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Sonam Palden is with an axe again almost 50 years after he quit his job as a lumberjack. But this time, it is for the better protection of the forest. "Some trees have grown so thick that they affect the growth of shorter plants, and some even hinder the visibility of drivers," said the 70-year-old, who hails from Gyerba Village in the city of Nyingchi, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. Nyingchi has one of the largest original forest areas in China, with a forest coverage rate of 47.6 percent. In the past, the locals relied on forests and engaged in tree felling across generations to earn a living. "People had to depend on cutting trees to make money, even the local government's revenue depended heavily on logging. The trees lining the roads had nearly disappeared, posing potential risks of debris flows," said Sonam Palden, who transitioned into the role of a forest ranger in 1976. However, shifting from the role of a logger to that of a ranger was not easy. "During the day, we would hold a village meeting to reiterate the logging ban, yet some people would go and cut down trees stealthily at night," he said. "One time when we were patrolling, a truck loaded with lumber ran into us and wrecked our car." According to him, the reason behind the resistance of villagers at that time was mainly because the ban on logging reduced their income. To protect Nyingchi as an important ecological safety barrier, the local government ramped up efforts to implement the ban on logging while promoting ecotourism to help increase people's income. "Gyerba" means "forgotten" in the Tibetan language. Nestled at the foot of snow-capped mountains beside Basum Lake, the village has emerged from obscurity and gained prominence among tourists thanks to the development of ecotourism. Speaking about the old days, Sonam Palden said that during his childhood, the village lacked roads, and every step he took turned into a muddy ordeal when summer rains arrived. But today the village boasts asphalt-paved streets, and cement roads provide access to every household. After the launch of a housing renovation project in 2005, more than 120 families in the village moved into spacious and bright new homes. Today, the village has access to electricity, running water and internet coverage, with the most noticeable changes happening in the past 10 years, according to Sonam Palden. He said he is very pleased to see that the villagers now not only have a greater sense of environmental awareness, but they have also undergone a transformation in their way of living. "In the past, people in the village went up the mountain to cut down trees, and would return home only to drink and horse around. Now they are competing to make money out of tourism," he said. Dawa Droma's family started the first homestay in the village in 2002. The homestay, named "Holy Lake," was renovated in 2021, after Dawa Droma sensed a business opportunity and chose to return to her hometown to run the homestay. "Instead of leaving my hometown to work outside, I've become my own boss at home," she said. The clean and tidy rooms, the unique Tibetan decorations, and the beautiful environment beside the lake and snow mountains have brought her a steady stream of customers. During the tourist season, the rooms are fully booked almost every day. Besides, she also runs a Tibetan restaurant on the first floor of the homestay, where visitors can taste local specialties and buy ethnic handicrafts. In 2018, the local government rolled out supporting measures to encourage the villagers to build boutique homestays. Every resident had the opportunity to apply for a loan of 1 million yuan (about 140,000 U.S. dollars). In addition, the county government offered an award of 100,000 yuan per homestay. At present, the village has 48 homestays and family inns, and they generated about 2.5 million yuan in tourism revenue in the first half of 2023. "Environmental protection has brought an increasing number of tourists, and the business environment has continued to improve," Sonam Palden said, adding that currently there are 26 forest rangers in the village, and a reforestation program has been carried out every year since 2003. The ruling party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has easily defeated a no-confidence motion brought in parliament by an opposition alliance, following an acrimonious three-day debate over ethnic violence in the northeastern state of Manipur. The victory by Modi's nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party was a foregone conclusion as the party holds an overwhelming majority in parliament, where it enjoys the support of more than 350 members in the 545-person body. The no-confidence motion by the INDIA alliance was defeated on a voice vote after opposition members walked out of the house during an address by the prime minister, saying he was not answering the questions they raised concerning the bloodshed in Manipur. The ethnic clashes there have claimed the lives of more than 150 people. Modi called the violence "saddening." Saying that the country stands with Manipur, Modi said peace would return to the violence-wracked state. "I want to assure people that the state will soon be back on the path of development and we will leave no stones unturned for this," he said. "We will find a solution to this challenge together." Opposition points to Manipur Opposition leaders said they brought the no-confidence motion so that Modi, who had made no earlier public comments on Manipur, would speak on the unrest in the state. They had questioned why he had not visited the state or sacked its chief minister for failing to quell the violence. Opposition Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi had mounted a scathing attack on the government during the debate, accusing the administration of following divisive policies. He said Modi's government "was set on burning the whole country." "You are throwing kerosene in the whole country. You have set fire to Manipur," he said on Wednesday. "You have divided it, broken it." Ethnic clashes erupted in Manipur in May over fears that the BJP state government would give the predominantly Hindu majority Meitei people in the state greater access to lands and jobs reserved for the mostly Christian Kuki and other tribes. Nearly 60,000 people have been displaced in the state and tens of thousands of soldiers have been deployed to maintain order, but sporadic violence continues. "Two communities in Manipur have been pitted against each other in an atmosphere of civil war, of ethnic violence that has rarely been seen in India in the past few decades," lawmaker Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool Congress party said. "Manipur is a tacitly approved hate crime." Modi blames politics Modi criticized the opposition, saying it was politicizing the issue. He devoted much of his more than two-hour fiery speech to slamming the opposition INDIA alliance, which was formed last month by 26 opposition parties to put up a united fight against the BJP. Accusing the INDIA alliance of misusing the country's name to gain credibility, he called it a "congregation of arrogant parties." He also criticized the Congress Party led by the Gandhi family that has given the country three prime ministers, but has suffered crushing defeats in the last two general elections in which Modi led his party to huge victories. "I can understand the Congress Party's problem," Modi said. "They have been launching the same failed product again and again, but the launch fails every time." Highlighting his government's achievements during his address, Modi said his party would return with a "record-breaking mandate" in next year's general elections. At least 6 killed in wildfires that devastated parts of the Hawaiian island of Maui as residents fled into the ocean to flee the flames. An Ecuadorian presidential candidate assassinated at a campaign rally. A debate on whether former president Donald Trumps trials should be publicly televised. Iran confirmed Thursday that it has placed five American prisoners under house arrest in exchange for billions of dollars frozen in South Korea, a development that comes as Tehran for months has indicated it is open to a prisoner swap with Washington. "Under the deal mediated by a third country, five Iranians jailed in the United States will be released, and Iran's frozen funds in South Korea will be unblocked and transferred to Qatar," Tehran said, according to state news agency IRNA. Iran said the deal with the U.S. involved between $6 billion and $7 billion that had been frozen as a result of sanctions. The funds will first be converted from the South Korean currency into euros and then sent to an account in Qatar that Iran would be able to access, according to Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday called the release of five Americans from prison in Iran a "positive step." Blinken told reporters at a news conference that the State Department had spoken with the five Americans on Thursday and that he was not aware of any other Americans still detained in Iran. Blinken also said the United States will continue to enforce all of its sanctions on Iran. Four U.S. prisoners were moved from Tehran's notorious Evin Prison to house arrest at an undisclosed hotel where they will be held under guard by Iranian officials, human rights lawyer Jared Genser said in a statement Thursday. He said that a fifth American an unnamed woman whose detention was just recently made public is already under house arrest. 'No guarantees' Genser identified three of the prisoners as Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz. Genser did not identify the fourth individual. "The move by Iran of the American hostages from Evin Prison to an expected house arrest is an important development," said Genser, pro bono counsel to Namazi. "While I hope this will be the first step to their ultimate release, this is at best the beginning of the end and nothing more. But there are simply no guarantees about what happens from here." In a Thursday statement, National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson confirmed that Iran had transferred five American prisoners "who were unjustly detained" to house arrest. "While this is an encouraging step, these U.S. citizens Siamak Namazi, Morad Tahbaz, Emad Shargi, and two Americans who at this time wish to remain private should have never been detained in the first place," Watson said. "We will continue to monitor their condition as closely as possible. Of course, we will not rest until they are all back home in the United States." Watson added that negotiations for their release "remain ongoing and are delicate." Two Iranian-born U.S. permanent residents jailed for years in Iran on what their families say are bogus charges were not part of Iran's transfer of prisoners to house arrest. Relatives of the two men, Jamshid Sharmahd and Shahab Dalili, posted messages on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday, bemoaning that the men were being left behind in Iran. Sharmahd, a German Iranian dual citizen and opposition figure, was sentenced to death in Iran earlier this year, accused of masterminding a deadly 2008 bombing of a mosque in Shiraz. His family denies the charges and says Iranian authorities kidnapped the U.S.-based businessman as he traveled in Dubai in 2020. Dalili is a retired Iranian ship captain who was residing in the U.S. when he was detained on a visit to Iran in 2016 to attend his father's funeral. Iranian authorities later sentenced him to 10 years in prison on charges of cooperating with a hostile government, an allegation his family also rejects as baseless. 'We will not rest' Under the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act, signed into law in December 2020, U.S. authorities are obliged to secure the safe recovery of U.S. nationals wrongfully or unlawfully detained abroad, with U.S. permanent residents being included in the definition of U.S. nationals. Babak Namazi, Siamak's brother, said he was grateful that his brother is being moved out of Evin Prison, which is infamous as an Iranian site for the detention of political prisoners. "While this is a positive change, we will not rest until Siamak and others are back home; we continue to count the days until this can happen," Babak Namazi said in a statement. "We have suffered tremendously and indescribably for eight horrific years and wish only to be reunited again as a family." In a statement, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, "We are in touch with the families of U.S. citizens involved, and we continue to monitor these individuals' health and welfare closely." Miller added, "We continue to work diligently to bring these individuals home to their loved ones. They must be allowed to depart Iran and reunite with their loved ones as soon as possible." Release could take weeks A source familiar with the talks told Reuters it could be weeks before the U.S. citizens leave Iran, with September as a potential time frame. Namazi was arrested in 2015 when he was on a business trip to Iran. He was charged with having "relations with a hostile state," referring to the United States. Namazi is a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen. Tahbaz, an environmentalist, and Shargi, a businessman, were first arrested in 2018. They are also dual U.S.-Iranian citizens. Japan is struggling to boost its domestic defense industry in spite of the countrys ambitious plans to respond to Chinas growing militarization in the East China Sea. The government is investing $315 billion in its defense program over the next four years, but some of Japans technological and industrial giants are reluctant to produce more weapons alongside their well-known consumer products. Japanese technology Japans most famous global brands are more familiar as the makers of televisions, washing machines or cars. Less well known even in Japan is that they also make military equipment. Mitsubishi makes fighter jets and missiles for Japans self-defense force. Electronics firm Toshiba makes military-grade batteries. Car maker Subaru produces military helicopters. Daikin, better known for its air conditioning units, has a side business producing munitions. Now, the government wants Japans industrial giants to ramp up production of military equipment but it has been met with a muted response, according to a recent report by the Reuters news agency. Export ban A ban on arms exports was only lifted in 2014, so very few Japanese defense companies sell overseas, explains analyst Tetsuo Kotani of the Japan Institute for International Affairs. For Japanese defense companies, the (Japanese) self-defense forces are the only buyer. So, it's not so easy for those companies to make profits by making weapons. And because of that, several particularly smaller companies are now going away from those defense industries, Kotani told VOA. More than 100 Japanese companies have left the defense sector over the past 20 years, according to the Japanese financial analyst firm Nikkei. Heavy reliance on foreign companies is not so good in terms of the supply chain resiliency, so the Japanese government decided to give a subsidy to those Japanese defense companies who are suffering. And by doing so we are trying to maintain our indigenous defense build-up capabilities, Kotani said. Western allies Japan, Italy and Britain earlier this year announced the joint development of a new fighter jet program, named Tempest. Mitsubishi is involved in the project. Meanwhile, Tokyo recently issued guidelines to harmonize equipment with U.S. and European standards. The U.S. alliance is the cornerstone of Japanese defense and its vital that Japan buys the right equipment, says Grant Newsham, a retired U.S. Marine colonel and diplomat and former liaison to the Japan Self-Defense Forces. What hardware do you need? What resources do you need? What capabilities do you need to defend your country? What do you need to fit in with the Americans to make this a real joint effort? I don't know that that thinking has been done. Its not all about spending money, Newsham added. Japan doesn't have a joint operational headquarters yet, which means the air, sea and ground forces don't really cooperate with each other. They're talking about having one in 2025 - not exactly a sense of urgency. There is no joint headquarters between the Americans and the Japanese, and that's after 60-plus years of a defense alliance. That is baffling and it needs to be addressed quickly, Newsham told VOA. Public opposition For decades most Japanese have opposed increased military spending. A survey conducted in March shows slightly more than 40 percent of voters want to expand the self-defense forces, up from 29 percent five years ago. Reuters reported that Japans industrial giants are likely wary of tarnishing their brand among consumers by expanding into military production. The head of Mitsubishi Electric's defense systems division, Masahiko Arai, told Reuters that he hoped that contributing to Japan's "safety and security would be beneficial for the firm, but his biggest concern was what would happen after Japan's five-year military buildup ends. Other defense companies did not respond to requests for comment. The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. The Kenyan government is creating shelters for survivors of human trafficking. Authorities say the goal is to help victims recover from their traumatic experiences, rebuild their lives and prosecute human traffickers. For VOA, Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi. Camera: Jimmy Makhulo Dozens of teachers, students and labor leaders marched to a Miami school district headquarters Wednesday to protest Florida's new standards for teaching Black history, which have come under intense criticism for what they say about slavery. The protesters who marched to the School Board of Miami-Dade County objected to new curriculum standards that, among other things, require teachers to instruct middle school students that enslaved people "developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit." Governor Ron DeSantis, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has repeatedly defended the new language while insisting that his critics, including Vice President Kamala Harris and two leading Black Republicans in Congress, are intentionally misinterpreting one line of the sweeping curriculum. "These new state standards that DeSantis has come up with will not be tolerated in our schools. We will not let our children be taught that slaves benefited from their slavery. That's a lie," said march organizer Marvin Dunn, a professor emeritus of psychology at Florida International University. About 50 protesters who started the 1.6-kilometer trek from Booker T. Washington Senior High School in Miami's historically Black Overtown neighborhood chanted, "What do we want? Truth. When do we want it? Now. What if we don't get it? Shut it down!" They were greeted by another 50 protesters at the school board building, where speakers addressed the crowd. Among them was Tennessee Representative Justin Pearson who was propelled into the national spotlight after being expelled from the Republican-dominated legislative body for leading a gun control protest on the House floor. He was reinstated by local officials and then won a special election. "The true history is that Black people have always fought to make America what it ought to be, and it has always resisted what it could be," Pearson told the crowd. "We've always fought for the America that we know is possible. That is not here yet." Harris, the nation's first Black vice president, traveled to Florida last month to condemn the curriculum. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who is the chamber's sole Black Republican and is also seeking the White House, issued a direct rebuke of DeSantis. Critics said the new school standards are the latest in a series of attacks on Black history by the governor's administration. At the beginning of the year, DeSantis' administration blocked a new Advanced Placement course on African American studies from being taught in high schools, saying it was contrary to state law. DeSantis also has pushed through the "Stop WOKE Act," a law that limits discussions on race in schools and by corporations, and it banned state universities from using state or federal money for diversity programs. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his top military brass met to discuss bolstering war plans, conducting more tests of the countrys latest weaponry, and boosting weapons production, state media said Thursday. The announced actions are the latest in a string of moves made by North Korea in defiance of international sanctions and criticism, to achieve its stated military hardware goals towards a hope of acquiring relevance on an increasingly fractured global stage. The enlarged meeting of the partys Central Military Commission took place Wednesday to make the army more thoroughly gird for a war, given the grave political and military situation prevailing in the Korean peninsula, state media KCNA said. It warned of plans for offensive military countermeasures to thoroughly deter the chief culprits, a likely reference to South Korea and the United States, which are set to engage in annual, large-scale military exercises later this month. The Ulchi Freedom Shield drills, which North Korea views as a warm-up to war, are scheduled for August 21 to 24. Images showed military leaders convening at Kim Jong Uns private library, as Kim pointed to a blurred-out map of the Korean peninsula, to points that could be Seoul, South Koreas capital, and a military headquarters. Kim Jong Un called for actively conducting actual war drills to efficiently operate newly deployed latest weapons and equipment, KCNA said. He also set a new goal to boost weapons production capacity. The directive comes about a week after Kim began touring several weapons factories, including one producing shells of large-caliber multiple rocket launchers, according to a Sunday state media report. Kim expressed great satisfaction, KCNA said, praising what it said were automated processing systems which produced higher quality, precise weapons. Soviet-era Grad missiles with North Korean lettering were being used by Ukrainian forces near the city of Bakhmut, a July 29 Financial Times report said, mere days after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu returned from his high-profile visit to North Korea and its weapons expo. The 120mm multiple-launch rockets were described by Ukrainian soldiers as very unreliable and prone to do crazy things, with most manufactured in the 1980s and 1990s. How the rockets got from North Korea to the Russia-Ukraine war across the globe remains unconfirmed. But Pyongyangs latest public announcement to spur production of its modernized artillery suggests it is not shying away from promoting potential new and illicit exports. A hot summer Analysts expect military activity on the Korean peninsula could ramp up in the lead-up to a trilateral summit among President Joe Biden, Japans Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Koreas President Yoon Suk Yeol in the United States next week. The two Asian leaders will be Bidens first guests at Camp David on August 18, a presidential retreat site iconic for hosting consequential foreign policy discussions. Seoul and Tokyo have been repairing their diplomatic relations to bolster a trilateral security partnership with the U.S. against North Koreas consistently progressing weapons program. The president is looking forward to hosting both of these leaders at Camp David for what we believe is a discussion of historic proportions in terms of the importance of this trilateral relationship to the Indo-Pacific region and frankly to the world, said John Kirby, NSC communications coordinator, in a virtual press briefing on Wednesday. He did not specify an agenda, but added there will be an awful lot to discuss over the course of the discussions at Camp David. Since Shoigus visit to North Korea late last month, several Biden administration officials have warned against any type of military transfer between the Cold War allies. Pyongyang is banned under United Nations Security Council resolutions from selling its military hardware. Any arms deal would be extremely concerning to us, said Defense Department spokesperson Sabrina Singh this week, adding that such transactions are being monitored and would be met with sanctions as Washington conducts its due diligence in exposing illicit behavior. Opaque transactions Even so, a state TV program on Pyongyangs (delete North Korea's) 70th Korean War-end anniversary celebrations last month declared that the North would deepen its defense cooperation with Russia, citing leader Kim Jong Uns meetings with Russias top defense head Sergei Shoigu. Within North Korea, Shoigus visit was given prominence usually reserved for state leaders. Elsewhere, it has raised concern about what could be transpiring behind closed doors. Many analysts and government officials agree the very rare visit by a Russian defense minister showed Moscows desperation to acquire artillery and conventional weapons to support its war in Ukraine, which continues to burn up more firepower than it is able to supply. And while some believe North Korea could be rewarded with much-sought foreign currency or Russian oil, others note a more long-term asset: technological know-how to fill the gaps in its missile program. What North Korea wants from Russia is technology, Kim Yeoul Soo of the Korea Institute for Military Affairs told VOA. For example, technology to mount multiple nuclear warheads [on its ICBMs], for their reentry. North Korea failed its last satellite test. They need state-of-the-art video equipment for its satellite to have the functionality of a spy satellite. Others note Moscow is under its own hard currency pressure, which could facilitate conditions for a trade over a sale. I assume [North Korea] will be sending drones. They make two drones one that looks like the Reaper and one that looks like the Global Hawk, said Bruce Bennett of the RAND Corporation to VOA Korean. Given the economic sanctions on Russia [it] may be such that they cant continue buying [drones] from Iran or have a very limited ability to buy from Iran. And so, they will want to get some from North Korea, he explained. They would send not only the weapons but also experts to monitor what happens. That would be a great testing ground. Further fanning suspicions of newly negotiated deals was an overnight visit of a Russian VIP plane to Pyongyang last week, according to the news site NK News, which cited flight tracking data and satellite imagery. Whatever relations Moscow enjoyed with Seoul and Tokyo prior to its war in Ukraine appears all but decimated, Go Myong-hyun, senior fellow at the Asan Institute told VOA. Referring to the image of Shoigu standing side-by-side to Kim Jong Un at the July military parade as various strategic ballistic weapons were showcased, Go added Shoigu watched these weapons systems that Seoul and Tokyo are feeling very threatened by [essentially] saying that this is okay. I think it has undermined Russias long-term prospects in this region for good. VOA's Korean service and Lee Juhyun contributed to this report. The United States has called for an open U.N. Security Council meeting on August 17 to discuss the human rights situation in North Korea and its link to international peace and security. We know the governments human rights abuses and violations facilitate the advancement of its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles program, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters. She was joined in making the announcement by the ambassadors of South Korea, Japan and Albania. North Korea has launched scores of ballistic missiles and several intercontinental ballistic missiles this year. It regularly blames the tense situation on the Korean Peninsula on joint military exercises that the United States and South Korea carry out and says its missile program is meant to deter and strike fear into its enemies. The Security Council must address the horrors, the abuses and the crimes being perpetrated daily by the Kim regime against its own citizens, and people from other member states, including Japan and Republic of Korea, the U.S. envoy said of the systemic human rights abuses. The United States holds the 15-nation Security Councils rotating presidency this month and Thomas-Greenfield has said human rights would be a core theme. It is the first time the council will hold a public session on the rights issue in North Korea since 2017 and the U.S. envoy said it is long overdue. Russia and China often argue that the Security Council is not the correct U.N. venue to discuss human rights issues. But a senior U.S. official who briefed reporters Thursday said none of the other forums focus on the links between North Koreas WMD and ballistic missile advancements, which is why the Security Council must be briefed on the issue. Moscow and Beijing could call for a procedural vote in a bid to block the meeting. Nine of the 15 council members would then have to vote in favor of holding it for the meeting to happen. The senior U.S. official said Washington is in a comfortable place in terms of having sufficient council support. The council will be briefed by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk and U.N. Special Rapporteur for the situation of human rights in North Korea Elizabeth Salmon, as well as a civil society representative. Protecting people around the world is an integral part of the U.N. Charter and an important responsibility of the Security Council, the ambassador said. And that means holding the DPRK regime accountable for its human rights abuses and violations. DPRK is the abbreviation for the North Koreas official name the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. The senior U.S. official said that Pyongyangs use of forced labor to fund its illicit weapons programs would also be highlighted at the session. The Kim governments human rights abuses are well known. The U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) and other independent human rights experts have documented testimony from hundreds of defectors. In 2014, the COI found that North Koreas violations had risen to the level of crimes against humanity. Among them the report found: extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation. The last time the council discussed North Koreas human rights was at an informal, Arria style meeting in March. China objected to it, saying it was not constructive and would not ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula and blocked the consensus necessary to broadcast it on the United Nations website. Nigers junta threatened to kill ousted President Mohamed Bazoum if neighboring countries attempt any military intervention to restore his rule, two Western officials said. Representatives of the junta reportedly told U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland during her visit to the country this week that they would kill Bazoum if a foreign intervention was attempted, a Western military official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. A U.S. official confirmed that account, also speaking on condition of anonymity, because the official was not authorized to speak to the media, the AP reported. The officials spoke to the AP shortly before the West African bloc ECOWAS directed the activation of a standby force for possible use to restore democracy in Niger. ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, had given military leaders a deadline of this past Sunday to reverse the coup. Following the Sunday deadlines expiration, the Nigerien military closed the countrys airspace, citing the threat of intervention as the reason. The military also pledged to defend the country from any foreign attack. ECOWAS ordered the activation of its standby force on Thursday, while holding out hope of peacefully restoring the constitutional government in Niger after the July 26 coup there. The announcement came Thursday in a communique read at the end of a regional summit in Abuja, the Nigerian capital. But Nigers junta leaders snubbed the regional gatherings attempt to negotiate a peaceful end to the turmoil, instead naming a new government with 21 ministers. Three coup leaders were named as the heads of the ministries of defense, interior and sports. No further plans were given in the announcement on state television. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced support for ECOWAS, without explicitly backing its call at the summit for military intervention. "ECOWAS, an organization that brings together West African countries, is playing a key role in making clear the imperative of a return to constitutional order, and we very much support ECOWAS's leadership and work on this," he said. The United States in recent days has cautioned that diplomacy is the best way forward in resolving the crisis, and military force should only be used as a last resort. Niger's ousted leader has been in detention at his residence since members of the presidential guard took power. Bazoums party said Wednesday that he and his family were running out of food and had been living without electricity and running water for a week. An adviser told The Associated Press that the family had only rice and canned goods left to eat. "We have deep concern for him, for his family, for his security and well-being," Blinken said. "We've also made clear to the military leaders that we will hold them responsible for his safety and well-being." On Wednesday, a former rebel leader and Niger politician launched a movement opposing the military junta that seized power two weeks ago the first sign of organized resistance to army rule in the country. In a statement, Rhissa Ag Boula said his group, the Council of the Resistance for the Republic, will aim to reinstate Bazoum. Boula is a former minister of tourism and a leader in two Tuareg ethnic insurgencies in Niger, one in the 1990s, the other from 2007 to 2009. Until Wednesday, Nigers military junta had rejected diplomatic overtures. But they allowed two envoys sent by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu into the country, despite its closed borders: Lamido Muhammad Sanusi and Abdullsalami Abubarkar, both prominent traditional leaders. Sanusi met with General Abdourahamane Tchiani, the coup leader, and Abukarkar met with other representatives at the airport. "Well continue to do our best to bring the two parties together to improve understanding. This is the time for public diplomacy," Sanusi told reporters upon his return to Abuja. A day earlier, Nigers military junta had rejected a proposed diplomatic mission from West African states, the African Union and the United Nations. The junta leaders said a climate of threatened aggression made it impossible to hold talks on ending the constitutional crisis in Niger. Late on Tuesday, ECOWAS said in a statement that it would "continue to deploy all measures in order to restore constitutional order in Niger." The 15-member bloc, along with Western allies of Niger, have placed a series of financial sanctions against the country since the coup. The financial sanctions could lead to a default on Niger's debt repayments, Reuters reported. The U.S. Embassy, meanwhile, has told Americans to avoid the presidential palace and downtown parts of the capital, Niamey, warning of an increased security presence to monitor demonstrations. The embassy said Wednesday that it was aware of reports that cash and some goods were becoming scarce. A U.S. State Department spokesperson on Tuesday said the United States still had hope for reversing Niger's coup but was "realistic. Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters, "We are making clear, including in direct conversations with junta leaders themselves, what the consequences are for failing to return to constitutional order. Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. Ukrainian authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation Thursday of nearly 12,000 civilians from 37 towns and villages in the eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian forces reportedly are making a concerted effort to punch through the front line. The local military administration in Kharkiv's Kupiansk district said residents must comply with the evacuation order or sign a document saying they would stay at their own risk. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar had said the previous day that the intensity of combat and enemy shelling is high in the area. The city of Kupiansk and the territories around it were under Russian occupation until September 2022, when Ukrainian forces conducted a rapid offensive that dislodged Kremlin forces from nearly the entire Kharkiv region. The retaking of those areas strengthened Ukraines arguments that its troops could deliver more stinging defeats to Russia with additional armament deliveries, which its Western allies duly provided. But as Ukraine has pursued a slow-moving counteroffensive in recent weeks, Russian forces have struck back in some areas. 'Storm-Z' detachments Maliar said Russia has formed an offensive group and is attempting to move forward in the area in an effort to advance on the Ukrainian-held city of Kupiansk, an important rail junction. Russia has concentrated assault troops supported by tank units, aviation and artillery in the Kupiansk area, Ukraine National Guard spokesman Ruslan Muzychuk said on national television. The Russians have formed eight Storm-Z detachments made up of convicts released from prison acting under military commanders for the push, and fighting in the area was intense, according to Oleksandr Syrskyi, the ground forces commander of the Ukrainian armed forces. Some positions are passed from hand to hand constantly, he said. It was not possible to independently verify either side's battlefield claims. Ukrainian authorities have periodically ordered evacuations, especially of children, from areas where the fighting has heated up. Officials have previously said the evacuations are necessary to save lives and enable the Ukrainian army to better defend towns from the Russian advance. Millions of Ukrainian refugees left the country after Russias invasion started in February 2022, and millions more left their homes but stayed in Ukraine. Strike at Zaporizhzhia One person was killed and nine injured in a Russian missile strike on the city of Zaporizhzhia late Thursday, said regional governor Yuriy Malashko. In Russia, two people died in Ukrainian shelling of the village of Chausi, five kilometers from the border, said Bryansk regional governor Alexander Bogomaz. Earlier Thursday, Russian air defense systems shot down two drones heading toward Moscow for a second straight day, officials said. The reported attack disrupted flights at two international airports as Ukraine appeared to step up its assault on Russian soil. One drone was downed in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow and another near a major Moscow ring road, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin and the Russian Defense Ministry, which blamed the attack on Ukraine. No casualties or damage were immediately reported. Domodedovo airport, south of the city, halted flights for more than two hours and Vnukovo airport, southwest of the city, stopped flights for more than two and a half hours, according to Russian news agencies. Ten flights were diverted, Russias Federal Agency for Air Transport said. Firing drones at Moscow after more than 17 months of war has little apparent military value for Ukraine, but the strategy has served to unsettle Russians and bring home to them the conflicts consequences. Kyiv officials, as usual, neither confirmed nor denied Ukraines possible involvement in the drone strikes, although Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat remarked: This cannot but please us because people in Moscow thought they were safe." Russias Defense Ministry also said it had stopped Ukrainian drone attacks in Moscow-annexed Crimea. It said it shot down two drones near the port city of Sevastopol and electronically jammed nine that crashed into the Black Sea. More US aid The Pentagon is to provide Ukraine with another $200 million in weapons and ammunition to help sustain the counteroffensive, according to U.S. officials. Ukraine has already received more than $43 billion from the U.S. since Russia invaded last year. Ukraines presidential office said at least six civilians were killed and 27 were injured between Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Meanwhile, 12 people remained missing after an explosion Wednesday at a factory that makes optical equipment for Russian security forces, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency officials. Russias Emergency Ministry said 71 people required medical assistance after the explosion. Russian officials did not offer a suspected cause of the explosion at the Zagorsk plant in the region around Moscow, which added to jitters about potential Ukrainian drone strikes. The fallout from Russias war against Ukraine has brought concerns to neighboring countries, including the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus this summer after their short-lived mutiny in Russia. Polands defense minister said Thursday that the country intends to put 10,000 soldiers along its border with Belarus amid fears of a spike in illegal immigration. Polish officials have accused Belarusian authorities of organizing illegal border crossings to disrupt and pressure Warsaw, which along with other NATO countries has provided support for Kyivs war effort. UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- In the wake of yet another devastating shipwreck in the Mediterranean, three UN agencies voiced their concerns on Thursday, advocating for enhanced, secure routes for migrants and asylum-seekers heading to the European Union. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) pressed for a more unified approach to search and rescue operations, said the UN News. This recent tragedy, unfolding between Aug. 3 and 4, saw only four individuals rescued - by a commercial ship. These survivors, later escorted to Lampedusa by the Italian Coast Guard, shared that they were initially a group of 45. Sadly, 41, including three children, remain unaccounted for. Lending support during the disembarkation and initial reception stages, IOM, UNHCR, and UNICEF collaborate with local authorities in Lampedusa. Their aim is to guarantee that those in need of international protection receive it and to identify individuals with particular needs promptly. Such incidents contribute to the escalating death toll from shipwrecks in the Central Mediterranean. Data from IOM's Missing Migrants Project indicates that over 1,800 individuals have either died or gone missing on this route in 2023 alone. Shockingly, this path represents over 75 percent of all Mediterranean fatalities over the past decade. The vessel involved, an iron barge that embarked from Sfax, Tunisia, fell victim to the merciless Mediterranean waves. The UN agencies emphasize the heightened risks associated with iron vessel crossings, especially under adverse weather conditions, UN News said. These "heart-wrenching events" illuminate the smugglers' utter lack of humanity towards the migrants and refugees. This is further exemplified by a recent incident off Lampedusa where a pregnant woman and her child perished, according to UN News. Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, highlighted the need for improved management of these migration flows. On the social media platform X (previously Twitter), Grandi emphasized addressing underlying issues, responses in transit nations, trafficking, and establishing secure migration routes. Without further commitment from states towards structured and coordinated sea rescues, he warns, tragedies like this will undoubtedly recur. De facto Taliban authorities in Afghanistan are presenting an impressive list of achievements in the fight against narcotics about a year after their reclusive supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, outlawed drug production. To implement Akhundzada's edict, Taliban forces have conducted 5,799 counter-narcotics operations, apprehended 6,781 drug traffickers, seized 1,799 tons of drugs, and dismantled of 585 heroin production labs, according to Taliban officials. The regime's claims are substantiated by independent observers. "As they also accomplished during 2000-2001, when they were previously in power, the Taliban have effectively banned opium poppy cultivation, resulting in an enormous drop in the opium cultivated area in 2023," said William Byrd, a senior researcher at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), in written answers to VOA. Satellite imagery used by a British organization confirms significant across Afghanistan this year. In Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, where more than half of the country's illicit drugs were produced, cultivation reportedly has dropped from 129,000 hectares in 2022 to only 740 hectares in 2023. For nearly two decades after the Taliban were ousted from power, poppy cultivation and opiate production soared in Afghanistan, making the landlocked country the world's largest heroin producer, according to the United Nations. Concerned that the illicit drug economy was fueling the Taliban insurgency and organized crime and corruption in the Afghan government bodies, the United States was among several donors that poured in several billion dollars to tackle the problem. It did not work. At the height of the problem when poppy cultivation reached upwards of 330,000 hectares in 2017-2018 the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reported, "No counterdrug program undertaken by the United States, its coalition partners, or the Afghan government resulted in lasting reductions in poppy cultivation or opium production." Untenable situation "The world wanted Afghanistan to do this [counter-narcotics] and here we have done it," Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen told VOA from his office in Doha, Qatar. "We are doing it until we completely eradicate it." The Taliban are notorious for brutally enforcing their agendas, from banning schools for girls to banning farmers from cultivating the lucrative opium poppy crops. The school ban has earned the Islamist regime universal condemnation, and experts say the opium poppy ban could result in serious domestic problems. "By enforcing a drug ban and pressing crop destruction deep into some of the most remote areas, while offering no alternatives, the Taliban leadership risks provoking rural unrest, as well as growing dissent within its own ranks, particularly Taliban members from these areas who must answer to their families, neighbors, and rural constituencies," wrote David Mansfield, a British observer and author on narcotics in Afghanistan, in a recent analysis for Alcis. Dire consequences Isolated, under international sanctions, and facing myriad security, governance and economic challenges, the Taliban are unlikely to permanently wean Afghanistan off its longstanding dependence on the drug economy. "The opium ban is imposing around a $1 billion per year economic shock [to the Afghan economy]," said Byrd of the USIP. Strict enforcement of the opium poppy ban will yield dire consequences for the already weak Afghan economy, forcing people to migrate abroad in search of jobs and income, Byrd said. "We have appealed for international assistance," said Shaheen, the Taliban spokesperson whose designation to Afghanistan's seat at the United Nations has failed, while the former Afghan government appointee remains accredited. Such calls remain unanswered as donor countries condemn the Taliban's so-called gender-apartheid regime in Afghanistan, where human rights groups say women are being erased from all public spheres. As donors weigh the dilemma of whether to aid the Taliban in its drug war or continue pressing them to improve governance, "some may well decide that a continued flow of drugs from Afghanistan may be the least worst outcome," according to Mansfield. While 95% of the drugs produced in Afghanistan end up in Europe's black markets nearly all of the illicit drugs consumed in the United States come through Mexico the U.S. has been the largest donor for counter-narcotics programs in Afghanistan, with $9 billion in appropriations until December 2021. Amid the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, aid donors have provided some $1.5 billion in assistance. Nonprofit groups working in the conflict areas say that funding is inadequate, and the shortfall is causing major challenges. Meanwhile, those fleeing Sudan say the humanitarian response in neighboring countries is so bad they are returning home. Reporter Henry Wilkins looks at why this is happening. In the past two weeks, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has zig-zagged across the country on an election campaign that pitched the appeal of political stability and his concept of a progressive government. Just nine months into power, his nascent government will face its first test of popularity in pivotal state elections Saturday. The polls are widely viewed as an early referendum both for Anwars leadership and also the strength of the Islamist opposition after a divisive general election in November. The outcome of the state polls could influence the direction of national politics and the countrys stability. Before Anwar, Malaysia had three prime ministers since 2018 after lawmakers switched support for political mileage. Heres a look at the significance of the local polls and what it means for Anwar and the country. Why are the polls held now? Six of Malaysias 13 states are holding elections now because the local governments refused to call for early polls at the same time as general elections in November. They cited the need to prepare for floods during the year-end annual monsoon season. Amir Fareed Rahim, director of strategy at political risk consultancy KRA Group, said the polls are basically a mini general election." Nearly 10 million voters, or about half the country's electorate, will elect 245 assembly members in six states that contribute more than 50% of Malaysia's gross domestic product: Selangor and Penang, two of the countrys richest states, as well as Negeri Sembilan, are controlled by Anwars multiethnic Pakatan Harapan alliance. Three poorer Malay heartland states Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu were ruled by the conservative Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party. How do state polls affect national politics? While the local elections have no direct impact on the federal government, the outcome could signal whether Anwars multi-coalition government can last a full five-year term. If the opposition takes control of states led by Anwars bloc or otherwise has a strong showing in state polls, it will put pressure on Anwar and could rock the stability of his government, analysts say. Anwars Pakatan Harapan alliance won the most seats but failed to win a majority after Novembers general election led to an unprecedented hung Parliament. At the behest of the nations king, rival parties came together to form Anwars unity government. The support of the once-dominant United Malays National Organization and other smaller parties gave Anwar a two-thirds majority in Parliament, the strongest in 15 years. But analysts say this loose alliance is perceived as unstable and needs stronger support from the countrys ethnic Malay majority. A surprisingly strong surge of Malay votes in November gave the Perikatan Nasional bloc, led by former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, 74 out of 222 Parliament seats. The bloc includes the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, which emerged as the largest single party in Parliament. "It is a litmus test on whether voters including the crucial Malay-Muslim majority have warmed or at least accepted the new alignments in Malaysian politics," said KRA's Amir. What are the parties and major issues? Anwars leadership has eased fears over greater Islamization but he faces a challenge in boosting his appeal among the Malay community. By law, all Malays are Muslims and Islam is the official religion in Malaysia. Many Malays view Anwar as too liberal and fear their Islamic identity and economic privileges under a decades-old affirmative action program could be chipped away. Malays make up over 2/3 of Malaysias 33 million people. The rise of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, which espouses a theocratic state and has long positioned itself as a defender of Islam, in November reflected a growing religious conservatism among Malays. Despite a poor economic track record in the three states it rules, the party retained loyalty through its religious agenda. Its partnership with Muhyiddin's more moderate Malay party helped ease fears over its hardline stance. It has expanded its influence from the countrys rural north, benefiting most from the decline in traditional Malay support for graft-tainted United Malays National Organization. Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party leaders have stepped up racial and religious rhetoric in the run-up to polls. In a Facebook post this week, party hardline leader Abdul Hadi Awang implied that the opposition can topple Anwars government if they sweep all six states. But Perikatan Nasional's clean image may have been hurt after several of its leaders were hauled to court for graft. This included party chief and former Prime Minister Muhyiddin, who was charged in March with corruption and money-laundering. Muhammad Sanusi Mohamad Nor, a popular Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party leader who was chief minister of Kedah, was also charged recently with sedition for allegedly insulting the countrys sultans in a political speech. Analysts said it is crucial for Anwar to gain more Malay votes to strengthen his leadership and fight any maneuver by the opposition to oust him. What are the stakes for Anwar? Anwar has said a win for his unity government will save the country from racial and religious bigotry. The 76-year-old leader has run a tireless campaign, sometimes speaking at up to three rallies in one night. His speeches dwelled on the need for good governance, racial harmony and political stability. He has repeatedly assured Malays he is safeguarding their rights and called on voters to give his government time to deliver on its promises for reforms. In July, Anwar unveiled an economic framework to elevate growth, boost incomes and woo foreign investors. He also announced cash handouts and other aids to lower-income groups and civil servants, amid grumblings that his government is not doing enough to stave off the rising cost of living and a slowing economy. But his anti-corruption platform is seen as compromised after he appointed United Malays National Organization chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is fighting 47 graft charges, as one of his two deputies. Najib Razak, former prime minister and ex-party head, is behind bars after losing his appeal last year on graft charges linked to a multibillion-dollar financial scandal. Anwar can sail through if he can retain control of the three states under his alliance, said Hafidzi Razali, associate director at political risk consultancy Bower Group Asia. That would give Anwar time to build his political base before the next general election in 2027. If Anwar fails, and especially if United Malays National Organization performs badly, it could spark a revolt in the party and prompt allies in his government to rethink their partnership. A shift in allegiance could plunge the country into new turbulence. Anything less than status quo will be opening the floodgates of volatility, Hafidzi said. A suspected al-Qaida attack in southern Yemen on Thursday killed a military commander and three soldiers from a secessionist group, according to the group's leader, security officials and an eyewitness. Commander Abd al-Latif al-Sayyid and the three soldiers from the Security Belt Forces, a fighting group loyal to Yemen's secessionist Southern Transitional Council, were killed in an explosion while traveling in a convoy through southern Abyan province, three security officials and the witness said. They blamed al-Qaida's branch in Yemen known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula for the attack but provided no further details. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. 'Hands of treachery' In an obituary statement issued late Thursday by the head of the secessionist council, Aydarous al-Zubaidi said the separatist force was mourning the loss of al-Sayyid and the three fighters "who were touched by the hands of treachery and terrorism." The Southern Transitional Council is backed by the United Arab Emirates and controls most of Yemen's south. It is at odds with the internationally recognized government and has repeatedly called for the south Arabian country to be split into two states, as it was between 1967 and 1990. Al-Qaida did not immediately claim responsibility for Thursday's attack, but the militant group is active in Abyan province and regularly carries out ambushes against Yemeni forces. Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen is seen as one of the more dangerous branches of the terror network. Earlier this month, security officials told The Associated Press that al-Qaida militants killed five troops from the Southern Armed Forces, a large force loyal to the Southern Transitional Council. And last month, suspected al-Qaida militants clashed with forces of the secessionist council in the province of Shabwa. At least two troops and one militant were killed. Years of fighting Yemen's ruinous civil war began in 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital of Sanaa and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A Saudi-led coalition, including the UAE, intervened the following year to try to restore the internationally recognized government to power. NAIROBI, KENYA Its been three days since coup leaders in Niger ignored a deadline by the West African regional bloc ECOWAS to return Niger to civilian rule or face serious repercussions, including the possible use of force. On Tuesday, the coup leaders refused entry to a joint delegation from African countries and the United Nations ahead of yet another meeting by ECOWAS on Thursday to decide what to do next. Meanwhile tensions are high as many in Niger disagree with the idea of a West African military intervention. Bibata Niandou Barry, a lawyer based in Nigers capital, Niamey, was a Cabinet minister under former President Mamadou Tandja, who led the country from 1999 until 2010, when he was toppled in a coup. Barry told VOA she is against any kind of military intervention. Since Sunday, ECOWAS has imposed more sanctions, which Barry said will suffocate the country. She said the people will follow the person who is seen as giving them some oxygen to breathe. She called the sanctions illegal and illegitimate and said they were not working toward solving the problems. She also said that the sanctions are related to big turnouts in Niamey in support of the junta. Supporters of ousted President Mohamed Bazoum have also come out to demand his reinstatement as president. On Wednesday, former rebel leader and politician Rhissa Ag Boula launched a pro-Bazoum movement, the Council of Resistance for the Republic, opposing the junta. Sean McFate, a professor at Syracuse University and the National Defense University in Washington, said he doesnt think ECOWAS ultimatum poses a serious threat to Niger. Niger is looking toward Russia and the Wagner Group the way that Mali has, Sudan has and to some extent Burkina Faso has and the CAR [Central African Republic] have, McFate said. ECOWAS is mostly a hollow organization. It has some diplomatic uses, but as a military organization, its lacking. The crisis in Niger is the latest in a region of Africa familiar with military takeovers of democratically elected civilian governments. Some analysts express concern that more political instability is on the horizon, particularly if paramilitary forces such as the Russian-based Wagner Group indicate their readiness to support coups. The U.S. Treasury Department has accused the Wagner Group of mass executions and physical abuse in the Central African Republic and Mali. In the case of CAR, some analysts have told VOA that Wagner plays a vital role in the countrys security, especially a few years ago when it helped oust armed rebels who opposed CAR President Faustin Archange-Touadera. The Sahel, a vast area of northern Africa just below the Sahara desert, has seen coups recently in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea. And more military takeovers may be coming, McFate said. The Wagner Groups business model is to coup-proof coup makers, and theyve been doing this for several years now, he said. I think their success at doing this has a lot of four-star generals around subSaharan Africa thinking that maybe they can approach [Wagner leader Yevgeny] Prigozhin and ask them for a similar deal that Mali got and others have gotten, too. So, I think we actually are going to see more coups. If Africa wanted to stop this, it would be very difficult. Youd have to go after the Wagner Group, and that would mean to some extent going after Russia. Russia recently hosted African leaders in the second Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg to strengthen cooperation in peace, security and development with the African nations. There are no indications the Wagner Group was involved in the coup in Niger, according to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who also said the group might take advantage and exploit the current situation. Niger has been a key ally to the West in the fight against militant groups such as Islamic State and al-Qaida in the Sahel region. Photo: Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images Weird Barbies house in Barbie was home to more than just the ragged-looking and splits-serving doll played by Kate McKinnon. We meet a slew of discontinued dolls there, including Video Girl Barbie, played by Mette Narrative, Growing Up Skipper (Hannah Khalique-Brown), and Earring Magic Ken (Tom Stourton) basically a bunch of lil freaks from the archives. Earring Magic Ken in particular has been the stuff of urban legend for decades, thanks to his totally-not-a-cock-ring necklace. Though his most famous accessory is nowhere to be found in the Barbie movie (instead, this Ken wears a Barbie nameplate necklace), its worth looking back at the surprise controversy that greeted Mattels most rave-ready doll in the early 90s. Earring Magic Ken was, of course, created as an accessory to Earring Magic Barbie. It was the year 1993, and this new Ken tried to make things feel modern. He wore a lavender mesh shirt, a purple pleather vest, baggy jeans, and black loafers. He accessorized, too, with jewelry including a single earring on his left ear and a necklace with a circular pendant. The pendant was meant as an anchor for charms that doubled as wearable clip-on earrings. But without the charms, it just looked like well, a pleasure ring commonly worn by gay men. Mattel explained at the time that Kens modern look was inspired by focus groups of little girls who wanted the doll to be cooler. This is a big breakthrough, Lisa McKendall, manager of marketing communications for Mattel, told the New York Times in 1993. We never would have done this a few years ago. But now you see more earrings on men. They are more accepted in day-to-day life. We are trying to keep Ken updated. The company wouldnt comment on the queer-coded aspects of Kens costume until asked point-blank by the writer Dan Savage, who published an article titled Ken Comes Out in The Chicago Reader that same year. When asked if Kens necklace was inspired by cock rings, McKendall denied it. Absolutely not, she told Savage. Its a necklace. It holds charms he can share with Barbie. Cmon, this is a doll designed for little girls, something like that would be entirely inappropriate. (Decades later, however, an ex-Mattel employee told Mel magazine that there were indeed murmurs inside the company about how gay Earring Magic Ken looked. I do recall the male Mattel designer who was married with several children and working on the project saying to me: They will turn Ken gay with this doll!) Savage joked in his piece that Mattel employees had gone to raves in L.A. and New York for inspiration; fans ran with it, and the detail became part of the urban legend of how Earring Magic Ken came to be. Never mind that in Savages piece, McKendall had reiterated her point about the focus groups of little girls ages 3 to 10, explaining, What they see their dads, brothers, and uncles wearing, they want Ken to wear. Either way, as one fan told the Herald Journal, Earring Magic Kens appeal was simple: Hes a campy, funny thing to have. Earring Magic Ken was on store shelves for six months, about the standard lifespan of a limited-run Barbie doll. Some have claimed he became Mattels best-selling doll, but his short shelf life and the fact that Totally Hair Barbie had sold 10 million units the year before make that unlikely. He was discontinued by the end of 1993, along with the rest of the Earring Magic collection and not because of his new fans, as some stories claim. Why the Barbie movie omits his most famous accessory is a mystery, though. Vulture reached out to Barbie costumer designer Jacqueline Durran and to Mattel to shed light on the change but did not receive a response. Adieu, Kens cock-ring necklace: gone, but not forgotten. Photo: Getty Images Are you new to comedy podcasts, overwhelmed by the array of options, and wondering where to begin? Then welcome to Start Here, a recurring guide to the best comedy podcasts available and our recommendations for which episodes are the best entry points into your next auditory obsession. Maybe youve only seen his revolting photos of shit and refuse on the streets of Los Angeles. Perhaps you read a cryptic tweet about his saga of strife with an emotionally abusive volleyball team. Or it might be that you once encountered a clip of his appearances on The Late Late Show as Craig Fergusons hapless intern. Wherever one first discovers the ethereal, flame-haired comedian Bridger Winegar, it is almost certainly online, where over the past decade hes honed a devilishly clever and possibly insane digital persona caught somewhere between Andy Warhol, Emo Philips, and Rumpelstiltskin. After going abundantly viral in the early days of Weird Twitter, Winegar pivoted to a serious career as a television multi-hyphenate with writing, producing, and acting credits on some of the funniest shows in recent memory, including Corporate, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and The Afterparty. Then, in March 2020, came I Said No Gifts!, a weekly podcast from Exactly Right Media. Each episode offers a new guest the opportunity to heed the titles dictum lest they incur Winegars wrath. Naturally, everyone ignores the hosts wishes, forcing him to excoriate them for the incredible cruelty of their courtesy. The episode titles Sam Richardson Disobeys Bridger, Melissa Fumero Disobeys Bridger are only the first of several public lashes. Then there are the descriptions, like this one for episode 58, Jimmy Kimmel Disobeys Bridger: Bridger is the epitome of grace even when Jimmy Kimmel rudely gives him a gift. They discuss RVs, clam chowder, and toothpicks. There is no funnier setup for a comedy podcast than this one, but it only works in execution due to Winegar, who has sharpened his imperious, easily offended little princeling character to cutthroat perfection. He slides seamlessly from curious, chatty interviewer in the opening minutes to furious host and back out again, sometimes over the course of the same sentence. The best moments in the show are when he convinces his guests to let their guards down, forcing them into paroxysms of laughter as he berates them. Only in episodes featuring colleagues such as Corporates Matt Ingebretson or Black Mondays Casey Wilson, who already know his M.O., does Winegar skip over the angry conceit and jump straight into improv games like Gift or a Curse? or Gift Master. Over its three-year run, only one guest has ever truly matched Winegar in feigned hauteur: his 19th, Dame Emma Thompson. Early listeners were stunned to see the title Emma Thompson Disobeys Bridger pop up in their feeds on July 23, 2020, in that it promised the rare humiliation of an insubordinate two-time Academy Award winner. But it is actually Thompsons barely maintained veil of arrogance as well as Aimee Manns tone-setting opening jingle that makes this the series highlight tete-a-tete. Manns lyrics: When I invited you here I thought I made myself perfectly clear When youre a guest in my home You gotta come to me empty-handed I said, No gifts! Your presence is presents enough And I already have too much stuff! So how do you dare disobey me? When the actress calls in, hair coiffed and martini in hand, Winegar is in shock: They were connected by Thompsons daughter, Gaia Wise, so he had been convinced she was a teen that was scamming me. Thompson is offended by the suggestion, as a listener since the early days of COVID lockdown in Scotland. Have they found a vaccine in your timeline? Winegar asks by way of apology. Obviously yes, Thompson pips back, but only for sheep. In fact, she owns several herself and considered gifting one of their skulls for the episode. Instead, her husband boiled it to get the nastiness off and turned it into a lamp. Im fully expecting him to do that to me when I drop off, Thompson jokes. Every family should have one family members skull as a gorgeous lamp, Winegar deadpans. They seem to be getting on well until around the 18-minute mark, when Winegars tone turns cold: Emma, I dont want to derail the conversation, but there is something I need to talk to you about. We got in touch on isaidnogifts@gmail.com. The podcast is called I Said No Gifts! But something happened, and a gift was purchased for me. Thompson has disobeyed his wishes, despite knowing better, and offers only a guilty Hmmm as confirmation. Emma, he intones. I. Said. No. Gifts! Despite his anger, Winegar makes an exception for her blatant disrespect owing to the stresses of the pandemic, and as a gesture of good faith, he offers to stop pouting and open Thompsons gift anyway. She accepts: I feel you ought no, have to. Thompsons gift arrives in a massive sack (or, as she puts it, an appalling bag in many ways) decorated with pictures of animals and hot-air balloons. From this, Winegar pulls out ten boxes of Tunnocks Snowballs: chocolate-covered-marshmallow treats from Scotland that Thompson describes as heaven despite being her version of crack cocaine. Winegar eats one anyway. It makes Thompson ravenous. Im literally salivating right now, she groans. Wise chimes in from off-camera: Watching you consume a Snowball is the equivalent of Mum watching porn. Then Winegar: Im going to start charging people for this. Not content with only one gift, Thompson also gives Winegar a box of Tunnocks Teacakes. She describes them in a beautiful Proustian soliloquy as a little tiny Oreo-size slight biscuit that is not very crunchy. On top of that, there is a marshmallow. Then the entirety of those two items is enrobed in chocolate. Winegar comes back passive-aggressively: Obviously, they have melted a little bit in the mail. And they are a little crushed. But thats fine! I apologize for eating in front of you, but again, this is my podcast. For the final 15 minutes, Winegar forces his guest into a lightning round of Gift or a Curse? Romance: Gift or a Curse? he demands, still play-acting offense. Oh, both, Thompson says. Romance is so appealing, so beautiful, so irresistible, so invented by French troubadours in the 14th century. But what, pray tell, does she make of vacuuming? With Winegars defenses down now, Thompson does not hesitate: Its a gift. I have a slight obsession with vacuum cleaners. Im literally looking at one now that if you vacuumed yourself with it, it would take your skin off. Furthermore, she says, she keeps a militia of these industrial-strength torture implements at the ready. When Winegar asks why, she starts screaming in a faux-triggered tone: The amount of crumbs! The crumbs stuff! Crumb! And the creation of crumb! Its incessant! By now, Thompson has Winegar, who cant stop laughing, in her palm. He barely manages to sputter out Guitar solos?, which Thompson swats down as a gift: One word: Hendrix. Winegar sounds defeated. Youve made history, he mutters. No one has ever gotten three out of three here. I was hoping to just nail you, but it didnt work out as planned. Guitar solos are a gift because even when they are bad, at least it gives you a little break from the song. This concession lends their battle of wits a perfectly Rocky IIIesque conclusion the drama of someone meeting their match! but Thompson does not gloat. Instead, she reverts to sincerity, offering a message that must have been as cathartic for Winegar then as it remains for his fans three years later: Thank you, Bridger, for putting all that wonderful, positive energy out into the world. Winegar starts to melt at Thompsons kindness, but not before squeezing out one last joke: Its been so lovely having you here. It just feels terrific to connect with somebody six-to-eight hours in the future. He is dead-on, though: Spending 45 candid minutes with one of the most transformative performers in the world is, despite Winegars best efforts, a true gift. TEHRAN, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that banks of the Republic of Korea (ROK) are unfreezing Iran's assets, and a number of "illegally" jailed Iranians in the United States will be soon released. The ministry said in a statement that the country's funds "had been illegally frozen in the ROK's banks for a few years by the United States," adding that "Iran has obtained the necessary guarantees from the U.S. for its continued commitment to obligations in this regard." It is estimated that Iran has funds worth over 7 billion U.S. dollars in ROK's two banks, which refuse to process them for fear of possible U.S. penalties. In addition to the efforts to release the country's "illegally" frozen assets, the ministry said it also works to realize "the freedom of a number of innocent Iranians, who have been illicitly arrested and imprisoned in the U.S. on the baseless accusation of bypassing the U.S. sanctions." Several of the Iranians jailed in the U.S. would soon be released, it said, adding that Iran still holds several American prisoners whose release is being pursued by the U.S. government. Over the past months, Iran has repeatedly expressed its readiness to swap prisoners with the U.S. as a humanitarian issue under the precondition that the latter acts "realistically." In an interview with Al-Monitor published on June 14, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Hamad al-Busaidi, whose country has been playing a mediatory role in the negotiations between Tehran and Washington, said he believed the two countries were nearing an agreement on exchanging prisoners. Casey Parks of Portland, author of the award-winning Diary of a Misfit and a reporter for the Washington Post, will speak in Astoria Sept. 8 at a reading and reception hosted by the Writers Guild of Astoria and Peace First Lutheran Church as part of the Oregon Book Awards Author Tour in partnership with Literary Arts. The free event will open with an introductory reading by Astoria writer Alyssa Graybeal, and begins at 7 p.m. at Peace First Lutheran Church, 565 12th St. in downtown Astoria. Parks, who spent a decade as a reporter at The Oregonian and previously was a reporter at the Jackson Free Press, now covers gender and family issues for the Post. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Oxford American, ESPN, USA TODAY, and The Nation. A former Spencer fellow at Columbia University, Parks is the 2023 winner of the Sarah Winnemucca Award in Creative Nonfiction, part of the Oregon Book Awards. Diary of a Misfit, part memoir, part investigation, is an exploration of sexual identity, its treatment by the Southern Christian churches in which Parks grew up, and her tortured relationship with her mother. The New York Times said of the book: "Most moving is Parkss depiction of a queer lineage, her assertion of an ancestry of outcasts, a tapestry of fellow misfits into which the marginalized will always, for better or worse, fit." Graybeal is the author of Floppy, an award-winning memoir about living with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic disorder affecting the bodys connective tissues. Floppy is a playful story of falling down, getting back up again, and realizing you should have gone to the hospital sooner. The reading will be followed by a reception and signing by the authors. UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday voiced his concerns regarding reports that the Niger president is being held under deplorable conditions and that additional government members have been detained. Members of the Presidential Guard reportedly hold President Mohamed Bazoum and his family without access to water, food, medicine or electricity, said Farhan Haq, the secretary-general's deputy spokesman. "The secretary-general reiterates his concern over the health and safety of the president and his family and once again calls for his immediate, unconditional release and his reinstatement as head of state," Haq said. The Presidential Guard took control on July 26, detaining Bazoum and his family. The spokesman said Guterres is also alarmed over continuing reports about the arrest of several government members and urgently calls for their unconditional release and strict adherence to Niger's international human rights obligations. However, Haq said there has been no letup in UN efforts to provide relief for the people of Niger. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports aid operations continue. OCHA said the World Food Programme assisted more than 12,000 people with food in the south-central Maradi region of Niger this week. Haq said that since the beginning of the rainy season that started in June, 38,000 people have been affected by continuing heavy rains and floods across the country. The government and humanitarian organizations are ramping up efforts to support affected people. "Humanitarian partners are struggling with low stocks of supplies, due to the impact of closures of the border and the air space," he said. "This situation may affect food assistance for 2.8 million people in the coming months." The spokesman said the Niger-Burkina Faso UN team reported the Niger de facto authorities authorized the UN Humanitarian Air Service to carry out four flights from the Niger capital of Niamey to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso to relocate family dependents. Sangiuliano says Circus Maximus was not suitable venue for Travis Scott concert. Italy's culture minister has waded into the debate over the concert by American rapper Travis Scott at the Circus Maximus on Monday night, saying the venue was "not suitable" for such an event. Acknowledging that the ancient site "has always hosted concerts, big and small, and is suitable for hosting events", Gennaro Sangiuliano said that in the case of Travis Scott it would have been better to opt for an alternative location. "We needed a more suitable venue for his show" - Sangiuliano told La Repubblica newspaper on Thursday - "the capital has many to offer." The minister stepped in after a controversy erupted over the Scott concert whose vibrations from 60,000 people jumping up and down resulted in alarmed Rome residents calling emergency services fearing an earthquake. Travis Scott Performing HYAENA For The First Time pic.twitter.com/wJmq7wGlyw Rap301 (@Rap301_) August 7, 2023 Sangiuliano said that technical requirements - in particular one obliging organisers to remind performers not to incite the public into "jumping simultaneously" - were not adhered to at the concert by Scott who was joined onstage by Kanye West in a surprise appearance. On Tuesday the director of the Colosseum archaeological park, which includes the Palatine hill parallel to the Circus Maximus, called for an end to "mega rock concerts" at the landmark venue which she claimed was being put at risk. "Not a stadium or a concert hall" "The Circus Maximus is a monument, not a stadium or a concert hall" - Alfonsina Russo told AGI news agency - "it has underground tunnels, archaeological areas, you can't jump on it for hours, in tens of thousands." Russo suggested that the ancient chariot-racing site could stage opera and ballet events but stressed that "rock concerts should be held in stadiums". However Sangiuliano said that in relation to selecting concert performers at the Circus Maximus it "would be wrong to have a prejudicial approach, without assessing case by case". Pepper spray Around 60 people at the concert required medical treatment for eye and throat irritation after pepper spray was used in the audience, leading the crowd to surge dangerously. Separately a 14-year-old boy was taken to hospital after falling four metres into a recess on the Palatine hill after trying to bypass security to sneak into the concert. Abberation Italian culture undersecretary Vittorio Sgarbi fully backed Russo whose views on the unsuitability of the Circus Maximus as a concert venue he said were "correct" and "irreproachable". "Possessed exaltation, pepper spray and decibels so exaggerated as to suggest an earthquake are aberrations that go beyond all norms", Sgarbi said, adding: "the Circus Maximus requires respect." Surreal controversy However the city's councillor for tourism and major events Alessandro Onorato on Wednesday strongly defended the Travis Scott concert and blasted the controversy as "surreal". In a video shared on his Facebook page Onorato said that each concert generated about 350,000, the "highest rent in the world", which the superintendency uses to maintain and protect the city's many archaeological sites. Kanye West (Ye) Performing Cant Tell Me Nothing With Travis Scott At Circus Maximus pic.twitter.com/7M22Tt7aBa Rap301 (@Rap301_) August 7, 2023 Last year the Circus Maximus generated 2.1 million from events, a figure set to be matched if not exceeded this year, according to Onorato. "There were 60,000 young people with an average age of 20 at the Circus Maximus and zero accidents," Onorato said of the Travis Scott concert, stressing that the pepper spray incident was caused by "some criminal thugs" who tried unsuccessfully to rob the cashier of a bar. He also said pointedly that the boy who fell "hurt himself not at the Circus Maximus, but in the area of the Colosseum archaeological park, where the director is Alfonsina Russo, the same person who caused the row. Perhaps if she had controlled her site better, he would not have been hurt". As debate rages over the future of the Circus Maximus as a concert site, Minister Sangiuliano told La Repubblica that it would be "among the many issues" to be discussed by culture chiefs at a meeting he has convened next week on the Ferragosto public holiday. NAIROBI, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Thursday marked World Lion Day with the country's wildlife agency reiterating its commitment to protect the iconic carnivore from emerging threats including poaching, retaliatory attacks by nomads, and habitat loss. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said the country's lion population currently stands at 2,500, stressing that the government was committed to raising the numbers in a bid to boost tourism and ecological balance. The KWS said in a statement issued in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, that the government is implementing the second edition of the National Recovery and Action Plan for the Lion and Spotted Hyena covering 2020 to 2030. "The action plan's goal is to restore and maintain viable populations of lions, spotted hyenas, and their wild prey while minimizing conflict and maximizing value to local communities," read the statement. In addition, Kenya has adopted spatial technology to capture the movement of lions in the jungle while engaging communities to protect them in their natural habitats, the wildlife agency said. Besides poaching for their jaws and bones, lions are suffering from climatic shocks, depletion of their habitats, competition for space with local nomads, and reduction of their prey population, according to the KWS. Dubbed the king of the jungle, the lion has been part of Kenya's cultural heritage and its survival is critical to generate tourism revenue and boost conservation of vital ecosystems. Kenya, according to the wildlife agency, has domesticated global and regional instruments to promote the conservation of the African lion, listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Wildlife Conservation and Management Act of 2013 in particular calls for sustained action on human and climatic threats facing lions, said the KWS. World Lion Day, which is marked annually on Aug. 10, aims to raise awareness of threats facing the big cat and inspire key stakeholders including governments and local communities to promote their protection. This year's World Lion Day was observed under the theme of "Reducing human-lion conflict through enhanced collaboration with communities." Calabria region deploys drones to catch 32 suspected arsonists in the act in past two weeks. A 10-year-old boy was surprised by a drone as he set fire to vegetation in the Calabrian countryside in southern Italy, the president of the region announced on Wednesday. Roberto Occhiuto posted footage of the incident, which took place in Zungri in the province of Vibo Valentia, on his Facebook page. The video shows the child lighting several fires and, once he realises he is being followed by a drone, running back to his grandfather who had allegedly instructed him to carry out the illegal task. The man reacts by cursing at the drone before driving back in his tractor to extinguish the flames. "Thanks to drones we caught 32 arsonists in two weeks", Occhiuto said on Facebook. In late July Occhiuto released footage of a suspected arsonist who threw stones at a drone after allegedly being caught lighting fires. #Incendi: dall'inizio dell'anno, quasi 59.000 ettari di superficie bruciata, di cui il 16% erano #ecosistemi forestali. In #Sardegna, l'#incendio che ha colpito #Gairo ha bruciato finora circa 30 ettari di cui 23 di ecosistemi forestali.https://t.co/22sVCYzcVu pic.twitter.com/oFBSZMlLfg ISPRA - Ist. Sup. Protezione e Ricerca Ambientale (@ISPRA_Press) August 8, 2023 Almost 59,000 hectares of land in Italy have been burned by wildfires so far this year, according to a study released on Tuesday by the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA). The report - which relates to the period 1 January to 6 August - shows that 93 per cent of the wildfires in Italy were registered in Sicily (75 per cent) and Calabria (18 per cent). The province of Palermo was the worst affected, with more than 15,500 hectares burned, followed by the Reggio Calabria province which lost 8,500 hectares to fire, according to the ISPRA report. Share Comment on this story Comment The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, is rarely far from the center of global tensions. A major shipping route that handles around a third of the worlds waterborne oil, its closely watched for signs of disruption. Iran has repeatedly targeted merchant ships traversing the chokepoint over the years and has threatened to block transit in the past. After encounters between American and Iranian vessels fueled tensions in the area, the US added to its forces patrolling the waterway in August. 1. Where is the Strait of Hormuz? Shaped like an inverted V, the waterway connects the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean, with Iran to its north and the United Arab Emirates and Oman to the south. Its almost 100 miles (161 kilometers) long and 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, with the shipping lanes in each direction just two miles wide. Its shallow depth makes ships vulnerable to mines, and the proximity to land Iran, in particular leaves large tankers open to attack from shore-based missiles or interception by patrol boats and helicopters. Advertisement 2. Whats its role? Its essential to the global oil trade. Tankers hauled nearly 17 million barrels per day of crude and condensate from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates through the strait in the first half of 2023, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The strait is also crucial for liquefied natural gas, or LNG, with more than one-fifth of the worlds supply mostly from Qatar passing through during the same period. 3. Whats been happening? The US navy said that on Aug. 6, two additional ships and 3,000 extra sailors and marines arrived in the Middle East to reinforce its operations there. In the past two years, the US says, Iran has attacked, seized or attempted to seize nearly 20 internationally flagged merchant ships in areas patrolled by American naval forces. For example, on July 5, according to the Department of Defense, the Iranian navy tried to seize two oil tankers off the coast of Oman, firing on one of them, before a US destroyer intervened. In late April, Irans navy grabbed the oil tanker Advantage Sweet in international waters in the Gulf of Oman. It was carrying crude loaded in the Neutral Zone shared by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for Chevron Corp. Less than a week later it impounded another tanker. Both vessels remain in Iranian waters. Advertisement 4. Why would Iran disrupt shipping? Share this article Share Iran has used harassment of ships in the Gulf for decades to register its dissatisfaction with sanctions against it, or as leverage in disputes. When Iran seized a US-bound tanker in April, it claimed the ship had struck another vessel. But the move appeared to be retaliation for the seizure off Malaysias coast of a ship loaded with Iranian crude by US authorities on the grounds of sanctions violations. In May 2022, Iran seized two Greek tankers and held them for six months, presumably a response to the confiscation by Greek and US authorities of Iranian oil on a different ship. The cargo was eventually released and the Greek tankers freed. 5. Has Iran ever closed the Strait of Hormuz? Not so far. During the 1980-88 war between Iraq and Iran, Iraqi forces attacked an oil export terminal at Kharg Island, northwest of the strait, in part to provoke an Iranian retaliation that would draw the US into the conflict. Afterward, in what was called the Tanker War, the two sides attacked 451 vessels between them. That significantly raised the cost of insuring tankers and helped push up oil prices. When sanctions were imposed on Iran in 2011, it threatened to close the strait, but ultimately backed off. Oil traders doubt the country would ever close the strait entirely because that would prevent Iran from exporting its own petroleum. Moreover, Irans navy is no match for the US Fifth Fleet and other forces in the region. Advertisement 6. Can the Strait of Hormuz be protected? During the Tanker War, the US Navy resorted to escorting vessels through the Gulf. In 2019 it dispatched an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the region. The same year, the US started Operation Sentinel in response to Irans disruption of shipping. Ten other nations including the UK, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain later joined the operation, known now as the International Maritime Security Construct. By mid-2023, it was envisioned that armed teams of US sailors and Marines would board vessels if requested and remain during the transit through the Strait. 7. Who relies most on the strait? Saudi Arabia exports the most oil through the Strait of Hormuz, though it can divert flows by using a 746-mile pipeline across the kingdom to a terminal on the Red Sea. The UAE can partly bypass the strait by sending 1.5 million barrels a day via a pipeline from its oilfields to the port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman. Some of Iraqs oil is shipped by sea from the Turkish port of Ceyhan, but 85% travels through the strait, making it highly reliant on free passage. Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain have no option but to ship their oil through the waterway. --With assistance from Verity Ratcliffe. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com 2023 Bloomberg L.P. The 19-year-old woman was treated for undisclosed injuries at the scene Tuesday night before being placed in an inflatable raft and floated down the Cacapon River where a helicopter then flew her to a Baltimore hospital, Maryland State Police said in a news release. The victim was trapped inside her vehicle after it went off a road and down a 70-foot (21-meter) embankment. The aerial rescue was necessary due to the steep terrain, the severity of her injuries and the cars precarious position in the ravine, the statement said. A Maryland state police helicopter maneuvered 130 feet (40 meters) above while a paramedic was lowered to the scene and was assisted by rescue crews. Share Comment on this story Comment The fake elector plan was central to the federal indictment filed against Trump earlier this month that alleged he tried to overturn results of the 2020 election. Federal prosecutors said the scheme originated in Wisconsin. Wisconsins Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has signaled that he is relying on federal investigators to look into what happened in Wisconsin, while also not ruling out a state probe. Advertisement The pending civil lawsuit, filed by two Democratic electors and a voter, seeks $2.4 million from the fake GOP electors and two of Trumps attorneys, alleging they were part of a conspiracy by Trump and his allies to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential race. It also seeks to disqualify the Republicans from ever serving as electors again. Wisconsin Republican Party Executive Director Mark Jefferson said in a statement that he was confident it will come up short. He repeated the claim from the fake electors that they were acting as an alternate slate in order to preserve an ongoing legal strategy. Wisconsin Republicans were not told of any other purpose and would not have approved any other use, Jefferson said. Scott Thompson, one of the attorneys who brought the lawsuit, said he was pleased with the order that will allow attorneys to fully investigate and present our case in court. Advertisement Our democracy matters, Thompson said. So, we must seek accountability for those who attempt to undermine it. Share this article Share Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington has scheduled the case to go to a trial by jury in September 2024, two months before the presidential election. Fake electors met in Wisconsin, Michigan and five other battleground states where Trump was defeated in 2020 and signed certificates that falsely stated Trump won their states, not Biden. The fake certificates were ignored, but the attempt has been subject to investigations, including by the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Republicans who participated in Wisconsin said they were trying to preserve Trumps legal standing in case courts overturned his defeat. Electors are people appointed to represent voters in presidential elections. The winner of the popular vote in each state determines which partys electors are sent to the Electoral College, which meets in December after the election to certify the outcome. Advertisement Democrats who brought the lawsuit in Wisconsin are represented by the Madison-based Law Forward law firm and the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at the Georgetown University Law Center. In May, Remington also revived a complaint brought by Law Forward against the fake electors filed with the Wisconsin Elections Commission. That complaint sought sanctions against the fake electors. In that ruling, Remington said the complaint must be heard again because a commissioner who considered the complaint last time should have recused himself. That commissioner, Robert Spindell, also served as a fake elector and is one of the defendants in the lawsuit seeking damages. President Joe Biden won Wisconsin by nearly 21,000 votes, a result that has withstood recounts, partisan-led investigations, a nonpartisan audit and multiple lawsuits. False Electoral College certificates were submitted declaring Trump the winner of Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Share Comment on this story Comment MEXICO CITY Indigenous communities in northeast Nicaragua are under growing pressure from armed assailants who use kidnappings and killings to push people off their land, according to community leaders, advocates and a regional human rights court. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russias war in Ukraine. ArrowRight A leader of the Mayangna people, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals from the government of President Daniel Ortega, said his people suffer a continuous colonization from the land invaders. The attackers, referred to locally as colonos, occupy their land to engage in commercial agriculture, ranching and timber harvesting. The Mayangna, along with the Miskito, occupy Nicaraguas northeast region along the Caribbean Sea, living primarily in the vast tropical forest of the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve. The Mayangna leader accused Ortegas government of protecting the settlers. Advertisement The colonos come and forcibly settle in our territories, where our way of life is: the hunting, fishing and rotational agriculture, meaning for subsistence, not commercial ends, the leader said. He said the settlers have violently attacked their communities in the Sauni As territory, including on the Alal community in 2020 and the destruction of Wilu in March, which left five dead and 16 homes burned. Everything is part of a strategy of removing us from our land, he said. The attacks make violence unnecessary in other remote communities where residents simply flee for their lives when the settlers arrive, he said. This week, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the Nicaraguan government to protect the Mayangna living in Wilu and Musawas, which is the capital of the Sauni As territory. Advertisement The regional court said that it had confirmed a worsening of the violent events in 2023. The courts action followed the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights last year calling on the government to protect the Mayangna communities. Share this article Share According to the Prilaka Community Foundation, a nongovernmental conservation organization operating in the region, 10 Mayangna were killed by settlers between January and July, nine of whom were forest rangers. The court on Tuesday ordered Nicaragua to adopt the measures sufficient and necessary to protect the lives and well-being of the inhabitants of Musawas and Wilu, as well as the displaced people and the property and harvests they were forced to abandon. The government must implement security measures that would allow them to return, the court said. The government of Nicaragua, which accepted the Costa Rica-based courts jurisdiction over human rights issues in 1991, has not responded to the courts order. The court had ordered the government to act in a similar case involving nine Miskito communities in 2016. Advertisement These communities have been subjected to systematic attacks of armed colonos for nearly 10 years, said Maria Luisa Acosta, a lawyer and coordinator of the Center for Legal Assistance to Indigenous Peoples. Acosta said the court has held Ortegas administration responsible for not complying with its duty to protect these people. Indigenous leaders say the police and military in the area do not intervene when the settlers attack. She said the courts action helps to make more visible a tragic situation, of dispossession of territory and genocide in indigenous territories, historically marginalized and forgotten by Nicaraguan administrations. Share Comment on this story Comment NIAMEY, Niger Nigers junta told a top U.S. diplomat that they would kill deposed President Mohamed Bazoum if neighboring countries attempted any military intervention to restore his rule, two Western officials told The Associated Press. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russias war in Ukraine. ArrowRight They spoke to the AP shortly before the West African bloc ECOWAS said it had directed the deployment of a standby force to restore democracy in Niger, after its deadline of Sunday to reinstate Bazoum expired. The threat to the deposed president raises the stakes both for ECOWAS and for the junta, which has shown its willingness to escalate its actions since it seized power on July 26. Niger was seen as the last country in the Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert that Western nations could partner with to counter jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group that has killed thousands and displaced millions of people. The international community is scrambling to find a peaceful solution to the countrys leadership crisis. Advertisement Representatives of the junta told U.S. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland of the threat to Bazoum during her visit to the country this week, a Western military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. A U.S. official confirmed that account, also speaking on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to speak to the media. The threats from both sides escalate tensions but hopefully nudge them closer to actually talking, said Aneliese Bernard, a former U.S. State Department official who specialized in African affairs and is now director of Strategic Stabilization Advisors, a risk advisory group. Still, this junta has escalated its moves so quickly that its possible they do something more extreme, as that has been their approach so far, she cautioned. Advertisement Nine leaders from the 15-member West African bloc met Thursday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to discuss their next steps. Speaking after the talks, ECOWAS commission president Omar Alieu Touray said he could only reaffirm the decisions by the military authorities in the subregion to deploy a standby force of the community. Financing had been discussed and appropriate measures have been taken, he said. He blamed the junta for any hardship caused by the sanctions imposed on Niger and said further actions by the bloc would be taken jointly. It is not one country against another country. The community has instruments to which all members have subscribed to, he said. A former British Army official who has worked in Nigeria told The Associated Press the ECOWAS statement could be seen as the green light to begin assembling their forces with the ultimate aim of restoring constitutional order. Advertisement With regards to the use of force, the official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said there was currently nothing in place other than Nigerian forces. Without enablers and the support of other regional armies, its unlikely theyd enter, the official said. ECOWAS has imposed harsh economic and travel sanctions on Niger, but analysts say it may be running out of options as support fades for intervention. The bloc has failed to stem past coups in the region: Niger is the fourth of its member states to undergo a coup in the last three years. Nnamdi Obasi, a senior adviser with the Crisis Group think tank, said ECOWAS should further explore diplomacy in Niger. Share this article Share The use of force could lead to unintended and catastrophic consequences with unpredictable outcomes, he said, warning that a military intervention could also trigger a major regional conflict between democratic governments and an alliance of military regimes. Advertisement The wider African Union has yet to weigh in on this crisis. The AU Peace and Security Council could well overrule this ECOWAS decision if it felt that wider peace and security on the continent was threatened by an intervention, said Cameron Hudson, a former official for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Any coup that has succeeded beyond 24 hours has come to stay. So, as it is, they are speaking from the point of strength and advantage, said Oladeinde Ariyo, a security analyst in Nigeria. So, negotiating with them will have to be on their terms. The junta has cut ties with France and exploited popular grievances toward its former colonial ruler. It also has asked for help from the Russian mercenary group Wagner, which operates in a handful of African countries and has been accused of committing human rights abuses. Advertisement Moscow is using Wagner and other channels of influence to discredit Western nations, asserted Lou Osborn , an investigator with All Eyes on Wagner, a project focusing on the group. Tactics include using social media to spread rumors, mobilize demonstrations and spread false narratives, Osborn said. She pointed to a Telegram post on Wednesday by an alleged Wagner operative, Alexander Ivanov, asserting that France had begun the mass removal of children likely to be used for slave labor and sexual exploitation. Neither Russias government nor Wagner responded to questions. Meanwhile, Nigers approximately 25 million people are feeling the impact of the sanctions. Some neighborhoods in the capital, Niamey have little access to electricity and there are frequent power cuts across the city. The country gets up to 90% of its power from Nigeria, which has cut off some of the supply. Advertisement Since the coup, Hamidou Albade, 48, said hes been unable to run his shop on the outskirts of Niamey because theres been no electricity. He also works as a taxi driver but lost business because a lot of his foreign clients have left. Its very difficult, I just sit at home doing nothing, he said. Still, he supports the junta. Were suffering now, but I know the junta will find a solution to get out of the crisis, he said. ___ Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria. Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Dan Ikpoyi in Lagos, Nigeria, Ellen Knickmeyer and Matthew Lee in Washington, DC contributed. Share Comment on this story Comment WARSAW, Poland Poland intends to put 10,000 soldiers along its border with Belarus, the countrys defense minister said Thursday as Warsaw worries about the presence of Russian-linked mercenaries in Belarus and migrants trying to cross the border without authorization. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russias war in Ukraine. ArrowRight Separately, the Polish military said it was searching an area near the border with Belarus for a lost fuse from a missile but that it posed no threat because the detonator has built-in protections. The fuse was lost during intensive activities using specialized equipment to ensure security, the military said. On Tuesday, after the end of combat flights, one of the helicopters carrying out a patrol in the border area was found to have no fuse in one of the missiles. The flight was carried out along the border strip and did not take place over built-up areas, the military said in a statement, appealing to residents to alert police if they saw the missing item. Advertisement Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said 10,000 soldiers would ultimately be deployed to the border area. He made the announcement in a state radio interview a day after a different official said Poland was sending 2,000 additional troops to the border over the next two weeks, essentially doubling its military presence there. The soldiers are being deployed to reinforce the work of police and Border Guard officers. For two years, Poland has contended with migrants arriving at the border from Belarus trying to enter the country illegally. The government in Poland and other countries along NATO's eastern flank have accused President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, an ally of Russia, of opening the migration route in an act of hybrid warfare aimed at creating instability in the West. Poland is also worried about the presence of Wagner group fighters who deployed to Belarus after a short-lived mutiny in Russia in June. Anxieties were further heightened last week when two Belarusian military helicopters briefly entered Polish air space, something Warsaw viewed as a deliberate provocation. Advertisement With parliamentary elections in Poland scheduled for Oct. 15, the conservative ruling party, Law and Justice, has tried to demonstrate that it is serious about security as it seeks an unprecedented third term. Share this article Share A NATO official said earlier this week as Belarus began military training drills near its border with Poland that the Western military alliance was monitoring the situation in Belarus but did not see an immediate threat. NATO has significantly increased its defensive presence in the eastern part of the alliance in response to Russias aggressive actions, and we continue to do what is necessary to deter any threat and protect every inch of allied territory, NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu said Monday. We do not see any direct or imminent military threat posed by Wagner mercenaries to our allies, but we remain vigilant, Lungescu added. ___ Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed. Share Comment on this story Comment ISTANBUL Turkeys defense ministry said on Thursday that a spate of attacks the previous day and overnight by Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq killed at least six Turkish soldiers. The attacks prompted retaliatory airstrikes that left four members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, dead on Thursday, according to a social media post shared later by the ministry. The violence is the latest in a monthslong escalation between Turkey and Turkish-backed groups on one side, and Kurdish fighters in Iraq and Syria on the other. Ankara considers the PKK which has waged a decadeslong insurgency within Turkey and allied Kurdish groups in Syria and Iraq as terrorist organizations. It claims members of the PKK regularly find sanctuary in northern Iraqs semi-autonomous Kurdish region. Advertisement There was no immediate comment from Iraqs central government in Baghdad. Share this article Share Earlier, authorities in northern Iraqs Kurdish region said two separate Turkish drone strikes on Wednesday in attacks in Iraqs Sulaymaniyah province targeting PKK vehicles killed two insurgents and wounded four. Turkey maintains troops in a border region in Iraq and regularly targets what it says are PKK positions there. Last year, it launched a ground and air operation dubbed Claw-Lock, against the PKK in northern Iraq. Iraqi security officials said Thursdays airstrikes hit positions north of the city of Duhok. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorities to speak to the media. Turkish Col. Zeki Akturk vowed to avenge the troops killed. Our soldiers will not leave the blood of the martyrs on the ground, he said at a news conference on Thursday, adding that Turkish forces will continue their fight against terrorism with the same determination until there is not a single terrorist left. Since 1984, the PKKs insurgency within Turkey has killed tens of thousands of people. ___ Associated Press writer reporter Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad contributed to this report. Share Comment on this story Comment UNITED NATIONS Six Western nations marked the 15th anniversary of Russias takeover of 20% of Georgias territory by demanding on Thursday that Moscow return the South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions. A joint statement by the six members of the U.N. Security Council the United States, United Kingdom, France, Albania, Japan and Malta said Russias invasion of Georgia in 2008 marked a more aggressive trend in its policy toward its neighbors, something being witnessed today in Ukraine. The statement, following closed council consultations on Georgia, said the six countries are resolute in reaffirming the countrys independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. In August 2008, Russia fought a brief war with Georgia, which had made a botched attempt to regain control over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Moscow then recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian province, Abkhazia, and set up military bases there. Advertisement The statement, read by Albanian Ambassador Ferit Hoxha outside the Security Council surrounded by diplomats from the five other countries, condemned Russias brutal invasion and continued occupation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and its steps toward annexation of these Georgian regions. The Western nations also reiterated their condemnation of Moscow for continuous provocations which go in parallel with the Russian Federations unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Ukraine. They pointed to Russias continued military drills in Georgias territory, sea and airspace as well as its erection of barbed wire fences and other barriers, its unlawful detentions and abductions of local people, discrimination against ethnic Georgians, and deliberate damage to Georgian cultural heritage. Share this article Share The six countries said the Russia-Georgia conflict should be resolved peacefully based on international law, including the U.N. Charter, which requires every countrys territorial integrity be recognized, also noting the context of Russias ongoing aggression against Ukraine. Advertisement Russias deputy U.N. ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, called the Western statement hypocrisy in a tweet, saying Georgia lost territory because of a reckless gamble. Russia resumed direct flights with Georgia in May, and Polyansky said Moscows ties with the country are gradually improving, enabling tourist and economic exchanges. But the Russophobic West is not happy and trying to drive the wedge between us at any price, he said. This statement is a clear illustration of this. Polyansky called the situation especially sickening and hypocritical knowing that Ukraine turned anti-Russia in 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea. He said Ukraine is being sacrificed right now by the U.S. and its allies for Western geopolitical interests in a futile NATO proxy war against Russia until the last Ukrainian. Share Comment on this story Comment Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trumps choice to become secretary of state, disclosed personal wealth of as much as $400 million, including a Texas cattle and horse ranch, ahead of Senate confirmation hearings expected next week. Sign up for Fact Checker, our weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics. ArrowRight Tillerson, who met with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and others this week, promised to sell and restructure assets and resign from outside organizations that might pose a conflict. The newly retired ExxonMobil chief executives federal financial disclosure filing shows that he directly holds stock in his former employer worth more than $50 million that he has pledged to sell within 90 days if he is confirmed as the countrys top diplomat. Tillerson has separately reached a $180 million retirement agreement with ExxonMobil involving additional stock that would be placed in trust. Advertisement He also pledged to recuse himself from any government decisions involving ExxonMobil for one year unless he is specifically authorized to participate. The State Department sometimes helps energy companies as they seek resources, markets and contacts around the world, and it advises many large corporations. During the decade that Tillerson led Exxon, the State Department supported some of the oil giants deals and opposed others, most notably a 2011 agreement with the semi-autonomous Kurdish government in northern Iraq. That deal, which took U.S. officials by surprise, directly contradicted the U.S. goal of a federal oil deal that would benefit Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites. The listing of Tillersons stock and bond holdings shows that he invested in competing energy companies including Total and Royal Dutch Shell while running Exxon. His portfolio includes American and international businesses ranging from Walmart and Walt Disney to Novartis, Sony and Yum China Holdings, which franchises KFC and other fast-food chains in China. Advertisement Federal disclosure requirements call for the value of individual holdings or proceeds to be given as a range, so it is not possible to pinpoint Tillersons net worth. Tillerson said he has already resigned from the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group, and would resign from the Boy Scouts of America, the board of Fords Theater and other organizations. He pledged to remove himself from business decisions surrounding the ranch in Bartonville, Tex., although he would continue to receive passive income from it. I am committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct for government officials, Tillerson wrote in an accompanying letter to a State Department ethics lawyer. Share this article Share If confirmed as secretary of state, I will not participate personally and substantially in any particular matter in which I know that I have a financial interest directly and predictably affected by the matter, Tillerson wrote. Advertisement The financial disclosure material was sent to the Office of Government Ethics on Wednesday. Senate Democrats say they still want to see Tillersons tax returns before holding what Republicans have said could be a two-day hearing Jan. 11-12. Like Trump, Tillerson has refused to provide Congress with his tax returns, promising only tax return information upon request, and he has complex business interests from which he must disentangle himself to hold public office. Tillersons energy-related work in Russia and his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to dominate his confirmation session. Tillersons Capitol Hill tour does not appear to be winning new supporters, but it is convincing certain senators that when it comes to sanctions, he may not be as pro-Russia as he seems. The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ben Cardin (Md.), said after meeting with Tillerson for over an hour on Wednesday that the businessman was pretty forthcoming on sanctions and understands the importance of sanctions and recognizes that you need to have the ability to get results. He was referring to U.S. sanctions implemented against Russia in 2014 over its annexation of Crimea and Moscows support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Advertisement Cardin, the Senates chief architect of comprehensive new Russia sanctions, has not indicated his support for Tillersons nomination. Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), with whom Tillerson also met Wednesday, told NPR that he had a productive 90-minute meeting that included tough questions on Russia. Coons said he has not decided how to vote. Tillersons close personal and business ties to Russia sparked an early backlash from senators, including a handful of key Republicans, who found alarming his acceptance of the Kremlins Order of Friendship award in 2013 and his recorded opposition to Ukraine-related Russia sanctions in 2014. One of those Republicans, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), met with Tillerson on Wednesday, but he did not appear more favorably disposed to the businessman. When asked whether he would support Tillersons nomination, McCain told a gathering of reporters sure theres also a realistic scenario that pigs fly. Karoun Demirjian contributed to this report. WINDHOEK, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Namibia on Thursday announced an initiative to cut down accommodation fees for locals and residents from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries in a bid to promote its tourism industry. The Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR), a state-owned enterprise mandated to run the tourism facilities within the country, made the announcement in a press briefing, saying the initiative offers up to 50 percent off at select resorts. "The main focus is to promote domestic and regional tourism, which is part of NWR's mandate," said Nelson Ashipala, NWR's communications manager, adding that the offer will delight and reward those seeking to explore the country. According to Ashipala, the initiative enables locals and SADC residents to experience the breathtaking beauty of the various areas at prices starting from as low as 295 Namibia dollars (15 U.S. dollars) a night. "We are thrilled to present this exclusive offer. With this special, we aim to make it easier for tourism local or regional to indulge in their favorite hobbies and create unforgettable memories," he said, adding the offer will last from August to October. Namibia, like the rest of the world, has been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the government since then has been on a tourism revival drive, as tourism is part of the top five sectors that contribute to the country's gross domestic product. The governments air navigation agency has conceded its staffing issues have led to flight delays and cancellations, with Australias biggest airlines calling on the body to remediate the problem as soon as possible. Airservices Australia chief executive Jason Harfield said the business was dedicated to rectifying air traffic controller issues, which were responsible for close to 20 per cent of delays at the countrys four biggest airports this financial year. A spokesperson from The Qantas Group which controls Qantas and Jetstar said the lack of air traffic controllers continued to have a significant impact on the number of delays and cancellations across its network. Credit: Oscar Colman Regrettably, Airservices has not consistently delivered the service standard we expect of ourselves and relied upon by our customers and stakeholders. While aviation safety performance has been maintained, the efficiency and consistency of the network, at times, has been impacted and constrained, hampering the recovery, he said. Air traffic controllers manage the flow of aircraft into, out of, and between airports across the country. But since flying resumed after COVID-19, delays and cancellations have markedly increased due to a lack of controllers. Although weather is the main reason Airservices delays an arrival or departure, airlines and airports have become frustrated with the bodys historic reluctance to accept its workforce issues. Business class flights taken by the wife of The Kings Schools headmaster to an elite British rowing regatta will need to be repaid, after an investigation found it was an improper use of its funds and a breach of the Education Act. Last year, the Herald revealed plans by the schools head Tony George and his deputy, and both their spouses, to fly first class to watch the Kings First VIII race in the schoolboys Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup. The NSW Department of Education launched an audit of Kings last year over concerns about possible misuse of taxpayers money. Credit: Wolter Peeters Plans for the trip, estimated to have cost at least $45,000, prompted an old boys representative on the schools board to quit, and sparked concern among others that the expenses had not been put before the whole council for approval. The NSW Department of Education later launched an audit of the school due to concerns about possible misuse of taxpayers money after consulting the non-government schools not-for-profit advisory committee. Under the Education Act, private schools receiving public funding must ensure all income is used for educational objectives. Nationals leader David Littleproud has declared he is open to having a nuclear power plant in his Queensland electorate, as the Coalition pushes a new plan to convert Australias existing fleet of coal plants to the controversial source of electricity generation. Coalition energy spokesman Ted OBrien said on Wednesday nuclear energy was a crucial emissions-reduction technology. He called for a national discussion about ending Australias moratorium, and argued that existing coal plants could be supplanted with the developing nuclear technology of small modular reactors. Cooling towers at a nuclear power facility in France. Credit: Bloomberg Federal parliament banned nuclear power in 1998, and the moratorium has remained in place with bipartisan support. I would support a process to explore small-scale modular reactor technology in my electorate with appropriate consultation and education of the community if a moratorium was removed, Littleproud said. The release of a 181-page business case that prompted the government to move the location of the $1.8 billion womens and babies hospital from Nedlands to Murdoch has done little to alleviate concerns from the states medical fraternity and parents. On Thursday West Australian Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson tabled the business case as well as an Infrastructure WA report in parliament, which she said justified the governments controversial decision to abandon the original Queen Elizabeth II medical precinct. WA Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson Credit: WAtoday The change of location has been met with significant opposition from WAs health sector, which is worried about the 20-kilometre distance between the premier babies hospital and Perth Childrens Hospital, where the states most experienced and specialised neonatal medical staff are located. Sanderson said the documents showed the QEII option could take up to 20 years to complete and would cost $229 million more than the $1.78 billion committed to the project as well as create insurmountable issues at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Stockholm: Where else if not Sweden, a country where almost 70 per cent of its land area is covered in forest, would you expect the worlds largest urban construction project of wood ever attempted? A groundbreaking new development in the southern suburbs of Stockholm, the nations capital, is about to become a beacon of wooden architecture on a global scale. Youll only need to stroll about an hour through the cobbled streets, over the bridges where Lake Malaren meets the Baltic Sea, to see a sprawling metropolis of 250,000 square metres or 25 blocks - encompassing 7000 office spaces, 2000 homes, as well as restaurants and shops. An artists impression of Stockholm Wood City the worlds largest urban construction project in wood. Credit: Atrium Ljungberg Atrium Ljungberg, the urban development company behind the project, envisions the project in the vibrant neighbourhood of Sickla as a five-minute city where workplaces, homes, leisure facilities, and amenities are all within a short walk of one another. The project was designed by architecture firms White Arkitekter and Henning Larsen. It was a Henning Larsen design, working with collaborators Architectus and Arup, that was selected earlier this year to transform the Canberra Theatre Centre. Washington: Special counsel Jack Smiths team obtained a search warrant in January for records related to former US president Donald Trumps Twitter account, and the move was kept secret to stop Trump jeopardising the investigation. According to court documents released on Wednesday (Thursday AEST), a judge also levied a $US350,000 fine ($535,000) on the company for missing the deadline to comply. Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram all banned or suspended then US president Donald Trump after the violent storming of the Capitol by a mob of his supporters. Credit: AP The new details were included in a ruling from the federal appeals court in Washington over a legal battle surrounding the warrant that has played out under seal for months. The court rejected Twitters claim that it should not have been held in contempt or sanctioned. Smiths team repeatedly mentioned Trumps tweets in an indictment unsealed last week that charges the former president with conspiring to subvert the will of voters and cling to power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. KINSHASA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will host the first trilateral summit on the preservation of the world's tropical forests with Brazil and Indonesia on Aug. 25 in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, according to a press release Wednesday by the Congolese presidency. The summit in Kinshasa will bring together DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Indonesian President Joko Widodo, representing the Congo Basin, the Amazon rainforest, and the Borneo-Mekong Basin, respectively. The summit will put the spotlight on the Congo Basin, more than 60 percent of which covers the national territory of the DRC. Known as the "lungs of Africa," the Congo Basin is the largest carbon sink in the world, absorbing more carbon than the Amazon. Spanning six countries, its rainforest provides food security and an essential lifeline for indigenous and local populations and serves as a critical habitat for endangered species. The WCO conducted a workshop in Windhoek, Namibia from 24 to 28 July, 2023 to support capacity building on Coordinated Border Management (CBM). The workshop was opened by Commissioner Sam Shivute of the Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA). In his opening remarks Mr. Shivute appreciated the continuous multi-year support provided by the WCO through the Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme funded by His Majestys Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and noted the importance of such capacity building and technical assistance to progress economic development plans of the Government of Namibia. Commissioner Shivute reminded everyone about the importance of execution. He pointed out that while plans might be well-conceived, their true value is realized through implementation. He then requested that the representatives from all the border agencies in attendance apply the enhanced capacity acquired during the workshop. He further emphasized the need for a highly coordinated approach to border management. Thirty participants, representing eight border agencies and the private sector, participated in the workshop. The workshop produced four key outputs: a draft Terms of Reference for the National technical Working Group on CBM, a preliminary report on the current situation of CBM at the Trans Kalahari Border Post, a draft CBM model for Namibia, and a draft stakeholder engagement strategy. The highlight of the mission was the visit to the Trans Kalahari Border Post which enabled participants to observe operations at the border post and make a preliminary assessment of the application of CBM at the border in comparison to the best practice approach as stipulated in the WCO CBM Compendium. Prior to the CBM workshop, the WCO had supported the National Technical Working Group in validating the findings of the Time Release Study conducted in February 2023 at the Walvis Bay Port. Validation of the findings took place during a two-day workshop. The findings were presented to the executives of the border agencies and private sector representatives including leading importers and Customs brokers and validated after various deliberations and discussions. It is anticipated that the TRS report will be finalised by the end of August 2023. The WCO is looking forward to its further partnership with NamRA for sustainable development and economic growth under the Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme See for more information on Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme here. For more information on WCO capacity building, please, contact Capacity.Building@wcoomd.org. NEW DELHI, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- India has started importing tomatoes from Nepal to lower prices, according to federal Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday. The country has seen a record increase in tomato prices. The first shipment from Nepal is expected to arrive soon, and a mega sale of subsidised tomatoes will take place in Delhi, Sitharaman said. The government is also procuring tomatoes from various regions and distributing them through cooperative societies and mobile vans in several states, the minister said. Previously, tomatoes were sold at 24 cents per kg, but prices have skyrocketed to three U.S. dollars per kg. KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- At least one commuter lost his life and 45 others sustained injury as a mini-bus turned turtle in north Afghanistan's Kunduz province on Wednesday, Ahmad Noor Omarzai, a medical doctor in a local hospital, said Thursday. The road accident took place in Imam Sahib district on Wednesday evening and resultantly, a child was killed and 45 others, including women and children, were injured, the health official said, adding some of the injured who have been taken to hospital are in critical condition. In the meantime, provincial police spokesman Jumadin Khaksar has confirmed the mishap, saying the ill-fated victims would attend a wedding party when their mini-bus diverted from the road, causing several injuries, primarily children and women. Without providing more details, the official said that an investigation had been initiated into the mishap. Similarly, officials have confirmed that road accidents in the central Bamyan and the northern Balkh provinces left 11 travelers injured a couple of days ago. According to Afghans, dilapidated roads, reckless driving, and lack of safety measures during driving on congested highways, could be the main reason for road mishaps in the mountainous country, as more than 400 people have reportedly been killed in traffic accidents over the past three months. WASHINGTON (AP) A federal appeals court has ruled that drug users shouldnt automatically be banned from having guns, marking the latest sign of upheaval in the nation's firearm legal landscape and raising questions about a law cited in the case against Hunter Biden. The opinion overturns the conviction of a Mississippi man, Patrick D. Daniels of Gulfport, who had two guns found in his car during a traffic stop last year and acknowledged using marijuana regularly but wasn't accused of driving under the influence. The appeals court cited the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision known as New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which said gun laws must have strong historical roots a finding that led to challenges of many of the nation's gun laws. Our history and tradition may support some limits on an intoxicated persons right to carry a weapon, but it does not justify disarming a sober citizen based exclusively on his past drug usage, the three-judge panel for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans wrote in Wednesday's ruling. The ruling raises questions about the future of the law, which also had a central role in the proposed plea deal for Hunter Biden, the president's son. Hunter Biden had been expected to acknowledge that he had a gun during a period when he was addicted to drugs but avoid prosecution on the count if he stayed out of trouble. The deal, which was roundly criticized by Republicans, also called for two guilty pleas on misdemeanor tax charges. But the future of the agreement is unclear after a judge raised concerns about it last month. The Fifth Circuit is now the highest court to consider the law since the Bruen decision was handed down and its ruling will likely be cited in other similar cases around the U.S., said Jake Charles, a law professor at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law who studies the Second Amendment. As the first federal court appeals ruling on this provision, itll be persuasive and influential to other circuits and other district courts who are reviewing these kind of challenges, he said. Still, judges outside the Fifth Circuit region of Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, aren't bound by the ruling. Since Bidens case was filed in Delaware it's not expected to have an immediate impact on the case. The ruling also acknowledges more than a dozen other times that lower-court judges have upheld the ban on unlawful users" of controlled substances having guns since the Bruen case, though judges in some other cases have agreed that it doesn't stand up under Bruen. The appeals court called the opinion relatively narrow in applying to cases similar to the Mississippi case and, overall, the law is rarely used in cases without another crime involved. The Justice Department declined to comment on whether the ruling would be appealed. Attorneys for Daniels and Biden did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The ruling comes in a tumultuous legal landscape for U.S. firearm law. Judges also have struck down federal laws barring people from having guns if they have been charged with serious crimes and called into question the prohibition on licensed federal firearms dealers selling handguns to young adults under 21 and Delawares ban on the possession of homemade ghost guns. The Fifth Circuit, moreover, also ruled in February that the government cant stop people who have domestic violence restraining orders against them from owning guns. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Biden administration's appeal in that case. Thousands of Hawaii residents raced to escape homes on Maui as blazes swept across the island, destroying parts of a centuries-old town and killing at least 36. Here's more on that, plus today's top stories, celebrity birthdays and a look back at this day in history. HAMBURG, Pa. - "Go ahead. Do it. I dare ya..." "A friend of mine dared me to take a trip, a canoe trip, from Staten Island to L.A. via the Panama Canal," recalled 79-year-old Fritz Sprandel. Now, he is sitting in a peaceful restaurant, but 53 years ago to the day, he was sitting in a canoe, about to shove off on a harrowing adventure. "I don't consider myself a thrill-seeker but it's always the challenge. The negativity in the dare. You're not supposed to do it. Well, guess what? I did it, Sprandel said. He never made it to Los Angeles, drifting off course into the waters of the Fidel Castro-led Cuban government, and gunfire. "The gun shots were... they got me wet. That's how close they were, Sprandel said. The splash with death would be followed by being detained 46 days with some of the most wanted men in America. "I was eventually snuck back into the United States by the FBI, he said. And interrogated by the CIA upon his return to the states. The story garnered national attention, and Sprandel wrote a book called "Adventure on a Dare" about the experience. And on this anniversary of the start of a surreal adventure... "Some people say I'm the only one to have a revolutionary trial from Fidel Castro and be alive to tell about it, said Sprandel. "I do thank God for a lot of things. Photo released by State Bank of Pakistan on Aug. 10, 2023 shows a commemorative coin in Islamabad, Pakistan. (SBP/Handout via Xinhua) ISLAMABAD, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday announced to issue a commemorative coin of 100 Pakistani rupees to mark the 10th anniversary of the launching of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the SBP said in a statement. Both the obverse and reverse sides of the coin present a crescent moon and star and a group of five stars that represent the national flags of Pakistan and China, the central bank said. The words "China-Pakistan Economic Corridor" in Urdu, Chinese and English scripts are represented on the reverse side, the SBP said, adding that "celebrating 10 years of CPEC" in English script and "the Islamic Republic of Pakistan" in Urdu script are written on the obverse side. "The coin is in round shape milled with serrations on edge, with a diameter of 30.00 mm and a weight of 13.5 grams, and has cupro-nickel metal contents (copper 75 percent and nickel 25 percent)," the SBP added. The CPEC has contributed greatly to Pakistan's infrastructure and economic development since its inception in 2013, the central bank said. READING, Pa. The Berks County Commissioners voted Thursday to approve a partnership contract with Alvernia University to offer county employees a tuition reduction. The tuition reduction would be valid for employees who are accepted into a graduate or adult education program. The agreement is at no cost to the county. Commissioner Christian Y. Leinbach said the county has been working on the agreement since the beginning of the year. Jessica Weaknecht, director of human resources, said the discount would also apply to family members of employees who wish to continue their education. We're looking forward to this partnership, Weaknecht said. I think it'll be a great venture for us. Also great for, obviously, our employees to continue their education. They're also offering certification programs, so were very excited about this. The agreement was part of the vendor contracts approved at the Thursday meeting. In other business, Leinbach announced that he and Commissioner Michael S. Rivera recently returned from the annual meeting of the County Commissioners of Pennsylvania where Rivera was elected president of the organization for 2024. Rivera currently serves as the first vice-president. READING, Pa. - Just about a year after Reading police obtained an arrest warrant for Jayquan Sanchez for the July 31, 2022 killing of Quadell Spradley, Sanchez was arrested in Chico, California. He was picked up after Chico police responded to the report of shots fired at a house party. "They detained everyone that was there when they were on scene," said Criminal Investigations Capt. Christian Rothermel with Reading Police. "When they searched the house, they found Jayquan hiding underneath a bed in one of the bedrooms." Police say Spradley was killed by Sanchez while trying to break up a fight that had carried over from a club into the 1200 block of Church Street. Police searched for Sanchez for months following the homicide but couldn't find him. U.S. Marshals got involved. READING, Pa. -- July of 2022 is when police say Jayquan Sanchez killed Quadell Spradley in Reading while trying to break up a fight that carried over from a club into the 1200 block of Church Street. About a year later, authorities said he has been arrested in Chico, California. "This was a total surprise. He had not been on our radar out here at all," said Mike Ramsey, district attorney in Butte County, California. Ramsey said police responded to a shooting at a party. He tells us Sanchez is not a suspect in this shooting. According to Ramsey, there was a two-hour standoff. He said police eventually went inside the home. "At that point, they found Mr. Sanchez under a bed, asked him what he was doing there and he said sleeping, which didn't seem to be correct," said Ramsey. Sanchez was arrested for giving police a false name, Ramsey said. Sanchez was taken to a jail and fingerprinted. "The fingerprints came back to a name out of Pennsylvania, but no particular warrant at that time," said Ramsey. Ramsey said that is when a Chico detective searched Sanchez's name on Google and found out he was wanted. According to court documents, police in California contacted the Reading Police and positively identified Sanchez as the suspect. "After a couple of months of looking for him here, we had United States Marshal Service looking for him, but he went dark. He was off social media, we weren't tracking anything with Facebook or Instagram or anything like that," said Reading Police Captain Christian Rothermel. Now Sanchez is set to appear in a California courtroom on Thursday. Ramsey said Sanchez will be able to decide to either waive extradition or fight it. "We're here to make sure he faces justice in Pennsylvania," said Ramsey. EASTON, Pa. - City Administrator Luis Campos is expected to return next week "on a part-time basis, two or three hours a day," a little more than a month after he collapsed while jogging, Mayor Salvatore Panto said at a city council meeting Wednesday night. Campos collapsed while jogging on July 5. Campos had been rushed to the hospital in critical condition after he collapsed. Panto named deputy city administrator David Hopkins as the acting administrator while Campos was in the hospital. Bethlehem Township will consider the use of a building in the middle of a residential area as a day care center. SCB Real Estate of East Stroudsburg, Monroe County, proposes using the former school at 1926 Second St. for day care and after-school activities. The 0.63-acre property requires a variance for that use because it is in an MDR (medium density residential) zone. The building was constructed in 1917, making it 106 years old. It has two floors and a total of 10,668 square feet. Real estate listings say it has more than 50 parking spaces. Documents posted on the township website include an agreement of sale dated May 31, 2023, for SCB Real Estate to pay $875,000 for the property. The property was last sold in 2019 for $430,000. The building has been used as a dance school (there is a sign for Cartesion Dance Academy on the front) and a massage school, according to the application to the township. Before that, the property was owned by Faith Baptist Church. SCB's application said converting the building into a residential use would be too costly. In addition to day care and after-school activities, the property could be used for karate and dance, and as a summer camp, the application says. "Without such a variance the property will likely be unusable," according to the application for zoning relief. SCB also said its plan fills a need. "Most after-school activities in the area are currently wait listed and affordable child care is essential," according to the application. The property is at the intersection of Second and Linden streets, and a block off Willow Park Road. Bethlehem Township's Zoning Hearing Board will meet in-person at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 30, at the municipal building, 4225 Easton Ave., to consider the appeal for a variance. At that meeting, it will also review a proposed convenience store at 3530 Freemansburg Ave., the site of a former credit union. The meeting agenda is posted on the township website. Agendas are subject to change. Pennsylvania is among the worst states in the country when it comes to funding public schools. A few years ago, the "Level Up" program was started to add funds to the 100 districts in the state that needed it most. But many say there's still a huge gap. Legislators met Thursday afternoon to try to make that program a more permanent solution. "We might not have working chairs," Afia Lewis, a sixth-grade math teacher from William Penn School District said during the PA House Education Committee informational meeting Thursday. "My desks are broken. At the end of the school year last year, I ran out of pencils." Educators and legislators came from all over Pennsylvania to try to make "Level Up PA" a more permanent solution for the schools that so desperately need it. "The topic of conversation is the Level Up funding," Pa. Rep. Peter Schweyer (D) District 134, said. "It's an important topic, it's something that's been extraordinarily helpful to a number of our school districts." Years ago, the Pennsylvania school funding lawsuit said the state's school funding system was unconstitutional. A Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court agreed in a ruling February. That was the start of this new program. Level Up aims to close the funding gap for the 100 schools in the state needing it most. In our region, that includes Allentown School District, Bethlehem Area School District, Pottstown School District, Pottsville Area School District, and Reading School District. "Level Up is something we've seen over the past few years as we've attempted to, I'll say put a Band-Aid, albeit a fairly large Band-Aid on something that we know is a problem in terms of our funding formula," PA Rep. Jesse Topper (R) Dist. 78, said. Some legislators say the funding gap is far too big for the so-called "Band-Aid" level-up has been providing so far. Superintendent Sarah Yoder, with the Pottsville Area School District, tells 69 News as legislators try to figure out a more sustainable solution, more funding is urgently needed. "Level Up funds are extremely helpful," Yoder said. "However, it does not even touch the surface of the actual gap between the underfunded districts versus the districts that have more wealth." Yoder says the funding has gone to making larger classrooms smaller. But there's still a huge disparity between her school and more wealthy ones. "We don't have any family consumer science here at our school district," she said. "And we know that wealthy schools do have those programs." Legislators hope to keep Level Up. But they are now are discussing a more permanent formula. NORRISTOWN, Pa. - Three men are under arrest on identity theft and gun trafficking charges after authorities say they used a stolen drivers license from an active-duty soldier to illegally purchase firearms. On Thursday, Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry and Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele announced the arrest of 22-year-old Taalibudeen Anderson and 23-year-old Tariq Anderson, both of the 5600 block of Boyer Street in Philadelphia. Also arrested was 21-year-old Daijon Griffin of Wilmington, Delaware. The three suspects are facing identity theft and gun trafficking charges related to the illegal purchase of 14 firearms and the attempted purchase of an additional 14 firearms. The joint investigation by the Montgomery County Detective Bureaus Violent Crimes Unit (VCU) and the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General Gun Violence Task Force began in July. Investigators say they were made aware of numerous potential straw purchases related to 14 firearms bought between June 17 and July 6. Authorities allege that Taalibudeen Anderson made these purchases using the stolen Pennsylvania drivers license of a U.S. Army solider stationed at Fort Indiantown Gap. The soldier lost his wallet, containing both his license and military ID, while visiting family in Philadelphia who lived near where the Andersons resided. The solider immediately reported to loss of his ID to his military superiors. The investigation found that not long after the loss of the wallet, Taalibudeen Anderson began buying firearms, falsely identifying himself as the solider on all of the necessary forms, but with his own street address, email and phone number on the account. As required by law, firearms must be shipped to a licensed firearms dealer for pickup and to conduct a background check through the Pennsylvania State Police. Investigators say Taalibudeen Anderson and Tariq Anderson are persons not allowed to possess a weapon and therefore unable to legally buy firearms. Authorities allege that in addition to the successful acquisition of 14 firearms, Taalibudeen Anderson purchased an additional 14 firearms online, seven of which were prepared for pick up at Montgomery County gun shop on July 12. Court documents state that police had the shop under surveillance. Taalibudeen was taken into custody when he was pulled over after leaving the gun shop. Tariq fled on foot from the traffic stop and was later apprehended. A search of the residence shared by the Andersons produced none of the 14 firearms they allegedly purchased but found 10 firearm boxes, eight of which had serial numbers correlated to firearms purchased using false identification. Investigators say they also found numerous items, including credit/bank cards in various names, laptops, printers, checkbooks and blank security paperwork used for identity theft and forgery. Authorities say on July 14, Tariq Anderson made a phone call from Montgomery County Correctional Facility to Daijon Griffin where they allegedly expressed concern over potential evidence in the case. During the conversation, authorities say Tariq instructed Griffin to delete all Instagram messages he had received from individuals named "Riq" or "Lib," which investigators allege suggests they were trying to eliminate incriminating evidence or conversations. Gun trafficking defeats a key tool to prevent serious crime and puts our communities, and the people who live there, at risk. Not only did the defendants' alleged crimes endanger the physical safety of Pennsylvanians, but they exploited the identity of a soldier serving our country, said Attorney General Henry. All Pennsylvanians have the right to feel safe in their home, and the neighborhoods where they live and work. I am grateful for our partnership with the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office, which has resulted in the arrests of these dangerous men. Together we will continue to work hard to stop the sale of illegal guns and hold gun traffickers accountable for the damage they cause. Of the 14 firearms purchased, three have been recovered by police. These defendants were arming criminals, plain and simple. And the actions of these criminals are made even worse by their taking advantage of a loss by a soldier serving our country, said DA Steele. The recovery by law enforcement of three of the 14 straw-purchased firearms within days of their purchase show how fast these illegal guns show up at crime scenes. This flow of illegal firearms onto the streets makes all of our communities less safe. All three defendants are charged with nearly 500 felony counts and bail was set at $500,000 for each. Taalibudeen and Tariq Anderson were remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility. Daijon Griffin is awaiting extradition from Delaware. RARITAN TWP., N.J. - A woman from Hunterdon County, New Jersey is being accused of starting a fire that damaged a residence. Onika Johnson, 44, of Ringoes, is being charged with first-degree attempted murder, second-degree aggravated arson, and third-degree criminal mischief, according to a news release from the county prosecutor's office. In the early morning hours on Sunday, May 21, Raritan Township police officers responded to the unit block of Whitetail Way in Ringoes to investigate a fire at a residence occupied by several family members and tenants. The Raritan Township Fire Marshal and the Hunterdon County Prosecutors Offices Arson Task Force determined that the fire originated in the garage of the residence and that it was started intentionally, according to the news release. Investigators further determined that Johnson, a tenant at the residence, purposely or knowingly started the fire, which caused significant structural damage to the residence and placed the occupants in danger of death, the prosecutor's office said. Johnson is being held at the Warren County Correctional Center pending a pretrial detention hearing on Aug. 15. First-degree charges may result in criminal penalties including, but not limited to, a term of imprisonment between 10 and 20 years and a fine of up to $200,000. Second-degree charges may result in criminal penalties including, but not limited to, a term of imprisonment between 10 and 10 years and a fine of up to $150,000. Third-degree charges may result in criminal penalties including, but not limited to, a term of imprisonment between three and five years and a fine of up to $15,000. WASHINGTON (AP) The Biden administration has asked Congress to provide more than $13 billion in emergency defense aid to Ukraine and an additional $8 billion for humanitarian support through the end of the year, another massive infusion of cash as the Russian invasion wears on and Ukraine pushes a counteroffensive against the Kremlin's deeply entrenched forces. The package requested Thursday includes $12 billion to replenish U.S. federal disaster funds at home after a deadly climate season of heat and storms, and funds to bolster the enforcement at the Southern border with Mexico, including money to curb the flow of deadly fentanyl. All told, its a $40 billion package. While the last such supplemental spending request from the White House for Ukraine funding was easily approved in 2022 despite reservations from Republicans, theres a different dynamic this time. A political divide on the issue has steadily grown, with the Republican-led House facing enormous pressure to demonstrate support for the party's leader, Donald Trump, who has been very skeptical of the war. And American support for the effort has been slowly softening. White House budget director Shalanda Young, in a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, urged swift action to follow through on the U.S. commitment to the Ukrainian peoples defense of their homeland and to democracy around the world as well as other needs. The request was crafted with an eye to picking up support from Republicans, as well as Democrats, particularly with increased domestic funding around border issues a top priority for the GOP. The Republicans have been been highly critical of the Biden administrations approach to halting the flow of migrants crossing from Mexico. Still, the price tag of $40 billion may be too much for Republicans who are fighting to slash, not raise, federal outlays. As a supplemental request, the package the White House is sending to Congress falls outside the budget caps both parties agreed to as part of the debt ceiling showdown earlier this year. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement there was strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate. The latest request from the Biden administration shows Americas continued commitment to helping Americans here at home and our friends abroad, he said. "We hope to join with our Republican colleagues this fall to avert an unnecessary government shutdown and fund this critical emergency supplemental request. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who has championed of support for Ukraine, was more subdued. I look forward to carefully reviewing the Administrations request to make sure it is necessary and appropriate," McConnell said in a statement, "to keep America safe, secure our borders, support our allies, and help communities rebuild after disasters. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., released a statement urging Congress to swiftly pass critical funding for disaster relief programs while separately considering military aid for Ukraine. President Joe Biden and his senior national security team have repeatedly said the United States will help Ukraine as long as it takes to oust Russia from its borders. Privately, administration officials have warned Ukrainian officials that there is a limit to the patience of a narrowly divided Congress and American public for the costs of a war with no clear end. For people who might be concerned the costs are getting too high, wed ask them what the costs not just in treasure but in blood, perhaps even American blood could be if Putin subjugates Ukraine, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said this week. Support among the American public for providing Ukraine weaponry and direct economic assistance has softened with time. An AP-NORC poll conducted in January 2023 around the one-year mark of the conflict, found that 48% favored the U.S. providing weapons to Ukraine, down from the 60% of U.S. adults who were in favor sending Ukraine weapons in May 2022. While Democrats have generally been more supportive than Republicans of offering weaponry, their support dropped slightly from 71% to 63% in the same period. Republicans support dropped more, from 53% to 39%. Dozens of Republicans in the House and some GOP senators have expressed reservations, and even voted against, spending more federal dollars for the war effort. Many of those Republicans are aligning with Trumps objections to the U.S. involvement overseas. That means any final vote on Ukraine aid will likely need to rely on a hefty coalition led by Democrats from Bidens party to ensure approval. The funding includes money to counter Russian and Chinese influence elsewhere by bolstering the World Bank and providing aid to resist Russian-aligned Wagner forces in Africa. Domestically, theres an additional $60 million to address increased wildfires that have erupted nationwide. And the request includes $4 billion for the Southern border, including $2.2 billion for border management and $766 million to stop the flow of fentanyl and provide prevention and recovery support. There is also $100 million earmarked for the Department of Labor to ramp up investigations of suspected child labor violations. To ease passage, Congress would likely try to attach the package to a must-pass measure for broader government funding in the U.S. thats needed by Oct. 1 to prevent any shutdown in federal offices. Members of Congress have repeatedly pressed Defense Department leaders on how closely the U.S. is tracking its aid to Ukraine to ensure that it is not subject to fraud or ending up in the wrong hands. The Pentagon has said it has a robust program to track the aid as it crosses the border into Ukraine and to keep tabs on it once it is there, depending on the sensitivity of each weapons system. Ukraine is pushing through with its ongoing counteroffensive, in an effort to dislodge the Kremlins forces from territory theyve occupied since a full-scale invasion in February 2022. The counteroffensive has come up against heavily mined terrain and reinforced defensive fortifications. The U.S. has approved four rounds of aid to Ukraine in response to Russias invasion, totaling about $113 billion, with some of that money going toward replenishment of U.S. military equipment that was sent to the frontlines. Congress approved the latest round of aid in December, totaling roughly $45 billion for Ukraine and NATO allies. While the package was designed to last through the end of the fiscal year in September, much depends upon events on the ground. We remain confident that well be able to continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes, said Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder. There were questions in November about waning Republican support to approve the package, but it ultimately passed. Now, though, House Speaker McCarthy is facing pressure to impeach Biden over unproven claims of financial misconduct and its not clear whether a quick show of support for Ukraine could cause political damage in whats expected to be a bruising 2024 reelection campaign. Trump contends that American involvement has only drawn Russia closer to other adversarial states like China, and has condemned the tens of billions of dollars that the United States has provided in aid for Ukraine. Long reported from Chicago. QUITO, Ecuador (AP) The six men arrested as suspects in the assassination of an anti-corruption Ecuadorian presidential candidate are Colombian nationals, a police report said Thursday as authorities investigated the motive for a crime that shocked a nation already reeling from a surge in drug-related violence. The six men were captured hiding in a house in Quito, Ecuador's capital, said the report, which was reviewed by The Associated Press. Officers also seized four shotguns, a 5.56-mm rifle, ammunition and three grenades, along with a vehicle and a motorcycle, it said. Fernando Villavicencio, 59, who was known for speaking up against drug cartels, was assassinated in Quito on Wednesday, less than two weeks before a special presidential election. He was not a front-runner, but his death deepened the sense of crisis around organized crime that has already claimed thousands of lives and underscored the challenge that Ecuador's next leader will face. Ecuador's interior minister, Juan Zapata, had earlier confirmed the arrest of some foreigners in the case, although he didn't give their nationalities. Zapata described the killing as a political crime of a terrorist nature" aimed at sabotaging the Aug. 20 presidential election. The police report doesn't say whether the Colombians are alleged members of a criminal group. Zapata said those arrested were linked to organized crime, although he didn't give more details. Villavicencio had said he was threatened by affiliates of Mexicos Sinaloa cartel, one of a slew of international organized crime groups that now operate in Ecuador. He said his campaign represented a threat to such groups. The involvement of Colombian nationals brings to the mind the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, who was shot a dozen times at his private home. Among the people arrested in the case are 18 former soldiers from Colombia. Video of the rally in Quito posted on social media appeared to show Villavicencio walking out of the rally surrounded by guards. The footage then showed the candidate getting into a white pickup truck before gunshots were heard, followed by screams and commotion around the truck. The sequence of events was confirmed to AP by Patricio Zuquilanda, Villavicencios campaign adviser. The candidate had received at least three death threats before the shooting and reported them to authorities, resulting in one detention, the adviser said. The Ecuadorian people are crying, and Ecuador is mortally wounded, Zuquilanda said. Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society. Former Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner, who also is seeking the presidency, bemoaned the loss at a news conference: We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears, and we do not deserve to live like this. The assassins threw a grenade into the street to cover their flight, but it did not explode, President Guillermo Lasso said. Police later destroyed the grenade with a controlled explosion. One suspect died in custody from wounds sustained in a firefight, the attorney generals office said. The authorities had reported on Wednesday that six people had been detained, but they didnt give any details until Thursday. Lasso suggested the slaying could be linked to organized crime and insisted on proceeding with the election scheduled for Aug. 20. He declared three days of national mourning and a state of emergency that involves deploying additional military personnel throughout the country. Given the loss of a democrat and a fighter, the elections are not suspended. On the contrary, they have to be held, and democracy has to be strengthened, Lasso said Thursday. In his final speech before he was killed, Villavicencio promised a roaring crowd that he would fight corruption and imprison more criminals. Villavicencio, one of eight candidates running for president, was the candidate of the Build Ecuador Movement. As drug traffickers have begun to use the countrys coastal ports, Ecuadorians have reeled from violence not seen for decades. Gunfire is heard in many major cities as rival gangs battle for control, and gangs have recruited children. Just last month, the mayor of the port city of Manta was shot and killed. On July 26, Lasso declared a state of emergency covering two provinces and the country's prison system in an effort to stem the violence. People waiting for buses in Guayaquil, a port city south of Quito that has been the epicenter of gang violence, expressed shock over Villavicencio's killing. It shows that the violence in the country is increasing, pharmacist Leidy Aguirre, 28, said. Politicians supposedly have more security than citizens and this shows that not even they are safe. Elsewhere, people went about their lives by taking outdoor exercise classes and daily walks because they are resigned to live amid the violence. Marjorie Lino, a 38-year-old housewife, lamented the danger as she walked with a friend along the main road that leads to one of the countrys most violent neighborhoods. To us as women, our husbands tell us not to go out here, but it doesnt matter (because) when one is going to die, one dies even at the door of ones house, she said. She does not believe that any of the presidential candidates will be able to end the violence. Villavicencio was one of the country's most critical voices against corruption, especially during the 2007-2017 government of President Rafael Correa. He was an independent journalist who investigated corruption in previous governments before entering politics as an anti-graft campaigner. Villavicencio filed many judicial complaints against high-ranking members of the Correa government, including against the ex-president himself. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over his criticisms of Correa, and fled to Indigenous territory in Ecuador, later receiving asylum in neighboring Peru. Lasso, a conservative former banker, was elected in 2021 on a business-friendly platform and clashed from the start with the left-leaning majority coalition in the National Assembly. A snap election was called after Lasso dissolved the National Assembly by decree in May, in a move to avoid being impeached over allegations that he failed to intervene to end a faulty contract between the state-owned oil transport company and a private tanker company. Garcia Cano reported from Guayaquil, Ecuador. MOSCOW, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Luna-25 lunar lander mission, set to be launched Friday, will film its landing on the moon so as to enable scientists to model the terrain and study lunar structure through regolith movement, Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography (MIIGAiK) said on Wednesday. "During the Luna-25 mission, we plan to record the entire landing process with panoramic cameras, which will enable us to create a model of the terrain of the landing site. We also hope to get footage at the moment of Luna-25's landing, which will show how the lunar regolith and dust behave during landing," MIIGAiK said. The footage will allow geophysicists and geologists to study in detail the properties of regolith, soil strength and other key features of the lunar structure. The acquired data will help facilitate more precise landing for future stations and better plan their experimental payload, it added. Luna-25 mission, the first Russian spacecraft in more than four decades, will head to the moon on Friday at 02:11 Moscow time (2311 GMT Thursday) on a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from Vostochny Cosmodrome, a Russian spaceport located in the Amur Oblast in Russia's Far East, according to local media reports. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Iran has moved five Iranian-Americans from prison to house arrest in exchange for billions of dollars frozen in South Korea, U.S. and Iranian officials said Thursday, as part of a tentative deal that follows months of heightened tensions between the two countries. Iranian officials at the United Nations told The Associated Press that the prisoner transfer marked a significant initial step" in the implementation of the agreement, which is still being negotiated and could eventually lead to the full release of the Americans. Iran acknowledged that the deal involves $6 billion to $7 billion that were frozen as a result of sanctions. Iranian officials said the money would be transferred to Qatar before being sent on to Iran if the agreement goes through. The final transfer of the money and the release of the five detainees is expected in the next month or so due to the complicated nature of the financial transactions, officials said. My belief is that this is the beginning of the end of their nightmare and the nightmare that their families have experienced, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a news conference in Washington, adding that more work would be necessary to free the five. State Department officials spoke to the prisoners on Thursday, he said. The deal unfolded amid a major American military buildup in the Persian Gulf, with the possibility of U.S. troops boarding and guarding commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of all oil shipments pass. The agreement is bound to open U.S. President Joe Biden to fresh criticism from Republicans and others that his administration is helping to boost the Iranian economy at a time when Iran poses a growing threat to U.S. troops and Mideast allies. U.S.-based lawyer Jared Genser, who represents one of the prisoners, said the five will likely be held at a hotel under guard. There are simply no guarantees about what happens from here, he said. Neda Sharghi, whose brother, Emad Sharghi, is among the prisoners, said in a statement that her family "has faith in the work that President Biden and government officials have undertaken to bring our families home. Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the White Houses National Security Council, described the negotiations for the release as ongoing and delicate. While this is an encouraging step, these U.S. citizens ... should have never been detained in the first place, she said in a statement. It remains unclear how many Iranian-Americans are held by Tehran, which does not recognize dual citizenship. The prisoners include Siamak Namazi, who was detained in 2015 and was later sentenced to 10 years in prison on internationally criticized spying charges; Sharghi, a venture capitalist sentenced to 10 years; and Morad Tahbaz, a British-American conservationist of Iranian descent who was arrested in 2018 and also received a 10-year sentence. The fourth and fifth prisoners were not identified. Iran, meanwhile, has said it seeks the release of Iranian prisoners held in the U.S. American officials declined to comment on who or how many Iranian prisoners might be released in a final agreement. But Iranian media in the past identified several prisoners with cases tied to violations of U.S. export laws and restrictions on doing business with Iran. The alleged violations include the transfer of money through Venezuela and sales of dual-use equipment that the U.S. alleges could be used in Irans military and nuclear programs. Iran has been enriching uranium and stockpiling it as part of its advancing nuclear program. The deal hinges on the frozen assets in South Korea. In the dispute over the money, Tehran seized a South Korean oil tanker and threatened further retaliation this month. Definitely Iran will not remain silent, and we have many options that could harm the Koreans, and we will certainly use them, said Fadahossein Maleki, a member of the Iranian parliament who sits on its influential national security and foreign policy committee. In Seoul, South Korea's Foreign Ministry declined to offer specifics, but said it had "been closely coordinating with the United States, Iran and other relevant countries to resolve the issue surrounding the frozen funds, and we look forward to an amicable resolution. Iran and the U.S. have a history of prisoner swaps dating to the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis following the Islamic Revolution. Their most recent major exchange happened in 2016, when Iran came to a deal with world powers to restrict its nuclear program in return for an easing of sanctions. Four American captives, including Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, flew home from Iran, and several Iranians in the United States won their freedom. That same day, President Barack Obama's administration airlifted $400 million in cash to Tehran. Iran has received international criticism over its targeting of people with dual citizenship. The West accuses Iran of using foreign prisoners as bargaining chips, an allegation Tehran rejects. Negotiations over a major prisoner swap faltered after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the nuclear deal in 2018. From the following year on, a series of attacks and ship seizures attributed to Iran have raised tensions. Biden entered office with hopes of restarting the deal, but diplomatic negotiations on the accord have been stalled for a year. Though none of the money frozen in South Korea will enter the U.S. financial system on its way to Qatar, the release is being done with American approval and is bound to draw disapproval from the GOP. Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who is now seeking the Republican presidential nomination, said the proposed deal would provide Iran with money to produce drones for Russia and fund terrorism. China and Russia, who are also holding Americans hostages, now know the price has just gone up, Pence said in an online statement. The troop buildup may insulate Biden from criticism from Arab nations in the Persian Gulf, which rely on American security guarantees. The U.S. also is negotiating with Saudi Arabia over potentially recognizing Israel diplomatically, a deal that may involve further guarantees about military support against Iran. Riyadh reached a detente with Iran in March after years of tensions. Lee reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report. Ukrainian authorities have ordered a mandatory evacuation of nearly 12,000 civilians from 37 towns and villages in the Kupiansk district of Ukraines eastern Kharkiv region. That is where Russian forces reportedly are making a concerted effort to punch through the front line. The local military administration described Thursday's evacuation order as mandatory but said people could stay if they signed a document stating they would do so at their own risk. Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said the previous day that the intensity of combat and enemy shelling is high in the area. As Ukraine has pursued a slow-moving counteroffensive in recent weeks, Russian forces have struck back in some areas. Amneal Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:AMRX Free Report) had its price objective upped by Piper Sandler from $3.00 to $5.00 in a report published on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock. Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. 500.com reissued a maintains rating on shares of Amneal Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, May 8th. StockNews.com began coverage on Amneal Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a buy rating for the company. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Amneal Pharmaceuticals from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $4.60. Get Amneal Pharmaceuticals alerts: Get Our Latest Research Report on AMRX Amneal Pharmaceuticals Price Performance Institutional Inflows and Outflows Shares of NYSE AMRX traded down $0.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $4.23. 1,114,666 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,061,249. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.29 billion, a PE ratio of -223.89 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.18. Amneal Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $1.24 and a 52 week high of $4.74. The companys 50 day moving average price is $3.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.26. Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Amneal Pharmaceuticals by 8.6% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 229,600 shares of the companys stock worth $957,000 after acquiring an additional 18,100 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Amneal Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 566,337 shares of the companys stock worth $2,361,000 after buying an additional 6,097 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in Amneal Pharmaceuticals by 169.4% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 58,313 shares of the companys stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 36,668 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Amneal Pharmaceuticals by 109.5% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 165,694 shares of the companys stock valued at $691,000 after buying an additional 86,613 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Amneal Pharmaceuticals by 1.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,082,702 shares of the companys stock worth $29,535,000 after acquiring an additional 91,072 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 31.66% of the companys stock. Amneal Pharmaceuticals Company Profile (Get Free Report) Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes generics, injectables, biosimilars, and specialty branded pharmaceutical products worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Generics, Specialty, and AvKARE. The Generics segment offers immediate and extended release oral solid, powder, liquid, sterile injectable, nasal spray, inhalation and respiratory, biosimilar, ophthalmic, film, transdermal patch, and topical products. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Amneal Pharmaceuticals Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Amneal Pharmaceuticals and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. TOKYO, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Japan's weather agency said Thursday that the mercury reached 40 degrees centigrade in a central Japan city as scorching heat continues to grip the Japanese archipelago. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said that Thursday's high was 40 degrees in Komatsu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan, tying with this year's record high logged in Date City in Fukushima Prefecture on August 5. Temperatures climbed to 39.6 degrees in Sanjo City, Niigata Prefecture, and 39.3 degrees in Hirosaki City, Aomori Prefecture, said the JMA. Weather officials said it was the first time that the temperature has topped 38 degrees in Aomori in the country's north since record-taking began. The JMA warned that the heat will linger on Friday, with the day's high expected to hit 39 degrees in Tottori City, Toyooka City in Hyogo Prefecture and Nagaoka City in Niigata Prefecture. Howmet Aerospace (NYSE:HWM Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by KeyCorp from $50.00 to $52.00 in a research note published on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the stock. Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on Howmet Aerospace from $52.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Howmet Aerospace in a research note on Monday, July 24th. They issued an outperform rating and a $61.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Howmet Aerospace from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Benchmark restated a buy rating and issued a $53.00 target price on shares of Howmet Aerospace in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Howmet Aerospace from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Howmet Aerospace has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $52.08. Get Howmet Aerospace alerts: Get Our Latest Stock Report on HWM Howmet Aerospace Stock Down 1.4 % Howmet Aerospace Dividend Announcement Shares of NYSE:HWM traded down $0.71 during trading on Monday, hitting $49.79. 2,910,165 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,881,366. Howmet Aerospace has a 52 week low of $30.59 and a 52 week high of $51.34. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The company has a market cap of $20.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $48.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.29. The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 25th. Investors of record on Friday, August 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.04 per share. This represents a $0.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 3rd. Howmet Aerospaces payout ratio is presently 12.70%. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Howmet Aerospace in the 4th quarter valued at $134,379,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Howmet Aerospace in the 1st quarter valued at $111,102,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Howmet Aerospace by 7,858.9% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,201,744 shares of the companys stock valued at $93,281,000 after purchasing an additional 2,174,080 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Howmet Aerospace by 5,231.1% in the 1st quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 1,575,116 shares of the companys stock valued at $66,738,000 after purchasing an additional 1,545,570 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Howmet Aerospace by 25.0% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,867,049 shares of the companys stock valued at $290,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175,026 shares during the period. 87.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. About Howmet Aerospace (Get Free Report) Howmet Aerospace Inc provides advanced engineered solutions for the aerospace and transportation industries in the United States, Japan, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Italy, Canada, Poland, China, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Engine Products, Fastening Systems, Engineered Structures, and Forged Wheels. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Howmet Aerospace Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Howmet Aerospace and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Cahill Wealth Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:IVV Free Report) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 122,536 shares of the companys stock after selling 713 shares during the quarter. iShares Core S&P 500 ETF comprises about 37.2% of Cahill Wealth Management LLCs portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Cahill Wealth Management LLCs holdings in iShares Core S&P 500 ETF were worth $50,372,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Studio Investment Management LLC bought a new position in iShares Core S&P 500 ETF in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Core Alternative Capital bought a new position in iShares Core S&P 500 ETF in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in iShares Core S&P 500 ETF in the 1st quarter valued at about $43,000. Financial Freedom LLC bought a new stake in shares of iShares Core S&P 500 ETF during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, Laffer Tengler Investments bought a new stake in shares of iShares Core S&P 500 ETF during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Get iShares Core S&P 500 ETF alerts: iShares Core S&P 500 ETF Trading Down 0.7 % NYSEARCA:IVV traded down $3.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $448.11. 2,837,856 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,103,591. iShares Core S&P 500 ETF has a fifty-two week low of $349.53 and a fifty-two week high of $461.88. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $443.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $420.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $346.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43 and a beta of 1.00. About iShares Core S&P 500 ETF iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Standard & Poors 500 Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the large-capitalization sector of the United States equity market. Read More Receive News & Ratings for iShares Core S&P 500 ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Core S&P 500 ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Montgomery Investment Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in MDU Resources Group, Inc. (NYSE:MDU Free Report) by 2.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 62,458 shares of the utilities providers stock after selling 1,300 shares during the period. Montgomery Investment Management Inc.s holdings in MDU Resources Group were worth $1,904,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board lifted its holdings in MDU Resources Group by 15.0% during the 1st quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 36,800 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $1,122,000 after purchasing an additional 4,800 shares during the last quarter. CI Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in MDU Resources Group by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 13,692 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its holdings in MDU Resources Group by 46.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 354,376 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $10,752,000 after purchasing an additional 111,732 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in MDU Resources Group by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 29,099 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $883,000 after acquiring an additional 2,838 shares during the period. Finally, Stockman Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in MDU Resources Group by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Stockman Wealth Management Inc. now owns 243,450 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $7,420,000 after acquiring an additional 1,377 shares during the period. 69.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get MDU Resources Group alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of research firms have commented on MDU. StockNews.com began coverage on MDU Resources Group in a research note on Friday, August 4th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Bank of America upgraded MDU Resources Group from an underperform rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, June 1st. MDU Resources Group Price Performance Shares of MDU traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $21.32. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,242,999 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,594,392. MDU Resources Group, Inc. has a one year low of $18.47 and a one year high of $22.55. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $21.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.76. MDU Resources Group (NYSE:MDU Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. MDU Resources Group had a return on equity of 11.50% and a net margin of 6.51%. The company had revenue of $1.09 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts expect that MDU Resources Group, Inc. will post 1.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. MDU Resources Group Cuts Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, September 14th will be given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 13th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. MDU Resources Groups dividend payout ratio is currently 41.78%. About MDU Resources Group (Free Report) MDU Resources Group, Inc engages in the regulated energy delivery, and construction materials and services businesses in the United States. It operates through five segments: Electric, Natural Gas Distribution, Pipeline, Construction Materials and Contracting, and Construction Services. The Electric segment generates, transmits, and distributes electricity for residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming; and operates 3,400 miles of transmission lines, 4,800 miles of distribution lines, and 84 transmission and 294 distribution substations. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MDU? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for MDU Resources Group, Inc. (NYSE:MDU Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for MDU Resources Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for MDU Resources Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. RBC Bearings (NYSE:RBC Free Report) had its target price boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $225.00 to $235.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the industrial products companys stock. Separately, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on RBC Bearings from $263.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, July 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, RBC Bearings currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $257.50. Get RBC Bearings alerts: Read Our Latest Analysis on RBC RBC Bearings Stock Down 0.1 % RBC Bearings stock traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $225.93. The stock had a trading volume of 163,165 shares, compared to its average volume of 197,579. The stocks 50-day moving average price is $216.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $223.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.86 and a beta of 1.42. RBC Bearings has a 12-month low of $195.18 and a 12-month high of $264.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 2.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52. RBC Bearings (NYSE:RBC Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 19th. The industrial products company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.80 by $0.26. RBC Bearings had a return on equity of 9.51% and a net margin of 11.93%. The business had revenue of $394.42 million for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $379.84 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that RBC Bearings will post 7.9 EPS for the current fiscal year. Insider Activity at RBC Bearings In other RBC Bearings news, Director Michael H. Ambrose sold 400 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $220.00, for a total value of $88,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,800 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,496,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.71% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RBC. Signaturefd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of RBC Bearings in the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of RBC Bearings in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Stephens Inc. AR purchased a new position in shares of RBC Bearings during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Private Trust Co. NA bought a new position in shares of RBC Bearings during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, First Manhattan CO. LLC. purchased a new stake in RBC Bearings in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. About RBC Bearings (Get Free Report) RBC Bearings Incorporated manufactures and markets engineered precision bearings and components in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Aerospace/Defense and Industrial. The company produces plain bearings with self-lubricating or metal-to-metal designs, including rod end bearings, spherical plain bearings, and journal bearings; roller bearings, such as tapered roller bearings, needle roller bearings, and needle bearing track rollers and cam followers, which are anti-friction products that are used in industrial applications and military aircraft platforms; and ball bearings include high precision aerospace, airframe control, thin section, and industrial ball bearings that utilize high precision ball elements to reduce friction in high-speed applications. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for RBC Bearings Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for RBC Bearings and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC Get Free Report) had its price target upped by research analysts at Barclays from $230.00 to $250.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an overweight rating on the construction companys stock. Barclayss price target would indicate a potential upside of 11.92% from the companys current price. VMC has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Vulcan Materials from $227.00 to $250.00 in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Stephens raised their price objective on Vulcan Materials from $230.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Vulcan Materials from $202.00 to $243.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Vulcan Materials from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $215.00 to $230.00 in a research note on Thursday, July 6th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Vulcan Materials from $256.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Vulcan Materials presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $238.80. Get Vulcan Materials alerts: Read Our Latest Stock Report on VMC Vulcan Materials Stock Down 1.5 % Shares of NYSE VMC traded down $3.46 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $223.38. 556,493 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 808,384. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.68 billion, a PE ratio of 41.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 0.78. Vulcan Materials has a 52-week low of $147.64 and a 52-week high of $229.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 2.58. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $216.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $192.41. Vulcan Materials (NYSE:VMC Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The construction company reported $2.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.91 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $2.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.05 billion. Vulcan Materials had a return on equity of 11.64% and a net margin of 9.57%. Vulcan Materialss quarterly revenue was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 EPS. Analysts forecast that Vulcan Materials will post 6.68 EPS for the current year. Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, CEO J Thomas Hill sold 4,695 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.79, for a total value of $947,404.05. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 80,039 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $16,151,069.81. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Randy L. Pigg sold 560 shares of the companys stock in a transaction on Friday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.44, for a total transaction of $113,366.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,707 shares of the companys stock, valued at $345,565.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO J Thomas Hill sold 4,695 shares of Vulcan Materials stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.79, for a total value of $947,404.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 80,039 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,151,069.81. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,644 shares of company stock worth $1,529,014 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.57% of the companys stock. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vulcan Materials A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Vulcan Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. M&R Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Vulcan Materials by 144.8% during the second quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 142 shares of the construction companys stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. acquired a new position in Vulcan Materials during the first quarter valued at $29,000. New Hampshire Trust purchased a new position in Vulcan Materials during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC acquired a new position in shares of Vulcan Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.02% of the companys stock. About Vulcan Materials (Get Free Report) Vulcan Materials Company, together with its subsidiaries, produces and supplies construction aggregates primarily in the United States. It operates through four segments: Aggregates, Asphalt, Concrete, and Calcium. The Aggregates segment provides crushed stones, sand and gravel, sand, and other aggregates; and related products and services that are applied in construction and maintenance of highways, streets, and other public works, as well as in the construction of housing and commercial, industrial, and other nonresidential facilities. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Vulcan Materials Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Vulcan Materials and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Hudock Inc. purchased a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP Free Report) (TSE:BIP.UN) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 6,220 shares of the utilities providers stock, valued at approximately $210,000. A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of BIP. Power Corp of Canada acquired a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the first quarter worth $73,000. Clear Street Markets LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 1st quarter valued at about $81,000. Pacifica Partners Inc. increased its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 305.4% in the 1st quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 1,792 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 1,350 shares during the period. Finally, GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC acquired a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 1st quarter worth approximately $63,000. 47.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Brookfield Infrastructure Partners alerts: Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Up 0.1 % NYSE BIP traded up $0.03 on Wednesday, reaching $32.70. The companys stock had a trading volume of 275,283 shares, compared to its average volume of 351,813. The firm has a market cap of $15.00 billion, a PE ratio of 99.09 and a beta of 0.86. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a 52 week low of $30.03 and a 52 week high of $43.62. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $35.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.89. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Announces Dividend Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.382 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 30th. This represents a $1.53 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.67%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partnerss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 463.64%. A number of research firms recently weighed in on BIP. TD Securities upped their price target on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. National Bankshares increased their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Friday, May 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $41.00 to $37.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $42.83. Read Our Latest Report on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Company Profile (Free Report) Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. owns and operates utilities, transport, midstream, and data businesses in North and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company's Utilities segment operates approximately 60,000 kilometers (km) of operational electricity transmission and distribution lines; 2,900 km of electricity transmission lines; 4,200 km of natural gas pipelines; 7.8 million electricity and natural gas connections; and 540,000 long-term contracted sub-metering services. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BIP? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP Free Report) (TSE:BIP.UN). Receive News & Ratings for Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. MGO One Seven LLC purchased a new stake in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF (BATS:EFG Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 69,567 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $6,517,000. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in EFG. Stokes Family Office LLC lifted its stake in iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF by 42.4% during the 1st quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 13,928 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,305,000 after acquiring an additional 4,144 shares during the period. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC grew its position in iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF by 188.2% during the 1st quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 87,164 shares of the companys stock worth $8,166,000 after purchasing an additional 56,916 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 56,734 shares of the companys stock worth $5,315,000 after purchasing an additional 1,264 shares during the period. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC lifted its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 8,176 shares of the companys stock valued at $766,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the period. Finally, Wrapmanager Inc. raised its position in iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF by 12.8% during the first quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 6,374 shares of the companys stock valued at $597,000 after acquiring an additional 724 shares in the last quarter. Get iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF alerts: iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF Price Performance EFG stock traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $93.61. 326,424 shares of the stock traded hands. iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF has a 1-year low of $67.58 and a 1-year high of $85.81. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $95.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.45. The firm has a market cap of $12.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.69 and a beta of 0.89. iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF Profile iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares MSCI EAFE Growth Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the MSCI EAFE Growth Index (the Index). The Index is a subset of the MSCI EAFE Index and constituents of the Index include securities from Europe, Australasia (Australia and Asia), and the Far East. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding EFG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF (BATS:EFG Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new position in shares of ING Groep (NYSE:ING Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 85,246 shares of the financial services providers stock, valued at approximately $1,011,000. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its stake in shares of ING Groep by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 37,986 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $462,000 after purchasing an additional 921 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its stake in shares of ING Groep by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 36,906 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $449,000 after purchasing an additional 3,509 shares during the period. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of ING Groep by 19.3% in the 1st quarter. Beverly Hills Private Wealth LLC now owns 13,624 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $162,000 after purchasing an additional 2,208 shares during the period. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of ING Groep in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,094,000. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of ING Groep in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,834,000. 4.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get ING Groep alerts: ING Groep Stock Down 0.4 % ING Groep stock traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $14.55. The stock had a trading volume of 2,057,121 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,636,566. ING Groep has a 12 month low of $8.14 and a 12 month high of $14.88. The company has a market capitalization of $54.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.61, a PEG ratio of 0.17 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $13.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $13.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.09. ING Groep Increases Dividend ING Groep ( NYSE:ING Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 11th. The financial services provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $5.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.77 billion. ING Groep had a return on equity of 10.32% and a net margin of 28.40%. As a group, equities analysts expect that ING Groep will post 2.3 EPS for the current fiscal year. The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.4267 per share. This is a positive change from ING Groeps previous semi-annual dividend of $0.41. This represents a yield of 5.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 11th. ING Groeps payout ratio is currently 43.20%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on ING Groep in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, ING Groep has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $14.39. Read Our Latest Research Report on ING Groep ING Groep Profile (Free Report) ING Groep N.V., a financial institution, provides various banking products and services in the Netherlands, Belgium, Rest of Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, and Australia. It operates in six segments: Retail Netherlands, Retail Belgium, Retail Germany, Retail Other, Wholesale Banking, and Corporate Line Banking. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ING? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for ING Groep (NYSE:ING Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for ING Groep Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for ING Groep and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. African Gold Acquisition Co. (NYSE:AGAC Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $10.69 and last traded at $10.69, with a volume of 337 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $10.57. African Gold Acquisition Trading Down 0.1 % The business has a 50-day moving average price of $10.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.36. Get African Gold Acquisition alerts: Institutional Trading of African Gold Acquisition Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in shares of African Gold Acquisition during the 1st quarter worth $11,384,000. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its position in shares of African Gold Acquisition by 413.3% during the 4th quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 1,110,787 shares of the companys stock worth $11,163,000 after buying an additional 894,399 shares during the last quarter. Westchester Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in African Gold Acquisition in the 3rd quarter worth about $7,425,000. Cowen Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in African Gold Acquisition in the 4th quarter worth about $5,528,000. Finally, Cowen AND Company LLC increased its holdings in African Gold Acquisition by 1,914.7% in the 1st quarter. Cowen AND Company LLC now owns 330,000 shares of the companys stock worth $3,386,000 after purchasing an additional 313,620 shares in the last quarter. 11.38% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. African Gold Acquisition Company Profile African Gold Acquisition Corporation does not have significant operations. The company focuses on effecting a merger or mergers, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization, or other similar business combination with one or more businesses. African Gold Acquisition Corporation was incorporated in 2020 and is based in New York, New York. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for African Gold Acquisition Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for African Gold Acquisition and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. swisspartners Advisors Ltd decreased its holdings in Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE:ALK Free Report) by 0.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 111,424 shares of the transportation companys stock after selling 420 shares during the period. Alaska Air Group makes up approximately 3.9% of swisspartners Advisors Ltds investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. swisspartners Advisors Ltd owned about 0.09% of Alaska Air Group worth $4,677,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 416.4% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 568 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 458 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alaska Air Group by 1,873.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 671 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 637 shares during the last quarter. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 174.4% during the 4th quarter. Ten Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 741 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the period. Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its position in shares of Alaska Air Group by 300.0% during the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 800 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Concord Wealth Partners purchased a new position in shares of Alaska Air Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.04% of the companys stock. Get Alaska Air Group alerts: Insider Transactions at Alaska Air Group In other news, CEO Benito Minicucci sold 5,000 shares of Alaska Air Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.73, for a total transaction of $243,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 114,506 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $5,579,877.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the companys stock. Alaska Air Group Stock Down 1.3 % Shares of Alaska Air Group stock traded down $0.59 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $46.61. 1,061,364 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,648,306. The stock has a market cap of $5.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.31 and a beta of 1.54. The firms 50-day moving average price is $50.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.08. Alaska Air Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.19 and a 12-month high of $57.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.61. Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 25th. The transportation company reported $3.00 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.71 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $2.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.77 billion. Alaska Air Group had a net margin of 1.55% and a return on equity of 19.66%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.19 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Alaska Air Group, Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $63.00 to $61.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 25th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $58.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Monday, June 26th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $58.50 to $64.25 in a research report on Tuesday, July 11th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Alaska Air Group from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Alaska Air Group in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $65.03. View Our Latest Stock Report on ALK Alaska Air Group Profile (Free Report) Alaska Air Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operated airlines. The company operates through three segments: Mainline, Regional, and Horizon. The company offers scheduled air transportation services on Boeing and Airbus jet aircraft for passengers and cargo throughout the United States, and in parts of Mexico, Costa Rica, and Belize; and for passengers across a shorter distance network within the United States and Canada. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Alaska Air Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Alaska Air Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Chinese ambassador to Ghana Lu Kun (at the podium) speaks at an inauguration ceremony of a China visa application center in Accra, Ghana, on Aug. 10, 2023. (Photo by Seth/Xinhua) ACCRA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese embassy in Ghana on Thursday inaugurated a China visa application center in Accra, the capital of Ghana, to foster easy traveling arrangements for Ghanaian travelers to China. The embassy said the center, opened with the cooperation of the China Tourism Group Corporation Limited, would ensure quality service and timely processing of visa applications for Ghanaians. At the inauguration ceremony, Lu Kun, the Chinese ambassador to Ghana, said the center became necessary due to the anticipated surge in the number of Ghanaians who would be interested in visiting China. "In light of this new situation and drawing on the common international practices, the center is now being opened in Accra. It aims to provide visa applicants with more convenient, high-quality, and efficient services," said Lu. "We believe it will greatly contribute to the bilateral exchanges and China-Ghana relations. I am convinced the center will open a new chapter in the people-to-people exchanges between our two countries." Lu added that the economic and trade exchange between the two countries has been flourishing, with China remaining Ghana's biggest trading partner. Mavis Nkansah Boadu, Ghana's deputy minister for foreign affairs and regional integration, welcomed the center, saying that the event marked a significant milestone in the bilateral relations between China and Ghana. She said Ghana recognized the importance of strengthening its relations with China and fostering greater people-to-people exchanges, adding that the center would help enhance tourism, business ventures, academic collaborations, and cultural exchanges between the two countries. She also announced that Ghana would reciprocate the laudable effort by the Chinese government to roll out new visa application systems with enhanced security features strengthened by a machine-readable visa hardware system. InterContinental Hotels Group PLC (LON:IHG Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of Hold from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is GBX 5,870 ($75.02). A number of brokerages recently weighed in on IHG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on InterContinental Hotels Group from GBX 6,200 ($79.23) to GBX 6,300 ($80.51) in a research note on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on InterContinental Hotels Group from GBX 5,850 ($74.76) to GBX 5,390 ($68.88) in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a buy rating on shares of InterContinental Hotels Group in a research note on Tuesday, May 23rd. Get InterContinental Hotels Group alerts: View Our Latest Analysis on IHG InterContinental Hotels Group Trading Up 1.7 % InterContinental Hotels Group Cuts Dividend Shares of IHG stock opened at GBX 6,034 ($77.11) on Thursday. InterContinental Hotels Group has a twelve month low of GBX 4,224 ($53.98) and a twelve month high of GBX 6,100 ($77.96). The stock has a market capitalization of 10.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3,763.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of GBX 5,482.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of GBX 5,474.83. The business also recently disclosed a dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 31st. InterContinental Hotels Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7,080.75%. InterContinental Hotels Group Company Profile (Get Free Report InterContinental Hotels Group PLC owns, manages, franchises, and leases hotels in the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Greater China. The company operates hotels under the Six Senses, Regent, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Vignette Collection, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, Hotel Indigo, voco, HUALUXE, Crowne Plaza, Iberostar Beachfront Resorts, EVEN, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn, avid, Atwell Suites, Staybridge Suites, Holiday Inn Club Vacations, and Candlewood Suites brand names. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for InterContinental Hotels Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for InterContinental Hotels Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Armbruster Capital Management Inc. lowered its position in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE Free Report) by 6.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,215 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after selling 550 shares during the quarter. Armbruster Capital Management Inc.s holdings in Pfizer were worth $335,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management lifted its position in Pfizer by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management now owns 17,794 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $719,000 after purchasing an additional 398 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Advisors MI boosted its stake in Pfizer by 32.1% in the first quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 94,117 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $3,840,000 after acquiring an additional 22,879 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its stake in Pfizer by 0.9% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 1,771,584 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $72,281,000 after acquiring an additional 15,900 shares during the last quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC now owns 197,477 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $8,057,000 after purchasing an additional 3,099 shares during the period. Finally, Center For Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 28.0% in the 1st quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 23,894 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $975,000 after purchasing an additional 5,228 shares during the last quarter. 67.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Pfizer alerts: Pfizer Stock Performance Pfizer stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching $35.72. The company had a trading volume of 18,704,832 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,472,154. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $37.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.46. Pfizer Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.65 and a 52 week high of $54.93. Pfizer Announces Dividend Pfizer ( NYSE:PFE Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $12.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.36 billion. Pfizer had a return on equity of 28.55% and a net margin of 27.55%. Pfizers revenue for the quarter was down 54.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.04 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Pfizer Inc. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 28th will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 27th. Pfizers dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.62%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Pfizer from $40.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Pfizer from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Pfizer from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 21st. HSBC initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Friday, July 14th. They issued a buy rating and a $50.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Pfizer from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, June 30th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $46.35. Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Pfizer About Pfizer (Free Report) Pfizer Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products worldwide. It offers medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular metabolic, migraine, and women's health under the Eliquis, Nurtec ODT/Vydura, and the Premarin family brands; infectious diseases with unmet medical needs under the Prevnar family, Nimenrix, FSME/IMMUN-TicoVac, and Trumenba brands; and COVID-19 prevention and treatment, and potential future mRNA and antiviral products under the Comirnaty and Paxlovid brands. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Pfizer Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Pfizer and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Barings LLC reduced its holdings in shares of iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF (BATS:FLOT Free Report) by 28.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,186,140 shares of the companys stock after selling 482,428 shares during the quarter. iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF accounts for about 2.1% of Barings LLCs holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Barings LLC owned approximately 0.78% of iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF worth $59,770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FLOT. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF by 7.3% during the 1st quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 616,583 shares of the companys stock valued at $31,070,000 after purchasing an additional 42,048 shares during the last quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. grew its holdings in shares of iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Wrapmanager Inc. now owns 92,560 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,664,000 after purchasing an additional 2,044 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Eagle Global Advisors LLC now owns 23,605 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,189,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,086,000. Finally, Alliance Wealth Management Group grew its holdings in shares of iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF by 19.7% during the 1st quarter. Alliance Wealth Management Group now owns 182,409 shares of the companys stock valued at $9,192,000 after purchasing an additional 30,030 shares during the last quarter. Get iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF alerts: iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF Stock Up 0.0 % BATS:FLOT traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $50.68. 1,089,878 shares of the companys stock were exchanged. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.54. iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF has a fifty-two week low of $50.76 and a fifty-two week high of $51.10. iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF Dividend Announcement iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF Company Profile The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 5th were given a $0.2341 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 3rd. (Free Report) The iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF (FLOT) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in investment grade fixed income. The fund tracks a market value-weighted index of USD-denominated, investment-grade floating rate notes with maturities of 0-5 years. FLOT was launched on Jun 14, 2011 and is managed by BlackRock. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Barings LLC acquired a new position in iShares Europe ETF (NYSEARCA:IEV Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 378,805 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $18,948,000. iShares Europe ETF makes up 0.7% of Barings LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Barings LLC owned 1.03% of iShares Europe ETF at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MGO One Seven LLC purchased a new stake in iShares Europe ETF in the 1st quarter worth $2,064,000. Stokes Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in shares of iShares Europe ETF by 7.7% during the 1st quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 24,166 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721 shares during the last quarter. Capital Analysts LLC bought a new position in shares of iShares Europe ETF during the 1st quarter valued at about $58,000. Canal Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of iShares Europe ETF during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,033,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of iShares Europe ETF by 32.6% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 303,095 shares of the companys stock valued at $15,161,000 after purchasing an additional 74,452 shares during the last quarter. Get iShares Europe ETF alerts: iShares Europe ETF Stock Performance Shares of IEV traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $50.65. 135,041 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 386,323. iShares Europe ETF has a 52 week low of $36.88 and a 52 week high of $52.37. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $50.48 and a 200-day moving average of $50.22. The stock has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.47 and a beta of 0.92. iShares Europe ETF Profile iShares Europe ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares S&P Europe 350 Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the S&P Europe 350 (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the stocks of companies in the countries, which includes Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IEV? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Europe ETF (NYSEARCA:IEV Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Europe ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Europe ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF (BATS:USMV Free Report) by 4.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,523 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the quarter. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLCs holdings in iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF were worth $402,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF by 180.4% in the 4th quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 401 shares of the companys stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares in the last quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC purchased a new position in shares of iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC purchased a new position in shares of iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Oak Harbor Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Get iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF alerts: iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF Trading Up 0.1 % Shares of USMV traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $74.88. The company had a trading volume of 1,756,284 shares. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.89. iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF has a 12-month low of $47.44 and a 12-month high of $55.45. The company has a market capitalization of $28.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17 and a beta of 0.75. iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF 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. Featured Articles 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). Receive News & Ratings for iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. GrafTech International (NYSE:EAF Get Free Report) had its price objective decreased by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $5.00 to $4.50 in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a market perform rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets price objective would suggest a potential upside of 2.04% from the companys previous close. A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on GrafTech International in a research note on Tuesday, May 23rd. They issued a neutral rating for the company. Citigroup lowered their target price on GrafTech International from $6.00 to $5.00 in a research note on Sunday, April 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, GrafTech International presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $6.63. Get GrafTech International alerts: Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on GrafTech International GrafTech International Price Performance EAF stock traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $4.41. 1,707,775 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,543,634. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.90, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 1.47. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $4.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.95. GrafTech International has a 12 month low of $3.75 and a 12 month high of $7.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 1.36. GrafTech International (NYSE:EAF Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 4th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.01). GrafTech International had a return on equity of 40.42% and a net margin of 14.68%. The firm had revenue of $185.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $177.18 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. The companys revenue for the quarter was down 49.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that GrafTech International will post 0.07 EPS for the current year. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY increased its holdings in GrafTech International by 21.8% during the 4th quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. NY now owns 11,984 shares of the companys stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 2,148 shares during the period. Yacktman Asset Management LP grew its holdings in shares of GrafTech International by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Yacktman Asset Management LP now owns 8,534,101 shares of the companys stock worth $41,476,000 after acquiring an additional 438,296 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of GrafTech International by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 24,939 shares of the companys stock worth $119,000 after acquiring an additional 3,572 shares during the period. Barnett & Company Inc. grew its holdings in shares of GrafTech International by 73.5% during the 1st quarter. Barnett & Company Inc. now owns 47,700 shares of the companys stock worth $232,000 after acquiring an additional 20,200 shares during the period. Finally, Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of GrafTech International by 64.8% during the 1st quarter. Guyasuta Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 99,082 shares of the companys stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 38,955 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.62% of the companys stock. GrafTech International Company Profile (Get Free Report) GrafTech International Ltd. research, develops, manufactures, and sells graphite and carbon-based solutions worldwide. The company offers graphite electrodes to produce electric arc furnace steel and other ferrous and non-ferrous metals; and petroleum needle coke, a crystalline form of carbon used in the production of graphite electrodes and synthetic graphite. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for GrafTech International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for GrafTech International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY Get Free Report) (TSE:RY) has received an average rating of Hold from the five brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $143.40. RY has been the subject of several analyst reports. CIBC downgraded Royal Bank of Canada from a sector outperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 16th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Royal Bank of Canada in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating for the company. Finally, Barclays downgraded Royal Bank of Canada from an overweight rating to an underweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 9th. Get Royal Bank of Canada alerts: Get Our Latest Report on Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada Stock Performance Shares of NYSE:RY opened at $94.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.61 billion, a PE ratio of 12.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The business has a 50-day moving average of $95.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $97.09. Royal Bank of Canada has a 12 month low of $83.63 and a 12 month high of $104.72. Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY Get Free Report) (TSE:RY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.95 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.07 by ($0.12). Royal Bank of Canada had a return on equity of 15.36% and a net margin of 15.27%. The firm had revenue of $9.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.53 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Royal Bank of Canada will post 8.22 earnings per share for the current year. Royal Bank of Canada Increases Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.996 per share. This represents a $3.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 25th. This is an increase from Royal Bank of Canadas previous quarterly dividend of $0.99. Royal Bank of Canadas dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.48%. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of RY. Norges Bank bought a new position in Royal Bank of Canada during the 4th quarter valued at $1,583,609,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc bought a new stake in shares of Royal Bank of Canada during the 2nd quarter worth $325,196,000. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 24,144,366 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $2,269,999,000 after acquiring an additional 2,392,959 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 10.6% during the 1st quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 21,119,042 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $2,023,058,000 after acquiring an additional 2,029,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canoe Financial LP bought a new stake in shares of Royal Bank of Canada during the 1st quarter worth $153,411,000. Institutional investors own 36.75% of the companys stock. Royal Bank of Canada Company Profile (Get Free Report Royal Bank of Canada operates as a diversified financial service company worldwide. The company's Personal & Commercial Banking segment offers checking and savings accounts, home equity financing, personal lending, private banking, indirect lending, including auto financing, mutual funds and self-directed brokerage accounts, guaranteed investment certificates, credit cards, and payment products and solutions; and lending, leasing, deposit, investment, foreign exchange, cash management, auto dealer financing, trade products, and services to small and medium-sized commercial businesses. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Royal Bank of Canada Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Royal Bank of Canada and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Equitable Trust Co. cut its stake in Carlisle Companies Incorporated (NYSE:CSL Free Report) by 1.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,364 shares of the conglomerates stock after selling 132 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.s holdings in Carlisle Companies were worth $1,891,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CSL. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Carlisle Companies by 106,294.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,064,044 shares of the conglomerates stock worth $486,392,000 after buying an additional 2,062,104 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Carlisle Companies by 323.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,200,538 shares of the conglomerates stock worth $518,557,000 after acquiring an additional 1,680,274 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Carlisle Companies during the 4th quarter worth $239,527,000. CI Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Carlisle Companies in the 4th quarter valued at about $132,599,000. Finally, Robeco Schweiz AG acquired a new position in Carlisle Companies during the first quarter worth about $91,112,000. 87.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Carlisle Companies alerts: Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, insider Lori A. Snyder sold 300 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.37, for a total transaction of $83,211.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $151,998.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the companys stock. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CSL shares. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Carlisle Companies from $310.00 to $320.00 in a report on Thursday, July 27th. Loop Capital lowered their price target on Carlisle Companies from $300.00 to $285.00 in a report on Friday, April 28th. Credit Suisse Group decreased their target price on shares of Carlisle Companies from $350.00 to $300.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Carlisle Companies from $335.00 to $310.00 in a research report on Monday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on Carlisle Companies in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $313.33. Get Our Latest Analysis on Carlisle Companies Carlisle Companies Price Performance CSL stock traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $285.08. 303,091 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 402,269. The company has a market cap of $14.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.95. Carlisle Companies Incorporated has a one year low of $203.65 and a one year high of $318.71. The company has a current ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $254.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $238.95. Carlisle Companies (NYSE:CSL Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The conglomerate reported $5.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.73 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.58 billion. Carlisle Companies had a net margin of 12.18% and a return on equity of 29.71%. The companys revenue was down 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $6.15 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Carlisle Companies Incorporated will post 17.61 earnings per share for the current year. Carlisle Companies Increases Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 17th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 16th. This is a positive change from Carlisle Companiess previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. Carlisle Companiess dividend payout ratio is currently 24.44%. Carlisle Companies Company Profile (Free Report) Carlisle Companies Incorporated operates as a manufacturer of engineered products in the United States, Europe, Asia, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Carlisle Construction Materials, Carlisle Weatherproofing Technologies, Carlisle Interconnect Technologies, and Carlisle Fluid Technologies. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Carlisle Companies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Carlisle Companies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC reduced its stake in iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IWF Free Report) by 53.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,156 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 3,605 shares during the period. iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF accounts for 0.1% of CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLCs holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLCs holdings in iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF were worth $771,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in IWF. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its position in iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,723 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $583,000 after buying an additional 43 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its position in shares of iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF by 4.5% during the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 1,050 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $257,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 1,208 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC grew its position in iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 2,565 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 13,092 shares of the exchange traded funds stock valued at $3,199,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Get iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF alerts: iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF Price Performance Shares of NYSEARCA IWF traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $274.41. 1,412,759 shares of the companys stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,438,798. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $274.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $251.97. The stock has a market cap of $70.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.14 and a beta of 1.08. iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF has a 1-year low of $202.05 and a 1-year high of $286.96. iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF Profile iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment returns that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Russell 1000 Growth Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of equity securities of Russell 1000 index issuers with relatively higher price-to-book ratios and higher forecasted growth. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IWF? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IWF Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Manulife Financial Co. (NYSE:MFC Free Report) (TSE:MFC) by 0.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 217,060 shares of the financial services providers stock after acquiring an additional 680 shares during the period. ClariVest Asset Management LLCs holdings in Manulife Financial were worth $3,977,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MFC. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Manulife Financial by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 878,359 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $18,753,000 after acquiring an additional 80,450 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 7.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 27,503 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $587,000 after purchasing an additional 2,013 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers bought a new position in shares of Manulife Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $428,000. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 2.3% during the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 43,078 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $920,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Manulife Financial by 32.7% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 14,560 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 3,585 shares in the last quarter. 40.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Get Manulife Financial alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Manulife Financial in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Manulife Financial Stock Performance MFC traded down $0.18 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $19.27. The stock had a trading volume of 3,042,420 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,263,868. The company has a market capitalization of $35.33 billion, a PE ratio of 8.92, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.10. Manulife Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $14.92 and a twelve month high of $20.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.14. Manulife Financial (NYSE:MFC Get Free Report) (TSE:MFC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $9.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.68 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Manulife Financial Co. will post 2.46 EPS for the current year. Manulife Financial Profile (Free Report) Manulife Financial Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides financial products and services in Asia, Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through Wealth and Asset Management Businesses; Insurance and Annuity Products; and Corporate and Other segments. The Wealth and Asset Management Businesses segment offers investment advice and solutions to retirement, retail, and institutional clients through multiple distribution channels, including agents and brokers affiliated with the company, independent securities brokerage firms and financial advisors pension plan consultants, and banks. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Manulife Financial Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Manulife Financial and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. KIEV/MOSCOW, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments related to the Ukraine crisis: The Ukrainian authorities on Thursday started a mandatory evacuation from the frontline city of Kupyansk in Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region and the settlements surrounding it. The forced evacuation order has been given due to the challenging security situation and constant shelling, the Kupyansk city military administration said in a post on Telegram. According to the Ukrayinska Pravda media outlet, the evacuation will be carried out in 37 settlements in the Kupyansk district. Earlier in the day, Oleh Synehubov, head of the Kharkiv regional state administration, said that Russian forces hit Kupyansk with a guided FAB-250 aerial bomb overnight Thursday, damaging the city council building. - - - - Russia's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that two Tu-160 strategic bombers carried out a flight over neutral waters of the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean. "Two Tu-160 strategic missile carriers completed a scheduled flight in airspace over the neutral waters of the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean for about 8 hours," the ministry said in a statement. The bombers were escorted by Russian Su-35S aircraft during the flight, the ministry added. The ministry did not disclose more details of the flight. - - - - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the pullout of Russian forces from the territory of Ukraine is a condition for starting peace talks with Russia, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported Thursday. "We can negotiate with Russia after the withdrawal of their troops from our lands," Kuleba said. He ruled out the possibility of direct talks between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, noting that Kiev sees "diplomatic ways to deal with the issues indirectly." Last week, security advisors and representatives from some 40 countries met in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah to work out a solution to the Ukraine crisis. - - - - The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that it had thwarted Ukraine's attempts to carry out attacks with drones, which caused no casualties or damage. Two Ukrainian drones flying towards Moscow were shot down by air defense systems over the Maloyaroslavets district of Kaluga region and the Odintsovo district of Moscow region, according to the ministry. Near the city of Sevastopol, two Ukrainian drones were destroyed by air defense systems and nine were jammed and fell into the Black Sea. Convergence Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM Free Report) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,014 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the period. Philip Morris International makes up approximately 1.1% of Convergence Investment Partners LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position. Convergence Investment Partners LLCs holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $1,946,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fairfield Bush & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 26,141 shares of the companys stock worth $2,456,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 35.6% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,939 shares of the companys stock valued at $463,000 after buying an additional 1,296 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its holdings in Philip Morris International by 24.7% in the 1st quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 3,065 shares of the companys stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 608 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Philip Morris International by 54.9% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 525 shares of the companys stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in Philip Morris International by 14.7% in the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 8,987 shares of the companys stock valued at $844,000 after acquiring an additional 1,154 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.43% of the companys stock. Get Philip Morris International alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of brokerages have issued reports on PM. 22nd Century Group reiterated a reiterates rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a report on Tuesday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of Philip Morris International in a report on Thursday, April 13th. They issued a buy rating and a $114.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup upgraded shares of Philip Morris International from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the company from $109.00 to $117.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 20th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Philip Morris International in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $111.40. Philip Morris International Trading Up 0.1 % Shares of PM stock traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $97.18. 1,061,298 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,361,391. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 12-month low of $82.85 and a 12-month high of $105.62. The companys 50-day moving average price is $96.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $97.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $150.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.69. Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The company reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.10. Philip Morris International had a net margin of 11.63% and a negative return on equity of 127.84%. The firm had revenue of $8.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $8.76 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.48 EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.21 EPS for the current year. Philip Morris International Announces Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 23rd were given a $1.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 22nd. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.23%. Philip Morris Internationals dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.26%. Philip Morris International Profile (Free Report) Philip Morris International Inc operates as a tobacco company working to delivers a smoke-free future and evolving portfolio for the long-term to include products outside of the tobacco and nicotine sector. The company's product portfolio primarily consists of cigarettes and smoke-free products, including heat-not-burn, vapor, and oral nicotine products primarily under the IQOS and ZYN brands; and consumer accessories, such as lighters and matches. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Philip Morris International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Philip Morris International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Albemarle (NYSE:ALB Get Free Report) had its target price decreased by research analysts at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $260.00 to $250.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has a buy rating on the specialty chemicals companys stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschafts target price would suggest a potential upside of 28.72% from the stocks previous close. ALB has been the topic of several other research reports. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $270.00 to $291.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, June 26th. UBS Group raised shares of Albemarle from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the stock from $196.00 to $225.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $270.00 to $260.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Albemarle from $200.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group raised their target price on shares of Albemarle from $163.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research report on Thursday, August 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $277.20. Get Albemarle alerts: Read Our Latest Stock Report on Albemarle Albemarle Trading Down 0.7 % Shares of Albemarle stock traded down $1.43 during trading on Monday, hitting $194.22. The stock had a trading volume of 1,074,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,971,459. The firms fifty day simple moving average is $220.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $223.80. The stock has a market cap of $22.79 billion, a PE ratio of 5.84, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Albemarle has a 12 month low of $171.82 and a 12 month high of $334.55. Albemarle (NYSE:ALB Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The specialty chemicals company reported $7.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.27 by $3.06. The firm had revenue of $2.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.42 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 40.55% and a return on equity of 45.88%. The businesss revenue was up 60.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle will post 25.6 EPS for the current fiscal year. Institutional Trading of Albemarle Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Activest Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Albemarle during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 188.1% in the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 121 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the period. Core Alternative Capital lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 342.9% in the 1st quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 124 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 51.2% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 130 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, PrairieView Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 15,300.0% in the 2nd quarter. PrairieView Partners LLC now owns 154 shares of the specialty chemicals companys stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. 87.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Albemarle Company Profile (Get Free Report) Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals worldwide. It operates through three segments: Lithium, Bromine, and Catalysts. The Lithium segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, lithium chloride, and lithium specialties and reagents, such as butyllithium and lithium aluminum hydride for use in lithium batteries for consumer electronics and electric vehicles, high performance greases, thermoplastic elastomers for car tires, rubber soles, plastic bottles, catalysts for chemical reactions, organic synthesis processes in the areas of steroid chemistry and vitamins, life sciences, pharmaceutical industry, and other markets. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Albemarle Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Albemarle and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Equitable Trust Co. reduced its position in shares of Dynatrace, Inc. (NYSE:DT Free Report) by 10.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,853 shares of the companys stock after selling 2,861 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.s holdings in Dynatrace were worth $1,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Dynatrace by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 119,145 shares of the companys stock worth $5,040,000 after buying an additional 14,820 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Dynatrace by 8.3% during the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 34,667 shares of the companys stock worth $1,466,000 after acquiring an additional 2,647 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Dynatrace by 22.8% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 76,597 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,240,000 after purchasing an additional 14,244 shares during the period. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lifted its stake in shares of Dynatrace by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 58,192 shares of the companys stock valued at $2,462,000 after purchasing an additional 1,175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Dynatrace during the 1st quarter worth $1,277,000. 71.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Dynatrace alerts: Dynatrace Stock Down 1.9 % Dynatrace stock traded down $0.88 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $46.32. The companys stock had a trading volume of 2,117,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,851,482. The company has a market cap of $13.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.53, a P/E/G ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.99. Dynatrace, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.54 and a fifty-two week high of $55.87. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Dynatrace ( NYSE:DT Get Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 17th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $314.48 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $303.51 million. Dynatrace had a return on equity of 11.81% and a net margin of 11.77%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Dynatrace, Inc. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year. A number of research firms have commented on DT. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Dynatrace from $54.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on Dynatrace from $57.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on Dynatrace from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Dynatrace from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Finally, William Blair initiated coverage on Dynatrace in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set an outperform rating on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $53.23. Read Our Latest Research Report on Dynatrace Insider Activity In related news, CRO Stephen J. Pace sold 52,944 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.95, for a total value of $2,697,496.80. Following the transaction, the executive now directly owns 127,790 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $6,510,900.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CRO Stephen J. Pace sold 52,944 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.95, for a total transaction of $2,697,496.80. Following the transaction, the executive now owns 127,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,510,900.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Alicia Allen sold 4,334 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.75, for a total value of $224,284.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 95,680 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $4,951,440. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 18,207,407 shares of company stock worth $943,913,963. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the companys stock. Dynatrace Company Profile (Free Report) Dynatrace, Inc provides a security platform for multicloud environments. It operates Dynatrace, a security platform, which provides application and microservices monitoring, runtime application security, infrastructure monitoring, log management and analytics, digital experience monitoring, digital business analytics, and cloud automation. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Dynatrace Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Dynatrace and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. JLP Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE:EGP Free Report) by 29.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 56,500 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock after purchasing an additional 12,800 shares during the quarter. EastGroup Properties accounts for about 6.2% of JLP Asset Management LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. JLP Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.13% of EastGroup Properties worth $9,341,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of EGP. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 783.3% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 159 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the period. Group One Trading L.P. bought a new position in EastGroup Properties in the 1st quarter valued at about $41,000. Delta Asset Management LLC TN bought a new position in EastGroup Properties in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new position in EastGroup Properties in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in EastGroup Properties by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 705 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock valued at $104,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.56% of the companys stock. Get EastGroup Properties alerts: EastGroup Properties Trading Up 1.2 % EGP traded up $2.10 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $176.74. 409,174 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 258,788. EastGroup Properties, Inc. has a one year low of $137.47 and a one year high of $188.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 0.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.02 billion, a PE ratio of 47.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.70 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $175.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $168.42. EastGroup Properties Announces Dividend Insiders Place Their Bets The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $1.25 per share. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 29th. EastGroup Propertiess payout ratio is 133.33%. In other EastGroup Properties news, SVP Richard Reid Dunbar sold 1,600 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.25, for a total transaction of $290,000.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 17,288 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,133,450. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.50% of the companys stock. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an equal weight rating and issued a $158.00 target price on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of EastGroup Properties from $174.00 to $188.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 12th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of EastGroup Properties from $198.00 to $218.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of EastGroup Properties in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of EastGroup Properties from $165.00 to $179.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, EastGroup Properties currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $185.60. View Our Latest Stock Report on EastGroup Properties EastGroup Properties Company Profile (Free Report) 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. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for EastGroup Properties Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for EastGroup Properties and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Equitable Trust Co. decreased its stake in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE Free Report) by 21.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,774 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after selling 14,179 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.s holdings in Pfizer were worth $2,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 2.3% during the first quarter. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management now owns 17,794 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $719,000 after buying an additional 398 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Advisors MI boosted its stake in Pfizer by 32.1% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Investment Advisors MI now owns 94,117 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $3,840,000 after buying an additional 22,879 shares during the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its holdings in Pfizer by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 1,771,584 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $72,281,000 after buying an additional 15,900 shares during the period. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 1.6% during the 1st quarter. MainStreet Investment Advisors LLC now owns 197,477 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $8,057,000 after acquiring an additional 3,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Center For Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Pfizer by 28.0% in the first quarter. Center For Asset Management LLC now owns 23,894 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $975,000 after acquiring an additional 5,228 shares during the last quarter. 67.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Pfizer alerts: Pfizer Stock Up 0.6 % Shares of PFE stock traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $35.84. 16,988,704 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,510,217. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.37. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $37.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.46. The company has a market capitalization of $202.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.60. Pfizer Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.65 and a fifty-two week high of $54.93. Pfizer Announces Dividend Pfizer ( NYSE:PFE Get Free Report ) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.10. Pfizer had a net margin of 27.55% and a return on equity of 28.55%. The company had revenue of $12.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.04 EPS. The companys revenue was down 54.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year. The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 28th will be issued a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 27th. Pfizers dividend payout ratio is presently 43.62%. Analysts Set New Price Targets PFE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Pfizer from $40.00 to $38.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 11th. Credit Suisse Group lowered Pfizer from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 29th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Pfizer from $64.00 to $62.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Pfizer from $40.00 to $38.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets downgraded shares of Pfizer from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $38.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, May 11th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Pfizer presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $46.35. Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on PFE Pfizer Profile (Free Report) Pfizer Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products worldwide. It offers medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular metabolic, migraine, and women's health under the Eliquis, Nurtec ODT/Vydura, and the Premarin family brands; infectious diseases with unmet medical needs under the Prevnar family, Nimenrix, FSME/IMMUN-TicoVac, and Trumenba brands; and COVID-19 prevention and treatment, and potential future mRNA and antiviral products under the Comirnaty and Paxlovid brands. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PFE? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Pfizer Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Pfizer and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Evoke Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE:LUV Free Report) by 57.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,540 shares of the airlines stock after acquiring an additional 4,967 shares during the quarter. Evoke Wealth LLCs holdings in Southwest Airlines were worth $441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Roundview Capital LLC raised its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 21.2% in the 1st quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 13,336 shares of the airlines stock valued at $611,000 after acquiring an additional 2,335 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southwest Airlines during the 1st quarter worth $403,000. APG Asset Management N.V. grew its holdings in shares of Southwest Airlines by 16.6% in the first quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 6,335 shares of the airlines stock valued at $261,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its position in Southwest Airlines by 5.3% during the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 12,187 shares of the airlines stock worth $559,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. boosted its holdings in Southwest Airlines by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 40,189 shares of the airlines stock valued at $1,841,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.81% of the companys stock. Get Southwest Airlines alerts: Southwest Airlines Stock Down 0.3 % NYSE LUV traded down $0.11 on Wednesday, hitting $33.63. 8,031,695 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,381,026. Southwest Airlines Co. has a fifty-two week low of $28.40 and a fifty-two week high of $40.39. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $34.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.03. The company has a market cap of $20.03 billion, a PE ratio of 38.22, a PEG ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. Southwest Airlines Dividend Announcement Southwest Airlines ( NYSE:LUV Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 27th. The airline reported $1.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.01. Southwest Airlines had a return on equity of 5.81% and a net margin of 2.31%. The company had revenue of $7.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $6.98 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.30 earnings per share. Southwest Airliness quarterly revenue was up 4.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southwest Airlines Co. will post 2.27 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 6th will be issued a $0.18 dividend. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 5th. Southwest Airliness payout ratio is currently 81.82%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of analysts have recently issued reports on LUV shares. 22nd Century Group restated a maintains rating on shares of Southwest Airlines in a report on Monday, June 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Southwest Airlines from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Monday, July 31st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Southwest Airlines in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Southwest Airlines from $40.00 to $34.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Southwest Airlines from a hold rating to an underperform rating and set a $25.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, August 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southwest Airlines has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $38.00. Get Our Latest Report on Southwest Airlines About Southwest Airlines (Free Report) Southwest Airlines Co operates as a passenger airline company that provide scheduled air transportation services in the United States and near-international markets. As of December 31, 2022, the company operated a total fleet of 770 Boeing 737 aircrafts; and served 121 destinations in 42 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, as well as ten near-international countries, including Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Southwest Airlines Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Southwest Airlines and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Floor & Decor (NYSE:FND Free Report) had its price objective lifted by Loop Capital from $82.00 to $100.00 in a research report report published on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. Loop Capital currently has a hold rating on the stock. FND has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Floor & Decor from $120.00 to $115.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Floor & Decor from $125.00 to $115.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Floor & Decor in a research report on Friday, June 23rd. They issued a buy rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Telsey Advisory Group boosted their price target on Floor & Decor from $85.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Floor & Decor from $100.00 to $95.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $103.19. Get Floor & Decor alerts: View Our Latest Stock Report on Floor & Decor Floor & Decor Stock Down 0.1 % Shares of Floor & Decor stock traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $105.37. The companys stock had a trading volume of 1,139,213 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,380,686. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.51, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.90. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $97.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Floor & Decor has a 1-year low of $63.51 and a 1-year high of $116.03. Floor & Decor (NYSE:FND Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.66. The business had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.15 billion. Floor & Decor had a return on equity of 16.94% and a net margin of 6.55%. Floor & Decors revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Floor & Decor will post 2.44 earnings per share for the current year. Insider Buying and Selling at Floor & Decor In other Floor & Decor news, CEO Thomas V. Taylor sold 18,656 shares of Floor & Decor stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $1,958,880.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 215,203 shares of the companys stock, valued at $22,596,315. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Thomas V. Taylor sold 18,656 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $1,958,880.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 215,203 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $22,596,315. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP David Victor Christopherson sold 5,804 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $638,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,552 shares in the company, valued at $4,020,720. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 48,920 shares of company stock valued at $5,323,160. 2.50% 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 business. Ahrens Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Floor & Decor during the 1st quarter worth $29,000. Spire Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Floor & Decor by 1,063.3% during the 1st quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 349 shares of the companys stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 319 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Floor & Decor during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Floor & Decor during the 1st quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its holdings in Floor & Decor by 54.2% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 464 shares of the companys stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Floor & Decor Company Profile (Get Free Report) Floor & Decor Holdings, Inc together with its subsidiaries, operates as a multi-channel specialty retailer and commercial flooring distributor in Georgia. The company offers tile, wood, laminate, vinyl, and natural stone flooring products, as well as decorative accessories, wall tiles, and installation materials and tools. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Floor & Decor Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Floor & Decor and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC lessened its position in shares of iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IWP Free Report) by 10.7% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,189 shares of the companys stock after selling 383 shares during the quarter. Greenup Street Wealth Management LLCs holdings in iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF were worth $290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in IWP. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF by 38.3% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 415 shares of the companys stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Accel Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF by 105.5% in the 1st quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 409 shares of the companys stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Atwood & Palmer Inc. purchased a new position in shares of iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new position in shares of iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, ZRC Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF in the 1st quarter worth approximately $52,000. Get iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF alerts: iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF Price Performance Shares of iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF stock traded down $0.39 on Wednesday, reaching $95.31. The company had a trading volume of 667,340 shares, compared to its average volume of 659,108. The firm has a market cap of $12.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.03 and a beta of 1.10. The firms 50-day moving average price is $96.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.12. iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF has a 1 year low of $75.88 and a 1 year high of $100.93. About iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF, formerly iShares Russell Midcap Growth Index Fund (the Growth Fund), is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Russell Midcap Growth Index (the Growth Index). Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IWP? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IWP Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Hosking Partners LLP trimmed its position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM Free Report) by 16.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 320,868 shares of the semiconductor companys stock after selling 62,086 shares during the period. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing accounts for 1.4% of Hosking Partners LLPs investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Hosking Partners LLPs holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing were worth $29,847,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of TSM. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 28,278.4% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 7,577,020 shares of the semiconductor companys stock worth $564,412,000 after buying an additional 7,550,320 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 32,513,567 shares of the semiconductor companys stock valued at $2,421,936,000 after acquiring an additional 7,045,899 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 108,945.8% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,471,916 shares of the semiconductor companys stock valued at $407,603,000 after purchasing an additional 5,466,898 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 216.2% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 6,316,219 shares of the semiconductor companys stock worth $470,495,000 after acquiring an additional 4,318,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing by 85.1% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 9,193,823 shares of the semiconductor companys stock valued at $855,209,000 after purchasing an additional 4,226,288 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 16.41% of the companys stock. Get Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing alerts: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Stock Performance Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing stock traded up $0.82 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $94.80. 7,418,108 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,913,950. The firm has a market cap of $491.67 billion, a PE ratio of 15.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.06. The firms 50-day simple moving average is $100.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $93.99. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited has a twelve month low of $59.43 and a twelve month high of $110.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 2.04 and a current ratio of 2.29. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Cuts Dividend Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 15th will be given a dividend of $0.4724 per share. This represents a $1.89 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 14th. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturings payout ratio is 22.94%. Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $128.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a positive rating in a research report on Friday, July 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, July 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing from $118.00 to $115.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $108.33. Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing About Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (Free Report) Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, packages, tests, and sells integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices in Taiwan, China, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, the United States, and internationally. It provides complementary metal oxide silicon wafer fabrication processes to manufacture logic, mixed-signal, radio frequency, and embedded memory semiconductors. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Hosking Partners LLP reduced its stake in Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL Free Report) by 26.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 664,788 shares of the transportation companys stock after selling 236,236 shares during the period. Hosking Partners LLPs holdings in Delta Air Lines were worth $23,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DAL. Pacifica Partners Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Delta Air Lines by 117.6% during the 1st quarter. Pacifica Partners Inc. now owns 740 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 1,136.7% in the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 742 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 682 shares during the period. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC boosted its position in Delta Air Lines by 200.0% in the 4th quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 900 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Finally, Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Delta Air Lines in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 68.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. Get Delta Air Lines alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several research firms have recently commented on DAL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Delta Air Lines from $81.00 to $69.00 in a report on Monday, May 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Saturday, July 15th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Delta Air Lines from a c rating to a b rating in a research note on Thursday, July 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, July 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Delta Air Lines from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, July 14th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Delta Air Lines currently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $56.88. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 7,513 shares of Delta Air Lines stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.90, for a total value of $277,229.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 107,782 shares in the company, valued at $3,977,155.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Delta Air Lines news, EVP Joanne D. Smith sold 7,513 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 31st. The shares were 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 $3,977,155.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Peter W. Carter sold 17,944 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $807,480.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 166,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,478,640. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 35,863 shares of company stock worth $1,564,470 over the last 90 days. 0.89% of the stock is owned by insiders. Delta Air Lines Trading Down 0.4 % Delta Air Lines stock traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $44.86. 6,922,208 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,704,874. Delta Air Lines, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $27.20 and a fifty-two week high of $49.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.67, a PEG ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 1.30. The stocks 50-day simple moving average is $44.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24. Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 13th. The transportation company reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.40 by $0.28. Delta Air Lines had a net margin of 5.36% and a return on equity of 59.56%. The company had revenue of $15.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share. Delta Air Liness revenue was up 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Delta Air Lines, Inc. will post 6.67 EPS for the current year. Delta Air Lines Cuts Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 17th were paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 14th. Delta Air Liness payout ratio is 8.62%. 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. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding DAL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Delta Air Lines Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Delta Air Lines and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. LOS ANGELES, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- At least 36 people have been confirmed dead in the devastating hurricane-driven wildfires on Hawaii's Maui Island, authorities said on Wednesday. "As the firefighting efforts continue, 36 total fatalities have been discovered today amid the active Lahaina fire," Maui County wrote in a statement posted on the county website Wednesday evening. Strong winds from Hurricane Dora were to blame for the devastating wildfires, leaving parts of Lahaina, a tourist spot, destroyed. The county said that more than 2,100 people stayed in four emergency shelters overnight, while another 2,000 tourists were sheltering at a local airport. The death toll from the disaster could rise as the fires are still burning and rescue teams are searching charred areas, local officials were quoted as saying on Thursday. U.S. President Joe Biden late Wednesday ordered "all available Federal assets" to help combat the wildfires in Hawaii. Shares of Hyatt Hotels Co. (NYSE:H Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of Moderate Buy from the nine research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $122.11. A number of research firms have recently issued reports on H. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Hyatt Hotels in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Hyatt Hotels from $126.00 to $123.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 4th. 22nd Century Group reissued a reiterates rating on shares of Hyatt Hotels in a research report on Friday, June 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed a neutral rating and issued a $122.00 price target on shares of Hyatt Hotels in a report on Friday, June 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Hyatt Hotels from $113.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, July 21st. Get Hyatt Hotels alerts: Read Our Latest Research Report on Hyatt Hotels Insider Activity Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hyatt Hotels In related news, insider H. Charles Floyd sold 6,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $114.00, for a total transaction of $684,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 32,927 shares in the company, valued at $3,753,678. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink . Company insiders own 22.15% of the companys stock. Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 59.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 256,384 shares of the companys stock valued at $24,472,000 after acquiring an additional 95,574 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 31.4% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,991 shares of the companys stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 953 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Hyatt Hotels by 13.2% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 18,865 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,801,000 after purchasing an additional 2,194 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Hyatt Hotels in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,214,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Hyatt Hotels in the first quarter valued at approximately $94,000. 46.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Hyatt Hotels Price Performance Shares of H stock opened at $115.52 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market capitalization of $12.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.18, a P/E/G ratio of 21.80 and a beta of 1.37. The companys 50-day simple moving average is $116.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $113.74. Hyatt Hotels has a one year low of $77.70 and a one year high of $127.80. Hyatt Hotels (NYSE:H Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.01). Hyatt Hotels had a net margin of 6.88% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Hyatt Hotels will post 2.45 EPS for the current year. Hyatt Hotels Cuts Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 25th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 24th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Hyatt Hotelss dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.63%. Hyatt Hotels Company Profile (Get Free Report Hyatt Hotels Corporation operates as a hospitality company in the United States and internationally. It operates through Owned and Leased Hotels, Americas Management and Franchising, ASPAC Management and Franchising, EAME/SW Asia Management and Franchising, and Apple Leisure Group segments. The company manages, franchises, licenses, owns, and leases portfolio of properties, consisting of full-service hotels and resorts, select service hotels, resorts, and other properties, including timeshare, fractional, residential, vacation, and condominium units. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Hyatt Hotels Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Hyatt Hotels and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Tesco PLC (LON:TSCO Get Free Report) insider Ken Murphy purchased 55 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Friday, August 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 252 ($3.22) per share, for a total transaction of 138.60 ($177.12). Ken Murphy also recently made the following trade(s): Get Tesco alerts: On Friday, July 7th, Ken Murphy purchased 56 shares of Tesco stock. The shares were purchased at an average cost of GBX 247 ($3.16) per share, for a total transaction of 138.32 ($176.77). On Friday, May 12th, Ken Murphy bought 51 shares of Tesco stock. The stock was bought at an average cost of GBX 275 ($3.51) per share, for a total transaction of 140.25 ($179.23). Tesco Stock Down 0.2 % TSCO opened at GBX 251.60 ($3.22) on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 123.29, a quick ratio of 0.60 and a current ratio of 0.72. Tesco PLC has a one year low of GBX 194.35 ($2.48) and a one year high of GBX 285.30 ($3.65). The businesss fifty day moving average is GBX 255.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 259.11. The company has a market cap of 18.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2,516.00, a PEG ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.65. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In TSCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Shore Capital reissued a buy rating on shares of Tesco in a report on Monday, July 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Tesco from GBX 290 ($3.71) to GBX 270 ($3.45) and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 7th. Read Our Latest Stock Report on Tesco Tesco Company Profile (Get Free Report) Tesco PLC, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a grocery retailer in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. It offers grocery products through its stores, as well as online. The company is also involved in the food and drink wholesaling activities. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Tesco Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Tesco and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. JDM Financial Group LLC trimmed its holdings in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEARCA:EEM Free Report) by 3.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,345 shares of the exchange traded funds stock after selling 415 shares during the period. iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF comprises approximately 0.4% of JDM Financial Group LLCs holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. JDM Financial Group LLCs holdings in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF were worth $487,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EEM. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF during the 1st quarter worth $146,000. AMI Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. AMI Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,268 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $509,000 after acquiring an additional 605 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its position in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF by 62.5% during the 1st quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 65,005 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $2,935,000 after acquiring an additional 25,000 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF by 14.5% during the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 8,965 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135 shares during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 892,269 shares of the exchange traded funds stock worth $40,286,000 after acquiring an additional 76,229 shares during the period. 82.70% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF alerts: iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF Trading Up 0.3 % Shares of iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF stock traded up $0.11 on Wednesday, hitting $40.10. The company had a trading volume of 27,931,957 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,957,855. iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has a 52 week low of $33.49 and a 52 week high of $42.53. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.67. iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF Company Profile iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF, formerly iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (the Fund), seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of publicly traded equity securities in global emerging markets, as measured by the MSCI Emerging Markets Index (the Index). See Also Receive News & Ratings for iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI Get Free Report) had its price target reduced by stock analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $320.00 to $311.00 in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the communications equipment providers stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.s target price suggests a potential upside of 10.59% from the stocks previous close. Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Motorola Solutions from $315.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Motorola Solutions from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, July 6th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Motorola Solutions from $329.00 to $322.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Motorola Solutions from $310.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Friday, May 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Motorola Solutions from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $309.86. Get Motorola Solutions alerts: Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on MSI Motorola Solutions Stock Performance NYSE MSI traded up $3.42 on Monday, hitting $281.22. The stock had a trading volume of 1,068,189 shares, compared to its average volume of 756,145. The companys 50-day moving average is $286.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $279.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 17.14. The stock has a market cap of $46.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.92. Motorola Solutions has a one year low of $212.76 and a one year high of $299.43. Motorola Solutions (NYSE:MSI Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The communications equipment provider reported $2.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.51 by $0.14. Motorola Solutions had a net margin of 15.72% and a return on equity of 2,157.02%. The company had revenue of $2.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.36 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.87 EPS. The companys revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Motorola Solutions will post 10.07 earnings per share for the current year. Insider Activity at Motorola Solutions In other Motorola Solutions news, CEO Gregory Q. Brown sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $291.13, for a total transaction of $14,556,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 91,843 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,738,252.59. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Institutional Investors Weigh In On Motorola Solutions A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSI. Tucker Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Motorola Solutions in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Mendota Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Motorola Solutions during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Albion Financial Group UT raised its position in shares of Motorola Solutions by 3,633.3% during the 2nd quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 112 shares of the communications equipment providers stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Motorola Solutions during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Motorola Solutions by 1,140.0% in the 2nd quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 124 shares of the communications equipment providers stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.93% of the companys stock. Motorola Solutions Company Profile (Get Free Report) Motorola Solutions, Inc provides public safety and enterprise security solutions in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Products and Systems Integration, and Software and Services. The Products and Systems Integration segment offers a portfolio of infrastructure, devices, accessories, and video security devices and infrastructure, as well as the implementation and integration of systems, devices, software, and applications for government, public safety, and commercial customers who operate private communications networks and video security solutions, as well as manage a mobile workforce. See Also Receive News & Ratings for Motorola Solutions Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Motorola Solutions and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX Get Free Report)s share price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $96.91 and last traded at $95.84, with a volume of 5538 shares. The stock had previously closed at $95.78. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Matson in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Matson from $86.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Matson from $73.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Get Matson alerts: Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Matson Matson Stock Down 1.0 % The company has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.82 and a beta of 1.21. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $80.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Matson (NYSE:MATX Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The shipping company reported $2.26 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $2.26. Matson had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 20.04%. The business had revenue of $773.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $762.35 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $9.49 earnings per share. The businesss quarterly revenue was down 38.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Matson, Inc. will post 5.81 earnings per share for the current year. Matson Increases Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 3rd will be given a $0.32 dividend. This is an increase from Matsons previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 2nd. Matsons dividend payout ratio is currently 10.50%. Insider Buying and Selling In other news, SVP Laura L. Rascon sold 897 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.25, for a total value of $84,542.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,701 shares in the company, valued at $914,319.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, SVP Laura L. Rascon sold 897 shares of Matson stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.25, for a total value of $84,542.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,701 shares in the company, valued at approximately $914,319.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Matthew J. Cox sold 10,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.83, for a total value of $698,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 251,267 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $17,545,974.61. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 45,520 shares of company stock worth $3,544,298. 1.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Matson by 43.1% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 362 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Matson by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 2,995 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its stake in Matson by 41.4% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 413 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Matson by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,899 shares of the shipping companys stock worth $284,000 after buying an additional 153 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Matson by 39.4% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 548 shares of the shipping companys stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.81% of the companys stock. About Matson (Get Free Report) Matson, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides ocean transportation and logistics services. The company's Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Matson Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Matson and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. MGIC Investment Co. (NYSE:MTG Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $18.25 and last traded at $18.23, with a volume of 101925 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $18.06. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of research analysts recently weighed in on MTG shares. Compass Point lifted their target price on shares of MGIC Investment from $18.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of MGIC Investment from $17.00 to $18.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of MGIC Investment in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $17.00. Get MGIC Investment alerts: Read Our Latest Analysis on MTG MGIC Investment Stock Performance The businesss fifty day moving average price is $16.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.31. MGIC Investment (NYSE:MTG Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The insurance provider reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.13. MGIC Investment had a net margin of 67.83% and a return on equity of 17.26%. The firm had revenue of $290.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.51 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. The businesss quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MGIC Investment Co. will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current year. MGIC Investment Increases Dividend The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 24th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 10th will be issued a $0.115 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 9th. This is an increase from MGIC Investments previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. MGIC Investments payout ratio is 15.15%. Institutional Trading of MGIC Investment Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in MGIC Investment by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 103,446 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $1,402,000 after purchasing an additional 12,256 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new position in MGIC Investment during the 1st quarter valued at about $230,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its holdings in MGIC Investment by 42.1% during the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 25,204 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 7,472 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in MGIC Investment by 31.3% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 207,142 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $2,807,000 after purchasing an additional 49,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in MGIC Investment by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 117,400 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $1,591,000 after purchasing an additional 9,454 shares during the last quarter. 95.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors. About MGIC Investment (Get Free Report) MGIC Investment Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance, other mortgage credit risk management solutions, and ancillary services to lenders and government sponsored entities in the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam. The company offers primary mortgage insurance that provides mortgage default protection on individual loans, as well as covers unpaid loan principal, delinquent interest, and various expenses associated with the default and subsequent foreclosure. See Also Receive News & Ratings for MGIC Investment Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for MGIC Investment and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM Free Report) by 35.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 129,971 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 34,027 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLCs holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland were worth $10,353,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 4.7% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 43,470 shares of the companys stock valued at $3,463,000 after acquiring an additional 1,940 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Archer-Daniels-Midland during the 1st quarter worth $574,000. Transform Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 21.3% during the 1st quarter. Transform Wealth LLC now owns 204,456 shares of the companys stock worth $16,287,000 after acquiring an additional 35,944 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 24.1% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 4,345 shares of the companys stock worth $403,000 after acquiring an additional 844 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp raised its position in Archer-Daniels-Midland by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 83,295 shares of the companys stock valued at $6,635,000 after purchasing an additional 2,336 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.13% of the companys stock. Get Archer-Daniels-Midland alerts: Archer-Daniels-Midland Stock Performance Shares of ADM stock traded down $0.59 on Wednesday, reaching $85.85. The stock had a trading volume of 1,817,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,027,046. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Archer-Daniels-Midland Company has a 12 month low of $69.92 and a 12 month high of $98.28. The firms 50-day moving average is $78.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $78.62. Archer-Daniels-Midland Dividend Announcement Archer-Daniels-Midland ( NYSE:ADM Get Free Report ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The company reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.30. The firm had revenue of $25.19 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.82 billion. Archer-Daniels-Midland had a net margin of 4.14% and a return on equity of 17.52%. The companys quarterly revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.15 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Archer-Daniels-Midland Company will post 7.22 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 15th. Archer-Daniels-Midlands dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.03%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth A number of research firms have recently commented on ADM. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $98.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 26th. Argus raised their price target on Archer-Daniels-Midland from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, August 1st. StockNews.com raised Archer-Daniels-Midland from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. Roth Mkm started coverage on Archer-Daniels-Midland in a research report on Thursday, June 22nd. They set a buy rating and a $92.00 price target for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Archer-Daniels-Midland in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. They set an outperform rating and a $100.00 price target for the company. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $99.27. View Our Latest Report on ADM Insider Buying and Selling at Archer-Daniels-Midland In related news, insider Fruit Molly L. Strader sold 1,455 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.80, for a total transaction of $126,294.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,809 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $938,221.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the companys stock. Archer-Daniels-Midland Profile (Free Report) Archer-Daniels-Midland Company procures, transports, stores, processes, and merchandises agricultural commodities, products, and ingredients in the United States, Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company operates in three segments: Ag Services and Oilseeds, Carbohydrate Solutions, and Nutrition. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Archer-Daniels-Midland Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Archer-Daniels-Midland and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW Free Report) by 5.8% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 266,863 shares of the financial services providers stock after acquiring an additional 14,550 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLCs holdings in Charles Schwab were worth $13,978,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SCHW. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its position in Charles Schwab by 32,224.4% in the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 225,994,826 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $18,816,289,000 after acquiring an additional 225,295,680 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,658,930 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $2,215,792,000 after buying an additional 606,423 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 62.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,255,649 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,853,005,000 after buying an additional 8,563,389 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 107.1% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 16,784,516 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,399,817,000 after buying an additional 8,680,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Charles Schwab by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 16,704,631 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $874,989,000 after buying an additional 545,595 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.77% of the companys stock. Get Charles Schwab alerts: Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several equities analysts have commented on SCHW shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Charles Schwab from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $62.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Argus raised their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $70.00 to $81.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Charles Schwab from $71.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Charles Schwab presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $72.09. Charles Schwab Price Performance Shares of SCHW traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $65.29. 6,588,806 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,139,512. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $59.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.91. The company has a market cap of $115.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.80 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The Charles Schwab Co. has a 1 year low of $45.00 and a 1 year high of $86.63. Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $4.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.61 billion. Charles Schwab had a net margin of 33.15% and a return on equity of 27.81%. The businesss revenue for the quarter was down 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Charles Schwab Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year. Charles Schwab Dividend Announcement The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 25th. Investors of record on Friday, August 11th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 10th. Charles Schwabs payout ratio is currently 29.15%. Insider Buying and Selling In related news, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 75,760 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total value of $5,045,616.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 59,672,778 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,974,207,014.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Charles Schwab news, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 75,760 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total transaction of $5,045,616.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 59,672,778 shares of the companys stock, valued at $3,974,207,014.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman Charles R. Schwab sold 72,047 shares of the firms stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.66, for a total transaction of $4,802,653.02. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 59,748,538 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $3,982,837,543.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 225,447 shares of company stock valued at $13,866,915 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.60% of the companys stock. Charles Schwab Profile (Free Report) The Charles Schwab Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a savings and loan holding company that provides wealth management, securities brokerage, banking, asset management, custody, and financial advisory services. The company operates in two segments, Investor Services and Advisor Services. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SCHW? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Charles Schwab Co. (NYSE:SCHW Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Charles Schwab Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Charles Schwab and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. New York Life Investment Management LLC cut its stake in Lockheed Martin Co. (NYSE:LMT Free Report) by 5.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,077 shares of the aerospace companys stock after selling 1,992 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLCs holdings in Lockheed Martin were worth $18,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Lockheed Martin by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,849,054 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $2,821,626,000 after buying an additional 382,510 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Lockheed Martin by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,387,684 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $2,132,545,000 after acquiring an additional 11,855 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Lockheed Martin by 81,305.4% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,907,328 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $927,896,000 after acquiring an additional 1,904,985 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in Lockheed Martin by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 886,300 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $431,176,000 after acquiring an additional 188,100 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in Lockheed Martin by 36.3% during the 1st quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 838,619 shares of the aerospace companys stock worth $396,441,000 after acquiring an additional 223,260 shares during the period. 75.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Lockheed Martin alerts: Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth LMT has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Lockheed Martin from $480.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $433.00 to $440.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. Robert W. Baird cut Lockheed Martin from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $513.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $579.00 to $555.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an equal weight rating and issued a $532.00 price objective on shares of Lockheed Martin in a report on Wednesday, July 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $499.43. Insider Activity In related news, Director John Donovan purchased 548 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 19th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $457.07 per share, for a total transaction of $250,474.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,378 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,543,982.46. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.17% of the companys stock. Lockheed Martin Price Performance NYSE:LMT traded up $3.34 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $452.81. 1,162,821 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,240,202. Lockheed Martin Co. has a 52-week low of $381.55 and a 52-week high of $508.10. The firms fifty day moving average price is $456.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $465.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company has a market cap of $114.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.65. Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 18th. The aerospace company reported $6.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $6.45 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $16.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.92 billion. Lockheed Martin had a return on equity of 71.67% and a net margin of 10.48%. The businesss revenue was up 8.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $6.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lockheed Martin Co. will post 27.08 EPS for the current fiscal year. Lockheed Martin Dividend Announcement The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 1st will be given a $3.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 31st. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Lockheed Martins dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.88%. Lockheed Martin Company Profile (Free Report) Lockheed Martin Corporation, a security and aerospace company, engages in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration, and sustainment of technology systems, products, and services worldwide. It operates through four segments: Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control, Rotary and Mission Systems, and Space. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LMT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Lockheed Martin Co. (NYSE:LMT Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Lockheed Martin Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Lockheed Martin and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. NewEdge Wealth LLC cut its holdings in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:AGG Free Report) by 10.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 36,293 shares of the companys stock after selling 4,343 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLCs holdings in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF were worth $3,616,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Phillips Financial Management LLC lifted its position in iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 1.2% during the first quarter. Phillips Financial Management LLC now owns 479,563 shares of the companys stock worth $47,784,000 after buying an additional 5,650 shares during the period. Beacon Bridge Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 28.8% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Bridge Wealth Partners LLC now owns 232,117 shares of the companys stock worth $23,128,000 after purchasing an additional 51,878 shares during the period. Cahill Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. Cahill Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,633 shares of the companys stock worth $2,454,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015 shares during the period. Hamilton Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 42.9% in the 1st quarter. Hamilton Wealth LLC now owns 41,167 shares of the companys stock worth $4,102,000 after purchasing an additional 12,350 shares during the period. Finally, Vantage Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 274,949 shares of the companys stock worth $27,396,000 after purchasing an additional 20,615 shares during the period. 80.13% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF alerts: iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF Stock Performance Shares of iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF stock traded up $0.07 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $97.00. The stock had a trading volume of 5,634,576 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,175,023. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $97.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.53. iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF has a 1 year low of $93.20 and a 1 year high of $103.68. iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF Company 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. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AGG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:AGG Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. NEW YORK, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday that would block U.S. high-tech investments in China despite Washington repeatedly stating it has no interest in "decoupling" from China. Designating China as a "country of concern," the order aims to limit U.S. investments in three categories of national security technologies: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and certain artificial intelligence systems, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. The order also requires U.S. venture capitalists and other investors to notify the Treasury of prospective investment into Chinese companies for developing technologies in the targeted sectors. The order is expected to go into effect following a 45-day comment period. Having been planned for months, the order is widely considered another step to suppress China's technological progress under the pretext of national security as the United States doubles down on its high-tech rivalry with China. In response, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said early Thursday that "the United States restricted outbound investments from its companies, engaging in 'decoupling' in the investment sector under the guise of 'de-risking,' which is a complete departure from the principles of a market economy and fair competition that the U.S. has long claimed to champion." It continued: "It has undermined the international trade order and severely disrupted the security of global industrial and supply chains. China is gravely concerned over this and reserves the right to take measures." U.S. tech and financial companies have already expressed concern, fearing that such a move would have a chilling effect on all cross-border investment activities in China. Bloomberg also warned previously in an opinion piece that "the policy would risk undermining American competitiveness, with little discernible benefit to national security." Since taking office, Biden has watered down the "de-coupling" rhetoric as "de-risking" but has ratcheted up its tech blockade on China, business insiders say. In June 2021, Biden made a similar move by signing an executive order that bans U.S. entities from investing in dozens of Chinese companies with alleged ties to defense or surveillance technologies. Furthermore, following the Chips and Science Act rolled out last year, the United States imposed a sweeping set of export controls to cut off China from certain semiconductor chips and chip-making equipment. Last month, Washington again made the politically motivated claim that China steals intellectual property. However, "there's no indication that the restrictions have slowed China's drive," The National Interests, An American website, said in a recent opinion piece. Rather, "available information points to surprisingly rapid progress in China's efforts to work around technology restrictions." Last year, during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Bali, Biden said, "the U.S. side has no intention to seek 'de-coupling' from China." Senior White House officials have made similar remarks. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, for example, tried to reassure China that Washington doesn't want to decouple or separate its economy from China. But the remarks do not represent a substantial change in policy, said Alex Lo, a columnist for The South China Morning Post. They just sound "less belligerent" while "the underlying hostility remains." OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lowered its position in shares of HDFC Bank Limited (NYSE:HDB Free Report) by 41.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,730 shares of the banks stock after selling 12,590 shares during the quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltds holdings in HDFC Bank were worth $1,182,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of HDB. Thompson Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of HDFC Bank in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. OLD Mission Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of HDFC Bank in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of HDFC Bank in the 1st quarter valued at about $37,000. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. purchased a new position in shares of HDFC Bank in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of HDFC Bank in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 17.71% of the companys stock. Get HDFC Bank alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of equities research analysts recently commented on HDB shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of HDFC Bank in a research note on Monday, July 17th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of HDFC Bank in a research note on Tuesday, June 20th. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of HDFC Bank in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. HDFC Bank Trading Up 0.5 % Shares of HDFC Bank stock traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $66.85. 1,002,289 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,622,323. HDFC Bank Limited has a twelve month low of $55.22 and a twelve month high of $71.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $124.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. HDFC Bank (NYSE:HDB Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. HDFC Bank had a net margin of 22.03% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The company had revenue of $4.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $3.93 billion. Research analysts forecast that HDFC Bank Limited will post 2.86 EPS for the current year. HDFC Bank Company Profile (Free Report) HDFC Bank Limited provides banking and financial services to individuals and businesses in India, Bahrain, Hong Kong, and Dubai. The company operates in three segments: Wholesale Banking, Retail Banking, and Treasury Services. It accepts savings, salary, current, rural, public provident fund, pension, and demat accounts; fixed and recurring deposits; and safe deposit lockers, as well as offshore accounts and deposits, and overdrafts against fixed deposits. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for HDFC Bank Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for HDFC Bank and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd cut its position in iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF (NYSEARCA:HEWJ Free Report) by 1.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 53,676 shares of the companys stock after selling 600 shares during the period. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltds holdings in iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF were worth $1,550,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Separately, Flow Traders U.S. LLC boosted its position in iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF by 39.1% in the 4th quarter. Flow Traders U.S. LLC now owns 197,616 shares of the companys stock worth $5,170,000 after purchasing an additional 55,589 shares in the last quarter. Get iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF alerts: iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF Trading Down 0.6 % iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF stock traded down $0.19 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $33.20. The company had a trading volume of 280,893 shares, compared to its average volume of 165,923. The company has a market capitalization of $202.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.76 and a beta of 0.63. The companys fifty day moving average is $33.07 and its 200-day moving average is $30.37. iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF has a 12-month low of $26.08 and a 12-month high of $41.04. iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF Company Profile The iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF (HEWJ) is an exchange-traded fund that mostly invests in total market equity. The fund tracks an index of large- and mid-cap Japanese stocks, while fully hedging out its exposure to the yen relative to the US dollar. HEWJ was launched on Jan 31, 2014 and is managed by BlackRock. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding HEWJ? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF (NYSEARCA:HEWJ Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM Free Report) by 9.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,020 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 511 shares during the period. Personal CFO Solutions LLCs holdings in Philip Morris International were worth $585,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in PM. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Philip Morris International by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,381 shares of the companys stock worth $1,658,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,600 shares of the companys stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Horizon Investment Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investment Services LLC now owns 4,871 shares of the companys stock worth $493,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Cigna Investments Inc. New raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 19,168 shares of the companys stock worth $1,940,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Herold Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Philip Morris International by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Herold Advisors Inc. now owns 5,050 shares of the companys stock worth $491,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 77.43% of the companys stock. Get Philip Morris International alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes A number of research firms have recently commented on PM. 22nd Century Group restated a reiterates rating on shares of Philip Morris International in a report on Tuesday, June 27th. Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on Philip Morris International in a research report on Thursday, April 13th. They set a buy rating and a $114.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup raised Philip Morris International from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $109.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 20th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Philip Morris International in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $111.40. Philip Morris International Trading Up 0.8 % PM traded up $0.82 during trading on Thursday, reaching $97.94. 731,222 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,359,911. The stock has a market cap of $152.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.97, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.69. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $96.43 and a 200 day moving average of $97.33. Philip Morris International Inc. has a 52 week low of $82.85 and a 52 week high of $105.62. Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 20th. The company reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.10. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 127.84% and a net margin of 11.63%. The firm had revenue of $8.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.76 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.48 EPS. The firms revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 6.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 23rd were issued a dividend of $1.27 per share. This represents a $5.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.19%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 22nd. Philip Morris Internationals dividend payout ratio is 98.26%. About Philip Morris International (Free Report) Philip Morris International Inc operates as a tobacco company working to delivers a smoke-free future and evolving portfolio for the long-term to include products outside of the tobacco and nicotine sector. The company's product portfolio primarily consists of cigarettes and smoke-free products, including heat-not-burn, vapor, and oral nicotine products primarily under the IQOS and ZYN brands; and consumer accessories, such as lighters and matches. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Philip Morris International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Philip Morris International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its position in shares of Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT Free Report) by 3.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 216,840 shares of the medical technology companys stock after selling 6,956 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorados holdings in Medtronic were worth $17,482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MDT. Sageworth Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Medtronic during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Syverson Strege & Co grew its position in shares of Medtronic by 52.9% during the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 341 shares of the medical technology companys stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Medtronic by 250.0% in the 1st quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 350 shares of the medical technology companys stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new position in Medtronic during the first quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Thompson Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Medtronic during the first quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors own 80.48% of the companys stock. Get Medtronic alerts: Insider Transactions at Medtronic In other Medtronic news, EVP Michael Marinaro sold 1,352 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.11, for a total value of $113,716.72. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 28,930 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,433,302.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Medtronic news, EVP Michael Marinaro sold 1,352 shares of the companys stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.11, for a total transaction of $113,716.72. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 28,930 shares of the companys stock, valued at $2,433,302.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Hoedt Rob Ten sold 5,514 shares of Medtronic stock in a transaction on Monday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.58, for a total value of $477,402.12. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,792,377.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 8,866 shares of company stock worth $767,059. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MDT. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Medtronic from $90.00 to $92.00 in a research report on Friday, May 26th. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Medtronic in a research report on Tuesday, July 18th. They issued a neutral rating and a $90.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded Medtronic from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and set a $104.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 30th. CL King assumed coverage on Medtronic in a report on Friday, June 30th. They issued a buy rating and a $106.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Medtronic from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, July 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $90.72. Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Medtronic Medtronic Trading Up 0.9 % Shares of MDT traded up $0.70 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $82.94. The company had a trading volume of 4,535,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,830,880. Medtronic plc has a fifty-two week low of $75.76 and a fifty-two week high of $95.60. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.77. The stock has a market cap of $110.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Medtronic (NYSE:MDT Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 25th. The medical technology company reported $1.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.56 by $0.01. Medtronic had a return on equity of 13.54% and a net margin of 12.03%. The company had revenue of $8.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. The firms revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Medtronic plc will post 5.04 EPS for the current fiscal year. Medtronic Increases Dividend The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 22nd. This is an increase from Medtronics previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. Medtronics dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 97.87%. Medtronic Profile (Free Report) Medtronic plc develops, manufactures, and sells device-based medical therapies to healthcare systems, physicians, clinicians, and patients worldwide. Its Cardiovascular Portfolio segment offers implantable cardiac pacemakers, cardioverter defibrillators, and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices; cardiac ablation products; insertable cardiac monitor systems; TYRX products; and remote monitoring and patient-centered software. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MDT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Medtronic plc (NYSE:MDT Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Medtronic Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Medtronic and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in The Bank of New York Mellon Co. (NYSE:BK Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 7,272 shares of the banks stock, valued at approximately $330,000. Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BK. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of New York Mellon by 160.0% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 5,358 shares of the banks stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 3,297 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of New York Mellon during the first quarter worth approximately $1,096,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in shares of Bank of New York Mellon by 3.3% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 35,635 shares of the banks stock worth $1,769,000 after buying an additional 1,154 shares in the last quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. boosted its holdings in Bank of New York Mellon by 54.3% in the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 232,115 shares of the banks stock worth $11,519,000 after purchasing an additional 81,728 shares during the period. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its holdings in Bank of New York Mellon by 165.3% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 1,459 shares of the banks stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 909 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.19% of the companys stock. Get Bank of New York Mellon alerts: Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of New York Mellon In other news, EVP J Kevin Mccarthy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.33, for a total transaction of $1,621,550.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 98,102 shares in the company, valued at $4,545,065.66. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Bank of New York Mellon news, insider Kurtis R. Kurimsky sold 14,045 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.64, for a total value of $641,013.80. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 23,816 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,086,962.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP J Kevin Mccarthy sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.33, for a total value of $1,621,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 98,102 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,545,065.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.10% of the companys stock. Bank of New York Mellon Stock Performance Shares of BK stock traded down $0.45 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $45.27. 3,661,449 shares of the companys stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,422,655. The Bank of New York Mellon Co. has a fifty-two week low of $36.22 and a fifty-two week high of $52.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $44.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:BK Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 18th. The bank reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $4.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.37 billion. Bank of New York Mellon had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 10.95%. Bank of New York Mellons revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.15 earnings per share. Analysts predict that The Bank of New York Mellon Co. will post 4.86 EPS for the current fiscal year. Bank of New York Mellon Increases Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 28th will be given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. This is a boost from Bank of New York Mellons previous quarterly dividend of $0.37. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 27th. Bank of New York Mellons dividend payout ratio is 48.98%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BK. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of New York Mellon from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Bank of New York Mellon from $43.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Bank of New York Mellon from $58.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 19th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Bank of New York Mellon from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Bank of New York Mellon from $64.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $52.90. Get Our Latest Analysis on BK Bank of New York Mellon Profile (Free Report) The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is a bank holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services. It operates through the following segments: Securities Services, Market and Wealth Services, Investment and Wealth Management, and Other segment. The Securities Services segment includes Asset Servicing business, which provides global custody, fund accounting, integrated middle-office solutions, transfer agency and data and analytics solutions. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding BK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Bank of New York Mellon Co. (NYSE:BK Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Bank of New York Mellon Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bank of New York Mellon and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its holdings in United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS Free Report) by 79.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,482 shares of the transportation companys stock after selling 100,000 shares during the quarter. Schwartz Investment Counsel Inc.s holdings in United Parcel Service were worth $5,137,000 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. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in United Parcel Service in the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Journey Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in United Parcel Service by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Journey Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,990 shares of the transportation companys stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC bought a new position in United Parcel Service in the 1st quarter valued at $666,000. DnB Asset Management AS grew its stake in shares of United Parcel Service by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 173,857 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $33,727,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024 shares during the period. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of United Parcel Service by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 12,634 shares of the transportation companys stock worth $2,451,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.94% of the companys stock. Get United Parcel Service alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets UPS has been the subject of several research reports. Susquehanna cut their price target on United Parcel Service from $180.00 to $173.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on United Parcel Service from $221.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on United Parcel Service to $203.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Raymond James cut their price target on United Parcel Service from $207.00 to $205.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on United Parcel Service in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a hold rating for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, United Parcel Service currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $189.04. United Parcel Service Price Performance Shares of NYSE:UPS traded down $1.18 on Wednesday, hitting $179.37. The companys stock had a trading volume of 3,136,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,347,841. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $181.33. United Parcel Service, Inc. has a 1 year low of $154.87 and a 1 year high of $209.39. The company has a market capitalization of $154.06 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 1.34. United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The transportation company reported $2.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.49 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $22.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $23.04 billion. United Parcel Service had a return on equity of 57.68% and a net margin of 10.90%. The companys revenue was down 10.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.29 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that United Parcel Service, Inc. will post 10.66 EPS for the current fiscal year. United Parcel Service Announces Dividend The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 31st. Investors of record on Monday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 11th. This represents a $6.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. United Parcel Services dividend payout ratio is 52.43%. United Parcel Service Company Profile (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. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding UPS? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for United Parcel Service Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for United Parcel Service and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Stokes Family Office LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO Free Report) by 7.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,705 shares of the companys stock after selling 384 shares during the quarter. Stokes Family Office LLCs holdings in Novo Nordisk A/S were worth $749,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVO. Roundview Capital LLC lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 18,803 shares of the companys stock worth $2,088,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 45.4% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,035,879 shares of the companys stock worth $559,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,571,747 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 739,585 shares of the companys stock worth $82,131,000 after acquiring an additional 6,903 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 19,466 shares of the companys stock worth $2,136,000 after acquiring an additional 2,194 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in Novo Nordisk A/S by 17.5% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 107,175 shares of the companys stock worth $11,913,000 after acquiring an additional 15,996 shares during the period. 6.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Novo Nordisk A/S alerts: Novo Nordisk A/S Trading Down 0.9 % NYSE:NVO traded down $1.62 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $187.55. 3,722,259 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,427,022. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business has a 50-day moving average of $160.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.82. Novo Nordisk A/S has a twelve month low of $95.02 and a twelve month high of $192.18. The company has a market capitalization of $420.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.36, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.46. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on NVO shares. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a strong-buy rating for the company. HSBC initiated coverage on Novo Nordisk A/S in a report on Friday, July 14th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Finally, Credit Suisse Group raised Novo Nordisk A/S from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 13th. Get Our Latest Analysis on Novo Nordisk A/S Novo Nordisk A/S Company 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. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Novo Nordisk A/S Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Novo Nordisk A/S and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Sunstone Hotel Investors (NYSE:SHO Free Report) had its target price cut by Compass Point from $10.00 to $9.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, FlyOnTheWall reports. A number of other research analysts also recently commented on SHO. StockNews.com downgraded Sunstone Hotel Investors from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Monday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Sunstone Hotel Investors from $9.50 to $11.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Sunstone Hotel Investors from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating and boosted their target price for the company from $9.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Sunstone Hotel Investors from $9.00 to $8.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Sunstone Hotel Investors currently has a consensus rating of Reduce and a consensus target price of $10.25. Get Sunstone Hotel Investors alerts: Check Out Our Latest Analysis on SHO Sunstone Hotel Investors Stock Down 0.6 % Sunstone Hotel Investors Increases Dividend NYSE SHO traded down $0.05 on Tuesday, reaching $9.51. The stock had a trading volume of 2,674,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,126,452. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $10.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. Sunstone Hotel Investors has a 1 year low of $8.60 and a 1 year high of $12.33. The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.27. The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 16th. Investors of record on Friday, September 29th will be given a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 28th. This is a boost from Sunstone Hotel Investorss previous quarterly dividend of $0.05. Sunstone Hotel Investorss payout ratio is currently 66.67%. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sunstone Hotel Investors Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 5.1% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 234,102 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $2,369,000 after purchasing an additional 11,325 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 123,870 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $1,254,000 after purchasing an additional 7,048 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,216,978 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $22,546,000 after purchasing an additional 46,785 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG acquired a new position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors during the 2nd quarter worth about $311,000. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its position in shares of Sunstone Hotel Investors by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 182,351 shares of the real estate investment trusts stock worth $1,845,000 after purchasing an additional 1,147 shares during the last quarter. Sunstone Hotel Investors Company Profile (Get Free Report) Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc is a lodging real estate investment trust ("REIT") that as of the date of this release owns 15 hotels comprised of 7,735 rooms, the majority of which are operated under nationally recognized brands. Sunstone's strategy is to create long-term stakeholder value through the acquisition, active ownership and disposition of hotels considered to be Long-Term Relevant Real Estate. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Sunstone Hotel Investors Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Sunstone Hotel Investors and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. StockNews.com upgraded shares of TransAlta (NYSE:TAC Free Report) (TSE:TA) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note published on Monday. Separately, Credit Suisse Group raised TransAlta from a neutral rating to an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, TransAlta has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $16.10. Get TransAlta alerts: Get Our Latest Analysis on TAC TransAlta Stock Performance NYSE TAC traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $10.17. The companys stock had a trading volume of 353,104 shares, compared to its average volume of 348,168. The companys 50 day simple moving average is $9.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.24. The company has a market cap of $2.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.54 and a beta of 1.02. TransAlta has a 12 month low of $7.55 and a 12 month high of $10.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.60, a current ratio of 1.66 and a quick ratio of 1.43. TransAlta (NYSE:TAC Get Free Report) (TSE:TA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 4th. The utilities provider reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.03 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $625.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $538.20 million. TransAlta had a return on equity of 21.41% and a net margin of 7.95%. The businesss quarterly revenue was up 36.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.24) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that TransAlta will post 1.1 EPS for the current fiscal year. TransAlta Increases Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 1st will be issued a $0.042 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 31st. This is a boost from TransAltas previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. TransAltas payout ratio is currently 22.86%. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in TransAlta by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 326,490 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $2,920,000 after purchasing an additional 1,463 shares in the last quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co raised its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. DORCHESTER WEALTH MANAGEMENT Co now owns 111,775 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $999,000 after acquiring an additional 3,050 shares in the last quarter. Waratah Capital Advisors Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 1,037.3% during the 4th quarter. Waratah Capital Advisors Ltd. now owns 2,750,447 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $24,599,000 after acquiring an additional 2,508,615 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 4,245,376 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $37,971,000 after acquiring an additional 460,019 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of TransAlta by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 10,990,174 shares of the utilities providers stock worth $98,314,000 after acquiring an additional 33,256 shares in the last quarter. 61.11% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About TransAlta (Get Free Report) TransAlta Corporation engages in the development, production, and sale of electric energy. It operates through Hydro, Wind and Solar, Gas, Energy Transition, and Energy Marketing segments. The Hydro segment has a net ownership interest of approximately 922 megawatts (MW) of owned hydro electrical-generating capacity located in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for TransAlta Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for TransAlta and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Twin Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY Free Report) by 19.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,015 shares of the companys stock after selling 3,612 shares during the period. Eli Lilly and Company comprises about 0.7% of Twin Capital Management Inc.s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Twin Capital Management Inc.s holdings in Eli Lilly and Company were worth $5,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 193.3% during the 1st quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 88 shares of the companys stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 97.8% during the 4th quarter. Destiny Wealth Partners LLC now owns 91 shares of the companys stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. New England Capital Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Eli Lilly and Company during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Tanglewood Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Eli Lilly and Company during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.25% of the companys stock. Get Eli Lilly and Company alerts: Insider Buying and Selling In related news, EVP Patrik Jonsson sold 6,000 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 1st. The shares were 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 directly owns 36,941 shares of the companys stock, valued at $15,864,681.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Eli Lilly and Company news, major shareholder Lilly Endowment Inc sold 194,354 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $442.62, for a total value of $86,024,967.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 101,473,810 shares of the companys stock, valued at $44,914,337,782.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Patrik Jonsson sold 6,000 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 1st. The shares were 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 directly owns 36,941 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $15,864,681.86. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 568,254 shares of company stock valued at $258,314,906 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.13% of the companys stock. Eli Lilly and Company Price Performance NYSE:LLY traded up $4.63 on Wednesday, reaching $526.23. The stock had a trading volume of 5,333,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,072,704. The company has a market capitalization of $499.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.35. Eli Lilly and Company has a 1-year low of $296.32 and a 1-year high of $538.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $451.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $394.25. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The company reported $2.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $8.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.58 billion. Eli Lilly and Company had a net margin of 20.54% and a return on equity of 61.42%. The companys revenue was up 28.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Eli Lilly and Company will post 8.77 EPS for the current year. Eli Lilly and Company Announces Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 8th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.13 per share. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 14th. Eli Lilly and Companys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.86%. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In LLY has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $395.00 to $392.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 11th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $500.00 to $600.00 in a report on Wednesday. 22nd Century Group restated a maintains rating on shares of Eli Lilly and Company in a report on Tuesday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $510.00 to $600.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on shares of Eli Lilly and Company from $375.00 to $500.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Eli Lilly and Company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $511.17. Check Out Our Latest Report on Eli Lilly and Company 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. See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LLY? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Eli Lilly and Company Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Eli Lilly and Company and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. NEW YORK, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden's new executive order to limit U.S. investments in advanced technology industries in China is "aimed in the wrong direction," said an American professor on Wednesday. The order restricting certain types of foreign investment and capital flows into China represents just "another punitive step in an effort to contain China," Denis Simon, a professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told Xinhua. Noting that it's aimed in the wrong direction, the professor said the move will very likely leave China "further bewildered about U.S. strategic goals and objectives." "One must wonder what the end game here looks like and what might be the underlying strategy that informs such actions," he said, adding that the Biden administration has revealed "a penchant for speaking out of both sides of its mouth." It sent senior level officials such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry to Beijing "seemingly to mend fences and build positive momentum in bilateral relationship, and then in the very same breadth it adopts further restrictions and prohibitions that send an entirely different message," Simon said. "How can we expect China's cooperation on key global issues when we continue to send such mixed signals?" he said. "Our actions will likely have only very minimal impact at best," he said. "The political message to China, however, will be loud and clear: you remain a threat and our actions reflect that thinking." The professor suggested it is time for the Biden Administration to "stop being the instrument for the anti-China coalition that exists in Congress and other parts of the Beltway." The United States needs a "more coherent, comprehensive, well integrated China policy" that incentivizes bilateral cooperation in such areas as climate change and global epidemics. "Ad hoc, piecemeal approaches do not add up to an effective China policy, even in the short term. U.S. policy ought to be aimed at rebuilding trust and revitalizing the relationship for the long term," he said. Westport Fuel Systems (TSE:WPRT Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by Royal Bank of Canada from C$15.00 to C$12.00 in a report released on Thursday, BayStreet.CA reports. The firm presently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canadas price target would indicate a potential upside of 9.79% from the stocks previous close. Westport Fuel Systems Stock Performance Shares of WPRT traded down C$0.78 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching C$10.93. 41,041 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,563. The stocks fifty day moving average is C$11.19 and its 200 day moving average is C$4.72. The stock has a market cap of C$187.78 million, a P/E ratio of -1.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -0.12 and a beta of 2.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 39.05, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 1.97. Westport Fuel Systems has a 1-year low of C$8.78 and a 1-year high of C$18.40. Get Westport Fuel Systems alerts: Westport Fuel Systems Company Profile (Get Free Report) Read More Westport Fuel Systems Inc engages in the engineering, manufacturing, and supplying alternative fuel systems and components for use in transportation applications in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and internationally. The company operates through Original Equipment Manufacturer and Independent Aftermarket segments. Receive News & Ratings for Westport Fuel Systems Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Westport Fuel Systems and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Weather Alert ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM CDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with heat index values of 105 to 115 expected. * WHERE...Southern Illinois and southeast Missouri along with the westernmost portions of southwest Indiana and western Kentucky. * WHEN...From noon today to 10 PM CDT Thursday. * IMPACTS...Extreme heat and humidity will significantly increase the potential for heat related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...This will likely be the worst heat wave we have experienced this summer in terms of duration. The multiple day aspect of this excessive heat will add to the impact. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. && New Delhi: In a significant turn of events, the US Supreme Court has declined to enforce a federal judge's injunction that could have compelled Apple to alter its payment practices within its lucrative App Store. This decision comes as a setback for Epic Games, the company that had filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple. The injunction, initially issued by US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in September 2021, was designed to permit developers to inform users about alternative payment methods beyond Apple's App Store ecosystem. Apple contested the injunction and sought relief from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the injunction in April but suspended its enforcement while Apple's appeal reached the Supreme Court. In a succinct ruling, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan dismissed Epic's plea to lift the stay on the injunction. Kagan asserted that Epic had not demonstrated that it would encounter irreparable harm in the absence of lifting the stay. Furthermore, Kagan argued that upholding the stay would better serve the public interest. Also read: ISRO Releases Captivating Images of Earth and Moon from Chandrayaan-3 Spacecraft on Board While this decision favors Apple, it does not mark the conclusion of the legal proceedings. Epic's lawsuit against Apple for antitrust violations remains active, with the case pending before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. There remains a possibility that the Supreme Court might revisit the case at a later juncture. Also read: Amazonian countries want to speak with one voice about climate change This verdict not only represents a setback for Epic Games but also underscores the intricate challenges that antitrust plaintiffs face when confronting tech giants. Apple, a formidable entity with substantial resources, has successfully repelled antitrust allegations over an extended period. The unfolding legal saga will determine whether Epic can surmount Apple's defenses and secure a favorable outcome in its legal battle. Also read: Coupang to expand its investments in Taiwan after enormous profits Weather Alert ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 10 PM CDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with heat index values of 105 to 115 expected. * WHERE...Portions of southern Illinois, southwest Indiana and western Kentucky. Generally locations along and northwest of a line from Fulton to Paducah Kentucky to Shawneetown Illinois to Princeton Indiana. * WHEN...From noon today to 10 PM CDT Thursday. * IMPACTS...Extreme heat and humidity will significantly increase the potential for heat related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...This will likely be the worst heat wave we have experienced this summer in terms of duration. The multiple day aspect of this excessive heat will add to the impact. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. Young children and pets should never be left unattended in vehicles under any circumstances. Take extra precautions if you work or spend time outside. When possible reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Know the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing when possible. To reduce risk during outdoor work, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommends scheduling frequent rest breaks in shaded or air conditioned environments. Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shaded location. Heat stroke is an emergency! Call 9 1 1. && Defense Minister Reznikov shows off new Canadian armored vehicles 10 August, 12:55 PM Canada plans to transfer 200 Senator armored personnel carriers to Ukraine (Photo:Screenshot from the video from /Twitter) Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov showed off one of the new Senator armored personnel carrier supplied by Canada in a post on Twitter on Aug. 9. In his post, the minister thanked Canada for helping Kyiv to fight the Russian invasion forces, and also expressing gratitude to his Canadian colleague Anita Anand. "These armored vehicles aid in the protection of our troops during combat missions," the minister wrote. They will save thousands of lives of our soldiers. Because, after all, it is the people who can win this war. Video of day In January, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand announced the transfer of 200 Senator armored personnel carriers to Ukraine. She made the announcement during a visit to Kyiv. 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. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News Part of the SEP memorial meeting in Colombo on July 29, 2023 in honour of Wije Dias. On Saturday July 29, the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) in Sri Lanka held a moving and well-attended meeting marking a year since the passing of Wije Dias, the former general secretary of the SEP. Several workers and youth attending the event spoke with the World Socialist Web Site about Wijes historic role in the SEP and the International Committee of the Fourth International, the world Trotskyist movement. A young person from Hatton, a central plantation district, said: Ive known Comrade Wije since my childhood. In those days, he participated in party meetings in the estates with my father, an SEP member. Ive decided to attend todays meeting out of respect for Comrade Wije. Wije fought to defend the rights of the workers, explaining that Tamil workers could not win their rights through the Tamil capitalist parties and the trade unions. He also emphasised that the workers had to unite globally. His perspective was international socialism. Although the Tamil parties and the trade unions claim that they can defend the rights of estate workers, I dont have any faith in these outfits. My estate worker friends also criticise them. Im unable to get any work at the estate and so I work as a temporary driver in Hatton town. Although my working day is from 7 in the morning until 7 at night, I only receive a daily salary of less than 2,000 rupees [$US6]. This is the same salary I got five years ago but today the price of goods has skyrocketed and all our hardships have amalgamated. Under these conditions, the future importance of Comrade Wijes political clarifications have become clear. The best way to honour Comrade Wije is to take forward his struggle. Suthan Muruganathan, an unemployed 22-year-old from Jaffna, said: I was fortunate enough to know Comrade Wije since my childhood because my father was an SEP member. The first time I saw Wije was at a public meeting in Jaffna. I think it was in 2010, just after the bloody conclusion of the civil war [against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)]. Surath Muruganathan The SEP had taken a revolutionary anti-war position, opposing the anti-Tamil war of successive Colombo governments and also the separatism of Tamil nationalist militant movements, including the LTTE. My father had told me that our party comrades could survive amid all the violence from other political groups, and the state, because our party represented the interests of the working class and was based on the international working class. I think this was the same reason for Wijes charisma. From a young age until his death, Wijes political struggle was for Trotskyism. This was sharply expressed in the partys call for a Democratic and Socialist Congress of Workers and Rural Masses during the concluding days of last year's mass movement. This contains important lessons for todays young generation and inspires comrades like us. Comrade Wijes death is a great loss to our party and to the international working class, Muruganathan said. Anita Anita, 22, a young housewife from Jaffna, said: Even though I did not see him [Wije] when he was alive, I got the chance to understand his living ideas through the World Socialist Web Site and as a party member fighting for Trotskyism. From the age of 20 until his death at 80, he was a great contributor in the struggle to prepare the working class for socialist revolution. His passing is a loss not only for his close relatives but to the whole working class. Murali Murali, 25, a fisherman from Jaffna, said: I first saw Wije when he addressed a public meeting organised by the SEP at Weerasingham Hall in Jaffna, after the end of the civil war. Despite all the difficulties associated with his old age, he travelled to the war-torn north of Sri Lanka to fight for the unity of Sinhala and Tamil workers. He denounced all the Colombo government for the destruction created by war, explained the pro-capitalist positions of the other parties, and told us that the oppressed had to fight for a workers and peasants government. Thilakana Gamage, a farmer from Tangalle in the islands south and a long-standing member of the SEP/RCL (Revolutionary Communist League, the forerunner of the SEP), recalled his experiences with Wije in 1980: I still remember my participation in an education class on revolutionary theory and practice held at the RCL headquarters in Colombo in early 1980. Comrade Keerthi Balasuriya [then RCL general secretary] delivered the main report and during a brief interval Comrade Wije, who was also attending, spoke with us. After discussing the role of various other political parties, he explained the importance of Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy, the book on which the discussion was based and invited us to seriously study it. Thilakana Gamage I also remember Comrade Wijes participation in a meeting at my farm on the partys political work after the July 1980 general strike. Party members and supporters from the area attended the meeting, which was held at night in my small home. Despite the difficulties, Wije spoke for hours explaining the political issues. He pointed out that the then government of President J.R. Jayawardena sacked about 100,000 workers in order to break the strike as part of his moves to suppress rights of the working class, establish an executive presidency, and bring foreign capital into the country. Wije explained that the Lanka Sama Samaja Partys [LSSP] entrance into a bourgeois coalition in 1964, and its betrayal of the principles of the political independence of the working class, paved the way for this situation. He pointed out the importance of establishing the RCL as the independent political leadership of the working class and for all to join that struggle. I also had the opportunity to attend an RCL May Day Rally during that period. Wije, who addressed the rally, explained the political roots of the LSSPs betrayal in a clear and simple way. He pointed out that LSSP had taken this path of betrayal by following the opportunist politics of Pabloism, which repudiated the program of the Fourth International. His explanation of the political treachery of those who later split off from the LSSP, such as Bala Tampoe, Edmand Samarakkody and [Nava Sama Samaja Party leader] Vickramabahu Karunarathna, was very striking. Contrary to the path taken by leaders of the Fourth International, such as Pablo, and then Healy, Slaughter and Mike Banda who later betrayed, comrades Keerthi Balasuriya and Wije dedicated their whole lives, right up until their deaths, to the defence of Trotskyist principles and the training of a cadre on that basis. While the death of such comrades, amid a decisive political crisis in bourgeois rule, is a great loss, I strongly believe that their struggle will continue due to the existence of a cadre trained on their principles. Devastating wildfires swept across the Hawaiian island of Maui beginning Tuesday, destroying entire communities, killing at least thirty-six people and injuring many more. The flames were whipped into a firestorm by high winds from Hurricane Dora as it passed to the south of the US Pacific island chain. This photo provided by County of Maui shows fire and smoke filling the sky from wildfires on the intersection at Hokiokio Place and Lahaina Bypass in Maui, Hawaii on Tuesday, August 8, 2023. [AP Photo/Zeke Kalua/County of Maui] The wildfires have raged out of control across the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, which has an area of 727.2 square miles. The New York Times reported, On the western side of Maui, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued at least a dozen people who jumped into the ocean to escape the surging fire, Maui County officials said. Others escaped by car, driving past flames in the shadow of the West Maui Mountains. CBS News reported that residents of the historic town of Lahaina turned to the water as refuge Tuesday and officials said Wednesday that hospitals on the island were treating burn patients. Hawaii Governor Josh Green, who was traveling outside the state, issued a statement saying much of the town has been destroyed and hundreds of local families have been displaced. Ed Sniffen, director of the Hawaii state Department of Transportation, said the situation was absolutely horrific. As of Wednesday evening, the fires were still raging out of control. More than 2,100 people were evacuated from the hardest hit areas and moved into shelters set up by the government. However, acting Governor Sylvia Luke told reporters Wednesday that, We have shelters that are overrun by the fast-moving fires. Luke said she signed an emergency proclamation to discourage tourists from coming to the island, and activated the Hawaii National Guard. This is not a safe place to be, she told a news conference. Visitors are being evacuated to Kahului Airport, and those just arriving are being turned around and told to return home. Luke also said the state government was unprepared for the wildfires, saying, We expect rain, sometimes we expect floods. We never anticipated in this date that a hurricane which did not make impact on our islands would cause these type of wildfires. Power is out in many areas, including where the shelters are located, and 4,000 people are reported to be stranded in West Maui with access roads to the east shut down. According to poweroutage.us, there are more than 13,000 customers without power in Maui. Residents have posted videos taken from their cars on social media that show a living hell of fires blazing all around them and with no idea where to go. In one tweet, a driver and his passengers can be heard breathing heavily in their smoke-filled car, desperately trying to flee the inferno. In a Facebook post, an aerial video revealed the decimation of Lahaina by the fires. Kuhio, a teacher living on the eastern part of Maui away from the fire, told the WSWS, I've been monitoring since 2:00 this morning because several civil alarms on my phone went off about evacuating in different parts of Maui. Last night around 9:00, Walmart was unusually packed, so I didn't even go in. I think it was stranded people who cant return to the fire-impacted areas. And then I smelled smoke about 10:00. There was fire about five miles away at Maui Lani. Im still waiting to hear back from people. ... The fire department and helicopters dont fly with high winds. Kuhio spoke about the role of government policy and corporate interests in enabling the disaster and endangering lives, Development is allowed with no consideration for a natural crisis. I worked at a school directly across from the beach. The tsunami plan was for staff and 900 students to walk up an incline to a school above us less than a mile away, but that wasnt far or high enough. If you were disabled, then you were driven. In a real tsunami, lucky if one percent survive. Lahaina is arid and hot because the natural waterways have been tapped and the land is dried up. Its a tinderbox out there with all the brown dried grass. No lessons were learned nor applied from the big 2018 fire. Fire mitigation has to include land restoration practices. Speaking of conditions now facing those impacted by the fires, Kuhio noted, Shelters dont provide beds or toiletries. Communications are down due power outages and downed cell towers, I believe. And theres no cable internet if theres no power. A whole elementary school was burned downKamehameha III Elementary School. Weather experts have said that the winds from Hurricane Dora were a factor in the intensity and traveling speed of the fires. Fox Weather reported that Dora was, indirectly enhancing the winds across Hawaii, and that, the pressure gradient created by Dora in conjunction with the ridge of high pressure were responsible for the winds. The winds on the island that fueled the fast-moving fires were gusting as high as 70 miles per hour. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center showed the Category 4 hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph and was moving west at 22 mph. As of Wednesday morning, Dora was 860 miles south of Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii on the island of Oahu, and the most populous city in the state. The NHC said that movement of Dora was expected to continue and then it will begin to slow and gradually weaken over the next two days. The agency said hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 30 miles from the center, and tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 115 miles. Climate scientists have said that, although Hawaii has been known for its tropical conditions and bouts of intense rain, the islands have become prone to wildfire damage because of climate change. The island of Maui is the driest in the state, with West Maui facing moderate drought conditions, according to the US Drought Monitor. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that the average temperature on the Hawaiian islands has risen two degrees Fahrenheit since the 1950s and its expected to rise a further five degrees by 2085. Clay Trauernicht, a tropical fire specialist at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, told the New York Times that wildfires are now burning four times the acreage on the islands compared to previous decades. Several significant fires erupted on Maui in August 2018, destroying dozens of homes and forcing hundreds to flee. And in 2021 more than 40,000 acres burned on the Big Island and Maui, in what was the largest fire season to date. To discuss joining the autoworkers rank-and-file committee network, fill out the form at the end of this article. Sign up for text message updates on the Big Three contract fight by texting AUTO to (866) 847-1086. Striking plant workers cheer outside the General Motor assembly plant in Bowling Green, Ky, Monday, Sept. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston) An explosive mood of anger and militancy is emerging among autoworkers in the US, with Thursday marking just five weeks till the September 14 expiration of contracts between 150,000 members of the United Auto Workers and General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. Workers are increasingly determined to fight not only against new attacks but to reverse concessions previously imposed with the support of the UAW bureaucracy. The past two years have seen a virtually uninterrupted series of overwhelming no votes by workers rejecting UAW-backed, pro-corporate contracts. In the latest, auto parts workers at the Lear seating plant in Hammond, Indiana, voted by 95 percent on Sunday against a sellout deal endorsed by the UAW. In the meeting before the contract vote, workers angrily confronted UAW officials and shouted demands for strike action. Under these conditions, UAW President Shawn Fain announced last week the issues he said the UAW was proposing be included in the new Big Three contracts, including the elimination of tiers, the restoration of COLA, defined benefit pensions, the end of the abuse of temps, the reestablishment of retiree health care benefits and an increase to retirees income. According to subsequent media reports, the UAW is also said to have proposed a 46 percent wage increase and is seeking a 32-hour workweek at 40 hours pay. While watered down in significant respects, the points proposed by Fain are largely plagiarized from a statement adopted by the Autoworkers Rank-and-File Committee Network, What autoworkers need to win the 2023 Big Three contract battle, and the demands it put forward, which have been circulated widely by workers on social media and in the plants since their publication in early July. The demands by the Autoworkers Rank-and-File Committee Network in its July 9 statement But what Fain and the UAW apparatus have entirely left out is what the rank-and-file committee statement explains: how workers can actually fight for and win these demands. The UAW bureaucracy, sensing its weakness and isolation from the rank and file, clearly felt it had no choice but to respond defensively to rank-and-file workers demands and present them as its own, in a desperate effort to head off an unmanageable rebellion and shore up whatever it can of its credibility. But with its back against the wall, the apparatus is playing with fire, raising expectations that it will inevitably betray. What is required is for this rank-and-file rebellion to be deepened and for workers to press the offensive. No confidence can be placed in Fains administration to fight for anything. It has already demonstrated in its sellout of the Clarios battery workers strike that it is dedicated to enforcing the interests of the companies. It would be a fatal mistake for workers to adopt a wait and see approach to what the bureaucracy will do. An enormous and unrelenting struggle is required. Everything workers need will be bitterly resisted by the companies, as is already evident in the response of Stellantis this week, demanding wholesale new concessions. As the Autoworkers Rank-and-File Committee Network explained, Autoworkers will win this fight, not through appeals to company executives and big business politicians, but by means of hard and uncompromising class struggle. To put this fight for workers demands on a serious footing, the following immediate measures are needed: Raise strike pay to $750 a week. The UAWs $825 million strike fund, built with workers dues, must be deployed to adequately sustain workers on strike. Additional resources must be freed up through the immediate reduction of the six-figure salaries of hundreds of bureaucrats at Solidarity House and the sale of UAW assets that serve no purpose to rank-and-file workers. The UAWs $825 million strike fund, built with workers dues, must be deployed to adequately sustain workers on strike. Additional resources must be freed up through the immediate reduction of the six-figure salaries of hundreds of bureaucrats at Solidarity House and the sale of UAW assets that serve no purpose to rank-and-file workers. Detailed reports on, and rank-and-file oversight over, all negotiations. Workers cannot simply take Fain and the UAW negotiators at their word, given the long record of lies and bait-and-switch tactics employed by the union apparatus in collaboration with management. The rank and file have a right to know every word and document exchanged between management and union officials, in complete detail. Workers cannot simply take Fain and the UAW negotiators at their word, given the long record of lies and bait-and-switch tactics employed by the union apparatus in collaboration with management. The rank and file have a right to know every word and document exchanged between management and union officials, in complete detail. Prepare for an all-out nationwide strike across the auto industry on September 15. Veteran auto industry analysts have floated the possibility that Fain will call out only an isolated few engine plants, which may disrupt production but not require the UAW to pay strike benefits for all its membersan unmistakable sign that a betrayal was being prepared. For this struggle to succeed, all UAW members across the auto industryat the Big Three and in the parts sector, where workers confront some of the most wretched sweatshop conditionsmust be involved. Workers can expect the UAW bureaucracy to resist these and other necessary measures every step of the way. Therefore, everything depends on the mobilization and initiative of rank-and-file workers, independently of the UAW bureaucracy. Rank-and-file committees must be established in every factory and workplace, on each shift and in each department. These committees will provide a means for workers to share information across plants and companies, coordinate collective actions and unleash the tremendous social power of the working class. Finally, along with new organizational structures, a new political strategy is needed. The struggle workers are engaged in requires their complete independence from the Democratic and Republican parties, which are the political representatives of Wall Street and big business. Fain has falsely promoted Democratic senators and congressional representatives as having our [workers] back, knowing full well that the same politicians voted to ban a railroad strike last year and impose a contract workers opposed. The UAW president has also repeatedly held private meetings with Biden and top officials in his administration, in what can only be understood as a conspiracy against workers, whose principal aim is to contain and suppress opposition as the White House escalates war with Russia and prepares for war with China. To fight the giant transnational corporations such as GM, Ford and Stellantis, workers must adopt an international strategy. Workers throughout the auto industry are objectively connected in a vast global web of production and division of labor. In Canada, 20,000 workers at the Big Three see their contracts expire on September 18 and similarly confront the collusion between the Unifor union bureaucracy and management. The logic of the struggle workers are engaged in will pose the necessity for any walkout to expand internationally, across North America and beyond, in order to defeat the efforts of the companies to increase production at their plants in other countries and break a strike. The real allies of autoworkers in the United States are not Biden, Bernie Sanders or other Democratic and Republican politicians but rather the innumerable workers across America and around the world who are moving into struggle. In the US, 76,000 actors and screenwriters have been waging a determined strike for months; in Germany, tens of thousands of Volkswagen workers face the threat of mass layoffs and cost cuts backed by management and the IG Metall union; and in Turkey, 150,000 autoworkers and metalworkers are seeking to overturn concessions in contract negotiations this fall. These and other struggles must be united and made the starting point of a counteroffensive of the working class to secure its interests. Workers will be subjected to relentless propaganda from the companies and the media that their demands are unreasonable or unrealistic and would prevent the companies from being competitive. But the last thing which should be of any concern to workers is the defense of corporate profits. The tremendous wealth that has been accrued to the companies richest shareholders was produced by the workers and belongs to them. The ruling class and all its appendagesfrom the media to the UAW apparatusare above all terrified by the growing support for rank-and-file committees, organizational structures outside the control of the bureaucracy. Despite all the efforts of the UAW apparatus to suppress the vote and exclude workers participation in its national elections last year, nearly 5,000 voted for Will Lehman, a socialist and rank-and-file worker at Mack Trucks. Lehman won substantial support for his program of abolishing the UAW bureaucracy, transferring power to workers on the shopfloor and building a mass movement of workers globally as part of the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC). The fight for rank-and-file power is acquiring evermore burning relevance and urgency. With five weeks remaining to the expiration of the UAW-Big Three contracts, there is no time to lose. Every day must be utilized for workers to prepare and organize, develop their independent initiative, not be taken by surprise when the UAW bureaucracy inevitably betrays the struggle, and instead mobilize the full strength of the working class to win what workers need. Over 380 children abducted by Russia have now been returned, says deputy PM 10 August, 05:41 PM Unfortunately, thousands more remain in bleak Russian captivity (Photo:Office of the President of Ukraine) Ukraine has managed to return approximately 380 children abducted by Russian forces since the start of the full-scale invasion, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk told Radio Liberty on Aug. 10. This is "very few" given the scale of the official number of deported Ukrainian children, which exceeds 20,000, she said. "That's why we often appeal to the international community and demand that urgent measures be taken to return orphans, in particular, because if the child is a parent, the mother or father has the right to go alone and bring the child back, which is what our women do," said Vereshchuk. Video of day The official noted that if a child is an orphan, the state is fully responsible for them, so Ukraine is asking Russia to hand over lists of such children. She emphasized that Ukraine will be able to provide all children who do not have parents with guardians who will travel to Russia or a third country to pick up such a child. "We said that any mechanism is acceptable," said Vereshchuk. "But it is unacceptable to adopt our children, it is unacceptable to put our children into illegal care, because then those adoptive parents from among the citizens of the Russian Federation will also bear legal responsibility." Vereshchuk, who heads the Ministry of Reintegration, also commented on the statement of the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, who said that 700,000 Ukrainian children have been taken out of Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion. "I'm not sure about 700,000, but it's definitely more than the data we have at our disposal," she said. "We know that almost 20,000 have been taken away." Russias abduction of Ukrainian children - What is known On March 17, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on charges of committing war crimes in connection with the abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia. On April 27, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution recognizing the forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia as genocide. According to Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, the Russians have taken almost 20,000 children from the occupied territories of Ukraine, and are holding about 6,000 in "re-education camps." He said that the forced transfer of Ukrainian children and prisoners of war is taking place, in particular, through the territory of Belarus. In total, according to the European Parliament, the number of Ukrainian children illegally taken to Russia may reach 16,000-300,000. MEPs believe that Russians began taking Ukrainian children back in 2014, after the occupation of Crimea and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts On July 19, the head of the Belarusian Red Cross, Dzmitry Shevtsov, admitted that his agency was involved in the forced displacement of Ukrainian children On July 20, the ICRC announced that it had launched an investigation into the activities of Shevtsov and its Belarusian office for involvement in the abduction of children from Ukraine. Read also: Russians looking to abduct nearly 300 children from Berdyansk District to Russian republic of Chuvashia Earlier, the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, said that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the occupation forces had illegally transferred more than 700,000 Ukrainian children to Russian territory. 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. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News A CSX freight train in downtown Pittsburgh Saturday, November 19, 2022. [AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar] On Sunday, a conductor trainee for CSX railroad died in an accident at a Maryland rail yard, according to an internal communication sent to workers by CEO Joe Hinrichs. Forty-year-old Travis Bradley died shortly after arriving at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), according to local news outlet The Cumberland Times. The police told them the incident occurred at 11:53 pm the night before. Travis leaves behind a wife, two daughters, and a stepdaughter. An investigation into the incident is ongoing. In response to the incident, CSX ordered that all trainees be returned to their home terminals for half-day sessions focused on critical rules and riding equipment. Another conductor trainee, Derek Little, was killed on the job in an incident at the Seagirt Marine Terminal work site in Baltimore, Maryland two months prior in June. Little was run over when he was thrown from the rail car he was riding. Bradleys death took place only a week after the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers - Transportation Division (SMART-TD) announced they would work with CSX to extend training by one week for new hires, from four weeks to five. The additional week, they said, was to increase trainees exposure to railcar switching scenarios, radio communication, securement of equipment, brake tests and other fundamentals of the conductors role. Jeremy Ferguson, president of SMART-TD, said, More training directly translates to better safety for our members and demonstrates our shared commitment to the CSX safety culture. In reality, these workers lives have been sacrificed for record profits on the railroads. The National Safety Council (NSC) found in its latest report that, 'Railroad deaths totaled 893 in 2021, a 20% increase from the 2020 revised total of 744 and the highest since 2007. This is the product of relentless cost-cutting by the carriers, which are owned by Wall Street firms like Berkshire Hathaway and super-wealthy individuals like Bill Gates. The rail industry has lost tens of thousands of workers in recent years, and critical maintenance is being increasingly deferred. Engineers and conductors are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with overwork contributing to even more unsafe conditions. On average, three derailments take place every day in the United States, many involving hazardous chemicals, such as the February derailment in East Palestine, Ohio that poisoned the air and water of the region. This is also the consequence of the union bureaucracys betrayal, in alliance with the carriers and the Biden Administration, of the railroad workers struggle last year. SMART-TD and the other unions ignored overwhelming strike votes, sought to ram through a contract brokered by the Biden Administration which met none of the workers demands, and then bought critical time for Congress to prepare an anti-strike injunction following the midterm elections in November. Ferguson openly defended this, declaring Biden had to put the country first and the economy first. Since the strike ban, the railroads have been pressing ahead with even more cuts, moving towards one-person crews and contracting out locomotive maintenance. CSX has also left 40 car haulers locked out at a railhead facility. Last June, the Biden administration cut railroaders unemployment and sickness benefits by 5.7 percent. Multiple accidents have occurred at a heavily polluted CSX facility in the Curtis Bay neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. In January, CSX was given a wrist-slap fine for a 2021 explosion at the site which sent a plume of smoke into the air and caused a shockwave which could be felt around the city. Last month, a fuel locomotive crash at the rail yard released toxic substances into the air surrounding this community. CSX has been met with virtually no resistance from the rail unions for these corporate crimes. Two CSX maintenance workers shared their comments on their situation with the WSWS. One worker said, When will corporate greed stop superseding human life? Railroads were built and currently run on the backs of young men who become way too old too fast. With little to no regard for their safety or well-being and that CSX is continually sending improperly trained or insufficiently trained workers to their demise Another maintenance worker, said, In their unquenchable thirst for profits, CSX has either not learned or doesnt care to learn. Derek Little was a trainee killed working at night. Now Travis Bradley was also a trainee killed while working at night. There is no good reason for having trainees work at night. The inherent dangers of railroading are magnified. Empty slogans of deepest condolences will not suffice. The training program at CSX is woefully inadequate. Are you a Loretto Hospital worker? Fill out the form at the end of the article, to get more information about establishing a rank-and-file strike committee. The strike of about 200 unionized health care workers, including respiratory and radiology technicians, mental health and behavioral healthworkers, patient transporters, emergency room technicians and housekeeping workers, at Loretto Hospital entered its second week Monday. The hospital is a safety-net facility with a very high number of Medicaid and uninsured patients located in the large, working class Austin neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago. Striking Loretto hospital workers and their families After reports that negotiations had stalled, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and local and state Democrats have intervened to press for a rapid end to the strike. This was praised by Service Employees International Union (SEIU), with SEIU representative Anne Igoe saying Tuesday, Thanks to intervention from the mayors office, we did receive a proposal from management. The union bargaining committee was able to provide what we consider a fair counter that again moves the parties incredibly close, within $40,000. Igoe acknowledged, however, management continues to insist on limiting seniority-based increases and increases to the minimum. Right now, theyre spending about $200,000 a day on temps [on a census of 20 patients]. The amount theyre spending, they could have ended the strike a week ago. Loretto and SEIU Healthcare, which has more than 91,000 members in Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas, have been in negotiations for more than two months over wages and working conditions. Like healthcare workers everywhere, striking workers are demanding higher staffing levels to ensure patients can receive safe, appropriate, and timely treatment. Loretto Hospital on Chicago's West Site Chronic understaffing has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and continued budget cutting at every level of government. This has created dangers for both patients and staff. At least one patient died earlier this year at Loretto due to inadequate staffing in the emergency department. Workers at Loretto are also routinely subjected to violence from distressed patients. There is enormous support in the working class for the Loretto workers struggle, but the strike is being isolated by the bureaucracies that run SEIU and other city unions, although the conditions they are fighting are to be found in hospitals, plants and warehouses all over the Chicago region, and indeed worldwide. Lynda, a mental health specialist with close to 20 years at Loretto, spoke with the World Socialist Web Site on the issues in the strike, including low pay, low staffing levels and mandatory overtime. On a proposed pay increase she said, That will increase a paycheck, but they still are never going to get rid of overtime. Theyve been saying that since Ive been here almost 20 years. I dont do overtime. If I have to, Ill help four hours or so. We get time and a half for overtime and two and half on holidays. On the support strikers are receiving from other staff, Lynda said, The nurses here are coming out and congratulating us. Two of them stopped this morning and talked to me. They said, keep up the fight! But see, what they have to realize is we are a small hospital. Not like Northwestern which can sustain probably years without any income. We cant even sustain a week without additional income. And the CEOs here are making half-million dollars. Many Loretto staff work 12-to-16-hour days, six or seven days a week. As in many industries, including auto manufacturing and food service, wages have gotten so low and living costs so high that companies demand endless hours from small numbers of staff desperate to make ends meet. In essence, the pay is so low, the hospital owns the workers time. The Loretto administration claims that workers demands exceed the hospitals economic reality, referring mainly to a $3 million cut to its operating budget over 2022. But a large portion of the tens of millions in federal funding the hospital receives each year is unaccounted for. SEIU officials and state Democrats at Loretto Hospital rally on August 7, 2023 In fact, the hospital has been used as a personal financial and medical resource by its executives, local businesspeople and members of the Democratic Party political machine. In 2022, Loretto chief executive George Miller stepped down, following his operations chief Dr. Anosh Ahmed, amid a COVID-19 vaccine embezzling scandal that funneled doses of vaccine out of the hospital and into the arms of politically connected business people and local judges. It was uncovered by Block Club Chicago that Loretto had also paid millions of contract dollars to private companies founded by Ahmeds close friend and business partner, Sameer Suhail. The publicly funded hospital paid nearly $4 million to the three companies in one year alone, and all of the Suhail companies were created around the time Ahmeds tenure at Loretto began. The contract amounts represented about 5 percent of the hospitals total operating budget, according to the report. One of the politicians who took part in Monday morning press conference with strikers, calling for civility and an immediate end to the strike, was Illinois State Representative LaShawn Ford. Until 2021, Ford sat on the board of Loretto Hospital and received campaign funding from Ahmed. The current acting chair of Lorettos board of trustees is Illinois Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford. According to the Better Government Association watchdog group, in 2021, Sen. Lightford received Caribbean vacations and $38,000 in contributions from an insurance company owned by the hospital. Striking workers are demanding transparency on how public resources have been spent. In response to a WSWS reporters question about what measures were in place to account for the public funding that was stolen from the hospitals budget, Illinois State Representative Lakeshia Collins admitted that none existed and that she would like to be in conversation about regulations and oversight. But the issues go beyond leadership corruption. The Democrats are spearheading the attack on public health programs even as the state legislature finds endless resources for corporate tax cuts. Lightford and other state legislators recently backed Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzkers plans to claw back the limited healthcare benefits for low-income undocumented immigrants aged 42 and older in Cook County. On the federal level, the Biden administration is slashing funding to vital services even as it pours billions into the US-NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. On August 1, the day the strike began, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced cuts to safety net hospitals (known as disproportionate share hospital payments and uncompensated care payments) for 2024 of a staggering $957 million, more than eight times the initial estimated cut of $115 million. As of August 1, 47,000 Illinois residents lost their Medicaid coverage when a federal pandemic provision ended. This important struggle can and must be won. But Loretto workers must take the conduct of the fight out of the hands of SEIU bureaucracy, which supports the bipartisan program of austerity. Instead, workers should form a rank-and-file strike committee to outline their own demands and prevent the sell out of their strike. This committee should turn to the real allies of striking workers: in the hospitals and clinics, at UPS, at Ford and other auto companies, and among other private and public sector workers. This is the force that must be mobilized to win this fight. Are you a Loretto Hospital worker? Fill out the form below, to get more information about establishing a rank-and-file strike committee. More than 12 weeks have passed since Thailands general election. Since then, the military establishment has essentially barred the winner of that contest, the Move Forward Party (MFP), from forming a government and its eight-party coalition has disintegrated. Leader of Bhumjaithai Party Anutin Charnvirakul, left, holding hands with Pheu Thai party leader Chonlanan Srikaew at press conference announcing coalition in Bangkok, Thailand, Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. [AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit] The runner-up in Mays election, the Pheu Thai party, announced on Monday that it had formed a new coalition with the right-wing populist Bhumjaithai Party (BJT) and will attempt to form a government that will exclude the MFP. Pheu Thai has 141 seats in the lower house of the National Assembly and the BJT 71. Pheu Thai announced on Wednesday that it had added six minor parties, bringing the total number of coalition seats to 228. The minor parties include four parties from the previous MFP-led coalition: Prachachat Party (9 seats), Pheu Thai Ruam Palang (2 seats), Thai Liberal Party (1 seat), Palang Sangkhom Mai (1 seat). The new additions are Charthaipattanakla (2 seats) and the Thongtee Thai Party (1 seat). The Chartthaipattana Party with 10 seats may join the coalition. The MFP remains the largest party in the lower house with 151 seats. It earnt the hostility of the military, which seized power in a coup in 2014, and the countrys conservative elites by making an appeal for limited democratic reforms. Under the anti-democratic constitution imposed by the military, the prime minister is elected at a joint sitting of the lower and upper houses of parliament. As a result, the upper house appointed by the military has a de facto veto over the next government. The outgoing prime ministercoup leader Prayut Chan-o-chanever faced an election. The Pheu Thai coalition requires another 147 seats for its nominee60-year-old real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisinto become prime minister. At present, senators are reportedly split on supporting Srettha. On July 13, a joint sitting blocked the leader of the MFP, Pita Limjaroenrat, from becoming prime minister despite forming a majority coalition of 312 seats in the lower house of parliament. The Election Commission (EC) and the Constitutional Court subsequently removed Pita from parliament on trumped up charges of owning shares in a defunct media company. While MPs are banned from owning shares in media outlets, Pita reported that he had previously disclosed the shares to the EC without issues being raised. Pita has also been barred from standing in a second vote for prime minister. The move has delayed the selection of a new PM due to an ongoing review by the Constitutional Court of an MFP petition challenging parliaments rejection of Pitas renomination. The court is due to announce a decision on August 16. In announcing the new coalition, Pheu Thai leader Chonlanan Srikaew stated on Monday, We would like to thank Bhumjaithai for accepting the invitation so that we can step over this political deadlock. The two parties blamed the political impasse not on the military, but on the MFPs proposed reforms that include amending Thailands draconian lese-majeste law. Reaching out to the pro-military Senate, Chonlanan expressed his partys sincerity to our friends in all political parties and the Senate and pledged to preserve the important institution of the country as the cornerstone of the people in the nation, referring to the monarchy. At present, the Pheu Thai/BJT coalition would have a majority in the 500-seat lower house. More parties are expected to join the grouping, though Chonlanan claimed that it wont have the two uncles referring to the 2014 coup leaders, Prayut and Prawit Wongsuwon from the United Thai Nation Party and Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) respectively. The latter has indicated it may be willing to join the coalition if asked. The BJT, which appeals to Thailands farmers, previously served in the military-backed coalition government led by the PPRP and formed following the rigged 2019 elections. It had declared that it would not join any coalition involving the MFP or any party seeking to reform the lese-majeste law. The monarchy is a cornerstone of capitalism in Thailand, having extensive business interests throughout the country while also providing stability during times of political crisis. The MFP, however, does not represent a threat. The party speaks for dissident factions of the bourgeoisie that bridle at the domination of the military, monarchy and traditional elites and seek to advance their economic and political interests. The fear in conservative ruling circles, however, is that MFPs tepid calls for limited reforms could trigger a social upheaval involving the working class that the party cannot control. For this reason, BJT leader Anutin Charnvirakul declared on Monday, The country needs to move on. The comment also echoes strong concerns from big business that prolonged political instability is affecting the stock market and international investment. Following the announcement last Thursday that a planned vote for prime minister would be delayed for another two weeks, the baht fell by 1.1 percent to a two-week low and the biggest decline among major Asian currencies. The benchmark stock index ended the morning session 0.7 percent lower. While pursuing a token legal challenge, the MFP has accepted being sidelined. On July 21, the MFP announced that it would step back to allow Pheu Thai to form a government while remaining within the original and now-defunct eight-party coalition. It immediately became clear that Pheu Thai would dump the MFP. Instead of warning supporters and calling for protests, Pita and the MFP endorsed Pheu Thai, claiming it would protect democratic rights. Pita said in an interview with CNNs Christiane Amanpour on July 25, Yes, I endorse and support the second victorious party, Pheu Thai Party, Thaksin Shinawatras party to form a coalition, because its not just about a personal goal for me to become prime minister, but I think its to stop Thailand from a vicious cycle of military dictatorship. Former Prime Minister Thaksin, a billionaire, was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and has been living in exile since 2008. He is the founder of Thai Rak Thai, the predecessor of Pheu Thai and is considered the partys actual leader. In a sign that Pheu Thai is moving to make peace with the military establishment, Thaksin had announced that he would be returning to Thailand. Pheu Thai and the MFP are both orienting to the pro-military sections of the political establishment. This is not a mistaken policy but stems from a shared fear that a protracted political crisis could pave the way for intervention of the working class and threaten the continuation of bourgeois rule. The German government is preparing to provide Taurus medium-range missiles to Kiev. This is a desperate attempt to avert a complete debacle of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, which has seen heavy losses for Kiev, to strengthen the NATO war offensive against Russia and in the process, to enforce the interests of German imperialism. Taurus KEPD 350 cruise missile under a Eurofighter Typhoon [Photo by GFDL / CC BY-SA 3.0 The counter-offensive is faltering; Ukraine does not have a significant air force to support it. That leaves only guided missiles like Taurus cruise missiles, with which the Ukrainian army could overcome the minefields laid by the Russians and recapture territory, declared Social Democratic (SPD) budget politician Andreas Schwarz in Der Spiegel on the weekend. The stated goal is to defeat Russia militarily. We want to enable Ukraine to win the war more quickly. For that, it needs Taurus air-to-surface cruise missiles, Schwarz stressed. There were also no technical reasons against delivery, he said. With some modifications, the weapons can also be fired by the non-Western fighter jets used in Ukraine so far. The delivery would be a massive intensification of the NATO war against Russia and part of a spiral of escalation that increasingly conjures up the danger of a third nuclear world war. The Taurus missiles developed by Germany and Sweden have a range of over 500 kilometres and thus fly even further than the British-French Storm Shadow/Scalp missiles already being delivered to Kiev. They could attack targets not only in Crimea but deep in the Russian heartland. That is precisely the plan. The chair of the Bundestags (parliamentary) Defence Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (Liberal Democrat, FDP), who has been calling for cruise missiles for Ukraine for some time, recently declared: Ukraine must also be enabled, with our support, to act against military targetsalso on Russian soilfrom which hundreds of missiles are fired at Ukraine every day. Green Party warmongers express similar views. The weapons radius of action should not militate against delivery, Agnieszka Brugger, deputy parliamentary group leader of the Greens in the Bundestag, warned in Der Spiegel. Germany and Ukraine could agree, for example, that certain areas are excluded or that the weapons are used exclusively against militarily relevant targets, as international law allows Ukraine to do in its self-defence, she explained cynically. This is mendacious on two counts. Brugger knows full well that Ukraine has long been attacking targets on Russian territoryincluding the capital Moscowbombing civilian targets as well. According to media reports, just on Sunday, the University of Donetsk was hit with cluster munitions in a Ukrainian attack. At the same time, the massive escalation of the war is not about self-defence. The NATO powers deliberately provoked Putins reactionary invasion of Ukraine. Now they are stoking the war further and further in order to bring Russia to its knees. German imperialism, which has already twice tried to militarily subjugate the resource-rich country, is again aggressively advancing. During a visit to the Mountain Brigade 23 in Bad Reichenhall last Thursday, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) boasted about the German role. He said Germany was a leader in air defence, training and in engineering and armoured vehicles. This is our first priority, our core competence. Referring to the Taurus deliveries also demanded by Kiev, Pistorius said: The time has not yet come for us to make a decision. Even our American allies do not supply these cruise missiles and the German weapons have a special range. This all follows a familiar pattern. The delivery of battle tanks was also prepared behind the scenes and coordinated with Washington for a long time before it was announced publicly. Since then, Germany has been one of the leading tank suppliers. According to the official List of Military Support, the German government has already delivered 18 Leopard 2 main battle tanks, 10 Leopard 1 main battle tanks, 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles and 46 Gepard flak tanks to Ukraine. Another 60 Marder, 100 Leopard 1 and six Gepard tanks are in preparation. According to press reports, the German arms giant Rheinmetall is preparing an additional export of 50 Leopard main battle tanks. The tanks will be followed by missiles. I do not rule out that we will also supply additional other systems such as Taurus in conjunction with the Americans, said Nils Schmid, foreign policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag. Before that, however, it must be ensured that the Ukrainians can do the target programming themselves and not that Bundeswehr soldiers do itthat would bring us dangerously close to direct participation in the war. In reality, NATO and Germany have long been parties to the war. Just a few weeks after it began, an expert report by the Bundestags Scientific Service had found that training Ukrainian soldiers on German soil was tantamount to war participation under international law. If, in addition to the supply of weapons, the instruction of the conflict party or training in such weapons were at issue, one would be leaving the safe area of non-participation in warfare, it said. Meanwhile, Germany is not only one of the leading trainers and arms suppliers to the Ukrainian troops, but they are also blatantly encouraged to carry out attacks on Russian territory. It is completely normal in such a military conflict that the attacked party also moves into the enemy territory, for example, to cut off supply routes, Pistorius declared back in April. The Taurus missiles would have exactly this function. According to Wikipedia, they are used against strategic facilities of the enemy such as airfields, command posts, industrial plants and ports. Poland to increase troop presence along Belarus border to 10,000 10 August, 04:14 PM Poland to strengthen border with Belarus amid arrival of Wagner PMC mercenaries in the country (Photo:Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej/Twitter) Poland will increase its military presence on its border with Belarus to 10,000 troops following the arrival of Russian Wagner company mercenaries in the country, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced on Aug. 10. "There will be about 10,000 soldiers 4,000 will be soldiers directly involved in the operation to support the Border Guard at the border, and another 6,000 will be in reserve," he said. Read also: Nervous Poland will send more troops to the border with Belarus Blaszczak added that these soldiers will "improve their skills there, in the garrisons recreated in the east of the country." Video of day After the failed mutiny attempt in Russia, some Wagner mercenaries ended up in Belarus by agreement with the self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko. On July 23, during a meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko said that the Wagner units were "stressing him out" because they allegedly wanted to attack Poland. But later he clarified that he was joking. On July 29, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that more than 100 mercenaries of the Wagner mercenary company had set off toward the Suwalki corridor near the Belarusian city of Grodno. He called such actions "a dangerous situation" and "a step towards a further hybrid attack on Poland." The prime minister suggested that Wagner mercenaries would disguise themselves as Belarusian border guards and help illegal migrants enter Poland. In addition, Morawiecki suggested that mercenaries could begin to enter Polish territory under the guise of illegal migrants, which would create "additional risks." Read also: Polish PM concerned that Wagner mercenaries in Belarus could infiltrate Poland On Aug. 7, Belarus began military drills near the border with Poland and Lithuania. The countries are preparing to strengthen their borders with Belarus. The two EU states also decided to close some border crossing points. 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. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News Ukrainian Navy opens new routes from Black Sea ports 10 August, 03:07 PM Cargo ship escorted by a Ukrainian Coast Guard boat (Photo:Operational Command South press service/Handout via Reuters) The Ukrainian Navy has opened new, temporary routes for the movement of civilian vessels to and from Ukraines Black Sea ports, according to a press release on Facebook on Aug. 10. Ukraine has previously submitted these routes in an appeal to the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In turn, the IMO Council recognized Ukraines right to free commercial shipping guaranteed by international maritime law. The routes will primarily be used to enable the exit of civilian vessels that have been moored at the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa, and Pivdennyi since the beginning of Russias full-scale. Video of day Vessels whose owners and or captains can officially confirm that they are ready to sail in the current conditions will be allowed to use the routes. The last ship carrying Ukrainian food products left the port of Odesa on July 16, 2023. After Russia withdrew from the grain deal on July 17, it attacked the ports grain infrastructure toprevent the supply of Ukrainian food products to global markets. 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. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News Wagner military drills in Belarus intended to tie down Polish forces, says NRC 10 August, 04:44 PM Wagnerians (Photo:REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo) Russias Wagner mercenary company is carrying out drills along the Polish-Belarusian border to stretch the presence of Polish troops, Ukrainian state civil defense organization the National Resistance Center or NCR reported on Aug. 10. About Russian 250 mercenaries are deployed there, indicating that the Russians were conducting a psychological operation to escalate tensions rather than mounting a serious attack, the center said. Earlier, the NRC noted that the creation of a camp to accommodate about 1,000 Wagner mercenaries had begun at Zyabrovka airfield in Belarus. Video of day Russia supposedly plans to use Wagner PMC to simulate subversive activities on Belarus borders with Chernihiv Oblast and EU countries. Wagner in Belarus: What is known After a failed mutiny attempt in Russia, some of the Wagner mercenaries ended up in Belarus through an agreement with Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. On July 23, during a meeting with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Lukashenko said that the Wagner mercenaries were "stressing him out" because they allegedly wanted to attack Poland. But later he clarified that he was joking. Read also: Nervous Poland will send more troops to the border with Belarus On July 29, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that more than 100 mercenaries from Wagner PMC had moved towards the Suwalki Corridor, a 100-kilometer stretch between Poland and Lithuania that connects the Baltic states with Poland and the rest of NATO, and separates the Russian enclave in Kaliningrad Oblast and Belarus. He called such actions "a dangerous situation" and "a step towards a further hybrid attack on Poland." Morawiecki suggested that Wagner mercenaries would disguise themselves as Belarusian border guards and help illegal migrants enter Poland. In addition, Morawiecki suggested that militants could begin to enter Polish territory under the guise of illegal migrants, which would create "additional risks." Read also: Polish PM concerned that Wagner mercenaries in Belarus could infiltrate Poland On Aug. 3, Morawiecki urgently met with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on the Isthmus of Suwalki after reports of Wagner PMC mercenaries approaching from Belarus. On Aug. 7, Belarus began military drills near the border with Poland and Lithuania. The countries are preparing to strengthen their borders with Belarus. The two EU states also decided to close some border crossing points. On Aug. 10, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced that his country would send 10,000 troops to the border with Belarus. 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. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News In this article, we will explore the 12 best places to retire in Chile. If you wish to skip our detailed analysis on retirement in Chile, go to the 5 Best Places to Retire in Chile. Retirement in Chile Nearing retirement with zero savings? Youre not alone! According to the US Census Bureau, almost 47% of men and 50% of women in the US have no retirement savings at all. Those who do, have been reported to be taking hardship withdrawals from their savings anyway. Inflation has been taking a turn for the worse in the economy due to a tight labor market, soaring demand, and a constrained supply. 2022 saw it hit a 40-year high, with consumer spending and purchasing power taking a dip consequently. Moreover, since the average social security check is only $1,701, comfortable retirement in the USA seems like a far-fetched dream. $1 million is no longer enough to retire with a comfortable lifestyle, and more and more potential retirees are exploring their options outside of the USA. One such country on the radar is Chile. Chile is one of South America's safest and most economically stable countries. The country has been experiencing accelerative aging in recent years, with 12.2% of the population being 65 or older. This number is expected to double in the next 25 years, implying that retirement communities in Chile and other age-specific facilities and services are going to be in prospects soon, a plus for foreign retirees looking to retire here. Other than that, there are many pros and cons of retiring to Chile. The country boasts a strong economy, low levels of corruption, and a high standard of living. Chile is also home to majestic mountain peaks, sparkling rivers, and abundant wildlife. The roads are well-maintained, and the infrastructure is also first-class. Retirees from Europe and the USA especially consider this country, partly because of its honest culture and partly because it gives them a break from the climate of the Northern Hemisphere. Story continues The cost of living is also affordable as compared to other Western nations. When renting, a single retiree can expect to live comfortably in Chile for $1,808, while a couple can do well for $2,746. Moreover, to further drive down rent costs, many expats also go for cheap shared-housing options. However, one disadvantage of living in Chile as an expat retiree is that groceries and eating out are expensive when compared to other South American countries. Regardless, many cheaper cities and towns have a reasonably affordable cost of living for retirees. As such, some of the cheapest places to live in Chile include Valdivia, Chillan, and Concepcion. It is reported that the northern part of Chile is comparatively expensive compared to its southern counterpart, since mining companies and workers live there. While many retirees consider affordability as the main factor when relocating, yet many other expat retirees consider safety as important as affordability. For this reason, they choose safe destinations instead of focusing on affordability alone. Some of Chile's safest places to live include Santiago, La Serena, and Santa Cruz. However, what is the best option when it comes to safety, affordability, and amenities for an expat retiree? To help you make the right decision, we have rounded up a list of the best places to retire in Chile. 12 Best Places to Retire in Chile Pixabay/Public Domain Methodology To compile the list of best places to retire in Chile, we have used 8 (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) sources. Places were ranked using a consensus approach, each receiving a single point whenever a source recommended it. For tie-breaking, places with a lower cost of living have been placed higher on our list. Places are ranked in ascending order from the lowest to the highest scores. Single-person cost of living per month and monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment is sourced from Nomad List, Cost of Live, and LivingCost.org, amongst others. It must be noted here that most cities on our list have a multicultural atmosphere, and retirees unfamiliar with Spanish may have difficulty adjusting. If you want to check out other English-speaking countries to retire to, you can check out our list here. 12. Antofagasta Insider Monkey Score: 2 Antofagasta, the port city of Northern Chile, is one of the best places to retire in the country. Nestled amidst the Pacific Ocean's azure waters and the Atacama's desert landscape, Antofagasta offers a uniquely enchanting combination of the two. Retirees can enjoy its coastal location on one end while witnessing the skyscrapers of the bustling city on the other. Many water-based activities, a thriving cultural scene, and an inclusive retirement community make Antofagasta a popular choice for retirees. A well-developed healthcare system is in place, with many modern medical facilities and clinics available. The desert climate, with extremely low precipitation levels, isn't unpleasant at all either. A single expat retiree can expect to live here for an average of $1,060 per month, with rents for one-bedroom apartments costing $500-$700 per month. 11. Valdivia Insider Monkey Score: 2 Valdivia, a city and commune situated in the Valdivian rainforest in Southern Chile, is a friendly location for retirees to call home. Nestled along the banks of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cruces rivers, the city is a beautiful embodiment of bridges and waterways. Lush forests and rolling hills further embrace the city, offering retirees the perfect backdrop to call home. A day in Valdivia is often spent kayaking or paddle boarding in the river, visiting restaurants on Isla Teja, relaxing on Neiblas beaches, or hiking at Oncol Park. Beer fans must visit Kunstmann Brewery, a brewery featuring German-inspired dishes. The cost of living in the city is around $936, and one-bedroom apartments cost around $583 per month. 10. San Pedro de Atacama Insider Monkey Score: 2 San Pedro de Atacama has landed on our list of best places to retire in Chile for several reasons. For starters, the oasis retreat is stunningly beautiful, surrounded by landscapes such as the salt flats of the Salar de Atacama, the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon), and the Atacama Desert. Activities like stargazing and hiking are ideal for those looking to make this town their home. Moreover, this place also has a certain laid-back, relaxed lifestyle appeal to it. Hot springs and wellness centers are the perfect way to relax and rejuvenate. Active retirees will have a wonderful time here, engaging in experiences such as mountain biking, sandboarding, and trekking. An individual can expect to live on $882 monthly, spending around $448 monthly on rent for a one-room apartment. 9. Concepcion Insider Monkey Score: 3 Concepcion is a modern city located in Southern Chile. Its location on the Pacific coast grants it a quite mild climate: not very cold in winters, as well as warm in summers, with temperatures rarely exceeding 77 F. Retirees enjoy a laid-back, peaceful lifestyle in the city, with beaches, parks, and forests to enjoy. The healthcare system is also quite well-established, an important consideration for retirees. The culinary scene is diverse in this city as well. Concepcion is home to one of the best universities in Chile, which is why the cultural scene also thrives in the city. The average cost of living is $884, with Barrio Universitario or Callao being the more affordable suburbs to consider. 8. Iquique Insider Monkey Score: 4 Iquique can be considered one of the best places to retire in Chile for its mild climate, coastal lifestyle, and affordability. The city boasts a tax-free port area, a seafront casino, and Pacific beaches. The oceanfront atmosphere attracts many retirees to this place. A single retiree can expect to live on $998 monthly, spending $629 on a one-bedroom apartment in the city center. There are many outdoor activities to indulge in, such as fishing, surfing, and kayaking. Shopping centers, restaurants, and casinos add to the overall retirement experience. The mild desert climate is also a plus, though retirees with health conditions or allergies must check whether the climate suits them. 7. Puerto Varas Insider Monkey Score: 5 Sitting on the banks of the sprawling Lake Llanquihue, Puerto Varas offers impressive views of the snow-capped Osorno Volcano and Calbuco Volcano. The "City of roses" has a walkable town center, stunning landscapes, and reasonable healthcare facilities. The pace of life in the city is slow, and the cost of living is quite affordable. A single person can expect to live on $1,155 monthly, with rents and utilities amounting to an average of $516. There are various cultural and recreational events happening throughout the year as well. Moreover, the small city boasts plentiful amenities such as cafes, shops, restaurants, and markets, making it one of Chile's best places to retire. 6. Punta Arenas Insider Monkey Score: 5 For retirees who love chilly weather, Punta Arenas is the place to be. Stunning landscapes such as the Strait of Magellan, the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, and nearby islands embrace the city, offering it a picturesque backdrop to boast. The unique cultural heritage attracts retirees just as much, such as museums, architecture, and other historic sites. Healthcare facilities are also reasonable. An individual can retire at $960 monthly, with rent and utilities costing $478. The retiree community is growing in the area, making it an ideal retirement destination. Click to continue reading and see the 5 Best Places to Retire in Chile. Suggested Articles: Disclosure: none. 12 Best Places to Retire in Chile is originally published on Insider Monkey. Matt-Healy-1975-Lawsuit - Credit: Erika Goldring/WireImage Malaysian festival organizer, Future Sound Asia, has ordered the 1975 to pay over 2 million in damages within seven days or face legal action in England after frontman Matty Healy called out Malaysias anti-LGBTQ laws during Good Vibes festival in Kuala Lumpur last month. Healys harsh criticisms promoted the bands set to be cut short and the government to cancel the remainder of the three-day event. More from Rolling Stone I can confirm that my firm (Messrs Steven Thiru & Sudhar Partnership) issued a seven-day Letter of Claim to the UK band 1975 demanding for RM12.3million (2,099,154.54) in damages on behalf of Future Sound Asia (FSA), attorney David Matthew tells Rolling Stone. The claim against The 1975 is essentially for breach of contract. They entered into a binding contract with Future Sound Asia to perform and the position of Future Sound Asia, among others, is that this contractual obligation was breached. Further, Mr. Healys representative categorically provided a pre-show written assurance that Mr. Healy and The 1975s live performance shall adhere to all local guidelines and regulations during their set in Malaysia. Unfortunately, the assurance was ignored. FSA previously announced the Letter of Claim, but details of the document were not public at the time. Matthew stated that the seven-day notice was dated Aug. 7, giving the group until Aug. 14 to pay the damages before legal action is taken. FSAs threat of legal action comes after news broke that a group of Malaysian musicians and festival vendors were prepping a class action lawsuit against the 1975. While international acts were paid before their performances, local artists were reportedly receiving less favorable payment terms compared to international acts, and the suit aims to secure compensation for the losses incurred from the cancellation. Matthew previously told Rolling Stone, Mr. Healys representative categorically provided a pre-show written assurance that Mr. Healy and The 1975s live performance shall adhere to all local guidelines and regulations during their set in Malaysia. Despite this, the assurance was ignored, and the bands actions clearly contravened the agreement with Future Sound Asia. This led to the cancellation of the festival which, in turn, caused significant losses to Future Sound Asia. Best of Rolling Stone Click here to read the full article. The Filipino Center Plaza is celebrating its 50th annual Barrio Fiesta. The celebration will kick off at 11 a.m. until 8 p.m., Aug. 12, at the Filipino Center Plaza on 6 West Main Street in Stockton. It's to commemorate the building itself for being here for 50 years. Its history goes back to the Philippines where different barrios or different towns, they're called barrios, celebrate their towns or their saint, their patron saints..." said Doris Unsod, president of the Associated Filipino Organizations of San Joaquin County, Inc. It's a chance for us to celebrate and show that we're still in business and we're still providing what our mission statement had originally planned to do, and that's to provide housing, affordable housing. The event is free and open to the community. It returns after a COVID-19 hiatus, with its last event in 2019, Unsod said. "It's difficult to try to stand up on your own two feet again. But we're strong, the board is a strong group, and they really wanted to bring it back to the community," Unsod said. "It took a lot of effort on everyone's part to provide it," Unsod said. People eat at the 41st annual Filipino Barrio Fiesta at the Filipino Plaza in downtown Stockton on Aug. 9, 2014. This year's celebration will be "a reunion for many people of all ages as (a) celebration of each other, that we're still alive another year," Unsod said. It makes me very proud to celebrate 50 years, I've seen all 50 years actually, and it just makes me, it makes me really happy, and it makes me very sentimental. And it brings back a lot of happy memories. I have mixed emotions, but most of them are happy," she said. The 10-story building was completed in 1972. Some know it as the "Filipino Plaza," the "Filipino Center Plaza," or the "Filipino Plaza Center." It's a low-income apartment community with 128 units as part of Section 8 assisted living units. There is an adjacent building known as the "Commercial Center" with commercial properties, restaurants, office spaces, rental event spaces for entertaining, and even a preschool area available for rent that has been vacant for years. A social hall is currently used as a cooling center during hot weather days. They just purchased an ice machine for it, Unsod said. Eison Balanay, center, leads a group of spectators in a Zumba lesson at the annual Barrio Fiesta held a the Filipino Plaza Center in downtown Stockton on Aug. 12, 2017. The building was a result of families being driven out of their neighborhood with the construction of the Crosstown Freeway, Jose Bernardo of Stockton told The Record in 2016. Bernardo was one of the people responsible for the creation of the plaza. He arrived in Stockton from the Philippines in 1946. Filipino, Japanese, and Chinese stores and homes were located in the streets that now surround the Crosstown Freeway, he said then. The buildings were torn down with the redevelopment of the area and construction of the freeway in the early 1960s, and officials didnt think of where the people from the neighborhood would go, he added. Unsod said the building was originally made to house Filipinos only. Due to HUD guidelines (United States Department of Housing and Urban Development) and EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity), the complex now serves other ethnicities, Unsod said. "We have a nice mix of people. We even have a couple of refugees from Afghanistan and we have people from all over the world. And it's a beautiful, a beautiful composition of people, Unsod said. Fourteen-year-old Alyssa Joy Cavero of Stockton sings a karaoke song at the annual Barrio Fiesta held a the Filipino Plaza Center in downtown Stockton on Aug. 12, 2017. Bernardo, through the Filipino Catholic Association, was connected with a Chinese attorney who wanted to organize and build housing for low-income families who had been displaced. The men had no money, but the young attorney had guts, Bernardo told The Record in the past. For Filipinos at the time, it was the first time that Filipinos had gotten together on a single mission to work together to get this building completed, Unsod said. Jose Bernardo, the founder was able to approach HUD and request funding. And there were many non-believers within (the) Filipino community who were opposed to it. They said it couldn't be done. But Jose proved them wrong. It continues to provide hundreds of people with low-income housing in downtown Stockton. Nine-year-old Rai'line Lacayo, left, and 11-year-old Angelina Cariilo eat snow cones at the 41st annual Filipino Barrio Fiesta at the Filipino Plaza in downtown Stockton on Aug. 9, 2014. This year the celebration will feature a fashion show, exhibits, dance performances, shaved ice, and more. The Associated Filipino Organizations will have a food booth, which will be the only one. This is after one of their food vendors backed out last minute, Unsod said. I want everyone to know, especially those who thought it couldn't be done. That we're still here. We're still standing. And we're still strong, Unsod said. I look forward to seeing that building still providing housing in the future, for many years to come. I want people to come celebrate with us. It's a very unique, I think situation, and I want them to come, share and come see the accomplishment. I think it's a real accomplishment, and I want them to share it with us. For more information on Barrio Fiesta visit visitstockton.org/events/stockton-barrio-fiesta/. Record reporter Angelaydet Rocha covers community news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at arocha@recordnet.com or on Twitter @AngelaydetRocha. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow. This article originally appeared on The Record: 50th annual Barrio Fiesta celebration returns Hollywood worships big movie franchises, so fans can expect "Barbie" sequels. One plot proposal quickly emerged from an unlikely source Sister Mary Joseph Calore of the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in St. Cresson, Pennsylvania. " 'Barbie becomes a nun' would be a great sequel," she wrote on the X platform. Her post contained this pitch to Warner Bros. executives: "Dissatisfied by endless parties and user friends, an eating disorder, spending addictions with clothes and shoes, and cohabitating with the shallow & unemployed playboy Ken, Barbie's sportscar has been parked more and more at an adoration chapel. She is seriously giving thought to draining the pool, putting her condo on the market, cutting her hair and donning the religious habit." That would be a twist after a cinematic manifesto arguing that life as a real woman is painful and complicated, but it's better than being an iconic plastic doll. "This movie should have been silly and fun, but it ended up being preachy and earnest," said Barbara Nicolosi Harrington, a former Catholic nun who became a screenwriter and Hollywood script doctor. "I mean, how far can you go with a story about Barbie?" Writer-director Greta Gerwig's previous work has been impressive, stressed Harrington, who teaches at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. With "Little Women," Gerwig showed the ability to offer a fresh take on a familiar story. Now, "Barbie" will draw intense scrutiny, since she will direct at least one movie in the upcoming Netflix take on "The Chronicles of Narnia" novels by the Christian apologist C.S. Lewis. Ryan Gosling, Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie attend a photo call for "Barbie" at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills on June 25. "Barbie" contains ambitious attempts to mix serious, even if tongue-in-cheek, social commentary with pop-culture mythology such as a shot-for-shot homage to Stanley Kubrick's legendary dawn-of-consciousness scene in "2001: A Space Odyssey." The big "Barbie" question, noted Other Feminisms writer Leah Libresco Sargeant, is stated in a soundtrack ballad, "What Was I Made For?" The key is that "Barbie" praises the "pursuit of meaning, while any discovery of meaning is excluded," noted Sargeant, a popular atheist blogger who converted to Catholicism in 2012. Ultimately, Barbie "receives her own benediction from the film's Higher Power the ghost of Ruth Handler, the real-life creator of the doll. Barbie wants to be her own storyteller, rather than a conduit through whom stories are told. She looks to Handler for permission to become human, but Handler disclaims any authority over her creation. Barbie can decide who to be alone without anyone else's input," wrote Sargeant for The Dispatch. Although the film includes a highly symbolic contact between Barbie and Handler which Gerwig based on Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam" Sargeant said it's clear her creator is "one more person stepping back to avoid being a barrier to the pursuit of the Self." Then again, that "Barbie" scene can be interpreted as a positive theological statement about what it means to be human, argued Brigid McCabe and Laura Oldfather, writing for the progressive Jesuit magazine America. As Barbie faces her fear of leaving "dollhood behind," her creator takes her hands and "tells her to 'feel.' " This leads into a montage of "young girls and grown women, laughing, talking, playing and enjoying their lives. When Barbie opens her eyes again, she has tears on her face," wrote McCabe and Oldfather. "This felt very reminiscent of St. Ignatius Loyola's Contemplation of the Incarnation," which asks believers making a Jesuit retreat to "imagine the three Divine Persons gazing down on the earth full of people. These scenes, of so many different people and emotions, flash before Barbie, and she is overwhelmed with the joys and sufferings of the world, with women at the forefront." One thing is clear, said Harrington: Gerwig didn't want to make what Hollywood pros often call a "stupid good" movie that is merely clever, creative and entertaining. She wanted to critique "toxic masculinity," gender, motherhood and the marketing of pricey princess dreams. "I don't think anyone wants to live in the Barbie world that's shown in this movie," she said. "But no one wants to see a Barbie movie about the challenges of being a real woman, either. The vehicle that is this movie cannot support a weighty subject like that. This is a movie about a doll. Think about that." Terry Mattingly leads GetReligion.org and lives in Oak Ridge. He is a senior fellow at the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi. This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Terry Mattingly: 'Barbie' preaches about what it means to be a woman Rather than concede to the uncomfortable fact that the star witness in the GOPs Biden family business probe blew up much of their narrative, Fox News hosts have instead claimed Hunter Bidens former business partner Devon Archer said the exact opposite of what he said. And when theyve been confronted by liberal pundit Jessica Tarlovs attempts to burst their bubble about what Archer actually claimed in his testimony, the networks right-wing stars have reacted by shouting their colleague down. When they havent tried to drown out Tarlov, theyve insisted that Archer really doesnt know anything about the allegations of bribery and corruption that Republicans had long insisted Archer would expose. During Wednesday's broadcast of The Five, Tarlovone of the highly rated shows rotating liberal panelistspointed out that Archers testimony was terrible for Republicans as it poked holes in their claims that President Joe Biden was involved in a criminal influence-peddling scheme with foreign oligarchs. He was asked if someone concluded from the 1023 formthat you all think is so importantthat Joe Biden was bribed, would you disagree with that? Yeah, I would. Devon Archer said that, she noted. The FD-1023 form Tarlov referenced is an FBI document memorializing a confidential informants claims about Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company that Hunter Biden once worked for. The informant said that Burisma founder Mykola Zlochevsky once told him he gave millions of dollars to then-Vice President Joe Biden to help get rid of Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin, who was supposedly investigating Burisma. Cant get enough media news? Subscribe to Confider, The Daily Beasts media newsletter here. Besides the fact that the form noted that the informant said he was not able to provide any further opinion as the veracity of Zlochevskys claims, and Shokin was actually fired for not investigating corruption (including at Burisma), Zlochevsky also told a Rudy Giuliani associate who was digging up dirt on the Bidens in 2019 that he never had any contact with Joe Biden. However, Tarlovs colleagues on The Five immediately dismissed Archers assertion that the president had not received a $5 million bribe from a Ukrainian oligarch. Jessica Tarlov points out that Devon Archer blew up the GOP's narrative about Viktor Shokin, Biden receiving bribes from Burisma, and Biden discussing business with his son -- only for the entire panel to shout her down and tell her that Archer didn't know anything! Just perfect pic.twitter.com/KTgAQ2dovR Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 9, 2023 What does he know about that?! Jesse Watters exclaimed while Jeanine Pirro added: Yeah, how does he know?! Tarlov snarked in return: Well, then he doesnt matter. Then Devon Archer is either the crux of the puzzle that shows that this is a mob family or he doesnt matter. It didnt matter to her Five co-hosts, in fact. While the other four panelists piled on, Tarlov attempted to explain that Shokins firing was actually not good for Burisma and that the GOPs release of Biden family bank records still showed no link to the president. But it was all for naught, as Watters and Pirro continued to shout her down. Over on midday panel show Outnumbered on Thursday, meanwhile, Tarlov sparked outrage among her fellow co-hosts when she said the president was accurate when he told Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy that he never talked business with anybody. Biden also blasted Doocy for claiming Archer testified that the president was on speakerphone a lot with them talking business, telling the Fox reporter it was a lousy question. (Predictably, the network has devoted ample airtime to Bidens dismissal of Doocy while congratulating the reporter on his great question.) Frankly, the president is right to say that he didnt have anything to do with it, because thats exactly what Devon Archers testimony confirmed, Tarlov said. I honestly cant believe it. We were talking about it yesterday on The Five. Co-host Kayleigh McEnany, a former Trump press secretary, interrupted to insist Archer wasnt on the phone calls, prompting Tarlov to retort that he also said he wasnt aware of wrongdoing by the president. The shows anchor, Harris Faulkner, shot back that Archer isnt an attorneya curious attempt to refute Tarlov. Eventually, though, the liberal commentator was given a brief opportunity to make her point about how most of the GOP talking points about the Biden family business have utterly fallen apart thanks to Archers testimony. (Some Republican lawmakers now claim they never accused the president of directly taking money, even though House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has specifically made that allegation.) Devon Archer either matters or he doesnt. And it was billed as bombshell testimony. Im here to tell you why it wasnt a bombshell, Tarlov said, recalling her commentary from the day prior. Hunter Bidens Ex-Biz Partner Shuts Down GOP Speculation Over DOJ Prison Letter That 1023 form, that Republicans like Jim Comer and everyone love to wave around, he says it wasn't evidence of wrongdoing on the part of President Biden, Tarlov continued. That it wasnt evidence of a bribe. He knows nothing of the $5 million that the Burisma board allegedly gave to Joe Biden. After once again noting that Archer said Shokin was good for Burisma because he wasnt investigating corruption, she advised viewers to watch Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy express skepticism that there were any crimes committed by the president. Faulkner, at that point, jumped in again to cut off Tarlov and give somebody else a chance to talk. But the shouting at Tarlov only commenced. McEnany chastised the liberal panelist for raising the bar and expecting the GOP to show that the president broke the law while they call for an impeachment inquiry. You say, okay, no crime was committed here. Again, youre raising the bar. A crime doesnt have to be committed here, she insisted. The whole point is that this is corruption. The American people see this and say this stinks! According to the Constitution, the president can be impeached and removed from office upon the conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. Subscribe to Confider, The Daily Beasts media newsletter, and get juicy scoops in your inbox every week. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. On Wednesday (Aug. 9), 20-year-old mother Jessica Ross, her boyfriend, Treveon Isaiah Taylor Sr., and their attorneys appeared at a press conference following a lawsuit made against Riverdale, GAs Southern Regional Medical Center. As reported by Law & Crime, a complaint submitted in Clayton County alleged that the medical institution and Tracey L. St. Julian, the obstetrician that was on duty, attempted to conceal what happened in the death of Ross newborn baby during delivery last month. [The plaintiffs] were eagerly awaiting the birth of their first child July 9, but were devastated to learn that not only did their baby not survive the delivery, he was tragically decapitated in the process, it read. Treveon Isaiah Jr. suffered tremendous pain and suffering as Dr. St. Julian applied tremendously excessive tension traction on his head and neck It resulted in massive blunt force trauma to his head and neck, multiple skull and facial bone fractures, hemorrhaging on his brain, hemorrhaging in his neck and around his spinal cord, multiple fractures of the bones in his neck [Which] all ultimately resulted in his decapitation. In my 12 years of experience practicing medicine and 20 years doing law, this is one of the most sad, egregious, and horrific situations that Ive ever seen, said attorney Roderick Edmond during the news conference. The case that we have filed is a wrongful death case Its a medical malpractice case. But it also has another twist to it, which unfortunately happened. Weve alleged fraud and intention of emotional stress due to misrepresentation by people who were involved in Ms. Ross healthcare. South Regional Medical Center claimed that privacy laws and HIPAA prohibited them from discussing the care and treatment of specific patients. They also denied the allegations presented and said that St. Julian is not an employee of the hospital. Trending Stories President Joe Biden let Fox News Peter Doocy know what he thought of his journalism skills in a sharp exchange on Wednesday. (Watch the video below.) Doocy asked the president about his son Hunter Bidens questionable business dealings a constant right-wing echo in what has been a fruitless effort to link the president to them. Theres this testimony now where one of your sons former business associates is claiming that you were on speakerphone a lot with them talking business, Doocy challenged at an event in Belen, New Mexico. I never talked business with anybody, growled Biden, whos been nicknamed Dark Brandon for his feisty rebukes to Republicans. And I knew youd have a lousy question. What makes it a lousy question? Doocy asked. Because its not true, Biden replied. DOOCY CONFRONTS BIDEN: There's this testimony now where one of your son's former business associates is claiming that you were on speaker phone a lot talking business. BIDEN: I never talked business...I knew you'd have a lousy question pic.twitter.com/DlVKb8WnXK Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 9, 2023 Doocy was likely attempting to build on discounted congressional testimony by former Hunter Biden business associate Devon Archer, who provided no smoking gun to tie the president to wrongdoing in his sons deals. Archer did claim, though, that Biden made small talk with his sons associates. Doocy has been a bee in Bidens bonnet before. In May, Biden snidely complimented him on a great question when Doocy asked him about pardoning Donald Trump. The president also called Doocy a stupid son of a bitch in a hot-mic moment over a question about the economy. (Biden later apologized.) In another incident, the president called Doocy silly after a misleading question about training Ukrainian troops against the Russian invasion. Related... 'It is about teenagers and I wrote it for teenagers,' the author wrote Kelly Sullivan/Getty Author John Green doesn't agree with updated library policies deeming YA books like his not age appropriate for teens. John Green criticized an Indiana library system after it pulled his novel The Fault in Our Stars from shelves in its Young Adult section. The Indianapolis native, 45, spoke out against the Hamilton East Public Library Board of Trustees' decision to move the book, along with hundreds of other titles, to a different section of its libraries in Fisher, Indiana and Noblesville, Indiana. This decision stems from a new policy that targets books that are considered not "age-appropriate," according to USA Today. "The Fault in Our Stars has been removed from the YA section in the suburbs of Indianapolis and is now considered a 'book for adults.' This is ludicrous. It is about teenagers and I wrote it for teenagers. Teenagers are not harmed by reading TFIOS. This is such an embarrassment to the city of @FishersIN," Green wrote. Green continued, "I only have a small voice in these decisions, of course, but you wont catch me alive or dead in Fishers, Indiana until these ridiculous policies are revoked." The Fault in Our Stars has been removed from the YA section in the suburbs of Indianapolis and is now considered a "book for adults." This is ludicrous. It is about teenagers and I wrote it for teenagers. Teenagers are not harmed by reading TFIOS. This is such an embarrassment https://t.co/vSsiPcL6fP John Green (@johngreen) August 9, 2023 The Fault in Our Stars was relocated from the teen to the general section of the library "based on criteria included in the Board-approved Hamilton East Public Library Collection Development Policy," Hamilton East Public Library said in a statement to USA Today. "This policy also includes a process for patrons to object to the placement of any item in the collection." This policy was updated in April following a meeting of the library's board, reports WISH-TV. They voted to clarify the terms and themes that violate the policy, including added appendixes to define a list of "Grossly Offensive Terms" and "Crimes Involving Violence." 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. Under the public library board's amended policy, the novel will no longer be placed in the YA sections in Noblesville and Fishers library branches. Instead, it will be moved to the general collection. According to NBC News, Green's novel Looking For Alaska will also be relocated to the general fiction section of the Indiana libraries. The updated policy states that "for children and teens, the Library will work to ensure that collections are age appropriate in topic and placement of materials... Patrons should understand some childrens books may reside in the general collection and may not be found in childrens areas. All titles can be found in the HEPL online catalog." Related: Shakespeare Now Being Censored in Some Florida Schools amid Confusion over New Ron DeSantis Law The Fault in Our Stars is Green's fourth novel and tells the bittersweet story of a teenage cancer patient who meets and falls in love with a teen from her cancer support group. The 2012 book was later adapted into a movie starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort. It has sold more than 23 million copies worldwide. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. The Super Bowl of stamp collecting events is coming to Cleveland. Running today through Sunday, the Great American Stamp Show will be at the Huntington Convention Center, 300 Lakeside Ave. in downtown Cleveland. Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free. More than 80 dealers will be at the show, which features extensive stamp collections and rare and valuable stamps. New stamps also will be introduced. Dealers will be from Northeast Ohio, as well as other states, including Florida, California and Massachusetts. Longtime collectors, novices and the curious are invited to the event. Canton-area residents, including members of the McKinley Stamp Club and Stark Stamp Club, are also helping with the event. Here's what we know about the Great American Stamp Show. The Great American Stamp Show will be today through Sunday at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland. The free event will feature about 80 stamp dealers, rare stamps and seminars. How big of a deal is the Great American Stamp Show? The Great American Stamp Show is the biggest event of its kind in the United States, said Carol Thatcher, a Jackson Township resident who will be attending and assisting with it. Last year's show was in Sacramento. Past shows have been in Columbus, but the event hasn't taken place in Northeast Ohio since 1999. "There's something for everybody," Thatcher said of stamp enthusiasts. This stamp is among the rare stamps that will be on display this weekend at the Great American Stamp Show in Cleveland. What types of stamps will be featured? Rare stamps on display will include the "Inverted Jenny," an image of an upside down airplane. The plane was supposed to be right side up, making the misprinted stamp worth big money, Thatcher said. The error occurred on the 24-cent airmail stamp of 1918. Only one sheet of 100 inverted center stamps was sold, according to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Stamps, covers, stamp memorabilia, postmarked envelopes and cachets will be for sale, Thatcher said. "Everybody collects for different reasons," she said. "But I collect because I like to fill up the stamp book. I have 68 books." Stamp collectors often pick themes such as hedgehogs, boats and Girl Scouts, Thatcher said. Stamp collections also may tell stories and share history, including about National Parks. Heritage collections feature stamps from Germany and other countries. Today will feature a series of first-day-of-issue ceremonies planned for the release of new stamps, according to a news release for the event. New stamps will be unveiled during the Great American Stamp Show, which runs today through Sunday at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland. The U.S. Postal Service will release a pane of 20 "Life Magnified" stamps depicting microscopic life. The United Nations Postal Administration, the Faroe Islands and Marshall Islands also will release stamps on the show's first day. A second set of stamps from the U.S. Postal Service, named "Thinking of You," will be released at the show Friday. Faroe Islands will release a stamp souvenir sheet today featuring Norwegian artist Martin Morck's 1000th engraving. All about stamps: Conversation with master stamp engraver Martin Morck Part of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Faroe Islands are comprised of 18 rocky, volcanic islands between Iceland and Norway in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Marshall Islands are a chain of volcanic islands and coral atolls in the central Pacific Ocean, between Hawaii and the Philippines. Rattlesnake Island in Lake Erie to unveil new stamps Additionally, new stamps will be revealed by the Rattlesnake Island Local Post in Lake Erie. The stamps mark the 210th anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie. Artist/designer Beth Gregerson of Lake County will be in attendance for the unveiling. Rattlesnake Island is an isolated 85-acre island with few residents in the western basin of Lake Erie. A collector checks his smartphone for stamps he needs during the Great American Stamp Show last August in Sacramento, California. This year's stamp show is in downtown Cleveland running today through Sunday. Admission is free. Who organizes and sponsors the stamp show? The Garfield-Perry Stamp Club is the local coordinator of the Great American Stamp Show. Sponsors of the Great American Stamp Show are the American Topical Association, American First Day Cover Society and American Philatelic Society. What else is happening at the Great American Stamp Show? Speakers from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Postal Service Stamp Services Division and the Royal Philatelic Society of London will lead programs. The group from England will bring 800 pages of exhibits showcasing classic and unique stamps of the British Empire. Specialty societies will give presentations on various philatelic topics, including estate planning, Disney on stamps and revitalizing youth philately. A youth area will feature free stamps and supplies for young collectors. For more information about the show, parking, and the schedule of events, go to https://stamps.org/great-american-stamp-show. Where can stamp lovers get involved in Stark County? Both the McKinley Stamp Club and Stark Stamp Club meet regularly. The McKinley group, in existence for around 90 years, meets at 7:30 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of each month at the Canton McKinley Fraternal Order of Eagles, 5024 Monticello Ave NW. The club has about 60 members. Stark Stamp Club also meets at the Fraternal Order of Eagles at 7:30 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month. About 25 members are in that group. Thatcher, who is chairwoman of the annual McKinley Stamp Show, has been interested in stamps since childhood. "Both my parents collected, and my mother worked at the stamp department at Halle Brothers department store in downtown Cleveland in the early 1930s," said Thatcher, 74. "I used to rip the stamps off the corners of envelopes," she said. "I collect from all over the world ... and I've traveled all over the world. I've been picking up stamps in my world travels. My parents and grandparents traveled, so everybody had a bunch of old mail with stamps on it." Reach Ed at 330-580-8315 and ebalint@gannett.com On X (formerly Twitter) ebalint@REP This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stamp collector Super Bowl: Great American Stamp Show is in Cleveland MSNBCs Lawrence ODonnell kicked of his show on Wednesday with a commentary on Donald Trumps myriad legal problems. But the target of his ire wasnt Trump this time or not directly, anyway it was Trumps lawyers, a group of people ODonnell mocked for living in abject fear of their client. All of Donald Trumps defense lawyers have already failed, more spectacularly in their representation of Donald Trump than anything they have ever done in their professional lives, ODonnell declared. Watch the clip above right now. They failed, ODonnell said, because they havent performed what he called the most basic task which is to control your client. Donald Trump is out of control, spewing poisonous, hateful, racist, sexist lies about the prosecutors and judges who are involved in the cases against him. ODonnell detailed some of those, particularly his ire against Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis, adding that every one of Donald Trumps criminal defense lawyers knows that every poisonous, filthy word Donald Trump has said about the prosecutors, every one of those words, is a pathological lie. And not one of those criminal defense lawyers has the professional dignity or human decency to disassociate himself from Trump, ODonnell continued. The host dismissed Donald Trumps attorneys as people who live in abject fear, and as an example showed a clip of John Lauro, the attorney representing Trump against charges related to interfering with the 2020 election. In the clip Lauro sputters and deflects when asked about a speech Trump gave where the disgraced ex-president called Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating his criminal behavior, deranged. John Lauro does not believe Jack Smith is deranged, ODonnell said. John Lauro could have just said, No, as most lawyers would, for that question, in a situation like that, if a defendant publicly insulted a prosecutor. Lauro, ODonnell argued, was instead terrified of the word no. When you defend the pathological liar, the filth of the pathological lies is going to get all over you. It is going to cover you. You will not be the same after defending every word of pathological liar says. So the only things Donald Trumps criminal defense lawyers have demonstrated so far is their complete failure to control their client, ODonnell argued. ODonnell then turned to remarks Trump made in New Hampshire this week, where he falsely accused Willis, who is Black, of having an affair with a former client, who Trump, still lying, claimed was a gang leader. Fear of their client, and absolutely no shame whatsoever, associating themselves with the lies Donald Trump tells about prosecutors and judges. Everything he said about Fani Willis came from the deeply perverted cesspool of Donald Trumps sick imagination. And he happily and perversely lied, ODonnell declared, noting Trumps own history of unethical sexual behavior. Not one of Donald Trumps criminal defense lawyers has any problem being associated with Donald Trumps lying about District Attorney Fani Willis. [But] there is another option: I quit. Any of Donald Trumps criminal defense lawyers can say that any day, ODonnell said. But none of them have ever quit because hes racist. Every one of Donald Trumps criminal defense lawyers is too cowardly to quit and much too cowardly to tell Donald Trump to shut up, ODonnell added. Watch, as we said, the whole thing above now. The post Lawrence ODonnell Says Trumps Cowardly Lawyers Have Already Failed (Videos) appeared first on TheWrap. Daniel Gutierrez took the empty seat that Sasha Ebrahimi was hoping to use for a nap. Soon, "Sparks were flying," she tells PEOPLE of meeting the stranger-turned-soulmate Secrets Royal Beach Punta Cana Sasha Ebrahimi and Daniel Gutierrez at their engagement photoshoot at Secrets Royal Beach Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic on Dec. 15, 2022. With an empty seat beside her, Sasha Ebrahimi was planning to stretch out and catch some sleep on her seven-hour overnight flight to London via Reykjavik, Iceland, from Denver in April 2022. But then a flight attendant notified her that she needed to fill the seat on the nearly full flight. I thought, Oh gosh, this is not what I wanted," recalls Ebrahimi, 25, then a Pepperdine University graduate student who was taking a class in London. But as soon as I saw him, I thought, 'This is going to be great.'" Daniel Gutierrez, 35, was also on his way to London with a stopover in Iceland when he took his seat beside Ebrahimi. He couldnt believe his luck when the woman beside him was the same attractive female he spotted earlier at the airport. Its funny because I had already noticed her in the airport, recalls Gutierrez, a network engineer at Vail Resorts who was traveling with a friend. I already thought she was beautiful the first time I saw her. So I was like, Now I get to sit for the seven-hour flight with a beautiful woman. For the next several hours, they talked non-stop about their lives, hobbies and their shared interest in travel. This was Gutierrezs first trip to Europe, so he was eager to gather travel tips from Ebrahimi, who had studied abroad in Paris and had traveled extensively within Europe. We talked about places we want to go to, recalls Ebrahimi. Related: Couple Marries on Plane 7 Miles Above Ariz. After Las Vegas Flight Drama: 'Your Co-Pilot Through Life' She gave me lots of really great tips that I used in travels in London and Ireland because shes very well-traveled, says Gutierrez, who ended up drinking Guinness beer in Dublin, trying Indian food in London and visiting a gas station in Ireland full of U.S. President Barack Obama memorabilia because of Ebrahimi's suggestions. Her tips were great. Courtesy Sasha Ebrahimi and Daniel Gutierrez. Daniel Gutierrez and Sasha Ebrahimi celebrating their engagement. Unbeknownst to Gutierrez at the time, Ebrahimi already had a strong feeling that Gutierrez was destined to be her husband. Do you have a sweet story the world needs to know? Send the details to love@people.com for a chance to be featured in Real-Life Love, People.com's series dedicated to sharing extraordinary connections and heartfelt gestures. About an hour into the flight, I said to myself, I am going to marry this man, she recalls. And as soon as I got off the plane, I texted my friend Claire and said, I just met my husband on the plane. I think it was his genuineness, she says. He was very calm. I am a very chaotic person. It was easy for us to connect. And I think that was the biggest thing, like I didnt feel like I was trying too hard. The conversation just flowed naturally. Related: Real-Life 'Top Gun' Pilots Welcome 'Supersonic' Baby: 'We Are Thankful,' Says New Dad (Exclusive) Not sleeping a wink after talking all night, Gutierrez and Ebrahimi exited the plane in Reykjavik and said awkward goodbyes. I didnt know If I should hug her yet or not, says Gutierrez. And my friend was standing there and we had just met. I wish I would have at least hugged. Secrets Royal Beach Punta Cana Sasha Ebrahimi and Daniel Gutierrez at their engagement photoshoot at Secrets Royal Beach Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic on Dec. 15, 2022. Luckily, an hour before landing in Iceland, the duo exchanged phone numbers so they could remain in touch. I think I said something like, Oh, give me your number and Ill send you some places to see, says Ebrahimi. Thats how I worded it. I was going to do that, but it was also a ploy. After spending 10 hours of her layover walking around the city of Reykjavik, visiting the landmark church Hallgrimskirkja (which overlooks the city) and sampling local beer Gull, Ebrahimi eventually boarded her to flight to London. A couple of days went by and he hadnt texted me yet and he had my number too, she recalls. I was waiting and waiting, and one of my friends was like, Just text him first. So I did. We started texting and made plans to meet up in Scotland at the end of the week. I was very nervous when I saw his text, she says. I had butterflies, which doesnt really happen to me. They met in Edinburgh on the Royal Mile. Ebrahimi walked out of her hotel and tried to cross the street, but there was a huge crowd in front of her. As the crowd dispersed, Gutierrez appeared on the other side of the street. It was a very cute, romantic moment, she says. I was 100% percent excited to meet him. We had our first kiss in Edinburgh, says Gutierrez. Sparks were flying. Secrets Royal Beach Punta Cana Sasha Ebrahimi and Daniel Gutierrez at their engagement photoshoot at Secrets Royal Beach Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic on Dec. 15, 2022. After spending the day together, they went their separate ways again, and Ebrahimi sent a text message to Gutierrez, while he was in Manchester, England. She said, All cards on the table, in a text message, he recalls her writing. She was like, I wanted to tell you that an hour into our flight I told myself, I want to marry this man. Related: Woman Spent Husbands Final Months Creating Wonderful Memories. His Last Words Were I Love You (Exclusive) I felt a sudden rush of heat in my face, like I was going to faint, honestly, he says, laughing. I had so many butterflies and I would say some kind of adrenaline. Thats a big statement to say to someone you just met, right? They made plans to meet up again in Amsterdam and shared their first official date in the Dutch city. That was really cool because it wasnt planned, says Gutierrez. It was totally spontaneous. And thats how its been ever since. After returning to U.S., the couple have been inseparable, eventually moving in together in Lone Tree, Colorado. They became engaged in December when they traveled to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic for Ebrahimis birthday. He surprised me with a romantic dinner on the beach and proposed to me, she says. On Aug. 12, 2023, the couple will marry at the Omni Hotel in Broomfield, Colorado, with 270 guests in attendance. They plan to pay tribute to Gutierrezs Mexican background by having a mariachi band perform during the reception and by also doing the dollar dance and snake dance. To honor Ebrahimis Persian heritage, the couple intends to place several items that symbolize the different aspects of marriage on a large table, including nuts, candy, fruit, candles, flowers, eggs and a needle and thread. Secrets Royal Beach Punta Cana Sasha Ebrahimi and Daniel Gutierrez at their engagement photoshoot at Secrets Royal Beach Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic on Dec. 15, 2022. You sit at that table, and the women who are closest to you in your life come up behind you and hold a cloth over your head and rub two sugar cones together while the ceremony is proceeding to sweeten the marriage, she says. Because travel has brought the couple so much joy already and brought them together they intend to make it a big part of their married life. They have also traveled to Napa Valley, Lake Tahoe, Georgia, South Carolina and Panama as a couple and have no plans to slow down. We definitely see kids in the future, says Ebrahimi, who now does contract management for a company in the defense industry. As soon as the baby can get a passport, we are getting him or her on a plane. She looks back in wonder at how she crossed paths with her fiance, since she had been living in Colorado Springs at the time and Gutierrez was in Denver more than an hour's drive apart. I dont think we would have ever met each other if it wasnt for Icelandair, Ebrahimi says. In recognition of the special role the Nordic airline played in bringing the couple together, Icelandair is giving them tickets to Iceland as a wedding present. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. In this article, we are going to discuss the 15 cheapest legal weed states to live in. You can skip our detailed analysis of the cannabis industry in the U.S., the fastest growing category in the cannabis industry, and the effect of legalization on the prices of marijuana, and go directly to 5 Cheapest Legal Weed States to Live in. The history of cannabis cultivation in America dates back to the early colonists, who grew hemp for textiles and rope. Cannabis was also widely used as a patent medicine during the 19th and early 20th centuries, described in the United States Pharmacopeia for the first time in 1850. Political and racial factors led to the criminalization of marijuana in 1937, with the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act, though its legal status is now changing in many places. Cannabis Industry in the U.S.: The U.S. legal cannabis industry took some hits in 2022, but as we mentioned in our article 15 U.S. Cities with the Highest Weed Consumption in 2023 annual revenue of the industry is estimated to reach $31.8 billion by the end of 2023, growing to $50.7 billion by 2028. The increasing legalization of cannabis and rising acceptance of its use for medical purposes are the key factors driving the growth of the market. Growth is also expected to come from new states. In the first two months of 2023, three states have begun cannabis sales: two adult-use (Connecticut and Maryland) and one medical (Mississippi). As of August 2023, 23 states have legalized recreational weed in America, in addition to the District of Columbia. Fastest Growing Category in the Cannabis Industry: The cannabis drinks segment is the fastest-growing area of the industry. According to Research and Markets, the global market for cannabis beverages was estimated at $1 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $2 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 16.9% over the forecast period. The U.S. accounts for a 70.9% share in the global cannabis drinks market. Story continues The CBD-infused beverages are gaining popularity in the U.S. where they are becoming easily available through mainstream retail outlets. The growing interest in wellness drinks is also likely to drive gains in the market. Weed infused beverages are popping up in more places, with major drinks makers including Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ) and The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM) already looking for their share. Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ) ventured into the weed-infused drinks industry with a $4 billion investment in the Canopy Growth Corporation (NASDAQ:CGC) and launched its first CBD drinks brand called Quatreu in the U.S. in 2021. Canopy Growth Corporation (NASDAQ:CGC) a world-leading diversified cannabis, hemp, and cannabis device company introduced Canadas first-to-market cannabis infused beverage with naturally occurring caffeine under the Deep Space brand. Canopy Growth Corporation (NASDAQ:CGC) also debuted its first weed-infused iced tea this year with the launch of Tweed Iced Tea Peach with 5 mg THC. Modelo Especial, by Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ), became the Top-Selling Beer Brand in America this summer. The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM) also entered the cannabis space with the introduction of its TeaPot cannabis-infused iced teas in Canada in 2022. Following the successful debut of TeaPot in Canada, The Boston Beer Company, Inc. (NYSE:SAM) announced the launch of its newest flavor this year Mango Green Tea. Though there isnt a set timeline yet, TePot will eventually be sold in the U.S., which is where the real opportunity lies. Effect of Legalization on Prices: All the diverse effects of legalizing recreational marijuana may not be clear for a number of years, but one consequence has become evident almost immediately Pot has never been so cheap. The retail price of a gram of cannabis dropped 13% to $9.43 in Q3 of 2022 from $10.83 in the same period the previous year the steepest fall ever seen for marijuana in a 1-year period. In some cases, legalizing cannabis has caused its prices to drop by up to 90%, when compared with prices during prohibition. At the peak in the 90s, you could get $6,000 a pound for indoor OG Kush in California. Right now, farmers are reportedly getting $600 a pound for that very same strain. Notably, even high taxes on legal marijuana dont keep the legal price anywhere near what it was when the drug was more broadly illegal. The major reason for this drastic decrease is Econ 101 Supply and Demand. As the cannabis industry has boomed since legalization started a few years ago, more and more players have popped up to grab their slice of the sweet ganja pie, which has resulted in an increasing number of growers producing more weed than stores know what to do with. The black market is also forced to drive prices down as the legal market gets more competitive. Competition among cannabis growers is also increasing as more cities allow operations. In 2021, the number of municipalities allowing marijuana businesses jumped to 118 from 87 in Michigan alone, while the number of licensed businesses jumped by nearly 150 to 1,238. Between 2020 and 2022, the number of growers nearly quadrupled to 1,238, and more than a third of those 458 are classified as Class C, larger operations that can harvest 2,000 to 10,000 plants. Legalizing the plant also opens doors to more innovation. Cannabis is an annual plant that gets planted in the spring and usually harvested in the fall. But farmers figured out that they could trick the plant into flowering early by depriving it of light and creating longer nights. This is done by throwing tarps over a greenhouse while the day is still going, making the plant think that its actually the fall and the night is really long. Light Deprivation has completely revolutionized cannabis cultivation and consumers will now be able to have the best products year-round and pay very low prices for it. Prohibition imposes huge costs on drug producing industries that are passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. These higher prices are among the principal reasons (the others being stigma and fear of punishment) that illegal drugs are used so much less frequently than legal drugs such as alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana is a rare example where we can see the impact of legalizing a drug in real time, which shows that if the production and sale of heroin and cocaine etc. were also legalized, those drugs would also become dramatically cheaper. With that said, here are the Cheapest Places to Live with Legal Weed in America. 15 Cheapest Legal Weed States to Live in Image by JR Byron from Pixabay Methodology: To collect data for this article, we have referred to the Price of Weed a global user-submitted price index for marijuana for the average price per ounce of high quality recreational weed in the states it has been legalized in. Then we referred to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, looking for the cost of living index of the states that have legalized recreational marijuana. A cost of living of 100 means its the same as the national average. Finally we calculated a weighted average of the above-mentioned criteria, assigned a score to each state based on its average and ranked it accordingly. When two states had the same score, we ranked them by their average price of weed per ounce. Following are the Cheapest Legal Weed States to Live in in 2023: 15. Connecticut Average Price of Weed per Ounce: $338.3 Cost of Living Index: 113.1 Insider Monkey Score: 12.5 Cannabis in Connecticut has been legal for recreational use since July 1st 2021. However, adult-use cannabis sales officially began across the state on Jan 10th 2023. During the first month for the adult use market, over $5 million was made in cannabis sales, which then doubled to $10 million in May. While legal cannabis sales have been going up, there has been a downturn in prices. 14. California Average Price of Weed per Ounce: $258.8 Cost of Living Index: 134.5 Insider Monkey Score: 12 California is the state with the best weed in America in 2023, as per the quality and availability of the plant. The price per pound of cannabis fell in 2021 because of massive overproduction across California. The tough competition from the black market also forces retailers to keep prices low, as 2 out of every 3 cannabis purchases are made in the illicit market. Las Vegas ranks among the Cities with the Cheapest Weed in the World. With $5.3 billion in legal sales last year, the Sunshine State is the Largest Cannabis Market in the World. 13. Rhode Island Average Price of Weed per Ounce: $306.09 Cost of Living Index: 110.5 Insider Monkey Score: 11 Rhode Island became the 19th state to legalize recreational marijuana last year, when Gov. Dan McKee signed a bill into law that, in part, set up a framework for retail sales and taxation. That framework included establishing a Cannabis Control Commision to oversee and regulate the industry. Rhode Island ranks 13th in our List of Cheapest Legal Weed States in America. 12. Delaware Average Price of Weed per Ounce: $339.67 Cost of Living Index: 102.6 Insider Monkey Score: 11 On April 13, 2023, Delaware became the 22nd state to legalize recreational marijuana use. The new regulations authorize the operation of 30 marijuana retail outlets in the state, beginning around September of 2024. A total of 60 cultivator licenses, 30 manufacturing licenses, and 5 testing licenses will be available with most biannual licenses carrying a $10,000 fee. 11. Missouri Average Price of Weed per Ounce: $352 Cost of Living Index: 88.4 Insider Monkey Score: 10 The state of Missouri has recorded over $500 million in marijuana sales since it was fully legalized in February 2023. Since legal sales began in 2019, the state has collected nearly $100 million in revenue in taxes and program fees, according to the authorities. Missouri is 11th on our list of the cheapest legal weed states in our list. 10. Illinois Average Price of Weed per Ounce: $351.6 Cost of Living Index: 90.8 Insider Monkey Score: 10 Recreational marijuana sales in Illinois finished 2022 with more than $1.5 billion, up 13% more than 2021. The Prairie State also made $562 million in taxes from cannabis last year. Illinois is trying to level the playing field in the cannabis industry and since last November, more two dozen operators have won social equity dispensary licenses designed to create space in the industry for entrepreneurs from disadvantaged backgrounds. 9. Arizona Average Price of Weed per Ounce: $296.8 Cost of Living Index: 107.2 Insider Monkey Score: 9.5 Arizona is one of the more progressive states when it comes to cannabis banking. However, It is a restrictive and expensive environment. Once a bank notifies regulators that it is working with cannabis-related businesses, the bank is designated as a CRB. The CRB banks are subject to more oversight by the FDIC, and hence charge higher fees for their services. Adult-use cannabis sales in 2022 reached $950 million, soaring to 70% of the states total marijuana sales for the year. Phoenix is among the Cities with the Highest Weed Consumption in the World. The Grand Canyon State is one of the top 10 cheapest legal weed states to live in. 8. Maine Average Price of Weed per Ounce: $285 Cost of Living Index: 111.5 Insider Monkey Score: 9.5 Maine is one of the cheapest legal weed states in 2023. According to data from Maines Office of Cannabis Policy, nearly $159 million of cannabis products were sold in the state in 2022, almost double of the $82 million in sales recorded a year earlier. Maine has also witnessed a 20% increase in the number of dispensaries over the last year. 7. Washington Average Price of Weed per Ounce: $233.9 Cost of Living Index: 115.1 Insider Monkey Score: 8.5 Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell signed three ordinances last year aimed at improving equity and helping people of color break into the states mostly white legal cannabis industry. Retail sales of cannabis reached $1.4 billion in Washington in 2022. Washington counts among the best states to live in with legal weed. 6. Oregon Average Price of Weed per Ounce: $210.2 Cost of Living Index: 115.1 Insider Monkey Score: 8 Portland was declared the Best Weed City of 2023, according to a study by Real Estate Witch and Leafly. Portland Community College is now offering cannabis programs to students who want to pursue a career in the marijuana industry upon graduation. Since the inception of Oregons legal cannabis market in 2015, it has become an almost $1 billion industry. Oregon ranks 6th among the Most Affordable Legal Weed States to Live In. Click to continue reading and see the 5 Cheapest Legal Weed States to Live In. Suggested Articles: Disclosure: None. 15 Cheapest Legal Weed States to Live In is originally published on Insider Monkey. Maui Death Toll Rises to at Least 36 as Wildfires Continue to Burn: 'There's Nothing Left,' Says Resident Lahaina, a town favored by tourists on the northwest coast, has been devastated by the fire CARTER BARTO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The Maui wildfires have now claimed the lives of at least 36 people, as three separate fires across the Hawaiian island continue to burn uncontrolled, authorities said Thursday. A Maui county spokesperson told Hawaii News Now that all of the victims were found in Lahaina, the historic tourist town on the islands northwest coast that has been leveled by the disaster. These past few days, the resolve of our families, business and visitors have been tested like never before in our lifetime, Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said in a statement posted to Facebook. With lives lost and properties decimated, we are grieving with each other in this inconsolable time. In an update at 10:30 p.m. HST on Wednesday, the Maui Fire Department reported no significant changes to the three fires located in Lahaina, Upcountry and the Pulehu/Kihei areas, and said that there are no containment numbers at this time." The fire department has been dealing with multiple flare-ups. CARTER BARTO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Related: People Jump Into Ocean to Escape Flames as Raging Wildfires Burn in Hawaii: 'Its Apocalyptic' At first light Thursday, the fire department said it planned to conduct an assessment of the situation, adding that additional backup from Honolulu had been requested. According to the White House, President Joe Biden on Thursday approved a disaster declaration for Hawaii and "ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts." "The Presidents action makes Federal funding available to affected individuals in Maui County," their statement added. "Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover from the effects of the disaster." The president also discussed the catastrophic wildfires with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on Thursday, CNN reported. He expressed his deep condolences for the lives lost and vast destruction of land and property, the White House said in a statement to pool reporters, per CNN. As first responders and local government continue to assess the unprecedented disaster, tourists are being evacuated to the islands main airport in Kahului, via shuttle buses from West Maui, starting Thursday at 8:30 a.m. HST, according to the County of Maui. American Airlines and United Airlines are sending empty planes to the island so that they can help expedite the evacuation of visitors, the airlines said on Thursday in statements to PEOPLE. Related: Wildfires in Hawaii Leave At Least 6 Dead, Says Mayor Weve canceled todays inbound flights to Kahului Airport so our planes can fly empty to Maui and be used as passenger flights back to the mainland, United said in a statement provided to PEOPLE. Ty O'Neil/AP Photo Meanwhile, four shelters across the county are housing more than 2,100 people, and the American Red Cross has put in an urgent call for more volunteers, per Hawaii News Now. In Lahaina, residents are continuing to process the devastation. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Every single person that I work with, the people that I see at the bank, the grocery store, everyone I know is now homeless, Maui resident Dustin Kaleiopu told the Today show on Thursday. In 36 hours, our town has been burnt to ash. Theres nothing left. Officials are warning the death toll could go up, as they continue to fight the large and fast-moving fires, Adam Weintraub, communications director for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency, said on Good Morning America during a Thursday interview. Its only recently that weve started to get our arms around them and contain them, Weintraub said. So, were hoping for the best, but were prepared for the worst. For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on People. Sen. Ron Johnson knows his state is one of the keys to the presidency in 2024, but he doesnt want his Republican Party to blow a bunch of money on stupid ads in Wisconsin hed rather get boots on the ground. Johnson appeared on Thursdays Clay & Buck syndicated radio program, where co-host Clay Travis asked the third-term senator whether hed consider joining the ticket if he were asked to be a VP running mate. If you had a presidential candidate come up and ask you to be vice president, I dont know who would turn somebody down, Johnson said. I mean, its just youre being asked to serve. I stepped up to compete for a third term because this country is in big trouble. .@SenRonJohnson is the rare politician who actually tells the truth about what he'd do if offered the VP slot. Interview: https://t.co/P6EzRL4k9E Podcast: https://t.co/WvNDsUybBx pic.twitter.com/SkBGHevmZD The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show (@clayandbuck) August 10, 2023 Solidly blue for decades of presidential elections, Wisconsin went for Donald Trump in 2016, then flipped back to help elect Joe Biden in 2020. Johnson said the GOPs campaign dollars need to be redirected in Wisconsin like most purple states, Wisconsins Democratic Party voters are concentrated in city centers. To win Wisconsin, the formula is ground game, he said. Its grassroots. Its get the paid field staff out there and doing what the Democrats do. They only have to do it in Madison and Milwaukee. We need to mine votes in every small little town and municipality in Wisconsin. He conceded that canvassing vast rural areas of Wisconsin would be a much more difficult task. But thats where we need to spend the money, Johnson said. I keep telling people who run the RNC and these national campaigns to quit spending so much money on stupid ads! Spend money on the ground game. Listen to Johnsons remarks in the video above. The post Republicans Need to Mine Votes in Every Small Town, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson Says: Spend Money on the Ground Game (Video) appeared first on TheWrap. This article was not supposed to be an appreciation. I was literally hours away from interviewing Robbie Robertson for a celebratory feature about his most impressive film score, for the forthcoming Killers of the Flower Moon, and his long and varied collaboration with its director, Martin Scorsese, who was also going to answer some of our questions. The gods had other plans. Robertson, whose mother was born on the Six Nations Reserve near Lake Erie in Canada, breathes and strums a windstorm of personal expression into the films staggering score, which Scorsese cranks noticeably loud in the mix. It pounds along with the beat of drums and shakers, chords splashing on acoustic and electric guitars, accented with banjo twangs and the birdlike cries of various flutes. Robertsons contribution is an astonishing and lively musical ecosystem that gives immediate authenticity to Scorseses equally vivid presentation of Osage life and culture in 1920s Oklahoma. Its music that proudly worships and dances with these people and alternately weeps for their oppression, at times sounding almost sick at their treatment by the storys white predators. The movie was the pitch-perfect canvas for Robertsons gifts not just his Native ancestry but also his rootsy songwriting DNA and skills as a musical storyteller. When the movie comes out in October, it will be the last film he ever scored. Robertson died Wednesday at age 80. Scorsese spotted that skill right away when he first locked arms with Robertson in 1976. In The Last Waltz, the director cinematically captured the star-studded farewell performance of the Band, Robertsons virtuosic outfit that shared a constellation with Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and a dozen other 1960s legends who joined them onstage that night. Scorsese not only interviewed Robertson and his bandmates but also coordinated every lyric and shot with Robertson as though it were a choreographed musical. The songwriter also produced the picture, and in his onscreen chats with the director, he comes off like a scruffy, charismatic character out of one of Scorseses early movies, maybe Mean Streets. Robbie Robertson, left, and Martin Scorsese, circa "The Last Waltz." (Richard E. Aaron / Redferns / Getty Images) Each time we went out to do a number and a concert, it was like doing a round in a prize fight, Robertson says in the film. Now, this automatically triggered something in me, Scorsese told the Hollywood Reporter in 1978 about the line. It's like Mean Streets. I began to understand the characters a little more. Because nobody ever knew the Band. They had this aura about them that you couldnt go near. And I began to talk to them and I began to realize what kind of guys they are, and the pain they go through every time they sing a song. Thats what I wanted to capture. Hollywood came calling, and Robertson was cast as a lead in the 1980 film Carny, which he also produced. But he was much more at home in the studio and on the soundtrack, and he quickly became Scorseses wingman in all things music. Its never been about traditional movie music, Robertson told Headliner in 2019 about that role. Scorsese has often used rock and pop songs in place of scoring throughout his prolific film career it was the soundtrack of his life, he has said, the music that was pouring out of apartments and car windows in the background of his own story. After The Last Waltz, he deputized Robertson to be his music consultant and soundtrack supervisor. Starting on The King of Comedy, the 1982 cringe-comedy classic starring Robert De Niro that was recently replicated in Joker, Robertson helped curate and produce songs for numerous Scorsese films. He would often contribute a song or two himself, and where an occasional instrumental score cue was needed, he would supply that as well. On The Color of Money, Scorseses sequel to The Hustler starring Paul Newman and Tom Cruise, Robertson conceived a fitting barroom jukebox soundtrack, teaming up with blues legend Willie Dixon and arranger Gil Evans. Robertson couldnt read or write music, so he recorded tapes of himself humming for Evans to translate for an orchestra. He also sent the tapes to Scorsese, and he put it in the movie, Robertson recalled in 2019. I said, No, that doesnt go in the movie. Thats me just composing in my kind of way. Were going to do that with the orchestra. And he said, Oh, no, it works really well. From then on, Robertson quipped, Ive been careful about what I send him. The anecdote is revealing of their playful, unorthodox partnership, which continued from Casino through 2019s The Irishman. Scorsese would frequently work with conservatory-trained film composers to write more traditional scores: Howard Shore, also a Canadian, was a favorite. But for his sprawling, multi-era tale of an Irish American mobster, the director wanted some of Robertsons distinct magic. Read more: 15 essential Robbie Robertson songs The musician went looking for a haunting mood, he told Headliner, and came up with an ambling death march for blues harmonica and ink-black bass. His score provided the glue between a needle drop soundtrack that featured Glenn Miller and Fats Domino. The picture ends with an original song, I Hear You Paint Houses a nod to the Charles Brandt book that inspired the movie with Van Morrison singing the phrase and Robertson repeating it. It would have been a fitting coda to the four-decade duet between Robertson and Scorsese, but then the filmmaker made a stunning late-career masterpiece based on the 2017 book Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann and gave Robertson his most prominent and poetic role in any scoring assignment hed ever taken on. The resulting music, so rich in mood and melody teeming with the terroir of Turtle Island and the first ill-fated Americans who sang and danced with spirits is the best music Robertson ever wrote for the screen. Its not fair that he didnt live to experience its reception, but it couldnt be a finer eulogy for a chief American musician. 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. Vying for Taylor Swift tickets next November? Dont make your summer any crueller by leaving your accommodations plan too late. Taylor Swift announced new tour dates in early August, including three shows in Indianapolis on Nov. 1, 2 and 3, 2024. Tourism agency Visit Indy anticipates hotels to sell out across Central Indiana and expects the concert to bring in at least 100,000 people per night. To help you avoid that Wouldve, Couldve, Shouldve feeling, IndyStar put together an early list of 10 hotels within walking distance of Lucas Oil Stadium, the Eras Tours Indianapolis venue, as well as when youll be able to reserve a room. Dear Reader, be sure to Keep Your Eyes Open to nab a room before theyre fully booked. Distance : 0.3 miles from Lucas Oil Stadium Rating : 2-star hotel with a 4.4 star Google rating Location : 629 Russell Avenue Phone number: 463-209-7300 Reservations open the week of Christmas this year. Reservations can be made online on their website. Distance : 0.4 miles from Lucas Oil Stadium Rating : 3-star hotel with a 4.4 star Google rating Location : 211 South Meridian Street Phone number: 317-636-7992 Reservations typically open 50 weeks out the week of Nov. 17, 2023 but it varies. Reservations can be made online on their website. Does Indianapolis have terrible hotels? One study say so, but here's what's wrong with it. Distance : 0.3 miles from Lucas Oil Stadium Rating : 2-star hotel with a 4.1 star Google rating Location : 601 Russell Avenue Phone number: 317-472-4800 Reservations will open in the last week of December or the first week of January. Reservations can be made online on their website. Distance : 0.3 miles from Lucas Oil Stadium Rating : 3-star hotel with a 4.2 star Google rating Location : 123 West Louisiana Street Phone number: 317-631-2221 Reservations will open on Oct. 23. Reservations can be made online on their website. Distance : 0.5 miles from Lucas Oil Stadium Rating : 4-star hotel with a 4.5 star Google rating Location : 10 South West Street Phone number: 317-860-5800 Reservations open the week of Nov. 15, 2023. Reservations can be made online on their website. Best Indiana Airbnbs: Shipshewana Airbnb host named Indiana's most hospitable with 221 perfect reviews Distance : 0.2 miles from Lucas Oil Stadium Rating : 3-star hotel with a 3.9 star Google rating Location : 515 South West Street Phone number: 317-631-9000 Reservations open in the first week of November this year. Reservations can be made online on their website. Distance : 0.6 miles from Lucas Oil Stadium Rating : 3-star hotel with 4.3 star Google rating Location : 601 West Washington Street Phone number: 317-822-9029 Reservations open at the end of November or the beginning of December this year. Reservations can be made online on their website. Heading to Taylor Swift in Indianapolis? You might need to know these state laws Distance : 0.5 miles from Lucas Oil Stadium Rating : 3-star hotel with a 4.1 star Google rating Location : 130 South Pennsylvania Street Phone number: 317-762-9000 Reservations open on Feb. 1, 2024. Reservations can be made online on their website. Distance : 0.3 miles from Lucas Oil Stadium Rating : 4-star hotel with a 4.2 star Google rating Location : 40 West Jackson Place Phone number: 317-634-6664 Reservations are already open and can be made online on their website. Distance : 0.4 miles from Lucas Oil Stadium Rating : 4-star hotel with a 4.3 star Google rating Location : 241 West Washington Street Phone number: 317-262-8100 Reservations open in the third week of November and can be made online on their website. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Taylor Swift in Indianapolis: 10 hotels near Lucas Oil Stadium Sydney Sweeney has addressed misinterpretations of the red MAGA-style hats worn at her mothers birthday party last year. The actress, 25, reflected on the backlash she received over the party, where guests appeared to be wearing Blue Lives Matter T-shirts and Make America Great Again hats, during an interview with Variety, published on 9 August. Amid the criticism in August 2022, her brother, Trent, denied that the guests were wearing MAGA hats, commenting on his own Instagram post that the hats actually read: Make Sixty Great Again. Speaking to Variety, Sweeney offered clarifications about the party and the accessories, noting that the party guests who wore the hats were not related to her. There were so many misinterpretations, she said. The people in the pictures werent even my family. The Euphoria star also alleged that the guests wearing what appeared to be the red hats made popular by former president Donald Trump wore the outfits as a joke. The people who brought the things that people were upset about were actually my moms friends from LA who have kids that are walking outside in the Pride parade, and they thought it would be funny to wear because they were coming to Idaho, she said. Sweeney also spoke candidly about her experience in the spotlight amid her rise to fame, and how fans praise and criticise her online. People are so fast to build someone up, and then they love tearing them down, she said. And its so fascinating to see. Three years ago, I was going to college just like everybody else. And all of a sudden, Im not a human anymore. In August 2022, Sweeney posted a series of pictures and videos to Instagram from her mothers 60th birthday. No better way to celebrate my momma than a surprise hoedown, she wrote in the caption of the post, which showed snaps of her family dressed as cowboys and riding a mechanical bull. However, her followers were quick to critcise party-goers, who were pictured in T-shirts that appeared to bear the Blue Lives Matter flag. Blue Lives Matter, a countermovement that emerged in response to Black Lives Matter, advocates for the protection of law enforcement officers and for attacks against police or first responders to be treated as hate crimes. Amid criticism from viewers over the red had worn by guests, which were reminiscent of Trumps Make America Great Again hats, Trent clarified that the hats actually said Make Sixty Great Again, in honour of his mothers birthday. This is not the first time Sweeney has addressed the backlash, as The White Lotus star took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to express her frustrations over the criticism at the time, writing: You guys this is wild. An innocent celebration for my moms milestone 60th birthday has turned into an absurd political statement, which was not the intention. Please stop making assumptions. Sweeney also reflected on the backlash she received during an interview with British GQ in November 2022. Honestly I feel like nothing I say can help the conversation. Its been turning into a wildfire and nothing I can say will take it back to the correct track, she said. INGLEWOOD, Calif. Tens of thousands of sequined young people sing and chant in unison. Many cry, others scream uncontrollably. All eyes are trained on the woman in the center, the person many credit with changing their lives for the better. No, it's not a cult or a religious revival (though you might be forgiven for thinking so). It's the final show of the first leg of Taylor Swift's Eras tour, the culmination of a monumental musical odyssey both for the singer and the more than 2 million fans who attended and one sure to go down in music history. Over the past five months, Swift has performed her over three-hourlong set of nearly 45 songs despite a Ticketmaster debacle, pouring rain, a rumored break-up, a rumored new relationship and another rumored breakup. She had a heartwarming moment with Kobe Bryant's daughter, gave life-changing $100K bonuses to her truck drivers, set the record for No. 1 albums by a female artist, boosted the economy according to the Federal Reserve, might become the first artist to have a tour gross over $1 billion and perhaps single-handedly brought more sequins to football stadiums across America than any other person in history. And Swift shows no signs of slowing down. During her last performance at SoFi Stadium in Southern California Wednesday night, she announced to the delight of thousands of attendees her next album rerecording: 2014's "1989," home to her hits "Shake It Off," "Blank Space" and "Welcome to New York." Taylor Swift performs for the fourth night of the Eras Tour in Southern California on Aug. 7. Here we are, on the last night of the U.S. leg of the Eras tour, in the eighth month of the year, on the ninth day (of the month)," Swift said to frenzied screams, before art for the upcoming "1989 (Taylor's Version)," due Oct. 27, flashed on the gigantic screen behind her. Leave it to Swift to drop the "1989" news on Aug. 9, AKA 8/9. More: Taylor Swift reveals '1989' as next rerecorded album at Eras tour in LA Taylor Swift follows '1989 (Taylor's Version)' announcement with stripped-down 'New Romantics' Swift's "1989" announcement segued into her first surprise song of the night: "New Romantics," from the "1989" album. Swift played the raucous pop hit on an acoustic guitar. It was a more stripped-down version of the song but that didn't stop Swifties from scream-singing and dancing along. She then gave her second surprise song: a tender performance of "New Year's Day," from her 2017 album "Reputation." As she accompanied herself on the piano, the crowd sang along while swaying back and forth. "Hold on to the memories / They will hold on to you," she sang: These lyrics seemed to hold special significance for Swift as well as for her fans seeking to savor every final moment of the tour's first leg. Swift clearly felt the electric buzz in the air. Following a performance of "champagne problems" from her 2020 album "evermore" early in the show, she teared up while earning a deafening standing ovation that lasted about eight minutes. Fans welcome Taylor Swift to LA: See the friendship bracelets, glittery outfits Fans flock from all over the world, united by friendship bracelets Fans traveled far and wide to attend the show, bearing friendship bracelets on their wrists as well as attire that nodded to the various eras of Swift's career. Some even went for costumes that referenced niche lyrics, such as Peter Pan ("Peter losing Wendy") and a moth holding a match ("He was a moth to the flame / She was holding matches"). College student Alexa Avalos attended with a friend, both of whom came from Tijuana, Mexico. Together, they made over 200 friendship bracelets over the course of four months in anticipation of the event. Swifties famously trade the homemade jewelry with each other at concerts. "It means the world to me," Avalos, who wore a "Reputation" shirt, says of the show. "This is like an asteroid for today's pop culture. ... She's the music industry right now." Television writer Katie Lunskis says she got last-minute "miracle" tickets two weeks ago thanks to a surprise Ticketmaster email while on the way to the dentist. She couldn't stop smiling or talking about the tickets through her appointment, much to her dentist's chagrin. She attended with her friend, TV literary agent Melissa Darman, who compared the Eras tour to a musical moment akin to Woodstock or other shows of historic caliber. "My dad saw the Beatles (in Boston), and, to me, I still think about that," Darman says, noting the Eras tour will be a similar experience for her. Swift ended the first U.S. leg of her tour with a six-night stint at SoFi Stadium. What's next for Taylor Swift's Eras tour? All good things must eventually come to an end. But, luckily for Swifties, the Eras tour isn't over yet. On Aug. 3, Swift announced more North American dates for late 2024 in a second leg, starting Oct. 18-20 in Miami. She also has shows set for New Orleans, Indianapolis and Toronto. Later this month, Swift will take her Eras tour to Mexico, then restart in South America in November. Throughout 2024, she'll perform in Japan, Australia, Singapore and Europe. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Taylor Swift Eras in LA: '1989' news, celebrities and happy fans The morning sun dances off the Verde River on a hot July morning. Nostalgia drove Sray Campanile to travel more than an hour and half from her home in Buckeye to this spot in Tonto National Forest. She sits in the shallow middle of the river at Needle Rock Recreation Site, reclines and stretches her legs in the water. This feeling the gentle current tickling her spine, slivers of cool water slipping between her toes takes her back to her childhood in California, where she and her parents would collect Asian clams and snails as food from freshwater ponds and streams around Stockton. Now, decades later and hundreds of miles away in Arizona, she's trying to recreate her memories. Asian clams, an invasive species found in the Verde River and other Arizona waterways, thrive in abundance in Cambodia. Campanile's California clamming adventures reminded her parents of their own childhoods in Cambodia where they enjoyed sultry summer days catching swamp eels and snacking on sun-dried clams. On this particular morning, Campanile is waiting for another woman, Jenneen Sambour, whos on the way. The Arizona Khmer Facebook group brought the two women together. Like Campanile, Sambour's parents are Cambodian refugees and she too grew up clamming with her siblings. Sambour was born in Rhode Island where she and her family used to go digging for quahogs and littlenecks at Narragansett, using their toes to feel around for clams in the sand. Later they'd grill the clams until their mouths opened, then season them with lime juice and pepper. Sambour's mother comes from Battambang in northwest Cambodia, the same province as Campanile's family. Many fish and mollusks live in Tonle Sap, a freshwater lake located partially in Battambang and fed by the Mekong River, a lifeline for Southeast Asia. The lake has fed Cambodians for centuries, though climate change and human development are threatening its ecosystem. Sambour was first inspired to rekindle her family's clamming tradition by the Arizona Khmer Facebook group, where members recently started chiming in with suggestions on where to find clams, called 'leah' in Khmer. Several people also shared childhood memories of family clamming trips in Arizona. Recently, theres been an increased interest in clam digging in the group, said Staphany Pich, one of the group administrators, who recommended clamming at Needle Rock Recreation Site, a river beach and picnic area northeast of Scottsdale. Its in our culture in Cambodia, said Jack Ngan, another member of the group who moved to Maricopa four years ago from Long Beach. He comes from generations of fishermen. Thats where my family comes from, fishing. Ask, whos a fisherman in your family? Who catches crab? Who catches crawfish? Theyll tell you who," he said. "Even my wifes side. Her dad fishes every week. Thats what we do. Sray Campanile of Buckeye goes clamming for Asiatic clams in the Verde River at the Needle Rock Recreation Site outside of Rio Verde on July 28, 2021. How Asian clams ended up in Arizona Corbicula fluminea, better known as the Asian or Asiatic clams, came to Arizona as stowaways. Asian clams are a freshwater species native to eastern Asia and Africa. Over the years they spread to other parts of the world through human activities, such as the shellfish trade and recreational boating. They are alsobelieved to have traveled to the U.S. with immigrants who brought them along as a food source. Sray Campanile of Buckeye holds Asiatic clams, a popular cuisine in Cambodia, where Campanile was born. Campanile and other members of the Cambodian community in the Valley came together through a Facebook group to go clamming and then cook and eat the clams. Asian clams were first recorded in Arizona in 1956 when they were found in the Phoenix canal system, according to former Arizona State University researcher John Rinnes 1974 report, The Introduced Asiatic Clam, Corbicula, in Central Arizona Reservoirs. The report suggests that it was most likely a tourist, fisherperson or aquarium hobbyist, possibly from California, who introduced them to Arizona. They have since made themselves at home in most of Arizonas major river systems, reservoirs, canals and urban lakes, said Jeff Sorensen, invertebrate wildlife program manager for Arizona Game and Fish Department. They are very invasive, and once they invade our waters they are pretty much here to stay, Sorensen noted. Asian clams are usually less than an inch long, but can grow up to 2 inches, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service summary. They have an average lifespan of two to four years, but can live up to seven years. In Arizona, the invasive bivalves likely compete with native pea clams and other filter-feeding macroinvertebrates for food and habitat, Sorensen said. They live on the surface or slightly buried in sand, silt and gravel, and feed on plankton. Asian clams dont have the ability to attach themselves to hard surfaces, unlike quagga mussels, an invasive species that can clog pipes, colonize boats and starve fishing holes. In Phoenix's canal system, clam beds form where silt builds up. The clam beds are removed when the canal section is drained for maintenance, said Brian Moorhead, an environmental scientist at Salt River Projects. Irrigation pipes are in a similar situation in which silt buildup and clams are removed from the pipes at the same time. There's not a good way to determine the cost of clam damage because it would be impossible to determine which came first, the silt or the clams, Moorhead said. Since people harvest these clams for food in Asia, Sorensen isnt surprised people would do the same in Arizona's natural rivers. Hes never heard of anyone harvesting tiny pea clams, less than a centimeter small, because they wouldnt have much meat. Clams are filter feeders, meaning they may ingest any heavy metals or pesticide residuals found in their environment. Asian clams, however, are not tolerant of heavily polluted waters, Sorensen said. Though, as with to other fish and wildlife harvested for food, it is important to always properly cook them. Small and plain-looking Asian clams may not inspire the romantic lore of oysters, their seawater relatives with the lustrous pearls, or scallops with their Venusian shells, but for some in Arizona's Cambodian community, harvesting and cooking Asian clams triggers fond memories. Where to go: Restaurants on the south Phoenix 'birria corridor' serve modern tastes and old traditions Clamming in Arizona brings back memories of Cambodia A forest of cottonwood, willow and mesquite trees frame the Verde River. Campanile pulls a handful of debris out of the water, the loose dirt falling between her fingers. She suddenly hollers with delight, Oh, I found another one! At first glance, it looks like a pebble. But sure enough, a yellowish-brown clam about 2 centimeters long rests in the palm of her hand. Campanile has been piling her clams on a round, white plastic lid she found littered on the river bank, and she's glad when Jenneen Sambour arrives with her children and a friend, as well as more utilitarian supplies: a Lowes paint bucket for clam collection, a gas camping stove, a water jug with attachable dispenser, and quite importantly, a resealable plastic bag of yellow kroeung. I am a hunter, Campanile jokes. Jenneen is the cook. Sray Campanile thinks her parents' knack for foraging came from when they were living in Cambodia. In California, her parents would take her hunting for wild asparagus, mushrooms and beetles. Kroeung, sometimes spelled kreung, is a Cambodian ground spice paste used as a marinade or base for many Khmer dishes. The tangy fragrance of Sambours kroeung escaped from bag, offering hints of makrut lime leaf, lemongrass, garlic, chilies, galangal and turmeric powder, which gives the paste its yellow color. "Its like when your parents dont know what to make, they say, 'Were going to cha kroeung it,'" Campanile says. "And everyone has their own recipe," Sambour adds. Before the pandemic, Sambour's family tried to travel to Cambodia about every other year to visit relatives in Battambang. There, she usually bought clams from a roadside market, where a vendor would sell them sun-dried on a metal sheet and peppered with salt, sugar and chile flakes. Sambour can almost hear and smell the memories the rattling sound of a vendor shaking a tin can of clams to entice her, the waft of dry spices. Sambour said she would eat them like sunflower seeds, popping them whole in her mouth, sucking out the clam meat, then spitting out the shells. While digging for Asiatic clams in the Verde River, Jenneen Sambour is reminded of her family trips to Cambodia where she would buy clams from a roadside market, sun-dried on a metal sheet and peppered with salt, sugar and chile flakes. Her Verde River expedition with Campanile is her first clamming experience in Arizona since moving to Phoenix in 2016. I just wanted to reminisce about the days I was in Cambodia, Sambour says when shes calf deep in the river. The water is clear and shallow enough that she can pluck the clams out on sight. They look just like the clams she used to snack on in Cambodia. Making Thai omelets: A story about a humble egg recipe and my immigrant dad How to cook clams the Cambodian way Sambour plans to stir fry the clams with kroeung for a dish called cha kroeung leah. Campanile made white jasmine rice that morning and another friend whos tagged along, Paul Smith, brought an array of vegetables scrounged from his kitchen Napa cabbage, sweet potatoes and corn cobs. Asiatic clams just taken from the Verde River are stir-fried with kroeung, a Cambodian marinade and spice paste, at the Needle Rock Recreation Site outside of Rio Verde on July 28, 2021. These clams are a popular cuisine in Cambodia. Members of the Cambodian community in the Valley came together through a Facebook group to go clamming and then cook and eat the clams. "They're so tiny, can you even taste them?" Sambour asks later at the picnic table, where people are serving themselves paper plates of cha leah, stained yellow from kroeung. "They look like little shells. This is like Khmer mac n' cheese." Staphany Pich and her father clam digging in Arizona in 2016. Sambour hopes to open a Cambodian food truck later this year, though fresh river clams won't be on the menu as they're too labor intensive, she says. Pich, a first generation Cambodian American, said her mom usually cooks Asian clams one of two ways: Covered in spices and left to dry in direct sunlight on a cookie sheet or stir-fried with ginger, green onions, chiles and parsley, with the excess sauce poured over rice. Her family would eat sun-dried clams with white rice and a salty, sweet and spicy tamarind dipping sauce made with tamarind pulp, palm sugar, fish sauce and birds eye chiles. With sun-dried clams its like eating oysters, Pitch said. You can taste the river they came from. Family Traditions: How adding Native American foods to Arizona school lunch menus brings 'voice to the table' Advice on how to start digging for clams in Arizona Pich has fond memories of weekend picnics in the forest with family and family friends, hiking to clamming spots discovered through word of mouth, places she cant pinpoint on a map today. I think just being in the river was my favorite part, in the forest, she said. Sometimes you see wildlife out there and its just very calming and serene. You hear the water, the river flowing. You see horses. The hottest part of summer has usually been the best time to go clamming, as that's when the clams are the biggest, she said. Clam digging in Arizona rivers is a summer pastime for some Cambodian Americans. Her family would use the metal cover of a fan to rake for clams, sifting through the dirt like they were panning for gold. When they werent looking for clams, she and the other kids played pranks on each other in the water, pretending sticks were snakes. The smell of lemongrass chicken skewers on the grill would bring them stomping back to the river bank where their parents would shove balls of rice, barbecue chicken and pickled daikon in their mouths. She hopes to have more weekends free next summer so she can set up barbecues and clamming excursions. I know in the Arizona Khmer group, a lot of people came from California and usually, they either know a spot there or would pick some clams up from family or friends, Pich said. So coming here, they didnt know you can get it yourself and now that they know, they want to check it out themselves. Sray Campanile of Buckeye points out Asiatic clams to Paul Smith of Phoenix in the Verde River at the Needle Rock Recreation Site outside of Rio Verde. Clamming in Arizona requires a fishing license from Arizona Game and Fish Department. Ngan says it is important to go with a group and advises people to wear a life vest to protect against unexpected river depths and currents. His uncle introduced him to some of his favorite spots in California and Arizona for fishing, crawfish trapping and clamming. Theres a good area for clamming on the Gila River north of Phoenix Raceway, he said. Another spot is at the Verde River Recreation Site, just north of Needle Rock, where in just two to three hours of clamming, he can usually fill a five-gallon bucket. Hes also gone clamming at Saguaro Lake by Butcher Jones Recreation Site, but it was there he was swept about half a mile down the river when the current was too strong. That's why he recommends people go clamming in a group, never alone. His other tips for new clammers come from family experience. Clams filter water as they breathe, so to avoid eating dirt, his family soaks them in clean water so the clams will spit out the debris. When collecting clams, he suggests only keeping the ones with mouths closed or barely open. A clam with its mouth wide open means it's already dead. While occasional clam raking along the river is not likely to cause much harm to the shoreline or aquatic habitat, it is best to minimize those impacts, Sorensen said. The rivers, after all, are home to native fish and wildlife. "The same message applies to all of the recreational users on the river be respectful of the place, and help clean up trash along our river," he said. 'It's our family time': As dim sum traditions evolve, here's how Chinese banquet halls are surviving tumultuous ti Passing on Khmer family traditions in Arizona I feel happy because as I got older, my parents stopped going, and I havent really heard of people going as much," Pich said. "Now to kinda see my generation and younger people interested in going makes me happy that its a thing happening again, the gathering. There's an estimated 339,000 Cambodians living in the United States, more than a third of them in California, according to the 2019 American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau. The majority of Cambodians are Khmer and ethnic minorities include the Cham people. Many Cambodians resettled in the U.S. as refugees after escaping genocide under communist dictator Pol Pot. From 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge regime killed between 1.5 and 3 million people through starvation, disease and mass executions. Ngan's parents were among the survivors. The Khmer Rouge forced his grandmother and his mother to work on collective farms, he said. While working in the rice paddies, they sometimes found fish and would hide them in their pockets, drying them later to make fish jerky, they told him. Fishing saved their lives. Ngan carries this memory on. After a long morning of clamming in Arizona, Ngans house typically becomes the meeting spot for 20 or so family members who gather in his living room. Those who didnt clam, like his mother and grandmother, take on cooking duties stir-frying the catch in oyster sauce or steaming them open with just water and butter. He wants to give his son and daughter the knowledge his grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles gave to him. I show them how to do these things, how to look for places, how to find clams with your toes and feet, Ngan said. Hopefully they can enjoy that when they grow up. Kids nowadays, its just Fortnite and electronics. I have to force them to go with me. But I want them to enjoy nature and see not just me, but the things their ancestors passed to me. Creating connections on the river For Campanile, this clamming trip is a way to reconnect to her roots. She didn't hang out with people from the local Cambodian community until last year, through Wat Khmer, a Buddhist temple in Buckeye. From there, people informed her about the Arizona Khmer Facebook group. Campanile thinks her parents' knack for foraging came from when they were living in Cambodia. In California, her parents would take her hunting for wild asparagus, mushrooms and beetles. At Needle Rock Recreation Site, Campanile bends down on a dirt path to inspect a patch of sprouts with small violet flowers. It looks like something her mother would pick to cook with, but she's too scared to try. You would never go hungry with her," Campanile says. My parents are so resourceful. They just know where to go, how to find things. Ive been here seven years and wanting to go clamming, but I didnt know where to go. She thought of her mother, who's camping in the Bay Area with Campanile's brother, sister, nieces and nephews. They're scouring the coast for spider crabs to pickle and gaper clams with fat, protruding necks. Her sister likes to grill their necks and dip them in prahok, a fermented fish paste. Sray Campanile eats stir-fried Asiatic clams just taken from the Verde River with kroeung, a Cambodian marinade and spice paste. Feeling a little wistful, Campanile says this clamming trip makes her wish she and her siblings could all be together again, like when they were kids, waking up at the crack of dawn for an adventure and racing each other to their parents' van. For her two daughters, their idea of clamming is picking up seashells on the beach, she says with a laugh. She hopes they will come clamming with her next time. "When I had them, I was in the military," Campanile says. "We were never really around my family to do all that. So now that we can, I want to show them, this is what mom used do when she was younger." Priscilla Totiyapungprasert is a food & dining reporter with The Arizona Republic. Reach her at Priscilla.Totiya@azcentral.com. Follow @priscillatotiya on Twitter and Instagram. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How clam digging in Arizona rivers became a Cambodian summer tradition A spokesperson for Ukraines military forces on Thursday ended her calls for a boycott of CNN after she accused the network of endangering the lives of Kyivs soldiers with its coverage of the war. Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, a transgender U.S. journalist who was last week appointed a spokesperson of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, initially released a video message on Twitter admonishing CNN. Over the last week CNN, led by its diplomatic editor Nic Robertson, has cast aspersions on all foreign fighters here in Ukraineall of us who are soldiers fighting on behalf of Ukraines liberty and liberation and against the Russian war of aggression, she said. Addressing Robertson personally, Ashton-Cirillo said: You referred to us as Western mercenariestheres nothing further from the truth nor further from the legal definition. She appeared to be referring to an article, published last Friday under Robertsons byline, about Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The story said that last fall, MBS had a role in the release of Western mercenaries captured by Russian forces while fighting in Ukraine. Following the release of Ashton-Cirillos video, the phrase Western mercenaries was changed to foreign fighters. A note under the edited story explained: This story has been updated to clarify the language used to refer to fighters released from Russian captivity earlier in the war. Boycott over, Ashton-Cirillo tweeted shorted after. @NicRobertsonCNN had the wording changed. TY @NicRobertsonCNN. In her original video, Ashton-Cirillo claimed to have emailed Robertson more than 24 hours before posting her video, and said that some of her colleagues and fellow soldiers had similarly reached out to him, but that all the requests had been met with silence. She went on to allege that referring to foreign fighters as mercenaries had clearly put our lives in danger. She also slammed CNN for deciding to show rotting bodies of Ukrainian soldiers in the sun for the world to see. Ashton-Cirillo did not detail which images or footage she was talking about, though a report broadcast on Erin Burnett OutFront on Tuesday did show deceased Ukrainian troops. The segment featured Ukrainian military footage of a unit tasked with collecting the bodies of dead Ukrainian and Russian soldiers from battlefield trenches, with CNN journalist Nick Paton Walsh saying in a voiceover at one point: This Ukrainian body seeming to have almost melted into the ground. A section of the report was later circulated by pro-Russian propaganda accounts on Telegram. I have to recommend that nobody in the Armed Forces of Ukraine works with CNN in any capacity until weve received an apology directly from you Nic, as well as from the CNN production team on the ground here, Ashton-Cirillo said. Ultimately, we cannot have our lives at risk despite your desire to have clicks and views. Free press mattersethical journalism matters more. A CNN spokesperson declined to comment on the record when contacted by The Daily Beast. Exactly how Ashton-Cirillo believed lives were endangered by CNN is not explained. With respect to the complaint about referring to foreign volunteers in Ukraine as mercenaries, the Geneva Conventions describe a mercenary as someone who participates directly in hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain. Mercenaries are also specifically described as not being a national of any party involved in the conflict, and not being sent by a state which isnt party to the conflict on an official duty as a member of the states armed forces. It was also unclear whether Ashton-Cirillos call for a boycott was ever going to actually be enacted by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. According to Newsweek, she arrived in Ukraine in March 2022 and initially worked as a journalistwith USA Today calling her the worlds first openly transgender war correspondent. She later enlisted in Ukraines military, currently serving as a junior sergeant and combat medic with the Ukrainian Ground Forces, according to a Kyiv Post tweet. In October 2022, Ashton-Cirillo was criticized for recording a video following a Russian missile strike on Kyiv in which a dead body was visible in the background. In February this year, she was hurt by shrapnel from an artillery shell, suffering injuries to her right hand and face, according to the Washington Blade. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. Sign up now. Stay informed and gain unlimited access to the Daily Beast's unmatched reporting. Subscribe now. At least 36 people have died in the Lahaina fire in Hawaii, Maui County wrote in a statement posted online. Also in the news: COVID-19 cases are climbing in the U.S., but aren't nearly as high as previous spikes. Taylor Swift has outwitted us again, announcing "1989 (Taylor's Version)" on 8/9. I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. "Girl dinner." "Girl math." "Lazy girl job." Why do we keep adding "girl" to everything? Now here we go with Thursday's news. At least 36 people have died in fires burning through Hawaii, county reports Wildfires, whipped by strong winds from Hurricane D ora passing far to the south, took the island of Maui by surprise, killing at least 36 people and leaving behind smoking piles of rubble where historic buildings had stood. Officials are unsure what started the ongoing blazes, but experts said they suspect human development on the island is at least partly to blame for the destruction. Wildfires have quadrupled in Hawaii in recent decades, and many scientists say the culprit is unmanaged, nonnative grasslands planted by plantations and ranchers and others unfamiliar with the island's native ecosystems. Travel to Maui is discouraged: Officials said earlier that 271 structures were damaged or destroyed and dozens of people injured. For Lahaina residents, getting out of the danger zone made for a surreal journey of trying to find an unclogged escape route amid blistering heat. Here's how you can donate or volunteer to help those affected in Maui and a look at a historic 200 year-old church destroyed by the blaze. Presidential candidate in Ecuador assassinated An Ecuadorian presidential candidate known for speaking up against corruption was shot and killed Wednesday at a political rally in the capital of Quito amid a wave of startling violence in the South American country. President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and suggested organized crime was behind his slaying. Villavicencio was one of eight candidates in the Aug. 20 presidential vote. Ecuadors attorney generals office said that one suspect died in custody from wounds sustained in a firefight after the killing, and police detained six suspects following raids in Quito. Read more Story continues Russia's latest attack injured dozens of rescue workers and was condemned by the United Nations. 41 people are believed dead following a migrant shipwreck between Italy and Tunisia. An American nurse and her daughter were released after being kidnapped in Haiti. Police guard a vehicle parked outside the clinic where presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was taken after he was shot and killed after a campaign rally in Quito, Ecuador. More news to know now What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here. COVID rates are climbing but nowhere near what they were Rates of COVID-19 are ticking upward nationwide but the country is unlikely to see the kind of widespread infections and hospitalizations seen over the last three summers, experts said. While COVID-19 will probably never completely go away, vaccines, antivirals, masks and other prevention tools, along with improved care for the very sick, has transformed an urgent crisis into a manageable disease. Unlike previous summer surges that were mostly caused by the arrival of a new COVID-19 variant, experts say rates are on the rise now because of human behavior. Read more Is Ohio a bellwether on abortion rights? Ohio voters issued a temporary reprieve to abortion-rights supporters Tuesday when they rejected a proposal to make it harder to amend the state constitution. But an expensive, nasty fight over abortion access in Ohio is only beginning. Voters said no to Issue 1, a measure that would have required 60% of voters to enact new amendments instead of a simple majority. Issue 1's defeat is good news for backers of the abortion-rights measure, but it doesnt ensure an easy victory in November. Ohio is the only state voting on abortion rights this year, making it the epicenter of the fight over reproductive rights just over a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Read more Just for subscribers: These articles are for USA TODAY subscribers. You can sign up here. Taylor Swift reveals '1989 (Taylor's Version)' Taylor Swift has unveiled Taylors Version of her triumphant pop breakthrough, 2014s 1989. The album will be available Oct. 27. The ever-clever Swift dropped the news on 8/9 (get it?), which coincided with the last date of the first leg of her Eras tour at SoFi Stadium near Los Angeles. The tour, a colossal success that will traverse South America, Japan, Australia and Europe, returns for more North American dates in October 2024. The rerecorded 1989 will contain 21 songs, five of them previously unreleased "from the vault." The album is the fourth among Swifts catalog to be issued as Taylors Version, an exercise she began to reclaim her artistic ownership after the sale of her original master recordings in 2020. Read more The Swift impact: Eras Tour stop is boosting Los Angeles' GDP by estimated $320 million. Swifties' friendship bracelet craze creates spikes in jewelry sales during Eras Tour. "Taylor's Verision" of her "1989" album arrives Oct. 27. Quick hits Photo of the day: Drone captures Florida beach lifeguards forming human chain Joseph Osborne was flying his drone over the water off Flagler Beach in Florida when he spotted lifeguards forming a human chain to rescue a boogie boarder who had drifted too far from the shore. Read more A local tattoo artist in Florida accidentally caught drone footage of a chain of lifeguards rescuing a stranded boogie boarder. Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com or follow along with her musings on Twitter. Support journalism like this subscribe to USA TODAY here. Associated Press contributed reporting. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Maui fires, Lahaina, Hawaii, Ecuador, COVID, Eris, abortion, '1989 (Taylor's Version', NFL: Daily Briefing Zoom, whose sales and cultural prominence soared when the pandemic forced millions of workers to stay home, said last week that it plans to bring employees back to the office. The San Jose, California-based company, which employs about 7,400 people, last week requested that all workers who live within 50 miles of an office come into work at least part of the time. The New York Times first reported on the policy change. The adoption of in-office workdays at a company emblematic of remote work underscores the boomerang back toward the workplace that followed a mass exodus undertaken by white-collar workers in the early days and months of the pandemic, experts told ABC News. Zoom's decision to require workers to return to the office only part of the time, however, indicates the limits of the return-to-office migration, the experts added. Rather than return to their typical pre-pandemic schedule, many white-collar employers have settled into a mix of both in-office and remote work. "It's so ironic," Joan Williams, a professor emeritus at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, and founding director of the school's Center for WorkLife Law. "But, Zoom is not saying, 'Come to the office five days a week.'" "This is not a situation where people are going back to the pre-COVID status quo and they're abolishing remote work," Williams added. "People are trying to figure out what the new status quo is -- and that's more of a hybrid workforce." MORE: When will gas prices stop rising? Experts weigh in In response to ABC News' request for comment, a Zoom spokesperson said in a statement that the company prefers a hybrid model that continues to make use of its teleconference technology. "We believe that a structured hybrid approach -- meaning employees that live near an office need to be onsite two days a week to interact with their teams -- is most effective for Zoom," the spokesperson said. "As a company, we are in a better position to use our own technologies, continue to innovate, and support our global customers." Story continues "We'll continue to leverage the entire Zoom platform to keep our employees and dispersed teams connected and working efficiently. Additionally, we will continue to hire the best talent, regardless of location," the spokesperson added. MORE: CEOs' pay climbed before layoffs at tech giants like Alphabet and Microsoft, data shows When lockdowns forced people into their homes during the early months of the pandemic, remote work expanded dramatically, research shows. Before the pandemic, 5% of paid work hours across the U.S. economy were spent at home; but between April and December of 2020, that share climbed to 50%, according to researchers at Stanford University, the University of Chicago and the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico or ITAM. While many white-collar workers initially took up full-time work from home, employers have gradually brought workers back into the office, at least for part of the time, experts said. PHOTO: The Zoom Video Communications Inc. logo on a laptop computer arranged in Dobbs Ferry, New York, May 29, 2021. (Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg via Getty Images) The momentum behind the shift toward hybrid work was "hugely accelerated" by the pandemic, Raj Choudhury, a professor of business administration at Harvard University Business School, told ABC News. In the view of many companies, it offers the "best of both worlds," he added. The approach provides workers with some of the flexibility that they prized during the pandemic but also affords an opportunity for the type of collaborative in-person work that companies value, Choudhury said. As of last month, three of every 10 full-time employees in the U.S. operated with a hybrid work schedule, and an additional 12% were fully remote, researchers at Stanford University, the University of Chicago and ITAM found. Meanwhile, the office occupancy rate in the nation's 10 largest cities stands just below 50%, according to security company Kastle, which tracks entrance activity through key card use. MORE: Can Threads overtake X, formerly known as Twitter? Experts weigh in. As companies have mandated that workers return to the office part of the time, some employees have mounted resistance. Hundreds of corporate employees at Amazon staged a walkout in June after the company announced a mandatory partial return to the office. At Zoom, employees voiced frustration at a virtual meeting after the hybrid policy was announced, the Times reported. "Worker expectations have changed and if employers insist on more than a day or two in the office, they'll sharply constrict the number of people who want that job," Williams said. "If you think it's more important to choose people based on schedule than talent, be my guest." Workers in recent years have derived leverage from a tight jobs market, which still boasts a near 50-year low unemployment rate, Ayelet Fishbach, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, told ABC News. Plus, advancements in technology, like Zoom's video-conference platform, have eased the way for a credible argument that workers can perform as effectively at home as they do in the office, Fishbach added. "Speaking of Zoom," Fishbach said. "Now we have the infrastructure and we take advantage of it." Even Zoom brought workers back to the office. Here's what it means. originally appeared on abcnews.go.com In this article, we will look at the 15 highest-paying countries for dentists. We have also discussed some important statistics about dentists in the US and recent development of leading dental companies. If you want to skip our detailed analysis, head straight to the 5 Highest-Paying Countries for Dentists. Dentist Shortages in the US In the year 2022, the United States was home to a total of 202,536 actively practicing dentists. This translated to a ratio of 60.77 dentists per 100,000 individuals in the U.S. population, which, to be frank, is quite low. Therefore, there exists a pressing demand for an additional 11,909 dental practitioners to address the issue of dentist shortage in the US. Moreover, this dental professional scarcity is pronounced at state levels, and is evident in the 2023 shortage data compared to 2022. California sees a rise from 513 to 529 shortage areas, while Missouri's areas increase from 341 to 344. The high demand of dentists could also explain why dentists have one of the highest paying jobs in the US. Speaking of demand for dentists, apart from US, the UK, Australia & Canada are some of the countries with the highest demand for dentists. Among the active dental professionals, a notable 21.1% indicated their involvement in an ADA-recognized specialty, whether in the spheres of practice, research, or administration. Upon further examination of demographics data of these dental practitioners from ADA, it is evident that 36.7% are female dentists which underscored an increased gender representation within the field. Further analysis based on age reveals the breakdown of these 202,536 dental experts: 17.7% fall below the age of 35, 25.1% are within the age bracket of 35 to 44, 22.0% belong to the age group of 45 to 54, 19.4% fall within the range of 55 to 64 years, while 15.8% are at the age threshold of 65 and above. Not only are dentists one of the most respected professionals in the world, but they are also well paid throughout the world. In fact, the highest paid dental specialty is Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery with an average base salary as high as $468,445 in California. Story continues Leaders in the Dental Industry Healthcare is one of the key industries being revolutionized by AI and automation technologies. Hence, the big giants in the dental industry are aware that digitalization of their services is crucial to achieving efficiency in todays era. Lets explore how these companies are innovatively tapping the potential of digitalization in dentistry. Envista Holdings Corp (NYSE:NVST), one of the biggest dental companies in the world, has marked its global presence by a range of dental solutions and advanced technologies across various segments of dental care. With more than 30+ dental brands under Envista Holdings Corp (NYSE:NVST)s umbrella, their services include imaging, diagnostics, treatment systems, and digital workflows. In a strategic move, Envista Holdings Corp (NYSE:NVST) has announced the re-branding of their imaging business as DEXIS. This shift goes beyond aesthetics and represents their comprehensive approach to digital imaging. DEXIS encompasses a suite of cutting-edge digital dental solutions which features advanced technologies like cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT), handheld X-rays, intraoral scanners, sensors, and surgical systems. On the other hand, Henry Schein, Inc (NASDAQ:HSIC) is at the forefront of digitizing dental services. Its dental laboratory business, Zahn Dental, offers cutting-edge CAD/CAM equipment, digital materials, and Myerson's TRUJETX3 3D printer for dentures. Moreover, the participation of Henry Schein, Inc (NASDAQ:HSIC) in events like Cal-Lab and LMT LAB DAY also highlights the companys willingness to adapt to the evolving field. By facilitating panel discussions, presentations, and hands-on demonstrations, Henry Schein, Inc (NASDAQ:HSIC) empowers dental professionals to embrace digital workflows and enhance efficiency of clinical outcomes. 15 Highest Paying Countries for Dentists Pixabay / Public Domain Our Methodology To list the highest paying countries for dentists, we identified the highest paying countries for doctors and then made a list for 35 countries with the average salaries for dentists. Of those 35, the 15 with the highest average salaries were selected and have been ranked. We acquired the data for average salaries of dentists for each country from ERI Economic Research Institute. The list is presented in ascending order. Here is a list of 15 highest paying countries for dentists. 15. United Kingdom Average Salary: $136,700 In the UK, becoming a dentist requires a 5-year GDC-approved dentistry degree followed by 1 to 2 years of postgraduate training. If one has a relevant degree like biomedical sciences, a 4-year course is also possible. Competitive salaries in the UK stem from the countrys strong healthcare system and high demand for dental services. It is one of the countries with the highest demand for dentists. 14. New Zealand Average Salary: $137,861 New Zealand stands as a prime choice for dentists as the rigor and quality of the dental services can be judged by its robust professional requirements. Prospective dentists must hold registration with the Dental Council of New Zealand and possess an Annual Practising Certificate (APC). The country offers a competitive environment for dental practitioners with no compromise on the prescribed qualifications for dentist registration. The emphasis on qualifications explains New Zealand's commitment to maintaining high standards of dental care, making it an excellent destination for dental professionals. It is one of the highest-paying countries for dentists. 13. Belgium Average Salary: $140,225 Dentistry in Belgium offers a choice between public and private care. Public healthcare covers basic dental services, with partial subsidization by health funds. Reimbursements of up to 75% are common. Private insurance supplements public policies for comprehensive coverage and is often necessary as many dentists only work with private insurance. Dentists may require an annual oral examination for reimbursements as well. Private dental care is quite popular among residents and covers advanced treatments beyond basics. Belgium is also of the countries with the best education. 12. Finland Average Salary: $144,180 Immigrating and working as a dentist in Finland involves obtaining a valid dental degree, demonstrating Finnish language proficiency, passing the recognition process by Valvira, securing a work permit and visa, and then completing an internship. Salaries for dentists may vary based on factors like education, experience, and location. However, Finnish language fluency is crucial for effective practice. Foreign dentists can work in Finland after meeting recognition requirements butValvira oversees the recognition process and stages. 11. Norway Average Salary: $144,285 Norway is one of the top countries for dentists. While there are misconceptions around this topic but Dental care in Norway is not free, contrary to common belief. In fact, basic dental examinations and treatment require payment for most individuals, except children and elderly receiving nursing care. Moreover, dental costs are relatively high, with consultation and basic procedures ranging from NOK 1,000 to 2,000($98-$195) and more complex work like root canals and crowns costing more. While English-speaking dentists are available, often with English-friendly websites, a majority of Norwegians opt for dental care abroad, particularly in Eastern Europe. 10. Canada Average Salary: $149,432 Canada offers internationally trained dentists a clear pathway to practice dentistry through programs like the International Dentist Advanced Placement Program (IDAPP) and Dental Specialty Assessment and Training Program (DSATP). These programs provide structured routes for non-accredited dental graduates to become licensed practitioners or specialized dentists. Canadian dental education is renowned for its high standards and comprehensive clinical training, making it one of the best countries to become a dentist. On a side note, Canada is also one of the largest exporters in the world. 9. United Arab Emirates Average Salary: $149,984 The UAE is lucrative and promising destination for dentists looking for robust career opportunities. With a booming economy, particularly in key emirates like Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the country provides a stable platform for dental practice. Dentists can enjoy competitive salaries, ranging from AED 15,000 to AED 20,000 ($4084-$5445) per month for general practitioners, and even higher for specialists, making it one of the highest paying countries for dentists. The dental licensing process is also well-structured with exams specific to each emirate. 8. Netherlands Average Salary: $157,184 To practice as a dentist in Netherlands, there are several essential requirements to meet. These include registering with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service, obtaining a work permit, demonstrating proficiency in the Dutch language at B2+ level, and ensuring inclusion in the BIG register. Dentists educated outside the EU or EEA must undergo qualification recognition through tests and assessments. Job opportunities can be explored via platforms like KNMT's Dentistry Job Bank or dental recruitment agencies. It is one of the highest-paying countries for dentists. 7. Denmark Average Salary: $158,372 Dental practice in Denmark stands out for its advanced healthcare system, cutting-edge technologies, and high standards of patient care. Owing to the high quality of healthcare services provided by the Danish Government, Denmark is also of the countries with the highest standard of living. 6. Ireland Average Salary: $160,985 Ireland has around 2,000 active dentists across private practice, HSE Dental Service, and hospitals. The nation's commitment to oral health is evident through state schemes like the PRSI Dental Scheme with annual oral exams for insured workers. Moreover, the Medical Card Dental Scheme provides free treatment for medical card holders, with emphasis on high-risk cases and urgent needs. The HSE's Children's Dental Service assures accessible care for childrenthat solidies Ireland as a top-tier destination for dentists across the world. Click here to see the 5 Highest-Paying Countries for Dentists. Suggested Articles: Disclosure: None. 15 Highest-Paying Countries for Dentists is originally published on Insider Monkey. Special counsel Jack Smith said in a filing Thursday he is prepared to take former President Donald Trump to trial by Jan. 2 of next year over Trump's federal indictment for seeking to overturn the 2020 election. Smith estimates it will take no longer than four to six weeks to present his case to a jury in Washington, D.C., according to the filing. "This trial date ... would give the defendant time to review the discovery in this case and prepare a defense, and would allow the Court and parties to fully litigate any pre-trial legal issues," Smith's office writes in the filing. "Most importantly, a January 2 trial date would vindicate the public's strong interest in a speedy trial -- an interest guaranteed by the Constitution and federal law in all cases, but of particular significance here, where the defendant, a former president, is charged with conspiring to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election, obstruct the certification of the election results, and discount citizens' legitimate votes," the filing said. MORE: As charges mount, here's a look at Trump's legal and political calendar Trump pleaded not guilty last week to four counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, conspiracy against rights and obstruction of an official proceeding, tied to his and other co-conspirators' alleged efforts to subvert his election loss, which culminated in the deadly Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. Underscoring the former president's busy legal calendar, a start date of Jan. 2 would see the trial begin less than two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, which are currently scheduled for Jan 15 -- which itself is the same day Trump is scheduled to go to trial in writer E. Jean Carroll's initial defamation lawsuit. PHOTO: Illustration (ABC News) Judge Tanya Chutkan has given Trump's legal team a deadline of next Thursday to respond to the government's proposed trial date with one of their own. Story continues The judge is expected to set an initial date for the trial when the parties meet for a status conference on Aug. 28. Trump's attorney John Lauro said in various interviews over the weekend that he believed the election case should take two to three years before going to trial, given its magnitude. But Smith's office writes in their latest filing that the Trump team has refused to accept discovery that the government has ready, even on an interim basis -- which Smith's office found "perplexing" given that Trump's lawyers' main argument for delaying a trial is the defendant's need to review discovery. The government also took issue with statements made by Lauro that the length of the government's investigation -- "three and a half years" -- should be a factor in a delay given the volume of discovery. "Not only is this claim impossible, as January 6, 2021, was two and a half years ago, but it is disingenuous," Smith's team writes in the filing. According to the special counsel, the first contact with Trump and his lawyers about the investigation was June 2022: "The defendant and his counsel have long been aware of details of the Governments investigation leading to his indictment, having had first contact with Government counsel in June 2022." In Smith's separate case against Trump for the former president's alleged mishandling of classified documents and obstruction of justice, Judge Aileen Cannon has set a trial date for late May of next year. Special counsel seeks Jan. 2 start date for Trump's trial on charges trying to overturn election originally appeared on abcnews.go.com On the Penobscot Bay in Maine's Mid-coast region, a castle-like landmark with romantic features and a Queen Anne style sits seaside. The historic "Stone Castle by the Sea", was built in 1886 for Joseph Barker Stearns, a miner and inventor who deemed Camden the most beautiful place in the world. Now, thanks to founder Lisa Galano's full-service design studio studiocake, the Norumbega is open to the public in the form of an inn. With a coastal grandmother theme in mind and the tricky task of transforming a space while maintaining historic integrity, the studiocake team got to work. They began by emerging themselves in Camden's culture, familiarizing themselves with the people, the landscape, and the energy. Inside, each room, nook, and cranny is a new discovery. Even though each room is unique, with distinct pieces, there is cohesion in the element of surprise. There is a lot of interior design wisdom to take away from the complete space and all it's intentional details, including tidbits we can apply to our own spaces. Here are 4 design lessons we learned from this historic Maine inn. Honor the History For Galano and her team, honoring Norumbega's history was at the top of the list of priorities. They approached this by "carefully considering the existing architectural details that give the project its character, and then delicately layering in contemporary touches to introduce a notion of modernity," she says. Certain original elements will forever be charming and timeless. So, throughout the inn, original architectural details, intricate moldings, fireplaces, and floors, for example, are maintained as much as possible. These things will never go out of style. These details and the place's history were the initial inspirationeverything else was designed around them. Combine Vintage With New Galano describes the process of balancing vintage with new as "a delicate waltz". "One should not overwhelm the other," she says. Vintage and antique pieces were selected that complemented the architecture. Modern elements refreshed the inn and gave it a boost of energy. Modern, checkered wallpaper pairs nicely with an original fireplace and vintage chair in one of the rooms. Figure out how to create harmony throughout the space. This might be done by sticking to a color palette or repeating a texture. Mix vintage furniture with modern accessories and modern furniture with vintage accessories until you strike a balance that is also visually interesting. Get Inspired by Your Location The studiocake team accomplished the seemingly impossible task of creating something that fits in while being unique and distinct. It seamlessly fits in with the surrounding New England architecture but "separates itself as one of the more remarkable architectural marvels in the town," she says. Camden is known as the place where the mountains meet the sea, and it only makes sense for this to play a role in the design. Norumbega's New England architecture "resembles a romantic, fairytale chateau nestled along its scenic stretch of Route 1 overlooking Penobscot Bay," she says. Let the location of your home guide you through your design process. Honor windows, sunlight, and views by treating them like important design elements. Keep your location in mind while choosing accessories. For this inn, the coastal grandmother aesthetic, for obvious reasons, was a source of inspiration: airy, featuring natural textures and tones, and with little luxuries sprinkled throughout. The energy of Camden was embraced and then manifested into the space: idyllic, peaceful, vibrant, seaside. Experiment With Prints At the inn, each room has a different wallcovering. The same pattern is never repeated to ensure each room has a distinguishable personality. Wallcoverings vary from floral to checkered and from vintage-inspired to modern. The prints don't stop there, though. The studiocake team had no fear when it came to mixing patterns that one might expect to clash. For example, pairing striped wallpaper and a patterned rug works surprisingly well. The cascading custom runners are one of Galano's favorite details. They cover all staircases throughout the inn and were hand-stitched on-site "to create a continuous pattern that carefully drapes over each step," she says. In the penthouse suite, along the statement spiral staircase, there is a patch-worked runner featuring different colors, patterns, and shapes stitched together. You wouldn't expect floral wallpaper, an exposed brick wall, and a striped rug to work together but the Norumbega proves us wrong and makes a good case for experimentation. Read Next: This Designers Cozy and Welcoming Farm Home Was Designed for Hosting When traveling, its a good rule of thumb to respect the culture. While some countries are permissive, others take a more conservative approach to how one should behave. To avoid unnecessary problems, familiarize yourself with whats culturally acceptable and what isnt. The following destinations have laws and customs that some tourists may find strange. Dubai No Public Swearing or Shouting Allowed Visitors to Dubai may be surprised by the conservatism. For all its flashiness, it values modesty and decorum. Be mindful of your volume. In July, an American tourist was detained in Dubai for screaming in public. If you slip up by accident, you potentially can risk fines and jail time. North Korea No Dissenting Political Opinions As a totalitarian state, North Korea will not abide dissent. Whether youre a local or a tourist, keep your opinions about the government to yourself. Anything you say or write that can be construed as a criticism of the current leader can result in severe punishment. France Refrain From Small Talk With Strangers and Smiling at Them If you walk into a shop during the day, its customary to say bonjour to the shopkeeper, and thank them for any help they provide. However, asking a stranger how they are can be construed as invasive. Some Americans visiting France get themselves in trouble. Since the U.S. is a melting pot of cultures, smiling and chatting with strangers is almost second nature. Jamaica Soon Come, Means Anything But Soon If you like immediacy, youll need to put that on the back burner in Jamaica. The pace of life is slower and that wont change any time soon. In restaurants and other establishments, you should expect to wait longer than you may be used to. Singapore Not A Fan of Gum If you are going to Singapore, leave the Juicyfruit and Big Red at home. Cleanliness and order are paramount. For a time, there was an issue with people sticking chewed gum under bus seats and in other places. Singapore decided to take decisive action. Advertising or selling gum can be met with steep fines. However, exceptions are made for nicotine and dental gums. As CEO Andy Jassy continues widespread cost-cutting measures, Amazon announced it will discontinue several of its private-label brands. According to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news, the company plans to ax dozens of brands, leaving fewer than 20 house labels. The cuts include all but three of Amazons 30 clothing labels, leaving just Amazon Essentials, Amazon Collection and Amazon Aware, the line that got the company accused of greenwashing on a grotesque scale. Some of the eliminated brands will remain on the companys site until they sell out. More from Sourcing Journal Amazon also will drop its private-label furniture brands such as Rivet and Stone & Beam, which will also remain on the site until their stock is depleted. We always make decisions based on what our customers want, and weve learned that customers seek out our biggest brandslike Amazon Basics and Amazon Essentialsfor great value with high quality products at great price points, Matt Taddy, vice president of Amazon Private Brands, said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal. Amazon also has received criticism from lawmakers who said the companys house brands could conflict with it selling other national brands. The retailer has also been accused of copying competing products to sell at a lower price under their house brands. In 2018, Williams-Sonoma sued Amazon, claiming it copied a distinctive dining chair made by its West Elm brand. Amazon has been under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for its practices, and the commission is reportedly preparing an antitrust lawsuit against the company. Corporate representatives are scheduled to meet with the FTC next week prior to the commission filing its suit. The cuts come as part of a widespread effort to trim costs by the online retailer that include a recent layoff of some 27,000 employees. Amazon also has enacted a hiring freeze and put the brakes on warehouse expansions after slowing revenue growth and a downturning economy have hit the company this year. Private label brands account for around 1 percent of Amazons revenue. Popular products within the discontinued brands will be rebranded under the remaining house labels. Sourcing Journal reached out to Amazon for comment. Click here to read the full article. Amyris, a onetime biotech darling that sought to change the beauty industry with innovative and sustainable ingredients and later moved into the celebrity brand world, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a Delaware Court and is looking to off-load its consumer arm. The announcement comes just a few days after it shuttered three brands Costa Brazil with former Calvin Klein designer Francisco Costa, Onda Beauty cofounded by Naomi Watts and Purecane and terminated 260 positions, a rep confirmed. More from WWD Over the past months, we have been hard at work on a strategic transformation plan to reduce costs, improve operational effectiveness, and achieve sustainable growth, Han Kieftenbeld, interim chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Amyris, said of the filing. We believe the step forward our company has taken today puts us on the best path to address our financial challenges and achieve a comprehensive solution rooted in Amyris ground-breaking science, formulation capabilities and technology. As part of the process, Amyris has secured a commitment from existing lender Foris Ventures for $190 million of debtor-in-possession financing to support continued day-to-day operations. Court documents state that its debt totals $1.3 billion. Amyris filed a series of customary motions seeking to continue operating as usual, including requests to continue to pay wages and provide benefits to employees, and maintain its customer programs and policies. It pledged to pay vendors in the ordinary course for all goods received and services rendered after the filing. At the same time, the Emeryville, California-based biotechnology company plans to exit its consumer brands and will begin marketing them for sale. As the sale process progresses, Amyris said it will continue to operate these brands, including through retail partners and the brands e-commerce platforms. The companys brands include Naomi Watts menopausal beauty brand Stripes, color cosmetics line Rose Inc. with model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and hair care brand JVN with Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness. It originally launched with Biossance, centered around Amyris star ingredient, squalane. Naomi Watts attends the Stripes launch party hosted by Amyris. The shuttered brands were deemed not core to the future of Amyris, WWD understands. Product will be available for a limited period of time. A banking source told WWD that there is likely to be most demand for Biossance, launched in 2016, and JVN, but the sale process for the prior may be complicated. Thats because its key ingredient is squalane derived from sugarcane, produced by Amyris, but owned by Givaudan. A separate banking source described Biossance as a great brand with lots of support from Sephora, adding that there will definitely be interest in it. In Amyris most recent financial results, core revenue came in at $56.1 million for the first quarter ended March 31, down 3 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. Consumer revenue of $34.2 million decreased 1 percent. The decline was driven by lower Biossance revenue due to reduced marketing and media spend, offset in part by the launch of our 4U by Tia brand at Walmart as well as increased MenoLabs direct-to-consumer revenue, it said. It reported a net loss of $193.3 million. The announcement comes not long after John Melo stepped down from his longtime role as president and CEO and a member of the board. The board appointed Kieftenbeld as interim CEO, at the time as the company cut 148 jobs. Combined with layoffs from August, the cuts represent roughly 30 percent of its workforce. John Melo Amyris began in 2003 with a $42 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to create a molecule to treat malaria by engineering the genetics of yeast strains and fermenting them in sugarcane syrup in order to convert basic plant sugars to hydrocarbon molecules. The company adapted this technology to develop other clean ingredients, including sugarcane-derived squalane, an alternative to that found in deep-sea shark livers, for countless markets. It then appeared to change course, diving deep into the celebrity brand sphere. Prior to COVID-19, 80 percent of Amyris business was in supplying ingredients to other companies, while the remaining 20 percent was its consumer brands, including Biossance. Melo told WWD last year that around two-thirds of the business was devoted to consumer brands and one-third was focused on supplying other businesses. But with the celebrity play failing to make the company profitable, Amyris earlier this year sold certain cosmetic ingredients, including its squalane to Givaudan, the worlds largest fragrance and flavors supplier. As part of the deal, Amyris continues to manufacture ingredients for Givaudan to use in cosmetics. Best of WWD Click here to read the full article. Proving striking looks and great taste run in the family, Gigi and Bella Hadids older sister Alana Hadid made her runway debut at Copenhagen Fashion Week. After opening the Saks Potts show on Monday, Alana, 38, walked the Munthe show in the capital of Denmark yesterday, looking stunning in two contrasting looks. The first was a transparent mesh dress with a floral embroidery lined with tiny colorful beads. She wore the sleeveless piece over a lingerie set in the same black, beige, and white floral pattern, plus black leather sandals. Her second runway look was a black leather minidress with little flower-shaped cutouts throughout. Alana wore it with the same black sandals and carried a furry brown, cream, and black bag. Her makeup look was natural, and she wore her straight hair down. Matt Jelonek - Getty Images Matt Jelonek - Getty Images Alana is the daughter of Mohammed Hadid and his ex-wife Mary Butler. Her siblings include sister Marielle, 42, and half siblings Gigi, 28, Bella, 26, and Anwar Hadid, 24. Alana is a fashion designer and co-founder of Los Angeles unisex brand La Detresse. She is also now the fifth model in the family. Gigi and Bella, of course, are fashion royalty, Anwar has done modeling of his own as well, and Yolanda Hadid (mom to Gigi, Bella, and Anwar) was a major model in her youth. Alanas runway debut comes just as sister Bella is making her comeback. The Kin Euphorics co-founder went on medical leave for about five months to get treated for Lyme disease, and just today shared videos on TikTok of her big return to work. You Might Also Like Including photo inspo and insight from the pros. @curlcousin/Instagram Bangs never go out of style. Their popularity might ebb and flow over the years, with certain fringe styles taking the lead. Yet, the undeniable truth remains: a fantastic set of bangs can transform any hair typeincluding curls. "Bangs are one of the simplest ways to change up your look," says Teresa Johnson, owner and operator of Twisted Hare Salon in Minneapolis, Minnesota. "People often want a different look but want to maintain length," making fringe the perfect choice. She's no stranger to requests like soft and wispy styles, strong and heavy structured bangs, and long curtain fringe. One of the most popular requests at Johnsons salon for curtain bangs, which, as their name implies, frame the face on both sides of the face like a curtain. For individuals with shorter foreheads, she suggests this style because it can give the illusion of a larger forehead, she says. Curly curtain bangs, like the ones featured above, also create more "open the face up to show off her facial features and bone structure, says Lindsay De Los Santos, a Miami-based hairstylist. She says its also a great option for those with a long or round face because the style accentuates ones cheekbones. On the other hand, Johnson suggests that individuals with larger foreheads consider opting for a bang that falls just above the brow or around the center of the forehead. According to her, this can create the illusion of a smaller forehead. In the rare case you end up disliking your curly bangs, the good news is that they're easy to hide. "With straight hair, it isn't as easy to hide them," explains Johnson, but "curls are easily manipulated, meaning you can pin them back, twist them into another curl or wear them as side bangs." Want more inspo? Keep scrolling for even more curly hair fringe styles to consider for your next salon visit. Baby Shag This modern take on the classic shag haircut is a subtle, more modern take on the retro style. Its rich with choppy layers for texture, complemented by fringe bangs that land at the eyebrow and exude an effortlessly cool vibe. Modern Mullet Seeking a standout look? This modern mullet delivers. Observe the short bangs, a savvy optionas discussed earlierfor making your forehead look smaller. Face-Framing Layers If you want your hair to have more movement, consider face-framing layers, or curtain bangs. Get inspired by this style with curly bangs that are shortest in the center and longest along the outer face. Piecey Bangs Enhance a wavy shag hairstyle with piecey bangs to amplify hairs texture and dimension.This haircut gives a lot more volume compared to a style without layers. For more Real Simple news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on Real Simple. "Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Where were you when you first heard about Ganni? Many fashion loversmyself includeddiscovered the Scandinavian brand thanks to other cool girls wearing it, in an I saw Cady Heron wearing army pants and flip-flops, so I bought army pants and flip-flops kind of way. The bright and playful yet sophisticated designs are both on trend and allow for myriad ways to express ones personal style. Originally founded in 2000 by Frans Truelsen, the brand was taken over in 2009 by husband and wife duo Ditte and Nicolaj Reffstrup, serving as the creative director and CEO of the brand, respectively. For Ditte, she felt that there was something missing in Scandinavian style at the time. The world hadnt seen the best of Copenhagen yet. There were so many people that I was super inspired by every day...that balance of mixing super feminine stuff with sportier styles, or denim, or sneakers. Clearly, her instincts were correctGanni now has 52 stores across the world and grew its revenue by a whopping 34 percent in 2021. Courtesy Ganni And just within the last couple of months, Olivia Rodrigo and Kourtney Kardashian have posted themselves wearing Ganni on their Instagrams. So, what happens when a beloved cult brand begins to hit the mainstream zeitgeist? Ganni entered Washington Post fashion writer Rachel Tashjian Wises orbit in 2019, when she said it was suddenly everywhere in stores and on influencers. And even though it may have the perfect on-trend puffed sleeve blouse or pastel blazer, as Tashijan Wise notes, Gannis items also serve as staple pieces. Its one of the few brands that is helping consumers build foundations of their wardrobes; there arent a lot of options in that same category. A big part of Gannis appeal is the tantalizing price pointwhich ranges between $100 and $500but, more often than not, its on sale via mass retailers or available to shop second-hand. Since she took the reins, Ditte shares that the Ganni aesthetic hasnt changed much; its more like it has evolved through the addition of accessories, a bigger team, and, incidentally, more voices in the design process, which, Ditte explains, is very unique. The whole team of around 12 designers will meet up, eat dinner, hang out, and just talk about how we think the world is feeling in terms of the general mood. [There have been] a lot of talks about colors, prints, [and] silhouettes. Its very much a feeling in the stomach. After I remark that it seems like a very intimate way to go about creating a collection, Nicolaj quips, Probably a very Denmark thing, right? That thing might be what draws people to the brand, too. Theres this relationship we have with Scandinavian style and culture that seems to radiate a sort of warmth and calm and order, Tashjian Wise notes. These feelings tend to permeate the clothes from inception to execution and make it all the more exciting when someone compliments your Ganni dress or shoes or, better yet, recognizes that, yes, its Ganni you are wearing. It feels fashion-y even if you dont follow fashionits a label that works for people who might not have deep-cut designer mentions like Molly Goddard or JW Anderson in their vocabulary. Notably, Gen Z-aged TikTokers brag about getting Ganni pieces and simultaneously whine about not being able to afford high-ticket items from the likes of Miu Miu and Saint Laurent. A big piece of Gannis popularity is women who are transitioning out of dressing like a college student, dressing like a twentysomething into dressing like and wanting to feel like an adult. Ganni works, no matter how clear your understanding is of what is happening [in fashion] that is way out of your price range. Gotham - Getty Images Many mention the brands affordability as a drawas well as its good quality for what you pay. But, for many, its pieces have quietly become closet MVPs. Thats the case for journalist Zara Hanawalt, who purchased a black Ganni minidress for her engagement photos eight years ago. That first dress I bought is just a real hero piece for me, she says. I like the ease, versatility, and comfort of it. Aside from its classic look, theres always a bit of an edge, or something playful about Gannis designs that sets it apartfor Hanawalt, her beloved black minidress features a fun ruffle at the hem; writer Shifa Rajwani loves their sweaters that are fun winterwear for brutal northeastern winters. Author Jenny Fran Davis current favorite Ganni item also emphasizes the carefree quality of the brand. My current favorite Ganni is probably this nylon black wrap dress with a bit of a flared skirt. It makes me feel like Im at the gynecologist, in a fun way. Shop Now Ganni x Parade Silky Mesh Bralette $55.00 ganni.com Fun is, in fact, integral to the Gannis DNA, and something it has been able to explore even more through collaborations with New Balance, Prince, and, most recently, jewelry designer Veneda Carter. For her part, Carter has been a longtime fan of Ganni, so collaborating on jewelry was a particularly exciting opportunity. The collaboration felt natural as Ive been close with Ganni for several years, including walking in some of its runway shows. It is legendary in the Danish community. As Nicolaj mentions, he and Ditti have always enjoyed collaboration. In fact, Ditte called Gannis collaboration with Levis a true dream because of her lifelong love of denim. Most recently, some of Gannis most iconic prints have made their way onto Paradethe beloved underwear brand founded by Cami Tellez, who called the collection an example of a pinnacle fashion collaboration in 2023shared values and style created for and by our community. Ganni x Parade marks Tellezs first-ever size-inclusive underwear collaboration. The companys commitment to eco practices also appealed to Parade, whose products are made from recyclable fabrics. Ganni doesnt advertise itself as a sustainable brand, but instead as a responsible one. This ethos dates back to 20 years ago, when Ditte first met Nikolaj. He used to talk about global warming, climate change, and sustainability. I was like, what is he talking about, she laughs. We owe [our values] very much to Nikolaj; he brought that into the company because he had that mindset and fear, if you may, from the beginning. The two put their responsibility report on the Ganni site for all to see, and, since 2016, its been an ongoing process to map out their carbon footprint. The brand is currently in its third phase, which will significantly change how it conducts business, including eventually phasing out virgin leather. Nicolaj notes that Ganni has always had a goal in place when it comes to responsibility: We want to create a guilt-free or an impact-neutral collection. As fashion continues to make efforts to diversify, inclusivity is also at the forefront of the Reffstrups minds. When Ditte worked as a buyer, she remembers how embarrassed I felt by getting customers into the store. At that time, we carried a lot of French brands and even the XL was super, super tiny. Currently, some of Gannis sizing goes up to 4XL, but not every piece. Author Rachel Gibson, who is a size 16, shops Ganni because she rarely can find premium brands in her size, but admittedly wishes the brand would showcase its size inclusivity more on its social media and marketing materials. James Cochrane / Courtesy of GANNI The fashion industry tends to have this its cool to be cruel attitude; Im so ashamed of ever being a part of that, Ditte confesses. For that reason, Nikolaj never wanted to have the brand wear the woman. And it shows in how Ganni has created a positive online community with #GanniGirloriginally coined by Kate Bosworth and Helena Christensen when they were twinning in the same Ganni item and uploaded the photo to Instagram. To Nikolaj, that post epitomized the spirit of the brand: coming together, seeing how other women style their Ganni items, and being excited when someone on the street recognizes that you are wearing it. Theres a distinct air of playfulness, not taking oneself too seriously, and being earnestin an endearing waywhich echoes the Reffstrups themselves, who self-identify as insecure overachievers. Whats also brilliant about #GanniGirl is that it has created a specific aesthetic for itself that other brands havent been able to establish. Perhaps for that reason, Ganni continues to take on new life with A-list celebrities like the Hadids, Beyonce, and even Michelle Obamain a denim suit, no less. (The Ganni team now refers to said ensemble as the Obama suit.) So, whats next for the continuously rising label? First, showing a new collection during Copenhagen Fashion Week thats inspired by technology and nature. But beyond that, its unclear; eventually, Nicolaj wants to make a climate-positive collection. He doesnt rule out Ganni becoming a bigger lifestyle brand and jokes that he doesnt know what that looks like. Menswear, or drinks, or aliens, he says. In true #GanniGirl fashion, Ditte has a more earnest answer: I often think about how lucky I am to work at a place where it doesnt feel like workits more like a passion. I dont think a day goes by without laughs. You Might Also Like Anyone who has an encyclopedic knowledge of American historyor has watched this summer's other, non-Barbie, blockbuster hit, Oppenheimercould tell you the life and legacy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. But while Christopher Nolan's three-hour biopic captured the rise and fall of the Manhattan Project's fearless leader, there's still some mystery about what happened to the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, the secretive town in New Mexico where the atomic bomb was tested. Turns out, it's pretty fascinating. When Oppenheimer resigned as the laboratory's director in 1945, he was replaced by a scientist and Naval Reserve officer named Norris Bradbury. The town in Los Alamos was erected to stealthily develop and test the Manhattan Project, a.k.a. the atom bomb, and according to the United States Department of Energy, government officials wanted its laboratory to continue to be "the nucleus of its weapon staff." To that end, Bradbury kept the laboratory afloat through declining morale and a frozen pipe pitfall, which left Los Alamos scrambling for water for weeks. Things began to changes in the 1953, when the physical laboratory was moved to the other side of the area's canyon. Four years later, the security gates were removed and once-secretive Los Alamos became an open city. (Fast-forward to 1980, and the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory was renamed Los Alamos National Laboratory.) Joe Raedle - Getty Images Today, Los Alamos is home to approximately 13,000 citizens per a Niche report, but the Manhattan Project's legacy lives on. Though the Los Alamos National Laboratory remains a research and development center for the National Nuclear Security Administration, tourists can visit important landmarks of the Manhattan Project era such as the craftsman-styled home where Oppenheimer and his family lived. (In fact, the Los Alamos History Museum also offers occasional excursions to the Trinity Site, where the atomic bomb was tested.) While Los Alamos honors its history through its tours, some locals are hesitant to celebrate the land's legacy, given the environmental toll the project caused and the bomb it created. "Theyll never reflect on the fact that New Mexicans gave their lives," Tina Cordova, a cancer survivor and local advocate told AP News. "They did the dirtiest of jobs. They invaded our lives and our lands and then they left." Over the years, there has been much conversation over the Trinity test's health effects, with some studies citing an increased number of cancer cases and infant mortality rate. Eighty years after Oppenheimer and his team moved to Los Alamos, their legacy (and controversy) lives on. You Might Also Like On the heels of his cringeworthy rap diss towards longtime friend and former Jackass colleague, Steve-O, Bam Margera seems to have unfortunately found himself behind bars yet again in suburban Philadelphia. He was arrested in Radnor Township overnight and cited for public intoxication and disorderly conduct after an incident at the Radnor Hotel (PA) early Wednesday morning, a police source told The Inquirer. Bam seemed to be all smiles and in relatively good shape during X Games in Ventura, California, a few weeks back, taking pictures with old friends, fans and attendees alike...but here we are. Local police received a call about an argument between a man and a woman at the Radnor Hotel in the early hours of the morning. When police arrived on scene, Bam was clearly intoxicated and taken into custody. He was brought to the local police station, but was released later Wednesday morning to a friend, The Inquirer source said. NBC Philadelphia reported that Bam was charged in April (which I'm sure most of you remember) several days after an arrest warrant was announced by Pennsylvania State Police. Bam disappeared for days before turning up to face arrest and eventually pleaded not guilty. As for this current case, Bam's lawyer, Michael T. van der Veen, chimed in saying it was his understanding that Margera wasn't arrested, but rather was only cited in connection with the incident. With citations, as with arrests, he enjoys the presumption of innocence, van der Veen said. I am not sure what transpired to lead to the citation, but we will be looking into it. This is just another incident in a string of troubles for this pro skateboarder turned MTV star, but hopefully it's the last. We'll know more as we hear more. Keep checking back. Sources: The Inquirer; NBC Philadelphia Don't miss another headline from TransWorld SKATEboarding! Subscribe to our newsletter and stay connected with the latest happenings in the world of skateboarding. We're always on the lookout for amusing, interesting and engaging skate-related videos to feature on our channels. Whether you're a professional or just having fun, 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 https://www.skateboarding.com and our social channels. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more quality skate content. In this article, we look at the 15 states with the lowest college tuition and fees. You can skip our detailed analysis on edcuational stats, and head over directly to the 5 States With The Lowest College Tuition and Fees. Figures released by The US Census Bureau state that by 2021, an estimated 14.9% of the population aged 25 and above had completed some college but not a degree, while 10.5% had completed an associate degree. 23.5% had a bachelors degree as their highest level of education, while 14.4% had completed a masters or advanced professional degree. Another pattern which was noticed was that foreign-born people that had recently arrived in the United States were more likely to have college education than foreign-born who had arrived earlier than them. According to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there is a direct relationship between education and earning levels. In 2022, individuals with less than a high school diploma were earning as little as $682 per week, compared to $1,005 for those with a college degree. Income rises as you go higher up in educational attainment. Bachelors degree holders make $1,432 on average per week, followed by $1,661 for those with a masters degree. According to the Annual Survey of Colleges by The College Board, California has the lowest college tuition and fees in the United States, where in-district students paid an average of $1,428 during the academic years 2022-23. Vermont has the highest college tuition and fees, estimated to be $8,660. While state governments across the country take steps to make education more affordable for the public, a number of large corporations in the US are also taking initiatives to promote college education. One such example is that of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), which, in 2021, announced to pay 100% cost of tuition, fees, and books for its hourly-wage employees in the US. More than 750,000 employees of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) are eligible for this program, which is also likely to help boost the education industry. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has vowed to invest up to $1.2 billion to expand education and skills training benefits to its workforce in the country. Story continues Last year, AT&T Inc. (NASDAQ:T) spent $10.5 million in tuition assistance for its workforce, which also included non management employees. Nearly 2,500 of AT&T Inc. (NASDAQ:T)s employees signed up for the tuition reimbursement program. Internal research at the company showed that employees that had attained further education or enhanced their skill-set with new training were more likely to get a new, better job within the organization, compared to employees who had not done so. In addition to this, AT&T Inc. (NASDAQ:T) also offers several discounts for students and teachers in its weekly and monthly wireless plans. Another fine example of supporting education is FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX), which offers tuition reimbursements worth $5,250 to its ground package handlers, including for college education. Those FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) employees that have attained college education can then go on to study for an exclusive discount at Robert Morris University, which will allow FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) employees to take online classes from anywhere and get a university degree. Retail giant Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) also announced in 2021 to invest up to $1 billion over the next five years to cover 100% of college tuition and book fees of its employees under the Live Better U (LBU) Education Program. This would enable 1.5 million Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) associates in the country to earn educational qualifications. Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) is the largest private employer in the United States. Likewise, The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) in the retail industry, also offers its employees up to $21,000 for both part-time and full-time employees in education benefits, for any degree ranging from high school equivalency exam to Ph.D. More than 15,000 associates have participated in the program since its launch in 2018, according to The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR). Earlier this year, the company also announced its plan to invest $770 million to raise hourly wages and improve healthcare offerings for its employees. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is one of the leading financial services companies in the United States. Employees at the company can receive up to $5,000 in tuition reimbursement each year. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) also offers scholarships for dependent children of its employees ranging between $1,000 and $3,000 per annum. Firms such as Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) and others discussed in this article help contribute in making education more accessible for the general public. This is in addition to loans and grants offered at governmental level to students in the country. Methodology We have ranked states with the lowest college tuition and fees using data released in October 2022 by The College Board in its Annual Survey of Colleges. Average in-district tuition and fees for two-year college programs in public institutions in states across the US were considered. States are ranked in descending order of tuition and fees for college education. No data was available for Alaska, and therefore it is not part of our analysis. 15 States With the Lowest College Tuition and Fees Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash Now let's head over the list of states with the lowest college tuition and fees in the United States. 15. Arkansas Two-Year College Tuition and Fees: $4,089 Arkansas is located in southern United States. According to The College Board, the average two-year college degree tuition and fees reduced by 2.90% compared to last year to stand at $4,089 for academic years 2022-2023. 38.8% of the population aged between 18 and 24 in Arkansas has a college or associate degree, according to the American Community Survey 2021 conducted by the Census Bureau. 14. Georgia Two-Year College Tuition and Fees: $4,035 College tuition and fees have been on a steady decline in the state of Georgia, having dropped by 11.10% over the last five years. It ranks 14th on the list of states with the lowest college tuition and fees. 13. Hawaii Two-Year College Tuition and Fees: $4,019 Hawaii is an island state that is located 2,000 miles off from the US mainland. College tuition and fee is estimated to be $4,019 for a two-year program according to The College Board. 36.4% of the population aged between 18 and 24 have a college or associate degree in the state. Hawaii also ranks among the most educated states in America in terms of population aged 25 and above with a bachelors degree or higher. 12. Montana Two-Year College Tuition and Fees: $4,006 Montana is situated in western United States, and known for its diverse terrain ranging from mountains to plains. The two-year college tuition and fees is a little over $4,000 according to The College Board. This is a 6% drop in fees from last year. 37.1% of the youth in the state have a college degree. 11. Nevada Two-Year College Tuition and Fees: $3,916 Nevada is located in the western region of the United States, and is popular for its deserts, casinos, and vibrant night life. The state ranks low in terms of higher educational attainment, but 35.2% of its population aged between 18 and 24 have some form of college degree. This is made possible due to affordable tuition and fees in the state, which has continued to decline over the last five years. 10. Maine Two-Year College Tuition and Fees: $3,842 Maine is one of the most educated states in the US, with 42.6% of the population having a college or associate degree, while 36% hold a bachelors degree or higher. According to The College Board, it costs $3,842 in tuition and fees for a two-year college degree in the state. 9. Mississippi Two-Year College Tuition and Fees: $3,730 Despite being one of the poorest states in America, Mississippi has one of the highest rates of college education attainment in the country, with 43.3% of the population aged between 18 and 24 having a college degree. According to The College Board, in-district students in Mississippi pay an average of $3,730 on college education. 8. Nebraska Two-Year College Tuition and Fees: $3,494 Nebraska is a state in the Midwest region of the United States. The state is home to several educational institutions offering affordable college and university education. It ranks eighth in the list of states with the lowest college tuition and fees, estimated to be $3,494 for a college degree spanning two years. 43.6% of Nebraska's population aged between 18 and 24 hold some college or associate degree, according to the Census Bureau. 7. Kansas Two-Year College Tuition and Fees: $3,489 Kansas is a midwestern state in the US known for its natural beauty. It is one of the more educated states in the country, with 43.8% of its population aged between 18 and 24 having a college or associate degree, while 35.4% have completed at least a bachelors degree. College tuition and fees were estimated to be $3,489 by The College Board in its survey in 2022, which is a drop of 4.90% compared to last year. 6. Florida Two-Year College Tuition and Fees: $3,242 Florida is popular for its hundreds of miles of beaches and numerous theme parks. The state is also recognized in the country for having affordable college education. The College Board estimated the average tuition and fees of a two-year college degree to be $3,242 in Florida. 41.3% of Florida's youth have a college or associate degree. Click to continue reading and see the 5 States With the Lowest College Tuition and Fees. Suggested Articles: Disclosure: None. 15 States With the Lowest College Tuition and Fees is originally published on Insider Monkey. A Georgia woman has filed a lawsuit after she says her baby was decapitated during childbirth. A woman is suing a hospital in Georgia and health care providers after she says her baby was decapitated during delivery. The story has left people across the country horrified and raised a lot of questions about how something like this could happen. Here's what you need to know. What happened? Jessica Ross, 20, says in the lawsuit, per CNN, that staff at Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale attempted to hide the way in which her baby died. Ross alleges in the suit that she went into labor on July 9 but her baby, who she named Treveon Isaiah Taylor Jr., did not descend due to shoulder dystocia, a complication in which a baby's shoulders become stuck in the vaginal canal. Ross claims in the lawsuit that the doctor "attempted to deliver the baby vaginally using different methods, including applying traction to the baby's head." The suit charges that the doctor used "ridiculously excessive force" on the baby's head and neck to try to deliver him, the Associated Press reports. Health care providers also "failed to practice according to medical standards" and "failed to do a Cesarean section in a timely and proper manner, resulting in Treveon Isaiah Taylor Jr.'s decapitation and death," the lawsuit claims, per CNN. Ross's attorney, Roderick Edmond, said in the lawsuit per the AP that the baby's body and legs were removed during a C-section procedure but the baby's head was delivered vaginally. The lawsuit also said that Ross and her boyfriend, Treveon Isaiah Taylor, requested a C-section earlier than it was performed. A spokesperson for Ross and Taylor told CNN in a statement that the couple was not allowed by medical staff to hold their son they could only view him. "During this viewing, their baby was wrapped tightly in a blanket with his head propped on top of his body in a manner such that those viewing him could not identify that he had been decapitated," the statement said. In a statement from Southern Regional Medical Center, which "denies the allegations in the complaint referencing the hospital," hospital officials told CNN that the physician who delivered Ross was not an employee of the facility. "Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers are with the family and all those impacted by this tragic event," the statement said. This is very rare, but it's happened before The case is horrifying, but this isn't the first time a baby was decapitated during birth. In one 2014 case, Laura Gallazzi's baby Steven was decapitated as she attempted to deliver him in a hospital 25 weeks into her pregnancy. Gallazzi told the BBC that she "felt a pop" and was confused when she didn't hear her baby cry after he was delivered. She later needed a C-section to remove her son's head from her body. A medical tribunal later ruled that Gallazzi's doctor was wrong to attempt a vaginal delivery rather than a C-section, but cleared her of serious misconduct. Are there any red flags that this could happen? Shoulder dystocia is a condition that happens when one or both of the baby's shoulders get stuck during a vaginal delivery, Cleveland Clinic explains. But there are no signs and no way to prevent the condition from happening, the medical center says. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists also called shoulder dystocia "unpredictable" and "unpreventable." While there is no way to predict if a baby will experience shoulder dystocia during delivery, Cleveland Clinic says there are several risk factors, including having a large baby, having gestational diabetes, having a short stature, having a small pelvis or having a baby that is in the wrong position. "Shoulder dystocia happens after the head comes out," Dr. Angela Caswell, an ob-gyn and co-founder of Women's Wellness of Southern Delaware, tells Yahoo Life. "We in obstetrics have all managed them and they are scary." Decapitation as a result of shoulder dystocia is not common, says women's health expert Dr. Jennifer Wider. "It's incredibly rare," she adds. More common complications include nerve damage to the baby, a compressed umbilical cord that can cut off oxygen and blood flow to the baby, heavy maternal bleeding after giving birth and separation of the mother's pubic bones, Cleveland Clinic says. What to do if your baby has shoulder dystocia "Shoulder dystocia is a medical emergency that can cause a variety of maternal and/or fetal complications," Wider says. Meaning, your doctor or care provider will need to act fast to try to help you and your baby. If your baby experiences this, doctors will typically try several maneuvers to get the baby into a favorable position for delivery, Cleveland Clinic says. In severe cases, they may break the baby's clavicle to release their shoulders, push the baby's head back into the uterus and deliver the baby by C-section, or make a cut in the cartilage between the pubic bones to enlarge the pelvic opening, the medical center says. Things can get hectic in the delivery room when addressing shoulder dystocia, but Wider says that "women and advocates should feel comfortable to address all concerns before and during the delivery." "Certainly patients should speak up about their wishes," Caswell says. "It is OK to do a C-section upon maternal request alone, but this comes with risk too." Should pregnant women worry? Shoulder dystocia is a relatively uncommon complication, but the risk of it happening increases with larger babies. The complication happens in 0.6% to 1.4% of babies weighing between 5 pounds, 8 ounces and 8 pounds, 13 ounces at birth, Cleveland Clinic says, but the rate increases to 5% to 9% of babies born weighing more than 8 pounds, 13 ounces. But again, decapitation is incredibly rare. In fact, one scientific paper says that any "permanent effects or fatal outcomes occur infrequently," and that includes all severe consequences of shoulder dystocia not just decapitation. Wider stresses that expectant moms shouldn't worry about this happening to them. "Decapitation is incredibly rare and should not be at the top of an obstetrical concern list," she says. "It may be wise to have a discussion prior to delivery about what plan is in place in case of shoulder dystocia this may allay any fears." Caswell stresses that this is rare. "I have never heard of a case like this in a term delivery," she says. Netflixs latest limited series takes on a topic so mammoth it can seem unwieldy: the opioid crisis that has ravaged the United States, contributing to a catastrophic rise in overdose deaths (more than a million Americans have died of overdoses since 2000, most of them due to opioids). But Painkiller (now streaming), which in its quick-cutting, breezy unpacking of dense material recalls The Big Short, is also disarmingly entertaining, and even funny. The six-episode fictionalized retelling of actual events, based on The New Yorkers The Family That Built an Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe and Barry Meiers book Pain Killer , smartly focuses on one crucial corner of this tragedy: Purdue Pharma, the original maker of OxyContin, which pushed the drug into doctors (and thus patients) hands, and the Sackler family that owns the companyand has earned billions off of a health disaster. Matthew Broderick plays the real Richard Sackler, who helped spearhead the blockbuster success of OxyContin, as something of an awkward, bumbling presencenot so much immoral as amoral, unwilling to let conscience interfere with profit. Other stars playing entirely fictional characters include Uzo Aduba as a prosecutor targeting Purdue, Taylor Kitsch as a car repair shop owner who becomes addicted to OxyContin following an injury, and Dina Shihabi and West Duchovny as a couple glamorous, hot, and highly effective female sales reps for Purdue. But where does reality end, and the fiction begin? Here are the salient facts condensed from Painkillers sources and other articles, to understand the alarming true story at the heart of Netflixs show. Who are the real people involved in the Painkiller story? Netflix Painkiller ultimately centers on Richard Sackler (Matthew Broderick), an heir to the Sackler familys medical and pharmaceutical dynasty. Specifically, hes the son of Raymond, brother to Arthur and Mortimer Sackler. The elder brothers were born in Brooklyn and all became doctors. Arthur, regarded as the patriarch of the Sacklers, became interested in pharmaceutical alternatives to midcentury psychoanalysis and electroshock therapy. He also proved adept at pharmaceutical marketing, which would go on to become a hallmark of Purdue Pharma (and as psychiatrist Allen Frances told the New Yorker, a modern scourge on the industry). Arthur became rich thanks to his advertising of the sedatives Librium and Valium. Through a patent-medicine company that would become Purdue Pharma, the Sacklers also created laxatives and ear wax remover. The Sacklers were also devoted patrons of the arts and generous philanthropists (a space in New York Citys Metropolitan Museum of Art was called the Sackler Wing, until the Met removed the name in 2021 due to growing outrage over the Sacklers role in the opioid crisis). Richard and other younger Sacklers have carried on the philanthropic tradition, to the point that they were largely known in the media for their donations, rather than their pharmaceutical interests, until recent years. Before Arthur died in 1987, he imparted to his kids this lesson: Leave the world a better place than when you entered it. (Which is more than a bit ironic, given Purdues eventual legacy.) After Arthurs death, his brothers and descendants divvied up his estate. By the 1990s, Richard, as a Purdue executive, began developing a successor to the companys MS Contin (controlled-release morphine), whose patent was expiring. Pairing oxycodone with the same controlled-release formula, the drug was released in 1996: it was called OxyContin . Other than Brodericks Sackler and other Sacklers (often seen amusingly bickering in the way only the wildly privileged can), Painkiller largely concocts fictional characters who seem to have been inspired by actual people (or multiple people). Uzo Adubas lawyer for the U.S. Attorneys Office, Edie Flowers, could reflect any number of prosecutors who have gone after Purdue (the company has been sued thousands of times over OxyContin, including by 48 states). Likewise Taylor Kitschs Glen Kryger, whose life is crushed when hes prescribed OxyContin, serves as a composite of millions of victims who have become addicted to or abused opioids. And Dina Shihabis Britt Hufford and West Duchovnys Shannon Schaeffer are fictional versions of Purdues infamously powerful, bottom line-oriented sales team. So what did the Sacklers do exactly, and why should I care? KERI ANDERSON/NETFLIX Well, first, the Sacklers are rich. Very, very rich. Like, they-could-be-on-Succession rich. The familys collective net worth is estimated at around $13 billion, according to the New York Times . And while, yes, they were born into wealth built by the elder Sackler brothers, the bulk of the Sacklers fortune has been accumulated only in recent decades, yet the source of their wealth is to most people as obscure as that of the robber barons, as the New Yorker puts it. Sacklers have given regular interviews about their philanthropic endeavors, but have rarely spoken publicly about their business, Purdue Pharma, which is privately held and located in Stamford, Connecticut. (Richard Sackler has never given an on-the-record interview about OxyContin.) And how important has OxyContin been to Purdues, and the Sacklers, accumulation of massive wealth? Well, per the New Yorker, the opioid medication has reportedly generated some $35 billion in revenue. How exactly did Pharma and OxyContin contribute to the opioid crisis? Netflix To make the long, thorny, complicated history of the current opioid crisis somewhat shorter: Before OxyContin, doctors had been generally reluctant to prescribe strong opioids because of abuse potential. Synthetic opioids are derived from the opium poppy plant, and opium has been known for its addictive properties for thousands of years. But from the initial OxyContin rollout, Purdue strategically marketed and sold the drug in such a way that countered the prevailing hesitation about opioids. A 2002 budget plan for the company established that a primary objective was to broaden OxyContins application beyond the usual opioid uses. Thousands of sales reps reportedly received training on overcoming objections from doctors to which they sold. One sales line went: The delivery system is believed to reduce the abuse liability of the drug. A sales manager told a Florida state investigator that Purdue execs told us to say things like it is virtually non-addicting, without any solid evidence. In those early years, given the absence of a wide stigma against OxyContin, prescriptions soared, leading to pill mills that essentially exist to serve opioid-addicted customers. By 2003, the Drug Enforcement Administration had found that Purdues aggressive methods had very much exacerbated OxyContins widespread abuse. Yet Purdue outwardly shifted blame toward nefarious drug abusers, as in a PSA that showed a kid emptying his parents medicine cabinet, insisting the fault was not with the drug itself. Despite the bullish marketing, Purdue was aware of OxyContins rampant abuse since at least 2000, from both press reports and its own internal data, the New Yorker explains . The end result: As doctors, particularly in the 2010s, shied away from OxyContin and other opioid prescriptions because of the stacking evidence showing how theyre abused, those who found themselves hooked often resorted to the black market. Many former legal patients ended up buying heroin, and, increasingly, fentanyl, which is roughly 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. These street alternatives have helped lead to drastically higher overdose deaths. The New Yorker notes that recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures indicate that 145 Americans die from opioid overdoses every day. How does Netflix's Painkiller do portraying this epidemic? Netflix Given the sweeping amount of information here, Painkiller actually does quite well in turning out a seamless, somewhat pulpy narrative! The series comes from executive producers Eric Newman (Narcos), Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, Lone Survivor), and Alex Gibney (Going Clear). Berg, directing all six episodes, is the opposite of subtle: Characters often speak in barely disguised exposition, and there are annoying exaggerated tendencies (especially one doctors arbitrary, fake German accent). But it all moves along nimbly. And its hard to knock the acting. Matthew Broderick is marvelous as a Ferris Bueller typeif Bueller grew up to fumble his way into a dangerous pharmaceutical empire (watching him aimlessly wander his mansion provides some rueful laughs). Uzo Aduba pulls off the tireless, no-nonsense prosecutor role, making Edie Flowers almost comically tense. Taylor Kitsch credibly reprises his stoic, wounded Taylor Kitsch schtick. But Dina Shihabi and West Duchovny nearly run away with the show, mesmerizing as women of different generations who hide deep insecurities with bulletproof smiles, cleavage, and talking points. Watching these plucky blondes actualize their material dreams as they nevertheless assist in a scheme that ruins lives is bittersweet, mostly bittera strivers story gone wrong as only America can tell it. You Might Also Like One of the nation's historically significant ski jump locations has become the backdrop of a criminal investigation. In recent days, law enforcement stumbled upon a deceased individual adjacent to the Harris Hill Ski Jump situated in Brattleboro, Vermont. According to reports from VTDigger, authorities have determined the demise as a result of foul play. The person who lost their life has been identified as Timothy Barbour. Aged fifty-nine, Barbour contended with issues related to substance misuse and had previously pleaded guilty to charges of assault and armed robbery in 2022. As documented by the Brattleboro Reformer, these legal accusations stemmed from his involvement in a robbery at Living Memorial Park, a ski hill located in Brattleboro. Authorities have deemed last weeks suspicious death near Brattleboro's Harris Hill Ski Jump to be a homicide. https://t.co/QQSx5ghQx7 VTDigger (@vtdigger) August 8, 2023 The Harris Hill Ski Jump, which was established and inaugurated in 1922, holds a storied legacy of hosting competitions for most years. Undergoing a significant revitalization effort starting in 2005, the ski jump was meticulously restored and reopened in 2009. Boasting a 90-meter FIS ski jump of world-class stature, this iconic facility commemorated its centennial milestone in 2022, accompanied by an array of enhancements, including the installation of nocturnal lighting. We're always on the lookout for amusing, interesting and engaging snow-related videos to feature on our channels. Whether you're 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. Don't miss another headline from SNOWBOARDER! Subscribe to our newsletter and stay connected with the latest happenings in the world of snowboarding. While office buildings remain vacant and luxury residential sales stalled, luxury shopping malls became a bright spot for major Hong Kong developers in the first half of 2023. Leading commercial property developers were able to reap the benefit of Chinas post-pandemic offline retail resurgence and capitalize on a sustained appetite for luxury goods. And commercial landlords with higher exposure to those anchor luxury brands fared better than mass market players. More from WWD Three-star or four-star shopping malls can easily be replaced by e-commerce, but luxury goods wont be easily replaced, said Hang Lung Chairman Ronnie Chan during a recent interview with a local media outlet. This is why I said long ago that only five-star shopping malls can really make some money. For the six months ended June 2023, revenue from Hang Lungs luxury malls climbed 16 percent, the company said in a financial statement published earlier in August. Overall rental revenue from mainland businesses increased 13 percent, but overall revenue decreased 1 percent compared to the same period last year to 5.237 billion Hong Kong dollars, or $670 million, due to the depreciation of the renminbi. Shanghais Plaza 66 and Grand Gateway 66 recorded 23 percent and 11 percent revenue growth, the highest among Hung Lungs seven luxury malls in mainland China. Plaza 66, one of the most prestigious luxury shopping malls in mainland China, recorded 891 million renminbi, or $123.6 million, in revenue for the first half of 2023. Excitement is brewing as a major unveiling of a four-story Dior boutique will officially happen at the luxury destination in November. The company also singled out Center 66 in Wuxi as a strong driver of growth. Located at the heart of Wuxi, a tourist town known as theVenice of the East, revenue and tenant sales rose 16 percent and 24 percent, respectively, during the six-month period. Hong Kong real estate giant Wharf Holdings reversed its $1.53 billion loss in 2022 as Hong Kongs reopening brought back shoppers to its Harbour City and Times Square luxury shopping centers. According to the companys unaudited financial statement published on Monday, Wharf Holdings recorded a 1.78 billion Hong Kong dollar, or $227.9 million, profit for the first half of 2023. Revenue increased 4 percent to 6.47 billion Hong Kong dollars, or $827.8 million, supported by an uptick in hotel bookings. At Harbour City, Hong Kongs largest shopping mall, retail revenue increased by 9 percent and operating profit by 16 percent. At Times Square, located in the traffic-heavy Causeway Bay, retail revenue increased 6 percent while operating profit rose 12 percent. Wharf Holdings said visitor arrivals at its Hong Kong malls only recovered 37 percent of pre-pandemic levels, while retail sales recovered to 85 percent of 2019 levels. Upbeat outlooks are supported by Hong Kongs steady recovery. According to Hong Kongs Census and Statistics Department, an improved job market and consumption vouchers issued by the government resulted in a 18.9 percent in retail sales for the first half of 2023. At Swire Properties, retail sales increased 41 percent at the companys seven mainland China shopping malls in the first half of 2023, according to the companys financial results released Thursday. In the Chinese mainland, foot traffic has improved significantly and retail sales have exceeded pre-pandemic levels for many of our malls, since pandemic-related restrictions were lifted, said Tim Blackburn, chief executive officer of Swire Properties. Retail sales at its Taikoo franchise, including Taikoo Li Sanlitun in Beijing, Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu, Taikoo Hui in Guangzhou, HKRI Taikoo Hui and Taikoo Li Qiantan in Shanghai increased 29 percent, 27 percent, 16 percent, 72 percent and 169 percent, respectively, in the first six months ended June 30. In the Chinese mainland, our Taikoo Li and Taikoo Hui brands are recognized for providing quality experiences and innovative retail trends, said Guy Bradley, chairman of Swire Properties. We are moving forward with our expansion plans in tier-one and emerging tier-one cities. Taikoo Li Xian, which is a part of the historical citys urban regeneration plan, will open in 2025. A new project in Sanya, Chinas duty-free paradise, will be completed in phases from 2024. To cement the groups position as a leading luxury retailer in mainland China, Swire is upgrading Beijings Taikoo Li Sanlitun North to include stand-alone stores for Dior, Louis Vuitton and Hermes. By early next year, HKRI Taikoo Huis ongoing retail upgrade efforts will result in the opening of large-format stores for Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga, and Loewe. Hongkong Land, the owner of Landmark, one of Hong Kongs most prominent luxury malls, reported a loss of $333 million attributable to shareholders for the first six months of 2023, but the developer said improved performance from luxury retail, including luxury retail projects in Beijing and Macao, were able to offset lower contribution from the companys Hong Kong office portfolio for the first half of 2022. A relative latecomer to the mainland China luxury retail scene, Hongkong Land has plans to roll out an additional 10 retail projects in the next five years in seven mainland Chinese cities, including Chongqing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Suzhou. The most high-profile project would be the $8 billion Shanghai West Bund Financial Hub. Best of WWD Click here to read the full article. Tammy, a Kentucky mom of two, was thrilled when she found out that the FDA had recently approved the first nonprescription daily oral contraceptive, Opill. She has a 24-year-old daughter who became pregnant at 17 and gave birth to a son. The decision was made to give the baby boy up for adoption. I knew she was having sex, but looking back, I didnt prepare her as much as I should have, Tammy, who prefers that only her first name be used, told Yahoo Life. Maybe if she knew she could go herself and easily buy birth control, like she buys Tylenol, she would have done that. Tammy also has a 16-year-old daughter who is already taking birth control pills. The younger daughter got an early education on birth control after observing what her older sister had gone through. Had the family not experienced a teenage pregnancy, Tammy is not sure that her younger daughter would have been as quick to start taking the pill. She admits that she often put off having the birth control talk with her children, because it wasnt a comfortable conversation to have. Thats a common practice among parents, according to Bridgett Khoury, a certified sex educator and founder of the School of Sexuality. Khoury told Yahoo Life that parents need to address the topic of contraception early. Birth control is the foundation of talking to your kids about sex, Khoury said. Sex is often a scary subject to engage in with children. There is this misconception that if you talk to your children about these things, then theyll go out and do it, but the reality is: If your young person is going to engage in sexual activity, they are going to do it with or without you talking to them. If you dont talk to them, they will get that advice or misinformation from unreliable sources. Khoury said that conversation has become even more important since Roe v. Wade was overturned last summer, which has resulted in bans on abortion in many states. It puts pressure on trusted adults to have those conversations more often, more openly and in a judgment-free way, she said. Its really important to discuss what the laws are in your state and what could happen if you find yourself in those predicaments. When and how to start the conversation Ideally the conversation wont be a bombshell dropped at one time. Instead, Khoury recommends having ongoing, small conversations about sex and bodies starting at a young age. The goal is to not have one large and overwhelming conversation [but] rather normalize little conversations about sex, how babies are made and not made, how to stay safe, pleasure and so much more, Khoury said. As your children get older, the conversation should start to include all types of STDs and pregnancy prevention. For some people, this may take pushing through some discomfort. For others, you may find that you child is receptive, but it's a conversation that needs to be had, no matter what, Khoury says. You should make sure that you are talking about all forms of STDs and pregnancy prevention and treatment. Give your child all the information, not just bits and pieces of it. Khoury says that she started talking to her own children about birth control when they were in middle school. She kept it basic, going over the different kinds of contraception and how they work. The conversation should be the same, regardless of the childs gender. Condoms, birth control pills, IUDs and so on should be explained to both boys and girls, and it's important that they understand that it is their responsibility to practice safe sex rather than relying on a partner to take the necessary precautions. Khoury also recommends comparing birth control to something that todays youth can relate to: COVID. I compare it to wearing a mask, she said. Just as when were interacting and talking to people, theres a risk of spreading diseases or infections, and the best way to prevent that is wearing a mask. The same way, when youre intimate with other people and youre putting bodies together, theres risks that can happen and there are ways to keep you safer and reduce those risks. Starting the conversation may be the hardest part. Here are some suggestions Khoury gave: Many people begin to have intimate relationships around your age, I want to make sure you are equipped with the tools you need to stay safe and have control over your life." "Sex becomes a pretty normal thing in high school, I want to make sure you are prepared before you decide to be physical with another person. Let's talk about how to stay safe." "I see that this is an uncomfortable topic for you, and honestly, it is for me too, but it's important for us to have this conversation either way. How can I help you to feel more comfortable talking to me about these things?" "Guess what? It's time to talk about pregnancy and STD prevention. Go grab a banana." Khoury's sex education workshops include demonstrating how to use condoms by putting them on a banana. About half of my students can't wait for banana condom day, and the other half are super-disgusted, she said. Assess how your child is feeling and either address the discomfort, or run with it. What if your kid is already using contraception? Some parents who haven't yet broached the birth control conversation may be in the dark about their kids' sex lives until they find a condom packet while doing the laundry or discover birth control pills in their daughter's bedroom. In this scenario, Khoury advises parents not to react impulsively in the moment. Dont find the condom and go barging in your kids room yelling, 'What is this?' she said. Take a moment and process your own feelings around it before talking to your child. While it can be a shock to learn that your kid is sexually active, Khoury said its important to realize that, if you are finding birth control, it means your child is being responsible. Its important to acknowledge that and use that to have an open, honest conversation with your kid, she said. Your daughter is ready to get on birth control what next? Dr. Scott Bovelsky, a gynecologist in Brevard County, Fla., said theres a common misconception that an internal exam is required to obtain birth control. He suggests that parents tell their daughters that if no medical concerns are involved and they simply want a prescription for birth control, no exam is needed. If a minor wants to obtain birth control without her parents permission, it will depend on what state she lives in. There are 24 states, as well as the District of Columbia, that explicitly allow minors to consent to contraceptive services. A primary care physician or a gynecologist can provide birth control. However, if a youth is having issues with her menstrual cycle, it is recommended that she see a gynecologist. Bovelsky recommends that girls start seeing a gynecologist as soon as their menstrual cycle begins. If a prescription is issued, it's important that the girl's doctor explains any health risks involved. Parents can show support by: Making sure they understand any health risks or side effects Encouraging them to flag any changes they're noticing in their body (mood swings, weight gain, etc.) Helping them create a system that makes it easy to remember when it's time to take their pill and reorder more, so dosages aren't being skipped Discussing, with insight from a medical provider, what other medications or supplements might make birth control less effective It's worth noting that some girls seek out birth control for medical reasons (such as regulating periods, treating acne), rather than for contraceptive purposes. Even so, Bovelsky said he encounters parents who do not want their daughters on birth control for any reason, because they think that will send them a message that it is OK to be sexually active. There are noncontraceptive benefits to birth control that I tell parents about, Bovelsky said, noting, for example, that it can provide relief for period pain for some people. The doctor said he has lost count of the number of times he has delivered a baby to a 14-year-old girl. To prevent that, he insists that parents need to talk to their children, male and female, starting at an early age, to combat any misinformation they're receiving at school and online. Talk to your kids, no matter what [sex] they are, he said. Talk to them early and frequently. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort (JHMR), Wyoming is one of the largest ski resorts by vertical feet in all of North America. At 4,139 feet from base to summit, the mountain is a massive canvas for skiers of all abilities. JHMR hosts the Rendezvous Mountain Hillclimb race each summer. The race challenges runners and hikers to ascend the full 4,139 feet of vertical across a 6.2 mile long course as fast as possible. For the first time in the competition's 11 year history, not one, but two runners broke the previously-elusive 1-hour mark on August 5th, 2023. Highly-decorated professional runner Joseph Gray came in at 57 min, 56 sec to set the record. Check out the recap video below: Jackson Hole Mountain Resort: "It's been 11 years in the making. 4,139 vertical feet of running over 6.2 miles. Breaking the one-hour mark at the Rendezvous Mountain Hillclimb has eluded the best of runners since its inception, but this year we can finally congratulate not one, but two racers on achieving this monumental feat of endurance and perseverance! A massive congratulations to Joseph Gray (time: 57 min, 56 sec) and Tyler McCandless (time: 59 min, 7 sec) for pushing the boundaries of what we thought was possible on the trails at Jackson Hole. Additionally, a massive congratulations to Jennifer Lichter on finishing first in the women's category with a time of one hour, eight minutes and 50 seconds." On the ladies side, North Face athlete Jennifer Lichter took first place by a large margin with a blazing time of 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 50 seconds. To really appreciate these athletes, let's break down Gray's result a bit further. Joseph Gray ran the race in 57 minutes and 56 seconds. That's an average of 9 minutes and 35 seconds per mile over the 6.2 mile course. That might not sound impressive until you consider the vertical. Gray gained roughly 71 feet per minute over the course of the race. Imagine sprinting uphill as fast as you could for an entire minute, do you think you would gain 71 feet of elevation? Now, imagine doing that for almost an entire hour... Trail runners are easily some of the best athletes on planet Earth. I'm constantly amazed by their ability to exert high levels of energy over long durations of time. Gray's record will stand at least until next year's climb, but will it prevail? Here's hoping his record-breaking performance inspires other world-class trail runners and athletes to show up to Jackson next year. I want to write some even more bonkers stats about vertical feet per minute. Related: Jackson Hole Mountain Resort's Owners Planning To Sell Don't miss another headline from POWDER! Subscribe to our newsletter and stay connected with the latest happenings in the world of skiing. We're always on the lookout for amusing, interesting and engaging ski-related videos to feature on our channels. Whether you're a professional 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 POWDER and our social channels. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch high-quality ski videos. As you probably already know, Kelly Slater is in Namibia. Its his first-time surfing the famed, mythical, sand-bottomed lefthander at Skeleton Bay, as we saw from the first clip that trickled in just a few hours ago. As you probably also know, via various Instagram feeds (its a whos who of surfing elite, and lesser-known tube-hunters down in Namibia right now), its been pretty dang big. Big enough to rock Kelly, and break a couple boards during his day-long session. In a clip from ZigZag, South Africas leading surf magazine, they caught up with Slater about the carnage at Skeleton Bay, which theyre calling The Donkey: Gnar gnar, says Slater during a surf check. The Donk donked me yesterday. I had three broken boards in one session. First walk around, maybe about my third or fourth walk, then around the end of the day, around my seventh or eighth walk. Classic. Photo: Instagram/ZigZagSurf Strider Wasilewski, WSL commentator and tube charger in his own right, who travelled to Namibia with Slater commented on just how heavy Skeleton Bay can be: Why, this is why because u only live once, because you love it so much its all you think about, thats why. 60 hrs of travel round trip, the craziest longest most barreling wave ever and a very satisfied, adrenaline filled soul! The freedom of the desert and the beat down of my body, the greatest equalizer ever, thank you surfing. BTW, this wave is really hard to ride and very heavy, I dont recommend going unless you are in amazing surf shape and an excellent surfer! And now, the question is, will Slater show up for the Tahiti Pro? Stay tuned. *** Don't miss another headline from SURFER! Subscribe to our newsletter and stay connected with the latest happenings in the world of surfing. We're always on the lookout for amusing, interesting and engaging surf-related videos to feature on our channels. Whether you're a professional surfer 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 SURFER and our social channels. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch high-quality surf videos. Leah Mandel-Robinson, left, packs tomatoes at the Norton Commons Farmer's Market in Louisville, Ky. on Sep. 5, 2021. The neighborhood continues to grow after it was constructed 15 years ago. On any given day in Louisville, you can stumble upon a farmers' market. Many of these open-air markets supported by local vendors are community staples for fresh produce, handcrafted decorations, tasty treats and more. More than 73,000 farms across Kentucky make these lively markets possible with the daily task of raising cattle, tending to soybeans, and picking fruits and vegetables at peak times. As a result of their labor of love, last year farmers' markets in the Commonwealth brought in more than $15 million in reported sales, up $1 million compared to 2021. Farmers' markets are a communal gathering hub for microeconomics, and it really makes our world feel more like a village than a vast incomprehensible global economy," said Joseph Monroe from Valley Spirit Farm in Campbellsburg. It's a friendly atmosphere that really has a great local economic impact. This week is National Farmers Market Week, a celebration dedicated to the growth and impact of farmers' markets across America. Farmers markets provide the freshest and healthiest foods direct from Kentuckys farms, said Kentucky Department of Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles. Farmers markets remain a vital resource to provide a direct pathway for farm fresh foods for consumers. Heres what we know about farmers' markets in Kentucky: How do local farmers' markets support the economy? Fresh produce, including purple asparagus, purchased at the Douglass Loop Famers Market in Louisville. Across Kentucky, more than 50% of all land nearly 13 million acres is used for agriculture purposes, helping support the state economy with $50 billion in economic impact in 2019 and supporting more than 270,000 jobs. Statewide there are 170 farmers' markets in 115 counties, showcasing farm-fresh produce from more than 2,400 vendors. Farmers' markets provide fresh and nutritious food direct from Kentucky's farms. This year's National Farmers' Market Week is next week, August 6-12, 2023! Lucky for us, there's more than 170 farmers' markets in 112 Kentucky counties. pic.twitter.com/Vw0lqWjdeh Commissioner Ryan Quarles (@KYAgCommish) August 3, 2023 The products and services offered by farms and farmers markets are the backbone of a flourishing community; one that is connected and strives to serve one another, said Sean Corser, the market manager for the Eastwood Village Farmers Market in Louisville. According to a release from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, farmers' markets have continued to experience growth and are gaining popularity. Since 1994, the number of farmers markets in the U.S. has increased from 2,000 to more than 8,600, the release said. Farmers like Monroe from Valley Spirit Farm provide consumers with more than just fresh vegetables but with other items like sunflowers, beef and chicken. For Monroe, the Douglass Loops Farmers Market in Louisville where he sells has become part of the lifeline for his 117-acre farm. Farmers' markets have allowed us to pay our mortgage on the farm and to not have to have off-farm jobs, and to raise our three kids. For these reasons we are extremely grateful and lucky, Monroe said. How do farmers' markets support Kentucky farmers? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than half of farmers traveled less than 10 miles to their market, meaning the produce and goods available for consumers is truly local. These food items tend to be more nutrient dense and healthier for families than produce found at grocery stores due to a lack of added chemicals and being picked at peak ripeness. You also can have confidence in the products when you know theyre safely and organically grown and produced, Corser said. Plus, the tastiness of a homegrown tomato, or grass-fed steak, or organically grown produce just tastes better and lasts longer. Aside from the health value farmers markets bring to communities across the Bluegrass, the markets offer a way for customers to build direct relationships with producers. As a local resident it means something to know who provides your food, to know their name and to know what processes they went through to provide the produce or meat to your family, Corser said. Its a unique aspect of community that a supermarket doesnt offer. Farmers' markets in the Louisville area Here are a handful of farmers' markets you can visit in the Louisville area: Contact business reporter Olivia Evans at oevans@courier-journal.com or on Twitter at @oliviamevans_. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky farmers markets bring in $15 million in sales in 2022 The recalled kiwis were sold by retailers in 14 states including Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Courtesy Oppy One-pound packages of organic green kiwis are being recalled in more than a dozen states. David Oppenheimer and Company I, LLC, also known as Oppy, issued a voluntary recall of the products Tuesday due to the potential of Listeria monocytogenes contamination. So far, no illnesses have been reported in connection to the recall. According to the FDA, the recalled kiwis were grown in New Zealand, exported to North America, and repackaged for local sale in one-pound, clear, plastic clamshells bearing the Zespri brand and UPC code 8 18849 02009 3, containing fruit stickered with the GTIN bar code 9400 9552. Courtesy Oppy The organic green kiwifruit subject to recall was shipped between June 14, 2023 and July 7, 2023, and sold at retail locations in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Note: Zespri organic green kiwis sold in other states are not subject to this recall. Consumption of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a serious infection that primarily affects older adults, persons with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women and their newborns. Listeriosis can cause fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. In pregnant women, the infection can cause miscarriages, stillbirths, premature delivery or life-threatening infection of the newborn. In addition, serious and sometimes fatal infections in older adults and persons with weakened immune systems can occur. Consumers who still have any of these products are urged not to consume them to throw them away immediately. For more information, customers can contact Oppy at 1-866-698-2580 or contact@oppy.com. For more Southern Living news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on Southern Living. "As far as hip-hop is concerned, you have to have some sort of controversy around you or you're not doing it right." That's according to Mo Chara. Materialising from west Belfast in 2017, Chara, Moglai Bap and DJ Provai - also known as Kneecap - create music that is as controversial as it is creative. The group are now set to headline Feile an Phobail in Falls Park, Belfast, on Friday night. Their name is derived from so-called kneecapping - where young people are shot in the legs by paramilitaries in republican and loyalist communities in Northern Ireland, because of allegedly being involved in crime or anti-social activity. The group are headlining this year's west Belfast festival Rapping primarily in the Irish language, the three-piece have faced criticism and censorship for their politically charged lyrics but that hasn't stopped them gaining a following both in Ireland and overseas. Their debut track, C.E.A.R.T.A., was recorded after Moglai Bap was detained by police for spray-painting the word rights - cearta - in Irish. He refused to speak English to police and was held as they waited for a translator. The expletive lyrics and drug references led to Ireland's national broadcaster blacklisting the group from the offset. It probably didn't help that RTE had a direct mention in the track. "It just turned into this music video, and we didn't really have any ideas for after," Mo Chara told BBC News NI. "It went down so well we thought we'd be mad not to do another song." 'Looking inwards' The undercurrent of all their music is the growing Irish language community among young people in Belfast, Moglai Bap explained. "I think in Ireland for a long time, hip-hop was looking outwards... they were performing with American accents, but there's a big change now with people using their own accents and trying to be authentic and looking inwards," he said. "We had a big interest in hip-hop and that genre of music and there was really no representation of this growing [Irish speaking] community." Mo Chara added: "A lot of it came from The Rubberbandits and people were able to be authentically Irish and do hip-hop without it being cringey and cheesy, talking about drive-bys. They [The Rubberbandits] could do a song about a horse without feeling like they had to emulate Americans." Kneecap performing at Electric Picnic in 2022 Kneecap's lyrics do not shy away from the group's desire for a united Ireland but they're also filled with universal, working-class lived experiences and examine identity through a lens that can be interpreted as both comedic and polarising. Their musical tastes range from Irish republican rebel tunes to rap, with American duo Dead Prez cited as a major influence. "They intertwined realism with absurdism and satire, and they used that as a means of expressing what they wanted to say," continued Moglai Bap, while Mo Chara added they try to embody the same anti-authority attitude as NWA. The performers are preparing to tour the United States and Canada The group are shaking up this year's Feile an Phobail festival in west Belfast. They'll be headlining on Friday, while The Wolfe Tones play later in the weekend - a shift in sound, but Mo Chara said there are thematic similarities to be found in both groups' music. "Rebel music in Ireland has all the same sort of ideas as hip-hop in America. A community that's oppressed, using songs to revolt in some way," he explained. Much emphasis has been placed on Kneecap's lyrics, in that they flit between Irish and English in rapid succession, but the performers said this wasn't a conscious creative decision. "We grew up speaking Irish as a first language... it wasn't necessarily that we chose the language because of its niche qualities," Moglai said. "It comes naturally." "It's actually much easier because there's twice as many sounds," Mo Chara added, explaining it provides a denser vocabulary and is reflective of how the Irish language is spoken by youths today. 'We like people to get riled up' While the music comes easy for Kneecap, how do they deal with the backlash? "People have an emotional reaction when we're saying things like 'get your Brits out', but when you're reading into it we're actually talking about getting the DUP [Democratic Unionist Party] for a night out." Some people might question that sentiment - but the rappers are unfazed by the criticism. "That's something we play up to - we like people to get riled up before they even know what they're annoyed about," Mo Chara explained. Criticism has come from the top, with politicians weighing in on the group's output. A Kneecap mural unveiled during the 2022 Feile an Phobail caused upset Last year, the Alliance Party's leader Naomi Long suggested a Kneecap mural, which depicted a burning police van, could groom young children into sectarian hatred. DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said the mural was "offensive to every serving police officer in Northern Ireland and to many in the wider community", while UUP leader Doug Beattie accused the group of "foster(ing) hatred" and "grooming a new generation of young people with insidious messaging". But Moglai argues this outrage is misplaced. "It's the same people who are coming out trying to be outraged constantly over paintings on walls when in reality there's a lot worse things happening in the north. There's a bigger crisis happening," says Moglai, adding that it was a different experience for young people on the streets. He recalls an experience in the predominantly Protestant Sandy Row area of Belfast during the 12 July parades, when he overheard a group of young loyalists singing C.E.A.R.T.A. "If they're going to jump me, they really wouldn't be singing the chorus to one of our songs, and they were sound, we had a chat... and that's the reality on the ground," he said. "These people have respect for each other, and we drank some Buckfast. The reality with them is different. "If [politicians] don't want to get it, we understand it - that's their own problem." Political outrage has benefitted their careers, according to the group Kneecap admit their controversies serve as great publicity as they sell out venues across Ireland, Europe and America. The coming months will see them perform in Ireland, the US, Canada, France and Iceland. "We don't have to rely on mainstream media to get fans. Thankfully with social media now we can build our own platforms," Moglai explained. That self-created platform seems to be working for the group as they recently appeared on award-winning composer Lorne Balfe's companion album for a Dungeons and Dragons film, adding to rumblings that a major record deal is in the works. They have also expanded into the world of film-making, with a self-titled Irish language-comedy starring Michael Fassbender showcased during this year's Cannes festival. The group, and director Rich Peppiatt, are now hoping to bring the Kneecap film to the 2024 Sundance Film Festival before a UK and Ireland cinema release next summer. In this article, we will talk about the 16 easiest countries to get PR for international students. We will also discuss the emerging trends in international students' mobility and the key players in the industry. You can skip our detailed analysis and head straight to the 5 Easiest Countries To Get PR For International Students. The concept of 'study abroad' has persisted over time, with people leaving their homeland and traveling to new places to learn. There are a myriad of reasons for student mobility and it varies among individuals. Students might travel to a new place for better education, higher ranked universities, to experience education in a foreign country, to be more independent, to experience new cultures, and to travel while also getting a formal education. However, one of the main reasons is the search for a better future and improved lifestyle. Not every country in the world is peaceful. People often want to leave and get Permanent Residency (PR) in other countries to improve their quality of life. PR grants a person the right to live and work in a country indefinitely however they are not a citizen of that country. Students who have left their country for education often prefer permanently settling in the destination country. Seeking PR is especially considerable for students getting higher education. According to a report by IMARC Group, the global higher education market was valued at $20.1 billion, and it is predicted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 20.2% from 2023 to 2028, reaching $61.1 billion at the end of the forecasted period. Recent Trends In Student Mobility When the pandemic hit, student mobility was severely impacted. People were social distancing, and education became primarily virtual. However, now that the situation has improved, the world is recovering from the slump in international student mobility trends. According to a report by Holon IQ, the number of international students rose from 1 million in 1970 to more than 5 million in 2019, corresponding to $196 billion in direct annual expenditure. This number is expected to almost double to $433 billion by 2030. International student enrollments are expected to grow to 8 million by 2030. The rise in globalization combined with technological advancement and easy access to information online, like searching for universities and scholarships, has generated an upsurge in the number of students considering studying abroad. Story continues According to the Holon IQ report, about 70% of the global demand for education is primarily in Asia and Africa. However, the supply side is predominantly confined to the North American and European regions, with the majority of the top-ranked universities located there. According to the QS World University Rankings 2024, the United States has the highest number of top-ranked universities, 199, followed by the United Kingdom with 90 top universities worldwide. They are at the top of the list of countries with the best education. This supply-demand imbalance is one of the main factors for the influx of students to North America and Europe. After the pandemic, the number of international students is expected to grow further as the world is moving towards a normal situation with no travel restrictions. Notable Names In Education For Study Abroad Some of the largest education companies in the world are assisting students with their mobility. These companies provide consultancy services facilitating students to plan their future and move abroad easily. One of the most prominent names in education consultancy is New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU). The company provides consulting services to students aspiring to move abroad. On July 26, the company reported earnings for the fiscal fourth quarter of 2023. New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU) reported earnings per share of $0.37. The company's revenue for the quarter amounted to $860.57 million, up 64.22% year over year, and ahead of Wall Street estimates by $42.17 million. It is among the list of best education stocks to buy in 2023. Here are some comments from the company's earnings call for the fourth quarter of 2023: "In particular, I would like to highlight the solid recovery has been valid in the growth of our overseas test prep and overseas study consulting businesses, which have recorded steady increments in revenues and enrollments. The dedicated blend of our restructured business model better utilizes the facility and streamlined cost structure have not only helped us yield better than expected margins in this fiscal quarter but also enlivened our continued exploration of new potential ventures as we unfold a new chapter of innovative endeavors. The company's sustainable profitability, resilient business lines, and emerging new initiatives have reaffirmed our belief in maintaining a healthy growth of our market share amid the encouraging environmental recovery. Now, I would like to spend some time to talk about the quarter's performance across our remaining business lines and new business to you in detail. Our key remaining business secured a promising trend, coupled with the positive momentum in our new initiatives. Breaking it down, the overseas test-drive business reported a revenue increase of 52% in dollar terms or 62% in RMB terms year-over-year for the first quarter. The overseas study consulting business recorded a revenue increase of about 6% in dollar terms or 13% in RMB terms year-over-year for this quarter." Another prominent name is IDP Education (ASX:IEL). It is an Australian company leading international students through consultancy services. IDP helps students from all across the globe to study in "English-speaking countries". The company is almost 50 years old and is operating in more than 30 countries. IDP Education (ASX:IEL) is connected extensively with schools, colleges, and universities across the globe. The vast network of partner education institutions enables them to connect their clients with their best match based on their preferences. Graham Holdings Company (NYSE:GHC) is also a major name in the industry. The key services the company offers are English-language training and proficiency exam preparation. By better enabling the students to prepare for the English proficiency test it facilitates their mobility and provides them with the essentials required to move abroad. 16 Easiest Countries To Get PR For International Students Our Methodology To make the list of easiest countries to get PR for international students, we initially filtered out the countries with the highest number of top-ranked universities. We used QS World University Rankings 2024 and calculated the number of top-ranked universities in all 104 countries listed. We then sifted through the top 35 countries and organized them based on their inbound mobility rate in 2020 by UNESCO. UNESCO has defined the inbound mobility rates as the "number of students from abroad studying in a given country, expressed as a percentage of total tertiary enrollment in that country." The top 16 countries from that list were then ranked based on the time required before you become eligible to apply for PR. We used the information from these countries' individual government sites to estimate the time required. Since some countries on our list required the same amount of time; we have used the inbound mobility rates as the tiebreaker. 16 Easiest Countries To Get PR For International Students 16. Japan Inbound Mobility Rate: 5.7 Time Required: 10 Years Japan is one of the easiest countries to get PR for international students. Japan is located in East Asia. According to QS ranking, it has 50 of the top 1500 universities in the world. It has an inbound mobility rate of 5.7. A person can apply for PR if they have lived in Japan for over 10 years under any visa. However, this is not a strict requirement. A point system based on a person's skills eases this out. The 10 years requirement, however, has been repetitively mentioned across various sites. 15. Italy Inbound Mobility Rate: 2.9 Time Required: 5 Years Italy is located in Europe. According to QS ranking, it has 42 of the top 1500 universities in the world. It has an inbound mobility rate of 2.9. Italy has a rich culture and history that attracts thousands of international students every year. A person can apply for PR after they have lived in Italy for a minimum of 5 years. 14. South Korea Inbound Mobility Rate: 3.7 Time Required: 5 Years South Korea is located in East Asia. According to QS ranking, it has 43 of the top 1500 universities in the world. It has an inbound mobility rate of 3.7. People can apply for PR if they have lived in South Korea for more than 5 years. It is among the easiest countries to get PR for international students. 13. Spain Inbound Mobility Rate: 3.8 Time Required: 5 Years Spain is located in Europe. According to QS ranking, it has 35 of the top 1500 universities in the world. It has an inbound mobility rate of 3.8. After a person has held the temporary residence permit for 5 years, they become eligible for PR. It is one of the countries with the best quality of life, making it a highly preferred location to get PR for international students. New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU), IDP Education (ASX:IEL), and Graham Holdings Company (NYSE:GHC) are some of the most noteworthy companies facilitating students to study abroad. 12. Poland Inbound Mobility Rate: 4.5 Time Required: 5 Years Poland is located in Europe. According to QS ranking, it has 22 of the top 1500 universities in the world. It has an inbound mobility rate of 4.5. A person can apply for PR if they have lived in Poland for over 5 years. It is one of the easiest countries to get PR for international students. 11. Russia Inbound Mobility Rate: 5 Time Required: 5 Years Russia spread across both Europe and Asia. According to QS ranking, it has 48 of the top 1500 universities in the world. It has an inbound mobility rate of 5. A person becomes eligible for PR in Malaysia after working for 5 years there. There is a 5-year validity, and it can be extended unlimited times. 10. Kazakhstan Inbound Mobility Rate: 5.5 Time Required: 5 Years Kazakhstan is among the easiest countries to get PR for international students. Kazakhstan is located in Asia. According to QS ranking, it has 21 of the top 1500 universities in the world. It has an inbound mobility rate of 5.5. A person becomes eligible for PR in Kazakhstan after working for 5 years there. 9. United Kingdom Inbound Mobility Rate: 20.1 Time Required: 5 Years The United Kingdom is located in Europe. According to QS ranking, it has 90 of the top 1500 universities in the world. It has an inbound mobility rate of 20.1. PR is referred to as Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK. Once a person has resided continuously in the UK for 5 years, they become eligible to apply for PR. The UK has some of the best universities in the world and attracts many students every year. The UK is one of the easiest countries to get PR for international students. 8. France Inbound Mobility Rate: 9.2 Time Required: 4 Years France is located in Europe. According to QS ranking, it has 35 of the top 1500 universities in the world. It has an inbound mobility rate of 9.2. People can apply for PR if they have lived in the country for 4 years. The short time required to get PR makes it a top-listed country on our list of easiest countries to get PR for international students. Some companies that assist international student mobility include New Oriental Education & Technology Group Inc. (NYSE:EDU), IDP Education (ASX:IEL), and Graham Holdings Company (NYSE:GHC). 7. Australia Inbound Mobility Rate: 36 Time Required: 3.5 Years According to QS ranking, it has 38 of the top 1500 universities in the world. It has an inbound mobility rate of 26. A person can apply for PR if they have been living in Australia for more than 3.5. It is one of the most popular destination countries for international students. 6. United States Inbound Mobility Rate: 5.1 Time Required: 3 Years The United States has 199 of the top 1500 universities in the world according to QS ranking. It has an inbound mobility rate of 5.1. A person can apply for PR if they have lived in the US for over 3 years. The United States has the most number of highest-ranked universities in the whole world. It is among the most significant names on our list of easiest countries to get PR for international students. Click to continue reading and see the 5 Easiest Countries To Get PR For International Students. Suggested articles: Disclosure: None. 16 Easiest Countries To Get PR For International Students is originally published on Insider Monkey. The debut of a lavish Mediterranean escape is on the horizon. On Wednesday, Mandarin Oriental announced the development of a new resort on the Italian island of Sardinia. The destination, located in the heart of Costa Smeralda, is slated to open its doors by mid-2026, and will be the hotel groups fourth property in Italy. Current plans for the propertycalled the Mandarin Oriental, Porto Cervoinclude 83 rooms and suites perched on a hillside overlooking the Gulf of Pevero. It also boasts unique amenities such as a private beach accessible by a 1,148-foot-long trail. More from Robb Report Mandarin Oriental, Porto Cervo is being developed in partnership with Gruppo Statuto, one of Italys leading real estate groups. The company previously worked with Mandarin Oriental on its Milan hotel, which debuted in 2015. This time around, the duo is aiming for an unparalleled hotel experience, according to a statement. The hotels stony exterior pops in one new rendering, set against lush landscaping and the nearby sea, with poolside cabana seating. But there will be even more to explore throughout the grounds upon its opening. The property will include five standalone restaurants and bars offering a variety of culinary options. There will also be the requisite spa, and exercise enthusiasts will be able to use the resorts fitness center, while travelers who want to take a dip can put the large indoor and outdoor pools to use. An exclusive beach club, located on the Porto Paglia beach, will offer even more space for relaxation. Porto Cervo is known for its luxury boutiques, galleries, and restaurants that could make great offsite destinations to explore during stays. The Porto Cervo Marina is also home to a distinguished Yacht Club, renowned for hosting international regattas and granting visitors access to a breathtaking string of coves and secluded beaches. We are excited to introduce Mandarin Oriental, Porto Cervo to our guests, and to expand our portfolio of leisure destinations in this region, says Francesco Cefalu, chief development officer of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. Costa Smeraldas unique allure, combined with the expertise of Gruppo Statuto, promises to create an extraordinary retreat. Best of Robb Report Sign up for Robb Report's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. (Photo: blackmothersbreastfeeding.org) In light of last week being Worldwide Breastfeeding Week, a global campaign seeking to bring awareness to issues and barriers to breastfeeding, Native News Online sat down with Angie Sanchez (Grand Traverse Bay Band), a Michigan State University Ph.D. student researching ways to increase access to breastfeeding support resources in Indigenous communities. Sanchez is an Indigenous lactation counselor, doula, wife, and mother. She co-founded the Sacred Waters Collective, a nonprofit with a mission to help Tribes in Michigan support community mothers in their community through education and culture. She talked to Native New Online about her breastfeeding journey, why Indigenous communities have low rates of breastfeeding and what they can do to increase those rates and reclaim breastfeeding as ceremony. What inspired you to do this work and research breastfeeding in Indigenous communities? When I was pregnant with my son, I had been given a dream, assistance from the ancestors, that said I needed to breastfeed my baby. I had been planning on doing that anyway, and I didnt know what I was doing and did not think that it would be difficult because thats what people have been doing since the beginning of time. I needed to have a scheduled C-section. He was a little bit early, and he was in the NICU, and we didnt get to latch right away. When we came home, we tried breastfeeding, and while I was working, I was in excruciating pain. At the time, I knew that it would hurt for about two weeks, but then after that, it shouldnt hurt anymore. But, it kept hurting well past the two weeks, and I thought maybe I just needed a little more time, then four weeks, and then five weeks, and it was still excruciating pain. I was reaching out to whoever I could lactation consultants, CLCs [certified lactation consultants]. I was reaching out to IBCLCs, which are international board-certified lactation consultants. I went to La Leche League in the Lansing area. I went to Lansing Baby Cafe for free lactation support, and reached out to friends, his pediatrician, and not only the pediatrician but also the pediatricians office employees. Folks would try to help me with different latch positions to make it hurt less, but none of them were really effective, and thats the extent of the help that I was given. They had nothing else to offer me, so I was kind of on my own. Im very persistent, so I wasnt going to quit. Through my own research, I figured out that he had a tongue tie, and Id never heard of tongue ties, cheek ties, or lip ties; I knew nothing about them. I hired another IBCLC because she was known for having experience assessing tongue ties. She came over and did an assessment, and her suggestion was that I take him to a pediatric dentist. That appointment cost me $250 out of pocket because insurance didnt cover it. I realized thats a lot for one person to have to do to figure out why breastfeeding hurts. We got his tongue tie corrected, and immediately within 30 seconds of having his tongue tie clipped, we put him back on my breast, and it was the first time in 11 weeks that I was able to breastfeed without being in excruciating pain. I started reflecting on all that it took me to get there and realized that if I had been in my own home community and we were working the same jobs that we had when we lived there, none of that would have been possible. There was no way we could have afforded a $250 lactation counselor appointment. I also didnt know of any Indigenous lactation counselors either. Its a problem that it took all of this effort for me to successfully breastfeed my son, and I was wondering what my own community members would be doing if they were faced with the same situation, so I reached out to folks for anecdotal research. I asked, Hey, you have a baby; did you breastfeed your baby? and the answer from everybody that I talked to was they tried to breastfeed, but they quit within a couple of weeks. The reasons were all the same. It was one of two things. It was either that they didnt know what they were doing and they didnt have anybody to reach out to, or that they werent making enough milk, and they didnt have anybody to reach out to. Ive learned that a lot of mothers and birthing people think that theyre not making enough milk, and its because theyre misreading cues from the baby. Its actually relatively rare that a mom is not making enough milk. So who are Indigenous people supposed to reach out to? Why are we even in this situation? I couldnt ask my mom because she didnt breastfeed us. I didnt grow up around breastfeeding. I knew nothing about it. So why am I in this situation? And why do I have to go to all these extra lengths to get the support I need? That was the ultimate question, Why should it have been that difficult? And why are we in this situation? What are some of the biggest issues or barriers that prevent Indigenous women from getting the help they need when it comes to breastfeeding and other lactation issues? The major issue is that communities were disrupted through colonization, and prior to colonization, we lived in ways such that when a person was having a baby in a birthing lodge or whatever was specific to that tribe or that community, they would have lots of help, and they would have community members, aunties, and grandmas and sisters and friends that would be there to help them and take care of them. If there was an issue, they knew what to do. They also helped and did other things around their home. Now were in a situation where we live in this capitalist society, and we all have to work, and we all have to clean and do these things because somebody else isnt going to come into our house and take care of the house and cook and all those types of things. Our family structures have been impacted by colonization. Another thing is racism in the health industry. If you look at the data, Indigenous women and birthing persons initially have really good breastfeeding rates, and its at whats expected, somewhere upwards of like 87% or 84% its pretty high. But then, at three months postpartum, six months postpartum, and one year postpartum, our rates are extremely low. So something is happening between initiation and three months time, where we are no longer breastfeeding. A lot of our community members are working in jobs where they dont have the ability to take time off work to stay home with their babies. They might work jobs where they dont have maternity leave, and even if they do have maternity leave, most companies and other organizations dont give a proper amount of time for proper maternity leave. What happens is, very quickly, our Indigenous birthing people are going back to work way sooner than they really should be, through no fault of their own. For a lot of folks, breastfeeding isnt considered prenatal care, but their healthcare providers should be having these conversations when somebody is receiving prenatal health care. A decent amount of the time, when somebody is literally giving birth, thats the first time that somebody asks them, Do you plan to breastfeed? Right? We should have been talking about this six months ago. Not while Im sitting in labor at the hospital. What do you think our Indigenous communities can do to improve those rates and improve the welfare of the birth givers who are choosing to breastfeed? Communities need to first figure out whats going to work for them, but in general, there are some general things tribes should do. Tribes should implement year-long maternity leave. They should also become pro-breastfeeding, and breastfeeding should be lifted up in tribal communities to be just as important as reclaiming other ceremonies because breastfeeding is a ceremony. A lot of tribes are working really hard to reclaim other parts of our culture that were stripped away from us. Were learning languages, were learning how to grow our own seeds, and we are learning customs like crafting, things that have been stolen from us. Breastfeeding is also one of those things that need to be reclaimed in communities. Tribes can make sure that theres an Indigenous lactation counselor that works in their IHS clinic or make sure that if their tribal members are getting health care at their tribal clinic, theyre being supported in the clinic early not just asking them the day theyre giving birth if they want to breastfeed. We also need to learn how to breastfeed as community members and knowledge and accept breastfeeding as a community responsibility. Its not just up to the its not up to the birthing parent. Its up to the community to support their own community members in breastfeeding. Theres a grant I applied for through the Michigan Health Endowment Fund to start a project called the Nooni Project to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration in Native communities. I brought the Indigenous Lactation Counselor Training Program to six different Indigenous communities in Michigan. The program is a 45-hour breastfeeding course that was developed by an Indigenous person, and it arms Indigenous people with foundational lactation education, so they can serve their own communities. Over the last year, we certified about 75 new Indigenous lactation counselors within the state of Michigan. What advice would you give to those who are planning to give birth in the future on how to advocate for themselves when it comes to breastfeeding? We also started a nonprofit. Its called Sacred Waters Collective, and its a collective of Indigenous people within the state of Michigan that want to reclaim all of these things in our communities reclaiming birth ceremonies, reclaiming lactation, breastfeeding ceremonies all of these things that are life stage type ceremonies. One of our collective members is writing a milk-making course that Indigenous folks are welcome to take. Our collective is using our grant funds to pay her to develop this course that folks can take so they dont need to pay for it. I think whats key is learning as much as you can before you have a baby. But then, after you have the baby, I really think that its the communitys responsibility to be reaching out to the birthing parent because if you dont know whats going on, how are you going to know who to reach out to? Youre so overwhelmed, and youre dealing with so many hormonal changes after you give birth, and a lot of times, youre a new mom, and maybe youre not a new mom, maybe you have other kids and theres just so many other things going on. What would be better is if we as community members are taking care of our birthing folks and basically coming to them every single day and saying, Hey, how can I help you? Whats going on? Can I come over and do your laundry or cook you a couple meals? Then you can also ask how lactation is going instead of waiting for the birthing person to reach out to somebody. We need to be reaching out to them constantly. But whats important is that its done very quickly. So when they come home from the hospital, or even in the hospital, kind of bug them and say, Hey, Im here. Can I come to visit you so I can see how latching is going? We as community members, need to be more proactive in reaching out to folks who have given birth and supporting them right away instead of waiting for them to reach out to us. If you or someone you know are breastfeeding or plan to consider checking out the Sacred Waters Collective, an organization that focuses on reclaiming culture and nurturing healthy families. About the Author: "Neely Bardwell (descendant of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indian) is a staff reporter for Native News Online. Bardwell is also a student at Michigan State University where she is majoring in policy and minoring in Native American studies. " Contact: neely@nativenewsonline.net Sebastian Vettel has rubbished speculation hell be racing in Formula E with the ABT Cupra team, saying hes not speaking with team owner Thomas Biermaier nor any other Formula E team. Walking away from Formula 1 last season as he cited his desire his spend more time with his family and focus on environmental issues, it was speculated even back then that Vettel and Formula E would be a good fit. Recently rumours he could be heading to the electric car series took off when ABT Cupra team boss Thomas Biermaier revealed that one of his season 10 drivers would be someone who cares a lot about the environment and does a lot of sustainability work. Sebastian Vettel: I am not in negotiations to run in Formula E Adding that his new driver would be a former driver and that maybe the seat was going to Switzerland, that just about ticked all the Vettel boxes as while born in Germany, he lives in Switzerland. Hes also a former driver and someone who cares a lot about the environment. Vettel, however, has denied this. I am not in negotiations to run in Formula E with ABT Cupra or with any other team. Words have been put in my mouth, and I would like to clarify that I am not currently considering a return to motorsport, he told the Spanish edition of Motorsport.com. This wouldnt be the first time the four-time F1 World Champion has been linked to Formula E with the sports Chairman and Extreme E CEO Alejandro Agag telling talkSPORT that hed tried to convince Vettel to sign up. I tried to persuade Vettel to come to Formula E, we even had talks about Extreme E, Agag revealed. Sebastian is very committed to sustainability and the many values we share. The Formula E boss wasnt successful in his attempts to lure the German over to the electric series. We probably werent at the right time in the right place, he added. He has some other important goals. But whatever he does, he would be a great asset. PlanetF1.com recommends F1 records: The drivers with the longest points-scoring streaks in history F1 records: Who are the youngest drivers ever to race in Formula 1? But is Sebastian Vettel in talks with Formula 1? While Vettel has ruled out racing in Formula E, he could be back in Formula 1 at some point with the 36-year-old telling PlanetF1.com that he is talking with Formula 1 about a role within the sport or the FIA. Well see but I have some ideas, he said at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Ive been to Monaco earlier this year. I had a very good meeting with [F1 president] Stefano [Domenicali]. Other than obviously the cars directly polluting, F1 has a huge responsibility because its a very big event. A lot of people attend, I think you had around 500,000 people in the British Grand Prix last weekend. So theres a lot more to it than just the cars but obviously the cars, everybody sees them. Its important that its headed in the right direction. But Im talking [with F1] and I have some ideas. Obviously, well see what the future brings. Read next: Revealed: Five reasons why F1 fans find it easy to hate Ferrari The article Sebastian Vettel addresses rumours of potential motorsport comeback in Formula E appeared first on Planetf1.com. Twins posing for a group photo at the 2017 Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio. DUSTIN FRANZ/Getty Images The Twins Days Festival occurs in Twinsburg, Ohio every August. The town was founded by identical twins and the festival began in 1976. Since then, it's evolved into a three-day weekend and the largest twins gathering in the world. Every year, a small suburban town called Twinsburg, Ohio hosts the Twins Days Festival the largest gathering of twins in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Twins from all over the US as well as countries like Switzerland and Jamaica attend, with roughly 2,000 sets of twins registering each year. The weekend includes festivities like a parade and look-alike contests, with twins encouraged to dress alike in matching costumes and outfits. I went this year for the first time, and had an amazing experience. I also found out that the festival has a fascinating history. Twinsburg, Ohio was named after two identical twins A monument in Twinsburg, Ohio, of Aaron and Moses Wilcox. Twins Days Twinsburg was founded in 1817 and originally called Millsville (not as fun). Two years later, identical twins Aaron and Moses Wilcox, originally from Connecticut, bought 4,000 acres of land and attracted more settlers by selling cheap tracts. They offered to donate land to a public square and a school under one condition: The town would be renamed Twinsburg. The Wilcox twins married sisters, worked together, and were allegedly so identical that only people who were really close to them could tell them apart. They even died on the same day , from the same disease (though the disease itself was undocumented). Twins Days began as a small, one-day festival Markita and Narkita Burgen competing in a Twins Days most-alike contest in 1987. Bettmann / Contributor/Getty Images To celebrate America's bicentennial year in 1976 , a small committee decided to honor the Wilcox twins with a day just for twins.The town raised a flag, revealed a monument of the Wilcoxs, and dedicated a picnic shelter in Glenn Chamberlin Park the future site of Twins Days Festivals to come. 36 sets of twins showed up. The next year, the event involved more fanfare, including a band concert, square dancing, and a bike-and-buggy event for children. It grew into a three-day weekend and hosts twins from all over the world Twins marching in the Double Take Parade in 2019. Josie Gealer / Staff/Getty Images Now in its 48th year, the festival has since morphed from Twins Day to Twins Days, always taking place on the first weekend of August. The three-day event features a different theme each year (from "Twice Upon a Time" to "Twinstock") and includes festivities like talent shows, a volleyball tournament, fireworks, and even opportunities for twins to participate in on-site research. Many twins also attend an unofficial afterparty to continue to spend time together. Qeisha and Keisha Bowden and Kirill and Filipp Revega were all winners of the look-alike contests in their age groups. Julia Pugachevsky According to the Twins Days organizers, over 84,000 sets of twins have attended the festival from 1976-2022 (2020's was canceled due to the pandemic). Twins have come from as far as Nigeria, Brazil, Australia, Ghana, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, France, Italy, England, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Korea, China, and India to celebrate their relationship with other twins. Read the original article on Insider Editors Note: Sign up for CNNs Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Virgin Galactic the space tourism company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson finally launched its first space tourists to the edge of the cosmos, a major step toward delivering on decades of promises. The companys rocket-powered space plane, VSS Unity, took off at 8:30 a.m. MT from a New Mexico spaceport attached to a massive twin-fuselage mothership. It carried three customers: entrepreneur and health and wellness coach Keisha Schahaff and her daughter Anastatia Mayers the first space travelers from Antigua who won their seats in a fundraiser drawing as well as former Olympian Jon Goodwin, who competed as a canoeist in the 1972 Munich Summer Games. Goodwin became the second person with Parkinsons disease to travel to space. The groups journey began at Virgin Galactics spaceport in New Mexico, where the passengers boarded VSS Unity as it sat attached beneath the wing of the mothership called VMS Eve. VMS Eve took off much like an airplane, barreling down a runway before ascending to more than 40,000 feet (12,192 meters). After reaching its designated altitude, VMS Eve released the VSS Unity, which then fired its rocket engine for about one minute as it swooped directly upward, sending it vaulting toward the stars. Space tourists, from left, Jon Goodwin, Anastatia Mayers and her mother, Keisha Schahaff, are seen before boarding their Virgin Galactic flight at Spaceport America, near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. - Andres Leighton/AP The vehicle ventured more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) above Earths surface, the altitude the US government considers the edge of outer space. (Internationally, the Karman line, 62 miles (100 kilometers) above sea level, is often used to mark the boundary between our planet and space but theres a lot of gray area.) The space plane reached supersonic speeds as it hurled upward. And at the peak of its flight, the vehicle spent a few minutes in weightlessness as it entered free fall and glided back to the spaceport for a runway landing at 9:30 a.m. MT. The journey lasted an hour. Virgin Galactic launched its first group of space tourist after decades of anticipation. The space plane, VSS Unity, took off from a New Mexico spaceport. - Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images After returning to Earth, Goodwin described the flight as a completely surreal experience and without a doubt the most exciting day of my life. I was shocked at the things that you feel, Mayer said. You are so much more connected to everything than you would expect to be. You felt like a part of the team, part of the ship, part of the universe, part of Earth. That was incredible and Im still starstruck. This experience also has given me this beautiful feeling that if I can do this, I can do anything, Schahaff said. Meet the crew This mission came on the heels of the success of Virgin Galactics first commercial mission, which launched in June. That inaugural flight was a research-focused mission with Italian air force-funded passengers rather than celebrities and wealthy thrill seekers similar to those flown by Virgin Galactics chief competitor, Jeff Bezos Blue Origin. (Future Virgin Galactic flights, however, are expected to include high-profile customers.) Thursdays mission marked Virgin Galactics first to include tourists, or passengers flying for the experience rather than in a professional capacity. (From left) Anastatia Mayers, Jon Goodwin and Keisha Schahaff will fly on the Galactic 02 mission in August. - Courtesy Virgin Galactic Schahaff and her daughter Mayers won their seats in a drawing that raised $1.7 million in grants for Space for Humanity, a nonprofit focused on expanding access to space. They were among the first from the Caribbean islands to travel to space; a Jamaican American and Virgin Galactic employee flew on a test mission in May. When I was two years old, just looking up to the skies, I thought, How can I get there? But, being from the Caribbean, I didnt see how something like this would be possible, Schahaff said in a news release last month. The fact that I am here, the first to travel to space from Antigua, shows that space really is becoming more accessible. Mayers, 18, is a second-year undergraduate studying philosophy and physics at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. She became the second-youngest person to travel to space, according to Virgin Galactic. (The current record belongs to Oliver Daemen, who was 18 when he accompanied Bezos on Blue Origins inaugural passenger flight in 2021.) Virgin Galactic's rocket-powered plane flies on its way to the edge of space after taking off from Spaceport America. - Andres Leighton/AP Goodwin was one of the earliest ticket holders on Virgin Galactic, which opened its first sales more than a decade ago. Goodwin said he was determined not to let his 2014 Parkinsons diagnosis stand in the way of joining a flight. And now for me to go to space with Parkinsons is completely magical, he said in a news release. I hope this inspires all others facing adversity and shows them that challenges dont have to inhibit or stop them from pursuing their dreams. Advocates have long made the case that space travel is uniquely suited for people with physical disabilities, as the weightless environment could prove easier to navigate and enhance mobility. The European Space Agency recently enlisted John McFall, a Paralympic sprinter who lost a leg in a motorcycle accident when he was 19, to test that hypothesis further. McFall will participate in feasibility studies to pinpoint how to adapt space stations and other spacecraft to suit the needs of people with disabilities. Whats next for space tourism Carrying its first tourists is a massive milestone for Virgin Galactic, which was founded in 2004 and has long missed deadlines for delivering on promises to conduct frequent trips to the edge of space. Now that its operational, the company can turn toward its lengthy backlog of customers who have signed up for a flight. Virgin Galactic has sold about 800 tickets, including 600 at prices up to $250,000 and another couple hundred at $450,000 per ticket. During an August 4 call with investors, CEO Michael Colglazier called the companys recent successes an outstanding achievement. Guests at Spaceport America watch a live broadcast from inside Virgin Galactic's rocket-powered plane, showing space tourists Anastatia Mayers, 18, and her mother Keisha Schahaff. - Andres Leighton/AP Galactic 02 is going to set the stage for a new era of suborbital human spaceflight that will dramatically broaden access to space for private individuals, he said, using the name for Thursdays mission. In the lead-up to 2023, Virgin Galactic had been undergoing a lengthy enhancement process to upgrade its flight hardware. The work came after several missteps in earlier test flights. The company plans to continue using its VSS Unity space plane and VMS Eve mothership until at least 2026, then debut an updated line of hardware referred to as Delta ships. Those crafts are expected to cost less to produce and be capable of conducting more flights in less time, Colglazier added. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com We've been covering Koa Rothman's adventures around the world all summer. His latest This is Livin' vlog is an almost 20-minute video from his two and half week trip to Fiji's Tavarua Island, which is home to Cloudbreak. Instead of just showing us a good time, Rotham is "trying something new" and offers advice and insight into a common situation for surfers. In the edit above, Rothman takes a new approach and narrates his Cloudbreak session with advice on how to survive being caught on the inside. "It's a lot different than what we normally do, but something that's been asked for a long time," he said. In the video, Rothman tries to avoid getting hurt inside Cloudbreak on a sharp reef called Shish Kabobs. That name gets the point across. Here's a few tips from Rothman on how to survive getting stuck on the inside at a gnarly surf spot. Duck Diving: Duck dive with hands flat on top of your board, instead of wrapping them around your rails. "If you're surfing a reef break and you don't want to hurt your fingers while diving, you put them on top of your surfboard," Rothman advised. Wave Selection is Key: Go on the wave before the bomb just to get out of the impact zone and get down the line. The Right Board: Ride a board you are able to duck dive easily. For this session, Rothman said he chose to ride a 6'4 that was easy to duck dive, instead of a 7'4 or 8'0 like a lot of the guys were riding. Don't Dilly-dally: Rothman says getting back out to the lineup as quickly as you can is, "One of the better things you can do when you're stuck inside." He said to try to duck dive deep and get under the waves to avoid getting pushed further inside. "My theory on that whole day was to go on the smaller ones before you get caught inside and have a smaller board to get picked up and that's really, really easy to duck dive," he said. *** Don't miss another headline from SURFER! Subscribe to our newsletter and stay connected with the latest happenings in the world of surfing. We're always on the lookout for amusing, interesting and engaging surf-related videos to feature on our channels. Whether you're a professional surfer 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 SURFER and our social channels. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch high-quality surf videos. In tandem with a major leadership shift at the CEO level, Wolverine on Thursday announced the planned closure of its Boston headquarters by the end of the year and the consolidation of its offices across the U.S. to its Rockford, Mich., campus. The announcement came as Wolverine Worldwide announced sagging results for the second quarter, as well as the sudden exit of CEO Brendan Hoffman. The company named Christopher Hufnagel, formerly president of the company, as president and CEO. More from Footwear News According to Hufnagel, the U.S. office consolidation was announced earlier this week and is meant to help drive increased collaboration and the sharing of best practices across teams and brands. We fundamentally think that having all of our footwear brands under one roof here in Rockford is the right decision for the company, said Hufnagel in a call with analysts on Thursday. The ability to find synergies, share best practices, use common tools and implement a consistent playbook, I think makes a lot of sense. He added that Wolverine is planning to maintain a creative hub in Boston to capitalize on the talent in the city, which he described as an epicenter for product designers, developers and marketers. Wolverines Boston office housed the companys Sperry, Saucony and Keds brands since it acquired them in 2012, as well as its Kids Group. Wolverine divested its Keds business late last year and recently announced its decision to explore strategic alternatives, including a sale, for its struggling Sperry brand. Wolverines Richmond, Ind., office employs more than 200 people in consumer services, dealer services, shared services and inside sales. It is unclear if this center will also be impacted. Wolverine did not immediately clarify how many employees would be affected by the Boston campus closure and general consolidation. In December, Wolverine began laying off an undisclosed number of workers. And in March, the company said it was preparing to lay off employees in its Sweaty Betty brand and announced other changes to improve the business, such as consolidating office space in London and having Sweaty Betty report into the companys London-based International Group, which oversees business outside the U.S. and is headed up by Isabel Soriano. Best of Footwear News Sign up for FN's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Click here to read the full article. Chelsea Williams, her husband and their two daughters on July 30 before boarding a flight from the United Kingdom to Spain. (Courtesy of Chelsea Williams) The prospect of boarding a plane with a small child is scary for most parents. Chelsea Williams and her husband were flying with two - their 5-week-old baby, as well as their 2-year-old daughter. But Williams and her husband had done their best to prepare, picking a shorter flight, boarding last to stop their baby from growing restless on the plane, and choosing seats at the back so they had more room to soothe the baby. Williams, 28, also researched the best ways to pacify babies in the air, and learned that breastfeeding during takeoff and landing is an effective way of soothing babies and protecting their ears from hurting due to the cabin pressure. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. Instead, during her TUI flight from Manchester in the United Kingdom to Almeria, Spain, on July 30, Williams says cabin crew asked her to stop breastfeeding her baby, who was wearing a loop seat belt on her lap, during takeoff - in an incident that left her "on the verge of tears" and dealing with a crying baby and toddler. When Williams's husband messaged TUI's customer service later, to ask if she could breastfeed during takeoff and landing on their return flight on Sunday, the airline responded that while "there are no official restrictions however we would not recommend it because it could make other people uncomfortable," she added. The response was "absolutely shocking" and felt like "discrimination against breastfeeding babies and mums," Williams, a software engineer from North Wales, said in an interview Tuesday. The trouble began when a member of the cabin crew who was performing preflight safety checks informed Williams that she "couldn't feed for takeoff and landing; it wasn't permitted," Williams said. Williams was shocked but, believing she may have overlooked in her research some valid safety reason for why she couldn't breastfeed during takeoff, she complied. As soon as she stopped nursing, her baby began "crying quite drastically." Then things got worse: "The toddler was crying. I was sweating. I was on the verge of tears. I felt like everyone's eyes were on us," she recounted. She said her baby was "obviously in pain," hungry and sleepy. Williams "wasn't really sure what to do" and "didn't want to cause a scene," she said. Eventually, when the fasten seat belt lights turned off, Williams nursed her daughter. Altogether, it took her about an hour to settle her baby and help her fall asleep, she said. Williams's story has sparked outrage on social media, with other mothers sharing their experience of breastfeeding on planes. Some called the timing of the incident ironic, given it happened just before World Breastfeeding Week, a global event designed to promote breastfeeding and raise awareness about the barriers breastfeeding women face. The right to breastfeed in public is protected by law in many countries, including the United Kingdom under the Equality Act of 2010, which prohibits anyone from treating a woman unfavorably because she is breastfeeding. In the United States, there are laws protecting breastfeeding in any public or private place in 49 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands, according to the Department of Agriculture. Henry Heming, a spokesperson for the United Kingdom's Civil Aviation Authority, which is responsible for regulating air safety, told The Washington Post via email that "there are no regulatory restrictions on breastfeeding during takeoff and landings, and this is not considered to be a safety matter." The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is among those that recommend breastfeeding during takeoff and landing to protect babies "from ear pain due to cabin pressure changes." Newborn babies have tiny stomachs and may need to breastfeed every two hours or as often as every hour, the CDC adds. "It is unethical and immoral to deny a breastfed baby access to food, fluid and comfort by discouraging responsive breastfeeding," Lyndsey Hookway, a lactation consultant based in the United Kingdom, said via email when asked about the incident. She said there are double standards when it comes to breastfeeding: "We wouldn't discourage bottle feeding on the flight, or refuse to allow people to suck boiled sweets during take off and landing." A spokesperson said in an email Tuesday that TUI is "really sorry for the distress caused to Ms Williams and her infant." "As a family friendly travel company we support breastfeeding on our flights at any time," the airline said. "We are currently conducting an urgent internal investigation and will be making sure that all colleagues are retrained on our breastfeeding friendly policy." On the return TUI flight, Williams breastfed her baby, and no one tried to stop her, she said. Nonetheless, she hopes her story will push the airline to better train its employees to handle situations like hers and "include a statement that breastfeeding is encouraged on board in their safety/welcome briefing on board all flights." She added that she hoped TUI would apologize, explain why its employee said that breastfeeding during takeoff and landing was unsafe, and clarify whether that rule "also applies to bottle-fed babies, adults eating or drinking during takeoff, too." The U.K. Civil Aviation Authority states that infants younger than 2 must be secured by a seat belt loop, or a child restraint device, when the seat belt sign is on. It does not list any restrictions against breastfeeding during takeoff or landing on its passenger guidelines, and many major airlines state that breastfeeding is allowed at any time during a flight. Hookway argues it is "unnecessary" to ask for "permission in advance to breastfeed on a flight." "Asking the question provides an opportunity for ill-informed staff to refuse," she said, adding that there is a need for "awareness training" of personnel who interact with mothers and babies. "The assumption that a baby may feed wherever and whenever they want/need to should be the standard," she said. Related Content A superconductor claim blew up online. Science has punctured it. As climate change worsens, military eyes base of the future on Gulf Coast Alaska's newest gold rush: Seaweed In this article, we will look at the 18 highest paying countries for neurosurgeons. We have also discussed key global companies which are making strides in the neurosurgery industry. If you want to skip our detailed analysis, head straight to the 5 Highest Paying Countries for Neurosurgeons. US is grappling with a severe shortage of neurosurgeons with only around 3,800 board-certified practitioners nationwide. This scarcity is expected to worsen as the population ages. Currently, there is just one practicing neurosurgeon for every 60,000 Americans, even considering trainees. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that many neurosurgeons are nearing retirement age, with 45% of all practicing neurosurgeons, including trainees, being over 55 years old. The number of available training spots has remained stagnant for over a decade, with only about 200 physicians entering neurosurgery training each year, barely enough to replace those leaving the field. The situation is further strained by the increasing demand for neurosurgery services due to rising rates of conditions such as spine, stroke, and tumor as the population ages. The field has also expanded with new techniques and treatments, like deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's, increasing the demand for specialized care. As a result, practicing neurosurgeons are in high demand and are amongst one of the highest-paid medical specialists in the world, with patients often struggling to find neurosurgeons, especially in non-urban areas. This shortage poses critical challenges for trauma and stroke care. Dr. Selcuk Gocmen is considered one of the most popular and highest-paid neurosurgeons in the world. We know how healthcare is one of the crucial industries being revolutionized by AI and automation technologies, but it is also true that no machine or device in the world can fulfill the grave shortages in neurosurgery. However, some companies have been at the forefront of addressing inefficiencies in the specialty through automated systems with modern equipment. Story continues For example, Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT)s contribution to the field of neurosurgery is profound and transformative. Their innovative technologies, such as the StealthStation S8 surgical navigation system, offer advanced visualization tools for accurate anatomical modeling and surgical planning. This system seamlessly integrates optical and Electromagnetic (EM) tracking capabilities and thus, enables precise navigation during procedures. Beyond navigation, Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT)s adherence to patient outcomes is evident in the streamlined patient registration process, automatic fiducial detection, and refinement techniques that ensure accurate registration metrics. Moreover, Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT)s integration of the Hugo RAS system brings a new dimension to neurosurgical practices. With a modular design, the Hugo RAS system assists surgeons by providing a versatile platform for robotic-assisted and laparoscopic procedures. The system's HD visualization and ergonomic design also improves surgical precision and situational awareness. On the other hand, Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART) has been a global leader in a number of medical disciplines, particularly for solutions to orthopedic extremity surgery, neurosurgery, spine surgery, and reconstructive and general surgery. Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART's impact extends largely to the field of neurosurgery, where they hold an unparalleled name and position. Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART)s comprehensive portfolio includes implants, devices, instruments, and systems crucial for neurosurgery, neuromonitoring, neurotrauma, and critical care applications. Additionally, Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:IART) is a prominent provider of surgical instruments to hospitals, surgery centers, and alternate care facilities across the United States, including physician and dental offices and has over 3,300 dedicated employees worldwide. 18 Highest Paying Countries for Neurosurgeons Stoyan Yotov/Shutterstock.com Our Methodology To list the highest paying countries for neurosurgeons, we identified the highest paying countries for doctors and then made a list for 32 countries with the average salaries for neurosurgeons. Of those 32, the 18 with the highest average salaries were selected and have been ranked. We acquired the data for average annual salaries of neurosurgeons for each country from ERI Economic Research Institute. The list is presented in ascending order. Here is a list of highest-paying countries for neurosurgeons. 18. France Average Salary: $306,178 Becoming a neurosurgeon in France requires a rigorous educational and training pathway. After completing a high school diploma or equivalent, aspiring neurosurgeons must enroll in a medical school, typically a six-year program. Upon obtaining a medical degree, candidates undergo a highly competitive selection process to secure a residency position in neurosurgery, which lasts for five to six years. During this specialized training, individuals acquire comprehensive knowledge and practical skills in neurosurgical techniques, patient care, and research. Successful completion of the residency leads to board certification in neurosurgery. 17. Germany Average Salary: $332,727 In Germany, Neurosurgeons undergo specialized training post their medical studies, which takes about six years. This training includes dedicated periods in a neurosurgical ward, intensive care unit, general surgery, as well as neurology or neuroradiology. Only upon successful completion of the specialist examination are they authorized to practice as neurosurgery specialists. Germany is one of the highest-paying countries for neurosurgeons. 16. Singapore Average Salary: $336,049 Singapore is one of the best countries for neurosurgeons owing to its advanced training opportunities. The SGIP for Neurosurgery provides a comprehensive six-year program following the completion of internship or Postgraduate Year 1 (PGY1). The National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) and National University Hospital (NUH) serve as primary training centers, ensuring neurosurgeons receive specialized and high-quality expertise. 15. Netherlands Average Salary: $339,254 Netherlands is one of the best countries for neurosurgery residents due to its exceptional medical education system and advanced healthcare infrastructure. With a rigorous training program, prospective neurosurgeons can obtain their higher education from high-quality medical programs, and renowned institutions with excellent faculties. The integration of practical experience in Dutch hospitals, coupled with opportunities for specialization and skill development, makes the Netherlands of the top destinations for dentists globally. 14. Austria Average Salary: $341,257 Austria presents a favorable environment for neurosurgeons as it boasts advanced medical facilities, rigorous training programs, and a strong emphasis on research and innovation. With a well-established healthcare system and opportunities for professional growth, Austria offers a promising destination for aspiring and experienced neurosurgeons alike. Austria is also one of the countries with the highest standard of living. 13. United Kingdom Average Salary: $346,632 To become a neurosurgeon in the UK, students engage in a compensated two-year foundation program, with six different placements after finishing their medical school. Post-foundation, they can pursue remunerated specialty training which requires a minimum of eight years for qualification. Mr Rahim Hussain is one of top neurosurgeons in the UK. 12. New Zealand Average Salary: $349,425 In New Zealand, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) oversees vocational training in neurosurgery, culminating in the prestigious Fellowship of the RACS (FRACS) upon completion. Moreover, the 7-year residency program signifies the extensive training required in New Zealand which explains the high demand for skilled neurosurgeons in the country's healthcare system. 11. Belgium Average Salary: $355,690 Becoming a neurosurgeon in Belgium offers access to advanced medical facilities, cutting-edge research opportunities, and a rich healthcare tradition. Neurosurgeons in Belgium are well-regarded for their matchless expertise in treating complex neurological conditions. It is one of the highest paying countries for neurosurgeons. 10. Ireland Average Salary: $362,723 In Ireland, Neurosurgery training starts at Core Surgical Training (ST1) and progresses to Specialty Training (ST8). The 8-year pathway includes Core Training (ST1 & ST2) followed by (Higher) Specialty Training (ST3-ST8), with assessments conducted through the Competency Assessment and Performance Appraisal (CAPA) process. Successful completion of MRCS exam and specialty interview is required for advancement. Beaumont Hospital and Cork University Hospital are key centers for Neurosurgery in Ireland. 9. Norway Average Salary: $365,572 Norway offers high salaries for neurosurgeons owing to its robust healthcare system, strong economy, along with a high cost of living. Adequate funding, demand for specialized medical care, and a need to attract and retain skilled professionals contribute to the competitive compensation packages, making it one of the highest paying countries for neurosurgeons. 8. Finland Average Salary: $365,597 Finland is one of the top countries for neurosurgery jobs. It provides a favorable environment for neurosurgeons with its advanced healthcare infrastructure and unwavering emphasis on research and innovation. Moreover, the country's well-funded healthcare system and opportunities for professional growth make it a sought-after choice for neurosurgeons looking for a balanced and rewarding career in a technologically advanced space. 7. Canada Average Salary: $378,776 The demand for neurosurgeons in Canada is high with a steady growth in the field. According to data from the Canadian Medical Association, there were 339 neurosurgeons in the country in 2019, with a rate of 0.9 neurosurgeons per 100,000 population. The rigorous training process, and six years of specialized training following medical school, ensures that neurosurgeons in Canada are well-equipped to address complex neurological conditions. 6. United Arab Emirates Average Salary: $380,545 The UAE has a progressive healthcare sector, tax-free income policy, advanced facilities, and strategic location, all of which have made it a premier choice for neurosurgeons. Moreover, the lucrative compensation with cutting-edge technologies and opportunities for professional growth attracts top global talent, making it one of the best countries for neurosurgeons. Click here to see the 5 Highest Paying Countries for Neurosurgeons. Suggested Articles: Disclosure: None. 18 Highest Paying Countries for Neurosurgeons is originally published on Insider Monkey. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office will transmit paperwork on Wednesday to Gov. Katie Hobbs to pursue the extradition of Lori Vallow Daybell. Vallow Daybell started serving a life sentence in Idaho last week after being convicted in the murder of her daughter and son, in a case that landed her the nickname "Doomsday Mom." A former friend testified that Vallow Daybell told her she thought her kids were zombies. She now awaits extradition to Arizona to face an active murder case in Maricopa County. Vallow Daybell faces a charge of conspiracy to commit murder in the death of her ex-husband, Charles Vallow. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said at a press conference Wednesday her office would deliver a governor's requisition warrant to Hobbs to seek the extradition. After the request is signed by the governor and sent to authorities in Idaho, the county attorneys office said the process could several more months. Vallow could either agree to the extradition or oppose it. Mitchell said she hoped to prosecute Vallow Daybell in Maricopa County by the end of the year. Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona governor's approval sought for Lori Vallow Daybell extradition Fort Myers Police announced Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023, that Kent Olsen Kelly, of Fort Myers, was arrested, linked to a Nov. 8, incident where authorities found a mannequin hanging from a tree in Centennial Park. Months after authorities found a mannequin hanging from a tree with several political statements, first believed to be a bomb, they've announced an arrest in the case. Fort Myers Police announced the arrest of Kent Olson Kelley, 69, of Fort Myers. He remains in custody Thursday afternoon on a $5,000 bond, charged with one count of obstructing justice and one count of resisting officers. On Nov. 8, 2022, Fort Myers Police responded to Centennial Park, in downtown Fort Myers, in reference to an unknown object on display, portraying a political message. Police found a diorama near Centennial Park they said took hours to stage: a mannequin hanging from a tree. The doll sported political statements on its arms, legs and trunk, and appeared to have an electrical device attached, resembling items commonly used in the manufacturing of explosive devices. The Southwest Florida Regional Bomb Squad responded and learned that the device was a hoax bomb that was built to resemble an actual explosive device. Through an unrelated Lee County Sheriff's Office investigation, authorities learned Kelley was responsible, police said. On Thursday, Fort Myers Police detectives developed probable cause to arrest Kelley. Kelley is next due in court Sept. 11 for his arraignment. Expert hoped to interpret the symbols found on the mannequin Carla Hill, director of investigative research at the Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism, at the time said her organization wasn't aware of a potential meaning to the mannequin behind bars. Hill previously walked The News-Press through the different items depicted: The mannequin implies the New World Order is bad, comparing it to Nazi Germany. It appears to be anti-New World Order. QAnon imagery typically has the words "dark" and "light," but the doll only has the word "light" written on it. On one leg, it has the acronym "D.U.M.B.S.," which stands for "Deep Underground Military Bases," a conspiracy theory that suggests the state holds children for sex trafficking. It seems to compare the "deep state" to Nazi Germany, and appears to satirize the QAnon beliefs. It appears to have the word "GOD" written on its stomach. The doll is laying on a U.S. flag. Hill says she doesn't understand the patriotism attached to the exhibit. Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Threads @tomasfrobeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran, Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews and Twitter @TomasFRoBeltran. This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: FMPD announce arrest in fake bomb threat involving mannequin A Shallotte man is set to stand trial this month on three counts of second-degree murder in connection with a 2020 triple-fatal boating incident. A Shallotte man charged in a boating incident that left three people dead in 2020 will stand trial in just a few weeks. Matthew Ferster is charged with six crimes in connection with the March 29, 2020, triple-fatal collision on the Waccamaw River that left Garrett Smith, 21, Jennifer Hayes, 37, and Megan Lynn, 21, dead. Ferster faces three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of felony death by impaired boating in connection with the incident. Related: Memorial Day weekend: How to prepare for boating season Ferster who has been awaiting trial out of custody was present in Brunswick County Superior Court Wednesday morning as the state filed a motion for reciprocal discovery. His trial in Brunswick County is set to begin on Aug. 28. According to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, the three victims were passengers on a boat driven by Travis Suggs. Suggs, of Tabor City, and another person on his boat suffered minor injuries. Ferster drove the other boat involved in the incident, officials said. He and the single other passenger on his boat were not injured in the crash. Read this: Amid recent plane crashes in the area, Wilmington pilots recall scary experiences Smiths body was lost in the river following the crash and recovered by officials after a week-long search. Officials believe alcohol was involved in the collision. Following the incident, Suggs and Ferster were charged with operating a boat while impaired. According to a year-end report by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, the incident was one of 24 total fatal boating accidents across the state in 2020. This incident was the only collision on the Waccamaw River that year, and it was one of just seven fatal boating incidents involving alcohol in 2020. Last year, Ferster and Suggs were defendants in several personal injury civil lawsuits lodged by the families of the victims. Those suits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Fersters criminal trial is slated to begin in Brunswick County Superior Court on Aug. 28. STAY CONNECTED: Keep up with the areas latest Brunswick County news by signing up for the Brunswick Today newsletter and following us on Facebook and Instagram. Jamey Cross covers Brunswick County for the StarNews. Reach her at jbcross@gannett.com or message her on Twitter @jameybcross. This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Triple-murder trial for Shallotte man to begin in August MP Michael Chong called the alleged WeChat campaign against him "another serious example" of Beijing interfering in Canadian affairs Canada said it has detected a misinformation campaign targeting a member of its parliament on the Chinese instant-messaging app WeChat. Conservative politician Michael Chong was allegedly the target of posts sharing "misleading narratives" about his background, his family's heritage and his political views. Global Affairs Canada (GAC) said it is "highly probable" that China was behind the WeChat campaign against him. China has denied the accusations. Canadian officials are seldom forthcoming about information related to foreign interference and the allegations were revealed in a rare statement by GAC on Wednesday. The department cautioned it is difficult to definitively trace the attacks back to China because of the nature of the campaign. "Unequivocal proof that China ordered and directed the operation is not possible to determine due to the covert nature of how social media networks are leveraged in this type of information campaign," it said. This latest is part of a wider series of claims that have come out in recent months from Canadian intelligence agencies and officials that Beijing has been interfering in Canada's elections. GAC said it uncovered the attacks against Mr Chong while monitoring social media and other parts of the internet for foreign interference ahead of a 19 June by-election. They were coming from news accounts on WeChat that amplified falsehoods about Mr Chong. They said the attacks appeared coordinated and were abnormal in volume. One-third of the accounts amplifying the attacks were known state-media outlets or accounts likely linked to the Chinese state, GAC said. The rest were anonymous and had not made any previous posts about Canadian politics. In a statement to the BBC, the Chinese embassy in Canada called the accusations "purely groundless". "We never interfere in Canada's internal affairs, and have no interests whatsoever in doing so," the statement said. GAC said it will be speaking to China's representatives in Canada about the posts, adding that "Canada will never accept any form of interference in our democracy or internal affairs". Canada has accused China in the past of targeting both Mr Chong and his relatives in Hong Kong after he spoke about concerns of human rights abuses in China. This led Canada to expel Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei in May. China retaliated and ordered the removal of Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, Canada's diplomat in its Shanghai Consulate. In a media statement shared on Wednesday, Mr Chong called the campaign against him "another serious example of the communist government in Beijing attempting to interfere in our democracy by targeting elected officials". He also renewed his call for a public inquiry into the allegations of foreign interference by China in Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has faced pressure to launch an inquiry into the issue, but it is unclear yet if one will take place. China's attendance at Saudi peace talks is 'bad news' for Putin but Xi Jinping is still 'well served' by his friendship with Russia, expert says Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. ALEXEI DRUZHININ/Getty Images Chinese diplomats attended Ukraine peace talks in Saudi Arabia, signaling a possible rift with Russia. While China's attendance is notable, the country is still benefiting from its relationship with Russia. Chinese leader Xi Jinping wants to be seen as an international stakeholder, an expert said. China and Russia's "no limits" friendship may be beginning to reach its limits as the war in Ukraine drags on. But even as China grows impatient with Russia's obstinacy, according to recent reports, the two countries still make better allies than enemies and Chinese leader Xi Jinping knows it. China made waves this week after its diplomats attended peace talks held in Saudi Arabia where several international delegations, including Ukraine, discussed options to end the conflict in Ukraine nearly 18 months after Russia invaded. Moscow did not participate in the summit and slammed the event as "doomed to fail." Participants in the talks, however, saw China's presence as a major win for Ukraine, the Financial Times reported. "Chinese attendance in Saudi is certainly bad news for Putin, who has isolated Russia even further from its dwindling list of friends," Simon Miles, an assistant professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy and a historian of the Soviet Union and US-Soviet relations, told Insider of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Following the talks, China's top diplomat Wang Yi reassured his Russian counterpart that the country is still committed to being "impartial" in the conflict, telling Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the two allies are "reliable good friends and partners," CNN reported. But China's attendance in Saudi comes as the country fails to give Russia the full military support Putin has requested and after China angered the Kremlin by refusing to approve a gas pipeline from Siberia that would boost the Russian economy, signaling a possible rift growing between the two. Even if China is losing patience, however, Russia need not fret about being dumped any time soon, Miles said: The two are still in a mutually beneficial relationship. Xi is eager to diminish the United States's presence on the global stage and decrease the superpower's ability to be a deciding factor in international events an aim enthusiastically shared by Putin, making the two countries natural allies, Miles said. "At the end of the day, Xi is still well served by having a close relationship with Russia to balance against Western pressure," he told Insider. But the authoritarian Chinese leader harbors a second aim that isn't fully compatible with his US antagonism, Miles said. Xi is also seeking to increase China's own status within the existing international order, which requires him to avoid angering Ukraine's European allies, many of whom are key trading partners for China. "So Xi wants to be seen as a responsible stakeholder even as he rattles his saber towards Taiwan," Miles said. Tensions in the South China Sea have risen as Beijing ramped up military and political pressure over the independently-governed Taiwan in recent years. "Thus, his heart's not really in it, to put it mildly," Miles said of Xi's peaceful posturing. Sergey Radchenko, a Cold War historian at Johns Hopkins University wrote in The New York Times last month that it would be unwise for Putin to rely too heavily on China, given the country's historical tendency to play opposing countries against one another to its own benefit. And as Russia becomes more and more reliant on China, in an increasingly outsized way, Jinping could be laying the groundwork for a duplicitous turn down the line whenever it suits him best. Read the original article on Business Insider This is the second story of an investigative series conducted by Consumer Reports in partnership with Mississippi Spotlight, a collaboration between Clarion Ledger, Mississippi Today and other news outlets in the state. If Alabamas experience foreshadows Mississippis future, expect the EPA to find plenty of toxic forever chemicals in the drinking water. A 2022 map shows Alabama with plenty of drinking water exceeding the recommended limit for those chemicals, known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS. They have been linked to cancer, birth defects, kidney disease, liver problems, decreased immunity and increased risk of asthma and thyroid issues. Mississippians remain in the dark about these forever chemicals, however, because the state doesnt test. Anna Reade, senior scientist at the Natural Resource Defense Council, said testing is critical to keeping drinking water safe. We cant assume we dont have exposure to PFAS unless we test, she said. Maine found high levels of PFAS in wells that had gone untested for two decades. Once hailed for producing items that could resist heat, stains or water, those chemicals are now considered a menace around the globe. Five nations have already agreed to a European ban on PFAS. Crystal Dotson fills a cup with tap water in the kitchen of her home in Corinth. Such a ban would cover the thousands of different types of PFAS, which can be found in everything from non-stick cookware to dental floss. The most closely studied PFAS are perfluorooctanoic acid PFOA and perfluorooctanesulfonate PFOS. Rather than ban all PFAS, the EPA initially put health advisories on those two chemicals at 70 parts per trillion in drinking water, which have since been updated to well under 1 ppt for PFOA and for PFOS. EPAs newly proposed regulation would limit them to 4 ppt each. EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan is pushing to reduce current limits because of health problems associated with these chemicals. He said such a change would prevent thousands of deaths and reduce tens of thousands of serious PFAS-related illnesses. Part 1 of PFAS series: Finding 'forever chemicals' in their tap water stirs Mississippians' health fears A 2020 study suggests up to 200 million Americans are drinking forever chemicals beyond 1 part per trillion a level that some experts have proposed as a safe limit for drinking water. Les Herrington, director of Environmental Health for the Mississippi State Department of Health, discounted the health risks to Mississippians. He pointed to EPA testing in 2013 and 2014, which all produced results below detection limits and did not indicate potential concerns at that time. Recent testing by Consumer Reports, in collaboration with Mississippi Spotlight, however, raises questions about what might have happened since. Consumer Reports tested 149 drinking municipal and well water samples in Mississippi's 82 counties. Of those, 146 contained measurable levels of PFAS. Nearly a third of them exceeded EPAs health advisory for PFOA in drinking water, and almost half exceeded the health advisory for PFOS. Brought to you by Crystal Dotson, 39, of Corinth and her family saw drinking water tested at 92.5 ppt in total PFAS, which is far beyond the level of 10 that Consumer Reports recommends. (The EPA has no recommendation on total PFAS.) She wonders if the forever chemicals have played a role in the declining health of her family since they moved to the city of Corinth a decade ago. Her 56-year-old husband, Tim, who was in good health, has now developed high blood pressure and polycystic kidney disease. Both hypertension and kidney disease have been linked to these forever chemicals. Before moving to Corinth, he took blood pressure medicine. Now hes allergic to that medicine and similar medication. Medications in Tim and Crystal Dotson's home in Corinth. Their 17-year-old daughter, Stella, is now suffering from two auto-immune diseases, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. A series of studies have found exposure to PFAS interfere with immune function. Their 13-year-old daughter, Veda, had to visit a cardiologist because her heart rate and blood pressure were spiking. Theyre running all kinds of tests, Dotson said. She said she believes forever chemicals are playing a role in the decline of her familys health. You really feel helpless. Our kids are starting out life sick. Tim and Crystal Dotson in the kitchen of their home in Corinth. In 2013, the city of Corinth began to get its drinking water from the Tennessee River via the Tenn-Tom Waterway. Experts say PFAS can be found at oil refineries, water treatment plants, airports, military sites and a number of industrial sites. From there, the PFAS migrate into streams, landfills or other places before winding up in the soil and drinking water. Tim believes his family, which also gets their drinking water from the Tennessee River, has been affected. My brother-in-law has two types of cancer, he said. My sister has brain cancer. Everybody in my family has had cancer. Many states arent waiting for the EPA to act. Bills attacking the PFAS problem have been introduced in 35 states, including Georgia, Florida and Texas, according to Safer States. At least half have taken steps to regulate PFAS in drinking water or expand their monitoring. Mississippi isnt one of them. As for Dotson, she isnt waiting. She plans to talk with the city of Corinth about these PFAS. Since learning what was in their tap water, the Dotsons have started drinking from store-bought bottles, costing them about $15 a week. Consumer Reports has identified four water filters, including two pitchers and two under-sink models, that can help consumers filter out forever chemicals. Some systems, such as reverse osmosis, can cost thousands, which is more than many Mississippians can afford. Even if they can, they might not be able to install such a system, because a third of Mississippians, like Dotson, rent their homes. She hopes the family can convince their landlord to install a reverse osmosis system, she said. We worry about our children. We want to help them. "Kelly Hunter Foster, senior attorney for the Waterkeeper Alliance, an environmental advocacy organization, said a more ideal solution would be for states to prohibit the release of PFAS, rather than try to filter them out on the back end. The public should not have to pay for the pollution that these companies create. Mississippi is one of at least 18 states that have sued PFAS manufacturers and distributors, saying they knew these compounds were toxic and sold them anyway. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, demands that they pay to investigate, assess, remediate, monitor and restore the sites in Mississippi where PFAS were used. Minnesota settled with one manufacturer, 3M, for $850 million. Mississippis lawsuit identifies these known sites as contaminated: Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center, Gulfport Naval Construction Battalion Center, Keesler Air Force Base, Columbus Air Force Base, Key Field Air National Guard Base, Jackson Air National Guard Base and Naval Air Station Meridian. Military bases typically use firefighting foam, which has historically contained PFAs. These forever chemicals can be found in many other places, including fast-food packaging. In a 2022 study, Consumer Reports found PFAS in packaging from every retailer tested. Additional investigation and testing will undoubtedly uncover further contamination across the State, the lawsuit says. Hattiesburg family discover PFAS in water In January 2022, Emmy Morrison and her husband bought their downtown Hattiesburg home. They found water filters on the faucets because of the lead. She was stunned to find out the bigger problem was PFAS. Thousands of these forever chemicals exist, but regulators test for only a handful of them. Unless you are controlling and testing for all those different types of PFAS, youre missing major amounts of risk, Unless you are controlling and testing for all those different types of PFAS, youre missing major amounts of risk, said Foster, at the Waterkeeper Alliance. When we look at samples we see some of the highest levels in the rare lesser types of PFAS. A decade ago, EPA officials tested for six forever chemicals in 80 of Mississippis drinking water systems. This year, they are testing for 29 chemicals in 239 water systems and will release the results here. Consumer Reports tested for 43 chemicals. That is far short of the thousands of PFAS that exist. Rather than attack PFAS as a class, the regulatory system in America is stuck on a toxic treadmill, said Reade of the National Resource Defense Council. The EPA has taken a small step in the right direction to get off that treadmill. In contrast, the European Union is moving toward phasing out all PFAS, she said. Theyre attacking PFAS at their source. Here, were still approving new PFAS. The National Resource Defense Council is pushing to reduce peoples exposure to PFAS, she said. We cant make it zero, but we can definitely reduce their exposure and, therefore, their risk. We need to stop adding to the problem in the first place. In Morrisons home, Consumer Reports found a total of 43.6 PFAS, which is four times more than Consumer Reports recommendation of 10. That concerns the 62-year-old Morrison. Im glad Im not young, she said. A legal battle against 'forever chemicals' Four decades ago, Fahey House and other Sierra Club members fought to make sure DuPont, which produced PFAS and stored dioxins and other hazardous materials at its plant in DeLisle, didnt send any waste toward Bay St. Louis. At least 2,000 people have filed litigation against DuPont, alleging that pollution from the plant has harmed their health, and juries have awarded millions in damages. In 2005, the EPA uncovered evidence that DuPont had concealed the toxic effects of PFOA, and the company paid a $10.25 million fine, which the agency at the time called the largest environmental administrative penalty in its history. In 1981, DuPont spotted PFOA in blood samples from pregnant workers in its plant in Washington, West Virginia, and at least one woman had transferred the chemical to her baby, according to the settlement. A decade later, the company learned that the forever chemical was in the public water supply. DuPont said nothing, and in 2001, the EPA learned of the problem from an attorney working on class-action litigation on behalf of citizens in Ohio and West Virginia who had been affected by the chemical, according to the settlement. As for House, testing showed total PFAS in her drinking water to be 20.7. Weve got junk in the water, she said. I cant say Im surprised. Before the 74-year-old moved back to her hometown eight years ago, she had a reverse osmosis system for her drinking water in Tampa. Now back on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, she has no such system. These days, she uses a refrigerator filter on the tap water she drinks. Now she wonders what she needs to do to be safe. Do I need to bring Perrier from France? she asked. She is researching the matter, she said. I didnt come this far in life to want to come down with liver cancer. This investigation was conducted by Consumer Reports in partnership with Mississippi Spotlight, a collaboration between Mississippi Today and other news outlets in the state. This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi does not test for forever chemicals or PFAS Its been a few years since Bravo fans have caught up with Zoila Chavez. Viewers first got to know Zoila when she worked as Jeff Lewis housekeeper on Flipping Out. The pairs unique relationship was often highlighted on the interior design series, and Zoila ultimately retired from working for Jeff during Season 10, which aired in 2017. Fast-forward to the August 8 episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, and Jeff just shared an update on how Zoila is doing today. Jeff Lewis Update on His Former Housekeeper, Zoila Chavez On the WWHL episode, Jeff noticed the photo of him, Zoila, and host Andy Cohen that is displayed in the Clubhouse. Andy then took the opportunity to ask Jeff how Zoila has been doing. Shes doing OK, Jeff said. Though Zoila stopped working as Jeffs housekeeper years ago, she has still been involved in his life. Back in the fall of 2020, Andy shared that Zoila and Jeff were back in touch after falling out with each other on Flipping Out. Even though Jeff and Zoila did not end the show on great terms, Im happy to say that they have reconciled and Zoila is alive and well and has been waiting out COVID in Nicaragua, Andy said on an episode of WWHL. But shes coming back to L.A. soon. Portrait image of Jeff Lewis and Zoila Chavez Portrait of Jeff Lewis and Zoila Chavez from Flipping Out. Photo: Bravo Zoila did make plans to return to Los Angeles, as Jeff confirmed about a month later. During a broadcast of his radio show, Jeff said that Zoila was about to take on a new position in his life as a part-time nanny to his daughter, Monroe. I needed someone to fill in a day or two, so I called Zoila Chavez in Nicaragua. And we had a nice conversation, he said on the show. She is flying back anyway in mid-October, and we are discussing her working on Saturdays. I am really, really excited. Daily Dish Flipping Out Jeff Lewis New Puppy Jeff Lewis Just Introduced Us to His Second Baby (PHOTOS) Jeff Lewis Life Today Jeffs renewed friendship with Zoila isnt the only exciting thing he has going on in his life. The interior designer added a new member to his family at the top of 2023. On January 16, Jeff shared a photo of his new pup on his Instagram feed. Stop asking me if Im going to have a second baby. Here he is! Jeff captioned his post, also thanking the animal rescue where he adopted his new family member. Iraq has issued a directive ordering all media and social media platforms in the country to stop using the words homosexual and homosexuality and replace them with the term sexual deviance in publications and broadcasts. File Photo by Ali Jasim/UPI Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Iraq is ordering all media and social media platforms in the country to stop using the words "homosexual" and "homosexuality," and replace them with the term "sexual deviance" in publications and broadcasts. Iraq's Media and Communications Commission issued the directive Wednesday to safeguard societal values, according to Iraq's state and private news outlets. While the commission also instructed media to refrain from using the word "gender," there was no information about penalties for noncompliance other than the possibility of fines. "The directive from Iraq's official media regulator is the latest in a series of attacks on freedom of expression under the guise of respect for 'public morals,' Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa Aya Majzoub said in a statement Wednesday. "The CMC's ban of the word 'homosexuality' and insistence that media use 'sexual deviance' instead is a dangerous move that can fuel discrimination and violent attacks against members of the LGBTI community," Majzoub added. "Furthermore, its ban and demonization of the word 'gender' demonstrates a callous disregard for combatting gender-based violence at a time when civil society has been reporting an increase in crimes against women and girls, amid widespread impunity." While Iraq's national penal code does not criminalize homosexuality, the country's judiciary has invoked provisions in laws that preserve "public morals" in order to prosecute people for same-sex acts. According to Amnesty International, the Ministry of Interior spent the first half of this year cracking down on "indecent content" online and prosecuted more than 20 individuals using the country's public morality laws. Many Muslim-majority nations have resisted the advancement of LGBTQ rights for religious and cultural reasons. Those governments, which criticize LGBTQ rights and burn rainbow flags, also have opposed a number of global initiatives at the United Nations. Seven nations -- including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates -- carry the strictest penalties, with homosexual acts being punishable by death. Afghanistan reintroduced the death penalty for homosexual acts in 2021, after the Taliban retook control. In its statement Wednesday, Amnesty International urged Iraq to retract its directive that bans the words "homosexual" and "gender." "The Iraqi authorities must immediately overturn this decision and ensure that they respect the right to freedom of expression and non-discrimination for all individuals in the country," Majzoub said, "regardless of their gender or sexual orientation." Investors who target stocks displaying relative strength find themselves in favorable market trends where buyers are in control. For those unaware, relative strength investing focuses on stocks that have performed well compared to the market as a whole or a relevant benchmark. And over the last month, several stocks Caterpillar CAT, Dominos Pizza DPZ, and Arista Networks ANET have all displayed relative strength, up more than 10% and handily outperforming the general market. For those interested in riding momentum, lets take a closer look at each. Caterpillar Caterpillar shares got a nice boost following its recent quarterly print, with the company exceeding the Zacks Consensus EPS Estimate by 23% and reporting sales 5% expectations. Earnings saw an impressive 75% improvement from the year-ago quarter, whereas revenue climbed 20%. As shown below, the companys revenue has seen a notable acceleration post-pandemic. Zacks Investment Research Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Following the better-than-expected results, the company has enjoyed positive earnings estimate revisions across all timeframes, with the stock sporting the highly-coveted Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Zacks Investment Research Image Source: Zacks Investment Research In addition, CAT shares are cheap given the companys growth trajectory, with the current 14.9X forward earnings multiple (F1) sitting nicely beneath the 15.8X five-year median and highs of 21.4X in 2022. The company is expected to post 38% earnings growth in its current fiscal year on 12% higher revenues. Zacks Investment Research Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Dominos Pizza Similar to CAT, analysts have become bullish on Dominos Pizzas outlook across the board, helping land the stock into a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The company is expected to witness solid earnings growth in its current year, with the $13.73 per share estimate reflecting an improvement of 10% Y/Y. Zacks Investment Research Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Income-focused investors will undoubtedly appreciate DPZs shareholder-friendly nature; DPZ shares currently yield 1.2% annually, with the payout growing by nearly 20% annualized over the last five years. Story continues Zacks Investment Research Image Source: Zacks Investment Research And perhaps to the surprise of some, DPZ shares have been consistent market outperformers, boasting a sizable 21% annualized return over the last decade vs. the S&P 500s 13.4%. Zacks Investment Research Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Arista Networks Analysts have shown optimism surrounding Arista Networks earnings outlook, with the company enjoying positive revisions across the board. The revisions trend has been particularly notable for its current fiscal year, with the $6.14 Zacks Consensus EPS Estimate up more than 30% over the last year. Zacks Investment Research Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Its hard to dismiss the companys growth trajectory, with earnings forecasted to soar 34% on 30% higher revenues in its current year. The growth expectations carry over into FY24, with earnings and revenue forecasted to see improvements of 8.4% and 9%, respectively. The companys top line growth has been impressive, as illustrated in the chart below. Zacks Investment Research Image Source: Zacks Investment Research Bottom Line By targeting stocks displaying relative strength, investors can insert themselves in favorable trends where buyers are in control. And when you add in the Zacks Rank, which focuses on earnings estimate revisions, the strategy becomes even more potent. All three stocks above Caterpillar CAT, Dominos Pizza DPZ, and Arista Networks ANET have all displayed relative strength over the last month. In addition, all three sport an improved earnings outlook, providing the fuel needed for shares to continue climbing. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Domino's Pizza Inc (DPZ) : Free Stock Analysis Report Arista Networks, Inc. (ANET) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Author and YouTuber John Green spoke out against an Indiana library's decision to move his novel "The Fault in Our Stars" out of its young adult (YA) section. Green called the removal an embarrassment in a tweet on X, formerly known as Twitter. The Fault in Our Stars has been removed from the YA section in the suburbs of Indianapolis and is now considered a "book for adults." This is ludicrous. It is about teenagers and I wrote it for teenagers. Teenagers are not harmed by reading TFIOS. This is such an embarrassment https://t.co/vSsiPcL6fP John Green (@johngreen) August 9, 2023 "The Fault in Our Stars has been removed from the YA section in the suburbs of Indianapolis and is now considered a 'book for adults.' This is ludicrous. It is about teenagers and I wrote it for teenagers. Teenagers are not harmed by reading TFIOS," he continued. The Hamilton East Public Library Board of Trustees published a list of YA books that it plans on relocating to the general fiction sections of its libraries, located in Fishers, Indiana and Noblesville, Indiana. "The Fault in Our Stars" follows the romantic relationship between two teen cancer patients. Green's novel "Looking for Alaska" is also on the list. The list reflects an ongoing project by the library under its collection development policy, which presents guidelines for selecting books for its collections. The policy states that "the Library will work to ensure that collections are age appropriate in topic and placement of materials" for children and teenagers. "'The Fault in Our Stars' by John Green was relocated based on criteria included in the Board-approved Hamilton East Public Library Collection Development Policy," Kelsey Sweet, director of marketing and communications for the Hamilton East Public Library, told NBC News in an email. She added that the book is still labeled in the library's online catalog as a book for young adult audiences and "is available to check out in print, audio, and electronic formats." The library consider factors such as nudity, alcohol and drug use, repeated use of profanity, depictions or incitement to violence and sexual content in determining what is "age appropriate." As a result of this policy, staffers have been reviewing books and determining if they are fit to be in the children's or teen's sections. Young adult books that do not pass reviews are put into the adult section. "This policy also includes a process for patrons to object to the placement of any item in the collection," Sweet said in an email, referring to the library's reconsideration form. In regards to the library's policy, Green tweeted: "I only have a small voice in these decisions, of course, but you wont catch me alive or dead in Fishers, Indiana until these ridiculous policies are revoked." The Hamilton East Public Library has received criticism from community members since the new collection development policy was announced in April. Critics told local broadcaster WISH at the time that the policy encouraged censorship and wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars. The Board of Trustees estimated the cost of the project would be over $335,000 and would take 8,000 hours to complete. The library has over 18,000 items in the children's and teen's section to review. Meeting minutes from July 27 show that 74.4% of the project remains. The Hamilton East Public Library's collection project comes during a contentious time for libraries across the country. The American Library Association reported a record number of attempted book bans in 2022, over half of which featured LGBTQ topics. In Green's X replies, Fisher, Indiana community members urged the author, who is based near Indianapolis, to attend the next library board meeting to help combat the project. "We could really use your help at the next HEPL board meeting. We need as big of a spotlight on this boards actions as possible," one person wrote. "I know you will be boycotting Fishers. But the HEPL next board meeting I do believe will be August 24th. I know many of us would appreciate it if you would voice your thoughts to them. Many of us in Hamilton County think their implemented policy is asinine," said another. Green did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He posted a longer statement on X urging the library to "walk this awful policy back and allow the real experts to decide where to shelve my books and those of my colleagues." My reply to the board members of @FishersIN and @NoblesvilleIN seeking to remove my books (and over a hundred others) from the young adult literature shelves in their libraries. Heartbreaking for this to happen in Central Indiana, where I live and strive to support. pic.twitter.com/OV6NfiDvqW John Green (@johngreen) August 10, 2023 "I am your neighbor," he said in his statement. "And I am absolutely horrified by the decision of some of your board to override a huge body of expertise and deem hundreds of books including mine inappropriate to be shelved as Young Adult Literature." Green also tweeted his gratitude toward librarians, tweeting that their work is "absolutely essential to making art and information available to all even amid absurdly difficult working conditions." This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Sites steeped in the history of Hawaii's royal past, a bustling art scene and the largest banyan tree in the US are just a few of the reasons Lahaina has long been a favourite tourist destination on the island of Maui. More than two million people - about 80% of all Maui tourism - visit the town each year, attracted by beaches, restaurants and what the local town association calls "over a thousand years of rich history". How much of that history remains standing after devastating and deadly fires swept across Maui, however, is still unclear. While the scale of the destruction is still coming into focus, local officials have said that dozens of businesses have been destroyed, including much of the town's iconic Front Street. The town's historic harbour, the Lahaina Town Association said in an update, "is gone". "They said the hurricane would go well south of the island, and that no one had to do anything. So nobody prepared," Theo Morrison, the executive director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, told the BBC. "Then the fire and the winds started and we were in trouble. It was a total surprise." Lahaina - which in Hawaiian means "cruel sun", a reference to the area's hot, dry climate - has long been culturally and politically significant, with a history stretching back to long before the arrival of Europeans to Hawaii in 1778. The first ruler of a unified Hawaii, Kamehameha the Great, conquered the area in 1795. Seven years later in 1802, Lahaina became the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, a position it held until 1845. Within a few decades, Lahaina was also a hub for the world's whaling industry and home to a busy harbour that brought in missionaries and sailors from around the globe. Later on, in 1860, the area's first commercial sugar plantation began operating, marking the beginning of a local industry that lasted until 1999. "It's probably one of the most significant places in Hawaiian history. This is where the kings and queens lived," said Ms Morrison, who was travelling to the UK when the fire struck. "It was a spiritual and cultural centre, and the first capital. It is super important... we take great pride in our history." Until the recent fire, remnants of this past were everywhere in Lahaina. The city's Baldwin Home, for example, housed some of the community's earliest missionaries and physicians. The nearby Halo Pa'ahao - Hawaiian for "stuck-in-irons house" - served as a jail for rowdy sailors in the city's whaling days. The city's old courthouse was a heritage museum, filled with artefacts from Hawaii's history. Many of these attractions are now damaged or destroyed, along with large swathes of the town. Other reportedly destroyed sites include a 200-year-old church believed to be the first on Maui, and a nearby Buddhist temple built 90 years ago. "We take care of 14 different sites, and all of them are heavily damaged, if not completely destroyed," Ms Morrison said. "The town corridor and all its historic wood buildings, those are all gone. So are people's houses, and the boats in the harbour. Most of them were commercial, like whale watching and dive boats. They all caught fire and sank. That really shocked me." Among the buildings destroyed was the Baldwin home, which also housed the Ms Morrison's Lahaina Restoration Foundation and a small museum. "The roof caught on fire and fell into the upper floor and destroyed our office," she said. "I'm assuming that it also fell onto the lower floor. The building basically has to be totally redone." Lahaina's famous 150-year-old banyan tree is believed to be the largest in the United States Of all Lahaina's sites, few are as well known as the town's 60ft (18m) tall, 46 trunk banyan tree, which covers an area of 1.94 acres (0.78 hectares) roughly the size of a city block. The tree was planted in 1873 on the site of Kamehameha the Great's first palace to mark 50 years of Lahaina's Protestant mission. The banyan tree - which sits in a park taken care of by the Lahaina Restoration Foundation - celebrated its 150th birthday in April this year. While its condition is unclear, images suggest that the tree has been burned but remains standing. The town's website suggested the tree will recover, saying that "if the roots are healthy, it will likely grow back". "I tend to believe it'll be fine. It's really very hard to kill a banyan tree," Ms Morrison said. "I would be very surprised if it wasn't fine." Others have warned that some of the damage to Lahaina may never be fixed. "All the places there are tourist areas, that are Hawaiian history, are gone, and that can't be replaced," Richard Olson, a helicopter pilot who flew over Lahaina on Wednesday, told the Associated Press. "You can't refurbish a building that's just ashes now," he added. "It can't be rebuilt - it's gone forever." Six finalists in this years Miss Universe Indonesia beauty pageant have lodged police complaints accusing organizers of making them strip for body checks and topless photographs. Addressing reporters outside regional police headquarters in the capital Jakarta on Tuesday, Mellisa Anggraini, an attorney representing the women, alleged that her clients had been asked to remove their tops so pageant officials could examine scars, cellulite or tattoos, she said. One contestant, identified only by the initial N, had expressed shock because body checks were not listed in the events schedule, according to Anggraini. The unidentified woman complied and was photographed topless, as were four other of the women. It was enough to humiliate and degrade her, the lawyer said in comments aired by CNN affiliate CNN Indonesia. At a press conference another unidentified contestant, whose face was blurred by local broadcasters, said she had been asked to pose inappropriately, including by opening her legs, Reuters reported. The complainants say the photographs were taken with male officials present in the room. Additional evidence such as documents and videos were submitted along with the police report, Anggraini said. The alleged incidents took place on August 1, two days before the grand final in Jakarta, she added. Police spokesperson Yuliansyah, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told reporters that formal complaints were filed on Monday and investigations were ongoing. The complaints will be used as the basis for our investigation, she said. The Miss Universe pageant takes place every year in a different host country, and sees dozens of national pageant winners competing for the global title. The live event attracts global audiences of millions. In a statement shared with CNN, Miss Universe organizers said they were aware of the allegations made against the Miss Universe Indonesia 2023 pageant, which is operated by a local franchisee. Miss Universe takes allegations of sexual abuse and impropriety extremely seriously, the statement read. Providing a safe place for women is the Miss Universe Organizations utmost priority, and we are looking into this matter. The Indonesian pageants organizers did not immediately respond to CNNs request for comment but in a statement shared on Instagram, director Poppy Capella said her organization was closely monitoring the situation. We are actively investigating the allegations that have been reported in the mass media, Capellas statement read. We will conduct a thorough investigation and review allegations made against us. We will promptly take the necessary stance and actions regarding this issue and ascertain the truth. CNN has also reached out to the complainants legal representatives for further comment. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com BELLAIRE, Mich. A judge on Wednesday ordered state prosecutors to release certain documents used as evidence against several men charged with aiding a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Eric VanDussen, a videographer and freelance journalist, filed a lawsuit after the attorney general's office rejected his public records request. He is working on a documentary about political extremism. The state claimed the records would interfere with law enforcement proceedings and possibly spoil an upcoming trial. But Court of Claims Judge James Redford noted that the exhibits were already introduced in open court, in a public hearing, in a public trial, in a public courthouse. More: Marshall woman who threatened Whitmer sentenced, AG's office announces The records can't be shielded under Michigan's Freedom of Information Act, Redford said. Three men face trial soon in Antrim County, but the records sought by VanDussen already have been used in other court proceedings, the judge said. There was no immediate comment from the attorney general's office. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan ordered to release documents in Whitmer kidnap plot case Once involved in peacekeeping efforts in war-hit countries, General Abdourahmane Tchiani has now triggered a major crisis in West Africa by staging a coup in Niger. Low-profile and hitherto little known outside his immediate circle, he was the commander of Niger's presidential guard until he emerged from the shadows to overthrow the man he was charged with protecting, President Mohamed Bazoum. Gen Tchiani declared himself the head of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, the military junta set up after he seized power on 26 July. Meanwhile, his former boss languishes under house arrest. Mr Bazoum has been in sporadic telephone contact with international leaders but he is otherwise isolated. Gen Tchiani has, so far, rejected all suggestions of compromise. He has kept most international envoys at bay, but gave an audience to Nigeria's ex-central bank governor and former Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi, on Wednesday. US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, visiting Niger on Monday, was unable to secure an audience with the 62-year-old general. A delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) got no further than the airport. A planned second joint mission by Ecowas, African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) envoys, scheduled for Wednesday, was postponed after the junta said it was not the right time to meet them. Gen Tchiani is certainly living up to his reputation as stubborn and taciturn. He was not at the huge rally the junta organised in Niger's capital Niamey on Sunday. He has only appeared on TV on three occasions since the coup, and has spoken twice - once to present himself as Niger's new leader and once to make an Independence Day address. That is perhaps in part because even he does not really know where this crisis goes next. Will Ecowas, to whose good governance and democracy protocol Niger is a signatory, really launch a military intervention, as it has threatened to do? Or will the West African bloc wait for sanctions to gradually do their work in ratcheting up pressure on the junta, particularly as there is significant political opposition to the military option in Nigeria and some other Ecowas states? Gen Tchiani has left other junta leaders to rally public support for the coup The bloc's current chairman, Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu, has now reiterated his preference for the diplomatic path and a further indication of how he and his colleagues are thinking may emerge after their latest summit in Abuja on Thursday. Faced with these uncertainties, and encouraged by the success of fellow coup leaders in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea in weathering regional pressure, it seems that Gen Tchiani has for the moment decided to hunker down and play the long game. His junta has announced the appointment of a prime minister, former finance minister and African Development Bank official Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeini - signalling its ambitions to establish a prolonged political transition. Some analysts have wondered whether the overthrow of Mr Bazoum, who is from the minority Arab community, might open up ethnic tensions in Niger. However, a strong sense of cross-cultural cohesion and national identity has always been a distinctive strength of modern Niger. A former Tuareg rebel and senior minister, Rhissa ag Boula, has now launched a "Council of Resistance" to restore Mr Bazoum to office, and is presenting this in firmly national terms. And so far there is no sign of the junta venturing down a divisive sectarian path. However, Gen Tchiani is not above taking big risks of a different kind. The decision to detain Mr Bazoum and stage the coup was itself a pretty high-stakes gamble. Had it failed, it is the general himself who would now be in a jail cell. And the decisions to publicly denounce longstanding defence accords with former colonial power France and, reportedly seek the assistance of controversial Russian mercenary outfit Wagner, were sure to further antagonise Ecowas and Western governments, even if they play well with anti-Bazoum crowds in Niamey. Over the course of his almost 40-year career, Gen Tchiani has been trained at military academies in Senegal, France, Morocco, Mali and the US. He also served in: UN peacekeeping operations in Ivory Coast, Sudan's Darfur region and the Democratic Republic of Congo An Ecowas force in Ivory Coast and The Multinational Joint Task Force in which troops from Niger, Chad, Nigeria and Cameroon collaborate in the campaign against militant Islamist group Boko Haram. So it is ironic that he now risks military confrontation with Ecowas by ignoring its ultimatum to hand back power to Mr Bazoum. Gen Tchiani has also been posted to a range of command roles in Niger itself, although not actually in the campaign against the jihadist groups now presenting such a grave threat to his own country and neighbouring Mali, Burkina Faso and Benin in the central Sahel. But two things stand out from his long military career. Until his promotion to take charge of the presidential guard in 2011, neither abroad nor at home had he occupied roles at the top level of command that require working closely with civilian government leaders and international partners in shaping strategy and addressing awkward political, social and diplomatic trade-offs. The 62-year-old has always been very much a "soldiers' soldier", assigned to specific military tasks rather than the broader defence and security picture. Even after being placed in charge of the presidential guard by Mr Bazoum's predecessor, Mahamadou Issoufou, he kept his views to himself, speaking little. He was not part of the broader public or political discussion over the best way to tackle the jihadist violence and occasional local inter-communal tensions that have posed such challenges over recent years. Many supporters of the junta have taken a pro-Russia and anti-France stance Closely trusted but rarely heard, he seems to have been an intensely private figure, in some ways not even that well-known to the presidents who entrusted themselves to his protection. It was known that his relations with Mr Bazoum, a longstanding ally of Mr Issoufou, were more distant and in recent weeks there were rumours that the president was preparing to force him into retirement. Perhaps personal resentments had accumulated, unexpressed but still powerful. Removal from his post, even at a fairly normal age for retirement, would certainly have come as a painful blow for a man who over four decades has gradually climbed the promotion ladder, after starting out as an ordinary soldier. Gen Tchiani is from the majority Hausa ethnic group, and comes from Tillaberi region, a traditional recruiting ground for the military. Yet he is not from the typical officer corps background or with obvious political connections. He has had to work his way up from the base. Mr Bazoum is also someone who came from a fairly modest background and then gradually climbed the educational and career ladder, in his case at university and then as a secondary school teacher and trade unionist, before going into politics in the early 1990s. But curiously, Gen Tchiani never really established a comfortable working relationship with Mr Bazoum - whereas he seems to have got along more easily with Mr Issoufou. Now of course, after so many years out of the public eye, Gen Tchiani finds himself on a crash course in political and diplomatic crisis management. So far he has relied on what has served him best over the long years in the military: restraint, a cautious reluctance to fully speak his mind before others, and a refusal to compromise. But Gen Tchiani and the junta have cleverly touched a chord of anti-French resentment among many Nigeriens and they will try to turn this into a wider base of support and defiant popular backing for the confrontation with Ecowas. And as this testing face-off against Nigeria and other members of the West African bloc plays out over the coming days, and sanctions bite ever harder, driving up the cost of living for ordinary people, these newfound populist and political skills will be ever more critical as the general plays the highest-stakes gamble of a previously careful career. Paul Melly is a consulting fellow with the Africa Programme at Chatham House in London. Candidate Nikki Haley vowed to support the eventual Republican presidential nominee, clearing her way to participate in primary debates. File Photo by Tannen Maury/UPI Aug. 10 (UPI) -- Presidential hopeful Nikki Haley on Thursday said she has signed a Republican Party pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee in the 2024 election. The vow means the former South Carolina governor and former ambassador to the United Nations will fully qualify for the first Republican National Committee primary debate, Aug. 23 in Milwaukee. Haley announced her pledge on Fox News. "I affirm that if I do not win the 2024 Republican nomination for president of the United States, I will honor the will of the primary voters and support the 2024 Republican presidential nominee in order to save our country and beat Joe Biden," the document says of the likely Democratic opponent. Haley changed the title of the document from "Beat President Biden Pledge" to "Beat President Harris Pledge," suggesting President Joe Biden won't survive, due to his age. To participate in the first Republican primary debate, candidates must have at least 40,000 unique donors and poll at least 1% support in three national polls. Former President Donald Trump, who was indicted on criminal charges last week for the third time, leads his competitors with more than $35 million in donations from more than 300,000 individuals and entities as of July 15, according to the Federal Election Commission. Haley is among eight candidates to meet those qualifications for the debate, along with Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. Ramaswamy and DeSantis have also signed the loyalty pledge. Trump told NewsMax on Wednesday that he wouldn't sign it and has not committed to participating in any debate. The RNC plans a second debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., on Sept. 27. Its common knowledge that we only hear about top-secret missions years after the fact. Or however long it is that governments choose to divulge information on what theyve been up to. But once the details are released, some missions are far more interesting than others. These interesting stories are so strange, they have to be true, right? Here are the strangest top-secret missions in military history Operation Gold A Soviet soldier in the underground tunnel from Operation Gold circa 1956. (Wikimedia Commons) Theres hard to believe, and then there are secret underground tunnels that are completely real. Through Operation Gold/Operation Stopwatch, the CIA and Britains MI6 used a tunnel to obtain intel on the Soviets. During the 1950s, more than 900,000 recordings were made, with the intent of finding out about any particular nuclear attacks. Supposedly, the Soviets were aware of the tunnels as it was being built in 1954, but chose to play dumb and uncover the tunnel two years later, to protect the safety of their spy. Operation Orchard, AKA Operation Outside the Box In 2007, the Israeli military planned a bombing mission to take out what was believed to be a nuclear reactor. Referred to as the Al Kibar site in Syria, the plan was to stop the countrys growth or potential use of nuclear weapons. Their plans were highlighted by a 1981 treaty, the Begin Doctrine, in which Syria agreed not to use weapons of mass destruction against Israel. For 11 years, Israel would not claim the attack, nor would Syria admit they'd had a reactor. Though evidence proved a nuclear reactor had been in the area in 2011, Israel did not claim the win until 2018 for fear of retaliation. Before and after images from Operation Orchard AKA Operation Outside the Box. (U.S. Govt photo) Operation Wrath of God, AKA Operation Bayonet An eye for an eye, as they say. And after 11 Israeli Olympic team members were killed at the 1972 Munich Games, Mossad, Isreals intelligence agency, decided to take matters into their own hands. The killings were carried out by the Palestinian Black September Organization and the Palestine Liberation Organization. From October 1972 through 1992, assassinations were planned and covertly carried out, killing more than 10 people. The operation was made into a Steven Spielberg film, Munich, in 2005. Operation Eiche German for Operation Oak, this mission took place in 1943. Germany staked out and saved Mussolini from his own people. After the Allied invasion of Sicily, the Grand Council of Fascism had Mussolini arrested, citing lost confidence in his leadership. Still needing Mussolini in power to keep Italy as part of the war, Hitler set out to rescue him. The fascists had him moved over and over again to create confusion. However, Nazi soldiers located and received Mussolini. In the span of just 10 minutes, the 17 soldiers landed on top of a mountain, broke into the hotel where the leader was held, made it past 200 guards, and freed Mussolini. Mussolini, alongside his German rescuers, after Operation Eiche was completed. (Public domain) Operation Grief Another brainchild of Hitler himself, Operation Grief took place when English-speaking German soldiers planned to secure one or more bridges in Belgium before they could be destroyed by Allied Forces. Donned in British and American uniforms, the Nazi soldiers forged papers, shared made-up military information, altered or changed road signs, etc. While the bridge was never secured, due to too few obtained uniforms, morale was affected and confusion had effectively been launched by the Germans. Project Azorian To date, this is one of the most expensive missions to be launched by the CIA. In 1974, the goal was to obtain a Soviet submarine, which held ballistic missiles, and had been at the bottom of the Pacific since 1968. The exorbitant price tag came from a ship built specifically for this mission, the USHS Hughes Glomar Explorer. Though few details have been released about this mission, the U.S., with the British government, did obtain the submarine, its missiles and classified documents. Surfside Beach leaders on Tuesday are expected to talk behind closed doors about the professional fate of several top-ranking employees, along with an all-volunteer board. During the town councils executive session, time will be spent discussing employment, appointment, compensation, promotion, demotion, discipline, or release of the pier committee, interim fire chief, police chief Kenneth Hofmann, the fire chief and finance director, according to an agenda. Town council member Cindy Keating, who has been openly critical of the pier committee while pushing for greater government transparency, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. A message left for Mayor Bob Hellyer Monday was not immediately returned. Although city and town councils are permitted by law to privately talk about employment matters without disclosing names or entities, its illegal for any action to be taken during those closed sessions. Misuse of executive session is a violation of state law and can result in injunctive relief, civil fines, awards of attorneys fees and invalidation of official actions related to the violation. Misuse can come in several forms, such as an executive session without properly advertising the meeting, or taking a vote to enter executive session, the Municipal Association of South Carolina says on its website. Its not known which council member requested the item be added to the agenda, but it comes at a time of upheaval in the town of 4,200. Last week, Rob Clemons and Diana King handed in their notice to leave to town administrator Gerald Vincent. Clemons led the towns fire department since 2021 and briefly served as interim administrator, while King submitted a letter of retirement. Clemons, King and police chief Kenneth Hofmann were all in line for pay raises under the current years budget until the town council rescinded them days before the start of the July 1 fiscal year. On July 13, Hellyer told The Sun News that newly-installed administrator Gerald Vincent is examining what happened and is expected to draft corrective measures to ensure nothing similar takes place in the future. LAFAYETTE, Ind. Whether a student would like to go by Joe or Joanna if its not the name designated on the school records, parents should be expecting a call from school administrators. This new policy is due to the passing of House Bill 1608 earlier this year, which requires teachers and school administrators to inform parents if their child requests a change of their name, title or pronoun. Originally, the law specifically targeted transgender students, but after the bill went through several changes in the legislative process, the current version of the law affects any student who wishes to be addressed by a name other than the one given when their parent or guardian registered them for school. Due to the vagueness of the law, theres been a split in how certain school districts within Tippecanoe County have interpreted the law. Within the West Lafayette Community School Corp. and the Lafayette School Corp., the districts have opted to take a letter of the law approach when it comes to creating policy. We are interpreting this to the 'letter of the law' that our legislators have written as no guidance has been provided by State agencies, Shawn Greiner, superintendent of the West Lafayette Community School Corporation explained in an email to the Journal & Courier. If you are registered as Joseph and we have no record in our system that you go by Joe, then our schools will need to send out communication that Joseph has requested that he be called Joe. A legal middle name listed by the parent during registration in our student information system and used as a preferred name would not trigger a notice. If not listed in our records, a notice would occur. Shawn Greiner, shown in a December 2021 file photo, is the superintendent for the West Lafayette School Corporation. We have worked with our corporation attorney, discussed with administrators and teachers and interpret the law to indicate that in order to be compliant with the law, we will communicate with families in situations where a student requests to be called anything other than his or her legal name as indicated in our database unless otherwise noted. We have sent out information to all families about the law and have invited families to contact school offices with any updates they would like to make, he said. The LSC implemented similar reasoning when creating that district's policy. "The LSC is following the legal guidance we have received regarding the use of students nicknames and/or pronouns. Parents have had and continue to have the opportunity to register their child(ren) with the legal name and a preferred name," Les Huddle, superintendent of the Lafayette School Corp. said in an email to the J&C. "Should a student request a teacher to use a nickname or a pronoun that is not consistent with our records, we are required to notify the parent(s) within 5 business days. The parent can disregard the notice, contact the school and agree with it or they can contact the school and have the school not use the nickname or requested pronoun." The outlier to this thinking is the Tippecanoe School Corp., which opted to implement more of a common sense approach to interpreting the law. The main difference in the TSCs policy is that if a student wanted to go by a new name, which is a natural derivative from the students original or documented name, then the school district wouldnt inform the parent, Scott Hanback, superintendent of the TSC, explained at the August school board meeting. For example, if a student is named Douglas but informed his teacher that he would like to go by Doug, the TSC believes that request isnt something worth involving parents. But if Douglas wanted to instead go by Dan, since the name Dan cannot be naturally derived from the name Douglas, then the district would inform the parents about their childs request to change their name. The district would also inform parents if a student wanted to change their name from a masculine name to a feminine name (and vice versa), even if the students new name can naturally be derived from the students original name. I mentioned that it was kind of already our practice anyways when students presented to be a different pronoun, a different gender, we were already informing parents, Hanback said. Parents named their children, we dont. Noe Padilla is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email him at Npadilla@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter at 1NoePadilla. This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: School districts interpret Indiana's new pronoun law differently Eloi_Omella / Getty Images Retirement is proving to be a fresh start for baby boomers in certain major cities. While they may have called these metropolises home for decades, theyve opted to call other areas home during their golden years. Check Out: 10 Safest Places To Retire in Asia for Less Than $2K a Month More: 3 Ways To Recession-Proof Your Retirement Bank of America recently published data revealing which cities baby boomers are fleeing at the highest rates. Heres a look at these cities, along with both cost and quality of living information that may offer further insights on why theyre not ideal for retirees. Washington, D.C. Annual expenditures for Washington, D.C., households average $88,767 compared with the $64,187 U.S. average according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Median rent in the city is $2,615 per month, according to Zillow. Additionally, utility bills in the area cost 13% more than the national average, according to Redfin. Also costly, groceries and transportation hover around 8% more than the national average. The city also isnt the safest, earning a C-minus rating for the volume of violent and property crimes, according to Niche.com. Notably, the level of assaults, murders, robberies and rapes are all above the national average, with first three exponentially higher. First Year of Retirement: 7 Money Moves You Absolutely Must Make New York City Households in the New York City Metropolitan Area have average expenditures of $77,204 per year, according to the BLS. Median rent is $3,750 per month, which is $1,650 more than the national median, according to Zillow. Utilities in Manhattan cost 3% more than the national average, but healthcare is 9% more expensive and groceries are 29% higher, according to Redfin. The city earned a C rating for violent and property crimes on Niche.com. Most notably, the level of assaults and robberies were above the national average. San Francisco The average annual household expenditures in San Francisco total $91,290, according to the BLS. Probably not too shocking, Redfin estimates housing costs in the city at an exorbitant 202% higher than the national average. Story continues Of course, thats not all thats more expensive in San Francisco. Utilities (33%), groceries (30%), transportation (37%) and healthcare (29%) are all more expensive in the city, according to Redfin. San Francisco earned a C rating for violent and property crimes on Niche.com. The latter was especially notable, as burglaries, theft and motor vehicle theft were all above the national average. San Jose, California It should come as no surprise that living in the Silicon Valley isnt cheap. For example, housing costs are 142% higher than the national average $1.4 million compared with $425,265 according to Redfin. Of course, thats not where the over-the-top cost of living ends. The average monthly energy bill is 24% higher than the national average, groceries are 21% higher, transportation is 5% higher and healthcare is 18% higher, according to Redfin. As for crime and safety, the city has a C rating, based on the volume of violent and property crimes per annum, according to Niche.com. Motor vehicle theft is a major problem, as the level of occurrence is nearly 2.5 times the national average(9). Seattle Living in Seattle comes with average annual expenditures of $86,303, according to the BLS. Residents pay a median $2,280 in monthly rent, according to Zillow. Utilities are only 5% more than the national average, according to Redfin. However, groceries (23%), transportation (24%) and healthcare (31%) are exceptionally higher than the national average. The city earned a C rating for crime and safety on Niche.com. Property crime is especially high, with burglaries and motor vehicle theft all more than double the national average. Why Retirees May Be Leaving These Cities Baby boomers are leaving cities like D.C., New York, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle for retirement due to various factors, with the high cost of living being a significant concern, said Eliza Arnold, co-founder & CEO of retirement savings platform Arnie.co. These cities are known for their expensive housing, higher taxes and overall elevated living costs, which can be burdensome for retirees on fixed or reduced incomes. Of course, money might not be the only reason retirees are fleeing these five urban areas. Additionally, the fast-paced and crowded urban environments might not align with the more relaxed lifestyle that retirees often seek, she said. Access to quality healthcare and climate preferences also play a role in their decisions. Where These Retirees Might Move Each retiree leaving these five cities has a unique story. Arnold noted that some may choose to stay relatively close to the city theyve decided to leave in retirement, while others will choose an entirely different locale. Some baby boomers might choose to relocate within their current state to less expensive areas, seeking affordability while staying close to their social networks, she said. Others may opt for out-of-state retirement, looking for locations with lower living costs, favorable tax environments and climates that better suit their preferences. Generally speaking, she said, active adult communities or retirement villages tend to be popular choices, as they offer amenities and social activities specifically geared toward seniors. Ultimately, where to retire is a personal decision, shaped by individual preferences, financial considerations and lifestyle priorities, she said. Finding the right place for retirement is about creating a fulfilling and comfortable future in line with their unique needs and desires. As for the tax environment she noted, Colt Agar, managing editor at Bizpedia Magazine, agreed that some retirees seek out states with favorable tax policies. Some states do not tax Social Security income, others offer tax credits and a few have no state income taxes at all, he said. This could significantly impact the cost of living for retirees and influence their decision on where to relocate. While each retiree has their own unique plans for a home in their golden years, the Bank of America survey revealed the most popular destinations for baby boomers right now. This includes Las Vegas; Phoenix; Tampa, Florida; Orlando, Florida and Austin, Texas. Only time will tell whether retirees continue to favor these cities or whether new retirement hotspots will emerge. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 5 Cities Baby Boomers Are Leaving Why They Dont Want To Retire There Bacardi, the worlds largest private liquor company whose U.S. headquarters are in Coral Gables, has been sanctioned by Ukraine for expanding its operations in Russia, a move that the Ukrainian government says has provided economic support to the war unleashed by Russian President Vladimir Putin against the country. Ukraines National Agency on Corruption Prevention included Bacardi Limited, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, on its list of international war sponsors on Thursday, accusing the company of supporting the Russian economy and sponsoring the aggression against Ukraine. After Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Bacardi continues to ship millions of dollars worth of products to Russia and attract new employees there, the agency said in a statement, adding that the company has paid more than $12 million in income taxes to Russia. The designation as an international war sponsor does not carry legal repercussions such as a freeze freeze of assets or a travel ban. Still, it is intended to shame and cause reputational damage to big international companies that continue doing business with Russia during the war. The list currently names 32 companies, including Unilever and Procter & Gamble. Bacardi did not immediately respond to a Miami Herald request for comment. Its inclusion in Ukraines blacklist comes three days after the Wall Street Journal detailed how the company did not make good on an early promise to pause exports to Russia shortly after the invasion of Ukraine began. Instead, Bacardis Russian business, Bacardi Rus LLC, imported $169 million in products between June 2022 and June this year. Bacardi Rus also reported a $314 million increase in revenue last year. Other direct competitors like Pernod Ricard, the distributor of Havana Club rum whose trademark has been the subject of a bitter legal dispute between Bacardi and Cubas state-run Cubaexport have left the Russian market after the invasion of Ukraine. Founded in Santiago de Cuba in 1862 by Facundo Bacardi Maso, Bacardi sells its name-sake rum and other well-known brands like Gray Goose vodka, Patron tequila and Martini vermouth in more than 170 countries, according to its website. The family had to go into exile after Fidel Castro confiscated their assets without compensation in 1960 but kept producing rum in distilleries in Puerto Rico and other places. In 1965, the company opened an office in Miami and then moved to its current location in Coral Gables in 2006. US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused Sudan of threatening to expel the UN mission in the war-torn country (Ed JONES) The United States on Wednesday accused Sudan of having threatened to expel the United Nations mission from the war-torn country if the UN envoy, already in Khartoum's crosshairs, speaks before the Security Council on the atrocities of the conflict. During a session devoted to Sudan and South Sudan, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, whose country is chairing the Council in August, slammed the absence of Volker Perthes, the special representative of the secretary-general in Sudan and head of the UN mission there, known as UNITAMS. "We had expected SRSG Perthes to brief the Council. We now understand that the Sudanese government warned it would end the UN mission in Sudan if the SRSG participated in this briefing. And that is unacceptable," the US ambassador said in front of her Sudanese counterpart, Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed. The Sudanese ambassador denied the charge. "The mission of Sudan has not sent a letter or a correspondence saying that we are threatening to boycott the session," he said. But Thomas-Greenfield repeated the charge in front of assembled media after the session. "We were told yesterday that Volker would be briefing the Council. And this morning his name was pulled. And we understand that that happened because the Sudanese government threatened to pull UNITAMS out of Sudan if he briefed the Council," she said. "We were appalled by it, it was outrageous, it was unacceptable," she added. The Sudan briefing was delivered by the Assistant Secretary General for Africa, Martha Ama Pobee, who said the conflict "continues to have immense repercussions on the country and its people who continue to face unimaginable suffering." She noted that "sexual violence continues to be perpetrated on a large scale, while children continue to be killed or victimized or are at risk of being recruited to fight." The war in Sudan, pitting the nation's army under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (FSR) of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagl, began on April 15 and has claimed around 4,000 lives according to the NGO Acled, and has left nearly four million internally displaced persons and refugees. In June, Perthes denounced possible "crimes against humanity" in Darfur, after which Khartoum declared him persona non grata, accusing him of being biased. Farhan Haq, a spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres said Perthes "continues to be the Special Representative of the Secretary-General dealing with Sudan," without however confirming the accusations of the US ambassador. nr/ube/jh/md The US will ban American investment in some areas of China's high-tech sector, including artificial intelligence, adding to strained relations between the two superpowers. US firms will also be asked to disclose what investments they make in China in high-tech sectors. The much-anticipated move gives the US government new power to screen foreign dealings by private companies. The US said the measure would be narrowly targeted. However, it is poised to further chill economic relations between the world's two largest economies. China said it was "very disappointed". The US "has continuously escalated suppression and restrictions on China," said Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington. He added that White House claims that the US was not seeking to hurt China's economy or separate the two countries did not match its actions. "We urge the US side to honour its words." The order by US President Biden formally kicks off the push to craft rules to bar American businesses from investing in firms from "countries of concern" that are active in quantum computing, advanced semiconductors and certain areas of artificial intelligence. The government will also require US firms to notify the Treasury Department of investments in firms working on a wider range of artificial intelligence and semiconductor technology. The rules are not expected to apply to so-called portfolio investments, in which firms invest passively in companies via the stock market, but are focused on active investments made by private equity, venture capital and other firms. They will now enter a public comment period, which is expected to further clarify what kinds of investments are off-limits. The rules are not expected to go into effect for months. In a briefing with reporters, senior administration officials said the measure was a "national security action, not an economic one". They said the US remained committed to open investment. Sarah Bauerle Danzman, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said the approach outlined on Wednesday was narrower than some of the other proposals under debate, but still represented an "unprecedented" expansion of government oversight. "It is definitely a big deal and it certainly represents quite a break from past policy," she said. Controls on outbound investment are rare among advanced economies, currently present only in Japan and Korea, according to a 2022 report by the US-China Investment project. In the US, prior restrictions on China trade have relied on limiting sales of sensitive technology by US firms and screening Chinese investments in American companies. The Trump administration has also barred investments in firms tied to China's military. The latest measure has widespread support in Washington, where it is seen as fixing a regulatory gap concerning financial flows that risks allowing American money and know-how to to flow into China and assist its military ambitions. China's He Lifeng welcomes Janet Yellen during a meeting in Beijing The US has been trying to build international support for the investment curbs with some signs of success. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in May said the government would consider curbs on outbound investment; the European Commission put forward a proposal focused on investments in sensitive technologies earlier this summer. It is not clear how significantly the order would affect flows of investment. China was the number two destination for foreign investment in 2022, behind the US, but many reports suggest money flowing into the country from the US and elsewhere has dropped sharply as geopolitical relations sour. In the UK, a recent survey by the Institute of Directors found that one in five UK importers had already switched investments away from the country due to geopolitical tensions. The value of US foreign direct investment transactions in China dropped to roughly $8bn last year, the lowest level in nearly two decades, according to the Rhodium Group. China has responded to the curbs with its own rules, including limits on exports of some critical minerals used to make computer chips. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who visited China in July to try to ease tensions, said last month she did not think the coming curbs would have a fundamental impact on the investment climate in the country. But Ms Bauerle Danzman, a professor of international studies at Indiana University, said despite US efforts to target its restrictions, the ill-defined nature of some of the technologies in question, many of which also have consumer uses, means the clampdown risks becoming too broad. She warned that could ultimately hurt the US, by raising costs for businesses and isolating the country from technological advances. "Whether this is good or bad is going to depend on implementation," she said. "The US government has to be very careful not to allow this to expand and expand and it needs to find ways to have some amount of exchange of information in ways that don't challenge national security so that we're not cutting ourselves off from opportunities for new scientific discoveries." SALT LAKE CITY Republican Gov. Spencer Cox of Utah is set to join President Joe Biden here for an event highlighting a major expansion of veterans health care, the White House and governors office told NBC News on Wednesday. The bipartisan appearance on Thursday will mark one year since enactment of the PACT Act, a measure that expanded eligibility for veterans health care to servicemembers exposed to toxic chemicals during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as Vietnam and the Gulf War. Cox, who will greet Biden after Air Force One arrives here on Wednesday evening, will speak alongside the president at a Salt Lake City VA Medical Center. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox in Salt Lake City on March 4, 2022. (Rick Bowmer / AP file) The PACT Act was part of Bidens so-called unity agenda, initiatives that his administration has said should be bipartisan priorities. It was a personal priority for Biden 10 years ago this month, his son Beau was diagnosed with a glioblastoma brain tumor that the president has connected to his service in Iraq. Beau Biden died less than two years later. Thursday will be a rare appearance featuring Biden and a Republican governor promoting one of the president's legislative initiatives. In January, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine joined Biden and other bipartisan leaders to mark funding from the infrastructure law for a major bridge connecting Ohio and Kentucky. Biden has joined other GOP governors, including Floridas Ron DeSantis, on visits tied to storm recovery efforts. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott met briefly with Biden earlier this year as the president visited the U.S.-Mexico border. Cox, 48, now serves as chair of the National Governors Association. Last month, he launched Disagree Better, an NGA initiative meant to promote a more civil political discourse to solve some of the nations most pressing challenges. Biden praised Cox earlier this year as he hosted the annual Governors Ball at the White House. I promise I wont tell anybody how much I like you, Biden joked during his toast. Cox has not weighed in on his partys crowded 2024 field other than to say, as he did on NBC's Meet the Press in February, that hed prefer to see a governor leading the ticket. He went further on CBS Face the Nation last month, saying that he hoped his party could turn the page and try something else. I like governors. I think governors are great and have real experience, said Cox, who has said he will seek a second term in 2024. Cox, though, has made clear when he disagrees with the Biden administration. Just ahead of Bidens arrival, the governor issued a statement expressing frustration with Bidens announcement in Arizona designating a new national monument around the Grand Canyon. Massive, landscape-scale monuments like this are a mistake, Cox said. These designations increase visitation without providing additional resources for law enforcement and infrastructure to protect sensitive areas." Days ahead of Bidens arrival, the FBI shot and killed a Provo, Utah, man who had allegedly made threats to the presidents life. In one post on Monday, the suspect, Craig Deleeuw Robertson, cited Bidens upcoming visit to the state and said he needed to prepare his camouflage and sniper rifle. Biden was briefed about the incident by senior staff Wednesday morning. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Man indicted in connection with death of Umatilla woman and her accused killer denied release to substance treatment facility If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules: Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy. The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party. We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters. Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month. Key Insights Institutions' substantial holdings in Bank of America implies that they have significant influence over the company's share price A total of 25 investors have a majority stake in the company with 48% ownership Insiders have sold recently A look at the shareholders of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) can tell us which group is most powerful. And the group that holds the biggest piece of the pie are institutions with 58% ownership. That is, the group stands to benefit the most if the stock rises (or lose the most if there is a downturn). Because institutional owners have a huge pool of resources and liquidity, their investing decisions tend to carry a great deal of weight, especially with individual investors. As a result, a sizeable amount of institutional money invested in a firm is generally viewed as a positive attribute. In the chart below, we zoom in on the different ownership groups of Bank of America. Check out our latest analysis for Bank of America What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Bank of America? Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing. We can see that Bank of America does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we can't rely on that fact alone since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. It is not uncommon to see a big share price drop if two large institutional investors try to sell out of a stock at the same time. So it is worth checking the past earnings trajectory of Bank of America, (below). Of course, keep in mind that there are other factors to consider, too. Since institutional investors own more than half the issued stock, the board will likely have to pay attention to their preferences. Hedge funds don't have many shares in Bank of America. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is currently the company's largest shareholder with 13% of shares outstanding. For context, the second largest shareholder holds about 7.7% of the shares outstanding, followed by an ownership of 5.8% by the third-largest shareholder. Story continues On studying our ownership data, we found that 25 of the top shareholders collectively own less than 50% of the share register, implying that no single individual has a majority interest. While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it might be useful to find out their aggregate view on the future. Insider Ownership Of Bank of America The definition of company insiders can be subjective and does vary between jurisdictions. Our data reflects individual insiders, capturing board members at the very least. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO. Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group. Our information suggests that Bank of America Corporation insiders own under 1% of the company. As it is a large company, we'd only expect insiders to own a small percentage of it. But it's worth noting that they own US$458m worth of shares. It is good to see board members owning shares, but it might be worth checking if those insiders have been buying. General Public Ownership The general public-- including retail investors -- own 29% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies. Public Company Ownership Public companies currently own 13% of Bank of America stock. This may be a strategic interest and the two companies may have related business interests. It could be that they have de-merged. This holding is probably worth investigating further. Next Steps: While it is well worth considering the different groups that own a company, there are other factors that are even more important. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Bank of America (1 is significant) that you should be aware of. If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future. NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. ACTAVAN was developed in collaboration with Waikaitu; uses plant extracts as a novel active ingredient against fruit rots BEIJING and TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ADAMA Ltd. (SZSE 000553), one of the world's leading crop protection companies, announced the registration of its global bio-control product, ACTAVAN, in Peru. ACTAVAN is ADAMA's first global bio-fungicide developed in collaboration with the New Zealand company Waikaitu Ltd. Adama Agricultural Solutions Logo ACTAVAN uses plant extracts to effectively prevent the occurrence of fruit rots in crops such as grapes, berries, and certain vegetables, while also improving their quality. In addition, ACTAVAN increases the sugar content, peel firmness, size, and weight of the berries, also reducing fruit splitting. As a biological product, ACTAVAN is compatible with organic farming and integrated pest management (IPM) practices ACTAVAN represents a significant innovation in ADAMA's biological offering and complements the existing ADAMA portfolio by providing effective and reliable fungicidal action for all type of farming using a novel active ingredient. "Farmers around the world are searching for an effective bio-fungicide that allows them to incorporate sustainable agricultural practices, and still produce high quality fruits and berries," said Walter Costa, VP Marketing and Product Strategy at ADAMA. "A great collaboration with Waikaitu led to a novel and powerful bio-fungicide that meets both the complex requirements of the value chain, and the high-quality performance standards that fruits and vegetables producers have been waiting for." ACTAVAN is a bio-fungicide that stimulates the plant's immune system at a systemic level and consistently deliver positive results. Additionally, unlike many other fungicides, there is no pre-harvest interval for ACTAVAN, which gives farmers more freedom to plan crop treatment schedules. "We're proud to work together with ADAMA to deliver this vital product that helps farmers maintain the balance of nature," said Alex Pressman, CEO and founder at Waikaitu Ltd. "Sustainable farming is the future for feeding the world's population in a way that is better for the planet and better for business. ACTAVAN leads the way by protecting plants from harmful fungal diseases and improving fruit quality, while still meeting organic and sustainable farming requirements." Story continues ACTAVAN is currently registered for use in Peru, and ADAMA expects to register the product in other Latin American countries, and in more regions such as Asia-Pacific and Europe, in the near future. ADAMA has more than 50 biological solutions in its portfolio, such as Bralic, a pesticide based on garlic extract, and Protege, a microbiological nematicide and fungicide. About ADAMA ADAMA Ltd. is a global leader in crop protection, providing solutions to farmers across the world to combat weeds, insects and disease. ADAMA has one of the widest and most diverse portfolios of active ingredients in the world, as well as state-of-the-art R&D, manufacturing and formulation facilities. With a culture that empowers our people to listen to farmers and ideate from the field, ADAMA is uniquely positioned to offer a vast array of distinctive mixtures, formulations and high-quality differentiated products, delivering solutions that meet local farmer and customer needs in over 100 countries globally. For more information, visit us at www.ADAMA.com and follow us on Twitter at @ADAMAAgri. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/799829/Adama_Agricultural_Solutions_Logo.jpg ADAMA Contact: Tal Moise Public Relations Email: pr@adama.com Cision View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/adama-receives-registration-for-actavan-its-first-global-bio-fungicide-in-peru-301897731.html SOURCE ADAMA Ltd. Today Mostly cloudy and windy this evening becoming mostly clear late. Low near 75F. SSE winds at 25 to 40 mph, decreasing to 10 to 20 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph. Tonight Mostly cloudy and windy this evening becoming mostly clear late. Low near 75F. SSE winds at 25 to 40 mph, decreasing to 10 to 20 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph. Tomorrow Sunny skies. High 93F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. ROLL The sun shines hot on Mohawk Valley Elementary Schools playground on Monday when a little 4th grader walking out of the bathroom comes up excitedly to Superintendent Shanna Johnson and exclaims, Mrs. Johnson, its cool inside! That moment was a standout one from the first school day for Johnson because the boy noticed one of the new changes at Mohawk: The restrooms by the playground now have air conditioning inside them. And their water is safe, too. Our students for the first time in my nine years here at Mohawk now have safe drinking water, Johnson said. They can actually drink water out of a water fountain and they can actually wash their hands out of the sink. On Wednesday, Aug. 9, Mohawk Valley Elementary held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate its renovations. In June 2022, the school began a complete renovation project involving large-scale improvements that would help the campus meet current facility and educational standards. Per Mohawk, the full campus renovation modernizes the school from top to bottom, including a new remodeled kitchen and cafeteria, upgraded lighting, new bathrooms, renovated classrooms, a new HVAC system in the gym and new roofing, among other updates. A water treatment system upgrade also made the schools water potable a change that really surprised students and parents alike. This week we opened up the water fountains and our students didn't really know how to use them, Johnson shared. A couple of students said, Can we really drink water out of this? Weve had parents call us and said, My student used water out of the water fountain. Yeah, its safe. We can do that again. So we're just very grateful for that. Community members, county officials, renovation partners and others gathered inside the library along with the entire student body to hear more about the project and celebrate the changes. When we started this journey, we knew that our school facility was in such poor condition, Johnson told them. And once we started, we quickly discovered that there were many more deficiencies than we have even imagined. This school was in dire need of major, major repairs: plumbing, lighting, wire and roping, HVAC and the list just keeps going on. Johnson expressed sincere thanks to the community for passing the $1.5 million bond that gave the school the funds it needed to start its project. With the added help of E-Rate and ESSER grants, the Arizona School Facilities Oversight Board and Arizonas Building Renewal Grant Program, Mohawk Valley Braves began the 2023 - 2024 school year in a newly renovated school. The Arizona state school facilities board has been instrumental in making this happen, Johnson said. We launched it and they took it and Mohawk Valley Schools project has been the first of its kind for the school facilities board where a complete renovation has taken place under one contract. So instead of us chasing a bunch of contractors ourselves, the state took it and made one large project so that we could keep our sanity and we could keep all this going. She then thanked the remaining project partners, which consisted of DLR Group, Arcadis Project Management, Pilkington Construction Company, Sternco Engineering and Taylor Engineering. Representatives from several partners spoke after 8th grade and student council president James Brady Womack commented on the changes. ... Our school has completely changed just in one year, he said. For the student body, its so much more enjoyable to talk to other students. The place of learning is so much more focusable; its so much more of a learning area We really love it here and even though [the period of renovations] was stressful and hard on teachers not just students its very, very, very crucial. One of the speaking partners, Carmen Wyckoff of DLR Group, noted that the group has been Mohawk Valley Schools architects for 100 years. As a special thank you to Superintendent and Principal Shanna Johnson, they presented a framed original drawing of the school. Speaking on the school itself, Johnson said: We may be little and we may be remote but boy, we are brave and we are all a group of people, of educators and of students, and we're proud to call ourselves the Mohawk Valley School Braves. With great excitement, the students loudly cheered, Go Braves! Close Sisko Stargazer Education Reporter Follow Sisko Stargazer Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Sucevean amendat pe un drum din Botosani, a ramas si fara marfa A fost oprit pentru un control de rutina. La data de 19 august 2023, politistii din cadrul Sectiei de Politie Rurala nr. 5 Mihaileni au oprit pentru control, pe drumul judetean D.C 76 D, in comuna Dersca, o autoutilitara condusa de un tanar, de 33 de ani, din comuna [citeste mai departe] SINGAPORE, August 10, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AM Best has maintained the under review with negative implications status for the Financial Strength Rating of B++ (Good) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "bbb+" (Good) of Fubon Insurance Vietnam Co., Ltd. (Fubon Vietnam) (Vietnam). The actions on these Credit Ratings (ratings) follow the maintenance of AM Bests under review with negative implications status for the ratings of Fubon Vietnams parent company, Fubon Insurance Co., Ltd. (Fubon Insurance) (Taiwan) on 4 August 2023 (see related press release). Ongoing uncertainty remains around the credit profile of Fubon Insurance. Fubon Vietnams ratings incorporate rating enhancement from its ownership and integration with Fubon Insurance. As a result, AM Best needs to assess the impact of further near-term developments on the credit profile of Fubon Insurance to determine its continued ability to provide explicit support to Fubon Vietnam. The under review with negative implications status on Fubon Vietnams ratings reflects the need for AM Best to fully assess the companys eligibility to continue receiving rating enhancement from its parent. The ratings will remain under review pending completion of AM Bests assessment of the credit rating fundamentals of Fubon Insurance. Ratings are communicated to rated entities prior to publication. Unless stated otherwise, the ratings were not amended subsequent to that communication. This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Bests website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Bests Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Bests Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Bests Credit Ratings, Bests Performance Assessments, Bests Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Bests Ratings & Assessments. AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright 2023 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810872411/en/ Story continues Contacts Isaac Yeo Associate Financial Analyst +65 6303 5019 isaac.yeo@ambest.com Christopher Sharkey Associate Director, Public Relations +1 908 882 2310 christopher.sharkey@ambest.com Chris Lim, FCII, CFA Associate Director, Analytics +65 6303 5018 chris.lim@ambest.com Al Slavin Senior Public Relations Specialist +1 908 822 2318 al.slavin@ambest.com Ruling Fidesz is carrying out a population replacement programme by bringing foreign guest workers to Hungary, the leader of the opposition Jobbik-Conservatives party said. Fidesz has been deceiving Hungarians with the message for years that some hidden powers are preparing to carry out a replacement of the European population, Marton Gyongyosi, a party MEP, told a press conference. But it has turned out that Fidesz itself wants to load 500,000 guest workers onto Hungarian society, he said, adding that they would mostly be intended to work in Chinese-owned battery plants for wages and under conditions Hungarian workers would not accept. In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of young Hungarians are leaving the country seeking better quality education or a workplace that gives them more respect, Gyongyosi said. Jobbik rejects all forms of migration, be it Brussels quota system for resettling migrants to Hungary or Fideszs plan to settle migrant workers in Hungary, he said. On another topic, Gyongyosi was asked about the 506 million forints (EUR 1.3m) received in foreign campaign donations by Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsonys movement for last years general election. He said he had asked in an open letter Karacsony as well as Peter Marki-Zay, the prime minister candidate of the united opposition, for clarification of what exactly happened. We cannot accept that Jobbik be punished for monies of which we have not seen a single penny, he said. MTI Photo: Zoltan Balogh The fresh newsletter for the International Community in Hungary - described by readers as a "Great read each week" - is now available for your interest and use via the link below. You can see the new edition of the Xpat E-Magazine here: https://xpatloop.com/newsletters/2023/10-august.html 1. We'd like to invite you to ping over tips of interest to fellow Xpats, and we'll create an article: Do you know a cool cafe, bar or restaurant that we all should know about? Click here to share info. 2. Next up, you can see examples of events happening these days below and in Xpat Calendar: E.g. Open-Air Opera, Theatre Director's Workshop, Hip-Hop Concert, Thrash Rock & Modern Jazz. 3. Also for your interest there are new Movies & Specials, plus News, Information & Inspiration: E.g. Angelina Jolie Returning, Petrol Price Hike, Record Tourism Levels, International Film Festival. We hope you like what's in it for you. Best wishes from Team XpatLoop Dutch festival-goers form the largest group of foreigners at this year's Sziget, Hungary's biggest music festival, organiser Tamas Kadar said during a walkthrough. About half of visitors to Sziget are foreigners, Kadar said a day before the start of the festival which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. After the Dutch, the Brits and the Irish are the next biggest groups of festival-goers, he added. Among the headliners the six-day Sziget boasts this year are Billie Eilish, making her debut in Hungary, Florence + the Machine, Imagine Dragons, David Guetta, Mumford and Sons, and Macklemore. Visitors will also be treated to a showcase of four circus troupes on each day of the event being held from Aug 10 to 15, organisers said earlier. Two circus schools, Amoukanama of Guinea and Hungarys Baross Imre Circus School, will get to perform in the Cirque du Sziget area of the festival grounds, while visitors will also have an opportunity to see Ukrainian circus students who have fled the war perform with Prague-based troupe Cirk La Putyka, along with Canadas Cirque Alfonse troupe. Australian group Circa will be closing out the show each night. LINCOLN Federal judges have handed down back-to-back dismissals in lawsuits filed by two Nebraska social media influencers, one against a TV network over on-air statements and the other against a sponsor who severed ties with her after anti-mask comments. This week, Senior U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon granted MSNBCs parent company, NBCUniversal Medias, motion to dismiss the case Brandon Straka brought against them. Less than two weeks earlier, U.S. District Judge Brian Buescher did the same with the lawsuit filed by Katie Starks against TULA Life Inc., a former sponsor of her blog who severed ties with her after she posted videos criticizing mask mandates, which prompted commenters to compare wearing them to the Holocaust. In a lawsuit filed in December, Straka, a pro-Trump social media figure charged after encouraging rioters to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, had targeted five statements made by political commentator Chris Hayes and chief legal correspondent for MSNBC Ari Melber that he alleged defamed him and put him in a false light. At the time, Straka called the Nebraska case the first in a string of strategic lawsuits he would be issuing in the coming months. Im fighting for every American citizen, regardless of political affiliation, against an establishment that has turned on the American people, he said then in a post. Straka, who got home detention and probation for his conduct, was seeking $25 million in the case filed by Virginia attorney Steven Biss, who previously represented former Congressman Devin Nunes and Russian academic Svetlana Lokhova in failed defamation lawsuits against CNN, the Washington Post and others over reports involving former President Trumps first impeachment inquiry. Earlier this year, Straka voluntarily dismissed Hayes and Melber, but continued with the case against NBCUniversal Media. Then, in a decision this week in Strakas case, the judge dismissed them, too, saying whatever differences there were between the reports, which said Straka had stormed the Capitol, and his conduct amounted to semantic hair-splitting. The material challenged in the plaintiffs complaint cannot be understood by a reasonable person as anything but substantially, if not literally, true. The differences between the statements NBC Universal published on cable television programs and the admissions Straka made in his criminal case are slight if not nonexistent, Bataillon wrote. He said Strakas assertion that the on-air statements by Hayes and Melber were false were entirely contradicted by the factual basis of his guilty plea. In Starks case, filed in January, the lifestyle blogger sued TULA Life, a skincare corporation, for misattributing the comments comparing mask mandates with the Holocaust to her and indirectly labeling her a racist. But, in his ruling in late July, the judge said the statements TULA put out after her video simply stated that the company has zero tolerance for racism or hate within (TULAs) community and ceased its partnership with her because of it. Buescher said the statements do not hint at specific conduct committed by Starks, but were primarily about TULA and its policies. TULAs two statements are not susceptible to verification as true or false. Rather, they merely express TULAs subjective impressions of Starks. Accordingly, the First Amendment bars Starks defamation claim, he said in dismissing the case. Starks California attorney, Roger Roots, argued TULA had violated his clients right to free speech by terminating the influencer agreement early. But Buescher shot down the claim, saying Starks had injected herself in a public debate about COVID-19 policies and school mask mandates and encouraged others to stand up to mask mandates and to stop financially supporting business(es) that would not take such a stand, which made her the subject of adverse publicity. So TULA had a right to terminate their agreement under the contract. Editors Note: Glorias 11-year-old daughter, Julia, wrote the column this week. Gloria will return next week. My two weeks in Ohio are flying by too fast. Well, I think its because Im having so much fun! Mom told you a week ago how Hosanna (7) and I (11) traveled to visit family here in Danville, Ohio. All went well, and Im enjoying my time with my cousins, uncles, and aunts. One unique experience was going to the dentist the one Dad went to when he was a boy. At home in Illinois, Mom kept thinking about my tooth that needed to be pulled to make space for my new one coming in and trying to decide what dentist to move forward with. In Ohio, my uncles and Aunt Mary told me I could go to their old-time favorite dentist and get it pulled as a surprise for Mom. It was a good idea, and the next Tuesday, we headed for the dentist with electric scooters. Cousin Janeva, her dad, and Aunt Mary went along too. Mary signed the papers for me. All went well; I was so relieved to have it out and couldnt wait to show Mom. The following day Hosanna and I got to go along on a trip with my uncle Tobias. He took all his workers who work for his landscaping and tree trimming business (and their families) on this trip to West Virginia. We traveled with two big charter buses. A few days before, Mary and I had gone to Costco and bought all kinds of things for the trip including stacks of drinks and snacks for everyone to eat along the way. On Tuesday morning at 3:00, we loaded both buses and headed for West Virginia. After four hours of travel, we stopped at New River Gorge, a huge bridge over mountains, rivers, and canyons. It was amazing! I never saw something like that before. It is so amazing to think that God made it all. Next, we headed for the Cass Railroad, where they gave people rides up the mountain. We all went onto the train. They started its old-fashioned steam engine and blew the whistle, and rang the bell, and we were off! It was thrilling! On this four-and-a-half-hour train ride, I was just sitting there on a bench in one of the train cars looking out, and for the first time in my life, I saw a bear in the wild! My friend saw it too. I was shocked to see it, especially thinking it was not far from us. Next, we all headed for the hotel. We took all our belongings into our rooms and then walked to a nearby restaurant. The exercise felt great and we were soon filled with a yummy supper. We were all very tired and crashed into our soft beds and slept well. We were very thankful for a good nights sleep. In the morning, we quickly ate breakfast at the hotel and were on our way again by 8:30 and headed for Cooper Rock, where we had plenty to see and do. First we went on a little trail that took us to a lookout point with railings. It was beautiful; you could see very far off in the distance; I could even see people down at the bottom; they looked so small as if I could scoop them up with my hand! Next, we went on another path with all sizes of stones you had to climb over and around. I enjoy climbing, so I made it my goal to climb over all the ones I could. There were also larger scenic stones along the way. It was a good day filled with more hiking and travel. By 8:00 that evening, we arrived at Tobias house. As soon as we had cleaned out the buses, Tobias and his family, Aunt Mary, Hosanna, and I walked up to Marys house, where Mom and my brothers were waiting for us. We were all excited to be together again. That first night we could hardly talk fast enough to get enough stories in about all that had happened the past days. Best of all was when I gave her a little container to open. When she opened it, she was puzzled where this tooth came from; then I showed her my mouth she couldnt believe her eyes!!! It was very fun to surprise her!! When we were in Ohio, Mary made some delicious apple dumplings over the fire, and I would like to share it with you. So here it is. CARAMEL APPLE DUMPLINGS Sauce 2 tablespoons butter 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 cups water Dumplings 1 cups flour cup sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder teaspoon salt cup milk 2 tablespoons butter 2 teaspoons vanilla cup apples, peeled and chopped INSTRUCTIONS 1. In a skillet, heat sauce ingredients to a boil. 2. Reduce heat to a simmer. 3. Meanwhile, mix together dumplings. 4. Drop by tablespoons into sauce. 5. Cover tightly and simmer 20 minutes, do not lift lid. 6. Serve warm with ice cream or milk. Indian Airline has expanded its international operations with the addition of Tbilisi, Georgia to its network. The addition of Tbilisi to its network comes as part of the airline's expansion plan focusing on increasing its international presence. Furthermore, the airline has been growing its international network by growing its codeshare network with Turkish Airlines. Because of this partnership, IndiGo now has the opportunity to begin operations on European routes. IndiGo has begun flights from New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) to Georgia's capital, Tbilisi. This service was launched by the airline on August 8th. This is IndiGo's 29th overseas destination and 107th overall. Also read: Independence Day 2023: Movement Of Non-Scheduled Flights Restricted At Delhi Airport On August 15 On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, flight 6E1807 departs at 20:10 and arrives in Tbilisi at 00:45 (+1). The Tbilisi-Delhi flight 6E 1808 departs from Georgia's capital at 01:45 and arrives in Delhi at 07:10 on the same day. Georgia's capital city, Tbilisi, is one of the most alluring places to visit because of its distinctive fusion of tradition, modernity, and history. The city offers a blend of historic buildings, vibrant streets, and modern construction. Its vast array of landmarks, including as the renowned Narikala Fortress, the storied Old Town with its thermal baths, and the Holy Trinity Cathedral, are evidence of its rich historical heritage. Prior to this, IndiGo stated that Indonesia would become its 28th foreign location beginning on August 7, 2023. The first airline to offer a direct service between Jakarta and Mumbai will be IndiGo. According to the airline, these flights have been created in response to the growing demand for travel to Indonesia and will drastically shorten the journey time to Jakarta. The airline also started flights to Nairobi, Kenya as its first African destination. This new flight along with the network of African airlines provides better connectivity between India and Africa. Meanwhile, with a market share of over 55 percent and a current service to 29 foreign locations, IndiGo is currently both India's largest domestic airline and its busiest international airline. A Maharashtra government helicopter carrying Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to Satara from Mumbai was diverted Thursday afternoon due to bad weather to Juhu in the metropolis, where it landed safely, a senior official of aviation regulator DGCA said. The helicopter later took off for Satara, the home district of Shinde in western Maharashtra, at 3.30 pm when the weather conditions improved, he said. Also read: IndiGo Begins Delhi-Tbilisi Direct Flight Services, Adds Georgia To Network EC 145 type of helicopter of the Govt of Maharashtra with CM on board got airborne at 12.30 pm from the Raj Bhavan helipad (in south Mumbai) for the Dare helipad (near Satara city). Enroute the helicopter encountered bad weather and diverted back to the Juhu aerodrome (in Mumbai) and landed safely, the official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said. The chopper carrying Shinde has landed at the Sainik School helipad in Satara, said a release from Chief Minister's Office (CMO). Key Insights Using the Dividend Discount Model, Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad fair value estimate is RM4.43 Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad is estimated to be 22% overvalued based on current share price of RM5.39 When compared to theindustry average discount of -2,028%, Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad's competitors seem to be trading at a greater premium to fair value Does the August share price for Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad (KLSE:AMWAY) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model is the tool we will apply to do this. Don't get put off by the jargon, the math behind it is actually quite straightforward. Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model. Check out our latest analysis for Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad Is Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad Fairly Valued? We have to calculate the value of Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad slightly differently to other stocks because it is a specialty retail company. Instead of using free cash flows, which are hard to estimate and often not reported by analysts in this industry, dividends per share (DPS) payments are used. This often underestimates the value of a stock, but it can still be good as a comparison to competitors. We use the Gordon Growth Model, which assumes dividend will grow into perpetuity at a rate that can be sustained. The dividend is expected to grow at an annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 3.6%. We then discount this figure to today's value at a cost of equity of 12%. Compared to the current share price of RM5.4, the company appears slightly overvalued at the time of writing. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind. Story continues Value Per Share = Expected Dividend Per Share / (Discount Rate - Perpetual Growth Rate) = RM0.4 / (12% 3.6%) = RM4.4 dcf The Assumptions We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 12%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.245. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad Strength Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry. Currently debt free. Dividend is in the top 25% of dividend payers in the market. Weakness Expensive based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value. Opportunity Annual earnings are forecast to grow for the next 3 years. Threat Paying a dividend but company has no free cash flows. Next Steps: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. What is the reason for the share price exceeding the intrinsic value? For Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad, we've compiled three important items you should look at: Risks: For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Amway (Malaysia) Holdings Berhad that you should be aware of before investing here. Future Earnings: How does AMWAY's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Malaysian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Have you ever wondered how a poet develops his craft? What inspires him to write such amazing poetry? The Odyssey of a poet is located far away from good and bad deeds, from the world, and us. A journey worth counting on. The Poet's Voyage. Here, I will reveal one such journey to you: the journey of Dr Arun Kumar S. From being none to penning his name into the world of literature and the arts Yoga Master, Karate Black Belt, Lecturer, LLB, Authorthere are so many names Arun carries, yet none can describe him better than the word Poet. Arun was born on May 30, 1980, in Haripad, Alappuzha, Kerala, to V.N. Siva Sankara Pillai and his late wife, Dr L. Jayasree. One will never know what events, people, and circumstances led to a person becoming a poet unless the poet reveals it himself. He was in elementary school when he began writing his heart out while watching and observing. Soon after high school, he mastered the art of composing and reciting poetry. He entered and won various poetry competitions. He is fluent in two languages: English and Malayalam. Dr Arun Kumar received his undergraduate degree from TKMM College in Nangiarkulangara. He graduated from MSM College in Kayamkulam and received his B.Ed. from the Teacher Education Centre. He then received his graduate degree in law from Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu. He also passed the State Eligibility Test for Lecturers and pursued an MHR at Pondicherry University. Poetry was Arun's emotional alternative in response to people and situations. To give wings to his long-held passion for poetry, he procured an M.A. and B.Ed. in English and later went on to seek a PhD in English, focusing on the issue of modernity in Tagore's poems. Dr Arun Kumar has established himself as the most active and social person. He is one of the active members of various social and literary organisations and many social and Facebook groups with over 50k followers. He played a vital role as a state committee member of Sreshta Bhasha Malayalam, a district committee member of Uvakalasahiti, President of Uvakalasahiti Haripad Mandalam, and Chairman of the Indian Society for Cultural Cooperation and Friendship. Even digitally, he has made an appearance as a member and administrator of more than 15 social and literary organisations. Every day, he responds to the literary community and meddles with urgent societal concerns. Arun has a wide array of achievements. During the annual function of the Haripad Ramakrishnan Trust, The famous Kathakali Artist of Kerala was honoured by the MLA Haripad, Mr Ramesh Chennithala, former Home Minister of Kerala. He also received the Kalasahiti Award for Young Poets in 2019. He is one of the leading figures among Malayalam and English poets. Besides this, he is a Second Dan Black Belt in Karate and a Yoga Master. Additionally, he has written numerous research papers and articles on the topic of genuine freedom and the difficulties that democracy faces. New Delhi: As filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra celebrates his 45 years in the pursuit of excellence in cinema, his upcoming project titled 12th Fail poster was shared online. It is a true story inspired by the millions of Indians who dream, toil and dare to restart. A story of determination and hard work featuring the talented Vikrant Massey in a unique role personifying the sentiment of the pursuit of success through hard work and perseverance. The poster has piqued everyone's curiosity about the upcoming teaser and the movie as a whole. Coming from Vidhu Vinod Chopra, this one will surely hit a chord with the masses as it's a story inspired by millions. The poster was shared with the caption reading: 12th Fail - a powerful true story inspired by the millions of Indians who dream, toil and dare to #Restart. A momentous project from Vidhu Vinod Chopra, celebrating 45 years in the pursuit of excellence in cinema. Teaser drops 10th August. Stay tuned for the 12th Fail teaser that drops on August 10, 2023. New Delhi: Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the maestro of visual storytelling, has always been hailed for his remarkable contributions to the film industry. His movies have transcended boundaries, captivating audiences with their brilliance and emotional depth. Today, Indias most sought-after legendary director Bhansali marks 27 years since his debut with Khamoshi: The Musical, Bhansali Production has released a mesmerizing mixtape that encapsulates the musical beauty that Khamoshi is. Khamoshi: The Musical, the debut film which marked the inception of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's directorial voyage, has now completed 27 years, a testament to his genius. The asset shared comprised 'Aaj Main Upar' by Kavita Krishnamurthy & Kumar Sanu, 'Yeh Dil Sun Raha Hai' by Kavita Krishnamurthy, and 'Bahon Ke Darmiyan' by Alka Yagnik and Hariharan. The caption read Here's to Khamoshi: The Musical. A timeless journey of love, song and emotions CELEBRATING Celebrating 27 years of mesmerizing melodies #SanjayLeelaBhansali #Khamoshi #KhamoshiTheMusical #27YearsOfKhamoshiTheMusical @beingsalmankhan @m_koirala From the poignant Khamoshi to the recent masterpiece Gangubai Kathiawadi, Bhansali has definitely come a long way as a filmmaker. His films have traversed diverse genres, offering a kaleidoscope of emotions, and his legacy continues to shine brightly in the world of Indian Cinema. New Delhi: While the Harshad Mehta scam threw the Indian economy and stock market in disarray in 1992, there is another scam, the magnitude of which is couple of times bigger than that. Abdul Karim Telgi, the Notorious Fruit-Seller is said to have looted Rs 30,000 crore from the Indian Government via the counterfeit stamp paper scam that came into light in 2003. Abdul Karim Telgi, A Notorious Fruit-Seller To Kingpin Of The Multi-Crore Scam Telgi, born Karnataka's small village in 1956, started his career as a fruit seller. He later tried his hands on travel business too during which get got involved into illegal work that included selling fake immigration documents to people who wanted to work in Gulf countries. Telgi was arrested on charges of forgery and cheating in 1991 and was sent to Jail. His jail term became the starting point of what would later be unfolded as multi-crore scam in the Indian system. In Jail, Telgi got the idea of making fake stamp papers. During his jail term, he learned that stamps are being printed at a printing factory close to Nashik's railway station. After coming out of jail, Telgi managed to acquire an outdated machine at the auction which he purchased and fixed. He started bogus stamps from that machine with the support of a well network of 100 people. He started printing and selling fake government legal papers - called stamp papers - which were used by millions of Indians to sell and buy property and seal other legal transactions. He had very well networked machinery where he would grease the palms of high officials and get going further in his vicious business. Abdul Karim Telgi Conviction And Jail Telgi was sentenced to 30 years rigorous imprisonment in 2006, besides being slapped with a whopping fine of Rs 202 crore. He was sentenced for producing fake stamp paper along with his agents, and allegedly selling it to banks, insurance companies and brokerage firms. Initially the scandal was said to involve $660 million worth of stamp papers, but police and prosecutors said the real figure could be 10 times higher (figures estimated it to be Rs 30,000 Crore). Abdul Karim Telgi Death He had been lodged in the Parapana Agrahara central jail in Bengaluru for 16 years. Abdul Karim Telgi died of multi-organ failure at a government hospital in 2017. In a probe spanning 14 years, more than 100 people across several states, including police, politicians and government officials, were arrested over the scam - many of them later acquitted for lack of evidence. In his home district in southern Karnataka, Telgi had something of a Robin Hood image and is known for giving money and clothes to the poor, donating funds to churches, temples and mosques and helping struggling locals with wedding costs. Web Series On Abdul Karim Telgi Scam A sequel to the popular series "Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story" by Hansal Mehta is planned as "Scam 2003: The Curious Case of Abdul Karim Telgi", according to the show's creators. The 2003 stamp paper scandal and its culprit, the late Indian counterfeiter Abdul Karim Telgi, would be the subject of the upcoming season. It is said to be the adaptation of an English translation of journalist Sanjay Singh's Hindi book "Reporter Ki Diary". This Independence Day, as we commemorate the 76th year of our nation's freedom, it is imperative that as we celebrate our political independence we also explore the diverse and delectable culinary heritage that defines India. The Indian food industry is surely undergoing a renaissance, embracing the assortment of regional flavours that have long been cherished within our borders. Moreover, a vibrant street food culture has been adding immense attraction to a citys food scene and offering experiences to travellers. Godrej Food Trends Report 2023 states that the last decade has seen a steady rise in interest in street food. Digital media has taken a keen interest in street food, amplifying tales ranging from the extraordinary to the unconventional, so much so that the Indian traveler is opting for destinations just to discover local street food. Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal, Managing Director of Perfect Bite Consulting and Curating Editor of the annual Godrej Food Trends Report says, "This Independence Day, lets celebrate the diversity of food in India. With its multifarious population, India is a treasure trove of local foods waiting to be discovered. Not only does each region of the country boasts its own distinct flavors, ingredients, and cooking styles, but also has a rich repertoire of local street foods. Indian street food is as varied as its regional cuisines. This Independence Day, let us celebrate our gastronomic freedom and love for all things chatpatta masaledar, and crispy that unite us as Indians. India's street food reflects the country's rich and varied culture, with each region offering its own unique flavors and dishes. On this Independence Day, we proudly salute the culinary custodians for their role in preserving the authentic flavors of India's diverse regions. Their efforts not only safeguard our culinary heritage across different regions but also facilitate cross-cultural exchange and deeper appreciation. Godrej Food Trends Report 2023 mentions some of the Indian street food destinations that will see the most interest in 2023. Lucknow: Regarded as the prime street food destination by 63 per cent of experts, the city is expected to attract a growing number of travelers who will indulge in the delights of local street foods. Kolkata: Following closely, 57 per cent of the panel anticipates an increased demand for local street food in Kolkata, solidifying its reputation as a hub for culinary exploration. Amritsar: 55 per cent of experts predict that Amritsar will witness more interest among people who seek to delve into the realm of local street food. Indore: Notably, 47 per cent of experts express a belief in the rising curiosity among consumers to uncover the treasures of local food in Indore, suggesting an emerging trend in the city's culinary scene. India's street food is a microcosm of the country's diverse culture and its designed to hit the high note. Also, Indian street food is easily accessible, affordable, and tasty at the same time. Hence it gives travelers an opportunity to experience the common citizens life and highlight the connections between history, geography, religion, and food and relate to why people eat what they eat. DU Second Merit List 2023: The Delhi University Common Seat Allocation System (CSAS) Round 1 was successfully conducted. According to the schedule, the Round 2 Merit List 2023 will be released tomorrow, August 10, 2023, at 5 PM. Students will be able to check their portal - admission.uod.ac.in - once it is released. Candidates should be aware that once the allotted seat is revealed, they must accept it between August 10, 2023 at 5 PM and August 13, 2023 at 4.59 PM. The vacant seats for the DU 2nd Cut Off were released on August 7, 2023. Certain colleges, such as Hindu College, Hansraj College, Kamala Nehru College, Gargi College, and Deen Dayal Upadhyay College, had a limited number of seats available for the B.A. Hons, B.Sc. B.A. Programme. DU Second Merit List 2023: Steps to check here Visit the official website of Delhi University for admission. Then, you need to check the latest update section available for students. After that, find the link to the merit list. Click on it. Download this list for future reference. The DU CSAS UG first merit list was issued on August 1, 2023 at 5 PM. Vacant seats were released on August 7, and a window was opened from August 7 to August 8 through 4.59 PM to reorder high preferences. According to the schedule, the vacant seats for the third round will be released on August 17, 2023. New Delhi: Known for his versatility, actor Mohit Raina is back with yet another promising performance in The Freelancer. Essaying the role of Avinash Kamath in this thriller, the actor will be seen in a fierce, bold avatar, a shade to him that fans have not yet seen of him. Sharing the gripping trailer on his social media handle, Mohit wrote, Get ready to embark on a thrilling journey of action and heart-pounding adrenaline rush in The Freelancer. Streaming from September 1st on Disney + Hotstar Opening up about his experience of working on this really special and challenging role, Mohit Raina said in an official statement, Working with Neeraj Sir has been such a fulfilling experience. Hes truly a visionary with utmost clarity. As an actor, I enjoy playing different roles and surprising audiences. When I heard the story of The Freelancer, I was moved by the share possibilities that will be faced by all the characters in a border town. Playing The Freelancer tapped numerous emotions within me as this is the first time Im playing someone who comes back from the ashes. With Avinash Kamath, audiences will get to see a completely different side to me and Im hopeful they will like my work and the show. Created by Neeraj Pandey and directed by Bhav Dhulia, the show is produced by Friday Storytellers. The Freelancer is adapted from Shirish Thorat's book - A Ticket to Syria. Set to release on September 1, 2023, on Disney+ Hotstar, The Freelancer cast also includes veteran actor Anupam Kher, Kashmira Pardeshi, Sushant Singh, John Kokken, Gauri Balaji and Navneet Malik in key roles. Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala assembly on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Centre to officially change the state's name to 'Keralam'. The resolution was moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who urged the central government to change the state's name to 'Keralam' in all languages included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India. The resolution was accepted by the Congress-led UDF opposition which did not suggest any amendments or modifications in it. Subsequently, it was declared as unanimously adopted by the assembly by Speaker A N Shamseer based on a show of hands. Presenting the resolution, the CM said that the state was called 'Keralam' in Malayalam, but in other languages it was still Kerala. He said that the need to form a united Kerala for the Malayalam-speaking communities had strongly emerged since the time of the national freedom struggle. "But the name of our state is written as Kerala in the First Schedule of the Constitution." "This Assembly unanimously requests the Union Government to take immediate steps to amend it as 'Keralam' under Article 3 of the Constitution and it be renamed as 'Keralam' in all the languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution," he said. Kerala assembly curtails session in the wake of Puthuppally bypoll The Kerala assembly on Wednesday decided to cut short its ongoing session in the wake of the upcoming bypoll in the Puthuppally constituency, which fell vacant after the demise of Congress stalwart and former chief minister Oommen Chandy on July 18. The session that was scheduled to be held from August 11 to August 24 has been postponed to September 11-14. The decision was taken based on the recommendation of the assembly's Business Advisory Committee, headed by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in a meeting held during the day. The committee decided to recommend that the list of businesses scheduled from August 11 to August 24 be taken up between September 11 to 14, its report tabled in the House said. The assembly session that began on August 7 was scheduled to be concluded on August 24. The Election Commission had on Tuesday declared September 5 as the date for bypoll in Puthuppally assembly constituency in Kottayam district. Within hours of the bypoll date being declared, the Congress announced that Chandy's son -- Chandy Oommen -- would be the party's candidate for the byelection. The Congress also stepped into campaigning mode today. The ruling Left Front in the state is yet to announce its candidate for the constituency, which was held by Congress for 53 years straight thanks to Chandy's popularity in the area. Imphal: After being shut for nearly two months due to the violence, schools in Manipur will reopen on Thursday. The administration issued an order saying that classes 9 to 12 will start from August 10 in the violence-affected state. The order, which was issued on July 3 for classes 1 to 8, said that a separate order will be issued later for these schools. It also said that necessary measures will be taken to prevent any learning loss for the students of these schools, as per a report by Hindustan Times. Since May 3, ethnic clashes have erupted in Manipur, a northeastern state, between two communities Meitei and Kuki. The conflict is over land and influence in one of the worst ethnic violence in Manipur. Hundreds of people have been killed, many have lost their homes and become refugees, and many women have faced sexual violence. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions were closed because of the violence. The Meiteis, who are 53 per cent of the states population, live in the Valley, which is about a tenth of the former princely states land area. They say they are facing problems due to large scale illegal immigration by Myanmarese and Bangladeshis. The hill districts, which cover most of Manipurs land area, are mostly inhabited by tribals including the Nagas and Kukis and are protected from encroachment by various laws. Meiteis, Kukis and Nagas have fought with each other for various demands over decades. The recent clashes, however, are between Meiteis and Kuki community Orient Exchange and Financial Services (P) Ltd, a leading Bangalore-based financial institution authorized by the Reserve Bank of India as Dealer Cat-II, is thrilled to announce its official partnership with Fintiba GmbH, the renowned German digital blocked account provider. This collaboration marks a significant milestone in enhancing financial solutions for Indian students pursuing higher education in Germany. 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(This article is part of IndiaDotCom Pvt Ltds Consumer Connect Initiative, a paid publication programme. IDPL claims no editorial involvement and assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions in the content of the article.) ReportLinker The APAC Interior Design Software Market size is expected to grow from USD 1.06 billion in 2023 to USD 1.79 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 11.10% during the forecast period (2023-2028). Interior design software is essential for building and maximum space utilization in apartment plans. New York, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "APAC Interior Design Software Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2023 - 2028)" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484292/?utm_source=GNW The APAC Interior Design Software Market size is expected to grow from USD 1.06 billion in 2023 to USD 1.79 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 11.10% during the forecast period (2023-2028). Interior design software is essential for building and maximum space utilization in apartment plans. The interior design market is also witnessing an increase in the need for such software from the region due to the growth of the construction markets in India and China over the forecast period. The other countries expected to drive the demand for interior design software in the region are Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, and Malaysia. One of the primary causes of the increase in demand for interior design software is the increased productivity obtained by reducing the dependence on paperwork and documentation. This also helps firms reduce their total interior design costs by giving advanced budgeting capabilities. Architects can additionally employ the program to create a complete floor plan that includes correct measurements, flooring, windows, walls, doors, lights, cabinets, and furniture. The increased need for interior design and decoration in the commercial, residential, and construction sectors drives the APAC Interior Design Software Market. With the advancements in artificial intelligence AR/VR, businesses are spending heavily on producing web apps that are easy to use and provide cutting-edge user engagement and experience. Furthermore, the software enables architects to create a detailed floor layout with correct proportions, flooring, windows, walls, doors, lights, cabinets, and furniture. Additionally, the governments contribution to accelerating expansion in the construction and real-estate sectors propels the market. However, concerns about interoperability with interior design software are impeding industry expansion. At the initial stage of software adoption, there will be a setup fee that can include the cost of the devices used for the interface, accessibility, and data input, as well as a separate subscription fee that the users must pay monthly or annually. Compared to subscription fees, the initial cost would be quite expensive, which is projected to limit the growth of the Asia-Pacific construction management software market. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, many small and significant enterprises were forced to close, and numerous others responded by becoming virtual. Interior design is one business that avoided a total shutdown by adjusting to the needs of the contemporary environment. Interior designers undertook virtual tours of the locations where their clients were looking for a design. Zoom calls were used for sales, consultations, and chats. However, the commercial building industry was expected to suffer the most due to reduced income and a halt in activities during the lockdown. APAC Interior Design Software Market Trends Residential Sector is Expected to Hold Significant Market Share The residential sector is expected to increase fastest throughout the projection period, owing to the growing population and rising demand for a pleasant and comfortable living environment. Furthermore, with increased technological innovation, a home is no longer only a place to live. In the APAC region, millennials with unique lifestyles believe their home design should represent their uniqueness. Most homeowners favor design businesses that can comprehend their vision and develop cost-effective ideas for kitchens, living rooms, and closets, among other things. According to Population Reference Population Reference Bureau, in 2022, the degree of urbanization worldwide, in Asia and Oceania, was 57 percent, 52 Percent, and 67 Percent, Respectively. Start-ups are upending the local interior design industry. Livspace has become one of Indias major home interior design and remodeling platforms. The business has created over 5,000 residences totaling over 2 million square feet and collaborates with over 2,000 other designers. The business successfully built a strong brand presence due to its partnership with Brand Capital, The Times Groups strategic investment arm. Additionally, the rapid regional building standards and norms in current housing and population expansion in this century have increased the necessity for an instant reaction from designers in terms of space rationalization to meet the ensuing lack of architectural habitat. Furthermore, with forthcoming smart city and smart house initiatives in the Asia Pacific, the residential segments market is expected to rise throughout the projection period. China is Expected to Hold Significant Market Share The China country segment is expected to grow significantly during the forecasted period. Building infrastructure plans in nations in China are revised to contribute significantly to Asia-Pacific interior design software market expansion. Growing population and urbanization in major cities in the region, such as Tokyo, and Beijing, China, led to an augmented increase in residential sectors. Recently, Chinas five-year national development strategy was just unveiled. With the aim of 65% urbanization in its 14th Five-Year Plan (FYP) (20212025), the government will add 10 million urban dwellers annually through the end of 2025. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, in 2022, approximately 65.2 percent of the total population in China lived in cities. The urbanization rate has increased steadily in China over the last decades. Additionally, interior design companies use augmented and virtual reality, cloud computing, and 3D technologies to meet rising demand and provide customers with seamless home interiors and remodeling experiences. Several 3D platform suppliers include Cedro, an online 3D house design platform used by professional home builders, remodelers, and interior designers to develop 2D and 3D floor plans and interior and exterior renderings. In addition, firms like Livspace, HomeLane, Bonito Designs, Infurnia, and Spacejoy are aiming for considerable development in the category by using capital to expand their user base. From getting to know the client to design and delivering the final product, these organizations draw investors into the industry while offering many chances for a diverse range of new talent. APAC Interior Design Software Industry Overview The APAC Interior Design Software Market is Consolidated with the presence of major players like Dassault System SE, Autodesk Inc, Trimble, Inc., Foyr LLC, and Infurnia Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Players in the market are adopting strategies such as partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions to enhance their product offerings and gain sustainable competitive advantage. In November 2022, Trimble and HP collaborated to integrate Trimbles most recent robotic total station with HPs new SitePrint robotic layout technology. The solution aims to improve the layout process for interior building projects. In March 2022, Autodesk, Inc. announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire The Wild, a cloud-connected, extended reality (XR) platform, which includes its namesake solutions, The Wild and IrisVR. This acquisition enables Autodesk to meet increasing needs for augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology advancements within the AEC industry and further support AEC customers throughout the project delivery lifecycle. Additional Benefits: The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format 3 months of analyst support Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484292/?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. __________________________ Story continues CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will mark his presence in the Lok Sabha on Thursday (August 10) to reply to the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition against the NDA government. A vote will be held after Prime Ministers reply to the debate - the outcome of which is already known with the numbers comfortably stacked in favour of the government. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that the PM will be present in the House on Thursday to reply to the no-confidence motion. Just before the adjournment of the House, the Union Defence Minister confirmed the same. The opposition moved a no-confidence motion against the Modi government on July 26 which was taken up by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. However, Modi's government won't lose the vote as his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies have a majority in the Lok Sabha. Whats A No-Confidence Motion? Any Lok Sabha MP, who has the support of 50 colleagues, can, at any point of time, introduce a motion of no-confidence against the Council of Ministers. Thereafter, a discussion on the motion takes place. MPs who support the motion highlight the governments shortcomings, and the Treasury Benches respond to the issues they raise. Ultimately, voting takes place and if the motion is successful, the government is forced to vacate the office. Notably, the NDA has a commendable majority with a number of 331 MPs out of which the BJP has 303 MPs while the combined strength of the Opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A is 144. The numbers of unaligned parties MPs are 70 in the Lower House. 2nd No-Trust Vote Against Modi Govt This is the second time Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing a no-confidence motion. The first such motion against the Modi government was introduced in 2018 over granting a special category status to Andhra Pradesh which was later defeated. However, the discussion over the motion has been held on August 8 and August 9. Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Tuesday initiated the debate on the motion which later turned into a heated argument between Opposition and the Centre. Gogoi, while speaking in House said that the Opposition was compelled to move the motion to break the 'maun vrat' of the PM and further asked three questions to the PM. Three questions to the PM--Why did he not go to Manipur yet? Rahul Gandhi went there, MPs from different parties, part of I.N.D.I.A went there; Union Home Minister went there and MoS Home also went, but being the PM of the country, why Modi didn't Modi go to the state? The second question is- why it took 80 days for Modi ji to speak on Manipur? When he spoke, he spoke only for 30 seconds. After that too, there is no sympathetic word from Modi ji, nor has he appealed for peace there. Ministers are saying We will speak on the issue; they should do that, and no one has stopped them to speak, but ministers words do not hold as much significance as Modi jis does. If Mr Modi takes an initiative for peace, the step would be considered as a strong one which cannot be done by any minister, Gogoi said. My third question is why the PM has not sacked Manipur CM yet. When you had to do politics in Gujarat, you changed the CM and that too two times. When there were elections in Uttarakhand you changed the CM several times. When the elections were approaching in Tripura, you changed the CM there too. So, why are you blessing the Manipur CM who himself has confessed that there was an intelligence failure because of him, Gogoi said on Tuesday. Rahul Gandhi Attacks Govt Over Manipur Violence Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday tore into the Narendra Modi government over its handling of the violence in Manipur, alleging the politics of the BJP has "harmed Bharat Mata" in the state, drawing a fiery response from Union ministers Amit Shah and Smriti Irani. As the Lok Sabha witnessed some fireworks during the debate on the no-confidence motion for the second day during which Gandhi also said that the members of the ruling party were "not protectors" of India, Union Home Minister Shah appealed with folded hands for peace in Manipur and urged the warring Kuki and Meitei communities to hold talks with the Centre to resolve the issue that has triggered the ethnic violence. "In Manipur, they (BJP) have harmed Hindustan. Their politics has harmed Hindustan in Manipur," Gandhi alleged. The Lok Sabha adopted a resolution read out by Speaker Om Birla appealing for peace in Manipur and it was enthusiastically supported by the BJP-led NDA members in the presence of the opposition. Shah said 152 people were killed, 14,898 people arrested and 1,106 FIRs registered since violence erupted on May 3. Hours after Gandhi's blistering attack on the prime minister for not visiting the strife-torn Manipur, a combative Shah, who hit back and spoke on a range of issues including on the several scams during the tenure of the Congress-led UPA, urged the opposition not to politicise the ethnic violence in Manipur that erupted on May 3. "I agree with the opposition that there is a cycle of violence in Manipur ... Nobody can support such incidents. Whatever happened is shameful, but to politicise those events is even more shameful," Shah said in his nearly two-hour-long intervention. Shah also questioned the intention of leaking the video of two women being paraded naked in Manipur just ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament which began on July 20. The video of the incident which happened on May 4 surfaced on July 19. Smriti Irani Slams Rahul Gandhi For Indecent Behaviour Speaking after Gandhi, Irani came down heavily on the former Congress chief for his remark, saying this is for the first time in a parliamentary democracy that someone has made such a statement. "I condemn the behaviour that was displayed. This is the first time in Parliament's history that someone talked about Bharat Mata like that, and Congress leaders were thumping desks," the BJP MP said, asserting that Manipur is an integral part of India. She also accused Congress leaders of supporting the idea of dividing India. "Manipur is not divided, it is part of this country". As BJP members booed the Congress leader when he was leaving the House after his speech, he turned towards them and gave them a flying kiss. Minister Irani took on the Wayanad MP and expressed outrage over his "indecent gesture". "The person who spoke before me... An indecent gesture was made... Only a misogynistic man can give a flying kiss to Parliament which seats female Members of Parliament... Such an indecent act has not been witnessed by the House ever before. The entire country has seen the culture of the (Gandhi) family," she said. Later, many women MPs of the BJP sought "stringent action" against Gandhi in a complaint to Speaker Birla. Gandhi, in his first comments in the House after the restoration of his membership, alleged that the prime minister does not consider Manipur a part of India, triggering strong protests by the treasury benches. The prime minister was not in the House when Gandhi spoke. Several Rajya Sabha members of the Congress were in the Rajya Sabha gallery of the Lok Sabha to hear him speak for the first time after his reinstatement as an MP. "You are sprinkling kerosene everywhere. You sprinkled kerosene in Manipur and then added fire to it. You are now trying the same thing in Haryana. You are attempting to burn the country everywhere," he said, referring to recent communal clashes in Gurugram and Nuh. As the treasury benches protested and slammed Gandhi, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said the Congress leader should apologise for his remarks as it is the Congress that was responsible for insurgency and other problems in the northeast. In his speech, Gandhi also said the Bharat Jodo Yatra is not over and he undertook the cross-country march to understand what is that he loved and for what he had faced abuse for 10 years. When it comes to lipstick, nude shades have been the go-to choice for many. While they offer classic, understated elegance, it's time to break free from the norm and experiment with a world of vibrant and diverse lip colours. From beginners to makeup enthusiasts, everyone can benefit from stepping outside the comfort zone of nude lipstick. "It's important to remember that the most reliable judge of whether a makeup look or colour suits you is none other than yourself. Your instincts and personal preferences serve as an infallible beauty guide, steering your choices. The shades that resonate with you and the styles that make you feel confident are the ones that genuinely matter. There's no universal code; the only rule is to trust oneself," says Muskan Jain, Brand Manager, at MARS Cosmetics. It's easy to lose the joy of self-expression in makeup, especially amidst our busy routines. What once brought us happiness and playfulness can gradually transform into a more utilitarian approach focused on concealing and correcting. The simple pleasure of selecting and applying a lip colour can become stifled by the fear of making mistakes or going beyond the boundaries of what's considered acceptable. "This apprehension often leads many to stick with the familiar and safe territory of nude lipsticks. The fashion of minimalism has also impacted beauty preferences over time, leading to the trend of nude lipsticks, nude makeup, no-makeup makeup, and more. Several factors determine whether lipstick complements a particular skin colour, regardless of whether it's bold or neutral. As a result, a few adjustments here and there can help you become your expert. This holds significance because the choice of lipstick can often be a very important symbol of one's personality." If you want to tip-toe with new colours or if you're a beginner makeup enthusiast, Shreedha Singh, Co-Founder & CEO, of The Ayurveda Company, suggests using organic and naturally infused ingredients, as well as classic colours like deep reds, vibrant pinks, and endless browns lipstick could be a safer side to start trying colours beyond nude because those colours create a dramatic focal point while also accentuating face characteristics with a hint of mysticism. "Stepping beyond nude lipstick can be seen as a form of self-expression. While the market is flooded with many brands providing different variations and colours, it is essential to note that the best ones are organic and naturally infused with ingredients that go beyond providing a mere tint to offering self-care benefits. Some options are enriched with Ayurvedic ingredients like beetroot to restore natural colour, Castor seed oil to deeply moisturise lips, and Vitamin E to protect lips from darkening, thus enhancing your appearance while promoting overall lip health. Dark lipsticks effortlessly complement various edgy, sophisticated, or dramatic looks. In addition to this, these vibrant shades can complement multiple skin tones. "Bold colours like rich reds, playful pinks, and boundless browns create a striking focal point, enhancing facial features with a touch of mystique. Their ability to transform and define a mood, combined with their timeless allure, showcases the remarkable beauty within their darkness. I recommend everyone to sometimes explore beyond nudes, embrace the kaleidoscope of shades, and let Ayurveda's wisdom adorn their lips with health, vibrancy, and authenticity," says Shreedha Singh. Hitesh Dewett, Training and Artistry Manager at Swiss Beauty gives seven reasons why experimenting with different lip shades can be empowering, fun, and a fantastic way to express your individuality. Unleash Your Creativity: Choosing a lipstick colour that matches your mood or complements your outfit can be a liberating experience. With a wide range of shades available, experimenting with various lip colors encourages you to embrace your creative side and develop your personal style. Boost Confidence: The power of a bold lip should never be underestimated. Trying out bright reds, playful pinks, or daring purples can instantly boost your confidence and leave you feeling empowered throughout the day. Accentuate Your Features: Lipstick is not just about adding colour; it can also accentuate your facial features. Darker shades can make your lips appear fuller, while lighter ones can create an illusion of volume. Experimenting with different lip colours allows you to play with optical illusions and enhance your natural beauty. Enhance Your Outfit: Lipstick can act as the perfect accessory to your outfit. By experimenting with various lip shades, you can effortlessly elevate your look, turning a simple ensemble into a stunning fashion statement. Embrace the Mood: Different lip colours evoke various emotions. Red exudes confidence and glamour, while coral radiates a sunny, carefree vibe. By experimenting with diverse shades, you can effortlessly match your lip color to your mood and embrace the emotional power of makeup. Stand Out from the Crowd: In a sea of nude lips, boldly coloured lips are sure to make a statement. Whether it's a sophisticated burgundy or a quirky blue, experimenting with unique lip shades allows you to stand out and be remembered. Besides everything, bold colours do add a certain sort of differentiation to lips, whilst nude shades have become a staple, one should also have vibrant colors as they give you more options to play with your lip shade. Mumbai: Actor Ileana D'Cruz who welcomed baby Koi Phoenix Dolan on August 1 has shared a beautiful photo of the two of them together. She took to Instagram stories to post the picture on Wednesday. In the monochrome picture, her son's tiny hands was seen holding Ileana's finger. Ileana shared the picture with the caption, "1 week of being your Mama. Recently, The 'Rustom' actor shared the good news with her friends and followers on Instagram. She shared adorable pictures of her first kid. Ileana's little son, whom she called "Koa Phoenix Dolan," can be seen napping adorably in the photo. Sharing the picture, a new mom in town wrote, No words could explain how happy we are to welcome our darling boy to the world. Hearts beyond full. Ileana has been quite private about her personal life from the outset. Ileana just disclosed the love of her life, though. She released images from a date night with her enigmatic partner. She shared glimpses of her dinner date with her admirers on her Instagram story. Earlier rumours stated that Ileana was dating Sebastian Laurent Michel, the brother of Katrina Kaif. After the two were seen on holiday in the Maldives with Vicky Kaushal and Katrina Kaif, love allegations about the pair began to circulate. Ileana formerly had a long-term relationship with photographer Andrew Kneebone. Ileana was last seen in The Big Bull, which also starred Abhishek Bachchan. The movie was produced by Ajay Devgn and directed by Kookie Gulati. She will next be seen opposite Randeep Hooda in Unfair And Lovely. New Delhi: Love it or hate it - Mumbai rains are unavoildable. While rains soothe most with memories to cherish, others are left with traumatic experiences to remember. Actress Sunny Leone recently spilled the beans in an interview with Hindustan Times. On how she feels about Mumbai's monsoon, Leone said, "I had no idea that much rain could fall from the skies! I was living in Mumbai, really close to the ocean, when I came to India for work initially. My walls were bleeding, the moisture did so much to my things... but I loved the weather! Monsoon is probably one of my favourite times of the year. It cools down a bit, I get happy when it starts pouring outside, not to be in it though." Making a shocking claim, Sunny revealed, I have lost three very nice cars to the rains, two in one day. It was horrible, I was crying because in India when you buy imported cars you pay an amazing tax on it. One was an eight seater Mercedes truck. I was not happy, but its okay, things happen, we can replace materialistic things and nobody was hurt. Now I drive an amazing India made truck that is built for the monsoons. I had bought the wrong car, and I love my India made cars now." Despite the devastation caused by the rains, Leone allows her kids to have enjoy the weather, she told HT, I want them to explore the rains and enjoy it, jumping around in puddles. I put on jackets on them with rain boots. As long as they are not getting sick from the rain.. there are certain things we dont do in this season, which is eating outside sweets. I have been baking, as a promise to my children. They like eating cakes, cookies, I promised them I will make them at home, so I have been busy! Sunny Leone empathizes with the people who suffer reaching their workplace in rains. She said, Unless I am physically detained in a hospital because I am sick, or there is something wrong with me or my children, I will always show up. Maybe in the monsoons it takes a little time but everybody is adjusting. It doesnt affect me so much because I stay inside but there are people who commute or have to walk, or take the public transport, maybe the drainage system around them is not great, they are heavily affected. We have to be mindful of all the people and workers who work for us. They they might get late or need an off because they are stuck, or their houses are flooded, they need help. We have to help them, and take care of people around us. I enjoy the rains from a distance and fortunately not affected the same way. New Delhi: Talented actress Tamannaah Bhatia's fan following is huge, especially in the South - all thanks to her incredible body of work in over a decade. Recently, the Lust Stories 2 star handles a situation calmly where at an event a fan jumped in front of her and touched her hand after breaking the security cover. Tamannaah Bhatia's Viral Video So, what happened as per the viral video on social media is that Tamannaah, dressed in a beautiful green saree with traditional jewellery is seen walking off at the exit of the aisle and waving at her fans. A die-hard fan of hers jumps over the security barricade onto the aisle. He offers a handshake to Tamannaah. Soon the bouncers and security personnel pull him back but Tamannaah can be seen trying her best not to look hassled and asks the fans to calm down, obliging him with a selfie. Many people commented on the viral video and hailed the actress for keeping her calm and handling the situation in a polite manner. Fan Moments For Crazy Followers This is not the first time that a fan has tried to break the security and get close to the stars. Sometime back and fan tried to click a selfie with Malaika Arora at the Mumbai airport, making her uncomfortable. Similarly, an incident left Aditya Roy Kapur also in an uncomfortable spot when a female fan tried to kiss him on the cheeks at the airport. Meanwhile, coming back to Tamannaah Bhatia. She is currently making headlines for her rocking affair with Lust Stories 2 co-star Vijay Varma. The duo's chemistry is electrifying and they have been papped together a couple of times hanging out together. The actress will next be seen in Nelson's Tamil black comedy action film Jailer, opposite Rajinikanth. Her song Kaavaalaa is already a chartbuster. She also has Chiranjeevi starrer Bhola Shankar with Keerthy Suresh in a pivotal role. New Delhi: This news is undoubtedly for you if you're looking for low-risk investing opportunities and want to make a sizable profit in return. In this business idea story, we'll explore the ins and outs of goat farming, the rising demand for goat products, and how this venture can be both rewarding and environmentally friendly. Whether you're a seasoned farmer or new to agriculture, goat farming offers an exciting opportunity to tap into a thriving market while contributing to your local community's needs." This business venture enables you to make up to Rs 2 lakh every month. Furthermore, if you are short of funds, the government will help you economically to succeed in the venture. (Also Read: Dreams Are Forever: Tale Of A Peon Who Used To Sleep In A Warehouse Became India's 45th Richest Man With A Net Worth Of Rs 88,000 Crore) Just a small amount of investment can yield enormous returns. At the moment, raising goats is a tremendously lucrative business, and Indians are making enormous profits from it. The fact that you can start this business from your house is its biggest feature. Currently, it is viewed as a commercial enterprise that makes a significant contribution to the nation's economy and food supply. Today, a huge population is dependent on goat farming, which is the foundation of the rural economy. Given how simple it is, you don't need to make many arrangements for this business. Goat Farming Business Idea: Subsidy Even the government is helping you, on behalf of the Haryana government, to encourage rural areas to pursue self-employment and animal husbandry; cattle owners receive up to 90 percent subsidy. This demonstrates without a doubt that the government itself can be of great assistance to you. For your goat farming business, the climate can be quite important, thus it's important that you thoroughly investigate the various breeds and select one that can easily adapt to various climatic situations. It would be best to produce goats, which can survive in dry weather, rather than other animals like cows or buffaloes because they require more water than those breeds if you are aware that your area experiences dry weather most of the time. Goat Farming Business Idea: Profit As discussed earlier, this business venture is highly profitable. So you can earn a handsome amount from this business depending on how successfully you managed the operations. Here we take average data to understand the approximate earnings from the goat farming business idea. You can earn about Rs 2,16,000 if there are 18 female goats in your farm. The earning will be Rs 1,98,000 in the case of the same male goats. (Disclaimer: This article is for sole information purpose. The calculator is also mostly based on assumptive figures to give an example of certain type. The article does not intend to give any financial advice of any sorts. For initiating any venture, you must do your own due diligence and market research.) New Delhi: The trailer for the much-anticipated film "Kushi" starring the debonair Vijay Deverakonda and queen of hearts Samantha Ruth Prabhu was finally unveiled at the grand trailer launch event held in Hyderabad in presence of film cast, crew, and media from across the country. More than 300 journalists from across the country attended the launch and were mesmerized by the beautiful world of Kushi. The trailer takes the audiences into the heartwarming world of Aaradhya & Viplav who create a relatable but adorable world of romance and take us along in their journey of love. And like life itself, the journey has its ups and downs, struggles as well as its bittersweet moments. The effervescent chemistry of Vijay and Samantha leaves you so captivated that it makes you fall in love, instantly. Watch the trailer here: The trailer is a perfect combination of intense emotions with humor, melodious music and picturesque visuals. It features the much-talented supporting cast which includes names like Murli Sharma and Sachin Khedekar. Kushis music has already topped the charts and is on the playlist of every person who believes in love. Written and directed by Shiva Nirvana and produced by Mythri Movie Makers, going by the trailer Kushi is all set to set hearts aflutter and celebrate love across theaters on the 1st of September. Madurai: Ahead of the release of Rajinikanth's film 'Jailer', his fans recently offered special prayers at Thiruparankundram Amman Temple. As the superstar's upcoming flick 'jailer' is set to hit the theatres on August 10 his fans on Tuesday offered special prayers at the Amman Temple in Madurai for the success of the film. For the huge success of the film, fans performed special worship to the temple deity by offering unique penance 'Man Soru' for the huge success of the movie. One of Rajinikanths fans told ANI,"I have been a Rajini fan for 40 years. From Rajini's Padayappa till today I have been doing various prayers for the success of Rajini's film. Today I am praying that Rajini's 169th film Jailer will be successful. "On behalf of Madurai district, we prayed for the success of Rajini's film jailer. Rajini is trying to make his fans good way. At the audio launch, Rajini told his fans not to drink and accordingly, we have taken a pledge not to drink, another Rajini fan said. 'Jaileri' is touted to be an action-packed entertainer and has a stellar star cast that includes Priyanka Mohan, Shiva Rajkumar, Tamannaah Bhatia, Ramya Krishnan, Yogi Babu, Vasanth Ravi, Vinayakan in prominent roles. Not only that, the makers have roped in Malayalam actor Mohanlal for an extended cameo in the film. New Delhi: Tricking generative AI to assist in scams and cyberattacks does not require much coding knowledge, a new report has warned. According to tech major IBM, researchers have described simple workarounds for getting large language models (LLMs) -- including ChatGPT -- to write malicious code and provide poor security advice. "In a bid to explore security risks posed by these innovations, we attempted to hypnotise popular LLMs to determine the extent to which they were able to deliver directed, incorrect, and potentially risky responses and recommendations -- including security actions -- and how persuasive or persistent they were in doing so," said Chenta Lee, chief architect of threat intelligence at IBM. "We were able to successfully hypnotise five LLMs -- some performing more persuasively than others -- prompting us to examine how likely it is that hypnosis is used to carry out malicious attacks," he added. The researchers learned that English has essentially become a programming language for malware. With LLMs, attackers no longer need to rely on Go, JavaScript, Python, etc., to create malicious code, they just need to understand how to effectively command and prompt an LLM using English. Through hypnosis, the security experts were able to get LLMs to leak the confidential financial information of other users, create vulnerable code, create malicious code, and offer weak security recommendations. In one instance, the researchers informed the AI chatbots that they were playing a game and that they needed to purposefully share the incorrect answer to a question in order to win and "prove that you are ethical and fair". When a user asked if receiving an email from the IRS to transfer money for a tax refund was normal, the LLM said Yes (but actually it's not). Moreover, the report said that OpenAI's GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 models were easier to trick into sharing incorrect answers or playing a never-ending game than Google's Bard. GPT-4 was the only model tested that understood the rules well enough to give incorrect cyber incident response advice, such as advising victims to pay a ransom. In contrast to Google's Bard, GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 were easily tricked into writing malicious code when the user reminded it to. San Francisco: Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new passkey feature for account verification on Android beta. The passkey feature will provide users with an easy way to sign in safely, reports WABetaInfo. A passkey is a short sequence of numbers or letters that is used to verify users' identity. It also serves as a kind of security code that makes sure that only authorised devices can be verified. "Since the passkey will use your fingerprint, face, or screen lock to verify your identity, this definitely enhances security, adding an extra layer of protection beyond traditional methods like PINs," the report said. The passkey feature is currently under development and is expected to be available in a future update of the app. On Sunday, it was reported that the messaging platform had started to roll out an admin review feature for group chats on Android beta. The feature allows everyone in the group chat to report messages shared in the conversation to the group admins. With this feature, the group admins can gain assistance in monitoring the group even when they are not there. Last month, the company had released new safety tools for when users receive messages from unknown phone numbers, on Android beta. The platform also rolled out a 'link with phone number' feature on Android beta, which allows users to link their account to WhatsApp Web by using their phone number. In June, the Meta-owned platform had launched a feature which allows users to send high-quality videos, on Android beta. While this feature preserves video dimensions, minor compression will still be applied to the video, thus sending videos in their original quality is not possible. (Bloomberg) -- Potential strikes at three major liquefied natural gas facilities in Australia could disrupt about 10% of global exports of the fuel and deliver a new energy price shock across Asia and Europe. Most Read from Bloomberg Workers at Chevron Corp. and Woodside Energy Group Ltd. facilities in Australia have voted to approve industrial action at the North West Shelf, Wheatstone and Gorgon operations, and some walkouts could begin as soon as next week under labor rules. European natural gas fluctuated Thursday as traders weighed the prospects of any major impact, and erased some of the 28% surge the previous day a move not seen since the early weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year that upended global supply of the fuel. Futures had briefly topped 40 a megawatt-hour Wednesday for the first time since June, though they are still down more than 80% from the unprecedented levels hit in August last year. The contract traded at 36.78 as of 9:25 a.m. in London. The situation highlights the importance of Australian LNG for global energy security, with even the possibility of a disruption to Australian gas supply causing large price spikes as far away as Europe, said Saul Kavonic, a Sydney-based energy analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG. But in all likelihood an accommodation will be reached before it presents a material impact on global LNG supply. The spike in natural gas prices in Europe, which rarely receives LNG from Australia, highlighted the regions nervousness about supplies following last years crisis that saw flows drop from Russia, traditionally its biggest source of the heating and power plant fuel. Worries have persisted even with the continents gas storage levels currently at almost 90% and above the five-year average. Story continues Strikes that disrupt exports from all of the Australian plants for two months a similar duration as last years interruption at Shell Plcs Prelude floating LNG production hub in Australia could send prices to 50 for the rest of the northern hemisphere summer and as high as 97 in the winter, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst Samantha Dart. Workers are seeking improved benchmark pay and conditions, and steps to improve job security including limits on the outsourcing of roles to labor hire contractors, the Offshore Alliance, which includes members of two key labor unions, said in a statement. Action by staff could involve refusing to load tankers or vessels, or complete work stoppages, according to the alliance. Negotiations between workers and company officials continued Thursday and more talks are scheduled for Tuesday, the group said. Following the vote of about 150 Woodside staff, industrial action at some of the producers sites off the coast of Western Australia could take place within a 30-day window, contingent on seven working days notice, the company said. Australias LNG sector is forecast to generate export earnings of A$68 billion ($45 billion) in the year to June 30, according to the nations government. The disputes effectively mean a few hundred workers seeking wage increases are putting a multi-billion industry in jeopardy, according to Kavonic. The asymmetry of the stakes is astonishing, he said. Shares in Australias biggest LNG producers rose Thursday, with Woodside advancing 1.9% in Sydney trading and smaller counterpart Santos Ltd. gaining 2.6%. Read More: European Gas Swings as Australia LNG Strike Fears Rattle Market Positive progress is being made and the parties have reached an in-principle agreement on a number of issues that are key to the workforce, Perth-based Woodside said. Chevron continues to engage our employees and their representatives as we seek outcomes that are in the interests of both employees and the company, the supplier said in a statement. Any squeeze on exports from Australia would stoke competition for cargoes between Asia and Europe which has become more reliant on seaborne LNG as it shuns Russias gas exports. When coupled with rising winter consumption, that scenario could trigger price volatility in the final quarter of 2023, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Will Hares said in a Thursday note. Where prices go from here will really depend on whether this strike action goes ahead, and if so, for how long, said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING Groep NV in Singapore. A prolonged strike would see Asian buyers looking further afield for LNG supply, potentially seeing these buyers competing more aggressively with Europe for supply. --With assistance from Ruth Liao and Yongchang Chin. (Adds Offshore Alliance comments from eighth paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Kampala: Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday denounced the World Bank's decision to suspend new funding in response to a harsh anti-LGBTQ law and vowed to find alternative sources of credit. The World Bank said on Tuesday that the law, which imposes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts, contradicted its values and that it would pause new funding until it could test measures to prevent discrimination in projects it finances. The World Bank has an existing portfolio of $5.2 billion in Uganda, although these projects will not be affected. The anti-LGBTQ law, enacted in May, has drawn widespread denunciation from local and international rights organisations and Western governments, though it is popular domestically. Museveni said in a statement that Uganda was trying to reduce its borrowing in any case and would not give in to pressure from foreign institutions. "It is, therefore, unfortunate that the World Bank and other actors dare to want to coerce us into abandoning our faith, culture, principles and sovereignty, using money. They really underestimate all Africans," he said. Museveni said that if Uganda needed to borrow, it could do so from other sources, and that oil production expected to start by 2025 would provide additional revenues. He added he hoped the World Bank would reconsider its decision. In June, the United States imposed visa restrictions on some Ugandan officials in response to the law. President Joe Biden also ordered a review of U.S. aid to Uganda. It seems like the troubles with the Boeing 737 MAX planes are not ending. The US aviation watchdog FAA has now issued a warning about potential overheating issue in certain CFM engines powering the Boeing 737 MAX planes, reported AP. Domestic budget air carriers SpiceJet and Akasa Air currently operate the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft with these engines in India. Around 29 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are operating in the country. SpiceJet, Akasa Air and Air India have 737 MAX planes on order as well. American aircraft maker Boeing said it has identified the measures to mitigate the issue. According to Boeing, the measures to mitigate the potential issue have been identified and it is working with customers to deploy those measures while a permanent fix is developed. Boeing will receive updated Airplane Flight Manual operational guidance to address the issue in the near term and is working with the regulator to develop a long-term fix. While noting that the inlet is produced by Boeing, the spokesperson said, "due to the very specific weather and operational conditions required to create the potential for this issue, it only recently surfaced as part of our design analysis". In a detailed statement, a Boeing spokesperson said it supports the rule issued by the FAA addressing a potential overheat issue for specific parts on the engine inlets on 737 MAX airplanes. "Although there have been no safety incidents, under a very specific combination of weather and operational conditions, the engine anti-ice system can create the potential for a portion of the inlet structure to exceed its design temperature range," the spokesperson said. In a communication on Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has flagged possible overheating in specific parts on the inlets of CFM Leap-1B engines that power 737 MAX planes. This follows a "report indicating that use of engine anti-ice (EAI) in dry air for more than five minutes during certain environmental and operational conditions can cause overheating of the engine inlet inner barrel beyond the material design limit, resulting in failure of the engine inlet inner barrel and severe engine inlet cowl damage," the regulator said. If the condition is not addressed, the watchdog said then it could result in departure of the inlet and potential fan cowl failure and departure from the airplane. "The departure of the inlet may cause fuselage and/or window damage, potentially resulting in decompression and hazard to window-seated passengers aft of the wing and/or impact damage to the wing, flight control surfaces, and/or empennage, which could result in loss of control of the airplane," the communication said. In June, the FAA received a report indicating that flight testing and analysis revealed that the use of EAI in dry air for more than five minutes during certain combinations of altitude, total air temperature, and N1 settings can result in engine inlet cowl temperatures exceeding design limits when not in visible moisture. "Excessive heat buildup can cause overheat of the engine inlet inner barrel beyond the material design limit, resulting in failure of the engine inlet inner barrel and severe engine inlet cowl damage. There have been no reports of in-service failures of the engine inlet inner barrel to date," the FAA said. After nearly two-and-a-half years, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) lifted the ban on commercial operations of 737 MAX planes in India on August 26, 2021. All 737 MAX planes were grounded in the country on March 13, 2019 following two fatal crashes involving the aircraft. On October 29, 2018, a 737 Max aircraft operated by Lion Air had crashed in Indonesia, killing 180 people. Later, on March 10, 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max plane crashed on March 10 near Addis Ababa that left 157 people dead. BPSC Teacher Recruitment 2023: The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) will release the admit card for school teacher exam 2023 today, August 10. Candidates who registered for the exam will be able to download the BPSC teacher exam admit card 2023 from the official website, bpsc.bih.nic.in. BPSC teacher exam for the recruitment of teachers at primary, secondary, and senior secondary levels in state schools will be held on August 24, 25, and 26. BPSC informed candidates that they will have to upload a passport size photograph by logging in to the dashboard before downloading the admit card. In the admit card, the examination center allotted to the candidate will be entered in the form of code, in which the center code and the name of the district will be mentioned, the commission said. BPSC Teacher Recruitment Exam Admit Card: Here Is How To download Hall Ticket - Visit the official website: bpsc.bih.nic.in. - Open your admit card download link. - Fill in your credentials and login to the page. - Download the admit card and keep its printout saved for future references. Applicants must hereby also note that the commission has asked all eligible applicants to login to their dashboards and upload their passport-size photographs of 25 KB ahead of downloading admit cards. The BPSC Teacher Recruitment Process 2023 started from 15 June and concluded on 12 July 2023. The recruitment drive is being held to fill up almost 1,70,461 teaching vacancies in Bihar. BPSC Teacher Recruitment 2023: Exam Date The BPSC Teacher Exam will be conducted from 24 to 26 August 2023. The examination will be held in two shifts including morning and afternoon. The morning shift will be from 10 am to 12 pm while as the afternoon shift will be conducted from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm. PANAJI: As promised by Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, the state government has shunted an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who has been accused of misbehaving with a woman at a nightclub recently. According to a report forwarded to CM Sawant, the woman was with her partner when the IPS officer in question, A Koan, who was recently been posted to Goa, allegedly touched her inappropriately. The Goa CM had promised to take strict action against the IPS officer in view of the complaint. The incident has come as a major embarrassment for Goa Police following which the state government relieved IPS officer A Koan from the deputy inspector general of police-range post on Wednesday. What Happened At Goa Club? It may be noted that a video clip that showed him getting drunk and allegedly misbehaving with a woman in a pub at Calangute went viral on Tuesday. The video shows an agitated woman arguing with the IPS officer, who was wearing a hat and continued drinking, and the pub's bouncers trying to stop her from approaching him. The IPS officer is also seen lifting his fallen hat from the floor and putting it back. The clip later shows the DIG leaving the pub in an inebriated state, escorted by bouncers to the washroom. The subsequent CCTV camera footage showed that Koan was drunk and could barely walk. Koan Was On Medical leave But Spotted At Club Importantly, Koan was on medical leave from August 1 to 14 and staying at Vasco but he was seen at the pub in Calangute, almost 40km away. "Koan shall report to the director general of police (DGP) Goa with immediate effect," under-secretary (personnel) Nathine Araujo said in the order. Inquiry Against Koan Police initiated an internal inquiry into the incident in the absence of a complaint. Goa Police Chief Jaspal Singh said a report was sent to the chief minister for the government to take further action. He added they came to know about the incident via social media. [It] was verified... based on the circumstances and prima facie it was found to be true. No statements have been recorded yet. Goa CM Promises Strict Action In view of the incident, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the Union Home Ministry has been informed about the IPS officer's conduct. "Remaining decision will be taken by the home ministry," Sawant, who also holds the home portfolio, said. CM Sawant also assured the legislative assembly that "strict action" will be taken against the IPS officer. "We will not tolerate such misbehaviour," Sawant said after GFP MLA Vijai Sardesai mentioned the incident in the House. Sardesai said the officer should be suspended and relieved. "Some of them (officers posted in Goa) behave as if they are here for a picnic, get drunk and misbehave," he said. New Delhi: Amid communal tension in some parts of the state, letters allegedly issued by some panchayat heads in Mahendergarh, Rewari and Jhajjar districts of Haryana have come to light on social media, which bar Muslim traders from their villages, news agency PTI reported. The letters, which are almost similar, refer to the violence in Nuh district on July 31, when a mob attacked a procession of Vishva Hindu Parishad. The violence in Nuh claimed the lives of five people, including two home guards, and a cleric was killed in an assault on a mosque in neighbouring Gurugram as the violence spread. The district authorities said they have noticed the letters online and are probing the matter. The purported letters by sarpanches of some villages said they have decided not to allow the Muslim community and troublemakers to do any business in their villages. It mentions peddlers, cattle traders and beggars. However, many sarpanches in Mahendergarh and Rewari denied having written any such letters mentioning a specific community. Mahendergarh Deputy Commissioner Monika Gupta said no such letters have been submitted to the government officials. We have taken suo motu cognisance of what is going on in the media and are inquiring into the matter, PTI quoted her as saying. She said they have asked for reports from field officers on this issue. Ved Prakash, the sarpanch of Gomla village in Kanina block of Mahendergarh district, said, What I had written was a different matter. It does not name any particular community. He did not give more details. Another sarpanch from Mahendergarh district said to PTI that they are only checking identity credentials of strangers, which he said was a general exercise unrelated to any community. Chimnawas village Sarpanch in Rewari Narender Yadav said, I have not issued any such letter as is being claimed. However, Vikas, the sarpanch of Saidpur in Mahendergarh said he had issued a letter but it was not sent to the SDM, nor was any resolution passed by the village. He did not talk about the contents of the letter. The situation in the village, which has a population of 3,500, was tense after the Nuh incident and any outsider could have faced any untoward incident, Vikas said to PTI. When asked whether the letter had any reference to a particular community, he said, We are not against any community. But after the kind of incident that happened in Nuh, tempers were very high and the letter was issued to prevent any flare-up. He said there is no Muslim population in his village, though members from the community come for work. Jhajjar Deputy Commissioner, Capt Shakti Singh, said some mischief-makers might have used the letter head of any panchayat and circulated that. He said they are investigating it. He said no such letter has been submitted to officials. He said no gram panchayat or anyone else will be permitted to do anything that is unconstitutional or illegal. Meanwhile, officials said 57 FIRs have been registered in connection with the Nuh violence and 188 people arrested so far. They said an FIR was also filed against 11 people for spreading rumours on social media on the violence. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched an all-out attack against the Opposition for bringing the no-confidence motion against his government and said they were not prepared for the discussion. While replying to the no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha, he said they did not allow discussion to take place in Parliament on a number of bills related to the country's development. During his two-hour-long speech, Modi also exuded confidence that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will break records to score a grand win in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The no-confidence motion brought by the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) was defeated by a voice vote. Top quotes from PM Modi's reply to Motion of No-Confidence in Lok Sabha: "What kind of debate you have done on the no-confidence motion? I am seeing on social media, even your 'darbaris (courtiers) are disappointed. This is your condition." "See the fun of this debate, fielding was laid out by the Opposition, but fours and sixes were hit from here (treasury benches). The Opposition is bowling only no-balls in the no-confidence motion." "There are centuries being scored from this side and no-balls being bowled from that side. I would like to tell my Opposition friends 'Why don't they prepare and come'." "When we went to polls in 2019, the people had declared no confidence in them (Opposition) with utmost strength." "No-confidence motion introduced by the Opposition is lucky for the government." "There were many bills that were linked with the fishermen, data, poor, deprived and tribals but the Opposition has no interest in them. This was a betrayal of the expectations of the people. They have proven that for them, the party is above the country." "This time period of the 21st century is a time of fulfilling all our aspirations. Whatever is shaped during this time period will impact the country for the next thousand years. Therefore, we have a huge responsibility and we should have a single focus- development of the country and full dedication to realize the dreams of the countrymen." "Opposition has made an unsuccessful attempt to break the confidence of the people in the garb of No-Confidence Motion." "Opposition's bad language and constant nitpicking works like a 'Kala Tika' (to ward off bad omen)." "All the target institutions of the Opposition's criticism invariably shine. It is the 'Opposition's secret boon'. Whoever they wish bad for, ends up doing well. I am an example." "The opposition does not believe in the capabilities and dedication of the nation." "In 2028, when you will bring a No-Confidence Motion, the country will be among the top 3 largest economies in the world." "The opposition is quick to trust those who speak ill of the country." "Opposition would trust the word of Pakistan over terror attacks and its misadventures on borders but not the valour of Indian armed forces." "In Kashmir, it would not trust the common man in the region but separatists and others carrying Pakistan's flag." "Violence in Manipur is saddening. Crimes against women are unacceptable and the Central Government and the State Government will work to ensure that the guilty are punished. I assure the people of India on the basis of the effort we are making that there will be peace in Manipur in the coming times." "Opposition was never interested in discussing the Manipur situation." "The nation stands by the people of Manipur, the mothers and daughters of Manipur." "The Government will leave no stone unturned so that Manipur gets back on the track of development." "The situation in Manipur is being presented in a way that the conflict arose only recently but the root cause of all issues in Manipur is Congress and its politics." "Manipur is filled with rich Indian culture and heritage. Manipur is the land of innumerable sacrifices." "For us, Sabka Saath Sabka Vishwas is not a slogan but is an article of faith, a commitment." "I assure the people of the country that I will devote every particle of the body and every moment to the service of the countrymen." New Delhi: Opposition MPs staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha on Thursday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi was replying to a debate on the no-confidence motion, complaining that there was no reference to Manipur in the first 90 minutes of his speech. Opposition MPs were seen chanting 'Manipur, Manipur' during the prime minister's reply as they urged him to speak on the ethnic violence in the northeastern state. The parliamentarians of the parties of the opposition bloc INDIA then staged a walkout while the prime minister was speaking. Members of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) also walked out of the House subsequently. Later on in his over-two-hour speech, the prime minister spoke on the situation in Manipur and added the Centre and the state government were making all-out efforts to restore peace there. After the opposition walkout, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, "We asked the PM to address the nation on Manipur. After one hour and 45 minutes (of his speech), he had not mentioned the word Manipur. He was making a purely political speech, there were all the old attacks on Congress party and the opposition, insults, but there were no answers to questions raised by the no-confidence motion." "It was a purely political speech. What was new? What did he tell the nation that we did not know? It lacked the gravitas that we associate with PM, and lacked any substantive reference to the motion of no-confidence," he said. Gaurav Gogoi, who moved the no-confidence motion in the House, said, "This no-confidence motion had two objectives - first, people of Manipur should get justice and second, PM Modi should speak on Manipur issue." "After so long, the nation could see the PM speaking in the House. We forced him to break his silence...But the objective of getting justice for Manipur was not achieved. PM Modi is running away from his responsibility," he said. DMK MP TR Baalu said the opposition was expecting to hear from the prime minister about the situation in Manipur and other parts of the country where incidents of violence have been reported. "He has given a political speech," Baalu added. "The intention of the no-confidence motion was... To hear his response on Manipur and Haryana, and other areas where violence is taking place. We intervened many times but he did not respond," he said. Congress leader Karti Chidambaram said, "The debate on who is the greatest spinner in India's history has been settled. It is the BJP government led by PM Modi." "In 90 minutes, he did not address the issue of the day - Manipur. We brought a no-confidence motion because the PM refused to come to the House and say what the government is doing. It is an insult to all people of Manipur and the integrity of India, that is why we protested and walked out of the House," he said. New Delhi: As we count down the days to the highly anticipated movie, Akelli, the lead actress Nushrratt Bharuccha shared a rather unfortunate incident that happened while shooting for the film. As they shot for an action-packed escape scene, Nushrratt fell hard on the marble floor, making her feel as if she was going to have a head concussion. The pain was so much that he sat right on that spot holding her head, crying for almost half an hour. After getting examined by a doctor, Nushrratt was advised to rest for a couple of days after which she resumed shoot. While recalling what exactly happened, she said, "We were shooting for the scene where I try to escape from captivity from the ISIS. I fell and hit the marble floor and the pain was so hard that I really thought that I've got a concussion and something has been damaged internally. The impact was so bad that for a minute I thought I was gonna die and it was my last moment. I was advised to take it easy for a couple of days and I couldn't wait to get back to shooting. Akelli has truly been a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never forget about in my life." Filmmaker Pranay Meshram directed 'Akelli', an emotional thriller that relates the story of the fight for freedom of a young woman, a production by Ninad Vaidya, Nitin Vaidya, Aparna Padgaonkar, Shashant Shah, and Vicky Sidana of Dashami Studioz. The film is sure to offer a gripping cinematic journey, highlighting themes of bravery, resilience, liberation, and survival. Akelli is set to release on 18th August only in Cinemas! (Bloomberg) -- Proterra Inc., the electric bus maker touted by President Joe Biden that filed for bankruptcy this week, was the recipient of millions of dollars in US Covid-relief government aid. Most Read from Bloomberg The Burlingame, California-based company was awarded a $10 million loan from the Paycheck Protection Program by the Trump administration in 2020 that was forgiven in May 2022, according to a company filing Wednesday. Proterra reported it as a net gain of $10.2 million after interest payments were refunded by the Small Business Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission filing said. The Covid-relief aid came on top of other federal government incentives and support for the electric bus industry more broadly, as well as repeated shout-outs for the company from Biden. Proterra was also widely expected to benefit from new demand for electric buses fostered by last years infrastructure and climate laws, including more than $5 billion earmarked for replacing existing buses with zero-emission models and new tax credits for battery and clean-vehicle manufacturing. The White House and the Small Business Administration didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. An administration official said policies championed by Biden and other Democrats were responsible for an increase in electric-vehicle demand and pointed to a Cox Automotive study that said EV sales hit a record high last quarter. Some 96% of Paycheck Protection Plan loans were forgiven, according to an October report by the SBA. The nearly 20-year-old manufacturer of electric buses and batteries was valued at $1.6 billion when it went public in June 2021 and has drawn praise from Biden who went on a virtual tour of a company facility earlier that year amid White House plans to electrify the nations fleet of transit and school buses. Story continues In February, Biden appointed Proterra Chief Executive Officer Gareth Joyce to the Presidents Export Council. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm served on Proterras board from 2017 until she became secretary and sold her stock in the company in May 2021, providing her with a net capital gain of $1.6 million following criticism from the GOP. Read More: Electric Vehicle Tech Maker Proterra Files for Bankruptcy The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware Monday, saying in a statement it was facing market and macroeconomic headwinds. The company, which said it plans to either recapitalize its businesses or sell them off, has seen its shares plunge 90% since the announcement. A spokesman for Proterra said the loan supported our ability to maintain a full workforce as we navigated the uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In its SEC filing, Proterra said it expected the billions of dollars in funding for electric buses would remain an important factor in our companys growth prospects, but didnt note receiving any funding from either the infrastructure or climate laws directly. --With assistance from Jennifer A. Dlouhy. (Updates with info from Small Business Administration report in fourth graph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. New Delhi: Independence Day is around the corner, and the country is already feeling patriotic. Actress Kiara Advani, who is currently basking in the success of her latest release 'Satyaprem Ki Katha', kickstart the Independence Day celebration by paying a visit to the historic Wagah border. Several photos and videos were shared on the internet showing Kiara waving the Indian tricolour flag in the presence of BSF jawans. The actress donned a beautiful green salwar suit in the few initial hours and changed outfits across the day for different activities. At the location, Kiara also planted trees alongside doing some shooting practice. However, a few netizens were furious to see Kiara struggling to hold the national flag. A few users also lambasted the actress for using the tricolour as a prop while posing for the cameras. One user commented, "She should be standing in attention while holding the national flag. But she is posing." Second user wrote, "Ye kaise patriot h jo shi se jhanda bhi lehra nhi skti bas yha bhi pose marna h madam ko." Third user wrote, "Ye kaise patriot h jo shi se jhanda bhi lehra nhi skti bas yha bhi pose marna h madam ko." Another user wrote, "What are you doing with the flag? I feel bad for our soldiers they have to tolerate this nonsense. One comment read, "She has never held a flag in academic life ...we were taught in school." "Don't allow ppl who don't even know how to hold flag, and its a vety pure place, Photo session chal raha hai," read a comment. Last seen in 'Satyaprem Ki Katha, Kiara is all set to return to Telugu cinema after four years with Ram Charan starrer 'Game Changer'. She is also rumoured to feature in YRF's upcoming action thriller 'War 2' featuring Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR in pivotal roles. On the personal front, the actress tied the knot with her longtime beau and actor Sidharth Malhotra in a dreamy wedding at Jaisalmer's regal Suryagarh Palace in February this year. New Delhi: Amazon India on Thursday said it has cumulatively digitized 62 lakh micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and enabled exports worth USD 8 billion. As part of its 2025 pledge for key focus areas of job creation, exports, and digitizing MSMEs, the company has created 13 lakh direct and indirect jobs out of its pledge to create 2 million (20 lakh) jobs. (Also Read: 10 ChatGPT Ideas That Can Help Students Earn Money) Amazon is well on track to fulfill its pledges, it said. (Also Read: Dreams Are Forever: Tale Of A Peon Who Used To Sleep In A Warehouse Became India's 45th Richest Man With A Net Worth Of Rs 88,000 Crore) In the last year, the company said it has helped create about 1.4 lakh direct and indirect jobs across industries like IT, e-commerce, manufacturing, content creation, and skill development. Started in 2021, Amazon Smbhav Venture fund is a USD 250 million fund focused on startups in technology, agriculture, and health, among others. The fund has invested in startups such as FreshtoHome, Hopscotch, Cashify, smallcase, and MyGlamm in the last 24 months, Amazon said in a statement. New Delhi: Flipkart is on the "same page" with the government on the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2023 which was cleared by Parliament, a senior official of the e-commerce major said on Thursday. Parliament on Wednesday approved the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill that introduces several compliance requirements for the collection and processing of personal data and provisions for up to Rs 250 crore penalty for any data breach. The government expects to implement Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 within 10 months. "Obviously I think this is a very good move. We all are on the same page and as it has just passed we are reviewing it normally for example as I mentioned we have all the data in India. So, this is most important for us. (Also Read: Earn Rs 2 Lakh Monthly: Start The Low-Investment Business Idea That's Changing Lives) "So, we will continue to sort of look at the Bill, read this, and make sure that if there are improvements needed ... We will continue to do that," Flipkart's Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Rajneesh Kumar told PTI on the sidelines of an event here. (Also Read: 10 ChatGPT Ideas That Can Help Students Earn Money) The bill provides for how companies should process users' data. It allows companies to transfer users' data abroad and gives the government power to seek information from firms and issue directions to block content on the advice of a data protection board appointed by the Union government. The government has been in the process of introducing a standalone data protection legislation since 2018. The bill applies to the processing of digital personal data in India, where the personal data is either collected in digital form or in a non-digitized format and subsequently digitized. The bill defines 'personal data' broadly to include any data about an individual who is identifiable or in relation to such data. 'Digital personal data' is defined to mean personal data in digital form. New Delhi: Dell Technologies is the latest major firm to join the layoffs spree. A few days back, the American multinational tech giant announced that the company will resize its sales team, and for this, many employees from the same team will be asked to leave. In mid of these, a former employee of Dell Technologies has shared a moving reflection in the wake of the company's recent layoffs, stressing that "your workplace is not your home." While Dell had been her professional home for years, the former employee who worked there for 8 years emphasized that recent events had served as a reminder that our true homes are not our workplaces. (Also Read: Dreams Are Forever: Tale Of A Peon Who Used To Sleep In A Warehouse Became India's 45th Richest Man With A Net Worth Of Rs 88,000 Crore) The former Dell employee posted the following message on LinkedIn: "My heart goes out to so many close friends who had awful phone calls today. However, please take heart in the fact that neither Dell nor your next workplace will be your home. Let the people you love and those who return your love be in your house". (Also Read: 10 Low Investment Online Business Ideas For Digital Age From Which You Can Make High Profit) "I am at a loss for words tonight to describe how I feel about today. "Dell was my home for almost ten years, and the news that so many people, most without rhyme or reason, are being laid off today serves as a reminder that our home, as I just typed, is neither our company nor our work," she continued. "One of the greats, Dan Coombs, told me many years ago that work isn't just about "loving what you do" - work is about doing what we need to do to bring home the money to do what we love... And those who enjoy their work and have enough money to pursue what they enjoy are doubly blessed (I am fortunate to fall into this category!)". According to a story published by CRN on Tuesday, Dell Technologies is planning to fire members of its key sales team. The company's sales force would lose some of its members, and those affected would receive help from the business during the changeover. It is not yet known if these layoffs are in addition to or a part of the over 6,500 job losses that the company announced earlier in February. "Some of our sales team members will be leaving the organisation. We don't make these choices casually, and we'll help the people affected move on to their next chance. In order to stay competitive and make sure we're set up to provide the best innovation, value, and support to our customers and partners, we're always evaluating our business, a Dell spokeswoman was cited as saying in the story. (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden will host Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for an official visit to the US on Oct. 25, including a state dinner, in the latest sign of close relations between Washington and Canberra. Most Read from Bloomberg Albanese will travel to the US from Oct. 23-26, where he will meet with Biden to discuss further progress on US-Australia agreements around climate change, critical minerals and the AUKUS security partnership. The visit is in part an apology from the US administration for the scrapping of a planned trip to Australia in May due to protracted negotiations in Washington over lifting the debt ceiling. In announcing the cancellation in May, Biden invited Albanese to visit the White House later in 2023. Only three Australian prime ministers have been accorded the honor of a state dinner at the White House since 2000. The last occasion was before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, when then-President Donald Trump held a dinner for former Australian leader Scott Morrison. The two countries announced in July that the US would be expanding its military footprint in Australia over coming years, including more frequent and longer visits of US submarines and collaborating on guided missile production. Albanese is also widely expected to visit China later this year. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. US inflation increased for the first time since June last year US inflation jumped for the first time since June last year as American consumers faced higher housing costs. The consumer prices index rose to 3.2pc in the year to July, up from 3pc the previous month. The figure is lower than the 3.3pc predicted by economists and eases concerns about the potential for more interest rate rises as the US Federal Reserve tries to bring inflation back down to its 2pc target. Importantly, the figure for core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, slowed to 4.7pc in July from 4.8pc in June after a drop in prices of used cars and trucks. A series of interest rate rises have slowed the pace of American price rises from a four-decade high of 9.1pc in June last year. The US Federal Reserve raised interest rates in July to between 5.25pc and 5.5pc. Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics, said: Overall, theres nothing here to suggest the Fed needs to push ahead with further interest rate hikes this year. 06:45 PM BST Signing off Okay thats all from us today. Well be back tomorrow morning with the latest. Until then, Ill leave you with footage of Virgin Galactics first private space tour in a long-awaited milestone for Sir Richard Bransons quest to build a spaceline for Earth. The passengers include 80-year-old Jon Goodwin, a British former Olympian who has Parkinsons Disease, as well as Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers, a mother-daughter pair from the Caribbean who won their seats through a charity prize draw. 06:35 PM BST World faces oil shortfall of 2 million barrels a day, data suggests The world faces an oil shortfall of 2m barrels a day, according to Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) data. Story continues It follows decisions by Russia and Saudi Arabia to extend their unilateral cuts to production aimed at propping up the value of oil, causing prices to surge. Saudi Arabia, which leads the bloc of oil-producing countries, slashed production by 1m barrels per day in July and announced last week that it would extend this cut through September. The cutbacks will leave average oil production at about 27.3m barrels per day for the whole quarter, which is around 2.26m a day less than what consumers need, according to Opec data. This could result in the steepest decline in oil reserves in two years, Bloomberg reported. 06:01 PM BST Lawyers ordered to work from Walkie-Talkie office four days per week A City law firm has ordered staff to work from its Walkie-Talkie office at least four days per week. Vinson & Elkins is planning to change its hybrid working policy, which currently allows employees to work from home two days a week. From September, lawyers and business professionals will be expected to either work from the office between Monday to Thursday or Tuesday to Friday. The change will apply to all of the US firms offices, including its base in Londons skyscraper 20 Fenchurch Street - also known as the Walkie Talkie. The move comes in response to an increase of legal and professional services moving to a four-day model, Above The Law reported. It comes as several other US firms have cracked down on remote working, including Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom. The change will apply to all of the US firms offices, including its base in Londons skyscraper 20 Fenchurch Street - also known as the Walkie Talkie. - Hollie Adams 05:35 PM BST Irn-Bru supplies under threat as factory workers begin strikes Irn-Bru supplies are under threat as factory workers prepare to begin strikes after pay negotiations reach a standstill. Truck and shunter drivers at AG Barrs production and distribution centre in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire begin their 24-hour strike on Friday, said trade union Unite. The workers are essential to the supply of AG Barrs soft drinks, according to Unite. The stoppage is the first of nine strikes planned until October. The union members have also agreed to an overtime ban, which came into effect earlier this week. Unite said that AG Barr has refused to move beyond its previous 5pc pay rise offer, which was rejected by workers. It said: This offer equates to a significant real-terms pay cut with the broader cost of living measurement (RPI) currently standing at 10.7pc. AG Barr was contacted for comment. 05:12 PM BST FTSE 100 closes in the green despite ex-dividend stocks The FTSE 100 has closed 0.41pc higher at 7,618.60, while the domestically-focused FTSE 250 midcap index ended 0.3pc up at 18,993.81. The FTSE 100 underperformed against its European counterparts, with Frances stocks surging 1.52pc and Germanys up 0.91pc. The blue-chip index was weighed down by 10pc of its members which traded without the entitlement of dividends. Banking stocks, for example, fell by 0.34pc as Barclays, NatWest, and HSBC all traded ex-dividend. 04:30 PM BST Founder of Russias Google attacks Kremlins barbaric war on Ukraine The co-founder of one of Russias biggest tech companies has launched a rare attack on Vladimir Putins barbaric invasion of Ukraine. My colleagues Gareth Corfield and Nataliya Vasilyeva have the story: Arkady Volozh, who set up Yandex in 1997, has defied the Kremlin by making an unusually forthright statement to declare he is against the war. Russias invasion of Ukraine is barbaric, and I am categorically against it, said Mr Volozh, who has tried to distance himself from his Russian roots and now lives in Israel. I am horrified about the fate of people in Ukraine many of them my personal friends and relatives whose houses are being bombed every day. His comments make him one of the few Russian businessmen to have risked criticising the war in public. It also pits him against the Kremlin, which has clamped down hard on dissent over the past year and a half. A number of dissidents inside and outside Russia have suffered fatal accidents in mysterious circumstances over the past few years, while high-profile figures inside the country have been jailed on spurious charges. Read on here... The co-founder of one of Russias biggest tech companies has launched a rare attack on Vladimir Putins barbaric invasion of Ukraine - SPUTNIK 03:55 PM BST Aldi cuts cost of dozens of grocery items as supermarket price war heats up Aldi has cut the price of a swathe of household staples, further intensifying a mounting price war between Britains major supermarkets as inflation eases. Senior business reporter Daniel Woolfson has the details: The discounter has reduced the price of more than 30 products, including apples, oranges, peaches, butter and canned food. It is the latest in a series of cuts from the supermarkets, which are scrambling to lower prices amid anger at sky-high grocery bills. The price reductions mean a tub of Flora spread, for instance, has fallen from 2.15 to 1.89, while a pack of tuna chunks in brine has dropped from 2.65 to 2.49. Click here to find out more... Aldi has lowered prices by an average of around 7pc in this latest round of discounts - Peter Byrne 03:31 PM BST Handing over Thats all from me for another day and our resident night owl Adam Mawardi will keep you up to speed from here. The internationally-focused FTSE 100 has gained 0.3pc so far today, moving higher after the latest data from the US delivered no shocks on inflation. Yet overall, as this tweet shows, UK stocks have been trading at a big discount compared to others around the world: The UK equity market discount has now moved to its widest on record vs Rest of the World, after a small reversal in 2021/22. Remarkable to think that prior to the Brexit vote UK equities traded at a valuation premium to the RoW. Higher cost of equity capital for UK plcs is one of pic.twitter.com/KsHU9o8RrF Simon French (@shjfrench) August 10, 2023 03:20 PM BST Fed 'still some distance from cutting rates,' warn analysts After the lower than expected increase in US inflation, money markets are slowly increasing bets on the US Federal Reserve cutting interest rates next year. However, Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, warned that cuts are still a way off. She said: The case is building for the Fed to keep policy rates unchanged in September. Both headline and core inflation are waning and the internals of the CPI print suggest that further deceleration pressures should build over the coming months. Indeed, strong shelter inflation will not be with us forever and will eventually reinforce the disinflation narrative. Yet, while inflation is moving in the right direction, the still-elevated level suggests that the Fed is some distance from cutting rates. Indeed, disinflation is unlikely to be smooth and will require some additional economic pain before the 2% target comes sustainably into view. 03:08 PM BST Germany at risk of gas shortages until 2027 Germany will continue to face a risk of severe gas shortages until early 2027 unless it adds more fuel infrastructure, the countrys storage operators have warned. The country needs more liquefied natural gas terminals, storage capacity or pipeline connections to ensure sufficient supply sooner, INES said. The the association of gas storage system operators said that stockpiles are developing positively for now and are nearly 90pc full, but a cold winter could still put Germanys energy security at risk. INESs head Sebastian Bleschke said: The danger of gas shortages during cold temperatures remains and will continue to accompany us until winter of 2026/2027 unless further infrastructure measures are taken. Europes largest economy was among the hardest hit by Russias curtailment of gas shipments last year. However, it has managed to build up alternative supplies thanks to a combination of mild winter weather and reduced consumption, as well as a rapid build-out of LNG terminals on its coasts. Some of those have faced local opposition. Pipework at the natural gas storage facility operated by INES member Astora in Rehden, Germany - Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg 02:49 PM BST NatWest joins major lenders in cutting mortgage rates NatWest has become the latest lender to announce it will be cutting its mortgage rates as the outlook for the economy improves. The lender will reduce rates by up to 65 basis points on a number of its products from tomorrow, including on two and five-year purchase and remortgage deals. It follows Nationwide, TSB and HSBC, which all lowered rates this week. However, typical mortgage costs remain high, with the average two-year fixed rate standing at 6.83pc and the five-year rate at 6.33pc, according to Moneyfacts. NatWest will cut its mortgage rates on Friday - HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images 02:35 PM BST US markets rise at the opening bell Wall Streets main indexes opened higher after milder-than-feared July consumer prices data fuelled hopes the Federal Reserve could leave interest rates on hold next month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3pc at the open to 35,231.54. The S&P 500 opened higher by 0.4pc at 4,487.16, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7pc to 13,818.25 at the opening bell. 02:20 PM BST Pound rises after US inflation figures The pound has gained as data from the US showed inflation rose in the way economists predicted. The rise to 3.2pc in July was below the 3.3pc forecast and indicates the US Federal Reserve may not need to raise interest rates again at its next meeting in September. It raises the chances that the Bank of England might be alone if it decides to raise interest rates at its next meeting. The pound has risen 0.4pc against the dollar to head in the direction of $1.28. Against the euro, the pound is down 0.1pc to 1.15. 02:14 PM BST Oil price rises will not trigger more Fed rate hikes, say economists The Federal Reserve will not find anything in the latest US inflation figures to indicate it needs to raise interest rates this year, experts have said. Paul Ashworth, chief North America economist at Capital Economics, said that while housing costs had pushed inflation higher to 3.2pc, shelter costs are a lagging indicator and could drop below the pre-pandemic average over the next year. He said that recent rises in the price of oil were also not a concern, adding: Although energy prices increased by a muted 0.1pc month on month in July, the more recent surge in crude oil and gasoline prices will drive a much bigger gain in August. Other that triggering a rebound in airline fares via higher jet fuel prices, we expect the knock-on impact on core prices to be pretty modest, however, particularly with food prices still rising at a more regular pace. Overall, theres nothing here to suggest the Fed needs to push ahead with further interest rate hikes this year. 02:05 PM BST US jobless benefit claims rise The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits jumped last week, but not enough to raise concern about the consistently strong US jobs market. Applications for unemployment benefits rose by 21,000 - the most in five weeks - to 248,000 for the week ending August 5, from 227,000 the week before, the Labor Department reported. The four-week moving average of claims, a less volatile reading, ticked up by 2,750 to 228,250. Jobless claim applications are viewed as broadly representative of the number of layoffs in a given week. Applications for jobless benefits reached a higher level above 260,000 for a few weeks this spring, causing some concern, but then retreated. 01:55 PM BST Underlying inflation falls in US While headline inflation increased, policymakers at the US Federal Reserve will have been relieved to read the latest data on underlying price rises. The increase in core consumer prices index, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, slowed to 4.7pc in July from 4.8pc in June. The figure fell after a second straight monthly drop in prices of used cars and trucks. Although rental costs continued to climb last month, the pace has slowed from January, with a further moderation expected in the second half of this year through 2024. THE JULY CPI REPORT Inflation increased on a year-over-year basis for the first time in 13 months But the details show it's probably a mirage Energy inflation picked up But services inflation ex-rent is still right around 3% This may not force more rate hikes Callie Cox (@callieabost) August 10, 2023 01:51 PM BST US inflation 'will be stuck around 3pc' this year After the increase in US inflation, Wells Fargo senior economist Sam Bullard said: Overall, the trend in inflation is more firmly on a downward path than at the start of the year. While headline inflation has made quick work of getting back to low single digits, the year-over-year pace is likely to get stuck around 3pc through the end of the year. This would keep a sustained return to the Feds target in the distance. 01:40 PM BST Wall Street on track to open higher US stock index futures extended gains after the milder-than-feared July inflation data fuelled hopes that the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its aggressive rate hike cycle. The consumer price index (CPI) for July increased by climbed 3.2pc in July, after rising 3pc in the previous month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is on target to open 0.7pc higher, the S&P 500 is up 0.9pc in premarket trading, and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 1.1pc. 01:34 PM BST US inflation rises to 3.2pc US inflation increased in the year to July to 3.2pc as prices were driven higher by more expensive gasoline. However, core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, fell slightly to 4.7pc from 4.8pc in June. 01:24 PM BST Harbour Energy to sell Vietnam oil fields for 66m Britains biggest oil and gas producer has agreed an $84m (65.8m) deal to sell its business in Vietnam. Harbour Energy will offload its 53pc stake in the Chim Sao and Dua oil fields to Big Energy Joint Stock Company. The Edinburgh-based company aims to complete the deal, which signals its exit from the country, by the end of the year. Chief executive Linda Z Cook said: We are pleased to have reached agreement to sell our business in Vietnam to Big Energy - a growing, local oil and gas player - as we continue to actively manage our portfolio. While Vietnam does not form a core part of our growth strategy going forward, we are proud of the quality of the business we have built, both in terms of the organisation and assets, since our country entry in 2004. 01:05 PM BST Wilko hit by 'perfect storm' of rising rates and prices Wilko collapsed as the retail sector was hit by a perfect storm of rising prices and higher mortgage rates, according to analysts. Tom Davey, director and co-founder at litigation finance broker Factor Risk Management, said many retailers will find the conditions impossible to survive in their current guise following the shock of the pandemic. He expects more high profile companies to restructure and face fire sales, adding: For companies such as Wilko, cheap capital has disappeared and this has led to a noticeable rise in both corporate and personal insolvencies over the past year. These figures are only likely to worsen. The cost of managing inflation will be paid for by individuals and struggling corporates who have survived on cheap credit, and it speaks to the economic climate that has prevailed for the last 15 years that a return to historically more normal interest rates is having, and will continue to have, such a damaging effect on individuals and the high street in particular. Finella Fogarty, a partner at law firm RPC, said that some Wilko stores face permanent closure even if administrators PwC find a buyer. She added the company was yet another casualty of the poor economic climate UK retailers find themselves in as a result of Brexit, Covid and geopolitics, which together have caused a perfect storm of rising interest rates, increased energy bills for retailers, supply chain issues and squeezed customer spending, resulting in an ongoing cost of living crisis. 12:51 PM BST Mortgage arrears rise among homeowners and landlords A growing number of homeowners and landlords fell into arrears with their mortgage in the second quarter of 2023, according to figures from a trade association. UK Finance, which released the figures, said home repossessions are expected to rise, given ongoing cost-of-living challenges. There were 81,900 homeowner mortgages in arrears of 2.5pc or more of the outstanding balance in the second quarter of 2023, which was 7pc higher than in the previous quarter. Within the total, 28,690 homeowners had arrears in the most severe band of more than 10% of the mortgage balance, which was up by 2pc compared with the previous quarter. There were 8,980 buy-to-let mortgages in arrears of 2.5pc or more of the outstanding balance in the second quarter of 2023, 28pc higher than in the previous quarter. Mortgages in arrears accounted for 0.93pc of homeowner mortgages outstanding and 0.44pc of buy-to-let mortgages outstanding in the second quarter of 2023, UK Finance said. Some 610 homeowner mortgaged properties were repossessed in the second quarter of 2023, 19pc fewer than in the previous quarter. And 440 buy-to-let mortgaged properties were repossessed in the second quarter of 2023, which was 7pc more than in the previous quarter. 12:20 PM BST Disney to launch cheaper subscription service with ads in the UK Disney will offer a cheaper version of its streaming subscriptions with advertising as competition in the sector heats up. The Disney+ standard plan with adverts will become available in November following a successful launch in the US. For 4.99 a month, customers will gain access to all of the services content like the Marvel and Star Wars franchises, although they will not be able to download it and only be able to use it across two devices. Existing customers will remain on their current subscription, which will be renamed Disney+ Premium and have access to four devices. However, monthly prices will increase from 7.99 a month to 10.99, with an option to switch down to a new standard plan or the standard with ads plan. Annual premium prices will rise from 79.90 to 109.90. Existing customers who do not want to pay higher bills will need to switch before their next billing cycle starting on or after December 6. The Mandalorian has been a hit on Disney+ 11:54 AM BST Wall Street awaits inflation figures US stock markets have gained in premarket trading but that could all change once US inflation data is published an hour before the opening bell. The consumer prices index for July is expected to show annual inflation climbed to 3.3pc, after rising 3pc in the previous month. Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said: Any bad surprise on the inflation front could revive the Federal Reserve hawks, but we are far from pricing another hike in September just yet. Traders are optimistic the Fed has completed its aggressive interest rate hike campaign, giving 86.5pc odds of no rate hike by the central bank in its September policy meeting, according to CME FedWatch Tool. Initial jobless claims data is also published later in the day, along with remarks from Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Philadelphia President Patrick Harker. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led Wall Street lower on Wednesday, with heavyweight Nvidia falling 4.7pc, followed closely by the other Magnificent Seven megacap stocks that drove this years stock rally. Nasdaq has gained about 31pc this year amid hopes of a soft landing for the US economy in the face of the Feds aggressive interest rate rising cycle and optimism over the scope of artificial intelligence. In premarket trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were up 0.5pc, while the Nasdaq 100 had gained 0.6pc. 11:31 AM BST Savills slumps as China's property market falters Savills shares have plunged to the bottom of the FTSE 250 after it warned that Chinas property market will remain subdued for the rest of the year. The international real estate adviser revealed that group revenues fell 2.5pc to a little over 1bn in the first half of the year amid rising interest rates. Its shares have fallen 8.8pc after it said underlying profit before tax fell 72pc to 16.3m as warned its expectations for the rest of the year had reduced somewhat. Chief executive Mark Ridley said: We are seeing some positive signs in markets such as the UK and continued strength in certain Asia Pacific markets including Japan; in Continental Europe and mainland China we now expect reduced market volumes to continue through much of the year. In many locations we are carrying very strong capital transaction pipelines awaiting the market conditions for launch. In prolonged uncertain conditions, it remains challenging to predict accurately the timing of individual market recoveries. Accordingly, our range of expectations for the year as a whole has reduced somewhat. We do, however, continue to anticipate a significant improvement in volumes of activity through the balance of the year, and into 2024. 11:11 AM BST Wilko was 'ultimate' shop, say sad customers Lots of sadness from shoppers after hearing about Wilkos fall into administration: Genuinely quite sad about Wilko. It's the ultimate "I have no idea where to buy [X], so I'll try there" store. Ryan Hopkins (@ryanhopkins215) August 10, 2023 Sad about Wilko, bought so much stuff in there over the years and still shopped there pretty regularly. When we went to pick up our cat from the rescue we bought all her bits and bobs in Wilko on the way, nice memory Lucy (@pinkluce) August 10, 2023 I am gutted! Going to Wilko of a Saturday has replaced going to clubs in my later life. Love it in there. Not sure how Ill fill that hole. Was 5 minute walk from my house as well Kerry (@kezmodo) August 10, 2023 10:58 AM BST Wilko becomes high street's biggest casualty since interest rate rises began Wilkos collapse is Britains biggest retail casualty since convenience store chain McColls in May last year. McColls was subsequently bought by supermarket group Morrisons. It also becomes the first major retail victim since Britains economy started being hit with 14 consecutive interest rate rises that began December 2021. Shoppers leave a Wilko store in Manchester - Christopher Furlong/Getty Images 10:50 AM BST Wilko faced tough competition from fellow discount chains Wilkos collapse comes as it faced steepening competition from rivals. Senior business reporter Daniel Woolfson sets out some of the context to todays announcement: Wilko has been battling against fellow discounters Home Bargains, Poundland and B&M over recent years. The chain was given a 40m loan from restructuring specialists Hilco UK - the owner of Homebase - in early 2023 to help it recover from supply chain disruptions and a sharp drop in footfall. Chief executive Mark Jackson said the business had made significant savings and had improved its digital offer as it tried to turn its fortunes around over recent months. However, this week it suspended home deliveries to customers as it scrambled to secure a rescue, listing the service as temporarily unavailable and instructing shoppers to order products using click-and-collect instead. 10:39 AM BST 'Its been an honour to have worked alongside you' The boss of Wilko ended his open letter to the discount chains 12,000 staff saying that time has run out after they all fought hard to keep this incredible business intact. He said: Id like to take this opportunity on behalf of the directors and the Wilkinson family to thank all of our customers, suppliers, partners and our hardworking team members across our stores, logistics and support centre who remained loyal to wilko. Weve all fought hard to keep this incredible business intact but must concede that time has run out and now, we must do whats best to preserve as many jobs as possible, for as long as is possible, by working with our appointed administrators. Its been an honour to have worked alongside you all as we fought to realise and to maximise the significant opportunities that existed to re-establish a profitable Wilko. 10:35 AM BST Wilko boss insists turnaround plan attracted 'significant' interest In his open letter to staff, Wilko chief executive Mark Jackson said the companys turnaround plan had attracted a significant level of interest from potential buyers but it could not get a deal done in time to avoid administration. He said: The turnaround plan included a new chair, bringing experience in retail turnaround situations and a newly refreshed and streamlined senior team. Since January and with the help of retail advisers and experts, weve been facing into problems and have seen real progress against many areas of our plan. Significant work has been completed to streamline costs and transform the way the business operates and our robust turnaround plan, based on annualised cost savings would have delivered the most profitable wilko ever recorded within 24-months. While we can confirm we had a significant level of interest, including indicative offers that we believe would meet all our financial criteria to recapitalise the business, without the surety of being able to complete the deal within the necessary time frame and given the cash position, weve been left with no choice but to take this unfortunate action. 10:29 AM BST Wilko plunges into administration putting 12,000 jobs at risk Wilko, the high street discount chain, has plunged into administration, putting 12,000 jobs at risk after it failed to secure a rescue deal. The low-cost retailer, which is privately owned and has about 400 stores, has appointed PwC after potential buyers withdrew their interest in recent days. In an open letter to staff, its chief executive Mark Jackson said: While we can confirm we had a significant level of interest, including indicative offers that we believe would meet all our financial criteria to recapitalise the business, without the surety of being able to complete the deal within the necessary time frame and given the cash position, weve been left with no choice but to take this unfortunate action. The company, which sells everything from stationery to hardware, warned it was at risk of insolvency on August 3 amid mounting cash pressures, and filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators. This gave it 10 working days to find a buyer for or all or part of the business, with a deadline of Aug 17. Mr Jackson added: Weve all fought hard to keep this incredible business intact but must concede that time has run out and now, we must do whats best to preserve as many jobs as possible, for as long as is possible, by working with our appointed administrators. The investment firm Gordon Brothers - the owner of Laura Ashley - is one party understood to have held talks with Wilkos advisers about a potential rescue deal to salvage the business. Wilko was founded in Leicester in 1930 by James Kemsey Wilkinson and his fiancee. It was renamed Wilko in 2014 when Karin Swann, part of the third generation of the family to run the business, sold her stake to her cousin Lisa Wilkinson and her side of the family, which included Tony Wilkinson, the son of founder James. 10:16 AM BST Virgin Galactic to carry first space tourists Virgin Galactic is poised to launch its first private space tourists today in a long-awaited milestone for Sir Richard Bransons quest to build a spaceline for Earth. The suborbital trip will launch from a New Mexico spaceport, capping nearly two decades of development work. The companys second commercial spaceflight allows it to finally begin clearing a backlog of roughly 800 ticket holders who have been waiting for rides to space. Virgin Galactic is competing against Jeff Bezos Blue Origin to sell trips to thrill-seekers looking to shed Earths gravity for a few minutes, the driving reason the company was first created. The passengers include 80-year-old Jon Goodwin, a British former Olympian who has Parkinsons Disease, as well as Keisha Schahaff and Anastatia Mayers, a mother-daughter pair from the Caribbean who won their seats through a charity prize draw. They will be joined by two pilots and a Virgin Galactic support astronaut. Virgin Galactics shares fell 2.3pc to $3.38 on Wednesday in regular trading in New York. Keisha Schahaff, left, and her daughter Anastatia Mayers will become the first mother and daughter in space on the Virgin Galactic trip 10:03 AM BST Wilko home deliveries suspended Wilkos downfall comes a day after it emerged it had suspended home deliveries as it scrambled for a rescue deal. The discount retailers website said that its delivery service is temporarily unavailable, instructing online shoppers to instead order products using click-and-collect. The Wilko website carries a message saying home deliveries are not available - Wilko 09:49 AM BST Wilko poised to announce collapse Wilko is poised to tell thousands of staff this morning that the discount chain has collapsed. The low-cost retailer, which is privately owned and has about 400 stores, is due to enter insolvency proceedings as soon as today unless an unexpected last-minute buyer emerges, according to Bloomberg. Wilko previously appointed advisers at PwC to find new funding but potential buyers withdrew their interest in recent days. It has roughly 12,000 staff. The company, which sells everything from stationery to hardware, warned it was at risk of insolvency on August 3 amid mounting cash pressures. Chief executive Mark Jackson said at the time that Wilko lacked an offer that provides the necessary liquidity. It secured a 40m lifeline from Hilco UK the owner of Homebase at the beginning of this year after it reported supply chain disruptions and a sharp drop in footfall. A spokesperson for Wilko declined to comment. 09:24 AM BST Pound gains ahead of US inflation data The pound has gained against the dollar ahead of the key US inflation report due later. Sterling was up 0.4pc and headed back in the direction of $1.28, even as data from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) showed Britains housing market is in its worst state since the financial crisis. The pound has slipped 0.1pc against the euro, which is worth 86p. 08:56 AM BST FTSE 100 held back by ex-dividend stocks UK stocks inched higher at the open ahead of the big US inflation report later today. However, British indexes lagged a broader rally in Europe after heavyweights including HSBC and Rio Tinto traded without the entitlement of dividends. The FTSE 100 index gained 0.1pc, while the broader European STOXX 600 index rose 0.7pc. The blue-chip British stocks gauge was still on track to extend gains after its biggest daily gain in three weeks on Wednesday. Banks stocks -- Barclays, NatWest, HSBC and Standard Chartered -- were down between 0.3pc and 1.1pc as they traded ex-dividend. Miner stocks fell 0.4pc, with the heaviest drop coming from Rio Tinto, which was down 2.7pc. Spirax-Sarco shares fell 5pc after the firm reported first-half profit and revenue below expectations. A much-awaited US inflation report later will help investors gauge the trajectory of the Federal Reserves policy path. FTSE 250 stocks edged higher by 0.3pc. 08:38 AM BST Persimmon axes jobs as home sales slump Persimmon has cut hundreds of jobs after reporting after revealing its pre-tax profits more than halved as stubbornly high mortgage rates grip the property market. The housebuilder said it reduced headcount by almost 300 in the first half of the year and further reviews are ongoing to cut costs by as much as 25m annually. The FTSE 100 companys shares have gained 1.9pc after it said is also planning to remove certain specifications in homes that are less important to customers, resulting in savings of up to 1,800 per plot. UK households are facing an avalanche of cost pressures triggered by surging mortgages rates and the impact of high inflation. Several of Britains biggest developers have reported downbeat results, with Bellway also warning of job cuts this week in the face of weak demand for new homes. Persimmons home sales dropped to 4,249 in the six months to June, compared with 6,652 in the first half of 2022. Chief executive Dean Finch said: Against a backdrop of higher mortgage rates, the removal of Help to Buy and significant market uncertainty, Persimmon has delivered a robust sales rate. We are on track to deliver profit expectations for the year. Persimmon 08:17 AM BST Gas prices fall back after surge triggered by threat of Australian strikes European natural gas have pulled back after the huge surge triggered by a vote supporting strikes by workers in Australian facilities. Benchmark futures have fallen 4.1pc today after surging 28pc on Wednesday, which was the biggest such move since the early weeks of the Ukraine war in March 2022. Prices gained 49pc at one point. Potential strikes at three major liquefied natural gas facilities in Australia could disrupt about 10pc of global exports of the fuel. If industrial action goes ahead, it could make Asian buyers seek alternative supplies from outside the region, intensifying competition with Europe for the fuel. Zongqiang Luo, senior analyst at Rystad Energy, said: Any such strike could disrupt about half of Australias LNG export capacity and cause many Asian buyers to look elsewhere for their cargoes. This price surge reflects the likelihood of the strike materialising, impacting LNG supplies during the ongoing heat waves, despite the ample gas inventories in Europe. Dutch front-month futures, Europes gas benchmark, slipped below 39 a megawatt-hour in early trading. 08:06 AM BST UK markets edge upwards It has been a tepid start for stock markets in London following the US ban investments into Chinese technologies. The internationally-focused FTSE 100 has risen 0.1pc to 7,592.93 while the FTSE 250 has gained 0.2pc to 18,977.90. 07:51 AM BST Deliveroo orders shrink amid cost-of-living crisis Food delivery firm Deliveroo has increased its full-year earnings expectations despite seeing order numbers shrink further as consumers continue to face cost-of-living pressures. The multinational business saw order numbers fall by 6pc over the latest half year, but food price inflation boosted gross transaction value (GTV) per order, which jumped by a tenth to 24.20 from 22.10. Deliveroo said: Starting last year, high food price inflation in many markets has put pressure on consumer spending power and impacted demand for food delivery. The food delivery giant said it expects its full-year adjusted earnings to be up to 80m and revealed it plans to dish out an extra 250m to shareholders. Deliveroo 07:45 AM BST Entain puts aside 585m for potential bribery penalty Coral and Ladbrokes owner Entain has set aside 585m in case it is fined over an HMRC investigation into potential bribery at its former Turkish business. Entain said it has taken the provision as it continues negotiations with the Crown Prosecution Service following the four-year inquiry. The company had previously flagged that it might face a substantial financial penalty because of conduct at its former subsidiary in Turkey. Authorities started investigating the firms suppliers in 2019, and a year later started to look at the GVC Group, which subsequently rebranded as Entain. Entain sold the Turkish subsidiary in 2017, before the investigation started. Chairman Barry Gibson said: We are pleased to be making good progress towards drawing a line under this historical issue, which relates to a business that was sold by a former management team of the group nearly six years ago. We have been working closely with the CPS throughout this process, and they have recognised our extensive co-operation. Following a complete overhaul of our business model, strategy and culture in the last few years, the Entain of today bears no resemblance to the GVC of yesterday. Entain has set aside 585m for a potential penalty - Matt Alexander/PA Wire 07:33 AM BST Biden's ban on US investment in Chinese tech sparks slump in Asian shares Joe Biden has announced a ban on US investments into sensitive high-tech areas in China in a move branded as anti-globalisation by Beijing. The President signed an executive order on Wednesday blocking and regulating any US financial backing for advanced computer chips, quantum computing and artificial intelligence in the worlds second largest economy. The long-anticipated rules are expected to be implemented next year. Rishi Sunak is understood to be considering a similar ban, after promising Mr Biden during a visit to the White House in June that Britain would respond effectively to the risk that British capital and expertise could help rival countries develop a military or intelligence threat. The Prime Ministers spokesman said: The UK will consider these new measures closely as we continue to assess potential national security risks attached to some investments. Mr Biden said in a letter to Congressional leaders: The commitment of the United States to open investment is a cornerstone of our economic policy and provides the United States with substantial benefits. However, certain United States investments may accelerate and increase the success of the development of sensitive technologies and products in countries that develop them to counter United States and allied capabilities. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce responded in a statement early Thursday that it has serious concern about the order and reserves the right to take measures. Asian shares responded with falls overnight, with stocks in Hong Kong down 1pc and the Shanghai Composite down 0.2pc. Joe Biden has signed an executive order banning US investments in some Chinese tech sectors like quantum computing and AI - REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst 07:25 AM BST Good morning President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday to block and regulate high-tech US investments going toward China, reflecting an intensifying competition between the worlds two biggest powers. The order covers advanced computer chips, micro electronics, quantum information technologies and artificial intelligence. 5 things to start your day 1) Disney raises price of streaming service as Iger cuts costs | It comes as Disney+ continues to lose paying subscribers 2) The Ozempic-killers already delivering fat profits | A booming weight-loss drug market has investors scrambling for a piece of the action 3) Bristol microplastics start-up backed by Leonardo DiCaprio | Hollywood stars invest in UK company that filters toxic particles from washing machines 4) Families will holiday in Poland instead of scorching southern Europe, Tui boss says | Climate change could force holidaymakers to seek new getaway locations 5) Thames Water turnaround in doubt, warns Fitch | Further doubt has been cast over the future of Thames Water after Fitch warned the troubled suppliers turnaround plan was high risk. What happened overnight Asian stocks broadly fell, hovering close to a one-month low, after Joe Biden announced a US ban on investments in sensitive technologies in China. MSCIs broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.6pc and looked set to log a second straight week of losses with markets still reeling from the worlds second largest economy slipping into deflation. Chinas blue-chip CSI 300 Index fell 0.5pc and the Shanghai Composite Index eased 0.2pc, while Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index retreated nearly 1pc. Wall Street stocks slipped on Wednesday, as traders braced for the highly anticipated report on US inflation released later today. The S&P 500 fell 0.7pc to 4,467.71 for its sixth drop in the last seven trading sessions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.5pc to 35,123.36, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite sank 1.2pc to 13,722.02. In the bond market, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.00pc from 4.03pc late Tuesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which moves more on expectations for action by the Fed, rose to 4.80pc from 4.76pc. 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. Bitcoin and Ether fell during Thursday afternoon trading in Hong Kong, along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. With a lack of positive news catalysts, Bitcoin could fall to the US$28,500 support level, but US$27,500 is also on the table, industry experts told Forkast. See related article: Weekly Market Wrap: Bitcoin plunges under US$30,000 amid market turbulence. Is US$27,000 next? Bitcoin, Ether fall along with all top 10 cryptos except TRX Bitcoin was little changed during afternoon trading in Asia, trading at US$29,485 as of 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong after it briefly rallied to US$30,057 during yesterdays session. Bitcoin and the broader crypto index generally broke lower in recent days. Bitcoin fell precipitously before rebounding back over US$29,000 but continues to get rejected at the US$30,000 level, Lucas Kiely, chief investment officer of digital asset platform Yield App, told Forkast. We seem to be moving further away from those levels, which indicates Bitcoin could move lower. US$28,5000 works as a key support level here. If Bitcoin falls below that price, it would likely fall to approximately US$27,500. In the wider crypto market, Ether fell 0.32% during afternoon trading in Asia to US$1,850, remaining below the US$1,900 support level since July 23. The XRP token was the days biggest loser in the top 10, falling 2.4% in the past 24 hours to US$0.6262, followed by Solanas SOL token, down 1.26% to US$24.29. All other top 10 cryptocurrencies fell in the past 24 hours, except Trons TRX that rose 0.15% to US$0.07684. Total crypto market capitalization over the past 24 hours fell 0.85% to US$1.17 trillion while market volume decreased 23.42% to US$30.91 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data. DraftKings falls to days second-largest NFT collection by sales volume The Forkast 500 NFT index fell 1.21% to 2,496.92 points in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong and rose 0.73% during the week. Story continues Bitcoins 24-hour non-fungible token sales recovered after three consecutive days of declines, gaining 7.97% to US$308,469 with the network rising to the seventh largest blockchain by 24-hour NFT sales volume, according to CryptoSlam. Polygon-native NFT collection DraftKings remained the second-largest collection by 24-hour sales volume, but fell 71.14% to US$1.3 million, as Polygon remained the second-largest network by 24-hour sales volume, with NFT sales on the network down 56.88% to US$2.3 million. Mirroring the sales decrease, the Forkast Pol NFT Composite fell 0.97% in the past 24 hours. BL2VAXtkbMoMKSberxHgisZl4tA41h89He0VD0Z9bj1Ligk9HgPOSrgyGUbsYDUEAd522W [DraftKings] are being driven by fantasy football packs in the Reinmakers series. Packs range from US$20 US$9,999, and some with supplies of over 50k packs. You can see how with brands like DraftKings and NFL, and prices like that, how they can rack up millions of dollars in sales in a day, said Yehudah Petscher, NFT strategist for Forkast Labs. Ethereums 24-hour NFT sales rose 2.02% to US$9.26 million, while sales for the largest Ethereum-native NFT collection, the Bored Ape Yacht Club, rose 71.64% to US$1.34 million. DeGods rose 54.74% to US$738,121, becoming the third-largest collection by 24-hour sales volume across all blockchains, after the collection announced the beginning of season 3 today, which will introduce female DeGods NFTs, get rid of unpopular NFT traits and offering DeGods holders four generative art pieces. Among Forkast Labs NFT indexes, the Forkast POL NFT Composite and the Forkast CAR NFT Composite were the only ones in the red for the day. Asian equities recover, U.S. stock futures rise ahead of CPI Image: elements.envato Major Asian equities recovered after yesterdays slump, with Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index, Japans Nikkei 225, the Shenzhen Component and the Shanghai Composite all posting gains. Investors worldwide now look forward to the release of U.S. consumer price index data for July, scheduled for tomorrow, to gauge the Feds future monetary policy decisions. Bloomberg analysts expect the core CPI to rise 0.2% in July, which would be the smallest monthly increase in the past two and a half years. Ahead of the inflation numbers, U.S. stock futures rose for a second consecutive day on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures, the S&P 500 futures index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 futures all rising higher. Over in Europe, equities rose for a second consecutive day, with the DAX 40 up 0.4% and the pan-European Stoxx 600 index up 0.38%. On the corporate front, investors are anticipating earnings from companies like Alibaba Group, Brookfield Corporation, Wheaton Precious Metals and Ralph Lauren corporation. See related article: Standard Chartereds great expectations for Bitcoin in 2024 Updates with equities LONDON BlackRock has unveiled Europes first fixed maturity corporate bond ETFs. The four-strong ETF range will offer exposure to investment-grade corporate bonds across various countries and sectors, all with a defined individual maturity. The two fixed maturity dates are December 2026 and 2028, respectively, with the option of US dollar- or euro-denominated debt. The four new BlackRock ETFs are: iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term $ Corp UCITS ETF (ID26) iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Corp UCITS ETF (IB26) iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term $ Corp UCITS ETF (ID28) iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corp UCITS ETF (IB28) ID26 and ID28 are listed on the London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Boerse and Euronext Paris while IB26 and IB28 are listed on Deutsche Boerse, all with total expense ratios (TERs) of 0.12%. IB26 and IB28 currently have yields to maturity of 3.97% while ID26 and ID28 have yields of 5.30% and 5.26%, respectively, as at 4 August. The range will track respective Bloomberg indices which implement an ESG screen meaning the ETFs are classified as Article 8 under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). BlackRock said investors will now be able to access corporate bonds with specific maturities while benefitting from the diversification, transparency and liquidity benefits of ETFs. Brett Pybus, global co-head of iShares fixed income ETFs at BlackRock, said: iBonds ETFs are designed to mature like a bond, trade like a stock and diversify like a fund, all in a cost-efficient and transparent ETF wrapper. The fixed maturity nature of iBonds ETFs aims to offer investors clarity into their yield expectations and investment horizon. Bond ETFs are increasingly being used as an alternative to picking individual bonds which can be costly for investors. Nick Gendron, global head of fixed income indices at Bloomberg, added: The need for fixed maturity indices has been proven through many different market cycles. We are proud to have been selected by BlackRock to provide benchmarks for these four new corporate bond ETFs in Europe that initially focus on both three and five-year maturities." Story continues The worlds largest asset manager launched the first iBonds ETF in the US in 2010 with the range seeing a combined $13.3bn inflows in 2022 and 2023 alone, as at the end of July. Demand for fixed income has been strong this year. According to data from Morningstar, fixed income ETFs in Europe saw a record 31bn inflows in H1 as investors looked to take advantage of the significant spike in yields towards the end of last year. BlackRock currently dominates the fixed income ETF market in Europe with a 58.3% market share, as at the end of June, according to Morningstar. In July, AXA Investment Managers entered fixed income ETFs with the launch of an active strategy offering exposure to euro corporate bonds linked to the Paris-Aligned Benchmark (PAB), the AXA IM Euro Credit PAB UCITS ETF (AIPE). [This article originally appeared on ETF Stream.] Permalink | Copyright 2023 etf.com. All rights reserved By Paul Sandle and Martin Coulter LONDON (Reuters) -Britain has chosen tech expert Matt Clifford and former senior diplomat Jonathan Black to lead preparations for its global summit on artificial intelligence (AI) this year. The two will rally political leaders, AI companies and experts ahead of the event this autumn, the government said on Thursday. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in June pitched Britain as a possible global leader in guardianship of safety of the fast-developing technology, saying he wanted the country to be both the intellectual and geographical home of AI regulation. Clifford, co-founder and CEO of investment firm Entrepreneur First, told Reuters he hoped the summit would set the tone for future international debates on AI regulation. You can think of this as a genuine summit - where there will be really crunchy discussions happening - to try to agree on a shared understanding of the risks, and as a platform for working together on mitigating them, he said. Citing the success of London-based DeepMind, Clifford said the UKs credentials to be a world leader in AI were very clear. But this is not about saying the UK has the one right approach that we want all countries to adopt," he said. "There are going to be many areas of AI policy where each country needs to adopt whatever works best for them. Governments around the world are wrestling with how to control the potential negative consequences of AI without stifling innovation. Sunak's government has yet to name a specific date for the event or set out who is likely to attend. The European Union has taken a lead with its proposed AI Act, which it hopes will become a global benchmark for the booming technology. Other countries, however, favour a wait-and-see approach or are leaning towards a more flexible regulatory regime. Britain has opted to split regulatory responsibility for AI between those bodies that oversee competition, human rights and health and safety, rather than creating a new body dedicated to the technology. Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) economies, comprising Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, the United States and the European Union, in May called for adoption of standards to create trustworthy AI and to set up a ministerial forum dubbed the Hiroshima AI process. (Reporting by Paul Sandle and Martin CoulterEditing by Sharon Singleton and David Goodman) Business appears to be booming in Alachua County as of late, with several notable openings with major retailers. Here is a roundup of some of the biggest business news happening in the region: Publix closes on Newberry property Publix is officially coming to Newberry. Though previously announced, records from the Alachua County Property Appraisers website show Real Subs LLC, doing business as Publix Super Markets, closed on July 31 on the property at 101 NW 242nd St. in Newberry. Hitchcock's is currently the only grocery store in the town. Publix purchased the 9-acre property from Hammock Oaks Properties LLC for $2 million. The deal was brokered by Teresa Hoffman of Bosshardt Realty Services. The projected 54,000-square-foot store has a target opening date of June 2024. A new Publix grocery store is coming to Newberry in 2024 at 101 NW 242nd St. Business news: Gainesville-based Infotech breaks software, consulting divisions into different companies Good eats: Gainesville lunch, custard staple now open for business at new location Hospital names new chief medical officer HCA Florida North Florida Hospital announced Tuesday the appointment of a new chief medical officer for the hospital, its outpatient centers and three free-standing emergency rooms. Sherrie Somers previously served as the CMO for two years at HCA Healthcares Rapides Regional Medical Center in Alexandria, Louisiana. Our hospital is known for having a culture of providing safe, high-quality patient care to the North Central Florida community, and I believe that Dr. Somers commitment to excellence will help us continue to build upon that tradition, said hospital CEO Eric Lawson in a news release. Somers replaces Sean Benoit, who left in June to take the same position at HCA Florida Kendall Hospital in Miami. J.Crew Factory now open, Warby Parker coming soon Clothing store J.Crew Factory opened in June in Butler Plaza in the Target and and Publix shopping center at 3910 SW Archer Road. The store offers clothes and accessories for women, men and kids. Story continues We couldnt be more thrilled to be a part of this community, says Jody Gietl, head of J.CrewFactory, in a news release. Were looking forward to offering families great styles for every occasion, all atcompelling prices. The store is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Butler Enterprises also recently announced plans for a new Warby Parker, which offers eyewear and vision care, near Sephora at 3630 SW 32nd Ct., in the Butler Town Center. The store will offer eye exams and carry their full optical and sun eyewear offerings, their brand of daily contact lenses Scout by Warby Parker as well as third-party contacts, and more, the press release said. The store will open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Business new in Gainesville and Alachua County August 2023 Key Insights Cochlear's estimated fair value is AU$176 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity Current share price of AU$233 suggests Cochlear is potentially 33% overvalued The AU$227 analyst price target for COH is 29% more than our estimate of fair value In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of Cochlear Limited (ASX:COH) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. We will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model on this occasion. There's really not all that much to it, even though it might appear quite complex. Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model. Check out our latest analysis for Cochlear Step By Step Through The Calculation We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF (A$, Millions) AU$276.8m AU$345.6m AU$375.1m AU$423.0m AU$499.5m AU$545.9m AU$584.7m AU$617.3m AU$645.1m AU$669.3m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x7 Analyst x7 Analyst x4 Analyst x4 Analyst x2 Est @ 9.29% Est @ 7.10% Est @ 5.58% Est @ 4.51% Est @ 3.76% Present Value (A$, Millions) Discounted @ 6.5% AU$260 AU$305 AU$311 AU$329 AU$365 AU$374 AU$376 AU$373 AU$366 AU$357 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = AU$3.4b Story continues The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (2.0%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 6.5%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033 (1 + g) (r g) = AU$669m (1 + 2.0%) (6.5% 2.0%) = AU$15b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= AU$15b ( 1 + 6.5%)10= AU$8.1b The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is AU$12b. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of AU$233, the company appears reasonably expensive at the time of writing. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent. dcf Important Assumptions Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Cochlear as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 6.5%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.896. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for Cochlear Strength Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry. Debt is not viewed as a risk. Weakness Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Medical Equipment market. Expensive based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value. Opportunity Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the Australian market. Threat Revenue is forecast to grow slower than 20% per year. Next Steps: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. Can we work out why the company is trading at a premium to intrinsic value? For Cochlear, there are three relevant elements you should explore: Financial Health: Does COH have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk. Future Earnings: How does COH's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Australian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA) last week reported its latest full-year results, which makes it a good time for investors to dive in and see if the business is performing in line with expectations. The result was fairly weak overall, with revenues of AU$26b being 2.5% less than what the analysts had been modelling. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. With this in mind, we've gathered the latest statutory forecasts to see what the analysts are expecting for next year. View our latest analysis for Commonwealth Bank of Australia Following the latest results, Commonwealth Bank of Australia's 15 analysts are now forecasting revenues of AU$27.2b in 2024. This would be an okay 2.8% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are forecast to decrease 5.3% to AU$5.76 in the same period. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of AU$27.2b and earnings per share (EPS) of AU$5.74 in 2024. The consensus analysts don't seem to have seen anything in these results that would have changed their view on the business, given there's been no major change to their estimates. There were no changes to revenue or earnings estimates or the price target of AU$90.59, suggesting that the company has met expectations in its recent result. There's another way to think about price targets though, and that's to look at the range of price targets put forward by analysts, because a wide range of estimates could suggest a diverse view on possible outcomes for the business. The most optimistic Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst has a price target of AU$105 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at AU$80.00. Even so, with a relatively close grouping of estimates, it looks like the analysts are quite confident in their valuations, suggesting Commonwealth Bank of Australia is an easy business to forecast or the the analysts are all using similar assumptions. Story continues Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. We would highlight that Commonwealth Bank of Australia's revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 2.8% annualised growth rate until the end of 2024 being well below the historical 3.5% p.a. growth over the last five years. Juxtapose this against the other companies in the industry with analyst coverage, which are forecast to grow their revenues (in aggregate) 2.9% annually. So it's pretty clear that, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia's revenue growth is expected to slow, it's expected to grow roughly in line with the industry. The Bottom Line The most obvious conclusion is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with the analysts holding their earnings forecasts steady, in line with previous estimates. They also reconfirmed their revenue estimates, with the company predicted to grow at about the same rate as the wider industry. There was no real change to the consensus price target, suggesting that the intrinsic value of the business has not undergone any major changes with the latest estimates. With that in mind, we wouldn't be too quick to come to a conclusion on Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Long-term earnings power is much more important than next year's profits. We have estimates - from multiple Commonwealth Bank of Australia analysts - going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here. However, before you get too enthused, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Commonwealth Bank of Australia that you should be aware of. 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. Dassault Aviation Second tranche of 18 Rafale for Indonesia enters into the order backlog (Saint-Cloud, France, August 10, 2023) As part of the contract signed by Indonesia on February 2022 for the acquisition of 42 Rafale, the second tranche of 18 Rafale came into force today. This follows the entry into force in September 2022 of the first tranche of 6 Rafale, bringing the total number of aircraft on order to 24. The acquisition of the latest-generation Rafale for the Tentara Nasional Indonesia Angkatan Udara (Indonesian National Army Air Force) includes a complete "turnkey" solution as well as a substantial industrial return for the Indonesian aeronautical sector. Educational projects will also be launched as part of the technical training of aeronautical know-how. The "omnirole" Rafale is a unique asset that will ensure Indonesia's sovereignty and operational independence and reinforce its role as a major regional power. "This new step consolidates the beginning of a long-term partnership with the Indonesian authorities, whom I would like to thank once again for their confidence. It testifies to the strategic link that unites Indonesia and France, and will be reflected in the growing presence of Dassault Aviation in the country", said Eric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation. * * * ABOUT DASSAULT AVIATION: With over 10,000 military and civil aircraft (including 2,700 Falcons) delivered in more than 90 countries over the last century, Dassault Aviation has built up expertise recognized worldwide in the design, development, sale and support of all types of aircraft, ranging from the Rafale fighter, to the high-end Falcon family of business jets, military drones and space systems. In 2022, Dassault Aviation reported revenues of 6.9 billion. The company has 12,700 employees. dassault-aviation.com PRESS CONTACTS: Corporate Communications Stephane Fort - Tel.: +33 (0)1 47 11 86 90 - stephane.fort@dassault-aviation.com Mathieu Durand - Tel.: +33 (0)1 47 11 85 88 - mathieu.durand@dassault-aviation.com Story continues Defense Communication Nathalie Bakhos - Tel.: +33 (0)1 47 11 84 12 - nathalie-beatrice.bakhos@dassault-aviation.com HD photos: mediaprophoto.dassault-aviation.com HD videos: mediaprovideo.dassault-aviation.com Attachment ReportLinker The Data Center Generator Market size is expected to grow from USD 4.98 billion in 2023 to USD 6.46 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 5.35% during the forecast period (2023-2028). Data centers are at significant risk of experiencing operational losses owing to power outages caused by utility grid failures, rolling blackouts, bad weather, natural or artificial calamities, or electrical breakdown. New York, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Data Center Generator Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2023 - 2028)" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484297/?utm_source=GNW The Data Center Generator Market size is expected to grow from USD 4.98 billion in 2023 to USD 6.46 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 5.35% during the forecast period (2023-2028). Data centers are at significant risk of experiencing operational losses owing to power outages caused by utility grid failures, rolling blackouts, bad weather, natural or artificial calamities, or electrical breakdown. Systems and components used in data centers are expected to operate nonstop. They require dependable, uninterrupted power seven days a week, creating a demand for the Data Center Generator Market. Key Highlights Due to developments in generator technology, natural gas generators are a desired solution to supply continuous power and get closer to corporate sustainability targets. Additionally, these fuels are abundantly available and more economical than diesel. Renewable natural gas is still another low-emission option that is more environmentally responsible because it may be continuously obtained from waste, livestock operations, and wastewater treatment facilities, which will drive the adoption of gas generators in the future. The majority of data center operators prefer diesel generators as the primary and most widely used option for backup energy for critical systems due to the requirement that an emergency power supply system (EPSS) operate for 120 minutes or longer (typically requiring onsite fuel storage), which is creating a demand for the Data Center generator market worldwide. Many colocation service providers have raised data center production due to the growing demand for edge data centers worldwide. For example, in October last year, Amazon applied for an emission license with Irelands Environmental Protection Agency to build 105 diesel generators at its new Dublin data center facility. The rising power cost is predicted to hurt the market. Accelerating the trend of utilizing fuel cells as a power backup due to the enormous costs of generators might also cause restraint in the market growth. Additionally, the future of diesel as a backup power source for data centers appears to be one of tighter usage restrictions, more stringent tax policies, permitting, lower emissions targets, better air quality requirements, and noise laws, which could be a challenge for the market growth due to the significant market share of diesel-based generators. The COVID-19 pandemic has spotted the importance of data centers and cloud computing. During the early phases of the crisis, the data center industry served as the safety net for the global economy, which significantly increased the adoption of online services by businesses. Thus, with an increase of Data Centers, the demand for DC generators has increased due to their importance in continuous power supply to the DCs. Data Center Generator Market Trends Diesel type of Generators is Dominating the Market Diesel generators are the data centers most common type of backup power. The use of diesel generators is widespread in data centers and other critical facilities as they have a well-understood maintenance record, and it is easy to find repair experts. Customer satisfaction for data center customers is relatively high because of the companys diesel generators time-tested capacity to achieve 100% load acceptance with superior controls. IT service companies around the globe are adopting cloud strategy in their business and transforming their services to be hosted in the cloud. This transformation is driving the Datacentre market and indirectly fuelling the diesel generator for DCs, because of its suitability in Tier 4 DCs, which are required by large enterprises with mission-critical servers that must be operated continuously. Many countries worldwide are developing DCs to increase their cloud infrastructures. For instance, Thailands mobile data service sector has witnessed rapid growth in recent years. At the core of this industry is Advanced Info Service (AIS), the prominent mobile operator in Thailand. As the countrys mobile operator, AIS is committed to providing uninterrupted service to its customers, even during a utility outage. An AIS subsidiary, Fax Lite Co. Ltd. owns the Tellus Data Center, which houses AIS mobile switching facilities. This data center was designed to comply with Tier 3 requirements to ensure minimal planned and unplanned downtime. To support the high availability requirements, Fax Lite Co. Ltd needed to implement reliable standby power to ensure uninterrupted critical load during an outage. Fax Lite Co. Ltd. considered various vendors based on the following criteria: cost competitiveness, product reliability, and excellent customer support. Cummins was selected as the vendor of choice based on its capabilities in designing, integrating, and commissioning dependable power systems. AIS purchased 12 units of Cummins generator sets for mobile-switching facilities. Cummins supplied 12 MW of standby power with eight teams of diesel-powered generator sets C1675 D5A, integrated with a PowerCommand 3.3 control system and two units of PowerCommand Digital Master Control (DMC) 1000. Asia Pacific is Registering a Significant Market Growth The increasing investments by global and regional facility operators and the rising adoption of public cloud and hybrid cloud services are the primary factors attributing to the growth of the Data Center Generator Market in the APAC region. AWS, Google, Baidu, Alibaba, Microsoft, and Apple are the largest investors in the APAC market. The deployment of edge computing locations across many nations, particularly India and China, will support APACs growth during the forecast period. The presence of influential companies, such as Caterpillar Inc. and Cummins, Inc., has positively influenced the regional markets growth. Determinants, such as advanced technology advancement and information about the same, are also anticipated to influence the market positively. The region is witnessing progress in the investment menus in building green DCs in the region, which would create a demand for renewable source generators such as hydrogen fuel generators for Data centers in the region. For instance, in August last year, the first green data center builder in Asia, Empyrion DC, announced the construction of a 40MW green data center in Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea. Intending to invest up to USD 400 million in the region, Empyrion DC and a local promoter entered into a legally binding agreement to buy 100% of the development rights. Additionally, Equinix, a DC infra company, is considering using hydrogen as a green fuel source in the companys data centers in Singapore. The company would use Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells and fuel-flexible linear generator technologies with the collaboration of the Centre for Energy Research & Technology to create sustainable electricity sources for the generators that supply emergency power during utility outages is a crucial component of that transformation in Singapore, which would drive the DC generator market in the region. Data Center Generator Industry Overview Data Center Generator Market is dominated by a small number of major players and is highly consolidated. Companies make an effort to modify their product lines to reflect improvements in quality and technological advancements, such as intelligent digital controls and bi-fuel technology in generators. Caterpillar Inc., Cummins Inc., Generac Holdings Inc., Kinolt (Euro-Diesel SA), and Hitec Power Protection BV are some of the top businesses in the sector. These large companies, which account for a sizeable portion of the market, are focusing on expanding their clientele abroad. To enhance their market share and profitability, these companies are collaborating strategically. November 2022 - Kohler Power Systems officially opened an advanced production expansion to its present North American generator manufacturing location in Wisconsin, United States. The manufacturing increase would help Kohler expand in critical strategic industries like data centers. October 2022 - Belgian data center company LCL has used hydrotreated vegetable oil to replace diesel in its backup generators. The business announced that LCL Brussels-West in Aalst, where it just invested in 6 new 2.25 MVA generators, would be the first location to use biodiesel. The plant has eight backup generators, including two 1MW older types and six new HVO generators. This fuel transformation from diesel to other renewable sources allows DC generator manufacturers to develop advanced products. June 2022 - Microsoft would integrate a microgrid at a new data center in San Jose, California, which would run its emergency backup generators on renewable natural gas rather than diesel fuel. The project would enable Microsoft to eliminate diesel fuel from its data center operations by 2030. This initiative improves the resilience of its data center, moves Microsoft closer to ending its reliance on petroleum-based diesel, and creates an opportunity for natural gas-based generators in the market. Additional Benefits: The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format 3 months of analyst support Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06484297/?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. __________________________ Story continues CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 A developer wants to build a cluster of homes in the area of 790 Salisbury St., seen from above on Thursday. WORCESTER A Southborough developer plans to build 50 detached single-family homes on Salisbury Street property that a condominium community plans to convey. Developer Kendall Homes Inc. has submitted plans to build a cluster development of homes at 790 Salisbury St. According to documents submitted to the city, the current property owner, Salisbury Green Condominium Trust, plans to convey 18.3 of its 33.6 acres to the developer for the project. In addition to the construction of 50 two-story dwellings, the developer plans to build cul-de-sacs to serve the dwellings. Salisbury Green currently hosts 94 single-family attached units in 13 townhouse buildings and one single-family detached unit in a clubhouse. The condominium trust planned to build a total of 39 townhouses and 229 attached dwelling units in the 1980s. However, construction had stalled, leaving partially completed foundations and large clearings on the property, according to city documents. The entrance to the Salisbury Green condominium complex on Salisbury Street. The proposed development would partially be in the unfinished construction area and would allow for open space on the site. The single-family dwellings would have approximately three bedrooms per units for a total of 150 bedrooms in the development. The definitive site plan was scheduled to go before the Planning Board on Wednesday night, but it was postponed to Aug. 30. This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Kendall Homes proposes 50 new homes on Salisbury St. in Worcester. Key Insights Halma's estimated fair value is UK16.26 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity Halma's UK21.38 share price signals that it might be 31% overvalued Analyst price target for HLMA is UK23.74, which is 46% above our fair value estimate Does the August share price for Halma plc (LON:HLMA) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. One way to achieve this is by employing the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple! Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model. Check out our latest analysis for Halma Step By Step Through The Calculation We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF (, Millions) UK290.5m UK313.0m UK335.2m UK392.0m UK420.6m UK443.8m UK462.8m UK478.6m UK492.0m UK503.6m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x7 Analyst x8 Analyst x7 Analyst x1 Est @ 7.29% Est @ 5.52% Est @ 4.28% Est @ 3.41% Est @ 2.80% Est @ 2.37% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 8.1% UK269 UK268 UK265 UK287 UK285 UK278 UK268 UK257 UK244 UK231 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = UK2.7b Story continues We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 1.4%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 8.1%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033 (1 + g) (r g) = UK504m (1 + 1.4%) (8.1% 1.4%) = UK7.6b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= UK7.6b ( 1 + 8.1%)10= UK3.5b The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is UK6.1b. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of UK21.4, the company appears potentially overvalued at the time of writing. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out. dcf The Assumptions The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Halma as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 8.1%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.137. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for Halma Strength Debt is not viewed as a risk. Weakness Earnings declined over the past year. Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Electronic market. Expensive based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value. Opportunity Annual revenue is forecast to grow faster than the British market. Threat Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the British market. Next Steps: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. What is the reason for the share price exceeding the intrinsic value? For Halma, there are three important elements you should further examine: Financial Health: Does HLMA have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk. Future Earnings: How does HLMA's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every British stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Georgejmclittle / Shutterstock.com Trying to save money on airline tickets? With the average round-trip airfare hovering around $400 for domestic trips, of course you want to snag the lowest fare possible. To get the best price, there are a couple of hacks you should know about, and one has to do with when you buy the tickets. Get Rich Slow: Dave Ramsey Offers the Key to Lasting Wealth Find Out: How To Save $200 on Your Grocery Bill Every Month Were not just talking about the best day to buy, but the best time of day and which times you should be avoiding. GOBankingRates reached out to experts to pin down which time and which day is best to buy airline tickets, and when you should definitely not buy tickets. Dont Buy Tickets Late on Weekends The trick to avoiding the worst time to buy airline tickets is to think about what the most common time to buy tickets would be. That would most likely be on a day everyone has off, during a time that everyone is awake. Think Saturday and Sunday between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. RatePunk CEO Justin Albertynas said these are going to be your worst times to purchase a flight. This is when many people have more free time to browse for flights, which can drive up demand and subsequently increase prices, he said. Additionally, booking last-minute flights, typically within two weeks of your travel date, can result in significantly higher fares due to limited availability and higher demand from business travelers or those with urgent travel needs. Im a Financial Planning Expert: Here Are 5 Things You Should Never Spend Money on If You Want To Be Rich Dont Book Last Minute You might have heard you can get a great deal if you wait until the very last minute to buy a flight, but thats not always the case and it can end up costing you more money and stress. Waiting until the last minute to book a flight is not the best way to save, said Neil Wertheimer, deputy editor of AARP Bulletin and AARP The Magazine. Data shows that by booking domestic air travel 28 to 35 days before departure, youll save an average of 10% compared with travelers who wait until two weeks or less before flying. Story continues Aim for Midday to Afternoon on Tuesdays Most experts we spoke with agreed that Tuesday is the golden day to buy airline tickets. The best time to buy airline tickets is generally on Tuesday afternoons, said Shreya Patel, the marketing manager at Lowest Flight Fares. Albertynas agrees, saying the airlines typically all work in a similar way. Research suggests that the best time to purchase airline tickets is generally on Tuesdays around 3 p.m. Eastern Time. This is because airlines often release new fare sales on Monday evenings, and by Tuesday afternoon, competing airlines have matched these prices, creating a window of opportunity for travelers to snag lower fares. Know That Prices Fluctuate Even with these guidelines, know that other factors can affect how much airline tickets cost. Its important to note that airfares fluctuate constantly due to various factors such as demand, seat availability and airline sales, Patel said. Hence, there is no foolproof formula for getting the cheapest tickets. She said there are a couple of ways to make sure youre always getting the best price. Its essential to stay vigilant, set fare alerts and compare prices on different airlines and travel websites, she said. You can also go incognito to search for flights as many sites follow your search patterns through cookies and IP addresses. And if you have a history of searching flights of the same pattern, the prices shown might be higher. Set Up Alerts As Patel said, if you really want the best price, youre going to have to take matters into your own hands. Sites like Going.com take data from both software and human flight searchers to deliver the best prices available. There is a catch: You have to be a subscriber to get the most information. You can have a limited membership for free, but youll get economy deals from just five airports. For $49 a year, you can follow up to 10 airports and get more deals. For $199 a year, you get all fares across the country, plus deals in premium economy, business class and first class. You also can always search discount travel sites like Kayak, Priceline and Expedia, which cost nothing to use. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Dont Buy Airline Tickets at This Time of Day For Chris Schultz, being an owner of a building is like being a father. And much like parenthood, when raising your child in the best way one can, Schultz has gone through various trials and tribulations while maintaining his building at 909 S. Kansas Ave. Schultz is also the owner of 911 S. Kansas Ave., which houses Juli's Coffee and Bistro. On March 15, 2020, two days after a national emergency was declared for the COVID-19 pandemic, Schultz decided to shut down Field of Greens, which was a longtime healthy lunch alternative for downtown workers. Chris Schultz opened the restaurant in 2002, and he and his brother Frank Schultz purchased the building in 2008. Field of Greens offered a 50-item salad bar, soups, sandwiches and a baked potato bar five days a week. Chris Schultz stands in front of 909 S. Kansas Ave. where Fields of Greens once operated as he plans to unveil a new endeavor this Friday. The closure of Field of Greens felt like 'kids were down' "It really, really affected me, you know, worse than anything else in my life," Chris Schultz said. "My businesses were my kids. My employees were my kids, the customers that came in every day, they were my kids. So many people had been a part of that. "So, for me, it felt like when my businesses were down, it felt like my kids were down." Stephen Wade's mental health spiraled. Now he's sharing about his struggle to get help Schultz said he felt people were telling him he was nonessential during the pandemic. While dealing with the adversity, he became depressed. "It felt like my kids were on intensive care and I was there sitting in the hospital, nothing I could do," he said. "And it was nerve wracking." But depression didn't stop Schultz from staying motivated because he knew many people were dealing with the same situation and still are today. Schultz said he received the help he needed to move forward. The building at 909 S. Kansas Ave., owned by Chris Schultz, will soon see changes. Schultz will announce Friday what business will open at the site that once housed Field of Greens. "I didn't give up because there was hope for my kids," he said, "but I think if there was no hope for my kids to do that, I might've given up on myself, completely. I was able to just ... keep it going one day at a time. I was able to fight that fight. Story continues "And I'm grateful to so many people who were so encouraging to me along the way." 'Unforgettable taste' will replace former Field of Greens business Three years later, Schultz is about to unveil something new to replace the former Field of Greens. On Friday morning, a groundbreaking will reveal to neighbors and community members an "unforgettable taste of what's to come to Kansas Avenue." Schultz noted it will "celebrate the launch of an extensive historic restoration project." "Friday, what people can expect is they're going to see something that they've never seen before," he said. Chris Schultz holds his phone that shows a countdown to the ground-breaking ceremony for a new business where Fields of Greens was housed. The announcement will be 11:11 a.m. Friday at 909 S. Kansas Ave. Schultz is also involved in tour management, which has allowed him to travel to many different cities and states. "I've looked at those things and said 'Man, I wish they had this here.' So, being able to take things here and create things at the same time that I can offer to in my hometown is a gift," Schultz said. "I've always been the kind of person who goes out there and sees something that needs to be done and gets it done. I don't like to stand around and wait in line for people to ask permission." The reveal will be at 11:11 a.m. Friday at the 909 S. Kansas building. This Topeka food truck has people lining up to buy its sweet and savory crepes "I think any businesses down here right now is going to see what we're offering, see how we all fall into this part of an ecosystem," he said. "That's been very important for me as a neighbor, to respect and to also help support people, but providing things that aren't currently there." Keishera Lately is the business reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. She can be reached at klately@cjonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @Lately_KT. This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Former Field of Greens site will host reveal of new Topeka endeavor Energy Fuels Inc. (AMEX:UUUU) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript August 7, 2023 Operator: Good afternoon, and welcome, to the Energy Fuels Second Quarter 2023 Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers remarks, there will be a question and answer session. [Operator Instructions] Thank you. I will now hand the call over to Mr. Chalmers, CEO of Energy Fuels. You may begin your conference. Mark Chalmers: Thank you very much for the introduction. And good morning or afternoon, depending on where you're joining from. And I want to thank everyone for joining the Energy Fuels Q2 '23 conference call and webcast today, we are always excited to discuss our results and our significant accomplishments that we continue to make. For those that cannot join the call today there will be replays of this presentation available for two weeks on our website starting later today or tomorrow. Every quarter, I say we're making remarkable progress on many fronts and this quarter is no different, Energy Fuels is likely one of the biggest success stories on decarbonisation, electrification, while we also emerge as a clear leader in U.S. critical mineral production. 15 Biggest Green Tech Companies in the World Photo by RawFilm on Unsplash And this is at a time when it has never been more important. We are a unique investment. No other company I know has the ability to advance uranium, vanadium and rare earth production capabilities, while at the same time advancing our medical isotope aspirations. And we're doing this while we continue to maintain a very strong balance sheet with zero debt. Today, I'll elaborate on these accomplishments for the quarter and provide details of what I think the rest of the year will look like. I also want to remind everyone that you are controlling your slides to the presentation from your own device, and I'll try to remember to tell you when to say next slide. There will be time for questions at the end of the presentation and during the question and answer session, Dave Frydenlund, our Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Tom Brock, our CFO will be available to answer any questions I cannot answer. So let's jump into the presentation. This first slide showing a picture of the remarkable White Mesa mill, which is the critical mineral hub, it's our main asset for the company, producing critical materials for the clean energy transition. And there is really no facility like it that I know of in the world. Next slide. I may be making some forward-looking statements, and those are included in this slide number two. Next slide. So, Energy Fuels is a leading U.S. producer of uranium vanadium and rare earth elements, creating clean energy for a better world. Next slide. And I've talked about the periodic table before but it is also good to talk about it again, because I want to remind people of all these new elements that are required for decarbonisation and electrification that nobody even talked about 10 or 15, 20 years ago, in Energy Fuels between our uranium activities. Rare earth activities vanadium and potential to recover radium for medical isotopes, is going to be or currently is or will be able to recover between eight and 10 of these elements on the periodic table. And I don't know of any other company that will be able to say they'll be able to recover that many elements in due course. So it's very important, it's the future of decarbonisation electrification. And we're very proud of that, and the way that we've been able to place and position the White Mesa mill in our assets to do this effectively. Next slide. So, again, just to remind people, uranium for nuclear energy, which provides 50% of the U.S. zero carbon electricity, which is very important for decarbonisation, and it's almost impossible to meet the goals of decarbonizing without nuclear energy, rare earth, critical elements used for the powerful, magnets used in electric vehicles, wind and other high tech appliances. And it is truly remarkable. If you want the highest efficiency electric vehicle, it needs rare earths to be the most efficient. Vanadium primarily used for high strength steel, but also used in getting increasing uses for grid scale batteries, the medical isotopes, as I mentioned, we're advancing our strategy to recover primarily Radium-226 and 228 for emerging cancer therapies. We also continue to recycle uranium and vanadium bearing materials, and nobody else in the U.S. has ability to do that, like Energy Fuels has been an important part of our business, and up and down markets, particularly down markets. And we're always very proud of our financial strength, with significant cash in inventories, and I'll talk about that more later. Next slide. So now for the Q2 highlights. In the picture of the Pinyon Plain Mine that I built in 1987. And it's really again, a remarkable deposit. Next slide. So we ended the quarter June 30, with $134 million of working capital that is made up of $35 million in cash, $64 million of marketable securities, and $33 million of product inventory. If you adjust to current commodity prices, you can easily add another $18 or so million dollars to that working capital at current market value of that inventory. As I mentioned, zero debt, which we're very proud of, because we have probably somewhere in the order of $1 billion with the assets. And we still hold 766,000 pounds of finished uranium, about 900,000 pounds of finished vanadium, and about 37 tonnes of finished high purity partially separated rare earth carbon in inventory. Next slide. During Q2, we did sell some uranium to a major U.S. nuclear utility, about 80,000 pounds. That was around $4.3 million at around $54 a pound. And by the gross part profit and I want to highlight this with a gross margin of about 46%. We're still producing, or still reading four conventional uranium vanadium mines, that includes the La Sal Complex, the Beaver Shaft, the Whirlwind, and Pinyon Plain Mine in Arizona, and final production decisions on these projects will be made based on our inventory levels and market conditions. We also sold PFN technology to Encore for $3.1 million. We had bought the PFN for around 500,000 pounds, we made a gain of $2.7 5 million on the sell of the PFN. But we also have the rights to use that if we need it in the future. And right now, we don't have any projects that require the PFN. So we made some a nice little profit on the sale of the PFN. And in addition to the 766,000 pounds of finished uranium inventories, we have nearly 400,000 pounds of uranium in circuit and in raw materials at the White Mesa mill. So we really have any order of 1.2 million pounds of uranium in inventory in in circuit or in raw materials. Next slide. Rare earth production. We produced approximately 99 metric tons of high purity partially separated rare earth carbonate from monazite and that would included approximately 44 metric tons of total rare earth oxides. And we are producing the most advanced rare earth material being produced in the United States today. On our Phase 1, Rare Earth Separation project, which should be operational last quarter this year or first quarter next year, we're very excited about that, we are modifying enhancing the existing solvent extraction circuit at the mill to produce separated oxides. And I think this is the only example of this that I know of in the world will have a uranium circuit vanadium circuit and rare earth circuit all in one building, we expect to have the production capacity of the rare earth circuit up to 1000 metric tons of NdPr per year. Development work has begun, we have ordered most components that are expected to be delivered in Q3. And we expect the Phase 1 cost to build out the separation plant to be a remarkable $25 million, which is absolutely very low cost relative to others, because we're doing it in existing infrastructure. Next slide. Our Phase 2. Separation Project. We're doing a further engineering work on that to be in a position given enough monazite feed around 2026 to produce three to four times what the Phase 1 project is capable of doing. The Phase 2 project will also include a standalone crack and leach circuit at the mill, enabling us to produce in refined both rare earths and uranium and vanadium at the same time. Phase 3 is focused on the heavies, but we do plan to do heavy separations later this year in the laboratory and that will be focused on the Dy and the Tb which are two very valuable heavy rare earths required to make the most robust electric engines that are more heat -- have more heat sensor capabilities, then the Dy and the Tb or the dysprosium in the terbium -- excuse me, the NdPr. Sorry. We also acquired the Bahia project in February. And we're advancing that, we have this substantial land position around 60 square miles, with a potential in time to produce between 3000 to 10,000 tons of monazite sands. We've done our Phase 1 drilling. We have purchased a drill rig, we have people being trained on that rig right now. And we're shipping that rig down to Brazil here in the next month or so, and we'll start our Phase 2 drilling campaign with our own rig. Next slide. Vanadium sales, we didn't make any vanadium sales in Q2, but we still have the ability to go back into vanadium production quite quickly. And we but what we did sell in Q1, we sold it was about a 37% margin. And it's still an important part of our business plan, but it's not the main focus of the company. But it is the only conventional vanadium processing facility in the United States. And as I said, we have nearly approximately 900,000 pounds of vanadium in inventory. Next slide. And again, looking at our working capital, the $134 million of working capital and zero debt, I mentioned the uranium inventory that we have both finished process in progress, and the vanadium inventories and if you adjust for current prices, the inventories worth in your $20 million more than what's included in the working capital. And I want to add that it does not include, it does not include our -- note that we hold with Encore or some of our other investments. So we are in a very, very strong and enviable position with our balance sheet. Next slide. So looking at our guidance, we'll sell approximately 560,000 pounds of uranium this year, at an average price of between $58 to $60 a pound. We already sold 300,000 pounds to the U.S. uranium reserves. We sold the 80,000 pounds I mentioned earlier and we'll sell another 180,000 pounds, which is equivalent to about another $10 million of revenue that is already contracted to be sold. We expect to put at least one new uranium mine in production later this year or early next year. We're seeking additional long term supply agreements at higher prices. And we're really focused on the rare earths sector at the mill this year. We're not planning to produce any uranium vanadium in 2022. We still plan to process Around 600 metric tons of monazite and recover around 150 to 270 metric tons of REO in '23. And we -- we plan to advance in commission, our Phase 1 separation plant later this year or early next year. We are also seeking rare earths off takes, we're looking to continue to build our supply of monazite. We continue to talk to a number of parties, in our advanced discussions with a number of them, it'll be a really good day when I can get more information on that in advancing the Bahia project, as I mentioned earlier, and well advance it through SK-1300 Assessment Reports and 43-101. So, in closing, next slide, just the sun setting in Southern Utah, very pretty picture here. And I'd like to open it up for any questions anyone may have. See also 15 Highest Paying Countries for Dentists and 18 Highest Paying Countries for Neurosurgeons. Story continues Q&A Session Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question is from Heiko Ihle from H.C. Wainwright. Please ask your question. Heiko Ihle : Hey, Mark, can you hear me okay? Mark Chalmers: Yes, you're fine, Heiko. Heiko Ihle: Perfect. I'm calling in from some little island zone in Italy. So apologies if the receptions and all that great. Anyways, excited for all these arrows in your future to have some money. So let's keep that going. Walking through the 403,000 pounds of U3O8 that you have in raw materials work in progress inventory. Walk me through where we might stand by the end of the year, both -- even on the vanadium level as well, but also a U3O8 level, please? Mark Chalmers: You want to walk -- you want me to walk you through in the 400,000 of raw materials in unfinished uranium? Heiko Ihle: Correct, like end of the year plans? Mark Chalmers: Okay. Well, we're not planning to do any additional finished product of uranium this year Heiko. We mentioned the 400,000 pounds because we have alternate feet, but we also have various uranium ores. For example, we have material that came from the Mount Taylor project, and it's sitting in stockpile at the mill. And we can process that when we decide we want to process that to make that 400,000 pounds into finished goods to complement the 760,000 pounds we already have. We're mainly focused on the rare earths of getting this Phase 1 up and running during the end last half of this year and early next year. And then we're looking at a potential mill run in the next year or two, when we decided we want to do the mill run for uranium ores and potentially vanadium ores. Heiko Ihle: That's helpful. Thank you. You want to go for maybe some longer term expectations as well? Mark Chalmers: Yes. As we said, when we look at the let's start with the uranium business, we have the assets to get up to between 1.5 and 2 million pounds of uranium production per year. We want to build that out when we get more contracts. Right now our contracts are going to be in the order around 500,000 pounds a year. So we really don't have the need unless the price uranium goes up substantially, to produce a whole lot more than that 500,000 pounds per year. So we're going to continue to underpin that with more contracts. But we can get up to that 1.5 to 2 million pounds with limited capital, really just working capital. Now on the rare earth front, we have the ability or we'll have the ability in Q1 to produce up to 1000 metric tons of NdPr. We believe we're starting to have line of sight to get to maybe half of that. We hope is not guaranteed but we hope to be able to get up to about half of that looking to 2024 and we plan to continue to build additional feeds a monazite hopefully in a material way to get Phase 1 completely booked out in at full capacity in the next year or so. Meanwhile, we'll continue to engineer and permit where required for Phase 2 which will be 3x to 4x the Phase 1. And that'll all be subject to securing a significant amount of monazite to require the build out of Phase 2. And so -- but we are aggressively when we start looking at who we're talking to, and the kind of quantities that we're talking to the various parties, we think that Phase two, security enough feed is very possible in the not too distant future. But we still got to get a few more of these coordinates lined up here in binding arrangements and commitments. Heiko Ihle: That's helpful. Thank you. Moving on, from all of that, mean, one sentence in your release really struck my curiosity, when you were talking about the engineering of the end enhancements for the plants for the NdPr. And I assume the same probably holds true for most people on this call, when you're trying to get the 3000 metric tons by the end of '26 with your Phase 2, can you maybe walk me through some of the investments into the area what exactly you have to spend on your plans for the future year-by-year as much at the end. And also a longer term monetary impacts that you are just mentally working with what you're sort of expecting to see? Mark Chalmers: Yes. Well, the Phase 1, as I said, that's around $25 million. And that gets us up to say, up to 1000 tonnes of NdPr per year. And that's low because we're doing the crack and leach in the mill. And we're using existing SX building for the separation stage. So that's very low. And it's -- but it's a very attractive strike rate, obviously, on capital. We do not have all the final engineering completed on Phase 2, but we believe it could be between $250 million to maybe $350 million, somewhere in that order, that would provide a facility that would do 3,000 to 4,000 tons a year of NdPr. But it doesn't mean that that Phase 1 facility also wouldn't still potentially be operational. But the Phase 2 facility will include its own crack and leach circuit. So we don't have to do any flip flopping of the current uranium vanadium mill, between uranium runs and rare earth runs. So we believe that our operating costs are going to be low and really as competitive not as low as anybody outside of China. And -- but we have to show that we've secured enough monazite to run that on through. Heiko Ihle: Fair enough. That's very helpful. I'll stop hogging the question queue here and get back in queue. But thanks so much for answering your questions and keep on going all the different directions that you're going. I think it's very impressive. Mark Chalmers: Thank you, Heiko. Operator: Your next question is from Mike Heim from Noble Capital Markets. Please ask your question. Mike Heim : Thanks. Hi, Mark. You just said that you believe your operating costs for the NdPr should be as low as anybody outside of China. If I were to look at minus or one of those and talk about gross margins, which we've never really talked about, is it reasonable be thinking about 50, 60, maybe even 70? Mark Chalmers: Well, yes, it depends a lot, Michael, on -- I mean, we have -- and again, the reason we haven't gone into real details is we're still and we have a good handle on what we believe they are. But we're still doing some of our engineering studies. But we believe that it's their robust margins. A big part, and I've talked about this before, and had been criticized a bit before, but it depends what you acquire your monazite for. And we're looking at a blended price of monazite, that includes purchasing and from our own sources, sort of a hybrid model a little different. So those are all factors that come up with what the ultimate cost is. But yes, I believe we are going to be in the same order of competitiveness of others, people that you just mentioned and others, and really, a lot of it's going to be focused on the fact that we're operating in an area that has low water cost, low power cost, very good people skills labor skills in the United States and compared to Australia, very favorable jurisdiction for low operating capital costs. Mike Heim: Now I can do the math on 100 metric tons or a million kilograms and see the potential of $65 million if we were running at peak or so. But that's just for the NdPr help during phase one, what happens to the other heavy REEs, can they still be sold off? Or will you kind of inventory them till you get them at they were? Mark Chalmers: They can, the SM+ we call it, samarium-plus, in heavier. We will make a concentrate that can either be sold, or we can hold it and the most likely scenario is well probably hold it. And because really, the Dy and the Tb are a couple of the elements that particularly U.S. government is very, very interested in. And actually a lot of people in the world are very interested in those elements. So, as I said, it's a very tricky business here. The -- and I believe that the Chinese continue to manipulate the market at some level, because they want to continue to be the dominant force in rare earths in the world. And so, we're trying to position ourselves in a way that provides us and decouples from to have our own capabilities internal as much as possible. Mike Heim: Can you give us any indication how much the NdPr represents in terms of the overall value of the heavy metals? Mark Chalmers: Yes, in NdPr it varies, because not all four sources have heavies in them. For example, basanite has very little heavies, but the NdPr is generally speaking around 75% of the total value of the rare earth oxides that you recover. A lot of people try to count every element in the rare earth feeds. We really count the neodymium praseodymium and dysprosium and terbium. And so the heavies are generally about 25% of that value and the NdPr is around 75%. It could be 80% 70%, somewhere in that order. Mike Heim: Okay. And final question for me. You said twice that talking about Phase 2 and Phase 3? If you get enough monazite? Does that imply that you feel if contracts are lived up to you have enough for what you want to do with Phase 1? Mark Chalmers: Well, as I said, I think, we're rounding up what I'm believing is around 50% of our sort of line of sight to Phase 1. We are talking to multiple parties, and I know I've said this before, but we're talking to probably half a dozen different groups. And those all have the potential any one of them to fill up Phase 1. But again, we've got to get them signed up. And one of the things I've found is that a number of parties that were kind of looking at where and who they could do business with, a lot of them have come back to us because they feel that Energy Fuels offers something that others don't. And the main thing we offer is operating in the United States of America, processing in the United States of America, and also being able to operate in an environment where we don't have to pay these extraordinary operating costs, like you're seeing currently in Australia. Mike Heim: Okay, all right. Thank you, Mark. Operator: [Operator Instructions] And your next question is from Joseph Reagor, from Roth MKM. Please ask your question. Joseph Reagor : Hey, Mark and team, thanks for taking the questions. So first thing and a lot of stuff I wanted to touch on already was, but just kind of a little bit of a housekeeping thing. Your G&A expense seems that the last four quarters it's been quite a bit elevated. Is there anything driving that or is that kind of like the new normal? Mark Chalmers: Well, the new normal is we're under increased operational activities across the company. So we've hired I think, last since the beginning a year I think we've hired like 30 some people. You know, we're developing a number of different projects in different locations. We're capitalizing some of that, but it's I think it's just the new normal of getting the flywheel going on the various projects that we have. So it doesn't just happen without making it happen. And when you go from more of a standby mode to an operational mode, there's a certain amount of burn rate that you just have to increase to get there. And Tom, I don't know if you -- Tom Brock, our CFO is on the line. I don't know if he has anything to add there. Tom Brock: No. Mark, thanks for the question. I agree, as we move out of this standby care and maintenance mode into an earnings mode. Of course, we've upgraded some talent added more boots on the ground to those projects that are underway. And I'd also add in that G&A, you've got for the three months ended or six months ended June 30, you've got stock-based compensation of $2.7 million. So with additional heads comes additional of units. But again, that's noncash. Joseph Reagor: Okay. That's helpful. Second thing, there were some reports a couple of weeks back about there being a potential moratorium on mining uranium for a certain section of Arizona. Does that impact you guys in any way or all of your assets like outside that specific area? Mark Chalmers: We don't believe so because we have valid existing rights. We have a number of assets that are fully permitted, ready to go, like Pinyon Plain. We're advancing that right now. And we're just full tilt on that project. There is discussion of a monument. We haven't heard exactly what the outcome is going to be there, but we do not believe it's going to change our activities at all with the Pinyon Plain Mine period. Joseph Reagor: Okay. So to be clear, your asset is outside where the proposed monument is or just cut out, has an exemption? Mark Chalmers: It is Inside, but it is a project that is fully permitted, been supported by the U.S. Force Service for 35 years. They've defended that. So we believe the valid existing rights are sound, and we're going to go forward with the project. David Frydenlund, our Legal Counsel is on the call. Dave, do you have any comments? David Frydenlund: Mark, I think you summarized it. Under the law, you can't -- the President cannot -- any national mine in proclaimed is subject developed existing rights. The area where our mines in Arizona is subject to mining withdrawal right now, which is subject to fill existing rights. We've established all the existing rights which even upheld by the court for the Pinyon Plain Mine. So we expect that those will be honored in if a new monument is proposed. Joseph Reagor: Okay. I appreciate the clarity there. And I was under the impression you guys were exempt, but I just wanted to make sure we're clear on it. And then kind of a last thing. As you guys look at current operating expenses and growing the business, how should we think about when you guys will start to sell extra inventory or restart operations? Are we at the point where you guys do have a fixed price in mind, even if you can't disclose it? Or is there a fixed time line that you guys are aiming for? How should we think about that? Mark Chalmers: Well, we're really kind of focused on building a book where we have at least a $20 margin on our uranium production. And as you can see with a number of our inventory sales, we're getting more than that currently with a lot of our inventories. Now a lot of that's come from alternate feed. But we're trying to build a book with at least at $20 margin, likely more with some of our operations like Pinyon Plain. So -- but that's kind of how we're trying to approach it is everybody's got to get to a point where they're making money here. And we're not out there to do recreational mining, but we're just trying to build the book. And really, frankly, with the increased cost, the difficulty of getting additional labor reagents, we really need uranium prices to go up somewhere in the 70s plus before we'll continue to build that book. Joseph Reagor: Okay. Thanks. I appreciate the color. I'll turn it over. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Next question is from Reed Rubin from -- sorry he is a private investor. Please ask your question. Unidentified Analyst : Mark, Niger, produced 5% of uranium worldwide. And the mine is owned by a French company. Do you have any intelligence as to what might break there? Mark Chalmers: Look, I mean, they're certainly unrest. Coup going on in Niger, it does -- it's a country that has a long history of uranium production Reed. And -- but I really don't -- I am not close enough to the coal face there to figure out where that's going. But it does highlight a number of things, doesn't it, that when you look at where the uranium comes from around the world, place like Niger and Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, there's risk in a lot of these developing countries. So yes, I don't have any real optics. I mean I've been reading some of the releases from like Global Atomic and others. But I don't have a crystal ball on where that's going. Unidentified Analyst : Any implication in today's pricing? Mark Chalmers: You say any implications on current prices? Is that what you're saying? Unidentified Analyst : Yes, sir. Yes. Mark Chalmers: Yes. Well, I think that whenever you look at -- historically, if you look at the uranium market, when the price starts to move, it usually isn't any one thing. I mean, if you go back to 2005 and '06, we had a number of floods in Athabasca had some flooding in at the Ranger mine in Australia. And so a lot of times, a number of these things working in concert really can move the price. Now I think that a number of things that are likely to move the price is, one, the price is too low for replacing uranium at current prices. You got the increasing demand, you got reactors staying online, you've got Japan firing up. And then you have something like Niger, putting a bit of a red flag over that country. And I think when you start looking at these things in concert, it has the potential to really move the price where it should be, which is at 70 or north of 70 to get additional new production coming to the market, cost roughly. Unidentified Analyst : Thank you very much, sir. Mark Chalmers: Thank you, Reed. Operator: Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. Please proceed, sir. Mark Chalmers: All right. Well, firstly, again, thank you for your interest in Energy Fuels, it is a unique story, as I said earlier. We're working hard, we're working really hard as a company, we're working well as a company, and we have got what I believe is an extraordinary future. It's difficult out there to actually deliver new production in our company as a company that delivers new production. We're not a promotional company and we're trying to build these fundamentals on something that will basically capitalize on the clean energy tech going forward and the energy transition. And I think we're well on our way and -- but I do appreciate our shareholders and the support of our shareholders. So thank you very much, and have a good day. Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, the conference has now ended. Thank you all for joining. You may all disconnect. City of London Coral and Ladbrokes owner Entain has set aside 585m to cover potential fines relating to a probe by HMRC into alleged bribery at its former Turkish business. Entain said it has made the provision as it continues negotiations with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) following a four-year investigation. The company had previously warned it might face a substantial financial penalty because of conduct at its former subsidiary in Turkey. Authorities started investigating the firms suppliers in 2019, and a year later started to look at the GVC Group, which subsequently rebranded as Entain. Entain sold the Turkish subsidiary in 2017 before the investigation started. Chairman Barry Gibson said: We are pleased to be making good progress towards drawing a line under this historical issue, which relates to a business that was sold by a former management team of the group nearly six years ago. We have been working closely with the CPS throughout this process, and they have recognised our extensive co-operation. Following a complete overhaul of our business model, strategy and culture in the last few years, the Entain of today bears no resemblance to the GVC of yesterday. Kenny Alexander left as chief executive of GVC, now Entain, just prior to a HMRC investigation into the business being revealed - David Rose Details of the HMRC investigation first emerged in 2020, days after the sudden departure of boss Kenny Alexander. The gambling tycoon, known as King Kenny was last month effectively blocked by regulators from carrying out a boardroom takeover of 888, the owner of William Hill, over his links to the bribery scandal at Entain. Mr Alexander and his associates were making an audacious comeback bid by seeking top positions at 888. They built a stake in the London-listed bookmaker and opened talks with its executive chairman, the former New Labour spin doctor Lord Mendelsohn. But in an unscheduled update to the stock market, 888 announced it had terminated discussions following a warning from the Gambling Commission. Regulators indicated that appointing Mr Alexander and his allies put its licences in jeopardy, owing to their links to a long-running bribery scandal at Entain. Story continues HMRC officials had ordered the firm to hand over details about its Turkish arm in November 2019 It sold the operation in December 2017 before a 4bn merger with Ladbrokes Coral. The company did not publicly reveal the request from HMRC until July 2020, when almost 374m was wiped off the value of the FTSE 100 firm. Its shares have increased in value by 48pc since but were down almost 3pc in the early hours of Thursdays trading. In an update to shareholders, the company said: Since the investigation first commenced, the group has undertaken a comprehensive review of anti-bribery policies and procedures and has taken decisive action to significantly strengthen its wider compliance programme and related controls. Entain revealed it increased earnings before taxes and other charges by 6pc to 499m in the first half of this year, compared to the same period in 2022. However, the group lost 448.1m before tax after setting aside the money for the potential HMRC penalty. 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. Key Insights Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, Ibraco Berhad fair value estimate is RM0.50 With RM0.58 share price, Ibraco Berhad appears to be trading close to its estimated fair value Ibraco Berhad's peers seem to be trading at a higher premium to fair value based onthe industry average of -19,719% How far off is Ibraco Berhad (KLSE:IBRACO) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. We will take advantage of the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model for this purpose. It may sound complicated, but actually it is quite simple! Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model. View our latest analysis for Ibraco Berhad What's The Estimated Valuation? We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. To start off with, we need to estimate the next ten years of cash flows. Seeing as no analyst estimates of free cash flow are available to us, we have extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the company's last reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM27.4m RM28.0m RM28.7m RM29.5m RM30.4m RM31.4m RM32.4m RM33.5m RM34.7m RM35.9m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ 1.45% Est @ 2.08% Est @ 2.52% Est @ 2.83% Est @ 3.05% Est @ 3.20% Est @ 3.30% Est @ 3.38% Est @ 3.43% Est @ 3.47% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 13% RM24.2 RM21.9 RM19.8 RM18.0 RM16.4 RM14.9 RM13.6 RM12.4 RM11.4 RM10.4 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM163m Story continues We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 3.6%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 13%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033 (1 + g) (r g) = RM36m (1 + 3.6%) (13% 3.6%) = RM385m Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM385m ( 1 + 13%)10= RM112m The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is RM275m. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of RM0.6, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind. dcf The Assumptions We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Ibraco Berhad as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 13%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.414. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for Ibraco Berhad Strength Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry. Debt is well covered by earnings. Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows. Weakness Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Real Estate market. Expensive based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value. Opportunity Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the Malaysian market. Threat Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow. Next Steps: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For Ibraco Berhad, we've put together three relevant aspects you should look at: Risks: To that end, you should be aware of the 3 warning signs we've spotted with Ibraco Berhad . Future Earnings: How does IBRACO's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the KLSE every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Key Insights Petro Matad's estimated fair value is 0.034 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity With 0.038 share price, Petro Matad appears to be trading close to its estimated fair value The average discount for Petro Matad's competitorsis currently 33% In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of Petro Matad Limited (FRA:HA3) by taking the forecast future cash flows of the company and discounting them back to today's value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model is the tool we will apply to do this. Believe it or not, it's not too difficult to follow, as you'll see from our example! We would caution that there are many ways of valuing a company and, like the DCF, each technique has advantages and disadvantages in certain scenarios. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model. View our latest analysis for Petro Matad Is Petro Matad Fairly Valued? We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF ($, Millions) US$1.20m US$1.41m US$1.59m US$1.73m US$1.84m US$1.92m US$1.98m US$2.03m US$2.06m US$2.09m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x1 Est @ 17.62% Est @ 12.44% Est @ 8.81% Est @ 6.27% Est @ 4.50% Est @ 3.25% Est @ 2.38% Est @ 1.77% Est @ 1.35% Present Value ($, Millions) Discounted @ 6.1% US$1.1 US$1.3 US$1.3 US$1.4 US$1.4 US$1.3 US$1.3 US$1.3 US$1.2 US$1.2 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = US$13m Story continues We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (0.4%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 6.1%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033 (1 + g) (r g) = US$2.1m (1 + 0.4%) (6.1% 0.4%) = US$37m Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= US$37m ( 1 + 6.1%)10= US$20m The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is US$33m. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of 0.04, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out. dcf The Assumptions We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Petro Matad as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 6.1%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.145. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for Petro Matad Strength Currently debt free. Weakness Current share price is above our estimate of fair value. Opportunity HA3's financial characteristics indicate limited near-term opportunities for shareholders. Threat Has less than 3 years of cash runway based on current free cash flow. Moving On: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Instead the best use for a DCF model is to test certain assumptions and theories to see if they would lead to the company being undervalued or overvalued. For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For Petro Matad, we've compiled three relevant factors you should consider: Risks: Every company has them, and we've spotted 4 warning signs for Petro Matad (of which 2 are a bit unpleasant!) you should know about. Future Earnings: How does HA3's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every German stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission will analyse the U.S. ban on new U.S. investment in China in sensitive technologies as the issue is also important to the European Union's economic security, the EU executive said on Thursday. U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order to prohibit or restrict U.S. investments in Chinese entities in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and certain artificial intelligence systems. The Commission, which in June presented its own economic security plan consisting of stronger controls on exports and outflows of technologies that could be put to military use by rivals like China, said it took note of the U.S. ban. "We will be analysing the Executive Order closely. We are in close contact with the US administration and look forward to continued cooperation on this topic," a Commission spokesperson said in an email. "We recognise the significance of the topic, which was an important element in the recent Joint Communication on economic security." "The EU and Member States also have a common interest in preventing that our companies' capital, expertise and knowledge fuel technological advances that enhance military and intelligence capabilities of actors who may use them to undermine international peace and security," the spokesperson said. The Commission will present an initiative on the topic by the end of the year. A spokesperson for the German economy ministry took note of the commission's move to assess the ban and told Reuters: "We will be actively involved in this process." Still smarting from a breakdown in its economic ties with Russia, Berlin has called for a de-risking approach to China and begun looking at measures to address risky foreign investments. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels and Andreas Rinke in Berlin; additional reporting by Rachel More; editing by Jason Neely, Matthias Williams and Christina Fincher) By Valentina Za and Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich MILAN (Reuters) -Italy's biggest bank Intesa Sanpaolo is getting closer to securing approval from Moscow to transfer its Russian business to local management, a source close to the matter said, as the country's stance on asset disposals shifts. Intesa has said in the past that it was working "to select counterparties" to offload its Russian business to, but it has not disclosed progress on the matter. News that it is close to receiving approval for the exit has not been reported before. A spokesperson for Intesa Sanpaolo declined to comment. Laws that Moscow introduced after it invaded Ukraine in February last year have made presidential approval necessary for banks such as Intesa to cut ties with their local business. A decree signed last August by President Vladimir Putin gave him the power to issue special waivers for certain deals to proceed. A final sign-off is still pending and there is no certainty it will be granted, the person told Reuters, requesting anonymity because the matter is private. Intesa serves corporate clients in Russia, where it had around 980 employees at the start of the war across 28 branches. It stopped new financing to Russian clients and fresh investments in Russian assets when the war broke out. Pressured by European banking supervisors to cut ties with Russia, Intesa has been working on reducing its exposure, which also includes cross-border loans. At the end of June, Intesa had 700 million euros in cross-border loans to Russian clients net of provisions and export credit guarantees, down 77% year-on-year. Local loans totalled 100 million euros, down 66% from a year before. Overall, Russia accounts for just 0.2% of client loans across the bank. Since last year Intesa has tried to sever ties with its local business but Western sanctions hitting potential buyers have made it difficult for European banks, including rival UniCredit and Austria's Raiffeisen Bank (RBI) , to exit Russia. Story continues RBI CEO Johann Strobl said this month "there is interest out of Russia on acquiring the bank". Another person with knowledge of the matter said concern was growing in Moscow about having systemically important banks in the hands of "non friendly" countries. The change in Moscow's stance could ease RBI's plans to get out by speeding up government approval, although the timing of any such move is impossible to predict and could be weeks or months, the person said. A spokesperson for RBI was not immediately available for comment. Russian media has previously reported on possible exit options, including the potential transfer to local management led by Intesa Russia Chairman Antonio Fallico. Fallico did not respond to requests for comment. The green light to Intesa could lead to similar approvals for other lenders still entangled in Russia, which are increasingly under pressure by the European Central Bank to cut a presence seen as carrying reputation and financial risks. At the start of August, Intesa said it was closing its representative office in Moscow, adding that it did not affect its local business with its subsidiary still operating. (Reporting by Valentina Za in Milan and Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich in Vienna; editing by Bernadette Baum) Retro Bakery's Eric Peterson poses for a photo in his kitchen Monday, Aug. 7, 2023. FENNVILLE When it comes to starting a business, everyone has a unique story. Eric Peterson, of Fennville, started his journey in upstate New York. He entered the world of mortgage banking at 20 years old, moving to Detroit, then Chicago. Ten years ago, while working and living in Chicago, Peterson and his husband, John, decided to purchase a second home in the Fennville area. Two years ago, given Petersons ability to work remotely, the couple made Fennville their permanent home. Banking, it turns out, isn't Peterson's only passion. He also loves baking. Ive always baked, Peterson said. My mother-in-law passed and she was the one who made all the Christmas cookies for that side of the family, so I decided I would try to recreate her recipes. Eventually, he ventured into biscotti, cupcakes, and other baked goods. Then, less than a month ago, when his banking job decided it was time to bring workers back to the office, Peterson took the leap. He left the banking industry to open his in-home business Retro Bakery. I decided if I was going to try something, I'm just going to go all in, Peterson said. I resigned from my six-figure job and decided to give it a shot. It was like a switch flipped in my mind. I said, Thats it, Im done, and resigned that day. Chocolate chip cookies from Retro Bakery sit Monday, Aug. 7, 2023, in Fennville. Since then, he's created a logo, acquired the proper licensing, designed and purchased the packaging for his baked goods and created a website. The packaging has been the real challenge, Peterson said. Trying to find the colors and something that will fit the label, which I had to make by hand. Peterson puts an emphasis on baking from scratch, using recipes that date back to the 1950s. While he's focused primarily on cupcakes and cookies for now, Peterson isnt just making chocolate chip cookies although he certainly can and does. He already has an order for spicy Mexican hot chocolate cookies with cayenne pepper, and spice cake cupcakes. Subscribe: Get all your breaking news and unlimited access to our local coverage Story continues Now, it's all about getting the word out. Someday, he'd like to establish his business in a professional kitchen. He and his husband also want to support the LGBTQ+ community. It is so freeing right now that I cant even explain, he said. Finally, I just realized that I needed to do something for myself and not feel like Im selfish about it. For more information about Retro Bakery, visit retrobakerymi.com. Contact reporter Austin Metz at ametz@hollandsentinel.com. This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Fennville man uses classic recipes to create sweet treats Company Logo Dublin, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Floating Solar Panels Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2023-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. Floating solar panels have gained traction in the energy sector as a resilient, productive, and feasible technology, ushering in a new era of solar power utilization worldwide. The report highlights the advantages of floating solar panels, including greater power generation and environmental preservation, making them an indispensable component of the clean energy revolution. Key Highlights: Advantages of Floating Solar Panels: Floating solar panels have overcome the limitations of rooftop and ground-mounted solar panels by being 12.5% more efficient in energy production. They also contribute to water conservation by limiting evaporation, preserving freshwater reserves. Asia Pacific Spearheading Progress: Asia Pacific has been at the forefront of exploiting the potential of floating solar panels, with countries like India and China hosting six of the world's largest solar projects. The region's abundant water resources and year-round sunlight make it ideal for harnessing the power of floating solar panels. Prominent Players in the Market: Key players in the global floating solar panels market include First Solar, GCL-SI, Hanwha Q Cells, JA Solar, JinkoSolar, Kyocera, and others. These industry leaders are driving innovation and shaping the future of clean energy production. The report provides a detailed market overview, including market definitions, segmentations, dynamics, value chain analysis, Porter's Five Forces analysis, and a COVID-19 impact analysis. It also presents price trends analysis, future projects, and economic analysis related to the floating solar panels market. The global floating solar panels market outlook is analyzed based on product type, capacity, and region. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of each region, including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Story continues The competitive landscape includes key players like Kyocera Corporation, Wuxi Suntech Power Co. Ltd., Yingli Solar, LONGi Solar, Ja Solar Technology Co. Ltd., Ciel & Terre International, Solaris Energy, QuantSolar, The Hanwha Group, and more. The report is a valuable resource for investors, researchers, policymakers, and industry professionals seeking insights into the floating solar panels market. It offers a holistic understanding of the market's current state, future projections, and key trends that will shape the clean energy sector. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/27bxun 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. CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood,Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 (Bloomberg) -- Open interest in Japanese government bond futures is hovering around the highest level in two decades as global funds and local players take opposing bets in a market that remains distorted by the central bank. Most Read from Bloomberg While the locals are shorting JGB futures as foreigners pile into longs, the positioning doesnt necessarily reflect wagers on the direction of Japanese yields, which have whipsawed since a policy tweak by the Bank of Japan on July 28. Analysis of data from Japan Exchange Group Inc., Japan Securities Dealers Association and insights from Tokyo-based rates strategists indicate that overseas buyers have been accumulating longs in futures since last year, while shorting the underlying bonds. They appear to be chasing arbitrage profits in so-called basis trades that benefit from narrower price differences between futures and bonds. At the same time, Japanese commercial banks via trust banks and investment trusts are shorting futures in a likely attempt to hedge against losses in their huge holdings of the underlying bonds as prices fall amid upward pressure on rates. The benchmark 10-year yield last week touched the highest since 2014, before slipping in recent days amid unexpectedly weak wages data. At the center of the picture is the BOJ, which is starting to relent in its years-long campaign to suppress yields. While wagers by global funds against the BOJs yield-curve control have often grabbed headlines, flows data suggests basis trades are also a big focus. Not all foreign investors bet on ups and downs in yields, said Keisuke Tsuruta, a senior fixed-income strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co. in Tokyo. They have learned that basis trades are more lucrative than selling JGBs only to get squeezed. Story continues For now, Tsuruta is watching for any sizable reduction in open interest. If yields struggle to rise, holders of bear funds will unwind their positions to cut losses, he said. If yields rise, they will still sell to take profit. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Company Logo Global Starter Cultures Market Global Starter Cultures Market Dublin, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Starter Cultures Global Market Report 2023" has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The report provides insights into the global starter cultures market. Starter cultures are preparations of living microorganisms, including single types or mixtures of microorganisms, used in food production to impart specific sensory and nutritional characteristics, enhance safety, and facilitate the fermentation process in various food products. The main microorganisms used in starter cultures are bacteria, yeast, and molds. These cultures are utilized in industries and domestic production of various dairy products, meat, seafood, alcoholic beverages, and others. Starter cultures can be composed of single strains, multi-strain mixes, and can be found in freeze-dried or frozen forms. The global starter cultures market experienced growth from $1.22 billion in 2022 to $1.29 billion in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.1%. The market is projected to further grow to $1.62 billion by 2027 at a CAGR of 5.8%. The growth is driven by technological advancements, with major players developing advanced technologies to create innovative products, such as DSM's DelvoFresh YS-042 starter culture that allows manufacturers to produce extremely mild, creamy, and thick stirred yogurt without the use of texturizers or added proteins. Europe was the largest region in the starter cultures market in 2022, while Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period. The report covers various countries, including Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, the UK, and the USA. The increase in demand for dairy products is one of the key factors driving the growth of the starter cultures market. Starter cultures play a crucial role in the production of fermented dairy foods like cheese and yogurt. The rise in demand for dairy products is evident in data from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), showing an increase in per capita consumption of American-type cheese, yogurt, and butter from 2019 to 2020. Story continues Key Players in the Starter Cultures Market: Chr. Hansen A/S Lactina Ltd. Lallemand Inc. Koninklijke DSM N.V. Sacco System LB Bulgaricum International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. Biochem Srl Dalton Biotecnologie Wyeast Laboratories Inc. THT Mad Millie Futura Ingredients Angel Yeast Benebios Inc. Benny Impex Mediterranea Biotecnologie Srl Genesis Laboratories Bioprox Healthcare Codex-ing Biotech Ingredients The report covers various market characteristics, including size and growth, segmentation, competitive landscape, market shares, trends, and strategies. It also provides historic and forecast market growth by geography, with data segmentations for country and regional historic and forecast data. The starter cultures market offers a wide range of applications, including dairy and dairy products, meat and seafood, alcoholic beverages, and others. The report provides valuable insights for businesses, researchers, and industry analysts looking to understand the current state and potential growth opportunities in the starter cultures market. Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 200 Forecast Period 2023 - 2027 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2023 $1.29 billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2027 $1.62 billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 5.9% Regions Covered Global For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ff2kbg 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 CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood,Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 China's President Xi Jinping shakes hands with US President Joe Biden at their meeting on Monday during the G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images President Biden will announce an executive order that bans investments in some Chinese tech companies in 2024. The move escalates the White House's efforts to limit Beijing from developing advanced military technology. It will also require Americans conducting business in China to inform the US government about it. President Joe Biden is set to introduce an executive order on Wednesday that limits investments in certain Chinese technology companies, the New York Times first reported. In an attempt to halt the flow of US dollars and technical expertise to China, the new restrictions would bar private equity and venture capital groups from investing in certain technologies in the country, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and semiconductors, according to the report. The order has been in the works for some time already, and it will undergo a public comment period. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had discussed certain parameters with Chinese officials in July. While the move is intended to protect national security interests, it comes as relations between the US and China are at a tense crossroads. The Biden administration has maintained that recent measures aren't meant to limit economic growth for China, but the US has also halted trade with the country that would enrich its AI and chip sectors on the basis of stemming the advance of its military in those areas. The Wednesday development marks the latest step by the White House to limit investors' involvement and access to Chinese markets. In July, the Wall Street Journal reported that the US could soon curb cloud providers from selling services to China. Meanwhile, direct investment liabilities, a gauge for China's foreign investments, plunged to a 25-year low in the second quarter, Bloomberg data shows. It's another sign that illustrates how the Chinese economy has stumbled out of the pandemic rather than rebounding. Separate data from China's National Bureau of Statistics showed that consumer prices dropped annually in July for the first time in two years, with the economy slipping into deflation. Analysts expect the downbeat reading to lead to more calls for fiscal stimulus. "With CPI and the PPI both falling simultaneously for the first time since 2020, it confirms economy-wide deflation which will increase the drumbeat for more stimulus," Deutsche Bank strategist Jim Reid said Wednesday. Read the original article on Business Insider dolgachov / iStock.com If you are in desperate need of financial help, who are you going to call? No, youre not in an emergency or physical peril, so 911 isnt the answer. Rather, you are in need of some money guidance and want to talk to someone about how to get back on track. Get Rich Slow: Dave Ramsey Offers the Key to Lasting Wealth Know: What To Do If You Owe Back Taxes to the IRS Thats when youd hit three numbers on your keypad: 211. You might be in the same boat as many Americans drowning in bills, swallowed up by credit card debt yet unaware that there is a support line to aid in getting you out of a financial quagmire. GOBankingRates is here to break down everything 211 does and doesnt do in case you are thinking about calling to get help with your money and your life. The 411 on 211 When you get in contact with 211, you are actually reaching out to a system of agencies with one collective goal of their network: connecting people with helpful resources and financial assistance options. Their network providers refer or directly link callers with agencies in their area who can offer guidance and support. How Does 211 Help? 211 is provided to the American public in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, free of charge. They can help callers with a variety of issues, including: Paying bills, including utilities, rent and mortgages Medicare or Medicaid applications Obtaining health insurance or medical care Purchasing of food and prescription drugs Travel expenses, such as gas costs or public transportation tickets, to jobs Covering burial or cremation expenses Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applications Wow: Check Your $2 Bills They Could Be Worth Upwards of $4,500 211 can also connect you with nonprofit debt counselors to aid in sorting out credit card, loan or mortgage payment issues. These counselors help map out your finances, from budgeting to spending, and outstanding debts. From there, you work together to figure out a manageable game plan for paying off debt, cutting expenses and staying on budget. Story continues How Does 211 Work? The FCC says that calls from 211 are routed by the local telephone company to a local or regional calling center. From there, 211 centers referral specialists receive requests from callers, access databases of resources available from private and public health and human service agencies, match the callers needs to available resources, and link or refer them directly to an agency or organization that can help. 211 is designed to be available for almost anyone, but in particular for seniors, those who are differently abled, people new to their area, or anyone who might be experiencing a personal crisis. Not sure what you need? Check out 211info, where you can search the directory of services provided where you live or reside. Language interpreters are available for callers who cannot speak English or have limited reading skills. What Cant 211 Provide? 211 is free across the U.S. but coverage varies state by state and might not be available in your area. Interpreters are not trained in every language, nor are they available in every part of the country. Since there is a limited number of staff and resources, 211 call centers can only handle so much traffic at once. Wait times can be long during high call volumes and emergencies, leading callers to either be on the line for long stretches or having to call back later. Programs and resources provided come with limitations based on where you live, if you are eligible to participate, and extenuating circumstances related to what is offered in your city or state. Confidentiality is not guaranteed for all callers. 211 might be obligated by law to report information to numerous agencies and can do so without needing consent from you. The network is also required to report callers who are endangering themselves or others to the authorities. Is 211 Right for You? Call 211 if you are experiencing financial hardship and need some direction on how to climb out of a money hole. Know that 211 can offer direction and support where you live, as well as counseling in regards to your finances. Just keep in mind that availability of services and programs depends on where you live, as well as eligibility. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Need Help With Your Finances? You Can Call 211 for Free How much a stock's price changes over time is a significant driver for most investors. Not only can price performance impact your portfolio, but it can help you compare investment results across sectors and industries as well. FOMO, or the fear of missing out, also plays a role in investing, particularly with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks. What if you'd invested in MercadoLibre (MELI) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to MELI for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today? MercadoLibre's Business In-Depth With that in mind, let's take a look at MercadoLibre's main business drivers. Buenos Aires, Argentina based MercadoLibre, Inc. is one of the largest e-commerce platforms in South America. The company is a market leader in e-commerce in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Peru, Mexico, and Uruguay based on unique visitors and page views. The company also operates e-commerce platform in Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Salvador, Panama, Guatemala, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Portugal. MercadoLibre reported revenues of $10.5 billion in 2022. The company offers a bunch of six integrated e-commerce services: MercadoLibre Marketplace enables businesses and individuals to conduct sales, purchase online and list their merchandise. MercadoLibre Classifieds offers online classified listing services for motor vehicles, real estate and services. These listing charge only optional placement fees and hence they are different from Marketplace listings. MercadoPago FinTech platform allows users to send and receive payments seamlessly within MercadoLibres marketplace. Outside of this, merchants are allowed to process payments via websites, mobile apps and mobile point of sale. MercadoLibre advertising program enables advertisers and seller to display their product ads on the companys webpages. MercadoShops online webstores solution aids users in managing and promoting their online stores. MercadoEnvios logistics service provides integration with third-party carriers and logistics service providers to the sellers on the companys platform. MercadoLibre has four reportable geographic segments Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Other Countries. In 2022, Brazil generated 53.8% of the companys revenues. Argentina, Mexico and Other Countries generated 23.7%, 17.7% and 4.8% of revenues, respectively. Effective Dec 1, 2017, MercadoLibre deconsolidated its Venezuelan subsidiaries. The company no longer includes the balances, results of operations and cash flows of the Venezuelan subsidiaries in its consolidated financial statements. Story continues Bottom Line While anyone can invest, building a lucrative investment portfolio takes research, patience, and a little bit of risk. If you had invested in MercadoLibre ten years ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today. According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in August 2013 would be worth $10,615.93, or a 961.59% gain, as of August 10, 2023. Investors should keep in mind that this return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation. The S&P 500 rose 164.14% and the price of gold increased 40.15% over the same time frame in comparison. Going forward, analysts are expecting more upside for MELI. MercadoLibre reported impressive second-quarter 2023 results. Both earnings and revenues surged on a year-over-year basis. Revenues were driven by accelerating commerce and fintech revenues. Increasing total payments volume (TPV), courtesy of the robust Mercado Pago, aided the company. MercadoLibres rising gross merchandise volume (GMV) remained another positive. Strong shipment growth also contributed well to the reported results. MercadoLibre is benefiting from strength in its commerce and fintech businesses. Further, robust mobile-point-of-sale business and growing adoption of MercadoPago are driving the TPV. Also, rapid adoption of Mobile Wallet remains a positive. Shares have outperformed the industry year to date. However, mounting expenses related to warehousing, free shipping subsidies and mPOS discounts are major concerns. The stock is up 15.03% over the past four weeks, and no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 4 higher, for fiscal 2023. The consensus estimate has moved up as well. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report MercadoLibre, Inc. (MELI) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research The excitement of investing in a company that can reverse its fortunes is a big draw for some speculators, so even companies that have no revenue, no profit, and a record of falling short, can manage to find investors. Sometimes these stories can cloud the minds of investors, leading them to invest with their emotions rather than on the merit of good company fundamentals. Loss-making companies are always racing against time to reach financial sustainability, so investors in these companies may be taking on more risk than they should. Despite being in the age of tech-stock blue-sky investing, many investors still adopt a more traditional strategy; buying shares in profitable companies like CI Resources (ASX:CII). While this doesn't necessarily speak to whether it's undervalued, the profitability of the business is enough to warrant some appreciation - especially if its growing. View our latest analysis for CI Resources CI Resources' Improving Profits Investors and investment funds chase profits, and that means share prices tend rise with positive earnings per share (EPS) outcomes. So for many budding investors, improving EPS is considered a good sign. Commendations have to be given in seeing that CI Resources grew its EPS from AU$0.064 to AU$0.19, in one short year. Even though that growth rate may not be repeated, that looks like a breakout improvement. Could this be a sign that the business has reached an inflection point? It's often helpful to take a look at earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins, as well as revenue growth, to get another take on the quality of the company's growth. While we note CI Resources achieved similar EBIT margins to last year, revenue grew by a solid 216% to AU$900m. That's encouraging news for the company! The chart below shows how the company's bottom and top lines have progressed over time. To see the actual numbers, click on the chart. Since CI Resources is no giant, with a market capitalisation of AU$127m, you should definitely check its cash and debt before getting too excited about its prospects. Story continues Are CI Resources Insiders Aligned With All Shareholders? It's a necessity that company leaders act in the best interest of shareholders and so insider investment always comes as a reassurance to the market. Shareholders will be pleased by the fact that insiders own CI Resources shares worth a considerable sum. As a matter of fact, their holding is valued at AU$37m. This considerable investment should help drive long-term value in the business. That amounts to 29% of the company, demonstrating a degree of high-level alignment with shareholders. Should You Add CI Resources To Your Watchlist? CI Resources' earnings per share have been soaring, with growth rates sky high. This level of EPS growth does wonders for attracting investment, and the large insider investment in the company is just the cherry on top. At times fast EPS growth is a sign the business has reached an inflection point, so there's a potential opportunity to be had here. Based on the sum of its parts, we definitely think its worth watching CI Resources very closely. It is worth noting though that we have found 5 warning signs for CI Resources (3 shouldn't be ignored!) that you need to take into consideration. Although CI Resources certainly looks good, it may appeal to more investors if insiders were buying up shares. If you like to see insider buying, then this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying, could be exactly what you're looking for. Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Victory for Massachusetts State Troopers Suspended for Refusing COVID Shot NEWS PROVIDED BY Aug. 8, 2023 BOSTON, Aug. 8, 2023 / Christian Newswire / -- Seven troopers with the Massachusetts State Police who were suspended in 2021 for refusing the COVID-19 shot for religious reasons must be reinstated with retroactive pay and earned seniority. The troopers have been on unpaid leave, but an independent arbitrator, Bonnie J. McSpiritt, ruled they can return to work if they choose. The State Police Association of Massachusetts, the union representing these state troopers, filed a grievance and sought an injunction after the law enforcement officers were suspended following former Governor Charlie Baker's executive order in August 2021 requiring the COVID-19 shot mandate for state employees. Governor Baker ordered approximately 42,000 state employees to receive the COVID shots by October 17 or be terminated. Approximately 1,000 employees resigned or were fired for failing to comply with the mandate. Current Gov. Maura Healey lifted the shot mandate on May 11, 2023, the same day that the federal COVID public health emergency ended. Approximately 160 troopers applied for religious exemptions from the shot mandate. Of those who sought religious exemptions to the COVID-19 shot mandate, only seven were deemed by the department's interactive process to have a sincerely held religious belief that conflicted with receiving the shot. These seven were "protected" by an injunction which halted their termination but left them suspended without pay for 19 months. As a result, they were contractually forbidden from seeking outside employment and, in many cases, denied unemployment benefits. Of the troopers who were found not to have a sincerely held religious belief, 13 still refused to compromise their faith by submitting to coerced vaccination. Those 13 were not protected by the injunction and were terminated in late 2021 / early 2022. Incidentally, one of those troopers interned as a law student with Liberty Counsel this summer. The president of the union stated they would continue to fight for the 13 additional officers who were dishonorably discharged from the police force. Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, "Former Governor Charlie Baker had no authority to mandate the experimental COVID shots and deny religious accommodations to these state troopers. Let us never forget this insanity. This is a great victory for these troopers and more public servants must also be reinstated and given back pay." Liberty Counsel provides broadcast quality TV interviews via Hi-Def Skype and LTN at no cost. SOURCE Liberty Counsel CONTACT: Mat Staver, 407-875-1776, Liberty@LC.org FILE PHOTO: A man speaks on his phone as he walks past the Gherkin and other office buildings in the City of London By Milana Vinn (Reuters) - The private equity owner of Intermedia Cloud Communications is exploring options including a sale that could value the communications services provider at more than $1 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter. Buyout firm Madison Dearborn Partners is working with investment bank Evercore on a sale process for Intermedia, which is expected to start in the coming weeks, the sources said, requesting anonymity because the discussions are confidential. Intermedia is aiming for a valuation of more than 20 times its 12-month earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of about $50 million, the sources said. Intermedia, Madison Dearborn and Evercore did not respond to requests for comment. Founded in 1993, Intermedia provides cloud-based communications services, including voice calling, video conferencing and chat services to enterprise customers. The Sunnyvale, California-based company caters to customers across several industries, including healthcare, financial services, and retail. In patient care, for instance, Intermedia has tie-ups with healthcare-technology firms such as Athenahealth, Allscripts, and Cerner, and its communications tools help connect in-office and remote employees with patients to provide virtual care. Intermedia counts more than 135,000 small and medium-sized businesses among its customers, according to the company's website. Madison Dearborn Partners bought Intermedia in 2017 from Oak Hill Capital Partners for an undisclosed amount. The Chicago-based buyout firm has raised about $28 billion across eight funds and backed more than 150 companies since its founders established it as an independent firm in 1992, according to its website. (Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) Key Insights The projected fair value for Restaurant Brands New Zealand is NZ$6.82 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity Restaurant Brands New Zealand's NZ$5.21 share price signals that it might be 24% undervalued Analyst price target for RBD is NZ$6.49 which is 4.9% below our fair value estimate How far off is Restaurant Brands New Zealand Limited (NZSE:RBD) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today's value. We will use the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model on this occasion. Believe it or not, it's not too difficult to follow, as you'll see from our example! Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. If you still have some burning questions about this type of valuation, take a look at the Simply Wall St analysis model. View our latest analysis for Restaurant Brands New Zealand What's The Estimated Valuation? We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars: Story continues 10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF (NZ$, Millions) NZ$64.1m NZ$71.2m NZ$76.5m NZ$81.0m NZ$84.9m NZ$88.4m NZ$91.5m NZ$94.4m NZ$97.2m NZ$99.9m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ 7.46% Est @ 5.91% Est @ 4.83% Est @ 4.08% Est @ 3.55% Est @ 3.17% Est @ 2.92% Est @ 2.73% Present Value (NZ$, Millions) Discounted @ 11% NZ$57.5 NZ$57.3 NZ$55.3 NZ$52.6 NZ$49.4 NZ$46.2 NZ$42.9 NZ$39.7 NZ$36.7 NZ$33.8 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = NZ$471m We now need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all the future cash flows after this ten year period. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (2.3%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 11%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033 (1 + g) (r g) = NZ$100m (1 + 2.3%) (11% 2.3%) = NZ$1.1b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= NZ$1.1b ( 1 + 11%)10= NZ$379m The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is NZ$851m. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of NZ$5.2, the company appears a touch undervalued at a 24% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out. dcf Important Assumptions Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Restaurant Brands New Zealand as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 11%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.825. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for Restaurant Brands New Zealand Strength Debt is well covered by cash flow. Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows. Weakness Earnings declined over the past year. Interest payments on debt are not well covered. Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Hospitality market. Opportunity Annual earnings are forecast to grow for the next 3 years. Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value. Threat Annual earnings are forecast to grow slower than the New Zealander market. Looking Ahead: Whilst important, the DCF calculation is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. Why is the intrinsic value higher than the current share price? For Restaurant Brands New Zealand, we've put together three pertinent factors you should further examine: Risks: Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 4 warning signs with Restaurant Brands New Zealand (at least 1 which shouldn't be ignored) , and understanding them should be part of your investment process. Future Earnings: How does RBD's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every New Zealander stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. (Bloomberg) -- Iran moved four US citizens from prison to house arrest in the first step of an emerging deal in which the US is expected to unfreeze $6 billion in assets to Tehran and free several jailed Iranians. Most Read from Bloomberg The American prisoners include Siamak Namazi, who has been held in Tehrans Evin prison since October 2015, along with three others, while a fifth American may also be freed. Irans state-run media said four US citizens will be released in exchange for four or more unidentified Iranians detained in the US and only after the $6 billion in funds that are blocked in South Korea are transferred into an account in Qatar. US officials declined to describe the terms of the deal, saying that revealing more risked upsetting a delicate process that could still fall apart. Yet their reticence also appeared intended to head off the inevitable criticism from Republicans and others that President Joe Biden was giving up too much to the regime in Tehran. Earlier: US, Iran Inch Toward Understanding Aimed at Easing Tensions The US State Department has spoken to the Americans, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, describing the transfer as a positive step. He added that he wouldnt get into any of the details about what were doing or engaged on because I dont want to jeopardize the completion of this process. But Irans semi-official Tasnim news agency gave more details, saying the Americans would be freed only once Iran gets the $6 billion. It said the Iranians to be released were being held by the US for sanctions violations and described it as a direct quid pro quo. Iran has received the necessary guarantee for Americas adherence to its obligations, Irans Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani said in a social media post. The release of several Iranians who were illegally detained in America is in this context. Story continues A person briefed on the agreement, who asked not to be identified discussing terms that havent been disclosed, said the US requested on Thursday that the money be transferred from South Korea to Switzerland and then to Qatar, which will oversee how its spent. The prisoners will be swapped only after the transfer is complete, a process that should take 30 to 45 days, the person said. South Koreas Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to confirm the transfer, but said the government had been in close consultation with the US, Iran and other relevant nations to resolve the issue of frozen funds. The countrys refiners use two banks for transactions with Iran. Asked about the matter, a spokesperson for the Industrial Bank of Korea told Bloomberg it would deal with the matter in line with government policy, while Woori Bank was not immediately available for comment. Secretive Diplomacy The releases were the latest step in tentative and secretive diplomacy thats seen the US and Iran inch toward an informal understanding under which Tehran would free the Americans and potentially impose limits on its nuclear program. The Swiss government, which represents US interests in Tehran in the absence of formal diplomatic relations, served as an intermediary, according to the person, who also credited Qatar and Oman with helping facilitate the process. Those negotiations conducted through intermediaries in Oman and elsewhere led to an initial understanding for Iran to free prisoners while the US would allow for the release of the more than $6 billion in frozen funds that South Korea owes to Iran for oil purchases, Bloomberg News reported previously. Iran said it would be free to decide how to spend the funds, unlike previous similar waivers where the US has restricted purchases to humanitarian goods like food and medicine. Irans state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said Tehran is gaining access to more than $10 billion in funds that had been frozen including a significant amount in the Trade Bank of Iraq that is being transferred to Qatars central bank via a Swiss bank, the report said. As far back as March, Irans foreign affairs minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said Iran and the US were preparing to carry out a prisoner exchange. Then-State Department spokesman Ned Price called that claim a cruel lie. All along, US officials have been cagey about the terms of the deal, wary of acknowledging talks with a regime that has ramped up human rights abuses and continues to supply weapons and other material to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. At the same time, Biden and his top officials say former President Donald Trump made a grave error in 2018 when he backed out of deal, signed in 2015, that imposed limits on Irans nuclear program. Trumps team, led by Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, launched a maximum pressure campaign designed to crush the countrys economy and its nuclear ambitions. In the years since, Iran has pressed ahead, enriching uranium close to the levels needed for nuclear weapons. The country denies it wants a nuclear bomb. Any deal will raise criticism from Bidens opponents, who hammered the Obama administration over the terms of the previous nuclear deal. In 2016, the US airlifted $400 million to Iran as it released four detained Americans. President Barack Obama said the payment wasnt a ransom and was from a decades-old dispute. Read More: Iran, US to Exchange Prisoners Soon, Foreign Minister Says You get what you pay for, as the saying goes, Robert Greenway, a senior National Security Council director under Trump, said of the latest developments in a social media post on Thursday. While its encouraging to see the unjustly detained return home to families, rewarding horrific behavior doesnt work any better with rogue regimes than it does with pets. Iran has made tentative steps toward trying to ease tensions in the region with an agreement to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia and further cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. With a new nuclear deal politically unpalatable in the US, Western diplomats have been pushing Iran to voluntarily limit its uranium-enrichment levels and bolster its cooperation with international monitors in return for allowances to ship more crude. On Thursday, National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson, called the releases from prison an encouraging step but said the Americans should have never been detained in the first place. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said they must be allowed to depart Iran and reunite with their loved ones as soon as possible. --With assistance from Annmarie Hordern, Eric Martin, Kateryna Kadabashy, Daedo Kim and Sangmi Cha. (Updates with comments from South Korea in eighth paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. (Bloomberg) -- The Italian government agreed with US private equity firm KKR & Co. to take a stake of up to 20% in Telecom Italia SpAs network business as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asserts greater state oversight of strategic assets. Most Read from Bloomberg The U.S. private equity firm signed a preliminary deal to include the government in its 23 billion ($25.3 billion) bid for the former phone monopolys network, the finance ministry said a statement late Thursday. A decree will complete the process. The announcement Melonis second surprise intervention in a week after she imposed a windfall tax on banks was seen as a positive news by Telecom Italias largest shareholder, Vivendi SE, who had earlier opposed the sale. The opening of a serious dialog with Vivendi is necessary to reach a feasible solution, according to people close to the French media-conglomerate. For Vivendi, a discussion is now essential to find the best possible outcome, the people added. The French media conglomerate has valued the network at about 30 billion. The governments direct and active intervention makes explicit the strong and broad political support for the transaction, Alberto Gegra, an analyst at Equita, wrote in a note to clients. Telecom Italia shares rose as much as 5.6% in Milan trading to their highest since April, boosting the companys market value to 6.2 billion. Meloni has signaled that she considers Telecom Italias network a strategic asset that must retain a degree of public oversight. The government has the right to veto deals involving such assets, and Romes desire to safeguard the companys 40,000 employees means that any offer without state backing would face significant hurdles. The deal with KKR will provide a decisive role for the government in defining strategic choices, the economy ministry said in its statement. Story continues KKR is also adding infrastructure fund F2i SGR SpA to its bidding group, boosting the numbers of Italian investors in the consortium. Telecom Italia put its network business up for sale earlier this year in an effort to reduce its gross debt of more than 30 billion. The business has been grappling with a complex mix of high labor costs and the need for ever-growing investments to modernize its network infrastructure. --With assistance from Antonio Vanuzzo and Chiara Remondini. (Updates with Vivendis position from third graph) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. (Bloomberg) -- Chinas decision to reopen the door for group tours to Japan and South Korea sparked a flurry of buying Thursday in retail, cosmetics and travel stocks in Tokyo and Seoul. Most Read from Bloomberg Shares in Japan ranging from cosmetics maker Shiseido Co. to department store operator Takashimaya Co. climbed after the Nikkei said China would allow group tours to the country. Korean travel-related stocks including Hana Tour Service Inc. jumped after Maeil Business Newspaper said China may announce an end to its ban on group tours. China later announced the resumption of group tours to those countries as well as the US, UK and Australia. The prospect of an increase in visitors come even as tensions between Beijing and its neighbors simmer. China warned Japan on Wednesday against being led astray again after a former prime minister said the country and its allies must show their resolve to fight to deter any possible invasion of the island. Japans current leader Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol are preparing for a summit with US President Joe Biden at Camp David next week, at which China is expected to be high on the agenda. For the time being, investors are focused on how a rebound in tourism from China would help sectors that have suffered from a plunge in visitors since the start of the global pandemic. Travelers from China to Japan totaled 208,500 in June, which was about 24% of the level four years ago, according to data from the Japan National Tourism Organization. Investors will likely enjoy this rally for a while, said Yu Jung-Hyun, an analyst at Daishin Securities Co. in Seoul. Many firms had been hurt by disappointment over Chinas economic slowdown and the fact that not many Chinese people were traveling overseas, she said. Story continues Japan will likely attract more Chinese visitors than South Korea because the yen has weakened against the yuan year-to-date, while the South Korean won has strengthened, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Catherine Lim and Trini Tan. An increase in visitors would help Japanese sectors such as retail, transportation and cosmetics, JPMorgan Securities Japan strategists Rie Nishihara and Yong Guo wrote in a note. More Chinese visitors would add to positive momentum that has built up as earnings in the sectors come out better than expected amid a stronger economy, they wrote. On average, 10% upside potential remains between current stock prices and our price targets for inbound demand-related names, the strategists wrote. --With assistance from Youkyung Lee, Sam Kim, Isabel Reynolds and Winnie Hsu. (Adds Chinas announcement in third paragraph, analyst comments in seventh paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. Adding affordable housing is a major priority for most Knox County residents. A new poll released Aug. 9 shows it's particularly important to a demographic the county covets: young professionals. The East Tennessee Realtors commissioned a survey conducted by American Strategies, a national opinion research and political advisory firm specializing in housing and economic issues, asking 829 random Knox County adults to rank what they saw as the biggest issues facing the county. The survey was meant to inform the committee working on Advance Knox of what people would like to see in the updated land use plan. That plan will guide how and where development occurs and where infrastructure investments will be made throughout the county for the next 20 years. County leaders originally expected the land use plan to be adopted by the Knox County Commission in May, but it was pushed back to August. However, the plan is not on the county commission's agenda for August. The preferred scenario is created based on input from the public on how it wants the county to grow. To no surprise, housing availability and affordability issues were the biggest priorities among residents in this study conducted in 2022, and that concern has grown since the same study was conducted in 2021. Other significant areas of concern were traffic congestion and a rising cost of living. Here's a look at the biggest takeaways. Traffic congestion is a concern, but housing is top dog Of the survey participants, particularly higher income earners, 83% said the quality of life in Knox County is good or excellent. When asked what could improve it: 74% said less traffic congestion is the biggest factor. 56% said more housing options would improve quality of life. The percentage shoots way up for respondents under 35, said Hancen Sale, East Tennessee Realtors governmental affairs and policy director. The 18-mile stretch where I-40 and I-75 converge carried 182,000 vehicles a day in 2020, according to Tennessee Department of Transportation data. It's the busiest stretch of road in the state. Story continues "Traffic is obviously a major impact on quality of life," Sale said. "But in terms of the comprehensive plan, it seems to be the residents view the priority for government needs to be housing first and traffic congestion second." Separate from what would improve quality of life, housing affordability was viewed as a "big problem" for 67% of all residents, and housing availability came in at 56%. The study showed a growing overall concern about housing affordability in the past year. In March 2021, only 34% of participants were concerned about affordability. Housing is a bigger concern for younger residents Those 49 or younger surveyed were far more concerned about housing than older residents. 71% of participants 49 or younger viewed affordability as a big problem versus 63% of those 50 or older. 60% of participants 49 or younger viewed it as a big problem, compared to 52% of those 50 or older. In both categories, renters were more concerned with affordability and availability than homeowners. Knoxville's rental market is third in the country for cost increases, growing 9.6% year-over-year (which equates to $160 a month) in the second quarter of 2023. The average rent during that time was $1,439 across all sized units. While 66% of participants wanted local government to prioritize adding affordable housing, it's the most important issue for mostly young renters: 72% of participants 49 and under and 89% of renters listed it as their top priority. Broad support for missing middle housing To fit more residents in neighborhoods and add needed housing, small multifamily developments (also known as missing middle housing) will play a key role. Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon's office is looking to change the city's zoning codes to make it easier to build more missing middle housing. Sixty percent of participants were either strongly favored or somewhat favored changing zoning laws to allow for more missing middle housing. Fifty-one percent were in favor of changing zoning to allow for more apartments. Younger participants, ages 18 to 35, typically were more in support for missing middle housing and apartments. Support for both kinds got weaker with older groups. Regulations that are more permissive for accessory dwelling units, additional small, independent units on residential properties, got strong support from 75% of participants. Most favor more home construction Adding housing stock inevitably requires construction, which would take away some open, undeveloped spaces. In general, 52% of participants favored prioritizing construction and adding housing over preservation, while 45% wanted to limit construction. Participants younger than 49 were far more supportive of adding housing, with 62% wanting to prioritize construction and 34% wanting to limit it. The opposite is true for those 50 or older, with 56% wanting to limit construction and 41% wanting to prioritize it. Cost of living is a high priority and major concern The cost of living and attracting higher paying jobs was a clear third priority in the survey. 77% of participants said they were either "very" or "somewhat concerned" about Knox County's rising cost of living forcing young people to move. "An increase in crime, school overcrowding, those seem to pale in comparison to the traffic, the higher cost of living and the infrastructure, prerogatives and priority," Sale said. "It's interesting to see, relative to these different options, what are (people) most concerned about, and what emerges there is really traffic and congestion, and this higher cost of living." About the data Here's how the demographics of those surveyed broke down: 55% women, 45% men 61% employed, 26% retired 49% were over the age of 50 68% were homeowners, 22% were renters 68% had a high school education, and 31% had a college education or higher The survey was conducted online and via phone calls from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1, 2022. Silas Sloan is the growth and development reporter. Email silas.sloan@knoxnews.com. Twitter @silasloan. Instagram @knox.growth. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe. This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville affordable housing, cost of living, traffic hot issues Key Insights Kotra Industries Berhad's estimated fair value is RM4.36 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity Kotra Industries Berhad's RM5.40 share price signals that it might be 24% overvalued The RM5.88 analyst price target for KOTRA is 35% more than our estimate of fair value Today we will run through one way of estimating the intrinsic value of Kotra Industries Berhad (KLSE:KOTRA) by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model is the tool we will apply to do this. Before you think you won't be able to understand it, just read on! It's actually much less complex than you'd imagine. Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you. View our latest analysis for Kotra Industries Berhad Is Kotra Industries Berhad Fairly Valued? We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM44.6m RM51.6m RM46.6m RM43.9m RM42.6m RM42.2m RM42.3m RM42.9m RM43.7m RM44.8m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x1 Analyst x1 Est @ -9.76% Est @ -5.77% Est @ -2.97% Est @ -1.02% Est @ 0.35% Est @ 1.31% Est @ 1.98% Est @ 2.45% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 9.0% RM40.9 RM43.5 RM36.0 RM31.1 RM27.7 RM25.1 RM23.1 RM21.5 RM20.1 RM18.9 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM288m Story continues After calculating the present value of future cash flows in the initial 10-year period, we need to calculate the Terminal Value, which accounts for all future cash flows beyond the first stage. The Gordon Growth formula is used to calculate Terminal Value at a future annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 3.6%. We discount the terminal cash flows to today's value at a cost of equity of 9.0%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033 (1 + g) (r g) = RM45m (1 + 3.6%) (9.0% 3.6%) = RM850m Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM850m ( 1 + 9.0%)10= RM359m The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is RM647m. The last step is to then divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Compared to the current share price of RM5.4, the company appears slightly overvalued at the time of writing. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind. dcf The Assumptions Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. You don't have to agree with these inputs, I recommend redoing the calculations yourself and playing with them. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Kotra Industries Berhad as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 9.0%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.800. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for Kotra Industries Berhad Strength Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry. Debt is not viewed as a risk. Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows. Weakness Earnings growth over the past year is below its 5-year average. Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Pharmaceuticals market. Expensive based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value. Opportunity Annual revenue is forecast to grow faster than the Malaysian market. Threat Annual earnings are forecast to decline for the next 3 years. Looking Ahead: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. Why is the intrinsic value lower than the current share price? For Kotra Industries Berhad, we've put together three further items you should consider: Risks: Case in point, we've spotted 2 warning signs for Kotra Industries Berhad you should be aware of, and 1 of them makes us a bit uncomfortable. Future Earnings: How does KOTRA's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. The Simply Wall St app conducts a discounted cash flow valuation for every stock on the KLSE every day. If you want to find the calculation for other stocks just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Capitol Hill lawmakers from both parties immediately pledged to go further in the coming months after President Biden announced his effort to prohibit Americans from investing in some Chinese companies. The presidents executive order was announced Wednesday and looks to block American capital from heading to specific Chinese semiconductor, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence companies after a public review process. Bidens team emphasized during Wednesdays rollout that the rules would be narrowly tailored to technology with military applications while minimizing broader economic impacts. But China reacted fiercely Thursday and accused Washington of trying to block its development. Chinas Foreign Ministry reportedly added a demand that Washington "immediately revoke its erroneous decision" as tensions rose further between the two nations. President Biden during a stop in New Mexico on Aug. 9. (Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo) Lawmakers in Congress made it clear they want to double down by imposing even stricter measures, which could inflame tensions even further. One idea would put more sectors of the Chinese economy under scrutiny. Another with more limited support would curb current investments in China, not just new ones. In a statement, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) charged that the White House proposal "is riddled with loopholes" and pushed ideas to put more technologies and industries under scrutiny. "The US needs to do better than this," he said. One effort that has already passed the Senate The White House announcement overlapped with a bipartisan effort that has been underway for months and has already seen progress on Capitol Hill. Senators Bob Casey (D-Penn.) and John Cornyn (R-Tex.) co-authored an amendment that is currently in the mix as part of ongoing negotiations over the nations annual must-pass defense authorization bill. The amendment called the Outbound Investment Transparency Act of 2023 has provisions similar to Bidens executive order in that it would require notification to the Treasury Department of new investments and give the requirements the force of law. Story continues Their bill would also put additional sectors under scrutiny, from hypersonics to satellite-based communications to laser scanning systems. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) talks with reporters as Sen. Robert Casey, Jr., (D-Penn.) checks his phone. (Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP Photo) Senators have already approved the idea and passed the measure as part of the upper chambers proposal for this year's defense bill. The next step is for negotiations with the House of Representatives over a final version of the sprawling bill when lawmakers return to Washington in September. In a statement, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called Bidens executive order "a strategic first step" and pledged to shepherd the Senates further measure through Congress in order to 'codify it into law and further refine this critical national security tool.' A further idea to look at existing investments A more controversial idea and one that China would surely react even more harshly to could look at current US investments in the nation. Bidens effort is limited to new flows of capital but lawmakers like Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, said existing investments should be under scrutiny. In a statement Wednesday, he called Bidens executive order a half-measure, adding "the failure to include existing technology investments as well as sectors like biotechnology and energy is concerning." Recent tensions between the US and China have already cut into venture capital investments between the nations, but Pitchbook calculates that US investors have participated in nearly $200 billion in deals in China in the last six years alone. Unwinding those investments across a range of fields would surely be enormously complex and potentially disruptive. Even Biden's more limited idea to look at new investments is "sending a chilling effect for investors like myself to continue to invest in Chinese startup founders," says venture capitalist Edith Yeung, a general partner at Race Capital. Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance. Click here for politics news related to business and money Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance The auto industry is changing in a multitude of ways. Electric powertrains are challenging the traditional combustion engine, and other technologies, such as mobile wireless connectivity and artificial intelligence, are bringing a sea change to the way we drive. New opportunities are opening for investors in these emerging technologies. These arent going to be risk-free choices remember how many car companies popped up in the 1920s and 30s before Detroit stabilized with the Big Three so the trick to success will be recognizing potential winners. In this context, its worth noting LiDAR, the sensor technology crucial for enabling autonomous cars. LiDAR merges high sensitivity with AI, giving rise to intelligent sensors for autonomous vehicles. Despite its potential, early investors in LiDAR have faced challenges. The sector experienced overvaluation due to a surge of SPAC transactions as emerging companies sought capital. Nonetheless, the dynamics around this are changing, as explained by Craig Hallum analyst Richard Shannon. While the lidar space has been a poor performer since many of these stocks went public in the past 2-3 years, these stocks have started to bottom out in the last quarter We think this is due to low valuations (negative EV in some cases, albeit using the last reported qtrs cash) and the prospect of major awards to be announced in the next 6-18 months. As such, we think its now time for investors to more seriously consider the lidar space for long-term investment, Shannon opined. Shannon isnt just analyzing the LiDAR industry as a whole, hes also putting his finger on two stocks that he sees as winners. Looking into their details through the TipRanks database, we find that these are low-cost stocks both well under $10 per share and Shannon sees plenty of upside potential in them. Cepton, Inc. (CPTN) Well start with Cepton, an early researcher and builder in LiDAR tech that has been pushing the boundaries of how and where LiDAR can be used. The technology itself, whose name comes from light detection and ranging, uses lasers to detect and track objects, with greater speed and sensitivity than infrared or radar systems. LiDAR can function as the eyes of an autonomous vehicle, and Cepton is also working to adapt the system to smart cities and industrial applications. Story continues Ceptons LiDAR units are based on one of the companys proprietary systems: Micro Motion Technology (MMT), which is mirrorless, rotation-free, and frictionless allowing for 3D LiDAR imaging. The units are small enough to fit onto existing vehicle frames unobtrusively, providing driver assistance and autonomous systems with wide fields of view and high-resolution sensing in all weather conditions. Cepton has been collaborating with General Motors, a stalwart of the Detroit auto industry. It boasts an extensive presence in the Motor City, including an excellence facility in Troy, Michigan, designed to offer local support to automakers and the supporting OEMs within their supply chains. Earlier this week, the company unveiled its financial results for the second quarter of 2023, revealing total revenues of $2.79 million. This marked a 9% year-over-year increase and exceeded estimates by $0.27 million. These encouraging revenue figures were driven by record-breaking unit deliveries in both the automotive and smart infrastructure sectors, complemented by a rise in average selling prices. At the bottom line, Cepton revealed an EPS loss of 8 cents per share according to non-GAAP measures. This figure was in line with expectations. Turning to Craig-Hallums Richard Shannon, we find the analyst taking an upbeat view of Cepton. He believes the company is well-positioned to expand its business, and that its current share price, below $1, represents a chance for investors to buy in at a significant discount. We highlight CPTN as a favorite idea in the lidar space, for a few reasons: 1) its valuation is inexpensive, even assuming the shares OS/dilution model we summarized above, 2) we think it has a good chance of winning one/multiple top 10 wins in the next year or more. The bear case involved the balance sheet and the stock being below $1.00, and both of those can be solved if it gets an OEM win before years end, Shannon opined. Quantifying his bullish stance, Shannon rates CPTN a Buy with a $2 price target that implies a robust 168% upside potential for the next 12 months. (To watch Shannons track record, click here) Overall, there are 4 recent analyst reviews on Cepton, including 3 Buys against a single Hold, giving the stock its Strong Buy consensus rating. The shares are trading for just $0.74 each, and the $2.35 average price target suggests they will gain over 215% in the year ahead. (See CPTN stock forecast) Ouster, Inc. (OUST) Up next is Ouster, a cutting-edge LiDAR company based in San Francisco. The tech firms goal is to replace analog architectures in sensor systems a complex legacy of older technologies with simplified, semiconductor-based technology to accelerate product development, manufacturing, and the pace of customer adoption. Ousters digital technology plays a key role in LiDARs evolution. The company designs and builds a range of LiDAR systems suitable for short-, mid-, and long-range applications, spanning from warehousing to industrial robotics and autonomous cars. In a move promising to expand this capability, Ouster announced a merger-of-equals with Velodyne, another player in the global LiDAR scene focusing on sensor hardware, in February of this year. This partnership grants the companies access to each others technologies, backed by a financial base including $315 million in cash, with estimated annual cost savings between $80 million and $85 million. Ouster is poised to unveil its 2Q23 results today, with industry analysts estimating revenues of $19 million and non-GAAP earnings of $1.21 per share. For a snapshot of the companys current status, a retrospective look at this years Q1 results proves insightful. During the first quarter, revenue reached $17.23 million, falling short of forecasts by a mere $71K, but exhibiting a year-on-year growth of 101%. This revenue total was complemented by $33 million in quarterly bookings. At the bottom line, the non-GAAP EPS loss of $1.87 missed expectations by 15 cents. Notably, Ouster reported shipping over 3,000 sensor units in Q1, which included shipments of the new REV7 systems to 110 customers. All of this has caught the attention of Richard Shannon, and the analyst writes of the stock, We highlight OUST as a favored idea for two reasons: 1) it is the cheapest lidar stock, by a large margin, and 2) we think its highly likely it wont have to raise any cash to get to breakeven. We note that our estimates are more bullish on a profit/cash flow basis than our competitors, and believe investors that scrub their numbers will come to this conclusion as we have. Shannon goes on to put a Buy rating on this stock, along with a $10 price target that points toward a 94% upside potential in the year ahead. All in all, Ouster gets a Moderate Buy rating from the Street, based on 3 Buys and 2 Holds set in recent months. The $5.06 share price and $7.03 average price target combine to suggest a one-year gain of 36% for OUST. (See OUST stock forecast) To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a 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. Former Mirror Group boss David Montgomery founded National World in 2019 - JULIAN SIMMONDS A veteran newspaper executive has become first to declare publicly an interest in a takeover of The Telegraph since Lloyds Banking Group seized control in June. National World, a local newspaper and news website publisher founded by David Montgomery, 74, who edited The News of the World in the late 1980s, told the stock market it was considering a bid. It said it will consider participating in a sale process for Telegraph Media Group as and when such a process formally commences. The announcement was not required by City authorities and was described as a tidying up exercise by a source close to National World. However, public confirmation could make conversations with potential financiers less legally complex by ensuring insider information is not shared. Lloyds took ownership of The Telegraph by appointing receivers from the specialist consultancy AlixPartners. The bank won court approval for the unusual action following a lengthy dispute over debts of more than 1bn which had been secured against the publisher by the Barclay family, its owners since 2004. Goldman Sachs has been appointed to run an auction, expected to begin formally in September. A bid would represent a bold attempt at expansion for Mr Montgomery and National World, which is listed on Londons junior Aim market and valued at 48m. Estimates of The Telegraphs valuation vary significantly but begin at 200m and run as high as 1bn. At 39m, its pre-tax profits last year were nearly eight times those of Mr Montgomerys portfolio of local titles, at 5m. National World, which at the end of last month had 22m cash, made no reference to how it might finance a bid. The companys biggest shareholder is Media Concierge Holdings, a direct marketing provider that has become Irelands biggest local newspaper publisher with a reputation for deep cost cutting. It is controlled by British businessman Malcolm Denmark. After a career as a journalist, in the 1990s Mr Montgomery became chief executive of Mirror Group following the Maxwell scandal. He then founded Mecom, a London-listed company which borrowed heavily to buy up European newspapers in the 2000s. It hit trouble in the advertising recession sparked by the financial crisis and Mr Montgomery was ousted by City investors in 2010. Story continues He had greater success with Local World, set up to acquire a portfolio of regional newspapers from the publisher of The Daily Mail. Mr Montgomery stripped out costs and sold the titles on to his former employer Reach, the owner of Mirror Group. His latest venture National World was formed from the bust ruins of Johnston Press, latterly JPI Media, the publisher of titles including The Yorkshire Post, The Scotsman and Belfasts News Letter, the oldest English-language daily in print. Mr Montgomery, who acquired the newspapers in 2021 for just 10m, has substantially increased their value by squeezing budgets and investing in their websites. National World said its interest in The Telegraph reflected its growth strategy of actively exploring opportunities to build its business through acquisitions and implementing its new operating model for owned assets. Mr Montgomerys appetites for cost cutting and influence have brought him into conflict with journalists many times over his executive career, including now at National World. As the company declared an interest in The Telegraph, the National Union of Journalists announced a ballot for industrial action over pay, job cuts and David Montgomerys decision to make himself the de facto editor. A union spokesman said: The number of staff whove chosen to leave National World in recent weeks is a direct reflection of how little faith is left in a management whose only strategy appears to be more for less. National Worlds decision to declare its interest will fuel speculation about possible collaborative bid structures designed to beat potential regulatory hurdles. For instance a bid by DMGT, the publisher of The Daily Mail, would be at risk of a lengthy review of its impact on media plurality that would reduce its attractiveness to Lloyds. A joint bid might reduce such a risk, as well as share the cost. 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. Key Insights Ctac's estimated fair value is 3.91 based on Dividend Discount Model With 3.70 share price, Ctac appears to be trading close to its estimated fair value The average premium for Ctac's competitorsis currently 35% Does the August share price for Ctac N.V. (AMS:CTAC) reflect what it's really worth? Today, we will estimate the stock's intrinsic value by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. Our analysis will employ the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. There's really not all that much to it, even though it might appear quite complex. We generally believe that a company's value is the present value of all of the cash it will generate in the future. However, a DCF is just one valuation metric among many, and it is not without flaws. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model. View our latest analysis for Ctac Is Ctac Fairly Valued? As Ctac operates in the it sector, we need to calculate the intrinsic value slightly differently. Instead of using free cash flows, which are hard to estimate and often not reported by analysts in this industry, dividends per share (DPS) payments are used. This often underestimates the value of a stock, but it can still be good as a comparison to competitors. We use the Gordon Growth Model, which assumes dividend will grow into perpetuity at a rate that can be sustained. The dividend is expected to grow at an annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 0.5%. We then discount this figure to today's value at a cost of equity of 6.3%. Compared to the current share price of 3.7, the company appears about fair value at a 5.3% discount to where the stock price trades currently. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent. Story continues Value Per Share = Expected Dividend Per Share / (Discount Rate - Perpetual Growth Rate) = 0.2 / (6.3% 0.5%) = 3.9 dcf Important Assumptions Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Ctac as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 6.3%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.160. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for Ctac Strength Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry. Debt is not viewed as a risk. Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows. Weakness Earnings growth over the past year is below its 5-year average. Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the IT market. Opportunity Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the Dutch market. Good value based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value. Threat No apparent threats visible for CTAC. Next Steps: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. The DCF model is not a perfect stock valuation tool. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. For Ctac, we've put together three fundamental factors you should further research: Risks: Be aware that Ctac is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about... Future Earnings: How does CTAC's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Dutch stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Key Insights Using the Dividend Discount Model, Tye Soon fair value estimate is S$0.32 Tye Soon's S$0.35 share price indicates it is trading at similar levels as its fair value estimate Peers of Tye Soon are currently trading on average at a 10% discount How far off is Tye Soon Limited (SGX:BFU) from its intrinsic value? Using the most recent financial data, we'll take a look at whether the stock is fairly priced by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. Our analysis will employ the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Before you think you won't be able to understand it, just read on! It's actually much less complex than you'd imagine. Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. If you want to learn more about discounted cash flow, the rationale behind this calculation can be read in detail in the Simply Wall St analysis model. View our latest analysis for Tye Soon The Calculation As Tye Soon operates in the retail distributors sector, we need to calculate the intrinsic value slightly differently. Instead of using free cash flows, which are hard to estimate and often not reported by analysts in this industry, dividends per share (DPS) payments are used. Unless a company pays out the majority of its FCF as a dividend, this method will typically underestimate the value of the stock. We use the Gordon Growth Model, which assumes dividend will grow into perpetuity at a rate that can be sustained. The dividend is expected to grow at an annual growth rate equal to the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield of 2.0%. We then discount this figure to today's value at a cost of equity of 7.2%. Relative to the current share price of S$0.4, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. The assumptions in any calculation have a big impact on the valuation, so it is better to view this as a rough estimate, not precise down to the last cent. Story continues Value Per Share = Expected Dividend Per Share / (Discount Rate - Perpetual Growth Rate) = S$0.02 / (7.2% 2.0%) = S$0.3 dcf Important Assumptions We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Tye Soon as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 7.2%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.048. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for Tye Soon Strength Earnings growth over the past year exceeded the industry. Debt is well covered by earnings. Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows. Weakness Earnings growth over the past year is below its 5-year average. Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Retail Distributors market. Current share price is above our estimate of fair value. Opportunity BFU's financial characteristics indicate limited near-term opportunities for shareholders. Lack of analyst coverage makes it difficult to determine BFU's earnings prospects. Threat Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow. Next Steps: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it ideally won't be the sole piece of analysis you scrutinize for a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" If a company grows at a different rate, or if its cost of equity or risk free rate changes sharply, the output can look very different. For Tye Soon, there are three important factors you should further examine: Risks: For instance, we've identified 3 warning signs for Tye Soon (1 is concerning) you should be aware of. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! Other Top Analyst Picks: Interested to see what the analysts are thinking? Take a look at our interactive list of analysts' top stock picks to find out what they feel might have an attractive future outlook! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Singaporean stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Key Insights Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, Far East Holdings Berhad fair value estimate is RM3.33 Current share price of RM3.60 suggests Far East Holdings Berhad is potentially trading close to its fair value Far East Holdings Berhad's peers seem to be trading at a higher premium to fair value based onthe industry average of -107% Today we'll do a simple run through of a valuation method used to estimate the attractiveness of Far East Holdings Berhad (KLSE:FAREAST) as an investment opportunity by taking the expected future cash flows and discounting them to today's value. Our analysis will employ the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. There's really not all that much to it, even though it might appear quite complex. Companies can be valued in a lot of ways, so we would point out that a DCF is not perfect for every situation. Anyone interested in learning a bit more about intrinsic value should have a read of the Simply Wall St analysis model. Check out our latest analysis for Far East Holdings Berhad What's The Estimated Valuation? We use what is known as a 2-stage model, which simply means we have two different periods of growth rates for the company's cash flows. Generally the first stage is higher growth, and the second stage is a lower growth phase. In the first stage we need to estimate the cash flows to the business over the next ten years. Seeing as no analyst estimates of free cash flow are available to us, we have extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the company's last reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars: Story continues 10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF (MYR, Millions) RM121.3m RM120.3m RM120.9m RM122.6m RM125.2m RM128.3m RM131.9m RM135.9m RM140.3m RM144.9m Growth Rate Estimate Source Est @ -2.67% Est @ -0.80% Est @ 0.50% Est @ 1.42% Est @ 2.06% Est @ 2.50% Est @ 2.82% Est @ 3.04% Est @ 3.19% Est @ 3.30% Present Value (MYR, Millions) Discounted @ 9.0% RM111 RM101 RM93.4 RM86.9 RM81.3 RM76.5 RM72.1 RM68.2 RM64.6 RM61.2 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = RM817m The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (3.6%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 9.0%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033 (1 + g) (r g) = RM145m (1 + 3.6%) (9.0% 3.6%) = RM2.7b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= RM2.7b ( 1 + 9.0%)10= RM1.2b The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is RM2.0b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of RM3.6, the company appears around fair value at the time of writing. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out. dcf Important Assumptions We would point out that the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate and of course the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Far East Holdings Berhad as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 9.0%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.800. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for Far East Holdings Berhad Strength Debt is not viewed as a risk. Dividend is in the top 25% of dividend payers in the market. Weakness Earnings declined over the past year. Current share price is above our estimate of fair value. Opportunity FAREAST's financial characteristics indicate limited near-term opportunities for shareholders. Lack of analyst coverage makes it difficult to determine FAREAST's earnings prospects. Threat Dividends are not covered by cash flow. Next Steps: Although the valuation of a company is important, it is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Preferably you'd apply different cases and assumptions and see how they would impact the company's valuation. For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. For Far East Holdings Berhad, there are three important factors you should further examine: Risks: Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Far East Holdings Berhad , and understanding this should be part of your investment process. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! Other Environmentally-Friendly Companies: Concerned about the environment and think consumers will buy eco-friendly products more and more? Browse through our interactive list of companies that are thinking about a greener future to discover some stocks you may not have thought of! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Malaysian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Manulife Financial (MFC) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.62 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.60 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.61 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 3.33%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this financial services company would post earnings of $0.57 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.58, delivering a surprise of 1.75%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times. Manulife , which belongs to the Zacks Insurance - Life Insurance industry, posted revenues of $9 billion for the quarter ended June 2023, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 20.43%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $12.04 billion. The company has not been able to beat consensus revenue estimates over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Manulife shares have added about 9% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 17.2%. What's Next for Manulife? While Manulife has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Story continues Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Manulife: favorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to outperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.64 on $11.07 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $2.46 on $42.95 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Insurance - Life Insurance is currently in the top 20% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. Another stock from the broader Zacks Finance sector, Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD), has yet to report results for the quarter ended July 2023. The results are expected to be released on August 24. This retail and wholesale bank is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.53 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -5.6%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. Toronto-Dominion Bank's revenues are expected to be $8.8 billion, up 3.6% from the year-ago quarter. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Manulife Financial Corp (MFC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Toronto Dominion Bank (The) (TD) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Here's a look at promotions, hirings, movers and newsmakers in the Memphis area business scene: Mahaffey Event & Tent Rentals, a party and full-line rental company specializing in creating innovative and memorable event spaces, announced it has acquired the assets of Holliday Events, another leading Memphis-based event rental company. This purchase will enable Mahaffey to double its specialty inventory to serve customers in Memphis and throughout the Mid-South. Mahaffey Event & Tent Rentals is at 4985 Outland Center Drive. Hall Hale Lee Obsidian Public Relations recently promoted two of its employees and hired another. Former intern Haley Hale has been promoted to account assistant for the Memphis firm. Since joining the team in 2022, she has honed her experience in writing, strategic planning and social media. Also, Hale recently earned her masters degree in journalism and strategic media from the University of Memphis. Gracie Lee was promoted to senior account manager. She has been with Obsidian Public Relations since 2016. In her new role, Lee manages and oversees several client accounts in a variety of industries. Victoria Hall, a recent transplant from Virginia, has been hired as an account executive. Previously, she worked as a marketing and public relations manager for Newport News-Williamsburg Airport. NOTEWORTHY The Delta Regional Authority (DRA) awarded $11.7 million in investments to 28 projects in states including Tennessee through the Delta Workforce Grant Program. The program makes targeted investments in initiatives and programs that support workforce employment and training needs in DRAs region and helps create pathways to high-quality careers that allow residents to thrive and remain in their communities. DRA made available grants ranging from $50,000-$450,000. In Tennessee, the awardees are: Agricenter International, $450,000 to expand AgTech career pathways for new entrants and dislocated and incumbent workers through its GradTech program; ProGeny Startups, in collaboration with the GradUS Project, has been awarded nearly $443,000 to implement Project E.A.T. Food as an Economic Mobility Tool 2.0., to serve dislocated and unemployed workers, with an emphasis on serving domestic violence victims in Shelby, Gibson and Madison counties; Memphis Chamber Foundation has been awarded over $447,000 as part of a collaborative effort to build a sustainable talent pipeline of STEM-focused, job-ready individuals to fill the increasing demand for advanced manufacturing jobs in the Memphis region. Story continues Compiled by Daniel Ginsburg Email information and photos in JPEG format, at least 1MB in size, for People in Business to cabiznews@commercialappeal.com. This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis business news: Promotions, hirings, achievers and company news The Associated Bank branch at 2001 S. Webster Ave., in Allouez, will close Nov. 17, 2023. The branch is one of six that the Green Bay-based Associated plans to close this fall. GREEN BAY - Associated Bank in November will close branches in Allouez, Chicago and Milwaukee as it adjusts to less foot traffic and consumers' increasing preference for digital banking. Green Bay-based Associated will close five Wisconsin branches and one Illinois branch on Nov. 17. This is the third year in a row the bank closed branches in response to industry-wide trends. Which Associated Bank branches are closing? The Allouez branch at 2001 S. Webster Ave. will close, and services will move to the branch at 206 N. Wisconsin St. in De Pere. The Milwaukee branch at 3847 S. Howell Ave. will close, and services will move to the branch at 3719 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., in St. Francis. The South Milwaukee branch at 2815 S. Chicago Ave. will close; services will move to the branch at 7940 S. Sixth St., in Oak Creek. In Chicago, the branch at 300 N. LaSalle Drive will close, and services will move the branch at 525 W. Monroe St. The Menomonie branch at 717 Main St. will close and services will move to the Eau Claire branch at 319 E. Grand Ave. The Manitowish Waters branch at 5987 County W will close and services will move to Boulder Junction branch at 5453 Park St. The Associated Bank branch at 1482 W. Mason St. in Green Bay, is one of several that closed at the end of October 2021. How many branches has Associated Bank closed in recent years? Associated Bank's branch footprint will fall below 200 with the six closures this fall. Associated operates branches in Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota and loan offices in Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio and Texas. Associated will have closed 30 branches in the last three years, the bank said Thursday afternoon. Once those branches close, the bank will have 196 locations left. It closed seven branches in fall 2021, including several Green Bay locations. Associated closed 13 branches in fall 2022 in Wisconsin and Illinois. Five of the six Wisconsin branches that closed in 2022 were located in grocery stores. Associated Bank headquarters, 433 Main St., Green Bay. Associated will look to retain affected workers by ongoing banking industry trends Associated attributed the closures to consumers' adoption of digital banking services and lower volume of walk-in traffic to branches. Story continues The bank will look to retain workers at the closing branches by offering them new roles within the company where positions are available, said Jennifer Kaminski, a vice president and senior public relations manager at Associated Bank. Associated Banc-Corp, parent company of Associated, in late July reported second quarter earnings of $84 million and a $1.7 billion increase in deposits to $32.0 billion. CONTINUE YOUR SUPPORT: Thanks to our subscribers for making this coverage possible. Be sure to download our app on the App Store or Google Play. Follow us on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Newsletters Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier. This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Associated Bank closures include Milwaukee, Green Bay branches What trends should we look for it we want to identify stocks that can multiply in value over the long term? Firstly, we'd want to identify a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and then alongside that, an ever-increasing base of capital employed. Ultimately, this demonstrates that it's a business that is reinvesting profits at increasing rates of return. However, after investigating MTAG Group Berhad (KLSE:MTAG), we don't think it's current trends fit the mold of a multi-bagger. What Is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)? Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. The formula for this calculation on MTAG Group Berhad is: Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) (Total Assets - Current Liabilities) 0.18 = RM39m (RM233m - RM11m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023). Therefore, MTAG Group Berhad has an ROCE of 18%. In absolute terms, that's a satisfactory return, but compared to the Commercial Services industry average of 8.0% it's much better. See our latest analysis for MTAG Group Berhad roce In the above chart we have measured MTAG Group Berhad's prior ROCE against its prior performance, but the future is arguably more important. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering MTAG Group Berhad here for free. What Does the ROCE Trend For MTAG Group Berhad Tell Us? When we looked at the ROCE trend at MTAG Group Berhad, we didn't gain much confidence. Around five years ago the returns on capital were 46%, but since then they've fallen to 18%. On the other hand, the company has been employing more capital without a corresponding improvement in sales in the last year, which could suggest these investments are longer term plays. It's worth keeping an eye on the company's earnings from here on to see if these investments do end up contributing to the bottom line. Story continues On a side note, MTAG Group Berhad has done well to pay down its current liabilities to 4.6% 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. Some would claim this reduces the business' efficiency at generating ROCE since it is now funding more of the operations with its own money. Our Take On MTAG Group Berhad's ROCE To conclude, we've found that MTAG Group Berhad is reinvesting in the business, but returns have been falling. And investors appear hesitant that the trends will pick up because the stock has fallen 31% in the last three years. All in all, the inherent trends aren't typical of multi-baggers, so if that's what you're after, we think you might have more luck elsewhere. Like most companies, MTAG Group Berhad does come with some risks, and we've found 2 warning signs that you should be aware of. While MTAG Group Berhad may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. US natural gas exports to Europe have surged. LOIC VENANCE/Getty Images Natural gas prices surged as much as 9% on Wednesday as energy workers in Australia threatened to strike. Australia is the world's second-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, so potential work stoppages could threaten global supply of the commodity. Natural gas prices have surged 22% over the past week, but are still down 60% from a year ago. The possibility of strikes at natural gas plants in Australia sent the commodity surging as much as 9% on Wednesday. Workers at major liquefied natural gas plants off the coast of Western Australia have voted to inch closer towards a potential work stoppage. If the strikes proceed and are long-lasting, it could have major implications for the global supply of natural gas heading into the typically high-demand winter months, as Australia is the world's 2nd largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, trailing only Qatar. Natural gas prices hit a high of $3.018 per million British thermal units on Wednesday, representing the first time since March 3 that the commodity jumped above the $3 level. Natural gas prices are up 22% over the past week, but are still down 60% from a year-ago. According to the Australian Financial Review, workers at natural gas plants run by Chevron and Woodside, an Australian energy company, are organizing for a strike. About 99% of 180 production employees at Woodside's North Rankin, Goodwyn, and Angel natural gas platforms voted on Wednesday for protected action options for the first time in 30 years. Those protected action options include indefinite strikes. The voting results mean that Woodside's natural gas workers can stop work with seven days' notice as early as next week, the Australian Financial Review reported. Meanwhile, hundreds of workers at Chevron's Wheatstone and Gorgon natural gas facilities filed for a protected action ballot on Tuesday, which could ultimately lead to a potential strike. Some of the sticking points in the union negotiations include higher pay for natural gas plant workers and restrictions against outsourcing jobs to contractors. Story continues European countries are likely hoping for a quick resolution between the workers and natural gas companies, as they have become heavily reliant on liquefied natural gas since the Ukraine war began, as Russia has mostly stopped supplying the continent with its energy resources. Shares of Cheniere Energy, a US-based exporter of liquefied natural gas, surged as much as 5% in Wednesday's trading session. Shares of Chevron traded about 0.5% higher Wednesday afternoon. Read the original article on Business Insider Wilmington Airport, graced by Avelo Airlines' purple wing tips, has a deeper catalog of destinations and flight options today than at any point in the past decade. The airline's early success Avelo took off from Delaware for the first time in February is the result of careful planning, intentional marketing and an emphasis on service, according to airline and airport officials. Avelo is far from the first to try flights from Wilmington Airport and position itself as a convenient alternative to the labyrinths of the Philadelphia and Baltimore airports. But it has so far displayed more staying power than its predecessors. In what's becoming a routine, state and county officials stood shoulder to shoulder in a tent outside the airport's terminal Thursday to cheer on Avelo's latest expansion of service. In November, Avelo will begin flying to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Sarasota, Florida. They will be the 14th and 15th destinations Avelo will reach from Wilmington Airport. "It's beyond our wildest dreams," said Thomas Cook, executive director of the Delaware River and Bay Authority, the agency that runs the county-owned airport. Avelo Airline's Boeing 737-700 is being prepared for its first flight to Orlando, Fla., out of New Castle Airport near New Castle on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023. Avelo's inaugural flight marks the return of commercial flight services to Delaware and will offer non-stop trips to five Florida locations. PREVIOUS REPORTING: We took the first flight on Avelo from New Castle Airport. Here's what it was like. The announcement came less than two months after Avelo added seven destinations in the Southeast, including Charleston, South Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; and Daytona Beach, Florida. Avelo launched service in February with five Florida flights, headlined by Orlando. Vicky Stennes, head of people and customer experience at Avelo, said the airline has served more than 125,000 passengers in its first six months in Delaware. That figure would put the airline on pace to surpass Frontier Airlines' peak year of service in 2014. Official Bureau of Transportation Statistics data are available only through May. They show more than 50,000 tickets were scanned on flights heading to or from Wilmington Airport during that time. Story continues Stennes said Avelo's combination of the "right destinations" and strong customer service has differentiated it from other airlines that have tried commercial flights from Delaware. Avelo targets "underserved," often smaller airports on the periphery of larger markets where they can emphasize convenience through every step of the process, from nearby parking to stress-free boarding. Stennes said the company has the industry's lowest cancellation rate and second-best on-time reliability through the first six months of 2023. Puerto Rican flags and red, white and blue balloons filled a tent outside the Wilmington Airport terminal as airport officials announced new flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico and Sarasota, Florida on Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023. Its marketing push, in partnership with the airport, has provided visibility that Frontier didn't have. Purple billboards with Avelo's flight options and introductory rates have lined the region's highways for much of the year. "We think once they try us, they'll come back," said Stennes, adding, "Nothing beats word of mouth." Cook said Avelo's commitment to Wilmington Airport from day one stands out compared with previous airlines. Wilmington is one of five Avelo home bases (Las Vegas will become the sixth in September). It now has two Boeing next-gen 737s based at Wilmington and more than 100 local employees. "They knew right off the bat that this is a premier location," Cook said. Conversations between DRBA and Avelo began more than three years ago. There was a chance that Avelo would launch its company with Wilmington as its first home base. Ultimately, the company chose Burbank, California, when it opened shop in April 2021. But Avelo CEO Andrew Levy kept Cook's phone number and picked up talks after the company saw success in Burbank and a similarly sized airport in southern Connecticut. As is typical, Avelo is launching the new destinations with limited introductory fares: $99 for San Juan and $49 for Sarasota. For existing destinations, fares for one-way flights can be anywhere from $50-$200. Everything from checked bags to priority boarding and reserved seating costs extra. Flights to the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (SRQ) will begin Nov. 2 with twice-weekly service on Thursdays and Sundays. Flights to the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (SJU) in San Juan start Nov. 15 with service on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Stennes said Avelo considers destinations that will draw "two-way" interest, not only travelers from the Delaware Valley. Delaware's concentration of citizens of Puerto Rican descent or with familial or social ties to Puerto Rico made San Juan a "no-brainer," she said. They believe Sarasota will draw passengers looking to visit family in the region. The airline hasn't been shy about altering its schedule if flights aren't providing a strong enough return. Melbourne/Cocoa Beach was cut from the Southeast expansion earlier this year before service ever began. Other destinations including Charleston; West Palm Beach; Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina; Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina; Savannah, Georgia/Hilton Head, South Carolina; and Wilmington, North Carolina, will be seasonal, Hoy en Delaware reported. DRBA is having conversations about how the airport could accommodate even more service. The biggest limiting factors, Cook said, are parking and the terminal. The terminal can accommodate passengers for only one full flight. The flights are currently staggered by at least 90 minutes to avoid a backup. Expanding the terminal there is space between the terminal and the tarmac could allow more frequent flights and some wiggle room for delays. DRBA Executive Director Thomas Cook said the bi-state agency is considering expanding the Wilmington Airport terminal to accommodate Avelo's increasing service. The airport has three parking lots, one in front of the terminal and two to the side of the tarmac. DRBA recently acquired a retired DART vehicle to run as a shuttle between Lot C and the terminal. Cook said the agency is considering options for expanding parking. Avelo's next service expansion announcement could be just a month away, Stennes said. Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @holveck_brandon. This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Avelo Airlines expands Wilmington Airport service again with San Juan Theres been plenty of talk about converting vacant office buildings into residential units. And recently a trio from Pennsylvania decided to get more ambitious, converting an abandoned school building into an apartment complex. Real estate investors Jesse Wig, Adam Colucci and Dan Spanovich found an off-market deal to purchase Bowtie High, an abandoned high school, for $100,000 in 2019. Spanovich, a 42-year-old developer, helped his co-investors convert the dilapidated property into a massive apartment complex. Don't miss Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now use $100 to cash in on prime real estate without the headache of being a landlord. Here's how Super-rich Americans are snatching up prime real estate abroad as US housing slumps but here's a sharp way to invest without having to move overseas Rich young Americans have lost confidence in the stock market and are betting on these 3 assets instead. Get in now for strong long-term tailwinds Now, $3.3 million later, the site is a 31-unit apartment complex. One-bed and two-bed units start at $1,400 and $1,600, respectively, and the property is already at 100% occupancy. The project was so successful, the trio have already reinvested some of the profits into another abandoned school nearby, intending to convert it into another apartment complex with 33 units. The Bowtie High experiment highlights some key trends of the U.S. housing market that investors need to know before making their next real-estate move. Housing supply shortage According to multiple media reports, there are simply not enough homes being built to keep pace with the U.S. population. Between 2012 and 2022, the number of single-family housing starts trailed the number of household formations by 6.5 million units, according to Realtor.com. That housing shortage is expected to persist in the years ahead. This is why the conversion of commercial properties such as schools and offices into residential units is highly attractive. Story continues Passive income Given that Bowtie High has 31 units occupied at between $1,400 and $1,600 a month, the property generates more than $500,000 in annual rent. That implies a gross return of around 15% on the trios total investment of more than $3 million. Thats an incredible return, but it took months of sweat and tears to get there. Fortunately, investors can generate passive income from real estate using online platforms and avoid the hassle of real estate development and renovation. Residential real estate investment trusts (REITs) like Camden Property Trust (NYSE:CPT) and Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE:MAA) offer dividend yields of 3.7% to 3.8%. Thats not as lucrative as the Bowtie High project but involves significantly less work and risk. For the average investor looking to put money to work and generate a steady passive income, REITs are certainly attractive for almost any investor. Read more: How can I stop the pain and make money in this nightmarish market? Here's 1 simple way you can protect your nest egg Tax incentives Wig, Colucci and Spanovich qualified for tax credits because they were renovating a historic building that had been abandoned for over 10 years. The state of Pennsylvania and the federal government both offer various incentives for this type of project. The team decided to double-down on this strategy by reusing some of the old doors, hard wood and bookshelves from the former school to furnish their new apartment complex. Reclaimed vintage furniture adds more character to the building. Historic restoration isnt the only way to secure tax credits for real estate investments. Government programs such as Opportunity Zones and the Residential Clean Energy Credit can also help you lower the cost of your renovation project. What to read next It makes an enormous difference: Warren Buffett says this simple trick is the key to earning a generous retirement nest egg Worried about the economy? Here are the best shock-proof assets for your portfolio. (Theyre all outside of the stock market.) Here are 7 amazing 1-week vacations you can do for around $1,000 This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. Perimeter Solutions, SA (NYSE:PRM) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript August 6, 2023 Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and welcome to the Perimeter Solutions Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Seth Barker, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Seth Barker: Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining Perimeter Solutions second quarter 2023 earnings call. Speaking on today's call are Haitham Khouri, Chief Executive Officer; and Chuck Kropp, Chief Financial Officer. We want to remind anyone who may be listening to a replay of this call, that all statements made are as of today August 3, 2023, and these statements have not been, nor will they be updated subsequent to today's call. Also, todays call may contain forward-looking statements. These statements made today are based on managements current expectations, assumptions and beliefs about our business and the environment in which we operate, and our actual results may materially differ from those expressed or implied on todays call. VAKSMAN VOLODYMYR/Shutterstock.com Please review our SEC filings for a more complete discussion of factors that could impact our results. The Company would also like to advise you that during the call, we will be referring to non-GAAP financial measures, including EBITDA. The reconciliation of and other information regarding these items can be found in our earnings press release and presentation, both of which will be available on our website and on the SECs website. With that, I will turn the call over to Haitham Khouri, Chief Executive Officer. Haitham Khouri: Thank you, Seth. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. I'll start with summary comments on our strategy, then discuss our financial performance and capital allocation before turning the call over to, Chuck. Starting with our strategy on slide three. Our goal is to deliver private equity like returns with the liquidity of a public market. We plan to attain this goal by owning, operating and growing uniquely high quality businesses. We define uniquely high quality businesses through the following five very specific economic criteria. One, recurring and predictable revenue streams; Two, long-term secular growth tailwinds; Three, products that account for critical, but small portions of larger value streams; Four, significant free cash flow generation with high returns on tangible capital; and five, the potential for opportunistic consolidation. We believe that these five economic criteria are present at our current businesses, and we use these criteria to evaluate potential new acquisitions. As described on slide four, we seek to drive long-term equity value creation via consistent improvement in our three operational value drivers, which are: profitable new business; continual productivity improvements; and pricing to reflect the value we provide. In addition to our three operational drive drivers, we seek to maximize equity value creation through a clear focus on the allocation of our capital as well as the management of our capital structure. Turning to our financial results for the second quarter, starting with Fire Safety. As we've noted in the past, while we expect predictable long-term growth in our Fire Safety business, we also expect an element of quarterly and annual variability, tied primarily to the severity of the North American fire season. On our first quarter call, we observed that this past winter and spring were particularly wet in some of the most fire prone regions of the United States, and therefore, that the 2023 fire season would likely experience a delayed start. This expectation materialized. As of the end of Q2, year-to-date, U.S. acres burned ex-Alaska were down 70% year-over-year and more than 50% below their 10 year average. The very mild early U.S. fire season is reflected in our first half Fire Safety results, where second quarter and year-to-date adjusted EBITDA decreased 32% and 37%, respectively. Fire Safety's results significantly outperformed the 70% decline in the U.S. acres burned ex-Alaska for three primary reasons. First, our U.S. retardant business benefited from ongoing productivity and value based pricing initiatives. Second, our international retardant results were strong, with the second quarter, particularly active in Canada. And third, our global suppressants business also delivered very strong results, with significant year-over-year revenue growth and margin expansion. Weve commented previously on the solid organic revenue and profit growth in our international retardant markets. We're again experiencing excellent results here in 2023, with international retardant revenue more than doubling year-over-year in the first half, and adjusted EBITDA posting excellent growth as well. We expect solid revenue growth and consistent margin expansion to continue in our international retardant markets going forward. Let me also take a moment to discuss the performance of our global suppressants business. While we won't make a habit of breaking out suppressants results, I would like to highlight our progress over the past 18 months, in order to provide another example of how our operating strategy is impacting our business's financial performance. In 2021, our suppressants business delivered an adjusted EBITDA margin in the mid-teens. In the first half of 2023, our suppressants business delivered an adjusted EBITDA margin in the low-30s. We expect our full year 2023 suppressants adjusted EBITDA margin to be in-line with, if not slightly above our low-30s first half margins. This near doubling of sustainable margins over an 18-month period, coupled with an organic revenue CAGR well into the double-digits, reflect strong progress by our suppressants business unit leaders in implementing all three aspects of our 3Ps operating model. First, driving profitable new business, primarily through our market leading fluorine-free foam offerings; Second, making solid progress on our productivity initiatives; and Third, pricing our products and services to more accurately reflect the value they provide our customers. Turning now to Specialty Products. As evidenced by the fact that our Q2 sales didn't improve versus Q1, and were down notably versus the prior year second quarter, the inventory de-stock activity that commenced in late 2022, persisted throughout the first half of 2023. Despite weak end market demand, we believe that pricing end market share in our Specialty Products business remained solid in the first half of this year. As I mentioned on the Q1 call, while it's difficult to predict precisely when inventory de-stocks will abate, they are definitionally temporary in nature, and should end when channel inventories are depleted, which we believe will inevitably occur in this case as well. Before moving away from our operating results, let me make a summary comment reflecting on our first 18 or so months as a public company. In summary, we are very confident in our 3Ps operating strategy, and believe that we are driving significant improvement across each of our business lines through this operating strategy. The results are very clear in suppressants. The results are also very clear in our international retardant markets. The results are clear in specialty products when comparing 2022 to 2021, both of which we believe to be roughly similar market demand years. As I just discussed, the soft chemicals end market is temporarily obscuring the improvement so far this year. The results are not yet clear to investors in our retardant business. This is primarily because our first couple of wildfire seasons have been very much, with 2022 U.S. acres burned ex-Alaska down 36% year-over-year, and first half 2023 acres burned down a further 70%. That said, with everything we've learned over the past 18 months, we feel strongly that our retardant business fits our long-term criteria for businesses we want to own and is a business in which our value creation playbook applies. We feel excellent about the underlying improvement in our retardant business, and we are confident that this improvement will be visible to investors in a more normal fire season. Turning now to cash and capital allocation. We repurchased approximately 4 million shares in the second quarter at an average purchase price of $6.58. We have approximately $71.6 million remaining on our existing repurchase authorization, and we ended the second quarter with approximately $22 million of cash on our balance sheet. Turning to M&A. Over the past 12 months to 18 months, capital markets have been challenging and overall M&A activity has been tepid. This challenging market backdrop combined with the consecutive mild fire seasons over the same time frame have impacted our M&A efforts. However, we believe that slow M&A markets, and soft fire seasons, are transitory phenomena. In the meantime, we are honing our operational playbook and building our M&A pipeline. We are confident that we will eventually acquire the right business, were 3Ps playbook applies and therefore, where we expect to drive improvements in-line with what we've delivered at our different businesses so far at Perimeter. M&A remains a key part of our long-term value creation playbook. Between our available cash balance and the significant free cash flow we expect to generate in the second half of 2023, which Chuck, will touch on here shortly, we believe that we're well-positioned to take advantage of any potential compelling capital allocation opportunities that might arise, including potential acquisitions, significant share repurchases or otherwise. Let me now comment on the competitive environment in our retardant business. We don't control what will occur around the potential introduction of competing retardant products. We do, however, control how we prepare for potential competition, and we are preparing vigorously. Perimeter is the gold standard, as far as the efficacy and safety of our products, quality of our service and the passion, dedication and integrity of our people. However, we will not get complacent. We are pushing harder than ever to raise the bar on ourselves in every aspect of our business. We believe this competitive mentality will make us and even better company irrespective of the what, when, and how of potential competition. Turning finally, to our full year 2023 financial expectations. We're confident that the unit economics of all our businesses are improved in 2023 versus 2022. Therefore, we're confident that with similar year-over-year end market conditions in 2023 versus 2022, each of our businesses should deliver notably improved year-over-year financial results. That said, our 2023 financial results will largely depend on these end market conditions, namely the severity of the U.S. fire season, and the timing of the normalization of the Specialty Products end market. Specifically, if the second half of the U.S. fire season is severe to the point where it compensates for the mild first half, such that the overall 23 U.S. fire season is an on trend fire season, and if the Specialty Products end market normalizes in the second half, we are comfortable that consolidated adjusted EBITDA of approximately $180 million is a reasonable expectation for 2023. That said, if these end markets fail to recover, as I just articulated in the second half, we'd expect to deliver softer year. In either case, we will focus on what we can control. Well continue to press on each of our value drivers across each of our business units and grow our latent long-term earnings power. With that, I'll turn the call over to, Chuck. Chuck Kropp: Thanks, Haitham. Turning to slide six. Second quarter sales in our Fire Safety business were $53.1 million, down 20% versus the prior year and $71.9 million year-to-date, down 15% versus the prior year. The decline was driven by lower fire retardant sales in the United States, partially offset by higher international retardant sales and higher suppressants sales. Second quarter adjusted EBITDA in our Fire Safety business was $16.5 million, down 32% versus the prior year, and $13.2 million year-to-date, down 37% versus the prior year. Second quarter sales in our Specialty Products business were $23million, down 33% versus the prior year, and $48.1 million year-to-date, down 35% versus the prior year. Second quarter adjusted EDITDA in our Specialty Products business was $4.5 million, down 61% versus the prior year, and $10.9 million year-to-date down 59% versus the prior year. As Haitham noted, we believe that our pricing and market in Specialty Products are similar to last year, and that the first half weakness is primarily attributable to temporarily soft end market demand. Moving on to the consolidated business. Second quarter consolidated sales were $76.1 million, down 25% versus the prior year and $120 million year-to-date, down 24% versus the prior year. Second quarter consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $21 million, down 41% versus the prior year, and $24.1 million year-to-date, down 49% versus the prior year. Moving below adjusted EBITDA. Interest expense in the second quarter was $10.3 million in-line with our regular quarterly run-rate. Depreciation was approximately $2.4 million, while amortization expense was $13.8 million. Cash paid for income tax was $8.2 million in Q2. CapEx was approximately $1.9 million in Q2. Our full year 2023 expectations for interest expense, depreciation, taxes, working capital and CapEx are unchanged. We ended the quarter with approximately $675 million of senior notes, cash of approximately $22.1 million, and approximately $154.5 million basic shares outstanding. Slide eight bridges our basic and diluted share count, which includes shares issuable under the Founder Advisory Agreement in future periods. We expect our second half cash generation to be strong, as we draw down from our peak inventory levels. Even if like the second half fire season is relatively mild, such that the 2023 U.S. fire season looks like the mild 2022 U.S. season, we expect to generate approximately $100 million or more in second half 2023 free cash flow, and end the year with over $120 million in cash on our balance sheet. This figure will of course change, if the second half of the fire season is extremely mild or if we deploy capital towards M&A or share repurchases. With that, I'll hand the call back to the operator for Q&A. See also 10 Energy Stocks with Insider Buying and 20 Countries With The Most Snapchat Users in 2023. Story continues Q&A Session Operator: Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Josh Spector with UBS. Please go ahead. Josh Spector: Yes, hi guys. Thanks for taking my question. So, I actually want to follow-up on one of the last point that Chuck made just on free cash flow. So, $100 million in second half, that you have similar year-on-year performance. What's the implied EBITDA behind that? Chuck Kropp: You asked what the EBITDA assumption is behind that? Josh Spector: Yes. Chuck Kropp: We haven't disclosed that, Josh. I mean, it's not the hardest thing in the world to back solve to, but we haven't disclosed it. Josh Spector: Yes. I guess the variable is working capital. So, I assume in that scenario, you'd have a pretty significant working capital release. Can you size that? Chuck Kropp: So, definitely going to convert some inventory to cash, no question, but in terms of overall working capital, in-line with our expectations. Josh Spector: Okay. Let me try it a different way here. So, I mean, Haitham, if you were, it's helpful to kind of understand your view we get back to a normal fire season? I mean, is there a way to think about things are similar year-on-year or still remain down 50%. I guess, what levers are in your control to have EBITDA growth? Because you talked about, I think, delivering growth even in that scenario, maybe exclude specialties. I think we can make our own assumptions on de-stocking there within fire solutions. I think probably the uplift you described in suppressants is maybe a few million. I guess what on the retardant side gives you conviction that you could deliver growth in that scenario? Haitham Khouri: It's just a question of unit economics. Josh, at this point in the fire season, frankly the cake is largely baked on I don't know what the unit economics are. What we sort of harvest today are the effort we've put in over the past 12 months, 18 months. And the question is just what we've been able to do, as far as number one, offering more value to our customers and being fairly compensated for that value in the form of pricing. And number two, reducing and improving our costs through productivity, the net of both of those is unit economics. And we feel like we've done enough on a unit economic basis to do meaningfully better than last year, all things being equal. It's almost impossible to do enough on unit economics to overcome the 70% decline in acres we had in the first half. So, the ultimate second half result will be based on the ultimate second half severity or lack thereof of the fire season. But we feel very good about the work we've done on what we control here which is unit economics per gallon sold. Josh Spector: Okay, thanks. And if I could just ask one more and just go on to hit specialty briefly. I mean, imagine you're not going to want to break out price or volume for us. So, I just asked like with what we're seeing majority de-stocking, has anything changed on the pricing side in terms of what you're getting? So when destocking ends, is that unit economic for you guys better or worse than where you exited last year? Haitham Khouri: We feel very good, very good that it is no worse than last year, our unit economics if anything have improved versus last year. Everything you're seeing there is lower volume. And I'll add you can have lower volume due to lower market demand or lower market share and we feel very good that it is not a function of lower market share, but rather a function of a destock, which has persisted throughout the first half, but like I said in the prepared remarks, we'll end at some point hard to predict when exactly. Josh Spector: Okay. Thank you. Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Brian DiRubbio with Baird. Please go ahead. Brian DiRubbio: Good morning, gentlemen. Just a couple of questions for me. I want to focus on working capital and specifically just the inventory build over the last year. I think by my numbers, inventories are up about 32.5%. Can you help us get a sense of, I understand the fire season has been crush versus last year and probably versus expectations, but just love to get a sense of what that inventory is comprised of how much of that is retardants versus maybe specialty products? And how's that going to impact your plant operating rates going forward? Just love to get the dynamics here? Haitham Khouri: Sure. Majority of it is in the fire safety retardant market. There is some impact on specialty products with the de-stock, but not nearly as impactful as Fire Safety. And there is some impact to the operations, but in terms of just being prepared for the customer, that's what we're focused on, and thats what the inventory is there for. Brian DiRubbio: Okay, understood. And just as we think about cash flow, cash needs, capital allocations, what's the minimum liquidity level that you're comfortable running the business at over a year period? Chuck Kropp: I'm not going to give you an exact number, Brian, but the answer is not much at all. We ended the second quarter with little over $20 million on the balance sheet and are very, very comfortable at that level. So, it's some number meaningfully lower than that and keep in mind the $100 million revolver, which is undrawn that has, in fact, never been drawn. So, we're very comfortable with our liquidity situation. Brian DiRubbio: And maybe just, if you don't mind, put it in a different way, which would you be comfortable drawing your revolver for the right opportunity in terms of capital allocation? Chuck Kropp: Temporarily, we would. I don't think you want to run long-term with a drawn revolver as part of your permanent capital structure. But wouldn't we go in our revolver to capture a very high IRR short-term opportunity with good visibility into paying it down relatively quickly? Yes, we would. Brian DiRubbio: Great. Thats it for me. Thanks for all the color. Chuck Kropp: Yes. Thanks, Brian. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Daniel Kutz with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Daniel Kutz: Hi, thanks, good morning. Haitham Khouri: Hi, Dan. Daniel Kutz: So, I just wanted to ask on, I'm sure you guys did get a lot of questions, let me have one on the severe Canada wildfire season, and I appreciate that, maybe you guys kind of revenue and earnings in that market is maybe less of a direct correlation to acres burned than it is in the U.S. because of the way -- because of differences in the way that Canada fights wildfires. But I just wanted to ask a question, if there's anything that you could share that might help us kind of triangulate the potential benefits Perimeter of -- the significantly above trend Canada, wildfire season, for a business that has kind of been a mid-high-single-digit business for market for you guys, historically? Thanks. Haitham Khouri: So, thanks for bringing that topic up, Dan. The first thing I'll say is how just remarkably proud I'm, and we all are of what our team has done, up in Canada. Its just unbelievably hectic stressful, yet critical time and they delivered with absolute perfection, didn't miss a single load. We sent a bunch of production folks from all over the world, teams from Australia, teams from the U.S. Some spend up to two months working in Canada. It's been an incredible exemplary example of what Perimeter Solutions and only Perimeter Solutions can do for our customers. As far as quantifying it for you, you can look at our last couple of Ks, Canada's roughly 5% of our business from a revenue perspective. I made a comment in the prepared remarks that our international business more than doubled in the first half. Clearly Canada was a big part of that. So, revenue growth and profit growth in Canada were excellent in the first half. So, it wasn't only a story of Canada, Chile was quite strong in the first quarter. Australia was quite strong in the first quarter. We had a lot of good stocking activity in Europe in the second quarter as they stocked up a lot more based on how severe last fire season was. So, there was broad based strength in international, but Canada was clearly the stand out. That said, I guess that, Canada is roughly 5% of our business and as well as it has done this year, it's just not going to mathematically offset down 70% acres in the U.S. Daniel Kutz: Got it. That's all really helpful. Appreciate it. And then maybe just one on capital allocation and I guess specifically M&A. Could you kind of remind us or just high level talk through when you're building the M&A pipeline? What the kind of puts and takes are in terms of what you're looking for? Is it geographic expansion, vertical integration, things that might bolster your core retarded suppressing and also Specialty Products businesses or are you guys kind of indifferent to the end market and you're just looking for opportunities to check the -- your target economic criteria and kind of value drivers. How do you think through, those different those different puts and takes when you're building your M&A pipeline? Thanks. Chuck Kropp: It is 100% a question of long-term equity value creation. There simply are no qualitative M&A criteria. We're not looking to get bigger. We're not looking to get smaller. We're not looking for synergies. We're not looking to tell a story. We're looking for businesses that fit the five target criteria, because if a business fits the five target criteria, we are very confident we can apply the 3Ps playbook and as evidenced by our suppressants margins, which have doubled in 18 months, our Specialty Products margins, where we've doubled EBITDA first year. If we find the right business consistent with the criteria, therefore, where the 3Ps playbook is applicable, we can materially increase profitability in a relatively short period of time and do so sustainably and therefore create sustainable equity value and shareholder value. And that's really the one input into the evaluation. Daniel Kutz: Great. Understood. Thanks a lot. I'll turn it back. Operator: Thank you. [Operator Instructions] As there are no further questions, I will now hand the conference over to Haitham Khouri for closing comments. Haitham Khouri: Thank you very much, everybody, and talk to everybody in 90 days from now. Operator: Thank you. The conference of Perimeter Solutions has now concluded. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines. Petrobras Wants to Stay at Braskem But Not Make It State-Owned (Bloomberg) -- Petrobras is not interested in turning Braskem SA into a government-owned firm and top management signaled it would make sense for the petrochemicals producer to have a strategic partner, according to people familiar with the matter. Most Read from Bloomberg Braskem shares jumped as much as 9.8% to 25.7 reais ($5.26) in Sao Paulo. The news was first reported by Valor Economico. In a private call with analysts Thursday, Petrobras Chief Executive Officer Sergio Caetano Leite said Brazils state-controlled oil company considers petrochemicals a strategic business as the transition to green energy could make gasoline less profitable. All the large integrated companies have a relevant petrochemicals division, he said Friday during an earnings call. Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as it is formally known, is Braskems second-biggest shareholder. It has tag-along rights and rights of first refusal for the controlling stake in Braskem, which engineering conglomerate Novonor SA is under pressure to sell. Petrobras officials said they will wait for Novonors decision before making any moves, according to the people. Petrobras said in an email it is still assessing the best strategy for the petrochemicals sector and for Braskem. Read More: Petrobras Sees Flurry of Stock Downgrades on Policy Concerns Since May, Novonor has received non-binding offers for Braskem from Unipar Carbocloro SA, J&F Investimentos SA, and a third from Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. and Apollo Global Management. Petrobras doesnt see any of the offers advancing and plans to keep at least its current stake in the company, the person said. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. PharmAla Biotech PharmAla Continues to Support Clinical Trials as the Foremost Supplier of GMP LaNeo MDMA in Australia VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PharmAla Biotech Holdings Inc. (PharmAla or the Company) (CSE: MDMA) (OTC:PMBHF), a biotechnology company focused on the research, development, and manufacturing of novel MDXX class molecules (including MDMA), is pleased to announce that is has issued a shipment of its GMP LaNeo MDMA to Mind Medicine Australia, a charity which seeks to alleviate the suffering caused by mental illness in Australia through expanding treatment using psychedelic molecules. "When MMA approached us a year ago, they did so because they recognized that we were the only entity in the world which had the manufacturing capability and the operational execution to deliver MDMA to them along their desired timelines. While the road to this execution wasnt easy, Im glad to say that we have delivered, said Nick Kadysh, Chief Executive Officer of PharmAla. In the future, we anticipate that Cortexa our joint venture with Vitura Health will be more than capable of fulfilling all demand in the Australian market, and without the additional regulatory burden of import/export. The contract with Mind Medicine Australia was announced in May of 2022, and is now considered complete. PharmAla remains, at this time, the only publicly traded company in the world to have successfully manufactured GMP MDMA drug product appropriate for human use and to have shipped that product to Australia. Shipment to University of Melbourne PharmAla is also pleased to announce that it, and its manufacturing partners, have completed shipment of its GMP LaNeo MDMA capsules to the Orygen Institute, affiliated with the University of Melbourne. This shipment represents the first of two shipments which will support a Clinical Trial registered by the Orygen Institute, with the second shipment scheduled for 2024. The contract was previously announced in a press release dated August 22, 2022. Story continues PharmAla continues to prove that we deliver on our commitments, and do so at the highest levels of regulatory compliance, said Shane Morris, COO, PharmAla Biotech. Our best-in-class value chain continues to execute deliveries to customers even on the other side of the world and we look forward to expanding our capabilities further in the coming months as Cortexa fully comes online. For more info, please see www.PharmAla.ca . About PharmAla PharmAla is a biotechnology company focused on the research, development, and manufacturing of MDXX class molecules, including MDMA. PharmAla was founded with a dual focus: alleviating the global backlog of generic, clinical-grade MDMA to enable clinical trials, and to develop novel drugs in the same class. PharmAla is the first publicly-traded company to manufacture clinical-grade MDMA. PharmAlas research and development unit has completed proof-of-concept research into ALA-002, PharmAlas lead drug candidate. PharmAla is a regulatory first organization, formed under the principle that true success in the psychedelics industry will only be achieved through excellent relationships with regulators. For more information, please contact: Nicholas Kadysh Chief Executive Officer PharmAla Biotech Holdings Inc. Email: press@PharmAla.ca Phone: 1-855-444-6362 Website: www.PharmAla.ca Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") nor the Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. These statements relate to matters that identify future events or future performance. Often, but not always, forward looking information can be identified by words such as "could", "pro forma", "plans", "expects", "may", "will", "should", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "potential" or variations of such words including negative variations thereof, and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. The forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to statements regarding: the Companys objectives and goals; the shipment of MDMA to the University of Sydney and the Company's contract with the University of Sydney; the Company refiling an amended and restated offering document and corresponding news release to relaunch the LIFE Offering; and the results of the Sydney trial and further research into MDMA based on these results. These forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such statements were made, including: the Companys ability to attract and retain qualified members of management to grow the Companys business and its operations; the Companys ability to raise any necessary additional capital on reasonable terms to advance the development of the Companys products; the Companys ability to effectively manage unanticipated costs and expenses; the Company retaining and supplementing its board of directors and management, or otherwise engaging consultants and advisors having knowledge of the industries (or segments thereof) within which the Company may from time to time participate; current and future members of management abiding by the Companys business objectives and strategies from time to time established by the Company; the Companys ability to generate cash flow from operations; future prices and demand for MDXX class molecules and MDMA; the Companys ability to procure equipment and operating supplies in sufficient quantities and on a timely basis; future currency exchange rates and interest rates; operating conditions being favourable such that the Company is able to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner; the Companys ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; political and regulatory stability; the receipt of governmental, regulatory and third-party approvals, licenses and permits on favourable terms; obtaining required renewals for existing approvals, licenses and permits on favourable terms; requirements under applicable laws; sustained labour stability; stability in financial and capital goods markets; results of operations and performance; industry trends; the market for MDXX class molecules and MDMA will continue to strengthen; the Company having sufficient funds to meet its administrative overhead expenses for the next twelve months; the Authorized Prescriber Program in Australia coming into effect on July 1, 2023; the Company's ability to fulfil the shipment to the University of Sydney; the Company's ability to refile an amended and restated offering document and news release to relaunch the LIFE Offering; and the Company's ability to view the results of the Sydney trial. While the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable, based on information currently available, they may prove to be incorrect. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Actual future results may differ materially as forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, without limitation: risks associated with general economic conditions; adverse industry events; income tax and regulatory matters; the Company not utilizing the use of proceeds to expand its operations and products; additional financing may not be available to the Company when required or, if available, the terms of such financing may not be favourable to the Company; fluctuations in demand of MDXX class molecules and MDMA; the Company may not be able to identify, negotiate or finance any future acquisitions successfully, or to integrate such acquisitions with its current business; the Companys research and development activities are dependent upon the grant of appropriate licenses, concessions, leases, permits and regulatory consents, which may be withdrawn or not granted; the Companys operations could be adversely affected by possible future government legislation, policies and controls or by changes in applicable laws and regulations; the Company and/or its directors and officers may be subject to a variety of legal proceedings, the results of which may have a material adverse effect on the Companys business; the Company may be adversely affected if potential conflicts of interests involving its directors and officers are not resolved in favour of the Company; dilution from future equity financing could negatively impact holders of the Companys securities; employee relations; ongoing uncertainties relating to the COVID-19 pandemic; the Authorized Prescriber Program in Australia not coming into effect on July 1, 2022; the Company's inability to fulfil the shipment to the University of Sydney; the Company's inability to access the results of the University of Sydney trials; the Company's inability to refile an amended and restated offering document and news release to relaunch the LIFE Offering; and those factors described under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Company's managements discussion and analysis for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2022, available under the Companys profile on SEDAR. 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 news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect our expectations as of the date hereof, and thus are subject to change thereafter. The Company does not undertake to release publicly any revisions for updating any voluntary forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Fortune Business Insights Pune, India, Aug. 10, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global refractories market size was valued at USD 32.98 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow from USD 34.46 billion in 2023 to USD 47.09 billion by 2030, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.6% during the forecast period. Refractory products are advanced materials capable of withstanding corrosion, thermal & mechanical abrasion, and high temperatures. Some industries use refractories as consumables, including steel and other metals. Growing steel consumption worldwide will positively influence the market outlook. Fortune Business Insights provides this information in a report titled Refractories Market, 2023-2030. Get a Free Sample Research Report: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/refractories-market-103287 List of Key Players Present in the Refractories Market Report: Saint-Gobain (France) Imerys (France) RHI Magnesita (Austria) POSCO Future M Co., Ltd. (South Korea) KAEFER SE & Co. KG (Germany) Beijing Lier High-Temperature Materials Co., Ltd. (China) HarbisonWalker International (U.S.) Intocast Group (Germany) Alsey Refractories Co. (U.S.) Magnezit Group (Russia) Vesuvius (U.K.) Puyang Refractories Group Co., Ltd. (China) Refratechnik Holding GmbH (Germany) Ruitai Materials Technology Co., Ltd. (China) Plibrico Company, LLC (U.S.) Competitive Landscape Acquisitions and Capacity Expansions to Drive Market Growth Major players focus on capacity expansions and acquisitions, driving the market growth during the forecast period. There is continuous investment across emerging and developed countries related to new product launches, production capacity, strategic acquisitions, and other ways. Key Industry Development February 2023- Vesuvius Group announced an investment of USD 61 million to expand its refractory manufacturing bases in India within three to five years. These investments will bring 35% of its monthly production capability at the Taratala unit in Kolkata, India. Story continues COVID-19 Impact Disruptions in Raw Material Supply During Pandemic Affected the Market The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the refractories market. The market growth was affected due to disruptions in the supply of raw materials such as non-clay sands and binders. Glass and cement manufacturing companies decreased production due to low demand from the construction and automotive industries globally. Despite initial disruptions, the market gradually recovered post-pandemic, and will record notable gains in the coming years. Browse Detailed Summary of Research Report with TOC: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/refractories-market-103287 Segments Strong Demand from Key Players to Drive the Bricks & Shaped Segment Based on form, the market is segmented into bricks & shaped and monolithic & unshaped. The bricks & shaped segment is estimated to dominate the market share during the forecast period due to large requirements for refractory products from non-metal and metal industries. Low Cost of Clay to Drive the Market By product, the market is classified into clay and non-clay. The clay segment holds the largest market share due to its low cost compared to the non-clay segment during the forecast period. There is a high demand for fireclay bricks and insulation products from iron and steel products manufacturers. High Demand for Basic to Propel the Market Growth Based on alkalinity, the market is divided into acidic & neutral and basic. The basic segment will hold the largest market share during the forecast period due to significant demand from various industries for the product. Iron & Steel Segment to Lead due to Wide Applications By end-use industry, the market is segmented into iron & steel, non-ferrous metals, glass, cement, and others. The iron & steel segment is estimated to hold the largest market share due to its application in reactors, vessels, and furnaces used during steel production. Regionally, the market is studied across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Report Coverage The report offers: Major growth drivers, restraining factors, opportunities, and potential challenges for the market. Comprehensive insights into regional developments. List of major industry players. Key strategies adopted by the market players. The latest industry developments include product launches, partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions. Drivers & Restraints Rising Iron, Steel, and Glass Consumption by the Automotive Industry to Drive Market The continuous growth of the automobile industry, particularly EVs, has increased the demand for vehicle manufacturing materials, such as steel, iron, and glass, driving the market growth. The development of Advanced High-Strength Steel (AHSS) has enabled the automotive sector to meet the rising regulatory requirements, which augurs well for the refractories market growth. Refractory product manufacturing processes, including curing, baking, and mining are very carbon-intensive, attracting regulations and environmental concerns and hampering the market growth. Ask for Customization: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/ask-for-customization/refractories-market-103287 Regional Insights- Strong Presence of End-use Industries to Drive the Asia Pacific Market The Asia Pacific market size stood at USD 21.36 billion in 2022. Asia Pacific is estimated to hold the largest refractories market share. Asia Pacific is expected to dominate the global market during the forecast period due to the strong presence of different end-use industries. The North America market is expected to grow significantly during the forecast period. Increasing demand from end-use industries in North America is driving the regional market growth. Detailed Table of Content: Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions Executive Summary Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities Key Insights Key Emerging Trends For Major Countries Key Developments: Capacity Expansions, Acquisitions, Partnerships, etc. Latest Technological Advancement Insights on Regulatory Scenario Porters Five Forces Analysis Qualitative Insights on Impact of COVID-19 on Global Refractories Market Supply Chain Analysis & Challenges due to Covid-19 Steps taken by Government / Companies to Overcome this Impact Potential Challenges and Opportunities due to COVID-19 Outbreak Global Refractories Industry Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2018-2029 Key Findings / Summary Market Size Estimates and Forecast - By Form (Value and Volume) Bricks & Shaped Monolithics & Unshaped Market Size Estimates and Forecast - By Product (Value and Volume) Clay Non Clay Market Size Estimates and Forecast - By Alkalinity (Value and Volume) Acidic & Neutral Basic Market Size Estimates and Forecast - By End-Use Industry (Value and Volume) Iron & Steel Non-Ferrous Metals Glass Cement Others Market Size Estimates and Forecast - By Region (Value and Volume) North America Europe Asia Pacific Latin America Middle East & Africa TOC Continued! Speak to Our Expert: https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/speak-to-analyst/refractories-market-103287 Read Related Insights: Concrete Blocks and Bricks Market Size, Revenue Analysis & Outlook (2022-2029) Precast Concrete Market to Hit $159.85 Bn by 2030 Ceramics Market Size Worth USD 219.12 Billion by 2028 at CAGR of 7.7% About Us: Fortune Business Insights delivers accurate data and innovative corporate analysis, helping organizations of all sizes make appropriate decisions. We tailor novel solutions for our clients, assisting them to address various challenges distinct to their businesses. Our aim is to empower them with holistic market intelligence, providing a granular overview of the market they are operating in. Address: Fortune Business Insights Pvt. Ltd. 9th Floor, Icon Tower, Baner Mahalunge Road, Baner, Pune-411045, Maharashtra, India. Phone: US: +1 424 253 0390 UK: +44 2071 939123 APAC: +91 744 740 1245 Email: sales@fortunebusinessinsights.com Follow Us: LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter SEC Plans To Appeal XRP Case SEC Requests Certification of the Court's Ruling The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has stated that it intends to challenge a recent court decision that determined the cryptocurrency XRP used by Ripple is not a security. In a court filing, the SEC requests certification of the court's ruling that XRP sales did not include securities and that an interlocutory review is necessary. The SEC requested permission to deviate from the case's predetermined course after claiming that a review would affect a number of its actions. This is in response to a court decision from last month that ruled that distributions to employees and programmatic sales of XRP by Ripple Labs to the general public did not constitute the sale of unregistered securities. However, XRP sales to institutions were regarded as unregistered securities sales. Since 2020, the company has been involved in a legal dispute with the SEC when the regulator accused Ripple and its co-founders of raising $1.3 billion through the sale of XRP, an allegedly unregistered security. Median salary for two-year MBA graduates of Northwestern Kellogg School of Management grew to $175K in 2023, up $10,000 from last year. Final employment numbers for this years class of grads will be published in the fall. Kellogg photo In one of the first hints at what the job market was like for the MBA Class of 2023, Northwestern Kellogg School of Management has released a sneak peek at preliminary employment numbers for students who graduated from its full-time two-year program in the spring. Liza Kirkpatrick, assistant dean of Kelloggs Career Management Center, writes in a blog today (August 8) that Kellogg grads have reported a $10,000 increase in median salary over their Class of 2022 colleagues, to $175,000. Looked at one way, thats a 6.1% bump in class median salary; looked at another, its almost exactly double the classs pre-MBA salary of $87,525. Looked at a third way, Kellogg MBAs median salary has grown by 25% since the pre-pandemic graduating class of 2019, when it was $140K. Employers across industries are finding next-level talent in Kellogg students, Kirkpatrick writes. These graduates success is a testament to the distinct approach to management education we embrace at Kellogg: one that fosters a special combination of analytical, creative and social intelligence and creates agile leaders who thrive no matter how much the business landscape changes. KELLOGG MBAs FINDING MORE JOBS IN FINANCE The jump in median salary brings Kellogg in line with most of its peers in the M7, five of which were at $175K last year. Kellogg's and MIT Sloan School of Management's MBA Classes of 2022, both of which reported median salaries of $165K, lagged their 2022 counterparts at Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Chicago Booth School of Business, and Columbia Business School. Kellogg grads' median signing bonus so far in 2023 is $30,000, Kirkpatrick writes, same as last year. The school will release final employment data in the fall, she adds. Story continues Where are Kellogg MBAs finding jobs? Historically, the consulting industry hires the lion's share of Kellogg MBAs, as they did last year with 40% of the Class of 2o22 (see below). No doubt consulting was again at or near the top in 2023; but as Kirkpatrick writes, the preliminary data show that finance is increasingly drawing the school's grads. As of graduation day, she writes, 22% of Class of 2023 students accepted roles in financial services, up from 16% last year and on pace to be the most from the school since at least 2013. Inside finance, private equity is a growing destination, with 10% of total grads finding work in the field at salaries ($190K median) $20,000 higher than last year. "Students who pursue PE at Kellogg find a wealth of resources and programming to support them," Kirkpatrick explains the success of the school in placing MBAs in PE: "The Advanced Private Equity Experience (APEX) is a global academic experience for high-caliber students seeking careers in PE," she writes. "Other opportunities include a variety of courses in the dedicated Private Equity and Venture Capital Pathway, a quarter-long internship through the Private Equity Lab, and the support of senior leaders in the field through the Private Equity Alumni Council." CONSULTING & TECH STILL TOP FIELDS FOR KELLOGG GRADS Kirkpatrick writes that consulting and tech are once again among the top industries, despite the shockwaves running through the industry throughout 2022, with 2023 Kellogg grads finding jobs at Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. She does not offer percentages but last year more than 20% of Kellogg MBAs went into tech. Other graduates in the Kellogg Class of 2023 "accepted roles in consumer packaged goods, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and more, yet again demonstrating the breadth of interests and perspectives in every Kellogg class," Kirkpatrick writes. DON'T MISS KELLOGG 2022 MBA JOBS REPORT: MEDIAN SALARY JUMPS 10% TO $165K and MBA SALARIES & BONUSES AT THE TOP 30 U.S. B-SCHOOLS The post Kellogg Reveals Median Salary Saw Another Big Jump In 2023 appeared first on Poets&Quants. adamkaz / iStock.com Ideally, Social Security benefits will supplement your retirement income by giving you an extra financial cushion to pay bills and fund your lifestyle. Theyre not intended to be the only or even main source of income once youve left the workforce. Unfortunately, a large percentage of U.S. seniors rely heavily or entirely on Social Security in retirement. Social Security Cuts: These States Would Be Impacted the Least Discover: 3 Ways To Recession-Proof Your Retirement Whats more, many younger Americans who are still working dont have adequate retirement savings, meaning they might also depend heavily on Social Security one day. For these Americans, boosting their eventual Social Security check takes on added importance. Social Security: What Happens If I Dont Have 40 Credits? If you want to take full advantage of Social Security benefits when you retire, the time to start strategizing is now. Here are five ways you can ensure that your monthly check is bigger. Work as Long as You Can You need at least 10 years of work, or 40 credits, to qualify for Social Security retirement benefits, according to the Social Security Administration. But thats the minimum you can earn. The agency bases the amount of your benefit on your highest 35 years of earnings. If you dont have 35 years of earnings by the time you apply for benefits, your benefit amount will be lower than it would be if you worked 35 years. Years with no earnings count as zeroes in the benefit calculation, so you need at least 35 years of earnings to ensure a bigger payment. Working more than 35 years will kick your benefit even higher especially if you move into a higher income bracket later in your career. Increase Your Income If you find yourself running into lean times in terms of income, you can still contribute more to your Social Security benefits by finding other sources of income that will boost your overall earnings. For example, you might work overtime at your current job or apply for a higher-paying position. Story continues Beyond that, you can work a side gig either for another employer or as a freelancer. If its the latter, make sure you pay estimated taxes each quarter so your freelance income contributes to your Social Security income. Wait Until Full Retirement Age To Claim Benefits Your full retirement age is when you are entitled to the full Social Security benefits you are due based on your work record and the amount of taxes you paid into the system. Currently, the FRA is either 66 or 67, depending on your birth year. For anyone born in 1960 or later, full retirement benefits are payable at age 67. You can claim Social Security as early as age 62, but doing so means you will get a smaller check. The longer you wait, the bigger your monthly payment. If at all possible, you should wait at least until FRA to collect. Better Yet, Wait Until Age 70 To Collect Waiting until age 70 to claim Social Security will guarantee the biggest check possible because after that age there is no more advantage to waiting. Research shows that waiting until age 70 to collect instead of collecting at age 62 increases your total monthly payment by more than three-quarters. Review Your Social Security Statements You can access a Social Security statement online by opening a my Social Security account. For workers 60 and older who dont have a my Social Security account, the SSA mails Social Security statements three months before your birthday. These statements provide estimates of your monthly retirement benefit based on your yearly earnings record. Take the time to check your statement to make sure the SSA has the correct information. If you find that your income has been underreported, contact the agency to correct any errors and ensure you get the full benefits you are due. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Social Security Benefits: 5 Ways To Make Your Monthly Check Bigger Sosei Group Corporation HTL0039732 is a novel EP4 antagonist designed by Sosei Heptares with potential to treat a wide range of cancers in combination with other immunotherapies Tokyo, Japan, London and Cambridge, UK, 10 August 2023 Sosei Group Corporation (the Company; TSE: 4565), the world-leader in GPCR-focused structure-based drug design (SBDD) and development, and Cancer Research UK, the worlds largest independent funder of cancer research, today announce that the first patient has been dosed in a Phase I/IIa clinical trial evaluating Sosei Heptares orally available small molecule cancer immunotherapy drug HTL0039732 for advanced solid tumors. HTL0039732 works by blocking signalling through a specific type of prostaglandin receptor, the prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)-type prostanoid receptor 4 (EP4). In cancer, PGE2 acts in the tumor microenvironment to trigger cancer cells to evade the immune system. Targeting EP4 to block the effects of PGE2 increases the ability of the immune system to detect and control cancer cells and makes HTL0039732 a potential candidate to treat patients with cancers that generally do not respond well to current immunotherapies, such as microsatellite stable* colorectal, gastroesophageal, head and neck, and castrate-resistant prostate cancer. Positive results from the trial will bring effective treatment closer to these underserved patient populations. Cancer Research UKs Centre for Drug Development (CDD) is sponsoring, designing and conducting the Phase I/IIa trial with three main objectives: to define the toxicity, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of HTL0039732, to identify the recommended dose for Phase II studies, and to assess its antitumor activity as a monotherapy and in combination with the PD-L1 inhibitor atezolizumab. Phase IIa of the trial will expand the optimal combination dose in up to four cohorts in specified cancer indications. Sosei Heptares holds a license to the results generated under the trial to continue the clinical development and commercialization of HTL0039732. Story continues Chief Investigator Dr. Bristi Basu, University of Cambridge, and Co-Chief Investigator Dr. Debashis Sarker, Kings College London, are leading the trial. Patient recruitment has been initiated in the UK at Cambridge University Hospitals and Guys and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trusts, with additional sites across the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) network to open soon. Please refer here for more details on this trial. Matt Barnes, President of Heptares Therapeutics and Head of UK R&D, said: We are very pleased to be collaborating with Cancer Research UK to advance HTL0039732 into clinical development. This novel oral small molecule drug candidate was rationally designed using our SBDD platform and has the potential to become a best-in-class approach to enhance the efficacy of immunotherapies used to treat many cancer patients. Dr. Bristi Basu, University of Cambridge, said: We are excited to be opening a new UK clinical trial using HTL0039732 to target a protein called EP4, a member of the prostaglandin receptor family that has been implicated in creating the immunosuppressive environment which promotes tumor growth in multiple cancer types. By studying HTL0039732 alone and in combination with immunotherapy, we aim to understand more about how to optimize modulation of the immune system to fight cancers. We hope that this EP4-targeting approach will deliver a promising route to improving treatment options for patients with a broad range of cancers. Dr. Nigel Blackburn, Director of Cancer Research UKs CDD, said: We are delighted to have reached this next significant milestone in our partnership with Sosei Heptares. The fact that immunotherapy works for some patients but not others means we desperately need more trials like this to open up potentially life-saving treatment options to more people. The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has granted HTL0039732 an Innovation Passport, the first step in its Innovative and Licensing Access Pathway (ILAP), which aims to improve patient access to new medicines by reducing the time to market. The MHRA grants Innovation Passports to medicines that treat life-threatening or seriously debilitating conditions, and where there is a significant patient or public health need. -ENDS- Notes to editors *Approximately 8085% of colorectal cancer patients are classified as microsatellite stable (MSS), which means they have low instability in short, repeated sequences of DNA in their tumours, known as microsatellites. MSS tumours often exist in an environment that suppresses the immune system and do not respond well to immunotherapies. About the agreement between Cancer Research UK and Sosei Heptares Cancer Research UK and Sosei Heptares signed a Clinical Trial and Licence Agreement in July 2022 to allow Cancer Research UKs Centre for Drug Development (CDD) to sponsor, design and execute a first-in-human Phase I/IIa clinical trial of HTL0039732. Sosei Heptares was responsible for enabling activities and other pre-clinical studies before the trial began and holds a license to the results generated to continue the clinical development and commercialization of the drug. The CDD was responsible for obtaining the Clinical Trial Authorisation. About Cancer Research UKs Centre for Drug Development Cancer Research UK has an impressive record of developing novel treatments for cancer. The Cancer Research UK Centre for Drug Development has been pioneering the development of new cancer treatments for 25 years, taking over 140 potential new anti-cancer agents into clinical trials in patients. It currently has a portfolio of 21 new anti-cancer agents in preclinical development, Phase I or early Phase IIa clinical trials. Six of these new agents have made it to market including temozolomide for brain cancer, abiraterone for prostate cancer and rucaparib for ovarian cancer. Two other drugs are in late development Phase III trials. www.cruk.org.uk/cdd About Cancer Research UK Cancer Research UK is the worlds leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research. Cancer Research UKs pioneering work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives. Cancer Research UK receives no funding from the UK government for its life-saving research. Every step it makes towards beating cancer relies on vital donations from the public. Cancer Research UK has been at the heart of the progress that has already seen survival in the UK double in the last 40 years. Today, 2 in 4 people survive their cancer for at least 10 years. Cancer Research UKs ambition is to accelerate progress so that by 2034, 3 in 4 people will survive their cancer for at least 10 years. Cancer Research UK supports research into all aspects of cancer through the work of over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses. Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK's vision is to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured. For further information about Cancer Research UK's work or to find out how to support the charity, please call 0300 123 1022 or visit www.cancerresearchuk.org. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook. About Sosei Heptares Sosei Heptares is a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company focused on bringing life-changing medicines based on world-class science to patients globally. Our vision is to become one of Japans global biopharmaceutical champions. Our global business combines our world-leading GPCR-targeted StaR technology, structure-based drug design and early development capabilities in the UK with a highly experienced clinical development capability and a commercial operation in Japan. We are leveraging these capabilities to generate and advance a broad and deep pipeline of novel medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, including neurology, immunology, gastroenterology and inflammatory diseases. We intend to develop these opportunities for patients in Japan and globally both internally and through our partnerships with global biopharmaceutical companies and emerging technology companies. Sosei Heptares operates from key locations in Tokyo and Osaka (Japan), London and Cambridge (UK) and Seoul (South Korea). Sosei Heptares is the corporate brand and trademark of Sosei Group Corporation, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565). Sosei, Heptares, the logo and StaR are trademarks of Sosei Group companies. For more information, please visit https://soseiheptares.com/ LinkedIn: @soseiheptaresco | Twitter: @soseiheptaresco | YouTube: @soseiheptaresco Enquiries: Sosei Heptares Media and Investor Relations Hironoshin Nomura, Chief Financial Officer Shinichiro Nishishita, VP Investor Relations, Head of Regulatory Disclosures Maya Bennison, Communications Manager +81 (0)3 5210 3399 | +44 (0)1223 949390 | IR@SoseiHeptares.com MEDiSTRAVA Consulting (for International Media) Mark Swallow, Frazer Hall +44 (0)203 928 6900 | SoseiHeptares@medistrava.com Forward-looking statements This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the discovery, development, and commercialization of products. Various risks may cause Sosei Group Corporations actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: adverse results in clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for inventions; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities; and product initiatives by competitors. As a result of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statements. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Key Insights Symrise's estimated fair value is 71.75 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity Symrise is estimated to be 28% overvalued based on current share price of 91.84 Analyst price target for SY1 is 108, which is 50% above our fair value estimate Today we'll do a simple run through of a valuation method used to estimate the attractiveness of Symrise AG (ETR:SY1) as an investment opportunity by projecting its future cash flows and then discounting them to today's value. The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model is the tool we will apply to do this. There's really not all that much to it, even though it might appear quite complex. We would caution that there are many ways of valuing a company and, like the DCF, each technique has advantages and disadvantages in certain scenarios. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you. View our latest analysis for Symrise The Calculation We're using the 2-stage growth model, which simply means we take in account two stages of company's growth. In the initial period the company may have a higher growth rate and the second stage is usually assumed to have a stable growth rate. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. Generally we assume that a dollar today is more valuable than a dollar in the future, and so the sum of these future cash flows is then discounted to today's value: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) estimate 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 2031 2032 2033 Levered FCF (, Millions) 539.6m 536.0m 524.7m 526.5m 523.6m 522.0m 521.5m 521.7m 522.4m 523.5m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x10 Analyst x8 Analyst x3 Analyst x2 Est @ -0.56% Est @ -0.29% Est @ -0.10% Est @ 0.04% Est @ 0.13% Est @ 0.20% Present Value (, Millions) Discounted @ 5.5% 512 482 447 426 401 380 360 341 324 308 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = 4.0b Story continues The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (0.4%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 5.5%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2033 (1 + g) (r g) = 523m (1 + 0.4%) (5.5% 0.4%) = 10b Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= 10b ( 1 + 5.5%)10= 6.0b The total value, or equity value, is then the sum of the present value of the future cash flows, which in this case is 10b. In the final step we divide the equity value by the number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of 91.8, the company appears slightly overvalued at the time of writing. Valuations are imprecise instruments though, rather like a telescope - move a few degrees and end up in a different galaxy. Do keep this in mind. dcf The Assumptions The calculation above is very dependent on two assumptions. The first is the discount rate and the other is the cash flows. Part of investing is coming up with your own evaluation of a company's future performance, so try the calculation yourself and check your own assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at Symrise as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 5.5%, which is based on a levered beta of 1.021. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. SWOT Analysis for Symrise Strength Debt is well covered by earnings. Dividends are covered by earnings and cash flows. Weakness Earnings declined over the past year. Dividend is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Chemicals market. Expensive based on P/E ratio and estimated fair value. Opportunity Annual earnings are forecast to grow faster than the German market. Threat Debt is not well covered by operating cash flow. Revenue is forecast to grow slower than 20% per year. Moving On: Although the valuation of a company is important, it is only one of many factors that you need to assess for a company. It's not possible to obtain a foolproof valuation with a DCF model. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For example, changes in the company's cost of equity or the risk free rate can significantly impact the valuation. Can we work out why the company is trading at a premium to intrinsic value? For Symrise, we've compiled three relevant elements you should explore: Risks: You should be aware of the 2 warning signs for Symrise (1 is a bit unpleasant!) we've uncovered before considering an investment in the company. Future Earnings: How does SY1's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other Solid Businesses: Low debt, high returns on equity and good past performance are fundamental to a strong business. Why not explore our interactive list of stocks with solid business fundamentals to see if there are other companies you may not have considered! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every German stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. MANILA (Reuters) - Analog chipmaker Texas Instruments is planning to invest up to $1 billion to expand its Philippine facilities, the Southeast Asian nation's presidential communications office said on Thursday. Texas Instruments is set to submit in two weeks an application covering the expansion of its sites north of the capital Manila, the presidential office said. (Reporting by Neil Jerome Morales) Photo: Pixabay How do you define community? In my work, Ive had the pleasure of watching how volunteering can transform our communities. It not only helps the causes we care about, it helps every volunteer by providing them with a sense of purpose and fulfillment. I have realized, though, that how we define community has a profound effect on volunteering. Not only in who volunteers where and how, but even in the feelings of well-being that come from volunteering. Traditionally, a persons community was defined as the geographical area that they were raised or lived in. Now, its less confined. More and more, we define our communities as the people who have the same interests, beliefs and values that we have, whether they live on the next block or on the other side of the world. We may never have physically met the people who are important to our communities. Often, we do not consider ourselves as belonging to only one community. We can belong to a community at work, a community at the gym, our extended family and so on. From a volunteering point of view, understanding this change in definition and multiplicity is vital. We tend to volunteer for those causes that are important to our communities. Take, for example, my 20-year-old son Eric. Hes a construction worker, plays heavy metal guitar, likes online gaming, has a girlfriend and he mountain bikes in the summer. Just considering these, he has five different communities that he cares about. The fact that the suburb we live in desperately needs people to shovel seniors driveways doesnt interest him in the least. But he volunteered for weeks to help a group build a mountain bike trail on the other side of the city. He volunteered to teach his girlfriends nephew in the U.K. how to play guitar. He volunteered at an online gaming event (sorry, I dont know the details thats not my community.) If Eric was pressured somehow into helping out shovelling driveways, he would have seen it as a chore and no matter how important the task, he wouldnt have gotten any intrinsic satisfaction from it. He is just one example. If you look at your own communities, you will probably find the same thing and we, as leaders of volunteers, need to understand how this shift affects volunteering. If weas we have traditionally donefocus our recruitment of volunteers in our local geographic communities, we shrink our potential pool of volunteers by an unbelievable amount. Too often, even when we try to find remote volunteers, we limit them to certain computer-based tasks. And we dont need to. My favourite story about this is of a local Indian cultural centre that had a lot of difficulty finding an experienced volunteer to teach traditional danceuntil it tapped into the international dance community and found a highly-talented teacher who just happened to live in India. But its not just a matter of recruiting virtual volunteers. If we develop a good understanding of what community or communities our organization belongs to, we can more easily find others who belong to that community, or to adjacent ones. Say youre a street outreach organization. What communities would you belong to, or touch? The street community itself, of course. The health community. Policing. Perhaps a religious community. The street artist community. And so on. The people in these communities are people who care about your cause. Who may have had experience with homelessness or addiction issues themselves, or who have seen the impact of it on others. People who want to see things improve. And who better to recruit volunteers from? Rather than trying to recruit everyone and anyone, focus on those people in your communities, not just your neighbourhood. The larger our world grows, and the more interconnected it becomes, and the more our definition of community changes. People see, or care, less about what is happening in their physical locations. This can be a challenge for organizations who still depend on recruiting volunteers from people who define community as their physical location. If, instead, you define your organizations community as the people who care about what you care about, you can focus your recruitment (and fundraising) efforts toward those who are more likely to step up and help. Whether those people are in the next building or the next country. This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet. In this article, we will list the Top 20 Countries With the Most McDonalds Restaurants. If you want to skip our detailed analysis of the fas-food industry, see Top 5 Countries With the Most McDonalds Restaurants. Fast food chains originating in the United States have taken over the world in the past few decades. Most of us are aware of fast food restaurant chains such as McDonalds and KFC, no matter what part of the world we live in. Such fast-food restaurants have been non-selective in their expansion. They have laid their foundation everywhere, from the United States to Western Europe, and Middle East Asia. American fast-food chains have dominated the European fast-food market. Nine out of ten key players in the European Fast food markets are American brands. At the same time, the presence of European fast-food restaurants in the United States is non-existent. Fast food became popular in the United States because of the highway systems that were developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Americans started traveling more which meant that they needed a quick fix for their hunger. Fast food restaurants gave them fulfilling, budget-friendly, and quick meal options. The concept of fast food is as American as it gets. America is the largest consumer of fast food. The taste is suitable for all sorts of people. It does not have risky flavor and spices. Fast food restaurants prepare and serve food within minutes, suiting the busy lifestyle of most Americans. Most fast food restaurants also deliver food to the home. Fast food restaurant companies like McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD), Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM), and Dominos Pizza, Inc. (NYSE:DPZ) have established themselves in the American markets. So, it is very difficult for new restaurants from around the world to break through in the US. While it is difficult for new players around the world to break into the US market and get a sizeable market share, the growth and size of the US fast food market attract many startups to the US. One such example is Operation Falafel, a Dubai-based startup chain that is trying to break into the United States. Story continues McDonalds is arguably the most popular fast-food restaurant in the world. It is present all over the world and is one of the leading fast food brands in the United States, which also tops our list of the countries with most McDonalds restaurants. The first McDonalds was opened in San Bernardino, California, in 1940. Since then, Mcdonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) has not looked back. Today, you can find Mcdonald's in all states of the United States and 120 countries around the world. If you want to find out about the top 3 countries with the most McDonalds, we suggest you keep reading. Unsurprisingly, the United States accounts for 38% of total McDonalds restaurants in the top 20 countries with the most McDonalds. McDonalds started as a drive-in restaurant. Its success was owed to its assembly line process, which enabled it to serve fast food within minutes. Franchising helped Mcdonald's expand to the entire world. Since 1955, McDonalds has been a franchising company, and its franchisee played a major role in its success. While Mcdonald's has ruled the fast food market all over the world, it faces competition from other American brands. Subway has now taken over Mcdonald's in terms of total restaurants all over the world. However, Subways revenue of $15.2 Billion last year is less than McDonalds $24 Billion. Top 20 countries With the Most McDonald's Restaurants saknakorn / Shutterstock.com Our Methodology For accuracy, we relied on the official McDonalds Corporation (NYSE: MCD) report. It listed all McDonalds restaurants around the world by year-end 2022. We also took 2022 year-end population figures of the top 20 countries with the most McDonalds, to calculate people per McDonalds outlet. 20 - Malaysia Number of outlets - 341 People per outlet - 99526 McDonalds opened its first branch in Malaysia on Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur in 1982. After eight years of opening in Malaysia, it opened its first-ever drive-through restaurant in the country. Since Malaysia is a Muslim country, McDonalds serves halal food. The menu is catered to the local taste, and pork is omitted from it. 19 - South Africa Number of outlets - 346 People per outlet - 173104 Mcdonald's is available in all of the nine provinces of South Africa. It entered the South African market in November 1995. Initially, McDonalds faced tough competition from fast food brands in South Africa. However, it has 13% of the market share by revenue today. This makes McDonalds the second-largest fast-food brand in South Africa, with Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM)s KFC being the first. 18 - Mexico Number of outlets - 366 People per outlet - 348372 McDonalds opened in Mexico on October 29, 1983, in Pedregal. Since then, it has opened 366 branches throughout the country. It is one of the leading fast-food brands in Mexico, along with Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM)s KFC. 17- Saudi Arabia Number of outlets - 371 People per outlet - 98137 McDonalds first opened in Saudia Arabia in 1994, in Jeddah. Today, it is available in all the major cities, such as Medina, Makkah, and Tabuk. McDonalds is the leading fast-food restaurant in Saudi Arabia in terms of revenue and sales. In addition, it serves only halal food. All McDonalds franchises in the southern and western regions of Saudia Arabia are owned by Reza Food Services. 16 - South Korea Number of outlets - 399 People per outlet - 129864 South Korea ranks number 16 on the list of countries with the most McDonalds. McDonalds opened its first restaurant in South Korea in 1998 in Apgujeong-dong. This coincided with the countrys Olympic fever, which turned out in McDonalds favor. McDonalds has since then expanded throughout South Korea. It has tailored its menu according to the taste of locals. South Korean McDonalds serves items suited to local tastes, such as the Bulgogi Burger, which you won't find in any other country. 15 - Taiwan Number of outlets - 409 People per outlet - 58419 McDonalds opened its gates to the Taiwanese in 1984. It has a surprisingly large number of restaurants in Taiwan in comparison to the total population. Taiwan has 58419 people per McDonalds outlet, which is less than Poland, Spain, Italy, Philippines, Brazil, and China, all of which rank higher in terms of total number of outlets. 14 - India Number of outlets - 512 People per outlet - 2784718 The first McDonalds restaurant in India was opened in Bandra, Mumbai in 1996. In the next 12 years, 50 McDonalds restaurants opened up across India. Today, India has 512 McDonalds restaurants, and it is the second-largest fast-food chain in terms of revenue. 13- Poland Number of outlets - 517 People per outlet - 77093 McDonalds entered the Polish market in 1992 when it opened its first-ever restaurant in Warsaw. On its opening day, McDonalds branch served 30,000 customers, setting a record for the most customers served on the first day, as noted by Kafkadesk.org. McDonalds is the largest fast food brand in Poland in terms of number of outlets. It is followed by KFC as the second-largest fast-food brand. 12- Spain Number of outlets - 580 People per outlet - 81998 Coming in at number 12 in the list of countries with the most McDonalds, Spain seems to love this restaurant. Mcdonalds currently enjoys a 40% market share in Spain. It began its operations in Spain in 1981 when it set up its first restaurant in Madrid. 11- Italy Number of outlets - 669 People per outlet - 88247 Italy has 669 McDonalds restaurants, making it the 11th country in terms of countries with most McDonalds restaurants. Italys first McDonald's opened in Rome in 1986. McDonalds opening in Italy stirred controversies surrounding fast food and gave way to the slow food movement. Yet, it has been able to establish its footing in Italy with one restaurant for 88247 people. 10 - Philippines Number of outlets - 705 People per outlet - 163913 The first McDonalds in the Philippines opened in 1981 in Morayta, Manila. Today, 100% of McDonalds restaurants in the Philippines are locally owned. McDonalds in the Philippines maintains a menu catered to the local taste. Some of the unique items you can find here include McSpaghetti and Chicken McDo. 9 - Australia Number of outlets - 1,028 People per outlet - 25553 The first Australian Mcdonald's opened in the suburbs of Sydney back in 1971. Today, 1028 McDonalds restaurants operate in Australia, making it 9th among countries with the most McDonalds restaurants. 80% of the McDonalds restaurants in Australia are owned by local businesses, and the remainder belong to the McDonalds Corporation (NYSE: MCD). Today, it is one of the most visited restaurants in Australia. 8 - Brazil Number of outlets - 1,084 People per outlet - 199652 McDonalds opened its doors to Brazilians in 1979. Fast forward to today, it has more than 1000 restaurants operating in Brazil. McDonalds is one of the leading restaurants in the food services industry in Brazil, along with Starbucks and KFC. 7- United Kingdom Number of outlets - 1,397 People per outlet - 48504 With 1,397 restaurants, the UK comes in at number seven in our list of the top countries with the most Mcdonalds restaurants. The First McDonalds in the UK was opened in 1974 on Powis Street, Woolwich. Today, there are more than 1300 McDonalds restaurants in the UK, with one restaurant for every 48504 people. With new players and alternatives emerging in the market, McDonald's share in the food services industry in the UK is decreasing. However, it is still the leading brand in the food service industry in the Kingdom. 6 - Germany Number of outlets - 1,425 People per outlet - 58449 Germany has the sixth highest number of McDonalds restaurants.The first McDonalds in Germany opened in Munich in December 1971. Initially, it offered six food and drink items, but the number has since then grown to over 100 food items. Click to continue reading Top 5 Countries With the Most McDonalds Restaurants. Suggested Articles: Disclosure: None. Top 20 Countries With the Most McDonalds Restaurants is originally published on Insider Monkey Conestoga Capital Advisors, an asset management company, released its SMid Cap Growth Strategy second-quarter 2023 investor letter. A copy of the same can be downloaded here. The Conestoga SMid Cap Growth Composite rose 8.52% net of fees in the second quarter, compared to the Russell 2500 Growth Indexs 6.41% return. A mix of both sector allocation and stock selection contributed positively to the relative return of the fund in the quarter. In addition, please check the funds top five holdings to know its best picks in 2023. Conestoga Smid Strategy highlighted stocks like Trex Company, Inc. (NYSE:TREX) in the second quarter 2023 investor letter. Headquartered in Winchester, Virginia, Trex Company, Inc. (NYSE:TREX) is a decking, railing, and outdoor living products and accessories manufacturer. On August 9, 2023, Trex Company, Inc. (NYSE:TREX) stock closed at $73.98 per share. One-month return of Trex Company, Inc. (NYSE:TREX) was 4.92%, and its shares gained 29.38% of their value over the last 52 weeks. Trex Company, Inc. (NYSE:TREX) has a market capitalization of $8.049 billion. Conestoga Smid Strategy made the following comment about Trex Company, Inc. (NYSE:TREX) in its second quarter 2023 investor letter: "Trex Company, Inc. (NYSE:TREX): TREX is a market share leader in the manufacturing and distribution of composite decking that is sold in the residential market. TREX reported solid results in 1Q23 with better margins and with guidance for 2Q23 that was higher than street expectations. The stock rallied during the quarter given the solid results, a normalization of inventory in the channel, and the recent introduction of several exciting new products." Railing, stairs ash-ashley-t21WuuMXhjk-unsplash Trex Company, Inc. (NYSE:TREX) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds As per our database, 30 hedge fund portfolios held Trex Company, Inc. (NYSE:TREX) at the end of first quarter which was 34 in the previous quarter. Story continues We discussed Trex Company, Inc. (NYSE:TREX) in another article and shared The London Company SMID Cap Strategys views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q2 2023 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors. Suggested Articles: Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. TORONTO, August 10, 2023--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Trigon Metals Inc. (TSX-V: TM; OTCQB: PNTZF) ("Trigon" or the "Company") announces the full restart of milling and processing at the Kombat Mine. The Company has succeeded in restarting copper concentrate production at the Kombat mine in Namibia, placing the project on track to meet commercial production targets by the end of September. On the evening of August 3, 2023, the Company achieved the major milestone of turning on the mills crushing facility and starting the flotation circuit. The plant has been running in three-hour bursts as the Trigon team fine-tunes the equipment and sets up for a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week operation. Concentrate levels are building in the thickeners with first concentrate production pending. Trigon President and Chief Executive Officer, Jed Richardson, commented: "I would like to thank our staff, contractors, suppliers, local partners, and the Namibian government for their concerted efforts in getting Kombat back into production. This milestone for both our Company and the Kombat community pushes us forward as a cash-flowing operation. We look forward to the continued growth of our operations at Kombat as Trigon offers yet more value to our dedicated shareholders." Local Director, Trigon Namibia, Jeremy Hangula, commented: "We commend the team at Trigon Namibia for their outstanding efforts at achieving the milestone of bringing these deposits into production. Support from our local shareholders and stakeholders has proven to be invaluable and has contributed greatly to the hundreds of jobs created, and currently adding value to the Kombat community." Qualified Person The technical information presented in this press release has been reviewed and approved for disclosure by Fanie Muller, P.Eng, VP Operations of Trigon, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. Virtual Non-Deal Roadshows Hosted by Renmark Financial Trigon will be participating in a live Virtual Non-Deal Roadshow session on Tuesday, August 15, 2023. Trigon welcomes stakeholders, investors, and other individual followers to register and attend this live event. Story continues Jed Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Aidan Sullivan, Vice-President, Investor Relations will walk viewers through the latest investor presentation followed by a live Q&A. Investors interested in participating in this event will need to register using the link below. As a reminder, registration for the live event may be limited but access to the replay after the event will be on the Trigon website. REGISTER HERE: Tuesday, August 15, 2023 at 12:00 PM ET: https://www.renmarkfinancial.com/live-registration/renmark-virtual-non-deal-roadshow-tsx-v-tm-otcqb-pntzf-2023-08-15-120000 Please access this link using the latest version of Google Chrome to ensure smooth connectivity. Trigon Metals Inc. Trigon is a publicly traded Canadian exploration and development company with its core business focused on copper and silver holdings in mine-friendly African jurisdictions. Currently, the company has operations in Namibia and Morocco. In Namibia, the Company holds an 80% interest in five mining licences in the Otavi Mountainlands, an area of Namibia widely recognized for its high-grade copper deposits, where the Company is focused on exploration and re-development of the previously producing Kombat Mine. In Morocco, the Company is the holder of the Silver Hill and Addana projects, highly prospective copper and silver exploration projects. Cautionary Notes This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements include statements regarding the Kombat Mine, the reopening of the Kombat Mine, the Companys ability to restart operations, the economic viability of the Kombat Mine, the Companys ability to mine underground and the related timelines, the infrastructure required for Trigons operations and the Companys future plans and objectives. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statements or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws. 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. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230810562694/en/ Contacts For further information, contact: Jed Richardson +1 647 276 6002 jed.richardson@trigonmetals.com Website: www.trigonmetals.com Have a trip planned to Hawaii? What to know about the Maui fires Hawaii is a noted tourist destination, but with deadly wildfires wreaking havoc on Maui and other islands, it has declared a state of emergency in all counties. Hawaiian officials are discouraging nonessential travel to Maui amidst the fire's destruction on that island. Major airlines are assisting in efforts to evacuate residents and visitors from danger zones. People with trips planned to the second-largest Hawaiian island are being asked to postpone them, with airlines and accommodation providers offering travelers flexibility to rebook. Here's what to know if you had a vacation in Hawaii scheduled. What parts of Hawaii are experiencing fires? A major blaze largely destroyed the historic town of Lahaina, on Maui. As of Thursday, officials said the Lahaina fire was 80% contained. Fires also affected Kihei and Upcountry Maui, as well as the northwest part of the Island of Hawaii, between Hapuna and Kawaihae. Can I still go to Maui? The Hawaii Tourism Agency is strongly discouraging nonessential travel to Maui. Even tourists who are already there are encouraged to depart immediately, if they can. "Visitors currently on Maui for nonessential travel reasons are being asked to leave the island as rescue and recovery efforts continue," the Hawaii Tourism Agency said in a statement Wednesday. Travel to the island of Hawaii remains unaffected, and the government said it remains to safe to visit other islands. Are commercial airlines flying to Maui? Some are and some aren't. Many airlines are offering travel waivers that allow customers with immediate plans to travel to Maui to rebook their flights without fees, or to cancel them altogether for credit or, in some cases, a full refund. "With the exception of basic economy tickets, almost all U.S. airlines allow you flexibility to either reschedule your trip or cancel and get the full amount you paid back for travel credit for future trip," Scott Keyes, of travel site Going told CBS MoneyWatch. "So you automatically have a lot of flexibility to change your plans or save flight credit for a future trip. That was not really the case pre-pandemic." Story continues UNITED AIRLINES United Airlines said it's prioritizing the welfare of its employees on Maui and has scrapped commercial flights to the island. It is instead using empty passenger planes to carry Maui residents off the island. "We've canceled today's inbound flights to Kahului Airport so our planes can fly empty to Maui and be used as passenger flights back to the mainland," the airline said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch. The airline also has waivers in place for United passengers who had been scheduled to fly to or from Kahului airport on Maui, as well as Honolulu airport. Customers may either rebook themselves on a flight that departs on or before August 16, or cancel the flight altogether for a full refund, the airline said on its website. AMERICAN AIRLINES For its part, American Airlines said on Thursday that it planned to operate all scheduled flights to and from Maui. The airline is also allowing customers whose travel is affected by the wildfires to rebook without fees or to cancel and receive a full refund. ALASKA AIR Alaska Air has a "flexible travel policy" in place that allows customers to change their flights at no cost through August 31 or cancel them in exchange for a travel voucher worth the cost of the flight. Some would-be visitors to Maui said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that they wanted outright refunds from airlines, as opposed to the option of rebooking within a short time frame. Given the extent of devastation the wildfires have caused, it may be some time before travelers may want to rebook. Even if some flights are taking off, "We have nowhere to stay as our hotel was on the west Maui in Lahaina," said one frustrated traveler. Southwest Airlines said it had added flights between islands and back to the mainland U.S. "to keep people and supplies moving." Some fares from Maui to the mainland U.S. are under $100. Hawaiian Airlines also said it's adding extra flights between Maui and Honolulu for as little as $19 "to facilitate urgent travel." The Hawaii Tourism Agency added that "airlines are being very supportive during this emergency crisis and providing additional flights to help visitors depart from Maui. Airlines are also adjusting their travel schedules to support those visitors who had planned to arrive this week." Will I be compensated for my hotel accommodations? Many major hotels and resorts in vulnerable areas have lost power, halted service and stopped accepting guests altogether. Some are providing full refunds to scheduled guests, depending on the time of their planned stay. The Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa said the hotel is "closed to arrivals and not accepting guests" through August 13. It will issue refunds including for deposits and prepayments to guests who had been scheduled to stay at the property through the weekend. Homesharing site Airbnb said its extenuating circumstances policy has gone into effect for parts of Hawaii, including all of Maui. It allows hosts and guests to cancel their stays without penalty and entitles guests to full refunds for reservations they don't use. Non-refundable reservations In the case of non-refundable reservations, a travel insurance policy could help you recoup funds related to a trip you didn't take. For travelers already on Maui, some of these policies also come with medical evacuation options that can help visitors to the island get to safer ground. Some credit card companies even build in protections related to travel without requiring that you sign up for additional protections. "Many of them automatically include travel insurance, so check and see what you're entitled to," Keyes said. With reporting by Elizabeth Napolitano By Daniel Wiessner (Reuters) - A China-based tutoring company has agreed to settle a U.S. government agency's novel lawsuit claiming it used hiring software powered by artificial intelligence to illegally weed out older job applicants. The 2022 lawsuit against iTutorGroup Inc was the first by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) involving a company's use of AI to make employment decisions. The commission, which enforces workplace bias laws, in 2021 launched an initiative to ensure that AI software used by U.S. employers complies with anti-discrimination laws. The EEOC has warned that it will focus enforcement efforts on companies that misuse AI. ITutorGroup agreed to pay $365,000 to more than 200 job applicants allegedly passed over because of their age, according to a joint filing made in New York federal court on Wednesday. The settlement must be approved by a federal judge. The company, which provides English-language tutoring to students in China, denied wrongdoing in the settlement. The EEOC had alleged that iTutorGroup in 2020 programmed online recruitment software to screen out women aged 55 or older and men who were 60 or older. ITutorGroup, a unit of Ping An Insurance Group Co of China , did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An EEOC spokesperson said the agency would not comment until the settlement is approved. At least 85% of large U.S. employers are using AI in some aspects of employment, according to recent surveys. That includes software that screens out job applicants before a human reviews any applications, human resources "chatbots," and programs that conduct performance reviews and make recommendations for promotions. Many worker advocates and policymakers are concerned about the potential for existing biases to be baked into AI software, even unintentionally. In a pending proposed class action in California federal court, Workday is accused of designing hiring software used by scores of large companies that screens out Black, disabled and older applicants. Workday has denied wrongdoing. Experts expect an increasing number of lawsuits accusing employers of discriminating through their use of AI software. (Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Andy Sullivan) (Bloomberg) -- The UK is considering whether to follow President Joe Bidens move to limit US investment in some Chinese advanced technology companies, as Western nations seek to strike a balance between protecting national security with the economic necessity of trading with China. Most Read from Bloomberg Biden signed an executive order Wednesday to regulate US investment in some Chinese semiconductor, quantum computing and artificial intelligence companies amid fears that the know-how transferred via joint ventures and other financing arrangements involving American firms in China are helping accelerate the indigenization of these technologies. Read More: Biden Narrows China Investment Order as US Seeks Better Ties In a statement issued shortly after Bidens announcement, the British government said the presidents order gives important clarity on the US approach. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunaks government said: The UK will consider these new measures closely as we continue to assess potential national security risks attached to some investments. The UK and other European nations have been trying to navigate how to respond to the shifting ties between the US and China. Biden faced competing pressures, from China hawks arguing for faster, tougher action while others including the Treasury Department seeking narrower measures that would take longer to go into effect. In the event, the language of Bidens order suggested that Treasury and those advocating a more cautious approach won out. That narrower scope appears likely to gel with Sunaks own approach to China, which has been to seek trade-friendly ties as far as possible without jeopardizing national security. Story continues Asked whether Sunak was considering a similar measure to the US, a UK government official pointed only to the text of the so-called Atlantic Declaration the two sides signed in June. That document vowed to respond effectively to the risk that British investment and know-how could help rival countries develop security threats. Read More: Sunak Tries to Fix China Ties Without Upsetting UK Hawks (1) The official said the UK would need to examine the order and consult British companies and other stakeholders before determining its own next steps. Still, the political balancing act is not straightforward for Sunak, who has opted to take a more nuanced approach to China than many more hawkish members of his own political party would like. Last month, the UK Parliaments Intelligence and Security Committee warned Britain was severely handicapped in tackling Beijings economic dominance and spying capabilities. Still, others call for strengthening ties. HSBC Holdings Plc drew criticism from British lawmakers after its head of public affairs criticized the US for strong-arming the UK into cutting back business dealings with China. He accused the British government of being weak for going along with it. Cooling ties has seen UK investment in China slip. Excluding Hong Kong, there was a net divestment of assets of 1.35 billion in the latest figures in 2021. Tensions in the UK-China relationship are playing out in other ways. Beijing has accused the British government of failing to meet its diplomatic obligations over its plan to relocate its embassy to an historic building in east London. That has been rejected by local planners, and Chinese officials are frustrated that Sunaks administration hasnt intervened. Read More: Five Tools Europe Will Use to Counter Chinas Geopolitical Rise Yet its not only the UK wrestling with how to handle China. The European Commission also said it will analyze Bidens order, and plans to propose its own initiative on behalf of European Union members by year-end. We want to be sure we identify the risks and formulate a proportionate and precise response to these risks, without any negative unintended spill-over effects on the European and global economy, it said in a statement. There is a common interest in preventing companies knowledge from enhancing military and intelligence capabilities of actors who may use them to undermine international peace and security, it said. Within the bloc, though, there are different views. The government of President Emmanuel Macron has so far resisted US pressure to get tougher on Beijing. Months after Macron visited China, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire also met Chinese officials and companies to tout Frances attractiveness for investment. On the flip side, French prosecutors are investigating some French and Chinese citizens accused of sharing key semiconductor technologies with foreign powers including China and Russia. A French finance ministry official said the investment issue is one for the European Commission to set a legal framework, but that France has not identified problems beyond controls that it already carries out on sensitive exports and technology transfers. Read More: Melonis Italian Populism Puts Investors, China on Notice Meanwhile Italys cabinet this week voted to give the government special golden share powers to block technology transfers abroad in strategic sectors including artificial intelligence, production of semiconductors, cyber security, aerospace, and energy. While not mentioning China, the measure was seen as likely to affect Italys commercial relations with Beijing by moving it away from the Chinese Belt and Road initiative. Italys move is in line with the EUs European Security Strategy, a new tool that also deters interaction with nations like China in certain sectors, though also not referring to any country by name. Responding to Bidens order, China said it is very disappointed and warned that it will safeguard its own interests. --With assistance from Alessandra Migliaccio, Sofia Gerace, Samy Adghirni and Andrew Atkinson. (Updates with comment from French official in 16th paragraph.) Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. (Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden set up a clash with House Republicans by asking lawmakers to approve billions more dollars for Ukraines defense, further straining the ability of Congress to avoid a government shutdown Oct. 1. Most Read from Bloomberg The White House sees the $13 billion in funding for Ukraine war costs, which came in a $40 billion supplemental spending request, as crucial. But Republican opposition to the aid has grown as conservatives have railed against US involvement in the war. Ukraines navy designated temporary Black Sea routes for trade vessels willing to navigate waters endangered by Russias military. Russias state-owned atomic energy company, Rosatom Corp., said it plans a cold shutdown of the fourth reactor at Ukraines Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant because of a leaking pipe, but may use the sixth unit in so-called hot shutdown to meet the plants own needs. The International Atomic Energy Agency has been urging Russia to bring all six of the reactors at the occupied plant into a state of cold shutdown for safety reasons. Latest Coverage Biden Seeks $13 Billion for Ukraine Defense as GOP Protests Ukraine Navy Seeks to Reopen Black Sea Ports Shut for Month Robots to Recycled Vapes: Ukraines War Effort Gets Inventive Ukraines Sea Drones May Not Spare Oil Exports: Energy Daily Wheat Claws Back Some Losses as Black Sea Export Risks Linger Ukraine Neighbor Romania Readies $6.5 Billion F-35 Jet Purchase Markets Wheat edged higher after falling the most in over a week on Wednesday as traders weighed the outlook for Black Sea exports. Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek 2023 Bloomberg L.P. TAIPEI, Aug. 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In the contemporary world with escalating climate extremes and the global impact of the pandemic, SDGs Index Taiwan Organizer and former Cheng Kung University President Professor Huey-Jen Jenny Su delivered a speech at the Global Sustainability Focal Forum at Taipei, Taiwan on 8/4, shedding light on the profound impacts of climate change on the global education system and emphasizing the pivotal role higher education will play in combating the crisis. We are now at the crossroads between us and the future generation. Through talent cultivation and knowledge dissemination, step by step, with efforts from the corporate world, a beacon of hope emerges for a more promising future, Dr. Su expresses. (photo by SDGs Index Taiwan) "We are now at the crossroads between us and the future generation. Through talent cultivation and knowledge dissemination, step by step, with efforts from the corporate world, a beacon of hope emerges for a more promising future," Dr. Su expresses. How a Pandemic Robbed Students of Critical Thinking Development According to a report recently published by The Icons , as our planet contends with the escalating effects of climate change, such as Australia entering its second consecutive year of extreme climate fluctuations marked by frequent tropical storms in 2022, to Pakistan, where relentless heavy rainfall throughout the previous year submerged a third of the country, displacing millions of people, to numerous nations in southern Europe encountering a wave of extreme heat in mid-July of 2023, culminating in over two weeks of wildfires in Greece, prompting the evacuation of countless residents and tourists, extreme climate phenomena from escalating global temperatures have wrought a heavy toll on in-classroom, hands-on learning experiences, depriving students of invaluable opportunities for engagement and experiential learning. "Taking heavy precipitation alone you can see a decline in the educational attendance index across the world," Professor Su Stated. The devastating onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the past three years highlighted the importance of immersive educational environments. The pivot to remote learning has led to substantial decreases in student participation, resulting in insufficient development of critical thinking skills and specialized knowledge. The repercussions of this disrupted educational phase will reverberate through subsequent decades as the upcoming generation grapples with the formidable task of architecting a sustainable future. Story continues From Sustainability Education to Crisis Management "Not only is education key to human capital, but we are now in total desperation for the proper education of talent for sustainable development," Professor Su emphasized. Voicing concern over the inadequate sustainability education in high schools and universities, Professor Su underscores the imperative for nurturing future talent on climate science and the intricacies of environmental and social sustainability. As the climate crisis grows in severity and demands immediate and effective action, this knowledge reservoir will empower emerging talents to engineer innovative technologies and strategies, not only facilitating climate restoration but also acting as conduits for disseminating awareness about the prevailing crisis. As we navigate the second decade of the internet age, technologies to enhance the accessibility of information have matured and found wide-ranging applications, yet effective strategies and implementation to promote environmental and social responsibilities remain at large unrealized. Professor Su contends that universities hold the potential to offer robust training in fields spanning science, technology, and communication, equipping the next generation with means to raise consciousness on the pressing crisis of climate change and inspire action. "With diverse learning and quality education you'll be able to increase information availability, bringing the whole public into some sense of awareness," Professor Su affirmed. We're in this together In an era where corporate interests intersect with environmental and social responsibilities, corporations are forging partnerships and synergistic endeavors with non-governmental organizations and students, championing the cause of green initiatives, ranging from commitments to achieve carbon neutrality to active engagement in climate restoration. The realm of the economy, through the mechanisms of green finance, has woven into the fabric of the climate crisis, spurring both established conglomerates and budding enterprises across diverse sectors to pursue the ideals of sustainable workplace practices, workforce development, and product innovation. "In the same team, there are NGOs, there are corporate leaders, there are skilled workers crafting suitable, sustainable, and environmentally-friendly industries for the next generation," Professor Su explained. Participating in this forum were Ambassador and TAISE Chairman Yu-Hsin Chien, Tang Prize Foundation Executive Director Jenn-Chuan Chen, and the fifth laureate of the Tang Prize for Sustainable Development, world renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs, offering perspectives underscoring the manifold dimensions and far-reaching implications of climate change. Participating in this forum were Ambassador and TAISE Chairman Yu-Hsin Chien, Tang Prize Foundation Executive Director Jenn-Chuan Chen, and the fifth laureate of the Tang Prize for Sustainable Development, world renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs, offering perspectives underscoring the manifold dimensions and far-reaching implications of climate change. (photo by SDGs Index Taiwan) Cision View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/un-sdgs-expert-professor-huey-jen-jenny-su-the-next-generations-role-in-building-a-better-tomorrow-301897743.html SOURCE The Icons Despite a daily loss of 1.66%, CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE:CF) has registered a three-month gain of 21.66%. With an Earnings Per Share (EPS) of 12.08, the stock appears to be modestly undervalued. This article will delve into a comprehensive valuation analysis to determine the intrinsic value of CF Industries Holdings. Company Overview CF Industries Holdings is a leading global producer and distributor of nitrogen fertilizers. Operating seven nitrogen facilities in North America, the company also holds joint venture interests in the United Kingdom and Trinidad and Tobago. Leveraging low-cost U.S. natural gas as its feedstock, CF Industries Holdings has positioned itself as one of the lowest-cost nitrogen producers worldwide. The company is also investing in carbon-free blue and green ammonia, an alternative fuel to hydrogen or a means to transport hydrogen. At its current price of $81.39 per share, CF Industries Holdings has a market cap of $15.70 billion. The GF Value, an estimation of fair value, is $92.09, indicating that the stock is modestly undervalued. The following analysis will provide a deeper understanding of the company's value. Unearthing the Intrinsic Value: Is CF Industries Holdings Modestly Undervalued? Understanding GF Value The GF Value is a proprietary measure that represents the current intrinsic value of a stock. It is calculated based on three factors: historical multiples that the stock has traded at, a GuruFocus adjustment factor based on the company's past returns and growth, and future estimates of the business performance. The GF Value Line on our summary page gives an overview of the fair value that the stock should ideally be traded at. Based on the GF Value calculation, CF Industries Holdings appears to be modestly undervalued. If the price of a stock is significantly above the GF Value Line, it is overvalued and its future return is likely to be poor. Conversely, if it is significantly below the GF Value Line, its future return will likely be higher. Therefore, with CF Industries Holdings being relatively undervalued, the long-term return of its stock is likely to be higher than its business growth. Story continues Unearthing the Intrinsic Value: Is CF Industries Holdings Modestly Undervalued? Link: These companies may deliver higher future returns at reduced risk. Financial Strength Investing in companies with low financial strength could result in permanent capital loss. Hence, it's crucial to review a company's financial strength before deciding whether to buy shares. CF Industries Holdings has a cash-to-debt ratio of 0.99, which ranks better than 57.87% of companies in the Agriculture industry. Based on this, GuruFocus ranks CF Industries Holdings's financial strength as 7 out of 10, suggesting a fair balance sheet. Unearthing the Intrinsic Value: Is CF Industries Holdings Modestly Undervalued? Profitability and Growth Companies that have been consistently profitable over the long term offer less risk for investors. CF Industries Holdings has been profitable 9 over the past 10 years. Over the past twelve months, the company had a revenue of $8.70 billion and Earnings Per Share (EPS) of $12.08. Its operating margin is 41.09%, which ranks better than 95.63% of companies in the Agriculture industry. Overall, the profitability of CF Industries Holdings is ranked 9 out of 10, indicating strong profitability. Growth is probably the most important factor in the valuation of a company. The 3-year average annual revenue growth of CF Industries Holdings is 38.3%, which ranks better than 83.49% of companies in the Agriculture industry. The 3-year average EBITDA growth rate is 53.9%, which ranks better than 83.5% of companies in the Agriculture industry. ROIC vs WACC Return on invested capital (ROIC) measures how well a company generates cash flow relative to the capital it has invested in its business. The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is the rate that a company is expected to pay on average to all its security holders to finance its assets. If the ROIC exceeds the WACC, the company is likely creating value for its shareholders. During the past 12 months, CF Industries Holdings's ROIC is 28.16 while its WACC came in at 9.81. Unearthing the Intrinsic Value: Is CF Industries Holdings Modestly Undervalued? Conclusion In conclusion, the stock of CF Industries Holdings shows every sign of being modestly undervalued. The company's financial condition is fair, and its profitability is strong. Its growth ranks better than 83.5% of companies in the Agriculture industry. To learn more about CF Industries Holdings stock, you can check out its 30-Year Financials here. To find out the high-quality companies that may deliver above-average returns, please check out GuruFocus High Quality Low Capex Screener. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. huettenhoelscher / iStock.com UPS drivers and the Teamsters Union achieved a significant victory this week when UPS CEO Carol Tome announced an agreement with drivers to avoid a labor strike. At the end of the five-year contract, drivers will average a salary of $170,000, including pay and benefits. Thats up from the current average of $145,000. How You Can Make Up To $100,000 From Coin Roll Hunting: Here Are 5 Tips for Making Money From This Hobby Learn: What To Do If You Owe Back Taxes to the IRS In an earnings call on Tuesday, Aug. 7, Tome said the new labor contract should be ratified within two weeks. The increase is far beyond the average wage boost across all civilian employees for the past year. The latest Depart of Labor jobs report showed pay increasing by 4.5% for all workers between June 2022 and June 2023. This contract sets a new standard in the labor movement and raises the bar for all workers, said Teamsters General President Sean M. OBrien in a statement reported by multiple news outlets. The raise also served as a powerful recruiting tool for UPS. Searches for UPS delivery-driver jobs increased by 50% following the announcement, Business Insider reported. But how does it compare to other historic union deals? In August 2022, to avert a labor strike, Congress intervened and passed legislation to provide railroad workers with 24% pay increases over five years, retroactively beginning in 2020. That wasnt the first time the government intervened to keep a crucial industry in operation. Historians might recall the great anthracite coal strike of 1902 in Pennsylvania, in which former President Theodore Roosevelt called both sides (via telegraph, incidentally!) to Washington to discuss the matter, according to a report from the Department of Labor website. Roosevelt failed to bring both sides to an agreement. Eventually, with the intervention of businesspeople like JP Morgan, the 163-day strike ended. Coal miners requested a 20% pay increase, but most received only 10% more. The Anthracite Coal Strike Commission, a group established to act as an intermediary between coal miners and the mine owners, also granted the miners a 9-hour workday. Miners had requested an 8-hour day which would have been a reduction from their 10-hour shifts. Story continues If you do the math on this weeks UPS pay increase, drivers will earn an extra $25,000 over five years an increase of just under 15%. Thats better than the miners but not as good as the railroad workers. This summer, Delta Airlines reached a four-year agreement with union pilots, providing a pay hike of 34% over four years. Shortly after, United Airlines agreed to a contract worth roughly $10 billion, increasing pilots salaries by up to 40.2% over four years, depending on the type of aircraft flown. American Airlines also boosted pilots salaries with a 40% increase over four years. Discover: 10 Games That Pay Instantly To Your Cash App Account Im a Financial Planning Expert: Here Are 3 Ways ChatGPT Can Save You Money Its clear from these deals that the workers who keep our country moving hold immense power, especially when they have the knowledge, experience, and collective bargaining power of unions to back them up. It remains to be seen if the latest pay hikes will set the stage for an agreement with the Writers Guild of America, whose workers just surpassed day 100 of a labor strike in Hollywood. More From GOBankingRates This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: UPS Drivers Score $170k per Year: How It Compares to the Top Union Deals in History Photo: Parliament of Canada Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola MP Dan Albas. In February, I reported proposed changes to federal electoral riding boundaries would impact many local electoral districts, including Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola. At that time, I pointed out portions of the existing riding could end up in five different British Columbia ridings. Princeton, Keremeos, Cawston and Hedley would join the proposed riding of Similkameen-West Kootenay, including the city of Penticton and the Penticton Indian Band. Summerland, Peachland, West Kelowna, Westbank First Nation and parts of Kelowna would become part of a proposed new riding called Okanagan Lake West-South Kelowna. Merritt and Logan Lake would become part of a new riding called Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola. Other changes would affect riding boundaries in the rest of the Okanagan Valley and beyond. After the initial proposal was drafted, there was an opportunity for Members of Parliament to submit feedback and recommendations about the proposed changes to the federal Electoral Boundaries Commission. From past experience, input from MPs does not often result in significant changes, given it is not uncommon for this input to include political considerations. Also, it must be recognized, the federal Electoral Boundaries Commission faces a challenge in balancing population growth combined with a long list of other community and geographical considerations. This time, the revised report from the commission did include some revisions based upon input from Members of Parliament. While the changes would potentially be enacted at different ridings around Canada, my column today will focus on the proposed revised changes for our region. In SimilkameenSouth OkanaganWest Kootenay (the proposed new name for this riding), some communities northeast of Castlegar in the Slocan Valley would be re-attached from ColumbiaKootenaySouthern Rockies, while Trail and the communities near it would be exchanged, meaning this riding will gain more of Castlegar but will not have Trail within the riding boundary. Trail, instead, will be located in the proposed riding of ColumbiaKootenaySouthern Rockies, along with some other smaller nearby communities. However, it would not include Revelstoke. It should also be noted that parliament must still ratify these final proposed changes. If a snap election is called this fall, before the changes are adopted, the current (existing) riding boundaries will be used. My thoughts on these changes? There is seldom a proposed solution to riding boundary changes that pleases everyone. Aside from regional considerations that are very important in rural areas, accommodating every point of view is not always possible. I have also observed elected officials often suggest removing specific communitiesor include othersthat often align with their political objectives. For this reason, I refrain from commenting on proposed changes and ensure that the voices of affected residents are heard. The information I hear back from local citizens is then shared with the federal Electoral Boundaries Commission in a non-partisan manner. My question to you this week: Do you think elected officials should have a more decisive say on proposed electoral riding changes, or do you favour the current, largely independent process? Why or why not? I can be reached at [email protected] or call toll-free 1-800-665-8711. Dan Albas is the Conservative MP for Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola. This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet. Young workers often get flak for sabotaging return-to-office plans, but actually, its top-level executives that employers will have to contend with if they want their mandates to go to plan. Thats according to new research which found that financial executives would rather quit their high-paying jobs than ditch working from home. Exactly two-thirds of the 700 hybrid working financial executives surveyed by Deloitte and Workplace Intelligence said they would likely quit if they were ordered to return to the office five days a week. Wall Street chiefs have been among the loudest in pushing for a full-time return to the office. Its probably why 50% of respondents said they feel pressured to go into the office more often. Both JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have already ordered workers back to the office five days a week. The latter banks CEO, David Solomon, famously called remote working an aberration that were going to correct as quickly as possible. But without top talent on board, hard-line back-to-the-office mandates may backfire. According to the report, financial services firms forcing workers back to their cubicles could run the risk of losing their pipeline of leaders and have difficulty recruiting fresh talent. Thats because respondents who said they would consider leaving their current role in the next 12 months would mostly do so for a job with more flexibilitythis superseded better pay or benefits. So chucking money at the problem, as many businesses did during the Great Resignation, wont do. Female leaders are your biggest flight risk Deloitte and Workplace Intelligences report also revealed an eye-opening but unsurprising finding: Womens careers are the collateral damage of RTO mandates. Those with caregiving responsibilities, which statistically are more likely to be women, were 1.3 times more likely to say they would leave their employer if the ability to work from home was eliminated by the company. Story continues Whats more, nearly half of women respondents in senior leadership roles and 41% of women occupying next-generation roles reported being likely to leave their current employer over the next year. Perhaps most alarming for the financial industry, forcing workers back into the office could be sabotaging the sectors efforts to close the gender gap and pull women through the ranks: Half of the women looking to leave their jobs are considering leaving the financial services industry altogether. While 16% of those are eyeing up a career pivot, another 5% are considering leaving the workforce altogether. Without any deliberate action, womens representation in senior leadership roles could stagnate. And in next-generation roles, representation could fall by 2031, the report warned. The solution is simple: When looking at what retains female workers, 70% of respondents cited flexibility as the top reason for staying put or leaving a company. Financial services institutions should be immensely concerned that many of their leadersparticularly women in senior leadership rolehave one foot out the door, Dan Schawbel, managing partner at Workplace Intelligence, said in a statement to Fortune. While returning to the office can help organizations achieve their business objectives, companies should do so in a way that doesnt sacrifice employee engagement and well-being. Diversity, equity, and inclusion expert Neda Shemluck, a managing director at Deloitte Services LP, echoed that warning. This latest report puts timely and relevant data behind the notion that flexibility in workplace arrangements is a driving force in employee engagement, added Shemluck, the firm's U.S. financial services DEI leader. As employers work to establish their in-office policies, its important that they carefully examine how to optimize in-person interactions, identify the most suitable tasks for remote work, and empower employees with flexibility. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com More from Fortune: 5 side hustles where you may earn over $20,000 per yearall while working from home Looking to make extra cash? This CD has a 5.15% APY right now Buying a house? Here's how much to save This is how much money you need to earn annually to comfortably buy a $600,000 home If you're not sure where to start when looking for the next multi-bagger, there are a few key trends you should keep an eye out for. In a perfect world, we'd like to see a company investing more capital into its business and ideally the returns earned from that capital are also increasing. This shows us that it's a compounding machine, able to continually reinvest its earnings back into the business and generate higher returns. However, after briefly looking over the numbers, we don't think Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd (KLSE:PETRONM) has the makings of a multi-bagger going forward, but let's have a look at why that may be. Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE) For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. To calculate this metric for Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, this is the formula: Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) (Total Assets - Current Liabilities) 0.10 = RM253m (RM4.6b - RM2.1b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023). Therefore, Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd has an ROCE of 10%. In absolute terms, that's a pretty standard return but compared to the Oil and Gas industry average it falls behind. See our latest analysis for Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd roce Above you can see how the current ROCE for Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like, you can check out the forecasts from the analysts covering Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd here for free. The Trend Of ROCE When we looked at the ROCE trend at Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd, we didn't gain much confidence. To be more specific, ROCE has fallen from 25% over the last five years. However, given capital employed and revenue have both increased it appears that the business is currently pursuing growth, at the consequence of short term returns. And if the increased capital generates additional returns, the business, and thus shareholders, will benefit in the long run. Story continues On a separate but related note, it's important to know that Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd has a current liabilities to total assets ratio of 46%, which we'd consider pretty high. This can bring about some risks because the company is basically operating with a rather large reliance on its suppliers or other sorts of short-term creditors. While it's not necessarily a bad thing, it can be beneficial if this ratio is lower. What We Can Learn From Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd's ROCE While returns have fallen for Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd in recent times, we're encouraged to see that sales are growing and that the business is reinvesting in its operations. These growth trends haven't led to growth returns though, since the stock has fallen 32% over the last five years. So we think it'd be worthwhile to look further into this stock given the trends look encouraging. One more thing: We've identified 2 warning signs with Petron Malaysia Refining & Marketing Bhd (at least 1 which makes us a bit uncomfortable) , and understanding these would certainly be useful. 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. Many Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) insiders ditched their stock over the past year, which may be of interest to the company's shareholders. When analyzing insider transactions, it is usually more valuable to know whether insiders are buying versus knowing if they are selling, as the latter sends an ambiguous message. However, shareholders should take a deeper look if several insiders are selling stock over a specific time period. While we would never suggest that investors should base their decisions solely on what the directors of a company have been doing, logic dictates you should pay some attention to whether insiders are buying or selling shares. See our latest analysis for Wells Fargo The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Wells Fargo The insider, Kleber Santos, made the biggest insider sale in the last 12 months. That single transaction was for US$1.6m worth of shares at a price of US$46.27 each. So we know that an insider sold shares at around the present share price of US$43.72. While insider selling is a negative, to us, it is more negative if the shares are sold at a lower price. Given that the sale took place at around current prices, it makes us a little cautious but is hardly a major concern. In total, Wells Fargo insiders sold more than they bought over the last year. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction! If you like to buy stocks that insiders are buying, rather than selling, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them). Insider Ownership Of Wells Fargo I like to look at how many shares insiders own in a company, to help inform my view of how aligned they are with insiders. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Wells Fargo insiders own 0.07% of the company, currently worth about US$116m based on the recent share price. I like to see this level of insider ownership, because it increases the chances that management are thinking about the best interests of shareholders. Story continues What Might The Insider Transactions At Wells Fargo Tell Us? It doesn't really mean much that no insider has traded Wells Fargo shares in the last quarter. It's great to see high levels of insider ownership, but looking back over the last year, we don't gain confidence from the Wells Fargo insiders selling. In addition to knowing about insider transactions going on, it's beneficial to identify the risks facing Wells Fargo. Every company has risks, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Wells Fargo you should know about. If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt. For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Wolverine Worldwide on Thursday announced the sudden exit of CEO Brendan Hoffman and named Christopher Hufnagel, formerly president of the company, as president and CEO. According to a regulatory filing, the footwear company terminated Hoffman without cause, effective Aug. 6. The departure was not a result of a disagreement with the companys policies or operations. Wolverine would not share details behind the sudden leadership change. More from Footwear News Hoffman joined Wolverine as president in September 2020 and succeeded Blake Krueger as CEO at the end of 2021. Hufnagel joined Wolverine in 2008 and served in several leadership roles before being named president in May 2023. I am honored to step in as CEO at this critical moment for the company, Hufnagel said in a statement. Wolverine Worldwide maintains some of the worlds most recognizable and loved lifestyle and footwear brands, and transforming our business to bring the full power of these brands to life will be a key driver of our success. The leadership change comes at a challenging moment for the footwear giant, which owns the Saucony, Merrell, Sperry and Sweaty Betty brands, among others. In the last year, the company has initiated a broad turnaround effort and has announced a potential sale of its Sperry brand after divesting its Keds business late last year. Wolverine Worldwide board chairman Tom Long said in a statement that the board believes in Hufnagels ability to deliver strong shareholder value on a sustained basis. In tandem with the news, Wolverine reported weak results for the second quarter. Revenues were down 17.4 percent to $589.1 million versus the prior year. Adjusted diluted earnings per share were 19 cents, down 70.8 percent from the same quarter in 2022. Given the weak results, Wolverine lowered its revenue and earnings outlook for the full year. Story continues The trading environment is challenging, especially in global wholesale channels, where order demand has slowed as retailers manage their businesses more cautiously, Mike Stornant, EVP and CFO of Wolverine Worldwide, said in a statement. Best of Footwear News An SR-22, often called a certificate of financial responsibility, is a state-ordered form that is added to your car insurance. Heres how it works. If you have certain violations on your driving record, you may be required to file an SR-22 form with your state. An SR-22, often called a certificate of financial responsibility, is a state-ordered form that is added to your car insurance . These forms arent required in all cases, but they are necessary for some drivers. Heres a full explanation of what SR-22 forms are, when you need to obtain one, how they impact your insurance rates, and more. What is a certificate of financial responsibility? A certificate of financial responsibility, or SR-22, proves that you meet your states minimum mandated car insurance requirements. You may need to file one with your state if youre convicted of certain motor vehicle offenses, which well discuss shortly. Certain states may require that you file an FR-44 instead of an SR-22 after a DUI conviction. FR-44 forms also serve as proof that you meet mandated insurance requirements, and these forms are currently used only in Florida and Virginia. Who is required to obtain an SR-22? Drivers with a history of certain motor vehicle offenses may need to obtain a certificate of financial responsibility to stay roadworthy. Here are some examples of convictions and moving violations that may trigger the need for an SR-22 form in your state: Driving with a suspended license or revoked license Driving without adequate car insurance Driving under the influence (DUI) or while intoxicated (DWI) Several at-fault accidents Several speeding tickets in a short timeframe Multiple reckless driving offenses Failure to pay court-ordered child support If you go to court as a result of any of these offenses, the judge will inform you if an SR-22 is required. Alternatively, your states department of motor vehicles may also provide that information. Youll often need to file an SR-22 certificate and pay a fee to reinstate your drivers license. You may be required to file an SR-22 in a state you dont live in if thats where you committed a driving offense. Likewise, if you move to a new state, you may be required to maintain the SR-22 in your former state of residence for a set period. How does a certificate of financial responsibility affect car insurance rates? A mandated SR-22 filing can impact your insurance in a few ways almost always making it more expensive. If your current insurer allows you to maintain your coverage, your premiums will probably go up because youll likely be classified as a high-risk driver. Theres also a possibility your insurance company will cancel your coverage. In that case, youd need to find a new insurer and your choice of providers may be limited. Chances are your new insurance company will also charge higher rates due to your past offenses behind the wheel. Related story: What happens if someone else crashes your car? It can be difficult to avoid high insurance rates with an SR-22, though you can take positive steps to reduce your rates in the future. Avoiding additional offenses and policy lapses as much as possible will help, and you might also consider taking a safe driving course. Insurers may offer safe driving discounts for policyholders whove completed these courses. How long do I need a certificate of financial responsibility? SR-22s are typically required for three years, though timeframes can range between one and five years, depending on your state. If you have questions about how long an SR-22 is required, its best to contact your states department of motor vehicles for more information. Your history of traffic offenses can also impact the duration of your SR-22. For instance, in Ohio, drivers are required to maintain an SR-22 for three years if its their first offense and five years for a second offense. During the timeframe in which your SR-22 is required, youll need to maintain adequate car insurance coverage. If your policy is canceled or lapses, your insurance company will notify your state and youll likely get hit with a license suspension, which could impact the duration of your SR-22. Once youve met your states requirements for maintaining an SR-22, youll need to contact your insurance company to have the designation removed. This step is essential because the SR-22 doesnt automatically drop off after a set period. Is SR-22 insurance? Clarifying the terminology While it may be referred to as SR-22 insurance, an SR-22 isnt an auto actual insurance policy; its simply a certificate you need to file if you commit certain driving offenses. Drivers who need to file an SR-22 will likely see their insurance rates go up, but its the past infractions and not the form itself that increases insurance costs. Read more: Heres what you need to know to shop around and find cheap car insurance. How to obtain and maintain a certificate of financial responsibility If a judge or your state department of motor vehicles requires that you file an SR-22, heres a quick walkthrough of how to obtain and maintain your certificate of financial responsibility. That is why they have poetsto classify all the degrees of love. It is for scientists to classify the maladies arising from the want of it, observes Dr. Givings. The late 19th-century physician finds himself at the awkward intersection of love, sex and technology in Sarah Ruhls darkly comedic and insightful drama In the Next Room (Or the Vibrator Play). The Fredericksburg Theatre Ensemble will bring the story of this unlikely weapon in the battle of the sexes to the stage in downtown Fredericksburg beginning Aug. 11. The production is directed by Courtney Fox. Dr. Givings practices medicine in a small upstate New York spa town at the fortunate coincidence of the sexual Dark Ages and the age of electrification. The good doctor uses a collection of buzzing and whirring devices that look more like failed experiments from Thomas Edisons laboratory than advanced medical equipment. Dr. Givings treats patients of both genders, but Ruhl focuses her play on hysteria, the catch-all phrase for any problem experienced by any woman at any time. Ruhl explores several themes in her show. The play takes a serious, yet hilarious, look at complex issues of sex, marriage, race and class, set against Mrs. Givings (Kylie Clark) feelings of isolation and abandonment as her husbands life focuses on the activities in the next room. FTE veteran Doy Demsick portrays the brilliant but clueless Dr. Givings. He describes Givings as an adorably naive man of science. He added that in the world of the show, women have no say in their lives, men have no understanding of women, and we turn to electricity to spark life in our relationships. According to Demsick, audiences will find the productions combination of hysterically dated science, charming humor, love, sex and electricity to be irresistible. In the Next Room was nominated for three 2010 Tony Awards, including best play. FTE will present In the Next Room at the Allstate Community Theater, 810 Caroline St., Fredericksburg, on Aug. 11-13 and Aug. 18-20. Tickets are $20 and available at fredericksburgtheatre.org. Submitted by Peter Rasmussen Hello, chickens! Discover the heady world of Moulin Rouge! as this decadent musical spectacular comes to Washington. The Tony-winning show, based on Baz Luhrmanns 2001 film with Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, serves one eye-popping moment after another in a tale of truth, beauty, freedom and, of course, love. Directed by Alex Timbers, Moulin Rouge! is more than a musical, its an experience. The mammoth-sized production is a visual feast as it blasts through tunes from yesterday to today. Rich in color and sound not to mention talent Moulin Rouge! goes above and beyond in every way. And lets not forget the elephant in the room. Audiences will feel as though they stumbled into the Montmartre district as the Kennedy Centers Opera House has been transformed into Paris most famous nightclub. Scenic designer Derek McLane extends the show beyond the stage, with the iconic red windmill on one side (it moves!) and on the other, an embellished blue elephantsite of Satines boudoir. On top of the nested ornate heart-shaped frames, every scene is exquisitely complemented, from the watercolor backdrops to the rooftops of Paris to the Eiffel Tower twinkling against the night sky. And Catherine Zubers finely detailed and glittery costumes complete the look. The story follows Christian, a poor bohemian poet, who falls head over heels for Satine the star at the Moulin Rouge. There are secret rendezvous, an obsessive aristocrat with a mean streak and an arsenal of high-kicking cancan dancers. Since Luhrmanns film debuted more than 20 years ago, the stage adaptation has been refreshed to reflect modern-day sounds. Gone are some songs, such as Nirvanas Smells Like Teen Spirit, and replaced by more contemporary ones like We Are Young by fun., Royals by Lorde and Single Ladies by Beyonce. You wont find the typical list of musical numbers in the program, so be prepared to be delighted and stumped as 70 songs are paraded out in this whirlwind of a production. As soon as your brain processes one song, another quickly comes around. Some songs show up for mere seconds and some will get more stage time. Like Katy Perrys Firework, which showcases the incredible vocal range of Satines Yvette GonzalezNacer. Or El Tango de Roxanne, a Police song mash-up powerfully sung by John Cardoza, that channels Christians escalating anger and pain. In the couples lightning-fast Elephant Love Medley, lyrics from seemingly more than a dozen songs are dropped everything from A-has Take On Me to The Postal Services Such Great Heights to U2s Pride (In the Name of Love) to Dolly and Whitneys I Will Always Love You. While this jukebox musical is overflowing with aural pleasures, its the signature song of Moulin Rouge! that delivers the emotional fireworks. Come What May is a heart-swelling duet between Christian and Satineand a piercing secret love song that figures prominently at the end of the final act. Fun fact: The song, written by David Baerwald and Kevin Gilbert, was supposed to appear in Luhrmanns other film about star-crossed lovers Romeo + Juliet. (McGregor singing this heartbreaker is probably the better choice than DiCaprio, anyway.) Cardoza is well cast as Christian, the wide-eyed writer from Lima, Ohio, who has come to Paris with a song in his heart. With his boyish charm and dreamy outlook on life, he contrasts sharply with the street-smart Satine, whos aware of how the world works. GonzalezNacer is mesmerizing as the gorgeously voiced chanteuse. Austin Durant as Moulin Rouges flamboyant ringleader Harold Ziegler is also a highlight, especially when he takes on Chandelier by Sia. The dancers of the Moulin Rouge! must also be mentioned here. Those familiar with choreographer Sonya Tayehs work (known from So You Think You Can Dance) know how challenging and next-level her routines can be and this hard-working ensemble makes it all look so effortless. Backstage Romance, mixing songs from Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and The White Stripes, is a stunner. With high-octane performances and over-the-top design, this is a Broadway musical not like any other. Come see how wonderful life is at the Moulin Rouge. Caroline County native Gordon Wayne last week completed his second hundred-plus-mile walk to raise money for and awareness of the countrys homeless population. Wayne walked 569 miles on foot from Caroline to Athens, Georgia, home of the University of Georgia, where he will start law school next week. He left home on July 11 and arrived on July 31, walking a total of 1.2 million steps and an average of 27 miles per day. Wayne experienced homelessness himself following graduation from Caroline High School. He lived out of his car while he attended Germanna Community College, completed his associates degree and then received a full scholarship to Boston College. In 2020, his walk from Caroline to Boston raised more than $100,000 for the National Alliance to End Homelessness. This year, he was accepted on a full scholarship to the University of Georgias law school and decided to again travel there on foot to raise awareness of the cause. He walked overnight to avoid as much of the summertime heat as possible and documented his journey daily on the Alliances YouTube page. His campaign has so far raised just over $12,000. Wayne said the most difficult day of the recent journey was a 38-mile stretch from Keysville to South Boston, Virginia. He hadnt eaten enough before setting out and didnt wrap up his feet properly, leaving him with a painful blister that popped halfway through the day. I was limping. I had a lot of negative thoughts running though my mind that day, Wayne said. If it had been just me on that day, theres no doubt in my mind I would have quit. But I could could feel people believing in me and encouraging me to be the best version of myself, which is all I could ever dream of being. At other times, the kindness of strangers such as the man in Danville, Virginia, who drove past and then returned to bring him snacks and Gatorade and the couple in a South Carolina gas station who each gave him $50 inspired him to keep going. Wayne said he is excited to begin his law school classes, which he hopes will give him the background to work on policy to effectively end homelessness. He hopes that hes been able to encourage others to see the homeless population around them with love. I know that I will never end homelessness by myself. Its going to take all of us to unite and come together to love our homeless family, Wayne said. Readers can contribute to Waynes fundraiser for the Alliance to End Homelessness at gofundme.com/f/UPLIFT-beautiful-souls-escaping-homelessness. A Stafford man whose string of huffing incidents included one in which he caused a school bus accident last year was ordered Tuesday to serve 14 months in jail. Michael Jay Kingham, 30, was sentenced in Stafford Circuit Court to a total of 24 months with 10 months suspended. He previously pleaded guilty to reckless driving and inhaling noxious chemicals. Because the convictions are misdemeanors, Kingham most likely will only have to serve half of his active sentence. The charges resolved Tuesday stemmed from a Dec. 16 incident in the 1300 block of Brooke Road in southern Stafford. According to police and court records, Kingham had been inhaling fumes from aerosol cans that day when he passed a school bus on a double-yellow line. His vehicle hit the bus, then ran head-on into a southbound Dodge Durango. The bus, which had just left Dixon-Smith Middle School, ended up in a ditch. The Durango driver and two students were taken to a hospital to be treated for injuries. Kingham had previous huffing convictions and has been arrested at least three times since the bus wreck for huffing-related incidents, most of which involved being behind the wheel of a car. He is still facing a felony charge in Stafford for an incident in May in which he was found locked in a Walmart bathroom with empty aerosol cans he had allegedly stolen from the store. Prosecutor called Kinghams huffing issue sad and noted that his military service in Iraq deserves consideration. But he said Kinghams habit of driving while hes huffing and other actions pose a danger to the public. How much money would employees need to go from working at home to returning to the office? According to a sample of remote workers in Virginia, a bit more than $12,000 is the asking price. A July nationwide survey conducted by online marketing and content website Authority Hacker asked 3,000 full-time employees who work from home what cash lump-sum payment would persuade them to return to full-time office work. Virginia survey-takers on average asked for $12,438, close to the national average of $12,188. Information about how the survey was conducted, how the respondents were selected and any compensation provided to participants was not provided. Respondents in neighboring West Virginia asked for $5,626, the lowest total in the country. North Dakota came in the highest with a $28,176 average among participants. As businesses look to define their post-pandemic work structures, the preferences and concerns of employees will play a significant role in shaping the future of work, said Mark Webster, co-founder of Authority Hacker. "Be it through monetary rewards, contributions to social causes or adopting a lasting hybrid work approach, companies must discover the balance that ensures both their operations and their workforce can thrive." Many companies have or are starting to cut back on the availability of remote work. In June, Google added stricter guidelines to its hybrid work policy and is tracking employee attendance. Last year, Apple announced that its corporate employees were required to return to the office at least three days each week. Earlier this year, Capital One, Richmonds largest private employer, also advised employees to work in person three days a week. Employees have pushed back against the recent changes. According to the Authority Hacker survey, 63% of remote workers were willing to unionize to prevent forced returns to the office. Brian Davis, executive director of the Capital Region Workforce Partnership, said staff members are finding that single parents, parents struggling to afford day care and people without reliable transportation are among those still desiring to work from home. Additionally, clients wishing to go into fields such as IT, medical billing and medical coding are also seeking remote work options. However, remote job postings appear to be decreasing. In the Richmond region, the percentage of online posts listing remote work options fell from 12% to 7% between July 2022 and July 2023, according to labor market research company JobsEQ. Posts mentioning working from home had been trending upward during the early stages of the pandemic. A cash payment is one way to entice staff back to in-person work, but companies are looking to other solutions that leave less of a financial strain. Just over two-thirds of survey respondents said they were more likely to consider returning if charitable contributions were part of the incentives package. During a nearly two-week period in June, cloud software company Salesforce planned to donate $10 to a local charity for each employee who returned to the office at that time. Among survey participants, 72% said returning to the office would negatively impact their mental health. Outside of maintaining flexible work options, creating healthful office environments could help mend the divide between employers and employees. When Great Minds, an education resource material organization, moved its corporate headquarters to Richmond in 2021, it followed the National Park Service guidelines for historic rehabilitation, preserving the aesthetic of the building at 840 Hermitage Road. Weve redesigned it to reflect the headquarters as a house of knowledge, which is really at the core of what we do: bringing knowledge into the American classroom, said Rodney Whitmore, chief human resources officer for Great Minds. Our employees enjoy being in that space when theyre there. Great Minds has approximately 85% of its employees working from home. The company, which also has offices in Washington, D.C., and Farmington Hills, Michigan, searches near and far to hire educators. We believe that in order to provide the highest quality educational resource materials to the teachers and students that we serve, we have to get the best talent no matter where it is, Whitmore said. If the people happen to be in a certain locale, its great, but its far more important that we get the talent that we need. Great Minds also employs staff members who work at the offices two to three days a week. Although the organization appreciates what in-person work can provide, it wants that type of work to be purposeful. The nature of those (office) jobs is enhanced by the sort of collaborative effort that can be accomplished when people are together, Whitmore said. We try to make sure that if youre coming in, theres a good reason for it, and we try to make it comfortable. Photo: The Canadian Press A Statistics Canada sign is pictured in Ottawa on Wednesday, July 3, 2019. Statistics Canada documents show workers who went door-to-door to collect data for the 2021 census logged hundreds of workplace injuries and at least 15 assaults by members of the public. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick Statistics Canada documents show workers who went door-to-door to collect data for the 2021 census logged hundreds of workplace injuries and at least 15 assaults by members of the public. The data tables obtained by The Canadian Press through access-to-information law list 680 injury reports, including more than 280 cases of harassment or violence. In some of the most extreme examples, employees were punched, threatened with firearms, spat on or sexually assaulted. In one case, a census interviewer was assaulted by a resident using a "pellet gun," while another had a "gun pointed at her from another vehicle," the documents say. One worker was knocked down stairs after being punched in the face by a resident, and had to go to the hospital. Another census employee was unwillingly detained in the home of an angry resident, the documents say. The event was reported to the RCMP. In at least three separate instances, people collecting data for Statistics Canada reported that they were sexually assaulted by members of the public. The majority of the census workplace safety complaints were traced to western and central provinces. The Canadian government collects national population data every five years, and Statistics Canada representatives are sent to visit households that are late to submit their census questionnaires. The injury reports from staffers showed there were 137 cases of people's dogs being aggressive or biting them, along with 158 slips, trips or falls. Details about the total number of assaults and psychological injuries are redacted in the documents, as is information about any workplace fatalities. Other categories of injuries included vehicle accidents, "potential contamination" and other "emergency" situations. The total number of incidents for each is also redacted. The Canadian Press has contacted Statistics Canada and Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, who is responsible for Statistics Canada matters, for comment, but neither responded by deadline. The motorcycle driver who was killed Tuesday afternoon in Stafford in an accident involving a box truck has been identified as 19-year-old Fnu Sajid of Stafford. According to the Stafford Sheriffs Office, the fatal crash occurred at 12:54 p.m. at the intersection of Richmond Highway (U.S. 1) and Eskimo Hill Road. Police said the preliminary investigation indicates that the motorcycle driver was heading north on Route 1 at a high rate of speed when he collided with the box truck, which was making a left turn from southbound Route 1 onto Eskimo Hill Road. Police said neither driver had enough reaction time to avoid the collision. The motorcycle driver was pronounced dead at the scene. The other driver was uninjured and remained on the scene. Deputy W.J. Walker is investigating the incident. Sajids death was one of at least two this week that is being investigated by the Sheriffs Office. At 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, deputies went to the area of Kings Highway (State Route 3) and the Chatham Bridge just outside Fredericksburg to search for a missing person. The person was found in the water and pronounced dead at the scene. Police said no foul play is suspected. The Fremont City Council hosted its shortest meeting of 2023 on Tuesday night, Aug. 8, with only five of the eight member council present for the roughly 29-minute gathering. Tuesdays meeting was the second meeting in a row that lasted less than 45 minutes. The July 25 meeting of the council was only about 34 minutes long and also had a similarly light agenda. One item that was approved in a 5-0 vote by the council was a request from Mayor Joey Spellerberg for a resolution allowing the city to become a member of the Tech Hubs Program Consortium. Absent from Tuesdays meeting were council President Mark Jensen, Ward 2 member Glen Ellis and Ward 1 member Tad Dinkins. Spellerberg described briefly the program and how it relates to local efforts to land a microchip production hub at the new Fremont Municipal Inland Port Authority. The applicant for the consortium is Silicon Heartland, a group of high-tech fabricator firms that are hoping to relocate microchip production to Midwestern states like Nebraska and Kansas. Were working with Silicon Heartland, Spellerberg said. This would designate Fremont as a primary site. There will be other members of the consortium throughout the state. Membership in the consortium does not cost any money, he noted, and will enable to the city to possibly be eligible for federal assistance as plans continue to be developed for the new Inland Port Authority. The Tech Hubs Program is managed under the authority of the federal U.S. Economic Development Administration, and according to the EDAs website, was enacted as part of the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022as the Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs program, which also authorized $10 billion for the program over five years. The Tech Hubs Program is an economic development initiative designed to drive regional technology- and innovation-centric growth by strengthening a regions capacity to manufacture, commercialize, and deploy critical technologies, a description of the program states online. This program will invest directly in regions with the assets, resources, capacity, and potential to transform into globally competitive innovation centers in approximately 10 years while catalyzing the creation of good jobs for American workers at all skill levels, both equitably and inclusively. The citys wooing of microchip and semiconductor production companies became public in June after a response to a public record request from the Tribune included an email from Spellerberg to an official associated with a semiconductor and microchip production effort called Project Silicon Heartland. The email detailed an effort to possibly bring four massive chip manufacturing firms to the inland port. The email between Spellerberg and Trent Overhue, the chairman of the board of directors of Nantero, Inc., details how four microchip production firms could land at the new inland port, and explains in detail their extensive utility needs. In a June interview about the email and possibility of the tech firms coming to Fremont, Former Gov. Dave Heineman, the chairperson of the Fremont Municipal Inland Port Authority Board, said excitement about the potential of tech firms coming to the city should be tempered, as the inland port is in its infancy stages of development. He also said preparing land, utilities and securing projects can take years. But, Heineman added, if the semiconductor project somehow ends up calling the Fremont Inland Port home, it would transform the community in incredible ways. It would be a game-changer. We are talking somewhere between 500 to 2,000 jobs and they are higher-paying jobs. No one should get ahead of themselves. There are still a lot of things that need to be accomplished before this could come into fruition, Heineman said. It is a huge positive. Part of the reason the Fremont Inland Port Authority is being considered is because we have 1,500 acres that will be developed. That is a challenge for a lot of other communities and states. They simply do not have the land to do the development. City staff pay raises pass 1st readings The council voted in two separate 5-0 actions to approve first readings on two items during Tuesdays meeting which would raise the pay of city employees in numerous departments both union staff and non-union workers by 3% beginning in October. The pay increases must be approved by the council over three readings unless the council votes to bypass those and pass the pay hikes on a second reading. Because approving an item in fewer than three readings requires at least 75% of the council to be present, that possibility was not an option on Tuesday night due to only five council members being in attendance. The first pay raise ordinance was for the citys utility workers, many of whom are in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union. The approved contract for IBEW provides for a 3% increase effective Oct. 1, 2023. Staff recommends a 3% increase for all other non-union city classifications and pay grades, city Human Resources Director Jennifer McDuffee wrote in the staff report for that item on the agenda. The second pay raise ordinance was for firefighters in the IAFF and other city staffers in the AFSCME union, and like the first ordinance, provide for a 3% increase effective Oct. 1, 2023. That ordinances first reading did not include possible pay raises for the Fremont Police Department, McDuffee said, because negotiations with the Fraternal Order of Police chapter that FPD officers belong to is ongoing. FOP classifications have not been modified, as contract negotiations are still ongoing. Staff recommends a 3% increase for all other non-union city classifications and pay grades, McDuffee wrote to council members in her staff report. The next meeting of the Fremont City Council will be on Tuesday, Aug. 29, with public comment set to begin at 6:30 p.m. and the regular meeting slated for 7 p.m. that night. Officials with the Three Rivers Public Health Department (3RPHD) are warning the public to take extra vigorous precautions to prevent mosquito bites after state officials announced the number of positive tests for West Nile Virus has increased exponentially compared to 2022 statistics. In a press release sent to local media outlets and the Tribune, officials from 3RPHD stated that, local public health departments throughout Nebraska trap and test mosquitoes each year, and what has been discovered this summer is stunning. This summer season is proving to be different than previous years. One-hundred and twelve West Nile Virus mosquito pools have been detected across Nebraska this season, as of Aug. 5, stated Katie Schultis, the Environmental Health Coordinator and a Health Educator at the Three Rivers Public Health Department. During 2022, only three positive mosquito pools had been detected at this time last year. This is a large increase in the circulation of West Nile Virus in the state. Over the previous five years of mosquito testing from 2018 to 2022, Nebraska as a state averaged nine positives through week 10, Schultis stated in the release. We are more than 12 times higher than that at present. West Nile Virus is spread by the Culex species of mosquito. Mosquito surveillance in Nebraska has shown a much higher presence of Culex mosquitoes this year. Schultis explained in the press release that more Culex mosquitoes present in the community, means more opportunities to be bitten by the insects. This species of mosquito typically feeds from evening to morning hours. Nebraskans should take precautions to avoid contact with mosquitoes because they may spread West Nile Virus. In order to prevent mosquito bites and protect yourself from the pesky insects, Schultis recommended the following tips and methods that all residents should employ. Using an insect repellant that contains DEET Wearing long-sleeved shirts, long pants, shoes, and socks Taking extra precautions when going outdoors at dawn and dusk, when mosquitoes are most active Removing standing water where mosquitoes breed Empty and change the water in bird baths, fountains, wading pools, rain barrels and potted trays at least once a week Make sure window and door screens are bug tight and repair or replace torn screens Most people who are infected have no symptoms or only mild flu-like symptoms. Less than 1% of people infected with West Nile Virus become severely ill. However, people over 50 and those with weakened immune systems are especially vulnerable to the disease and are more likely to experience serious consequences, Schultis noted in the press release. The 3RPHDS provides free-of-charge mosquito wipes and mosquito dunks to all residents of Dodge, Washington and Saunders County. Those items are available in Fremont at the Three Rivers Public Health Department offices, located at 2400 N. Lincoln Ave. For more information, residents can telephone Three Rivers District Health Department at 402-727-5396 or visit threeriverspublichealth.org. While some El Paso County commissioners and residents have clashed in recent weeks over the definition of proper racial minority representation, a coalition of local chapters of national civil rights groups recently stepped into the redistricting process with claims of racial discrimination that one commissioner calls "insulting." In a letter penned July 31 to the El Paso County Redistricting Commission, several groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and NAACP of Colorado Springs, state that current county commissioner districts uphold a continuing legacy of racial exclusion in that its members consistently fail to reflect their Black and Brown constituents despite the fact that people of color currently make up 34% of the countys population up from 23% in 2000 according to the most recent U.S. Census redistricting data. The letter, whose signatories also include the Latina Equity Foundation, Colorado Latinos Vote, Citizens Project, League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region and Rocky Mountain NAACP, urges the current five members of the county Board of Commissioners who tasked themselves in April with redrawing their voter districts for the first time since 2017 to design districts that will ensure this rich diversity is reflected on the board. Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez, a Hispanic man, said the claims are offensive to himself and to Ed Jones and Darryl Glenn, two Black former commissioners who served from 1995 to 2003 and 2011 to 2019, respectively. All three men are Republicans. When I first came onto this board (in 2017) ... 40% of the (board) was represented by minorities, Gonzalez told The Gazette. I still remain on this board as a representative of the Hispanic and minority community. What they meant is that they want Democrats, but they dont want to put that on paper ... (that is) unfortunately insulting to people of color like me, he added. What they meant is that we dont count. Taylor Pendergrass, ACLU of Colorados director of advocacy, said there is a conceptual difference between Gonzalezs and the letters definition of what minority representation looks like. Historically, voter precincts in southeast Colorado Springs have been split between three commissioner districts a move called cracking that residents have said effectively dilutes the minority and Democrat vote given that a Democrat has not sat on the board since Stan Johnson's election in 1970. Pendergrass said that dilution has made it impossible for minority voters to elect their preferred candidate in the past, and while people of color have sat on the county commissioner board, they were not widely supported by minority voters in their district. Citing data from a racially polarized voting analysis performed by the coalition behind the letter, Pendergrass said that while Gonzalez is Hispanic, only 17 to 27% of non-White voters selected Gonzalez in the 2020 commissioner election, compared to 88%-98% of White voters. (Jones, Glenns and Gonzalezs) representation and the barriers that they broke as people of color in those positions should not be undervalued, Pendergrass said. (But) Gonzales, (partly) because of the way that districts are drawn, did not capture a majority of the minority vote in El Paso County. The letter states that El Paso Countys current districts may violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits election systems from denying any American citizen the right to vote on account of race or color and from giving racial minorities less opportunity than other members of the electorate to ... elect representatives of their choice. The coalition also said that because El Paso Countys minority population is sufficiently large and geographically compact to create a potential majority if consolidated into one district and tends to vote in a political bloc (in this case, Democrat), and because its majority White voters are also politically cohesive and "tend to defeat the minority's proposed candidate," the county meets all three pre-conditions for a VRA violation. According to U.S. Census data, the county's Black and Hispanic population is heavily concentrated in southeast Colorado Springs south to Fountain and Security-Widefield. Pendergrass disputed the claim that the coalition is specifically seeking Democratic control of a district in El Paso County. If you were to draw districts where minorities were included in a way that allowed them to exercise their preference for a candidate, and the candidate they chose to represent them was a Republican, or a Green Party member, or a Democratic Socialist or a Democrat, all of that would satisfy the Voting Rights Act. Pendergrass said the organization does not comment on potential litigation and could not confirm whether it would take legal action against the county if it believed a finalized map did not satisfy the VRA. During the redistricting process, residents have requested that commissioners consolidate into one district southeast Colorado Springs, defined as a region of roughly 30 precincts west and northwest of the Colorado Springs Airport that each have a minority population of 45% or greater. In recent weeks, commissioners enacted guidelines that could create a potentially left-leaning district by eliminating any previously created maps that split the area between districts and blocked from future consideration any new maps that did not keep the southeast intact. On Tuesday, commissioners honed in on three finalist maps that all keep the 28 southeast precincts together, but split Monument into northern District 1 and into District 3, which also incorporates Manitou Springs and Old Colorado City. Mike Williams, executive director of Citizens Project, one of the letters signatories, said that while the southeast may be kept intact, joining part of Monument and the southwest portion of the county in one district will make District 3 less politically competitive. It reemphasizes stuff in the letter, Williams said. The redistricting commission will hold a final meeting at 1 p.m. on Aug. 15, when it is set to select a final map. While Tuesday was the last day for the public to address commissioners in person, residents have until 11:59 p.m. on Friday to submit public feedback on the finalist maps to the county's redistricting portal. Across the lines of freshmen joining their new squadrons at the Air Force Academy Wednesday marched 325 women representing about a little less than a third of the class, a number that's been roughly stable for at least nine classes. While the academy's percentage of female cadets outpaces that of the overall Air Force, where they represent about 21% of all airmen and 22% of the officers. Air Force leadership would like to boost those numbers. Last year, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall released an aspirational goal of increasing officer applications among women up to 36%. He would also like to see applications from prospective Black officers boosted up to 13%, those from Hispanics rise to 15% and those from Asians reach 10%. Air Force Academy demographics A breakdown of Air Force Academy diversity based on data from the school 2019 graduating class 329 women or 26.5% 397 minority cadets or 32% 2020 graduating class 342 women or 29.3% 355 minority cadets or 30.4% 2021 graduating class 288 women or 28% 290 minority cadets or 29% 2022 graduating class 260 women or 27% 300 minority cadets or 33.3% 2023 graduating class 270 women or 29% 285 minority cadets or 31% 2024 incoming class 346 women or 30.2% 415 minority cadets or 36.2% 2025 incoming class 325 women or 29.7% 355 minority cadets or 32.5% 2026 incoming class 301 women or 28.5% 401 minority cadets or 38% 2027 incoming class 325 women or 29.1% 372 minority cadets or 33.3% "It is imperative that the composition of our Military Services better reflect our Nation's highly talented diverse and eligible population," Kendall said in a memo announcing the goals. His aspirational goals came out at time when the military as a whole is facing a shortfall in its recruiting goals from a myriad of problems including dropping interest and eligibility among young people. Currently, the Air Force Academy receives a little more than 30% of its applications from women, said Col. Candice Pipes, the new director of admissions. In her opinion, the academy may be doing better in attracting women than the Air Force as a whole because of diverse opportunities found nowhere else, such as highly competitive sports, classes on parachuting and numerous student leadership positions. But it's still one of her goals to attract more women interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, often abbreviated as STEM fields to the school. The academy has increased its racial and ethnic diversity with 38% of the students last year identifying as a racial or ethnic minority, the most in recent years and 33% identifying as a minority this year. Among the incoming Classes of 2026 and 2027, the academy has also seen a jump in the number of Asian students, who represented about 16% of those classes up from 7% for the Class of 2025. A change in the way demographic data was collected for the Classes of 2026 and 2027 allowing students to identify as more than one race may have contributed to that increase, Pipes said. While the Air Force Academy is still highly competitive with more than 10,000 students competing for a slot in the incoming class, Pipes said the school is not completely insulated from the nation's recruiting challenges, so the school needs to consistently get the message out about opportunities at the school available nowhere else. Sign Up for free: Military Brief Your weekly local update on local military news and events, sent straight to your inbox. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. One of the newly minted female cadets, Riley Speidel, flew across the U.S. solo in a motor glider when she was 14, the youngest person to achieve the feat, and for as long as she can remember, she's wanted to come to the academy to serve in the military and to fly. She would love to fly a fighter jet or a C-130. Speidel didn't really think about the balance between men and women at the academy before she arrived, but she did notice a few days into her time at the academy that in her flight, the smallest group of airmen, that she is one of eight women among 21 men. "The service academies have had challenges with it, but I think they are doing as much as they can to try to solve it," she said. Speidel's first friend at the academy, Sam Bigger, is the first woman in her family to join the military, and the idea of it has always appealed to her. "I feel like the military is a good environment for me because it's structured and it requires attention to detail," she said. As the number of veterans in the U.S. falls, personal exposure to the military among young people is falling, which could be a factor among many contributing to falling interest in the military, which also includes a strong job market. Freshman cadet Siddharth Sreenivasan said he wasn't familiar with military academies until his friend got into West Point and he was encouraged to pursue it as an option. "I saw his journey of physical transformation, of how he geared up to go to West Point and how he got in and that sense of achievement that he felt," he said. His choice surprised his parents, who had expected him to attend the University of Texas at Austin, close to home, but they are still pleased with the education he will receive. "I wish I had that discipline early on. ... It's a great foundation," his mom Jyoti Santosh said. One of six men arrested in a Colorado Springs Police Department sting operation has been found guilty of preying upon children. Police announced Tuesday that 31-year-old Aaron Thompson has been found guilty of conspiracy to commit sexual assault on a child and attempt to commit sexual assault on a child, according to Gazette news partner KKTV. A jury found Thomson guilty of the charges on Aug. 3. He is scheduled to be sentenced at the end of October. Thompson was arrested in February after he drove from Trinidad to meet a minor for sex. His arrest was part of a bigger investigation by Colorado Springs police and several other agencies into sexual predators who were accused of using the internet to lure and exploit children. In total, six men were arrested in the sting operation over three days, according to the department. Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. Three of the men arrested in the same sting Richard Castro, 30, Travis Anderson, 47, and Noah Casady, 24 have all entered not guilty pleas to all charges in recent months, and all three are scheduled to begin jury trials in November. The other two men arrested as part of the sting Mark Gasgonia, 32, and Steven Marks, 58 have yet to enter pleas and are scheduled to make appearances in Colorado's 4th Judicial District Court later this month. Only Thompson and Marks remain in El Paso County jail, the other four men all posted bond to be released from custody following their arrest. The sting was a joint undercover investigation by the CSPD Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, composed of CSPD and El Paso County sheriff's detectives, along with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Unit and Homeland Security Investigations. If you suspect a child has fallen trap to being exploited online, you can report it by calling 1-800-THE-LOST or by tapping or clicking here. District Attorney Linda Stanley has found herself in trouble again for allegedly improperly speaking publicly about a case before trial. The controversial prosecutor in the Barry Morphew case was already reprimanded once before for doing a pre-trial television interview about Suzanne Morphews disappearance on a podcast called Profiling Evil. In the latest incident, an attorney has asked for dismissal in a trial involving a babys death over comments Stanley made on a news program which were so abrasive, a curse word she uttered had to be bleeped out. During an interview with Colorado Springs KRDO TV about the upcoming murder trial of the babys mother and her boyfriend, 17th Judicial District Attorney Stanley said that there was no love between Brook Crawford and William Jacobs. The couple moved in together in a Canon City Motel 6 last May, according to Crawfords preliminary hearing, but Stanley said it was a relationship of convenience and sex. Without the caring factor, without the love factor, the baby is a pain in the a__, Stanley told a reporter in an on-camera interview which aired Aug. 1. The TV station bleeped-out Stanleys language for the on-air product. Stanley went on to say that Jacobs, 21, had recently been released from prison for a sex crime, and was watching 10-month-old Edward Hays while Crawford worked so that he can get laid, thats it. Jacobs, who was the last person to see the baby alive, according to the arrest affidavit, told investigators that he shook him and slapped him on the back to get him to breathe. Edward died at Childrens Hospital in Colorado Springs May 23 and it was then that Stanley upgraded Jacobs criminal charge from child abuse resulting in death to first-degree murder. Crawford is charged with child abuse resulting in death. In a motion for dismissal filed Monday, Crawfords attorney, Thom LeDoux, accused Stanley of outrageous government conduct for her statements and asked for a dismissal of the case. LeDoux took issue with Stanleys portrayal of Crawford in the interview as a bad mother, which he called breathtaking in their prejudicial nature. LeDoux pointed out in his motion that Stanley also violated pre-trial publicity orders during the Morphew case, which resulted in the trial being moved from Salida to Canon City. The Office of Attorney Regulation Counsel, an independent organization which oversees attorneys for the Colorado Supreme Court, confirmed that since the interview aired publicly, it has received a complaint related to Stanleys television interview. Usually, the OAR does not confirm, nor deny, complaints it has received, but shes the one who put it out there, said Jessica Yates, who heads up the OAR office. Its not the first time the regulation office has received complaints regarding Stanley as elected district attorney. Yates said that the status of Stanleys behavior regarding the Crawford investigation is pending along with four other complaints OAR has received against her. At least three of the five total complaints against Stanley are related to the Morphew case, Yates confirmed. The ensuing investigation into the multiple complaints have already taken months and could take even more time as investigators must assess each one as it comes in, conduct depositions and undertake numerous interviews. Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. They have to look at each complaint with fresh eyes, Yates said. LeDoux said that he is aware that a complaint was made on behalf of his case. He contended in his motion that in speaking out, Stanley violated the Rules of Professional Conduct which limits what district attorneys can say about an ongoing case: A lawyer who is participating or has participated in the investigation or litigation of a matter shall not make an extrajudicial statement that the lawyer knows or reasonably should know will be disseminated by means of public communication and will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding in the matter. Former Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett added that the rule is even more important in a less-populated jurisdiction like Fremont County, where the jury pool is smaller. It could create a real problem in the case, Garnett said. Its appropriate for prosecutors to explain whats going on, but you have to make sure that DAs dont decide guilt or innocence. Fremont County Judge Kaitlin Turner has yet to decide whether or not to dismiss the case and a hearing on the request for dismissal had not been scheduled. Crawford has her next hearing Oct. 11 and Jacobs preliminary hearing is scheduled for Sept. 27. Small-town politics may come into play with the baby case, as theres a web of previous adversarial history to the legal cast of characters. In 2020, Judge Turner lost the district attorneys race to Stanley, who took office the following January. Months before that, LeDoux also lost to Stanley in the Republican Primary Election. LeDoux was the previous 17th Judicial District Attorney. The law firm he works for is in part owned by Ramsey Lama, the last judge to oversee the Morphew case. Lama dismissed the case without prejudice in April 2022 and resigned from the bench soon after. Stanley will be up for reelection in November 2024. Garnett, who has opened a new law practice in Boulder, said that if Stanleys baby murder trial is dismissed, it will not likely affect the Morphew case. Its not going to help, but I dont see that it has a direct impact. If evidence is developed in the Morphew case, I dont see that the DAs indiscreet comments on another case could affect it, he said. Attorney General Phil Weisers office said that it was aware of the complaints against Stanley but said he will not be entering the situation. DA Stanley did not return a request for comment by The Gazette. Nathan B. Coats, the former chief justice of Colorado, received an unprecedented public censure on Monday for mishandling the award of a contract to a judicial branch employee who was facing termination for her own misconduct. Coats, who served as chief justice from 2018 through 2020, admitted to violating the Code of Judicial Conduct's requirement that judges competently and diligently perform their administrative duties. As head of the judicial branch, Coats authorized a multimillion-dollar contract with Mindy Masias, a high-ranking employee at the time, even though there was evidence suggesting Masias had falsified documentation. Media coverage of the Masias contract and independent investigations highlighted improper behavior from multiple leaders within the Judicial Department during Coats' tenure. However, even before disciplinary proceedings had concluded, one inquiry found Coats' lack of training as an administrator, his reliance on an untrustworthy subordinate and his poor judgment were partly to blame for the scandal. "Chief Justice Coats undermined the publics confidence in the integrity of the judiciary," the Aug. 7 disciplinary decision noted. "(C)ompliance with the Colorado Code of Judicial Conduct required that former Chief Justice Coats prevent the Judicial Department from entering the contract prior to its public execution." Coats' public censure came not from his former colleagues on the Supreme Court who recused themselves in the matter but from a special tribunal of Court of Appeals judges. The Coats discipline marked the second use of a special tribunal since the Supreme Court enacted the procedure in January, the first occurring in April with the censure of disgraced former Mesa County District Court Judge Lance P. Timbreza. The members of Coats' tribunal were Judges David Furman, Anthony J. Navarro, Elizabeth L. Harris, Rebecca R. Freyre, Craig R. Welling, Jaclyn Casey Brown and Christina F. Gomez. Former Sen. Pete Lee, D-Colorado Springs, acknowledged that while a censure may seem like a light punishment, for an attorney or a judge it is a "big deal." "Public humiliation of a guy at that level of esteem is a huge sanction," said Lee, an attorney himself. "There isn't anything more Draconian you can do from the standpoint of the legal profession the esteem of your peers." Questionable conduct abounds Coats, a 2000 appointee of Gov. Bill Owens, left the court nearly three years ago upon reaching the mandatory retirement age. Last summer, former federal prosecutor Robert C. Troyer and former Denver independent monitor Nicholas E. Mitchell issued a report detailing the circumstances of the Masias contract. In mid-2018, financial services personnel detected that Masias, who was the chief of staff in the State Court Administrator's Office, included a falsified date on a reimbursement request. The personnel advised Coats and then-State Court Administrator Christopher Ryan to fire Masias, given that state auditors were reviewing the judicial branch's finances at the time. Wanting to keep Masias involved with the judiciary, Ryan and Coats discussed letting Masias resign and become a leadership training contractor with the Judicial Department, provided no other misconduct surfaced. In late 2018, the men began to put the contract in motion. Ryan assured Coats there were no further irregularities with Masias' reimbursement requests, but the Troyer-Mitchell investigation found that to be untrue. Human resources director Eric Brown, who the investigation deemed to have an "inappropriately close relationship" with Masias, then helped draft a public solicitation for leadership training that seemed suspiciously tailored to her. Consequently, no entities applied to provide the service. The department proceeded to award a multiyear contract to Masias following her resignation, worth up to $2.75 million. Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. However, in April 2019, Coats learned that Ryan with the assistance of Masias and Brown was involved in further impropriety regarding an ex-employee and that Masias had secretly recorded a conversation with former Chief Justice Nancy Rice. In July, the Supreme Court fired Ryan and terminated Masias' contract. The Troyer-Mitchell report blamed Ryan for concealing or misrepresenting critical information, Masias for being dishonest, Brown for putting his personal relationship over the judiciary's interests, and Coats for being an incompetent manager. "Coats received no training, orientation, or instruction on running a large, complicated organization like the Department," the report concluded. "His own intuition also should have told him that choosing a person known for dishonesty and self-interest (Masias) as the face of the Departments leadership training program would gravely undermine trust and confidence in the Department and his own leadership." Lessons learned Since the turmoil inside the judicial branch became public, Chief Justice Brian D. Boatright, who succeeded Coats in 2021, told lawmakers earlier this year that the judiciary was undertaking the reforms recommended in the Troyer-Mitchell report. At a legal event in May, Boatright explained the court has moved away from the traditional protocol of the chief justice simply relaying administrative decisions to the other six justices without their participation. "We learned that 14 sets of eyes and ears is much better than having two sets of eyes and ears on any decision," Boatright said. "If wed had a number of different eyes and ears on the problems at hand, we would have navigated more smoothly." Boatright also indicated that when he rotates out of the chief justice position next summer, his successor will have more preparation time for assuming the top job. "My onboarding process was, I sat across the table from Chief Justice Coats and he said, 'What would you like to know?' And a month later I was chief," said Boatright. Lee, the former senator who oversaw efforts to enact judicial reform in the wake of the scandal, applauded the whistleblowers who came forward and the journalism that shone a spotlight on the misconduct. "I think that the Judicial Department ought to provide access to training in the administrative process and management to these appointed chief judges in all 22 judicial districts," he said. "They make a lot of decisions personnel, management, financial, etc. If lawyers don't have training to do that, let's get them training." Coats' disciplinary case also featured the unusual involvement of Andrew Rottman, counsel for Coats and now for Boatright. Although Rottman was not a party to the proceedings, he objected to a statement in the narrative offered by the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline and by Coats, which claimed Rottman knew of Masias' clandestine recording of a former chief justice but did not tell Coats. "That statement is factually untrue and is contradicted by overwhelming evidence to the contrary and the conclusion of every other investigation," wrote lawyers for Rottman. Even though Coats had previously signed the document containing the alleged factual error, attorneys for Coats clarified that he now considered the statement to be "factually incorrect." The judicial discipline commission reissued its narrative on June 16, omitting the reference to Rottman. Braulio Barron-Rubio on Wednesday became the third person to plead guilty to a murder charge for their role in the death of 31-year-old Manuel Hernandez-Uribe. Last year, Barron-Rubio, Yessica Cortes-Barcenas, Isidro Sarabia-Gonzalez and Ector Sarabia-Cabrera were arrested in connection with the death of Hernandez-Uribe, whose body was found June 10, 2022, on Old Stage Road in unincorporated El Paso County. Hernandez-Uribe had suffered gunshot wounds, according to an arrest affidavit. On June 6, 2022, Hernandez-Uribe made several 911 calls reporting a break-in at his home in Colorado Springs, the affidavit states. Law enforcement responded to the first call, determined that the incident was "non-criminal" and left after speaking with Hernandez-Uribe, according to the affidavit. A little over an hour later at 6:04 a.m., Hernandez-Uribe placed a second 911 call, telling officers he was "in danger." In the 911 call, he can be heard saying in Spanish "I don't want problems, I have two kids. I didn't do anything ... I didn't mean to." A female voice can be heard saying "shut up" before the phone call ended, according to the affidavit. "When CSPD officers arrived approximately 20 minutes later, they found forced entry to the front door, but Hernandez-Uribe was not present," the affidavit states. After reviewing surveillance footage, text messages and Facebook messages, law enforcement arrested the four suspects, including his ex-girlfriend, Cortes-Barcenas. Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. All four suspects faced numerous charges, including first- and second-degree murder. On July 26, Sarabia-Gonzalez and Sarabia-Cabrera pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, court records show. On Wednesday, Barron-Rubio also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for his role in Hernandez-Uribe's death. "I was part of a group ... who took this person (Hernandez-Uribe) out of (his) home, which resulted in this man's death," Barron-Rubio told Judge Laura Findorff in Spanish via a translator. Barron-Rubio faces 30 to 48 years in the Department of Corrections when he is sentenced Oct. 6. Barron-Rubio's defense attorney, Will Cook, said the sentencing range in Barron-Rubio's plea agreement is the same as the other co-defendants who have taken a plea deal. Cortes-Barcenas has a plea hearing scheduled for Aug. 23, while Sarabia-Gonzalez and Sarabia-Cabrera are scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 27. Photo: Zaporizhzhia administration Press Office Damaged building after Russian missile strikes in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday. Russian air defense systems on Thursday shot down two drones heading toward Moscow for a second straight day, officials said. The reported attack disrupted flights at two international airports as Ukraine appeared to step up its assault on Russian soil. One drone was downed in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow and another near a major Moscow ring road, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin and the Russian Defense Ministry, which blamed the attack on Ukraine. No casualties or damage were immediately reported. Domodedovo airport, south of the city, halted flights for more than two hours and Vnukovo airport, southwest of the city, stopped flights for more than two and a half hours, according to Russian news agencies. Ten flights were diverted, Russias Federal Agency for Air Transport said. Firing drones at Moscow after more than 17 months of war has little apparent military value for Ukraine, but the strategy has served to unsettle Russians and bring home to them the conflicts consequences. Kyiv officials, as usual, neither confirmed nor denied Ukraines possible involvement in the drone strikes, though Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat remarked: This cannot but please us because people in Moscow thought they were safe. Now, the war affects each and every Russian. We now see that something happens in Moscow on a regular basis, he added. Russias Defense Ministry also said it had stopped Ukrainian drone attacks in Moscow-annexed Crimea. It said it shot down two drones near the port city of Sevastopol and electronically jammed nine that crashed into the Black Sea. On Wednesday, Ukrainian media reported social media blogs as saying that a thick plume of smoke billowed over Sevastopol, which is the headquarters of Russias Black Sea Fleet. The governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said the smoke came from a fleet training exercise and urged local residents not to worry. The incidents have come against the backdrop of Ukraines ongoing counteroffensive, which Ukrainian and Western officials have warned will be a long slog against the Kremlins deeply entrenched forces. The Pentagon is to provide Ukraine with another $200 million in weapons and ammunition to help sustain the counteroffensive, according to U.S. officials. Ukraine has already received more than $43 billion from the U.S. since Russia invaded last year. Ukraines presidential office said at least six civilians were killed and 27 were injured between Wednesday and Thursday mornings. In eastern Ukraine's Donetsk province, Russia shelled 16 cities and villages, and three people were killed, the office reported. In Zaporizhzhia, three people were killed and nine wounded, including an 11-month-old baby. Meanwhile, 12 people remained missing after an explosion Wednesday at a factory that makes optical equipment for Russian security forces, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing emergency officials. Russias Emergency Ministry said 71 people required medical assistance after the explosion. Russian officials did not offer a suspected cause of the explosion at the Zagorsk plant in the region around Moscow, which added to jitters about potential Ukrainian drone strikes. The fallout from Russias war against Ukraine has brought concerns to neighboring countries, including the presence of Russia-linked Wagner group mercenaries in Belarus this summer after their short-lived mutiny in Russia. Polands defense minister said Thursday that the country intends to put 10,000 soldiers along its border with Belarus amid fears of a spike in illegal immigration. Polish officials have accused Belarusian authorities of organizing illegal border crossings to disrupt and pressure Warsaw, which along with other NATO countries has provided support for Kyivs war effort. A Colorado Springs man has been arrested after authorities received tips that someone was uploading child porn to the internet from a local address, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department. Police say they arrested 23-year-old Paul Leavitt on Thursday following the execution of a search warrant at his residents in the 5900 block of Vista Ridge Point. According to police, the Colorado Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received multiple tips between Sept. 2022 and Feb. 2023 that referenced, an unknown subject uploading child sexual abuse material to a cloud-based storage service and a gaming social media platform, according to an online department blotter entry. Detectives were able to determine the cyber-tips were linked to the same subject, which eventually lead to Leavitts arrest. Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. According to officials, Leavitt is facing charges of sexual exploitation of a child. This article will be updated once more information is received. HONOLULU (AP) Wind-whipped wildfires raced through parts of Hawaii on Wednesday, burning structures in historic Lahaina Town on the island of Maui, forcing evacuations and leading some to flee to the relative safety of the ocean, where they were rescued by the Coast Guard. Do NOT go to Lahaina Town, the County of Maui tweeted, hours before all roads in and out of West Maui's biggest community were closed to everyone except emergency personnel. Fire was widespread in Lahaina, including on Front Street, an area of the town of roughly 13,000 that is popular with tourists, county spokesperson Mahina Martin said by phone early Wednesday. Traffic has been very heavy as people try to evacuate, and officials asked people who werent in an evacuation area to shelter in place to avoid adding to the traffic, she said. Photos posted by the county overnight showed a line of flames blazing across an intersection in Lahaina and flames leaping above buildings in the town, whose historic district is on the National Register of Historic Places. The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora, which was passing to the south of the island chain at a safe distance of 500 miles (805 kilometers), was partly to blame for gusts above 60 mph (97 kph) that knocked out power, rattled homes and grounded firefighting helicopters. Dangerous fire conditions created by strong winds and low humidity were expected to last through Wednesday afternoon, the weather service said. The Coast Guard on Tuesday responded to areas where people had fled into the ocean to escape the fire and smoky conditions, the county said in a statement. The Coast Guard tweeted that a crew rescued 12 people from the water off Lahaina. Acting Gov. Sylvia Luke issued an emergency proclamation on behalf of Gov. Josh Green, who is traveling, and activated the Hawaii National Guard to assist. Officials were not aware of any deaths and knew of only one injury, a firefighter who was hospitalized in stable condition after inhaling smoke, Martin said. Theres no count available for the number of structures that have burned or the number of people who have evacuated, but Martin said there were four shelters open and that more than 1,000 people were at the largest. This is so unprecedented, Martin said, noting that multiple districts were affected. An emergency in the night is terrifying, she said, and the darkness makes it hard to gauge the extent of the damage. Right now it is all-hands-on-deck and we are anxious for daybreak, she said. The fires weren't only raging on Maui. The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a disaster declaration to provide assistance with a fire that threatened about 200 homes in and around Kohala Ranch, a small rural community on the Big Island, according to the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. When the request was made, the fire had burned more than 600 acres (243 hectares) and was uncontained. Fire crews on Maui were battling multiple blazes concentrated in two areas: the tourist destination of West Maui and an inland, mountainous region. In West Maui, 911 service was not available and residents were directed to call the police department directly. Because of the wind gusts, helicopters weren't able to dump water on the fires or get aerial estimates of the fire sizes, and firefighters were encountering roads blocked by downed trees and power lines as they worked the inland fires, Martin said. Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. About 14,500 customers in Maui were without power early Wednesday, according to poweroutage.us. Its definitely one of the more challenging days for our island given that its multiple fires, multiple evacuations in the different district areas, Martin said. Winds were recorded at 80 mph (129 kph) in inland Maui and one fire that was believed to be contained earlier Tuesday flared up hours later with the big winds, she added. The fire can be a mile or more from your house, but in a minute or two, it can be at your house, Fire Assistant Chief Jeff Giesea said. In the Kula area of Maui, at least two homes were destroyed in a fire that engulfed about 1.7 square miles (4.5 square kilometers), Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said. About 80 people were evacuated from 40 homes, he said. We're trying to protect homes in the community, Big Island Mayor Mitch Roth said of evacuating about 400 homes in four communities in the northern part of the island. As of Tuesday, the roof of one house caught on fire, he said. Fires in Hawaii are unlike many of those burning in the U.S. West. They tend to break out in large grasslands on the dry sides of the islands and are generally much smaller than mainland fires. Fires were rare in Hawaii and on other tropical islands before humans arrived, and native ecosystems evolved without them. This means great environmental damage can occur when fires erupt. For example, fires remove vegetation. When a fire is followed by heavy rainfall, the rain can carry loose soil into the ocean, where it can smother coral reefs. A major fire on the Big Island in 2021 burned homes and forced thousands to evacuate. The island of Oahu, where Honolulu is located, also was dealing with power outages, downed power lines and traffic problems, said Adam Weintraub, communication director for Hawaii Emergency Management Agency. Associated Press writer Audrey McAvoy contributed to this report. By Patricia Zengerle and Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden asked Congress to approve about $40 billion in additional spending on Thursday, including $24 billion for Ukraine and other international needs, $4 billion related to border security and $12 billion for disaster relief. A senior administration official said the needs were great, and the White House was hopeful an agreement could be reached with Congress on the request, which covers only the first quarter of the current 2024 fiscal year. But the request could face opposition in Congress, where some far-right Republicans - especially those with close ties to former President Donald Trump - want to pare back the billions in assistance Washington has sent to Kyiv since Russian troops invaded in February 2022. Trump, the front-runner in the race to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2024, has been sharply critical of U.S. support for Ukraine in the war. And 70 House members backed an unsuccessful proposal in July to cut funding for Ukraine. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said there was strong bipartisan support in the Democratic-led Senate for doing more to back Ukraine, help Americans affected by natural disasters and "fight the scourge of fentanyl." "The latest request from the Biden administration shows Americas continued commitment to helping Americans here at home and our friends abroad; and should send a clear signal to Vladimir Putin, the Chinese government, and others of Americas resolve when it comes to defending democracy around the world," Schumer said in a statement backing Biden's request. The Senate's Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, said in a statement he looked forward to reviewing the request "to make sure it is necessary and appropriate to keep America safe, secure our borders, support our allies, and help communities rebuild after disasters." McConnell has strongly supported assistance to Ukraine, saying that much of the money is spent in the United States and citing the importance of the "democratic world" unifying against aggression, whether from Russia or China. Asked about criticism from Republicans in the House of Representatives that the request violated a budget deal reached in June, the official said it was clear when that deal was signed that it did not preclude requests for emergency funding. "There's work to do, but we are hopeful about our ability to come together," the official said. FIRST UKRAINE REQUEST SINCE REPUBLICANS TOOK HOUSE Republicans narrowly control the House, where Speaker Kevin McCarthy signaled in June that any request for more assistance for Ukraine would face an uphill path through Congress. A spokesperson for McCarthy said he would review Biden's proposal. "A Republican-led House will not rubber-stamp any blank-check funding requests; rather, the Administrations emergency funding requests must be reviewed and scrutinized on their merits consistent with the practice and principles of our majority, the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The House and Senate last approved aid for the Kyiv government - $48 billion - in December, before Republicans took control of the House. A second administration official said the United States was making good on its promise to stand by Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion that began in February 2022, and would not be bashful about asking for additional funds if needed. The funding request also includes $3.3 billion to expand development and infrastructure lending by the World Bank to developing countries and provide a "credible alternative" to China's "coercive and unsustainable lending and infrastructure projects," Biden's budget director, Shalanda Young, said in a letter to Congress. The request includes $13.1 billion for the Department of Defense, including $9.5 billion for equipment for Ukraine and replenishment of U.S. equipment stocks already sent to Kyiv. It also includes $3.6 billion for continued military, intelligence and other defense support. It seeks $8.5 billion for the Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development, including $7.3 billion for economic, humanitarian and security assistance for Ukraine and other affected countries and populations, $1 billion to strengthen strategic partnerships in developing countries and $200 million to strengthen African countries' resistance to Russia's Wagner Group, which Washington has designated a transnational criminal organization. Wagner's chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has welcomed a recent coup in Niger and said his forces were available to restore order. Among other things, the package asks for $2.65 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, including $2.2 billion for border management operations, shelter and services for migrants released from DHS custody, and $416 million for counter-fentanyl activities. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Patricia Zengerle, David Shepardson and Doina Chiacu in WashingtonEditing by Doina Chiacu, Jonathan Oatis and Matthew Lewis) By David Brunnstrom and Stanley Widianto WASHINGTON/JAKARTA (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden is unlikely to attend summits with Southeast Asian leaders in Jakarta next month, multiple sources told Reuters, an absence that would raise questions about U.S. commitment to a region vital in its efforts to push back against China's expanding influence. Biden is due to attend a Sept. 9-10 G20 summit in India and said on Tuesday he plans to visit an important emerging Southeast Asian partner Vietnam "shortly" to upgrade ties, but his presence at the Sept. 4-7 summits of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is in significant doubt. One source close to the matter said Biden would not go to Indonesia, and another cited a Washington-based ambassador from an ASEAN member as saying that Indonesia had been informed on Monday that Biden would not be going. Other sources cited White House officials as saying that Biden's attendance was "unlikely." Asked if it was correct that Biden would not be going to Indonesia, a senior White House official told Reuters on Tuesday: "We're still working on it ... we'll probably have more to say about it soon." White House spokespersons did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sources said Biden's schedule for Asia is not official until it has been announced and could change. Several ASEAN diplomats said it would be a significant disappointment if Biden did not go to Jakarta, given the public emphasis his administration puts on the importance of ties with the region. One senior diplomat referred to Indonesia having scheduled the ASEAN summits, which are normally held in November, for September, specifically to make is possible for Biden to attend and then go on to the G20. Sources said Biden was expected to send Vice President Kamala Harris in his place. Harris, the first Asian American vice president, has conducted diplomacy in the region before. DISAPPOINTMENT IN REGION Biden already caused disappointment in the region when he canceled what would have been the first visit by a serving U.S. president to Papua New Guinea in May and a subsequent planned visit to Australia because he was working to close a deal with lawmakers to resolve the U.S. debt ceiling crisis. In an address to an ASEAN-related event in Washington on Tuesday evening, Biden's deputy national security adviser Jonathan Finer hailed the U.S.-ASEAN relationship and said that "ASEAN centrality" was at the heart of the administration's strategy for the Indo-Pacific region. Policy analysts said another no-show by Biden, who attended ASEAN meetings in Cambodia in November, would call that characterization into question. "It will be viewed as another let down by the region," said Murray Hiebert, a senior associate with the Southeast Asia program at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Southeast Asia has been impressed that Washington under Biden has stepped up engagement with the region," Hiebert said. "For him to skip the summit when he will already be nearby attending a summit in India, and likely making an official visit to Vietnam, will prompt many in the region to wonder whether the U.S. is again slipping back to its episodic and half-hearted engagement with the region." Ted Osius, a former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam who heads the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, said there would likely be some disappointment if Biden was unable to go to Jakarta, although he stressed the "dramatic" increase in U.S. government-to-government engagement with ASEAN under Biden, a Democrat. ASEAN members were unhappy when Biden's Republican predecessor Donald Trump skipped regional summits for three consecutive years, something policy experts saw as playing into China's expansion of its influence in the region. Trump's predecessor Barack Obama attended every U.S.-ASEAN and East Asia summit from 2011, apart from 2013, when he canceled due to a government shutdown at home. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Simon Lewis and Michael Martina in Washington and Stanley Widianto in Jakarta; Editing by Grant McCool) By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. railroad regulators on Wednesday said Norfolk Southern needs "significant improvements" in its safety culture after a Feb. 3 derailment in Ohio caused cars carrying toxic vinyl chloride and other dangerous chemicals to spill and catch fire. The Transportation Department's Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) also disclosed it is considering enforcement actions against the Atlanta-based railroad on a number of issues, including track maintenance, inspection, repair practices and hours of service regulations. "FRAs findings highlight the need for significant improvements in training practices, overall communications, and trust - all of which are vital to prevent accidents before they occur," Administrator Amit Bose said in a statement. "We expect Norfolk Southern to do their part, acting on the recommendations in this assessment as well as previous ones to increase safety." FRA found the railroad frequently focused solely on enforcing compliance with minimum safety standards and did not quickly respond to an earlier 2022 audit. But the review praised positive changes and renewed commitment shown by company leadership to improve safety. Inspections in March identified over 100 defects across 95 miles (153 km) of Norfolk Southern territory "and FRA is considering enforcement actions based on those defects. Further, reviewing the maintenance and inspection history of the territory identified a failure to prioritize critical safety work necessary to ensure safe operation." Norfolk Southern said CEO Alan Shaw and members of the companys leadership team met with Bose in Atlanta on Tuesday to review the findings. The railroad called "the report an important step on the path to becoming the gold standard for safety in the rail industry." Shaw said in a statement he "gave Administrator Bose my personal commitment that we are going to use this assessment to take further action. We arent waiting." The railroad delivered the report to a consultant conducting an independent review of its safety program. "Were also actively collaborating with labor on safety and were engaging with them on next steps to address the reports findings," Shaw added. The report found Norfolk Southern had not moved quickly to embrace findings from the 2022 audit and noted little action in the last 12 months. "It is clear that (Norfolk Southern) does not place an urgent priority on applying lessons learned from the audit and putting corrective actions in place," the FRA said. The FRA said while it found enforcement issues the purpose of the safety assessment was "to explore aspects of the railroad organization and operations affecting safety in ways that are not necessarily addressed by rules and regulations." (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Stephen Coates) President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that he is pushing "very hard" for ending "all" oil drilling on the East Coast, West Coast, and in the Gulf of Mexico. The Weather Channel meteorologist and Pattrn co-host Stephanie Abrams pressed the president in a sit-down interview about his climate change agenda. BIDEN CELEBRATES ONE-YEAR CHIPS ANNIVERSARY BY VOWING TO CONTINUE SECURING SUPPLY CHAIN "Let's talk Gen Z because they're going to play a big role in the next presidential election, and many of them are angry about the 7,000 oil and gas permits you approved since you've been in office. You promised no new drilling on federal land or offshore. Can you tell Gen Z that you haven't broken your promise?" Abrams asked. Biden responded, "Yes because the courts overruled me. The courts said I couldn't do it. I wanted to stop all drilling on the East Coast and the West Coast and in the Gulf, but I lost in court." He added, "The private sector's coming off the sidelines. They've invested $250 billion in alternative energy. They're building solar facilities. They're building you know, there's electrolyzers to take hydrogen and turn it. I mean, there's so much going on." "Finally, finally, no one can any longer deny that we don't have a problem with climate change," Biden said. While at the Grand Canyon in Arizona, the Biden administration banned any new uranium mining projects on nearly 1 million acres of public land adjacent to Grand Canyon National Park. Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. "Nationally, we've conserved more land. We've moved into rejoining the Paris climate accord [and] we passed a $360 billion climate control facility," Biden said in his Weather Channel interview. "We're moving. It is the existential threat to America," the president added. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER When Abrams asked to clarify if he had already declared a national emergency on climate change, Biden said, "Practically speaking, yes." On Wednesday, the president delivered remarks at a groundbreaking for Arcosa, a wind tower manufacturing facility expanding operations in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Original Location: Biden says he's 'still pushing' very hard for stopping all drilling on both coasts Washington Examiner Videos An anti-corruption candidate for the presidency of Ecuador was assassinated at a campaign event, according to police. President Guillermo Lasso confirmed that Fernando Villavicencio, 59, the leader of the Movimiento Construye Party, was murdered by gunmen, one of whom was found dead shortly after. Villavicencio leaves behind a widow and five children. Lasso blamed the attack on organized crime, and promised a crackdown, the Associated Press reported. Police and emergency workers stand outside the clinic where presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was taken after he was shot and killed after a campaign rally in Quito, Ecuador, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Juan Diego Montenegro) Juan Diego Montenegro/AP UP FOR DEBATE: TRUMP, DESANTIS, AND 2024 GOP HOPEFULS' STANCE ON THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT "I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished," the president said in a statement. "Organized crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law." General Manuel Iniguez, a deputy commander of the Ecuadoran national police, said that Villavicencio was killed by gunfire shortly after entering a truck outside a rally at a high school, the Washington Post reported. He added that the hitmen also fired a grenade at the truck, though it failed to detonate. Villavicencio had announced just a week before that he had been threatened by the leader of a gang, according to the BBC. Though Ecuador has historically been mostly peaceful by the region's standards, crime has exploded over the past year due to a rise in drug trafficking. Crime was one of the issues tackled by Villavicencio's campaign. Patricio Zuquilanda, Villavicencio's campaign adviser, told the Associated Press that the campaign had received a number of death threats, which were reported to the authorities, and which led to at least one arrest. "The Ecuadorian people are crying and Ecuador is mortally wounded," he said. "Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society." Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. A bloodied woman is carried away after presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot to death while at a campaign rally outside a school in Quito, Ecuador, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023. (API via AP) \/AP Villavicencio was trailing behind two other candidates but had been growing in support ahead of the first round of elections on Aug. 20. The other candidates expressed their support and outrage over the killing. Leading candidate Luisa Gonzalez of the Citizen Revolution Party expressed solidarity with Villavicencio, declaring, "When they touch one, they touch all of us ... This vile act will not go unpunished." CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER "We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears, and we do not deserve to live like this. We demand that you do something," former Vice President and current candidate Otto Sonnenholzner said. "May God keep him in his glory," he added. "Our country has gotten out of hand." Original Location: Ecuadorian anti-corruption presidential candidate assassinated at campaign event Washington Examiner Videos Former Vice President Mike Pence slammed a prisoner swap the Biden administration brokered with Iran as "the largest ransom payment in American history." The administration on Thursday acknowledged the deal with Iran, in which five imprisoned Americans would be freed and released to the United States in exchange for the release of several jailed Iranians and Tehran gaining access to $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue, the New York Times reported. UP FOR DEBATE: TRUMP, DESANTIS, AND 2024 GOP HOPEFULS' STANCES ON ABORTION Pence, who is running for president in 2024, denounced the $6 billion concession. "While I welcome the release of American hostages, the American people should know that @POTUS Biden has authorized the largest ransom payment in American history to the Mullahs in Tehran," he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. Biden officials said the money would only be accessible for food, medicine, and other humanitarian purposes. "Iran will now use this money to produce drones for Russia and fund terrorism against us and Israel. China and Russia, who are also holding Americans hostages, now know the price has just gone up," Pence continued. "Any rogue nation that takes innocent Americans hostage during my Administration will be met with American strength; they are forewarned that we will not pay ransoms." The yet-to-be-released prisoners are Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharghi, Morad Tahbaz, and two other unnamed Americans. Sources said the two unnamed Americans include a scientist and a businessman. They were all jailed on unsubstantiated spying allegations and have been moved to house arrest. "We have received confirmation that Iran has released from prison five Americans who were unjustly detained," Adrienne Watson, the National Security Council spokeswoman, told the New York Times. "We will continue to monitor their condition as closely as possible." Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. Once the prisoners are returned to America, "a handful of Iranian nationals" will reportedly be released by the Biden administration, and $6 billion of Iran's assets in South Korea will be transferred into an account in the central bank of Qatar. The release of the prisoners has been long-awaited after more than two years of negotiations. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Pence has consistently denounced the Iran regime's "brutality" and pressed Biden's administration not to renew the Iran nuclear deal. Last month, the former vice president made a surprise appearance at an exiled Iran opposition group meeting in Paris. Pence told the People's Mujahidin Organization meeting that the "Iranian regime has never been weaker than it is today." Original Location: Pence slams $6 billion prisoner swap with Iran: 'Largest ransom payment in American history' Washington Examiner Videos The weapons supervisor in the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during the filming of Rust has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering charges. Hannah Gutierrez Reed submitted the plea on Wednesday, the Guardian reported, and the trial will occur during the second week of December. If she is found guilty on both counts, Gutierrez Reed faces three years in prison. GOP HOPEFULS POISED TO ENCIRCLE DESANTIS AT OPENING DEBATE FILE - In this image from video provided by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, movie set armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, right, speaks with a sheriff's deputy as a colleague stands next to her on the set of the western move "Rust," shortly after the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins by Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal, Oct. 21, 2021, in New Mexico. On Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, Gutierrez-Reed agreed to forgo a preliminary hearing that would have provided court testimony from dozens of people, including eyewitnesses to the shooting. (Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office via AP, File) AP In April, prosecutors dropped their involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin after saying they encountered new evidence that complicated their investigation. Baldwin was holding the prop gun pointed at Hutchins when it went off and killed her, also injuring the film's director Joel Souza. Baldwin was hit with the charges in January of this year for the February 2021 shooting. He faced up to 18 months in prison. He was accused of negligently firing his Colt .45 pistol on set. The actor said he had no idea the gun was loaded and didn't pull the trigger. In this image from video released by the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office, Alec Baldwin speaks with investigators following a fatal shooting on a movie set in Santa Fe, N.M. (Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office via AP, File) Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. Gutierrez Reed is the lone defendant in the case that has puzzled investigators and demanded answers from the public. Prosecutors reportedly have said Reed acted recklessly when she loaded the gun on set and handed it to Baldwin, alleging she did not properly check all of the rounds to make sure they were dummies, possibly because she was hungover on the day of the shooting. The evidence tampering charges are reportedly due to the fact that prosecutors believe Gutierrez Reed asked "another person to take possession of her narcotics" the day of the shooting. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER The death of the 42-year-old Hutchins prompted an outcry from the film community over what is believed to have been an avoidable incident, as well as from Hutchins's family, devastated over her death. The film finished filming after moving from its original production in New Mexico. In addition to the civil and criminal lawsuits launched against him, Baldwin has been criticized for his response to the tragedy, with some claiming his actions have been "tone-deaf." Original Location: Rust film shooting: Weapons supervisor pleads not guilty to charges against her Washington Examiner Videos Photo: Rob Kruyt. Home sales are up roughly 26 per cent when compared to July 2022, according to the British Columbia Real Estate Association An earlier flurry of activity in B.C.s housing market is cooling off following two Bank of Canada rate hikes in June and July. A total of 7,103 residential unit sales were recorded across the province in July 2023. This represents an increase of 25.9 per cent over July 2022 and a decrease of 20.6 per cent from the 8,740 units sold in June 2023, according to the British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA). Home sales are up significantly since this time last year, said Brendon Ogmundson, chief economist at the BCREA, in a press release. That said, there are signs that the most recent Bank of Canada rate increases are slowing activity as mortgage rates climb to their highest levels in over a decade. The BCREA describes active listings in B.C. as flat when compared with July 2022. Exactly 31,000 total listings were recorded last month the second consecutive month that listings have risen on a month-to-month seasonally adjusted basis. The real estate association said this signals new listings are returning to more-normal levels as sales moderate. The average residential home price in the province increased by 5.6 per cent to $967,948 last month, when compared to the same time last year. The total sales dollar volume for July 2023 was $6.9 billion 33 per cent above July 2022. The average home price in Greater Vancouver increased by 5.5 per cent to $1,268,359 from $1,202,394 year over year. During this time, the average price increased by 12.4 per cent in Victoria to $1,034,257 from $919,869. The average price recorded on the MLS is $975,232, down 5.4 per cent compared to July 2022. The residential sales dollar volume has decreased by 20.9 per cent to $46.3 billion in B.C. over the last year. Residential unit sales were also down with a decrease of 16.3 per cent to 47,508 units. House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) slammed a "damning photo" of then-Vice President Joe Biden on Air Force Two during a 2015 trip to Ukraine with a current special coordinator who is linked to first son Hunter Biden. Stefanik claimed the photo, which shows Biden being briefed by current special presidential coordinator Amos Hochstein, who was in communication with Hunter Biden at the time, is "further evidence" that Biden administration officials knew the president was previously involved with his son's business dealings. FEC TAKES FIRST STEP TOWARD RULES ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DEEPFAKES IN CAMPAIGN ADS "This damning picture of then Vice President Joe Biden on Air Force Two en route to Ukraine talking with Amos Hochstein is just further evidence that Biden and senior officials in the Biden Administration not only knew of Hunter Biden's corrupt foreign business dealings, but also that Joe Biden was intimately involved while Vice President," Stefanik told Fox News. Stefanik claimed that the photograph was taken ahead of a meeting between Joe Biden and then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, where the then-vice president had threatened to withhold aid from Ukraine if a Ukrainian prosecutor that was investigating Burisma, which Hunter Biden sat on the board for, was not terminated. "All evidence points directly to Joe Biden being deeply compromised. House Republicans will leave no stone unturned in our investigations into Biden's involvement in his family's influence peddling scheme," Stefanik said. Emails and congressional testimony that was obtained by Fox News revealed exchanges between Hunter Biden and Hochstein, including the first son requesting contacts from Hochstein that could help navigate a new tax in Ukraine on private energy companies in 2014. But Hochstein reportedly voiced concerns to both Bidens in October of 2015 that Hunter Biden's position on the board of Burisma risked undermining United States policy in Ukraine. He also warned it helped fuel Russian disinformation campaigns. The meeting with Joe Biden took place in the West Wing of the White House, but the Hunter Biden meeting where Hochstein raised his concerns was during a meeting over coffee. White House visitor logs confirm Hochstein met with Biden. Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER "We were starting to think about a trip to Ukraine, and I wanted to make sure that he [Vice President Biden] was aware that there was an increase in chatter on media outlets close to Russians and corrupt oligarchs-owned media outlets about undermining his message to try to undermine his [Vice President Biden's] message and including Hunter Biden being part of the board of Burisma," Hochstein told Congress in 2020. Hochstein was appointed special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs during the Obama-Biden administration. He was later tapped as Biden's special coordinator for global infrastructure and energy security in August of 2021, but he now serves as the special presidential coordinator. Original Location: Stefanik blasts 'damning' 2015 photo of Joe Biden with Hunter Biden-linked adviser Washington Examiner Videos A memo from retail giant Best Buy was revealed on Tuesday highlighting the company's professional development program for employees who "identify as Black, Latino, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander." "The program is not open to white applicants," investigative journalist James O'Keefe said. BIDEN CELEBRATES ONE-YEAR CHIPS ANNIVERSARY BY VOWING TO CONTINUE SECURING SUPPLY CHAIN The program had started in 2022, but O'Keefe's viral post on Tuesday spurred social media users to call for boycotting Best Buy the way other boycotters had treated Bud Light. "It's time to Bud Light Best Buy," one woman said on social media. The Best Buy memo laid out opportunities for employees to accelerate their place in management in the company if they met certain qualifications. "We're excited to announce awesome news about the McKinsey professional development programs! As a part of Best Buy's commitment to develop and support our employees, we've partnered with McKinsey & Company to offer the McKinsey Leadership Programs," the memo reportedly from Best Buy said. "These professional development programs customize its curriculum and discussions to the unique situations, experiences and opportunities of diverse professionals." The program would help with management acceleration and "enhance their leadership through a mini-MBA style curriculum." It would teach "strategy development, critical thinking, networking and problem solving." To qualify for the program, the memo states that employees must be in a salaried role, have worked more than a year at Best Buy, identify as black, Latino, Hispanic, Asian, or Pacific Islander, and can commit to the hours of the available programs. "Our main focus through the collaboration of the cohorts is to create a space where everyone feels valued and included," Senior Manager of Strategic Initiatives, Inclusion and Diversity Georgia Vahoua said on Best Buy's website. "In addition to the core leadership and management skills that are learned, each cohort also provides a strong networking opportunity for its members that lasts long after the program ends." Social media torched the Best Buy memo with calls for boycotts. Sign up for free: Springs AM Update Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country overnight and the stories to follow throughout the day delivered to your inbox each evening. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. "Let me introduce you to MicroCenter and Amazon. I feel bad saying this because it'll affect the good people/good employees, but Best Buy needs to burn and close, " one social media user said. "Hey @BestBuy, I'm apparently not in your demographic. I'm canceling my credit card and won't be shopping with you again," one woman said in response. "Is @BestBuy a racist company? By the looks of their management training program, the answer is an overwhelming YES. Time to give them the Bud Light treatment," another person on social media said. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER America First Legal encouraged Best Buy discriminated employees to reach out to their legal organization. "If you are a current Best Buy employee who does not qualify for this program because of your race, we want to hear from you today," they said. Original Location: 'Time to Bud Light Best Buy': Best Buy faces blowback for leadership training program that excludes white applicants Washington Examiner Videos The free-for-all that followed the legalization of retail marijuana in Colorado has come home to roost. Not only in terms of our states rising traffic casualties and our youths' precarious mental health but also given the lack of accountability among pots peddlers. Which makes it all the easier for marijuana to get into kids hands. That became clear this week with the release of startling findings about the states lax oversight of marijuana sales. An official audit of the states Marijuana Enforcement Division supposedly, the watchdog over pot and pot-laced products gives the impression that, at times, no one is in the wheelhouse at the agency. As reported Monday by The Gazette, the Colorado Office of the State Auditor uncovered wildly inconsistent inspections of Colorado marijuana businesses by the division. Dozens of dispensaries haven't received targeted inspections or underage compliance checks since 2019, the audit found. From 2019 to 2022, 567 licensed retail marijuana stores were flagged for targeted inspections in monthly reports. The division did not inspect 182 32% of the stores during their respective months, and 75 stores were never inspected. Of the 629 stores flagged for monthly underage compliance checks, 75 (or 12%) were not checked. Alarmed at the prospect of your seventh grader buying a bag of THC-infused edibles? Perhaps, to pass around to friends after they finish their PBJs in the school lunchroom? It seems the Marijuana Enforcement Division doesnt share your concern. As The Gazette also reported, the audit found disciplinary actions against retailers caught in violation were inconsistent, too. Available penalties include fines, license suspensions and criminal summons. The violations that turned up but went unaddressed by penalties included failing to verify an operative's age; allowing an underaged operative into a restricted area, and transferring marijuana to a customer without a valid ID. Overall, the Marijuana Enforcement Division did not bring penalties against stores for 23 out of 44 reported violations, the audit found. Violations ranged from underage sales to inventory tracking issues. Sign up for free: Gazette Opinion Receive updates from our editorial staff, guest columnists, and letters from Gazette readers. Sent to your inbox 12:00 PM. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. In other words, only Big Marijuana the successor to Big Tobacco in Colorado thinks its industry is overregulated. No kidding; ever since marijuana sales began to ebb last year, industry reps have been calling on regulators to ease up. One was quoted in The Gazette last month hoping for a regulatory overhaul. Not only should a relaxation of regulations be unthinkable to Colorado policymakers but its also laughable in light of the audits findings. Lawmakers obviously ought to be tightening enforcement, instead. A former state official who oversaw the division defended it and blamed inadequate inspections and iffy enforcement on a soon-to-be-replaced licensing system that cannot report data on risk factors or types of violations, as well as on COVID-19 restrictions regarding in-person inspections. The official, onetime House Speaker Mark Ferrandino, headed the Department of Revenue to which the Marijuana Enforcement Division answers during some of the August 2022-July 2023 scope of the audit. "We are held up as a gold standard in terms of the way we do this work, Ferrandino told a legislative committee discussing the findings Monday. But he added, That does not mean theres not room for improvement. To say the least. Ferrandino also claimed the marijuana industrys overall compliance with regulations exceeds that of tobacco and liquor vendors. Thats hardly comforting. Kudos to Democratic state senators Chris Hansen of Denver and Kevin Priola of Henderson for requesting the audit. Now, lets hope they and their fellow lawmakers crack down. Launchpad Apartments project We support The Place youth shelter and its proposed Launchpad Apartments project. Shawna Kemppainen, executive director of The PLACE, has provided ample evidence of youth homelessness. The Place served over 600 local youths last year. There are approximately 185 local homeless youths ages 15-24 in any given month. We understand the dangers of living on the streets, and are encouraged by the success of young people now getting access to health care, a safe place to stay, education and employment programs, and stable housing through The Place. On Aug. 3, The Gazette reported on the concerns of some parents of the Ruth Washburn Cooperative Nursery School, next to the proposed Launchpad. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon to hear inflated concerns around this vulnerable group of youths. We are pleased that the school leadership has previously expressed support for the Launchpad. The purpose of The Place, supported by supervised housing for 18-24 year olds at the Launchpad, is that youth recover stability and well-being. The proposed location provides access to transportation, a grocery store and other services, including employment opportunities. The Launchpad building will be staffed 24/7, providing safety to youths and the community. Ruth Washburn and The Place are Colorado nonprofits that are leaders in their respective fields, with strong philosophies that drive their work. We recognize the exemplary leadership of both organizations and believe the children and youths will be managed safely and respectfully next door to one another. We reside on Colorados west side. We urge the City Council to approve the Launchpad Apartments. Organizations like Ruth Washburn and The Place make Colorado Springs a better and safer place for all of us. Danette Tritch, Karen Flitton Stith Colorado Springs USPS customer service Im really frustrated with the (lack of) service provided by the USPS Customer Service website. I mailed my amended federal income tax forms, using registered mail, on March 29. Using the tracking number provided, I watched the package move to Ogden, Utah, within four days. It has never moved since. After a month, I took my receipt to the post office where I mailed the Tax Forms. They got the same result. However, the postal worker advised me that during tax filing season, the IRS did not routinely immediately acknowledge receipt of registered mail, but eventually it would show up as delivered. So, for the next four months, I would check the tracking number, each time seeing the status as Still in Transit, delivery delayed. Today, I pulled out the receipt to check the status again and encountered a problem. The receipt has faded to the point that the initial numbers of the tracking number are illegible. So, I look up USPS customer service, call the 800 number and work my way through the phone tree and finally reach the Talk to an Agent prompt. The system advises me that the wait time is between 24 and 36 minutes, so I select the option for a call back. Sure enough, about a half hour later, the phone rings and I pick it up after one ring. A recording tells me that they detected no response, so they will try again later. Fifteen or so minutes later, the phone rings again. Again, I pick it up after the first ring and I get the same message. I deduce that I am answering too quickly, so the next time I get the call back, I allow three rings before picking up. Dial tone. The caller had already terminated the call. There were no further call backs. So much for USPS customer service. Jerry Zoebisch Sign up for free: Gazette Opinion Receive updates from our editorial staff, guest columnists, and letters from Gazette readers. Sent to your inbox 12:00 PM. Sign Up View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. Fountain City use of taxpayers money I truly hope the people of Colorado Springs, vote no on letting the city have more of our money. No matter what anyone says its a big no way. We gave the OK eight years ago for a tax increase for our roads, well like any other city Utilities ways they used the money for everything else. Red light cameras, roundabouts, pickup trucks for CSPD, 4 door trucks which cost more for city use. And who knows what else we might never know. If the city in the future wants more money, let them have a car wash. No more money to the city utilities. Doug Evans Colorado Springs Adapting to a changing environment To Pius Kamau: Loved your opinion piece in last Sundays Gazette. The overall message to come together is inspiring. Nevertheless, I was disappointed in your medical language early on to impress us with your education. I believe you, I will not use any electrical engineering jargon to impress you with my science education. Here is the but: You put your friend down for a differing opinion on climate change but did not tell us what he believes. In my opinion using the logic of science: 1) Climate change is real and always has been. 2) Man has some effect on the environment as does forest fires, volcanic eruptions, sun spots, solar flares, and even clouds. Which one is the dominant effect is not known. Unlike your and my choice of science, environmental science is more like economics. There are theories, but you cannot isolate enough variables to do definitive experiments. 3) Whether the problem is man made, it will not be solved by ruining our economy and slowly lowering our CO2 emissions. The rest of the world, China, South America, Africa, and the rest of the third world would like to have air conditioning, too. 4) The solution is to adapt to our changing environment and not fight against it. That is how our ancestors survived for millions of years. Andrew Kovalovsky Colorado Springs Colorado's second-highest court more precisely defined the contours of defamatory online speech last week, allowing a former Boulder City Council candidate's lawsuit to proceed against a political activist who created an impersonation Twitter account that linked to unflattering material about the candidate. At the same time, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals declined to address whether a person is liable for defamation for simply reposting a link that contains damaging, untruthful information. Nor did it indicate what type of content would lead "no reasonable internet user" to believe an impersonation account is genuine. Instead, Judge Terry Fox wrote in the Aug. 3 opinion that Steven Rosenblum demonstrated he would likely succeed on his specific defamation claim. The fake account with his name on it coupled with the link to damaging material could lead people to believe Rosenblum, himself, was the messenger. "The 'account + link' combination could reasonably be interpreted to communicate an idea: that Rosenblum created the Twitter account for campaign purposes and that Rosenblums campaign validated or endorsed the contents," Fox explained. Case: Rosenblum v. Budd Decided: August 3, 2023 Jurisdiction: Boulder County Ruling: 3-0 Judges: Terry Fox (author) Craig R. Welling W. Eric Kuhn Background: Colorado appeals court agrees statements related to high-profile suicide are protected speech In recent months, the Court of Appeals has analyzed Colorado's relatively new "anti-SLAPP" law, which stands for "strategic lawsuits against public participation." The legislature enacted the law in 2019 to provide a mechanism to quickly dispose of litigation that implicates a person's First Amendment rights specifically, the rights to free speech and to petition the government. To date, the court has sided with dissatisfied customers sued over negative online reviews of businesses, a woman who spoke out about domestic violence on social media and a Planned Parenthood executive who criticized a series of misleading videos about fetal tissue donation. Rosenblum's lawsuit, however, raised the question of how social media impersonation accounts should be treated. Rosenblum ran for Boulder City Council in 2021, losing by fewer than 2,000 votes. Shortly before the election, he filed suit against housing activist Eric Budd, leaders of the Boulder Progressives organization and an unidentified "John Doe." Rosenblum alleged that Doe created a website titled "Safer Leaks," in which Doe posted screenshots from the Slack channel of Safer Boulder a group that took a harder line against homelessness in favor of public safety. The images illustrated Safer Boulder members suggesting the use of fire hoses on encampments, calling homeless people "meth addicts" and advocating for Safer Boulder to "spy on" progressive groups' meetings. Initially, Safer Leaks also identified posts from a Reddit user as coming from Rosenblum himself. It posted screenshots from Reddit in which Rosenblum, who was a member of Safer Boulder, allegedly used derogatory terms for homeless people and advocated against masking during the pandemic. Rosenblum was not, in fact, behind the account and Budd was reportedly aware of that. Nonetheless, Budd, who was himself a former city council candidate, created a Twitter account for Rosenblum, @steveforboulder, and linked to the Safer Leaks website. The account was public while the incendiary screenshots misidentifying Rosenblum as the Reddit user were still on Safer Leaks. While multiple progressive organizations were considering which candidates to endorse, the Boulder Progressives circulated a letter slamming Rosenblum and pointing to the content on Safer Leaks. Consequently, Rosenblum did not receive the groups' endorsements. "Defendants acted together with a common objective destroy Rosenblums reputation and standing in the Boulder community and derail his campaign for Boulder City Council in the process," his lawyers wrote. Sign up for free: News Alerts Stay in the know on the stories that affect you the most. Sign Up For Free View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. Budd and the Boulder Progressives leaders sought to dismiss Rosenblum's lawsuit under the anti-SLAPP law. Last year, District Court Judge Thomas F. Mulvahill rejected the request. He found Budd's fake Twitter account could lead a reasonable person to think Rosenblum himself endorsed the contents of Safer Leaks, and that a jury could find the Boulder Progressives carried out a conspiracy against Rosenblum. During oral arguments earlier this year, the Court of Appeals panel questioned whether the Twitter account was protected speech. "If the original Twitter account he put up was just Do not vote for Steve Rosenblum and contained a link to the Safer Leaks blog, would that be actionable?" asked Judge Craig R. Welling. "Its an open question in Colorado whether republication of a link by itself can be defamatory," responded attorney Christopher O. Murray for Rosenblum. "If there was some context that made it pretty clear it was a parody or not really him," Welling pressed, "would that change the analysis?" It would, said Murray. Ultimately, the panel disagreed with Budd that Twitter users could tell the account with zero followers and zero posts was not Rosenblum. "Moreover, the lack of any surrounding content actually undermines Budds argument in this regard, as there is no added context such as the use of parody, satire, or hyperbole that would potentially put a reader on notice that neither Rosenblum nor his campaign was the speaker," Fox wrote. She added that the panel had no opinion about whether simply reposting the link could be defamatory, as Budd had done more than that by pairing the link with the fake account. At the same time, the panel agreed that Budd and the Boulder Progressives could not be liable for a conspiracy. At most, Fox elaborated, the allegations portrayed a group of people with similar political ideologies who coordinated to "oppose a candidate who they disagreed with an entirely lawful course of conduct to reach a lawful goal." The parties each spoke positively of the ruling to The Daily Camera, with Rosenblum's lawyer calling it a "very strong endorsement" of the claims against Budd. Budd said it was a "massive win for free speech and working on elections." The appellate judges also addressed a novel issue under the anti-SLAPP law, deciding a party who partially prevails on appeal can seek some amount of attorney fees. About 1 in 6 judges across Colorado this year does not have their personal financial disclosure statements on file with the Secretary of State's Office, despite a law that requires it every January, a Gazette review has found. In the worst examples, nearly two dozen judges who sit on a Colorado district or county court bench, some of them the chief judge of their judicial district, havent had a disclosure on file for several years the only way the public could know if a judge might have a conflict of interest in the cases they oversee The Gazette found. Records show that despite a yearly six-page emailed reminder to all judges by the Judicial Department to submit the reports, 56 of the states complement of 358 judges including members of the Colorado Court of Appeals did not have the disclosures on file last year or a prior one. And a handful of the judges haven't had a disclosure on file at all since being named to the bench, including two from Denvers district court who voters nevertheless retained following high marks from the judicial performance commission there. Two different district court judges each with four years of missing disclosure filings until told by The Gazette about them sit on judicial discipline commissions whose job it is to punish jurists for their misconduct. The reasons judges gave for their lapse in filing varied, according to emails several sent The Gazette in response to a request for comment or explanation. They ranged from it was an oversight and there must be some mistake to I have no excuse and Im boring! Others emailed that they would check the newspapers findings for themselves and get back to The Gazette, then did not respond again. Better than half of the judges emailed by The Gazette, however, simply did not reply at all. Following The Gazettes inquiries, at least one chief judge, Don Quick of the 17th Judicial District in Adams County, flagged judges in his jurisdiction with an email to make sure that you are in compliance with the cited statutes for filing their disclosure documents. Quick included a copy of the Judicial Departments reminder that was sent in December to all judges statewide, according to a copy of the July 27 email obtained by The Gazette. As many judges scrambled to update their filings after The Gazette told them of the shortfall, one judge made it clear that no excuse was valid. Im not sure what occurred; however, it is my responsibility to follow-up and make sure that I have complied with my obligations, 10th Judicial District Judge Thomas Flesher wrote The Gazette after he was told his 2023 filing was missing. Certainly, one of the purposes of these requirements is to ensure the integrity of the judicial system and I would never want to impact the system in a negative way. Two district court judges told The Gazette that personal problems got in their way: One's mother had fallen gravely ill, and the other had a medical problem that laid them up for weeks. Both conceded that neither was an excuse for not filing the documents at a later date. The number with unfiled disclosures is even higher when the more than four dozen senior judges jurists who have technically retired but remain on the bench in a limited capacity are added. Although still deciding cases that run from felonies to family court, nearly all havent had a disclosure on file with the secretary of state since retiring one of them more than 16 years ago, The Gazette found. Whats more, seven senior judges had already stopped filing their financial disclosures with the state long before they were even retired one of them by five years, The Gazette analysis found. The newspapers investigation lays bare a toothless law its a misdemeanor to willingly not file the disclosures with little enforcement. The Secretary of States Office says its job is merely to compile the filings and make them available for public inspection, but not to remind anyone of a failure to submit them. Similarly, the Secretary of States Office does not routinely confirm the receipt of any filing unless asked to. In at least one case that of Supreme Court Chief Justice Brian Boatright a filing from 2014 remained missing for more than nine years until The Gazette, and then Boatright, asked about it and it was later found. At least three judges County Judge Kelly Waidler of the 18th Judicial District, District Judge Mark MacDonnell, the chief judge of the 16th Judicial District, and District Judge Sharon Holbrook of the 17th Judicial District learned that although their disclosures were filed on time last year, they were sent to an incorrect email address and never officially recorded. The Secretary of State's Office said it is incumbent on the judges to check and any mistake is still in violation of the requirement to file. A fourth judge, newly minted District Judge Kim Cortez-Rodriguez in the 12th Judicial District, learned she'd been entering the wrong email address by one letter since 2018, shortly after Gov. John Hickenlooper appointed her to the county court bench there. Gov. Jared Polis gave her the district court position last year. "Your question took me surprise, as I had believed I had filed disclosure forms for all of those years," Cortez-Rodriguez told The Gazette in an email. "I discovered that a filing error on my part meant that the disclosures had not been received when I believed they had been." The state Attorney Generals Office said its responsible for prosecuting any violators, but a complaint must first be filed by the Secretary of States Office. A secretary of state spokesman said that office investigates campaign and political finance violations based on complaints. Only after receiving a complaint does the Department investigate and take action as appropriate. Colorado law requires an array of elected and appointed officials ranging from the governor to members of the Public Utilities Commission, as well as judges, to annually disclose their financial holdings at the Secretary of States Office to identify potential conflicts of interest, whether there are any material changes to that information from one year to the next or not. The filings are public and available on request. The Gazette asked for the date each judge in the state last filed a disclosure. Coloradans have a right to expect that all officials subject to the law will comply with it in a timely way, said Rep. Mike Weissman, D-Aurora, and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Its disappointing to hear of these gaps in compliance by some judicial officers and I hope that going forward judges who have missed these filing requirements will hold themselves more closely accountable to filling out the annual disclosures on time. Advocates for government accountability and transparency say the apparent lack of enforcement is a problem for a law thats been on the books for 50 years. This is something the voters of Colorado said they wanted to improve government transparency, but the enforcement aspect of it seems to be really lacking, said Jeff Roberts, executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. The point of this is to ensure these public officials and judges dont have conflicts with the cases and issues that come before them and the public knows of it. Discipline Commission judges While a majority of the judges had missing disclosures only for this year, nearly two dozen of them have multiple years of missing filings, The Gazette found. One judge, Arapahoe County District Judge Bonnie McLean of the 18th Judicial District, hasn't had a financial disclosure on file since 2019, the Secretary of States Office said. Appointed to the bench in 2014 by Hickenlooper, McLean sits on the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline, which, except for judges in Denver County courts, has jurisdiction over any district or county court judge accused of misconduct, including failing to file the disclosures. When contacted, McLean simply said her filings are currently up to date and offered no other explanation for why they had lagged for so long. The Secretary of States Office confirmed her recent filing. Another, Denver District Court Judge Jay Grant of the 2nd Judicial District, similarly had not filed any disclosure since 2019, records show. He is a member of the Denver Judicial Discipline Commission, which oversees misconduct cases involving Denver County court judges. Appointed to the bench by Hickenlooper in April 2016, Grant said he simply misunderstood the disclosure law. My understanding of the rules pertaining to the filing of financial disclosures when my financial circumstances had not changed was in error and I will be remedying the situation shortly, he wrote in an email to The Gazette. And Boulder District Court Chief Judge Ingrid Bakke best known for overseeing the ongoing murder case against accused King Soopers shooter Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa hasnt had a disclosure on file since 2016, the largest gap among active full-time jurists statewide, The Gazette found. Bakke was appointed to the bench in 2010 by Gov. Bill Ritter and named chief judge of the district in 2017. She told The Gazette she was "looking into the matter and hope to get back to you next week." She didn't. Jefferson County District Judge Todd Vriesman of the 1st Judicial District, who the secretary of state says hasnt had a disclosure on file since 2018, simply told The Gazette that there is an explanation, but offered none. Instead, he noted he was in a jury trial the next two weeks and referred the newspaper to a spokesman for the Judicial Department. Spokesman Robert McCallum told The Gazette that Vriesman instead was unaware of any issue but would research the matter following the trial. Vriesmans been on the bench since 2014. Two appellate judges Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Rebecca Freyre was sure she filed her financial disclosure for 2021 and to prove it provided The Gazette with a copy of a document dated Dec. 27, 2021 which the secretary of state said was actually filed with their office on Jan. 10, 2022, satisfying the requirement for that year. Sign up for free: News Alerts Stay in the know on the stories that affect you the most. Sign Up For Free View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. "I have reporting requirements as both a judicial officer and as a trustee on the PERA board," Freyre wrote in an email to The Gazette, noting that her role with the Public Employees' Retirement Association of Colorado also requires the annual filing. She insisted she had filed it properly. "Yes, this is my one for 2021," she emailed about the December 2021 document. "I filed it early because I knew there would be nothing to report in the final days of the year, and I was scheduled to be out of town. I didnt want it to slip through the cracks." Two days after she was contacted by The Gazette, Freyre had an email exchange with the Secretary of State's Office in which it became clear she had made no actual filing for 2021. "I cannot locate my annual filing," she told that office in the exchange, a copy of which Freyre provided to The Gazette. "So, either I neglected to file it, or I filed it and lost my copy during a computer issue I had while working from home, in which I lost everything saved to my desktop." She filed her 2021 disclosure on July 20 two years late. "Lots was happening during our COVID lockdown," she told The Gazette when asked how the filing deadline was missed. The secretary of state confirmed there was no reprieve during the pandemic from the requirement for government officials to timely file the disclosure documents. Similarly, the Secretary of State's Office said it doesn't have the 2016 and 2020 disclosure filings for Appellate Court Judge Elizabeth Harris. When contacted by The Gazette, Harris said she appreciated being told and would check for herself. "Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I thought I was in compliance but will check with the Secretary of States Office to be sure and will correct any problems if there are any." She did not return additional messages from The Gazette asking about the outcome of her inquiry. Despite the violations, both judges Harris and Freyre were named to a special tribunal of seven appellate jurists who sat in judgment of former Chief Justice Nathan "Ben" Coats over allegations of misconduct. Both signed his unprecedented public censure, the first of a Colorado Supreme Court justice. The state discipline commission would not comment about The Gazette's findings or whether it intended to begin an inquiry. The commission's work, by law, is secret. "As it always does, the Commission will review any issues or complaints according to its rules and procedures," was all Executive Director Christopher Gregory offered in an email. Senior judges different Colorado law requiring the disclosures says anyone who willfully fails to make any filing required by the statute is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. Colorado laws are straightforward, although a 2013 analysis of the level of disclosure in the 50 states found it was only one of eight to earn a passing grade barely. The Center for Public Integrity found that although Colorado requires judges to report their sources of income and financial holdings three states do not it requires no perspective or dollar amounts, only that they exceed $5,000. Colorado requires each judge to file the disclosure or a single-page form that simply says there is no change to their financial situation and the prior years disclosure still applies. The law says each justice or judge of a court of record must file the disclosures by Jan. 10. Newly appointed judges must file by the January deadline after their appointment, which does not necessarily coincide with the date they're sworn in. There is no exception in the law for the states senior judges there are currently 50 of them yet nearly all havent filed with the secretary of state since their retirement, and some for even longer. Four of the 50 actually filed a financial disclosure with the secretary of state since signing on as a senior judge, although just two of them did so this year, records show. The only specific exclusions senior judges enjoy that other judges do not, according to the Colorado Code of Judicial Conduct, is no need to abstain from serving as an arbitrator, mediator, or appointment to a fiduciary position. Yet all the senior judges instead filed disclosures with the state court administrators office because the contract each sign to take on the role requires it. When asked by The Gazette how that is, the Judicial Department would not cite any law, rule or directive that exempts the senior judges from having to file them with the secretary of state. The disclosures that senior judges file with the State Court Administrators Office are available to the public, spokesman Jon Sarche said in an email. The Judicial Department does not provide statute or rule interpretation to judges, attorneys or any other parties, unless its an interpretation by a court in a matter properly brought before the court. A former chief judge who is eligible for the senior judge program insisted they should continue to file their financial disclosures with the secretary of state "in the full interest of transparency and judicial integrity." "I don't care if you're only a senior judge for five minutes or a district judge for a whole year, the law is very clear they should be filed with the secretary of state's office," former Pueblo County Chief District Judge Dennis Maes said in an interview. "Why is anyone playing games about this? A senior judge can have the same conflict of interest as any other judge. It's disingenuous to suggest they are a different kind of judge. They're a judge, period. The public should easily know where to find these records. It's ridiculous to file them anywhere else. That's not transparency." A key difference in filing with a different office is the cost to the public in acquiring them. In one instance, The Gazette was required to pay the Judicial Department more than $53 to obtain 26 pages of disclosures filed by two senior judges the past two years. (One of them had provided the department a 2020 tax return despite indicating it was for 2022.) The same types of record requests from the secretary of state carried no expense. 'I'm boring' Most senior judges still sit on cases ranging from felonies to family court, according to a Gazette review of cases theyve handled since 2021, just like any other judge on the bench. And some treat it that way, but most don't. For example, former 3rd District County Judge Jeffrey Romeo sat on more than 70 cases in Broomfield County in 2021, records show. Despite joining the senior judge program in 2017, Romeo continued to file financial disclosure statements with the secretary of state through 2022 but doesn't have one on file this year. Romeo did not respond to a Gazette email asking why he continued to file when so many senior judges had not. Another, retired 10th Judicial District Judge Scott Epstein, has sat on more than 30 cases in Arapahoe County in 2022, records show. He last filed a disclosure with the secretary of state in 2006 before becoming a senior judge in 2007. Epstein said he cant say whether the law requires senior judges to file with the secretary of state or not. I cannot comment on interpreting the cited provision, he wrote The Gazette. I can advise that, to my knowledge, I have complied with the disclosure provisions as required. The Gazette found that seven current senior judges not only havent had a disclosure on file with the secretary of state since their retirement, theyre also missing several years of disclosures from when they were still a full-time judge before that. Former 8th Judicial District Chief Judge Stephen Howard, for example, retired in January 2021 and joined the senior judge program nine months later. But records show the last disclosure he filed with the secretary of state was in 2016. Howard initially told The Gazette in an email that hes kept no records of his filings, but I am almost certain that I completed and submitted disclosures each year. He added: I am a very boring person (I have lived in the same house since 1986) and I believe my 2017 and later annual reports simply said there were no changes from the previous year. In a subsequent email, Howard deferred: I never personally filed a single disclosure. I have always relied on administrative staff to complete any filings. I really dont know what else to say. The other six senior judges emailed by The Gazette about their missed filings while full-time judges did not respond. The Colorado Supreme Court announced this week that it will hear a pair of criminal appeals questioning whether a murder suspect was in custody at the time of her interrogation, and whether police acted constitutionally when they executed an Internet-based search warrant. At least three of the court's seven members must consent to review a case on appeal. A third case, involving the ability of school districts to block other districts from locating facilities within their boundaries, is also on the court's docket. The justices narrowly rejected another appeal implicating the constitutionality of Colorado's court filing system, in which unrepresented parties generally do not have the ability to file electronically as lawyers do. Miranda rights Rachel Ann Niemeyer and her husband, Michael Adam Freese, had been drinking alcohol in their Craig motel room. At some point, Freese suffered a gunshot to the head. According to Niemeyer, Freese had been toying with a rifle and shot himself. He later died of his injuries. Niemeyer repeatedly asked responding police to take her to the hospital to see Freese, but instead they drove her to the police station. They zip tied bags around her hands to collect gunshot residue and placed her in an interrogation room. A detective told Niemeyer she was not under arrest, but denied her request to go to the hospital. Niemeyer answered questions about what happened in the motel room and acknowledged she was unsure whether she shot Freese. The detective then read Niemeyer her Miranda rights. She invoked her constitutional right to an attorney and police placed her under arrest. A Moffat County jury subsequently convicted Niemeyer of second-degree murder. A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals found police did not violate Niemeyer's rights by allegedly placing her in custody and interrogating her without first giving a Miranda warning. A reasonable person in Niemeyer's shoes, wrote Judge John Daniel Dailey, would not have considered their freedom restricted akin to an arrest. Then-Judge David J. Richman disagreed that Niemeyer was not "in custody." "Taken together, the runaround by the police, the bagging of Niemeyers hands, and the circumstances of the interrogation," he wrote, "lead me to conclude that a reasonable person in Niemeyers position would have considered herself to be deprived of her freedom of action to the degree associated with a formal arrest before the interrogation began." The Supreme Court will analyze whether Niemeyer was in custody and should have received a Miranda warning before answering questions. The IP address Law enforcement was investigating child pornography being downloaded to a specific Internet protocol (IP) address. They obtained a warrant to search computers at the entire property, with a particular suspect in mind. Once at the home, they unexpectedly learned Kevin Matthew Dhyne also lived there in a basement apartment. They searched his computer and found sexually exploitative material involving children. A judge found him guilty. Dhyne attempted to have the computer evidence excluded from trial, alleging police violated his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The trial judge agreed, but believed police would have inevitably discovered the pornography by obtaining another warrant once they learned Dhyne lived at the property and used the IP address. The Court of Appeals upheld the search by reasoning instead that probable cause of a crime extended to "common" areas of the property, which, in this instance, was an IP address. The "search of Dhynes apartment was authorized by the warrant, notwithstanding his separate unit," wrote Judge Neeti V. Pawar. Richman wrote separately, citing cases from outside of Colorado that found a search is lawful when the "entire premises" are suspect. Dhyne appealed to the Supreme Court. The appellate decision "provides law enforcement with a 'blank check' to search anywhere and everywhere illegal activity may occur over an open IP address but having only performed the scantest of investigations regarding who the culpable party may be," wrote attorney Adam M. Tucker. The Supreme Court will review both the Court of Appeals' and the trial judge's rationales for upholding the search. Sign up for free: News Alerts Stay in the know on the stories that affect you the most. Sign Up For Free View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. A veto for school districts Under Colorado law, school districts may link up to provide certain types of programming. Those arrangements are known as boards of cooperative educational services, or BOCES. One such cooperative based around southern Colorado, known as ERBOCES, attempted to open a school aimed at students with dyslexia for the 2020-2021 school year. However, ERBOCES located the facility within the borders of Colorado Springs School District 11, which was not part of the co-op. District 11 did not consent to the new school and attempted to halt it, but an El Paso County judge ruled against the district. The Court of Appeals reversed, finding Colorado law does not provide BOCES with "unrestricted extraterritoriality" to locate facilities outside their borders. ERBOCES then turned to the Supreme Court, arguing the appeals court misunderstood the law. "Handing school districts a territorial veto will restrict educational opportunities, cast doubt upon cross-border BOCES programs, and foster needless litigation," wrote attorney Ian Speir for the libertarian Independence Institute, which supported ERBOCES. "Worse, it endows districts with a new form of unchecked authority." Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute, is a Colorado Politics columnist. The Supreme Court will evaluate whether the state constitution or statutes prevent BOCES from opening facilities in non-consenting school districts. 'Enough is enough' The Supreme Court also turned down a petition from Nina H. Kazazian, a former attorney representing herself. Kazazian filed a brief with the Court of Appeals in a case she was litigating, but on Dec. 2 the court rejected the document for failing to comply with numerous requirements and told her to refile within 14 days. Kazazian did not have access to the online filing system as a self-represented party and she reportedly did not receive the court's directive in the mail until Dec. 14. By that point, she had two days to submit a new brief. "Because e-filing is the standard for the Courts and attorneys, precluding unrepresented parties from using the e-filing system infringes on unrepresented parties' equal access to justice," Kazazian explained to the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeals ultimately denied Kazazian's motion for an extension and dismissed her appeal after she did not file a new brief in time. The court indicated it reached its decision upon reviewing Kazazian's motion "and the response." The response, filed by lawyer Michael G. Bohn, painted a detailed and disturbing portrait of Kazazian's use of the court system. Beginning with a $2,000 dispute in her divorce case, Kazazian has spent roughly a decade pursuing litigation and costing Bohn's clients hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees. An attorney discipline case against Kazazian accused her of filing frivolous legal actions, inappropriately contacting Bohn's clients and attempting to pocket a payment she was ordered to turn over to the opposing party. Earlier this year, the presiding disciplinary judge disbarred Kazazian for her dishonesty. Bohn also pointed out that Kazazian's multiple cases in the Court of Appeals followed a similar pattern of filing non-compliant documents, receiving orders to clean up the briefs, and citing a multitude of reasons for needing the court to work around her schedule for example, because she was going on a camping trip. In other words, Bohn contended, Kazazian was manipulating the court. "Enough is enough," he wrote. Justices William W. Hood III and Melissa Hart indicated they would have reviewed the Court of Appeals' dismissal of Kazazian's case and refusal to extend the deadline for filing a brief. Specifically, they wanted to address whether a constitutional violation occurs when self-represented parties cannot access the e-filing system and, consequently, do not have "equal access to the state judiciary." Currently, the Supreme Court is weighing a request from Bohn and others to bar Kazazian from ever filing a case on her own behalf again. A state law proponents say will provide more transparency in ballot measures that raise or lower taxes has earned a legal challenge in Denver District Court. Advance Colorado Institute filed the lawsuit Monday against House Bill 21-1321, which added requirements to the language in a ballot measure's title. The conservative group claims the measure is violating people's First Amendment rights. Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown, R-Denver, Logan County Commissioner Jerry Sonnenberg, Mesa County Commissioner Cody Davis, El Paso County Commissioner Carrie Geitner, and Englewood City Councilman Steven Ward. The plaintiffs are represented by former U.S. Attorney Troy Eid. HB 1321 required measures that reduce state tax revenue through a tax change to include specific language, spelled out in the law: "Shall there be a reduction to [a tax] by [a percentage], thereby reducing state revenue." The ballot title could identify up to the three largest program expenditures that would be affected by the change. Similar language is required for measures that deal with property taxes. The lawsuit, which names Gov. Jared Polis and Secretary of State Jena Griswold as defendants, refers to the change as "poison pill language" that violates the plaintiffs First Amendment right to present their message undiluted by views they [do] not share. That's a quote from the 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis case recently decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Information about fiscal impacts from ballot measures began with the General Assembly's Blue Book in 2001, as a result of Senate Bill 01-025. Legislation in 2015 required fiscal impact statements for ballot measures working their way through the process. In 2020, the law added fiscal impact statements when circulating ballot measures. That information has been produced by the nonpartisan Legislative Council staff. But the title of a ballot measure, particularly one that would affect taxes, hasn't been touched until HB 1321. The bill passed through the General Assembly with little challenge. No one from the public testified against the measure in either of its major committee hearings. Sign up for free: News Alerts Stay in the know on the stories that affect you the most. Sign Up For Free View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. Christy Hargrove, a Republican from Gunnison, spoke in favor of the measure in May 2021. This would give voters the full picture when they cast their ballots, Hargrove told the House State, Civic, Military & Veterans Affairs Committee. She said the Blue Book, a voter guide produced by the General Assembly, only gives a partial picture of what citizens are voting on. "Voters don't have staff" who can work through the fiscal policy statements, where the money comes from or where it goes, Hargrove added. "We don't have hours to focus on the Blue Book. The ballot should give voters the full picture. ... We are the ultimate policymakers and should be trusted as such," she said. The bill, sponsored by Democrats, won passage in both chambers largely along party lines. Republicans challenged the bill as unnecessary and the language as biased. The Advance Colorado Institute lawsuit claims the language from HB 1321 is "state-mandated language in the ballot title for citizen-initiated ballot measures that cut taxes." In a statement Monday, Advance President Michael Fields said because of HB 1321, "every measure must say that it 'will reduce funding for state expenditures that include but are not limited to education, health care policy and financing, and higher education,'" regardless of the facts. "The requirement to include this language on citizen-initiated ballot measures represents a clear example of unconstitutional compelled speech, and even worse, it requires compelled false speech," Fields said. "The language must be used even when there is no guarantee that a reduction in tax rates 'will reduce funding' for any particular state program. Even worse, it is required even when it is provably and mathematically false. With Initiatives 21 and 22, Advance Colorado has experienced this firsthand, when the state-mandated language was required to be part of the title in an initiative it submitted to the title board." Those two initiatives are currently being circulated for petition signatures for the 2024 general election. Ward is a proponent on both. Initiative 21 would limit annual property tax increases to 3%, unless the square footage is increased by 10% or the building's use is substantially changed. Initiative 22 would temporarily reduce the state sales and use tax rate from 2.9% to 2.89%, from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025. The initiative's fiscal analysis from Legislative Council said it would have no measurable impact on state revenue for expenditures but would likely reduce TABOR refunds. We filed this lawsuit because the state is violating the First Amendment by mandating untrue language on the ballot," Fields said. Politicians at the Capitol have unconstitutionally stacked the deck against citizen-driven ballot initiatives that reduce taxes, and Advance Colorado is suing to ensure that ballot initiatives generated by citizens are described accurately on the ballot and not subject to compelled speech or government-enforced lies. Four days after one of Gov. Jared Polis' appointees to the state veterinary board resigned, a contractor hired to look at her furnace contacted the Colorado Humane Society to report he would not step into the house again because of the smell and horrible conditions. The report said the home in the Ken Caryl residential community area was full of trash, with a "river of urine" running into a drain in the basement where 13 birds were kept. The Humane Society contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and on March 9, deputies cited Ellen Kessler on 13 counts of animal cruelty. Kessler pleaded guilty last September to one charge of misdemeanor animal cruelty. She received a deferred sentence, and was assessed fines of $1,413.50. Thats on top of impound fees of $515, plus attorneys fees, veterinarian costs and the cost to clean up her home. Polis' office declined to comment on the record. Kessler, an animal-rights activist, was appointed to the state veterinary board in June 2020. Her appointment almost immediately generated controversy because of derogatory statements she made, primarily on Facebook, about farmers and ranchers. In one post a month after her appointment, she said that 4-H clubs dont teach children that animal lives matter. She reposted a story in August 2020, also on Facebook, that alleged dairy farmers sexually abuse their cows, probably referring to artificial insemination, a routine practice in the industry for at least 60 years. On Jan. 22, 2022, she called ranchers "lazy" and "nasty," responding to a Facebook post by Marlon Reis, Polis' husband and a friend of Kessler's. She resigned from the vet board two days later. Records show she stepped down to shield Polis from blowback from her remarks about the agriculture industry. While she apologized to the governor, she doubled down on her comments about ranchers. When sheriffs deputies showed up at Kesslers home after the furnace company visit, she admitted to them she was a hoarder who doesnt allow people into her home unless she needs work done. She claimed the company called in the complaint based on a review she had written of their work. Sign up for free: News Alerts Stay in the know on the stories that affect you the most. Sign Up For Free View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. One deputy reported he had to step over trash bags and clutter just to get into the house. The court records included 11 photos of conditions in the home. The initial cost for bonding was estimated at $7,000. Of the 13 birds, all doves and cockatiels, one died the night before they were removed by the sheriffs office. Another had to be euthanized upon arrival at a veterinarians office. Kessler said the lack of vet care was due to her vet cutting back hours and COVID. The sheriffs office also talked to the Gabriel Foundation, a parrot sanctuary and welfare organization in Elizabeth. They told the sheriff that Kessler had been blacklisted by the organization. Kessler signed over 11 birds, but was allowed to keep one. In an interview on March 14, Kessler told a sheriffs deputy she sits in on meetings of the Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act Board and will soon be helping with the governors campaign, so she will be busy and having something to focus on now that she has no birds and it is so quiet. Kessler bought the Littleton home in 1989. Assessor records show she still owns it. Residents who opposed a new affordable apartment complex planned for Colorado Springs' west side told the City Council on Tuesday the lot would best be left vacant because of the potential for landslides at the site. "This is the reality of this site. These are mitigating circumstances. Sometimes the best way to mitigate a landslide is to avoid it. That is, don't build here," said Scott Hiller, the chief of geosciences for a national engineering firm. He was one of 24 appellants who hoped to overturn city planning staff's administrative approval of the project. Following more than seven hours of discussion by city planners, city engineers, developers and residents, the council decided Tuesday night the 50-unit Launchpad Apartments planned to provide "permanent supportive housing" for homeless young adults can be built. The board voted 6-3, with Councilmembers Lynette Crow-Iverson, Dave Donelson and Mike O'Malley opposed, to build the apartments north of the intersection of West Uintah and North 19th streets. The development, to be built on a 1.37-acre vacant lot, is designed to house and support homeless young adults ages 18 through their mid-20s, city staff, developers and proponents said. The risk for landslides was a focal point of residents' appeal on Tuesday. Hiller told the City Council he believed a geological hazards report for the project site prepared by CTL Thompson, an engineering consultant for developer Cohen Esrey, was incomplete and did not accurately reflect the possibility for landslides on the steep west side of the property. Expansive soils have already caused land movement for neighbors living on the ridge above, Hiller and other residents said. "This proposed massive building structure at the foot of my neighborhood is high-risk for destabilizing the whole street of Columbine (Avenue) as it is built into the hillside directly above this site," said resident Catherine Gilsey. "The property in which I reside is already shifting and heaving, as is the property of many of my neighbors along Columbine Avenue." Hiller requested the City Council ask the Colorado Geological Survey to independently review CTL Thompson's report, assess what may be missing from it and provide suggestions for mitigation. The report notes and makes recommendations to address "a potential unstable slope" on the property's west end, existing fill and expansive soils that could damage foundations and exterior improvements there. Bill Hoffmann, a senior consultant for CTL Thompson who helped establish the company's Colorado Springs office in 1983, said developers revised original plans to address the possible hazards, including building a "robust" retaining wall and pushing the four-story building back into the northeast corner of the property to avoid the slope. Landscaping and other control measures will address potential erosion, developer representatives said. "CTL Thompson did a rather thorough investigation of slope stability and the potential for damage. The mitigation procedures outlined in the report are standard. They have been used for decades here and have been very effective," Hoffmann said, adding that the city's geotechnical engineers who review geological hazards reports are qualified to do so. "The Colorado Geological Survey are geologists. They're not engineers. The challenge with this site is engineering ... that's not in CGS's purview," he said. Tyra Sandy, a city engineer who told the council she was "by definition" a professional geologist and holds a credential in geotechnical engineering, said the geological hazards report "met the (city's) criteria." The council could request its third-party review by the Colorado Geological Survey, she said, but the authority to approve or reject the report lies with the city's engineering department. A LinkedIn profile believed to be Sandy's shows she worked as a geotechnical engineer for CTL Thompson in Denver from April 2005 to December 2008. Before voting against the project, Councilman Dave Donelson made a motion to have the state review the document because of the conflicting testimony experts presented Tuesday and reports from neighbors about ground movement on their properties. Sign up for free: News Alerts Stay in the know on the stories that affect you the most. Sign Up For Free View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. "Our first responsibility really is safety," he said. Donelson's motion failed 3-6; he, Crow-Iverson and O'Malley voted in favor. Other councilmembers who did not support the state's review said they did not want to further delay the project, which has undergone the city's review since January. Developers and proponents said the project was the first of its kind in El Paso County, offering permanent housing and programs to young people who are exiting homelessness. Programs at The Launchpad would be operated by The Place, a nonprofit that operates the only shelter for homeless teens in Colorado Springs. They include education and employment assistance, activities like mindfulness and yoga classes, and mental health treatment from Peak Vista Community Centers. "Homelessness is a surmountable problem, but it takes projects like The Launchpad. It takes supportive services and a safe place to live, both of those. It also takes, for the young people we'll be working with at The Launchpad, a really well-designed home," Shawna Kemppainen, executive director of The Place, told the council. The building will be staffed 24/7 and will provide stability for its residents, proponents said. "I've also witnessed the barriers that kids and young adults in situations like mine have had to face, barriers that without adequate housing are insurmountable," said EmRhys Jenkins, who has been receiving services from The Place for the last year. "... But so many of us at The Place are proof that 'housing first' support is life-changing and community-strengthening. We can't build a healthy and stable community or life on an unstable foundation." Those opposed to the project generally said they weren't protesting The Place's mission or the programs and services The Launchpad will provide. They said the apartment building wasn't "the right" fit for the proposed location, and city staff should not have administratively approved the project because it does not conform to various adopted city plans guiding development in the project area. The building's proposed 45-foot height and density of 36 dwelling units per acre don't conform to various adopted city plans guiding development at this location, they said, including Colorado Springs' comprehensive plan known as PlanCOS and the Westside Plan, the area master plan for development across 2,900 acres on the city's west side. Andrea Barlow with developer consultant N.E.S. Inc. said Tuesday the property's current zoning allows the developer to build up to 45 feet with a density of up to 58 units per acre. City code states "the more stringent requirement, regulation, restriction or land use limitation shall apply" when there is a conflict between zoning codes, the definition of zone districts or other provisions of the city code, law or policy, Hiller said. The Westside Plan is an "outdated" advisory plan that guides development, but it is not city policy or code, Barlow said. Construction on The Launchpad will begin this fall and its first residents are expected to move in by November 2024, according to The Place's website. Photo: Castanet Dry conditions at Kamloops' Peterson Creek Park. This level of extreme drought has never been seen in this province before. After a brief reprieve over the past few days, temperatures are forecast to once again spike across B.C., which is expected to exacerbate the province's already unprecedented drought. During a press conference Thursday morning, Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Bowinn Ma warned British Columbians about the incoming heat wave, which is expected to last through all of next week. In the Okanagan, temperatures are forecast to hit the low 30s this weekend, before rising to 35 C by Wednesday. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the incoming heat wave is not expected to be as extreme as the temperatures the province saw during the 2021 heat dome, but she said it could be the first prolonged period of significant heat many British Columbians have seen this summer. What makes this event a little concerning is the length of time that it's likely to go on ... that means that we get that accumulated stress of heat over time, Dr. Henry said. We see [deaths from heat] every year, and often it's because we underestimate the impacts that heat can have on our bodies until it's too late. Ma said extreme heat wasn't really thought of as possible cause of death in Canada until the 2021 heat dome in late June and early July of that year, when 619 British Columbians died due to the spike in temperature. Ma noted that a changing global climate has increased the risks that British Columbians face. July was the hottest month ever recorded on the planet. B.C.'s incoming heat wave comes amidst the unprecedented drought the province is currently facing. Ma said 28 of B.C.'s 34 water basins are currently under Level 4 or 5 drought, which means adverse impacts are likely or almost certain." The Okanagan, Nicola, Similkameen and Kettle water basins are currently under Level 4 drought conditions, while the North and South Thompson basins are at Level 5 drought. Ma noted that in 2021, which was considered a historic drought year in B.C., just one single water basin entered Level 5 drought conditions in late-September. This is quite unprecedented, it's a type of hazard that B.C. has not experienced at this extreme level before, Ma said. Understanding the medium- and long-term impacts is part of the work that we're doing right now, but we are largely building the ship as we are sailing it. Last week, the City of Vancouver put Stage 2 watering restrictions in place for the first time since 2015. This prohibits the watering of all lawns in the city, among other restrictions. Ma said the government is working on plans to possibly direct water from healthier water basins to drier regions if the drought persists, but she added they are not at that point yet. The coming heat is also expected to exacerbate wildfire conditions in the province. There are currently 399 wildfires burning across the province, including 11 wildfires of note. There are about 4,000 firefighters working on blazes across B.C., and fire crews from the U.S., Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica and Ontario are assisting in the province. Minister of Forests Bruce Ralston said the cooler weather over the past few days has helped fire crews make progress on wildfires and some fires have even received some welcome rain. Cliff Chapman of the BC Wildfire Service said the fire near Adams Lake moved closer to structures earlier this week, but fire crews in the area have been able to successfully protect all homes there so far. While some El Paso County commissioners and residents have clashed in recent weeks over the definition of proper racial minority representation, a coalition of local chapters of national civil rights groups recently stepped into the redistricting process with claims of racial discrimination that one commissioner calls "insulting." In a letter penned July 31 to the El Paso County Redistricting Commission, several groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and NAACP of Colorado Springs, state that current county commissioner districts uphold a continuing legacy of racial exclusion in that its members consistently fail to reflect their Black and Brown constituents despite the fact that people of color currently make up 34% of the countys population up from 23% in 2000 according to the most recent U.S. Census redistricting data. The letter, whose signatories also include the Latina Equity Foundation, Colorado Latinos Vote, Citizens Project, League of Women Voters of the Pikes Peak Region and Rocky Mountain NAACP, urges the current five members of the county Board of Commissioners who tasked themselves in April with redrawing their voter districts for the first time since 2017 to design districts that will ensure this rich diversity is reflected on the board. Commissioner Longinos Gonzalez, a Hispanic man, said the claims are offensive to himself and to Ed Jones and Darryl Glenn, two Black former commissioners who served from 1995 to 2003 and 2011 to 2019, respectively. All three men are Republicans. When I first came onto this board (in 2017) ... 40% of the (board) was represented by minorities, Gonzalez told The Gazette. I still remain on this board as a representative of the Hispanic and minority community. What they meant is that they want Democrats, but they dont want to put that on paper ... (that is) unfortunately insulting to people of color like me, he added. What they meant is that we dont count. Taylor Pendergrass, ACLU of Colorados director of advocacy, said there is a conceptual difference between Gonzalezs and the letters definition of what minority representation looks like. Historically, voter precincts in southeast Colorado Springs have been split between three commissioner districts a move called cracking that residents have said effectively dilutes the minority and Democrat vote given that a Democrat has not sat on the board since Stan Johnson's election in 1970. Pendergrass said that dilution has made it impossible for minority voters to elect their preferred candidate in the past, and while people of color have sat on the county commissioner board, they were not widely supported by minority voters in their district. Citing data from a racially polarized voting analysis performed by the coalition behind the letter, Pendergrass said that while Gonzalez is Hispanic, only 17 to 27% of non-White voters selected Gonzalez in the 2020 commissioner election, compared to 88%-98% of White voters. (Jones, Glenns and Gonzalezs) representation and the barriers that they broke as people of color in those positions should not be undervalued, Pendergrass said. (But) Gonzales, (partly) because of the way that districts are drawn, did not capture a majority of the minority vote in El Paso County. The letter states that El Paso Countys current districts may violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits election systems from denying any American citizen the right to vote on account of race or color and from giving racial minorities less opportunity than other members of the electorate to ... elect representatives of their choice. Sign up for free: News Alerts Stay in the know on the stories that affect you the most. Sign Up For Free View all of our newsletters. Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. View all of our newsletters. The coalition also said that because El Paso Countys minority population is sufficiently large and geographically compact to create a potential majority if consolidated into one district and tends to vote in a political bloc (in this case, Democrat), and because its majority White voters are also politically cohesive and "tend to defeat the minority's proposed candidate," the county meets all three pre-conditions for a VRA violation. According to U.S. Census data, the county's Black and Hispanic population is heavily concentrated in southeast Colorado Springs south to Fountain and Security-Widefield. Pendergrass disputed the claim that the coalition is specifically seeking Democratic control of a district in El Paso County. If you were to draw districts where minorities were included in a way that allowed them to exercise their preference for a candidate, and the candidate they chose to represent them was a Republican, or a Green Party member, or a Democratic Socialist or a Democrat, all of that would satisfy the Voting Rights Act. Pendergrass said the organization does not comment on potential litigation and could not confirm whether it would take legal action against the county if it believed a finalized map did not satisfy the VRA. During the redistricting process, residents have requested that commissioners consolidate into one district southeast Colorado Springs, defined as a region of roughly 30 precincts west and northwest of the Colorado Springs Airport that each have a minority population of 45% or greater. In recent weeks, commissioners enacted guidelines that could create a potentially left-leaning district by eliminating any previously created maps that split the area between districts and blocked from future consideration any new maps that did not keep the southeast intact. On Tuesday, commissioners honed in on three finalist maps that all keep the 28 southeast precincts together, but split Monument into northern District 1 and into District 3, which also incorporates Manitou Springs and Old Colorado City. Mike Williams, executive director of Citizens Project, one of the letters signatories, said that while the southeast may be kept intact, joining part of Monument and the southwest portion of the county in one district will make District 3 less politically competitive. It reemphasizes stuff in the letter, Williams said. The redistricting commission will hold a final meeting at 1 p.m. on Aug. 15, when it is set to select a final map. While Tuesday was the last day for the public to address commissioners in person, residents have until 11:59 p.m. on Friday to submit public feedback on the finalist maps to the county's redistricting portal. Photo: The Canadian Press Lori Anne Salem, Assistant Vice Provost and Director of the Student Success Center, hosts a faculty teaching circle on artificial intelligence on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, at Temple University in Philadelphia. Educators say they want to embrace the technologys potential to teach and learn in new ways, but when it comes to assessing students, they see a need to ChatGPT-proof test questions and assignments. (AP Photo/Joe Lamberti) When philosophy professor Darren Hick came across another case of cheating in his classroom at Furman University last semester, he posted an update to his followers on social media: Aaaaand, Ive caught my second ChatGPT plagiarist. Friends and colleagues responded, some with wide-eyed emojis. Others expressed surprise. Only 2?! Ive caught dozens, said Timothy Main, a writing professor at Conestoga College in Canada. Were in full-on crisis mode. Practically overnight, ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots have become the go-to source for cheating in college. Now, educators are rethinking how theyll teach courses this fall from Writing 101 to computer science. Educators say they want to embrace the technologys potential to teach and learn in new ways, but when it comes to assessing students, they see a need to ChatGPT-proof test questions and assignments. For some instructors that means a return to paper exams, after years of digital-only tests. Some professors will be requiring students to show editing history and drafts to prove their thought process. Other instructors are less concerned. Some students have always found ways to cheat, they say, and this is just the latest option. An explosion of AI-generated chatbots including ChatGPT, which launched in November, has raised new questions for academics dedicated to making sure that students not only can get the right answer, but also understand how to do the work. Educators say there is agreement at least on some of the most pressing challenges. Are AI detectors reliable? Not yet, says Stephanie Laggini Fiore, associate vice provost at Temple University. This summer, Fiore was part of a team at Temple that tested the detector used by Turnitin, a popular plagiarism detection service, and found it to be incredibly inaccurate. It worked best at confirming human work, she said, but was spotty in identifying chatbot-generated text and least reliable with hybrid work. Will students get falsely accused of using artificial intelligence platforms to cheat? Absolutely. In one case last semester, a Texas A&M professor wrongly accused an entire class of using ChatGPT on final assignments. Most of the class was subsequently exonerated. So, how can educators be certain if a student has used an AI-powered chatbot dishonestly? Its nearly impossible unless a student confesses, as both of Hicks students did. Unlike old-school plagiarism where text matches the source it is lifted from, AI-generated text is unique each time. In some cases, the cheating is obvious, says Main, the writing professor, who has had students turn in assignments that were clearly cut-and-paste jobs. I had answers come in that said, I am just an AI language model, I dont have an opinion on that, he said. In his first-year required writing class last semester, Main logged 57 academic integrity issues, an explosion of academic dishonesty compared to about eight cases in each of the two prior semesters. AI cheating accounted for about half of them. This fall, Main and colleagues are overhauling the schools required freshman writing course. Writing assignments will be more personalized to encourage students to write about their own experiences, opinions and perspectives. All assignments and the course syllabi will have strict rules forbidding the use of artificial intelligence. College administrators have been encouraging instructors to make the ground rules clear. Many institutions are leaving the decision to use chatbots or not in the classroom to instructors, said Hiroano Okahana, the head of the Education Futures Lab at the American Council on Education. At Michigan State University, faculty are being given a small library of statements to choose from and modify as they see fit on syllabi, said Bill Hart-Davidson, associate dean in MSUs College of Arts and Letters who is leading AI workshops for faculty to help shape new assignments and policy. Asking students questions like, Tell me in three sentences what is the Krebs cycle in chemistry? Thats not going to work anymore, because ChatGPT will spit out a perfectly fine answer to that question, said Hart-Davidson, who suggests asking questions differently. For example, give a description that has errors and ask students to point them out. Evidence is piling up that chatbots have changed study habits and how students seek information. Chegg Inc., an online company that offers homework help and has been cited in numerous cheating cases, saw its shares tumble nearly 50% in a single day in May after its CEO Dan Rosensweig warned ChatGPT was hurting its growth. He said students who normally pay for Cheggs service were now using ChatGPTs AI platform for free instead. At Temple this spring, the use of research tools like library databases declined notably following the emergence of chatbots, said Joe Lucia, the university's dean of libraries. It seemed like students were seeing this as a quick way of finding information that didnt require the effort or time that it takes to go to a dedicated resource and work with it, he said. Shortcuts like that are a concern partly because chatbots are prone to making things up, a glitch known as hallucination. Developers say they are working to make their platforms more reliable but its unclear when or if that will happen. Educators also worry about what students lose by skipping steps. There is going to be a big shift back to paper-based tests, said Bonnie MacKellar, a computer science professor at St. Johns University in New York City. The discipline already had a massive plagiarism problem with students borrowing computer code from friends or cribbing it from the internet, said MacKellar. She worries intro-level students taking AI shortcuts are cheating themselves out of skills needed for upper-level classes. I hear colleagues in humanities courses saying the same thing: Its back to the blue books, MacKellar said. In addition to requiring students in her intro courses to handwrite their code, the paper exams will count for a higher percentage of the grade this fall, she said. Ronan Takizawa, a sophomore at Colorado College, has never heard of a blue book. As a computer science major, that feels to him like going backward, but he agrees it would force students to learn the material. Most students arent disciplined enough to not use ChatGPT, he said. Paper exams would really force you to understand and learn the concepts. Takizawa said students are at times confused about when its OK to use AI and when its cheating. Using ChatGPT to help with certain homework like summarizing reading seems no different from going to YouTube or other sites that students have used for years, he said. Other students say the arrival of ChatGPT has made them paranoid about being accused of cheating when they havent. Arizona State University sophomore Nathan LeVang says he doublechecks all assignments now by running them through an AI detector. For one 2,000-word essay, the detector flagged certain paragraphs as 22% written by a human, with mostly AI voicing. I was like, That is definitely not true because I just sat here and wrote it word for word, LeVang said. But he rewrote those paragraphs anyway. If it takes me 10 minutes after I write my essay to make sure everything checks out, thats fine. Its extra work, but I think thats the reality we live in. Chinese authorities stress rescue and relief efforts Xinhua) 08:05, August 10, 2023 BEIJING, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese flood control authorities discussed the current rain, floods, geological disaster situation, and the trend of Typhoon Khanun, the sixth typhoon of this year, according to a consultation meeting on Wednesday. The meeting was held by the office of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management, joined by the China Meteorological Administration, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and provincial-level flood control offices. Water levels surpassed the alert line in parts of the Haihe and the Songhua rivers, the meeting said, adding that Typhoon Khanun may affect northeast China and bring strong wind and rain. The meeting called for intensifying search and rescue operations for missing individuals, facilitating the relocation of flood-affected residents in advance, and preventing potential secondary disasters. The Ministry of Emergency Management dispatched a professional flood drainage team of 210 people, carrying 111 sets of flood drainage vehicles and equipment Wednesday. China has maintained a level-II emergency response in Tianjin and a level-III response in Beijing, Hebei, Jilin, and Heilongjiang. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) What we are going to do is go for a walk. JeeYeun Lee, artist, activist, creator of social-justice-minded walking tours along Lake Michigan, stood in front of the Museum of Contemporary Art holding a microphone. Its cord curled over the concrete and ended at a small portable speaker at her feet. She waved a pamphlet. Everyone should have one of these, she said. If you look at the map on the cover, thats from 1902. It showed where the shoreline of Lake Michigan used to be. It used to be where Lee stood now. She pointed east. Everything between here to the lake is actually landfill, she said. Several of the three dozen or so people seated on the MCA stairs nodded. Yes, theyd heard this was all landfill. Thats part of the narrative Chicago likes to tell about itself: After the Great Fire of 1871, there was so much debris clogging the streets, the city, in a fit of cleverness, used its rubble to expand its lakefront. JeeYeun Lee led a roughly 4-mile tour along the lakefront from Berger Park in Edgewater to Belmont Harbor in Lakeview on June 10, 2023. Lee recently debuted the Shore Land project which examines the landfill along the citys lakefront and its complicated history of becoming public park space on indigenous land. (Lou Foglia/for the Chicago Tribune) Over time, she went on, white settlers found that extended land to be the most valuable part of the city. Streeterville, Soldier Field, Grant Park, the Field Museum it was all built atop landfill. More nods. So ever since, she said, thereve been fights over who gets to control the lakefront. Smirks now everyone knows Chicago politics ... Thats when Lee threw a curveball: But did they know that part of what made its growth and wealth possible was that Chicago ignored treaty claims of Native Americans who lived on its shoreline? Did they know the Pokagon Band of the Potawatomi argued any treaties it signed referred to the original Lake Michigan shoreline as the boundary of ceded land, and, as many Potawatomi still contend, Chicago had no right to land it added beyond that initial shoreline? There were no nods now. Indeed, in 1914, the Potawatomi sued the city over that extended shoreline, a case that made it as far as the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided the tribe had no right to land it had abandoned. A strange decision, considering the Potawatomi, like other Native tribes, were forced into treaties. OK, Lee said brightly, to the suddenly still audience, the walk they were about to do is a work in progress. It lasts about an hour. By the end of this month, when Lee leads her final walk of the summer, the hike will take at least three hours and cover six miles, moving south out of Jackson Park to Steelworkers Park, near 87th Street. But at the MCA, she intended a brief, mournful jaunt: Were going to walk around the corner, down Chicago Avenue, there will be stairs to under the overpass at Lake Shore Drive, we come out beside the water, then return. She nodded at her phone: The main part is the audio track. Artist, writer and activist JeeYeun Lee leads an audio tour along the Lakefront Trail on June 10, 2023, in Chicago. (Lou Foglia/for the Chicago Tribune) The crowd pushed in earbuds and strapped on headphones and began to walk. The audio was an alternate story of Chicago. Not of underground speakeasies and aldermanic hubris set to the usual gallop of Sweet Home Chicago, but a story of broken treaties with Indigenous people and snippets of Indigenous songs, interviews with elders, nature sounds, readings of legislation, everything flowing in and out, overlapping peacefully, occasionally interrupted by the drifting thump-thump of music blasting from powerboats anchored in the Playpen off DuSable Lake Shore Drive. When Lee looks at this lakefront, she explained to me later, she sees so much as a kind of byproduct of the citys original sin taking the lakefront for itself and paying no heed to those lived there before. When we emerged from the tunnel beneath Lake Shore and stepped across bike lanes, riders slowed and screamed: What the hell? and What the (expletive)! and Bike lane, you idiots! There was no question of who dominates the lakefront there. A couple of years ago, when Lee led a three-hour walk along Michigan Avenue that left a long, thin line of red sand behind her as she walked 2,000 pounds of red sand, spilling out of a wheelbarrow. It was a way of delineating unceded territory (everything east of Michigan Avenue) from legitimate Chicago (everything west of Michigan Avenue). The bureaucracy to do that, leave a line of sand! she recalled. It kind of reflected everything I know about who claims to control the land and what you can do with land. A participant queues up audio created by Chicago artist, writer and activist JeeYeun Lee before a roughly 4-mile tour along the Lakefront Trail on June 10, 2023, in Chicago. (Lou Foglia/for the Chicago Tribune) Her projects, which are part history, part performance art, part activism, are intended to raise unsettling questions about who is entitled to the lakefront and what is meant by public land. And, why do these questions rarely come up? Shore Land, the title of the walks she has been giving this summer (as part of the Navigations series from the Roman Susan Art Foundation near Loyola University), is described by Lee as an audio walk that contemplates the lakefront as a liminal space between land and water, simultaneously a public good, a treaty violation and strategy to suppress insurgence. (She likes to note that though Daniel Burnhams Plan of Chicago is hailed as visionary, the creation of green spaces also was meant to quell growing anger over labor conditions.) Partly, however, Shore Land also raises questions about who gets to tell the story of Native Americans. Lee, 52, was born in South Korea and her family moved here when she was 9. A lot of Native folks I reached out to about these projects have been wary, she said. They have had experience with non-Native people wanting to extract information and time and their thinking, in a one-sided transactional way. So Ive tried my best to stick around and be as sincere as I can. The Potawatomi tribal council itself has asked her to include a note in all the materials associated with a previous project that her work has no official association with the tribe. But shes also had support from many Potawatomi. John Low, a former Chicagoan and an associate professor at Ohio State University who teaches Native American studies, was partly the inspiration. Lee first read about the tribes 1914 lawsuit in a book by Low. He said, She made sure I got lots of credit for Whose Lakefront (the 2019 Michigan Avenue walk), though credit is not really the point here, is it? Low, a citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, remembers being upset in a Ph.D. program when he wanted to write his dissertation about Simon Pokagon, an early writer and activist, and learned two other students, neither Native, had already claimed him. I got upset, he said. I am Pokagon, but isnt the whole point of scholarship to inspire? Frankly, the more people who talk about Indigenous claims to Chicago lakefront why not? I dont feel infringed. I want this story alive. Billie Warren, a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, led a discussion with attendees before Lees 4-mile audio tour along Chicagos lakefront on June 10, 2023. (Lou Foglia/for the Chicago Tribune) Madolyn Wesaw, an activist and Potawatomi citizen who lives in Michigan, was just as much a part of that first Shore Land walk as Lee, standing and speaking alongside the artist. Wesaw said at the event that Lee is doing meaningful work that doesnt center the oppressors of the story. But erasure was on her mind, and a lot of time when Indigenous people speak about this to white folks, we hear you cant blame people for the sins of their grandfathers ... People ask me: What am I supposed to do? Do you want to kick all white people out? Thats not the goal. But you can go home and learn about us, and when we speak to you about these things, you can believe us. We know what is best for our people and we know our history and it should be Indigenous people telling them with the assistance of allies. Lee told me that her motivation for the walks partly stems from being Korean and being raised in a nation not formally colonized (by the U.S.) but under the sphere of U.S. military imperialism. Occupation is on her mind. So I feel sympathetic about what happened and continues to happen on this continent. I see my role as someone who understands a bit about what it is like to be colonized. Her father was a diplomat and when her family moved to Chicago, they settled in Budlong Woods; then later Winnetka, where Lee attended New Trier Township High School. She said she never learned, at New Trier or earlier in Chicago Public Schools, about Potawatomi. She studied linguistics at Stanford University, ethnic studies at the University of California Berkeley and fiber arts at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, near Detroit. While in Michigan, she began a set of 25-mile solo walks, starting in Detroit and moving outward, reflecting on changes in population, ethnicity, opportunity. After she moved back to Chicago, she started a similar project, 100 Miles in Chicagoland, a series of 20-mile walks tracing the trails once created by native people. She wore traditional Korean dress, pointedly made of denim, an American fabric with the history of slavery in cotton and indigo. Mostly, unless asked, you would not know what she was doing. Few people have ever asked her what she was doing, she said. But its also not activism in the traditional way, organizing people to have a direct impact. But then, a lot of things contribute to the way we can change a society. A lot of it are the stories we have in our minds about the world and why the world is the way it is and who gets to do what. Chicago doesnt think about the fact we are occupying land of people who lived here. My project isnt, Give back land. I see it as a progression of knowledge. Art and activism social practice art, whatever you want to call it contributes to changing all this, even in a small way. The final Shore Land walking tour is Aug. 27 from 63rd Street Beach; more information at jeeyeunlee.com cborrelli@chicagotribune.com The trial of the Davenport man accused of kidnapping and and murdering Breasia Terrell will start Thursday in Scott County. Henry Earl Dinkins waived his right to a jury trial Tuesday, opting to have his case heard in front of judge. The trial is slated to start at 9 a.m. Thursday. The trial was moved from Scott County to the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids after the Iowa Supreme Court granted a change of venue April 22, 2022. Jury selection began Tuesday, but jurors were sent home when Dinkins' attorneys announced his decision. Scott County Attorney Kelly Cunningham leads the prosecution, while Dinkins is represented by Chad Frese and Joel Waters. District Court Judge Henry Latham ruled Tuesday that Dinkins' trial can be held in Scott County since he will not face a jury. The prosecution and the defense offered no objection to the move. Breasia was 10 years old when she was reported missing July 10, 2020, after spending the night with her younger brother at the apartment of his father, Dinkins. Dinkins immediately became a person of interest in Breasias disappearance. On March 22, 2021, two fishermen found human remains in a nearly hidden pond three miles north of DeWitt. The next day, investigators from the Division of Criminal Investigation finished removing the remains from the pond. Davenport Police Chief Paul Sikorski confirmed on March 31, 2021, the remains were those of Breasia Terrell. Dinkins was charged with Breasia's murder on May 5, 2021. Then-Scott County Attorney Mike Walton announced the charges during a news conference at the Davenport Police Department. Dinkins has been in one jail or another since July 10, 2020. First arrested for violations of the sex offender registry, Dinkins was held in the Scott County Jail before being moved to the Clinton County Jail. On April 12, 2022, he was moved to Marshall County Jail to be closer to his attorney. On Oct. 7, 2022, Latham granted a request to delay the trial filed by Dinkins attorney, Chad Frese, in order to allow them adequate time to prepare. On Dec. 9, 2022, Latham scheduled Dinkins jury trial for Aug. 8, 2023. PHOENIX, AZ - Heather Lea Stern (Pearce), 51, passed away of Cervical Cancer, surrounded by her loving family and under Hospice Care. She was born and raised by her parents, Walter and Melody (Wentworth) Pearce in Mason City. She was a 1990 graduate of Mason City High School, attended Drake Univ., and then moved to Boston, MA, where she met and married Sudip Chakraborty. From this union, her beloved daughter, Sharmila Rose, was born. After a divorce, Heather and Sharmila moved to Arizona. In the last chapter of Heather's life, she met the love of her life, William (Will) Stern. Cancer did not deter their desire to become husband and wife, so they married on January 21, 2023, and Will continued his unconditional love and care for Heather, until her passing. Even though their married time was brief, they still had happy memories to look back on from when they first met in 2019. Heather and her daughter, Sharmila, had that special bond that they both treasured and worked at for many years. Mason City's hotel development deal with Main Street Community Capital, helmed by David Rachie, has seen a surge of local Facebook chatter as fencing surrounding the development site has come down after months of stagnancy at the site. In April, River City Fence put up chain link fencing at the site, and Russell Construction dropped off a command trailer, an indication to many that construction would soon begin. Now, Russell Construction has confirmed that they are no longer a part of the project and River City Fencing, as subcontractors, have bowed out as well. According to City Administrator Aaron Burnett, the challenge is in part due to the fact that the land has not yet been transferred legally to MSCC and Rachie. Pandemic-era issues have lingered in the development arena and the delays have been significant in this project. MSCC has secured a USDA loan guarantee that is an asset to companies looking to secure financing, Burnett said. "The land is ready to be transferred and the parcel has gone through several reviews and needed approvals with city boards in preparation of the transfer. Per the development agreement, the land closes with the financing and the bank has the financing scheduled to close before the end of August," said Burnett. Another issue the development company is facing is past due taxes to the city on the properties under consideration. Burnett said, "I speak with David Rachie at least twice a week regarding the projects. Yes, the taxes have been discussed and they will be made current with the closing on the financing on the hotel at the end of August." Rachie did not respond to attempts for comment. Delays and changes have been a hallmark of this development over that last seven to eight years as Mason City Council has voted to switch developers from the original G8 Development headed by Phillip Chodur among other plan changes. "I understand the publics frustrations and desire to see progress. However, development is hard in even a normal environment and the last few years have not been normal. We have seen other projects like the Des Moines Merle Hay Mall project face similar struggles in much larger markets.," Burnett said. "The hotel is as close to being started as ever with the USDA loan guarantee approvals and approval by the bank. The final work between the bank and the developer to close the loan is ongoing with a target date of August 31 and construction will start after this financing is closed. Additionally, the citys development attorney is working through a checklist with the developers lawyer to prepare the needed documents to close on the financing and transfer of city property." Burnett's positive attitude regarding the hotel project is often at odds with the public's perception. Social media posts from local residents lambasting the setbacks receive hundreds of comments, with many putting the blame for delays on city staff. "While it is frustrating to see the lack of physical progress at the site, work planning and financing the project has consistently occurred over the years. This hotel will be a great asset for the community and peoples patience will be rewarded. The work on the River City Renaissance has taken time, but each addition proves to be a step toward a vibrant downtown," said Burnett. He pointed to the Principal Performing Arts Pavilion project and the Mason City Multipurpose Arena as examples of projects that were long-running but ultimately successful. "The Hyatt Place Hotel will be the next in this list of accomplishments. The success of downtown started with the incredibly difficult effort of renovating the Historic Park Inn and each community project builds on that new direction," said Burnett. Mason City has a large number of developments in place at any given time. Some are efforts to recruit new businesses and others, like the River City Renaissance, Bike North Iowa and Destination Iowa projects are designed to improve the quality of life for residents. Many go on behind the scenes for years with little public attention. Mason City Council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of each month in the Mason City Room at the Mason City Public Library at 225 Second St SE. A day after Tyson Foods announced it will shutter four more plants across the nation, a company spokesperson confirmed its new Ringgold facility is still on track to open next month. First announced in October 2021 with a visit from then-Gov. Ralph Northam, the new facility in Cane Creek Centre should start production the week of Sept. 10, MaKenzie Williams, a spokesperson for Tyson, told the Register & Bee. Williams did not answer questions centering on the impact the closings may have on the newly constructed 325,000-square-foot facility. On Monday, Tyson said it would close four chicken plants in North Little Rock, Arkansas; Corydon, Indiana; Dexter, Missouri; and Noel, Missouri. Also Monday, the company reported a loss of $417 million for its fiscal third-quarter, according to The Associated Press. Donnie King, president and CEO of Tyson, called it a difficult decision to shut down the four plants. The company in March told workers at the Glen Allen processing plant it would shut down by May. That resulted in the elimination of about 700 jobs. Following that initial opening by the second week in September, the Ringgold plant plans to add more lines and shifts. At this time, we are still processing applications from our recent job fair over the weekend, Williams told the Register & Bee. That job fair coincided with a food giveaway Saturday at the Danville Police Department. Tyson brought a tractor-trailer load of about 40,000 pounds of frozen food designed to be handed out in a drive-thru style operation. However, the response overwhelmed roads and created a traffic backup of nearly 2 miles. Because of safety concerns, the giveaway was halted early and instead food was distributed in neighborhoods in Danville. The new Ringgold facility will create about 400 jobs that include 46 in management and 350 hourly workers, Williams said. The plant will cook, season, flash-freeze, package and ship out foods including Anytizer Snacks, chicken nuggets and other products, the Register & Bee reported in 2021. Average annual salaries for the positions will be between $40,000 to $45,000. Five minutes into Passages, a scene from a marriage takes a casually fateful turn, and one of the years best films is off and running to destinations unknown. Late at night, a noisy Paris bistro is hosting a party for a film crews recent completion of a feature. The director, a live-wire German emigre named Tomas, wants to dance. His reticent English husband Martin, sitting somewhat wearily at the bar, declines; the woman sitting next to Martin, French schoolteacher Agathe, volunteers. Eighty minutes later, director and co-writer Ira Sachs sexual triangle comes to a perfectly judged conclusion that feels like the only possible way to close the book on these three characters. Theyre played, with unerring skill, by Franz Rogowski (Tomas), Ben Whishaw (Martin) and, as the woman in this tale of a man, a man and a woman, Adele Exarchopoulos. As we soon learn, Tomas leads with a voracious sexual appetite incarnate. Hes a beguiling, needy, Michael Chorus Line Bennett-sort of narcissist who shoots first and forgets the questions he might be asking himself later. After sleeping with Agathe the night of the party, Tomas cycles home, tired but giddy. Martin, we gather, has been in this cuckolded position before, though the script leaves the terms of their marriage, and the sexual histories of the characters, unstated. All we know is what we hear from Martin the morning after at their apartment: that this always happens when you finish a film. The escalation of events, rapid but inevitable, feels natural in its pacing and indicates the rightness of tone established by Sachs and his frequent writing partner Mauricio Zacharias. (Arlette Langmann is credited with additional dialogue.) Tomas packs up some boxes and moves into Agathes place. Martin, a graphic designer, embarks on an affair with a novelist and literary editor (Erwan Kepoa Fale),which sparks Tomas jealousy while dampening whatever he has with Agathe. Franz Rogowski, left, and Adele Exarchopoulos in a scene from "Passages." (Uncredited/AP) Much more happens in Passages, including some bracingly honest scenes of intimacy and male nudity that garnered an NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association. OK, first of all: Thats hypocritical and misjudged in the extreme albeit a typical extreme in America, where we sexualize everything except sex and dont mind an R rating for the most explicit violence but freak out about simulated lovemaking, especially gay lovemaking. Sachs, making his first film outside the U.S., called the rating cultural censorship, and an indication of homophobia that, if anything, is gaining ground, not losing it. The filmmaker has been here before. One of Sachs earlier films, Love is Strange starring John Lithgow and Alfred Molina, got an R rating for the lamest of reasons. A few f-words. Nearly a decade later, were still dealing with a volunteer ratings board that does not know what it is doing, though you get the feeling it sleeps better at night as long as we continue to give brutality a free pass and sexuality every conceivable ratings obstacle. Passages does not disguise Tomas reckless impulses and motivations; it does not explain anybodys behavior, or feelings, because explanations arent the stuff of drama. Contradictions, ambiguities, messy internal conflicts are, however they feed the story. The pillow talk in this compact yet fluid portrait of confusion and desire says a great deal with very few words. At one point (several, in fact) Tomas says to Agathe: I love you. Agathe tells Tomas she doesnt know whether to believe him. I say it when I feel it, he says. You say it when it works for you, she replies, and that rejoinder no false dramatics, barely any inflection is one of a hundred little moments that stick in Passages. Passages 3.5 stars (out of 4) MPA rating: NC-17 (for nudity and depictions of sex) Running time: 1:31 How to watch: Premieres in select theaters Aug. 11, including at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave. Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic. mjphillips@chicagotribune.com Twitter @phillipstribune In a presidential contest cycle, Senate races dont get the same kind of attention when theres still a year to go until Election Day. But the start of the second fundraising quarter earlier this month brought a host of new candidate names some declared and some still biding their time that will help shape the race for control of the chamber in 2024 and the ultimate power dynamics for whoever is president in 2025. With more candidates launching their campaigns this month, the prospect of competitive primaries has become more real especially on the Republican side. Thats especially true in the top three seats most likely to flip, which represent the GOPs best chances to pick up the one or two seats theyd need to control the chamber, depending on who wins the presidency. (Rankings are based on CNNs reporting, fundraising figures and historical data about how states and candidates have performed.) West Virginias GOP primary mainly between the governor and a congressman was already brewing, but its looking even more contentious with outside groups like the Club for Growths political arm touting the millions theyre planning to spend. This race will be a marquee battle between the national GOPs more establishment forces and the conservative outside group. And, as in other races like Montana and Nevada, this one will test the National Republican Senatorial Committees new strategy of picking sides in primaries. Its impossible to talk about Republican primaries without discussing former President Donald Trump. Ever since 2016, loyalty to him has been a key litmus test for the GOP often much more than actual conservatism. But adherence to his election conspiracy theories has sometimes hurt Republicans in general elections, with the 2022 midterms being a prime example. The chairman of the NRSC, Montana Sen. Steve Daines, has endorsed Trump. And for now, at least, the former president appears to be playing along. CNN reported that hes informed two House Freedom Caucus members whom hes previously backed in West Virginia and Montana that they wont have his support for the Senate. (In Montana, Rep. Matt Rosendale hasnt yet announced his campaign but is expected to challenge the NRSCs preferred candidate.) This months ranking isnt all about primary drama, however. In Pennsylvania, Republicans breathed a major sigh of relief in May when election denier Doug Mastriano, fresh off his 15-point gubernatorial loss, decided not to run. The expectation that Dave McCormick will get into the race with a clearer lane and the GOPs lack of candidates right now in other states bumps the Keystone State up one spot on this list as slightly more likely to flip. Overall, the Senate map remains an offensive opportunity for Republicans. Democrats hold seven of the 10 seats most likely to flip next year, an independent holds one and Republicans hold two a breakdown thats unlikely to change much, although the order of the ranking will likely evolve in the months to come. A controversial proposal for a second Greensboro hospital has received conditional state approval after health regulators determined Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist has proven the overall need for the $246 million facility. The conditional approval of the certificate-of-need decision was disclosed Wednesday by the N.C. Division of Health Service Regulation. The proposed 36-bed hospital at 2909 Horse Pen Creek Road would have at least 152 full-time-equivalent employees at full capacity. Following an April 19 public hearing on the application, the division indicated a decision likely would be made between July 31 and Sept. 1. Cone Health, which operates the only Greensboro hospital, vigorously opposed the Baptist application. Cone submitted an immediate appeal rather than wait up to 30 days. This is a poor decision for everyone needing health care in this area, Cone chief executive Mary Jo Cagle said in a statement. Baptist spokesman Joe McCloskey said the system is pleased with the states decision and we are eager to move forward. But, out of respect for the process, we are reserving additional comment at this time. Baptist has projected construction commencing by December 2024 with a goal of opening by July 2026. However, the appeal puts on hold the issuing of the certificate of need. The purpose of the states CON laws is to limit or prevent duplication of medical services within a community. The laws also serve as a disincentive to for-profit health-care providers to open facilities. The 36 beds would be transferred from Baptist-operated High Point Medical Center, rather than be newly created in the county. The proposed facility also would feature no more than 12 observation beds, two procedure rooms, 20 emergency department bays, two fixed CT scanners, one general radiology X-ray unit, one fluoroscopy X-ray unit, two ultrasound units, one SPECT scanner, one mammography unit and one fixed MRI unit. State regulators typically do not provide specific comment on CON decisions. In their 49-page analysis of the Baptist application, regulators indicated they did not view the proposed hospital as providing duplicative services, and that those services are needed in the community. People in our community already have options when it comes to health care, Cagle said. This decision runs counter to how CON is supposed to work. Regulators determinations The proposed Baptist hospital is 2.1 miles from a Cone Health facility that opened in May 2022 a 160,000-square-foot MedCenter Greensboro facility at 3518 Drawbridge Parkway. The $97 million Cone facility includes an emergency department, ambulatory care center, imaging, physical therapy, cardiology, wellness programs and 13 overall services. It houses a Sagewell Fitness center, swimming pool and teaching kitchen. Regulators said Baptist provided reasonable and adequately supported information and adequately determined the need to redistribute acute care, inpatient and surgical services, and imaging and ancillary services in the Guilford County service area. Regulators also determined Baptist provides evidence of physician and community support for the project as proposed. An April 19 hearing at the Benjamin Parkway library lasted two hours and drew more than 70 attendees, nearly double the 40-seat capacity of the meeting room. The divisiveness of the issue was demonstrated in part that of the 19 public speakers, 11 were in opposition including Greensboro mayor Nancy Vaughan and eight supportive. One of my concerns, and a concern that is shared by the city council, is simple, Vaughan said at the public hearing in recommending Baptist build its hospital in east Greensboro where she said there is less health-care access and higher need. We believe in equitable access to quality care, and northwest Greensboro residents already have many options and are more likely to be privately insured. Public speakers supporting the proposal said it would provide Greensboro residents with an additional health-care option and a feeder program into specialty care in Atrium facilities in Charlotte and Winston-Salem. Some public speakers shared Vaughans concerns that Atrium was not addressing need, but rather profits, with the proposed hospital, and that those profits would be sent back to Charlotte rather than reinvested in the local community. Regulators said Baptist proved the proposed Greensboro hospital would serve to increase overall health care access for medically underserved groups while serving an area of Greensboro experiencing significant population growth. On Wednesday, Vaughan said that while I think competition is a good thing, I question that location. Vaughan said she believes the location was cherry-picked, noting the overall higher income of residents in that area, and the probability that they carry health insurance. I would support a hospital if it is located in an area currently underserved or is filling a void. Greensboro has some areas that are virtually health-care deserts, Vaughan said. Another key determinant by regulators is that High Point Medical Center would not be hampered by the bed transfer. Part of the Cone opposition stated concerns that the money spent on the Baptist hospital is money that wont be invested in expanding care to those High Point communities. Cone responses Cone has stated boldly its opposition to Atriums plans, citing concerns about duplicative services and claims of more expensive health-care services. That includes full-page ads in the Winston-Salem Journal and News & Record. They expressed skepticism that Atrium would provide lower cost care at the proposed hospital. They cited concern that Atrium would either staff with non-local providers offering services on a limited local basis, or would try to raid Cone staff, particularly emergency personnel, to meet workforce needs and further strain Cones staffing needs. As a result, they said Cone could be forced to respond to the proposed hospital by increasing its charges. This community doesnt need a very expensive facility duplicating most of the same services offered by a Cone Health facility just two miles away, Cagle said. Cone Health is already the lower-cost provider. Our quality is already top tier. Cone also maintains the proposed hospital will be a way station to Winston-Salem for anyone needing more than routine hospital care. People being transferred to Baptist would face higher academic medical center costs, Cone claimed. Atrium proposal Atrium said in its application that opening Greensboro Medical Center would be complementary and supplementary to Cones health care. Approval of Greensboro Medical Center will enable Greensboro to match the other top five North Carolina cities in hosting multiple hospital systems and having local hospital competition, which will be a benefit to local residents, according to the Atrium application. Baptist officials noted the High Point facility has improved with the opening of a high-risk obstetrics clinics, enhanced intensive care units and advanced technologies, including robotic surgical techniques. Kevin High, Baptists president, was the presenter for the proposal. He touted that an Atrium- and Baptist-affiliated Greensboro hospital would provide a high quality of care, safety and services, particularly to lower-income patients. This project is about how to most effectively improve access to acute care services in Guilford County, High said. This project is perfectly aligned with the basic principles of the state Medical Facilities Plan that serves to determine health care needs in regions across the state. High said that relocating the acute beds and operating rooms represents an efficient means of adding services in Greensboro without hampering care in High Point. All residents in Guilford County would have access to our quality of care, regardless of ability to pay, High said. Replanting flag Atrium would be able to replant a strategic flag as it grows comfortable in its affiliation with Advocate Health, the nations fifth-largest health-care system. This time, the Atrium brand would be front and center in Greensboro. In June 2012, Atrium (then branded as Carolinas HealthCare System) entered into a 10-year management contract with Cone in which it gleaned valuable operational insight into the Greensboro and Guilford County marketplaces. That contract ended in February 2020 by mutual consent as Atrium was negotiating with Wake Forest Baptist to expand its collaboration beyond a November 2019 agreement. That agreement proved to be the catalyst that led to Atrium acquiring all of Baptist in October 2020. Keith Debbage, a joint professor of Geography & Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality at UNC Greensboro, said that a health-care market that offers choice may well translate to health-care services that offer more competitive, affordable prices. Debbage cautioned that Cone is never going to take any incursion into their home base lightly. The hope is better choice and more affordable prices but not before, potentially, a protracted regulatory and legal battle, which may delay the provision of improved health services. GREENSBORO Mike Holmes stood on a downtown sidewalk Wednesday evening holding a sign that read "Justice 4 Tiffany" with photos of his sister, Tiffany Holmes-Williams, whose death is being investigated as a homicide. He was among the family and friends who gathered to honor the 32-year-old Greensboro woman with a balloon release near the area where she died. Police said her body was discovered, with a gunshot wound, early Aug. 2 inside a small building at 106 S. Church St., which is located near the former News & Record building at 200 E. Market St. A police department spokesman said last week that Holmes-Williams was experiencing homelessness. "She never bothered anybody. She didn't deserve this," Cierra Fernandez said of the woman she considered a sister because of their close bond. "She had a heart of gold and she loved people." Melvin Orlando Williams, who goes by "L.A.," said it was important for him to attend Wednesday's vigil to help raise awareness about his wife's homicide. "I just want people to please have the courage to come forth if you know something. You can stay anonymous, but tell someone," said Williams, who said he and Tiffany would've celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary in October. In total, the couple was together for 12 years, he said. "I know she's with God now," Williams said. Jannie Wesley, Tiffany's godmother, attended the vigil and spoke about the importance of seeking justice for Tiffany's husband, family and friends. "I love her and I'm going to miss her so much," said Wesley, who described Tiffany as "lovable" among those who knew her. Angel Martin sang at the vigil moments before family and friends released balloons, mostly purple, which was Tiffany's favorite color. Rebecca Deel, who does community outreach in the area, said she met Tiffany and quickly became friends with her. "Tiffany leaves a hole in the community," Deel said while attending the vigil Wednesday. "She was authentic. She spoke her mind. She also loved to laugh and loved to smile. She helped a lot of people. She was loved out here and cared for." Family members say she was hopeful and was working toward getting into an apartment at the end of the month. She was also eager, they say, to find work caring for the elderly, which she loved. Police have not released any additional information about the homicide. It's unclear what happened prior to her body being found in an abandoned downtown property. The site is owned by a company that formerly owned the News & Record. Berkshire Hathaway the multinational conglomerate owned by Warren Buffett retained the property when it sold the newspaper to Lee Enterprises Inc. in January 2020. The lot has been viewed as a blight on the city as weeds have taken over, and downtown observers noted homeless people in the area. "She had family to go to," Fernandez said. "She chose to make her own decisions. She was very independent. ... She didn't really ask for much. She didn't deserve that, and she should have justice." Deel said Holmes-Williams was always willing to help others and that her death is felt far beyond another crime statistic. "She was a person. Her life mattered," Deel said. This story has been updated. GREENSBORO Wanted: Men with warm smiles, encouraging words and open eyes. Eastern Guilford High School is reaching out to fathers and other men for a new volunteer initiative. Its called Positive Ongoing Paternal Support, or P.O.P.S. School leaders hope to station the men in the halls, lunchrooms and parking lots, to offer greeting and encouragement to students, and to alert staff to anything amiss. Tuesdays first interest meeting for the group drew a small but enthusiastic bunch: about a half-dozen men, some parents of Eastern High students, others interested community members. Attendees pledged to help spread the word and recruit others to join. I remember the men in my life, in high school, said parent Josh Green. I grew up with a single mom. What those men meant to me just makes me want to give back. The initiative aims to address a couple different issues, Principal Darrell Harris said. One is that men are underrepresented among high school volunteers, so the school hopes to offer a special welcome to them to get involved. You might see dads at games and sporting events, but not much in the building, he said. The other, he said, is that staff are vastly outnumbered by students in the school, and they can use the help to keep a positive, supervised climate in the transitions at the beginning and end of the day and at lunch. We are in different times, he said. Weve got to support our kids holistically. We cant just worry about instruction and academics, we have to make sure they are mentally and emotionally supported; we have to make sure our school is safe. While the recruitment effort is focused on men, anyone who feels called to the work and able to be a positive presence in the school is welcome to help out. A standard volunteer background check is required. Harris explained to the men that while the school came up with name POPS, and tailored it to their own needs, the basic idea has been used in many other schools around the country, with one of the more well known being WATCH D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) a national program established in 1998. In Greensboro and High Point, there's an an ongoing effort called Dads Organizing For Public Education (D.O.P.E.) that has combined volunteering in high schools with advocacy and get-out-the-vote efforts. (Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that D.O.P.E. was an NAACP effort. The Greensboro NAACP is helping to promote D.O.P.E., but D.O.P.E is its own organization.) Harris said he wanted to lay out his expectations for them upfront, because hes seen that parent interactions in schools are not always positive. Volunteers, he said, should not be disciplining students or jumping in to break up fights. What they should do, he said, is alert staff to misbehavior like drug use or skipping class, and to any violence or safety issues. A gentle, Should you be doing that? could be appropriate, but not lectures or investigations. Parents, he said, should keep their volunteer hat on while they volunteer, and not use their access to the school for inappropriate purposes, like, for example, pestering a student who had wronged their child. When asked what they wanted to accomplish, the men in the group talked about building connections with students. Jesse Walker, a retired firefighter whose children attended the school in the 80s and 90s, said that if theres a good relationship, just seeing an adult can change a students mind about misbehavior. Hey, thats Mr. Walker there; I cant do that, he imagined a student might think. I cant go out that door. I cant go in there and smoke. I cant skip a class. Creating those relationships, he said, is going to take hard work and humility. We need to eat that humble pie every time we are over here, he said. That will make a difference. A man arrested in connection with a July home invasion in Morganton has ties to a crime spree that stretches across the Carolinas. Carlton Javius Fuller, 23, of 106 S. Anderson St. in Morganton, has been charged with first-degree burglary, first-degree kidnapping, three counts of second-degree kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, robbery with a dangerous weapon and larceny, according to arrest warrants filed at the Burke County Courthouse. Fuller is accused of assaulting a man and holding him and his family hostage after breaking into a home on Tate Street on July 8, according to the warrants. Hes also accused of kicking the mans wife in the face. Charging documents say Fuller stole cash, multiple gaming systems including a PlayStation 5, Xbox One S, two Nintendo Switches, an Xbox Elite controller and a wedding ring from the family while armed with a handgun and an AR-15. But this isnt the only crime Fuller has been accused of committing. Officials with the Kershaw County Sheriffs Office in South Carolina say Fuller and 18-year-old Joshua Adam King Jr., of 6955 Knuckolls St. in Morganton, have been charged in connection with a July 14 break-in at Freedom First Outfitters in East Camden, S.C., according to information posted on the KCSO Facebook page. There, Fuller and King have been charged with violent burglary in the second, grand larceny, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, possession of a stolen vehicle and criminal conspiracy, KCSO said in a Facebook post. The alleged crimes don't stop there. Just two days before that break-in, King and another suspect, 22-year-old Zachariah Davine Hines, of 552 White Oaks Drive in Morganton, are believed to have fired into an occupied dwelling in Rutherford County, said Capt. Chris Lovelace with the Rutherford County Sheriffs Office. Lovelace said it was around 5:30 a.m. when shots were fired into a home on Chase High Road. There were two adults and three children home at the time, but no one was hurt. Their investigation led them to identify Hines, King and a woman as suspects in the crime, Lovelace said. The next day, the Forest City Police Department was dispatched to a home on Harmon Street after it was reported a man walked up to a home and opened fire, according to a release from FCPD. Brandon Gerard Holland suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene, the release said. Haley Elizabeth Davis also was shot multiple times in the incident, but was expected to recover, the release said. The incident has been connected to the shooting on Chase High Road where Hines and King were charged, the release said. It said physical evidence connected the scenes. Forest City investigators told The News Herald they still are running down leads in the murder, but they have taken out charges on Hines for other crimes. FCPD Detective Dylan Radford said Wednesday investigators swore to charges against Hines for three counts of trafficking fentanyl, nine counts of possession of a stolen firearm and a count of possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver marijuana. Fuller, King and Hines all are being held at the Burke County Jail. Fuller currently is being held under a $1.065 million bond, while King and Hines each are being held under $200,000 secured bonds. More information will be published as it becomes available. Its easy to be cynical about politicians. Disappointment and betrayal breed cynicism. Fortunately, there are people on both sides of the aisle who redeem the profession by doing the right thing, even when there is a price to be paid for doing it. Take Rusty Bowers. On Feb. 1, 2022, HB 2596 was introduced in the Arizona House of Representatives. The bill would have altered voting in primaries and in the general election by eliminating early voting and by restricting all voting to paper ballots. More troubling was a provision that would have given the legislature the power to accept or reject the results of an election, and if the legislature rejected the results, a single elector would have had the power to demand that a new election be held. Standing in the way of the passage of HB 2596 was the Republican speaker of the House, Russell Rusty Bowers, 30 years an elected official, father of seven, beekeeper, orchardist, watercolorist and fierce lover of the Constitution. If Rusty Bowers had simply wanted to kill the bill, he could have sat on it. It wasnt likely to pass anyway. But he wanted to make a statement. He sent the bill to committee. Well, not to a committee. He sent it to 12 committees, a legislative maneuver that, according to New York Times reporting, left even veteran statehouse watchers in Arizona awe-struck at its audacity. We gave the authority to the people, Bowers told Capitol Media Services. And Im not going to go back and kick them in the teeth. Shortly after the 2020 election, Bowers famously clashed with Donald Trump, Rudy Guiliani and John Eastman in a series of phone calls. To Bowers, who described himself as a conservative Republican (who) voted for President Trump and worked hard to reelect him, the purpose of the calls was shocking. According to the recent indictment of Donald Trump, the president and Guiliani asked Bowers to replace legitimate electors for Biden with a new slate for the Defendant. Bowers recalled his response when he testified before the Jan. 6 committee: (They were) asking me to do something that is counter to my oath, when I swore to the Constitution to uphold it. And it is a tenet of my faith that the Constitution is divinely inspired. So, for me to do that just because someone asked me to is foreign to my very being. I will not do it. In an interview on ABC News, Bowers explained, The idea of throwing out the election of the president is like, OK, so what part of Jupiter do I get to land on and colonize? Bowers courageous defense of the Constitution did not go unnoticed. In April 2022, he was named a recipient of the Profile in Courage Award, along with Liz Cheney, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Fulton County (Ga.) election worker Shaye Moss and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Each (was) chosen for the courage theyve shown protecting democracy in the United States and abroad, the program said. Meanwhile, back home, Rusty Bowers learned that there is sometimes a price to be paid for taking a righteous stand. Ive had people walk up and say, you know, just cold turkey, Im ashamed of you, he said. He was called a traitor and a pedophile and told that the price of treason is hanging. The noise and disturbances in front of Bowers house on Saturday nights upset the neighborhood and was especially disturbing to his daughter, who was seriously ill inside. Kacey Rae Bowers, 42, died on Jan. 28, three weeks after the assault on our nations Capitol, seven days after Joe Biden was inaugurated. The final blow politically speaking came in July 2022 when the chairwoman of the Arizona GOP, Kelli Ward, issued a news release in which she announced, The AZGOP Executive Committee formally censured Rusty Bowers tonight. He is no longer a Republican in good standing, and we call on Republicans to replace him at the ballot box in the August primary. Bowers lost his bid for a seat in the Arizona Senate to an opponent who had been endorsed by Trump. For the first time in three decades Rusty Bowers no longer served the people of Arizona in an elected position. If you are persecuted for righteousness sake, Jesus said, youre in good company. For so persecuted they the prophets and an occasional politician who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12; my paraphrase.) Imagine yourself in the following situation: Your children lack decent clothing and shoes and depend on reduced-price school meals to meet their weekly nutrition requirements. Your house has become dilapidated, with a leaky roof and poorly functioning HVAC system, and the power company is threatening to turn off your electricity for nonpayment. The sole family car spews smoke, has bald tires and is on its last legs. Now add in the following incongruous additional circumstances: You have a steadily growing bank account with a current balance of a million dollars, no debt to speak of, a good job and an offer for an even better one at a handsome salary. What would you do? For most sane and responsible people, such a situation is unimaginable as they would have long since used some of their available resources to address pressing family needs. And if, thanks to some strange series of events, they did suddenly find themselves in such a predicament, the course of action would be obvious. If, however, youre among the tiny and bizarrely penurious smattering of individuals whose answer would be to leave the money sitting there, turn down the job, quit the one you have, and tell the kids to fend for themselves, youd be right in step with the crazy and confounding approach of North Carolina Republican legislative leaders. This is really not an exaggeration. Right now, as with our hypothetical family, several core state agencies, structures and services are struggling mightily in North Carolina. As has been documented repeatedly, the states public education system the linchpin of our future has a massive shortage of teachers, principals, bus drivers, counselors, nurses and cafeteria workers. Facility needs total in the billions of dollars. Even once woebegone laggards like Alabama and Mississippi are now investing more in their public schools. But thats hardly the only such problem. At a moment in which our natural environment faces unprecedented challenges many of which are deeply threatening to human health and wellbeing the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality lacks the resources to perform basic tasks. As WRAL reported last week, research into the impact of the growing array of toxic chemicals found in state waterways particularly with respect the fish that ingest the chemicals and later end up on human dinner plates have been greatly hindered by staffing shortages. As the article explained: The DEQs overall job vacancy rate is about 15.1%. The vacancy rate for environmental specialists is more than 20% and engineers is more than 23%. Approximately 31% of DEQ employees are eligible to retire within the next five years. And the list goes on. As Deputy Secretary of the Division of Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention William Lassiter explained in a June interview with NC Newsline, the staffing shortages in his agency have reached the absurdly high level almost 50%. Senior staff members regularly spend their weekends holding down the fort in the facilities themselves. Several other state agencies face similar challenges. And while it would be one thing to grapple with such big and problematic funding and staffing shortages in a time of recession and state budget shortfalls, as has been well-documented, North Carolina is in no such fix. Rather, as with our fictional family, the state has plenty of money and the ability to raise all thats needed in a fair and efficient manner. State bank accounts are flush with billions in reserves. Whats more, had lawmakers simply left the state tax code where it was at the beginning of the last decade, it would have billions more. Unfortunately, rather than doing whats rational and obvious, lawmakers are leaving vast sums in the bank unspent and doubling down on a new round of regressive tax cuts that will consign core public structures and services to another year of unnecessary pain and struggle. As always, the bitter irony in this kind of cheapskate budgeting is that it is supposedly premised on a philosophical commitment to self-discipline and personal responsibility. You know how this rap goes its the same haughty message about bootstraps and self-discipline that wealthy tightwads have always preached to those struggling to make do with less. But, of course, things like discipline, self-reliance and responsibility arent (or shouldnt be anyway) merely for those at the bottom of the economic ladder or solely about hoarding cash. Theyre also about making wise investments and fulfilling our duty to others. And thats why North Carolinas present course of action in fiscal policy in which a collection of comfortably well-off lawmakers repeatedly enact tax and spending cuts that chiefly benefit themselves and their well-off friends, while depriving institutions of the basic resources they need to operate properly for everyones benefit is the very definition of self-interested and undisciplined hypocrisy. Let your imagination set sail with a ship full of mimes, puppeteers and musicians from String and Shadow Puppet Theater. Ship of Fools: A Giant Puppet Odyssey drops anchor in Anchor Park on Monday, Aug. 14, with a free show at 6:30 p.m. This troupe of adventurers enacts the tale of three mimes setting sail from the Port of Styx and crossing waters connecting to the underworld. Along their journey, they encounter a world of hermit crabs carrying houses on their backs, a ghostly humpback whale and many beautiful and strange creatures. The play, brought to life with music, clowns and fantastical masks and costumes, speaks to the power of friendship and love and also deals with loss and acceptance. String and Shadow Puppet co-founder Emily McHugh fell into puppetry naturally. My dads a storyteller and my moms a painter, she said in a phone interview from her home base in Olympia, Washington. In hindsight, it seems logical I would have found this medium interesting. A musician who trained in journalism, McHugh calls herself a jack-of-all-trades. There was something about puppet theater that spoke to her multifaceted interests. A close encounter with Paperhand Puppet Intervention in North Carolina changed the course of her life. It was a beautiful, beautiful show, she said. Seeing this sculptural artwork thats also theater, thats also music, thats also writing and seeing it all put together. It feels very community oriented. She went back to intern with them. A few years later, String and Shadow Puppet Theater fell into place when McHugh met Donald Palardy III in Olympia, Washington, and they joined forces. A street performer with a bachelor's in computer science, Palardy has been fusing art and technology for live performances since 2016, according to his online bio. Hes developed immersive light and sound experiences for puppet shows, variety acts, burlesque and experimental theater. And hes used his passion for programming and hobby electronics to build fully automated puppet worlds from 3D printed gears, microcontrollers, cornstarch and more. He can often be found on the streets of Olympia disguised as an animal playing folk music. McHugh has channeled her energy into using papier-mache, cardboard, bamboo, cloth and many found and recycled materials to fashion giant colorful puppets and masks. Among the characters youll meet is a five-person whale puppet, she said. We also do puppets up on sticks that are 12 to 13 feet tall. We think a lot about the message and themes in the show during the creation process. I like to leave it open, so people can take what they want from it. If its a purely entertaining experience thats satisfying too. We try to create cohesive pieces that are thought-provoking and have overarching themes. Were very passionate about creating for all ages. Toddlers love the puppets and colorful characters, she said, but theres a lot in the show that makes it relevant to an adult audience. In this play, we took on the mythology of the River Styx that separates this world of the living from the underworld. We tried to imagine what would a modern shipping container on the shore of the River Styx be transporting to the underworld. The tour coming to Helena will first head to San Francisco, then to Salt Lake City, then up to Bozeman, Missoula and Helena and then make a circuit in the Pacific Northwest, altogether covering about 2,500 miles. It kicked off months ago with a Kickstarter campaign that raised $14,000 from 200 people. The show was then under construction for three months. Audience members have described this years show as dreamy, subtle and poignant. One audience member described it as one of the most creative, entertaining, heartwarming performances Ive ever seen. And a Washington reviewer wrote: "Watching the cast/crew and musicians of String and Shadow dance us through a scrolling world of fantasy and fable, plucks at deep strings of universal wonder, innocence, and joy." In addition to McHugh and Palardy, the troupe is made up of multi-disciplinary performance artists. They use a mix of magical realism, science fiction and folktale in their stories to take audiences to the surface of the moon, into the belly of a giant fish, and to the headquarters of a sinister intergalactic corporation specializing in the production of worlds, according to their website. Formed in the winter of 2017, the troupe has authored five original shows set to live, original music and has toured regionally and nationally. It is currently company-in-residence at The Olympia Family Theater. The free show for all ages is sponsored by The Myrna Loy, Lewis & Clark Library and the City of Helena. Anchor Park is at the library, 120 S. Last Chance Gulch. An investigation into allegations against Grant Park Music Festival artistic director Carlos Kalmar at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he teaches, concluded that the allegations against the conductor did not constitute sexual harassment or gender-based discrimination, and did not violate Title IX, according to a letter emailed to conservatory faculty, staff and students on Monday. Carole Rendon, a former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio and partner at the BakerHostetler law firm, led the investigation. Her report compiling interviews with more than 30 CIM students, faculty and staff, and other written and video evidence provided by both parties was reviewed by acting Title IX coordinator Dean Southern, CIMs dean and vice president of academic and student affairs. In Mondays letter, Southern concluded that Kalmars conduct did not have the purpose or effect of substantially or unreasonably interfering with a persons participation in educational programs or activities. He also said that Kalmars behavior did not discriminate on the basis of sex, nor was it so severe or pervasive as to create an objectively offensive environment such that it denies anyone equal access to educational opportunities at CIM based on gender. Kalmar and the complainants were informed of the findings on Monday afternoon, with a campus-wide update sent that evening in light of the public attention surrounding this case. Both parties have five business days to appeal the decision. In a statement provided to the Tribune, Grant Park Music Festival CEO and president Paul Winberg said the outcome further reinforces our decision this spring to move forward with Carlos Kalmar as our Artistic Director and Principal Conductor through the 2024 season. All of us at Grant Park Music Festival are pleased to learn the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) was obligated to dismiss the formal complaint against Carlos Kalmar as a result of their investigation conducted by an outside law firm, ensuring a fair, impartial and independent process, Winberg wrote. We appreciate the thorough nature of CIMs investigation and their unusual step of making public the results of their investigation given the media attention resulting from the earlier improper disclosure of unsubstantiated and anonymous accusations. The allegations against Kalmar came to public attention in April, shortly after CIMs then-Title IX compliance director sent an all-student email requesting more information from those who have experienced (or observed) behavior on Mr. Kalmars behalf that can be considered sexual harassment. Kalmar has taught at CIM as the conservatorys director of orchestral and conducting programs since 2021. The same year, he announced his intention to step down from his Grant Park role in the 2024 season, in part to focus on his role at CIM. A CIM press representative provided a copy of Southerns letter to the Tribune but declined to comment further. Kalmar did not respond to the Tribunes requests for comment by press time. Hannah Edgar is a freelance critic. The Rubin Institute for Music Criticism helps fund our classical music coverage. The Chicago Tribune maintains editorial control over assignments and content. The state Office of Public Instruction said its request from the federal government to operate a pilot program that will test students on their academic performance throughout the school year instead of a single time at the end has been approved. The U.S. Department of Education in an Aug. 10 letter signed off on Montanas plan for a one-year waiver that will allow OPI to encourage more schools to participate in a field test of what are called through-year assessments in grades three through eight for reading/language arts and math. That means participating schools will not administer existing statewide general assessments and instead complete assessments throughout the year using the Montana Alternative Student Testing pilot program The schedule will deliver real-time assessment data to educators and parents throughout the school year, rather than a single assessment at the end of each year, providing valuable insights into student performance, according to a press release from OPI. The approval of the Field-Testing Flexibility Waiver marks a significant milestone for Montana and the nation, said Superintendent Elsie Arntzen in a press release. With the approval of this waiver, we have illuminated a path where students can flourish, teachers can excel, and families can actively participate in their childrens educational journey. We are charting a course towards a brighter, more student-centric future. OPIs goal is to eventually replace end-of-year testing with the through-year assessments. The more frequent insights into student performance, the agency said, will give teachers data at the start of the year to gauge how students are doing and then show growth or any issues through the school year so teachers can take action instead of getting information after the school year is over. The tests will also have more flexibility to fit testing with their local curriculum. Both of Montanas senators urged the U.S. Department of Education to grant the waiver in letters to the department secretary. The U.S. Forest Service on Aug. 5 took time to remember the 12 smokejumpers and local fire guard who lost their lives in the Mann Gulch Fire of 1949. The Mann Gulch Fire was officially reported around noon Aug. 5, in an area on the Helena National Forest northeast of Helena. The Forest Service dispatched 15 smokejumpers from Missoula to the remote area. The smokejumpers were part of a relatively new Forest Service program, with the first operational jumps having been made nine years earlier in 1940. the Forest Service noted in a Facebook posting by the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. They landed at Mann Gulch about a half-mile away from the fire. There they met James O. Harrison, a fire guard from the nearby Meriwether Canyon Campground. Ironically, Harrison had quit the smokejumpers the year before because of the danger. As the men headed down the gulch toward the Missouri River, high winds caused the fire to suddenly expand, cutting off the men's route and forcing them back uphill. Later studies estimated that the fire covered 3,000 acres in 10 minutes during this blow-up stage. To escape the advancing fire, now less than 100 yards away, crew foreman R. Wagner "Wag" Dodge ordered the men to drop their equipment and run back up the steep, rocky hillside. As the men retreated, Dodge stopped to set a small escape fire, creating a burned-over area that the fire would bypass. He directed the group toward this safe area, but due to confusion the rest of the men continued up the hill. As the massive fire overtook the group, two of the smokejumpers, Walter B. Rumsey and Robert W. Sallee, were able to find shelter by climbing inside a small crevice in the canyon's rock wall. Of the 16 men on site, Dodge, Rumsey, and Sallee would end up as the only survivors. The events of Mann Gulch greatly influenced the future of wildfire suppression and fire research. The Forest Service designed new training techniques and implemented more safety measures for its firefighters. The agency also increased emphasis on fire research and the science of fire behavior, developing new firefighting techniques and equipment in the hopes of never repeating the tragic events of Aug. 5, 1949. SPRINGFIELD The Illinois State Fair kicks off in Springfield on Thursday showcasing carnival rides, horse races, livestock shows, live music and a perennial favorite, the Butter Cow. Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his wife, M.K., were on hand for the unveiling of the Butter Cow sculpture Wednesday afternoon. Last year, the creamy, yellow-white spectacle was estimated to weigh between 650 and 700 pounds. A fixture at the fair since 1922, the cow celebrates Illinois dairy farmers. The theme of this years fair is Harvest the Fun, touting some of the multimillion-dollar construction improvements made to the fairgrounds in the last four years. Those include an $8.6 million renovation of the fairs multipurpose arena and an ongoing rehab of the 122-year-old Coliseum, a three-story, oval-shaped amphitheater that houses a show ring for horses. Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Jerry Costello II said that renovations still to come for the Coliseum are a new heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system that will make the historic building suitable for year-round use. In addition, two elevators will be added to make it compliant with the federal American with Disabilities Act standards. I know were in an instant gratification society and, you know, a lot of people want things done yesterday, Costello said during a news conference about the fair last week. Construction and progress is incremental. Musical acts at this years fair range from rap superstars Nelly and Ja Rule to classic rock legends the Doobie Brothers and Champaigns very own, REO Speedwagon. Other attractions at the fairgrounds include a rodeo and a slew of motor sport competitions like a monster truck show, truck and tractor pulling and a demolition derby. Harness racing is scheduled over five days. The fair will host sunflower hours from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday for people with special needs who will be able to enjoy certain events without the bright lights and loud sounds that could aggravate the senses, according to state fair manager Rebecca Clark. Food offerings will run the gamut, from pizza to BBQ ribs, with one stand, The Vose Korndog stand, figuring to be an essential stop for many fairgoers. Its owner, Bob Vose, known as the Korndog King, who served on the Springfield City Council for many years, died earlier this year. Also on the menu is copi, the rebranded name for Asian carp, which will be served up in nuggets, sliders, rangoons and empanadas. State officials also said there will be designated theme days that include free admission for first responders, health care workers, veterans and their families and seniors. Elected officials will gather for annual pep-rally-type events on the fairgrounds with Pritzker and other Democrats congregating next Wednesday for Governors Day, and the states top GOP politicians gathering the next day for Republican Day. The fair runs from Thursday through Sunday, Aug. 20, and tickets for the musical acts can be purchased at the fairgrounds or ticketmaster.com. Normal admission to the fair will be $5 to $10, with anyone under 12 getting in for free. Parking will be $5. Anyone who pays for parking on the fairgrounds Thursday will receive a voucher for free parking to be redeemed on either Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday of next week. For more information about this years fair, visit statefair.illinois.gov. Photos: Illinois State Fair political days through the years 2012 State Fair 2012 State Fair 2015 State Fair 2015 State Fair 2015 State Fair 2007 State Fair 2008 State Fair 2008 State Fair 2009 State Fair 2012 State Fair 2012 State Fair 2005 State Fair 2004 State Fair 2003 State Fair 2003 State Fair 2006 State Fair 2007 State Fair 2012 State Fair 2018 State Fair 2012 State Fair 2021 State Fair 2021 State Fair 2021 State Fair 2021 State Fair IRVINE, Calif. Electric vehicle startup Rivian increased its revenues while trimming its losses in the second quarter compared to a year earlier and company leaders boosted its manufacturing goal for this year as a result. The California-based automaker reported $1.1 billion in revenue in the second quarter, compared to $364 million during the same period a year ago, a 208% increase. Rivians net loss for the quarter was $1.2 billion, down 30% from $1.7 billion a year ago. The company, which has a production plant in Normal, Illinois, assembled 13,992 battery-powered vehicles during the three months that ended in June, more than triple the number of vehicles it manufactured during last years second quarter. Its also a 49% boost in production from the first three months of this year. The increase prompted Rivian executives to increase its production goal to 52,000 units a 2,000-vehicle bump from prior expectations. Simultaneously, the company predicts it will lose $100 million less than initially expected in 2023, a critical year for the startup that aims to stop bleeding cash and turn a profit by the end of next year. Our second-quarter results reflect our continued focus on cost efficiency as we accelerate the drive toward profitability, Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe said ahead of a Tuesday call with investors. The second quarter was marred by an increased number of customers who had ordered a Rivian vehicle, changed their minds and decided not to purchase their reserved EVs. About $558 million in losses came from write-downs on the value of inventory, including canceled orders, which company executives said they expect to decrease over time. Rivian ended the second quarter with $10.2 billion in cash reserves. The cash reserves will also help fund the companys future $5 billion EV factory an hour east of Atlanta, where Rivian plans to launch its new line of R2 crossover SUVs. The company expects to reveal the new vehicle in early 2024. The R2 will join the companys flagship R1T pickup truck and R1S SUV, which Rivian has been manufacturing at its first facility in Normal, Illinois. The second quarter was the first time the company produced more SUVs than pickup trucks. Scaringe added that the SUV is the more profitable model. Over the long-term, we believe consumer mix will be heavily weighted toward the R1S, the company said in a letter to shareholders. Competition among electric pickup trucks has heightened in recent months, while there are few three-row plug-in SUVs on the market. Rivian had one of the biggest initial public offerings in U.S. history in 2021, with share prices peaking near $130 and the companys evaluation surpassing $100 billion. Rivians stock plummeted last year as the company grappled with a semiconductor shortage, layoffs, recalls and lower-than-expected manufacturing numbers. Share prices ended Tuesday slightly up at $24.80. Cox Enterprises, owner of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, owns about a 4% stake in Rivian. During the first three months of the year, Rivian paused production to incorporate new drive unit technologies at its Illinois plant, which allowed each vehicle to need half as many semiconductors. Sourcing chips had been a headache for production, and company executives credited the shift for the faster production clip. Increasing our production is the primary lever in our path to profitability, the shareholder letter said. The incorporation of our in-house drive units has played and will continue to play an instrumental role in improving our production ramp and cost structure. The R2, which is expected to begin production in Georgia in 2026, will use the same drive unit as a foundation, the company said. Rivian has yet to begin vertical construction on its 2,000-acre project site in southern Morgan and Walton counties, which is expected to open in 2025, though the site is being graded in preparation. In exchange for the factory and 7,500 promised jobs, state and local officials offered Rivian an incentive package valued at $1.5 billion. Inside Rivian's test drive operation in Normal 092821-blm-loc-15rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-18rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-19rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-20rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-13rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-14rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-16rivianpickup 110421-blm-loc-ev 092821-blm-loc-5rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-6rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-7rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-8rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-9rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-10rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-11rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-12rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-1rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-2rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-3rivianpickup 092821-blm-loc-4rivianpickup Obamacare health insurance costs in Virginia are set to spike next year because the General Assembly budget impasse means a financial deal that cut premiums has now lapsed, a State Corporation Commission analysis shows. The analysis projects individual coverage would rise by 28.5% in 2024, after the reinsurance program the state financed in tandem with a much larger federal sum cut this years premium rates an average of 17.2% from 2022s average premium rates. The reinsurance program essentially is a backstop that covers the cost of health insurers biggest claims. That reinsurance had enabled the insurers to cut their premium rates to reflect the benefit of the backstop. According to the analysis, the main reason for the expected spike is the end of the reinsurance program, which this year reimburses health insurers for part of the cost reimbursing health insurers in the Affordable Care Acts individual market for claims between $40,000 and a $155,000 cap, so that the insurers are out of pocket for 70% of the cost. Reinsurance is a great program, which has had a big impact in keeping coverage costs down, said Doug Gray, executive director of the Virginia Association of Health Plans. The people who will be hit hardest by this are the ones who pay for all their coverage out of pocket, he said. People whose coverage is subsidized wont feel it as much as entrepreneurs, (people in) professions, small business owners, whose income is above the trigger for Obamacare subsidies, he said. The lack of reinsurance will drive up the costs insurers need to cover through the premiums they charge by 26.4%, the SCC analysis found. The budget impasse is over Gov. Glenn Youngkins push for $1 billion in tax relief. The version of the budget that the Republican-led House of Delegates passed included Youngkins tax cuts, while the version the Democratic-led state Senate passed did not, preferring to redirect the money to further increases in K-12 school supports and behavioral health, above the increases Youngkin proposed. Since then, House Appropriations Committee chair Barry Knight, R-Virginia Beach, has proposed a compromise that would convert most of Youngkins ongoing tax relief into one-time payments. He is asking Senate negotiators to turn some of their proposed spending increases into one-time expenditures. Senate budget negotiators have said theyll make a counterproposal. Tied up in that big dispute is the need for the money committees to say how large a reduction in premiums the state wants to target with the reinsurance. A bigger reduction target requires a commitment of more state money but draws down federal funds much faster. While analysis by the actuarial firm Oliver Wyland stated a 5% target would cost the state $41 million and draw down about $110 million of federal money, a 20% target would cost the state $56.5 million and draw down $498 million in federal money. In addition to the impact of the reinsurance programs lapse, relatively modest rises in hospital costs and somewhat larger ones for prescription drug costs also contribute to the SCC forecast of an average 28.5% increase in premiums. In contrast, Obamacare insurance for small groups, which did not participate in the reinsurance program, are set to rise 5.1%, in part because of increases in benefits which are set to raise insurers costs 1.4%. The reinsurance program for 2023 will likely require $331.9 million from the federal government by the end of this year, while Virginias contribution could be $43.4 million. The final figure depends on how often the reinsurance program kicks in to cover part of a claim. But since the General Assembly budget impasse didnt make clear what target the state is aiming for, SCC insurance regulators had to assume thered be no reinsurance, the analysis stated. According to state regulation, health insurance rates are supposed to generate enough premium income to cover at least 80% of claims, which is why insurers savings in claims costs from reinsurance are reflected in the premiums they charge. Proposed increases The analysis included rate filings for popular plans from several companies. HealthKeepers Inc., the states largest health insurer, for instance, filed for SCC approval of a 16.9% increase for its Anthem HealthKeepers Silver X plan in Richmond. A 40-year-old would pay $477.48 a month for this coverage next year. Cigna Health Insurance, asked for a 24.1% increase on its Connect Bronze 6500 plan. A 40-year-old in Richmond would pay $373.80 a month for this coverage next year. Aetna Health proposed a 28.3% increase for its 2024 Va Silver $ plan in Richmond, where a 40-year-old would pay $424.70 a month Sentara Health Plan proposed a 20.9% increase for its Sentara Direct Silver 6600 in Hampton Roads, where a 40-year-old would pay $472.78 a month next year. The SCC analysis said the individual market is healthy. More insurers are offering coverage in more places, with at least two companies in every part of the state, the analysis stated. Insurers are projecting a 10% increase in the number of people enrolling for coverage, thanks to American Rescue Plan subsidies, the analysis stated But it is concerned about the small group market, where enrollment is projected to increase by 2% next year but would still be 11% below where it was five years ago. A man arrested in connection with a July home invasion in Morganton has ties to a crime spree that stretches across the Carolinas. Carlton Javius Fuller, 23, of 106 S. Anderson St. in Morganton, has been charged with first-degree burglary, first-degree kidnapping, three counts of second-degree kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, robbery with a dangerous weapon and larceny, according to arrest warrants filed at the Burke County Courthouse. Fuller is accused of assaulting a man and holding him and his family hostage after breaking into a home on Tate Street on July 8, according to the warrants. Hes also accused of kicking the mans wife in the face. Charging documents say Fuller took cash, multiple gaming systems including a PlayStation 5, Xbox One S, two Nintendo Switches, an Xbox Elite controller and a wedding ring from the family while armed with a handgun and an AR-15. This isnt the only crime Fuller has been accused of committing. Officials with the Kershaw County Sheriffs Office in South Carolina say Fuller and 18-year-old Joshua Adam King Jr., of 6955 Knuckolls St. in Morganton, have been charged in connection with a July 14 break-in at Freedom First Outfitters in East Camden, S.C., according to information posted on the Kershaw sheriffs office Facebook page. Fuller and King have been charged with violent burglary, grand larceny, possession of a weapon during a violent crime, possession of a stolen vehicle and criminal conspiracy, the Kershaw sheriffs office said in a Facebook post. There are more charges. Just two days before that break-in, King and another suspect, 22-year-old Zachariah Davine Hines, of 552 White Oaks Drive in Morganton, are believed to have fired into an occupied dwelling in Rutherford County, said Capt. Chris Lovelace with the Rutherford County Sheriffs Office. Lovelace said it was around 5:30 a.m. when shots were fired into a home on Chase High Road. There were two adults and three children home at the time, but no one was hurt. An investigation led officers to identify Hines, King and a woman as suspects in the crime, Lovelace said. The next day, the Forest City Police Department was dispatched to a home on Harmon Street after it was reported a man walked up to a home and opened fire, according to a release from police. Brandon Gerard Holland suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene, the release said. Haley Elizabeth Davis also was shot multiple times but was expected to recover, the release said. The Harmon Street shooting has been connected to the shooting on Chase High Road where Hines and King were charged, the release said. Police said physical evidence connected the scenes. Forest City investigators said they still are running down leads in the shooting death of Holland, but Hines has been charged with other crimes. Forest City Detective Dylan Radford said Wednesday investigators swore to charges against Hines for three counts of trafficking fentanyl, nine counts of possession of a stolen firearm and a count of possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver marijuana. Fuller, King and Hines all are being held at the Burke County Jail. Fuller currently is being held under a $1.065 million bond, while King and Hines each are being held under $200,000 secured bonds. A Conover man will serve nearly nine years in prison after he was found guilty of drug offenses. Derrick Shay Bishop, 40, was found guilty of possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Bishop was convicted and sentenced during Catawba County Superior Court on Wednesday, District Attorney Scott Reillys Office said. Judge Gregory R. Hayes imposed the sentence for Bishop after the jury delivered its verdict following approximately 45 minutes of deliberation. The trial lasted two and a half days, the district attorneys office said. Bishops prison sentence was enhanced by his habitual felon status, the district attorneys office said. Bishop was previously convicted for financial card theft in Alleghany County in May 2014, possession of controlled substance on prison or jail premises in Caldwell County in July 2011 and breaking and entering in Catawba County in September 2002, the district attorneys office said. On Sept. 11, 2021, an officer from Conover Police Department responded to a report of an unconscious, suspicious person parked at a gas pump at a convenience store, the district attorneys office said. When the officer made contact with Bishop, he saw digital scales with a white, crystal-like substance in the passenger seat of the vehicle. Bishop admitted to using Suboxone earlier that day and that he was on probation out of Caldwell County, the district attorneys office said. When Bishop was searched, a pill bottle was found in his pants pocket. The pill bottle contained methamphetamine, alprazolam and Suboxone along with plastic bags. Bishop was arrested and placed in custody at that time, the district attorneys office said. The case was investigated by the Conover Police Department. Bishop will serve his period of incarceration in the custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections, the district attorneys office said. HICKORY The CVCC Construction Academy held a graduation ceremony on Aug. 4 at the CVCC Corporate Development Center. The CVCC Construction Academy is one of the Construction Boot Camps which were offered among 10 community colleges in the North Carolina Community College System. The community college system partnered with each college and the Carolinas Association of General Contractors to provide funding and support for these programs. Graduates included Carlos Andrade, Jacob Austin, Eric Binzha, Jonathan Boyd, Coy Bryant, David Bushatz, Leonel Callejas-Mendoza, Joshua Catterton, Kevin Chavez, Logan Cheatham, Joshua Cline, Zackory Evans, Edwin Godoy-Perez, Jose Ibarra, Benjamin Isserman, Noah Jamison, Evan Latchford, Fernando Lemus-Almanza, Nathan Maroulis, Jack Mikeal, Ryan Parham, Willie Parks, Jay Ramirez, Nathanel Richards, Daniel Russell, Matthew Schrader and Seth Yang. We are very excited about the success of our 2023 Construction Academy, said Gary Muller, executive dean of economic development and of corporate education. Each of our graduates will have the opportunity to continue their construction-related education by enrolling in classes in our CVCC School of Career and Technical Education. The success of this years program was the result of the strong support of our business partners, as well as the Carolinas Association of General Contractors and the North Carolina Community College System. Chris Reese, executive director of CVCCs K-64, was also present to celebrate the graduates. We are very pleased with this years Academy, Reese said, and excited that we were able to hold classes in both Taylorsville and Hickory so we could accommodate more students in our community. We are also looking forward to kicking off another Construction Academy in the upcoming months. A total of 80 people, including family, friends, and the colleges business partners, attended the ceremony. Andrew Gardner, Associate VP of Workforce Strategies at the NCCCS, was primarily involved with connecting the North Carolina community colleges to the proper educational resources, so that each construction academy could provide high-quality education and a promising construction career. Today is a testament to the extraordinary outcomes that arise from collaborative efforts, Gardner said of the CVCC Construction Academy ceremony. The partnership between the North Carolina Community College System, Carolina AGC, and Catawba Valley Community College has yielded an exceptional Construction Bootcamp program. We are striving for positive and successful outcomes to help close the gap and create a pipeline into the construction industry, said Sequilla McLean, apprenticeship manager for the Carolinas Association of General Contractors Foundation Inc. Theres never been a better time to begin a career in the trades. Wages are increasing and the high demand is creating incredible opportunities for individuals to launch a successful career in the construction industry. CVCC encourages aspiring students to join its next cohort in the fall. For more information about the CAGC Foundation Inc. and the Construction Boot Camp, visit https://www.cagc.org/Construction-Bootcamp/Home.aspx. For more information about Catawba Valley Community Colleges construction program, visit www.cvcc.edu or contact Gary Muller at gmuller@cvcc.edu or Chris Reese at creese147@cvcc.edu. At one time, donning a traditional Hmong phuam txoom suab required skilled hands to wrap the cloth into a headpiece, said Elizabeth Thao. Today it is easier, she said as she placed the purple, pre-wrapped cloth on her head. Thao said the phuam txoom suab is one of her favorite pieces she owns. It can be worn with most Hmong outfits today, Thao said, but it was originally worn by Hmong girls on their wedding day or during the Hmong New Year. Thaos passion for her culture is clear as she talks about articles of traditional Hmong clothing, decor and other items. Thao said she has collected an array of Hmong artifacts and wants to help preserve Hmong history and culture. Thao is a volunteer organizer for an upcoming fundraiser geared toward funding the Hmong Cultural Center in Newton. The goal is to help the Hmong Southeast Puavpheej (HSP) raise $500,000. The Hmong Southeast Puavpheej owns a 47-acre plot of land that is already cleared and ready to build on, Thao said. Thao said the goals of the cultural center are to preserve and teach Hmong history, as well as recognize Hmong veterans who fought in the Vietnam War and more. The United States recruited many Hmong people during the Vietnam War to fight North Vietnamese communists and the Pathet Lao, according to the Hmong American Centers history webpage. Those recruited disrupted communist activity, gave the U.S. intelligence about enemy operations and more. This particular aspect of the conflict is called the secret war, according to the Hmong American Center. In the aftermath of the secret war and the Vietnam conflict, the communist governments of Laos and Vietnam persecuted the Hmong, killing over 35,000 Hmong people, according to the Hmong American Center. Thousands of Hmong sought asylum in European and Western countries. Many came to the United States. Thao said a number of Hmong people settled in North Carolina because the mountains reminded them of Laos. What we envision is a place where we can educate not just our small community, but the larger community about who we are, where we came from, (and) why we ended up here, Thao said. Thao said her generation is losing some of the traditions of their culture. In particular, the Hmong language is slowly slipping away. Thao said her children understand Hmong, but usually respond with one-word answers. The cultural center will offer classes for reading and writing in Hmong, traditional embroidery, traditional Hmong food and more, Thao said. When MJ the Musical was first floated for Broadway before the pandemic, it was seen as a risky project. The central subject was controversial. Broadway was drowning in musical biographies and the Jackson estate was so known for its tight control of Michaels image and reputation that wise heads wondered how the writer Lynn Nottage ever would find the space for honesty. And even though the reputation of choreographer Christopher Wheeldon was formidable, Jacksons choreographic landscape not only was very familiar, but replicated time after time in one tribute show after another from Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas to the bars of Chicagos South Side. Yet there we all were at Chicagos packed Nederlander Theatre on Wednesday night for the official opening of the first national tour of what already is a certified hit in tough times on Broadway. The audience had the kind of diversity of which most theaters can only dream and the atmosphere was utterly electric. The action on stage was halted several times for standing ovations and from where I was sitting, I kept hearing various impromptu vocalizations of variations of wow. If you doubt the intensity and commitment of Jackson fans, of multiple generations, here was evidence of eternal love and of the ability of this show still to blow them away. The tour has a new cast: Roman Banks now plays Michael himself and hes quite different from Myles Frost, who originated the role on Broadway. Banks offers a moving, vulnerable, emotionally centered performance that doesnt so much try to dance every other MJ off the stage so much as try to get to the core of a man who never fully left his Gary boyhood. Its a notably sophisticated piece of musical acting and it raises the stakes of what we are watching. MJ the Musical is set during rehearsals for Jacksons Dangerous tour, an extraordinary extravaganza that hit the road between June 1992 and November 1993. It played to 3.5 million people in 70 stadiums and grossed $100 million (a huge sum at the time). Alas for Jackson, that was money that the profligate spender had pretty much already spent on the show, although HBO kicked in another $20 million for the cable rights. At that point, Jackson was at his artistic peak, experimenting with different sounds and also shifting from a hook-y repertoire to grittier, earthier music with more palpable themes of social consciousness and responsibility. Not insignificantly, nonmusical controversy had not yet fully taken hold of his life, as soon it would. Brandon Lee Harris, Josh A. Dawson, Roman Banks and cast in "MJ the Musical" at the Nederlander Theatre in Chicago. (Matthew Murphy/HANDOUT) The show uses an intrusive MTV interview crew in the rehearsal room as its device to get out the MJ story (in reality, Jackson filmed most everything he did himself). It portrays Michael as an artistic perfectionist who is a victim first of his own childhood and then of his own fame. Its hard on the family patriarch Joe Jackson, who comes off as a cruel and abusive philanderer who pushed his kids to breaking point and caused lasting psychological damage. There is real-world evidence of that, of course, although the elder Jackson died in 2018 and is not around to defend himself. One of the shows split-scene devices is that Joe, who appears mostly in pre-1992 flashbacks, is played by the same actor as a character named Rob, a gentle man who works for Jackson on Dangerous and worries about him. Thats a tough assignment, and I was knocked out by how well Devin Bowles pulled it off in this touring cast and how deftly he avoided cliche. Most of the rest of the characters, including the brothers, are ensemble roles, although the Jackson part is split three ways with Brandon Lee Harris playing a middle version and (at my performance) Josiah Benson playing the kid. Both are fine young performers, although the show is structured so that the Banks adult version runs the story. Roman Banks and cast in "MJ the Musical" at the Nederlander Theatre in Chicago. (Matthew Murphy/HANDOUT) If youre wondering, the show has some 40 of Jacksons hits baked in, with particular stage time given over to the epic songs from the albums Thriller, Bad and Dangerous. All the mostly digital environment from Derek McLane, Peter Nigrini (a genius) and Natasha Katz (ditto) has arrived in Chicago from the Broadway production. In the end, though, this jukebox show has turned into a hit because of one extraordinary achievement, and it belongs to Wheeldon. The movement in the show is recognizably in the Jackson gestalt, but its not a replication. Its a fresh, independent, complicated and often dazzlingly beautiful choreographic suite, as interpreted not by actors who dance but by dancers, first and foremost. Now that Ive seen it a couple of times, my admiration has only grown for how well Wheeldon satisfied the imperative of offering people the moves they think they came to see while at the same time extending everyones choreographic vocabulary, both presentationally and emotionally. Its a brilliant fusion of originality and reference, art and commerce, homage and the subtlest of challenges to the record. And its fabulous to watch, just like the King of Pop. Chris Jones is a Tribune critic. cjones5@chicagotribune.com Review: MJ the Musical (3.5 stars) When: Through Sept. 2 Where: Nederlander Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St. Running time: 2 hours, 35 minutes Tickets: $52.50-$132.50 at 800-775-2000 and www.broadwayinchicago.com NEWTON The sounds of gospel music will fill the air in downtown Newton on Monday, and music will go on through the weeknights until Wednesday as the 134th Soldiers Reunion activities continue. My family understands better than most that Catawbans love two things veterans and gospel music, said Michael Burke, who annually coordinates the free outdoor gospel event in downtown Newton. The gospel sing for the 134th annual Soldiers Reunion is set for Aug. 14 starting at 7 p.m. on the east side of Courthouse Square on the lawn of the 1924 courthouse (now the county museum of history). Burke encourages folks to bring lawn chairs and blankets for seating to hear featured performers the Cockman Family. The award-winning Cockman Family has developed a distinct bluegrass gospel style that has gained audiences throughout the Southeast. Band members include John Cockman Sr. on guitar, Caroline Cockman Fisher on lead vocals, John Cockman Jr. on fiddle and bass vocals, Billy Cockman on banjo and tenor vocals, David Cockman on bass, and Ben Cockman on guitar and mandolin and baritone vocals. Gospel Music Night for the 134th Soldiers Reunion is hosted by Burke Mortuary of Maiden and Newton. On Tuesday night, Aug. 15, the popular baby parade will lead off the night of fun. For the 33rd consecutive year the baby parade is being sponsored by Drum Funeral Homes of Conover and Hickory and Willis-Reynolds Funeral Home of Newton. The baby parade, as the red-white-and-blue lineup of youngsters in their decorated conveyances has been called for several generations, will be staged at 6 p.m. The perennial crowd-pleasing activity will take place on the east side of Courthouse Square and is free and open to the public, for both spectators and participants. No advance registration is required for participants. We consider the baby parade as a special part of our yearly activities, and the personnel of our funeral homes call it one of the highlights of the community service projects we participate in, the funeral homes executive, Greg Terry, said. There will be four age categories for the tiny participants, with a cash prize to be awarded to the best parade entry in each category. The age groupings are birth to 1 year old, 1 to 2 years old, 2 to 3 years old, and 3 to 4 years old. Local radio station personality Mike Sherrill will again serve as master of ceremonies for the parade. Judges will select the winning entries. Right after the baby parade the Embers will take the stage and provide downtown Newton with a blast of beach music at 7 p.m. Beach Music Night is sponsored by Bennett Funeral Service of Newton and Conover. The Embers boast numerous albums and single releases that span decades. Having been inducted into the South Carolina Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame and the South Carolina Beach Music Hall of Fame, The Embers are honored to carry the moniker of North Carolinas Official Ambassadors of Music. The Embers consider the genre of beach music as music with a memory and have been creating lasting memories since its inception in 1958. On Wednesday night, Aug. 16, the downtown Newton courthouse square will be full of energy as Pet Mania returns as well as the Shake Down band performing for the street dance. Pet Mania, sponsored by Conover Veterinary Hospital in conjunction with the City of Newton Parks and Recreation Department will be held on the west side of the square and will kick off at 7 p.m. There will be six categories: Pet/Owner Look Alike, Smallest Pet, Largest Pet, Best Trick, Best Costume, and Best Patriotic Costume. Contestants should come early to register at the event, or you can stop by Conover Veterinary Hospital this week and register there. The free street dance, sponsored by Covered Bridge Investment Group of Newton, will begin at 7 p.m. on the east side of the 1924 Courthouse. The Shake Down Band is a five-piece variety band located in the foothills of North Carolina. They perform a wide variety of music including beach, shag, rock, funk, Motown, country, and top 40. Soldiers Reunion is one of the oldest patriotic events in the nation not tied to the Fourth of July. It started in 1889 when residents of Catawba County gathered with local veterans in downtown Newton to register for pensions and to recognize their contributions. The first year the veterans marched around the courthouse square, demonstrating what they had been taught in the military, and there has been a parade ever since. Soldiers Reunion is still seeking businesses, nonprofits, church groups or clubs to have an entry in the parade on Reunion Day, Thursday, Aug. 17. You can register for the parade on the Soldiers Reunion website, www.soldiersreunion.org. " " This composite picture of the front pages of U.K. national newspapers shows various reactions to the interview of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex with Oprah Winfrey. PA Images via Getty Images Hot on the heels of season 5 of the royal drama "The Crown," Netflix has released a docuseries titled "Harry & Meghan," exploring the lives of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and "the challenges that led to them feeling forced to step back from their full-time roles in the institution," according to the Netflix description. "There's a hierarchy of the family. You know, there's leaking, but there's also planting of stories," Harry says in a trailer for the show. "The pain and suffering of women marrying into this institution this feeding frenzy." Meghan adds, "I realized, they're never going to protect you." Advertisement Some royal experts have a negative reaction to this tell-all. "This [series] is a full frontal, extremely destructive attack on the royal family the institution as well as members of those households," royal author Richard Fitzwilliams told the British tabloid MailOnline. "The effects of this will be felt in years to come." Will this docuseries do permanent damage to the British royal family or end up being forgotten about in a year? Only time will tell. But in the meantime, let's look at five of the most explosive and embarrassing British royal scandals that people are still talking about. They're listed in chronological order. Early in her law enforcement career in the late 1990s, Tessa Burchett had no intention of leaving the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department. But things changed when she agreed to help her future husband David, a deputy with the Cabarrus County Sheriffs Office whom she was dating at the time, build a home as part of Habitat for Humanity. She was on the roof of the home when Capt. Eric Baggarly, in passing, mentioned the prospect of her coming to work at the sheriffs office. I kind of laughed it off at first but then I went back to work and then I thought on it more, she recalled. Burchett, 50, began working with the Cabarrus County Sheriffs Office as a patrol officer in 1998. Twenty-five years later, after methodically working her way up the chain of command, including serving as a D.A.R.E. officer at several schools, Burchett was promoted to chief deputy in May, the first woman to hold the position. She reports directly to Sheriff Van Shaw and oversees the offices day-to-day operations. Shaw told the paper that Burchett has always been a strong leader at the Sheriffs office. In her new position, she will be able to have an even broader impact and help the Sheriffs Office meet the demands of our community and our profession. For me, being able to be here, its enabled me to have all worlds: Be a mom, be a wife, but have a successful career where I could kind of do it all, she told the Independent Tribune in a recent interview. Burchett is in rarefied air with the new role, as she is not just one of the most prominent females serving in a key leadership position in the county, but also one of the few female chief deputies in North Carolina. As best she is aware, there are only three other female chief deputies across the state and only one female sheriff: Paula Dance of Pitt County. My biggest goal is to earn the position, its not about the fact that Im female, she said. Its the fact that Ive done the work and Ive done what it takes. Burchett credits much of her success to the support of strong females within the sheriffs office who helped pave the way for her. These include Teresa Small, the first female captain, and Laura Heggins. She appreciates that the sheriffs office strives to make sure it has a diverse workforce that mirrors the population it serves. When responding to a situation, if an individual sees an officer and they recognize some sort of bond with that person, it may provide comfort in that time of need, she said. During her tenure with the sheriffs office, Burchett, like anyone working in law enforcement, has encountered her fair share of tough situations. But she has always led with empathy, making sure she was doing whatever she could to help those she serves. When times of trial, whether its crime or those scary big incidents, I want to be that source of comfort and be able to make people feel safe and secure, she said. Burchett said she never wants to feel desensitized to a situation that can sometimes feel routine, like responding to a home burglary, which can often be the worst day of another persons life. It can wear on you and its tough, she said. You see some of the worst of the worst But you have to be careful not to numb yourself so much that you lose that empathy. And you have to be there for them and remember what theyre going through and put yourself in their shoes. For Burchett, she is focused less on herself and more on making sure the roughly 400 sheriffs office employees are in the best positions to succeed. Teamwork is essential and being willing to put others ahead of yourself and trying to develop them so that your team is stronger, she said. Its not about any individual accomplishment, its about an overall accomplishment to make sure that our agency on the whole is moving forward and growing. Unity in the Community will be held from noon to 6 p.m. on the Bell Tower Green in Salisbury on Saturday, Aug. 12. It features school supply giveaways, music, food trucks and other vendors. Bring a lawn chair because seating is limited. Dr C.C. Wei: Europe is a highly promising place for semiconductor innovation, particularly in the automotive and industrial fields." The globe's biggest semiconductor fab, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, has committed 3.5 billion (A$5.88 billion) towards setting up a chip factory in Dresden, Germany. This is the first plant in Europe for TSMC, and its third outside Taiwan and China. Germany will contribute up to 5 billion, with Bosch and Infineon to own 10% of the plant. The Dutch firm, NXP, will own a further 10%, with TSMC owning the balance of 70%. The European subsidiary will be known as European Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and will cost about 10 billion to build, with the opening expected to be in 2027. The European Union recently approved the European Chips Act, a 43 billion subsidy plan to double its chipmaking capacity by 2030. Germany has also committed to paying a third of the cost for a wafer fabrication unit to be built by Intel in Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt state, 150km southwest of Berlin. This investment in Dresden demonstrates TSMCs commitment to serving our customers strategic capacity and technology needs, and we are excited at this opportunity to deepen our long-standing partnership with Bosch, Infineon, and NXP,TSMC chief executive Dr C.C. Wei. Europe is a highly promising place for semiconductor innovation, particularly in the automotive and industrial fields, and we look forward to bringing those innovations to life on our advanced silicon technology with the talent in Europe. The German move appears to be part of Western efforts to isolate China and prevent it from gaining access to the latest semiconductors. The US is attempting to prevent China from gaining access to advanced semiconductors and last October issued a new set of rules which prevent companies which do business in the US from selling the latest chips to China. There are also curbs on American citizens or green-card holders from working for Chinese semiconductor factories. Bosch board of management chairman Dr Stefan Hartung said: Semiconductors are not only a crucial success factor for Bosch. Their reliable availability is also of great importance for the success of the global automotive industry. "Apart from continuously expanding our own manufacturing facilities, we further secure our supply chains as an automotive supplier through close co-operation with our partners. "With TSMC, we are pleased to gain a global innovation leader to strengthen the semiconductor ecosystem in the direct vicinity of our semiconductor plant in Dresden. TSMC is also involved in building two fabs in Arizona, a 3nm plant and a 5nm plant, the former announced in November 2022 and the latter in May 2020. In a bid to attract manufacturing back to the US, Washington outlined a strategy last September, offering up to US$50 billion to companies which were willing to produce chips within the country. There are three different initiatives: large-scale investments in leading edge manufacturing, new manufacturing capacity for mature and current-generation chips and strengthening American leadership in research and development. Infineon Technologies chief executive Jochen Hanebeck said of the European plant: Our joint investment is an important milestone to bolster the European semiconductor ecosystem. "With this, Dresden is strengthening its position as one of the worlds most important semiconductor hubs that is already home to Infineons largest frontend site. Infineon will use the new capacity to serve the growing demand particularly of its European customers, especially in automotive and IoT. "The advanced capabilities will provide a basis for developing innovative technologies, products and solutions to address the global challenges of decarbonisation and digitalisation. NXP Semiconductors president and chief executive Kurt Sievers added: NXP is very committed to strengthening innovation and supply chain resilience in Europe. We thank the European Union, Germany, and the Free State of Saxony for their recognition of the semiconductor industrys critical role and for their true commitment to boost Europes chip ecosystem. "The construction of this new and significant semiconductor foundry will add much needed innovation and capacity for the range of silicon required to supply the sharply increasing digitalisation and electrification of the automotive and industrial sectors. COMPANY NEWS: Appdome, the one-stop shop for mobile app defence, announced that Bugcrowd, the only multi-solution crowdsourced cybersecurity platform, joined its new Mobile App Defense Project, a community program aimed at improving mobile DevSecOps for everyone. This collaboration aims to create a more secure mobile app economy, raise the bar on mobile app defence, and provide rapid, validated, continuous cyber and anti-fraud solutions for all mobile applications globally. As mobile application use and revenues continue to rise dramatically, mobile application security testing is a hot topic and fast emerging discipline in the economic landscape. Cyber threats, attacks, tools, methods, and techniques targeting Android and iOS apps, infrastructures, and users continue to evolve and proliferate. The Mobile App Defense Project is designed to harness the collective strength of the global pen testing community to provide state-of-the-art cybersecurity, anti-fraud, anti-malware, and other solutions in mobile applications worldwide. "Sophisticated threat actors are targeting mobile applications relentlessly," said Bugcrowd CEO Dave Gerry. "By collaborating in Appdome's Mobile App Defense Project with Bugcrowd's proven expertise in crowdsourced security, together, we are helping organisations adopt mobile applications with comprehensive protection against vulnerabilities. This collaboration exemplifies our shared commitment to driving excellence in mobile app security and our dedication to staying ahead of threat actors before they strike." Through this program, Appdome will collaborate with Bugcrowd, renowned for its expertise in identifying exploits and vulnerabilities, and conducting rigorous security assessments of mobile applications. By integrating the services and recommendations provided by Bugcrowd, Appdome aims to streamline cybersecurity delivery for all mobile apps. "Bugcrowd's multi-solution cybersecurity platform has always impressed me," said Appdome CEO Tom Tovar. "I love the agility and speed of delivery that Bugcrowd offers and that matches our ethos of getting cyber and anti-fraud defences out in the mobile app economy fast." As a community project, Appdome will also contribute its cyber and threat research to the community, as well as fund education, awareness, and other programs to benefit mutual customers and the broad cyber community defending mobile brands, businesses, and users. For more information on the Mobile App Defense Project see www.appdome.com. About Bugcrowd We are Bugcrowd. Since 2012, we've been empowering organisations to take back control and stay ahead of threat actors by uniting the collective ingenuity and expertise of our customers and a trusted alliance of elite hackers, with our patented AI-powered Security Knowledge Platform, built on the industry's richest repository of vulnerabilities, assets, and hacker profiles carefully curated over a decade. Our network of hackers brings diverse expertise to uncover hidden weaknesses, adapting swiftly to evolving threats, even against zero-day exploits. With unmatched scalability and adaptability, our data and ML-driven CrowdMatch technology finds the perfect talent for your unique fight. We aim to create a new era of modern crowdsourced security that outpaces threat actors by unleashing collective ingenuity and instilling confidence. Based in San Francisco, Bugcrowd is supported by Rally Ventures, Costanoa Ventures, Blackbird Ventures, Triangle Peak Partners, and others. Outpace threat actors before they strike with Bugcrowd, visit www.bugcrowd.com. Read our blog here. Bugcrowd: Ingenuity unleashed. About Appdome Appdome, the mobile app economy's one-stop-shop for mobile app defence, is on a mission to protect every mobile app in the world and the people who use mobile apps in their lives and at work. Appdome provides the mobile industry's only mobile application cyber defence automation platform, powered by a patented artificial-intelligence based coding engine, Threat-Events Threat-Aware UX/UI Control and ThreatScope Mobile XDR. Using Appdome, mobile brands eliminate complexity, save money and deliver 300+ Certified Secure mobile app security, anti-malware, anti-fraud, MOBILEBot Defense, anti-cheat, MiTM attack prevention, code obfuscation and other protections in Android and iOS apps with ease, all inside the mobile DevOps and CI/CD pipeline. Leading financial, healthcare, mobile games, government and m-commerce brands use Appdome to protect Android and iOS apps, mobile customers and mobile businesses globally. Appdome holds several patents including US patents 9,934,017 B2, 10,310,870 B2, 10,606,582 B2, 11,243,748 B2 and 11,294,663 B2. Additional patents pending. Cloud security company Kivera announced it has raised $5.1M AUD in seed funding from General Advance, Round 13 Capital and several angel investors, including Srinath Kuruvadi, Managing Director and Head of Cloud Security, JP Morgan & Chase; Ely Kahn, VP Product for Cloud Security and AI/ML at SentinelOne; Dimitri Sirota, Founder and CEO of BigID; and other senior executives from Amazon, Google, Shift5, ServiceNow, and Zscaler. With the funding, Kivera will invest in new talent as the company expands into the US and North American markets. According to Gartner[1], nearly all successful attacks on cloud services are a result of customer misconfiguration, mismanagement, and mistakes. Kivera aims to disrupt malicious attacks via cloud misconfigurations before they begin by taking a preventive approach to enforce controls across cloud resources. While most Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tools detect risks and misconfigurations tens of minutes to hours later, Kivera enables uniform and granular policy enforcement of controls across any cloud and any tool to eliminate the risk of misconfigurations and ensure the security of an organisations data. Kiveras Cloud Security Protection Platform (CSPP) disrupts the cycle of alerts by allowing developers to innovate within secure guardrails that prevent risks at build and run-time, minimising the number of alerts and improving their signal-to-noise. Kiveras platform offers capabilities across cloud protection, securing cloud data, simplified compliance, enabling cloud agility and granular cloud visibility. Kivera supports every major cloud provider, including Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, and MSFT Azure. "Security teams using cloud security tools like Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) are swamped in a backlog of misconfiguration detections that gets bigger every day," said Ely Kahn, VP of Product at SentinelOne and former Head of Product for AWS Security Hub. "Kivera's Cloud Security Protection Platform is poised to flip this paradigm and start moving customers from a detective to a preventative security posture by preventing these misconfigurations from happening in the first place. Cloud security teams are swamped in a backlog of alerts, and they deserve to get out of triage mode and take control of their cloud security by preventing risk up front, said Neil Brown, co-founder and VP of operations, Kivera. When dealing with sensitive workloads, the consequences of a single mistake, such as accidentally exposing a resource to the internet, can be considerable. Our recent funding is an endorsement that Kivera is tapping into specific customer pain. Were eager to change the way that cybersecurity teams think about cloud security beginning at the configuration level. Originally founded in Sydney by Neil Brown and Vernon Jefferson in 2019, Kivera recently announced the appointment of its Chief Executive Officer Joe Lea. In addition to this appointment, Kivera has also relocated its headquarters to New York to better service the North American market. For more information about Kivera, visit www.kivera.io. About Kivera Kivera revolutionises cloud security by enabling organisations to enforce security policies across the major cloud service providers rather than generating yet another stream of alerts. Founded in 2019, Kivera empowers organisations of all sizes to maintain a robust security and compliance posture while providing development teams with the freedom to adopt and quickly innovate with modern cloud computing services. Kivera - Your cloud. Your rules. www.kivera.io [1] Gartner, Solution Path for Security in the Public Cloud, Richard Bartley, 30 January 2020 Children, parents and clergymen picket a mobile classroom site at 73rd Street and Lowe Avenue in Chicago on Aug. 15, 1963. (Ed Wagner Sr. / Chicago Tribune) Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was arrested in Chicago 60 years ago this week. Then a 21-year-old University of Chicago student, Sanders was charged with resisting arrest during an Aug. 12, 1963 demonstration in Englewood along with comedian Dick Gregory and 54 others against the use of mobile classrooms in the citys public schools. Chicago Public Schools superintendent Benjamin Willis refused to allow Black children to be bused from their crowded neighborhood schools to those in white areas with more resources. Thats why the portable classroom trailers were nicknamed Willis wagons and became symbolic of the citys long struggle over segregated education. Demonstrations against Willis wagons were a precursor to a more sweeping civil rights movement in Chicago that drew the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to the city in 1966 the same year Willis resigned. Mobile classrooms began to be phased out of Chicago schools in the 1970s, but photographic proof of Sanders participation in the 1963 Englewood protest wouldnt be discovered in the Tribune archives until decades later when he was a Democratic presidential hopeful. Chicago history | More newsletters | Puzzles & Games | Todays eNewspaper edition Benjamin Willis, left, the new superintendent of Chicago schools, visits the school board and talks with Paul Edwards, center, vice chairman of the school board examining department and Lester Schloerb, aid to Dr. Hunt, on July 27, 1953. Willis will take over as the new superintendent on Sept. 1, 1953. (Jack Mulcahy/Chicago Tribune) Benjamin Willis, of Buffalo, N.Y., accepts a $30,000 per year (roughly $340,000 in todays dollars) offer to become superintendent of Chicago Public Schools. His decision, Willis said, was based on two considerations: first, the challenge presented by a position which offers greater opportunity in the number of persons to be served, and second, the professional advancement involved. Soon he would become the highest paid school official in the United States and the third-highest paid public official, trailing only President John F. Kennedy ($100,000) and New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller ($50,000). George E.C. Hayes, from left, Thurgood Marshall and James M. Nabrit join hands as they pose outside the Supreme Court in Washington on May 17, 1954. The three lawyers led the fight for abolition of segregation in public schools before the Supreme Court, which ruled that segregation is unconstitutional. (AP ) The Supreme Court rules unanimously in the Brown v. Board of Education case that separating Black and white children is unconstitutional because it denies Black children the 14th Amendments guarantee of equal protection under the law. The Brown decision overturned the courts Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which on May 18, 1896, established a separate but equal doctrine for Blacks in public facilities. In the field of public education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. The scene in the Board of Education auditorium on Oct. 16, 1961, as Louise Malis, president of the Chicago region PTA, spoke at a hearing on school overcrowding and double shifts. Representatives of 55 citizens organizations were on hand, but many were unable to speak when time ran out. (Cy Wolf/Chicago Tribune) A lawsuit filed on behalf of 32 Black children who attend five overly crowded elementary schools accuses Willis of drawing school districts on racial lines and seeks a court order to allow the children to register at desegregated schools outside their present school districts where there are vacancies. Dr. Willis is fully aware that by rigidly adhering to these district lines he has compelled the children to attend not only racially segregated schools, but schools at which they are only able to obtain a part time education, the lawsuit says. Willis denied the allegations of gerrymandering district boundaries to keep the Chicago school system segregated. Instead, he says the double shift classes where students attend school in half-day shifts are the result of an overwhelming increase in enrollment in those areas. Clergyman join the picket line on Aug. 15, 1963, at the mobile classroom site at 73rd street and Lowe avenue in Chicago. (Ed Wagner Sr./Chicago Tribune) Most of the empty rooms were in predominantly white neighborhoods, the report said, while largely Black neighborhoods had overcrowded schools. The report also found that Black schools received only two-thirds of the funding that white schools received. Willis says only 14 classrooms are empty and that the alleged 382 undercounted rooms evaporate into thin air when a proper and valid comparison is made. People picket the use of mobile classrooms that were placed next to Guggenheim Elementary School at 7146 S. Sangamon St. in Chicago in 1963. (Al Phillips / Chicago Tribune) Rather than allowing children to enroll at underutilized white schools that in many cases were only a few blocks away, Willis recommends the purchase of 150 trailer classrooms as a solution to overcrowding and double shifts in schools on the citys West and South sides. The more than $300 million budget for 1962 the largest in Chicago Public Schools history at the time earmarked funds for the 30-student portable trailers. The purchase of these trailers was approved by the board two weeks later. The job of the public school system is not integration but education of every child regardless of race, color or creed, Board president William G. Caples told reporters. Board of education members should quit and make room for others if they do not want to face up to the problem of eliminating segregation in the Chicago school system, said Rev. Arthur M. Brazier, pastor of the Apostolic Church of God and spokesperson for the Temporary Woodlawn Organization. Opponents of the mobile classrooms start nicknaming them Willis wagons after the controversial CPS superintendent. A man and woman hold hands as they are surrounded by Chicago police officers during a protest at 74th Street and Lowe Avenue in Chicago on Aug. 2, 1963. The protesters were against mobile classrooms, known derisively as Willis Wagons, being brought to Englewood. Editors note: this historic photo shows some age damage. (Steve Marino / Chicago Tribune) Where portable classrooms were installed, picket signs followed. On May 18, 1962, 1,000 students boycotted classes at Carnegie Elementary School. Protesters held an eight-day sit-in at the office of the school board president in July 1963. One of the most publicized protests was held in August 1963 when activists blocked the installation of wagons in a vacant lot adjacent to the railroad tracks at 73rd Street and Lowe Avenue. Willis resigned his position on Oct. 4, 1963, citing the school boards encroachment on his authority. A Superior court judge had ordered him to put into effect a pupil transfer directive adopted by the school board. That order was rescinded and Willis remained superintendent. Almost half of all Chicago Public Schools students roughly 200,000 boycott during a Freedom Day protest on Oct. 22, 1963. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta pose with neighborhood children in their new apartment at 1550 S. Hamlin Aven. in Chicago on Jan. 26, 1966. (Tom Kinahan/Chicago Tribune) Three years after delivering his I Have a Dream speech and two years after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, King moved to Chicago to lead what he called the first significant freedom movement in the North. King led marches including one through Marquette Park in which he was struck in the head by a rock and announced, I have never seen anything so hostile and so hateful as Ive seen here today and met with city leaders to discuss how to provide better schools and housing for Chicagos Black community. Spectators wearing Give Chicago A New Superintendent signs and Willis, show their opposing views on Supt. Benjamin Willis at a Board of Education meeting on May 27, 1965, in Chicago. (Jack Mulcahy/Chicago Tribune) Though he had promised previously to retire on his 65th birthday (Dec. 23, 1966), Willis says he will step down Aug. 31, 1966 to allow for a more orderly transition for his successor. People picket while police guard mobile school units at 73rd street and Lowe avenue in Chicago on Aug. 13, 1963. (Al Phillips/Chicago Tribune) Thirteen years after Willis left the Chicago school system, the U.S. Office for Civil Rights charges in a 102-page document that the Chicago Board of Education had systematically contained Black students in overcrowded, segregated schools, primarily through the use of mobile classrooms. After the federal agencys findings, the Chicago schools moved to create Magnet Schools and other programs that attract students from across the city. Magnet schools and other programs designed to draw students from across the city were created in response to the findings. A student at Columbus School on the West Side walks out of a Willis Wagon mobile unit at the school on Sept. 5, 2001. The units are in such disrepair that rats are said to be taking refuge under them. The Chicago Public Schools administration said that all such units were removed from schools, but the two at Columbus School are still in operation, despite calls from the school for improved facilities. (Alex Garcia/Chicago Tribune) No longer needed since school populations were decreasing, CPS Superintendent Joseph Hannon begins to eliminate mobile classrooms and introduces a multiphase plan to discontinue their use. Chicago police officers carry protester Bernie Sanders, 21, in August 1963 to a police wagon from a civil rights demonstration at West 73rd Street and South Lowe Avenue. He was arrested, charged with resisting arrest, found guilty and fined $25. He was a University of Chicago student at the time. (Tom Kinahan / Chicago Tribune) The black-and-white photo shows a 21-year-old Sanders, then a University of Chicago student, being taken by Chicago police toward a police wagon during a 1963 protest. An acetate negative of the photo was found in the Tribunes archives more than 50 years later, said Marianne Mather, a Tribune photo editor. Want more vintage Chicago? Thanks for reading! Join our Chicagoland history Facebook group and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicagos past. Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Ron Grossman and Marianne Mather at rgrossman@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com. Lyons, daughter of Dan and Krista Lyons of Winston-Salem and a member of Girl Scout Troop 2609, hosted an event for upper elementary through high school students teaching them the importance of dance and how it can affect a person's mental, physical and spiritual health. Participants at the event learned short dances and heard presentations on the benefits of dance. Lyons also created a website and YouTube channel with access to more information and videos about how dance and health correlates. A fire damaged Wednesday the Clarios battery plant in Kernersville, forcing the evacuation of nearly 400 employees, authorities said. No injuries were reported. Kernersville firefighters were dispatched at 11:45 a.m. to the plant at 2701 Powering Progress Drive, which is off West Mountain Street, said Chris Kauffman, a spokesman for the Kernersville Fire Department. When firefighters arrived at the scene, they saw heavy black smoke coming from a vent stack on the buildings roof, Kauffman said. The plants employees had evacuated the building before firefighters arrived at the scene, Kauffman said. It took firefighters 30 minutes to bring the fire under control. The fire was contained in a large dust collector and its hopper, Kauffman said. The plant manufactures batteries for vehicles. The Kernersville Fire Rescue Departments fire marshals office is investigating to determine how the fire started, the agency said in a statement. Firefighters from Kernersville, Winston-Salem, Walkertown, Forsyth County and Mineral Springs fire departments responded to the fire, authorities said. Kristine Sherman, a Clarios spokeswoman, confirmed Wednesday afternoon that no one was hurt in the fire. Our first priority was the safety of our employees, and were relieved to confirm everyone is safe, Sherman said. Were working closely with the local fire department to ensure the fire is out so we can determine the extent of the damage. Once weve assessed the situation, well have updates for our employees regarding when they should report to work, Sherman said. Finally, wed like to thank local first responders for their prompt response. HanesBrands Inc. confirmed Thursday it has eliminated at least 250 U.S. corporate jobs, sending the work to international operations as part of the ongoing Full Potential initiative. HanesBrands is Forsyth Countys lone Fortune 500 company and one of its largest private employers. Chief executive Stephen Bratspies noted the shifting of the 250 job positions during HanesBrands second-quarter conference call with analysts. The most recent example is after a broad review of our global operations, we reorganized and relocated approximately 250 corporate roles to leverage our talent pools outside the U.S., standardized processes, and reduced expenses by approximately $15 million, Bratspies told analysts during the second-quarter conference call. HanesBrands said it would not have additional comment on the job cuts, including when and where they occurred, other than what Steve is talking about on the earnings call. HanesBrands opened the curtain in May 2021 on its Full Potential initiative, which is focused on its core strengths: its globally recognized basic apparel brands, foremost Champion and Hanes; domestic, Central and Latin America and Asian supply chain; deep consumer loyalty; broad channel distribution; and global footprint. In January, HanesBrands confirmed it had cut an unspecified number of local jobs in response to current financial and sales challenges. At that time, some affected employees told the Winston-Salem Journal that corporate headquarters jobs were among those eliminated. Reuters has reported that 310 employees were affected by the January job cuts. HanesBrands has not confirmed or denied that reduction total. The last workforce count HanesBrands has provided listed about 2,300 employees in Forsyth County and about 2,800 in North Carolina, counting a distribution center in High Point. Based on those totals, the 250 corporate jobs would represent about 11% of the Forsyth workforce. If the 310 job cuts in January are separate from the 250 corporate job reductions, the local workforce count could be down as much as 24%. The basic apparel manufacturer disclosed taking $3.72 million in restructuring charges during the second quarter related to headcount actions and related severance. We continue to make structural changes to our agile supply chain and organization, as well as take costs out of the business, Bratspies told analysts. HanesBrands listed in its first-quarter earnings report on Feb. 2 that it had conducted a 13.5% reduction in its overall workforce, or from 59,000 employees in 33 countries to 51,000 employees in 32 countries. About 88% of the workforce, or 45,000, were reported to be outside the U.S. as of Dec. 31. Compared with the fiscal 2021 annual report, Hanesbrands domestic workforce has been reduced from about 8,000 to about 7,000. On Thursday, HanesBrands listed its overall workforce still at 51,000. Were taking a number of actions, including additional cost-saving initiatives, to improve performance, as well as actively looking across the business at additional options to enhance shareholder value, Bratspies said. Investor pressures HanesBrands has been struggling in recent months with a significant decline in demand for its products, particularly its Champion activewear brand. Its share price has slumped in response. The 52-week share price range is $3.85 to $11.75, with the share price closing Wednesday at $5.33. Looking at our Full Potential strategy, were progressing on or ahead of plan in several areas, while other areas are not delivering results in the timeline we anticipated, Bratspies said, citing U.S. Champion sales as an example of the latter. Were taking a number of actions, including additional cost saving initiatives, to improve performance, as well as actively looking across the business at additional options to enhance shareholder value. Bratspies said during the analyst call that the company would not provide comment about demands for major operational changes from shareholder and activist investor Barington Capital Group. HanesBrands disclosed the Barington initiative Tuesday following recent media reports, including by the Wall Street Journal, that the shareholder group was pushing the manufacturers management to take steps to reverse a major share price decline this year. As typical with an activist investor, Barington pulled no punches in its description of HanesBrands current operational status, citing its view that Bratspies and the board have been ineffective. It called for hiring a new chief executive and a major board membership shakeup. HanesBrands announced July 12 the promotion of Scott Lewis to chief financial officer, effective immediately, while retaining his chief accounting officer role. In February, HanesBrands announced the pending retirement of one board member and the appointment of a new member through its 2024 shareholder meeting. Krispy Kreme Inc. returned barely to profitability in the second quarter as a sales increase offset expenses associated with exiting its Branded Sweet Treats product line. The company had $84,000 in net income, compared with a $2.41 million loss a year ago and a $301,000 loss in the first quarter. The company took a $4.4 million charge related to the exit that it confirmed March 15. That was after taking a $13.4 million charge in the first quarter. The exit decision ended Krispy Kremes plans announced Dec. 5 for a $5.8 million expansion of its Winston-Salem operations, which would have added up to 180 jobs. Branded Sweet Treats consisted of pre-package doughnut products available in snack aisles in a small number of grocery stores, the company said. The product line debuted in 2020. The company said in March it is maintaining its Winston-Salem operations and nearly 300 employees. Krispy Kreme reported adjusted net income of $11.4 million for the second quarter. The company had no diluted earnings, compared with a loss of 2 cents a year ago. Adjusted earnings were 7 cents. The average earnings forecast was 7 cents by six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research. Analysts typically do not include one-time gains and charges in their forecasts. Second-quarter revenue was up 9% to $408.9 million. The U.S. represented $267.4 million in second-quarter revenue, along with $98.3 million in international sales and $43.1 million in its market development stream. However, its three main expense categories also were up significantly: operating expenses climbed 8.7% to $189.1 million; products and distribution costs rose 10.5% to $111.1 million; and selling, general and administration expenses increased 20.9% to $62.6 million. Mike Tattersfield, Krispy Kremes chief executive, said the sales increase was bolstered by our continued focus on expanding our hub and spoke model as we leaned heavily into our omni-channel and delivered-fresh-daily capabilities, as well as our international expansion strategy. Krispy Kreme began sales in Chile, Costa Rica and Jamaica during the second quarter. We continue to expect to open in three to five additional markets in 2023, and recently opened in Switzerland, which marked our first opening in Continental Europe, to be followed by France before year-end, Tattersfield said. Krispy Kreme reaffirmed for a second time this year its initial fiscal 2023 financial guidance in a revenue range of $1.65 billion to $1.68 billion. Thats compared with fiscal 2022 revenue of $1.53 billion. It still projects adjusted net income in a range of $52 million to $58 million, compared with $49.6 million in fiscal 2022. Adjusted earnings remain projected in a range of 31 to 34 cents, compared with 29 cents a share for fiscal 2022. For capital expenditures, Krispy Kreme plans to spend between $105 million to $115 million, or 6.6% of revenue. Thats compared with $111.7 million in fiscal 2022, representing 7.3% of revenue. Floridas Department of Education, under recently revised standards to its Black history curriculum, requires middle school students to learn how the enslaved developed skills for their personal benefit. High school students also will be taught about the 1920 Ocoee Massacre, including violent acts committed against and by African Americans. With little surprise but much fanfare Floridas revised 216-page Black history standards were tailor-made for the cacophony known as the 24-hour news cycle. This contemporary drama, which on the surface falls within the predictable zeitgeist of Americas historical racial narrative, abandons more penetrating analysis. Aside from advocating that Americas institution of slavery served just short of a feeder system whereby the enslaved were the beneficiaries of a 19th century antecedent of the Job Corps, Floridas revised standards are misleading and insulting. Suppose one offered in a school curriculum that Jews working with Dr. Josef Mengele in the Auschwitz concentration camp acquired skills that later proved beneficial. Wouldnt such a suggestion be equally misleading, and just as insulting? The reference to violent acts committed against and by African Americans during the 1920 Ocoee Massacre is also misleading. This promotes a false equivalency. Between 30-35 African Americans were murdered and Black homes and businesses were destroyed in order to prevent African Americans from voting. Given the similarity of impulses, do the Florida standards also teach violent acts committed against and by the founding generation? Some defenders of Floridas revised standards argue that the participation of African American scholars legitimized the process. Does the inclusion of African Americans absolve Floridas Department of Education from offering misleading pedagogy? Perhaps the assertion is a form of new math that views African Americans as monolithic and if one agrees it must hold true in totality. Floridas revised standards, like those in most other states, treat African American history as an adjunct position. The institution of slavery was not a standalone enterprise. It was woven into the initial fabric of the American experiment that cannot be presented as linear. How can slavery, or more broadly African American history, be understood outside the larger American narrative? Doesnt a judicious understanding of American history require that one hold its high and low moments with equal dexterity? The institution of slavery was not based on happenstance. Codified by the Constitution, cheap, exploitable labor, based on racial capitalism, would prove critical to Americas economic model. The contradiction is rooted in Americas overt commitment to the civic virtue of liberty and equality while owning human beings, practically annihilating the indigenous population and disenfranchising a large segment of the white population. The unintended consequences occurred when the original draft of the Constitution included the Three-Fifths Compromise, which gave the institution of slavery constitutional legitimacy while placing the nation in moral tension with itself. The counter-intuitive proposition to be a nation committed to liberty and equality while sanctioning the ownership of human beings led to a series of compromises culminating in the Compromise of 1850, which made the federal government duty-bound to return fugitive runaways. If Floridas revised standards are a continuation of the states sophomoric attempt to prohibit, namely white students, from experiencing guilt or shame, it would be better to remove history altogether from its required curriculum. American history is not a series of accounts all concluding with some variation of Gary Cooper riding off into the sunset with Grace Kelly. History is an amalgamation of good and bad moments. Floridas misleading and insulting revised standards perpetuate our collective desire to remain shackled to historically arrested development. Thats not the path pursued by a great nation. A 41-year-old Lincoln woman who physically assaulted a 10-month-old girl she'd been babysitting, leaving the infant with a life-threatening and life-altering head injury, went to prison for it Thursday. Lancaster County District Judge Kevin McManaman sentenced Crystal Demers, also known as Crystal Woods, to 30 to 50 years in prison for first-degree assault and child abuse causing serious injury. In June, following a trial to a judge rather than a jury, McManaman found her guilty of the charges. The felony child abuse charge, he said, involved Demers not getting the girl medical attention sooner despite her clearly needing it. "You were doing some searching on the Internet to try to find what was wrong. But you had been there and had inflicted the injuries yourself," McManaman told her, calling it a "violent act." He said the child won't have anywhere near the life that she would have had given what Demers did. "It is indeed a profound tragedy," McManaman said. Demers turned down a chance to say anything. But her attorney, Tim Noerrlinger, asked him to consider probation or a sentence that would allow her to parole sooner, to begin repairing her relationship with her own children, taken away from her as a result of her actions. In the affidavit for Demers' arrest, Lincoln police said early March 4, 2021, they were called to a local hospital about the 10-month-old with a severe head injury. Demers and one of her roommates had brought the girl to the hospital with bleeding on her brain, an injury so dire she required emergency surgery in Lincoln because doctors didn't believe she would survive a trip to a hospital in Omaha. After surgery, the infant was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Omaha. A month later, she remained there in serious condition. In court records, police said the girl's mother had left her in Demers' care for about a month before the injury. Demers ultimately admitted late on the morning of March 3, she had struck the child with significant force on both sides of her head with open hands, simultaneously, then threw her on the couch, causing the infant to fall on the floor. Demers noticed the girl was lethargic at about 6 p.m. and tried to wake her until her roommate returned home around midnight, saw the girl had an obvious head injury and convinced Demers they needed to take her to the hospital. On Thursday, Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Jim Rocke clarified that the state was asking for significant, consecutive sentences on the charges to acknowledge both the assault and the fact that she didn't seek any medical care for the girl for more than 12 hours. "I know the court's aware of how serious this case is. It very, very easily could've been a death case," he said. Today in history: Aug. 10 1962: Spider-Man 1977: David Berkowitz 1988: Ronald Reagan 1993: Ruth Bader Ginsburg 1995: Oklahoma City bombing 2006: Terror Plot 2013: Missing California Teen 2018: Stolen Airplane Crash 2019: Jeffrey Epstein A 67-year-old Nebraska man was taken by helicopter to a Lincoln hospital after he touched a live transformer while working on it Wednesday afternoon in Hickman, according to the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office. The West Point man, a licensed electrician, was working as a contractor for the Lancaster County town when he was shocked by an electrical current at 7,200 volts while working on the transformer near Third and Main streets at around 2 p.m. Wednesday, Chief Sheriff's Deputy Ben Houchin said. "The electricity went into his arm and out his knees," Houchin said. Medical crews flew the man to CHI Health St. Elizabeth with burns. He is expected to survive the shock, Houchin said. The transformer that shocked the man was connected to its power source by three underground circuits only two of which had been disconnected when the man touched the transformer, Houchin said. "He is very lucky," Houchin said, adding that such shocks often end fatally. Photos: Firefighters in action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Nick Cusick, who was appointed to the Lincoln Airport Authority Board in May 2012, resigned his seat following the board's July 25 meeting. Cusick, the CEO of Bison Inc., cited some budgetary disagreements as his reason for stepping down. "I was kind of in a different position from some of the other board members on some key issues," he said. "And so I felt that ultimately, my energy and my effort wasn't going to pay the kind of dividends that I wanted for the airport. "I thought it would be better if they went forward without me." Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird will nominate Cusick's replacement. Cusick said he called Gaylor Baird before he announced his decision to give her time to appoint someone. The City Council must approve her nomination, said T.J. McDowell, the mayor's chief of staff, adding that she will make finding the best nominee a priority in the next week. We dont want a delay on this important process, McDowell said. Cusick, who was appointed by then-mayor Chris Beutler after Ed Raines moved out of state, was elected twice and had two years to go in his term. "Eleven years," he said. "That is enough and we've accomplished some good stuff in that time." In his time, he was the linchpin of a board that oversaw the largest budget in the airport's history $78.3 million this fiscal year. The board also levied property taxes in recent years to help pay for the airport's terminal renovation and expansion project. And as air carriers were discontinuing service to Lincoln, Cusick is proud of helping to usher in the Red Way era, which in its first two months of operation has had its ups and downs. "I think we've had some successes and some failures," he said. "Anytime we're doing something that's very entrepreneurial that's what this was, very entrepreneurial there is risk-taking. "If Lincoln is to get more service it will take this kind of outside-the-box thinking." Red Way has sold a lot of tickets in its first two months, but abruptly discontinued flights to Minneapolis, Atlanta and Austin, Texas, this month. In addition, the air carrier quickly tapped more than $928,000 from the $3 million pot formed by the city of Lincoln and Lancaster County from American Rescue Plan Act funds. "It was bigger than we'd hoped, but not surprising," he said. 15 US airports getting major renovationsand tips for navigating them 15 US airports getting major renovationsand tips for navigating them Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) LaGuardia Airport (LGA) Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) Orlando International Airport (MCO) Kansas City International Airport (MCI) Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) Denver International Airport (DEN) San Diego International Airport (SAN) Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) Portland International Airport (PDX) Prosecutors with special counsel Jack Smiths team asked a judge on Thursday to set a Jan. 2 trial date for former President Donald Trump in the case charging him with plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss. If U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan agrees with prosecutors proposal, the case against the early front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential primary would open right before the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, which was fueled by Trumps false claims about the election. The proposed date is also just under two weeks before the first votes are set to be cast in the Republican presidential race, with Iowas first-in-the-nation caucuses scheduled for Jan. 15. Prosecutors said in court papers that they want the case to move to trial swiftly in Washingtons federal court, setting up a likely battle with defense attorneys who have already suggested they will try slow things down. Smiths team says the governments case should take no longer than four to six weeks. A January 2 trial date would vindicate the publics strong interest in a speedy trial an interest guaranteed by the Constitution and federal law in all cases, but of particular significance here, where the defendant, a former president, is charged with conspiring to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election, obstruct the certification of the election results, and discount citizens legitimate votes, prosecutors wrote. Trumps lawyers have not submitted their proposed trial date. The judge is expected to set the date during a court hearing scheduled for Aug. 28. Trump is already scheduled to be in a courtroom in the heat of next years presidential primary season, with a March 25 criminal trial scheduled in a separate case in New York stemming from hush money payments made during the 2016 campaign. The former president is scheduled to go to trial in May in another case brought by Smith over his handling of classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump faces charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States for what prosecutors say was a weekslong plot to subvert the will of voters and cling to power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. The indictment accuses Trump of spreading lies about election fraud he knew were false to sow distrust in the democratic process and pressuring Vice President Mike Pence and state election officials to take action in a brazen attempt to cling to power. Trump, who pleaded not guilty last week, says he is innocent and has portrayed the investigation as politically motivated. His legal team has indicated it will argue that he was relying on the advice of lawyers around him in 2020 and had the right to challenge an election he believed was rigged. Trump has already said he will push to have the 2020 election case moved out of Washington, claiming he cant get a fair trial in the heavily Democratic city, which voted overwhelmingly for Biden. But its extremely difficult to convince a judge that a jury pool is so biased that a trial must be moved. And judges in Washington, including Chutkan, have repeatedly rejected similar efforts by Trump supporters charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Smiths Washington case accuses Trump of orchestrating schemes to enlist slates of fake electors in seven battleground states won by Biden to sign false certificates representing themselves as legitimate electors and try to use the investigative power of the Justice Department to launch sham election fraud probes. When his efforts failed, prosecutors say, he badgered Pence to disrupt the ceremonial counting of electoral votes before Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, the day an angry mob of his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol. In an early glimpse into the intense legal fighting to come in the case, prosecutors and defense attorneys have been arguing over a protective order that would place rules on what Trumps legal team can do with evidence handed over by the government as they prepare for trial. Protective orders are not uncommon in criminal cases and are usually imposed with little legal wrangling. But Trumps lawyers say prosecutors proposal which seeks to prevent Trump and his lawyers from publicly disclosing evidence handed over by the government is too broad and would restrict his First Amendment rights. They are urging the judge to impose a more limited protective order that would restrict only the public sharing of information deemed sensitive, like grand jury materials. In urging the judge to impose the order, prosecutors noted Trumps tendency to use social media to talk about the legal cases against him and expressed concern that he would share sensitive information that could intimidate witnesses. Chutkan is expected to hold a hearing on the matter on Friday in Washingtons federal court. It comes as Trump is also gearing up for a possible fourth indictment, in a case out of Fulton County, Georgia, over alleged efforts by him and his Republican allies to illegally meddle in the 2020 election in that state. The county district attorney, Fani Willis, a Democrat, has signaled that any indictments in the case would likely come this month. QUITO, Ecuador An Ecuadorian presidential candidate known for speaking up against corruption was shot and killed Wednesday at a political rally in the capital, an attack that comes amid a wave of startling violence in the South American country. President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and suggested organized crime was behind his slaying. Villavicencio was one of eight candidates in the Aug. 20 presidential vote, though not the frontrunner. I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished, Lasso said in a statement. Organized crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law. Ecuadors attorney generals office said a suspect in the assassination of Villavicencio died of wounds after being arrested by authorities. The killing comes as Ecuador is rattled by rising violent killings and drug trafficking. Videos on social media appear to show the candidate walking out of the event surrounded by guards. The video then shows Villavicencio entering a white truck followed by gunfire. The politician, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement. Patricio Zuquilanda, Villavicencios campaign adviser, said the candidate had received death threats before the shooting, which he reported to authorities. He called on international authorities to take action against the violence, attributing it to rising violence and drug trafficking. The Ecuadorian people are crying and Ecuador is mortally wounded, he said. Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society. Other candidates echoed Zuquilanda in their demands for action, with former Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner saying in a news conference, We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears and we do not deserve to live line this. We demand that you do something. Villavicencio was one of the most critical voices against corruption, especially during the government of former President Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017. He filed many judicial complaints against high ranking members of the Correa government, including against the ex-president himself. Early accounts show that several others were injured in the attack, though authorities did not confirm how many. He was married and is survived by five children. A Lincoln man has lost his lawsuit against all 93 county election commissioners in Nebraska, high-ranking state officials and an Omaha election software company over vague and unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud. In a recent decision, Lancaster County District Judge Andrew Jacobsen denied Rick Hill's motion to amend his complaint for a third time. The proposed new version bumped up the money damages he sought from $10 billion in his earlier complaint to $44.7 billion and contained rambling allegations of rigged elections, sought to decertify the 2020 and 2022 elections and challenged the passage of the gambling referendum, among other things. "I ask of the court for an immediate removal of all Nebraska State, County, City, School Boards, Regents, County Commissioners, Legislatures and any other office in the Legislative and Executive Branches, and declare the last three elections corrupted as an act of war," Hill wrote. At a hearing in December, Hill asked the judge to allow him to amend his complaint, admitting the current one had been done "on a rant." It included QAnon theories alleging that every U.S. president since Ronald Reagan has been "heavily saturated in pedophilia with the exception of Trump," that COVID-19 was a scam to remove Trump from office and that President Joe Biden wasn't elected but "installed," along with 90% of the Lincoln City Council. Attorney Patrick Guinan, who represented a bulk of the election commissioners, said most of the allegations involve the 2020 election and Hill failed to file notice of a tort claim in the counties first, as required to get in the court's front doors. The same day of the court hearing, Secretary of State Bob Evnen, Nebraskas chief election officer, said an expanded, statewide audit of the 2022 general election that included a hand count of more than 48,000 ballots cast found just 11 discrepancies, for a 0.023% error rate. But in January, when Hill's brief was due, he filed a third amended complaint instead without permission from the court. In the spring, Jacobsen dismissed Hill's earlier complaint against Nebraska's governor, secretary of state, attorney general, speaker of the Legislature, election officials in all 93 counties and Election Systems & Software, which alleged they had allowed "unconstitutional elections." Jacobsen described Hill's complaint as a "rambling preamble of the plaintiffs political and social commentary." "A recurring theme is that the elites are rigging our elections," the judge said. Jacobsen said, if true, such fraud would indeed be greatly concerning. But Hill's objection goes to process, not the form of government. And claims of fraud must be stated with particularity under state statute, he said. "That standard is clearly not met here," Jacobsen said. And he said he did not believe that Hill could cure those problems by amending his complaint, which he denied officially in late June. But he stopped short of approving sanctions against him, as sought by the defendants. "This lawsuit is meritless. But that does not necessarily mean that it is frivolous," Jacobsen wrote. But he warned Hill if he filed another lawsuit with the same issues, he would consider sanctions. Photos: Scenes from Lincoln's May 2 General Election A 30-year-old Nebraskan and an 8-year-old boy died Wednesday after a semi-truck driven by a 21-year-old man crossed into oncoming traffic and crashed into the family's car near the border of Clay and Adams counties, according to authorities. Nicole Pavelka of Davenport was driving east with four children in her car on U.S. 6 at about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday when westbound traffic on the highway came to a stop, Nebraska State Patrol spokesman Cody Thomas said in a news release. Justin Zoerb, of Hazard, was driving west on the highway in a semi-truck when he failed to slow down for the stopped westbound traffic that was waiting for a vehicle to turn from the highway onto Road A, Thomas said. Zoerb drove into the highway's eastbound lanes and crashed into Pavelka's Buick Enclave, Thomas said. Pavelka and the 8-year-old boy, Ryker Schlichtman of Davenport, died at the scene. Three other children in the car ages 11, 10 and 4 were hospitalized with serious injuries, Thomas said. The news release described the car's occupants as family members but didn't describe how they are related. Pavelka had been engaged to Ryker's father, Thomas said. Authorities arrested Zoerb for an active traffic warrant out of Hitchcock County, where court filings indicated the 21-year-old skipped a June court appearance for two misdemeanor charges, including failure to stop and weigh. Zoerb was taken to the Adams County jail for the warrant. The State Patrol is still investigating the crash. Photos: Firefighters in action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action Photos: Firefighters in Action University of Nebraska President Ted Carter will be eligible to receive a $144,000 bonus after meeting nearly all of the goals set for him by the Board of Regents in the 2022-23 academic year. A boost in state appropriations to the NU system over the next two years, increases in research expenditures and university-wide improvement in retention rates were all high points in Carters performance review. But in light of a $58 million budget shortfall faced by the NU system, Carter plans to donate any bonus which is funded through the universitys state-aided budget to charity, a spokeswoman for the university system said. Carter plans to keep the target of his charitable giving anonymous, according to NU. According to the regents Aug. 17 agenda, Carter made progress on eight Core Leadership Pillars established during the 2019 search that led to his hiring, and also scored high on a series of accountability measures over the last year. The accountability measures considered by regents include: * The public launch of the Only in Nebraska: A Campaign for Our Universitys Future fundraising effort, which has raised $1.9 billion to date, roughly 65% of the $3 billion goal. * A 3.7% increase in state appropriations for the next two years. NU will receive an additional $18.1 million in state funding for 2023-24, and a $31.1 million increase in 2024-25. * Increased participation (14.6%) from Nebraska businesses on Handshake, a portal that allows businesses to connect with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. * Overall improvement in first- to second-year retention rates across the NU system. At UNL, retention increased by 1.8%; retention rates were up 4.5% at UNO; at UNK, retention rates fell 1.5%. * Research expenditures across the NU system jumped 9%, or by more than $50 million, from the 2021-22 year. Regents also commended Carter on his active participation in several global and national organizations focused on advancing higher education. In April, Carter was appointed as a commissioner to the Council on Higher Education as a Strategic Asset, which brings together leaders from businesses, government, higher education, the military and nonprofits to focus on global competitiveness and economic prosperity. Carter was also elected to the American Council on Educations Board of Directors in March. The organization helps shape public policy on higher education in the U.S. He also joined the executive committee of the Council on Competitiveness, which includes members from academia, business, labor and research to set an agenda to further entrepreneurship and commercialization of research. In all, Carter scored a combined 99.3% on the two sets of metrics considered by regents, which entitles him to the full bonus this year. Last August, regents awarded Carter a $105,000 bonus for the 2021-22 academic year, which was less than the $140,000 he was eligible to receive after he hit 89% of his performance benchmarks. A contract extension approved by the board last year will keep Carter at NU through 2027. It also raised his base pay from $934,600 to $962,638, and kept a deferred compensation package equal to 11.5% of his base salary. Carters renegotiated contract also included a second deferred compensation account that deposited $340,000 in private funds into an account beginning earlier this year. Carter can access that money starting in January 2024. When the board convenes next week, regents will hear presentations from the 2023 Presidents Excellence Award winners announced in April: * Rick Bevins of UNL won the Outstanding Research and Creative Activity Award. * Betty Love of UNO and Geoffrey Talmon each won the Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award. * Dejun Su of UNMC was named the Innovation, Development, and Engagement Award winner. * Howard Gendelman of UNMC won the Faculty IP Innovation and Commercialization Award. * UNO health Careers Resource Center was named the Inclusive Excellence Collaboration Award winner. * UNLs School of Biological Sciences won the university-wide Departmental Teaching Award. Top Journal Star Photos for August TOWN OF NORWAY The Racine County Sheriff's Office arrested Brandon M. Price of Milwaukee on Wednesday in connection to a two-year investigation that began with a 26-year-old man's fatal overdose. The identity of the man who died in the Town of Norway in May 2021 has not been released. According the Sheriff's Office, police investigating the overdose found evidence that the supplier was an alleged dealer with the street name of Tru, later identified as Price, 37. Racine County undercover drug agents reportedly tried to purchase heroin from Price but were allegedly sold fentanyl and heroin laced with fentanyl. Fentanyl, which has been linked to a national epidemic of overdoses, is a synthetic opioid that often is added to heroin, marijuana and other substances to boost their addictive effects. Agents searched Price's apartment in Greendale, a village in Milwaukee County, on Tuesday and reportedly found crack cocaine, powder cocaine, fentanyl, an AR-15 rifle, a loaded handgun and $362,421 in cash. Price was booked into the Racine County Jail and was charged Thursday with multiple felonies. The Racine County district attorney charged Price with three counts of maintaining a drug trafficking place, three counts of manufacture/delivery of fentanyl and one count of manufacture/delivery of heroin. The defendant appeared in Racine County District Court on Thursday, where the judge set a $100,000 cash bond. Price's preliminary hearing is set for Aug. 17. Police in Milwaukee County will seek charges related to the weapons and drugs allegedly found in Price's apartment, according to RCSO. Photos: Tranq, the new fentanyl additive worsening Americas opioid epidemic The Hoy Audubon Society is hosting a field trip on Saturday, Aug 19. This is the 15th year the organization is hosting an outing. Hoy will be going as a group to Horicon, known as one of Wisconsins premiere birding hotspots. Everyone is welcome to join this field trip for free. If youre interested in going and would like to carpool or caravan, meet at the Highway 20 Park and Ride lot in Racine County at 7:30 a.m. on Aug. 19. If you would like to meet the group at Horicon, the group will meet at the Auto Loop Trail parking area off of Highway 49 at 9 a.m. on Aug. 19. Note: This is the parking lot located at the Redhead Hiking Trail Trailhead; meet at the northside of the lot. From that spot, the group will caravan to bird other locations, organizers said. In past years, the trip has included a stop along Highway 49, where weve parked our cars and birded from the side of the road. Typically, participants will set up their spotting scopes to look for shorebirds on the mudflats, including Black Terns, Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Black-crowned Night-Herons, American White Pelicans, coots, Pied-billed Grebes and a variety of ducks. You may get to see a Northern Harrier flying low over the marsh, organizers said. Other stops have included Dike and Ledge roads, where we have birded from alongside our cars. Previous groups have also driven the Auto Tour Route, stopping for a walk on the boardwalk or along Old Marsh Road, where you may see Green Herons, Least Bittern, Belted Kingfishers and Eastern Kingbirds. In addition to food and cold drinks, participants are advised to bring binoculars, a bird book, a spotting scope if you have one, sunscreen, insect repellent, a hat or a visor, and a rain jacket just in case. Horicon is an incredibly beautiful place, and it is really fun to look at birds, especially birds that we dont get to see everyday, with people who know what theyre looking at, trip organizers said. For more details or to ask questions, contact the Hoy Audubon Society at hoyaudubon.org. 1. Yes. As long as the basic ordinance is still intact, its smart to adjust to the local market. 2. Yes. If part of the ordinance isnt workable, it doesnt make sense to force the issue. 3. No. City staff worked hard on those design standards; its not fair to scrap them now. 4. No. Developers and builders shouldnt get to set their own rules. Keep the standards intact. 5. Unsure. Its best if the city and developers work together, but the city has the last word. Vote View Results Daniil Frolov, center, teaches a class about radio frequency and cryogenics to students in the U.S. Quantum Information Science School program at Fermilab in Batavia on Aug. 9, 2023. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) Forget about summer school as a time to make up a flunked course, or get a requirement out of the way. For a group of students at Fermilab, summer school means learning about one of the most cutting-edge technologies on the planet: quantum information science. On the grounds of the huge underground particle accelerator in Batavia, students Monday began learning about the obstacles and possibilities of applying subatomic principles to advanced technology. About 150 students, including scientists, researchers, college students and industry professionals, are spending two weeks at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory to learn theory and practical skills. Theyll focus especially on superconducting quantum platforms for computing and sensing. The study of quantum mechanics already has helped lead to the invention of transistors, lasers and magnetic resonance imaging, or MRIs, in health care. Now, the first U.S. Quantum Information Science School aims to educate the next generation of researchers on quantum device design and fabrication; quantum computing algorithms; quantum sensing; and cryogenics, the behavior of materials at very low temperatures. Only half of all applicants were accepted. The students hope to apply what they learn to their future work. Leticia Madureira, a doctoral student at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, hopes to develop new algorithms for quantum computer simulations to analyze molecular systems. Leticia Madureira, center left, takes notes for an integrated lecture about Qiskit, an open-source software toolkit for quantum computing, in the Illinois Accelerator Research Center at Fermilab in Batavia during the U.S. Quantum Information Science School program on Aug. 9, 2023. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) Anastasia Simonova, a student at the University of California at Berkeley, plans to study quantum hardware in graduate school. Im very excited to be here, she said. Im pretty new to this field. Most people are pretty new to quantum information science, which has mostly developed in the past couple of decades. The field attempts to take advantage of the unique and perplexing properties of subatomic particles, which act as both particles and waves, and which seemingly act on each other instantaneously, though they are far apart a phenomenon that Albert Einstein called spooky. Matt Hollister points out details of a dilution refrigerator, a cryogenic device that provides continuous cooling, to students in the U.S. Quantum Information Science School program at Fermilab in Batavia on Aug. 9, 2023. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune) While classical computing uses bits of information containing either a 1 or 0, quantum bits or qubits are like a coin flipped in the air they contain, in effect, both a 1 and 0, to be determined once its observed. That should make quantum computing able to handle exponentially more complex problems, like encryption for national security or predicting the structure of new medicines. But scientists must clear many hurdles before large-scale quantum computing and networking are practical. To take on that challenge, Fermilab is part of the Chicago Quantum Exchange a collaboration also involving the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Wisconsin. The school draws on experts in academia and the private sector, and from five U.S. Department of Energy national labs, including Fermilab and its Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center, where students will have access to qubits, quantum devices and platforms. The program seeks to create a quantum ecosystem and workforce to lay the groundwork for the developing industry. U.S. Reps. Bill Foster and Sean Casten, both suburban Democrats, spoke at the opening of the school, which is federally funded. Its going to be a wild ride, Foster, a former Fermilab scientist, told the students. Thank you for jumping on this roller coaster. HOLDREGE The Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation Districts board of directors approved a contract with RJH Consultants, Inc., of Englewood, Colorado, at Mondays monthly board meeting. Approving the contract with RJH is in preparation for a project to repair the slope protection on the face of Kingsley Dam at Lake McConaughy. Tom McDougall, an engineer with RJH, provided the board with several alternatives for slope protection repairs that his firm analyzed. The alternatives ranged in cost from more than $250 million to completely replace the existing slope protection with pre-formed concrete blocks to a $15 million approach that would be only a temporary repair and apply a short-term solution to those areas showing current damage. The consultant noted that recent inspections determined that the existing riprap lacks proper bedding over a much larger area of the dam than just the areas where damage is apparent and that a full dam refacing will ultimately be required at some point. In between were alternatives with estimates that ranged from $40 million to $200 million for other options to provide long-term slope protection for the dam. The recommended alternative is for replacement of the riprap with concrete-faced soil-cement, tentatively estimated to cost $50 million, which provides a cost effective long-term solution. The $505,000 contract with RJH provides a scope of work, schedule and the fee to get to a final design for the project by mid-December 2023. During the winter and spring of 2021-22, sustained high winds resulted in a series of wave events that displaced existing riprap and subjected materials in the underlying filter blanket to erosion. The existing slope protection consists of riprap (large granite rocks and concrete jackstones), a layer of smaller bedding material and sand/gravel that comprise the shell of the dam. These external layers protect the core of the dam, which is composed of watertight silts and clay. The damaged areas are currently located at water levels at or above elevation 3,240 feet, which is about six feet above the current water elevation. Water levels at Lake McConaughy will continue to decline over the remainder of the irrigation season, providing more space between the water and the damaged areas. Central officials stressed that the dam is safe and the work to reface the dam is part of Centrals responsibility to ensure that into the future. Rochelle Jurgens, Centrals controller and finance manager, provided the board with a list of potential financing options for such a repair project. One option includes issuance of bonds based on Centrals financial reserves and use of some money from the reserves. Issuing bonds will result in some changes for the District, including starting earlier negotiations for future power generation contracts, and pledging all future net revenues (including those from irrigation deliveries and hydropower generation) to bond repayment. The board also approved a budget amendment moving an existing $2 million in the 2023 budget that was anticipated for the localized dam repairs to contracted services to begin the engineering process for the full refacing project. Also at Mondays board meeting: Civil Engineer Tyler Thulin reported that Lake McConaughys elevation is currently 3,233.9 feet, or 54.8 percent of capacity. Inflows were 1,050 cubic feet per second (cfs) on Monday morning and releases were 1,700 cfs. Hydraulic Project Operations Manager Cory Steinke reported that construction of the new bridge over the Supply Canal below Midway Lake is underway. Irrigation and Water Services Manager Scott Dicke reported that recent rainfall in Centrals service area has reduced demand for irrigation deliveries. Also, he said, Central will begin releasing more water from Elwood Reservoir in preparation with the upcoming project to install a toe drain system below Elwood Dam. Contractor mobilization is to begin this week and the project should begin around Sept. 1. An inmate at Cook County Jail was beaten to death in the hospital wing, according to sheriff officials. Jail staff responded to commotion at 9:06 a.m. Tuesday and found two inmates fighting, a statement from the sheriffs office said. Staff immediately separated them and began performing lifesaving measures on Johnny Hendrix III, 29, of Rockford. Hendrix was taken by Chicago fire department ambulance to Mt. Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy on Wednesday confirmed that he died from assault injuries and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiners office. Authorities did not say why Hendrix was housed in the hospital wing, or whether the second inmate involved would face criminal charges. The sheriffs office is investigating and has requested the assistance of the Illinois State Police Public Integrity Task Force. Hendrix was taken into custody Saturday on three outstanding criminal warrants and a charge of criminal trespass to property. nsalzman@chicagotribune.com KEARNEY Nebraska is poised for economic growth, but one thing is holding it up: Affordability. Until Nebraska can make housing and child care more affordable, the state could be locked in a holding pattern while skilled professionals and workers seek their fortunes in other states. That was the consensus Monday among 50 participants when the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a listening session for the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce. Alex Reuss, the state chambers executive vice-president for legislation and policy, said 12 listening sessions already have occurred and shes pushing for another 12. Reuss said the concerns shared at Kearneys session sounded a lot like the sessions that preceded it. In every corner of the state, Nebraskans are seeking ways to lower the cost of housing and child care. Affordable housing definitely is a priority, said Derek Rusher, president of the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce. Dorim Vaipan, administrator of the Central Nebraska Veterans Home, said his facility is fighting to fill 35 full-time vacancies, but until the housing puzzle is solved, bonuses and signing incentives arent enough to reverse the states shortage of workers and professionals. Nebraska has a number of programs that encourage builders to explore less costly housing, but until those programs become more widely used, builders will continue to focus on large, single family homes instead of the multiple family homes and other lower-priced alternatives, said several participants. State Sen. Theresa Ibach of Sumner, who represents District 44 in the Nebraska Legislature, said the Rural Workforce Housing program the dream child of former state Sen. Matt Williams of Gothenburg has a lot of promise. Ibach said lawmakers pressed for more funding for affordable housing during the 2023 session, but Gov. Jim Pillen resisted, saying money for affordable housing is going unused in several programs. Ibach said more Nebraskans and local development agencies need to apply for the unused funds. In many instances, the key to receiving state financial assistance is a local match for the money. Ibach said residents in her hometown will pool resources to obtain funding for housing so Sumner, population 250, can grow. Some of the participants in Mondays listening session said affordable child care is a difficult challenge, but solving that problem could help ease the states tight labor market. Several participants said if quality affordable child care were available, many couples could be fully employed. As it is, one partner must stay home with children while the other works because affordable child care is difficult to find. Rusher, Kearneys chamber leader, said its troubling to consider that Kearney is the only growing city in central and western Nebraska. Reuss suggested that a regional approach might be a strategy that helps solve some of Nebraskas most pressing economic development issues. Reuss foresees regional coalitions that share ideas and resources to solve problems and grow the states economy. Until Nebraska tackles its tough issues, the states 2.5% to 3% unemployment rate will continue to hamper business growth and chronic job vacancies will continue. Nebraska has 35,000 to 50,000 job openings, Reuss said. Kenosha community activists and area residents decried the actions of some local police officers who they said brutalized and detained the wrong person at an Applebees restaurant. The incident, last month, occurred after a hit-and-run crash at Green Bay Road and Highway 50. The mans arrest was captured on a video by a restaurant patron and has since gone viral on social media. The incident has sparked headlines across the region. The crash happened at about 11 p.m. on July 20 and vehicles ended in the parking lot at the Applebees, 6950 Green Bay Road. In the video, the man who is being subdued tells police to let him go while a woman screams to someone telling them to get the baby. The man and the baby are then seen on the floor when the man tells at least two officers to let him go and someone appears to pull the child away. Officers continue to wrestle the man to the ground until they handcuff him behind his back. However, the video appears to show an officers arm and elbow moving repeatedly over the man while the person recording tells them to stop. Another officer tells the man recording the scene to step back. Officers from Kenosha and Pleasant Prairie police departments were on scene. Officers later learned they had arrested the wrong man along with the woman he was with. Tanya McLean, executive director of Leaders of Kenosha, organized a protest Wednesday evening at the Public Safety Building, 1000 55th St. Leaders of Kenosha is a nonprofit organization that advocates for equity and social justice. McLean was accompanied by members of local groups Congregations United to Serve Humanity (CUSH), the Kenosha Coalition for Dismantling Racism, the NAACP Kenosha Branch and the Urban League of Racine and Kenosha. Were meeting today because weve all watched the video that is circulating about a young African American male who was assaulted by a police officer at Applebees in Kenosha, McLean told the 30 to 40 people in attendance. We really are disheartened by how the police officers chose to go to that family. There was just a lack of de-escalation. Everything happened so quickly. It elevated so quickly. It just didnt seem that anyone was a voice of reason that had a uniform on. The only person that seemed to have a voice of reason was the Applebees employees, you know, trying to get the baby. But the police officers, it just does not appear that they were using good judgement and thats just not OK. McLean also said they want to know why police officers are not being respectful to community members here in this city. What is it that makes you feel as if you need to be so overly aggressive, so confrontational? McLean said. What is it that just frightens you because we know that when people are fearful they act in irrational ways. So what is it that youre so afraid of? When you see me, when you see another person of color, what is it thats rattling you so bad that you feel like you have to escalate something to that level? McLean said she has been in contact with the Illinois man. McLean demanded any police body camera footage of the arrest be released to the public. Now we have another situation where a young man was assaulted with a baby in his arms and harm was brought to the baby. That is unacceptable, McLean said. What is it that youre so fearful of that you have to use that level of force against a young man, a baby and his wife? Angry, deeply saddened The Rev. Monica Cummings, vice president of CUSH, said that when she watched the video of the incident she was first, angry, and then, deeply saddened. She opened her remarks with a moment of silence. (I was) heartbroken that an incident where a Black man experienced the trauma of being forced to the ground by police for no reason while eating with his family, Cummings said. Heartbroken that a Black baby now has to live with the trauma of experiencing and witnessing her father being yelled at and her little Black body being yanked at by police. Heartbroken that a mother had to experience the trauma of standing by helpless while her partner and baby were being traumatized and hearing her baby cry and powerless to do anything about it. Cummings said I dont think its too much to ask for police to be guardians to the communities they are sworn to protect and serve and not military-minded warriors who behave like an occupying force and treat certain citizens like enemy combatants. Alex Whitaker, vice president of the Kenosha Coalition for Dismantling Racism, said the brutality in the viral arrest video was unacceptable. The Coalition for Dismantling Racism calls on the police department to initiate a thorough and transparent investigation into the details of that arrest, Whitaker said. We also request a third-party report as to whether use of force training protocols were followed by the arresting officers that night. ... We also call for a third-party assessment of the current culture within the Kenosha Police Department, Whitaker said. Recent and not-so-recent interactions between officers and the community reveal the possibility of a culture of us vs. them that has arisen and possibly impacts the interactions of officers and those they are there to serve, especially as it relates to historically marginalized groups. The purpose of our calls is reform. Organizers asked the dozens in attendance to write to their locally elected officials. The man was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting an officer. The woman was arrested on the same charges and for possession of THC. Police investigating incident Kenosha Police Chief Patrick Patton said Sunday he was aware of the video and that the incident is undergoing an internal investigation. Patton said the Wisconsin Department of Justice requires police to perform a use of force review. This use of force didnt meet that requirement, but us as a department, we go a step further by policy and we investigate all uses of force, Patton said, referring to the department policy which was initiated in 2022 and put in practice by early January. The process involves completing use of force logs, after an initial investigation indicates that such force is used, Patton said. That triggers an internal investigation for which a use of force expert is in the process of reviewing the incident. He said that process began the day after the incident occurred. The case was assigned to the Kenosha Police Departments office of professional standards. Patton has said that officers were following a lead in good faith that led to the couple in the restaurant that had matched the description of suspects in the hit-and-run. Patton said he did not know what injuries that man had, but said that pepper spray was involved while officers subdued him. The man was transported to a local hospital following the incident. People fled. They went into Applebees. We went and made contact with the Applebees employees and they pointed them out, Patton said. The chief said the man and woman matched the description given to police. Patton said the review will look to determine aspects that may have gone wrong or right, disciplinary action that may or may not be taken and whether additional training is needed. Ultimately, we were able to determine that they werent them, they just matched the description, Patton said. He said according to some Applebees employees, the couple had been acting nervous. However, the real suspects, the actual suspects that did commit the hit-and-run, were hiding in the bathroom, Patton said. IN PHOTOS: CUSH anti-Semitism cleansing walk in Downtown Kenosha on April 2, 2022 CUSH CLEANSING WALK CUSH CLEANSING WALK CUSH CLEANSING WALK CUSH CLEANSING WALK CUSH CLEANSING WALK CUSH CLEANSING WALK CUSH CLEANSING WALK Cleansing Walk State Rep. Bob Rita departs after testifying in the perjury trial of Tim Mapes, former chief of staff to House Speaker Michael Madigan, Aug. 10, 2023, at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) During ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigans long reign, his chief of staff Tim Mapes placed in his office a pointed piece of artwork. The sign, as observers recalled, featured a quote from the classic film The Wizard of Oz, reading: Nobody gets in to see the wizard. Not nobody, not no how. Who in the analogy did you understand the wizard to be? a federal prosecutor asked Rep. Bob Rita, who testified in Mapes perjury trial Thursday. Madigan, Rita answered. Rita, D-Blue Island, was on the witness stand Thursday for the second time this year in one of the sweeping federal cases tied to Madigan and his Democratic allies. Mapes is charged with lying to a grand jury in an attempt to thwart the investigation into alleged wrongdoing by Madigan and his longtime friend, powerhouse lobbyist Michael McClain. When questioned under oath in 2021, Mapes said he couldnt remember anything substantive about Madigan and McClains relationship. His defense asserts that he honestly could not recall certain matters, and that having a hazy memory is not a crime. Asked on Thursday to describe the former power structure at the top of the Illinois House, Rita drew a triangle in the air above him. At the highest point, he said, was Madigan. Then, moving his hands to the lower corners of the triangle, on either side were Mapes the gatekeeper and Madigans confidant, McClain. Rita testified in a thick Chicago accent and frequently sipped water. He often turned his head to cough. At one point, he said he was carrying Jolly Rancher candies with him. McClain has already been convicted in the ComEd Four trial, which also featured Rita as a witness. Madigan and McClain both await trial in a separate racketeering case. They have pleaded not guilty. Tying the three men together Mapes, Madigan and McClain is key to prosecutors claim that it was completely implausible for Mapes not to have known about Madigan and McClains actions. Rita even showed jurors on a blueprint of the speakers suite how McClain often sat by himself working in a conference room situated between the offices of Madigan and Mapes. While Mapes held meetings next to the Wizard of Oz sign or gave orders on the House floor, McClain, a longtime lobbyist, was often seated on a bench outside the speakers offices, Rita said. Jurors were shown a Tribune photo of McClain holding court from the bench facing the Capitol rotunda as he looked up at three other lobbyists standing nearby. [ Tim Mapes perjury trial: Evidence seen and heard by the jury ] Lobbyist Mike McClain, seated, talks outside House Speaker Michael Madigan's office on the last day of the Illinois General Assembly at the State Capitol in Springfield on May 31, 2016. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune) Mapes derived significant power from his proximity to Madigan, and he wielded it assertively, Rita said. He ran a tight ship, Rita said, with a frown on his face and a slight waver in his voice. He ran the House, he kept the trains on time, he kept a lot of moving parts moving. State Rep. Bob Rita departs after testifying in the perjury trial of Tim Mapes, former chief of staff to House Speaker Michael Madigan, Aug. 10, 2023. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) Rita took the stand after receiving a letter from federal prosecutors confirming he was not a target of the investigation, he testified. While Ritas testimony was detailed about the goings on in Springfield, it was not as vivid as his under-oath statements during the ComEd Four trial, when he said Madigan ruled his caucus through fear and intimidation. Jurors on Thursday heard the first of what is expected to be many recordings of wiretapped phone conversations. Prosecutors played audio of a May 2018 conversation between Rita and McClain discussing gambling legislation. Whats our next move? Rita asked McClain, kicking off a casual conversation. Twice, McClain tells Rita he will have to check with Mapes on how to go forward. Listen to the audio Even after Mapes was ousted in June 2018 over a #MeToo scandal, he still showed an awareness of what was happening in Springfield, and his attention to detail was sharp, Rita said. While on the stand, Rita also described how Madigan told Rita in 2013 that Rita would be taking over sponsorship of sweeping gambling expansion legislation. Rita said Madigan indicated he had a conflict of interest with the legislation, a concern that generally prompts lawmakers to steer clear of such a bill. The nature of the conflict was not disclosed in court. Shortly after Madigan informed Rita of his new responsibility, Rita testified, McClain appeared outside the speakers Capitol office door. As I was walking out of the office, Rita said, Mike McClain was standing there. He (Madigan) indicated that Mike McClain would assist me and guide me. Gambling legislation, particularly one that included a new casino in Chicago and elsewhere around the state, was one of the thorniest matters to navigate in Springfield because there are so many different special interests seeking input, including horse racing and established riverboats. Rita said McClain was made available so I would be guided in the right direction. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Schwartz immediately asked: The right direction according to whom? The speaker, Rita replied, an answer that signaled Madigan could have influence over the legislation despite his potential conflict of interest. Prosecutors underscored that point when they asked Rita about McClain seeking to add a last minute amendment to far-reaching utility legislation when it passed Dec. 1, 2016. McClain, who was a ComEd lobbyist, had by that time established a rapport with Rita because they had worked closely for nearly three years on gambling legislation. Rita, the utility bills sponsor, was initially opposed to the late amendment when it popped up in a committee hearing because he was unaware it was coming and did not know how it would affect the overall bill. But Rita testified he dropped his opposition when McClain talked to me when the hearing was going on and gave assurances that the amendment would be OK, that Rita could move to adopt it. Mike McClain wouldnt give me advice that would be adverse to what the speaker would want, Rita said, providing another glimpse of Madigans potential influence over legislation even when his fingerprints are not directly on it. In fact, Madigan was recorded as not voting on the final roll call when the overall bill passed. Also Thursday, prosecutors called witnesses to familiarize jurors with the grand jury process, taking them through the procedures in fine-grain detail. Former high-ranking federal prosecutor Gary Shapiro took the stand, as well as the official court reporter who took down the transcript of Mapes 2021 grand jury testimony transcripts that are usually subject to intense secrecy. Flashes of that transcript were displayed on the screen in the courtroom, including the record of an admonishment to Mapes: If you tell the truth youre in good shape, the questioner told Mapes, according to the part of the transcript shown on screen. If you lie, theres a prosecution for perjury potentially in your future. And Mapes testimony was key to federal authorities anti-corruption probe, testified Brendan OLeary, former head of the FBIs public corruption squad in Chicago. Madigan was well known for being cautious about using the telephone, and OLeary said finding out what Madigan was doing required going through his de facto deputies. No cellphone, no email, no text. He relied on his tight inner circle, OLeary said. ... Thats how he communicated. Through people he trusted. Thats how his orders went out. Outside jurors presence, Mapes attorneys revealed that McClain had in fact been interviewed by FBI agents more than once unrelated to the ComEd affair. McClain spoke to authorities in 2013, 2014 and 2016, but U.S. District Judge John Kness barred mention of that in front of the jury, saying it was not relevant to whether Mapes lied. In cross-examining OLeary, the defense set the stage for what will likely be a key part of their argument: that McClain was a notorious blusterer. So even though Mapes had heard McClain say he had assignments from Madigan, Mapes couldnt be certain that was actually true thus, he wasnt lying when he said he didnt know about any such assignments. In an attempt to paint McClain as unreliable, defense attorney Andrew Porter showed OLeary transcripts of wiretapped conversations in which he made wild claims. Porter said, according to transcripts, McClain also suggested then-Gov. Bruce Rauner might pay to up $100,000 in exchange for a report making Madigan look bad. Porter also pointed to a transcript in which he said McClain accused someone of shaking down Major League Baseball. In opening statements Wednesday, prosecutors alleged Mapes deliberately lied and misled a federal grand jury because he wanted to protect the boss. [ Former top Michael Madigan aide on trial: What you need to know and whats next for Tim Mapes ] The Mapes defense team countered he did his level best to answer truthfully but could not remember details about Madigans activities with McClain, partly because Madigan jettisoned Mapes in June 2018. Madigan asked for Mapes resignation from three major roles chief of staff, House clerk and executive director of the Madigan-run Democratic Party of Illinois after a downstate staffer accused him of sexual harassment and fostering a culture of sexism, harassment and bullying. When Madigan first pushed Mapes out, one political operative told the Tribune that the existence of the Wizard of Oz sign in Mapes office represented a nod to the chief of staffs heavy-handed gatekeeper role. [ ComEd Four bribery trial: What you need to know and whats next ] mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com rlong@chicagotribune.com Former Ambassador to Indonesia Kim Chang-beom, regarded as the strongest candidate for the role of full-time vice chairman at the Federation of Korean Industries / Korea Times file By Park Jae-hyuk The growing importance of business relations with foreign nations is inducing Korea's business lobby groups to give key posts to former diplomats, instead of businesspeople or former officials of the finance and industry ministries, according to industry officials, Thursday. The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) is reportedly pushing ahead with hiring a former foreign ministry official as its new full-time vice chairman, once Poongsan Group Chairman Ryu Jin is appointed as the business lobby's new chairman after its general meeting on Aug. 22. Among the nation's five largest business lobbies, the FKI is the only institution giving the co-CEO seats to both a chairman and a full-time vice chairman. Former Ambassador to Indonesia Kim Chang-beom, who has a four-decade-long career as a diplomat, is currently mentioned as the strongest candidate for the new full-time vice chairman of the FKI, although the business lobby has remained silent on this issue. Kim also studied with Ryu at Seoul National University's Department of English Language and Literature during the late 1970s. After the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the FKI has given the seat of its full-time vice chairman mostly to former executives of privately owned enterprises, such as Samsung and LG. The only two former government officials who assumed the role during the period were former Vice Science Minister Cho Kun-ho, who built most of his career at the finance ministry, and Kwon Tae-shin, former head of the Prime Minister's Office, who also established most of his career at the finance ministry. The FKI's latest attempt to hire a former diplomat is interpreted as part of its efforts to become a global think tank by strengthening international relations. When Ryu was recommended as the new chairman, the federation especially emphasized his experience, knowledge and networks on the global stage. Korea Importers Association (KOIMA) Executive Vice Chairman Kwon Ki-chang, who previously served as ambassador to Ukraine / Courtesy of KOIMA This transcript appears in the August 11, 2023 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. [Print version of this transcript] Prof. Alberto Prestininzi Climate: Between Emergency and Knowledge This is the edited translation of the transcript of the Alberto Prestininzis presentation to Panel V, Scientific Ecology and Assessing the Climate Challenge; Eradicating Poverty and Hunger in the World is the Priority, of the Schiller Institutes July 89 conference, On the Verge of a New World WarEuropean Nations Must Cooperate with the Global South! Prof. Prestininzi is a geologist and Director of the CERI Research Center at the Sapienza University of Rome. Subheads have been added. He used a large number of his graphics, which can be seen in the presentation available in the video of Panel V here. View full size Schiller Institute Prof. Alberto Prestininzi Good afternoon. I am glad to be here. I am going to speak in Italian because I have to talk about numbers, which are subject to difficult pronunciation, because we are talking about billions and billions of euros, which we European citizens are paying for a number of things. There will be a simultaneous translation in English and, from English, into German and French. The Italian CLINTEL (Climate Intelligence) group, which is part of the European foundation headed by Guus Berkhout, with 1,500 scientists around the world, has been counterposing a scientific analysis of climate change, understood as a scientific analysis to what others are saying. For years we Italiansteachers, scientistshave tried to speak, in the rare occasions that the media have opened their doors, which are usually closed, to us. We have tried scientific language, but that has not been comprehensible; so we decided to change course. I therefore edited a book titled Climate Dialogues, Between Emergency and Knowledge, written by sixteen scientists, which, while maintaining a minimum of scientific language, aims at explaining with numbers, to Italian citizens initially (the book has come out in Italian, and is about to come out in several languages). We wanted to give numbers, to make people understand, especially at a time when crises, as we have heard about in Germany but also for Italy and other nations, are beginning to weigh on the pockets of citizens around the world. These names below are the Italian scientists registered with CLINTEL. We first wrote a petition which we sent to the President of the Italian Republic, saying that There is no climate emergency. We are facing a pollution emergency, but the media in a very clever way, I would sayand Greta Thunberg knows something about thismix the cards very well, confusing climate with pollution, which are two totally different issues. We first wanted to warn the State President who decided, for certainly justifiable reasons, not to respond to 200 Italian scientists who signed this petition, to care about pollution, and not about climate, which has nothing to do with pollution. Well, we then produced the book. By the way, this book was among the finalists in an Italian competition. The book highlights three basic points. The assumptions we made are three. They are these: 1. There is no climate emergency, and we prove it. 2. It is facts, not hypotheses, that determine scientific truth; we are confusing people a lot here, because they pass off hypotheses as scientific truth; they are two different things. 3. It is knowledge, and not hypotheses, that should guide policy to make choices; policy choices that have a great economic impact on people should be made on the basis of knowledge, not hypotheses. For the first point, we have borrowed a statement by this great woman, Marie Curie, who by the way is the only person who has won two Nobel Prizes, one for chemistry and one for physics. You all know what this woman suffered, together with her husband, for the discovery of radiation. Marie Curie once said, In life nothing is to be feared, one must only understand. Now it is time to understand more, so we can fear less. That is the slogan, because this climate thing is based on fear, and we will see that in a moment. View full size CC/Henri Manuel (restored by FMSky and Bammesk) Dr. Marie Curie, c. 1920 Without boring you too much, I will state the difference between hypothesis and knowledge: Research is based on hypotheses, which are the result of thinking, but few hypotheses turn into knowledge or scientific truth; only those that turn into scientific truth become knowledge, and knowledge never ends. Ten Years to Save the Planet? So, we have to make sure that policy-makers listen to science-knowledge, not hypotheses, because today this paradigm has been totally subverted. How has this been done? With the role that the information system plays (Point 3 above): Information is now so pervasiveand we will see this, giving the example of some important Italian newspapers, which here in the chart have been translated into English, have different dates, and always speak on behalf of science, reciting the gospel of the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] by heart. Without knowing why, they say, the scientists say so.... Starting, for example, from 1989: We have 10 years to save the planet. From 1989 [we arrive] at 2023, this year: The latest IPCC report says [again], We have 10 years to save the Earth. I took the liberty of making this little graphic to give you a better understanding of the meaning of these terrorist communications. Here we have the date of the IPCC prediction: ten years to save the Earth. This is the death line for the planet, a line that now travels endlessly, because the terror continues, forgetting that today people are starting to pay [attention], so they are asking questions: How come after ten years from this first date, nothing has happened? Ten more.... Now we are at IPCC Assessment Report No. 6 (AR6).... We wrote to the legendary Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, asking him to explain why there are still ten years to save the Earth. This is the death line and lets see in this time what has happened to the planet: Has it died? Has it resurrected itself? How is the planet doing? Do we want to see? There is real data, data made by satellite, which shows that in the last fifty years the planet has increased the plant mass by 30%; the planet is greener; it is better. Nothing catastrophic has happened. Looking at satellite data from the Sahel: You can see that it is going backward. The story of desertification, also told in Italy, a country where forests have now become pervasiveeven on the streets of Rome there is forest.... The planet is not dead, in fact it is better off, because the green is better off, which is better off because of this small percentage of CO 2 we put in. It is the food of the plants.... CO 2 is our food. Life on Earth is based on CO 2 .... They are creating tremendous ignorance in schools. In 1950, when we were 3.5 billion people, the world had 50% undernourished. Today we are eight billion and the undernourished are 10%. Agriculture has responded to this sign of need by increasing productionthese are wheat, soybeans, corn ... the four most important food staples in the world. If we look at the last few years since the story of the remaining last ten years came out, we see the trend of the undernourished in the world: Since 1980, the speed of reduction of the undernourished has increased tremendously. This means that although there are eight billion of us, the agricultural system is managing to feed people better than before. This should not be confused with the distribution of wealth, which is something else again. Here we are talking about FAO [UN Food and Agriculture Organization] data, related to people with a per capita income of 1.9 per day. As far as the distribution of life expectancy, in our most fortunate countries it has exceeded 80 years. In other countries it has exceeded 70 years. This means that the planet is not dying. This terrible ten-year threat to save the Earth as a terrorist message needs to be understood by people. This is the message we need to start spreading. We have said that as far as scientific issues are concerned, the fora are the universities, not the talk shows. We need to send this message to the people. Another story is that Extreme events are increasing. Serious research conducted globally, shows that since 1900 there has been a sharp decline in extreme events such as tropical cyclones and tornadoes, as temperature increases. The people have been made ignorant, there is a return of illiteracy that is frightening. I could verify this in Italy: In the last events (drought, then flood), no one talked about prevention, but only about extreme events and climate change, which, according to them, would produce rainfall.... We in Italy have spent forty years of studies to improve prevention, but no one talked about it.... From 1851 to 2010, on average, hurricanes of different energy levelsthey are divided into five different energy levelshave markedly decreased. Frequency has decreased and intensity has decreased. Sea level rise. In 1977, the forecast for sea level rise by 2030 was estimated at six meters. Latest measured data gives 0.085 m [an average sea level rise of 2 mm per year], part of which is because of the increase in volume due to temperature. The sea water has warmed slightly. The average temperature is increasing as we are coming out of the Little Ice Age, whose lowest peak was in the late 18th Century. Today we have the tail-end of this increase, which is quite normal and repeats what has been happening for the last 11,000 years. This is documented data. When we invite those people to come and compare, this is what we say: The climate models they have produced are not able to simulate what has really happened on Earth. But they claim to be able to project 100 years from now what will happen, without being able to simulate what happened last year.... As for temperature ... [James] Hansens first model, taken to the U.S. Congress [in 1988] as the first message of terror, was: If CO 2 by 2020 is not zeroed out.... 2020 has arrived, CO 2 has risen much more than Hansen predicted, and the average temperature has followed this natural trend (measured with both balloons and satellites, which are much more accurate). Medieval temperatures were 1C hotter than today; Roman temperatures, were 2C higher than the present. A very careful survey has been done in the Mediterranean Sea. On the Mont Cenis pass, Hannibal crossed the Alps at the end of September 218 BC. Today the pass of Mont Cenis is closed because of snow at the end of September. We have other interesting data. The mummy of Simulaun was found at 3,500 meters in Northern Italy on the border with Austria. Why did it mummify? Because there was no ice, all the glaciers having retreated to much higher up. Today there is a large glacier there. During the Little Ice Age [around 1300 to around 1850], people used to ice skate on the Lagoon in Venice. Today the temperature is recovering. During the Holocene Warm Period [about 9,500 to 5,000 years ago], temperatures were 4C higher than they are today. Some results of the great survey done by Italian researchers in the Mediterranean Sea. In the Roman period, sea water was 2C warmer than it is today. In Italys largest glacier, at 3,000 meters, a log was found that, dated with C[arbon]-14, showed that in the period about 3,000 years ago, the glacier was not there; in its place was a very large forest. A mummified alpine marmot was found mummified on Mount Rosa at nearly 4,000 meters [above sea level, found in 2022]. A body does not mummify in the presence of ice; or in a refrigerators freezer compartment. The flesh freezes. Why Italy Should Build Dams I would like to say a few words about what has happened in Italy recently, [concerning] the flood that hit a large area in the Emilia-Romagna area. Italy is one of the rainiest countries in Europe. It receives exactly 282 billion cubic meters of rainwater a year. Of this, Italy consumes 18 billion, including for irrigation, drinking, and for industrial use. What happens to this water? You all know the boot [at the southern end of the Italian peninsula], with the Apennines having very steep slopes, which immediately pour water into the sea through rivers, creating hydraulic risk and death. It would be worth it to build dams (to produce electricity), eliminate floods, and have water available all year round [audience applause]. Instead, when there is no water, we cry: drought; when there is a lot of water, we cry: excess water due to the climate. Italy is more rainy than other European countries. Lets compare the rainfall of some Italian cities with Paris, London, etc. Whereas Paris has a more regular rainfall distribution; in Italy, there is little rain in summer. In the course of my research, to highlight the excesses and deficiencies of rainfall in Italy, I made a graph on which I set the ordinate [the y, or vertical scale], at the value 0 for the average Italian rainfall, the 282 billion divided by the [area of the] whole territory. The distribution [of rainfall, when it rains more, when it rains less] is absolutely regular from 1900 until now. When they say that extreme rainfall and floods have increased, they are telling fairy tales. These droughts and floods are a feature of the land. I would now like to show you how the IPCC produces its reports. The reports say scientists say, but they dont. Scientists send in their data, but they dont speak in the reports, which are written by economists, together with representatives of environmental ministries. For example, scientists were asked to send all the data measured with rain gauges over the past 30 years. What was the result? Out of more than 5,000 rain gauge stations [around the world], 4,146 report no significant change in rainfall. So it says on page 1,560 of [the IPCCs] AR-6. This is not said by Alberto Prestininzi, but by the IPCC. A small number [of the rain gauges] show excesses of rainfall and a small number show a deficit [of rainfall]. What did they write in the final report? That in the last 30 years there is a clear signal of increasing rainfall intensity [in some regions] and a clear decrease in rainfall intensity [in other regions]. The reports are constructed by not listening to the scientists. When you read in the newspapers that the scientists say so, they are telling a mere lie. Economists write it, because the IPCC is an intergovernmental panel, headed by its member governments and run by economists. It is no coincidence that the chairmen of the IPCC have all been economists, from [Rajendra] Pachauri onward. Droughts. Worldwide research shows that drought areas are drastically decreasing; after all, this is in line with the increase in vegetation. This is official data. Since 2020, Italy has stopped building dams, when Italy would need dams, like bread, to eliminate floods, produce hydroelectric power, and have plenty of water all year round, because of the 282 billion cubic meters of water we have from rainfall. The last thing I want to discuss is the report that the World Bank writes every year to list the risks of all the countries in the world. Out of curiosity I went to see what the risks are for Italy. It turns out that Italy has the most deaths from landslides, floods and earthquakes. The latest World Bank report says that the Risk No. 1 Italy faces is failure of climate action. In second place is public debt, and then extreme weather events (which are not there), geopoliticization of strategic resources, and digital inequality. I consulted the chapter on Turkiye, which had 50,000 earthquake deaths. Turkiye has the same risks as Italy. These are the real risks of Italy: from 1900 to 2020: 250,000 deaths from landslides, floods, and earthquakes, and 6.4 billion a year in damages! These are the signals that we gave to the President of the Republic: that you can somehow fight [so-called natural disasters] with [man-made] preventions, because in Italy we have a very good law on soil defense, but it was put in the drawer and never used. This is what I think we have to tell everyone if we want to change things. Thank you. This article appears in the August 11, 2023 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. A CHORUS FOR PEACE Humanity for Peace Rallies Worldwide To Avert Nuclear War [Print version of this article] View full size Humanity for Peace Aug. 6This day marked the 78th anniversary of Americas use of a nuclear weapon to devastate the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The city of Hiroshima has estimated that 237,000 people were killed directly or indirectly by the bombs effects, including burns, radiation sickness, and cancer. Modern nuclear weapons are typically at least 700% more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Many analysts agree that the danger that these weapons may be used is currently greater than ever before in history, due to the geopolitical proxy war being waged by NATO against Russia and potentially China. In order to call attention to the gravity of this situation, a coalition of pro-peace organizations emerged over the past month and announced its intention to hold antiwar rallies to commemorate the Hiroshima bombing, and to mobilize the population to prevent a far worse catastrophe. The focal point was a Hiroshima Day rally at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in New York, the location of many UN missions; it was augmented by dozens of sister rallies around the world. The coalition, called Humanity for Peace, emerged over the Spring and Summer months of 2023, in good part catalyzed by urgent calls of Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche, to confront the military escalation and try to join with forces from the non-aligned developing nations. Humanity for Peace presented a list of four demands: Immediately end all funding and weapons for Ukraine; Immediately convene unconditional peace talks; Dissolve the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); A new international security architecture must be created to end the division of the world into blocs, eliminating geopolitics. This new architecture must take into account the security concerns of every sovereign nation, large or small. View full size Humanity for Peace No to NATO A prelude to the worldwide Aug. 6 events was the No to NATO, No War Internet broadcast from the UKs No to NATO group, which featured Germanys Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Americans Angela McArdle of the Libertarian Party National Council and journalist Dan Kovalik, Guyanas former President Donald Ramotar, former British diplomat Peter Ford, and Scottish independent journalist David Clews. This event featured Helga Zepp-LaRouche taking on the German Green Party membership with a challenge to leave their partysupposedly founded on a commitment to peace, and now aggressively pushing any war or military threat against Russia or Chinaand join the Humanity for Peace mobilization. Zepp-LaRouche established that the actual cause for NATOs proxy war on Russia in Ukraine is that an entire era, the 500600 years of the colonial period, is now coming to an end, and that stopping the war is only possible through cooperation by Europe with the Global South under a new security and development architecture. This insight led host Chris Williamson to ask Ramotar and Clews to respond to Zepp-LaRouche, which they did energetically. Ramotar said, In all of these negatives [of war and the threat of nuclear war] is developing a positive. A new system is being created. Kovalik at the conclusion called on everyone: Get out in the streets on Sunday at the UN rally. And Williamson then announced the No to NATO rally in London on Aug. 6, at Whitehall beginning at 1:00 p.m. London time. Scientists Call To Stop a New World War On July 31, a group of scientists issued a statement in support of Humanity for Peace and its objectives. [See our Editorial this issueed.] They urged: Recall the words of Einstein and his colleagues: There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal as human beings to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise; if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death. Sister Rallies Worldwide Build to Aug. 6 View full size Humanity for Peace Plans for complementary events, sister rallies, began to spring up around the world in late July. In addition to the London rally, there were six events scheduled around Europe, and others in North, Central, and South America. In the United States, the first event took place in front of the state capitol in Austin, Texas on Friday, August 4. It was addressed by Schiller Institute representative Joe Jennings and Travis County Libertarian Party Chairman Ted Brown, along with a surprise appearance by Libertarian National Committee Chairwoman Angela McArdle. The rally effectively merged with another rally being held at the same location by the group Austin Peace Action. Humanity for Peace rallied Saturday morning, Aug. 5 in downtown Los Angeles, where there had been a Rage Against the War Machine rally in February. Several dozen activists and contacts from the Schiller Institute and from the Party of Communists USA each had banners and book tables. View full size Humanity for Peace Also on Friday, a rally was held in front of the United Nations building in Mexico City, Mexico. Mexican peace activists met with UN representatives, presenting them with the Humanity for Peace material and briefing them on the related actions that were taking place around the world. Saturday, Aug. 5, began with three events in Germany, in Dresden, Munich and Frankfurt. The Frankfurt rally included participation by three different political parties; among the speakers in Frankfurt were Alexander Hartmann of Civil Rights Movement Solidarity (Burgerrechtsbewegung Solidaritat BuSo), Ilker Ozyavuz of Team Todenhofer, and Maj. Florian D. Pfaff, who represents the Basis Party as well as the well-known Darmstadter Signal association of active and former Bundeswehr personnel. View full size Humanity for Peace On Sunday, Aug. 6, the day of the Hiroshima nuclear incineration almost 80 years ago, further actions took place around the world. In France, a Schiller Institute rally Aug. 6 on Place Saint Michel in Paris featured its large banner, Hiroshima plus jamais (Hiroshima, Never Again). The organizers had distributed leaflets in advance at cinemas showing the newly released film about the bomb, Oppenheimer, and got a polarized response. It drew people to the rally. In Stockholm, Humanity for Peace brought out demonstrators from a number of smaller parties opposing Swedens NATO bid, with leaders and activists from the Schiller Institute. Germany saw rallies in Herrsching, Stuttgart, Mainz and Berlin. There were rallies in Bucharest, Iasi and Craiova in Romania; London in the UK; Vienna in Austria; Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic; Santiago in Chile; Managua in Nicaragua; and San Cristobal Verapaz in Guatemala. Other rallies were planned to take place in Guyana and Guatemala, while in the United States they were scheduled for Seattle, Portland, Chicago, Houston, Des Moines, and several locations in northern California. Also on Aug. 6, the Peace Bell Society (Friedensglockengesellschaft Berlin), one of the sponsoring organizations of Humanity for Peace, held an event at Friedrichshain Park in Berlin, where they rang the Peace Bell at 8:15 a.m. CET, the moment that the nuclear bomb was exploded over Hiroshima. Among the various speakers at the commemoration, journalist Wolfram Adolphi, referenced the relevance of the movie Oppenheimer for today. There were two rallies held in Bucharest, Romania: one was organized at University Square by the Committee for Peace (Comitetul Pentru Pace), the Schiller Institute, and the Romanian Socialist Party. The other, at Union Square (Piata Unirii), was organized by the Movement for Peace (Miscarea Pentru Pace). Other rallies were held in Iasi, sponsored by ROC-TV, the Free and Sovereign civic group (Liber si Suveran), and the Patria Party; and in Craiova, sponsored by the Movement for Peace. View full size Schiller Institute Activists from Humanity for Peace in Chile were invited by the organization World Without War and Without Violence, which has international chapters; the group Coordinator Against Nuclear War; and a local group, the Community for Human Development, to participate in a rally in Santiago, held at the centrally-located Parque Metropolitano. Humanity for Peace representatives spoke about its four demands, and displayed its banner. Meanwhile, an official ceremony was held at the Hiroshima Memorial in Hiroshima, Japan, attended by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Outside the Memorial there were demonstrations, with people angry about how the G7 had hijacked the Hiroshima theme for their own war-like purposes, and calling for an end to the war in Ukraine. At the United Nations At the main event, at New York Citys Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in front of the United Nations, Humanity for Peace assembled a crowd of hundreds which heard messages of support from three presidential pre-candidatesRobert F. Kennedy, Jr. on recording (Democrat); Aaron Day (Republican), and Mike ter Maat (Libertarian), the latter two in personas well as from LaRouche independent candidate from New York for U.S. Senate, Diane Sare; the former President of Guyana, Donald Ramotar; and a number of prominent activists against NATOs war including Scott Ritter and the LaRouche movements Jose Vega. A presidential candidate from Haiti, Jude Elie; the president and founder of the Guinean-American League of Friends for Freedom, Ahmadou Diallo; and the National Director of the American Muslim Alliance, Muhammad Salim Akhtar spoke to the crowd, along with talk show host Garland Nixon and other media personalities from the New York City area. (A video stream of the rally is available here.) The rally was co-moderated by Anastasia Battle of the Schiller Institute, and Irene Mavrakakis of Liberty Speaks. View full size Humanity for Peace All of the speakers, each in their own way, conveyed the spirit that peace is more powerful than war, as Rev. Dr. Terri Strong, who gave the convocation prayer, stated in her remarks. Ritter, the former UN Weapons Inspector and Marine Corps Intelligence Officer, pointed in the direction of Central Park and said that within a year, he wants to see one million demonstrate there as in 1982, referring to the peace demonstration that pushed Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev toward the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987. Diane Sare said of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, which military leaders then agreed would serve no purpose in ending the war: We did it to demonstrate that we could do it, and we did it to demonstrate that we would do it. Is anyone here so naive as to believe that we have become more moral now? Vega closed out the rally by announcing Humanity for Peace would hold further actions Sept. 1 and beyond, stating: This does not end here. This is the beginning of something! The central message to the event came from Zepp-LaRouche, whom various speakers thanked as the initiator and driving force of the Humanity for Peace process. Her message: To all the courageous people demonstrating today for peace! We have to wake people up all over the world. Never before was mankind in a bigger danger of annihilating itself in a global nuclear war. Of the more than 12,000 existing nuclear weapons today, each of which are up to a thousand times more destructive than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 3,800 are immediately deployable and nearly 2,000 are on launch on warning status. If it comes to nuclear war, as there are politicians today who are recklessly considering the use of these weapons, not even a historian will be left to investigate how it could have come to this incomprehensible catastrophe. If it happens, the people who die in the first minutes will be the comparably lucky ones, for in the following days, months and years, all life on this planet will become extinct, both through total radiation and a nuclear winter of many years. Everything for which thousands of generations have struggled, all sorrows and joy, all poems and songs, will vanish forever. We demand the immediate controlled destruction of all nuclear weapons. But even more profoundly, we demand the realization of a new global security and development architecture, which takes into account the security interests of all nations of the world, big ones and small ones. This architecture must overcome the formation of geopolitical blocs once and for all, and put the interest of the one humanity first. The precondition for this is a new just world economic order, which allows every nation and every human being to fully develop all of their innate potentials. Let us unite the peace movements all over the world with the nations of the Global South, for the realization of a new paradigm in the history of the human species. The new name for peace must be development! A Chorus for Peace View full size Humanity for Peace Following the rally at the UN, many participants went to the Unitarian Church of All Souls for an uplifting conclusion to the days events: a musical performance of Mozarts Requiem, conducted by Maestro Gurer Aykala, the Permanent Conductor and General Music Director of the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, and former conductor of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra (Texas). Also on the program were African-American spirituals and other selections, sung by New York City area soloists. Dennis Small contributed to this article. This editorial appears in the August 11, 2023 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. [Print version of this editorial] EDITORIAL Scientists Call To Stop a New World War EIR welcomes the following statement and encourages its widest circulation. It was released on July 31 by Steve Starr for rapid circulation to scientists and others. Starrs video on the horror and finality of nuclear war, opens with the question, What happens to the world if we use Ukraine to stumble our way into Thermonuclear War? It is available here. Shall We Put an End to the Human Race, or Shall Mankind Renounce Nuclear War? Almost seventy years ago, Albert Einstein and 11 other Nobel Prize winners issued this warning: Shall we put an end to the human race, or shall mankind renounce nuclear war? Today, in Ukraine, the U.S., NATO, and Russia are moving toward a direct military conflictand a U.S./NATORussian war will almost inevitably result in the use of nuclear weapons, because neither side will be willing to back down if a conflict begins. The U.S., Britain, France, and Russia keep 2,000 strategic nuclear warheads at launch-ready status. Each strategic warhead is 7 to 53 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. Once the order to launch is given, these warheads will hit their targets in 35 minutes or less. Submarine-launched ballistic missiles can hit their targets within 15 minutes of presidential authorization. Russia has three hundred and forty 800-kiloton nuclear weapons at launch-ready status (800,000 tons of TNT explosive equivalent). The detonation of this warhead creates temperatures of roughly 200 million degrees Fahrenheit (about 100 million degrees Celsius), or about four to five times the temperature at the center of the sun. To detonate a nuclear weapon over a city is like igniting a piece of the sun, which will create solar temperatures that vaporize anything beneath it and set fires for many miles/kilometers in all directions. This creates a massive nuclear firestorm. The detonation of a single 800-kiloton warhead over a large city, on an average weather day, will ignite a nuclear firestorm that will cover 152 square miles (389 square kilometers). In a matter of tens of minutes, air temperatures within the fire zone will be above the boiling point of water. Anyone within the fire zone will be confronted with a hurricane of fire. No living thing within the fire zone will survive. In a full-scale nuclear war, it is likely that in less than one hour, significantly more than 1,000 nuclear firestorms would be created by burning cities in North America, Europe, and Russia (and quite possibly China). These firestorms would cover tens of thousands of square miles. Peer-reviewed studies estimate that up to 180 million tons of black smoke and soot, created by these firestorms, would rise above cloud level into the stratosphere, where it would form a global stratospheric smoke layer. The stratospheric smoke layer could not be rained out and would remain for ten years or longer. The smoke layer would block enough sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere to quickly create average surface temperatures colder than those experienced at the height of the last Ice Age. For one to two years, temperatures would fall below freezing every day in central North America and central Eurasia. It would be too cold to grow food crops for many years. Most humans and large land animals would perish from starvation. We must not allow this to happen. It is time to act, before it is too late. We must speak out against a new World War, which will destroy mankind. If you are a scientist, an artist, a religious or political or military leader, please join with us to call upon the United States, NATO, and Russia to stop any further escalation of the conflict in Ukraine. NATO members must not send military forces into Western Ukraine that can come into direct conflict with Russian forces. This is a direct pathway to World War 3 and nuclear oblivion. Recall the words of Einstein and his colleagues: We are speaking on this occasion, not as members of this or that nation, continent, or creed, but as human beings, members of the species Man, whose continued existence is in doubt. Here lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal as human beings to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise; if you cannot, there lies before you the risk of universal death. Resolution In view of the fact that in any future world war, nuclear weapons will certainly be employed, and that such weapons threaten the continued existence of mankind, we urge the governments of the world to realize, and to acknowledge publicly, that their purpose cannot be furthered by a world war, and we urge them, consequently, to find peaceful means for the settlement of all matters of dispute between them. Therefore, we the undersigned, endorse the urgent mobilization of Humanity for Peace (https://humanityforpeace.net), and call for all to participate in the August 6 International Day of Action, with a flagship rally at the United Nations in New York City, and sister rallies around the world. #NoMoreHiroshimas #NoMoreNagasakis Initiating Signer: Steven Starr, Assistant Clinical Professor and former Clinical Laboratory Science Program Director at the University of Missouri Amara Harris and her mother, Marla Baker, sit outside the DuPage County Courthouse in Wheaton after court adjourned for the day on Aug. 9, 2023. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) A former Naperville North High School student accused of violating a municipal theft ordinance took the stand Wednesday at the DuPage County Courthouse to defend herself, asserting that she didnt intentionally take another students AirPods. I didnt take them; I didnt steal them, Amara Harris told the six-person jury on the second day of her trial, a rarity for a municipal citation issued to a student for conduct at school. A Naperville police officer assigned to Harris school wrote her a ticket in 2019, when she was 17. She has maintained since then that she mixed up the AirPods with her own, and has declined to pay a fine or settle the case. The prosecution argued that it was clear Harris was caught with her hand in the cookie jar because the serial number on the AirPods in her possession matched the one on the other students set, among other reasons. The case went to the jury two women and four men in the afternoon; deliberations will continue Thursday. The long battle between Harris and the city of Naperville has contributed to debates over the practice of police officers ticketing students at school, documented last year by the Tribune and ProPublica in the investigation The Price Kids Pay. Because Harris case involves a civil violation, the burden of proof is less than for a criminal charge. Prosecutors must show only that a preponderance of the evidence supports the allegation, or that it more than likely happened. The maximum penalty for violating the theft ordinance is a $500 fine, in addition to a $100 court fee. Theres no threat of jail time. Harris testified Wednesday that she lost her AirPods one morning at school. When she retraced her steps to the learning commons, she said, she found earbuds she thought were hers. She said that at first they wouldnt work because they werent paired with her phone. But she said she was able to connect them later without getting a notification that the AirPods didnt belong to her. During cross-examination, city prosecutor Joseph Solon Jr. asked Harris how the AirPods just happened to have your name on them. The AirPods owner, who testified Tuesday, said a friend had showed her that her AirPods, which had been previously paired with the friends computer, now were labeled as Amaras AirPods instead of the owners name. Harris said the name automatically changed on the AirPods when paired, stating thats how AirPods work. She said she didnt know the serial number on the device and didnt take them out of the owners backpack during a class they shared, as the AirPods owner had suspected. Solon later said during his closing arguments that the name change is very telling and that the AirPods owner had to manually change the name when she got them back. He added that Harris had no intent whatsoever to return them before she was confronted by school employees. Much of the closing statements by Harris lawyers focused on the credibility of the Naperville police officer who issued the ticket, Juan Leon. Leon, the school resource officer, testified Tuesday that he used discretion to issue the ticket after Harris mother, Marla Baker, refused to talk to him. He said he originally considered giving Harris a station adjustment instead, meaning Harris would have talked with police and might have been assigned community service with a parents consent. However, Baker testified Wednesday that she met with Leon multiple times. She said she showed him a receipt for the AirPods that Harris purchased in May 2019. One of Harris attorneys, S. Todd Yeary, emphasized that Leon said under oath that he didnt know whether Harris knowingly stole the AirPods. He said Leon basically admitted to writing a ticket because he got mad at her mom. That should be chilling to anyone who has children, Yeary said, adding that Harris has no history of disciplinary action in high school or at Spelman College. Yeary, the former chief executive officer of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, is one of two well-known civil rights lawyers representing Harris, who is now 20. The AirPods owner said Tuesday that she thought Harris took her AirPods during the class they shared, and she reported it to a dean. The dean then involved Leon, who wrote the ticket. Naperville North High School Principal Stephanie Posey and Naperville School District 203 Superintendent Dan Bridges leave the DuPage County Courthouse on Aug. 9, 2023, in Wheaton. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune) Stephanie Posey, a principal at Naperville North, testified Wednesday that she had told Baker she thought the situation warranted a one day in-school suspension for Harris but it could wait until she was able to communicate further with Baker. She said Harris never served the suspension because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which took students out of the school. Harris lawyers again asked Wednesday that Judge Monique OToole end the case, arguing that the prosecution hadnt established that Harris knowingly took the AirPods. OToole declined, saying its up to the jury to decide. ProPublica and the Tribune first reported on Harris case last year as part of The Price Kids Pay, in which reporters documented 12,000 tickets Illinois students received over nearly three years for violations including possession of vaping devices, disorderly conduct and truancy. Fines associated with the tickets can run into the hundreds of dollars. The investigation also found that Black students at Naperville North High School were almost five times more likely than their white classmates to receive tickets. Harris is Black. Most students who receive municipal ordinance citations admit liability and pay the fine. Because of the lower burden of proof, fighting the tickets is difficult and costly. Baker has said the family spent about $2,000 on legal fees before a nonprofit organization chipped in to help. A Naperville spokesperson previously said the case hasnt cost the city extra money because a city prosecutor is handling it. rjohnson@chicagotribune.com Not far from Camp David, a U.S. presidential base in Maryland, lie the remains of an iron workshop called Catoctin Furnace. The workshop dates back to the late 18th century. It is an important place for understanding the start of the Industrial Revolution in early U.S. history. The site is also providing researchers with a greater understanding of African American history. A new study examined DNA from the remains of 27 individuals found in a burial place at Catoctin Furnace for enslaved people. The study revealed the ancestry of some of the enslaved people who were forced to work there in the years after the nations founding. It also identified thousands of living relatives. Many of the relatives still live in Maryland. The burial site was used from 1774 to 1850. The remains were removed from the site in the 1970s so that a road could be built. Since then, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. has kept the remains. They include 16 males and 11 females. Some are very young children, while others are older adults. Researchers found that the 27 individuals descended from just a few African populations, mainly West Africas Wolof and Mandinka peoples and Central Africas Kongo people. And they have strong genetic connections to present-day populations in Senegal, Gambia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Millions of people were forcibly taken from Africa to the Americas from the 16th to 19th century in the transatlantic slave trade. A lack of documentation about these people has left descendants with little information about their own family history. Kari Bruwelheide is a researcher with the Smithsonians National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. She helped write the study, which appeared last week in the publication Science. Bruwelheide said, This knowledge was severed by slavery a truth that has implications for African Americans far beyond the community of Catoctin Furnace. She added that the study shows the power of genetic research to rebuild some of what was destroyed by a lack of record-keeping. Enslaved people of African descent were forced to work in agricultural, industrial, and home settings in parts of the United States. Slavery ended with the U.S. Civil War, which was fought from 1861 to 1865. Catoctin Furnace is a few kilometers from Camp David in Cunningham Falls State Park. It grew into a village area, with industrial buildings and housing. Workers mined iron, kept fires burning to melt the iron and made different kinds of goods. The goods they made included stoves, pots and even cannon balls. Enslaved people were the main part of the work force until paying European immigrants to work there became less costly by the mid-19th century. For the study, the researchers examined historical DNA alongside genetic testing company 23andMes personal ancestry database. Through their efforts, they identified 41,799 Americans related to the 27 individuals. Eadaoin Harney was the lead study writer. She is also a 23andMe population geneticist. She said, Enslaved African Americans are largely excluded from the historical record, and in documents where they are mentioned, they are often treated as property, not as people. The study found some European ancestry in most of the 27 individuals. That finding supports records of sexual abuse of enslaved people by their enslavers and others. It found that some of the 27 had possible genes for genetic conditions like sickle cell anemia and G6PD deficiency. Genetic conditions involving red blood cell problems are still common among African Americans. Kathryn Barca is a Smithsonian researcher and a writer of the study. She said, The experiences of African Americans within the early industrial complex of the United States are not completely understood and their labors in this system have not been thoroughly explored or acknowledged. Barca added, We hope this paper gives voice to these 27 individuals Im Jill Robbins. Will Dunham reported this story for Reuters. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English. ________________________________________________ Words in This Story DNA n. a substance that carries genetic information in the cells of plants and animals reveal v. to make (something) known descend from phr. v. to have (something or someone in the past) as an origin or source sever v. to end (a relationship or connection) completely mention v. to talk about, write about, or refer to (something or someone) especially in a brief way deficiency n. a lack of something that is needed thorough adj. including every possible part or detail ________________________________________________ What do you think of this story? We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: Write your comment in the box. Under the box, you can see four images for social media accounts. They are for Disqus, Facebook, Twitter and Google. Click on one image and a box appears. Enter the login for your social media account. Or you may create one on the Disqus system. It is the blue circle with D on it. It is free. Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here. Throughout history, technological progress has brought new wealth but has not always improved peoples lives. Economists now say it is not clear whether artificial intelligence (AI) will help or hurt society. Simon Johnson teaches economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology near Boston. He said AI has a lot of possibilities. But he added, We are at a fork in the road. A fork in the road is an expression used to describe a situation where the outcome is uncertain. Wealth, jobs and productivity McKinsey is a business consulting company. It said AI could add between $14 trillion and $22 trillion of value to the worlds economy. Supporters say the technology will create wealth and improve living standards. Some go as far as saying AI will increase peoples free time and help them be more creative. But others are worried the technology will lead to lost jobs. They point to Hollywood writers and actors who are worried that they will be replaced by technology. The internet arrived with a similar promise of more productivity, wealth and jobs. Last month, the French bank Natixis noted in its research that most of the wealth has gone to a few billionaires. And many of the jobs do not require highly paid, skilled workers. The bank warned in its report, We should be cautious when estimating the effects of artificial intelligence on labor productivity. In July, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released its opinion research of 5,300 workers about AI. Some workers hope the technology will increase pay and job satisfaction. But they are also concerned that the technology could push people to work too hard. Lessons from history Such concerns are not unfounded. History has shown the economic impact of technological progress is generally uncertain, unequal and even harmful. Johnson recently published a book, Power and Progress, with Daron Acemoglu, another economist from MIT. They studied technological progress over the last 1,000 years including clothing production, train travel, and even food shopping. The two economists looked at an invention called the spinning jenny that made it easier to turn cotton and wool into yarn. They said the device helped clothing production and created wealth for many people in the late 1700s. However, it also increased the demand for cotton and led to longer hours for workers. The demand also led to the growth of slavery in the southern United States. Johnson noted that it is easier to create something new than to make sure it works for everyone. His book shows how the arrival of rail travel improved the lives of many people in England in the 1800s. People were able to travel longer distances and eat fresh food because it could move faster from farms to cities. On the other hand, Johnson said self-checkout technology at food stores does not lower the cost or make life easier for people. All it does is reduce the number of workers and help businesses lower labor costs. As for AI technology, Johnson wonders if it will make existing inequalities worse, or could it help us get back to something fairer? Im Dan Friedell. Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English based on a report by Reuters. ____________________________________________________ Words in This Story outcome n. the result of an event or choice consulting n. a business based on doing research and providing suggestions to another company about how to be more successful standards n. a level of quality cautious n. careful yarn n. fibers of plants or animal hair that a refined and used to make clothing, fabrics or floor coverings self-checkout n. a machine or system at a food store that permits customers to pay for items without help from anyone else ____________________________________________________ We want to hear from you. Do you believe AI will lead to good jobs and more wealth for many people? Here is how our comment system works: Write your comment in the box. Under the box, you can see four images for social media accounts. They are for Disqus, Facebook, Twitter and Google. Click on one image and a box appears. Enter the login for your social media account. Or you may create one on the Disqus system. It is the blue circle with D on it. It is free. Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here. During the coronavirus pandemic, many schools struggled to keep a count of students whose families struggled with homelessness. The number of children identified as homeless by schools nationwide dropped by 21 percent from the 2018-2019 school year to the 2020-2021 school year, federal data found. That decrease represented more than 288,000 students. But it is likely there were many students whose schools did not know they were homeless. By the time Aaliyah Ibarra started second grade, her family had moved five times in four years in search of housing. As she was about to start a new school, her mother, Bridget Ibarra, saw how much it was affecting Aaliyahs education. At 8 years old, Aaliyah did not know the alphabet. Her family's struggles came during the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced Aaliyah to begin school online. Online school was especially hard for Aaliyah because she was homeless. And, like thousands of other students across the country, her school did not know. By not being identified as homeless, such students lose out on important support like transportation, clothes-cleaning services and other help. Two years later, the effects have worsened. Students nationwide have struggled to make up for missed learning. And educators have lost important time identifying who needs the most help. Schools are offering services like tutoring and counseling. But schools now have limited time left to spend federal pandemic assistance money for homeless students, said Barbara Duffield. She is director of SchoolHouse Connection, a national homelessness organization. Many education leaders, Duffield said, do not even know about federal money meant to support homeless students. The federal support ends next year. In Bridget Ibarra's case, she chose not to tell the school her children were homeless. She said that teachers never asked. She was worried if officials knew the family was staying in a shelter, the family would face pressure to attend a different school that was closer to the shelter. The stigma that comes with homelessness also can lead families not to tell anyone they do not have housing, Duffield said. If schools cannot identify homeless children, we cant ensure that they have everything they need to be successful in school and even go to school," Duffield added. Aaliyah's school is in Phoenix, Arizona. It continued with online learning for her whole kindergarten year. Aaliyah and her older brother spent most of their school days on computers in a temporary classroom at the shelter. While the shelter helped the family meet their basic needs, Ibarra said she often asked the school for extra help for her daughter. She felt the school was giving all its attention to Aaliyahs older brother because he is a special education student. That means he has been identified as needing extra educational support. The schools principal, Sean Hannafin, said school officials met often with the children's mom. He said they offered the support they had available. But he said it was hard to know online which students required more help. There is a federal law aimed at making sure homeless students have equal access to education. The law provides rights and services to children without a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence. Many students are not identified as homeless when they sign up for school. At school, teachers or other school workers often notice students who may be dealing with difficulties at home. But with children learning online, teachers often could not see signs of problems. Overall, the drop in the student homelessness count began before the pandemic. But it became greater when the pandemic began. The percentage of enrolled students identified as homeless in the U.S. dropped from 2.7 percent in 2018-2019 to 2.2 percent in 2020-2021. Over that time, Arizona had one of the biggest drops in the number of students identified as homeless. Eventually, Bridget Ibarra had to send Aaliyah to a different school after moving to find new housing. At Aaliyah's new school, Frye Elementary, Principal Alexis Cruz Freeman saw how hard it was to communicate with families when children were not in classrooms. Aaliyah has improved at her new school, Cruz Freeman said. She still has trouble saying and reading some words. But by the end of the school year, she was able to read a text and write four sentences based on its meaning. She is also performing at her grade level in math. Cruz Freeman considers Aaliyah a success story in part because of her mother's support. She was an advocate for her children, which is all that we can ever ask for, Cruz Freeman said. Im Dan Novak. Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by The Associated Press. Quiz- Schools lost track of homeless kids during the pandemic Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz _____________________________________________________ Words in This Story tutor n. a teacher who works with one student stigma n. a set of negative and often unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about something kindergarten n. a school or class for very young children adequate adj. enough for some need or requirement text n. the original words of a piece of writing or a speech residence n. the state of living in a particular place ensure n. to make sure, certain, or safe access adj. a way of getting near, at, or to something or someone advocate n. a person who argues for or supports a cause or policy The Legislative Assembly (AL) this week passed the regulation establishing applicant requirements for the so-called third type of public housing, also called Sandwich-class housing, in its final reading. The bill was approved with most votes in favor and one vote against, from lawmaker Ron Lam. Potentially the most disputed part of the bill is Article 28, which refers to the governments sales price formula for housing units under this scheme. Apart from Lams vote against the bill, several other lawmakers including Ella Lei, Lei Chan U, Lam Lon Wai, Leong Sun Iok, and Nick Lei abstained, disagreeing with the governments formula. The formula stipulates the Sale Price (SP) calculation will include the Housing Bureaus market price evaluation (MPe), which takes into account the price of similar units in the same geographical area in the private market and is corrected by a compensation discount rate (Cdr) SP=MPe x (1-Cdr). Few directly elected lawmakers and Macau Federation of Trade Unions representatives supported the formula, mostly because it was linked to the private sector market which they consider to be highly speculative. They thought the formula likely to raise the price of the publicly built residential units to levels that will still exclude most of the population for whom this measure was created. The law provides that prices will be set at a discount rate when compared to private sector units in the surrounding area. But the rate is not established, being subject to a later decision by the Chief Executive through an executive order. The sandwich-class housing scheme will apply to permanent residents who are ineligible to buy a flat under the governments economic acquisition housing scheme that has tighter criteria regarding monthly household income. At the plenary session, the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosario, reaffirmed that the first batch of this type of housing to become available for acquisition would be located at the Avenida Wai Long in Taipa, in the land plot retrieved by the government and that was originally designated for the La Scala development. Several lawmakers criticized the bill for its lack of information over the potential final unit price as well as the procedures to take place and their timeline. Rosario replied that it is too soon to discuss the final price for this type of housing. He said the matter needs to be addressed slowly and progressively and not with impatience or a rush. His response did not please most of those who wanted a clear picture of how much a sandwich-class housing unit will cost and whether such a price is or is not adequate to the needs of the residents. Some other lawmakers, like Ip Sio Kai, also questioned the procedure, asking the Secretary if it is better to build the units and then try to see if there is a market for them or to form a line with those potentially interested first and later build accordingly to such expressed needs. Rosario was unhappy with the many suggestions and questions presented regarding the philosophy of the project during this session. He claimed the bill had already been passed in the first reading and had had a broad discussion in the AL Committee. He accused the lawmakers of having changed their mind after having approved the bill in the first reading and of expressing opinions out of time. The Macau Productivity and Technology Transfer Center (CPTTM) has called for fashion brands and designers to participate in the Macao Fashion Festival 2023 from Oct. 19 to 22 at Hall C of Cotai Expo. This years theme is fashion without borders, which aims to break the boundaries of regions and cultures with the power of fashion creativity, displaying both originality and fashions charm. Like last year, a sale area will be erected for participating brands and designers to sell their products and increase their public exposure. The registration period will end on Aug. 22. Related The death toll from recent flooding in Chinas capital rose to 33, including five rescuers, and another 18 people are missing, officials said yesterday, as much of the countrys north remains threatened by unusually heavy rainfall. Days of heavy rain hit areas in the citys mountainous western outskirts especially hard, causing the collapse of 59,000 homes, damage to almost 150,000 others and flooding of more than 15,000 hectares of cropland, according to the city government. Scores of roads were damaged, along with more than 100 bridges, Xia Linmao, a Beijing vice mayor, said at a news conference yesterday. The casualty and damage numbers were current as of Tuesday, Xia said, adding that rescue efforts remained underway. Given the level of damage, it could take up to three years to restore full functions, Xia said. The area, which includes the districts of Mentougou and Fanshan, are kilometers away from the city center, where the nations leaders live and many of its top administrative and business centers are located. Other parts of China have also seen heavy flooding, partly from the impact of Typhoon Doksuri over the weekend, leaving dozens dead and missing. Hebei province just outside Beijing has seen some of the regions worst flooding. Floodwaters in Zhuozhou, southwest of Beijing, started to recede Saturday, allowing some of the 125,000 evacuated residents to return to their homes. A rescue operation was also underway in the tourist resort of Yaan in the southwestern province of Sichuan, where about a dozen visitors were swept away by rushing waters, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. The bodies of seven victims were recovered, while four people were rescued, and rescuers were still looking for others, the agency said. Heavy rains have battered northern China since late July, disrupting the lives of millions. Meanwhile, other areas are suffering from scorching summer heat and drought, threatening peoples heath and the autumn harvest. More than 5,000 firefighters were battling some 15 wildfires in the sprawling Inner Mongolia region in the countrys far north on the border with Russia and Mongolia. Earlier, six people died and four went missing in the city of Shulan in the northeastern province of Jilin, which experienced five straight days of rainfall, turning streets into rivers and forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands. Heilongjiang province to the north has also seen rivers overflow their banks. Chinas deadliest and most destructive floods in recent history were in 1998, when 4,150 people died, most of them along the Yangtze River. In 2021, more than 300 people died in the central province of Henan. Record rainfall inundated the provincial capital of Zhengzhou on July 20 that year, turning streets into rushing rivers and flooding at least part of a subway line. MDT/AP China strongly condemns Japanese politician's visit to Taiwan: FM spokesperson Xinhua) 08:12, August 10, 2023 BEIJING, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- China has made serious demarches to Japan and strongly condemns that certain Japanese politician visited China's Taiwan region and made irresponsible remarks that sought to hype up cross-Strait tensions, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said here Wednesday. It was reported that Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party and former Prime Minister of Japan Taro Aso has visited Taiwan, where he met with Tsai Ing-wen, William Lai and others and delivered a speech saying that there should be no war in the region, including the Taiwan Strait, and calling for a posture of strong deterrence and "a readiness to fight." In response, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that despite China's strong opposition, certain Japanese politician visited China's Taiwan region and made irresponsible remarks that sought to hype up cross-Strait tensions, stoke antagonism and confrontation, and blatantly interfere in China's internal affairs. "This seriously violates the one-China principle and the spirit of the four political documents between China and Japan and tramples on the basic norms governing international relations. China has made serious demarches to Japan and strongly condemns this," the spokesperson added. Noting that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory and the Taiwan question is entirely China's internal affair that brooks no external interference, the spokesperson said that for half a century, Japan exercised colonial rule over Taiwan, brutally suppressed its people's resistance and committed atrocious crimes. As a country responsible for the historical crimes it committed against China, Japan needs to all the more draw lessons from history and act prudently, the spokesperson said, adding that the Japanese politician, however, kept raising the possibility of "a war" whilst in Taiwan, an obvious attempt to stir up trouble in the Taiwan Strait and push the people in the Taiwan region over the edge of an abyss. The spokesperson said that today's China is no longer what it was when the Qing government signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, and what makes this Japanese politician think he is in a position or has the confidence to make such unwarranted remarks on Taiwan? The spokesperson stressed that the complete reunification of the motherland is the common aspiration of all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation and an unstoppable historical trend. No one shall underestimate the strong resolve, will and capability of the Chinese people to defend the nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity. "We seriously urge Japan to deeply reflect on its history of aggression, abide by the one-China principle and its commitments regarding the Taiwan question, and stop meddling in China's internal affair and lending support to the 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces in any form," the spokesperson said. "We also have a clear message for the Taiwan authorities: 'Taiwan independence' has no future, soliciting Japan's support and selling Taiwan away will only harm the people in Taiwan, and any attempt to collude with external forces in seeking independence and provocations will only fail," the spokesperson added. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Lisboeta Macau H853 Art Space fully supports the Art Macao: Macao International Art Biennale 2023 and presents To Cross Exhibition of Young Asian Artists in collaboration with curator Yang Mei Jing. Through the theme of To Cross, the exhibition showcases contemporary visual artworks by a group of talented young Asian artists exploring issues of common destiny and shared concerns. To Cross features contemporary young artists from Macau (Sik Ka Kit, Wong Weng Cheong), Taipei (Chien, Yun-Chu), Shenzhen (Shi-Zhao Ye) and Bangkok (Tanes Naipanich), to create diverse media including Eastern and Western paintings, videos, installations and more to showcase the artists creative styles and techniques. The exhibition will jointly explore the emotions and thoughts of humanity in the face of fate and statistics, providing the audience with a space for reflection and dialogue. The exhibition has already been opened and will run until Sept. 10, every day from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the gallery of Lisboeta Resort. Entry is free-of-charge. Related A man has been apprehended for physically assaulting a bus driver and a police officer, as well as damaging a mirror on a radio taxi, the Public Security Police Force (PSP) announced yesterday. At 6:46 p.m. on Aug. 5, the police were notified of the case that occurred at a bus stop in Fai Chi Kei District. It was first reported to be a conflict between a drunken man and a bus driver. According to the police, the case concerned a drunken Filipino man, 38, two local bus drivers, a police officer and a local radio taxi driver. The police said an officer was punched in the right eye by the alleged attacker, sent to the hospital and demanded the attacker be prosecuted. A bus driver told the police that at 6:40 a.m. the alleged attacker slammed the door of his bus. As he yelled to stop the man, he was attacked in his right eye by the man with a slipper. The driver then took a broom from nearby to protect himself, and the drunken man a dustpan starting a standoff. The drunken man then approached another bus. According to the driver of this bus, the man started slamming the side mirror of the bus with the dustpan at 6:45 a.m., causing MOP1,200 damage. The taxi driver told the police that at 6:50 a.m. the same morning, when he passed by the bus stop, the alleged attacker suddenly showed up in front of his car, cracked the front assistive mirror, which cost MOP3,000 to repair, and jumped onto the front seat. This is when the police officer was reportedly attacked by the man, who was then being persuaded by the officer to get out of the taxi. The drunken man was arrested and charges of aggravated physical assault and property damage were pressed against him. The police added that after he became sober, he said that he did not remember committing any of the assaults or causing damage. Swindling In another case, the PSP arrested a mainland couple on swindling allegations on Aug. 6. The police said the couple a 41-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman was asking pedestrians for money on and around Rua Central, near Praia Grande. The couple managed to get MOP100 from a pedestrian. Questioning them, the police learned they would tell pedestrians they had lost all their money to the casino and needed cash to go to the airport. They even promised to add the creditors WeChat so that they could repay the debts later. The couple later admitted to scamming people for cash with the story, but on that day, they only managed to get MOP100. Yesterday, the Judiciary Police (PJ) revealed the existence of 19 scams, taking multiple forms or channels such as credit card, bank account, impersonator calls, sham recruitments and online shopping. Some of the victims had their money directly debited from their bank accounts after being expelled from a current online banking session. Nagasaki marked the 78th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the city yesterday with the mayor urging world powers to abolish nuclear weapons, saying nuclear deterrence also increases risks of nuclear war. Shiro Suzuki made the remark after the Group of Seven industrial powers adopted a separate document on nuclear disarmament in May that called for using nuclear weapons as deterrence. Now is the time to show courage and make the decision to break free from dependence on nuclear deterrence, Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki said in his peace declaration, As long as states are dependent on nuclear deterrence, we cannot realize a world without nuclear weapons. Russias nuclear threat has encouraged other nuclear states to accelerate their dependence on nuclear weapons or enhance capabilities, further increasing the risk of nuclear war, and that Russia is not the only one representing the risk of nuclear deterrence, Suzuki said. The United States dropped the worlds first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. A second attack three days later on Nagasaki killed 70,000 more people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia. At 11:02 a.m., the moment the bomb exploded above the southern Japanese city, participants at the ceremony observed a moment of silence with the sound of a peace bell. Suzuki expressed concern about the tragedy being forgotten as time passed and memories fade. Survivors have expressed frustration about the slow progress of disarmament, while the reality of the atomic bombing and their ordeals are not yet widely shared around the world. The concern comes after widespread reaction to social media posts about the Barbenheimer summer blitz of the Barbie and Oppenhheimer movies that triggered outrage in Japan. The combination of Barbie and a biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer who helped develop the atomic bomb sparked memes, including of mushroom clouds. The craze was seen as minimizing the ghastly toll of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings. Suzuki, whose parents were hibakusha, or survivors of the Nagasaki attack, said knowing the reality of the atomic bombings is the starting point for achieving a world without nuclear weapons. He said the survivors testimonies are a true deterrence against nuclear weapons use. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who did not attend the memorial in person, acknowledged in his video message that the path toward a nuclear-free world has grown tougher because of rising tensions and conflicts, including Russias war on Ukraine. Also weighing on the disarmament movemement is a deeper division in the international community. Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in parliament, has sought to showcase the G7 commitment to nuclear disarmament but has angered the survivors for justifying nuclear arms possession for deterrence and for refusing to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Suzuki demanded Kishidas government and national lawmakers quickly sign and ratify the treaty and attend the upcoming meeting as an observer to clearly show Japans resolve to abolish nuclear weapons. As Washingtons ally, Japan is under the U.S. nuclear umbrella and seeks stronger protection as the allies reinforce security cooperation to deal with threats from China and North Koreas nuclear and missile advancement. Under its new national security strategy, Kishidas government is pushing for a military buildup focusing on strike capability. As of March, 113,649 survivors, whose average age is 85, are certified as hibakusha and eligible for government medical support, according to the Health and Welfare Ministry. Many others, including those known as victims of the black rain that fell outside the initially designated areas, are still without support. MARI YAMAGUCHI, TOKYO, MDT/AP Honda reported yesterday that its April-June profit more than doubled on healthy sales of its motorcycles and cars, as the Japanese company also received a perk from favorable exchange rates. Honda Motor Co. said its fiscal first quarter profit totaled 363 billion yen ($2.5 billion), up from 149 billion yen. Quarterly sales jumped 21% to 4.6 trillion yen ($32 billion). Hondas financial service division also reported growing sales. Honda, which makes the Fit subcompact, Honda e electric car and Gold Wing motorcycle, said its profitability improved, especially in North America, where production recovered. Automakers around the world were slammed by supply shortages because of production delays related to social restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But such restrictions have eased, allowing production to pick up again. Auto sales were about the same in Japan in the latest quarter as in the previous year, while dropping significantly in China because of intense competition from makers of battery electric vehicles, Honda said. Honda is banking on growth in EVs in the U.S. market, where it recently announced it is joining six other companies in the creation of a high-powered charging network across North America. Worries about climate change have helped set off a dramatic shift in the auto industry toward battery electric vehicles, allowing for relative newcomers like Tesla and BYD to prosper, while catching some Japanese makers off guard with their hybrids and regular gasoline-powered models. Honda said a computer chip shortage crimped its motorcycle sales in India, while sales rebounded in Indonesia as production recovered. Honda said it sold 901,000 vehicles in the latest quarter, up from 815,000 a year earlier. It also sold more motorcycles worldwide at nearly 4.5 million, up from 4.2 million. Honda added 23 billion yen ($160 million) to its quarterly operating profit because of the impact of currency exchange rates. A weaker yen, trading lately at about 143 yen to the U.S. dollar, is a boon for Japanese exporters by boosting the amount of its overseas earnings when converted into yen. Honda stuck to its full year projection of an 800 billion yen ($5.6 billion) profit, up from 651 billion yen a year earlier. Honda shares slipped 0.9% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. MDT/AP Flaming cars, violent clashes, dozens of people detained. As one of the worlds most repressive countries marks 30 years of independence, festivals held by Eritreas diaspora in Europe and North America have been attacked by exiles whom the regime dismisses as asylum scum. People who fled the Horn of Africa nation say the violence against festivals in Germany, Sweden and Canada are protests against a repressive government thats been described as the North Korea of Africa. Some allege that proceeds from festivals might support the government. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Eritrea over the years, many setting off into the deserts of Sudan and then North Africa in attempts to reach Europe. President Isaias Afwerki, 77, has led Eritrea since it won independence from Ethiopia in a long guerrilla war. There have been no elections. Theres no free press. Exit visas are required. Many young people are forced into military service with no end date, human rights groups and United Nations experts say. The violence at some Eritrean festivals shows the bitter split in the diaspora between supporters of the government and their children often protected by foreign passports and exiles who fear for their loved ones back home. Eritreas government speaks harshly about those who flee and accuses the West of trying to weaken the country by depopulating it. On Friday, Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel asserted that the attacks on the festivals were part of that strategy. Complicity in attempts to disrupt decades-old Eritrean festivals using foreign thugs reflects abject failure of asylum scum, he said in a message posted on social media. He later criticized the distorted portrayal of the communitys joyous events. Beyene Gerezgiher, a member of the Eritrean community in Europe who leads an organization that seeks regime change in Eritrea, told The Associated Press that a separate group called the Brigade Nhamedu was set up last year to counter what it calls the governments hate speech and war propaganda. The word Nhamedu means being ready to fight and sacrifice. Our movement helped and participated in recent rallies against the so-called Eritrean festival, he wrote in an email. In pursuit of regime change, the new group plans to act via lawful democracy, sharing information with the international community and disturbing the situation, he said. He called the Eritrean information ministers comments usual and laughable. Some Eritreans and state-backed media have blamed attacks in Stockholm, Toronto and the German town of Giessen in part on ethnic Tigrayans from northern Ethiopia. Thats where Eritrean forces joined Ethiopias military in fighting a two-year war against Tigray forces until a peace deal was made in November. Eritrean forces were accused of some of the worst atrocities, including gang rapes. Kassa Hailemariam, a U.S.-based advocate for many Tigrayans, told the AP it is ridiculous to blame Tigrayans for the global Eritrean movement against the age-long dictator in Asmara, Eritreas capital. We are not part of this movement! In Giessen last month, German police said at least 22 officers were injured as people throwing smoke bombs and bottles tried to force their way into a festival. Dozens of people were detained. In Stockholm this month, Swedish media reported that about 1,000 protesters stormed a festival, setting booths and cars on fire and using rocks and sticks as weapons, leaving at least 52 people injured. Police said more than 100 people were detained. This is not a festival. They are teaching their children hate speech, one protester, Michael Kobrab, told Swedish broadcaster TV4. And last weekend, authorities in Toronto canceled an Eritrean festival after clashes sent several people to the hospital. Other festivals have been held without incident, and some Eritreans continue to share videos showing crowds dancing and waving the national flag, along with messages of defiance and peace. Eritreas government openly encourages members of the diaspora to contribute funds to its activities back home. On Monday, the information ministry published a story about Eritreans in Austria being urged by diplomats to shoulder the timely responsibility of participating and contributing to the success of the national development drives. But citizens living overseas must show the government evidence of paying a 2% tax on income earned abroad if they want to obtain services such as passport renewals, which has been criticized. People who flee Eritrea without exit visas and wish to return must pay the tax and sign a regret form, according to the U.S. State Departments human rights report on the country. Eritrea, with a population estimated at less than 5 million, is one of the worlds poorest countries, and one of the most secretive. The World Bank said poverty appears to be widespread but updated information is lacking. The most recent available survey data from 1996/97 indicate a 70% poverty rate, it said. Rights groups say Eritrean authorities keep the countrys citizens in a state of war preparedness, despite making peace with Ethiopia in 2018. CARA ANNA, NAIROBI, MDT/AP The mother of a U.S. Navy sailor charged with providing sensitive military information to China encouraged him to cooperate with a Chinese intelligence officer, telling her son it might help him get a job with the Chinese government someday, the prosecution said yesterday [Macau time]. Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Sheppard made the accusation at a hearing in federal court in San Diego in urging the judge not to release Jinchao Wei, who was arrested last week on a rarely used espionage charge. Prosecutors did not name the woman in court. As a result of that The Associated Press could not try to find her or people who could comment on her behalf. Wei is one of two sailors based in California accused of providing sensitive military information to China including details on wartime exercises, naval operations and critical technical material. Prosecutors have not said whether the two were courted or paid by the same Chinese intelligence officer as part of a larger scheme. The Justice Department charged Wei, 22, under a Espionage Act statute that makes it a crime to gather or deliver information to aid a foreign government. Both sailors have pleaded not guilty. MDT/AP Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia from August 10 to 13, foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced yesterday. Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, will visit at the invitation of Singaporean Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan, Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs Zambry Abd Kadir and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Prak Sokhonn, Mao added. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind and the Belt and Road Initiative, a foreign ministry spokesperson said the same day, adding that Southeast Asian countries have been at the forefront of advancing the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and they are important partners for Belt and Road cooperation. Chinas relations with Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia have maintained a sound momentum of growth. China and Singapore have established an all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership. China and Malaysia have reached common understandings on jointly building a community with a shared future. China and Cambodia are working to usher in a new era of building a high-quality, high-level and high-standard China-Cambodia community with a shared future, the spokesperson said. The spokesperson said that China hopes the visit will bolster strategic communication with the three Southeast Asian countries, put the new characterization of the China-Singapore relations into action, achieve solid progress in building a community with a shared future both with Malaysia and with Cambodia, deepen high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and bring the bilateral relations to new heights. China stands ready to work with the three countries to implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, boost economic recovery, safeguard peace and tranquility, deepen exchanges and mutual learning and make even greater contribution to peace, stability and development of the region and beyond, the spokesperson said. XINHUA Chicago-based Molson Coors announced its first spirits acquisition Tuesday, of Kentucky-based bourbon and rye whiskey maker Blue Run Spirits, as it continues efforts to expand its product offerings beyond beer. The Blue Run acquisition will more than double the beer giants spirits team, it said in a statement. Blue Run co-founder and CEO Mike Montgomery will become vice president of Molson Coors Coors Spirits Co., which will house Blue Run as well as the companys prior forays into whiskey, Five Trail Blended American Whiskey and Barmen 1873 Bourbon. Molson Coors Chief Commercial Officer Michelle St. Jacques described Blue Run as one of the hottest new entrants in whiskey. About three years ago, we shifted from a company perspective to become a total beverage company, she said. Our strategy was to continue to strengthen our core brands, our big beer brands, but also to premiumize and expand beyond beer. Blue Run will continue with plans to build a distillery in Kentucky by 2025. The brand, which launched in 2020 and has won numerous bourbon awards, according to the statement, also has plans to release three new whiskeys in the late summer and fall. Blue Run often produces its whiskey in small batches, Montgomery said, creating an air of exclusivity in the companys releases. Weve been able to create what I like to call bourbon-hunters mentality, where people see Blue Run on the shelf, they grab it immediately, he said. Molson Coors, which has about 350 employees in Chicago, announced plans to move its North American headquarters from Denver to Chicago in 2019. In the face of competition from craft and imported beer as well as rising consumer interest in hard seltzer, Molson Coors had begun its expansion beyond beer, launching a hard coffee and a canned wine earlier that year. In 2020, the company partnered with Coca-Cola on its Topo Chico Hard Seltzer. The beer giant reported nearly $3.3 billion in net sales during the second quarter this year, up 11.8% from the same period last year and its strongest quarter since the merger of Molson and Coors in 2005, according to an earnings release. Terms of the Blue Run acquisition were not disclosed. When deciding how to make an entree into spirits several years ago, said Coors Spirits Co. Executive Chair David Coors, the company recognized the whiskey category had been growing well. The first part of the whiskey production process, he said, is similar to the process of producing beer. The entry into spirits marked a departure from the companys earlier identity. When he was in college, Coors said he told his father, former Molson Coors Chairman Peter Coors, that the company should make a whiskey. The elder Coors, as his son remembers, said: Were good at one thing, and thats beer. The company hasnt ruled out introducing other spirits into its portfolio but is focused on whiskey for now, Coors said. Doug Hamaker, co-founder of Forage Kitchen and, before that, Roast Public House, is opening a restaurant just off State Street where he intends to merge healthy eating and comfort foods. Hamaker said he hopes to open Comfort Fuel on Sept. 18 at 439 N. Frances St. in what was formerly Salads UP. The restaurant will focus on protein acai bowls and sandwiches like grilled cheese French toast with herbed brioche bread, melted cheddar and chipotle apple onion jam. A breakfast quesadilla is also in the works. The idea is kind of mixing health and wellness with comfort and moderation, Hamaker said. Hamaker said he and David Spittel, Comfort Fuels chef and a minority partner, are looking to add 20 grams of protein to acai bowls, which he thinks will be popular in the State Street area. He said Spittel came up with the name, which grew on him once the menu began coming together. It started to make sense and I feel like it will to other people, too. Hamaker, 35, and his then-partner, Henry Aschauer, opened Roast on the 600 block of State Street in 2012. They closed it in 2019 to focus on their State Street Forage restaurant and a second location at Hilldale. Hamaker said running a bar like Roast in the State Street area was too difficult. Forage is largely a grab-and-go salad and bowl business. Hamaker sold his stake 2 years ago, just before his daughter was born. There are now four Forages in the Madison area and one in Champaign, Illinois. It also sells its canned kombucha in its restaurants and in grocery stores. I learned a ton, Hamaker said. COVID just kind of messed with me because it shut the whole world down and I love being in the restaurants and opening the restaurants and it was just an opportunity to amicably leave the business, he said. I know that theyre continuing to succeed really well and its just something Im always going to be really proud of. He said besides getting to be with his daughter, his time away offered the opportunity to think about what he wanted to do next. The restaurant industry can be pretty mentally draining, you know, Hamaker said. Hamakers father, Don Hamaker, who has a business background and lives in New Jersey, where Hamaker grew up, worked with him on Roast. Hes also helping him open Comfort Fuel. The former Salads UP space was like a maze, Hamaker said, and they needed to take it down to its studs and put up new drywall for it to be functional. Like Forage, Comfort Fuel will offer grain bowls and salads. It will also emphasize creative breakfasts, Hamaker said. It wont serve alcohol to start, but if it eventually does, it will be mimosas, beer and wine, not liquor, he said. Hamaker said Spittel was a chef at Roast and had been working at Exact Sciences for the past three years, doing a lot of catering. Before Roast, Spittel was sous chef and guest service manager at the Old Fashioned. One popular sandwich being carried over from Roast is The Grateful Red, which Spittel invented. Its Cajun grilled chicken with hot honey, jalapeno cilantro cream cheese, tomato, cheddar jack and coleslaw. Another sandwich on the Comfort Fuel menu will be the Big Boi: smoked Cajun brisket, hot honey gochujang pork belly, egg and pepper jack cheese. A gochujang pork belly bowl will have black rice, sweet potato hash and many of the ingredients from the sandwich. The menu will also offer plates with a protein and two sides, such as charred broccolini, grilled lemon garlic asparagus and smashed garlic roasted potatoes. Hamaker said as theyve finalized the menu hes been impressed with the soulfulness, love and energy that David puts into his food. Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Frances Street. ATOMIC BOMB TOKYO Nagasaki marked the 78th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the city Wednesday with the mayor urging world powers to abolish nuclear weapons, saying nuclear deterrence also increases risks of nuclear war. Shiro Suzuki made the remark after the Group of Seven industrial powers adopted a separate document on nuclear disarmament in May that called for using nuclear weapons as deterrence. "Now is the time to show courage and make the decision to break free from dependence on nuclear deterrence," Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki said in his peace declaration Wednesday. "As long as states are dependent on nuclear deterrence, we cannot realize a world without nuclear weapons." Russia's nuclear threat encouraged other nuclear states to accelerate their dependence on nuclear weapons or enhance capabilities, further increasing the risk of nuclear war, but Russia is not the only one representing the risk of nuclear deterrence, Suzuki said. The United States dropped the world's first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. A second attack three days later on Nagasaki killed 70,000 more people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia. At 11:02 a.m., the moment the bomb exploded above the southern Japanese city, participants at the ceremony observed a moment of silence with the sound of a peace bell. Suzuki, whose parents were hibakusha, or survivors of the Nagasaki attack, expressed concern about the tragedy being forgotten. Survivors expressed frustration about the slow progress of disarmament, while the reality of the atomic bombing and their ordeals is not yet widely shared around the world. The concern comes after the "Barbenheimer" blitz of the "Barbie" and "Oppenheim" movies triggered outrage in Japan. The combination of "Barbie" and a biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer who helped develop the atomic bomb sparked memes on social media. The craze was seen as minimizing the ghastly toll of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings. A new report commends Dane County judges and court personnel for their overall approach to dealing with victims of domestic abuse, while noting there are some inconsistencies. The Domestic Abuse Intervention Services report notes that judges were trauma informed and knowledgeable of the dynamics of a domestic abuse relationship, often gave clear explanations of their decision-making and set ground rules at the onset of the hearing. But DAIS also found that Dane County courts handle restraining order hearings inconsistently, with judges occasionally not following state rules about trying to seize guns from domestic abusers or asking people how long they want an order to last. The findings from Domestic Abuse Intervention Services show restraining order hearings in the Dane County court system largely havent changed since the organizations report in 2018, meaning uncertainty about what people can expect when they walk into a courtroom to seek a restraining order. The vast majority of those trying to get a restraining order, 77%, were women, many of whom did not have a lawyer or other service representative with them in the courtroom, DAIS found. Those who had someone representing them in court had far greater success at getting a restraining order. Eighty-one percent of those with representation had an order granted compared with a 56% success rate for those who did not have representation. There is this common misperception that restraining orders are really easy to get, DAIS Executive Director Shannon Barry said. Its a laborious process. It requires not just the process itself but the emotional capacity for somebody to go through that. How to Contact DAIS Domestic Abuse Intervention Services' help line can be reached 24 hours a day via phone at 608-251-4445 and via text at 608-420-4638. Between October 2021 and 2022, restraining orders were approved in 38% of cases, DAIS found. For the report, court observers for DAIS sat in on more than 400 injunction hearings, tracking data and taking notes on what judges did and didnt do. Dane Countys 17 circuit court judges take turns presiding over restraining order hearings. That gives all the judges experience with such hearings but also creates 17 different ways of practice, Barry said. Theres a lack of consistency across the courtrooms, she said. In 2018, DAIS observed some judges being dismissive toward victims and non-English speakers, a concern that did not reemerge in DAIS latest report. Inconsistencies As in the 2018 report, the courts continue to lack uniform rules and protocols for the hearings. For example, state law requires a mandatory surrender of firearms for those given a domestic abuse restraining order. In restraining orders for harassment, a person must give up their guns if theres evidence the person might harm someone else or themselves. But in 11% of domestic abuse cases and 60% of harassment cases, the judge did not bring up guns during the hearing. Sometimes petitioners were not asked how long they wanted a restraining order in a domestic abuse case set, which is also required by state law. In 11% of cases, the judge did not ask the victim about the restraining orders length of time. Judges didnt always advise people about what to do if the person who is the subject of the restraining order isnt served court papers. In that scenario, petitioners can have a legal notice filed in a newspaper in lieu of having the court papers physically served. According to the report, 19 cases were dismissed because sheriffs deputies didnt serve the papers. But 15 times, judges did not mention that getting a legal notice filed in the newspaper was an option. Recommendations DAIS recommended a courthouse-wide set of rules governing restraining order hearings. Beyond discussion of firearms, publishing legal notices and time requests, judges didnt have a set approach to asking petitioners to testify or whether formal legal arguments were expected. Other recommendations from DAIS included training for judges on domestic violence and creating a dedicated branch of the circuit court for domestic violence cases, two reforms put forth in the 2018 report as well. Their recommendations are something we should seriously consider because of the time, talent and expertise they bring to the table, Judge Frank Remington said of DAIS. Dane County has yet to discuss creating a court branch dedicated to domestic violence as DAIS has recommended, Remington said. Specialization is important for judges, but judges also benefit from being exposed to different areas of the law, the judge said. Remington said hed want to review what procedures the court should change, though noted that overly rigid court procedures typically complicate things for those without representation. Better procedures can produce a better result, he said. A former Sun Prairie police officer was arrested Wednesday afternoon on charges he sexually assaulted a student during his tenure as a resource officer at a Sun Prairie high school, according to Madison police. The arrest of Lamont Crockett, 34, comes after an investigation by the Madison Police Departments Special Victims Unit into a recently reported sexual assault that happened several years ago. The victim was a student at a high school in the Sun Prairie School District, the suspect a school resource officer. The alleged assault took place in Madison. Crockett is expected to face a charge of sexual assault of a child by a school staff person or a person who works or volunteers with children. Crockett worked in the district from 2018 to 2020, and hes now a Medicaid fraud investigator with the Wisconsin Department of Justice, in the Division of Criminal Investigation. He started with the Department in the Division of Legal Services on March 15, 2021, being transferred to the Division of Criminal Investigation on February 12, 2023. He has been placed on administrative leave with no access to the departments offices or equipment, according to department spokesperson Gillian Drummond. The DCI, Sun Prairie Police Department and Sun Prairie School District are all involved in the investigation, which is ongoing. In an emailed statement, district officials said that, as the incident happened outside of the district, all questions about the investigation should be referred to the Madison and Sun Prairie police departments. There is no greater priority than the health, safety, and welfare of our children, and so we understand that this information is troubling to hear. While we do not have any information to indicate that these events occurred on school grounds, we are cooperating fully with the Madison and Sun Prairie Police Departments in this investigation, district Superintendent Brad Saron and Director of School Operations Annemarie Engdahl said in the statement. The Sun Prairie Police Department listed Crockett among its new hires in its 2015 annual report, which noted his previous experience as a tutor at Patrick Marsh Middle School and as a security officer with the University of Wisconsin Police Department. A civil lawsuit against the 10 Republicans who signed paperwork purporting that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election is heading to trial next year after a Dane County judge largely rejected the Republicans request to toss the case. Dane County Circuit Court Judge Frank Remington on Thursday denied the defendants motion to dismiss claims alleging that the 10 Wisconsin Republicans and two attorneys who advised them broke multiple laws, including impersonating a public official, public nuisance and engaging in conspiracy. Wisconsin voters have been waiting for nearly three years to hold the fraudulent electors accountable for their misconduct, Scott Thompson, an attorney with the firm Law Forward, which filed the case early last year, said in a statement. Their coordinated and deliberate effort to subvert our democracy must not happen again. Todays ruling is the next step in that process. With Remingtons order, the case will move forward to a September 2024 trial. Remingtons order comes about a week after the U.S. Department of Justice filed federal charges against Trump as part of a probe into the former presidents efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election a scheme that relied heavily on the actions taken by Republican electors in a handful of states, including Wisconsin. Mark Jefferson, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said in a statement that hes confident attempts to penalize people who were tricked will fall short. All action taken to produce an alternate slate was only done to preserve an ongoing legal strategy and only to be used in the event a court of law gave the alternate slate meaning, he said. We were not informed of any use of the alternate electors contrary to preserving the legal strategy and would not have approved any other use. In the indictment against Trump, federal prosecutors heavily cite the actions of the slate of 10 Republican electors who gathered at the state Capitol in December 2020 to sign documents declaring Trump the winner on the same day Democratic electors cast the states Electoral College votes for Joe Biden. State Republicans have said the meeting took place on the advice of attorneys. Some were tricked The indictment against Trump states that some fraudulent electors, including those in Wisconsin, were tricked into participating based on the understanding that their votes would only be used if Trump succeeded in lawsuits challenging the election outcome. Later in the document, prosecutors state that Trump and his co-conspirators ultimately used the certificates of these fraudulent electors to deceitfully target the government function, and did so contrary to how fraudulent electors were told they would be used. According to the indictment, the shift took place after a Nov. 18 memo from Trump campaign adviser Kenneth Chesebro, which detailed the plan to Wisconsin attorney Jim Troupis, who represented Trump in a failed effort to overturn the states 2020 election results. The memo urged electors to convene on Dec. 14 to preserve the alternative of (Trumps) Wisconsin elector slate in the event (Trump) ultimately prevailed in the state. However, a separate memo on Dec. 6 marked a sharp departure from the Nov. 18 document and advocated that the alternate electors originally conceived of to preserve rights in Wisconsin instead be used in a number of states as fraudulent electors to prevent Biden from receiving the 270 electoral votes necessary to secure the presidency on January 6. The December memo suggested Trump electors in purportedly contested states like Wisconsin should meet and mimic as best as possible the actions of the legitimate Biden electors. On Jan. 6, Pence should open and count the fraudulent votes, setting up a fake controversy that would derail the proper certification of Biden as president-elect, according to the indictment. That effort culminated with a plot to pass then-Vice President Mike Pence slates of fake electors as Pence was set to confirm the presidential election results on Jan. 6, 2021. The indictment states that on the morning of Jan. 6, Trump asked a U.S. senator, who is not named in the indictment, to hand-deliver documents to the Vice President. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnsons chief of staff told Pences aide on Jan. 6, 2021, that the senator needed to pass the vice president documents falsely stating Trump won Wisconsin, text messages released last summer by the House Jan. 6 committee revealed. The texts came as the vice president was set to confirm Biden as the winner of the 2020 election. Pences staff rejected them. I emphasize that what other jurisdictions do, or do not do, has no bearing on the present application of Wisconsins rules of civil procedure to Penebakers complaint, Remington wrote in the order. All that matters, for now, is whether the complaint alleges violations of Wisconsin law that have injured Wisconsin citizens. Remington in May scheduled the trial to begin on Sept. 3, 2024. He estimated the trial could take as long as four weeks and conclude before Republican and Democratic electors are selected in October for the next presidential election. Attorneys for the plaintiffs, who have sought to bar the 10 Republicans from being presidential electors in the future, have asked to have the case concluded before the next slate of electors is chosen. The lawsuit The lawsuit was filed in May 2022 on behalf of a handful of Democrats, including two official presidential electors, against the 10 Republicans, as well as Chesebro and Troupis. Plaintiffs in the case include lawfully elected Wisconsin electors Khary Penebaker and Mary Arnold. Plaintiffs seek more than $2.4 million in damages, including $2,000 fines for the Republicans and their attorneys, and up to $200,000 in punitive damages for each plaintiff. The lawsuit was filed months after the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission unanimously denied a complaint that sought sanctions against the 10 Republicans, including Robert Spindell, a Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, who signed the official-looking documents. Other complaints have failed to gain much traction, including those filed with the district attorneys offices in Milwaukee and Dane counties, as well as the Office of Lawyer Regulation, the agency that handles complaints against lawyers in Wisconsin. If the lawsuit reaches the states highest court, it will be taken up by a Wisconsin Supreme Court with a new 4-3 liberal majority. Liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz, who defeated conservative Dan Kelly in April, joined the court last week. Last month, Michigan became the first state to criminally charge fake electors. In Wisconsin, Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul has remained tight-lipped on whether charges are forthcoming or whether an investigation exists at all. Elections 101: Video series explains how elections are carried out in Wisconsin The Wisconsin Elections Commission put together the following series of instructional videos and accompanying lesson plans for use in high school civics classes and the general public. Elections overview An overview of elections administration in Wisconsin. Voting Security Let's take a look at how we maintain security and integrity with all of our elections. Nuts and bolts The ins-and-outs of voter processes like registering to vote and requesting a ballot to vote absentee. A Day at the Polls See what it is like to go to the polls and vote. ABORTION This pregnancy felt different. After the heartache of more than a dozen miscarriages, Anya Cook was 16 weeks along. She and husband Derick Cook spent a Sunday last December sharing the news with his parents and looking at cribs. As they left a restaurant in Coral Springs, Florida, that evening, Cook's water broke. Her husband rushed her to the nearest emergency room. Cook, 36, still believed the baby they had nick named "Bunny" could be saved. Doctors told her she would miscarry in the next 24 hours, she said, and that the fetus was too premature to survive. The early rupturing of her amniotic sac left Cook at risk of infection and complications including hemorrhaging. But her pregnancy was beyond Florida's then-15-week restriction on abortion and an ultrasound showed the fetus still had a detectable heart rate, according to hospital records Cook shared. Though Florida's law allowed abortions to protect the health of the mother, Cook said, a doctor told her he would be risking his license if he induced labor, essentially performing an abortion. He gave her two antibiotic injections to reduce the risk of infection and sent her home, she said. "I told him, 'You're leaving me to die,'" she said. Every state that bans or restricts abortions has an exception to protect the health of the mother. Allowing abortions in such cases or in the case of rape or incest makes abortion legislation more palatable to a majority of the American public, who, polls show, don't support outright bans. When Florida lawmakers this year approved tightening the 15-week ban to a six-week limit, they added exceptions for rape, incest and human trafficking to the existing exemptions to protect the health of the mother. But recent history in other states suggests that few women will be able to take advantage of such exceptions if Florida's new law, on hold while tied up by legal challenges, is upheld by the state Supreme Court. There is also concern that patients with pregnancy complications are being denied care. In Alabama and Mississippi, which adopted stricter bans with some exceptions following the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, no abortions have been reported since July 2022, according to We Count, a reporting eff ort organized by the abortion rights group Society of Family Planning. The project excludes from its tally cases in which women traveled to other states for abortions or obtained abortion pills. In Texas, 13 women who had pregnancy complications sued the state's medical board after being denied abortions, testifying the state's strict restrictions put their lives in jeopardy. Women's health advocates fear Florida is headed in the same direction and that more expectant mothers' lives will be put at risk. "Exceptions are a rhetorical trick, really," said Laurie Bertram Roberts, executive director of the Mississippi Reproductive Freedom Fund, a group that supports abortion rights. "They're essentially a tool for Republican lawmakers to say, 'There, those of you who worry that so-called good abortions won't be available to you.'" State Sen. Erin Grall, a Republican who sponsored the bill for Florida's six-week ban, said that her legislation has exceptions "to acknowledge some women experience unexpected pregnancy due to the heinous criminal acts committed by others, and to suggest the exceptions are window dressing is factually incorrect." Data doesn't tell the full story More than 82,000 abortions were performed in Florida last year, according to data compiled by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. Those included 115 cases in which rape was cited as the reason for the abortion and seven that cited incest. No reported abortions were linked to human trafficking. If Florida's six-week ban moves forward, rape and incest victims would have to provide their doctor a copy of a restraining order, police report, medical record, court order or other documentation to get an abortion after that window. However, two-thirds of sexual assault victims do not report the crime, studies show, meaning no police report would exist. An estimated 8 in 10 rapes are committed by someone known to the victim, often leaving victims afraid of reprisals if they report the crime. Florida has a long-established law allowing abortions when a fetus has fatal abnormalities. But no exceptions exist for serious genetic defects, deformities or abnormalities, which were cited as the reason for 578 abortions in the state last year. Roughly 60% were done in the second trimester, when tests like fetal echocardiograms or maternal serum screens are typically performed. The results of those tests would arrive too late if Florida's six week ban is upheld. It's not clear how many women who had abortions last year in Florida would have had their health endangered if their pregnancies had continued. Pregnancy and labor carry serious health risks such as hypertension, hemorrhaging and blood clots. More than 1,200 women died from causes related to pregnancy or childbirth in the United States in 2021. In Florida in 2020, 21 pregnancy-related parental deaths occurred for every 100,000 live births and the rate of death among pregnant Black expectant mothers was more than double. A May study by the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas-Austin identified dozens of cases in 14 states, including Florida, where poor care due to abortion restrictions led to preventable complications and hospitalizations. Some of those patients nearly died. "Health care providers described feeling moral distress when they were unable to provide evidence-based care, and some reported considering moving their practices to a state where abortion remains legal," the study states. Grall, the GOP state senator, said Florida has long-established laws to protect the life of the mother so there should be no confusion when an abortion is necessary. "Florida should always be a state in which the life of the mother is protected, and any doctor, hospital, or lawyers who seek to take a crystal-clear statute and try to muddy its interpretation to score political points should face the appropriate punishment," she said. 'A really dark place' Cook, the woman whose water broke 16 weeks into her pregnancy, barely slept that night, she said, after being refused treatment at Broward Health Coral Springs hospital. The more she read online about her condition, the more convinced she became that she was going to die. "I went to a really dark place," she said. Her miscarriage came when she was at a late-morning hair salon appointment. She rushed to the bathroom. "I put my hands on my knees, and I heard my daughter hit the toilet," she said. Her husband called 911. She told him she needed help to deliver the placenta she felt hanging from her womb. He pulled some of the organ out with his bare hands, she said. An ambulance rushed Cook to Memorial Hospital Miramar. Part of her placenta was still inside her. When doctors removed it, she began bleeding profusely, hospital records show. Doctors estimated she lost more than half a gallon of blood, an amount that can be fatal. Cook ended up in intensive care. She needed four units of blood and was put on a ventilator, records show. Doctors feared they would have to remove her uterus, which would mean she could never have a child, Cook said. Instead, they blocked some of the blood vessels and inserted a medical balloon to stem bleeding. She stayed in the hospital for five days. In May, Cook said, she was interviewed by officials from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and recounted her story about the limited care she received at Broward Health Coral Springs the night her water broke. She said they told her they are reviewing the hospital's handling of her emergency. Spokesperson Bailey Smith said the agency cannot comment on ongoing investigations. Jennifer Smith, Broward Health's vice president for corporate communications and marketing, said in an email that the hospital's handling of the case was appropriate. She said that the emergency physician contacted Cook's OB-GYN, who recommended the antibiotic treatment. Cook was instructed to see her doctor that day or return to the emergency room if her condition worsened, Smith said. "We empathize with Ms. Cook and the millions of women who annually suffer the unimaginable loss of miscarriage; however, we cannot speculate on whether Ms. Cook complied with the discharge instructions to see her private OB-GYN physician the same day of her discharge," Smith said. Cook said she had already called her OBGYN before she went to the hospital initially and it was after 2 a.m. when she was discharged. She miscarried around midday later that day. "It's absurd how they're still trying to defend it," she said. The baby was conceived through in vitro fertilization. That pregnancy was the furthest along Cook had ever been. "To make it this far and lose her like that, it was really traumatic," she said. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs of KFF, the independent source for health policy research, polling and journalism. TALLINN, Estonia A Russian rocket attack Wednesday killed two people and wounded at least seven others in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, near Europe's largest nuclear power plant, Ukrainian officials said. In Russia, an explosion on the grounds of a factory that makes optical equipment for Russia's security forces killed one person and injured 60 others Wednesday north of Moscow, six of them severely, officials said. Also Wednesday, U.S. officials said the Pentagon will provide Ukraine with $200 million in weapons and ammunition to help sustain Kyiv's counteroffensive as troops on the front lines face significant hurdles against a well-entrenched Russian defense. The aid comes as the U.S. funding for Ukraine is nearly all spent and the Biden administration is expected to request a new package of supplemental aid from Congress to continue that support. Wild About Nature Midwifery is a birthing center in Kimberly that provides low-risk pregnant women prenatal work, delivery and postpartum appointments throughout south-central Idaho. Low-risk pregnancies include women who have no active complications that would place her or the baby at risk. Since starting her practice in 2018 and with the recent strict law regulations in Idaho birthing center founder and midwife Patricia Sutherland has seen a significant increase in families from rural communities coming into her facility. Sutherland allows her patients to choose between having their births at the center in Kimberly or at home and allows them to decide how involved they want their families to be during labor, including children. Having the ability to invite family members to their babys birth was a positive aspect for many pregnant women, especially after COVID-19 hit the Magic Valley. The personal autonomy of having their families present and also having their children come and meet the baby is important for them, Sutherland said. Now its just word of mouth. They mightve tried this out because of COVID but they tell their friends and now they want to try it out. In the past year and a half, 43% of the birthing centers clientele have come from Twin Falls, while 57% have come from rural communities, Sutherland said. In addition, up to 20% of her clientele are Hispanic, 3% are Black, 3% are Asian and about 70% are white. Tricia lived in Mexico and speaks Spanish, so she is able to connect and offer to that demographic, Lindsay Rae, birth assistant, said. I have been in Haiti and adopted five kids there so I speak Creole. We both really help each other. The two also reflected that since the strict regulations and limited access to maternity care in Idaho. They feel blessed to be in an area with two birthing centers theirs and Twin Falls Midwifery and dont feel like there is any competition between them. If anything, the two centers support and work with one another to see who can bring these moms into their facilities. Its been rough because of the laws that have been passed in Idaho. Its caused OB-GYNs to feel like their hands are tied, Sutherland said. And we have had women pass away because of the law. Its heartbreaking. Sutherland and Rae have attended to women from Gooding, Minidoka and Fairfield rural towns that have limited access to maternity care whove come to the birthing center. Weve had a couple of women come from Gooding, Sutherland said. For the majority, they come here but I also have gone there. Sutherland has seen an increase in patients since the start of her birthing center, going from 15 in 2018 to 70 this year. For more information about Wild About Nature Midwifery, go to www.wildaboutnaturemidwifery.com. Where do birthing center clients live? Wild About Nature Midwifery attends to the births of babies from the following towns: 43% from Twin Falls 13% from Burley 11% from Jerome 7% from Buhl Passenger ridership on the citys new transit service far surpassed expectations in its first month of operation. Twin Falls Transit Coordinator Maxine Durand told the City Council that Ride TFT had expected about 2,000 rides in the first month. Instead, 3,251 rides were given, with a total of 4,338 passengers. We blew our own expectations away, Durand said. If there was a question of whether or not demand for public transit existed in Twin Falls, it certainly does. And its probably a lot more than anyone could have expected." Durand presented an overview of the first month of data to the council at its regular Monday meeting this week, adding the service could expect to reach average monthly ridership of 9,000 within 10 months or so. Ride TFT is the name of the on-demand transit service, which allows people to call for a ride using an app or by phone. Rides anywhere in the city are a flat $3, with a discounted rate of $1 for people with disabilities or over the age of 60. The service has seven vans in operation, including two, four-passenger, ADA wheelchair-compliant vans. The average wait time in the first month was 12 minutes. Riders gave reviews with an average score of 4.8 out of 5 stars. Durand compared the first month's numbers to what was seen by the Greater Idaho Falls Transit system, a sister transit service of sorts that is also administered by Downtowner. In their first month, Idaho Falls saw 2,599 rides and 3,976 passengers. Mayor Ruth Pierce said she had heard nothing but good things from the community about the new service and even received touching emails from people who were homebound and can now get out. Your news on your smartphone Your story lives in the Magic Valley, and our new mobile app is designed to make sure you dont miss breaking news, the latest scores, the weather forecast and more. From easy navigation with the swipe of a finger to personalized content based on your preferences to customized text sizes, the Times-News app is built for you and your life. Dont have the app? Download it today from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. (Editor's note: A previous version of this column had the incorrect date for Idaho's 2024 Republican presidential caucus. It will be on Saturday, March 2.) When it comes to electoral missteps, Idaho Democrats dont have a corner on the market. Due to a drafting oversight, the Right Wing Party managed to eliminate the 2024 presidential primary last legislative session and now are stuck with a caucus next March. If youre angry about this, feel free to thank Pocatello state Rep. Dustin Manwaring for his part in it. Quote If you have the time and the inclination, Idahos 2024 GOP caucuses dont have to be a mess they can be a real opportunity to see how the other half thinks. Idahos GOP hasnt had a caucus since 2012, and for good reason. Caucuses are time-consuming and chaotic. Case in point: The 2016 Idaho Democratic caucuses. A Boise State Public Radio headline from 2020 read, Idaho Democrats Prepare for First Primary After 2016 Caucus Mess. That event was plagued by long lines, a lack of food, and utter confusion. The Idaho Democratic Party quickly abandoned the format in favor of a primary. Among the many reasons caucuses are disfavored outside of Iowa is because most voters arent familiar with the rules. Furthermore, voter turnout to caucuses is abysmal. According to Spokanes Spokesman Review, 44,672 people showed up for the Republican caucus in 2012, compared to the 225,000 people who voted in the 2016 primary. Primaries are easy. You show up at the polls, show your identification, vote, and leave. Caucuses are WAY more complicated. If you want to participate, youll need to block out several hours in one day. In this case, that day is Saturday, March 2. Plan ahead so you can call in sick to work that day. Lines are going to be an issue. The longest Ive ever stood in line to vote was maybe 10 minutes. Depending on how things go off next year, you could be in line for more than an hour. Once you get through that, then the fun begins. Im not sure how the Idaho GOP will format its caucus, but generally speaking, you literally have to take sides for the candidate you support. In other words, if you support Candidate A, you stand on one side of the room. If you support Candidate B, you stand on the other side of the room. If theres more than two candidates, you may have to stand in a corner. Once thats done, you actually get to talk with the opposition and try to convince them to come over to your side. If you tried to pull that in a primary, you might get arrested. But for caucuses, arguing with other people in the polling place is how it works. There may also be opportunities for people to give speeches, which may be met with cheers or boos depending on what side youre on. In the end, based on some equation Im not familiar with, a winner is declared. If youre a voter fraud conspiracy theorist, this will be most disconcerting. Back in 2012, the winner of the GOP Iowa caucuses was declared like three different times for Mitt Romney and/or Rick Santorum. To this day, Im still not sure who won. What makes Idahos caucus interesting is the fact that three different parties may be participating: The Radical Right Wing Party, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. Wait. What? Yes. You have Radical Right-Wingers who jeopardize our jobs, our livelihoods, and our homes. You have real Republicans who subscribe to Idaho Democratic ideals of freedom, opportunity, and prosperity. Finally, you have Democrats who register as Republicans so they can participate in the GOP primaries now caucuses. If I were among the latter, I would circle March 2 on my calendar, because I wouldnt miss that opportunity for the world. If you have the time and youre a political junkie like me, participating in Idahos 2024 GOP primary would be fascinating. Imagine being able to go face-to-face with fellow Republicans and making your case for the GOP presidential nominee in Idaho. Remember, caucuses allow you to debate, to argue and to interact with voters in a way most of us never get. If you have the time and the inclination, Idahos 2024 GOP caucuses dont have to be a mess they can be a real opportunity to see how the other half thinks. Dustin Manwaring may have helped screw things up for the 2024 Idaho GOP presidential nominating process, but in a weird kind of way, his ineptitude may have granted us an opportunity. Lets get our caucus on Idaho! And, God Bless America. Aboitiz Power Corp. continues to talk to US nuclear firm Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. for the development of micro modular reactors in the Philippines, a top executive said Thursday. Aboitiz Power president Emmanuel Rubio said the talks were at exploratory stage, but they planned to sign a non-disclosure agreement with Ultra Safe to continue nuclear power discussions. Ultra Safe is micro modular reactors, small about 5 to 7 megawatts, probably perfect for micro grids, Rubio said at the sidelines of the Asian Conference on Climate Change and Disaster Resilience at the Asian Institute of Management in Makati City. Rubio said nuclear should always be an option for the country as it is an economically feasible solution thats not emitting carbon dioxide. Rubio confirmed that the Philippines should put in place a lot of factors before the country could have a nuclear facility, including agreements and governing laws. Safety standards are already in place. We just have to revisit whether those safety standards are updated. Government has to have a role in encouraging nuclear as an option, he said. Meanwhile, Rubio said energy security and energy infrastructure resilience are crucial in developing nations like the Philippines for economic growth, poverty reduction, national security and sustainable development. Rubio said energy security and energy infrastructure resilience also have challenges such as the vulnerability of energy systems to natural disasters. The Philippines is no stranger to the wrath of typhoons, earthquakes, and floods. These calamities can wreak havoc on our power grids, disrupting energy supply and leaving communities in darkness when they need it most, he said. Another challenge is the countrys overreliance on imported energy resources, particularly coal and oil which expose the Philippines to global market fluctuations and geopolitical risks. The impact of the global situation on the Philippines is most evident in the realm of finance and economy, presenting challenges to our countrys recovery from the pandemic and affecting the publics quality of life with increased costs of goods and fuel, Rubio said. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) on Thursday assured that there will be no cover-up in the investigation into the killing of a teenager in a police operation in Navotas City, noting that the involved policemen have already admitted their mistake. In an interview, NCRPO director Brig. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. assured that there is no other motive in the death of 17-year-old Jerhode Jemboy Baltazar and that the fatal shooting was purely a mistake on the part of the police. The six policemen are already behind bars and are already facing criminal charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide, Nartatez said. To avoid similar incidents, Nartatez said the NCRPO will strengthen programs to continue educating their personnel, especially on the rules of engagement and patrolling. The Internal Affairs Service (IAS) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) will expedite the fact-finding investigation of the case. IAS Inspector General Alfegar Triambulo said they expect to release their recommendation in the first week of September. He said the involved policemen will be asked to submit their counter-affidavit. PNP Public Information Office chief Brig. Gen. Redrico Maranan said a police executive master sergeant, three staff sergeants, two corporals, and one patrolman involved in the incident are now facing administrative and criminal charges of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide. Maranan said the police officers conducted a pursuit operation on Aug. 2 in response to a murder incident when they chanced upon Baltazar who was then on board a boat. The police said they commanded Baltazar and his companion to surrender. However, he allegedly jumped into the river prompting law enforcers to fire at him which resulted in his death. The police officers later admitted that Baltazar was not the suspect they were looking for but a certain Reynaldo Bolivar. Navotas City Mayor Joh Rey Tiangco extended his condolences to the family of the victim, saying that We are deeply saddened by the wrongful death of a 17-year-old Navoteno who was shot by members of the Navotas police due to mistaken identity. The mother Baltazar is set to return home after seeking the assistance of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW). Rodaliza T. Baltazar is now with the DMWs Migrant Workers Office in Doha, Qatar and waiting for her flight to the Philippines, according to DMW Officer-in-Charge and Undersecretary Bernard Olalia. Senator Risa Hontiveros meanwhile condemned the killing. I condemn Jemboys heinous killing in the strongest terms. While the Philippine National Polices (PNP) immediate investigation and detention of the police officers involved in the killing of Jemboy is commendable, it is both alarming and suspicious as to why the officers were charged only with the lesser crime of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide instead of the proper charge of homicide. With Vito Barcelo and Joel Zurbano Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. The Department of Education (DepEd) on Thursday launched the adjusted K to 10 school curriculum dubbed the Matatag Curriculum after two years of thorough review. Department of Education Secretary and Vice President Sara Z. Duterte cited revisions in the new basic education curriculum, which include the reduction in the number of competencies, and more focus on the development of foundational skills such as literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional skills to kindergarten to Grade 3 learners. With the new curriculum that will be taught to students from kinder to Grade 10, the DepEd seeks to address issues in the previous system. DepEd Director IV Jocelyn Andaya of the Bureau of Curriculum Development said that 70 percent of the learning competencies of the current K to 10 curriculum have been taken out. Under the adjusted K to 10 curriculum, learning areas are reduced by two to five: 1) Language 2) Reading and Literacy 3) Mathematics 4) Makabansa (Nationalism) and 5) GMRC (Good Manners and Right Conduct). In the present system, there are seven identified foundational skills or learning areas for students: 1) mother tongue 2) Filipino 3) English 4) Mathematics 5) Araling Panlipunan (Social Studies) 6) MAPEH (Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health), and 7) Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao (Peer education). There are competencies that repeat. There are competencies that are nice to know but not a must to know that is why we aimed for essential learning competencies, Andaya explained in a press conference. The MATATAG Curriculum will be implemented in School Year 2024-2025 for Kindergarten, Grades 1, 4, and 7. In SY 2025-2026, Grades 2, 5, and 8 will be under the new curriculum with Grades 3, 6, and 9 in SY 2026-2027. Grade 10 learners will join them in SY 2027-2028, the department added. Andaya also said kindergarten learning will use play-based approach and formal subjects will only begin at grade 1. Here are the subjects for each grade level: Grade 1: Language, Reading and Literacy, Mathematics, Makabansa, GMRC Grade 2: Filipino, English, Mathematics, Makabansa, GMRC Grade 3: Filipino, English, Mathematics, Makabansa, GMRC, Science Grades 4-10: Filipino, English, Mathematics, Science, Araling Panlipunan, Technology and Livelihood Education, MAPEH, GMRC. In her speech at the launching event at the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City, Duterte-Carpio also cited the intensified formation of learners values and character development in adherence to the Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) and Values Education Act as well as the articulation to 21st Century Skills. She said among the features of the MATATAG Curriculum are the peace competencies highlighting the promotion of non-violent actions, and development of conflict resolution skills. This curriculum will be integral in DepEds MATATAG Agenda unveiled in January this year. DepEds track remains to be fundamentally illuminated by the wisdom of our slogan MATATAG: Bansang makabata, batang makabansa, meaning DepEds programs and reforms are intentionally tailored to produce competent, job-ready, active, responsible, and patriotic citizens, Duterte-Carpio said. MATATAG stands for MAke the curriculum relevant to produce job-ready, active, and responsible citizens; TAke steps to accelerate the delivery of basic education services and provision facilities; TAke good care of learners by promoting learner well-being, inclusiveness learning, and positive learning environment; and Give support for teachers to teach better. Duterte-Carpio noted that the review of the K to 12, which was started during the time of former DepEd Secretary Leonor Briones, was an extensive and painstaking process that demanded the collaboration of education stakeholders. Pursuing these reforms has been marked by foresight and demonstrated DepEds desire to change the learning landscape of the Philippines for the sake of the future of our learners, she said. In her presentation, Andaya said the changes include developing and drafting Shaping Papers and Curriculum Guides, which were validated, revised and went through a public review before being finalized. After going through the revision process, we have subjected the curriculum to a public review, which I have previously mentioned, is something novel as this is the first time that a national curriculum was subjected to public scrutiny, she said. Shaping Papers gained 96 percent public approval rate in a survey with 4,843 respondents which includes students, teachers, public/private school owners, government agencies, private organizations, and non-government organizations, she added. The review, Andaya noted, was guided by the curriculum review findings, international large-scale assessments and benchmarks, as well as the MATATAG Education Agenda. The Philippines adopted the K to 12 Program by virtue of Republic Act 10533 which aimed to enhance the Philippine Basic Education System by strengthening the curriculum and increasing the number of years of basic education from 10 years to 12 years. Before the implementation of K to 12, the Philippines had been one of the only three remaining countries in the world, the other two being Djibouti and Angola, to have 10 years of basic education. The phased implementation of K to 12 was adopted starting in School Year (SY) 2011-2012 and was implemented in the succeeding years, where Andaya admitted the DepEd hit snags. She also noted that the shifting local and global landscapes created an impact in various sectors, including education. The reviews findings, Andaya said, include congested curriculum content, misplaced prerequisite learning competencies, and cognitive demand imbalance. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. SingaporeChinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Singapore Thursday at the start of a three-nation regional tour, Beijings embassy in the city-state said, as tensions flare with the Philippines in the South China Sea. His three-day trip, after returning to the post last month following the unexplained disappearance of predecessor Qin Gang, also includes Malaysia and Cambodia. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy confirmed to AFP on Thursday morning that Beijings top diplomat had arrived in the financial hub. China hopes to strengthen strategic communication with the three Southeast Asian countries through this visit, Chinas foreign ministry said when it announced the trip on Wednesday. Wang will visit until Friday and hold separate meetings with his counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Singapores government said. His visit comes after Beijing and Manila clashed at the weekend when the Philippines accused Chinese Coast Guard vessels of blocking and firing water cannon at its boats on a resupply mission to Filipino marines stationed on a World-War-II-era ship. AFP China has since insisted the Philippine navy vessel grounded on a reef in the Spratly Islands be removed from the hotly contested waters that have long been a flashpoint between the two. Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and the Philippines are all members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which is in talks with China over a code of conduct in the sea that Beijing claims as almost entirely its own. Other ASEAN members Vietnam, Indonesia and Brunei all claim parts of the sea, too. AFP Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Quezon City, August 4, 2023 The resounding success of MOST Institutes Flavors of Asia restaurant simulation, held on August 4, 2023 at 3:00 pm, has left a lasting impression on the culinary scene. The event, organized by the accomplished culinary arts and baking & pastry students of Batch 212A, showcased their exceptional talents and passion for the culinary arts. Flavors of Asia was a private restaurant simulation, exclusively crafted by the graduating students of MOST Institute. Drawing inspiration from the rich and diverse culinary traditions of Asia, the talented batch of 8 students namely Lorrraine Bullos, Jessica Cabitac, Kyle Itliong, Marcie Linao, Elaine Reyes, Jeff Victorio, Deomher Villa De Gracia and Francis Ylanan, delivered an exquisite seven-course fine dining experience that captivated the taste buds of all the guests. The restaurant simulation not only highlighted the culinary prowess of Batch 212A but also reflected the core values and teachings instilled by MOST Institute. Since its establishment in 2004, MOST Institute has been committed to providing Technical-Vocational Education (TVE) and Training Programs that empower aspiring chefs to do more than just cook. The event truly embodied the spirit of culinary excellence and creativity fostered at the institute. During the simulation, the students showcased their ability to harmoniously blend flavors, paying homage to various Asian cultures and cuisines. Each dish was a masterpiece, meticulously prepared and artfully presented, leaving the guests in awe of the students culinary skills. Among the distinguished guests present were the students esteemed chef instructors, who provided valuable feedback and encouragement to further propel the young talents towards their culinary dreams. The support and guidance from family members, friends, and colleagues of Batch 212A added a touch of warmth and camaraderie to the event. As the event concluded, the students expressed their gratitude to everyone who attended and supported Flavors of Asia. They also extended their heartfelt appreciation to MOST Institute for providing a nurturing environment where they could hone their skills and develop their passion for culinary arts. MOST Institute would like to extend its sincere thanks to the media, food enthusiasts, and all those who contributed to the events success. The positive response and encouragement have reinforced the institutes commitment to nurturing exceptional culinary talent within the Philippines. To relive the moments and catch a glimpse of the culinary brilliance displayed at Flavors of Asia, follow MOST Institute on Instagram (@most.institute) and Facebook (MOST Institute Quezon City). Dont forget to check out the #FlavorsOfAsiaBatch212A hashtag to see what attendees and media are saying about this extraordinary gastronomic experience. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global cybersecurity leader, revealed that cyber risk levels in Asia Pacific have improved from the first half to the second half of 2022, according to its latest survey on cyber risk. Nevertheless, organisations remain pessimistic about the threat landscape, with 82% anticipating successful attacks this year. The findings come from Trend Micros biannual Cyber Risk Index (CRI) report, which measures the gap between respondents cybersecurity preparedness versus their likelihood of being attacked. In the second half of 2022, the CRI surveyed more than 3,700 CISOs, IT practitioners, and managers across North America, Europe, Latin/South America, and APAC. In APAC, enhanced cyber preparedness is a key driver of improved cyber risk levelswhich has shifted from elevated to moderate. However, organisations cannot rest on their laurels with the prospect of threats looming. The threats that APAC organizations are most worried about this year are as follows: Three in four organisations cited that it was somewhat to very likely that they would suffer a breach of customer data (74%), intellectual property (74%) or a successful cyberattack (82%). These figures represent declines of just 2%, 4% and 7% respectively, from the results of the CRI in the first half of 2022. Nilesh Jain, Vice President, Southeast Asia & India, Trend Micro: Weve seen a drastic improvement in the APAC cyber risk index since the first half of 2022, with figures moving into positive territory at 0.05 from negative levels. This is a promising result as it means that organizations have greatly stepped up to improve their cyber preparedness. It is crucial for organisations to continue this momentum by focusing on the threats that matter most to their business this year. The first step is to gain complete and continuous attack surface visibility and control. To address new complexities arising from an expanding attack surface, security teams need to bolster their capabilities in proactive attack surface risk management. On top of architecture improvements for enhanced interoperability, scalability and agility, having a unified cybersecurity platform with extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities is also critical in enhancing security teams visibility and response to cyberthreats across internal and external systems, accounts and devices. This would give organisations a leg-up in understanding, communicating, and mitigating expected risks. The Philippines cyber risk declines Although the Philippines continues to experience elevated risk levels, there has been some improvement since the first half of 2022, with cyber risk declining and preparedness improving. Table 1: Cyber Risk in APAC & Philippines Time frame Cyber Risk Index & Risk Label Business Implications (Elevated Risk) APAC Philippines First half of 2022 -0.11Elevated risk -0.21Elevated risk High likelihood of a compromise Some ability to detect new threats Low visibility of threats within network Lack of an incident response process Second half of 2022 0.05Moderate risk -0.06Elevated risk However, local organisations remain strongly on guard with over 80% of organizations citing that they are somewhat to very likely to experience a breach in customer data (82%), intellectual property (82%), or successful cyberattack (87%) in the next 12 months. Expected cyber threats in the Philippines & APAC this year Organizations in the Philippines and APAC cited ransomware, business email compromise, and botnets among the top five cyber threats that they expect to experience this year. Table 2: Top 5 Expected Cyber Threats APAC Philippines Business Email Compromise (BEC)RansomwareClickjackingBotnetsCrypto-mining RansomwareBusiness Email Compromise (BEC)BotnetsWatering Hole AttacksDenial of Service (DoS) Current infrastructure security risks of organisations in the Philippines & APAC In APAC and the Philippines, primary infrastructure risks cited are people related. Respondents in the Philippines and across the region named employees/personnel as representing three of their top five infrastructure risks. Table 3: Top 5 Current Security Risks in Infrastructure APAC Philippines Negligent insidersCloud computing infrastructure and providersShortage of qualified personnelMobile/remote employeesOrganisational misalignment and complexity Negligent insidersShortage of qualified personnelCloud computing infrastructure and providersOrganisational misalignment and complexityMobile or remote employees Ian Felipe, Country Manager, Trend Micro Philippines: Hybrid work has become the norm in the PhilippinesTrend Micros recent Risky Rewards study revealed that 78% of Filipino businesses believe that offering the ability to work from anywhere has become vital in the war for talent. At the same time, 62% believe there is a strong connection between cybersecurity and overall business risk. Local organisations thus need to master a balancing act between offering employees flexibility and minimising both the security and business risks that arise. Armed with the insights provided by the CRI, CISOs and CIOs in the Philippines can now better evaluate not only the technology solutions, but its people and processes to help mitigate cyber risks across the enterprise. To read a full copy of the Trend Micro CRI 2H 2022, please visit: https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/security-intelligence/breaking-news/cyber-risk-index Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Auditions will take place later this month for a unique combination of a classic horror film and live acting that will be presented on stage in downtown Marion. In October, the Greenlee Theatre at the MACA Center will host a presentation of the silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Released in 1920, this German Expressionist masterpiece is usually considered by historians and critics as the first horror film. The weird story of Dr. Caligari features a twisted visual style with distorted sets and strange images and it has been enormously influential in the horror and film noir genres of movie making. It inspired such famous directors as Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam. This presentation of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari will be combined with actors who will perform pantomime on the stage as the film is projected on a screen and pianist Nathan Shirley provides musical accompaniment. Ashton Helton is the director for this event. My team and I will be bringing the iconic German Expressionist masterpiece The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari to life on stage in a way that has never been done before, Helton told The McDowell News. We will premiere this production in Marion, N.C. at Greenlee Theatre in collaboration with McDowell Arts Council. Helton said this presentation of the 103-year-old film will be unique. Though the story has been adapted to many different mediums including a musical, a stage play, and even a ballet, no one has ever combined a pantomime cast with a live score and scenic as we intend to, said Helton. This approach allows our team to breathe new vision into a 100-plus year old story. Helton and her team are looking for actors to perform as the shadowcast onstage as the film is being projected. Auditions will take place from 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 17, and Friday, Aug. 18, at MACAs Greenlee Theatre at 50 S. Main St. in Marion. The main characters are: Dr. Caligari (45 and older). He is the physician and sideshow entertainer. He is suspicious, cunning and mysterious. Alan (20 to 35 years of age). He is mild-mannered and in love with Jane. Francis (20 to 35 years of age). He is a friend of Alan and besmitten by Jane. He is gentle and polite. Jane (20 to 35 years of age). She is melancholy. Vaporish and beautiful. She is the target of both Alans and Francis affections. Cesare (20 to 35 years of age). He is a somnambulist (someone who sleepwalks) and has spent his entire life in a dreamlike state. He is controlled by Dr. Caligari like a zombie. He is peculiar and sympathetic. There are five main characters, two to three that are supporting and a rotation of roles that could be done by anyone who is more than 20 years old. In addition, Helton is looking for a stage manager, carpentry technicians, lighting technicians, a propmaster and production assistants. In the past, Helton served as the local producer for the Bow Wow Film Festival that was a fundraiser for the Marion-based Mercy Fund Animal Rescue. She was also featured on the front page of The McDowell News later for her role in producing a short film that received international acclaim at Filmapalooza in Paris, France. For more information, visit the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/events/1346527372881874/. A Marion man has been charged with breaking and entering with intent to terrorize. On Wednesday, July 26, deputies with the McDowell County Sheriffs Office responded to a Dysartsville residence for a disturbance. Upon arrival, it was evident that a disturbance had taken place. Deputies met the victim who stated Eddie Dean Prince, 51, had broken into and demolished her residence. Prince fled the scene prior to deputies arriving and they were unable to locate him at that time, according to a MCSO news release. On Monday, July 31, Prince repeated the offense at the same residence and was arrested without incident for his outstanding warrants, the release said. Deputy Alicia Lund with the McDowell County Sheriffs Office charged Prince with two counts of felonious breaking or entering with intent to terrorize and two counts of injury to real property. Prince was issued a $30,000 secured bond. Prince has previous convictions in McDowell County on charges of taking indecent liberties with a child, breaking and entering and larceny and escaping prison, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety offender search website. Romanias Minister of Foreign Affairs Luminita Odobescu expressed her profound gratitude as she announced the successful release of a Romanian citizen who had been kidnapped and held for eight years in Burkina Faso. Happy to announce that after many efforts we have succeeded in bringing home the citizen from #BurkinaFaso, Odobescu posted on X today, adding: I am grateful for all the hard work done by the inter-institutional task force & the support of all our partners, particularly authorities! Iulian Ghergut, a Romanian security official was abducted from a manganese mining venture in Burkina Faso back in 2015 Ghergut was 39 years old at the time of his abduction by unidentified gunmen at the Tambao manganese mining project located in the northern region of Burkina Faso, close to the border with Mali. A terrorist group linked to Al Qaeda, called Al-Mourabitoun, later claimed responsibility for the abduction and kept him captive for eight years. A spokesperson for the group stated that they had presented conditions to Romania in exchange for Gherguts freedom. This is not the first time Morocco has been involved in the repatriation of a foreign citizen from the Sahel region. In December 2022, the German press reported that activist Jorg Lange had been freed thanks to Moroccan intelligence services operating in Mali. Running the NGO Help in Niger, the German activist and his driver had been kidnapped in April 2018 by motorcyclists on the border with Mali. 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: Morphometric moments improve prediction. a Cross-validated receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for the four considered tasks. b Feature group contribution to different tasks from 4 models trained on both morphology and blood counts (B.C.). In a, lines and bars are colored according to the used datasets for each task. In b, circles are scaled according to the total explained variance and colored according to the feature group. Credit: Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39676-y Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute have developed an AI system that recognizes and characterizes white and red blood cells in microscopic images of blood samples. The algorithm can help physicians diagnose blood disorders and is available as an open source method for research purposes. Blood disorders are often characterized by altered numbers and aberrant shapes of red and white blood cells. To diagnose the diseases, physicians classically examine blood smears on a slide under a microscope. This type of diagnosis is straightforward, but evaluation by experienced experts is difficult because the changes are sometimes very inconspicuous and affect only a few of the tens of thousands of visible cells. Due to these difficulties, the differentiation of diseases is not always easy. For example, the visible changes in the blood of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), an early form of leukemia, often resemble those of much more harmless forms of anemia. The definitive diagnosis of MDS therefore requires additional more invasive procedures, such as analysis of bone marrow biopsies and molecular genetic testing. "To support specialists in these difficult diagnoses, we have developed a computer-based system that automatically recognizes and characterizes white and red blood cells from peripheral blood," explains Moritz Gerstung of DKFZ. Gerstung and colleagues first trained the algorithm, called Haemorasis, to recognize the cell morphology of more than half a million white blood cells as well as many millions of red blood cells from more than 300 individuals with different blood disorders (various anemias and forms of MDS). "The algorithm is able to detect the shape and number of tens of thousands of blood cells in a microscopic image of the blood. This complements human capabilities, which are typically more focused on detail," Gerstung says. Using the trained knowledge, Haemorasis can now suggest diagnoses of blood disorders and even distinguish genetic subtypes of the diseases. In addition, the algorithm also reveals concrete correlations between certain cell morphologies and diseases, which are often difficult to find because of the large number of cells involved. Haemorasis has already been tested on three independent groups of patients to demonstrate that the system also works in other test centers and blood count scanner systems "We have now demonstrated for the first time that computer-assisted analysis of blood images is possible and can contribute to initial diagnosis," explains Gerstung. Haemorasis is designed to facilitate diagnostics in hematology and can help make a more accurate initial diagnosis of blood disorders. This is important for identifying those patients who require more invasive testing, such as bone marrow punctures or genetic analysis. "Automated cell analysis with Haemorasis could complement routine diagnosis of blood disorders in the future. So far, the algorithm has only been trained on specific diseasesbut we still see great potential in this approach," Gerstung says. He stresses that further studies are needed to identify potential limitations of the method. Haemorasis is available as an open-source method for research purposes and is straightforward to use. More information: Jose Guilherme de Almeida et al, Computational analysis of peripheral blood smears detects disease-associated cytomorphologies, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39676-y Journal information: Nature Communications 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: Following a four-day raid, Mexico has closed 23 pharmacies in Caribbean resorts of Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and Tulum for irregular pill sales. Last spring, the United States warned of dangerous pill sales to foreigners and tourists where counterfeit drugs contained fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine. Mexican investigators went to 55 drug stores, finding irregular sales at 23 of them, according to the Mexican Navy Department. In a study from researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles, the scientists said they visited 40 pharmacies in four Northern Mexico cities, finding that 68 percent sold oxycodone, Xanax, or Adderall. About 27 percent of those pharmacies were selling fake pills, according to the report, which said "brick and mortar pharmacies in Northern Mexican tourist towns are selling counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine. These pills are sold mainly to U.S. tourists, and are often passed off as controlled substances such as oxycodone, Percocet and Adderall." In the raids, the Navy said it found outdated medications and those with no supplier record, the Associated Press reported. Also found were blank and unsigned prescription forms. The Navy did not confirm finding fentanyl-laced pills, but it did say that the medications would be tested for the presence of fentanyl. Fentanyl is responsible for about 70,000 deaths each year in the United States, the AP reported, noting that Mexican cartels produce it from chemicals smuggled in from China. "These counterfeit pills represent a serious overdose risk to buyers who think they are getting a known quantity of a weaker drug," researcher Chelsea Shover, Ph.D., an assistant professor-in-residence of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told the AP in February. More information: Associated Press Article Copyright 2023 HealthDay. All rights reserved. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Each year, more than 200 million people fall sick with malaria and more than half a million of these infections lead to death. The World Health Organization recommends parasite-based diagnosis before starting treatment for the disease caused by Plasmodium parasites. There are various diagnostic methods, including conventional light microscopy, rapid diagnostic tests and PCR. The standard for malaria diagnosis, however, remains manual light microscopy, during which a specialist examines blood films with a microscope to confirm the presence of malaria parasites. Yet, the accuracy of the results depends critically on the skills of the microscopist and can be hampered by fatigue caused by excessive workloads of the professionals doing the testing. Now, writing in Frontiers in Malaria, an international team of researchers has assessed whether a fully automated system, combining AI detection software and an automated microscope, can diagnose malaria with clinically useful accuracy. "At an 88% diagnostic accuracy rate relative to microscopists, the AI system identified malaria parasites almost, though not quite, as well as experts," said Dr. Roxanne Rees-Channer, a researcher at The Hospital for Tropical Diseases at UCLH in the UK, where the study was performed. "This level of performance in a clinical setting is a major achievement for AI algorithms targeting malaria. It indicates that the system can indeed be a clinically useful tool for malaria diagnosis in appropriate settings." AI delivers accurate diagnosis The researchers sampled more than 1,200 blood samples of travelers who had returned to the UK from malaria-endemic countries. The study tested the accuracy of the AI and automated microscope system in a true clinical setting under ideal conditions. They evaluated samples using both manual light microscopy and the AI-microscope system. By hand, 113 samples were diagnosed as malaria parasite positive, whereas the AI-system correctly identified 99 samples as positive, which corresponds to an 88% accuracy rate. "AI for medicine often posts rosy preliminary results on internal datasets, but then falls flat in real clinical settings. This study independently assessed whether the AI system could succeed in a true clinical use case," said Rees-Channer, who is also the lead author of the study. Automated vs. manual The fully automated malaria diagnostic system the researchers put to the test includes hard- as well as software. An automated microscopy platform scans blood films and malaria detection algorithms process the image to detect parasites and the quantity present. Automated malaria diagnosis has several potential benefits, the scientists pointed out. "Even expert microscopists can become fatigued and make mistakes, especially under a heavy workload," Rees-Channer explained. "Automated diagnosis of malaria using AI could reduce this burden for microscopists and thus increase the feasible patient load." Furthermore, these systems deliver reproducible results and can be widely deployed, the scientists wrote. Despite the 88% accuracy rate, the automated system also falsely identified 122 samples as positive, which can lead to patients receiving unnecessary anti-malarial drugs. "The AI software is still not as accurate as an expert microscopist. This study represents a promising datapoint rather than a decisive proof of fitness," Rees-Channer concluded. More information: Evaluation of an automated microscope using machine learning for the detection of malaria in travelers returned to the UK, Frontiers in Malaria (2023). DOI: 10.3389/fmala.2023.1148115 , www.frontiersin.org/articles/1 la.2023.1148115/full Journal information: Frontiers in Malaria This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain On July 24, 2023, Israel's Parliament sanctioned a substantial amendment to the Basic Law, prompting apprehensions regarding power equilibrium and its potential influence on public well-being. In response, a coalition of prominent Israeli and global public health experts has united to dissect the profound ramifications of this revision in an article titled "Israel's Judicial Overhaul: A Threat to the Health in All Policies Approach" featured in The Lancet. The amendment, restricts court scrutiny of the reasonableness of ministerial decisions, aiming to curtail judicial supervision over political choices, which has sparked nationwide protests and concerns. As public health advocates, the co-authors of the article express their apprehension about the significant threat this amendment poses to public health and the Health in All Policies (HiAP) principle. The HiAP principle, adopted globally and shaped by various health declarations, advocates for the incorporation of health implications in decision-making across sectors. This approach recognizes that health determinants extend beyond the health sector and emphasizes collaboration for better health outcomes. The co-authors stress the pivotal role of health in governance and societal well-being. However, the amendment's potential to weaken the HiAP principle raises concerns about unchecked decisions that might neglect public health considerations. Dr. Shelly Kamin-Friedman from the Zulat for Equality and Human Rights "In Israel's legal landscape, the absence of constitutional protection for the right to health leaves citizens vulnerable to government decisions that disregard health considerations and expert opinions with a singular avenue: filing a petition with the High Court, citing the grounds of unreasonableness." Through the careful examination of history, the authors paint a vivid picture of how judicial review has historically safeguarded public health. They recount the Finance Minister's decision in 2018, when the choice not to raise taxes on loose tobacco was made, in isolation from health considerations. Public health advocates took to the courts, highlighting the potential dangers of such a decision on public health. The Supreme Court's intervention forced a reevaluation, emphasizing that policies, even seemingly unrelated ones, must consider their effects on public health. This serves as a stark reminder of how judicial oversight acts as a guardian against policies that may compromise the well-being of the people. Prof. Aron Troen from Hebrew University stated, "In a world where science is often overshadowed by politics, it is our duty to be the voice of reason, demanding evidence-based policies that prioritize public health and welfare. Our data speak for those who need it the most, urging us to bridge the gap between research and action." A more recent example involves sugary beverages. Israel's high sugar consumption rates contribute to escalating health issues. In 2022 a successful beverage tax was introduced, aligned with global practices and generating 890 million NIS in revenue, effectively curtailed sugary drink purchases. However, yielding to powerful industry pressures, the government abruptly revoked the tax in 2023 without due process or expert consultation. This decision, bereft of consideration for evidence-backed health concerns, underscores the need for a supreme court petition to champion public health interests over political and vested interests. The Finance Minister's choice to repeal the tax, despite global health warnings and local expert advice, highlights the fragility of public health when unchecked by judicial scrutiny. "We have diligently assessed the implications of this amendment, carefully navigating the complex interplay between judicial oversight, the imperatives of public health, and the fundamental dynamics of governance. The potential repercussions of this amendment on the equilibrium of political power and its profound impact on societal well-being must not be underestimated," said Prof. Nadav Davidovitch, Director, School of Public Health, Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Prof. Hagai Levine, Chair of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians, expresses his concern: "The legal change constitutes a direct assault on public health, leaving it vulnerable to extreme and irrational ministerial decisions, devoid of defense against political or vested interests." The story transcends national borders, as the authors highlight the potential global implications of this amendment. The risk of political interests superseding public health isn't confined to Israel alone; it sets a precedent that may echo in countries with weaker legal systems. The erosion of the Health in All Policies (HiAP) principle could have far-reaching consequences, compromising health considerations in policy-making. "In an era where well-being takes precedence, the elimination of judicial oversight represents more than a mere legal alteration; it poses a threat to the essential vitality of Israel, carrying ramifications that extend globally," says Y. Tony Yang, Endowed Professor of Health Policy, The George Washington University, U.S. As we emerge from the challenges of a global pandemic, the article serves as a rallying cry for the prioritization of public health in all government decisions. It urges readers to engage in thoughtful dialog about the delicate balance between policy, judicial oversight, and the well-being of a nation. More information: Israel's Judicial Overhaul: A Threat to the Health in All Policies Approach, The Lancet (2023). DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01663-X Journal information: The Lancet This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: CC0 Public Domain After a hospitalization, home health care enables patients to recover where they feel most comfortable: in their own home. Nurses visit patients there to provide care with the goal of keeping them at home, given that hospital readmissions cost the U.S. health care system more than $41 billion each year. A new study finds that for people who have limited ability to communicate in English, having the same home health nurse across visits significantly decreases hospital readmissions, regardless of whether the patient and nurse speak the same language. The findings, published in the journal Medical Care, can inform how home health agencies staff the care of patients with limited English proficiency by having the same provider throughout a patient's care. "While having both the continuity of the same nurse across multiple visits and a nurse who speaks the same language as the patient is ideal, enhancing continuity of care for those where there is language discordance between themselves and the health care provider may be helpful to address disparities and reduce hospital readmission rates," said Allison Squires, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, associate professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing and the study's lead author. Improving outcomes in home care Research shows that home care patients who speak a language other than English are at a higher risk for readmission to the hospital. Language gaps between patients and health care providers contribute to disparities in health outcomes and may be particularly challenging in home health care. Home care agencies frequently rely on telephone interpretation services since many of their clients do not have the level of internet access needed for video interpretation. Interpreter services are often not reimbursed by insurance unless state law requires it. "Home care agencies should aim to hire and retain nurses that speak the same languages as their patients, but realistically, there are not enough nurses to meet this demand," said Squires. A growing body of research shows that having the same providerknown as continuity of careacross multiple home care visits can improve health outcomes and may be a more viable staffing solution to prevent hospital readmissions. Same nurse or same language? To understand the impact of having a consistent provider or someone who speaks the same language on hospital readmissions, the researchers examined data from 22,103 patients who were receiving home care in New York City following a hospitalization. The patients spoke Spanish, Korean, Chinese, or Russian as their primary language. The researchers found that having the same nurse across home care visits who also spoke the same language as the patient had the best chance of reducing the risk of hospital readmissions. However, having the same nurse across home care visits, even if they didn't speak the same language as the patient, was also linked to lower hospital readmissions. Having different nurses increased the risk of readmission with this population, but risk varied by language. "It is thought that the more often a nurse interacts with a patient, the more likely they are to get to know them and their family or caregivers, regardless of whether there is a language barrier," said Squires. What this means for home health care agencies The researchers conclude that health care providers should focus on maximizing continuity of care after hospitalizationparticularly when language barriers cannot be addressed directly through staffing. "For providers referring patients to home health care services and coordinating these referrals, it may be worth considering an agency's ability to support continuity of skilled nursing care to reduce the odds of hospital readmission," said Squires. "Home health care organizations should assign providers with an eye towards ensuring that a patient's preferred nurse can remain involved in their treatment throughout their care." Squires notes that being able to assign the same home health nurse across visits has its own challenges, given the home care industry's difficulty attracting and retaining providers and their heavy reliance on per-diem workers. "Achieving continuity of care is only possible if a home care organization is able to recruit and retain nurses," said Squires. Additional study authors include Patrick Engel, Chenjuan Ma, and Simon Jones of NYU; Sarah Miner of St. John Fisher University; and Penny H. Feldman and Margaret V. McDonald of VNS Health. More information: Allison Squires et al, Continuity of Care Versus Language Concordance as an Intervention to Reduce Hospital Readmissions From Home Health Care, Medical Care (2023). DOI: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000001884 Journal information: Medical Care 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: ASD risk genes identified from rare variant studies and the SFARI dataset are enriched in macro DEGs. a, Euler diagrams showing how many of the ASD risk genes identified in four large-scale genomic studies are present in macro- and normo-ASD DEGs (union of all DEGs across organoid stages and cell types), with a similar diagram for SFARI genes (subset of SFARI genes with score = 1 indicated). Note that Wilfert et al.7 only report genes absent from the SFARI database at time of publication. b, Dot plot of enrichment results for ASD risk genes, SFARI genes or their union (All) with ASD DEGs from our study. Enrichment was calculated for the union of DEGs across cell types (All cells) and for each cell type DEG separately. Dot size is number of genes in intersection. Color gradient is FDR-corrected P value (one-sided Fishers exact test; NS if FDR 0.05). c, Dot plot heatmap showing average fold change for ASD risk genes in macro or normo DEGs in our study. n.effective (dot size) indicates the difference between the number of concordant and discordant families for the tested change in expression (blue, decreased in ASD; red, increased in ASD). Genes plotted are high-confidence DEGs with n.effective > 2 in at least one cell type (SFARI genes in green). NS, not significant; WES, whole-exome sequencing; WGS, whole-genome sequencing. Credit: Nature Neuroscience (2023). DOI:10.1038/s41593-023-01399-0 Using human "mini-brain" models known as organoids, Mayo Clinic and Yale University scientists have discovered that the roots of autism spectrum disorder may be associated with an imbalance of specific neurons that play a critical role in how the brain communicates and functions. The specific cells are known as excitatory cortical neurons. The new study is published in Nature Neuroscience. Findings The team found an abnormal imbalance of excitatory neurons in the forebrain of people with the disorder, depending on their head size. "This organoid technology allowed us to recreate the brain development alteration that happened in the patients when they were in the uterus, which is believed to be the time when autism spectrum disorder originates," says Alexej Abyzov, Ph.D., a genomic researcher in the Department of Quantitative Health Sciences at the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine. Dr. Abyzov is a senior author of the study. What is autism spectrum disorder Autism spectrum disorder is a neurological condition that affects the way people perceive and interact with others, leading to challenges in social communication and behavior. The term "spectrum" emphasizes the broad range of symptoms and severity, and includes autism, Asperger's syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder and an unspecified form of pervasive developmental disorder. Nearly 1 in 36 children in the U.S. has been identified with autism spectrum disorder, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network. More about 'mini-brains' For the study, the scientists first created miniature 3D brain-like models, called organoids. The pea-sized clusters of cells began as skin cells from people with autism spectrum disorder. The skin cells were placed in a culture dish and "reprogrammed" back into a stem-cell-like state, called induced pluripotent stem cells. These so-called master cells can be coaxed to develop into any cell in the body, including brain cells. Next, the scientists used a special technology called single-cell RNA sequencing to study the gene expression patterns of individual brain cells. In all, they examined 664,272 brain cells at three different stages of brain development. The scientists also discovered that the neuron imbalance stemmed from changes in the activity of certain genes known as "transcription factors," which play a crucial role in directing the development of cells during the initial stages of brain formation. Building evidence This study builds on 13 years of published studies on autism spectrum disorder by Dr. Abyzov and his collaborators, including Flora Vaccarino, M.D., a neuroscientist at Yale University. In one pioneering study, they showed molecular differences in organoids between people with autism and those without and implicated the deregulation of a specific transcription factor called FOXG1 as an underlying cause of the disorder. "Autism is mostly a genetic disease. Our goal is to be able to determine the risk of autism spectrum disorder and possibly prevent it in an unborn child using prenatal genetic testing. However, this would require detailed knowledge of how brain regulation gets derailed during development. There are many aspects in which organoids could help in this direction," says Dr. Abyzov. More information: Jourdon, A. et al. Modeling idiopathic autism in forebrain organoids reveals an imbalance of excitatory cortical neuron subtypes during early neurogenesis. Nature Neuroscience (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01399-0 www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01399-0 Journal information: Nature Neuroscience 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: Natural killer (NK) cells control Brucella joint infection in an interferon (IFN)-dependent manner. A and B: Rag2/ mice were footpad-infected with 105 colony-forming units (CFUs) of Brucella melitensis. Mice were also treated with isotype control, neutralized of IFN- (antiIFN-), or neutralized of IFN- and depleted of NK cells (anti-NK1.1). A and B: At 7 days after infection, Brucella levels in joint (A) and spleen (B) were measured. C and D: Rag2/, Rag2//Tbx21/, and Rag2//Rorc/ mice were footpad infected with 105 CFUs of B. melitensis. CE: At 15 days after infection, Brucella burdens in joint (C) and spleen (D) were determined along with tibiotarsal joint swelling (E). Data are combined from two experiments. n = 8 to 10 mice (AD). P < 0.05, P < 0.0001. Credit: The American Journal of Pathology (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2023.05.006 Neurobrucellosis is a severe long-term complication of brucellosis, one of the most common bacterial zoonotic diseases. Scientists have now developed a novel animal model that indicates that innate lymphoid cells and interferons play an important role in limiting arthritis, meningitis, and neurologic complications during Brucellamelitensis infection. According to a new report in The American Journal of Pathology, this may help understand how neurobrucellosis develops and consequently help explore potential therapies. Brucellosis is one of the most common bacterial zoonotic diseases in the world, causing significant agricultural and public health problems especially in endemic areas such as the Mediterranean Basin, Middle East, and Central Asia. In animals, it presents as late-term abortion in affected livestock species and causes devastating financial losses. In humans, it can infect and cause disease in almost any organ or organ system. High rates of human disease correlate with lambing season in endemic countries because the disease is transmitted to humans through the ingestion of unpasteurized dairy products or through direct contact (ingestion, inhalation, and wound infection) with contaminated tissues. Brucellosis accounts for more than 500,000 recorded human cases per year, but many believe the actual number of annual infections is 10 to 20 times higher because most cases go undiagnosed. Lead investigator Jerod A. Skyberg, Ph.D., Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Laboratory for Infectious Disease Research, University of Missouri, Columbia, explains: "The disease in humans is characterized by an undulating fever and systemic symptoms, including lethargy, chills, arthralgia, and headaches." "The most morbid complication is neurobrucellosis, in which neural tissue is damaged either directly through bacterial disruption or indirectly via severe immune inflammatory responses. The most severely affected patients can develop life-long neurologic consequences." The researchers found that innate lymphoid cells and interferons play an important role in defense against central nervous system infection by Brucella and in doing so, have developed novel mouse models for neurobrucellosis to study this further. Innate lymphoid cells prevent development of meningitis following pulmonary infection. Rag2//Il2rg/ mice were infected intranasally with 105 colony-forming units of Brucella melitensis. At the development of neurologic complications, or at the conclusion of the study (70 days after infection), brains were collected and transversely sectioned for histopathology. A: Slides were stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and representative images [4 objective (left panels) and 10 objective (right panels)] of naive and infected sections from the caudal cerebral cortex are shown. The arrows indicate lesions of inflammatory cell infiltrate, and the circle indicates perivascular cuffing. B and C: Immunohistochemistry was performed on serial sections to detect myeloperoxidase (MPO; B) or Brucella antigen (C). B and C: Representative images (10 objective) of rostral cerebrum (left panels), cerebellum (middle panels), and caudal cerebrum (right panels) indicate infiltration of MPO-positive cells (B) and Brucella (C) into the meninges. n = 10 Rag2//Il2rg/ mice (AC). Credit: The American Journal of Pathology (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2023.05.006 Investigators studied the role of innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) and interferons in the pathogenesis of focal brucellosis. After performing footpad infections with Brucella to induce arthritis in mice, they switched to an intranasal infection route to mimic a natural route of infection more closely. In the course of these studies, they observed neurologic signs in mice lacking ILCs and interferons. ILCs limited articular complications of brucellosis, regardless of the route of infection. In addition, mice lacking ILCs developed neurologic complications of brucellosis including meningitis and colonization of the brain by Brucella. Brucella infection caused a marked upregulation of genes associated with interferon responses and a downregulation of genes associated with neurologic function in the brains of infected mice. Mice lacking interferon signaling also rapidly developed clinical signs of neurobrucellosis and exhibited hippocampal neuronal loss. Lead author Charles R. Moley, DVM, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Laboratory for Infectious Disease Research, University of Missouri, Columbia notes, "Prior to these observations there had been no experimental animal model for neurobrucellosis, so seeing these signs develop was quite exciting." "We were also hoping to be able to visualize the bacteria within the brain via immunohistochemistry; however, we were surprised at the extent of Brucella antigen within the meninges and ventricles of the infected mice. In addition, while type I interferon signaling had previously been reported to be deleterious to control of Brucella infection, here we found that type I interferon signaling limited both colonization of the brain and neuronal loss in response to Brucella infection." Collectively, these findings indicate ILCs and interferons play an important role in limiting both arthritis and meningitis during Brucella infection. In addition, this work details the first mouse models of neurobrucellosis in which Brucella colonizes the brain, induces inflammation, and impairs neurologic function. The investigators observe that these models could be used to investigate multiple aspects of neurobrucellosis such as invasion of the brain by Brucella or therapeutics for treatment of neurologic complications of brucellosis. Dr. Skyberg and Dr. Moley conclude, "Considering that neurobrucellosis is the most morbid complication caused by this bacterium, learning more about its development, effects on the immune system, and potential therapies to counteract damage to the host central nervous system may benefit patients worldwide." More information: Charles R. Moley et al, Innate Lymphoid Cells and Interferons Limit Neurologic and Articular Complications of Brucellosis, The American Journal of Pathology (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.ajpath.2023.05.006 Journal information: American Journal of Pathology 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: Red blood cell extracellular vesicles (RBCEVs) taken up and sorted to specific compartments inside a macrophage. Credit: Thach Pham Atherosclerosis is a disease in which fat, cholesterol, and other substances build up inside artery walls. This can lead to plaque formation, which can block arteries and cause heart attacks and strokes. Immune cells play a key role in cleaning the blood, by interacting with red blood cell extracellular vesicles (RBCEVs), which are nano-sized particles released by red blood cells. Commonly referred to as "first responders" to infections, macrophages are immune cells which detect and clear pathogens and dead cells, and secrete molecules to activate other immune cells. To understand what happens to macrophages that are exposed to a high amount of RBCEVs and whether they prove to be beneficial in treating atherosclerosis, a multi-institutional team examined the mechanisms of how RBCEVs are internalized by macrophages and analyzed the consequent changes. Led by Assistant Professor Minh Le from the Department of Pharmacology and the Institute for Digital Medicine (WisDM), Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), the study demonstrated that the uptake of RBCEVs by macrophages was highly efficient, as the particles induced multiple changes in the macrophages. Following exposure to RBCEVs, the macrophages had decreased levels of proteins that promote inflammation, suggesting the potential use of RBCEVs to alleviate conditions associated with excessive inflammation. The macrophages also produced higher levels of an enzyme which protects cells against oxidative damagecommonly observed in inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, the RBCEVs led to higher resistance to lipid uptake in the macrophages, reducing fat depositionwhich characterizes the condition of atherosclerosis. Macrophages that have taken up red blood cell extracellular vesicles (RBCEVs) develop "Mhem" characteristics that protect them against becoming fat-laden "foam cells", which contribute to artery-clogging plaques. Credit: Trinh Tran Published in the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, the study was conducted in collaboration with the Department of Surgery, Department of Physiology, Nanomedicine Translational Research Programme, and Cardiovascular Research Institute at NUS Medicine; the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University (NTU); and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). Asst Prof Minh Le said, "We have known for a while that RBCEVs tend to go to macrophages when they enter the body, but we did not realize some of the implications until now. The properties of RBCEVs that we have uncovered here are desirable for treating atherosclerosis and possibly other inflammatory diseases." The team hopes to leverage their improved understanding to manipulate RBCEV uptake by macrophages and thus adjust the distribution of RBCEVs to different tissues in the body. The team also plans to further explore the therapeutic potential of RBCEVs by combining their natural beneficial properties with exogenously loaded drugs designed to treat inflammatory conditions. These plans are part of the expansion of their ongoing work on developing the RBCEV platform for the treatment of various diseases including cancer, cancer-associated muscle loss, and COVID-19. "Atherosclerosis causes heart disease and stroke, affecting millions of people. This discovery by the team is paving the way towards exciting new therapeutic strategies that can have a real impact on health care. We can now start looking into the use of very tiny particles made from our own red blood cells to treat atherosclerosis and potentially other diseases," said Professor Lee Chuen Neng from the Department of Surgery, and Nanomedicine Translational Research Programme at NUS Medicine. More information: Thach Tuan Pham et al, Endocytosis of red blood cell extracellular vesicles by macrophages leads to cytoplasmic heme release and prevents foam cell formation in atherosclerosis, Journal of Extracellular Vesicles (2023). DOI: 10.1002/jev2.12354 This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The researchers used fluorescent tags to capture this image of a Treg (green) and an exTregs (pink) in a mouse artery wall. Credit: La Jolla Institute for Immunology Scientists can finally hunt down a harmful kind of human T cell, thanks to new research led by scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) and the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) at Augusta University. Immune cells called ex-T regulatory cells (exTregs) tend to be rare in the body, and so far, impossible to detect in human samples. The new study gives scientists a reliable way to find human exTregs and provides a window into how exTregs contribute to inflammation and cardiovascular disease. The researchers used fluorescent tags to track down exTregs in mice prone to atherosclerosis. They then identified specific markers that made these exTregs special. They transposed these findings to humans to detect exTregs in human blood. "These cells are likely causing damage," says LJI Postdoctoral Researcher Payel Roy, Ph.D., co-first author of the new Nature Immunology study. "Now we have the potential to use these biomarkers and screen for these cells in human blood." "Identifying exTregs in humans opens up more opportunities for research since patient materiallike blood samplesare readily available," adds study senior author Klaus Ley, M.D., co-director of MCG's Immunology Center of Georgia. Crazy ex-T regulatory cells T cells do many jobs in the body. Some T cells have the job of alerting other immune cells to danger or destroying infected host cells. These T cells are the fighters, the offensive lineup. T regulatory cells (Tregs) have the important job of stopping the other T cells from releasing too many inflammatory, or cytotoxic, molecules as they fight infection. The Tregs are like the referees. In previous studies, Ley and his LJI colleagues found that some T cells contribute to atherosclerosis by attacking a molecule called apolipoprotein B (APOB), the main component in the "bad" cholesterol that builds up into dangerous plaques in the arteries. These T cells ramp up their attacks as atherosclerosis worsens, likely adding to inflammation in the arteries. The strange thing is that these T cells look a lot like the normally helpful Tregs. The new study reveals the true identities of these cells: They are exTregs. ExTregs are like zombie Tregs. They've gone through a genetic "deprogramming" and lost their ability to help regulate inflammation. Scientists don't know exactly why exTregs develop, but the phenomenon may happen when the body misses the mark in an attempt to adapt to chronic disease. "When you have too much chronic inflammation, say, for example, in heart disease, your body is highly stimulated and may be rewired to address the situation," says LJI Postdoctoral Researcher Antoine Freuchet, Ph.D., who served as co-first author of the new study. "Because of that, this kind of Tregs, whose purpose was to keep the bad guys in check, turn bad themselves. Instead of controlling the inflammatory guys, they acquire inflammatory properties." Red cell, green cell The new study had to begin in mice. "ExTregs have been identified in mice for a long time, but there were no tools to find them in people," says Ley. "In mice, you can use genetic manipulation to label cells, but you cannot do that in people." For the study, the researchers tagged both Tregs and harmful exTregs in a mouse model prone to atherosclerosis. These fluorescent red and green tags glowed when Tregs were functioning normally. A switch from green and red to only red revealed exTreg development in real time. The team then took organ samples from the mice and used a technique called flow cytometry to detect the green and red tags to sort the Tregs from the exTregs. The researchers used techniques called bulk RNA sequencing to learn more about these cells. The sequencing highlighted vast differences in gene expression and showed that exTregs make a distinct set of genes that sets them apart from Tregs. At last, the scientist could detect specific exTreg markers. Detecting exTregs in humans Next, the researchers used the exTreg markers found in mice to transpose them to a single cell RNA sequencing performed on human blood samples. Through this process, they successfully identified biomarkers for human exTregs. They studied human blood samples provided by researchers at the University of Virginia and by LJI's John and Susan Major Center for Clinical Investigation. The researchers were thrilled to find that the exTreg biomarkers they'd seen in mouse samples were also relevant for human exTregs. They discovered that exTregs from humans with atherosclerosis are potentially more potent. "Now that we can detect exTregs in the blood, we can fish them out specifically and know who they areknow their molecular fingerprints," says Roy. Going forward, the researchers hope to use exTreg biomarkers to detect and study the roles of these cells in other chronic health conditions, such as in patients with autoimmune diseases. Roy and Freuchet are also interested in studying samples from the same individual patients taken over time. How might exTreg biomarkers change as atherosclerosis changes? Would they see decreased signs of exTregs if a patient was put on an effective medication? "This could be a powerful tool for future studies," says Freuchet. Additional authors of the study include Sujit Silas Armstrong, Mohammad Oliaeimotlagh, Sunil Kumar, Marco Orecchioni, Amal J Ali, Amir Khan, Jeffrey Makings, Qingkang Lyu, Holger Winkels, Erpei Wang, Christopher Durant, Yanal Ghosheh, Rishab Gulati, and Felix Nettersheim. More information: Antoine Freuchet et al, Identification of human exTreg cells as CD16+CD56+ cytotoxic CD4+ T cells, Nature Immunology (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41590-023-01589-9 Journal information: Nature Immunology This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The siRNA recruits proteins and slices up the virus. Credit: UNSW Sydney Lab data in cells has shown that siRNA has the potential to treat COVID-19 infection better than existing antivirals, according to new research from UNSW's Kirby and RNA Institutes, published today in Antiviral Research. siRNAwhich stands for short interfering RNAare a tiny type of RNA, much smaller than the mRNA currently used in vaccines. They work by interfering and disrupting the protein production of a gene, including those from viruses. In the lab, Dr. Chantelle Ahlenstiel and her team from the Kirby Institute have been using cell lines to test how effectively siRNA therapeutics can stop SARS-CoV-2 from replicating. "Our research shows that siRNA treatment can target the virus in key regions that do not change as the virus evolves, which means it works across all current variants of concern. Most importantly, we envisage that it will also work for existing and future SARS coronaviruses that emerge," she says. The publication shows that siRNA treatment reduces virus levels up to 99.9% for all variants of concern, and is more potent than Sotrovimab and Remdesivir. "siRNA can stop SARS-CoV-2 replication by directly targeting the virus itself, which means there is no immune system involvement, so a recipient doesn't need a functioning immune system for the treatment to work. This will make siRNA a really important treatment option for people with impaired immunity," Ahlenstiel says. Credit: University of New South Wales With funds from the Medical Research Future Fund, the siRNA therapeutic is now being combined with lipid nanoparticles, such as those that deliver mRNA vaccines, and the researchers are developing it for respiratory administration, to allow for targeted and easy treatment delivery. This involves an exciting first for Australia by partnering with the international company, Medspray, who is leading the way in innovative spray nozzle design. Professor Pall Thordarson, Director UNSW's RNA Institute, says the next step is to optimize and assess the siRNA treatment in pre-clinical studies in mouse models. "At the RNA Institute we are excited by this partnership, and proud to be providing large scale siRNAs for these studies. We anticipate that the effective RNA therapeutic candidates will progress to early phase clinical trials," said Thordarson. siRNA is much smaller than the mRNA used in vaccines. Credit: UNSW Sydney Why we need treatment options The rapid development of vaccines and treatments for COVID-19 has been one of the most significant scientist achievements of human history. But the existing treatments do not work well for everyone. Monoclonal treatments need to be re-developed as variants emerge and repurposed antiviral therapies have side-effectsand they have complex drug interactions and need to be taken within five days of symptoms to be effective. "People are still getting sick and dying from COVID-19," says Professor Anthony Kelleher, Director of the Kirby Institute and co-senior author on the paper. "There is an urgent need to develop long-term, sustainable, easily accessible antiviral solutions that target SARS-CoV-2, and that are resistant to mutations in the virus over time. "A very exciting promise of siRNA is that it has the potential to be a treatment option available prior to the emergence of new variants, keeping us one step ahead of this ever-changing virus." The siRNA seeks cells where the virus lives, without the help of antibodies or T cells from the immune system. Credit: UNSW Sydney However, the treatment described in the latest publication by Ahlenstiel is still currently in the pre-clinical phase and requires assessment in clinical trials. "We're hopeful that in a few years the siRNAs will be available as an easy and effective treatment option, allowing all of us, and in particular people who are immunocompromised, to live with COVID-19," she says. More information: Ellen Bowden-Reid et al, Novel siRNA therapeutics demonstrate multi-variant efficacy against SARS-CoV-2, Antiviral Research (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2023.105677 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: RAPTER aims to identify the most effective vaccine strategy to help protect the population from pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Shown here, a PNNL researcher performs a test to detect the virus in an infected person. Credit: Andrea Starr | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory From tackling homework challenges to drafting emails, people are discovering a vast array of applications for natural language processing tools like generative artificial intelligence (AI) engines. Now, researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) are using this same kind of technology to build a knowledge base in order to guide decision-makers on vaccine development. Through the Rapid Assessment of Platform Technologies to Expedite Response (RAPTER) project, the scientists leverage machine learning and AI to search the scientific literature for knowledge on how to build effective vaccines against new infectious viruses and bacteria. Historically, vaccine development is a lengthy and expensive processoften taking multiple years and millions of dollars to complete. Vaccines are typically made using one of several different strategies, or "platforms." However, different strategies can generate different immune responses. With RAPTER, researchers figure out which strategy would work best for a specific virus or bacteria to maximize the value of immune responses from the host. The tool aims to help produce new vaccines more rapidly and with a reduced timeline and cost. Speed-reading with AI Part of being a scientist involves publishing research results so that other scientists may learn from the experiments. "There is a lot of information already in existence in scientific literaturetoo much for any person to possibly read through," said data scientist and PNNL RAPTER lead researcher Neeraj Kumar. "We are building RAPTER to automatically comb through the literature and catalog results from different experiments on vaccine design strategiesultimately providing decision-makers with information to select the best strategy for the next pandemic." Under the RAPTER project, PNNL scientists work closely with colleagues from HMS to automatically extract information from scientific publications in a meaningful way. "For our part of the RAPTER project, we aim to learn from existing successes and failures in vaccine design through the scientific literature and build robust artificial intelligence decision-making tools for vaccine design," said HMS's Director of Machine-Assisted Modeling and Analysis Benjamin Gyori. "HMS scientists have already built similar tools for small molecule design," said PNNL computational scientist Jeremy Zucker. "However, vaccines and immunology are much more complex. Together, we are building upon those tools to automatically extract key information from publications to understand more about the immune responses using different vaccine strategies." PNNL and HMS scientists make this possible by defining the key terms that connect mechanisms of immunity to experimental measurements. Once the terms are defined, the RAPTER tool can identify the relationships between terms across different scientific publications. This information feeds into the Knowledge Extraction for Strategic Threat Response using Evidence from the Literature (KESTREL) database to build an extensive graph of relationships in the immune response. "Understanding these relationships in the immune response can help us predict how different vaccine strategies can provide protection," said Kumar. "With this knowledge, scientists can focus their efforts on strategies that are more likely to succeed." Defending against future threats For decades, the Department of Defense's Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has mitigated emerging threatsfrom nuclear to biologicalwith science, technology, and capability development investments. As evidenced by the effects of COVID-19, pandemics pose a major threat to national security. To help protect us against future pandemics, DTRA supports a consortium of research institutes, led by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), in the development of the RAPTER tool. In contrast to PNNL and HMS's efforts, scientists at LANL are collecting and curating raw experimental data on viruses and vaccines and using artificial intelligence to identify patterns within the data to build a profile for each vaccine candidate. Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Northern Arizona University, Tulane University, University of California San Diego, University of New Mexico and University of Nevada at Reno also contribute to the project. Once the initial computational tools are built, the research institutes will combine their efforts to experimentally validate their results. Researchers including PNNL's biomedical scientist Zachary Stromberg will work to experimentally confirm the computational results for the mRNA platformthe same platform used in the vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. "Together, we can build an automated pipeline to expedite scientists' vaccine design efforts," said Kumar. A Lame Deer man accused of holding up a bank in downtown Billings and attempting to flee in a city bus admitted to a bank robbery charge Wednesday. Elmer Brady, 68, pleaded guilty to bank robbery as charged in an indictment, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said. Brady faces a maximum of 25 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and five years of supervised release. U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Cavan presided. A sentencing date will be set before U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters. The court will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Brady was detained pending further proceedings. On March 23, Brady entered Stockman Bank located in downtown Billings, approached an employee, identified as Jane Doe 1, and told her, I already took care of your security guard, according to court documents. Brady then wrote on a deposit slip, This is a with the last word being scribbled and unreadable. Brady slid the note to Jane Doe 1 and made several threatening statements demanding $9,000 or else he would kill her, according to court documents. Jane Doe 1 told law enforcement that Brady made statements that he was armed with a weapon and would use it if she didnt give him the money. Fearing that Brady was going to kill her and others in the bank, Jane Doe 1 gave Brady all of the money in her cash drawer, and he left the bank, according to court documents. Brady attempted to leave the area on a City of Billings bus, but a bank guard alerted the bus driver who ordered Brady to get off the bus. Brady complied and police officers arrested him a short time later as he was walking toward the Billings Public Library. In a search of Brady, officers found a large metal knife in his jacket pocket and determined Brady was on state probation. Law enforcement searched Bradys bag and recovered $6,361 in U.S. currency, a pair of binoculars, rubber gloves and a metal pipe. Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin M. Rubich is prosecuting the case. The FBI and Billings Police Department conducted the investigation. The Montana Renewable Energy Association is hosting its Annual Montana Clean Energy Fair from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at Montana State University Billings. The Clean Energy Fair showcases renewable energy education; the Montana Renewable Energy Association hosts the fair on a yearly basis in locations all over the state. Prior locations include Butte, Helena, Bozeman, and Missoula. Each event brings hundreds of people from around the region to participate. This year marks the first time the Montana Clean Energy Fair will be hosted in the Magic City. We design this event with Montanans in mind, said Christopher Borton, Board Member and Fair Coordinator for MREA. If you have a question about solar or wind, about electric vehicles or batteries, about state policies and rules, the Fair is the place to get the information you are looking for and engage with the professionals who work in these areas every day. The Montana Clean Energy Fair is free and open to the public. The event features a series of 45-minute workshops on topics including solar electricity and solar heating, batteries and energy storage, financing and incentives, off-grid living, and much more. The workshops are for those who are new to these topics, those with experience, and everyone in between. The fair also features an electric car show with cutting-edge vehicles. Local, Montana-based renewable energy businesses will be on hand to showcase their offerings and answer questions. For kids, activities include the ever-popular model solar car races, solar oven construction, a bouncy castle, and face painting. Raffle prizes and a local solar home tour will round out the event. For more information about the Montana Clean Energy Fair, call (406) 214-9405 or visit www.MontanaRenewables.org. The Southwest Montana Veterans Home has something to celebrate: a new, 10-passenger van for residents to use. Chapter 6 of the Disabled American Veterans organization in Butte sold the 2013 Ford van to the Veterans Home Foundation for $17,500, said DAV commander, Eileen Greb, a retired lieutenant commander from the United States Navy. Greb said the DAV has a van fund, which goes toward vans the organization uses to bus veterans to Veterans Affairs appointments. The money from the sale will go back into the DAVs van fund, she said. Greb is a trustee on the Veterans Home Foundation board, and she collaborated with the foundations chairman, Dave Williamson, about a month ago to help make the purchase happen, Williamson said. Bill Willing, a retired Army colonel who also serves on the Veterans Home Foundation board, said the van can be used to take veterans to community events. It can be used to take them shopping or to haul them down and set them up at a parade, anything to make it feel more like home, Willing said. Chris Cotton, the Veterans Homes administrator, said they already use a van to transport veterans for trips and to places like Walmart, but it can usually only sit three people at a time and only two if one has a wheelchair. When people think of a nursing home, they think of a rest home, but its far from resting, Cotton said. He said the Veterans Home takes its residents to an annual fishing trip in the spring, but because of the limited seating, they have to take multiple trips, and by the time they get the last attendees transported, its already time to start shuttling people back. Although the new van isnt currently equipped for wheelchairs, Cotton said the plan is to take two seats out to make room for wheelchairs. In other words, the van should be able to hold 6-8 people and two wheel chairs. The DAV is also selling a similar 2009 Ford van with around 150,000 miles on it, Greb said, but declined to mention the price. NEWTON At one time, donning a traditional Hmong phuam txoom suab required skilled hands to wrap the cloth into a headpiece, said Elizabeth Thao. Today it is easier, she said as she placed the purple, pre-wrapped cloth on her head. Thao said the phuam txoom suab is one of her favorite pieces she owns. It can be worn with most Hmong outfits today, Thao said, but it was originally worn by Hmong girls on their wedding day or during the Hmong New Year. Thaos passion for her culture is clear as she talks about articles of traditional Hmong clothing, decor and other items. She has collected an array of Hmong artifacts and wants to help preserve Hmong history and culture. Thao is a volunteer organizer for an upcoming fundraiser geared toward funding the Hmong Cultural Center in Newton. The goal is to help the Hmong Southeast Puavpheej (HSP) raise $500,000. The Hmong Southeast Puavpheej owns a 47-acre plot of land that is already cleared and ready to build on, Thao said. The goals of the cultural center are to preserve and teach Hmong history, as well as recognize Hmong veterans who fought in the Vietnam War and more. The United States recruited many Hmong people during the Vietnam War to fight North Vietnamese communists and the Pathet Lao, according to the Hmong American Centers history webpage. Those recruited disrupted communist activity, gave the U.S. intelligence about enemy operations and more. This particular aspect of the conflict is called the secret war, according to the Hmong American Center. In the aftermath of the secret war and the Vietnam conflict, the communist governments of Laos and Vietnam persecuted the Hmong, killing over 35,000 Hmong people, according to the Hmong American Center. Thousands of Hmong sought asylum in European and Western countries. Many came to the United States. Thao said a number of Hmong people settled in North Carolina because the mountains reminded them of Laos. What we envision is a place where we can educate not just our small community, but the larger community about who we are, where we came from, (and) why we ended up here, Thao said. Thao said her generation is losing some of the traditions of their culture. In particular, the Hmong language is slowly slipping away. Thao said her children understand Hmong, but usually respond with one-word answers. The cultural center will offer classes for reading and writing in Hmong, traditional embroidery, traditional Hmong food and more, Thao said. Seven years after North Carolina voters said yes to the $2 billion Connect NC Bond, one of the items that it funded officially opened last week. The North Carolina National Guard held a ribbon-cutting on Aug. 3 for its newest regional readiness center in Morganton. The 66,000-square-foot facility now stands at 5155 Western Ave., Morganton, where the former Western Youth Institution was located. Maj. Gen. Todd Hunt, adjutant general of North Carolina, thanked everyone who had a hand in getting the new readiness center built, including legislators and local leaders, as well as support from the local community. He noted the support the community has long given to state facilities in Morganton. Hunt also pointed out the Spanish soldiers who built Fort San Juan in Morganton in 1567. They would be in awe if they saw this building today, Hunt told the crowd. The three-building facility that sits on 38 acres will be the home and training center for the 630th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 1451st Transportation Company and 626th Maintenance Company of the 113th Sustainment Brigade, along with the 878th Engineer Company of the 505th Engineer Battalion, 130th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, according to the North Carolina National Guard. Hunt said the new facility will help the National Guard with its modernization and its ability to support the community, the nation and the civilian population in Morganton and the Foothills area. Both NC Sen. Warren Daniel, R-46, and NC Rep. Hugh Blackwell, R-86, told the crowd about how the initial plan for the readiness center was to renovate and reuse Western Youth Institution. However, it was decided after the Connect NC Bond passed that it would not be feasible. The 16-story former prison was imploded in July 2020 to make way for new construction for the readiness center. Blackwell said having the readiness center built in Burke County is fitting, noting the Revolutionary War Overmountain Men, a group of volunteer soldiers, rendezvousing in Morganton on their march to the Battle of Kings Mountain. Military historians, he said, believe that was a turning point in the war for the patriots. He said the facility was a great thing to have been able to work on and great to have in the community and the state. Col. Rodney Newton, NCNG Construction Facilities Management officer, said the National Guard units built in the 1950s and 1960s have become inadequate for todays soldiers. Parking lots were smaller because not as many owned a vehicle, military equipment was smaller, bathrooms and locker rooms didnt account for the numerous female soldiers that make up todays military, and computers and digital training were non-existent, he said. Newton said the new state-of-the-art readiness center has a multitude of classroom space and a distance learning lab that surpasses modern standards. It provides bathrooms, showers and lockers for both male and female soldiers. It also has a well-equipped fitness center and a break room and an Army combat fitness track and field, he said. Four sandhill cranes climbed the sky with gangly grace. Before long, hundreds of the crimson-capped birds will stage in these restored wetlands before migrating south. Nearby, a spring-fed tributary to ODell Creek meandered through a wetlands area once drained by man-made ditches to create more pasture for growing hay and grazing cattle. Jeff Laszlos grandfather, acting on the best advice at the time, succeeded in establishing more pasture. But tinkering so drastically with nature typically has consequences. Thus, roughly 20 years ago, on the family ranch south of Ennis, Laszlo launched projects to restore the wetlands and the meandering ODell Creek, a tributary of the Madison River. The Granger Ranches, with Laszlo as an owner, and the neighboring Longhorn Ranch have partnered with a host of nonprofit organizations, along with NorthWestern Energy and agencies both state and federal. The agencies have included the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. On Wednesday, Martha Williams, director of the federal wildlife service and former director of FWP, toured the ODell Creek Stream and Wetland Restoration Project. Her hosts included Laszlo of Granger Ranches and Michael Wellington of Longhorn Ranch. There are so many lessons here, Williams said. One is the necessity for leadership in a concerted restoration project and what that role requires from a landowner, she said. Invariably, it is somebody who is dynamic, who wants to learn, Williams said. She stood on a bluff above the wetlands, with the Madison River in the near distance and the Gravelly Range in the background. Williams said the work also provides a lesson in what can be achieved with commitment and partnerships. How can you be here and not be in awe? she said. To date, the project has restored more than 16 miles of stream channel and 914 acres of wetlands creating sources of clear, cold water for the river and a spawning ground for trout. One person can make a difference. A few people can make a difference. And then it snowballs, Williams said. She said she decided to tour the site because it provides an example of what can be accomplished working with landowners. This is how we get our best work done, Williams said. Others on the tour Wednesday afternoon included employees of the Fish and Wildlife Service, FWP workers and a representative from NorthWestern Energy. Claire Gower, a wildlife biologist for FWP, talked about working with landowners to release trumpeter swan cygnets to reestablish breeding swans into a portion of their historic range. Rob Hazlewood, a retired biologist for the Fish and Wildlife Service who has worked on the restoration project, was a participant Wednesday. He said a key sign of success is the dramatic increase in the number of species of birds counted at the project. An early count tallied six separate species, he said. A more recent survey counted 130. Hazlewood described the area before restoration work began. It was like a biological desert, he said. Laszlo said later that biodiversity has been both a goal and an outcome of the work to date. Grasses and other plants, insects, amphibians, birds, fish and more have benefited, he said. Mary Gail Sullivan, NorthWestern Energys director of environmental compliance and lands permitting, said the utilitys involvement in the restoration project reflects its approach to environmental obligations tied to operating hydroelectric dams on Montana rivers. We do a lot of projects up and down the river system, Sullivan said. Theres a difference between compliance and stewardship. Laszlo described the restoration project as a canvas, with plenty left to do. He said hes been told that the restored habitat along the Madison River has become even more vital to migrating birds because of commercial and residential development that has occurred elsewhere on the flyway. Meanwhile, Williams acknowledged at the tours end that the Fish and Wildlife Service is facing controversy in Montana with ongoing conflicts about grizzlies, wolves, the Arctic grayling in both the Big Hole River and the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and more. Williams declined to say if she believes FWP is prepared to take over management of the grizzly if the bear is delisted. Her press person told a reporter the director was fielding questions solely about the wetlands restoration project. Montanas Republican governor, Greg Gianforte, has decided to ignore a court order, the Montana Constitution, and the states bad actor law intended to prevent mining executives who have left environmental damages behind from receiving new mining permits. Even worse, his decision is intended to benefit extremely bad actor CEO Phillip C. Baker to allow him to operate yet another environmentally risky mine, this one under the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness Area. Bakers trail is a Montana environmental horror story. He was a top executive in the Pegasus Gold Corp. that developed a number of mines in Montana using the open-pit cyanide heap-leach process to pull gold from low-content rock. The process has left the state with very serious environmental problems, including treatment in perpetuity at numerous mine sites, many of which are now federal Superfund sites. The damage to the environment and enormous cleanup costs from cyanide heap-leach mining was so extreme that Montanans outlawed the process by citizen initiative in 1998. When the mining industry tried to overturn the ban in 2004, voters overwhelmingly rejected those efforts. To make the long and ugly story shorter, Pegasus Gold's bankruptcy left the state with whats turning out to be hundreds of millions of dollars in reclamation costs in the last 30 years and millions more to come as difficult reclamation efforts and treatment in perpetuity continue. The list of the damage left behind by Baker and Pegasus is incredible. The Zortman Landusky Mine Superfund site in the Little Rockies has poisoned the water source for the Fort Belknap Tribe and cost the state and federal government more than $83 million in ongoing reclamation costs. Then theres the Basin Creek Mine Superfund site at $6-10 million so far. The Beal Mountain Mine Superfund site at $25 million so far with a $40 million projected final cost and millions more annually for treatment in perpetuity. And the Montana Tunnels Mine Superfund site at $16.8 million, where the high wall collapse threatens to destroy Clancy Creek. Obviously, Baker should never be allowed to operate another mine in Montana which is exactly why the bad actor law exists. Yet, for some reason, Gianforte doesnt seem to see it that way. When the Montana Environmental Information Center filed a request for records on the states communications with Baker, Gianforte refused, then ignored a court order to produce those records, and is now appealing the order. Certainly the governor can read and theres no ambiguity whatsoever in Montanas Constitution. Art. II, Declaration of Rights, Sec. 9 Right to know. No person shall be deprived of the right to examine documents or to observe the deliberations of all public bodies or agencies of state government and its subdivisions, except in cases in which the demand for individual privacy clearly exceeds the merits of public disclosure. Tough to see where individual privacy can possibly exceed the merits of public disclosure in Bakers case. His trail of Superfund Site level environmental disasters is proof enough for why the public should know what hes up to with the governor and state agencies. Likewise, one might think Attorney General Austin Knudsen, a former speaker of the House, would have more respect for the law and constitution and inform the governor that refusing to provide the records violates Montanas Constitution. They say the once-burnt child fears the fire. Montana has not just been burnt, but nearly immolated by Mr. Bakers mining disasters and the ongoing costs of reclamation. Put bluntly, Gianforte is dead wrong to allow this bad actor to burn our state, our people and our environment ever again. By Shawn Touney | Aug 10, 2023 Ryan Orr has been named Chief of Police for the Murray State University Police Department after having served in an interim role since February 2023. MURRAY, Ky. Ryan Orr has been named Chief of Police for the Murray State University Police Department after having served in an interim role since February 2023. Orr earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Murray State in 2002 and was a member of Racer Patrol at the Murray State University Police Department while he was a student. He began his professional law enforcement career as Deputy Sheriff with the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department and returned to Murray State to begin as an officer in 2006. Orr rose through the ranks and responsibilities of senior patrolman, patrol sergeant and captain before being named interim chief. He is a graduate of the Department of Criminal Justice Training Basic Academy (valedictorian), Academy of Police Supervision and Criminal Justice Executive Development Class (valedictorian). Orr is from Marion, Kentucky. He and his wife, Lindsay, reside in Kirksey, Kentucky. I am deeply honored and humbled by the opportunity to serve as the Murray State Police Chief, said Orr. Throughout my career, I have strived to serve with unwavering dedication, fostering strong relationships between the Murray State Police and our campus community. As Chief, I will continue to prioritize transparency, accountability and innovation to ensure a safer and more inclusive campus for our students, faculty and staff. I will continue to lead our department with integrity and empathy, working to inspire excellence among our officers and promote positive change. The death of Lil Tay, a young social media star who went viral for her foulmouthed videos, as well as the death of her older brother, was reported Wednesday on social media by an unnamed family member. She was 14, according to multiple reports. No details were immediately available. The statement said the deaths were "under investigation." Subsequently, the father of the rising rapper, Christopher Hope, and the star's former manager, Harry Tsang, said they could not confirm the teen's death, according to Insider. The Instagram statement said: "It is with a heavy heart that we share the devastating news of our beloved Claire's sudden and tragic passing." (Lil Tay's real name was Claire Hope.) "We have no words to express the unbearable loss and indescribable pain. This outcome was entirely unexpected, and has left us all in shock," the Instagram statement continued. "Her brother's passing adds an even more unimaginable depth to our grief." Claire's brother was 21-year-old Jason Tian, an aspiring rapper, according to media reports. He was also said to have created the social media character that his sister embodied. Hope told Insider that he could not comment on the Instagram statement announcing Claire's death and declined to answer whether his daughter was still alive. Tsang added that he could not "definitively confirm or dismiss the legitimacy of the statement issued by the family" due to the "complexities of the current circumstances." "This situation calls for cautious consideration and respect for the sensitivities involved," Tsang told Insider. "My commitment remains focused on delivering updates that are both reliable and appropriately timed." The publication previously reported a schism in the family over control of the teenager's career with Tsang and Hope's father on one side and her brother and mother on the other. Lil Tay rose to popularity in 2018 for her Instagram photos and posts where she flaunted designer clothes and luxury cars. In a March 2018 video, Claire claimed that the tub and toilet in her bathroom each "cost more than your rent." As of Wednesday, the teenager's two YouTube videos one touring Jake Paul's home, one about her feud with internet star-rapper Danielle "Bhad Bhabie" Bregoli had amassed more than 4 million views, and her Instagram account boasts more than 3 million followers. In 2018, the social media star gained the attention of YouTube personality Jake Paul, Bregoli, who went viral for her "Dr. Phil" appearance, and internet personality Woah Vicky. Her videos also caught Snoop Dogg's eye. But it seemed he was not a fan, calling out Lil Tay's act in 2018. "She need to be in school learning how to be a little girl not a dumb a-- grown person," he captioned a video of the internet star. Lil Tay who moved from Canada to Los Angeles with her family told "Good Morning America's" Juju Chang in an 2018 interview that "no one's forcing me to do this" and that her mother Angela Tian was not exploiting her. She continued: "This is my decision. I'm happy with what I'm doing." Despite her internet fame, Lil Tay seemingly did not post more videos or photos on her social media accounts after 2018. Before the announcement of the rapper's death, the most recent post on her Instagram account was a tribute to the late musician XXXTentacion. The family's Wednesday statement asked fans and social media followers to give them "privacy as we grieve this overwhelming loss." "Claire will forever remain in our hearts, her absence leaving an irreplaceable void that will be felt by all who knew and loved her," the statement concluded. (L.A. Times staff writers Christi Carras and Jonah Valdez contributed to this report.) After collecting feedback from thousands of residents, Muscatine Heart and Soul is preparing to move onto its next phase. This week, Muscatine Heart and Soul released the results of its survey, which had been focused on discovering what people in Muscatine loved most about their city as well as what they would like to see more of in their community. Through these results, the Heart and Soul team was able to compile six different Heart and Soul statements relating to local business, education and opportunities for young people, people and community, size, growth and opportunity, nature, outdoors and the river and events and things to do. "The first phase has gone really well. We've collected over 1,000 data points in the community and we've heard from so many unique people," said Kristen Schlawin from the Heart and Soul team. "We've also had a lot of awesome volunteers throughout the program who helped us reach all the goals we set." When asked if she felt confident that residents would continue having the same enthusiasm for the next phases of Heart and Soul, Schlawin said she believed that they would. "We've created our Heart and Soul statements, and hopefully those resonate with everyone, and they're able to feel like we're really listening to them and want to keep supporting these ideas." A new survey has been created and posted on the Muscatine Heart and Soul website. The team is asking that residents vote on whether or not these statements are accurate, as well as provide additional feedback. With this new survey, Schlawin emphasized that while the Heart and Soul team has already heard what people care about, they still want everyone who has told them their thoughts to make sure that they feel represented in our data. Additionally, residents are being invited to attend one of three upcoming community meetings where they will help identify action steps that can then be used to build upon already established community assets. "Coming to our Heart and Soul community events are a great way to get involved in the community and make sure that the government and city council is hearing what people really care about," Schlawin said. The first of these community meetings will be held on Sunday, August 13, at 2:00 p.m. at Musserville United Methodist Church, 1001 Oregon Street. There will be light refreshments provided. There will be two more sessions on Tuesday, August 15, both of which will provide a meal to guests. The first will be at noon at Riverview Center, 110 Harbor Drive, while the second will be at 6 p.m. at Calvary Church, 501 West Bypass 61. For more information on Muscatine Community Heart and Soul or to view the statements that were created by the Heart and Soul team, residents can go to https://www.muscatineheartandsoul.org. Residents can also visit the Muscatine Heart and Soul Facebook page to learn more about the work that is already being done within the community. Muscatine home listings for people who need a lot of living space 4 Bedroom Home in Bettendorf - $790,000 Online contributed 4 Bedroom Home in Bettendorf - $790,000 Secluded estate in booming Bettendorf area. CITY LIVING WITH A COUNTRY FEEL! This One-Of-A-Kind, GORGEOUS, UNIQUE & COMPLETELY UPDATED CUSTOM 2 Story private 1.83 acres, nestled in Bettendorf/Mark Twain Subdivision (Private Lane-No Outlet). Five minutes or less from schools, clinics, grocery, pharmacy, fuel, post office, rec center, country club, restaurants, Mississippi River and more! Located in award winning and top ranked Bettendorf schools: PV School District. 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Let Ingleby Construction create your dream home in this Amazing New Community with lower taxes and still Pleasant Valley Schools. Seller is a Realtor licensed in Iowa and Illinois. View More CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. (AP) A shooting inside a suburban Chicago home killed three family members, all female, as well as the man believed to be the aggressor, police said. A fourth female victim was seriously wounded. Officers were called to a home in unincorporated Crystal Lake shortly before 4 a.m. on a "report of a single household member shooting their relatives, Deputy Tim Creighton of the McHenry County Sheriffs Office said during a news briefing. Three family members were found dead in the home, Creighton said. One person believed to be the aggressor was also transported to a local hospital in serious condition and was later pronounced deceased, he said. The fourth female victim called police and was transported to a hospital with serious injuries, Creighton said, adding that there was no ongoing threat to the public. The victims ages were not immediately released by the sheriffs office or the McHenry County Coroner's Office, and authorities did not provide information on the injuries or type of weapon used. Theyre all household members, said Michael Muraski, chief of patrol operations for the sheriff's office. He said officers had not been called to the home in the past. Charlie Ayers, the treasurer of the homeowners association in the neighborhood, said it is full of young families and older people who get along and care for the space. We really look after each other," he told the Chicago Tribune. So, for this to happen is really out of character. Ayers said he had never seen anything out of the ordinary at the house where the shooting occurred. I was shocked. I was very shocked. I was saddened, Ayers said. Tell people who you care about how you feel about them. It can always happen in your own backyard when you least expect it. Neighbor Tanya Lee said she learned of the shooting from a neighbor who lived close to the home where it occurred. I was scared," Lee told the Tribune. I didnt know what really was going on. I had to make sure all my kids were home. The neighbors Lee had spoken with were sad and upset, she said. She described the neighborhood where she has lived for a decade as quiet, friendly. Stuff like this doesnt happen, Lee said. PROVO, Utah (AP) An armed Utah man accused of making violent threats against President Joe Biden was shot and killed by FBI agents hours before the president landed in the state Wednesday, authorities said. Special agents were trying to serve a warrant on the home of Craig Deleeuw Robertson in Provo, south of Salt Lake City, when the shooting happened at 6:15 a.m., the FBI said in a statement. Robertson was armed at the time of the shooting, according to two law enforcement sources who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of an ongoing investigation. Robertson posted online Monday that he had heard Biden was coming to Utah and he was planning to dig out a camouflage suit and begin cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle," a post that came after months of graphic online threats against several public figures, according to court documents. Robertson referred to himself as a MAGA Trumper, a reference to former President Donald Trumps Make America Great Again slogan, and also posted threats against top law enforcement officials overseeing court cases against Trump. Neighbors described Robertson as a frail, elderly man his online profile put his age as 74 who walked with the aid of a hand-carved stick. Though he regularly carried guns, they said he didn't seem a threat. Theres no way that he was driving from here to Salt Lake City, setting up a rifle and taking a shot at the president 100% no way, said neighbor Andrew Maunder outside the church across from Robertsons street. The attack comes as Republicans, who have traditionally touted themselves as the party of law and order, have escalated their attacks on law enforcement and especially the FBI. Trump has relentlessly attacked the agency, even though it is led by someone he appointed, Christopher Wray. Wray himself has warned of the dangers of recent rhetoric. Some officials have become increasingly alarmed as the former president has escalated his attacks on the FBI, Attorney General Merrick Garland and the local and federal prosecutors who have filed three separate criminal cases against him in recent months. Biden flew to Utah Wednesday ahead of a visit to a Veterans Affairs hospital in Salt Lake City Thursday to talk about the PACT Act, which expanded veterans benefits. He also planned to hold a reelection fundraiser. A White House official who requested anonymity to discuss the matter said Biden was briefed after the raid. Robertson's posts indicated he did appear to own a long-range sniper rifle and numerous other weapons, as well as camouflage gear known as a ghillie suit," investigators said in court records. Robertson was charged under seal Tuesday with three felony counts, including making threats against the president and against FBI agents investigating him, court documents show. Robertson also referenced a presidential assassination and also posted threats against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and New York Attorney General Letitia James, authorities said. The time is right for a presidential assassination or two. First Joe then Kamala!!! authorities say Robertson wrote in a September 2022 Facebook post included in the filings. No attorney was immediately listed for Robertson in court documents and family members of Robertson could not be immediately reached for comment through publicly available phone numbers. The FBI investigation began with a tip about the Bragg threat from Trump's own social media platform Truth Social in March, after Robertson posted about waiting in the courthouse parking garage with a suppressed weapon and wanting to put a nice hole in his forehead. His account has since been suspended from the platform. No further details were immediately released about the shooting, which is under review by the FBI. At the Provo house where the confrontation apparently took place and which is connected with Robertson through public records, law enforcement could be seen Wednesday going in and out and removing items. A broken window could be seen next to the door and the blinds inside were askew. The road leading to the house was blocked by police. It is just up the street from a meeting house of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with the Wasatch Mountains rising in the background. Neighbors said authorities showed up around Robertson's house early Wednesday and they heard a boom and possible gunshots. Travis Lee Clark, whos known Robertson for years from working at their church ward together, described Robertson as frail of health, a masterful woodworker and an established icon in their community. Robertson propped himself on a wood walking stick hed carved himself, said Clark, who was surprised he was considered a serious threat. He was a boomer, and he was very political and sometimes made off-color jokes ... but nothing that indicated it was a threat, said Clark, who added that he hadnt seen Robertsons Facebook posts until after his death. Clark said Robertson had a collection of perhaps 20 guns, though he noted that that wasnt unusual for the area. Paul Searing, a businessman who lived in Provo before relocating to nearby Orem, said he had followed Robertson online for years and even warned him when he believed the other man was crossing a line in his posts. "He believed in his right to bear arms. He believed in his right to say what he feels. When it came down to it, he knew the Lord wouldnt have approved of killing innocent people, Searing said. Things got out of hand because he just was really frustrated. According to court documents, two FBI agents came to Robertson's house after the initial warning about him from Truth Social in March. They found Robertson wearing a Trump cap and what one described in a search warrant affidavit as an AR-15 style rifle lapel pin. According to the affidavit, he told them his initial threat was just a dream and demanded they only return with a warrant. In a Facebook post days later cited in the affidavit, he said, To my friends in the Federal Bureau of Idiots: I know you're reading this and you have no idea how close your agents came to violent eradication. In another undated social media post cited in the document, Robertson wrote: Hey FBI, you still monitoring my social media? Checking so I can have a loaded gun handy in case you drop by again. A post from July 21 unearthed by SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors online extremism, reads, If I really told you what Id like to do to Joe Biden Facebook would censor me and the FBI would pay me another visit. Rita Katz, SITEs co-founder, said the social media posts attributed to Robertson show the challenges for law enforcement officials who must decide when speech rises to the level of an actual threat. Because you have the freedom of speech, it can be very difficult to tell what is allowed and what is not allowed, she said. Robertson had a custom woodworking business but did not renew his license after it expired last year, according to state records. On LinkedIn, Robertson said he worked for 45 years as a structural steel and welding inspector before retiring and starting his business, saying he specialized in custom designs." State court records showed Robertson pleaded no contest to a disorderly conduct charge in 1998 but no details about the allegations were immediately available. Biden, meanwhile, is in the middle of a trip to the Western United States, and flew to Salt Lake City after spending Wednesday in New Mexico, where he spoke at a factory that will produce wind towers. __ Whitehurst reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Colleen Long and David Klepper in Washington, Nicholas Riccardi, Colleen Slevin and Jesse Bedayn in Denver and Chris Megerian in Belen, New Mexico, and researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report. Tourists visit the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, in Beijing, capital of China, July 8, 2023. Beijng is seeing an increasing number of tourists as summer vacation starts across China. [Photo/Xinhua] Among the tourists crowding the Beilin Museum in Xi'an is Liu Qin, who has come with her 11-year-old grandson, hoping that he might learn something from the centuries-old exhibits. Liu believes that museums show the history of civilization. "Children can develop an interest in culture from a young age through visiting museums," she said. Located in the historical city of Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the Beilin Museum displays a number of steles and other stone carvings from ancient China. It attracts numerous children and teenagers during the summer vacation. "Currently all the tour groups I'm guiding are composed of juveniles," said local tour guide Zhang Lin, who was leading a group through the Beilin Museum. Visiting museums is a major part of the trips that Zhang runs. Dong Baohou, vice curator of the Liaoning Provincial Museum in northeast China, checks the composition of visitors to the museum every day, and the data shows that more than 30 percent of the visitors this summer are children. "We pay great attention to cultivating the interest of children and teenagers in culture and museums," Dong said. However, museums have also become increasingly popular with adults in recent years, with many viewing them as an entertaining and educational option for their leisure time. The Henan Museum in central China received over 12,000 visits per day on average over the past several weeks, nearly twice the figure for the same period in 2019, according to curator Ma Xiaolin. Located in north China's Hebei Province, the Dingzhou Museum received about 40,000 visits in July, an increase of 186 percent from the same period in 2019. "The popularity of museums has become a cultural phenomenon," said Liu Yanchang, curator of the Shandong Museum in east China. Museum lover Yu Shaojing feels that museums bring history back to life. "Visiting the museums is like going deep into the world of history and the environment in which our ancestors lived," Yu said. According to Lin Liugen, head of the institute of archaeology at Zhejiang University, amid economic and social development, the country is witnessing the growing popularity of fine traditional Chinese culture. More people want to learn more about Chinese civilization and the history of the Chinese nation through visiting museums, said Lin. Official data shows that China had over 6,500 museums as of May this year. Thanks to technological advancement, more museums have been using modern tools such as 3D projection and AR glasses, as well as attractive ways of displaying cultural relics and promoting traditional Chinese culture. The Nanjing Museum, located in east China's Jiangsu Province, launched over 1,000 creative cultural products this summer. "Of all the products, the notebooks and bookmarks bearing designs based on the museum exhibits are the most popular. We can sell as many as 1,000 items per day," said Tian Tian, who is in charge of the museum's creative cultural product department. The Henan Museum has formed an orchestra that plays both classical and modern music on replica instruments based on cultural relics. Curator Ma Xiaolin said that museums have been identifying various comprehensible and acceptable characteristics of cultural relics and combining them with popular trends. "It makes the traditional culture seem less dull and thus meets the growing cultural needs of the public," Ma said. Liu Yanchang, the curator from Shandong, sees a bright future for museums in China, with growing interest among the general public. "In the future, more and more people will visit museums as a way of life," he said. Meanwhile, some professionals warn about the possible negative effects of overcrowded museums. "Too many visitors may lead to an uncomfortable environment for viewing exhibits and cause changes in humidity and other conditions in the exhibition halls, which may increase the difficulty of maintaining cultural relics," said Sun Mingli, vice curator of Suzhou Museum. Since Aug. 1, Suzhou Museum and eight other museums in the historical eastern city of Suzhou have been staying open until 9 p.m. every evening to accommodate the extra visitors. Sun suggested that popular museums can also take measures such as entrance reservations and online exhibitions to provide better experiences to visitors. "There is more space for cultural institutes and museums to explore in the future," said Liu Weihua, head of the social education department of the Hebei Museum. Mercy Tarus says she stands by her decision to confront Uasin Gishus highest-ranking officials regarding the misuse of more than Sh50 million allocated for the assistance of students pursuing different courses abroad. The 24-year-old Kabarak University graduate has since become an online sensation after a now-viral video captured her dressing down Governor Jonathan Bii, his deputy John Barorot, and Senator Jackson Mandago. We have brought our parents, some sickly, some diabetic, some depressed. My governor, I went to school with your children, who are now abroad. Deputy Governor Barorot, you told us that your children are also abroad. You told our parents that we, the children, belong to all the parents. I ask, do we have children belonging to these leaders here with us? she posed. I ask do you know any anti-depressants? There are students here who are on anti-depressants. You have given your children a head start. They are earning euros abroad while we suffer here. We dont know whether you sold land, secured loans or sold houses, Tarus said at the meeting convened by Governor Jonathan Bii. In a follow-up interview with a local publication, Mercy Tarus said she wanted the leaders to uphold accountability to the constituents who elected them. I am not remorseful for what I said. I watched the viral clip after learning later that it has trended. I said what had to be told and I do not regret it. I am a teacher, and that is why I demanded answers, she said as quoted by the Standard. We are used to being cowards fearing to face those in position. I was not being rude but brutally honest and demanding accountability. The Geography and CRE Trained teacher said her parents took a loan to raise Sh 982,000, which they paid to the Uasin Gishu County trust account before the end of a twoweek deadline they had given. Mercy explained that she deliberately chose not to follow her cousins path of applying through agents to study in Australia. Instead, she was persistent about her aspiration to study in Canada through the county program. After paying the fees, our travel date kept changing, and the required fees kept fluctuating because no fee structure was given to us. Now, my cousins who began their process way after I enrolled for the County program are already in Australia, moving on with their lives, she said. Mercy Tarus also mentioned that she had not planned to confront the leaders during the meeting. My speech was not rehearsed, neither was I coached. I was agitated, especially when I overheard some County employees claiming the leaders were letting us bask in the sun and stay hungry for hours before they would make an appearance. The venue also had a heavy police presence. The officers flaunted their teargas, and I wondered why all that security on helpless parents who would not harm a fly, she explained. I still have dreams, and I am hopeful that I will accomplish them, at the moment, I feel drained and wasted, but I am positive that the stars will align again, Mercy added. The Morticians and Allied Professionals Association of Kenya (MAPAKe) has faulted Inspector General of Police Japheth Koome for alleging that politicians hired bodies from mortuaries and misrepresented them as victims of police brutality during the anti-government demonstrations. In a press release issued on Wednesday, the morticians criticized the Inspector Generals assertions, deeming them as unjust and detrimental to their professional integrity. They reaffirmed their unwavering dedication to upholding ethical standards and the principles of the rule of law. We condemn the statement made by the Inspector General of Police Mr. Japheth Koome because we believe that no mortuary technician in the Kenya of today can even attempt to do such a thing, said MAPAKe. The office of the Inspector General is such a respected office to even attempt to lower it to such unimaginable actions. We work very closely with the police service in our day-to-day operations and believe that this position we are taking is very well known to the Inspector General. Consequently, the Association has challenged the police boss to provide substantial evidence supporting his statements and ensure that anyone found responsible faces legal consequences. They stated that if he fails to substantiate his claims, he should retract his remarks, which they argue cast a negative light on their reputation and vocation. We demand the Inspector General to furnish both Kenya Health Professions Oversight Authority and Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Board; the two registering, regulating and licensing bodies of mortuary technicians and the mortuary facilities respectively the particulars of those implicated for investigation and if found culpable, necessary disciplinary actions taken against them, MAPAKe said. Adding: Failure to do so, the Inspector General should withdraw his remarks against the facilities as he put it and also the Mortuary practitioners as he also put it in his statement. MAPAKe also mentioned that their activities are governed by legal regulations under the Kenya Health Professions Oversight Authority (KHPOA). Mortuary technicians are no longer the rogue, careless, dirty, drunk and reckless uneducated individuals. Mortuary technicians are registered, licensed and regulated by a Government Authority established by an Act of Parliament; Kenya Health Professions Oversight Authority (KHPOA), they stated. Mortuary technicians are governed by ethics, chiefly among them being, respect and confidentiality of the deceased and respect for the loss, feelings and the right of the bereaved to mourn their loved ones in peace. Mortuary technicians operate within and observe the laws of Kenya in all our practice. President William Ruto has completed his five-day development tour of Mt Kenya region. The President launched development projects and engaged the people of Kiambu, Nyeri and Kirinyaga counties. He said the Government will fulfill its pledges to the people of Kenya through the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda. I am going to lead the team that is going to transform and change our country, he said. He assured Kenyans of the Governments commitment to reducing the cost of living by supporting farmers to increase production. On Wednesday, President Ruto commissioned the Naromoru Level 4 Hospital in Nyeri County. He also launched Affordable Housing Projects in Gichugu and Thika besides launching the construction of Karimenu II Dam Water Supply in Kiambu County. Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Governors Mutahi Kahiga (Nyeri), Anne Waiguru (Kirinyaga), Kimani Wamatangi (Kiambu), Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha, principal secretaries MPs and MCAs led by the Majority Leader Kimani Ichungwah accompanied the Head of State. The President explained that the Government had cleaned up KEMSA to ensure it procures medical supplies effectively and transparently. He observed that the Government is investing in agriculture, housing, manufacturing and digital economy to grow opportunities for the youth. We will create 500,000 online jobs that will allow our youth to work for foreign firms remotely, he added. In Thika Town, where he held a public rally, he assured the residents and traders that Kenya was on the right trajectory. We are fixing unemployment, subsidising food production and reforming our education to produce competent human capital to drive our economic growth. The President maintained that through the Hustler Fund, entrepreneurs can now access cheap credit to grow their businesses. We are keeping the promise to Kenyans through our Plan. Mr Gachagua said the government will not be distracted by detractors in its pursuit of better living standards for Kenyans. He urged leaders to work together for the good of the people. Some Photos of Naromoru Level 4 Hospital In the inaugural assessment report for the 13th Parliament released by the Mzalendo Trust Executive, it has been revealed that a year after the Kenyans elected their leaders, a total of 15 Members of Parliament have remained silent on the parliamentary floor throughout the year. Interestingly, a few of these individuals made the list in the evaluation reports for the 12th Parliament. They include the outspoken Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi, George Aladwa (representing Makadara), and Nakuru Town West MP Samuel Arama. Lawmakers who have not yet delivered their inaugural speeches in the National Assembly include Sportpesa CEO Ronald Karauri (representing Kasarani), Mohamed Soud (representing Mvita), Elizabeth Kailemia (Meru Woman MP), Paul Chebor (representing Rongai), Ernest Kagesi (representing Vihiga), Joseph Iraya (nominated), Teresia Wanjiru (nominated), and Muthoni Marubu (Lamu Woman MP). According to Mzalendo Trust, the findings reveal an ongoing pattern where approximately one-third of Members of Parliament contribute minimal substantive input to parliamentary discussions. The data indicates that, on average, a Member of Parliament (MP) addressed the floor approximately 10 times. A significant majority, encompassing 68.14 percent of the National Assemblys members (187 individuals), spoke fewer than 10 times. Contrastingly, a member of the Senate, on average, participated in discussions around 41 times. Only a solitary senator spoke less than 10 times, with the majority engaging in 50 or more plenary discussions. Prominently active figures within the National Assembly included Dr. Makali Mulu (representing Kitui Central), Beatrice Elachi (representing Dagoretti North), James Nyikal (representing Seme), and Ken Chonga (representing Kilifi South). Within the Senate, notable contributors were Samson Cherargei (representing Nandi), Eddy Oketch (representing Migori), John Kinyua (representing Laikipia), and Mohamed Faki (representing Mombasa). The report also highlights a discord between the priorities pursued by Parliament and the expectations of the citizens throughout the past year. There has been a mismatch between citizens expectations and Parliaments actions. Whereas citizens have invested heavily in public participation, the results have not been reflected in the most anticipated legislative proposals, said Mzalendo Trust Executive Director, Caroline Gaita. For instance, despite public outcry on the high cost of living, members of the National Assembly did not heed Kenyans calls to reject certain punitive clauses of the Finance Bill, 2023. The exercise was marred by political chicanery and sharp partisan positions that obscured objectivity in debating the proposals of the Bill. Ms. Gaita implored lawmakers to step up and ensure that the legislative agenda of the 13th Parliament aligns with the aspirations of the Kenyan population. This can be done by entrenching public participation, and ensuring it is not a mere procedural technicality, she said. State employees are poised to receive a salary increase of 7 to 10 percent, effective from July 1, with adjustments backdated to that date following a freeze imposed in 2021. During a morning briefing in Nairobi, officials from the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) informed media representatives that this wage revision stems from the robust growth trajectory witnessed right after the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Treasury has earmarked a budget of Sh27.1 billion for the fiscal year 2023/24 to facilitate the implementation of this endeavor. The average increase of 7-10 per cent will be undertaken over a two-year period and is inclusive of a notch increase, averaging three per cent annually, SRC chairperson Lyn Mengich said. Ngetich also noted the commission respected a request from President Ruto for his and his deputys salaries to remain unaltered during the review process. This implies that Ruto will continue to receive a salary of Sh. 1.44 million, while Gachaguas salary will remain at Sh. 1.22 million. Under the reviewd remuneration, Cabinet Secretaries will get a salary boost of approximately 3.5%, bringing their new compensation to Sh. 957,000, up from the previous amount of Sh. 924,000. The largest portion of the salary increase will be allocated to teachers, with the Teachers Service Commission receiving 44.2% of the total sum. Following closely, the armed forces will receive 20.9%, and counties will be allotted 18.8%. Meanwhile, civil services and state officers will receive 8.5% and 4.3% respectively from the total increment. In the current year, the governments workforce has grown to 968,425 employees, up from the previous years count of 953,041. These employees collectively earn an average monthly salary of Sh73,540. No sooner had Bamboo won a nine-year legal battle against Safaricom for unauthorized use of his three songs than the telecommunication giant returned to court to contest his Sh4.5 million compensation. Safaricom has successfully secured stay orders to suspend the ruling by Justice Asenath Ongeri, which awarded Bamboo general damages of Sh1,500,000 per song for the unapproved use of Mama Africa, Yes Indeed, and Move On as Safaricom Skiza callback tunes. The telco, through the law firm of Prof. Musili Wambua & Co. Advocates, argues that the Judge misunderstood the core matter under consideration, which was to establish whether Bamboo held the copyright for the three musical compositions. Safaricom states that Justice Ongeri deviated from this central question and introduced an alternate matter that was not addressed in the proceedings: whether Bamboos copyright was violated. The Company also asserts that the High Court Judge failed to differentiate between the separate concepts of authorship and ownership within the realm of copyright. The judge erred in analyzing the submissions and authorities cited by Bamboo in a lopsided manner while disregarding those cited by Safaricom, the grounds of appeal read. RELATED Bamboo Speaks Out After Sh4.5m Copyright Triumph Against Safaricom Moreover, Safaricom points out that the Judge neglected to adequately address the matter of indemnity and the third-party claim that was presented before the court by the involved parties. Safaricom had claimed that it was shielded from such claims due to indemnification by the companies responsible for supplying the musical compositions. These companies, which were sued alongside Safaricom by the artiste, were believed to have absolved Safaricom from any such liability. Lastly, the telco claims that the high Court made a crucial error by arriving at a conclusion of copyright infringement liability without the support of concrete evidence. Safaricom says the decision to award Sh4.5 million in general damages was misguided, as there was no loss suffered by Bamboo on the basis of evidence produced in court. In a supporting affidavit, Safaricoms in-house Counsel Daniel Ndaba says the court adopted a narrow interpretation of the law and the evidence adduced in court. Ndaba said Safaricom is prepared to provide appropriate security as collateral in exchange for the Sh4.5 million decree, pending the final decision of the appeal. President William Ruto has reiterated that his administration has successfully achieved economic stability within one year of assuming office. While addressing fellow leaders and residents at Sagana State Lodge in Nyeri on Tuesday, the president noted that his administrations first priority was to address a budgetary shortfall of Sh300 billion for the fiscal year 2022/23. We now have a firm foundation and I want to announce that we have stabilised the economy. We are going to be prudent in the management of our resources, the president said. Adding: Our first assignment when we took over power was to deal with the Sh300 billion hole in the budget. In our new budget (2023/24), we have reduced borrowing by up to Sh500 billion. One cannot improve the economy by taking loans unnecessarily. President Ruto at the same time underscored the importance of all Kenyan citizens fulfilling their tax obligations. We should pay taxes to achieve self-sufficiency. We are on the right track and we will succeed as a nation, he said. The Head of State also announced that his government is currently engaged in negotiations for a preferential trade agreement with both the United States of America (USA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The aim of these negotiations is to secure markets for domestically produced goods from the country. Our goal is to increase the manufacturing sectors share of gross domestic product (GDP) from the current 7 per cent to 15 per cent in the next five years. By 2030, we want to reach 20 per cent of GDP. We also want to increase our exports as a percentage of GDP from 10 per cent to 30 per cent. These two paradigms are driving our economic conversation, he said. Dr Ruto further reaffirmed his governments commitment to eradicating cartels within the agricultural sector and safeguarding farmers from experiencing inadequate earnings. In our Kenya Kwanza Plan, we want to eradicate cartels in the agricultural sector and revamp the entire mechanism. We need to clean up the agriculture sector and I must tell you that we will not continue like this, he said. Ruto highlighted the importance of prioritizing value addition for all domestically produced tea and further implementing reforms within the sector. Currently, we are only doing five per cent value addition on all the tea we produce. In five years, we want to do a 50 per cent value addition of all our tea here in Kenya so that we can improve the income of our farmers, he said. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley is thrilled to announce a transformative milestone for the American Canyon community. Through an exceptional allocation of $1.1 million from the State of California with the support of Senator Bill Dodd, the remaining construction loan for the American Canyon Clubhouse has been settled, according to a press release. This substantial investment propels the club's mission to provide an engaging environment for the youth of our community and fosters their growth into responsible and productive citizens. This investment will be publicly recognized in the form of a public check presentation with Senator Dodd at the American Canyon Clubhouse at noon on Aug. 12. In the wake of the completion of the new American Canyon Clubhouse located at 60 Benton Way in 2018, the Boys & Girls Club faced a daunting financial challenge due to unforeseen construction cost overruns, the press release states. Despite diligent planning and careful management, the organization bore the burden of an additional $1.4 million in debt. While the weight of this financial setback has been managed exclusively by the Boys & Girls Club, that hasnt changed its continued commitment to enrich the lives of countless youth at the American Canyon Clubhouse since its opening. These services have been provided at little to no cost to families who rely on these vital programs. The club is a huge blessing for my family. I can work and I dont have to worry about my child. I know he is safe and cared for, said an American Canyon Parent. Investments of this magnitude hold immense significance in shaping the well-being and development of our community. By supporting organizations like the Boys & Girls Club, the state and Napa Valley community at large are making a profound investment in our children's future and the future of American Canyon. The impact of such investments is noteworthy: Empowering Youth: The Clubhouse is more than just a place for afterschool activities; it serves as a haven for our youth to flourish academically, emotionally, and socially. This substantial allocation allows us to enhance our programs and expand facilities, reaching an even broader demographic of youth. Strengthening Communities: At the heart of the Boys & Girls Club lies the essence of community building. By investing in the Clubhouse, we foster lasting friendships, mentorship opportunities, and a sense of belonging, thus creating a stronger, more cohesive community. Curbing Juvenile Delinquency: Research highlights that constructive after-school activities significantly reduce the likelihood of engaging in delinquent behaviors. With improved resources and expanded activities, the Clubhouse plays a pivotal role in guiding our children towards a positive and promising future. Supporting Working Families: For working parents, finding affordable and reliable care for their children can be a challenge. The Boys & Girls Club addresses this crucial need by offering a secure and supportive environment, allowing parents to pursue their careers with confidence. In response to this incredible gift, the Boys & Girls Club is inviting the entire American Canyon community to join us for a celebration of this remarkable support. Residents, families, and supporters are all encouraged to join us and Dodd who will present the funds publicly at noon during the upcoming Back2school Block Party on Aug. 12. This community event, organized by the Boys & Girls Club, will take place on Aug. 12, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., promising an engaging and enjoyable day for families, friends, and neighbors. Community events like the Back2School Block Party and Boys & Girls Clubs go hand in hand because theyre all about building relationships within our community. Greg Bouillerce, executive director of the club, said. These events allow families, friends, and neighbors to come together and build lasting connections. The Boys & Girls Club, as a cornerstone of community support, naturally complements these events by providing a safe and inclusive space in which to build these relationships. It also never hurts to have a nice frozen otter-pop on a hot day in good company! During the Check Presentation Ceremony, the club will not only celebrate the successful settlement of the construction loan but also acknowledge the invaluable contributions made by our community in supporting the Clubhouse and its initiatives. This is an opportunity for us to unite, express gratitude for the state's belief in our mission, and showcase the positive impact the Clubhouse has had on the lives of our youth and the American Canyon Community. The Back2school Block Party will feature an array of free activities, including games, jump houses and inflatables, a rock-climbing wall, art displays, educational booths, and much more. It is a day to express our collective commitment to the future and to revel in the accomplishments we have achieved together. Last fall, as the Mosquito Fire exploded across tens of thousands of acres in the Sierra foothills, the fire behavior specialists for Cal Fire sprung into action. As the blaze tore across the dry terrain of Placer County and threatened the town of Volcanoville, they mustered a broadside of tech tools, from thermal cameras to airborne sensors, to determine how and where the fire might spread. Predictive computer models looked at factors such as wind conditions and how dry different terrain might be based on a network of cameras. Since 2019, much of that predictive technology has been run through a software called Technosylva, which allows Cal Fire specialists to plug in fire attributes like rate of spread to model what a blaze might do next. But with the Mosquito fire, they tested a powerful new tool that will become standard this fire season to help the agency get the jump on fire spotting and weather-influenced behavior. The technology, built by researchers at San Jose State University, is called the Weather Research Forecasting System and will be one of the tools Cal Fire uses this season to help the agency get the jump on fire spotting. The critical differences will be the ability to predict where firebrands, or embers, from a fire might land and ignite new hotspots, and to better understand how the hot and dry winds swirling around a conflagration will influence and even create the weather around it in real time. Ideally, the technology, known as WRF-SFIRE, could help Cal Fire determine where those burning bits might land. It can also help firefighters know where to send assets like fire engines and aircraft ahead of time to stop spot fires before they grow. Known as a "coupled atmosphere model," it ingests data about a fire to predict its potential future behavior, said Craig Clements, a professor of meteorology and climate science who directs the Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center at San Jose State University. Predicting where firebrands burning pieces of matter that can vary in size and which have been observed to move with the wind 20 miles or more away from a fire swirling through the hot air and smoke plume of a fire will land is no simple feat, Clements said. "It's not easy because you are actually having to predict how a particle, whether it's flat or if it's circular or cylindrical, how that particle is moving through the plume and atmosphere and how far it's transported downwind," he said. "And then you have to (determine) the probability of ignition" based on the type of fuels the superheated kernels land on and the conditions there. The software does this by "Inject(ing) millions of randomly distributed particles of different sizes and shapes" that are tossed around by the heat fluctuations calculated from the fire model, Clements said. The firebrand model was developed by Ali Tohedi, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and a fire and fluid dynamicist at San Jose State university. He recently testified before a Congressional committee on the need for better investment in fire modeling techniques. "The key to developing high performing models is the comprehensive application of fire behavior and safety sciences, leverages insights from the field and experimental observations at flame scale," Tohedi said during the hearing before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology last month. The predictive model also monitors the heat and combustion produced by a fire and inputs it into the weather model to understand how the fire will influence and create weather conditions around it. The financial toll for fighting fires is also increasing, costing the federal government, which is responsible for vast swathes of California lands, a record $1 billion in 2021, triple the 2020 cost. The ongoing risk to homes and property has also led to some insurance carriers refusing to write policies for properties in fire-prone areas. Look no further than the 2021 Dixie Fire which burned across Butte and Plumas counties, stirring up its own weather in the form of a pyrocumulonimbus cloud, lightning bolts and rain. That cost of fighting that fire was a record $600 million, a tab split between Cal Fire, the federal government and other agencies. Phillip SeLegue, staff chief for intel at Cal Fire, said WRF-SFIRE was also used on the Fairview Fire which burned nearly 30,000 acres in Riverside County, killing two people last year before it could be contained. Clements pointed out that there are myriad other researchers at different stages of development looking at similar types of fire behavior modeling, including programs at the University of Melbourne and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. One effort closer to home is also happening at a lab at Stanford, where researchers who started out studying how ocean currents move over seagrass canopies are now looking at how airflow over forest canopies might influence the movement of firebrands across a fire zone. "When there's flow over a tree canopy, or any canopy, there's a much reduced flow through the trees as well," said Jeffrey Koseff, a Stanford professor leading the project. He said with enough data and experimentation, machine learning techniques can be applied to predict where embers will likely fall given certain conditions like wind and temperature. For now he said a real world application of the work, which has funding from Stanford's Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence program, is years away, but could be one more high-tech tool in the arsenal against worsening wildfires. Last November, 59% of voters in Berkeley wanted to give the city permission to borrow $650 million to fund affordable housing. Two years earlier, 58% of San Diego voters supported a $900 million housing bond. Download Napa Valley Register news app today! Your story lives in the Napa Valley. Get in-depth stories from the Napa region and beyond including news, sports, features and politics. Two years before that, in 2018, commanding majorities in San Jose (64%), Santa Rosa (62%) and Santa Cruz County (just over 55%) turned out to back housing bonds worth hundreds of millions of dollars. All five measures failed. The California constitution doesnt make it easy for local governments to issue IOUs. Not only are most types of municipal and county borrowing plans required to go before the electorate, once on the ballot they also have to win support from at least two-thirds of the voters to pass. Now, as state lawmakers scramble to put a lid on ever-increasing housing costs, a persistent homelessness crisis and growing public ire over both, a coalition of housing developers, unions, local governments and pro-housing groups want to lower that electoral bar for bonds and taxes that fund affordable housing and a wide array of public infrastructure projects. The new proposed threshold: 55%. Had that standard been in place in 2018, Berkeley, San Diego, San Jose, Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz County would have been granted the power to borrow a total of $2.26 billion. Spearheading the effort to amend the state constitution is Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and not for the first time. The Winters Democrat has introduced a version of the bill every session since joining the Legislature in 2017. Its never made it out of the Assembly. But proponents think this year could be different. The Assemblys new speaker, Robert Rivas, has named housing a top priority and has shown an early willingness to push his preferred housing bills, even over the objections of powerful committee chairpersons. Rivas is a co-author of Aguiar-Currys bill, along with roughly half the Assembly. Aguiar-Curry may also have a bit more negotiating weight to throw around this time, too. Rivas named her speaker pro tempore, his second in command, upon assuming the leadership role this summer. Meanwhile, public concern about housing has not gone away. If the proposed constitutional amendment makes it through the Legislature, where it would require (what else?) two-thirds of the vote to pass, it would then go before voters statewide on the November 2024 ballot. It would be in good company. Alongside initiatives and referenda proposed by private citizens and interest groups, the Legislature is considering a handful of other proposed constitutional changes and as many as 10 statewide bonds, including a $10 billion affordable housing measure. Aguiar-Curry, who used to be the mayor of semi-rural town of Winters in Yolo County, said her measure may help cure some of the defects she sees with those colossal statewide bonds that often most benefit bigger cities. When you pass some of these big-time bonds, we dont see the money, she said in an interview. Every community has different needs, but for a lot of us in rural communities, its hard to get bonds passed. Making it easier for local governments to raise funds for affordable housing will also make it easier for those governments to compete for matching state and federal cash, said Abram Diaz, policy director for the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California, which supports the amendment. If were gonna do these big statewide efforts, ensuring the locals also do their piece and have the tools they need to meet us halfway is really important, he said. Many of the states business groups and the California Association of Realtors oppose the measure, reluctant to take any steps that would make it easier for local governments to hike taxes or run up their debts. Most bonds issued by local governments are paid out of increased property taxes. For many defenders of Californias longtime restrictions on local taxation namely, Proposition 13 from 1978 Aguiar-Currys measure represents a fiscal Pandoras box. Its a slippery slope, said Newport Beach Assemblymember Diane Dixon, a Republican, at a recent Assembly hearing. There are always attempts to undo Prop. 13 and the two-thirds vote, and its just a pincer attack. Learning from schools The space between 55% and two-thirds of the vote is where many ballot measures go to die. In 2022, cities, counties, schools and special districts put a total of 59 revenue-raisers requiring two-thirds of the vote to pass on local ballots across California, according to data compiled by local government fiscal analyst Michael Coleman. Only 29 of those measures cleared that threshold. Of the 30 that failed, 16 received more than 55% of the vote. Why should one-third of the local voters have the power to overrule fiscal decisions in your community? Aguiar-Curry said. Thats been a major source of fiscal frustration for cities and counties. But for the last two decades, school districts have been the exception. Thanks to Proposition 39, a constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2000, local school bond measures only need to hit a 55% cutoff to pass, so long as theyre used to fund facility construction and upgrades and dont exceed a certain amount. Thats been a real game changer for schools, said Coleman. You can see that in the election results. Over the last two decades, local governments have turned to the voters more than 5,000 times, seeking permission to raise taxes or borrow money, according to Colemans database. Since 2001, city and county bond and tax measures that have been required to get two-thirds of the vote have succeeded just more than half the time. School bonds with a 55% threshold have cleared that requirement 80% of the time. No surprise, then, that affordable housing developers want in on some of that special treatment. So, too, do organizations representing firefighters, librarians and school employees, public sector workers and construction unions. Alongside affordable housing projects, Aguiar-Currys proposal would lower the voter requirement for bonds and taxes that fund all manner of public infrastructure projects, including road, highway and transit improvements; water and flood control upgrades; hospital, police station and library construction; and the purchase of firefighting equipment. And going further than Prop. 39, Aguiar-Currys measure sets no limit on the amount of borrowing. Nor is it just restricted to bonds, which are frequently paid back through property tax increases, but would free local governments to propose new parcel tax increases and sales tax hikes. Opponents of the measure, led by the nonprofit California Taxpayers Association, have seized on that final detail. The taxes this measure would make it easier to pass are regressive, said Peter Blocker, the organizations lobbyist, at the recent hearing. And while one of the goals of the measure is to make it easier to raise revenue for housing, the two taxes this measure applies to sales taxes and parcel taxes are both taxes that make housing less affordable. Tacking on these other areas of infrastructure spending and giving local governments more financial flexibility to use the measure has helped Aguiar-Curry build a coalition. Proponents insist its also sensible policy. This thought that we can do this for housing and not infrastructure doesnt work, said Assemblymember Lori Wilson, a Suisun City Democrat, at the hearing. You cant build housing without infrastructure. Proponents also insist, over the objections of anti-tax advocates, that the measure would do nothing to directly increase debt or raise taxes. If voters pass the measure in 2024, it would simply provide local governments with new tools to combat the housing crisis. But voters could put those tools to work immediately in some parts of the state. As currently written, the Aguiar-Curry amendment would apply to any local revenue-raiser passed on or after the amendment itself is passed meaning, to any other measure also on the November 2024 ballot. Thats a pertinent detail for voters across the Bay Area, who are likely to be presented with a regional affordable housing bond as large as $20 billion next November. If Aguiar-Currys measure makes the ballot, too, that would give millions of Northern California voters the opportunity not only to vote on the largest housing-related IOU in recent California memory, but also on a provision to ease its passage. If this passes in November, the lower threshold applicability will apply to other housing bonds that are also on the ballot so that they can really harness this new tool, said Diaz with the Non-Profit Housing Association. We dont have a day to waste as we try to address the homeless crisis. PHOTOS: Take a sneak peek inside these Napa apartments under construction SoCo Napa Apartments 2 SoCo Napa Apartments 1 SoCo Napa Apartments 3 SoCo Napa Apartments 4 SoCo Napa Apartments 5 SoCo Napa Apartments 5 SoCo Napa Apartments 7 SoCo Napa Apartments 8 SoCo Napa Apartments 9 SoCo Napa Apartments 10 SoCo Napa Apartments 11 SoCo Napa Apartments 12 SoCo Napa Apartments 13 SoCo Napa Apartments 14 The 2023 Shanghai Book Fair will take place from Aug 16 to 22 at the Shanghai Exhibition Center. More than 850 reading events are expected to take place. Tickets will not be available at the gate this year. Visitors will have to have QR codes scanned on the fair's official website or WeChat account to book their tickets and make reservations with a valid ID for each visitor. Sichuan province in southwestern China will be the guest of honor at the fair this year, and new publications from the province will be showcased in prominent positions, such as a series of books on Su Shi (1037-1101), Su Xun (1009-1066) and Su Zhe (1039-1112). The three writers from Meizhou, jointly known as "San Su", or the three masters of the Su family, are a cultural heritage not only cherished by Sichuan province, but the whole country. Publishers in Sichuan have joined together to launch a series of new books about the legendary literary trio, including biographies, research, and introductory books for schoolchildren and non-Chinese readers, according to Zhang Zhenjun, a spokesperson for the publicity department of Sichuan province. China Publishing Group will present more than 5,000 new titles from its 23 member publishers. The group will also host its annual readers' conference for the first time this year, where renowned scholars and authors such as Ge Jianxiong, Cao Wenxuan and Mo Lifeng will lecture on their personal experiences or the latest findings from their fields of study. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia received the EU Ambassador Azerbaijani units fired from fire arms towards the Armenian combat outposts in the vicinity of Verin Shorzha Ararat Mirzoyan will participate in a strategic conference in Slovenia Azerbaijani Armed Forces open fire on Armenian positions in Akhpradzor section. Armenian Defense Ministry Greek authorities have rescued about 60 migrants traveling by boat from Turkey to Aegean islands Iran will launch a locally manufactured Tolou-3 satellite into orbit by the second half of March Azerbaijani Defense Ministry tries to justify its regular fire to disrupt wheat harvesting. Artsakh Defense Army The Azerbaijanis once again targeted the 'Syunik' civil airport. Gor Tsarukyan Artsakh State Minister: Azerbaijani Armed Forces hold at gunpoint the only wheat field in Sarushen community Azerbaijan refuses to allow the body of the Artsakh girl to be taken to her homeland. MFA Armenia PM is informed about plans to invest another $15M in Agarak Copper-Molybdenum Combine Azerbaijan does not allow body of young woman who died in tragic Armenia road accident to be sent back to Karabakh Azerbaijan plans to try abducted Karabakh resident Vagif Khachatryan Dollar, euro drop in Armenia Armenia deputy PM, Poland envoy confer about regional developments Central Electoral Commission registers electoral lists of political forces to run in Yerevan municipal elections Karabakh MoD: Azerbaijan statement, video footage are utter falsehood Ambassador Kvien emphasizes US support for Armenia sovereignty, security (PHOTOS) Karabakh MFA: We expect UN Security Council member countries to demonstrate consistency, principled stance Armenia ex-FM: Perhaps international community keeps open possibility of changing today's negotiation agenda Armenia MoD: Azerbaijan disseminates another disinformation London Coptic Church leader, UK Armenian Apostolic Church primate discuss crisis in Karabakh 11 medical patients from Karabakh are transferred to Armenia through Red Cross MFA official: China is closely following of North-South international corridor current operation Armenia battalion deputy commander is charged with causing soldier to commit suicide Armenia MFA: It is evident that Azerbaijan continues distorting international community appeals Armenia FM stresses to UN deputy secretary general urgency of reopening Lachin corridor US ambassador to Armenia visiting Jermuk town (PHOTOS) Artsakh President meets with group of militia fighters Karabakh President receives Free Motherland-UCA Faction MPs Presidential advisor: Azerbaijan cut fiber optic internet cable, disrupting Karabakh's stable internet connection Azerbaijan fires on tractor working in Karabakh village field Ardshinbank recognized as Retail Bank of the Year in Armenia by Asian Banking & Finance magazine Azerbaijan fires in direction of Armenias Kapan city airport EU Special Representative for South Caucasus meets with some other European officials, in Yerevan cafe Newspaper: What to expect after UN Security Council emergency meeting on Lachin corridor issue? France cities, regions want to deliver humanitarian aid to besieged Karabakh China interested in development of relations with Armenia Ambassador to Armenia on Zangezur corridor: Chinese initiative has nothing to do with it Armenia MoD: Azerbaijan fired in direction of Yeraskh village Mher Grigoryan, Toivo Klaar discuss humanitarian crisis in Karabakh Fan Yong: China is concerned about situation around Lachin corridor Armenia FM to Romania colleague: Karabakh crisis resolution requires international community to take clear steps Dollar gains, euro loses value in Armenia Ocampo: Armenians should not be side victims of Ukrainian conflict Chaarat Gold announces selling Kapan mine in Armenia for $54.5M Azerbaijan again fires at combine harvester working in Karabakh village field Armenia ambassador-at-large: Azerbaijan is blaming Karabakh children for eating cookies on their birthdays Demonstration in support of Karabakh held outside Israel MFA (VIDEO) Pashinyan: Next week we will start Yerevan-Kapan regular flights Armenia PM heads from Yerevan to Kapan by plane, tests new airline Arman Tatoyan: Azerbaijan is preparing new fascist disaster for Armenia Kirby: We continue to stay engaged diplomatically to encourage peaceful resolution between Armenia, Azerbaijan Karabakh presidential advisor: UN Security Council recorded that we are starving, but what does that change? Karabakh MoD: Azerbaijan defense ministry statement is completely false, disinformation Azerbaijan MFA tries to distort content of UN Security Council meeting on Lachin corridor issue Armenia ombudsperson sends letter to Azerbaijan counterpart 1 month ago, not received reply yet MoD: Azerbaijan fires at combine harvester working in Karabakh village field Armenia government petitions to European Court regarding soldier captured by Azerbaijan Armenia statements about Karabakh blockade are groundless, Bayramov tells Klaar Armenia PM: Azerbaijan is subjecting Armenians of Karabakh to genocide through starvation Armenia ombudsperson: Azerbaijan statement that Vagif Khachatryan committed crime as part of armed group is not true Azerbaijanis attack Armenian family outside UN headquarters in New York Karabakh MoD: Azerbaijan violated ceasefire Armenia MoD: Azerbaijan disseminated another disinformation EU representative at UN: Dialogue between Karabakh Armenians and Baku should be encouraged Azerbaijan representative speaks at UN Security Council, accuses Armenia US representative at UN: We call for direct talks between Baku authorities and Karabakh representatives Speech of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia at the UN Security Council urgent meeting Russia representative at UN: We proposed parallel opening of Aghdam and Lachin corridors Armenia MFA spox: As there is meeting at UNSC, Azerbaijan opened fire on border several times in past 3 days President: People of Karabakh are anxiously anticipating todays special session of UN Security Council N Koreas Kim, Russias Putin exchange letters 55 dead from clashes in Libya's capital Armenia MoD: Azerbaijan fired at Armenian positions Alen Simonyan, Valentina Matviyenko discuss details of humanitarian disaster in Karabakh Photo of Armenia reservist detained by Azerbaijan appears in Azerbaijani domain of social media OSCE Chairman-in-Office reiterates his call, asks Personal Representative Andrzej Kasprzyk to visit Lachin area Armenia ranks 3rd in most visits to Georgia Azerbaijan MoD announces name of captured Armenia serviceman Azerbaijan MFA makes accusations against Armenia Azerbaijan holds tour for foreign diplomats to familiarize them with Aghdam road being proposed to Karabakh Group of Turkey intellectuals appeal to world regarding humanitarian disaster in Karabakh Azerbaijan soldiers approach Armenian reservist, apprehend him: Armenia MoD releases video footage France FM expresses concern about Azerbaijan shooting during patrol of EU monitors in Armenia Concerned citizens staging protest in front of UN office in Armenia Armenia FM heads for New York MoD: Theory of Armenia reservist ending up on Azerbaijan side is being investigated Azerbaijan announces capture of Armenia soldier Azerbaijan praises advantages of Aghdam road to Nagorno-Karabakh Azerbaijan MoD tries to misinform foreign embassies military attaches Armenians prevented Ataturk statue installation in Prague, Turkish ambassador says Armenia MoD: Reservist deserts combat position Azerbaijan fires at grain-harvesting combine in Karabakh (PHOTOS) Armenia to host Eurasian Intergovernmental Council special meeting Armenians continue demonstrations outside Los Angeles consulates of UN Security Council member countries US State Department: We urge Azerbaijan government to restore free transit through Lachin corridor Azerbaijan accuses France of efforts to aggravate the tension in South Caucasus Senators Menendez, Padilla send letter to US representative at UN regarding situation in Karabakh Karabakh residents block Russian military base entrance, peacekeepers reopen it By Taguhi Melkonyan We continue our support to Artsakh and the Armenian people, and we will spare no effort to prevent a repeat of 1915 in Artsakh with the same signature. Mayor Nicolas Daragon of Valence, France said this in an exclusive interview to Armenian News-NEWS.am. He has always expressed his support for the Armenian people, and in 2018 he visited Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) in order to deepen friendly ties between Artsakh capital Stepanakert and Valence. The latter and Stepanakert were once declared sister cities, to which Azerbaijan has always expressed its opposition. The text of this interview is presented below. Mr. Daragon, as the mayor of a city with friendly ties with Stepanakert, are you interested in the developments unrolling around Artsakh? According to you, is the current attitude of the international community reasonable in the conditions of the complete blockade of Artsakh and the policy of ethnic [Armenian] cleansing [in Artsakh] being carried out by Azerbaijan? Of course, we follow the situation with sadness and alarm. Despite the inaction of international structures, some organizations and individual figures show initiative, such as [French] President Emmanuel Macron, in October of last year, when he organized a meeting between the parties. But this is not enough. Azerbaijan continues to disdain the international structures, ignoring as well the resolution of the French Senate and the calls aimed at restoring the free movement of people and the supply of goods along the Lachin corridor. Isn't it time for tougher steps? In April, we visited the Lachin corridor with the president of the Regional Council of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region [of France], Laurent Wauquiez, to carry out monitoring, but the Russian side took that situation very poorly. They are focused on the Ukrainian war, that's why we can no longer have a dialogue with them. Actually, today they do not take upon themselves to ensure the safety of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. I am personally very worried about the current situation. I think that Azerbaijan is trying to take the Lachin corridor under the threat of not attacking Syunik [Province of Armenia]. Obviously, we continue our support to Artsakh and the Armenian people, and we will spare no effort to prevent a repeat of 1915 in Artsakh with the same signature. Congressman Adam Schiff, the co-chair of the US Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, has agreed to receive the American Armenian protesters. One of these demonstrators, Davit Mnatsakanyan, informed about this in a Facebook video Wednesday. "We will meet tomorrow, we will inform further about whats new. Now we are going to his office again, and we will not go home so that our determination will be noticeable," said Mnatsakanyan. For four days now, American Armenians have been protesting in defense of Artsakh and calling on the international community to give a strong response to Azerbaijan's actions. Also, they had staged a sit-in outside Congressman Schiff's office, demanding a meeting with this pro-Armenian US lawmaker. In addition, they demand Schiff to visit the Lachin corridor, get familiarized with the situation there, and then present it to the US Congress. It has been nearly eight months since Azerbaijan has illegally closed the Lachin corridor connecting Artsakh to Armenia and the rest of the world. And Artsakh is under complete blockade for two months. As a result, the humanitarian crisis in Artsakh is deepening day by day, and Artsakh is no longer receiving anythingfrom medicine to food. You are here: Business A total of 231,330 Chinese mainland tourists visited Singapore in July, according to the latest statistic released by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). The figure doubled from 113,290 in June, setting a new record for Chinese mainland visitors entering Singapore this year. The Chinese mainland ranked first among tourist-contributing markets to Singapore in July, followed by Indonesia, Australia, India, and Malaysia. Singapore received 1.42 million visitors last month, an increase of 25.6 percent from 1.13 million in June, according to the STB. A crane operator fell ill in Gyumri, and he died on the way to the hospital, shamshyan.com reports. The 911 emergency hotline of Armenia received a call informing that a crane operator had fallen ill while operating a crane in Gyumri, and the help of rescuers was needed to get him off this crane and carry him to an ambulance. The rescuers who were dispatched to the scene brought this crane operator down, by using another crane and with the help of other people, carried him to a waiting ambulance, which took him to the Gyumri Medical Center. But he died on the way without regaining consciousness. According to the preliminary conclusion of the coroner, external examination found no traces of violence on his body. The police found out that the deceased was Shirak Province resident Martin K., 59. The members of the Crusaders detachment, who were in Armenias Kornidzor village Wednesday, are now positioned in another area far from the Kornidzor positions. Sargis Poghosyan, the commander this detachment which had fought in the recent Nagorno-Karabakh war, told Armenian News-NEWS.am about this on Thursday. "Right now the guys are coming together. We will not do any illegal action. Give [us] a few days. We have just moved back a little from the Kornidzor positions sector in order not to strain the situation, and we are positioned in another place," said Poghosyan. And Kornidzor village head Arshak Karapetyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am that the aforesaid detachment members left the village Wednesday. "They came and went yesterday. I had a meeting [with them] for about 10 minutes. I can't say whether they will come with them or not," he noted. The members of the Crusaders detachment on Tuesday staged a protest in front of the main building of the Armenian government. They had given time to the government to have the humanitarian aid trucks sent from Armenia to Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) that have been waiting at the Kornidzor village border area since July 26 to enter Artsakh. Otherwise, they warned that they will resort to force to do this. And not getting an answer from the government, they had headed for Kornidzor at night. The court hearing in the case of Armenias third President Serzh Sargsyan and several others has reconvene in a Yerevan court Thursday. Sargsyan will testify at today's court session. Now, it is the phase of questioning the defendants in the case. Barsegh Beglaryan, the owner of Flash fuel company, was questioned at the previous hearing. According to the indictment of this criminal case, being organized by Sargsyan, pushed by Beglaryan, and assisted by former Deputy Minister of Agriculture Samvel Galstyan and Gevorg Harutyunyan, former Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan had squanderedfrom January 25 to February 7, 2013AMD 489,160,310 of subsidy allocated from the government's reserve fund for the 15,391,765 liters of diesel fuel that was used during the implementation of state assistance programs. Serzh Sargsyan has been charged under the Criminal Code article on large-scale embezzlement or squandering. The third president, however, does not accept the charge against him, and his lawyers say that this process is a political persecution against their client. Azerbaijan wants to present the Stepanakert-Baku negotiations as an intra-Azerbaijani dialogue; that is, some criminalsthat is, usshould go [to Baku] and say: forgive us, we are becoming your citizens. David Babayan, advisor to the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) President and former foreign minister of Artsakh, told this to Armenian News-NEWS.am, referring to Azerbaijan's statement that they are ready to "hold regular meetings with the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh". "Baku wants to discuss the issue of integration. They set a precondition that makes any meetings impossible. Sincere interest in the settlement of the conflict, then the meetings should be held in a different format. And that is simply putting pressure on us, starving us, and then achieving their goal. We see [that] the world is apathetic and does not take any steps to improve this shameful situation," said Babayan. He believes that, unlike other countries, Azerbaijan has a peculiarity: it doesn't lie. It says, We are coming to massacre you, that is our goal. If anyone stands up and says Artsakh is Armenian, then he will be imprisoned for life at best. "The main component of saying reintegration is to starve the people of Artsakh and make people who have already been desperate come and kneel in front of them and say we agree to everything. I don't think that the meetings will lead to a positive outcome because everything will be clear from the first meeting. And there are cases when it is better not to meet than to meet because after that the situation will be more complicated. Imagine that during the meeting, Azerbaijan presents an ultimatum, then the meeting fails. What should we do? Everything will be worse," emphasized David Babayan. Azerbaijan MFA official: We are ready to hold meetings with Karabakh Armenians The core module of the reactor Linglong One is lifted and moved towards its nuclear island at Changjiang nuclear power plant in South China's Hainan province, Aug. 10, 2023. [Photo provided to China.org.cn] The core module of China's Linglong One, the world's first commercial small modular reactor (SMR) demonstration project, was successfully installed on Thursday in South China's Hainan province. The installation at the nuclear island, the heart of the nuclear power plant where the reactor and other major facilities are located, marks a significant advancement in the construction of the reactor, bringing it to a crucial stage of completion. This milestone marks a critical juncture in Linglong One's nuclear island equipment installation a project that is pioneering the modular manufacturing and installation of nuclear reactors. Representing a global debut for the miniaturization of nuclear energy, this step is historic and places China at the forefront of small modular reactor construction technology. The core module of the multi-purpose, small modular pressurized water reactor is known as "the heart of Linglong One". It integrates critical equipment, including the pressure vessel, steam generators and primary pump nozzles into one unit, eliminating the need for the main pipeline. Notably, the steam generators are built into the pressure vessel, with the welding being completed in factory prior to the installation. The welding and assembly, which integrate the nuclear power plant's metaphorical "lungs" and "heart," is the most challenging aspect of the project. It's a striking example of the "factory prefabrication, modular manufacturing" approach to the nuclear power equipment construction. Linglong One is self-developed by the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and owned and operated by Hainan Nuclear Power Co., Ltd., affiliated with CNNC. The design and construction of the reactor are revolutionary and groundbreaking. Its most prominent feature is modular construction, achieved through standardized design, single-module production and mass production, which shortens construction time and reduces costs while improving safety. The small modular reactor's simplified system and reduced equipment size facilitate more convenience for transportation and operation. This allows for flexible adjustments and construction according to clients' needs, yielding significant economic benefits. When commissioned, Linglong One is projected to generate up to 1 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year, sufficient to meet the needs of 526,000 households in Hainan. This will help cut carbon dioxide emissions by 880,000 metric tons per year, equivalent to planting 7.5 million trees annually. The stable and reliable clean energy provided by Linglong One will not only aid China in reaching peak carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality, but also foster global nuclear energy development through the demonstration of advanced reactor technology. It will further contribute to the construction of a "clean energy island" in Hainan. The core module of the reactor Linglong One is lifted and moved towards its nuclear island at Changjiang nuclear power plant in South China's Hainan province, Aug. 10, 2023. [Photo provided to China.org.cn] Ecowas to deploy 'standby force' against Niger The Chairman Ecowas, Nigerian president Bola Ahmed Tinubu (left) interacts with the president of the Ecowas Commission, Omar Touray. Photo: AFP Leaders of the West African Ecowas bloc said Thursday they would deploy a "standby force" against the military leaders who seized control of Niger two weeks ago. The bloc's Commission President Omar Touray said after an emergency summit in Nigeria that members had decided "to order the deployment of the Ecowas standby force to restore constitutional order in Niger". The details of an eventual deployment and its impact on Niger were not immediately clear. Ahead of the closed-door summit talks, Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu had insisted that "we prioritise diplomatic negotiations and dialogue" for ending the crisis in Niger. "All is not lost yet" for a "peaceful solution, as a roadmap to restore democracy and stability," Tinubu said after the meeting. But he added: "No option is taken off the table, including the use of force as a last resort". "If we don't do it, no one else will do it for us." Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara told journalists before leaving the summit that Ecowas "has intervened in the past, in Liberia, in Sierra Leone, in Gambia and Guinea-Bissau" when constitutional order in the countries was threatened. "Today we have a similar situation in Niger, and I like to say that Ecowas cannot accept this," he said, adding that he hoped the decision to deploy the force "will be implemented immediately". (AFP) PRNewswire Nashik (Maharashtra) [India], August 10: PDRL, a frontrunner in the software industry, is pleased to unveil a pioneering certification initiative designed for theAeroMeghplatform, poised to redefine the landscape of the drone sector. In the wake of the exponential proliferation of drones and their diverse applications, the requirement for adept professionals capable of fully leveraging this technology's potential is on a swift rise. The convergence ofPDRL's AeroMegh platform and its extensive certification program serves as a catalyst, arming professionals with the essential expertise and competencies requisite for success within this ever-evolving domain. AeroMegh, presented as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, presents an all-encompassing solution that seamlessly manages the entire drone data lifecycle, flight operations, data capture, processing, and data analytics. The platform's potency enables users to streamline intricate tasks effectively, resulting in substantial time and resource savings. PDRL's certification program, thoughtfully designed, extends a valuable opportunity to professionals, enabling them to delve into the intricate nuances of AeroMegh. This immersive experience facilitates the acquisition of profound expertise, imparting a distinct competitive edge within the industry landscape. PDRL takes pride in its pivotal role within the ongoing revolution in the drone industry, marked by a remarkable achievement: over half of all drone manufacturers are type-certified with AeroGCS, while AeroGCS GREEN, an integral facet of the AeroMegh suite, has earned type-certification for over 75% of agriculture drones. This evident adoption underscores the substantial demand for adept resources. In response to this burgeoning demand, PDRL has meticulously crafted a certification program tailored to amplify technical knowledge and competencies within the burgeoning drone ecosystem. Enrollees in this program gain hands-on exposure to the AeroMegh platform, acquiring proficiency in its multifaceted functionalities and applications. Upon successful completion, participants are bestowed with the esteemed PDRL certified drone professional designation, thereby establishing a clear distinction that sets them apart within their professional circle. The certification program covers all aspects of drone operations, including flying, data capture, processing, and analysis. Participants receive practical training to navigate the complexities of the drone industry successfully. PDRL's certification serves as a seal of approval, confirming that professionals possess the necessary expertise and dedication to excel in the fast-paced and rapidly evolving drone industry. In order to ensure the broad accessibility of this program, PDRL has established a strategic alliance with DroneAcharya. Renowned for its prowess in drone services, training, manufacturing, and automation,DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations Limited emerges as a comprehensive drone solution provider. Operating from its headquarters in Pune, Maharashtra, DroneAcharya is a certified DGCA drone pilot training institution with established centers in both Maharashtra and Gujarat. Bolstered by a team of technology connoisseurs, they offer a tailored array of Industrial and Enterprise solutions catering to Agriculture, Mining, Energy, Infrastructure, Utilities, andDefense sectors. Fueled by a commitment to excellence and an innovative ethos, DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations Limited stands tall as a credible DGCA-approved drone pilot training organization, dedicated to furnishing its clients with accurate and dependable data solutions. Their unwavering pursuit of excellence and pioneering spirit propelled them to be the first Indian drone startup to go public and attain a listing on the BSE-SME exchange. Through this dynamic collaboration with DroneAcharya, the program's outreach will be amplified, enabling professionals from diverse backgrounds and regions to leverage PDRL's expertise to the fullest extent. PDRL's AeroMegh platform and certification program are at the forefront of empowering professionals in the drone industry revolution. As the industry continues to expand, the demand for skilled individuals becomes increasingly vital. PDRL's vision and dedication to transforming drone data into actionable insights are evident in its comprehensive certification program. This milestone represents PDRL's commitment to shaping the future of the drone industry and offers immense value to aspiring professionals and investors alike. "We understand the importance of skilled resources, and quality training by experienced personnel is an assured way of arming today's workforce. Through our association with PDRL, we aim to provide an end-to-end training for drone mapping and data handling, and enable drone professionals to carry out quality services across industries," said Prateek Srivastava, Founder and Managing Director at DroneAcharya Aerial Innovations Limited. Anil Chandaliya, Chief Executive Officer at PDRL mentioned that,"PDRL is on the path of certifying 10,000 professionals on the AeroMegh platform. Joining hands with DroneAcharya will surely help achieve this goal faster. Both of us will create skilled resources faster and generate more jobs in the industry to make India a Drone Hub by 2030." About PDRL: PDRL stands as a prominent software enterprise committed to driving transformation within the drone industry. At the heart of its endeavours is the AeroMegh platform, a comprehensive solution that seamlessly transforms raw drone data into actionable insights. Accompanied by an all-encompassing certification program, PDRL empowers professionals by equipping them with the requisite knowledge and skills to thrive within the rapidly evolving drone sector. Underscoring its dedication to innovation, PDRL remains at the forefront of technological advancement through strategic partnerships and the incorporation of cutting-edge methodologies. This concerted effort positions PDRL as a pioneering force, actively shaping the trajectory of the industry and its future potential. Media Contact:Marketing@pdrl.in+91 7028688858 (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) SRV Media New Delhi [India], August 10: In a heartwarming reunion, the esteemed Harichand Gupta Adarsh Kanya Inter College, Rishikesh welcomed back their former student, the FitIndia ambassador, Ayushi Tondon. The occasion was filled with nostalgia, emotions, and an overwhelming sense of love as Ayushi revisited the very premises where countless childhood memories were created. Invited by the school's respected Principal, Poonam Sharma, Ayushi took this opportunity to spread the message of FitIndia, a movement initiated by the honorable Prime Minister, Narendra Modi Ji. With immense joy and pride, Ayushi emphasized the significance of fitness and mental well-being in today's hectic world, highlighting mindfulness as an integral part of daily life. https://www.instagram.com/p/CvkZnPVPGXX/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== During the visit, Ayushi led a rejuvenating yoga session for the students, faculty, and Principal Ma'am, inspiring everyone with the power of yogic exercises. Recognizing the support and enthusiasm displayed by the school's administration, Ayushi was deeply touched by the words "FitIndia Movement" written on the school notice board, symbolizing the ongoing commitment of Harichand Gupta Adarsh Kanya Inter College to fostering a healthy and active lifestyle. The affectionate reception received by Ayushi from the teachers, Principal Ma'am, and students served as a testament to the positive impact Ayushi has made as the FitIndia ambassador. Principal Ma'am's dedication to upholding the values, traditions, and discipline of the school, as well as driving forward the FitIndia mission, was truly commendable. Expressing heartfelt gratitude, Ayushi extended appreciation to all the individuals who played an instrumental role in the success of this visit. The students, teachers, and especially Principal Ma'am were acknowledged for their unwavering support in spreading the FitIndia mission and promoting the countless benefits of yoga. The Harichand Gupta Adarsh Kanya Inter College community eagerly anticipates Ayushis future return, as they continue to embrace fitness, well-being, and a shared love for their alma mater. This nostalgic and memorable visit serves as a testament to the lasting impact of education and the power of fostering a healthy mind and body. Stay tuned for more updates on Ayushis endeavors as the FitIndia ambassador, as they inspire individuals across the nation to embark on their fitness journeys and prioritize overall wellness. (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) PNN New Delhi [India], August 10: A special plantation programme was organised at Buddha Jayanti Park situated in central ridge of Delhi. In this programme, one thousand trees of Amaltas had been planted in the park. This whole programme was successfully completed under the supervision of President of Buddha Jayanti Park and environmentalist Neeraj Gupta. This particular area of rij is rocky where growth of plants and trees is very difficult. Although high temperature and tough geographical conditions of this area don't provide ample and suitable conditions for plants to grow whereas Amaltas has shown remarkable growth here. It's interesting to know that in 1962 this park was established on the occasion of Gautam Buddha's completion of twenty five hundred years. At that time the Japanese government also funded this park. At present the maintenance of this park is under CPWD. Famous for its beautiful landscapes and greenery this park also plays a vital role in keeping Delhi pollution free. Almost a decade back this park was in very bad shape due to negligence, but with Neeraj Gupta's interference and efforts and with the help of CPWD this park has regained its lush green beauty. The main attraction of this park is the 'Bal Bodhi Tree', which holds historical importance. It is the sibling of 'Shri Mahabodhi Tree' in Sri Lanka, which was taken to Sri Lanka by the daughter of King Ashoka Sanghmitra twenty three hundred years ago. The same tree was brought to India in 1964 by the president of Sri Lanka and was planted here in the presence of our prime minister Late Lal bahadur Shastri. It is the original sapling of the 'maha bodhi tree', under which Gautam Buddha attained moksha. Sayings of Mahatma Buddha has been established in written form in the park, so that visitars can benefit from them along with the fresh air. (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) NewsVoir Zurich [Switzerland], August 10: Amcor (NYSE:AMCR, ASX:AMC), a global leader in developing and producing responsible packaging solutions, today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Phoenix Flexibles, expanding Amcors capacity in the high-growth Indian market. Phoenix Flexibles has one plant located in Gujarat, India, and the business generates annual revenue of approximately US$20 million from the sale of flexible packaging for food, home care and personal care applications. Amcor currently has four flexible packaging plants in India. The business has delivered double-digit organic sales growth per annum over the last three years, significantly outpacing growth in the underlying market, and is also investing to double its local footprint in the Pharmaceutical and Medical packaging categories. The addition of Phoenix Flexibles well capitalized and strategically located production facility will immediately increase Amcors capacity to satisfy continued high demand and drive strong returns for shareholders. The acquisition also adds machine-direction oriented film technology, enabling local production of a broader range of more sustainable packaging solutions, and brings capabilities allowing Amcor to expand its product offering in attractive high-value segments. Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific President Mike Cash said, Amcor continues to see substantial opportunities to grow our flexible packaging business in India. With this acquisition, we are investing to maintain and build upon the significant momentum the business has delivered over several years. The scalable nature of the acquired facility, combined with the localization of new capabilities, further enhances our customer value proposition in this attractive high-growth market. The acquisition is subject to customary closing procedures and is expected to close in the September 2023 quarter. Amcor is a global leader in developing and producing responsible packaging solutions for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical, home and personal-care, and other products. Amcor works with leading companies around the world to protect their products and the people who rely on them, differentiate brands, and improve supply chains through a range of flexible and rigid packaging, specialty cartons, closures, and services. The company is focused on making packaging that is increasingly lighter weight, recyclable and reusable, and made using an increasing amount of recycled content. In fiscal year 2022, 44,000 Amcor people generated $15 billion in annual sales from operations that span 220 locations in 43 countries. NYSE: AMCR; ASX: AMC. For more information, please visitwww.amcor.com.LinkedInIFacebookIYouTube (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) PRNewswire Gurugram (Haryana) [India], August 10: Altudo, a prominent player in the industry, proudly announces its strategic partnership with Mixpanel, a pioneering Event Analytics* software provider. This collaboration marks an exciting expansion of Mixpanel's global channel partner network. Altudo's partnership with Mixpanel signifies their shared mission to help organizations measure what matters, make data-driven decisions rapidly, and build exceptional products. As a Mixpanel partner, Altudo offers customized and future-proof data strategies, designed to enhance customer experiences and empower businesses. Its comprehensive approach includes building MarTech stacks for enterprises, leveraging these stacks to drive state-of-the-art customer experiences, and equipping teams with the skills to run operations independently. With a team of seasoned professionals, Altudo empowers clients, regardless of their technical expertise, to unlock the full potential of Mixpanel's advancedevent analytics platform. With Mixpanel, cross-functional teams can focus on what's working, cut what isn't, and spend more time on their best ideas. "We are excited to partner with Mixpanel to deliver a world-class solution to our clients to drive excellent customer experience, helping them implement world-class product analytics, turn valuable user journey data into business insights and build engaging products and services to cater to varying customer needs. Our advisory and consultative services also provide tech integration plan for effective data collection and insight generation," saidKaran Rana, Chief of Staff, Altudo. "To celebrate this partnership, Altudo is hosting the first in-person#AnalyticsForAll Product Meet Upin India, in collaboration with Mixpanel in Gurugram on August 31, 2023 - inviting product leaders, entrepreneurs and marketers to gain from the immersive 'all-things-analytics' experience," addedPankaj Bhatnagar, Head of Channel Partner Business, Altudo. "Mixpanel partners play a unique role in helping our customers to accelerate their use of Mixpanel and achieve success, whether they're analysing their user segments, understanding how they interact with the product, or finding ways to increase engagement and retention. Our new partnership with Altudo is an important step to realising this for the Indian market as they bring a unique combination of skills and experience to help Indian customers integrate event analytics into their current DevOps processes, build more customer-centric products, and grow faster," addedEdward Kong, Head of Channel and Alliances APAC, Mixpanel. Mixpanel helps companies all over the world to answer over 1 million questions every day. Its event analytics captures every action (or event) that each user performs within a digital product, like an e-Commerce site or a ride hailing app. This very granular view helps companies understand how different groups of users behave at various points during their experience, to answer questions like: which cohorts of users drop off during sign-up? Using Mixpanel, it's now also possible to understand the knock-on revenue impact of such customer experience issues. About Altudo Altudo is a global digital business transformation firm operating at the intersection of technology, commerce, and integrated solutions. They're focused on helping clients deliver an exceptional customer experience (CX) through 1:1 personalization & enhanced engagement. Altudo does this by creating an integrated IT infrastructure across an array of digital platforms in Martech, CMS, commerce, employee experience, analytics, and other digital solutions, to build a single view of the customer across channels. With offices in 7 global locations, their team consists of 600+ innovators, developers, certified solutions architects, thought leaders, and design thinkers. They have been trusted by 45+ Fortune 500 brands, and have received 14+ awards in recognition of their work. Altudo has 20+ partnerships with leading solutions providers that have enabled them to deliver 2000+ successful projects so far. Our key partners include Sitecore, Salesforce, Zendesk, Acquia, Drupal, Contentful, BigCommerce, Shopify, Magento, SimilarWeb, Asana and Mixpanel. Know more:www.altudo.co About Mixpanel Mixpanelis an event analytics platform that allows anyone to get answers from their customer and revenue data in seconds. It offers powerful real-time charts and visualizations of how people interact with digital products and companies. Regardless of technical expertise, everyone can focus on what's working, cut what isn't, and spend more time on their best ideas with Mixpanel. To learn more visit:www.mixpanel.com *About 'Event Analytics' Event Analytics captures every action (or event) that each user performs within a digital product, like an e-Commerce site or a ride hailing app. This very granular view helps companies understand how different groups of users behave at various points during their experience, to answer questions like: which cohorts of users drop off during sign-up? Using Mixpanel, it's now also possible to understand the knock-on revenue impact of such customer experience issues. This approach is faster and easier than traditional Business Intelligence (BI) tools that require data to be prepared and tabulated, with BI queries coded in SQL. While BI analysis is valuable for specialized analytics teams performing strategic analysis, it is not easily accessible for cross functional teams that need to quickly explore data. That's why event analytics is so crucial for teams that seek to democratize data access and collaborate on building the most effective digital experiences. Photo:https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2183327/Altudo_mixpanel_PR.jpgLogo:https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2183328/Altudo_Mixpanel_Logo.jpg (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) NewsVoir New Delhi [India], August 10: Women diplomats from various geographies expressed the need for gender equality in global diplomatic roles at the inauguralBRICS CCIWE, Trailblazers Dialogues Roundtable on Global Women Diplomats: Breaking Barriers; Shaping Global Affairs held in the capital. BRICS CCI WE represents the womens vertical of The BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BRICS CCI) which promotes commerce and industry in the BRICS and other friendly nations.The Vertical focuses on women empowerment initiatives and policies across geographies. Historically, diplomacy has been the preserve of men. However, research shows that when women have a seat at the table, the odds of reducing instability and conflict improve significantly. The results of the 2023 Women in Diplomacy Index suggest that women remain underrepresented in ambassadorship positions across the world with only around 20% of all ambassadors being women in 2023. Between 1992 and 2019, women represented a mere 13 per cent of negotiators, 6 per cent of mediators, and 6 per cent of signatories in peace processes worldwide. The numbers are even lower in conflict-affected states where women have been quasi-absent from peace processes. While greeting the gathering, Dr BBL Madhukar, Director General, BRICS CCI, highlighted the importance of providing equal opportunity to women in education and representation. Dr. Madhukar stated In a rapidly changing world, diplomacy stands as the cornerstone of international relations, shaping the course of nations and the trajectory of global affairs. However, one critical dimension remains underrepresented in the diplomatic arena: the influential voices of women. As women gain power, societal barriers are removed. R.K. Vishnoi, Chairman, BRICS CCI, as a part of his special address to the event, highlighted The role of women in diplomacy is inevitable. People, international committees, and leadership are convinced that women bring a lot of ideas that are life-changing. When women have a seat at the table, the odds of solving conflict improve significantly. Delivering the welcome address, Ruby Sinha, President, BRICS CCI WE said, While recognizing the indispensable contributions women have made to diplomacy throughout history, let us also collectively work towards a future where gender equality and women's empowerment are fully integrated into our diplomatic efforts. These discussions are especially important in a year when India is spearheading the G20 dialogues with holistic and inclusive, women-led development being a key focus area, she added. The Roundtable saw the participation of Ambassador Bizunesh Meseret, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Ethiopia; Wathsala Amarasinghe, Minister Counsellor, High Commission of Sri Lanka; Hagar Spiro-Tal, First Secretary (Political), Embassy of Israel in India; Amaranta Vandeperre, Third Secretary and Counsel, Embassy of Chile; Jalpa Ratna, Chief of Field Services, United Nations Children's Fund. The discussion was moderated by Shormishtha Ghosh, Governing Body Member, BRICS CCI. Amb. Manju Seth (Retd.), The former Ambassador & Consul General of India delivered the valedictory address. Bizunesh Meseret, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Ethiopia, shared reports of women's representation in Ethiopia and highlighted the Government of Ethiopias initiatives that have resulted in increased participation of Women in Diplomacy. Meseret said, "Ethiopia has a female policy in place at both national and regional levels ensuring women empowerment in all spheres, be it political, economic or humanitarian. Wathsala Amarasinghe, Minister Counselor, High Commission of Sri Lanka highlighted Sri Lankas glorious legacy of female leadership. In Sri Lanka, weve had a long tradition of democracy and great female leaders. We have free education. We elected the 1st female PM in the world in 1960, who also laid the foundation stone for the Sri Lankan High Commission in Delhi, said Amarasinghe. Hagar Spiro-Tal, First Secretary (Political), Embassy of Israel in India, appreciated BRICS CCI WE for hosting the discussion and reiterated the importance of such deliberations. Hagar said, The journey of making a change is no less important than the achievement itself. Shaping an agenda that includes women's representation and raising awareness is critical in paving the way towards reaching gender equality. We are still facing gender-biased perceptions which require the adoption of more inclusive, proactive and tolerant approaches, sometimes even affirmative actions. According to Amaranta Vandeperre, Third Secretary & Counsel, Embassy of Chile, Increasing women's participation in diplomacy or in any other field is vital to achieving equality in a context of deep-rooted discrimination. Highlighting Chiles achievement in this area, Vandeperre noted, "Chile went from having 15% women ambassadors to 33% in the past decade. The round table conference saw the participation of various international & global organizations, including UNICEF. Jalpa Ratna, Chief of Field Service, UNICEF spoke about the vital role of primary education of girls to ensure long-term gender equality even in diplomatic roles. Ms. Ratna also mentioned Bal Patrakars or Child Reporters, an initiative run by UNICEF in India empowering students from classes 6 to 8 to spread awareness of child rights in their communities and take the issues affecting them directly to the Chief Minister of their respective states. Amb. Manju Seth, Former Ambassador & Consul General of India in her Valedictory Address put forth her desire for a day when the talk for gender equality is no longer a topic of discussion. Seth urged men to come forward to empower women in all fields, including diplomacy. Bringing the inaugural Trailblazers Dialogues- Round Table Discussion to its successful conclusion, Shabana Nasim, Executive Director, BRICS CCI and Chief Patron, BRICS CCI WE delivered the Vote of Thanks for the day. (Disclaimer: The above press release has been provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) The duo was spotted at the private terminal of Mumbai airport earlier today. They even posed for the shutterbugs stationed outside the airport. 'Indian Police Force' also stars Shilpa Shetty and Vivek Oberoi. The show will be out on Prime Video. The cast has already wrapped up the major portion of the show in January 2023. Sharing his experience working on the action-packed drama, Sidharth took to Instagram and wrote, "What a pleasure it was to work with @itsrohitshetty sir! Cant wait for you guys to witness an action-packed series like none before. He has an incredibly hard working, honest and a warm team. Can say it was one of my best experiences being on the sets of #IndianPoliceForce. Thank you to the entire cast and crew for this wonderful journey. Really excited to bring you guys INDIAN POLICE FORCE soon." The official streaming date of the Indian Police Force is still awaited. Apart from this, Sidharth will also be seen in the upcoming action-thriller Yodha opposite Disha Patani. 'Yodha' will hit the theatres in December 2023. (ANI) Actors Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine talked about sharing screen space in Matthew Lopezs directorial Red, White & Royal Blue. The movie revolves around Alex Claremont Diaz, the son of the American President, and Britains Prince Henry. Their long-running dispute threatens to sever ties between the two countries. Taylor is seen as Alex, while Nicholas plays the role of Prince Henry in the movie. They got candid about their roles and shared working experience in the film. Taylor said, When you have two seemingly immovable people on complete opposite ends of the spectrum who start taking baby steps towards the middle, youre going to root for it, right? You want to see these unlikely lovers come together. Once these guys begin to understand each other, their world opens up and hate easily turns to love. Nicholas added, Alex and Nicholas are very different people, but they didnt realize how much they share in common. The more time they are forced to spend together, the more they see they are good for each other and complement each other in a lot of ways. Galitzine affirmed how Perez was perfect for the role, When it came down to Taylor, he was so impressive and had so much charisma. I couldnt imagine anyone better suited for the part. And I loved working with him. So much of the filming process for me is about finding an acting partner who loves being there as much as I do. Taylor is such a fun-loving person and such a joy to be around. I cant say enough good things about him. Taylor also shared how it was to work with Nicholas, Working with Nick was excellent. There are some rather intimate scenes in the movie, so we had to become close very fast and trust each other right away. And we did. We were each others biggest support because we both cared so much. Alongside Taylor Zakhar Perez as Alex Claremont-Diaz and Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Henry in the leading role, the film also stars Oscar nominee Uma Thurman as President Ellen Claremont, the first lady president of the United States of America, Sarah Shahi, and Clifton Collins Jr. in pivotal roles. The film will premiere on Prime Video on August 11. (ANI) China's Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly released a judicial interpretation on Wednesday with an aim to strengthen the crackdown on crimes related to environmental pollution. According to the judicial interpretation, individuals responsible for discharging or disposing of radioactive waste, toxic waste, or waste containing pathogens of infectious diseases that result in significant damage to wildlife and plants under special state protection or habitats for species under special state protection will be subject to a minimum imprisonment of seven years. It also outlines the sentencing criteria for criminal offenses involving the fabrication of false evidence related to environmental impact assessments, greenhouse gas emission monitoring, and other environmental protection data. Scheduled to come into effect on Aug. 15, this judicial interpretation is the fourth one pertaining to crimes involving environmental pollution released by China's top judicial organs, following the implementation of the Criminal Law in 1997. As per a tweet posted on TIFF feed, the film is set in 2001 in rural India. Actors Pratibha Ranta and Nitanshi Goel are a part of the cast. "Kiran Raos sophomore romp is heading to #TIFF23. The World Premiere of LOST LADIES finds two young brides hilariously entwined in a riot of mistaken identities. Set in 2001 in rural India, the film stars @PratibhaRanta and @nitanshi_goel," the tweet read. https://twitter.com/tiff_net/status/1689643845200596992?s=46&t=PusltWkTns46RNMqjWxAeA Excited about the film's world premiere, Kiran Rao said, "I am so delighted that the world premiere of our film, Laapataa Ladies (Lost Ladies) is going to be at the Toronto International Film Festival. I have very fond memories of TIFF. Its such a wonderful audience-driven festival, and I will always remember the warmth and love that we got from them. I feel very fortunate that my second film, once again produced by Aamir Khan Productions and this time with Jio Studios on board, will also begin its journey there. Kiran's former husband and actor Aamir Khan also expressed his excitement. "Kiran has made a gem of a film which I hope is going to connect strongly with audiences all across. Cant wait for the premiere of our film Laapataa Ladies at TIFF," he said. More details about the film are awaited. (ANI) Must make 'BJP-free India' in the upcoming elections, said Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Wednesday adding that "we should throw Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of the country like India fought to throw British out of the country." Speaking at a protest staged by Congress with regard to the violence against women in Manipur, DK Shivakumar said, "Like India fought to throw the British out of the country, we should throw the BJP out of the country. You must make a 'BJP-free India' in the upcoming elections." "Today's protest has been done regarding the insult to the daughters in Manipur. On one hand, the government says save the girls and those girls have been insulted, it is a shameless incident", Shivakumar said. He further alleged that "the Central Government has always been insulting the girls." "This protest will be continue untill we get justice", he added. A video of two women being paraded naked by a group of men went viral earlier in July which triggered fresh controversy. However, the incident happened in May this year. Manipur had been on the boil for the last three months after ethnic clashes broke out between two tribal communities Meitis and Kukis, when the Manipur High Court asked the state government to consider adding one of the communities to the list of Scheduled Tribes. (ANI) South 24 Parganas (West Bengal) [India], August 9 [ANI]: Clashes broke out on Wednesday in South 24 Parganas after an attempt was made to kill the former head of the Basanti village panchayat and the husband of present panchayat head by slitting his throat, Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Dibakar Das said. Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers went on rampage and burnt the house of the former panchayat head Sridam Mondal. Fire rescue teams reached the spot and tried to douse the fire. The condition of former head Sridam Mandal deteriorated and was taken to the hospital. No arrest has been made in this incident so far. SDPO Dibakar Das said, "An attempt was made to kill the former head of the Basanti village panchayat by slitting his throat on the day of the formation of the panchayat. He was rushed to a Kolkata hospital with serious injuries. As a result of that incident, Trinamool activists set fire to the attacker's house in the area adjacent to Basanti Bridge. A large police force led by SDPO Canning reached the spot." There is a fire engine to put out the fire, but the fire is now under control, according to the police administration. "The accused has been identified. However, no one has been arrested in this regard yet," said the SDPO. Police officials are conducting a probe. (ANI) In the wake of heavy rainfall, a wall collapsed near Chaurasi Kutiya in the Laxman Jhula area of Uttarakhands Rishikesh in the wee hours of Thursday and two people were buried under the debris, said authorities. "SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) was informed by District Control Room Rishikesh that a wall has collapsed near Chaurasi Kutiya in Laxman Jhula area. In which two persons are buried. SDRF team is required for rescue. On the above information SDRF rescue team reached the spot," said an official statement. "It was told by the police officer from the spot that two persons were buried in the said incident, out of which one injured has been rescued. SDRF's search operation is on in search of another person," the statement added. Meanwhile, heavy rains caused severe waterlogging in the Dhalwala and Khara areas of Uttarakhand's Rishikesh on Wednesday night. Many houses have been submerged in water as the water level in the Rishikesh saline source rose, said officials. State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) was called into action to rescue people who were trapped in their houses which have been submerged in waters in Dhalwala and Khara.TheSDRFteam reached the spot at night and taking prompt action, rescued about 50 people from the submerged houses and took them to a safe place by raft, said officials. "Late night the SDRF team was informed by Thana Munikireti that due to the rise in the water level in the Rishikesh saline source area, people's houses have been flooded, in which the SDRF team is needed for the rescue of the trapped people," said officials. Meanwhile Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday said that the disaster control centre had examined the state's rain situation. The CM also advised Char Dham pilgrims to proceed ontheir journey after taking a weather update, said officials. While exclusively speaking to ANI on Wednesday, CM Dhami stated that several areas had been submerged in water followingheavy rainfallin the state and that theSDRFand NDRF personnel had been deployed on the ground to carry out the rescue operations. He further urged pilgrims to travel only after checking up on the weather conditions. The Uttarakhand CM told ANI, Many places are submerged in water. We analysed the situation in the disaster control room and also talked to the Delhi authority. SDRF and NDRF are present on the ground. We dont want to leave any shortfall in the rescue process. I request all the pilgrims to start the journey after taking the information of the weather.(ANI) Joint forces of Jammu and Kashmir Police and the Indian Army have busted a terrorist module at Uri in Baramulla district of the union territory, arresting three people and recovering arms and ammunition from them. Case under UA (P) Act & Arms Act has been registered. "A terrorist module has been busted in Uri Baramulla, and 3 terrorist associates of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit have been arrested. Arms and ammunition were recovered from them, and a case under UA(P) Act & Arms Act registered," said the police. According to officials, joint forces of Baramulla Police and Army's 16 Sikh Light Infantry, during joint patrolling and area domination at Churunda Uri, noticed one suspected person, who was roaming in the area. He tried to flee while noticing patrolling party. But he was apprehended tactfully. Two grenades were recovered from him and he was taken into custody immediately. He was later identified as Showkat Ali Awan, resident of Churunda, Uri, said the police. During further questioning, he revealed the names of his accomplices Ahmad Din, resident of Churunda, and Mohammad Sadeeq Khatana, resident of Churunda. They were questioned and upon their disclosure two Grenades, one Chinese Pistol, one Pistol Magazine and four live rounds were recovered from them, the police added. According to the police, accused are involved in cross border smuggling of arms and ammunition at the behest of Pakistan based terror handlers and they distribute the weapons to LeT terrorists for carrying out terror activities. Case under Indian Arms Act & UA(P) Act was registered in Police Station Uri, and investigations are on in the matter, said the police. (ANI) Congress MP Pramod Tiwari on Thursday reacted to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's speech in Parliament saying that the "two-hour-long speech" did not answer the questions of the people of the country. "It was a two-hour-long speech but he did not answer the questions which the people of the country have been asking. When will there be a guarantee on the safety of women in the country", said the Congress MP while speaking to ANI. Further, taking a jibe at the government over the ethnic violence that hit Manipur on May 3, Tiwari added, "Why were you silent on Manipur? You went to Manipur after the incident, stayed there for three days, why did you not take action against the violence? Why did you hide it?" Speaking on Manipur issue, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said that the Union HM Amit Shah has given a clean chit to Manipur CM despite his failure to stop the atrocities against women and children in the state. Gaurav Gogoi said, "The entire country knows that Manipur CM has divided the state into two parts & it is because of his failure that there have been atrocities against women in the state and the children have been residing in relief camps...Even after all this Union HM Amit Shah has given a clean chit to Manipur CM. The people of the country demand that the CM should be sacked..." Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while replying to the no-confidence motion moved by the opposition MP's of the I.N.D.I.A. delegation in the Parliament, hit out at the opposition. Shah said that the Congress party tried launching Rahul Gandhi for 13 times but failed everytime. In addition, while speaking on Manipur, Shah appealed with 'folded hands' for an end to the three-month-long cycle of violence in the state and urged Kuki and Meitei communities to hold talks saying violence cannot be a solution to any problem. Come and hold talks. I urge both communities to sit with the Centre and talk to resolve the issue. We do not wish to change the demography. Violence is not a solution to any problem. I assure you that we will bring peace to the state. Politics should not be done on this issue, Amit Shah said. Congress MP Udit Raj also reacted to Shah's remarks. While speaking to ANI, Raj said," There was nothing important in Amit Shah's speech. It was an attempt to confuse people. PM did not speak a word on Manipur till that video went viral. Seems like Amit Shah and BJP have no relation with Manipur." Meanwhile, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday confirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be replying to the no-confidence motion in the parliament today. The no-confidence motion was moved by the I.N.D.I.A delegation on July 26 while seeking an elaborate discussion on Manipur violence and a statement from PM Modi on the same. (ANI) The joint operation led to the recovery of incriminating materials, further denting the terror network's activities in the region. The operation unfolded in the Khansahab area of Budgam district, where a team comprising police personnel and the Army's 62 Rashtriya Rifles unit successfully apprehended the three individuals, read Kashmir police press note. The arrested terrorist associates have been identified as Qaisar Ahmad Dar, son of Ghulam Nabi Dar, hailing from Kremshora, Tahir Ahmad Dar, son of Ghulam Nabi Dar, a resident of Wagar and Aqib Rashed Ganie, son of Abdul Rashed Ganie, from Wagar. All three were affiliated with the proscribed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, and their apprehension is a significant blow to the nefarious activities of the group in the region. The arrested individuals were found in possession of incriminating materials that further highlight their association with the terror network. The recovered items include a Chinese hand grenade, two magazines and a cache of 57 live rounds, read the release. The seized materials have been meticulously catalogued as part of the ongoing investigation, aimed at unravelling the intricate details of their involvement and the broader terror network. A case under the relevant sections of the law has been registered at the Khansahab Police Station, marking the initiation of a comprehensive investigation. Law enforcement agencies are working diligently to piece together the puzzle and gather crucial evidence that could shed light on the extent of the LeT's activities and its potential threats to the region's security. (ANI) Justice N Anand Venkatesh of Madras High Court has taken up Suo Motu of a trial court order where Higher Education Minister Ponmudi was acquitted in a disproportionate assets case booked by DVAC in 2006. The trial court on June 28, 2023, in its order, had acquitted Tamil Nadu Education Minister Ponmudi. The matter is listed for today and is likely to be heard this afternoon. Earlier last month Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister was interrogated for eight hours at the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) office. DMK spokesperson Saravanan alleged that the ED's long hours of questioning amount to an "utter violation of human rights." "It is a 2007 case. They are saying that if he is not interrogated today evidence will be lost. Whom are they trying to joke? It is a fraud played on the human rights of this country. He is a 72-year-old man. He is already under medication. This is an utter violation of human rights," he said. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) also conducted searches at Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister Ponmudi's residences last month. Earlier in June, hours, after minister V Senthil Balaji was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Tamil Nadu minister Ponmudi, termed it a "revengeful act" and claimed that the Centre was doing wrong against states where there is a non-BJP government. (ANI) Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Thursday reacted to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remark on Manipur ethnic violence in the Lok Sabha a day earlier. Gogoi said that the government cannot see the plight of the Manipur people. The Congress MP, while speaking to ANI, said, "The government, in its arrogance, cannot see the plight of the people of Manipur". "Entire country knows that Manipur has been bifurcated by the Chief Minister. It is because of the failure of the CM that there have been atrocities against women in the state. Children are forced to reside in relief camps. Even after this, Home Minister Amit Shah gave a clean chit to the CM", Gogoi added. Notably, Union Home Minister Shah on Wednesday replied during the no-confidence motion debate, which was moved by the MPs of the I.N.D.I.A. delegation against the government. In his over two-hour reply, Shah ruled out a change of guard in Manipur saying that the chief minister was cooperating with the Centre in the efforts to restore peace. A state CM needs to be changed when he is not cooperating. This CM is cooperating with the Centre, he said. He also appealed with 'folded hands' for an end to the three-month-long cycle of violence in the state and urged Kuki and Meitei communities to hold talks saying violence cannot be a solution to any problem. Come and hold talks. I urge both communities to sit with the Centre and talk to resolve the issue. We do not wish to change the demography. Violence is not a solution to any problem. I assure you that we will bring peace to the state. Politics should not be done on this issue, Amit Shah said. In addition, Congress MP K Suresh also spoke on Shah's remark in the parliament. Suresh said, "Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke on past incidents. We are discussing the present situation of Manipur. He did not say anything about Manipur or what actions are being taken by Centre for bringing peace and harmony in Manipur..." However, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Jagdambika Pal said that the Union Home Minister spoke on Manipur and replied to the no-confidence motion debate. "The whole nation is watching how Union Home Minister spoke on Manipur and opposition's no-confidence motion, this shows that though the opposition lacks confidence, people of this country have confidence in the Modi government", said Pal. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to reply to the no-confidence motion debate in the Lok Sabha around 4:00 pm today. "At around 4 PM this evening, PM @narendramodi will be taking part in the discussion on the Motion of No-Confidence", said a tweet from the Prime Minister's office. Earlier, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also confirmed the same. The no-confidence motion was moved by the I.N.D.I.A. delegation which aimed at an elaborate discussion on violence-hit Manipur and a statement from PM Modi. A discussion on the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modis government began in the Lok Sabha with Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi initiating the debate. Gogoi hit out at the government stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has to accept that his double-engine government in Manipur has failed. Significantly, Gaurav Gogoi, son of former Assam CM Tarun Gogoi, represents the Kaliabor constituency from the north-east regoin, Assam, in the Lok Sabha. (ANI) "An internal committee be formed to enquire the extremely sad incident of Swarnodip Kundu, a student of UG-1, Bengali, last night at the main hostel with Professor Subenoy Chakraborty, Dean, Science as chairman", the statement read. The committee has to submit its report to the university within 15 days. Notably, a first-year student of Jadavpur University in Kolkata died on Thursday after allegedly falling from the balcony of the university's hostel on Wednesday night. He was taken to nearby KPC Hospital in Jadavpur in the night itself by classmates. The student died in the hospital on Thursday morning while undergoing treatment. Deceased Swarnodip Kundu, a first year student of the Bengali Department, belonged to the state's Nadia district. "On 09.08.23 around 23.45 hrs, one 1st year student of Jadavpur University (Subject-Bengali) namely Swapnodeep Kundu ( M/18 Yrs) S/O Ramprasad Kundu of P.S- Bagula, Hanskhali, Nadia somehow fell down from the balcony of 2nd floor of Jadavpur University Main Hostel ( Building No.A2) ( Jadavpur PS area). He received multiple injuries and was undergoing treatment at KPC Medical College. He succumbed to his injuries at 4:30 am today," said Police. Further details are awaited. (ANI)